Across the Universe

MOHAI

2012-01-30T17:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. We had a buy one get one free coupon that we wanted to use. Overall, it was an interesting museum filled with information about the history of Seattle and different industries here. The visiting exhibit was closed due to an event so we were unable to see the whole thing.

My favorite piece in the museum was this pink toe truck. When I was little, I used to see this toe truck everytime we visited Seattle Center (it was located on top of a building in South Lake Union). I used to think this truck was so funny. I was excited when I saw it in the MOHAI. Another Seattle nostalgic item located there was the Rainer sign.

Cost - $8 for adults

Return? Probably not anytime soon.

Downtown, Lynn Canyon, and Stanley Park

2012-01-27T17:59:00.000-08:00

On the Saturday of our trip we decided to walk around town. We wanted to explore different parts of the city that we had never been to. The weather cooperated much better and we were rain free.

The first stop was the public library.

Next, we went to Yale town which is one of the oldest parts of town. The buildings and streets were made out of brick and it was a really cute shopping area. It is very tourist friendly, just be prepared to be asked for money a lot.

After Yale town, we wanted to go to Chinatown. We read a few guidebooks that provided tips for self guided walking tours of Vancouver and this was the next stop on the line. Because I am giving some travel tips, I recommend that you follow a guide book when planning your walking route from Yale town to Chinatown. We accidentally walked by a pretty rough part of the city, and it was totally fine because it was during the day but I next time I'll avoid that spot.

After walking through Chinatown and finding out that the Vietnamese place we wanted try was extremely busy, we headed back to the hotel. The sun was starting to peak through the clouds so we drove out to Lynn Canyon.

Lynn Canyon Park has a suspension bridge to walk over and it's really pretty. There are also lots of hikes that would be fun to do in the summer.

As we drove home from Lynn Canyon we noticed the sun was about to go down so we stopped by Stanley Park to watch the sunset. The park is huge and has an awesome aquarium that we have been to a couple of times. There is also a really nice bike path that circles around by the water.

This was the last day of our trip and then it was time to go home.

Cost -

Walking tour of downtown - free

Lynn Canyon - free

Stanley Park - free (except for parking)

Return? Yes!!

Vancouver, BC - Granville Island

2012-01-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

So that lovely snowy afternoon that I blogged about turned into a not-so-lovely week of snow. Now don't get me wrong, I do like snow. I just don't like it when it sticks to the road, turns into ice, and limits my ability to go anywhere.

A couple of months ago we planned a weekend trip to Vancouver. We decided that instead of buying each other Christmas and anniversary gifts, we would just go away for a weekend together. Dave planned to take two days off so we could extend our weekend get-a-way.

On Thursday morning we woke up and did not have power. This made our trip plans more complicated because a) we could not check on the road/weather conditions - we don't have internet on our phones, and b) we had to pack everything up in the dark.

I was feeling some serious cabin fever and was determined not to allow our trip to be ruined by the weather. I had checked the weather up in Vancouver the previous day and I knew it wasn't snowy up there so we just had to make it through Washington.

The roads were a bit sketchy at times but we made it up and it was clear and beautiful evening in the city.

On Friday, we decided to take a little ferry over to Granville Island, which isn't really an island. It is across an inlet from downtown and is under a bridge that heads to downtown. Despite the rain, it is a really cute place to shop and look around, especially since a good portion of it is covered. For those of you with children, they have a whole building called the "Kids Market".

Me with the bridge behind me. I realized on this trip that I really need some new rain gear. I like to be outside but I also want to look cute. I think every northwest girl needs a cute rain trench with some rain boots.

We went into a store called Ten Thousand Villages. I was excited to see the store because I've heard about the company, and it's all fair trade merchandise. The items below were made in the Philippines. If you are looking for a unique gift, you should check out their website.

The rest of the pictures were taken inside the public market. I have to give a shout out to Dave for taking all these pictures.

We had a small amount of snow Friday morning but it all melted by the end of the day, which is my kind of snow! This little girl was surrounded by pigeons which I though was cute.

Stay tuned for more pictures from our trip.

Cost of Granville Island - Free

Return - Yes!

Snow day

2012-01-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is how we spent our snowy, Sunday afternoon -

I knitted, and watched the second season of Glee on the kindle fire.

Dave played around with his new lens.

Our view outside.

Happy MLK B-day everyone. Did you know that it's a National Day of service? I should be out doing some kind of service like I've done in previous years. I think I'll knit some more and watch chick flicks but here's my favorite MLK quote:

"Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

2012-01-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

After going to the museum, we headed to the locks in Ballard. I hadn't been there since I went on a field trip in elementary school. It's really a cool place to go.

Review:

It's a great place to go for all ages. If you stay long enough, you will probably get to see a few boats go through. There is also a fish ladder with viewing windows. Late summer - early fall is the best time to see the Salmon. Next to the locks is a botanical garden, but we didn't walk through it.

Cost:

Free! (except for parking)

Return?

Yes

After the locks, I'd recommended going to the Portage Bay Cafe down the street for the weekend brunch!

Nordic Heritage Museum

2012-01-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to diversify my blog a little. One thing that I really enjoy doing is traveling and visiting new places. Since we moved to this area about 7 months ago, we have been visiting different areas around Seattle. I'm going to start doing reviews of some of the places we visit.

A couple of weeks ago, mom and dad Johnson invited us to go to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard.

Review:

This place is huge! There are three stories of detailed exhibits solely dedicated to Nordic history. There is a wealth of information about Nordic migration to the Northwest. It took us so long to get through that by the time I go to the third floor, I was hungry and ready to go.

Cost:

$6 for adults, $5 for students and seniors

Return?

Yes

2011 in review

2011-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone! I was already in denial the Christmas came and went, but now it's going to be 2012. Wow.

I'd say we had a great year. I didn't blog a lot, but I'm glad I did a little so I can look back on what we did.

In January, we went to some basketball games, and dealt with little tiny biting ants.

In February, we saw a really great movie, I proclaimed myself as a knitter, and I helped a small friend sing in a talent show.

I guess we didn't do anything in March and April because I didn't blog much. Just kidding. I know that we visited family during spring break, and celebrated some birthdays. Oh now I remember March and April. We drove back and forth over the mountains, a lot. I think we put over 10,000 miles on the Jetta last spring alone.

In May, Dave graduated with a master's degree, we went to San Diego, and moved!

In June, I went to AZ to visit family and met my little nephew Tanner (who is not even close to being little anymore). I also started cooking a lot and learned a few things.

In July, we went to Blaine for the 4th, hiked, visited the ocean, and went to a really awesome Eddie Vedder concert.

Other fun summer highlights included camping at the ocean, visiting family in Olympia, hosting some friends around Seattle, and going to a Ben Harper concert.

September brought fall and school.

In October, we met another nephew, went to the last farmer's market, and visited the returning Salmon.

In November and December, we visited with family, celebrated holidays, and enjoyed visiting different neighborhoods in Seattle.

Wow, what a year. I think we both grew together, and overcame some frustrating life experiences. We both learned a big lesson this year. I think Steve Jobs says it lot better than I could. This was at Stanford in 2005,

"you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

5 years

2011-12-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

In the 5 years we have been married we:

earned 4 college degrees

(between the two of us),

lived in 3 different apartments,

visited 2 countries

(not counting Canada),

and we both gained 1 new best friend.

(on our first date)

Happy 5th Anniversary Dave! Sorry you have to work such a long day (sometimes the real world really sucks), but I'm looking forward to our get-a-way in Vancouver, B.C. next month!

Christmas season

2011-12-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'm always so sad to see Christmas come and go. It's such a fun time of the year and it only lasts for a short time frame. I still don't understand why everyone gets so upset when Christmas stuff is out early. I wish the Christmas season lasted longer!

This year I knitted our very own stockings. They are mostly for decoration but I enjoyed learning the process of knitting something more complex.

I also put up a tree for the first time this year. Up until now, we spent our entire winter break with our families and I never saw the need to for a tree. This year I got this little thing at Lowes. I think it is so cute, and I may have to buy one every year. It came with it's own stand which was so convenient. I put on ornaments that I got from my mom and mother-in-law from our childhoods.

One evening I made breakfast for dinner and used these cute pancake molds.

We opened gifts with my family on Christmas day. My dad, little sister, and I all got bathrobes for Christmas.

I hope you all had a wonderful month and Christmas holiday. Here's to a great new year!

What's cookin - comfort foods edition

2011-11-29T19:38:00.001-08:00

These dark and cold winter months sure make me crave comfort foods. I've found a couple of good recipes that I keep using and wanted to share.

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies
(click the title to go to the recipe)

These cookies are super easy and really good! I've been taking them everywhere and they always get eaten up. However, to make them extra yummy there are a few things that you MUST* do:

#1 - use really soft butter (I leave it out all day)

#2 - use MILK chocolate chips (this is the most important)

#3 - add 1-1/2 cups of coconut

*Be forewarned, if you do know follow these three steps, then I cannot guarantee that they will be super delicious.

Another (and healthier) recipe I've been using comes from the Americans Test Kitchen - Healthy Family Cookbook. It's a great way to start any day.

Ultimate Oatmeal with Apple, Cinnamon, and Raisins

2 cups water

1 cup steel-cut oats

I let the oats cook in a double boiler until they are done.

Then I add:

1 peeled and grated apple

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup raisins

I don't usually add the raisins and play around with the sugar and cinnamon quantities. It takes a couple of extra steps in the morning but it adds some good flavor.

Out and about

2011-10-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you all but I can hardly believe in a week from day it will be November already. I had some random pictures on my camera that I wanted to post.

Here in Issaquah we have a salmon hatchery. We went to see the fish coming up the creek a couple of weeks ago. It may be hard to see in the picture but there were some huge fish in the creek.

The next two pictures were taken at our farmer's market on the last day it was open. I LOVE our farmer's market. Toward the end of the summer I was buying all my fruits and veggies there. Another favorite item was the beautiful flowers. The flower bunches in the picture below were only $5!

The next two pictures were taken right by the school where I work. It's a pretty cool view of Seattle, Lake Washington, and the sound.

You can see part of downtown Bellevue in this one.

This last picture was taken at the WSU vs. OSU game at the Clink (stadium formally known as Quest) last Saturday. Aside from the fact that the team lost and the puking drunk girl behind us, we had a good time.

Tonight's post was kind of random but we are doing well. I'm loving my internship and Dave's busy with work. Life is good.

Signs of fall

2011-09-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

I know fall is here because....

I can see my shiny new textbook for my very, very, very last class that starts Monday.

I can smell my new pumpkin caramel latte B&BWs candle next to me.

I can hear the simmering vegetable stew on the stove.

I can feel the soreness of my throat and I can taste the Ricola drop in my mouth.

Yep is here. The leave are changing, you can feel the cool breeze, and hear the children coughing in the hallways at school.

