Justin & Kelly

book!!

2010-01-26T09:48:00.001-08:00

lets book it!

NEW BLOG!!

2008-07-31T00:49:00.000-07:00

ok, so since i have used about 87% of my allowable picture space on this blog, i decided it was time to start a new blog. new chapter, new blog. plus, i figured we would have plenty to talk about while we are here here, but lets face it, its all about the pics. so check it out!

http://aidasinausie.blogspot.com/

jet lagged

2008-07-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

so for anyone who understands how important sleep is for me will know how i am hating being jet lagged right now. it is currently 4:30 am and justin and i are up for the day. i even stayed up late and everything. boo!

We made it!!

2008-07-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

we are alive and safe and loving oz. still working out housing details, but so far we are loving being here. we got justin enrolled in his classes, found a place we really like (hopefully we can get it), and got a phone. justin starts school next week so hopefully we can get everything settled before then. its proved to be quite the adventure and we are loving it. oh and did i mention its the dead of winter and so nice outside? why do i live inoregon again?!?

oh and im starting a new blog for our adventure here. hopefully it will be ready soon...

its here

2008-07-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

we leave TODAY!! yea, are you thinking what im thinking? HOLY CRAP!!!! what did i get myself into?!?!?! tonight we hop on the plane and in 14 hours we are lost and homeless in oz! yea, sounds crazy, but we have nothing set up. not even a rent a car. oh well. it will be tons of fun and we are super excited. wish us luck and ill keep you posted on life with the kangaroos.

reality settling in

2008-07-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

so we have been looking forward to the month on july for along time now. it was going to be spent with wonderful friends and family and adventures. probably the best month ever. well it is now half way over and the reality of the end of this month are setting in. tomorrow, big g- justins youngest brother- goes into the mtc to begin his 2 year mission in japan. it also happens to be our last day in utah, which has turned out to be so awesome and even better than we could have planned. playing on the boat with the rollins in brigham, cafe rio...twice, family, the mattices, tennis, family pics, and thats just the beginning. now we are left with a road trip to cali, a few days with my family and one week from today we board the big metal bird to oz.

where has all the time gone? it seems like 2 weeks ago i was finishing my last day at my job, packing up the house and still unprepared for the upcoming move. little worries though, as it was still so far away. well those worries have turned into stress-overload. good news though. we officially got our student visa, which means we wont be thrown out of the country. and everything else will be just fine.

another big one

2008-07-07T22:22:00.000-07:00

ok. so i know i just did one of these and i should really be totally up to date, but what can i say? when the sun is shining and the pool is right there, i would much rather be out there. so sorry for slacking, but not really. anyways. so we have been up to quite a bit.

cincy

2008-07-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

ok, so in june we went to cincinnati for a class reunion and another rush concert. justin spent like 2-10th grade in ohio and it turned out that the class he would have graduated with was having their 10 yr reunion on that saturday. so after re-living all his childhood memories, like old schools, skyline chili, rallys, and the udf, and even a bike ride through sharon woods. (if he ever talks about cincy, its usually about football or sharon woods. it was fun to see what he was talking about.) that night at we had so much fun seeing all his old friends and we were both pretty shocked at how many people he remembered, and remembered him too. it totally made his week seeing all his old friends. the next day we went out to justins old ward and he recognized no one. too funny. however, his old ym president, who also works for p&g, just happened to get back from 3 years in germany recetly. we went to their house sunday night and had a wondeful time getting to catch up with them. the next day we went to kings island, think a smaller six flags magic mountain theme park. it was fun to go on the rides and play like a kid again. that night was the rush concert with my dad and his bf bill. lots of fun and we finally caught a t-shirt (the ones we have been trying to get every show for over 10 years now). it was tons of fun.

2 of my favorite people

2008-07-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

that next weekend, my best friend came out from utah to visit me. sheri and i have been friends since like we were 16. but then we went to visit our other best friend tim mcgraw. we spent senior year of high school ditching class to hang out at her house and going to every tim mcgraw concert in so cal. we certainly did not want to let this tradition die, so we went to his portland show on wednesday. this had to be one of the best shows we have been to. we started out about 15 rows back on the very far side. by the end of the show we were right next to the stage where tim touched our hands and signed our pictures! it was so great! after our 1130 run to denny's to cap off the evening, we got pulled over by a state highway patrol man. aparently the freeways in portland areonly a 55mph zone. who knew!?! when the cop asked how fast, i was like "70, whats the big deal!" he let us go with a warning, and a big heads up that i should watch for the speed signs in portland. anyways, we spent the rest of the time hanging out by the pool and enjoying all the sunshine. it was so good to see her and i cant wait till later this week when we play in utah.

run for justice weekend

2008-07-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

friday we went to a party for a client at justins firm who happens to live on this beautiful property over looking west portland and is starting a recording studio. it was so beautiful and lots of fun.

on saturday, justins law firm had a 5k "run for justice" event. it was such a blast to run along side him since he didnt do the tri with me. he kept running up ahead of me and snapping pictures so there aren't any of him, but trust me he was there.

after the run and breakfast with some of the people at the firm,we headed out to the coast for one last surf trip in oregon before we leave. it was a bit cold but not windy. i hadnt seen that part of the coast before so i was loving it. we stopped by cannon beach overlook to see the rock from the goonies.

then we contiued down to the cool surf spot that you have to walk through the wods to get to. also, you can camp right there for free and is something we want to do when we get back.

ont the way back home, we stopped by the tillamook cheese factory because they also happen to make some amazing ice cream. my favorte is the chocolate peanut butter, it is by far the best.

out of commission

2008-06-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

well, tons has been going on, and i will have to catch you up asap, but that will have to wait. we had a huge lul in our summer, but everything is picking up speed.

two weekends ago, justin and i did the "run for justice" 5k and had a blast. last week my bff sheri came out from utah to spend the week with me and go to the best tim mcgraw concert ever! ill fill in details and tons of pics later. lets just say, we got up to the second row, he touched our hands and we got our pictures signed by him.

then we all left on friday and justin and i came out to Cincinnati to relive some of his old memories. he lived here from '88-'96 doing most of his k-12 ed in cincy (as he calls it). anyways, it just so happened that this weekend also happened to be the 10 yr reunion for the high school he would have graduated from had his family stayed here instead of moving to the Philippines. what a coincidence eh? so after a day of touring the old schools, house, and child hood memories, we went to this reunion. we were both so surprised at how many people still remembered him and it totally made his day (again, pics to come later)

we have a few more days here, complete with of course a rush concert, (for those keeping tabs, that will be number three in the last 2 months... i know.) then its back to work for justin and off to NYC for me! i have never been but am so excited. for anyone who has advice on what to do, see, eat i would love some advice! there will for sure be a yankees game, but other than that, it will be 3 days of who knows.

once i get back on the forth, it will be a few days before i start the 2 week road trip to utah and ca before hopping on a plane to oz on the 22nd. wish me luck.

updates

2008-06-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

so the past few weeks have been pretty crazy. not in the sense that they have been overly busy and i have no time, but just the opposite. i have had so much time lately, to much time in fact. i find that i dont get nearly as much stuff done. its weird, i know. well, turns out blogging is one of those things that doesnt get done. sorry. so heres an update of what we have been up to.

triathlon

2008-06-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

so i did it! i finished my first triathlon since i was like 7. i did good in everything except the transitions (something to work on). the whole thing was a .5 mile swim, 12 mi. bike and 5k. i came out of the water third in my division, had the longest transition, was so frustrated at the 40+ group wizzing by me on the bike, and finished the run thinking i should have gone faster. oh well. it was way fun though and i think im hooked!

my wonderful husband came with me to be my super support! he was so great, cheering me on and taking some awesome pictures. every time i saw him it made me want to go faster, push harder and make him proud. next time, i hope we can get do it together.

justins new toy

2008-06-16T18:48:00.001-07:00

a few weekends ago we went to newport so justin could have a surf day and play with his new toy, his 3 meter kite. it was a gorgeous day at the coast, sun shinning and very little wind. great for me sitting in the beach watching him surf, but not so good for trying to fly the kite. we were having little luck getting it to stay in the air because the wind kept changing directions. what we did do with it was really fun, and even i gave it a try.

we went down to the harbour to get some lunch and loved having the whole fam together.

weekend with pops

2008-06-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

so at the beginning of the month, my dad and his friend came up to visit justin and i for a weekend of rush concert and sight seeing. we headed up the columbia gorge (this is such a beautiful drive! highly recommended) and stopped off at the multnomah fall, which is right off the freeway. we then continued up to george, washington (yeah! seriously) for the rush concert. this amiptheatre is called the gorge, and it is stunning. it sits right on the bluff overlooking the columbia river. it is so pretty. it was a bit windy, but watching the show with the sun setting in the background was awesome.
the next day we had it all planned out to go check out mt st helens, since its just over the border from us. it had been sunny and clear the whole drive until we got to the point where we should have been able to see the mountain. yea, thats right, should have! in true northwest fashion, it will be clear and nice until you get to where you are going, and thats when the clouds roll in. we got into the park and could barely see 20 ft in front of us. just a big white cloud where this massive volcano missing its top should have been. such a disappointment. i doubt i will be able to get justin back in a car for a few hours to go see it again any time soon. so when you look at these pictures, imagine a huge mountain behind us and that this is just like a green screen or something.

newest addition

2008-06-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Congrats

to my brother and his wife for a beautiful a baby girl.

Ashlyn Jane Woodbury

was born June 2nd at 2:55am. 9lbs 2oz and super cute!

fyi

2008-06-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

so i finally got a bike for the triathlon i am doing in 9 days (AAHHHH!!!) and decided to take it out for a ride yesterday. mind you i have never ridden in clip pedals before. im coming down this road and this car pulls up next to me. i look and see this old lady driving and decide to ignore her and maybe she will take a hint. 2 mintues later, she is still there. finally i take out my ipod and wonder what possibly is so important that you need to try and stop me. as im coming to a stop and trying to hear what she is saying, i totally forget that i am clipped in and fall right over!! now my leg is all scrapped up, i totally embarased myself, and still have no idea what she wants. finally i ask and she says "does this road go to indepenedence?" you have got to be kidding me right??!! that is what was so important that you couldnt continue down the road 1 more mile to see the sign for yourself?? so FYI- do not bother a bike rider! unless they have dropped something totally crucial, like an entire tire or their leg, do not stop them! i guarantee you will be cursed like crazy the rest of the ride!

gone baby gone

2008-05-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

we have been saying alot of goodbyes lately. wednesday, i said goodbye to my work of 2 years. thursday, we said goodbye to our wonderful house in eugene. and in july we will be saying goodbye to the USA and all our loved ones in it as we move to Australia for a semester. Its weird and exciting to think about, and ever so intimidating to prepare for. Ill give some facts so you all know what im talking about.

through justins law school, they have an exchange program with the university of adelaide in australia. they allow 4 people per term to go and study there, while gaining credit and grades that count towards his law degree. Adelaide is located about 16 hours drive directly west of Sydney. its right on the coast and is a good sized city, though not as big as sydney or melbourne. it has its own LDS temple and international airport, which are both necessitates. we originally planned on going during his spring term of the third year, but that means he would miss taking the bar in july, and would miss his graduation. both no good. we had thought the deadline had passed for getting in for the fall term, but when asked the australian school, they said we still had about a month left to apply. so after a few weeks of waiting to find out, we finaly got the verdict that we were accepted for the fall term. now that was back in march and since then we ahve bought our tickets and begun planning for our departure in just over 7 weeks! yea thats less than 2 months! AHHH!

