Watch this

I thought it was funny, hope you like it. Merry Christmas.
It is a group of high school students showing how silent monks would sing Halleluia

Celebration!

I am so proud of Jon. He has worked so hard to get to this point and has done it gracefully. He made this announcement himself on Photoshop, the ones from the school were outrageously priced. I had to beg him to let me take his picture for the top and he took the picture of the stadium at the bottom with our camera. I love the announcement it turned out better than I had hoped when I told him my idea. Congratulations Jon, I love you!

Being Thankful

So I have been reading a lot of thankful blog posts but this was by far my favorite and I hope this touches your heart the way it touched mine:

I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving, i sure did!

Catch Up

I have a few spare minutes a work today and I have a bunch of pictures on my flash drive so I decided to put together a catch up post so here you go:
In September we were able to spend a weekend at my uncle Chris's cabin in Island Park and it was so beautiful. Here is a pic of the whole group:

From left to right: Taft, Chelle (Colby's sister), Lesha, Logan, Grandma Leslie (holding Lincoln), Me, Jon, Marsha (Jon's Mom), Bob (Jon's Dad), Colby, and Libby. WE had so much fun hanging out together.
Here is one of Lincoln inside a tub of kitchen stuff, he got in there all on his own:

For the James Family annual spooky dinner I made moldy and mildew dip with fingers an toes for dipping (spinach and artichoke with celery sticks and baby carrots)

Halloween at work:
My work is awesome for Halloween, it is like being a kid again (with work added in) we decorate our doors, dress up, have a pumpkin contest, lunch, and tons of fun
Here is the Friends of Scouting door (my department)

We made our zombie scout without spending any money at all and he was so scary!
I then went with Libby to a party thrown by our Aunt Emily (she is awesome!) here are the two of us with Marley (Emily's middle and craziest child)

For the actual day of Halloween Jon and I carved pumpkins, did homework, and went to the trunk or treat at the Paulsen's (Jon's sister's family)
Here I am holding the cutest chicken ever!

For my last Halloween pic her is one of our pumpkins. This is our first tradition for our small family. I have two, the flying witch was for the work contest and the witch head was my home pumpkin. Jon carved the head of the grimm reaper.

On Sunday November 1st we were able to attend the blessing of our newest nephew and he is so adorable! Here is a pic of the little guy

That is all for now, we are really busy with school because Jon graduates this semester he is now on the job hunt so if you know of somewhere local that needs a computer scientist (that also speaks French) let us know. Hopefully I won't have so much to share at once next time because I will be more caught up. Thanks for reading

Priorities

We have had a lot going on that I will try to share later but right now I want to share something that is weighing heavily on my heart and mind. My favorite professor past away yesterday with complications due to bacterial pneumonia and the H1N1 virus. She was in class on Monday and went home feeling ill and passed away early Wednesday morning. The class I currently am taking from her is Geometry for Elementary School Teachers. I have had other classes from her in the past and she was such an amazing teacher. I couldn't bring myself to attend class today but a good friend of mine told me she kept thinking "this is not the way Diane would teach this, I know I would understand this so much better from her." She had a really special skill not only did she have a great understanding of math and not only could she teach math but she was teaching us how to teach math and she was so entertaining while she taught. Tonight as I try to do my homework I keep seeing notes in her handwriting (she hand wrote almost everything and made copies) I am reminded over and over that she is gone, it happened so quickly. On Sunday I was able to attend our stake conference broadcast and President Eyering was the main speaker, his talk centered on put the Kingdom of God before our personal gain. I wish I could find a copy of his talk to share, I cannot find it on lds.org yet but I will keep looking. His talk along with losing Diane has helped me to realize that my priorities are not what they should be. I skipped the adult session on Saturday to work on homework and if I were to go tomorrow would the lord really care if I finished my homework a day early? I really don't think so. How many times I know I have been told this lesson? The picture above is of the priorities jar lesson where if you try to do everything you think you should do first and then try to add it what the Lord asks you to do it doesn't fit but if you do it the other way around it all seems to fit. I know I haven't been doing things the way I should but I know the experiences this week will help me to make better decisions when I decide what to do with my time. I hope everyone that was taught by Diane can carry on her enthusiasm for life and share it with everyone around you. There an article and video about Diane on KSL.com to read more about it click HERE.

Thanks for letting me share my feelings it feels a lot better to let them out instead of bottling them up inside.

