The Walshs

Homemade Ice Cream...in FIVE minutes!

2010-07-19T07:44:00.003-06:00

We were given this fun summer recipe at work last week so Thomas and I gave it a try this past weekend and had great success! This is a yummy, easy and inexpensive treat that would be lots of fun to do with kids.

Recipe for Homemade Ice Cream in a Baggie

Ingredients per serving:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup half and half
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup course salt (table salt will do but not as well) - enough to fill 1/2 of a gallon ziploc
1 pint or quart size ziploc
1 gallon size ziploc

Step 1: Combine sugar, half and half and vanilla in the pint size baggie. Seal tight!

Step 2: Place the salt and ice in the gallon size bag then place the pint size bag inside. Seal the large bag well. Shake, shake, shake...shake that baggie! Takes about 5 minutes. You can feel through to the pint bag to see when it's done.

Step 3: Take the small bag out, wipe off salt residue, open and add mix-ins. Eat right from the baggie. No clean up. :)

The gallon bags can be re-used for lots of summer ice cream!

ENJOY!

Help!

2010-07-17T23:04:00.001-06:00

OK- I am seriously annoyed! I KNOW it's been awhile since I've done much with our blog but has it seriously changed THAT much? Can anyone tell me how you change your text and blog colors now so that they can actually match our new template?? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. THANK YOU!!! :)

About Time..

2010-07-11T20:31:00.004-06:00

Just a FEW things have occurred in the last couple of months so I'll try to keep this somewhat short as I fill you all in...
First things first - Graduation! Yes, back in May Thomas graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design!

To celebrate we headed off to Costa Rica for 10-vaca and adventure. We had a really great time going white-water rafting, zip-lining, hanging at the beach, having a volcano erupt and even experiencing an earthquake! I did say adventure, didn't I??!A view of the back of our beach house - Los Olivos, Tamarindo Beach

A view of Arenal Volcano from our bungalow at La Pradera Hotel

The pool area with view at Hotel La Pradera

So after returning from Costa Rica, Thomas had the opportunity to meet with his mentor from the past year at BSU about a possible internship. Well, the internship morphed into an offer for a full-time position with the company and of course, Thomas JUMPED at the opportunity to work with such talented individuals and we were both elated that an opportunity came along so quickly after graduation. So now Thomas is a graphic designer for Carew Co. The office is located in downtown Boise - which is literally 8 blocks from our home. This is a HUGE change for Thomas who has never worked an 8-5 job and especially one where he doesn't have to commute! He started working last week and absolutely LOVES it!

Somewhere during this time-frame I was extremely busy at work with the 1st Annual Ultimate Urban Challenge. This biking scavenger hunt fundraiser was a RAVING success! Participants received clues to 9 different locations throughout Boise where they had to complete a challenge. Challenges ranged from: rafting, hip-hop dancing, archery, eating cow tongue, basketball shooting, Rock Band, fireman drills and an obstacle course. Again, the event was a huge success and we felt so invigorated to have pulled off something so great. Can't wait til' next year!

Last weekend we did a little more traveling as we drove down to celebrate the union of our friends in Island Park. It was a beautiful wedding and the weather and area were perfect! Not only did we enjoy the wedding, but we took an afternoon to go 4-wheeling on some of the MANY trails, enjoyed some great fireworks, yummy food and beautiful scenery. We are considering making the trip an annual one since we enjoyed it so much. Without the wedding that is. :)

So needless to say, things have definitely been busy but things are falling into place and we are just loving every minute of it. Hope you're enjoyed this short update! Until next time..

Requesting YOUR help!

2010-05-10T21:45:00.002-06:00

Make-A-Wish has qualified as one of the Pepsi ReFresh ideas for May and if the Make-A-Wish idea

is VOTED as one of the top 10 in it's category, it will win $50,000! Make-A-Wish will use this money

to cover travel expenses for Idaho wishes. Nearly 75% of Idaho wishes involve travel.

Now YOU can help just by visiting the link below and voting EVERY DAY in MAY for the

Make-A-Wish idea.

Only a matter of days...

2010-05-10T21:19:00.004-06:00

until Thomas' graduation! For those of you ready for me to blog about something OTHER than graduation, the time is almost near. :) Right now though, we are just pretty darn excited. Tomorrow is Thomas' official last day of class and then he's all done and it'll be on to the real world!

I don't recall putting in NEARLY as much effort as my dear Thomas seems to be in order to get himself a job in the design field. I am trying to decide if it's just the economy that will require the extra efforts or the design field....could be both I suppose. Regardless, I am amazed at how proactive Thomas is being and I just know it will pay off for him! (and if someone happens to know of a design job opening - please let us know!)

So without further ado, here is the FINAL countdown surprise...

Thomas just adores chocolate covered strawberries so it seemed fitting to save the best for last!

"Now that you are nearly done,

We can really have some fun!

6 more days til' it's complete,

CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy your treat!"

Thomas was presented with this countdown surprise during out "Breakfast for Dinner" last night. Now that the countdown is done, I'll have to find something else to do with my time...ALTHOUGH, we DO leave next week for Costa Rica!!! :) If we're going to be honest, that is the REAL icing on the cake in celebration of Thomas' hard work. Can't wait to fly away for a week with my Mr. Pura Vida!

Almost THERE!!!

2010-05-03T20:43:00.004-06:00

Two weeks til' Thomas' graduation! Here this week's countdown surprise...

So let me explain...this week I wanted to highlight something FUN since
that doesn't usually coincide with work and Thomas has been
SUPER busy! So I wanted to recreate a game of Sonic Smash and
make it look like the balls were being hit. Too bad you can see the thread!

Wouldn't be a countdown without a little rhyme!

Too much work and not enough play,
It's about time that all changed.
Only 2 more weeks til' the 15th of May,
HIP-HIP HOORAY!

2010-05-03T11:01:00.001-06:00

Please help Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho earn $50K to help grant wishes to Idaho children! It's as easy as clicking your mouse!

3 Weeks..

2010-04-27T22:18:00.002-06:00

We're down to the last three weeks before graduation and what better surprise than Thomas' favorite Girl Scout cookies! This is also a really big week as Thomas and his Sr. classmates show their hard work at their portfolio show tomorrow! I am so excited for everyone to see how talented Thomas is and am certainly very proud of all Thomas has accomplished so far. In case I haven't mentioned it already, you can check out most of his work on his blog: www.thomaswalsh.wordpress.com.

$4 for FORE

2010-04-19T20:46:00.002-06:00

This week's theme was "$4 for FORE!" Only 4 more weeks til' graduation!

5 More Weeks

2010-04-12T20:59:00.003-06:00

The countdown continues! Tomorrow morning Thomas will wake to find this "HIGH FIVE" waiting for him!

"High five & countin' down,
About time to sport the gown.
Five more weeks til' you conclude,
your undergrad - that's awesome DUDE! :)"

Countdown to Graduation!

2010-04-10T20:58:00.003-06:00

With 6 weeks left until Thomas graduates, I couldn't resist adding some extra motivation and a little bit of fun!

"Red Bull gives you WINGS!"

Capture the Tooth Fairy! (attention moms!)

2010-04-10T20:54:00.002-06:00

Free Photo with the Toothfairy!

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*Thanks Thrifty Mom for sharing this fun idea!*

Hello Chocolate

2010-04-04T09:56:00.003-06:00

So I made it and I’ll have to admit, it wasn’t always easy but I am glad I did it! After 40 days of Lent I was able to enjoy chocolate again. During the past 40 days, I had lots of 'chocolate temptations" and while I missed it, I think this was a good experience. I missed the sweetness that I only seemed to find in chocolate. Even though I did try to find a substitute or two. :) I was also concerned that my focus on chocolate – or my lack thereof – would be more prominent than the true meaning of the Lenten season and that I would be anticipating Easter morning not to celebrate Christ’s resurrection but so that I could FINALLY have chocolate! Now that it’s here, I’ll say it was a little bit of both. I actually feel like I spent more time in the Word and in prayer over these past 40 days than I ever have and that I’ve learned quite a bit about Lent. Having something on my mind constantly (like not having chocolate) just kept reminding me why I had chosen to sacrifice it in the 1^st place – therefore bringing Jesus to the forefront of my mind often.

When I first decided to give up chocolate I thought it would be fun to keep a little journal if you will, of how things were going. Here is what I had written.

Week 1

I miss it. Nothing quite captures the sweetness of chocolate. I crave something small and soft and sweet and nothing else seems to work. The closest thing is strawberries and raspberries.
I find myself replacing the chocolate with other candy – although it is not nearly as satisfying.
I want chocolate – GOOD chocolate. Dark chocolate mostly.
I wonder if I will anticipate Easter more this year because it means the end of my 40 day chocolate fast – not so much the fact that Christ Jesus rose from the grave and forgave our sins forever. That doesn’t seem right. I am hoping my feelings will change with time. After all, I still have many more days.

Week 2

Well week 2 I was sick so it made the chocolate a LITTLE less appealing…but not non-existent.

Week 3

Week 3 had some rough moments. Bag of chocolate chip cookies at work. I knew they tasted great and wanted something sweet so I decided to take a cookie and eat AROUND all the chocolate chips…RIIIIGGHT. Needless to say, all the work wasn’t worth the effort and it made me sad to throw away so many perfect chocolate morsels.
Middle of week 3 Thomas tells me that before I decided to give chocolate up for Lent he had ordered girl scout cookies and no, he didn’t get the lemon ones. So I arrive home from work the next day and see the little tab laying on the counter with the Girl Scout logo and the cookie type Samoas. And yes, laying in the bottom of my fridge (although in a plastic bag) I found a box of Samoas AND a box of Thin Mints…WOW! Good thing I know they can be frozen for the next few weeks until Easter!

Week 5

Does white chocolate count? I said no. It has the same name but does not contain cocoa or caffeine. But yet again, it is not as satisfying as real chocolate.
Still substituting for my chocolate although I am off cookie dough and jelly beans seem to do the trick..or starbursts or mambas...kinda...

One other thing I remember thinking during my chocolate fast was if this experience could be related to an addiction. Craving something that's not necessarily good for you; Even when given up substituting it for something else just as unhealthy; Never quite finding something that provides the same satisfaction....interesting, yes?

For those that are not as familiar with Lent, it is a religious observance that runs from Ash Wednesday (mid February) to Easter (early April). During this time, Christians and Catholics often give something up. Often times it is a form of discipline for learning self-control. It allows us to free our mind from material things and to provide us the extra motivation to say "no" to something and have it stick. Of course a more religious reason might be to identify with Christ's suffering and remember that the true pleasures of life are for followers of Christ. One other reason that I came across was to give something up in order to simplify one's life and to regain focus on what really matters. I particularly like this last one and I think I will try to focus on it next year...if not sooner, as I am good a jamming my life full of stuff and appointments and leaving little time for God and his will.

However you chose to remember this joyous season, I hope you took a moment to enjoy the importance of today and God's sacrifice for you!

Thomas' Blog

2010-03-29T21:29:00.002-06:00

So Thomas has officially started his Design Portfolio blog! Of course the main purpose of this is to showcase his work to potential employers but I wanted to extend the link for all to enjoy. He's one talented guy and you should check out his work! :) Love ya Hon!

www.thomaswalsh.wordpress.com

Walsh World

2010-03-20T22:23:00.007-06:00

My how time just seems to fly! We're in major countdown mode at our house as Thomas wraps up the last 7 weeks of classes at BSU before graduation - YAY!!! One of his classes this semester is his portfolio show which is planned and put on by 15 sr. graphic design students to showcase their work to Boise's civic and professional design community. He's been working on his promo items which has been really fun to watch. Part of this requires a professional website or blog so once he has his up, I'll include a link on our site.

In Make-A-Wish world I am getting ready to see two of my wish kids' wishes come true! Next Friday, the 26th, my 1st wish child will be flying out to the Dominican Republic for a week long vacation full of zip-lining, culture and beaches!! She is SOO excited. My second wish child will be having a shopping spree so we're gearing up for that to be a success. It's so much fun to meet and interact with these families and then to be there when each wish child's wish is granted! Absolute magic! Along with wishes, we're getting closer and closer to our 1st Annual Ultimate Urban Challenge! This is going to be SUCH a great event! If you're into races and fitness or just want to grab a few friends for a day of fun - check out this event. Afterall, not only are you guaranteed to have FUN, you're going to make a difference in an Idaho child's life.
More info on the UUC can be found at: www.UltimateUrbanChallenge.kintera.org.

Family - my parents brought the twins up last weekend to celebrate their 10th (yes that would be TENTH) birthday! SO hard to believe that they are 10. We all had a really great time a their party which was held at Wahooz! What a great place to have a party! We had our own personal Wahooz! associate helping us wish the party - it was great! We just had to sit back and enjoy ourselves...for FIVE hours! :) What (I'm sure you're wondering) do you do at Wahooz! for FIVE hours?

We watched magic tricks, ate pizza and cake AND ice cream...

and we watched the boys open their presents and race
to unwrap their chair of tickets...

and waited in line for the go carts and laser tag (and played both)...

oh yes and we can't forget about mini- golfing - TWO rounds! :)

We all had a really good time being kids and being together. Can't wait for next year! :) So that obviously only hits on one of the fams but we caught up with the Walsh's this weekend over lunch and will be heading down to Wendell next weekend to celebrate Blake's 60th birthday!!! It's so great to spend time with our families. And I know I'm really looking forward to seeing the newest Walsh additions...baby chicks! Just in time for Easter.

Couponing...

2010-02-26T18:23:00.002-07:00

So I have started to dip my toe into the pool of couponing. I just hear so many amazing stories about the amount of $$ that can be saved by using coupons - so I just had to try it! I attended an actual couponing class last weekend and finally put some of the knowledge to use today. While I just went to the store to get a few items (medicine for my cold-YUCK!, OJ, vitamins and a few grocery items) I was able to save about $8.00. For those of you not yet into coupons, let me share a few of the main points from my class.

1- cut coupons from the Sunday paper (and not just 1 paper, get a few -like 4)
2- organize your coupons (all of them!) into a binder or organizer of sorts into categories like: (dairy, breakfast, beverages, canned, condiments, grains, snacks, frozen, baby, meds, paper, soap, personal care, home, pets, other)
Now that you have your coupons, wait for stores to have sales on items that you already have coupons on. The class I went to mentioned that Albertsons often has the best sales +coupon deals to get you FREE products; Wal-Mart and Winco are good for everyday low prices
Other places to find coupons are at coupons.com, bettercrocker.com, pillsbury.com, redplum.com, smartsource.com, at the store in little dispensers (called Blinkies), and on the back of coupons (Catalinas)
I find it easiest - especially just getting started-to follow a local blog that helps me connect the sales with my coupons (www.AThriftyMom.com or www.FabulouslyFrugal.com)

So there you have it! My crash course in couponing. I can't wait to do a post showing the big bucks I save one of these days. :)

Oh and one other thing to mention is when printing off coupons from online, print in color (so the cashier doesn't hassle you about it being a copy) and note that you can usually print a coupon twice from the same computer.

If you have any couponing techniques- please share them so we can all save $$!

Weekend Fun!

2010-02-07T20:32:00.006-07:00

The Group
Andrea, Walshs, Nickells & Sikos

Yesterday was so much fun! We met up with 2.5 couples from our small group in the morning and headed up to Bogus Basin for an afternoon of snowshoeing! After a quick lunch, we headed out to enjoy a winter hike and we could not have asked for more beautiful weather! We were a little doubtful on the way up as we could only see about 100 ft around us with the fog but just as we neared the top we rose above the clouds and found beautiful blue skies and the warming sun. The combination of the sunshine and some of the hills we climbed up made coats unneccessary and the occasional snowball a welcomed treat!

After 2 hours of playin' in the snow, we called it a day and headed back down the hill to start part two of our day. :) But first, a quick introduction of the group...

Casey Siko - Snowshoe Goddess

Andrea Lingle - Snowball Extraordinaire

Charlie Siko - Snowshoeing Extremist

Hubby Walsh (planning his attack)

Melissa & Travis Nickell - soakin' up the sun!

Us :)

So for part two of the day, we met friends, Josh & Marci, at Chili's for dinner and drinks. It was so good to actually sit down with them and get to catch up on life! What a great couple!!! After dinner we walked over to the BSU vs. UofI men's basketball game...if you can even call it a game! Again- UofI stole the show and left us in the dust! (We all went to this game last year and BSU lost then.) Good thing we have football!

Needless to say, by the end of the night we were POOPED! We had a great day and were excited to spend so much time together. Popping in a movie and snuggling on the couch was the icing on the cake! I just love being married! (especially on snow-sunny days!)

The Latest - Whirlwind of Activity

2010-01-31T15:59:00.004-07:00

The Man
The Spring Semester is now in full swing and there never seems to be a dull moment around our house. Thomas will be on to week #3 of his final semester of undergrad and really enjoying his classes. He's got 3 classes this semester: Web design, Graphic Design #4 and his portfolio class. The web design class is by far the most challenging as he is learning to write HTML code while creating his website. His portfolio class is also off to an interesting start as the class of 18 tries to agree on the best way to present the work they have done over the course of their college career - WOW! I'm sure whatever they come up with will be awesome - can't wait to see the result!

