Half an Interpreter!

As part of one of Annette's sign language classes this semester, she took the written portion of the Michigan Interpreter's Quality Assessment exam (or QA). She studied hard for it but came home frustrated that nothing she studied was on the exam. She then began to talk about how she wasn't going to pass, but her track record this semester (and in life) goes like this...

She comes home from tests promising me that she failed it, telling me all the hard questions and every thing that went wrong. Then she agonizes all night about it and what happens? She gets 100% or something very close to it. And this test was no different. She got the letter in the mail today that she had passed. She sure is a smarty. Now just the other half (the signing portion) and she'll be a full-fledged interpreter!

I have been good girl this year

Well, Vina had never seen Santa, so I took her up to sit on his lap. I told Santa that I had been good this year and so he asked me what I wanted. Vina and I both said a nice boyfriend. Do you know what he said? He said that he only makes toys. What kind of crap is that, Santa. Well, we just had a good laugh and got our picture taken. So, it is me, then Vina. Up on top is Nee-the one who plays football at BYU. These are two of the people that I spent Thanksgiving with. Well, the night continued with lots of crazy skits-bishoprick all wearing dreads and singing a Bob Marley song, priesthood in hula skirts and coconut bras. It was a great night, even if Santa crushed my dreams.

28 and still crazy excited!

Well, it was Presotn's 28th Birthday and he did not disappoint with the crazy enthusiastic poses for the camera! Sometimes I couldn't tell if he was super shocked, super scared or if he wanted me to check his tonsils... Mom got him 3 nice shirts which he was obviously very excited about. I got him the Muppet Christmas Carol, a childhood favorite that caused him to break out in song..."Tis the season to be jolly and joyous!" The best gift was the Ron Paul for President shirt, which he put on immediately and vowed never to take off!

Provo Turkey

Thanksgiving break was exciting as ever. I showed up and hurried through the airport only to descend the escalator and find that my fiancé was nowhere in sight. Apparently she went to the wrong terminal, and I soon saw her running my way through the crowd. It was so sweet to see her and introduce her to my bishop out here in Baltimore, since he was on the flight.
Some of the highlights of the week were our mischievous act of snagging firewood from the canyon, shooting with Todd and Tiff, Thanksgiving dinner, Black Friday shopping, and enjoying a nice backyard fire. Connie got a thrill out of taking the wood, and turned out to be quite the crack shot. I made a pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving which turned out pretty good. My favorite was, as always, the turkey gravy pourer. Lucky for me our shopping wasn’t too crazy the day after and we actually got gift cards to Pep Boys of all places.


Note where the gun ends up pointing in the end.

Halloween, wedding and Cheese balls

Here is Halloween picture. The country girl and princess are my roommates. The rest were just friends of theirs. We went to a dance and it was fun.
Next picture is of my trip to Oakland. The beautiful and so nice Jackie married her high school sweetheart Bradly. The way it worked was Jackie finally decided to get baptized and Bradly said that he would go on a mission after Jackie got baptized. It all worked and Jackie was baptized about 3 years ago and Bradly just got back from his mission.
They were married in the temple and the picture is of the
ring ceremony which bishop Johns performed.
The last foto is of one of my goals for the year. Yes folks, those are homemade cheese balls. And yes I was the proud mother of two of them. Another funny story was my further problems with trash recepticles. I did fall into a dumpster earlier this month and today while I was riding my bike, whammo! Trash can. I looked down cause I thought my tire seemed a bit flat and looked up just in time to hit a big black bin. I came away with only a few scrapes, but it was embarrassing. No people outside, but I am sure someone was cracking up in their house.

More memories - not so long of a lane...

