08.08.08

Beijing Olympics start today!!! Here is a picture of fireworks above the National Stadium…man, do the Chinese LOVE their fireworks…hey, if I invented something, I would use every opportunity to show it off, too!!


The Chinese are always strategic in choosing dates that are considered lucky days…thus 08.08.08. Aside from the fact that it is very symmetrical and therefore pleasing to the mind (speaking as a former Mathlete) it has significance because eight sounds like the words for “fortune” as well as symbolizing eternity (eight on it’s side is of course the symbol for eternity). For all these reasons and more…we chose to be sealed for all time and eternity last year on 08.08…so, that means…


It’s our anniversary!!! They say the first year is the hardest and I have to say I concur (at least I hope that this statement is true) because (if so), the rest of our lives will be even more fun, easy going, enjoyable and pleasurable than this past year has been!!! Who can be so lucky in life to be spared from sorrow,…but what joy there is in having an eternal companion to laugh together, to progress together, to mourn while I mourn, to thirst while I thirst, to be both a student and a teacher together,…Eric is the greatest husband EVER and I could not feel Heavenly Father’s love more than when I look at Eric and can see and feel all the blessings I have been given as well as the ones that are still yet to come!

Produce Minus 7 Rule

Just so I am not made into a liar and to appease the many (really only Annie has shown any interest) here are the updates on our house…
Here are the stairs…this is actually kind of a funny story…there are advantages and disadvantages to living in a small town, one of the disadvantages is the lack of fresh produce and groceries… here in Kemmerer you have to subtract at least 7 days from how long you normally think you can keep produce… this was a mental adjustment I had to make when I moved here, I used to always account for a two week refrigeration life for milk…again…follow the rule…subtract 7…you have one week (if you are lucky) to drink that whole gallon of milk. Now, for some of you, that is no difficult task…but for us…it’s a little more difficult as I was raised on Soy Milk (sweet delicious milk of beans) and Eric rarely eats breakfast and would choose to drink soda over virtually anything else in life…so, I stopped buying milk…but Eric and his plethora of cereal was starting to stack up and none were being consumed…why, I asked…because there’s no milk…o.k., I will buy milk, but not until I made him fully aware of the produce minus 7 rule. Fine, he agreed…as a reminder to eat the cereal, I laid each box where I knew he would see it…I know his daily routine… I put one in our bedroom, one on the toilet seat, one by his suits and all the way down the stairs…so, it’s now August 6, 2008 and we still have that milk that expired July 11 in our refrigerator and as a matter of principle, I have not thrown it away yet…(for any of you Everybody loves Raymond fans…it’s like the suitcase and the stinky cheese)!

Updates on the house...

Here is a picture of what you see when you first enter our house.



Here is our formal living room (the home teacher room)




Here is our informal living room with the flat screen. The rest of the house is still under construction or pretty uninteresting (more so than these pictures, that is).

Tagged

Ok, I can’t very well not respond to Kristee’s tag as she very diligently responds to my tags. I’m not usually one to openly gush about my husband…but a rule follower I am! SO, here we go…

Four things I like/love about Eric:

1)He always makes me laugh…I think I have a pretty keen sense of humor…and therefore rarely found humor in relationships. I was surprised when an ex-boyfriend of mine commented on how I always made jokes, but never laughed…that’s because no one ever made me laugh, I was the entertainer…with Eric, he is absolutely one of the funniest people I have ever known. While his ability to reference 80’s, 90’s and current pop culture is amazing…it’s actually his talent to find humor in the mundane everyday drudgery of life that keeps me continually laughing and knowing that our house will be one of love and laughter! No one else can make me laugh as hard as he does even when I’m upset…with him!

2)He loves family. I think that’s a quality that often times goes unappreciated. Of course he loves his parents and siblings…first of all, they’re awesome and funny and fun to be around… so, naturally he loves to be around them. On top of that, they are his family. I would say few in the world don’t love their respective families. But to love family, implies so much more than that. It means he loves my family and accepts them as part of his new family…perhaps different from his own, but special and wonderful in their individual way. It means that he respects his role within a family unit and always strives to help and be of assistance when possible. It also means, he yearns to be a father, which encompasses a type of humility and godliness that few can truly appreciate. He is, without a doubt, what I think a family man is.

3)He gives me blessings. I guess that doesn’t seem that special to people, but when you grow up in a household with out a priesthood holder, you really appreciate all that goes into a blessing. It’s sad that we often only receive blessings during times of trial and grief and aren’t able to properly appreciate those tender moments of communication with the Lord. Eric is always willing and worthy to give me a blessing and that means the world to me.

