The Cornelisons

I could talk about something stressful...

2009-04-28T13:27:00.003-06:00

...or I could just brag a little bit.

Eleven days left 'til...

(Lemme hear you sing it with me now)

"School's out for the summer;
School's out for EVER!"

Stimulous payment Q and A

2009-04-05T16:57:00.001-06:00

This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. Below is an interview helping to explain the exciting new program.

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.

Liar, liar, pants on fire...

2009-03-24T13:17:00.000-06:00

So you know how I made that promise (cough) two weeks ago of a brewing post with pictures of House? Yeah, me too. I seem to be all about excuses here, but I just wanted to let you know why that is {{this time, anyway}}. Do you remember me talking about freak-freak-freakin' out over a calling at church to be the girls' camp director? Well, though I still haven't been to camp or even to a meeting about camp, I'm here to tell you that was nothing. Weak sauce, I tell you. I was called last week to be the Young Women President in my ward.

The Young Women’s organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does three very important things for every girl (age 12 to 18) who participates – it increases her faith in Jesus Christ, it gives her tools to strengthen her family, and it helps her to develop caring relationships with other young women. I can't count the ways this program affected me as I moved throughout it as a youth. I have so many friendships which I will always cherish with past leaders and other women I grew to love during that time and still keep in touch with as we begin our own families. I can't imagine how differently my life would be playing out, had I not had the associations I did at that volatile time, or not had my testimony of my Savior strengthened so deeply to weather the storms I've encountered since then.

I am so grateful for the Young Women program. And now I have the opportunity to bless the lives of 40 girls. I hope to effect a fraction of the influence my leaders had on me.

As I've moved throughout this past week and contemplated just how overwhelming this all is, and just how under-qualified I feel, I've grown closer to my Savior. I now have the faith that if I try my hardest and do my best with this new responsibility, I will be blessed to finish my semester pushing strong to the end, and my family will be blessed as well. I firmly believe that whom the Lord calls, He qualifies, and that gives me confidence that I will not fail these girls.

Ridiculous.

2009-03-11T20:10:00.002-06:00

I am well aware of the fact that my last novel blog post was like a bajillion words, and I apologize. I have a brewing post coming soon about some things we've been doing with House since we decided to stay (i.e. finish moving in.... a year later). I just have to take some pictures and then I'll share!

As a side note, my friend Hollylynn shared a great bit with us today about blogging etiquette. Better still though, she shared this link, with which I am now addicted and couldn't not share with those of you who are LDS and will appreciate the humor. And oh is there humor!

Ok, Enough Already!

2009-03-07T20:35:00.002-07:00

Sorry about the suspense I may or may not have caused the masses who read my blog. I just couldn't say anything until we were sure what was happening, and then I got a little overwhelmed with school for a bit there. Midterms are over now, so we're back to "normal" (though let's be honest, 'Dorese' and 'normal' do not belong in a sentence together...)

So here's the big secret:
We have coveted our across-the-street neighbor's house since we moved in last summer. Well not really, but we love the front facade and especially his roses. We call it the "4th of July" house. It's seriously a beautiful and charming house. And the ROSES! You would covet it too. Well, a month or so ago, we noticed a sign in front of it advertising that it was for SALE! I called without even talking to Mark first, knowing that this house would surely be way far out of our price range, but knowing too how much we loved the outside, we couldn't pass up a chance to just see the inside.

Come to find out, the guy is afraid of losing his job, so just wants to walk from the house. (Translation: he's letting it go CHEAP.) We looked at it 17 times (ok, just 6) and made an offer. An extremely low offer. We figured we would be willing to pay a certain amount for it, so we offered considerably lower than our bottom line, which was already considerably lower than the asking price.

We got his counter-offer back a few days later. His counter was our bottom line. It was perfect. Too perfect.

Well, we pretty much figured we were doing it no matter what, so started to get our house listed and make arrangements for a move. One major hangup though: (for you LDS people out there) our road is our ward boundary. Moving across the street would put us into a different ward. And that was not something we were even remotely interested in experiencing.

