Happy Halloween!

In celebration of All Hallows' Eve, we had a potluck at work today. People brought soups, stews, snacks and desserts. I agreed to bring the Jell-O, but quickly forgot until 9:30 last night that bringing Jell-O would require actually preparing it. Alex was kind enough to help with the task and shortly thereafter the masterpiece was born - Orange flavored Jell-O with mandarin oranges, pineapple tidbits, and marshmallows on top. I made the comment to a co-worker that I'd never made Jell-O before and she replied, "You're definitely NOT from Utah". No Ma'am, I am not.

Today also happened to be the pre-sale event for the Wicked Musical coming to Salt Lake City in April. I've heard from numerous sources that the show is excellent and we would not be disappointed if we went. Tickets went on sale at 10 am this morning and from 10 am - 1:30 pm I made continuous attempts to purchase the tickets online - no luck, the website had reached maximum capacity and was timing out every time I'd get them added to my cart. I redirected my efforts to contacting the box office by phone only to get a constant busy signal (not a noise I want to listen to when I'm already low on patience). My co-worker in the cubie next to me caught wind of what was going on and within an hour or so was able to get through, talk to an agent and secure 2 tickets to the show. What?! You've got to be kidding... She even managed to get through a second time and passed the line to me so I could order my tickets (Thanks, Julie!). I'm pleased to say Alex and I will be attending the April 9th matinee showing.

After work we had friends over to eat dinner, hang out and watch movies. We gave them full disclosure that aside from our pathetic pumpkin on the front porch (here's today's pic)....


...Halloween was pretty much a non-event at our house. We did not dress up, decorate or make any nifty themed dinner/dessert items. They kindly looked past our Bah-Humbugedness and came anyway. We had Denis, Valerie, Alec and Lorie for spaghetti dinner. Later, Jack and Jill came over with a movie, Monster House. It was creepy, cute and totally unpredictable. If you've ever seen The Polar Express, it was made similarly where the actors actually dress up in special suits and they record their movements for every scene. Later, they go back and animate over it, making it look a lot more realistic in the expressions and body movement of the characters.

That was our "exciting" day... now it's off to bed so this old bag can get some sleep.

Here's what happens when I keep my husband up past his bedtime...

A reason to moisturize...

Do you see this? This is the pumpkin Alex and I carved a week ago. If Utah weather can do this to a pumpkin in a week, what has it been doing to my skin for the past 10 months? I'm going to look like I'm 58 by the end of the year. A few posts back I talked about the good things Utah has to offer, here are a few things I'm still getting used to...

1) Bad hair. You can get amazing haircuts and lots of great products, but after a day in Utah - your hair is guaranteed to look like junk. Flat on top and static flyaway hairs everywhere else. My days of cute hair are over.

2) VERY dry skin. As you can see from Exhibit A (my no longer cute pumpkin), Utah weather has a way of sucking every bit of moisture from every pore of your body. Moisturizing is a mandatory, multiple times a day requirement.

3) Bugs on steroids. We have an abundance of bugs and they are much larger and creepier than any of the bugs I remember from home. There's no such thing as a cute little anything here... unless your talking babies, which are also in rich supply.

4) The things people say. There are a few words and phrases that must have originated here in Utah. Initially they struck me as being kind of funny... Like "Oh my heck!" or "Fetch". I don't know if it's a Utah thing or an LDS thing. What the heck is "Oh my heck"?

5) Driving. Driving can be a bit of an adventure; a very dangerous adventure if you're not ready to hit the brakes, changes lanes or speed up at a moment's notice. I'm certain they must offer offensive driving courses in their schools. California gets the bad rap, but Utah's got them beat. (Unfortunately I've become a "Utah driver"... it's my survival instinct kicking in.)

Again, this all comes down to me refusing to adapt, but now that I've outed myself on the Internet, I can move on.

All in all, this has been a very good week. We both enjoyed quality visits from our parents this last week.

While my Mom was here, she helped with the duties of the house. Every day I'd get home and she'd have a different thing she'd taken care of - dishes, dinner, laundry, cleaned the bathroom. When my Dad arrived on Friday, he was Mr. Fix-It until he left Saturday - he checked out my car and fixed a few things in the house that were in need of some attention. Thank you Mom and Dad - you have no idea how nice it was to have the extra help.

