Ramblings

5 in 4 years

2012-02-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've already written this post before. Hmmm...let me think. Was it this one, or was it this one, or was it this one, or maybe it was this past summer when I guess I forgot to even post about my last summons?

Yep, I'm summoned AGAIN. And yes, that is me shouting as I type. At least, I'm shouting in my head - it would probably cause a problem if I shouted at the office.

But I digress.

They keep alternating between city jury summons and county jury summons - this is my third county one. This time I am going to use the opportunity they give you to postpone it once for up to a year. Because if I don't, I'll just get one next April.

I love my pharmacist

2012-01-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

This past week hasn't exactly been the best. Not the worst week ever, but the combination of kidney stones and the medications used to treat them made the whole week a rather unpleasant one.

One bright spot has been my pharmacist. It probably doesn't say great things about my health, but my pharmacist now recognized me and pulls out my prescriptions by the time I get to the front of the pickup line. She also keeps track of what is wrong with me and asks about how I'm feeling.

All of this is good customer service and probably good pharmacy practice to see if the medications are working correctly, right? Well, today she went the extra mile - she noticed that the prescription refills I phoned in through the automated system had originally come from my ER doctor, and she sent them to the urologist instead. Thank goodness!

Update - and when my doctor only refilled one prescription, my pharmacist made sure to tell me that generic Aleve is the same medication in a smaller dose, so I could have something even if it wasn't the prescription strength. Great pharmacist, once again!

The tale of getting from here to ... here

2012-01-20T18:37:00.001-08:00

Wednesday we worked from home so that we could take a mid-afternoon bus to my mom's house. This put us only one bus away from the airport, which we hoped made it more likely we would make it to our 10:25 flight on Delta Thursday morning so we could go to Dan's Grandma's funeral.

It had snowed off and on since Saturday, sticking on Sunday and accumulating more each day. Snow in Seattle is never a pretty sight if you're trying to get somewhere. Everything seems to shut down, the streets get icy, slushy, and snowy all at the same time, and I usually stay home and refuse to look out the windows until it's all over.

Thursday morning I got up at 5:30 to check our flight status. Canceled. So I rebooked on the 1:15 PM flight. Dan was watching the weather report - freezing rain on top of the already accumulated snow had shut down the entire airport. But it was predicted to warm up by noon.

By the time walked out the door, at 8:30, the reports said one runway was open and operating and they were working on the second one. We hiked through the freezing rain to the bus station - a mile walk while stuff fell out of the sky and stuck to our ponchos, creating an insulating layer of ice. We just missed one bus, so we had to wait a half hour for the next one. Once we were safely on the bus and on our way to the airport, I remembered I had a camera.

Not exactly winter wonderland - the grey slush on the roads was made more exciting by the continuing freezing rain, but the bus made it safely with only a few exciting slips and slides. Unfortunately, while we were riding the bus we got the news that our new flight was delayed, followed by the message saying it was canceled entirely.

So when we got to the airport we entered the customer service line. They handed us a card with a phone number to call - the phone operator was only able to tell us they could put us on a flight the next day that would get us to Salt Lake City by 7PM. Too late for the funeral. He offered us a refund, but we instead waited through the hour long line to talk to an agent at the desk.

At the desk they tried everything - from checking the 7:15 flight that hadn't left yet (it was almost 11:00) to see if they had any extra seats, to checking all possible connections, to finally offering us standby on the 6PM flight. We took our seat requests and headed to the S gate area for a long, long wait.

Here's the top ten ways we entertained ourselves:

10. Counting how many planes we could see sitting still at their gates. How many do you see?

How'd you do?

9. Watching icicles grow on the airplane wings as they remained parked outside for the entire time we were there.

8. Watching a snowplow shove the slush and dirt around.

7. Talking with our fellow stuck passengers (I thought it would be odd if I asked to take their picture).

6. Talking to or texting our families.

5. Waiting through more lines to talk with more people, hoping someone might be able to help us.

4. Watching the board full of canceled flights.

3. Watching the de-icing, which reminded me of orange soda.

2. Watching a bunch of construction trucks working to remove the giant pile of snow out in the middle of the ramp.

1. Playing games on Dan's nifty Nook.

When we were finally given real boarding passes, we began to think we might actually make it to the funeral. We boarded the plane. It didn't look too promising.

There was a long delay while we waited to push back from the gate and begin de-icing. The nice flight attendant even switched Dan's seat so he could sit by me. Then there was an announcement. They had put too much fuel on the plane and the nozzles or whatever equipment they needed to remove some fuel was frozen. So 28 people needed to leave the flight. After only about 15 people had volunteered to go, I decided that if I left, maybe Dan would have a chance of going. I was totally crying as I left the plane. Another passenger said he'd give up his seat for me - a total stranger! It's amazing how awesome people can be. The flight attendant said I should stay because they were going to have to just pull off some non-volunteers anyway. So some of the standbys were called off individually.

Finally, at about 7:40, we pulled back from the gate, ready to de-ice. Then there was an announcement. We had run out of time - there is a legal limit to how long the flight crew could be on duty, and unless we de-iced and took off in 18 minutes we would pass that limit by the time we got to SLC. Most flights that day were delayed or canceled outright, and the delays were up to 4 hours. Our flight, with a shorter delay, was canceled ... next time my travel is important, I'll go with anyone but Delta. I'll bet all these people agree, especially since we watched the Southwest flight to SLC taxi past us on its way to a successful trip while we were stuck at the gate.

So, 14 hours after we left, we were back where we started - at a bus stop a mile away from my Mom's house, out in the cold, wet, slushy, icy, snowy night. We gave up.

This morning, the first thing Dan did is to check the flight status of today's early morning flights. They were canceled. This made us feel better about not trying to go standby on one of those flights. We hung out at my Mom's until late in the afternoon, when today's warmer temperatures and rain made it possible for her and my brother to drive us home with only moderate slipping and sliding. For a trip that didn't end up going anywhere, I sure got my fill of traveling for a while!

Grandma

2012-01-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

When I first met her, I was young-ish and falling in love with her grandson. It was my first time meeting his family, so I was understandably nervous. But somehow, when Grandma walked in for a short visit, she put me right at ease. I can still remember parts of our conversation.

She was telling me a story about herself in the 1940's, and she started with, "Before you were even a gleam in your mother's eye," or some such beginning. I piped up without thinking, "Before my parents were a gleam in their parents' eyes either." A bit aghast, I waited to see if I'd managed to offend her already.

Grandma just laughed and agreed with me. Then she went on to tell me a funny story about when she worked in a factory. She was ill, so she went to see a doctor. He did all the normal doctor stuff, I'm sure, and then he asked her, "What kind of stools do you have?" Grandma answered, "Three-legged ones." With that, she made me feel right at home.

I loved her five minute visits, I loved going to the Conference Center and hearing her sing along with all her favorite songs, I loved the cards that she underlined for emphasis and wrote sweet notes to my husband and to me to love and cherish each other. I loved her good cheer and the seasonal decorations that she must have found on a great sale, because she had one for everybody. I loved how she was so easy to shop for - every Christmas for a while now I would print off my favorite pictures to show her, which she always seemed to like.

I also admire her for her strength in continuing with faith and raising her family after the loss of her husband. She is part of my father-in-law, my husband, his whole family, and now myself.

I loved seeing her this last Christmas - and I admit I sympathized with her wish to be able to keep having others care for her. I'm glad we got back for a second visit that trip as well.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there to say goodbye today with everyone else. I cried when they told us our third flight was canceled yesterday, and my husband's face showed equal disappointment. Not just that we wanted to say goodbye - we realize that Grandma knows that we love her, but we wanted to be there with her family, with our family. We love you guys, and we've been thinking of you all day.

So, goodbye for now, Grandma. And I hope to see you later.

No Pictures

2012-01-04T22:51:00.001-08:00

Just in case anyone is looking for fun pictures of the holidays, I didn't take any. Well, I didn't take any with my own camera. I did take a bunch of the Utah family ice skating (after making it around the rink once, I grabbed a camera and used it as an excuse to stay on the sidelines). The only picture I have from the whole trip is the family photo that was emailed out:

And we went to a work holiday party, where they supposedly took pictures of us - I don't have those yet either.
(Note to self - pester Dan to find out where we get the holiday party pictures.)

And we went to a great New Year's Eve party, where I again didn't take pictures with my camera, but there was a photo booth! Hello, awesome party idea! So, I pulled these from the slide show of the photo booth pics to prove that Dan and I have a social life. I love the third one - it's so typical.

What a Saturday

2011-12-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

You know it's been a busy day when you can hardly remember the morning by the time you get to the evening. So ... I plumb the depths of my memory and find this:

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
That's the alarm clock, waking me up at 7:55. I press snooze, but I end up getting up before the alarm goes off again. Fortunately for Dan, I remembered to turn the alarm off. Shower, very careful tooth-brushing, check the status of the gum graft using a flashlight, quickly get dressed, drop Dan off at the church to be part of the member cleaning crew, and drive an hour to work.

Yay. Work. Fortunately there were a few other people there on a Saturday with me. Even my boss was at work. So he called me in to his office for my performance review (it's fine). Fortunately I figured out my shirt was inside-out before I went in to for the review. Afterwards, I spent some time wondering what's wrong with just wanting to be really good at what I do without wanting to get to boss other people around at what they do. In other words, I was asked to work on wanting to be a leader. And to make things better, I was also asked to think of what role I want to work towards - being a manger or being a technical lead. Um. Can't I just do a good job at my job? Because I currently have no desire for leadership. And thinking that far forward about my "life goals" also is a reminder of my real life goal and how things didn't turn out there the way I thought they would. But there were some nice compliments about other things I was doing well, including my boss being pleased that I'm fitting in okay with an all-male group, getting along with my lead, and doing a good job.

Then I went back to work, got through over half of what I meant to do today, and headed home. With a stop at the library to drop off books and pick up some things to read over the holidays, and a stop to gas up the car, I got home just in time to primp, grab Dan, and get back in the car. Next stop Seattle Sheraton, holiday party time!

We found a perfect parking spot within 20 yards of the parking garage entrance/exit and walked a few blocks to the hotel entrance. We went into the hotel and followed the directions of the hotel staff to a line with a 30-minute wait. And lots of kids. Hmmmm. So we waited. I played a game on Dan's phone for a while, and then we saw that the line led past some gingerbread houses. Actually, they were some pretty awesome gingerbread houses.

Then we headed to the correct line, checked in, and went to the party. The I-don't-know-how-to-describe-it-themed party. Masks, costumes, all sorts of cool stuff.

We started in the room with a flamenco dancer. The food was a slice of bread topped with a thin cucumber slice and some stuff for flavor (spices and possibly other veggies). The dancer was amazing - her feet stomped and flew, and her face was so intense that we watched for a good 10 minutes. The room was set up with tables and with private-ish curtained seating areas along the back wall. Very fancy.

The next room was a large room with several parts. The first thing I noticed was the girl sitting in a hoop hanging from the center of the ceiling. The smooth jazz tones went well with her acrobatic dance. And there were a couple strong man in an area by the door doing balancing tricks. There were standing tables and sitting tables, and several food stations. We started with the garbanzo beans, rice, and pita bread. Then the oversized spaghetti and meatballs. Then the chicken sandwich and french onion soup. And we hung out and watched the acrobatics for a while. The girls traded off every 5-10 minutes - that looked like quite a workout, and they made it look so easy!

I grabbed a grapefruit juice with sprite as we headed upstairs to the cirrus room on the 35th floor, where we tried the crackers and cheese, and the crackers with something that tasted like apple pie filling, and the crackers with spiced cherry filling. And we looked out all the windows to see out over the city. Cool. This may have been my favorite room.

Are you sensing a theme? Because I was full by this point and we weren't nearly done finding all the food. There was still the whole third floor. On the third floor, they had decorated in a "through the rabbit hole" theme. There were spotted mushrooms, giant flowers, and mysterious paw-prints glowing on the floor. The main room on this level had a live band, but they were on a break. I watched the man on a platform carving a cheshire cat out of chocolate while Dan tried the open-face sandwich. We also saw some folks playing croquet. There were folks dressed up as playing cards, people wandering all over with half-masks, and mostly just lots and lots of people. (Side note - if your shoes are that painful to walk in, they are not good shoes. That poor girl.)

Further along this floor we found the dessert rooms. There were more desserts than we had room to try, but we found space for brownies, mini-cupcakes with coconut frosting, flan baked right into a tiny cup, crumb-topped apple tart, and my favorite. Who needs cake pops when you can have cheesecake pops?!? I passed on the second type of mini-cupcake and the blueberry tart. But when I went to have another cheesecake pop, they had run out. So we went on and found the mad hatter tea party room - it looked kind of dull, so we turned around and headed back along our path.

After I picked up a little baggie of chocolate shavings from the Cheshire Cat chocolate statue carver, and Dan had seconds on his favorite sandwich, Dan kindly stopped and waited with me in line for us to get our pictures at the Mad Hatter display. He even put on a cape, sat on a throne, and held a scepter. I hope we figure out how they are getting us the pictures afterwards.

We headed back to the one room we'd missed - the Ice Bar. Which was more of a dance club with a griffin ice sculpture in the back. Loud music, girls dancing up on high platforms, you get the picture. Then we found our way back out (past the violinist and the cellist who entertained those going up and down the escalators with live music), picked up our car, and made it home in one piece.

And now I get to go pack up what I need for my last Sunbeams lesson of the year and go to bed!

11 good things this week

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

#11 Today. 11:11 11/11/11

#10 walking past the floral department in the grocery stores

#9 Jalapeno Greek Yogurt Dip. amazing stuff - so versatile.

#8 Sunny sunny sunny Thursday

#7 didn't get hurt at all when I caught the leg of my pants on a file cabinet at work, even though it tore a huge hole in the pants (fortunately at the end of the day and in a not-to-bad place along my shin).

#6 picked up a room that was messy for months

#5 learning a new craft project, just in time for Christmas

#4 worked extra hours so I got Friday off

#3 my sister posted on her blog!

#2 surprise party for a friend!

#1 Totally non-PC conversation at work, regarding an after-work social.
Me: did you have a good time?
C: yeah, it was fun. there was lots of good beer.
Me: glad you had fun.
C: why didn't you go?
Me: I was at work until 6.
C: the party was still going until 8.
Me: well, I had to get home so Dan could have the car.
C: you should've come - there was lots of good beer.
Me: I don't drink.
C: huh?
Me: I'm a Mormon.
C: EEUUGH!
--dramatic pause--
C: That ... that wasn't about you being ... that was about living without beer!
Me: --laughing--

Dear Driver

2011-10-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Driver of the Dark Red Beretta,

I want to let you know that I really appreciate your consideration this morning. I watched you down the road from a half mile away, resisting the urge to speed to make sure I could go through the light with you, but you were kind enough to pull into the crosswalk to make sure the light wouldn't turn green before I got there. How did you know I love to get to trigger the sensors myself?