Like most people, I like the change in seasons but I will miss a few things about summer like sunshine, long days, and farmer's markets.

Summertime Part 3

2011-09-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, we had some good friends visit us from Pullman. We became friends with Michael and Sam when we all worked at the Center for Civic Engagement at WSU.

On Saturday we headed into Seattle to do some sight seeing. Michael is a vegan and wanted to go to a hot dog cafe that he likes. So we being the go-with-the-flow type of people went along with it. I'm going to be honest here, not my favorite thing. However you have to try everything once, right?

The next stop was going on a harbor cruise.

Michael and Sam in front of the Space Needle.

Our attempt to get a picture. My hair kept getting in the way.

Seattle skyline.

The big highlight of the weekend (besides the vegan hotdogs of course!) was a Ben Harper concert at a King County Park down the street from our place. It was great concert and he played lots of the hits I love.

Here's a picture the was taken at the concert when he was giving a little fan a guitar pick. He interacted with the crowd quite a bit which is something I always like.

I wanted to add some of my favorite Ben Harper songs that he played. However I'm having trouble with youtube and sharing content. If you want to hear the songs click on the links below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMWS-wbuss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHzAVDg4m1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOZj1Xyx354&ob=av2e

Last weekend we spent a day out on the Puget Sound on my in-law's boat. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Saturday was also the first WSU Cougar game of the season so of course we had to sport our gear.

The boys had heard of a good spot to catch crab through word of mouth. We had to give it a try. It was the last weekend of crab season and this area was covered with crab pots. I was worried they would all be taken but as you can see, we had some success. After a couple hours in the water, we pulled the pot up with two nice dungeness and one rock crab.

Summer is un-officially over. Technically autumn doesn't start for a couple of weeks but school has started so the vacation is over. Goodbye days of going to the gym whenever I want, mid day shopping trips to the outlets, and afternoons spent sun bathing on the lake. I'll see you again next summer. I really can't complain though because the weather here in the PNW is still awesome.

Summertime Part 2

2011-08-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in July we headed out to the coast for a camping trip with some of Dave's engineering friends. Knowing we had a 4+ hour long drive ahead of us, Dave got off work an hour early so we could take off, hoping we could get there at a decent hour. We got into Seattle and had to wait two hours to catch a ferry. Got to love Washington summer traffic!

Ivar's is really close to the ferry dock so at least we were able to get some fish n' chips while we waited. It was a really pretty day although the seagulls were annoying.

You can see the ferry we originally wanted to take disappearing in the background.

We finally caught a ferry and while on it we realized that a girl that drove over from Pullman (who was not from the area) was on it too. We made arrangements to meet her at a gas station so she could follow us over. While we were waiting at the gas station, I got out of the car to get my water bottle. In doing so, I locked the keys in the car. Lucky for us we were on an Indian reservation and the security guy from the casino came and opened our door. We thanked him with a nice tip and we were off on the road again.

We ended up camping at a private campground on Ozette Lake. There was a three mile hike out to the ocean that we took. It was a really pretty beach. We saw lots of sea life, eagles, and even a decaying sea lion carcass (I didn't include the picture).

This is what most of the hike out to the beach looked like. It was all boardwalks with lush green forests.

The first weekend of August, Jared came up for a visit. One of the days we set up a campfire on the beach and made some foil dinners.

Miss Olivia being cute and entertaining the adults.

What's cookin'

2011-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

As I stated in this post, I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. I thought I'd start sharing some of my successful meals because I know a lot of my blog readers either love to eat good food or love to cook it (or both like me). Here's my first What's Cookin' meal.

Broiled salmon and quinoa salad

Both recipes can be found in this book -

What's good about the meal:

-Salmon is high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D

-Broiled salmon is fast, only needing about 6-9 minutes to cook

-Quinoa is a complete protein source (contains a balanced set of essential amino acids), fiber, magnesium, and iron

-Both are flavored with spices, herbs, and peppers making it low in sodium

What's not-so-good:

-Quinoa needs to be rinsed and dried for about 15 mintues before cooking

-The salad contains raw onions so grab a piece of gum after you eat it

-Salmon is fatty (even though it's good fat, so portion yourself)

Last leg

2011-08-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

I can see the finish line people and it feels good! After graduating with my M.Ed. last May, I started up more classes right away in June. Today I finished my last summer class which means I am on the home stretch of my graduate program.

Now all I need to do is pass a test next month, complete a 1200 hour internship, and I am on my way to becoming a nationally certified school psychologist.

We had to celebrate tonight of course, with some Thai food.

Now time to turn on the Netflix and spend the rest of the summer watching Prison Break!

Summertime Part 1

2011-07-25T10:02:00.001-07:00

Here in Washington, we haven't had the best summer weather so far but we have had some really beautiful days. I was looking through my camera and realized there where some pictures & trips that I haven't posted about. So here's our Washington summer so far.....

Back in May we were visiting my parents. Whenever we go see my parents we always have in the back of our minds that we want to go see Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. However it's really only worth the drive unless you know there is going to be high visibility. We woke up one morning to a beautiful sunny day and made the trip up to the mountains. Hurricane Ridge is a really nice place to visit because you can drive all the way to the top.

Overlooking the mountains. So pretty! You can see that there will still quite a bit of snow on the ground but the road was clear.

Over the 4th of July weekend/week my family members that live in Washington spent some time at this home in Birch Bay. I had fun even though I spent a good portion of the week either sick or logging on to class. I didn't take any other pictures but we were spoiled with some good weather.

We have checked out a few of the local spots and one was Snoqualmie Falls. There is a big project going on and we couldn't walk along the trail but the falls looked pretty.

We live on a side of a mountain and just a couple miles down the road there are some trail heads. One evening we went to check it out. We took the trail up to Coal Creek Falls. The falls are pretty small but the area was very lush and green.

Last weekend we planned a last minute trip out to the ocean with my in-laws. It was finally a warm weekend inland but it was cool and windy out at the ocean. At least it was sunny though!

We went to the same spot with my parents last year and there was hardly any drift wood and this year there was tons.

We have some more fun days and trips planned for the rest of the summer so stay tuned for that!

Eddie Vedder in Seattle

2011-07-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process to switching up the blog a little. You may notice that my sidebar has changed and there are new tabs on the top. I wanted to clean up the sidebar and I'm considering removing my friends and family tab. If any of you use it to look at blogs from it, I would like to introduce to you my friend called googlereader. It's awesome. One stop shop for blog updates.

Yesterday Dave and I went to Seattle for the day. We woke up to rain but by the early afternoon it started clearing up a little so we took off. We mostly walked around but we did stop by the Seattle Public Library. If you haven't been there before you should check it out. It's pretty awesome.

Top picture is a view from the outside, and the second is on the 10th floor. You can look out over an atrium and it makes the heart pound a little. It's pretty high up.

We then went out to dinner (good food but nothing to rav about) and after that we went to get some gelato. This was our first time having gelato and it was awesome. We went to a little shop called Gelatiamo, its right across the street from Benaroya Hall if you are ever in the area.

Next we headed to the big attraction, Eddie Vedder live at the Benaroya Hall. I will first start by telling you that Benaroya Hall is an amazing place to hear good music. The sound and acoustics are awesome.

When I first met Dave, I was introduced to a band called Pearl Jam. Don't make fun folks, I know they were one of the biggest bands of the 90's but come on, I was born in 86. I was still listening to Disney soundtracks when they made their debut. Dave on the other hand, was buying his first Pearl Jam cd at age 10. He's a big fan. Eddie Vedder (the lead singer) has been coming out with some solo albums over the last couple of years that I have enjoyed (check out Into the Wild Soundtrack or Ukulele Songs).

Remember what I said about the great sound quality in Benaroya Hall? Well combine that with a ukuele, an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some string instruments, a couple duets, and you get a great concert. Seriously, I could go on, but I won't. I have a feeling most of you reading this are like "Okay Shan, we saw the facebook status, you had a good time. We get it."

But I'm going to end this post with a few videos of some of the songs I heard. It's really hard to take good quality videos at concerts plus we weren't allowed to so you get youtube videos.

This next one was recorded the at the concert the night before. He performed two shows in Seattle since the first one sold out really fast. He and Glen Hansard came out and sang it in front of the stage without amplification.

Eddie Vedder lives in West Seattle and this was his last show. He kept talking about how good it was to be home and how much he loves Seattle. It was cool to hear him say that about a city I grew up loving as well.

Goodreads Updates

2011-07-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Some of the books I have read over the last two months.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very easy and quick read (I think it was written for a younger crowd). I love reading fantasy every once in a while and this was a good one. It was a very sweet and fun book about the adventure of three children.

View all my reviews

_____________________________________________

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just finished this book. Some slow parts but overall a beautiful story about brothers and their love for each other.

________________________________________________

View all my reviews

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This was the second book that I read by Lisa See and I really liked it. Very sweet story of two sisters and their journey through life. It got sad toward the end but I will be reading the next one!

View all my reviews

Currently listening to Bossypants by Tina Fey and now reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Cooking diaries

2011-06-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Since Dave's doing the 8 to 5 job and I'm home all summer taking classes, I've taken over the spot as head chef for the Johnson household. It's been a couple of weeks now and I've learned a thing or two about cooking.

1). Like any other skill, cooking takes a lot of time and practice. I once read in a book that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill.

2). Although they make me cry, onions are not my enemy. After spending over 20 years of my life (yes I'm only 25) hating onions, I can now understand why people use them so much in cooking. But seriously, does anyone have any solutions for the sensitive eye thing? I have been cooking a lot with onions and my eyes have taken a real beating.

3). Spicy is not scary. It just takes some getting used to. It's a great way to add flavor without adding fat or calories.

4). Cookbooks make me into a much better cook. I've been using the America's Test Kitchen Light and Healthy 2011 Cookbook and I love it!

5). I need more kitchen gadgets like a food scale, food processor (maybe that would solve my onion cutting problem), and a dutch oven.

6). Cooking for a non-picky eater is awesome. Sorry mom for all those years of refusing to eat your food.

7). Always read a recipe a couple of times before starting it and give yourself a lot of time.

Anyone have any other words of wisdom for the aspiring cooks out there?

The desert

2011-06-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

I spent a week down in Mesa with my sister and her family. My nephew Porter had a bone graft and pharyngeal flap surgery. My sister was also very close to her due date so she shipped me down to help out with Porter just "in case" she went into labor.

Whenever I spend time with the Bennett family I always have two little friends following me around. My niece Katie loves spending time with me and her little brother Carson likes to do whatever she does.

The first day of the trip, I needed to repaint my toe nails. I walked up to the bathroom to start removing the old stuff and pretty soon I had my own personal pedicure team doing it for me.

I got to be there for my nephew Gunnar's birthday. I had never been to his grave site so we went and gave him some new flowers.

