Pics on Facebook

For those of you who have Facebook, I have posted pictures of my house. For those of you who don't, sorry, but I have more control over who sees my pictures and it is much easier to put pictures on Facebook.

In the Midst of Painting, plus Washer and Dryer

Master Bedroom, before adding sponging color
Dining Room

Brand-new Whirlpool Washer

Brand new Whirlpool Dryer

Entryway

Pre-Paint Pictures

The living room

The master bedroom

Bathroom

Dining Room

Kitchen

House Update

The house is coming along nicely. There is paint on all of the walls, except the bathroom. I have picked my carpet out, which should come by the end of the week. Hopefully it will be done in time for me to move in at the end of the year because my apartment lease expires at the end of the month. I will also be glad when it is done, so that I can get back to my other hobbies, although I have found painting isn't that bad. I will post some pictures on here, and I will post more on Facebook if you would like to see them. Hopefully, I will be able to keep posting pictures as I get more and more of the house done.

Domestic-ness

I know that most people are wanting pictures of my house, but first I wanted to post about one of my few domestic talents. I first learned to crochet from my grandma when I was 4 or 5, but I really didn't get in to it until I was 10 or so. It then took me almost 10 years to crochet my first afghan. Then I decided to venture into the realm of patterns, but my first attempt to make an afghan from a pattern resulted in a full-size afghan being the size of a small doll blanket. This is my second attempt and I think it turned out quite well. Just wanted to post a picture of it before I got back to my house.

Latest House News

I actually own my house now. Right now I am waiting to find out when I am going to get the keys. It was supposed to be five this afternoon, but it is now almost seven thirty, so I'm not sure what's going on. Hopefully I will get the keys soon though, I would like to be able to go survey the house and see what exactly needs to be done now that they have moved their stuff out.

I am making progress on furnishing the house. I bought a fridge a few weeks ago, and I have also picked out my paint colors, and I have a pretty good idea what color of carpet I am getting. Tomorrow, someone is coming over to measure the house for the carpet, so that is moving forward. I am also going to buy paint and a new lock for the door tomorrow. Apparently Kevin and his parents are painting on Friday while I am at work. So it is really coming together, and I should be moving in by the end of December. Now if I could just get the keys…

House Update

I am getting closer and closer to becoming a home owner. My house inspection was today, and it went much better than it did last week. The main problems were cosmetic due to the sellers not taking care of the house, but I was aware of that. It is structurally sound, which is nice.

I will have to replace the paint, carpet, and most of the appliances. Kevin and I went window shopping for those things, so that I could get an idea of how much it is going to be. For the appliances it is going to be about $2200 because I have to replace everything except the stove, which may need replaced, but currently it is not broken, nor are the owners taking it with them. I'm not sure how much the paint and carpet will be because we mainly were checking out colors. I think I like the subtle multicolored carpets in either blue, green, or dark tan-ish. It sounds kind of odd, but the carpet samples were pretty cool. I'm not sure what colors I will use for paint. I want to paint the kitchen a pale yellow, but Kevin hates that, and since he may someday be living there, I should probably choose a color that he doesn't detest. I have a few weeks to decide what exact colors I want because I won't close until the middle of November, so hopefully I will be able to make up my mind by then.

It's crazy to think how close I am to realizing my year-long dream of owning my house.

Plan B

Both Kevin and I have been sick since last weekend, so we decided that going to the BYU vs. TCU game and sitting in the cold for four hours would not be a good idea. So we sold our tickets and hung out here in Salt Lake.

We first went to the open house for the Riverton Hospital. I have been on quite few IHC hospital tours lately, and I have to say that this hospital did not compare to IMC and Park City. First of all it was much smaller than IMC, and did not have all of the cool extras that IMC has because it is the "flagship" hospital. Park City hospital just has an elegant beautiful-ness to it, while this hospital felt like a hospital. It did have some cool murals in the pediatrics area, but for the most part, it was just a hospital. The tour was also much more rushed because Kevin does not have patience for such stuff, especially since he helped install all of the furniture, so he had already been through all of the hospital. They did have a really cool bubble machine outside that blew giant bubbles in various shapes such as stars and teddy bears.

After the hospital tour, we went to Red Robin, where we paid for our meal with the money from the sale of our tickets. It was there that we first saw the score of the game, and we realized that it really was a good thing that we didn't go to see the game, it was just painful. The food at Red Robin was good, as usual. I also got my very own bottle of Red Robin Seasoning Salt, which is the most amazing stuff on the face of the planet.

We rounded out our evening by watching Transformers with Shane and Tiffany, Kevin's brother-in-law and sister. It was a pretty fun evening.

