Oh There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Courtesy of my wonderful mother-in-law, we were able to get away to see family for Christmas. After some traveling adventures, we got to Bellingham late on 20th. It was so nice to see family and take time to just relax (especially for Devin) and to spend time together.

The first couple of days, Keeley and Karly had work, so Devin and I bummed around and watched tv, slept in, and played games. And one of the nights, Rudy came and slept on my bed! By my feet of course, as he is not prone to cuddling (Devin was sick and sleeping on the couch to save me from his snoring at this time). It was a great couple of days, especially for the stressed out Devin. Though Keeley did made us all watch It's a Wonderful Life one night (and the tape totally broke her dvd/vcr combo)...

Keeley and Karly both had Christmas Eve off so all the ladies went over to a friends house and made cookies. I made Fudge Ecstasies, Karly made Lemon Tea cookies (to be eaten with, not containing), Keeley made Peanut Butter Bars, and Shan made Almond Roca. Yum! We snacked on cheese and crackers, veggies, and a really yummy artichoke dip. That night, Grandma LeOla came over and we read from the Bible and then watched White Christmas (one of my family's favorites). Santa brought our Christmas pjs and Karly and I realized that we are fatter than Santa thought we were. Haha! (You can guess my New Year's resolution.)

Christmas morning Devin insisted that we all be up to open presents at like 8:30am (he's still a kid at heart, and LOVES presents). I got out our video camera and the opening began. We got lots of nice presents but my two favorites were my cookbook stand, with splash guard, and my red pea coat. Yay! Devin's favorites were his Camelbak and his UW sweatshirt. I think Karly's favorite gift was probably the Wii Fit, despite the fact that it can be quite demoralizing for all of us ;) I made pancakes from scratch (the only way they should be made) and we had a nice Christmas breakfast. I called my family throughout the day, and we all stayed in our pjs for as long as possible. For Christmas dinner, we headed over to Keeley's brother's Tally's house. He and his wife Vicki had lots of wonderful food to munch on and we got see Devin's cousin John and his girlfriend Sam.

Sunday we went to Church and had lunch at Grandma LeOla's (as is tradition practically every Sunday). That night we had Pasta Primavera and watched Fantastic Mr. Fox (which was better than we thought it would be, and quite funky).

Monday we went and saw The Tourist (enjoyable movie for the most part), courtesy of our free movie tickets from Tally and Vicki, and had lunch at El Gitanos.

Tuesday, we celebrated Devin's birthday (old man) and went out to eat at Black Forest Steak House. It was pretty good, though the service was slow. Devin says he enjoyed his birthday (though the rest of us should mention that he tried to make it his birthday Sunday through about Thursday) and I still need to make him a cake. That night we watched Sherlock Holmes, ate cupcakes, and packed. Sadly, we had to go to bed early to catch our shuttle, but we had fun nonetheless.

The next day, we headed home to see Kairi, and get back to the grindstone. But we're very thankful for the break and the gift of family. We love you all!

Here's a picture of Molly with Karly and Keeley: Happy Holidays!

Holiday Traveling

This year for Christmas, we were able to get a really good deal on our tickets by using Priceline name your own price. Basically, this works by you saying this is how much you're willing to pay for a flight on such and such dates and you give them your credit card information. You are only allowed to "bid" once a day I believe. Anyway, it will come back with a price for flights, maybe a little more, sometimes a lot more, and rarely a little less. It then asks if you are willing to accept this price. The kicker: you have no idea what time the flights will be at and whether or not they have lay overs, or where those layovers might be or how long they might last. Still, we did this for our trip to AZ in November and got a direct flights at pretty decent times. However, this time was not quite so lucky.

On Monday the 20th we left for Seattle. Our flight didn't leave until 4:20pm, which isn't that bad of a departure time. However, the flight was delayed about 10 - 15 minutes because of air traffic in Detroit. That's right Detroit, where we had our layover. Why you have to fly East to fly West is beyond me. So we're sitting there because the airplane got to O'Hare on time. During these 10 - 15 minutes, it starts snowing. Now our plane has to be de-iced and we have to wait for the de-icer. And we also have to wait for our turn to take off. End of all this, we end up leaving 45 minutes to an hour late. So much for our hour, hour and a half layover in Detroit, during which we were planning on getting dinner. We land in Detroit and the pilot asks that those with connecting flights be allowed to get off first. Well apparently 95% of the flight had connecting flights. Devin and I literally run to our next flight and they have to open the walkway gate to let us on. Positive thing about this day, the plane has free wi-fi and tv's on the back of all the seats. Devin and I got to watch tv for the first time in months!

Several hours and some really expensive turkey sandwiches later, we land in Seattle. Our flight is on time and Keeley and Karly are ready to pick us up. Problem, our luggage didn't make our connecting flight; it's still in Detroit. Groan. Delta tells us they will send it up to the Bellingham airport the next day and we can pick it up there. We get into the car with family and drive home. By the time we get there, it's about 2am Chicago time. More groan. I borrow some of Karly's pajamas and we're good to go.

Fortunately, our luggage really did arrive in Bellingham the next day.

Now our flights home were on the 29th, Devin's birthday. Poor man. Our flight out of Sea-Tac was at 8am or so. Bellingham is an hour and a half from the airport. Keeley and Karly had work. I.e. we caught a shuttle to the airport at 4:15am. Whimper. Fortunately, our flights that day were on time and we lost no luggage. However, we did have a long layover in Minneapolis, almost long enough that we could have driven home in that time. But we watched Monsters vs. Aliens and got some food to pass the time.

Despite some serious fog, we landed at O'Hare basically on time and didn't have to wait too long for our luggage. Devin's school friend Tom came and got us and off we went. By the time we got home, we had been traveling for 12 hours, and were very happy to be at home with our kitty.

Moral of this story, I HATE layovers, especially during the holiday season and never want to have any ever again.

Cookie Cookie Cookie Starts with C

Hooray for Christmas and Christmas foods! Last night we hung with our good friends the Andrewses and decorated sugar cookies. We had fun coloring the frosting and cutting out the different shapes. some of us decorated our cookies with meticulous care, while others went for a more abstract and weird approach. In the end, they all tasted yummy and it was great to see Emma and Pete again.

In other news, we leave Monday for Bellingham! We're excited to leave the freezing cold of this area for a less freezing cold of the Pacific Northwest. And of course, we're excited to see Devin's family too :) All of our Christmas shopping is done, and shipped. I do still have some wrapping to do; but I love that, so it's no big deal. Thanks to all of you who have sent us Christmas cards and letters and shared the holiday season with us. We love you all and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Time is Here, Happiness and Cheer!

I love Christmas!!! Yay! This is the best time of year and the best holiday. People, religious or not, are nicer to one another, there is great food, snow, and friends and family together again! Yay! And we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

On another note, in case you were wondering, our Thanksgiving was nice. We were invited over to the Lieberman's (a family from our church) and we brought stuffing (which I made from scratch for the first time ever) and a chocolate cream pie (which Devin made from scratch). Besides the 2 Liebermans, we dined with their 2 neighbor ladies, and 2 female naval recruits. Even though it was Thanksgiving with strangers, it was fun and enjoyable, and the food was wonderful. Afterward we went home and watched some NCIS on DVD. The next day we watched Tangled; and I would recommend it.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can look forward to Christmas! We will put up our decorations tomorrow (Devin wouldn't let me put them up today because he's studying for a test) and we have already starting our shopping. We will be in Bellingham for Christmas this year; and as a special treat, we will get to see my old roommate MacKenzie before and after our trip. Her family lives in western Illinois, and she will fly in and out of Chicago for her trip home, with a stop off at our house! Yay!

And so, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone and enjoy this wonderful time of the year! We'll try and keep you posted on the goings on of the Mathews family as best we can!

An Attitude of Gratitude

During Church today, I was impressed upon to think about the things I have to be grateful for. I will be honest and I admit that I am not always the most grateful person. I also struggle with comparing myself to others. When I see that someone has blessings that I want, I try and justify in my mind by saying "Well, but I have THIS going for me and they don't." But really, what "they" say is true: life is not fair and people are not blessed equally. But our Heavenly Father knows each of us, what we can bear, and what we need to make it through this life. So here is my preliminary Gratitude List, in no particular order.

