Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
So, I finally got my Christmas letter written and emailed off last night. I'm sure I missed a few of my friends so I decided to post it here as well. Hopefully, next year I'll get our letter done earlier and actually mail it.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!!
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Tradition Continues
We didn't think we would participate in Black Friday this year, but we had to keep up with the tradition. However, this year we went to Staples because they had 2 items that we thought would be nice to have...a shredder and an executive chair (Andy's chair is broken and we've been thinking about getting a new one). Anyway, the items were well priced so we decided to go for it. We decided we weren't going to camp out too early so we woke up at 5 am and got there around 5:30 am. Luckily, the line wasn't too long and we didn't think our items would be too popular.
Everything was going pretty smoothly until we got inside. Staples had ticketed all items on the front and back page so that meant we needed to get tickets. Well, apparently they didn't start early enough because they stopped handing them out about 15 people before us. So, we all assumed it would be first come first serve for the rest of the items. We get into the store and the manager says to follow the line. It would wrap around the store to the front again and they'd finish handing out the tickets. So, I stand in line while Andy is out looking at stuff. Probably about 20 minutes later, we hear that the line was going the other way. Boy did that get people upset. So, I'm talking to the lady next to me in line and I decide to go figure out what's going on. Apparently, an employee had miscommunicated information and started another line. So the manager then tries to fix it by starting a new line. Well, the line we were in was also a cashier line so it was moving very very slow. So, I go up to the front again just to see if I could get tickets for the items we wanted. Luckily, the manager was nice enough and gave me the tickets. So, I just had to wait in line to grab my stuff. I also helped the lady I was with to get 2 of her items. Luckily I did because they ran out of the item she really wanted about 5 minutes after I got the ticket.
Anyway, about another 30 minutes goes by and I'm still waiting. The line hasn't moved much. I was talking to another girl and she really wanted the garmin gps system. We heard they were out but thought maybe it was just certain brands. The annoucement wasn't very clear. I guess she didn't want to go ask because of the angry customers so I said I would go ask for her. One guy was getting upset so I ended up asking him the question -- hoping he would have heard the annoucement better than we did. Well, it ended up that there was one left so I grabbed it. The girl was pretty happy. It was fun to be able to help those people out. :)
A few minutes later, there's another line that's formed to just grab your items. So I grab the stuff and join Andy in the cashier's line. We finally leave the store around 7:25 am. Then our next challenge....getting the chair into our little civic. The box was too big and it just wasn't going in. Finally, I suggesst opening the box and just take the items out. Luckily it worked and we finally leave. I dropped Andy off at the bus stop and dropped our stuff off at home before heading to work.
Overall, it was a very crazy morning but it was still fun. Luckily we weren't out in the cold for too long.
Everything was going pretty smoothly until we got inside. Staples had ticketed all items on the front and back page so that meant we needed to get tickets. Well, apparently they didn't start early enough because they stopped handing them out about 15 people before us. So, we all assumed it would be first come first serve for the rest of the items. We get into the store and the manager says to follow the line. It would wrap around the store to the front again and they'd finish handing out the tickets. So, I stand in line while Andy is out looking at stuff. Probably about 20 minutes later, we hear that the line was going the other way. Boy did that get people upset. So, I'm talking to the lady next to me in line and I decide to go figure out what's going on. Apparently, an employee had miscommunicated information and started another line. So the manager then tries to fix it by starting a new line. Well, the line we were in was also a cashier line so it was moving very very slow. So, I go up to the front again just to see if I could get tickets for the items we wanted. Luckily, the manager was nice enough and gave me the tickets. So, I just had to wait in line to grab my stuff. I also helped the lady I was with to get 2 of her items. Luckily I did because they ran out of the item she really wanted about 5 minutes after I got the ticket.
Anyway, about another 30 minutes goes by and I'm still waiting. The line hasn't moved much. I was talking to another girl and she really wanted the garmin gps system. We heard they were out but thought maybe it was just certain brands. The annoucement wasn't very clear. I guess she didn't want to go ask because of the angry customers so I said I would go ask for her. One guy was getting upset so I ended up asking him the question -- hoping he would have heard the annoucement better than we did. Well, it ended up that there was one left so I grabbed it. The girl was pretty happy. It was fun to be able to help those people out. :)
A few minutes later, there's another line that's formed to just grab your items. So I grab the stuff and join Andy in the cashier's line. We finally leave the store around 7:25 am. Then our next challenge....getting the chair into our little civic. The box was too big and it just wasn't going in. Finally, I suggesst opening the box and just take the items out. Luckily it worked and we finally leave. I dropped Andy off at the bus stop and dropped our stuff off at home before heading to work.
Overall, it was a very crazy morning but it was still fun. Luckily we weren't out in the cold for too long.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun! It was nice to not have to wake up early and go to work. Andy and I just relaxed at home. :) We did invite a chinese family to come over to have lunch with us. Andy has started to become really good friends with the husband. They talk all the time on the bus. So, I made a turkey, luo mai fahn, sweet potatoes, and rolls. It was pretty good. Then for dinner, we went over to the Chan's house. The food was really good and then we just played a few games.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Turkey day!!
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Turkey day!!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Perspective
Last night we had our quarterly enrichement meeting and it was one of the best meetings I have ever been too. The night started off with speakers who spoke on the subject of Joy. One of the speakers shared her life changing experience. She was involved in a serious car accident where she almost died. She was in the hospitals for several days and doctors didn't expect her to make it. She had to re-learn to talk, write, walk, and breath. She shared how she was grateful for everything and how some things we get upset about isn't worth getting upset about. She really made me think about how silly it is to get upset over trivial things. Everything we have is such a blessing.
The last speaker was also a real eye opener. She started off by having us answer a question on a piece of paper: "What are your burdens? What are your worries?" When we were done, we placed the paper into a bucket. Then, she began sharing the scripture 'Adam fell that we might be and men are that we might have JOY." After we discussed what the word BE means, she shared a story about her roomate. Her roomate had come across a scripture saying we were here to be "inflicted upon." What? We hare here to be toyed with? As she shared her rommate's experience, she then shared the scripture about how we are to be perfect and that Christ, through trials, learned line upon line until he became perfected. There's no way we can be perfect, but we are in the process of being perfected. She then read what everyone wrote on the piece of paper, but instead of saying "What are your burdens, What are your fears?" She changed it into "What are you being perfected by?" People were being perfected by struggling with self esteem, worrying about their children, and dealing with health problems. Talk about perspective!! I had never thought of our burdens and worries that way. If we could all think of our burdens and worries as things that are perfecting us, how much easier is it to endure those things. I was definitely grateful for her lesson. Hopefully it will be one that will stick with me forever.
The last speaker was also a real eye opener. She started off by having us answer a question on a piece of paper: "What are your burdens? What are your worries?" When we were done, we placed the paper into a bucket. Then, she began sharing the scripture 'Adam fell that we might be and men are that we might have JOY." After we discussed what the word BE means, she shared a story about her roomate. Her roomate had come across a scripture saying we were here to be "inflicted upon." What? We hare here to be toyed with? As she shared her rommate's experience, she then shared the scripture about how we are to be perfect and that Christ, through trials, learned line upon line until he became perfected. There's no way we can be perfect, but we are in the process of being perfected. She then read what everyone wrote on the piece of paper, but instead of saying "What are your burdens, What are your fears?" She changed it into "What are you being perfected by?" People were being perfected by struggling with self esteem, worrying about their children, and dealing with health problems. Talk about perspective!! I had never thought of our burdens and worries that way. If we could all think of our burdens and worries as things that are perfecting us, how much easier is it to endure those things. I was definitely grateful for her lesson. Hopefully it will be one that will stick with me forever.
Monday, November 05, 2007
I've been Tagged!
Oh oh...I've been tagged by my sister-in-law Allison. :) ..so here it goes.
Rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
_____________________________________________
1. I love to cook. Often times, I'll branch out and try new recipes and the lucky guniea pig is Andy. :)
2. I enjoy going to the gym. The new employee gym at Mayo Clinic opened September and I LOVE going to the classes. Step Class, Muscletoning, Ballroom Dancing, Salsa, and Water aerobics are a few that I enjoy doing.
3. I'm in a lazy mood. Lately, I've been in a mood where all I want to do is just bum around. I will still cook and make sure the house is clean, but as far as working on my own projects, just don't feel like doing it. However, I'm slowly getting out of this lazy mood.
4. I like my house to be clean and organized. In general, our house stays pretty clean. But, there are still a few areas that can be better organized. It bugs me because I haven't figured out how to better organize it yet. One day I'll get it though. I just hope it doesn't take too long. :)
5. I love spending time with Andy and with friends. I hate being away from my husband and having friends around is always nice. We haven't been able to spend too much time with friends this year because we've all been pretty busy. Recently, we went to Lion King together. Hopefully, we'll be able to do other things before the year is up.
6. My favorite sports to watch is football, figure skating, swimming, and gymnastics. I also like to watch ballroom dancing.
Yippee! That's it for me. Now I get to tag 6 other people. Stacy, Dorothy, Julia, Craig/Jaclyn, Pauline, and Andy.....you're it!
Rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
_____________________________________________
1. I love to cook. Often times, I'll branch out and try new recipes and the lucky guniea pig is Andy. :)
2. I enjoy going to the gym. The new employee gym at Mayo Clinic opened September and I LOVE going to the classes. Step Class, Muscletoning, Ballroom Dancing, Salsa, and Water aerobics are a few that I enjoy doing.
3. I'm in a lazy mood. Lately, I've been in a mood where all I want to do is just bum around. I will still cook and make sure the house is clean, but as far as working on my own projects, just don't feel like doing it. However, I'm slowly getting out of this lazy mood.
4. I like my house to be clean and organized. In general, our house stays pretty clean. But, there are still a few areas that can be better organized. It bugs me because I haven't figured out how to better organize it yet. One day I'll get it though. I just hope it doesn't take too long. :)
5. I love spending time with Andy and with friends. I hate being away from my husband and having friends around is always nice. We haven't been able to spend too much time with friends this year because we've all been pretty busy. Recently, we went to Lion King together. Hopefully, we'll be able to do other things before the year is up.
6. My favorite sports to watch is football, figure skating, swimming, and gymnastics. I also like to watch ballroom dancing.
Yippee! That's it for me. Now I get to tag 6 other people. Stacy, Dorothy, Julia, Craig/Jaclyn, Pauline, and Andy.....you're it!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
I Love Broadway!