Pig Flu

My parents have been very paranoid about me contracting the H1N1 virus, thus they are always encouraging me to go get vaccinated and telling me where to go to receive my shot. Anyways, yesterday morning I decided to appease my mother, so I attempted to attend a flu shot clinic. Yes, you read that right, I attempted to go. I drove to a health department clinic out in West Valley at 6:45 in the morning to be there in plenty of time for the 7:00 start time. (I only was up that early because of Zyrtec-D and its fabulous side effect of only letting me sleep six hours.) When I got there, cars were parked up and down 5600 W for 2-3 miles. I had to park a mile away from the end of the line, and then the line was probably a mile long when I got to it. After waiting in line for an hour and a half, moving only 60-70 feet, and receiving word that they were going to run out of shots a long time before they got to my position in line, I decided that it wasn't worth it. It was cold. I was wearing flip flops. And I felt on the verge of hypothermia, so I left. I guess I probably should have stayed, but I decided that it wasn't worth making my cold worse.

I hope that I can someday get the vaccine prior to getting the flu, but I don't think I will participate in one of these mass clinics again. It seriously felt like Black Friday, but the prize at the end was getting stuck in the arm with a needle. I am just not a fan of long lines, especially when I am all alone. Hopefully they will be able to coordinate these things better, so that they won't turn into this type of crowd control nightmare again.

Bambi’s Cousin

As many of you may already know, we are currently in the midst of deer hunting season. My dad is an avid deer hunter, although he is at the point that he enjoys the drive more than the actual shooting of the deer. He has gotten Kevin into the deer hunting mode, and Kevin has gone out with him twice now. Anyways, on Saturday, my cousin donated his deer to us because the whole family had shot deer, so their freezer was already full. However, the meat was not cut up yet, and was actually in the form of two hind legs and a front leg, so Kevin and I spent four hours Saturday night learning the fine art of meat processing. I don't think either of us have a career in that field. We ended up throwing away more than we saved because we got sick of cutting out all of the veins, tendons, and fat. We haven't tried any of our final product, so we are unsure of how it tastes. Kevin has never had deer meat, and I have only had it once, so we will see how it goes.

House Hunting Update

The last week has been very eventful in the house-hunting search. On Monday, I got a call from my realtor telling me that one of the houses I had placed an offer on had received bank approval for the short sale. It wasn't my favorite, so I had him call the agents for the other houses to see how close they were to securing bank approval. Only one other was close, so I decided to go for it. Wednesday, I had to sign papers with the real estate agent, and then I met with a loan officer on Thursday to secure funding. While I wasn't totally in love with the house, I figured that it was good enough for a first home and I could live with it.

However, today I had it inspected by a home inspector, and decided that with all of the repairs it wasn't worth it. I would have to replace the all of the carpeting and windows, plus the water heater and dish washer, in addition to the other appliances I would have to buy. To make matters worse, there was a leak in the kitchen and basement bedroom, plus mold in the crawl space. The carpeting and windows alone would cost $6000-$8000. The price of the house pretty much wiped me out, so I decided that it would be a no good. Fortunately I was not completely tied down yet.

When we got home, Kevin and I started looking up houses on the MLS site. We found a few, but my real estate agent called and talked me into looking at the other house that also had bank approval. At first I was not crazy about this house because of the location (I thought it was in Kearns.) and the fact that it had an unfinished basement. However, it is in a newer development, and it is not even in Kearns. Another advantage it has is the fact that it is a newer home, which means that the windows are all good, plus there is a much smaller chance of leaky pipes and mold. All of the carpet will have to be replaced due to it being filthy, but at least they did not allow their dog to poop and pee all over the carpets. The paint will also need to be touched up and redone, preferably not in so much white. It is also $10,000 cheaper than the first house, plus it will require less money up front to make it livable. Plus, finishing the basement would increase its value a bit, so we could sell it for more than we bought it, especially if you are optimistic and have faith that the housing market will improve someday.

So now, instead of closing next Thursday, I may close a bit later, plus I have to pay another $250 to get this house inspected. Hopefully, there will be nothing majorly wrong with this house for the inspector to find, so that I don't get talked out of it. I just love house buying. I will keep you posted on how the house hunt is going.

Birthday Happenings

This past Friday was my twenty-fifth birthday, and it was a pretty good day, plus weekend.

First, I got called off Thursday morning, so that afternoon Kevin and I went to Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake. We went there in March for my dad's birthday, so we were both excited to go back. We went during the lunch hours, which was more cost effective, but they had fewer servers because there were fewer guests. As a result, we got fuller faster, so we were unable to engorge ourselves quite as much as we would have like, but on the bright side, I avoided looking five months pregnant like I did last time.

Friday, I used to PTO and basically did some tasks around my apartment until Kevin and I went to the BYU vs. USU football game. We had a slow start, plus the traffic was horrendous, so we didn't get there until the second half was starting. However, by this time they had stopped patrolling the parking lots, so we were able to park in the parking lot directly west of the stadium, which is much closer than I normally park. The downside of this was leaving. There really wasn't a convenient way to get out of Provo, so we didn't arrive at my parents' house until midnight.

Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent watching conference. I was able to watch all of it this time, so I enjoyed that quite a bit. I am looking forward to the November Ensign. I always get much more from reading it than I do from watching it, despite the fact that I take notes.

