The Adventures of Jenn

Post #101

2012-01-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to celebrate my 100th post! But that's ok, because everyone always celebrates the 100th whatever. Poor, sad 101st always gets left out. So today we will celebrate the 101. Someday maybe we'll choose to celebrate 253. I'm pretty sure that one always gets forgotten.

Christmas Eve.

I know. I'm so far behind chronologically.

I'm not even in the right year.

Stay with me. We're almost current. :)

Somehow I've convinced my family that fun runs are fun and that we are a family of runners.

Is this true? the jury's still out on that one.

But in the meantime, we organized what we called, "Running in a Winter Wonderland."

T-shirts were made.

With a big snowflake on them.

Which is ironic because despite the fact that it was stinking cold when we actually did the run, it was clear as a bell, and later that day we had to turn the heater off and open windows because it was too warm in the house.

Maybe there should have been an asterisk next to the title with a note down at the bottom saying, "traditionally thought-of winter weather not included or guaranteed."

Nonetheless...

We braved the bitter California Christmas Eve morning cold to run about a mile and a half (with a rest stop halfway). And we looked good doing it, as evidenced below.

I have a fun family*.

The before.

Danny and Dylan. Already feeling victorious for simply managing to get David out of bed and on the family run.

Kari might have been cold.

Mom, The Moll, and Claire all looking good!

Action shots are always best. Right Dad?

Claire in her sweet ride wearing Auntie Kari's hat.

Kallie always managed to come in first. I wonder why? :)

Pulled a hammie?

Chad likes to chicken dance when he's on the home stretch.

Brad is looking very determined here.

Harlows are #1!

The aftermath.

*This asterisk is not a note on how fun my family is. It's to apologize for knowingly creating such a long post. But if you made it this far, you know the post was long. And, of course, thoroughly enjoyable. :)

Ice Skating

2012-01-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

I finished work on December 23rd at 11:30am, and vacation began immediately! I didn't have to go back to work until the next Wednesday, and I hadn't had that many days off in a row since June. So not only was all of my family in town, but I was on vacation.

To kick things off, my mom drove up to my neck of the woods with Kallie and her adopted grandchildren (with makes my sister-in-law so jealous!) Allie, Jaden, and Bella. We had a quick lunch at McDonald's (so gourmet, I know), and then we headed to the outdoor ice skating rink that they built in my neighborhood this winter.

Though skating was difficult for some, we all had a great time! It was a beautiful day and not too crowded. I was amazed at how quickly the younger girls picked it up - even though they wouldn't really let us lace their skates properly. :)

Allie and Kallie warming up. The rink had buckets to let the kids stake with as they got used to it.

My mom helping Bella. Umm...you may want to go the other way. :)

Kallie using the bucket.

Time to pose! Can you tell by the squinting that it was a little bright?

Allie and Bella - so cute! Somehow I never got a picture of Jaden. Oops!

Cute Bella...

Then Kallie, Allie, Jaden and I went on the Ferris Wheel. These are some of the better pictures. To my mom's credit, it is very hard to catch people when they're in a moving object. :)

Hey - there's a face or two! :)

A quick snack and everyone was back on the road, and the family Christmas vacation time started for me!

My Christmas Dreaming

2012-01-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas was dreamy.

I'm pretty positive that what made it so wonderful was not the presents or the music or the food (SO much food!) - even though all of that was exceptional. I'm pretty sure it was the time that I was able to spend with my favorite people in the world.

So here's a quick snapshot of just a few moments from Christmas. (Please remember that I'm not a great photographer and I have a slow camera. So most of these images are more beautiful in my mind. :) )

Kallie on our ice skating adventure (before she lost her tooth!).

Claire on the slide. Literally hours of entertainment for her on this thing.

Dylan all bundled up for our Christmas Eve Fun Run.

I'll give more details and updates, but I just wanted to throw my three favorite faces out on to the internet. I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year!

I At Least Thought About Blogging Today...

2011-12-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

And I have a lot to say.

But that's as far as I got.

Yep.

Can I fall into bed now?

It's Almost Christmas!

2011-12-07T21:32:00.001-08:00

I can't tell you how excited I am to be with my family this Christmas. It's been several years since we've all been together on Christmas, and this is the first time that I will celebrate with the twins. I just love my family so much, and we have a stinkin' good time together!

I know I mentioned it before, but this has been my favorite Christmas CD this year - Glad Christmas Tidings. I just listen to it over and over again. And then it plays in my head all day at work.

And one of the things for which I'm most grateful is that I haven't heard my least favorite Christmas songs at all this year. That's right - I've pretty much only listened to my music (not the radio because the one in my car is stuck on AM and really only gets KNBR), so I haven't had to listen to the ones I don't like. AND, when a friend asked what my least favorite Christmas song is I, of course, said The Little Drummer Boy, but then I couldn't even think of the other one I dislike so much! If it wasn't so annoying that I couldn't recall that information, I'd be 100% happy that it's so far distant from my thoughts. Instead I'll be 99.99% happy. OK - I'll go a full 100%. What the heck?!

I feel like I''m rambling. Am I rambling?

I'll just say one more time...I'm excited for Christmas!

Also - our house is just magical right now. The lights on the outside, the decorations on the inside. Just magical.

Can you tell I'm exhausted?

I Love Winning!

2011-12-04T19:01:00.001-08:00

I am not the most competitive person in the entire world.

However...

When I go to bridal or baby showers and have to play the games, I want to win them.

Not like I'm going to gauge someone's eyes to make sure that I get the prize, but I definitely put on my game face and get serious. Especially if the prizes are good.

I went to a shower on Saturday, and here are my spoils:

I also scored a butterfinger, but Ari used it for a dessert for the party, so I didn't get it in the shot. But that's a really nice candle! And I totally earned it. I mean, not to brag, but I totally killed it. Basically I brought my A-game and was totally AWE-some. It was a hard game.

Oh...and it was nice to celebrate the impending birth of the child of my friends too. :)

Fancy, Part II

2011-12-04T18:39:00.001-08:00

The most important part of any gathering is the people that you get to share it with. I was not very diligent about taking pictures at our party, but our friend David snapped a few.

Here's our fancy music. Nicole brought her flute and Chandra brought her violin. Julie made our horrible piano sound melodic, and Jacosa graciously sang for us. It was all beautiful! This made it feel like Christmas to me.

Why don't we do this more often? In the olden days people would sing and play instruments for entertainment after dinner. I wish we would do this more often.

Here's a group shot. We didn't get a picture with everyone because not everyone was here at the same time, but this is the after-music crowd. What a good-looking group!

This was our silly picture. Did I need to explain that?

Heidi, Nicole, Christina, and David.

I didn't actually get a picture of myself or with my roommates. I knew I was forgetting something... :)

Thanks everyone for such a fun, fancy evening!

Oh, the Fanciness!

2011-12-04T18:15:00.001-08:00

I love having and/or attending fancy Christmas parties.

There's something so wonderful and kind of grown-up-feeling about making yourself up a little bit nicer and slipping into a fabulous dress and heels and then spending the evening munching on yummy food that's elegantly presented, sipping sparkling cider, and chatting with friends. Add Christmas lights, decorations, and super-classy live music and it becomes an "occasion."

Of course, I'm writing this while sitting on my couch in my sweats.

But last night, there was fancy. I was fancy. And it was fun.

My roommates and I decked out the house (inside and out - I even helped with lights!), whipped up some of our favorite food and invited friends to come fill our home for a fancy Christmas party. It was so fun!

Here are a few shots of some of the fancy food:

Charity's white chocolate craisin cookies.

I made mini chocolate peppermint cupcakes. I should have taken a picture of them on the red plate. It looked better.

Up close. Yum!

This is something that I think I want to do with my niece this Christmas. Ariane made these hot chocolate dippers. It's a marshmallow on a stick that you dip in chocolate and then decorate. These are reindeer and snowmen, but she also did some plain ones. Super cute and fun for a hot chocolate lover like myself.

We had other food, and it wasn't all sweet. I just forgot to take pictures of the other stuff. Sadly, my lemon bars didn't cook all the way through. I don't know what I did wrong. I took them out when they were golden brown on the top, but when I cut into them they were liquidy. Needless to say, they did not make it to the table.

I'll save the rest of the pics for tomorrow so that the fancy can live on a little bit longer. :)

Also, my favorite Christmas CD this year is the concert from last year by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David Archuleta. It's so good! My favorite new song that I had never heard is "The Cat and Mouse Carol." I just love the worshipfulness of the music. And David Archuleta is better than I thought he'd be. I've never listened to much of his music, but he's really quite talented. I highly recommend the CD. I got mine at Target. :)

Ten Thoughts In My Head Today

2011-11-28T21:41:00.001-08:00

1. Man, 5:30 is early!

2. This tree sure drinks a lot of water. I really hope it lives through Christmas. Or at least through Saturday.

3. Why did I only bring healthy snacks to work with me?!

4. Ooh! I love getting my hair cut! And I'm glad we went with just the blonde this time.

5. Wow - you can definitely tell that I haven't been to the gym in a couple of weeks.

6. Would it kill them to put some fans in this gym?! I'm sweating like a pig! But I'm running surprising well for my recent lack of gym time. Well...running and walking. It's all cardio.

7. How are people buying tickets for Wicked already?! They weren't supposed to go on sale until Saturday! Drat those online codes!!!

8. If I eat a very healthy lunch then I don't have to feel bad when I just eat cereal or toast for dinner, right? Right.

9. Oh man! Has my slip really been showing like that all day? How embarrassing!

10. I love the little outdoor ice skating rink by my house. It's not New York City, but I still think it would be a fun little winter date to go there.

It's Christmas!

2011-11-27T18:39:00.001-08:00

I love Thanksgiving!

And ours was wonderful this year. Food, family, and friends all rolled into one great weekend. We played new games, I laughed until I cried, and my mom and I even made our own cinnamon rolls.

One of the fun parts of Thanksgiving weekend is that we then get to prep for Christmas! Hooray!

Two of my roommates have fake trees, but we heard that WiseBuys had trees for $10, so Ariane and I decided that we should go check them out and maybe get a real one for the house this year. We looked at about two trees before we decided on one. It's a beauty! It's about 9 feet tall and it smells like delightful evergreen. I think this is the tallest tree I've ever had in my life. OK - maybe one of the Boston Christmas trees was taller, but probably not by much. This one just seems so huge!

However...somehow I always manage to get myself into projects that require putting large things on top of cars. There was the gigantic dry erase board in 2004, and yesterday there was the tree. We did pay the extra $2 to have it netted, which was very helpful. But this was a 9 foot pine tree! And Ari and I had to hoist it up on top of her car and then make sure that it didn't fall off on the drive home. And we're GIRLS!

This was no simple feat, but we did manage. I guess that's the thing about buying a tree at WiseBuys. They'll net it for you, but they can't take it any farther than their little lot. So we lugged it to the car and then got it on the roof and tied down. I got pine needles everywhere. My hair, my shirt - I even found one later that day that had gone down my pants. How does that even happen?! Also...this may not be a good omen for our $10 tree. Should it really be losing that many needles? Let's hope that it lasts at least a week. :)

We got it home, in the stand, in the house, standing up relatively straightly, and decorated. Here are a couple of shots.

Not bad, huh?

I'm now sitting snugly on the couch, wrapped up in my blanket looking at the tree with its beautiful lights, and White Christmas is playing on the television. White Christmas is one of my absolute favorite Christmas movies.

Ahh...Christmas contentment.

My Not-So-Hidden Talent

2011-11-20T19:30:00.001-08:00

It's time for me to admit one of my talents.

I feel that I should no longer hide my candle under a bushel.

Perhaps I can help someone somewhere because of the natural gift that I have been given.

So here goes.

I am amazing at watching television.

Scoff if you will, but I believe that this takes stamina, discernment, a sharp eye, and impeccable taste. I can whip through the guide and know what's worth wasting my time on and what's not. I can learn, laugh, cry, travel, and cook all from my couch. I can get sucked in for hours. That sounds sad. But it's not because I do leave my couch and live life too. And that's happy.

Being sick this week allowed me the opportunity to put my skill to great use. Because...realistically, most days are so busy that I don't have a ton of time to devote to developing under-valued talent.

Yesterday was kind of a marathon event for me, so let's see if I can give an accurate recap. I woke up WAY too early, but then I compensated by going back to sleep from 10:30am to 1:40pm. I guess that's what happens when your body is recovering?

Here's what I watched in no particular order: The Muppets Take Manhattan (got that for $5 at Wal-mart), part of The Next Iron Chef, two episodes of International House Hunters (they were in Holland!), Survivor, two and a half episodes of Psych, two and a half episodes of Designing Women (what a find on a Saturday!), the end of the USC/Oregon football game, some of the Cal/Stanford game, the finale of Top Chef Just Desserts, Gilmore Girls, Keeping Up Appearances, the end of last week's The Sing-Off, and I think something else that I'm forgetting right now. But even if I'm not forgetting anything, that's kind of a lot of TV.

Really...days like this are only justified when I'm not feeling well. Which is probably why they're fun. They only happen every once in a while. But when they do happen, I know that I am letting my little light shine. :)

On another note, I only have to work three days this week!!! What a fun thought!!!

Thursday Thoughts

2011-11-17T18:46:00.001-08:00

1. I have the sniffles. So I am resting in the hopes that they do not turn into a full blown cold. Of course, I also made a deal with my immune system that if it could keep me going just long enough to get through the work week that it could let me be sick all weekend. So far so good. We'll see what happens on Saturday.

2. I would much rather have the sniffles than a sore throat. That's how this started. Just a little scratchy throat on Tuesday morning, but by noon it was on fire. At several points I wondered if it would just be easier to rip my throat out of my body. Don't worry. Instead I went to CVS after work and bought soup, Gatorade, Airborn, and lozenges. And then I went to the youth Etiquette Dinner and prepped, plated, and served food to the unsuspecting masses. Let's hope I didn't pass anything along. :)

3. Do you ever miss a place? This fall I've been missing BYU. Maybe it's because it's the time of year when school begins and football games are being played, and there's a part of me that still longs to be in school. But today I wasn't wanting to be in Provo. I missed Europe today. I know that's very general, and I've only been to three European countries, but I just wanted to be there. And because I've lived there, I feel like I'm allowed to want to be there in a way that is different than just wanting to visit a place you've seen in the movies, you know? Like...I want to visit the Nora Ephron-created, romanticized New York City in You've Got Mail, but I can't really miss that or know what it's really like on West 89th Street, because I've never been there. But I can still see parts of Europe in my mind's eye and I can still feel parts of it in my soul. And today I wanted to be transported there. I wanted to speak Dutch and have someone understand me. I wanted to get on a train. I wanted to ride a bike and visit a museum, and be there again. And then I woke up from that daydream and I was still going through attorney's mail. Someday Europe. I'll be back.

4. Why do I love and hate Costco so much at the same time? They have so much good stuff, which makes me want to buy it all, but then I would be out of money in no time. They have the softest blankets, and fun movies, and great books - all topped off with delicious free food samples. Aaacckkkk!!!! It's a dilemma every time I walk in the door. And they've got us all paranoid that if we don't buy what we think we want the moment we see it, it'll be gone. Because everyone knows that if you wait on something that you see at Costco (especially non-everyday items), you might as well give up on ever seeing it again. Heck - you can't even second-guess yourself during your own shopping trip. You may decide that you want to walk around the store while you think about whether or not to get that Nordic-ware bake set. By the time you get back around...gone. I'll have you know that there were only four - yes four - copies of the Doris Day movie collection on the shelf tonight. Do you think they'll be there the next time I go back? NO! I hesitated and therefore I am lost. I'm sorry Doris. Next time I'll know better.

