While visions of Del Taco danced in thier heads...

On Christmas Eve I had a dream about Del Taco and it made me really excited and happy. When I woke up I was reminded that we don't have any of those up here in Seattle, or even in the state of Washington. Believe me, I looked online. Its funny about the weird things that you miss. Even if its just cheap tacos :)

Christmas was one of the best I think that I have ever had. Skype is a great thing. I got to talk to all mine and Brads family, minus Tom's. Its a great way to keep in touch and get to see everyone through the distance. I just want to thank everyone again for the presents. We appreciate everyone thinking about us!

The weather was pleasant so we decided that we were going to take a walk down to Gas Works Park. This is one of Bradley's favorite places. The town was really quite..on the freeway going downtown we counted about ten cars. For I 5, that is very empty. It was so peaceful. The only people that we really ran into were people that had their dogs out of walks. Seattle is such a dog town, people are nuts for them.

I've seen everyone's pictures down in Utah and it makes me so happy that we don't have any snow. It looks like they all have around 2 feet of snow. It just makes me cold looking at it. I would take the rain any day compared to that cold wet stuff. We have had snow once since we have moved up here and that was during Thanksgiving week. It was a new experience for me, I've never seen a city shut down because of snow. I will say that Payson City has prepped me to drive on roads that haven't been plowed.

To the right is a picture of the Seattle skyline from Gas Works. You can even see some blue trying to peek through :) On a normal day there is normally a little more traffic on the water, but we were excited to be able to see the reflections of the buildings without the wake of boats.

This place is fun if you come on a day that is warm. The day that we took my mom and sister there it was so cold and windy. We had to rush through the park because it was so miserable. I'm sad that they were not able to stick around and enjoy it, but there is always a different time.

Here I am showing off the Space Needle. Its funny to see how far out of the way it is compared to all of the other buildings in downtown. Most people don't realize how shady that part of town is. I think that it is funny because when most people think of Seattle they think of three things..the music scene, Pikes Place Market, and the Space Needle. Don't get me wrong though, if you do come and visit Seattle, the Space Needle is somewhere you need to visit so you can say, been there done that.


Brad got really excited for this boat. It was moving really fast in the water. They had their own private body of water. I think that would be a fun way to spend Christmas, but I doubt Brad would think so. He is not a huge fan of risks and being on a boat is one of them. He likes to have solid ground under his feet.


I just had to throw this picture in. Brad makes me laugh and didn't want you to think that I was just putting pictures up of me because I like myself so much :) These pictures are part of the project that I am still working on. Its taking me a while because when I get off of work its starting to get dark outside.
















Gas Works Park used to be an old refinery for gas (go figure) so there are old abandon buildings like the one that we are standing in front of. Its almost like something that is out of a video game, or so I hear. When they shut it down, because it was polluting the water, they made it into the park. Its like no place that I have ever been before. Every trip that we made out to Seattle we had to make sure that we stopped here. This was one of Brad's favorite things in Seattle and he used to visit it all the time when he lived here the first time.

When we were done with Gas Works we didn't really want to go straight home so we decided that we could walk up to the UW (University of Washington) campus. Along the way we took a picture of the green bridge. This is how the bus takes Brad to school everyday. This is part of the documentation of our life in Seattle. We were walking on the bike trail that is along the water front. I think that we saw about 3 bikes on our whole walk. This is another unusual thing to happen. Guess it only happens on Christmas. A few years back on New Years Day Brad recalls that the city was that quite for him when he had to be at work. I can only imagine with all of the parties that had to be going on. I'm betting its a good thing that it was so quite!

When we walked under the bridge this is what we found. Very interesting if you ask me..not too sure how to take this :)

My question to what the heck this was, was answered. There was a plate that explained it. We have all seen those motorcycle cages in movies where people drive around in circles. The artist that made this said they made it similar to that but the purpose of this was for bicycles to do it. This concerned me for a minute but then I went and looked at it and there was no way that a bike would be able to make it work. There are always those dumb asses that would try to make it work if they could.

