Marjean & Aaron Stringer

Updates

2011-11-22T15:35:00.001-08:00

Sorry a long time I know. I really need to get better at this. The last couple of months have actually been more eventful than most. I guess it's time to finally post some pictures. First event - Nina and Papa's visit. Joe and Lynn came up to visit us and to celebrate Aaron turning the big 30 in early September.

Piper getting her face painted at Soldier's Hollow.

To celebrate Aaron turning 30, we had a BBQ with some friends.

Trying to light the candles on his cake. Unfortunately, the night breeze was not allowing this to happen.

Piper with Nina and Papa.

We had a great visit and enjoyed having company. The only downside to this fun weekend, we had an incident at Soldier's Hollow (which at the time we felt was only minor) but it ended up claiming my Maxima. While I am grateful for the fact that we have a car again, I really, really miss my Maxima.

Visitors

2011-08-30T06:25:00.001-07:00

Last week was pretty busy for the Stringer household. We had a house full of visitors the entire week. My brother and sister-in-law went to Boston and so we had their three kids staying with us Mon-Sat. Needless to say it was different taking care of four kids as opposed to just one. I tried to do some fun things with them, so they could keep occupied and busy and not think so much on missing mom and dad. We had a couple of bumps starting out. Monday night, I couldn't sleep and was awake until about 2:30 until I finally drifted off to sleep. A little after 3:00 the fire alarm went off. I was downstairs on the couch so I wouldn't disturb Aaron with all of my tossing and turning. I ran into the kitchen, and couldn't see anything on fire there, so I ran upstairs as fast as I could. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, the alarm had shut off. When I got to the guest bedroom, I could hear little fingers scrambling to open the door, but unsuccessfully, and I could hear panicked sobs. I opened the door and found Reese in quite the terrified state. After checking the rest of the house, I assured her everything was okay. She slept in our room the rest of the night while Tate went right back to bed. Piper must be deaf, because she didn't stir one little bit. All day Tuesday was consumed with talk and talk and more talk over fires and fire alarms. Try as I might I could not get Reese to calm down over the whole fire alarm incident. Tuesday morning also brought my piano lesson. I had to bring all four kids as I had previously talked with my piano teacher about. They were really good, except Piper at the end had to come and climb up in my lap for the last ten minutes while I played. I don't know what it is, but she gets so jealous when I play the piano. As we were leaving my lesson, no sooner had we walked out the door my phone rings and as I'm trying to balance Paysen, my piano books, and scrambling to answer my phone Tate informs me that he got stung by a bee. Since we had been outside for a total of five seconds, I didn't believe him and worked hard to usher the three older kids down the street as I'm trying to talk to my brother. By the time we got home, one look at Tate's face told me he really must have been stung by a bee. He is one tough dude and since he was so distressed, I knew something wasn't right. Sure enough, he was stung by a bee. Once I acknowledged that fact he burst into tears. We mixed up some baking soda and water to make a paste and fixed up his hand. I couldn't help but think that Lynn and Jaclyn would think I wasn't taking care of their kids between Reese's distress over the fire alarm and Tate getting stung by a bee, all happening with them only being with me for about 16 hours. But it got much better after that. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house and going to the park.

One of Piper's favorite thing at the park. This tractor is always here and she loves to play with it. She keeps telling me she wants a tractor. (Something that her great grandpa Penrod would be so proud of) Although when I get her a tractor I will get her a John Deere tractor, because every one knows they are the best.

Wednesday we went to Kangaroo Zoo, which is an indoor play area with big blow up slides and jumping areas. A big success. Everyone enjoyed themselves, including myself because it kept all four children happy and entertained. We stayed there for almost three hours, I was just so happy that everyone else was happy. I didn't get any pictures there at Kangaroo Zoo.

Thursday morning we played at the park and that afternoon we went somewhere, but I don't remember (pregnancy brain for you). That night we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores in our fire pit in the back yard. Reese informed me that s'mores were the most delicious things EVER. I was in close agreement with her, although I have a few things I like better than s'mores, but they are pretty good.

Hanging outside with Cooper.

Piper really enjoying her s'more.

Friday morning we went to the park and later that afternoon we went to a trampoline gym and then when Aaron got off work we went bowling and had pizza.

Saturday after I dropped the kids off with Jaclyn's mom, Aaron's grandparents, Mama Jane and Papa Doc along with Aaron's uncle Randy came and took us out to dinner and spent the night with us. They had been up in Montana visiting another uncle of Aaron's and then were going to Flagstaff to visit Aaron's parents. This was a lot of fun, especially visiting with Randy since we don't get to see him too much as he lives in Australia.

For some reason, we couldn't capture Piper's smile, I guess the camera was too slow.

Piper with Randy.

Compatability

2011-07-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

Last night, Aaron and I were watching the news and they were talking about the start of the upcoming college football season. I felt a feeling inside of me, that really is quite difficult to describe, other than a pit of dread and if I'm being completely honest, part disgust for the next few months ahead, with every Saturday being consumed with football games, and being unable to go and do things with my husband on Saturdays, because so many things have to revolve around what games are on TV. The real problem is, the longer I'm married the more I hate football. I used to just really dislike it, but every year it evolves into something worse. Don 't get me wrong, I don't hate sports, just football. I love basketball, and find that very entertaining, I just can't get into football. The more I watch, the more I hate it. I like watching the highlights of the game, because I get to watch the best parts, without having to devote four hours of my day to it. Hopefully next year we can buy season tickets to the University of Utah football games. If it takes selling my plasma twice a week to get it done, that might just have to happen. I can appreciate the enthusiasm of going to games, and I think that it is a great time for male bonding. In fact, I loved it the year Aaron had season tickets to the U. He got to hang out with some of his friends at the game, get some time away from the wifey, enjoy a great football game, and I didn't have to watch it! A win-win situation!! Now don't get me wrong, I think my husband's love of football is kind of cute, I love that he has that enthusiasm, I just don't share in the enthusiasm. The reason I think it is cute, is because Aaron has such a wide range of interests. He really has such a variety of interests, it is one of the things that I found so attractive while we were dating, and is definitely one of my favorite things about him now. I love that he is so well rounded, I think I would go absolutely nuts if his whole life revolved around sports, and this is all he could talk about. Luckily for me, I am truly blessed, and I don't have this problem.

With that said, as I laid in bed pondering what my Saturdays are going to entail this football season, I realized (not for the first time) how compatible Aaron and I really are. We may not share in the love of football, but most of our interests are the same. We have the same tastes in so many other activities and the ways in which we want to spend our free time, even if we don't have the time/money to do those things at this time. I know this is part of the reason adjusting to marriage was so easy for us, it was such a smooth transition. We really are lucky to have found each other.

One of my favorite pictures. This was while we were still in the hospital. Aaron had gone to a Utes game that day (at my insistence, really! I knew it was hard for Aaron to sit in the hospital, and we had bought those tickets, and I wanted him to use them.) Aaron had just gotten back from the game, and Piper just watched and watched him. Isn't it an adorable picture? I think so.

Well with that said, I DO care what happens with the Utes this year, I hope they do well in their new conference. I hope Aaron has a lot of good games to watch this year. Go Utes!!!! (And go Aggies!! Although I don't hold out much hope for them, I do love them!!)

Summer Fun

2011-07-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

I don't really have much to blog about, so I thought I would just post some pictures of some of the activities Piper has been up to lately.

Enjoying her first ice cream cone - completely solo, without any help from Mom or Dad. A proud moment for us ice cream lovers.

One of our favorite things, going to the park behind our house. Piper loves climbing up the different levels to get to the slides, and of course she loves going down the slides. She loves to say "Ready, Set, Go!!" A phrase she learned from another kid at the park. She also loves the swings, but since I have to stand right there in case she falls off, I haven't got a picture of her on the swings.

This summer we have enjoyed our fire pit. Since we didn't get to roast some s'mores for the 4th of July, we did it a couple of days later, and Piper learned of the joy of a simple s'more.

Piper showing off her sticky face. Incidentally, she kept saying "Sticky, sticky." This however did not prevent her from grabbing a handful of dried grass clippings, which was funny because she kept trying to wipe them off, without much success of course!

Just getting warmed up on the s'mores.

Creating magnificent chalk artwork on the sidewalk and driveway!

Working hard, helping Mom pull weeds out of the flower beds. (And a few flower petals as well).

Let's not forget how much we love our bunnies. Here is Piper getting up from her minute of crying and being consoled by Cooper our bunny. For those of you who didn't see on Facebook, one day we had four little girls over to play. Piper all in all had a good time. Three of those girls were triplets, and during the time they were over, I had to change three poopy diapers. After each diaper change, Piper wanted her diaper changed as well, which was so funny, since Piper hates having her diaper changed. Every time I wiped their noses, Piper had to have her nose wiped. Each time I gave them a high five, Piper had to have a high five. You get the picture. I guess this is what it will be like when the baby gets here. But when it was time for them to leave, Piper was SO upset. After they left Piper sat right next to Cooper, flopped her body down, flew her arms over him and buried her face in his fur and sobbed. It was one of those moments as a parent, that you can't help but laugh a little, but also it was sad. She laid there for about a minute and cried. Well I FINALLY realized what a good photo op that moment was, but caught it as it was winding up. This is Piper getting up from that incident and giving him one final kiss before coming over to get a hug and cuddle from Mom.

All tuckered out! Piper fell asleep during dinner and I couldn't resist getting a picture of it.

Piper has enjoyed summer and has loved spending every minute outdoors that she can. Despite a wasp sting and a couple of tumbles outside, this does not deter her nor slow her down. She loves to run around and explore the outdoors. Hopefully soon I will be getting over this "morning sickness" and we can take a camping trip, something I have been dying to do, but in reality, don't really feel up to leaving the comfort of my bed and the convenience of throwing up in toilet, for sleeping on the lumpy ground and scrambling to open the tent door and stumble my way through the dark to vomit in a bush.

