John Bytheway gives a talk on CD that I love - it's called What I Wish I'd Known When I Was Single. In that talk he emphasizes how unattractive it is when someone is obsessed that they aren't married yet (Amen!). And he quotes a church leader that talks about how marriage is not likely be to achieved through a direct and pointed campaign. At this point John Bytheway describes his visualization of someone campaigning for a spouse: carrying a sign and chanting, "Me for spouse! Me for spouse!" I've laughed at that everytime. As I've neared my 5 year mark at BYU I've thought to myself, "I wonder if one of my alluring persuasions to be my spouse would be that I could offer free tuition to BYU - if I were campaigning like that?" And guess what! I can offer that!! Yes! Free tuition to BYU if you marry me. But now if only I were campaigning for a spouse, huh?Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Would you be my spouse for free tuition at BYU??
Ha! I have now worked full-time at BYU for five (5) full years! With that accomplishment comes my eligibility (or actually my spouse's eligibility) for FREE TUITION to Brigham Young University. Of course, my spouse would have to be accepted to his undergraduate OR GRADUATE program on his own merits, but I can get his tuition whacked off our list of bills to pay! If only I had a spouse.... :o)
John Bytheway gives a talk on CD that I love - it's called What I Wish I'd Known When I Was Single. In that talk he emphasizes how unattractive it is when someone is obsessed that they aren't married yet (Amen!). And he quotes a church leader that talks about how marriage is not likely be to achieved through a direct and pointed campaign. At this point John Bytheway describes his visualization of someone campaigning for a spouse: carrying a sign and chanting, "Me for spouse! Me for spouse!" I've laughed at that everytime. As I've neared my 5 year mark at BYU I've thought to myself, "I wonder if one of my alluring persuasions to be my spouse would be that I could offer free tuition to BYU - if I were campaigning like that?" And guess what! I can offer that!! Yes! Free tuition to BYU if you marry me. But now if only I were campaigning for a spouse, huh?
John Bytheway gives a talk on CD that I love - it's called What I Wish I'd Known When I Was Single. In that talk he emphasizes how unattractive it is when someone is obsessed that they aren't married yet (Amen!). And he quotes a church leader that talks about how marriage is not likely be to achieved through a direct and pointed campaign. At this point John Bytheway describes his visualization of someone campaigning for a spouse: carrying a sign and chanting, "Me for spouse! Me for spouse!" I've laughed at that everytime. As I've neared my 5 year mark at BYU I've thought to myself, "I wonder if one of my alluring persuasions to be my spouse would be that I could offer free tuition to BYU - if I were campaigning like that?" And guess what! I can offer that!! Yes! Free tuition to BYU if you marry me. But now if only I were campaigning for a spouse, huh?
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Hope of a Garden
Well, I planted an actual garden this year! That possibility was one more added bonus to moving into the house that I currently live in - there is a little garden patch in the backyard! Although I am nervous that it is doomed to fail!!! Waaa. For three reasons:- I planted it yesterday . . . on a Sunday . . . the Sabbath. I'm thinking it might be struck with lightning . . . but the prophets have counseled that we have a garden, right?
- The garden patch only gets a couple hours of direct sunlight each day.
- I am a total amateur gardener, obviously . . . since I ignored the fact of #2 above.
In my garden, I planted:Two tomato plants - I even put Wall-o-Waters around them to help them out
Six yellow bell pepper plants
One green bell pepper plants
Two strawberry plants
Cilantro
Basil
Chives
Two leftover Lobelias
And I also planted some flower pots. One is a gorgeous pink Cala Lilly, one is my quintessential Fuschia with Lobelia (I've actually been successful with this one for the past couple of years), one has a New Guinea Impatient, and the last has a cute little Dahlia in a cute little orange pot. I love gardening and maybe some day, I will actually have the green thumb to garden
successfully. But until then, I really hope this garden survives and my pie-in-the-sky hope is that it will actually produce some viable vegetables! Stay tuned....
Sunday, May 11, 2008
My Trip to Europe
Well, here it is - the long-awaited-for summary of my trip to Europe. It was great! Of course. We had a splendid time.
