We're Here!

Isn't technology great? Here we are, on the other side of the country, sharing our fun journey with you. Since it's been a long day and I'm tired, I'm going for a "National Mall day in Pictures". Enjoy!




















Yeah, I love taking pictures. There's just so much to see here!

My TofW Debut

Today has been a good day. Not only am I on a fun girl's weekend with my best friend, not only did I get to go to Time Out for Women and get my cup filled, but I also got to speak.

It was quite the surreal experience. I walked up these four stairs and there I was, in front of hundreds of women. Very cool.

So, here is what I said...

I have sweet assurances because I know that I am needed and loved despite the fact that I will not be a mother.

For nine years, my husband and I fought to have children. We tried different things and even tried to adopt, but nothing ever worked or felt right.

Throughout this whole experience, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. I prayed that Heavenly Father would heal me. I prayed for a child. I prayed for a chance to raise a baby with my husband. At times, I would cry. At times, I was angry with my Heavenly Father. I couldn’t understand why so many people were blessed with being a parent and I was not. I told my Heavenly Father what I wanted Him to do. And I just couldn’t understand why He didn’t bless me with that need.

I went through times of doing everything “right.” I did everything I thought I needed to do because I thought I was being punished for some sin and that was why I couldn’t have children.

I went through times of distancing myself from the gospel and my Savior because I was so bitter and angry.

Then, one Easter Sunday, I was in sacrament meeting listening to the speakers. One of them said something to the effect of, “Christ understands our pains and disappointments too. He is there for us. He understands.”

At that moment I realized that I had been healed, just not in the way I thought I needed to be. Gone was the anger I had felt towards my Savior and my Heavenly Father. Gone was the burning need to hold a baby in my arms. Gone was the anger at myself for being so broken. I was healed.

I have known from that time forward that my Heavenly Father loves me. He has a plan for me. And all I need to do is follow Him and hold on and I will see what He has in store for me.
Through His gospel, I have been given the opportunity to become an important part of children’s lives. I have taught primary kids about the first vision. I have sat on my couch with Young Women who were giggling about their first dates. Through my friends and family, I get to glimpse a little bit of what a parent is. And I am thankful for each of those things.

But, most of all, I am so thankful for my being sealed in the Temple to my eternal companion. I am thankful that we have made those covenants that we needed to make, and that we need to continue to keep, to live with our Heavenly Father again. And, as Sister Beck said, “eternity is much, much longer than mortality.” And in the eternities, if I live up to what I know I need to do, I will be able to be a mother. But for the here and now, I know that I am loved. That I am needed on this earth. That I may not be able to have children of my own, but that I can be a influence for good to so many children around me. And that sweet assurance gives me the strength I need to go on.

And here I am...

Yep, that's me on the big screen. Crazy!

Here's me, mid-word, on the big screen. Court was trying really hard to get a good shot, but I was talking too much. Thanks for being my photographer too, Court!

So, now I'm famous. The last two presenters referenced my essay in their talks.

I've since gotten headshots...

If you would like to order an autographed copy of my picture, please send a check for $5 to my house!

In all serious...thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers today. It was really much less scary than I was thinking it would be and I think that had a lot to do with all of your prayers.

Ok, Well That Didn't Work Out Well

Hello all! I'm afraid this post is to ask for some support. Let me explain.

This weekend Court and I are going to Boise for Time Out for Women. (It will be weird without you there, Jen!) So, I get this email about a new thing they're doing this year for TofW. You right an essay about your "sweet assurances" and they will either put it on their website, which would be cool, or they would ask one woman to read the essay at the event, which would never happen.

So, I wrote about my sweet assurances and ... they picked me to read it at the event. WHAT? I'm a little shell shocked and worried. And feeling like I might need to rewrite it a bit.

I am 10% excited, 50% surprised and 100% nervous.

I could really use your thoughts and prayers this Saturday! So, keep a good thought for me that I won't trip and fall, pass out, run out of the room screaming, etc, etc. Oh and if you could throw in a good thought for me finding a cute outfit, that wouldn't be too horrible.

As soon as I figure out what I'm going to say for sure, I'll post it for all to read.

Holy Cow! What did I get myself into?

