Looney Lougees

Catching up!

2011-12-29T14:51:00.022-05:00

It's been awhile since I last posted and I need to repent so here is a review at what we have been doing for the last couple of months. We FINALLY have our family room put back together again! We painted the walls a nice bright yellow color and installed new carpet since our old carpet was ruined by Hurricane Irene. The mudding and sanding process took the longest time and it was terrible to do the ceiling, but we persevered and did it. When the carpet was first installed I felt like I had just walked into a model home it looks so wonderful!! I love it! We still need to put up some trim and do a little touch up work, but it is 99% done. We wanted to have it all done before we left on vacation, but Gary got sick and it didn't get done. We went to Arizona for Christmas this year to visit Scott and his wife Meagan who just bought their new home 8 months ago. We also visited with Meagan's family who live there as well. It was nice to get away, but I'm glad to be home. Here are some pictures of our basement and of our trip to Arizona. Enjoy.

Gary getting ready to paint the stairwell.

All painted!

Getting ready to install the carpet!

Mat

Music Museum

Mesa Temple Lights

Out of Africa (So much cooler then a zoo by far!)

Pilgrim the Giraffe

Brother in law Scott getting a nice sloppy kiss from Pilgrim!

Zebra

Giraffe on the bus!

Cute Armadillo!

Yes, our tour guide is petting a wild tiger!

Majestic!

Soul Sisters :)

My sister in law Megan

Picture is fuzzy, but that is a wild tiger jumping up into the air to get a toy.

Prairie Dog

Freestone Park

10 on Sunday

2011-10-23T20:50:00.012-04:00

1) It seems that our life has been consumed with house renovations non-stop for the last year so I'm sorry if you are tired of hearing it, because frankly so am I. :P It didn't help that we had a hurricane and that we had to throw out the carpet and add a sump pump so that adds something else to our list of things to do, but I know that it will be worth it in the end and we will love our new room we built together. I think that's the best gift or reward out of this whole thing is learning to work together and grow closer together as a couple. We might not have that much of a social life, but this has definitely been a good learning experience. So for the last couple of weeks or so we have worked really hard to put up the last walls in our family room and finally be able to put up all of the drywall! We had to buy 20 pieces of drywall which is insane and I had no idea how we would get it all out of the store and then for that matter into the house with just the two of us, but we managed. We were blessed to have a lot of help at Home Depot to get everything on our cart and also onto the truck which I'm very thankful for.
2) The following week we rented a machine that would hold up drywall which we needed to do the ceiling and it wasn't to expensive which is nice and they give it to you for the whole day which was great. It was worth not breaking your back that's for sure. Unexpectedly the missionaries came over and offered if they could give us a hand with anything and we told them that we could use some help so that was another blessing we had. :)The missionaries helped us for a couple of hours and the worked moved along quite nicely.
3) In the middle of the day we went to a baptism of our friend's daughter who just turned 8 so it was really nice.
4) When we came back we continued our work on the room. I think it was around 9pm when we finished and we started around 10-11am. Suffice it to say we were exhausted, but we needed to return the machine so we headed out and when we reached the store gary found that a piece was missing so he went back to get it while I stood in line. The people in front of me took so long that Gary came back just in time to hand everything in.
5) There was only one piece of drywall that we didn't put up on the ceiling, but it's a small piece so it won't be terrible when we put it in ourselves. Gary still needs to work on the venting system so once he does that we can finish the room. Here are some pictures of our work. Enjoy!

One complete wall!

The magical contraction that held up the drywall :)

It's such hard work being a pup!

6) We were able to go out and have some fun this past weekend. We went to the Renaissance Festival with a couple of our friends which is always fun. Last year I was motivated to make myself a nice renaissance dress to go with a beautiful hair-piece I bought a couple of years ago so I started to make it in March and just barely finished it, but it was my goal to get it done so that I could wear it this year. It took me so long, because I was having trouble with it plus all of the renovations on the house so i'm just happy that I was able to finish it. I think it turned out well and am proud of myself for finishing this project. Check out the pictures below.

I really like this picture. :)

I borrowed a cape that my sister-in-law made.

Our friends Teyanna & Ben Munyan

More good friends Julia, David & Asher Halverson

Jousting tournament

7) I had a choir performance this month that went really well. I really need to improve on my directing skill, but I'm enjoying it so far. A new couple joined today so I'm really happy. :)
8) We have stake conference next week so Gary and I have been participating in the stake choir and will sing two hymns for the occasion.
9) The weather has turned cooler so the Fall colors are out and I have been enjoying them very much.
10) That's all for now!

10 for Thursday!

2011-09-20T19:50:00.024-04:00

The last couple of months have been pretty crazy so it's been awhile since I was able to update my blog.

1) At the end of August Gary went on a one week business trip to Georgia. Of course that was also the time Hurricane Irene decided to show up! Thankfully he was able to get on the last flight in the morning before they started to cancel all of the other flights. I would of been so depressed if he had to stay there longer. It was so good to see him. I felt like it had been forever!
2) The day before I collected all of the items in the yard that could potentially fly away in our house which was a LOT. I never realized how much stuff we had out there.
3) Before Gary came home I hung plastic over the door and used duct tape to keep it in place. I wasn't sure if it would stick, but I figured that I should at least try to prevent water from entering the house if i could. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked! It fell off just as the water was receding the next day.
4) The Hurricane of course brought lots of water and wind, but it didn't get really bad until like 1-2am. I was asleep so I didn't witness it. I don't know why, but Gary got up at around 3am and decided to check on the basement. Thank goodness, because he noticed that our basement was flooding. :( I woke up when I heard the wet vac on and discovered the bad news.
5) It's unfortunate that this happen, because we were making great progress on our basement. Because of the flood our entire carpet was soaked and I really didn't want to get rid of it, but we came to the conclusion that we needed to so we cut it up and threw it out. We only had two more walls to built before this happened. We didn't put up a lot of drywall and the ones we had on the floor didn't get wet which we were thankful for.
6) We had some friends come over and help us move some of our furniture so we could start cleaning things up. We borrowed some fans as well so things could start to dry.
7)Unfortunately, it decided to rain all week like a week or two weeks later and with the ground still wet our basement had no chance. It flooded again and we already had lots of things off of the floor, but the only piece of carpet that was left in the computer room was absolutely soaked.
8) We decided that we needed to install a second sump pump so we purchased all of the materials and we have a friend that knows how to install it so he helped Gary do it. We also had some other people come throughout the day to help them out. It literally took them ALL day to install it. They were so tired by the end of the day. I'm so thankful that we installed it even though it was so expensive.
9) After this whole ordeal we took a break for a week and now we are continuing working on the basement.
10) I am very motivated to get this done and I hope that we will be able to get up all the drywall by the end of the month. Fingers crossed!
11) Our ward participated in a service day and there were two locations where they needed service. We decided to help clean up the Anacostia river at a park. We got to wear yellow "Mormon Hands" vests which were cool. I wanted to keep them, but they took them back. :( We got to go in canoe's and pick up the trash. It was actually lots of fun! Gary and I made a game out of it and decided to see how many tennis balls we could collect. I think we managed to get 7.

Dirty business!

Look at all that water!

Yay!

Our friend Jerry who helped all day!

The whole group!

Nice shot of the logo there.

Look at all the trash we collected!

There were more turtles on the log, but we scared them off. :(

Not the best picture...

All of the garbage that was collected.

2011-08-15T20:03:00.008-04:00

We worked really hard on Saturday and we finally finished tearing down all of the wood paneling in our family room! I'm so happy!! Next week we will hopefully be purchasing the material and start building the walls! There is light at the end of the tunnel. :)

We had to rearrange the family room to do this so we moved our bookshelf into the library.

Beginning the process

Yay, progress!

No more wall between our laundry room and family room! The wall was so badly built that it took hardly any effort to tear it down.

WOOHOOOO!!!

2011-08-06T12:42:00.046-04:00

We have been really busy this summer with working out in our garden, home renovations and the Stake Musical.

We have started tearing down the walls in our family room.

This year our stake decided to put a musical together comprising of a whole bunch of songs from musicals together. We had music from "The Little Mermaid", "Pirates of Penzance", "Newies", and many others. I was mostly involved in "The Little Mermaid" and "Pirates of Penzance". I even had a small solo part which was a lot of fun and definitely boost my confidence!

All dolled up and ready to perform!

Last minute rehearsing

Storyteller

My partner in crime, John (always smiley) :)

One of the other performance called "The List"

While we were all waiting to perform the kids found a way to entertain themselves!

Stage set

Our fabulous Director Heather Stratton!

"We Sail The Ocean Blue"

"Modern Major General"

My moment to shine!

