We're...

Still here. No, not pregnant! Check back in a year for that update...

Anyway, we are both safe and happy, just very busy. The new school year has started with new things for both of us, so we need to find some time to just relax and update. Unfortunately, that time probably won't come for a while, so bear with us.

Love to all of our loyal readers, however few you may be!




This was us walking on the boardwalk in Yellowstone by Old Faithful.

Catch-up Time!

Well, I don't even know where to begin and am not creative in doing lists of what has been going on, so here it is briefly (in very non-sequential order):

• Pret finished his two summer classes by passing both his finals and doing well overall. We are glad to be done with that! Thanks to all those who supported us physically, spiritually, and/or emotionally through all of that. We couldn't have done it without you!
  
• Megan went and saw "Becoming Jane" with cousins Jordan and Alison. It was good, but almost too close to her stories. Definitely worth seeing for free and again, if someone rented it. I would personally not pay to see it again, but would encourage Jane Austen fans to see it. Anne Hathaway did a very good job and whoever played her man has amazing blue eyes!
• Pret thoroughly tromped all of his friends playing "Halo" in a mini-tournament a few weeks ago and is looking for people to join again some weekend soon...
• Megan has finished "Deathly Hallows" and was sad for the characters who died and still has no idea where the names Rose and Hugo came from! Pret is anxiously awaiting our next long trip so we can listen to "Half-Blood Prince" and get on to learning the rest of the story since Megan won't tell it to him. (M-I am very proud of him for not going to look the story plots up on the internet...)
• Megan is now waiting for someone she knows to finish "Eclipse" so she can read that!
  
• We are anxiously awaiting a vacation next week, although we are still undecided on where we are going exactly. We are fine as long as we get more than 100 miles away from Salt Lake, but not too far or we can't afford the gas money!
• We are in the final stages of signing on a duplex to buy for future living in West Jordan. We won't move in until at the earlies November, but hopefully not until we have to when our landlords return home from their mission in about March.
• We have both have friends leave for the east coast recently, with another to join them next week: Pret's friend Nate, and wife Jenn and daughter Reece, have left for Penn State Medical School in Hershey, Pennsylvania; Megan's friend Lauren, and husband Dallas, have left for Chapel Hill, North Carolina for Dallas to attend the UNC Dental School; and next week our friend Lance leaves for the University of Virginia to attend Law School there. We are proud of them all for their accomplishments and will miss them greatly but will look forward to seeing them all at Christmas!
• Megan missed out on registering for the Provo River Half Marathon for which she had been training all summer. Instead we get to climb Mt. Timpanogos on Saturday, Aug 11th, and she will now run the Top of Utah Half-Marathon in Logan on Aug 25th. It threw a kink into scheduling and training, but will all work out fine (It was $13 cheaper, too, although I will spend that much more on gas up to Logan...).

I think that about covers it. I will hopefully post after next week with some pictures of our hike and vacation.

Becoming Jane

For those of you who are 1) Jane Austen fans and/or 2) have seen the preview (it is part of the Harry Potter previews, I believe, plus probably some others) for the upcoming movie Becoming Jane and are therefore interested in seeing the movie, I have a great thing for you.

I went to the website to look around today and they are offering screenings on Wednesday, August 7, in most major cities. You can sign up for a free screening ticket that will let you and up to two other people into the theatre. I have done it already and will look forward to seeing/hearing that anyone else may be there to join me (although I realize that many of you that actually read this don't live anywhere near me, but if you do go, I hope to hear your reaction to the movie).

Funny, funny commercial!

We were watching tv tonight and we saw this commercial and I couldn't stop laughing. We were watching on a t-vo machine, so we were able to rewatch it 3 times! I immediately knew we had to put it up here. Hope it makes you laugh a few times. It will take you right to the page, sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQO8BogwDng

Doing Well

Sorry about the lack of updates. Life has been crazy around our neck of the woods. Pret has been insanely busy with school, but is doing well. He took two tests today passing one and getting a 90% on the other. He was worried about not passing the latter class, but will do great in the end. It has definitely been a family job with his parents and my family all pitching in to help at various points. We only have about 3 weeks left before we both have a week-long break, so we are both counting down the days and trying not to look too far ahead for fear of becoming depressed.