American Girl

2011-07-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

Well the 4th of July has come and gone. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. I'm always a little sad when it is over. This year we didn't do too much, we can thank the pregnancy for that. But I think we still had a great weekend. Saturday we went over to Josh and Kim's and had a BBQ, and spent a great evening with them and their family. They have a daughter that is 11 months older than Piper and they played and got along really well with each other. Their daughter had some princess shoes, and Piper thought that this was great! For those of you that don't know, Piper LOVES shoes. And I mean LOVES. A couple of weeks ago grandma Hurst bought Piper some shoes and talk about excited. Anyways, Piper had fun playing over there and so did mom and dad. It is such a blessing to have good friends to share life with.

Sunday both Piper and I were sick. We had to stay home from church while poor Aaron braved our primary class by himself. Although I'm sure it went well because the kids love him. Last Sunday when Aaron was dropping Piper off at nursery and she was having her meltdown, the kids kept asking "Where is Brother Stringer?" concerned that he wouldn't be there. It really is so cute. I'm so lucky to have someone like him. He just takes things as they come and is so patient and understanding. I'm really grateful he is like this, especially recently, since some nights dinner doesn't consist of anything nice, and the house isn't exactly up to par some days.

Monday brought us lounging around, relaxing and enjoying each others company. Then mid-afternoon, we combined lunch and dinner and had a BBQ with some fantastic food. After food coma set in, we laid Piper down for a late nap and engrossed ourselves in episodes of 24 on Netflix. After Piper woke from her nap we went down to Sandy city to their festivities. There was food booths, craft booths, all sorts of fun things. Then they had their parade in the evening, which was kind of strange, I have never been to a parade in the evening. But it was a great success. Piper really enjoyed the parade and did a good job sticking by mom and dad.

At home.
Enjoying a snow cone while waiting for the parade to start.

Being a cute, silly girl!
One of my absolute favorite things was watching my daughters face light up during the parade. This isn't exactly a picture of her with that expression, but here she is waving to some veterans who were waving at her.

One of the best parts of the parade was a refueling jet that did a low fly by over the parade. It scared Piper the first time, but the second time she handled it better, giving a tentative laugh after it flew by. This is the plane flying away after its last fly by.

After all the festivities were over, we were all a little tired, at least I was! We were going to go home and cook some s'mores in our fire pit in the back yard, but it started to rain, so that let that out. The last fun of the day involved giving Piper her glow in the dark bracelets which she thought were pretty cool. She even wanted to share and made sure that mom had one too. So we settled down on the couch cuddling and admiring our glowing jewelry in the dark. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of her and the bracelets, because she wouldn't quit looking at them long enough to get a picture.

All in all a fun weekend! It is great to celebrate Independence Day and to reflect on the kind of life that I have because of others actions and sacrifices. No country is perfect, but I am grateful to be born and raised here, with the kind of life that I have had because I am an American. What a great blessing!

Cowgirl Piper

2011-06-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Piper to Thanksgiving Point to see their farm animals. We saw goats, Llamas, turkeys, chickens, peacocks, horses, cows, pigs, ducks and rabbits. Piper's favorite thing was riding a pony. She was so excited and thought it was awesome!

Trying to pet the Llama.

Not quite sure about the goat.

Then she sees the horses. "I want that!" Piper's exact words. Good thing Nina and Papa have horses she can ride when we visit, so we can say she can ride all the horses she wants at Nina's and Papa's.

The best part! What a blast!

Then it was time to pet some animals.....

As much as this little guy wanted to be pet, and try as I might, I could not get Piper to pet this adorable little Jersey calf. I think she knows from petting the calves at great grandma Penrod's house that cows lick. When I took her to Grandma Penrod's a couple of months ago a baby calf licked her and she did not like it. But then I held out my hand and let the cow lick me, and then she decided if mom was okay with the cow licking her, it must not be too bad. But I think she must remember, because she refused to pet this adorable calf.

Another funny thing, they had two peacocks that had their tails fanned out, but did she show any interest? No, she wanted to go back and watch the ugly chickens!!!

All in all a fun day at Thanksgiving Point. I am however very, very disappointed in how they keep their rabbits. Two of their rabbits were practically on deaths door. Most of the rabbits had severe eye infections and all of them were in bad health (I could tell by their poop) I was very frustrated and wanted to take them away, not that I could take any more rabbits. Two is definitely enough for me.

Tender Mercies

2011-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been guilty of something awful this week - feeling a little bad/having my feelings hurt over something that I've come to realize maybe doesn't matter as much as I think it did. I woke up last night at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. In part due to my churning mind and the other part due to my crazy allergies (Thanks new batch of rabbit hay). I was frustrated as I contemplated things, tossing and turning, all the while wishing desperately I could go back to sleep. After I got my sneezing and burning eyes under control, at 5:30 I could hear my husband's soft even breathing, and then I had an epiphany, which I hope will last a long time. I had a voice in my head reminding me that I have ALL I NEED. I have an amazing husband, who for some reason loves me, even with all my bad habits and annoying personality traits. I have a beautiful, funny, smart and happy daughter. I have some people who, rain or shine I CAN rely on. I have my sister who I think is one of the most amazing people, EVER. She is so much of what I hope and strive to be. She is my hero. I have my brother who I know would be there in an instant if I needed him. He is so many things I wish I was. He has an easy ability to talk to anyone, I wish I was more like that, he is much less afraid than I am. I have a sister-in-law who lately I've come to rely on so much. She is so funny and easy to be around, and the more I'm around her, the more I love her and I'm so glad she is in my life. She is becoming a great and amazing friend. I have another friend who constantly amazes me. I spent the day with her. She is medicine for my soul. She is smart, witty, direct and upfront, kind and compassionate. She somehow always lifts me up, by doing what I don't really know. I wish she could always see herself the way I see her. I know she is in my life for a reason, she is one of my tender mercies. Laugh if you want, but I truly believe that Heavenly Father knew what a blessing she would be. I've only known her for a few years, but in those short years, she has quite literally been there for my lowest and most painful moments and my best, brightest and happiest experiences. She's been there, constant, stable, always reliable through the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. Somehow I do not think this co-incidence. As these thoughts replaced the negative ones, I felt the hugest peace washed over me and I soon drifted off to sleep.

Today I was with this friend and we had a crazy, silly day - just what I needed. We took our daughters swimming. For the record- I think I have a little fish on my hands. Piper LOVED it. I just feel bad I didn't get any pictures, I just didn't want to risk my camera getting stolen. Piper went down a couple of slides herself, with me at the bottom to catch her, and then we went down a big twirly slide that went around and around about four times. As Piper giggled and giggled going down the slide and then later grabbed my face and gave me a kiss, I just thought that was just about the greatest thing. It felt really good. After a crummy week of stupid things happening and not feeling well, today was such a breath of fresh air.

Family Fun

2011-06-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

I really cannot believe that it has been over a year since I have blogged. I am going to try and do better so that I can have some kind of journal for what is going on in our lives. The last few months have been filled with family. I can't help but think of the song by Phil Vasssar "Just another day in paradise." Life has been full of small and maybe to some insignificant events, some good, some maybe not so good, but all in all they make up the fabric that is my life, and I wouldn't change that for anything. I often reflect at night when I go in to watch my daughter sleep, that even the simplest things in life, when my daughter gives me a kiss and hugs me tight, or her laugh and giggles are more meaningful to me than any other external reward I ever had. When all is said and done, my relationships with others is what I have, they are the things that are not replaceable in life. Things you can replace, people you cannot. The more I live the more I come to realize that is our relationships with others that sustains us. Fortunately, we both have great families, and we have spent the last few months seeing some of our family.

Piper and her Papa on the boat ride to Alcatraz

Piper and Aunt Andrea

Piper and great grandma Penrod

Piper with Mama Jane and Papa Doc

Piper and her cousin Paysen

One of my favorites: Piper and her Nina reading together. Piper is named after her, she is so lucky to have her for a grandma. Even though you can't see their faces, I love this picture, I just think it is so sweet.

Piper and her cousins dancing in their princess gear.

Piper may not realize it yet, but she has some awesome people in her life who will help her along her path. She has so much enjoyed visiting with her family and is quite the trooper. On our way back from visiting Aaron's mom she developed ear infections in both her ears, but handled that quite well considering.

Updates

2010-02-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

This last month or so we have been pretty busy. We have had company several times and have had some family events. Aaron has been working at the Dannon Yogurt Factory in a temp position and he has been busy with this. Piper continues to grow unbelievably fast. Piper loves to "talk" and spends much of her day "talking" with me and her dad. It is so sweet. I am convinced she loves to hear the sound of her own voice, which this is fine by me. I talk to her a lot to try and encourage her to do the same.

A couple of weeks ago, I took Piper to her first trip to see great Grandma Penrod, a trip which has been way too long overdue. Grandma spends most of the month rotating between her daughters and only spends one week in Genola. We drove down a couple of days in a row to see Grandma Penrod. I love my grandma so much!! She is so special to me and I'm continually amazed by what kind of a person she is. I hope that I can be more like her. I was able to take a picture of her and Piper and also able to get a generational shot.

Piper and great grandma Penrod.

Four generations of Penrod women: Grandma Hurst, Grandma Penrod, Mommy and Piper.

Just hanging out at Grandma's.

Of course no trip to Grandma's is complete without a visit to see the baby calves. Grandpa was a dairy farmer, and growing up I loved to go and visit the calves and help feed them. Of course Piper isn't old enough to feed them, but it was fun to go out and see them.

Piper's First Christmas

2010-01-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

A little late to be blogging about Christmas I know, but better late than never I guess. This year we had Christmas down in Arizona with the Stringer family and had a fabulous time. We had a lot of fun and it was so good to see everyone. Piper had a great first Christmas and she was able to meet her aunt Rachel, Mama Jane and Papa Doc and Pops.

Piper with Mama Jane and Papa Doc

Piper and Pops.

Mommy and Piper with some of Piper's loot.

