Utah in Pictures

I have a bunch of pictures that I want to post from our Utah trip, so I'm just going to post them. They are in alphabetical order, so...

Enjoy!

Jessica let me use her really nice camera. I now have camera-envy. Thanks Jess! (This is at Brent's mom's Hawaiian Luau birthday party)

Cute little Jayson. He is the sweetest little thing. And I'm loving his curly hair. He's going to look like a little lamb!
Here are Rylee and me at Hogle Zoo. I have to say...I was kind of disappointed in the zoo. I used to work there when I was a teenager and it has changed a lot. But...not always for the best. There didn't seem to be that many animals. I didn't even see any lions. What zoo doesn't have lions? I guess I got too used to San Diego Zoo.
Me, Jayson and Tayler. Jayson is pointing at the elephants. He really liked those elephants. It was really fun to hang around with these guys at the zoo. We just don't get to see enough of them. Tay and I really bonded. We decided while I was there that we would pretend my name was Ashley Tayler because her name is Tayler Ashley. Kind of silly, but cute.
Good old Brent. This is at the Luau...you could probably tell that by the Hawaiian shirt and lei, but...
One of the good improvements at Hogle zoo was a carousel. Unfortunately, they had to take out he hippo house to build the carousel. That hippo house has a lot of memories for me. The biggest one was when my mom almost dropped me in the pool with the hippos. That couldn't have ended well.

Thanks, Marcela, for taking this picture. Reyes is the one with her back to the camera. She is not a camera fan. You can hold up the camera, call her name, she'll look at you, then when she sees the camera, she'll turn away. Good thing the back of her head is cute because that's pretty much all I could get. Tay is waving.

Hi Jess!

And, finally Rylee. She told me that she wanted a zebra for a pet. That would be fun. I want to come over and play with your pet zebra!The whole kid crew at the zoo. One of the improvements they've made to the zoo since I have been there is the entrance. It is very pretty. They still don't have lions or polar bears, but it looks nice when you walk in.


I finally get a picture with Reyes looking at the camera and she has her tongue out. Great.This is the new Draper Temple that just opened in, well, Draper. It's right up against the mountains. The day we were there, the wind was coming out of the canyon and it was COLD.


Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking me on a temple tour! Here's little Eli. He just turned 1. He got this baseball game for his birthday. It's pretty amazing how he knows what to do with it. He just loves it.


He also has that great bandaid on his forehead to cover the 7 stitches he got while they were in Utah. He fell. Poor little guy. That's a lot of stitches for such a small head!


This is one of the reasons we came to Utah...other than to see all our great family. Brent's mom sent him an email saying, "Now, you're suppose to get hot water out of the hot water heater every time you turn on the hot water, right?" That being true, Brent soon realized that the hot water heater needed some replacing. Brent and Ryan got it in and working. Good job guys!

I just love this picture. I call it "I can do that." Isn't it cute how the littler kids look to the bigger kids and do what they do? I know this picture is kind of dark, but it's too cute. It's from the new aquarium in...I think...Sandy. It's called the Living Planet Aquarium. It's kind of small, but good for little kids. I think this is a cute picture because Reyes kept looking from her stuffed Nemo to the real one saying, "I love Nemo."


Oh, that reminds me of another Reyes story. When we were getting ready to go to the zoo, I was talking to her about the animals we would see there. I said, "Reyes, are we going to see tigers?" She would say, "Yeah...they love me" while doing this little dance. Then I would ask, "Are we going to see elephants?" To which she would say, "Yeah, they love me." This went on and on until I got to "Are we going to see crocodiles?" And she replied, "Yeah..." they she looked down and said, "They don't love me." What a cutie!


All the fun people at the zoo. Once again, the back of Reyes' head is very pretty.
Ok, that's a lot of pictures and I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. I guess I'm going to leave those for another post.

My busy week is almost over. Hooray! Have a good one!

The REAL News of the Day

Ok Court, I guess you're right...I do need to tell the REAL news of the day.

Ok, I'm ready...this is a bit scary.

I got a new calling yesterday. I am now the second counselor in the Relief Society presidency. Yep, that's right...Relief Society! That's where the grown ups go! Am I a grown up now? I don't think so.