On top of classes, Thomas has also joined the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) student board in hopes of getting more BSU graphic design students involved in this professional group and taking advantage of the programs and connections it offers. One of its programs is the "mixed mentor" where students are paired up with design professionals in the community. Thomas participated in this program last year and really got a lot out of it. He is again participating this semester and feels very fortunate to have been paired with designer/producer Brian Cottier of Sovrn Creative. After only one meeting, Thomas is absolutely PUMPED to learn more about Brian's expertise (video production using graphic design) and hopes to start interning with him soon.

During Nov-Dec Thomas also did some freelance work for Second Chance Building Materials' upcoming Recycled Art Show. He completed the project a few weeks ago and was surprised when he saw his fliers pop up around campus and town. They have some of his work on the Show's website - check it out!

Lots going on in the world of Thomas but it's so exciting and I love observing him during this experience. I am so proud of all that he is accomplishing and can't wait to see what the year brings for us.

The Lady
So with Thomas keeping very busy preparing for graduation and the work-world, I try to keep myself occupied as much as possible! (since we all know I am horrible at sitting still and relaxing!) Outside of work (which is still going REALLY well and keeping me really busy by the way) I am exploring lots of different types of exercise, doing a bible study or hanging with my darling pup.

I do Jazzercise 2-3 times a week (did you know that Jazzercise is the ONLY exercise program rated by Consumer Reports that satisfied all its criteria for a well-rounded workout??!) and have recently started doing Body Jam classes at Gold's - LOVE IT! Body Jam is totally hip-hop and is truly the closest thing I have done a in a long time that's truly dancing! Although I will be the first to admit that as much as I may try, I am still a white girl TRYING to get down with her bad self! :) It's fun though and a great workout. In fact, yesterday a couple girlfriends and I participated in Dance 4 Life. It took place at Gold's and was a fundraiser for Aids/HIV research. The whole thing was free and was an entire day of dancing!!! We just went to the Zumba (another great dance class) and Body Jam but were absolutely drained after. I felt like I was back at dance camp with all the girls. It was SOOO much fun! Can't wait for next year!

This week I am starting a new women's Bible study called "Discerning the Voice of God" by Priscilla Shirer. I am really excited to get back into the study group with the ladies from last fall and can't wait to see what God reveals during this time together. This study is of particular interest to me as I often find myself asking, "Now is that really what GOD is saying...or is it what I WANT God to be saying?" So hopefully this study provides more guidance in this area.

I also just finished reading the book of Ecclesiastes which I found to be quite interesting. I wasn't quite sure what to expect upon reading the intro - Solomon's book of pessimism more-or-less. But I like the overall idea of the book - to realize that nothing matters more unless God is at the center of it. It really challenged me to consider what is currently and what should be the priorities in my life. In addition to this book, I am also reading Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ." VERY interesting! I love the evidence that has been found to support who Jesus is, the legitimacy of the Bible and in relation to how the Bible has been translated correctly and why. Great read so far and I would highly suggest it- especially for those skeptical of the above mentioned.

There ya have it! The Walsh life in a nutshell!

Better Late than Never!

2010-01-24T18:40:00.006-07:00

So I never really recapped our Christmas this year-Mostly due to the fact that I had left my camera at home and am just now getting the photos collected from everyone else! So without further ado... let's revisit Christmas!

Christmas Morning with the Shockeys
Thomas, Me, Simon, Josh, Varik, Mom and Dad

Thomas & I on Christmas Eve

Daddio

Thomas showing the twins how to leg wrestle.

Rockin' out with the boys' new Rock Band

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen and their gifts from Tami & Steve

An intense game of chess...

Mom and I on Christmas Eve

Josh and his boys

So I think it's safe to say we had a wonderful time in Burley and then headed over to Wendell to complete the fantastic holidays season with the Walshs.

What Will the Year Bring..

2010-01-08T18:55:00.002-07:00

Hello 2010! So hard to believe you are already here but excited for all that is in store. We know for sure that this year will be a year of change and a few a more firsts. Starting with Thomas' LAST semester of his undergrad degree - YIPPEE!!! We look forward to celebrating Thomas and his accomplishments in May as we take a well earned vaca to Costa Rica. We are so excited for this adventurous and beautiful trip. Then of course with graduation comes a new job - or at least that's our hope. So that means all you design firms should save a pretty little seat for the awesome designer coming your way. :)

Work for me is never a dull moment. We are working on a brand new event that is going to be SOOOO awesome! Mark your calendars for June 26 to participate in the Ultimate Urban Challenge! This Xtreme event will challenge participants physically, mentally and even through senses. Teams of 4 will receive clues to various locations throughout Boise where they will complete their challenge to move on to the next. The event will end with a huge celebration of food, fun and entertainment! Definitely going to be a good time! :)

Merry Christmas from the Walshs!

2009-12-17T19:42:00.002-07:00

Here are a couple of our little family photos. :)

Thomas and I would like to wish all of our friends and family a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Due for an Update!

2009-11-28T19:36:00.005-07:00

A November Update wouldn't be complete without a Thanksgiving Day photo. This year was a "Shockey" year for dinner so my parents came up to Boise and we all went to my cousin, Erin's for dinner. There were 24 of us for dinner but above is just our little family. :) You'll notice we're short one twin (Varik) but we also gained the company of Josh's wonderful girlfriend, Kelly. We all just had such a great time together!

Friday morning mom and I got up and were out the door by 7:30 to do some light Black Friday shopping. My dear friend Heather had given me the heads up on $25 pre-lit Christmas trees so we made our first stop Target. AND I came home with a wonderful, $25 tree. :) As well as some tree decor and a few gifts. We were back home by 10, just as the traffic was beginning to get hairy. I can honestly say it wasn't a horrible experience but then again, I wasn't going for the big ticket items.

As for the weekend, we decided to visit the other side of the fam so off to Wendell we went. Thomas really appreciated his dad's company for the BSU football game (and all the other games that followed that weekend!) and I loved being able to relax and visit with fam.

Now it's the countdown to Christmas - so hard to believe it's only a few weeks away! I plan to put up all my decorations this week and to finish decorating my tree. YAY! Thomas has only a couple weeks left of his FINAL undergrad semester (we aren't excited or anything...) and I'm just busy busy at work! I did get a new wish assignment as a mentor for a couple (friends of mine). We interviewed the little girl last week and it looks like we'll be doing a shopping spree for a lot of Hannah Montana stuff! This is exciting as it's the only wish that the wish granting volunteers actually get to participate in!!! My other wish that I took on last Spring is getting closer and closer. The wish child is all done with her treatments now and we're just counting down the days until March when she and her fam will head off to Punta Cana for a week of tonz of fun and relaxation!!!

Speaking of trips, we're in the planning stages for our next vacation. Desitnation: Costa Rica! This is the location Thomas chose for his graduation gift - SOo can't wait! It will be beautiful AND fun!

Well we hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Love is a Beautiful thing...

2009-11-08T23:32:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to give a quick "shout out" of congratulations to two of my girlfriends and their recent engagements (must be something in the air!!).

Congrats to Liz & Jed and to Michele & Jake!

Sunday Night FUN!!!

2009-11-08T23:02:00.004-07:00

Tonight we participated in a progressive dinner with our small group. In all the years that I have know about these dinners, I have to admit that this was my first time actually participating in one at different homes. So much fun!!!

Left Front: Charlie & Casey, Thomas, Becca & Avery, Blake & Andrea, Melissa & Travis

We started the evening at Melissa & Travis' home for appetizers. Then, Thomas and I hosted the entree portion at our house and served taco soup! Charlie & Casey also did an entree which was a very yummy Mexican lasagna. The evening ended at the Lingle's with dessert and a couple rounds of Catch Phrase. Watch out for those "bumper dumbers!!!" :)

Thanks for a great evening everyone!

Halloween & B-day Fun!

2009-11-01T13:52:00.007-07:00

The beginning of the Halloween season seems to start with my b-day. This year I celebrated all weekend long!

Michele, Me, Jerica, Nicole & Adair at Barbacoa

B-day Dinner at McGraths - Seafood - YUM!

Varik (a Zombie Pirate) & Simon (a Party Animal)
were trick-or-treating with Dad in Boise - YAY!

The girls at Chels' Hallow's Eve Party
Jenny (Army Girl) - Tiff (Robin Hood) - Chels (Pirate)
Jerica (Poker Girl) - Me (Wild Thing) - Adair (Dark Angel)

Our glowing pumpkin cut-outs
Can you guess whose is whose? :)

Celebrating a Quarter of a Century!

2009-10-26T21:11:00.003-06:00

Today I officially joined the "Quarter of the Century Club" as I turned 25! I don't really feel much older and am really quite satisfied with how my life has turned out thus far...of course it's really just all beginning. :)

I must admit, I had quite the weekend of celebration! Thanks to the girls that joined me in an early celebration Friday night at Barbacoa! Gotta' love their yummy appetizers and good ol' girl time. Thanks Ladies!!!

Michele, Me, Jerica, Nicole & Adair

Then come Sunday, Thomas and I had planned to celebrate my b-day a day early since he was SUPPOSED to be working Monday night. So, we spent the afternoon carving these wonderful pumpkins - one of my favorite October pastimes. :)

Thomas' is on the left (you guess) & mine is the dancer (SURPRISE!)

This lil' punkin is hiding on the backside of Thomas'

Then came today! I had taken off today and tomorrow for some extra R&R and it started off BRIGHT & EARLY at the DMV getting my licensed renewed - oh the joys! I have to admit that I was pretty surprised at how quickly the moved everyone along. In 20 minutes I was on my way back home to meet the folks. Both were coming up to help celebrate my birthday. My mom and I spent the day shopping and my dad hung out with my bro. I was spoiled too death and always love a good shopping day with Mom! We hit a gold mine at Burlington Coat Factory! I was really wanting a new pair of jeans and I am REALLY picky about my jeans. And low and behold the perfect size and LENGTH were calling my name AND they were only $30. LOVE IT! After a day of shopping I returned home to find my hubby who had taken the day off (sneaky one he is) to help me celebrate as well. :) I am really excited to go shopping for my gift from him - he had given me a brochure so I can go pick out the beginning of our new living room set! I think I'll start with a coffee table...or maybe end tables...Hmmm... So exciting and SOO very thoughtful of him.

Last but not least, the day ended with a yummy dinner at McGrath's with the parents. We always have such a good time! Great food and of course, great company. Thanks to everyone who helped make my 25th so much fun!

Miniture Guitar Hero

2009-10-23T21:28:00.003-06:00

Ok so I realize that I haven't even posted in awhile and I apologize that this post is going to have nothing to do with us, BUT I got this email from my dad and I thought it was quite priceless. Definitely worth checking out and I recommend you wait til' the end of the song to turn it off. :)

Enjoy!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1610699488?bctid=31812464001

Switchflops - Choose a shoe, add a strap!

2009-10-08T20:50:00.003-06:00

This weekend one of my lovely co-workers introduced me to these amazing new flip-slops that allow you to switch the tops so you have the benefit of lots of styles without having to buy several different shoes! Can we say closet space? AND versatility? The different tops just velcro on and off and there are so many options. Definitely worth checking them out. :)

http://www.switchflops.com

The Faith Club

2009-10-04T20:02:00.003-06:00

Over the past couple of months I have been reading the book, The Faith Club. It was a little hard to get into but after a couple of chapters I was hooked! What an intriguing book about these three women's lives and their beliefs, especially after just finishing my World Religions class at church.

It is so interesting to me how easy it is to focus on the differences in our religions and how we make judgements and have stereotypes that are often based on the extremesits of different religions. What I particularly loved about this book was how the authors' intent was to find commonalities between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. These three women got together to write a children's book so that their children would have a better understanding of the individuals around them as well as gain an understanding of their own beliefs. They also hoped to encourage their children to be accepting of others and love them even if they believed some different things. And most importantly, that through a desire to better understand one another, we might all live more peacefully.

Throughout the 3 year journey in which this book is based I had the opportunity to "wear the shoes" if you will, of two women of religions in which I am not - Judaism and Islam. I will be the first to admit that I had some very different thoughts on who Jews and Muslims were and was pleasantly surprised at not only our commonalities but on how each of these religions had areas and ideals that I found very appealing. I also really enjoyed learning about some of their religious holidays - how they practiced them and what they meant (such as Yom Kippur and Ramadan). Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday, the holiest of all days for them I believe, and after a day of fasting they gather together for a large meal. Not only that but they attend a church service and the intent of Yom Kippur is to ask God to be written into "the Book of Life" so that they may live another year here on Earth and with their families. I think I would find this particular non-belief in an eternal life stressful! But it definitely puts into perspective the Jews need to do good things so as to earn another year here. I would also like to believe that their is something more to life than living here on earth, even if some days are slices of heaven. :)

Prior to this book and probably even my World Religions class, I was fearful of studying other religions in that I might actually find things in them that I agreed with. There was also the fear that by looking at other religions and asking questions of my own beliefs it would somehow make me less Christian and less - "true." Now I can honestly say that over the past few months I am finally taking ownership in my beliefs. I feel like I am starting to really ask why I believe what I believe instead of just taking everything in because that's what I've always grown up with. I think for me this in a very important step in my growing as a Christian and as an individual.

So if you are looking to stir your faith a bit and learn more about yourself, take some time to read this book! I would even say it's worth buying so that you can refer to it often.

Yum! Thanks Moms!

2009-10-04T19:59:00.002-06:00

Tonight we enjoyed some family recipes for dinner. Debbie makes an unbelievable chili and my mom makes a scrumptious cornbread! Together- the combo was dynamite! :) Thanks Moms for sharing your recipes and letting us enjoy a bit of each of your specialties on such a cold fall night. Cheers!!!

Wildflowers in fall?

2009-09-22T22:30:00.005-06:00

This post is mostly to those doubting souls of my wildflower surprise! Yes, with the first day of fall officially here, I can say that my wildflowers have finally decided to show their pretty little faces. Take a look! :)

Girls Weekend

2009-09-13T19:56:00.007-06:00

Adair, Me, Shay, Kim & Michele (missing Jaime!)

So this is a little after the fact but I just got the photos and thought I would share! Six of us girls spent a fun weekend at Vanderham's riverhouse in Hagerman a few weeks ago. It was so nice to get away for just those couple days and be girls. We spent time floating, er - rowing, on the river; playing board/card games; of course eating AMAZING food and just catching up on life. Thank goodness for girlfriends and sunshine! :)

Ready to go!

A view from the deck at Thousand Springs

Michele & I makin' sure Treysen is all taken care of!

Some serious Apples to Apples

Adair & I out for a morning in the kayaks

Lovin' This Time of Year!

2009-09-07T18:49:00.004-06:00

This is probably my most favorite time of year. There is this energy and excitement in the air which I find refreshing and fun! Not only that, but the weather is just perfect! Still wearin' flip-flops but starting to pull out jeans and sweatshirts for the evening. It'll just be a matter of time before all the leaves start turning colors - YAY! The only downfall of the early Fall season? - ALLERGIES! This is by far my worst time of year for allergies but I seem to make it through each year. :)

We had a great weekend down in Burley celebrating the 3-day weekend. We headed down Saturday, making a stop in Wendell to drop off the beasat with g-pa and g-ma and to have some yummy El Tap! Then it was on to Burley where we ate more yummy food. Thomas had never had homemade ice cream OR dutch oven so by request, the cooks went to work and we were ecstatic to woof down the yummy mushroom taters, pork roast and peach cobbler (my fav!) And then of course we topped the cobbler with homemade French vanilla ice-cream. Wonderful cooking mom and dad- THANK YOU!!

Mom, Uncle Steve, Dad & Varik

Sunday was another fantastic day! We headed up to City of Rocks with my parents for Thomas to experience yet another 'first!' City of Rocks was a happening place- more busy than I had EVER seen it! It was fun to see all the climbers though. We just admired them as we did a little hiking around the rock bases but enjoyed ourselves none-the-less.

After working up an appetite we headed back down the mountain which included a lunch stop at the Almo 'Outpost.' Unfortunetly they were all out of strawberry-rhubarb pie but lunch was quite yummy. It was amazing to see how much the area had grown to include 3 rustic little cabins as well as the Almo Inn. Would definitely make for a quaint and quite weekend getaway.

Later in the afternoon we headed out to a family friends' house for a BBQ and boating. It was such an enjoyable evening and we loved seeing the area from the boat. We went clear up to the Minidoka Dam which was just beautiful. Needless to say, we enjoyed our weekend and were hesitant to return back to the hustle and bustle of Boise.

This post just wouldn't be complete though, without a quick shoutout to my in-laws for sending us home with delicous homemade bread and to die for chili! YUM!!! Thank you!!!

Stay with it, and you can Always work things out!

2009-09-01T20:44:00.003-06:00

So I actually came across this story a month or so ago and wish I'd had a chance between now and then to get it posted...but none-the-less here it is! It comes from a book my dear old roomie Adair had gotten me called Married for Life. I just love the analogy and hope that this might come in handy for a time when you find your relationship or marriage challenging. Without further ado...

Marathon runners talk about "hitting the wall," when suddenly all energy is gone, arms and legs feel like lead, and here seems to be no way to go on. But if they press forward, forcing their bodies to perform, they eventually burst through the wall, catch their second wind, and go on to finish the race.

When you and your spouse hit a wall in your marriage, don't quit. Hebrews 12:1 says, "We must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us." Stay committed to the relationship and forge ahead. If it's a brick wall and you can't break through, get creative and find a way to go around it, climb over it, or even tunnel under it. You may have to dismantle it brick by brick. Whatever it takes, if you work at it together, you can move ahead.