1. Devin. He may not be perfect, but he's mine and I love him. Plus, if he was perfect, he wouldn't love me :)
2. Food. I am very grateful to have the food we need to be healthy, especially this time of year when it starts getting colder outside.
3. Kairi. I love my little kitty. She brings me great joy and amusement, as well as companionship.
4. A nice home. Again, this time of year it is truly a blessing to have somewhere safe and warm to sleep and call home. And we got a great deal on our rent!
5. My siblings. Mark, Clark, Elise: I love you!
6. My parents. My mom and dad have always loved me and supported me and encouraged me in all that I do and strive for. Love you both!
7. My in-laws. Keeley and Terry and Karly, I love you all for making me feel a part of your family! And Robert, Cristina, and Tricia: thank you for joining my family and taking good care of my siblings.
8. My wonderful friends. True friends are like more family. Thank you for all of your love, kindness, and strength throughout my life.
9. Extended family. Thanks to all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, niece, nephews! You help feel the love of our original families even though we're far away.
10. My education. One of the few things we can take from this life to the next is knowledge, and I am grateful for the little I have managed to learn, and for the degree to show my hard work.
11. This country. I am extremely patriotic and I love this beautiful country. We definitely have our issues, serious ones even, but I still firmly believe I am blessed to live here and that it is the best country to live in in the whole world. God bless America!
12. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony has been wavering the last couple of years, and it is still not what I want it to be; but I am truly grateful for the peace and love that I feel through the knowledge of my Savior Jesus Christ and His plan of Happiness.
13. Being sealed to my family, both old and new, for all Eternity in the Temple. I'm excited to see you all there someday (hopefully not for a long time though)!
14. Living close to the temple so that we may go often, and feel the Spirit and serve others.
15. All 5 senses. I am thankful to be able to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear well. I takes these things for granted much to often.

I will start with this, or you all will end up with another ridiculously long blog post to read. So remember this week of Thanksgiving, just how much you've been blessed! I know I will try to do better at it myself! We love you all and are thankful for the love and support you give us in your own way!

Here Comes the Sun, do do do do

We're back! Devin had last week off from school and we took a vacation. Thank goodness! My brother Mark and his family were kind enough to let us invade their home in Queen Creek, AZ (suburb of Phoenix) for a week; and we enjoyed it thoroughly! And thanks to the kindness of people from Church and school, we were able to get to and from the airport free of cost and pretty much free of hassle. Unfortunately, we are lame and did not take any pictures. If I get any from my sister in law, I will try and post them. And we forgot to take Molly! Gasp.

Saturday morning Devin's friend from school, Tom, took us to O'Hare for our 8 something flight. After a few wrong turns at the airport, we made it with plenty of time to get through security and not have to linger forever before our flight. A 3.5 hour flight later and we were in sunny AZ! Cristina (my sister in law) picked us up at the airport with Justin (age 4) and Brianna (age 6) and we headed to Scottsdale to swim. Mark was busy running an ACT! conference, but invited us for swimming and lunch at the resort they were staying at. Lunch was tasty and we got to meet some of Mark's friends and coworkers.

It was so much to swim (even though I forgot to shave)! We didn't even get sunburned because I remembered to pack the sunscreen. For the most part we hung out in the hot tub (Cristina is a chicken when it comes to water temperatures ;) ) and helped Justin "swim". I took them over to the waterfall dividing 2 of the pools, and we had fun. After swimming, we changed and relaxed back in the hotel suite. Then it was time to head back to the house!

We picked up pizza on the way, and got a tour of Queen Creek, before meeting Cristina's parents and seeing little Mark (age 8). That night we played Just Dance 2, and helped tire out the kids and put them to bed.  The next day was Church and more playing with the kids, as well as baking a couple of pies.

Monday we picked Justin up from preschool, where he introduced me to everyone as his Aunt Rebecca, and then went Pupusa shopping at a Latin market in Mesa. On the way there we had this conversation

Justin: "Where are we going?"
Me: "Mesa."
"That's not in AZ!"
"Yes it is. It's that way."
"No it's not."
Upon arrival.
"See Justin, that sign says Mesa."
"No. We're not in Mesa"

Oh the joy of a 4 year old.

That night we had a Thanksgiving dinner and Mark brought home 2 of his employees, as they were having their yearly company pow wow thingy ma jig. We also played Uno Attack and rough housed with the kidlets.

Tuesday, Devin and I made pizza for the family and 3 of Mark's employees, and the family boogied to some sweet tunes. It was a big success and we are thinking about opening a chain of pizza discos in the future.

Wednesday we went to the Temple with Cristina and saw a Grapefruit tree! Neither of us had ever seen one before. It's a surprisingly small tree for such a large fruit. That night, we had Pupusas! Cristina's mom made them from scratch and they were wonderful. And I started watching the newer BBC Sense and Sensibility.

Thursday was probably the first day we really saw and talked to Mark, as he was so busy with everything. Cristina, the kids, her mom, and I all went to the Arizona Mills mall and did some shopping. I bought 6 pairs of Old Navy flip flops for $0.47 a piece! That night we had leftovers (of which there were many) and played with the kids.

Friday we just relaxed. Devin and Mark played some Guild Wars, and I watched the newer BBC Persuasion and Emma. Cristina made us a yummy Ramen dish with all kinds of different meats and vegetables in it. We tossed the kids on the couch a few more times (Brianna would come find us and say "Come on Aunt Rebecca! Come on Uncle Devin! Come on!" and little Mark would come up to you and have you take his arms and he would lift his feet in the air for the other person to grab), packed our bags, and called it a night.

Saturday morning, Cristina made us pancakes and sausage and then it was time to go :( We hugged and kissed all the kids goodbye and Mark and Brianna took us to the airport. A few hours later, and we were home.

Thanks Mark and Cristina for having us! And especially thanks to Cristina for feeding us well and making us feel so welcome! We love you all and can't wait to see you again some time!

I want candy!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and enjoying lots of candy, bobbing for apples, and dressing up as something fun. Devin has survived his week of 3 tests, with 2 more coming down the pipeline next week. Thank goodness we'll have a week of vacation after that!

After a big windstorm this week, I managed to put our Halloween door hang back up in time for the holiday, as well as change both of our outside lights that were out (one of which broke and left only the base in the socket for me to wrestle with). Go me! While Halloween is not my absolute favorite holiday, it is fun and I enjoy its marking the beginning of the holiday season.

Yesterday, we had our ward (church) Halloween party. It was a hoedown and chili cook-off! Apparently this is the thing to do now for church parties. I never did this growing up, but now just about everyone I know in our Church, all over the country, went to the same kind of party. Whatever. At any rate, I dressed up in traditional Salvadoran folk-dance garb (courtesy of my brother Mark's mission to El Salvador from 1999 to 2001) and Devin was studying in the anatomy lab and masquerading as a foot doctor. I enjoyed lots of great chili and desserts and saw some pretty sweet costumes (a wife dressed like her husband, a very believable Severus Snape, 2 Rubik's cubes, a sunny side up egg, a body puff, etc.). Now comes the sad part.

After the hoedown, there was trunk or treating in the parking lot. That day, I had bought lots of candy and a candy bowl to put it in. I brought the bowl and only some of the candy because I wanted to have lots for today. Well, I ran out of candy during the trunk or treat and found out that apparently we get next to no trick or treaters where we live. So, I didn't have enough candy for the trick or treaters we had and now we have way to much candy for the non-existent trick or treaters. In fact, at this moment we have not had one trick or treater. Oh well. Devin loves candy so I'm sure it will get eaten some how :)

Enjoying the Suburbs: Part II

Sunday was more of a relaxed day. At Church, Devin was called to be the Young Men Secretary so he will work with the youth of our Church. After church, Keeley made a cake and I took a nap :) Then we visited Devin's school and went in search of celebrity homes. We saw Mr. T's old house and the gate of Michael Jordan's. Devin made gumbo for dinner and we played Cribbage.

