just a thought

Mountain Moose

2012-02-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

I was tired of seeing my blog with the same post, so I thought I should fix that. Ireally don't have much of anything to say, nor do I really want to figure out the font and underlining stuff for this post. This is how it began formatting, so I left it that way. After about four people asking me if I had seen the moose at Cost co , I decided to break down and purchase said moose. Can you tell why I named him Mountain? That is mr. B M W that I watch. He is a cutie and played along with me taking his pic for a little bit. Oh, how I chose that Pic. . . I just decided to post whichever pic popped up as the first one on the list. there you go. My life is not really that interesting, but at least there is a new post that can be up for another three months. Just to remind you all. It is my birthday in about a week and two days. Mark it on your calandars now.

Thanksgiving 2011 pics

2011-11-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

My computer decided to play nice for a few min, so I was able to upload the pics.

Grandma O is an awesome lady, from what I could gather in the brief time I was able to get to know her a little. She helped me in making the gravy (I had to give the Osborn sister's grief for buying bottles of gravy, since I taught them last year. I also didn't mind at all making gravy because I wanted to contribute more to dinner). I figured out why her two granddaughters are so brilliant, also. . . it is all in the genes.

Below is the group picture. While I had one pic that we took with the lovebirds smooching (j&c), it was just easier to +v me into a photo, instead of adding Michelle (who insisted on taking a pic with me in it :-S ).

Here is Jacob rocking out. I am glad I got him to sing so I didn't have to use the "cheese" photo. Isn't he adorable?

Why yes, Earl, I did hand Emily to you just to see what you would do with her. Thanks for letting me get one photo of you looking at the camera. Emily was much more cooperative.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

This year we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with John and Cynthia's family, the Hickman's, Earl and Grandma Osborn. I am so glad that they invite us to celebrate with them. Cynthia, Michelle and Troy are the most excellent cooks. Lil Elizabeth also puts together a mean fruit salad, with the addition of pomegranate (grandma's contribution) made it awesome.

I made sure that Earl had a little Emily time. I did click photos of it. Michelle wanted group photos also, so I obliged. I was not above bribing Jacob to be in the photos. Candy cars are great for this. It was a very nice Thanksgiving. . . plus we were able to see an episode of Psych which just topped off the day!

I am having issues with adding a photo, so I will have to post this then wait for my computer to stop having issues to add the photos.

Nothing New. . .

2011-11-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report. . . just the same ol' same. Wait, I am going to be watching child #4 beginning the day before Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to watching BMW. He will be three months old. I met his dad as the family came to check out the digs last week.

I picked up a Radio Flyer wagon last Friday at this large KID's sale, consignment type sale. I hope to use it as a prop in pictures.

I may have pneumonia. The radiologist that read the chest x-ray would neither confirm nor deny the exhistance of it. I decided to go to NW Trek and see moose on Friday with some friends. I figure that I would at least die happy, plus I had the plans before I had the pneumonia. We were able to see three of the four moose that reside there, and one of the three we saw was the bull moose, which I have named Waldo. I scored a NICE wall plaque at about 55% off, it was to be 40% but the sales lady gave me a little bonus. I need to probably take down one pic over my mantle and hang it up there.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Dinner that shall be shared with my favorite cousins that live in Oregon but will be in Shoreline.