So this past weekend, Andy and I got to watch the Lion King broadway show with our friends, the Whettens, Voights, and Massens. I saw Lion King for the first time a few years ago when I went to New York for a hair show. I really enjoyed the production so when I learned that it was going to be playing in Minneapolis, I was really excited! I love getting a group of friends together to have fun so I asked our friends if they wanted to go and they did. We all had a great time and it was fun to be able to hang out with everyone. It seems like we haven't had a big group together for awhile...everyone has been really busy this year! Anyway, if you ever get a chance to see the Lion King broadway show, it is definitely worth it!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
General Conference
I thoroughly enjoyed watching conference on Sunday. The talks were excellent and I'm definitely looking forward to being able to read them again...especially read the talks from the session on Saturday. I was only able to catch part of the Saturday morning session. Anyway, as I was listening to conference, I reflected back to the times when I was younger...when I was younger, I was not good at listening to conference and didn't fully understand the importance of it. In fact, Julia and I would pretend to sleep walk out of the room and go play for a bit. We were silly to think that our parents would actually think we were sleep walking. :)
Anyway, it was nice to be able to relax at home and feel the spirit and to not worry about things that are going on in our daily lives.
Anyway, it was nice to be able to relax at home and feel the spirit and to not worry about things that are going on in our daily lives.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Europe Pictures
I finally got the chance to post some pictures from our trip. :) I hope you enjoy them. We took a ton of pictures! If you want to see all of them, you can check out Andy's blog (zerostudios.blogspot.com)
Back Home
We finally arrived back to the United States. We really enjoyed our trip but definitely glad that we're home. Here's a quick recap of my thoughts.
London - Loved it!! The weather was perfect and everyone speaks English.
Paris - Definitely quite the adventure since we didn't speak the language. Friendliness from the people were a hit and miss...also, bus transportation was not reliable. We learned that it's better to stay in a hotel near a metro station. However, we did learn a few things from our stay in the suburbs.... we learned that you don't necessarily need to pay to ride the buses and people didn't pay to get on the Metro. They would just jump over the stations. Also, if there was a gate, you could just yell to the Ticket guy to have him open it for you. These things came in very handy on the last day. We actually got all the way to the Airport without using our passes... :)
Overall, I LOVED our trip! It was fun and adventurous and I loved being with my husband. :) I would have loved Paris even more if it weren't for the weather...but you can't control that. At least the last 2 days were beautiful!
London - Loved it!! The weather was perfect and everyone speaks English.
Paris - Definitely quite the adventure since we didn't speak the language. Friendliness from the people were a hit and miss...also, bus transportation was not reliable. We learned that it's better to stay in a hotel near a metro station. However, we did learn a few things from our stay in the suburbs.... we learned that you don't necessarily need to pay to ride the buses and people didn't pay to get on the Metro. They would just jump over the stations. Also, if there was a gate, you could just yell to the Ticket guy to have him open it for you. These things came in very handy on the last day. We actually got all the way to the Airport without using our passes... :)
Overall, I LOVED our trip! It was fun and adventurous and I loved being with my husband. :) I would have loved Paris even more if it weren't for the weather...but you can't control that. At least the last 2 days were beautiful!
Paris Day 5
YIPPEE!! Finallly!! The weather has cooperated. It was absolutely beautiful! I love the sun!
We spent the whole day at the Chateau de Versailles. We explored the palace for about 2 hours then wondered around the gardens for the next few hours. I've seen these types of gardens in movies and I've always wanted to walk around in one. The best part was from 3:30 - 5 pm, the turned the fountains on and played classical music. It was amazing! I can't even imagine how spectacular it would have been to see it back in the day...especially since it was only for the king and his few guests.
I'm really glad we saved this for the last day because it was the perfect end to our trip! Then, we took the train back to Paris and we went to a nicer restaurant for dinner. We had some yummy food. Andy wanted to try something authentic so we ordered escargo for an appetizer. It was actually pretty good....then we ordered some dessert....I had the vanilla creme brulee. :)
Since it was so nice, we wondered over to the Eiffel Tower again. It was absolutely beautiful and it would light up for 10 minutes every hour. It was fun! Definintely the way to top off the trip. :)
We spent the whole day at the Chateau de Versailles. We explored the palace for about 2 hours then wondered around the gardens for the next few hours. I've seen these types of gardens in movies and I've always wanted to walk around in one. The best part was from 3:30 - 5 pm, the turned the fountains on and played classical music. It was amazing! I can't even imagine how spectacular it would have been to see it back in the day...especially since it was only for the king and his few guests.
I'm really glad we saved this for the last day because it was the perfect end to our trip! Then, we took the train back to Paris and we went to a nicer restaurant for dinner. We had some yummy food. Andy wanted to try something authentic so we ordered escargo for an appetizer. It was actually pretty good....then we ordered some dessert....I had the vanilla creme brulee. :)
Since it was so nice, we wondered over to the Eiffel Tower again. It was absolutely beautiful and it would light up for 10 minutes every hour. It was fun! Definintely the way to top off the trip. :)
Paris Day 4
Yippee!! We're in our new hotel..unfortunately, not as nice as Days Inn but good enough for us. :) After checking in, we went to the Musee d'Orsay. we wondered around for a few hours to look at the paintings. They were really cool. I especially enjoyed the Monets. :)
After that, we wondered around the mall to get a feel for the French fashion. The clothes there were really cool but also very expensive! There was hardly anything less than 100 euros and some basic blouses were even over 200 euros. (FYI - 1 euro costs 1.5 US dollars). We also stopped by the LV store to check out the purses. The cheapest thing there was just over 300 euros. I guess the LV bags are pretty cheap over there when you consider the cost of clothing. :)
Then we were off to our show. :) We went and watched the chinese acrobats in a production called the Journey to the West. It's a Chinese legned around the Buddhist monk journey to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts. It was pretty interesting. I'm glad Andy was there to help explain some things since I couldn't read the french explanation of what was going on. If it weren't for him, I'd be really lost.
Since the it wasn't raining, we went back to the top of the Arch to get a good night's view of Paris. I love seeing all the lights! Lights make everything prettier. :)
After that, we wondered around the mall to get a feel for the French fashion. The clothes there were really cool but also very expensive! There was hardly anything less than 100 euros and some basic blouses were even over 200 euros. (FYI - 1 euro costs 1.5 US dollars). We also stopped by the LV store to check out the purses. The cheapest thing there was just over 300 euros. I guess the LV bags are pretty cheap over there when you consider the cost of clothing. :)
Then we were off to our show. :) We went and watched the chinese acrobats in a production called the Journey to the West. It's a Chinese legned around the Buddhist monk journey to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts. It was pretty interesting. I'm glad Andy was there to help explain some things since I couldn't read the french explanation of what was going on. If it weren't for him, I'd be really lost.
Since the it wasn't raining, we went back to the top of the Arch to get a good night's view of Paris. I love seeing all the lights! Lights make everything prettier. :)
Paris Day 3
Last night, we looked into moving to a hotel closer to the city for the last 2 nights. By doing this, we could wonder Paris at night without worrying about catching the last bus to the hotel. After this morning, we figured this was an excellent choice. For some reason, the bus didn't come at the scheduled time and we waited for 2 hours...again, not fun because the weather still was gloomy and it was raining a little bit.
Anyway, after getting into the city, we went to Notre Dame. It was pretty interesting because the signs said no pictures allowed. But, when we got inside, everyone was taking pictures and the guards didn't do anything to stop them. After wondering around inside for a bit, we went outside to climb to the top. It was beautiful! The sky was still gray but at least the rain had stopped.
After that, we went to see Saint Chappell. The stained glass windows in this building was absolutely beautiful!! I haven't seen anything like it. The sun peaked through a bit so you could really see the beauty of the windows. Also, it was neat because the windows corresponded to books out of the bible. It was cool.
We then wondered over to the Army Museum and saw Napoleon's tomb. His tomb was pretty big! The armory that was saw was pretty neat too. After that, we wondered over to the Eiffel Tower.
Overall, it was a pretty relaxing day and I enjoyed seeing everything. However, we were starting to feel tired from all the walking we'd done the past few days. We're also looking forward to moving to a closer hotel the following day. It seems that the bus system is not too reliable.
Anyway, after getting into the city, we went to Notre Dame. It was pretty interesting because the signs said no pictures allowed. But, when we got inside, everyone was taking pictures and the guards didn't do anything to stop them. After wondering around inside for a bit, we went outside to climb to the top. It was beautiful! The sky was still gray but at least the rain had stopped.
After that, we went to see Saint Chappell. The stained glass windows in this building was absolutely beautiful!! I haven't seen anything like it. The sun peaked through a bit so you could really see the beauty of the windows. Also, it was neat because the windows corresponded to books out of the bible. It was cool.
We then wondered over to the Army Museum and saw Napoleon's tomb. His tomb was pretty big! The armory that was saw was pretty neat too. After that, we wondered over to the Eiffel Tower.
Overall, it was a pretty relaxing day and I enjoyed seeing everything. However, we were starting to feel tired from all the walking we'd done the past few days. We're also looking forward to moving to a closer hotel the following day. It seems that the bus system is not too reliable.
Paris Day 2
Today was a lot of fun! We stopped at the main station to buy our Museum Pass and then we were off to the Louvre. This is were we saw the Mona Lisa....it was smaller then I thought but it was neat to see. My favorite part of the Louvre was seeing the two pyramids that touched at the point...Da Vinci Code!! That was cool. We also saw 2 Vermeer paintings...for book club, we read a book called "Girl with the Pearl Earrings," which is a Vermeer painting. The author basically created a story around the painting. It was pretty interesting and different from the book. Anyway, when we discussed the book, we learned a bit about Vermeer and that's why I thought it was cool to see some actual paintings of his.
Afterwards, we walked down the street to the Arch of Triumph. By this time, it started raining again and the wind was pretty cold so we didn't stay there too long. We were able to climb to the top of the Arch and got a really nice view of the city and took a few pics. Too bad it was cold and rainy.
Then, we took the metro over to Latin Quarters to eat dinner and to celebrate Andy's birthday. We ate at this really fun greek restaurant...at least I think it was a greek place. The food was really good and the best part was we each got to break plates when we were done. It was a great way to end the night. :)
Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end there. As we were headed back to our hotel, we again experienced troubles with the bus. For some reason, we missed our stop and it took us 30 minutes longer to get back to the hotel. The woes of traveling to a place where communication can be a problem..but it definitely makes it an adventure. :)
Afterwards, we walked down the street to the Arch of Triumph. By this time, it started raining again and the wind was pretty cold so we didn't stay there too long. We were able to climb to the top of the Arch and got a really nice view of the city and took a few pics. Too bad it was cold and rainy.
