Around the Town

Recently I got a chance to sing on Temple Square with the group I'm in, "Voices." We ended our Christmas singing season at the Visitor Center on the 23rd and it was a blast. Most of my family came to hear me sing. Aren't families great?! On the way home, we stopped to snap a couple pictures of the temple and the lights.

This is our group. I'm the one with the microphone in my face. (Matt's still getting used to being the photographer...)

I Hate Moving

I realized a long time ago that I really hate the moving process. Why this hasn't stopped me from moving...who knows? But it hasn't. Matt and I decided to buy the house directly across the street from where we live now. (Double the square footage, craft room that's ONLY for crafts, huge master bedroom, STORAGE space, etc.) So we're not packing up boxes, having lots of friends over to help load a truck, having more friends over to unload the truck and then unpacking boxes. That method is bad enough. But no...we decided it would just be easier to carry stuff directly across. For the last week or so, I've been filling bins with items from our house, taking it across the street (with several strange looks from passersby), putting the stuff away, and bringing back the empty bin. Sounds great, right? No boxes, no unpacking that takes months. I thought so too, until I made about a thousand trips across the street and I'm not even close to being finished. And we haven't even started to move the furniture. We have a LOT of stuff. Yikes! Luckily we do have friends who are coming to help us finish Saturday, not to mention those who have already helped me carry lots of stuff across.

So Matt gets to listen to me whine while he reclines and watches TV. (He got a pressure sore on the bottom of his foot and he's supposed to stay off it for a while or it will continue to get worse. I think he bribed the doctor.)

All I can say...thank goodness for amazing friends who are also willing to carry about a thousand loads across the street.

A Lesson in Patience

I've realized that, in a lot of things, Matt is more patient than I am. We attended the annual pumpkin carving for his family and these are the pumpkins Matt & I carved. I did the simplest thing I could think of and Matt went for something a little more challenging. The picture's a little blurry, but it's still easy to see who's is more impressive!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
May your day be filled with lots of chocolate you probably shouldn't be eating!

Is This Thing On?

One of Matt's finer moments.

(Side note: This was taken while we were trying to get a good picture for Matt's passport. Can you believe they wouldn't accept this one?)

Sweet Success

So, apparently no one expects much from me. So says Confuscious. Matt and I ordered Chinese food last Friday and my fortune cookie spoke volumes. It read, "Your success will astonish everyone."

I guess I'd better quit blogging and work on that new rocket I've been developing.

Life is Hard!

So, Matt and I lead a hard life! We had to go on another business trip to San Diego. I know...rough. Actually, most of the trip really was business, but we found a couple hours to spend at our favorite spots, La Jolla Cove and Coronado Beach. Of course, we also had to stop by our two favorite San Diego area restaurants, Elijah's and Alfonso's. Good stuff!

At La Jolla Cove

Downtown San Diego. Taken from Harbor Island.

This shows how hard life really was! We didn't even have our beach garb on!

My favorite shot of the trip.

Next time you'll all have to go with us!

Sewing Projects

My friend and I have been trying to motivate each other to finish sewing projects by having "sewing parties" where we get together and bombard my kitchen with sewing machines, fabric pieces, toys (for her daughter), cutting mats, pin cushions, and, of course, snacks. She's currently working on a cute dress, but she accidentally set the iron too hot. I don't think she'll do that again. Luckily, she had enough extra fabric to cut another piece.




The curtains are FINALLY up. These have been driving me crazy for months! You wouldn't think curtains would be that hard, but these sure had my number. The fabric was really thick and I had to use thicker thread that kept getting jammed in my sewing machine. And somewhere along the way, I miscalculated so that the curtains ended up just a smidge too short (and a little crooked, but I won't go there or else I'll scream). I also found out that it is really hard to find a needle big enough to thread cording through so that I could open and close these.



Whew! Next time, I'm forking out the cash to buy blinds!

BOWLYPMICS

Last Saturday, we held an official "Bowlympics." Each frame had a different method of bowling and then you add up your score. This only works if you have a group that isn't afraid of looking like fools! We had a fantastic group of about 10. (Okay, yes, I am a COMPLETE nerd and we went bowling for my birthday.) Great fun.

This is my friend on the "no approach" round. You had to stand still and just swing your arm. What form!

Matt is seen here demonstrating the "between your legs" round.

This is me trying to get a strike on "hut, hut, hike!" No picture is ever flattering when you're in the midst of a Bowlympics.

Drum Roll Please...

Here they are, the long awaited pictures. We lost our camera (the one with over 400 pictures from our trip to Nauvoo, along with other summer adventures), so I took new ones. Away we go...

In June, I got to be part of a 12 woman team that ran the Wasatch Back, a 180.5 mile relay from Logan to Heber to Park City. It took us about 30 hours and was one of the coolest things I've ever done. I've already signed up a team for next year, and almost have enough people for a second team. Anyone interested?

I've been keeping busy with Young Womens also. For one of our activities we had a photography professor come and teach us a few basics about taking pictures. This was one of our experiments that night.

