สวัสดี

Hello Thailand!! This morning we woke up to two different phone calls from friends in Thailand. It was good to talk to them, but a little difficult to think in Thai at 5 in the morning. We've only been home 4 months and we're already getting rusty. I guess that's something to work on!! We did get reprimanded for not calling more often, so we'll have to start doing better.

Hogle Zoo!

It only took us a few months but we finally managed to meet up with some of our long lost friends. Better late than never, right? We met and spent the afternoon at Hogle Zoo. It was fun to catch up and spend a little time together. Isn't their daughter so cute? It was also fun to see some of the animals. I think the giraffe's and elephants were my favorite! Thanks for inviting us and putting up with us for a few hours!

Memorial Day Hike

For Memorial Day we thought it would be fun and appropriate to go on a hike. It just seemed like the thing to do. James and I met up with Shelly and Jens at the mouth of Green Canyon. Our intent was to take a trail over to the wind caves. Unfortunately we started on the wrong trail. Oops. The final destination of the trail we were on was Tony's Grove, about 14 miles away. Let's just say we didn't get all the way to Tony's Grove, but we did hike up a ways and found a pretty view. Here it is:

Everyone was patient with my slow pace and frequent stops. I'm sure I slowed us down, but we hiked around 5 or 6 miles and had an enjoyable morning. What a fun thing to do on Memorial Day. Thanks for letting me bum along! Here's our group:

30 Weeks

Here's a picture for all of you who want to see my big belly! This was taken at about 30 weeks. I kind of feel huge, but I suppose I'll just keep getting bigger. If you look you can see the White House behind me.

Washington DC

Last week we had an awesome chance to go back to DC for the entire week. We had a career conference for returned Peace Corps volunteers. So, we attended the conference by day and did a little sightseeing by night. Luckily my dad had some business out there so we were able to go together and stayed in his work apartment. It was so great to spend some time out there, even if it was a little short. Here's a brief overview of what we did and saw.

Monday - We spent majority of the day traveling. Once we arrived we got to visit my brother Jeromy and his family (Patrice, Braydon, and Aylin). Their kids are so cute, but unfortunately I didn't even think to take pictures.

Tuesday - We spent all day at the conference. But, that evening Dad took us on a sight seeing drive. We stopped at the Air Force monument (below) next to the Pentagon. This is where my Dad was on September 11th 2001 so it has a little extra meaning to it. Here's a picture of us saluting. It looks like mine could use a little work. We also drove through downtown DC. We didn't get pictures because it got dark, but it was beautiful to see the city at night.

Wednesday - After another long day of meetings we went to visit the National Cathedral (below). We also went through Arlington Cemetery and Dad took us to some of the spots where he spent a lot of time studying and working while we lived out there.

Thursday - We had free time during the afternoon so we visited some of the sights. We went to the White House and then walked to the National Mall. We started at the Washington Monument. From there we had a great view of the Lincoln Memorial a mile or so away. We started walking towards it, but I got tired and we never made it. We had a special Birthday lunch for James and he opened his presents before heading back to the conference!

Friday - James attended the conference but I had the morning free to be a tourist. I went into the Library of Congress and walked around the Capitol (below) towards the Botanical Garden. I enjoyed the gardens, but it kind of made me miss the flowers and fruits of Thailand! Oh well. Lastly, I made another stop at the Arlington National Cemetery (below). It's such a peaceful yet sobering place.

Saturday - Before flying home we went to the Washington DC temple. I've loved this temple ever since I was little and it was fun for James to be able to experience it. We enjoyed walking around the grounds and eating our picnic lunch.

Overall it was a great week. I could have enjoyed spending more time there, but I guess that's a good reason to go back!

