Come on Over...Everything is Alright..Just let yourself Go

I know, it's been awhile. I will give you my excuse in a couple of pictures.

First off, as you know, my parents came to visit. They keep you rather busy, but we had a great time...as you'll see.

What did I learn from this picture? Well, basically, not to share my sucker with Kyle. He got me sick...or I got him sick...who can tell. Either way, we've both been under the weather ever since the fun camping trip we went on with the Brown's. (That sounds so weird, but there are too many to name)

As I said last time, I was waiting for my parents to get here. Well, no sooner had I logged off the computer than they called. They were about 1-1/2 hours earlier than I thought they would be. I guess my dad really is a speed demon when he's tired of being in a car. The road was still being repaved when they got here, so I had to walk up our road to meet them. It's a pretty big hill, so that in and of itself was not fun. But it was great to be with my parents!!! We had a great time. Unfortunately, Brent had to work on Friday even though he was suppose to have the day off, but other than that, it was great!

My dad is a big fisherman, so he wanted to see how you fished for salmon here. Since we had no idea, we asked a really rude guy at a fishing store where to go. He did tell us a good spot though. What we learned was that you have to have waist-high waders and a helmet...since everyone is fighting over a good spot. Dad and Brent didn't get to fish this time around, but they are making plans for next year.

We also went to the Blackberry Festival in Bremerton. Blackberries grow like weeds around here, so on Labor Day weekend, Bremerton celebrates that fact. It was fun. A lot of fun booths and food. We got shave ice (yes I did spell it right) but it wasn't as good as Hawaii. It was VERY hot, for here, so Brent decided to cool off. He walked over to just be in the shade, but the little girl above him thought he looked to dry, so...she started to kick water on him. It really cooled him off, so I think he was happy!

We went to fly kites at Fort Warden State Park in Port Townsend. A couple of years ago Brent got a stunt kite. It's a kite that has two strings so you can make it loop and stuff. Well, my dad had to get one too because he thought it sounded like fun. Unfortunately, they had never been able to fly it since it needed a lot of wind. We found the perfect spot. We learned a few things with this adventure....always bring a jacket to the beach in Washington. What do you think it's Hawaii? A six foot kite will pull you off your feet when the wind is strong enough. And, lastly, my mom really likes rocks. I've always wondered where I got it. :)

And, of course, we had to go to Seattle. We went on Tuesday so it wouldn't be so busy. It really wasn't. We had a great time!

The weekend after my parents left, we went camping with Brad, Court, Sarah, Chloe and Kyle...see a lot. I'll have to leave that for the next blog. My fingers are tired. We really need a new keyboard.

Have a great one!

Just Waiting

Hello all! I can't believe it's already been so long since I've posted. Where does the time go??

I'm sitting here waiting for my parents to get here. They're driving all the way from Utah...they should be here in about an hour. I hope everything is going well. They're going to be here until next Wednesday. I'm excited for them to be here and also excited that I have some days off. It's been so nice this morning.

Here's the craziest bit of info! They started repaving our road today. They leveled it and everything about 3 months ago and they pick today to pave it. I have a long walk out to meet my parents when they get here, but oh well... They are suppose to get done today at 4, so keep your fingers crossed.

Oh and I can't remember who asked, but no, Jared did not actually win the fight with Brent. He was once again pinned quickly.

Time has just flown by, as I said. We've been playing with Brad and Court, working and doing our callings. It's a good life. :)

On Sunday, Ryan, Marcela, Luz and Reyes came down for dinner. It was probably our last chance to see Luz since she leaves on the 6th, so it was fun. She thinks Brent is a good cook, which he is. :) Here's the new pictures of Reyes. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Before....












After... Big, huh??

She has really dark eyes, dark curly hair and her eyebrows are already coming in. It was so fun to see all of them! Marcela is doing good...getting the hang of this mom thing. Ryan is good as always and Luz was fun to talk to about plants. Yep that's right, she's a plant lady too! :)

Well, after a little while, Brad, Court and the kids came over too. Brad had never seen our house, so we gave him a quick tour. The kids decided it was time to dance, so we got quite a show...

They like-a do the cha cha!


Look how big Kyle is getting!
He's around 16 months and into everything and a chatter box! He is such a lovie little kid...


We had quite a houseful on Sunday and we just loved it! Too much fun!


I had better get going...have some stuff to do before my parents get here. Have a great one!

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay part 2

It wouldn't let me put any more pictures on and I wasn't done yet...

And the best one... the BIG HUG!

They are a bunch of crazy guys! I tell you. Brent and Jared got in a wrestling match on Saturday and Jared won. Well, he won the right to have a big old knot on his forehead from where Brent's elbow hit him. I tell you, I don't get boys sometimes. Siblings are a mystery to me as well.

Here's another picture of Reyes. I think it sums up how most of you will feel about this posting...boooooring! :) I can't wait to go see her now that I'm feeling better. Have a great day all!

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay...

Ok, so I'm not sitting on the dock of the bay, but that is a really good song that always reminds me of good times.

Can you believe it's only been 2 days? I can't.

We've had a good weekend. Brad got home from San Diego on Thursday night. He decided to surprise Court by coming home a day early and we were in on the surprise. Then the phone rings and it's Court asking Brent to come over and fix their door knob downstairs. (Chloe locked it then shut it, and they couldn't get in.) So, we went over there and were there when Brad pretended to call from San Diego but he was actually at the airport. It was funny. Court had no idea. She was really surprised when the doorbell rang and it was him.

Anyway, we did a lot of errands on Saturday...Costco, Joann's, Fred Meyer, etc. Not a ton of fun but needed to be done. Then we went over to Court and Brad's and talked for like 5 hours. Isn't it great having friends you can do that with? We certainly love it.