I don't know why this calling has me all a dither. I'm trying to be cool and collected, but inside I'm freaking out just a little bit. It might help a little once I figure out what exactly the second counselor in Relief Society does. Then my planning and list making skills can come into play and I can start figuring out life.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Here's the crazy part. I have only been in Relief Society for about 1 year since Brent and I got married. The rest of the time has been spent in Primary or Young Women's. So...this should be interesting.

I have a super busy week this week...that hopefully won't get any worse. But I am going to be gone every night except tonight. I hope this isn't indicative of what my weeks are going to be like from now on.

Oh, and I had to speak yesterday. It was a stressful week.

If any of you have any advice, I am TOTALLY open to suggestions. I know that there is training on lds.org and I'm definitely going to do that. But...I need help!

Truthfully, amid all my freaking out, I am REALLY excited about this call. I'm excited to learn something new. I'm excited to get to know new people. I'm just excited.

So, there is the REAL news of the day.

And, thanks for all the sweet things you said about my last post. It wasn't intended to elicit so much praise, but I'll remember that the next time I'm feeling down.

:)

I Give Up

I have to admit something. I am not cute, funny AND witty. I may be cute some of the times. And I do crack myself up every once in a while. And I might just even pull something witty out of my hat when the need arises. But I am not cute, funny AND witty. I look at some other blogs that are cute, funny and witty, and I think, "Golly, I wish MY blog was cute, funny AND witty." So, I think and I ponder and I try and I come up with a semi-ok cute, funny and witty blog. The pressure is just too much!

This is to announce that I am no longer trying to be cute, funny AND witty. I am giving you a disclaimer for my blog...

DISCLAIMER: The author of this blog is not cute, funny AND witty. If you find something written herein that is cute, funny OR witty, it was a complete accident and you should not hope for it to be repeated. Thank you for reading my blog.

I hope this doesn't cause any of you to vow to never look at my blog again. I do enjoy your comments. And, if you ever do get a chuckle out of my life, then just count yourselves lucky.

Ahhhhh...I feel so much better. I bet I will even be able to catch up on all the Utah happenings now. :)

Update / Update

My mom had her gallbladder surgery yesterday and is doing well. The surgery took about twice as long as they thought it would - much like mine - so it was a little stressful. She is home and on pain meds right now so really fun to talk to.

Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!

Wow-wii

We've had a Wii for about a year now and it can be a lot of fun. What I like about it is the interactiveness....you aren't just sitting there. So, when Wii Fit came out, I thought that I would buy it for some different exercise than my daily walks, but then I found out that your Mii could be fat. Not wanting a big round dot Mii, I opted out of the Wii Fit.

Now they have Wii Active. No fat little Mii's here. I got it on Saturday - thanks for the encouragement Court - and did my first workout this morning. I don't know if I'll be able to move for the rest of the day. It was REALLY hard and I was on easy! It did feel good and there were some fun things you did like basketball and tennis - the inline skating was not quite as fun, but...

Oh, and we went to see the new Star Trek this weekend. I hate recommending movies because then if you don't like them, I feel bad, but this movie was AWESOME! Definitely worth the watch even if you aren't a Trekie (how would you spell that?).

Have a great day! I think it's time to get up before my muscles really freeze up!

Update

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for my mom. She is out of the hospital today. She is going to have her gallbladder removed on Wednesday, so then she should start really feeling better.

I guess the reason she was in the hospital overnight was because a tube that goes from her pancreas to her intestines got plugged by an escaped gallstone so the enzymes were basically digesting her pancreas - and a little bit her liver. So, the take home lesson is...if you think you have gallstones, go to the doctor before you start digesting yourself!

So, if you don't mind, keep up the prayers for her to have a speedy recovery once she has the surgery.

Happy Memorial Day!

Kind of Scary

I just got a call from my Dad telling me that my Mom is in the hospital. She's been having problems with her gallbladder and last night she had a bad enough episode that she had to go to the emergency room. Apparently she has "a lot" of gallstones and one might have gotten loose and gone into her pancreas - which isn't super good. They need to do surgery, but with it being a holiday weekend, she might not be able to have it until tomorrow.

I had my gallbladder removed about six years ago so I know the pain she's having, but then again, they never put me on morphine.

Could you please keep her in your prayers?

Thanks!

Much Anticipated

Just wanted to let you all know that Brent has updated his blog. Since he does it so seldom, I thought I'd say something. Not that I update my so often anymore...my yard (and all the weeds) has been calling my name lately.

