December 2011

Early(ish) December:


Ward Christmas Party Decorations:


Taylor Family Christmas Party


There were hundreds more pictures from the Arave Family Sing-Along and from Christmas morning, but I have shared those elsewhere.  If you are interested in those pix and you didn't get them from the Christensen family blog or email, let me know and I can share them with you.

December Rundown:
We had lots of fun this Christmas!  I was a busy bee making Christmas gifts, which was something that really helped me get into the spirit of Christmas.  Our ward Christmas party was at the beginning of the month, and my friend and I were put in charge of the decorations.  We had a very small budget and very big ideas, and we were able to pull it off pretty well I thought by using things we already had, borrowing where necessary, and in general spending very little.  Another friend and I planned a Christmas playgroup for our neighborhood and we did some fun ornament crafts, which turned out to be a big hit with the kids.  BJ and I went to a free dance at the senior center featuring a live big band.  That was fun.  We had a fun Christmas party at the Taylor's house, complete with nativity and musical program, and of course, the present exchange at the end.  A couple of days before Christmas, we flew to Oregon, and arrived just in time for the Arave Sing-Along, a 20 year tradition!  BJ and I sang a spoof on Baby, It's Cold Outside, which we sang as newlyweds 7 years ago, but this was the "7-year sequel".  It was funny.  Gabe sang "Silent Night" and did an awesome job enunciating and singing with a big voice.  Not shy at all, even in front of dozens of people he didn't know.  It was so cute.  We celebrated Marissa's birthday the next day by eating at Macaroni Grill and seeing "We Bought a Zoo" in the theater.  It was fun, but the kids didn't like the movie much.  On Christmas, we went to church in the morning, then came home and took pictures all dressed up, then we got back in our jammies and opened presents.  We like to drag it out for hours by only letting one person at a time open a present, and rotating who's turn it is by age.  Haha!  Tradition... The rest of Christmas break was spent visiting family, shopping, getting to know the significant others of Tayler and Cara (Heather and Dan), watching movies, doing a few crafts, and being sick.  Bleh.  Also, BJ and I took a vacation from our vacation (thanks Mom and everyone who helped watch the boys while we were gone!)- a one night stay at a bed and breakfast nearby.  It was a restored 100 year old mansion- and it was lovely!  We would definitely recommend it.  We were the only ones there that night, and the lady let us wander around and check out the other rooms.  We had dinner at a place called Dundee Bistro and I had the best pulled pork sandwich of my life.  I usually don't get that excited about food, but it was amazing and journal-worthy.  I need to go back next time we are in Oregon just so I can have that sandwich again.  Haha.  We made delicious fondue on New Year's Eve and stuffed ourselves silly.  We flew back home on New Year's Day, and were surprised with a washed and vacuumed out car (thanks, Mom and Dad T., for that surprise and for picking us up)!  We got in so late and were so hungry, that we ate and then went to bed at their house.  Fortunately the next day was still a holiday so we had some time to unpack and rest etc.  It was also about 55 degrees outside- can you believe it?!, so we had some fun with the kids at the park before going home.

Christmas 2011

This year we spent the night of Christmas Eve at BJ's parents' house.  BJ stayed up until 2 AM putting Gabe's train table together.  It was fun for Gabe (and for us) to wake up Christmas morning and get to open presents with Grandma Sue, Grandpa Ron, and Rhonda (or "Panda" as Gabe still calls her).  We enjoyed breakfast and visiting with Danielle and Kirk's family, and also got to see Taylor and Emily for a while.  We headed home pretty late-ish and still had to finish packing so that we could leave the next morning at the crack of dawn to fly to Oregon.  We got to have a 2nd Christmas with my family after Marissa and Richard also arrived, and it was great!  Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas 2010.

The last two weeks

I haven't been very good about updating the blog lately, and since this is our family journal in a way, I guess I had better repent of my lazy ways and give an update on the last couple weeks.


My family came to visit us during their spring break 2 weeks ago, and we loved having them stay with us!  We did a lot of shopping (only a little buying), visiting with extended family, the boys played tennis and racquetball, some of the family went skiing, others took advantage of my mom's awesome hair cutting skills, we watched some funny and some lame movies, ate lots of yummy food, went on a few walks, put together a package to send to Tayler, visited my Grandma C a few times, got to hear an old time band perform, did some baking, had my parents come visit me while I was working at the Celebration of Light Health Fair, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.  Gabe loved all the attention, and started saying "baba" for grandma and grandpa (sometimes bapa).  We were sad when they had to leave.  Looking at pictures later, Gabe called Anna "La-la", Cara was "Ya-ya", and he just smiled and laughed when he saw Collin. Gabe still sees Marissa all the time, and sometimes he calls her "Eetsa" but usually when we ask him to say Marissa he just claps and says "aaaaaayyy" (yay).

