12.31.2008

Jenny and Girls

My friends little girls are friends with my little niece and we have had a lot of fun being able to spend time with them. Since I have been down in SLC I haven't been able to see them at church and I just found out that they have one more Sunday here in my ward before they move. I'm going to miss them a lot. Her two little girls have so much personality and they remembered me over the Christmas brake. Here's their story.

Your little girls are so cute. To make it more realistic you need to tell them that they now can not walk on their foot and they need to sleep with the boot on.

12.23.2008

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME

It has been great to be able to be here with my parents and my mom has been the BEST to help take care of me. But I'm feeling homesick. Since last Friday I have been sleeping on my parents sofa while Paul is up in Logan working. He has been putting in long 10 hour days to try and get a set done that he is working on. Where I need so much help to do anything it was better for me to stay with my mom so that she could help me throughout the day. Paul was going to try and come down this past weekend but with the weather as of late, he was not able to make it down, we decided it would be better if he did not try to go through the canyon. They have been working really hard on the project so that hopefully they won't need to work on it after Christmas so that will be nice to have Paul to myself for a bit before school starts, we have a lot of cleaning that needs to happen and I can't do it since I'm on crutches. I've had some long days here too. Since those two crashes last weekend were I landed on my foot my mom won't take me out with her to run errands, she is a good mom - she worries about me falling, so I'm stuck here at the house. Paul said that he is going to try and make it down either tonight or tomorrow morning depending on what the canyon looks like when he gets done at work. I am so excited to see him even though we have not quite figured out the sleeping arrangements. I have to sleep on the sofa that is a little more stiff, it helps to keep my foot propped up, the softer one is too uncomfortable to sleep on with the boot. We'll see what ends up happening.
I'm just excited to see him again.

A Sigh of Releaf

There is a national exam that a group of girls and I have been studying for to become LEED AP's. The powers that be are changing the exam and the last we heard December 31st was the last day to take it for the way that we had been studying. With the exam as it is right now we would only have to take one exam and be done but with the changes it would be two exams and cost a lot more money to take it. Unfortunately I was not able to study the last two weeks with the group because I had to be in SLC for my surgery, then from the drugs I haven't been able to focus enough to study. I heard that the three other girls all passed so that gives me some hope. This morning I was all set to sign up and take the exam on the 31st but noticed that there were dates open for January and February so I called the USGBC and they told me that the exam was extended until March 31st. OH SWEET RELEAF. Not that I want to wait three months to take the exam but I will be able to wait until I don't need the crutches. This will also give me a couple of weeks to catch-up on the study time that I missed and feel pretty prepared for it.

12.18.2008

Let it Snow

It has hardly felt like the Christmas or Winter season with there not being much snow, even the temperatures have been warmer then usual. Now with all this wonderful snow that has been coming down these last couple of days it is really beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Ever since Bailly was born I have always taken her out to build snowmen, make snow angels and push her around on the sleds. Well this year I won't be able to take her out, I cannot put any weight on my ankle yet and I'm not supposed to get it wet until the stitches come out. Uncle Paul is going to have to pick up the slack but I'm sure he won't mind. Bailly and Gabe love Uncle Paul, he's like a big kid and enjoys playing around with them. I guess I'll have to wait until next year to be able to go play in the snow, as for right now I'll just watch it fall from the sofa in my parents living room.

12.13.2008

The Day After

Here is the story of me at the hospital. It is quite a story so bare with me.

I had to be at the hospital at 8:30 A.M. so I was thinking we would be one of the early ones and there wouldn't be a whole lot of time for the Dr. to be running behind. The thing I did not account for was all the STUFF that needs to happen first before they actually put you on the table. The thing I am most happy about is that the surgery was early enough that Paul was able to come with me before he needed to go help set up for his brothers wedding. The staff were all very nice and made it not so intimidating to be there. I have only had surgery twice before and while I was still knocked out for those all they had to do was prop my mouth open and take what they wanted; teeth or tonsils. This was the first time I was going in to have something cut open and fixed so it was a bit nerve wracking for me.

Anyways, when all the paper work was done and they called us back to put on the little nighty, the nurse sat with us and made sure everything was done and tested all my vitals. Then there was an incident when I was trying to give them a sample to make sure I was NOT pregnant but I am choosing to leave that out (Sorry for the typo, I'm on a lot of medication). When I got back the CRNA (assistant to the anesthesiologist) had to ask me all about my history again to make sure the Anesthesiologist could put me under and not hurt me. The nurse and the CRNA asked Paul what exactly I did to be able to tare my tendon like I did. On his way out the CRNA said that he was going to have to try that rubber band thing cause it sounded like a lot of fun. Really, it is so much fun, until you get hurt and if you are anything like me, once I get hurt on something I do not go back. Everyone says that when you fall you should get back up and try-try again. When I fall, I choose to just walk away, it hurt going down and I do not want to relive it.