OK - I'm now going to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls (I'm in season 3 right now), take a bath, and go to bed. I was watching GG yesterday while resting, and Kirk had a great line. Rory and Lorelai each made a funny comment and he said something like, "I'm sorry. I'm a little fuzzy right now which is why I missed your comedic hyperbole." I just love a show that can use the phrase "comedic hyperbole." But my point in using this quote beyond illustrating the writing genius of Amy Sherman-Palladino is that I'm a little fuzzy tonight, and I may be missing more than comedic hyperbole. I just realized that I wrote some LONG paragraphs. The great part is that you can stop reading any time. When people talk to me they can't get me to be quiet, but when I blog people can take me in whatever dose they choose. Anyone still with me? Yep...time for Gilmore Girls. :)

Just Call Me Schnookums

2011-11-14T21:18:00.001-08:00

OK - I haven't really been inspired AT ALL to blog lately.

But at the urging of my sister and Corrie and because I just laughed out loud with no one else around, I will post this.

My friend, Erin, writes one of the wittiest blogs I have ever read. AND she wrote a book, which I think is amazing and I want to be just like her someday. (Buy her book!)

Anyway, she has started adding advertisements to her blog. Just by clicking on them I am pretty much sending her money. Not bad, huh?

So I clicked on one this evening. It was to see if I would qualify for a grant to go back to school. But I didn't stop there. I actually went through all the questions. However, at the end they want all of your contact information, which I'm not too keen on giving out. (Besides...I apparently only qualified for one program - an online Master's of Education through Grand Canyon University (who?) with no financial aid. Totally bogus!)

So I just created myself a new internet identity. It's Schnookums McGee. I live at 501 Pleasant Way, in case you wanted to know.

The best part was at the very end when I submitted all of my information. The advertisement at the bottom said something like, "If you liked this, Schnookums, you might also like..." My computer called me Schnookums! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

This kind of sounds like the dumbest thing as I'm writing it, but I just found it hilarious.

Also - conundrum of the day: why do stores that sell skin care and make-up products have the worst lighting of all time? How do I know if that tinted moisturizer actually IS the right one? I walked around Sephora today looking in about a half-dozen different mirrors. All with very different yet equally horrible lighting. Baffling. The staff kept asking me if I needed help. I wanted to shout at them and say, "YES! Please help by creating a not lame environment for me to test your products, stupid!" So I didn't buy either moisturizer. I asked for samples of both and I'll test them in my own light. For cryin' out loud.

Today I'm thankful for a gift card that I found that I'd forgotten about and scripture study and my toothbrush.

Let's Be Thankful

2011-11-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago (I'm going to say November 2004), my good friend (and then roommate) AmyAnn, taped several pieces of construction paper to the closet door in the entryway of our apartment. Next to these she fastened a string with a pen attached to it. On the paper in big, bold letters she wrote, "I'm Thankful For..."

Throughout the month of November (and beyond), we (and most people who came to visit) would write what we were thankful for that day. Whenever we felt happy - and especially when we felt unhappy, frustrated, or grumpy - we were reminded to go to the Thankful Board and find something for which we were grateful.

I learned a very important lesson from this Thankful Board. Gratitude has an amazing power to change our hearts and lift our souls! And I have so much for which to be thankful!

So as we approach Thanksgiving (one of my favorite holidays!), I'm going to make an effort to be more thankful. Starting right now.

I am thankful to work with the Young Women of my ward. Tonight was their annual Night of Excellence, and I can truly say that they are EXCELLENT! They amaze me, and I am grateful that for a few hours each week I get to bask in their stellar-ness.

I'm also grateful that I get to serve with such superior women. They teach me a lot. And put up with a lot from me. So I am thankful to know them and associate with them.

This isn't all of us. We were a few short tonight. But here's us tonight.

Let's all be grateful!

Halloween

2011-11-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

This year, I decided to make my costume for Halloween. Ok - I decided to ask my incredibly talented grandma to teach me how to sew by making a costume for me for Halloween. :)

We had a great time! It is always fun to spend time with my grandparents, but it's also really fun to have a project. Here are a few of my pictures from the weekend.

Here's me in my Alice in Wonderland costume. I LOVE it!!! I really felt like Alice.

Koreen, Nicole, Christina, and I ventured to Berkeley for a Halloween party on Friday. After I finished changing into my costume in the car (quite an adventure in itself!), we enjoyed the festivities for a bit.

There was another Alice there...

The Berkeley Institute building used to be a mansion, so we climbed up to the attic to look around. Guess what we found? A tiny door! Of course, Alice had to check it out. That's what she does!

Then we found an even smaller door! So...I popped through to say hello.

And then I needed to climb through a window...

...and out onto the roof. (Sorry that the pictures are sideways).

And, I couldn't end my Halloween post without a tribute to Grandma and Grandpa. Here they are at their friends' Halloween party. Don't they look fantastic?! Hmm...I wonder where I get my excitement for dressing up? :)

Monday, Monday

2011-10-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

So...this may have been my sister's anthem for the day, but this totally made my night! I was listening to the english version in the car on the way home tonight. So much fun to find it in Dutch!!!

Other random thoughts of the day:

* I have found the piece of clothing that I think I could live in for the rest of my life. It's called sweatpants. I have been longing for a new pair for at least six months, and Saturday that dream came true. They are the most comfortable thing on the planet, and I wish that societal norms allowed me to wear them everywhere!

* I have got to find a way to not be gone for ALL DAY every day. I get up at 5:30, am at work at 7:30, and tonight I didn't arrive home till almost 9:00. That's p.m. Tomorrow's not looking any better. I like all of my extra curricular activities. Maybe I can cut out work? Probably not.

* At least my gym bag made it into the car today. I didn't actually make it to the gym, but I was prepared. Maybe tomorrow...

* My Halloween costume's almost done. And it's AWESOME!!! I'm so glad that I have a patient grandma who likes to teach me to sew. Now it's just the dang zipper. She asked tonight, "Are you sure you don't just want to use velcro?"

* I packed my lunch and ate outside today. I love those lunch breaks. They feel longer, and I get to read my book. And it's the good autumnal warm outside.

* A boy told me that he loves me tonight. Granted, it was Ariane's almost-five-year-old nephew, Allan. But it was so cute! I love you too, Al. :)

*Did you know that the study of unidentified flying objects is called ufology? Pronounced you-fall-uh-gee. Isn't that so funny? I love podcasts. I highly recommend "Stuff You Should Know."

Slaap lekker hoor!

Family History, I Am Doing It!

2011-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

This has been a very cool weekend for me with regard to my family and family history.

Yesterday, my mom and I were able to go to the Sacramento Temple to do the endowment work for two of my great-grandmothers. What a wonderful morning it was! I'm so grateful for temples and that they not only allow us to make sacred covenants, but that they bind families together forever. And I love being there with my family members. :)

After the temple (and a quick trip up to the outlets), we went to the Rhoads Family Cousins' Luncheon at Davis Ranch. This is a yearly luncheon that has been put on for the past 30 years by this woman, Ellen Rosa.

I'm sorry that this isn't a great picture of her, but she's 86 and she LOVES family history! And each year we have the opportunity to gather and learn more about our family and meet distant cousins.

See...I'm a sixth generation Californian on my mom's side. We came over just before the Donner party. And then we went back and rescued them. And then some went back to Utah, and some (like my family) stayed in California and settled all the land just east of where I live now.

This is the second time that I've gotten to go to the luncheon, and I hope I get to continue to go. It's wonderful to hear the stories and recognize that we are where they were. It helps me to feel more connected to them. And it inspires me to do more family history so that I can spend more time linking us together in the temple.

Happiness is Little Pizzas and Venn Diagrams

2011-10-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of the concerned comments, calls, and texts regarding my last post. Perhaps I was slightly more verbose about my bad day than I usually am, but I didn't mean to make everyone worry.

Let me clear things up.

I may not love my job, and it may be causing me some stress right now, but I'm totally OK. Life is still good.

In fact, tonight when I got to my grandparents' house, grandpa had made little pizzas for an appetizer.

Is there anything that could make a person happier than having a grandpa who makes you little pizzas?

You may be thinking, "yes."

If so, then you've never had my family's little pizzas. :)

And the other good thing about not loving work is that it's causing me to really look at life and what I want my career choices to be. Sometimes you need to know that you're in a situation that you don't want to be in forever to cause you to take some action to create a new situation. Right?

I've also realized that many of my jobs have come as kind-of knee-jerk reactions to needing a job and not really knowing what it is that I want.

The phrase from the scriptures that keeps coming to mind lately is that I now want "to act and not be acted upon." It's time to buckle down and make big-girl choices about where my life is heading.

So...I'm using one of the things I learned at the conference last weekend to help. It's a Venn Diagram.

You all remember what those are, right?

I think they're great.

But I'm also a little nerdy and like things like Venn Diagrams.

They look like this:

Each circle represents something different, and then your middle ground of your three variables is the answer for which you're looking.

The talk I heard related that in order to be in a VERY HAPPY place in your career, you need to put the following three things in the diagram:

1. What you love to do.

2. What you're good at doing.

3. What the world values (i.e. will pay you to do)

If you can find a career that incorporates these three factors, the likelihood of career satisfaction is very high.

So, I'm using this as a model and making lists. I'll keep you updated. Comments about any of the three factors in relation to me are welcomed. There are no bad ideas in brainstorming. However, I reserve the right to veto your ideas later on. :)

OK - this post is too long, but I'm not editing. I'll sleep instead.

And, yes, I did more than just learn at the conference. I met many wonderful people (read "great guys"), some of whom I'm hoping to keep in touch with (read, "Hey tall, dark, and handsome - call me!). None of this is making any sense anymore is it? I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday!!!

Hmm...

2011-10-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

Can you be grateful and antsy at the same time?

I'm so grateful to have a job in a market where jobs are scarce. I am able to meet my needs and live comfortably. Heck - I drive a mile and a half to get to work! That's fantastic! I work with nice people who are kind to me. I have benefits.

But I'm antsy.

And since my job description got turned upside down a week and a half ago, I'm starting to loathe going to work. I mean really loathe. Perhaps despise, detest, and abhor. Well - that seems strong, but those were all words that crossed my mind today while I was trying not to cry.

And that makes me sad.

Because a couple of weeks ago I knew I was antsy because there's just more for me to be doing in life.

Now it's because I have a job that I didn't think I was going to have and don't know how to do and that might very well give me ulcers someday. Or at least a lot of anxiety breathing.

And yet, I am reminded how grateful I am that I have a job. I'm not desperately looking for a job so that I can pay my rent and eat. My life is richly blessed.

There is opposition in all things?

This too shall pass?

Every rose has its thorns?

I will try to be more cheery tomorrow, but tonight I'm going to fall asleep thinking about the Venn Diagram of Career Happiness that I learned about at the conference, not General, this past weekend.

Oh, yeah, the conference. I'll post about that tomorrow too. :) What a teaser, huh?

Boise Pictures

2011-10-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here are several thousand words worth of pictures from my recent trip to Idaho. Holy moly I miss that family so much!

Dylan woke up on Saturday morning and all he wanted to do was help me put together his new high chair. And sit in it at the same time.

We like to call her hello-I-just-woke-up-and-have-crazy-hair-Claire. Not really. That's kind of a long nickname. But her hair was beautifully out of control.

Their real nicknames are Diz (or Dizzy) and Rita (or Frita or Frita-lay). And they WILL grow up to be Boise State fans. It's forced from an early age. This was right after Dylan pretty much took over Claire's toy. Oh well. Move on.

Dad started rapping to Claire and she was completely entranced. So much so that she forgot that she hates wearing hats. Dad's command of "the flow" is mesmerizing.

Danny and Dylan. Go Broncos!

I may have mentioned it before, but this girl just makes me melt!

Powdered donut?

Yes, please!

Our amazing gymnast! I got to go to her class, and she did such a good job!

Sisters, sisters! There were never such devoted sisters! So cute and cuddly. :)

I can't wait until Christmas when we're all together again!

Conference Time...But Not General

2011-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to this today.

I'm looking forward to it.

And not at the same time.

I have a love/hate relationship with being single.

And I think that these events accentuate all aspects of that.

But I'm going with a good attitude and great friends, so that should be a winning combo.

And, don't worry - I know not to surround myself with a lot of friends the whole time. I will leave myself open to meet lots of new people. Even my grandpa made sure to remind me that no guy has enough courage or ego to come up to a large group of girls and ask to talk to one of them in particular.

Yes, I recently had a dating conversation with my grandpa. And grandma and aunt and uncle, actually. :)

So...off to a new adventure!

Seven Quarters from Kallie

2011-10-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

One more cute Idaho story:

On Saturday (after the ice cream that the twins devoured), the men took the babies home to go to bed, and the girls - me, Mom, Mollie, and Kallie - got ready to go hit one of Mollie's new favorite stores.

As we stood in the restaurant getting ready to go, our conversation went something like this:

Mom: I don't have my purse. Do you?

Mollie: No.

Jenn: No.

Mom: So that means that none of has a driver's license with us. Jenn - you drive.

Jenn: It also means that we don't have any money.

[We all look at each other realizing that the shopping trip might now be less fun when Kallie looks up with all the worry of a six-year-old.]

Kallie: And I only have seven quarters!

Ok - maybe it wasn't as cute when I wrote it down as it was when it actually happened, but I just love that girl! She's just as sweet as can be!

And, luckily, we didn't need to use her seven quarters. :)

It's Hot Chocolate Weather

2011-10-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well...for today it is, and I love it! Rain showers, a few bolts of lightning, and cuddling up with a big mug of hot chocolate and fresh peanut butter cookies. A little slice of heaven.

I know this is fake Fall, but I won't complain. That's the beauty of California. We'll get a couple of days of rain and then by the weekend it'll be 75 and sunny. Perfect combo. And then by Halloween it'll be real Fall, and I'll be ready for it.

Speaking of a slice of heaven...I got a triple helping this past weekend! How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful family?! I just wish that Boise was about seven or eight hours closer to Sacramento. Who can fix that for me?

I accidently left my camera in Idaho and won't get it back until Sunday, so instead I'll fill you in on some of the memorable moments of the trip.

1. We hit a coyote. And I'm pretty sure that we not only hit it but that we smashed it to pieces. It ran out of nowhere on a dark Idaho highway and Dad was going somewhere in the neighborhood of 80. Who wins? Not the coyote. It did some damage to the car, but luckily no one was hurt. In fact, we didn't even stop to check on the coyote.

2. It was so fun to have Kallie read a Pinkalicious book to me! Usually I do the reading, but she's getting so grown up, and she totally read it to me. And...her handstands and cartwheels rock. Mine and Mollie's aren't too shabby either.

3. I love being the grown-up who gets to go in and get a baby out of the crib. Claire took a few minutes to warm up to me the first time, but then it was all hugs from both twins. There's something wonderful about a 15 month old being SO HAPPY to see you come into their room. Arms outstretched, laughing, cuddling terrific-ness. I loved it so much that I even broke down and changed a poopy diaper. That's big for me.

4. We had dinner at Fuddruckers on Saturday evening, and the twins were really tired and unhappy. So Mollie bought them each an ice cream cone. Say what you will about the nutritional value, but those things were golden. Plus, they were hilarious with them. Neither wasted any time diving right in.