One Great Night

Last night was Brooke's concert and she was amazing! Benton Paul opened and I really liked him, he is a local guy from Salt Lake and he is so talented. Michael Johns was also on the bill and I loved his set! It was a totally awesome concert. Here is a picture of a few of my family that were able to attend:

This isn't even close to everyone that came with us we had so much fun!
Here is a picture of my sweet Grandma with Brooke:

Also David Archuletta came out for a few songs at the end and all the girls in the crowd went crazy, I can't wait for Brooke to come again. Thanks to my sweet husband for coming along and showing support even though it's not really his scene.

You're Invited . . .

So If you have kept up with this blog at all you already know that I love, love, love! Brooke White, you might recognize her from American Idol. She is good friends with my older sister and I have seen her in concert a few times. So what you might say, we have heard this all before, well my friends . . . she is coming in concert to SLC on Sept 26 (a week from this Saturday!) Here management company has not advertised for this at all, so there are still plenty of tickets. Here is a link to the ticket website and I hope to see you all there ( the tickets are just over $20 each with fees, a pretty good deal for an awesome concert if I do say so myself!)

Click Here for a link to the ticket website

Wicked Weekend

Last weekend I took a short trip to LA to meet up with my Mom and Aunt Jenny to see Wicked in San Diego. They flew in on Wednesday with Jenny's son Isaac and went to Disneyland on Thursday (Jenny's Birthday) and I flew in on Friday, the three of us drove down to San Diego ( the four of us if you count baby Lucy coming in Nov/Dec) on Saturday and saw the Matinee performance of Wicked. It was AMAZING!!!! The actress that played the part of Elphaba was my favorite, I could listen to her sing all day.
Here are some pictures:
The three of us in front of the theater:

At the San Diego Spaghetti Factory after the show:

I also enjoyed the few days hanging out with Kady and the kids. Though I didn't get to go to Disneyland because of school I downloaded the pictures from my Mom's camera and I just had to share this one of Tessa and her friend Kalia (I am not sure how to spell her name). This is on Small World and they both look so beautiful.

Thanks Kady, Mom and Jenny for a fabulous weekend, hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Our Favorite American Idol

Last Monday Brooke White came to the Barnes and Noble in West Jordan for a CD signing, so Logan, Libby, and I went down to visit with her. She is the sweetest person I have ever met and though we didn't have anything for her to sign (we bought her latest album on itunes) we brought her some mindy mints and she was excited. She sang four songs from her new album and she is so amazing! I love seeing her perform. If you are interested her new album is called High Hopes and Heartbreak and it is available at itunes. Also she is coming in concert to the Avalon in SLC on September 26. Here is a picture of the three of us along with Kirt's mom Bonnie and grandma Jackie:

If you didn't know Brooke is really close friends with my sister Kady and we have had the chance to spend time with her and see her perform a few times. Logan offered her everything in his wallet for her guitar (31 dollars) she politely declined but she let him play it for a little while:

We decided to make trip down to see little Lincoln (and Lesha) before we went home. Here is a picture of him from that visit, he gets cuter every time:

School starts tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to find time to post once in a while, there are a few things coming up that I am really excited for so I hope to be able to share them.

A few more summer adventures

As our summer is coming to a close I wanted to add a few more things we were able to do this summer:
We attended the Fireworks at Weber State for the first time together:

We rented a Kayak from the WSU Wilderness Recreation Center and took it up to Causey Dam. It was really fun and we are hoping to find time to go again soon.

Shot clay pigeons up in the Uintas

Hiked to Ruth Lake

Rode down a homemade zipline

and saw a moose

We have one more week before fall semester starts so we'll see what else we fit in to our fun filled summer.

An Apology

Dear ESPN Radio AM 710 in Los Angeles,
I am sorry I may have gotten you in trouble this afternoon. My sister (who is attending the Dodger's game tonight in honor of mormon night) called me and asked me to verify some information you gave her over the airways. "Is the food really half price tonight at the game, can you check the website?" Sure, I can check, I sit at a computer all day and I take a short break from work to figure this out (along with updating my blog with the results). The problem was not answered on the website so, naturally, I called the phone number listed for the stadium. The gentleman that answered my question ( the answer was no) was a little confused and as our conversation progressed, a little upset. What radio station did you hear this on? I need to call them, this information is extremely incorrect. The problem was, I didn't know which radio station, I am at my desk without a radio, and in Utah (not LA) So I promised to call him back with the name of the radio station. Which I promptly did only after explaining to him the circumstances which the free food information was given it was something like "Everyone is going to see Manny play, so if he doesn't play tonight the stadium should offer half off food or something". He was grateful for the information and I am not sure if he is still planning on contacting you (ESPN Radio in LA) but if he does, I am truly sorry for this mix up. P.S.
For the record not everyone is going to see Manny play, rumor has it Elder Ballard is throwing out the first pitch.