I taught in YW's today....Personal Purity through Self-Mastery. I like these really meaty subjects! I also really like the girls...they are so willing to be open and honest and really ask questions. I love that. Most of them just got back from a trip to Sacramento to go to the Temple open house. I of course couldn't go because of work - I miss out on all the fun. Oh well. I get to teach and be there on Tuesday nights. ;)

Brent of course had meetings this morning. He loves meetings. Next week is Stake Conference so he's pretty sure he's not going to have meetings. He is really excited about that.

When we got home I took a long nap. It was great!

Ok, on to the pictures. Hmmm...what to share today....I've got it.

The Linton boys were dressed fairly identical on the day of the blessing. So, they decided to pose for some pictures. Hilarity ensued.
To be continued....

And we are rocketed into the 90's!

That's right, we now have DSL. Brent and I decided that we deserved to have faster internet, so... Brent set it up last night. This should really help my blogging. I am the most impatient person I know. Now we just need a new keyboard and life will be great! :)

I know it's been almost 2 weeks since the blessing, but I'm going to just pretend it hasn't been. So, here's our newest little nice...Reyes Lorenza Linton!
She's pretty cute, isn't she?? It's hard to tell in this picture, but she has a ton of brown hair - even some on her shoulders. Hee hee! (I can say that because I also have the joy of too much hair!)

Reyes was blessed on 8/6 by her dad, Ryan. He did a great job! It was very cool. I realized that this is the first niece with the last name Linton. Weird.

Reyes is a really good baby. She doesn't ever really get crying...yet. And she really likes her Aunt Ashley....who could blame her!

Here's a picture of the whole new family. For anyone who doesn't know...this is Brent's little brother Ryan, his wife Marcela and their new baby Reyes. The cool thing about Reyes is that she has her mom's coloring and ears and her dad's chubby face. Well, at least his chubby face when he was a baby. It's so interesting to see how they come out!

I have titled this one..."So Big" What do you think about that name?

I think that's probably good for the pictures right now... I guess I can talk about us. (Besides, the computer has basically told me it does not want to load any more pictures.)

We're doing pretty good. I've been fighting off a cold all week. I guess I was more tired out by the big weekend than I thought. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow and Sunday and get feeling better.

I've been CRAZY busy with Young Women's lately. Well, since I was called in our new ward. It's a lot of work to try to get a YW's organization going with only 3 people. We don't have a second counselor yet...don't know how long it will take to get one. But, I love the girls so much. They are so cool. Each in their own ways. I feel so at ease in this calling and with these girls. It was harder in Soutworth. And, I get to teach a lot, which is awesome! And it will be so much easier to prepare for my lessons with DSL!

Oh, and I had to speak in church...again. That's the third time this year! I hope I'm done for awhile! And in our new ward, they don't have husbands and wives speak together, so Brent dodged a bullet. Man! It was a good talk though, if I do say so myself! :)

Brent is good! He almost got sent to San Diego for a month today. But since he's already on a different list to go to Portsmouth, NH and Groton, CT, he didn't have to go. I wouldn't mind if I wasn't working and could go with him, but... It would suck to be home alone for that long.

He is getting really good at his Ward Clerk calling. He gets a lot of phone calls for help and he may grumble a little bit, but he always goes and helps them with the computer. I'm so proud of him. Even though he really doesn't like meetings, he's really dedicated to this calling!

We had to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency last week to renew our Temple Recommends. Well, we met with President Spangler who is our bishop's dad. President Spangler is a really friendly guy who used to be in the FBI. I served with his wife in YW's in our old ward. Anyway, President Spangler started telling us stories about Donny. Well, Donny is our bishop. It was so funny to hear stories about when our bishop was a kid. I kept thinking, "I don't think I should know this about our bishop!" We definitely live in the Spangler Stake, but that's ok. They're a good family.

Oh, when Brent's mom was here, she came with us to our ward. That's the first time in 8 years that she has been to our ward. She didn't think it was a friendly ward, but I tried to explain that no one probably even realized she was a visitor...there are so many new people every week.

We got DSL...did I say that?

I think that's about it. I'll keep posting...except Tuesdays because that's YW's. I hope DSL will help! (We got DSL)

Love you all!

Long time, long time, long time gone

Hellooooo Everybody! I am in fact back. I apologize for my long absence. The month of July just got away from me. I know it's no excuse, but work really is very busy right now.

Where to begin??? We got 10 tons of rock delivered a couple of weeks ago for our retaining wall Brent's building. I know that you're looking and thinking that I didn't mean 10 tons. I in fact did mean 10 tons. This is what 10 tons of rock looks like....

The next big news is that our newest niece was born on July 21st at 3:40 am. Her name is Reyes Lorenza Linton. She was 6lb 15oz, 19" long. Her loving parents are Brent's brother Ryan and his wife Marcela. I haven't gotten a good picture of her face yet, but here's me holding her. Just a little background on the picture. When Reyes looks at you, she looks in your eyes. It's very cute and very hard to look away from. She is a cutie! I'll try to get a good picture of the front of her soon.

Brent mom got here on Tuesday. She has been freezing since she got here, but that's the Pacific Northwest!

Well, sorry this is so short, but the dial up connection is driving me crazy!!! I'll try to keep up, I promise!!

And I'm Proud to be an American!

And now, onto the Market....

The Market is so much fun and we haven't been there for quite a while! The flowers are GORGEOUS and cheap! A wonderful combination. Plus you get to see a lot of interesting stuff. It was a very pretty day!

We have had a great day today! Hope you all have too! Have a Happy 4th of July!

Oh, I'm Back in the Saddle Again

Yep, that's right, I have been called to be the Young Womens 1st Counselor! Yeah! I have to admit I am both relieved and excited! Some of the girls from our old ward are there and there are a lot of new ones too. We only have about 12 active girls, 30 on the rolls, so we have a lot of work to do, but it will be fun. The new YW President has never been in a YW's presidency before, so this will be exciting!

Saturday was Adrian's 12th birthday. Where has the time gone? He's really into pirates right now, so that was kind of the theme of the party. He was funny on the phone...."Would you like me to tell you what I got?" He's a funny kid!