This summer, I've decided to try my hand a little more at sewing. This is my first skirt. I even put in a zipper! I loved the fabric and even found a sweater that matched perfectly! Currently, I'm working on new roman shades for my kitchen doors, then I've got a couple more skirts lined up. Easier than buyin' them!

This is right after my Dad was sealed to his new wife in the Bountiful Temple. (Notice the skirt!) My mother passed away about a year and a half ago from cancer. We miss her, but we were also excited to welcome my Dad's wife to the family.

Blog Slacker

So many things have happened this summer to write about, and I haven't posted anything about ANY of them. I'm such a blog slacker. In my defense, today is the first time in about 5 1/2 weeks that our internet has been working at home. So that's my excuse recently. Before that, who knows? Laziness, lack of creativity, being too busy. Take your pick. None of them are very good. But now that our computer is up and running, I'm ready to upload all the photos from our trip to Nauvoo, Girls Camp, new furniture, sewing projects, and Matt's new toy (his motorcyle). Now I just have to find that darn chord to connect the camera to the computer...

Weekend Warrior--Duchesne

Matt & I hosted our latest edition of my family's Weekend Warrior out in the Uintah Basin. We stayed in trailers (5th wheel), rode horses, barbequed, hiked the hills, and went geocaching. Tons of fun, even if the weather wasn't totallyl cooperative. Isn't it supposed to be warm now?

Matt works with a guy who has several horses, and he was kind enough to let us all have a try. I have to admit I was a little more nervous than I thought I'd be on a horse. Not quite the same as my scooter!
We passed this trailer on our way through Heber and it made me chuckle! It's hard to read (I was taking this on the move in a car) but the bumper sticker on the back of the trailer says, "I love Alpacas!" We were amused to find later that the trailer was parked a few spots down from ours at the campsite!

Drive-In

Our ward Young Women did a "Drive-In" and watched the old Johnny Lingo. This is a picture of the "Jeep" I made. It was a lot of fun, except that I couldn't sit in it very long because of the paint fumes. I had an opening door, reclining seat, and a glove box inside to hold my movie snacks!

Sunny Skies

Matt & I just got back from a trip to Southern California in search of sunny skies. Here are a few of the pictures of our journey!

Of course, one of the stops we had to make was Disneyland! How can you resist? We rode the rides, saw the sights, and took breaks. Having fun is tiring!

This was my first time to see the San Diego Zoo. The weather was perfect and we took advantage of all the "photo ops." I just have to say that Matt is a ham!

We visited La Jolla Cove & absolutely loved the scenery! We had a lot of fun exploring and just listening to the ocean. The only bad part was that a squirrel tried to attack me! Apparently those California squirrels are NOT afraid of people.

Scooter Ride

With the weather finally (SLOWLY) warming up, I'm ready to get my scooter out and start saving money on gas! I've only been able to get it out a few times so far-and ended up with bugs in my face. If you've ever been attacked by a bug at high speeds, you can attest that it HURTS! Or maybe I'm more of a wimp than I thought. This is a close-up of one that tried to blind me.

Since then, I've ordered a face shield for my helmet so I can keep those pesky critters at bay. It makes for a happier scooter experience!

Oh my, where is he?

Andrea and I went on a Crusie with some family members to Mexico. What an adventure!! All of you that know Andrea, know that she's an adveturous kind of gal. While we were there,the poor girl got lost and was looking all over for me. Franticly she searched, spending hours and hours at the beach!! All hope seemed to be lost. As a last resort, she decided to check the area of the pier where the resturants are. You'll never believe it, but she found me!! I was, of cours, deep in thought. Normal for me. Anyway, Yeee Haaaa! I'd been found. Here are a couple of pictures to prove this adventure is all true.!!

Cadbury Cream Eggs

Okay, so I've finally started running again and trying to be healthier. Matt's been very supportive, letting me get a gym membership, buying me cute new pink running shoes, tolerating new running clothes, and listening to me whine about sore muscles.

My only complaint is that he knows how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Cadbury Cream Eggs! Why is this bad? Because before Easter he bought me 54 of them! I (grudgingly) ate my way through them thinking that I'd be good as soon as they were gone. It would be such a shame to waste them when you can only get them at Easter time! In my defense, I did give away 7-8 of them, and it did take me OVER three weeks to finish them off!

So then I was really ready to add eating healthier to my daily workouts. I was really committed...for about a week. That's when Matt found an amazing Cadbury Egg blowout sale somewhere and decided to show me how much he loved me. He came home with 112 more! This was two days ago and I think I'm going to have to go through detox after I've eaten all of them! I think I'll be a bit more liberal in sharing this round.

Anyone want a Cadbury Egg?

As days get warmer, Matt & I think about beaches and oceans. One of our favorite places to visit is San Diego. On many of our visits we take a tour of San Diego harbor. This picture is as we were passing the Coronado Bridge. Wow! Can you just feel that sun?

Wahoo! I have officially added my first picture!

That wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.