Our life before the blog: Honeymoon cruise

I'll be posting some pictures of what Jeff and I did before our blog. The first is from our honeymoon, June 14-18, 2005. Pictures are from San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensinada, Mexico.

We loved cruising, and dream of going on another, maybe to Alaska, since it is right up our alley.

Speech 220

It's Friday afternoon, and I am enjoying the prospect of another weekend. This week I started school. I am taking Intro to Public Speaking as my last prerequisite to dental hygiene school. Taking this class will allow me to apply at 2 schools in the area as opposed to just the one where I applied last year, thereby doubling my chances of getting accepted this year!!

I've been telling Jeff and my parents that if I ever write a book, my teacher will be a model for one of my characters. Here is her brief description from head to toe:
Super short hair dyed that purple-ish red color
Thick glasses with lenses tinted violet (the color changes the wave lentgh and keeps her from getting a headache she would experience otherwise)
Diastama between her front teeth
One wirey whisker sticking out of her left cheeck
Slightly hunched in her upper back
Clad in mumu's-picture Homer when he gains weight to get worker's comp
4 huge rings the size of silver dollars
Purple fingernails
2 huge necklaces, one looks like an ivory carving of that Indian God with all the arms
Overweight and loud
Berkinstock-esque sandals topped off with purple toenails
She is a character, but she really is a smart lady, knows lots of stuff and I think I'll learn a lot from this class. I just think she would make a good character in a book, if I ever decide to write one:)

Sweet Deception

Fortunately for us the predicted gray and dismal weekend never arrived and we were able to go on another "summer" adventure. Less than 1.5 hours north lies the oft recommended Deception Pass State Park. The story goes that the explorers thought that Whidbey Island was actually a peninsula, connected to the mainland where the park is. But they were all of them deceived and had to build a bridge to the true island.

We had fun walking the length of the windy bridge and back, then made our way down to the beach and hiked out and back about 2 miles. The beaches were half sand and half smooth stones, and we heard something new as we listened to the waves. Every minute or so the receding waves were strong enough to pull the stones down into the depths. As they rolled into the ocean they would strike the other stones and would make a loud sound like a giant bag full of shaking dice.

Of course, the photo album always has more pictures (and better ones). go check them out!

Small Triumphs

Lately, I have been aware of some good things that I have been consistently doing, or things that I have been doing better at. In this post, I'd like to share a few of my recent triumphs.
1. I have been making dinner. Not that the dinner itself is anything to brag about, but at least when Jeff comes home, we have something ready to eat.
2. Running more frequently. I am getting over the hardest part, which is getting out the door. (Or not getting an arrow in the heart)

3. Reading scriptures.
4. Going to sleep early. To me this means before 10:00.
5. Cooking tasty food. My family teases me about my lack of cooking skills, but I am pleased to say that slowly I am expanding my culinary repertoire.
6. Flossing
7. Handling my new work responsibilities-I'm the lead assistant at work now
8. Finishing books
9. Feel like the kids are enjoying singing time/feel like I am doing fine with my calling
10. Getting good deals at the grocery store, even when it requires haggling with the clerks over coupons.
11. Convincing Jefferson that we should finish a project we've already started before we embark on a new one
12. (this is a hopeful one) that the musical number I am playing in church next week will be just fine. This is my first time playing something that is a true arrangement for clarinet solo of a church song (In the past I have just played a hymn straight out of the hymnbook, with no embellishment). You don't know how hard it is to find a decent arrangement (most are written in weird keys or are written way too high to sound even slightly good). But I consider it a triumph that I even found something I'd like to play, and that Jeff is going to accompany me.
That's about it for now. I am happy that even though I feel a little worn out sometimes, I still feel like I am moving forward.

Intense board game competition

So when you get married you always have someone to eat with, hang out with, have fun with, etc. It also means you always have someone to play games with. Where normally you are working together to reach common goals, you can spar off in a game and use your wits to trap, ensnare, and ultimately crush your beloved. Vanessa is not to good at that transition.
Anyways, one of our favorites is the game Carcasonne. If there are any other players out there, see if you can make a city with 82+ pts! (no, this did not happen in a real game)

"What the heck was Grandma doing at the Dunes?"