We have enjoyed a fun weekend with my family--hopefully some picture/videos to post on that soon.

Hope all is well with everyone else and I apologize for the lack of updates--that will change once we are back in the normal swing of things.

The Dark Is Rising

Ok, when I get going, I get going! Anyway, I was browsing books online at the library and I saw, "The Dark is Rising: movie tie-in addition." For those who don't know what I am talking about, The Dark is Rising is a book/series by Susan Cooper that have long been a favorite of my who family. It combines the stories of a family of three kids and the story of a young boy, all led/supervised by a strange man, Merri (Merriweather). You come to find out, he is based on the character, Merlin, from Camelot (That whole story comes in later.) Basically, Will finds out on his 11th birthday (ring a bell with anyone else) that he is a member of "The Old Ones" and has to find out the six symbols that will "save the world" in the battle between Light and Dark. That is a very poor explanation, but going to various websites (or better yet, reading the books!!!) will provide more and better plot synopsis.


Ever since The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter have been turned into movies, I have thought that this series would make a great movie series. Well, going back to the first sentence of my blog, The Dark is Rising is finally being made into a movie! It is to be released in October, but the "reader reviews" are mixed and I have doubts that it will be made properly. But I am excited that if nothing else, it might get more people to read the books, which are awesome. The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King" won the Newberry Award and The Dark is Rising won the Newberry Honor. To repeat myself, and needless to say after that, THEY ARE WONDERFUL, AWESOME, GREAT books, so please read them if you haven't.

Camping and Mosquito Bites

So I have been training for a half marathon in August and have done a few runs down Butterfield Canyon, about 15 minutes from our house. It has been great to be out in nature and away from everything loud and crazy here. It has me VERY excited for our upcoming camping trip to Flaming Gorge with the Dahlgren family this weekend.

That is until last night... We went over to The Wrights (Shannon and Michael's family) and James came up from his bedroom requesting some Benadryl. I questioned why and he proceeded to show me the approximately 125 (yes, he had tried to count them) mosquito bites covering his body. He had been on a scout camp-out at Twin Lakes in the Uintas and said that one of the lakes was just a boggy mess, so there were swarms of mosquitoes everywhere. As I looked at him covered in little red bumps, I literally got the chills and announced to Pret that I don't think I want to go camping anymore.

In the end, I am still very excited to go camping--I love being out in nature, but I do hope that I don't get too many mosquito bites. I will give the update upon our return...

Paul Potts

So I copied this from my aunt (Knight Family), but I was too impressed not to, so sorry for you within the family who may see this twice.

Great Britain has a show similar to American Idol called Britain's Got Talent. It even has Simon Cowell on it. You will get the story from watching the clip, so I won't take all the time here explaining it. I will let you know, though, that Paul ended up winning the competition, so that is exciting. I love the song that he sang and he performed it so well!

Anyway, it takes about 4 1/2 minutes to watch the whole clip, but it is worth it to at least listen to him sing. Good on ya, Paul!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Cat or Dog?

So I am sitting at Shannon and Michael's house waiting for Pret's homework to finish printing (if anyone has high blood pressure, I know a drug to tell you about (I don't know that I would recommend it, though, but that's only because I don't really know that much about it...)) and their family cat, Sushi, is bugging me to throw "her mouse" for her. Now, most cats will have a toy or two that they will bat around when they are feeling playful or bored, but Sushi is not like most cats (some of you may have been around her and experienced this first-hand and know what I am talking about.) She not only likes to play with little mice (fake at the moment (although she has been known to chase around a live one now and then...)), but she loves to retrieve them when thrown. I have now thrown this particularly disheveled looking one (as Michael said earlier, "They just don't make mice like they used to, do they Sushi?") about 15 times and she is jumping up on my wrist as I type, trying to coax me into throwing it again. Alas, I am more interested in getting this post typed before the printing is done than entertaining this cat, who I truly love! But it makes me wonder, is this a cat that likes to bat around a mouse, or a cat that wants to be a dog and fetch the mouse? (I did this in gray to match Sushi's fur.)

