Snow Day!!!

It snowed last night (not much...maybe 6 inches) and our town is completely incapable of handeling snow, so they closed the school for the day! I was so excited when my boss called me this morning to tell me!!! Nothing like an extra day off! Last year we missed a whole week of school when it snowed--not so much because of the snow, but because when they plowed the parking lot and roads it all turned to ice! (I'm secretly hoping it'll snow more tonight so I won't have to go tomorrow either...I'm soooo lazy!)

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to post some pictures from Stevo's birthday. He turned the big 2-1 on the 7th!!!! Unfortunately I was sick so I wasn't able to do much for him to make it a special day. In fact, I kind of feel like I completely ruined his birthday (of course he assures me that's not true, but I can't help feeling bad)!!! I planned to make him a wonderful dinner and cake with candles and everything, but we ended up just ordering a pizza instead (I just had no energy to cook). But I guess having pizza delivered was a nice treat too. He'd taken the day off from work so he could just laze around all he wanted, and I tried to make it as special as I could (cleaning up the house, setting out all his presents before he could come out of the bedroom, and making a few surprise "presents").

Here's the birthday boy in the morning:

And here he is at night, after "getting wasted" on his "Alcoholic" Beer (I just covered up all the spots where it said Root Beer--silly I know, but he needed something special for turning 21!!!):

Sometimes Shadow likes to help me with the chores. One of his favorite games is "Let's Change the Sheets!" He loves attacking the folds and wrinkles as I try to smooth everything out, and he likes it when I throw up the sheets/blankets and let them land on him:


Nothing much going on here. School is keeping me extra busy this quarter, which is strange because I'm taking less classes than usual. I'm just having trouble with my calculus class this time...I have a different teacher than before and he's not very good at teaching!!! I actually have to read along and study at home (as opposed to my usual just doing some of the problems and being able to ace the tests). Math usually comes pretty easily for me, but I guess it helps to have a good teacher.

My other class is Intro. to Personality, and I love it!!! I really find psychology super interesting...I've loved it ever since my semester of psych. sophmore year of high school (Amy, were you in that class with me?) I've been going back and forth for the last few years on what I want to major in; it's been between psychology, acting, architecture, and interior design. I just can't make up my mind...I like them all!!!

Further Proof I'm a Terrible Cook...

I again attempted to make a cake, and it's a pretty big mess! I had some cake mix to bake Stephen a cake for his birthday on the 7th, but since I was sick then I didn't ever do it. So I was thinking about making a cake today, and then Stephen inconspicuously set it out on the table when he left for work, so I decided to take the hint!!

I don't know why I am so bad at baking cakes! (I could probably do a sheet cake just fine, but Stephen likes the round layered ones better) I thought it would turn out ok, but then I couldn't get the layers out of their pans and they were all crumbly and breaking apart. I just slathered them with frosting to keep everything from completely falling apart! And the finished product is lumpy and lopsided and really ugly! Seriously, it's pretty bad!!! At least I have a sweet husband who won't really care what it looks like.

sporting the side pony-tail today...

...and loving every minute of it!

(and obviously not wearing any makeup on my day off--sorry everyone!)

Turning a New Leaf

Well, it's a new year, and a time to start posting more regularly. Hopefully I can do better this year than only writing about once a month :)

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I'll try to do a quick recap in pictures of all of December...

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I called Stephen to come pick me up one night after I finished either a rehearsal or performance of my play, and he said he had a surprise for me in the car and that I couldn't get mad at him. I get in the car and find a big dog sitting in the backseat!!! Apparently there was this dog running around the parking lot at Star Video all day so the employees (probably instigated by Stephen) brought him in and put him in the back room. By that time the Humane Society was already closed, so Stephen offered to take the dog home for the night and take him over there in the morning (not the first time Stevo has taken in a stray--he has a soft spot for animals).

So we kept this big guy for the night, which meant Shadow had to stay in our room with us, which also meant we didn't sleep very well (the cat gets a little crazy at night). Stephen took him over to the Humane Society and they were able to scan his microchip and get all his info. His name was "Blue" (which totally suited his quiet, sad-ish personality) and his owners had already reported him missing. We were relieved that he had a home that wanted and missed him (so we didn't have to give him to the pound and feel bad about not keeping him), but we were kind of sad to see him go. He was a really good and sweet dog.