About half way through their cones, we looked over and Claire had eaten part of her cone, but it was taking too long to get to the ice cream. So she held the cone in one hand and used two fingers from the other like a shovel - scooping the ice cream from the cone and depositing it into her mouth.

Dylan, on the other hand, turned his cone upside down and smooshed it onto the (plastic, thankfully) tablecloth. He then set his cone to the side, ran his hands through the ice cream on the table, sucked it all off of his fingers, and then laughed at himself.

Two very different, but equally effective and humorous methods. And, let me tell you, they didn't waste any of that treat. :)

5. I got to skype with Kari - TWICE! I haven't gotten to talk to her since she left and it was so good to hear her voice. In fact, we had her on skype on Sunday evening when we called my grandpa for his birthday. We put the phone on speaker and grandma and grandpa got to talk to Kari through a phone via computer. Technology is so cool that it might have made several of us cry.

More vacation stories tomorrow, but I'll end with my sister's super easy and delectable peanut butter cookie recipe that I whipped up tonight. Enjoy fake Fall!

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix ingredients and roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use a fork to make the cool criss-cross design. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Don't overbake! Let them cool for a few minutes or they'll crumble. For best results, enjoy with a glass of cold milk or a mug of hot chocolate.

Pretty Soon...

2011-09-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

...I get to see this face!

And these two faces! (Pay no attention to the spit-up on D'd face.)

Ok- they're all way more grown up now, which is another reason why I need to go visit. I'm so excited to head to Idaho tomorrow for a quick trip!

If my blog posts get a little sporadic the next few days, please know that it's because I'm traveling or playing with the cutest kids on the planet. (Don't argue with me about this. It's my blog and I get to decide who the cutest are. Done.)

I'm not really looking forward to the drive, but Mom and Dad and I will have fun. Hopefully I won't drive them crazy. At least there's a very low possibility of snow this time.

And now I have to pack. I'm going to be so tired tomorrow. But I couldn't pass up the delightful evening I had tonight. I got to visit with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle from San Diego. It was even fun talking about dating. :) Don't worry Kari - they're coming for Christmas. They wanted to see the whole fam.

Did I mention that it's almost Conference weekend? Wohoo!!!

The Season's End

2011-09-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

As one season is just beginning (you know, autumn), another has come to a close.

Last year at this time we were celebrating the extension of the season. September turned to October and the season marched on. The fun was alive, and the people everywhere cheered for the joy that the season brought.

But, this year, the Giants aren't playing any October baseball. The season ended today. Sad.

In fact, I remember being at Disneyland last October as they were making a run to get to the World Series. People throughout the parks were in Giants gear and checking scores on their phones. We would come off of a ride and check to see if Wilson had FINALLY closed out the game. We celebrated with random people as we came off of California Screamin' and found out that the Giants had beaten the Phillies in the NLCS and were headed to the World Series. There's just nothing like the thrill of October baseball.

It just wasn't meant to be this year. Injuries plagued us. There were a few drains on our payroll.

But we love you, San Francisco Giants! And though your season ended today, we're already looking forward to next year!

Adventures With Food

2011-09-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

I love working with the Young Women at church!

Even though I stress out all the time about getting activities ready every week, once we get started I'm reminded of how wonderful these girls are and how worth it it is.

Tonight the YW came over to my house because they decided that they wanted to learn how to cook a meal from start to finish.

And apparently I was the teacher.

Luckily, if you can read, you can fake your way through cooking a meal. Even if it's a meal that you've never made before.

Also luckily, the girls are very patient with my scatteredness and lack of being able to ever time a meal so that it finishes all together.

We made fettucine alfredo with chicken and broccoli, green salad with homemade ranch dressing, and homemade strawberry ice cream. Not a bad menu, right?

Too bad that I forgot to defrost the chicken. So...in the middle of cooking I made them stop so that we could read some scriptures for Personal Progress while the chicken was in the microwave.

Also too bad that we didn't get done until 8:05. I think everyone was starving.

But they did a really good job! The meal was delicious. (Sorry about that ONE piece of pink chicken Hollie!) And they all said that they thought it was something that they could make for their families. Success!

A special thank you shout out goes to Angie for giving me a chopper for my birthday and to Jessica for letting us borrow the ice cream maker. The shallots were really making people cry until we pulled out the chopper.

And now the dishes are all done and my kitchen in clean. And I'm going to bed.

Because I forgot until tonight that I signed up to feed the missionaries tomorrow.

Good thing I can read, because it looks like I'm cooking again tomorrow. :)

France. We Come From France.

2011-09-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how many of you remember the classic SNL skit that became the movie The Coneheads (this isn't a great link. Sorry!).

Whether you are watching this clip for the first time or seeing it and having SNL flashbacks of days gone by, please note the funny way in which the Coneheads move.

They are very stiff and formal. When they turn, they seem to turn with their entire bodies.

Not that my head has grown ten extra inches, but I kind of felt like them today.

I have a kink in my neck that has stopped me from turning to the left all day long.

Annoying!

I had to swivel my chair any time anyone came by my desk to talk to me today. It's just not normal to always have to turn with your whole body. But you also can't be rude and talk to people without looking at them.

I need Kari back here with all of her massage skills so that I can move without pain.

And without looking like an idiotic conehead. :)

A Little Sunday Song

2011-09-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

9. 11:30. 1. 8.

What do these numbers have in common?

They are the times of meetings that I had today (including church of course).

That's a lot of meetings in one day. I'm exhausted.

Luckily they were good meetings.

On another note...do you know that next weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year?

It's GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Hooray!!!

In preparation for listening to our prophet's voice, I shared this little song with my Young Women today.

Isn't that a fun way to learn who the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve are?

I'm not sure that they are quite as excited about Conference as I am, but I'm going to try and share my excitement with them. I handed out a "Conference Notebook" today, and one of the questions was if it was homework. No, it's not homework! It's just helpful.

And I'm very much looking forward to it.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast

2011-09-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm back.

Please pardon the interruption.

My internet has been seriously struggling, and I just couldn't fight with it on Thursday.

Yesterday my excuse was laziness mixed with a big dose of over-tired.

But I'm back on track. Hopefully...

Tonight I'm very grateful that I was able to watch the General Relief Society broadcast. I am blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I love that I am also a member of the largest women's organization in the world.

It's not often that I take the time to remember that I, as a woman, have wonderful innate gifts and qualities.

But I do.

We all do.

We are daughters (and sons for you boys) of God. And that is something more wonderful than i can comprehend.

I need to remember that more often. And then act accordingly.

Here's a link to some highlights of the meeting. It is more than worth the time to watch or read the whole thing, but if nothing else, the highlights are good too.

I particularly loved President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk.

I'm going to try really hard to "forget not" the principles and truths that he taught.

Also...I went to the mall today.

Day Dreaming

2011-09-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few examples of places I'd rather be tomorrow instead of work. I'm grateful for work, but tonight I'm thinking that it would be better if tomorrow I could be in...

...Monterey,

the Temple (doesn't have to be Salt Lake),

at a Giants game (especially since they're making a late run for the wild card),

Mexico (or Costa Rica),

Idaho (to see that cute family that lives there),

Seattle,

Disneyland (or World - I'm not picky),

or even San Diego.

I may not get to go to any of these places, but at least I get to go visit Gram and Gramps. :)

I Totally Know Her!

2011-09-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

OK..."totally" might be an extreme word.

But I do know one of the cast members of this season of SURVIVOR!

OK..."know" might actually also be a strong word.

But I did take English 251 from this lady at the good ol' Brigham Young University.

That's right. She was my teacher. We had the big blue anthology book that I think I still have packed away somewhere. I can't remember why, but one of my classmates did a presentation and used the song "One Night in Bangkok." And we had one of the McConkie grandchildren or some sort of relative in that class. I'm also pretty sure we read something by Poe. Weird the things that you remember.

And now she's on Survivor. And I totally know her!

Artsy, Smartsy

2011-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about living in the Netherlands was finding random Dutch art. I loved it! I have so many pictures of sculptures or exhibits in the middle of cities, soccer fields, anywhere.

So you can imagine how much I loved the art that was everywhere at Villa Montalvo. I only took a few pictures, but here's a little sample of what we found. Most of the art was created out of repurposed materials.

This was a manual wind chime (if there is such a thing) made out of fire extinguishers and bicycle chains and wheels

In oder to get the chime to start, you had to pull the cord, which was attached to the wheel (shown here) that's above Koreen's head. So fun to use!

One of my other favorites was the wishing tree. There's a huge pine tree on the great lawn, and there are these tags on which you can write a wish or your gratitude and attach them to the tree. Here are a few of the tags that I thought were just great/funny.

Clearly...superpowers.

Yoko Ono?! Not sure why, but ok.

This is my back-up birthday wish every year! I had to take a picture. "And...I really do want world peace." (That's another movie quote quiz. Anyone?)

And, last but not least, is the bike in the air. Actually, I believe it was titled "Luck of the Irish." Hmm...what is that saying about the Irish? I have no idea, but I think it's fantastic and hilarious all at the same time.

I love places with random art.

The Birthday Adventure

2011-09-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here's where I got to spend the day yesterday: the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA. Not only was the weather gorgeous, but we spent the day on these immaculate grounds. Doesn't it feel like something from an Austen book or movie?

This is a view of the villa from the Formal Garden (filled with roses and sculptures).

Here are Koreen, Nicole, Ariane, and Charity in the courtyard of the villa. The area just in front of them used to be a pool, but now it's just grass. That would make this bench like a lounge chair?

On our hike/nature walk. There are 2.5 miles of beautiful trails. We seemed to like to take pictures on the bridges. :)

Mix pine and eucalyptus trees and you have one of the best smelling walks ever.

A very nice couple stopped to take this group shot for us.

After our walk/hike, we spread out our blankets on the great lawn and had a very relaxing picnic.

Very relaxing.

Then we walked down to the Love Temple and Formal Garden. They were setting up for a wedding down under that white plaza space in the background.

In the garden.

On our way from Montalvo to the Saratoga Village (where we walked around and got ice cream), we found a house that was not only for sale, but it was open for an open house. We totally stopped and took the opportunity too peek inside once of these huge fancy homes.

When we were upstairs, I told Nicole to get in the bathtub and I'd take a picture. She was afraid we'd get caught, but she said she couldn't say no because it was my birthday. I like that rule! Sorry Nicole! But...it really is a fun picture. :)

This was the house. It was ok. I've decided to take my 4.75 mil somewhere else though. Because we all know Nancy's home-buying rule: Never buy a house on a street with a double yellow line. But it was fun to look. Hooray for spontaneity!

Here's one more shot of the villa from the great lawn.

I'm so glad that my parents took me here as a kid, because I really loved going back and visiting as an adult. It is a beautiful, serene place. And it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered in my mind. Which is nice. I'm glad that I didn't have exaggerated memories that were shattered when I came back. Instead, my memories were validated and new ones made.

On the way home, we stopped at Mom and Dad's house for a BBQ. Not only was it delicious, but I just love being home. Home and family and friends are just such a warm, comforting, happy combination. Then add tri-tip, home-grown tomatoes, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and the Giants winning again, and could the day get better? I don't think so. Well...if BYU hadn't gotten slaughtered by the U it could have been better. But we'll let that one slide.

33 Wonderful Years of Life

2011-09-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

I am WAY too tired to actually post about all that we did today, but I do want to say how grateful I am for all the wonderful people in my little corner of the world and for the blessed life that I have lived for these past 33 years.

I have a great life! And I love my family so much. They are my absolute favorite people in the world and I just always want to spend time with them. Good thing we have eternity! :)

So...in this upcoming year, I think I need to learn how I can better share my blessings.

And as a teaser for tomorrow, here are my two favorite quotes from the day:

"It sounds like a melon."

"Jenn, you are like...lemon gelato."

Excited?

Thanks for such a happy birthday.

Also, thank you to the Giants for winning again tonight. That was a terrific birthday present.

Birthday Eve

2011-09-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

I was starting to get a little moody today about my birthday.

Weird, right? I mean...considering that I've been waiting with excited anticipation for quite a while now for my birthday, you'd think that today would be the big lead-in.

But instead, I found myself getting all sorts of reflective.

I was walking back from delivering the mail at work and realized that, at 33, perhaps I have lived a third of my life. Then the questions started to come. What have I done with my life? What are my talents, and am I using them? Where am I with my job/career, and where do I want to be? What improvements can I make? Will I get married? Have children? Go back to school?

Granted, these questions are not really bad, but sometimes when they hit all together, they can be overwhelming. I could feel myself starting to go down that woe-is-me road.

But then my visiting teachers came with a birthday treat for me. And they brought me this beautiful balloon bouquet and made me feel like like a million bucks. They are fantastic, and I am so grateful that they are my friends!

Ok - it's getting late, and I can't figure out why this pic won't rotate, but you get the idea. :) Happy Birthday Eve!

Early Birthday Surprise!

2011-09-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Look what I came home to tonight!

Yes, oh yes, my friends. It's a doorknob. Excuse me - a door handle. AND I'M SO EXCITED!!!

My door was all wrapped up when I came home from my meeting. Nick and Emily had carefully wrapped up my door, and they had even written notes and drawn pictures on the paper AND on paper underneath.

Really, the whole door was covered when I got home, but this was after the big reveal. Those are my socks taped to the door. They're no longer just stuck in the hole where the handle should be. (Don't worry - I will take them down soon.)

Can you see the joy on my face? Now, I have to say that all my talking about getting myself a doorknob was in no way a hint that someone else should do it for me. However, I'm totally stoked (who uses that word anymore?) that I got this. I think it's been about 15 months since I've properly closed my door. I feel so grown up. Thank you Nick and Emily!!!

Thank you also to Angie for the AMAZING chopper that she brought me at our meeting tonight! Dicing onions will never be the same. :)

P.S. I made brownies to take to work tomorrow so that the office can celebrate with me. One batch of mint and one batch of peanut butter chip/chocolate chip. Mmm... Why have I only been to the gym once this week?!

I was thinking about some mellow contemplative birthday blog post tonight, but who can be emotionally melancholy when there's a new door handle to celebrate?

Let the Celebrations Begin!

2011-09-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed with wonderful grandparents. And what's even more amazing is that though only my maternal grandparents are still alive, I grew up with all of my grandparents.

And now, I live only about 25-30 minutes from my grandma and grandpa. It's great to be so close!

Tonight I took a little drive out to see Barb and Chet. Grandma is teaching me more about sewing by helping me to make my Halloween costume, and we got the whole thing cut out tonight. It's going to be awesome.

Anyway...my point in starting this was to say that after a great dinner prepared by Grandpa, my sweet grandparents had chocolate cupcakes for my birthday dessert! With beautiful crystal sugar on top. And mine had a candle. And then they sang. Yes, the two of them sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and I loved every minute. I am fortunate beyond belief to get to spend so much time with them.

And the cupcakes were delicious because they were made with love...and sugar. (That's what Kari says is Grandpa's secret recipe.)

So, with the first song and the first candle blowing, and the first cupcake, the birthday fun has begun!

(I'm really not so super stuck on myself and my birthday. But, with writing every day, it makes for a fun topic. Just a disclaimer.)

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2011-09-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

Here goes:

1. I want to strangle my internet. It keeps starting and stopping. Comcast - for what service are we paying you?!

2. I'm SOOOOOOOO tired right now. I am not so super at getting up an hour earlier to work overtime this week. But I'm sure that I'll like it when my next paycheck comes, right?