While I was talking to my family, Brent washed his truck. He loves doing this! Just look at that smile!

On Sunday we had our friends John and Laura and their two kids came over for dinner. Brent made really yummy pork ribs. Everyone enjoyed them. Out of the 4 adults, John was the only one with a different calling in the new ward. Pretty funny. They're fun people and we're enjoying getting to know them! Oh and Laura was really impressed with how baby friendly our house is. Thanks Court! :)

It was kind of annoying to have to work yesterday, but Brent and I both headed off. I actually had to work, but Brent had a pretty non-productive day. They all brought in food and just ate all day.

July 3rd was my Grandpa's birthday. Happy Birthday Papa!

We decided to go see fireworks on Monday night since we have to get up early on Wednesday. Poulsbo does their fireworks on the 3rd every year, so that's nice. We went to see "The Devil Wears Prada" which was very funny, then watched the fireworks. Not as good as Hawaii last year, but still fun to see.

And now to the 4th. Since this is kind of a stolen day, I decided that there would be no yard work today...only play. So, we caught the ferry over to Seattle... (this was the view from the car.)

And went to REI. The store in Seattle is the very first REI. It's HUGE! And kind of hard to get to...I hate one way streets. It's so annoying to be able to see it and not be able to get there. But we did get there. Brent has been wanting to buy a titanium spork for backpacking for a long time and he finally bought it today. He's very exciting. I mean, it weighs .32 oz. He's kind of funny.

I on the other hand, have been wanting to get some hiking sandals. I found the perfect ones. I'm so exciting. Hiking in flip-flops is just difficult. They are cute and supper comfy!

Now off to the Market... and since it won't let me add any more pictures, it is off to the next blog!

We're Having a Heat Wave!!!!

Before I forget again, here's something else from last week, so just pretend that this is still last week's entry....

Ryan and Marcela came over for dinner on Father's Day. Brent made his amazing lasagna! Everyone loved it. Marcela even asked for the recipe. We hand made, ok opened the box, a razzleberry pie. It was a fun time. Marcela is ready to get this baby into the world. She says she can't wait for the 4th of July. When asked why she says, "Because then I can have the baby anytime." I'm sure her mom hopes that it's after they get here on July 18th. It will be nice to welcome a new baby into the family! And, one with brown hair too! (One of these things is not like the other....)

Ok, now we're coming back out of the distant past to the current past. Monday night a member of our Stake High Council came over to meet with Brent...but more on that later.

Tuesday night was my last Young Women's activity. Le sigh! It was a water fight. With the boys no less. Here are a few things I learned from the water fight. When arming teenagers with water guys, don't try to give them rules to the game. They will just end up shooting whoever they want to. Don't stand near the Bishop because he has a big old target on him. Don't laugh when the bishop gets drenched because he will then come after you with a bucket. And, finally, Washington in June is too cold for a water fight!

Wednesday was Meggy's 6th birthday! We thought that Brent might be on a submarine that day, but luckily he got to talk to her. They talked and talked and had a great time. It was fun! We miss being near you guys!

Thursday was a bad traffic day! Brent and I work in Bremerton and we live in Port Orchard (actually we live at the red #2). There are only 2 ways to get to Port Orchard from Bremerton. You can take a foot ferry, which makes it hard to drive home. Or you can drive around the water...following the green route. Well, a truck carrying two huge air conditioner units from a ship they are recycling at the yard tipped over at the arrow and closed down the road. As you may or may not be able to tell, there is no other way to drive around, so basically, we were stuck. By the time we got off of work, they had opened the road again, but the back up was INSANE! So, we went to Costco after work. Unfortunately, we didn't wait long enough and it still took us about 1 hour to get home. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes. It was stressful! But, that's the joy of living somewhere where there is a lot of water!

Friday night Brent made pizza dough. He loves this chef from Food Network named Alton Brown. Alton has a show called Good Eats. Brent LOVES this show!!! We have a couple of the DVD's and one has a pizza dough recipe. It is an expert recipe, but Brent's pretty sure he can tackle it. You have to let the dough rise in the fridge for 18-24 hours, so he made it tonight.

Saturday, Brent had to work ALL DAY. I haven't had a day completely to myself for a long time. It was weird. I did a little yard work, then headed over to the library and Farmer's Market. There was a carnival going on too. I had to parallel park. I actually did it really well. Before my mom starts saying how good she is at teaching me in Hawaii...it's a lot easier with your own car!

Last week when we went to the market I saw these CUTE fuchsias. They had these tiny blooms! And then when I found out they were called Little Witches, I had to have one. The lady selling them only had big plants, so she said she would bring me some starts this week, so that was why I went. I also got some kettle corn and cherries. It was such a beautiful day and the market is right on the water. It was great.

When Brent got home, he made the pizzas. They turned out really good!! Almost as good as Italian Village!! Here he is with his pride and joy! Here's what we learned from the pizza. You cannot substitute a pizza peel (the wooden thing you put the pizza in and out with) with a metal pizza pan. Waiting three minutes after the pizza comes out of the oven is very hard. And, finally, Brent is an expert chef! :) (Oh and I'm glad you can't see all the holes in the t-shirt he has on. This t-shirt is from before we were married. Boys, I tell you!)









And now to today! We went to our first meeting as members of the brand new Orchard Heights Ward. It was interesting. We only had Sacrament Meeting today since there weren't any teachers called or anything. We only have 7 active Young Men, so there are a lot of Elders passing the sacrament. Brent was called as......Ward Clerk! When asked what he thought of this, he said, "I hate meetings." That's my Brent. I as yet, don't have a calling. We'll see what the Lord wants me to do now. It's kind of exciting to be in a new ward. We're starting from scratch. The bishop is going to be good. He's funny and serious when he needs to be. (A perfect combination in a bishop if you ask me.) We're really looking forward to it.