Well I finally got on the table and Paul got to go get breakfast. Dr. Edwards was introducing me to everyone, it was like a little reunion, they were all so friendly. While I was laying there on the table they put about 5 warm blankets on me, oh I loved it. Then I remember them cleaning my foot, chattering a little, then I was out. My worst fear was to wake up during the surgery, I have watched too many Dateline shows and others about the stories of people waking up on the table but not being able to let the Dr.'s know because they were so heavily sedated so they got to feel the whole thing. Unfortunately I woke up during the surgery. To keep myself from freaking out I just started talking and someone would answer every once in a while. My first question was "Why am I awake?" They told me something that calmed me down but I still kept mumbling into the oxygen mask to keep myself calm. At one point I heard my Dr. say something along the lines of "Wow, that's not supposed to be like that. We'll have to fix that too." Then I start mumbling like crazy trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Dr. Edwards told me they just found another little whole that they could not see on the MRI but that she would explain it to me when I woke up a little more after the surgery. At one point I remember raising my hand because I could not get any ones attention and no one had answered me back in awhile. They said that was when they gave me more drugs to try and calm me back down because I was talking too much.

As they were wrapping up my foot I was coming out of the anesthesia enough to tell them the boot they were trying to put on me was pushing on the wrong spot. Then I had to slide over to the gurney and it took me about three tries because I would only scoot over about 6 inches at a time. Since I was mostly awake by the time I was taken to the post-op, I was only there for about 20-30 minutes. Long enough to be able to sit up on my own and have the Nurse go over some post-op instructions. As you can tell from the picture, just because I say I was mostly awake and coherent does not mean my eyes would open up. Paul was pretty disappointed because I told him about some of the stuff I did when I was coming out of anesthesia for my first two surgeries but that did not happen this time.

I've decided that if I stay up with my pill schedule then I should be able to get through this with feeling little to no pain from the surgery. The hard part is now I am on crutches and can not balance very well knowing that if I start to fall over I better hope there is a chair behind me because I cannot use my left foot to balance me.

Thanks again to everyone who has sent me and e-mail or called. It means the world to me.

12.11.2008

My Surgery

First I would like to say "Thanks" to all my family that have called showing concern. I had no idea that so many people kept up with our little blog.

I finally have all the details on my surgery and thought I would post it to let everyone know. I go in tomorrow (12th) at 8:30. The surgery should only take about an hour from the time they put me on the table and when I come out from being under. As she was telling me about the surgery and telling us everything that was going to be done it actually sounds pretty interesting. Then she asked if I wanted to be awake for it and watch, NO thank you. Either knock me out with the gas or take me out with a 2x4. There is no way I want to be awake for that. They are going to sew up the tare in my tendon then wrap it to keep it tight. Of course the Dr. had to go over everything that could go wrong, how comforting. She said that in the past five years that she has been doing this surgery this particular way that everyone has said the pain in their ankles has gone and no one has had to come in to repair anything that has gone wrong. Paul will be coming with me to the surgery, where they have valet parking. I have asked him to bring the camera so that we can be sure to record this event. I'm sure that we'll get some really great pictures as I'm trying to come out of the anesthesiology.

The next four weeks I will have to keep my foot elevated and keep weight off of it. I plan on studying for an exam I want to take and doing a bunch of genealogy. We met a lady who is third cousins with Paul and she told me that she would love to sit down with me and go over the Family History. I am so excited to learn more, we have met three of Paul's third cousins and one of them is in our Church ward. It will be so interesting to see what stories they have. The exam is so that I can be a LEED AP. It's not something that I have to do but something that a group of friends at school have decided to do. It will be nice to add that to our name on resumes and GREEN is the way the industry is going, and in this economy it is great to have as much behind you as possible when going out to look for a job.

12.09.2008

Reflections of Christ


I don't know how many of you have seen commercials or books for the Photography Exhibit Reflections of Christ. A friend sent me a link to it and I thought it was wonderful. The book is as Deseret Book and to hear about why and how this photographer did all this was amazing. Right now I am finishing up homework or would expound more. Enjoy the video.

12.02.2008

Brandy & Jake

Brandy asked me for help in putting together her wedding invitations and I was so excited to do that for her. We put together a rough layout for them the night I was down for the Twilight movie. After that I took them and fixed them up a bit cause the first ones were put together really fast. I had a lot of fun working on them and I was so glad that Brandy asked me to. Here is the final product. Let me know what you think.

12.01.2008

Cereal

Paul made an observation this past weekend about my family. He says that we are all mad crazy in love with cold cereal. I would have to agree. He does not even like milk so he has no idea what he is missing out on. Paul said in one morning he noticed one brother have 3 bowls of cereal and me and another brother have 2 bowls. If I could afford all the milk I would eat cold cereal for every meal. As a matter of fact in the MTC they have cold cereal available for every meal and I believe there were a couple of days that I did eat it for every meal. The days are gone when I can eat whatever I want and not worry about having it stay with me.

11.28.2008

Thanksgiving Recap

Wednesday 26th

We spent the whole evening over at Paul's Parents house. I seem to need come down to Salt Lake for all sorts of things but Paul has not been down here since his sister left on her mission. These long holiday weekends we spend our time going around trying to visit as many people as we can so we thought it would be nice to get a good chunk of family time in with his family. While Paul played on the Wii with his family I sat down and watched Wall-e on my computer with Brandy's nephew Sage. He has the shortest attention span, but he's only 4 so it's understandable.