One night my sister and brother-in-law snuck out to see a movie. When I was putting Katie to bed I told her that if she went right to sleep, then I would do something special with her the next day. So the next day we did make-up, hair, and nails together. Here is Katie's creation in my hair.

Although I enjoyed my sister time, playing with the kids, and swimming in the pool. The best part of the trip was meeting my new nephew Tanner. My sister ended up going into labor early and delivered this little guy.

Father's Day

2011-06-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give a Father's Day shout-out to mi padre. The poor guy has had an extremely busy year with a project at work and this week (or maybe it was last week) it the biggest part of all of it! He also is serving as bishop for the second time so I'm not sure how much of his day he will actually enjoy...

My dad has always been there for me. He has always found a way to show me his love. When I was playing on the volleyball C team in high school, he came to the away games to watch me. He was usually the only parent/fan there.

When I was a freshman in college, he sent me weekly cards to show his love and support. Those cards got me through some rough homesick times.

So here's to you dad! I love you. Thanks for everything you have done and continue to do for me. Hopefully sometime this summer when all this craziness is over we can go out on your sailboat and enjoy a little time together.

New place and new blog name

2011-05-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

We have been in our new place for 2 weeks now and are really liking it. We have to get used to the higher cost of living up here. However with the cost comes the benefits and we love being about 2o minutes away from Seattle. Yesterday we went to a Mariner's game and it wasn't an all day event like I'm used to. With that said, I want to send an open invitation to all our family and friends to go to Seattle with us. We like sporting events, concerts, broadway shows, festivals, shopping etc. We would love to meet you in Seattle and hang out! We even can pick you up from a ferry if needed (just be forewarned that the Jetta has a small back seat!)

So, I finally got around to changing my blog name. I didn't want the name to reflect where we live because then I would have to change it every time we move. I also did not want to make it with our name since I'm sure there are already a lot of Johnson blogs. I searched through song titles of some of my favorite bands and stumbled upon Across the Universe. I liked it because it not only reflects my love for the Beatles but also my love of traveling and going on new adventures.

So that's all for now. Have a great day :)

San Diego

2011-05-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip down to San Diego for a mini vacay before Dave didn't have anymore time off. We are sure going to miss the time off we've had as students!

First we stopped by the San Diego Zoo. I had been there before but forgot out beautiful it was. It was so lush and green.

There was baby giraffe that was just a couple of months old! Big baby, huh?

We also went to SeaWorld and enjoyed seeing the animal exhibits. You can see this walrus waving at Dave and Rachel.

One day we headed up to Encinitas to check out the beach and coastal town. On the way home, we drove down highway 101 and stopped at this place for lunch. They had the best shrimp tacos! To top it off, it was right across the street from the beach.

Hanging out on the boardwalk by Pacific Beach. I already miss going to the beach everyday. There is something so therapeutic about watching the waves and putting your feet in the sand.

On our last day we went to the Safari Park. It was another really beautiful park however it was so big, we wore ourselves out from all the walking. We rode the tram and you can see the pretty valley behind miss Olivia.

We had such a nice little trip and I was sad it had to end. Now instead of eating and siting at the beach we have to get back to reality. Tomorrow we move up to our new apartment and Dave starts the big job a week from today.

Congratulations to...

2011-05-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

David Johnson

Master of Science in Environmental Engineering

Class of 2011

Updates

2011-04-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

Life on here on the palouse is moving right along. Spring is coming to the area, the trees are budding, and it will be nice to have a little green in our lives again.

Speaking of green, we are moving back over to the west side (what we call Western Washington here on the eastern side of the state). Dave will be graduating in a few weeks and will be starting a job (yes, a real-life, post-college job - the kind you didn't think still existed in this economy) in Issaquah in the middle of May. I've been living in Pullman since I graduated from high school in 2004 and it feels like the end of an era in my life. We are excited to move on and Issaquah seems like a nice area to live.

Other than school, I've been reading a lot. Well I should say listening plus a little reading. I've recently discovered a love for audio books. I listened to/read the millennium series and really enjoyed that. I love me some murder mystery/government conspiracy/suspense novels. Last week I finished reading The Help and loved it! It was really good and I recommended it to everyone. It was such a sweet story of courage and friendship. There is a movie coming out in August that looks cute.

Well that is all that's really new in my life right now so I don't have much more to report. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!

A little star

2011-02-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

I have a little friend that I spend about four hours a day with. This friend is in 2nd grade and she has a chromosomal deletion disorder. This makes it hard for my little friend to function at the level of her peers both cognitively and physically. She cannot speak well conversationally but she loves to sing and has lots of songs memorized. Like today she was walking down the hallway singing "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream... One more time!"

Her classroom teacher had the idea of putting her in the school talent show. We practiced over and over again for two weeks straight and last night was the big night. I had the privilege of accompanying her on stage and this little star shone so bright that she stole the show (and the hearts of everyone in the audience).

Congratulations to my little friend, you did awesome!

I'm a knitter

2011-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Last fall when I was unemployed for a few months, I decided to pick up some hobbies and started learning how to knit. A couple of years ago, I tried learning but my attempt failed. Luckily I still had some needles so I asked a girl from my ward to teach me. I also watched a ton of youtube videos on basic knitting stitches. It was quite frustrating and just as I was about to give up, I decided to try it one more time. After that, I finally figured it out and I have been knitting since.

Up until now, I have been knitting scarfs but after I got some more needles for Christmas and my birthday, I wanted to try something new. One of my co-workers is about to have a baby so I decided to knit her a baby blanket. I started at the beginning of January and I just finished it.

Here you can see the pattern of the blanket. On the front, I switched from knit and pearl stitches and the back was all knit stitch.

Here I am holding it up. It was a lot more work than I expected but I'm pretty proud of the finished product. It's not perfect but I'm okay with that. I hope my Grandma Betty is smiling down from heaven.

Any knitters out there can find the pattern here.

King's Speech

2011-02-12T13:51:00.001-08:00

We saw this movie a couple of weeks ago and honestly I can't stop thinking about how good it was. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I always hesitate recommending R rated movies to my LDS family and friends. However, I just read a recommendation on a Mormon blog I follow and I thought I could do the same. I was really surprised when I read that it got a PG rating in Canada (so I guess if you feel guilty about seeing it, then just go up there).

Anyways, it was an awesome movie that was based on a true story. It was uplifting, inspiring, and all around a great story.

Show a little love

2011-02-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

(Showin a little love at the Justin Bieber concert last summer. I certainly don't love JB... gotta love that summer tan though!)

It's officially love season. I don't know what's in the air but it seems as though the hot tub at the gym has turned into lovers lane. (Not a big fan of pda)

I'm not usually into the whole Valentine's Day stuff but I do like having the reminder to tell the people in my life that I love them. I may not say it a lot, but I want to take the opportunity to tell my family and friends that I love you and I'm grateful you are in my life.

It's always a good day when...

2011-01-31T17:09:00.000-08:00

the Cougs beat the Huskies.

Especially when they're ranked, and the top of the Pac-10, and the best team the Cougs have played so far.

Is it time for March Madness yet?

My nemesis

2011-01-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

Ants. Little, tiny, black ants.

This winter we have discovered that our walls are filled with little ants and they like to come visit us in our apartment. The problem with these ants is, they like to bite you and I mean really bite you. These bites are not your standard annoying bug bite these are quarter-size-extremely-itchy bites. We have tried lots of different things to get rid of these visitors. Of course, the best way to prevent them is to clean regularly, but who can keep every surface clean at every second of the day? Well, a couple of weeks ago we tried a new spray and applied it to all the areas we see these little suckers. It seemed to work well and we haven't seen very many ants lately.

Well... tonight I came out of class (that occurs on my laptop in the bedroom) and I see ants on the counter! Like 20 ants...on the counter. I have only seen the ants crawling around the floor and on the couch. Gross.... I really don't want these guys crawling around on the same area where I prepare the food I'm going to eat. Sigh.

Then the spray (the same spray that is probably going to give me cancer someday) came out and they are gone. For now.

So there's the current saga of the ant chronicles... I'm sure there will be many more volumes to come.

Holiday pictures

2011-01-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Tuni decorting cookies

The finished product

Dave with one of our Christmas gifts, it's a new collage photo thing from Costco

Tuni with sweet little Ella

We had the pleasure of spending a whole day with Olivia. We stopped by Costco and relaxed on the furniture.

We went to a place called Jumping Jacks. They have a lot of huge inflatable toys and Olivia seemed to have a good time (and Aunt Shannon got a lot of exercise by climbing with her).

There' a snippet of our holiday vacation. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

2010 Recap

2010-12-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

On this eve of 2011, I thought I'd recap our year in 2010.

We started off the year visiting family over winter break. We continued with school and Dave started a new job. I found a new motto that helped me and we went home for Spring Break.

We finished off the semester by graduating from WSU and celebrating with our families.

Then we headed off for our month long Filipino adventure. We started off in Dave's mission area (Part 1 and Part 2). Then we headed to Donsol to go swim with some big whale sharks. Then it was off to Cebu, Palawan, and lastly Manila.

We then played all summer at the coast, Olympia, and Port Townsend. In August we went back to the coast and I traveled down to Arizona to visit my family.

Then in the fall we continued on with school, stopped by the fair, went to a Jack Johnson concert, and enjoyed some football games.

We ended the year by going to see The Black Crowes, getting ready for Christmas, and enjoying time with the family.

All in all, we've had a great year and I'm excited to see what 2011 brings. This may be too much self disclosure but I find myself grumbling a lot about where my life is right now. I'm always thinking "well if the economy was better then we would be doing this or that.." I recently heard a quote that said something like- if the grass is always greener on the other side, then you need to water your grass. This year, I resolve to water my grass and stop agonizing over the things I can't change.

Here's to a great 2011!!

Our Christmas Card

2010-12-14T21:24:00.000-08:00

I love going to the mail box and pulling out Christmas cards! It's such a fun change from getting the usual junk mail, bills, and credit card offers.

I planned on sending out pictures but unfortunately they didn't turn out very well when I sent them to get printed. So I'm going to use my blog to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I was also going to include this fun little game for you to do with your families. I added the link so you can print it out if you want.

http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/1204_fillintale.pdf

Croweology

2010-12-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we traveled to Portland to go to a Black Crowes concert. Sound familiar? Well that's because we did it last year too! It's always fun to get out of farm town and head into the big city for a night.

The band is breaking up after this tour so it was our last time to see them in action. In Portland they performed an acoustic and an electric set and they sounded awesome. Here's a video someone took during the concert and as you can see they are kind of a hippie group.

After the Portland concert, we headed up to Olympia to watch the Apple Cup and then we were off to another concert in Tacoma. It was another great concert but I didn't take any pictures.

The countdown begins

2010-12-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

I think this commercial is so adorable.

Our countdown to the holidays has begun. The fact that Christmas coincides with a break from school and work also adds to the excitement. We're in full swing of winter over here in Pullman. Although snow sure makes it hard to get around, it adds to the holiday season.