Then, we took the metro over to Latin Quarters to eat dinner and to celebrate Andy's birthday. We ate at this really fun greek restaurant...at least I think it was a greek place. The food was really good and the best part was we each got to break plates when we were done. It was a great way to end the night. :)
Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end there. As we were headed back to our hotel, we again experienced troubles with the bus. For some reason, we missed our stop and it took us 30 minutes longer to get back to the hotel. The woes of traveling to a place where communication can be a problem..but it definitely makes it an adventure. :)
Paris Day 1
We left London around noon and arrived in Paris around 4 pm. Unfortunately, the weather was awful...it was gloomy and raining. Anyway, we bought our travel passes and hopped on the train to go to our hotel. We were located in an area called Alnay-Souis-Bois. When we arrived, we knew that Paris would be quite interesting. From the train station, it took us 2 hours to find our hotel...I guess it was located off a small road and people weren't too familiar with it. So, we ended up riding the bus out to the airport to change money and get directions. It was definitely a very frustrating time since we had to wait in the rain for the bus. But luckily, we got to the hotel safely. :)
The hotel we stayed at was Days Inn. I was really impressed with the room!! It had been remodeled a few years back so it was very modern and very nice. Plus, it was very close to the bus stop so it wasn't bad.
Anyway, after we dropped our stuff off, we went to a restaurant nearby for dinner. The people there were very friendly! Luckily, one of the workers there spoke English so we were able to communicate without a problem. It was also fun to observe the every day life of people in France. :)
The hotel we stayed at was Days Inn. I was really impressed with the room!! It had been remodeled a few years back so it was very modern and very nice. Plus, it was very close to the bus stop so it wasn't bad.
Anyway, after we dropped our stuff off, we went to a restaurant nearby for dinner. The people there were very friendly! Luckily, one of the workers there spoke English so we were able to communicate without a problem. It was also fun to observe the every day life of people in France. :)
Monday, September 24, 2007
London Day 4
It was raining this morning when we woke up so we were bummed. We wanted to watch the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace, but it might get canceled when it rained. Luckily, the weather turned. It was really nice around 10:30 am so we were able to see the show. It was pretty cool...there were tons of people there and I thought it was just neat to see the red uniforms with the black fuzzy hats. :)
Afterwards, we went to the British Museum. it was huge! We only had 2 hours to spend so we didn't get to read all the facts, but it was amazing to see all the artifacts they had! It was filled with tons of things. One of my favorites was seeing a Japanese samurai outfit.
From there, we wandered to St. Paul's cathedral. We weren't able to tour inside because they had closed but it was beautiful. After taking a few pictures, we walked over to the Museum of London. Here, we learned a bit about the history of London. It was pretty interesting.
By the end of the day, our feet were killing us! We had basically walked all of London the past 4 days. So, we went and grabbed dinner at China town again; then made our way home to relax.
Anyway, tomorrow we're off to Paris. That will be quite the adventure since we don't speak the language and our hotel is not right next to a metro station....but it'll be tons of fun. I'm really excited.
Afterwards, we went to the British Museum. it was huge! We only had 2 hours to spend so we didn't get to read all the facts, but it was amazing to see all the artifacts they had! It was filled with tons of things. One of my favorites was seeing a Japanese samurai outfit.
From there, we wandered to St. Paul's cathedral. We weren't able to tour inside because they had closed but it was beautiful. After taking a few pictures, we walked over to the Museum of London. Here, we learned a bit about the history of London. It was pretty interesting.
By the end of the day, our feet were killing us! We had basically walked all of London the past 4 days. So, we went and grabbed dinner at China town again; then made our way home to relax.
Anyway, tomorrow we're off to Paris. That will be quite the adventure since we don't speak the language and our hotel is not right next to a metro station....but it'll be tons of fun. I'm really excited.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
London Day 3
Since today was Sunday, we went to church this morning. It was hard staying awake for all three hours..but church was good. It's always good to be able to learn more about the gospel. :) Also, the ward itself was pretty interesting....the ward we went to was in Hyde Park. I guess it's a pretty popular ward for visitors. In fact, we learned that during the summer, about 2/3 of the congregation are visitors. As a result, the official ward members are really used to visitors and they're used to not introducing visitors at church...it would take too long. :)
Anyway, after church, Sister Larson was kind enough to invite us to have "dinner" with them. We thought this would be around 6 pm but soon found out that she meant lunch. So, we had to adjust our plan to go to the British Museum. It closed at 5:30 pm today so we would visit it tomorrow. We just thought it was funny since dinner was really lunch. I wonder why some people refer to lunch as dinner?? I've heard it a few other times before...like once or twice.
After "dinner", we went to the Tower of London and saw the crown jewels. Of course, pictures were not allowed. The jewels were really cool!! In fact, they were all in a huge "bunker" (AKA Safe). When we went into the room to see the jewels, you could just feel the security surrounding them. The metal doors were HUGE! After seeing the jewels, we wondered around the area and also got to walk along the tower bridge. It was really pretty and the weather was perfect!
Then, we rushed off to the Westminster Abbey to see the free organ recital. Sister Larsen had mentioned that they wouldn't let anyone in after it started so I started to get worried when we almost got lost. It took awhile to find the entrance to the tube. But we arrived at the Abbey and the Guard let us in. I guess you have to specifically say you're there for the concert or else they won't let you in. Anyway, the guy who played the organ was really good! He played for about 40 minutes and the best part was we got to see what the inside of the abbey looked like without paying. :) YIPPEE!! It was really beautiful! I wish we could have taken pictures, but again, no pictures allowed.
When the recital was done, we wondered down to China Town for dinner. Yes, we were in England hunting down some good Chinese food! Well, I guess more like good Asian food. We ended up eating some Japanese food. We hadn't eaten that for a while so it was YUMMY! :) China Town was pretty cool too. I wish Minnesota had a China Town too. Then we slowly wondered around and then took the tube back to our "home".
Anyway, that's basically all I have to say about today..and since Andy is too lazy to write on his own blog, he would like to add three things:
1. Movie tickets are EXPENSIVE! They cost 11 - 25 pounds, which is 22-50 dollars per person! CRAZY! Definitely can't complain about the prices in the states.
2. Burger King is too expensive to eat here. Not that we ever eat at Burger King anyways... but the burgers cost 4 - 5 pounds, which is 8-10 dollars.
3. Lack of customer service. Everytime we eat in a restaurant, you have to ask 5 times for the bill. Or you could just get up to leave. Customer service is not a priority and that is why you don't tip here.
Anyway, after church, Sister Larson was kind enough to invite us to have "dinner" with them. We thought this would be around 6 pm but soon found out that she meant lunch. So, we had to adjust our plan to go to the British Museum. It closed at 5:30 pm today so we would visit it tomorrow. We just thought it was funny since dinner was really lunch. I wonder why some people refer to lunch as dinner?? I've heard it a few other times before...like once or twice.
After "dinner", we went to the Tower of London and saw the crown jewels. Of course, pictures were not allowed. The jewels were really cool!! In fact, they were all in a huge "bunker" (AKA Safe). When we went into the room to see the jewels, you could just feel the security surrounding them. The metal doors were HUGE! After seeing the jewels, we wondered around the area and also got to walk along the tower bridge. It was really pretty and the weather was perfect!
Then, we rushed off to the Westminster Abbey to see the free organ recital. Sister Larsen had mentioned that they wouldn't let anyone in after it started so I started to get worried when we almost got lost. It took awhile to find the entrance to the tube. But we arrived at the Abbey and the Guard let us in. I guess you have to specifically say you're there for the concert or else they won't let you in. Anyway, the guy who played the organ was really good! He played for about 40 minutes and the best part was we got to see what the inside of the abbey looked like without paying. :) YIPPEE!! It was really beautiful! I wish we could have taken pictures, but again, no pictures allowed.
When the recital was done, we wondered down to China Town for dinner. Yes, we were in England hunting down some good Chinese food! Well, I guess more like good Asian food. We ended up eating some Japanese food. We hadn't eaten that for a while so it was YUMMY! :) China Town was pretty cool too. I wish Minnesota had a China Town too. Then we slowly wondered around and then took the tube back to our "home".
Anyway, that's basically all I have to say about today..and since Andy is too lazy to write on his own blog, he would like to add three things:
1. Movie tickets are EXPENSIVE! They cost 11 - 25 pounds, which is 22-50 dollars per person! CRAZY! Definitely can't complain about the prices in the states.
2. Burger King is too expensive to eat here. Not that we ever eat at Burger King anyways... but the burgers cost 4 - 5 pounds, which is 8-10 dollars.
3. Lack of customer service. Everytime we eat in a restaurant, you have to ask 5 times for the bill. Or you could just get up to leave. Customer service is not a priority and that is why you don't tip here.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
London Day 2
After a great night sleep, we had another day full of adventure! Here's a recap of what we did:
Buckingham Palace:
This morning we went to tour Buckingham Palace. We had wanted to see the changing of the guards, but with the tour, we would have missed it. So, we'll have to do that on Monday. Anyway, the palace was really pretty! I can't imagine living in such a big place by myself. Plus, it was definitely way too fancy for me. I really enjoyed it though..plus, they even had a room that showed Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress and all kinds of wedding jewelry. It was really pretty! Everything looked soo expensive. The room was also really crowded and I wished they had some sort of crowd control for the room but at least we got to see everything. It also probably didn't help that someone fainted in the room. We had to avoid half of the room for a while so the medics could help the person. I think the person was okay though so that was good. During the tour, you're not allowed to take pictures until you are outside in the garden area....that was at the very end of the tour. The area was huge and pretty. I'm glad I don't need to be a ground keeper for them though, it would take FOREVER!
Houses of Parliament:
After Buckingham Palace, we grabbed a hotdog and rushed off to Parliament. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures. But, the building was gorgeous! The chamber area for the house of the lordes area seemed to be more glorious then the Buckingham Palace. In fact, it use to be a palace too. Anyway, there was a lot more detailing and the ceilings were a lot higher...not sure how to explain it but that's how I felt. The house of commons area was more plain. The tour was really interesting though and it was fun to learn about how the government worked.
These are the 2 big tours we did. After we were done, we walked around the river area and saw lots of fun little things. It was fun to be a part of the culture in London. We also visited the Imperial War museum really quick before we met up with our friend Rebecca for dinner. We ate at some indian restaurant on a street called Brick Lane...it's suppose to be a really popular place to eat and we soon found out why. It was ftons of fun because every restaurant tried to recruit customers by offering all sorts of discounts. Our friend told us that the very first ones aren't very good and the ones further down the street were better. So, after we got to a place that she knew was good, the guy offered us a 25% discount, free drinks, and a free appetizer. Our friend was smart enough to make sure the drinks could include the smoothie. YUMMY! Too bad they don't do this in the states. :)
Anyway, that's basically it for today. We've done a lot of walking the past 2 days and my feet are tired, but we're having a blast!! I'll have to post pics later. :)
Buckingham Palace:
This morning we went to tour Buckingham Palace. We had wanted to see the changing of the guards, but with the tour, we would have missed it. So, we'll have to do that on Monday. Anyway, the palace was really pretty! I can't imagine living in such a big place by myself. Plus, it was definitely way too fancy for me. I really enjoyed it though..plus, they even had a room that showed Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress and all kinds of wedding jewelry. It was really pretty! Everything looked soo expensive. The room was also really crowded and I wished they had some sort of crowd control for the room but at least we got to see everything. It also probably didn't help that someone fainted in the room. We had to avoid half of the room for a while so the medics could help the person. I think the person was okay though so that was good. During the tour, you're not allowed to take pictures until you are outside in the garden area....that was at the very end of the tour. The area was huge and pretty. I'm glad I don't need to be a ground keeper for them though, it would take FOREVER!