Alex spent time with his Dad over the weekend to do "the manly bonding". On Saturday they met up with Steve's brothers, Brion and Ed for some boating. Originally they wanted to water ski, but the water was way too cold, so they opted for Plan B, fishing! Throughout the weekend Alex was able to discuss some things he's been struggling with and now he's feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the world with his new found perspective. His Dad has a very calming spirit and was kind enough to share it with us when he came. Hopefully we can keep it here for awhile. Thanks, Steve!

Some Pics Taken By the Mother Ship

My Mom stayed with us this past week, here are a few pictures she took during her stay..

For Maren... some things I remember about dating.. and some things I'd like to forget

Let me start by saying I don't have super amazing dating advice. If I had it my way, I would have avoided the dating scene altogether, unfortunately it's nearly impossible when you're trying to find the right guy to spend forever with.

Dating tends to be awkward and unpredictable. I'm a planner. I don't like putting myself into new situations, especially when I can't predict exactly what is going to happen from start to finish. I always tried to prep myself way in advance. I'd go over every scenario, how things should go (ideally), and what the resulting outcomes would be. I thought this would help me avoid those awkward moments, but it never worked. Something horrible was always bound to happen. (**On a positive note, this makes for great storytelling later and helps you appreciate "Mr. Right" or "Mr. Not as Bad as the Others" that much more when he finally stumbles into your life. You'll pretty much be indebted to him for the rest of your life for rescuing you.**)

I thought I'd blocked out everything from my early dating years, but somehow there's one date I can recall quite vividly.... here it is for your reading pleasure (sorry, it's mildly icky):

On one of my first dates, I was invited to have dinner with my date and his family. Not a big deal for most, but I was really shy and meeting people's parents always freaked me out. Aside from the usual dating jitters, I had a few concerns.

Concern #1: What if they have fish? In the past, I wouldn't touch fish. The idea of eating it, seeing it or smelling it made me want to puke. Blech! Thankfully, they served chicken.

Concern #2: What if I start my period? Periods are a major downer and often start at the most inopportune times. After reasoning with myself and determining the probability of starting was pretty low, I left, no longer worried. I arrived at his house 20 minutes later and almost immediately my period started. Luckily I figured this out before sitting on his mom's nice, white couch.

His Mom finished dinner and we all sat down to eat. I dished up without any trouble and went to cut my chicken and it happened. The chicken developed superhero abilities and flew off my plate, landed on the floor, and continued on to the furthest corner of the room. It was pretty impressive really, but in context, quite embarrassing. At this moment, I was feeling really klutzy and stupid. I looked up assuming everyone would be appalled at what had just occurred, but they were completely oblivious. They didn't even see it happen. I sat and waited a moment, contemplating what to do... should I pick up the chicken, potentially causing a small scene and unwanted attention or should I just take another piece and give them the impression I inhaled the last one? Neither. I nudged my date and told him quietly what had happened as not to draw any additional attention to myself. No luck. They all wanted to know what I was whispering about and soon found out when they saw the chicken waiting patiently on the floor.

After dinner, I ran to the restroom to change out the goods. In the process I noticed they didn't have a trash can in the bathroom. I hadn't discovered tampons yet, so the waste was a little more substantial than what flushing would allow. I was worried they might see me carry it out (they were still gathered in the kitchen surrounding the garbage can), instead I wrapped it as tightly as possible, and proceeded to flush the little bundle. From what I could tell, it made it's journey all the way down without stopping, so I left. Later in the evening, another member of the family used the facilities and I quickly realized the toilet had, in fact, clogged. Not just a little clog, a MAJOR clog. That thing was not going to budge. He was blamed for the incident and promptly asked to fix it. I was sure my contribution was going to float back to the top, so I waited, in agony. It took him most of forever to get it unclogged - to the point that they threatened to have him take the toilet apart. Eventually it broke loose and I was spared the ultimate embarrassment of having to explain why I flushed that down the toilet.

From experiences like this one and other life experience, I have formulated the following advice about dating:

1) Do something fun that will be enjoyable regardless in the event that your date turns out to be a dud.

2) Plan dates with a purpose. Dinner is great, but may leave you with lots of awkward silences. If you have a service oriented date, it serves as a wonderful distraction if your date isn't much of a conversationalist.

3) Group dates are a must. They are the best of both worlds - getting to know your date without the added social pressure or temptations you might have by being alone.

4) Always keep a stash of feminine goods and ibuprofen on hand, just in case. Whatever you do, do NOT flush the goods, unless they're intended for flushing.

5) None of that mushy stuff... you're too young to get into that mess. Save the kissy face for later. The kissing bank is closed!