Over Labor Day weekend, Jeff and I took a trip down to Springfield, Oregon to visit some of my extended family and some friends. We had been meaning to go visit for the past few months ("We might go to Oregon this weekend" had become our our reply to the "What are you doing this weekend" questions we'd get). So, finally, I made up our mind and said we're going. It was pretty last minute(especially since no one in Oregon even had an idea we were thinking about visiting), and the most stressful part for me was finding a sub for primary. Luckily I got that taken care of, and Jefferson said he'd be out of town, so they'd have to find some one else to teach in Elder's Quarum, and we left soon after he finished work. The drive was a long 5 hours, but the traffic wasn't too bad. We stayed at Aunt Marianne and Uncle Stan's house, and went to sleep as soon as we got there. (side note-air mattresses have come a long way-they are a lot more comfortable than they used to be!) Aunt Mary made a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and sausage. D-lish! After getting cleaned up, we followed cousin Jeff to the mall, because we had a few things we wanted to buy, and if we could do it in a sales tax-free state, why not?

We didn’t find any cool enough sunglasses at the mall, so we went to look for the other item on our list: a Japanese wall hanging. We were foiled again! That’s ok, I didn’t have really high hopes about the wall hanging, we eventually ended up at Wal-mart, where we both found suitable sunglasses. After the shopping, we tried to find a cool spot to walk or sit along on of the rivers that runs through town. This took us longer than it should have, but we finally arrived at Elijah Bristow (?) state park. That place was overflowing with perfectly ripe blackberries. Clyde, you would have loved it! We took our time walking though the trail eating along the way, and I dipped my feet in the river, because I had dressed too warm (Oregon is a lot warmer than Washington). That was a nice relaxing time. We headed back to the Barker’s (Stan and Marianne) house where cousin Jeff, Grandma, Don, Debbie and kids Xan and Ethan, and Janette and kid(s) James and Shawnya were gathered for dinner. We had a nice time talking and eating (who wouldn’t?) out side on the wrap-around porch. I did a little cross stitch while everyone was still talking.

The next day was Fast Sunday. We went to church with Stan and Marianne. No, the more accurate statement is, we sat with them once we finally made it to sacrament meeting. We got there just as the end of the 6^th verse was being sung. It’s a good thing their ward sings all the verses;) We had a lot of good meetings; I really enjoyed being in RS and being taught a real lesson. After church, we spent time at Grandma’s house. Jeff and I mostly played with/tormented Ethan. We were playing GI Joe’s, but when I play those games, I always make them non-serious. Ethan (who is 5-ish) kept saying “No laughing, it has to be serious” and “That’s it, you guys can’t play anymore,” which I found quite amusing. When that got boring, we taught Ethan to put ice cubes down Xan’s shirt. Oh, man, we had some good times. Then Don and Debbie had to go home to Medford (a few hours south of Springfield), and Jefferson and I went on a walk. We found some good sitting rocks, and he called his Grandma while I listened supportively and watched some hawks or something like that fly around. When we got home, dinner was almost ready, and the Barkers and Aunt Janette had joined the party. We ate tasty home made spag. Sauce(with spaghetti noodles, too) and garlic bread, and blueberry/peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Then we went to go visit my old friend and roommate, Erin, who conveniently lives a few miles from my Grandma’s house. We had a good time with her, catching up and remembering old times.

On Monday, we hit the road as soon as possible, because we were going home via the coast, and wanted to still get home at a semi-descent hour. The main attraction out there for us was the Oregon Dunes (hence the obscure title of this entry). We didn’t take any pictures, because we didn’t want to waste our valuable time, and we didn’t want to get sand in the camera. It was a fun thing to do, riding the dunes. I personally found it a bit nerve-wracking as I rode up a dune at full speed with a.) no idea if someone was coming up the other side of the dune at the same time and b.) not knowing how steep the drop off on the other side would be. I also kept getting stuck in the sand, because I wouldn’t go fast enough. I did finally get a little more relaxed, and Jeff had a great time. But we both agreed that it’s not something that we have to do ever again. (thank goodness). After checking our 4-wheelers back in with no broken coccyx’s, we drove north, stopping to eat lunch at the Blue Whale, and finally starting to head home. Again, the traffic wasn’t too bad, but the drive did seem long (and I wasn’t even doing the driving). We got home just in time to go to sleep and go to work the next day. Yippie!!

If we had taken pictures while riding, this is what you would have seen: me getting my atv stuck, while Jefferson tore the place up!