A wise runner will take measures to ensure that when the time comes, he will have the inner strength to conquer the wall. The day before long race, he will "carb out" - eat a large meal of bread, pasta and other carbohydrates that provide the body with fuel for long-term energy. You, too, can prepare for the challenges you will face. Jesus taught His followers to ask God for "daily break" - physical and spiritual nourishment that would sustain them through all adversity.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

Celebrating 1 year! (and counting...)

2009-08-18T14:41:00.005-06:00

Sunday was our one year anniversary and we spent it on a weekend getaway to Sun Valley! Our weekend was somewhat relaxed. We strolled around downtown Ketchum and had dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant (Rico's I think) on Saturday evening. Sunday (our actual anniversary) started with a yummy breakfast made in our Elkhorn condo followed by sweet cards and tickets to the Trey MacIntyre Project in October - YEAH!!! (His show is a must-see if you have never had the opportunity!). Then we packed up and headed a few miles out of Ketchum to our old church camp, Camp Sawtooth. It was fun to see the updates they had made, especially in the bathrooms- WOW!!! Thomas also showed me his sister, Katie's bench. You'll notice a little heart and cross in the bottom-right hand corner. That is how Katie used to sign her letters.

Here is a close up of the metal portion. The bench iteself
sits outside the cabin that the Wendell church had built at camp.

After a little reminiscing at camp, we continued up Galena to the trailhead of Titus Lake. Here we parked and took off on a wonderful hike to the emerald green mountain lake of Titus. This was quite the busy place! LOTS of people out hiking and taking advantage of the nice weather. It took us just under an hour to get to the lake where we then had a picnic before heading back down to the car.

By the time we reached the car, we were both beat! We had originally planned to continue on to Redfish to enjoy their afternoon concert on the lawn but we made it it as far as Smiley Creek and their YUMMY milk shakes!!! MMMMM! Then we called it good and headed back to the condo for a quick nap.

The evening ended with dinner at the Pioneer Saloon (awesome steaks!), chocolate covered strawberriers ( I was so excited they turned out so well!) and watching "I Love You, Man!" - very funny. :)

So all-in-all we had a great weekend and as always, we love spending time together. It's hard to believe a year has already gone by. And if it's really true that the first year is the hardest, then I think we're sitting pretty darn good! :) Love you Hon and thanks for being such a wonderful husband! XOXO

So You Think You Can Dance

2009-08-07T16:32:00.002-06:00

So the results are in...anybody watching this? I'll be the first to admit that I thought (and hoped) that Brandon would win with Kayla coming in 2nd. Not quite what America had in mind though. Bless Evan's heart and efforts but I just think he does Broadway AMAZINGLY and I would love to see him doing that...but probably not anything else. Kayla had amazing lines and Janine had talent and personality...but Brandon...he was SO consistent and just at the top of the pack for me. :)

What I love most about this show though, is that there is finally an opportunity for dancers and choreographers alike to be recognized for their talents! Never before have either professions been so in the national spotlight and received such recognition. Not only do I love this but I LOVE the fact that they have founded the Dizzy Feet Foundation! For those of you who are not familier with this non-profit, it was set up to provide scholarships to kids with dance talent but who are unable to financially get the best instruction. I would have LOVED to have this opportunity growing up and think that supporting this cause is wonderful. Dance offers an individual SO much and I am glad that Dizzy Feet will help bring quality instruction and opportunity to "underpriveliged" kids. For more info, visit: www.dizzyfeetfoundation.org.

Islam, the Religion of Sumission or Surrender

2009-08-04T21:00:00.006-06:00

Tonight's class was on Islam. I will be the first to admit that there are some very surprising finds during this study but I also feel like there is much, much more to learn. I feel like our text didn't quite give enough answers to all our questions but hopefully through some further research I will find those answers (more on this after the key insights).

The Key Insights for this weeks religion, Islam, per our book are as follows:

Islam began with a man named Mohammed, who lived about 600 years before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mohammed was born & spent much of his life in and near the city of Mecca - current day Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed was a deeply spiritual person and was influenced by the Jews and the Christians who lived in his vicinity while despising the polytheistic religions and their many idols.
Mohammed believed in one Supreme Being, referred to in his language as Allah, or 'The God." This is simply another name for the God f Abraham the same God Christians and Jews serve. A little history lesson here. During the time of Abraham, Sarah (Abraham's wife) instructed Abraham to bear child with their house servant, Hagar. Abraham did so and Ishmael was born, Shorthly thereafter, Sarah became pregnant and soon gave birth to Abrahams' 2nd born, Isaac. Christians believe Isaac to be the Son of promise while Muslims believe Ishmael is the sone of promise.
In the midst of sleep during a period of intense prayer, Mohammad began to experience powerful dreams or visions in which he was visited by a spiritual being he would later come to kow as the angel Gabriel (sound familiar??). Mohammed believed that the angel was telling him the direct words of God.
Mohammed's visions resulted in his developing a following of disciples. The people of Medina, a city some 200 miles north of Mecca, heard about Mohammed and invited him to come & lead them. Mohammed and his followers fled Mecca and settled in Medica where Mohammed became the people's political, miliatary and religious leader, teaching the people to worship Allah alone and establishing the first Islamic state. An example of such visions would be: "The law says 'There is no other God.' Stop worshipping these pagean idols. Turn to God and repent your ways or else you'll face the judgement." This is a statement I as a Christian would believe.
Mohammed eventually conquered the Mecca troops through various battles and returned to Mecca with his followers. He taught them the content of his visions. After Mohammed's death, these visions wree carefully recorded in a book called the Quran. The words of the Quran are in the first-person voice, as though God is speaking and giving instruction directly to the human race. This is unlike the Christians belief of the Bible where many authors were inspired to write stories about their time regarding God. Even with these many authors located in different regions, their stories have a consistent thread throughout them. Look at the Gospels, there are four accounts of Jesus life, death and resurrection.
Because the Quran is believed to contain God's actual words, it is considered to be the final and absolute authority for Islam. Muslims believe that the Quran supersedes or is in authority over the earlier texts of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Where the Quran disagrees with the Christian Bible, Muslims believe hte Quran to be correct. Side note: because Muslims believe the Quran to be the direct words of God, they do not consider translated versions of the Quran to be accurate. In order for the Quran to be adequately understood, it must be read in its origianl for of Arabic.
The Quran contains many stories that are identical or similar to the stories in the Bible; many of the persons from the Bible are mentioned frequently in the Quran. however, there are also several significant differences in details and events between the Christian Bible and the Quran. For example, Jesus is acknowledged in the Quran as a very important prophet and the Jewish Messiah but is not held to be the Son of God and is not believed to have been crucified or resurrected from the dead. Whenever Muslims peak the name of Jesus, they always follow by saying, "Peace be upon him," just as they do when speaking the name of Mohammed. Jesus is the 2nd most important prophet next to Mohammad. Evidently, Muslims believe that Jesus' life was cut short from fully establishing a social order. Since he died "early" Mohammed then finished creating the social order for Jesus. Also to be noted, Muslims believe that someone else died on the cross in Jesus place - quite possibly Judas.

There are also other interesting points to note that were not necessary key insights by the book. The Muslims practice and believe in the Five Pillars of Islam which are:

Belief: in 1 God; in the judgement day; in a master creator
Prayer: pray 5 times a day towards Mecca as a reminder of your spiritual commitment and to stay on the right path
Fasting: once a year for an entire month, Muslims fast from dawn until dusk
Charity: they give 2.5% of their yearly income to the poor and those in need
Pilgrimage: once during your lifetime, you are to make the pilgrimage to Mecca

Also mentioned in the book were the similarities between the start up of Mormanism and Islam. Both religions are based on the claims of one individual who saw visions of an angel who then imparted the authoritative message to them to spread to others. Another similarity is their belief in good works getting them to Heaven (or in Muslims case - Paradise). And lastly, both also have several levels of the afterlife.

On the note of the afterlife, since our study book didn't go into too much detail, I went to religionfacts.com to get the skinny on the Islamic afterlife.

Muslims DO believe in a Paradise (Heaven) and a Hell. They believe:

On the Last Day, resurrected humans will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity. The day of judgment is described as passing over Hell on a narrow bridge in order to enter Paradise. Those who fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will remain in Hell forever.

The Qur'an specifies two exceptions to this general rule:

Warriors who die fighting in the cause of God are ushered immediately to God's presence (2:159 and 3:169); and
"Enemies of Islam" are sentenced immediately to Hell upon death.

PARADISE Paradise (firdaws), also called "The Garden" (Janna), is a place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty mansions (39:20, 29:58-59), delicious food and drink (52:22, 52:19, 38:51), and virgin companions called houris (56:17-19, 52:24-25, 76:19, 56:35-38, 37:48-49, 38:52-54, 44:51-56, 52:20-21). There are seven heavens (17:46, 23:88, 41:11, 65:12).

HELL Hell, or Jahannam (Greek gehenna), is mentioned frequently in the Qur'an and the Sunnahusing a variety of imagery. It has seven doors (Qur'an 39:71; 15:43) leading to a fiery crater of various levels, the lowest of which contains the tree Zaqqum and a cauldron of boiling pitch. The level of hell depends on the degree of offenses. Suffering is both physical and spiritual.

Being a Muslim does not keep one out of Hell, but it is not clear whether Muslims remain in Hell forever. Non-Muslims (kafir), however, will be punished eternally.

So there you have it. A start to understanding our Muslim friends and neighbors. Oh wait, one more thing to note. Most of us, at least in the U.S., have a very negative feeling towards Muslims considering past events. However, it is important to note that just like Christianity has many denominations or sects with slightly different emphasis and worshipping styles, so does Islam. Our negative feelings are a result of the extremist and those sects that choose to practice violence. Not all Muslims believe or emphasize in the same way. It is important that we as Christians remember to act as God has instructed us by loving our neighbors and welcoming them; by being ambassadors for Christ.

Lady and the Tramp (title per Thomas)

2009-07-29T22:00:00.004-06:00

Thomas requested that I post this photo.
It really is quite adorable and shows the obvious bond between
he and Miss Sage! How precious! :)

Buddhism

2009-07-29T21:24:00.004-06:00

This week's study was of Buddhism - quite the complex religion if I do say so myself, but none-the-less interesting. I'm going to borrow this summary of Buddhism from our take home sheet because it just really streamlines the main points. One thing to note before I do the summary is that Buddhism, like Christianity, has several sects. As Christians practice in different denominations (Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic etc) so does Buddhism in a respect. What is highlighted in this blog are the most widely accepted and beliefs of Buddhists.

"A wealthy Hindu named Siddhartha Guautama, who was born a prince, struggled with the question of human suffering, including aging, sickness and death, to the point where he was ridden with anxiety, fear and confusion.

At the age of twenty-nine, Siddharta Guatama deserted his wealth, position and family (including wife & son) and went on a quest for thruth; but his Hindu faith did not provide for having a personal experience with a knowable, personnal God.

At the age of thirty-five, Siddharta sat underneath the Bodhi tree (or tree of knowledge) in meditation; and through this process of meditation he became enlightended, taking the title of Buddha, which means "enlightened one." Buddha did notclaim to be a god but merely a man who had insight into the nature of suffering and the remey for it.

As a result of his meditation, the Buddha taugh, and Buddhism holds that the reality and existence of a Supreme Being or God cannot be known for sure. Buddhism is neither theistic (belieivng in God) or atheistic (believing that no God exists); Buddhism makes no claims for or about a Supreme Being.

Buddhism also holds the centrality of Four Noble Truths.

Life is characterized by suffering
Suffering is caused by human tendancy to form attachments to temporal reality such as persons, ideas, things, possessions, dreams and so forth.
There is an end to suffering and that is when we overcome our temporary attachments by letting them go and achieving a state of non-attachment.
Suffering can be overcome by following the Holy Eightfold Path, a set of directives or right living that involve the practice of meditation.

Right views
Right intentions
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration

Borrowing from Hinduism, Buddhism hold to the concept of karma, or good and bad energy borne of our good and bad deeds, and the goal of overcoming bad karma with good karma.

A 2nd borrowing from Hinduism is Buddhism's belief in reincarnation, the continuing death-and-life cycle in which a person' soul returns to eath time and time again in various forms to gain good karma, but Buddhism, with an awareness of experiencing suffering continually.

A major concept of Buddhism is the concept of nirvana - but different than that in Hinduism in that instead of a union with the Supreme Being, the soul becomes extinguished and the cycle of rebirths ends = the end of suffering, anxiety and fear."

Hmm...lots to ponder with this one. I personally have a hard time understanding the non-attachment truth to people. I can completely agree with the need to be less attached to material possessions and that it is important to have your attachment with God be first, but to not experience the greatness that comes from personal relationships is a hard sell for me. Yes, being attached means you are going to experience disappointment and suffering at points but it ALSO means you experience joy, happiness and HOPE!!! Which brings me to a couple things that Christianity has to offer to our friends of Buddist faith: hope in an afterlife that is spent with our loving God and a personal relationship with God to help you through rough and trying times.

As for what we can learn from our Buddhist friends: to live in the moment (not rushing around all the time and really enjoying and experiencing every little part of life), not being attached to material possessions, being less violent and learning to really meditate and spend time with God in prayer.

That wraps it up for tonight. I would love anybody's feedback or thoughts on these postings.

Next Class: Islam (should be a good one!)

Just wanted to say...

2009-07-23T20:51:00.002-06:00

that I feel like the luckiest girl around to have such a great husband!!! I LOVE YOU THOMAS!!

Hinduism

2009-07-21T22:26:00.003-06:00

So as mentioned, this week's study was on Hinduism. Now mind you, this entire study hits just on the high points of each religion. Hinduism is a fascinating religion. I recall reading a little bit about it in the book, Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - maybe some of you can relate. So I think I'll just share some of the main beliefs and values with you about Hinduism to begin with.

Hindus are vegetarians - they have a high respect or all living creatures do to their belief in reincarnation.
Many have arranged marriages
very family-orientated
Hindus believe in one true God, Brahman, but believe that their God can be manifested in upwards of 33 million different gods and goddesses (very similar in fact to the Greek gods). It is by relating to these different gods/goddesses that Hindus begin to find a personal relationship with their God.
they believe in dharma: ones duty
they believe in karma: good & bad deeds
they are extremely tolerant of other religions (pluralist perspective!)
they believe that we are born ignorant, not sinners, and that obtaining knowledge is the goal to life
they believe that each of us has God within us so each is divine and incapable of sin
they believe that through the attainment of knowledge (which is acquired through many, many lifetimes) they will reunite their soul with God (aka- Nirvana)

Some notable differences between Christianity & Hinduism are as follows:

Hindus believe they are part God while Christians believe they are made in Gods' image
Hindus have a very impersonal God while Christians have a God that seeks to have a personal relationship
Hindus believe that knowledge will lead them to "Salvation" while Christians believe Salvation comes from accepting Jesus Christ as Savior
Hindus believe in reincarnation - having many, many chances to get things right/perfect - while Christians believe in one life
Hindus believe that once they reach Nirvana, they will become like a drop in water, unidentifiable while Christians believe in heaven and living in God's kingdom forever while still having some sort of identity

After our lesson this week, I found myself still wondering about a few things regarding Hinduism.

Who judges what you come back as? - I would guess Brahman but am not sure
Is there any special meaning in the early death of an individual? For instance, did they just max out their allowed # of bad deeds or good deeds (karma?
If you convert to Hinduism, how do you then fall into their levels of reincarnation? If you were in a considerably higher social level prior to conversion, would you be considered the same in Hindu terms?

And lastly, we discussed in our class a couple of things that we could learn from Hindus. One that stood out to me, was to be less judgemental of others and willing to understand our differences. After all, isn't it God's job to judge others and ours to love others?

Next week: Buddhism

World Religions Class

2009-07-19T15:39:00.005-06:00

I have always wanted to take a world religions class and finally have the chance! I just enrolled in a course that started last week. The 6-week study will cover the 5 major world religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. The study is based off a book by Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor from Kansas City, called "Christianity and World Religions."

In the first week of class, we covered the first chapter which is "Questions People Ask." It was really interesting! Part of the chapter talks about how your personal faith, in this case Christianity, views other religions. Hamilton proposes 3 perspectives: The Pluralist perspective, the Exclusivist Perspective and the Inclusivist Perspective.

The Pluralist perspective occurs when an individual sees all religions ending at the same point. The examples was given of hiking a mountain with several paths to the top. Each path is a different religion but all ultimately reach the same top. This perspective is often thought of as the "respectful" perspective because it is like saying, "my religions is true for me, and your religion is true for you."

The Exclusivist perspective can actually be split into two - one being more conservative and that other more moderate. As an exclusivist Christian with a more conservative view, you would believe that the only way for salvation is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. Anyone who does not do this, is going to hell. A somewhat more moderate viewpoint of the exclusivist is to believe that salvation comes from accepting Jesus Christ but also recognizing that individuals that have not had the opportunity to hear about Jesus will still have a possibility of God's grace.

And lastly, the Inclusivist perspective believes that Jesus Christ is Savior but that God can also be actively working throughout the world, perhaps even in the lives of non-Christians, and has not necessarily "written off" individuals of other faiths who truly seek God but have yet to hear, understand OR accept that they need God in their hearts to be saved.