What one place was my favorite? Salzburg, Austria. It was small, quiet, quaint, clean, the people were nice, nearly everyone spoke English, the food was good, there was so much to do and see, and our Bed & Breakfast was phenomenal! We knew the instant we got there that we had not planned enough time in Salzburg.
Overall we took 800 photos between the two of us, but you will only see a few of them on this blog entry. To see more, but not the full 800, click here. Here are 'some of my favorite things' about the trip:
Our 10-hour lay-over in New York City.
Awestruck at Ground Zero.
Views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from Battery Park.
Famous NYC hot dogs.
Steaming manholes in Times Square.
Flags of Rockefeller Plaza.
Today Show studios.
Going to church in Zurich, Switzerland.
Heavenly Father seriously led us there - we didn't have our GPS yet.
The members were so nice.
It felt like home.
Downtown Zurich with lunch on the river and a stroll through the carnival.
Band playing at the carnival.
Beautiful sunny day reflecting off the lake.
Weiner schnitzel for lunch.
The Swiss countryside and villages.
Little benches at the top of hills, between two trees, overlooking a village.
Swiss cows - still don't know if they wear the bells.
Even dandelions were beautiful in Switzerland!
Quaint churches in the middle of every village.
Incredibly nice Swiss people.
Our B&B hostess.
The lady that helped us get out of the car park garage by letting us follow her through the gate.
Yummy Swiss food.
The chocolate!
Breakfast of bread, 3 cheeses, butter, jams, yogurts and orange juice.
German Autobahns.
I drove 140 km/h.
Jed drove 200 km/h.
Watching a Porsche smoke a BMW.
One-lane roads with tw0-way traffic and covered bridges.
I got to drive through the covered bridge.
Jed got the really bad one-lane road with two-way traffic.
Extravagant castles and palaces.
Neuschwanstein Castle (aka the Sleeping Beauty Castle), Germany
Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg, Austria
Hellbrunn Palace (with their trick fountains)
Doge's Palace, Venice, Italy
Amazing cathedrals & basilicas.
Munster Cathedral, Basel, Switzerland
Salzburg Cathedral
St. Mark's Basilica, Venice
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome
Our very own Sound of Music Tour.
Leopoldskron Schloss - back of the house in the film.
Hellbrunn Gardens - '16 going on 17' Gazebo.
Mirabell Gardens & Pegasus Fountain - 'Do Re Mi' song with kids exploring the city.
Residenz Platz - the fountain is reflected on her bus window.
Hearing the very same cathedral and church bells as in the movie.
Two cable car rides in Salzburg.
One to the top of Untersberg Mountain outside of Salzburg.
One to the top of the Salzburg Fortress.
Biking in downtown Salzburg and along the river.
Jed's incessant ringing of his bike bell.
My bell was broken.
Our Salzburg Bed & Breakfast.
The sweetest hostess - Fanziska.
Our own bathroom.
Two bikes we could use for free.
Down comforters.
The sound of birds chirping coming through the bathroom window while I got ready for the day.
20-minutes, by bike, from downtown Salzburg but outside of the hustle and bustle.
Hallstatt, Austria
Lakeside village with population of ~900
Terraced structures to accommodate the small amount of land between the mountains and the lake.
The salt mine we toured.
The wooden slides in the salt mine.
The Provo couple we ran into in the salt mine.
The drive from Salzburg to Venice.
Austrian and then Italian Alps.
Countless tunnels that were 6 or 7 kms long.
Chaos of Italy
Monstrous thunder and hail storm with 1-2 inches of water on the motorway - as we drove into Italy.
Getting lost even with a GPS giving us directions.
Taking a wrong exit and trying out a brand new motorway that no one else was on.
Finding a gas station that was open - which none were.
Guessing how much money to feed the auto-gas-pump thing to fill up our car.
22 euro (~$35) charge per 12 hours for a car park in Venice that we had to pay since our car rental place was closed.
Walking around the Roma Termini train station for an hour - trying to find the tourist information office.
Taking the bus to our Rome B&B in stead of the metro like I planned.
Crazy drivers in Rome - you take your life into your hands to cross the street.
Expensive toll roads.
The bus that never came to our stop in Rome on Sunday.
Gondolas of Venice.