it had been my dream to travel around the world after studying there for 4 1/2 months, but that was proving to be quite expensive. so after lots of thought, quotes from agents and hours of researching countries, we decided on a different plan. since the school runs from july 28th to november 20th-ish, we will be in ausie till then, and then hop over to new zealand for about 7 weeks before we have to be back in oregon in january. we absolutely loved NZ and couldnt wait to get back, but we had no idea it would be so soon.

we are still working on our visa's and neccesary study abroad stuff but we are so excited. and now moving straight up to portland when we get backs means we can hopefully find a good house to buy and be settled in for a little while. to think of being in one place for more than 9 months... that will be new.

so proud

2008-05-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

my hubby impresses me every single day. the stuff he manages to do, find and come up with always surprise me. his latest doings were our plans for when we get back in january. we had a couple of options between moving up to portland for the extension school, moving back to eugene to finish his last 10 credits, or finding something else totally different that he could use to finish his schooling. well, last night justin had an interview for an extern ship for the spring semester next year. these are not very common, so neither of us wanted to get our hopes up. apparently it went really well because they hired him on the spot. that means that when we get back, instead of coming down to eugene for his final semester, he gets to go work for school credit. talk about the best third year of law school ever. so now we get back he will begin his work with

Yea, seriously! i could not be more proud of him and all his hard work. he has always wanted to work for a big, sporty, active-style company and now is his shot! I know he will have so much fun and work really hard, and who knows what that means for our future. and talk about the discounts! woo hoo! it will be a great experience for him. hopefully we can finally buy a house and settle into one place for a while. that would be quite the change.

crazy weekend

2008-05-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

this weekend we got a ton done. on saturday, justin and i got everything boxed up and moved out of our house. thats right, our house is empty. we had originally planned to leave some stuff like an air mattress, bike and stuff for me to use while i lived there for these last few days, but changed our minds while we were packing to just take everything out at once while we had the big truck. this way i wouldnt have to make multiple trips this week to finish hauling up our stuff. so after 12 hours of packing and loading, we finally finished our house at 11pm. we drove back up to my aunts house, again not in the original plans, to go sleep in a real bed.

we unloaded everything sunday, with the help of my fam, into my grandmas garage. i must say, it drove me crazy that after 12 hours of work the day before, we had the entire thing unloaded and ready to go in like an hour and a half. not that i wanted it to take all day again, but it seems like all our hard work was undone in seconds. but, its all unpacked and on to the cleaning!

our memorial day bald eagle we sawthen we got to go fishing with my family on the columbia gorge, which is absolutely beautiful, for shad. this is a fun fish to go for because we only go when there is tons of them heading up the river, and we use them as bait for other fish like halibut and tuna. so when we go, it is almost guaranteed to catch stuff. i think we finished the day wit like 16 total fish. so fun.

and we have also taken up playing doubles in tennis with my aunt and uncle. it has turned into boys vs. girls, but since the first time we played, us girls have been on a losing streak. despite our killer 4 game come back last night, we still lost all three games. i think we need to continue our lessons and maybe get some practice time with out the boys there to help hone our skills!

freakin out!!

2008-05-20T17:04:00.001-07:00

our plans have changed so much in the last month, i really dont know why we ever plan anything. whats changed you ask? well, the people at my work have driven me crazy, and for the last time i am going say see-ya as i moved up my last day of work to the 28th on may. yea, thats right, i will be joining my husband for good next week. the original plan was not for another 3 weeks, but it was not working out. call me if you want the whole story. anyways, so we got our housing to waive the 30 day notice rule, and we will no longer be living in eugene as of the may 31st. yay and yikes! yay because i cannot wait to be back with justin every night, leaving this town, and being totally ready for our next big adventure and the short summer vacation. and did i mention playing cards everyday with my aunt. what could be better. the yikes is because i have to pack up our entire house in the next week, schedule an inspection, clean like a maniac, and move everything to independence, oregon. oh yea, and deal with my unhappy work people that i am bailing on them a few weeks early.

which all leads to my freakin out. all good and manageable but i dont like real stress like this. luckily i dont have it that often because i think my heart has been racing since last tuesday. it has all happened so fast and i just want the next 2 weeks to work out well and fly by.

season finale's

2008-05-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

yea for finales. all my favorite reality tv shows have their finale's the past few weeks. the bachelor, survivor, antm, the hills, dancing with the stars, and i am so excited for the battle of the davids on ai.

i think i watch to much tv... yikes!

a surprise for mothers day

2008-05-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

wednesday evening

*ring ring*

dad: would you like to come to CA this weekend to surprise your mother on mothers day and a rush concert?

kelly: YES! let me check with justin to see if he can miss work on monday

few hours later...

dad: and..

kelly: he said sure. we will see you this weekend.

so we packed a bag, dropped off koda at grandma's and hopped on the earliest saturday morning flight to southern california. we had such an awesome weekend. we surprised my mom on saturday, then headed to legends for lunch. headed down to huntington so justin could take a kite boarding lesson (his newest extreme hobby) and so mom, courtney and i could shop on main street. headed back home for a delicious dinner at panera. played rock band with the fam. went to church sunday, soaked up some sun in dads backyard. had a wonderful 2pm roast for dinner. had a 5pm sushi dinner. headed to a rush concert and sat in the second row. had alex lifeson smile for MY camera, danced and sang until my throat hurt. got home at 1230am and was up at 430am for our flight back home on monday.this is my totally awesome mom. she is the most kind, funny, amazing, spiritual, forgiving and loving woman i know. i have learned so much from her example and she has taught me so much about life, love and happiness. I love her more each day and am so appreciative for support and advice. she is my rock. the awesome sis who is growing up so fastjustins new hobby he totally bent down to be in my picture smiling. my guys were going crazyNeil Peart, best drummer everthe guys watching the show

this is totoally my kind of weekend. I wish it could have been there longer to see all our friends and loved ones while we were there, but it was a jammed packed two days with lots of family time. so im sorry for not even calling anyone, but we will be back in july and i promise i will visit everyone.

twilight teaser

2008-05-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

the wonderful twilight books are coming to the big screen and watch the trailer here:

Twilight Trailer

Coming 12/12/08

from a distance

2008-05-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

ok, so since justin and i have been married, it seems like we are constantly having to live apart for some amount of time for some reason or another. first was when he had to come up early to start his law school, and i wasn't going to be able to come up until mid september because of my schooling. it was only about a month-ish and we thought that it would be the only time so we could manage just fine. then, the next year, we had to spend the entire summer (may-september) in separate states because our school/work schedules did not match up at all. again though, we thought it would be the last time and we could manage as long as we made a trip out every other week. that plan didn't end up so well, we went the entire month of july without seeing each other. bad idea! but thinking that would be the final time, as i had finally finished my school, we managed. how does it work out though that now, once again, we are living to two different houses during the week while justin works in portland, and i finish up working the school year in eugene for the next 5 weeks? may i just say that i cannot wait until we never have to live apart like this again. it totally sucks. so hopefully, for the last time, i had to say goodbye to the hubby so he can live in a different city.

happy birthday to me!

2008-05-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

last weekend was my birthday, and as justin was preparing for his first final (also on fri) he made a point of telling me how busy he was, and wasn't going to have anytime. he asked "if we could just celebrate it the next week." ok, so i won't lie, i was pretty bummed. i was like, seriously! you cant put your books down for 1 hour so we can at least go to dinner. probably not the best response to his need to harness his stress and pass these important classes. anyway, so i spent most of the week coping with the fact that this just might not be the biggest birthday celebration, but who needs that at 23. i needed to get the facts that it might just be me cuddled up with my dog watching a marathon of sappy love stories, vegging out ice cream and cookies (i would have to make my self), and counting down the minutes till justin came home. granted he would be on brain-overload, and a totally stressed out version of him, but him non the less.

i got up fri morning and hopped in the shower as usual to get ready for work. when i got out, there were beautiful roses on my night stand, and the smell of eggs and ham in the air. much to my surprise, he had cooked up a wonderful breakfast and even managed to buy a present! he had gotten me the nike dri-fit running pants i so wanted. i was so excited, but still had the looming thought that he would be busy all evening, and this would be the extent of our festivities.at work, the wonderful gals got me a bouquet of fresh flowers, some gigantic cookies, and a wonderful card. yea, someone else remembered. my great friend brooke also sent me an edible bouquet to my office and i was so excited!! my friend lisa also hooked us up with these sweet balls we were having so much fun playing with at her house. Thanks Lisa!!as i arrived home, i was totally ready to get into my comfy pants, and hang out at home. when justin got home, he said he was done for the night, and he mentioned a few surprises still to come, so get ready. we went out to our favorite restaurant, beppe & gianni's, which also happens to be a 5 min walk from our house. one of our favorite shows is the amazing race , and justin happened to get in touch with the last couple that won, and they called to wish me a happy birthday. THANK YOU Tk and Rachel!! i could not stop laughing for hours.
when we got home, the surprises continued. he had also gotten me a birthday cake with candels from cold stone, and got me an awesome camera. oh my gosh!! i cant believe how wonderful he is, and how it went totally out of his way and spent so much time to make me feel so special, all while in the middle of his law school finals! what and amazing husband i have and i am so greatful for everything he does for me and our family.

on saturday, i did 2/3 of our triathlon and then went with justin to play volleyball. it was finally a nice warm day, and we had so much fun. spent a wonderful sunday at church and with our friends at a ice cream sunday bar to celebrate. it was such a great weekend and i am so greatful to everyone who made it special.

playing with the comp and my pics.

kelly-isms

2008-04-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

-i dont like my face to be hot, it instantly makes me uncomfortable
-my favorite meal is dinner, therefore i usually end up eating way to much
-i dont like to go to the movies during the day, i feel like it wastes precious daylight
-i dont care if people like me, but i want them to think i look good
-i dont consider myself a pessimist, but if you ask about a cup, its half empty
-im a sucker for bright lights and loud noises
-i love a good pb&j
-tv takes up to much of my time
-i am a huge snuggle bug
-i get uncomfortable when people cry
-i dont like the act of getting into the water, but once im in, i love it
-im scarred of tunnels and caves, even if they have been there for millions of years, i think it is all going to cave in on me
-i was born in canada (hold the canuck, jokes please)
-i wish i could live my life on one big traveling adventure
-i have little sympathy for diseases that people bring upon themselves
-i want to fly a fighter jet for the air force
-i can listen to an amazing song over and over again never get sick of it
-i envy the people who can buy whatever they want, whenever they want
-buying something awesome immediately brightens my day
-i think bread and butter is the perfect combination
-i hate ignorance and intolerance
-i wear clothes with the tags still on until i decide if i want to keep them
-dessert should be after every meal
-i struggle with making small talk
-i search through google.earth almost everyday
-i love to drive
-its hard to change my mind once i've decided something, i will go to far lengths to make it happen
-i want to get into yoga and pilates
-i release from stress by getting away from it, like literally leaving the city its in
-i hate when an opportunity is missed
-i have a real appreciation for sunshine and warm weather
-i enjoy hearing useless facts, and usually retain them, however i tease those who pass them out
-i dont really like babies or kids, unless i have some sort of attachment to them
-singing is one of my favorite things to do, but i am terrible
-my husband is one of the smartest people i know
-i like to try new things just to say i did it
-i recommend marriage to everyone
-i dont understand the fascination and necessity some people find in alcohol
-i wish i kept up with more people from my past
-40 hour work weeks are way too long
-waking up in the morning is the worst part of my day
-i love to dance
-i wish i knew how to play the piano
-i love sappy love stories
-scenery is more beautiful when water is involved (i.e. stream, lake, river, ocean, waterfall)
-backpacking should be more of a priority, i love going
-i love beautiful scenery
-sunsets are my favorite time of day
-i have imagined the perfect place to live, but have yet to find it
-i loved my crazy broken childhood, i have no complaints
-i love the uniqueness of each of my family members
-for the longest time i wanted to be a dolphin trainer, part of me still does
-i can not spell very well, although if you have read this blog before, i'm sure you already know that
-spending time with justin is my favorite activity

ABC's

2008-04-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, well since i have now been tagged twice by this, i suppose i can do it. (thanks sheri and lyndsey).