Also, I am grateful for how you quickly pulled away from me after we rounded the corner so that I wouldn't have to worry about driving close to someone who quite possibly didn't know where cars should go as opposed to pedestrians.

I did have a nervous moment when I saw you turn into the little road that goes to my work, but fortunately you reassured me by pulling a 9-point completely illegal u-turn about 10 yards down the street while I waited to turn after you. I'm so glad that you evidently don't work anywhere near me.

Thanks for making my morning so much fun!

Your Road-Neighbor,
~julie

Gave Another Talk In Church

2011-10-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

And I still write my talks out long-hand, the whole thing. I know my teachers (especially sophomore year English) tried to break me of this habit, but my words come out better in writing.

So here it is-Overcoming Adversity
(Quotes from Harold B. Lee are from "Chapter 22: Peace Be unto Thy Soul," Teachings of Presidents of the Church: HaroldB. Lee, (2000) unless otherwise cited.)

Good morning.
The topic - Overcoming Adversity - just in case I start to ramble or stop making sense, I wanted to make sure you got that part.

There are lots of types of adversity
*physical, mental, emotional challenges
*loss of loved ones, or seeing them go through their own challenges
*financial difficulties
*discouragement
*school projects and tests
*temptations
*sometimes we are disobedient and need to repent
*challenges that result from others using their agency in a way that makes our lives more difficult
*others criticize us, or criticize our faith

I'm sure there are more, but I'm going to focus on what we do about the adversity in our lives. I think that overcoming adversity is not necessarily defeating our difficulties and making them go away; rather, it is not letting adversity defeat us. In other words, we overcome adversity by remaining faithful through our challenges, without compromising our honesty or integrity.

As President Harold B. Lee put it, "The all-important thing in life isn't what happens to you, but the important thing is how you take it."

As I started to read and think about overcoming adversity, I found an overwhelming amount of information. Even just in our most recent General Conference there were many talks that give us tools for how we face our challenges. I chose a few of those ideas to talk about today.

The first one is that Focusing on Eternal Things Helps Us Put Adversity in Perspective

I'm going to tell a small story and then I will (hopefully) relate this back to overcoming adversity. My sister and her family visited recently. She has two children - Lucy, who is 6, and Calvin, who will be one year old soon. Calvin sees the world from an interesting perspective - about 14 inches off the ground. He loves to crawl around and investigate new things. I was watching him explore my mom's family room last Saturday. He played with his toys for a few minutes and then he crawled over the the exercise bike. He grabbed the side of the bike and stood up. He studied the seat, the posts, and the pedals. He touched everything, feeling all the hard and soft surfaces. He held on to the pedals and tried to play with them, but they just wiggled a tiny bit. After a few minutes, Calvin gave up and went back to his toys. I was struck by how he clearly wanted to know about this thing, this exercise bike, but he wasn't able to understand its purpose or how it all worked just yet. I'm sure it will make more sense as he grows up, when he understands the big picture.

Like little Calvin, we are all still learning and growing. There are many things in our lives that we may not yet understand. But Heavenly Father sees the big picture. His gospel teaches us about His plan of salvation, His plan of happiness for us. Focusing on the big picture can help us with our challenges. This might make more sense in someone else's words - so I will borrow again from President Harold B. Lee.

He said that “The one who confidently looks forward to an eternal reward for his efforts in mortality is constantly sustained through his deepest trials. ... He lives above his world and never loses sight of the goal of his salvation. ... The path to [exaltation] is rugged and steep. Many stumble and fall ... But through all this journey, there is the calming assurance that if we choose the right, success will be ours, and the achievement of it will have molded and formed and created us into the kind of person qualified to be accepted into the presence of God. What greater success could there be than to have all that God has?”

This was also expressed by the prophet Isaiah, in his beautiful words "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." (Isaiah 64:8)

With the eternal perspective of our Heavenly Father, our adversity can be for our good, our learning, our strengthening, and our growth.

The second idea I want to talk about is how Service Helps Us in Our Adversity

I left that deliberately vague - it can mean others serving us, or us serving others. Both are good. Both help us overcome adversity.

Our ward is full of examples of others serving us in our adversity - we strengthen and help each other when we help someone move, when we bring dinner to a family who has need, when we home teach and visit teach each other, when we give a hug to someone feeling sad, when we write a note to let someone know we're thinking of them, when we help someone understand their homework, and in so many more ways. Receiving service from others helps us in our times of adversity because we don't have to endure things all on our own.

I have a file folder at home where I have kepts many of the encouraging notes and pictures that my friends and family have sent me during some of the hard times in my life. One of my favorites makes me smile whenever I'm feeling down - it says, in the slanted block-printing of a young friend, "I hop you feel better." And I do feel better every time I read it.

We can also find help in our adversity by finding ways to serve others.

In the book Daughters in My Kingdom, there is a story about a sister who had moved to New Jersey. Her husband was very busy with his first year in medical school, and she felt lonely because she hadn't made friends quickly. Then she was called to visit teach 12 sisters. As she got to know these sisters and their families, and as she served them, she said "I quickly forgot about my own loneliness as I served others. The sisters whom I had at first considered so different from myself soon became my dear friends who were grateful for even the slightest thing I did for them."

We all have chances to serve others, through our callings or through how we treat our family, friends, and acquiantances. As we serve others, their needs, their wants, and their happiness grows in its importance to us. We choose to make someone else's needs more important than our own, and our own problems can take a backseat as we focus on what we can do for others. Our feelings of stress, sadness, disappointment, and frustration are balanced by the feelings of love and joy we get from serving others.

President Heber J. Grant "Service is the true key, I believe, to happiness. When we perform any acts of kindness, they bring a feeling of satisfaction and pleasure into our hearts, while ordinary amusements pass away." ("Chapter 15: Labor for the Happiness of Others," Teachings of Presidents of the Church: HeberJ. Grant, (2002))

This next idea was in many of the talks I read from General Conference - Our Faith and Testimony Help Us Overcome Adversity

Again, here's a little story from my life. When I was in college, I learned that I have allergies. Just your normal, everyday hayfever allergies. Most of the time they are not too bad, but every once in a while allergies can make me feel pretty sick. So, my doctor recommended I start taking a daily allergy medicine, all year round. I started out with good intentions, but I quickly forgot to keep taking my medicine. And in the winter semester, that didn't matter very much. But when spring came, there were so many flowers and shrubs and trees all in bloom that I got sick pretty fast. I felt miserable for a whole week. If only I had remembered to take my allergy medicine every day, I wouldn't have gotten so sick.

This seems to me to be similar to our faith. We build our testimonies even when we're not in the middle of trials, challenges, and other forms of adversity, because then we will have built up the strength we need to face our challenges when they come.

There are many stories in the scriptures of people who have faced adversity with faith. One such story is when Nephi went with his brothers to get the brass plates from Laban. Nephi told his father "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7)

So Nephi was prepared with a testimony that the Lord would help them to get the brass plates. He did not get discouraged even after the first two attempts to get the plates from Laban failed. He relied on his faith and went into the city one more time and brought out the plates. We too may fail in some of our attempts in life, but like Nephi, we can lean on our testimonies to help us to try again.

Sometimes overcoming adversity takes a long time. The children of Israel were in bondage for a long time before the Lord called Moses to lead them out of Egypt. We may also endure challenges that do not end quickly. Our testimonies are key to overcoming, or to enduring our adversity with faith.

It's just like the parable in Matthew 7, where the wise man built his house upon a rock, "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. ..."

As President Harold B. Lee explained, "The Master was saying, and I am saying to you today, that the rains of disaster, the rains of difficulty, the floods and winds of severe trials are going to beat upon the house of every one of you. There will be temptation to sin, you will have hardship, you will have difficulty to face in your life. The only ones that will not fall when those tests come will be those who have their houses founded upon the rock of testimony."

And after we do all that we can do, I believe there comes a point in our lives (or maybe this happens over and over) when we realize that we cannot overcome adversity with just our own strength.

We have a choice - when our challenges are too hard to handle - do we give up, lose our faith, give in to temptation? Or do we turn to our Heavenly Father's strength to hold us up when we can not stand on our own?

President Joseph F. Smith said, "Man is so utterly dependent upon God! How helpless we are without him; how little can we do without his merciful providence in our behalf!" ("Chapter 3: True, Faithful, Earnest Prayer," Teachings of Presidents of the Church: JosephF. Smith, (1998))

In this most recent General Conference, Elder Carl B. Cook of the Seventy shared an experience where he needed Heavenly Father's help in a time of adversity. When Elder Cook was a newly called General Authority, he was feeling overwhelmed by his new responsibilities. In his words:

"I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor.

"The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, “What are you looking at down there?” I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson.

"I quickly looked up and responded, “Oh, nothing.”

"But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, “It is better to look up!” As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, “Now, remember, it is better to look up.”

"As we parted, the words of a scripture came to mind: “Believe in God; believe that he is … ; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth.” As I thought of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s power, my heart found the comfort I had sought in vain from the floor of that descending elevator." ("It Is Better to Look Up, October 2011 General Conference on lds.org)

Like Elder Cook, if we remember to look up, to rely on our Father when we are overwhelmed by the burdens of life, He is there for us. He is there after we have done everything we can think of, everything we have the strength to do. He is there when our own strength isn't enough.

We can find Heavenly Father's help, like Elder Cook did, through the words of the scriptures, and through the words of the prophets and apostles. We can also find his help in blessings given with priesthood power. At a time when I was very scared, a priesthood blessing promised me that I would find peace through pondering on the things of the gospel. And I did.

Heavenly Father will help us because, as Alma said of our Savior's Atonement, "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." (Alma 7:11-12)

Closing

A verse of a Primary song was stuck in my mind this week while I was preparing for this talk, and I believe it sums up what we do to overcome adversity. It says,

"What does the Father ask of us?
What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like His Son.
Help others on their way."
("He Sent His Son," Children's Songbook #34)

I believe that, as Elder Richard G. Scott said, "Our Heavenly Father did not put us on the earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously." ("Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer, Ensign, November 1989)

I believe that I can overcome adversity, not by myself, but with help from others and from Heavenly Father. I believe the same is true for you.

Summer: Before, During, and After

2011-09-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

Before Trex:

After Trex:

During July, August, and half of September:

After July, August, and half of September:

Before Scrubbing Carpet:

During Scrubbing Carpet:

After Scrubbing Carpet:

Before Breakfast:

During Breakfast:

Before Paint:

After Paint:
(even the weathered side looks pretty good now)

Before Scout Camp:

After Scout Camp:
(it only lasted for a few weeks)
Before Birthday Party:

After Birthday Party:
(marshmallow guns)

Handmade Gift Exchange

2011-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

I love making things. I love knowing how things are made even if I can't make them myself. I love seeing all the cuteness people bring into being. So, this year I decided to sign up for the Craftaholics Anonymous gift exchange!

I was really nervous about having time to finish what I started, especially since I just started working in a new group, I no longer have any telecommuting days, and my bedtime has moved to 9PM (no, I never make it to bed on time, but at least I'm trying). So, what should I show first? The gift I made, or the fabulous gift I received? We'll see which pictures I find on my camera first...

Ok, here's what I made (following a pattern from the amazing Ana Paula Rimoli's latest book).

I started with some supplies:

I made lots of pieces, large and small:

And then (starting at 11PM on June 29th and finishing at 1:30AM because things always take longer than I expect), I stitched the pieces all together, stuffing as needed!

And here's a closeup of that cute little face. I was very proud of myself because this is the first amigurumi I've ever finished (I have half an elephant started that I interrupted in order to make this):

I mailed it off on June 30th, hoping my exchange partner would like it. Then I started obsessively checking the mail every day, including Sunday and the 4th of July. I was really excited to see what would show up for me! And when the package arrived, it was even cooler than I had anticipated!

The first thing that slid out of the package looked like a long, thin card. I looked closer and saw something peeking out of it:

Then I read what was printed on the (oh my GOSH! how cute is that! she totally made that by hand too!) card and pulled out the most gorgeous bookmark, in my favorite colors!!!

Added bonus - I have never tried tatting, but this is so gorgeous that now there's a new craft I want to attempt to learn! Look at all those little, tiny knots:

After some minutes of admiration, I turned my attention back to the package and took out a beautiful card, with a saying that my exchange partner had no way of knowing is really close to my favorite life motto (which is "Stand in Joy"):

And, again in my favorite colors, a little purse just the right size for keeping gift cards, or for carrying those minimum essentials when you don't want to carry a big bag:

I love everything about it - from the colors to the quilting to the lavender zipper! Thank you Karen!

Nine

2011-07-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

We decided on the spur of the moment to celebrate our anniversary in Stehekin. Which is at the far end of Lake Chelan, accessible only by boat or seaplane. So, we made a reservation at a little Bed & Breakfast in Chelan, drove up after work, woke up bright an early the next day to catch the ferry and enjoyed the peaceful trip up the length of Lake Chelan. (Which is Shell-ann to me and Shell-ahn to Dan)

The views were gorgeous. The ferries were okay, although some sort of boat-dwelling flying insect was in season. The ferry schedules were offset in a way that we could maximize our time in Stehekin by taking the fast ferry uplake and the slow ferry downlake. It worked. Three hours in Stehekin was great - we rented bikes, rode up to Rainbow Falls, ate lunch at the bakery, toured the old and new schoolhouses, and still had 15 minutes to visit the locally made craft cabin (The House that Jack Built) and the ranger visitor station (we could've used a bit longer there).

So, talking over, ready for some pictures?

Our ferry (parked at the Stehekin dock):

Views from the ferry, heading uplake:

Us, on the ferry:

Once we got past Fields Point, it was all mountains:

Dan studied up on Lake Chelan and the history of the ferries:

The ferry backed right up to this waterfall so we could take pictures (can you see the rainbow starting in the lower right corner of the first picture?):

Rainbow Falls - the upper falls were so wet that I had to hide the camera away after taking one picture of the soaking wet post - it literally felt like it was raining for the last 50 yards. I kept trying to find rainbows all the way up the path, but I couldn't find any. Then, when I finally gave up and headed back down the trail, it was full of rainbows! But I couldn't take any pictures without soaking my camera. Here's the view from the lower viewpoint:

Next stop, Stehekin School. I recited from a textbook, while Dan studied geography. He made sure I got a picture of the graduation quilts poster because he knew my mom would enjoy it. Here we are:

Then we stopped at the new Stehekin School. I think it looks a lot like the old one, except it's newer and bigger (but not that much bigger):

I took a picture of the sign at the bakery where we had lunch, partly because it reminded me of another awesome trip we once took:

I didn't take any pictures of the food, but my pesto calzone and Dan's 5.0 sandwich disappeared pretty quickly.