Saturday night, my parents took us to Don Pedros, an excellent Mexican restaurant in Heber. It was yummy as usual, although I've almost decide to downgrade from the Strawberry Margarita (virgin of course) to the strawberry lemonade. Being around Kevin has helped me become more frugal, which is always a good thing, I guess.

Four Wheeling Pictures

A view of the area

The only really nasty part of the ride. I got kicked off for safety reasons.
Kevin did almost tip over.

Snack Break

Standing by one of the abandoned mines.
I personally think Kevin's helmet makes him look like an alien.

Four-Wheeling, Take 2

Since Kevin is back in school, he has a lot more free time. Last Tuesday, there wasn't enough work at his job for him to do, and he had the day off, so we went four-wheeling again. This time it was just the two of us and his dad. We went in the hills past Eagle Mountain and Cedar Fort. The area definitely fits into the definition of desert, as the majority of the vegetation was sage brush and junipers.

This area apparently used as gold and silver mines back in the day, and we were able to look into some old mines. They were covered by really thick rebar, so you were able to walk across the hole and look down. That was a very weird feeling. Kevin and his dad threw some rocks down the mines to see how deep they were. In some one the mines it was almost impossible to hear the rocks hit the bottom they were so deep. Another indicator of how deep the mines were was the huge tailings pile. It was amazing to me that people in the 1800's were able to dig so deep without our modern technologies.

This ride was less dusty, but it was much more difficult. There were places that were very steep and rocky, as well as places that had huge ruts in them from previous rain storms. There were a few times that I was sure the four-wheeler was going to tip over on us, but we survived.

Kevin's dad took pictures of us, so hopefully I will be able to get those tonight and post them.

BYU Football

Last weekend marked the beginning of the BYU football season, at least the home games. I have had season tickets since my first year at BYU (I am now in my seventh season), and I love BYU football. This year I am able to share that love with Kevin. While he is not completely enthused about sitting in a football stadium for three-four hours, he hasn't complained too much, and I think he actually enjoys the games at times. We have okay seats. They are definitely not as good as the seats I had as a student, but we could be a lot higher, which is my only consolation. The people surrounding us were kind of annoying, but only the people directly behind us seem to be season ticket holders. It is also nice to be able to sit throughout the game, something that never happened in the student section. Maybe someday, I will be rich enough to sit in an actual chair, so that I don't have to carry one, nor sit by annoying people. The people who sit in the nice seats seem to be more reserved and are there to enjoy the game, not make lots of annoying noise, but you never know.

I am looking forward to enjoying this season with Kevin. It is kind of nice to have a regular activity that doesn't include either of our parents. While I enjoy spending time with them, I find it important to spend alone time with Kevin so that we are able to talk and work through any "bumps" we may be having at the moment

House Hunting

I have been wanting to find a house for the last year, but my search has been kind of off and on for the past little while; however, towards the middle or end of August, I decided that I should get more serious about the whole house hunting process since the deadline for the tax credit is November 30, and I really want that $8000. Since then, I have "hired" a realtor, and I have found two houses that I have put offers on. Most of the houses in my price range are short sales, so I could wait two months before the sale is finalized, which is why I have put in offers on two houses so far. If I find other houses that I like, I will probably put offers of them too. I am in the first position on both houses, so I could potentially get either of them. This process is both exciting and scary at the same time. I am excited to become a new homeowner and to move out of an apartment (the mold incident and my new upstairs neighbors have strengthened my desire to leave this apartment complex), but it is also scary because buying a house seems to be a very grown-up thing to do. When I know for sure which house I will be moving into, I will post pictures.

Sunday Drive

This past Sunday, Kevin and I went on a drive up a canyon in the South Jordan/Herriman area that connects to Tooele. Kevin had been up here the previous day with his friend, Alex, and wanted to show the area to me. I had no idea that you could even drive over the mountains into Tooele, although I should have guessed because Utah is full of small little roads in the mountains, but this road was actually paved, which is rare. When we got to the top of the paved road, we decided to turn onto a dirt road that seemed to go further up the mountain. When we got to the top, we realized that the drive was well worth our time. First of all, we were directly above the Kennecott Copper Mine. I never really fathomed how huge it really is. It seems to stretch forever. We could also see from what was probably North Salt Lake or Woods Cross down to Alpine and Highland, and possibly more. We could also see the Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrah Mountain Temples. Salt Lake had too many lights so we were unable to find the Salt Lake Temple. To further perfect-ify (yes, I realize that I just made up that word) the view, there was lightning in the mountains across the valley that lit up the whole sky. It was breathtaking. Hopefully, we will find another excuse to drive up there or another equally beautiful part of the mountains.

I think that I have seen far more sights in the Salt Lake Valley since meeting Kevin than I ever have before. Hopefully we will see even more.

Francis Frontier Days

Every Labor Day Weekend, Francis hosts Frontier Days, which features a horse pull, a rodeo, a bull wars, and other various events. I have been attending the festivities ever since I was little. I even scored a bunny and a kitten there when I was little. Since my dad was on the town board for so long and my mom is the Town Clerk, I am usually volunteered for something, but this year I was able to just enjoy everything for the most part.