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Here's a picture of me from the play. It went really well and it made me happy (as always) to be on stage and feel like I did a good job. Three of us were nominated to go compete at the regional festival, but our director only wanted to actually have two of us compete. One guy and myself have already competed twice and we both were kind of ready to be a partner instead so our director left it up to us to decide. So Colby will be the nominee/competitor and I'll be his partner. I'm really excited!! I make a much better partner than the one to hog the limelight (not that Colby does that). So we'll go to Wyoming in February to compete and hopefully do a little bit better this year than in the past. Colby and I work really well together, but we've never been able to be partners for the competition because we've both been nominees. So I think our chances are a little better doing it together!

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Stephen and I flew down to Fallon as soon as we finished finals (it was the most haphazard packing I've ever done...I literally had to just throw stuff in a suitcase because we were in such a hurry...and my obsessive personality had a REALLY hard time being ok with that!). We went over to Sacramento with my parents for a couple days to visit two of my sisters and their families. That was so much fun...I loved seeing them all again and having time to just hang out and visit and relax. Here's Nancy and Tyler, who is such a big boy for his age (he's only about 1 and 1/2, but he looks like he's 2 or 3)!!! He was a cutie!

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We spent a couple days with my parents and got to spend some time hanging out with my other sister and my brother and their families. More fun family time...lots of laughing and relaxing. Benjamin loves to play the "take a picture of me making a silly face" game, so we did lots of that, and I played too! Here are some of our silly faces:

Sarah is so adorable!!! I just kept wanting to hold her and give her kisses. Now her hair is long enough to have two little pigtails, which just makes her even cuter! Here she is playing with "Papa's" lips: And here she is playing the piano...maybe she'll follow in Auntie Susan's footsteps:
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Stephen and I celebrated our 2-year anniversary while we were down there!! He took me out to dinner (Mexican--our fave) and we bought each other new shoes because we were needing them badly!

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We also spent a couple days with Stephen's parents. We visited with them, had dinners with the Achurra grandparents and the Van den Heuvel grandparents, and got to visit a little with Stephen's aunt and cousin. And we spent to night before we left in the Atlantis because it was easier than driving back up to Reno the next morning for our flight after being in Reno for dinner. One of the rooms got upgraded, so Stephen and I got to stay in a suite with a big whirlpool tub and with access to a special lounge for breakfast (all thanks to Grandma Achurra's free room she won)! We considered it an extension of our anniversary celebration!! Paula got me all suited up in her skis one night...it was really fun and probably the closest I'll get to skiing! I'm not a fan of being in the snow, but maybe I'll be brave and let Stephen teach me sometime.-----
We came home to have Christmas as our own little family...it was just really nice to be alone and relax together. On Christmas Eve we watched "It's A Wonderful Life" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (why not have some Halloween too!?!?) and drank lots of hot chocolate. Here's our cute little tree and presents:And here's the traditional Christmas morning picture:Our stockings...Shadow's was filled with fun little toys that he loves, and Nellie's was filled with a huge wad of lettuce!!! She was very pleased!We spent the day lazing around and watching more movies ("Back to the Future: Part 3" and another one that I can't remember). For dinner I roasted a ham and made barbecue sauce from scratch, and we had rolls and green beans and apple juice with 7Up. I was going to make a pumpkin pie too, but I just forgot to ever do it that day. I'll have to make it some other day soon.

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We didn't really do anything exciting for New Year's Eve...just watched another movie (do we do anything else!!) and drank some sparkling cider. We had a fun time just being together, though, and it was nice for both of us to have New Year's Day off together.