Thursday 27th (Turkey Day)

Paul went shooting with my brother's, Dad and Dave (my brother Ryan's Father-in-Law). It was so funny to see them all carrying all the guns around. My brothers love to have Paul come hang-out with them. They got back at about 11:00 and then we all went and got ready for dinner. My dad loves to use his smoker and this year he got a rotisserie for the BBQ. So they had a beef and pork on the smoker, a chicken on the BBQ, and a Ham in the crock-pot. Then when everybody sat down there were only 6 of us around the table. Everyone else was at their in-laws. When the time came for us to head over to Paul's parents house the rest of my family came over. Well Paul was nice enough that he said he wanted me to be able to see my family so we would go to his family's dinner but then come back and visit with my brothers and sisters. My oldest brother, Chad, has this huge dog that Gabe just loves to play with him. They got an empty 2 liter bottle and Gabe was playing catch with Bosco and the dog would just walk over Gabe to get the bottle. Then Sean thought he was going to pick on my dad and so Ryan and Paul got in there to help save him. Sean, however, gave them all a run for the money and Paul even ended up in a choke-hold. It wasn't until Chad got in on it and it was four against one that Sean finally gave up.













Friday 28th

We slept in!!! Paul's mom is a black friday shopper and she ended up down in Draper, so we went and met her for lunch. For the evening we took Bailly and Gabe to Temple Square to see the lights as they came on. Our friends from Logan came down as well and the little girls really wanted to see Bailly. The girls had a really good time seeing each other again.



All-in-all it was a very nice weekend.

11.27.2008

KBull 93

I am working on a family Christmas present and had my Aunt Rita and Uncle Kel help me put it together yesterday. They were nice enough to come and meet me at their shop after they had already left for the day. I would share what I am making but I know there are a couple of family members who check out our blog. I'll put images on after I can hand out the presents.

After that was done we were driving to Paul's parents house for the evening and KBull 93 had their Brain Buster going. The question was: "An average American eats 35,000 of these in a life-time." Paul guessed hamburgers and I said fries or jelly beans. We couldn't get through but a couple of callers called in and guessed those three and non of them were the right answer. Then the DJ gave a clue that they are baked and look like trees and stars. Paul suggested cookies so I tried calling in one more time. I got through and the answer was cookies. I was so excited I didn't even know what we had won, I was just excited that we knew the answer.

Well we won the new Hancock movie. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth our time to go and pick it up?

11.21.2008

Follow Up

I went into the Dr.'s yesterday and it looks like I will be having surgery sometime in the middle of December. As it turns out I did not detach anything I just put a hole in my tendon, still, really painful. I will have to stay in my walking cast until the surgery then keep it on for another 4-6 weeks after. This will be a long winter but it is better if I get it done over Christmas then try to have the surgery once school starts again.

As for Christmas, I mentioned the gift exchange game. Paul and I found the presents we are bringing and I am so excited. We really hope everyone loves them, I would be more then happy to end up with them.

Well there is a lot of homework to do, so I am keeping this one short. Have a good weekend.

11.18.2008

And the bottom drops out.

There I am in a meeting trying to put together and outline for a group project. It needs to be 10 pages long and we have to present on it for 17-20 minutes. No it's not that big a deal but we haven't gotten much done on it because our group is so big and we are trying to work around everyones schedule instead of just moving forward. Now we have two weeks to come up with our paper and presentation.

I hate it when you're in a group meeting and people are talking about tons of different things, texting the whole time, ya know just shooting the breeze. This time it was my phone that was ringing and I felt like I needed to take it. As soon as I heard the voice on the other end I lost it. Last week I went to get an MRI for an injury that has been hurting so bad lately, and I have an apt. with my Dr. this Thursday to see what the deal is. Apparently the news couldn't wait. I will be having surgery over Christmas to reattach my tendons in my ankle. Luckily I still have my Boot from when I got home from my mission. I am supposed to wear that up until the surgery and four weeks after the surgery. I know I said I love this time of year but this is not what I was planning on doing with my time off from school.

I even have to wear the boot to the wedding. Bla. Sorry Brandy and Jake.

I got back into our group meeting and try to stay composed but one of the kids said something to try and play a prank on me. Well when I opened my mouth to laugh at him and tell Him I didn't buy it I started crying instead. With the stress of the end of the semester and papers, exams, projects and finals all happening this week I lost it. If anyone in my group reads this I am so sorry for that. But I'm glad that we did get some work done on our paper so our two hour meeting wasn't a waste.