"Catlike Tread"

Silly pirates doing a chorus line :D

"River in the Rain"

"I enjoy being a girl"

"Seize the day"

"Under the Sea"

PARTTTTYYYY!

Gary designed the ship for the Musical

Isn't it pretty! :)

Much needed update!

2011-07-13T20:21:00.034-04:00

I don't think I have updated for at least a couple of months so I will try to remember everything we have done.

1) We have been continuing our work in the basement. Gary took out the wall behind the entertainment center so we could put in a better wall with REAL drywall!

He's proud of his work. :)

Caution: Man at work (Don't disturb)

Cute picture of Zoe..just because :)

The hallway is no longer a hallway, but two closets!

Continuation of taking out walls and about to take out this door

Ta da! It was tempting to leave this space open, but we decided to close it and put in a new door.

2) I wanted to go to the beach this year so Gary and I took a day off and went to Assateague Island! It was a relaxing day and it was great to see all of the wild horses! We brought Zoe along with us and she LOVED the sand! She romped around and throughly enjoyed it. She wasn't to crazy about the water though.., but we all had a wonderful time.

Beautiful Sunrise!

Cute!

Cute couple if I do say so myself!

Zoe size life jacket! :)

Cat nap!

Body surfing!

Merman!

Awesome view!

Strange place to sleep Mr.Horsey, but alright!

Horses on the side of the road

Beautiful sun rays as we were traveling home

3) Since June Gary and I have been involved in a musical that the Stake put together that will be perform at the end of July. Gary was mostly involved with the set and I am one of the performers this time. I wanted Gary to join me, but since it is a bunch of musicals mixed up together he wasn't interested. He would rather do a play so hopefully they will do that next time.
4) There is rehearsal twice a week so it has been very busy for us. They are doing songs, from "The Newies", "The Little Mermaid", Pirates of Penzance", etc. There is a lot of dancing and singing which is a lot of fun and I have been enjoying it. I even got a solo part which is cool, but a little nerve racking at the same time. I wish I had some more family around so that they could come!.
5) We have also been trying to work at our garden. We really need a tiller to get up a lot of our weeds that are invading our garden. We recently bought a pink Crepe Myrtle that we put in our yard that will get to be about 12 feet. It's really pretty so I hope I don't end up killing it. We also purchased some pencil bushes to put in our garden.

6) Yesterday we went to see Harry Potter Part 2! Gary's awesome friend knows the senior manager at one of the movie theater's and was able to sell over a 100 tickets so that we could have a private theater! It was totally awesome. As part as the festivities he had a costume contest so Gary and I dressed up as Lupin and Tonks. I think we pulled it off pretty well. We won the prize for best couple. We prizes were Snape and Voldemort's wand! We also brought along a couple of our friends Teyanna and Ben Munyan from church.

Ben & Teyanna

Tonks

Lupin

Gary also took out the wood paneling in the stairwell

Installing yet again another wall/doorframe! Yay, for walls!

7) We had the missionaries come over and help us move the dirt from away from the hole to the back of our garden, but they had an emergency exchange so they didn't get to far. We appreciated all the work they did do though.

8) Can't think of much else we have been doing, but we have definitely been busy!

Paris!

2011-07-10T19:10:00.059-04:00

Paris was our last stop of our trip and we enjoyed every minute of it. This blog is filled with photos so enjoy!

Saint Jacques Tower

Notre Dame!

Inside Notre Dame

Breathtaking in real life!

Suave

Pantheon

Statue by Luxembourg Palace

Eiffel Tower!

Romance is in the air!

Sunset on top of the Eiffel tower!

After we saw the Eiffel tower we were hungry so we went back to our hotel and asked the receptionist if there was an authentic French restaurant and she suggested a place that was not to far away so we went and tried it out. I'm glad that we did, because it was a wonderful place. I felt like I needed to be dressed up, because it was so elegant inside! The menu was all in French so I asked the waiter if he could translate, but instead he just gave us english menus. He was snobbish, but we didn't let him spoil our evening.

Duck!

Delicious!

Beautiful Inside

Wonderful Lemon Tart that was to die for!

Versailles, Paris

2011-07-10T17:15:00.031-04:00

Seeing Versailles was definitely a big highlight of our trip. It was absolutely GORGEOUS beyond belief! It was a wonderful day and something that we will never forget. Here is a website that has the history of Versailles if you are interested. http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

Here are some photos from our trip.

Entrance

Yay!

Look at this detail!

Hall if Mirrors

Outside of the Palace

Latone Ornamental Lake

Queen's Village

Next Stop Paris!

Europe Trip - Brugge, Belgium

2011-05-28T14:14:00.027-04:00

Antwerpen Train Station

Train!

Entering into the medieval city!

Beautiful church

Burg square-Belfry tower
We got to climb up the 366 steps to the top and enjoy and wonderful view of the city. The 46 bell carillon can be seen at the top of the famous tower.

In the courtyard of the Belfry tower

View from the top

Market Square

Dijver canal (We took a boat ride down this canal it was beautiful)

Music man!

Sint-Janshuis Mill is one of two or three windmills that still remain in Bruges Belgium.

Kruispoort Gate is one of four remaining city gates to the town of Bruges Belgium. Constructed in 1402, the gates are a short walk from the two remaining windmills.

Next stop Versailles, Paris!

Europe Trip - Amsterdam, Holland

2011-05-14T18:05:00.039-04:00

Taking a little cat nap on the train

I have always dreamed of going to Holland to see the gorgeous fields of tulips so when I heard that there was a place called Keukenhof Gardens I knew that I couldn't miss it since I probably wouldn't be able to see it again. We missed the train some how, but we were able to catch the next one so it was alright. When we arrived we were able to book a hotel which was in a really nice neighborhood that was close to the Van Gogh and Rembrandt museums. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to visit the museums. Before we headed off to the Keukenhof we walked around the city to get some lunch. After lunch we took a couple of buses to get to the gardens. Here are some pictures

Train station in Amsterdam

Rembrandt Museum

We stayed at a little hotel on this street.

One of the many beautiful canals

Isn't this thing just awesome!

Life size chess game

After lunch we headed off to see Keukenof which is basically Disneyland, but just filled with tons of beautiful flowers. This is mostly a picture post so enjoy!

Entrance to Keukenof

I love this picture!

Awesome windmill

Beautiful fields of tulips!!

So peaceful and beautiful

We literally spent hours here and I absolutely loved it. I could of stayed all day. As Gary said I had the biggest smile on my face. :) I have such a wonderful husband. It was totally worth it!

Next stop Brugge, Belgium!

Europe Trip - Brussels, Belgium

2011-05-08T20:26:00.024-04:00

We flew to Brussels on May 12th early in the morning, but mind you we have been up practically a day and a half already so we were pretty tired, but we still had the rest of the day to look forward to so we didn't waste it by sleeping at our hotel although that would of been nice. We met up one of Gary's co-workers Andrea and from the airport we took a taxi to our hotel. Our taxi driver was absolutely crazy I swear he must of been driving like 70 miles an hour on the side roads and even faster on the highways. Gary was pretty calm for the whole ride which surprised me since he usually would of been panic, but I guess sitting in the back seat and talking to his co-worker distracted him. I was terrified! When we arrived at the hotel even though we were way to early to check in, they let up dropped off our bags so we could walk around the city and see all the beautiful sites.

La-Grand Place - Originally built in the 14th century! Amazing!

Standing in front of the Town Hall

Guild Houses

Gardens

City Life

Beautiful Architecture

Place Du Petit Sablon

Notre Dame du Sablon

The St. Hubert Gallery

Random side street

Royal Palace

Royal Palace Park

Belgium Waffle! Yum!

While we were traveling around we went in search for the U.S. embassy so we could meet up with Gary's contact Russel who is the APHIS attaché to the US ambassador to Belgium. Before we got there though it started to pour on us and we had no umbrella so we ran as quick as we could so we could get out of the rain. We were soaked by the time we found it and went into the right building. When we finally met up with Russell we met with the people in the same department which wasn't very many so it didn't take long at all. Russell invited us into his office were they chatted for a good long time while I was trying to stay awake. Russell was nice and helped us find accommodations for our stay in Holland which was really nice. Eventually he took us out to lunch at an Italian place close by. We all had a nice pasta dish which was good, but all I really wanted to do was take a nap. After lunch we went back to his office and he helped us exchange the money that APHIS gave him. We left shortly after that so we could go back to our hotel and rest. Our room was small and the bed was stiff, but I fell asleep as soon as I laid down. We both slept for 3 hours and then we woke up and got dress to go to a dinner that Gary and I were invited to with all of the speakers for the presentation tomorrow. It was very interesting meeting people from literally all over the world. One guy in particular that I really liked was an Irish guy name Eoin O'Driscol. He worked really hard to get Gary to come out and speak about the Lacey Act for a long time and even at the end it wasn't looking to good so they were all joking about it. It was kind of funny Gary didn't know what he was ordering so he ended up ordering raw fish which he wasn't sure about at first, but he ate it. I was impressed. I would not of eaten it. By the time we left the dinner it was late and Gary made me walk all the way back in my high heels which I was NOT happy about. Walking normally in heels is bad enough, but walking on cobblestones in high heels is a killer and I was in so much pain by the end. As we were going to the dinner we walked as well until we found out that we would be late so we took a cab the rest of the way. Anyway, I was so glad to get back to our hotel and be able to sleep.