I certainly thought these proposed perspectives give a lot to think about.

Next chapter: Hinduism.

Boating with the girls!

2009-07-19T15:10:00.004-06:00

Vanessa & Cassie, Me, Nicole & Lauryn

This took place a couple weeks ago but I just got the pics so here ya go! BBBS sets up boating trips with a local US Coast Guard throughout the summer for matches to go on. Vanessa and I headed up to Lucky Peak with Nicole and her little,Lauryn. We had a really great time and were glad the weather was much nicer than last year. We started the night off with by tubing! Last year was Vanessa's first time tubing to she was eager to put her skills back to use.

After some tubing we did a little sight seeing and then docked the boat for a picnic dinner.

Also along for the ride was the Coast Guards' dog, Cassie. She had a handle
conveniently located on her jacket so she could easily
be plucked from the water if she went for a swim.

Not only did Cassie just sit in Ness' lap during the board ride,
but she even went on a TUBE ride with her! Way cute...

At the end of the night (after about 4 hours) we headed back to the boat docks.

The ride back was a bit chilly since we were all wet but Ness
lucked out and scored this awesome 'Gumby" suit
from the guard that kept her super warm...
it was HILARIOUS!

Where's the camera?!

2009-07-13T20:52:00.004-06:00

So Saturday evening Thomas and I took Sage for a walk along the river. As we were walking we here some rafters yell "Beaver!" We look and look...not seeing anything in the water...looking along the bank...see the bear cub...WAIT! WHAT?- Bear cub? Look again...no, not bear cub, just Humongous beaver on steroids that is equal to the size of a bear cub. OK, so we've never really seen a beaver in the wild but we had NO idea that a beaver could get so big! This thing put Sage to shame. It looked to be (from across the river) about 3ft. in length with its body PLUS another 2 feet of tail that was a foot wide!!! Oh yes AND the big head. I just wish we had a camera or even some binoculars to get a closer look. Seriously insane and we hope to see Mr. Beaver on future evening strolls. :) Oh and happy rafting to all that pass the Beaver dam. :)

Family, Friends & the 4th

2009-07-08T19:53:00.005-06:00

We had such a great weekend celebrating the 4th with our family and friends in Wendell! We were so excited to just relax and hang out with Thomas' parents and then to join the Jones crew (or at least a small portion of them) for the annual BBQ & fireworks...oh and golf! Yes, Rex had cleared out part of his property and put in a two hole course. :) We had a great time hitting balls as the sun went down and as we waited to light off the fireworks.

After the pyros completed their show (without lighting anything on fire might I add) Thomas and I hopped over to Shay's parents' house just in time to catch the finale from their HUGE Hawaiian Luau celebration - GREAT show!!! By this time it was pretty late so we decided to call it a night and headed down to Adam & Shay's riverhouse in Hagerman. Of course we can't forget to mention sweet little Treysen! At almost 6 months old, he is rolling all over the place and just LOVES to smile! This is him in his boating gear - little board shorts, sun hat & wet suit top - SOO gosh darn cute!

Here's Treysen with his daddy being a big boy!

Notice even Thomas got into the action and seemed
quite comfortable around little Trey - check out those baby
blues!!! WOW!

So we spent a good chunk of Sunday hanging out by the river or on the river. We even took a boat ride down to Blue Heart, which for any that have never experienced this natrual wonder - you need to check it out! It's this protected cove area with rock walls where the water is crystal clear and the sand looks super blue! It's like nothing I've ever seen - so beautiful...and COLD!!! Of course it was a hot day so we took a quick dip to cool off but boy did it take your breath away.

Busy Weekend!

2009-06-28T19:45:00.003-06:00

Wow what a weekend!!! It didn't seem so busy but looking back, it was a BUSY weekend! Yesterday morning we joined the rest of the Make-A-Wish crew at ZooBoise for our annual Wish Family Picnic. This years theme was a ZooFari! All of our volunteers and wish families from the past 3 years were invited to come enjoy the zoo and have a zoo experience. A zookeeper showed the kids out to make enrichments (snacks) for all the cats which they then took around to the different cages. Evidently, when they tossed in the tiger's enrichments, they pounced right on them and started swinging them around until they broke up! - This received lots of giggles from the kids. After making sure all the cats received their morning treats, it was time to enjoy our picnic. The weather was perfect for our outdoor event and the clowns really added to the energetic atmosphere. Bubbles and face painting were a hit! Thanks Pansy and Granny Bubble Ducks for all your hard work! (Of course their names led to an adult conversation on how a clown comes up with their name....I was told by one clown that many choose their names based on past nicknames...Hmm...).

So the zoo was a success and left us with the rest of the afternoon to play some more. After dinner, Thomas and I decided it was time for a date! We headed out to Meridian to try our hand at Shankz' Blacklight Miniture Golf. This was a really cool place with awesome designs. We had the option to get 3-D glasses for our golfing and to have a greater experience with the course. They were cool but lasted only one round before we decided they would make us sick! (For anyone going, I would advise buying one pair just to take in and check things out - OR, give me a call and you can borrow ours!). All in all it was a fun time but I DEFINITELY could have done without the loud bratty kids running around....can we say BIRTH CONTROL!!!! Golfing was followed by yummy frozen yogurt parfaits at Cold Fusion - YUM!!!

This morning in church we had a few people speak on their past 2 weeks in Africa. I believe somewhere around 14 people from the church went to Africa on a short missions trip. While there, they installed two water towers in which the runoff from their buildings with metal roofs, could flow into and then be harvested. Locals were traveling up to 4 hours each day just to retreive water and the water was more like mud - Yuck! The team also assisted in building a new school/church. Lots of hard manuel labor but much more reward was received from the blessings of the African group. One church member spoke on how amazing it was that these people who had so little, gave SO MUCH! They were continually offering one thing or another to their guests - even a chicken which had to be refused for health and customs issues. :) The pictures they showed in church were phenomenal! The peoples eyes were so beautiful and full of life and happiness. It is so inspiring to see that in people who have so little - materially that is. As I mentioned before, Thomas and I have been talking about where we want to go on vacation next summer for his graduation gift. After hearing this presentation in church today, we are considering doing the Africa trip - our church sends a group every year. While it would most certainly not be a relaxing trip, we have a feeling it would be a life-altering trip that would provide more reward than any trip we have taken thus far. We are very interested to talk to the three people from our small group that went and to get their perspectives.

This afternoon we attended our first co-ed baby shower! I wasn't qite sure what to expect but we had a really good time! The shower was for a couple in our small group - Becca and Jesse who are expecting a baby girl at the end of August. Our group went in on a couple "Big ticket" items for the couple and then we were asked to bring a gag gift for the new dad. We took a "New Daddy's Essentials" kit which consisted of: 1- Power Clips for those overbearing baby aromas, 2- Latex Gloves for those dirty deeds, 3- Earplugs for more restful nights (and less mommy nagging) and 4- Ibuprofen for the thousands of headaches coming his way. The group favorite was definitely the 6-pack of baby bottles. Heehee. :) We also played a couple of game, one was finishing the nursery rhymes and the other was a relay where you had to drink the apple juice in the bottle (can I just say and I would DIE of thirst if i had to drink out of those tiny nipples!), eat a mushed banana, put a diaper on a cabbage patch doll with one had (you had a partner) and then carry the egg on the spoon back to the starting line. All-in-all it was very fun. I thought it was a very sweet gesture to include the new dad in the celebration and to celebrate this time in THEIR life. Thomas and I talked more about it at dinner and while he enjoyed the shower, he told me I could have my own girly showers. :) :) :)

And now we are off to another week! Hope you all have a good one - especially with the holiday next weekend. Be safe!

School, Travel and the Movies

2009-06-20T19:49:00.002-06:00

Thomas has now completed his 2nd week of summer school - Spanish 102. So far - so good! He would definitely recommend doing your language class during the summer as long as it's not your major. :) He also just finished his first "big" job! Yup- for the past few months he has been doing design work for a new restaurant in town. Everything from the menu, to-go-menu, and signs. There's even talk about doing more stationary stuff and possibly an updated logo! It's been a great learning experience for him and has really been fun to watch his excitement, frustrations and finally his success with the final products. He's just getting started but he is so great at doing design work and I am so proud of him not only for being so talented but for being such an intellectual and great person. Muah!

I feel like the past week has been much of a whirlwind! I think I've covered the state of Idaho with my work travels over the past week. Last weekend was our "Walk for Wishes" event down in Pocatello. We were SOO blessed to have the sun hold out for the entire set-up and duration of the 3 mile walk. The rain finally started just as we were getting in our cars to drive home. Since we have to travel through Burley, I had my boss just drop me off and got to spend a night with my folks. That following day, a great highschool friend of mine had a graduation celebration for getting her Masters degree (Way to go Lizzy!). It was SOOO great to visit with her. I really wish there were job opps in the TV area so we could spend more time together. She is going to be such a great Business Teacher and without a doubt will be the "Hot New Teacher" wherever she goes. :)

Then Thursday came and I had a last minute assignment to join my boss for an event in Grangeville (about 4 hrs. North for Boise). A gal on our board was hosting a Fiesta for Make-A-Wish so we could increase our presence in that area and gain more support. It was another fabulous event that God so graciously blessed us with more sunshine. The folks up there were truly some of the nicest people and SOOO into baseball! Not sure I could live up to the baseball part FOUR days a week!!!

Now I'm finally home from my travels...at least for a bit, and I am defintely taking advantage of it all by being super lazy. Thomas and I did buy Sage a new collar though that we should try out. It's fantastic! It's got little "spike" thinks that will safely get her when she tries her secret lunge moves on our walks. :) I know...I sound so horrible but truly, Sage is a smart dog and I think one or two pulls will have her in ship-shape and make us quite the happy pair as we trot down the local streets.

I can certainly say that the sunshine today has been MUCH appreciated after these weeks of rain. Now if only they would stick around for a bit so we could enjoy summer and I could get some color on these white sticks of mine.

OH YES! - Another thig worth mentioning in my last movie viewing. Last night I popped in "Revolutionary Road." I found it quite interesting. I loved observing and then analyzing how Leo and Kate's marriage did and did not work. I enjoyed watching different scenarios come up in their relationship like growing their family, buying their first home, and most importantly supporting one another in their dreams and really finding what in life truly makes you happy. I find movies that make me think wonderful! And I'm sure I really study couples/relationships/marriages much more intently now that I am married. Thomas and I have even commented on how much more we seem to observe our parents and their relationships. (Suprise! :) We may have noticed things prior to marriage but now is when we really seem to be observing our parents interactions with each other and within their lives. It's fascinating how we can grow up knowing one way but as we grow into our lives, we start really finding what will work for us and our new life together. This is also very exciting for us. We love that there is so much ahead of us. Really - our lives are just beginning and we feel so blessed to be taking this journey together and to experience everything God is going to throw our way.

Tamarack Get-Away

2009-06-02T20:27:00.004-06:00

Thomas and I just returned from an extended weekend away in Tamarack. Yes- the Tamarack that has been closed down making it a very peaceful retreat for any visitors. :) We stayed in a beautiful 1bdrm townhome just a stones throw away from the Buttercup lift and with a relaxing trickling creek that lulled us to sleep.

The Townhouse - complete with hot tub, BBQ and fireplace!

We spent our days attempting to fish (they were definitely in hiding!)...

Hiking - we even found the zip line course which we will hopefully get a chance to go on when the new owners take over the resort!

And relaxing! Our last evening we drove into McCall for dinner. It was so great - not necessary because of the food but definitely the company. We arrived and two older couples were the only other guests in the restaurant and both were celebrating their anniversaries. We listened as they began to reminisce over their past 62 years together! WOW! I just loved seeing them together and that they were still so very much in love. I cannot wait until Thomas and I are that couple - remembering our lifetime together. :) To top it off, the man had a cane with him which he had completely carved himself and within the cane was the official Bronco Girl whose outfit we were told changes often. For instance, the weather is warming up so soon he would paint/carve her so that she had a bikini! LOL..it was fantastic and it was obvious that the gentleman had quite the sense of humor.

And of course the perfect ending to any evening in the woods is making yummy s'mores! Here is Thomas hard at work to create the perfectly browned mellow. :) YUM!!!

It's been awhile..

2009-05-19T19:55:00.005-06:00

It's definitely time to do a little catching up! First off, Thomas finished his semester and is now enjoying his 3 week break before tackling the last 8-week course of his required Spanish credits. He is WAY excited to be done with that on to just graphic design stuff.

This past weekend was very eventful! Saturday evening was spent at our first movie premiere! Yep- we got all glamorous (trying to track down pics for proof!) and headed down to the Egyptian Theatre for wish kid, Mitch Kohler's movie premiere of "Star Waiters." Mitch, a 12 year-old boy living in Boise is being treated for Spinal Muscular Atrophy and was therefore referred to Make-A-Wish. His wish was to be a movie producer and then to post his movie on YouTube (I'll post the link once it's up). Mitch decided his movie would be a spoof on Star Wars and instead of having light vs. dark, it was good food vs. bad food. Characters were renamed to be: Luke PieWalker, Pretzel Laia, the Corn-troopers, Darth Waiter, Oaty-wonkanobi and so on. Anyway- back to the Egyptian...we arrived around 6:00pm, 20 minutes prior to the limo arrival of Mitch to the red carpet and paparrazi. We luckily found a seat in the quickly filling theatre which would end up surpassing it's 740 seating capacity!!! It was SOO amazing to see so many people come together all for one little boy's dream. We had professional producers, directors, and film crew assisting with the wish as well as two schools and of course the MAW team. Two standing ovations later the film had concluded and we were off to the after party being held at the Linen bldg. downtown. The building had been transformed into everything movie and we were treated to the yummy foods of Tucano's Brazillian Grill - who completely donated ALL the food and linens!!! WOW! In addition there was a DJ, photo slideshow, photographer outside taking pics of people as they arrived on the red carpet and just so many greathearted people. What a fantastic night!!!

Sunday was another great experience. For church, we all did NOT go to church but went out into the community and did service. Our theme shirts read, "We don't go to church, we ARE the church." There were 17 groups, which equated to approx. 350 people, that went out into the Treasure Valley Sunday and performed some sort of service. Thomas had volunteered to take photos at a site so we ended up driving to Idaho City where we planted new trees to help cool the waters where the fishies were trying to survive. It was interesting to see how this old mine are had been blown up and was now considered ideal for planting trees. Thomas felt a little guilty for just taking photos while everyone else hauled and planted trees so eventually he put away the Canon and jumped in and got dirty. Two and a half hours later, we were back on the road headed towards Boise. I had packed us a picnic so we stopped at the park in Robie Creek and gained some more energy. Oh yes- Sage was also able to come with us for the day and had a fantastic time swimming in the creek, running around and being with mom and dad. :) We got home exhausted and spent a good rest of the afternoon resting up.

Whew! We are both really looking forward to the last weekend of the month when we'll head up to Tamarack for a weekend getaway. By the way- if anyone is looking for a fairly inexpensive retreat, they are having AMAZING pre-season deals on their townhouses & cottages. Check them out at http://www.valetvacationrentals.com/.

Hope you are all finding ways to enjoy the fabulous weather! Ta- for now!

Feliz Cumpleanos y Tu!

2009-04-28T21:50:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to my fabulous THIRTEEN year old Lil!

Vanessa and I celebrated her b-day last Friday night with dinner at a Mexican restaurant complete with a mariachi band b-day song & fried ice cream. After dinner we had tickets to the "America Stars" show where past American Idol finalists performed (Rickey Smith, Melinda Doolittle, John Peter Lewis and Carly Smithson. The concert was really good although it definitely brought out Idahos' "Finest!"Sunglass Divas after dinner

Vanessa in her new glasses & cowgirl hat!

YUM! Fried Ice Cream!!!

Vivacious
Awesome
Nice
Exceptional
Smart
Sassy
Adorable

YOU can make a difference!

2009-04-22T09:22:00.004-06:00

Did you wake up this morning with the urge to make a difference?

As many of you know, Make-A-Wish is currently participating in Betty Crocker's Stirring Up Wishes Campaign. Betty Crocker will grant 12 wishes in 12 weeks (March 1 - May 25). Each Make-A-Wish chapter is placed in a category (ours is YELLOW) and at the end of the 12 weeks, the top 4 chapters in each category will receive $7,000!!! Did I mention that's FREE money? That is enough to grant the wish of one Idaho child plus have some left over! It would be SOOO awesome if all of you reading this jumped online and voted for IDAHO! This is YOUR chance to make a difference in the life of an Idaho child.

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with HOPE, STRENGTH, and JOY!

VOTE HERE!

(You can even vote daily!)

or go to http://www.stirringupwishes.com/

Thank you for choosing to Share in the Power of a Wish!

Wishes DO Come True!