The UW campus has a lot of really awesome old buildings. This is one place that Brad had looked at to go to school but we decided against it when we saw what the art department had to offer. The building that I'm standing in front of had the coolest room. It looks like the library out of Harry Potter. Every time that some one comes to visit out here though the place is closed so I can't show them. One day someone will visit when the building is open. I think that it is so awesome!

Brad went a little picture happy when we got here because he was enjoying how the lighting was effecting the old brick buildings. By this time on our walk we were starting to see more blue sky. Even though you really can't tell because the sky is really washed out on these two pictures. It had also started to really warm up, if you notice our sweatshirts are also unzipped!

At this time we got to enjoy the ducks that were in the fountain. I was thinking about it, don't the birds normally fly south for the winter? Maybe these guys were a little lost because we are are no where close to being in the south. They were a lot of fun to sit and watch them swim around. Ducks are really strange animals but very funny!


These two little guys were the most entertaining ducks in the fountain. They came right over to us and were swimming around thinking that we were going to give them food. Guess the joke was on them. They really made me laugh because they were swimming around smelling the water looking for food and then they swam into each other and hit becks. They didn't like that :)





I know that I keep talking about blue skies but have yet to show you any. This is the final picture that we took on our walk before we went home. And they say that it is always raining in Seattle.

Goodbye..

Its been a sad weekend around here. We found out the Grandpa Taylor had passed away on the 2nd. He was truly a great man and loved by all. His health had been slipping away slowly and it was time for him to go. Brad's father was able to get him a plane ticket home so he could go to the funeral. I unfortunately had to stay behind and work, but I'm glad that Brad was able to go say goodbye. When Brad got home last night he was excited to tell me that grandpa is just a couple graves away from Bill and that they could be friends. Its a good spot in the cemetery to be in. We love you and your going to be missed!

Brad Taylor Art

Brad has officially started his art blog:

http://brad-taylor-art.blogspot.com/

Here is the link so you can go check it out and follow what he is currently working on. Check often as he will be updating it as he has more material also feel free to comment.

Project..

I've been working on a project of taking pictures around the city to send to my niece. She sent me and Brad a letter that was full of questions. The best way that I thought to answer would be in photos of places that we go. I was happy with the results (Amy you will be seeing this again when they make it to your house.)


This picture took about ten million times to take :) This was our last take before we left and I was happy with it.

We were lucky that it was a nice sunny day. The last couple of days have been cold and rainy. Brad thinks that we're starting into the winter weather up here. I'm interested to see how it goes. I'm not one for cold weather.

P.S. The picture is the gum wall down in Pikes Market.

Day off..

There is nothing better then a day off from work. This week my two days off have been split. As nice as it is to have two days off together some times it is just nice to work 2 days have a day off then work 3, just to have another day off. This is going to be my peaceful day off. I'm going to go shopping and then meet up with Bradley downtown to take pics for a project I'm working on. My days off next week are not going to be so much, got to take my stupid car back in to get fixed. Just going to get a tune up, so I hope that this will cure my problems that I have been having.

I've also got to tackle a few more boxes. Moving and unpacking is such a slow painful process. I would have to say that packing up the house is so much more easy then having to unpack it all. Unpacking takes so much more time and effort. By the time that I get home from work and Brad gets home from school we are spent. We are going to have visitors in November so its nice to have a deadline to finish it all.

Sometimes there really isn't a title that you can give a blog post. Today is a good day..we finally have warm weather (even saw blue skies), I made it home from work with out the car breaking down on me, and not being completely worn out!

I think that I am really starting to get used to the city living. I will just have to say that I am in heaven right now. As in the words of a friend the city is sparkling for me. Tomorrow is pay day and that means that I get to go shopping for food. I am really excited about this and have been looking forward to doing this since last pay check. There is a place called Trader Joe's that is two blocks from my house. It is a health food store but nothing like the health food stores in Utah where they charge you an arm and a leg for food that is going to last a day because no one can afford to shop there so the food is bad when you get it. But I think that I am in love! The prices at this place are cheaper then what the Safeway and you get better items.