I bet you're saying to yourselves, What was she talking about a heat wave. Well, yesterday was in the upper 80's. Today is the low 90's. Tomorrow is suppose to be in the mid-90's and Tuesday, the upper 80's again. This is VERY hot up here. The church doesn't even have air conditioning. (Kind of reminded me of Hawaii, but that's another story.) Our house gets rather hot too. Luckily, we have a basement that is actually under the ground, so we can hide out here. Plus it gets in the 50's at night and by Wednesday we are suppose to be back in the 70's. I'm soooo glad the air conditioning is working at work!!!!

Well, I'm off to help Brent with dinner. We're having copper river salmon! Have a great week all!

Monday, Monday...bah dah, bah dah dah dah

Hello all! Hope everyone had a great weekend and Father's Day. Let's see, what have we done lately.

Last weekend, we bought a futon. If I can talk Brent into going downstairs and taking a picture, I'll show you. Now we have some place for people to sleep if they come and see us. Well, besides the floor. We do have a couple of nice air mattresses too. So, we are ready for the visitors! :) (I'm pretty sure Brent's not going to take a pictures, so...sorry)

I got a raise at work. It's not that much, but it's nice to know that they think I'm doing a good job. It makes me feel good, even if I don't love the job.

On Saturday, we got a patio set for our nice deck. We haven't put it together yet, but then again, it hasn't been really warm out there yet. The breeze is coolish!

In honor of Father's Day, here's a picture of my parents. Aren't they cute?? All kidding aside, I love my dad. He's the best! :)

Have a good day!

Do hummingbirds hum because they don't remember the words?

Wow, only a couple of days between blogs this time. I'm amazing!

I may have more time on my hands after this week. We found out today that we are officially in the new ward - Orchard Heights. We are excited about this new change. It will be fun to get to know some more new people. And, as I said, the ones we're getting to be friends with are in the new ward. The sad part is that no, Court and Brad are not in our new ward. This is the 4th time we've lived near by each other and not been in the same ward. Court and I lamented over the phone today. But, we decided that it is probably better because then we can't be anti-social.

At any rate, that means I'm released from Young Womens and Brent's released from Ward Clerk. Our new bishop is probably Brent's age, so that will be interesting getting to know him. We are going to spend Father's Day in our current wards, then start going to Orchard Heights on the 25th. That will give the new bishop time to get all the callings filled.

We are still having fun with our hummingbird feeder. But, apparently we are the only ones around with hummingbird food because they go through a batch every three days or so. Brent calls them the little piggies. They really are! But, it's fun to see them at the feeder every 2 minutes.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I have no pictures for today. Sorry. Just wanted to let you know about our new ward. Should be interesting!

Hello Again, Hello

Yes, that's right. I'm actually writing! I know it's been FOREVER! Sorry. Life just sort of got away from us.

Our Memorial Day weekend was good. We worked in the yard. That's pretty much what we've been doing. We went and saw X-Men 3. Not the best movie we've seen in a long time! We LOVED the first two, but this one was really disappointing! Now, we're just waiting for Pirate's 2! That should be exciting.

I really can't remember much else, so I'm going to jump forward to this last week. Last Friday the Mia Maid advisor had a sleep over at her house. And, since I'm still trying to convince the girls that I'm cool, I went. Well, Marcie's son got sick and she had to take him to the hospital so it ended up not being a sleepover, which I was REALLY glad about, but we did have fun. (Marcie's son is ok. He had sores in his mouth and was just plain old sad.)

Saturday, we worked out in the yard. We worked so hard, we were sore. But, it's getting better. Not as quickly as we would like, but...

This is part of our front yard. We are trying to get all the plants that are planted in the wrong place, weeds and ivy out. It will look good when we're done though!






Sunday was an interesting day. Brent had an early meeting because it was Fast Sunday. He usually gets home at about 9:45a. It was about 10:45 when he got home. And I had to be at church at 11:30 for BYC meeting. He said, "We had a lot to talk about." Anyway, we go back to church and I go to my meeting. Just before Sacrament Meeting starts, Brent and the Bishop were talking and when I walked up, they stopped, so I walked off again. Then Brent comes up to me and says, "You're being released." I said, "Why?" And he said, "Because they are re-arranging the wards next Sunday and we're in the new ward. The Bishop told me I could tell you so you weren't too surprised." I thought that was really nice of the Bishop! I mean, I knew about 10 minutes before everyone else, but...

So, this Sunday, we're getting put in the new ward. It's going to be called Orchard Heights ward. That sounds nice, huh? I have to say, I'm somewhat sad though. I just got this calling in the Young Women and was just getting accepted. Oh well.

All the people that we're starting to become friends with are going to be in the new ward, we think. They live really close to us, so we're hoping. We're also hoping that Court and Brad will be in our ward too. They are 2 blocks out of the ward we live in now, so...maybe. Maybe not. We'll see on Sunday. So, to sum up...we've lived in this house for 3 months and we've been in two wards. :)

Tuesday night, the young women were making pajama pants for camp. Since there were only 2 leaders there, I had to help them. Now, I am not a sewing genius. I can kind of sew in a straight line, so it was going well until it came to the pockets. I got confused and told them to sew their pockets on the bottom of the pants. Luckily, we figured it out before they sewed the pants together, but I was quite embarrassed! At least I can laugh at myself, right?

Last night Brent had two meetings at church and I had to go to the last one too, so I went with him early. I was just sitting there reading and our social worker walked up and said hi. She was teaching at a meeting. Funny huh? We do meet her at that church, but it was still funny.

So, there you go. That's pretty much it. Nothing too exciting! Here are some pictures to show that we've been doing some stuff.

This is our rock wall that we really didn't know was there when we moved in since it was covered in ivy.












My summer bulbs are finally coming up! It got kind of cold right after I planted them, so I was getting worried, but now they're going crazy! I can't wait until they start to flower! They might be hard to see, but they are there!














Here are some of my pretty flowers! Court and Brad gave me the pot for my birthday a couple of years ago. It looks nice with the petunia's right?