Other issues:
- we would need to close off the fence on either side of the house
-we really don't love living on our busy street, and moving to that house doesn't really help that issue (even though it faces a quiet culdesac, it's still on the corner...)
-part of the reason it was so inexpensive is that he is in the process of updating his house... and he's in the middle of about 25 different projects, with no interest of finishing them; he just wants to walk away

The night we got the amazing counter offer back, we called our bishop to find out how much we could pay him to pretend we still lived within the ward boundary. Felt bad for about 7 seconds.

15 minutes before we were supposed to go to the prospective new house to meet the seller and discuss the contract, we found out about another house, on a quiet street in a newer subdivision, with a totally fenced back yard, no immediate projects inside, and it's within our ward boundaries. Oh yeah, and it's gone all the way through foreclosure and back to the bank. And banks don't like to be stuck with houses (it was the same price as the 4th of July house). We drove over to that house and peeked through the windows with our flashlights (I'm really surprised we didn't have the cops called on us). We were interested enough to lose a little bit of interest in the house across the street and take some time to think about it for a few days.

Well, leaving out a few weeks in the interest of shortening this already-too-long post, we decided we didn't love any of the houses available right now enough to go through the process of selling, moving, and paying closing costs, so we're just staying put for now.

It's not a secret though that we got into our house through the previous owners losing it in foreclosure, and with that we were able to get it for quite a bit less, and have some built-in equity. One downside is that we don't really "love" this house, and don't really feel like we'll stay here more than a few years. So we're keeping our eyes half-open, and in the event that we see something that is worth it to us to make the jump, I'll have some REAL news to share!

Sorry for the suspense for nothing... It's what I do best, man.

Outrageous and Crazy

2009-02-04T14:52:00.005-07:00

So I've been thinking lately about what I could write about on the ol' blog. There just hasn't been a whole lot to write about. Now don't get me wrong, we've got plenty going on, just not much worth writing, you know?

Until yesterday.

Yesterday we did something outrageous and crazy. So much so, in fact, that I can't even talk about it yet. I'll keep you posted though, rest assured. {{hint: check the label}}

I'm still trying to decide what, exactly, my point was in even writing about something I can't yet reveal... The jury's still out on that one though.

Website

2009-01-24T19:38:00.002-07:00

We're excited to announce the official launch of our photography website! Click here to check it out, and be sure to leave some feedback to let us know what you think!

(Should you have trouble accessing the website via the hyperlinked text, please copy and paste http://www.cornelisonphotography.com into the address bar of your browser.)

For Nate

2009-01-07T19:04:00.007-07:00

Charlie's First Bath (the day we brought him home, age: 5 weeks).

Cornelison Photography

2009-01-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

You may notice that my "other site" sidebar has changed (it's really ok that you hadn't. Really.) to link to another blog rather than to the Flickr website.

That's right folks, we've taken the plunge and started up a new business to use our most favorite hobby to help others have great pictures to remember their special days. Go check us out over at Cornelison Photography. And as the new sidebar invites, leave a comment or two to let us know what you think!

Next Year's Tree

2008-12-28T19:11:00.003-07:00

I talked Mark into taking me to Michael's in Idaho Falls the day after Christmas, you know, to take advantage of 70% off deals on all things Christmas decor. I found there a GOLDMINE! I got silver picks, silver, cream and gold ribbon, an adorable stocking for Charlie (that I will SO be tracing to make more stockings as we add to the family) and a few other goodies. I love shopping for holidays after they're over! Next year's tree will not bear the same gold ribbon and red flowers of the last four Christmases. No friends, I bought some flashy gold poinsettia flowers last year but didn't use them with the red this year. To the current scheme I will add the gold picks, but Next Year's Tree will be entirely decked out in silver and gold! It will include the cream/gold/silver ribbon (absolutely gorgeous!), gold flowers, silver picks, and a few other tricks I have up my sleeve. I can't wait to see it! (Wait... this coming from the woman who refuses to take her tree down until mid-January because of the time spent lovingly decorating it only a month before? Already looking forward to doing it all over again?) Yes friends. I love sales. I could go broke saving money.

Scared Speechless

2008-12-28T18:43:00.003-07:00

Have you ever had an experience where you've been asked to do something you knew you should do, and you were so terrified of your own inadequacy that you couldn't even respond?