On the other hand, some friends of ours have a dog, Nali, that acts much like a cat. They have a laser pointer that Nali loves to chase. We have watched in hilarious facination as Nali has run back and forth across the back yard through rain, snow, and dusty dirt, following the "light" for long periods of time. She would do it endlessly if only we could keep up with her. The promise of the "light" will get Nali to do almost anything for them. If she sees it sitting on the counter or just being held in your hand, she will nose or nip at you until you start pointing it for her. I have even see her "pounce" on it, stealth-like approach and everything. So now the question is asked, is Nali a dog that likes to chase things, or a dog wanting to be a cat and chase bright lights, such as lasers? (I would have done this in white to match Nali's fur, but that wouldn't have worked to well, would it?)

I got this finished before it was done printing! (I even had to do some of it over because the internet shut down on me and it didn't save it all.) (And I did this in green because it is my favorite color.)

We survived the Desperado!

So Pret and I joined Shannon and Michael and their children on a trip to visit Melanie and Alan (Shannon and Melanie are Megan's sisters, for those who don't know...) in Las Vegas for the Memorial Day weekend. It was a great break and escape from our worries and busy lives at home. We started off the adventure Saturday morning by going to Primm, Nevada, right on the boarder between California and Nevada. What would bring us 45 minutes into the desert? THE DESPERADO!

The Desperado is a "hypercoaster" built into the Buffalo Bill Casino. It was quite the experience! I rode with my niece, Susan, and about halfway up the initial climb, she turned to me and said that she didn't want to do it anymore! I said, "Just close your eyes and hold on tight." The next thing I knew, I was screaming non-stop for about 2 1/2 minutes. It was pretty intense! At the end I reached over to ask Susan how it was and she was holding on to the bar so tightly that I could only feel the muscle in her arm. Pret sat at the back the first time and when he was done his hair was straight up on his head (think Kramer from Seinfeld but everywhere). The second time (yes, he dared to do it again!) he sat in the very front and we were told by others on the ride that he let out a few choice words and the first descent began and all he could see was a small hole in the ground into which he knew he would soon travel...

I have included one picture below, but I have also included the link to go and look at some other pictures of it. Below are also some general facts about the coaster to either scare you or make you want to go on it the next time you travel through innocent Primm.

Ride facts
Length: 5,843 feet
Max Height: 210 feet
Biggest Drop: 225 feet
Max Speed: 80 mph
Ride Duration: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
Capacity: 1,700 people per hour on three trains
Designer: Arrow Dynamics, Clearfield, Utah
Special Features: A high-speed dive down a 55-degree hill into a tunnel kicks off the ride followed by a 155-foot second hill. That's higher than most other coasters' first drop.


This is the first drop down into the tunnel and where you exit to go up the next "hill."

Click here for some more pictures.


Saturday night we went to the Ballagio for dinner at their buffet where we stuffed ourselves full of King crab, Beef and great desserts. It was nice to leave the kids (more for the parents of the children) and have some time with just the adults.

Sunday we went to church, ate turkey dinner, and then took great big naps. It was a wonderful day with family and relaxing.

Monday we went four-wheeling! People who have known Pret for many years know how much he likes to get out and ride! One of our first dates (we had a few "first dates") was going four-wheeling and I have been obsessed with it since then (even though I haven't gone again). Last summer Pret sold his last one (he had already bought and sold a 3-wheeler and his big Grizzly) to buy his Miata and I was really sad! :-( Now, after going again, I am putting the pressure on to buy another one. Unfortunately we don't have the money now and won't for a while, but a new savings account will be established especially for the purchase of a four-wheeler or two.

When we got back, Pret and the kids spent hours in the swimming pool wrestling and repeating "Marco Polo" hundreds of times. I think Pret was in vacation heaven!

All-in-all, it was a wonderful weekend. We fortunately called it a "vacation" although it was more of a "trip" for everyone else. We made some great memories and shared in some wonderful adventures. We hope everyone had as good a weekend as we did. I will try to add some more pictures when I get them from my sister.

Pret's Big Fish

Last Saturday, Pret spent his last worry-free Saturday fishing with his dad. It was my first Saturday in a long time to sleep in, so I didn't mind too much that he was gone. :-)

He had quite the day! He caught about a 23" lake trout! As you can see from the picture, it was pretty good-sized. It was the only fish they caught that they could keep (I think the only other one was spawning, so they had to put it back...).