2009-04-13T19:25:00.007-06:00

So last week...hmm...now that I think about it maybe it was TWO weeks ago, we found out that Morgan's wish to GO to the Dominican Republic was going to come true! We were super excited as international wishes do have to get board approval. To celebrate the good news and share it with Morgan, Michele and I decided to deliver the news in person - with a tropical surprise! The night before the drop, we baked cupcakes and decorated them with those cute little cocktail umbrellas. Four of the cupcakes had the words "Wishes Do Come True" written on them. In addition to the cupcakes we got a fun lei and made a special postcard of the D.R. with a little message about what is to come of the wish process. It was so much fun putting it all together and especially seeing the smile on Morgan's face when we showed up! In fact, we couldn't have had better timing. She had been in the hospital all week for treatments and had been home for about an hour when we arrived. This was a great surprise and brought out a little more hope in Morgan. I can surely attest to the fact that she spent a good 15-20 minutes thinking of beaches, sunshine, zip-lining and snorkeling rather than feeling sick of being tired. :) Michele and I look forward to keeping up the postcard theme as Morgans' wish comes together. Fun stuff!!!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T19:39:00.005-06:00

What a beautiful day today was! The weather was A-mazing (was NOT expecting that!) and we just had a nice day! It started with Easter service at church followed by taking Sage hiking in the foothills. Thomas needed to get a few things done for his upcoming portfolio review so I hung out with Vanessa for couple of hours. It was SOO good to see her! Our schedules have been crazy so the 30 day lapse left us with lots to catch up on! :) What a great girl she is and I feel so lucky to be her Big!!! Anywho - after taking her back home I caught some much needed Vitamin "D" while finishing my latest book, "Beach Road" by James Patterson. I don't know if it's a movie yet but it would REALLY make a great one. By this time Thomas and I's tummies were growling so we got to work on our gourmet dinner. In a matter of 30 minutes, we were sitting down for King crab legs, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and warm potato rolls. Oh yes, and a glass of wine (Soft Chenin Blanc - definitely worth trying out if you haven't). The food was delightful and filled us up just enough. For dessert - banana cream pie! I'll let ya know how that one goes over. :) Here's to a blessed day to all!

Josh in the studio!

2009-03-26T21:12:00.005-06:00

We got an e-mail from Josh today that his band, Aces & Eights, started recording their album yesterday! It was a long 9 hour day but they made a lot of progress by getting the drums and some of the bass laid down. Their hope today was for Josh and the lead singer, Matt, to get the rythm guitar tracks down. This is an entirely new ball game for Josh but he is eating it up! What an experience! I am so proud of him and so happy that he is doing something that he loves and doing it well! In Josh's words, he "feels like he was born to do this!" Very exciting!

Here is a video of their latest concert held at the Knitting Factory (formerly the Big Easy) as they cover AC/DC's "Sin City." The audio isn't fantastic but it gives you an idea. :) Can you believe they played a show of over 900 people???!!! WOW! You can also check them out on MySpace - better audio. www.myspace.com/aceseights

Thomas Turns 27!!!

2009-03-26T20:43:00.005-06:00

And next in line for the birthday train was Thomas! We celebrated # 27 yesterday. Thomas awoke to the aroma of fresh coffee...Wait..Coffee??!! In OUR house? But we don't have a coffee maker...

Well we DIDN'T have a coffee pot until yesterday morning! I thought it would be fun to have a fresh pot programmed shortly after the time he had set his alarm for. So he found his birthday gift brewing on the kitchen counter complete with a big red bow and card. (He told me later that this was SUCH a fun way to present his gift- quite possibly his favorite!) After enjoying his hot cup of coffee, he was able to relax around the house since it's spring break for BSU and he doesn't have to work Wednesdays. I got off work early and surprised him with the rest of his birthday gift. As some of you may recall, last year I made him a cake in the shape of a camera. This year I chose to do a poker table complete with cards (wasn't enough space for the full Royal Flush) and poker chips! And yes, Thomas IS a big "deal!" (Blake, I know you'll enjoy that one!)

After cake he opened his last gift of Abercrombie cologne and a travel coffee mug. As you can see he had LOTS of help with the wrapping paper. She was so darn cute!!! (and helpful)

The celebration wasn't over yet though! Birthdays just aren't complete without a yummy dinner to cap it off. Thomas decided he wanted to try out the new Brazilian restaurant, Tucanos. This was a very different dining experience than others offered in Boise but the food was VERY yummy and the prices were extremely reasonable. We chose to do a combo meal that allowed us to try everything really...so much like a gourmet buffet! We started at the salad bar (greens, fruit, pasta, breads...oh and fried bananas!) and then our "meat server" came around with different skewers of meats (sirloin, tri-tip, chicken, turkey, pork..) and grilled PINEAPPLE!!! You took as little or as much as you wished. By the time we had tried all the variations, we wer SOOO full - no room for dessert and NO room for cake! Oops! :) All-in-all I would say it was a very fun celebration. Happy Birthday again babe - Love you lots!!!

The Twins Turn 9!!!

2009-03-26T20:26:00.010-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VARIK & SIMON!!!

So March is full of family birthdays! It began on March 16th with Varik and Simon turning 9! Yup- hard to believe it but here they are posing with their new "Gormiti" creatures from Aunt Jentry & Uncle Thomas. :)

Varik & Simon

The boys drove up to Boise with Grandma and Grandpa Shockey to celebrate their big day with their Dad. We all went bowling and then had cake and ice cream open presents.

The Bride-To-Be...

2009-03-16T18:11:00.005-06:00

Here's to my wonderful friend Heather - the Bride-to-be!!! She will be tying the knot with her highschool sweetheart (Charles) on April 18th on a cliff over looking the beautiful blues of Puerto Vallarta!

I had such a great time participating in the events leading up to her grand day and wish her and Charles nothing but the best! LOVE YOU!!!!

Famous in the Family!

2009-03-09T21:01:00.003-06:00

So this is a HUGE shout-out to my cousin, Ashton, for recently being the featured photographer in the March issue of Fashion Models Magazine! How cool is that?! He does some seriously awesome work and truly deserves this honor. His main passion is fashion photography and he has had the opportunity to work with some world-renown photographers as well as photographed for some pretty high-end fashions such as Neiman Marcus and Diesel. He lives in Denver so if you know someone that needs a photographer in that area, give him a call! He's also been known to fly to location for special occasions.

Check out his article and a couple of his pics:
http://www.fashionmodelsmagazine.com/

Visit his website:
www.ashtonrayhansen.com

Makin' Wishes Come True!

2009-03-07T17:36:00.007-07:00

Tonight I met with my first Wish Child, Morgan! I have been highly anticipating this meeting and was not disappointed! Me and my mentor, Michele, met Morgan and her family at their home to conduct our Wish interview. After some yummy pizza we got down to business. It didn't take long for Morgan to decide that her with was to GO to the Dominican Republic!!! Why might you ask? (and so did we!) For many reasons actually. They are rated amongst the top for best beaches and for being a family-friendly vacation spot; they offer the fabulous and amazing snorkeling of the Caribbean; they have zip-lining (can't argue with that one...seriously!); it's her favorite destination in the book on Caribbean her home-teacher and she have been reviewing AND Morgan and her family learned a lot about the area during the Special Olympics when her sister was their "snowflake holder." For instance, did you know that the Dominican Republic has two seasons: Hell and Hotter?! heehee Since Morgan's wish is an International one, it requires her to write a letter to our board with her reasoning. Most wishes do not require this but since this one that will be more costly than the average wish it requires a little more info. :) When Morgan learned she had to write a letter, she didn't even bat an eye! Heck, she is even hoping she can use it as her assignment for her technical writing class! (That's the spirit!!!)

So more about Morgan, she has always been a very active girl playing soccer and even participating in a triathlon last summer (which she assured me isn't nearly as difficult as people think - she didn't even have to train!!! Oh the joys of 15). But since being diagnosed with a brain tumor, her balance and motor skills have been challenged. She was diagnosed at the end of August, and less than 48 hrs. after diagnosis, underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Since then, she has been doing chemo and radiation. Yes, she lost her hair but has since then grown in some "fuzz." She wears a lot of hats to keep her warm during all this winter weather and she has quite the selection to choose from we are told. A local group organized a hat drive for Morgan and came up with nearly 50 hats! Not all are so stylish though according to Morgan but much appreciated. She was sporting a fun one from her local high school tonight. Even though Morgan is doing treatments, she is still required to keep up with school. She does this in one of 3 ways, attends class at MSTI (Mtn. State Tumor Institute), having an at-home teacher or when she is feeling up to it, attends her Sophomore classes at Boise High.

Something very interesting that I learned tonight was about the beads children are given during their time at MSTI. The beads are part of a commemorative bead program called "Beads of Optimism". Children receive a necklace with their name (in beads) when diagnosed, and they will receive special beads associated with specific procedures and visits they experience during treatment. For example, if a child undergoes a radiation treatment, they will receive a “glow in the dark” bead for their necklace. Or for every CAT scan, they receive a bead with a kitty cat on it. Cool huh?! Morgan has quite the collection already and it was fun to hear her stories that were associated with the different beads.

Alright - now we play the waiting game to see whether or not Morgan's wish will be approved and then it's show time! Even though Morgan will not be able to do her wish until the early months of 2010, Michele and I can start planning our wish Enhancements that will make the wait seem more fun and keep giving Morgan something to look forward to. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted throughout this process!!!

If you are interested in having the opportunity to be a Wish Granter, give me a call or visit our website www.Idahowish.org! It is definitely a memory that will not soon be forgotten.

Other easy ways YOU can make a difference...

1-Attend an Idaho Stampede basketball game! Ok- not just ANY game, but the one on Friday, April 10th! A portion of your PRE-PURCHASED and DISCOUNTED tickets will go towards sending little Sophia on her wish to go to Disney World! To purchase tickets go to https://www.groupticketwindow.com/groupticket/event/global-qwest/group.
User: MAKE A WISH Password: STAMPEDE

VOTE for the IDAHO chapter in the "Stirring Up Wishes" campaign in partnership with Betty Crocker! Betty Crocker will grant 12 wishes in 12 weeks! Chapters have the opportunity to receive $7,000 (that's enough for one wish plus a little extra!) just for being one of the top 12 chapters with the highest # of votes! See how easy wish granting can be? Make your wish count today and visit www.StirringUpWishes.com and VOTE for IDAHO!

You Asked for it!

2009-03-07T17:28:00.003-07:00

After your requests, here are before and after photos of Thomas and his hair...or lack there of!!!

Playin' Grownup...

2009-02-23T18:51:00.003-07:00

Playin' grownup isn't all it's cracked up to be! Between filing taxes, shopping for auto insurance, medical insurance, low-interest credit cards and high yielding savings accounts, we are just about FORMED out!!! Adults forgot to mention all this when we were younger and dreamt of growing up with all the freedoms that would come with age...and RESPONSIBILITIES?!!! :) Ok, so I'm sure if we had to do more, we would but we will both be very happy come March 1st when all our adult responsibilities settle down. WHEW!

On a lighter note, things have been going fantastic for us! Thomas became sick and tired of his long locks (I think it was because his hair was longer than mine!) and decided to shave it all off!!! Yep- no cut...straight to the shave! And I must say that I was a little nervous about what the outcome would be, but my hubby wears his hair (or lack-thereof) well no matter what the cut. :)

Thomas remains busy with school, especially with his Spanish class and lab, while I'm happily chugging along at work and in different community activities. Even with our busy schedules we've been able to spend some quality time together which is really all that I ask for. I feel so lucky to have such a fun, loving and intellectual man as my husband! I love him so much and am thoroughly enjoying our life together. The thought of tomorrow and any point in our future is exciting to me and I can only imagine our life getting better and better!

Ok- ok...enough of the sappy stuff. ;) Just thought I'd share a little of what we've been up to. I hope the first couple of months of 2009 have been as great for all of you as it has for us!

World Games 2009 come to Boise!

2009-02-08T18:27:00.009-07:00

Today was the 1st day of festivities and competition for Special Olympic athletes from all over the world! It would have been a crime to not go out and experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so myself and good friend Ryan headed down to the games. Downtown we found the Special Olympics Town/Festival that was full of activity, food and entertainment. This was also the location of the World Games cauldron which stands approx. 24 feet high and was infused with sage prior to the opening ceremony yesterday by a local Native American woman to purify the games. Also of mention is the ice sculpture which was done by a local sculptor and provides a great picture opportunity in Special Olympic Town. And of course this post cannot go without mentioning the wonderfully, white, tall and CREEEEEEPY Coco-Cola bear!!! His beady-red eyes and wiggling head scared the beejeebees out of me!!! I am honestly surprised there weren't kids crying - Scary and just plain wrong!
After seeing the sights of Special Olympic Town, we headed inside Qwest Arena and met up with Chels who was volunteering as a medic. Thankfully the day had led to only a few minor patch-ups by the medic squad and we were able to enjoy some the level I-IV Ice Skating Dance competition (I tried to include a couple clips but it wasn't cooperating!). I was impressed by their abilities and absolutely LOVED their enthusiasm! They were so confident and proud of what they were doing and it just seemed to emanate into the crowd. I am sorry that this will probably be the only day I will get to participate in any of the festivities due to the scheduling but am glad I took advantage of such a great experience and program. Good luck athletes!!!

Hangin' with Ness'

2009-02-07T16:58:00.007-07:00

Last night was so much fun! After work, I went and picked up Vanessa to begin our night of cooking! Vanessa was responsible for deciding what we were going to cook and for gathering the necessary recipes. We stopped by the store to pick up the ingredients, grabbed a movie from the video store and went home to get the cooking underway.

The Menu
Main Course
Szechwon Shrimp (Chinese influence)
Fried Rice

Dessert
Fortune Cookies
Rosca w/ "caramel" (Colombian influence)
...and popcorn for the movie! :)

Vanessa chose an AWESOME shrimp recipe that was super easy to make and tasted wonderful! I was most excited to try our hand at the fortune cookies which I have to admit, were one the easiest things I have EVER made and they tasted just like the ones in the restaurant!!! (you can even include little fortunes if you wanted to) The Rosca, as you can see, is about 5-6" in diameter and more-or-less a wafer. In this case, Vanessa chose to prepare the dessert as a sandwich with two Rosca "wafers" on either side and the Colombian version of caramel in the middle. Very yummy!!!

We ended the evening with Madagascar 2 which if you haven't already seen it, is HILARIOUS! We both really enjoyed it and the evening.

Should you be interested in preparing your own fortune cookies, follow the simple steps below.

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar

Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 400. Generously butter 2 cookie sheets. Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.
2-Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.
3 - Place tsps. of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. (approx. 5 per sheet)
4- Bake for 5 min. or until cookie has turned golden color 1/2 inch around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.
5- Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board (or plastic cutting board). Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded cookie over the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outsid. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm (approx. 10 min.).

Bon Appetite!

Family weekend

2009-02-01T17:30:00.005-07:00

What a great weekend! My parents came up early Friday morning to stay for the weekend and to celebrate my dad's birthday. Friday night my parents and I grabbed a delicious rib dinner from T.R. followed by a concert by none other than...my brother! (Thomas was working that night so wasn't able to join us!) Yep- Josh's new band, Aces & Eights, played a concert at the Visual Arts Collective in Garden City. Their sound is similar to AC/DC which is a much-improved musical choice from his past bands (in my opinion). They actually do an AWESOME job and put on a great show! My parents really enjoyed the music and show as well and it was fun to see Josh doing so well at something he loves and appreciates!!! Last week Aces & Eights also had a show at the Knitting Factory (formerly known as the Big Easy) that was PACKED! They were the opening act for a variety of bands and were a quick favorite with the crowd. This was the first time Thomas had heard them and seen them perform and he really enjoyed himself and the music.

Saturday evening we celebrated Dad's birthday with a yummy shrimp & rice dinner followed by an even YUMMIER German chocolate cake- dad's favorite! The evening concluded with watching Clint Eastwoods' new film, Gran Torino. Good show if you haven't seen it.

It's always good to see the family and it was fun to have them stay with us. Now we're gearing up for another week. Thomas is in his 3rd week of his new classes and I'll be starting week #4 at MAW. It's hard to believe that today marks the beginning of February- my how time is flying! Before we know it will be WARM and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Finally...Inspired!

2009-01-23T20:54:00.002-07:00

It has been such an odd experience since I've graduated from college. Everyone seems to have forgotten to mention the uneasiness of what that degree can get you. I'm sure the experience is not the same for everyone but I can speak from the perspective of someone who has had a plan for everything. What happens when all your plans or goals are achieved? You make news ones...right? Well I seemed to have some difficulty in finding the right fit to cultivate my niche and place in this life but after the past two weeks, I honestly feel like I'm definitely closer to it, if not in it!

So now to make some sense of all this ambiguous writing...today was the end of my 2nd week as an employee for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho and I LOVE it! I FINALLY feel like I am learning something worthwhile; like I am making a difference and that there is SO much for me to do and to continue to learn and contribute. I am SOO excited with this new feeling of fulfillment. I feel inspired for the first time in quite awhile and I look forward to going to work with so much that I can explore and develop and give back.

Not only that, but my coworkers are fabulous and so helpful and motivated in our mission to grant wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. They are so knowledgeable and will be great resources and mentors throughout this journey. Amongst those coworkers is my amazing CEO. We sat down for about an hour and a half this past week to really go over some of my ideas and the projects I am working on. She is so sincere in her efforts to inspire those around her and to motivate them to grow both personally and professionally. I cannot tell you how much admiration and respect I have for her because of that. I can honestly say that before her, there has never been a supervisor or boss that has put forth such effort to really help me grow and develop. I feel like I can go in and ask her any question or talk to her about anything and she won't judge me. I know for many this may seem like such a simple thing but for me, this is HUGE! The day we had our meeting, I came home with the highest of highs! (just ask my mom!) I am so thankful that God has given me this opportunity and I look forward to what He has in store for my new-found inspirations and professional development.

