A cute email that I received recently.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
> 1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
> 2) When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your
> hair.
> 3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back.
> They always catch the second person
> 4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
> 5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
> 6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
> 7) Never hold a dust-buster and a cat at the same time.
> 8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
> 9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
> 10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
>
>
> GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
> 1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
> 2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
> 3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts
> 4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its
> ground.
> 5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
> 6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not
> the toy.

UW vs BYU

Yesterday was the big Huskies game against BYU. I love dressing up in Husky gear and being surrounded by fellow fans. There is such a feeling of unity and camaraderie. I know that sounds weird, but I can't help it. I did not feel like there was any question as to where my loyalties ran as I grew up here in Washington (though not a native) and graduated from the UW. (It was kind of a no brainer) As we sat amongst the many BYU fans I started to wonder if by rooting for the Huskies I was denying my churchy side. Don't worry, it wasn't a life shattering, list the pros and cons moment, but I did feel slightly torn. I think that it was more difficult for Jeff to decided who he was going to root for because he graduated from BYU even though he was born and raised here in Washington. I was pretty certain that he had given into the heathen side when he purchased a Husky jersey at the store right before the game. Needless to say, my loyalties to my alma mater won through, and although we didn't win, we put up a good fight.
Above are a few of the pictures that I took to commemorate this splendid day.

A Night at The Theatre

Last Saturday night I went to go see Shrek the musical with my friends Marly and Lucy. I was really impressed with the way that they were able to bring to life the animated characters found in the movie. I think the Lord Farquaad was my favorite character in the play. He was SO funny! The poor actor spent the entire evening on his knees (he had fake legs attatched to his outfit). Any time he would walk accross the stage the audience would erupt in laughter. I also thought the way they created the dragon was clever. They had women dressed in scale like dresses, that, when standing still, looked exactly like a tale. While the songs themselves were pretty good, I have to say they were...forgetable. I would still highly reccomend that people go to see it though. We laughed a lot and the set was amazing. All in all it was a great night at the theater.

Wellington

If you are a reader of Jeff's blog, then you will already know all about our latest camping/hiking trip. Here are just a few more pictures from our trek. I think this is up there with one of my favorite hikes. It was fascinating learning about a time when life was about industry and innovation. We scoured the sides of the trails looking for evidence of the small town that used to exists there. We found some old foundations and made an attempt to identify what it could have been. (we think it was the old bunk house)

The sad part of the story is the fact that so many people died due to an avalanche. It was a little eerie knowing that we were walking on a path where such a tragedy happened. We had hiked down to Scenic to check out the Caboose that they have there and ran into a couple of older men whom we happened to meet at the start of our hike. The cool thing is; Jeff decided to stop and look at the sign in log to see where people were from. What we found was one signature that said grandson of Sid Jones from the Wellington disaster. I am convinced that the grandson was one of the two men that we kept running into. When Jeff went home he checked to see if Sid Jones had been one of the many who perished back in 1910. I was hoping he would have been one of the people who survived but unfortunately he wasn't that lucky.

Okay, enough of the history lesson. If you are interested in learning more about Wellington there is a book written about it called, "The White Cascade".

A week with Ebony

This last week I had the pleasure of taking care of a co-workers dog who is...you guessed it, named Ebony. Ebony is a 6yr old black lab who lives for fetching tennis balls and taking invigorating walks. I decided to "borrow" Ebony for a week to see if I was ready to get a dog of my own. I wanted to test the waters so to speak, to make sure that I was ready to make a commitment, and get a dog of my own.

While I did enjoy coming home from work to find her sooooo excited to see me, I found that my long hours at the office made me worry about leaving her alone. I also liked taking her out for long walks, even though she really was walking me. (that dog almost knocked me to the ground! I wasn't paying attention and she decided the cat down the street needed to be barked at and took off)

While I enjoyed having Ebony for the week, I have come away from this experience knowing that I will not be getting a dog anytime soon. It isn't that I don't want one, I just found that I really had a hard time with all of the fur that had taken up residence on my couches, beds and floors. I also learned that I am allergic to dogs.

I am thankful that I had the chance to try out a dog before getting one. It would have been pretty hard to get attached to one just to have to give it up do to allergies. I wish there were other things that I could test out before I bought them.

A quick trip to Oregon.

Last weekend I took advantage of some free time that I had and headed to the Oregon Coast. I met up with my mom and a family friend at Lincoln City where we shopped at the outlet mall and enjoyed all that the beach has to offer. It was a balmy 60 degrees on Saturday, not bad for the ocean. After relaxing for a few hours I left Sue and my mom and headed to King something to spend a couple of days with my friend Jill.
I got to Jill's house at about 6:30pm where I got a quick tour (the gardens by the way our so cool) then we headed off to Corvallis for dinner and a movie. We went to see the new Traveling Pants of the Sisterhood, or something like that. It was a cute movie, definitely a chic flick.
The next day I got to go to church with Jill and her mom. I always have fun going to other wards,(I don't really know why). Everyone was so nice and it was refreshing to see that you truly can go anywhere and find the same personalities as you have in your own ward.
Later that day I watched Jill create an AMAZINGLY YUMMY chocolate cake! Jill possesses a talent that I only aspire to have. Case in point, my family bought me clear lids for my pots one year as a joke, so that I could see when I am burning something.(Such support) Jill's friend had a birthday party that evening which Jill made sure that I was invited to, since she was bringing the cake and all. This family has the coolest house! It was straight out of a Swiss Family Robinson movie. They live in a log cabin and have a rope swing, great decks that are surrouned by a lot of trees to run around in and climb.
Sadly, the weekend came and went too quickly. Jill and her mom made me feel so welcome. It was difficult for me to get back in the car knowing that a 4 1/2hr drive was ahead of me. It was such a relaxing weekend (which gets lost in the hubbub of daily life all to quickly)Thanks again to Jill, her mom, my mom and Sue for making it well worth the long drive.

Happy Birthday to me!

Thanks to everyone for helping to make this years birthday so great! It has been a busy week with many b-day lunches and dinners. I loved all of the cards that I received, they were very funny! Jeff got me some really cool headphones that block out all of the noise which I love.

Kaesha got me a framed picture of The Prayer at Valley Forge, which is hanging next to my copy of the Family Proclamation and the Constitution. (I know I'm weird) I love the inscription on the bottom of the Prayer at Valley Forge, it shows how much our founding fathers relied on our Heavenly Father for guidance; something that, sadly, is lacking in our government today.

The inscription says, "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of almighty God and those who have the superintendence of them into His holy keeping."

Thanks again everyone for all of your well wishes!