6) ..and most important, stick to your standards so that one day, you can be married here:


P.S. Here are a few other random date and non-date moments I'd like to forget (you were there for most):

**Guy at work asked me to lunch, refused to take "no" for an answer - I tried 3 times (in one day) to decline. I finally gave in and we and sat there in near silence the whole time. Maybe the sound of us chewing our food was entertaining enough. I say, AWKWARD! Later he asked for my number - Sorry, but no.

**Getting extremely sick to my stomach just prior to a date and having to excuse myself several times during the date to avoid a very embarrassing (and explosive) situtation. Imodium can only do so much.

**Farting audibly in the middle of Family Home Evening surrounded by my future in-laws. Not very lady-like, but thank you to Austin for exclaiming, "That was awesome!"

**Having to decline a good night kiss because I had thrown up 20 minutes before.. and trying to cover it up by telling the guy I was "a woman of integrity" and he'd have to wait.

**Having friends over and a major bat in the cave. Alex was nice enough to tell me as soon as they left. "By the way, you have a booger." Thanks, bud.

**Walking down the stairs at a relatives house with a plate full of food and cup of red punch, my feet slipped out from under me, I fell onto my back and laid there watching horrified, in slow motion, as all of my food and the full cup of punch flew up over me and back down, showering me and the floor. Not a great memory for me, but I'm sure it was funny for the 8 other people that saw it happen.

Eat, Sleep, Work, Pay Bills and Play!

Two words to sum up this week: SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

My Mom has been here in Provo visiting with us since Monday. I've always been somewhat of a night owl, but my mother puts me to shame. On Monday, we were up until 2 am, Tuesday 1:30... and so on. Each night we've managed to get to bed about 30 minutes earlier than the previous night... but it's just not enough. I need sleep and I'd like to think that sleep needs me too. :)

Highlights from the week....

On Monday, Jack and Jill came over and joined us for Family Home Evening. The main topic of discussion was managing finances. Jack and Jill are definitely much better at this than we are and they have this incredible ability to discuss it calmly, without arguing. Truly amazing. It was a great example for us on how to discuss it the right way. In addition, they gave us lots of good information and helpful suggestions on things we could do differently - Thanks guys (for the advice and for saving our marriage)! After the discussion, we busted out the junk food (an essential for any gathering) and played a game of Rummikub. Jack won - I'm chalking it up to beginner's luck.



Later, with our new found budgeting confidence, we had a financial planning session of our own with the assistance of our newest friend, Quicken 2007. The best part is - we went to bed without being angry. This is a huge step for us.


Tuesday was pretty uneventful, but I had one memorable experience that day. While I was at work, my Mom baked crescent rolls. When I got home, the house smelled SO GOOD. Fresh baked bread is one of my favorite smells and eating it is even better. If only my rolls would turn out just as good.

Wednesday my Mom and I decided to move some things around. We moved the TV into the living room and attempted to watch the Wallace & Gromit movie. Meanwhile, Alex had Richie and Mason (missionary friends) over. They talked for over 2 hours, reminiscing about things that happened while they were on their mission. By the end, they were speaking in Georgian so I went into selective hearing mode and tuned them out.


Thursday (today) we took part in our weekly ritual of watching The Office with Denis and Valerie. The Office is my wonder drug... after a long, tiring week The Office always makes me feel better. As usual, this week's episode did not disappoint. The Michael and Holly relationship is so fitting, even if it's extremely ridiculous and awkward. It's great.

Friday our Dads will be coming to town. My Dad has been in Idaho for business and hopes to make it here in the late afternoon. Alex's Dad will fly in later in the evening to spend the weekend with Alex and do "the manly bonding".

Other random monumental occurrences...

I made dinner! I'm trying to get back in the habit of meal planning and preparing more "from scratch" meals at home. This day I prepared a Booth family favorite - 10 points to the first person that can guess what I made.


The kitty made me feel loved after a hard day's work. Normally he starts making demands as soon as I get home, "feed me", "let me out", "pet me", but this day, he just sat and looked cute. Maybe it's because he didn't want me to kick him out of the bed.. after all, it is HIS bed.

Skype Rocks, But More Importantly, Church Rocked!

Skype is awesome.
I love that we can talk to family in another state, for free, face to face.
(P.S. Maren, I love your haircut. Also, one of these days dating won't be so painful and you'll actually look forward to going on the dates, I promise. Until then, hang in there.)