Houses of Parliament:
After Buckingham Palace, we grabbed a hotdog and rushed off to Parliament. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures. But, the building was gorgeous! The chamber area for the house of the lordes area seemed to be more glorious then the Buckingham Palace. In fact, it use to be a palace too. Anyway, there was a lot more detailing and the ceilings were a lot higher...not sure how to explain it but that's how I felt. The house of commons area was more plain. The tour was really interesting though and it was fun to learn about how the government worked.
These are the 2 big tours we did. After we were done, we walked around the river area and saw lots of fun little things. It was fun to be a part of the culture in London. We also visited the Imperial War museum really quick before we met up with our friend Rebecca for dinner. We ate at some indian restaurant on a street called Brick Lane...it's suppose to be a really popular place to eat and we soon found out why. It was ftons of fun because every restaurant tried to recruit customers by offering all sorts of discounts. Our friend told us that the very first ones aren't very good and the ones further down the street were better. So, after we got to a place that she knew was good, the guy offered us a 25% discount, free drinks, and a free appetizer. Our friend was smart enough to make sure the drinks could include the smoothie. YUMMY! Too bad they don't do this in the states. :)
Anyway, that's basically it for today. We've done a lot of walking the past 2 days and my feet are tired, but we're having a blast!! I'll have to post pics later. :)
London Day 1
So, after traveling all night, we finally arrived in London at 10 am. We were about an hour late due to terrible weather at the Minneapolis airport, but at least we're here. :) It was fun walking through the airport and knowing that we were IN LONDON!! I have always wanted to visit London and I'm so excited that we're here!
We're staying with a friends sister and brother in law who live in London. We're so grateful that we could have someone to stay with. Hotels in London are really expensive! Anyway, they live really close to the tube so it's really easy to get around.
Anyway, we dropped off our stuff and chatted for a while and then we were off to explore. We didn't have anything specific planned so we just walked around the city to familiarize ourselves with the place. London is sooo beautiful!! Since we were going to do the actual tour of Buckingham Palace and the House of Parliament the next day, we just walked around and took pictures. It was really cool to see everything!
We also walked through Queen Mary Gardens, Regent's Park, and Trafalgar Sqaure. Trafalgar Square was really neat. There were lots of people! Also, there was this statue with some HUGE lion statues around it. I wanted to take a picture right by the Lion but it was too high for me...well, not really, but it was scary to get up that high. Anyway, the one little adventure we had was taking a small buggy bike ride....basically, a person rides a bike and there's a small carraige thing that's attached to the bike. It was fun!
Well, I think that's about it...we were really tired by the end of the day since we hadn't really slept the past 24 hours..so we just went home after dinner and crashed. In fact, we almost fell asleep on the subway. I was afraid we would miss our stop, but we didn't...we made it home safely. :)
We're staying with a friends sister and brother in law who live in London. We're so grateful that we could have someone to stay with. Hotels in London are really expensive! Anyway, they live really close to the tube so it's really easy to get around.
Anyway, we dropped off our stuff and chatted for a while and then we were off to explore. We didn't have anything specific planned so we just walked around the city to familiarize ourselves with the place. London is sooo beautiful!! Since we were going to do the actual tour of Buckingham Palace and the House of Parliament the next day, we just walked around and took pictures. It was really cool to see everything!
We also walked through Queen Mary Gardens, Regent's Park, and Trafalgar Sqaure. Trafalgar Square was really neat. There were lots of people! Also, there was this statue with some HUGE lion statues around it. I wanted to take a picture right by the Lion but it was too high for me...well, not really, but it was scary to get up that high. Anyway, the one little adventure we had was taking a small buggy bike ride....basically, a person rides a bike and there's a small carraige thing that's attached to the bike. It was fun!
Well, I think that's about it...we were really tired by the end of the day since we hadn't really slept the past 24 hours..so we just went home after dinner and crashed. In fact, we almost fell asleep on the subway. I was afraid we would miss our stop, but we didn't...we made it home safely. :)
Sunday, September 16, 2007
True Love??
Today in Relief Society, while we were talking about the Law of Chasity we started discussing what it meant to really love some one. To truly love some one involves commitment, sacrifice, selflessness, trust, and several other things. I'm really glad that we talked about this today because as I think about the things we discussed, it makes me love my husband even more. I appreciate everything he does for me and all the sacrifices he has made to be with me. Things weren't easy to begin with, but we endured and now everything is okay... :) Of course, no marriage is perfect and there are still things that we will need to deal with in the future, but I know that everything will be okay as long as we continue to do what the Lord wants us to do. I LOVE my husband so much. He loves me for who I am and is always there for me when I need him. I would say we're definitely on the path of true love! :)
Friday, September 14, 2007
Expensive Airplane Tickets
I've started looking into buying air tickets to fly home for Christmas...boy are they expensive! Since Minnesota is the hub for Northwest, it is the only airline that flies from Rochester to Pasco. To fly from Rochester to Pasco it costs almost $600 a person. Normally, we're able to use discount vouchers, but since Northwest doesn't fly from Seattle to Pasco, the vouchers won't work. :(
Anyway, hoping to save money, I looked at several other options. I've made a list of options I've looked into below:
1. Allegant Air is a new airline to flies from Rochester to Las Vegas and I learned that they fly from Las Vegas to Pasco. The tickets are much cheaper. From Rochester to Vegas, tickets would be $160 and then from Vegas to Pasco it would be $200. Basically half the price! I was really excited until I saw the times for the flights. Unfortanately, they basically fly at the same time...:( Scratch that idea...unless we decide to spend some time in Vegas...
2. By 2 roundtrip tickets. 1 roundtrip ticket from Rochester to Seattle and then from Seattle to Pasco. By doing this, we can use the discount vouchers on the flight from Rochester to Seattle. We would save a little bit of money doing this but the problem is that our returning flight from Seattle would leave at 12 am on New Year's day...which defeats the purpose of spending New Year's eve with family. There was a later flight, but then that would mean getting in really late...which may still be an option. All depends on if we find rides to the Airport of if we'll leave our car there.....
3. I even thought of flying into Spokane and then renting a car to drive home..which would be about 2 hours away. Well, tickets were still over $500. Take into account the cost of renting a car for a day, gas, and time...I didn't think it would be worth it..so this idea is a no go as well.
4. Andy suggessted flying to Pasco from SLC. We have several good friends in Utah so I considered the idea. Also, it would open the option of maybe driving home with my sister Julia and her husband Tim. Well, tickets were still like $500... :(
These were the only options we could think of...I wish air tickets weren't so expensive...I even checked the flights out of the cities. but it looks like tickets are even more expensive. Anyway, hopefully ticket prices will drop soon. I figure we'll need to by tickets in the next month or so. Too bad Southwest doesn't fly out of here...
Anyway, hoping to save money, I looked at several other options. I've made a list of options I've looked into below:
1. Allegant Air is a new airline to flies from Rochester to Las Vegas and I learned that they fly from Las Vegas to Pasco. The tickets are much cheaper. From Rochester to Vegas, tickets would be $160 and then from Vegas to Pasco it would be $200. Basically half the price! I was really excited until I saw the times for the flights. Unfortanately, they basically fly at the same time...:( Scratch that idea...unless we decide to spend some time in Vegas...
2. By 2 roundtrip tickets. 1 roundtrip ticket from Rochester to Seattle and then from Seattle to Pasco. By doing this, we can use the discount vouchers on the flight from Rochester to Seattle. We would save a little bit of money doing this but the problem is that our returning flight from Seattle would leave at 12 am on New Year's day...which defeats the purpose of spending New Year's eve with family. There was a later flight, but then that would mean getting in really late...which may still be an option. All depends on if we find rides to the Airport of if we'll leave our car there.....
3. I even thought of flying into Spokane and then renting a car to drive home..which would be about 2 hours away. Well, tickets were still over $500. Take into account the cost of renting a car for a day, gas, and time...I didn't think it would be worth it..so this idea is a no go as well.
4. Andy suggessted flying to Pasco from SLC. We have several good friends in Utah so I considered the idea. Also, it would open the option of maybe driving home with my sister Julia and her husband Tim. Well, tickets were still like $500... :(
These were the only options we could think of...I wish air tickets weren't so expensive...I even checked the flights out of the cities. but it looks like tickets are even more expensive. Anyway, hopefully ticket prices will drop soon. I figure we'll need to by tickets in the next month or so. Too bad Southwest doesn't fly out of here...
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Growing Up Fast
Over Labor Day weekend, my family had their annual 4 day 3 night camping trip near Mt. Rainer. Unfortunately, Andy and I weren't able to attend..maybe next year. :) Anyway, Allison posted a picture of all the grandkids and I can't believe how much they've grown in 1 year! Anyway, just so you can see the change, I've posted the grand kid picture from 2006 and the one from this year.
2006
2007
2006
2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Flooding in MidWest
In case you haven't seen it in the news, there has been several floods in the mid-west this past week due to huge thunderstorms! Luckily, nothing happened to our house....however, it was a very close call. Here is a timeline on our close call...
Saturday August 18 - Raining heavily all day.
10:00 a.m. - We go up to the cities with my parents to attend the temple, go shopping at the Mall of America.
7:00 pm - Meet up with Linda and Michael Friedman for dinner.
9:00 pm - Drive back down from the cities. Raining even harder. Visibility on the freeway is very hard to see and some places had a ton of water.
10:45 pm - Stop by Hy-Vee to by some Asian grocery stuff. The Friedman's were joining us for dinner on Sunday and we wanted to make California rolls.
11:30 pm - Leave Hy-Vee and some roads and the parking lot are flooding. Luckily we found our way out and made it home.
1:00 am - I look out the window and our road is flooding. The water is covering about 1/4 of our driveway.
2:00 am - Look out the window and the water is halfway up our driveway. We moved some of the items in the garage off the floor. Luckily we had decided to move our car into the garage. We had just finished painting it and our stuff was in the way, so we moved it to let the car in.