Nina and Papa and their three grandkids (Piper, Sydney and Annika). I love this picture because it really captures Annika's outgoing and fearless personality. She was a real crack up this Christmas.

Joe and Lynn and their posterity: Aaron, Rachel, Lynn, Paul, Joe, Marjean, Piper, Annika, Sydney and Mikelle.

We had a great time. Thank you Lynn and Joe for the wonderful Christmas!

Piper's Blessing Day

2009-12-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

So I guess I'm really doing a bad job about blogging... still! I don't know why it has been so hard to blog since I left Oregon but it is. Anyways, I guess that can be one of my 2010 New Year's Resolutions.

Piper is almost two months old, I really can't believe it!! She is such a beautiful and happy little baby! My life has changed so much and I couldn't be happier. I find so much joy and happiness in some of the simplest tasks now. I find so much happiness in giving Piper her baths which she loves, and feeding her when she looks up into my eyes and when she smiles when she toots. She cracks me up every day, and every day I wonder how I made it so long in life without her. Aaron is so sweet with her and is such a great dad. My love for him has grown so much as well. I remember on my wedding day I looked at him and thought that I didn't know how he could be any more attractive than he was that day, but I was wrong. When I see him with her and see the look in his eyes as he holds her, I think that he is more handsome than ever, and I think it is the sweetest sight in the world.

Sunday we blessed her and she looked so beautiful in her dress. She did have a diaper explosion in her dress and a little poop got on her dress, but it came out after a little scrubbing (thank heavens). It was a great day.

She's FINALLY here!!!

2009-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it has been a full week since our little Piper was born, but I am finally getting around to blogging about it. Last week was for obvious reasons quite eventful for us. Tuesday Aaron was sworn into the Utah courts and so that was a great milestone for us. After the ceremony I had my weekly OB appointment and we got great news. My doctor asked me if I wanted to be induced, that he felt that this would be appropriate. I was so excited, I probably scared him, because I was so excited. I just wanted to give him a hug. He scheduled me to go to the hospital the following night (Wed) around 8:00 pm. We went into the hospital and they got me started. It was a long night, mostly because I didn't sleep at all, but also because they told us they would break my water around 12:00 or 1:00, but it didn't happen until 6:00 am. This was kind of discouraging for both Aaron and I, since it slowed things down more than we would have liked. Well to make a long story short, after 20 hours of labor, I hadn't dilated anywhere close or even made improvement over those 20 hours. When my doctor walked in around 4:20 Thursday afternoon to check on me, and I saw the look on his face, I knew he was going to tell me I was going to have to have a C-Section. He told us that we would have to go by C-Section, that for some reason I just wasn't progressing like I should be and that he didn't feel comfortable letting me go any longer with such little progress. I was devastated and so discouraged and I tried so hard (but mostly unsuccessfully) not to cry. But I also knew that at least it would be over. Right after that the anesthesiologist came in, gave me whatever it was that they give you and wheeled me into the operating room and she was born at 4:54. I was amazed at how fast everything happened from when my doctor came in to when she was born. I cannot describe how I felt when I first saw her in her dad's arms. Of course for all of you who are mothers know exactly how I felt. I was so overwhelmed with love and I just started crying, but at least these were happy tears.

Our new family and first family photo
Beautiful baby Piper 7 lbs 12 oz 21 inches

So sweet.

He Passed!!!

2009-09-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

So I know that it's been a week, but I guess late is better than never. The newest and most exciting development in our lives (at this time anyway) is that Aaron passed the Utah Bar!!!! So exciting! Last Thursday Aaron came home from his landscaping job and got in the shower. While he was in the shower, a fellow Willamette grad who also is living here in Utah and took the bar called him three times and texted him. When Aaron got out of the shower I told him Jared called several times. Aaron looked at the phone and then immediately said that he was going to get the mail. I didn't really think anything of it, Aaron always gets the mail. But I guess Jared let him know the bar results were in. Luckily Aaron didn't tell me this before he went to get the mail, I don't think I could have handled the drama or suspense. Aaron just walked in the door and said, "I passed." I looked up from the computer and saw the most amazing look on Aaron's face. It's a rare facial expression and one I haven't seen in a very long time. It was one of complete relief and excitement, he seemed like a little kid on Christmas morning. I jumped up as fast as my hugely pregnant body would allow me to and jumped in his arms. (I do not hide my excitement well). Oh I can't describe the relief we felt! I was sooo happy for Aaron and that he passed. I know that he really put all of himself into these last three years of law school and preparing for the bar. Aaron's far too humble to brag about himself, so I guess I'll do it for him. Really, Aaron is quite the guy and while he has his short comings (as we all do), he really truly is an amazing person who has so much strength, integrity and spirit.

While he still hasn't found a job yet, it still feels like such a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders, just to know he passed the bar and he doesn't have to do it all over again. And since I am a little selfish, I am also relieved for myself, so that I don't have to give up my husband again to the law books and be by myself. Of course I know that will be short lived, because everyone says that starting out in your career is worse than going to law school. But I will enjoy it while I can! Really, I feel so blessed to have experienced this part of life, and also to have it over. I have spent so many hours praying that school, finals and the bar will go well for Aaron. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, even though in some ways not the way we would like Him too. Luckily in this case He did, and I feel so blessed. I have an amazing husband who has worked really hard and has made wise choices, and I have a beautiful baby girl on the way who is getting ready to make her grand entrance, and while yes, some days I do feel overwhelmed with the future, I feel so blessed with my family.

Birthdays and Baby Showers

2009-09-12T16:32:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was Aaron's birthday. His parents came up from Arizona and we got together with them along with Paul, Mikelle and the girls. We had a good time with them and hopefully Aaron had a good birthday. Aaron already received his birthday gift from me months in advance since I got him season tickets to the University of Utah football games, so there wasn't much excitement or mystery around what he was getting from me. The night before we somewhat celebrated by going to the opening game of the season with the Utes facing off the Aggies. It was such a mystery wondering who would win that game. I was one lonely Aggie in sea of red, although there were a few Aggie fans not too far behind us so I was not completely alone. I knew my Aggies would lose, but I still have to cheer for them, because I am NOT a fair weather Aggie fan. I do however handle their losses with football a LOT better than I handle their losses in basketball. Anyways, I hope these tickets will be something that Aaron will really enjoy. Happy Birthday Aaron, I love you!!!!!

Isn't he so handsome? I think so!

Saturday, my wonderful sister-in-law Mikelle threw me a wonderful baby shower. The food was delicious and I ate WAY too much! I got a ton of stuff for Piper and I am so excited with all of my gifts! Thank you Mikelle and Lynn for everything!

I had two very special helpers at the shower, my nieces Annika and Sydney. It was so cute! Especially Annika, because she would get so excited about the gifts and she would tell me what things were for and how to use them. It was hilarious!

Finally Blogging

2009-08-31T19:18:00.001-07:00

So I guess I will finally end my blogging hiatus. I wish I had a good excuse for not blogging, but I have no excuses. At first we were really busy, but really I don't have a good excuse after that.

The biggest thing in our lives? Aaron graduated from Willamette University College of Law!!!!! Yay!!! I am so proud of Aaron and all that he has accomplished. He has worked so incredibly hard these last three years, and has made so many sacrifices for our family in getting to where he is at at this point. Graduation was Sunday May 17, and on Monday May 18 we packed up our stuff and headed on our way to Salt Lake City.

Aaron and his sister Andrea. Andrea also graduated from UCLA law school, just the week before. Runs in the family I guess.

Our next adventure was Aaron preparing for the bar and me finding employment. I was really feeling doubtful about finding a job being pregnant and all, but I did find a job and went in for an interview and they didn't even know I was pregnant! I think they were a little shocked with the handicapped people I worked with noticed before they did. This job has been a nice break for me, it is not a very stressful job and so that has been nice. I do miss my paychecks, but really am just grateful to have a job to help hold us over during this transitional time in our lives. As for Aaron, he spent all of his time putting his nose to the grindstone studying for the bar, and he finished this about four weeks ago. We have another month or so until we find out the results of the bar, so that has been kind of nerve wracking.

After Aaron finished the bar, we decided to take our last weekend trip out of town before baby Piper arrives, so we went up to Jackson Hole and had a FABULOUS time. It was so beautiful up there, and so relaxing, and so much cooler up there than it was down in Salt Lake. We drove up Friday after I got done with work and when we got into town, we walked around town and went into all of the shops. On Saturday morning we went for a short hike, since I'm not up to too much at this point. Then we went on a picnic by the river and rode the gondolas up at the ski resort at the Jackson ski resort. We had so much fun just relaxing and enjoying each other's company and enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was so great to get away after all of the craziness of the last few months.

Anyways, I guess I will try and do better about blogging now.

Milestone 2 - The final final

2009-04-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a major milestone in our lives. Well, mostly Aaron's life, but hey, I like to give myself a little credit every now and then, after all Aaron does have such a nice, sweet, awesome and supportive wife! Haha. Anyways.....Aaron took his last final ever today! Yay for him!! He did it, he made it to this point in one sane piece. These last three years have had so many ups and downs for Aaron, and he has handled it so beautifully. I have seen many a bald patches on his face from his stress hair pulling, and I know he has faced a lot of discouragement and frustration throughout this process. I am so proud of Aaron and all of his hard work and determination. But you know what? I am mostly so proud to have a husband who is so thoughtful of me and does his best to spend as much time with me as he can, I am really so grateful for this. I know that I am truly blessed in this respect that Aaron tries so hard this way. I have so many thoughts about law school, but mostly I am in awe. In some ways, it has definitely felt like three years, and in other ways it has flown by. It is no secret that it was hard for me to be away from my family and friends, but after the first year it was so much easier, and I know that it has also been good for us as well. In many ways I am so glad that we got to leave Utah and experience Oregon, even though it was a lot more expensive moving up here, it has also been a great experience. While I will never miss the weather here, I will desperately miss the day trips to the Oregon Coast, the falls and other fun and beautiful places that are so close. I will also miss the berries and the berry picking. The thing that always makes me feel better about moving back to Utah is thinking of this new little baby we will be having, and how nice it will be to have our families be able to be more involved. I love our families and our friends and want our baby to know all of you. I also want to thank all of you for your love and support while we have been here in Oregon. I especially want to thank my mom and dad for all of their help (in so many ways) for helping us get through law school and helping me through so many things.

