Last week of September already

This past week has flown by so I'm going to give a quick update. I'll try and pick up where I left off last week.

Last Tuesday we had a Relief Society Activity. We had 3 different classes to go to. One was on making photo books and preserving your memories that one, one was on journaling, and one was on using the new website www.new.familysearch.org. They were all excellent; I learned a lot and I think so did the sisters who attended.

Wednesday Steve had class all day, I had work, then visits afterwords. I then went over to the church w/ my 2nd counselor and met w/ the Elder's Quorum President and his 1st counselor and went over Home and Visiting Teaching assignments for October. It went really well and I felt we were efficient too. I had gone over the VT side w/ my Coordinator the Saturday before so I felt more prepared and ready for the meeting. President Thorup commented to me that he felt I was well prepared for it, which of course helps to rely on the Spirit even moreso when making the changes.

Thursday I mainly did homework after school and Steve had his EMT class again.

Friday Steve went to help Carrie move her stuff out of her apartment and I had to take my midterm. Not our ideal Friday night, but you do what you have to do sometimes. Steve got home before I finished so he just played a game on the computer for the last 1 hour while I finished it. He then went and got some ice cream for us and we watched a little TV together then went to bed.

Saturday I slept in til 11; I was tired needless to say. We then went out and shopped for a dress for me for Carrie's wedding. We found a pretty cute one at Ross, hopefully it'll work. We looked at suits a little for Steve, but then after we got home he decided he could just wear one he already had. I then got ready for my sisters Rose and Pauline to come over so we could go to the Relief Society Conference downtown together. Steve went w/ Greg Morris from our branch and his friend Zach Hanney up the canyon to go fly fishing.

I drove downtown and parked in the parking lot they assigned us. Traffic was a little busy getting there but we made it just in time. The talks were really good. Of course I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's the most; it had the most meaning to me at this time in my life. You can read it here if you haven't already, or watch it. http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/forget-me-not?lang=eng It was excellent!

Here are the 5 Forget Me Nots
1. Forget not to be patient with yourself.
2. Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
3. Forget not to be happy now.
4. Forget not the “why” of the gospel.
5. Forget not that the Lord loves you.

When he was bearing his testimony about the 5th one that God loves us the Conference Center went completely silent. You could FEEL the power of his message and testimony. It was incredible; the Spirit was so strong! You KNEW that he knew what he was saying was the truth! I love the power of a testimony. Nothing can restrain the Spirit from bearing truthfulness when a testimony is born. Love it!

Afterwards we walked over to Olive Garden and had dinner together. We then came back to my place where we chatted some more. I also made copies of 2 Wheat Bread recipes I've used recently and LOVED! It was really fun to hang out w/ them and share the experience of the RS Conference together. It would be great if next time our Mom, Barbara, Anna, Kristi, and Michelle could be there too. :)


Rose and Pauline w/ me at the Relief Society Conference. (I finally found my camera battery charger yeah!)


Sunday I had a lot of meetings from 9am - 6pm. Afterwards Steve and I got to relax and spend time together.

My left wrist has been bothering me and we figured its carpal tunnel. We went and got a wrist brace to wear at work which seems to be helping. I'm also wearing it at night. I also asked that they order my an ergonomic keyboard. Here is a pic of it.

My new ergonomic keyboard at work


This Tuesday night Steve met me at the trax station and we went to the temple. It was closed Saturday after Noon, so we slept too long to make it in time. The session was really good and it was definitely needed. It's crazy how quickly the month passes when you've got a million things to do during the week.

Looking back at the Jordan River Temple from the parking lot.
I love how it "shines."


We're excited for General Conference this weekend. We're planning to go up to the cabin to watch it. Can't wait!!! :)

Getting busy again....

I need to update really quick before I forget what's been going on the last couple weeks. Steve decided to head up to the cabin today to help Dave prep the deck to be painted. So after class he packed up his stuff and drove up. Steve doesn't have school on Tuesdays so it worked out perfectly. I did some grocery shopping tonight and plus I have work and a have a Relief Society Activity tomorrow so I couldn't go. I'm glad he could go up and help though.