OK- so other than the "heart-to-heart" stuff above, my job has several other wonderful perks. Honestly, can I really call it work when I get to fill backpacks full of toys and goodies for kids (trying my hand at being Santa Claus); scrapbook and create powerpoint presentations (yes, I enjoy that!) just to name a few? I love it!

Stages of Life

2009-01-18T21:38:00.005-07:00

What an interesting day it was for us. We were up and ready, heading out the door this morning for church when we received a call from our friends down in Wendell. Their long awaited addition to the family had come earlier this morning- baby Tracyn Arie Vanderham. We were so excited to go and meet the new little man so we jumped in the car and headed south. Baby, mom and dad were still at the hospital in Twin when we arrived shortly after noon. Adam (aka. new daddy) was ALL smiles as we entered Shay's (aka. new mommy) room. Baby Tracyn was exhausted from his early hour adventure and was sound asleep. It was so fun to see them all healthy and happy...and yes, somewhat tired. Of course Thomas and I had all sorts of questions for the new parents since this is a chapter we have yet to experience (and just to hedge the question, it's going to be awhile - especially after Thomas heard all the details of the event - haha).

After visiting for a bit, our stomachs were dying for food so off we went to the local Depot Grill for a late lunch. ( This is where the idea for this blog derived from.) We were sitting up to the counter of this truck stop diner (with really good food!) just waiting for our lunch to come when these two older gentleman (by older we're talking 70's or later) sat down a few stools down from us. They each had their cup of coffee and just sat and visited with each other about what was going on in their lives and the world. It was so interesting to us and made us consider the events of this day. We started off as the newly married couple who then visited friends just starting their family and here we sat witnessing what will one day be another stage of our life as we age. Life is just amazing! There is so much to experience in this short time on earth and I hope we remember to experience each part to its fullest potential.

We are truly enjoying this time in our life and know that there is so much ahead of us. We're really just getting started with our life and yet all around us stages of life are everywhere. Anyway, just a thought that I wanted to share for the day. I also wanted to give a "Shout-out" to our wonderful friends and their new baby. Adam and Shay are going to be such great parents and little Tracyn is just so lucky to be part of their wonderful family. Love you guys!!!

Suze's Action Plan for 2009

2009-01-09T15:45:00.004-07:00

"Hope for the best but prepare for the worst." - Suze Orman

I just finished the fabulous Miss Suze Orman's new book, Action Plan for 2009. After reading her book, "Women & Money" last spring/summer, I have held Suze in nothing short of great regard. She writes extremely personable and pertinent financial information for every adult in every cycle of life. Her newest book describes the recent economy, how we got here and what the future holds. She also outlines specific steps that she recommends each of us take in the coming year.

I appreciate her outlook and sound advice. It will definitely come in handy as Thomas and I sit down and set our goals for the coming year and years to come.

If you haven't already, I HIGHLY recommend you read her books. Her newest one can be downloaded from Oprah's website for FREE until 11:59 EST January 15. It's a quick read - took me a whole 2 hours and that was me digesting the info and taking notes. Or you can pick up a paperback copy at your local book store. Whatever you do, check it out! After all, you and your family deserve the best and being financially aware and secure will help you achieve the best.

Happy reading!!!

The Artist

2009-01-09T09:10:00.015-07:00

So- as many of you know Thomas is studying graphic design at BSU and we FINALLY got around to taking some pics of the work he did this past semester. The majority is from his printmaking class, which he really enjoyed. Although if you ask me, it is a LOT of work!!!

My very simplified version of the process: You take wood, metal or anything that you can carve into and carve a design. Then you apply one color of ink and it is pressed onto your print (usually paper or cloth). Then if you are wanting multiple colors, you apply the next color and continue layering until you receive the final look. And if I understand correctly, you have to let each layer dry before applying the next one. WHEW! That being said, here are a few of the prints Thomas did.

My favorite print project - now hanging in our bedroom!

Thomas' favorite print project- In fact he did this as a photography project
and then recreated it making his own prints with the process above.

These are a few graphic design sequences. I believe the assignment here was to create an image using only text that conveyed a word or message.

This last one is one of his first photography...maybe graphic design?? projects. He had to take a photo and add text to it making it look like it all belonged. And just for the record, this photo was taken in the streets of Rome and yes, the "gold man" is real- just a street actor! Very entertaining... :)

New for 2009!

2008-12-30T11:05:00.003-07:00

Out with the old and in the new- right?! Well in my case that is exactly what will happen in 2009. I recently landed a job with Make A Wish Foundation here in Boise and am SOOOO excited! What a great organization to be a part of! I am really looking forward to the new experiences ahead and the satisfaction that I know will come while helping MAW with their mission. Beginning January 12th, I will be working with volunteers, assisting with some of the events, doing some of their design work and then misc. office duties. The staff is small but mighty and I from what I've gathered, have a LOT of fun together! Wish me luck and I wish the best for all of you in the year to come!!! www.idahowish.org

O' Christmas Time...

2008-12-30T10:29:00.005-07:00

How quickly Christmas seems to come and go but we really did enjoy it!!! We spent the first part of last week in Burley with the Shockey's including Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. This year I helped Mom with Christmas Eve dinner and of course under her supervision the meal was superb!

Earlier that day we suited up to spend sometime in the snow. It was great to see the twins and play in the snow with them and Grandpa and the 4-wheeler! My how the twins are growing. To my disappointment, I could no longer grab them by the ankles and hang them above the ground...just too big!!! Here are some pics of Christmas morning as the Twins open their Wii from Grandpa and Grandma and their new game from Thomas and I.

We left around noon Christmas Day to spend some time in Wendell with the Walshs. Debbie spoiled us all with her delicious Prime Rib dinner! YUM!!! The rest of Christmas Day was spent playing some mad Yahtzee- a gift I received from Thomas. SO fun! (Cole' - let me know when you want to play!). Another gift I received from Thomas was the opportunity to name a star! I was so excited about this and have just now had the chance to do it. So, below is the Star Chart for my Star, Jenwa (pronounced Jen-Way). :) If you're interested in providing this opportunity for someone check out http://www.shiningstars.com/.

So all-in-all we had a fabulous and blessed Christmas and am thankful for our wonderful family!

We're Famous! - Kind of...

2008-12-23T21:31:00.003-07:00

So this past week at work, one of Thomas' coworkers tells him that we're in a magazine! Confused, Thomas asks him to explain why we would be in a magazine. Evidently, one of our wedding photos was put in a wedding magazine (Z Weddings: Idaho's Bridal Magazine) as an advertisement for the photographer, O2 Photography, who shot our wedding. This was kind of a fun addition to our wedding memory. And not only did we make it INTO the magazine, but we're on the first page! Watch out Elle, here we come!!! :)

The North Pole!

2008-12-22T12:31:00.003-07:00

Vanessa and I won tickets from BBBS to go on the Thunder Mountain Train Ride to the North Pole this past Saturday. The train departed from Horseshoebend and traveled approx. 45 min. west to the North Pole- Who knew it was so close! :) During the ride over, we were entertained by Christmas carolers. When we arrived at the Pole, we received milk and cookies and had the chance to see Santa...see we did but sit we didn't. Vanessa is a little big for the "Santa" part so we just hung out by the bonfires, ate ice cycles and took pics. Here are some from our adventure.

The Weekend

2008-12-15T14:04:00.008-07:00

What an eventful yet relaxing little weekend I had. Saturday, Vanessa and I ventured to the Foothills Learning Center to make some "green" crafts. Vanessa made off with a few ornaments, homemade wrapping paper, a winter scene and bookmarks while I was THRILLED to make and take a REAL holiday wreath made from pine boughs and pine cones. I was pretty impressed with the outcome of my wreath although my hands were covered with sap and dirt and lots of scratches from the sagebrush.

Another exciting thing about Saturday was that Thomas found my missing box of tree ornaments! YAY! I had bought new ones last year and was SO disappointed when my searches came up short. Thank goodness for husbands! So here is what our little tree ended up as...

This was also my first Christmas to put up the nativity Thomas got me last year. It's a Willow Tree nativity (minus my final set that HOPEFULLY will be under the tree this year...) and I absolutely love it! Instead of buying the creche though, my wonderful dad made it for us and gave it to us as a wedding gift. Thanks Dad!

Then yesterday came and we woke up to about 6 inches of snow! It's SO beautiful and peaceful when it's snowing. This seemed the perfect excuse to stay in my pajamas all day. Sage and I took some time to romp and play in the snow while Thomas shoveled the sidewalk and driveway (I helped a little!). Then it was off to make my most anticipated treat of the Christmas season - Special "K" Bars. They smelled so yummy and were so easy to make...maybe too easy because when I went to cut into them an hour later they were nothing short of lumpy concrete!!! Thomas swore they still tasted wonderful (so sweet!) and I agreed that they tasted fine, it was just GETTING that taste that was so hard! Seriously, bring out the hammer and chisel. After a quick call to mom, I learned that I have to SLOWLY boil the Karyo syrup and sugar...BUMMER! Good thing mom made a super-supply for our visit next week. :)

The rest of my Sunday was spent nestled in a corner of the couch enthralled in my latest read, "Twilight." Yes- I FINALLY gave in to the vampire-frenzy and have to admit that while I was VERY skeptical, I CANNOT put the book down! Seriously- I started the book Tuesday and expect to be done in the next couple of days - all 500+ pages of it. It is just so fascinating and has such great physical tension. If you haven't already, I would highly recommend picking it up.

Merry Christmas from the Walshs!

2008-12-10T14:53:00.005-07:00

The message on our card reads, "May the Christmas Season fill your home with joy, your heart with love, and your life with laughter." Love ~ Thomas, Jentry & Sage

We've Been Elfed!

2008-12-10T14:48:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Native American Creation Story

2008-12-04T15:54:00.005-07:00

The following is a story we looked at last night during Bible Study. It is a GREAT story for the Christmas Season as well as a great reminder of sharing the gifts God has given to each of us. It's kind of lengthy (probably a 15 min. read) but if you have a sec, it's quite enjoyable and enlightening!

Taken from John Shea's, "Starlight" - A First Nations Creation Story

*sorry for the CAPS - it's the way it was presented online*

IN THE BEGINNING THE GREAT SPIRIT GAVE A BOX TO ALL THE ANIMALS. THE BOX WAS PAINTED WITH MANY SACRED SIGNS AND SYMBOLS. INSIDE THE BOX WAS A GIFT. AS THE ANIMALS OPENED THEIR BOXES, ALL OF CREATION TUMBLED OUT. PLANTS TUMBLED OUT, TREES TUMBLED OUT, RIVERS TUMBLED OUT, STREAMS TUMBLED OUT – EVERYTHING APPEARED, AND AFTER CONSIDERABLE CONFUSION, EVERYTHING TOOK ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE. IT DID NOT HAPPEN IN A DAY. IT TOOK SOME TIME. BUT SOON ALL THE ANIMALS HAD OPENED THEIR GIFTS.

ALL THAT IS, EXCEPT THE SEAGULL. THE SEAGULL TUCKED HIS GIFT UNDER HIS WING, SMILED SMUGLY, AND SAID, “THE GREAT SPIRIT GAVE ME THIS GIFT. IT’S MINE. I’M NOT GOING TO OPEN IT.” THERE WAS NO MORE EXPLANATION.

HOWEVER, IT DID NOT TAKE THE OTHER ANIMALS LONG TO LEARN WHAT WAS IN THE BOX OF THE SEAGULL. FOR ALTHOUGH ALL OF CREATION HAD TUMBLED OUT, THEY COULD SEE NONE OF IT. FOR IN THE BOX OF THE SEAGULL WAS THE GIFT OF LIGHT.

THE FOX APPROACHED THE SEAGULL AND PLEADED, “I HAVE A BURR CAUGHT IN MY TAIL, AND I CANNOT SEE WELL ENOUGH TO GET IT OUT. PLEASE OPEN YOUR BOX.” BUT HE SEAGULL ONLY REPEATED HIS POSITION. “THE GREAT SPIRIT GAVE ME THIS GIFT. IT’S MINE. I’M NOT GOING TO OPEN IT.”

THE BEAR CAME TO THE SEAGULL AND COMPLAINED, “MY HIBERNATION SCHEDULE IS OFF. I DO NOT KNOW WHEN TO SLEEP AND WHEN TO WAKE. PLEASE OPEN YOUR GIFT.” BUT THE SEAGULL JUST GRIPPED HIS BOX MORE TIGHTLY AND SHOOK HIS HEAD.

THE DEER APPROACHED AND ASKED, “MAY I SPEAK PERSONALLY? I HAVE JUST BEEN EMBARRASSED. I WAS BOUNDING THROUGH THE FOREST WITH MY CHILDREN AND I CRASHED INTO A TREE AND CHIPPED AN ANTLER. I HEARD MY CHILDREN LAUGH. IT SHOULD HOT BE THIS WAY. WE NEED LIGHT. YOU MUST...”

“I MUST NOTHING,” SAID THE SEAGULL. “IT IS MY GIFT, IS IT NOT? THE GREAT SPIRIT GAVE IT TO ME, DID HE NOT? I WON’T OPEN IT.”

THE ANIMALS DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. SO THEY WENT TO THE COUSIN OF THE SEAGULL, THE RAVEN. THE RAVEN IS A NOTORIOUSLY TRICKY BIRD, AND THEY THOUGHT PERHAPS HE MIGHT HAVE AN IDEA. HE LISTENED TO THEIR COMPLAINTS,
TOLD THEM TO GO HOME, AND SAID HE WOULD “LOOK” INTO IT. THEN HE LAUGHED AT HIS OWN JOKE.

THE RAVEN FLEW AROUND UNTIL HE SENSED THE PRESENCE OF THE SEAGULL. HE LANDED NEXT TO HIM, SETTING SILENTLY ON HIS RIGHT SIDE. “COUSIN, THE SEAGULL,” SAID THE RAVEN, “IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU,” AND HE LAUGHED GENTLY.
WHEN THE SEAGULL HEARD IT WAS THE RAVEN AND KNOWING THE RAVEN WAS A TRICKY BIRD, HE SHIFTED THE GIFT-BOX FROM HIS RIGHT WING TO HIS LEFT. HE WANTED TO KEEP IT AS FAR AWAY FROM THE RAVEN AS POSSIBLE. AS HE DID, HE LIFTED HIS RIGHT FOOT EVER SO SLIGHTLY FROM THE GROUND. THE RAVEN BENT DOWN QUICKLY AND SLIPPED A TORN UNDER THE SEAGULL’S RIGHT FOOT. WHEN THE SEAGULL SHIFTED HIS WEIGHT BACK, THE THORN PIERCED HIS FOOT. THE SEAGULL LET OUT A GREAT CRY.

“WHAT IS IT, MY COUSIN,” SAID THE RAVEN.

“I HAVE STEPPED ON A THORN,” SAID THE SEAGULL.

“THAT MUST BE VERY PAINFUL,” SAID THE RAVEN. “I KNOW HOW TENDER THE SOLES OF THE FEET OF THE SEAGULL ARE. WHY DO YOU NOT PULL IT OUT?”

“I WOULD,” SIGHED THE SEAGULL,” BUT IF I TRY, I WILL DROP THE BOX WHICH THE GREAT SPIRIT GAVE ME.”

“OH, I SEE THE PROBLEM,” THE RAVEN SYMPATHIZED. “I WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU. BUT I CANNOT SEE WELL ENOUGH TO PULL THE THORN FROM YOUR FOOT. IF I COULD SEE, I WOULD CERTAINLY HELP YOU.”

THE SEAGULL THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, BUT COULD THINK OF NO WAY OUT. CAREFULLY, HE TOOK THE BOX WHICH THE GREAT SPIRIT HAD GIVEN HIM AND OPENED THE LID, JUST A CRACK. INSTANTLY, A STRING OF LIGHTS ESCAPED AND SHOT UP INTO THE BLACKNESS OF THE SKY AND STRUNG THEMSELVES ACROSS IT LIKE A NECKLACE. CREATION WAS LIT IN STARLIGHT.

WHEN THE RAVEN SAW THE EARTH SHIMMER UNDER THE STARS, HE LET OUT AN EXCLAMATION OF WONDER, “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

“THE THORN,” INTERRUPTED THE SEAGULL. “YOU SAID YOU WOULD TAKE OUT THE THORN.”

“SO I DID,” SAID THE RAVEN. THE RAVEN BENT DOWN, BUT INSTEAD OF PULLING THE THORN OUT, HE PUSHED IT IN. THE SEAGULL CRIED OUT A SECOND TIME.

“I’M SORRY,” APOLOGIZED THE RAVEN. “I’M SORRY. BUT I COULD NOT SEE WELL ENOUGH. I COULD SEE ENOUGH TO TOUCH THE THORN, BUT I COULD NOT SEE WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW WHETHER I WAS PUSHING OR PULLING IT. IF I COULD SEE BETTER, I AM SURE I COULD PULL IT OUT.”