Overall, we had a great time in Brussels.

Next stop Amsterdam!

A much needed update!

2011-04-08T21:16:00.024-04:00

I have to go way back to March since we have been super busy so I will try to be as brief as possible.

1) On March 12th Gary turned 30! I can't believe it! In the morning I decided to do a treasure hunt for Gary which had 30 clue's he had to find around the house. He had a lot of fun with it. Here are some pictures I took of him.

For this big milestone in his life I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. I had one of our friends distract him while I got everything together for the surprise. All of his friends came early and then we patiently waited for him to come home. When he walked through the door he was speechless. He had a real good time and it was a nice party.

Our friends the Halverson's came up from VA with their new baby Asher!

Asher & I

Julia & I

2) We finally got all the walls installed in our library so the next step is to paint the room which we did soon after.

Happy Gary!

3) We painted our library this beautiful nice orangy color.

New curtains!

New computer/library room

4) There was a possibility earlier in the month that Gary could go to Belgium for a business trip, but nothing was confirmed until the end of March I believe. Also, around this time we got a HUGE escrow check since our property tax went down.
5) With this extra cash we were able to pay off our new car which was totally awesome!! We have been so blessed!
6) With the rest of the money we decided to do something crazy and pay for a plane ticket for me to go to Europe with Gary and make it a week long trip! I suppose we should of been responsible and paid off some more of our debt, but this was once in a lifetime event and we didn't want to miss out on the chance. Now we didn't know for sure if this was at all possible since Gary had to confirm it at work, but I was really praying that it would happen.
7) Once it was okay'd with work the travel agent arranged for my ticket as well as Gary's ticket the same day so we could go on the same flight. We literally only had like 2 weeks to figure out our plans for our trip which was definitely not enough time! I will post more on our Europe trip later.
8) Our garden is coming along nicely. We still have a lot of work to do on it, but it is looking better then last year.
9) This last week we painted our living room a nice color green and tore out the carpet to reveal a beautiful hardwood floor they covered. It will need to be refinished, but that will have to wait for awhile.
10) We still need to put up the trim and floorboards. Pictures will come soon.

9 for Wednesday!

2011-03-02T20:53:00.008-05:00

1) We were very surprised to find out this week that our car was finally found! It was at an impound lot not to far from our house. I have to say that I was a little disappointed to hear that it has been returned to us, but we will have to deal with it.
2) Last week Gary went to go look at the car and found it in decent condition. The inside was completely trashed and torn up, but other then that there wasn't a lot of body damage.
3) On Monday Allstate towed our car to the mechanic so Gary and I went to the shop to tell them what new damages were there. It was raining and it took awhile to go through everything so we didn't get back to work till later in the day. Here are some pictures we took of the damage.

4) We had the missionaries over on Saturday to perform some service for us. We still have a hole in the back yard so they volunteer to help us dig it out. One of the missionaries Elder Carver called another set of missionaries, so soon we had 4 missionaries to help which was wonderful.

Elder Probst & Elder Carver

5) The missionaries came again on Monday to finish the job in the rain which we thought was just insane, but they weren't going to let anything stop them I guess.
6) With all the hard work they had done it was deep enough that we could finally start tearing down the retaining wall with a sledge-hammer. Here is the result so far.

Having some fun!

The end result!

7) Gary is still working diligently on the library.
8) I have a new calling already which I am pretty excited about. I have been called to be the new Choir Director! I've always wanted to do this so I am pretty excited to get started and learn how to lead a choir and have fun doing it.
9) That's all for this week!

10 for Wednesday

2011-02-20T17:15:00.009-05:00

1) Three weeks ago our car was broken into. Our window was still in tact, but our stereo, gps, my phone and some plugs were taken.
2) A week later our car was stolen!! I can't believe someone would want to take our car, but I guess it was worth it to someone.
3) Needless to say it has been very stressful couple of weeks.
4) Having Mom and Dad come right when all of this happen has been a major help. We were able to travel around to car shop and just get around generally.
4) We have been busy looking for a "new" car and finally settled on buying a '07 Hyundai Sonata.

5) Gary and Dad have been diligently working on our library and have been making good progress. We now have one wall finished with drywall.

6) I have been working on a Renaissance dress that I want to make for the Ren fair in August.
7) Gary has been putting up crown molding up in our kitchen. He only has one more piece that he needs to put in and the base boards and then it will be complete!

8) Jenny stayed over at our house so she could go to an anime convention over the weekend.
9) Gary got a message today saying that they had found our car at an impound lot. :( He will take the day off tomorrow so he can go see what condition the car is in.
10) That's all for this week!

5 for Wednesday!

2011-02-02T21:12:00.012-05:00

1) A week ago our car was broken into. :( They didn't break our window or tear our dashboard apart, but they did take our stereo, cords, gps and my phone that I accidentally left in there that day. It snowed right after it happen so when the police came there were no fingerprints and the one's inside were smudged so he couldn't get anything. We haven't replaced anything yet, but now our car is giving us some trouble so we have to take it to the shop. It's just one problem after another.
2) Gary and I have been working hard on our library putting in walls and installation so I have lots of pictures to share of the step by step process. The next step is the drywall which neither of us are excited about, but it should look nice when it's done and that will be one step closer to being done!
3) Gary will be speaking later this month at the "Why I served" fireside for the stake which will be fun, because he is a great speaker and all the young men love him so I'm sure there will be a big turnout. He is putting together a power point presentation of some of his most memorable pictures for the event.
4) We had a little snow storm as I mention earlier last week, but it wasn't that much. We've had more ice then snow this year which is a bit disappointing to me. Call me crazy, but I'm a little jealous of the blizzard in my hometown. :(

5) Not much else is going on so enjoy the pictures!

All bare!

All painted and water-proofed!

Shiny installation!

First wall we put up

Second wall!

More installation! The room is so warm now which is great.

The new entrance to the bathroom

Update me please!

2010-12-29T17:11:00.032-05:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated my blog so i'll try to be brief and add lots of pictures.
In celebration of my birthday forever ago we went to Great Falls to go on the billy goat trail with Zoe, but we found out that we couldn't take her on the trail so we took another trail and enjoyed the lovely scenery. Here are some photos from that trip. We ended up walking for about 3 hours!! We were utterly exhausted by then end, but it was fun.

Happy Birthday to me!

Beautiful Fall leaves

On the trail

Zoe and Me

Zoe looking cute and a bit tired!

1) Gary and I drove down to Tennessee to have Thanksgiving with my parent's and Jenny. Amy and her family came down from Chicago as well. I got to interact with a very active niece of mine which is quite different from the newborn I held awhile ago. We had a very nice dinner together as a family, went out to see the Harry Potter movie, trim the tree and just spent quality time with each other. I also went to see a chiropractor Jenny goes to and since I had never been to one before I didn't know what to expect, but when she was done cracking my back and the like I felt like a new woman! I wish I could have that done every week.

One big happy family

Savannah (niece)

Another one of my niece, because well she is just so adorable!

Don't ya love how they "tied" our tree to the car?

Yum!

2) I participated in the festival of choirs this year before the First Presidency Christmas devotional so every Sunday for 3 weeks I went up to the stake center to practice our songs. I also participated in our ward choir so lots of singing which was sort of hard on my voice, but good practice. The performance went well as well as the other ward choirs. The only unfortunate thing was is that the Stake center the day of the performance had no heat in the building so everyone was freezing and kept their coats on. Not a lot of people stayed for the devotional after-wards since they could go home and watch it there. We stayed along with Gary's parent's and just bundled up to stay warm. We enjoyed the devotional as always.
3) Gary is now the ward employment specialist and is learning what he needs to do to help members find jobs. It can be a little overwhelming for him with all of the people who are in need of a job.
4) I've always hated where the computer was next to the basement door since it cluttered up the room so we decided to move it to the library. We had to move some bookcases around which took awhile, but once we did we were able to fit in the computer desk which I think is a great spot for it. I'm really happy with it. I think that Gary still needs to get use to it, but with this arrangement it really opens up the room and it looks so much better.