3. My new contacts came in today. Wohoo!!! Did I tell you that I was dumb and dumber and threw away my last pair without realizing that it was my last pair? Yeah. Smooth. I think I may have already told that story. Sorry. The happy ending is that I'll see clearly again soon.

4. Speaking of getting up early, the other day I was thinking about all of my Young Women who get up so early to go to seminary before school. Then I was thinking about when I went to seminary. I'd just like to give a shout out to Mike and Todd who gave me a ride every day my freshman year. Thanks to you I learned about the band Anything Box. I think we listened to them and Depeshe Mode (sp?) and Erasure every day on the way to seminary. I still can't hear "Living in Oblivion" without it transporting me back.

5. My 13th birthday was the day that my parents had a phone line installed in my room and I got my very own phone. It was a see-through phone that lit up when it rang. I didn't really even like talking on the phone, but this was the coolest right of passage into teen-dom that I could possibly have imagined. Ah-mazing. A birthday never to be forgotten.

6. This year I will be 13...plus 20.

7. My dad and I talked on Sunday and he thinks I should take an edgier route with my blog. Take the English language to a new level, you know? In fact, we came up with a new title. "MLA - Modern Language Assassin." What do you think?

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow is coming all too quickly. :)

It's My Birthday Week!

2011-09-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

It's almost my birthday!

I know that as we get older, modern society tells us that we should like our birthdays less and less. However, I find myself liking them more and more. There's just something wonderful about it being "my day." I recognize that I share that day with many others, but it's still just so fun!

I've decided to buy myself a present or two this year. Would you like to know what I'm getting? It's not like I'm going to wrap things up and give them to myself. That would be weird.

I'm getting a new doorknob.

Odd? Perhaps. But if you've been to my house in the past year and a half, you'll know that my bedroom has been without a doorknob for almost that long.

See...we had the Young Women over to my house for a sleepover, and one of the girls accidently locked my door and then closed it behind her. Neither I nor my property manager had a key for this door. And the window was closed and locked because we had the a/c on. So I let the girls do their best to pick the lock (we called it "learning a new skill"), but no one could get it open. When the locksmith came the next day he said that if we hadn't tried to pry it off he probably could have saved it, but we had pushed it beyond revival.

Since then I've had a pair of socks stuck in the hole in my door where a knob should be. And at night I have a rock that I use to keep the door closed. (My "Y" rock from BYU freshman orientation.)

But I've decided that 33 is grown up enough to need a doorknob. Maybe 32 wasn't, but 33 definitely is.

Now I just have to learn how to install it. Can that count for Personal Progress? :)

God Bless America

2011-09-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

I love the Sabbath Day. For me (most of the time), it is a day of rest. Yes, this often means a nap, but it also means time for reading, journal writing, family visits, family history, working on my calling, and maybe a nice evening walk.

Today has been a little bit different though. It's the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th.

Like many Americans, I remember that morning very clearly. I was living at home with my family, preparing to leave on a mission. I was asleep, actually, when my mom came into my room to wake me. My brother, Danny, was on his mission in Tennessee. Kari and David and my dad were all at school I think. But Mom and I watched together as the events unfolded. It was hard to believe what were were watching. It truly didn't seem real. It seemed like something created for a movie.

But it was very real.

And, I have to say, that even now, the images of that day are difficult for me to watch. It became too real. And I didn't even know anyone who was there or really affected. But I think that it affected each of us - somehow.

I don't have any great insights about the memorial of this day. But I do have a couple of links to share.

The first is a Washington Post commentary that the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson wrote about 9/11 and faith. Just as we say that we will never forget the tragic losses and the sacrifices that so many made that day, I hope that we will never forget the faith that sustained so many of us. That same faith can sustain us every single day.

The second is a broadcast of Tom Brokaw and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that aired today. I just think that it's a beautiful musical tribute to those lost and those who carry on.

I'm so grateful to live in a free country, and I am overwhelmingly grateful for those who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to provide us with our freedoms.

A Few More From Wyoming

2011-09-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

Sisters! Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters. :) Here we are at the Tetons.

David - pointing at something. Spectacular view though.
The boys. Danny and David and Dylan. I'm sure that when Diz is old enough, he'll have fun with facial hair on vacation too. :)
LOVE this face! And her cute little poses.
Is this not the most hideous hair poof in the entire world?! We peer pressured Mollie into taking it out. But it makes for a funny picture. And little Claire is adorable anyway!

My Exciting Friday Evening

2011-09-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's definitely not as good as

but
makes a decent Friday night substitute.

Costa Vida and Project Runway. Not a bad way to end the week.

And I even have left-overs for lunch and one more episode waiting on my dvr. Saturday's not looking too bad either. :)

Take 2

2011-09-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just wrote an entire post and then deleted it.

Why? Because I'm still a little too guarded to just spill my guts on the internet.

So...you can either be thankful or disappointed that I used my blog filter and my delete key this evening. Maybe someday you'll hear more of my thoughts on dating. :)

In the meantime...I'll tell you about a different summer adventure - Music Circus!

What is Music Circus? It's a theater in the round that runs seven different musicals in seven weeks here in Sacramento. They used to hold the performances in a tent, but now they have a nice, modern, air conditioned theater that still has a bit of a feel of the circus tent. The actors use the aisleways for entrances and exits, scene changes, and sometimes even costume changes. The shows are usually fantastic!

My friend Ariane introduced me to the beauties of being a Music Circus usher a couple of summers ago. See...if you volunteer and come early and usher (you have to sign up and have a training and everything), then you get to see the show for free. Awesome! Many of our friends are on the Friday evening usher crew.

Plus! this summer I learned that you can get free popcorn after intermission. Double score!

This summer I was able to see six of the seven amazing performances. It's a great way to see theater. I wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. :) Here's what the season was:

The Producers (I actually only stayed for half)

Oliver!

Anything Goes

Camelot (the one I missed)

Annie Get Your Gun (my fave of the year)

I Do! I Do! (my least fave of the year)

Miss Saigon

Granted, I have to wear white and black, but it's fun to talk to people as they're coming in, and then I see a show with my friends.

I think it's good summer fun.

Maybe Too Much?

2011-09-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

I might have over-done it at the gym today.

I can barely feel my arms. Is that a bad sign?

I just joined the gym, and I'm trying to have more well-rounded work-out weeks. Which means that I have to do more than cardio. But I'm good at cardio. It strength that I'm not so good at. (Sorry for that dangling participle.)

But I had a free initial consultation, and it became very apparent that I need strength training in my life. Apparently especially in my triceps. :)

So I went to a class today. Body Pump. My dear friend KB used to go to it, and she said it was hard but good. And it was.

But who knew that I would hardly be able to lift my arms to wash my face tonight? There were a lot of reps of a lot of things. I may not be able to walk tomorrow.

Oh the things we do for healthy bodies! This is good for me in the long run, right? :)

Classic Cinema and Camp Ritchie

2011-09-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday I get to go to church and lead activities with the Young Women. I love it. I love it because I love the YW. They are stalwart and amazing and wonderful and fun.

Tonight we had a movie night. We premiered the movie they made about a month ago, "Lehi's Dream." It was bring-a-random-prop night, and then they had to use all the props to make a movie of a scripture story. It was great!

After we watched their cinematic greatness, we had "classic LDS film night." There's a whole era of church movies that these girls haven't seen. So...I introduced them to a couple of great titles. Our library didn't have all the ones I wanted, but I did manage to score "Spiritual Crocodiles" and "What Is Real?" The great part is that even though the clothes are dated, the messages are still right on target.

As promised, here are all of my pictures from this past weekend. Here's a shot of the forrest.

Me hiking in the forrest.

Koreen, Melissa, and Erick right before we realized that we were kind of lost. I made them all sit on this fallen tree to take a picture. Koreen sat in sap. Oops!

Down at the lake. Not a bad reading spot, huh?

Me and Koreen as we were leaving the lake.

Here's the flower bed that I made! It kind of looks camouflaged, but really we had to dig a ditch for those big rocks to sit in. It was hard work!

I'm Back!

2011-09-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you have a splitting headache that you think will either drive you to tears or make you pull out all of your hair?

Take some Advil and watch three episodes of the Gilmore Girls? Me too!

That was my afternoon. And I'm pretty sure the headache was my own fault. Lame! First of all, I was dumb, and last night I threw away my last pair of contacts thinking that I still had more. Nope. This morning the cupboard was bare, so I had to wear my OLD glasses from about 8 years ago because my newer ones got stolen when my car was broken into earlier this year. Not only are they not cute, but the prescription is old and I'm just not used to having to carry something around on my face all day.

Second, I didn't eat enough this morning/afternoon. So I'm pretty sure that this compounded the headache. Oh well. I think I'm better now. :)

How was my weekend, you ask? Well...here's the quick sum up:

1. Camp Ritchie was beautiful. The lake was gorgeous. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

2. First impressions of the camp included these quotes: "This is why no one brings suitcases camping! Or maybe why I don't camp!" and "I am NOT a mountain goat!" Let's just say that it was dark when we got there, no one showed us where our cabin was, and all of the "trails" to things were basically rock faces. We pretty much had to climb down to our cabin with all of our gear, sleeping stuff, etc. Thankfully the light of day made it easier to find things. It didn't make it easier to actually get there, but we could at least see where we were going.

3. It was a very young YSA crowd. 'Nuff said.

4. I did meet some very nice new friends and get to spend some time with old friends, so it was totally worth it.

5. I dug a ditch and built a flower bed. When they said we'd be giving service, they really meant it!

6. The food was really good and there was LOTS of it.

7. We went on a hike, got lost, prayed, then found the road. Love faith-promoting experiences. :)

8. I got to sit in the sun by the lake and read a book. One of my favorite things in the whole world!

9. The stars were amazing!

10. I was reminded that while I love the outdoors, I really am not a big camper. When Koreen asked if I would be an RV camper or regular camper, my answer was that I really like being a cabin person instead. Just like Grandma and Grandpa's growing up. (I'm still so sad they sold it!) Nothing fancy. Just a place in the woods with indoor plumbing, a kitchen, beds, and a big table for meals and card games. We could sled right out the front door in the winter and we were at the pool or lake within minutes in the summer. Perfection.

What did you do for Labor Day?

Technical Difficulties

2011-09-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

So...I'm getting some feedback that my "comments" section isn't working too well. Sorry! Though I'm not going to attempt to fix this today, I will attempt to fix it on Monday. Because I'm going out of town in about an hour and I don't have time to attempt what I perceive as a huge technological hurdle. I never ran track, and my hurdling skills are simply not up to par. But I'll get things back on track for sure! In the meantime...thanks for commenting on facebook. :)

Speaking of technicalities and going out of town...

My streak is about to end. I'm going up to the mountains this weekend, and I won't have an internet connection. Or even cell service for that matter. (That sounds like the beginning of some horrible horror movie plot. "She left for the mountains expecting peace and serenity with no cell phone or wifi connection. Little did she know who she would meet in that forrest trail. Dunt, dunt, duh!" Or something.)

What I'm trying to say is that I won't be able to post on Saturday or Sunday. But I think everyone will live. And I'll be back on Monday. Hopefully I'll even be back with pictures and stories from this adventurous weekend. Hey - it's a singles weekend. There are bound to be a few anecdotal gems. And maybe even pictures.

However...if I post this weekend, you can know that I came home early because it was lame. We'll see. :)

In the meantime, here are a few more Wyoming pictures. Happy Labor Day Weekend!

We ALL loved the alpine slides. Ok - Grandma and Grandpa didn't try them, but everyone else did. Ok - the twins didn't either. But everyone else. Here are Kari and Kallie.

Sorry this pic came out small! Mom, Kalls, Dad, David, and Kari in front of the Tetons on the way to Yellowstone.

The fam at Old Faithful. We were really grateful to finally be there!

Me and Dad waiting for the geyser to blow. It did. They really know how to time that thing.

Danny and Claire. Isn't she too cute?

This one's small too. Shoot! Don't worry. I'll do a whole series on this place. These pools were AMAZING! One of my favorite parts of Yellowstone. David makes a good model for us.

Mom and Grandma at the pools. It was very windy. Hold on to your hat Gram!

Day 3 - Look at Me!!!

2011-09-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Third day in a row. I promise I won't be too proud of myself too often. :)

And since I only slept for maybe three hours last night, this will be my rambling thoughts post.

1. This is also day three of me going to the gym. Again...not too proud yet.

2. I went to water aerobics tonight for my workout. Great resistance, decent cardio, and a whole lot of internal laughter. The class was taught by Cecilia. She must have been 80 years old, but she commanded our attention. Apparently she usually uses a whistle, but she forgot it tonight. I don't know - I just think there's something funny about 30 people cramming into a pool and jumping, kicking, and working it out all together. We had several bathing caps. You know - the ones with the flowers on them that allow you to tuck all your hair in. Not the Michael Phelps kind. I get it - the women don't want to get their hair wet. OK. But why was the very hairy man wearing a swim cap? And it really was only on the top half of his head. The purpose? No idea. I am, however, looking forward to more classes with Cecilia and the gang.

3. I still haven't seen the new Harry Potter. I really want to. Hmm...maybe this weekend?

4. Do you ever have days when you want to just hit someone? ("Here - hit this!" Can anyone name the movie?) I had one of those today. I didn't hit anyone. And exercise worked it out of my system. I think I was having one of those days years ago when my beloved sister took my spot on the couch when I got up to go to the bathroom. That time I pulled her hair. I know. Bad. Today...not so bad.

5. I talked to my niece on the phone last night. Again...why do they live so far away?! My favorite part of our conversation was when we were talking about Halloween costumes. I told her I was making one and asked if she could guess what it was. After guessing Mickey and Minnie Mouse, a witch, and a pumpkin, I told her she had one more guess. What did she guess? POPCORN! Love it!

6. I am actually making my Halloween costume this year. I asked my grandma if she would teach me some more about sewing. Since it's ok if a Halloween costume isn't perfect, I figured that would be good practice. We've got the pattern and the fabric. We're on our way.

Tomorrow's Friday!!! HOORAY!!!

Some Summer Adventures

2011-08-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

I think that when I left off in June, I was about to go on our annual family trip. This year we went to Idaho/Wyoming, and it was beautiful! I'm not sure if I've ever seen mountains as majestic!

But probably the best part was that I got to spend the entire week with these crazy kids.

Yes, for the first time, we did a family t-shirt...which I LOVED!!! This was not because I designed them but because it's so fun to have matching t-shirts. :) And in case you can't see, that's a bison (the state mammal of Wyoming) with our family acronym "HA!" for Harlow Adventures written on the inside. Nice, huh?

Isn't this gorgeous? The Grand Tetons.

One day we went horse-back riding. It's my cousin Emma's favorite thing to do. This was my horse, Zeus.

Can you tell that he and I became great friends?

It actually was really fun, but Emma is a much better horse person than I am. Look - she even has her own helmet that she travels with.

More to come!

Day One

2011-08-30T21:31:00.001-07:00

My sister arrived in a foreign country today. She'll be there until December. This is incredibly exciting for her, and I think she's amazingly fabulous for setting off on such a grand adventure, but it means that I can't just pick up the phone and call or text her.

So I made a commitment that I may regret later on.

I told her that I would blog something EVERY day for the duration of her stay in Costa Rica.

Am I CRAZY?! Quite possibly.

But today is (barely, but it still is) day one. And here I am.

Now, daily blogging may not mean that I have exciting or even interesting entries. However, I will get the chance to share what's going on in my little head. Here' what's been in my head today:

After I saw Mary Poppins on stage a couple of months ago, I bought the original London cast recording. I was listening to it this morning as I was getting ready for work, and I LOVE this song.