11.17.2008

I love this time of year

This time of year:
School is coming to an end for the semester and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about that. We have done so many group projects in my classes and there have been a couple were people just sit back and let everyone else do the work and they get the grade. I have talked to the Head of my department about doing a Masters, I'm not sure at this point, but she said she wants me to and she even invited me to teach. That means that I would get a tuition waver. SWEET.
Cute sweater weather. For being the middle of November the weather has been very pleasant up here, when the sun is out. Just cool enough to wear a long sleeve shirt of sweater.
FAMILY!! The main reason I love this time of year is family. No matter where people are or what is going on everyone always makes time for family. Since Paul and I are up in Logan we try to find a couple of days where we can just go camp out at our parents houses and visit with everyone. My parents house is really full of stuff with five people moving in these last couple of months. So this year we will probably be staying at Chad and Heathers, we'll have a mattress and a closed door and that's all I need. My family loves to spend the holidays together. Ever since I was little, mainly because my parents were still the ones footing the bill, we would all draw names and then we could only have $10 or so to spend on that person. It was great because it meant that you had to find the best possible present cause there wasn't a lot of money to go around. I think they secretly did it that way as well to help keep us grounded on what the real meaning of Christmas was. Paul's extended family on the Yeates' side does a gift exchange. The first Christmas there I noticed that some of the presents looked like they were from the year before and just re-gifted. Well we have made it our goal to find the present that will be stolen the most. The presents are supposed to be $20 so we go to the electronics department at Wal-mart or Target and find our gifts there. It has worked the last couple of years and I'm really excited to see what we can find this year.

Addendum: Apparently I offended an individual and I'm really sorry about that. I was only stating how we go about finding presents and why we chose the ones we do. I enjoy the game so much that I've even been trying to implement it into the Christmas party for my family. Again, I am so sorry about the misunderstanding. I hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season.

We are so excited to go down to SLC for the Holidays and be able to have time spend with EVERYONE. For our weekend trips down to SLC we don't have much time to spend getting to see all of our families so we look forward to seeing everyone for Christmas.

11.10.2008

I'm going to be an Aunt again, twice

A couple of weeks ago Paul got a call from his mom and brother saying that Brandy and Jake are going to have a baby. Can I just tell you how much I love being an Aunt. When my first niece was born her and her mom lived at my parents with us all and I loved being around Bailly so much. She is such a cute and lovable girl. Since we lived together for a year and a half before my mission we got really close and even though she couldn't speak before I left she could "I wove you Minmee." That was what she said to me as I left the day of my mission. I thought that while I was gone my two sister-in-laws, whom I'm so grateful to have in my family, were going to take my place as the favorite Aunt (it was really easy to be the favorite when you're the only one, wink). Anyways I have reclaimed my spot and love every minute of it. Bailly's brother Gabe, however, has his favorite too, uncle Ryan. If you get a picture of Ryan at the same age of Gabe you would not be able to tell them apart, they look so much alike. Anyways I've diverted a little bit.

Last night Paul and I were up late watching a movie and at 12:15 a.m. my sister-in-law Heather text me and let us know that Her and Chad are expecting as well. AHHH I could scream I'm so excited. So as I'm texting her back to tell her congratulations I realize that if she just text me and I'm texting her back then we are both awake, so I just called her. They are so excited and I know they will make great parents. I could jump right out of my skin cause that means that Paul and I will become an Aunt and Uncle twice over the summer and pretty close together.

By the way, I don't know how many of you are familiar with a give-away up here in Logan called the Fully Furnished Fall. Well it goes on for about three months qualifying people by drawings and last week was the last time to enter your name in a drawing to try and be qualified. Guess what? Paul got qualified and so the final drawing is on Saturday. We will keep everyone up to date on what happens with that.

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

One of my favorite things to order when we go out for dinner is Olive Gardens Zuppa Toscana. It's all you can eat soup and salad and the bread sticks are great too. I make sure to go when I'm hungry so I can get as much as possible. Well for School this semester Paul and I have started to prepare bigger meals or soups on Sunday so that we can have them through the week to eat and it's so much cheaper then deciding we don't want to fix anything and just going to a restaurant. Last week Paul found the recipe for Zuppa Soup so we thought we would try it. Here are the ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground Italian sausage
  • 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
  • 1 large diced white onion
  • 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
  • 2 tsp garlic puree
  • 10 cups water
  • 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
  • ¼ of a bunch of kale
When we were mixing all the ingredients together I noticed just how much one large onion is, and anyone who knows me knows I don't like onions. But after putting it all together and having our house smell like Zuppa, we were pretty impressed with how well it turned out. It was so good and it was even good reheated this after noon. I recommend that you try it on a cold winter day. SO good.

11.08.2008

Create something everyday

For the Interior Design program up here at Utah State, we have to take a seminar class. The class is only eight weeks out of the semester and one day a week. We will have designers from all around come in and present to us and we even bring in a big name once a semester or so, like Karim Rashid, Jamie Drake and Vicente Wolf. They usually give us a project to work on and when they get here we present to them and have them critique the projects. But I'm getting ahead of myself. A couple of semesters ago the guy that came to talk to us is a local artist here in Logan. I don't remember his name but he used to work for Hallmark and now does freelance. He was really great to listen to but the thing he said that stuck with me was "create something everyday." No matter the size of it, big or small, but just to create and not ever loose that. It was getting close to the end of his work day and he hadn't created anything yet and so he bent over and pulled a carpet tile up from the floor, rolled some paint on it and stamped it onto a sheet of paper. With the dried pattern of glue on the back of the carpet tile it made a unique pattern. He said it took him less then five minutes but it is one of the most used backgrounds by Hallmark.