To any of my friends reading this that don't have Skype, you need to get it, it's amazing. Click (here) to download it.

Okay, now that I got my plug out of the way...

Today we went to church - our weekly Sunday event. I've been on this really bad kick lately where I get out of the house 5 minutes too late (Alex waiting patiently in the car) and end up walking into sacrament meeting somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd verse of the opening hymn. I hate being late to church and I can't blame anyone but myself. I think I'm being humbled, in fact, I'm completely certain. All week long I harp on Alex about keeping a schedule and being on time... and every Sunday he's reminded that I'm no better. I've been served a large slice of humble pie. Bleah.. I hate humble pie.



Church was enjoyable. I spent the last half in the nursery tending to the smaller than usual group of children. It wouldn't even qualify as a group, just 2 kids today. Since there were only 2, they made it their goal to try and kill each other for the duration of their stay. I should have known that when they both asked for strollers they were up to something. Almost immediately, they tossed their babies to the side and proceeded to have an all out stroller war. They were sword fighting... with strollers. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but when I told them they needed to stop or I'd have to put the strollers away, the one little girl exclaimed, "I'm angry". Not a big shock, we go through that same dialogue at least once a week. I say, better to be angry than decapitated. Enough said?

Once again, it's way past my bed time.. I can hear some kind of husky, gravel voiced Darth Vader noise coming from the bed room... I believe that's Alex praying. G'night!

The Great Pumpkin

Today we are going to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for Halloween. Hopefully there's a decent selection left. It seems like people are getting ready for the holidays earlier and earlier each year. As soon as one holiday is over, they can't wait to move right into the next. By November 1st, everyone's pumpkins will be in the trash and their cornucopias will be the new hot item. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about celebrating holidays, I just don't get in the zone until a week or two before.

Last year I took part in the Halloween festivities with Alex's sisters, Maren and Sophie. We carved pumpkins at my apartment (see pics), watched Just Like Heaven... and Sophie played dress up in my old wedding dress. She was so funny, definitely a girly girl in hiding.




Later in the week we dressed up for Trunk or Treat at the church. I had no idea who or what to dress up as - but they remedied that very quickly. :)
Alex's family has a costume box with things they've acquired through the years. I tried on every item of clothing in that box. It was a toss up between a Butterfinger bar and Cruella de Vil. Since they had a dalmatian costume as well, I went with Cruella and Maren was the dalmatian. We had a great time, even if it was freezing cold.


The older I get , the harder it is to know how to celebrate Halloween. I think I'm mildly traumatized from my last Trick or Treat experience. I was 14, I dressed up as a gypsy. As usual, my siblings and I were making the rounds in some neighborhood and we got to this one guy's house. Here's how it went:

(Creepy older man opens door)

Us: "Trick or Treat!

Creepy Man: "Hi kids..."(happy and jolly-like until he sees me)
"Don't you think you're a little too old to be trick or treating?"

Me: "No...I'm only 14 (mind you, I had just barely turned 14)

Creepy Man: Gives me a "yeah right" look, refuses to give me any candy and closes the door

The way I see it, if a kid is 14 and still willing to dress up and go trick or treating with their family, they're not too old. That was the last year I went trick or treating with my family. After that, I had to join the other group of kids. You know, the one's that go around bag snatching. How else are you supposed to get any loot on Halloween? Too young to work and buy your own (plus less fun) and too old to trick or treat. Okay, so I've never done any bag snatching, but it made me understand how a kid could go down that lowly road.

This year I may have to bite the bullet and play the role of the door answering candy giver person. I believe it goes something like this: Answer door, act surprised at the site of several children yelling "trick or treat" in unison, disburse candy (or worse, maybe toothbrushes - I always hated getting the toothbrushes... or what about the people that would say, "What if I trick you instead?" Not an option, where's the candy, lady), take a minute to guess what/who each of them is dressed up as, compliment them on how clever they are (even if I've already seen 3 other Dora's and 10 Harry Potters) close door and repeat as needed. By playing this role, it's official, I am an adult.

**P.S. Here's a pic from tonight. We carved pumpkins with our friends, Denis and Valerie, watched "Best in Show" and ate cinnamon rolls. Any time you involve food, movies and friends it's pretty much guaranteed to be a good time, and it was. :)

The Best Birthday Ever..

... or not.