A- Attached or single: attached, to my secret asian man
B- Best Friend: justin, my mom, sheri, brooke, lynds
C- Cake or Pie: honestly, im not to picky when it comes to desserts. both are great in their own way. a chocolate, cheese or confetti cake, or a razzleberry, peach, strawberry, dutch apple, chocolate silk, banana cream, ect pie. they are all good!
D- Day of Choice: any day but tuesday. thats the only day i start work at 8, and that ruins the whole day.
E- Essential Item: flat iron, computer with internet capabilities, DVR
F- Favorite Color: red
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: either, this is a lame questoin though!
H- Hometown: rancho cucamonga
I -Indulgence(s): Cold Stone, Yummy dinner, blogging
J- January or July: july, hello, no school/work, warm weather, good holidays, no contest!
K-Kids: koda, does she count? we do, however, have all our names picked out
L-Life is incomplete without: my hubby and pup, sunshine, family, friends, vacations, planning for the future
M- Marriage Date: march 26 2005
N- Number of Siblings: 3- danny (25), tommy (17) and courtney (12)
O- Oranges or Apples: both are yummy. i would take strawberry's, raspberry's, pineapple or watermelon over those any day
P- Phobias or Fears: somebody standing over me while i sleep or being outside at night by my self.
Q- Quote(s): "dont worry, be happy."
R- Reason To Smile: no reason not to. everything is great and awesome.
S- Season: summer all the way
T- Tag Five: steph, lisa, megan, piper, christi, clara and kathleen
U- Unknown Fact About Me: i dont like leftovers, unless they are chinese
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: sorry animals, you are just too yummy to stop eating you
W- Worst Habit: cursing when im mad, i know, im trying to quit!
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ummm, another lame question.
Y- Your Favorite Food: Sushi, sweet and sour meatballs, anything my aunt makes, cafe rio pork.
Z- Zodiac: Taurus

april showers..

2008-04-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

so i know that little saying is "april showers bring may flowers" but come on. i am so stinking sick of the rain! maybe ill combat those who persist in jinx-ing the rain with something of my own. "rain, rain, go away..." that will get 'em.

ultimate army

2008-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Terracotta soldiers:

we flew into Xian (in the middle of the country) and spent the day looking at these amazing clay soldiers. the first emperor of china, Qin Shi Huang, had ordered an army to be made to help him in the next life. over 7,000 soldiers have been found so far, and none of them have the same face. the army consists of soldiers, generals, archers, horses, chariots, ect. and were once all painted. they were buried with the emperor and discovered when a local farmer was digging a well and found one of the heads in his bucket. oh and did i mention this was all done in like 200 BC. this is yet another example of the great power the emperors had over the people in their time. and again, no pictures do this place justice.

This day also happened to be our three year anniversary. I cant believe that it has gone by so fast, we still talk about when we were dating like it was last week. after dinner we went across the street to underneath this freeway overpass, but the people of Xian had turned it into like a dance club. they had music and hundreds of people dancing. we jumped right in and im sure stood out. i was a lucky lady getting to dance with the boys. that is something i will never forget. what a way to spend an anniversary, you cant even plan something that good. we usually dont make to big a deal out of the "holidays" mostly just spending time together. but considering we didnt have a "first dance", it was pretty cool. later that night the town had fireworks that we watched together from our hotel room. I still cant believe how wondeful life has been with him, and how much more i love him then when we got married. our plans change daily and tomorrow seems so far away but with him i have no worries.

Called to serve

2008-04-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Garrett, justin's youngest brother, got his mission call this morning and is to report to the MTC on July 16th to serve in the Japan, Sendai Mission. Congrats Garrett, I know you will make an awesome missionary! Your wonderful enthusiasm and spirit will lighten the people in northern Japan! And you will be missed! We love you and are so proud! Now you can really perfect your ninja skills.

a.i. nerd

2008-04-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

ok, so last night i was watching american idol on my dvr, like i always do, that way i get to skip the lame judges comments, all commercials, and other form of talking i dont want to hear, even some performances i think are not very good. i was excited to hear they were doing mariah carey songs (im a huge fan), but extremely bummed after the first several performances. they all seemed kind of karaoke-ish, with all the girls trying to hit the high notes. anyways, i quickly went through the performances until David Cook came on. last week, i watched his performance at least five times, and even made justin sit down and watch it a few with me because i absolutely loved it. i was interested in what he would have done with a MC song. they just aren't his style, not to mention he picked "always be my baby". So long story short, i rewound his performance 5 more times, and reached for my phone to vote. i have never voted for any american idol show ever. with that said, i preceded to vote not once, or twice but 6 times! i felt that was good, and i had done my part to ensure his return to next week. so he is my favorite and i fully endorse him and all his rocker glory.

my sweet hubby

2008-04-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

I love you babe, I think about you all day and really look forward to seeing you. I know I am not very good at showing it, but I do. I hate leaving every morning. j

i love these. they make my day.

long lost pics

2008-04-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

my ever so dear, funny, not-so-computer-savvy mother finally sent me the pics from when she journeyed up to Oregon in the beginning of February. bless her heart, after failed attempts of emailing, making cd's, sending the cd's, and uploading all to no avail. she finally sent a jump-drive containing them. that arrived yesterday, and i was so excited to finally see how they turned out. while she was here we hiked to the top of the local spencers butte. its only a quick 45 min hike to the top, although it was through snow. we had a fun photo shoot at the top.

our family photo

thanks mom, and remind me to give you a computer lesson next time im down there.

poor koda

2008-04-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

our luvable pup got bit by a husky last night, poor girl. she is doing ok, but we are all a bit shaken up, justin and i included. we were out for our usual run, she was sniffing other dogs as usual, until this one went angry and bit her just below the shoulder on her leg. a deep gash but she is doing good. we are in touch with the owner (go figure another law student), so everything should work out just fine.

what a reality check though. i know she is just a dog, and it compares nothing to kids, but for know she is our kid. it tore me up inside to see her so scared and hurt. holding justin back from kicking that other dag to china was another thing. he has his "anger issues" (as i call them), but i must say he handled himself very well. and making sure that koda stopped quivering, yelping everytime we touched her, and bleeding made for a long evening. i think by the end of it, we got about 4 hours of sleep. so i solute all you mothers out there, especially those who go through things worse than a mean bully. im sure im going to have to hold myself, and my husband, back if ever our kid gets picked on.

Hutong tour

2008-04-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

we boarded some rickshaw's and went for a tour of the hutong area. this is a place in beijing designed after the original chinese dwellings. most of the homes are very old, and have been rebuilt patterned after what they would have looked like. our tour guide explained the importance behind the gates, and how different gate accesories determine the status of the family living behind it. we also went into a traditional housing, where you walk through narrow alleys and between tons of walkways to get into the traditional courtyard. afterwards, we climbed to the top of the drum tower and heard a demonstration of the traditional drums. very cool.

bend weekend

2008-04-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

justin and i had a getaway to bend a few weekends ago. my dad and brother came up from so cal to get in a weekend of ski/ snowboarding on mt. bachelor. we have had some great snow up here all winter, not to mention the 4 in. we got everynight while we were there. bend is only 2 hours away and we had yet to been our there. we drove up late friday night and i had to put on snow chains at about 11 to get over the pass (justin was having a hard time figuring them out). then on saturday, justin stayed back and studied while my dad, brother and i went out to the slopes. i borrowed my dads old gear because i had none, it was a bit oversized. the visibility was crap, but i had a blast flailing, rolling, sliding and falling down the mountain. turns out i havent skiied in about 6 years and it totally showed. notice all the pics of me are sitting on my butt.

that night was great hanging out with my family, gettig some sweet new stuff, hiking along the deschuttes river, and just having a great time. sunday we went back up to the mountain. the weather was a little bit better, meaning the sun poked out a few times between being stuck in a snow storm. i think i got worse over night, i was so stiff from the day before, but we had tons of fun.

needless to say, i refound a joy for skiing and really want to get out a few more times this season. hopefully they will be sunny instead of snowing, but anything will do at this point.

big palace

2008-04-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

the Summer Palace:

a huge 2.9km total area, is dominated by this man made hill and lake (the lake was dug and the dirt was made into a hill). standing on top of the hill (named longevity hill) is the Duobao Glazed Pagoda. stunning and HUGE!! also, the marble boat is sitting just off shore in the lake.

we hiked started by hiking around the lake to see the views, check out 17 arch bridge, and then hike to the top of longevity hill. we then headed back around to the front of the palace were we watched a show of traditional dances put on at the palace theatre. next we walked through the gardens and ended near the suzhou street, which is like a chinese venice and patterned after south-eastern china. all in all, it took around 5 1/2 hours and our driver thought we were crazy! a lunch at Mc Donalds followed, as we thought we needed to try one in every country. honestly, it was better than in the states.

yard work

2008-04-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

so we have this beautiful back yard that we havent exactly used because the weather has been crummy around here. and since we dont use it, we havent taken care of it either. so after 8 months of living in our lil house, we thought it was time to clean up the yard. (that, and we got a letter from our land lord saying we have to. thats good motivation!) i thought i would show you just how long our lawn got to be. Koda was watching her rival the lawn mower like a hawk.we also have this growing garden of daffodils and tulips that must have been planted by our previous renters. it was a wonderful surprise.

2008-04-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Temple of Heaven:

this was the temple to which the emperor would go to pray for a good harvest. also on the grounds are the vault of heaven and the earthly mount. here, locals get together and play traditional music and cards on the walkways.

home of the emperor

2008-04-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City:

"standing in this square, you can feel the communism." -justin
that about sums up the feeling of this place. it is a huge square in front of the forbidden city gate entrance and is surrounded by government buildings and museums. this was once the route the emperors took to get to their palace, and any visitors had to walk about a 2 mile distance through 7 gates beginning at one end of the square going all the way to the end where the emperor would greet them. a picture of Mao Zedong hangs on the front of the gate over looking the square. he was a leader of the communist party during the civil war, and eventually a leader of the people's republic of china. the city was under lots of construction and renovation while we wewre there gearing up for the olympic games this summer.

temple time

2008-04-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

The Lama Temple:

it houses the largest buddha carved from one piece of wood, 70 ft tall. it is beautifully colored with yellow tiles, as it once served as the imperial palace during the Qing dynasty. it was later converted to a lamasery that housed mongolian and tibetian monks. heres that giant buddha, it go four stories upthis is made with sand, amazing!

old dead guys

2008-04-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ming Dynasty Tombs:

this place was cool. it was a valley filled with 13 of the 16 Ming dynasty emperors tombs. most are underground under these big structures. We only went into one because we were still a bit jet lagged and had little sleep that night before. sorry, i was playing with the photo colors with this crazy tree

and we're back...

2008-04-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

so i have been totally slacking on my blogging. it has been crazy busy around home ever since we got back and i havent quite returned to a normal sleep pattern. so still a bit jet lagged but working on it.

so this was the most crazy busy spring break ever, and quite honestly i could go for another break just to recoup. we spent easter on the great wall, our anniversary with the terra cotta solders, and boarded six different flights. China was amazing. it is unlike anything i have ever seen before. there are so many people, and the culture is very different than ours. we loaded up on our fare share of chinese food and shopped so much. im sad to say that the only words we came back with were "I dont understand" and "thats to expensive". both very good phrases to know in a place where you bargain the price of everything.

so on the last few days, i hardly took any pictures because we relaxed and shopped most of the day. so i think i will highlight the places we went as opposed to doing it day by day. lets see how it goes.