:)

Why Was That So Stressful?

As you know, I am married to the BIGGEST NCAA March Madness fan. There are many times I lament about being a basketball widow. But, truthfully, he loves it so much that I don't mind sharing him with the basketball once a year.

He has been talking about 2010 for years now because it was going to be his big year! The first and second round games are in Spokane and the third and fourth round games are in Salt Lake. It's a two-fer! Literally, I've been hearing about this for years.

So, the tickets go on sale (they're a lottery sort of thing) and we get the email from both Spokane and Salt Lake with similar themes. "Thanks for trying, but you didn't win the lotto." Sorry Brent. He was really sad about not getting his much anticipated two-fer.

Then, he gets home from Japan and I'm checking my email (while he's "not sleeping" on the couch - he was sleeping but he didn't want to be so every time I said something, he would shout, "I'm not sleeping!"), and I get an email about Spokane that says, "We didn't sell as many tickets as we thought we were going to, so if you still want some, log on on Monday." Then the next email is from Salt Lake saying the same thing. Woho!

I dutifully got on the computer this morning at 10am Mountain Time and waited patiently for the tickets to be purchased. It was really stressful being the one in charge of Brent's fun for 2010. Luckily, I did get the tickets he wanted and now I just have to wait for 10am Pacific time to see if I can make next year a two-fer for him.

My question is, why was it so stressful for me? Do you think Brent's at work stressing about it? I'm pretty sure he's forgotten all about it since he didn't remind me this morning. I'm just a silly person I guess.

So, anyone want to go to Spokane - provided I get tickets?

***Update****
It's a two-fer!

Nothing is as Constant as Change

Proving once again that anything Brent's work says is just a suggestion...

Brent will be home tomorrow morning! Hooray!

I talked to him this morning and he sounded tired and happy to be coming home. He did say that it's been a great experience.

I'm super excited to have him coming home. Let's just hope that this isn't a suggestion too!

:)

Let's Go Back in Time

Let's all go back in time to about a month ago when my Mom and Grandma came to the beautiful northwest to visit.

Most of our visit was spent in Victoria, British Columbia. We got to stay in the Empress Hotel. If you have three people in one room, it makes it somewhat affordable.

The room was really pretty with a kind size bed and a sofa bed. Our view was great too. But, the whole hotel did smell somewhat like an old lady's house. That's Victoria Harbor. We could watch the sea planes come in, along with all the beautiful boats. (Floating vessels?)

Then, we were off to Butchart Gardens, which, as I've said before, is my Mecca. I love it there. I hadn't ever been there this early in the season, and while it was a little chilly (especially for the visiting family), it was still beautiful. Since I am the plant lady, you have to at least look at some of the pictures...

These flowers were on top of a garbage can. That just goes to show you how great this place really is!

And, just to prove that we really were there...

Another highlight of our Canadian experience was Afternoon Tea at the Empress. Before the gasps begin, I had a nice little pineapple-orange herbal tea. It was quite refreshing. You got little finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts. They weren't even English-type desserts, since they had sugar in them.

Ok, truthfully, some of the finger sandwiches and desserts were kind of yucky, but there was enough there that you could just ignore those and eat the rest. The scones were great and I especially liked the carrot and ginger finger sandwiches. Yum!

What a good looking group of tea-goers!

On the Empress grounds, there were these beautiful cherry trees that were completely in bloom. It was an awesome sight. So, of course I had to take a bunch of pictures.

Aren't they beautiful?

Once we got home from Canada, Brent made us some yummy homemade pizzas, then we spent the next day in Seattle before putting Mom and Grandma back on a plane. It was fun to have them here. We just need to talk them into coming a little later in the year next time. It really does warm up for about1-1/2 weeks in the summer!

Happy Mother's Day yesterday to all you child-full people. And happy Sunday to all you child-less.

Sorry if this is a weird post...I'm just feeling a bit off today. Haven't you ever had a day like that?

:)

Home Again, Home Again

Hello All! I'm home. I'm so happy. My flight was quite bumpy and the last about 5 minutes, I had to chant, "Don't throw up, we're almost on the ground. Don't throw up, we're almost on the ground." But, I didn't throw up and we are now on the ground.