I have been trying to cook more at home now that I am a little settled and don't have the money to eat out. There is a farmer market every sat that is located a couple of blocks from my house. I'm going to have some cash this weekend so when I get off of work I can go check it out. Two blocks in the other direction is a fish market and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is a pay check that I can go and buy some fresh seafood. Last night for some reason I decided that I needed to learn how to make an omelet. If you know me at all I have a really hard time with the texture of eggs, but I sucked it up. They were so yummy that I ate the whole thing. I can't wait to make them again! So excited that my first attempt was a success.

Another thing that I have been trying to do is buy food and not let it go to waste. This is something that I had a major problem with in Utah. It was just too easy to go out and eat so what food I did manage to buy just went moldy. I would like to get some food storage saved up but I don't see that one happening any time soon. Lets just say that my move up here I lost all of my food that I did have. In Springville the week that I was moving out my fridge decided that it was going to stop working. Lost everything that was in my fridge and freezer. I will never forget Joel's face when he discovered it. He picked up a Creamy that was in its bag and held it up. All the liquid ran to the bottom of the bag. EW! The smell was something horrible. That is just the beginning..when we got up here the bottom plug that we plugged my deep freezer in doesn't work. My freezer sat for two weeks with the food brewing the most god awful smell before it was discovered. I just want to say that I am surprised that I am able to eat after having to clean that up. I don't think that I have ever had to clean up something so disgusting in my life. I would rather clean up a million puke piles! Anyways...

Seattle is so amazing! There is so much to do here. Last week we meet up with Derek and other people and watched Rocky Horror Picture Show. I will have to say that this was so much freaking fun. Derek was so excited that he left early to get seats. Brad and me were running late because Brad was in school. When we got there we discovered that Derek got us front row seats. I wasn't sure about it at first but I will have to say that I don't think that there is any other way that you could, especially that first time. I can honestly say that I can't wait until the next time that we can do it.

On Friday Brad and me are going to go buy memberships to the SAM (Seattle Art Museum). They have a show there right now that we are both dieing to go see, Picasso! We have been waiting to go see this and I was looking at the prices and it will be the same price for us to get a membership compared to us seeing the show twice. Kind of a no brainer!

Seattle Living..

I have been in Seattle officially for a month now. Time is just flying! It is so amazing up here, still trying to finish unpacking but we will get there. I just want to say that I am loving it. My job keeps me busy, I try really hard to keep up with the ladies I work with but they can run circles around me. I just have to keep telling myself that they have been in the bakery for years and I have been there for 3 weeks.

On another note my car is acting up again. My first day that I worked the check engine light came on. So the last 3 weeks I've been driving my car in fear, I just don't know what I would do if it was to break down on me. Makes me sick to think about. Brad had been asking his friends to see if anyone knew of a place that would fix it and be reliable. Most people that he knows doesn't own a car and had no idea. Finally he talked to someone that found out where his hotel sent their vans to be fixed. Got my appointment to leave it there on Thursday while I'm at work. Sounds like it is going to take all of my safety/backup money to get it fixed. Its a little unnerving but got to do what you got to do. As long as it is not a major problem with it I think we will be good.

Brad is working hard at his school and is going to be cranking out some really awesome art work soon. I can't wait to see how his prints turn out. He said that he is going to start a blog that has his art work on it. I will keep you posted when he gets that up and running. He has so real exciting ideas that I can't wait to see!

Well I got to enjoy my last day off :) got so major laundry to do.

Work..

Tomorrow is going to be my first day on the job. I'm not to worried about it, actually really excited to start. I am really curious to see how this store runs compared to my last store that I was at. I feel like its not going to be too much a change, I have helped the bakery before. It will also be nice to have something to do with my day. I will be working in the morning and will be off at 2:30 so that means that I will have all day to do stuff. I know I am starting work a hour later then what I was in Utah, but that one hour I think is going to be really nice to be able to sleep.