THE GREAT WALL:

a truly amazing sight. no picture will ever do this monument justice. as it winds along the tops and peaks of mountains for 4000 miles all the way to the western side of the country. built originally during the Qin Dynasty, and later rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty, which is what we see today. the chinese historic sights are a true showing of the power of the emperor. with such a large country with a huge population, they could order incredible things to be accomplished. this is just one example. we spent easter morning hiking along this amazing landmark for about a mile. we went out to a more remote spot that had less foot traffic and was more remote. from the highest point we went to, you could see it wind across the very tops of mountains and peaks and down to the lowest valleys, and right back up again. just in the little mile we walked, we went up and down so many times, crawled on all fours through one spot, and explore through several of their watch towers. truly spectacular.

new tag

2008-03-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

20 Years Ago (March 1988) - yikes, i was 3 years old, we were living in upland california in the house next to the hospital. our house had bars on the windows and was in the bad part of town. i loved doing ballet and tap dancing and from around this time came my notorious cat and pumpkin costumes (ill see if i can find a pic.) i was always playing with my much cooler older brother and thats about all i remember.

10 Years Ago (March 1998) – already talked about in a previous post so ill highlight other areas... i was 12, in 7th grade at summit middle school. played the flute in the band, got cut from the volleyball team, barely made the basketball, but was loving the track team. 800m and long jump were totally my events. still trying desperately to find myself and i think i had about 3 outfits that i seemed to rotate every week (one consisting of the over sized overalls, seriously three people could fit in there with me.) very hard to find clothes that age, rail thin and super tall.

5 Years Ago (March 2003) – i was 17 years old and about to graduate high school. i had the best school schedule, only classes 2-4 period, fifth was yearbook (which had been completed by that time) and sixth was athletics, which once water polo was done, i went home at lunch almost everday(once i could sign myself out). i used to meet my friend sheri at least twice a week for lunch at legends or to her house to watch saved by the bell and the game show network. I was playing club water polo with CHAWP and getting ready for our last go at the junior olympics (we ended up getting 4th). I had just recieved my rejection letter from UCI and told to ignore it, i was still admitted on a polo scholarship. i took a road trip to BYU to visit lyndsey and sami at least once a month with sheri, also stared in/co-founded the band bombdigity, which consisted mostly of band practice in the car, and never took off like it should have.

3 Years Ago ( March 2005) – i was planning my wedding to this wonderful man named justin. i had met him in history class the previous year and had a fun/wild year and a half getting to know him (depends who you talk to). i had just moved to fountain valley/huntington beach area from my true love of newport. my grandfather had just passed away from pnemonia the week before our wedding. i was full swing in the middle of my water polo season at UCI and justin was finishing up his swim team meets. i was crazy in love and busy as could be. i think thats when i started my 20 units a quater so i could graduate in three years. i got my fisrt real job that april as a waitress at SOMA cafe and loved it.

1 Year Ago (March 2007) – we were about to celebrate our 2 year aniversary in eugene oregon, justin was swamped with his first year of law school at the university of oregon, but had just heard back that he had gotten a job in portland as an intern for the summer. i was preparing to go back down to Irvine to finish my bachelors and getting ready for an entire summer without my hubby. we had some awesome friends we played with almost everyday, and were planning to move into a house with the mattice's for the next year to cut the cost of rent we were paying. i had just gotten my dream job at the university and was thrilled with life. we had finally gotten our puppy house trained and i was planning our amazing trip/honeymoon to new zealand as a surprise for justin for our anniversary. i was the secratery in the young womens program in the eugene fifth ward. we had started a weekly girls game night and volleyball at our church building.

So Far This Year (2008) – ive planned some amazing weekend getaways to see all that oregon has to offer, booked tickets to china, cut my hair the shortest it has ever been, held the newest baby to steal my heart, i just got my calling as the laurel advisor in the eugene 3rd ward, and found my new love, our DVR!! i am training for a triathalon in june. i have started reading alot more and skipping all commercials. but it is only march...

Yesterday – was tuesday, the bussiest day of the week. i typically work a 9 hour day because we have our department meeting at 8, which are always eventful. i realized when i got home for dinner that we had an empty fridge because i didnt want to buy anything when we were going to be gone for a week, so dinner consisted of egg salad sandwiches (justin wouldnt let me just eat cereal). we both read until about 9:30, then we were hoping to catch some of the open gym volleyball at the rec center, but no one was there, so we opted to take our dog for a run. this was the first time of the year i needed to use my inhaler before we went, i have really bad allergies here and all the greenery gives me asthma when i work out from march through sept.

Today – i slept in till 8, would have been longer if justin didnt get a phone call at that time, i didnt have to be to work till 10, i got my hair chopped off one more time on my lunch hour, did this post, checked out everyones blog, read some of my new book "the kite runner", made a list of everything not to forget for our trip ie. passports!, our firends are coming over for dinner and justin is going to make his yummy curry rice, hang with them a bit, make my hubby laugh, and fight for his attention from koda.

Tomorrow – is thursday. i have work 9-6, and then go home, finish packing for china, drive up to my aunts house just outside of salem (shes taking us to the airport), drop off koda and find someone to pick up our mail for the next week. clean the house cause i hate coming home to it dirty.

This year – is going to be exciting. im going to move to portland for the summer for justins job, becoming an aunt, dance on the great wall of china, adventure through oregon, see NY city and go to a yankee's game, meet some amazing people, and finish it up by moving to australia in july.

i tag steph, sheri, jill, lisa, laura, megan, annie, jake and if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

countdown

2008-03-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

ok, so i totally need to pack. only 1 day left.picture from: this blog

welcome, baby starkey

2008-03-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

our good friends, the starkeys, just had their baby 3/16 at 7:30am. he weighed in at 9.1 lbs and is so adorable. congrats you guys!!

what an idea!

2008-03-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

so i have never been very good at journaling, or scrapbooking, or any other permanent form of "lifes history" recording. blogging has been the only type of self history i have been able to keep updated and cute. since the first post in may of '07, i have put all of my thoughts and adventures into this computer web journal. so this is my modern day journal. i am definetly much better at keeping it updated, i love getting to include the pictures right in there with it, and i dont have to look at my horrible writing.

recently ive been wondering that there has to be a way to permanently save my blog, that in the event of the www crashes, the internet no longer exists and everything on it is now lost into a cyber blackhole, i am not to panic, i have a back-up. perhaps a way to print it in a way that my kids can read through my journal and all my hard work is saved.

and then i stumbled upon this. blurb.com. the company that takes blogs and puts them into hard bound books. alas, all the hard work preserved forever, and complete with pictures. a book with me as the author? not something i ever thought i would do! but i am so excited to start preparing my history into a bound hardcover.

awesome weekend

2008-03-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

so we totally had the best weekend! garrett, justins youngest brother, was in town and he is a blast! i love having him around, he brightens the day. on friday, J and G went out to the coast in newport to surf and hopefully catch some crab with our brand new (free) crap pots. every one we had talked to, including those out there at the same time had said that they hadn't caught anything, so much to my and their surprise they pulled up 6! by the time they got home and cooked them up, we were eating around 9:30. there is nothing better than fresh crab!
on saturday i and my friend annie threw a baby shower for my good friend clara , who is due on the 20th of this month! it turned out really well and was a great time honoring her. we weren't feeling all the shower games, so the only one we did were guess how big her belly is with the string. the best part was that the winner was a 3 year old. she was almost exact. it turned out really well considering this was uncharted territory (and thanks to my v-teachers and everyones help!)that after noon we took garrett (the ultimate thrift store shopper) to eugene jeans, a local "vintage and retro" second hand store. (for everyone who knows how many hippies we have in this town, you can imagine all the second hand stuff the produce). he was like a kid in a candy store, totally loved it. between that and our favorite hog dog place here in town we were a happy bunch. we managed to get a game of sand volleyball that afternoon because the weather was so nice. we spent the evening lounging around and i went to bed around 10:30 (and thats after the time change). i got almost 12 hours of sleep that night but it was totally needed after all the sleepless nights (just ask j how cranky i am if i dont get my sleep). we had to leave church a bit early to get garrett up to portland for his flight, but it worked out really well. garrett, thanks for coming out, you are always a pleasure to have around, and are always welcome!!

waiting for pics...

2008-03-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

so while i wait for pics to come from our fabulous weekend with garrett and clara's baby shower, i thought in honor of our next adventure, i would start the countdown for china. i totally have a one-track mind. 7 more days...

picture courtesy of : the beijing guide

movie night

2008-03-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

so on monday night, in the midst of running errands, we fell upon the $5 movie bin at walmart. we dug through it a bit and decided on adding two new flicks to our collection. one was tears of the sun and the other was legends of the fall. neither of which i had seen, but justin thought they were both good. well, last night we decided to have a night in and watch one of our new video's. i picked legends of the fall, figuring it would be a soppy love story with brad pitt and all his glory and totally surprised justin would even consider letting mewatch such a thing with him. so this movie turned out to be not at all what i expected. between the beautiful scenery, great acting and twisting story, we were sucked in. needless to say, by the end of it, we had both cryed, but at seperate times, (hes going to kill me). so i recommend it, and try to find where we lost it....

weekend in newport

2008-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

since living in oregon, the name of newport has come to mean a place totally different than my beloved former home of newport beach, california. so they are both cute little beach towns with a harbor and cute beach houses, but yet so different. the oregon coastline is breathe taking in all its beauty, more exotic and rugged (not to mention all beaches are national park and can be camped on anywhere). we had a blast staying with our friends the Jentzsch's from our ward on a spur of the moment weekend get-away. we drove out friday night to this amazing beach house right on the coast. waking up in the morning totally made us want to own a beach house were the first thing you see when you look out the window is the ocean. on sat, we went to a few beaches, justin entered a surf contest, we hung out at the aquarium, watched an amazing sunset from the comfort our our house, megan did a killer fire dance, and watched GOAL! (our favorite movie). what a great day. Sunday we went to the local ward for sacrement, walked down to the beach from the house, justin went surfing and greg got in with out a wet suit (crazy!!!), had an awesome lunch and headed back to reality. This was such a refreshing little break from the everyday, we owe such a big thanks to the jentzsch's for inviting us along for a great weekend.

the fam

2008-02-29T10:54:00.000-08:00

the aida clan. jared, james, vickie, kelly, justin, and garrett

over christmas break we got a few days to spend with the aida fam in huntington beach. it was good to see everyone and justin was over joyed to have "the brothers" back together again. its a rare sight to have them all together. this is a great group of guys and a wonderful family. i'm blessed to be a part of it. the love in between justins fam is amazing and a true example of unconditional love.

politics

2008-02-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

So Justin sent this to me earlier this morning and I thought it was very interesting. Not that I am endorsing Barack, and Im certainly not endorsing Hialry, but I think its a good to check out everything they say, even the little stuff.

Say what, Barack?
Posted on June 28, 2007 - 2:15 pm by MorningGlory By Paul R. Hollrah

Tuning in to C-Span recently, I found myself listening to a speech by Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. He was standing in the pulpit of a black church in Selma, Alabama, and as I studied the body language of the dozen or so black ministers standing behind the senator, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the little head-bobbing dolls that people used to place in the rear windows of their 1957 Chevrolets. If their reactions are any indication, the new Schlickmeister of the Democrat Party is actually a pretty accomplished public speaker. However, as he spoke, I found my BS alarm going off repeatedly, but I couldn’t quite figure out why until I actually read excerpts of his speech several days later. Here’s part of what he said:

“..something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else’s laundry, looking after somebody else’s children.