I Just Wanted to Share

I've said before that I don't like getting into a discussion on politics. But, I've been hearing all the backlash about the President's talk he's going to give to the schools tomorrow and I must admit, I was curious. What was he going to say that had so many people up in arms? This is what I found.

Prepared Remarks of President Barack ObamaBack to School Event
Arlington, VirginiaSeptember 8, 2009
The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

I know that was a lot to read, so if you just skimmed it, I understand. Basically, he's saying...stay in school...make goals...become the next inventor or writer...yes, it's hard, but...it's important.

I think all of those things are important. I may not always agree with all of President Obama's choices or even what he thinks, but in this respect, I do agree with him. And I'm sad that so many people have attacked him over it.

So, I just wanted to share...

What Did I Do This Week?

As you may or may not know, Brent once again abandoned me this week because work wanted him to go to Connecticut to look at a boat.

So....what did I do this week while Brent was in Connecticut? Did I waste my time and do nothing? Did I have a party?

Oh no I did not.

I worked on a bulletin board at church...

It's for the Enrichment Meeting coming in September. The title is "Finding Happiness Eternally." And the theme is Family Home Evening. (Catchy title, huh?) Once I got the right supplies, the bulletin board turned out good. Now I'm just hoping the Enrichment Meeting is ok.

I also burned my finger...

on the stupid oven while I was getting ready to...

Bottle what ended up being 17 jars of pears!

Beautiful, ain't it? Brent's mom reminded me that the next step is now to see if they taste good. Oh yeah! That would be nice, wouldn't it?

I took about 10 trips to, sorry to say, Wal-mart, to get supplies for the canning. (Sorry Mom, Fred Meyer didn't have what I needed.)

Now, there are 50 lbs of peaches in my basement that need to be made into something. And, some blackberries in the fridge as well.

I also got to hang out with Court and the kids. (Thanks for the help with the pears)

I got a ride to pick up the fruit with Laura and the kids. (Thanks for the ride)

And I have eaten out WAY more that usual because I just don't want to cook for one. And I don't really want to go to the store either.

So, no, I have not wasted my time alone. But I am so looking forward to him getting home tomorrow. It gets a little quiet around here. Not that he's much of a talker, but ... he's still nice to have around.

Chugga Chugga...Woo Woo!

On Friday night, Ryan and Marcela asked if we wanted to go with them to take a ride on a train. Since it's right up the road from us, we gladly accepted. (Even though Ryan had to practically drag Brent out of the house. Brent was being a tortuga for once.)

There's a park by our house where you can take a free train ride on miniature trains. It runs twice a month all summer. And it's actually quite fun.

We're all ready to go...and....you're not allowed to take pictures on the train, so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like. Picture tall trees and green.

After we got off, Brent struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers there and he invited us all "behind the scenes".

I think Reyes' face is just hilarious in this one. She just looks scared. It was making a lot of steam, so I guess I understand.

There was this 10 year old boy back there who just took a liking to Reyes. He got her to sit on this little train that you move with the crank. At first it looked like she could do it, then we realized she was just going downhill, so it was just an illusion.

Our "guide" says it takes about an hour for these steam engines to warm up. There was someone getting theirs going so Brent started asking what all the levers and switches did. The owner of the train was more than happy to tell him.

I can hear the conversation now:

Brent: "You know what would be a cool hobby?"

Ashley: "No, what?"

Brent: "Building miniature trains!"

Great. I love being married to an engineer!

Like he needs another hobby. This is one of his hobbies:

It is a Piper Cub Airplane. It's suppose to look like this,

only smaller.

Brent began building this airplane when he was in college. Yeah, like he had time. We have moved it three times now. And it still looks like a fossil.

Here is another one of his hobbies:

Notice how they are all in a box and on a shelf. Yeah, I did too.

I'm just teasing you Brent after all...

Me: "Hi, my name is Ashley."
Everyone Else: "Hi Ashley."

Me: "And I'm a plant-a-holic. It's been 1 week since I bought my last plant."

So, if you're ever in our neck of the woods on the 2nd or 4th Saturday in the summer, give us a call. We'll ride the train with you. And Brent would even tell you how it works for free!