Our apartment is also starting to feel like a home. Once its all unpacked I will take pictures and post them. The kitchen is so amazing..it huge. Its a really great place, and so close to every thing. Today Brad and me took a walk down to a music store. Good thing that we didn't have money :) Yesterday we also walked to an art store that is near by. The place was just HUGE! The whole time all I could think was how much that place kicked Provo Art and Frame's ass!!! The prices were so reasonable and there was so much selection it was unreal. The staff was more then willing to come and help us, trying to figure out what they need to do to suit our needs. This is another place that I think our money is going to go :)

Well going to bed so I can wake up to go to work. I'm so excited to go back to work.

Happy Birthday..

Yesterday was Bradley's birthday. The weather could have not been more perfect. When he got home from school we went and grabbed a hamburger and took a nice little stroll down to Gas Works. He claims that this is his favorite place in the city. You have the best view of the Seattle sky line there and its fun to sit and watch the boat float by. It was nice and quite there..could have spent a lot more time.

When we got home we were able to Skype my sister and her kids. It was fun getting to see them. The kids were more amazed by getting to see themselves in the little camera on the computer then they were us, but it was still fun. We also were able to talk to Brad's parents. Technology is so awesome. I'm really glad that everyone is willing to use Skype so we can see them.

Derek texted Brad and he had set up a get together. I was finally able to meet some of the people that I have heard so much about from Derek and Bradley. Even got to see an old friend that I used to work with at Taco Time..we were talking and that has been about ten years ago. He asked me if I still had the scar on my finger when I tried to chop it off. He was one of the lucky three that were there that morning :)

I hope that Brad had a good birthday..he deserves it!

I'm here..

I arrived yesterday..still has not sunk in that I am finally here. Don't think that will really happen until I start working again. I found out with my job that I am going to have 2 weekends off! I'm so excite, this is just something that doesn't happen too often there.

Last night I went out on the town with Brad and Derek. All I have to say is that I need to start getting used to the feeling of being in a big city. There is so much to do and I'm excited that the night life doesn't shut down at ten.

I'm going to finish unpacking my apartment this week and take a bus ride downtown to find Derek. Getting lost is the only way I'm going to be able to find my way around here.

2 more days..

That is all the I have left at work before I head out to Seattle. I was counting down the minutes to leave work today because I have worked 8 days straight. Still have not had the chance to catch up on my sleep from my move which was about 2 weeks ago. This means that I am going to sleep in tomorrow!

This last weekend has been a busy one..trying to get time in with everyone before I leave. On friday night after work me and a friend went up to the scrapbook expo. We really didn't buy too much but it was fun to go hang out, away from our work. We still were able to find some good deals on supplies just the same :)

On saturday my family got together and had tin foil dinners up the canyon. My sister was wanting to do one last one before I went. She knows that dinner up the canyon is my favorite thing to do. My little brother had his camera and was taking pictures. I will have to see if he will let me borrow a couple to put on here.

Yesterday when I got off of work I went with my brothers to the Greek Festival. Joel has a friend that dances so we got there just in time to watch her group perform. Also while we were there we got some pastries from a booth. Holy cow they are good! VERY sweet..it was everything that I love. After we were done at the Greek Festival we went and had dinner at a really yummy place. I had heard about it from a kid that I work with. It was one of those places were you choose the rice/noodles, veggies, meat and sauce and they fire it up on the grill for you. It was an all you can eat for just 12 dollars. I got two plates full and they were both really good. The store looked a little scary from the outside, a place that I would have never just walked off the street and go into. Once you were inside thought it was actually quite nice. I would totally go back there..plus they have a really cheap lunch special that was 7 dollars if I'm not mistake.

Well I'm off to go work on a project while I still have access to a sewing machine. I'm making a table cloth to go over our deep freezer and matching place mats for my table. I am hoping that this will make brad like my freezer better. He tells me all of the time that it is so ugly..but it is something that I have to have because I work at a place that sells everything in bulk!

Last 2 Weeks..

As I was driving up to Seattle I got a phone call from the manager that I have interviewed with and he informed me that I got the job. Sounds like on the 25th I will become a bakery wrapper. What the job includes is me wrapping the bread that that bakers bake in the morning. I am really happy that this went so well. I still will be full time and have a job that will keep me busy all of the time. On the other end of things I'm really sad to be leaving my pizza job. I love everything about that job, the work and the people. I guess it is just time to move on to bigger and better things.

