i knew i was getting old.

... but when the girl I tutor didn't understand my Chris Farley tribute when studying El Nino, I knew I was seriously getting up there.

Here are some pics from my fab 28th birthday:

Jason took me on a surprise hot air balloon adventure!
Jason + hot air balloon = dreams come true

I just kinda wanted to stay home on my birthday this year (another sign of aging).
Jason made us some delicious salmon for dinner. YUM.

Then we made a delicioso strawberry shortcake cake, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman.
(Warning: this recipe is RIDICULOSO sweet. Even for my sugar-lovin' teeth.)

When The Pioneer Woman says to use a pan that is at least 2" deep, she means it.
We had a little extra donut of cake that fell off. But Jason ate it. YUM.

Happy Birthday to me!

28 for reals?

Thank you Leah Claire for the lovely necklace...
and all friends and family for your gifts and cards and calls.
You made my day extra-special happy.

July is jam-packed with fun: visits from family, family reunion, and a trip to Honduras. Oh, I can't wait. Not to mention (!) a nephew will be joining us sometime mid-month. How mucho exciting! I am way excited as I have been particularly lonely for family lately. Adjusting to life in Utah has been a bit tough on me as it seems that most folks who live in Utah also have immediate family who also lives here. I have some aunts and uncles here, but nobody close by that I could just pop in on. I find that the best friends I make here are folks who also don't have any family around... and in my new ward, so far that is nobody. Not to complain! I am feeling like we are fitting in well in our ward, and we are where we are supposed to be. I am just saying that sometimes I get pretty lonely around these parts. Maybe I should get a dog.

In other news, neither the USA nor Honduras made it in the World Cup, super big bummer. And this weekend is going to be a blast with a little mini-reunion of some folks I taught with at the MTC, and my sister and her husband coming to visit with their kids. I have the pool noodles and popsicles ready! Let's have a party!

i am from washington. i drive a subaru.

Well, technically, I only drive it when Jason has my car, but my old roommate Blair insisted that everyone she had ever met from Washington State either drove or wanted to drive a Subaru. She is right. Of course she is right! Subarus rule. Why wouldn't you want one? You can drive up any mountain anywhere and through snow and mud and to a lake and carry a canoe with it and also a bunch of other gear in back and also their lights turn on automatically when the car does. Case closed.

Here are some pics of my trip to WA in April for the Vancouver, BC temple dedication and general good times with fambly.

Papa and I in front of the temple. I have a cool dad.

My brothermen and I. I sure love these guys a lot.

My brother Steve took this more artistic-y photo. He's good at photos. And science.

EL TEMPLO DE DIOS. It is beautiful.

This is my parents' back yard.
(Finally I don't write "my" back yard anymore. I am all growed up, I guess.)

One of my favorite things about home is watching my brothers and dad
fight each other with pool noodles stuck onto bamboo poles.
Ah, the good times. Also whilst home I invented a version of
pool noodle clay pigeon shooting, which involved hurling a
bambooed pool noodle at a frisbee while it was airborne. I love home.

At deliiiiiiiiicious Chinese food with (L-R) Uncle Sandy, Aunt Bonnie,
my brother-in-law Ian, and my sweet mum (Jason's mama).

What a great trip. The dedication was moving, the cultural celebration was fabulous (good job Mom!) and it was so wonderful to see my family and Jason's family and to meet Bonnie and Sandy for the first time. I sure hit the jackpot in the family department, I tell you what.

Time for FHE! Today it involves guitars and spreadsheets, so Jason and I will both be pleased. :)

xoxo

in which i post some photos

I may be officially the worst blogger ever. I got this sweet new computer but I haven't been putting photos on it... finally decided TODAY I SHALL CHANGE MY WAYS. So I loaded a bunch of sweet photos on the ol' lappy, some of which I will tickle your fancies with now, and stay tuned for many future photo-laden posts. (I can almost feel your anticipation.)

Let us start at the very ending, shall we? Today I didn't have tutoring, so I was to spend the day studying. Instead, I decided to tackle the evil stack o' papers in the Spare Oom. These papers are my nemesis. I consider myself a fairly clean person, and usually attack clutter in the main rooms on an "un dia si, un dia no" (every other day) basis. However, Spare Oom is a land less navigated by both visitors and me, so the evil stack kept growing. Plus I think filing papers is my #1 Most Hated Task. (What's yours?) But I subscribe to this organizational email which encouraged me to tackle paper daily, and though I am no Leah Claire, I figured it was time to attack the demon.

