Fall Fun!

Had some fun times this fall!

My MTC (Missionary Training Center) companion, Emily Schroeder, and her fiance, Edwin, came over for dinner one night. It's kind of a big deal, because Edwin is from the Netherlands. He is actually one of the elders from our mission! ANYWAY, he came over too, and had his first corn dog:

He liked it pretty well :)

I also got on a little crafting kick, and decided to do some painting. I transformed a dresser:

 Quite the difference, right?

This was from IKEA, and I wanted to have a splash of color, so I went from this:

 To this!

I am grateful to Wendy (and her mom letting me invade their driveway to paint), as well as the Kingsleys, for their help in my crafting endeavors! My next project is puttin things on those shelves! Little by little, it is getting done.

 

Something else that happens with Fall, that makes it one of my favorite seasons is the changing of colors. My friend, Mike, and I went for a drive in the canyon...one of the canyons in the area, and this is what we saw:

 

Another reason fall is fun for me, is that it is one of my best friend's birthday. We have only been friends for about 3 years, but there is a special connection we have. I can't imagine my life without her, and celebrating her birthday just makes me happy. Here we go!

 

This is my niece! I am so sneaky!

  She had been standing, and then told me, "Oh! My back hurts, I sit on you!" I was more than happy to oblige.

 That's right. I got her cheese. Not just any cheese, but Tillamook cheese. Why? Because that is what she wanted, and I couldn't resist! Happy Birthday, Charlotte! I love you and am so grateful for you in my life!

Fall has been pretty fun thus far...and now we have had an onslaught of snow...but that is a different post for another day...

synonym PART 4

It just seemed more complete with 4 parts.

The rest of the month was a whirlwind of new residents checking in, getting adjusted to having freshmen again, and getting into the groove of the school schedule as a Hall Advisor (instead of conferences.

I love the change from conferences to students.

synonym PART 3

The next part of the chaos that was August is an event that was so special to me, that it would have taken something HUGE to keep me away. My best friend of over 20 years (that's right!) got married! Jill married Seth and it was wonderful! It had also been a long time since I had seen her family, basically my adopted family, so it was a BIG deal for me.

I am so grateful to my boss, who let me go for a quick trip! I flew out mid-morning on Saturday and came back Sunday. I am also grateful for my family that I got to see while I was there, and to my sister, Lora, who let me stay with her, and steal her car!

Here are some of the pictures of the GRAND event!

Jill look radiantly, beautifully gorgeous! It was funny, because the last time I saw Seth (actually, met him), I was quite sick, and couldn't talk, and when he saw me, he said, "Hey! You can talk!" Anyway, then Jill came, looking amazing. It is so wonderful to see her so happy and belonging with Seth.

 

 They had their first dance. Seth doesn't dance much, so this was a big deal.

 Mark, Jill's dad, and Jill both love to dance, so they broke it down, and it was so great to see!

 I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in YEARS! Here are Josie and Fernando.

 Fernando, Sarah, and me. We were all pretty close in high school.

Sarah, Jill, and me. We go WAY back. Lots of fun, lots of love.

 The DJ did this dancing game, where the couples who were married the longest just kept dancing. Mark and Carol were out there a LONG time. I sure do love them!

 

While home, I also got to visit with the Wadell gang on Sunday. Lora and I headed their way, and it was so great! Betty is one of my mom's best friends, and one of my favorit people. It was fun to see 3 of her 4 kids and their kids. We go way back to when we were little ones. Time flies, even when we don't think it does.

synonym PART 2

Do you love the fact that my part 2 of my adventures in August is now being posted in November?

Anyway, back to the chaos that was the month of August. I got back from DeAnna's wedding just in time for the start of:

RA Training! Woot!

This year it was so much fun! I got to teach the topic of "The First Two Weeks" which was on the first day, so I got to help kick off the week. I also got to go with the Returning RAs, which I absolutely LOVE to do!

We did some team building/getting to know you ice breakers in Salt Lake:

 During the week, we headed to the CLAS ropes course in Provo. We did some group activities:

 

The RAs of Awesomeness (read MY RAs and my associate RAs) all participated in ziplining...which is AMAZING! I got to do it a few weeks earlier, and I fell in love with it. I want to do a long range one, like in Hawaii or something. Kinda funny, considering the fact that I don't really like heights....

 This is a swing sling shot thing...

 

During RRA Training, we had some fun with  soda:

 Cooking the next morning was a flippin' good time :)

 

I am so grateful for the RAs that I have this year. I am learning from them, having fun with them, and I hope we are making a difference in the lives of our residents. I truly love my job!

 



synonym PART 1

Chaos
cha-os (key-os): a state of utter confusion or disorder 
SYNONYM: AUGUST 2012

I have adventures and pictures to share! YAY!

August started out much like the rest of the summer, with conferences and scheduling and all that good stuff. THEN the fun started! We finished up with our last week of Especially For Youth, and geared up in extra high speed and effort for student prep (with prep for Education Week as well). During this time, I hightailed it out of Utah and headed to the Washington, DC area. Why?