The one thing I wish was that we'd had more time for Dan to explore the park's visitor center:

But it was time for us to get back on the ferry (the slow one this time):

And to enjoy another trip full of beautiful scenery:

Well, some of use stayed awake to enjoy it:

Then ... yes, you thought this was the end of it, right? No way! Then we still had to drive all the way back home! We took a nice break in Leavenworth, eating dinner in a bar since all the restaurants were closed. We also walked around the town, peering in the shop windows and enjoying some gelato. Dan made some new friends too:

Then we went home. Here's the picture that sums up the whole trip (well, actually, here's the picture we accidentally had zoomed in when we tried to take our picture at Rainbow Falls - but it works):

I wonder what we'll do for ten?

Soon

2011-06-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

I will post a real post soon, with pictures to look at and news of what's going on. In the meantime, I'm just checking in.

Have you ever gone through a day and, at the most impossible times, wished you could post something to facebook? If facebook could read my mind, this week's status would have included:

I saw TWO bald eagles on the lightposts along the freeway today. TWO!

Heh heh heh - notice how no one ever tailgates the Honey Bucket Truck?

Please please please let the fires in New Mexico go away - but gosh, the pictures are beautiful in a huge, scary natural disaster sort of way.

By Request

2011-05-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

I've apparently been neglecting my blog lately. Not that this is an excuse, but it does seem that every time I look at my blogger homepage and consider writing a post, I think my life is currently too mundane to be interesting. However, blogging is a good exercise for focusing on the small good things as well as for writing about big events. So small good things it is.

I love crafts. Stamping, cross-stitch, embroidery, and now crocheting amigurumi. Amigu-what-y? ah-me-goo-roo-me - try it. It's fun to say. A friend got me started, and so far I have completed one elephant head and half of his/her foot. I'm undecided if it should be a boy elephant with a scarf or a girl elephant with a skirt. It's blue, which does tend to lean me towards boy.

And, speaking of amigurumi, the coolest thing happened last month! A friend of mine is holding online auctions of items or services or various things to help raise funds for her sister's family because they had to relocate to the Seattle area from Idaho for the sister's cancer treatments. So, a few weeks ago, my friend emailed Ana Paula Rimoli, the author of three of the best amigurumi pattern books ever, to ask if it would be okay to sell little critters made from her patterns for this auction. And the response was a definite yes, plus the donation of her latest pattern book and all of her etsy patterns as an auction item. Some people are so cool! And then, on the final day of the auction, after I was outbid in the last three minutes, Ana donated a second copy of everything to the second place bidder (me!). So, that was one of my moments last month where I was shown, again, how utterly amazing people can be. I write this not because I expect the world to read it and beg her for free stuff, but because she has such a beautiful attitude of how we're all here to help each other.

Okay, beyond amigurumi. Well, I started my new position in a differnt office. I miss windows. Not the computer kind - the clear glass things you can look through to determine if you need your coat or umbrella to step outside. Now I have to go down the hall, down the elevator or stairs, and outside to find out if I need weather gear. But, as I half-expected, I am enjoying meeting new people. Quirks and all. And we all have quirks. Especially after spending a week without seeing the sun.

So, now I'm looking around my room to figure out if there's anything else to blog about. The scraps of paper from putting together arts and crafts for teaching the Sunbeams (3 year olds) at church? The two-thirds complete Lego Hogwarts castle my little brother is building with me? The bookshelves I haven't dusted for months? The sheet music ... ah, the music! A friend asked me to accompany him on a special song he wants to sing to his wife. However, the music only had the melody written in for the right hand. Fortunately it also included the guitar chords, so I used noteflight to write in some non-melody parts for the right hand. It was surprisingly difficult and yet fun. The difficulty often came in trying to drag and drop the different music notes one at a time, but the fun is hearing it all come together at last!

I hope that's enough ramblings for now. I hereby make a goal to post more often in June than I did in May. Not that it will be too hard since I averaged less than one post per week. The hard goal will be to find something worth taking pictures of to share.

Dear

2011-05-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Back,

I'm sorry. I know I tend do overdo things when I get into a gardening project, or when I get stuck in traffic for two hours on the way home. After more than a year of off-and-on discomfort, you would think I should know better, but I forget. Or I think I'm getting better and stronger. If I keep trying to remind myself to be careful, do you think you would consider cutting me a break today?

~the rest of me

Dear Washing Machine,

I know it probably gets on your nerves when I mix up your name with the Dishwasher. I know I don't spend a lot of time with you in that cold, cold garage. But please, did you have to ruin my absolute favorite blouse? I really hope the Oxi-Clean takes those mysterious stains back out. I know you're only three years old, but WM, you have solidified my dislike of front-loading washers. You don't work as well, your cycles take forever, and you grow stuff in that gross rubber seal thingey. So, this is your notice - your days are numbered.

~me

Dear Dan,

I'm sorry you're sick! Please get better soon. I think we've only had one week out of the last five where one or the other of us hasn't been sick. Can I do anything to help?

love,
~me

Dear Hulu,

Thank you, you save my sanity. I no longer stay up until 11:00 to watch that favorite show, and now I can watch that show anywhere. You're awesome.

~a fan

Best Ever

2011-04-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

While my sister was visiting, we threw my mom the best ever garden-themed birthday dinner party. It was so much fun to plan (with lots of help), to prepare (with lots of help), and to party!

Big thanks to Sara for more help than I can list in one sentence (making it a dinner party was even her idea in the first place), to Nichole for the cake recipe, and to Jenny and Steven for making sure we actually had food to eat.

The room was beautiful.

Here's some close-ups on the details.

flowers:
dessert buffet:
beautiful invitations and favor boxes from sara (slightly edited for privacy):
place settings, with the corsage for the birthday gal and the seed packet place cards:
even a place for the baby:
the cake (again edited for privacy):
Everyone had fun!

Me & the Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Mom!

I have a new job!

2011-02-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

I start next week! Or I start in two months. That part is undecided. And actually, it's not decided yet which job I get because it is internal redeployment. And actually, I don't even know if I get a say in what job I want. But either way, I will be employed, and I am happy about that. I'm so glad someone decided they want me on their team! And once we figure out the rules of internal redeployment, I will know when and where I will be going. :)

So I guess it's technically not official. But I feel pretty decent about how it's going to work out. Either job would be okay - I'd kind of prefer the job that would have me working more with a team of peers and would also allow some flexibility in work hours. But in the other job I'd be working with some senior-level engineers and probably learn a lot, plus they have a brand new pretty building to work in.

Oh, and both commutes are equally bad, both positions are on-site only (no telecommuting), and the basics of the offers would be the same - it's just the actual job that differs.

Shallow, I Know

2011-02-10T23:40:00.001-08:00

But sometimes it's fun to be shallow. Like today. Today was a little rough at first - I had my 4th job interview (but no offers yet) and this job would probably be pretty tough. Plus, since we're in "redeployment," I have to take the first job offer I get. I don't even know which one I would want, and I don't know if anyone wants me. Sigh.

So, on to the shallow stuff. I stopped at mom's house and she thought my hair looked really great today. I had her take a picture, but when I got home and looked in the mirror I had to pull out my own camera because she was right! Today is a good hair day.

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

OTHER SIDE VIEW

And that last picture, besides being at a totally strange angle that I never see myself from which seems to make my nose stand out prominently, also made me start to wonder: at what point do I have to change my eye color on my driver's license from brown to something else? Is it when all the brown is gone from my iris? Because today it looks like I'm halfway there.

EYES TODAY

Life is Change

2011-01-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

What is it about coming changes that gets my heart pounding, my head aching and my thoughts swirling in circles? It's not exclusive to negative changes. This time I should be happy. I should be excited. And yet I want to avoid thinking about it, I want to stay up late playing Paper Mario or doing laundry; I want to pretend that everything is continuing on normally.

Before anyone gets too excited for me, it's just a job change. My program is winding down, so a bunch of us are being transferred. The company even has a system to help us with transfers instead of just tossing us out into the job pool on our own. The managers from different programs communicate about who is going to need to downsize and who is going to need to hire, and they help us make the switch to a new position.

This should be good - I feel like I've pretty much mastered my current position, the responsibilities are not challenging anymore (except for the actual volume of work to do which can be a lot), and we know our program is winding down.

I think it's fear, that feeling that has me all mixed up inside. What am I scared of? Just change. I don't like changing. Which is tough, because life is change.

Sunbeams

2011-01-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's Sunbeam class went something like this:

-(me)Thank you D__ for saying the opening prayer. When you say a prayer, what's the very first thing you say?
-(G__)I'm a frog
-(me)Right now we're Sunbeams. What do we say first when we pray?
-(G__, jumping forward)I'm a frog
-(me)We're having lesson time right now. Please sit down.
-(G__, still jumping forward)I'm a frog
-(me)Please sit down on your chair.
-(G__)I'm a frog.
-(me)Please sit down, it's lesson time. We have an activity after the lesson.
-(G__)I'm a frog.

Repeat about 8 more times for the full effect.

I Love Friends

2010-12-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Not the TV show. Well, not that I hate the TV show, but I just mean that I really love and appreciate friends. I'm just in a sentimental mood today. So, here are some things I love about my friends.

They sympathize when times are tough
But they won't let me feel sorry for myself for too long
And they remind me of my blessings
They celebrate when things are good
They help when I'm stuck in a hard spot
It feels good when I get to help them too
They love me even when they see my faults
They love me even when it's been a long time since we talked
I know I can find someone to talk to whenever I need
They include me in fun activities
And instead of feeling awkward because I don't have kids
Those with kids are happy to share
Even when we don't like the same things, we still like each other
They make the extra effort to stay friends even when we all move apart
They remember funny things about myself that I forget
Like the time we held races on the streets of Seattle late at night
And for some reason I started doing pushups
Or like the time ... any of the times ... that we just laughed hysterically
Until the tears were pouring from our eyes
I know they think about me
And I think about them
And they pray for me
And I pray for them
And somehow growing older and doing new things is a lot less scary
Because my friends are doing them too

Do you ever have a day

2010-12-09T11:38:00.001-08:00

A day when things just seem to blow up in your face, innocent-seeming questions are turned into monstrous challenges, and you feel like no one understands what you mean?

A day when you ask for help and instead you end up with a whole new giant task when all you wanted was a yes/no answer? And no one answered the original question.

A day when every time you ask a question the response doesn't actually answer it and instead leaves you feeling frustrated and stupid?

Yeah, I hope this day looks up soon.

You're All I Want For Christmas

2010-12-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

but you know, if you just have to get me something to unwrap, here's some things I've been admiring lately...

I walked past these at Home Depot last time I was there - I have tons of random little nails, drywall screws, picture hangers and other stuff sitting in many little plastic bags in my garage that would look so much nicer in here.

And (I'm adding this a couple of days later) I'd like something to use to chop some of our nice firewood into kindling pieces.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir ... Deseret Book showed a new compilation of 100 years of songs which looks cool, especially since I don't have any of their CD's. Or the ad had a cool Lion Houes pie cookbook. Or I could use a pie shield - the kind that covers just the edges of the crust so they don't burn as fast.

Also, I know I am a crazy sock lady (like a cat lady, but I'm crazy for socks). But I find that I don't have many socks that are loose. And I no longer like to wear socks that are snug, or that have elastic around the top. So I am looking to build my loose sock collection. If there is such a thing.

I think I'm most hoping that a certain girl will provide me with updated refrigerator art, since mine is a couple of months old by now. Hint, hint. :)

I also generally love cooking gadgets, art supplies, dates with Dan (movie tickets?), and puzzles.

Walking through Target I admired the touchless soap dispenser, although I'd probably still manage to get it dirty. And they had a cute set of melamine pinch bowls - I often use bowls to get everything ready before I cook something. And I was reminded last time I baked cookies that my mini-sized spatula has been cut nearly in half. And I spotted the Hunger Games trilogy at Costco, which reminded me that I've only read the first one because the hold list at the library is really long.

Hope that helps a little, family.

Pictures

2010-11-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

He really liked sitting on my stomach - it was easy to bounce him one-handed this way, and I could use the computer at the same time.

We spent a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes

He just smells so good (when his diaper is clean).

Baby Kisses!

More Baby Kisses!

Everyone loves him.

We girls played a lot - going to the park, museum, swimming pool, grocery store, school, and library. Mommy and baby had some nice peaceful afternoons, and we had lots of fun!

His big sister told mommy to give him a toy in the carseat. Mommy didn't think he needed one, but then he started playing with them.

Yawn! So much fun is tiring.

Cutest Boy Ever!

2010-11-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

I fell in love last week. Total, complete adoration. Something about those hugs and snuggles ... but Dan doesn't mind, because the little guy is his nephew too.

Part of me missed Dan and missed home, but the rest of me wished I could stay longer. Between getting the 5-year old off to kindergarten in the morning, running errands for my sister, cleaning house (a little bit at least), changing diapers, spending every afternoon on a special activity out of the house (so mommy and baby could have a little more peace), staying up every evening watching hulu with my sister, and carrying the not-so-tiny baby around with me just because I didn't want to put him down; well, I'm happily exhausted.

49 days until winter solstice

2010-11-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Voting was harder than I thought it would be this year. The initiatives were confusing, and there were a lot of judges that I knew nothing about. But, after listening to the news a lot and spending hours online watching debates and reading, I voted. Hooray! I think the most entertaining commentary I heard on the news was when someone asked what would happen if Initiatives 1100 and 1105 both passed (two initiatives that were each written to privatize the sale of liquor but they each had a different plan - no way could they both be implemented at the same time).

Halloween - I gave a friend a ride home one evening and she gave me a pumpkin from ther pumpkin patch. Homegrown pumpkin? Cool! I had to do something appropriately awesome with it, so I went to a pumpkin carving party...

Dan went too...

And this was the result!

Things to Blog About

2010-09-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, especially in Fall and Winter (and Fall has completely moved in around here already), my poor blog sits empty because I can't think of anything to write about. So, if there's any ideas out there of things you'd want me to write about, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll probably have little spurts of blogging productivity every now and then.

We have a borrowed power washer in our garage, waiting for the rain to let up for a few days so we can clean off our deck and restain it. There are too many people moving this Saturday so we regret that we can't help everybody, but it will sure be a busy day. I think I get to babysit since I'm not up to lifting boxes yet.