Randomness

2009-04-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

So today I've really felt like blogging, not that I have anything to even blog about, I'm really just trying to avoid all this work that has been piling up around me at home. I went to work in the morning, came home and spent more time typing notes for work since I'm so behind on my casenotes. Well, I'm really sick of doing that, so I thought today I'd blog about everything and nothing.

Aaron is almost done with school, one more final on Wednesday! Yay!!! With that said, today I really hate attorneys. I had a run in with one today that really made me mad, and another attorney who I'm pretty good friends with told me I was looking fat and needed to go buy some new court clothes. This attorney I know pretty well and we have a good working relationship, so that isn't why I hate attorneys today, but just so you know that was NOT the highlight of my day.

So on to the randomness. I've been craving really weird things, like potatoes. My mother in law Lynn who is an amazing cook has this recipe for three different types of potatoes that is to DIE for, well in a nutshell I started craving this particular potato dish. I searched and searched my recipes and could not find it. Do you know how mad that made me!!!! Luckily she saved the day and she emailed me this recipe, and I'm going to be so happy when I eat these potatoes that I was craving!! (Thanks Lynn!)

Another tidbit of randomness. Do you have a food that you both love and hate. I do. It is bagels. Yes, you heard me bagels. Why would anyone love and hate bagels? I'll tell you why. Because they are so good, you can't stop with one. They have a delicous chewiness and texture to them that is irresistable for me. This is why I never buy them. Because before I know it, I've eaten the whole package, all six of them, in like two days. Not to mention, you have to put cream cheese on them. Well today someone brought in a big bag of a variety of bagels and various cream cheeses. When the announcement came overhead that someone brought in bagels and cream cheese, I was both delighted and angry. I know how much I love bagels and how it is for me to stop. So the love and hate start all over today. Okay, so I thought I would eat only one, so I enjoyed my personal favorite, plain bagel with vegetable flavored cream cheese. Can I tell you how much I enjoyed the wonderful chewiness of my bagel! I was covering court for someone else today at the last minute so I left happy thinking oh good, I have to go, by the time I get back from court they will be all gone. Well you know what, they weren't. So I had another plain bagel with vegetable cream cheese! Gosh dangit!!! If someone had brought in doughnuts, that I can pass by without even blinking. People bring in doughnuts all the time, a couple of times a week. Do you know how many doughnuts I've had in the last year? I think one, maybe two. Why? Because I can resist doughnuts, but not bagels. The other thing, apparantly the opposite is true for others, the doughnuts are gone in the blink of an eye, but the bagels linger, which leads me to one of my thinking errors..... "I don't want a perfectly good bagel to go to waste." Well that is just fat thinking right there!

Anyways, onto my last note of randomness. I love my bunnies. Run and hide, crazy bunny lady is coming out again. They make me so happy. I love in the mornings when it is Remy's turn to be in the kitchen, because he runs at dangerously high speeds around the table, knocking into the chairs and walls as he goes around. It is what he does for fun, and it is so cute to watch, it just makes me laugh. Then there is Cooper. He must be feeling neglected lately. All day Saturday he followed me around like my own little shadow, he was wanting lots of love and attention. And since I've been home today, he seems to want my undivided attention, he wants lots of love today. It makes me happy in the mornings or when I get off work when they perk up and get happy when I get home (mostly because they want their food and treats), but still, it is always nice to have someone happy to see you. I forget how nice they are to have around finals too, when I have to spend the day all by myself. I felt that it was a nice coincidence that Cooper wanted to be near me all Saturday, because I was feeling lonely here all by myself, and it helped to have him around to pet and get my mind off of certain things. Anways that's all. Hope all is going well with everyone.

Stringer Baby!

2009-04-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, the cat is out of the bag - FINALLY! It is official, we are letting everyone know that we are expecting our first baby! I say this because I am in the beginning of my fourth month, and you have no idea how hard it was for me to keep this a secret! But we really wanted to wait until I was out of my first trimester until we let everyone know. It was such a challenge, especially in the very beginning. I wanted to tell Aaron in a special way, but I took my pregnancy test in the middle of the night since I had to get up and go the bathroom, and knew that the first urine of the day was the best, so I took my pregnancy test about 2:45 AM, and I just couldn't contain myself when I saw that positive sign on the pregnancy test. I jumped back into bed and told Aaron I was pregnant. He was so confused at first. He said, "What? Really? How do you know?" He forgets how impatient his wife is and sometimes she just has to know right away, even if it is at 2:45 AM. I was like a timebomb waiting to go off, I had to tell him right away. Luckily, I was able to exhibit a little more self control in letting everyone else know. I still think it is a near miracle that I kept it in for this long, usually I have to share with everyone all of my good news right away. Unfortunately, I was not able to keep it a secret for very long at work. Around week 5, I started to get sick. You can't really pass off vomiting as the stomach flu for so long before people know you are prego. Aside from seeing the inside of a lot of toilet bowls, even ones in Europe, it has been exciting to know that we are having a baby.

Interesting changes have taken place since I've been pregnant. The single biggest thing: I no longer love chocolate. In fact, I've had a bunch of what I know to be incredible french chocolate at my house, and haven't even touched it. Now, that is something, especially for me. I made brownies for Aaron for Easter, not a temptation. It is still very weird for me. Sweets in general, no longer appeal to me. However, some things never change: my love affair with ice-cream for example. I still love ice-cream, and I have found, especially vanilla ice-cream is quite soothing for my nausea. Some other things have stayed the same, only intensified: I love and crave fruit, especially grapefruit. There was a time, where I just couldn't eat enough grapefruit, I was eating like three a day. However, other major changes in my tastes have changed: I now love meat and crave meat, mostly red meat. Chicken sounds gross to me, and I normally love chicken. But apparently red meat is what I crave. Vegetables repulse me. I now hate vegetables. Normally I quite love vegetables, but now I hate them. With the exception of potatoes, which I have also had huge cravings for. And asparagus, I can eat that without wanting to spit it out, but it still isn't my favorite. The last thing which I crave, is spicy food. But I always craved spicy food and that hasn't changed.

For the record, I now HATE crackers, especially saltines. I smell saltines and they remind me of being sick and throwing up, and I now can't stand them. I know everyone is different, but all the pregnancy books recommend eating bland foods while struggling with nausea. I have found that the more flavor and intense taste food has, the less sick it makes me. It is bland food that inevitably has the fastest and quickest route up and out of me.
As for Aaron, he hasn't experienced any sympathy pregnancy symptoms, which apparently afflict some men. Lucky for him, I think one of us being sick is enough. However, he has no problems going with me to get an ice-cream, I don't think he minds these cravings too much. And as for my sweet and loving husband, he has only had to go out once for one of my cravings that hit suddenly. He has however, been completely wonderful, and has had to pick up a lot of my slack around the house. He has done more chores lately, and now is completely responsible for the rabbits litter boxes. Well that about sums up what is going on at the Stringer house lately.

Milestone 1 - Last day of class!!!!!

2009-04-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

So I have to share with you since I was super excited (although it will make a really boring post). Yesterday was Aaron's last day of classes! Yay!!!!! Too bad his last class lasted till 8 pm, but hey, who can complain? He still has finals, another hurdle, but we are still happy he has this one thing behind him. I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard these last three years, and it is amazing how he has handled the stress of law school. I was so excited yesterday, you would have thought I was the one who went through law school. I can't believe that we are at this point, in some ways it has definitely felt like we could count every day of those three years, and then in other ways, it has flown by. But we are here, and I'm so proud of Aaron and all of his hard work!

Back to Paris

2009-04-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday we took the train back to Paris. Saturday and Sunday were much more quiet and less hectic than our other days in Paris. We had pretty much seen everything we wanted to see in Paris, except for the Pantheon. Saturday, we just walked around and did some window shopping. I saw a very expensive ring at the Place Vendome that I would have loved to have as a souvenir, but that clearly didn't fit into our budget. Instead we settled on buying some chocolates to eat as a momento from our vacation. Yummy! We went by some really fancy chocolate shops that had some very beautiful displays of chocolate and that was kind of fun to see.

Sorry, the picture doesn't really give you an idea of how pretty their display was, but we took a picture anyway.

After our fun window shopping we went out to eat. We had a pretty good dinner, mine was good, but Aaron's was soo yummy. I should really have him order for me from now on.

Sunday we had a nice leisurely stroll through the Gardens of Luxembourg, and ate our freshly baked baguette and cheese. It was so good, the bread was still warm!

After our visit to these gardens, I had to go to the bathroom, but of course as luck would have it, had to pay to do so. Stupid French bathrooms, this was the second time I had to pay to go to the bathroom. One of the other things that makes America such a wonderful place!

After this it was off to see the Pantheon which is where many famous people in France are interred. Among these (that I knew of) were Madam and Monsieur Curie, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Voltaire.

Aaron in front of the Pantheon.

Victor Hugo's tomb. He's the only one I really wanted to see in there anyway. It made me in the mood to go and read Les Miserables again.

After our visit to the Pantheon we continued to stroll around the city and did some more window shopping. We also got some ice-cream at the famous Parisian ice-cream shop, Berthillon. Not to be rude to this famous place, but it cannot compare to ice-cream I'm used to here in America. (Aggie ice-cream anyone? Or Tillamook? Or my dad's yummy homemade raspberry ice-cream?)

After our visit to Berthillon, we strolled along the river and had a nice view of the back of Notre Dame.