His mom cooked it up for dinner on Monday. It was great! They got enough meat off it to feed all four of us a nice sized fish steak.

I am jealous of the opportunity to go fishing. I am already looking forward to the next chance we have to go out on the boat. It is so relaxing.

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend was a weekend of accomplishments for me. I was finally able to give my mom her birthday/Christmas/Mother's Day present (for many years running.) As many of you may know, my mom collects nativity scenes. In my guestimation, I would say she has over 400 of them. When I was back in high school, I found a pattern for a Nativity scene cross stitch and vowed that I would do it for my mom some time. Four years ago, I lived with a roommate who was into cross-stitching and she convinced me to do it. 3 1/2 years (and many movies, road trips, and football games on t.v. later) I finished it... That is the one thing that Pret and I have 100% claim on from my parents house when they both die! This isn't the best picture of it, so maybe I will have my dad take a more "professional" picture of it that I can post. Thank you to Robert and Cynthia Brown who took it up to Sheridan for me, thus saving me on shipping costs and protection!



This past weekend, our stake did a Broadway Musical Review that I participated in. I was just a member of the overall cast, but it was a lot of fun to do. I loved being part of a production once again. It was also nice to get to know some of the other people in the stake. I hope that if we aren't in the stake next year, they will adopt me in and let me be a part of it anyway.

This is John and Charla Jordan. They were a really cute, fun couple to hang out with. They have been married for over 10 years and still act like newlyweds-it is cute.


This was Cherokee (like the Native American tribe). She was one of the leads and just a fun girl to hang out with. I changed before I got a picture with "Belle," who was played by a girl in our ward (Nikki), but we had some fun times together, too.



And this was the whole cast. I know it is hard to see, but note the set in the background. It was an amazing mountain scene painted by Nikki's mom and one of my friends.



Overall it was a fun weekend and good to finally be done with some things I have been working on for a while.

Finished!

Pret just took his final for his Pathophysiology class. He got a 95.95% on the test, thus securing an A in the class. We are so happy! Now he has 10 days to relax before starting his crazy summer schedule. Anyone looking for something to do on a Friday, let me know, because Pret will be working every one of them!

Way to go, Pret!

Too short, but good for a change

No, this entry is not about a vacation or trip; it's about hair. In November I found a hair dresser that I really like. She specializes in curly hair--definitely a breed of its own (www.cutcolorcurls.com if you are interested yourself). When I went 5 months ago (way too long, I know. Blame it on lack of money and good planning...) I came away with a new vision of how to care for curly hair, but my hair didn't look much different. As I planned to go this next time, I knew I was ready for a change. My hair has basically looked the same for the last 3 years (don't get me wrong, I love the long and curly look and so does Pret), and change is good, right?!?!

I went in planning on getting it a little bit shorter than last time, but as she looked at my hair, she realized how dead it was and was willing to go for the more extreme change. She showed me a quick preview of what she was going to do, then began cutting (she doesn't do wet cuts for curly hair.) The first few cuts began to scare me--it was a lot shorter than I thought. Luckily, that was one of the shortest layers, but still!! She kept snipping away and soon there were piles of curls on the floor. I wish I had had my camera, or that I had kept some of the perfect little ringlets.

By the end, I was a little sad, mostly because I knew Pret would be a little dissapointed at the length, but at the same time, I was strangly exhilerated. I am now a changed woman! After being sick for so long and thinking I had pink eye so not really wearing make-up, I am now ready to start taking care of myself again. It is amazing how a little change in one area can cause a chain reaction of change. Hopefully it is all change for the better.


Sorry the picture isn't the best--it was taken with my computer... And I am not trying to show off, I just have friends and family that I won't see for a while that look at this...

Death and Sadness

So it has been a long time since I have had a grandparent die. In 1999, my mother's father passed away at the age of 94. He had lived with us for about 6 months 3 years before and I grew close to him and learned a lot from him, especially about prayer and faith. Then in November of 2005, Pret's grandfather died, but I had only had the opportunity of meeting him a few times, so it was't too difficult.