THE SEAGULL THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, BUT COULD THINK OF NO WAY OUT. CAREFULLY, HE TOOK THE GIFT THAT THE GREAT SPIRIT HAD GIVEN HIM AND OPENED IT A LITTLE WIDER. THERE EMERGED A SMALL, BRILLIANT BALL, WHICH SLOWLY CLIMBED INTO THE SKY. AS IT CLIMBED, IT GREW BIGGER AND BIGGER. FINALLY, IT TOOK ITS PLACE AMONG THE STARS. CREATION WAS LIT BY MOONLIGHT.

WHEN THE RAVEN SAW THE EARTH CARESSED BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, HE LET OUT AN EXCLAMATION OF WONDER, “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”
“THE THORN,” INTERRUPTED THE SEAGULL, “YOU SAID YOU WOULD TAKE OUT THE THORN.”

“SO I DID,” SAID THE RAVEN. THE RAVEN BENT DOWN, BUT INSTEAD OF PULLING THE THORN OUT, HE PUSHED IT IN EVEN FURTHER.

THIS TIME THE SEAGULL THREW HIS WINGS UP IN PAIN AS THE BOX TUMBLED TO THE GROUND, FULLY OPENING AND RELEASING THE LAST OF ITS CONTENTS. OUT OF THE BOX FLEW A BEAUTIFUL, BRIGHT BALL OF LIGHT THAT ROSE TO THE SKY TURNING NIGHT INTO DAY. ALL OF THE ANIMALS LOOKED AROUND AMAZED AT WHAT THEY SAW.

TO THIS DAY, SEAGULLS CAN STILL BE SEEN STANDING ON ONE FOOT. :)

Honestly- isn't that just a GREAT parable?! I was taking a walk today during lunch and saw a seagull up above which reminded me of this story so I thought I would share it with you all. My prayer for you is that you will be open and willing to share the gifts that God has bestowed upon you. You never know - everyone elses' gift may be dependent upon you sharing your gift - your inner light. :)

Worthwhile Quotes

2008-12-02T09:25:00.006-07:00

Every once in awhile I come across a good quote from the thousands that seem to crowd my e-mail. I found this one to be rather inspiring. As one who isn't the biggest risk taker, I can use a little encouragement when it comes to running after something with an unknown outcome, but really, who ISN'T a little anxious in such a situation? I started to think about the things I haven't done but have wanted to, and wondered what is keeping me from doing these things? I have often said that my greatest fear is the unknown, but as this quote points out, sometimes you kind of have to step off the safety ledge and let yourself experience what is in store for you. Ya know, let life happen! Yes, there is the possibility that the outcome might not be what you wanted, but there is also the chance that the outcome will be more than you could have EVER imagined! For example, anyone that talked to me before Thomas and I actually started dating would know that I was not sure I wanted to chance ruining he and I's wonderful friendship...but then again, if I did take the chance, there was the possibility that something great could happen. And well, as we all know now, it was one of the greatest decisions of my life to give "us" a chance!!! I had never experienced a deeper or more genuine love than with Thomas and to get that, I had to jump in with both feet and take a risk. Of course some may say that the happenings of life are just coincidence. Well I don't believe in coincidences. Instead, I believe that God always has a plan- even for the most minuscule of decisions. I am sure that because of this assurance, I feel more enabled to take risks and seek my desires, knowing that God will take care of me. This is best reflected in my 2nd worthwhile quote:

I just LOVE this quote! If I could paste it in every room of my house and could possibly channel it through my vision whenever I am weary and scared, I would!!! How amazing are those words and the knowledge that while God may feel the need to challenge us to help us grow, He will NEVER challenge us more than He knows we can handle. Again, I just LOVE this quote and hope that anyone reading this, might find comfort in this knowledge and allow yourself to experience life as God intended you to.

Thankful

2008-12-02T08:56:00.004-07:00

Yes, I realize this is just a bit late, but there's no limit on giving thanks, right?! Thomas and I drove down to Wendell for Thanksgiving. From there, we joined his parents and continued on to Hazelton where his aunt and uncle live and where we would be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. Uncle Art recently turned 60 and there was going to be a surprise birthday bash for him the Sat. after Thanksgiving so lots of family and friends were already in town for the party and holiday. The doorbell rang and Uncle Art was sent down to see what unexpected visitor was at the door. MUCH to his surprise, he found his daughter and her husband. They had just gotten in from Indiana. A short while later, he was surprised yet again when his son arrived from Texas. It was so much fun to see his surprise and you could just tell he felt so blessed to have his family home for the holiday.

This was my first Thanksgiving spent away from my parents, who were spending it with 20 other members of our family in Burley. Not having my parents with me was a little different but I honestly felt so at home with the Walsh/Watkins clan (good thing eh?!) and I really enjoyed getting to experience my husbands' traditions and spending time with that side of our family. I met Uncle Luis, whom has these unbelievable experiences about his worldly life and then there was Grandma Lois, whom I discovered shares my love for mysteries! She even sent me home with a list of authors I might enjoy- So sweet of her! Afterall, there comes a point when there aren't anymore James Patterson or Mary Higgens Clark books to read until news one are printed of course.

Given the reason for the holiday, I found myself contemplating all that I am thankful for this year and thought I'd share. Of course my family tops the list! My "old" family and my new family; our beloved chocolate lab Sage who may try my patience at times but in the end is the most adorable, sweet dog ever; having a job in an economy where so many are without - especially during the holidays; Thomas and I's health; the excitement of the past year and all of its milestones; the opportunity to just live life; the ability to look forward to a future of opportunities and memories; and lastly for a wonderful and amazing God, who continues to bless me and support me.

I hope everyone has taken or plans to take a moment to reflect on the blessings in your own life!

One season ends and another begins!

2008-11-18T13:57:00.002-07:00

Thomas and I had been playing in a co-ed volleyball league for the past 3 months and it all came to an end last Thursday. We had ended 4th in our division which meant we went on to play in the championship for the lower competitive divisions. We STOMPED our opponents in our first tournament match which was VERY exciting since this was our 1st season together as a team. Then we played for placement last Thursday and while we won the 1st game, we ended up losing the match and the opportunity to play for 2nd. We had a great season though and we both enjoyed the exercise and time together.

The end of the co-ed season leads right into womens' league which starts next week - YAY! For the most part it's the same team we've played with for the past 4 or so years (WOW!) and we look forward to a championship this season! If it weren't for all this volleyball (and jazzercise) who knows what I'd come off looking like after all the food I'm bound to eat over the next month or so. :)

Halloween - BOO!

2008-11-03T11:03:00.003-07:00

It seems our schedule was full of Halloween festivities this year. It began last Thursday (Oct. 30th) by volunteering at the Boise Young Professionals Halloween Carnival for local kids. Thomas and I offered to bring a game and after MUCH consideration, decided to do "Musical Ghouls" (aka Halloween Cake Walk...minues the cake!) :) Our little participants were invited to travel around the ghoulish character circle when the scary music started in hopes that at the musics' end, their ghoulish character would be called and they would win the big prize! The kids seemed to enjoy and I'm pretty sure I caught Thomas getting into all the fun in his Mad Scientist costume...yep! We dressed up! (NOT Thomas' favorite thing to do...BUT he did it :) ). I was a geisha (FINALLY got some use out of that costume!).

Friday we decided to opt out of the oh-so-wholesome downtown scene and went to see Saw V. It was a pretty good show, considering all the gore. Thomas was tickled too death to see the new one as he is an avid Horror movie fanatic and Saw movies have been some of his favorites.

The festivities even continued into Saturday evening as I attended a Halloween Dress up party with Jerica & Jason and Chels (Thomas was working to his dismay). Jer & Jason were a mafia/mobster couple, Chels was an army girl and I was pirate (original, I know). I REALLY feel for people that have to wear a patch over their eye. SERIOUSLY! I think I lasted 10 min. before I started getting a headache and you'd thought I'd had my share to drink already. It really messes with ya!

Here's to #24!

2008-10-27T11:31:00.003-06:00

Yep! Yesterday I celebrated #24 by spending the day with my wonderful hubby! We spent the morning hours sleeping in and then headed out to take pictures of all the beautiful fall colors - I LOVE all the reds and oranges. The day ended with a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Barbacoa, where I had the most succulent dessert EVER - Mango Creme Brulee! Thanks hon for a great day! Love you lots!!! And thanks to all of you for your b-day wishes!

Jazzercise!

2008-10-27T11:18:00.004-06:00

So honestly, what comes to mind when you FIRST hear the term jazzercise? I'm thinking thong leotards, headbands, leg warmers and BRIGHT colors!!! Well, while that might be the case in New York, Boise's much more conservative (imagine that!) or maybe just prefers a little thing called comfort. :)

After realizing that my newlywed happiness (as my mom calls it) was adding up on the scale, I decided I needed a new way to get in shape that was fun and cost effective...and I found jazzercise! This Saturday was my 2nd time particpating in a local jazzercise class (that wears tanks, tennies, & shorts). It is seriously one of the most FUN ways to get fit! I really don't think I've ever smiled so much while exercising. You are constantly changing moves or incorporating weights making it hard to get bored (in my opinion). So if you're in the area and want to join me Sat. mornings for class, just let me know!

To My Lil' Sis...

2008-10-27T09:30:00.018-06:00

This entry is in honor of my "Little" from the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program, Vanessa.

We celebrated our 1 yr. Anniversary this past Saturday which presented a great opportunity for reflection over the past year's time together. When Vanessa and I were first introduced, she was a super quiet, but polite and smiley young girl of 11. I learned that she moved to the States with her mother when she was 7 from Columbia. It was actually quite the journey as they spent a year (maybe 2???) in Costa Rica before they were brought into the States. She left behind all of her family, including her brother Daniel, who would join her and her mom just this past winter. Vanessa looks forward to returning to Columbia when she turns 15 to celebrate her Quinceanera.

Over the past year, Vanessa has given me the opportunity to view the world through a young girls' eyes and to experience things like a kid again! Being a somewhat "serious" individual, this has been a great joy and outlet for me. We meet around 3 times a month for various lengths of time, depending on the activity we are participating in, and boy have we participated in some GREAT activities! Here are photos of some of those activities:

Of all the activities though, I think my favorite has been when we got to go boating and tubing with a Coast Guard up at Lucky Peak (Thanks BBBS!). Vanessa had never been in a boat let alone gone tubing. Watching her fearlessly tackle the tube AND with humor I might add, was so much fun! I loved experiencing this new activity and memory with her! This is just one statement of Vanessa's driven personality, ability to have fun and to adapt to all kinds of situations.

Vanessa started the 7th grade this past Fall, which if we all recall, is a very trying and interesting time of life. After conquering her fear of not being able to open her locker or get to all of her classes on time, she is adapting well and is excited to join the track and volleyball teams. She is also enjoying the school dances where she can showcase her great moves! (Now seriously, this girl can MOVE!!!) With life continuing to move forward, I look forward to watching Vanessa grow and find her place in this world. I know she has great potential to go far. After all, her career goal IS to become a Dr. :) You go girl and thanks for a FANTASTIC year one! I can't wait to see what year TWO has in store for us. :)

"Good Morning...Seattle"

2008-10-14T10:06:00.014-06:00

That's how our morning started Saturday when we arrived in Seattle at 8a.m. with our friends, Shay & Adam and Jamie and Travis. One of the flight attendants actually sang that song for us before we departed the plane AND she had a great voice! :)

Vanderhams get season tickets every year for the Seahawks and had invited us to join them for the Seahawks/Packers game on Sunday. So of course we headed up a day early to catch the Seattle sights and what a GREAT weekend to be there! Leaving the freezing cold weather of Idaho to enjoy 60 degree weather and sunshine is my kind of vaca! After getting settled in our condo which overlooked Puget Sound (Great choice Shay!) we walked the 2 blocks to Pike's Market. Thomas and I were absolutely fascinated with all the of the fresh produce and the flowers...OH MY GOSH! the flowers!!! I could not believe the beautiful bouquets of fresh, brilliant flowers for only $5-15!!! Not that my wedding flowers were THAT expensive, but still, to have had the option of getting fresh bouquets of that quality for that amazing price would have been unheard of here at home. WOW! The majority of Saturday was spent shopping (that would be window shopping for some of us) around 6th street. Shay was on a mission to find CUTE prego jeans which was truly an entertaining experience. :) Oh and of course the guys weren't into the shopping aspect so we met up with them later at the Fox Sports Bar for a quick lunch and a drink.

Dinner that evening was one to die for! We settled on the Crab Pot which was located just a block down from our condo on the waterfront. Once at our table, they tied bibs around our necks, took our orders and returned with a butcher block and mallet for each of us. Then came the food...3 tubs of fresh seafood (all crab for Thomas and I) which they dumped on the table and let us go at it! Man OH MAN was it delicious AND filling!

After dinner we strolled along the streets, finding this great
alley (dangerous RIGHT?!) that had a comedy theatre and the GUM WALL! You guessed it! An entire wall covered with layers of gum. Pretty disgusting to think about but quite the spectacle.

Game Day - we woke up and revisited the crepery from the day before relishing in the yummy vanilla cream and strawberry delicacy filling our bellies. YUM! Then it was off to the game. A short jaunt later, we arrived at Qwest Field. We did a quick walk-thru of the Event Center where many festivities were being held and headed up to our seats...or maybe down is more like it- just 21 rows from the field right at the goal post. The fans alone were worth going for! One gentleman a few rows down from us was dressed as "Hawk Daddy" (ya know..like Pimp Daddy!). He had it all, the Seahawk fabric suit with the leopard print cuffs and collar, top hat with feather, glasses, a cane...AND a look-a-like doll to match. Not kidding you! He looked EXACTLY like the doll AND the doll had it's own seat. See for yourself!

Ok so the game...yes, that's why we were there...the first 1/2 was great, the 2nd half not so much. But that can happen when you are playing with your 3rd string quarterback! Anywho, the entire experience was great and after the game, Thomas and I left the other 4, catching our plane back to ID so we could attend work and school the next day.

Batty for Bunco!

2008-10-14T09:40:00.006-06:00

Last week the girls got together for our monthly Bunco night! This month's party was hosted by Nicole who chose to do a Halloween theme, "Batty for Bunco!" All 12 of us brought Halloween themed foods and some even dressed up! My contribution was dessert: creepy crawly spider treats and eerily delicious cupcakes. Our characters ranged from a cat, a witch, a pirate, Buster the Bronco and a geisha.

After having the summer off, it was great to get back into the Bunco groove and roll some dice! We usually play for prizes but this month we played for $$ and there were 3 lucky winners: Most Buncos- Nicole @ 5 (yes count them, FIVE!!!); Most Wins - Mary; Most Losses - tie between Adair & Michelle. I still cannot believe Nicole got FIVE Buncos! That is seriously unheard of!

I know some of you are wondering what Bunco even IS. In fact, I always thought it was right up there with the Geriatric game of Bingo...but I like Bingo, and I LOVE Bunco! In a nutshell, you roll dice, move levels and can get extremely loud and physical. If you're curious about this old game that's sweeping the Y generation, check out: http://www.worldbunco.com/. Did you know that they actually hold Bunco Championships in Vegas?! Crazy! :)

Well until next month, get Trips, get Buncos and avoid the Wipe Outs! :)

Go ORANGE! Go BLUE! Go, Fight, BSU!!!

2008-09-24T08:55:00.009-06:00

Football season has offically arrived and Thomas couldn't be more thrilled!! I swear he lives for football season and new horror movie releases. ;) Luckily we have a fabulous local college football team that we both really enjoy watching!

We made it to BSU's 2nd game of the season vs. Bowling Green, which as you know wasn't much of a game, even though we DID win! This was also our first chance to wear our new BSU jerseys - YAY! Then there is last weeks' game against the PAC 10 team, the Ducks. OH WHAT A GAME!!! Jerica and Jason hosted a great party at their new home to watch the game! And what would a party be without great friends and food?! My donation to the grub was blue & orange deviled eggs! I was pretty happy with the results so I thought I would share. :)

We can't wait for another great football season and can hope it ends with a "special" game....you know it's taboo to say it. :)

Walsh

2008-09-11T15:15:00.008-06:00

Yes it's true. I've laid to rest my name of 23+ years and am now the proud new owner of the Walsh name. I didn't believe I would think much of the transition but it is definitely weird to be called by one name for so long and all of us sudden change it all up! Even the littlest things like introducing myself to someone or when I'm leaving a voice message...it all comes out like a mumbled-jumbled mess of Shalshey! :) For some reason signing my name has come easier to me than the actual oral responsibility but hey, I've got LOTS of time to perfect both and before long, Jentry Shockey will seem so odd to me.

To gain a better grasp of my new name and family heritage, I went in search of Walsh and found the following:

Walsh is among the five most numerous surnames in Ireland, found throughout the country.
In reference to early Irish names for a "Welshman" or "Celtic," the Walsh name emerged from areas of Welsh settlement, particularly the British Isles (according to ancestry.com).
People with this last name have been: participants on Jeopardy!, State Senators, professional football players, Argentinian journalists, jockeys, Academy-Award winning film editors, the last private owner of the Hope Diamond, pop music managers, X Factor judges and Canadian actresses to name a few! (www.http://www.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_(surname)

Who would have thought the Walsh's were so accomplished! :) Now I just need to research when the Irish Walsh's met up with Aussies to give me the family I just married into...Hmmm..????

(Disclaimer: In no way, shape or form do I have any hard feelings over either last name. I can now say that I have been the proud owner of two wonder surnames and am now part of two wonderful families!)

Blogger Game - Here we go!