Kevin and his parents came up Saturday for the Horse Pulls and Rodeo. This was Jim and Glenda's first experience with a horse pull, and I think they enjoyed it almost as much as Kevin does. There weren't as many teams this year, but it was still exciting. I think my cousin Sheldon won at least two of the weight classes and got second in the other. Between the Horse Pull and Parade, I took them up to our house and introduced them to the goats, sheep, and llama. They especially enjoyed seeing Yoda, our baby goat that has ears that bear a strong resemblance to the Star Wars character of the same name. They also got to chat with my dad and grandma. The parade was rather small, but we did score quite a bit of candy. The barbecue was pretty good, but the pulled pork had way too much pepper on it. The highlight of the night was the rodeo. It was pretty good, although it was kind of drug-out because none of the animals could find their ways back into the pens (which was also the case Monday). Kevin and his parents enjoyed watching the Wild Cow Milking and Saddle Cow events (both of which my cousin Rowdy won). It was fun to share a little bit of my background with them.

Monday was the Bull Wars. It wasn't too exciting because only five or six bulls were ridden, but it was okay. The Ring of Fear was kind of a waste of time because only two people participated, but I guess the Hide Race and Trailer was were fairly entertaining. All in all, it was a nice weekend and a welcome break from the routine of being in West Jordan.

4 Wheeling

Yesterday, I went down to Aurora, Utah with Kevin, his dad, and a family friend to go 4-wheeling in the mountains. This was my first time 4-wheeling, and it was fairly enjoyable, although dirty. My arms also got fried, but luckily they are not too sore. The ride was actually fairly pretty. I have always been under the impression that Central Utah is just full of sage brush and cedar trees, but we rode through areas that were quite forested with pines and quakies. We mostly saw cows, but we also saw a few ground squirrels, and even a herd of wild horses (which I didn't think existed in this part of Utah). Kevin did most of the driving, but at one point he let me drive for about 10-20 minutes. It was kind of fun, even if I didn't go quite as fast as Kevin did.

Hopefully, I will get many more opportunities to go 4-wheeling, it is much more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be. Although, if I go again, I am definitely not forgetting the sunscreen!

Here are some pictures from our day:


Kevin's dad made a nice seat made out of cargo bags and a gel cushion that I mostly sat in, but since I am a midget and my feet couldn't reach the foot spot, it was not extremely comfortable.

Beehive peak

Me and Kevin

Me post ride. The dust made it so I couldn't breathe through my nose, so my teeth were super gross. My hair was as gross as it feels, and I am still getting dirt off of my face, but it was fun enough to be worth it.

More Family

Friday was my cousin Annie's wedding reception up in Park City. It was supposed to be outdoors, but the weather was not very cooperative. Luckily her aunt has a big enough house that we were able to just hang out on her couches. Unfortunately Kevin and I were unable to hang out too long because I had to go to work the next morning. Lovely six am start time.

Sunday, we had another family gathering out at my Uncle Weldon's in Duchesne. Since I only see my Aunt Della and cousin Tami about every few years or so, I decided that the trip would be worth it. We had hamburgers and other such barbeque essentials. Most of my Uncle Weldon's family was there, plus some of my Aunt Marlene's family. We stayed there for about three hours, so we got home pretty late.

I always enjoy seeing family, especially family that I see rarely. I am glad that I have such a tight-knit extended family, even if we are a bit kooky. And yes, I include myself in the kooky category.

County Fair & Family

This past weekend I went home for the Summit County Fair. My cousins, Shayle and Wilder were showing our lambs. They ended up doing well with their two heaviest lambs, placing 15^th and 17^th overall.

It was fun to watch the show, and I miss showing sheep in some ways, but in some ways, I don't miss it. I miss the interaction with all of my livestock exhibitor friends and raising the sheep, but I really don't miss the pressure and the stress. We always did fairly well, so there was always pressure to win or place really high. However, the exhilaration of winning always made that stress melt away.

One of my favorite memories from the show ring was winning the show the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. It was an intense and grueling battle, but I came out on top. As a side note, after winning the show, I got a red ribbon in showmanship (where you are judged on how well you show your lamb) because I was unable to trade my wild champion sheep for my much calmer lamb. It gave me a taste of humble pie for sure.

Another favorite memory was placing in showmanship at the state fair my last year. It was good vindication after never winning at the county fair, especially considering there were a large amount of competitors in the show ring. I displayed my ribbon proudly in my dorm room.

Here are some pictures of my cousins showing their lambs. I was unable to get any closer pictures.

Saturday, after we finished at the sale, Kevin, my dad, and I went shooting 22's. This was my first time shooting, and I was able to hit the target three times despite how shaky I was. I was pretty proud of myself. Later that evening my Aunt Marlene, Aunt Della, and my cousins Rocky, Sarah, and Tami ate dinner with us. It was fun seeing them. I don't think I have seen my Aunt Della or Tami in two or three years, and Rocky and Sarah since I was in high school. They are in town for my cousin Annie's wedding on Friday, so hopefully we will get to see more of them there. Today I was able to go to the new church in Francis for the first time. It is really nice and an upgrade from our previous church building, which was built when my dad was a kid.