5) Gary has been sick for the last week, but it didn't turn into pneumonia which is what normally happens when he gets a cold.
6) Gary has been slowly working on our unfinished room putting up a wood frame around the room so that he can start putting up the drywall. He won't be able to do one wall since we still need to put a window in before we close it up. We will most likely do that in the spring.
7) Since Gary can't work to much on the unfinished room right now he has moved on to the library. He 's done a lot of demolishing the last few days and today I helped him finish it up and move all of the wood paneling out of that room so he can start installing lights and added the framework. Here are some pictures of other projects we have been doing around the house.

Uh oh!

Ta da! All done!

New shelves Gary installed so now we have more storage! Yay!

New cabinet!

Till next time!

Fall is here!

2010-10-25T21:20:00.013-04:00

I love all of the fall colors that we've had this year. Check it out!

Found this beautiful tree on the Temple grounds.

This is my favorite tree in the neighborhood because of it's vibrant orange color. Picture's don't give it justice.

These last two pictures aren't the best quality, but I still like them.

10 for Saturday

2010-10-14T21:50:00.017-04:00

Patuxent State Park

Absolutely Beautiful!

Black-eyed susans

1) A little while ago Gary and I and his family took a day trip to the Patuxent state park to do some hiking. It was a beautiful day.

Brandon Sanderson

2) Gary and I went to another signing for Brandon Sanderson who has a new book out called "Way of Kings".

Future Missionary

3) Gary and I took a Friday off a couple of weeks ago so that we could go to the Temple with Jen who took out her endowments. She will be serving her mission in Billings, MT. Jen had a farewell party this past Sunday and we spent one more day with her last night. She left early this morning and will report to the MTC tomorrow! I know she will be a great missionary.
4) I continue to get allergy shots every week. I pray that I will show some improvement in the next few months.
5) Still getting use to our new ward. We had a linger longer this Sunday to get to know each other, but a lot of the time I just talked to me I knew. I did meet a couple of sister's who introduced themselves to me.
6) A little out of order, but on Saturday we had a service project for the youth at the Temple. The youth love this activity so we had a big turn-out. The youth started to put up Christmas lights around the visitor center. Literally millions of lights are put up every year so you have to start early. Youth and adults help out every year.
7) Gary and I haven't done any projects lately which is fine with me, but we still have lots of things we want to do before winter comes along.
8) I threw a baby shower for my friend at my house a week ago. She's having a baby boy and will be her first baby. We all had a great time.

Baby-shower for my best friend Juila

9) Enjoyed conference this year.
10) That's all for this week!

Cute picture of Zoe

Fort Washington

2010-10-14T21:23:00.016-04:00

Fort Washington
September 2010

Fort Washington has stood as silent sentry defending the Nation's Capital, for over 180 years. As technologies advanced so did Fort Washington. Fort Washington is one of the few remaining Seacoast Forts in its original designs.

Gary and I along with a couple of our friends went down to see the fort. It was a beautiful day and it was very interesting to explore and learn more about. We went on National park day so we didn't have to pay a fee to get in which was awesome!

Front Entrance

Reminds me of a hobbit hole :)

There were tons of butterfly's all over the place. It was beautiful! I could of stayed there all day and watched them. It was very peaceful.

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-03T18:25:00.002-04:00

Friday October 1st marked our 1st year of being a happy home owner. Coincidentally, it was also Zoe's birthday so we had two things to celebrate. We talked about how it was coming up and was getting excited about it, but when the day came we almost forgot. What I won't forgot is all the hard work and sacrifices that were made to make it possible for us to have this beautiful home. We looked at so many homes that looked beautiful on the outside, but were total disasters inside. We put a bid of at least 5 homes and were rejected every time. When we had almost given up hope we found this jewel among all the garbage we had looked at. It was a little bit higher price then we wanted to pay, but we are glad that we did. We were amazed that this house was in such good condition and that almost everything in it was new. We were surprised to find that no one had put a bid on it yet, because we were sure that there would be other people wanting this beautiful home. Yet, the Lord was mindful of us and guided us with his hand to this place where we would call our home sweet home. How blessed we've have been this past year has been truly amazing. Soon after we had bought this home we welcome Zoe our little Yorkie-poo into our little family. She has been a lot of fun and a true joy to us. If we ever have a bad day she is always there full of energy and ready to cheer us up. She is extremely playful and very lovable. I can't believe she is a year old now it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we got her.

1) I decided to get allergy shots since they have worked for my sister Amy so for the last couple of weeks I have been going to the doctor's to get my shot.
2) Gary just got over being sick from a sinus infection which lasted for about a week. I'm glad he is feeling better.
3) About 2 weeks ago Jen survive a head on collision as she was going to our house for our Writer's group. It wasn't her fault, but both cars were totaled. Both of her airbags went off, but she didn't break any bones she just had lots of bruises on her knees and had a sprain wrist. She had a hard time walking, but she is doing a lot better now.
4) Last week we had a special sacrament meeting that consisted of 4 wards in our stake. Everyone had suspicions that it was going to be boundary changes and normally when rumors fly around it is usually wrong, but this time everyone was correct. Our ward was affected the most since they dissolved our ward so Beltsville no longer exists. Gary and I both knew that it was going to happen, but when they actually confirmed that it was true I felt kind of sad. I have been in that ward since we were married so it was bittersweet for me. Some families who live up north will now be a part of another ward and "Beltsville" will now be a part of the College Park ward. College Park and Beltsville have always been small wards so I think it's smart to combine them. Everyone in the ward was released, except for me since I have a stake calling. Since this weekend has been General Conference our first meeting together will be next week. We saw see how it goes.
5) Enjoyed General Conference and I look forward to reading them all in the Ensign when it comes out next month.

That's it for now!

10 for Tuesday!

2010-08-23T20:55:00.032-04:00

I haven't written in awhile so I hope that I will remember everything that happened to us last month.
1) At the end of July I went to Youth Conference as a support person. For Youth Conference we went to Kirtland, Ohio. We had around 50 kids go and everyone had a really good experience.

Me & Beasy Sanders

One of the 6 groups (Silver Spring Stake)

2) Gary and I watched "inception" and both enjoyed the movie.
3) While Gary was gone on his business trip to Guyana I got pulled over twice in one week on the same road. :( I got pulled over twice for the same reason. Our tags were expired, but of course when I was pulled over twice I got 3 other citations. I was actually really flustered that I couldn't find my insurance card so I he told me that I had to appear in court. When Gary came home we went to the MVA to get our tags renewed. It was a bit of a hassle, but we finally were able to get everything straighten out. I have a court date scheduled for September. :(
4) We took one more cabinet out of our kitchen and have yet to buy a new one.

Gary taking out the old cabinets (Sorry, no pictures of the new cabinet)

5) At the last minute Gary, Jen and I took a road trip up to Rhode Island for the weekend. We went up there because Jen (Gary's sister) wanted to do some research for her historical novel she's currently writing.
6) It was nice to get away for awhile and I had never been to Rhode Island before so it was a neat experience. We went to a little town called Westerly. It was very beautiful. Hayward Gatch a historian there showed us around the town and had some very interesting stories to share with us.

Jen & I

Beach

Ocean House which was amazing! (Recently renovated)

Beautiful House (Many of the houses were this amazing!)

Fort Mansfield (Own by the local fire department)

Jen

7) Before we came home we decided to drive up to Boston since it was only a short drive up there. We just spent the morning walking around the town since we needed enough time to drive home. I thought it was a cute little town and very friendly and thought it would be nice to come back and see more. We visited the old and new state house which was interesting.

Jen & I in Boston

Funny picture of us

Duck Pond (I could of stayed there all day, because it was so beautiful and peaceful)

It made me wish we could of stayed longer!

Added this picture just because I'm a nerd. :P

8) I went to court this week and to make a long story short Gary saved the day. He talked to the policeman and showed him that we always had insurance and he was nice enough to drop the charge so we didn't have to pay any fines which was a total of $400!
9) We went to another book signing for Brandon Sanderson on Wednesday for his new book "Way of the Kings" Gary and I were very excited about it. There were tons of people at the book signing so we didn't really have any good seats. I love Brandon because he is so down to earth. He book has really cool maps in it and pictures throughout his book. We were going to be a long wait until he could sign our book so we went out to get something to eat. When we came back we still had a little while to wait so Gary bought a Munchkin game and we got a couple of people to play with us.
10) We are still slowly remodeling our kitchen so we put a couple of more cabinets in our kitchen.
Till' next week!

South America!