As I was waiting for the airporter (that's the bus you take from the airport to our town...it's about a 1 hour drive), I overheard two people talking. The one guy asked the other guy where he was coming from. The other guy said, "Yokosuka, Japan...it's about an hour south of Tokyo." Hey, that's where Brent was up until he got on the floating vessel. (I've been told it's technically a boat.) I thought that was funny.

I found my house much as I left it, except for this...

That is suppose to be my front lawn. Crap...guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow!

And...happy birthday to Court!

:)

WAL-MART!

I have to give a little bit of background for this story. It just makes me laugh. My mom works for Smith's in Utah. (Smith's and Fred Meyer are owned by the same company.) So, Smith's is in direct competition with Wal-mart for most things. Because of this...my mom HATES Wal-mart! She hated it when we were in Hawaii and the only place to shop was Wal-mart.

So, we go to lunch today with my cousin Jennifer and her 4-year-old daughter, Sarah. Jennifer also works at Smith's. After lunch, Jen says, "Do you guys want to go shopping?" To which Sarah starts jumping around and say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" I really have never seen anyone that excited to go shopping. When Jen asked where Sarah wanted to go shopping she cried, "WAL-MART!" I just had to laugh. Everyone was so amazed that she a) knew what Wal-mart was, and b) wanted to go shopping there since she hadn't ever been.

We split the difference and went to Target. Kids are so funny!

Update

Well, just to keep you informed, here is what I know.

Japan is like on the other side of the world! I mean, I always knew that, but now that someone I love is there and I have to wait for his phone call "in the morning," it just seems farther away.

I spoke to Brent this afternoon (2:30p in Utah...5:30a the next day in Japan) and he was off to the boat...ship?...whatever. He will not be able to email or anything while he's out so this is really good practice for me for when he goes backpacking. :)

And, Julie, I reminded him to take a lot of pictures and also that he has a blog to put them on, so I'm interested to see what he brings back.

I have one and a 1/2 more days here in Utah. I'm having fun, but looking forward to my bed. Why can't you just pack your bed with you?

:)

Just in Case

Just in case any of you are worriers like me, and let's face it, no one is as big of a worrier as I am...Brent made it to Japan safe and sound. Even with the Swine Flu. First Mad Cow Disease and now the Swine Flu. What does he have against barnyard animals? (Apparently Japan is really scared of the swine flu coming their way, so they take your temperature before you even get off the plane and if you have a fever, they put you in quarantine for ten days. Now that I think about it, what does Japan have against barnyard animals?)

Now we just have to keep our collective fingers crossed that he will be able to get Internet access while on the boat...or ship....or whatever you call it.

I'm having a great time here in Utah. The rain has followed me down, so it makes me feel right at home.

Have a great day!

Happy Easter

I found this on the lds.org website and had to share it. It reminded me what Easter is really all about. So, get out your tissues - if you are like me - and enjoy!

FINALLY!

It's been forever since we've been back from Portland, but since I kind of use this as a journal, I'm going to talk about our fun time.

Just an aside...I'm sitting hear listen to basketball (tonight is the final NCAA game), and the roofers pounding away up there. It's not a very relaxing night. I am looking forward to being done with basketball (sorry Brent) and the roof. Woho!

Portland can pretty much be summed up with ...

shopping ....

basketball ....

shopping ....

good food ....

shopping ....

Wicked ....

shopping ....

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Court and I had a lot of fun shopping and shopping and shopping. We shopped until we plain old dropped on Thursday. Court found some cute clothes and shoes. At first all I could find were ties for Brent, but then I found some super cute shirts, so it wasn't a shut-out. I like being able to shop with someone who doesn't say, "I don't care" .... "Yeah, it's ok" ... "Whatever" ... you get the idea.

Friday was a trip to the Portland Temple.

It's a pretty temple. I couldn't figure out why it didn't look the way I remembered it, until I realize that when we were there the last time, there were leaves on the trees. That really makes a difference. There were A LOT of brides all over the place. I didn't understand why, but Court and Brad, who were celebrating their anniversary that day, reminded me that it was Spring Break. Oh yeah...that's why.

Too cute! Court found that shirt and coat on our fun shopping day. Don't you like her hair curly? I do, but I could be a little curly-hair-biased.

I got this shirt on our shopping day. Good times!
And just to show that we were all there at the same time, the obligatory scrunch picture. Good thing Court's so much taller than me.

