Snow Day on the Peninsula

Well this has been a very interesting week. Full of stormy weather and snow, not as much as Spokane ended up with, but enough to cause quite a mess. The roads became very slick with the snow pack and on Thursday it took me 5 hours to make my 25 minute drive home because of all the traffic, accidents, and ice. I thought I would put up a few pictures of our yard for everyone to see.

Our Thanksiving Trip 2008

We had a wonderful trip to see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately we forgot our camera and had to resort to disposable camera's for our trip. We have a few good pictures and are still waiting for more to be developed.

This is a picture of Chris and Riley (his niece) on Thanksgiving Day. This was after he returned from the fishing trip with the guys at Eagle Lake, CA. Where out of 9 men who went fishing the only person to catch a fish was the 6 year old with the Spiderman fishing pole. Below is a picture of Bryson with his catch.

Robbie and CJ came and visited us for the holiday since we were in town. Robbie was Chris's best man for our wedding and we had not seen him since the wedding. It was fun to have them in town and to get to know them better. They had some very big news because they are now engaged to be married! Yay for Robbie and CJ!

This is a picture of Linda's (mom) new home in Silver Springs, NV. We made it over to see her on Friday to have another Thanksgiving dinner. It was a very nice weekend.


This was taken after we finished eating dinner on Friday. On another exciting note from our trip, Dan and Suzy announced their engagement to the family on Thursday. I tried to get pictures of that announcement but I don't think they turned out... They are planning on getting married mid march of 2009. I will have pictures to follow from our trip to Virginia City, NV on Saturday. It was a great trip and we are excited to see the family again in March and then we hope to make it down to California again. Hopefully it will not take another 1 and 1/2 years to make it down there.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

T’was the night of Thanksgiving,
But I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards,
I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned,
The dark meat and white.
But I fought the temptation,
With all of my might.
Tossing and turning,with anticipation.
The thought of a snackbecame infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen,
Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge,
Full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey,
And buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots,
Beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling,
So plump and so round.
‘til all of a sudden,
I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling,
Floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding,
And a handful of pie.
But I managed to yell
As I soared past the trees
Happy eating to all,
Pass the cranberries, please!!
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
May your pies take the prize
And May your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off of your thighs!
by Lauren

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Promises To Keep Live

Starting the season off right!!

Too early for Christmas music? Some may think so, I once refused to listen to any Christmas music until Thanksgiving. Things have changed, and we are very excited for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Only a few weeks left until we go down and see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. We had a special treat to start off the Christmas music this year. We went with my parents to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They really didn't know what they were getting into when we invited them to come with us, I think that they had fun though. It was an amazing show. I have never been to a show with so many lights and fire. It was very neat and they sound great live. I was sad that we were not able to take any pictures of the show, they do not allow it. However I posted a sample of their music below. They have many great songs that I enjoy. One of my favorite song is Promises to Keep, and part of that is for the following phrase that is in the song:

If our kindness this day is just pretending
If we pretend long enough
Never giving up
It just might be who we are

I will have to post that song also. We had a great time and highly recommend the show to anyone who has the chance to see it.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - This Christmas Day

BYOP Party- The Big Night

Well, on Saturday we finally had our big party. We spent Friday night in the Emergency room waiting to hear about my grandpa. It turned out to be a minor stroke, he seems fine, but we are waiting on some more tests. We were sad that him and my grandma could not make it to our party, however we were very happy that he is doing very well. Saturday was a very busy day, we went to the Seattle Temple in the morning and then we came home and cleaned and got everything ready for the party. My parents were a very big help, and everything came together well. Many people showed up, carved/painted pumpkins, decorated sugar cookies and cupcakes, and visited. Below are some pictures from the party. We are thinking of making this an annual party.

This is the pumpkin I carved, it took a really long time. I think it turned out very well though.

Here is Chris watching "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

The decorating table

Ammon and Heather with their pumpkin masterpieces

It is a party

Richard and Becky with their pumpkin

Kayla and her painted pumpkin

I like this picture... pumpkin heads!

It was such a fun night. Thanks to everyone who came and had fun with us. To those who missed it hopefully you will have another chance next year.

BYOP Party!

You may wonder, "What is a BYOP party?" Well, I will tell you it is a Bring Your Own Pumpkin party. Chris and I are excited to be throwing a pre-Halloween party for friends and family. We will be doing pumpkin carving, or painting. Eating pumpkin bread and yummy treats. We are going make sugar cookies and maybe even award prizes to those who deserve them. We went to Wal-Mart yesterday before our dinner with Father Jim and got some fun decorations and supplies for the party. We will take lots of pictures and I'm sure we will have some fun stories to tell!