Last weekend

2011-09-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

the blankets

2011-08-25T23:13:00.001-07:00

I decided to make a couple of baby blankets for my most favorite cousins who had babies recently. Well, the pink and green one evolved first. I was talking to my cousin, Moo, checking to see if Loo would be okay with this sleeper I had found and bought for Loo. It happened to be pink with pink and green polka dots and a frog on it. Loo has had an adversion to pink for years. Our grandma I guess bought her three or four parkas when she was young. They happened to be ALL the same pink and white check, just different sizes, so she would always have one that fit. (I personally never knew that they were different coats). Well, while talking with Moo, I sort of thought it would be "cute" if I made a blanket that had the pink and white check. I was at the fabric store and found the flannel back (pink check), then I saw the frog on pink. . . wow, it was matching the little sleeper so well (loo likes frogs) The green polka dot topped it off. I thought the pink/white butterfly complimented it well. The peekos (triangle edging) had to be lined (I love how they alternate horizontal/vertical when folded). I had some green with white scroll fabric that finished the top off great.
I do peekos, because my childhood blanket (which I still have), had peekos. I remember sucking my thumb of one hand and fingering the peekos with my other hand. I loved slipping my fingers in the different triangles.
I then decided to do Coo's baby a blanket. That was a little more difficult, but it turned out PERFECT for them. The back matches their kitchen decorations great, which just was by chance. I loved the yellow and red ladybug and daisy fabric. It was originally going to be purple and green. I am so glad it morphed into the final project. My mom did help a lot on the pink blanket, and I wanted to give her credit and thank her for her help. I messed up cutting the peekos for the red quilt, otherwise she would have helped on that one too.

Great Day

2011-08-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Don't think I need to say much about these. Those that know them are probably the ones looking here. I love this first photo. Not staged. They were just watching tv and Miss E looked up at her Daddy. Sooooo. . . Sweet.

Who can stop Super Boy from flying off?

playing today

2011-08-10T22:12:00.001-07:00

Today was a good day. Drew and Em came to play. Ubu can not claim to be ignored today. While inside, Ubu has tended to become more withdrawn from the children and hiding in his kennel or up on the top of the loveseat, so little hands don't grab him as easily. Outside today was an entirely different story. Ubu was the center of attention. He had Bubba trying to play ball with him with a variety of balls- three tennis balls and a soccer ball and Drew playing chase and tug-o-war with Ubu's stick. Here are a few pics from the day.

I think this was Drew's favortie pic, because he was running and in a blur. I like it too.

Em ended up going for a nap during most of our outside time. This was her game. . . biting the spoon when you tried to take it out.

photo shoot

2011-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Random

2011-08-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

When my parentals were in town, we went to a local roadside produce stand and bought corn on the cob. One of the cobs ending up having four cobs in one husk. I had never seen this. Perhaps this is how they get the small cobbetts. Only problem with this corn was. . . all the ones we bought this time tasted NASTY (okay, my ONE cob tasted nasty); perhaps I cooked it too long. Perhaps I am just prejudice toward a certain farm's corn, or I am just losing my taste for corn.

Bubba AND Ubu both have a little of the green eyed monster in them (yes, they are jealous creatures). Lately I have had to resort to holding them both, and Ubu has taked to sitting on my shoulder, so Bubba and I both get to give Ubu hugs.

A lady in my ward was having twins. Well, I had THE PERFECT fabric for A receiving blanket (it really reminded me of the mom), so I wanted to get another piece, so I could do the matchy-almost-matchy blankets or the "twinner" blankets. Turns out that they did not have the one fabric that I wanted, so I went for the hearts. I also went for the green, since it matched the green hearts so well and was not typically girly. The twins are girls, but these should work. Oh, if you can not tell, there are two blankets in the photo, and I am sort of sad, because one ended up being bigger than the other.

not what I was going to post

2011-06-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

I decided to just put up a few pics. I went to post another picture, but decided to crop it first. I cropped it, but then the pic disappeared from my folder, so at this time, you don't get to see THAT picture. You will just have to settle for these. These were from the Tulip festival back in April of this year. Okay, actually the narcisus is from my friend's yard, but the rest were up at the festival. I think the tree with Dave below, might be dying. Then again, it might just be brown. Yes, Dave is taking a picture of me taking a picture and NO, I don't feel like finding the coresponding photo of me taking a picture.