Growing up, I didn't live close to either of my sets of grandparents (I only met my grandma Sohn once before she died when I was very young). But next door to us lived Pat and Keith. They were both older and all their children had moved away and their grandchildren were all even older than I was, so I "adopted" them as my "grandparents" and they adopted me.

I spent many hours over there--mainly because they had cable TV (including Nickelodeon!), pop, and gum available to me at any time. They would let me in any time I came over and welcome me with open arms. I would even get to eat dinner over there sometimes, which was quite a treat! They had a little weiner dog named Cletus, who they would ask me to "dog sit" when they had parties or other things going on in the evening. Basically, they were the grandparents I got to visit every day. They had both been heavy smokers, but Keith had a heart attack and was told he had to quit, so instead he always kept a pack of gum in his pocket and would pull out a piece when he wanted "a smoke." Pat on the otherhand, smoked, what seemed like, almost continuously, but it never seemed to bother me when she did, even though I still can't stand it when others smoke around me. I didn't even notice that my clothes smelled of cigarette smoke when I got home, although I am sure that it bothered my mom and dad.

When I left for college, they had moved out to "The Place," their ranch house about 25 minutes out of town. There, Keith had built a beautiful log cabin in the middle of the Hidden Valley. My mom made sure I went to visit them anytime I came to town for an extended period of time. I went begrudgingly, mainly because I felt like they were "old" and I didn't have anything to talk to them about anymore. But after I went, I was always glad that I had.

Yesterday I got a message from my dad telling me that Pat had died on Monday. It is hard for me to even write this without crying (I am failing, to be honest.) I never thought that this would have hit me so hard. I know that I was close to them when I was younger, but I have not been in contact with them for years. I guess it comes from thinking about when my own grandparents will pass on and not looking forward to that time. I also hope that Keith will be able to get on by himself. As Pret has told me, it is probably a good thing as I'm sure her health wasn't too good after smoking for 50+ years. She also has a daughter and sister that have passed on, so she can now be with them once again.

The funeral is tomorrow and I am horribly sad that I can't get up there for it. I hope that my thoughts and prayers will pass the distance and provide some comfort to the family and friends.

To Pat--know that you have made a wonderful difference in the life of one small girl whom you loved unconditionally!

Allergies--again!

So I went and got poked yesterday! I went in to the allergist yesterday thinking that I would probably be allergic to cats and maybe a few other things. Boy was I surprised when they decided to test me for 65 things! (She said the average is 64, so I guess I wasn't too abnormal)

After the initial pokes, she came back 5 minutes later and immediately took off 5 of the grasses/trees/weeds because I was reacting to them so badly. After the 15 minute mark, the nurse took all of the grasses/weeds/trees off and said I was allergic to almost all of them. I was so shocked! The doctor asked later if I had ever suspected that I had so many allergies and I said no--it is true! It has only been this year that I have really been affected consistently. Then the nurse said that the cat and dog were not really reacting at all, but based on what I had said about cats, she wanted to test them again.

So I got the arm pokes too, just for cats and dogs. The cat came back completely negative, but the dog was a 1 on a 0-4 scale, so we probably won't be able to have an indoor dog (sorry Pret and our future children...). The doctor came to analyze everything and was shocked that I wasn't allergic to cats--I had a 1 in 10 chance to NOT be. I am very happy that we can have cats--Kitty has been a life-savor for me on the nights when I have to go to bed alone because Pret is at work late.

Anyway, he has me on Allegra and I start getting the shots next week. I also have to go see an ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) doctor to check out the connection between my now-messed-up sinuses and irritaded eyes due to pro-longed sinusitis symptoms because of my allergies. I am not happy about all the medications and doctor bills that we will have to pay for (luckily we have pretty good insurance), but as long as I can feel like I am not always tired and sick, it is worth it!

One Year and Counting!!

Well, we have made it one year! Saturday, April 14th was our One-Year Anniversary. We did a few things to celebrate. We started a week early by staying a night at the Anniversary Inn in the "South Pacific" room. We slept under a bungalo and took a shower under a waterfall. It was a great break from the norm!