Monday was our last real day of "vacation". After breakfast, we drove up to Wisconsin and toured the Jelly Belly factory! Yay free jelly beans! Their beans take like 2 weeks to make and every layer is flavored! No wonder they're so expensive...We bought 5 lbs of belly flops cumulatively (3 for us and 2 for Keeley) and Keeley bought her mom a lb of black licorice jelly beans. Yick! We also sampled all kinds of flavors and other candies that they make before making our purchases and leaving for lunch. Devin and I bought Jelly Belly pop, he got sour cherry and I got tangerine. Keeley bought me a little Jelly Belly sitting on a swing. For lunch we went to Culver's. It's kind like a cross between a Dairy Queen, a KFC, and a Wendy's. Best part, fried cheese curds. We figured we couldn't take Keeley to Wisconsin without her having some cheese. They Keeley and I watched the Lake House while Devin studied and then we all watched some NCIS.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Tuesday, after I dropped Devin off at school, I took Keeley to the airport. Just for her, we took the tollway. She really wanted to and I would say in this case it was actually worth it! Much faster. Now we are looking forward to visiting her in WA for Christmas!

The Big City: Part I

For Columbus Day weekend, we had a visitor! Devin's mom Keeley came to stay with us and make sure we were still alive this far from family :) Fortunately, we were and she was able to hang out with us for about a week.

On Wednesday evening her flight landed at O'hare. We thought that we had left early enough and that it would take her awhile to get through the airport anyway (according to the Internet it's one of the busiest and biggest airports in the world). And of course we were wrong. Keeley's flight landed a few minutes early and she had her luggage and was ready to be picked up 7 minutes after her flight was supposed to land. Unfortunately, it took us about 20 minutes longer than that to get her. Oh well! On the way home we snagged some Dunkin Donuts (WAY better than Krispy Kreme) and chatted about our life in IL and what's going on in WA. Once we were home, Devin had to study for a test the next day so Keeley and I chatted and made up her bed on our futon and played with Kairi. And we fed her tacos, in case you were wondering.

The next day I took Devin to class and then went back to bed! When we got up, I found Kairi sleeping on Keeley :) After running some errands, I had to go babysit so I left Keeley with Kairi. Luckily, I got off early that day (the boys' grandparents showed up and took them to the lake) so Keeley wasn't alone for too long. That night we had enchiladas and watched Beauty and the Beast (a family favorite on both sides).

Friday began the real fun! Devin went to his first few classes and took the rest of the day off. We drove into downtown Chicago, a first for everyone involved, and went to the Museum of Science and Industry. Now, granted we're all nerds, this was a really cool place! The parking and entrance fees were a bit steep, but totally worth it! We saw a Jim Henson visit (Keeley loves the Muppets and specifically wanted to go to this while she was here) and saw a real Kermit, Rowlf the Dog, Bert & Ernie, the Mahna Mahna gang, and some fraggles. It was awesome! No pictures were allowed due to copyright blah blah blah. Then we ate lunch in the cafeteria, surprisingly good and not too ridiculously expensive. Then we saw one of 2 intact U boats in the entire world! It was AWESOME. I had goosebumps the whole time. We also saw a science storm center, some really old, really big trains, a circus exhibit, a Wright flyer, learned about how to turn poo into energy, and visited a really cool model train set up that ran from mini Chicago to mini Seattle (we deemed this appropriate as that was the journey Keeley had made). On the way out, we took a peak at the gift shop and got on the road. That night we had Italian beef sandwiches at Portillo's and popped in Target for candy and a new toy for Kairi, courtesy of her "grandma". At home, we watched The Dark Crystal (in honor of Jim Henson) and Medea Goes to Jail.

Saturday was a long day in the city. We parked in the Hancock Tower parking garage and then went for deep dish pizza at Gino's East. In our opinion, this is the best deep dish we have had so far. Nice and full, we started walking the magnificent mile and looking for Navy Pier. We went too far, but ended up finding the Chicago river walk. Out of the big cities I have been in, Chicago has to be my favorite. It's beautiful! It was so great to walk along the cool river and enjoy the architecture and the people. We saw at least 4 wedding parties that day! One was taking pictures on a traffic medium in the middle of the Magnificent Mile. We made it to Navy Pier and wandered around. After buying a souvenir for Karly and eating some ice cream, we headed back to meander through the shops. Our first stop was the Lego store. This one was MUCH cooler than the one in the Mall of America. Keeley and I then dragged Devin through a 4 story Crate and Barrel where I feel in love with an expensive bed and Keeley found a couch she likes. Next we stopped at the Disney Store and Keeley found a Kermit water bottle she adored and Devin found a Jack Skellington mug. After a quick stop in the best smelling store in the world, the Hershey store, and a Chicago style hot dog (yum!), we headed up the John Hancock Tower. The Chicago skyline is magnificent, especially all lit up at night! We did an audio tour with David Schwimmer and learned about many of the cities cites. To top off our evening, we watched the firework show at Navy Pier from the observation deck of the Hancock tower. Even though I don't think I'm a city girl, I could definitely see why so many people are.

What's going on, what's going on

Sorry, I have been in a bit of a blogging slump the last couple of weeks. I guess I haven't felt like there was much going on to write about. However, this is not true!

First, I have a job. I am babysitting 3 boys part time. They are 4, 2, and 4 months. Most of the time I only watch the older two or just the baby, and over all they are really good little boys. I watch them while their mom gets things done around the house, for a couple of afternoons a week.

Second, Devin continues to do well in school. Yay Devin! Still getting A's and B's on all his tests, so go him!

Third, it is officially Fall! The leaves are changing and beginning to fall and there is a definite chill in the air. I'm not too sure how long Fall lasts here before Winter shows up, but for now we're enjoying it.

And last, but decidedly not least, we have a KITTY! I picked her up last Friday from a humane society just over the border in Wisconsin, after playing anxious phone tag involving Devin, his sister, and his mom (Devin doesn't have cell reception on campus so I had to call someone to email him to call me). We have a little calico kitten, about 9 weeks old. Her name is Kairi and we love her. She had a cold when we got her, and she still has the last little bit of that; but otherwise she is doing well and feeling right at home with us. I'll take more pictures soon, the only ones I have of her are with Devin because it is difficult to take pictures of myself.

Cougar Football

As it's Fall, that can only mean two things: school and football. Despite our geographical distance we are following our beloved BYU cougars via television and internet. After a nice win over the University of Washington Huskies, we have fallen to Air Force and Florida State. So much sadness. It's tough to see our team adjusting to new players and lack of the old ones, and to not see them winning all their games. But, like true blue cougar fans, we will continue to watch the games and love our team regardless of the outcome! And besides, BYU football is something that brings people together! People talk about it at church, work, school, home, over the phone, on the internet, with friends, family, coworkers, and rivals. In fact, we enjoyed watching the game yesterday with some friends from BYU who live about 50 minutes from us: Emma and Pete Andrews. Win or lose we love our cougars! (Though we would much prefer it if they could win next time :) )

P.S. Guess who we sat by in Sunday School today? Harvey Unga and his wife Keilani.

What to do when you're trapped in your house, literally.

Last Saturday, our landlady forwarded us a notice that the sidewalks, curbs, driveways, and some streets of our subdivision were going to be worked on and/or replaced. On this notice, it said our curb would be replaced this last week (as shown on a highlighted map), but that our driveway and sidewalk would be replaced the last week of the month (as printed on an included work schedule). I assumed that they wouldn't work on our house on 2 separate occasions, so I figured they would come during the printed work schedule week at the end of the month. During the week that they are supposed to work on your area, you are supposed to park your car on a part of the street not being worked on for the whole week: Monday morning through Sunday.

Well Monday through Wednesday of last week they weren't anywhere near our place so we kept using our garage. Thursday morning, Devin gives me a goodbye kiss and heads to our garage. A few minutes later I hear him back in our bedroom saying he can't get out of the garage and we're stuck there. They had removed our gutter and 1/3 of our sidewalk. Shaft.