Roommate Reunions

My old roommate Nicole was in town the past few weeks. I haven't seen her since she left for Ohio in November of 2007, so it has been a long time. Her visit also coincided with the birth of my other roommate Shannon's baby boy. On the 26^th of July, we gathered at Shannon's parents' house for Sunday dinner, which is always an event in and of itself. Bethany and Kristy were also there. The next Saturday was Shannon's baby shower, and I was able to see our other roommate Kellie. It was fun to see everyone again, especially since, with the exception of Bethany, I have not seen any of these girls for a year, and with both Kristy and Nicole it has been much longer. It was also fun to hold Shannon's baby since I didn't have to worry about his temperature or when he ate like I normally have to for babies. It was just fun to relax and hold him, which I did a lot of at Shannon's parents' house, since no one came out and asked to hold him. It was also fun to introduce Kevin to everyone, since only Bethany had met him. Hopefully we can continue to see each other every so often because these girls were some of my favorite roommates at BYU.

Posting Frustrations

So I finally realize why some people get so frustrated with Blogger sometimes. I have my first "I want to throw this blog out the window" moment while posting my Everett post. I had carefully crafted it in Microsoft Word over the past few weeks whenever I have had time, and I was feeling pretty efficient and good about myself. Well, apparently Blogger doesn't like it when you do that. I don't know why, but it was driving me crazy.

Okay, I am done with my tirade, I will get back to catching up on my posts.

Everett, Washington Trip

The Drive There

We left West Jordan at nine or so at night, and we drove until about two or three in the morning, then we stopped at a rest stop in Oregon and slept until seven or eight. There really weren't any highlights from this part of the drive, other than seeing various towns near Boise where my friends and family members were from.

The first exciting site of our trip to Everett was seeing the Columbia River. The biggest river I had seen previously is probably less than a quarter of a mile across and very swallow, so the Columbia River was very impressive. At first I didn't believe Kevin when he told me it was a river. It just looked like a lake. I was also amazed by all of the windmills. I thought they had a lot along I-80 in Wyoming, but the windmills along I-84 and the Columbia River put those to shame. I even texted my mom a picture of the river, I was that amazed. The freeway followed the river until we reached Portland, so I had quite a bit of time to be amazed by it.

The Evo and I at a view area next to the Columbia River. My hair actually behaved itself, despite the fact that I attempted to sleep in Kevin's car., and at this point I think all I had done to it was comb through it with my fingers.

Kevin wanted to show me one of the dams that are in the Columbia River, so we stopped at the Dalles Dam Visitor Center. It ended up just being a little museum with native fish and a history of the dams on the river. We had wanted to go inside one of the dams, so that was slightly disappointing, but it was kind of cool anyway, plus it was nice to get out a stretch our legs.

My mom's sister Marilyn and her husband, Blaine, live in Vancouver. I have never had the opportunity to visit them while they have lived in Washington, so this was a good opportunity to. They happened to live just around the corner from English Racing, the car tuning place. When we got there, Kevin and I were both exhausted, and Kevin was soon out cold on the floor and snoring. I was going that way too, so my aunt and uncle told me to just get some sleep, since we weren't very good entertainment anyway.

The sister missionaries were also invited to dinner, so it was fun to talk to them. One was from Sandy and the other from Wisconsin (I think), but she had gone to BYU prior to her mission, so they were both familiar with Utah, so we had some common ground to chat about. In my twenty-four years of being LDS, this was my first opportunity eating with the missionaries, and it was both fun and spiritual at the same time.

Soon after finishing our meal, we were on the road again. We were now driving in the more lush parts of Washington, and all the greenness amazed me. We arrived in Everett around 9 or 10 and promptly went to bed. We stayed at Kevin's friend, Marina's, house.

Old Friends

My friend Kelli Arnesen from Nursing School lives near Everett, so we went to visit her on Friday. I haven't seen her since we graduated from nursing school. We became friends after our Medical/Surgical Clinicals at the University of Utah hospital. We also had ethics together and went to Maryland together last Spring, so we were fairly good friends. She works at the Emergency Room up there, and works crazy hours. Luckily it worked out so I was able to see her on our trip. It was kind of cool to be able to see my friends too. We also walked around one of the piers in Seattle and visited Kevin's hometown of Clearview before calling it a night.

Port Defiance Zoo

Our main activity on Saturday was going to the Port Defiance Zoo and Aquarium with Kevin's old roommate, Leo, and his daughter Katarina. It was a really nice day, and it actually got kind of hot. On the way there we once again got stuck in traffic in Seattle. I think the traffic is Seattle will stand out the most for me just because it was always so horrible. The zoo itself was actually kind of small, I think the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake is a tad bigger, but it was fun to go to the zoo since I haven't been for a long time. They had quite a few animals and since it was fairly good weather most of them were outside so you could see them.