One of my favorite memories growing up was playing with shaving cream and drawing stuff on the kitchen table. It is always something that I tell people about and how much fun we had. People usually think I am crazy.
There is always the classic temple trip experiences. I loved filling out the papers, seeing the rock quarry and eating in Chesterton. We all also loved running for the boarder and drinking Tang.
I also remember dressing up like cleaning ferries or something and going to the Evelands or somewhere. I just remember how fun it was to dress up and act silly.
Hope this is what you wanted.
Lori

Hey mom, Happy Mothers' Day! It's been great growing closer to you these past few years. I know I as a snob growing up and I'm glad I have grown out of it and have been able to form a relationship with you. I really appreciate all of your advice and your willingness to listen to all my complaints, struggles, long stories, etc. You've always been a great listener and sympathizer (if that's a word). Thanks for keeping us all updated with the weekly letter and for the random coupons. Thanks for all your love and support. A fond memory is when you used to hide the chocolate chips and marshmallows and we could hunt for them. Love you, Annette

Toshi
I remember when I would run into your room and roll up into a ball and you'd open me like a present and I'd act like an animal and you'd talk about how cute I was. Another memory I have is when it was your last time as primary chorister and we sang "I see my mother kneeling" and I cried.

Tim
I don't know if I have a favorite memory of you. I do have many good ones though. Memories of cub scouts tying saltines to our heads and smashing them with newspaper. Memories that involve make up like my Stay purred Marshmallow man costume and covering up the purple circle on my forehead from the popper in middle school. But what I think is best is that there are very few good memories that don't involve you. Every sporting event, band concet, or important event, you were there for. My wedding, the birth of my children, alumni meets, races, graduations, moving etc. You were always there for me. You really are the best. Love, Tim

Taki

Mother, Well, I thought of 2 childhood memories.

• The first is of my favorite FHE Treat at Sweetlands. Remember those huge floats? Loved them. And the big gummi alligators.
• Then I thought of all the awesome adventures to the lake. Remember that first year when I raced back to the house thinking I just caught a huge bass? only to find out it was actually a Dogfish! We had to throw it in the woods. Then, of course, all the tubing, swimming, Joe falling in the lake, etc.
• Remember those "etiquette lessons" you would try to give us with that tape? I remember laughing the whole time while Tim and I would do the exact opposite. Don't think our manners improved, but at least it was fun.

I love you, mother. Taki

Kylie:

Grammie, I remember when you took me to the dollar store. I felt good and prized that you let me get something glass. I can't remember when I got it. It was a woman holding a vase of flowers. I think it was back in 2005. Jordan got a Katana. It had a curved blade and a dull edge. Thankyou for everything. You are the best. Love, Kylie

Jordan

Grammie, I remember when we went to that one school where I met all those kids who you teach. I remember the man who played the guitar and all the children who played it too. I also felt happy to be around you. I also remembered eating that lime sherbert with you. Thankyou for all the wonderful things you've done. I wish I could spend more time wiht you. I love you very much. Love, Jordan Masau Sugiyama

I hope you all enjoyed the walk down memory lane as much as I did. As I read your memories, I remembered things I have forgotten for years. It was very fun to remember those old times and to know that I did something worthwhile in your lives. My life would be pretty meaningless without these wonderful memories. Love, moms

Walk down memory lane

Well, I am a little slow to post these Mother's day memories that I got in May, but things have been very busy. I finally got a night free (Halloween) and no trick or treaters because it is raining. So I started to clean my room and was looking for any excuse to quit when I found the memories you sent. I'm going to start with Tad's because it is really long. If you get through it, you should easily make it through the rest!
Tad's Mom memories (mixed with true confessions)