So Devin missed his class that day and I had to get a ride from our Relief Society President to our Relief Society activity that night. And the next day, Devin got a ride to class and I had to get a ride again to go to an interview I had. By this time, they had laid the new curb and portion of sidewalk and we thought we might be able to get our car out smoothly on Saturday. Not quite.

The stakes that were holding up the form were still there on Saturday; too tall to be driven over and too close together to drive between and too set to be easily moved or driven in further. Dangit. But, we had some friends to hang out with and a BYU game to watch so we improvised. We drove out over the grass. As Devin cleared the curb I heard him say "We're free!" And so we were.

Lesson in this: Never assume anything, especially when it might trap you in your house and mess up your life schedule for 3 days.

Personal Rant on Illinois Drivers

Okay, so most of you have heard about how bad Utah drivers are. Illinois drivers are MUCH worse. I have driven in Seattle, Phoenix, Utah, Reno; but the drivers here are the worst. Take all of the bad things in other places, put them together, and you've got Illinois drivers. They don't signal. They won't let you merge. They tailgate you like nobody's business. They either go 10 miles over the speed limit or 10 miles under, at differing times on the same road. When the left turn arrow turns red, about 5 cars speed through the intersection so you have to keep waiting. They pull out into the middle of the road when trying to get in the left lane and cut off your lane of traffic. People are always on cell phones or smoking or both. Related to all this madness, people here jaywalk all the time in the worst places during heavy traffic. And there are no bike lanes. I'm amazed I haven't seen more accidents than I have. But, now that I have vented, I am done.

A Trip to the Past

For Labor Day we decided to take a little trip down memory lane. Despite the fact that many of you met me while my family was living in Oregon or Washington, I was actually born in Michigan. Now that we are in Illinois, we are just over 2 hrs away from St. Joseph where I was born, and haven't been since I was 6 when we moved away. We decided it was time to go back.

After seeing the Chicago skyline and paying over $5 in tolls to go about 20 miles (STUPIDEST THING EVER), and a bit of a detour, we made it to St. Joe. First we went and saw the house that we lived in. It looks exactly same, they haven't even painted it, and we moved in 1993. We also saw the homes of some of my family's childhood friends.

Next stop was The Neon Grill for lunch. It's just a tiny, little drive through; you can't even go inside the place. My family has fond memories of their french fries, burgers and lemonade; and we remember it for the mint green Cadillac on the roof.  While it may not be quite as good as I remembered, it was still worth it. Next we drove to a park and ate our lunch over looking Lake Michigan.

After lunch we drove to see the ocean and the lighthouse (my mom has a statuette of this lighthouse in my dad's office) and enjoy the sun. We walked out on the jetti and watched some Coast Guard boats before heading back. We drove to see my first elementary school, E.P. Clarke, where my mom was a crossing guard and I went to kindergarten and the first half of first grade. Sadly, the Mushroom castle is gone from the playground, but otherwise it looks very much the same.

We also saw the Ponderosa restaurant where my family would eat from time to time (it's closed now); and the new Church building.

Last but not least, we went to Kiwanis Park to see if they still had the giant metal slide I remembered. It's gone, but the big twisty slide is still there and now there's a skating park.

A 2+ hr trip later, minus tolls but with more traffic, we were home again in time to study. Don't know if we'll ever go back but it was sure nice to visit and reminisce.

Exciting News

First, Devin got an 85 and a 92 on his first 2 tests in Podiatry school! Yay Devin! The first was for Anatomy and the second was Biochemistry. I am so proud of him

Second, we can put our car in our garage! This is very exciting because we've never had a garage before and for our first few weeks here there was too much stuff in it to use it. I am quite proud of my organizational job that allowed this.

Third, BYU beat UW! This is hopefully the start to a good season, and BYU will be able to improve and continue to do well. Even though this means Devin's other team starts the year with a loss, I think it's acceptable :)

Lastly, we are going to St. Joseph, MI tomorrow which is where I was born! I haven't been there since I was 6 so I am excited. It is a about a 2 - 2.5 hr drive one way, but I really want to go and see what I can still remember.

Hopefully by our next entry I will have a job and a kitty! Keep your fingers crossed.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my older brother Clark! He's 26. Old man!

In the news

News of the week:

We are finally unpacked! The last bit was to organize the stuff in the garage left here by the owner. So now we're pretty much moved in.

Devin and I both have colds. Boo!

Still no job for me yet, but I'm applying to any and all I can. My oldest brother even put me in touch with some of his contacts here.

We went to the Chicago LDS Temple yesterday, which was beautiful. But Devin and I ended up not making it into the same session!

We went to Costco, but couldn't buy anything. Long story, but we ate samples anyway.

Our rubbish credit union is holding any checks we deposit during our first 30 days there, for 10 business days. So Devin's student loan money is on hold until Sept. 3rd. Stupid.

And last but not least, I have a calling (assignment) in our new ward (congregation). I am the Relief Society (our women's organization) music coordinator. Huzzah! Devin doesn't have a calling yet, but they keep wanting to know if he plays the organ...(which he doesn't but he does play the piano) So we shall see what happens.

Next week: Devin's first 2 tests in Anatomy and Biochemistry.

It's My Birthday!

Huzzah. Friday was my 23rd birthday and it was a good one.

After spending the whole day cleaning the house (it had to be done and I wasn't exactly doing anything else important), Devin came home early from studying to be with me. :)

That evening we went to Lake Michigan, which I haven't seen since I was 6. I loved it! I told Devin it was my lake and I was so happy to see it again. Yay! Best part about the Great Lakes, you can't tell they aren't the Ocean except it's not salt water. Happiness in the form of water.

After visiting the Lake, we went out for dinner to Portillo's. I had a Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad and Devin had Cajun Chicken Pita. Both were very good and inexpensive.

As he had been at school all day, Devin had not yet purchased my birthday present. So, he dropped me off at the Super Target across the parking lot and went off on a shopping adventure. I wandered the store for about an hour before he called asking me to meet in back in the parking lot. He gave me one gift then, Godiva Chocolate (wonderful man), and I said I would stagger the others.

Next, we decided where to get ice cream. Some of the places we wanted to go were far away and it was getting late so we opted to go to Culver's for frozen custard. On the way there, I got another present, "The Two Princesses of Bamarre" by Gail Carson Levine.

After going completely the wrong way, thanks to a mistake with the GPS, we finally headed towards Culver's and Devin gave me my next gift. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The lightning thief" by Rick Riordan. We finally made it to Culver's and got Concrete Mixers (very much like Blizzards) and Devin gave me my last gift, Scrabble Slam.

All in all, it was a good birthday. I'm grateful for my wonderful husband and to all of my friends and family who called, sang, or wrote me birthday wishes. I hope this year is a good one!

(Sorry no pictures, we brought the camera but realized it was still in the computer from me updated the blog from the last couple of months.)

Licensed to Drive

Well it's official, I now have an Illinois driver's license. I was in and out of the DMV and back home in less than an hour. Yeauh. My picture isn't too bad and I aced my test. So, the car is licensed and registered, the plates are on the car (along with our awesome BYU plate frame), and I have my license and registered to vote. Now all that's left is for Devin to do it. Technically his WA driver's license doesn't expire until his birthday in December, so we shall see what happens.

P.S. They call the DMV here the Secretary of State Drivers Services. Weirdest thing ever. When Devin went to look up their website to register the car, he searched for the Illinois DMV and couldn't find anything. Ridiculous.

Blog Updates!

I did it! For those of you who have the time and/or are interested, I have back-updated our blog clear back until the last real entry in April some time. Are you impressed? You should be. Am I crazy? More than likely. Will this happen again? I hope not, but I'm not making any guarantees.

So, to you our faithful readers, thank you for keeping the faith and I'll try to do better in the future!

And Play Nice with the Other Kids!