We had a very nice and calm day. I thought it was fun just to take our time and absorb things in. After this we had our last meal in France, and yes, it was an American meal. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Sadly, it was my best meal in France. However, I'm sure I could have had some amazing food in France except it would not have fit into our budget. I did eat very well over there, don't get me wrong, but I had this pulled pork sandwich at the Hard Rock Cafe that was to DIE for! Oh my gosh, now I know where to get a superb pulled pork sandwich all smothered in yummy, yummy BBQ sauce. Ironically, I was kind of wanting good old American French's yellow mustard, since we had had fries several times over there. I like to mix ketchup and mustard and dip my fries in it, so I was very happy to have French's mustard!

All in all, the trip was very fun, and we had a very good time, despite its bumps along the way.

Things I loved about France:
I LOVED how much history there is around every corner in France. I love all of the architecture and how old everything is. It really makes it easier to learn history that way. I loved learning so much history since it is all around. I LOVED the bread! I LOVED the chocolate! (Need I say more!) I LOVED those little wax dipped cheeses. You can get them in America but they are so expensive. I ate so many of them, I absolutely love them! I LOVED seeing all of the chateaus, they were so fun. I loved the sandwiches over there, but since we ate one every day I kind of got sick of them. I loved the kabobs we ate over there, sooo good! They were even lamb, so it was a nice change of meat for me. I do like lamb, although sometimes it can be a little too gamey for my taste, but the kabobs I had over there were superb. I loved how different everything was over there, it was pretty impressive, but also made me really appreciate how wonderful my own country is. I LOVED the pastries, especially the ones filled with chocolate and apples.

Things I missed from home:
Bathrooms and bathroom stalls, cold water, ice, mustard, my bed, open spaces, so many little things about America.

I loved going and I loved coming home. Thank you to all who helped get us there! It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for Aaron and I that we will always cherish!!

Day Nine and Ten - Loire Valley

2009-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

After leaving Normandy we took the train to the Loire Valley, which is full of chateaus, and spent the next couple of days in the town of Tours. We saw a few chateaus, and the first one we saw was Chateau de Chambord. This place was IMPRESSIVE! It was so huge and walking around in it, it is hard to even imagine someone building something this large.

I don't even know what to say about this place, other than it was huge and beautiful, and I'm so mad that this picture cannot do justice to the size of the place. The chateau has 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases.

A view of one of the 84 staircases inside this chateau.

Me in front of the queen's bed

Aaron on one of the walkways that wraps around part of the chateau.

Me and one of the views from one of the verandas at the chateau.

This chateau was also used during WWII to hide some of the artwork from the Louvre from those crazy Nazis who were trying to steal all of the art in Europe.

One of the other Chateaus we saw was Chateau de Cheverny. This place was very small considering the size of the other chateaus, but one cool thing about it is that it is still owned and occupied by descendants of the aristocratic family that had it built in 1624. Of course, since it is still occupied, we only got to see a very small part of the chateau.

One of the chateaus that I really wanted to see we didn't get to see as it was not open for tourists during this time of the year, was a chateau that Walt Disney used for his inspiration in creating the castle for Sleeping Beauty.

Day 8 - Bayeaux

2009-04-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

The next morning we decided to have a look around the town of Bayeaux where we were staying. Incidentally, this was the only town on the Nomandy Coast that wasn't completely destroyed during the war. This is really fortunate, because it has a rich history. We went and saw the cathedral in Bayeaux which I wasn't sure how old it was. But I think this was built in the 12th century.

Also in Bayeaux, is the Tapestry of Bayeaux, which is almost 1000 years old, and tells the story of William the Conqueror's conquest of England. We couldn't take any pictures of the tapestry because light damages the material, so you will have to settle for a photograph of me in front of a picture of part of the tapestry. When you see the original tapestry, they give you this radio that tells you the story as it is told on the tapestry. One of the things that amused me about the tapestry, and this is the part I took my picture in front of, was that the royalty and the clergymen in battle weren't allowed to kill people, but they were given clubs and had permission to "knock people senseless." I laughed at that, and thought it was funny, so that is the part of the tapestry that I'm in front of, although you probably can't tell from the picture.

After visiting this museum and the cathedral we wandered more around this cute little town of Bayeaux until the rain came, and we decided to leave and take the train to the Loire Valley.
Will finish blogging about our trip over the weekend.

Day 7 - Normandy

2009-04-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

I guess I will finish blogging about our trip. I was unable to blog about the last of our trip as we did not have internet access. After our unfortunate day with not being able to get our rental car, we took the train up to Normandy. We had to cancel our reservations at our other hotel because it was too far from the train station and we had no way to get to the town, but Aaron made reservations in another town where the train dropped us off. Right after we arrived in Bayeux, which is on the Normandy Coast, we had lunch at a little cafe and signed up to take a tour of the Normandy beaches, a war museum and other WWII sites, including the American Cemetery. This was such an amazing experience. It was incredible. When we went to Pointe Du Hoc, which was a German stronghold and was considered to be unassailable by the enemy, it was so unbelievable. The stronghold is located on top of the cliffs where you can wander among large deep craters where the Allies had dropped bombs prior to the invasion, and many of the German bunkers had been bombed in and just left and you could still see so much evidence of all the destruction that occurred there. This is the only area along the coast where you can still see the bomb craters because the French farmers reclaimed their land after the invasion and filled in holes in thier fields. I learned that this part of the invasion started out with 225 American soldiers, and their mission was to scale the cliffs, get in the bunkers and destroy their weapons and cannons. Only they got to the top and the German weapons had been moved and were not there. How discouraging for them! But they risked their lives and went further in and found the guns and were able to destroy them. Unfortunately, this made them lose the element of surprise, and these soldiers spent the next two days fighting off the Germans as best as they could until help arrived two days later. After help came from the others who stormed the beaches, only 90 soldiers remained uninjured.

Aaron and one of the German bunkers.

These next pictures are of the American Cemetery and Memorial there at Normandy.

This was such a special place. It was truly a moving experience. It was amazing the sacrifices that these troops gave, all for the freedom of another country and another people, simply because freedom is so important. I can't remember the exact number, but over 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives in Normandy and over 10,000 were missing. Another thing I learned while I was there: This cemetery and memorial is on American soil. This land was given to America by France. I did not know this.

Me on the beaches of Normandy.

Anyways, if you ever go to France, I think Normandy shouldn't be missed!

Day Six - Forced Change of Plans

2009-03-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

If Aaron and I thought our first day in France was kind of crappy, it doesn't even hold a candle to today. Of course, if my wallet hadn't been stolen, then we wouldn't have been in the mess we were in today. We went to Budget today to pick up our rental car so that we could head up to Normandy and then later to the Loire Valley. But since we had to cancel our credit cards, we couldn't take a car because they wouldn't accept a debit card. Needless to say the employess at Budget here in France weren't very nice or helpful. We tried calling the bank to see if they could authorize this one transaction, but they said they couldn't do that. We called other car rental agencies, but were told the same thing. We went back to our apartment rental to try and get internet access to figure out our next move, but we get there and of course the internet is no longer working. The cleaning lady was there and was trying to help us, and even offered to have us stay at her house. She was giving us all the help which she could, and I have to say she was one of the bright spots in our day. She was so nice and helpful and let us stay in the apartment while she was trying to clean it. She was from Kenya and it was really hard to understand her, but Aaron seemed to have an easier time talking with her than I did. Unfortunately, but this time, hours had passed and the next renters were coming in less than an hour and we had no way to get on the internet to find a place to stay. We ended up getting a very expensive hotel room just a few doors down. All in all, it was a very discouraging day. By the time we got checked into our hotel, I was starving and in desperate need of food. By this time, I was disguisted by everything in France, and was wanting to embrace my American roots. Yes, we went to McDonald's, sad I know, but I have to say I have never enjoyed a Big Mac and Fries more than I did today. I'm not sure if it was the hunger, the stress relief that came from eating, or what, but it was very good. After this, Aaron and I went to the Musee D'Orsay. We had an enjoyable time there. I quite liked the art in this museum, and more of it made sense to me. After our trip to the museum, both Aaron and I were so exhausted that we decided to come back and spend as much time in our expensive hotel as is possible. Might as well enjoy it since it is costing so much huh?

The interesting thing about Musee D'Orsay was that it used to be a train station. It has a very open and airy atmosphere.

This was my favorite painting inside the museum. It is a picture of Peter and John on their way to see the resurrected Christ. You can't tell from the picture here, but I thought that the painter did a very good job catching the human emotions of hope, disbelief, awe, excitement and reverence in their faces. In my opinion, it was a moving painting, and was probably the first piece of art that has touched me that I have seen here in France.

Day Five - Chateau de Chantilly and the Ballet

2009-03-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Monday Aaron and I took the train to Chantilly to go and see this Chateau that I have been dying to see since I last saw it nearly ten years ago, only that time I didn't get to go inside because I was cheering in the New Years Eve parade there in Chantilly. It is a very beautiful Chateau and I really love it. However, I think the outside of the Chateau is more impressive than the inside. Plus it really kind of stunk in this Chateau. It had a lot more wood inside of it, and it also had a lot of dead animals in there hanging up on the walls, so between all of the really old wood and dead animals it had a special kind of fragrance that I was not very fond of. It was really fun going back and remembering how we ended our parade there in the courtyard of this chateau.

Chantilly is also well known for its horse races and they have this really large super nice building that in itself looks like another Chateau, but is really just a very large, exquisite stable for horses. It was kind of a bummer, but they open this up and have all sorts of things going on starting April 4, so we missed a lot of excitement that goes on here. On the bonus side, one thing that I really loved about our trip to Chantilly was the escape from the crowds and noise (and cigarette smell) of Paris. It really was a nice break from the craziness of Paris.

The horse stables

Aaron surprised me with tickets to the ballet. Aaron took me to the Nutcracker for our anniversary back in December, and unfortunately made me a fan of the ballet. We went to a ballet last night after we got back in from Chantilly. The first dance was well, it really wasn't very good at all, it was a bunch of men doing something, I really wouldn't call it dancing, I am not sure at all what to call what they were doing. However, after that it was good and I really enjoyed this once in lifetime experience. Don't I just have the best husband ever? I think so.