We had a little scare this week when I went to the doctor and found out I had 2+ proteinuria, which meant that I had to do bloodwork and a few other tests to make sure I wouldn't need to be induced early or put on bedrest (for preeclampsia, the same problem I had when I was pregnant with Gabe).  However, we found out that the tests results turned out just fine, and I am still up and around and the baby is fine too.  So no worries there.
I started having contractions a lot earlier with this pregnancy, and especially the last week or so they have really picked up, but I don't mind, since I am already dilated a few centimeters and 75% effaced (sorry if that is TMI).  Also, baby is head down, so things are looking good all around.  We have just about 3 1/2 weeks left until the baby is due, and we have been trying to scramble and get the last few things ready.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday watching General Conference and spending time with family.  We had a yummy breakfast that Marissa and Richard made, then in the evening we headed over to BJ's parent's house for a family Easter dinner which was delicious.  We took a few pictures of Gabe in his new Easter suit- see the web album below.  The kids had an Easter egg hunt, and Gabe found about 6 eggs then lost interest and just wanted to eat his banana pudding with vanilla wafers.




This week we are back in the routine of work, work, work.  I usually like getting back to things on Monday, but man, I am feeling more tired every day.  It's hard sometimes to feel motivated to get myself going.  Here we go anyway!

Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve with my family in Oregon, and now we are back home, in the swing of things. We go back to work tomorrow and life goes on. This year will bring a few changes for our family, most of which revolve around the baby boy coming to our family around the end of April.
With each new year comes the potential of a new start, which is so... refreshing. There are so many possibilities. Which is probably why many people make new year's resolutions. Sometimes I let the time slip by, not wanting to set lofty, unreachable goals that will cause great disappointment after going unmet. Other times I feel like I could do anything I wanted to do, and I start the year with the best of intentions, some of which will be fruitful.
This year I do have some resolutions, and some are even specific, though I don't know if they could all be considered "measurable". I won't write all my goals here, but I will share a few:
-Work on eating more vegetables. The recommended number of servings of vegetables per day is 5. That seems like a lot, but if you consider that 1/2 cup of raw or cooked veggies is a full serving, it seems a little more attainable.
-Learn some new recipes. Cooking and baking have never been strengths of mine, and so I have never done a great job of having "real" dinners consistently ready for my family. I would like to feel more comfortable cooking (and therefore cook at least, oh, three times a week- haha!), instead of completely overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing anything more complex than scrambled eggs and toast. That last part was a joke. Kind of.
-Be more organized. I have been working on this one for a while. I think I would specifically like to find a way to keep the office and master bedroom looking neat. I guess that means I will need to do some decluttering and maybe look into some organizational/ storage solutions. We have a lot of stuff, and not a lot of room. I expect that will become more pronounced with our family's upcoming addition. Any suggestions out there on how to save space and be organized when you have 2 under 2 (or 3) years or age?
-Live gracefully. And by that I mean take a chill pill. I tend to want to have every little detail planned out and to know exactly what is going to happen and when. I have started to learn that that kind of attitude is not very healthy for a single person to have, much less a married person, much less with a baby, and, I'm guessing, much less with 2+ children. I want to be able to roll with the punches (pardon my use of cliches, they just work so nicely!) and not be flustered by every little change in plans. My hope is that by just taking a deep breath and accepting whatever comes with the best attitude I can muster, I will be happier, my husband will be happier, and my children will be happier.
I suppose those are plenty of goals to post. I do have a few other goals that are more personal, ongoing goals, but these are the goals I want to add to the mix this year. I do hope that they will bring satisfaction and not disappointment. I plan to print them out to have them accessible to me to read often, and think about my progress.