This week I've been listening to Christmas music nonstop, watching cheesy holiday movies on ABC family, knitting pretty red things, and working on homemade Christmas gifts.

How are you getting into the holiday mood?

*Edit* I had to delete the original post so sorry Laurie, we lost your comment. Thanks for commenting. I had to get rid of it because that huge video was driving me crazy!

Thanksgiving thoughts

2010-11-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

– John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by ‘Thanksgiving’, Charlie Brown.”

– From A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."

-Gerald Good

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."

-Meister Eckhart

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Cougar Football

2010-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Dave and I finally caved in and bought sports passes (well he got a sports pass and I got a spouse pass) because there really isn't much to do in Pullman besides going to sporting events. Saturday we went to our first football game of the season. It was Dad's weekend so the student section was actually pretty full (at least for the first half). During the game, I thought about all the fun memories we have made at Cougar Football games (e.g. Taya and Tyler's engagement!). I'm sure going to miss the college sports atmosphere when we leave Pullman. The football team is slowly improving but I'm ready for basketball season to start!

Fall into a new look

2010-10-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

That was what the sign outside of the hair salon said and I thought it was funny.

We just bought a new printer and it came with a scanner so I thought I'd play around with it for this post.

Basically my entire childhood I would go to the same hair stylist (Stacy) and get my hair cut around the chin length otherwise known as the bob. Here is some of the evidence:

So today, I walked into my hair stylist and asked to have my hair cut around the chin. Here it is (the modern day bob) and all I can saw is thank goodness for hair straighteners and thinning techniques!

Sitting, wishing, waiting

2010-10-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a busy one and we did a lot of driving!

First, we drove over to attend a ring ceremony and reception for one of our dear college friends, Jess. She was friends with both Dave and I before we started dating and she says that she was the one to set us up. We haven't kept in touch very well since she left WSU but I really enjoyed catching up with her and spending this special day with her and her new husband. Speaking of her new husband, when we met him last spring we mentioned to them that we were going to the Philippines. He started asking questions about Dave's mission and it turns out that his dad was Dave's first mission president. Small world, huh?

Saturday we drove back over the mountains to attend a Jack Johnson concert at the Gorge with Rachel and Greg. It was a beautiful day and the Gorge was packed! There were all kinds of people there from one month olds to grandparents. It was a lot of fun though and I thought Jack sounded great!

Do the Puyallup

2010-09-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

Dave had to go to Auburn on Friday for a site visit for a class and since I'm still unemployed and on a school break, I decided to join him for the drive over. On Friday, Rachel and I decided to go up to the Puyallup fair because you can get in for free with canned foods on the first day. We thought, it's Friday morning, won't most people be at work? Um... yeah right...it was so crowed and hard to move around so we didn't stay long. Unfortunately we never got a scone!

Petting the goats. These poor goats got chased around and mauled by all the kids but they loved them.

Olivia milking a fake cow. She loved the cows and sang Old McDonald Had a Farm over and over again as we walked through the the barn.

After doing the Puyallup

Back in school

2010-08-29T08:40:00.001-07:00

(one of the sights on highway 26, which leads to Pullman)

I got asked a couple of times in the past week about what exactly Dave and I are doing in school. On Monday Dave started a graduate program and will be working toward getting a masters in environmental engineering. When he started the program, he thought he would be doing a two year program with a thesis. He decided this past week that he is not interested in doing a thesis and will be taking course work only. That makes his program only one year! That means we'll be outta here next spring :)

Over the summer I started a post-graduate program through Eastern Washington University to get certified in School Psychology. This is a two year program with one year of coursework and one year of internship. I'm not thrilled with the idea of more schooling but I know it's the right decision and I've enjoyed my classes for the most part. Since I'm on the quarter system now, I have a nice break until the end of September.

So that's what we are up to here on the Palouse.

August Activities

2010-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our last weekend on the west side we went and spent a couple days in Ocean Shores with my parents and the twins. My mom had been talking all summer about how she wanted to go to the ocean and boy we picked a great weekend to go. The weather on the Washington coast is usually pretty cool, even in the summer. But the two days we were there, it was in the high 80's.

We rented some mopeds for an hour to drive up and down the beach on. It was really fun!!

I just returned from spending a week in Arizona with my sister and brother's families. It had been way too long since I had been to AZ and I had a break from school so I though I'd take advantage of my time off. I was able to be there for the sealing of my nephew Kai to his parents, my niece Emma's baptism, and Kai's blessing. It was so lovely being in the temple with my parents, sister, and Ian's entire family (they allowed all the children to be there for the sealing).

The entire week I had 2 little friends following me around. Every time I got in the shower I would hear banging outside the door and Katie or Carson would be outside shouting if I was almost done. One day I got out of the shower and found Katie and Carson playing with my ear plugs... I thought they looked pretty cute.

Oh how I love being an Aunt, so unconditionally loved and adored. I had such a fun week playing with the kids and spending time with my family.

Yesterday we went fishing with Bill and Michele at this pretty reservoir in Idaho. As usual, the fishing was slow but Dave caught one little lake trout.

I didn't mind too much though because I had my latest book obsession with me.

Out with the old

2010-08-18T08:07:00.001-07:00

And in with the new....

We finally sold the futon and bought a new couch. We bought this sectional at Costco and it is so much more comfortable than the futon. I also painted our coffee and end tables espresso brown to match the rug. I usually don't deal with the home decorating stuff since I live in dumpy apartments and move every other year but I think the tables looks great!

Summer Fun

2010-08-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

We've been spending lots of time this summer with our families in Olympia and Port Townsend. It's been a lot of fun and I'm sad our summer over here is almost over. Here are some of the pictures from July.

My SNL Rachel invited me to go to a Justin Beiber concert with her because she volunteered to take her co-worker's daughter. It was quite the experience and I had more fun than I thought I would. I've never seen so many screaming preteens in my life!

Once when we were up in Port Townsend, we went out on my dad's sailboat. We picked up a couple of crab pots that he dropped out a couple days earlier. One of the pots had a lot of big crabs in it, unfortunately we had to throw most of them back but we got one big one!

Last weekend we celebrated my mom's birthday in Bellingham. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Taya taught Tuni and I how to make fondant cakes so we decided to give it a try. We made our cake in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. It was a lot of work but it turned out really cute!

Just another day

2010-07-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a just a normal Sunday. You know – go to church, attend Sacrament Meeting, go to Sunday School, and then Relief Society. In RS we had a great lesson on the Atonement that was taught by a sister in the ward. The not-so normal part was the fact that the lesson was taught by Sister Meyer. You know Sister Meyer, the one that is an author of a few NY best sellers and happened to make a gross income of 40 mil last year. She visits a little town in the Northwest each summer and attends the ward I grew up in. The RS president (my mom) thought it would be nice to ask sisters in the ward to teach lessons this summer to hear from a variety of people and so they asked Sister Meyer.

Now I’ll admit I am not a huge Twilight fan. I thought the books were entertaining but I wasn’t in love with them and I wasn’t dying to see the movies. I really had no idea what a phenomenon Twilight had become until I spent a month in the Philippines this spring. While I was there, I realized that Twilight fever was way beyond the scope of Mormon women or even the United States. Although I thought the books were entertaining, it was a mystery to me why this woman had been able to create such a worldwide obsession.

As I sat and listened to her lesson, I could see her personality come through and got a sense of who she really is as a woman, a mother, and a daughter of God. By the end of the lesson, I realized that I really like her as a person. I began to admire her accomplishment of being able to captivate her passion for writing by turning it into a career. Now I may not love her genre of books… but after I left church I couldn’t help but think

“You go girl.”

The Coast

2010-06-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

We just spent a week down at the Oregon coast at a family reunion. Every two years we get together with my mother-in-law's family and this year we stayed at Glen Eden which is really close to Lincoln City. We have some family members that live in Utah and Idaho that we don't get to see very often. I had to drive to Pullman to take a test on Monday and I missed a day. I also started school again on the 22nd so unfortunately I had to spend 3 days in the condo on my computer but it was so nice to see everyone. We spent lots of time on the beach, shopping, making jewelry, and playing games. The last two days were absolutely beautiful and it was so nice to get out and enjoy the pacific northwest.

Manila

2010-06-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, if you haven't seen the new blog designer - you should check it out because it's pretty cool.

I wanted to wrap-up our trip by reviewing what we did in Manila. I can't say this was my favorite part of the trip because I was sick and I like life in the provinces much better. Manila is a big and busy city.

One day we went to this Ocean Park and part of the tour was to do the fish spa. It really tickled and I couldn't stop laughing.

We went on a couple of war tours. I guess I need to brush up on my history because I really had no idea that the Philippines was involved with WWII or that the U.S. occupied the country for so long. Anyway, the first day we went to the U.S. Memorial where 17,000 soldiers were buried. It is the biggest memorial outside of the country.

The next day we went to Corrigador Island where the U.S. had a base during WWII. It is the biggest island outside of Manila and got completely demolished by the Japanese. I really can't tell you much about the pictures because I was laying on the tour bus the whole day. I got food poisoning the day before and that added with the heat made me pretty sick. On the tour we had this light and sound show in a tunnel that lead you through the war events. By the end of the show I was feeling pretty nauseous and let's just say I left a little present in the tunnel.

It's hard to put into words how much I loved this trip. The Philippines is such a wonderful country to visit and I hate to say this was a 'once in a lifetime' trip because I hope I can return again in my life time. We met some wonderful people that I hope we can see again.

El Nido, Palawan

2010-06-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

We traveled to the island of Palawan for about 5 days and stayed in the town of El Nido. Palawan is a big island south west of Luzon. There are about 1,700 islands that make up the

region. The area is well known for the big limestone cliffs and sandy beaches. El Nido was a nice little town. I love these little towns because you can walk wherever you need to go (you will be in a full sweat by the time you get there but you still can walk).

We flew on a 19 passenger plane and landed on a dirt runway which was a first for both of us.

The town only had power from 2:00 pm to 6:00 am so it was best to spend your day out in the water to stay cool. El Nido is completely set up for tourists and had 3 main island hopping tours. We did all three and spent our days swimming in lagoons and at beaches. We also snorkeled quite a bit and saw a lot of pretty coral, fish, and other sea life like a turtle, squid, and I even saw a sea snake (yikes)!

Here are some of the pictures of my favorite spots. We went to an island called Snake Island that had a sandbar that connected to Palawan. It was really pretty. Here is a picture of us overlooking the sandbar.

Here's a picture of the sandbar as we walked across.

Next is a picture of an island that we ate lunch at. It was so peaceful and relaxing. The limestone cliff provided a nice shade to sit under and relax in the water. I tried to soak up all the relaxation I could. I told myself that every time I get stressed I want to bring myself back to this very spot (in my mind of course).

I was sad to leave El Nido because I knew it meant our vacation was almost over. Now we are in Manila until Saturday when we return home.