Day Four - Churches

2009-03-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

I think the title Churches pretty much sums up what Aaron and I did today. We first went to Notre Dame. While we were there, they were holding mass, and so Aaron and I saw part of mass. Notre Dame in my opinion, is one of the more impressive buildings I have seen in Paris. It is incredibly large, but also has so much detail. It was built in the 12th century, and is so beautifully preserved. It was truly magnificent to see.

After our visit to Notre Dame we went to our own church and attended sacrament meeting. After this we decided to go to the Conciergerie. This is where they held all of the prisoners awaiting their upcoming appointments with the guillotine. I have to say this was not my favorite place, and I was kind of glad to leave. It was pretty depressing.

Marie Antoinette's cell where she was held for two months before she was finally executed.
One non-depressing thing about the Conciergerie, was it has the oldest existing hall in Europe. (Which by the way was totally ruined by the modern displays throughout the hall.)
Our next stop was Saint Chapelle. This church's second level, had stained glass windows all around which told the story of the bible, starting with Genesis and finishing with Revelation, it also included some books of the Apocrypha. It was really hard to see all the detail in the windows, as everything was really small and there was so much to see. I did find one thing in the windows which I recognized, which was the story of David and Goliath.

After our stop at Saint Chapelle, we went to the Crypte Archeologique. These were the remains of the ancient Paris dating at the earliest 100-200 AD.
Next on our itinerary for today was Angelina's, which is famous for its hot chocolate. This is no ordinary hot chocolate. If you had any cravings for chocolate, this would be sure to please and to satisfy. This hot chocolate poured like syrup and was so thick and so rich.
After our sugar high that Angelina's gave us we were ready for a couple more stops. We tried to go the the Eiffel Tower for the second time, but again the line was so ridiculously long that we again vetoed that.
Last stop: Sacre Coure. This is one of the places that I didn't make it to on my first trip to Paris.
We had a very busy and fun day. We made it to four churches, famous Angelina's, and the Eifell tower for the second time. Maybe the third time will be the charm...... The one thing that amazed me today in attending all of these churches was how loud some people were. Especially in Notre Dame, while they were holding mass, there were tourists (sadly, mostly American teenage girls) that seemed to be totally oblivious that for one, these are places of worship for many people, and second, they were actually worshipping while we were there. I was really annoyed at the lack of respect that many people showed while they were visiting. All in all, it was a very good albeit exhausting day. Stay tuned for more of our adventures in France.

Day Three - Versailles

2009-03-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday took us to Versailles. We were going to go Monday, but fortunately Aaron looked up and found that it was closed on Mondays, so we changed our plans a little bit and headed up to Versailles. I don't really know what to say about Versailles, other than it was Versailles. It was large and extravagent. We have a Paris museum pass, which saved our butts yesterday, otherwise we probably would have stood in line to get in for over an hour, possibly two by the looks of the line. If I would have had to do that, I probably would have been totally disguisted by the place. I'm not a huge fan of waiting in lines. But luckily we didn't have to do this, and we enjoyed our time there.
The Queen's room, which happens to be where 19 of the royal children were born. Also to the left of the bed, there is a door where Marie Antoinette escaped through on October 6 (don't remember the year) when the peasants stormed Versailles.
The next is the famous hall of mirrors where many balls and important events took place. Also,the Treaty of Paris was signed in this room.

The gardens of Versailles
After Versailles we took the train back to Paris and then rested for a bit, and then went back to the Arc De Triomphe, and this time made it to the top. My legs burned a lot more this time up than they did last time. Hmmm.....out of shape maybe? Although I have to say I still did better than some people my age that we saw go up. It did make me feel a little bit better.

So I know I could probably post a better picture from the Arc, however, the most amusing thing from the top, was watching the drivers go around. There were no lanes, and as far as the rules went, I don't think they had any rules, everyone looked like they just did whatever they wanted to do, and horns were constantly blaring.

Day Two

2009-03-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well let's just say today went a lot smoother than day one. First thing we did was get a pain au chocolate (croissant baked with chocolate in the middle). After this, we went to the catacombs that lie underneath the city.
Aaron at the entrance which read "Halt, for this is the empire of death."

Me and thousands of bones.....

Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower, which had a line like you would not believe so we did not go up, but will try again another time.

After our short trip to the Eiffel Tower, we went to Hotel Des Invalides. This where Napolean is entombed. It is a very impressive building with a beautiful dome.
Napolean's tomb.
After visiting Napolean's tomb, we went to Musee de l'Armee, a war museum, which is dedicated, literally, to all of man's destruction of man. Interesting.... Anyways, we stayed mostly in the armor section of the museum. The pictures of the following armor, is of the armor for the royalty in the 15th century. You probably can't tell from the pictures, but the armour was very intricate.
After this we took a break and went back and had a nap, and then it was off to the Louvre.

My two favorite things in the Louvre tonight: Aaron and the statue The Winged Victory.

The much, much overrated Mona Lisa.
Me and my second favorite statue. Probably the only one who wasn't naked. Plus, it is of a woman hunter and her stag. Cool.

Well that's all for today. Stay tuned for our upcoming posts regarding our vacation. Love you all.

P.S. I love being on vacation, but I am learning so much about all I love about the very basics that make America great:
1)Bathroom Stalls
2)My bed
3) Showers in America (Although we have a very nice one for Europe)
4)Cold drinks
5)Ice
6)American grocery stores

Bonjour de Paris!

2009-03-20T15:30:00.001-07:00

Bonjour!!! We have made it to Paris. We have been here now for two days. Lets just say our first day was not the best day. We landed about 6:30 am Paris time, and at this point we were exhausted and ready for bed. Well, the Parisians decided to go on stike that day, however, it ended up not being too bad, it was just very slow going through customs. We had thought that the metro would be shut down, but it ended up not being shut down. Well, we decided to take the metro to our little vacation rental. So we hauled our luggage, up and down and all around the metro. Well with all of that business I had my wallet stolen. Stupid!!!!! Well luckily we noticed it was gone not too long after it happened, so we hurried and called the bank and cancelled my debit and credit cards. The best part is, they were probably looking for some fast cash, but haha on them, I think I had a grand total of two cents in my wallet. Hopefully, this is the worst that will come out of the situation. Well so we went to our apartment and took a nap. By this time we had been up for more than 24 hours and were exhausted. After our nap, we went to the Arc De Triomphe, which happens to be right outside our little apartment rental. It was closed due to the strike, so we weren't able to go up, but we still were able to go under it and look around. After our little visit to the Arc De Triomphe we walked down Champs Elysees. After our nice little stroll we tried to go to Musee D'Orsay, but it was closed as well. Well crap! Our first day was really kind of dissapointing. Well it just keeps getting better. On our stroll back to our apartment down the Champs Elysees, I have to go to the bathroom. So we stop at a little eating joint on the way. Well then of course, something that would probably never happen to anyone else, of course happens to me. I get locked in the bathroom stall. And unlike wonderful American doors that have a space between the floor and the door there is in France, no space in which to crawl under. And the door of course can't be cheap like our bathroom stalls in America, no it has to be nice heavy wood. Well, so the lock gets broken and this is why I can't get out. So I shake and shake and try and get out, all the while there are several people in and out of the bathroom. I call out for help several times, and finally someone comes to help me only they didn't speak English and I don't speak French, but she grabbed someone to come and break the lock to get me out. I was so humiliated and was tearing up a little because I was so humiliated and so exhausted. After that I told Aaron I wanted to eat and go to bed, so that is what we did.

Arc De Triomphe
Tomb of the unknown soldier underneath the Arc.
Aaron, the river Seine and view of the Louvre.

Remy the terminally ill bunny and daylight savings

2009-03-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, desperate blogging times come for desperate blogs. That is what today's post will be. I guess I'm resorting to being that crazy rabbit lady.... So our cute little lop rabbit Remy has serious problems. After Christmas vacation I had Remy on my lap and noticed some white spots/swirls in his eye. I gave it a couple of weeks and then called the vet to see if it was something I needed to come in for. The vet said I needed to bring him in for this, and she looked at him and then told me she had to look something up and she'd be right back. Half an hour later she came back with Remy's diagnosis. Eceneculi? Apparently it is a parasite that Remy has. So they put him on a round of medication as well as eye drops. Well six weeks later, the parasite is still here, and so our vet called an exotic pets specialist up in Portland, (which she called without asking us first, and which we were billed for. Yes that made me mad. ) only to find that this parasite will probably never go away. What does this mean for poor Remy and his sad owners? Medication, off and on for the rest of his life and close monitoring of him and his eye condition. I guess this will eventually cause seizures, convulsions, tremors, comas and death, or on a positive note, just losing an eye. So that was our happy news. However, Remy took the news rather well and seems his usual self.

Now let me switch gears and tell all of you how much I love, love daylight savings time! I have been so excited to leave work at the end of the day and still have it be light outside! It is so great, and also a lot less scary for me when I leave work since there are a lot of crazies that hang around where I work. So one day last week while we had beautiful weather I took advantage of both the nice weather and the long day and took Remy out on his leash after work and let him run around the yard. He was so excited to run, explore, dig and do his crazy hops, and I was so happy that the weather was nice enough that I could go outside for a little while.

Anniversaries

2009-02-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

So, I've literally had nothing to blog about. Well I guess I have had some exciting things at work, but they are exciting in a bad way and not in a good way and I can't say anyways.... I did have a TPR (termination of parental rights) trial this week, that I didn't end up having to testify at which I was very happy for. Yay for me!! Yay!!! (Can you tell I'm happy about that?)

Anyways.... enough of my rambling. I have had nothing to blog about for a really long time. We don't have kids, so we don't have kids to brag about, or post their cute pictures, or their funny sayings, and I don't want to be too crazy and blog too much about my bunnies and then be that weird bunny lady.... So today I decided I would do a tribute, even though it is cheesy and overly sentimental, but I literally have nothing else to blog about.

