Canada

At the beginning of last month, John and I had a scrapbook show in Seattle and we stayed a couple of extra days with my best friend Amy and her family. While we were there, we made a trip up to Canada. It was fun, but it WAS little disappointing to leave the country and still feel like you were in the USA. It didn't help that everyone spoke English I guess... At any rate, we drove around a lot, saw some of the Winter 2010 Olympic sites and went to an island that had totem poles (I forget what the name of the island was), and the new temple site in Vancouver.

The future Vancouver Temple. It is closer for Amy's sister Deena to leave the country to go to the temple because she lives only a few miles from the US border. CRAZY.

Floating logs down the river. Not being from Alaska or anything, I've never seen this in person. It was an cool sight while passing over the bridge.

My best friend Amy (other than my husband that is!) I have so much fun when we get together. I'm grateful that our friendship has remained so strong over the years!

It was rainy and dreary. A little goofiness to liven me up :)

John, Rhett and I in front of the totem poles. They were pretty cool.

I've never seen anything like this, but then again, I don't live close to any major ports for boats or anything. This Chevron was in the MIDDLE of the river!

The Olympic rings

A cable bridge that we got to walk across on the hike we went on. Rhett wasn't sure what to think. It was really high up and he did try to look down. I really wonder what he thinks as he experiences new things!

No WONDER the maple leaves are the symbol of Canada. They were HUGE!

The craftiness of us!

I haven't put anything on our blog for a while and John and I have been getting a little crafty lately, so I thought I would put up a post. John made the COOLEST wooden clock (which is currently on sale at http://www.etsy.com/). I made a patchwork skirt, an apron, and a baby sling. I'm just learning to sew and my mother-in-law has LOTS of fabric for me to practice on. So here are some of the projects I have undertook!

My patchwork skirt! I ended up wearing it for Halloween though and walking up some front steps while trick or treating with Rhett, I stepped on the botton trim of satin and tore it a little bit. I didn't finish the satin cut edge so it frayed and is rendered unfixable without replacing it with another piece of satin. Well, I guess I learned my lesson to finish or treat raw edges of satin!

This is the apron I made. I found this material and loved it. The apron turned out cute though! My only complaint is that the neck strap is a little long, so the apron hangs lower than I want it to, but that is easily fixable.

Here is the baby sling I made. My friend was raving about the one she bought, but they are a little pricey and there was a free pattern on line, so I thought I would try it out. Rate likes the hip carry on it the best but I have succeeded in getting him to sleep it it while John and I are traveling with our scrapbooking shows. I think it's more comfy than falling asleep sitting up in an Infentino carrier. Also great for nursing in public!

John's been experimenting with some wood working lately and here is a cool clock that he made that is currently in our front room. I LOVE it. He has a few more in the works but we don't have the motors or hands for them yet.

3 Years

Yesterday, John and I celebrated our three year anniversary. It's amazing how fast the times goes and how completely bonded you can become in a marriage. I use to think of myself as an individual that never really needed anyway. When I began to date John, I continued to tell myself that. But looking back now on the past five years that I have known John (and being married to him for the past three of those years), I can't imagine my life without him. The favorite part of our getting married was not having to say goodnight and travel the hour home. Three years later, my favorite part of being married it getting to say good morning! Here is to the love of my life...I LOVE SO SO MUCH!

The second part of our anniversary celebration will come next week when we head off to Disney Land! It will also be fun to see Rhett's reaction to the theme park! I will post pictures next week!

Fourth of July Parade

We've seen these trucks before, but we finally got some decent pictures of them from the Independence Day parade

Antelope Island

Three years ago, John propsed to me at Antelop Island. We go back every year and hike to the rock on Elephant head that he proposed on. We have made a tradition to take a picture of our growning family. This year, we got to add Rhett to the mix. When we got back home, we got a video of Ginger chasing a stick....quite hilarious!
(sorry this took me so long to post -- my weekly postings are really falling behind due to all the fun summer activities we have been doing, but I'm determined to catch up!)

Above is the rock that John proposed on... after several attempts, we were able to get a picture where everyone was looking.


Above is the ONE tree that is on the trail at Antelope Island. We always take a nice breather here in the shade. Below you can see that Ginger is enjoying the shade as well.

My favorite thing about Antelope Island is the ocean like (without the waves) beaches that it has.

And finally, as promised, below is the videos of Ginger. Remind anyone of training a horse?!

Evening at the Beach

The great thing about owning our scrapbooking business is that we get to travel! This past weekend took us to San Diego. Our hotel was on Ocean View Hwy, so we took a walk to the ocean front and let Rhett experience the Ocean (click on his blog to see pictures of him and the ocean). We took some family pictures. When we got home, Rhett was pretty tired out...

Our Provident Living Efforts!