Cebu

2010-05-31T03:07:00.000-07:00

We spent a couple days on the island of Cebu. Blogger of course loaded all of these pictures in the wrong order and I really don't feel like fixing it all. So you'll get this backwards. On Saturday we met up with Dave's trainer and first companion, Rosendo. We went with him and his friend Von, and drove out to Kawasan Falls. It was really fun and one of my favorite days that we've had so far on our trip. Below is a picture of group as we were hiking up to the falls.

We are the people swimming by the falls and Dave is the one underneath.

We went on a little hike to see the other falls in the area.

Dave and Rosendo

The next group of pictures were taken on Friday when we toured the Cebu City. We went downtown to Magellan's Cross. Magellan stopped here on one of his trips. Next to the cross was another big Catholic church and outside were rows of candles for people to light and pray next to.

Magellan's cross

We also toured the Taoist Temple

Our temple was actually the first stop of the day. This is a brand new temple and we were fortunate to be there during the open house. This was the first open house that I've ever been to. The temple was so beautiful inside and it was a lovely tour. I know the local members have put in a lot of time into getting the temple ready for this open house and they were all so welcoming even though it was very hot outside!

Bicol Part 2

2010-05-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the end of our trip to the Bicol Region. The Naga Mission is made up entirely of region 5 or the Bicol region (it makes up the most southern part of the island of Luzon which is the main island). We went all over this region with each destination being about 2 hours apart from the other. You know the saying "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey." Well that saying does not apply to this area of the world. I've used every mode of transportation here, jeepney, bus, and van and none of it is comfortable. It's hot, crowed, and very, very long. However when you get to the destination you know why you came. It makes the journey all worth it.

The following pictures were taken at the Cagsawa ruins. Mount Mayon is in the background and is a very iconic mountain for this region. As you can see, it is almost a perfect cone. It is a very active volcano with the last eruption happening December of 2009. The eruptions consist of large vocanic rock and lava spewing out. Back in 1814 the volcanic eruption devastated the town of Cagsawa and this church tower is all that remains.

This picture was taken outside of Dave's old apartment in Sorsogon City. This was his longest area and he served there when he knew the language very well. He really got to know some of the members here. When we went to church on Sunday you could tell that some of the members were very excited to see him. One sister pulled me aside and told me that her son went on a mission because of Dave's example. It was very sweet.

The next group of pictures is from another island hoping trip we went on. The first one was taken at a fish farm in a lagoon. There were lots of tropical fish and the owners were feeding the fish so they would stay close to us.

At one of the islands there was a group of locals that came to the island for the day. The little boys were very friendly to us, especially Dave since he could talk to them. They were asking him all kinds of questions about life in America. It was pretty cute.

A lot of the kids here know basic English because they learn it in school. So we get a lot of the same questions like "What's your name? How old are you? Why are you here? Do you have any children?"

This last picture was taken in Legazpi City. Spain ruled the country for a long time and introduced Catholoicism. There are big Catholic churches all over the country. This one was very pretty. There was a wedding going on that day so we couldn't go inside to look around.

Donsol

2010-05-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

We headed to Donsol for a day which was quite the tourist hot spot. Caramoan had a lot of tourists too but they were almost all Filipino. Donsol had tourists from all over the world and we met people from England, Australia, Holland, France, Singapore, Israel, Sweden, and of course there were lots Filipinos. So what was the attraction? It was the season for seeing these guys..

It's a whale shark. It's the largest shark and fish in the world. Each February-May these sharks come into the bay to feed off the plankton. The best time to see them is March and April but we managed to see about 5 or 6. We rode around in a boat and there were people looking for a sharks. Once they would spot one we would zoom ahead of it, jump in the water, and watch the gentle giant swim underneath us. We mostly saw smaller sharks but saw one big one that we swam with for about 30 seconds. It was really fun and a cool experience.

Hello from the Philippines!

2010-05-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

I just bought a card reader so I can upload pictures now. I will do most of it when I get home, but here are a few. I have uploaded more on facebook because it is so much easier.

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd give a little update on what we've been doing in our first week here on the other side of the world. I knew this trip would be an adventure but I really had no idea what I was in for.

We arrived in Manila late in the evening of the 12th and got a hotel to shower and take a quick nap before we flew out to Naga City early the next morning. Once in Naga we found a hotel to stay the night in and traveled around the city the rest of the day.

This is a picture in Naga City. We are drinking some coke out of a bag. A lot of the bottles of soda are still glass so they put the drink in a bag with a straw.

On the 13th we woke up early to head off to Caramoan for a few days. We went to the bus station to get a van to drive us to a port city so we could catch a boat to our destination. There were no vans leaving for a few hours so we jumped on a jeepney to ride the 2 hour trip on. We rode in the back with no air conditioning but there was a breeze when we were driving. They would drop off and pick up travelers along the way so it was stop and go the whole time. Then we made it to the port and they whisked us off to the boat. There are no docks so we had to be carried out to the boat, it took two guys to carry Dave out. Then we rode on the boat for another two hours. The boat ride would not have been that bad but the benches were made for Filipinos and we were very cramped. We got to our destination and we rode a tricey up to the town we were staying at. The road was very bumpy and not complete in some places. At this point I was wondering what I let Dave talk me into. We found a hotel in the town of Caramoan and decided to go find a beach to cool off at. We ended up going island hopping and instantly knew why Dave wanted to come here. It is hard to find words to describe the beauty of the islands we went to. We asked our guides to take us out the next day and we went to even more islands. The next day we took the boat back to the other port city. This time we got seats right in front so we were much more comfortable.

This was the first boat we took over. You can see some canoes with people riding in them. We had to step into a canoe from the boat to get a ride to shore.

This was the first island we went to and it was my favorite one of all the islands. The sand was so fine and the water was turquoise.

This was another island we went to that had a huge sandbar. The tide was out so the water went up to our knees.

I took this as we rode in the boat. It's amazing how clear the water is.

This was Basud Island. We ate lunch here and snorkeled. The coral was beautiful and we saw lots of sea life including a jellyfish. That was enough to scare me out of the water. We spent a few hours at this island while we waited for the tide to come in. The island was so peaceful and there was a nice tropical breeze.

Next we headed to the town of Goa because it was near an area that Dave served in. We hung around the hotel and went to church in San Jose on Sunday. There were a lot of members that Dave knew and they were very friendly to us. We wanted to take some people out to an island with us the next day and so we organized that. We went to a family's house for dinner that night. Yesterday we went out to the island with 22 members from the San Jose ward and they all brought out some delicious food. It was another beautiful island and we had a great time with them.

Visiting a family that Dave knew when he was here.

Hanging out with some members on the beach. You can see how much taller we are than everyone else.

We are now in Legazpi and will head to Donsol tomorrow. We have had a wonderful time so far. The country is beautiful and the everyone has been so hospitable to us.

2010-05-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you dream it, you can become it."

-William Arthur Ward

Happy Earth Day

2010-04-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

I have two weeks left of my job and I have worked at this place for the last three years. When I graduated with my B.A. I got really lucky and was promoted to a graduate student position. I decided earlier on in the semester that I should go out with a bang. Over the last two years I have been able to plan family reading nights at the schools in the rural communities outside of Pullman. I planned three Earth Day events for this week and tonight was my last one. I created games to teach children all about the earth. They played games to learn about endangered animals, tree growth, and the water cycle. A big part of the event is that the kids get free books when they complete all the activities.

Sometimes I do these events and seem to get the parents that are already really involved in their child's education. Which is just fine, I'm glad when anyone comes. At my event last night, I could tell that some of the families did not have a lot of money. I'm not implying that they don't have a good home life, they may just not have a lot of extra cash to buy quality books. Those kids are the whole reason I do this. I hope they can use their free books to become better readers. Reading is so important. Some states predict the growth of their prisons by looking at how many students pass standardized tests in the early primary grades.

So this post may seem like I'm tooting my horn a little bit, but I guess I am. The last week has been exhausting but really fun at the same time.

*Sorry the picture looks kinda funky. I didn't think the parents would like some random person putting a picture of their kids on the internet.

Happy Good Friday

2010-04-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a post to wish you all a happy Easter holiday. I really like the concept of Holy Week, although I've never done anything to celebrate it besides Easter. I mean how cool is it to spend an entire week celebrating and thinking of Christ. On a blog I follow there was a link to a bunch of photos of people celebrating Holy Week all over the world. I thought it was interesting and there were two photos from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which made me excited. Here was my favorite photo from the website.

Here is the website if you want to take a look at it. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/holy_week_2010.html

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Spring Break Wrap-up

2010-03-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our Spring Break. We started out in Bellingham for a few days, then made our way down to PT, then down to Olympia, and back to Pullman. It was quite the Washington excursion. As we drove down to PT, I was able to take Dave to some of the north Puget Sound places that he'd never been to.

The first stop was the flower fields in the Skagit Valley. We were a few weeks shy of the tulips but the daffodils were in full bloom. They sure were pretty.

Then we stopped to check out Deception Pass on Whidby Island. We stopped to walk across the bridge onto the island in the middle.

We were also able to watch Miki play in his first soccer game of the season. It was a bit windy and chilly but at least it was sunny!

Now we are back in Pullman for our last 6 weeks of school. I'm not sure how many people know this, but we will not be leaving Pullman after we graduate. Dave has been accepted into the Civil Engineering Masters program and has been offered a position as a Research Assistant for the department. At first we were disappointed that we won't be moving back over the mountains but we are grateful for the opportunity that Dave has been given. What will I be doing for the next two years? Well that is still up in the air.

My new motto

2010-03-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I was walking through the campus bookstore and saw some items with this saying.

I initially stopped to look at it because of the crown (my experience with being royally, makes me look at everything with a crown). I started thinking a lot about what it said. At the time, I had been wrestling emotionally with the uncertainties in my life. So I thought it seemed fitting to what I was going through.

After walking by the display of items again a couple days ago, I decided to look into the meaning of the saying. According to Wikipedia, during WWII the British government made a series of propaganda posters with this saying. These posters were to be used as a last resort if the Nazis invaded the country. Thousands of posters were made but only a few were distributed. In the last couple of years, companies have been using this to make merchandise.

Knowing the original meaning of the saying made me like it even more. My life is pretty good and I really can't complain. I'm usually good about going with the flow of life, but when I don't know what is going to happen - I get stressed. Every time I find myself fretting about the unknown future I tell myself to "Keep Calm, and Carry On."

Present tense

2010-02-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sick of seeing the same post every time I pull up my blog so I'm going to do a new one. I don't really have much to share but I'll just give a little update on our life.

......

Okay not much has changed with us. Still. in. school.

Dave started a new job this semester and is working as an undergraduate researcher with one of his professors. I think he likes it, mostly because of the flexibility of his schedule. His professor handpicked him for this job and it has been a good opportunity for him.