• I remember when I would turn into a present on your bed when you were just waking up or already awake. I'd bundle myself up into a ball and tell you to open me and then an animal would come out and it was me pretending to be that animal. (Racoon, Seal, Prarie Dog, Bear, etc). Man, those were good mornings, and I would do that to you at least 10 different times and all with different animals.
• Another good memory I have is when I would pretend to be sick just so that I could come home and see you, or skip school, but let's say it was for you. Then I would come back just in time for recess or gym. I would pretend to be sick and then be everywhere in the house. I remember one incident where I saw it was almost time for recess or gym and so while you were talking to Aunt Becky, I built a hurdle made of blocks and showed you that I could jump over them to show you that I wasn't sick and then you said "I'm taking you back". I had such a mischevious mind when I was yound and was a good liar too.
• Remember when I forged Dad's signature for a spelling test. I almost got away with that too.
• Mom, do you remember when I git the mailbox going down Breckenridge Ct. When I looked back at you and waved and then I looked foreward and got clotheslined by the mailbox and flew off my bike.
• I remember going to the toy store when I had enough money and going to buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles weapons or gear. I remember how we discussed what I was gong to buy and you alking with me and helping me pay.
• I remember when I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned to get that Nichel Jordan Jersey that we bought at JC Penney. Then on the day of a roller skating party, you let me wear it . I loved that. I was so happy.
• I remember that time when you took me to the Grand Plaza hotel to get my finger sewed up. But I don't remember fainting.
• Remember when I tried to get you a mothers' day card and it said "from your daughter". Luckily Lori caught that one. Ha Ha. At least I tried.
• We can't forget the violin lessons with Mrs. Boomer though. With Kristian Anderson. Now, that I think about it, you went through a lot with me.
• I remember the love you showed, the care you had for me and my friends like when you took Aaron Bowkamp home cause he was scared, but I also remember your patience for me. I love you , mom and happy mothers Day.

Mom's Conference Favorites

OK, I prayed to learn how to become whole. I have made a lot of progress in my lifetime to overcome my childhood when I never once felt safe and was never sure what the next minute would bring. It seems like I make a lot of progress and then I realize that I still am not the person I want to be. It really has been weighing on me if wholeness is even possible for every person, but I believe that in this conference, it was said that it is possible. I felt like the whole conference gave me hope and ideas. First, Henry B. Eyring gave me a good idea to write down what I have seen the Lord's hand do each day. I have had many small and great miracles in my life and I have written some down but not the day to day stuff that is also important. Then Julie B. Beck talked about how important it is to know who we are and to become strong and imoveable. That is what I want. Next, David Bednar talked about doing good, being good and becoming better. He mentioned having our hearts changed by the Holy Spirit. He starts the theme of gaining forgiveness of our sins and overcoming bad, which Claudio Zivic continues. Then Dallin Oaks says to simplify and cut ineffectiveness out of our lives. Deiter Uchtdorf reminds us that we have great reason to rejoice and that the Savior will heal our broken hearts. Finally, Michael Teh mentions that we all need each other to return to our Heavenly Home. I got a lot of good ideas of what to do and where to start in my quest. I also got further insight in the Temple this weekend. I feel very positive and excited about Heavenly Father's love for me and His interest in helping me become the person I want to be. The best story for me was Snow's story about the butterscotch candy. I loved his smile and I loved the story. It was the best. I also liked the story about the shoes. I think that this was the best conference I have ever heard. My favorite quote was Boyd K. Packer's : "you never know by looking at him how far a frog can jump". I hope to hear from everyone. I guess that just leaves Lori. Maybe I can get dad and Tosh to post. What do you think?

SPENCER...or was it Preston....CONDIE

That was a joke for dad...he often refers to Presotn as Spencer (side note: interestingly there are many similar letters in these names and Preston says that he gets it a lot...strange).
At any rate, I really love Spencer Condie's talk about promises that have been made to us through prophets. He talks about how the scriptures hold countless, innumerable blessings such as:

-Forgiveness
-the windows of heaven being opened
-great treasures of knowledge
-ask and ye shall receive
-Gift of the Holy Ghost
-Remain unspotted from the world
-Divine guidance
-Personal revelation
-Fulness and continuing of seed
-Run and not be weary

Surprisingly I had never really noticed how many promises there are in the scriptures. Of course they're always contingent upon our behavior and worthiness. I loved when he said, "we live in a time of 1 hour dry cleaning and fast food and sometimes we think our promises have been misplaced." I have recently discovered that I am really lacking in the patience department. I generally want answers, blessings, or help RIGHT NOW. But it's important to remember that the Lord is mindful of us and everything takes place in His time.
Condie uses Rachel as an example, she was barren for so long and finally, "God remembered Rachel" and she bore Joseph and Benjamin. This talk was a great reminder to me of the many blessings that are available to me if I will endure to the end and be patient.