I realize that this isn't a live video recording of the show, but that would be illegal, so just listen and enjoy the words. I kind of feel like this song fits my sister right now. "Anything can happen if you let it." She's letting great things happen. Shouldn't we all do that a little more?

Before my exhausted ramblings set in, I'm going to sign off. Now everyone can fall asleep with Mary Poppins in their heads. :)

What an Adventurous Week!

2011-06-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Holy moly! What a crazy busy week this has been! Not that you need a travel-log type blog from me, but I'm going to kind of give you one today. Sorry in advance.

Wednesday was a first for me. I DROVE a jet ski! It was not the jet ski pictured below, but it kind of looked like it. This was a spontaneous adventure for me. I got a call and we were on the way to the lake within 20 minutes. I didn't think I wanted to drive, but it really was pretty fun. I got up to 40 mph. I know - impressive. And the water wasn't even that cold when I got tossed off. :)

Then I got to go see Mary Poppins! The broadway musical came to Sacramento, so a few of us decided to buy the cheapest seats we could get and go see the show. It was terrific! Sorry about the blurry picture. It was the only one I took. And I wanted to prove that I was there.

I have also decided that most of my favorite musicals involve tap dancing. Not all - but definitely a good number of them. :) Now I'm totally ready for Music Circus starting in July (I usher then see the shows for free)!

Friday evening began the weekend of Young Women fun! Some of you may know that I work with the youth in our church - specifically the girls ages 12-18. We've kind of started the annual tradition of having a sleepover. At my house. I LOVE IT!!! I think it's so much fun to have everyone together. Eating, playing games, talking about boys, etc. It's very relaxed and just fun.

This year, however, the sleepover fell on the same weekend as our fundraiser for Girls Camp. Since we had some things to prep for the Saturday fundraiser, I didn't let the girls have dinner till the first phase was done. I'm so mean, huh?

Here's the hot dog roast. Hey - you make five batches of Oreo truffles, and I'll let you roast food over an open flame. I think it's a fair trade. We did struggle at first to get the fire going, but we are resourceful Girls Campers, and we made it happen.

This is how many people can sleep on my living room floor. I count 12 in this picture, and then I slept on the side of the couch where Amy's head is. 13. Not bad.

"If you girls stay up till 1:30/2:00 am and then wake up at 6:30, I am definitely going to make you cut ALL of the potatoes for the salad before I feed you breakfast!" That was my thought process in the morning. :) I have to say, even though they were up at the crack of dawn, they were delightful rays of sunshine while they were working. Look at those early morning smiles!

More potatoes! My roommate, Dana, said she couldn't believe how many people and potatoes we had working in the kitchen.

But...I did make a delicious pancake breakfast, as promised. Watermelon and bananas too.

The trampoline was definitely a huge hit!

We finished the sleepover at 10, and we met back up at the church at 2 for our take-out dinner fundraiser. We prepped about 150 dinners (wraps with either pasta or potato salad) and about 90 dessert boxes (gourmet cupcakes and/or the truffles and chocolate dipped pretzels). Then people came between 5 and 6 to pick them up. Huge success!

Here's a chocolate dipping station.

Faithfully cleaning some of the spilled chocolate.

Slicing bell peppers.

Packaging potato salad. And DJing. Hollie was one of our music gurus. :)
In the kitchen.

Our saving grace in the world of chocolate!

Having too much fun waiting for people to pick up orders. We played Catch Phrase in here toward the end. So hilarious!

We had more than a little left-over lettuce. :) And Jamie was kind enough to humor me with this picture.

Our curb-side deliverers. So cute! they put the "fun" in fundraiser! (horrible joke, I know)
It was a long week, and I am now officially exhausted. I have to say that I generally loathe the fundraiser. It's just not my fave. But we had an amazing coordinator, and the YW worked so hard, that it actually was a fun couple of days.

And now my thoughts are done and I must sleep. Maybe I'll eat another fundraiser cupcake first and then sleep. Hmm...They are REALLY good cupcakes. :)

Adventure: Paramount Theater

2011-05-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Not long ago (ok - it's actually been a couple of months. I'm behind on my blogging!) my friend Kristen gathered a group of us to go to the Paramount Theater in Oakland. What a fantastic gem! It's this terrific old theater with beautiful architecture, great balconies, and a live organ playing before the show. I think that they have lots of different types of performances there, but they also show old movies. We were there to see this one:

If I EVER lapse in memory, please, Please, PLEASE remind me that I NEVER need to see this movie EVER AGAIN!!! In the first place, I don't really like birds. Secondly, I really don't like birds that randomly attack people and peck their eyes out. And, finally, I don't like movies without plot resolution. I was literally cringing from the moment the movie started. Because it starts with birds. Did I mention I don't like birds?

But...even though the movie was horrible for me, the theater and the friends that were there were fantastic, and I'd love to go again. Just with a different movie. Preferably one without birds. :)

Here's the group after the movie. With the flash you can see the people but not the theater.

Without the flash you can see some of the coolness of the theater but you get blurry people. Maybe I need to learn how to use my camera more effectively. :)

Here's one more blurry shot of the inside of the theater.

I'm in LOVE...

2011-05-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

...with Magnum ice cream bars. Until last week, I hadn't had one of these since I was in Belgium oh, so many years ago. And then, they came to America.

Oh! Happy Day!

Take a look. My family and I savored every bite of our double caramel Magnums.

Can you see how there's a layer of beautiful Belgium chocolate, then the caramel, then another amazing layer of chocolate?

I also think that these ice cream bars may have single-handedly kept a missionary on her mission.

Seriously.

They are that powerful.

Which is why I love them.

Eet smakelijk!!!

What Can I Say? We're Planners!

2011-05-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I attended my cousin Kristen's wedding. She looked beautiful and happy, and the setting (my aunt and uncle's home/yard) couldn't have been prettier.

During some of the time between the wedding and the reception, my grandpa came over to talk to me, my mom, my grandma, and my cousin Jamie. The conversation went something like this:

Grandpa: I was just talking to Bob (my uncle), and we think it may be time to get the whole family together for another trip to Mexico.

Us: (big smiles) Definitely!

Grandpa: Yeah...we were thinking that with our two rooms, Bob's two rooms, and if we borrow two rooms from Bev and Tom, we should have plenty of space for all the families.

Us: (bigger smiles) That sounds fantastic! Count us in! You just say "when" and we're there!

Grandpa: We were thinking that it might be fun to go for Christmas...

Us: (huge smiles) Cool! Christmas on the beach is never a bad thing!

Grandpa: ...next year. Christmas 2012.

Us: (slightly deflated but still happy) Oh.

There's nothing like planning ahead! Here's to a potential trip that might happen in a year and a half! :)

New Beginnings

2011-04-25T15:57:00.001-07:00

OK - this happened back in February, but I just couldn't resist posting because these Young Women are just too fantastic and adorable!

Each year at the beginning of the year, the Young Women put on a program called New Beginnings. It's an opportunity to invite the parents of the current YW and those who will turn 12 during the year to come and learn about the theme for the year and to get everyone motivated to work on Personal Progress.

This year our Mutual theme is the 13th Article of Faith. As we talked to the YW about this, they decided that something virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy are flowers. So we based our decorations and our object lesson/hand-outs/YW participation portion of the evening on flowers. The YW made everything, and it was so great! I LOVE them!

Here's a big group shot of all the girls and leaders (and leaders' cute babies!). Several of the girls are holding their vases with flowers representing the different YW value colors.

Some decorations and the refreshment table. A must-have at any function. :) And, yes, I didn't ask if I could hang things from the ceiling. I just did it. I'm such a rebel.

So...the girls wanted to make flower hair clips to wear at the event and then give to the incoming YW and the YW who may be less active. Here's Marianne with her pretty flower. She was very proud of the fact that she used EVERY value color for her clip. Way to go Mur!

Me, Natalie, and Meegan = happy orange-flower girls. :)

The Kathryns (and baby Jocelyn). So cute!

Who doesn't love a silly shot? We are pretty good at these. :)

Yes, I've Been To A Monster Truck Rally

2011-02-16T17:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I got to play monster trucks with Ariane's cute 4 year old nephew, Allan. I'm pretty sure that I didn't follow all of his rules or play the "right" way, but it did remind me of the time that I went to a Monster Truck Rally.

Yes, several years ago I went to the Energy Solutions Arena (that's in Salt Lake City where the Jazz play) and watched a whole evening of this:

Amazing, huh? It was quite an experience. I can't say that I'll be attending any more Monster Truck Rallies, but I'm sure glad I got to go to one.

And it was all thanks to this wonderful friend.
Thanks, Jen, for breaking up with the boy that you bought the tickets for (she's now happily married) and inviting me to go instead! We always have a ton-o-fun together!

And that's my monster truck memory for the day. :)

The Madness of March (Almost)

2011-02-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

It's almost time folks!

The family bracket challenge gets pretty intense.

Can you guess who my pick usually is?

I made that shirt. Pretty good, huh? Too bad I don't have it anymore.

Truth be told, though I now know that Duke is truly a good basketball program and I love them, I started rooting for them in 6th grade when I had a crush on a boy who liked Duke. Thank you 6th grade crush for teaching me about Duke basketball. :)

Also, BYU may make a good showing this year. It's the year of the Jimmer.

Bring on the tourney!

Adventure: Fan Fest 2011

2011-02-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hello baseball season!

For the past three years I have enjoyed going to San Francisco early in February to partake in the SF Giants Fan Fest. They open up the ballpark and all the players are there. You get to see the clubhouse, walk on the field, and have an all-together enjoyable day.

This year we recruited more friends to come with us. The more the merrier, right?

Well...apparently every Giants fan recruited more friends to come with them. Maybe this had a little something to do with winning the World Series last fall. I don't know. The gates opened to the public at 11:00 am. By the time we got there and parked about 11:30, the gates were already closed because they had reached capacity. And the first line we saw to get in wrapped about a mile around the park, across the bridge and through the parking lots. Yikes!

Instead of standing in line, we decided that the next best thing to do would be to eat. Why not? We zipped across the street to Amici's East Coast Pizzeria, and pretty soon we were enjoying delicious pizza with a great view of the park.

Clockwise from the left we have Ariane, Ben, Chris, Kristen, Nicole, David, and Chandra. Doesn't that look good?

After lunch we headed back to the park where the gates were still closed. We decided to wait until 2:00pm (about 30 more minutes) to see if anything happened. Here we are enjoying our time in line. It really was a gorgeous day in the city!

Finally, at 2:00, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we weren't going to get in. I suggested that we make the best of it and give ourselves a self-guided tour of the outside of the park. Everyone went along with that, and pretty soon we were off - looking at the plaques and statues that they have around the park.

THEN - we came to the next corner of the ballpark where there was one small gate. There was one security guy there, and the gate was open. We, surprised, asked if we could go in, and he said sure! No line. No wait. Why hadn't we done this sooner?!

That entrance took us pretty much directly on to the outfield. It was so packed with people, but it was still so fun to be there - where the game is played.

Last year we easily walked through the dugout and clubhouse. This is the mass hysteria of people that were in the dugout this year. We still went in though. :)

Then we went up to the press box - one of our favorite places. It has such a great view! Here are Ben, Chandra, and Ariane. I believe I was mlb.com this year.

We left the press box with about 10 minutes before they started to shoo us out. We decided to go upstairs rather than down, so Ari and I led everyone (well, we led those who could keep up) to the Q & A stage where we found these four (and this guy's big head): Will Clark, Mike Fontenot, Nate Schierholtz, and Barry Zito. Not bad for the last 10 minutes, huh?

Now, before I go on, you have to know that for the past two years, I have brought three baseballs and a sharpie with me to Fan Fest in the hopes of getting an autograph. But I've never even gotten close. This year, in the rush to get out of the house, I forgot. As we were pulling away, Ben reminded me about them, but I wanted to get on the road, and I figured it would be an exercise in futility anyway. So I left them.

After the Q & A, Ben grabbed his baseball and got an autograph from Will Clark! I was kicking myself (and still am)! I guess I'll have to go back again next year!

Here's Ben chatting it up with Will the Thrill as he pushes his baseball toward the front.

Triumphant! Ben was so excited.

We may have only had an hour inside this year, but it was still a total success! And now we can look forward to the season starting and the Giants going for a repeat. :)

Melt My Heart To Pieces

2011-02-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

I know that everyone thinks that their niece or nephew is the cutest in the world, right?

I hate to break it to you people, but you're wrong.

I have the cutest. Period.

I'm not even going to discuss the adorableness of the twinners in the hats that Mollie made. I'll let the picture do all the talking. And besides, that's not really what this post is about.

But they ARE cute. :)

No, this post is about Kallie and how she melts my heart to pieces. Many moons ago she and I read the book Pinkalicious. It's a fun little book, as are its sequels. Just for fun I started calling her Kallilicious. Then she would call me Jennalicious. It's been our little thing for a while now.

Well, earlier this month my mom went to Idaho to visit their family, and she took Kallie on a date to Wal-Mart (her favorite place for some reason) to pick out a treat. She found a Pinkalicious box filled with stencils and stickers and all sorts of fun things. That's what she picked.

When my mom got home she said that she had something for me from Kallie. Here's a picture of what she sent from Idaho.

Mom said that Kallie wanted to send the whole box home with her so that I would be able to see all the Pinkalicious stuff. Since my mom said the box would be too big, they decided to just cut the top of the box to bring home. As my mom was leaving to go to the airport, Kallie realized that mom had forgotten to pack the box top and was a little upset. But she was appeased when she knew that I'd at least be getting her picture.

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

I have hung my picture by my bed so that I can think of my Kallilicious every day.

I wish we all lived closer.

Heart melting. :)

Four Generations of Keils

2011-02-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving, with the exception of one cousin (Kristen was saving the world overseas), we had all of my family on my mom's side together. Since this doesn't happen very often, we decided to take a few pictures. Below you will find four generations of the Keil family. My grandparents at the top of the stairs, their three children next, then the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren intermixed at the bottom. First we took a nice picture.

And then someone made some sort of joke, and this is what we ended up with:

But since laughing hysterically is how we like to enjoy our family gatherings, I guess this is just about as perfect of a family picture as we could take.

The only people (besides Kristen) who were missing were the spouses who were looking on. I think they looked at that staircase and decided to stay as far away from this idea as possible. :)

I love my family!

Don't Judge

2011-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

OK - I know that maybe it's ridiculous, but I kind of am hooked on watching the new "season" of The Mormon Bachelor. I know it's kind of laughable of me, but the idea is so much better than that of the tv show, that I kind of want to see how it all goes.

The idea is this:

Girls apply to go on a date with the Mormon Bachelor.

Then the guy's friends screen the girls and pick 22 of them for first dates.

He goes on 22 first dates (many of them completely blind dates) in 22 days.

He then chooses 8 girls for second dates, and goes on 8 more dates in 8 more days.

Finally, he chooses one girl to keep dating and "meet the parents."

There are no cheesy roses involved - thankfully - and they have someone put together a 3-4 minute video of the date for a little recap each day.

Anyway...call it a guilty pleasure or whatever you will, but I've found myself tuning in each day to see what happened the night before. And, I must say, that the girls have put together some very creative dates. So, view if you will. :)

Some 2011 Adventures

2011-01-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok - I know I'm a little late with that greeting, but we all know I'm not the most timely blogger. :)

For the past few weeks I've been compiling a new list of adventures, and I think I've got a pretty good start. Thank you to everyone who made suggestions! Unfortunately I won't be able to tackle all of the suggestions right now, but that's why my adventure lists have the equivalent of rollover minutes. If they don't happen this year, they can always happen next year.