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Classes started today...uggggh. I really wasn't ready to go back yet, but I guess I'll manage. I'm technically done with my AA degree, but I'm just taking two more classes (Calc. 2 and another Pych. class) so that I can get the Honors degree. I figured I might as well do more since we're here and since it gives me a job through work-study. Stephen is still trying to decide what to do about his classes. He just needs one more humanities, so he's signed up for an online Lit. class and he's also signed up for an online Chem. class so that he can get the Honor's degree too. But he might appeal to the dean to be able to use some of the other classes he's taken as the humanities credit he needs. He just doesn't really want to take 2 online classes at once, so we'll see what happens with that.

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I guess I've gone on too long already. I should probably start doing some reading for my class and maybe I'll be motivated enough to also get some housework done!

"Christmas is coming..."

"...the goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, then a hay-penny will do

If you haven't got a hay-penny, then God bless you"

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I can't help singing that little tune lately. I'm starting to get excited for Christmas-time! I was planning on getting out all our decorations today, but I got out of rehearsal much later than I anticipated. Maybe I can decorate tomorrow. I really love decorating...a part of me still debates on going into interior design.

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It started snowing tonight...perfect for the first day of December. I knew the snow was coming; these past few days I could just feel it coming soon. Hopefully it doesn't snow too much. Last year we got stranded at our house because our car just doesn't do well in the snow. At least now we have chains if it gets really bad again. I just don't like how cold it's getting!!!

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My play goes on next week, and I'm not feeling like we're ready yet (set, props, costumes, etc.). We're doing "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde (same guy who wrote "The Importance of Being Ernest") You should all go rent the movie; it's pretty cute and funny, and has a fun cast (Rupert Everett, Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Julianne Moore, and Jeremy Northern). I play the main guy's wife (once again, Robin, I'm a character played by Cate Blanchett--first Galadriel and now Gertrude!!!) and I get to wear pretty dresses! That's one of the best things about doing this play!!!

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We watched the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie last night (it comes out this Tuesday) and I enjoyed it. It was a little confusing at first (lots of stuff going on and new characters), so we might watch it again on Monday. It totally refreshed my crush on Orlando Bloom (but not so much on Johnny Depp); I'd kind of gotten over my crush from high school, but there's a shot of him towards the end that just made me go "mmmm!"

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Not much else to add. My house is cold and it makes me just want to bundle up and sit and drink hot chocolate, but I know this is probably the only day I'll have to get some work done. So I guess I should just crank up the Christmas music and get working!

Florida

I don't really feel like doing anything right now, so I decided it would be a good excuse to share some pictures from our Thanksgiving. Yes, that's right...we went to FLORIDA for Thanksgiving!!! We went and visited Stephen's brother Matt and his wife and little girl. It was so gorgeous and warm! But it was really weird to think that it was November and people were wearing shorts and tanktops. It just doesn't feel right to be hot and sweaty and sunny and to see Christmas decorations up. If nothing else, it made me realize I don't want to live somewhere that is warm all year (I used to think I would love that, but now I don't think I could get used to it). I want to settle somewhere that actually goes through all 4 seasons.

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I wish now that I'd gotten the camera out more on the trip, but I only ended up taking pictures at the beach.

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I love this one of Stevo:

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And here I am:

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The two brothers:

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Me, Areo (aka Kristi), and a wet Serenity:

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We hadn't been planning on swimming or anything (since it was late afternoon), but Serenity just wanted to get right in the water, so she had to make do with just the diaper!

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Digging with half a sandollar:

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Serenity after she got all dried off and warm:

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I really like this one too! The standard foot shot:

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We just happened to get there right before the sun went down, so we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Mexico!!! I couldn't have asked for a more special moment!

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We had a good time and loved just hanging out with Matt and Areo (and playing with Serie of course). Stephen got me to play with the wii (I'm a little chicken when it comes to trying new things I may not be very good at), and it was a blast! I woke up the next morning with super sore arms and shoulders, though! Never thought I could get a workout from a video game :)

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It is so exhausting to fly across the country; it honestly takes all day! On our flight over to Florida we didn't have to change planes at all. This sounded like a good perk, but what we didn't realize was that we wouldn't be getting off the plane at all when it had to stop, which meant we couldn't get anything to eat all day!!! They just stuffed us full of peanuts and soda! To add to the already long day, we ended up having to turn around and make an emergency landing in Memphis because there was a very sick little girl they needed to get to the hospital. I still don't really know what happened (just that she had a really high fever, and I think maybe was throwing up or had a ceizure or something), but when we landed an ambulance, firetruck, and police cars were there waiting to meet us. It was such a crazy and rare experience...I mean, really, how often does that happen!?!?