Oh, I almost forgot two very exciting things! The first is that my parents are coming up at the end of August, beginning of September to visit us. It will be fun to see them. But most of all, it will be fun to show them our house!

The second exciting thing is that Court and the kids are coming back in 5 weeks. Brad will probably be extended in San Diego and both Sarah and Chloe are going to be in school, so they're coming back when he can drive with them and fly back. We're excited to have them back!

Have a great week! I'll let you know what we find out with our new ward!

Our house...in the middle of our street...Our house

What to talk about? Hmmm....

Our week was good. We had Standard's Night on Tuesday for young women's. It started out with a few hiccups, but finished well. Some of the girls said they liked it...the others said it was boring, but you can't please everyone.

Mostly we just hung out at home. We had to watch the second to last Alias on Wednesday. I'm so glad they brought Vaughn back. I don't really think they were planning to, but so many people, including myself, stopped watching when he died, that they had to bring him back.

Lost was interesting, but we didn't really know what was going on since we haven't been watching as religiously as we used to.

Brent had to work 11-1/2 hours on Thursday. I felt sorry for him. He was pretty tired. He hasn't had to work that long of a day since Hawaii.

Friday night, we headed over to Ryan and Marcela's to have a birthday dinner for Ryan. It was fun! Good food, good times. Brent helped Ry build their new crib. Only 10 more weeks. Marcela is getting quite big. We can really tell since we don't see her every week. I could even see the baby kicking her. It was kind of funny. Well, funny for me. I don't think Marcela likes those kicks too much. Oh, we gave Ryan some legos. He was very excited. Engineers love legos!

Happy Birthday to Steve on Saturday! We called, but I guess they were out having fun, so...Happy Birthday!

Brent had to work Saturday morning too. When he got home, we went around to some more plant places so I can drool over what I want to plant in our yard.

That's about it. Nothing too exciting. Oh, Brent reminded me that he has more brothers and sisters than I have cousins. That's weird, isn't it?

Oh, these pictures are from last week. Kind of fun! We went to Manchester Park. It was fun to go on a little hike and be by the water.

This is Mt Rainier. You can only see it on clear days!

This is the ferry that runs from Bremerton to Seattle. It takes about an hour. Brent always says, why take a harbor tour, just take the ferry and look out the window!







Have a great week!

Bye Papa

Well, last week wasn't the greatest week for me. My grandpa passed away on May 7th. He hadn't really been sick, I just think he was tired with life. As my mom said at the funeral...he is now free from the body that gave out on him. So, it's good, but sad at the same time. (This picture is from a LONG time ago! If you can't tell, I'm the one on the left, my cousin Jennifer is on the right. Our moms took us to get pictures taken, but the photographer had a beard, so he scared us. We wouldn't stop crying until Grandpa held us.) That's my Papa!

I don't know why, but I knew that Grandpa had died while we were at church. I just started crying and crying. I knew that there would be a message on the answering machine when we got home. It was good to be prepared.

So, I went to work on Monday and told them I wasn't going to be there until the next Monday (today) because I had to go to my grandpa's funeral. I was completely prepared to quit if they had a problem with that, but luckily, they didn't.

My sweet Brent was such a help to me! He completely took over and even got two days off so he could come to the funeral with me. I am so lucky and thankful to have him as my husband! :)

We flew in on Tuesday and Grandpa's funeral was Wednesday. It was a nice graveside service. There were a lot of people there. Has to make you feel good, right? He was and is very loved and will be missed.

Brent flew home Wednesday afternoon and I staid until Friday. It was good to spend time with my family. Thank you all for your care and support to me through this time! I really do appreciate it.

Since all of my cousins were together for the first time in a long time, I made us get a picture taken. Starting from the left: Adam, James, Jenny, Me, Jennifer. Yep, that's all my cousins! Small family, I know. Cute picture though!

Court's birthday was on the 7th. Happy 30th Court! :) She happened to be in Utah on Tuesday, so we got to see each other for a few minutes on Tuesday night. It was fun. Unfortunately, I was mobbed by Sarah, so I didn't get to talk much to Court, but I was glad to see her. I don't know if my-cat-who-lives-with-my-parents George is over getting mauled by Chloe. She just loves cats! It's cute. Kyle loves boys. He didn't want to play with me, but he loved Brent. Lucky Brent!

Oh, I almost forgot. When we flew to Utah, we passed right by Mt Rainier. It was a gorgeous day and I think this is a cool picture!

So, I got home on Friday night. It was a really long week, but I couldn't relax because we had to speak on Mother's Day. I am not a huge fan of Mother's Day anyway and I especially don't like the consolation prize I get for being a girl over a certain age on Mother's Day. The talks went well. I really liked Brent's. It was cute! He really likes that mom of his. I like my mom too, but my talk was a little bit different. I just didn't feel like talking about mother's per se. I talked about great women in my life! Someone told me that it was one of the best talks they had ever heard. He's a really nice guy, so I'm pretty sure he says that to everyone, but it was still nice to hear.

We spent last night having chocolate cake and playing games with some new friends from our ward. It was quite fun. We played the phase 10 dice game. We have, of course, played Phase 10, but this was the first time with dice. Brent won. Beginners luck. I don't get that very often.

It was 80 today. A beautiful day! Too bad I was at work, not home working on our yard. Brent was home though since it's his day off. He really wanted to get this picture, so he sat at the table and waited until a hummingbird came up. We have a TON of them. (Or just one greedy one) When I was little, my Grandma Sally would make everyone stop in their tracks and be quiet so the hummingbird would eat. It was cute!

Have a great day! Sorry if this took forever to load, but I just wanted to catch up with the pictures!

Spring has most definitely Sprung!

Hello All,

Surprisingly enough, it hasn't been two weeks since I posted. I'm amazed too. This is a very calm week for me. I just had YW's last night, and then I can do whatever I want. It's kind of fun! Unfortunately, Brent has meetings tonight, but...we can't possibly think that we should be home together at night. That's crazy!