2010-07-18T11:00:00.037-04:00

In July this year Gary did his first foreign trip for his job. He went to Guyana (South America) for a week. He went down there to give a bunch of presentations on some new US wood laws.

He started out in Georgetown and went from town to town giving his presentation.

This is the Esquibo River, which he had to cross to get to one of his presentations.

This monkey kept trying to wrestle the rabbit. Poor bunny! :D

Pair of Parrots

Anna Regina, view from the top of a beach-side hotel.

Banana Boat (the original)

Piles of Pineapples

Donkey Cart.

A local chapel. Apparently they rent out a house for church services.

This is a picture of South America from the air.
It is either Western Guyana or Eastern Venezuela. Not sure...

River Esquibo from the air.

Small (living) lizard slinking under the table cloth.

Dog on a Hot Tin Roof

Meat Market... Yum...

King of the Dump

Galloping Goat

Here's lookin' at you kid.

Cute Monkey

Guyana farmlands

Gorgeous land full of palm trees

National Library. One of the nicest buildings in the country.

Famous Anglican Church. One of the largest all wood structures.

Guyana is a land full of canals. Some pretty, some not so much.

Guyana's equivalent of the Department of Energy.

Wooden hallways in the hotel.

Random street shot

Some very interesting signs all over the place.

Jamestown Trip!

2010-07-18T09:16:00.025-04:00

1) Last weekend Gary and I drove to Virginia to go visit Jamestown and Williamsburg for the day. We met up with Mom, Dad, Lara and her kids Landon, Logan and Leah later that day. This post is mostly pictures so I hope you enjoy them! We had a great time!

Me & Gary

I'm trying to look tough, but I didn't really succeed....heh

Isn't he handsome?

Me again!

I love this picture of Gary

I'm ready for battle sort of...;)

Gary's turn to look silly :)

Chicken!

Skinning an animal hide with a seashell. It's much harder then you would think.

One of these things is not like the others ;)

Williamsburg!

Governor's house

Gary being a jungle gym :)

Gary and me in the stocks!

Logan's turn!

Landon!

Me!

Lara!

Say cheese everyone!

Remodeling update!

2010-07-13T21:24:00.031-04:00

We had a hard time getting our stove delivered to our house, but once they did we installed it within a couple of days with a help of a friend. Gary dismantled our old stove-top and the cabinet below it. He also had to cut a part of the counter-top so that the stove would fit properly. Once that was completed our friend Jerry came over and helped Gary install the stove. Our house didn't blow up so it was great success! See pictures below.

Old stove taken out!

Gary taking out the suffit so we could make room for the new cabinets!

Our closer look at our new stove!

Lots of holes in the ceiling!!

All patched up! This was a really hard to do, but Gary did a great job!

New paint!

Some of our new cabinets installed!

Our new microwave installed with more cabinets!

Ta da!! All done!! Yay!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a nice barbecue and then we all went out and watched a firework show in Laurel. See pictures below.

4th of July!!

Me & Gary

Fireworks!

10 for Wednesday

2010-05-21T19:17:00.022-04:00

1) A month ago Gary and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!! We celebrated by going to the Temple and performing a few sealings and afterward's we walked around the Temple grounds and took pictures. We reminisced about the proposal and our wedding day. On the day that Gary proposed to me he had taken me to the Temple where we had a nice picnic dinner and as we ate with the Temple in front of us we watched a beautiful pink and orange sunset. They took out the bench where Gary proposed, but luckily we have a picture of it. Our wedding day was a wonderful day that I will never forget and it was definitely quieter since we didn't have to compete with the cicadas. :) We only have to wait 11 more years to hear them again!

Smile!

Love this picture

2) Gary and I wanted to spend the weekend celebrating our anniversary so we went down to Georgetown since I had never been there and he wanted to show me around. Georgetown has the most ridiculous stores with even more ridiculous prices, but it was fun. We ate at a Indian place for lunch which was good.
3) We had to take our car into the shop to get an oil change and a wheel alignment so we took it in and had that done, but when we drove it the wheels were still not aligned so we took it in again. The guy said that it might not of gotten done so they worked on it while we were at work. Apparently it was aligned, but our two back tire's need to be replaced. We still need to take the car in for other maintenance work so we will need to get that done soon.
4) Our friend Mercy invited us to celebrate her husband's birthday at Calleva an outdoor adventure place in Poolesville. We had a great time. We canoed, swam or at least Gary did, swung from a tree and spent time with our friends from church. Check out the pictures below.

Gary Zoe

Me!

My friend Mercy

It was really scary and I needed a lot of coaxing, but I finally found the courage to swing from the tree. It was a lot of fun that I even went twice!

Smile for the camera!

Gary's turn

Wee!

5) Gary and I have finally finished putting up the crown molding in our dining room as well as a new light fixture which I think makes it look elegant. It kind of puts the rest of our rooms to shame. One room at a time right? Pictures below.

6) Mom and Dad came on Memorial Day so we all headed over to my in-laws house for a nice barbecue. Afterwards we went to see "The Prince of Persia" which I highly recommend to everyone. I really enjoyed it.
7) I had to work a couple weeks ago on Saturday so I was able to take Friday off the next week which was really nice to do have a day off and do whatever I wanted.
8) Since the Stake YM's president moved I believe a month or so ago they released Gary as the a counselor and called a whole new presidency. I wish I was that lucky. :P I can't believe he's had that calling for 4 years and here I am going on 6!
9) We have been trying to find a home for our guinea pigs, but had no luck until Gary put out an announcement at work and someone was interested so he came a couple of days ago to take a look. We noticed that when he picked up Mindy that she had some kind of growth maybe a tumor on her belly which we didn't know about, but he was still willing to take her and Ginger which was really nice. We found out that his father actually breed's them so he knows how to take care of them which is good. It was sad to say goodbye to them, but one thing that I will not miss is cleaning up their cage!
10) We purchased a new oven and microwave and had it delivered this week so we are now in the process of putting it all in. I will post picture's when it's all done.

Till' next week!

10 for Thursday!

2010-04-19T13:30:00.037-04:00

Okay so I know it's been awhile so I'll try to catch up with what's been going on in our lives.

1) Zoe finally finished doggy school and she won first place! We were very surprised, are so proud of her!

2) Our house got robbed last Friday which really frighten us so we had a security system put in a few days later. We didn't get much stolen so we think we might of interrupted them which we counted as a blessing. My brand new laptop unfortunately was stolen which I was upset about.
3) Mom and Dad came into town the same night we got robbed which was comforting, but we also got a lot of work done around the house as well.

Dad

4) My brother Craig and his family flew in on Tuesday from England to move here permanently so we spent a couple of days with them which was really nice. Craig and Tina purchased a nice van here before they left which is a relief since they were stressing out about it.
5) While Craig & Tina were out looking for a car to purchase Mom and I had plenty of time to play with Josh, Kaitlin and Ethan. We played Rockband which was a hit and we went to the park and took the dog on a walk. The kids loved playing with Zoe and of course Zoe loved all the attention and especially the treats!

My big brother Craig!!

Ethan (8 yrs old)

Kaitlin (5 yrs old)

Playing Rockband!

Kaitlin the Rockstar!

Tina, Josh, me, Craig

Tina, Josh, Ethan, Craig, Kaitlin

Ethan, me, Kaitlin

Kaitlin being silly

Making cookies with Grandma

6) Gary and my Dad did a great job finishing our dining room floor and he also helped Gary put in a new vanity in our bathroom which I absolutely love it!! It looks so good! I'm so happy with it. We were also able to put in a a couple of bottom cabinet's in our kitchen which we also love also. We were able to get this all done in like 2 days which was truly amazing.

Beautiful!

New Cabinets!!

7) Before we put back the furniture in the dining room we decided to paint the room and put up the crown molding so we wouldn't have to take it all out again so we painted the room today a bluish/gray color which looks really nice.

Finish!!

Playing in the dirt

8) We decided that we wanted to put a patio in our back yard so we have been having lots of fun digging a hole in our back yard. :P
9) Mom also helped us with our landscaping in the front yard. No pictures yet, but will soon. We got pretty far for only being able to work on it for a short time.
10) A couple of weeks ago we got Zoe fixed and her Dew Claw's taken out. The surgery went very well, but afterwards it was a battle to keep her from licking herself and pulling out the stitches. We bought a cone for her, but it was a bit small so she could still reach so we tied some socks around her feet. It worked somewhat, but it was still annoying. Yesterday we had the stitches taken out which was a relief for both of us. She is sooo much happier now and is again a bundle of energy that we love.

Here are couple of other random recent photos taken.

Taken on Mother's Day

Seeing these two together like this is extremely rare

That's all for now!