My apartment is awesome! I had been stressing out about what size it was going to be but I'm really impress that Brad was able to find what he did. It has a full size stove and fridge. Brad said that there was only one other apartment that he found up there that even had that. Size wise I would have to say that it was the same size as my last apartment, except that we are missing one room. We even have enough space to have my deep freezer. This was something that Brad wasn't wanting me to bring up with me, but I did and now I am really glad that I did! The location is also amazing!!! I can't believe how close it is to everything and all of the possibilities it brings. I think that we are really going to enjoy it up there.

Brad started his classes today. We have been stressed out because when he went to orintaion last week he was told that he has to have a lap top. He went in and talked to the head of his department and talked to them about it. We have a really nice desk top at home, same thing that they have at the schools. Come to find out they really just wanted to make sure that he had a computer so that he could write papers on. I was not sure where we were going to come up with another $1000 to get a lap top, so problem solved.

His class schedule that he has sounds like he is going to have a ton of fun, but at that same time that it is going to be a lot of work. I am really excited to see what type of work this school is going to demand of him. He had it really good out at Snow College, they challenged him and gave him a kick in the butt that he was needing. After his first class he was sounding really positive about it..give it a couple more class periods to see what he really thinks though :)

I purchased my ticket today and on the 18th I'm heading to Seattle!

Moving World..

Sitting here doing my final packing and cleaning before every one comes and helps me load it up tonight. It is such a weird feeling. Going to Seattle has been in my plans for a few years but now that it is here it just doesn't seem real. I'm really excited and can't wait until tomorrow when I get to see my new place! Don't know when I will be back on a computer or when we will have internet. Hope that it won't be too long because I think that I would go crazy up there.

waiting game..

I'm sitting in my apartment trying to figure out what to do next. I sent Brad to Seattle to go find us a place to live. I'm going to drive my car out there soon so that he will have something to fill up the apartment until I am able to get a job transfer. There is a lot to do and I feel like I just go too much time to fill. I wish that things were set in stone so that I could have a goal to work towards. Wish me luck..packing is going to be a beast.

Cake..

My little brother likes to bake. He seems to always be making cakes and things in that common area. A couple of weeks ago he came over with a recipe he had found online that he wanted to try out. It turned out to me amazing! We didn't even use all the ingredients that it called for because he thought it would be to sweet. I was so proud of the results I had to take a picture.

Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Everything about this cake was amazing! Super Moist and full of flavor. We didn't add coconut to it but we decided that if we were to make it again we would put it in there. The cream cheese frosting that we made we also decided that we were only going to put half of what it called for. I think that this was a really good decision. The frosting was so rich!

Thanks for letting me share. Just looking at the picture makes me hungry! Until our next adventure...later!

Tea Time Party..

I'm a little slow when it comes to posting here, especially if it has pictures that I would like to include. I have to get Brad to help me get them from my camera to the computer. Technology is NOT my friends and unless I do it a million times it doesn't stick in my head.

At the beginning of the month was Brad's moms birthday. His dad informed me that I was to be in charge of the parties. I wanted to do something special for her and I just love cooking for big groups of people. Pat is a special lady..she is prime and proper. She always has a couple of magazines of with the theme of old Victorian time period laying around in her living room. With that in mind I decided that we were going to throw her a surprise tea party.

The whole dinner I made from scratch, minus the croissants. I spent the whole day in the kitchen preparing. My apartment had been averaging about 94 degrees which gave me several set backs in my preparing. I was proud of everything that I made because I turned out awesome. My tea time party menu went something like this:

• Chicken Salad Croissants with Grapes
  
• Banana-Mandarin Muffins
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffins
• Oatmeal Peach Muffins
• Strawberry Cream Trifle
• Scones Filled with Raspberry Jam
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Banana Ice
• Watermelon
• Grapes
• Lemon Water

The flowers were provided by Jennie and her little girls.What is a tea party if you don't have flowers? The tea pot arrangement was made possible by Wayland...I think that it was Jennifer that helped choose the color of pot it was to be for Pat :)


All of the dishes that were on the table full of food were mine except for the bowl that was holding the water. For this party I was able to make 3 new platters. I had gotten the idea from a friend at work that had seen it on a blog somewhere. They took terracotta pot bases, covered them with paper and then painted them. My friend helped me find some paper to put in the bottom and I was also able to put one of my own. I think that this was one of the things that I took the time to get ready and was very happy with the results! This is a picture of them below. I tried to make them into colors that would match my kitchen. In the first picture in this post they are what is holding the sandwiches and the muffins.