The doctor told me I'm well enough to stop physical therapy, but I'm not well enough to resume normal fun sports (I miss volleyball!) I will really miss PT, especially since I'm going to have to continue to do the exercises on my own anyway and I don't have the most important things at home, like the giant heat packs, the little cool eletrical shock gadgets that mess up the pain signals, or the massage therapist.

I've found some fun books to read lately - like the Adoration of Jenna Fox, and Cybele's Secret, and others that I can't find the titles to right now because our library computer system is undergoing massive upgrades this week so we can't access anything online. And I've found at least two books that I picked up at the library, took home, opened up and dropped in disgust. Really! The covers should have a Mr. Yuck sticker or something to warn you of some of these things. I am also attempting to read an e-book that a friends gave me. I want to read it. I just don't want to read it on a computer. Sigh.

I have a new craft light. Well, I will have a new craft light after my birthday. For now it is sitting in a box waiting for someone to wrap it for me (hint, hint!). Then I will have good light to see to build puzzles or cross-stitch (or more realistically, to sort through mail, file papers, and pay bills).

I am off of the blood thinners. ... ! I am trying to work through the anxiety I now feel every time my calf feels tight or my ankles get swollen. In the next few weeks I see the doctor again and have some tests done to see if I have a tendency towards forming the bad blood clots (DVTs or PEs). Anyone who has ever seen me stress out can imagine how I am feeling about the next few weeks. And you can all be really, really glad you're far away from me right now. :)

I am behind on work, which is of course why I needed to take a mid-day break to post this, and some of my favorite people to work with have transferred out of my group. At least they're still in the same office. And I have been attacked by a giant swarm of zucchinis and squash. Or a swarm of giant zucchinis and squash. Yum.

(Mr. Zucchini on his way in to work)

Time for a Change?

2010-08-24T18:40:00.001-07:00

I'm fundamentally just too lazy to change my regular email account to another service. But this could convince me, since I've been locked out of my Inbox for three full days now.

About a piano...

2010-08-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

When a piano takes a bath
The waters swirl with wrath.

When you press a piano's keys
If it's old you just hope it won't wheeze.

Music is sweet
Playing piano is a treat.

The keys are white
Even in the night.

When a piano writes notes
It plays them on boats.

When a piano says hello
It sounds very mellow.

When you press a piano's pedal
It sounds very high, low, or middle.

There's a piano named Lina
When played sounds like a hyena

About the author
Julie is nine years old. She loves to read and play on the piano. She is going to take swimteam for the fourth time. She is in fourth grade, loves to write, and is good at rhyming. She loves school, and likes horses.

This is from a little homemade book I made when I was nine. I found it as I was sorting through boxes of old papers. I hope it made you laugh.

Hooray for Old Friends!

2010-08-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm calling anyone old, in particular; except we did all own up to feeling much older than when we were at BYU together.

After a day of work we got together for a walk in the Grass Lawn Park in Redmond. The park was really cool - a nice variety of paths in the main park and through the woods, plus fields for baseball and soccer, plus tennis courts, and then bunches of play areas for kids with these really cool rope structures to climb on.

I love trees

2010-08-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Which is why I was pretty nervous to have our backyard trees cleaned up. But it had to be done - the big oak was just about touching the roof!

The other problems included a couple of evergreens with a lot of dead branches at their base, an old, tired apple tree which never even flowered anymore, and a pine tree that was leaning over so much that the roots were starting to come up out of the ground.

So I called AG Tree Service. They came to my house to give me an estimate the same day that I called. We went over the various "problem areas" in my yard. We worked out a plan and the crew showed up the next day to make my yard beautiful!

Here's what they did:

They removed my apple tree and pine tree, even grinding up the stumps so that we can use the space to plant something new.

They cleaned out the dead branches and raised the bottom level of the evergreens to about the height of the fence behind them so that we could keep the privacy they provide.

I admit that I miss the whole "Christmas-tree" look of a tree that reaches down to the ground, but about 75% of those lower branches were just dead sticks.

My favorite was the oak tree. It went from a wild and shaggy monster tree that was reaching out to touch the house and had branches dangling so far down into the yard that we could walk right into them ... it went from that to a beautiful tree that raises high up overhead, opening up space in the yard while still towering over the house and providing some summer shade.

2010-07-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Who could that be? Maybe a friend coming over to visit? Maybe a delivery just for me? Maybe a-YIKES!

BOO!

Oh no! What's a girl to do?

Once a Boo gets in your house, they're hard to get rid of.

And if you turn your back on them for just one moment, they eat your food and they-

Play your games, and then they-

Sneak upstairs and-

(Gasp!) Read your books!

What's a girl to do? I know!

Aw, Boo, you are adorable, and we're going to have SO much fun together

Food Box Week 6

2010-07-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

The onions have gotten much larger since the first week. The carrots too. The radishes too. And that gigantic 15" cucumber? How will we ever eat all of that? The rosemary I'm hoping to use in bread. Maybe. And the green beans we should eat soon too. I think this is too much food for two people - we're falling behind ... aaaah!

Scout Camp 2010

2010-07-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

Somehow the scouts and scoutmasters all survived their week at Camp Fife. The boys kept very busy working on lots and lots of merit badges. Their assistant scoutmaster, on the other hand, looks like he was living the lazy life.

Food Box Week 5

2010-07-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

There it is. Pretty food. Yummy food. Squash, beets, onions, butterhead lettuce, and breakfast radishes. Yum. So far my favorite is to saute the sliced squash.

Other fun things I've made lately include this delicious chili (made nice and spicy by the jalapeno peppers and the chipotle chilis in adobo sauce).

Making chili let me use one of my favorite utensils ever:

Yes, it's the clip that acts as a spoon rest - less mess on my counter and stovetops and it drips into the pot.

Food Box Week 4

2010-07-26T18:58:00.001-07:00

Well, uh, um, I can't tell you how cool my food box was for week 4 because I, well, I totally forgot to pick it up. At least they donate un-claimed boxes of food to people who can use it. Sigh.

I also forgot 1 doctor's appointment, 1 physical therapy appointment, 1 dose of medicine, and at least a couple of work meetings. Where did my brain go?

Will Hug For Food

2010-07-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

I like hugs - hugs are for friendship and love and to show you care. I come from a family that hugs a lot. My husband doesn't. So, after fixing dinner tonight, I intercepted him on his way out of the kitchen and got a hug.

Me: You think I'm silly cuz I want a hug?

Him: (nods)

Me: You give me hugs just because I want them?

Him: (nods)

Me: Is it worth it?

Him: To hug you? Sure - you give me food.

More Food - Food Box Week 3

2010-07-06T18:27:00.001-07:00

Here's the pretty picture:

And what is that? Two beautiful enormous heads of lettuce (red lettuce and butterhead lettuce), two bunches of radishes and one bunch of beets (much smaller than last week's beets), some red spring onions and a bag of rye flour. Which turned into this:

which baked into this:

and tastes like this:

Oh well, I guess you'll have to use your imagination. Not the strongest tasting rye bread ever, but still tasty bread. I'll have to look for an even better recipe I guess.

Since I should probably limit myself to only one here's-the-cool-food-I've-made-lately post per week, here's a couple more things that I made with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in the last week - homemade strawberry jam and canned strawberry-rhubarb pie filling:

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

After a yummy dinner and a visit with my mom, we started driving home about 9:50 PM. Which put us in the car at the perfect time to see lots of fireworks. We drove past one of the bigger city displays and we saw a few more displays as we drove down the freeway. But the biggest surprise was the noise when we got out of the car at our house. It is complete, non-stop fireworks pandemoneum out there. It's just people in their neighborhoods, I think. Maybe it's because there's they might be illegal next year. Either way, I love the sound. Happy 4th!

Peas Please - Food Box Week 2

2010-06-24T22:05:00.001-07:00

Two bunches of beets, two heads of spotted funny-looking baby lettuce we may or may not eat [update: the spots turned out to be red spots and it tasted great.], one bag of snow peas, two bags of peas for shelling, one bunch of carrots, and one bag of fava beans.

We're not even completely through last week's box - I need to use more spring onions and garlic, plus we still have lettuce left and a couple tiny turnips and a radish and a carrot. I think I may cook a stir fry tomorrow with the onions, some garlic, and snow peas. And maybe the fava beans too. And some kind of meat probably too - but I'm focused on those veggies.

I was impressed that they changed the food options a lot between week 1 and week 2. I guess that makes sense, if they use up a lot of things one week then they may not have the same things available the next week. But they have a large number of things to choose from, which makes each week fun. Maybe I'll even try the wheat berries someday. I'd like it if the radishes came back too - they were really good.

Being Adventurous - Food Box Week 1

2010-06-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

I've always liked the idea of signing up for a local food box - perhaps because I somehow got on a mailing list about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This year I did it. I signed up.

And waited.

And waited.

And now it is officially the start of the summer food box season! The box I signed up for lets me actually choose what goes into it each week. And there were lots of choices. Since I'm not supposed to get too much vitamin K right now (just until September) I will be branching out and trying some new things.

This week my box held this:

See if you can find all 8 veggies - the red lettuce, Bibb lettuce, chives, spring onions, fresh garlic, turnips, easter egg radishes, and carrots. Tonight we're having some kind of yummy salad with dinner!

For next week, I have new choices, like snow peas, beets, and peas that you have to shell to eat. Along with many types of greens, spices, and wheat berries. I'm excited!

Acupuncture

2010-05-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I went. I'm reserving judgement until next time though.

I walk into the office - they use 3 rooms inside a nice-looking physical therapy place in a fairly new building, so it all looks okay. The lady at the front desk is nice and friendly and quickly gets my paperwork sorted out and puts me in a room to wait for the doctor. He comes in and reviews my health history (which did take a few minutes) and then we actually try some acupuncture.

The doctor didn't tell me what to expect to feel afterwards - he just said we'd talk after and see if he thought he could help me or not. I didn't feel much; I just held very very still for about 15 minutes. It was pretty relaxing.

Afterwards I actually felt a little more sore, and told him this. So he smiled and was happy and said that he had been trying to aggravate it a little - like pushing on a bruise - to see if he found the injury. So now I'm more sore than usual. Thanks. Although I guess if he told me that ahead of time then I might have psyched myself into a false reaction.

For now I'm coming back next week and we'll see if he can make things feel better instead of worse. My opinion is on the fence right now.

Quick, Tell Me If I'm Nuts

2010-05-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

I just signed myself up to try acupuncture treatment starting next Thursday. This in spite of my phobia. Am I crazy? I could use some reassurance.

(P.S. My orthopedic doctor recommended this because my strained rib muscles aren't healing very fast.)

Crafty Projects

2010-05-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Just some fun stuff I've done lately. First of all there's my cute little penguin CJ, named in honor of my second cousin twice-removed who made one too.

I don't think I've ever taught anyone how to cross-stitch before. I'm glad she was so patient with me. Now I just need to find a frame that fits it.

The other project was learning to sew mini pillowcases. While I was getting better, there were several other people I knew who were having a hard time. I love my mini-pillow so much that when my mom offered to teach me how, I jumped on the chance to dig through her box of fabrics and made something.

I Love

2010-05-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Mint
I can't describe how yummy it smells

Rewards

2010-04-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

I don't really love carrying extra cards around in my wallet, or having a store track everything I purchase, but I do enjoy getting those rewards. Then I get receipts like this:

Item 1: Round Steak 3.04
Item 2: Franz Bread 2.50
Item 3: Tlmk Cheese 5.99

sale price on cheese -2.00
meat reward coupon -2.00
bread reward coupon -2.00
general reward coupon -5.50

tax 0.00
balance 0.03
cash 0.03
change 0.00

And now we're having steak tonight!

What I Love About Home

2010-04-27T13:51:00.001-07:00

I love waking up to bright sunshine, then watching the wind tearing through the trees outside my window. Sunshine turns dark gray and the rain hitting the rooftop roars, drowning out the voices on the speakerphone. In minutes the rain is soft and gentle, soaking the entire world. And then the sunshine is back, bringing some blue sky with it.

A little late

2010-04-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

It's a little late for me to complain to the restauraunt, but I just noticed this... Last July I spent under $10 on my lunch at the Azteca in Southcenter. The service was really poor - very, very slow even when the place wasn't busy, and the food wasn't that good either. So I left a $1.50 tip on my credit card bill - it was between 15-20%, so I wasn't being really stingy, just not super generous. But they rung it up as a $2.00 tip. Really? They'd lie, cheat, and steal for 50 cents? Lame.

Okay, vent over. I feel better.

Really?

2010-04-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

I thought I was done with the ER for a while, but no. Evidently I'm having, in addition to everything else, vertigo.

Vertigo is the kind of dizzy feeling where the world spins around you, especially in my case when I change the position of my head. Something to do with crystals in the ears getting down into the part of the ear that deals with balance ... they gave me reading material to learn all about it.

The ER, after checking me over and giving me a CAT scan, just treated the dizziness and they hope it goes away in 3-5 days. Follow up with primary care physician, etc. All in all, not so bad. Except for falling down twice early this morning because I couldn't keep my balance enough to walk 3-4 steps.

Is this really happening? They don't even think it's related to the other medical stuff - just happened to occur now. I'm not sure if I really believe that, but if it just goes away I will be happy.

Out of Practice

2010-04-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've forgotten how to blog. I read my friends' blogs, and even their facebook posts, and I think "why don't I have anything to say?"

Maybe it's just because I'm so out of practice. Maybe it's because so much of my recent time has been spent wondering/worrying/thinking about medical things that I kind of feel like aren't the best things to share all the time (I mean, who really wants to hear that my most recent INR was 2.8, which is great?). Maybe it's the medication (ok, really I just like to blame all of my brain freezes and things on the pain-killers that the doctor said I may be taking for months depending on how long my back hurts). Maybe it's just the normal self-doubts that anyone has about how interesting I really can be - after so long without a blog post, I feel like I have to make some kind of great post, or dramatic statement.

Oh well, I am who I am. And if the most exciting parts of my week are (a) having cute matching rugs in my kitchen, (b) driving safely to work and getting to see my friends there, (c) meeting a neighbor when I was out walking yesterday, (d) finishing my taxes - huzzah!, and (e) finding Cadbury Eggs on the post-Easter sale; well, so be it. That's not really a bad week.