nothing new here, just some pics

2011-05-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Trip to Seattle

2011-04-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I planned to go to the aquarium to meet up with a friend who is coming to Seattle with her choir group from Logan, Utah. Well, I didn't realize that they were leaving Logan Wednesday night around 7 pm and driving all night. Original plans were to go to Woodland Park zoo. They changed those plans before they came, to the aquarium, as they were going on a Harbor cruise at noon. Now had I known that they were leaving after 7 pm, I could have told them that they would NOT be here in 14 hours. I guess google maps says it is about 13 hours, but PLEASE, they are riding on a bus. Speed limit for the bus is lower in most of the areas, plus I would think that they needed to fuel up at one point. Well, at about 9 I recieved a call from my friend saying that they were running about three hours behind, and they will skip going to the aquarium for the time being and go to Pike's Market Place instead. I figure, I was already downtown, so I am going to the aquarium. Now, I know there were lots in downtown, that if you are there by 9 am, then there is a lower parking rate for the entire day, instead of paying $4.00+ per hour. Well, I got in after 9, so I decided since I have a little time I would park by the Seattle Center, where I knew it had a flat rate for the entire day, and walk to the aquarium. Turns out that it 1.8 miles or so, the route I went. I did have a stroller that I was able to load up with my camera and diaper bag. I just forgot to tuck an umbrella in to go with it. It was a lovely walk down. I went by the Olympic Sculpture park, which I have wanted to check out for a while. This helped me to bypass the train tracks, which did have a couple of trains pass by while we were there. We got to the aquarium and spent a half hour before M.E.E. called and let me know they were passing the stadiums (the end of I-90). I figured that would give me time to walk up to Pike's (I at least know the shortcut to take the elevator up to the sky bridge). I get up to Pike's and M.e.e. called to tell me that they were no longer going to Pike's, but are going straight to the Harbour tour. I asked if they were down by the piers and she had no idea what a pier was. Then I asked if they were by the water, and she could not understand the word "water" because of all the noise I guess, this was my first clue they were down there, because there is a lot of traffic noise that comes from the Alaskan Viaduct. She said they were by a firestation. Ummmmm. . . yeah, that helped, but then with the other clues, I figured out it was the one on the waterfront. I did track M.E.E. down about 15 min before they boarded for the cruise (which I opted not to go on *yawn*). I went back to the aquarium with Bubba and he had lunch there and we were able to see the mammals and birds, my favorite part. The rain started pouring down and I ended up buying an umbrealla to cover Bubba. I didn't feel up to walking back to Seattle center, so I went to Pikes then went up four blocks and over one to Westlake Mall and rode the Monorail back to the Seattle Center. Very long day and a LOT of walking. So, we were walking from about 9:30 to 3:30. Sitting for 20 min for Lunch at Ivars and maybe 20 min at the Aquarium for Bubba's lunch.

dog photo shoot

2011-04-08T20:37:00.001-07:00

This is what I did today. I had two extra dogs. they all behaved pretty well for the photos.

Ubu again

2011-04-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, my enjoyment today comes from the antics of my dog again. No, I did not have my camera handy. Ubu likes to make people think that I give him no attention, but he does get it. I picked up a small snack bag of potato chips at the store for free today. After I ate the chips this evening, Ubu thought it was his job to lick my fingers. Major problem with this, I was trying to type in an IM with my sister at that moment. Sort of amusing. Sometimes he does try to get me to pet him while I am typing, by nudging my hand with his nose while I am typing.

Well, one hand was NOT enough for UBU, so he balanced his right paws on my leg (which was up on the couch) and his left paws on the back of the couch. He then took a couple of steps, quite awkwardly, then leapt into my lap barely missing my laptop. I am glad that he gives me so much entertainment.