So, here's a little taste of what's on the docket.

Climb Mount Diablo

Visit Filoli Gardens

Visit Villa Montalvo

Visit Hakone Gardens

Read something by Charles Dickens

Learn how to make bread/rolls

Learn how to fly fish

See a Broadway show

Learn how to arrange flowers

Make something that I'd actually wear

Publish a book

Read Shakespeare

Grow something in my garden (preferably tulips, hydrangeas or ranunculus)

Run a half marathon

Participate in the Ragnar Nor-Cal race

Visit the Getty Museum

Visit Hearst Castle

Attend the SF Giants FanFest

Visit the Legion of Honor

Free Museum Day

Concerts in the park

Learn to golf

Go to a festival

What do you think? It's just a start, and I know there's more that I can and will add to my list, but I think it should be pretty fun! Also, I think the spontaneous adventures are fantastic. For example, I didn't expect to go ice skating yesterday, but there I was. A fun little afternoon adventure with friends!

On a side note, I do believe the reason they close the Sacramento outdoor skating rink in mid-January is because it starts to melt. There were definitely some puddles on the ice yesterday. :)

Here's to many great adventures in the coming year!

Some things I love at Christmastime

2010-12-15T15:16:00.000-08:00

There are so many good things this time of year! Here are some of my favorites:

1. Everyone's a little nicer. People say hello or thank you or Merry Christmas. It's just NICE. Yes, there are crabby people out there. But since I've done very little shopping this season I haven't had to run into very many of them, so I still can think that most people are happy.

2. We get to hear wonderful Christmas messages from the leaders of our church. I love the Christmas Devotional! It reminds me that all of the wonderfulness of this season is to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World. And people throughout the whole world come together to remember and celebrate. It's amazing.

3. Christmas cards! I love getting Christmas cards. Anyone's Christmas cards. I open the mail at work, and I love it when the cards come in. I don't even have to know the people. I love the family pictures and the updates. I mean, it's far better when I get to read a card from someone I know, of course. I love that my mom saves all the family cards so that I can read them when I come home. It's just a nice way of staying in touch.

4. Music! I'm one of those cheese-balls who listens to Christmas music as much as I can during the holidays. And, as much fun as much of the music is, I have found myself drawn more to the sacred music the past few years. I love that popular radio stations can and will play songs rejoicing in the birth of our Savior. It's wonderful! I do still love the lighter music as well. This is my current favorite version of the 12 Days of Christmas. (Don't worry - it's not too long, and it's awesome!)

5. Food. Specifically baked goods. There's going to be a major withdrawl/detox period come January 1st. But for now I'm just taking in every bit of it. :)

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll be back with more things that I love about this time of year.

Adventures 2011

2010-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

I need some help.

I am starting to put together an actual list for 2011 of different adventures I'd like to go on. But I'd like to hear if anyone has any ideas for me.

What do you think?

I also need a new word for adventure. I mean, it still does the trick, but I'm feeling the need for something new. I checked the thesaurus, but nothing jumped out at me. Thoughts?

My Family = Awesomeness

2010-12-10T13:58:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I come up with crazy plans for my family.

Most of the time these plans are dismissed and we all move on.

BUT...This Thanksgiving one of my plans stuck.

In one of my hair-brained schemes, I came up with a Thanksgiving family fun run. In fact, I called it the "1st Ever Harlow Family Run Before You're Hungry." I even had some super amazing t-shirts made.

And everyone jumped on board. People actually thought this was a good idea!

And guess what? We had a great time!

We started and ended at my dad's school. He set up a banner for us and even had a starter's pistol and water bottles. So we ran through the neighborhood (some ran farther than others) in our matching shirts and had a great start to the day.

Thanks, family, for being so awesome and having fun with my crazy plans!

Get ready for next year! :)

How Did I Survive?

2010-12-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

How did I ever survive winters in places other than California?

I'm currently sitting in my heated office with my coat on - FREEZING!!! Most mornings I fill a cup with hot water, wrap my hands around it until it's cool enough to sip and then drink plain hot water to warm me up.

And we've only hit freezing (literally) temperatures maybe once this year.

How in the world did I live for so many years in places like Utah and The Netherlands?! I know that winter wind blowing right off the North Sea was infinitely colder than the valley fog, so where did all my toughness go?

I may have to get out the "couch sack" tonight. :)

P.S. I am officially against the little oranges that look like they are going to be nice and sweet and turn out to be somewhat sour and full of seeds.

Adventure: Kings Game (with REALLY good seats!)

2010-12-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time my boss couldn't use his tickets to a Kings game. Since he is so generous, he offered them to me, and I found three friends (Kristin, Sean, and Ariane) to come with me to the game. It was a dark and stormy night, but our spirits were high as we drove our car straight to the front of the lot with our "H preferred" parking pass. We shook off any chill of the night air by taking a long walk down, down, down the stairs to our seats that were a mere seven rows from the court.

Sitting this close, we realized that these are BIG men who play the game of basketball!

This is the woman assigned to take our orders. Yes, these were the special seats that come with your own menu and serving staff. Though we didn't order anything, it was nice to know that we could. :)

In the end, we got free thunder sticks, cheered loudly, and the Kings won. And we went home happily ever after. The end.

Adventure: Disneyland

2010-12-03T11:10:00.001-08:00

Whew! I'm behind in posting, and this has been an adventure-full season. So...Here we go.

The weekend before Halloween, some friends and I decided to take a weekend trip to Disneyland. I think that one word can describe the weekend: whirlwind. But a fun whirlwind. :)

Ariane, Dustin, Chris, Nicole, and I left Sacramento at about 6 pm on Friday, arriving at our hotel at...well - it was late. But don't you worry! We were buying our tickets by 7:45 am Saturday morning so that we could go in right when the park opened. This was a very smart move, because we got on several popular rides before the crowds really got started.

Long story short: We spent 16 hours at Disneyland & CA Adventure and did 30 rides/attractions. I have never spent that many hours at a theme park in one day. It was exhausting, but incredibly fun. My only regret is that we didn't get to go on Peter Pan. Otherwise it was a great trip. Thanks friends!

Since we used our fast passes so efficiently, we really only waited in one long line, and that was for Toy Story. But it's such a fun ride that it was worth it. Here are Chris, Nicole, Ariane, and Dustin in front of the talking (and joking) Mr. Potato Head.

Dustin and Nicole are ready for the Toy Story challenge. Dustin had the high score on this ride thanks to his cross-fit training, but I came in 2nd.

Here's the group at the end of the day. Do any of us have that crazy I've-been-at-a-theme-park-for-more-hours-than-I've-slept-in-the-past-two-nights look? 'Cause we should. :)

Hooray for Disneyland!

Random Wednesday Thoughts

2010-11-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

1. I ate a fortune cookie the other day and the fortune said, "Much success will find you in the coming year." Then I ate another one and the fortune said something like, "Take control of your subconscious before someone else does." What does that even mean?! I'm going with the first one for sure.

2. Fresh, warm zucchini bread is wonderful. It just came out of the oven and I'm eating while I type. I think I could eat the whole pan. It's like eating vegetables, right?

3. I love the sound of tearing perforated paper. Like the checks at my job. I don't know why. I told you these were random thoughts.

4. I also love listening to my ipod on shuffle. This is because: a. I hear songs I forgot I had; b. I am reminded that I have great, eclectic taste in music; and c. the juxtaposition of songs in fantastic! I love that I can hear Miles Davis, Sons of Provo, Frank Sinatra, Yellow Card, Barbara Streisand, and Rascal Flatts all in the same afternoon. Currently: Bing Crosby singing "Silent Night." Also, this way it's ok to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. The excuse: "What?! My ipod was on 'shuffle.' It just came up." Brilliant.

5. Speaking of brilliant, my new favorite TV show is just that. Anyone ever watch Top Gear on BBC America? You should. My brother made me watch it a couple of weeks ago and I was not excited, because I thought it would be a lame car show. NOT LAME!!! So funny I was crying. I now have 11 episodes on my dvr and I've converted Ariane.

6. I am so excited for my family to be here next week that I'm about ready to burst!

7. Next Thursday morning will the "1st Ever Harlow Family Run Before You're Hungry." Intrigued? Check back next week for pictures and results. Should be a blast!

Ok - I have a zillion more thoughts, but you'll have to tune in next time to find out what they might be. :)

Last item: Anyone know what the picture below is? I mean - besides a sign that says, "Nando's?" 50 points to the person can guess the significance.

By Popular Demand

2010-11-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Because two people requested pictures of the gourds, here you go. :) They're nothing fancy, but we had fun. It's more like we stained them. Some people paint designs, make them into snowmen, etc. We just made them look fall-like. Clearly I do not have the skills to make them look great in photos, and if I had some fall leaves it would be better, but you at least get the idea. Enjoy! And...if anyone wants to paint gourds next year, I'm in!

*Yes, these were the same three gourds in this whole series of pictures. :)

Adventure: Gourd Festival

2010-11-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

I know what you're thinking. "Who even goes to a 'Gourd Festival' and how is it possibly an adventure?' Is that what you were thinking. I knew it. I'm a little psychic. So let me explain.

I'm not sure if this happens in other places, but in California's San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas, we like to have festivals. These generally revolve around a fruit or vegetable or something for which the area is well known. My hometown of Stockton has the Asparagus Festival. Sometimes these festivals are money traps disguised as celebrations of a particular food. I was greatly disappointed when I went to the chocolate festival (in a town that will remain nameless) and did not find the streets paved in chocolatey goodness. No. In fact, chocolate was hardly anywhere to be found, and the free samples were even more scarce. (We all know that every good festival should have free samples.) There were about a dozen or so tables selling chocolate, and the rest was carnival rides, car shows, concerts, and food stands (none of which sold chocolate). And everything was over priced. But I digress...

Davis Ranch is a farm just east of Sacramento, between my house and my grandparents' house. And apparently (among the other delightful produce that they sell) they are known for gourds, because that is the festival that they hold. My Aunt Lynda and Uncle Mike were in town from San Diego, so my mom, grandma, Lynda, and I spent a lovely Saturday morning with the gourds.

And I have to say - it was a wonderful festival. Free parking and admission put me in a good mood right away. The set-up was clean and well thought out. AND apparently I've been missing out on gourd art for the past 32 years! Some of it was weird and I'd never buy it. But some of it was fabulous! The artists were very friendly and shared techniques and ideas with us.

So...We bought a big bag of raw pick-your-own gourds, and then we cleaned them and painted them. And they came out beautifully! It was really fun. You'll have to stop by and see my gourds sometime. :) And, I think I'll go back next year. Here are a few pictures that I took.

I know these aren't gourds, but they had the most wonderful pick-your-own strawberry patch. They use a hydroponic growing system so they have a ton of berries - and you don't even have to bend down to get them. Genius! And the smell was divine. Here's Lynda, Grandma, and Mom picking berries.

Aren't these gourd-geous? Hahahahaha! I love gourd humor!

So maybe I didn't take any specific pictures of the gourds, but in this picture of a strawberry you can see a big crate of the unfinished ones in the background. See it? Really - there were mountains of gourds.

Oh - and this was my favorite sign found near the goats. "Important safety tip. Thanks Egon."

Adventure: TWINS!

2010-11-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Way back in July, my brother and his wife added TWINS to their family. Mollie was a trooper and carried these bundles of joy all the way to full term! In August, my grandparents and I were able to make the trip to Boise to meet the newest additions to the family - Dylan and Claire. Then I was lucky enough to turn around and visit them again over Labor Day weekend. Three kids = Aunt Heaven. I am so lucky to be an aunt! Love! Love! Love! Here are some picture of the first trip.

Here's Mollie with Claire and Dylan. Doesn't she look fantastic?!

Me and Kalls. We sure do have fun together!

And...sometimes we're a little silly. :)

Kallie, Grandma, Grandpa, Dylan, Me, and Claire. Kallie is an expert roller-blader (as long as you're there to catch her).

What a cute family!!! I wish we all lived closer together!

WORLD SERIES!!!

2010-11-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

We're one game away from winning the World Series! So...for all those who thought it would be the Braves in 4, the Phillies in 5, the Rangers in 6, but NEVER the Giants, here's a little music video about how much some people believe in our team. Some people listen to Akon, but Giants fans have Ashkon. Enjoy!

We Interrupt This Blog For...

2010-10-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

The NLCS! Yes, my friends, our very own San Francisco Giants are playing for the National League championship. I have therefore changed my blog background to orange and black to help cheer them on.

They split the games in Philadelphia over the weekend, and I think they'll take two of the three at home this week. That would mean that they'd only have to win one more in Philly to take the series. Tune in this afternoon when our boy Matt Cain takes the mound. The Phillies are good, but I think the Giants have it in them this year! Fingers crossed!

By the way...who else loves Cody Ross?! Keep the home runs coming my friend.

Canada - Part 1

2010-09-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Vancouver! Apparently June is a little gloom in British Columbia, but it was a-ok. The sun finally broke through, and we very much enjoyed this city.

On our first full day, we took a water taxi from the main city to Granville Island to do some exploring. It was a fun market/shopping place. Here are Kari and David as we waited for the ferry.

Her we are entering the Public Market. This place was great, and filled with AMAZING looking food. We did not eat all of it, but we did find some samples.

Here I am with my cousin Emma. Sadly for Emma, Danny's family didn't come on the trip this year. I guess they thought that leaving the country with Mollie eight months pregnant with twins wasn't such a great idea. So instead of having Kallie to play with, Em got stuck hanging out with all of us adults again. Good thing we enjoy each other!

After shopping and lunch, we walked toward Stanley Park. Along the way we found a hill. Therefore, we needed to roll down it. These things just call to us. Dizzy, but well worth it.

Look at my cute parents holding hands while we walk along the coast. :)

It was kind of a long walk, but we finally made it to Stanley Park. Too bad we didn't realize how HUGE this park was! We only walked a small portion of it, but we did get to see the lawn bowling green.

My dad climbed a hill and took some shots of us walking.

Than we found SWINGS! Kari definitely liked the swings. Can you tell?

We have about a million swing shots. It's what happens when dad's camera has a sports mode. David twisted my swing.

Oh! That was the las picture that I uploaded tonight. I guess that brings us to the end of this post. Stay tuned for further installments. I'll try to come up with more witty commentary. :)

I'm off to Boise again tomorrow. We're driving, so any bets on how long before we drive each other crazy? Don't worry - I have packed a variety of dorky entertainment options. Laptop with two nerdy dvds, kindle, books, ipods with not only music but podcasts. I'm all set! Realistically...I'll sleep most of the time.

I Know...

2010-08-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven't blogged much lately, and I've been taking a little flack for it (you know who you are heckler!). So...I'm back. I'm recommitting to throwing my thoughts out to the internet universe and the eight people who read this blog. :)

So here's a little catch-up from what's been going on in the past few months. Well...maybe I'll break things up into a few posts.

Let me start out by saying that I am now famous in Canada.

Are you shocked?

Yes, I was a guest actress for the entire first act of... (drum roll please)

...The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!

Ok- so when I say "guest actress" you should read that to mean "volunteer." Here's how it went down.