Then, it was time to feel a little Wicked. I was so excited that we could get tickets. We just happened to be there when it was there as well. Pretty exciting.

Here we are ready to go. Brent's tie is new and so is my scarf. I got two compliments from strangers on my scarf, so that makes me think it's a keeper.

We haven't been to a musical for a long time so I was exciting. I've heard nothing but good things about Wicked and, believe me, it did NOT disappoint. The music is even better now that I know what the story is all about. Too great!

Once we were done with Wicked, we were all a little hungry, so we went to happy hour at the restaurant in the hotel. That was the first time I've ever been in a bar and also the first time that I was carded. It was an interesting experience. Especially when we started the day out in the temple. They didn't seem to mind that all we ordered were sodas. The food was actually really good. The company wasn't that bad either.

I kept trying to decide if I should mention that not all of us were carded. I don't think I'll embarrass him by saying who it was, but it gave us a good laugh. Sorry. :) I'm just glad that my white hair had just been dyed, or else it would have been two people.

Saturday was more shopping, an amazingly wonderful carmel apple (can you really call it a carmel apple when there is more chocolate than carmel?), a movie (He's Just Not That Into You - not bad), and a long drive home.

We had a lot of fun. I know Brent really loves going to basketball, and has fun with the company. And I enjoyed having time to be with Court and just do what we wanted to do. It was kind of weird not having the kids around. I like it both ways ... it's nice having a friend like that.

Ok, that's about it. The roofers seem to be packing up for the night. The basketball game seems to be a blow out - we'll see. Have a great night!

It Just Made Me Laugh

I know that I've been teasing you about Portland for awhile now, but....this one isn't about it...yet. I might get to it tonight, but I just had to tell you my funny story.

One of my friends is having a baby - her 5th girl - so when it came time for the shower, she decided that she didn't really need anything but diapers and wipes. Good idea I think.

Awhile back I was going to get some diapers for another friend who was having a baby, so I asked Court what kind I should get. When I went to the store and looked at how much diapers cost, and how cute a little outfit was - I went with the outfit. I just love buying baby clothes. They're just so little. And, I kind of think the price of diapers is a racket. I mean, seriously. It's not like you're going to go without them!

So, this time I decided to buy some wipes for my friend's shower. And, I don't ask any of my child-ful friends (unlike my child-less self) about what kind of wipes to get because, really, how many different kinds of wipes could there be in the world.

I, then, find myself at Walmart. I had a couple of other things to get on my list, so as I'm putting those in my cart, I'm thinking, "Where are the wipes? I don't think I've ever even seen them." I know that Walmart sells that sort of thing because, well, they're Walmart, but I don't ever remember seeing them. It's not like I've never been to this Walmart even - I should have seen them. Then I remember going there with Court to get baby food. "I wonder if the wipes are by the baby food," I think to myself. Sure enough, they were just a couple aisles away.

So, I'm standing there on the wipes aisle looking at a whole lot more types of wipes than I ever knew existed. There were all natural ones, ones with scent, ones without scent. There were a whole lot of brands too. I found myself just staring at the plethera of choices hoping that no one would come down the aisle and see me dumbfounded by the choice of which wipe to get.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I decided to get the Huggies Thick and Clean type. Why you ask? Well, I recognized the name Huggies and I thought it would be nice to have thick and clean wipes. (Remember, I do have a poop story!)

I ended up leaving the aisle just laughing at myself. At least now I know where the wipes are if I ever have a wipe emergency. But I'm still not sure I got a good kind. Oh well, live and learn ... and then get Luvs! Man!

Sigh...Again

I just wrote a big, long blog complaining about the hole that is currently in our computer ceiling and when I went to post it, the computer wouldn't let me. Apparently Blogger doesn't want me to whine. Ok, no whining. Just the facts...

Fact #1 - Last week, just before we left for Portland, I came home from shopping and there was a puddle of water on the computer room floor.

Fact #2 - After some time trying to figure out where the water was coming from, I realized it was dripping out of the light fixture.

Fact #3 - I kind of yelled at Brent. It wasn't his fault that the water was coming out of the light fixture, but apparently in my stressed condition, it was his fault. Sorry about that, Love!

Fact #4 - After much time and sweat, and a big old hole in the ceiling, Brent found where the water was coming in. Why it was coming in there, we have no idea, but at least he could see where the water was dripping.