The dinner went well last night. I am sorry to report that he is feeling like he is a nuisance at our ward because he cannot get his questions answered. It makes me sad that we as church member can make others feel badly like that. He knows a lot about the bible which makes sense since he was a Catholic Minister for many years and went through Eight Years of schooling to do so. One of the problems that he is having is that we as members are not always the best speakers. To which my response is that it is just members who get up and talk, most are not trained public speakers. His next question was "well then why doesn't your church offer a class to help the members improve their speaking skills?" What a good idea! We talked a lot about the differences in beliefs between Mormon Doctrine and Catholic Doctrine. It was good conversation, no arguments, no bashing or unkind picking apart of doctrine. I learned a lot and was able to share some of what I believe, it was a wonderful opportunity. I am very thankful for it.

October Update

So it is October 1st 2008... We are still having lots of fun, waiting to see what life will bring. In the near future we have the following items to look forward to:
1. Making a trip to the dump
2. Laundry/dishes ect..
3. General Conference on Saturday and Sunday!
4. We are going to dinner at Father Jim's house on Saturday. He is an investigator at our church and was a catholic preacher for a very long time. It should be an interesting dinner, I hope it goes well.
5. Finishing/Starting Christmas presents.
6. Finishing my Halloween projects
7. Teaching the Valient 12 class at church
8. Cleaning the house (it is never-ending)
9. Fixing and selling the Jetta
10. Trying to get out of our cell phone contract
11. Waiting for some new babies.. (Baby Maverick due to come soon! Congrats to Tim and Liz)
12. Work, Work, Work...
13. Getting pictures taken for Christmas cards

That is a little list of how we keep busy. We also are watching the Band of Brothers series (Chris got it for his birthday), and Back to the Future (Chris bought the box set for his birthday). Cooper has a few new toys that my mom bought for him, he is a spoiled grandpuppy. We hope all is well with everyone else.

We Made Cookies!

Chris and I are getting very excited for another holiday season. We have started plans for many of our Christmas presents for family. Today we even made the yummy cookies Chris remembers having at home during the holidays. They are really good!

We are excited to go down to Nevada/California for Thanksgiving to see and stay with family. We have not seen many of them since our wedding. So it will be very nice, and will only be my second time at Chris' Dad's Home. Two of our friends, Robbie and CJ, are planning to come see us while we are in the area! For Christmas we will stay at home and spend the day with my family. It will be fun this year because we are going to go and cut down our own Christmas Tree! It will be the first Christmas tree we will have together, besides the small 32inch fiber optic tree we had last year. We even have a fireplace with a mantle for our stockings! It will be so nice, and I am excited to decorate our house. Below are some pictures of the yummy cookies we made :P

Happy Birthday Chris!

Chris turned 24 today! We had a very fun weekend. We spent Saturday at our stake picnic, Chris and I even got to spend time out in a pedal boat. That night we went and celebrated his birthday with my family, and had yummy cake. Sunday we went to church and met many of the kids we are going to be teaching starting next Sunday. I made him a special birthday dinner of french dip sandwiches (homemade), and roasted potatoes. It was a very fun weekend! Happy Birthday Chris, I LOVE You!!!

Thankgiving Plans! Take 2

We are flying! Yup we jst booked tickets from Seattle to Reno, NV today. We will be arriving in Reno Wednesday November 26th at 11:10am and we will fly out of Reno on Sunday November 30th at 5:10pm, to arrive back at Sea-Tac at 7:05pm. We are excited to have more time to spend with family during the weekend by cutting out A LOT of Travel time. We also thank Mom (Linda) for her help with our tickets! So we will see all of you in California and Nevada soon.

Looking Forward to Thanksgiving

I turned in my request for time off at work today. We were going to leave after I got off work and drive down to Carson City, NV which is about a 12 and a half hour drive. We decided that we should try to leave earlier to maximize our time to see family and friends who live in the area. It should be a fun trip!

September Already!