EMP

2011-03-19T21:24:00.001-07:00

My hubby decided that he wanted to take advantage of our year membership to the EMP. The EMP stands for the Experience Music Project. It is perhaps the funkiest looking building in Seattle. Some have said that they are more impressed with the outside than the inside. Hubby really enjoyed playing the drums, which he hasn't done in many years. It wasn't too bad on my part either.
It is actually the EMP/SFM (sci-fi museum). They have a special display for Battlestar Gallactica. Now I know more than I really cared to know.
After the EMP, we decided to ride the Monorail to downtown. Now, there is only two stations to the Monorail, Seattle Center and Westlake Center Mall. We bought a round trip ticket, because I was not going to walk back to the Seattle Center. We rode to WestLake Center, walked around to a few stores. Sat on this tiered area outside the Mall, only to be told by security, that no one is allowed to sit there, since it is private property owned by Starbucks. Good grief. We moved on.
My feet now feel as if they will fall off at any moment.
I would post pictures of the day, but then again, I did not take any pictures.
If you want to check out what the EMP looks like, then google or bing it.

Candy Landy

2011-03-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

We played Candyland today and guess who won? I did not even throw the game.

Ubu didn't play, but I thought he looked cute with the board game.

Ubu

2011-03-05T20:01:00.001-08:00

Ubu has been acting quite strange lately. He has a towel in his kennel. This is also the place that he eats. When he is given his bowl of food, he rubs his nose in the towel. Almost looks like he wants to bury the bowl of food. Perhaps he dislikes the smell of the food. It really perplexes me. He eventually does eat the food. In the pic above, he is in his favorite spot of late, on the back of the love seat, yes, that is MONK that he was watching too.

for ashton

2011-02-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

I am just finishing this up. Just in time to work on Byron's. I really like how the peekos turned out on this one, with the stripes.

v-day

2011-02-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

On Valenttine's Day, Dave did his research and picked a place to take me for dinner. He found this little restaurant not too far from us. I have noticed it before, passed it many times on my way to friends' homes. I noticed it because they have a metal moose sculpture. Y'all know me and moose. Well, I was surprised that Dave chose this place, because he hate bbq. Well, they had a v-day menu and we did not have the bbq. Well, the restaurant was perfect. . . for me, because there was moose everywhere! He lucked out, because he got mucho bonus points.
This pic is of Drew and his Peace cookie. His idear. Turned out way cute.

Feels like a new place

2011-01-19T23:42:00.000-08:00

I lucked out and have a great friend who has a generous sister. The sister just moved and decided to redecorate. We were able to get a few items, that while filled our overflowing home to bursting, but now I suppose I have more storage. While you really can not see it, I was able to procure a desk for my dear hubby. You can see the back of the hutch that sits on the top of the desk through the hole in the wall there. You can see the buffet that I had said no to (because people tell me I need to say no to bringing stuff into my house), my hubby said yes. So I allowed it in. It is a real pretty piece, seen under the bar to my kitchen.

I received an entertainment center. The sister had larger tv, so the vent hole is larger, than we need, but hey, I don't mind.

The last two pieces we received were our favorites. A shelving unit that is 9' long and about 8' tall. We also received the sleeper sofa that folds out into a twin size bed. Have not yet tested it, but I am sure it is quite comfy.

You may notice the blocks on the shelf "e" "h" "m" "o", while some may think it was meant to spell "HOME", especially since we received it as a house warming gift. It spells out "Ow, Eh?" a tribute to the Canadian Olympics. I can just imagine Canadian officials watching a sporting event, someone crashing and the official saying "ow, eh?" There you go. My friend tried to set it up saying Home, but I refused.

Just so you know, I am getting a big wiff of stinky diaper, Yuck! Maybe it is just Ubu farts.

Turkey Day

2010-11-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving. This year we spent it with my cousin John and Cythia's family. It took us a wee bit more time to get there than plan, not because the roads were bad from the snowstorm on Monday, but due to traffic congestion. They invited us to bring our dog, Ubu down. Ubu enjoyed his trip and making new friends with the kiddos. I think Jacob was the most taken with Ubu, or as he calls him, Wubu. Jacob and I spent a good part of the hour out into the converted garage playroom playing playing with Ubu.

"Hi, Wubu!"

This is the face I got when I asked for a smile. Got to love that face!

Gonna ride sister's bike. . . if only I can get on the seat.

Cranium massager.

Sit Ubu, Sit. Good DOG!