2008-09-09T14:23:00.012-06:00

Cheers to my first blogger game! Here is how to play the game. Go to Google Images and type in your answers to these questions, use one of the pictures on the first page.

My first name:

My middle name:
My last name:
My age:

Place I would like to visit:

Favorite place:
Favorite animal:
Favorite food:
Favorite color:
First job:
Favorite Restaurant:
Where I was born:
Where I grew up:
Where I live now:
What I'm doing now:

Back to REALITY! - Whew!!!

2008-09-09T13:51:00.006-06:00

All the wedding festivities are said and done now. As great as they were, we are happy to reflect them and move on with our new life. What does that include you may ask? Well, Thomas is back in school at BSU, tackling another semester of graphic design and photography classes. He really likes his professors and so far, his classes. This semesters' class schedule allows for a couple nights a week for us to spend together which makes us both really excited! In the past, Thomas has worked evenings, Mon - Fri so we only had the weekends together. Fall semester ALSO means time for Bronco football! With one win under our belt, we're eager to see how the rest of the season will play out - ESPECIALLY against Fresno State!

Starting next Tuesday, we'll be playing on a co-ed volleyball team for the community center - YAY! Thomas had never picked up a volleyball until two weeks ago when we got together with some friends for some sand v-ball and ever since has been hooked. I'm used to playing on a Women's League in the Fall so it will be a bit of an adjustment receiving and returning the ball to men! (SCARY!!!)

My "reality" means back to work, 8-5, Mon- Fri. I can't really say that I'm excited to be back at work but it's always good to see the girls. Hopefully I'll be finding myself a new job sooner than later. With school and the wedding behind me, I am ready for a new challenge and the opportunity to get out in the world and learn and grow. Although, I have been contemplating that maybe once Thomas graduates, we'll just become professional travelers. He can photograph and I can journal our travels! Oh I like that.... :)

Burley Reception

2008-09-09T13:29:00.007-06:00

Ok this is going up a BIT late but better late than never! :) A reception was held in our honor on Sept. 30th in Burley to celebrate our marriage. It was SOOO good to see some of our old friends and to catch up! Thomas and I were again reminded of how blessed we are to have so many great friends and family. Thanks to all that came!!!

The weather held out JUST late enough that our evening was wrapping up before the rain began-although we did get a gust of wind that came through and helped us clear some tables. ;) We even had the opportunity to see a beautiful FULL rainbow! It was kind of ironic for us since we also experienced a rainbow the afternoon we got engaged in Scotland. It's always nice to be reminded of God's promise to us and in this particular circumstance, Thomas and I's promise to each other (awww...).

Honeymoonin' in Mexico

2008-08-27T12:16:00.018-06:00

Thomas and I are just now returning to reality after spending an amazing week in Southern Mexico's Playa del Carmen. We chose to do an all-inclusive resort right in downtown Playa (perfect location by the way) with some of the most beautiful beachfront in the Riviera (or so we were told!). We couldn't have asked for better weather...maybe a LITTLE less humidity...but it was around 86 degrees during our stay- so nice and toasty!

We were welcomed to our suite by a chocolate cake with a "best wishes" note, a bottle of champagne, and a bed that was covered in rose petals with two swans made out of towels - So romantic and sweet! We were so lucky to have a balcony overlooking the beautiful blues of the ocean just yards away. WOW! The resort itself was A-Mazing! On the way to the resort from the aiport we had to drop off a few other visitors to their resorts and we decided that we were VERY happy with the location we chose. :) Since it had been a LONG day of travel, we decided to order room service and then explore the resort, ending the night with a long walk on the beach (awww...).

Amidst a couple days of beach time and exploring the local town (the main strip of Playa was only 2 blocks from our resort!), we decided to throw in a little adventure!

Our first adventure was an excursion to the Mayan ruins of Tulum which are situated up against the ocean creating a beautiful view and perfect opportunity for protection from enemies. Being the big "tour" buffs that we are, we ditched the guided tour and explored the ruins on our own. Everything there was built by mere man-strength as horses and ox were not around Mexico at this time. Shortly after our exploration of Tulum, we jumped back in the van with our tour guide, the French family and Michelle and Ben from New York (HELLO!). Next stop- a Mayan village tucked away into the depths of the Mexican jungle!!! After our Mayan massage (very bumpy dirt road), we arrived at the village and were given bikes and helmets for the next part of our adventure. We rode the bikes to the beginning of a zip-line course- YIPPEE! After getting all suited-up, off we went zipping from one end of the jungle to the other...ok, so in all actuality it was WAY cool but we only went on 3 zip-lines. (Looks like Tamarack will be our next stop!)

After zip-lining, we jumped back on our super fast bikes and headed to a cave where a Mayan shawman (?) performed a ceremony (in Mayan of course) asked the Gods to protect us as we entered the underworld for our swimming. He had a bowl full of the sap from a local tree that he was burning and having us inhale so that our bodies would be protected. :) It was really fun and a great cultural experience for us.

Now that we were protected, we headed into this amazing underground cavern to go swimming in the cenotes, which are fresh water rivers that can be found in the Mexican Riviera. According to our guide, there are over 7,000 discovered cenotes and each one is very different. Oh and did I mention that they are CRYSTAL clear?! Beautiful, yummy fresh water - an exceptional treat from the heat and the salt water of the ocean. :) You could even see the roots of century old trees coming down through the "ceilings" (aka stalagnites) until they reached the water. Our guide told us that the Riviera's jungle and "greeness" is due to these cenotes.

By this point, we are famished from all of our adventure and head back into the village where these wonderfully authentic Mayan women fixed us up some great grub! Homemade tomales (my fav!), emenadas, soup and nacho-ish stuff. YUM-MY! Such wonderful food!

Adventure #2: We decided to forgo our reservation for a romantic dinner on the beach at our hotel and instead go on our 2nd adventure, ExCaret! The easiest way to explain ExCaret is a mix between a zoo and a water park (what do you mean you don't want to swim with the alligators?!) We walked in and the first thing we saw were parrots! Beautiful and bright, red and green Parrots! I loved it! Later on we would hold these for a photo...I know, I know...Hello, Bird Flu- right?!.... We decided to tackle the park by seeing all the animals first and then enjoying the water. First on our list was the jaguar! What beautiful, powerful and sleek animals. We also saw monkeys, HUGE turtles, manatees, LOTS of lizards (they are EVERYWHERE down there!) and bats...NOT in a cage - YUCKY!!! Seriously, you go down into their cave and you'd THINK there would at least be a screen up...but oh No! You REALLY don't want to make a sound (as we found out) because they come flyin' when you do- EEK! I guess we WERE in Mexico...

Anyway, we saw lots of cool animals and the best part about it was how they were presented. The entire park is SOO natural! It was just us and the jungle and it's living creatures - so AMAZING! My description is really not doing it justice...but if you ever get the chance- GO! Ok, so enough animal jibberish and on to the water!

The "water-park" side of the venue were these amazing rivers that ran throughout the park which you would just float through with your life jacket and snorkle gear. You were under braches, in caves, alongside deer, passing through a Mayan ruin and so much more. It was again, A-Mazing! Oh and I almost forgot! The one river we took (there were 3 options we later found out) led us into this building of some type with a humungous stained glass mosaic of a butterfly. It was so beautiful! Wish I'd remembered to pack those water-proof cameras! :(

We ended our time at ExCaret with a scrumptous buffet and then grabbed a taxi back to our resort. Had we NOT gone to ExCaret during the day, we would have been getting ready for our dinner on the beach so instead of miss out on such a romantic opportunity, we called up room service, packed a bag and candles and headed down to do our own FREE romantic dinner in one of the cabanas just feet from the oceans' edge. (Awww....)

On day 6, we reluctantly packed our suitcase and got on a plane back to the States.

We had a wonderful honeymoon and are thankful we had the opportunity to go see and explore another beautiful part of the world while relaxing and soaking up some sun.

Mr. & Mrs.

2008-08-27T11:42:00.006-06:00

It's official! We are now Mr. & Mrs. Walsh! :) YAHOO!!! Our wedding was absolutely beautiful (but I'm not biased!) and was everything I wanted and more. We had LOTS of friends and family travel to celebrate our special day with us which just goes to show how blessed we are. THANK YOU ALL!!!

I wanted to share a couple special things about our wedding that were sprung on me either at the wedding or shortly after. The first being my dad's attempt at dance lessons! That's right! Pops called up my dance teacher from when I lived in Burley and asked her to teach him how to Waltz so he could surprise me during our Father/Daughter dance - HOW SWEET!!!! He got in one lesson between schedules and before the wedding leaving him a little anxious about pulling out his moves on the dance floor...although we did attempt it! He told me all this as we were doing our dance the night of the wedding and I was and am so incredibly touched by his efforts and gesture. Love ya Pops!!!

The second is regarding the wine that was used for communion as an act of unity between Thomas and I's families. Thomas told me AFTER the wedding (which it's probably best that he did anyway or I would have been quite the blubbering baby!) that the wine we used during our communion was bought by his sister, Katie, while she was doing missionary work in Croatia. The wine is VERY unique and expensive, being one that is served at such places as the White House. She had bought the wine with the intentions of having it at her wedding. Well, she passed away of cancer two and half years ago so being able to share her wish in her absence on our wedding day is so unbelievably special to us!!! Thanks Blake & Debbie for allowing us to share that experience. Lova ya!

Those of course are just a couple of the highlights from our wonderful day. I've been fortunate enough to receive some photos of our day from family & friends so here's a peek into our wedding...ENJOY! :)

Gardening - The New Therapy!

2008-08-11T14:08:00.005-06:00

Gardening....yes I have found the new theraputic practice of gardening. This really is a rather monumental event, as I have NEVER liked any aspect of gardening and especially not pulling weeds...BUT, yesterday was a new day and for the first time in my life, I was thankful to be gardening. Let me preface this little event....

Sage and I decided to go outside and spray off the outside of the house since company will be coming later this week for the wedding. As I was fiddling with the water nozel, trying to untwist the tightly twisted novel (Thanks Thomas!) Sage all of a sudden and very uncharacteristically darts out into the street just as a Jeep turns the corner. The Jeep slams on their brakes and swerves while the driver tries to keep HIS dog from jumping out of the back seat while Sage meanders to the other side of the road just seconds before coming a tragedy!!! So not only does she try to commit suicide but when I yell at her to get her hiny back over in the yard she darts AGAIN!!!! There is no animal or interesting creature or food anyway to be seen that would have explainably caused her to bolt..but nonethe less, she is having a grand ol' time running around the neighborhood while I am fuming - half angry and half scared to death. Oh yes, and the neighbors that witness this yell to everyone else that can hear that they better get ahold of their animals because "there is a crazy on the loose!!!" (I'm sure I would have laughed had I not been the topic of conversation!) Eventually Sage saunters back over to our yard with head hanging low - yes, she is smart enough to realize that she is in BIG trouble- and after a few quick words she's off to the backyard to spend the majority of the afternoon (for a dog that is primarily inside, this is a HORRIBLE thing if by oneself)!

Which brings me to my gardening. :) Thomas is still snoozing and I need to do SOMETHING so I grabbed the rake and cleaned out our entire front entry of weeds, old leaves and many, many spiders. An hour later, our front yard looked splendid and I felt quite better. :) Ahh....

The Final Fling Before the Ring

2008-08-06T13:13:00.007-06:00

Hats off to my WONDER party-planning wedding party! The girls went all out and planned an entire day's worth of activities to celebrate my last day out with the girls (last day...RIIIIIGGGHHT!). The day began with everyone meeting at mi casa around 11am. We jumped in Shay's big rig (Thanks again for driving!) and off we went to Barber Park to begin our float down the Boise River.

2 hours, 3 rapids and 4 rafts later our float was complete! We had a rather relaxing trip down the Boise only getting mildly wet and catching some rays.

Needing to get changed out of our swimwear, we all headed separate ways to prepare for the evenings festivities. At 6:00 we were all gathered on the patio by river at Bardenay's in Eagle. The weather was fantastic and the food was YUMMY! We made quite the entrance with 10 girls in their "little black dresses."

Dinner concluded with a shot of rumplemintz (Thanks Jer!), a black feather boa and a pic with an 80 yr. old birthday boy! :)

Following dinner, we headed outside Eagle to the Wood Cellars Winery. We were graciously welcomed to the evenings event "Chicks n' Picks" by the registration desk that insisted I don't pay since it was my BIG night! On top of that little perk, they called me and the girls upfront for a shot of vodka (ABSOLUTELY the most HORRIBLE vodka shot I have EVER taken by the way...similar to rubbing alcohol) and gave me a commemortive trophy for the event- which, by the way, was a day long celebration that included several local female artists who sang.

Just when I thought we could proceed with our wine tasting (my first!) another staff member asked if we'd like a tour of the winery which we all jumped on! This included a tour of the barrell room where we took advantage of the photo op and posed as Charlie's Angels. We also got to view the bridal room which was A-MAZING! Three grand floor-to-celing mirrors with round sitting benches and hair stations AND a kitchen w/ bar AND a balcony...so fun to be a bride!

So we finally got around to business and began our seven flights of Wood Cellars wine. The favorite of the evening was definitely the Special Harvest Reisling followed by Port de Blanc - which is infused with Brandy- very sweet and yummy! And of course I can't forget the 10 cookies we all shared - BIG cookies that I'm sure had NO effect on the wine...haha yeah right! After a couple great hours at the winery, some of us were still needing to burn off some energy so 6 of us continued the evening downtown at the Balcony (the local gay bar) which has the best dance scene in town. If you're not much of a dancer, then at least you can sit and people watch. The transvestites are definitely entertaining. :) By 1:00a.m. I was sound asleep in my bed and woke the next morning feel quite refreshed.

Thanks again girls for a fabulous "Final Fling Before the Ring" celebration! CHEERS!!!

Summer BBQ - Our First

2008-07-30T09:29:00.003-06:00

Nothing says summer like a BBQ and we had our first summer BBQ this past weekend. Thanks to an early wedding gift, we were able to go out and shop for the perfect grill master and came home with a beauty! After a 3 hr. assembly project on Thomas' behalf, we put it to use Sunday evening after I returned from week long conference in CDA.

Thomas had prepared quite the spread with 2 kinds of kabobs - Caribbean Jerk marinated beef w/ onion and pepper; citrus lime marinated shrimp w/ pineapple bronzed with brown sugar- potato slices and corn on the cob. YUM!!! And to top it off he had even prepared our dessert to be cooked via BBQ - banana s'more dessert (your semi-typical s'mores with the addition of sliced bananas). For the most part all of it turned out edible minus a few EXTA crispy spots - live and learn right?! So hats off to the cook and grill master for being thoughtful enough to prepare dinner and to do so well! Happy grilling everyone!

All Moved In!

2008-07-21T13:51:00.002-06:00

The weekend is now over (sniff, sniff) but I am all moved in! Well- for the most part. Our guest room looks like it was hit by a tornado but at least it's all there and everything is slowly but surely coming together. :)

A great story worth sharing comes from our dear Sage (our 4 yr. old chocolate lab). It was bed time last night and we were anxious to have her try out her new bed. I am already alseep and Thomas brings her bed to into the bedroom with her right behind him. Just as we all get settled, we here this little "Grooowwl!" - very strange since Sage NEVER growls or barks unless she has reason to. Well, pretty soon she's growling again and with much more enthusiasm. Thomas gets up to find her in the dark room without any success but she continues to growl. Making it to the light switch, he flips it on and finds Sage in an absolute uproar with her reflection in the mirror!!! You'd think the lights would help but instead it just makes it worse and just when I swear she's about to take down the mirror monster is gone. (Heehee) And Sage seems satisfied enough to plop down on her bed and call it a night. - Gotta love dogs! (which reminds me, I should add her pic to our blog- COMING SOON!)

Only one month to go!

2008-07-16T12:00:00.002-06:00

The days just seem to be dwindling away and now we're looking at 30 days until we say, "I Do!" I can hardly believe it!!! For the most part the wedding details are very much done. Just a couple vendor meetings and final numbers and we're ready to get this show on the road. :)

In the meantime, Thomas and I (ok, so MOSTLY Thomas) have been getting our house ready for the big merge which is to take place this weekend. We've painted our bedroom walls and the living room which definitely makes the rental more homey. :) And Thomas has been cleaning and polishing all of our hardwood floors - WOW! All the improvements look great! I'll be really excited to see all of our furniture put in place and to get everything decorated- YAY! My first home to decorate. :) It's a bit exciting and a bit stressful but we'll both be really happy when all is said and done. I'm really excited that we'll have all of our current stuff put away BEFORE the wedding so that's one less thing we have to worry about or deal with afterwards.

It will be odd to not be living with a female any longer. I've been living with my roommate (or housemate as some say) Adair, for the last couple of years and she's been absolutely wonderful! I will definitely miss seeing her everyday and being able to get a female's opinion on important things such as which shoes go better with that days' outfit!!! :) (Guys just don't care!!!) And then there's Thomas who gets to adjust to HAVING another individual in the house. He's been living with OUR lab Sage for the past 2 years so it will be interesting to see how everything pans out. ;)

The First!

2008-07-09T15:53:00.002-06:00

So here I go! This is the first official blog with this new form of communication so bear with me. I was so excited to start a blog for Thomas and I once I'd visited a friends' site. What a great way to keep in touch, especially at a time in our life when so much is happening!!!