3:00 am - Our backyard is now a swimming pool and the water is withing inches of our garage.
5 am - Andy wakes up and the water is all gone! Our house is saved! :)
Here are some pics...these were taken at about 2 am. I hope you enjoy them.
This was taken the following morning...just to give you an idea of how high the water was.
Saturday August 18 - Raining heavily all day.
10:00 a.m. - We go up to the cities with my parents to attend the temple, go shopping at the Mall of America.
7:00 pm - Meet up with Linda and Michael Friedman for dinner.
9:00 pm - Drive back down from the cities. Raining even harder. Visibility on the freeway is very hard to see and some places had a ton of water.
10:45 pm - Stop by Hy-Vee to by some Asian grocery stuff. The Friedman's were joining us for dinner on Sunday and we wanted to make California rolls.
11:30 pm - Leave Hy-Vee and some roads and the parking lot are flooding. Luckily we found our way out and made it home.
1:00 am - I look out the window and our road is flooding. The water is covering about 1/4 of our driveway.
2:00 am - Look out the window and the water is halfway up our driveway. We moved some of the items in the garage off the floor. Luckily we had decided to move our car into the garage. We had just finished painting it and our stuff was in the way, so we moved it to let the car in.
3:00 am - Our backyard is now a swimming pool and the water is withing inches of our garage.
5 am - Andy wakes up and the water is all gone! Our house is saved! :)
Here are some pics...these were taken at about 2 am. I hope you enjoy them.
This was taken the following morning...just to give you an idea of how high the water was.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Full House
We definitely have had a full house for the past few days. Andy's sister (Melanie) and my parents are visitng us..so we've gone from a family of 2 to 5. It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad they were able to come visit. We've had a lot of fun playing the WII and doing some fun out door activities. Last night we went fishing at Willow Creek Reservior and we caught 4 fish...we also inherited 4 fish from the other people who were fishing. It was fun.. :)
My dad has also been kind enough to help "fix" a few things around the house...the biggest thing he did was grease our garage door so it wasn't soooo loud. They also helped service our car...I guess our transmission fluid needed to be changed.
Anyway, it's been fun having family around. I really miss being around family. I'm glad they were able to visit us and that we still have a few more days to hang out with them. Melanie leaves Friday and my parents will leave on Monday....so, definitely will need to make the most of our time together. :)
P.S. Pics to be posted later.
My dad has also been kind enough to help "fix" a few things around the house...the biggest thing he did was grease our garage door so it wasn't soooo loud. They also helped service our car...I guess our transmission fluid needed to be changed.
Anyway, it's been fun having family around. I really miss being around family. I'm glad they were able to visit us and that we still have a few more days to hang out with them. Melanie leaves Friday and my parents will leave on Monday....so, definitely will need to make the most of our time together. :)
P.S. Pics to be posted later.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wrestless Night = Random Post
It's 2 am in the morning and for some reason I just can't sleep....I did fall asleep around 10:30 pm but it wasn't a very restful sleep... so, since I'm awake, I decided to write something...
Anyway, the past two days have been very long days...there's just a lot of information and it's hard to pay attention sometimes...especially when they're discussing worksheets that don't pertain to the pieces I'm responsible for. But it's been good and a lot of good discussions have happened.
Tonight was our MHS dinner..we went to a place called the Granfalloon Bar and Grill. It was a pretty cool place but a little small for our group. But it was fun talking to people. I didn't stay too long since I wasn't in the mood for burgers...so I went for a small walk and got some ice cream from Coldstone. I know I know....not a good thing to eat and I'll get fat from eating it, but it's nice to have a treat. Too bad I have to worry about that kind of stuff.. Anyway, then I hung out with 2 of my co-workers around the pool area.
Well...not much else to write....I guess I better try to get some rest.
Anyway, the past two days have been very long days...there's just a lot of information and it's hard to pay attention sometimes...especially when they're discussing worksheets that don't pertain to the pieces I'm responsible for. But it's been good and a lot of good discussions have happened.
Tonight was our MHS dinner..we went to a place called the Granfalloon Bar and Grill. It was a pretty cool place but a little small for our group. But it was fun talking to people. I didn't stay too long since I wasn't in the mood for burgers...so I went for a small walk and got some ice cream from Coldstone. I know I know....not a good thing to eat and I'll get fat from eating it, but it's nice to have a treat. Too bad I have to worry about that kind of stuff.. Anyway, then I hung out with 2 of my co-workers around the pool area.
Well...not much else to write....I guess I better try to get some rest.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Kanasa City Visit #2 - Cerner Design Review
Greetings from Kansas City!! It's my 2nd trip here and we're visiting Cerner this week for our design review. You're probably wondering what exactly design review is so I thought I'd give a little background on what I've been doing...since I haven't done this yet.
Mayo has several sites in the surrounding areas and they are referred to as the Mayo Health Systems (MHS) MHS is a network of clinics and hospitals dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of people in more than 60 communities in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The physicians and their patients are supported by the highly specialized expertise and resources of Mayo Clinic. I am working with the various health sites on a project that will standardize their electronic medical records (EMR).
Anyway, Mayo and the MHS administration has decided to use Cerner as their EMR system and I am specifically in charge of the following areas:
Mayo has several sites in the surrounding areas and they are referred to as the Mayo Health Systems (MHS) MHS is a network of clinics and hospitals dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of people in more than 60 communities in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The physicians and their patients are supported by the highly specialized expertise and resources of Mayo Clinic. I am working with the various health sites on a project that will standardize their electronic medical records (EMR).
Anyway, Mayo and the MHS administration has decided to use Cerner as their EMR system and I am specifically in charge of the following areas:
- CareMobile: A wireless handheld device that can be used to do bedside medication verification and some other simple nursing tasks - such as documenting vital signs.
- Plans of Care: This involved created plans of care from scratch since the system didn't already have standard plans created.
- Meds Process: This area is huge since it involves Med Reconciliation. All I have to say is that it will never go away. You think everything is good but then one little question will set off a whole new string of emails.
So, the past few months, I have been meeting with a set group of people that are from the various health sites to make some decisions on how we would want the system to work. During this design review visit, we should be able to see a little bit of what we've designed to make sure it is really what we wanted. The days will be long and we still have a lot to do...but it should be interesting and fun. Also, it looks like we'll be heading to Kansas City again in October for another visit...
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Recipe Blog
I've been wanting to share recipes online for awhile now, but I just never got around to it. I know there are tons of websites where people are sharing their recipes but I decided to still create my own. So, you'll find the link to my favorite recipes under the other links section. I hope you enjoy them!
P.S. I've also been thinking of creating a book blog as well....Stacy has one and I thought it was a very good idea. When I get around to that, I'll put the link under the other links section as well!
P.S. I've also been thinking of creating a book blog as well....Stacy has one and I thought it was a very good idea. When I get around to that, I'll put the link under the other links section as well!
Monday, July 23, 2007
**Eaten Alive**
The weather this past week has been PERFECT! Not too hot and not too cold. The only downfall is all the mosquito bites! It seems that every time I'm outside, I get new bites. This past weekend, I got at least 13 new mosquito bites!!...6 on my arm and 7 on my legs...I previously had about 5 on my legs. It's crazy! I'll definitely have to start spraying bug repellent from now on...don't think I can handle all the itching. Luckily I have my Harry Potter book to keep me occupied for now.
Harry Potter Craze!!
This past weekend was a ton of fun! Friday night, we planned on going camping at Chester Wood park..well, the campsite was all full so we just decided to go fishing and BBQ our dinner over the campfire. Anyway, everyone has been raving about how great this place was and how you always caught fish. Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything....:( We've decided that we must not be using the right type of bait. Nevertheless, we still had a great time.
Since we didn't camp, Andy suggessted we go get the final book of Harry Potter! I was excited! I had wanted to pre-order it online so I would get a copy for sure, but Andy wouldn't let me. I was thinking that he had bought it for me...but, I didn't see the charges on his credit card (I always check our accounts to make sure nothing funky appeared) so I thought I was wrong.
Anyway, we went to Barnes and Noble to check it out...there were quite a few people there. And I decided that I didn't want to wait in line too long...I didn't have a reserved book so I would have been near the end.....so, we left. But then I decided to go to WalMart. Whenever we're at WalMart, we always spend at least an hour there. So I thought it would be perfect! Andy got really frustrated and finally he said, "Fine! I reserved you a book already! You don't need to wait in line for so long!" It was funny!! I figured something was up since he wouldn't let me get the book online..but I didn't see any charges so I wasn't sure. So, to make the long story short, we waited in Barnes and Noble for about 1 1/2 hours...near the end, the Whetten's showed up. They had also reserved a copy of the book. We chatted for a bit and finally we got our books! YIPPEE! We've been busy doing other things, so I haven't finished it yet..but I'm getting close. I would have finished it last night, but since we had to work today, Andy wouldn't let me stay up...so I'm planning on finishing it tonight! Hopefully I'll like how it ends. :)
Since we didn't camp, Andy suggessted we go get the final book of Harry Potter! I was excited! I had wanted to pre-order it online so I would get a copy for sure, but Andy wouldn't let me. I was thinking that he had bought it for me...but, I didn't see the charges on his credit card (I always check our accounts to make sure nothing funky appeared) so I thought I was wrong.
Anyway, we went to Barnes and Noble to check it out...there were quite a few people there. And I decided that I didn't want to wait in line too long...I didn't have a reserved book so I would have been near the end.....so, we left. But then I decided to go to WalMart. Whenever we're at WalMart, we always spend at least an hour there. So I thought it would be perfect! Andy got really frustrated and finally he said, "Fine! I reserved you a book already! You don't need to wait in line for so long!" It was funny!! I figured something was up since he wouldn't let me get the book online..but I didn't see any charges so I wasn't sure. So, to make the long story short, we waited in Barnes and Noble for about 1 1/2 hours...near the end, the Whetten's showed up. They had also reserved a copy of the book. We chatted for a bit and finally we got our books! YIPPEE! We've been busy doing other things, so I haven't finished it yet..but I'm getting close. I would have finished it last night, but since we had to work today, Andy wouldn't let me stay up...so I'm planning on finishing it tonight! Hopefully I'll like how it ends. :)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Dragon Boat Festival and Harry Potter
Saturday we spent the day in the cities with the Wang's and Craig. We went early to go yam cha. It was yummy! Then we went to this park to see the Dragon Boat Festival. It was pretty neat. The lake was beautiful and it was fun to see the boats practicing. The real race was on Sunday. Anyway, the festival was pretty low key but it was probably packed on Sunday.
After we got back home, we went to watch Harry Potter with our friends Chris and Rahni. It was really good! Of course, it's been awhile since I've read the book so I really didn't remember much. I'm just really excited for the final book to come out! Can't wait to see how the author will finish up the series.