"Wubu, see my bellybutton?"

Jacob playing dog with the dog, and Ubu doing what dogs do best.

Playing ball with Wubu.

Yep, there's the dog.

Here, check this out!

There's that "smile" again. Serious about his Harley.

This is how much she loves her Uncle Peter.

Check out the shirt!

"Check out my Hello Kitty jacket and Hello Melody Watch."

Ready to jump off the bottom step. Serious buisness.

More meg

2010-10-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

moose cupcakes! They tasted better than they looked. It was a fun, crafty thing to make.

Space Needle pics.

my cousin meg

2010-10-14T20:15:00.001-07:00

The token picture of a Greathouse taking a picture of a Greathouse taking a picture.
Can you spot Megan? This was the "where's Megan" shot.
Must have more fun photos. . . thanks to the inspiration of our grandmothers.
This is at pike's, I was too lazy to try and fix the photo. Megan is a little washed out, but is fabulous, none the less.
Lunch was yummy. . . Stuffed jiordi Chicken something or other, with butternut squash ravioli and green beans. We both chose the same thing.

another pic

2010-07-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

just another shoot

pics

2010-06-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

trip . . part of it

2010-05-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

I am on a road trip with my cousin “Da” from Bethesda, Maryland to Utah, via Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Yes, it is a long trip and we are only a couple of days in. We are amused by the routes that the GPS takes us. On the trip down to North Carolina, we took a side trip to Appomattox Courthouse, the location at which General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant. It felt that much of the trip between Maryland and North Carolina was on the back roads, not many major highways at all, let alone interstates.As we were traveling south, headed for Appomattox Courthouse we began seeing signs for Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation home. We decided to take the short detour over to it. I remember that it was one of my favorite sites when I visited way back in 1983 ( I think that was the year). We found Monticello without much difficulty. We went up to the visitor center and found the ticketing place. Come to find out that it was $22 per person, average visit time was 3 ½ hours PLUS the next tour didn't head up for another 45 min. We nixed the idea, since it was a little too much time and money for us. We headed for the car, looking for any sign that would say Monticello and discovered a small sign directing us to an African-American grave site This is when I decided that this will become the graveyard tour, since I went to Arlington the previous day. We are sure to point out any cemeteries we drive by, or signs for the National ones. There have been quite a few that we have seen that are just lovely. I guess in North Carolina there are cemeteries that are decorated like it was Memorial Day, all year round.
We learned (or was reminded) that Appomattox Courthouse is actually the name of the town in which the surrender occurred. The actual surrender was at the McLean house, not the courthouse. When we pulled up to the parking lot, I started taking pictures of the most prominent building . We walked up the lane and found the sign to the actual courthouse with a sign indicating that the visitor info was located inside, so I felt I had fell into the pattern of my father, who has a knack of taking pictures of the wrong locations. I was relieved to find out that our original impression that the large house was THE location.
We also learned that if you see a McDonald's or Subway about lunchtime, that you should stop and eat then, instead of traveling on to Appomattox via back roads and small towns (since that is how the GPS took us). We didn't find lunch until 4:30 pm that day. We used the Garmin to find food at this point. We picked a local fast food place, followed the directions, found the place but it was closed. We caved and decided to check out the food at the gas station that we just tanked up at. Needless to say, it was not that appetizing; we opted to buy snacks to tide us over until we found real fast food. I asked the clerk where the nearest fast food place was. His response “I don't know why you would want that when there is Mimo's across the street”. I asked if it were fast and he replied that “it ain't slow”. We decided that we might as well go there. Good food, but it was a wee bit slow service.
We have been amused by signs in the different states. Perhaps our favorite had to do with a sign that instructed that all two-way radios and cellular phones should be turned off at this time for a construction zone. We laughed and joked how they must have some very sensitive machines, you know, like in hospitals. About five miles later we saw a sign announcing “Leaving Blasting Zone”. What a close one. Good thing no one called us in that stretch of the highway.