On our first full day in Vancouver, we went to Granville Island and found out that they had a theater and that this show was playing. Shakespeare on the Beach was sold out, and we wanted to see a show, so this was our next best option. While my mom and uncle Ed were at the box office they told them that they accepted volunteers to be in the show about an hour before curtain. HELLO! Dream come true! How many ham-it-upppers do we have in my family?! SO many. However, I was the only one who wanted to volunteer. Let's face it. It was a spelling bee. I LOVE spelling bees, so this was perfect for me.

Before the show they gave us a little prep, then we took our seats, and I waited to see if my name would be called. It was, I went on stage and was the number 10 speller. Because of my number, they needed me to stay in the show till the end of the 1st act (I didn't know that at the time), so the other people got really hard words and I got "cow." They told us before the show that we had to ask, "May I have the definition please?" and "Can you use it in a sentence please?" When I asked those questions about "cow," I think the answers were something like, "A cow." and "Spell the word cow."

Anyway...sparing you all the rest of the details, I spent the first act on stage - right in the middle of all the singing and dancing and spelling. It was a blast! I finally was eliminated on really hard word that I can't even remember. But my consolation prize was that they sang a song to me. :) And I got a juice box.

It was a fabulous evening. And now I'm famous in Canada. Sort of.

So there you go. The first installment of me being back on track in the blog-o-sphere. Next post I'll go for more pictures.

Check Out My Cool Sister

2010-07-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

My sister Kari is now the CHAMPION of the Canoe Races of the World! Check out the link. I think it's pretty darn amazing. Way to go Shut Up and Let Me Row...HEY!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-06-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it. I'm a fair-weather watch-when-the-world-cup-is-on kind of soccer fan. BUT that still makes me a fan. I watched as the U.S. held on for a (very lucky) well-played tie against the mighty Brits. I have been following scores. I haven't really tried to figure out what happens when there's a tie and how that factors into the tournament, but that's beside the point. I even have started to tune out the amazing horns that South Africa has introduced to all of us through this World Cup.

I have also determined that soccer players are some of the best athletes in the world. Have you all seen how big that field is?! Gigantic! They run THE WHOLE TIME. I get worn out just watching. However, as msn.com so accurately pointed out, watching the players is part of the fun. All I'm saying is that it's a bonus, ok?

GO USA!!!

Oh Canada!

2010-06-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, my friends, I will soon be visiting our great neighbor to the north, Canada. I have never been to this foreign nation before, and I actually had to renew my passport in order to go. (Am I really old enough to have an expired passport? I know I got it in college, but has it been 10 years?! Yes, actually it's been 11. Since I got the passport...Only 10 since graduation. Class of 2000! Holla! Did you know that Shakespeare used "holla" in his writing? Yep. Check out "As you Like It." I know that title should be underlined, but I can't figure out how to do that right now, and I'm into instant gratification with regard to my blog technology. If I can't figure it out I move on. Am I digressing within these parentheses?)

Anyway... I'm headed to Vancouver, BC with the family. Who wants to tell me all of the amazing things I should do while I'm there? My brother wants us to be spontaneous, but I like to have a few options in mind. :)

Adventure: Angel Island

2010-06-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went on my very first "Adventure with Ariane." She should probably start marketing and charging for these tours. We went with Dustin, Kenny, and Nate to Angel Island. We took our bikes (thank you Kenny for having a truck for all of the bikes!) and rode the ferry from Tiburon to the island. Then we rode around the entire island! Ok- it's not THAT big of an island, but we rode around an entire island. :) It was one of those gorgeous Bay Area kind of days, and even though there were some big hills and we learned more about the not-so-wonderful happenings of the Immigration Station (the very discriminatory Ellis Island of the West), it was really a very fun day. Thanks Ari!

I made everyone take pictures by the actual Angel Island sign. This is me, Kenny, and Dustin (pre-bike ride). Ariane always tells me that "if you don't take pictures of it, it didn't happen." So...we have official documentation.

Look at this view! This is (obviously) a self-portrait, but that view! We rode our bikes down to one of the fort areas where there are picnic tables, and this was our view for lunch. Not bad. I will say that the hill was really steep to get down there and I had to keep telling myself, "Just use your brakes. You're not scared. You're not scared." I was, actually, a little bit scared, but I made it down. The power of positive thinking!

I tried to take one of those pictures where you look like you're squishing the bridge. Clearly it didn't work.

This was Nate, Dustin, and Ariane getting ready to ride to the ferry.

Nate, Kenny, Dustin, and Ari on the ferry on the way to the island. Nate and Kenny do NOT look like they are having fun, but I think they did have at least a little fun. :)

I'm sorry Dustin - I had to take this picture. I took it while I was riding because I couldn't pass it up. A grown man with a tiny backpack (I KNOW it was for water, but still) and both pant legs rolled up showing off the high white socks. Classic.

I also took this one while I was riding. I am a very good bike riding photographer. Point and click, baby.

Oooh! This one I took pointing the camera behind me while I was riding. Serious mad skills!

Thanks everyone for a fun day!

"Michael J. Fox was Alex P. Keaton"

2010-06-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

Every time I roll in my chair at work I feel like Alex P. Keaton from the TV show "Family Ties." Remember the opening song where they always showed him pushing himself in his rolling chair from his desk to someplace to check the answer in a book and then rolling back again? Anyone? No one remembers that? It's just another one of the weird pieces of television folklore stuck in my head? Ok - I can live with that. But I still see that scene in my head almost every time I roll in my chair.

The Last of the Short-Lived Food Posts

2010-05-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

I really thought that I had so much to post about in the area of "food." Turns out...I don't. So here's my last hurrah for now:

This was our Laurels "Un birthday" (non)Tea Party. My contributions: cupcakes with pink frosting and cucumber sandwiches. And pink lemonade of course. We're so fancy. Aren't these girls just adorable?!

Our New Beginnings (a Young Women Program) cake. We had an Olympics theme, so I make a big cake and covered it with fondant and then made fondant olympic rings in the YW value colors.

This is one of the yummiest apple cakes I've ever eaten. Click here for the recipe. I even used my dehydrated apples from my food storage to make it. SO good!

In my other attempt to use my food storage, I tried making a black bean soup. Basically all you're going to get is the picture of the label. Let's just say that even though the apple cake was a success, my cooking with food storage has not yet been perfected. :) I ate the soup, but it wasn't really very good. I'll give it another go another time.

I'm realizing that this is kind of a boring post. However, I'm now at the end of it. So instead of deleting it I'm just going to go ahead and post it. And then go eat Sunday dinner.

The Food Just Makes You Happy!

2010-05-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Last night, as we were exiting the Buckhorn Grill after a FABULOUS meal, we were laughing about who knows what, and someone said, "The food just makes you happy!" What a true statement. So...here are a few posts in an Ode to Food. (Or something like that.)

This was last night at the Buckhorn Grill after we finished our practically free and very delicious meal. They really do have good tri-tip!

Ariane and Alyssa showing off their empty plates.

I was going for a full-belly type smile, but it just kind of came off weak. Oh well.

"How did you get a free meal?" you might ask. Such a good question!

It was totally thanks to a fun adventure that I didn't blog about back in February. Cameron, Ariane and I took a field trip over to San Francisco for the Giants' annual Fan Fest. It was kind of cold and rainy at first, but the clouds finally broke and we were able to enjoy a hot dog in the sunshine in the seats that none of us can normally afford. A little slice of heaven. :)

AND...to get back to my original point, they were giving out free samples of tri-tip along with coupons for free sandwiches. And yes, I walked by twice. Two samples. Two coupons. But let me tell you - it was great for their business, because last night when I redeemed my coupon I upgraded to the combo (excellent mashed potatoes!) AND I'm telling people about how good it was. So, they're glad they gave me two coupons.

Anyway, that's the story. Here are the pictures. Enjoy!

I was a little surprised when I picked up the phone to the bullpen and someone actually answered on the other end! Ok - it was a kid, but we did decide that Zito was done for the day and it was time to bring in Wilson to close out the game.

View from inside the dugout. Though I'm guessing the players can see the field a little more easily when it's actually game day.

Cameron and Ariane as we were waiting for our tour of the clubhouse.

This is the clubhouse. I believe Ari liked to call it the locker room, but whatever. It was smaller than I thought it would be, but I was actually glad to see that it wasn't ostentatious. But very nice. I sat in one of the little locker places, but I don't have that picture. Sorry.

I liked that they give a "Good Guy" award. Way to go!

Important safety tip. Thanks Egon. (Anyone know what movie?)

Motivational I guess. They'd do more of this (winning) if they could ever score some runs.

Do you know who these guys are?! Barry Zito and my all-time favorite Giant as a kid - WILL CLARK!!! I know it's not a great shot, but it was fun to see him in person and listen to a bit of their Q & A session.

Do you know who these guys are?! Me neither. I didn't want to stand in any of the ridiculously long lines for pictures and autographs, so I took their picture from the field. Turns out that #37 is Todd Wellemeyer (the Giants' 5th starting pitcher...for now), and the other two aren't even on the active roster. Oh well!

Ariane in the press box. They really are great seats. :)

It's so fun to go to this. If anyone wants to go next year, let me know!

Literary Adventures at Work

2010-05-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

I had to stop and laugh at myself the other day at work. I was in the middle of some mindless filing. You know - pretty much just making sure that things were correctly alphabetized (which I actually think it kind of fun). This left my mind to wander wherever it so pleased. A few minutes into my filing, my boss (a very smart lawyer and businessman) walked into the room to make a copy or something, and I was roused from my daydreaming. It was then that I realized that I am pretty glad that the running commentary that goes on in my head isn't broadcast for everyone to hear (at least until I blog about it). Why? Because THIS was what was in my head (thank you youtube). Go about 1:20 into the clip, and you'll hear what was in my head.

It's a fascinating world inside my little brain.

Any input on any off-the-wall musings you've found yourself in while at work? Feel free to leave them in the comment section. Just for fun, you know.

Bad Hair Day?

2010-05-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Is it a bad sign when you think you've done yourself up alright and your boss walks in and the first question is, "Are you OK?" Maybe my good-morning smile needed to be a little more chipper today. :)

Can Anybody Find Me Somebody To...Date?

2010-05-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't get this on facebook...

First off, I hope that you heard Queen (or at least Glee's remake of the song) as you read the title of this e-mail. Otherwise it's not funny and doesn't make any sense. Onward...

There are two things in life (ok – definitely more than two, but just go with me on this one) at which I’m not very good: 1. asking for help; 2. dating. I really want to be better at both of these short-comings, so I’m putting them together in this letter. Yes, I am asking for help with dating.

This may seem more than a little unorthodox, but let me explain. In an effort to be a better dater, I set a goal at the beginning of the year. I wanted to go on 24 dates this year. In fact, my unofficial slogan was going to be, “Jenn meets men in 2010.” Catchy, huh? I figured that I could easily find a way to go on two dates per month. As it turns out - that’s easier said than done. So far, we’re mid-way through the 2nd quarter of the year and my grand total is…3. I know – pathetic.

So I’ve decided to swallow my pride (it’s a rather big swallow, let me tell you) and ask for help. Even though I like to think that I can do everything on my own, maybe I can’t. So here comes the question: Will you - family and friends - rack your collective brains to try and think of any nice eligible men that you know who may want to go on a date with me…and then set us up?

:) What do you think?

Let me give a few simple guidelines to help as you ponder this. I’m not trying to be a micro-manager, so just think of these as helpful hints. I’ll keep them short and sweet: 1. active member of the LDS church; 2. somewhere within a five year radius of my age (I’m 31); and 3. not creepy. Yes, I know that these are pretty broad guidelines, but use good judgment. I do reserve the right to be picky when it comes to chocolate, shoes, and marriage. But I’m pretty open when it comes to first dates.

Please know that I’m not asking any of you to find me Mr. Perfect. Maybe just Mr. I-think-he-and-Jenn-might-enjoy-spending-a-couple-of-hours-together-on-a-date. Heck – even one hour. Lunch counts as a date, right? Also, I am willing to travel (within reason) and/or come up with ideas for and plan the dates. (Just FYI - I’ll be in Vancouver BC for a week in June and Boise sometime this summer.)

Really, I just want to give dating my best effort, and I need help to do that. It’s hard to meet people. And kind of scary - if I may be perfectly frank. So I (and I’m sure my parents) thank you in advance for helping my plight. I’ll end now. You all are the best for humoring and helping me. Much love and many thanks, Jenn

If You Need a Good Laugh...

2010-04-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

This happened a couple of years ago, but if you ever need something to bring some happiness to your day, go to you tube and search for "Jenn's Big Spill," or just click here. It never gets old. You should definitely listen to my sister's running commentary. It's funnier than my big spill. :) In my defense, it's really hard to ride one of those trike things, that was the first time I'd ever been on one, and though my family knew you weren't supposed to ride it on a hill, they had me try it on a hill.

Enjoy! I hope this brightens your week. :)

Jenn

Adventure: Disney World

2010-04-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of March, my youngest brother, David, and I hopped on a red-eye flight and ended up in Orlando, Florida. Our sister Kari lives there and works for Disney World. This was the first trip to Florida for both David and me, and it was FABULOUS!!!!! Kari knows her way around the parks like nobody's business, and we learned to just keep up with her. She was so fast. In fact, when David and I were on the trip home we had a quick connection (that ended up delayed) in Minnesota. As we were flying through the airport, I commented on his lightning speed. He just turned and said over his shoulder, "I've been training for this moment for the past three days." Too true.

We laughed a lot. We ate a lot. We bought matching t-shirts. Basically we had a magical amount of fun.

Thanks to Kari's creative genius, she managed to put three days worth of high-intensity Disney action into a 10-minute video. I think it's worth every minute, but if you're not into seeing other people's vacation footage, don't click here. Otherwise - watch. It will make you want to be in Florida right now.

My only word of caution: Do not - I repeat - DO NOT go on the dinosaur ride at the Animal Kingdom! It is SO scary!!!! If you watch the video you will see pictures of me and David literally trying to get on the floor of the ride to get away from the fake dinosaurs. Terrifying. Every other ride I went on was awesome. :)

Thanks, Kari, for being our fearless leader on this whirlwind trip. Here's to the Trifecta of Fun!

Just for Erin...

2010-03-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

I won an award this week. I know! So exciting! Here it is:

Now...don't worry. This award was not given because I am an amazing blogger. It was given in the hopes that I would actually update my blog. So, Erin, thank you. After months of sitting and gathering proverbial dust on the internet, the Adventures of Jenn live again!

In oder to accept this high honor, I am now required to tell all of you faithful followers ten - count 'em TEN - things about myself that you may not know. Drum roll please.

1. I dislike cats. Cats that live in people's homes generally gross me out. The hair. The climbing on counter tops where food is prepared. Litter boxes. Gag me! I can't handle it. The only way I believe that I will ever own a cat is if I live on a large piece of land and the cat can live outside pretty much ALL the time. This will allow the cat to entertain any potential children and also kill any potential mice.

2. I am irrationally afraid of scuba diving. I am an excellent swimmer. I have been a lifeguard and swim instructor. But there is something that scares me to death about the thought of being that deep under water. Also the sharks scare me. The only true panic attack I can remember in my adult life came as we were getting ready to certify for a one-day baby scuba adventure. I couldn't even get through the flip-chart presentation. Bad.

3. It may sound silly, but I love living in Rancho Cordova. Maybe it's because I grew up in Stockton, but I feel totally at home here. Happy. :)

4. Even though I have been home from my mission for almost seven years (yikes! has it been that long?) I still sometimes miss it so much it hurts. I can sometimes feel what it was like to be there. The smells, the weather, the people. It makes me homesick for a country that's not even my home. Funny, huh?