Steve helping to prep the deck at the cabin, scraping old paint off


Last week Steve and I were both sick with the stomach flu. It wasn't very fun. It hit Steve the hardest last Sunday during sacrament meeting. He started feeling nauseous so I encouraged him to go to the restroom just in case. Well he ended up throwing up, so I took him home. I then went back for Sunday School and Relief Society plus meetings and more meetings, so I didn't get home until 5pm. Well by this time Steve was not doing very well. He said he had been either throwing up or having it come out the other end pretty much nonstop. It kept getting worse and worse and he of course couldn't keep anything down, not even water, without throwing it up. He was getting pretty dehydrated and started to get really bad stomach cramps, so we decided to take him into the instacare. Well, by the time we got in it was a little after 8pm and they said they couldn't start IV's after 8pm so we needed to go to the ER. We went home for a bit to see if the cramps would stop but they didn't, so we went to the ER at about 8:30pm. They then got an IV started for him and eventually gave him morphine to help w/ the pain. He then started doing much better. His heart rate was pretty high though so we had to stay til about 1:30 am as they were monitoring it. When we left Steve was doing 100 times better than when we got in. We were both REALLY tired by the time we got home and into bed.

Steve at the ER just enjoying life....now that he has morphine ;)



Steve getting some fluids after being so dehydrated all day


I stayed home Monday, mainly since I was exhausted and to take care of Steve. My stomach started hurting that night so I ended up staying home Tuesday also, just in case I got it. It was more of my stomach cramping and grumpling more than anything, but it was nice to be home taking it easy since I didn't feel too good either.

Wednesday I went to work and Steve had class all day. After work I went to visit new sisters from 6-8:30pm, then I had a meeting w/ President Thorup from 8:30-11:30pm. I know it was a LONG night, but I got a lot accomplished. We went over a lot of things about our branch RS.

Thursday after work I went to Carrie's bridal shower (Steve's older sister) while Steve went to his EMT class. It was a fun shower. She gets married in less than a month on October 15th in Melanie's backyard.

Friday at work I organized a potluck for my team. It was a fun and there was plenty of food. After work I wasn't feeling the best (no correlation w/ the potluck), so we decided to take it easy. Since we hadn't been to the new In-N-Out Burger right here by our place we decided to go. As we pulled up another couple and their 5 yr old daughter Riley who lives in our same complex pulled up. We ended up sitting w/ them as we ate and visited. It was nice to enjoy their company. We then went to Target to use the $10 giftcard we had. We decided we could each get something for $5. We ended up in the games section and found 2 $5 games! I got Mancala and Steve got a chess/checkers/backgammon set. Score! We only payed like 66 cents for the 2 of them! We then came home and played them, then watched a movie and went to bed.

That night the stomach flu finally got me! I went to the bathroom 3 times w/in a couple hours so I had Steve go pick me up some Imodium. That helped w/ it coming out, but I still had stomach cramps all day. Even though I wasn't feeling too well I was still able to meet w/ my VT Coordinator to go over some things, and Steve and I went to a funeral. A couple in our ward lost their baby. She was only 18 weeks along, but they decided to go a funeral service anyway. We decided to go and support them. Afterwards I worked on my homework assignments and lesson for RS the next day. We watched a little of the U vs BYU game; the U killed BYU 54 to 10!!!!

My lesson for RS went well I think. I decided to do a lesson using the new RS book "Daughters of my Kingdom." We passed them out and I used Sister Beck's talk called "Fulling the Purpose of Relief Society" from October 2008. Here's a link if you want to read it; it's great! The new books are beautiful to the eye and to the soul as you read them. Here is a quote from her talk, "To summarize, the purpose of Relief Society, as established by the Lord, is to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life.'

https://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/fulfilling-the-purpose-of-relief-society?lang=eng&query=fulfilling+our+responsibility,%28+name%3a%22Julie+B.+Beck%22+OR++name%3a%22David+L.+Beck%22%29