Things are going well around here. We've had a lazy week so far. Neither of us have really felt like doing anything. I keep looking at the north side of our house and thinking how I really should weed, but...I haven't yet.

Tonight, I thought that the girl was going to come and wash my car, but she hasn't showed up yet. It's after 8 pm, so I'm pretty sure she's not coming. The sun goes down pretty late this time of year, but it's still pretty dark. (Oh, if you are wondering what I'm talking about, the YW had an auction for camp and I beat out the president for a car wash. Taylor has no idea what she's getting into. I don't think my car has been washed since before we went to Hawaii. The rain does an ok job, but that's just ridiculous!)

At work, I have become the I.T. person, which is kind of scary, because I'm really not that good. They just got tablet pc's and wireless printers, so they get put on my desk. "Hey Ashley, set these up ok?" Well, I don't know anything about wireless and my on-the-phone help line (aka Brent) doesn't know anything about wireless either. I've been working on it for the past two days. I finally gave up and set the printer up to work with the USB cable.

Jared called yesterday while I was at work, so Brent called him back while I was at YW's. When I asked how Jared and Katie were doing, Brent said, "Good." I hope they talked more than that!

I feel like I'm rambling, but hey, that's me!

Oh, I almost forgot...AGAIN! Brent was mad that I forgot to tell you about my surprise! Last Tuesday night while I was at YW's, he went grocery shopping. When I got home, he was acting so funny. Finally, he said that there was a surprised hidden somewhere in the house. I finally found it! It was the t-shirt sheets I've been wanting from Fred Meyer! They are red with hibiscus on them. I kept visiting them whenever we went shopping, but they were kind of expensive. Well, they were on sale and Brent had a coupon. It was very exciting! He's so nice!

The picture of the day is of Meg and Tay. This is from Christmas. I love this picture!


Amazing Race is the best show!

Have a great time! Oh, and yes, Jess, we do have a big backyard. Brent is having fun mowing it with his little push mower. :)

Hello Again, Hello....

Do you notice that a lot of my titles are song lyrics? Apparently I listen to too much music!

Well, it's only been two weeks since I've posted. That's not bad. Let's run down what has been going on in our lives....

We had a great Easter! Ryan and Marcela came down to have dinner. We had a good old fashioned Easter meal ... ham and potatoes. Marcela was amazed that you could buy that much ham in the store. We sent the bone home with them since we don't like any soup made from ham bone. (Great picture huh? Brent's so good at holding the camera and smiling. It's one of his gifts!) Oh, and since he wouldn't let me take a picture after I cut his hair, look how nice his hair looks! Luckily you can't see the places I missed. I'm practicing!

When Ryan and Marcela got there, I said, "Hey Greengoes" and thought I was sooo funny, that that was the joke of the night...for me at least. Here are a couple of pictures of them being silly.

I really like this picture...it was hard to take it because I was laughing so hard, but you can really see how big Ryan's belly is getting. Just kidding Ry!

Monday night we made cookies for Family Home Evening. We made a bunch of snickerdoodles for YW's on Tuesday. But, being who I am and because I was running late, I forgot to take them, so we ended up with a TON of snickerdoodles. Oh well.

Young Women's was entitled Southworth Idol. (Our ward's name is Southworth) It was also combined with the boys. So, each class got a song and we had 40 minutes to figure out what to do. The MiaMaids got a Christina Agulara (or however you spell it) song that I didn't know. It turned out that our class was the only one who included all the girls and the only one that included the leader in a part of the lip synching. Lucky me. Oh well, it was a lot of fun!

Wednesday night was another meeting for me. It was at the president's house. The secretary drew me a map, but unfortunately she is very bad with directions and drew it backwards. She even wrote the phone number down so I could call if I got lost, but she wrote the wrong number or I dialed the wrong number. Either way, I finally found it, but I was late. I hate being late. Her house down one of those infamous Washington roads that look like a long driveway.

Our niece Alyssa turned 2 on the 21st. We sent her Mr Potato Head stuff because all the Elmo stuff we found made noise and Brent won't do that to people. I thought this one thing was really cute, but he vetoed it.

Last weekend we spent part of the day at an auction for the Young Women to go to camp. We ended up buying a haircut (mine not Brent's), some rolls and a car wash. It was great fun!

Then, we spent the rest of Saturday getting ready for our big home visit from the social worker. I got a little crazy and thought we needed to get everything unpacked before she came, but Brent was there to calm me down and we ended up just organizing the boxes better.

Sarah's 7th birthday was last Sunday. I am so amazed that she is that old. Weird. We sent her a princess pillowcase. I was told that Belle is her favorite, so we're hoping she liked it. She is fun to talk on the phone to because she doesn't really listen to your questions, but just says what she was going to say anyway.

Tuesday, YW's consisted of an etiquette dinner with the teachers. I wasn't in on the planning, so I think it could have gone better than it did. The boys had a little food fight and the girls wouldn't sit with the boys. Other than that, it went well. Now they want to do a non-etiquette night. I think we'll wait for warmer weather!

The home inspection went really well. Our social worker, Nicki, really liked our house and was impressed that we were as moved in as we were. Things are still moving with the adoption. We are going to focus on the internet profile and get that up to snuff. We're even thinking about doing another blog where we can put fun things we've done, but not have it be as personal as this one. What do you think about that?

Nicki was sick, and I had been fighting off a cold, but her added germs got me, so the rest of the week, I was sick. I still went to work, but my voice sounded so nice and low. It was great.

Thursday was Brent's mom's birthday. Since I was under the weather, I was very proud of Brent for remembering to call her. He says that he can remember to call, most of the time. I'm just there for the times that he forgets. She's doing well. Gearing up for Trek this summer. I'm glad it's her and not me. Doesn't sound like fun!

We went to a couple of garden centers yesterday, which is what I love to do. Brent likes it too, especially now that we have somewhere to put things. It poured the whole time, but that's ok because we have nice waterproof coats.

