Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! Aaron and I had a pretty good Turkey day. I've always loved Thanksgiving, and although it was not anything like what I had growing up (we lacked about 45 extra bodies), it was still very nice. It was small, just the two of us, but we enjoyed the day. I woke up early and got started on the cooking, and cooked for a few hours and I have to say that just wore me out! But it was mostly from washing the dishes since we don't have enough space or dishes, and it got really hot in the house with the oven and stove going so that didn't help. But we got everything finished and had a nice dinner. We had turkey (of course), homemade cranberry sauce for the turkey, homemade stuffing, green been casserole, ambrosia salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, and sweet potato souffle. We have more food than you could possibly believe, which means we will be eating leftovers for some time. Aaron made the sweet potato souffle last night and I actually liked it. For those of you that don't know, I'm not a fan of yams at all. But it was mixed with a bunch of other things that really toned down the flavor of the yams and it was actually quite good. Today as I was cooking I thought of my Grandma Penrod a lot. We always had Thanksgiving with my mom's family and my Grandma and Grandpa Penrod always made it so special, and I don't know how my Grandma always managed to make such wonderful dinners for that many people, let alone how they stood all of us running around the house for the entire day. After today, I just decided that she must be Wonderwoman!

Even Remy and Cooper had Thanksgiving

After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, I fell asleep on the couch while Aaron watched a football game. (Football always does that to me.) Then Aaron and I went and saw the movie Australia, it was very good, although they really could have found a way to make it shorter. All in all we had a great day! Most importantly, it was good to reflect on all of my blessings and all the things that I am thankful for. I have been given so much and I am so thankful for what I have been given. It is truly humbling when I think of everything that I have.

So Spoiled!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had such a fantastic day, but I have to say that I am so very spoiled!! I can't even hardly believe it! I woke up in the morning and went to let the bunnies out and to make them their breakfast. (Yes I make my bunnies breakfast...they are on a special diet to keep their poop coming...another story). On the table was a box of Sees chocolate, I was so very excited! Inside was my favorite...blueberry truffles, yes I know I talk about them all of the time, and some other flavors. I was very excited and they tasted so good. (No, I did not eat the whole box!)Then I went to work and had a great day at work. No crazy things happened, no emergencies came up, and no one called me a..... well you get the idea. It was a great day! I even got to leave a couple hours early since I worked most of Monday. Then Aaron took me to Caruso's which is a FABULOUS italian restaurant, it is my favorite! It was soo good. Aaron also baked my birthday cake, the one I have every year. Then I got more presents than you'd ever be able to imagine. I absolutely love every one of them and cannot believe how spoiled I am! Thank you to Mom and Dad, Joe and Lynn, Melissa, and of course my wonderful husband who spoils me rotten! Anyways, it was a great day!

Pumpkin Cravings

I have been craving sweets with pumpkin in them. I made pumpkin praline bars on Tuesday, this weekend I'm going to make a pumpkin roll, and of course for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. But I also really want pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or a pumpkin chocolate chip loaf. Does anyone have a really good tried and true recipe they could give me? I already have a recipe, but I'm not too terribly fond of it.

The Halloween Grinch

Yes, that is me, the Halloween Grinch. Let me explain. Yesterday at work, we have a Halloween party for the kids. We make a trail through the office and the kids stop at every cubicle and trick or treat so to speak. However, it is not that simple. Every inch of the DHS office was decorated to a tilt! When I got home from the funeral, this is what I saw by my cubicle...

And let me tell you, this isn't even close to what it looked like when every thing was finished. There were tunnels to walk through, scary music, automatic halloween "things" that moved and talked and the whole gammit. Then there was my cubicle....


As you can see, my cubicle isn't decorated one little tiny bit. Since I took off for a few days for my aunts funeral, I didn't have time to do anything to my cubicle. My cubicle was the only cubicle in the entire office that wasn't decorated... and I became known as the Halloween Grinch. My only saving grace Halloween afternoon was I bought a crazy wig that tons of kids starting laughing when they came by my cube and saw me. For some reason, they seemed to think it was very, very funny.