Boeing Tour
Boeing is huge in Everett. It was also on one of our main routes that we took a lot while there, so Kevin and I decided that we should take a tour and visit the museum. The tour took us to the various hangers where they make airplanes. It was interesting to see how refined their airplane making processes were. They are able to turn out a lot of airplanes in a relatively short period of time because everything is so organized. The building where they make the airplanes is the largest building in the world, and before they installed a ventilation system, it even produced its own weather. The museum was pretty cool too. It just had various airplanes, engines, and other stuff. Kevin and I even took our picture in the cockpit of an airplane. There are a huge amount of instruments the pilots have to be aware of, so I am glad that I get to sit in the back and just worry about the ventilation controls.

Drive Home

After Kevin was finally able to get me out of bed and ready to go, we left Marina's house around seven or eight. (Kevin had wanted to leave earlier, but I didn't want to get up, plus he wanted to buy some sandals he really liked at Fred Meyer, which no longer exists in Utah.) We had decided to visit the Grand Coulee Dam, so we had planned on our trip home taking a bit longer than usual. However, what we didn't plan on was the Evo breaking down, again. When we were twenty miles from our destination, and in the middle of nowhere, it started losing power, so we turned around and went back to a gas station in a tiny town about ten miles back. Kevin pulled out all of the spark plugs, but couldn't find anything wrong with them. At this point, he just wanted to get home, so our plans to go to the dam were cancelled, and I have to admit I was not feeling the most congenial towards the Evo. A few miles down the road, the car started sputtering and would not go anymore; however, the computer finally tripped an engine code, and Kevin was finally able to diagnose the problem. I guess the injectors had been rattled loose by the dyno and that was what was causing the problem. After we fixed that we didn't have any more problems.

These pictures are of the Columbia River and us in Eastern Washington. It was a little view area that we got out at to stretch our legs.

This is a picture of the Snake River just a little after sunset at one of the rest stops we stopped at in Idaho. I thought Kevin did a good job taking the picture, so it gets posted. He used settings on my camera that I didn't even know I had.

We continued driving until 2:30 in the morning when we pulled over at a rest stop just past Twin Falls, Idaho. Kevin just didn't see the point in driving anymore, and I was already pretty much asleep and useless at keeping him awake, so we slept for awhile. We started driving again around eight in the morning. We only stopped briefly at the McDonalds in Tremonton, Utah, and arrived home around noon.

Overall, I think this trip was a huge success, and I hope that I can return to Everett to see Kevin's "people" again. He has very cool friends up there, plus I loved the greenness of everything. Now if I could just find a remedy to the huge worsening of my allergies while there…

Preview of Everett Trip

Due to the fact that I was sick after we got back from Washington and the fact that my computer has decided that it is incompatible with the internet (I am on Kevin's computer right now), I have been unable to blog about our trip to Washington. Hopefully my computer will return to health soon, so that I can get everything up this week on my days off. But until then, here is a movie of the Evo getting tuned on a dyno at English Racing in Vancouver, Washington. Basically a dyno is a treadmill for cars that allows car people to tune a car and make it really fast. The people who worked on the Evo were able to increase the horsepower of the car from about 360 to about 450 at the wheels. I really don't know what that means other than it is about four times more powerful than my Pontiac. As a result the Evo started and ran better, although half of the internal workings were rattled loose by all of that abuse.

It was an interesting experience, but if I ever go to a car dyno-ing place again, I am definitely bringing ear plugs and a gas mask. It is super loud, and the garage fills with exhaust even though the door was open.

I am posting a movie of the last pull that they did per Kevin's request. The computer screen at the end shows all of the numbers, such as horsepower, torque, and boost (something involved with the turbo or such). I'm definitely not a car genius. Just as a word of caution, it is really loud.

Miyah's Baby Blessing

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see one of my former roommates, Stormie. She and her husband were in town for their baby's blessing. Since I didn't want to get up early enough to get to Provo for a 11:00 am baby blessing, Kevin and I just went to the lunch afterwards at Stormie's parents' house. I haven't seen Stormie for almost a year now, so it was good to catch up with her, especially since who knows when I'll get to see her again; Texas is just a very random vacation spot.

On one of my friend's blogs, she listed her favorite things about people and places, and I think I am going to start that as well. I'm not sure if Stormie reads my blog, but other people who know and love her do, and they will probably agree with my list.

Top 10 Things I Love and Enjoyed About/With Stormie:

1) Her huge smile
2) Her sense of humor
3) How she rolled her eyes whenever I did something stupid (which was often)
4) Our long talks during the short time we lived together
5) Her mad organ skills
6) Her cool hair piece she wore to church (it made me smile every time I saw her at the organ)
7) The "entertainment" I suffered through as her unofficial chaperon (don't worry they did nothing bad, unless "doe-eyes" are a crime)
8) Watching "Pride and Prejudice" for her birthday and having the opportunity to get to know her on a more personal basis
9) Her thoughtfulness in all situations
10) Her (and Jer's) good example of a good marriage

Stormie you are awesome!!!!