Fact #5 - My amazing engineer of a husband fashioned spouts of sorts so the water would go in the buckets rather than wherever it wanted. (Brent loves duct tape.)
Fact #6 - It is FREEZING in the computer room now since there is basically a hole into the crawl space. It makes me very happy that we have a laptop so I don't have to be in there if I don't want to.

Fact #7 - The water has stopped raining down. Is this good or bad, I don't know. If it's not coming out of the spouts does that mean that it's not leaking anymore or does that mean the water is going somewhere else? I'm going to pretend that it isn't leaking anymore.

Fact #8 - My mom and grandma are coming up next month and I was going to have my grandma stay on the futon in the computer room. I guess I'm going to have to figure out some place else to put her now.

Now you have all the facts. And, since Blogger wouldn't let me whine, I've decided to look at it a little differently and tell you what I'm thankful for in this whole thing.

Blessing #1 - We were already planning on replacing the roof this summer. We thought we were being so responsible replacing the roof before there was a big problem, but...at least we aren't blindsided with this HUGE expense.

Blessing #2 - I have an amazing husband who is calm in almost any situation. As I said in Fact #3, I didn't react too well to this whole thing. But Brent just took it all in stride. I can't even image what a basket case I would have been if he had freaked out too.

Blessing #3 - Brent is smart. I think it's pretty amazing that he thought of making the spouts in the ceiling for the water.

Blessing #4 - We haven't "fixed up" the computer room yet. We have all these great plans for our house, but it's just one room at a time. I'm really glad that we haven't taken the popcorn ceiling off the room, then had to cut a big old hole in it.

Blessing #5 - We even have a house. I'm so thankful for this beautiful house and our chance to live here in this beautiful place.

Blessing #6 - The ceiling didn't get worse while we were in Portland. I kept having visions of coming home to the ceiling being completely caved in (I come from a long line of worriers...it's in my blood). I was steeling myself for what we would find when we got home, but everything was just as we left it. The carpet was dry and everything!

Ok, enough of this. I'm going to figure out how to move things around and have a place for Grandma to sleep. It's going to be great. And we're going to get a great new roof soon so there will be no more rain inside.

And, I feel like I will be able to tell you all about our GREAT trip to Portland by tomorrow. I need a vacation from our vacation, but it was still great.

Happy Spring everyone! (I feel so much better putting all this down. Thanks for listening.)

Where Am I???

I know it has been forever. And I don't really know where the time has gone. The last two weeks have been spent fighting off this horrible flu bug that has been running rampant throughout town. I lost my voice for a week. A WEEK! Can you imagine me not talking for a week? It was quite trying. Thankfully my voice has come back, but I'm still feeling EXHAUSTED all the time. So, I do things in bursts and then I relax. Fun for me.

Also, another "fun" happening is that I am now officially a medical transcriptionist. Well, I don't have a job just yet, but I do have a certificate proving that I at least should know how to do it. Woho! Now, on to finding a job. Bah!

And, it's official. I am once again a NCAA Tournament Widow. I know that it will happen every year, but it still is kind of hard. Just kidding. I really don't mind, especially if he doesn't make me watch the games. This is Brent's FAVORITE time of the year. He feels it should be a gift giving holiday, which I think it is. I give him the gift of watching A LOT of basketball.

So, on Wednesday we're off to Portland. Brent et al the other crazy boys are going to watch A LOT of basketball ... live! And Court and I (and Marcela this weekend) are going to shop, relax, and have fun. I think that sounds pretty good.

And, just to make everyone jealous...we have tickets to Wicked in Portland. Woho! I'm so excited. It's going to be great!

One great happening that I just never got around to blogging was my super duper friend going with me to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. Yep, that's right, Court and I packed up the boys and drove over to Seattle to the show. It was AWESOME! Definitely a gardeners paradise! It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Court, for going with me!

That's about it. Hopefully there will be fun stories from Portland. :)

A Fun Surprise

On Friday I overheard Brent talking to his boss on the phone, "Well, I can work tomorrow (BAH!), but I have plans on Monday." Hmmm...I think...what plans does he have on Monday? Since it was President's Day, I knew he had the day off, but I had no idea that we had plans. When asked, Brent said, "Don't worry about it. Just be ready to go at 9a." FUN! A surprise!