I was extended a new calling (job I do with regard to my membership in my church) this past week. Today I was sustained (the entire ward had to acknowledge their support for me to do this job). Last week when I spoke with the gentleman who asked me to accept the calling, it began like any other conversation:

Him: "So, do they have you doing anything in the ward?"

Me: "I have two callings... I teach in Relief Society (the class for women) and I am on the Enrichment activity board."

Him: (chuckling) "Oh, so you really don't have much to do then."

Me: "No, it's really not bad."

This next part is how it always starts....

Him: "We've been given your name for a third calling. Is your husband here?"
Me: "Umm, ok. Yeah, I'll go grab him." (they like to have the spouse there)

I find Mark, who misunderstands and doesn't want them to change him from his current calling, teaching the adult Sunday school class, so he pretends like he doesn't hear me. Five minutes later we've made it back to the office and sit down.

Him: (to Mark) "I understand your wife doesn't have enough to do and needs another calling (chuckling again). We've been given your name, like I told your wife already, for a third calling.

Him: (to me) "This one is a part-time calling, but it's one that requires a lot of time. I want you to be perfectly honest with me if you think you can't do it or you have any concerns whatsoever, ok?"

Me: (beginning to get a little nervous) "Mmhmm."

Him: We want you to be the Camp Director (for Girls' Camp). Do you think you can do it?

Me: (thinking: girls camp? I love camp! I've been trying to get back for 7 years!...WAIT. In CHARGE? ME?!?)

I just stared at him. He cleared his throat. Mark kicked me. I snapped out of it.

Me: "Umm, yeah. Sure. I can do that. It will be great."

We exchanged pleasantries and left the office. Then Mark asked me what in the crap a camp director is. I told him I'm in charge of Girls' Camp for our ward. Every girl (ages 12-17) in our congregation is invited to go to camp, and most do. It's a week long in the summer time, and some of my very best experiences from my youth happened there.

When we got home, I curled into a ball and wondered what on Earth I had committed to do.

O Christmas Tree...

2008-12-20T10:04:00.014-07:00

After seeing a few online Christmas tree parties, like on Tip Junkie and Thrifty Decor Chic (have I mentioned before how much I love these two sites? No? They're fabulous. Check 'em out!), I couldn't resist begging Mark to take pictures of my beautiful tree so I could share, too. So turn on your favorite carols, grab some hot chocolate, and enjoy!

I love decorating my tree every year. And every year it's different. Mark and I grew up with two very different Christmas trees - my family always had a "real" tree, while Mark had the same artificial tree throughout his entire childhood. In my family, we all bought, made, or received as gifts an ornament of our own each year. My parents would decorate the tree together one night, then the children could put their ornaments on once mom and dad's were arranged. The tree was a symbol of our family and always a great tradition for us.

In Mark's family, his mom decorates the tree. It's always extremely beautiful and follows a theme. She uses ribbon and artificial flowers, and all of her ornaments are themed and match each other.

The first few Christmases I celebrated away from home, I decorated my "real" tree the same as my parents had. I had all of my own ornaments they had sent me home with that first Christmas, and I bought some beaded garland and lights to go with them. Then Mark and I got married, and spent our first Christmas together with his parents. They sent us home with their old artificial tree, and boxes and bags of lights and other decor they weren't using that year. The resulting tree was the perfect combination of our two families' trees.

Mark and I buy an ornament every year for our tree, and I've been collecting my own ribbons and stems the past few years of after-Christmas sales. Every year I love to stand back and admire the beautiful hodgepodge of our lives together.

I had a love-hate relationship with that tree that was nearly 30 years old, and the last straw landed this year as I set it up. In a rage I started taking it back apart and putting it back in its box, demanding that Mark had a couple of options if he wanted a Christmas tree in the house this year, and none of them included the old tree. (Ok, so it didn't come off that unreasonable and the old tree ended up downstairs with Mark's handiwork and lights on it, but we lucked into a 65% off sale the very next day so I got a brand new tree out of the deal.)