I woke up this morning and had this nagging feeling about today like there was something going on. Well I realized later in the day that four years ago today, I went on my first date with Aaron. Now Aaron and I are not overly mushy that way, but I have to admit I thought about it a lot today, and have felt really sentimental all day. The truth is, Aaron has changed my life more than I ever imagined any one person could. I love him more than I will ever be able to express. I love so many things about Aaron. I love the big things: his intelligence, his sense of humor, his wittiness (and knowing when to keep his mouth shut when he has something very clever, however inappropriate to say), his kindness, his patience, his faith, his ability to love, his ability to actually listen, his insightfulness, his confidence, yet not cockiness, and I could go on. I also love the little things: when he sings Weezer songs in the car, how he tucks me in at night because I have to go to bed earlier than him, the way he pulls his hairs out of his chin and creates bald spots on his face when he is stressed, his ability to cook a mean omelette, his laugh, the way he teases me, how he watches chick flicks with me, and I could still go on. It really has been the best four years of my life.

Aaron and I went on our first date to a U of U basketball game, since I really like college basketball. Then we went out and had dinner. That's when the date was supposed to end, but then we watched a movie and then sat up talking until 4:30 am. (Shocker, I know, I am now having a hard time getting him to talk a fraction of that!) Anyways, that was our first date. The best date ever!

Since then a lot has happened, life has changed for us, but it keeps being wonderful. Aside from all the other bumps or challenges in the road, he is still my best friend and I love him!

Children are special people too

2009-01-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

Even though Aaron and I don't have any children yet, I am lucky enough to get to be around kids quite a bit. And I have to say that I feel very priveleged because of this. I feel this way this week in particular. Kids are so much smarter and more perceptive than what we adults give them credit for. I have a little girl on my caseload and I went and visited her on Friday and we were sitting and talking, and some of the things she said just blew me away. She is only six. She was telling me about how much she loved being in her foster home because she gets food and attention, but she misses her mom and her brothers and she wants to go home. She then began telling me about how she is confused by this and asked if there was room in heart for both of her "moms" or if her heart wasn't big enough yet because she was only six. Oh my goodness, at that point I wanted to cry and give her a big hug. She was very serious, and I was blown away by how smart she is. I assured her that her heart was big enough for both her mom and her foster mom, and she seemed very happy to have a heart big enough for both of them.

I also teach primary at church, and I have to say I love it. I taught primary after Aaron and I got married, but this time it is different. I think I learned a lot while being Relief Society president, and I can see how my experiences there are helping me in primary. I have to say I love my calling. I think it is such a privilege to teach children. They are like little sponges. (When they are listening that is.) And yes, we struggle with that as well. Yesterday though was a great day, and I think the children actually learned something from my lesson and had fun. I have been reminded a time or two how smart children really are. One little boy made a comment a couple of weeks ago, that was very perceptive and I don't think an adult could have done a better job at answering the question. It was amazing. These children are so special, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to be their primary teacher. I know Heavenly Father loves them and is vitally interested in their growth and happiness, and we as adults need to do our best to take care of them.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-01-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well December came and went in a blur of work and activities. Aaron and I had a wonderful Christmas, although we were lucky to get out of Oregon. It had been snowing in Oregon and of course, Oregonians are not equipped to deal with snowy conditions. Our flight was supposed to leave early Saturday morning, but we did not get out until about 4:30, but we were lucky to get out. Our pilot informed us that we were the last flight out of PDX that day. Needless to say we were relieved, especially since there was a huge ice storm that came the next day, I don't think we would have made it out the next day either. It kind of put a damper on our plans, because we did not get to spend as much time with Paul and Mikelle and their family as we had planned. Sunday morning I drove up to Brigham City to see my friend Jessica and her new baby girl. Then Paul and Mikelle had a dinner party that night and we were able to catch up with some old friends. We had a good time. Annika and Sydney are getting so big, and they were so cute!

Monday we were going to drive to Blanding and stop and see my Grandma Penrod on the way. It started snowing like crazy and the roads in Utah County were horrible. I called UDOT to check the status of Spanish Fork Canyon, but chains or 4 wheel drive were required. Well, our little rental had neither, so we went to see my grandma and wait out the weather. It calmed down after a couple of hours and my aunt Jeanean suggested we go through Salina and then across I-70. We decided to do this, and the roads were still pretty bad in some areas, but overall, I know it was the safer route to go. Needless to say, it was a long day of traveling. I did get to see my grandma, which I was so thankful for. I love her so much and have missed her so much since moving to Oregon. It was weird being at her home without Grandpa, and I noticed his abscense quite a bit. I have so much in life because of them, and I was so grateful to be able to see my grandma.

While down in Blanding, we were able to visit with all of my immediate family. Lynn and Jaclyn came down from Salt Lake. It was fun to have all of my family together again. I was even able to go and visit my Uncle Elmer and he gave Aaron and I some of his fabulous chocolates. Last Christmas was the first Christmas in my whole life without them, and I really missed his yummy chocolates. Christmas Eve we had dinner with my family along with Uncle Elmer. Mom made a wonderful dinner and then we had our Christmas Eve program. It was so wonderful. The children entertained us with songs, Lynn read the Christmas story from Luke and we even had a surprise visit from Santa, which the kids (except Tate) loved!

Christmas morning brought a bounty of toys and gifts! Santa had been extra generous to the Hurst family this year! I loved watching the kids Christmas morning and seeing the excitement and happiness in their faces. I loved watching their faces light up. I had so much fun watching them open their gifts! This was the most fun thing about Christmas! It made me really excited for when Aaron and I have children. The kids loved Aaron and were always wanting Aaron. It was so cute! Aaron will be a great dad one day.

Aaron giving all three girls "horsey" rides.

Christmas Bounty

Megan, Marjean and Reese

Me and Megan ( I love this picture of Megan!)

The old girls (Jaclyn, Marjean, Mom and Melissa)

Dad's Christmas Project (Dad you did an awesome job!!)

Unfortunately, the weather also kept us from going down to Flagstaff to see Lynn, Joe, Rachel and Mama Jane and Papa Doc. We missed you!

Me and my sweetie!

All in all, we had a good trip, minus the few weather related problems. But we made it to Utah and then back to Oregon safely, which I am so thankful for! I am so thankful for all of my blessings that I have! I have so much! I am so thankful for my family, for my husband's family, and of course my wonderful husband Aaron! I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and all he has done! This is what Christmas is for me, everything else is just a bonus! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-11-01T09:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-05T21:05:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

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!

Another Day at the Beach

2008-06-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

We decided take another trip to the coast this past weekend, so we went to one of our favorite spots: Short Sands Beach in Oswald West State Park. The park is a few miles south of Cannon Beach, a nice little resort town. The beach is in a fairly small cove about a quarter mile from the highway and there's an old forest between the highway and the beach, so you feel like you are far away from everything else. The next morning we went to Cannon Beach and did some shopping and some more sitting around on the beach. Being so close to the coast has been one of our favorite things about Oregon, something we'll definitely miss when we leave.

No camping trip is complete without roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. You may notice the can of baked beans next to fire above; Aaron forgot the can opener, so he had to use some rocks to prove to Marjean that if cave men could open cans without can opener technology, we probably could too. I don't think she believed I could do it, but I showed her what two-thirds of a law degree could accomplish.

You can barely see some surfers out there. Apparently this is a popular spot for the local surfers. We think they must be nuts because we are sitting on the beach with pants and sweaters and still freezing.

Growing Pains and Emergencies

2008-06-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, this has been my week, full of one emergency after the other. I came into the office Tuesday morning and checked my work voice mailbox. I really wish I hadn't done that. Unfortunately, working for Child Welfare, this is not something that you can put aside. This job is full of emergencies, some are worse than others, but unfortunately they do happen. It was a week that I felt tried all of my patience and then some. Sometimes this work is really heartbreaking, it is really hard to see children suffering and paying the consequences for the choices of their parents and families. Needless to say, I worked four very long days that were heart wrenching. Friday was the worst. It was the worst day I've had in a long time, mostly because my heart ached for a little 2 year old on my caseload. If I were a superstitious person I would have attributed this to it being Friday the 13th. But I'm not. When 6:00 pm came on Friday I had at least two more hours of work left, but I couldn't handle any more so I came home. Through my tears of sadness and frustration I had a black cat run right in front of my car. Maybe it was my total exhaustion, but it did make me break into a fit of laughter. I thought great, what next, I'm doomed now that a black cat crossed my path on Friday the 13th. Luckily for me I'm not superstitious, but it did cause me to have a good laugh, which was a nice change. I went straight to bed and took a nap. Let me tell you, its amazing what a good nap will do for a person. I woke up feeling so much better and was able to process the things of the day. I've spent a lot of the day pondering on the events of last week. Sometimes the things I see push me to my mental limit and definitely push me to the edge of my patience. I guess these are experiences that are providing me with some learning opportunities and opportunities for growth, even if they do hurt sometimes. I hope that I am doing at least some good, and I hope that I can help some children along the way. They are such special people who have experienced so much. I am so thankful to my own parents who are so wonderful, and I am so thankful to Aaron's parents for raising such a wonderful man. Also, hats off to you wonderful parents out there, you are appreciated, even if no one thanks you!

Why we love bunnies

2008-06-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Cooper trying to get a carrot that we put inside a little cereal box. Needless to say, don't get in between a rabbit and his carrot.

Cape Lookout Camping Trip

2008-06-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went on our first camping expedition of the year. We went over to the Coast to a place called Cape Lookout. We were able to enjoy an afternoon on the beach relaxing, and then later took a long hike on the Cape. It was about a two hour hike and was very beautiful. Parts of the hike the trail wasn't very wide and then there was nothing but a big, straight drop off from the cliff. All in all it was a pretty cool hike. The weather was cloudy as you can see, but it wasn't too terribly cold or windy which was nice. During the night while we slept there was a pretty steady rain, but fortunately it was no longer raining when we woke up in the morning. We are fortunate to have a good tent that keeps out the rain and water very well (thanks mom and dad), so we stayed warm and dry which was definitely nice.

