Thursday, August 26, 2010

85 days

There are this many days until the seventh Harry Potter movie:


85

Now, that may seem like a long time.
HOWEVER,
in the time it took for us to decide to make a chain to countdown and then to actually do it -
10 days passed away.

After playing a rousing hour of tennis, on the hottest day of the week (Eric said, "I think it only got to 99 degrees.") we set out to fulfill one of our bucket list items, making a Harry Potter countdown chain.

Anna, Eric's youngest sister, was gracious enough to give us the needed construction paper. We tried to match the house colors as much as possible. We also took an extensive, very personal quiz to find out to which Hogwarts Houses we belonged.

Eric
=
Hufflepuff


Alexa
=
Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw - but mostly Gryffindor

Interesting ...

And in case you aren't quite that excited yet ... Let me help you:


Monday, August 23, 2010

mallionaires

I spent my weekend with these creeps (minus Eli - he was in Anchor Blue checking out a Sonic the Hedgehog t-shirt).

We traversed up and down and all around the Columbia Center Mall. If you want to have a whole lot of fun, I suggest going school clothes shopping on the last Saturday before school starts - I especially recommend this if you want to walk arm and arm with perfect strangers or stand in amusement park long lines.

But really it wasn't so bad. We finished the most of our shopping by 2pm, got lunch at Panda Express (Dairy Queen for the little, less cultured ones), took some silly photo-booth photos, had a run in with a terrifying grasshopper (just ask Eli), and made it home safe and sound with our bounty.

I was actually quite surprised at how easy and almost fun the shopping was. Plus, I've really missed the sibs, and it was good to just laugh and feel like a part of the family again.

Can you believe there's only a week left in August?! Bring on September!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A gift

A few Sunday thoughts on love and marriage....

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe firmly in the concept of marriage and family - not just while on this earth - but for time and all eternity.
In a world where many "call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"(Isaiah 5:20), I take comfort in knowing that joy can still be found in one of the sweetest gifts our Heavenly Father can give. These words inspire me as I work towards my goal of an eternal, covenant marriage.


"If we pursue the goal of an eternal marriage with purity and with both our hearts and our minds, I believe in most cases we will eventually be rewarded with a companion who is at least our spiritual equal and who will cleave unto intelligence and light as we do, who will receive wisdom as we receive it, who will embrace truth as we embrace it, and who will love virtue as we love it. To spend the eternities with a companion who shares the most important fundamental values with us and who will discuss them, live them, and join in teaching them to children is among the most soul-satisfying experiences of true romantic love. To know that there will be someone who walks a parallel path of goodness and growth with us and yearns for the same eternal values and happiness is of great comfort.

Elder Parley P. Pratt, who had been married civilly thirteen years earlier, first heard about the concept of eternal marriage ... in 1839. His reaction, as recorded in his autobiography, may be difficult to understand for those of us who have grown up with the anticipation of marrying in a temple for time and all eternity. This concept was completely new to Elder Pratt, however, and he was overwhelmed by it:



“I received from [Joseph] the first idea of eternal family organization, and the eternal union of the sexes in those inexpressibly endearing relationships which none but the highly intellectual, the refined and pure in heart, know how to prize, and which are at the very foundation of everything worthy to be called happiness.
“Till then I had learned to esteem kindred affections and sympathies as appertaining solely to this transitory state, as something from which the heart must be entirely weaned, in order to be fitted for its heavenly state.
“It was Joseph Smith who taught me how to prize the endearing relationships of father and mother, husband and wife; of brother and sister, son and daughter.
“It was from him that I learned that the wife of my bosom might be secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined sympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the fountain of divine eternal love. It was from him that I learned that we might cultivate these affections, and grow and increase in the same to all eternity; while the result of our endless union would be an offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, or the sands of the sea shore. …
“I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved—with a pureness—an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this grovelling sphere and expand it as the ocean. I felt that God was my heavenly Father indeed; that Jesus was my brother, and that the wife of my bosom was an immortal, eternal companion; a kind ministering angel, given to me as a comfort, and a crown of glory for ever and ever. In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, pp. 297–98).

This came from a great talk from Elder Marlin K. Jensen. I wish you all a happy Sabbath!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A night at the county fair

Writer's Note: This post is dedicated to Sir Chris Ledoux.


 Eric and I took his sisters, Anna (9) and Holly (15) to the County Fair.

Aside from having the sun soak every ounce of energy and pizazz out of us, we had a fun time taking in the sites, sounds and scents of Smalltown, USA.







We ended the night taking in a little Uncle Kracker concert - where Zoey and her two friends met up with us. It was all the girls' first concert and it was a pretty decent concert for a county fair. And can I just say I've never seen sooooo many people and an Eastern Oregon festivity such as this.


 (this particular shot wasn't exactly planned, but I really like it. 
Thanks Anna, for catching it!)

Well there’s a full moon in the western sky,
And there’s magic in the air.
Ain’t nothin’ I know of, can make you fall in love,
Like a night at the county fair.
 "County Fair" by Chris Ledoux




On a completely different topic....
My mom is facing some pretty serious health issues right now, and we don't have a lot of answers. And though I'm not one to normally ask (and my mom will probably give me a hard time for even asking, but), your prayers for our family would be much appreciated. Thanks.


Friday, August 13, 2010

groove



Sometimes when life is too overwhelming, you just gotta act a fool.


(note to self, never shoot video of myself at an up angle)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

likes

this week (so far) i like



the closer: particularly the episode entitled "layover"


olive garden's chicken scampi


the columbia river temple after dark


country music: in particular taylor swift's newest single which
i just downloaded this morning

and this

cuuuuuuuute.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Bruce's Spuds

So, Eric my beloved, was finally able to acquire some work as the harvest season in Eastern Oregon gets going full throttle.

We were both excited because he's been getting very frustrated in the seemingly futile job search. Then I heard the sad news ... he'd be working 6pm to 6am starting in only two days. Which meant not only were we not going to be able to join his sister Elizabeth and her boyfriend Stan on a trip to Portland this weekend, but I'd probably not see him for a few days (which had yet to happen in the last month).

So, in all my maturity, I was cursing harvest.

But, it turns out that having your boyfriend's boss also preside over our single's branch in Church has its perks.

I was invited out to the fields whenever I felt so inclined.

In the few hours I've spent in the dusty darkness watching potato after potato going into truck after truck on their way to Southeast Asia, I've become intrigued and measurably less bitter.

And here be DeMarcus - working hard for the bacon, er...potato?
Not to mention I was rewarded for all my pain and suffering with a large bag of free, fresh potatoes.

Thanks Farmer Ford!
(also know as President Bruce Ford of the Butter Creek Branch)

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Characterized

We are having a gal paint some of the windows at our office for the Round-Up, which is about 5 weeks away, by the way.

Yesterday I got to work to have this greet me....

Can you tell which one is me??

I'll give you a hint ...

I'm the busty blond on the right!

Just another perk of the job. Well endowed characterizations.

Monday, August 2, 2010

omb

oh my buddha.

remember that swimsuit from VS i wanted months ago, but couldn't seem to swallow spending $125 on?

i just found it's yellower sister for $80.

what's a girl to do?