THE DEMON:

A closer look: this is seriously several months of papers I need to file

So I was fairly motivated. I think I lasted all the way through Losing it with Jillian and partway through another show before my four year old brain got distracted by the sunshine outside and I decided it was time to soak in my daily vitamin D and repaint my toenails. (Do not you love this color? It is Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer in "Orange You Cute?") I tried my fingernails as well, but, as usual, my impatience resulted in severe smudging. Gah. Curse my metal body! (5 points to whoever identifies the source of that quote.)


So here I am buried in the below jumble of papers. I have to go through about 2 years' worth of old papers and pull out what is now irrelevant, replace with new irrelevant papers, and shred like a million trees. Ugggghhh. Why can't everything be paperless? FILING IS MY ENEMY.

[Aside: Whilst I was constructing this post, I was summoned to an HOA meeting at our complex, during which I was voted secretary. That's what I get for answering the door. Heh.]

And now, signing off, your newly-committed-to-blogging-with-interesting-photos friend,

Laura

hoooooooooooola

So a bunch of time has passed since last I posted. Of note:

• I went to Washington to see my family and Jason's family and also for the Vancouver, B.C. temple dedication. It was so fun. The temple is beautiful, the family is wonderful. Also my little bro got his mission call (on the day I got there! prayers are answered. ha.) to Nicaragua! Excited for him. Missions are super rad. The gospel is super rad. Sharing it is super WAY rad.
  
• Read this. It is wisdom, and very short.
  
• I turned 28! I am getting up there in years. Weird.
  
• For my cumpleanos, Jason took me on a surprise trip in a hot air balloon--one of the most prominent items on my bucket list. It was glorious. How I love that man. It's like he figures his only purpose in life is to make my dreams come true. (He does.) Photos can be seen on the facebook place, if interested.
• I got a new computer! It came in the mail today. (I'm only slightly embarrassed to say that the 8:30am knock on the door from the FedEx man woke me up.) May more blog posting ensue. I will still keep my other beloved laptop--this one is for quick surfing and Skyping. Yay.
• Still tutoring, and it is super great. I love it. Also still studing for the NASM personal training cert.... better hop to that. Ack! Is it seriously almost 2pm? Ok I'm signing off.
  

XOXOXOXOX
Laura

well, hello 29.

Jason turned 29 yesterday. Happy Birthday to him! We just had a low key night at home. Jason passed a little time with book 7 of Harry Potter, then we ate Mum's spaghetti and had cake and watched Up (interspersed with lovely phone calls from family, which he loved), and went to bed about 10pm. We are old people.

Making THE cake. Notice the dishes all done in the background.
Jason did them. I tried to make him not do them, but he is all nice and stuff.

Lovely cream cheese layer.

So strong. And brave. And 29.

Jason is cute. I mean, handsome.

Awwww.

I forgot the candles, but luckily Jason still likes me. Phew.

Blowing out his makeshift match candle.

Happy Birthday, J! So glad you were born. Seriously. So glad.

In other news, I start a new job tomorrow! Yay! I am tutoring a girl for half a day each morning. Due to some circumstances in her life, she needs a tutor to catch her up before she begins her senior year of high school next year. I am really excited. I met with her and her family a couple of weeks ago and it just felt right. Now I know why I couldn't go through with all the other job applications I started and would never complete! This is it. It all makes sense in retrospect.

And, since I got a job thing again, I have also purchased my study materials to become a personal trainer. So in about four months or less, I will be prepared--and certifiably able--to kick your behinds into shape! (And mine.) I decided to go with NASM as it is the most recognized around these parts. Then I can go on and pursue additional certifications where I see the need. Sweet!

Wish me luck!

guess who's pregnant?

Not me! But my sister is, and we threw her a baby shower on March 27. IT WAS SO FUN. And exhausting. And fun! I was nervous because I can think of maybe 3 baby showers I have been to in my lifetime, but I think it went well. Here are some photographs:

Foods!