Sooner or later I'm actually going to have pictures again to make the blog more interesting. Probably later. :)

The Year So Far

2010-03-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

So far my year has been a little rough. I mean, it's always hard to go back to work after the Christmas holidays, especially when you play really hard for a whole week in Utah. But this year is definitely making an impression on me. And not a good one. Mostly because my medical trauma from 2008 decided to repeat itself. So, once again I was hauled off to the emergency room for life-saving surgery due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Happily (I think) I don't actually remember my days in the ICU and in the hospital following surgery - I hear I was pretty out of it.
As I came back to myself at mom's house (the doctor told her to take me home and get me some real rest because you cannot rest in a hospital), then I had this funny charliehorse in my left calf. Hmmm...I told mom about it and after two days we went back to the ER to get it checked out.
Driving back to the same ER was not fun. They put me in room 15 (instead of 13 like I'd had a week before). The ER nurse who put in my IV recognized me from my previous visit too. We hoped it would turn out to be nothing, but after some ultrasounds and my first CAT scan (which was cool from my engineering background standpoint), we found out I had blood clots. Technical terms I believe were deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. Yes, plural meaning there were (and still are) multiple blood clots on both sides of my lungs.
So back to staying at the hospital for me. First a day of bed rest (UGH!), then light activity (yay, I could walk across my room and back), and then building up from there as the blood thinners took effect.
Happily I reacted very well to the medications so the doctor could let me go home earlier than he expected. Also happily, my sister came up and made this second hospital visit much easier than it would've been. Also happily, my husband and brother and mom all live around here and take turns babysitting me. Also happily, I've seen so much love and support from what feels like the entire world. One nurse commented to me that "you have so many visitors!" Also happily, my doctor decided I should have a full 6 week leave from work to recover from the multiple traumas. Also happily, we are hitting full springtime up here, with the crocuses just finishing up, the daffodils in full bloom, and the trees starting to bloom all over. Also happily, there is a nifty Anti-Coagulation Clinic with pharmicists who I really like who manage my continuing treatment. Also happily, I've had more time to read - both scriptures and for fun. Also happily, I've re-discovered the exciting world of dot-to-dots (for those who think these are just for kids ... try one with over 1300 dots!). Also happily, mom is able to take care of me during the days while Dan works, so I can get to all my appointments. Also happily, I went to my first social outing last night since the surgery - a soup potluck with a scrumptious cheesy soup and an even more scrumptious pumpkin soup that could honestly be served as dessert. Also happily, my bruises from the fragmin (heparin) shots are starting to fade a little. Also happily, I'm done with IV's for a while. Also happily, the blood clots don't seem to be causing me pain or some of the other yucky symptoms possible. Also happily, my little brother likes taking me on walks, even at my turtle-pace. Also happily, I now own both a cane and a walker, so I'm ready for the future. Also happily, I got to video chat with my niece this week. Also happily, I still have time to finish our taxes. Also happily, I have great new cute pajamas.

Two months later ...

2010-02-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

I think I just got out of the habit of posting even semi-regularly for a while. So now I'm faced with the choice: do I try to catch up on everything that's happened since I last posted on Dec. 18? Or do I just write about something recent and save myself the trouble of trying to remember things from almost 2 months ago?

Sigh.

Maybe an abbreviated catch-up post. Because the main thing of interest this last week is that I somehow hurt my back, so I've spent a very boring few days trying not to do anything.

But I'm sure that we've done something interesting since I last posted. Like visiting family in Utah for Christmas! We kept pretty busy, what with a trip to Ikea and the aquarium, bowling, go-kart racing, indoor surfing (ok, I really just watched), making homemade tamales (amazing!), snowshoeing, and spending lots of time with all those nieces we have. And the count continues to rise ... Our 6th niece is coming sometime this year.

Dan enjoyed another chance to pet stingrays at the aquarium:

And he really enjoyed beating my best bowling score I've had in years (the top score is Dan, the second score is me):

I got to help make these delicious tamales (wrapped in banana leaves):

Here we are ready to head out on the racetrack:

Here we are at the turnaround point on our snowshoe adventure:

Dan, just before being swept away:

So, that's a pretty good summary for Christmas.

Since then it's pretty much been back to the daily grind of work. I was participating in a weekly volleyball skills clinic, but I hurt my back this week so I will have to give up the last couple weeks of that. (Note: I actually think I hurt my back getting into my car while I was all tired out from volleyball). I'm hoping to get in to see a doctor this week - I'm hoping I will just need some physical therapy or something.

And we had a great visit from my sister and niece - life was a little crazy because work was busy too, but I got to spend some good time with them, including a trip to this awesome store with my niece. We never did finish that Benjamin Button movie, but we had a great time sorting through tons of family history photos - my grandma was quite the shutterbug.

We've had more fun than that too, now that I think about it - we've had fun with friends, Dan's preparing for his first camping trip with the scouts (and he still needs to find a tent and sleeping bag and tarps), and we celebrated my little brother's birthday. The year 2010 is off to a good start. Now, if I can just remember to post again sometime before April...

P.S. I know weather is suppoesd to be one of the most boring topics, but I was really excited to have the warmest January in 120 years of recorded Seattle weather history. I loved it!

Pretty

2009-12-18T22:55:00.001-08:00

Once in a while I notice that my commute has some pretty moments.

It's a rare day in winter when it's clear enough to see Mt. Rainier.

And I found this guy just hanging out in a tree along the river one day.

Huh?

2009-12-18T22:51:00.001-08:00

What was my first clue that I'd done something wrong?

Poor Furnace

2009-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

It's a little funny to say we were fortunate (in my opinion it was a huge blessing) to have our furnace go out this week. Why is that a good thing? Because this week the temperatures were above freezing. If it happened last week we would probably have some pipe damage to go along with the poor busted furnace.

It started in the evening, when I felt a bit cold, so I turned the thermostat up four degrees. I heard the furnace start making noise and thought nothing of it until Dan pointed out that the furnace kept just starting to make noise and blowing some cold air around and then turned off. Over and over again. We were a bit nervous about a problem with the gas, so I kept sneaking upstairs after we turned the furnace off and the thermostat down, but I didn't smell anything funny.

So, the next day I called and got an appointment for 2:00 in the afternoon. I enjoyed the warmth of the car heater and the warmth at work. Then I bundled up, headed home, and sat in the cold until the fellow showed up. He started up the furnace, waited for it, and then told me the igniter was broken. So, hooray, it could easily be replaced!

I then quized him all about my heater (yeah, getting my money's worth or something). I found out how the furnace works, including some of the safety mechanisms built into the furnace control board. And now I know what the igniter is. It's that thing that glows white hot an then lights the gas.

Catch Up

2009-12-08T22:39:00.001-08:00

In no particular order, here's some things that have happened since the last time I posted anything.

Um, November? It's been more than a month. I may have a couple pictures to add later, but I've been as lax in my picture-taking as in my blogging.

Almost all of the leaves have fallen off our big tree. For the first time in years I actually climbed into a garbage can to stomp down the leaves to make more fit. (sorry, there are no pictures of this)

Thanksgiving - a great dinner and fun time at Mom's house this year, with my very first attempt at a lemon meringue pie. There was also a sour cream lemon pie and an apple crisp. I think the apple-yam casserole is possibly my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

Teaching Relief Society - it's just as nervewracking the second time as the first, but I had someone come up to me today and tell me my story and analogy that I closed with was beautiful.

Volleyball - we WON! Just tonight, we won the playoffs and No Fear is officially the city's upper B league champions. We played two matches, best of three games in each match. The first match we went 1-1 and then I served out the third game with five or six serves in a row and it felt great! The second match we won 2-0, and again I served out the final game! And even better, the other team decided not to block me the one time I hit (we have some really really great men on our team who hit so well I usually don't need to very often) well, the one time I hit I just ripped it into the short cross-court and people were diving for it and it was just an awesome kill. For me at least.

Planning Christmas - I had one very failed attempt at Christmas shopping, but now I'm regrouping. If anyone is looking for ideas for me ... I don't even know. I love socks with grip on them - slipper socks I guess they're called. And the Botanical Crewel napkins from williams sonoma - to be used for decorating purposes since they're dry clean only. Um, maybe I'll have to come up with a better list later.

Construction Project - we got together with Dan's brother and his family and built the amazing Costco gingerbread houses. They were totally cheap and way better than the ones we usually get in the grocery store. They had a house, a tree, two gingerbread men, more than enough premixed frosting - it just came out like toothpaste - in white and green, and at least seven types of candy. Eight if you count the cute little sugar wreath.

Scouts - Dan finished all his scout leader training and he got to go on his first cool activity. Cold, actually. Hiking Little Si last weekend. I made sure to get him wool socks so he wouldn't freeze as fast.

Hopefully we'll soon have a wool rug to put in front of our fireplace - it's below 20 degrees out there. Fire sounds lovely.

That's it for now. I'm sure there's more, but at least this is something or anyone who's wondered where I disappeared to.

Have a Happy

2009-10-31T20:28:00.001-07:00

Saying Goodbye

2009-09-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

I had to say goodbye to my Sunday School class today. It's not like I'll never see them again - just that I'm no longer their teacher.

Now I just have to figure out what the Relief Society 1st Counselor does.

Sandpiper

2009-08-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

After a very full weekend of playing, shopping, hiking, and packing, we finally left Monday morning for my family's trip to the beach. I spent most of Monday morning busily checking off a list of all the food: bread, hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, avacados, orange juice, chicken, rice vinegar, etc.

My sister's family met us at my mom's house and we loaded ourselves into our cars for the trip. It's a pretty nice drive, especially the road from Olympia to Aberdeen. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch, grabbed our Aberdeen groceries, and drove on out to the coast.

It was raining when we got there, so we worked quickly to unload the cars. After unpacking our clothes, books, towels, and beach stuff, I went into the kitchen to put away all the food. Then I headed down to the beach - we all did. My niece was happily playing in the sand (her favorite part of the beach). I had to walk down far enough to go wading. Brrrr! It was so much colder than Hawaii. :)

Back up in our unit, I put the lasagne in the oven and watched as my sister put together a fantastic salad. Then I heard Dan's voice from the other room, followed by my niece's voice. When I peeked around the corner, this is what I saw.

In fact, I think the kid really decided she liked Dan this week. Possibly the cutest thing I saw was when Dan was shoveling up sand to build the big sand castle and my niece shoveled right along with him. When he moved to the other side of the pile of sand she called out "Uncle Dan? Where are you?" and then walked around the pile and found him. She promptly started shoveling with him again. So here's some pictures of all of us at the beach.

Aren't the beach hats adorable? I can't believe my sister made hers - it turned out so cute!

Here are some of the fun things we saw this year: the bug in the sand, the birds running away from a dog, the hummingbird trapped in the gift shop (possibly the same one that flew into Jenny & Nick's room), and the spot where we sank deep into the sand with every step.

We had a birthday party, a beach bonfire, and a lot of time with the beautiful sunny beach.

Finished!

2009-08-06T23:24:00.001-07:00

I started this over seven years ago. Mom stored it for me under her couch (broken into fourths) for years until I reclaimed it this summer. 3000 pieces. 47" x 31". Thank you to Annie for helping me with all the purple.

Now I'm thinking about this one.

Eyeballs

2009-08-06T23:21:00.001-07:00

For some reason I am fascinated by close up eyeball pictures.

Jen and Seafair

2009-08-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

With the temperatures finally dropping (from our record highs of 103-106), my friend Jen drove up from Tacoma to spend the weekend with me.

We started out our weekend by watching North and South (the Elizabeth Gaskell version, not the story based on the American Civil War). Then Saturday morning we headed over to a park in Seattle near to where Seafair takes place. We sat on our beach towels playing Phase 10 for a while - she won. Then we moved our stuff down to the steps leading into the water and we got ready to watch the Seafair air show.

Here we are having fun and cooling off with our feet in the lake.

Then the show started and we watched as a cute little plane did acrobatics. Then a really big plane came and also did acrobatics, which seemed even more amazing because it looked like it should be just a whale trying to fly. But it was really quite graceful.

And then came the Blue Angels!!! Yes, some of them are upside-down in the lower right corner picture.

Growing up, we used to hear the Blue Angels every summer while they practiced for the Seafair air show. We would hear them screaming by and it would send us running outside to look for them. Sometimes we caught a glimpse of a second or third Blue Angel following the one we heard, or sometimes they would turn around in a formation and come screaming past on their way back to the lake area (where the air show officially takes place). So it was awesome to go see their show.

After that Jen and I went shopping. We finally found the movie she wanted (the same North and South that we started watching the night before) at the third Costco we went to. Yes, there are three Costco's within a reasonable distance of my house. Four actually. We celebrated our shopping success with Costco ice cream, and then we went on to another store where Jen found some really cute shirts. Another of our college roommates called while we were there, which was a great coincidence! Perfect timing, Amy! Then we picked up a Trader Joe's salad for dinner and had a musical evening around the piano. It was really cool to have someone in the house who could actually hit those high notes.

Sunday was more relaxing - we went to church and then we came home and finished North and South. Dan's brother and family came over too, and we played a few rounds of Ziggity. We had orange chicken for dinner and then Jen had to head home. I am so glad she could come up and visit!

Jury Duty

2009-07-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

You can't be called to serve jury duty for twelve months after you serve. So, thirteen months after my last jury duty I went again. Lucky me. At least I was in downtown Seattle instead of Kent - it's a whole lot closer. I hopped on the bus on the morning of July 27 and found my way to the courthouse by 8:00. My friend from work was there at the same jury duty as me!

I wasn't too worried, since the last time I had jury duty there were only two trials and the longest one was two weeks long. I started to get worried when they called 75 people into one trial and then 118 people into another. I was number 12 of the 118. The judge asked us if a three week trial would be a hardship. I explained in my turn that we had a vacation coming up that third week, already paid for, with my sister's family joining us to go out of town. But the judge decided that I wouldn't be released from the jury for that. He said there were a lot of long trials (three weeks and longer) so they couldn't let us all go.

I sat in the courtroom stressing out for the rest of the day (except the lunch break where I walked down to Pike Place Market in 92 degree weather). And I stressed all evening and all night. See, this trip to the ocean is a family tradition lasting the last 29 years. We'll celebrate my niece's 4th birthday there, walk for hours on the beach, build sandcastles, etc. I tried to take Dan's attitude and say "well, it's not so bad because we did get to go to Hawaii" but I wasn't very successful. Plus it sounded like a very messy, very nasty trial. And the guy on trial sat there laughing and smiling, which was creepier than I can express in words. One lady (who was seriously my angel for that day) made sure I went and got lunch and talked with me when I was stressed - I am so glad she was there!

Finally, right before lunch on the second day the voir dire was over and the prosecution and defense each could excuse people on peremptory challenges (no reason required). And the prosecution excused me. Phew! I was so relieved! So I went back to the jury room and was immediately called into another three week trial. As juror number 2. Seriously? But this time the new judge excused me for my vacation. I waited around in the jury room one more time, and then I actually was one of the maybe 40 people who went home without being on a jury.