Tulip time again

2010-04-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

I went to the tulip festival again this year. This time I went with my good friend and her two lovely children. We had an enjoyable time. Although I timed it at about the same time as last year, we missed peak, because everything bloomed a bit earlier than last year. There were still flowers to enjoy, just not as many.

Dog park

2010-01-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

I took Ubu to the dog park that is about 8 miles from our home. I think he liked it, although he spent most of the time socializing with the people rather than the dogs. Of course, most of the dogs were bigger than him. He learned quick that he is on the bottom of the dog pile. He did finally start barking again, when he was on a platform above the other dogs.
There was a little 5 year old girl at the park. Her and her siblings really took to Ubu. I said that they were welcome to hold Ubu, since I wanted him socialized with children. She came over and started asking questions such as : "so, you don't have children of your own?" "Are you married? Do you want kids?" She then declared that I should probably think of adoption. Usually I would probably think this was a bit too personal, especially from a 5 year old, but it sort of took me aback. This little girl was obviously adopted herself. I played dumb and asked if she had been adopted and she said "yes!" Then I asked "where from?" and the reply was "China!" So sweet!. It gave me something to think about.

Christmas weekend

2009-12-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, hubby, ubu and I spent Christmas eve and morning at home, then packed up the car and headed over to my sister's home in Idaho. We had a nice visit there. Ubu was quite liked by all (except me by the end, after having a few "accidents" inside). He did not have any car sickness this time. I think the use of the crate helped. My nephew was baptized by his grandpa and confirmed by his favorite uncle Dave. It was a nice simple service. I am glad that the weather cooperated and we were able to go. The roads were good all the way there and back. Hubby says that is because we bought the chains for our tires. We can return the chains in April if we don't use them this winter, which is nice. I should be getting set up to use skype. Hope all your holidays are wonderful.

Meet UBU

2009-12-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we finally got a dog! Yipee! I know, some of you think that I am crazy. Others have told me not to do it. I've had others that helped me look for dogs and someone else willing to bring one back from Utah for me. I was leaning towards a corgi. Almost went up to Bremerton to get a corgi from the Humane society, but in the end, decided on a miniature Schnauzer. He is a 12 week old puppy and is quite adorable, in my opinion. We were going back and forth between names of Moose and Ubu, but decided on Ubu (oo-boo). I have wanted to name a dog Ubu for a long time. When I was a child I remember watching shows and at the end of some shows, the production company would have the black lab as the trademark and they would say "sit, ubu, sit. Good dog!"
He was quite reserved when we picked him up in Cle Elum, so it was a 70 mile or so ride. I figured he was sort of freaked out because these strange people had taken him away from his mom and dad dog and siblings. Turns out, he also had a bit of car sickness. Dave held him fro 20 or so miles then handed him off to me. About 10 miles later he was feeling much better. I, on the other hand, was smelling much worse. We had to get off the free way and use some snow to try and clean Ubu and me off.

New Post

2009-11-15T02:44:00.001-08:00

Well, I decided that I needed a new post. There are so many things I could write about, but really, I don't want to jinx things any more than I already have. So, instead, I looked through some photos and decided to post a picture of my dad taking a picture. This would be a nice typical photo within my family. My parents did come to visit. I has been a few months. They were here in August, so three months ago. It was a nice visit, and we made a couple trips up to see the sunset from this location.

senior photo shoot

2009-09-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Yea! I was able to do a photo shoot for a friend's daughter. I think I got a few good shots. I know not everyone gets excited to see my work, but I thought I would post a few of the good pics that I got. I really like the one with the horse.

How I got my name. . .