After church I made some rolls and we went over to LuDean's for our family get together. We had dinner, then we all helped make things for Carrie's wedding (since it will be in the backyard). I helped make the signs and got to use Diane's cricket machine; it was really fun! We got a lot done but there are still a lot more things that they need done before the wedding. I also made 2 loaves of wheat bread while we were there. I had the dough ready to go so I just baked it while we were there. Half of one loaf got eaten before we left (and all the rolls), then we left half for LuDean, we took half of one and gave Dave the other half. These 2 loaves turned out really well. They were really soft, moist and yummy. I think I'm getting better at it....hopefully anyway ;)

Ok one more thing. We went to my parent's house over Labor Day (2 weeks ago I know). We took Zach Hanney up w/ us (Steve's friend), since Rob Daniels got to go up once it was his turn. They went shopping, just about anything they could, while I had to work on homework unfortunately. We got to visit w/ Daron and his family though so that was a lot of fun. While over at Daron's Zach and Steve even got to rope the goat. It was pretty funny to watch let me tell you. The weekends always go too quickly.

The next day after work Steve picked me up and we headed to Rose's place to watch the girls so they could go to the temple. We had a good time watching them and no one fell and hit their head this time. Yeah hopefully doing better ;)

Well I hope all is well. Keep us posted. We love you all!!!! ;)

Back to School.....

I finished with my capstone class last Thursday, August 25th, and let me tell you….it feels GREAT to get that out of the way! We presented our project to the staff of Devry and also to some of our teacher Matt’s friends who are in the business field. There were only 4 (myself, 1 guy and 2 other girls) of us in the group and in our class, so we all had to give 100% in order for it to work and to get it done in time. Unfortunately the guy in our group had to leave right as we were starting to give our presentation. He got a call just before saying his wife was in labor and going to the hospital, 7 weeks early. He went first but was kind of frazzled by the circumstances so I had to regroup and almost start us over again. After presenting they drilled us w/ questions, but overall I felt it went really well. We ended up getting an A in the class. I’m really glad I’m done it that class. It was a lot of work! I now have 3 more electives. I’m taking an online class called Event Planning and Management. It’s something I’m interested it; it should be fun!

Steve started classes at the University of Utah on the 22nd. He’s now taking his major classes so they should be more enjoyable for him. We decided to pick up another class so now he’s at 18 credits, 9 of which are for an EMT evening class which last 8 hours total. He really likes the class so far and is thankful he did medical assisting before, which is giving him a head start on a lot of things. We also found a bus route which picks Steve up just outside our place, takes him straight up to the U and drops him off about the same spot. So this will save him time traveling up (faster then the train) and he doesn’t have to drive anywhere so hopefully it will help us save money on gas. Saving some can definitely help especially since tuition costs are SOOO expensive at the U, seriously, over $4000 for one semester in state tuition, sheesh! Thankfully my job is allowing us to save for tuition costs and is still paying 90% of my schooling. We are blessed! I have nothing to complain about. ;)

Last Friday the 26th, Steve picked me up from work and we went to the Salt Lake Temple and did initiatories. I got to do 6 names, but unfortunately the men’s side was REALLY understaffed and Steve wasn’t able to do any. We were glad to make it to the temple though to feel the Spirit and peace. Afterwards we went home, changed, and then went to Red Robin for dinner. We then came home swam and watched a movie. It was an excellent date night!

The next day, Saturday, we had a branch BBQ at the church pavilion. It was fun! We had a pretty good turn out. We had hot dogs and chili and had everyone bring side dishes and desserts. We then played water balloon volleyball and had a slip and slide. Steve got a lot of the men to do the slip and slide w/ him while I played volleyball. After that we then went on a hike up to Donut Falls and invited a couple from the branch to go w/ us. We had a good time. Jana and I walked a little faster then Jon and Steve so we got there before they did. It was a nice enjoyable hike; so pretty. We then made a quick dinner than had them back over to go swimming and use the hot tub. It was a lot of fun!