Summer Fun

Besides our vacations we have found time to do a lot of fun stuff this summer. My sister Kady and her kids came to Utah for a few weeks and we did all kinds of fun stuff. We also were able to attend a REAL Salt Lake soccer game. Here are some pictures from our adventures:
Us at the soccer game

super cool sunset at the game:

We took our niece and nephew to the aquatic center for their birthdays and a lot of my family decided to join us, here we are with Maddie and Jordan:

Because I work for the BSA I was able to take Cal to cub scout day camp at Camp Kiesel, we had a lot of fun. At the end of the day he said "today is like a really special day". I just love that kid:

Me and Tessa at Taft's softball game, this little girl melts my heart:

Logan and Cal joined me on the sky-coaster ride at Lagoon. Can you guess who freaked out the most? ME! I had a total panic attack and Logan had to keep telling me it was going to be okay, what about Cal? He was like "that was cool":

On the Fourth of July we had a BBQ at Jon's sister Jenny's house, watched fireworks at Kady's inlaws and lit our own fireworks back the Paulsens, I was lazy and only took two pictures here they are:
first is Owen going crazy over his corn on the cob

Logan brought down Taft's scooter and Libby's mini road bike to the Peterson's here is the other picture of me on the scooter, so much fun! I want one of these!

We ate at many of the Peterson's favorites including the Burger Bar, Farrs, Pizzaria, and more. We also had dinner at the Union Grill and we took time to look the train outside. This is owen in front of a hospital car, I don't know where he gets his ideas but he was convinced this car was haunted, what a silly boy!

Last is a picture of Jon and I at Farr's Ice cream, one of the places on Kady's list of must haves while in Utah, too bad we went twice and they didn't have my favorite or Kady's favorite either time, we were jipped!

I hoped you enjoyed reading about some of our adventures this summer, hopefully we'll have more to add before the summer is over.

More Glacier

as promised here is a slide show, it is kinda long, we had a lot of fun with our new camera, enjoy.

Glacier National Park

We just returned from a fun trip to Montana with Jon's parents, David, Amanda, and Luke. Here are some pictures if you just want the general idea but I am going to also post a slide show (I don't always look at slide shows so you don't have to, but we took so many cool pictures with our new camera that I wanted to share):
All of us at Avalanche Lake, about a three mile hike:

Jon playing with our new camera on the red car tour on the going to the sun road:

The whole group in front the tour car (the car was made in 1932)

Jon and I rented this canoe for an hour at McDonald Lake it was so fun!

That is all unless you have a chance to check out the forth coming slide show.

Pompano Beach, FL

A few weeks ago Jon and I took a week long trip, just the two of us, to a little beach town just north of Fort Lauderdale. We had so much fun just hanging out together, lots of swimming, and lots of relaxing. The fresh fish was pretty good too.
Here we are at a Marlins V. Yankees game:
Right after a snorkel adventure, don't mind my hair I just took my mask off and the salt water didn't mix well with my hair:

This was the view from our balcony during a brief monsoon. These short rainstorms are a daily occurrence it Florida:
Relaxing at the pool:

A beautiful state park we went snorkeling:We loved every minute!

Bring your melon to work day

For those of you that don't know I work at the Boy Scouts of America office in South Ogden, I have worked here off and on for the past four years. One reason I like working here is the fun little work parties they have about once a month. Last year for the Fourth of July we were invited to decorate melons to be judged and then roll down a hill. A lot of people will be out of town this year the week of the Fourth so they decided to hold "Bring your melon to work day" tomorrow instead. Jon and I are going out of town tomorrow but I still wanted to participate so this afternoon Ashlee, the other girl in my department, and I put together this beautiful lady. Her name is Francis Olivia Stuart initials FOS because we work in the Friends of Scouting department. She is mostly edible except for her eyes are FOS recognition pins which we will be retrieving before the great roll down the hill.

Here is a picture of last year's melon