They really do wear striped shirts and straw hats (well, maybe some of them).
The ones that would come down our very own, personal canal outside our B&B room window.
The ones with the accordion player and singer.
Sights and sounds of Venice.
Watching a resident close the shutters of her window.
Watching another resident open her shutters a crack to peak out in the early morning sun.
Waking up to the bells of St. Mark's Basilica.
The numerous souvenir carts all over St. Mark's Square full of Venetian masks, Murano glassware, and even gelato.
Skinny little alleys.
Costume shops for Carnival.
Pigeons everywhere and on everything - including people.
Being able to walk across the island of Venice in 30 minutes.
Visitors in Venice.
My previous roommate, Chiara, is from Italy and she came into Venice to see me!
Meeting her darling daughter, Matilda, and great husband, Moreno.
Rialto Bridge market, Venice.
The throng of residents, tourists, and shoppers.
The cup of strawberries and grapes (with seeds) I bought for 1.50 euros.
Dried pastas.
More gelato.
Leather anything.
Italian food in Venice.
Divine pizza! (better than Rome)
Pretty good lasagna.
Delectable gelato.
Views from the train between Venice and Rome.
Little vineyards in every yard.
Abundant red poppies.
Cotton floating in the air.
Tree-lined streets leading to a colorful villa on a hill surrounded by vineyards.
The top of the dome of the famous cathedral in Florence.
Roman antiquity.
2,000 year old ruins in the Roman Forum.
The one remaining toe on the foot of a long-gone statue in the Roman Forum.
The Colosseum. Period.
The Pantheon and its great dome with the sky light in it.
Sights and sounds of Rome.
Street performer in Piazza Venezia playing the guitar.
Street performer near the Pantheon wearing a sombrero and playing the violin.
The fountains of Piazza Navona.
Occasional Roman ruin with modern buildings built around it.
Market selling paintings in the Piazza Navona.
Local hot spot - gelateria chuck full of locals.
Villa Pamphili park with wild grass that is never mowed or watered and crammed full of locals.
The pizzeria that told us they would open at 7 pm and then when we stopped by again they said 7:30 pm.
The Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica.
Making a wish at Trevi Fountain, Rome.
Amidst a million other tourists.
Threw one American coin and one euro coin.
Wished for... can you share that wish? You can probably guess it.
Random stuff.
Our car rental upgrade from a Kia to an Alfa Romeo.
Decision to take the train to Rome from Venice in stead of driving.
Ear plugs. Period.
Immunity to jet lag - so awesome! I feel a little tired, but my body adjusts to the new time so easily.
Our trip home.
The warehouse terminal of the Rome Leonardo da Vinci Fiumcino Aiport we had to check in at.
The two shuttles we had to take to get back to a regular terminal to catch our flight.
The lack of seating near our gate.
Jed's carry-on being searched, but not mine.
The band, Augustana, sitting in coach with us on our flight.
11-hour flight from Rome to Chicago.
4-hour lay-over in Chicago.
3 1/2-hour flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City - that I don't remember since I promptly fell asleep.
The jet engine exhaust that flooded the back of the plane where we sat when we landed in SLC.
Souvenirs
Chocolate! - Basel, Switzerland
Music box that plays 'Edelweiss' - Salzburg
Venetian mask - Venice
Murano glass bead bracelet - Venice
P.S. Jed and I are just friends.
What one place was my favorite? Salzburg, Austria. It was small, quiet, quaint, clean, the people were nice, nearly everyone spoke English, the food was good, there was so much to do and see, and our Bed & Breakfast was phenomenal! We knew the instant we got there that we had not planned enough time in Salzburg.
Overall we took 800 photos between the two of us, but you will only see a few of them on this blog entry. To see more, but not the full 800, click here. Here are 'some of my favorite things' about the trip:
Our 10-hour lay-over in New York City.Awestruck at Ground Zero.
Views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from Battery Park.
Famous NYC hot dogs.
Steaming manholes in Times Square.
Flags of Rockefeller Plaza.
Today Show studios.
Going to church in Zurich, Switzerland.
Heavenly Father seriously led us there - we didn't have our GPS yet.
The members were so nice.
It felt like home.
