Ok, so I'm off work today, so I can finally do a full blog.
I'll let you in on a couple of updates in our lives:
--After a long and painful fight, I will end up working 2 out of 3 weekends... meaning I could work 4 weekends in August. A fellow dietitian is going on maternity leave in August, and our manager would not budge in changing the schedule even though we will be short-staffed for 3 months. So... my life will suck even more starting in August.
--I got called into the Young Women's presidency as the secretary... but at least I'm not the assistant TO THE secretary. Graham also got called as the Young Men's president.. which is funny since he looks like a young man himself. Another amusing tidbit.. The YW president and I, whom I had never met, have kissed the SAME GUY. How random is that?! The Mormon world is such a small world.
--Graham's best friend Jered got married a few weeks ago in the Portland temple. It was lovely and funny all at the same time. First, Graham wore white socks with his nice pants. Second, the sealer accidently said, "Eve, the mother of all
evil", in the ceremony. Third, Graham forgot to bring black shoes for his black tux. We helped the newlyweds escape after the reception in their destroyed car, even though they got roped into doing some cleaning.
--We went to my family's first reunion in Tahoe... I'll just give you the highlights:
1) We drove from Portland to Tahoe via Reno. I don't know if any of you have ever traveled these lonely roads before.. but our night-long drive went through the middle of Oregon, where some deer cornered us on the highway, like in "The Ring 2" movie. Luckily, one of the punk deer looked up, and we were able to slam our brakes in time. I couldn't sleep the rest of the time, because the deer on the side of the road kept freaking me out. By the time we got to the northeast corner of California, I was seeing things, like make-believe dust devils in the fields, cop cars that were actually bridges, and a real creepy man standing on the side of the road next to a railroad. Poor Graham had to convince me those things weren't real. Something real we DID see was a bale of hay in the highway. The most common statement on this drive was "where ARE we?!". Honestly, I think that part of California is the loneliest part I've ever been to. It's like, wtf would you ever go to
Alturas, CA? But, we made it safely to Tahoe in 10 hours.
2) We took extended family pictures in matching t-shirts. Cheesy? Yes. Ugly? Not really. They're actually pretty cute. Our photographer, who was our wedding photographer, took them of us on a fence in a meadow up in Tahoe. I love the background. I would post one, but pictage.com doesn't let me copy or save the pictures.
3) I was really sick with a cold over the vacation. I was doped up on sudafed, dayquil, and nyquil the whole time. I used up an entire large box of tissues. I'm still recovering, and I sound like a smoker or like someone trying to get attention by clearing their throat.
4) Tahoe was actually kind of cold. It hailed and rained the day we were going to the beach. I was really frustrated because of the clothing I packed. Last time we visited CA in March, we packed like Northwesteners, bringing all pants and turtlenecks... and it was hot! So, we were smart this time and brough all of our summer clothes, and it was cold... Lame!
5) We visited with our good friends, the
Hamberlins. We got to meet their adorable little son, Tanner, who has the bluest eyes ever! I feel like I never get to see my old friends anymore, so it was nice.
6) We did a session in the Sacramento temple, where we got married. It quickly became my new favorite temple, although I still do love the Portland temple. I just love the Sacramento temple's colors, with the blue stained glass and the roses. The celestial room is just GORGEOUS.
7) We played with my brother Craig's cute kids. Emma, who is about 15 months, is adorable and staggers around the room when she walks. My other brother brought his 5 foster kids, which made things a little crazy, but the little 8 year-old girl like LOVED Graham and me. She colored a couple of pictures for both of us and always wanted to sit with us.
8) We went to a San Francisco Giants game on Saturday to top off our family reunion. It was great weather that day, and we walked around the wharf.. to get some bread and chocolate of course. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't visit the mega mall with Nordstrom and Bloomingdales in Union Square, but we didn't have much time to do anything else that day.
9) We had a LOVELY 12-hour drive back to Brem Brem on Sunday. Luckily, we brought our laptop this time, and Seinfeld made the time go by quickly. However, the accident in Eugene, OR that shut down I-5 completely was almost a buzz kill. With some handy driving skills and a shortcut through town, we were able to bypass the accident and cut off an unnecessary hour off our time.
--I've been back at work this week, and let's just say it hasn't been fun (please reference my first statement). However, a job is a job, and I'm still lucky to have one.
--Graham got his independent loan officer license, so he's able to work with a mortgage firm, a bank, and a website (
zillow.com). So, if you know anybody in WA that needs a mortgage, Graham's your man.
--We got an early birthday and Christmas gift from my parents. All Graham could say was, "Oh man this is so much better than IKEA." Well said, Graham... well said. We put our fancy china in the new buffet, and it looks great.
--We still haven't purchased a cord to connect our camera to the computer yet, since we lost our old one, but someday... we'll have enough money to do just that.
--I promise to you all that I'll start blogging more again. Our internet sharing friend is back, so it's all good. We signed a contract with clearwire internet, which, FYI, nobody should do... but we're going to cancel it because it doesn't work. Argh!
See you all later... hopefully sooner than that.
3) New tires for my XTerra. They're getting close to bald and very close to dangerous.
6) A nice apartment/condo. Our landlord may be selling the place, so we don't know if we can stay here for another year. It's what we were planning to do.. so we'll see. I hate moving! Plus, the apartments here are WAY too expensive for the area. Is it just me, or is $1100 a month on a 2-bedroom apartment out in sticksville too much? This is freaking West Puget Sound, NOT Seattle!