This Tuesday we went w/ Ashley and James Dunkelberger to Thanksgiving Point's Garden, since it was $2 Tuesdays. We drove w/ them down then met another couple there and walked around looking at the beautiful flowers, ponds, and landscaping. My camera battery was dead from Yellowstone, and I haven't found my charger, so took these pics from my camera phone (not bad).


A pond w/ lots of lilly pads


On the other side of the ponds were LOTS of hungry fish!


Pretty flowers


The falls at the end of the gardens


After we got to the gardens we noticed their front right tire was bulging. They decided to drive home on it anyway. We told him to drive slow because it could blow anytime, but he wanted to get home so he was going about 60 mph. Well we got to about Sandy then it blew. It was lucky that no one hit us from behind or anything and we were able to get over to the right lane edge. When the tire blew it rubbed on the fender bender and actually tore it up also which made it rip up all the way to the window. It also hit the washer fluid so it was leaking all over the road. We then helped him change the tire to the spare and we lipped our way home w/ Steve holding the "wing" down and making sure we didn't get anyone. Thankfully they called their insurance the next day and since the damage was caused by the tire and the car didn't technically touch the ground, they covered it 100% w/ only a $100 deductible. It was an adventure, and definitely not something I'd like to do again. It was kinda scary. I guess Ashley has been asking James to get the tires changed for sometime now but obviously hadn't gotten around to it. Moral of the story is change your tires when they tell you to.....they're not kidding when they say your tires are bad and need to be replaced.

Yellowstone Family Reunion!!!

Our trip to Yellowstone was fantastic! Steve and I left Wednesday about noon and got there by 5:30pm, just in time for dinner. :) We then unpacked and enjoyed visiting w/ everyone. We all stayed at a large cabin in Island Park. It was great to have everyone in the same house with a little more space then our parent’s house, especially w/ all the grandkids there are now.

The next morning the boys went fishing while we made breakfast. We then packed a lunch to take with us and headed out. We jumped in Pauline/Chris’s car so we wouldn’t have to pay another entrance fee. We stopped at some hot spots, and then met everyone at Old Faithful around lunch time. We all watched the geyser, then found a place for lunch in an INN which had a view pointing out to Old Faithful. By this time some of the kids needed naps or whatnot, so some people went back to the cabin while the rest of us went on our way. We switched cars and jumped in w/ my dad the rest of the day. We went to Yellowstone Lake, the Falls, Fisherman’s Bridge and back. We got to see a lot of elk, bison (who walked in front of the car as we were driving), and some bears. It was a long day of driving but it was worth it to see. We then had dinner and visited w/ everyone.

Steve showing us the nice trees


Beautiful geyser





Beautiful Yellowstone


Steve and I at first hot spots


Cute chipmunk eating Cheetos


The kids watching the chipmunk



Old Faithful


Ali and Char eating some peach rings....good thing we brought some they were a hit!


Wade, Steve, Haley, Summer, Dakota, Dexter and Michelle eating lunch


Daron and Kristi eating lunch


Dad trying to talk mom into letting him get an ice cream cone :)


Chris Coates and Chris Grayson w/ their mulberry ice cream cone...Pauline helping to eat it




Steve pointing out where the bison is


Silly bison taking up the road


At fisherman's bridge


Elk



Friday we did a similar routine. The men went fishing, we made breakfast, then packed lunches and headed out. This time though everyone pretty much went their own ways since it took too much time to coordinate w/ others. We went w/ Pauline and Chris again. We went up to the Mammoth Hot Spots and stopped at a place called Sheepeater’s Cliff. We also stopped at West Yellowstone and walked around some. We also got a 50 cent ice cream, yumm! It was another fun day. We were the first ones back so we helped w/ dinner.