Downtown Zurich with lunch on the river and a stroll through the carnival.Band playing at the carnival.
Beautiful sunny day reflecting off the lake.
Weiner schnitzel for lunch.
The Swiss countryside and villages.
Little benches at the top of hills, between two trees, overlooking a village.
Swiss cows - still don't know if they wear the bells.
Even dandelions were beautiful in Switzerland!
Quaint churches in the middle of every village.
Incredibly nice Swiss people.
Our B&B hostess.
The lady that helped us get out of the car park garage by letting us follow her through the gate.
Yummy Swiss food.The chocolate!
Breakfast of bread, 3 cheeses, butter, jams, yogurts and orange juice.
German Autobahns.
I drove 140 km/h.
Jed drove 200 km/h.
Watching a Porsche smoke a BMW.
One-lane roads with tw0-way traffic and covered bridges.
I got to drive through the covered bridge.
Jed got the really bad one-lane road with two-way traffic.Extravagant castles and palaces.
Neuschwanstein Castle (aka the Sleeping Beauty Castle), Germany
Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg, Austria
Hellbrunn Palace (with their trick fountains)
Doge's Palace, Venice, Italy
Amazing cathedrals & basilicas.
Munster Cathedral, Basel, Switzerland
Salzburg Cathedral
St. Mark's Basilica, VeniceSt. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome
Our very own Sound of Music Tour.
Leopoldskron Schloss - back of the house in the film.
Hellbrunn Gardens - '16 going on 17' Gazebo.
Mirabell Gardens & Pegasus Fountain - 'Do Re Mi' song with kids exploring the city.
Residenz Platz - the fountain is reflected on her bus window.
Hearing the very same cathedral and church bells as in the movie.
Two cable car rides in Salzburg.One to the top of Untersberg Mountain outside of Salzburg.
One to the top of the Salzburg Fortress.
Biking in downtown Salzburg and along the river.
Jed's incessant ringing of his bike bell.
My bell was broken.
Our Salzburg Bed & Breakfast.
The sweetest hostess - Fanziska.
Our own bathroom.
Two bikes we could use for free.
Down comforters.
The sound of birds chirping coming through the bathroom window while I got ready for the day.
20-minutes, by bike, from downtown Salzburg but outside of the hustle and bustle.
Hallstatt, AustriaLakeside village with population of ~900
Terraced structures to accommodate the small amount of land between the mountains and the lake.
The salt mine we toured.
The wooden slides in the salt mine.
The Provo couple we ran into in the salt mine.
The drive from Salzburg to Venice.
Austrian and then Italian Alps.
Countless tunnels that were 6 or 7 kms long.
Chaos of ItalyMonstrous thunder and hail storm with 1-2 inches of water on the motorway - as we drove into Italy.
Getting lost even with a GPS giving us directions.
Taking a wrong exit and trying out a brand new motorway that no one else was on.
Finding a gas station that was open - which none were.
Guessing how much money to feed the auto-gas-pump thing to fill up our car.
22 euro (~$35) charge per 12 hours for a car park in Venice that we had to pay since our car rental place was closed.
Walking around the Roma Termini train station for an hour - trying to find the tourist information office.
Taking the bus to our Rome B&B in stead of the metro like I planned.
Crazy drivers in Rome - you take your life into your hands to cross the street.Expensive toll roads.
The bus that never came to our stop in Rome on Sunday.
Gondolas of Venice.
They really do wear striped shirts and straw hats (well, maybe some of them).
The ones that would come down our very own, personal canal outside our B&B room window.
The ones with the accordion player and singer.
Sights and sounds of Venice.
Watching a resident close the shutters of her window.
Watching another resident open her shutters a crack to peak out in the early morning sun.
Waking up to the bells of St. Mark's Basilica.
The numerous souvenir carts all over St. Mark's Square full of Venetian masks, Murano glassware, and even gelato.
Skinny little alleys.
Costume shops for Carnival.
Pigeons everywhere and on everything - including people.
Being able to walk across the island of Venice in 30 minutes.
Visitors in Venice.My previous roommate, Chiara, is from Italy and she came into Venice to see me!
Meeting her darling daughter, Matilda, and great husband, Moreno.
Rialto Bridge market, Venice.