Here is the 2008 tree:

I asked Mark to take some pictures for me of the tree, and he of course couldn't resist the cool photographic effects of the following picture:

This close-up shows three things: the ribbon, one of the flowers, and one of a set of ornaments I inherited this year from a great aunt who has passed away. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge to show detail. The ornament set is the 12 days of Christmas, and each one depicts one of each day. They're very lovely, and I am so excited to add them to my collection

This next picture is our "First Christmas Together" ornament from 2005. We love this ornament, not just for the significance of the year, but it was just so perfect for us - I don't know if you can really tell, but the heart is silver and the couple is gold, which is kind of our "thing". (Our wedding rings are both two-toned.)

This is my "Baby's First Christmas" ornament I've been hanging on trees since I was a kid. It just wouldn't be Christmas without this one.

Ever seen "A Christmas Story"? (You'll shoot your eye out, kid!) It's a must-see for us every year, so when I found this Leg Lamp ornament last year, it was a must-have.
It even lights up!

This was my 2004 ornament. It was a gift from my parents that year. If you can't see it, it's a replica of the bell from the story "Polar Express" which is my favorite children's story of all time. Dad used to read it to me every year, so it was kind of our thing (which is why I got the bell and my brothers didn't). The Polar Express had just been made into a movie that same year, and it was also the first movie Mark and I went to see together on one of our earlier dates. He got me the book for Christmas that year.

And that wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed the very wordy (yet very limited) tour of my tree!

Gratitude

2008-12-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

Naturally several days {{ahem, weeks}} behind schedule, I thought it fitting to write something about the things I've been thinking about in this (recently ended) season of giving thanks. I find myself deliberating between choosing a few favorite things to talk about, creating a long list of everything I can think of, or just discussing the idea of gratitude in general... I think I'll just start to list the things I have to be grateful for and see where that gets me. {{This may end up to be a healthier exercise for me than just merely a post about gratitude...}}

loved ones and friends to comfort and find comfort in
finding beauty in all things (yes, even the high plains desert of SE Idaho...)
the gospel of Jesus Christ and what that means to me personally
the freedoms I enjoy as a citizen of this blessed country
a fair and reasonable legal system
the right to vote
practicing any religion I want to
freedom to express any views I have
...
parents who really tried to do the best job they could raising me
many influential teachers and friends who have helped to guide me along my way

Well I'm out of time for the afternoon, but there's a list of 10ish to get me started... Maybe I'll start tacking on a short list at the end of every post from now on. I've seen a few other people do that and I like the idea.

I hope your week is going well, and for anyone in school, good luck muddling through as your semester comes to a close {{and especially with finals!}}.

Bring Out Yer Dead!

2008-11-19T21:26:00.004-07:00

"I'm not dead yet!" (Ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? No? Do it. Now. Thank you.)

I promise I haven't died. Or fallen off the face of the earth. But holy HANNAH has school/work/sleeping/facebook/your mom gotten busy! I have the entire next week off from school and work (for Thanksgiving, yeah!) and found an amazing deal several months ago for a nonstop flight to Detroit... so I'm going home for Thanksgiving! I'm so excited!

However, that means major crunch time this week in preparation for all of the projects and things due immediately following my return from Michigan. And remember that lovely housing project I told you about a while ago? It's been sucking my life away for several months now, but it's due Friday. So a few more days in freak-out mode and then it's done! Yeah!

Anyway, I felt like I needed to take a second to at least update the blog before I lost my entire reader community (yes, all three of you) to the Pith of Dethpair (I seem to be on an old-favorite-movies kick or something... maybe it's the lack of any small amount of time to sit down and quote-along with The Princess Bride...?)

Pictures

2008-10-22T09:21:00.004-06:00

I meant to mention this with the camera post, but I can say it now just as well. Me having my very own shiny high powered super awesome camera (complete with cute bag) means that I now will be taking more pictures and (should hopefully be) posting more on the blog. For example, I made cinnamon rolls yesterday, and decided to take pictures of the process, and I'll post those soon. I have all sorts of pictures from the last few months floating around {{especially of Charlie}} just waiting to be shared, and hopefully those too will soon be forthcoming.