All and all I was really happy with the results from this whole party! I can't wait until I can do something like this again. There is nothing better then the success of a party.

week review..

Wow..what a week it has been! I don't think that I have been home for more then a couple of hours to sleep. I love weeks when they are this way, but then I never get any of the house work done that is needed badly! Guess it will just have to wait :)

On sat me and brad went up to Payson Lakes with some guys in the band. This is my first time ever swimming there and I will have to admit that I was a little freaked out to do it, but I faced the fear. So when I say swim, it was more like a nice float out on the lake. We had a pregnant lady that worked to our advantage and we didn't have to do anything too crazy. Later that night we had a fun BBQ with burgers and all the works. To end the evening we sat out on the front porch and watched the stadium of fire fireworks. While enjoying the show, three houses down from where we were sitting a building went up in flames. That was quite the excitement for the night and after the fire was put out..the grand finale of the fireworks just didn't seem that grand.

Sunday was brad's family party. The tank war was declared. Brad decided that the battle should be between the fight of coke and pepsi. We made flags and attached them to tanks. Brad's dad was rooting for the pepsi side to win, while I was really hoping that the coke side would kick butt. After they had all been lit and the war was over, the definite winner was coke! Wayland didn't like the result, but the weak must fall.

Monday after I got off of work I had a girls night with my sis. We were going to go see the new twilight movie but once we got there we decided that we would go see Grown Ups instead. That was definitely the best choose that we could have made! I don't think that I have laughed that hard in a long time. I LOVE Adam Sandler, there is just something about him and it really grosses everyone out. The casting of everyone that was in it was amazing. I don't think that they could have done anything else to make it better. We ended the night with dinner at Olive Garden. Brad lucked out and got to eat my left overs.

Wednesday I decided that we needed to go see Toy Story 3. This was another one that I was wanting to see but a little worried that it wouldn't live up to what the first two had been. I was not disappointed and Buzz Lightyear is still my favorite two off of that show. Still can't figure out why some people would cry during it, but then it was like what my sister said..I'm not a mom. Still it is one that everyone should go see.

Thursday night was YEARS in the making..Brad and me finally got to go to a Modest Mouse concert together. In Salt Lake they hold a concert series that is free to the public called the Twilight Concert Series. The first band of the summer was Modest Mouse. This is my absolute favorite band in the whole world! There are just not the words to tell you all how I feel about them. The news said that there was near 40,000 people that showed up for it. When we heard the number of people that were there it made us proud because through out the show we were able to make it the the 4th row of people. I don't think that I have danced, sang, and blown my voice out at a concert in a very long time. Think that the last time might have been at the Modest Mouse concert in Montana. This is my 4th time that I have seen them live and I will say that it will not be my last. They never fail to satisfy my Modest Mouse need. I was worried that they were going to play a lot of music from their newest 2 cd (which makes me sad to listen to them sell out) but they mostly played older songs. My Brothers and sister also went to the concert with us. I thought that it was funny that my older bro actually showed up. For as much shit as he has given me the last 9 years he said that he enjoyed it and got a concert tee-shirt.

Last night, which was Friday, I went to a movie with Brad and one of his Flying J buddies to see Predators. It was amazing! I think that I was one of 4 girls in the packed movie theater. It kept my attention during the whole thing. I will have to say that I am glad that I decided to go to that one. Brad had made me watch the one that was in 1987 two days before so that I would know what was going on. I will have to say that I am glad that I did! It is a continuation of that movie, but twenty years later. They referred to it a couple of times and so it was good to know what was going on.