Yesterday was Devin's first day of Orientation. As we only have one car, I dropped him off. I couldn't help feeling a tiny bit like a mom dropping off her child as I told him I loved him, wished him luck, and hoped that he had a good day. I was filled with all kinds of emotions. Excitement for him for this new stage of life and new opportunities, anxiety over the work and intensity and the new situation, sadness that I wasn't going too, and fear that I wouldn't find my way home even with the GPS. All went well, I made it home, Devin had a good time, and I was able to get more unpacking done.

It is strange to not be going back to school for the first time in my life. It has only been just recently that I have reopened the possibility of going to graduate school in my mind. Prior to that, I was way too burnt out! We shall see what the future brings, but in the mean time wish me luck with finding a job!

P.S. We got our car licensed and registered (after a bit of an adventure forgetting the check book at home)! We are now Illinois drivers!

Chicago Style Pizza

Well you knew it was coming. With how much we love pizza and us moving to Chicago, it was only a matter of time before we made deep dish pizza. Saturday we bought the pan and ingredients, and Monday Devin made it. He found a recipe for the dough online and then he did a version of our Sausage combo, and it was wonderful. I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come of more deep dish pizzas!

Chicago!

Well we made it. Us, our car, and our stuff are all in one piece. On Sunday afternoon, after traffic in Wisconsin (that was caused by nothing), we pulled into the driveway of our new place. We met our landlady, got the lay of the land, and were left to start our new life. Feeling a little bit lonely, we called our friends who live 45 – 60 minutes away and went to visit.

The next day, our U boxes arrived and we started to move in. The aforementioned friends, Emma and Pete Andrews, came over and helped us with the heavy lifting; and afterward we celebrated by going out for deep dish pizza at Gino's East

Over the next few days, we continued to unpack, clean, and try and figure out where all the stores and things are. Everything is considerably more expensive than in Provo (Roma tomatoes are $1.79/lb), but we're learning to shop the sales and find the best places for different items.

We got our Internet set up first thing (huzzah) and have transferred the bills into our name. We're still figuring out what we're going to do about television; but we're thinking we'll just buy more shows on DVD and make due with what is available via antenna and Internet.

Our new Ward (congregation) at Church is very kind and welcoming. By the end of church we had 2 offers for dinner that night, a thing that has never before happened to either of us. Our Bishop and his family had us over for dinner and helped get to know the area a little better. Thank goodness for that!

This next week we need to get the car licensed and registered and Devin will start Orientation. Not sure what I'll do, but I'm sure I'll be busy. Hopefully everything will continue to go well and I'll actually keep the blog updated!

Road Trip Recap

As previously described, we took 4 days to get here. Here are the few pictures we managed to remember to take. Unfortunately we failed and only managed to get a picture of Molly in North Dakota. Oh the shame!

First Day: We left Bellingham bright and early and I slept until we were past Ellensburg. Eastern Washington, ugly. Northern Idaho, surprisingly not ugly. Eastern Montana, VERY pretty. Giant black dead snake on the side of the road, not so pretty. At our campsite we went on a walk and saw a MOOSE! It was a lady moose and she had white on her chest, which I have never seen before. Fortunately, we were unharmed by our moose encounter. Unfortunately, we were most definitely harmed by our multiple mosquito encounters! Ahh the itchiness! We also had the misfortune of drinking some water from the spigot by our campsite that we dubbed the pee water. You can imagine why.

Second Day: Longest day of the trip. Definitely got cabin fever! By the time we finally crossed into North Dakota, I was sick of Montana; it's too darn wide. However, we were able to see antelope, deer, hawks, and we think a caribou. Our campsite was by a lake and had Frisbee golf so Devin was happy and we saw some bunnies so I was happy. More mosquitoes but not as bad. Slightly better tasting water at this campsite. North Dakota, surprisingly more beautiful than I thought it would be.

Third Day: Saw pelicans. That's right, they live in North Dakota. Things got more humid the further east we drove. By the time we got to our hotel we were so grateful to be able to bathe and change our clothes! We went to the Mall of America. Huge, as expected and the Lego store was spiffy as expected. There is an indoor Nickelodeon theme park, ridiculous! As a treat, we ate dinner at Tony Roma's, though neither of us got ribs. And thank goodness, the water was just fine!

Fourth and Final Day: Went to church in Minneapolis, ate the continental breakfast, packed up the car, and got on the road. The only place on the whole trip (besides our first hour into Seattle) that we had traffic, Wisconsin! Rubbish state. People there, do not know how to drive. As we're heading toward the Illinois border, the highway is merging down to one lane on each side. Instead of getting over, or even signaling, the people in the left lane just keep driving as long as possible and then expect to just be let in. Foolish. And then, the old lady in the car behind us refused to let one of these left lane drivers in between us so she's riding our tail and hits the bike on the back of our car! Then the people she was crowding out honk, and roll down their window to yell at us that she hit our bike. Yes, we know. Fortunately, I don't think we were even going a mile an hour at the time and everything was fine. We lost like an hour in this stupidness. Oh well. We eventually made it and now we're getting settled here after months of anticipation.

Till next time...

On the Road Again...

After spending 3 wonderful weeks with Devin's mom Keeley, it is finally time to head to Chicago. It seems surreal to finally be going after nearly 6 months of planning and moving and such. It will be nice to finally get there, but a long trip and hard to be so far from the family and friends we know and love so much.

Our first stop will be just outside of Missoula, MT. We will camp there for one night and then head onto Dickinson, ND just over the border. Another night of camping, and then we will spend the night in a hotel in Minneapolis, MN and be able to shower and sleep in a bed! After church the next day, we will get on the road one last time and make to Lake Bluff by nightfall! It will be long and hard, and hot and boring, but we'll finally be there! We love you all and will hopefully see you back on the West Coast soon!

New CAR!!

In an unexpected turn of events, Keeley graciously gave us her old car so she could get a new one! (I also think she, along with most of our family members, was worried about poor old Put Put making it across the country in 1 piece.) So, we are now the proud owners of a 2007 silver Honda Fit. Huzzah! That's 10 years newer than Put Put. Initially we thought we would keep both of our cars, but open examining our finances and thinking about the 4 day drive across the country, we decided to sell Put Put. So, in keeping with tradition (having bought it off a cousin on Devin's dad's side), we sold it to a cousin on Devin's mom's side! While it would have been nice to have two cars, it will be nice to have the money!

Oh, and Keeley got a 2010 VW Jetta Diesel which she is very happy with. Now all we have to do is name our new car. We're thinking Jean Luc, like a certain Star Trek captain...

Our Beloved Put Put

The Raccoon Returns

So before our encounter on the Oregon Coast, I had never before seen a raccoon in the wild. Never. Well after the brave one in Cannon Beach, they seem to be following us everywhere! While we were at Keeley's brother Tally's house for Keeley and cousin John's birthday, we were all sitting on the lawn minding our own business, when a raccoon comes trotting down the hill towards us. Once we saw it and Vicki, Tally's wife, talked to it, it turned around and walked back up their hill. We then heard their cat hiss at it and we all went to follow it. It climbed up the gate to the fence like we would climb a rock wall, and stared at us for awhile before disappearing over the fence.

Then, either that day or within a couple of days, we were driving home in the evening, and while going up Keeley's street, we saw a whole family of raccoons crossing the road!! What is this?! Apparently they are either out in force this year, or they are just following Devin & I around the country.

The Evergreen State

Western Washington is beautiful. And I'm sorry to all of my Oregon friends, but Washington is prettier. I know, I've lived in both. (I will concede however, that the Oregon Coast may be an exception to this. I have not yet seen the coast of the Peninsula.) It is wonderful to be back by the ocean and amongst all the trees. If we could just make it so it was this pretty without all the cloudiness and the rain, I would be happy to live in this part of the country for the rest of my life.

While here, we have been fortunate enough to enjoy much of Washington's beauty. For Keeley's birthday, she took us all (Karly was here too) on the foot ferry to Friday Harbor, a town on one of the San Juan islands. It was so beautiful! We spent the day wandering shops, eating seafood with our friends the Burley's, enjoying the scenery, and eating ice cream. We even saw a whole bunch of live jellyfish! Then, on the way back, we saw a seal. And because it was sunny and warm, Karly and I sat up on top of the ferry for the last half hour or so of the trip. Gorgeous. We watched a friend of the captain jump the wake of the boat a number of times, and another jet skier try and fall on his first attempt.