“When (black) men who had PhD’s decided ‘that’s enough’ and ‘we’re going to stand up for our dignity,’ that sent a shout across oceans so that my grand father began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.

“… So the Kennedy’s decided we’re going to do an air lift. We’re going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.

“This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great- great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in) the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don’t tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.”

Okay, so what’s wrong with that? It all sounds good… but is it? Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to “march across a bridge” in Selma, Alabama, his mother, a white woman from Kansas, and his father, a black Muslim from Africa, took heart. It gave them the courage to get married and have a child. The problem with that characterization is that Barrack Obama, Jr. was born on August 4, 1961, while the first of three marches across that bridge in Selma didn’t occur until March 7, 1965, at least five years after Obama’s parents met. Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about America . His grandfather heard that call and sent his son, Barrack Obama, Sr., to America. The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So, if his African grandfather heard words that “sent a shout across oceans,” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America, it was not Democrat Jack Kennedy he heard, or his brother Bobby, it was Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Obama’s speech is reminiscent of Al Gore’s claim of having invented the Internet, Hillary Clinton’s claim of having been named after the first man to climb Mt. Everest… even though she was born five years and seven months before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry’s imaginary trip to Cambodia. As one of my black friends, Eddie Huff, has said, “We need to ask some very serious questions of the senator from Illinois. It’s not enough to be black, it’s not enough to be articulate, and it’s not enough to be eloquent and a media darling… The only question will be how deaf an ear, or how blind an eye, will people turn in order to turn a frog into a prince.”

actually tagged this time.. thanks clara!

2008-02-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

Tagged by clara
All about my husband and me….

What is his name? Justin Hideki Aida
How long have you been together? we are quickly coming up on our 3 year anniversary (march 26)
How long did you date? we were friends for a year, each dating other people, but after a big crush from him and me finally wise-ing up, we dated for one week before talking about marriage, 2 1/2 months later got engaged, then married 3 months after that.
Who eats more? justin
Who said I love you first? i asked if he would ever stop loving me before he ever said "i love you".
Who is taller? justin- 6'5''
Who is smarter? justin. he is like a sponge, he only needs to hear it once and it is locked in. totally helps with the law school
Who does the laundry? mostly me, but he helps out alot.
Who does the dishes? we lost our good friend the dish washer in the last move, so we try to split them 50/50. i have to give credit, he really helps out with these.
Who sleeps on the right? i do. the left is too close to the wall.
Who pays the bills? i do all money matters. bills, budget, credit, whatever.
Who mows the lawn? we both neglect that. i think we hope it will not grow any more if we just ignore that its there.
Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. i go through waves of easy quick dinners and more elaborate supper time. currently im in a quick dinner mood.
Who drives when you are together? i do. my lil asian driver "is no good". although he is excellent at driving on the left.
Who is more stubborn? i am, hands down.
Who kissed who first? i kissed him. he was taking his time.
Who asked who out first? i dont know if there was a formal asking out. we had talked about hanging out when he got back from utah, but we were already friends by then so we had "hung out" a bit.
Who proposed? he did. we went to a beautiful lookout over laguna and watched the most beautiful sunset i've seen to this day (shown in the header). he waited till it was completely dark out (working up the nerves/ waiting for everyone else to leave). after we ate at Ruby's. although i must say i had already bought my wedding dress by that point.
Who has more siblings? tied. justin- 3 bro's, kelly- 2 bro's and 1 sis
Who wears the pants? i like to think i have on capris and he has some shorts.

Tag- Sheri, Lisa and Stephanie and all who stumble upon this.

under construction

2008-02-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

sorry, i am in the process of revamping my blog. i have been growing ever so sick of the look it currently has, however, i have yet to find something i like better. please pardon the "not-so-cute-ness". Thanks

lunar eclipse

2008-02-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

so did everyone catch the lunar eclipse? super cool. it started just after i got off work so i hurried home and got out my camera. i headed to the top of skinners butte, an easy drive in the middle of town, to get the best view not obstructed by trees. there were already tons of people there, but i was able to get these great shots. and a few of eugene by night.
quick question... is the lunar eclipse something that the whole world sees? or is it only a hemisphere thing? any one know?

new adventure

2008-02-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

so yesturday we bought our tickets.

March 2008
Beijing, Xi'an and Guangzhou
China

new years resolution

2008-02-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

i know these are supposed to be done around january first, but where does it say you cant change in the middle of february. i've decided i want to read more books. i have never been much of a reader but i thought i would start a new chapter, turn a new page (insert whatever cheesey line you would like). with so many movies based off of the best selling books, i usually end up watching it and then thinking i have no need to read any. well that is all going to change. i joined this online book club, goodreads.com, and have come up with a few goals to help me manage my reading. i am going to finish every book i start (a previous problem, i have little determination to finish something im not liking), and start the next one within a week of finishing another. this will be my goal.

so what i need from you is any recommendations of great books to help get me started and enthused about my new resolution. wish me luck!!

Day Fourteen: Kuata to Nadi and home to LA

2008-02-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

this was our last day... *tear* we were bummed that the wonderful journey was on its last leg, and we would heading back to the real world tonight. we said goodbye to our new friends in the morning as they headed further up the island chain, and took refuge on a hammock. this happened to be the only day out of our time in fiji when it rained, which is weird considering it was "rainy season". but it brought a whole different experience to the island (mainly it wasnt as hot). as the rain hit the ocean, it calmed it more than before and left the orchids and flowers with a beautiful clean look. you realize rain is natures bath, everything after ward looks clean and refreshed (but only speratic rain, non of this oregon everyday stuff). we hung out till the boat came at 3:30 and then said goodbye to our new friends and wonderful island. it was sad to leave, but the memories we made through out the trip will last forever.

we had timmed it up just right that we would get back to the marina around 6, and our flight would leave for LA around 10:30. or so we thought. after having 3 out of the 3 flights we had taken with this airline be delayed, we werent going to hold our breath. everything seemed fine as we reached the airport, all was fine as we watched the passengers depart from the previous flight, and then 10 minutes before boarding, they announce there will be a delay, but not just any delay. instead of leaving at 10:30, is was no postponed until at least 2:30 pm tomorrow!! no kidding. not to mention that they had only 3 people to help all 500 passengers get set up with a hotel for the evening and all their meals. not to mention after that, we had to re- go through customs again and match up our original entry forms with one out of a pile of hundreds from all the people that had gone through today. did i mention that fijian time is nothing like the quick paced, efficientcy we are used to in america? i took 2 hours to find a hotel and go through customs. luckily this wasn't our first time doing this and we were able to request the same novotel that we stayed in on the first day (im sure the nicest hotel in nadi). and we made some friends with an older couple in the line that were from orange county also. we had plenty of time to chat and learn about their travels. anyways, we finally got back to our hotel and had a wonderful nights sleep.

Im not going to blog about the next day, mostly because there are no pretty pictures to go along with it. lets just say, we spent that day hanging around the hotel, in the pool, in our room and not doing much of anything. our flight ended up leaving around 5:30 that night, and we touched down to LA at 7:30am on new years eve. What a trip!!!

After all that, we had the time of our lives. as we look back on everything we got to do, smiles streak our face because of the wonderful adventure. we were probably the least effected by it all. even though the schedule wasnt what we expected, it didnt ruin any other plans, we arrived every where safely, and had some random experiences because of it. we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go, and can't wait to get back there again.

Moral of the story, stear clear of air pacific!!!! you will spend most of the vacation delayed, postponed and in airports waiting.

Day Thirteen: Kuata

2008-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

today we spent the morning swimming across the canal to the opposite island with our new friends from the previous night. the set up was joanna and marpessa on the kayak, me on the surf board and justin and mandy swimming. it didnt seem as far from on land as it did once we were swimming. once we got to the other island, we looked around their village, and went to the other resort. this one was alot nicer than the facilities we were at, with alot more people and a volleyball net. the people were very nice and gave a us a tour of the whole place. alot of the employees were family to people on our island, most of which we knew very well now, so it was fun to talk with them. on the way back to our island, i decided i would try swimming since the board was so squirrly. i was good untill when i would put my head down, i could no longer see what was beneath me. luckily, justin let me hook on to him and we made a board train where he paddled and i kicked. i thought it worked out really well. also in the ocean there, they have sea lice, which feels like a little sting followed by itching irritation. this was awfully hard to keep swimming through a patch of and have to continue. but swimming over the reefs was great. they had blue startfish and tons of colorful fish. awesome!! -view from the hammock

crazy house built into a rock

after lunch, as you can probably guess by this point, we ressumed our spot in a hammock and fell into our typical routine of sleeping, reading, and writing in my travel log of all our adventures. that night we had a great feast and did the bula dance. think of a fijian macarena and thats what makes up the bula dance. between that and the kava, it was a good night.

this week

2008-02-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

i love the smell of: honeydoo candles
i love the taste of: yummy superbowl snacks
i love the sound of: a house full of our wonderful friends.
i love the feel of: a cozy blanket around me as i watch a good movie
i love the sight of: justin and his father together again
i love the thought of: my mom coming to visit this weekend... yeah!!!

not really tagged.. but doing it anyway

2008-02-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

10 years ago:
i was 12 and in the 7th grade at summit middle school (go sharks!). begging my mom to let me shave my legs (the rule was i couldn't till i was 14. ), i had just gotten my ears pierced (another rule that i had to wait till i was twelve), i was spending mondays and tuesday at my dads house, wednesdays and thursdays at my mom's and alternating weekends (talk about the headache of child custody), i had just gotten my first D in school and spent the summer in catholic summer school.

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. do the laundry before my father-in-law comes
2. clean the house
3. blog/email/facebook
4. get my pay check from work, yeah!!!
5. get stamps to mail in the bills

I enjoy:
traveling, playing with my hubby, playing with my puppy, talking to friends, finding old friends on facebook, blogging, shopping, taking pictures, watching movies, DVR, our new tv, baking yummy snacks, hanging out with friends, playing dress-up, cold stone, bepe & gianni's, milk, rootbeer floats, chocolate coverd strawberries, mom's cookies/cinnamon rolls/fondant/ anything else she makes, playing volleyball, coaching water polo, running in the cold, going to the beach, playing on a boat, sleeping in and the list goes on and on...

What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
pay off justins law school loans, complete my around the world trip, buy a house and a land rover, set up savings accounts for my kids, buy a house in new zealand, invest, start the clothing buisness "mattida", shop...alot, and make sure that it will last us the rest of our lives.

3 of my bad habits:
1. arriving late to church
2. working out, then eating ice cream to counter act the working out
3. thinking my way has to be the best way

5 places I have lived:
1. eugene, or
2. rancho cucamonga,ca
3. newport beach, ca
4. huntington beach, ca
5. irvine, ca (im a so-cal girl)

5 jobs that I have had:
1. physical therapy aide at the U of O health center
2. physical therapy aide in huntington beach
3. waitress at soma cafe (now closed, but used to be a really yummy healthy resturant in newport coast)
4. office worker at my dads dr.'s office
5. ... i havent worked at five jobs yet, but i might be coaching high school water polo next year, ill keep you posted

5 things people don't know about me:
1. i was an all-american in water polo in high school
2. i hate my hand writing, HATE it. i would rather chicken peck type something out than have to look back at my hand writing.
3. i love to make lists... seriously, i have one for everything. from where i want to go before i die, to my list of my lifes little pleasures, to what is on my list today.
4. i would love to live internationally for a few years.
5. i have the invisilign retainers to make my teeth straighter.