The picture I'm sharing today, however, is one I don't think I would have dug up and put on here, but I saw this on several other blogs and liked the idea. So here's what the idea is: go into your "My Pictures" folder, then to the 4th folder, and to the 4th picture within that folder... and then talk about it! So here's mine:

In my little folder library, this picture is titled "Hawaii day 1 020", though it was taken in Washington state. And, surprisingly, since this was taken in 2007, I actually took this picture! Mark's graduation present from his parents was a trip to Hawaii, so we left the day after he graduated and were gone for about a week. I took this picture out the window of our airplane as we flew from Spokane, Washington, to Seattle, Washington, to pick up our flight to Honolulu. I couldn't believe there was so much snow still in the middle of May! And now, as we look through our Hawaii pictures, it does seem a little odd that the first group of them are pictures of snowy mountains and the last 2500 are of beautiful beaches and endless green...

Birthdays

2008-10-21T20:05:00.004-06:00

Pookie-Woo, or Charlie as you may know him, who we brought home in July, was supposed to be an early birthday present for me in September. But then a few days ago I was informed I had another, late birthday present. Seems it was one of those accidental purchase-types, but hey, I'm not one to complain. I am, however, totally stoked.

I got a new camera! It's a Canon 40D, and it totally rocks my socks.

Thanks honey, for buying me a fun toy! I'm on to power tools next, so if you want to accidentally buy me an electric sander for Christmas, I won't complain!

Addiction, Sweet Addiction...

2008-10-10T11:20:00.003-06:00

Check... Check... Eh hem... this thing on? Ok, good. I wish to address in my ramblings today a very serious issue: addiction.

It all started a few days ago when I read a post on Breezi's blog in which she made a confession. She's a blog stalker! (Cue Psycho music...) And I thought, I'm a blog stalker, too! (We'll get more into this later.) She suggested there should be a club called BSA (Blog Stalkers Anonymous, not to be confused with the more noble cause of Boy Scouts of America...). Lastly, she challenged all those who stalked her blog to come out of the woodwork and show themselves! So I did. It was a liberating experience for me. So who are you? Show yourself! Leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

Now, on to the second order of business: my blog stalking activity. Any time I see a link to the blog of an individual I once knew, I can almost never avoid checking it out. Just to see what they're up to and where life has taken them. And it's fun! (And it's not like I have to really justify this here, you know you do it, too...) Anyway, I don't know what the inner force is that drives me to want to know what every person I've ever known may be up to, but it's there. I try to leave comments on people's blogs that I read frequently, but sometimes I feel intimidated... especially if other commenters are witty. As you well know, wit is something of which I am lacking.

I decided I would showcase some of my favorite blogs here to share with you all today, just in case you're just like me and want to check 'em out. (You know you do.)

Before I ever even considered having my own blog, a friend recommended a blogger who calls herself The Pioneer Woman. And let me just say, she is hilarious! She posts daily about life on her regular blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, step by step recipes (with pictures and antics) on her cooking blog, stuff about home improvement, and in a fourth spot all about her photography. I even subscribed to her site so I would know when she posts things. It's sick, really. A while ago, she decided to document the story of how she met her husband. It is so good and addicting, so make sure you've got some time, because it takes a while to read it all! She describes it as "how I went from spoiled city girl to domestic ranch wife in the blink of an eye." Check her out!

Another favorite is Tip Junkie, which is put on by a stay at home mom who loves to craft and set up the site to bring ideas together into one accessible place. She does features of things... a few weeks ago she did several features of Super Saturday and do it yourself ideas, which I love. Why wait for Super Saturday to roll around when you're feeling just a little crafty? This week she's really focusing on Halloween and Christmas stuff. It's just fun to see so many different women featured with such neat ideas all in one spot.

I have a friend who is so creative and talented, who got together with another talented friend to contribute to Side Notes. It's another awesome site that just shares some creativity for neat ideas.

Other blogs I love are those of all of my friends who I've kept up with. Without taking an entire day to go through the whole list and bore you to tears, I'll just refer you to my list of "friends and faves" down the right sidebar.

Wow, this ended up being a long post just to talk about Blog Stalking Addiciton. It's a serious condition, you know.

Tell 10 to Tell 10!

2008-10-09T16:18:00.000-06:00

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! TheBreastCancerSite.com is having trouble getting enough people to click on their website daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to underprivileged women. It takes less than a minute to help. Just go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram". And it's free! They have sponsors who use the number of daily visits to judge how much to donate, and they do that in exchange for free advertising.