It is hard to believe that we are already in the month of September! This year has gone by very fast, and a lot has happened. We are doing very well currently, we are both working hard, and trying to figure out what is next. My little brother Zachary just started High School today! I can't believe that he is that old, I missed a lot while I was away at shool. We were able to see Mandy, Bryson, and Riley during their layover at the Sea-tac Airport. It was fun to see them again. I am teaching a preschool class at Kindercare currently, I have applied to a few other jobs so we will see what happens. Chris is working on a few different projects at work, and getting lots of hours in currently. He has been given 2 raises in the last month which is really exciting.
For our 1 year anniversary we went on a road trip/camping trip around Olympic National Park. We visited the Hoh Rain Forest, and the ocean. We camped at a Forest Service Campground that was $5.00 a night and nice because we had a site off all by ourselves. Unfortunatly it started raining pretty hard in the morning and our tent started leaking. We packed up our site in the rain and then headed off to the rain forest. We had a great wet hike through the Hall of Mosses trail at the Hoh Rain Forest. After that we drove over to the ocean, stopping to see a few sites on the way, and trying to find some food to eat, because it was raining and we didn't feel like cooking in the rain. The ocean was lots of fun because it stopped raining and we got to play on the beach with Cooper. He loves the Ocean! All in all it was a great trip, we were tired when we got home, but have some good stories and some great memories.
On August 25th we ate our wedding cake that had been in the freezer for a whole year, and it was actually still very good. For Labor Day weekend we went shoe shopping on Saturday, to my friend Ali's wedding reception on Saturday night, and then we headed out to my families lake house for the rest of the weekend. We spent some time in the kayaks, and went swimming a couple times. We had fun relaxing the rest of the time with my family that was there.
This was a somewhat random recap of what we have been doing. We miss everyone who we don't get to see often enough. I hope everyone is well.

A Year Later!

While in Portland we visited the Temple again. This was the first time we had been back to the Portland temple since we were married last August, almost 1 year later. It was wonderful to be back. It is a beautiful temple, and holds such wonderful memories, for it is the place where I was sealed to my eternal companion.

August 25th, 2007

August 10th, 2008

This has been a wonderful year, and I feel so blessed to have been given such a wonderful husband who cares for me so well. Who always makes sure that I know how much he loves me, and who believes in me when I don't believe in myself. It has been so wonderful to experience being married, and growing together as a couple. I am just so happy and blessed!

Wow it has been a long time...

Sorry I have not posted for a LONG time. It has been a very crazy few months. We moved again and are now living in Gig Harbor, close to my family. However we both have jobs and will be able to build up some savings, and well it is where Heavenly Father wants us. He made that clear. Everything worked out for this move, we had jobs over here and a place to live within 2 days of talking about moving. It was really amazing. My Aunt and Uncle are renting to us, and are really helping us out. We have to find out a way to let them know how much we appreciate it. I think we can start by paying rent.. haha :). Lets see. Last weekend was fun, Chris and I went to Portland and we got to see his brother Dan. I also took Chris to the Portland Zoo. It was his first time EVER going to the zoo, I think it is crazy. However it was fun to be there on his first Zoo visit. After the zoo we went and met up with Dan. Went to dinner, then we went swimming which was lots of fun also. Following are a few pictures from our summer 2008.

Bumping Lake, WA

On the hike to Boulder Cave, WA
My family after the boulder cave hike
Tim and Liz came and stayed with us on the 4th of July! We had lots of fun.
Outside the Portland Zoo! Chris' first trip to a zoo.

Cool Desert Nights

Today Chris and I went to a pancake feed and then walked around and looked at alot of classic cars. There were a few that I really liked so I thought I would put the pictures in of the cars that I enjoyed seeing most and then he can highlight all of his for everyone. Since my list will be much shorter probably.

This is a picture of my ring in front of a 41 Coupe.

This is an old VW and I really like it.

1911 Maxwell, one of only 86 known remaining.

I like the stain glass windows, a very nice touch.

I think this one won "Best of Show" I mean why wouldn't it??

I haven't written on the blog for a little while, so I thought I would bring everyone up to date. Last Saturday Steph and I went shopping at every yard sale and church rummage sale that we could find... several hours and $75 later this is what we ended up with: Graco carseat and stroller set, 2 dresses, child's coat rack, unopened "no room at the inn" 1000 piece puzzle, 2+ bags of children's clothing, 40-50 children's books, 10 LDS books, miscellaneous other children's toys and puzzles, 2 travel sized pillows, a few rolls of fabric, and a bag of cotton stuffing. What did we buy all of this junk for? There are many reasons, the first of which is to help us to get our home daycare idea rolling. The other reasons range from because it was a good deal, to it looked interesting, to we needed it for ourselves. Later that same week we went to the local bike shop which just happened to be having a going out of business sale. Once again we bought a few things that we were in need of to get our exercise routine started and spent next to nothing doing it. We were feeling very thrifty and tried to get the most "bang for our buck".