Not that I'm looking to get my stuff printed or even sold, I try to live by that as well. Paul took the picture of the temple one morning as the sun was coming up and before the lights were turned off. I got the idea for this image from a wedding present a friend gave me, so then I overlaid The Family: A Proclamation To The World. Anyways here it is. Let me know what you think.

11.07.2008

Portuguese

We have decided that we would like to take a vacation when either I or Paul graduates and Paul would love to go down to Brazil. The goal is that I need to learn enough Portuguese so that when we go I can understand what is being said. If we waited until I was able to carry on a fluent conversation we would never be able to go. I just want enough that I can carry on a simple conversation and don't have to sit there the whole time asking Paul "what did they say?" and be able to ask where the restroom is. Of course Paul is all for the idea and so he is VERY anxious to help me learn. He pulled out his grammar book from his mission and we now read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese at night. I can't say how many times I have read the Book of Mormon but now that I am concentrating so intensely on every single word I have gained an even greater love for it and how the Spirit can speak to us about the truth of it. I'm actually surprised at how much of it I'm picking up on too, but I'm getting the Spanish I took mixed up every once in a while. I think I'm going to make up cards to go along with the scriptures that I'm trying to re-memorize from the Preach My Gospel lessons.

P.S. Christmas is in 7 weeks. I could jump right out of my skin. I love the Holiday Season.

11.03.2008

My Decision 08

I just thought I would share a couple of things I have found. Be sure to get out there and vote.

Obama October Surprise, Youtube.

I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.
I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse or was it my sister?
I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the BIG SOCIALISTIC GOVERNMENT will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.
I'm voting Democrat because 'Freedom of Speech' is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.
I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the 'bad guys and terrorists' will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive---it's inhumane to gas, electricute or drug them!
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the BIG government for redistribution as THEY see fit.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe 'liberal judges' need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.
I'm voting Democrat because I feel our TAXES aren't high enough yet and want them to go up so that ALL I HAVE LEFT OVER AFTER TAX IS CHANGE!
And last but not least I want to have SOCIALIZED MEDICINE ( LIKE CANADA) so that my TAXES can reach as HIGH AS 70% and if I'm lucky I'll die while waiting to see a doctor.

11.01.2008

Halloween

I went in to work yesterday and this is what I saw. The office I work in is so much fun. Everyone know how to have a good time and let their hair down.

10.28.2008

For all of you digital scrapbookers

I was just playing around the other day and happened across a website that has digital scrapbooking images for $1. I'm always on my computer and tried out my first digital scrapbook for Pauls' sister, Analey, it was a book of quotes, pictures and other things from her family in a small little travel size book. Well I loved doing it but it was a bit spendy to print it all myself so now I have found a great digital scrapbooking site on-line where I can put my next book all together and then have them print it and bind it. Yea. It is even with a hardcover. The scrapbooking supplies for $1 are at www.bwscrapbooking.com and the sale ends on the 31st of October. If anyone wants to get some supplies then I can come help you put together your own blog backgrounds or share this fun website to make and print your books. Just let me know.

10.25.2008

I've been tagged

Ok so here are the Rules

one. Link the person who tagged you
two. Post these rules
three. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
four. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

I was tagged by 2 people. Shelly tagged me back when I first started the blog... opps. Sorry. I was also tagged by Kimbie, SO I'm going to combine them.

one. Hhmmm....I love to color my hair, Paul says I'm addicted. Every time I color it someone will always ask "so what is your normal hair color" to which I respond "don't know, I haven't seen it in some time. ;)" I will usually go dark for the winter and this time a thought maybe even a little darker, while I was putting it in my hair I noticed on the box that it said 'Natural Black.' Ya it's pretty dark, even for me. But it does match my eyebrows now.
two. Life with a DVR is great. We are both so busy we just set it to record then can watch our shows whenever we want and fast forward through the commercials. The show I will always make time for is Dancing with the Stars. I used to go dancing with my cousin every week before my mission. I miss it so much but Paul says he has two left feet so we don't try that swing stuff, I don't want my neck broken. I also like cop shows, which is why I don't like to go out in the dark by myself. Now that Football is in full swing I enjoy that too, it's good family time.
three. I've been recently introduced to creating my own blog backgrounds. That has been a lot of fun to figure out, I was even able to make my columns wider so that the pictures would fit with text next to them.
four. I could eat cold cereal for every meal. (I'm not copying you Kimbie, I really could)
five. Things I love about Fall. The colors out here in Logan have been so great, I have loved watching them change. The weather has been so great out here as well, a little chilly in the morning but the afternoon and evenings have been wonderful.
six. Great the last one and I don't know what to put. Ok. So I asked Paul what to put here and he said that I have an addiction to scrapbooking stuff but I don't ever seem to use it. That's true...since I've been back in school I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to use it much so we are just storing it right now.

the six lucky people are....