Today, I taught YW's for the first time. It was kind of stressful because of course the Stake YW President shows up, but I think it went well. They didn't look like they were listening, but then when I asked a question, they would raise their hands, so, I guess they were.

My grandpa is not doing well. It kind of seems as if he has given up on this whole living thing. He won't get out of bed and won't eat. I respect his right to choose, but I know it's hard on my family to watch him die. I hope if that is God's will that it will happen sooner than later. Death is never an easy thing in a family's life.

I'm going to close this wonderful posting (Brent's getting bored) with a picture of our newest addition. This is Ned. He's a japanese maple tree that we got from Wal-mart. He was $5. He is the first tree that we have bought. As soon as we figure out where he's going to go, we'll let you know.

Oh, and we watched the movie "Because of Winn-Dixie" last Sunday. It was very cute and very similar to the book, which I love! We recommend it because it's a great one for the whole family!

Have a great day!

What a Busy Week!!

Well, I certainly hit the ground running with this whole YW thing!!! I have been in meeting after meeting this week. I really haven't been home at all. Tuesday night is mutual. Our Bishop has asked us to have Class Presidency meetings at 6:30, then mutual begins at 7p. Well, I get home at 5p, so it's kind of a fast turn around. (And, only one MiaMaid showed up, so we just talked.)

Wednesday was the visiting night. My Relief Society president came by. She's very nice. Has a nice big family (9 kids) and her daughter is the MiaMaid class president. Soon after she left, the YW President came over to get me up to date with what's going on. She was here for 2-1/2 hours. I love her already, but she's a talker. Her name is also Barbie and her husband's name is Ken. Seriously. That makes me laugh. She a cute little white haired lady, but I have a hard time calling her Barbie. It's just funny.

Then Thursday night was a Stake YW Leadership meeting. It was great! It was all about how to get those "lost sheep" back. I have 15 girls on my rolls and only 5-6 come regularly.

So, tonight, Brent's in Seattle going to a Sonics game with Chad, a guy from our old ward. I went to dinner with two girls from work. It was fun. They are funny people. I don't know if they know what to do with me though. I think I was really quiet tonight, but I get quiet in new situations. I hope they want to go out with me again, it was fun.

This weekend I HAVE to get my bulbs planted. I bought a bunch from Costco and I need to get them in the ground. It has been raining every weekend, but I'm just going to have to suck it up and plant them in the rain tomorrow. Brent says he'll hold the umbrella for me. That will be a funny picture! They may be the only plants that get planted this year, but they come back every year, so that will be great.

Speaking of the yard, Brent decided to get a push mower. Now, Ryan and Marcela have a push mower, but really, they have a postage stamp size lawn. (Sorry guys, but you do!) I was surprised when Brent suggested the push mower, because our back yard is pretty big and it's terranced. His arguments were good...doesn't use gas, which is sooo expensive right now; is good exercise; is more environmentally friendly; and he won't have to take it apart to see why it won't start; and last but not least, it was a lot cheaper to buy. He mowed the lawn on Wednesday night. It was pretty long, but he said it worked well. He also saw two frogs and a salamander. Only in Washington!

We're having Ryan and Marcela over for Easter dinner on Sunday. Should be fun! This will be the first time we've have anyone over for dinner in our new house.

The picture of the day is from the FFD in December. Steve took this of us at Chili's. I love it because Brent is actually smiling like he normally smiles. Steve, you're a great photographer!

Happy Easter to you all! Let us all remember the real reason for this holiday!

I'm Baaaack

Hello everyone! I would like to announce some very exciting news. After a two year hiatus, I am back in Young Women's!! I was called to be the 1st counselor, which means I get to work with the MiaMaids, which I have never done before! I kind of feel like I'm coming home. I'm so exciting. I am hitting the ground running this week with an activity on Tuesday and a Stake meeting on Thursday. I'll have to get used to this again!

Brent had to be at a meeting this morning at 6a. Needless to say, he was very excited when he woke up this morning. Oh well. He says the hardest part about this job is that he has to learn the whole wards names at one time basically. He'll get it though! He's so smart.

Let's see, what has been going on this week? It has been beautiful weather, right up until Saturday, which is the way it works sometimes. We really need to go buy a lawn mower because our clumpy grass is getting long. And I finally got a trowel yesterday, so I can plant my summer bulbs. Exciting!

Yesterday we decided we needed a break from our house, so we headed over to Ikea. As most of you know, Ikea is not a shopping trip, it is an event. I hear that they have broken ground on the one in Utah, so you Utahns will soon learn the fun that is Ikea. Sorry to those who don't live near one. We had the great Swedish Meatballs for lunch, which is the traditional Ikea day meal. Then we walked and walked and walked. It was fun to see things that we would like to put in our house. We didn't buy a lot this time, but we have a list of "maybe" items for next time. It rained for most of the time we were driving there and back, but that's ok.

Brent just reminded me about something funny that happened at church today. When we were in Hawaii, another couple that was there, Kyle and Marcie, kept trying to talk us into moving into their ward. We kept saying no, since Brent's boss is the bishop of that ward, but we ended up in their ward anyway. While we were in Hawaii, Marcie and I did a couple of things together and I thought she was kind of weird, but ok. Well, I walk into YW's today and who is there, Marcie. So, I'm think during all of opening exercises, I wonder who she teaches with. Well, turns out, me! She's the MiaMaid advisor. Kind of funny that I get to serve with the only other person I know in the ward. I guess Heavenly Father really did want me to get to know Marcie, so He's giving me another chance.

Since I'm kind of cold right now, I think we need a picture from somewhere warm... Oh, and Mom, this picture was taken where we released Grandma's crab. (When my Mom and Grandma came to visit us in Hawaii, my Grandma kept collecting shells that were still attached to something. I had to keep making her put them back.)
Ahhh...warm Hawaii. :)


Well, Brent's brownies are in the oven and I think we're going to watch a movie. He says that I can choose, but we'll see how long that lasts when I choose a girlie movie! :) Have a good week!