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I'm glad to be home now, though. It feels good to get back into the normal routine and get back on a pacific time sleep schedule (I had a lot of trouble adjusting to the time change over our trip). I'm getting all caught up on school too; it's nice to see the end in sight...just one more Soc. test, one more Psych. test, a Chem. final, and one more Chem. lab report to finish (and maybe one more small Soc. paper). Not too bad!!! The lab report is actually the reason I'm here blogging...there's nothing like a little blogger procrastination when there's homework I could be doing :)

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Ok, well I guess this is probably getting a little long for one post. And I really should get something done before Stephen gets off work (7 hours is a long time to not do anything)!!! I just really don't want to do my lab report. Maybe I'll do some research for my play instead :)

Especially for Robin...

bought it on vhs for about 2 bucks. so we watched it yesterday. songs brought back the memories...

singing along. andrew pulling off the maniac, high-pitched laugh. grape crush...from 6-packs of bottles...

and the piles of sunflower seeds in the middle of the floor...looked gross but were delish...

and of course the 3-card...over and over again

so many good memories. happy times. but then remembering the sadness we each went through with those two. i don't regret anything though. the memories are worth it.

crazy to see where life has brought us now. totally different situations and people than at that time. don't think either of us thought this is the life we'd have then. but we were so young.

know what...i wouldn't change any of it. love this life i have...love my boy...and feel so excited for the life you're heading into. really learned to appreciate what we've been through and what we have now.

I'm still here...

Yep, I'm around...just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. We were gone on vacation at the beginning of the month, and I guess I kind of got thrown out of the habit of blogging. Tonight I have the evening to myself while Stephen works, and it's been some good "me" time. I've felt more motivated to clean tonight than I've felt in weeks (and hence, I've gotten lots done), and I finally felt in the mood to get writing again here. So, yes, I'm back.

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We had a nice time in Fallon/Tahoe for the wedding. We got to visit with my family for a night, and Stephen got to hang out with Kevin while we were in Fallon (he luckily was able to come the same weekend as us). That was quite possibly Stephen's best night of the trip...to be reunited with the one and only Kevo!!!

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The rest of the trip was spent staying at Stephen's grandparent's cabin at Lake Tahoe. I really love it there...I could totally be happy living there (I'd even be willing to put up with all the snow in the winter)!!! We got to spend some really enjoyable time with Bob and Paula (Stephen's parents) and had fun helping to take care of Serenity (I'll have to get some pictures of her off Stephen's phone later--we don't have any of her on the camera). It was really fun to see all of Stephen's relatives again, and I got to meet some new ones.

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Stephen and I at the Lake

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Matt and Areo's (aka: Kristi) wedding was gorgeous and fun. It felt good to help and be involved. Paula took Areo, one of her bridesmaids, me, and herself to get our hair and makeup professionally done that morning...and I must say I felt beautiful! I loved my hair...it was done all curly and volumous, sort of the vintage, Marilyn Monroe look!!! It was so cute! The makeup, especially the lipstick, was a bit too much for me, though, but it was still fun. Overall, it was a really fun and relaxing trip. Weddings are always very busy, but we still had lots of time to just relax so it felt like a real vacation.

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The Happy Couple

Kristi and Matt

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Stephen has been growing a small potted herb "garden." We have a pot with some basil and chives (we'll plant them separately next time so they'll grow better), and a pot of catnip. While we were gone in July, Shadow managed to get into the laundry room (aka: laudry closet) and knocked over/ate the catnip, so it got destroyed. Amazingly, though, a few little sprouts are growing back. The basil got so big while we were gone, so Stephen cut a bunch and made some homemade pesto! It was delicious!!! I was surprised at how much work it was to make, and how little we ended up with even though we cut a pretty big amount of basil. It was a fun adventure for Stevo.