Christmas

Here are some pictures from Christmas in Oregon, courtesy of my dad. I was bad an took hardly any pictures the whole time we were there. We had a great time with everyone there (with the exception of Tayler who is serving a mission in Australia, but we got to talk to him on the phone for an hour) including Marissa and Richard, due to a weather-induced change of plans.
One of my favorite new traditions for Christmas time is the "gifts of the heart" gift exchange. We do this Christmas night, after all the other festivities of the day. All of the siblings draw names and focus on creating a special gift for the person they chose. There aren't any set rules but the idea is that it is something that you spend time and effort on, rather than money. It is very fun to see what everyone does for each other, and this year was no exception. I know I had tons of fun putting a gift together for Marissa, and I think everyone else had a good time preparing and watching each other open these gifts as well. Incidentally, some of the gifts were hilariously funny while still thoughtful. Please indulge me as I share:
Anna gave BJ a fleece "babysitting vest" complete with extra pockets sewed on and stuffed with matchbox cars, board books, snack containers, toys, and even a pacifier on a velcro-removable ribbon.
Collin gave Tayler a recording of some of his songs on the piano (I'm not completely sure about this, because we were not privileged enough to hear it- it was in the mail I think) and a magic tricks kit that he could carry around with him to do for kids he meets as a sort of ice breaker.
Cara gave Anna a beauty advice book, with tips about fashion and beauty tailored for Anna's age and some of the things she already has. She wrote about matching, accessorizing, and face/hair care to look really put together. We all wanted to read what was in that book!
Tayler sent a package home that we got on Christmas Eve, and we opened while we were on the phone with him. He sent an assortment of gifts to everyone. He also included a beautiful pair of hand carved wooden earrings that were representative of the local style for me as a special gift.
Marissa created a custom scent for Collin, called "Eau de Man" (pronounced You Da Man) and it truly was the epitome of manliness. It was made of sweat, pine needles, gasoline, dirt, etc. It pretty much smelled the way Collin smells after working outside for several hours. Too funny.
Richard made some cool earrings for Cara out of buttons that he found at the store. Some of them he even painted, and of course they were safe for sensitive ears. They were definitely a chic addition to Cara's accessories.
I put together a pamper basket for Marissa full of things I made, including scented rice therapy packs for the neck and eyes, a shower cap, a bath mitt, and a manicure kit cover.
BJ made a calendar for Richard, with each month featuring an edited celebrity or superhero picture of Richard. Click here to see what I mean! It was a hoot.
I don't know if we will always be able to continue this tradition the way we are doing it now as our family grows in number, but it has sure been a fun part of Christmas the past few years that we have done it. I think it definitely fosters the true spirit of Christmas.

Gift ideas that won't strain your budget

I LOVE these sites- what cool ideas! I think some of these projects would make good stocking stuffers for kids. Many of them look really easy and fast to make. You just need paper, perhaps a few other supplies you probably have lying around the house, and a printer for some of the projects.
Fantastic Toys- freebies
Feed Your Soul- free printable art
Free animal sewing cards
The Toymaker- folding paper toys you can make yourself
Gift bags made from envelopes
Make your own gift bows
Let me know if you try any, and how it goes!

My take on the envelope gift bags:

 

 

 

Gift Tags

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on many things I am grateful for. This week I have continued working on different Christmas projects and looking for more gift ideas, and have come across many great resources on some really cool blogs. I thought I would share some of them in a post or two.
Check out these cute gift tags that you can print:


http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com (Top right of the page)
http://nobitingwolfie.blogspot.com/2009/11/tag-youre-it.html
http://www.lollychops.com/ (A favorite of mine)
http://littlepaperdog.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-four-zero.html
http://limegardenias.blogspot.com/2009/11/peppermint-tags-for-you.html
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/2009/05/downloads-tags-stickers-and-notepad.html
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/3125/list_45_1.html
http://thepaperseed.com/?p=213
http://tipnut.com/wrap-up/

I have printed several of these with great results! I especially like how some of them look printed on brown craft paper, or various colors of cardstock.

I am so excited for Christmas!!!!

I have been listening to Christmas music all week. And loving it. It has helped me get into the spirit of Christmas as I make highly secret Christmas gifts. :D My family has a tradition of drawing names for Christmas where the giver is to put together a gift for the receiver preferably using their talents or catering to the talents of the receiver. There isn't a rule against spending money per se, but it must be a "gift of the heart". Anyway, I drew Marissa this year, so I have been busy (and having lots of fun) making *something* for her. Planning and working on gifts for others makes the Christmas season so exciting! Marissa and I are also working on a super secret Christmas project together. It is going to be so exciting to give! I can't say what it is or who it is for, but we are really excited about how it is turning out so far! I will definitely be posting pictures after Christmas!
I am a little stumped on what I could make for the men & boys (old and young) in my life. I am not opposed to spending money, but I am really having fun making stuff. The requirements are that it has to be useful and not junky. No trinkets. I have a few ideas, but none that are particularly striking my fancy at the moment. Any suggestions?

