Culberson Independence

Here's a post of what the Culberson's did for the 4th of July:

Well, our Independence Day celebrations are usually low key. In fact, we spent the morning taking naps, getting our food from the co-op, and NOT running (which made for a lazy and blah day, but that's not the point). Clint went to the Gilbert Tea Party (Republican rally) and came home with lots of pamphlets and patriotic gusto. After our naps we headed to Grandma's house for dinner and swimming. Paca was home from his 1 month hunting safari in Africa, so we were excited to see him and hear some of his stories. We were all too pooped by the time the fireworks started (which happens every year), but we still had a good day singing along to "Take your hat off".


Brailyn in all her patriotic glory


One of the Fam


Swimming with Daddy

Keeping up with the Klan

WOW- apparently our blog needs some MAJOR LOVIN!!!
Ok Malia since you won't do it I will haha.
Alright well lets see in the last few months A LOT has happened......
April-
I have surgery. Larissa and Ben still in school. Mom and Dad doing their duties taking care of me in Park City. Park City has some MAJOR leaking problems. SO now Mom and Dad get to deal with that.
May- I come home from school. Woo hoo, I love being home in the heat! 5 weeks in a immobilizer. NO FUN. Larissa is done with her Sophmore year! Getting way too old. Driving around in her cute little car. Ben comes home for a little before heading off to training in San Diego. Clint is working hard at his new job, managing the corporate landscaping company. Malia and Brailyn keep doing their thing! Dad gets ready for Africa. Mom trying to hold us all together!
June- Dad leaves for Africa, A WHOLE MONTH!! Ben comes home again for a few days. OPENS HIS MISSION CALL!!! He will be serving in the Fresno, California Spanish speaking mission for the next 2 years :). We are so proud of him! We celebrate only for a little because he leaves again for adventure camp in Wyoming! FUN!! I get my sling off! Thank goodness! And start Physical Therapy. NOT FUN. Larissa is busy socializing and playing tennis. Mom is yet again stretching herself thin!
Well now we are in July!
Ben is coming home on the 17th to get everything ready before he heasds out. He is leaving us on the 25th :( So we only get 8 days with him! Geez!! We are used to it though, he is always off busy being our Navy man! His farewell is on the 18th and so a lot of family is coming down for that. Connie and Dave will be making an appearance! We are excited for that! For those of you who don't know, they don't make it down to AZ much.Well actually EVER. They always make us come to Utah. So now its their turn!!!! Getting BEn all prepped and ready is going to be a tough one. But we will pull through. I still am having a hard time realizing that my brother is going to be leaving me for 2 whole years! It's mind boggling.
Well I have been busy with Physical Therapy, summer school and doing my new nannying job which I love! I always have to stay busy! Larissa still keeps us on our toes, always happy and smiling. She is great. Clint turns the big 30 this month! He feels quite old, but he is still the 16 year old crazy guy we all remember :). Brailyn is getting old too, I can't believe my little niece is growing up! She is doing fantastic with her swimming lessons, and every day she is getting smarter I swear. Malia is definitely a super mom. She is studying hard so she can become a personal trainer! We are all SO PROUD of her! And we can't wait for her to finish so she can train all of us woo hoo! She is amazing. I wish I could be as dedicated as her.
How could I forget Dad. Well he came back from Africa one skinny man! 16 pounds lighter to be exact! Ahah we all were so shocked when we saw him! He looks great and feels great too. Way to starve Dad! Just kidding haha. But he came back not only skinnier but with some amazing stories. I told him he needs to write all this down for the grandkids. He seriously is like a superhero! Our Dad is definitely one of a kind. That is why we think he is AWESOME! And of course we love him!!!!
For the future of our summer we plan to stay busy! I don't head back to school till the end of August so we have a long time to maybe squeeze a family vaca in *WINK WINK MOM CORONA DEL MAR* Yes beach please! We all LOVE the beach!! I think we are all in desperate need of some Vaca time. It would do us some good to get some relaxation in. So hopefully Mom will get the hint :)
Ok well thats enough for now! I promise we will do better on updating everyone on our lives. WE love you alll!!
love,
AmBer
and the rest of the Klan

A Family Face Lift

Ok sorry Malia it has been awhile since I have added to this. But I thought that maybe we should let everyone know that Mom has decided to change a few things in the house (which have been long overdue needed). I have been informed, even though I live in another state, that our sweet mom has gotten a little design happy. The media room is now a Sage green.

 Correct me if I am wrong. The laundry room will lose its button theme and will be replaced with a new surprise! Also finally our creaky, falling apart, bar stools will be replaced. This will be a nice edition so now my friends won't think they are breaking our furniture! (It happened often). And apparently my bathroom is getting a little dolled up as well. Thanks mom :)

As for everyone else. Our little tennis star La-La is tearing it up on the courts. Keeping the Price's Proud. Ben is studying hard in school (sorry I know I need to call you!). Malia, Clint and Baby are finally moved out! I am sure they were more happy to be gone than Mom was to lose them. Huzzah! Now the house is pretty much empty. The mother hen has lost majority of the nest. Only the little runt is left :). Love you Larissa. As for me (Amber) I am staying busy with softball, and school. No social life for me! I know depressing. But I am never in Provo on the weekends. Always with my team. Woo hoo! Fun for me. I am sure my Dad is loving that the only men in my life right now consist of my 50+ Married coaches. Well I need to stop procrastinating this paper I am writing. Love you all.