Saturday was my 29th birthday.
You know those days you wake up and just know it's going to be a bad day? This was one of those days. I woke up feeling crummy (probably something to do with staying up until 2 am the night before). Alex had to work that morning, so I took advantage and stayed in bed until noon. ** My birthday is one of the only days I can stay in bed until noon and not feel completely guilty. While I was laying there in hibernation, I glanced out the window and yes, it was snowing. Freezing butt cold and snowing. I've never had snow on my birthday. Maybe I should've considered it a gift or some kind of early Winter miracle, instead I was annoyed. Shortly thereafter, I realized that an unwelcome visitor had also decided to drop by, or should I say start? Yes, the dreaded monthly visitor that always comes at the most inopportune times and this time a week late. No worries... once Alex was home from work, we had made plans to go see Dial 'M' for Murder at BYU and then to dinner. I wasn't going to let headache/crummy feeling, snow or my monthly friend ruin my day. I had been looking forward to this all week. Unfortunately, once Alex got home we decided to engage in a "conversation" (i.e. yelling match, me yelling, him thinking I was psychotic, and rightfully so) about finances. We have yet to agree on this topic... that will be a sign of true progression in our marriage when we're able to discuss money and remain calm, possibly even agree. I'll keep praying.

Anyway, the conversation happened and at one point I completely exploded. I realize now this was my unstable hormones combusting, but at the time I felt justified. We parted ways and I went to get ready with the intention of leaving the house by 2:00. I was certain the play didn't start until 2:30 and this would give us plenty of time. (Note: Prior to leaving the room, I made the declaration that I didn't want to go with him. Again, credit the psychotic, irrational feelings.) I finished getting ready and decided to take some time out to regroup, this was around 1:30 - still plenty of time before we had to be out of the house. I sat there for a good half hour thinking about everything and finally came to my senses... then he entered the room and spoke. It's now 2:05, he says, "Did you want to go to the play, because it started 5 minutes ago." What?!... WHAT?! He knew the whole time that it started at 2:00, but didn't want to tell me because he thought I really didn't want to go and that him correcting me would just make things worse. PMS 101: Most of what comes out of my mouth during this time is irrational and untrue. If I wanted to do this thing 5 days ago, I still want to go. I'm just telling you in secret PMS code. Please understand... and in the meantime, PLEASE don't do anything to tick me off.. which is pretty much everything you do right now.

So.. that small, important detail was left out. We had already paid for the tickets and didn't want to waste the money, so we hopped in the car and sped down the hill to BYU. Once we got there, we wasted 15 more minutes trying to figure out where to go (the HFAC building is one of the last places you'd ever find Alex, so he didn't know where to go). Again, my rage returned... this time in the form of hurt feelings and sadness. This is the one thing I wanted to go right all week and it just fell apart. By the time we found the theatre, we were 40 minutes late. I gave up on the play and we returned home. After talking with my Mom and crying my eyes out, I regained my composure. I decided to try and make the best of the rest of the day (Thank you Mom for helping me see the light), and we did. We finished a movie we had started earlier in the week, went to the Library, Bath and Body Works and had a super-yummy dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant, Carrabba's.

So that this experience won't have been in vain, here's what I learned:

1). Don't say things you don't mean - it almost always burns you in the end and makes you feel like an idiot once you've come back to your senses.

2). Always check the tickets before you're scheduled to attend an event. Even if you think your memory is super amazing - it will always fail you when you're trying to be right and prove a point.

3). Even when your PMSing, try to appreciate the things your loved ones are doing for you. Sure, they've become increasingly annoying - but they really are trying. Give them credit for not jumping ship at the moment you turned into the devil incarnate.

4). If it's your birthday, skip the drama, chill out and have fun.

Over the course of the day several members of my family and friends called me with birthday wishes - I do appreciate this greatly. As you can read, I was in a monster funk and didn't want to be offputting with my lack of enthusiasm for my birthday. I am grateful for the calls. Thank you everyone!

The cat was even kind enough to leave me a small gift, I found it when I was checking the deck for snow.


Thanks Kitty, I love you too!

Age is just a number...

That's what people say when they're hovering around feelings of uncomfortable oldness. How do I know this? Because I'm there. On Saturday I'll be one year closer to "over the hill" status. I feel like I'm trekking up the age hill at a breakneck pace and I can't do anything to slow it down. How did this happen?? When you're younger, you have lots of ideas (or ideals) about what things will be like when you're older. Things like where you'll live, what your occupation will be, how many kids you'll have and when. So far I'm 0 for 4 on my list.