2009-09-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I am not that creative of a person when it comes to writing stories and such. What I do well, I think, is to remember details from things people tell me. Well, as I get older, the details are getting fuzzier from more recent stories. . . but that is a whole different story.
As a little girl, I distinctly remember my mom relating the story of how I was named Elizabeth. This is the first version that I remember. It goes something like this:
While pregnant with me, my mom and dad go to the temple to do work for people who have passed on. So, you are assigned one individual to act as proxy for. My mom would get the name of an Elizabeth to do a couple times in a row. Before they go the third time, my parents decide that if my mom gets an Elizabeth this time, then if the baby is a girl, she should be named Elizabeth. So, third time, you got it, it was an Elizabeth. After they decided that, she didn't get another Elizabeth for a very long time. Thus I was named Elizabeth, and they claim that I picked it myself. Nice story I thought.
As I approach my preteens, the story changes a little to be that this happened when my mom was pregnant with my brother David. Little less impressive for me, but hey, it works I guess. I did show up just over 11 1/2 months after David. What is a few years in a story.
Well, a few years goes by; I relate the story AGAIN to someone, as I understand it. My mom was there and corrects me again. She insists that it was when she was pregnant with me, not David.
Then I was telling this story to my hubby a couple of weeks ago, as we were sitting around visiting with my parents and. . . . you guessed it, the story changed AGAIN! Now she is fairly certain that it occurred while pregnant with me, but it was every THIRD visit to the temple, she would get an Elizabeth and then you can throw in the temples of Idaho Falls and Manti into the story somehow. She was fairly certain this time it occurred the third time in Manti.
My mom claims she never changed the story. I'm just not that good to come up with all the different versions of it myself.
I guess in the end it does not matter. I was just named after some dead people that I am not related to. There you go. I do like my name, and I would encourage all to name at least one child some form of Elizabeth, because it is so cool. Then again, there are over 75 different forms of Elizabeth, so you have plenty to choose from.

Parental visit

2009-08-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit me two weeks ago. They staid for a week. It was a nice visit. I convinced them to go to the Space Needle one day. My parents kept assuring me that they came to visit us, not to do the tourist things. I explained that it gives me the chance to do the tourist things, because when you live somewhere, you tend not to do the touristy things unless someone comes to visit.
My dad is quite well known amongst the family for his picture taking abilities, well, more or less what he does for a picture. Well, growing up, us children were told of his taking a photo of some rock in Hawaii where Deborah Kerr sang "I'm going to Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair" in South Pacific. He later found out that he took a picture of the wrong rock. He was also assigned, as part of his job on base, to take a picture of President Reagan's limo when he visited Utah. Well, there were three limos and my dad is still not sure if it was the correct limo. My dad has been known to lay on the beach and do sit ups when the surf came in, to get a photo of I think the bungalow they staid in on their honeymoon (won't swear that was what he was trying to capture). My cousin, Moo, related a story of him standing in the middle of a windy road (not windy, as in wind blowing, but windy, as in many curves) in Hawaii, to get a picture, much to the distress of others in the traveling party.
So that sort of gives you a background to the pictures I am about to post. Oh, I forgot, our family also enjoys taking pictures of other family members taking pictures. Now to the story while they were here this time.
We were at the top of the Space Needle here in Seattle. They actually have the compass directions spaced around the observation deck around the top. I really did not need the them. I came across my dad at about the NE coordinate. He had gone ahead of my mother and me. He pointed off in the distance and wondered if the mountain out there was Mount Rainier. He was pointing north east. I knew that was NOT Mount Rainier and told him that it was not the correct mountain. Mount Rainier is more South East of Seattle. My dad was then certain that it was INDEED Mount Rainier. He was going to take a picture of it for this reason. I took a picture of my father taking a picture of what is actually Mount Baker. After his little photo shoot there, I escorted him down toward the south side of the observation deck. It was a bit hazy, but I then pointed out Mount Rainer. It is a wee bit larger than Mt Baker and he was happy to click a couple of pictures of the actual Mount Rainier. He was a little disappointed because of the haze, but he got his picture.

Picture upper right, my father taking pic of mount Baker, insisting it was Mt. Rainier.