With it being Saturday night I am glad to say that we have nothing that is planned and I can have a nice night at home. That just means that I can start to work on my house work and start going through boxes to get ready to head to Seattle. This was a lot to read..after doing all of these awesome things you would think that I would have pics or something but a camera was always an after thought :)

Spiral Jetty

Brad's art friends and me took a mini road trip. We drove 45 minutes past the Golden Spike Monument, which by the way is in the middle of nowhere, on a bumpy dirt road to the Spiral Jetty located on the Great Salt Lake. Many of you might wonder what the heck the Spiral Jetty is so let me give you a brief history of it. It is a earthwork by Robert Smithson and was created in 1970. It is made from rocks to form a pattern out in the Salt Lake. The picture to the left is all of us that went, besides me because I'm taking the pictures :)


Gina was kind enough to prepare us a picnic. This was a great break from the long car ride. Also gave us energy to go exploring. While we were out there and before we left Brad and me decided that we were going to climb up the mountain and look down on it. Holly only made it about half way before she had too many stickers in her shoes and had to take care of that problem. It was hard to get a good picture of it just from the road and the size of it is hard to compare due to the lack of markers out there. About dead center in this photo you can see the SUV that we rode in. It was exciting that it wasn't under water when we got there. This gave us a chance to go walk on it and check it out further.

These photos are when we were out on the Jetty:




This is a picture of Nate and Brad making their way to the middle of the Jetty.




Holly and Gina starting out the trek. This is also the mountain that we climbed. Ok so maybe its more of a big hill but it was the highest thing out there.




Here is Nate enjoying Cheetos and art. Not many places will let you do both of those at the same time.




Think this is the first picture of me and I'm standing in the very center of the Spiral Jetty.

The landscape out there was really odd to me. Because there is so much salt in the water there hardly was any vegetation. It was just sage brush and a couple other hardy plants that grow here in Utah. With the Salt Lake being so salty (go figure), I found it very interesting the salt crystals that were growing on the edge of the rocks. In the middle of the crystals there were pieces of tumbleweeds that were stuck in them. I also hadn't seen anything that sparkled so much before and there was no way that my little camera could catch the colors and light of the crystals. Thanks to Brad we got a picture of me exploring them. The other thing that I found really odd about the water is that it had a red/purple color to it. Once again there really was no way that I could catch the colors just right but from the picture you can kind of see that it is a little red. It makes me wonder what makes it do that. The colors were just so incredible.

There are just a couple more pictures that I want to share with you and this Brad and me when we got to the top of the mountain:



Notice the difference that Brad is at least a foot taller then me and how much more detail he was able to get in the photo. I felt bad but his picture still rocks!

Its offical..

We are Seattle bound. Brad got accepted into Cornish College of the Arts. They called about a week ago to congratulate him and yesterday he received the official letter in the mail. This is over four years in the making..with his schooling that he did and Associate Degree he earned from Snow College, all of his credits pretty much transferred and he will be starting as a junior. Two more years and he will have his BFA. Super proud of him and excited for our new adventure that Seattle is going to bring.

LIFE..

As I am always saying..time is just flying! There have been so many things that have been happening I have just seemed to have lost track of time all together. With the help of brad I am going to update everyone on what we have been doing the last month or so.

At the beginning of May, I decided that we needed to take a couple mini vacations this summer. The first one that I planned was a weekend trip to Zions National Park. Lets just say that the one day that we were there we hiked our butts off! The first hike that we went on was the Angel's Landing Hike, even though we didn't do the last 1/2 mile of it. For those of you that don't know that last half a mile is a part with cliffs on both sides of the trails and you have a chain to hold onto. Brad informed me that if I wanted to do that then I needed to find people to do it with. He is not a risk taker at all and I was lucky to get him as far up as I did. When we were sitting on the scouts lookout it took him a long time before he "felt like the mountain was not going to fall down."