I have been watching the Olympics. I've really enjoyed watching Apollo Oho skate. I mean not only is he a great athlete, a good dancer, but he is also a local guy. I really liked watching Lindsey Vonn ski and almost cried watching her reaction to winning the gold.

I wasn't going to blog about this but I can't contain my excitement. We are gearing up for a vacation that we booked for after graduation. I'm not going to tell you where we are going but here is a hint..

Well that's really all I can think of for now. Miss you all!!

A sad heart

2010-01-13T22:54:00.000-08:00

I have been avoiding the main pages of MSN or Yahoo because I am scared to see what the death toll is at in Haiti. My heart just breaks thinking about the Haitians, the ones in pain, the hungry, the ones that have lost loved ones... I have the desire to help, to send money, to volunteer, to do what ever I can to help the people that are suffering due to the devastation. Last night, I was thinking of what I could do and was looking at websites of how I can help. Then it dawned on me that I already have, because I donated to this fund. I then told Dave, "I am so glad I belong to an organization that is so organized and sends aid to people after natural disasters."As I was watching the news I took comfort in the fact that I knew the church was already organizing supplies to fly down to Haiti. Today, I looked for a news release about what the church was doing and I found this. I know it's just a drip in a large pond, but I know anything will help.

*PS I don't know why part of my text is showing up smaller... blogger is being weird.

Break

2010-01-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post a little recap of our winter break. We spent a little over a week with each family and had a nice time relaxing. I had a friend ask me yesterday if I had begun studying for a comprehensive exam we have this spring and I had to laugh because I completely forgot about it. You know you've had a nice break when you have completely forgotten about the realities of life.

Instead of writing a long narrative of our break I'll give you some quick words to recap:

Olympia: Family dinners, Seattle, Gingerbread houses, Cheesecake Factory, WSU vs. LSU, temple, family pictures, football

Port Townsend: Avatar, Invictus, Princess and the Frog, Seattle, Art Wolfe, Nutcracker,Red Robin, shopping, reading

Santa Run

2009-12-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving my sister-in-law Rachel talked me into signing up to run a 10K with her. I have wanted to start running races but haven't put the effort into training yet. As the race got closer, I wasn't sure how much I would be able to run. I was not too excited the morning of the race but I had paid for it so there was no turning back.

We took it slow, ran together, and talked. I usually don't run with other people but it sure made the race go by faster. It was raining the whole time and seemed pretty miserable when we were running.

Success! My hips hurt today but I feel pretty proud of myself for getting out and running the whole way.

Good news at a good time

2009-12-16T11:53:00.000-08:00

We found out this morning that Dave passed his Fundamentals of Engineering Exam. This is a pretty big deal. Now instead of just being a civil engineering student, he is considered an Engineer in Training (EIT). This is the first step toward becoming a Professional Engineer which is pretty important in the field of civil engineering.

Huge kudos to Dave!!!

What an awesome way to end finals week and the semester! Now tomorrow, we’re off to relax for 2 ½ weeks.

Voodoo Doughnut

2009-11-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Dave and I went to Portland for a night. We saw The Black Crowes in concert which was a lot of fun. The band sounded really good!!! The next day, we walked around downtown Portland and shopped. We have watched 3 or 4 different shows on the travel channel about Portland and they all stopped by Voodoo Doughnut. It is a pretty unique little shop with all kinds of doughnuts. They are a true northwest shop because they had lots of vegan doughnuts. You can even get married there.

Dave got one of the specialty doughnuts, maple bar with bacon. It was surprisingly a tasty combination.

I got a fritter with nuts, peanut butter, chocolate and bananas. It looked better than it tasted, but it was okay.

Bring Boxing BACK!!!!!

2009-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

There is a great fight happening on Saturday. It involves Manny Pacquiao who is the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world and is the pride of the Philippines vs. Manuel Cotto who hails from Puerto Rico. This is the Biggest fight of the year but since it is only on pay-per-view it will hardly be watched. I know pay-per-view brings in millions of dollars, but it has ruined the sport of boxing. Boxing used to be the most popular sport in the U.S. but now no one even cares except the most diehard fight fans. Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter and athlete but it is a shame that most people have never even heard of him. Boxing needs to come back to network television. BRING BOXING BACK!!!!!!

It's beginning

2009-11-13T16:22:00.001-08:00

to look a lot like Christmas....

(well it's beginning to feel like the holiday season, but that's not how the song goes)

Right now, we are getting our first snowfall. The first snowfall is so beautiful. A week from today, I'll be starting a week long break. I can't wait.

I love this time of the year. I love the sights and smells (and candles). I love the music. I love hot chocolate and carmel apple cider from Starbucks. I love layering my outfits. I love wearing scarfs, sweaters, fleece, vests, and all those clothes that cover up those extra winter pounds you gain from eating too many holiday sweets. I love holiday sweets. I love breaks from school. I love seeing and spending time with our families in their nicely decorated homes with fire places to cozy up next to.

With getting snowed in and loosing power for three days at my in-laws to getting the flu and fainting at my sisters house, I'd say I had a pretty eventful holiday season last year. Well hopefully this season is a little less eventful. I've only worked in the public schools since August but over the last couple of months I have gained a new appreciation for our families. So many kids live in horrible home environments and it makes me so sad to think about. I look forward to spending time with our very wonderful families this holiday season.

Being domestic

2009-10-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

You'd never know it from our 70 degree weather today, but over a week ago a cold spell hit Pullman and we had a couple nights dropping to 20 degrees. These freezing temperatures ruined the apple crop in this area so the WSU Organic farm has been allowing people to go pick apples for free. The catch is that you had to do something with them quick because they were already pretty soft. So this morning I headed up to the orchards and picked a couple dozen apples. I planned on making some applesauce.

After hand peeling 5 apples with a potato peeler, I was ready to give up this little project. Dave mentioned I should go buy an apple peeler so we headed over to Moscow and got one. Wow, what a difference that made. Dave also had the idea to use the pressure cooker to cook the apples. We put the apples in the pot and about 4 minutes later, we had applesauce. I thought it couldn't get any easier. Then I got side tracked while the apples were cooking and I came back to find Dave cutting all the apples and putting them into the pressure cooker. I think making applesauce was lot more fun than studying for his FE exam. He even explained to me the best way to use the peeler. So I sat on the couch and relaxed the rest of the time. I guess this domestic stuff isn't so hard after all ;)

Absence

2009-09-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

It probably goes without saying but I probably won’t be blogging too much this academic year. This semester is the Johnson’s busiest semester so far. It's not like I don't have time to blog, I know I still waste plenty of time on the internet. I just don't have a lot to say. Since I don't get much response on my posts, I'm assuming you all get sick of hearing about WSU, my schooling, etc.
Although I am busy, I've been enjoying the things that keep me busy, my classes, work, and internship. My favorite part of my week is the 15 hours I get to spend at the middle school here. I am starting to be involved in some really cool projects and this reaffirms my decision to work in the schools. I was going to tell you about some of the stuff I've been working on, but I'm not sure what the rules are for confidentiality and the internet. Anyway, I have been teaching a motivation curriculum to a class and this week I'm starting to work with a student to teach some social skills.
I lived through the swine flu. Two weeks ago I came down with a nasty flu bug, I'm not sure if it was the swine but that was going around like crazy. My fever wasn't really that high but it really made a dent out of my week. I missed three days of work, class, and my internship. The last two days of the week I went to everything but was exhausted by the end of the day. Luckily last week I was able to make up all but one hour of what I missed. Two weeks later I feel back to normal.
Well that’s a little bit about what’s been going on in my life. Hope you all have a good week.

In the news

2009-09-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

WSU has been in the news (local and national) over the past couple of weeks.

Today I heard that WSU was in the top three of the nation's university's. "For what" is what you may be asking yourself. Academics? No. Athletics? No. Research? No.

WSU is number three in the nation for having the most cases of H1N1. Yikes. Let's just say I've been washing my hands a lot more lately.

On to other news. About a week and half ago we heard that there had been a couple of "assaults" occurring on campus. Since the whole Virgina Teach incident, WSU has really amped up it's alert procedures. Now the university will text you if anything happens. So one night we received a text around two o'clock on the morning saying an assault had just been reported and gave a description of the person. So then over the next couple of days we ended up getting three texts during night stating an assault had occurred. When you get a text like that in the middle of the night, it sure feels uneasy. Well over the past week all three incidents have been recanted. We have not received any information about what really happened. So no one really knows if the assaults happened or not....

This next story hasn't had much buzz but I thought it was funny. There is a picture circulating of Leonardo DiCaprio wearing a coug hat. I have seen other photos of him with it on, so I know it wasn't doctored up. I'm sure he doesn't even know where Pullman or WSU is but I still thought it was fun.

The high

2009-08-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning at the crack of dawn to test out a spinning class that I'm thinking about taking. It was a 6:15 class and it was really fun. I totally felt what I refer to as "the high" as I went to work and thought to myself that if I did nothing else productive for the day, at least I exercised! "The high" is that feeling after I've had a good workout. I always feel so happy and I think I am the coolest person in the world. So, I go to work at 8:00 all happy and ready to tackle my day. Well by 8:30 I was ready to go back to bed and the high was gone. I've been so tired all day. I'm going to try continuing with the class, hopefully I'll live.

Oh another note, I think I've been talked into having a fantasy football team. I'll take any tips you may have.

Time traveling

2009-08-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

So over the summer (oh the very wonderful summer), I read a book about a time traveler and his wife. As I have been thinking about my wonderful summer, I have thought to myself: If I could time travel back in time to any moments from the summer, which ones would I choose?

And just because I think you care, I am going to share some of the moments I would love to travel back to.

I would love to go back to sitting on a chair at my parents house with my sweet niece Katie sleeping on me.

I would love to sit and watch fireworks on my in-law’s beach while talking to my brother

and sister in law.

I would love to go back to hanging out on my parent’s lawn with my cousins.

I would love to go back to Mayfield Lake, and spend another day there with the Johnson family.

I would love to get one more hug by one of the kiddos I worked with at camp.

I would love to go back to the movie theater and laugh my head off while watching this movie with my mother-in-law and this one with my sisters-in-law.

I could go on forever. But seriously, this summer was so much fun. Can we do it over again?

Just one of those days

2009-06-27T18:37:00.001-07:00

Today is just one of those days I am grateful to be surrounded by so much beauty. The sun is shinning, the temperature is warm and the scenery is gorgeous. Dave and I spent the day biking around downtown Olympia. Now we are cooking up some local clams and asparagus that we bought at the farmers market.
We also stopped by a farm to buy some fresh strawberries, but they didn’t have any. Instead they had some fresh raspberries. Oh yum.
I’m trying to soak up all the goodness of today because we don’t get too many days like this. The growing season is limited and the sun is in the clouds more days than not.
However for today, this place is perfect.