Char got sick of walking to Pauline was carrying her



Mammoth hot spots


Sheepeater's Cliff



Steve doing his funny pose like in Budapest w/ the elephants...we don't know


Steve in West Yellowstone mimicking the bear


The boys wanted to go out fishing again so I decided to go w/ them. The mosquitoes were pretty bad, but it was still a nice night out. We gathered around in the living room and reminisced about times growing up. We laughed a lot! We had some good times growing up that’s for sure. It’s easy to forget them if you don’t try and reflect every once and a while. We stayed up talking then finally went to bed. Steve and I slept in the loft the first night, and then decided the couch was more comfortable so slept there the next 2 nights. It was good other then we could hear everyone get up. That night we heard Anna’s little boy Colten crying so we went down there and tried to calm him down, then brought him to Anna. Shortly after Dexter’s Kolten woke up crying from a dream or something, so Steve went down and calmed him down and he went back to bed. Ironically no one else heard either of them crying….. :)


Everyone fishing off the bridge.....didn't get any though but it was fun


Steve fly fishing next to Wade



Saturday we had breakfast then packed up and cleaned. Since Sophia was a little fussy I decided to ride w/ Rose on the way back to try and help; Jared rode w/ Steve in our car. That lasted til we got to Pocatello, then she wouldn’t stop crying. Rose put her arm back to help comfort her which helped somewhat but not much. We then switched it up and put Rose in the back next to Sophie, Jared driving, and we took Ali in our car. That worked for an hour or so then she started crying for no reason. I called Rose and she said she does that right before she pukes (from car sickness). So we all pulled over, put Ali back in the van, and we took Summer and Ava in our car. We rode the rest of the way like that and switched back right before they went towards Tooele and we went to Salt Lake. It took a little longer, but we were glad to help out. Overall, it was a really fun trip, just too short of course. I honestly didn’t remember from when we went when I was a kid of all the driving you do in Yellowstone. It was beautiful but of course made it hard to visit w/ everyone since we were all in our own cars for the most part. We’ll have to try something else next time for the reunion so we can be more together during the day/outings. Either way it's a great time to get together :)

Service Opportunities.....

These past 2 weeks have been pretty fun and eventful. This week Steve and I had several opportunities to provide service. It was fun working together and helping others.

On Monday, we went out to dinner w/ a couple in our branch. She is from Korea, he served his mission there, and Steve learned to like Korean food on his mission, so we figured we'd go out of Korean food for dinner. It was my first time to try it but it was really good. We had meat that we cooked right at our table, then put it on lettuce leaves w/ rice and veggies. Afterwards Steve and I got an ice cream cone at Macey's. It was a fun night.

Tuesday I had class. We've got 2 more weeks then our project is done and we'll be presenting it to potential investors. Steve of course is done w/ school till the 22nd, so he's been helping do some yard work at his grandma's and mow the lawn for his parents.

Wednesday after work I went w/ my secretary and visited sisters in the branch. At the same time I had my 2 counselors try and track down some of the "unknown" sisters on our branch list. We got a lot accomplished which was good. Since we had a lot of sisters move out last month, naturally we're having more move in this month, which is good. While I was doing visits Steve and some elders in the branch went and helped a brother in the ward move. He's moving back east for schooling.

On Thursday after work, Steve and I hurried over to an assisted living center to help remove sandbags. They were placed their in the spring to help prevent flooding, particularly since it flooded a lot last year. We helped at that spot for a while, then gathered those from our branch and went further up the creek to help a member in another ward. There was about 8 of us, including our Branch President, working to remove the bags and load it up into a loader to be moved elsewhere. The bags weighed between 30-60 lbs depending on how much was put in the bag and how much water had soaked into the sand as well. Needless to say after 3 hours of lifting, loading and unloading the sandbags we were all pretty sore. My biceps and forearms were, and still are, sore from it, but it felt good to help out and provide service. Steve and I jumped into the swimming pool when we got back to cool off.

On Friday we took it easy. I made some teriyaki chicken w/ rice for dinner. Steve wanted something w/ rice since he got real Japanese chop sticks and just had to try them. We then went over to Macey's and got an ice cream cone while we shopped for some food storage items. I got some bread making items in particular so I could make homemade whole wheat bread, from our Relief Society activity. As we were going into Macey's we met a couple in our branch and invited them over to swim w/ us. So, after we got back they came over along w/ Rob. We all swam for a bit, then went to the hot tub for bit (they just opened it up again). It was fun to relax!