The GA Combo

Well, I thought I'd start things off with a post about conference. The theme for a lot of the talks at this conference seemed to focus on becoming better. Right off the bat the first talk by L. Tom Perry during the Priesthood session discussed the idea of 'setting the bar higher.' Also during that session L. Whitney Clayton had a sweet talk with one of my favorite quotes in all of conference. He was talking about making choices and how we weigh out the good from the bad. Many times we find ourselves saying, 'it's not too bad.' Elder Clayton made an excellent point when he said, "Though it might not be considered 'not too bad;' it's probably not too good." Isn't it crazy how a little thing like that can make you see things in a whole new way.

Dallin H. Oaks' talk toward the end of the last session was probably among the favorites of many. He too followed the theme established by introducing his good, better, best philosophy. I like how he mentioned there's, "too many good things to do that time allows," and that we should, "focus on the great things." It made me think of one of my favorite car commercials back in the day that said, "If everybody settled for good, would good be good enough?" He talked a bit about finding a balance in doing the best things in each aspect of our lives. One funny comment he used was when he said, "We don't usually look back to say, 'I just didn't spend enough time with my job.'" How true it is to find balance in our lives and focus on doing the best that the Lord has to offer.

These combined talks were like prophetic bookends marking the beginning and end of what I felt to be the most important theme. Right now I've made some goals on things I want to take from a good level to better, and hopefully best. With these goals I hope to follow Pres. Monsons counsel, "It's in the doing, not the thinking, that we accomplish our goals."

Swallowing my pride...

Enough is enough folks, I've finally decided to plant my foot and move forward with my online degree from BYU. I've been back and forth, considering all of the emphasis areas at one point or another. I finally narrowed it down to Management or Family Life (basically total opposites). If I had just made a decision initially, I think I'd almost be done by now!

It was Elder Scott's talk at General Conference that really touched me. In one sentence he re-affirmed to me what I knew all along, "to further complicate matters, others try to persuade us that our decisions must be socially acceptable and politically correct." That was it. I knew that I needed to do the Family Life emphasis, in fact, I think I knew it all along, but I couldn't set aside feelings of pride and views of the world/academia.

I'm excited to take classes such as: Human development, basic nutrition, family finance, how to overcome self defeating attitudes, how to teach children to read, how to write family history, etc... I think this emphasis will stretch and challenge me, while also creating a more well-rounded Annette (probably in more ways than one - I already struggle to find time for exercise... now it's back to being a full time student)!

I'm still trying to convince myself that this is the right choice, but I bought some of the books today, so the deal is pretty much sealed. What would I do with a bunch of books about family if I didn't take these classes? :)

The medal!!

First things first. Since my marathon, Michigan has done much better-coincidence, I think not! Second, I did run with my tape player and I was the only one. During my second mile, I went to turn it on and it started to eat the tape. I almost gave up there and decided to go home. But I bravely pulled out that tape, while I was running and wound it back up. Yeah, I got a few stares, but they were just jealous that they didn't have to fix their Ipod. Well, there is the most beautiful medal of them all. It really does weight a lot! I thought about getting a lettermans jacket and sewing it onto the front, but it was too expensive. Maybe I should make it a hood ornament for my van!!!The other picture is of the congratulations banner that my roommates made for me. They are really nice girls. That's the little appendage to the first novel.

BOOTY CALL!

Tad sent home some pictures as an update. We scanned and posted them here for your viewing pleasure. We included his original comments for each picture.

Elder and sister Walker Quorum of the 70.

I just can't stop eating. Wait, who's that fat guy? Oh it's me. I'll get it down.

The ripping of the pants! First day in the new area (Barton Creek/Lake Travis) Booty Call!!!!

Conquering the Mountain. Surprisingly no injuries either.

My family in San Antonio. Greg, Jouline, Me, Justin, Steve Thurgood!

Crossing the Flooded road. good times. this road could be flooded 4 times more than it is now on a good rain.