Emergency Room!

2010-04-19T13:30:00.005-04:00

I should of posted this a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't had the chance yet so now is as good as time as any. While I was at work I was in charge of preparing lunch that day which was pizza and bread-sticks so all I had to do was put them in the oven and cook them. Pretty easy right? Well, it was all going well until I had to open up the sauce packets for the bread-sticks. I used a sharp knife of course to open them and the one time I wasn't paying attention I sliced my finger really bad. I mean blood was gushing out EVERYWHERE. It was still a little early so no one had come yet so I had to put on a band-aid all by myself which was no easy task. I was scared that I would need to go to the emergency room, but I was hoping that I wouldn't have too. The cut hurt really really bad, but once I bandaged it up I continued to prepare lunch the best I could. I had to keep changing the band-aid and I didn't have enough pressure on it i think until my boss helped me put it on better, but the bleeding didn't stop so I ended up at the emergency room after lunch which was a couple of hours later. I should of went in sooner, but I was a chicken and I really didn't want them to have to sew it back up. So I picked up Gary at work and we went to the emergency room in Largo. If you ever want to get in real quick it helps to start bleeding all over the place which is what happen to me after I signed in and sat down in the chair. Gary told the receptionist that my finger was bleeding so she gave me some tissues and called in the back to have someone take care of me which was nice. After I checked in with the nurse who was nice she took the bandaged off and cleaned it up and then went off to get the doctor to look at my finger. I really like the doctor he was funny and made me feel at ease. He told me that I wouldn't need to sew it up, but that he would put a liquid bandaged on it which was a relief to hear. After he did that the nurse came back and put a normal band-aid on it and then wrapped it in gauze. The next day my finger was really hurting me with some shooting pain all day and on top of that my allergies were acting up and I was tired so suffice it to say I didn't get much done that weekend. My finger is almost healed now which is a relief, because it hurt for so long.

Cherry Blossoms 2010!

2010-04-04T18:57:00.025-04:00

Beautiful view of the Jefferson Memorial!

Our friends the Halverson's

Washington Monument!

Me & Gary

Sitting on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial

Gary and Zoe

Me and Zoe!

Me & Julia

David & Julia

Hooray for Spring!

10 for Tuesday!

2010-03-23T21:34:00.013-04:00

1) Gary turned 29 on March 12th and so we celebrated with going out to his favorite restaurant called the "Alamo". After dinner we went home and had chocolate ice cream cake and he open presents. It was a nice quiet evening. His mom also celebrated with us. We originally plan to go downtown to celebrate his birthday, but on Saturday it was pouring rain so we decided not to go and decided to see Avatar instead. It took us this long, but we finally watched it. We both thought that it was fantastic! I would definitely recommend it to anyone!

2) We had our Stake Conference Temple session a week an a half ago which I always enjoy We also had our ward conference as well that weekend.
3) I went to a Young Women presidency meeting to discuss our final plans for the Young Women social & broadcast. We are hopeful that a lot more people come this time.
4)Gary drove down with a group for work down to PA to go threw a paper & a particle board plant for an inspection on how it all works.
5) Once again our basement flooded because of the rain so we had to pull the carpet back and turn on the dehumidifier to dry it all out. I soaked up the floor in the unfinished room.

Unfinished room

Trying to soak up all the water

6) This last weekend we saw another movie that we have wanted to see which was "Alice in Wonderland". It wasn't creepy as the commercials make it look. We really enjoyed it and thought it was well done.
7) We also had Stake Conference last weekend which was good. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake so we had the privilege to hear from Elder Sitati, Jay Jensen, Barbara Thompson and Boyd K. Packer. They were all very good talks. This was my first experience with a broadcast for stake conference which i thought was interesting and worked pretty well. We had a prayer and a song and they made some sustaining's before the broadcast started.
8) Before the general session we had a youth session where I played the piano for which went alright. I'm always nervous playing in front of a crowd. We had good talks and afterwards we had refreshments.
9) For Gary's birthday I had bought him a pair of pants that he tried on and were a little snug so i told him that we could exchange them to a better fit and he agreed so I had put them in the car ready to take them to the store whenever we were out that way, but we never seem to make it there. I kept telling Gary that we should go to the store to exchange them but he kept changing his mind so on Saturday I told him to go to the mall so we could do it. As we came up to the service desk and Gary put down the pants he heard a clunk so he reach into his pocket and pulled out our cell phone which we had been missing for a week. It was hillarious! The moral of the story? Listen to your wife!
10) Till' next time!

10 for Whatever!

2010-03-10T14:53:00.003-05:00

1) Every week I have been getting together with my friends over at my house for a "Craft Night" which has been a lot of fun. Craft night is open for whatever anyone is working on whether it is scrapbooking, sewing, etc.

2) Wednesday we went to Obedience school for Zoe. She is one of the better one's in class and one of the smallest dogs there. She is doing well, but for some reason I had a hard time getting her to lay down. Perhaps if was because she was in a new area or something i'm not sure. She does it perfectly when we are at home. Hopefully I can get her to do it this week.

3) Thursday we had our writer's group as usual.

4) Ran lots of errands on Saturday. We picked up some stepping stones so that we don't have to trudge through all the mud everytime we would go to the garbage can. Gary accidentally put one down to hard and it broke, but the rest of them survived which was good.

5) We went to the post office to mail off our taxes and as we were coming out they were selling girl scout cookie's so we picked up a couple. We are very excited to get our tax refund back soon, it is almost as much as we put as a downpayment on our house!

6) After church on Sunday we were invited over to a friends house who just moved into our ward for dinner with their two daughters. It was nice to get to know them better.

7) We had another family in our ward who have two little boys come over Monday for FHE. Gary gave a nursery lesson and I played a primary song on the piano. The little 3 year old loved playing with Zoe. After the lesson our guests brought delicious strawberry shortcake.

8) Gary was started to feel sick while at work so I took him home so he could rest.

9) Gary stayed home yesterday since he still wasn't feeling well.

10) We have been having really nice springlike weather lately which is a real blessing and relief from all the snow.

Till' next week!

10 for Tuesday!

2010-02-17T21:21:00.006-05:00

Zoe playing with her sheep!

1) I've been putting this off for awhile so hopefully I can get back in the habit of writing every week.
2) Since some family came down on Valentine's weekend Gary and I celebrated the following week. Every year our stake puts together a Valentine's dance which is always fun so that's what we decided to do this year. Normally, they have a live band, but this year that was not the case. It was a little disappointing, but we still had lots of fun.

Beautiful Flowers Gary gave me on Valentine's Day!

3) I got to wear a really fancy dress that I never get to wear (which is actually the bridesmaid dress I wore for Amy's wedding). I wasn't sure how many people would be there since we had all the snow, but there was actually a good turn out. During the night I danced with a Brother from church that wanted to dance salsa, but I told him that I didn't know how he assured me that he would teach me so I agreed. He was dancing so fast I couldn't keep up! I had a hard time catching my breath and just keeping up with him in general. He was spinning me around so fast it was absolutely insane. Right at the end of the song he was spinning me so fast that i lost my balance and fell back. I didn't get hurt to bad, but everyone was looking at us. It was hilarious!
4) We took Zoe to her second veterinary appointment to get a couple more shots and then we took her to doggy obedience school. We were at the vet longer then expected so we arrived a little late, but was able to get a lot of training in. Since we have been doing some training with Zoe at home she did very well. It is a 10 week program so we will be busy busy busy.
5) Gary did our taxes last Saturday and we are very excited about our refund! We next have to decide what different projects we are going to work on with the house.
6) Gary replaced a broken piece on the car door this morning which is really nice since it has been hard to open and lock the door for several weeks.
7) Zoe has been very bad this last week. For 4 days in a row she has escaped from the kitchen and has been sitting on the couch when we come home. Today I found out how she has done it so I barricaded both of the entryways. She didn't escape today so we will have to do that from now on.
8) It's hard to believe but all the snow we had a couple of weeks ago is almost gone! We are actually suppose to have some really nice weather this weekend.
9) We definitely can't wait for spring to come!
10) Till next time.

Some other cute pictures of Zoe

Zoe found a icicle outside and brought it in with her

10 For Tuesday!

2010-02-09T22:22:00.019-05:00

1) Zoe has brought us much happiness in our life ever since we brought her home two weeks ago. She is always full of energy and is absolutely adorable. She is a good alarm clock and is much better then listening to an annoying beeping sound every morning. :) Each day we have been doing a little bit of training with her and she is getting much better. She sits MOST of the time, but we still need to work on it. House training is going much better now. She still has a couple of accident's, but she is getting much better at telling us when she needs to go outside.