That was the most intense hike that we did while we were there and luckily that was the first one that we did so we still had the energy to do it. After that hike we did all of the other small hikes that the park had to offer. It was a lot of fun and was great back drops to take pictures. This picture here of Brad is the highest that he has ever been on top of a mountain. The views that we had up there were intense! Brad does a good job in this pic to not show how nervous he was :)
The picture that is below is from the Riverside Walk. The Narrows were closed and I was secretly happy with that because I was tired from all of the hiking that we did!


That is the basics of what we did when we were in Zions. Maybe if we can get pictures off of Brads camera I might be able to upload a couple more. In the next couple of days I will try and get current on what is happening with us. Its time for bed and there are pizzas waiting to be made in the morning.

Its been awhile, but I guess that is nothing new for me. It has been super busy our way that it just doesn't seem like I have the time to do anything but work, school, and sleep :)

The semester is coming to an end! I did my final presentation in my business presentation class today. This has been one hell of a bitch! It was a group project and the people that I was grouped with totally sucked. Basically they half assed the whole project. I had brought up my concerns with my teacher earlier about the situation. It was a very stressful project. I felt good about the part that I was to prepare and give.

One of the requirements to do this presentation was that we had to be dressed professional, which I know is a lot to ask for a final business presentation. I was the only one that dressed up. My teacher called the other three on it, they claimed that they didn't know. All I have to say is that it does help if you show up to class every once in a while! My teacher had also told us that this was going to be the first time that he was going to be giving each individual in the group a different grade.

Once I sat down and the next group was up getting their power point ready my teacher came up to me and whispered to come talk to him after class. For once this didn't make me nervous to have a teacher tell me that. When class was over with, I went and had my chat. He told me that this was the most dis-functional group that he has had in the 8 times teaching this class. After saying that he told me that I didn't need to worry about my grade because he was going to take care of me. Such relief! He also asked for some suggestions from my experience on what he could change things in his class so this wouldn't happen again. This is something I told him I need a couple of days to think about but I'm going to think hard and give him some suggestions so that he can improve the experience for everyone else that is going to take his class.

Over all this has been a fun class, minus this stupid group project. The only reason that I choose to do this class was to push myself and learn how to speak better in a group. I don't regret doing it all and I have learned a lot.

The other class that I took this semester is almost over too. It is a career prep class. This has been one of the best classes that I have taken! I don't think that there has been a single day that I haven't wanted to go class. We have been working on resumes and networking in the fields that we are wanting to go into. This class has made me think a lot about the future and what I want to do as a "real" job. I think that I am going to change my ways and go into something totally different. I need to do this, I don't think that business is all that I want to go into anymore but it will help me in the long run. I just need to figure out what Brad is going to be doing with his school stuff so I can start planning on getting into a program that is going to be close to the same place that his school is going to be at.

Anyways that is all that I have to talk about for the night.

Rock Goblet

Brad's band, Charging Frederick, is going to be having a concert! All the info is in the flier above. They are also officially done recording and selling their CD for $10. Its full length and professional recorded. Let me know if you are interested in purchasing it.

Most important thing..

all the talking about the party made me for get what I accomplished yesterday. Brad took me out to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. I got a fork to eat with to be safe. I was talking to Brad telling him that I can't eat with chop sticks and guess what I did! I ate the whole meal with chop sticks, even the rice. I couldn't believe it! I have been trying for years to use chop sticks the correct way and for some reason it just clicked. It started out with a death grip but by the end it was way more relaxed despite my handicap with a numb finger tip. It was so awesome!

holiday party...

I just got home from my works holiday party. I know the holidays are about a month behind us but I guess its better late then never. It was nice to talk to people that I haven't had a chance to talk to in a long time. Ever since I have started working in the cafe I am always to busy running around working that I don't get that many chances to talk to friends.

Every year that I have gone to a work party they have had drawing to give out gifts. I was lucky enough to win more popcorn to add to my bottomless collection and generic lemon lime soda that I can't stand drinking because it was what my mom used to give to us when we were little and throwing up. They also had the game where you try and guess how much candy is in every jar. Now this was my time to shine! I won the jar that I have been debating on buying at walmart and the plus was that it was full of candy that I really enjoy eating. That means that I will have lunch tomorrow :)

All and all I would have to say that it was a good "christmas" party.