Look at that intense sewing. The concentration!!! I didn't ruin them either.

Top of Utah

I am officially a marathon finisher!!!! And as my teacher, who has run many marathons says, "Once you have run a marathon, you can do anything." Ok, down to the details. The first 18 miles went really well and were quite fun. The canyon was beautiful because the trees had started changing colors and there was a little river. Then the last 5 miles helped me realize why this marathon is a once in a lifetime deal. I thought that my body may fall apart about mile 23. And then heaven smiled down on me and a lady was standing there handing out Swedish fish. I almost cried when I saw them and wanted to take the entire bowl with me. Upon nearing the 26 mile marker, I remembered the .2 miles that I had left. Why couldn't it just have been 26 miles. Anyway, the top picture is of me sprinting to the finish-yeah, I don't look like I am sprinting, but Carl Lewis would have been left in my dust. I finished and promptly drank tons of Gatorade and water and ate an ice cream sandwich. Two girls from my program came up and they are Annah and Megan. They cheered me in, which was really nice. And, just for the record, that isn't sweat, it's water. I kept dousing myself to keep myself moving. I ended up running the whole thing and kept about 10 minute miles. My official time was 4hours 32 min. And I was only 1hour 40 min. behind the leader-Maybe I will try to beat her next year-Maybe not!! In the Filly(fatty marathon runner category) I finished 27th out of 109 people! I wish that I could up load the picture of my medal, which I know you all are waiting to see, but I don't have a computer cable, so I will do it later-Promise!!

Summer Lovin Had Me a Blast

Well, this summer was filled with lots of good times. Here's just a few highlights. Connie brought me down to Manti for my first Manti Pageant experience. We drove down and had a little picnic before enjoying the show.

We did lots of fun stuff with friends and family. One night we went on this huge scavenger hunt with 11 other couples. The girls put their names in a hat to be drawn by the guys to determine who would go with who. Connie's name was obviously left out of the drawing. So we went with Con's sister Corinne and her date. Here's a picture of us in Maceys holding our favorite candybar. The four of us thought we were going so fast, and starting talking about how bad we'd feel for the team that comes in last. Well, as it turns out, we were dead last by a long shot.


Then of course there was that magical day on July 2nd. Connie made my favorite cake/pie (whopper baby)! This was at the end of a marvelous day which started with us getting engaged. Here is one of the few pictures we have together where Connie's wearing her ring. Since she forgot it for our engagement pictures, we really don't have that many together with it.

Lori and Mother can back me up when I say that Con's Ma is a little crazy, though I'm sure they have no idea just how crazy fun she can be.
So she had the idea to set up this huge slip n slide. How cool is that. So we all had a blast flying down the hill. Her mom was probably the next best, behind me of course. Connie started to get the hang of it after a while, and as you can see was having a blast.
As most of you know I took the job at the golf course for the summer. Though I wasn't able to go until my test was over, we definitely took advantage of the free golf after that. As you can see I had the hottest caddie on the course, and after a while she even started recommending clubs. Con's favorite part was driving the cart, but would play the par 3's with me.
For my last day of work I woke up and walked outside to find this written on my sidewalk. Just a little example of the cute little reminders she'd give me throughout the summer. That sidewalk chalk ended up staying there for weeks to follow.

And of course what would a summer be without our yearly hike up to Stewart Falls. This year we went with her mother, cousin, sister, and friend. We did a lot of biking, hiking, park playing, and what not with her fam. Though it seemed to breeze by more quickly than ever, it's now so nice to know that a few months from now we'll be together forever.

We also got to go wakeboarding one afternoon. Con didn't try it, but took some cool video of me wipe'n out. Check it out if you haven't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HabwLB7DJK0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0bRzHXQ-KM

Getting our GOLF on!

