The Framing of Life has Officially Begun!

The one thing I want to have in a house, when we get one, is a photo wall.  I love the idea!  I want it to be chuck full of new photos, old photos, and even crazy ones.  To create such a thing I would obviously need frames.  I didn't want a bunch of generic frames, that were all the same.  I wanted a group of frames of all kinds.

The search for such frames has yielded nothing until today!  I was going to get my hair done and left WAY too early.  So to kill time, I stepped into Rodworks, which has a store right by the salon I go to.  As for the frame hunt, I scored!  Ah yeah!

Since I don't have a wall to put them on yet, I tried to get some that sort of matched in a quirky way.  Here's what I was able to find.  (granted I could have got more, but thought it wouldn't be smart to spend too much)

This was the first frame I picked up, and my favorite from the bunch

(The picture is of my Grandma and Grandpa Pehrson on their wedding day)

The really strange one, but I liked it. No photo in it yet. ;)

I like the frames that hold square photos. No photo yet.

Here is the 8X10 in the group.  Very ornate but they will not all be like that so a few are good

Since there were 4 frames I had to get something else to make it an odd number again, here's what I picked...  That's a rod iron jack!  Totally cool!

I have the frames that we used at our wedding that are very plain and black.  Those will definitely be apart of the grouping, but I hope I can find more frames to add to the collection.  I can't wait to get them into a permanent home.

Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival

Houston loved these pink ones

Houston and I finally got to the Tulip Festival.  We have always wanted to go but this was the first year that we really made a serious effort to get there.  It was the perfect day for it too.  Good weather, not too many people.  We have both been to the Thanksgiving Point Garden before, and it is huge!  Now imagine that with Tulips everywhere.  They have all colors and kinds.  Be prepared.... there are bunch of pictures in this post.

Hope you like flowers... Tulips in particular. ;)

Purple!  I love these!

 We were pretty impressed by these beds and the color combo's in them

 Houston with the first bed he ever loved

Can I have these... Please!

These are some pretty crazy Tulips.  They look so much better in person

My photography moment

The top half of a very large fountain.  So pretty!

I love the dark pink ones.  Matched with orange, even better

We decided to call these Radish Tulips

Me, in a sea of yellow!

The mix of orange and yellow is a perfect combo!

A hidden carousel

Many a kid rolled down this hill while we were there.  I don't know how I got this shot.

I like the contrast from the rounded petals to the pointy!

Doesn't it look like they go forever!?

Red... How I love thee.

Yes, these are Tulips

Yay Us!

Saw these on the way out.  I couldn't resist!

Oh yes, and some really little Daffodils.  I like little things.

We had so much fun.  I can't wait to have my own yard to fill with all sorts of crazy plants!  There is one Tulip and I absolutely LOVE that they didn't have there.  Maybe I should put in a request for next year!

There called Queen of the Night.

Here's a picture.  It should be pretty obvious that it's something I would choose. ;)

Black/purple  Ah yeah!

A Lesser of Two Evils. Congrats to the world!

 As many of you are well aware, Osama  Bin Laden is dead.  I watched all the posts fly up on facebook after it was announced and was amazed at all the different responses.  My thoughts on it....

First off, I'm happy he is gone.  I think that it was the lesser of two evils.  I don't like the thought of killing people but, he has caused such heartache and destruction that it was better to kill him then let him continue his crusade of spreading hate.

I saw a few comments that people said they were disturbed by the celebration of his death, even disgusted by it.  As for me, I thinks it's completely normal to be excited and show it in some form, but on the other hand, I do get a bit embarrassed when they show people celebrating like it's New Years.  The world thinks of us as being a cocky country, I have always hated that.  So, in my mind, we should take this victory with a bit of grace and humility.  There were a lot of countries who wanted to see him brought to justice, and helped in whatever form, to get to this point.  So for me, it's more of a, "Congrats to the world!"  I hope we can all celebrate together.

I'm sure there are some people that are mad that he wasn't captured and tried in front of the world.  He will get judged regardless. Trust me, I'm not sad that I don't have his meeting with God.  I can't even imagine what that would be like.