Silver Falls

2008-05-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, we have had an exciting week. Well, not really, but it has been wonderful because Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday have been gloriously sunny. It has been quite hot as well, up into the 90's already. I think tomorrow it is supposed to go back to cloudy weather, so I am enjoying this wonderful weather while I can. Yesterday, to take advantage of the weather we went to Silver Falls State Park. It is about 25 miles outside of Salem, so it is really close. Anyways, it is comprised of seven different waterfalls. We went yesterday and hiked a couple of the falls. We didn't make it to all of the falls, but it was still so much fun. I don't exactly have the right shoes for hiking, so I have three different blisters on my feet this morning, but it was worth it. I loved being out in the beautiful sunshine enjoying the absolute splendor of the place. It was so beautiful, I wish all of you could have been with us experiencing it as well. Around this same time last year, we went for the first time with my mom and dad, so yesterday was our second trip to the falls. I wish I would have thought ahead of time, and packed a picnic dinner, but I didn't. I would like to go again this year, and this time I will pack a picnic for us.

Seattle

2008-05-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went up to Seattle to recover from the last few months, Aaron wanted to go to a Seattle Mariners game, so we drove up to Seattle Saturday morning and spent the day up there. I went to my first major league baseball game. It was a good game with a lot of good plays, 3 home runs, and a second base steal, and was lots of fun even though the Mariners lost to the White Sox. I was pretty bummed out because we left our camera at home, so I didn't get any pictures of my first major league game. Oh well, I suppose life will go on. Since we didn't get any pictures of our trip, I will post last year's pictures of our trip to Seattle. We went around the same time last year, right after finals. We went to Pikes Place Market again and got some awesome blueberry syrup, it is so freaking dang good, most of you don't even know what you are missing! I have a feeling we will be having more pancakes and waffles now. Actually, I don't think we've had pancakes or waffles since our bottle from last year ran out. Anyways, we had a good weekend, and it was nice to spend some time together.

Me in front of the space needle

Aaron and I riding the ferry across Puget Sound
View of downtown Seattle from the ferry

FINALLY!!

2008-05-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am referring to Aaron finally being done with the semester. He finished his finals a week ago, but then he had an intensive trial practice class that was all last week (including Saturday and Sunday) which ran all day long. Poor guy, I don't know how he stood a class like that right after his finals finished. But he did, and I'm so happy. He works really hard in school and he handles the pressure so well, so much better than I ever did when I was in school, and I didn't have nearly a fraction of the difficulty that he does. But he does very well, and I wish in ways like this, I could be more like him. But to each their own I guess. Meanwhile, when I see Aaron working so hard in school, I am so thankful I am working instead of going to school. I love to work, it is so much better than going to school. One of the things that I really like about my job is that I feel that I am learning so much all of the time.

Meanwhile, lets face it, I have a hard job, Aaron has a hard job with school and work, and I'm really looking forward to this summer when we can spend more time together and take day trips to see the coast and other beautiful places here in Oregon. So today I will post a few different day trips Aaron and I have taken since we have moved to Oregon.

These first pictures are of our first camping expedition to the beach and our super fun cookout on the beach.

These last two pictures are of Mt. Hood. The one with Aaron is at Trillium lake with Mt. Hood in the background, and this last picture is of Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. Timberline Lodge is very cool, it was part of the Works Projects Administrations (WPA) projects that were ordered by President Roosevelt following the depression.

HELP!!! Wanted: Good Hairstylist

2008-04-28T12:34:00.001-07:00

Today is Monday, therefore it is my day off. It seems my day had been full of activities that are supposedly to improve my appearance. I had a chemical peel at the dermatologist office first thing this morning to help with my acne, and then I went straight to get my hair cut. My regular stylist (if you could call her that, I've only seen her three times) is on vacation for several weeks so I went to another lady. (Might I add this is about my tenth different stylist I've tried since moving up here). Unfortunately, I have sort of a high maintanence cut that needs trimmed and shaped ever four or five weeks. You know, I used to think that it wouldn't be too much to ask to find someone who could do a very basic hair cut while managing to keep up an appropriate conversation. I am finding that this is more and more impossible to find the longer I have been in Oregon. These are the days where I really miss my amazing and talented friend Jessica. She always did a good job on my hair and I never went home near tears after she was done with me. It used to be one of my favorite things to do. I liked going in, she would wash, cut and color my hair and we would talk and it was so fun. She is really good at her job and has a real talent for making whoever is getting their hair done feel comfortable. I'm discovering this is a rare ability among hairstylists. Yes, I frequently miss Jessica, but lets face it, the days that I get my hair done are the days that I wish more than anything I could have her cutting and coloring my hair, and then we could go out an do something fun. Oh well. Needless to say, I think it was kind of comical because my next stop was the grocery store where my hair was well... interesting.. and because of my peel I had no make up on because I have to go the rest of the day without it. Needless to say I'm sure I was a fright to look upon, but thank heavens for modern day hair helps like good pomade, hairspray and my Chi flat iron!!!!

My Plug

2008-04-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Right now it is Spring, and in Salem this means lots of rain with occasional sunny days. It is beautiful this time of year here in Salem, even more so when the sun is shining. Right now the blossoms are out in full force. All over town there are white blossom trees, pink blossom trees, yellow blossom trees and purple blossom trees. It is very beautiful, although I have to say that I wish we had more sunny days. This picture of Aaron and I is at the Oregon State Capitol building, not too far from where we live, and there are a few blossom trees in the background. Unfortunately for Aaron, Springtime means stressful time. Right now he is in the midst of finals. He had finals this last week, and has some this upcoming week and then he will be done. He has been diligently studying and working hard. I personally don't know how he has the attention span to do it, but somehow he does.

Today in the midst of running all over from doing laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, church responsibilities and taking Cooper to the vet I have had my foster kids on my brain all day today. I am going to talk a little about them and put in a plug for them. Yesterday I was on a home visit and I was playing airplanes with one of my little kiddos on my caseload and I was chasing after him all over the yard running in circles making my best jet airplane noise I could muster and it hit me all over again how cool these kids are. They definitely have a special place in my heart. They are such special little people who have so many needs, yet at the same time these children are incredibly resilient. I love working with the kids, they are so cool. So, one of my new resolves in life is to be an advocate for them, even after I am done working for Child Welfare. Let me tell all of you, that you don't even need to be a foster parent or a treatment provider to help these children. If you want to really do something cool, contact your local child welfare office and see what you can do to help out. Foster kids are always in need of clothes and shoes and toys, especially at Christmas time. Lots of these kids don't get anything for Christmas, and it is really sad. Anyways, if you ever want to do something nice for somebody sometime, keep in mind foster children, I promise you won't be sorry you did something to help out.

I've been tagged again

2008-04-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

A. Animal lover? It depends on what kind of animal, but generally I do like animals.

B. Best Friend? My amazing husband Aaron.

C. Cake or Pie? Why not both? I love cake and pie!

D. Day of choice? Friday because it is the first day to the weekend and Monday because it's my day off

E. Essential item? Lip gloss and chapstick. I am beside myself if I don't have either.

F. Favorite color? Red

G. Greatest accomplishment? Mmmhh... hard one, I don't feel very accomplished. But I would have to say graduating from Utah State with my bachelor's degree, and marrying Aaron in the temple.

H. Hometown? Blanding, Utah

I. Indulgences? Ice-Cream, Chocolate and Coconut Cream Pie.

J. January or July? Definitely July. I love summer. There are only two months out of the year that I really don't like, and January is one of them.

K. Kids? Not yet, but we will, so everyone watch out for new little Stringers!

L. Life is incomplete without? There are a few things that are so basic for me. One, my life would be so incomplete without Aaron, he is so amazing and wonderful, that I cannot believe I managed to be so happy for so long without him, it is hard to imagine life without him now. Two would be my family and friends, these are the things that make life's problems bearable. Three would the gospel. This is what binds and ties me to the first two things, my husband and my family, and this is what gives meaning, purpose and hope in life.

M. Marriage date? December 17, 2005.

N. Novel your reading? Just finished Where Are You Now by Mary Higgins Clark and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.

O. Oranges or Apples? Umm. Although I eat them, I'm not a huge fan of either although I would have to pick oranges if I had to choose. I'm more of a berry girl or peach girl or plum girl.

P. Phobia's or Fears? I really hate spiders, they scare me. Sometimes I am afraid to fly. I fear public speaking, and unfortunately I have to do a lot of that with my job and with being Relief Society President.

Q. Quotes? My dad always told us "It is better to be kind than right." These are good words of advice that I feel will always be applicable. I also love this quote from President Hinckley, "In all of living have much fun and laughter, life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."

R. Reason to smile? Aaron, he always makes me smile. Also the fact that after two more weeks Aaron will be through with his second year of law school! Yay! Also I had a little kid on my caseload give me a big hug and told me that he loved me, that really melted my heart and was a nice change from what I usually get called at work when someone isn't happy.

S. Season? It depends on where I live. In Blanding, I always loved fall best, because I don't like Winter and the wind blows way too much in the Spring. In Logan I always loved Spring and Summer best. In Oregon, I love Summer best.

T. Tag three friends! Well I don't have many friends who blog, one one of my only friends that does blog tagged me already, so I have to tag Jaclyn, Julie and Mikelle.

U. Unknown fact about me. When I was a kid I had to be in speech therapy for four years.

V. Very favorite store. American Eagle.

W. Worse habit? I have so many it is hard to choose.

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultra sound once for when I was having problems with my gallbladder.

Y. Your favorite food? I guess I love food too much to choose. I love pizza and lasagne, never can go wrong with that, I also love this one casserole I make, it is good comfort food although Aaron is probably sick of it. I also love Crispy Spicy Beef from the Cheesecake Factory. I also love spicy food.

Z. Zodiac? Scorpio.

Cooper and Remy

2008-03-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-24T21:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

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.