However, I did get into the Halloween spirit at least a little bit. Yes, I decorated my bunnies. As I was dressing them, I was laughing pretty hard, it was funny watching them hop around the house in their costumes! Funny thing was Remy handled it better than Cooper, and Cooper is usually the one who handles annoying things better. But they were so cute, and I laughed so hard because they acted so funny.


After taking pictures of my bunnies and me in our costumes, Aaron and I carved pumpkins. Aaron's pumpkin turned out awesome! It was a pack of wolves, although the picture isn't great. My pumpkin was stupid and wasn't worth taking a picture of, I don't have the skills that Aaron has.

Family

So I know it has been a really long time since I last blogged, but Aaron and I are still alive and kicking. This last week my aunt Lea passed away suddenly, and I was able to go down to Blanding to her funeral. I have had so many thoughts mulling around my brain over the last week regarding life and death. It was harder than I thought that it would be, but at the same time, I am so grateful for the opportunity to go back home and say goodbye to Lea and pay my last respects to her. I wish I had a picture to post of her. She was a great and noble lady. She was beloved by most people who knew her. In fact, the fourth ward choir who sang at her funeral, many of them were very tearful during her funeral, and I am sure she had a big impact on their lives as well. She was such a happy person and shared that happy personality with all who came into contact with her. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend, and neighbor. She was a wonderful teacher and an accomplished artist. She painted beautiful pictures. Lea was a perfect fit for my uncle Elmer, and they have always been there throughout my life. It broke my heart to see my uncle Elmer hurting as he was, especially since the Hurst's are not ones to show emotion. I am definitely more Penrod in that respect. It was good to see my family and to have closure. Thank you Dad and Mom for helping me to come home!

The only problem was that I missed my husband while I was away. But I have to brag about what a wonderful husband that I have. When I got home Aaron had the house all nice and clean, and he had a big bouquet of beautiful flowers for me. That melted my heart, and meant so much to me. Aaron is a very thoughtful person and has a way of providing little surprises that really help me. I love him so much and appreciate his kindness and thoughtfulness.

Astoria

This week Aaron had his fall break, so he was able to have Thursday and Friday off. I switched my days off last week, and worked Monday and then took off Friday so that we could go away. We went back up to Astoria, OR. This little coastal town sits alongside the Columbia River, and is where the Columbia meets the ocean. It is probably one of my favorite coastal towns, probably because it has so much history. Needless to say, we did not have good weather, it rained on us the entire time. Friday Aaron and I went to Fort Clatsop, it is where Lewis and Clark met the end of their journey and where they wintered until they could go back home. It was pretty cool and I learned more about Lewis and Clark. I also learned that William Clark who did all the maps and charting was only 40 miles off from what our modern maps say. Considering the 4000 miles they traveled, that is an amazing feat!

Aaron and I in front of Fort Clatsop

After we went to Fort Clatsop, we went across the river into Washington and went to see a couple of light houses. We went to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, and had quite an adventure. We started out for the lighthouse with a light drizzle, but what else was new, that was not going to spoil our fun! It was only a one mile hike each way and I figured it would be worth it to go up to the top of the lighthouse and see the view. Well it didn't stay a light drizzle for long, and soon was raining pretty hard. To make matters worse, we got to the top and the lighthouse was locked, and they would not let anyone up into the lighthouse. So we hiked back down in the pouring rain. The good thing was, it wasn't too cold. We did get soaked. I was wearing a jacket, a sweater and a camisole under my sweater, and by the time we got down everything was soaked completely through. My pants had a hard time staying on because they got so heavy with water, that they weren't wanting to stay up! It was pretty funny. But we did get a good view of the lighthouse from Waikiki Beach. Yes folks, I did say Waikiki Beach. Apparently Washington has their own Waikiki Beach, although having been to the Waikiki beach in Hawaii, it was kind of disappointing.


The next day it was raining again, only this time, it was freezing cold!! Aaron and I didn't brave it outside for very long, plus we didn't have any more dry clothing other than what we had on.