Teriyaki Chicken

Saturday morning we got up early at 8 (for a Saturday that is) and went downtown to help w/ another service project. This one was through my work. We went to Bryant Middle School where we were divided up into teams to complete different projects. Steve and I were assigned to help paint a mural in the cafeteria which said, "Get Healthy." The mural seemed easy enough, but there were 11 different colors on it. Luckily someone had outlined our picture the day before, so we went through and put numbers on which area was what color. It was like a GIANT paint by number per say. We got started around 9:30am and actually didn't get done until about 2:30pm. We took a 15 minute break for lunch but that was about it. Due to all the colors it took a little more time to paint, but when we were done it was totally worth it. Up close you could see our "blemishes" but as you backed up it looked amazing! I'm glad we took the time to get the details. Hopefully the middle school will enjoy it and appreciate our work.

Yeah finally done!


Our completed work


When we got done there, we headed up to clean up and get lunch. I also made 3 loaves of wheat bread. It turned out really well. The lady that taught us the recipe used 1/2 molasses and 1/2 honey, so next time I want to try using it to see if it makes a difference. It was still really good though. Steve REALLY likes it and has eaten almost 2 loaves already. I think I'll have to make it for him more often :)

Homemade wheat bread


That night we went up to Centerville to see the play "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." All of Steve's brothers and sisters came. It was a lot of fun very entertaining. Rob ended up coming w/ us also and really liked it. He had never seen it before but now wants to watch the movie. Afterwards we all stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream, then went home.

Sunday I had my early morning meetings. In church we had several releases and new callings. We'll be making a lot of changes in the Relief Society also in the next couple weeks, so we're working on that. After church I made dinner for us, then made brownies (100% homemade, not from a mix) and went over to a couple in the branch to play games and eat the brownies. The brownies actually turned out really good. Steve said he'd be ok if I make them more often. It was fun playing games w/ them. We played Rumikub, Pig Pile, and Ticket to Ride.

This past few weeks at work has been pretty crazy, as I'm sure you can imagine. Monday was particularly crazy since the Dow dropped 630 points. I've been putting in a little over time due to the volatility and increased volume of calls. I've been having to go in at 7 and work through 1/2 my lunch some days. Hopefully it "settles" down here soon. When I got home Monday Steve had got me some cute flowers, which made my day :)

Pretty flowers!


Last Friday Steve went up w/ his parents to the cabin to work on some things and fish of course. I decided to stay home and get some things done and get some sleep also. Steve got home Saturday afternoon, then we went swimming and renting "Source Code" for our date night.

On Sunday we made ribs for dinner. I had 2 coupons for pork ribs so we went over to LuDeans and invited Dave, Joann, Kim and Jeff and kids. They were yummy! We then played games.

We'll we're off to Yellowstone on Wednesday. We're so excited; see ya all then!

Summer is Going Fast!

This week has gone by quickly, especially since it's been full of things to do.

Monday after work we were planning to go w/ a couple we used to home teach. We planned to go to a Korean restaurant for dinner, since she was from Korea, and her husband served in Korean also. We also invited another couple to go w/ us, since she served her mission in Korea also. Well, as I was getting off work Steve called as said Umbi, the one from Korea, was sick and came home from work so we called it off. Since we already planned to go out, we decided we'd go to Red Robin w/ the other couple anyway. It was fun and we got to know them better.

Tuesday, I had class of course. We're 1/2 way done w/ it, yeah! I probably already said this but I'll be glad when this class is done. It's my last required class then 3 electives. I sure does take a lot of my time not only going to class (3 hrs/week) and then we meet during the week (about 2 hrs/wk), and research time (about 3 more hrs/week). I'm pretty sure I'll take online classes for my last elective mainly due to time.