Last week for date night, we randomly decided to play putt putt. I found a relatively cheap course nearby, so we drove out. Well, we found out why it was so cheap...the course was a joke! The greens were all curling up at the edges and there was no castle or waterfall or bridge or anything! It was big fat lame. BUT, instead of calling it quits, we decided to buy a bucket of balls and hit the driving range...that's when things got interesting....
I had never actually hit a golf ball for real before and it had been several years since Preston had gone, so we were both lookin like pros, as you can imagine. First we chose a spot, under a wooden porch type thing, because we wanted to be away from the other golfers (so as not to show them up, of course). But this spot proved to be a little dangerous...after a couple balls ricocheted off the beams and back at our heads, we decided to move out into the open. Preston had some great hits and I basically made a fool of myself - A successful date night!

It's official!

We were in the meat section of Meijer, when Preston got the crazy idea to try making a pot roast. I had never made one before so I called my parents for advice on what other items needed to be purchased. After my dad started mentioning meat thermometers and how to cook it in the oven and how we shouldn't add
anything to a rib eye roast and how what we really wanted was an english roast; and after I had asked two different meijer workers where to find an english roast, we finally just decided to get potatos, carrots, and onions and hope for the best! WE got a nice rib eye roast on sale for 40% off because it was "to be used" by the next day. I found a recipe online for potroast in the crockpot and the rest is history folks.
Midway through the meal Preston says, "Wow, our first pot roast in a crockpot. We're officially married!" We overcooked it a little, but it was delicious Tuesday night, as well as last night, and I'm sure it'll be just as good tonight! Gotta love meals that last 3 days! ***I'm not trying to overshadow lori's post, but I just posted this on our blog and though ya'll might enjoy knowing what kind of crazy stuff is going on in Warren!

Guyana, Barbados, Puerto Rico and yes I'm crazy!

Ok, I love to see pictures more than read stuff, so this is gonna be tons of pics. This is me with the last group of youth that I helped trained to be HIV/AIDS peer educators. It was a very diverse group.

This is me and Matthias in Lethem. He helped by biking me to different houses to that I could administer a survey to the youth in this hinterland region. This region has Amerindins-indiginous people- and they are so kind! Lethem is right on the boarder of Brazil and so I crossed into Brazil for an afternoon to eat some beef on a stick and drink some Guarana.

These are some of my soccer boys. I would play soccer with neighborhood kids most nights after work, that is, if the field wasn't flooded from all the rain. They were always happy to see me cause I brought the ball-yes, I brought a soccer ball to Guayana. Once a PE teacher, always a PE teacher.

These last two fotos in Guyana are my favorites! Every Saturday they would have baptisms at the chapel. It was a little crazy at first to see them get baptized in chocolate brown water(which is how all the water in Guyana is), but very special and powerful!

This is a photo with a few of the kids in the primary which I taught for 3 weeks because the primary president had gone inactive. I had 17 kids, ranging from ages 2-12, for 2 hours. To make this more of an adventure, 3 were recently baptized and 12 were there because their parents were investigating the church. It was crazy town, but behaved pretty well because I promised them each two cookies. Oh, the power of a cookie!

I met my friend Megan in Barbados and just did it up for 3 days. We went on a Catameran cruise to swim with the sea turtles and fish. Then we went all over the island, at flying fish, Marlin, King Fish and Tuna. All were amazing!

One the way home, I had an 8 hour lay over in Puerto Rico. We all know me, and I couldn't stay in the airport. So, I went to see San Juan-the capital city. It was fun to run past the old fort, cathedral and then hit the beach before I was back to the airport. Now I am back in Provo and enjoying alittle golf with Taki.

Looks like we made it!

(a little barry for any of you who caught it...)

Well, we are now in the great city of Warren Michigan! We've had some struggles and ups and downs, but alas, we are here! Mom was a HUGE help in the process. She came out to help us clean (she basically cleaned the entire house-literally). While preston studied like mad for the boards. He looked a little crazy before he left and even sillier when he was finished. The good news is, it's over! We still haven't gotten the scores yet, we'll keep you posted on how he did.