24th of July Weekend

2009-07-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Dan and I like hiking, but he never wants to go to the same place twice. So we're always looking for a new place to go. On July 25th, it was Dan who found us a hike - the Big Four Ice Caves up in the Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We called up his brother and so their family came with us on our hike. It was an hour and a half drive, with a small parking fee to hike the trail (which we didn't figure out online - good thing we had a few dollars with us). Here's the important part - the pictures!

Nearing the end of the trail we could see the mountain with waterfalls running down it all over the place, and then we could see the big ice cave - look closely to see the people near the entrance.

Here we are on the trail. Note who is holding the baby.

And here we are in the opening of one of the smaller ice caves; the fuzziness in the pictures is actually the ice vapor. It is freezing cold in there! Which made it absolutely amazing on a hot summer day.
(I think we look like giants in the land of the little people - you may have to click and view the image full-size to see this. If I just lifted my hand up through the roof of the cave I could catch one and keep them for a pet.)

So how much fun did we have? This much!

12:34:56 - 7/8/09

2009-07-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th

2009-07-07T18:16:00.001-07:00

I suddenly realized I had saved this post as a draft and never finished it. Oops.

This 4th of July weekend we:

Canned cherries, dried cherries, made cherry fruit leather, made cherry frozen yogurt, and froze a bunch of cherries to use in smoothies.

Went hiking in Twin Falls State Park, where we almost went passed the stairs leading down to the big waterfall.

Kayaked 11+ miles, going across Lake Washington and up the Sammammish River, where we saw two bald eagles fly right over us and land in the nearby trees. We also saw fish jumping in the lake.

Went out to dinner at Mediterranean Kitchen prior to going to see the fireworks in the downtown Bellevue Park!

My favorite part about the fireworks is that they are accompanied by the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra.

Wednesday was good

2009-06-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't run into any real traffic on the way to work.

I went out to a farewell lunch for some friends at work, and when the server accidentally put my meal on the manager's check (he was paying for the people who were leaving, but the rest of us were paying for ourselves) - the manager was really nice and just said to leave it there.

On the way home, I was driving across the 520 bridge from the sunny side to the shadowed side when I looked down at the dark steel gray water. There was no blue at all. It was an amazing color. And on one side of the bridge the water is all calm, while on the other side there were whitecaps from all the wind.

Enough people showed up to play volleyball, so I got to play for the first time in a month!

Going Home (Awesome Vacation Day 8)

2009-06-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

We actually packed up the Monday evening so that we could head out to the Hukilau Cafe for breakfast. I had Hawaiian sweet bread french toast, and Dan had fried rice with eggs and spam.

Then we put all our stuff in the car and drove off, stopping just a bit down the road to see Laie Point. There was an explanation of the legend of the point - something about a monster that was defeated and it fell in five pieces, making up the five islands around the point.

We drove a ways and stopped at this macadamia nut store, where we sampled various flavors. They were all really good - especially the ones covered in chocolate!

Then off to the airport. We were there in plenty of time. We were asked to take an earlier plane (by about 20 minutes) to make room for some folks who were missing their connecting flights. So we had a few minutes to look around from the Maui airport before we got on the long flight home. So, here's pictures of our very short stay in Maui. There were mountains and then some very agricultural looking land.

My brother picked us up at the airport - we got in pretty late at night - and he dropped us off at home. We set our alarms to wake up for work and prepared to return to real life the next day. With a really nice tan.

Awesome Vacation Day 7

2009-06-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we woke up super duper early so that we could get on the road and get down to the southeast part of the island before there was any traffic. And it worked too. Today it really sank in - this was our last full day in Hawaii and our last full day to spend with our friends! Our trip was 500% better because of our friends! Thank you!

We spent the rest of the day driving from one thing to the next and enjoying ourselves. First stop, Halona Blowhole:

Next up, snorkeling Hanauma Bay. Aren't we lovely? Those masks are really a fashion statement. There weren't nearly as many fish as Shark's Cove, but the bay is in a lovely caldera and we saw a sea turtle! Sometimes a little closer than we meant to - we think the sea turtle may have been trapped by the low tide and was just waiting for the water to rise enough to let him/her out.

After snorkeling for several hours, we hiked back up the hill to the parking lot.

Then we headed out for a quick lunch at Taco Bell. After lunch our friends dropped us off at the Sea Life Amusement Park. It's small and doesn't really compete with all the other water attractions on the island (hello, there are real beaches) but it did have an okay dolphin show and they let us swim with the stingrays. We also saw their dolphin show while we were waiting for our turn with the rays and we saw a sea turtle up close through the aquarium window.

First we waded in and petted the stingrays while they swam past our legs - following the food the handlers were giving them. Then we put on the snorkeling masks and swam / floated in the water with the rays for another 20-30 minutes. It was kind of eerie when a big stingray appeared right below you in the water, only about a foot away. They seemed to like swimming up underneath your feet and then appearing in your vision once they're already halfway along passing underneath you. One stingray came up to Dan and bumped into his mask!

Our friends found the next stop - I'm glad they thought of it because I hadn't heard of it. We went to the spitting cave - you had to know to follow a little path between two houses down to the rocky cliff area and then we walked out along a little point of the cliff so we could look back at the cave. Here's my favorite video I took of it:

While we were watching the spitting cave we looked out into the ocean and saw this guy!

To finish off a very busy day we went out to eat. Our friends had gotten a recommendation for an Indian restaurant - it was delicious!

Awesome Vacation Day 6

2009-06-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

A relaxing Sunday. At least it was relaxing after we made it to really early morning church. We woke up, dressed up, and walked to church. It was already very warm before 8AM. In Sacrament meeting we got to sing along with Aloha 'Oe for those who were moving out of the area. Every meeting and talk started with a big Aloha, echoed by the congregation or classroom. After church we walked over to the Laie Temple.

I love the flowers on the temple grounds. The missionaries actually go out and collect flowers to give to the visitors.

One of the missionaries serving at the temple took us through the visitor's center to see the Reflections of Christ photographs. After that we explored the rest of the visitor's center - Dan liked looking at the Book of Mormons in different languages and I watched some short movies with our friends. Their daughter really liked the movie about cupcakes, so I saw that one two or three times.

We walked home, stopping to look at some houses with history markers, and then we took afternoon naps. When we woke up, it was time for some Ratatouille for dinner. Yum! After dinner I made my lei, carefully threading ribbon through the kukui nuts and then tying knots for spacers. How cool to make my own Hawaiian souvenier!

Awesome Vacation Day 5

2009-06-22T17:16:00.001-07:00

We started off the day with pancakes for breakfast! After breakfast we attended BYU Hawaii graduation. You know you're starting to get used to the heat in Hawaii when the air conditioning starts to feel cold. So anyway, everybody wears a lei to graduation. Students and faculty. After the graduation ceremony we wandered around the campus a bit, stopping for some pineapple juice and cookies. The administration building (I think) had this huge mural up on the wall representing Kapi-olani, who defied the local volcano deity Pele, stating that her god (Jesus Christ) would protect her. She lived.

Here we are enjoying the beautiful campus. And we just couldn't resist the second picture. Tradition, you know.

Next we went out to lunch at Giovanni's. Shrimp. Yum. Very messy. I didn't really dare touch a camera with such dirty fingers. We signed the truck, which must be painted nearly every week to keep up with the number of people signing it all the time. But it's tradition. We stopped at a local produce stand to try some papaya, grapefruit, apple bananas, and freshly sliced up coconut. My favorite was the coconut, followed by the apple bananas - they had more flavor than regular bananas.

Then our friends dropped us off one beach up from Hukilau Beach and we walked along the beach until we found a spot where we wanted to swim. It was the perfect day at the beach. The sun was warm, the water cool, the waves were big enough to knock you over if you weren't careful. It looked just like this.

Dan thought it was funny to let the waves roll him back and forth in the shallow water - it looked like he was stuck in a spin-cycle. I liked falling into the oncoming waves only to have them drag me back upright. And we even saw a sea turtle swimming about 30 yards off-shore.

After we had been swimming a while, our friends came out with us. They headed back as it got close to dinner time, and we reluctantly packed up, showered off, and followed their tracks towards home. There we had Hawaiian haystacks with fresh pineapple for dinner, did a bit more laundry, and watched some Pride and Prejudice. Well, I did. I think Dan went for a book or something at that point.

Awesome Vacation Day 4

2009-06-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Friday morning. Hawaiian sweet bread for breakfast. Strawberry-guava jam. Mmmmm. Friday we spent with our friends. First we drove north on Kamehameha Highway up to the Turtle Bay resort, where we stopped for the 10 minute tour. The resort is beautiful - the grounds, the building, the beach, and the wedding chapel. At least, the wedding chapel is beautiful as long as it has some serious air-conditioning. Otherwise it's just a fancy greenhouse. A fancy greenhouse with a beautiful view out over the water. No, we didn't see any turtles.

Then we hopped back in the car and drove to Sunset Beach, where we got all ready for some swimming and snorkeling. Which we did - at Shark's Cove.

My one half-regret is that we didn't bring a waterproof camera. But, on the other hand, I didn't spend my time worrying about taking pictures. Instead we just swam with tons of incredible bright, dark, pale, pink, striped, dotted, skinny, fat, slow, fast fish. We went out into the cove and back in twice - the second time the waves picked up a bit, so it made the path back through the rocks a little more adventurous.

We had lunch at Hale'iwa Beach Park, and then we went into Hale'iwa, which is a fairly touristy town. Lots of shops and some restaurants and stuff like that. The girls went shopping while the men waited in line for shave ice. Dan and I shared a raspberry rootbeer chocolate shave ice. Tastes fantastic. Then we headed out to the Dole Pineapple plantation to see how pineapples grow and to go through the incredibly huge maze. Even with a map of the maze, it still took us an hour to make it through!

Then we were off to Costco in Mililani for a pizza dinner. After that we did a bit of souvenir shopping, including picking up the supplies for me to make my own kukui nut lei. Back at home we did some laundry and hung it out to dry before collapsing, I mean ... before resting up for the next day.

Waikiki (Awesome Vacation Day 3)

2009-06-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning Dan figured out that it was much quieter if we shut the window facing the roosters. So we slept a lot better. We had crepes for breakfast with our friends and then we took off for a day on our own. Bus 55 took us along the windward side of the island with lots of great views of the mountains and water until it went into downtown Honolulu, where we got off a block early (my fault). But we found the B Bus anyway (after a quick stop in Macy's) and we rode off to the beach. Waikiki.

We got off the bus right by the police station on the beach. Immediately we were approached by someone offering surfing lessons, but we weren't ready to try that. Instead we just went swimming. The water wasn't exactly warm like a heated pool, but it was definitely not cold. Nothing like swimming in the waters of the Pacific Northwest beaches. The bottom dropped off really quickly, which surprised me, but it made for some great waves crashing into the beach. We went out about 5 yards and the water was up to my waist. Ten yards and I could barely touch. Fifteen yards and we were swimming. It was gorgeous. Big swells would pick us up, or white foaming water would crash over and into us. We could swim out and back in or just float in place.

I know, I know - you're wondering at this point where the pictures are. Well, we didn't bring a camera, but have no fear, there are pictures coming up.

After maybe an hour we came in from the water and went wandering further down the beach. There are just bunches of beaches all connected together along in front of all the hotels or along Kalakaua Ave. We walked west along the beach, passing the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, the Outrigger Waikiki, the Sheraton Waikiki ... down almost to the Fort de Russy beach. About two hotels before that beach we turned and walked between the hotels to the street. We wandered our way back through the streets, looking at the various shops everywhere. Tons of shops. Why would you go shopping if you're next to that beautiful beach? Well, anyways, we ended up finding lunch in the international district back along Kalakaua. Gyros and a coconut smoothie. Coconuts don't "smooth" very well, but it left a nice residue in the bottom of the cup to munch on. Dan got a little worried as I enjoyed looking at the different stalls and shops we passed, but we made it safely back to the beach where we started.

We were a bit tired, so we hung out at the beach out of the sun for a half hour before we started our surfing lesson. That's right, we tried to surf. We got ourselves a couple of lessons at a group rate, and then we were the entire group! So the two of us headed out into the water with Junior after a brief land demonstration of "how to stand up on a surfboard".

We lay on our boards and paddled out into the water. Then we took turns riding the waves in towards the shore. Here come the pictures.

Dan, on his second or maybe third try. He claims he had to jump off at the end because he was going to run into someone.

On my fifth or sixth try:

While Dan was busy surfing:

I was busy falling. And feeling kind of foolish. Well, a lot foolish. But then, after lots of practice falling, on the seventh or eighth try, Tada! I surf!

But never fear, I managed to find other ways to feel foolish. Like this:

That's right - I took out a kid. A cute little kid. Not that I could see her at all because I was mostly facing the other way, but that's no excuse really. The only thing I can say for myself is that I'm glad she jumped before our boards collided. She was safely off in the water before I even knew there was a problem.

And how does it feel to surf? Our faces say it all:
Concentration, Fear, and Exhilaration!

For those who only read this blog for the pictures, well, the pictures are over for this post. Sorry. But just in case I lost the piece of paper where I wrote everything down, I'm going to keep typing here.

After surfing we were ... not hungry. We'd probably tasted a little too much saltwater. So we headed the other direction down the beach and passed some girls playing two-on-two volleyball, a stage that was evidently for later that night, a really calm beach due to the big old breakwater wall build out in the water, a pier where kids were jumping off into the waves and one guy was snorkeling, down to Kapiolani Park and the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial. Where were changed back into street clothes and turned around. We checked out a quilt shop, but it was more of a "quilted knick knack" shop. We stopped at Haagen Dazs and had some cookie dough and cheesecake (two flavors) ice cream. By 7:30 it was clearly getting darker and time to head home. We wandered around to find a bus stop, since Kalakaua was a one way street down by the beach. We found a B Bus heading back into town and took it. However, the bus went back on a parallel street a few blocks over, so we were lost. The bus driver told us to get off at Punchbowl, and we did. Then we walked a couple blocks and found a bus stop where I asked one lady if she knew how to find the 55 going circle island. She was really nice and told us to go back to the previous corner and turn right, walk down the hill, and stop where there's a bus stop with a bunch of people at it. She was right! We caught the bus and headed back north. We rode home through the dark, proud of our day's adventuring.

Awesome Vacation Day 2

2009-06-15T09:06:00.001-07:00

Our alarm went off at about 4:30 Wednesday morning. No, we didn't forget to turn it off after getting up for Tuesday's early flight.