Even though the weather was crappy, we still had a wonderful time. If you ever get a chance to go to Astoria Oregon, you really should it is pretty fun!

Decision Made!!!

I have made up my mind! Aaron and I have spent a lot of time talking about what our plans are for next Spring when he finishes up with school. We were going to take our Paris vacation after graduation, but Aaron wants to spend all of that time studying for the bar. So we may try and take our vacation in March during Spring Break. That is when Aaron feels it would be best to take it, but we will see.

Meanwhile in all of this planning, our original plan all along was for Aaron to move out to Utah, take the classes for the bar and study and take the bar. I was going to stay in Oregon and continue to work and make the big bucks (Haha!!! Yeah right!) until he finished with the bar. However, I have decided against this. I had my first official full Monday off a couple of weeks ago, and decided that two months of working at this job without my best friend by my side would drive me completely looney! I decided my sanity was more important than having a few extra dollars in the bank account. I think I will move to Blanding and help my parents with some things, and maybe see if I can work part time at the local Child Welfare office. I feel a lot better since making this decision and hope everything works out for us. I think it will, but I have to say now that I know I won't be living up here in Oregon by myself with my crazy job has helped my state of mind, so we will see how it goes. Even though I will miss Aaron, let's face it, I still wouldn't see him even if I stayed with him, plus Blanding is only 5 hours from SLC. Plus I am excited to see my parents, and brother and sister and all my neices and nephews again and all of my friends!!!

Oktoberfest

Yes, Aaron and I are still alive, although we don't have anything to really blog about. Last weekend we went to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel, which is a really tiny town about 20 minutes outside of Salem. It is a nice little quaint town. Nothing too exciting happened. We ate some mediocre food and had an interesting dessert. Last year the bratwursts tasted better. I don't think we went to the best place. Then for dessert we ate deep fried oreos. They were....interesting. I think that this is putting it politely. I actually liked how it made the Oreo kind of warm and goey, but we did not like the batter it was fried in. At least when I die and I can say I tried deep fried Oreos. It was fun though to get out and walk around the little town of Mt. Angel. They had some cute little booths set up and some cute stores around town. They also had a gigantic catholic church and it was pretty cool. All in all, it was a pretty good evening, even if it seems the only reason people go to Oktoberfest is to drink huge amounts of beer, which we as teetotalers did not do.

Our deep fried Oreos.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend we celebrated Labor day by taking a break from our labors and went back up to Seattle after I got off of work Thursday evening. Mama Jane and Papa Doc (Aaron's grandparents) were on an Alaskan cruise so we went up to see them while they were in Seattle. I also was able to finally meet Aaron's uncle Bob and aunt Peggy who I had not yet met. We were only able to visit with them briefly because they had a long 10 hour drive to get back home to Montana. Mama Jane and Peggy gave us a briefing on their cruise which only made me want to go on a cruise even more. Incidentally, I was talking to my dad on Sunday and he informed me that my uncle Elmer and aunt Lea were on the same cruise.

Here we are: Papa Doc, Aaron, Marjean, Peggy and Bob (Mama Jane was taking the pic)

After Bob and Peggy left for home, we went to Pike's Place Market. We braved the crowds and Mama Jane bought us some more of the awesome blueberry syrup and also some chocolates which were divine. Then we went to lunch at a little place inside the market which happens to be where they shot a scene in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

This stool I am sitting on is where Tom Hanks sat in the scene. The little plaque says that, but you can't really read it. I guess I will now have to watch Sleepless in Seattle.

This last picture is at Pioneer Square Park. The old part of Seattle was burnt down in this area, and they just built on top of it. This monument is dedicated to Seattle's firemen who have died in action. Thank you Mama Jane and Papa Doc for the wonderful time! It was great seeing you again!

Today we went on a picnic at the park. After Aaron and I set up all our blankets and got the food all set out and were loading up our plates with food, I asked Aaron to pass me the BBQ pork. Unfortunately, that was the one thing we forgot. It was pretty funny. So we ate what we had and then went home and finished our BBQ pork sandwiches. But before we went home, I had a craving for these little blueberry truffles that Sees Candy has. Since we were just a little ways away from Sees we thought we would stop by. Unfortunately, they were closed, but we did meet a man who kept asking us for money and then threatened to mug us if we didn't give him any. Anyways, it was quite the afternoon!