We have also been able to go to Boulevard Park, which is on Bellingham Bay, several times and walk the boardwalk and look out at the ocean; then wander over into Fairhaven and eat Gelato and look in funky little shops before wandering back to the Bay. On one occasion, Devin and I were able to see a seal and several birds diving as well as people paddle boarding. I have also seen people crabbing and a live crab wandering around on the ferry pier (I think it was trying to escape being bait for the next group of crabs).

Even when we are not in areas specifically designated for site seeing, the beauty is everywhere. Keeley's home is backed by a forested area and there are trails to walk on and a little duck pond to see (which has no male ducks from what Devin and I observed, odd...). While driving, you can periodically see Mt. Baker in the background and of course trees everywhere. We've visited a berry farm a couple of times and enjoyed fresh produce, purchased some beautiful fresh flowers, and yummy ice cream.

And perhaps what I think is most beautiful about Washington are the people there, who love me and my husband, and who we love so much in return. My own parents may not live there anymore, but I will always have family who loves me there and I can't wait to see them again.

Seattle Trip

After Keeley's birthday, Karly headed back to Utah to finish her job and Grandma LeOla went with her to go to a family reunion in southern Utah. Devin and I took the opportunity to drive them to Sea-Tac and then go the the Seattle Aquarium. We went there on our honeymoon, and thought it would be fun to go back.

After looking for parking for what seemed like forever, we went. I love animals! It was so fun to see all the seals, otters, fish, birds (especially the diving birds, though the puffins were being lame so we watched the other ones), etc. We even saw some scuba divers in the tanks. We also went back to see the octopus that scared me our first time around. Still creepy but a little less so. Did you know they camouflage themselves when they're sleeping? This one was all white/grayish because that's the color of the rock it was up against. Also, they are very territorial and will fight, so this aquarium usually only has one of their octopi in the tank at a time. Otherwise, they have to separate it with a glass barrier so the male & female won't fight. At the end of our trip, we went to the gift shop and bought Guss. Guss is the octopus stuffed animal we found on our honeymoon but decided not to buy. As we had already named him, we agreed that we would have to go back at some point and bring him home with us. And so we did.

Me and Gus

P.S. There is a 19% tax on parking in Seattle!!! We paid $11 for like 1.5 to 2 hours of parking.

Rudy!!

My parents are not the only ones who have a cat now! About a week after my parents acquired Calli, Keeley got Rudy. He is a BIG boy. Almost 15 lbs. He's so sweet and funny. He drinks out of the toilet and loves to be in windows or play with the rubber end of his feather toy. He's not much of a cuddler but when he wants to be loved, he lays on his back and lets you rub his tummy. He also LOVES to have his face and chin scratched. Rudy has a deep meow and is a very masculine cat. He loves his mommy and his cat cave and scratching post. As he becomes more comfortable with us and the house, he is more comfortable sitting on furniture, being by people, and exploring his domain. He also loves it when he gets his blue plate special for dinner. Yay kitties! I can't wait to have one of my own soon!

In Remembrance

While we've been in Bellingham, we have had the opportunity to remember those we love who are no longer with us. One of my big goals for this trip was to scan pictures of Terry, Devin's dad, into our computer so that I can make a book for our kids so that they can know their grandpa, who loves them from Heaven. Some of you may not know, but Devin's dad passed away 2 months before we were married in an accident. This is has been a hard trial for our family but we take comfort in knowing that this life is not the end that we will see him again soon and that he gets to spend time with our children now before they come to this earth. While I was not able to get all them, I was able to get well over 100 pictures of Terry, Terry & Keeley, Terry & Devin, and Terry & both of his children. I hope to be able to get more in the future and then write a story to go with the pictures.

As another part of remembering those we love, we went to the cemetery where Terry and Grandpa Keith are buried to visit and take flowers. The first time we went was to celebrate Keith's birthday; and then we went again to take some new flowers and visit. While we believe that their spirits are no longer with their bodies, it is nice to be in a place where you feel you are near them and to be able to talk to them and tell them how much you love and miss them. I'm sad that I never got to meet Grandpa Keith and that I was not able to get to know Terry as well as I wanted to, but I love him and I miss him very much and I am sorry that he can't be with me and his family anymore.

Lastly, I was able to convince Devin to watch some of the old videos from when he was little while we were at his grandma's house. I love seeing little Devin and how cute and sweet he was, and to see and hear Terry again, and Grandpa Keith who I never had the opportunity to meet. This is why I am so grateful to Keeley for giving us a video camera for Christmas; now we will be able to record memories for our future family.

A Walk for a Good Cause

Our first day in Bellingham, I had an opportunity to help out with Relay for Life. I have never done this before, and it was a neat experience. There were booths and music and activities all along the main block of downtown, and people everywhere wearing shirts in support or remembrance of a loved who has or is battling cancer. The relay started with a survivors lap, and it was wonderful to see so many people up there, especially Devin's grandma LeOla. She is one of the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful people in the whole world and I'm glad she's still here with us. After she walked her lap, we went and had dinner at Bob's Burgers & Brew (I had the world's largest salad by the way).

Once we returned we met up with more family. All in all, there was Keeley, LeOla, Devin, myself, cousin Austin, cousin John, John's girlfriend Sam, and their dog Bailey (and Karly was there in spirit). We sat and chatted and waited for the sun to go down.

As the sun set, and the lights were turned off, we lit the luminaries. These are white bags decorated in support or remembrance of a cancer fighter. Inside each bag is sand and a candle. They represent love, trials, and hope for a cure. As we lit these small bags and I looked at the names and pictures on them, I thought of all the people I know who are or who have been affected by cancer. My mom's mom died from breast cancer. Her father had colon cancer. My dad's dad had prostate cancer but was able to beat it. My mom's sister had breast cancer and is in remission. Devin's mom's mom had breast cancer and is in remission. His dad's mom had ovarian cancer and it eventually took her life. His uncle had throat cancer and it took his life. While cancer has affected our lives, and the lives of so many others, it does not define them. And I have hope that, in the future, there will be a cure.

OCEAN!!

After leaving my parents in Reno, we began our journey up to Bellingham to see Devin's mom and extended family. As it is about a 14 hour drive, we opted to do it in more than 1 day. Our first day, we stopped over in Eugene, OR where I used to live many eons ago :) We stayed with our wonderful friends the Garvers. They are always so kind and let various members of my family stay at their house whenever we're in town, pretty much now matter how busy they are or how many people are already in their house. We were also able to see my beloved friend Kiwi (aka Kari) and meet her dog Ziggy. It was so wonderful to catch up with old friends and have a safe place to stay for the night. I just hope poor Randy is over his cold & allergies now. Poor man was dying while we were there.

Because we have been landlocked for so long, we decided to take the scenic route from Eugene to Bellingham. We drove over and up along the Oregon Coast. Yay Ocean!!! We stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory, did the tour, sampled some fabulous cheese, and got Tillamook Mudslide ice cream. Anyone who has not had this, is living a sad life. Period. And it was sunny! Those of you have live in the Pacific Northwest know what a miracle and a blessing that is!

After the yumminess, we finished our trek up to Cannon Beach, passing my old band camp along the way. This is a favorite spot of Devin's family for years, and I had never been. So we checked into our campsite and headed to the beach! Yay beach! It was like 80 degrees! We walked from where we entered, around down town, all the way down to famous Haystack Rock. I think it was at least a mile. Devin was highly disappointed to see that the Rock is very regulated now and you can't go out to see things and we were even chastised for sitting on a small rock (ruin the wildlife or some such thing). I teased him that it was part of his hippie heritage coming through :) I also managed to get so sandy and wet that Devin threatened to never take me to the beach again; but after a quick change of shorts and some napkins from our glove compartment, all was fine.