Here's the reality of what happens when you get older:

1. You get fatter and those body parts you've always hated get bigger and even more hateable. You can't eat a dozen donuts, much less look at a donut without having immediate consequences, usually in the form of a few extra inches in an unflattering place.

2. You get meaner. Sugar coating is just too much work. Hurting people's feelings is the new norm. This method of communication can work if you're dealing with people that like it straight, otherwise you've now become a permanent member on everyone's "crap" list (including your closest friends).

3. You start to see people for who they are instead of who you want them to be.

4. The veggies you thought were so disgusting when you were little are now a favorite side dish. "Can't I just have some green beans, this chocolate is making me sick."

5. All of the "kids" (i.e. anyone younger than you) suddenly seem extremely immature and idiotic. (Except your handsome, young husband)

6. You need 8 hours of sleep. Really. Anything less and all traces of fun are removed from your body and you become quite crotchety.

7. You constantly reminisce about "the good old days". This is before reality set in and you realized your parents worked really hard to make your life comfortable, get food on the table, gas in the car, and a roof over your head. Life sucks.

8. You enjoy just sitting and doing nothing. As a kid, this was the the ultimate anti-fun... but now, it means you're not at work, doing laundry, cleaning or engaging yourself in any other type of laborious activity.

9. Gray Hairs. Not just that one pesky gray hair that might grow back every couple months... but the multitudes of gray hairs that have set up residency along your temples... and their cousins that have migrated to your ears and nose. Or how about the little wrinkle you always thought was a smile wrinkle. Guess what? It's not.

10. You catch yourself saying all of those cautionary adult type phrases you vowed you'd never say. "Don't do that, you're gonna' hurt yourself". "You're not going to waste that, are you?"

That said, there are several things to look forward to with my new, older self. Hopefully soon I'll figure out what those are.

Age.. it really is just a number... a horrible, horrible number.

Marriage, Hookers and Rain

This weekend we went to St. George to see Les Miserables at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre. It's an outdoor theatre about 30 minutes from St. George nestled between the red rocks. Absolutely beautiful.


Neither Alex or I had seen Les Miserables before, so we didn't really know what to expect. I'd heard it had something to do with prostitutes and an orphan. Initially I was concerned for Alex's sake, but he'd read the book in high school and knew it had more to do with a guy named Jon Valjean... the main character. I won't go into details now, but if you haven't seen Les Miserables, I highly recommend it. The story has a great message, even with the prostitutes. Towards the end of the show the wind picked up and the rain started. First just a trickle... then a full on downpour. We were soaked by the time we made it to the car; not a normal occurence for the desert climate. It kinda' reminded me of being back home in Washington.

On our way home we tried to listen to General Conference, but the mountains gave us zero radio reception for most of the trip. We filled the time with discussions on life, marriage, etc.. as you can imagine, by the end Alex was feeling like this:

Okay, not THAT bad. I just wanted an excuse to post those pictures...
One thing we do well is communicate - good or bad. I'm thankful that Alex isn't afraid to get things out on the table. It's really essential to having an honest and trusting relationship. One thing I need to be better about is letting him be right (at least some of the time).
See the difference:

"Wrong" Husband

Right Husband

Personally, I think he's cuter and happier when he thinks he's right. :)

That's all for now... here are a few of the pictures we took last weekend in the canyon of the fall leaves.

Finally... a blog of my very own

I've been meaning to start this blog for awhile now... and here it finally is. Procrasintation at its finest.

We're spending our first Fall in Utah. It's been a hard adjustment getting used to new surroundings, people and culture, but I'm finally starting to appreciate it. What do I like about Utah? First, the seasons. I've never lived in a place that has defined seasons. Washington had four seasons of rain - little bits of rain, more rain, downpouring rain and the flurry rain season. I like that in the Summer, I know it'll be hot and sunny... In the Winter, we'll get snow. Seasons are a good thing.


I like not feeling like the minority when it comes to religion.. sometimes a little contrast would be nice... but all in all, I appreciate that here being Mormon isn't considered weird. People don't think I belong to a cult, wear magic underwear or worship pepperoni... if any of that is true, at least here there's a large group of people all doing it too. I like the pretty sunsets... even though they make me think of Forrest Gump every time (one of the scenes while he's running).


And lastly... I like that its forced me to get out of my comfort zone and learn new things. The idea of moving away always freaked me out. Now I realize every place you go has wonderful people to meet, things to see and lessons to learn.

I'll post some pics soon... just wanted to get this thing started!!