Day Twelve: Kuata

2008-01-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

ok, just so you know, it is so hot at night in fiji. recommendation: stay in a place with either a fan or a/c on at night. with that said, the second day we wanted to rent out the kayaks and see how long it would take to get around the whole island. we head out in the morning so we would have enough time to be back by lunch. there were only two other beaches on the island, and we were planning to take a break at each of them. we set out toward the west were the waves were calm, the water was crystal clear, and the sun was shinning. as we paddled along, we could see the stingrays and fishes swimming beneath us. the first beach was just over the rise from where our bure was. this is the best side of the island for snorkeling for sure. the reef spanned the whole side of the island.

we headed back out on toward our next pit stop. as we rounded the southern tip of the island, the waves started getting bigger and pushing us around. not being able to see the things beneath me+big waves= kelly freaking out!! im not so great in the ocean (i think a shark is going to come at from below). we got to where the next beach is and decided to keep going because battling the waves was worse than not stopping. i kept getting tired (i dont have much upper body strength) so i took breaks while my better half steadily rowed along. it only took about an hour and a half to get around the island, and we were just in time to catch a quick nap before lunch. we spent the rest of the day napping, reading, talking and swimming. tonight we got to know some of the other travelers. we met some great people from bristol, england, and amsterdam. we enjoyed learning about their travels/ future travels and trying out our best accents on them. another wonderful night of new friends and culture.

im telling you, every one sleeps through the day, even those that work there.

what a day!!

2008-01-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

so on sunday, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow drapped over our sweet home. despite the news reporters predictions (which are usually wrong), this morning was a snowy delight. they cancelled church due to the road conditions, so we spent the morning sledding and drinking hot cocoa. ok, so by sleddign i mean boogie boarding and surfing down a snowy hill. we have a park just up the street from our house that provided a great hill for our adventures. we bundled up in our warmest/ most water-proof gear (we lack any snow clothes) and headed out. we walked up to the park to find a few other with the same idea we had. we made some runs, chased koda, stoped her from chasing the other sledders, took pictures and enjoyed an afternoon with my family.

after some hot cocoa, movie, a nap, and home teaching, i had planned a surprise birthday party for justin. i was hoping to get him out of thehouse, but with this snow, i didnt dare make him go out in it. so i broke down and told him of all the big plans, and it worked out well that he could stay and help me set up for it. we are all about the dress up parties, so this one fit right in. we had a hawaiian/beach/surf party complete with the best hawaiian get ups we could find. it turned out well and we had a great time with our wonderful friends. we are truely blessed for the wonderful people in our lives. it wouldnt have beeen the same without them.

pictures soon to come. blogger has issues at the moment.

Day Eleven: Nadi to Kuata

2008-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

after getting in again at 3 am, having no where to stay, not wanting to sleep in the airport and having to catch our boat at 8am, we put up a big stink untill the airline put us up in a hotel. although we would only be getting a few hours of sleep here, we would get a bed and breakfast before our trip to the marina. by the time we were on the boat, we were so tired, we kept dosing in and out, making sure we didnt miss our get off point. it was an unreal boat ride, passing so many islands so close together while some were so tiny and there being no waves at all. it was like staying in this big lagoon protected by the islands and their reefs. our island was 2 hours from the denaru marina and the first island in the yasawas group. we got to our island only to find out that the big catameran only slows down to unload the people on the the individual islands dingy boat that takes them into the shore. the boat stops by each island twice a day, one once on its way up north, and once on its way back to the marina. its quite a good system they have set up to reach all of the resorts.

we made it to our island kuata to be greeted by singing fijians. we got checked into our cute little bure (pronounced bur-ay) complete with the mosquito net and everything. we were so exhausted, and it was so hot that to sleep through the afternoon was the best way to avoid over heating. lunch was pretty grose, spagehtti noodles and eggplant with old watermelon. justin joked that this might be survivor fiji for me (apparently im a picky eater... i think i just know what i like). back to sleep after we ate untill it cooled off around 4. we explored the island a bit (which took about 20 minutes) and went for a dip in the 75 degree water. it was comfortable and my kind of water for an ocean swim. dinner was a total 180 from lunch (they must have gotten in a shipment of food while we were asleep), the best chicken i have ever had. the electricity only came on between the hours of 5 and midnight, so we were able to retire early and watch our favorite movie, Goal! we noticed that once the fan went off at midnight, and the on shore breeze stopped around 10, it got really toasty in our little home. but it was fun all the same.

tribute

2008-01-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

Pres. Gordon B. Hinkley

1910-2008

loved + missed

Day Ten: Auckland to Nadi, Fiji

2008-01-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

toady was the big day that we would be leaving behind all of our adventures in new zealand and heading out to fiji for a few days. it was a sad day because we loved this city. we wanted to get on a flight at 1:30, so we packed up and headed into auckland to see the city before we went. we were told that today would be crazy because it was boxing day, which stands for "the day after christmas sale" day. and given how we know that goes down in the states (lines forming around 4am) we thought it would be a zoo of people everywhere. we drove through the down town and it was almost as deserted as it was last night. maybe because we are used to LA traffic, but in comparrison this place was a ghost town. we drove through and saw some of the big buildings, big santa, and needle before we hoped onto the freeway (in the wrong direction with no exits till the other side of the bridge) and ended up in this cute little park just outside the city. we stopped to have our own little photo shoot before going back to the airport.

nice latigra babe...

on the way back over the bridge...
Once at the airport, it turns out our flight had been delayed (no surprise!!) and would not be leaving until about half past midnight! between all the rude employees that we had to deal with, we were livid to find out this was how we would be spending our last day. had we known, we would have gone out to the beach outside auckland and enjoyed more of our time. we still had the car for another 3 hours, so we headed to a mall that we saw on the way in to kill sometime outside of the airport. This mall was so much busier than down town, we barely walked through the whole thing before calling it quits. as we were walking to our car though we passed this family standing next to their car. the lady had this frantic look on her face and i could see blood on the husband. we had brought our first aid kit just incase anything happened, so we grabbed that out of our car and headed over to see if we could help. two other people had come to help by then as well. one guy was calling the ambulance and another lady was trying to get information from this family that only spoke french. Turns out, the dad had cut off the tip of his pinky finger in the car door just as we were walking by. justin immediately went into emt mode and started to assess the guy, i ran into the mcdonalds and got a cup of ice to put the finger on. when i came back out, he was all bandaged up, the family was trying to remain calm and not understanding a single thing in english, and the ambulance was on its way. we stayed with them till everything was ok and they were all set to go get his finger stitched back on. we headed back to the airport, but this tme the wait didnt seem as bad. we just kept thinking how hard it would be to be in a differnt country and have to take a trip to the ER. we were truely watched over and blessed the whole vacation.

so long new zealand!!! until we meet again...

MLK day in florence

2008-01-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

Justin and i went out to the coast this weekend. we had a long weekend because of MLK day and the weather was great. still a bit cold, but not a cloud in the sky. we drove out and planned a picnic lunch with our good friends the jerden's. the drive out was so pretty with all the winter trees and winding through the coastal range. a great way to spend a day off.

Day Nine: Christmas Day, Cathedral Cove, Coromandel, and Auckland

2008-01-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

christmas day had finally arrived. tomorrow we would be leaving this wonderful place and headed to fiji. we didnt have many plans for today, but figured since it was christmas day, almost everything would be closed. we started off doing this hour long hike to cathedral cove, just outside hahei beach. we were both pretty tired from the lack of sleep, so it was a punchy morning. we hiked through this plush coastal ridge untill we dropped down these stairs to the cove. it was gorgeous. the cathedral cove beach was actually through this big hole in the rock (the cathedral) when at low tide you can get to it. we were the only ones there and took some time to enjoy the scenery.

After we made the 45 min. walk back to the car, we chowed down on the last kiwi of our basket and headed off toward the town of coromandel at the top of the penninsula. this is a really windy road that snakes along the outer rim of of the pennisula. very pretty (although i must admit i was dosing in and out alot during the drive). we ate lunch in coromandel at the grocery store (happened to be the only thing open). and decided out best bet for lodging would be to head all the way back to aukland. so we packed up and continued on the road. the west side of the pennisula is right along the water the whole way on a very windy road. it was very pretty also. we passed through thames (not so hot), and went through the only part of the whole trip we didnt think was pretty (as far as the scenery goes). we ended up in auckland and found this great little hotel with free internet. we were able to send out a merry christmas note to our families. we ate at a nice hotel (although the buffet was $635 per person) for more than it was worth. we drove over the auckland bridge and got a good view of the city in some fog. it was a nice relaxing day and a good way to spend it with my hubby. it was nice to get to look back and reflect over dinner on all of the great adventures we had just enjoyed. it had been a wonderful time of fun and adventure that i got to share with this amazing man that i love. he has been so great for going on all my wild trips. we make the perfect team, and i couldn't imagine being here with anyone else.

have you ever...

2008-01-23T13:20:00.000-08:00

i thought this was interesting considering i have a list of my own of lifes little pleasures. maybe one day ill publish that on the blog... My answers are in red

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive- does a corvette count?

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said “I love you’ and meant it

09. Hugged a tree- we are in oregon

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Seen the Northern Lights

14.Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa-no but i held it to make sure it wouldnt fall all the way over

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment- try the middle of relief society spiritual moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater

66. Visited the Great Wall of China- march 2008

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo- no but i know what i would get if i ever did...

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”

83. Got flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark- cow tongue...

88. Had a one-night stand (mormon... kisses only)

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently- spanglish

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour-RUSH all the way to scotland!!

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Petted a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a T.V. game show- concert tickets on the radio?

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten onions that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon- and jet skiied up it also

122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper-the day i was born

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Petted a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes

134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

portland trail blazers

2008-01-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

this past friday justin went up to portland, with the guys from the sports and entertainment law forum, to visit the trail blazers facility and meet with their general counsel. he was stoked when they got to tour the locker rooms, and feel tiny compared to the over sized doorways for the giant players. he was able to snatch this pic in front of greg oden's locker.

Day Eight: Mt Maunganui to Whangamata, Hot Water Beach and Hahei

2008-01-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

so this morning we woke up refreshed and energized and ready to continue on our adventure. our old bishop had told us about this little surf town called whangamata (pronounced fun-ga-ma-ta) that one of his buddies owns a little surf shop in. anything that pertained to surfing meant that we would be stoping. we town turned out to be super cute. a nice little beachie town that was clean and nice. we tried our first "pie" which is like a hand held chicken pot pie, but you can get it with different things in it. we heard from archie and pepper that these were the way to go for lunches. we tried the steak and cheese, amazing! one of the best things we had eaten the whole trip. yummy! we parked on the beach and j headed out to surf. this turned out to be his favorite surf spot of the whole trip, so im stoked we were able to make it.

next was to hot water beach. this was a beach that supposedly if you dig a whole in the sand at low tide, the rocks under ground will heat up the water and give you your own little hot tub. sounds good right? i was so stoked about this the whole trip, it sounded so fun. we got there 20 minutes after low tide (perfect timing), rented our shovel, and headed out to find the best spot. found a good one next to a rock and began digging. justin saw some waves and headed out for another surf session. i had this perfect whole, with the barrier and everything, just my size and while i was getting my camera to take a picture of it, a huge wave came in and ruined the whole thing. needless to say, i gave up on the whole hole thing! apparently everyone was having trouble getting a good working hole that day because the waves kept rushing in, maybe the swell was to big. this also didnt help them to heat up well, because the cold ocean water kept getting in the holes. im thinking this doesnt really work and that when you dig a hole, the sun heats up the water to make it feel warmer. just a thought. i decided to start playing with my camera instead, which was so much more fun in this beautiful beach. about 20 minutes up the road is a little town called hahei beach. we made this our destination for the night considering it was christmas eve, and we might not find anything if we waited to long. the only place open and with any vacancies was this "holiday park". its like a mix of a hostel, camp ground, cabins, rv park and motel. we ate at the only open resturant in town which happened to be next to the only ice cream place we had seen the whole trip. we got our cones and headed to the beach to eat them there and reflect back on our wonderful trip. we tried to go to sleep tonight but the noise outside our window was terrible. this is the only night we ever had any problems with noise and drunken neighbors, but i think it might ave been the quality of place we were staying at. they finally dismantled around 2am which left us with a broken nights sleep.

stitches.