After we got back home, we went to watch Harry Potter with our friends Chris and Rahni. It was really good! Of course, it's been awhile since I've read the book so I really didn't remember much. I'm just really excited for the final book to come out! Can't wait to see how the author will finish up the series.
Camping??
Andy and I have been wanting to go camping again...so, we finally did! Well, sort of. We ended up camping in our friend's backyard. :) Angela and DiPing have a cool firepit and there was plenty of space to set up tents so we camped! The Whettens joined us too, but since Jaclyn had to work the next day, they didn't stay the night. But, we all had a blast! We roasted marshmallows for smores, cooked up some hot dogs, and just chatted.
Later, Andy and I played a game of Swap with Angela and DiPing. It was a pretty fun game..sort of like Uno but you never know who is going to win because you end up swapping hands so many times. Andy was so close to winning then I swapped cards with him. He only had one left and I won the game! :) Then Andy was able to home teach them and then off to bed. The weather was pretty good. It did start to sprinkle a little bit, so we got up to put the rain guard up...we were too lazy to put it up earlier...so lesson learned -- ALWAYS put the rain fly up.
Anyway, we plan on going camping this weekend! Hopefully the weather will hold up.
Later, Andy and I played a game of Swap with Angela and DiPing. It was a pretty fun game..sort of like Uno but you never know who is going to win because you end up swapping hands so many times. Andy was so close to winning then I swapped cards with him. He only had one left and I won the game! :) Then Andy was able to home teach them and then off to bed. The weather was pretty good. It did start to sprinkle a little bit, so we got up to put the rain guard up...we were too lazy to put it up earlier...so lesson learned -- ALWAYS put the rain fly up.
Anyway, we plan on going camping this weekend! Hopefully the weather will hold up.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
~Graduate School~
MBA here I come!! Yup, that's right, I'll be working towards getting my MBA degree from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. I just learned today that I got accepted. :) I'm so excited to finally have the chance to get my MBA degree. Plus, the program is online so I can do classes wherever I am and the best thing is that Mayo will be paying for a majority of it...basically, I'll just be paying for books. How can you pass on that benefit? In general, I've always wanted to go to graduate school and I'm glad that Andy encouraged me to fulfill this wish. I'm grateful for his help and his support.
Lessons from a Tomato Plant
A while back in Elder's quorum, there was mention of tomato plants....I think they related growing tomato plants to Faith or something (I don't remember anymore). So, Andy decided to plant tomatoes. They've been growing very well and they actually have several flowers on it. :) We were pretty excited. Well, one day, Andy didn't water them..well, they started wilting. He was pretty surprised at how fast they wilted. I had made the comment about how we can't miss saying our prayers or reading scriptures. If we do, our faith/testimony will weaken. Then Andy had made the comment that there was always repentance. I agreed with him and said we needed to see if our plants would survive. So, we went and watered them. Then, a few hours later, we checked on them and they had perked right back up. It was amazing! We were glad we saved out plants. :)
Our comments were made somewhat jokingly, but it just reminded me on how important it is to strengthen our testimony. We continually need to water our seeds of faith/testimony for it to grow and we can do this by following the commandments, reading our scriptures, applying what we learn, praying, attending the Temple, and just always striving to become better people. If we don't do these things, our faith and testimony will weaken. However, they'll be strengthened again once we start doing the things we should be doing.
Also, it also re-confirmed the importance of setting goals. Our goal for our plants is to actually grow tomatoes. So, to meet that goal, we will water it every day. In life, we should set realistic goals. That way, we will have something to look forward to and actually do the necessary things to achieve them. Currently, Andy and I have a goal of saying our prayers and of reading our scriptures every day. Since we've made these things our goals, we've actually been doing pretty well and I've really enjoyed it. It's been fun studying the scriptures together and learning from them. We're always trying to apply the things that we've learned.
Anyway, if you haven't already, set realistic goals...both spiritual and life goals. It will definitely give you more direction and give you the motivation to do things... :)
Beginning Stage:
Blooming Plants:
Our comments were made somewhat jokingly, but it just reminded me on how important it is to strengthen our testimony. We continually need to water our seeds of faith/testimony for it to grow and we can do this by following the commandments, reading our scriptures, applying what we learn, praying, attending the Temple, and just always striving to become better people. If we don't do these things, our faith and testimony will weaken. However, they'll be strengthened again once we start doing the things we should be doing.
Also, it also re-confirmed the importance of setting goals. Our goal for our plants is to actually grow tomatoes. So, to meet that goal, we will water it every day. In life, we should set realistic goals. That way, we will have something to look forward to and actually do the necessary things to achieve them. Currently, Andy and I have a goal of saying our prayers and of reading our scriptures every day. Since we've made these things our goals, we've actually been doing pretty well and I've really enjoyed it. It's been fun studying the scriptures together and learning from them. We're always trying to apply the things that we've learned.
Anyway, if you haven't already, set realistic goals...both spiritual and life goals. It will definitely give you more direction and give you the motivation to do things... :)
Beginning Stage:
Blooming Plants:
Visiting Rochester
Yeah! Our first visitors! Since we don't live in a big city, it's not likely that we'll actually have people come visit us. So, it was great when we had friends visit. German, Kitna, Baby, and Kitna's Mom came and visited us as they were making their way to New Y
ork. It was fun. They arrived Friday late afternoon so we showed them around Mayo, ate dinner, and then played some tennis. On Saturday, we spent the day in the cities at the Science Museum. It was nice...their baby is soo cute too. She was a very good baby. Also, the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Perfect fo
r getting a nice tan. :) Anyway, here's a picture of all of us in in front of the Mississippi River. We're glad we had visitors and I'm excited for Andy's sister and my parents to come...they'll be visiting next month. :)
Transformer - The Movie!
On the 3rd, we went to watch Transformer with Craig and Jaclyn. It was an AWESOME movie! We all really liked it. The movie was fast paced and the animation was really good. On the way home from the movie, I couldn't help it but make the 'transformer' sound effect when the robots transformed. Okay, that may be a little extreme, but it was just fun making the noise. :) Anyway, I highly recommend seeing this movie.
Fourth of July
So, I know it's been a LONG time since I've posted...I usually am pretty good about updating my blog, but for some reason, I got out of the habit. Anyway, I am no longer MIA. :)
Anyway, Andy and I had an AWESOME 4th of July....we helped out at the ward party by filling up water balloons and helping the activity coordinator set up. We had a great time talking with friends and other ward members. Then, we worked on the flowerbed in front of our house. We added a retaining wall, potting soil, and some red mulch. It looks pretty cool..especially with the one flower that is blooming. We had planted other flowers but they didn't bloom; however, they didn't. I'm assuming they will bloom next year. All in all, I felt proud of our little flower bed.... :) Then, in the afternoon, we went fishing with our friends Craig and Jaclyn. We went to a place called Willow Creek Reservoir. It was beautiful! We spent a few hours there and caught a few little fish. We then went and grabbed dinner and then met up with other friends to watch the fireworks. It was great! The weather was fairly warm but I'm glad we got to be outside and spend time with friends.
Anyway, that's about it for the Fourth. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!
Anyway, Andy and I had an AWESOME 4th of July....we helped out at the ward party by filling up water balloons and helping the activity coordinator set up. We had a great time talking with friends and other ward members. Then, we worked on the flowerbed in front of our house. We added a retaining wall, potting soil, and some red mulch. It looks pretty cool..especially with the one flower that is blooming. We had planted other flowers but they didn't bloom; however, they didn't. I'm assuming they will bloom next year. All in all, I felt proud of our little flower bed.... :) Then, in the afternoon, we went fishing with our friends Craig and Jaclyn. We went to a place called Willow Creek Reservoir. It was beautiful! We spent a few hours there and caught a few little fish. We then went and grabbed dinner and then met up with other friends to watch the fireworks. It was great! The weather was fairly warm but I'm glad we got to be outside and spend time with friends.
Anyway, that's about it for the Fourth. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Easter Time!
I LOVE Easter! Andy didn't have class on Saturday so we were able to sleep in.. yipee!! It was really nice to spend the day with my husband. :) Anyway, we didn't really do too much. We were able to provide some service for a family in our ward. We went over to their place to help the kids color eggs and then have an Easter egg hunt. Her husband won't be home for another week or two and needed some help. Then we went over to our friends house to watch the final movie of Infernal Affairs. It was fun.
Friday was really nice to. We stayed up really late. My parents came home around midnight pacific time...so I was up until 2 am wanting to say hi to them. I'm glad my parents are home safe. :)
Andy and our friend Craig were up to 4 am playing 'Age of Empire III'. He had a lot of fun and was glad to finally be able to put his new computer to the test.
Well, that's just a quick recap of our weekend. Nothing too exciting but at least you all know we're still alive. :)
Friday was really nice to. We stayed up really late. My parents came home around midnight pacific time...so I was up until 2 am wanting to say hi to them. I'm glad my parents are home safe. :)
Andy and our friend Craig were up to 4 am playing 'Age of Empire III'. He had a lot of fun and was glad to finally be able to put his new computer to the test.
Well, that's just a quick recap of our weekend. Nothing too exciting but at least you all know we're still alive. :)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Kansas City
This week I will be in Kansas City Missouri for training on the Cerner Health System. For my job, we will be implementing a new electronic medical record (EMR) for the Mayo Health Systems. Right now, all the Mayo Health system sites uses different programs for their medical records. Some still use paper and some are partly electronic. Mayo has decided to standardize their medical record system and they chose Cerner. So, to help us all better understand their software, we are in Kansas City for a week long training. It has been a lot of fun so far..however, the days have been long...listening to lectures all day is not easy. Plus, I miss being with Andy. I can't wait to go back to Rochester and see him. :)
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Taiwan Pictures
My Dad just sent us the files for the pages in our wedding book...we really really liked them. :) If you want to see them, Andy put them on his blog:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kinsio/WeddingPics
I hope you like them as much as we do!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kinsio/WeddingPics
I hope you like them as much as we do!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
~Reason's why I LOVE my husband~
Happy Valentine's Day!! I just want everyone to know that I LOVE my husband! Isn't he HANDSOME?! Here is a list of 10 things that I love about him:1. He is a hard worker.
2. He is ambitious and crazy.
3. He makes me laugh.
4. He takes care of me.
5. He is supportive and helps me be the best that I can be.
6. He is very responsible.
7. He watches out for his family and makes sure his siblings do well.
8. He gets excited about almost anything!
9. He is very easy to talk to.
10. He LOVES me!
So there are my ten things. Of course, there are many many more reasons... :) I'm really am grateful for my husband and I love doing things with him...from fixing up our house to traveling around the world! He always says he doesn't know what to get me for Valentine's or for my birthday, but the truth is just spending time with him is enough for me. He's the best!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
WII anyone?