Halloween

This Halloween was kind of fun, because we got to dress Gabe up and he kinda liked it! As I was making his costume, I would periodically try it on him to see how it fit and what alterations I needed to make. Gabe really seemed to like wearing it, and he even cried a couple of times when I took the costume off him to keep working on it. I'm not sure how much he understood of what was going on, but he loved looking at himself in the mirror in his costume and saying "fff-fff-fff" (woof woof). He was also pretty fascinated that people would put things in his trick or treat bag. He got to take a couple bites of his first candy bar, which he thought was pretty amazing, judging from the faces and sounds he made while eating it. We took Gabe to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party and to BJ's office to trick or treat at all the cubicles. It was fun because everyone was dressed up- some pretty elaborately- and Gabe was somewhat bewildered by it. He did get the hang of picking up candy and putting it in his bag. We dressed him up again on Halloween night although we did not take him outside. We had Marissa and Richard over along with some other friends, Max and Rebecca, to carve pumpkins, eat treats, and watch Ghostbusters. Anyway, we thought Gabe was the cutest little puppy ever to trot (ok, so we tend to be a little biased in these things), so here are some pictures.

Independence Day

 

Gabe and I watching the parade. He was such a good boy- just sat on my lap watching the floats, and eventually falling asleep.
We got other pictures yesterday, but I don't have them yet. I will post them when I get a chance.
I would like to say that I am truly gratful to live in a country where we enjoy so many freedoms and opportunities. I love America. I am thankful for all the men and women who have fought to protect our freedoms and rights. I am especially grateful for the freedom to practice my religion as my conscience dictates me to do. A big thanks to all our veterans, and especially those who gave their lives.
God bless the USA.

February Fun

I compile "fun holidays" calendars periodically (from the website www.holidaysforeveryday.com/ and others), and I thought I'd share the calendar with all of you if you're interested. There are a few family birthdays included on there (with only initials to protect privacy) but otherwise, it is just full of funny, wacky, interesting, or fun holidays, which might give you some ideas of creative things to do either with your kids, or whoever!
Here's the link to my February Calendar:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnrjsmn_12dphhdhgz

PS- let me know if there is any major special day that I overlooked!

Taylor Family Christmas Party

So, sorry this took so long. Having a video camera is new to me, so it has taken me a while to figure out how to use it, convert the files, find an online video site that I feel comfortable with (didn't like youtube's permissioning system) and other details. But now I've got the whole process down, future posts like this should be much easier. I'm also going to help mom to see if we can get videos off of her camera tomorrow too. There are some key videos that we didn't get at this party that I would like to include. These videos are mostly for family who couldn't be there. Not that the rest of you shouldn't look at them or anything like that, it's just that they may not be all that entertaining to somebody who doesn't know this cast of characters. ;-)

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
Video 7
Video 8

Holidays For Everyday... a blogging mini- series! Part 2

See previous post for background on "Holidays for Everyday" and a great website resource. I'm on a roll with food; here is a recipe in celebration of "National Cookie Month"!

Last week my sister Marissa came to my house and brought with her some cookie dough she had made. We baked the dough, and I enjoyed the best home-made cookies I have had in a long time! I asked her for the recipe, and she said that she just used the recipe from the JIF peanut butter canister. Here is the awesome recipe:

Irresistable JIF Peanut Butter Cookies
¾ cup Creamy PB
½ cup Crisco All- vegetable shortening
1- ¼ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 TBSP milk
1 TBSP vanilla
1 egg
1- ¾ cups All- purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda

1. Heat oven to 375*F. Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooling cookies.
2. Combine PB, Crisco, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at med. speed with mixer until well- blended. Add egg and beat just until blended.
3. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
4. Bake at 375*F for 7-8 min. or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet then move to foil to cool completely.

Marissa actually used crunchy PB, and although I’m not usually a fan, I really liked it in this recipe. She also put in chocolate chips- a girl after my own heart. Seriously the best PB (and choc. chip!) cookies ever! I think I’m going to make them again tonight!

Also, in response to the request for more pictures of Gabe, I will make sure to post more photos as we take them. I actually have some that were taken last week and a couple from this week and today. Here they are:

Holidays For Everyday... a blogging mini- series! Part 1

One of my favorite websites that I check periodically is www.holidaysforeveryday.com. It is actually a website created by a preschool teacher and is a compilation of interesting and unusual holidays. There are many holidays to choose from each day, and it is a great resource if ever you would like a reason to celebrate or learn about something. I noticed that this month, October, is the National Month for_____ (like 80 different things- I’m not exaggerating!) Some of the things were just downright strange, but others were really interesting and exciting to me. So I chose the best ones (to me of course) and decided to share them with you, along with my two cents on each topic.