On a good note!  Gas prices are rumored to be going down in the wake of this news!  I'm excited about that! Houston said, last night, he was going to try to get to work and back home before getting any gas today.  Good thing he went through with that plan. :)

The Royal Wedding

Yes, I woke up at 3:45 AM to watch The Royal Wedding.  I had to work today so I thought, at first, that I could just watch it later.  But, I wanted to see it live with the rest of the planet.  I woke up just in time to see the Queen and Prince Philip, as well as Prince Charles and Camilla, come into Westminster Abby for the ceremony.  Then Catherine was picked up from her hotel and driven to the Abby.  Time to get started!  I didn't really care about the hoopla before that.  Can I just say, that I thought her dress was so beautiful.  It makes me laugh that girls these days think there needs to be less dress for it to be beautiful.  Catherine has proved that wrong....

 It was such a nice service.  You could tell they were both a bit nervous, but who wouldn't be when you have 2/3's of the world watching you.  Ha ha!  Probably the best moment was when William finally got to see her when she reached him at the alter.  He leaned over and whispered, "You look so beautiful"  (yeah, I'm a sap, I know)

 I wasn't a huge fan of what William was wearing, but then I was told that he is wearing his military uniform to show support of the British troops, so all is forgiven. ;)  I think I still like Harry's uniform better.  Maybe it's because I have always loved black.

Even Catherine's sister Pippa looked really nice.  Normally I would think it weird for a bridesmaid to wear white, but trust me, you don't have to guess who the bride is at this occasion.

Once the ceremony was over they were taken to Buckingham Palace by a horse drown carriage... Seriously, who doesn't want that to happen!?

And to end the live coverage, that I was able to see,  They came out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace and kissed.  Not once, but twice!  Charles and Diana were the first to kiss there.  William and Catherine's kisses were both very short, which I thought was nice.  I don't know how much I would want to whole world watching me make out with my spouse.

Now for the one downfall of the whole affair...

Where in the world did she get that thing!?  This is William's cousin Beatrice.  She happen to be sitting right behind Queen Elizabeth II through the whole ceremony.  So, every time the camera showed the Queen, THIS is what you saw, right behind her.  I hope she wasn't in any of the wedding photo's. Had I been the bride, I would have made her take it off. My question is... At what point did she decide this hat was a good idea for anything but.... maybe a Halloween costume... not really even that.

Besides "Crazy hat cousin"  it was so much fun to watch.  I may not be British, as of the last 6 or 7 generations on my Hatch side anyway, but it was nice to see something happy on TV for once. Congrats to William and Catherine, as well as all who live under the Union Jack.

Two posts in one day but.... I have updates!

So, I wasn't sure who was going to be my partner in crime with Primary.  Well... now I know.  Guess who it is...

Hint: It's my favorite person!

That's right!  It's HOUSTON!
Also, they are doing a temple prep class for the next six weeks.  So we will be doing that first, and then it's digging in with Primary.

It feels pretty good to get things back on track!

Getting My Hands Dirty!

Mail is dirty! Lol! It's pretty much apparent since the day I started, but I thought I would give all you readers a look see at exactly how dirty your hands get over the course of filling close to 800 mail boxes.

Today I had newspapers.  They make things a lot worse when it comes to dirty hands.  The ink on them gets everywhere!  Lucky for me, it was a pretty easy Tuesday.  Normally Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty bad when it comes to the amount of mail we have to deliver.  I'm helping out on another route while the regular is on vacation (in Hawaii no less!) Otherwise I would only really be working on Saturdays.  Today was kinda weird.  I had only 3 trays of DPS (that's your letters and such), which I smashed down to 2. ;)  I don't really smash them. Anyway, on a heavy day it can have 6 or more trays.  Lucky for me, this route I'm helping with has a lot of BYU students in it, so you don't get a lot of magazines and that sort of stuff. 

I can tell you some of the interesting things that happen while delivering the mail. 