5. Tonight, for the first time in my life, I dipped an Oreo cookie directly into my jar of peanut butter and then ate it. It was pretty much absolutely delicious. It definitely was not the last time I will do that in my life.

6. I'm a horrible dater. I know - shocking, but oh so true. I take set-ups, so if anyone knows any good men out there - let me know. :)

7. I own a safety orange colored couch sack. A couch sack is like a Snuggie, but instead of being a blanket, it has arms and legs and zips up the front. Now...I did not purchase this for myself. It was a gift from a dear friend and roommate when I was living in Utah. And though I probably would never have purchased it for myself, I'm really glad she got it for me! I used to use it in Utah, and that thing was so stinkin' warm. I'd put on a t-shirt and leggings and then the couch sack, and I was so toasty warm. I hate being cold in the winter.

8. I read the April Ensign today, so I am officially prepared to get married. The articles were good. I feel that I have internalized them, and now I'm set and ready to go. Only problem...see #6.

(This is hard! Do I really have to come up with two more things?! Is anyone even still reading?)

9. Sometimes when I run I love to listen to the theme song from the original show "Fame!" I always hope that this song comes up on my ipod when I'm on a trail by myself. This is because when I hear the part when they sing, "Fame!" or "I'm gonna learn how to fly - HIGH!" I feel that I need to leap in the air. Specifically on the words "Fame" and "High." So, if you ever see me running, and I leap and stretch out my arms, it's because I'm listening to this song, believing that "I'm gonna live forever! Baby remember my name. (Remember. Remember. Remember.)"

10. Just like Sandra Bullock in "Miss Congeniality," I really do want world peace.

Erin - how did I do?

More adventure updates soon friends!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2009-12-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since my post with the picture of my current roommates, I've been thinking about how lucky I have been to have had such wonderful roommates throughout the years. I also realized that I have moved at least once a year every year for the past 13 years. That's a lot of moves and a lot of roommates. So I thought that I would pay tribute to all these terrific women with a quick look to the past with pictures of all my roommates. Now, I THINK that I have remembered to include everyone. I will feel REALLY badly if I've left anyone out. Don't worry - I won't use last names. :)

My very first college roommate, Nancy.

Sally, Nancy, Sheila, and I were lucky enough to share a suite in the dorms and then an apartment. Two whole years of fun!

After Nancy and Sally got married, Sheila and I teamed up with Crystal and Natasha. We had many a night around an ice cream container.

Now, in 1999 I went on a study abroad to Zimbabwe. Technically I did not room with everyone in this picture (meaning the guys), but throughout the summer I think I managed to share a room, chalet, or tent with pretty much all of these gals. It was really an amazing summer!

Back in the States, I spent another year as a roommate with Natasha, and we added Rachel and Erin (sometimes known as Terry) to the apartment. And, yes, this was a posed picture. Get ready, there are more posed roommate pictures coming. We never did, however, frame them and hang them in the house or print them and send them in Christmas cards.

See! Here's another posed one. :) We took this just before I left for my mission. Here we've got Cindy, Tristen, Jen, Emily, Natasha, and me. These sweet girls signed the 8x10 of this picture and put it in a frame for me. Truly a treasure as I left for 18 months.

So, this is kind of a two-for-one picture. I figure that my mission companions count as roommates, and this picture has not only my MTC companion - Erin (far right) - but also my trainer - Michelle (next to me). This is at the train station in Hilversum just before we left to go to our separate areas.

I'm sorry this is so blurry! Ok - I'm tech deficient, and I took digital pictures of my regular pictures and then uploaded the digital ones. I didn't have a digital camera on my mission, OK? These are the sisters that lived with in my first apartment in Zoetermeer. Rebecca (who later was a comp), me, Michelle, and I don't know her first name. Shoot! Sorry Sister S.

Antwerpen, Belgium! The first group of gal: me, Kim, Jody, and Jen. Yes, we had a night when we put on mud masks. It helps keep your skin soft and supple. Missionaries still need to try. We may not have looked good, but we tried. Can I help it if this was the only picture I had with all four of us? :)

I promise - I could have done almost all of my mission roommate pictures with a food theme. But this one with Kim, me, Jen, and Jen is in front of our favorite Belgian waffle shop, Carpe Diem. They were SO good!

Still in Belgium. Yes, I had a lot of roommates there. Here I am with Amy and Jen. We had a vicious Sport Evening which ended in a mud fight. It was momentous.

OK - this is a little out of order, but I still not great at the blog-picture-upload thing. But later in my mission I was with Amy again. This time we were in Haarlem. This was a preparation day in January and it was VERY cold! We were at the North Sea in Scheveningen, just outside of The Hague.

The infamous CHiPs roommates. If you don't already know what that means, I'm sorry. It involves last names, and I have a thing about using last names on public internet things. So, just know that it was a cool nickname that we made up for ourselves. Below are Alicia, me, and Amber outside the temple in Zoetermeer. We really look like missionaries here, huh?

My Greenie! I trained Brittany in Rotterdam. We had a whirlwind of a time. This is out at Kinderdijk.

Oh, Jenn. We were roommates on two different continents. Here we are in Rotterdam wearing our gifts. Yes, tank tops that say, "I 'heart' my attitude problem." Love it!

And here's a nice one of me and Jenn. This is at Keukenhof. Nice display of flowers, huh?

Ok - we're now out of the mission years. Whew! These are the girls I was lucky enough to end up rooming with when I moved to Sacramento. Melissa, Laurel, Jenn, Alena, AmyAnn, Corrie, and Ariane. Yeah, we posed for this one too. You can't see it very well, but we were right next to a waterfall. Precious, huh? I do love these girls. We didn't actually all live in the same house at the same time, but I have lived with all of them at some point.

Then I moved to Utah. First I was just roommates with Melissa, but then I moved to Kari's house and got to live with (from left to right) Jenny, Melissa, and Kari. This was at our fancy Christmas party. Hooray for pretty dresses!

And, last but not least (and this was my only picture of her), we added Amanda to Kari's house just before I moved back to California. We were having a do-our-hair-and-watch-a-movie night.

Well, if you've made it to the end of this EXTREMELY long post, you're a trooper. Because really, this was a LONG post. But even if you didn't enjoy it, I sure enjoyed going through all my pictures and reliving a lot of memories. And, all of you roommates should say thank you. There were some VERY embarrassing pictures that I could have used instead. :) Love you all!

If You Were My Niece...

2009-12-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

...you'd be getting this pretty ghetto awesome Christmas card in the mail in a couple of days.

I know you're seriously jealous. There are only two of these in the whole world. The other one is making its way to my cousin in Boston. Now if only I could get the pipe cleaner to stay on the tree...And, yes, this was all done free-hand. :)

Das Vedanya

2009-10-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

After two and a half years, I am finally bidding farewell to this book:

Yes, it took me THAT long to finish Anna Karenina. Perhaps I'm not cut out to read much Russian writing. I think I put it down for an entire year before I started reading it again. But now that I'm done I'm glad that I read it. My first Tolstoy.

The Primary Program

2009-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today in church we had the annual Primary Presentation. Having not been in a ward with a Primary for many years, I had forgotten how much I LOVE the Primary Presentation Sunday. Those kids are so stinkin' cute. And funny. Here was my favorite line, delivered by a girl who looked to be about four years old.

"Heavenly Father has given us lots of good foods. Like hot dogs. . . and apples."

I think her mom probably made her toss in the "and apples." So funny.

Welcome to the New Roommates

2009-10-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, my friends, here we are. Me, Alicia, Ariane, and Heather. Believe it or not, this is the first time that Ari and I have actually been roommates. We're definitely having fun though! Please be warned that we don't have a ton of furniture yet, so if anyone comes for a visit, you may have to sit on a camping chair. But come anyway. We love visitors. And don't you love the pretty lights along our backyard fence?

We Lost a Tree

2009-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had a HUGE storm here on Tuesday. Seriously. I haven't seen wind like we had since I lived in the Netherlands. We used to talk about the horizontal rainfall in Holland, and that's what we had on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, that means that we had a casualty in the backyard. Our poor tree, which we now know was a fruitless plum (thanks Steven) couldn't handle the rain and wind and completely tipped over.

A big thanks goes out to Pablo and his buddy who came to cut it down on Thursday. We still miss our purple tree though.

Some 'Splainin' To Do

2009-10-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

I feel like I want to explain a little bit about why I’ve called this blog “The Adventures of Jenn” (emphasis on Adventures). I’ve realized lately that lots of people say on their blogs that their lives are adventures, but I really do have a good reason behind my titling. I’m not just trying to be like everyone else.

You see, you don’t get to be 31 and single without having been on a good number of bad dates. Especially bad first dates. Bad blind first dates. Now, not all first dates or first blind dates are bad. And sometimes a bad first date can blossom into a good second date. Not always, but I digress…

After extensive research, I have found that there’s one question that – when asked during the course of a date - almost always indicates that things are going sour. I can tell when it’s coming. There will be an awkward and uncomfortable pause in conversation. A little cough here. A head scratch there. Eye contact is averted. Both of us know that there aren’t many more easy avenues of conversation, and we’re hunting for something to bring up. Coming from a professional small-talker, if we get too far into the pause, I know that there are very few ways out without coming to The Question. It’s every bad date’s back-up. I start to panic a little, racking my brain for some topic to introduce before he utters the words. But I’m not fast enough. He opens his mouth and begins, “So, what are…” In my head I start yelling, “No! Danger! Danger! Abort! Don’t do it! Please – ANY OTHER QUESTION!” But before I can cut him off he finishes, “…your hobbies?” Long sigh.

My hobbies? That question is my nemesis. It haunts me. Why though? It’s not an uncommon question. People have hobbies, right? Wrong! I’ve realized that the reason I don’t like this question is mostly because I don’t have many traditional hobbies. Therefore, I have no good answer for this question. Sure I read. I like sports. My grandma’s teaching me to quilt. I definitely do NOT scrapbook. But that tends to be where the list ends, because I don’t think I can count watching TV. Pathetic in the world of hobbies. So, if you ask me this question, I just end up feeling like a loser who doesn’t do anything and the date conversation dies again. Maybe I should refer all potential dates to this post so they can avoid the question-of-death.

Anyway, after many hours (or at least a few minutes) of contemplating my lack of hobbies, I have come to a conclusion. I may not have many hobbies, but it’s because most of all I like to have ADVENTURES! I do like to do things! I like to try new things, go new places, and learn new stuff. Really my biggest hobby is adventuring. Is that a word? Today it is. And I like adventuring.

My roommates and I once made a list of adventures and put it on the fridge. The adventures ranged from going to Peach Days to snowshoeing to taking a tour of a chocolate factory to going to the MoTab Christmas concert.

My point is that adventures are everywhere, and at least a portion of this blog will walk you through some of my favorite current adventures. And every time you read about an adventure, you can know that I’m just keeping up with my favorite non-hobby. Thus, The Adventures of Jenn.

Enough ‘splainin’ Lucy.

The Summer Recap

2009-09-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

In honor of it officially being Fall but officially still being as hot as mid-summer, I have decided to give my readers (all five of you) a quick summary of my summer highlights. In essence, I will paint a picture using words and…well, pictures. Here goes!

This year summer started way back in, I think, February when we went to the S.F. Giants Fan Fest. I got to actually WALK ON THE FIELD! And I saw Will Clark, my favorite Giant from my younger days.

The next important summer event was a little thing we (I) like to call "Friendrichment." You know - friends getting together to learn something or do something productive. In this episode we made 72 hour emergency kits. Thanks AmyAnn for putting this together!

This is a picture of AmyAnn running the half marathon that I was supposed to run with her. We signed up for the American River Parkway half marathon, but I pulled a dumb muscle in my leg so badly that I wasn't able to run with her. Instead, Jenn and I were the cheerleaders of the race. It was rainy and so much fun. Way to go runners! I'll be there next year (hopefully!).

Ariane joined my Stockton ward on a day trip to Big Trees. It was absolutely beautiful, but we did spend a bit of time looking at the map...lost. But we always found our way back.

June was actually a super busy month. Our big family trip this year was to San Diego, where all four of us kids took surfing lessons. Now, are we "surfers?" I'd say no, but we sure had a lot of fun. Here's the land portion of our lesson. David, my mom, and I all got spray tans for the trip. :) Totally worth it.

We totally look like locals, huh? Here's Danny, David, Kari, and me.

Perhaps the fact that I struggled to even pull the WETSUIT on was a precursor of how well I'd actually do in the water. In my defense, it was a new suit and it was very tight.

Shoot! I did have a picture of me looking like I was standing up and really surfing, but I forgot to upload it. I'm also not blog-savvy enough to add it in now. So...here's me kind of surfing.

And then fully wiping out. I have to say that surfing was so much fun and I'd totally try it again. I'm an excellent boogie boarder, so I'm sure that I could eventually get the hang of this. :) Definitely a fun day with the fam!

We also went to Legoland! We really did have a couple of kids with us even though you haven't seen pictures of them yet. We didn't really go to Legoland with just adults. This is Kari, Mollie (my sis-in-law) and me.

Ok - so this may seem silly, but this was one of my favorite parts of the week in San Diego. My mom and I took my niece, Kallie, and my cousin, Emma, and we went to La Jolla for a couple of hours. On the way there, we somehow decided that the girls were part of the "Miss Nancy's Bucket-of-Fun Tour" and Mom and I were the guides. We pointed out silly things all along the drive and our walk, and the girls would just "ooh" and "aah" like we were showing them priceless works of art or something. It was great! We looked at the seals, climbed trees, watched kayakers (our family), and walked out on the rocks along the shore. We'll be taking bookings for tours again next summer. :)

On the rocks.

In the trees.

Toward the end of June, Jenn, AmyAnn, Ariane, and I finally got the chance to see Wicked in San Francisco. Oh, how I loved it! Anyone want to go again?

Outside the Orpheum Theater with Lindsey and John.

The last major event in June was our good friend Jenn getting married to Chad. Hooray!

In honor of her wedding, we made the cupcakes for her reception. I think that learning this new skill also falls into the Friendrichment category. So, we made cupcakes...

...and cupcakes...

...and more cupcakes...

...and even more cupcakes.

Eventually we had 400 cupcakes! Yum!

Then we attempted a cake topper. This is me with my first cake with fondant. And, thanks to KB, the fondant actually tasted good! Homemade is the only way to go.

Here's the finished cupcake tower. The top kind of looks like a hat, but that's ok.

Delish...

The friends at the temple.
And, yes, I caught the bouquet. What can I say? They asked who really wanted it. So I fought Ariane (I did some classic boxing out. Thanks Dad.), and I won! But I did share the flowers with others. We all deserve them, right? :)
And I got to finish the night with a dance with Jenn's little brother, Brady. So cute!

Ok - This post is probably FAR too long, but brevity's not my thing. I'll try to be shorter in the future. Just as a final update, I did finish the summer with a move back to the Sacramento area, and the start of a new job.

That's the update of my summer. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe, right? I wasn't allowed to watch that cartoon.

My Little Corner of the Internet

2009-09-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of pressure associated with the first post of a new blog. It sets the scene. It creates a tone. There's a lot riding on it. So the question arises...do you open with a joke? A story? A poetic tribute to all major life events since 1997? No. The only logical way to start things off on the right foot is to find the perfect picture that screams, "This is me!"

How better to say "Welcome to my blog!" than with a picture of me sticking my head through a lego shark head? Enjoy, and here's to happy blogging in the days to come!