We went back to our campsite and then ate at Mo's. Yay fresh seafood! It is joyous to not be in a landlocked state. We had clam chowder and fish & chips. We then went back to our campsite and played some cribbage, which I won, before deciding to walk to the beach again.

On our way there, I saw a kitty and so I talked to it and it came to me and I pet it, and there was much rejoicing on my part. Walking away from the kitty, we looked down by a drainage area and there was a raccoon! It was probably 8 ft away. Ridiculous! But it ducked back into its drainage pipe.

On the beach, it was very smoky and foggy from the ocean and a fire we'd seen earlier that day. We couldn't even see Haystack Rock. We cuddled close together to keep warm and watched the waves and a seagull we named Steve. As we were contemplating leaving, someone came and offered us their fire, which we gladly accepted. So, we both took turns gathering so firewood, and then sat until the fire died. Yay for the ocean and yay for the nice people who gave us their fire!

On the way back from the beach, the raccoon was still there! It peered out of its drainage pipe at us with its eery eyes and when we started taking pictures, it came towards us! This thing had no fear whatsoever of humans. We think it may have been a mom protecting her babies, but it was freaky none the less. As we walked on, it was still watching us. Creepy...

The next day, we visited all of the shops in Cannon Beach (well not all of them but as many as Devin would let me torture him with) and got pastries from their bakery. Their Marionberry turnovers, best thing ever. Even hours and days later. After a quick stop at the beach once more (and seeing some large dead jellyfish and some crabs and sand shrimp), we headed up to Seaside to Norma's for lunch. We got clam chowder, and it was fabulous. Devin couldn't stop talking about it, it was that good. One quick picture of Molly by the ocean, and we were on our way to Bellingham! A few hours later, we arrived, safe and sound, and a little bit sandy.

We Are Family!

My brothers and my sister and me! This week we had a Hammer Family Reunion! Although it was intended as a Glenn A. Hammer (my grandpa) family reunion, only about half of my aunts and uncles and cousins were there; BUT all of my dad's branch was there! The last time we were all together (everyone who was in the family at that point anyway) was Elise's wedding in 2004. The closest thing since was our wedding in 2008 but Cristina and their kids weren't there. So this was awesome!

Devin and I were already there, and then on my mom's birthday (Tuesday the 29th) Mark and Cristina and their kids showed up. Yay kidlets! I haven't seen them in 4 years since I lived with them and Justin was a baby. Justin is now 4, Brianna 6, and little Mark almost 8. Crazy. They are all adorable and so fun to be with and they love their Uncle Devin and Aunt Rebecca, and we are fine with that because we love them too.

Wednesday, Mom had doctor's appointments and errands, and the kids played and went to the park. Devin, Mark, and I all went to the Temple.

Thursday, we all went to a water park!! Yay!! My family LOVES water. Loves it. So, Mom and Dad were kind enough to pay our way as we are poor, and off we went! Meanwhile, while we're going there, we find out that my sister Elise and her family are coming that day instead of Friday! Whoops! Oh well. Once we got to the water park, we got the group cabana thingy rate so we had a private cabana for chairs and shade, free miniature golf & go carts for 4, and discounts on alcohol which did us absolutely no good. So after renting some inner tubes and lathering ourselves in sunscreen, we were off! Devin and I rode all the slides but the speed slide, because in my opinion it just gives you a wedgie, and didn't go in any of the pools. They had 2 tube slides you could go on on tubes, a half pike, a toilet bowl, 3 body slides, the speed slide, a lazy river, a hot tub, a wave pool, and 2 kiddy pool areas. Mark went on absolutely everything and was able to convince Cristina to go on one of the tube slides with him. Mom enjoyed the lazy river and watching the kidlets and I think the hot tub. Dad went on everything Devin and I did, and the kidlets played in the kiddy pool areas and the lazy river. Little Mark also went on the half pike with his dad twice and in the wave pool with both of his parents. After food and more fun, Mom and Cristina took the kidlets home and Devin, Dad, Mark, and I went go carting and played miniature golf. My dad would have you know that he “won” both (you couldn't really pass or win on the go carts but whatever). Oh and one of the holes ate 2 of Mark's golf balls. He swore it would have been a hole in one and wouldn't give it up for forever. We watched them clean the hole out and like 6 to 8 balls came out of that thing.

Later that evening, Elise and Robert and Bjorn showed up. Yay more family! Bjorn loved my mom's kitten and was laughing so hard when Devin was playing with her or when the kitty would chase after a toy that Bjorn would pull behind him. However, sometimes the kitty had to be protected from the various grandchildren and Robert was so allergic to the kitty that he had to sleep outside in the tent :(

Friday was the day the kids went and had cousin pictures taken. Then there was more of children playing at the park and then Clark and Tricia flew in. My parents house then had 14 people staying in it! 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 14 people and 1 kitty. Madness.

Saturday morning, our family went and took family pictures. I will not describe the drama that was involved in figuring out what everyone was wearing for said pictures, but just know that it was there. So, we're all dressed in church clothes, and taking pictures by rickety old barns surround cow pies. Although I have not seen them yet, I hear the pictures are actually quite good, so thank heavens for that! That afternoon, Dad, Elise, Robert, Mark, Devin, and I all go to the Temple with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Glenn, Aunt Rose Maree, and cousin Elizabeth. It was such a wonderful, sweet experience to be there with all of them. Afterward, we ran home for dinner and to change. Then everyone (meaning more cousins and cousins' kids and aunts and uncles and siblings and nephews and niece) all met up for ice cream at a park. The park was quite fun and I got to push Justin and some of my cousin Glenn's daughters on the swings and Bjorn and Brianna were super cute playing together. Then, while we're serving ice cream, the sprinklers come on. Always an adventure with the Hammers. That night my siblings and siblings in law, minus Robert, all played Just Dance. Fabulous dance game on the Wii. Please see my facebook for videos of the ridiculousness and awesomeness.

Sunday morning, we all went to Church at my parents' church and I loved getting to hear from my grandpa, my dad, my cousin, and my sister in law Cristina about their Testimonies of Jesus Christ as our Savior. After Church, we had a family picnic/BBQ at another park and community center. We had BBQ beef or pork (don't remember which) sandwiches, macaroni and potato salad, fruit, and more ice cream. The kids all played outside on the play structure and Justin and Sara (my cousin Glenn's daughter who I pushed on the swing the night before) fought over who got to go down the slide with me. Such fun! Sadly, Clark and Tricia had to fly back to Portland so that Clark could go to work the next day. Later, we all returned to the church to have a fireside. We sang the Star Spangled Banner, as it was the 4th of July, and listened to my aunt Suzanne, uncle Glenn, and my dad all talk about the joy of growing up with my grandparents and how they are wonderful people, and they are. My grandparents also spoke about each other and their Testimonies in Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful meeting and it was wonderful to share that kind of experience with my family.

Monday was the last day of the family reunion and it was awesome. We all drove over to Colfax, CA, over the hill as my dad calls it (I do not think the Sierra-Nevadas are a hill but whatever), to where my uncle Glenn and aunt Rose Maree and the grandparents live. They are fortunate enough to have a fair bit of property and enough room for large gatherings. They also, along with a few other neighbors, own a pond. We were able to go swimming, kayaking, and paddle boating on the pond. It was incredibly fun, albeit hot. There were also geese, and a duck-goose. This hilarious duck thought it was goose. It would always hang it with the geese and chase away other ducks. Apparently, the geese have tried to chase it off a number of times but just give up when it won't go away. At any rate, my aunt and uncle also have two VERY large cats and chicken, along with whatever wildlife is in the area: bears, squirrels, raccoons, cougars, birds, etc. They also have a zip-line, a 4 wheeler that they pull a little wagon behind for the kids to ride in, and a big fire-pit with lots of chairs. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. Brianna especially loved the paddle boat and didn't want to get out. But I wanted to ride with my husband and she didn't want to be in the middle so out she went. Devin and I were attacked by the Malmstrom vikings while were out paddle boating, but then a truce was later made when Devin took the small viking Bjorn out on a kayaking trip in the blue boat (Bjorn insisted it only be the blue one). Bjorn also brought the fake duck along for this trip. Elise and I were then able to paddle boat around the pond and look for fish. Throughout the day, several were spotted. Devin was also kind enough to take Justin out while Cristina and Elise rode the paddle boat. Brianna and Bjorn enjoyed playing together, especially in Uncle Glenn's waterfall. Poor little Mark tripped and scratched his face, but still had a good time anyway. Mark and Devin also played badminton with some of the first-cousins-once-removed. After some more food, stories, and hugs it was time to go. Hopefully we will be able to have another family reunion soon.