Monday dawns and I get up and going by 9a. We're driving down the road and I'm wondering what he has up his sleeve, when we turn down a strange road. He parks in front of a house and goes to the door. Out comes a babysitter-looking-teenager. Hmmm...I think. We don't need a babysitter. And I knew Court had plans today, so I didn't think they needed a babysitter. But, then we drive to their house with the babysitter. When we walked in, Court said, "I should have known you guys were involved." Then Sarah comes up to me and asks, "Do you know what you're doing?" Man, it's a surprise for everyone! What fun!

We drive to the ferry and take it over to Seattle. Here we are enjoying the sun and watching the water waiting for the ferry to leave.

So, we get off the ferry and start walking...and walking...and walking. Just when I think we just can't walk anymore, I notice we're heading towards PF Chang's. Woho! My favorite! What a great lunch we had.

After lunch we went to Pike Place Market. The first tulips of the year were in, so I couldn't leave without getting some flowers and letting Brent carry them through Seattle. He loves that, after all.

You always have to do a scrunch picture! Turned out pretty good, didn't it?

What a fun surprise day! Good friends, good food, good fun! It was a gloriously beautiful February day in Seattle. We soaked up some vitamin D and are ready for the rain to come back.

Hope you have a fun surprise in your future!

I've Been Thinking About it for Awhile

What have I been thinking about, you ask? These beautiful people. They are my grandparents, Jack and Sally Gentry. I really don't have a newer picture of either of them. I didn't realize until after they died that we didn't really have pictures. They hated it. (So, learn from me - take pictures even if they grumble!)

Why have I been thinking about them? I'll give you a hint.

Grandma and Grandpa have been gone for over two years now, and I really wanted to do their temple work. But...I was a little afraid. I wanted them to be happy about it. So, I kept waiting and waiting for a "sign." I don't know what I wanted exactly (maybe them coming to me in a dream and saying, "Now!"), just something to tell me they were ready. I never got that sign, but I did get an opportunity to go to the temple last Saturday and start their temple work.

It was AMAZING! I guess that was my sign, right? I loved hearing their names said in that beautiful temple. It's hard to explain, but it was awesome!

I just love my grandparents so much and I want to be with them forever.

I love the temple. I love the fact that we can be together forever. It is such a blessing in our lives. I love that we have the opportunity to do the work for those who have gone before us. I now want to always do family names. It brought such a different spirit to the ordinances.

I told everyone at the temple that these were MY grandparents. I got a couple of hugs and a couple of big smiles. I think they understood what an awesome experience I was having.

When Brent was giving the family prayer at my grandma's funeral, he said something to the effect of, "Now she'll be waiting to welcome everyone home." I know that's true. I know I'll see both of them again. I know they will no longer be sick. I don't want to say that I'm looking forward to that day, but I am. I miss them more than I can ever say.

Love you guys!

(Ok, I'm going to stop crying now and go see what Brent's doing. Sorry for the sappy post.)

What I Learned Today

When you buy window clings from Dollar Tree, they don't actually stick on the window.

Who knew? :)

An Exciting Sunday

I had a really great day yesterday at church. I now have 3 callings - primary teacher (Valiant 9 boys), co-ward bulletin editor (with Brent), and now YW camp director. Wowie! I'm excited to serve and see where these callings take me.

Then, I got my Young Women's Medallion.

A few years ago, they changed the Young Women Personal Progress books. Then they encouraged the leaders to get their medallions as well. I didn't do it then, but I did do it now. It's a lot of work, but it is so worth it. You learn so much about yourself and about the Lord. It's an inspired program! I know that now.

It's kind of a funny story. The bishop invited me up and told everyone how I had earned my YW Medallion. He handed me the certificate, then he opened the pretty purple box to show everyone the medallion and....

the box was empty. It kind of threw the bishop off and made me start to giggle. Quite funny.

I did get the real thing later though. It's kind of pretty...

Not a great picture, but you get the idea. It is really nice.

Now here is the weird part. Exactly 17 years ago today, I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So, it's kind of like I got my medallion when I was suppose to get it.

In the last conference, Sis. Allred spoke about when she joined the church when she was young. She said that her baptism day was the day that her "life changed forever, and the gospel of Jesus Christ became the compelling force in my life." That quote has really stuck with me. I don't think that the day I was baptized was the day that the gospel became the "compelling force in my life," but it really is now. It is who I am and what I know is true with all my heart. I am working towards the goal of being like my Savior. I'm not always good at it, but I'm working towards it. And I am so happy that I did joint the church all those years ago. And I am so glad that it is now the "compelling force in my life." It makes me happy, what more can I want?