Before the PS3 system came out, we were debating on whether or not we wanted one. Then Andy read some stuff about the WII system and thought that it would be better. However, we decided quickly to wait since we didn't really want to spend the money on it. Anyway, Andy's boss got a WII system and told Andy how much fun it was...so, he really wanted to get one. I still didn't want to spend the money, but then I got a job interview at Mayo. So, Andy asked if we could get one if I got the job. I agreed. I figured it would be a good way to celebrate.
So..when we got back from Asia, Andy started on his quest to find a system. He finally got one yesterday at Target. We had a friend that worked there and he was able to get us one during his lunch break. Also, Andy decided to go there after a meeting to make sure he would get one. Talk about a man on a mission. :) Anyway, he was sooo happy that he got one. Last night, we play 3 tennis matches and one game of bowling. It was a lot of fun! Definitely a unique way to play games...I'm glad we got one. So, if you want to come join us in the fun, you should come out and visit us.
So..when we got back from Asia, Andy started on his quest to find a system. He finally got one yesterday at Target. We had a friend that worked there and he was able to get us one during his lunch break. Also, Andy decided to go there after a meeting to make sure he would get one. Talk about a man on a mission. :) Anyway, he was sooo happy that he got one. Last night, we play 3 tennis matches and one game of bowling. It was a lot of fun! Definitely a unique way to play games...I'm glad we got one. So, if you want to come join us in the fun, you should come out and visit us.
Monday, February 12, 2007
I Got Tagged!!!
Ahh!! So my sister-in-law Allison tagged me. I guess I need to list 6 weird things about me... which wouldn't be any fun...but then I get to tag 6 other people! Which is the fun part...so BEWARE! Anyway, here it goes....
1. I love eating pretzels with yogurt...it may sound gross, but it helps to take away some of the sweetness.
2. I have to make myself be outgoing...I am naturally a very very shy person so I force myself to talk to people. Sometimes I still feel like a social retard. :)
3. I would LOVE to travel around the world...but I don't like to fly....
4. I can't run outside...my throat dries up and it taste like there's blood in it.... :(
5. I'm not someone who wants a lot of stuff...so even if I wanted to spend a lot of money, I don't know if I could.
6. Sometimes, I would rather cook and eat at home then go out to a restaurant.
Phew! I made it. Hopefully that works. Now the fun part!! Pauline, Juli, Winnie, Julia, Melissa, and Crystal -- You're IT! Good luck!
1. I love eating pretzels with yogurt...it may sound gross, but it helps to take away some of the sweetness.
2. I have to make myself be outgoing...I am naturally a very very shy person so I force myself to talk to people. Sometimes I still feel like a social retard. :)
3. I would LOVE to travel around the world...but I don't like to fly....
4. I can't run outside...my throat dries up and it taste like there's blood in it.... :(
5. I'm not someone who wants a lot of stuff...so even if I wanted to spend a lot of money, I don't know if I could.
6. Sometimes, I would rather cook and eat at home then go out to a restaurant.
Phew! I made it. Hopefully that works. Now the fun part!! Pauline, Juli, Winnie, Julia, Melissa, and Crystal -- You're IT! Good luck!
Is installing a Storm Door Easy??
So...the weather here in the Mid-West has been very very VERY COLD! So, in order to better insulate our home and to save on energy costs, we decided to install a storm door. We went and checked out Home Depot and Mernards. Luckily, Mernards was having a sale so the cost of the door wasn't too bad...
We also didn't think a door would be hard to install so instead of paying someone to do it, we decided to do it ourself. Boy was it a challenge!!! Okay..maybe not too bad..but it was a lot harder then we thought. Everything was fine until we started screwing the door to the door frame. All of a sudden, it wasn't fitting as nicely. Since I am a perfectionist and can be stubborn, I think I was causing Andy to be a bit more frustrated. :) It wasn't that everything had to be perfect...I just wanted to make sure it looked nice. About 1 1/2 days later, we finished installing the door. HOOORRRAAYYY!! It actually turned out pretty good..let's just see how it looks in the Spring and Summer...hopefully it'll be okay. Andy's dad would probably be mocking us for how long it took..but, what can I say...we were rookies.
Anyway, installing a Storm Door is definitely NOT EASY. But, if we had to do it all over again, I would still want to install it ourselves. It felt so good when we finally finished installing it... :) It's definitely an accomplishment. I LOVE working on projects with my husband.
We also didn't think a door would be hard to install so instead of paying someone to do it, we decided to do it ourself. Boy was it a challenge!!! Okay..maybe not too bad..but it was a lot harder then we thought. Everything was fine until we started screwing the door to the door frame. All of a sudden, it wasn't fitting as nicely. Since I am a perfectionist and can be stubborn, I think I was causing Andy to be a bit more frustrated. :) It wasn't that everything had to be perfect...I just wanted to make sure it looked nice. About 1 1/2 days later, we finished installing the door. HOOORRRAAYYY!! It actually turned out pretty good..let's just see how it looks in the Spring and Summer...hopefully it'll be okay. Andy's dad would probably be mocking us for how long it took..but, what can I say...we were rookies.
Anyway, installing a Storm Door is definitely NOT EASY. But, if we had to do it all over again, I would still want to install it ourselves. It felt so good when we finally finished installing it... :) It's definitely an accomplishment. I LOVE working on projects with my husband.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
New Job
So, mid-December I had an interview for the MHS Process Analyst position at Mayo Clinic. After I was done with the interview, I was almost positive that I wouldn't get the job because I felt like the interview didn't go well. Anyway, a week after the interview, I sent a follow up email and I was told that I did very well and that they would let me know as soon as they could about a decision. Finally, about 1 1/2 months later, I received a job offer!! (I actually would have found out earlier but I was on vacation and unreachable by phone). Anyway, the position and dept are very new and the job will be challenging. It will definitely be a great learning experience. I am very excited! I especially want to take advantage of education benefit and get my masters. YIPPEE!!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Last week in Macao
So, I decided to just sum up what we've done the past week. We really haven't done much. Basically, we just went shopping and met with Andy's friends and family. Also, I caught a cold so I've been resting at home. For me, the first day of the cold is always the worst! Today is the second day, so it's not too bad. But, I had to go see the Chinese doctor to take some Chinese medicine so Andy's parents would stop telling me to go see a doctor. They kept saying it over and over for the past few days. So, to make them happy, we went. Anyway, tomorrow we spend the day in Hong Kong and then we go to the airport the next day. I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks. Time went fast! I've had a lot of fun in Asia and I'm really glad that I got to meet Andy's family. They have all been really nice. However, I am still looking forward to getting home. :)
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
China
The day after we came back from Taiwan, we headed of to China to visit the rest of Andy's relatives. Let's just say it was quite the adventure...just makes me even more grateful that we live in America. It also makes me LOVE my house even more!! I don't mind the fact that China is a little bit dirtier or the squatter toilets. However, I don't think I could ever get use to taking a shower standing above the toilet. It just gives me the chills. Other then that, it was great meeting everybody. Also, everyone was very nice. We had our own room to stay in and they had even bought a new bed for Andy and I to sleep in. I thought that was very generous of them.
Anyway, we were in China from Friday night until Monday noon time. Here's a brief overview of our trip:
Friday: We go to the border around 3:30 pm and walk from Macao to China. We then take the bus to Lat Lau and arrive there around 8 or 8:30 pm. We eat dinner, talk and then go to bed.
Saturday: We went to go Yam Cha in the morning and then just hung out at the house. Around 5 or 6 pm we did the Tea Ceremony then went to eat dinner. It was fun because I got to meet several of Andy's cousins. The 2 girl cousins spoke Mandarin so I was able to talk to them. It was also interesting to watch everybody. They aren't members so drinking wine and tea at the table was common. Luckily, nobody drunk too much. :)
Sunday: Went to visit Andy's other relatives in Shui Cheng. We went there to specifically to visit his grandpa in the hospital. He seems to be doing pretty well. I think they said that he would be home for Chinese New Year. That night, we went to eat dinner to celebrate. This time it was only 1 table, but it was still interesting to watch everyone. I guess in China, drinking wine and smoking is the only way to do business.
Monday: Hang out with family and then took the bus back to the Macao border. We then went shopping in the underground mall to buy stuff. Everything was sooo cheap and there was soo much to see! Too bad my visa only let me go to China once or we could have gone again on another day.
Anyway, that's basically it. I'm glad to be back in Macao and to be able to use a clean bathroom. :)
Anyway, we were in China from Friday night until Monday noon time. Here's a brief overview of our trip:
Friday: We go to the border around 3:30 pm and walk from Macao to China. We then take the bus to Lat Lau and arrive there around 8 or 8:30 pm. We eat dinner, talk and then go to bed.
Saturday: We went to go Yam Cha in the morning and then just hung out at the house. Around 5 or 6 pm we did the Tea Ceremony then went to eat dinner. It was fun because I got to meet several of Andy's cousins. The 2 girl cousins spoke Mandarin so I was able to talk to them. It was also interesting to watch everybody. They aren't members so drinking wine and tea at the table was common. Luckily, nobody drunk too much. :)
Sunday: Went to visit Andy's other relatives in Shui Cheng. We went there to specifically to visit his grandpa in the hospital. He seems to be doing pretty well. I think they said that he would be home for Chinese New Year. That night, we went to eat dinner to celebrate. This time it was only 1 table, but it was still interesting to watch everyone. I guess in China, drinking wine and smoking is the only way to do business.
Monday: Hang out with family and then took the bus back to the Macao border. We then went shopping in the underground mall to buy stuff. Everything was sooo cheap and there was soo much to see! Too bad my visa only let me go to China once or we could have gone again on another day.
Anyway, that's basically it. I'm glad to be back in Macao and to be able to use a clean bathroom. :)
Taiwan
Andy, Andy's mom, and I were able to visit my parents in Taiwan for 4 days. I'm really glad we went because we had tons of fun! It was Andy's mom first trip to Taiwan so she was really excited to go. Plus, we were able to take wedding pictures there...I have always wanted to be able to take those pics since I saw them on my mission. They're really really pretty! Here's a basic break down of our stay in Taiwan:
Monday: Arrive in Taiwan at 3:05 pm. Mom and Dad meet us at the airport and we arrive in Taipei around 4:30/5:00 pm. We then look at all the wedding picture places and make an appointment. We then eat dinner and then choose the outfits for the next day.