More foods!

Gram and Leslie. Grandma saved the day by helping in the kitchen. Leslie is cute.

So did these two lovely ladies! My cousins. Aren't they pretty?

My seester Kristen drove all the way from Colorado to be there as a surprise to Melissa--here Kristen's oldest appears with the food she was so eager to help get ready, though I think she ate only Skittles. Hehe.

Here is Grandma at the gift/note table. We had folks sign some Dr. Suess books for Melissa to take with her to California.


Lovely Connie, whose house we invaded. She is really just wonderful. Here with Aunt Val, who drove since 2am to come down. She is crazy cool.


Mom was able to be there also, thanks to Skype and Jason who lent me his laptop for the day, even though he had homework. What a dude. And what a mom! You rule, momma.


Kristen put together this fun Family Feud game. She did a great job!


What is a Pugmire shot without weird faces? All 3 sisters.


Here are some of the shower attendees. For more photos, click here.


Kristen's kids were so eager to help with gifts. :) And Aunt Heather did an amazing job of organizing gift bags. Seriously. She has skillz. I think the gifting helped curb little Kimmie's disappointment in not being able to actually see Melissa's baby--she asked Melissa several times when her baby was "going to pop out," and responded dejectedly when told that the baby would come in the summer, "I thought we were going to be able to see the baby." Apparently she thought the baby would be born during the shower!

After the shower, we headed to Provo to play outside and to see Steve and enjoy some foods and ice cream at the creamery. So fun to have us together! Mom, Pops, and Brizo--we missed you.

Adios Meliss, and good luck in San Diego! Thanks for letting us party with you before you left! And boo for sisters moving away.

two things

First of all, I pledged to lose 9 pounds to the pound for pound challenge.

Don't worry, I checked it with Melissa, my sister dietitian, first. It still keeps me well within my healthy weight range. Totally safe. I'm stoked because I just wanted to do something extra to help those who have less, and there are lots of folks needing extra help. Also it is a cool way to get myself to work out with the knowledge that people in need are counting on me.

Secondly, if I ever bear children, their nursery will look like this:



I'm sure I can make it gender neutral somehow. See more pics here.

take 20 minutes and watch this. it's worth it.

Thanks to my friend Tim who pointed me to this video. I sure did love it.



Or you can watch on its origin website here.

it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got

My friend Cheyenne turns on the radio when she is home alone so that she is motivated to do things (so hard to do when it's dead quiet). I lasted through about 40 minutes of NPR's ongoing (and quite circular, might I add) discussion of health care reform before I switched to the musica. I prefer guitars most mornings. Right now we've got Sheryl Crow's Soak up the Sun. Ah, the memories that old tunes bring back...

Here are some random thoughts for you.


Cheyenne and I dropped by The Square Nest and found the most adorable local cards. I liked the one above so much I framed it and put it on my desk.

I spent the weekend with my sister Melissa in P-town which was oh so fun. She rules. And her baby bump is cute. We ate, talked, watched a movie, cooked, packed up her stuff (boo for moving away) and generally just had a great time. I loved meeting up with her and Steve for some delicious Crunchy Cinnamon French Toast from Kneaders. YUM, and way good company. Photo spread:

In other news, some people (cough cough, Aunt Heather) don't really believe I'm doing this personal fitness trainer gig, but I really am. I begin classes April 19. I'm a wee bit nervous. I haven't done school for a while and I am hoping this will be an educational investment that will benefit my family in valuable ways, e.g. demonstrate the importance of taking care of the stewardship that is the body, help both Jason and I to keep fit, and be able to contribute to my community in a way that will promote greater health for the general populace. I am also hoping that someday if Jason and I ever produce offspring, it will be something I can do for a few hours a week to get some additional income and interact with adult-types. Then eventually when we buy a house, I can build an in-home gym and run a small business. My dream of getting a Masters is not forgot, but just on hold for a little while. This feels best for now.

So, off I go to look for a part-time job! Woot! And also get a nice 40 minute run in. SoCal Ragnar, here I come! And also join a food co-op. And maybe make the bed. Maybe.

Stay tuned for photos of the redone condo. I need some color ideas for when we paint the walls this spring, if you are willin'.