What a BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Spring has sprung...at least for today...in the Northwest! It was 60 degrees and sunny all day today. Granted, I had to work, but at least I sit in front of a huge window, so I got to enjoy it, somewhat!

Right now I'm watching my absolute FAVORITE show...the Amazing Race. I'm so happy because they moved it back to 8p our time so I can watch it and still get enough sleep. It makes me happy. I would love to be in the places they get to go, but I don't think I would do well in a competition for that long.

Speaking of competition...after Conference on Sunday, we decided to play a game. Brent chose Risk. I have never played Risk before, so it took us a little bit to figure it out. But...once we did, I totally won. Actually, it was more like Global Domination! It was awesome! I enjoy winning every once in awhile. Truthfully, there are only a couple of games that I'm good at. I can name them...connect four (Brent has only beat me maybe 7 times and we've played a lot while waiting for flights), scrutineyes (I'm good at the weird animals), and Disney Trivia (I kick butt at this game). Not a huge list, but maybe after a couple more wins, I can add Risk to this list.

Oh, I keep forgetting to tell this story. It's a very scary one! I was reading the paper a couple of weeks ago and there was a picture of this girl with her leg all wrapped up. The caption said that she was recovering from her shark attack at Three Tables on Oahu. I almost dropped the paper. That was about 1 minute north of where we went snorkeling all the time while we were in Hawaii. For those of you who understand my irrational fear of sharks, you'll understand while this was so scary for me! For those of you who don't, imagine the scariest thing you can think of hanging out in your favorite place. Granted, the place we went snorkeling was called Shark's Cove, but still... I hope that if we go back I'll be able to talk myself into going snorkeling there again. I love to snorkel, I just hate sharks! (By the way, the picture is of Three Tables)

On Monday, I found out some really disheartening news. I can't wear sandals of any kind to my job. What?? My boss "Thinks feet should be covered at all times." What is that about? I'm not saying I would wear my flip-flops to work, but nice sandals should be ok. Oh no. What if someone rolls over your toe with their chair? Are you kidding me? At least it doesn't get too hot for too long here. I would probably die otherwise. I will have to keep my flips in the car for the drive home.

Brent had his first meetings today. He said it was good. The worst part for him is that he has to put on nice clothes. That's my husband.

This is also my husband. Isn't he cute? I took this picture at the FFD (Family Fun Day) at Hollywood Connection over Christmas. He looks like he's having a great time, doesn't he?


I talked to Court today. It's really nice to talk to her. It's no fun that they're so far away. Brad got in a car accident on Monday. Someone rear ended him while he was driving the rental car. He's pretty sore, but otherwise ok. Marcela asked me one time how Court and I have been friends for so long. The only thing that I can say is that we're family, not friends. We may not look anything alike, but we're sisters in our hearts! Love ya Court!


Let's hope that spring has actually sprung. Have a great day!

Conference Weekend

Hello again. It looks like Sundays are the best days for me to blog, but don't give up on me. As soon as we figure out a way to snake the phone line all the way into the other room, we'll get the real computer up and working and maybe I will be able to do this more often!

We have had an ok week. I was really busy at work learning how to figure out how much the government owes us for moving people. Accounting is not my strong suit, so it has been somewhat of a struggle. I think I'm getting better.

Brent has been kind of stressed out about his new calling. He got a folder from the old Ward Clerk with about 10 pages, single spaced, of responsibilities. Brent kind of freaked. He's feeling a little better now. I told him that he needs to actually do it, then maybe it won't be as bad. His first meetings are this Wednesday night.

We decided that we needed to turn over a new leaf in this ward and actually go to the Ward Activities. It was a pot luck, so, hey, free food didn't hurt. We didn't stay the whole time, but we did go. It's a good first step.

We are so thankful for Conference weekend! We love to listen to the talks. I say listen because you have to have satellite to get conference here so we listen to it on the Internet. The only thing we don't like about that is that sometimes we don't know whose talking. It's easy to get confused, especially with the 70's. But, it still is a great time. We loved listening to the Prophet's talk this morning. It was a great talk! I liked that he shared more personal bits of himself. It was great! We are so thankful that he is doing better! He is a great man!

It doesn't feel like we've gotten much done on the house this week. Brent changed the hall light fixture. We are getting a lot closer to being done though. (I know I say that every week, but we are...slowly but surely)

What a boring weekend for March Madness. The two games yesterday were really boring. I don't completely watch them, but I could tell by Brent just sitting there that nothing much was going on. Hopefully it will be a better game tomorrow night.

Today is going to be the backyard pictures of the house, since we have no newly painted rooms or anything. This first one is of our great deck. We love it!! It will be really nice when we have a table and chairs out there. Hopefully by the time everyone comes here, it will be a nice little oasis! As you can also see, the lawn needs a little work. Luckily, we have someone in the family who knows how to do that work. Well, ok, I'll admit, it's me. In a couple of years, you won't even recognize it.

Oh, and where I'm standing is going to be the garden. It probably won't get planted until next year, but, we will have a garden. It will be great.

This one is of what I like to call, our forest. There is a green belt that goes on for about 3/4's of a mile behind us. There is suppose to be a stream down there somewhere, but we haven't seen it yet. Nice view though, huh? The other morning, the sun was coming up behind the trees and there was still some fog in the trees. It looked almost ghostly out there! Ok, so I can't get the stupid picture to load. I'll take another one and put it up next week.

Hopefully this picture will load. Here's our little advertisement today. We love Resolve. Let me tell you a little story. We went to a really good Italian dinner a couple of weeks ago. I had leftovers that had olive oil and garlic on it. Brent put them on the back seat of my car and of course, it leaked. He spent a long time out there trying to clean it up, but it didn't work. It was still very garlicy!!! So, he went and got some Resolve and cleaned it and it's all gone! And, we used it on the carpet downstairs in the used to be "red room" and it did a good job there, so buy resolve if you need carpet cleaning or deoderizing!







Hope everyone has a great week!