Alas

Alas, my much anticipated blueberry syrup did not turn out. The good news is that the blueberry jam that I didn't even know I was making did turn out. (I meant to do that - NOT!)Yeah me! Maybe next time.

The question is, do I give out the recipe so you all can make blueberry syrup and it really turns out as blueberry syrup, or do I keep it to myself until I do get it right. Hmmm...

Blueberry Fields

Let me take you down cuz I'm going to...blueberry fields.

Ok, those aren't exactly the words, but that is what we did the other night for Family Night, with Brad, Court and the kids.

In Tacoma, there is this blueberry park where you can go and pick blueberries for free. I guess it used to be a blueberry farm that went out of business so the community got together and kept the bushes going.

Aaron wanted to get in on the action too. Unfortunately, he didn't exactly understand that you were suppose to pick the ripe ones.

This is what I look like from a 10 year old's height. I think she'll be taller than me by the time she's 12, but oh well.

Chloe and I picked blueberries together. We did a good job. She would scrunch down and get the ones under the bush and I would get the ones...well...not on top of the bush, but at least in the middle!

Such a good boy...92% of the time he doesn't complain about having his picture taken.

We kept thinking that we had found the middle of the blueberry patch, but then we'd find more, and more and more.

Don't you just love how his feet are turned all weird. I think he was trying to pose for the camera.
Sarah brought a friend...she's such a tween!

We ended up with about 5 lbs of blueberries. Those are small little berries, so that's a lot of fruit. It was a fun night, but it sure made you appreciate just going to Costco and getting a bunch of blueberries.

I made blueberry syrup today. What I learned from that experience is that it takes A LOT of blueberries to make syrup. And, it takes a lot of time. Hopefully it's good though. If so, I'll share the recipe.

:)

Camp is...

Hello! I am now back among the living after a fun week of camping at Nisqually (isn't that a great Northwest word? Bet you don't know how to say it!). It's taken me a few days to start feeling more like myself ... I'm not good when I don't get my required 8 hours of sleep ... but I am feeling a bit more chipper this morning, so I thought I'd tell you what I think Girl's Camp is.

Camp is...

Dirt, dirt and more dirt. Dirt under your fingernails. Dirt between your toes. Dirt in your nose. I never realized what a girlie girl I am, but the first thing I thought about when I got home was that I needed a pedicure!

Silly, funny, camp songs. I have a couple of favorites. My very favorite is the moose one. "There was a great big moose (echo), he liked to drink a lot of juice (echo)." It's fun to sing and easy to learn. My second favorite, but for a completely different reason, is one that starts out, "Grow bananas, grow grow bananas. Peel bananas, peel peel bananas. Go bananas, go go bananas." When they 'go bananas', they run all around the stage. This song progresses to, "Grow the mullet, grow grow the mullet. Comb the mullet, comb comb the mullet. Rock the mullet, rock rock the mullet." Hee hee. It still hits my silly sense of humor.

Learning how to kill plastic deer with a bow and arrow. I did not attempt this. If they had had hay bales, I would have been all over it, but they just looked too much like actual animals for my tender heart.

Finding a comfortable place to sit. It's amazing how tired of sitting on hard things you get by the end of the week.
Finding anywhere to sit other than the ground.
Science experiments. A couple of the girls from our ward were in charge of Family Home Evening on Monday night. They taught about testimonies. Part of their lesson was playing with corn starch and water. This was very interesting to some of the girls.

Sleepless nights. I am not a night person. Once the sun goes down, so do I. (This is kind of yucky in the winter around here when the sun goes down at 3 pm.) It was hard for me to stay up late every night. I've decided that I can never be a YCL leader because they never go to sleep. Man, I wouldn't even be recognizable after staying up all night. Can you say...grumpy?

Spa days. What, you're saying? I thought you were at camp. Well, since I had sacrificed so much to be at camp (at least that's what they said), the Stake leaders treated us Ward leaders to a spa afternoon. They rubbed our hands and scrubbed our feet. It was glorious. I felt badly for them though. As soon as I put my feet in the water, it went brown. Yummy.

Cheering your victories.