The culprit was a little camera shy - or maybe he was just fond of camouflage. But we found him anyway. We spotted another of his friends acting all sweet and innocent.

Our leisurely morning included a walk to the Laie Temple and then down to the beach. The Temple property extends all the way down to the beach, where they used to do baptisms. We really enjoyed seeing the beach by daylight and wading in the surf as we walked along.

And this was all before the main event of the day - visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center. The PCC has 8 villages representing different Polynesian cultures. Although one of our friends (daddy) had to work that day, the other (mommy) brought their daughter and the four of us headed off to the PCC. We started out at the Samoan village, where we saw someone make fire and then demonstrate how to prepare a coconut (step one: use sharp stick, step two: use hard rock, step three: scrape out insides of coconut, step four: squeeze out coconut milk). This was followed by some monkeys (I mean boys) climbing up a coconut tree. The two little boys at the end were adorable.

Next we hopped onto one of the canoes that takes you for a tour of the PCC. Our tour guides were pretty new at their jobs - we bumped into the walls and even another canoe as we made our way through the center. By the time we left the water, we could feel the sun even through the sunscreen.

We had figured out which shows we were going to attend using the PCC's website, but the schedule had changed. Just a heads up to anyone who goes there - if you look at the schedule they hand you when you buy your tickets, you can figure out how to make it to most of the villages' shows. We did a little recalculating for our own schedule and went to the village of Hawaii just in time to watch a hula demonstration.

Next we stopped by Tonga to practice our spear throwing and to weave ourselves some fish. The guy teaching the weaving put our fish together on a stick so they looked like they were kissing. Can you tell which one he called a chicken fish?

The Rainbows of Paradise canoe parade was next. We sat along the riverbank and watched the show. The parade started with the girl in the middle tossing flowers into the water. The other six pictures (left to right, top row and then bottom row) are the canoes for Fiji, Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa. Each canoe performed a dance or activity as they circled in front of use before they moved on to make way for the next group.

Our friends took off for the afternoon, leaving us to finish exploring the PCC on our own. They were picking up daddy later on to come back with them to the big evening show. Dan and went back to the village of Tonga for their show. They started with conch shells and then they called up audience members to do some drumming. The guy in the black shirt got really into it, much to the delight of his kids and wife sitting right behind us.

After Tonga we visited Aotearoa (New Zealand). This village was a little different because they started by having us wait outside to see a greeting ceremony - involving a leaf on the ground. Then we went inside and watched them demonstrate singing, poi ball twirling, and stick tossing.

Then we visited the two villages that don't have a show, the Marquesas and Rapa Nui.

We stopped by the Tahitian show on our way to our luau, sticking around just long enough to attempt some dancing. Let's just say there was a lot more laughing than dancing. Unfortunately we couldn't stick around long enough to try their coconut bread, but we still had plenty of food coming up at the luau.

Since it was a very full day we were in the secondary luau location. We were greeted with leies and shown to our seats. We were sitting by a couple on their honeymoon and a group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation. There was entertainment before and during dinner. Before we ate we watched them dig up our dinner from the pit where it was roasting. Mmmmm... Kalua pork.

And here is our dinner. Starting with the purple roll and going clockwise we ate:
Taro rolls
Chicken long rice (just a little bit is showing under the roll)
Baked taro (I'm guessing by the purple color)
Salad
Spinach salad
Lomilomi salmon
Poke (yes this is marinated raw fish)
Pineapple
Poi (boiled and pounded taro root)
Kalua pork
Fish
And teriyaki chicken in the middle
All with rice.
And for dessert (unpictured) there was huapia (a coconut custard), coconut cake and chocolate cake too.

A great day, right? But it's not over yet. We tried to go visit the IMAX theater but they were closed by the time we left the luau, so we wandered around through all the shops (I love the little frog noisemakers they had) until it was time for the Horizons show. We were entertained by dancing and singing and drumming and finally folks playing with fire. At one point three young men put out their fires by sitting on them in a comedic routine with lots of shoving, pushing, tricks and burning grass skirts. The lady in the upper right picture was one of my favorites. And the drummer.

It was fun to see how many of the performers our friends actually knew. After we met a few of them on the way out of the center, we climbed into the car and headed home to collapse, digest, and take the nightly shower. By this point I was really appreciating the value of feeling cold!

Awesome Vacation, Day 1

2009-06-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

When our friends moved to Oahu, I think everyone they know probably said, "Hey, maybe we should come visit." I know we did. It was more like a wish than a plan. But after a few months we started to think about it more seriously. Then we got the plane tickets. It still didn't seem completely real until the airport shuttle picked us up last Tuesday morning at 5:10AM. By 7:45 we were sitting on a plane. The flight took about 5.5 hours, but it seemed like much less because I slept most of the way.

As a side note, I was impressed with the tasty breakfast burrito and chocolate cupcake we were served for our meal on the plane. Best airplane food I've ever had. I mean, I kind of want the recipe for that burrito.

Since I currently am lacking originality, I'm going to call our friends "daddy, mommy, and daughter". Mommy and daughter picked us up and greeted us with leies; then we went out to lunch at Big Kahuna Pizza. They had lots of cool pizzas on the menu; we settled on the Pake pizza (stirfry chicken with a sweet and sour sauce) with an order of garlic cheese balls.

Then we headed out to go see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. There was no line, so we got tickets right away. We looked around the USS Bowfin park right by the ticket office for a few minutes before heading over to the theater where they show you a movie before you ride a boat over to the memorial. The movie told the story of December 7, 1941, which I evidently didn't know very well. Then, while we were all still in a bit of shock from viewing the footage of the attack, we got on the boat and went over to the memorial. The white building stands over the sunk USS Arizona. Parts of the battleship rise above the waters, and the oil leaking drop by drop to the surface is sometimes called the tears of the Arizona. At the near end of the memorial is a room of flags, the middle is open to either side so we could view the USS Arizona in the water, and the far end is a room with the names of those who died on the sunken ship. They have added the names of those who made it off of the ship and have died since.

Next we went to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl Cemetery. The cemetery is the entire caldera of a volcano. It felt peaceful and separate. We walked along the path lined by gigantic Chinese Banyan trees, visited the memorial pathway, and walked on up to the lookout point on one edge of the caldera where we could see out over Honolulu. I love the statue at the top of the stairs, where it says:

THE SOLEMN PRIDE
THAT MUST BE YOURS
TO HAVE LAID
SO COSTLY A SACRIFICE
UPON THE ALTAR
OF FREEDOM

And if you look very carefully at the left side of the base of the tree, you can find me. Those trees are so enormous that they kind of mask the great size of the cemetery.

Mommy friend drove us home along the Pali and Kamehameha highways, where we stopped twice: once to look at the Pali Lookout and once for some groceries. Dan was carrying our friends' daughter for the walk to the Pali Lookout. They were practically instant friends (some of you may know how amazing this is for Dan). From the lookout you could see the mountains and the ocean to the east. The mountain pictures below weren't actually taken from the Pali Lookout, but they are some of the mountains we saw on Oahu. Gorgeous, steep and clothed in green. We arrived at their house, dropped off our stuff, had some dinner, and went for an evening walk along the beach. In the dark - but we had to get a picture anyway.

Amy's Wedding Day!

2009-06-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

I knew it would be a whirlwind visit to Las Vegas, and it was! I flew down there Friday night, rented a car, and arrived at Amy's place around midnight. Jenn stayed up after everyone else went to sleep just to let me in. Thank you Jenn!

Saturday morning started sometime before 6AM. The details are a bit blurry for the first 10 minutes or so, but the excitement was catching. How many friends does it take to get one bride ready for an 8AM wedding? One, plus three to sit around chatting and giggling and taking pictures! Emily did a fabulous job curling Amy's hair, and Jenn, Anna and I were the other three.

Then the groom arrived, dug in the closet for his shoes (good thing he found them), and chivalrously carried the dress while escorting his bride to the car.

It was a beautiful day at the temple, inside and out. A quote that stuck with me was the last two lines of:
Boys flying kites haul in their white winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice we know
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said.
As far as I can tell, the quote is from Will Carleton, The First Settler’s Story. There are various versions of it on the Internet, so some of the words may not be exactly correct.

We all headed outside to wait for the newly married couple. Here's people waiting and getting ready for all the picture-taking:

Then the newlyweds appeared and the picture taking began! They obligingly posed for all the cameras.

After the first flurry of photos, the wedding party moved on to another location on the temple grounds for more pictures. I didn't try to duplicate all of the shots the wedding photographer was doing - but here's some of the pictures I did take:

Isn't she a lovely bride in a lovely dress? And the bridesmaids dresses are really sparkly fabric, just like princesses. Here's a closeup of the three bouquets the sisters are holding all together:

Amy was smart - she planned for a snack break. She tried to hide from pictures while eating, but we couldn't let that happen, could we? She shared with Jared too.

Then they went off to get more pictures taken by themselves. Next we went to the luncheon (we were hungry and it was really good - hit the spot! Thank you to Jared's family!), and then we headed for the Strip. It was a lot of walking, and a big contrast to the beautiful, clean temple. But we had fun watching the Bellagio fountains, walking through the Bellagio gardens, and visiting the four-story M&M World store. We bought Icee's to cool ourselves off - the day was bright and sunny at this point and we were boiling!

I didn't take many pictures the the reception - we (the four girls) kept pretty busy helping out. Amy credits her sister Bonnie with most of the actual hard work of planning and figuring things out for the reception - she did a fabulous job! There was the cutest ice cream bar with tons of toppings - chocolate, caramel, and jolly rancher sauces, crushed snickers, butterfingers, oreos, and heath bars, mixed berries and strawberries, gummy bears, sprinkles, and whipped cream at least. And then the bride and groom cut the cake. The outer layer of frosting was pretty thick, so they had to try twice to find the actual cake. :) Then the call went out for volunteers to serve the cake. The four of us stepped up, although we were a bit nervous. Lots of cake got eaten up. Here's the remains when we were through serving cake (note the really thick custard filling layers which made it difficult to cut!):

There were the traditional first dances, and then a last chance for everyone to wish Amy and Jared congratulations as they got ready to head out to door, only to find this:

And then they were gone.

HAPPY WEDDING AMY AND JARED!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

2009-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Finally!

2009-05-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

For the first few months, I just forgot to go get my hair cut. I kept thinking I would get around to it, but I never did. Then we started working lots of extra hours, and I just started pulling my hair back out of my face and hoping it didn't look too horrible. This went on for several more months until finally finally FINALLY I got it cut. Instead of going back to my short haircut (which I still like) I wanted to try something different and keep some length. Thank you Cindy!

(old haircut, Thanksgiving, Christmas, March, April, new haircut)

He Did It!

2009-04-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

My little brother is officially done with school. Unless he decides to go back to school someday. I flew down to see his graduation, spending the weekend with my sister's family in Sandy. They even got a nice big extra-tall queen air mattress for me to sleep on ... which made it even more fun for my niece to wake me up! Time just flew by, except maybe for the part where we sat on the bleacher benches trying not to kick anybody or to fall off while listening to the speakers.

Elder Nelson and President Uchtdorf both spoke. We also watched as President Uchtdorf received his honorary doctorate degree of international leadership. He was clearly very happy and as he clasped his hands together to cheer in celebration he invited us all to celebrate with him.

Some pictures to illustrate the happy two days of graduation:

Friday evening we had a party to celebrate. Party preparations:

Saturday we went to the Draper Temple. So pretty, and fun for the three girls to go together.

We had a bunch of fun at my sister's house that weekend - a late night family game night, dance performances to any Disney song, visiting friends and relatives, evenings watching Battlestar Galactica, and lots of laughter and fun.

Still, I think the second highlight of my trip was when I was teasing my niece about something. She looked down for a couple of seconds, and then her face just lit up with a big grin and she looked around at everyone, inviting them to share the joke as she laughed and said "JuJu's just kidding!" Of course we all erupted with laughter at that.

Mmmm

2009-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

One more use for leftover turkey.

When Flying

2009-04-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

When flying, if your neighbor looks asleep (e.g. head on a pillow laying against the window with her eyes closed), is it kind of a little bit rude to strike up a conversation and then to persist in talking until she has given up on sleep?

Mother-Daughter Cooperation

2009-04-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

After work today I stopped and hung out with my mom for a few hours. She told me she had finally found the supplies for a project she has wanted to do for years - a photo board made of fabric and ribbons. In spite of a false start (using too much batting) and our communication differences, we managed not to staple each other or any furniture in our creative efforts. And it looks pretty cool!

P.S. There is actually one step left - Mom is going to secure the ribbon crossings. Then she will make her window valence out of a pretty color-coordinated fabric and hang this on the wall!

Cougar Mountain

2009-03-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

After the first half mile, I was having serious regrets about suggesting a hike this Saturday. The morning had been sunny and clear while we stayed at home dutifully working, but the afternoon skies were turning grey. I was also missing a lot of the scenery because I was concentrating on stepping around the larger rocks and various puddles on the path. The "caves" were supposed to be about a mile into the park, so I kept going (except for those occasional breaks every .2 miles when we came to yet another trail crossing and I had to pull out the map to be sure we were still going the right way).

Then we reached another trail marker. I pulled out the map again. "We're getting close - the cave is supposed to be on the left side." We passed a fenced off area, some enormous trees, a few other Saturday afternoon hikers, and then we came to the next trail marker. "We passed it."

Upon further examination, we decided that this was the cave:

So we continued on, through the rain. There were a few places where we absolutely had to leave the path just to make it past the mud and water. I got a very dubious look when I decided to photograph this "mud puddle".

It will look very different when all those sticks are covered in green leafiness again. We also paused a few times to take pictures of ourselves on the trail.

We returned along the Wildside trail, making a loop back to the trail head. In fact, there are so many trails you could make many unintentional loops quite easily. About 200 yards from the trail head we found a display about the coal mining in the area. There we discovered that our "cave" could really be called a "cave in" because it is where the ground has collapsed into the mine workings below, causing a pit in the ground. The pits are not very obvious, especially since they are covered with many years of vegetation and because there are tons of ups and downs along the sides of the trail. There was a large path leading downward by the mining display - the broad green ramp led to a concrete wall blocking off any access to the old coal mine. There was also a nifty little mining cart display.

I can't think of a nifty conclusion to this post, so

Why haven't I blogged lately?

2009-03-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

There's not a really good answer. I've had time to watch a movie or two, to play some computer games and to fill up the yard waste barrel nearly every week. I guess I just don't have anything specific to write about, so I write nothing.

Instead, I'll just ramble.