Amber

The Culberson's Christmas Contribution

Since my sister is finally participating in the family blog that I started LONG ago, here's some of the fun things the Culbersons did for Christmas. We're in the process of moving out, so the cruise stuff will come soon.

Since we're heading out for our cruise (yay!) the week before Christmas, we're trying to get all of our Christmas traditions done this week. So last night we saw the Christmas lights on Cherry Street (a whole street that has really cool lights on every house. My favorite this year- the Santa airport). On Sunday, since Brailyn was still sick and we stayed home from church, we made a gingerbread house. My mom got the kit from Costco, really cool, and we spent almost 2 1/2 hours putting it together! Brailyn did a GREAT job putting in the sidewalk and the fence around the house. By the time it was the green frosting's turn, my hands were cramping, so we just did the wreath and called it a day. I still think it turned out wonderfully! I tell ya, I don't know how those cake decorators do it- frosting is HARD! And I consider myself pretty artistic...I guess not!


In the Beginning...


The Proud Architect


The finished product!

ALMOST HOME AGAIN!!!

One more week till all of the college kids are done! I am stressing with finals, I am sure Ben is as well. Don't forget our little highschooler Rissa! Good luck sweetheart you will do great :). We both cannot wait to come home and be back in the 480! We both miss Arizona a lot. However, before we can be reunited back in Gilbert the whole clan is heading out on a cruise!! A DISNEY CRUISE TO BE EXACT! Yes, the Price's are cruise people now. This huge endeavor is going to be such a blast! Well back to studying. I am sure my Dad would be ecstatic after reading that last line. Happy Holidays!
Amber

Catching Up With the Fam

Jess Has Never Seen A Cactus Before!! We told her not to hug them but she couldn't resist.
The Girls!
This is what happened when we wern't watching Brailyn!
Cliffhanger Baby! We love scaring you Malia :)
Father and Daughter
The Price's!
Just truckin' along
Cactus Jess haha
Berr and Brai!
Rissy and Brai
Another shot
Auntie Berr
Whoops! Wasn't ready :)
Awee the girls!
What a trooper Clinton was!
Sibs!
Just Hiking in the AZ Desert. A new experience for Jess
Baby Parker we love him!!!


So I've decided to take up the challenge of keeping up the family blog! Huzzah! I know such a big commitment for a busy college athlete but I do what I can. This past week we all had a blast at family Thanksgiving. We had the traditional get together with Aunt Suzie, cousins, and lots of baby's. It's always fun when the Mannings come. We were a little sad to not see Jared & Amanda as well as Lance & Hannah. We miss them! However, we did have a newcomer that got to experience our crazy family. My dear friend Jessica Barringer came home with me from college. Such a Southern Belle she is. Beautiful, courteous and spunky! What more could anyone ask for?? Of course the family loved her. I secretly think they like her better than me :). Well before stuffing our faces Jess, Larissa, and I decided to run the Turkey Trot. An annual tradition I am trying to keep alive. I always love running before stuffing my face on that Turkey Day. It somehow justifies me eating more and more. Again we ran into Claire, Justin, Aunt Suzie and baby Parker while we were there. It was fun! Us girls got our exercise in for the day.
We continued on to get the always loved Marie Calender pies. It would not be Thanksgiving for me if we did not have that banana creme! I go bizirk on that stuff! After killing our stomachs Lauren decided I needed to work off my new car by doing all the dishes and cleaning. She thought it was funny but I got it done and proved her wrong! Love you Lauren :). We continued then to sit around and watch movies. It was great. We watched Catch Me If You Can with Leonardo Decaprio. WATCH IT IF YOU CAN!!! It is so good! A new fav of mine. It gets a two thumbs up and a heel click from me.
Of course it was fun to see Brailyn. She is constantly growing. Gosh I cannot believe how much I am missing by being away at college. She knows that at Christmas we are seeing Minnie and Mickey on a CRUUUSTTHH as she says it. Gosh she is adorable. When Dad wasn't working he was showing off his massive bullets to me. He is so proud of them and loves to explain whats in them and how he reloads them. Dad we love your rugged mountain maness. Mom went a little nuts trying to get Thanksgiving perfect and it came out fabulous as always. Great job Mommy!
Ben had a fun time hanging out with friends and ice skating. We can't believe he won't be with us next Thanksgiving! That mission sure is coming up quick. Malia and Clint were fun to be around although they are leaving the nest in a few weeks! They are finally moving out, I am sure they are more excited about it than we are haha. Well I'll try to keep this as updated as I can. I have lots of finals, and papers to write so I need to go! Pics from Thanksgiving are to be up and posted soon! Love you all. Happy Holidays :)
Amber

Boston Marathon

A few weeks ago, mom and I flew to Boston so I could run in my 1st Boston Marathon (I qualified on my first marathon in Tucson in December). And since I'm the only one posting stuff right now, it's taken a while. But here are some pictures of our trip. I did awesome. Ran it in 3:28 and change, taking 10 minutes off my qualifying time and just felt great the whole time. Can't wait for the next race!

Me and Sarah Webb before we head to the starting corrals


Getting ready to start


"I just felt like runnin'"




Waiting for Mom to bring me warmer clothes


After the finish














A boutique in Annapolis

Here are some pics from our trip to Boston. Not too great of me running. Oh well. We also visited my brother at the Naval Academy. It was pretty cool seeing the sites in Boston. Really old Amereican History. Gravesite from the colonial times etc. And the old meeting houses of the Founding Fathers. We also caught a Red Sox (boooooo) game and got some great seats. GO DBACKS!!