Test Drive

Kevin's Evo is back in one piece again, and will hopefully stay that way for awhile. Anyway, he is planning on getting it tuned on Saturday, so he needs to put some miles on the engine. Last night, despite the interference with "So You Think You Can Dance," I consented to go on a test drive with him. I have always wanted to go on a drive up Lambs Canyon, but we soon found that it was a super narrow and windy road, so Kevin quickly turned around to protect his car from a possible head-on collision. Instead we ended up driving to Francis to briefly visit my parents, who were both very surprised, especially considering we arrived around 9. We stayed for a little bit and came back home. It was an enjoyable drive. Someday I may get used to the all of the random loud noises.

Date Night

Kevin and I don't really go on a lot of "dates" per se, mostly because of my work schedule and the drain it puts on my energy level and the fact that he is in school, but we have found a date activity that we may make into a tradition.

Tuesday night Kevin asked if I wanted to go watch the Fast and the Furious with him, he even offered to buy me some popcorn, something that totally shocked me because he is not as into buttery suicide as I am, so he feels that popcorn is an unnecessary expense, especially since I have gotten sick previous times we have gone to the movies. I kept trying to get out of him why he was being so nice, but I didn't find out until we got to the movie theater and our bill for two movie tickets and two bags of popcorn came out to $2. Definitely a good deal, but as Kevin had predicted, I did punch his arm (in my wimpy, non-hurting way, of course) and roll my eyes. It was a very enjoyable evening, and we have decided that we should do it more often. It does beat watching movies at either of our houses and me falling asleep because I am exhausted from work. There is even free popcorn, even if it does lack the suicidal levels of butter I enjoy oh so much.

Family Party

Last Saturday I met up with my mom and a couple of my aunts and uncle to go to my mom's cousin, Marvin Swasey's, 80th birthday party. Despite the bad mood I was in to begin with, I eventually found myself enjoying the party.

I am not familiar with my maternal grandmother's side of the family, other than through the family history work I have done, so it was a good opportunity to meet a lot of people that I have not met before or have met only once or twice at funerals. It felt good to put faces to names. While there, I found out that one of my mom's cousins was an RN and so was his life. It was nice to know there is a slight family tendency to my line of work. I also discovered where my blonde hair comes from, as half of the people there were blonde or had been blonde at one time. It is nice to have some confirmation that my hair color didn't just randomly happen. (It seems like no one in my close extended family is blonde.)

I didn't take my camera because I figured that I didn't really want pictures of old people I didn't know well, but once there I wished I had because my mom had forgotten her camera and was reduced to taking pictures with her camera phone (Although that is currently her new favorite toy, and I don't think she minded.) I will try to get my mom to get some of my aunts pictures since pictures always make a blog more interesting.

Kelsey and Donald's Wedding Open House

Last weekend Kevin and I went to Talmage for my cousin Kelsey's open house. Her reception was nice, and the food good. The main criteria in my book for a successful wedding reception. It was a small and casual gathering. It was nice to see all the various members of my extended family. My Aunt Marilyn, who I found out stalks my blog, from Washington and her husband, Blaine were there. I don't think I have seen them for at least two years, so that was good seeing them. I even got a hug from Weldon, which sent me into shock. Apparently people mellow as they grow older and wiser. It was also fun to drive through Wolf Creek Pass for the second time in about a week. That is such a pretty area. Kevin even agreed it was pretty, although he kept saying it looked like Washington. This was Kevin's first adventure in Talmage, and while he found it a tad bit tiny (which it is, I couldn't even find it listed on Google Earth), I think he enjoyed it.

Reflections of Christ

I don't often share spiritual stuff in a public setting, I even have to force myself to bear my testimony in fast and testimony meeting, but I had an experience last night that I feel like sharing.





During April, our stake hosted an art exhibit entitled "Reflections of Christ." The photography was Mark Mabry. All of the pictures are actual photographs depicted various scenes from the life of the Savior. These range from the angels announcing his birth to his ascension into heaven. I have seen various forms of art depicting the Savior, but seeing His life depicted by real people in photographs was particularly touching and testimony building. It made Him seem more real, yet more divine at the same time. The pictures combined with the Christ centered music created an atmosphere very conducive to the Spirit. I really enjoyed it.





One of my favorite pictures depicted the baptism of the Savior. It showed Christ and John the Baptist following the baptism. Both had huge smiles on their faces and joy emanated from both of them. It mirrored the reaction of every person I have seen baptized. It also reminded me of the joy and the peace the Gospel brings me personally.







Another picture I liked was the picture depicting the angels announcing the Savior's birth. It didn't have quite the same spiritual significance that the previous picture had, in fact I just thought it was a really cool picture. When it came up on my google image search I decided to add it too.

If you have a chance to see this art exhibit, I would highly suggest it. It was amazing.