As we were eating dinner that night we asked each other whether marriage was what we expected. We both said no, but it wasn't because it was bad, mainly because neither of us could come up with what we expected it to be. We did both say, though, that it was better than we had expected. We both gave the year positive reviews, although with some bumps and bruises along the way that we have both learned and healed from.



Then, on our actual anniversary, we decided to go eat at Rodizio Grill at Trolley Square (the place of the shooting two months ago.) It was good food, but Pret was sick, so he didn't eat much, which meant I felt like a pig as I kept eating. We were both so full by the end that we had to hold our breaths walking by any food so we wouldn't throw up! It was good, but a bit pricey, so I don't think we will be eating there again for a while.



For my birthday, Pret had arranged for us to go see a show at the Desert Star theatre, but we had some other things come up, so we put it off and planned it for our anniversary instead.


The show we saw was Nunsense-Amen. We both enjoyed it, I a little bit more than Pret. There were a few times I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt! Two of the actors were excelent stand-up/on their feet comedians! I would recommend it to anyone. Although it was a little a little more than we would spend going to the movies or something of the likes, it was a wonderful change and well worth it!!


Thus ends our anniversary celebrations. I ended up getting some LEGOS for Pret (I didn't think I would actually win the auction on E-bay), but that's about all we have done for presents for each other. All-in-all, it was a wonderful anniversary and we look forward to many more together.

Spring Break and Allergies

So I'm sorry it has been forever since I have posted anything. I have a couple excuses. My first is that I have been sick--dealing with allergies--for the last week and a half, so I have been avoiding staying long at school, which is when I usually have time to write on here.

Second, I had spring break from last Wednesday to this Monday, so I was away from my computer (I left it at school) and easy internet access for six whole days, then today I was at home with Pret, thus resulting in no updates. Hopefully this will suffice for a few days until something exciting happens and I have something to update.

Thanks to all those who have been updating their sites, thus giving me something to read when I am bored at work or while Pret studies...

Tax Woes and Miscellaneous Pictures

Again, I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted. It has been a crazy time for us between tests, relaxing, weird work schedules, and trying to get the taxes done.

TAXES--Now that is an interesting story. I set a goal for myself at the beginning of the year that I would have our taxes done by February 28th. I was proud of myself as I walked away from Shannon and Michael's Turbo Tax at 10:00 on the 27th with taxes in hand and the promise of a pretty good tax return. But then we realized we had deducted too much for charitable donations, so I was back a few days later to remedy the problem. A few days later, I took them to school to get them mailed out (I don't get things like that done at home--don't ask) and realized that I needed Pret's signature. So back they went to home and it took a few days before Pret and I had coordinating schedules to get them signed. We also sat down and planned all the great things we would do with the return--we were pretty excited to have a little bit of "free" money to spend.

Again, I brought the papers back to school but as I went to put them in the envelope, I noticed the line that reminded me to include the W-4 forms, which I hadn't--they were with all the extra copies and papers I had used to do the taxes. So back they went again. I got the W-4's and put them on the counter, but forgot them there for a few days.

Finally I had everything together on Tuesday, ready to go in the mail. As I was putting the state forms in the envelope, I noticed that there was a retirement benefits page. I looked carefully and saw that Pret was over the age of 65. I knew that wasn't right, so I looked closely and it had his birth year as 1892 instead of 1982!! WHOOPS!! I caught that the first time I did them, but when I went back and made the changes, it must not have saved with all the new information. As I told my co-worker, Anne, she got the biggest kick out of the fact that I was romping around with a 117 year-old man!!

Back to Turbo Tax I went and got things all straightened out only to find that our return was cut almost in half! :-( We are pretty bummed and have to now re-budget our free spending. At least we still didn't have to pay... So I got them in the envelopes, sealed and in the mailbox yesterday. Today when I went to gather things up, I saw the W-4's still sitting in my bag. So I had to run out, grab them, break the seal, put them in, tape/re-lick the envelopes (yes I was too cheap and lazy to just get new envelopes and stamps), and finally take them to the post office ready to go. If something else goes wrong with them, I will scream!!

Here are some pictures of my cute nieces and nephews--Lauren, Matthew, Susan and Tyler (Melanie and Alan's kids). Enjoy!!

He did it again!

Pret just got a 94 on his test today! Way to go Pret!