Zoe playing on her back

2) 2010 Blizzard!! This has been a record breaking snowfall since 1996 with 30 inches of snow! It started to snow around 11am and continued till 6pm on Saturday! It was absolutely insane how much snow we got here. I felt like I was living in Chicago again. I couldn't believe how much snow we got. Here are some pictures of the incredible amount we got, it was fantastic!

Back Yard right after the snow stopped.

Another shot of the backyard.

Side yard.

Gary measuring how much snow we got so far. It was at 22 inches. Believe it or not it snowed even more.

Front yard. Can you see the road anywhere?

Look at how high the snow came to covering the fence!

Time to play in the snow!

Zoe not quite sure what to think of all this white stuff.

Gary going to jump into the big pile of snow. 1...2....3....jump!

Woohoo!!! Fun!

Gary attempting to shovel our driveway.

Me peeking out of the igloo!

Gary's turn!

Cheese!

Can't forget our Zoe!

After the storm. We made it!

Nice sunset.

3) I worked a little bit on Friday, but once the storm hit I picked up Gary and we went home. We vegged the rest of the day watching the snow fall.
4) On Saturday as you can see above we played in the snow a bit and shoveled some of the snow. It was very heavy so it was hard to remove it all so we did it slowly each day.
5) Church was canceled of course so we stayed home and relaxed.
6) On Monday our car was still buried so we didn't go to work.
7) We were suppose to have our Stake Conference session at the Temple on Saturday, but because of the snow it was canceled. Stake Conference is suppose to happen this weekend, but it has been canceled as well.
8) The snow was so heavy and tall that the snow plow hardly came down our street so Gary and I and our neighbors all helped shovel the street so that we could all get out and go to the store if we needed to. It was really nice to meet our neighbors and chat with them more then we have since we moved in. Gary and I did need to go to the grocery store so we were fortunate enough to get out and run a couple of errands.
9) Oh, and did I tell you that we got some more snow tonight and it will continue through tomorrow. We are in for 10 to 20 more inches of snow on top on what we already have! Aren't you glad you don't live here! :)
10) Till' next time.

New Puppy!

2010-01-30T17:26:00.007-05:00

Gary and I, but mostly Gary has been looking around in hopes of finding the perfect puppy for us in our new home. We both wanted a dog that would be small and wouldn't lose its fur since both Gary and I have bad allergies. Gary came across a breed called a Yorkiepoo (a mix between a Yorkie and a Poodle). We had our eyes on these 2 puppies that were brown and looked more like a poodle and we were going to drive down and see them, but the owner called us Saturday morning and said that someone else had reserved them so she said that they were not available so we were highly disappointed. We had called earlier in the week saying that we were interested in them and had made an appointment for Saturday to see them so they must of forgot or didn't take us seriously i'm not sure, but it was very frustrating. Gary was not going to give up though so he continue searching and found one that was the same breed, but looked more like a Yorkie. She was cute so we decided to drive all the way to Pennsylvania to see her. We instantly fell in love with her and took her home with us. We decided to name her Zoe.

Zoe!

Trying to learn how to climb the stairs. Still have some work to do.

Sort of playing with her ball?

10 for Tuesday

2010-01-12T22:49:00.015-05:00

1) We had a little snow storm of 2 inches this past week, but it didn't stay long.

2)Gary and I went to a Dr. Horrible party on Friday that was hosted by our good friend Jerry. Everyone had to dress so Gary decided to go as Professor Normal and I went as Fury Leika which are part of the Evil league of evil. If you have no idea what i'm talking about here is a synosis of what it is all about. Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog is a 43-minute tragicomic musical in three acts, each released separately. It tells the story of Dr. Horrible, an aspiring supervillain, Captain Hammer, his nemesis, and Penny, their mutual love interest. If you are interested in watching it you can watch it here. This is only part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g

3) Gary and I found a really nice international grocery store close to our house so we decided to check it out. We were happy to find that a lot of their fruits and vegetables were really cheap and really everything in the store was a good price so Gary and I pick up a couple of items there and decided to make a home cooked meal together. For Christmas my sister Lara made me this beautiful apron and my husband also gave me a George the Dragon (from his comic) apron as well so I wanted to use them so I had Gary put on the one he gave me and I put on the one that my sister gave me. Here is a picture of us wearing the aprons and cooking together.

You can't read Gary's apron, but it says "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the Kitchen...

(Also, avoid any dragons)"

We made a spanish dish called Pipian which is a traditional mexican dish.

4) Our Guinea pigs have been living in a temporary house ever since we have moved into our house and we had a little bit of trouble trying to find the same material we have been using, but Gary found a place where they sell sign board so a couple of weeks ago he bought a couple of sheets so he could make a new one. They have been living in a small box this whole time so Gary made a huge cage for them. I think its to big, but it will be nice for the pigs to have some more room. Here is a picture of the new cage.

Mindy

Ginger

5) Monday night we went to Ikea and purchased two new bookcases. We only had a bookcase and a half so lots of our books were on the floor and a mess. We have been wanting to get new bookcases for awhile so we broke down and got some. The boxes were really long and heavy so it was a little challenging to get them down the stairs, but we managed alright. We just had to slide them down the stairs, because there was no place to hold on to the box.

6) Gary had a fundraiser at work the next day so he had to go to the store afterwards and get a couple of ingredients to make some curry. He did a crockpot recipe so it didn't take to long to put everything together. We woke up to that wonderful curry smell which made me very hungry. :)

7) Yesterday, when we got home from work we recieved a phone call from the missionaries saying that they had us scheduled for dinner which we were not prepared for at all. Gary called them and said that we were not prepared, but that we could order a pizza for them. We actually got a flyer in the mail for a new pizza place in New Carrollton that Gary was thinking about trying so he ordered a couple of pizzas from them. They had free delivery which was awesome and the pizza was actually really good. The missionaries came and we all had a nice time.

8) After the missionaries left and Gary was busy putting bookcases together my visiting teacher came over. After she left I helped Gary move the bookcases around to the way we wanted them and then put the books away. By the end it was pretty late and we were exhausted.

We will eventually put a nice comfy chair there, but for now we have our patio set there.

9) I had a couple of Institute reports due which I always have a hard time getting in on time, but this time I got them all done on time and I didn't have to make any changes which made me very happy.

10) Can't think of anything else that we did so I guess i'll stop typing...

Recipe!

2010-01-12T21:08:00.002-05:00

Chicken and Tortellini Stew

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes
1 cup frozen sliced carrots
1 cup frozen cut green beans
3/4 cup chopped onion
6 cups Swanson chicken broth
1 cup dried cheese-filled tortellini
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions
1) Stir the cornstarch and water in a small cup until smooth. Set the mixture aside.
2) Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 6-quart saucepan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it's well browned, stirring often. Remove the chicken.
3) Add the remaining oil to the saucepot. Add the carrots, beans and onions. Cook over medium heat until the vegetable are tender-crisp.
4) Stir in the broth. Heat to a boil. Add the tortellini and parsley, if desired. Cook for 10 minutes or until the tortellini is tender. Return the chicken to the saucepot and heat through.
5) Stir the cornstarch mixture and stir it into the saucepot. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens slightly.

10 for Tuesday

2010-01-04T21:46:00.013-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Beautiful DC Temple!

Ready, Set, Paint!

The ever cheerful Husband

Finished product

Yay!

1) Gary and I both had a week off for Christmas which was nice to enjoy a quiet holiday together.

2) I was busy trying to get gifts and everything packaged up and sent out to family before Christmas, but I couldn't get everything sent out on time. Christmas seemed to creep on me this year.

3) We went to our ward Christmas party which was a great success this year. Tons of people, great food and entertainment. It was Christmas around the world so there were many different dishes that were delicious.

4) Since our Writers group meets every Thursday we decided to have a Christmas Eve breakfast at IHOP. We didn't talk much about writing, but it was fun to get together.

5) Gary's parent's came over and I served chicken tortellini soup which everyone loved. Afterwards we had a little program where Gary read the Christmas story and everyone sang songs while I played the piano.

6) On Christmas Gary and I opened up presents together at our house and then we went over to the inlaws house to open more presents. We played games all day and enjoyed each other's company.

7) On New Years eve we went over to the inlaws house to celebrate. I wanted to get together with a bunch of our friends, but didn't have time to arrange it. While we snacked on food we played games and watched a movie before we watch the ball drop.

8) We are continuing to make improvements to our house like paint our kitchen and improving our bathroom a little bit. Our next project will be to paint the dining room.

9) Hope everyone has a healthly and happy new year!

10) That's all for this week.

Till' next time!

10 for Saturday?