End of Summer, Back to School, and the Oregon State Fair

Well Summer is wrapping up, at least it definitely feels that way up here in Oregon. The weather has been cloudy and rainy, except for the last few days, and it has definitely cooled off, not that it has been too bad up here. I have to say this summer was a huge let down for me in terms of the weather. It didn't really get sunny here until the last week of June, and by Mid-August it is back to mostly cloudy for many days in each week. I usually start my end of summer blues in September (without fail), but this year they are definitely starting early. Mostly because I don't feel that we had a summer. One and a half months of sunshine is not nearly enough!! I can't say enough how much I love summer! I love the sunshine! I love being able to go to work in the mornings without my coat! I love the long days! I love being outside and doing things outside, especially picnics! I love berry picking and eating fresh fruits! I'll stop there, but I will spare all of you.

Aaron started school on Monday. Can you believe it?! He is starting his last year of law school. I have had a great summer with him and have enjoyed being able to see him, so I'm kind of sad to see it all start again, but then we couldn't finish school if he didn't start his last year. There is a silver lining to every cloud. He has worked so hard these last two years, and I am so proud of all his hard work and all the sacrifices that he has made for our family!

As for me, I just finished a very difficult couple of weeks, and I feel like I can finally take a deep breath (at least for a day or two). I spent all last week getting prepared for testifying in court, and I am happy to be done. I did take a break Saturday morning for a couple of hours. There was a lady in our ward who had a baby and so we had a baby shower (I didn't even have to be in charge of this one, it was great!) I had a really good time, although the only down side of going to these events is it leaves me a little baby hungry. But we had good food and it was good to take a break and visit and I even got to hold the baby, which of course was the best part! Then towards the evening time Aaron and I went to the Oregon State Fair. I got another pearl this year. I was able to pick out an oyster for $12, and then I had it made into a necklace! I love it, I was so excited!! For those who don't know me very well, I'm a huge sucker for jewelry. I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but I LOVE to wear what I do have! The Fair was fun and Aaron and I enjoyed a nice evening together, and I got a new pearl necklace!

Me and my Pearl, next to the Oyster tank

The finished product.

Busick Court, Chick Flicks vs. Football

So, I know it has been a long time since I have last blogged. Things have been so busy lately, but unfortunately not fun stuff, just catch up work. But I had one glorious day on Monday, I have to say! I went into work for a couple of hours on Monday and then Aaron and I went to Busick Court, a little place in downtown Salem that only serves breakfast and lunch. It is a little place, and I mean little, but they have such good breakfasts! We went there when I got done with work and had a scrumptious breakfast, then we went on campus and Aaron got a few books. (This was not the fun part by the way.) Then we went home and I was so tired so I took a nap while Aaron watched the Olympics. I slept for two hours!! Can I just say how fantastic that was!!! I was so tired, and I haven't had a nap in ages. Then wait, it just keeps getting better! I've been wanting to see a good chick flick, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 came out and I wanted to see it. Now, for all of you who don't know, Aaron and I have a bargain, a compromise so to speak, about chick flicks and football games. Aaron does not like chick flics, and I don't like football. What is a couple to do? So we made a deal. For every football game we see, a chick flick is also seen. Since football season is coming he took me to see this movie. Okay, so it was a real cheesy movie, but the longer I work with depressing things and situations, the more I love the cheese! I know Aaron really hated the movie, but he is such a wonderful husband and took me to see the show. Thank you babe for the wonderful day, I had so much fun!

Family Fun

Okay, so all of you will have to bear with my long blog this week. Last week, part of my family came up to Oregon to visit. My mom and dad, my sister Melissa and her husband Jared along with the rest of the troop: Preston, Rye, Ashlyn and Megan. We had such a fun time, I only wish it wouldn't have gone by so fast. They flew into Portland airport Tuesday morning and we came back down to Salem. We had a quick lunch and then took the kids to the Enchanted Forest here in Salem. I think the kids enjoyed this and they seemed to have a fun time. Preston, Rye and I rode the log ride, and they were very excited about it. I could tell on the ride that Rye was getting a little nervous, but he even thought it was a lot of fun.