Krista, Laura, Aubry, Polly, Jenny, Kim,

10.23.2008

Visiting Designer: Vicente Wolf

Every semester our program brings in Visiting Designers and we work on a project that they give us. When they get here we hold a critique of the projects. This one was an ADA lever meaning it has to be operable with one hand; no tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist. I felt pretty good about my presentation and design. I'll quickly explain my design process so you know how I got to my final. The place that the lever is supposed to be used is in an NYC condominium. Well I love being up in Logan and I wanted to bring nature in decided on the texture of a tree trunk. The easiest way to go about this was to find a branch that would work since modeling it in CAD was out of the question and using clay would just take too long. So here it is. After a couple of days of hiking a found a branch that worked out pretty well.


10.18.2008

The New Hair Color

So here it is, finally a picture of my new hair color. I don't usually go this dark so it's taken some getting use to but I really like it.

10.12.2008

Make A Joyful Noise

Joyful: : experiencing, causing, or showing joy
Noise:
1: loud, confused, or senseless shouting or outcry

When I was in Jr. High I had my music teacher tell me that I could not hold a note, then on my mission I had a companion tell me that she thought that everyone could sing until she met me. What a wonderful compliment. Do not worry, I'm not bitter, I'm just giving a little background as to why I've always been shy to really sing out loud and really get into the songs at church. Until I met the ward chore director in a singles ward I served in. She was willing to take the time to explain how to have a more powerful voice and her love for singing songs was contagious. I can honestly say she has changed my outlook on why we sing and my confidence in making a joyful noise to the Lord. Thanks Laura. Since then I haven't cared who I've been sitting next to, I just let it all out, and I try to go to the ward choirs where I live so I can learn pitches from others who do have wonderful singing voices and are willing to share.

Since August 24th, when I got sick, my voice was gone for most of that time and even when I got it back I would start coughing if I didn't keep my water with me at all times and keep the conversations to as short as possible. These last eight weeks I have just listened to the radio wishing I could belt it out in the car, where no one could hear, and I could sing as loud and off tune as I wanted to. Church has been the worst because I LOVE the church hymns and not being able to sing along has been killing me. Even when I would try to get two or three words out I would start coughing and have to excuse myself to get a drink. Well, Today I finally sang. The wonderful lady that saves us a seat every Sunday, Thanks Jenny, handed me a hymn book so I handed it to Paul. He opened it for us and before I knew it was singing along with everyone else. It was so wonderful.

My deep love of the church hymns comes from my mission; we had ones that we needed to memorize. It was great to always have a hymn and a scripture in mind to get through the day. Listening to nothing but hymns for 19 months will bring about a great appreciation to anyone, and being able to sing them and let that emotion go is a great way to show our love for our Savior.

10.10.2008

A Mission Thought

My sister-in-law is on her mission and it is getting me to think a lot about mine, the lessons, the hard times, the times I would not trade for anything.. There is no greater joy... My mission President and his wife printed of 100 scriptures from the lessons in Preach My Gospel for a Christmas present so that we could memorize them. I've pulled them out and started to re-memorize them as I go to the gym. It's crazy how easy it is coming back to me but the part I'm having a hard time with is keeping the scripture reference straight cause there are so many floating around in my head.

My hair color

Well via the poll that I put up it looks like I'm going dark. Which, I must say, I'm really excited about. Hopefully I'll be able to do it this weekend and post some pics. Thanks everyone who voted.

10.02.2008

A drive in the canyon

Every time I step outside I get to look at the colors of the trees changing in the canyon but haven't been able to go take a really good look. We've had to drive through the canyon a number of times this last month but it has always been at night, after the sun has gone down and we can't see the colors in the canyon. On Tuesday we were able to drive through in the middle of the day and I loved looking at all the colors. Fall is so beautiful in Logan, if we ever get out of here, I'll miss this most of all.

9.26.2008

Getting a hair cut

For those who know me, I love my long hair. I got it cut last year for school headshots in February and I almost had a heart attack. It still stayed pretty long but I cut six inches off and it was crazy how much faster I could wash it in the shower.

I had a bad experience once getting a short hair cut when I was a kid and because of my, we'll call them round, cheeks I looked like a cabbage patch doll. My hair is long enough that I've been cutting it myself for the last 10 years but know I've finally decided to go get some more style put into it. See I'm scared of the commitment that who ever cuts it is going to blow it then I'll be stuck with a horrible haircut until it grows out. This is so funny because I read so many places where moms take their kids in to get hair cuts and the kids freak out about it, I'm a grown women and I'm freaking out about getting my hair cut. This seems even crazier that I would be so hung-up on this since I have NO problem changing the color of my hair at the drop of a hat. Boom I'm blonde, boom I'm burnet. No matter the season or the reason, I love to color my hair. However the thought of getting it cut and having the "stylist" screw up the job terrifies me. I'll see if I can't find a before picture and get one after, that is if I don't chicken out and just end up getting it trimmed.

To be continued . . .

9.08.2008

Sunset



Last weekend I was in the Studio waiting for Paul to get done working and was watching the sunset. I just thought I would share some of the pictures I got. It looked like the sky was on fire.