Steve is getting closer to finishing his semester too. He's got finals starting tomorrow. One will be Monday, one Tuesday, and one Friday. Then he'll have 2 weeks off until classes start back up on the 22nd of August. He's getting pretty excited to be done w/ these classes; I don't blame him at all. :)

Wednesday after work, I went w/ my 1st counselor to visit a sister who just moved in the branch. She is from Russia originally, but has lived in Canada and then the U.S. for quite some time. We met her at another sisters' place and got to know them both better. I then hurried home and picked up Steve so we could go home teaching. We had a good visit and shared the 1st Presidency's message on being committed. Afterwards Steve wasn’t feeling too great, so he stayed home to rest and I went to the gym to run.

Thursday I hurried home from work (even got off 15 minutes early) so I could change and go w/ Steve to the Sandy Crops for an assignment. Our branch was supposed to have 4 members from the branch go, and since we haven't gone to do "service" in a little bit, we decided to volunteer. It was actually pretty fun, and fun to work together w/ Steve. We got to pick cucumbers first, then squash.



They were definitely more "poky" then I remember, but luckily they had gloves and a long sleeve shirt I could use. Though we had signed up for 2 hours, it actually only took us an hour and we were done! We then went home and I made taco soup, then we went for a swim to cool off. I'm actually really starting to like swimming; Steve is getting me hooked! I think the warmer water in the pool is definitely helping ;)

Friday was a pretty busy day at work, which most of the week was also. Since the debt ceiling deadline is getting closer and closer, more and more people are calling in asking what they should do w/ their accounts. They asked us to come in 15 minutes early every day for the next couple weeks. I've also worked some overtime during my lunches.

After work we were both pretty tired. So we had dinner (left over taco soup), then we both had to work on homework and assignments. I was helping Steve w/ an assignment and ironically we were reading about "internal pollutions" and our carbon monoxide detector went off saying "warning, warning, carbon monoxide." Steve then shut it off and we opened all the windows to let fresh air in. Steve had the A/C on early in the day so we thought it might have something to do w/ that. A couple hours later I got tired all of a sudden and my head hurt. I got ready for bed and Steve was like, "wow, that’s not like you to be so tired" so we decided to take a walk around our parking lot to get some more fresh air. My head was really hurting and I felt like I was on drugs per say, so we decided we'd better not chance sleeping in our place. We called up Dave/Joann and asked if we could come over and they said sure. We slept downstairs, then the next morning Steve helped Dave trim the lawn, then we left.


I then met my sisters at Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate Pauline's birthday. The food was great and the company was even better! We all had their unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks...yumm ;)



We then went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert, since it was National Cheesecake Day and all cheesecakes were 1/2 off. I'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake but Pauline and Rose really like it so we went. Pauline got a chocolate turtle one and Rose got a white chocolate w/ raspberry on it and I didn't order one. They both had tons of whip cream on it so I ate some of that and had a couple bites of there's.



We went walked across the street to a homegood store to look around, then a grocery store to get some fruits/veggies. We then went over to DWS shoes so Pauline could use her $20 off coupon, then she had to go. I then met Rose at Target so she could return some items, then had to go. It was fun hanging out w/ my sisters and just enjoying our time together. In a couple weeks we'll all (all my brothers and sisters and their families) be getting together in Yellowstone and staying at one big cabin. That'll be lots of fun, I can't wait!!!

When I got back Steve was still working on homework and I cleaned up the house a bit, then that evening we went to his nephew's birthday party. It was fun so see his side of the family. When we were done we went home and went swimming :)

Today I'm actually at work. I'll be here from 10-4pm. They wanted our group to have people here just in case people continued to call us, mainly with concerns about the debt ceiling. So far it's been pretty slow, which I'm not complaining, since I've been able to watch some Conference talks and what not. I have to go in early tomorrow also at 7am. They anticipate that tomorrow will be really busy since it's the day before the deadline on the debt ceiling. Guess we'll see how it goes

Well I hope all is well. Life really is too short not to enjoy it. I'd encourage you all to reread President Monson's talk from October 2008 called "Finding Joy in the Journey." He has some really good advice in it. Here are a couple of quotes from his talk, "Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.” 3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.
…...Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows…..
Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings." Here's a link to his talk. You can read it or watch it.

http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng

Love ya all sooo much!