Well, while we were in Arizona, we arrived early. While we were waiting for the convention center to open so we could set up our booth, we wandered around Wal-mart. We never would have thought it, but citrus trees grow there! I didn't think they would be able to grow in a dessert climate, but these trees were made for it. John and I have always talked about ordering citrus trees to grow in our house. On our way out of town to come back home, we decided to buy the trees and pot them at out house. This was our family home evening activity last night. We found some great deals and here was the results of our efforts! We'll put the trees outside in the summer and in our house after it's hits below 40 degrees (the tolerance level of the trees). For now, we bring them in at night because it's still hovering around that 40 degree mark at night.

Road Trip to Arizona

We had a scrapbook show in Arizona this past weekend. We stopped by the Glendale Dam. It was starting to get dark, so the pictures are a little blurry, but it was fun to capture the moment. We also got to see the sun rise as we drove into Mesa. Here are some of the pictures we captured.

Easter Egg Dying

I was just going along dying eggs. I made a smiley face egg for each of us and wrote our names on the back... well I was talking as I was writing and I realized I was a little dyslexic.... John was laughing so hard that I couldn't spell his name, he had to get it on camera.

Date Night

John and I went to a formal dance put on at the university and it was the first time we got since we had Rhett. His parents baby sat for us (thank you) and we had a great time. We didn't take a camera to the dance, but here we are before the dance.

Lots of Semis

What do you see after the freeway has been closed for 2 days? (Click on pictures for FULL effect)

LOTS of semis --very impatient drivers at that. Thanks to the freeways closing, our trip back from St Lois took an extra SIX hours!

St. Louis

I posted pictures of Rhett on his blog about the St. Louis Arch, but not of John and I. Anyway, here are some pictures of us having fun at the Gateway Arch.John, Rhett and I 630 feet up at the top of the Gateway Arch

While we were waiting for the trams to go in the arch, they had a scale that you could sit on. Now everyone just remember that I'm still losing baby weight.... :) But yeah, I was heavier than both John AND Rhett.

This isn't the actual tram we went up in, but I replica in the atrium. VERY SMALL inside though...Seats five UNCOMFORTABLY...in our case six --Rhett was on John lap and there were three other people that rode up with us.

Me at the bottom of the arch... the "up" view.

I took so many pictures of the Arch... but pictures really don't do it justice! It was HUGE.

Masters of Accountancy

I've been accepted into the University of Utah's Masters of Accounting program! I will graduate with my masters degree in May of 2010. After all the work I have done on the prerequisite classes, it was a relief to find out that all that time has paid off!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

So to acknowledge St. Patty's day today, Sunday we went to church wearing all green so we pulled out the picture. Unfortunately, Rhett slept through it. This is the best we got.

And LIfe Goes On

Well, I'm always so busy updating Rhett's blog, that I don't really take the time to update the blog for all of us. Things are settling back down to normal now. Rhett is now five weeks old and growing fast! We just got back from Portland and from doing a scrapbook show. Our shows hadn't been going well lately, so the fact that this one went well was a big boost to our self confidence. It was the second show of the year for us and it should keep us busy. Our next show is here in Salt Lake and it is by far our best show.

On Wednesday, John, Rhett, and I are heading down to Las Vegas for a few days. Last fall, I was trying to get a summer internship with Ernst & Young (a big four accounting/auditing firm for those who don't know what they do) and I ended up JUST missing the cut. The recruiter told me that if ONE person turned down their offer, I was next on the list to be called. Talk about frustrating when it was the ONLY place I wanted to work. Anyway, I got back together with the recruiter to see what my options were and she set me up an interview at their location in Las Vegas. Though John and I aren't thrilled at the aspect of living there should I get a full time position, it's an excellent opportunity for me and eventually I should be able to transfer to another location.
I'll admit that I am a little nervous about the interview. In the Salt Lake location, I knew the firm and what they specialized in here, their big companies, and I got to know the staff. Going into Vegas, I don't know anyone on the staff or am I familiar with all the companies they audit. This will be a true test of how energetic and outgoing I can be in order to sell myself for the position. However, it is exciting to have an interview at such a company that they PAY for you to come see them and provide a hotel room as well. Now all I have to worry about is fitting back into my business suit after having a baby. I still haven't lost all of my weight from Rhett and I still have a little bit of a pot belly so I'm praying I fit into my suiting pants (I'm too afraid to try them on JUST yet...).
School has been an adjustment with Rhett in the picture. Projects, homework and reading that shouldn't take that long are taking longer because I have to take the time out and tend to Rhett and if he's clingy or cranky, I don't get much done... There are days I feel like I get NOTHING done, but I really can't complain because I love spending time with Rhett too. John helps the best he can, but sometimes Rhett just wants his mommy and/or food. Since I'm the source of THAT, there isn't much John can do. I should find out in a couple of weeks if I made it into the masters program.

I guess that's about all the news with us right now.

The birth of Rhett Butler

Rhett was born on February 2, 2009 at 11:03 AM. Check out his blog at http://rhettperrybutler.blogspot.com/. There is also a link on the left of this page.
Both Saria and Rhett are recovering and adjusting well!

The funniest music video I have EVER seen

You should really check out this YouTube video. Really funny and really well choreographed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI