Tunes

Mark and I finally broke down and bought our first iPod. Technically it's for both of us, but one of us (I won't name names) has been hogging it lately and his poor wife has practically forgotten what it looks like. I think it's blue, yup, definitely blue.

Here's a few songs that you just might find us listening to on any given day....

1. Los Angeles Is Burning....Bad Religion

2. Closer To Love....Mat Kearney(his new cd is great!)

3. The Man Who Can't Be Moved....The Script

4. Crack The Shutters....Snow Patrol

5. Maple Tree....Angel Taylor

6. Rock & Roll....Eric Hutchinson

7. Stolen....Dashboard Confessional

8. Leaving Town....Dexter Freebish

9. Move Along....All American Rejects

10. Wonderful World....James Morrison

11. Won't Go Home Without You....Maroon 5

12. Don't Wanna....I-Nine

13. Fidelity....Regina Spektor

14. Her Diamonds....Rob Thomas

15. Car Crash....Matt Nathanson

So, I'm thinking I want to find some new music to mix in with what we already listen to. You know...to spice things up a bit.

Any suggestions?

*Oh...and for the record....I knew when we bought the iPod that Mark would be the one using it most of the time. I just like to give him a hard time because it was his idea for it to be for both of us....anything to justify buying it, right?

Backtracking Just A Bit

So, I have to go back and post just a few more pictures from our trip to NY. You know....for posterity and all that. So, here's what else we did....

It was a great trip. There are only two things I would have loved to do different....to have stayed longer and to have had Sarah and Riley with us. One of these days we're all going to have to go somewhere super cool together!

You Can Call Us...

Mr. and Mrs. Spontaneous.

Saturday didn't start out with anything too exciting or out of the ordinary. We decided to go to the Portland Temple. Since we were going to be in the Portland area, Mark decided to schedule a consult for Lasik surgery. He's wanted to have this done for years. So, we figured we'd see if he was even a candidate for it...get a quote...and get any questions answered. He qualified.

Then they told us that they had an opening and they could do it right then if we were interested. We thought about it for maybe a minute, and then decided that we should just do it. It would save us another trip to Portland.

So, he did it.

Now he's a new man. A man who can see without glasses.

Now what kind of wife would I be if I didn't document the event?! There was a horrible glare, so some of the pictures are funny...but it's better than nothing.

Here are the last two pictures of Mark that he will ever have with his glasses on.

Here he is at the beginning of the procedure getting prepped and having the flap cut on his eyes.

Here's the doctor working on his eyes. This is where the laser actually corrected his vision. It was so fast. The laser only worked on each of his eyes for 5 seconds. Crazy. I watched the whole thing on that computer monitor. It was the strangest and coolest thing I've probably ever seen.

Getting his eyes checked after the procedure. He got the stamp of approval from the Dr.

These are Mark's new shades. He gets to sport these for the next 7 days....when he's inside and outside. Lucky. His procedure from start to finish took less than 20 minutes. It's amazing!

Hooray for no more glasses!

Watch It Wiggle

It's not a commonly known fact that just 30 minutes away from Palmyra is the birthplace of JELL-O! How awesome is that!? We had some time to kill before we had to go to the airport. So, we all headed out to LeRoy to see the JELL-O gallery.

In front of the building was this cow....I'm not sure of the story behind it, but it was pretty cool.

The first thing you see when you go inside is this sign. Truer words have never been spoken.

Then we started the presentation. This lady told us all about JELL-O and how it originated. She was really quite sweet, and as we were talking with her we discovered she's a totally famous TV star. She's been on the Food Network show Unwrapped. So, we had to get our picture with her. A little piece of JELL-O info for you.....this JELL-O sign above Mark and I was built special for the Salt Lake Olympics. Once the Olympics ended they shipped it to New York to go on display here. Since we worked at the SLC Olympics we felt an instant bond.Utah was actually quite prominently displayed here. For example... JELL-O is the official state snack of Utah. Awesome. I wonder what Oregon's state snack would be? Do we even have one?
They had a fun little JELL-O store set up that the girls had a ton of fun playing in.Once we finished our tour, we browsed the gift shop, and it did not disappoint. The had all the usual stuff...t-shirts, towels, pens, magnets, aprons, etc. Our favorite thing they sold were these.
JELL-O boxers. So funny, and so wrong at the same time.