The throng of residents, tourists, and shoppers.
The cup of strawberries and grapes (with seeds) I bought for 1.50 euros.
Dried pastas.
More gelato.
Leather anything.
Italian food in Venice.
Divine pizza! (better than Rome)
Pretty good lasagna.
Delectable gelato.
Views from the train between Venice and Rome.Little vineyards in every yard.
Abundant red poppies.
Cotton floating in the air.
Tree-lined streets leading to a colorful villa on a hill surrounded by vineyards.
The top of the dome of the famous cathedral in Florence.
Roman antiquity.
2,000 year old ruins in the Roman Forum.
The one remaining toe on the foot of a long-gone statue in the Roman Forum.
The Colosseum. Period.
The Pantheon and its great dome with the sky light in it.
Sights and sounds of Rome.Street performer in Piazza Venezia playing the guitar.
Street performer near the Pantheon wearing a sombrero and playing the violin.
The fountains of Piazza Navona.
Occasional Roman ruin with modern buildings built around it.
Market selling paintings in the Piazza Navona.
Local hot spot - gelateria chuck full of locals.
Villa Pamphili park with wild grass that is never mowed or watered and crammed full of locals.
The pizzeria that told us they would open at 7 pm and then when we stopped by again they said 7:30 pm.
The Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica.
Making a wish at Trevi Fountain, Rome.Amidst a million other tourists.
Threw one American coin and one euro coin.
Wished for... can you share that wish? You can probably guess it.
Random stuff.
Our car rental upgrade from a Kia to an Alfa Romeo.
Decision to take the train to Rome from Venice in stead of driving.
Ear plugs. Period.
Immunity to jet lag - so awesome! I feel a little tired, but my body adjusts to the new time so easily.
Our trip home.The warehouse terminal of the Rome Leonardo da Vinci Fiumcino Aiport we had to check in at.
The two shuttles we had to take to get back to a regular terminal to catch our flight.
The lack of seating near our gate.
Jed's carry-on being searched, but not mine.
The band, Augustana, sitting in coach with us on our flight.
11-hour flight from Rome to Chicago.
4-hour lay-over in Chicago.
3 1/2-hour flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City - that I don't remember since I promptly fell asleep.
The jet engine exhaust that flooded the back of the plane where we sat when we landed in SLC.
SouvenirsChocolate! - Basel, Switzerland
Music box that plays 'Edelweiss' - Salzburg
Venetian mask - Venice
Murano glass bead bracelet - Venice
P.S. Jed and I are just friends.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
A Little Housekeeping
I know, I know, you are all so excited to see my entries for my trip to Europe... and I promise - I'll put them up soon. But first I need to tend to a little housekeeping regarding my blog. I am removing my list of friends and family with blogs links.... too many of my friends are making their blogs private (for good reason). To protect your privacy and my good character (right?) I thought it would be best to remove your blog link from my blog list. I had the list on my blog because that was my cue to remember to check your blogs on occasion. But then, thanks to one of your awesome blogs, I discovered the beauties of Google Reader! Within my gmail account (so behind my password) I could set up my gmail to notify me (in a round-about way) when you made an entry on your blog! That has been fantastic! I am much better at following your blogs now with Google Reader ... on one condition - that you allow feeds from your blog! Thankfully most of you have so my reading continues. So no worries! As long as you still allow the feeds from your blogs, then I will still be reading your blog on a mostly regular basis (with the exception of those that only allow invited readers).
So here's to being as wise as a serpent and yet without sin! (Recognize the verse?) :o)
So here's to being as wise as a serpent and yet without sin! (Recognize the verse?) :o)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Europe Itinerary
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't posted in two weeks. Well, it's because I've been busy - in my social life anyway although I don't have any photos or stories to tell about it. Well, maybe I do. Last week I was busy because we had Stake Welfare Council one night, Ladies' Night at Mad Dog's Cycles another night, Ride-Like-a-Girl Mountain Biking 101 another night, went mountain biking Friday night with my roommate, and then tried out some Trek road and mountain bikes at their demo day. See it's been crazy!
