Cooper and Remy

Yes, I think it is finally time to put up a blog about my cute little adorable bunnies, Cooper and Remy. (I warned you didn't I?) Cooper is the white and brown rabbit and Remy is the all brown rabbit. As I mentioned on my first blog, we adopted these rabbits from the Humane Society. I first picked out Cooper because the moment I laid eyes on him, I fell in love with him. Aaron and I decided on Remy together. Cooper was originally named Dagwood at the shelter and Remy was named Clarence. Barf. I wanted to name them Tank and Scooter, which now Tank would be a very appropriate name for Remy as he is very fat. I named Remy, why I chose that name I can't remember, I just thought that it fit him. Cooper was named by Aaron. He named him Cooper because it is the French equivalent of Thumper, just pronounced differently, and Cooper is a French lop, so it worked. Cooper from the very beginning has been a very loving and affectionate rabbit. Remy on the other hand is another story. I am 99.9% sure that he was very abused. First, he was found in a dumpster, that is how he came to the shelter. Then, he would flinch and duck away from any movement and would run away when you even tried to approach him. Building trust with him has been a long and slow process, but has he ever made progress! They are both so cute and it is nice to come home and play with them because they love you no matter what, and it helps in dealing with the stress of the day.

Easter on the Coast and Life's Simple Pleasures

Well this Easter Aaron and I went to the Oregon Coast for the weekend and spent some time in Newport, which is about an hour from Salem. It was a lot of fun. Saturday was nice, great weather, all in all it was a beautiful day. We spent some time on the beach reading and I even got to take a nap on the beach. It was great. Sunday was freezing cold and we spent the day in the hotel. We had a great view of the ocean from our hotel and were able to watch the storm outside from the comfort of our warm room. However, we did get a little stir crazy for part of the day and we went for a drive and stopped at a few spots to check out the view. Then we came back and cooked brats in the microwave. Yummy! (Actually it wasn't too bad). It made me reminisce about my Easters as a kid. When we were up at my grandpa and grandma Penrod's, they would make colorful Easter sacks filled with candy and toys and hide them all over the farm, each sack would have our names on them. It was a lot of fun. Then my grandpa would build a big fire and we would have our annual "weenie" roast. The years we weren't up in Genola with my grandparents, my mom would color easter eggs with us and pack a big lunch with all of the wonderful Easter trimmings like my mom's amazing potato salad and baked beans. We would go somewhere and my dad would find a big dirt hill and carve trails down the hill with a big spoon and then we would race our eggs. What fun we had. My parents always took time to make sure that we did a little something every now and then, it may not have been a big trip to Disneyland, but to us it was so much fun and the memories are now priceless. Thinking about the good times as a kid, and enjoying sitting in the hotel room with Aaron eating our Brats it reminded me that life is full of simple pleasures to be enjoyed, and I definitely had a few simple pleasures this weekend. It was so nice to relax and not run around 100 mph, and just spend time with Aaron.










(These last two pictures are of the worlds smallest bay at Depoe Bay, Oregon. The channel to get into this bay is only about 50 ft wide and 6 or so ft deep. Wouldn't that be fun to navigate through!)

I've been tagged

5 Things on my to-do list today. 1-Clean 2-Laundry 3-Grocery Shopping 4-Call some people in the ward for church 5-Cook Dinner

5 Things I enjoy. 1-Spending time with Aaron, whatever that might be 2-Day trips to the Oregon Coast 3-Naps, if I had time 4-Shopping 5-Reading

6 Snacks that I enjoy. 1-Ice Cream 2-Chocolate 3-Applesauce Cups 4-Granola Bars 5-Yogurt 6-Chips and Salsa

3 Bad habits. 1-Picking my split ends 2-Wanting to pull Aaron's stray (and freakishly long)eyebrows 3-Not putting another pop in the refrigerator after I take one (this really bugs Aaron, sorry, but you know you still love me)

If I were suddenly a Billionaire I Would: Pay off Law School loans. Build a house, with lots and lots of storage space and walk in closets. Put a lot of money away in trust funds for my future children and for retirement. Invest a lot of my money. Buy new cars for Aaron and I. Take a long vacation to Europe and St. Barts. Give money to my family. Give some money to programs for foster children across the country, the church's humanitarian aid fund and the perpetual education fund. Build at least one vacation home somewhere.

5 Places I've lived. 1-Blanding, Utah 2-Logan, Utah 3-Salt Lake City, Utah 4- Salem, Oregon

5 Jobs I've had. 1-Recapture Metals 2-CAPSA 3-Bear River Substance Abuse 4-Discovery House 5-State of Oregon Child Welfare.

5 Things people don't know about me. 1-My BIGGEST pet peeve is people who mooch off the government for everything and expect the government to pay for everything when they are perfectly capable, which leaves people who really need the help short of what they need 2-I really, really love gymnastics and wish that I could take lessons 3- I like basketball, more than I let on 4-Right now I am struggling with what my long term goals are 5- I would love to go to culinary school, just for fun.

I am tagging Julie, Jaclyn and Mikelle

St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! If all of you were up here in Oregon with me and looked out the window, you might even believe you were on the emerald isle, because right now it is unbelievably green (something not many people from Utah can put their minds around the idea of this much green) but alas, it is just Oregon. Let me just say a few words about Oregon. As much as some days that I would hate to admit it, sometimes I really do love it here. I am accustoming myself to this area. Oregon is absolutely beautiful! I will periodically post some pictures of places Aaron and I have visited here to show all of you how wonderful it is to vacation here and maybe some of you will want to come and visit us. I am really glad that we live in Salem, as opposed to Portland. Salem is a great location, it is central to see so many things, and as most of you know I am still a small town girl at heart, so I prefer a place the size of Salem as opposed to a place the size of Portland.







Unfortunately, for me, the big downside of being in Oregon is not having my family and friends around. If anyone knows even a little about me, knows that this is the most important thing in my life. I was lucky to have grown up with parents who stressed the importance of family relationships. Recently I was lucky enough to visit my family and Aaron's family. It had been too long without seeing them. Since I do not have kids of my own, I live vicariously through Lynn and Melissa's family and now Paul and Mikelle's family. Of course I cannot not post pictures of them, after all it is my family.

My siblings

Me and the boys, Rye, Tate and Preston

Me and the girls, Ashlyn, Megan and Reese (not the best picture, but the only one we were lucky enough to get)

The Stringers (Aaron, Marjean, Joe, Lynn, Rachel, Annika, Paul, Mikelle, Sydney) (The picture is a little tilted, its not you.)

First Time Bloggers

Hello. This is our first blog, we will see how it goes. Aaron and I are currently living in Salem, OR. Aaron is going to school at Willamette Law. He is close to wrapping up his second year, which means after this semester only one more year at law school. His life consists of going to class, studying, studying and more studying. He works very hard and we are all very proud of him. He is also working for an attorney in West Salem and is liking it. As for myself, I am working for the State of Oregon as a Social Services Specialist 1 for the Division of Child Welfare. That is my official job title. It is just a fancy stupid way of saying that I am a social worker for Child Welfare. It is a crazy job and getting crazier still. Needless to say we are both very busy people.

At this time, we have no children, so unfortunately, we have no offspring to brag about. More unfortunately still, all of you will have to suffer through our posts about our two bunnies who are at this current time my babies, until I get real babies of my own. They are incredibly cute and adorable. We adopted them through the Willamette Humane Society and they have been a part of our household since late August 2007. This is a short introduction into what is going on with us.