9.02.2008

Death of the Blue Chair

I came back up to Logan on the weekend of the 15th-17th because Paul was sick. I wanted to take care of him and get some cleaning done around the house, so he didn’t feel like he had to do it, before school started. On my way to Logan after work I heard that a home furnishings store was doing a drawing for a dish washer, recliner and king mattress and box spring.

A little background …… Anyone who has been to our place knows about the blue chair that we have in our living room that Paul just loves and I can’t stand. The reason he loves it so much is because I don’t care what he does to it; jumps on it, puts his feet up, whatever. Unlike our pink chairs that were given to us by his parents, while I’m not totally excited about having pink in my living room, the chairs are in great condition and I usually keep them covered with stuff so that people can’t sit in them. When we have guests over, family or friends they love to sit in them because they are so comfortable but then they put their feet on them or put a leg over the arm of the chair and I can’t stand that. They are our chairs and I want them to last.

So, even though Paul was ready for bed by the time I got to Logan I made him come with me to put his name in the drawing, I had a good feeling about this one like when we got the TV and surround system. Poor kid was so miserable and the worst part was you had to be present to win. We didn’t win the dishwasher, oh well. So we went and got dinner then came back for the next drawing. We were laying on the Tempur­-Pedic adjustable beds and Paul said “if they call out my name you’ll have to yell for me.” Four minutes later they call out his name so I yell to let them know we’re there and not to move onto the next name. The next morning while Paul was sleeping a friend and I went to pick up the chair so Paul wouldn’t have to get out of bed. Later I got Paul up and told him to come down stairs and I would get him breakfast and surprise …. the chair was there. He sat in it for about 3 minutes, tossed out the old blue chair and went right back to bed. He said it was a good thing we won the chair or he would have been mad that I kept him up so late.

Happy Anniversary - Chuck & Kathy

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year. We tried to do something for their 25th but that was the same week I left for my mission so 30 was the next big number and decided to through them a surprise party. My sister-in-law, Katie, was the one who really pulled it off; I helped but was limited since Paul and I were in Yellowstone while it was being planned. We had Aunt Rita and Uncle Kel get them out of the house, the only thing that worked was taking my dad to Cabela's, so naturally they arrived an hour later then planned. One thing that our family has really enjoyed is having a yard big enough to have everyone over and play outdoor games, like the human rubber band, bocce ball and frisbee. For another great outdoor sport all of us kids went in together and got a volleyball net for them, one that can go up and down really easy. My dad didn't want a sand volleyball court cause it would end up being the neighborhood litter box. I don't blame him. There was just family and a couple of close friends that we were able to invite; we did this all in a week so it was short notice. To get pictures of the volleyball game that was going on I had to use the night shot on the camera but because everyone is moving around it's really blurry, but you get the idea. It was a lot of fun and a complete surprise to my parents and they loved it. Thanks to all the family that came and helped make the night great.


8.18.2008

Happy Anniversary - Yellowstone

I wanted to write about our trip to Yellowstone but as usual got sidetrack on a bunch of other things so here are a couple of pictures until I can sit down and write some more. I have to say that the colors there were amazing. I was able to go to Yellowstone a couple years after the fires so it was neat to see it 20 years after the fires with all the regrowth.

I did however try to change our page layout and ended up messing it up instead so now I only have 2C instead of three.

Ok, I got it fixed and changed just about everything in the process.

7.22.2008

Just some stuff

Well, after seeing the Dark Knight for the second time last night I am pretty convinced that it one of the best, if not the best, movies I have seen in probably the past 5 years I have been home from my mission. Ledgers portrayal of the Joker ranks up at the top of the list of the most incredible "bad guys" of all time. The cinematography was fantastic. Now I normally don't go see movies in the theaters, especially not 2 times, but this one by far has to be seen on the big screen. Don't miss out.
Well here in the fantastic world of the Old Lyric Theatre Company we are winding down to the final weeks of the season, thank heavens. Although it has been long tiresome hours and a lot of work, I have had a lot of fun. On Sunday we had our company picnic over at willow park. I realized that for as many backgrounds as we all have there are some pretty awesome people here. We had a lot of fun playing on the rubber band, football, some played croquet and the other weird game with the balls (botchi ball maybe?), but overall we're like a family. Most of us will see each other again when school starts, but many will go back to various places such as Idaho, New York, and Kentucky, but they will always be good friends. The apprentices this year are pretty awesome. That's why I saw The Dark Knight twice, they paid for me to go. I've got a good couple of years on them but they are still some of my really good friends.
After Yellowstone I will be working as a scenic painter for the show Music Man that will be in the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. I was also a painter for the Cabaret set they did last winter. Recently in a move to get some additions built onto the shop, theatre and other various places around the fine arts center on campus we have started taking on a lot of outside jobs, to prove we can handle the work and therefore receive upgrades. The Egyptian Theatrre is just the beginning of these new friendships we have made, and I expect that I will be involved with quite a few more productions for them as well as many others.
I'm excited for school. It will be a semester that will keep me going that's for sure but it will be loads of fun. I have a lighting design for the show Lysistrata next semester. Let's just say it is a show that one professor claims "fits the time." More to come on that. I'm really excited for the shows next year, they will be pretty good. Assassins and the Christmas Carol top the list and I think that if we pull them off good we should be able to see numbers of visiting patrons skyrocket. Well I've rambled on now for quite some time, so ate mais.

