May, June, July, Aug.....

I've been busy. So have the other five or six bloggers I love and yet they seem to find to post. All guilt aside it has been a lovely summer. Family reunion, super fun wedding, our anniversary and a few trips. Our latest was back to Calgary, which is where we got engaged. We had a lovely two days in a nice hotel and perfect weather. And Clayton graduates in a week! Today is his last class. Hallelujah! We will be having a super-fun party in about two weeks so get excited readers. Everyone is invited, I'll make it more formal soon. Tyler's wedding was so wonderful. We had such a great time with the family in San Diego. We got to go to the Scrips (?) aquarium with Allison and Clint and their painfully adorable children. They really are lucky that we haven't kidnapped them and headed south for a life in Mexico. Even with the extreme sunblock bills it would be much easier than having our own. I'm kidding of course. However, if Autumn is missing, you wouldn't be wrong to call me first. Also included are shots of Clayton and I with Jack and Hannah miniature golfing. The girls won this time. Anyhow. I will (hopefully) post these pictures. Our PC gave up the Windows ghost and is now a linux limp along. Luckily I married a brilliant man so all of my old pictures are on an external hard drive. He says. I am happy to believe him if only for the peace of mind it may falsely give me. Am I making any sense? Next time I will try for clarity.

Alaska!!! What an oddly boring place.

We went to Alaska! Just... because, well, why not? We would like to hit all 50 states eventually and this was a good one to knock off while we can go for free. It was very lovely up there, but having grown up in Washington, Idaho and Utah, it didn't knock our socks off like we were expecting. We drove for over an hour to see Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America. To be honest? A little underwhelmed. The peaks next to it are almost the same height, so you don't get that "wow" factor. Also, one book said that you could see it from downtown Anchorage. That person needs an editor. Anyhow, we had a good time. We saw lots of wildlife. Eagles, bears, elk, moosen (I hope you listen to Brian Reagan), buffalo and oxen type things. Some we saw in the wild, and some we saw as we drove through a flooded nature conservatory which keeps bears and more exotic things. They keep them in the "wild" only with fences around the perimeters to keep them from mauling your rental car. Where is the fun in that? The lying book also says that there are over 2000 moose and around 800 bears that live in the city limits of Anchorage. One of many reasons not to live in Anchorage. Besides being half a globe away from anyone and paying Maui prices for food, it is also cold. Didn't know if you knew that. Ya- April is not the time to visit. The lakes are all still frozen and we couldn't take any day cruises. Oh, and another reason not to live there. The JW's burned down our Stake center. Ok, they didn't really. It was an electrical problem with the heating or something. I am totally joking about the JW's. We saw some walking near the previously mentioned chapel and had a great laugh imaging them to be the culprits. We were surprised to see the burned up chapel though. It's right next to the Temple. How sad for the local members. Our trip ended on a high note by enjoying the famous Alaskan king crab. Best crab ever, and seriously huge. Well, save your time and money. Alaska is amazing, but except for glaciers, it's got nothing on Utah.

Second Try

I wrote a nice long entry the other day and erased it with one bad stroke of the mouse. Grrr. So instead of another blog, I will just post the pictures. We went to Moab for President's Day Weekend. Super fun. However, I am still missing the "Jeeping Is Fun!" chip. I apparently have the "We Are All Going To Roll To Our Shredded Glassy-Death Down This Canyon" chip. I even managed to accidentally reformat my camera and lost half of our pictures. Luckily it was before we went to Arches National Park. Which is amazing. Windy, but amazing.

What I should be doing right now is not this.

I finally have a calling in my ward! I get to teach once a month in R.S. Best calling ever. After Nursery. Tomorrow is the big day. So I thought that I would work really hard on my lesson and prepare like crazy. Umm... ya. Blogging about, well, nothing in particular. Writing this and ripping music to our computer (right now it's all of my old Blur albums) seems to be more important than focusing on my lesson. I wonder what the topic is about? Just kidding. I read the title last week so I am way ahead of the game. I am sort of a "do it when it REEAAALLY needs to get done" kind of gal. Otherwise I just don't feel the urgency. Don't get me wrong, I love this calling and I love preparing when I finally do it, just not right now. I was this way in school too. It's odd to see that my husband has the exact same habits as I do. He won't write a 15 page paper until the night before it's due. Some day this will probably not work to our advantage. A recent case of procrastination? Two weeks ago my niece Abby asked me to help her make a dress so she could be Elizabeth the 1st for a school project. Her choice. I forgot and ended up with one day to make a nine year old into a Tudor Queen. Well miracle of miracles,I found an eighties tea length prom dress at DI, and with a little work ended up with a dress that fit her. Luck like that doesn't cure me of my problem. Oh well.
Still don't know how to rotate pictures. Isn't she cute? She's been reading up on all of the Tudor court lately. Not the best role models for a child, but at least she has an interest in history outside of what they are making her learn in school.



Well- it's now the Friday after the lesson. It went surprisingly well. Even with my late start I always end up with too much material to cover and not enough time. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. Is it truly the most commercial holiday? I know people spend more at Christmas, but at least there is more of a reason there. Oh well. C and I both worked so we will be having our romantic dinner on Saturday. Unless we go to Moab, in which case... ya. We don't really care because every night is a romantic dinner. Kidding. We try to lay on the 'blech' for everyone. The one right of newly-weds is to make people uncomfortable on a regular basis.

We are Tan! Well, he is.

We went to Maui! It was fantastic. Wish I knew how to rotate pictures on this site. Oh well.

Seriously, I am more than done with winter. We had so much fun in Hawaii. If you want to see more pictures you can visit my web album at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mariannemarguerite

ZUMA!