And your defeats. This is another one of the leaders from our ward and sweet little K**** who is also from our ward. There was this game call Hatchi. It was kind of like the game show on "I survived a Japanese game show." Well, this game was called "Rock, Paper, Scissors." If you won at rock, paper, scissors, you got to put a plate of whip cream in the loser's face. K**** loved this game. Poor Sis B! It was hilarious for the rest of us. Sis B is so excited to be a part of a story that will be told for YEARS to come.

Early mornings. Not only did we have to stay up late, we had to get up early too. Have you ever tried to get a bunch of teenagers out of bed at 7:30 am when they've stayed up way later than they normally do. It's not a fun thing.

Devotionals. This is one of my favorite part about camp. Every morning we had a devotional introducing the theme for that day. (The theme of the whole camp was President Hinckley's "Be's".) I got to do the devotional on Friday for the whole camp. (That's only about 80 girls, so it wasn't too bad.) The theme of that day was Be Humble. I was having a hard time getting my thoughts together for this devotional. It wasn't until I got to camp and had a chance to sit alone in the forest, that it came together. After the devotional, one of the girls came up to me and said that she loved my talk, it was exactly what she needed. That made the whole thing worth it for me. Even if she was the only one I touched, that's plenty for me.

Hard. It's hard to leave your nice comfortable bed for a week. It's hard for me to leave my husband for a week. It's hard to eat food that, while it's really good, just isn't your own. It's hard to deal with the eye rolls and grumbles from some of the girls.

Totally worth it. I would go again in a heart beat. Even with the dirt and the sleeping on the ground. It's worth it to see testimonies grow. It's worth it to see friendships strengthen. It's worth it to sit around the campfire and just laugh together. I don't know if Brent would agree, but ...

I do have to admit, though, I had a hard time this year at the beginning of the week. We were camping in levels instead of wards this year, so I had to get to know a bunch of new girls. And ask them to do stuff. I got a lot of looks that said, "Who are you to tell me what to do?" On top of it all, I was tired, which never makes my mood great. But then Wednesday came and we had skit night, which was quite funny, and then we roasted marshmallows around the fire, which was yummy, and we just got a chance to sit. That changed my whole attitude. I knew I was there for a reason and I knew I could handle any teenage angst that came my way.

So, if you ever have chance to go to camp, I have a couple of suggestions.

Bring a cot. It's amazing how much better you feel when you can sit on your bed and tie your shoes. Always sitting on the floor kind of sucks.

Bring a lot of socks. They will get dirty, very dirty. And you just feel better when you have somewhat clean socks on.

Bring bug repellent. I have about 100 mosquito bites. I was even using the bug repellent, but apparently these mosquitoes are the new kind that like the repellent.

Bring a good attitude. You're going to need it. Sometimes all a grumpy teenager needs is a smile from you and it will break their mood.

Go. It's worth it. It may be sort of yucky at the time, but it's worth it.

So, there you have it. My week at camp. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm enjoying being back in the land of the living.

Ok, So I Lied

Hello Again. I have decided to do one last big old post to get through the next month. I just feel a need to share. Unfortunately, I'm going to share about stuff that happened like 2 months ago, but... at least I'm sharing.

Yep, Utah pictures still. I had to do a little photoshoping to explain this picture. My back is to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. On the left you can see, if you have super good eyes, the Jordan River Temple - where Brent and I were married ... ahh ... memories - and to the right, you can see the Draper Temple. That's three temples within sight. Wow...lucky for them.

Here is the new part of the railing that Brent and Ryan built. I cut a couple of those boards so you should think I'm kind of cool too. :)

Rock star Reyes again.

And again...she's looking at the monkeys with loving eyes. Maybe they remind her of her dad? Just kidding Ryan!

Here's Rylee with her favorite mom and baby monkey duo. She just thought they were so much fun!

Ryan being a good daddy and showing his little girl something way up high at the aquarium.

These guys are just being silly at the zoo. Doesn't that water make you want to just jump right in?

Apparently silliness runs in the family! Good face Uncle Ryan!

Is it ever going to end? Well, this is the end for today. I need to actually do something this afternoon.

I'm Still Here

As you can see, I haven't been blogging lately. Doing double duty - Girl's Camp and Relief Society - has been a bit more taxing than I previously thought. Girl's Camp is in a month, so that's keeping me quite busy right now. I have to find tents, do cutesy little things to make it more fun, stuff like that. Last night was the first night of working on pillow cases and secret sister stuff. It went well, but there weren't that many girls there. Today, I'm tired.