National Pizza Month
My two cents on pizza:
Pizza pizza pizza! I love pizza! There are so many great options for yummy pizza. If you live in Utah, you may have tried Pier 49 Pizza… a higher end sourdough pizza restaurant. This restaurant is a personal favorite of BJ’s and mine. In fact, we bought a pizza there this evening, and enjoyed it very much! We love their Barbeque Chicken pizza, their Alfredo pizza, and their Little Italy pizza. The pizzas are a little pricey, so we enjoy them as often as we can, otherwise, we occasionally go for a greasy $5 Little Caesar’s pizza, or we try other local pizza places, such as Two Jack Pizza, or the classic Brick Oven Restaurant, which has much more to offer than just pizza.
We also enjoy putting together our own pizzas. One very easy and quick option is to use slices of sourdough English muffins, topped with tomato paste, garlic salt, oregano, grated cheese, and your choice of pepperoni, ham, pineapple, or anything really. We put them in our toaster oven or on a cookie sheet in the regular oven, and they are ready to eat in just minutes!
We love homemade pizza, although we don’t make it often. Here’s a link to a great healthy-cooking-on-a-budget blog a friend of mine writes, which has a pizza dough recipe. Home- baked pizza has a great texture and gets baked so evenly if you bake it on a pizza stone. We got one for our wedding from Pampered Chef, and we love it!
I ate a lot of pizza in Argentina. The “pizza experience” there is so different from here… it is all about aesthetics- meaning the pizzas are works of art, with everything arranged just so! Also, they put very different things on their pizzas. I actually had one very tasty pizza that had nothing but grilled vegetables on it (including squash and carrots), and another that was just a cheese and garlic pizza (bad for the breath, but great for the taste buds)!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love you all, and hope you all have a wonderful day! I hope we can always focus on the love that our families share, and remember the many blessings that we have been given. Rochelle and I were thinking about our past recently, and thinking how incredibly blessed we are. She has started to keep a "blessings book" where she writes where she sees the hand of the Lord in her life. It's a good idea, and something that I feel like I should start doing as well. The amazing thing is that it never fails... come good times or bad, we can always see the hand of the Lord in our lives. It fills us with love for Him, and for each other, and we hope we can share that love with everyone around us.

Happy Thanksgiving

A photo I took while shooting photos with Rhonda and Dad. We were over by Utah Lake. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

BJ

Happy Halloween!

So Rochelle and I are in the activities committee in our ward, and we were responsible for mainly two things in our ward Halloween party: photos, and music. Both of which had us pretty well occupied. We set up a photo booth where people could come and take pictures with their Halloween costumes on. And when they didn't come to us, we went around the room and took candids. The music went alright. We wanted to use the speakers that were built into the room, but the only way to put input into them was using a big hookup that is typically used by old microphones. Well... I didn't have one of those. So we couldn't hook it up. So I went to Radioshack to see if they had one. Nope. By this time, it was about 20 minutes until the party started and I didn't have anything ready. So I went home and got the surround sound system that mom and dad gave us when they got their new system. That stuff is heavy and it meant a lot of trips back and forth between my apartment and the car, and then from the car to the church. And then setting all those wires up takes time, and by the time the sound system was playing its first notes, people were asking for their photo to be taken. Rochelle in the mean time had been setting up the backdrop for the photo. Thank goodness for her. Otherwise the photos would have been with a plain brown church wall in the background. So I started taking photos. And I enjoyed it. But the lighting wasn't great. So I got out my brand new super-duper flash, and attached it... and the pictures turned out worse. Dang! I haven't had a lot of practice with my flash, so I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong. I didn't have the luxury of messing with it too much because every photo I messed up, was a photo somebody wouldn't get. So I took it off, and used my camera's built in flash, and made sure to keep the subjects close enough to allow it to work. Well... after the line died down enough for me to mess with it... I discovered that the batteries were dead in the flash. It was flashing, just not very brightly. But once I got those new batteries in there... wow. It got bright. And what's better is that it could shoot clear across the room as long as I didn't have anything in the foreground. I didn't get to mess with the settings too much, but I discovered a couple of ways to alter the brightness of the flash while still in "auto" or "semi-auto" mode. But all and all I learned a good deal about my new toy, and didn't mess up more than a handful of photos, and those I took again later. It was fun. And you all can see the photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/taylors2004/wardhalloweenparty

Now, I have to say that not all of these photo's are mine. About half of the candid photos are photos Rochelle took with a little point and shoot. She was worried that her photos wouldn't turn out very well... but honestly, I think she does great. She doesn't care too much for the nitty gritty details of photography, but she enjoys it all the same. And she is getting quite good at it too. When we take portraits of people, she is an indispensable part of the process. She fixes the hair, gives me angle ideas, and suggestions on just about everything. And the photos always turn out much better when she is around. :-D

Happy Halloween all!