4 Years and 2 Happy Smiles

This week we celebrated our 4 year anniversary. Crazy!! In celebration, we decided to reward ourselves with something we've wanted for a long time....electric toothbrushes. Romantic, isn't it?! Actually, we have both wanted one for a while but have had a hard time rationalizing it. So, we figured that would be our anniversary gift. We thought we would have to buy two separate ones, but ended up finding a package with one stand and two separate brushes. Yay. This means we can both brush at the same time. Anyway, here's a picture of the first use. It took a little getting used to. James thinks it tickles and I have a major problem spraying everything within a two foot radius. But, a few days into it we're getting better and we have happy, tingly teeth!

Goodbye Grandpa

Last week my Grandpa unexpectedly passed away. It was sad news to hear, but he died peacefully in his sleep. The funeral was held this past weekend where lots of stories were told and a lot of reminiscing took place. It was neat to recognize the great life he lead and the legacy he leaves behind. It helped remind me of the great roots I have and the expectations I have to live up to. It was a good opportunity to reflect upon my life and how I'm doing.

All of my sibblings were able to fly or drive in time to make it to the services. Although the circumstances were a little somber, it was a fun time to spend together. It's been 3 years since I've seen some of them and it's always fun to get together. I'm grateful for the family I have, as quirky as they are!

Living the Dream

James has been telling me for about 2 years that he wants a tractor. For Christmas my dad unknowingly send us a John Deer Christmas ornament. I was happy to tell James that he had received his tractor. Unfortunately that didn't seem to satisfy him. Every time we see one he reminds me that he wants one some day. So, being the ever dutiful wife that I am (:D) I purchased him some John Deer tractor fruit snacks. He can never say I didn't get him a tractor - I gave him lots!

The past month we've been helping my parents with their backyard. By we, I really mean James has been doing all the work and I occasionally lend a hand by grabbing the necessary tools. Anyway, we had several loads of clay that was supposed to be soil dropped off a few days ago. After several hours of manually shovelling, it was determined that we needed something bigger. So, we rented a tractor and James got to spend the afternoon playing on it. I am just grateful the thing didn't tip over on any of the hills, but I think he only managed to increase his desire for a tractor. I don't anticipate that will happen any time soon, or ever. But, he enjoyed it while it lasted.

A Successful Failure

A few weeks ago I was inspired by my friend Rhonda who decorated an adorable cake for her daughter's birthday. I have never decorated anything in my life and have minimal artistic abilities, but my creative juices began to flow. I scrounged up some decorating supplies and did some online searching for instructions on how to use them. I read lots of tips and suggestions and began the process. You can see above how the cake turned out. It would be a failure as far as asthetics go, but I'm choosing to consider it a success for my first attempt because of the things I learned:

* Put lots of flour in the cake pan. I thought I had enough, but when I tried to take it out of the pan it came out in a few different pieces. Oops.

* Cream cheese frosting is my absolute favorite. However, it doesn't work for decorating. It just kind of blobs together.

* I found a recipe for frosting with shortening that works much better for decorating.

* I hate frosting with shortening!! I spent an hour trying to scrub everything clean and it's just one big greasy mess. It also tastes nasty. Double bummer.

Despite the fact that it didn't look very good, we were able to scrape off the nasty frosting and it still tasted pretty yummy. I didn't hear any complaints, but I think in the future I'll settle for simply frosting the cake. No fancy stuff for me.

Deutschland Deutschland!

This weekend we went to a Kammerchor Vocalis performance at Temple Square. It's a choir from Germany that came to Salt Lake to perform. They were awesome! We were able to visit with some good friends from Germany that we haven't seen in years and that was lots of fun. James was nervous about speaking German again, but he only slipped in Thai words a couple of times.

We had lots of fun catching up with Katha and Ricke. They are sisters and part of a family that James got to know pretty well when he was on his mission. He has visited them almost every year and we spent some time with them when we were in Germany. It has been way to long since we've been over there or seen any of them, so it was lots of fun to see them even if it was only for a short time. It definitely made us want to go back to Germany. It's crazy and kind of sad how fast the time can go.