We are both still working at Kindercare and I am becoming more comfortable around children. I, at times, really enjoy my new line of work (it's great to get paid to play Foosball!). Of course the other end of the spectrum exists regularly as well, some days I just want to pull my hair out and relish thoughts of changing tires for a living, but those thoughts usually vanish by the end of the day.

Lastly, I am attending a new student orientation at CBC (the local community college) Tuesday of next week. I am anxious to get the whole college experience started. Similarly, I performed an oral interview with the local electrical apprenticeship committee and just wanted to brag about my score... A 91%!

More Changes

So, we are going through some more changes. Chris will be switching jobs on MONDAY!! I am very excited about this change. It means that we will have our weekends back and can go camping this summer! I just thought I would leave a little note to update everyone on our current situation. On another note, my Grandma and Grandpa Wright came to visit us this weekend and we had a great time visiting with them. Sadly Chris had to work on Saturday so my grandparents and I went to the fabric store and they bought me fabric for my next quilt project. Then we went shopping and then to the Temple. My grandparents came over with Cecil and shirley (relatives) so they could visit with Gloria who lives here in the Tri-Cities. I had dinner with them and my grandparents and learned some more information about my family. It was a fun evening and I enjoyed it.

State Park

A Job Finally?

So I think I might be starting my new job at Firestone on Wednesday. I guess it only takes 2 months for them to process an application and have it approved (by every member of their company, or so it seems). I am glad to finally (hopefully) be able to earn my share of income to support ourselves. Also I would like to update everyone on my educational persuits; I am seriously considering attaining education in order to become a liscensed pharmacist. It looks like it is going to be at least 7 years of school, 4 of which are graduate level, and a lot of math, science, and chemistry. I feel that it is a career I could really excel in, and I would be helping people to better their lives. I would love to hear any questions, comments, concerns, or leads/assistance that any of you might have about this recent development. I wish everyone the best of luck and the most joy possible!

Baby Quilt

I thought I should put up a picture of the baby quilt I am making. I think it is turning out very nice so far. It is simple but cute. The only step I have left to complete is the binding which is the yellow and star pattern alternating around the whole quilt. It is really cute. This was a very fun project I started when my parents came to visit, a couple weekends ago. while they were here we worked on this quilt, went to Batemen Island, and watched Zach do tricks at the skate park here in Richland. For dinner I made Sweet and Sour Meatballs, and rice it was really good. Since then I have been busy working, and spending time with Chris and Cooper. This weekend we are excited to have Chris's Mom and her dogs Kazi and Kola come over and spend some time with us before they move. We will update later and hopefully have some pictures to document her visit and the adventures we go on.

Road Trip!