A friend at work just bought the Kindle 2. He brought it to work and let me play with it a bit. On the plus side it is lightweight and thin, it has good resolution, you can change the text size up and down, you can shop for new books right from the Kindle itself, and it keeps track of your place in each book you're reading. On the minus side the screen is pretty small compared to the overall size of the Kindle, it doesn't show as many words per page as a normal paperback book, you can't really read it in direct sunlight, the little button you use for navigation is way too tiny and awkward, the response to a click of the button is so slow that is caused my friend to accidentally buy a book he didn't want (you can cancel right after you buy it so that turned out okay), and you can't just flip through the pages of a book to find something quickly. I guess it's not for me. The Kindle also will read a book out loud - this could cut into the audio book market, unless you're like me and you really love the voice of the reader for the Harry Potter series.

I had a real treat this week on a video chat with my niece - HOORAY! I loved watching her dance. She even drew me a ballerina - her sketch could turn into the future ballerina potato-head! And I got to talk to my sister, which doesn't always work out because we both tend to be so busy that we just get 5 minute chats most of the time.

I activated my new work cell phone. I am now on an AT&T business plan, so I can no longer call most of my friends and family except for nights and weekends. But I can still text, within some limits. I don't like the new plan, but I love my new phone. The sound quality is a lot better than my old phone, and I like having a camera so I can set my own background images. The downside is that it doesn't have a normal headphone jack - I have to use a wireless headset.

And my mom just called to let me know that she drove all the way out to Safeway to find out that I had already used the gas discount. Oops. She never used to fill up at Safeway. And 70 cents off per gallon was really really nice.

Things I've taken pictures of lately:

My Valentine:

The Car:

Flowers (from my yard) and a Tree (not in my yard)

Want a Present?

2009-03-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea on my friend's blog. Here is the deal: The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

-I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
-What I make will be just for you.
-It'll be done this year (by the end of 2009).
-You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
-I reserve the right to do whatever I want!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that I'd really like it if you re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers (I do not demand this). So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! The definition of FAB-U-LOUS is really up to me too. Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Please make sure I can tell who you are so you can get your present.

Spring is COMING!

2009-02-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

There are always a few months of the year when I start to doubt that the days will ever get longer and warmer. Last year I was completely surprised when the crocuses popped up. This year I was watching more carefully, and I spotted the green shoots poking out of the ground early this week. Today there were three flowers already! Also, the daffodil shoots are starting to poke out of the ground too. Spring is really coming!

(Thank you to Dan and Annie who made the daffodils and hopefully the tulips possible this year!)

Start with Chocolate

2009-02-10T23:39:00.000-08:00

Melt chocolate. Spread some in a small paper cup. Freeze and peel off paper. With the rest of the chocolate, add whipping cream, eggs, vanilla, etc. Think very happy thoughts for your friend who shared her family's recipe with you many years ago. Pipe into chocolate cup. Top with blackberries frozen last summer.

SNOW

2009-02-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago I walked out of church into a snowfall. Not a blizzard, not even a snowstorm - just a pretty little snowfall. The flakes fell individually or in small clumps, and as they sat on my sleeve I could see the delicate crystalline structure of each individual flake. Pretty.

P.S. That rough-looking fabric is actually some very smooth skirt fabric - I am very impressed that my point-and-shoot camera could take these pictures. I actually took about 50 pictures, trying variations on camera settings, and these were the good pictures.

I Thought I Was Giving

2009-01-25T15:56:00.000-08:00

Every few weeks at church they pass around the sign-up sheet for Casa Juanita. I've never signed up. This week, as the last church meeting was ending, I heard a nearby voice saying "We don't have anyone to play piano today at Casa Juanita." My glance caught the gaze of the speaker, and I said, "I can play, if someone can give me a ride."

Sure, what would it hurt - I could give some of my time to the sacrament meeting in the HUD housing. I probably would even feel good afterwards for doing service.

I picked up my hymnbook at home and then got back in the car with the sister who was coming to translate for a deaf sister. We chatted as we drove, quickly arriving in front of a yellow-tinged building of indeterminate age. She reassured me that this would be a quick meeting, perhaps lasting 20-30 minutes. I smiled to myself, thinking about how good and nice I was to give them my time, my talents, my efforts.

Directly inside of the front door of Casa Juanita an older gentleman smiled his greetings, speaking in a foreign tongue. I smiled back and shook his hand, surprised at the strength of his grip. He kept shaking my hand and smiling, and I got a happy feeling because he seemed so pleased to meet me. Four of us left the lobby at the same time, trailing each other down the stairs and along the narrow basement hallway.

I sat down at the newer of the two ancient pianos. Someone had painted the piano a bright red, probably hoping its festive exterior would help make up for its worn, out-of-tune interior. I played a few songs for prelude, and then the meeting started. There were fewer than a dozen people in the room - most of them were the people from my ward coming to hold the meeting.

Sacrament meetings are pretty similar wherever you are, but for some reason, this meeting was different for me. After the first 10 minutes, I just felt so happy to be there that I was trying not to cry. As I listened to the speaker, a part of my mind marveled at how strongly I could feel the Holy Ghost. I have a friend at work who said this week that he thinks no religion can be completely right, everyone just has little bits and pieces of truth, and he doesn't know how anyone can know that one religion is correct. Since we were at work I didn't enter further into a religious discussion, but right now I feel my answer in my heart and in my mind. I know what I believe, I know what I felt, and I am very blessed today. When I went to Casa Juanita, I thought I was giving something away; instead I was receiving far more than I could ever give.

Time for a Change

2009-01-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

What should I try to look like next?

Fashion Memories

2009-01-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

My all-time favorite necklace - worn on a length of black cord for much of the first half of the 1990's:

A sampling of my favorite earrings - I made many of these, and I wore them all hundreds of times.

The Bag

2009-01-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

For those who were really disappointed at missing out on Woot's Christmas Bag of Crap (yes, that is its official name), we will share our excitement with you. Or we will gloat, depending on how you choose to interpret our intentions. Our Bag, or technically Box, contained the following:

One Hello Kitty inflatable pool toy with a towing rope
One Panic Button USB device with software so that your screen suddenly displays spreadsheets instead of whatever game you were playing at work
One red stocking
One Singing Santa (sorry I can't tell you what music until we get C batteries)
Two folding speakers to use with mp3 players, laptops, etc.

I'm sure you are all terribly disappointed that this didn't arrive on your doorstep. I think the best part of the whole experience was just succeeding in ordering one since it requires lots of clicking, some patience, and luck.

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-31T21:53:00.000-08:00

These are still fun to make (and eat) after Christmas.

Strange, but Fun

2008-12-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

"Strange, but Fun" describes Christmas this year. The strangeness mostly comes from the enormous quantities of snow that have fallen. I have lost track of the number of separate snowstorms we have had over the past weeks. I ended up walking 2 miles to go to my doctor's appointment and walking to several grocery stores. We built a snow arch, went sledding, and even had a bit of a snowball fight.

We finally dared the roads on December 23rd in order to spend Christmas with my family (especially since my siblings were all in town). We slipped and slid several times, especially where the ice was thick and bumpy on the freeway entrance ramp. I am very glad that I didn't have to do any of the driving - I would have given up once I felt the car slide in our home street. We made it safely, stopping for 10 minutes to dig ourselves out a parking spot in the soft snow so that we could park along the flat part of the street.

Downtown Bellevue has a nifty street presentation with a drum line, costumed characters, songs, lights, and bubbles meant to look like snow. The girls went together to Snowflake Lane - my niece loved it, especially the princess who smiled and waved to all the little girls.

I stopped to pick up my husband's new suit (which had been ready for over a week but we couldn't get to the mall through all the snow). My mom's all-wheel drive car works so much better in snow than our little tiny car.

On Christmas Eve we relaxed and played in the morning, and then we started hustling to get ready for the big dinner. My brother went to pick up my brother- and sister-in-law so that we could have a big group all together on this snowy holiday. I finally wrapped all of our gifts and put them out under the tree. Actually, my favorite part was wrapping a big empty box for my sister's family becase I had already sent her gift to her house. My niece was so surprised this morning to unwrap a big empty box! She immediately climbed inside and started playing.

Our neighbor came over for Christmas Eve dinner - the snow kept a lot of people from their families this year. I had just gone out to the street to pick up the mail (wow - the USPS really does deliver in any weather) when the gentleman arrived. I showed him in the front door and headed downstairs. But I forgot to take off my snowboots first. Wet snowboots and a slippery hardwood floor ... I slipped and bumped down the half-flight of steps. I was pretty shaken up, but it looks like I'm just going to have a pretty good set of bruises. Lesson learned.

Christmas Eve dinner was ham, brown rice, homemade rolls, green salad and marshmallow fruit salad. My niece decided she didn't want to eat dinner, but she did want to sit on my lap and talk to me / help me eat my dinner...it was a little messy, but I managed to get some food for myself. I cracked up when she let out a little tiny burp and whispered "excuse me" to me; then she turned to the whole table and exlaimed, "I burped big, and I said 'Excuse Me' Mommy!"

Our neighbor was full of great stories from his work as an engineer: my favorite was when he was working on a bridge and a truck full of beehives rolled over nearby. The entire bridge crew jumped into the (shallow) river. By the time the bees were willing to leave them alone, the bridge deck had sunk and the concrete had to be removed so they could do the work all over again.

We acted out the Christmas story (my niece calls it Jesus' Happy Birthday), sang Christmas songs, ate dessert, and played games. My sister-in-law and I made really delicious rolls and left them to rise for Christmas morning breakfast. We all headed to bed. The next morning I woke up before the crowd, so I helped my mom finish cooking breakfast. The rolls turned out to be a favorite new tradition!

When my niece woke up, everybody woke up. She was incredibly excited for Christmas morning. We all opened our stockings, ate breakfast (egg and sausage casserole, sticky rolls, waffles, grapefruit, and juice), and then opened gifts. My niece was very helpful - sometimes she even brought us our gifts before she started unwrapping them. Seriously though, she did enjoy helping the rest of us almost as much as she enjoyed her own gifts.

My sister's family left by 1:00 to go to her in-laws. We packed up and left a few hours later. We got stuck in the 8-inches of slush on my mom's street, but we got out without too much trouble - we just hopped out and pushed the car until it had enough momentum to make it to the end of the street. The next road was still slushy, but after that we made it to a main road where the snowplows had come. The freeways were clear, but when we turned into the apartment complex where my brother-and sister-in-law lived we knew our trip was over. We had to push the car most of the way through the parking-lot, and we had to dig out a "guest" parking space so that we could try to put the car in there. We burned a little rubber, but finally three of us pushed the car into the spot.

So tonight we're staying here. Playing games and having fun with family - thanks to our hosts for putting us up for the night!

Happy Solstice!

2008-12-21T04:04:00.000-08:00

The snow started falling again last night. Snow isn't really my favorite thing, but I've decided to look on the bright side.

It's really, really pretty outside.

We didn't lose power so we can stay warm inside while it's cold outside (plus we still have the Internet).
My brother made it home safely.
There are grocery stores in walking distance.
We have a fireplace in case the power does go out; we just recently acquired fireplace tools and long matches and had the chimney cleaned.
The garden is now kind of pretty again with snow-flowers.

Yesterday my brother and sister -in-law came over and stayed with us; it is a lot more fun to be stuck at home with them around because it's more like a giant slumber party.
I don't get cold very easily, so I can enjoy being outside without ill effects.
The cold feels good on my hurt hand. :)
Some nice neighbors lent us a sled; we all got to take a few rides down a nearby street.
We made fudge and divinity.
We might still try making caramels.
I don't have to drive in to work when it snows.
We spent a lot of time playing games this weekend.
The Christmas tree (the first one we ever put up for ourselves) is all decorated and beautiful.
Since the snow wasn't right for a snowman (too much crust, couldn't roll snowballs) we made a giant ice-arch instead.

See? I'm having fun with the snow.

Once Again

2008-12-20T12:50:00.001-08:00

I am summoned... to jury duty, that is. At least this time it is in my hometown and not over 30 miles away.

I looked out the window

2008-12-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

And what did I see?

I don't think that white stuff is popcorn!

We usually get snowfall once a year in the Seattle area; this year it is snowing twice in one week, and we still expect more snow this weekend!

The good news is that we are not expecting a white Christmas. The weather is supposed to warm up enough to melt everything so that we can spend the day with family. The bad news is that the combination of snow, ice, freezing temperatures, and lots of hills means that we're not going anywhere anytime soon.

We Went

2008-12-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

We went on a date this weekend. Well, two if you're like my husband who wants separate credit for each activity that day. First we headed over to the Seattle Center IMAX theater with my brother- and sister-in-law where we watched Madagascar2 on the ginormous screen. Good movie, good company, good fun.

Then we changed and headed back to the Seattle Center to watch the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Nutcracker. I'm not sure when the last date was that I had to dress up for! I was a bit nervous that ballet would not appeal to my other half. Okay, more than a bit nervous. The Nutcracker has a special place in my heart and memories: we went as a family to see it several times when I was growing up, and some years we even had some (very talented) friends performing with the PNB! So I was relieved to hear a mostly positive response afterwards. He did find it funny that most of the familiar music is in the second half. I think this is funny too, because most of the plot that I think of as the Nutcracker story occurs in the first act. The only complaint I heard was that I dragged him away from the food because we needed to go get in our seats (and we really were cutting it very close - within +/- 30 seconds and actually on the minus side of that. Happily many others were in the same situation.

P.S. No, I didn't take any pictures in the theater - that is usually discouraged. I just found some pictures online to use for this post.

Homemade Turkey Jello

2008-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Looks and feels like jello; tasted like turkey.

How?

Boil up a post-Thanksgiving turkey carcass - simmer a long time to get all that turkey goodness out of it. After cooling in the fridge, skim off top layer of fat. Spoon into freezer ziploc bags and store in freezer.

Why?

When reheated it will be yummy broth for soup. We will not be making soup until we are ready to eat turkey again.

And yes, I had to taste it - it just looked so ... interesting.

Now I Know

2008-12-05T16:33:00.001-08:00

To all those who hated it when I sometimes cracked my knuckles, you will no longer be hearing this sound from me. Ever. Now that the back of my hand is swollen up, now that the ice pack actually hurts instead of relieving pain, and now that the doctor put me on prescription arthritis relief gel to try and get the inflammation down ... now I know that it is possible to sprain the base of your finger by cracking your knuckles. And I completely did this to myself. Yes, I am feeling pretty foolish. I would use stronger words than foolish, but what's the point? You all can probably picture how I feel. It didn't help that almost a week after the original injury I tried to pack some boxes into the recycle bin and felt something pop when I tightened my grip on the box-cutter. I finally gave in and saw the doctor the next day.