This gallery was actually pretty cool and quite entertaining for all of us. Totally worth the $4 admission. Our one complaint...there were no JELL-O samples! Seriously, you'd think a place like this would have some JELL-O to hand out. We were hoping for a little snack while we were there. Bummer.

Across The Country And Back In Only Four Days!

Only crazy people travel like we did this weekend. We left Oregon Friday night. We flew to New York, and got back Monday night....that's insane. That being said, it was such a great trip. The pageant was amazing. This year there were over 720 people who performed in the pageant...it was huge. We were so glad that we could go and see Emily in it. My parents also came and as a bonus my brother and his family drove up from Philly for the weekend, so we were able to see all of them too. As usual for me, I took way too many pictures to post them all, so hopefully the slide show will help. These are just pictures from us getting to New York and the Pageant. There's more to come. They involve Jell-O. You're curious now, aren't you?

Dang Delays

This is what happens when your red eye flight is an hour late leaving and it causes you to miss your connecting flight by...

1 minute! Seriously. There is nothing worse than standing at your gate, staring at your plane, (out of breath because you ran the whole way there....have you been to the D.C. airport...it's huge!), and knowing that you can't get on. The flight is closed. So, here we are in our Nation's capital and we get to enjoy the views from gate B16. At least we found a quiet spot to nap.

Packing My Bags

Tonight Mark and I are taking off. Literally. We are taking the red eye to New York! We are so excited to go see Emily in the Hill Cumorah pageant! It's going to be so wonderful...I wish you all could come too.

See you next week.

Pool Time

When you live in Oregon and you want to go out and enjoy the pool, you don't let something silly like heavy rain stop you.

No sir...you just go out and enjoy it anyways.

Favorite Things Gift Exchange

Finally this weekend it happened. It is the cutest, most fun party of the year. It was the Favorite Things Gift Exchange. Last year I wasn't very good about taking pictures....so, this year I was determined to do better. Trust me, after seeing these, you are going to want to have your own party. Or at least go to one.
We were greeted by pretty flowers and found really cute lunch boxes on our chairs.

Even our lunches were cute.

All the ladies visiting and eating.

The gift table.

After we ate it was time to exchange gifts....that's always the really fun part! I love seeing what other people bring. It gives me good ideas. This is what I brought...

Some of my favorite things....an ice cream scoop, some recipes, a quote book, pens and a notepad from The Office, chocolate, hand sanitizer, cute measuring cups, verbena soap, cupcake liners, a really cute card, and a dahlia.

Here's what I got....

It's everything I need to throw a cupcake exchange. Seriously...it's all there. There's invitations, paper plates and napkins, a garland, goodie boxes, cupcake liners, sprinkles, a cupcake cookbook, a cake plate, and of course...some really tasty cupcakes. My sister in law brought this, and boy am I happy I was the lucky one to go home with it.
Once all the eating and exchanging was over, it was time to take a ton of pictures. That's what happens when you get a bunch of girls together who all have blogs.
Our hostesses...Carolyn, Kari, and Alicia.

Alicia...Me...Celinda....and proof of all the crazy picture takers.

The whole group.

It was a great afternoon, and I am so glad I have talented and creative friends who are willing to put on such a fun event.

I'll Treasure Them Forever

You never know what you are going to get when you let your 6 year old nephew take control of your camera. These two are my favorites.

First we have a close up of him and his cousin. Cute picture...pretty good for a 6 year old. Heck...half my pictures don't even turn out that good.

Oh, but wait, it gets so much better. I think this one is my favorite...

Now, I will always be able to remember the port-a-potties at the fireworks show.

Awesome.

Independence Day

Mark made it home from Scout Camp just in time to have some 4th of July fun. We took some patriotic treats and headed off to hang out with some family.

While we were waiting for the fireworks sat around and listened to a band, played frisbee, soccer, and ate tons of food. Then came what we were all here for....fireworks!

This 4th of July weekend brought about a lot of reminiscing for Mark and I. We moved to our new town for Mark's new job last year on July 3rd. As we were looking back on the changes and events that took place to get us where we are today, there is no doubt in my mind that we have been guided and blessed. Not only was this weekend a great time to remember of how much God has blessed America, but also how much He has blessed us.