This past Saturday Stephanie and I took a road trip. We were just sitting on our bed in the morning when she asked me if we had any plans for the day. I thought for a moment and then replied "I don't think so..." She then proceeded to say "Let's go on a road trip! I haven't taken you on one of those yet have I?" The answer was no, she was astounded, and we took off for the day. As we left Richland the only destination in mind was south to Oregon. As we crossed into the next state I asked if we could go to Joseph, OR. I remember having gone there about 5 1/2 years ago and I thought she would really enjoy the scenery. We looked at the map, found our route and headed that way. We tried to be as spontaneous as possible, stopping any time we thought something might make a memory... or a good picture... A little bit after we reached the far side of Pendleton food started to become prevalent in our minds. We stopped at a place called "Cody's" for lunch. It was a small restaurant next to a big rig fueling station. The food was decent and the people were nice, but we had finished eating, so we left to continue our adventure. On the way to our next stop we came upon a vista while climbing a mountain slope. When we paused to take a look we realized that we could see 2 mountains off in the distance (I found out later that they are Mount Hood and Mount Adams) and it was a beautiful sight. Somewhere in between there and La Grande, we drove through an unexpectedly well maintained campground. The snow was probably 2' deep and yet the roads were plowed and there were cars and people there! Upon continuing our investigation of this peculiar camping area we found out that there were cabins there and that the people were staying in those and not tents (thank heaven!). As we drove through La Grande, OR we got lost (only a little though), and on our exit we saw "the new outlet grocery store", or "Grocery Outlet", which apparently had it's grand opening that very same day. The sun was getting low and we were worried that we might not reach Wallowa Lake before sunset. Unanimously, we decided we needed to limit our stopping so often, in attempt to get pictures of the frozen river "flowing" through the snow covered mountains. When we arrived in Joseph, it was still light, and we were driven to see the lake before it was dark. A few miles later and we saw a glorious view of the lake... It was covered in ice! I had no idea that it would be frozen over like that! We hurried along, got to the campground entrance, and gazed astonishingly at the wonderful views, but not after stopping to figure out what had caused a blue mountain of ice that was still spurting water out the top! The lake was so serene, and the people we met there told us they lived about an hour away and visited Lake Wallowa often and liked it most in the winter because of the lack of crowds. They also said they had never seen the lake frozen like this before and they were surprised to see it so. We asked them to take a picture of us, which they were happy to do, and we thanked them for being so friendly, but it was getting cold for us and Cooper had turned into a snowball once again, so we decided to head back to Joseph. Once there we thought we should have dinner before our trip home. We looked around for some good food, and our decision was to eat at a place called "Outlaw Restaurant & Saloon" (unfortunately I did not get a picture of the place). It was decorated nicely for the upcoming holiday of Valentine's Day, and the people were friendly and attentive. Stephanie ordered their French dip, and I arrived at the choice of chicken strips. When the food arrived, it was HOT! My chicken was good, and I tried some of Stehp's French Dip. When I did this I found out that I had definitely ordered the lesser meal. I was glad to help her out when she could not finish her meal and must say that is the best French Dip I have ever eaten. Deciding the route to go home was the next step, I suggested that we go a different way than the one we came in on, Stephanie agreed, and we started back home. About an hour form Joseph we began climbing a pass through the Blue Mountains and we found out quickly why The man at the "Outlaw" was somewhat surprised to hear that we were going back to the Tri-Cities through Walla Walla. The pass was icy and snow covered the road. I was reduced to putting the truck in 4 wheel drive and doing about 35 mph! It was amazing that people (2 trucks) passed me and probably going 50! On ice! Coming off the pass we saw a lot of lights and I must say... I had no idea that Walla Walla was that big of a place. Old town was pretty neat though, and we can now say that we've been to Walla Walla. We arrived home late, and did little before going to bed... What an adventure! I might also make mention that we are now planning to go back to Lake Wallowa to honeymoon for our 1 year anniversary. We want to stay in one of the cabins there and since Labor day is right after our anniversary, we are planning on taking a long weekend to go explore that area some more. These are, however, just ideas, and we may not be able to fulfill them, but we are going to try!

Do You Like Winter?

The winter is a hard season. The weather is cold, wet, and windy. People stay inside all day, children (and Stephanie) longing to PLAY outside. I just wanted to go for a walk yesterday, that should be easy, right? So Chris, Cooper, and I all loaded up in the car and went to the park by the river. Only to find that the path was covered with ice and snow, like everything else. The ice was so thick that when we stepped on it we could see the water moving underneath. I don't know why I thought they would clear that path when they don't even plow the residential streets, but I was really hoping they would. Needless to say our walk was short and cold. Despite the fact that it is cold during the winter I also find such beauty to go along with it. I love the white blanket of snow it really does bring joy to my heart.

I also like storms, one of my favorite memories from when Chris and I were getting to know eachother occured during a storm. We were in Pullman at Dan's and there was a lot of people over watching Eight Below, during this movie is when Chris first held my hand. Then after the movie everyone else went home, it was a pretty stormy night. Him and I sat talking and cuddling (no kissing though) for a long time and watched the storm through the windows , then the power went out, so we sat there longer not wanting to end the evening. Anyways we eventually decided that I needed to get home before the weather got even worse.

So, even though winter can be hard, and depressing. It can also be exhillerating and fun. It means sledding, snowmen, snowdays, and storms. It means camping in the livingroom, playing games with family, it means holidays and good food. I have decided that the good really does outweigh the bad even though I can't go for my walk. Spring and summer will be here before we know it.

We Will Miss You President Hinkley!

SALT LAKE CITY 27 January 2008 President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.
President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.
The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from causes incident to age. Members of his family were at his bedside. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Hinckley’s funeral within the next few days.

Continued...

Snow Day in Richland

Snow in Richland. We woke up this morning to snow on the ground, and it is still snowing right now. The Tri-Cities area rarely gets this much snow and when it happens people just stay home. For the first time in years they canceled church, so no one needed to travel on the icy roads. It was reported to me that last night because of the ice there was a City of Richland Plow truck overturned in a ditch. This becuase all of Saturday there was freezing rain/hail and reported up to two inches of ice on the roads. We are having quite the winter storm over here. It is not all bad though in fact it gave Chris, Cooper, and I the chance to play in the snow. We tried to have a snowball fight and make a snowman, however the snow was a little too dry. It was still fun, we made some snow angels and had a great time.
Pictures taken by: Stephanie Appel