Tuesday, after packing and watching our picture slide-show, all of my family departed, and Mom and Dad had their house back to themselves for the first time in 2 months, with the addition of the kitty of course. I hope it won't be too long before we're all together again! I love you all!

Two Years: Can You Believe It?

Devin and I have now been married for 2 years! I can’t believe it’s been that long. Sometimes it seems much longer than that; and others it feels like we just got married a couple of months ago. I will definitely agree that the first year is the hardest, but marriage is still hard work; I imagine it will always be.

To celebrate, we went to one of the all you can eat buffets in the Casinos. It was pretty good, and not overly expensive. We paid the entrance fee and then were shown to a table. While we got our food, someone brought us drinks so it was kind of like a restaurant and a buffet. My favorite part: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. Huzzah! We also bought ourselves a GPS for our trip across the country and for Chicago; we call it the gyps. To finish celebrating, we are going to stop along the Oregon Coast on our way up to Washington in about a week. It should be fun

Movies:

While in Reno, Devin and I finally saw “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Clash of the Titans” at a discount theater in one of the casinos here. The first was a great movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. The second was alright and probably worth either renting or seeing in the dollar theater in my opinion. Devin liked it more.

We also go “GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra” and “The Blindside” on Netflix. The first was surprisingly good, and an enjoyable, cheesy action flick. The second was great: not only inspiring but funny. Yay Sandra Bullock!

Last but definitely not least, we saw “Toy Story 3” in theaters. As with all Pixar films, it was magnificent: A little darker than the other 2, and definitely a tear-jerker. Everyone should see it!

Hay un Buck Buck!

For those of you who don’t know, I call cats buck bucks. Why this is, I do not know. All I know is that it started with my family’s cat Boots when I was probably about 9 and it continues today. At any rate, I LOVE cats. I love animals, but especially gatos (Spanish for cats). It is my firm belief that everyone should have a cat unless they are allergic, too poor, or will not take care of them. I have been without a kitty since my family moved to Washington, as we could not keep him in our apartment. My friend Alishea and her family were kind enough to adopt Boots and there he remains, almost 15 years old.

My mom loves cats probably more than I do. She is the cat whisperer. They love her and are always very happy to be with her. Since they moved to Reno, she has wanted to have a cat again. As so much time has passed, we all felt it best to let Boots retire in Oregon and find a new cat. One day, while we were shopping at Smith’s, a lady was giving away kittens out of a basket. I ran and got my mom from the car and she came and looked. She picked one out, and Calli Kay Hammer became a part of the family.

She is adorable, soft, cute, frisky, playful, and cuddly, loves people, and purrs loudly. Calli is about 8 weeks old, litter trained, and beautiful. Even though she is a little needy still, I think she will be perfect for my mom and dad.

The Biggest Little City in the World

Reno! We are now in Reno and will be staying with my parents until just after the 4th of July.

Highlights of Reno thus far:

It is ridiculously dry here. More so than Utah. I’m not sure how my mom survives without bathing in a tub of lotion on a regular basis.

The weather here is pretty comparable to Utah all in all, so not too much of an adjustment.

There are entirely too many weeds. Perhaps it’s just my parents’ house; but we weed for hours, and it’s like there are still millions more! Evil things. One of my least favorite things to do in the whole world is to weed. Blah!

With our help, my parents’ house is now almost completely unpacked. My mom and I have finished going through the boxes that we started when I was here last month, and she has made great progress. Their garage is also empty enough now that both cars can fit in it. This has never happened in my entire life. Period. We have also finished lining the cupboards around the house, thank goodness!

Goodbye Provo!

Before we left our home for the last 5+ years, we had some things we wanted to do:

• I had lunch one last time with one of my best friends and old roommates, MacKenzie, at my favorite Mexican place Maria Bonitas.
  

• Devin had lunch one last time at Café Rio with Karly.

• We hiked the Y on our last morning there.

• We ate at Tucanos with Karly one last time before getting on the road.

Goodbye BYU, Goodbye Provo, and Goodbye Utah! We’re not sure when we’ll be back, but it’s been fun! You have been a major part of our lives and we will miss you!

So Long, Farewell, To You My Friends! Goodbye for Now, Until We Meet Again!

In the beginning, there was Apt. 22: Devin, Jeremy, Brian, and Chris. Over time, they married Rebecca, Samantha, Bethany, and Alisa respectively. Brian and Bethany now have Benjamin and another little boy on the way, Chris and Alisa have Heber, and Jeremy and Sam are expecting their first little boy. Bethany, Alisa, and I were already friends before marrying our husbands, and we adopted Sam in quickly. The eight, then 9, then 10 of us are very good friends and try and get together as much as possible (which is difficult with that many different schedules).

This fall, Devin and I are off to Chicago, Jeremy and Sam are off to North Carolina, Chris and Alisa and Heber will be up in Salt Lake, and Bethany and Brian and Benjamin will be here in Provo for another year. Before we all left to go our separate ways, we had to have one last get together. So Monday morning we all gathered on a lawn above the Provo Temple for breakfast. With all the comings and goings of the guys at different times, we were able to snag a few pictures of everyone, the boys, and the girls. I only have the picture of the girls, but hopefully I’ll get copies of the rest (hint hint).

We love you all so much and we will miss you terribly! God be with you ‘till we meet again!

Devin's Last Hurrah

While I was hosting Sam’s baby shower, Devin and Jeremy went on a camping trip to southern Utah. Devin really wanted to go one last time before we left, and there wasn’t a good time for me to go with him; so he took his other best friend.

On the first day, they drove down to Boulder, UT and set up camp. They went fishing at a local power plant pond and caught their limit of fish, 5 a piece. Some of these fish became their dinner, along with some potatoes and green peppers. They had s’mores and sat around their fire reminiscing and burning textbooks.

The next day was free fishing day in Utah so they went fishing again, this time in Lower Bounds. Apparently it was quite a drive to get there. They caught their limits again, and the fish were much bigger. While driving back out of Lower Bounds, our car overheated.

Over the course of their entire 3+ hour journey home, they had to keep stopping and putting antifreeze and/or water in or on our poor car. And apparently, the hood almost decapitated Jeremy because they couldn’t find the thing to prop it up. Meanwhile, I am hanging out with Sam and we are thinking we might seriously have to go pick them up in their car and leave our car in the middle of nowhere and I’m raging at the idea that we just put almost $600 into this car not even a week ago and it might be dead. Fortunately, this was not the case and they made it home safe and sound; and the only thing wrong with our car was the radiator cap had fallen apart. The place we had taken our car just days earlier was kind enough to fix this for free.

Baby Keyes!

On our last Saturday in Utah, I helped host a baby shower for Samantha Keyes. Alisa Sharp and Bethany Davis helped host, and Jeremy Keyeses grandparents were kind enough to let us use their home. It was a huge success (in my opinion)! It was the biggest baby shower I have ever been to and everything went well. We decorated and set up the food, and then guests arrived. After some games and food, Sam opened her presents and then we cleaned up. Yay for things going according to plan.

We are so excited for Jeremy and Sam, and we’re sad that we won’t get to be around when their baby boy is born the end of September. They are off to grad school in North Carolina, and we will be in Chicago. We’ll miss you Keyeses!

Golfing with the Baby Sis'

The entire time we’ve been here, I don’t think Devin has gone golfing. So, before we left he wanted to golf at Hobble Creek. Wednesday, he and his “baby sis” golfed the back 9 and I accompanied them.