4)He loves my cooking...since cooking is love to me, that shows his appreciation for me and for the love and actions that I do to show him my love for him. Even after all of this time, even though I cook every meal for him, he still always says thank you and raves for a few minutes just to let me know that he appreciate me.

Four Jobs that I’ve had:

(The Last Four)
Private Client Services- Wells Fargo Bank
Branch Manager- Washington Mutual & First Interstate Bank
Acct Receivable & Payroll- Naughton Plant

(My Favorite Four)
English and Math Teacher in Taiwan Language Institute
Lifeguard & Swimming Instructor at Montclair Swim Club
2nd Grade Teacher at Merryhill Davis Elementary School
Sales Director at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco

Four TV Shows that I watch

Gladiators
Wipe Out
The Office
Scare Tactics

Four Places I have been

Cambodia
France
Australia
Thailand

Four people who email me regularly

Eric
My Mom
Kara Torres
Sheila Timmen

The really sad part is that the last two are totally work people (not work people that I’m friends with…just work people emailing me about work!)

Four of my favorite foods

Yu Xiang Eggplant
Tong Zhi Mi Gao (A type of sticky rice and meat dish)
Cong Yio Bing (A green onion tortilla)
Dim Sum (Various “tea-time” treats)

Four Places I’d like to visit

Egypt
Russia
Guatemala
Africa

We’re going to the first two in the next two years,…but it's a no go on the last because my father says that most all of the diseases known to man came from Africa…I couldn’t find any statistic to support or de-validate his claims…but since he’s the doctor…

Four things I’m looking forward to in the next year

Going to Egypt or Russia
Going to New York with my family and (hopefully) Carli to see Wicked in September
Christmas
January with my family

Four People that I tag
Kristina Hopper
Jody Phillips
Annie Palmer (and I WILL update with pictures…why must you make me a liar?!?!)
Becky Patrick (… because you NEVER update your blog!!! Just kidding…I quite enjoy all of your entries)

Updates on our house!

So, these are some of the before pictures. When we were looking at the house...the ever so intelligent and experienced sales agent informed us that the pink carpet was indeed, "original carpet." As if that were a selling point...of course that was about
two seconds before the ridiculously FAT cat threw up on that "original carpet." Anyway..."after" pictures to come a little later...don't you love the suspense?

My friend's Blog today... I had to show everyone!!

THE KRISPY KREME BACON CHEESEBURGER!

Isn't it amazing how combining so many things that are so good makes for something so thoroughly unappetizing?

Jell-o CAKE!!!

Some of you might remember an older post I had telling of the glorious snack that is, “JELLO POPCORN.” Well, I have a new one for those of you who wrote of your new found love for it…I now introduce, “Jell-o Cake.” I try to make people cakes for their birthdays. As is tradition, I always let them pick out the cake they want…sometimes you find exciting new combinations (for instance, Carrot Cake with chocolate frosting…a surprisingly complementary combination)…and other times you know that it will be the only time you ever make it (pistachio crème cake with peanut butter frosting….not good…not good at all!)…and every once in a while you stumble on a real winner (case in point: Jell-o Cake). Pictured are me and my friend Delmar (the nicest man in the world- next to Eric) with the cake he requested for his birthday. It is very simple…you use any white cake recipe you have, bake it and then pour Jell-o over it….in this case I used a bundt cake pan with a more pound cake like recipe, Lime Jell-o and topped it off with fresh whipped cream…man, was it SO GOOD…REFESHING was the word everybody used…anyway…you should all try it if you liked the Jell-o Popcorn. I’ve decided that I am going to use it as a family tradition…maybe St. Patty’s Day.

Oh, if any of you are looking for a great way to mess with someone at work, I have the perfect little trick- maybe it’s elementary for most of you…but for me, it caused quite the commotion. So, after I ate a large watermelon wedge at my desk for breakfast today I noticed that it leaked all over my desk. So as to reduce stickiness, I decided to get out the cleaning solution and really clean my desk…since I was already cleaning, I thought I’ll quickly wipe down my keyboard…now, I realize a smarter person would have thought to lock their keyboard…but really, it was a quick wipe and did not think it would do much….much to my chagrin…my email preferences were all changed and more importantly my screen was completely up-side down…even Mike the IT guy couldn’t get it figured out for about half an hour….so, long story short…you just right click on the desktop, go to graphic option, rotation and click on 180 degrees…it’ll at least frustrate whoever you do it to…even if it’s just for a short moment!