So, long story short...I'm not going to be blogging for another month. I keep telling myself that I'll get to it and I just don't. So, after camp, you better believe I'll be back.

That seems to be my rallying call right now - after camp, I'll do this....after camp, I'll do that.

So, check back in August, after camp. :)

Utah in Pictures Part Deux

Here's some more pictures from our Utah trip...

This is the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It's kind of fun to be able to go to two new temples in less time than it takes us to get to our temple here. Wait...

This is another work project the boys did for their mom while we were in Utah. Unfortunately, they actually broke the previous faucet while trying to fix it, but this new one looks so nice!

I really like the aquarium function on my camera. I think this picture turned out rather well!We gave Brent's mom the funniest cup...it's a hula girl complete with a coconut bra and grass skirt. It was pretty cute!

Finally, looking at the camera! Too cute. You both look so famous! Reyes is such a Washington baby. Whenever she would go outside, she would start to whine a little saying that it was too bright. Then she would shut her eyes. This normally resulted in her running into something - which was kind of funny. We just don't get too much bright sun up here!

This was taken at the aquarium. I think it turned out kind of neat. I did cut Brent out of the picture. He was looking at me with this surprised face. It wasn't as cute as this part.

Reyes fell in love with Grandma's stuffed camel (or cameo - is that how you spell it - in Spanish) that she has to represent Julie while Julie's in Kuwait. (They started this tradition when Ryan and Jess were on their missions. That way, they could be "at" family functions, even if it was just a stuffed animal.) So, Reyes was really excited to see real camels at the zoo. I can't remember which kid it was but one of them said, "Hey, these ones have two humps!" The stuffed camel is a dromedary and these are bactrian. Pretty observant.

Marcela being super brave putting her head actually in the lion's mouth. Hmm...guess we did see lions at the zoo...they just weren't the kinds that move around.

Here's Jayson at the Luau trying to suck a pina colada through a tiny "fun" straw. They were cute straws, but they were not easy to get the stuff through!

Ok, that's enough today. This is going to take forever. Blogger is being kind of weird about putting the pictures in and since that's the whole point of the post, I'm going to go get ready for church. Stupid blogger!

What Once Was Lost...

Is Now Found.

In a prodigal son-esk moment, the marigolds that were lost have now returned. I was at the church yesterday making copies for the bulletin when I walked past the kitchen. I have a tendency to look in open doors whenever I pass them, and as I glanced in the kitchen, I saw the wayward marigolds sitting on the counter. There was a sign under them saying, "Free."

I am kind of confused by this turn of events. Why would someone take them from the under the tree...when there were still cars in the parking lot...and put them in the kitchen with a sign that said "free". I wouldn't do that. Would you?

I'm sure they were just trying to be helpful. I'm glad that I found the flowers though so I didn't mess up my very first job as the new Relief Society counselor, but...it still just confuses me.

On another note, the Leadership Overnighter was super fun. And, hopefully, this week will be quieter. The place where camp is this year is really pretty. It looks like a rainforest. I think we'll have fun!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Ok, that was funny!

Last night I had my very first Relief Society presidency meeting. What I learned from that meeting is that there are a lot of people I don't know in our ward. So, I'm excited to get to know them. But...here's the funny thing that happened.

On Wednesday night, we had an Enrichment Meeting where we planted marigolds in pots. The point, I was told later, was to take them to people who might need a little pick me up. So, Thursday afternoon, the Relief Society president called me and asked me to find out if we had any extra marigolds and we could take them to people when we go visit them. I found the extra ones and took them to the church. Since it was 91 degrees (YUCK!), I didn't want to leave them in my car, so I just put them under a nice shady tree.

When I came out of the meeting, I looked over to the tree and the marigolds weren't there. I thought maybe I was looking at the wrong tree, but there were no marigolds under ANY of the trees. That's right, someone took the marigolds!

Way to go with my first official act as a relief society counselor. I just had to laugh.

Now, I'm switching my hats and going to the YW Leadership Overnighter for camp. Ahhh...YW's...where I know what I'm doing! It will be fun!

Have a good weekend!