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The basil before

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The pesto after

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After we got back I was called as 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency at church. I was surprised but excited, and I'm definitely excited to not have to prepare lessons each week and teach a class anymore. I finally went shopping with my birthday giftcard. Stephen is such a good sport to always go shopping with me...and he even helps me pick things out! I'm not a big fan of clothes shopping (I like having new clothes, but I get nervous shopping), so Stephen helps me stay confident and calm.

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Last week, I went to a double baby shower for Jenny and Jan (another girl from my church)...they're due only 2 days apart. I had fun being out of the house and having a girlie night. Plus, I LOVE shopping for baby stuff!!! Both of them already have lots of clothes, so it was a fun challenge to find something different. This weekend, I'll be going to another shower for Jenny (thrown by someone different), so I get to spoil her with two presents! I'm so excited for Jenny and Clay, and they're both getting really anxious for their little boy to come (only about 2 more weeks!).

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Last weekend we went to the county fair with Jenny and Clay. We all happened to have the night off, so we wanted to do something together. It probably wasn't worth the $7.50 each it cost just to get in (where you had to pay more to do anything inside), but we had a fun night together. A lady from our ward has a pottery painting business, so Jenny and I each painted a mug. (the way it works is you pay for a pre-made ceramic piece, pick whatever colors you want, paint it, and then the lady takes it home and fires it, then you pick it up your finished piece a week later) It was a good time!!

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Well...that pretty much sums things up. We really haven't had much going on lately and we've been getting kind of bored. I think I'm getting tired of watching so many movies...it seems like that's all we ever do for fun! So we keep trying to find new things to do together. Ok, I'd better get off now...Stephen's bored and wanting some attention from me :)

This Week

Not much to report...I exercised more this week, and it feels so good to be slightly active. I know I haven't lost any weight but I do feel like I'm skinnier and better-looking now, and I just feel a lot healthier.

We go back to Fallon again in a few days...another wedding!!! I'm excited to see Matt, Areo, and Serenity again (brother-in-law, soon to be sister-in-law, and adorable niece), and to spend time with all of Stephen's relatives. It'll be busy again, but should be fun!

My life feels pretty boring right now, though. I've just been working, taking care of the house, and watching movies with Stephen. I wish I had something more exciting to share...but oh well, I'd rather be boring than have all the stress I'm used to.

Oh...Stephen and I went and watched the college's summer play (each summer they do a Shakespeare adaptation and perform outdoors)--it was Macbeth. The adaptation was a little different and not really my taste, but they did ok...not great, but good. Stephen and I couldn't do it this year because we knew we'd have to be gone to the wedding during the performance dates. It was certainly different to not be involved this time, but I've really enjoyed the break. This is the first time since we moved here that I haven't been in whatever play is going on at the school--it's crazy to realize that! I've felt so much less stressed, though, not being involved this time. Even my boss noticed...the other day she told me how she'd been thinking I seemed really "rested" and relaxed, and she thought to herself "I'll bet she's not in the play." Funny how people can know us so well :)

Well...that's about all I have to say for tonight. Have a great rest of your Sunday evenings!

ugh...

migraine today...yuck! I've been laying around with all the lights off, but it's not helping much. I barely made it through all of work and then I made myself walk home (instead of the bus) because I needed to get my exercise in for the day...probably shouldn't have. I'm just bored and lonely and hurting. I guess I'll go lay back down.

Exercise

Little by little, I'm working on it. Yesterday I got up and did some yoga (and MAN, am I feeling it today!!) and today I walked home from work instead of taking the bus. Tomorrow I'll have to make sure I get up early and do another exercise video, probably yoga again (thanks to Janet for letting me borrow some videos!). It makes me feel better inside...more alive, more active, and much more optimistic and happy!!

Today was another day where I haven't gotten to see much of Stephen, just a little bit this morning and during his dinner break tonight. I worked all afternoon, and he's working all night...I hate these days, but I'm just grateful we both have such good jobs right now.