So, did you know that I leave THIS Friday night for my trip to Europe? Absolutely! Holy cow this past month has flown by. It always does when you have something to look forward to. And boy do I ever! So here is our mostly firmed up itinerary:
This will probably be my last entry for this week....and until I get back and have a ton of pictures to share!! So stay tuned for the post-trip entry.
So, did you know that I leave THIS Friday night for my trip to Europe? Absolutely! Holy cow this past month has flown by. It always does when you have something to look forward to. And boy do I ever! So here is our mostly firmed up itinerary:
- Take a red-eye flight to New York City and arrive Saturday morning
- Play in NYC for our 10-hour lay-over
- Hop on our next flight to Zurich, Switzerland
- Go to church, then play and check out the sights in Zurich on Sunday
- Drive to our B&B in Zunzgen, Switzerland
- Go to Niederdorf (a village of 1,700 people) where Jed's business meeting is and maybe make an appearance in Basel
- Stay another night in Zunzgen
- Drive a 7-hour drive from Zunzgen to Salzburg, Austria stopping along the way in little villages and checking out the sleeping beauty castle near Fussen, Germany on Tuesday
- Check out some of the Sound of Music sights via bike and the hometown of Mozart in Salzburg on Wednesday
- Drive to Venice, Italy on Thursday and stop in Hallstatt, Austria and Villach, Austria and hope to catch some May Day events along the way (and possibly even visit a previous roommate of mine - yes, she is from Italy)
- Drop off our first rental car (that we have already nick-named Pico) at the Venice airport and then take a water taxi to Venice to our B&B which is seriously a block away from St. Mark's square
- Play in Venice on Friday and check out the Grand Canal, Saint Mark's Square, their famous glass blowing, masks, and lace
- Drive to Rome via Florence on Saturday - I'm hoping Jed will oblige me for an art museum in Florence so I can check off a lot of the artwork that is in my book titled, "The Art Book". I always check off artwork in that book when I've seen it in person! :o)
- Tour Vatican City, the Colosseum, St. Peters Cathedral and make a wish at Trevi Fountain in Rome on Sunday.
- Fly for home on Monday, May 5th!
This will probably be my last entry for this week....and until I get back and have a ton of pictures to share!! So stay tuned for the post-trip entry.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Finally! A Successful Trip to the Hot Pots
I have had two unsuccessful trips to the hot pots in the past 4 years and I finally succeeded in getting to them this year! This last weekend! The first time - the road was closed so we tried to go around the long way and spent hours driving and finally gave up. The second time - the bridge over the river was washed out and the water was too high to cross so we gave up. But this time! 
Oh this time! I guess third time the charm is accurate in this instance!Jen and I gathered a great group of friends to go with us after the Priesthood Session of General Conference on Saturday night. The hike was great! And you wanna know what the best part was? I could keep up with everyone! I think all this gym-going business these past 8 months has paid off for me! Last year, I was a super slow hiker. But this year.... hopefully that will be different. So we hiked the
2 or so miles into the hot springs known to us locals as the Diamond Fork Hot Pots. The hot pots are notorious for nudies, but thankfully we didn't see any. Gross! And the people that were already there must have been new (supposedly) because they left the best and biggest pot for us - at the top near the waterfall.We sat in the springs for 2 or more hours! We just chatted and had fun teasing everyone. That's the beauty of being such great friends! And we obviously took some pictures. We finally got out when part of our group left early for the cars - we didn't want to hold them up too bad. :o)
The hike down was pretty adventurous because there was still snow on the trail and it had been packed down to a pretty slick ice path. Sadly, the only time I slipped was in the mud. I could have at least slipped on the actual ice if I really had to slip! We didn't get home until 2 am. The hot pots are definitely a must do again!Thursday, April 03, 2008
Did I Just Run a Red Light?
Do you ever wonder, "Did I just run a red light?" right after going through an intersection? I think I just did that - cuz after I went through the intersection I looked in my rear view mirror and all the traffic behind me, and I think even the traffic beside me, had stopped. The left-turn lane to my left was still turning left.... but did they have a protected left turn arrow? Meaning the opposite direction did too? I didn't hit anyone... so all's well that ends well, right?Maybe I should watch my driving a little more this week, because I am pretty sure I ran a stop sign Monday night too. Ha!
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