This is Ashlyn and I cruisin down one of the fun slides at the Enchanted Forest.

This is Preston, Rye and I going down the log slide and the next picture is our big splash which the boys thought was pretty awesome.

The next day we went to the Oregon Coast, which was the kids' first trip to see the ocean. Since the water is freezing, we spent the day playing in the sand, which I guess the kids thought was pretty fun.

This is Megan digging a hole in the sand. She loved playing in the sand! I got the biggest kick out of this, she is pushing her foot down on the shovel. (She knows what she is doing.)

Preston, Rye and I in front of the sand castle that Preston built.

Poor Grandma Hurst was freezing at the Oregon Coast. For starters it was not the warmest day, but mom was freezing. She had on one long sleeve shirt, two sweaters and a blanket. But she was a good sport and sacrificed a lot so that the kids could have a fun day on the beach.

The next day we spent the morning at The Gilbert House, which is a children's museum. After that we took everyone to see Silver Falls.

Thank you Dad and Mom for making this trip a possibility!!! Thank you Melissa and Jared for coming!!! I had so much fun, and it was so great to have some family around, we don't get too many visitors, so this was so great!

Book Tag II

No offense to the person that came up with the "Book Tag," but that makes for a pretty lame blog entry. The book that was actually closer to Marjean when she wrote the post below was the phone book, which happens to be the only book that could possibly have a more boring sentence than the sentences I've seen quoted in these book tag entries. (Page 123, line 5 of the Salem phonebook: Hertz Equipment Rental 3640 Cherry Ave NE .............................KZR 97303 503 390-1945) To make it a little more fun and interesting, how about going to the book shelf and choosing the strangest book there and then finding a sentence that is funny or applicable in some way instead of a random boring sentence.

So, looking at our bookshelf, the clear winner for strangest book is "Rabbits for Dummies" written by Audrey Pavia, the acclaimed writer of "Horses for Dummies," the first book I would buy if I spent thousands on a flippin' horse. I'm gonna go with sentence 4 from page 126: "Rabbits develop a form of syphilis caused by a bacteria, but it's not the same disease as seen in humans." Well thank goodness its not the same, because Cooper, our cute little French Lop, just happens to have rabbit syphilis. (Insert obvious French joke here.) I'm sure he has a good excuse; he was young and naive, found some catnip, peer pressure, just did what rabbits do, etc.; and getting him fixed was probably punishment enough for any youthful sins, so we try not to hold it against him now.

Just look at that innocent face.

So, now I am going to tag Juan, Pablo, Jorge and, uh, Ringo; and anyone else who wants to.

P.S. No one tell Marjean that everyone dies at the end of Hunchback, she seems to have high hopes for a happy ending.

Tagged again

Book tag. I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, so we will see.

1. Get the closest book you can find: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

2. Find page #123: Done.

3. Type the fifth sentence: The block extended to the very water's edge.


So I have to say, I bought this book, but haven't had a chance to really delve into it. The little tiny portion of what I have read, has in fact, bored me to tears. However, I shall press on. Victor Hugo wrote this book along with a more well known classic, at least to us Americans. Can you guess it? Of course you can, and if you can't, you really, REALLY, need to take a literature class!! Lets discuss Les Miserables for a minute shall we? A large portion of the beginning of that book was very difficult to get through; it was all about the priest, and Victor Hugo went on and on about him and I kept wondering when the good part of the book would come in or if it ever would. I was bored to tears at the beginning of that book as well. Well, then it picked up and I can't say enough about it! It is a beautiful story that eventually gave me tears, but for another reason besides boredom. (And can I just get on my soapbox for just a minute?? Javert in the book, the real story, is not the bad guy he is portrayed to be in the musical. He is just misunderstood and misguided, but I do not think that he is a bad guy!) Anyways, I shall press on with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, hoping for a wonderful outcome like Les Miserables.