2008-01-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

so last week justin calls me on my way out of work and says he need to go get stiches. he was playing volleyball with university club team and apparently can't dive for the ball like he used to. anyways, we have a good friend, Brant Cooper, who is a doc here in town and we hoped he could help us out so we didnt have to sit in urgent care for a few hours just to get his face sewn back together. such a gracious man, left his family at 630 at night to go to his office and help us out. we so appreciated it! his chin ended up needing 5 stiches in it. now he calls it his football quaterback scar from back in his glory days. i love this kid.

Day Seven: Mt Maunganui and new friends

2008-01-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

so this morning happened to be sunday, and we had no idea where to find a building so we could go to church. we hoped that like in the states, there is always a ward at 9 am, so we got ready just in case. justin luckily found a phone book and we located a building. there just so happened to be a ward going at that time, which was so nice. a bit of routine. thats what i love about the church. now matter where you are in the world, the church is always a constant. we are all on relatively the same lesson, with a similar schedule, and the same spirit. and being in a new place only means a different perspective. it is always something we can count on.

the ward was small (i mean a total of 40 people) but full of friendship and love for each other. normally we bug out after sacrament when we are on vacation, but this time, we stayed for the whole block and i am so thankful we did. we ended up meeting this wonderful couple from the states, archie and pepper sessions, that had just moved over there for no other reason than to have an adventure about a month earlier. we got along with them really well and they invited us back to their house. the great thing about not having a schedule is that when unexpected things like this happen, we can jump on the opportunities. we spent the rest of the day with them. we went with them over to hannah and adams, another young couple from the ward that was about the same age and on a similar adventure from england. we ate dinner with them and had a wonderful time talking about our different cultures, learning cockney, laughing and eating jacket potatoes (the english version of baked potatoes). it was such a wonderful way to spend a sunday, with new friends and lots of laughs. we actually stayed up late this night. it was one of the first nights we had been up when it finally got dark out. sounds lame i know but it stays light till around 1030. we spent the night on a blow up mattress on pepper and archie's apartment floor. we really appreciated the hospitality they showed us and hope one day we can show them a similar courtesy. it was a great re-energizer and nice to talk to some wonderful people. Thanks again you guys.

Day Six: Taupo to Rotorua, Turaunga and Mt. Maunganui

2008-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

we were sad to leave taupo behind but the journey must continue right. so today we headed up to rotorua (the geothermal city aka rotten-rua). the sulfur smell here is really hard to get used to, so we didnt want to stay very long. we were planning on going into this geothermal area/ maori culture center but decided against it at the last second. i dont think our nose was much up for it. we drove through town a little bit and headed to the lake. the smell wasnt as bad next to it, so we took a stroll through the local saturday's market/swapmeet thing. we spent some time talking with this local man who was selling some of his paintings. he really did some amazing work with water colors, so justin and i picked out our favorite. we are now proud owners of a leo dibley original for when he becomes famous.

we were back on the road to continue up towards tauranga and mt. maunganui were we were going to stay they night. some of the prettiest countryside is on the drive toward the bay of plenty. we stopped at the kiwi 360 museum/exhibit to pick up some kiwi's for the trip. they were delicious. did you know there is a gold kiwi that is sweeter than a greem one with out any hair on it? and also they have a kiwi grape that looks like a grape but tastes like a kiwi? the little green thing is a kiwi sppon. its a wonderful invention because before there was no good way to do it. cut the skin off? eat the skin? eat around it? this spoon has revolutionized the way we eat them. brilliant!!

tauranga is situated on the inside of a bay and mt maunganui is on he pennisula that makes the bay. we headed over to mt maunganui to see if there was any surf. we cruised the town, picked up some lunch from the local bakery, fell in love with delicioso salt and vinegar chips and headed to the beach. this place reminded us alot of newport and huntington beach back in california, except without the pretentious people and the crowds. we loved it! we would call this home if we could! we spent the day hanging on the beach, watching the kite surfers, climbing to the top of the mount at the end of the pennisula (the town is named after the mount at the end) and having a great time. that night we feasted. we didnt want to go out again so we found a local grocery store and stoked up on everything we had been missing. we had a rotiserie chicken, salad, 2 litres of milk (which we finished in 24 hours. we had been so deprived), ice cream, yogurt, avocados (9 for 2 dollars! what a steal), apples and granola bars. oh we hadn't eaten that good the whole trip! we continued our LOTR marathon as we sat with full bellies. this place will definetly be our future residence. it has everything we want in california, without the things we dont. truely a beautiful place.

Day Five: Hanging out in Taupo

2008-01-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

all week i was trying to talk justin into going skydiving today because it is like the cheapest in the world. we got all the way to the place to book it, and decided against it because that would not give us much of a budget for anything else. instead, we worked it all out that we would go kayaking down the wiakato river and jet boating over rapids. we started off with the kayaking with this whelsh family. we got in at this little inlet into the river and went down to where the bungy jumpers platform is. it was a beautiful day which meant lots of jumpers. from where we were we could see a line of about 80 people waiting for their turn. the water in this river was absolutely amazing. we could see everything below us it was so clear and they say the visibility is around 30m. we hung out and watched a few of the bungies go and then headed on down the river. half way through the trip, we came to this hot spring that dumps into the river around 102 degrees. it was so nice to hop into the water and soak in the natural warmth. my favorite spot was where the warm water met the cold water to make the perfect temp.

We finished the kayak and headed back into town for some lunch. on the way out to our jet boating, we passed huka falls, which is the most gallons per second in all of NZ or the world or something. it was really impressive and i would hate to fall into it. we got to where the jet boat was and asked if we would need to change in case we got wet. they assured us it isnt that kind of ride. at first we got in and cruised on the lake a bit, hydroplaining across the water. after the driver thought we were comfortable, he started the real excitement. this is when he started throwing in the 360's, the skimming past rocks i totally thought we were going to hit, jumping off rapids, going over rocks we could see below us, and spraying everyone. by the end of it, we were completely soaked. highly recommended. on the way back we had seen signs for craters of the moon national park. we thought it might be a good way to dry off after the jet boat. it was cool to see the steam wholes and boiling mudd pits, and it was seriously 10 degrees warmer there. after a 30 minute walk aroung the park, we had about enough. good thing it was only 5 bucks. this is a silver fern plant, the national plant. we went back into town and saw this great park that we though we would enjoy the next few hours of the afternoon just relaxing and napping.

we walked around the town a bit before eating at this terrible chinese food place, and then returned to our hostel to continue on in the LOTR marathon.

Day Four: Raglan to Taupo

2008-01-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

so today was the last day that justin was going to be able to surf this amazing break.. with the luck we had the last couple of days, we weren't holding our breath for the swell to be any good. but something must have happened over night, because today was amazing. there were perfect waves double overhead and everything was breaking. finally!! we headed to manu bay first because it was so easy to get to. its amazing watching these guys here. there were about 30 epople in the water all fighting over these 3 different waves. you could really tell the guys that road here often because they new just how to time it up and connect all three waves, this would give them about a 45 second ride! for those who dont surf, thats like amazing. a normal ride is about 15-20 seconds on average. i watched justin catch some amazing waves and was so glad that he finally got to check this off of his list to do. not that this is the only time he will ever surf here, but now he can always say he has.

ok, this last one isnt justin but i love this picture

we stayed at manu bay for a while and then headed up the road a little further to whale bay. this break was also really big, but it was a bit trickier to get into the wave. first we had to walk all the way around this cove. turns out once we got the the other side, he figured out the best place to get in is right back where we started. once he was finally in, it was cool to see three different people on the three different waves all at the same time. they really were great. i played with my camera while justin got in his surfing. we finally said goodbye to raglan and headed down to turangi which is at the south end of lake taupo. lake taupo is 260 square miles set right in the middle of the north island. at the southern end is Tongariro National Park which contains the andesite volcanoes of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. these mountains become the local ski resort in the winter and the tongariro river in the summer is the know as world famous trout fishing. we drove through this sleeply little town as we continued around lake taupo towards the city of taupo. we made this our camp for the next few days while we played in the area. clearly not my picture, but this gives you an idea of the national park.a taupo sunset through a rainy windowwe had bunk beds this night in the hostel, justins dream come true! we ended up taking the matresses off the beds though and sleeping on the floor.

Day Three: Hamilton, Wiatomo, Kawhia, Bridal Veil Falls

2008-01-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

well again when we woke up this morning, the waves were non existant. a bummer for justin who was hoping for an early morning session. we used raglan as a hub for our travels around the area so we would be back here tonight. Since the waves were so bad, we decided to go into Hamilton for a session at the temple. we got there just after 11, which meant we were late for the 11 o'clock session. so that just means we are really early for the next 1230 session. we waited ad talked to a few of the workers who happened to know our old bishop wihongi. he used to live in this area and was a bishop of a local ward in hamilton. it was fun to meet these people who had such high regards for someone who we loved as well. during our session we met several of his old ward members and extended family. we had a wonderful time getting to know them. after the session we were invited back to howard waetford's house for some lunch. we really enjoyed getting to know this wonderful man and learning about his family. it was truely great. after lunch we headed down to wiatomo which are known for their limestone caves. there are tons of adventures avaliable through them such as repelling, spelunking, black water tubing, and checking out their famous glow worms. we were a bit later than planned so the only thing offered that night was a trip to see the glow worms. we headed down into this giant limestone cavern with stalagmites and stalagtites everywhere. there is this giant chamber in one part of the cave that they call the cathedral and it is huge and gorgeous. they hold weddings and concerts in this underground cave for about 120 people. very cool. than we hoped into a boat and checked out the worms. they are actually fly larva that emit this glow to help them catch other flys to feed on. there were so many in this dark cave that it was like all the stars were out. it is so hard to describe the beauty and the feeling you get fom being 50m below ground on a river looking at these little blue lites above you. Heading into the caves:next place we headed was this little town called kawhia that is set on this bay which was supposed to bo one of the prettiest on the north island. the whole drive out there we never saw one car it was kind of deserted, which made it easy to just stop in the middle of the road and take pictures whenever there was beautiful scenery. these are of the drive out there. The bay Kawhia is onthe town itself was a sleepy little place so we found the access to the beach which was another 10 minutes down the sheep covered road. this beach was absolutely breathtaking. it was a black sand beach with not a single person on it. we stopped at bridal veil falls after taking a small, muddy dirt road back up towards raglan. it is a 125m drop of a cliff after a 15 minute walk/run (it was getting really dark very quickly). that night we continued our LOTR marathon but did not get very far because we were so tired.

