Splash Pad! - Blogged by JME

Our ward had their summer party at the Splash Pad a couple weeks ago and Pookie, Pooh Bear, and Jo Jo came with me. It was really nice! We enjoyed good food, great company, and amazing dessert!

It was a bit cloudy and a little cold, but it was really fun. Jo Jo and I chilled in the sun together while Pookie and Pooh Bear lived it up in the splash pad. Jo Jo has quite the head of hair. I've really loved holding that little baby girl. It has become one of my favorite things to do lately.





After playing in the splash pad for a while, it got a little cold, so we just hung out and visited with people. We talked to a really nice family that just moved in. The husband was in the Navy as well, but just finished his contract and didn't sign up again because of the excessive time the Navy kept him away from his family. Oh, how we can relate! It was great to get to know them and they are such a nice family.

Shy little Pooh Bear even got up enough guts to go over to the playground and play with all the other kids. What a brave little girl.

Thanks to those in the ward that put this together. It was such a great idea and provided such a great atmosphere to mingle and get to know our neighbors. I've really loved this ward that we belong to and truely feel that we were guided and blessed to be a part of it. So many of the people in this ward have reached out and fellowshipped me. They have made sure to involve me in activities or sit by me when I'm alone in sacrament. This ward has been one of my greatest support systems since N8 left for this mobilization and I've felt impressed with how they have gone above and beyond to make me feel like I belong.

Also, thanks for going with me you three. We always have such a great time!

Three Drowned Rats . . . and a Skunk! - Blogged by JME

I'm part of the hiking club at work and go hiking once a week. It's pretty fun and a good work out. I've been able to learn some new trails and go on a few old favorites.

A few weeks ago, Lele (my sis) and Bug and Skunk (her two boys) decided to go with me up to a waterfall close by, just the three of us. I had gone on it with the hiking club the night before and it was great! When I went with the hiking club, the sun was shining but the weather was still pretty cool. However, it had been raining on and off the last few weeks and the weather was pretty unpredictable.





We didn't get very far on the trail when Skunk decided he was too tired and ended up batting his handsome little eyelashes at me, resulting in a free ride all the way up to the waterfall. How does he do that???



Not too long after we got going it started to rain really hard. We had to find shelter under some trees. The trees didn't help much. We still got pretty wet.



Well, we're already soaked. We might as well keep going in the rain . . .





When we finally made it to the waterfall, the little boys were freezing and we were all dripping wet. The waterfall was amazing, but the wind in the canyon made it even colder and blew the mist from the waterfall right at us. It was pretty miserable at first but then we hiked to the side of the waterfall so we wouldn't get hit with the spray.





Poor Skunk's hands were freezing! I tried blowing on them to warm him up, but he was still really cold.



Because they were such great troopers, both boys got a piggy back ride all the way down.





The view and the sunset were both beautiful on the way down and made the whole thing worth it.







When we finally got down to the bottom, we all tumbled into my car. We were wet, cold, and exhausted. We looked like three drowned rats and a skunk. We had a great time, though, and we made a fun memory that I will always hold on to.

Bees and Salmon (Blogged by JME)



For Memorial Day, a friend of mine who is also my work-out buddy and the primary president in my ward, invited me to go with her and her family to a Bees game. Yay! I was finally able to wear my Bees shirt and hat to an actual Bees game. I'd never been to an actual Bees game before but I did wear my Bees hat and shirt to an Angels/Dodgers game last year right before N8 left for this deployment.



My friend that invited me to this baseball game has been really supportive while N8 has been away. She served her mission in Germany about 10 years ago and went to Germany to visit at the same time that I did. Her brother works for the Miller family and so we were able to get in for free and he even had a special card that we were able to use to get food at the game for 65% off. It was really neat and we stuffed ourselves silly on some really good nachos and ice cream.

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At the end of last week, after spending six months in math, learning so many things that I probably will never use again in my life, I finally finished. I took my final and passed at 90%. (Really, I probably did much worse but I had an amazing teacher that helped me a lot and gave me some extra points that I'm sure I really didn't earn.)

I do feel smarter, however. I did learn a lot and have been able to use one or two things here and there. I've been able to convert things, like there was a sale on material that was 36 cents per inch. It sounded really good, but once I converted the price, it ended up being over $12 per yard, which was not that great. I've also been able to find out the price of items that are on clearance by figuring out the percentage and everything.

Even though I've learned a lot, the majority of the things I've learned I will never use again. Really people, could somebody tell me when I will ever use logarithms . . . ever???




I've done so much math in the last six months that I've started eating, driving, and sleeping math. To change lanes while driving, I had to first carry the one so that I could move my car into the left lane. Talk about weird. Hopefully that will go away. I've already noticed my level of stress has dropped considerably since finishing, so that's been good.

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Every year on the first Saturday of June, Garland's fire department hosts a salmon bake. They bring loads of salmon down from Alaska and cook it up right there in the firehouse. It's all you can eat salmon. They have this amazing lemon butter sauce that they pour over the fish that is to die for! I totally recommend it. My really good friend lives up there with her family and she is the one that introduced me to it. She actually set me up on a blind date with her brother (who happened to have the same name as my husband . . . funny) and that is where we went. That was back in about 2001 or 2002. Since then, I've been back almost every year. Poor N8 has only been able to go twice because of his deployment schedule. He was so bummed that he missed it again this year. That's okay. We'll make sure we both are there next year.



This year, I brought two dates with me to the salmon bake. Bug and Skunk were so much fun to have with me there. Usually the line is over an hour long, but we got there at a great time and only had to wait about 10-15 minutes. While we were waiting, the boys had a great time playing on the fire trucks.



Both Bug and Skunk got their own plate of salmon. They weren't so thrilled with the bones that were in the fish. The salmon grandma makes doesn't have any bones.



As usual, the fire department did a great job and I devoured my fish. It a great meal to look forward to every year. After we were done eating, we all went to my friend's house and while all the kids played with toys, the adults played 'Wackee Six.' I never played it before but it was so much fun. That's one we'll have to eventually add to our collection.

Well, there is now only 365 days left until the next salmon bake!