Victoria, BC

2009-06-18T21:13:00.001-07:00

Dave and I recently spent some time up in Victoria, BC. I had been up to the city a couple times before but had never visited Butchart Gardens. So we went up and spent the afternoon at the gardens.

The gardens were so beautiful. I wish I could live there. My favorite garden was the Sunken Garden.

Dave really liked the Japanese Garden. We didn’t get very many good pictures in that garden but here I am walking across a pond.

After the garden, we went up to a view point in the city. Of course it is always prettier in person but here we are with the city in the background.

The next day we met up with my mom and the twins and went to the wax museum, IMAX, and went out for some Ethiopian food. We enjoyed having a couple weeks off to catch up with family. We both start working on Monday so now it’s time to settle down and be grown ups.

Happy as a clam

2009-06-13T22:34:00.001-07:00

Well maybe our clams weren’t so happy. We dug them up from their comfy home in the sand and ate them.

We are up visiting my parents and today we went down to the beach to dig up our dinner. It was a lot of fun. I hadn’t done that for a few years and the twins had never done it.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon:

Cool dude Miki

Dad teaching Tuni

Lots of digging

The couple

The group showing off some of our hard work.

Sisters

The feast!

Deep fried clam strips

Steamed clams (with a little sand included!)

Pan fried clams (like scallops) with butter and garlic

Our meal was really good. I had never really eaten clams besides in clam chowder, and I liked all of the different types of clam meat.

2009-06-02T19:36:00.001-07:00

Today I took a little break from packing and cleaning to visit my friend Tracy. Tracy was my best friend in high school and we were voted “dynamic duet” of the senior class. We even lived together for a our first two years of college. She was my roommate when I met and fell in love with Dave. I remember telling her in class that Dave and I were going to get married and she started crying right during the lecture!

This picture is of us in our dorm room our freshman year of college. Four years later we don't see each other as much but anytime we get together our friendship just picks right up from where we left it.

She was such a kind host. She treated me to lunch and took me to parts of Spokane I had never been before. We went to a park which she described as plant Disneyland. Unfortunately most of the flowers were not in bloom. Luckily there was a cool green house with lots of pretty plants.

Elk Creek Falls

2009-05-16T18:48:00.001-07:00

We went on a little hike today in Idaho. It was a beautiful day -about low 70’s- perfect. The hike lead through three different falls on the creek and was probably about 3 miles long. We had fun enjoying the scenery.

Dave overlooking the falls

Me at a different viewpoint of the falls. I’m at the largest of the 3 falls, about 90 feet.

Dave took some more artistic photos and you can see those at his blog.

Granola Girl

2009-05-12T22:54:00.001-07:00

I hate to admit it but the older I get, the more I fit into the stereotypical Washingtonian role. Let’s see, I use reusable shopping bags, spend my Saturdays at farmers markets, and ride my bike all over town. Now my latest love, granola. I eat it all the time. Like everyday. I even make my own and it’s delicious. So I thought incase any of you want to become more of a Washingtonian and eat granola – here is the recipe I use (from the Food Network).

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup silvered almonds
1 cup cashews
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tbls dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbls maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

My dad loves it, and my in-laws eat it all the time. I buy all the ingredients from the bulk section so it’s cheep too. I add sunflower and pumpkin seeds to mine.

Although I may eat granola everyday, I will never be a true Washingtonian because I will never (I repeat never) do this:

Old Skool Dayz

2009-04-25T10:37:00.001-07:00

Okay folks – here is procrastination at it’s finest.

(Funny story: I have a 22 page paper to write. I’ve known about it all semester – I even got started really early (like in February), found a lot of journal articles, checked out some books from the library and decided, well maybe I’ll write about something different. Spent hours researching like 3 or 4 other topics only to decide to write on the original topic that I chose. I’m so smart because I actually deleted all of the articles I found previously.)

Anyways, back to my post. I just found all of these sweet pictures on facebook from my days of youth conferences and dances. Some are pretty hilarious so I thought I’d share.

The first is from a stake youth activity. I’m not sure what is going on with my face but I’m pretty sure at this activity I participated in a root beer chugging contest, I think I won, but then I threw up in front of the entire stake. (Mom, look at little Molly Peet up behind Brian, so cute!)

These next pictures are from a youth conference.

Okay, these next pictures are from a Priest- Laurel dance.

Now I saved the best for last:

So you may be wondering which one I am. Oh, I’m the one rocking out with my arms up. Oh boy, I didn’t know anyone caught that move on camera.

I {heart} Seattle

2009-04-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

I have a love affair with Seattle. I love the city.

I just spent the last two days there for a work conference. We presented about a program we have been doing for the past 2 years. I think it went great.

We stayed at the Red Lion on 5th Avenue. The entire time I was itching to get outside and play. The conference was okay - but it wasn't great. My co-workers said it is usually better. On Friday I was really tempted to call my sister-in-law Rachel and have her come meet me to play. I really only got out into the city for dinner, but of course I found a little time to shop.

Here's a picture of some of my co-workers and I after our yummy dinner last night.

It was such a beautiful night. Ahhh...

We're moving

2009-04-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

Last summer we got a notice that our rent was going up $170. It was a huge increase. Unfortunately we didn't have much notice before we had to sign another lease so we just stayed at our place. It was still reasonable for Pullman though so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Well this spring a friend of mine called and was quoted a higher price than we pay for a two bedroom and we live in a three bedroom. So my mind started thinking about if our rent sky rocketed again this year. We plan on spending a good portion of the summer in Olympia so we thought we should try to get out of our lease before we leave. Dave got a call today and our manager found someone to take over our apartment.

Now that the reality of moving is sinking in, I'm a little sad. That was our first apartment together. That is where we started our marriage. We made so many memories there.

Oh well, I guess it's just a place to live, right?

Some Easter treats

2009-04-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

No, I’m not sending your chocolate over the computer. I thought I’d share with you some beautiful music that I am listening to this Eater Morning.

Both songs are arranged and played by a woman named Ginger Fairbanks. I have her CD and I love it.

This first song is called “That Easter Morn/ He is Risen”

That Easter Morn / He Is Risen - Ginger Fairbanks

The next song is called “This is Christ”

This Is The Christ - Ginger Fairbanks

Enjoy the music on this Eater Sunday!!

More than a bunny

2009-04-11T19:51:00.001-07:00

I’ve been looking forward to teaching the Easter story to my sunbeams for weeks. Not that I don’t enjoy the other lessons, I just love taking the opportunity to teach them about Christ. I will be teaching the kiddos about the symbols of Easter. I’ll be going over the Easter story and then moving into other traditional symbols. I’ve actually learned about some new symbols that I thought I’d share with you all.

(FYI, this isn’t my wording, I stole it from another blog)

“The butterfly is an ancient Easter symbol. For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it must wrap itself in a cocoon and then sleep, almost like it had died. This reminds us how after Jesus died, he was wrapped in linen cloths and put in a tomb. Then, when the caterpillar has turned into a butterfly, it comes out of the cocoon. This reminds us how Jesus resurrected his body and came out of the tomb.”

“Eggs are a symbol of new birth, like a bird or another animal that is born out of an egg. The oval shape of the egg is also the same shape for a raindrop and a seed, which are important for giving life to growing plants and animals. When Jesus rose from the tomb, he was resurrected, which means he came back to life after death–he had a new life, just like the egg. The egg also represents the rebirth or new birth of humankind, all of us because Jesus died for us so we can be saved and return to live with God.”

“The Easter lily is also called the Passion flower. White stands for purity, or spiritual cleanness, so the large white Easter lily blossoms remind us how Jesus was perfect and pure and that because of his sacrifice for us, all of us can repent and become pure like him. The lily is also symbol of the resurrection and reminds us of the we will be resurrected like Jesus was.”

Happy Easter!!!

Checkin things off

2009-04-05T21:15:00.001-07:00

Is it just me, or does crossing things off a to-do list feel really good? I basically always have two to-do lists going on. The first is an actual, written down list of things I HAVE to do. The second is a running mental list of things I WANT to do. I think I crossed off quite a few items off both lists this weekend.

~~Spend a day outside in the sun~~

~~Get my bike out for the first time this spring and ride it~~

~~Spend time with my husband~~

~~Go shopping with a friend~~

~~Go to a baseball game~~

~~Exercise~~

~~Watch some GC~~

~~Finish research proposal~~

~~Finish practicum papers~~

~~Finish finger printing paper work~~

Wahoo, that’s a lot of stuff!

Did you get anything accomplished this weekend??

Now you thought I was joking....

2009-04-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

but seriously,

I am ready to move to the Caribbean.

.....plane tickets are purchased

.....a place to stay is all set up

Since Dave can't find an internship this summer we decided to take off and play.

We are moving to Belize in May!!

Now, does anyone wanna join us?

I'm ready to move..

2009-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

....to the Caribbean... anyone wanna join me?

Life's little joys

2009-03-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

10 hours of work + 3 hours of class = exhaustion

Although my body ached and I was tired, I came home tonight and smiled.

My Daffodils opened up!! Aren't they pretty?

Ahhhh life's little joys.

Back to the grind...

2009-03-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been blogging about much lately. Honestly, we don't have a lot of new/exciting stuff going on. Our weeks pretty much consist of the same activities: school, work, and exercising.

We just returned from a great spring break. We stayed half the week in Olympia and then headed up to visit Taya and Tyler for the remaining half. We had a lot of fun.

Thanks for hosting us!

We went up to Vancouver for a day and had a great time despite the pouring down rain. Vancouver is where we honeymooned and being up there brought back some fun memories. It's a pretty fun city to visit, but next time I want to go up during the summer!

Speaking of the summer, Dave and I have no idea what we'll be doing. Dave is hoping to be hired on for a civil engineering internship. Unfortunately the state hires the most interns and they are on a hiring freeze. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Other than that, things are going great here in the Palouse. I'm just loving my program. This semester I've been observing school counselors on-the-job and it's been a great experience so far. Next year I'll be doing an internship for 15 hours a week and I'm pretty excited about that. I think I'll really enjoy being a school counselor and I'm glad I picked this program.

As we were driving home today, I noticed some of the wheat sprouting up in a few fields. At first wheat is green, and I love it. It is really refreshing seeing fields of green and not brown dirt like we saw all winter. Spring is coming!

We took some pictures over break and I'll post those later, or maybe Taya will.

Have a great week everyone!!

Our entertainment

2009-03-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Dave and I are on our Spring Break. Our entertainment over the last 4 days has come from a

15 month old named Olivia.

I have eight, almost nine nieces and nephews. I love them all to death, I love being around them all. I love seeing them play together and the things they come up with...

...but it's been kind of fun just having one around

(although I know her parents are dying for some cousins).

We just sit around the family room laughing about all the silly things she does. At this age she is still learning about everything in the world around us.

The other night Dave was giving her some snacks and put some on the ground. She proceeded to eat them in a very creative way.

What a silly little girl. We love you Olivia!