Just don't purchase it. I implore all of you. Having played it at my brother Tom's house a while back, I thought it would be fun to have on our computer. I bought it recently for ten bucks. Bad idea. Clayton of course has beaten it within a day or so, while I can't get pass level 9-6. I know, I sound like a WOW'er. I look forward to my days off so I can catch up on housework and hobbies. Instead my day goes like this.
Wake up. Play Zuma. Brush teeth. Play Zuma. Start laundry. Play Zuma. Make bed. Play Zuma. Etc...etc...
In fact I will more than likely be at it again in about three minutes. So sad. I don't deserve free time.

Woo Hoo! Marriage Rules!!

The wedding was a dream come true. If I ever figure out how to share pictures, I will post them here. Sure, it was the morning of tears and stress,( the evening before I got 1&1/2 hours of sleep) but it all came together. I didn't lose a pound, my hair was nowhere near what I wanted, my dress ripped halfway through the day (not due to my not losing pounds, the lace got caught on a truck bumper), Clayton's tie was hilarious and I didn't even get to eat a thing at the reception that featured all of my favorite treats. But the magic... the sealing was beautiful, my family were beautiful. People looked happy and I could feel their well-wishing in a tangible way. The luncheon felt like a surprise birthday party. I saw friends and family at the reception that I hadn't seen in years. It was a charmed day. There were such lovely moments... the sun setting over the lake, my little nephews eating the wedding cake (they were the only ones), friends gathered around watching our wedding video, riding off in the cool dark night in a golf cart as the entire party looked down at us and waved... everything was so beautiful. Everyone worked so hard for us, again with the tangible love. I feel sad for anyone who's wedding wasn't ours. And then we flew off (first class, my job rules) to Paris, Vienna and Rome. Trust me, we know how completely spoiled and ridiculously blessed we are. It was all so wonderful, but I have to say that the best part of all of it- is coming home each day knowing he will be there.

I'M ENGAAAAAGED!!!!

And as such I have about two months to completely plan a wedding, honeymoon and oh yeah, sew the dress. Glutton? Who cares, I'M ENGAAAAGED!!!! If you haven't seen the Friends episode where Monica gets engaged, well, watch it. So funny. Now back to me, Bridezilla. Oh, I also need to magically tone my arms to Meg Ryan-Jennifer Aniston standards, get my thighs to look like Jean Grey in X-Men 3... (have you seen the part where she is blowing off doors as she walks around in small clothes? Hot)... and lose anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds. Oh sure, it could happen. Only if by sewing enough to finish the dress in time I will not have time to eat.
So today I pose this question to you all.
Is there any worse feeling than hating your body or feeling overweight, and feeling ravenously hungry at the same time?
Maybe being in the hole and wanting fancy shoes or something, except in that situation the choice is made for you.
Eating and self-control is just a mean crossroads to be at.

Back the freak off freaking stock-boy!!

Why is it that in a grocery store I can either walk around for three hours with no one to help me find the Rit Dye, or I get this guy? -
Me: "Hi, could you tell me where the toothpaste is?" Note I said TELL, not show.
Him: "Sure, follow me!"
Ok, that's nice of him. The aisle number was all I was shooting for, but maybe he wants a break from facing the Jello.(Facing is the task of making all the boxes or cans sit the same way at the front of the shelf. I worked in a grocery store for 4 years, I know the biz.)
And so he leads me to the toothpaste.
Me: "Thank you."
Him: "Sure."
And he stands there. And I self consciously shop for my toothpaste.
Him: "Anything else I can help you find?"
Me: "No, no thank you."
Him: "Ya, there's toothpaste right here and over here is mouthwash, and up here is the organic kind."
Me: "Oh... sure, thanks."
And he will not leave! He stands there looking at toothpaste with me for another two minutes until I finally move. Then he follows me off. Now this is not a case of some weird boy stalking thing, this happens with girls too. You ask them one question and they have now become your personal shopper. It happens to me all the time and it bugs! Somewhere else in the store a poor woman is desperately trying to find Rit Dye to no avail (Is it by the laundry stuff? By the spray paint or maybe the light bulbs? Where?) and is cursing the store under her breath.
I wonder if I fit some shoplifting profile and they feel the need to keep a close eye on me. Or maybe I look stupid and they doubt that I could find the toothpaste aisle if I all I have is the number to go by. Who knows. What I do know is that this is possibly the lamest blog yet. It was just an unfortunate day where I hit three different stores (Smiths, Target and Home Depot) and it happened at all three. Bizarre.

Wow I wished I blogged more

I actually do, only it's on tiny scraps of paper at work. And who knows what I do with those. These scraps also contain titles of books I want to read, music to listen to or buy, words I don't understand the meaning of and want to look up, lists of things I need to do that week, lists of things I need at the grocery store etc... I find that I can produce a copious amount of lists. They are practically like journals, too bad they aren't dated. Most of the world has a better way to do it. I have a friend that uses her good old Franklin Covey planner every blessed hour. Another is so organized on her PC that if she were to have a house fire, she would never recover. Palms, magic phones that work better than Palms, even I-pods now, they keep everyone informed and on time but me. I like to stick to the random paper idea. These slips of paper end up all over my house, my car,in my purses and bags. I never find them in time to use them effectively, but I love finding them. "Oh yeah" I think, "Radiohead was going to be on Letterman last week. Bet that was good". or "Hey- I forgot to buy spray starch at the store".
Hopefully I will soon find one of my errant pieces of paper with a good blog written on it. Then maybe I can blog about something other than blogging.