I actually got this in an email forward, but I thought it was such a great thing we could all do that doesn't take any money and hardly any time at all, and it shows our support during Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month.

Click here to help today!

Free Handbag!

2008-10-01T16:20:00.002-06:00

If there are two things (of many, many loves that I have) that catch my breath, they're handbags and stuff that's free. And oh, how I love handbags. And free stuff. Ahh... Anyway, Camille posted about this website who is giving away a free handbag every hour today, to celebrate their new website. I had to remind myself to start breathing when I saw free and handbag in the same sentence, so it's ok that you did too. :D

So go there now and register to win one for you, too!

And if you're not a handbag person, don't mind me - I'm just sharin' the love.

Class: Interior Design and Housing

2008-09-27T08:36:00.009-06:00

You may have noticed I haven't written anything for a while. I've noticed. The guilt gnaws on me all the time. Ok, maybe not all the time, but it does. One thing I have been working on is an awesome project for a class on interior design and housing. We have to choose the layout of a house (practical or otherwise) and design it to make it our own from the drawing up... minus the actual building process. I have spent so much time looking at different house plans that now I'm all ready to move again.

Or not. You can join in on the fun, too. Click here to see my favorite site for them. Or here for their general home improvement site, another favorite of mine. I recognize that you're smarter than me and that they're the same site, but I wanted to make it easy, you know, for those of you who can't wait to dive into the wonderful wide world of house plans.

In case you're curious, I'll share the house I've decided to do. And hey, I never said it was practical. But in looking through what seemed like thousands of the different options, I liked this one the absolute best. So when the project is finished, I'll file it away somewhere and maybe some day when we're building a practical but nice home, I can pull out this plan and use the layout of the kitchen. Ok, I probably wouldn't be able to do that, but I could maybe use a linen closet from the plan...

So here it is:

And here's the floor plan:

(Click picture to enlarge)

And here are the immediate changes I am making as I draw the thing (to scale, mind you) and plan for everything from building materials to paint colors and decorating themes.

Take off extension of garage, limiting it to 2 cars. Take bathroom out of corner by "Bedroom 2/Office"... Move closet to that location, put half bath off of hallway where that bedroom is. Extend "East" wall to make all bedrooms bigger. Add walls surrounding dining room, with archways on each wall for entrance. Make the foundation a basement to be finished later. Add an open staircase to the basement along the "West" wall of the great room, where it meets up with the kitchen wall.

*Note: The stairway between the kitchen and the garage goes to some unfinished space
above the garage.

That's all for now, I suppose. My other classes are going well, but this one brings all the excitement so far.

Again?

2008-09-06T17:48:00.002-06:00

Tag: All About Mark
The Man I Married

1. What is his name? Mark
2. Who eats more? Mark.... Unless we're talking pizza or sweets. I've got the market on those. : )
3. Who said I love you first? Mark again. He said it so fast that it kind of shocked me.
4. Who is taller? We're technically the same height, though we measured once standing back to back with a cereal box across our heads, and he swears it tipped "ever so slightly" toward me. So if you asked him, he would probably just say "Me" without the story. :D
5. Who is smarter? Mark is. Would any other answer really be appropriate in a survey about him?
6. Who is more sensitive? Mark. (See above) I kid, I kid. I'm the sensitive one.
7. Who does the laundry? Mark, per an agreement. I cover the kitchen, he does the laundry. It's probably the chore I detest the absolute most, so it works out pretty well for me!
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mark does. It's closest to the door. If we moved the bed in a different direction, I would.
9. Who pays the bills? We both pay the bills.
10. Who cooks more? Me. This fits in with the laundry agreement.
11. What meals do you cook together? Anything that goes on the grill is in Mark's ballpark.
12. Who is more stubborn? Mark. Definitely.
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Me. Sometimes. But that's because Mark is always right. No, really. I lack logic sometimes.
14. Who has more siblings? I do; I have 3 and he has 1.
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Most of the time, it's Mark. I always defer to him. But he usually defers to me, and calls me "The Boss" to others. So I would say we're fairly equal.
16. What do you like to do together? Photography, ride bikes, go on road trips, take our bikes with us on our road trips, play with our puppy, travel, and work on houses.
17. Who eats more sweets? Me. Hands down, no doubt about it. Mark doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. And I do. Let's just leave it at that.
18. Guilty pleasures? He likes to research camera gear, photography sites and books, and all sorts of techie gadget stuff.
19. How did you meet? We were in the same student ward in Moscow, and my roommate was dating one of his roommates, so I would go over there with her. Officially, I called him for some records of mine, because he was the Ward Clerk, and so he came to my house to bring them to me. I made him hot chocolate and he stayed and talked for a while. (Without ever telling me how badly the hot chocolate was hurting his stomach...)
20. When did you fall in love with him? One of our first real dates... We went for a late-night hike and sat down on some big rocks and talked about our families and all sorts of things. I knew I wanted to marry him that night.
21. Who has changed the most since you married? We've both changed a lot. I've probably changed more, because I had a lot of growing up to do, and I'd like to think I've been at least making an improvement in the last 3 years! ;)
22. Who proposed? Mark did, but we had already bought our rings and started making plans. The only surprise was when he was planning to actually ask me. Even though he already knew my answer. It was so much fun though once it was official!
23. His best features? There are far, far too many to list here. And besides, I don't want my gentle readers to have to excuse themselves to vomit because of all the mushy, lovey-dovey things I could say. But I love how good and genuine he is. And he is like that with everyone he meets. Mark is one of the most sincere people I have ever met. You just can't go wrong with him. I'm sure as he's reading this, he's thinking "What about my big muscles and absolute killer manliness?" And alas, he would be right. Mark is also a very manly-man, with muscles on the outside to compliment his giant heart on the inside.
24. What is his greatest quality? I guess I kind of answered this just now (see above). Another great quality is his mind. Mark is able to do anything he wants, and do it extremely well. He's so intelligent, and always has a good response for any question or situation. He is the best Gospel Doctrine teacher I have ever observed. His mind just works so fast and is so focused! I admire so many things about him, but the one I'm thinking about right now sure is nice to have in our home! :D

I was tagged by Kathryn, and I now tag... Jade S., Jackie S., Wendy S., Kim S., Coleen S., and Missy G. Man, I had a thing going there with the Ss, and I didn't even know it! :D

Charlie

2008-08-23T10:16:00.002-06:00

I would like you to meet Charlie, or Pookie or Charlie-Warlie as he is known around the house. (Pookie is Mark's name for him, Charlie-Warlie is what I call him.) Charlie is a border collie who is now about 9 weeks old. We got him a few weeks ago from a farm outside of town.

Let me just put on the record here that "Free to Good Home" is really never "free". Just so you know. We picked the little guy up, feeling like we had hit jackpot to find such a precious puppy for FREE! But then the very next morning we had to rush him to the vet. Total bill so far for our free puppy? Almost what we would have paid for an AKC registered pure bred pup. It's all right though, we wouldn't have it any other way. We really love Charlie and feel like he won the lottery the day we picked him out. You see, the poor little guy was under-nourished and sickly. For having long hair and looking like a chubby little furball, he was skin and bones under the coat. And then the reason for the emergency vet trip was that we discovered our little Pookie had Round Worms. If you've never seen them, you're missing out on a real treat. These particular dudes looked just like spaghetti noodles, and were about six inches long. Talk about enough to make you lose your breakfast. Charlie was so infested with them that he was expelling just worms -- there was nothing else in his stomach. At this point we understood why he was so skinny; and no longer felt quite so passionate about reporting the people we got him from for animal neglect.

Anyway, it’s been almost three weeks now since we first took him to the vet. He’s completed round 1 of the de-worming meds and will have them again as a precaution this coming week. He’s had his first set of puppy vaccinations, and he’s been on special puppy chow to boost his immune system, etc. He slept a TON that first week, but he’s really perked up and started to grow and put the weight on. It’s been so good to see him so much healthier.

Good health, however, equals more energy. And oh boy, does this guy have energy! Is it sick for us to secretly long for the days when he was so sickly that he slept them away? I find myself thinking not when I am woken up at 3:30am by a particularly playful pup who wants nothing more than to lunge repeatedly at my face and attack my nose. Ah, love.

Exciting News!

2008-08-20T19:03:00.002-06:00

IT'S A BOY!

As If I Don't Talk Enough About Myself...

2008-08-07T14:41:00.017-06:00

I've been tagged! (Thanks, Kathryn...)

The Rules:
•Link the person(s) who tagged you.
•Mention the rules on your blog.
•Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
•Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
•Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I LOVE the feeling of glass when you've just washed it with soap, and it's still wet. You know, when it's almost squeaky... This is seriously one of my favorite feelings in the world. And I can't wash dishes without stopping to admire the squeaky glass. Aaahh...

2. My favorite foods are ketchup, cheese, and creamy peanut butter (though not all together. That would just be sick. Ketchup and cheese, yes. Peanut butter and cheese, yes. Peanut butter and ketchup, no.) And along these same lines, my absolute favorite sandwich involving lunchmeat is: Ham, ketchup, and cheddar cheese, on the cheapest enriched white bread you can find. Mmm...

3. I'm a symmetry perfectionist. No really. In fact, it bothers me that the word "symmetry" is not one of those that can be spelled the same frontwards or backwards. You, know, like Hannah or racecar.

4. I love dishes. I think I inherited this little dish-loving gene from my grandma Orlandi, but I digress. Every time a piece catches my eye, I have to have it. Well, not really, or we would be broke. But I look forward to the day when I can have a china cabinet to fill with all of my lovely pieces I have (not yet begun to in any way shape or form) collected.

5. I can, and do sleep through just about anything. Really. And while we're on the subject of my quirkiness with regard to sleeping, it should be revealed that I have been accused on occasion (ok, every night for the last 3 years) to steal the bed. Most women settle for stealing the blankets, but I go right for the good stuff and just take over the bed. I maintain that if Mark would stop stealing the blankets, I wouldn't have to chase after him as he squirms away from me during the night (while he is wide awake and fully conscious and I am blissfully dreaming of frolicking puppies and butterflies in sunlit meadows...)

6. I should have just clumped this with the first quirk I divulged, but now that I'm thinking of it, this one really deserves to stand on its own. I LOVE fresh blueberries. Love them. And in the last month or two since they've come into season and have been available in larger quantities for lower prices, I have bought so many that my freezer is overflowing with them. And I would suffer embarrassment to reveal just how many of these little wonders I've eaten...by the handful... in the last couple of months. Have you ever had a blueberry-induced stomach ache? No, me neither. Just wonderin'.

Oh yeah! And I tag.... Julie G., Angie A., Becky A., Debi T., Ashley P., and Johnna P. Whew! I didn't know if I had six friends! ;)

One Word About Me

2008-07-31T19:19:00.001-06:00

One word. That's all you can write as your answer. Can you do it? Not as easy as you might think. Change the answers to fit you and post! It's hard to only use one word answers!

1. Where is your cell phone? .................... Desk
2. Your significant other?....................... Amazing
3. Your hair?.................................... Split
4. Your mother? ................................. Example
5. Your father?.................................. Uggabugga
6. Your favorite thing?.......................... Peace
7. Your dream last night?........................ Realistic
8. Your favorite drink...........................Juice 9. Your dream/goal?.............................. Contentment
10. The room you're in?.......................... Office
11. Your ex?..................................... Shameless
12. Your fear?................................... Loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years........... Water
14. Where were you last night?................... Home
15. What you're not?............................. Nutritious
16. Muffins...................................... Blueberry
17. One of your wish list items?................. Puppy
18. Where you grew up?........................... Rootstown
20. What are you wearing?........................ Sunglasses
21. Your TV?..................................... Off
22. Your pets?................................... Patience : )
23. Your computer? .............................. On
24. Your life?................................... Fabulous
25. Your mood?................................... Unsettled
26. Missing someone?............................. Friends
27. Your car?.................................... Dirty
28. Something you're not wearing?................ Necklace
29. Favorite Store?.............................. WinCo
30. Your summer?................................. Short
31. Like someone?................................ Mark
32. Your favorite color?......................... Yellow
33. Last time you laughed........................ Recently
34. Last time you cried?......................... Movie