I guess that's about it...maybe I'll get up and vacuum the house before Stevo comes home :)

"Home Again, Home Again Jiggety-Jig"

(that's part of a cute little children's rhyme I remember)

It's good to be home again. We got back late Monday night, and it's taken me all week to get back into to swing of life and feel ready to get blogging again. It was sort of weird...I got home and totally felt no stress. I kept feeling like there must be things I needed to do, but then I started realizing that there really weren't. I don't need to stress!! It was a very liberating feeling (unfortunately I'm starting to feel it wearing off)! I'll just have to keep reminding myself that I'm not busy and there's nothing to be getting stressed out about (I tend to find things to worry and stress over when I don't need to).

We had a great visit back in Fallon. I loved getting to be with all my family again, and it gave Stephen a chance to get to know everyone better and grow more comfortable as a part of the family. I just LOVE family!!! I love my old Bake family, I love my new Achurra family, and I love my own little family with Stephen, Nellie, and Shadow. It's just so happy to be a part of families!

Anyway...this trip was very exciting and special because Nathan is the last one of my siblings to get married, so it's the first time everyone was together. My sister-in-law Heather was able to come too this time (she hasn't been able to come visit for several years), so she got to meet Stephen, Levi (a brother-in-law), Jackie (newest sister-in-law), and all the grandkids for the first time. It was so good to see her again, and get to know her better as an adult (most of my relationship with Heather was from when I was a young girl). Unfortunately, I just realized tonight that I don't have any pictures with her. All the pictures we took with everyone were by the photographer since, obviously, no one could use my camera and be in the picture at the same time. Bummer! I just have a few pics from when either Stephen or myself could use the camera. I'll share a few of my favs:

(me and cutie-pie Sarah)

(the happy couple)

(our camera accidentally got switced to a lower resolution for this one...bummer, because it's a good one of us)

(me and my sisters)

(after cleaning up, some of the boys and my dad tried to take care of some of the leftover lemonade)

(Stephen and John were the only ones who finished!! And Stephen probably drank the most...that's my Thirsty Boy!)

We spent most of our time with my family and just visited a little bit with Stephen's because it was busy wedding time for my family. But we'll be going back to Fallon in a week and a half for Stephen's brother's wedding, so we'll spend our time with Stephen's family then. It was very busy with the wedding and reception and whatnot, but I got in lots of nice relaxing time and some nice piano playing time. I really miss having a piano around to sit down and play whenever I felt like it. It was always such a soothing thing for me!


I helped my mom decorate for the reception, which I LOVE to do! It's so fun to figure out how to make spaces look beautiful and work well. Part of me still wants to go into interior design. I got to hang out with Robin at the reception (when she wasn't taking pictures for us) which was the best...I've been missing her! I also got to sit and hang out with good old Jo Horne (it was sooooo exciting to see him), and a little time with Mark Hubbard and a few of Nathan's old friends from high school (the boys of my freshman year!) Lots of fun!!!


As a brief complaint...it was SO HOT!!! I've been so spoiled up here with our perfect medium climate that I forgot how incredibly hot and nasty it gets down in Nevada. We spent a lovely afternoon in a little pool with the kiddies, but it didn't help too much. I was so relieved to come home to my Washington rain (I haven't seen the sun all week)!! I read a book this weekend...started it Thursday and just kept reading until I finished last night. I really love lazying around reading and reading (another relaxation like playing the piano). It was another Michael Crichton book ("Timeline") and now I'm all caught up on reading and owning all his novels!! It was loads of fun...and now I think I'm going to start reading all the Harry Potter books (believe it or not, I haven't read any of them...but I like the movies). That's enough for tonight, I suppose...have a great week everyone!

Continuing On...

The last post and its pictures were driving me crazy!!! I just can't get them to sit where I want them to, and I keep ending up with unnecessary space. So I gave up and figured I'd just keep talking in a new post.

So yeah, the 4th of July was a blast! Stephen had work off on Friday and I only had to work until noon, so after work we decided to drive to Silverdale and go to the mall and other shopping places...just for fun! We didn't buy anything, but we had fun browsing and walking around (especially in Barnes and Noble). Unfortunately I was a bit sick that day, so I wasn't in the very best of spirits.