Then, we took our Fabulous trip to Santa Fe NM courtesy of Bob Barker! It really was just what we needed, a nice relaxing get away. We basically did nothing the whole time. We were stuck at the resort, miles from civilization without a car - but it was actually perfect because we just wanted to be lazy! The trip there was a little crazy. We were on this DINKY plane, not only was it a rocky ride, but it also didn't have a bathroom (which nobody told me!). So it was an interesting flight, but we made it there. Our homey Casita was really nice, with a fireplace and everything (not that we ever used it, because it was blazin hot the whole time). We mostly just chilled in our room, layed by the pool, and read books. We did rent a car one day, from this shack of a place, to get food and explore the city. We went to the main plaza area, which was nothing but restaurants and stores and street venders. It was really neat. We bought some delicious grilled corn and I found a purse made out of candy wrappers, like the gum chains lori and I use to make, and it was selling for 180 bucks!

We looked for a cheap mexican place on the way home and stumbled upon Los Potrillos!
(check out the big barrels of juice in the background, they were just laddeling out cups from these suckers. It was pretty ghetto). We tried a cactus dish and enjoyed some delicious fajitas.

The highlight for me was eating at the onsight restaurant the "Blue Heron" for our one paid for meal on Bob. It was really delicious and REALLY expensive. But they paid for everything. We got an apetizer of delicious chicken spring rolls. Our waiter also kept bringing us out delicious mint, ginger, lime drinks. There was also a delightful live jazz group playing (which you may or may not be able to see in this picutre). The portions were small (you should have seen Preston's steak! It was no bigger than my fist). But everything was delicious, including our deserts! Yes that's plural, we EACH got one! We joked because our 20 dollar tip was more than we would normally pay for an entire meal. It was a fun night.

We also went on a short hike to watch the sunset over Santa Fe. We sat on these big water tower thingys, which kind of made me feel like a delinquent, but the view was much better.

We arrived home and were thrown back into the chaos of the move. Within the first 3 hours of our trip we stopped to get gas and I noticed that there were barely shreds of a tire on our trailer. One had completely blown. We called to get roadside service, which took about 3 hours to get to us. The guy was able to fix it real fast, but it put us way behind schedule. Preston was a little tense at first, especially chugging through the rockies at night I wasn't sure that we'd make it up this incline); but once he was comfortable, he was rockin out to the music and we had ourselves a good ol' roadtrip across the country.

We were welcomed into michigan by this glorious sign and some of the fam! It was so great to have the help moving and to see everyone! WIth all the chaos of moving in and trying to find a place to lock up the trailer, we forgot to pick up a shower curtain, so sunday morning we had to use a little creativity!

Lovin Life

Hey everyone,

Hope all are doing well. Sorry I haven't been calling much, but I've been a little 'taken' this last week. Got back into Provo last week and called up Connie's mother for a little help. Needed some bedding, towels, and stuff I couldn't pack. So I went over there Sunday night and hung out looking at pictures with her mother, and playing with Con's niece and nephew. We all went to the zoo the next day (Her mother, sister, niece, and nephew), here's a picture of me with her niece Tapanga. After the zoo we had a family Memorial Day BBQ. Lots of family, lots of fun.

Hung out with the family a lot before Connie finally came back on Wednesday. We all went to the airport to see her, Tiffanie and Todd (sis and bro-in-law) arrive. This picture has most everyone. Left-right: Tapanga, Tiff, Todd, baby Matthew, Candice, One good lookin guy, The love of my life, Merlin's head, Terra, and Cousin Sara. Merlin and Candice are married as well as Tiff and Todd. Terra's husband Andy was not there.

We had a variety of signs ready for their return, but I'm thinkin mine was the best. Lucky for me I found a 'Taker.'

So for the past week we've just been hanging out and playing a bunch with the family. Candice and her family live in Idaho and were down for the week. So it was like one giant party everyday. Enjoyed a fun family picnic, trips to the mall, and non-stop joking about Sugi being the next brother-in-law. Her sister's ganged up on me one afternoon telling me all the do's and don'ts about finding a ring and getting engaged. I think Connie was much more embarrased than I. One of the neatest parts of the weekend was standing in on the blessing of baby Matthew. He was given a name and blessing on Sunday, and they asked me to be apart of it. That was the first time I had ever done that; really cool.