FOR DEANNA'S WEDDING!!!! That's right, I went with my friend, Kendra, to DeAnna's wedding. We headed out on Wednesday, and I will let the pictures do most of the talking:

This is the car they tried to give us. Yes, it looks like a clown car. I took a regular suitcase, and it didn't fit in the trunk. PLUS, it did not have GPS...a must for the 2 of us never being in the DC area before. (Kendra was there in the 8th grade, but we won't really count that for this).

Kendra: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!
Me: NO WAY!

 Honestly, we were going to try it out anyway, but as we were at the last station to check-out, the lovely girl asked us if we needed maps or anything, and we gave her a resounding YES, and she told us to drive to another area, and pick up another car. Which we did without a moment's hesitation. This is what we ended up with instead:

 MUCH BETTER!

 PLUS, we got Maggie. Well, we named her Maggie, because it is a Magellan. She saved us SO many times and it is true that we were never lost! We loved her 'ding-ding' when we were following her directions correctly :)

We decided to head to the Mall in DC, to get some sightseeing in right off the bat. We were able to see the Washington Monument.

 

 The flags were flying at half-mast and it was a beautiful sight.

We then headed to see:

 This is a part of the World War II Memorial. It was beautiful, with many of these types of etchings and art. You can tell there were many hours, much effort and a lot of people put a piece of themselves in the memorials.

 These stars each reprent 100 people that died in service during World War II. There are over 4,000 stars.

 The Lincoln Memorial is about where my batteries died for the night, but here it is! Kendra has more pictures, thankfully!

It was about here that I realized how surreal this trip truly would be for me. I have seen these sights on TV and movies my whole life. I was now seeing them in person. I felt the same way after going to England, but it is even a little different being in Washington, DC.

 

The next day, we helped decorate for the reception, and then headed to have dinner with 2 of my favorite people. I told Kendra that she would love them...and she did!

 

 I absolutely ADORE Don and Heather Bugg. I call them my England parents because I stayed with their family while I was in England. We have stayed in contact, and whenever we are remotely close to each other we get together for some awesome quality time. It was so fun to just sit and chat (and of course eat). They honestly just make my heart happy!

 

After dinner, we headed to take in a few more sights. It was really nice to go at night because A) The monuments and memorials were all sorts of lit up B) It was relatively less yucky, weather-wise C) Minimal traffic!

 

So, this cougar (we think) was at a car dealership, and as Kendra and I both attended BYU, and it just looked fun, I caught a picture as we were driving by.

 

Our sightseeing adventure of tonight was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We first stopped across the water way, and it was beautiful. Then we realized there were still people there, so we went for a closer look.

This is the front, closer view.

 The man himself

 I have a thing for ceilings. This one was pretty cool!

 

The next morning we were up early to get ready for the BIG event! It was a beautiful experience! DeAnna was a beautiful bride and Tim looked so sharp!

 Jenny, the lovely, with her camera!

 Flocked by nieces and nephews! They love them SO much! It was funny, before DeAnna came out, 3 of the boys were sitting and asking each other, "How long does it take to get married in the temple?" PRECIOUS!

 The McGraw crew!

 The rain couldn't stop the fun! We just shifted everyone to under the walkway and continued snapping pictures. They made it look so fun!

This temple is just so beautiful!

During the break between the temple sealing and the reception, we heading off to have more adventures. We ended up at the National Zoo: 

 

 We hung out with the Pandas

 And the cute lil' elephants

 

 We then headed to a very moving place.

We went to see the gravesites for the Kennedy family.

 As you walk away, engraven on a wall is part of President Kennedy's inagural address.

Quite moving.

 We then headed to the Tomb of the Unknowns. I love the inscription, "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God".

We were there for the changing of the guard, which was a moving experience, even when someone's cell phone went off in the middle of the changing. What an amazing honor to protect this tomb.

 

After visiting Arlington, we headed back to the reception.

 

I was surprised that I got to see so many old friends!

 

Jessica, who was our unofficial weekend roommate when DeAnna, Jessica, and I lived in Branbury.

 Jenny, who is so FANTASTIC!

 Shauntelle was in our ward when we lived at Branbury!

 Jessica was my roommate for part of the year at Branbury, and then we lived together in Alta Apartments. She is a dear friend!

Kendra and Molly were both my residents my first year as an RA (as was DeAnna).

THEN the McGraw children performed a moving rendition for DeAnna and Tim.

 

Gotta love it!

 

 

The next morning, before heading to the airport, we headed to the Marine Corps War Memorial (aka Iwo Jima Memorial)

 

 

Wonderful. It was near the Netherlands Carillon, which was playing while we were there.

 

It is SO big!

 

Our last stop was to Dunkin' Donuts because Jenny and DeAnna have been telling us for years how amazing the donuts are, and so we went for it! They were pretty good. I especially liked the strawberry frosted one.

 

We then headed home. It was a great trip, and just the beginning to the chaos that is August. More to come soon!