Today I finished Sarah's blanket...I think it's one of my favorites I've made so far. I let Shadow have the leftover yarn to play with, but he wasn't nearly as exctied about it as I'd hoped. He played with it, but not much. I was able to snap a few shots of him with his mess, though...

FIREWORKS!!!

It's been a really good week and a bad week. That sounds a little strange, but there were things that were really great and some not so great.

Let's just get the bad out of the way...so, believe it or not, I got sick AGAIN!!! I'm so tired of getting sick! I've noticed I've been getting sick a lot and it just doesn't seem fair. This time was especially frustrating because there was no reason for me to be getting sick. I'm not stressed or busy like I was during school, I've cut down on my eating-out habits and I've been trying to fix good, healthy meals here at home, plus I've been drinking bottles and bottles of water each day which has drastically cut down on my soda intake. So WHY am I still getting sick!?! At least it wasn't too bad this time...just an icky head cold that only lasted 3-ish days. I guess I must just have a really weak immune system. My mom pointed out that I've been prone to getting sick my whole life. Why must I be so weak!?

Besides that, I had fun this week. We had a great 4th of July!!! Stephen and I slept in late and then just sort of hung out and drove around town until he had to go to work (he only had to work a couple hours because they decided to close early). On the spur of the moment, Jenny and Clay and Stephen and I decided we wanted to hang out that night, so we had a last-minute barbecue. Jenny and I went shopping for items of food we didn't have (and lots of candy!) while Stephen and Clay worked at the store together. The food was delicious (and the candy, even yummier!). There is an empty little grassy area at the end of the street here (just a couple blocks away) that sits on the bluff and overlooks the water where the fireworks were going to be, so we had planned on taking blankets down there and playing games until it was dark. But it took longer to barbecue than we'd expected, so we just had to hurry over there in time for fireworks. We thought it wasn't a well-known place (we thought it'd be our little secret) because we'd checked it periodically and there wasn't anyone saving spots or anything, however by the time we got over there it was PACKED!! Luckily we found a little space to lay down a couple blankets and enjoy the short fireworks show.

Afterwards, we came back to our house and Clay shot off all the fireworks they'd bought. Us girls just watched and Stephen took some pictures and video clips. All in all, it was a fun night!


This one's just really cool!!! We have some cool video clips of the fireworks we set off, but I don't think I can put them in here.

Here's Clay the Pyro!!!

This was one of my favorites of the firecrackers. It was a little thing that spin around and around on the ground, and then at the end the top popped up into this cute little Chinese tower!!

And here's Jenny (with her baby belly!) and I watching from the sidelines.

So Close

I'm so frustrated!!! I'm trying to finish up the blanket I'm making for my niece Sarah, but I ran out of yarn (again!). I was soooo close!!! Just a few more inches would have been enough.

All I had left were two more of the little ripple things on the border--2 or 3 inches total. So this means I'll have to pull out the whole border and redo it differently so that it doesn't take as much. I already pulled the border out and took out a couple rows of blanket to give myself more yarn...I thought I'd gotten enough extra, but I guess not! And of course I'm too cheap to just go buy more yarn, plus I don't want to buy a whole skein of yarn just to use a tiny bit of it. I hate having extra yarn laying around. I was just hoping to finish it tonight, but now I'm too frustrated to do it. I just can't get over how incredibly close I was!

Here are some other pictures I took of it tonight. I realized I've made so many beautiful blankets and things and given them away without ever taking any pictures, so I'm trying to make up for that.

My favorite part of this pattern is the cool little ripply border. I think it turns out so cute!! This is the second time I've used this pattern.

You can't really tell in the pictures, but the color is so gorgeous! It's this really bright pinkish-red (more red than pink). I guess it's sort of like a neon red...and I love it!!! I get so tired of the usual pastel pinks and blues for babies, so I try to branch out a bit more. And this color just seemed to fit Sarah...she seems like a red type of girl, not a pink. Here are some pictures of cute little Sarah...she just turned one year old last week (and actually, I think that little dress she's wearing is the same color as the blanket):