Eventful Weekend

Normally conference weekend is fairly calm and uneventful for me, but this weekend proved to be an exception...

First was the "Evo" Rally. An "Evo" is a Mistubishi Lancer Evolution. They are sporty cars, yet they are family cars too. It is really odd. Kevin drives an Evo, and Saturday afternoon I found myself in a snowstorm looking at lots of Evos. Apparently people who drive Evos like to know other people who drive them also. It's like they have their own cult. They even have forums where they post when they have seen another Evo driving on the road. To each their own I guess. I personally like Evos. I think they are kind of nice looking, but the fact that it was snowing cut down on my ability to enjoy our outing too much. Kevin enjoyed himself though and was able to get some networking done. Hopefully it will be warm at the next rally, and I might enjoy it more. Below is a picture of Kevin's car:

Following the Evo Rally, I went down to Provo for a Girls' Night Out at Bethany's. I haven't been down there since December, so it was so good to go again. They were also having some type of Relief Society Pizza eating thing, so I was able to see a few girls who lived there while I did. Bethany made yummy fajitas, and I even ate some green peppers and salsa. (I abhor spicy food.) I was also able to see Bethany's sister, Brandallyn and her hubby and baby. Her baby is so huge that he is cute. He isn't really fat, but he is only 7 months old and already weighs 22 pounds or so. The funny thing is that his parents are both small. We ended up watching October Sky, which is one of my favorite movies. Karen came over halfway through the movie. It was really good to see her since she is leaving for Colorado in May. Just another downfall of growing up. There are no jobs in Utah for nurses right now because of hiring freezes in almost all of the hospitals. I am definitely glad that I graduated a year before I did.

Yesterday was an Early Easter Dinner at my parents since I have to work next Sunday. Johnny, Konni, and Chelce happened to show up just as we were preparing to eat, so we were able to have a nice visit with them. We watched conference with my mom, and then braved the foot-deep mud at the barn. It was definitely a work out. I think I may have burned more calories feeding the sheep and goats than I do while exercising for reals. It is really ridiculous how much mud is up there. When I was at home, my grandma constantly dug ditches so the water would drain, but since she is sick and my mom doesn't have time for such stuff, it is just like the man-eating quicksand in The Princess Bride.

Aurora

You would think that after living in a state for over 24 years you would have seen most parts of that state, but yesterday I visited Aurora and Salina, which are really small towns in central Utah, for the first time. Kevin's parents own two rental houses down there, and I went with Kevin and his dad and uncle to trim the trees. It was great fun. It was pretty cold (although Kevin managed to get sunburned) and not too exciting (except the time I almost got whacked in the head by a very large tree branch), but it was kind of nice to get out of Salt Lake for a bit and go back to the country. I guess it was a pretty good way to spend one of my increasingly rare weekends.

Babies

Last Saturday, Kevin and I went to Kamas to work on my parents' garbage disposal. After we finished that we went up to the barn to feed the critters. We had went up the previous Sunday to visit my grandma in the hospital, and Kevin had liked the baby goats so much that he took his camera up to take some pictures. As he used to have his own photography business, the pictures turned out really good. My favorite goat is the little white one. She has been dubbed "Yoda." You can see why when you check out her ears. Kevin likes the Boer goat, who has been dubbed "Prince Andrew," because his mom's name is Princess, so of you may be able to guess where the Andrew part comes from. If not, don't worry about it. :)

Cool New Toy

One of the perks of having a real job is the ability to buy new toys. I have had the same laptop since I started college, which was five and a half years ago. My laptop and I have had a love/hate relationship for most of those years, but lately it has just been having lots of issues. Last Monday, I finally had a breakdown and decided that I was going to go to Best Buy right then and buy a laptop. So I did. This laptop is much nicer to me, and I can sense that we are going to have a long and happy relationship together. Lest you mourn too much for my old laptop, Kevin is keeping it to tune his Evo, so I will still be able to see it.

Here is my cool new toy:

The Living Planet Aquarium

For Valentines Day, Kevin and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. I have never been to it before, so I was excited to go. (As a disclaimer to those who know me fairly well, yes, I do not like fish, but as long as there is a pane of sturdy glass separating me from them, I can handle it.)

It is a small aquarium, which isn't surprising considering it is in the middle of a desert. However, they had both native fish and tropical fish. I especially liked the coral reef displays. I just love the brightly colored fish that live there.



















I was disappointed by the octopus. All he did was sit in the corner like a shapeless, lifeless blob. I wanted him to swim more.

Another part of the aquarium that Kevin really liked that I wasn't too crazy about was the "petting" pool. You could pet rays. Kevin finally talked me into sticking my hand in the pool. I did touch the ray, but only for two seconds before I was totally grossed out. I prefer my animals to have fur and feet.



All in all, it was a really fun day. I greatly enjoyed spending time with Kevin and discovering the treasures of the community surrounding me that I have neglected. And as Kevin really wants a 100 gallon salt water tank at some point, I guess I will have to learn to curb my disgust for fish a little bit.