Happy Anniversary

BJ and I celebrated our third anniversary this weekend. Our anniversary was actually yesterday, but BJ surprised me with an overnight trip to Midway, UT on Friday. We stayed in a very cute bed and breakfast called Johnson Mill B&B, and BJ took me out to dinner at the Snake Creek Grill, which had very good food. I loved it all! I will post pictures of the place we stayed. On Saturday we headed up to Park City. It rained in the morning, but by afternoon the sky cleared and it was warm. We walked around downtown and saw a Mustang car show, and looked at the little shops on Main Street. We drove around some, admiring the scenery, and headed to the factory stores to do some shopping. We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes in SLC- one of our favorite restaurants. I loved the fact that BJ planned all of this as a surprise for me- I knew we were doing something, but I had no idea what! We really enjoyed being together and getting out of the valley.
My family drove to Utah and arrived Sunday night (bringing Marissa back to BYU) and we saw them on Monday. We took my parents out for lunch at Tucanos, and watched a movie with my siblings. Then they went to visit some family in Salt Lake, and BJ had to go to work. BJ and I went and saw the Nancy Drew movie at the dollar theater. Did you read Nancy Drew when you were a kid? I loved that series. I think I liked the older ones best. It was a series that started several decades ago, and I think more mysteries are still being published- Of course, Nancy never ages. We thought the movie was very funny, and enjoyed it. Not exactly what I pictured, but good nonetheless- very family friendly, although the movie, like the books, has that element of (clean) suspense and danger.
I have been reading a lot lately. I recently read O Pioneers (Willa Cather, great book, sad though), the Alvin Maker series (Orson Scott Card- I liked most of the books, but had a few mixed feelings), Eclipse (not exactly "substance", but some light reading is nice sometimes), Harry Potter (of course- who didn't? By the way, I loved the ending. I am such a sucker for happy endings. I knew she wouldn't let us down.), Pope Joan (wow. I learned a lot and I can't imagine a time when women were treated this way- a story of courage, but also a very sad-to-me book.), Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom, good story, clever, a lot of wisdom, sad without really being sad- you feel good at the end.), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy- can I just say, this is one of my favorite books of all time- so clever, so suspenseful, and satisfying for even the most romantic at heart. Also clean, which is important, at least to me...) and a few other books that will probably never make my top 10. or 50.

Check back soon... the pictures are coming.

Happy Birthday Rochelle

Well, I know this is a few days late, but we have been pretty busy lately, and haven't had much time to blog. I got off work early on Thursday to be with Rochelle, take her to lunch, go see the Potter movie, and then have dinner with mom and dad. It was certainly a good day. On Friday, after I got home from work, we spent the evening with a couple who are good friends of ours (Scott and Danielle) who are leaving Utah for grad school. (We will miss you guys!!!) On Saturday, I went to work to make up the hours I took of on Thursday, and afterwards met Charles and his date and ate out and went ice skating.
All and all, today has been my first chance to say to Rochelle HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! on this blog. So... having said that... may I just add to that, that it has now been 3 years since we got engaged (that is our unofficial engagement). I believe our unofficial engagement started with these words: "I want to marry you someday." Well that 'someday' happened to be a month and a day away. Much sooner than we expected when we first contemplated marriage. But since that time, I have been happier than ever. Rochelle has been a great blessing in my life, and I am very grateful for her.

I love you Rochelle!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Grandpa Cook, Grandpa Taylor, Dad, Quin, James, Ryan, Andy, and Kirk, happy Father's Day!  I have many great examples for me for the lucky day when I get to join your ranks!  ;-)  You all do a wonderful job, and I hope that this day will be (or has been, since I am writing this near midnight your time~~sorry its late!) a great one.  I am excited to be home this week and to see you all (or most of you) again soon!  And for those who I won't be able to see right away, I look forward to our next visit.
Love you all!
BJ