7.20.2008

Batman: The Dark Night

Last night we went to see the new Batman movie, it's the fist movie we have gone to see in a theatre in a very long time, we both like the comfort of watching a movie from our living room. We went with the group of apprentices from the theatre where Paul is doing his internship. While the previews were going one there was a certain one that sent the girls in the audience into an uproar. It was for Twilight. The girl sitting next to me told me that I had to read the books before the movie came out. Paul told me that he liked that I wasn't someone who would do this or that just because it is the fad of the time. I might read them, I also might get around to seeing the Titanic.

The movie was a good one, it kept us on the edge of our seats the whole time. Heath Ledger did a great job, very convincing. It was darker than the first and it seemed like when you thought it was over it kept going. Like others said there where parts that you saw coming and then there were others that caught you totally by surprise. Even if you aren't a big movie goer this is one worth seeing on the big screen. It was a nice treat for Paul and I to go to a movie together. Since we don't get to see each other too often this summer we love the time we do get to spend together.

7.16.2008

Gabe's Bassetball











Our nephew turned two this June and he is such an active boy. His Grandpa and Grandma got him a number of toys but the only thing he was interested in was the ball. He calls every ball; even those things that are just round and don't bounce a bassetball. So we all went outside and played with him and his new toys.

Paul's Birthday Quilt

















I made a quilt top for Paul when we were dating, I actually made two in one day but then when it came to finishing them I took my time. With the time I had this summer and my parents basement family room that was wide open, I finally set up the quilt to finish it. I tried quilting it a different way then just tying it like normal, I quilt stitched it by hand and think that it tuned out pretty well. I was able to get it done for his birthday but the best part of the whole thing is that he loves it.

Paul's tid bits of info

Well guys here it is. Now we can keep up with each other better. As Mindy said I am working for The Old Lyric Repertory Company. It's hard work, and super long hours but it wouldn't be theatre if that did not exist. I love the fact that I am working for a professional theatre, getting some experience and contacts on my resume. For those who don't know I am study Lighting Design and Broadcast Journalism, double majoring is hard, but it will be well worth it in the end.
I love living in Logan, there's something about living "in the mountains," as Bailly would say, that is so relaxing. Even though Logan is growing rapidly it is still so peaceful and calm, and cold. But I love every minute of it. I am so happy that I decided to come to school, it really is a huge step and the experiences outweigh everything else. It's hard work but worth it, and I wouldn't want it any other way. We are looking forward to going to Yellowstone for our anniversary and we'll be sure to keep you posted on that.


7.15.2008

Wasted Time

Paul and I just set up this post and I found a way to change a lot of the settings in it and customize just about everything, I'm sure there is a lot more I could figure out about stuff to change. I was going to add some more pictures and things about what we've been doing with our summer but instead I spent the little bit of time I had tonight playing around with the different embellishments.

7.07.2008

A walk next to the river

There is this fun trail next to a river up in Logan and I love being able to take walks down it when ever I can. They have installed a scaled map of the solar system, it's pretty neat. Here are a couple of pictures, to see more go to my facebook.

Working in Salt Lake















I have always loved downtown Salt Lake, I love the atmosphere, how close everything is, all the different activities, but being able to work down there everyday this summer has been so great. This is a picture I took one day just walking around after work in the sunset.






AMAZING!!!



6.22.2008

Our Summer Adventures

The weekend of May 31st my niece came up to Logan. There are two cute girls in my ward and the three of them became fast friends, the girls were together the whole weekend. The first thing we did was go to the Young Women's fundraiser for girls camp.
She loves her Uncle Paul, he's not afraid to goof off with her and make sure that she is having the best time possible.

















We went swimming in the afternoon, had a birthday party for Bizzy and then set up the tent that their family got for Christmas. After that they wanted to have Bailly sleep over so they could test out the new tent in the yard. Bailly had a great time but it was hard for me to sleep, in part to a bad sun burn and having my niece sleep over some where else.


Our Summer Adventures

First is the Human Rubber Band. If you have not ever tried this you should, it is a great time.

This is three of my brothers and Paul and they have all done it before, except for Paul. Maybe a bit of an unfair advantage.



This is me, my sister and our two sisters-in-law. Staci hasn't ever done this either, you can tell because she is the one screaming the whole time.




This thing in fun for hours.

Our Summer Internships

I finally decided to do a blog. I have family and friends all over and thought this would be a great way to let you all know what is going on with me and Paul.

Paul has an internship up in Logan at a little theatre. He is on the crew to build the sets and run the shows. With all of his close friends from school up there he is having a great time.

I am working at HKS Architects in Salt Lake in the interiors department. Most of my time has been spent working on a hospital where I have designed a lot of floor patterns and helped to choose finishes, then make up the construction documents for them. The next project will be a renovation of an LDS Temple. This will be especially challenging because it is all white, but surprisingly there are MANY shades of white to chose from.

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