It Turns Out That I'm Not Crazy!

Brent gets up at 5:15 am, which is a little early for me, so normally I just roll over enough to make sure he's getting up, then I go back to sleep. This morning I was just in that half asleep, half awake state when it felt like someone ran into the bed. Just a little jolt that woke me up. Then there was another little jolt once I was awake. I could hear the shower still going, so I knew it wasn't Brent. I decided that I was just more asleep than awake and I was dreaming. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it might have been an earthquake.

When Brent came in to say good bye, I said, "I think I felt an earthquake, did you feel anything?" To which Brent said, with a chuckle in his voice, "No, you must have been dreaming." Maybe...

After I got up for the day, the phone rang and it was Brent. "Just wanted to let you know that you're not crazy." There was an earthquake! It was about 4.5 magnitude and centered in Kingston, which is 30 miles north of here. Hah! I knew I wasn't sleeping.

That makes two earthquakes that I have felt and, surprisingly enough, I felt both when I was in bed. Coincidence...well, probably.

I didn't know how far away this earthquake would be reported on the news, so I thought I'd share my story of earthquake #2 and tell you all that it was a very small earthquake and there is no damage, just a lot of people being woken up.

Have a great day!

Dinner and Fun

Julie suggested that Brent and I go do something fun and take some pictures. The picture part isn't hard, but it seems that the going out part kind of is. Between renewed home improving (Brent is now working on our basement bathroom), nearly 2 feet of snow, and Christmas, we just couldn't seem to find the time to get out. I really wanted to go down to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium because they do zoo lights and I thought that would be fun. But as January 4th (the last day of zoo lights) loomed, I started to think that wasn't going to be what we were going to do for fun. Fortunately, I looked online and they had extended zoo lights for another week because of all the snow. YEAH! Here we come.

First off...dinner at Applebee's. (This picture is for you Jules!)

I have to do many inventive things to get Brent in pictures. I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of this one!

Then off to the zoo. I must admit, it's kind of hard to find in the dark. Apparently, we need to go there more often. We did finally find it though. And this is what we found....

W0000wwww! Isn't it gorgeous! Christmas lights and a zoo. What could be better. The only animal we did see though was a wolf, but we still knew they were there.

Oooooooohhhhhhh....

Ahhhhhh.... If you ask me, Christmas lights are almost better than fireworks. They're not as noisy or smelly. :)

And to prove that we really were there....

Brent had the camera set to take three pictures in a row, so we held up some people as they were walking along. Oops.

Well, I would definitely recommend going to a zoo near you if they mention that they are doing zoo lights. It's well worth the time! We're making this a yearly tradition.

Thanks again Julie!

We Really are Here, I Promise

I know it has been WAY too long since I blogged. And I'm just saying right now, that you probably won't see another blog from me until February. Ever since Brent went back to work, I've been feverishly working on the last bit of my medical transcription school work. It is keeping me REALLY busy. In fact, I should be working on it right now, but...

I also need your help! I'm looking for a nurse or doctor who would be willing to be interviewed, via email, for my research paper. Do you know any??

Ok, so here's the catch up. We're going far back....all the way back to Christmas!

Man, I look tired. It wasn't that early though. Brent made some great cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I love that tradition.

It was a fun morning. We also got to talk to most of our family using Skype. It's so nice to be able to not only talk, but see each other while we talk. Thanks Julie!!

Christmas night was spent with a bunch of friends. It was great having a full house. Brent made a fabulous dinner of ham, potatoes and rolls. I made the pistachio salad. Yeah me!

Everyone made it to our house even though our road wasn't plowed until the next day. There was still about 18" of snow on the ground on Christmas. It was weird.

This is Aaron. Funny face, huh?

And here is what Kyle wanted to wear to Christmas dinner. Silliness.

This was taken after the first snow storm. Soon after this we decided we should probably clear off the deck...we don't know if it's rated for so much snow.Since we don't even own a snow shovel...still need to get one...this is what we used. Well, that and a big old broom and a regular shovel. We would have made millions if we owned a snow blower!

That's pretty much it. Julie did suggest we go out and take some pictures. That will be the next post!

Have a great day!