2009-12-19T12:02:00.006-05:00

Back yard

1) Snow!! It has been 25 years since the last time that it snowed this much in December. Gary and I were very surprised to see how much snow we woke up to this morning and its suppose to snow all day and all night!

Snow!!

My snow angel!

Gary and I enjoying the snow

2) Gary and I hope that the snow will stick around for Christmas next week.
3) We are almost ready for Christmas. We still need to do some shopping.
4) Gary and I found a really cheap kitchen cabinet at Lowe's for 30 bucks!! It looks really nice and there was nothing wrong with it we were quite pleased.
5) We put weather stripping on our front door since there was a huge gap on the bottom. Once we installed it no air came through which was nice, but the side of the door has a little gap so we didn't completely fix the problem, but it is an improvement.

6) We purchased our first Christmas tree and put it in front of our big window in front. Pictures will come later.
7) Gary's friend Hark came over last night to visit with us. We don't normally get to see him so it was nice to chat with him for a little bit. He treated us to dinner which was very nice, but we didn't know where to go so I suggested that we try this new (well new to me) restaurant that I heard about called "Alamo". It had the most delicious food there ever. I fell in love with it. It had a nice atmosphere and they had a singer and guitarist playing as well which was nice. We will definitively going there again.
8) That's all that I can think of at the moment.

Till next week!

Sketches

2009-12-02T19:13:00.009-05:00

Our wedding rings

Guess who?

My very talented husband sketches free hand every week and comes up with beautiful pictures (I am very jealous). He has posted some of them on other websites, but I wanted to show you the beautiful stuff he has created.

Family Photos!

2009-11-28T23:12:00.021-05:00

Scott, Jen & Gary

Gary

Debbie & Jen

Wayne & Jen

Wayne & Debbie

Who are these strange people?!!

Scott & Meghan

Brothers

Sisters

10 For Tuesday

2009-11-28T22:27:00.012-05:00

1) Had a busy week getting everything prepare for guests to arrive on and getting everything prepared for Thanksgiving. I went shopping with my mother in law to make sure to get tips and make sure I had everything i needed.
2) Gary's family came into town as well as mom and dad and Jenny. Mom and Dad came late on Wednesday night and since it was the first time they had seen the house I gave them a tour and they really liked the house.
3) I couldn't sleep the night before because I was nervous about Turkey Day, but I was able to get some sleep.
4) I woke up early and prepared the turkey and got it in the oven on time. Mom and Jen helped me set the table and prepare the other food. Gary's family brought over some sides and dessert so I didn't have to make it all myself, which I was grateful for because it was a LOT of work. It was worth all the work though when we all sat down as a family and had a nice time together.

5) After dinner Gary and his brother Scott washed all the dished which was really nice so the rest of us could relax and watch a movie. After the movie we all ate pie and played games together.
6) The day we took family photos which Jenny took and then Jenny, Mom and I went to see New Moon. I'm not sure how i feel about it, but i liked it better then the first one. Gary went downtown with his family and had a good time.
7) After the movie I went over to my in-laws house and visited with some friends before we went home.
8) Mom and Dad left early this morning so Gary and I cleaned the house and went hiking in Great Falls.
9) Gary and I bought our first Christmas tree today! We rearranged the living room and put the tree in front of our bay window. It looks nice. Pictures will come soon.
10) Till next week!

Here are some pictures

Scott and Meghan

Me and Jen

First Turkey!

Die Turkey!

10 for Tuesday

2009-11-04T22:00:00.003-05:00

1) Thursday we went to a book signing of the "Wheel of Time" at Books a Million. The original author Robert Jordan passed away a couple of years ago so Brandon Sanderson a wonderful fantasy writer that I love is going to finish up thi very long series. It was suppose to only be one more book, but they decided to spilt it into three books.

2) There was a lot of people there so we had to wait in line for awhile, but we were entertained by the ushers who handed out free stuff and played some trivia games with everyone in line.

3) It was great to see Brandon Sanderson again and Robert Jordan's widow Harriet who also signed our book.

4) On Friday we attended a Stake Youth dance where we invited 6 stakes. There was a pretty good turn out, but we could of had a lot more. Hopefully we can do this every year and have a bigger group. Gary and I stayed late to help clean up.

5) Friday night i slept terrible so on Halloween I was tired all day. We did some cleaning around the house and ran some errands. We bought a toliet that we had installed today.

6) Had our housewarming party which was a success. A lot of our friends and family came and celebrating with us. Here are some pictures.

7) We had our YW in Excellence as a stake again this year. It went really well. I was really surprised at all the talent of the young women in our stake. I felt the Spirit really strongly that evening.
8) My birthday this year was pretty uneventful, but nice. I had to work, but afterwards I sat down to a nice dinner that Gary worked really hard on. He made Kung pao for me and his parent's came over to celebrate with us.
9) I had the awesome opportunity to go to an auxilary meeting with Sister Elayne Dalton and a member of the Relief Society and Primary General Board. Since I am in the stake there was a meeting before hand with just the stake leaders. I came early and when I walked into the room were we were meeting there she was I was completely stunned. I didn't know what to say. When she saw me she stood up and asked me what my name was, which stake I was from and what my calling was. She was very friendly and personable. The meeting was wonderful and I really learned a lot from her I wish the meeting was longer, but it only lasted 30 minutes. We had a general meeting with everyone and then we split up with the different organizations. I stayed in the Chapel for our breakout session. It was a wonderful meeting where there was lots of question and answer from the audience
10) After the meeting my friend Mercy wanted me to take a picture of her with Sister Dalton, but I ended up in a picture as well which was totally awesome. I don't have the picture right now, but when I get it I will post it.

That's all for this week. Till next time...

10 for Tuesday

2009-10-27T17:52:00.005-04:00

1) Grandma Lougee visited with my in-laws for a week so Gary and I went over to visit with her. She lives in Prineville, OR.
2) We have been making a lot of progress on our house with unpacking. We still have a couple, but the majority of them are gone.
3) We bought an entertainment center at the Salvation Army that we needed to pick up within 7 days and since we couldn't fit it into the van we had to schedule with our friend who has a truck to come and pick it up on Friday. We also had our home teachers come and help us move it into the house. They had a hard time getting it though the doors and down the steps, but they made it and I think it looks really nice down in the basement. After they moved the entertainment center our home teachers gave us a little message before they left.

4) We also bought a coffee table and an end table that is the same color as the piano which look really nice in the living room. Here are a couple of pictures.

5) It rained all day on Saturday, but we managed to plant our Swamp Chestnut Oak Shade Tree that we got for free before it really poured in the back yard.
6) We cleaned the house top to bottom. We steamed cleaned all the carpets and stairs in the basement and mopped the one unfinished room.
7) On Sunday I had a couple of Young Women meetings that I went to after church and then there was a "Why I served" fireside that we attended. The branch president of the Deaf branch and his wife who both went on missions spoke at the fireside to the YW & YM. The branch president is hearing, but his wife is deaf. It was a good fireside.
8) The Fall leaves are so beautiful right now. In our back yard we have these beautiful trees with bright yellow leaves. I will have to take some pictures and share them.
9) Okay, so this is a little out of order but on Thursday Gary and I had Kendo and our writers group. I'm really enjoying it. I am slowly getting better at it.
10) Well, that's all for this week.

Till next time!

Our first home!

2009-10-24T16:41:00.017-04:00

We are so excited to finally have our very own home after looking for the last year or so. We closed on our house September 30th so we were excited to get everything cleaned up before we moved into our home. This is the first picture of us on our porch. We should of took the picture earlier so you could see us better, but we didn't think about it until it was to late. I will have to get a better one taken later.

Getting rid of all the cobwebs

Gary just chillin in our living room.

A better view of our living room

Bedroom/Dinning room. It was meant for a dining room, but they wanted to count it as a bedroom. It is located right next to the kitchen so it makes more sense as a dinning room.

Upstairs bathroom

Master Bedroom

Basement/Laundry room in the back

Beautiful hardwood floors that we found under the carpet in the dinning room!

A better picture of the hardwood floor

Look, mom I can blog!

2009-09-27T15:33:00.000-04:00

Yay, for blogging! I have wanted to blog for the longest time, but never got around to it. Mostly I felt like I had nothing to blog about, but this week we are purchasing our first home! We are super excited. We will close on the 30th and will move in the next day. We found a beautiful little home in Riverdale which is really close to where we both work which is very convenient. We have been packing for 3 weeks now and I am so sick of it. Through all of this Gary has gone on two business trips leaving me behind to do all the work. Gary first went to Omaha which he loved and then this past week he went to Dallas to give a presentation on the Lacey Act. We are getting really excited about our move and can't wait to close on Wednesday. Well, I guess that's all for now.