Penny ;)

Summer fun......

This past week was pretty full of things going on. Steve has been busy w/ school trying to get his projects done and getting ready for his last tests. This will be his last week of school, then finals next week. Tomorrow will be week 4 for my class, so half way done.

Wednesday, I had a visit to a new sister in the branch. Her and her husband moved her from Connecticut and are living w/ their 30 yr old son while they're waiting for their apartment to become available in a couple weeks. It's nice to have to have a couple in the branch who is "older" per say. After the visit I went to the church and went over our home and visiting teaching assignments w/ our branch president and elder's quorum president. We are having a lot of people move out this month and beginning of next month so we had to make a LOT of changes. Our Elder's quorum president is also moving in a couple weeks, so we'll be having another one put in soon. By the time we were done it was after ten, like normal.

Thursday Steve met me at the tracks and we went straight to the Jordan River Temple to do initiatories. It was a little busy when we got there, but it was good to just sit in the temple, read the scriptures, pray and ponder. When we got done, we decided to make a date night and go over to Café Rio for dinner. It was good like normal. We then went swimming, which is always fun!

Friday, Steve picked me up at work and we headed out to Rose's to watch their kids overnight for their 14th anniversary. Rose already fed them dinner when we got there so we just took them out to the backyard to distract them (Sophia basically) and they snuck out. We then played outside for a while, kicking some balls and playing tag. We then put Sophia down to bed and played a game of 3-D blokus w/ the other three girls, then put Ali to bed and played "Ticket to Ride" w/ Summer and Ava. By the time we got them to bed we were ready for bed also.

Steve's replica of Ava


Steve and the girls (except Sophia who was in bed by now)


The next morning, Ava and Summer were up by 8am, so we got up and made breakfast. After voting on it, we decided to make waffles. Sophia and Ali were up about this time, so we got them downstairs for breakfast too (though Sophia didn't really want to eat anything). We then played outside w/ the cats, then on the playground for a while. Sophia didn't want to leave she was having so much fun. It was getting pretty hot outside so we went back inside. We gave the girls Popsicles and Sophia was sitting on the porch w/ Ava and apparently fell down the steps. She wasn't feeling too good after that, so shortly after she went down for a nap. She was really cute and just wanted to cuddle w/ Steve though. Rose and Jared came shortly after we put her down, around noon, since I had to go meet my group for our project.

Steve playing w/ the cats (fishing line on a stick w/ a bark chunk to chase)


Silly kitty can't enough of it


Sophia going down the slide


After my study group at the library, we decided to go swimming. We then decided it would be fun to hike up Little Bell Reservoir since we hadn't done it in a while. It was a beautiful hike. Definitely different than in the winter time. It was REALLY green and lush, and since it was only 7 pm it was pretty hot and humid. When we got to the top Steve was able to cast a few lines (fly fishing) but of course a couple of people came and got in his way and didn't even care; so we left. It was still a fun hike.

So pretty


Steve casting


The water was so full!!!


On the way home we rode past Dave/Joann's and noticed Jeff/Kim and the boys lighting fireworks. We stopped and watched the last one w/ them. After we got home we called Jeff/Kim and asked if they wanted to watch a movie. We ended up renting "Unknown" from Redbox (Dad you'll love it) and brought plenty of popcorn. It was fun and I liked the movie a lot, even though I was a little slow at getting what was going on.

Sunday I had meetings in the morning, then church. That night we went over to a couple in the branch and played games w/ them and others from the branch. It was a lot of fun!

Tonight we went w/ a couple from the branch to Red Robin, then went and got a few essential groceries (milk, bread, and chocolate) :) I also got my gift card from work finally! Only 4 months after the campaign was over and the last week of the next campaign. Oh well, at least now we have it!

Have a great week!!! Our family trip to Yellowstone is coming soon.... yeah! ;)