Picture of his 1st Mt. Rainier (above), below, his "zoomed" picture of Mt. Baker.
Above, my father's picture of the real Mt. Rainier. Trust me, it is there, just a little hazy. Pic below, my picture of
Mt. Rainier, yes it is there, just a wee bit hazy to see it. We did get pics of Safeco Field and Qwest Field. It was nice
that they built them so close together so we could get them in a single frame picture.

BlackBerries

2009-08-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

One thing western Washington is probably known for, but y'all don't know, it is the Blackberry bushes that grow EVERYWHERE! (I know several missionaries that served in this area, and almost all of them for service hours at one time or another helped members remove or trim back the berry bushes). You don't have to go far to find any. They line all the roads around here and are easily found in or near the woods around here.
The berries are ripe right about now and probably for a few more weeks. My friend had mentioned that she had gone berry picking right in her backyard. That inspired me, while I was planning on going over to said friend's house and pick with her, I ended up in a parking lot by some soccer fields. I picked about 30 minutes yesterday and an hour this morning. Black berries are not the most pleasant thing to pick as they are quite the thorny plant. There is no possible way of NOT getting stuck by the thorns, so basically you have to decide if you like blackberries enough to go through so many prickleys. I would take a picture of the blackberries that I did pick, but I am a little tired from it.

I am also awaiting the arrival of my parents at the moment. The stayed in South Eastern Washington last night and should be making their way here as I type.

Quick Trip

2009-08-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip back to Detroit this last week to attend Dave's father's funeral. As with any trip to the Detroit area, I had issues with the roads and directions and taking the scenic route. Coming from the airport, the directions printed off of Google Maps, told me to follow M-5 west. It was all good until then. I came to M-5 North and thought that perhaps M-5 west was just beyond the north. Wrong! I believe that I made this mistake last September also. The fact was, that was M-5 west and it shortly turned into M-5 North about a mile after getting on the road. Their signs were a wee bit confusing. After going 5 miles, I was able to turn around and go back to M-5.
It only took two Michigan Uturns (i.e. Michigan lefts) to get to the Church where the services were being held. Normal places it would have been a left onto the road the church was located and then a left into the parking lot, but NO you must take a right, flip a Uturn and the designated Uturn place, go up past the church and take the next Uturn, so you then could make a right turn into the parking lot. Going to the cemetery I did a pretty good job at following people. I am glad that I did not get lost going there. Coming back was a little bit different. I was following my brother-in-law's Toyota Red car. I did pretty good, until about five miles from M-5 exit. I caught up and was following "the red car". I did think it was strange that he took off on 12 mile road. I knew we were headed for 13 mile road. I thought he might know an easier way with fewer Michigan lefts. It wasn't until the red car went perhaps 2 miles on 12 mile road and made a Michigan Uturn that I realizaed that I had been following a red Dodge car. Those people probably were thinking we were stalking them. I burst out laughing at my stupidity. Luckily I knew how to get back to M-5 and how to get back to the Condo. Dave wondered why his brother did not call us, then I reminded him that our phones were probalby still turned down from the services. Sure enough, we each had voicemails informing us that we were going the wrong way.
I have come to the conclusion that the signs back to the airport were much more clear. I think that they really want to help people to get out of there. No problems on Wednesday, despite the fact that they have a couple of terminals, a couple miles apart now. We were able to drop of my sister-in-law Donna at the second terminal, find our way to find a gas station and drop our car off.
Oh, about the car. I thought it was very thoughtful of the rental agency to ask if we wanted to pay for an upgrade from the economy class, which I declined. When we were all through with check in, I was informed that all they had left was a mini-van. So, if you ever rent a car in advance and you arrive later in the day, chances are that you will get an upgrade without having to pay for it.

Three Little Words. . .

2009-07-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

The difference of the smiles between the picture on the left and that of the top comes down to three simple words. The picture to the top is her "picture smile" when told to "smile". The smile on the left comes from the three amazing words. I guess these three words span the generations, because the same three words gets the same response from her mom. All I had to say was. . . .

JON BON JOVI!

Pics of my Beautiful Niece

2009-07-20T10:17:00.001-07:00