Day Two: Auckland to Raglan

2008-01-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

we finally got into auckland airport at 3 am on the 18th. we didnt have any reservations yet for a car or hotel and absolutely everything was closed (as you can imagine). we were really tired and cranky and not to stoked that we would be spending the first night of our grand adventure in the airport. but with the car companies opening at 6, we would rather just get an early start the next morning.

we ended up getting a great deal on a car at 6 and by 7 we were off. the only place we had any exact idea we wanted to go was raglan, an hour outside hamilton on the coast, so we headed there. it is about a two hour drive from the airport but we enjoyed the early morning radio shows patterned after kiis fm ryan seacrest show. it was complete with a "lil' ally" wannabe and "60-seconds of sleeze". i think it was so funny to us because we were absolutely sleep deprived. we rolled into raglan and started our first hunt for lodging. this was totally foreign to me because all of my vacations are usually planned out, especially lodging. we went to a few places, but non of them impressed us. finally we found the Karioi Lodge. a very nice place with a great front desk gal who set us up in the "sweet as suite". we liked to think of this as the deluxe suite of the hostel because it was a fully self contained room set off away from the rest of the hostel. after a quick nap, it was off o check out the famous surf breaks. as we pulled up, i had always imagined this moment to be looking over these ginormous perfect left breaks just waiting for justin to hop in there and catch the perfect barrel. but as we got there we were surprised to see it was completely flat! not a single wave over 2 inches.

a little disappointed, but it turned out to be good because it gave us a chance to check out all of the different breaks. turns out there is raglan beach break, manu bay and whale bay that are all good when the swell is there. this is manu bay which is the most accessable. as you can see, no waves. a surfers worst nightmare after flying halfway around the world.next we checked out whale bay, which is just a little bit down the road but is more exclusive. you have to walk through this tiny little staircase inbetween these really nice houses that overlook the break. to get out to these waves is a bit trickier because they crash onto a rocky shoreline equaling lots of cuts if not done properly. we look so tired and sunburned :(they had these beautiful canna flowers while we were there that i loved the colors of. i love flowers and justin is excited because i take pictures of them so it lasts longer.

j decided he wanted to get in the water at the beach beak in raglan. it was a bt rainy and cold so we didnt stay very long. we were soon off to bed, or at least in our bed to start the marathon of lord of the rings, it only seemed appropriate.

Day One: LAX to Nadi, Fiji

2008-01-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

after driving down from oregon friday to get into my parents house at 2am on saturday, we started this day off with little sleep. not to mention we were ao excited because tonight we would be leaving for our big adventure. after a soccer game of courtney's, last bit of erands before our flight, a few games of laser tag for courtneys birthday, and family pictures for the christmas card, we were finally off to the airport. with our back packs packed packed to the brim and a surf board in tow, we were so excited to be on our way. we also lucked out to score the exit rows on the second floor. it seriously felt like we were in first class or something because we had our own flight attendants for about 40 people. the ten hour flight did not seem so bad. we arrived in to nadi (pronounced nandi), fiji at 5:30 am expecting to catch a flight at 8:30 am to auckland, but apparently the flight was going to be delayed untill later that day. so the airline put us up in a hotel for the day so we would not have to hang out at the airport. this turned out to be one of the nicest hotels in the city. we ate breakfast and with our new friend graham, decided we should head into town as to not waste a day in paradise. we caught a cab and went into the main drag. its a real touristy mile long strip with many souvenir shops and banks. we weren't going to buy anything because we were going to have several days here at the end of our trip.

Fijian sunrise from the plane

breakfast before we went into town. i was really tired.

from the main strip we wanted to go to the beach. we hoped on the local bus system which is different than what we have here. these buses are all open with as many peopple as they can fit in it. we sat on a row with 3 other people, so with the high humdity, it made for an interesting experience. the fijians are some of the nicest people. everyone was so talkative and interested in where we were going and if they could help. im sure they dont get very many foreigners hoping onto their buses with them. we got off and were told to walk 15 minutes down this street and we will come to the beach. this was a beautiful walk along a road that had only a few houses speckled along it. and these were no mansions. most of them looked to be about 750 square feet with steel paneling as walls. many had their cattle or sheep wandering right around their home.

Nadi, Fiji

once we got to the beach we were so hot from our walk that we couldnt wait to get in the water. after a photo shoot for the local newspaper about vacationers in fiji, we hoped in. the water here wasnt quite as refreshing as we had hoped. it felt like 80 degrees. soon we were back off to our hotel to see if any news about our flight had come in yet and to get some lunch paid for by the hotel. we hoped back on the bus which dropped us off about 5 minutes from our hotel. it wasnt untill we got back to the hotel that we realized how sunburned we were. we didnt put any sun block on that morning and had spent the entire day in the sun. two little lobsters is what we turned out to be. we ate some lunch and found out our flight was now scheduled for 10:00pm, so we had some time to rest befor heading back to the airport. our flight was again delayed a bit but by 11:20 we were finally in the air and happy to be back on our way.

our big adventure

2008-01-08T14:26:00.001-08:00

so i really liked the way one of our friends told about their big trip and decided to follow a similar format. since there was so much that happened while we were in new zealand and fiji, ill take you through it one day at a time. heres a map so you an orient yourself with what the heck i am talking about. we stayed only on the north island, and within that we only went as far north as auckland and as far south as turangi. this truely was an amazing place that would need alot more time to get a good taste of what this country has to offer. we are already planning our next trip back.

home sweet home

2008-01-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

so last night we finally arrived back home to our little house in eugene. it was truely like a shock wave as we entered the freezing cold home that we were no longer on our grand adventure. with the temp being around 32 degrees, our days lounging in the tropical sun were over. we are now back to big coats, lots of layers and the heater on 100% of the time. as hard as it was to sit in the cold house, it was good to be back. we missed our routine and everything we have grown to enjoy in this town. it is good to be back.

Merry Chirstmas

2007-12-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone. i hope all is well and that wherever you are, it is great.

we are in auckland, new zealand getting ready to head to fiji tomorrow night. we have been having the best time and i cant wait to see everyone. much love to all.

countdown continues

2007-12-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

ok, you are probably getting sick of this by now, but i just cant help myself. we only have 4 more days untill we leave. i must admitt, getting ready for this has been quite stressful because we have to also prepare our house and lives for an entire month of not being at home. but then the idea of sitting on white sandy beaches and tropical weather makes everything worthwhile.

photo shoot

2007-12-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

in an effort to get things done, justin and i, along with our good friends the parkers, spent saturday trying to get our christmas cards done. so we went to alton baker park to snap some shots, and i got to let out my inner photographer. it was such a blast to shoot this family. they boys are so cute. we were only there an hour, and had it been warmer than 40 degrees, we might have stayed longer. but here's some of my favorite shots.

and a few of us...

disaster in paradise

2007-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

so today isnt quite as exciting as the previous posts. apperently there is a category 4 cyclone over the islands of fiji right now, causing flooding, landsides, and huge winds. already 12 people have died and others are still missing. many of the fijians homes have been distroyed in the 120 mph winds. This trip has been justin and mine honeymoon to new zealand and fiji. I never thought i would say this but i wish we had just a little bit more time left on the countdown. but needless to say we still have 7 more days untill we are scheduled to leave.

a sweet note

2007-12-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

I love you babe, I can't wait to see you for lunch. I have so much fun with you.

j

this is what makes my day. a sweet note from my hubby reminds me why i love him so much. when we were in college we used to leave notes on each others cars when we would find it in the parking lot. now we have resorted to emails as we are both on the computer all day. oh how i love the ways he lets me know i am his one and only.

countdown continues

2007-12-04T13:14:00.001-08:00

this one is for you babe. with only 10 days to go untl our departure, we are so excited. this picture is of Raglan, the best left surfing wave and part of the reason we are even going. look at those sets!!

this week

2007-11-30T13:03:00.001-08:00

i love the sound of: good music. i am not one who loves christmas carols (i know, how un-christmas), but any time i put in some good tunes, i can just relax, get stuff done and forget about all the stuff i have to do.
i love the sight of: sunshine. especially this time of year where we don't get a whole lot, when the sweet rays peak through the clouds, it perks me up instantly and makes the next five days of pure rain dueable in oregon.
i love the touch of: my soft blanket as i curl up to watch tv at the end of a long day
i love the taste of: christmas chocolates and candies: fondant balls, peanut butter balls, mint, vanilla and almond flavored chocolates, caramels, sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, rolo cookies, toffee, pies, you name it I love it.
i love the smell of: pottery barn pomegranite diffuser. this stuff is heavenly and can fill a house with the sweet arouma.

let the countdown begin

2007-11-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

since i am so excited for our adventure to the other side of the world, i fugured i would blog my countdown. we are down to only 16 days untill we leave. thats crazy. it has been a long time coming. heres a preview of the land we are headed to.

thanksgiving day

2007-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

so even though all of our plans originally fell through, this turned out to be a really good day. thanks to the parkers for letting us share this day with them (and only 1 days notice). we had a great time with them and their three adorable kids. and after an arousing game of grapes vs. raisins (the 5th wards turkey bowl of elders vs. young men) the huge turkey dinner never tasted so good.

lil' jace and baby jerum

christmas came early

2007-11-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

so i know the tradition is to put the christmas tree up the day after thanksgiving, but justin and i couldnt resist around the 4th of november. thats right, almost two months before the actual holiday. we have this fake tree that we inherited from my mother, so we thought, why not? so sunday afternoon we put it up. what we didnt realize is that we had absolutely no decorations for it. it was just a dull fake tree. the next day, justin went out to the dollar store and picked up some great ornaments. when i got home from work that night, we had a beautifully decorated tree. i wish i could take some credit for it because it looks so good, but it was all him.

season finale

2007-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

ok, so most of you know i am a sucker for reality tv. years ago my mom and i got hooked on this show called the bachelor. if you have yet to see this great show, its about a guy who gets to date these 25 women all in hopes that he picks them in the end. usually in the last finale the bachelor proposes or gives a promise to try this in the real world to one lucky lady who had endured all the past rose ceremonies. well last night was "the most shocking rose ceremony yet" (they seem to say that every season). brad womack (aka the bachelor) decided not to pick either of the girls!!! unheard of!!! both of them went away crying! so tonight is the "after the final rose" when everyone comes back and confronts brad, so it is sure to be some drama.

Turkey Day!!

2007-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

oh how i love this day, let me count the ways

5. spending time with those you love
4. its a day set aside to remember all the things we forget to be thankful for through out the year. a day to reflect on all the blessings we have been given and give thanks for it all.
3. a paid day of no work. what a concept, get paid and not even go in. i love it
2. all the turkey bowls football games- the grapes vs raisins (you know what i mean 5th ward) is a favorite on this day held at monroe middle school at 9:00 am. and finally...
1. a feast of absolute deliciousness. the turkey, gravy stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and so much more. a combination so good it leaves you in a trance afterward thinking about how good it was.

just what i needed

2007-11-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

I got this quote the other day in relief society and it really hit me hard. The teacher started off the meeting saying she put 10 quotes into this box and she was confident that we would all get the one we needed. As i sat smug in the back thinking "how do you know what i need to hear right now, i dont even know who you are," the box got passed to me. This is the quote that came out.

"Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. Your character will grow; your faith will increase. There is a relationship between those two: the greateryour faith, the stronger your character; and increased character enhances your ability to exercise even greater faith." -Elder Richard G Scott, Using the Supernal gift of prayer, Ensign, May 2007.

It really touched me because of all the struggles we have had these past few months. With everything that has been going on, justins job, my job, our new ward, ect. we have had a really hard time staying optimistic. I realized that even though no one here may know what I need, God uses them to answers my prayers. This womans lesson, although I have no idea who she is, was what I needed to hear. I needed to know that this was one of those things I needed to be greatful for instead of letting it drag us down. It taught me to be patient, have faith and it will all work out in the end.

this week

2007-11-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

i love the smell of: fresh caramel cooking
i love the tatse of: halloween candy... yummy!
i love the feel of: pumpkin guts as we carve a face into it.
i love the sound of: *ring ring* "go home, we are all done at work!"
i love the sight of: the trees changing colors and their leaves falling to the ground.

OREGON vs. USC

2007-11-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

so this last weekend justin and i along with our friends attended the university of oregon football game. it was so much fun to be there when our Ducks pulled off a 24- 17 WIN against the USC Trojans. it was such a blast being part of all the hoopla and watching as all the fans rushed the field after the victory.

2007-10-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!

ireland and scotland

2007-10-17T12:20:00.000-07:00