International Women's Day

2009-03-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

Happy International Women's Day to all my sisters out there.

I wouldn't label myself a feminist, but I love the idea of woman empowerment.

I appreciate all of the woman that have fought so that I can vote, get an education, and someday work right along with men making almost as much as they do (Still about $.78 to every $1). I also appreciate all the woman out there that are using their passions, or talents to enrich the lives of their families and society as a whole.

We have so much potential to do amazing things on this earth. My mom sent me this video last week and I thought I'd share it with you all. I love what it says, I love how it makes me want to be a better woman. A woman that creates things, a woman that can change the world.

"start small."

"Improve. Beautify. Extend. Smile. Cultivate. Develop."

Mindfulness Series Part 3

2009-03-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

No examples from my mindfulness experiences in this post, just some beautiful words about love from Hahn.

"Sound and light have the ability to penetrate everywhere, and love and compassion can do the same. But if our love is only a kind of imagination, then it is not likely to have any real effect. It is in the midst of our daily life and in our actual contact with others that we can really know whether our mind of love is really present and how stable it is. If love is real, it will be evident in our daily life, in the way we relate with people and the world.

The source of love is deep within us, and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, or one thought can reduce another person's suffering and bring him (or her) joy. One word can give comfort and confidence, destroy doubt, help someone avoid a mistake, reconcile a conflict, or open the door to liberation. One action can save a person's life or help him (or her) take advantage of a rare opportunity. One thought can do the same, because thoughts always lead to words and actions. If love is on our heart, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle. Because understanding is the very foundation of love, words and actions that emerge from or love are always helpful." (p 85, 85)

Taylor Rochestie...

2009-03-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

... you are my hero

(well maybe not my hero, but you sure won the game last night)

You've really contributed to the team over the last couple years.

It was really great how you gave up your scholarship in your senior year, so Coach Bennett could give that to another recruit.

In your last home Cougar game of your career, I'm sure you wanted to make your performance count.

Well you did that. In the very last second of overtime when my husband and I had lost hope of a victory ...

You made it count when you needed to.

Mindfulness Series Part 2

2009-03-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

One easy way to introduce mindfulness into your daily life is by using the technique of conscious breathing. I started using this technique about a month ago without realizing it.

I had been having a hard time falling asleep. I couldn't stop myself from thinking. I've tried every little trick in the book about curing insomnia. I knew I just need to learn how to relax, but what ever I tried didn't work. I finally thought about going to go see a doctor because I was not sleeping well 5 out of 7 nights a week. It was affecting my mood and every day life.

I was a couple weeks into my yoga class. Yoga is all about focusing on breathing. So I thought to myself, maybe I should do that as I am trying to fall asleep....

I got the best sleep for like a week straight.

I can't say that every night this works. Sometimes I have a hard time stopping my mind and focusing on my breath but over all, it has cured my insomnia.

After reading about mindfulness I realized that conscious breathing is something I can do all day long.

I'm a thinker. I hear something, I think about it. Something happens, I think about it. I really liked what Hang had to say about thinking.

"When we practice conscious breathing, our thinking will slow down, and we can give ourselves a real rest. Most of the time, we think too much, and mindfulness breathing helps us to stop thinking so much and stop being possessed by sorrows in the past and worries about the future. It enables us to be in touch with life, which is wonderful in the present moment.

Of course, thinking is important, but quite a lot of our thinking is useless. Is is as if, in our head, each of us has a cassette tape that is always running, day and night. We think of this and we think of that, and it is difficult to stop.

According to the method of conscious breathing, when we breathe in and out, we stop thinking, because saying "in" and "out" is not thinking- "in" and "out" are only words to help us concentrate on our breathing. If we keep breathing in and out this way for a few minutes, we become quite refreshed. We recover ourselves, and we can encounter the beautiful things that are around us in the present moment."

This is what I do as I try to fall asleep, I say to myself as I breathe, "in" and "out". Throughout the day when I am in a meeting or in class and I find myself distracted by thinking about something pointless I do this. I really have felt refreshed because I worry a lot less now.

Mindfulness Series Part 1

2009-02-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

I can't remember when or where I first heard about the concept of mindfulness, all I know is I was instantly interested. One of my friends recently recommended a book called “Peace in Every Step” by Thich Nhat Hanh. I picked up the book yesterday and as I read it, I'm going to be sharing little tidbits that I like and have found helpful in my life.

Don't know what mindfulness is? Here's a brief description of mindfulness from Wikipedia:

Mindfulness is a mental state, characterized by concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations.

Basically it involves being in the present moment. Why should we be aware of the present moment? Here's what Thich Nhat Hanh had to say and I like how he phrased it.

“The purpose of our practice – not to avoid life, but to experience and demonstrate that happiness in life is possible now and also in the future.

The foundation of happiness is mindfulness. The basic condition for being happy is our consciousness of being happy. If we are not aware that we are happy, we are not really happy. When we have a toothache, we know not having a toothache is a wonderful thing. A non-toothache is very pleasant. There are so many things that are enjoyable, but when we don't practice mindfulness, we don't appreciate them. When we practice mindfulness, we come to cherish these things and we learn how to protect them. By taking good care of the present moment, we take good care of the future. Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment” (p 38).

I wouldn't call myself an unhappy person. I have a lot going for me in my life that makes me happy. But if I can't stop to enjoy those things that make me happy, am I really happy?

Last semester I did a lot of complaining. I complained about work, I complained about school, complain, complain, complain. Over my winter break I was reflecting on the things I was complaining about. I realized most of it, I couldn't change. So I could continue on with my attitude or just try to enjoy it and live in the moment. I have to sit in this meeting or fill out this evaluation no matter what. So why not just do it without complaining?

This thinking has really changed my outlook and I have began to find joy in the things I am doing.

So this is just the first part of my series on mindfulness. I'll be doing segments as I'm reading this book, (it's a short book so it won't take me long to read it). Take what you want from it and hopefully you can find it applicable to your own lives.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

I hate hyping up movies. I've been disappointed because a movie was too hyped up. But this movie was really, really good. I know some of my blog readers don't watch R rated movies. For those that see the occasional R rated movie, this is the one to see! To be honest, I left the theater last night wondering why it even got that rating. The cinematography and the music were awesome.

I'm excited to see how it does at the Oscars tonight. I'm also excited that I get to watch the Oscars on the TV channels that we mysteriously have. A couple days ago I was watching a movie and hit the wrong button on the remote, to TV mode. I discovered that we have 11 channels. We had cable but we know for a fact that they shut it off. I'm thinking it's the digital transition? Who knows. The weird thing is, some channels come in HD, even though we don't have an HD receiver. Weird.

Go Slumdog Millionaire!

So loved

2009-02-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

Over the last week I have been thinking about and how lucky I am.

I have been so love and continue to be so loved.

Last weekend I spent some time in Port Townsend with both sides of my family.

It was wonderful to spend the day of love with not only my love but our families too.

As I talk with my friends and peers I realize how lucky I am to come from such a wonderful family and THEN marry into another wonderful family.

I love you all.

Here are some pictures from the weekend, that I love.

Childhood fears

2009-02-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Did you ever have any weird childhood fears? One of my fears was that a plane would crash into my house. I have no idea why I was scared of that. It's not like 9/11 had happened yet. I didn't live close to an airport. Well as I got older I realized how irrational this fear was. I just found this news article off Yahoo.

Commuter plane crashes into home in upstate NY

I guess it does happen after all....

25 things

2009-02-08T19:04:00.001-08:00

Okay here we go, I've been putting this off long enough. For all of you non-Facebookers, this is something that has been spreading around the website like wild fire.
Here are 25 random facts about me.

I love to shop at the Goodwill. Yesterday I bought 2 sweaters and 2 shirts for $13.00!
I have a hard time falling asleep when I don't go to the gym.
I love to read but have a hard time getting into books.
I don't have a middle name.
I think about traveling almost everyday.
I love Beatles music, just like my dad.
My sister's name is Megan and I know at least 3 other families with a Shannon- Megan sister combo.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to the care-free lifestyle that I had in high school when I could just go the the beach with Tracy 3 days a week during the summer.
I want to join the peace corp someday.
I want to get a PhD but don't know what to get it in yet.
My work-out mix is full of dance music if you watch me you probably would notice my head bobbing a little.
Last summer I bought my first road bike and I miss riding it. Hurry up spring.
Someday I would like to bike competitively.
I think it would be cool to live in another country for a few years.
My first summer out of high school I worked on a maintenance crew at a paper mill. It was my first and last labor job.
I love HBO shows. It's my guilty pleasure.
I love the office I work for. I get to collect books and give them to kids. It's so fun!
I want to adopt someday.
I want to take my little brother and sister back to Ethiopia.
I soak in the hot tub at my gym at least 3 times a week.
I eat granola almost everyday.
I love making/eating a yummy breakfast. At least once a weekend I get up and make waffles or pancakes.
I love fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.), I eat them like candy.
I also love dried mangos that Costco sells, I could eat the whole pack in a day.
Speaking of Costco, it is my favorite store. I always go in, look around and get some yummy samples.

Whew there we go. That was a lot harder than I thought. Enjoy!

The truth comes out

2009-01-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Congrats to:

Megan S., Megan B., Carrie, Shannon B., Laurie and Rachel

Here are the answers:

1. True. Yes Carrie, it is quite shocking. I can't say that I never ate those foods, but I never did it on purpose. I always avoided tomatoes or peppers if I could. I can't say that I love em quite yet, but I do eat them a couple times a week in my salads.

2. Lie. Although I do think swimming is a great form of exercise, there are a couple reasons I don't do it more. a) I do not have good form. I'm all over the lanes, and I feel like a doofus (sp?). b) This may sound silly, but I don't like getting my hair wet. I only wash my hair a couple times a week so I don't have to straighten it everyday, but if I swam more I would get it wet.

3. True. I can't remember when I started practicing yoga with videos but I remember I was living in Arlington, and I moved away from there 9 years ago. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my class. So much better than videos. My instructor is awesome.

Thanks for playing everyone!

Another year older...

2009-01-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

... another year wiser? Well ...that's left up to your own interpretation.

(This picture was taken 3 years ago. It was my 20th birthday and I was hosting a party. I first introduced myself to Dave when I invited him.)

So in honor of MY day... I thought I would play a little game with y'all to see how well you know me.

It's called two truths and a lie.

The basic idea is to figure out which statements I make about myself are truth and which is a lie. Good luck. I'll reveal my answers in a couple days.

1. Within the last week I decided it was a good idea to make myself eat some healthy foods that I have never liked. The first foods I introduced to my palate were tomatoes and peppers. Yes, I have never really eaten them before in the last 22 years of my life.

2. I am an avid swimmer. I love it because it provides such a good exercise. I only make it to the pool a couple days a week but I would go everyday if I could.

3. After 9 years of practicing yoga using videos, I finally enrolled in my first class. I love it!