Tuesday: 9:00 am we go to the picture place. They do my make-up and hair and we take tons of pictures until 4:30 pm. It was a long day! I had 5 different outfits and with each outfit they touched up my make-up and changed my hairstyle. It was a lot of fun but we were definitely tired by the end of the day. 5:30 pm we go and look at the pictures on the computer. We then ate dinner with my mission trainer and her fiance. It was fun talking to her and catching up. I'm excited for her wedding...she's getting married on Feb 3rd..so I would have just barely missed it. After dinner, we go back to the wedding place to finish choosing pictures. It was hard cutting pictures out because we liked a lot of them. We also had to re-negotiate the price and package since there was some miscommunication at the beginning. I think it all worked out in the end though. I'm excited to see the finished products!
Wednesday: We went to the morning market with Mom and Dad. Then Andy and I were able to be the witness couple for the missionary endowment session. We didn't know what to do but it worked out. I'm glad we were able to attend the temple. We were going to attend the Hong Kong temple but it doesn't look like we would have been able to make it. While we were in the temple, mom took Andy's mom around to buy stuff. I'm glad she had fun. After the temple, we went to the 101 building and then to the night market. It was fun! I wish we had night markets in America.
Thursday: In the morning, we went out to a place called Dan Shui. It was really pretty. We didn't get to stay long because we had to catch the 12 o'clock bus to the airport. It was nice to just stroll around the ocean/river...I don't remember exactly what it was.
Anyway, that's basically our trip. We all enjoyed ourselves and we were able to stay in the patron housing..which was nice because we had our own room and bathroom..plus, it was really big...well, just bigger then the room we have now. :) Anyway, we were just happy to spend time with mom and dad!
Monday: Arrive in Taiwan at 3:05 pm. Mom and Dad meet us at the airport and we arrive in Taipei around 4:30/5:00 pm. We then look at all the wedding picture places and make an appointment. We then eat dinner and then choose the outfits for the next day.
Tuesday: 9:00 am we go to the picture place. They do my make-up and hair and we take tons of pictures until 4:30 pm. It was a long day! I had 5 different outfits and with each outfit they touched up my make-up and changed my hairstyle. It was a lot of fun but we were definitely tired by the end of the day. 5:30 pm we go and look at the pictures on the computer. We then ate dinner with my mission trainer and her fiance. It was fun talking to her and catching up. I'm excited for her wedding...she's getting married on Feb 3rd..so I would have just barely missed it. After dinner, we go back to the wedding place to finish choosing pictures. It was hard cutting pictures out because we liked a lot of them. We also had to re-negotiate the price and package since there was some miscommunication at the beginning. I think it all worked out in the end though. I'm excited to see the finished products!
Wednesday: We went to the morning market with Mom and Dad. Then Andy and I were able to be the witness couple for the missionary endowment session. We didn't know what to do but it worked out. I'm glad we were able to attend the temple. We were going to attend the Hong Kong temple but it doesn't look like we would have been able to make it. While we were in the temple, mom took Andy's mom around to buy stuff. I'm glad she had fun. After the temple, we went to the 101 building and then to the night market. It was fun! I wish we had night markets in America.
Thursday: In the morning, we went out to a place called Dan Shui. It was really pretty. We didn't get to stay long because we had to catch the 12 o'clock bus to the airport. It was nice to just stroll around the ocean/river...I don't remember exactly what it was.
Anyway, that's basically our trip. We all enjoyed ourselves and we were able to stay in the patron housing..which was nice because we had our own room and bathroom..plus, it was really big...well, just bigger then the room we have now. :) Anyway, we were just happy to spend time with mom and dad!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Macao: Day 7
It's official!! I have been in Macao for a whole week! Time sure does fly. Anyway, since today is Sunday, we really didn't do much. Church was fun. Several people spoke Mandarin so I was able to talk to them. I feel like my Mandarin has tui bu...or gotten worse...but, they could still understand me so I guess that was good. Then we just stayed at home...Andy helped his family clean up the house and throw away a lot of the junk...his parents don't like to throw stuff away. Very much like my parents. :) But Dorothy definitely took care of that. Hehehe. For dinner, we went over to Andy's other aunt's house and had hot pot. Afterwards, we came back and packed for our excursion trip to Taiwan to visit my parents and to take wedding pics. I am soo excited to see them and to take the pics. I just hope they turn out.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Macao: Day 6
Today was a pretty relaxing day. For the past few days, we haven't been able to sleep past 7 am. We actually slept in till about 7:30 am. :) Then we out to the basketball court. Andy was playing basketball with his friends. Afterwards, we went and watched a Chinese movie...I forgot what it was called but it was pretty good. I believe it was the same people who did Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Anyway, it was about the Emporer and what he did to get the thrown and then showed what he did to keep it. Then we just stayed at home. Andy was fixing the computers at home..as usual. :) For dinner, we met with Andy's family that was here in Macao...we ate some Portuguese food at a nice restaurant. The Before we went to dinner, we were able to walk around the Macao Tower. It was very pretty. I'm glad that we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. :)
Friday, January 19, 2007
Macao: Day 5
In general, today will be known as Andy's day...we basically spent the whole day meeting his friends. Of course, since I can't really speak Cantonese, I just sat there and listened to everyone else. You're probably all thinking, "Poor Tanya, she must have been sooo bored." It wasn't all too bad, but it was weird to not really talk the whole day. Andy had a lot of fun though! He hadn't seen his friends for 3 years so they had a lot of catching up to do. It was fun seeing him interact with them. We did do a little bit of shopping in between visits with his friends, but that's about it. We also ate a lot of food today...we ate potstickers, mango drinks, chong you beng, some milk dessert, Japanese food..and probably some other stuff..Andy is determined to gain wait, me on the other hand, would like to lose weight...so I'll probably have to go on a diet when I get home. I will probably try the one that my sister in law is doing...sounds like she has had some success..even though I don't think she needs to lose anything.... :)
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Macao: Day 4
Today the weather was much much better. Still overcast but at least it wasn't raining. So, Andy showed me around little Macao. We went around on his Moped. It is soooo scary to drive in the traffic here. It's TERRIBLE! The mopeds just squeeze in and out of cars and they don't really follow the traffic rules. Needless to say, my eyes were closed almost the whole time! I really enjoyed seeing the landmarks of Macao. It is really pretty. Then, went shopping and found some cool stuff. :) In the afternoon, Andy's parents took us site seeing. He drove us around Taipa and we ate the famous Portuguese dan tat. It was pretty good. That night we stayed the night at Andy's aunts home and ate dinner there. Her house is sooo nice. I have never seen such a fancy house in Asia.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Macao: Day 3
Today it rained ALL DAY! It was sooo gloomy that we wanted to just stay home. But, 
luckily we didn't. We decided to go out and walk around and go shopping. We didn't have too much luck since we weren't in the mood to shop but it was still fun looking at everything. That afternoon we took a long nap and then we took Andy's family to eat Korean food. It was pretty good, but we still like Sam Hawk in Provo Utah. We haven't found a place that is better than it. Anyway, that night we went and visited Andy's aunt. Her place was really really nice..you can tell that she works very hard!
luckily we didn't. We decided to go out and walk around and go shopping. We didn't have too much luck since we weren't in the mood to shop but it was still fun looking at everything. That afternoon we took a long nap and then we took Andy's family to eat Korean food. It was pretty good, but we still like Sam Hawk in Provo Utah. We haven't found a place that is better than it. Anyway, that night we went and visited Andy's aunt. Her place was really really nice..you can tell that she works very hard!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Macao: Day 2
Yeah! Success with the travelers checks. We found 2 banks that would accept them with out a fee. However, I need to have my passport. Which I won't get back until Thursday. So we'll have to wait till then. Anyway, today we basically finished our 'to do list'. It feels good to cross things off. We finished the stuff at the bank, got my new glasses ordered, and found out about wedding pics and tickets to Taiwan to visit Mom and Dad. The tickets weren't too bad so I'm excited to go. ;)
Anyway, the weather the last few days has been very nice. The perfect spring weather. I hope it lasts. We've also had very good Chinese food....we went to yam cha and other stuff. Yummy. :) I'll hopefully be able to post pics later.
Anyway, the weather the last few days has been very nice. The perfect spring weather. I hope it lasts. We've also had very good Chinese food....we went to yam cha and other stuff. Yummy. :) I'll hopefully be able to post pics later.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Macao: Day 1
Today was basically errand day. We got a lot done! We got my China Visa application submitted, Andy's ID card changed to the current one, and got his bank information all settled. It was a very busy day and we walked everywhere! Macao is definitely not a very big place. We basically walked from one end to the other in like 30 minutes....okay, maybe not that fast, but we it sure seemed like it. The traffic here is also very crazy...it's just like China and Taiwan. Pretty scary and no one follows traffic rules. Definitely gotta watch out for the mopeds and cars.
We also tried to cash in the traveler's checks that we brought...definitely not as easy as we thought it would be. It appears that the place that was suppose to accept them for free didn't accept them any more. Luckily, we have our credit cards, and some extra cash. We'll have to search around. :)
We also tried to cash in the traveler's checks that we brought...definitely not as easy as we thought it would be. It appears that the place that was suppose to accept them for free didn't accept them any more. Luckily, we have our credit cards, and some extra cash. We'll have to search around. :)
Sunday, January 14, 2007
In Macao!!
After several "tribulations," Andy and I have finally arrived in Macao. First of all, the night before we were scheduled to leave, we found out that our flight from Rochester to Minneapolis was cancelled. Luckily, our friends were headed up to the city to attend the temple. So, they were able to give us a ride to catch our flight there. After 12 hours on the plane, we arrived in Japan. It wasn't too bad...we watched 2 movies and I slept most of the way. Then, after an hour lay over, it was another 5 hours to Hong Kong. When we landed, Andy opened the luggage area and next thing I knew, I was hit in the arm with a pretty heavy plastic bag. Luckily I had moved over or else I would have been hit in the head. :) Then from there, it was an hour bus ride to the ferry and another hour on the ferry to Macao. As we were boarding the ferry, the handle on our larger suitcase broke. Then, after we got off the ferry and going to catch a taxi, the front right wheel on the same larger luggage broke. We finally arrived safely at Andy's home at about 2 or 3 in the morning. We were glad to have made it safely and have a good nights rest!
 In the airport |  On the ferry to Macao |
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Recent Adventures...
We took a trip up to the Twin Cities Saturday and stayed the night. It was a lot of fun! We went to an art musuem and a zoo. The art musuem had some really cool asian collections and some nice conservatories. The best part was that they were both free!! All in all, it was an awesome trip! I love exploring places with my husband. :)
Christmas day we explored the southern part of Rochester. We ended up driving by the Mayowood Mansion and they had this beautiful lake by their house.
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Christmas day we explored the southern part of Rochester. We ended up driving by the Mayowood Mansion and they had this beautiful lake by their house.
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