Things are going well. Haven't picked a job yet, but hopefully this week I'll know. Just having fun and enjoying life at the moment.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Well, things are rolling along here in Guyana. I have been attending more big meetings and working on my project. Luckily, the project allows me to still work with youth and do some travel to some of the outer regions. The outer areas contain such humble and sweet people-I love it! An interesting thing that we learned was that when the boss is away, everyone comes in late. So, yesterday we got there close to on-time and most people were an hour late. Guess that's a worldwide phenomenon. Oh, the first picture is of our land lady and the second is some friends from our ward. Hope the pictures aren't too dark.

But, a Guyanese thing is to not have any toilet paper in the bathrooms. Each month, you are given a bar of soap and a roll of toilet paper. Perhaps they have had issues with the stealing of office supplies, namely toilet paper.

Well, officially it is only 88-90 degrees most days with 89% humidity, but it feels like 100 degrees. I sweat like it's my job, but other than that, it is great. No worms yet, but it might be nice to get one since our lady cooks really oily foods.

Love and miss you guys!

Uncle George

I don't want to distract from Taki's great buys, but I've been meaning to post about Uncle George's funeral for a couple weeks now. I learned some cool stuff that I thought you all might be interested to know. Here are some fun facts:

-Uncle George swallowed a pencil when he was 5 and had to have it surgically removed
-He was an incredible gardener with a real green thumb
-He wasn't ticklish, but he did get seasick
-He loved baseball and was a serious bowling champion with lots of trophies
-He met Aunt Ruby on a bowling team. I guess he was quite the ladies man and everyone was after him!
-He really liked to hum
-He was a VERY picky eater and people would always say, "Oh George, you won't eat anything!" and he'd always reply, "Nonsense, I eat everything that I like!"
-He was a pretty quiet guy and when asked the secret to being quiet he responded, "You just don't talk!"
-His proposal was, "Let's go to Vegas!"
-He loved Vegas and won a pretty big jackpot there a while back, something crazy like $30,000. He got a super big check and everything!
-He loved to BBQ

I got to spend some time with the family, which was a lot of fun. I'm trying to gather information about our grandparents so that we can share stories with out kids someday. Anyhow, I think there's a little Uncle George in all of us!

My first Purchases for "US"

Hey everyone. So if you didn't know, last year when I moved in we had no furniture. My roomate John had a friend with a bunch of stuff in storage, and we worked out a deal for him to "store" it at our place. He lent us his dining room table n chairs, desk, tv, dvd player, vcr, and vacuum. Well, he moved away last week, so we've been scrappin it again eating on the floor and stuff. But, not anymore. So I've kinda been this spend-aholic lately but have been getting some really sweet deals. You know I've never bought furniture, so this is a whole new experience, and I loved it. I think the most exciting part about it is the fact that I'm buying them for Connie and I. Well, hopefully I suppose.

So we began moving everything out into the U-haul and John called to ask his buddy if he could buy the vacuum. His friend just gave it to him, and then asked John if anyone would want to buy the tv. We had just loaded it in the car and John told me his friend was selling it for $200. With only 10 minutes to decide, and completely exhausted from moving it all out, I made a compulsive purchase and offered him $175. You know that I'm not good at spending money without thinking heavily on it. He took it, so we went back out and moved it all back in. That was for the tv and stand, but his friend threw in the dvd and vcr too. It's a stinkin big tv, but I figure Connie (we) will enjoy watching her Survivor and The Amazing Race on it. That's the first deal.

Then last week I found this dining room table on Craig's list (kinda like an online garage sale) for $75 dollars. Went over today to look at it, and it's in sweet condition. My buddy with the truck fell through so I decided to make a couple trips in my car. Well, turns out with my master action jackson stacking skills I was able to get the table, extra leaf, and all six chairs in my car!! Pretty much amazing. And, the lady asked for only $65 cause I was such a poor sweet college kid. Rockin' good deal eh? Gotta love the charm too.