-First off, everyone waves... Everyone!  Ha ha!  Makes me feel like I live in a small town and know everybody.
-Two weeks ago I had a little boy hit my windshield with a pretty good sized rock.  It cause a pretty big spider crack that was at least 8 inches across.  I have to call my manager when something like this happens.  If I don't, I could get blamed for it instead of that kids family paying for what he did.  That poor little kid wont come out anymore when I the postal truck drives by.  Kinda sad.  It wasn't 2 or 3 days before that, that he was outside explaining to me how you kill wasps with the hose. That was a pretty funny story, and trust me, he's a pro at it.  I hope he isn't scared of the mail carrier forever. :( 
-There is this cute little old man who waits everyday for his mail and reminds me that he has lived there for over 25 years.  I, myself, don't remind him that he's told me before. Lol!  He's fun to talk to.
-I work with a lot of fun people.  Everyone is pretty chill.  I think you would have to be, at least somewhat, or you would literally go postal.  No kidding!  Some are a little too chill for my tastes though.  I like to go there and get done and go home.  I get paid the evaluated rate (my regular route is 9 hours) even if I get done in 6!  So all the more reason to bust my tail and get done.

 Another dirty hand photo

-One day I was filling a box and this little old man came out and sat on one of those green electrical boxes.  I asked him how he was doing.  He said he would rather be dead.... Yeah, awkward for a moment.  Then he explained that he had 2 wives waiting for him and he thought it was him turn. Lol!  Then he tells me that he broke his back some years ago and now when he works at the temple he wears one of those turtle shells.  He told all the people at the temple that it was the armor of God. Ha ha!  He told it to me in a joke form but I wouldn't do it justice, trying to repeat it.
-Last story for this post.  Today I was ambushed by two Jedi.  (2 boys with retractable light sabers and Jedi cloaks.)  I was taking a package to a door and they jumped out from behind my truck when I turned around to walk back to it. Lucky for me, they deemed me worthy of there Jedi presence and didn't slay me and even gave me a penny for my trouble.  LOL!  It was so funny!  I LOVE what little kids imaginations come up with.

Ah, I like my job.  At first I didn't ever think I could, but it's so fun to talk to people and have something to accomplish.  This job is not easy at all, but it's so gratifying when you fill that last box.  You look back and the truck, that was once chuck full of mail, is now empty.  Nothing carries over to the next day.  It's literally a day by day thing.  You will never worry about the exact same thing day after day.

Anyway, there is my "job update"  Hopefully it wasn't too boring for ya.
 
If you made it this far!  Lol!

The New Primary Adventures, Chapter 1

Houston and I have been living with his parent's for almost a year now.  Houston's records never left his home ward, but mine needed to be sent here.  When they made it here we got our meeting with the bishop and he asked if there were any callings we would be willing to accept if asked.  I automatically said primary.  I taught once before and LOVED it, so why not give it another go.

It didn't take long for me to get called to my desired place and lucky me I was asked to be the junior primary again!  I taught the 4/5 year olds the first time I taught.  This time it's the 6/7.  Yesterday was my first time teaching.  I was a bit nervous, but Houston came with me for moral support.  I don't have a partner yet so he filled that space too.  My class consists of 5 boys and 1 girl.  The lesson was on The Word of Wisdom.

That's a weird lesson to teach kids that young because most don't really know about cigarettes, coffee, and such, but you're still supposed to talk about it.  So instead of just assuming anything, I straight up ask them if they knew what these things were.  This is what was said to what wine was....

Sam (6): "Wine makes you crazy!"
Me: "LOL!  That's a good way to put it."

and here's how the tobacco question went...

Me: "Does anyone know what tobacco is?"
Silence... Silence....
Taylor (6):  "Isn't that what you put on taco's?"
Houston and I:  "Hahahahahaha!!"
Me: "No, that's Tabasco, but close."

If my class is like this every week, I will be happy.  I love what little kids have to say.  Such  valiant efforts by Sam and Taylor.  That's my first adventure with class.  I don't teach for 2 weeks, but if anything like this happens again, it will be gracing this blog.  LOL!  I love little kids!  Note:  My next lesson is Showing Faith by Being Obedient.  We'll see how it goes. ;)