I tag Julie, Jessica, Jaclyn and Christina.

Berry Picking

So, I know it has been a long time since I have posted. I just haven't had anything to post for quite awhile. It has been so crazy trying to come back from vacation and deal with the messes that were waiting for me at work, plus I just couldn't think of anything to possibly blog about. (Not that this will be a very exciting blog.) So, Aaron and I like to watch the food network channel. Aaron had been watching the other day and found a recipe he wanted us to try. So we got online and printed the recipe. Lucky for us, we live in berry country, because the recipe called for a lot of strawberries, rasberries, and blueberries. It was a very expensive recipe. So yesterday afternoon we decided to go a berry farm and pick berries. We went to a farm close by and did the U-pick thing, so we could get the berries for super cheap.

This is me in the raspberry patch.

This is Aaron in the newly planted strawberry patch. Even though the plants are tiny, they still had strawberries, but we were not allowed to pick these.

View of Mt. Hood from one of the Strawberry patches. I don't think Mt. Hood shows up well on the camera, but you could see it really well in real life. (Guess you had to be there).

This is me in front of the blueberry patch. I'd never seen a blueberry bush before, but blueberries were very easy to pick, and I really liked that part of it, especially since I am crazy for blueberries. (I picked a lot of extra blueberries)

Our goods we left with. It was a great deal. We paid only $3.00 for these berries; if we had bought these in a store, it would have easily been around $15.00.

Last night about 11:30, Aaron decides we needed to make the dessert right then. So we stayed up until almost 1:00 am, making a berry dessert. I would have taken a picture of the dessert, but it's not a pretty dessert, though it tastes good.

Here's the recipe for Summer Berry Pudding.

Home Sweet Home

Aaron and I went back home to Utah for a few days and had a fantastic time! Aaron's friend Travis got married, and I had two personal business days at work that I had to use by July 1, so we were able to go out for a few days and we had so much fun. We spent Thursday with Paul and Mikelle and spent the day with them, and had a ton of fun. I cannot believe how big Annika and Sydney are. Annika was so entertaining. We didn't think that she would have much to do with us at first since it has been so long since she has seen us, but she was as friendly as ever and was quite the conversationalist. She talked and talked and seemed to have quite a bit to say although we didn't understand all of it. Sydney was more reserved and didn't seem as excited to see us, but she would smile at us and was as cute as ever! They are adorable. Aaron spent Friday with Paul and Mikelle and went miniature golfing and they had a wonderful time. I spent the day in Logan with my awesome friend Jessica and had a ball and spent way too much money, but it was so worth it!! (Thanks Jess for the super fun day, I enjoyed it so much!) We spent Saturday busy with the wedding and Aaron's friend and was able to see more of Paul, Mikelle, Annika and Sydney. They were able to come up to The Oaks with us and have lunch and I got the biggest kick out of Annika and what a little social butterfly she was. Thank you Paul and Mikelle for your wonderful hospitality and for all of the fun, it was so great seeing you guys, we miss you!







Saturday evening we were then able to drive down to Salt Lake to see my brother Lynn his wife Jaclyn and their two kids. When we got there it was their bedtime but Lynn and Jaclyn were nice enough to let them stay up a little longer. We did fireworks, but Reese didn't like them too much. She cried and was pretty afraid of them, and kept saying "I'm freaking out!" It was pretty hard not to laugh. She was also very sociable with Aaron and I which was surprising. I guess we have two fantastic nieces who love to see us, even though they don't see us very often. I got lots of hugs and kisses and Reese even let me tuck her into bed that night, a privilege I don't get to have too often. Tate really is a tank and is as huge as ever! He is such a sweet boy who has such an amazing temperament. He is such a smiley and happy boy who is so easy going. He looks so much like his dad it is amazing. We went to church with them on Sunday and then just hung out for the rest of the day. We had so much fun with them, and it was so good to see part of our family. Thank you Lynn and Jaclyn for letting us come and stay with you and for your hospitality. We love and miss you! Aaron and I are so lucky to have such wonderful families!