~Andy's Birthday Party~

So, today was Andy's birthday and I planned a surprise party for him...we had tons of fun!! Our friends 'kidnapped' Andy so I could get the house ready for the birthday bash. I told them to do whatever they wanted to him...like put make-up on him...little did I know that they would actually do it. Here's a few pictures of what he looked like when he came home...I thought it was soo funny!

For dinner we had Hawaiian Haystacks. It was yummy!! I LOVE Hawaiian Haystacks. But, while we were waiting for it to finish cooking, we played a small game to surprise Chris...his birthday was last Thursday but he had strep throat..so his wife had asked us to include him in the party...so I agreed...of course, that meant we had to do something to him as well. So we played a game called 'koochi koochi koo.' What you do is sit in a circle and pinch your neighbor's cheeks several times while you say koochi koochi koo...the goal is for that person to not laugh...but, there is one person who will put lipstick on his or her figures to get it on your face without your knowledge...so that's what we did. The outcome was awesome!! He didn't expect it at all!

Anyway, we all had a great day and I'm glad I could surprise my husband...he totally didn't expect it. :) If you want to see some more pics, Andy has posted them in his online web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/kinsio/AndySBirthday06?pli=1

Key Lime Pie!!

So, I had mentioned in my previous post that Andy and I decided to participate in the gourmet club. Anyway, here are pics of my very FIRST key lime pie...notice the nice decoration with the limes...hehe..I was pretty proud of myself. Of course I called Dorothy a few times to see if I was doing it correctly...since I wasn't sure how the texture was suppose to be. People at the dinner said it was good...then we had friends over to finish up the second pie since we didn't use it at the dinner..they said it was good too. Let's just say I was glad it turned out... :) I'm curious to see what the menu is for the following month.

Joining Special Interest Groups

Since moving here to Rochester, I've gotten to know several of the members by joining groups. When I first got here, I joined the recipe group. Each month, 3 or 4 sisters are in charge of the group. They choose a theme and they prepare the dishes for us to try-basically, it's a dinner because so much food gets prepared. Then we get a copy of the recipes. It's a great way to get recipes and to be able to try new things. This month will be a Halloween theme. I'm excited to see what types of food they will have. :)

Last month, I joined the book club and we read a book called The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I guess several people were required to read this book in high school..but I had never heard of it.

Pearl Buck offers a view of China during the reign of the last Emporer as seen through the eyes of a honest farmer namd Wang Lung. She does a really good job of taking you through the ups and downs of life that the farmer experiences. I really enjoyed this book...once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop. The book was rich in culture and in history...I also got mad at the main character too because of the choices he was making...I don't want to mention the details because I think it's a book everyone should read... :) This month, we are reading a book called Once Upon a Town. I'll give an update on that when I'm done.

I've also joined the Gourmet Club. Basically, this is the LDS version of an interest group at Mayo Clinic. Basically, you have about 4 couples (those with kids usually leave them at home with a babysitter) assigned to a group and a family will be the host. There's a set menu with the recipe and each couple chooses what they want to make. Then, you decide what day to get together and everyone brings the assigned dish. I thought it sounded like fun. Saturday night will be the first time and I'm in charge of making a Key Lime Pie and --if I dare try-- a French Silk Pie. I'll have to let you know how it goes.

Chicago Trip!

In the early monring hours of Saturday, Andy and I took off for Chicago Illinois. This is a picture of the sunrise. It was beautiful!

Traffic wasn't bad until we hit the very last toll booth...We were stuck in traffic for another 45 minutes..oh the joys of city life.

There were several cool things to see in Chicago. The archetecture was amazing and they just had some neat stuff to see. In the picture, you can see a glass mirror object thing...also, there was a water area and they had an image of a lady...she would eventually 'spit' water out. The kids there loved it!

~ Wicked ~ Finally, a dream come true! After waiting for 2 years, I finally got to see the musical Wicked. It's about the Wicked Witch of the West and it was very good. If you ever have the chance to see it, you should. The music is FABULOUS! The performers were great too.

Chicago!!- View from the Planetarium

We went to several places...the Field Museum, Planetarium, Chicago Temple, China Town..which is where we ate some very yummy chinese food and had zhen zhu drinks...and the Museum of Science and Industry. We were very busy every day and spent hours looking at stuff.

This is the body of a mummified little boy...amazing huh?

Trip to Nauvoo, IL

One of our first road trips since moving out to Minnesota...good old Nauvoo!! The main reason for this trip was to see the pageant. I was glad that we could go see the Nauvoo Pageant this year. I remember seeing it for the first time when Dorothy and Mike lived in Iowa and I was impressed....that's why I wanted to see it again. So, our new friends - the Massens - came with us to catch the pageant on the last day. It's a new show about the Prophet Joseph Smith and it's in it's second year. The show was amazing and the spirit was very strong. I hope that everyone will eventually have the chance to see it.

The next day, we were able to attend the Temple. The Temple is so beautiful. Also, it's been a while since we have been able to go to the Temple since the St. Paul temple is a mini temple, you have to have your own clothing. Andy's finally came so we jumped at the chance to go. I'm grateful that we had the opportunity. I wish we would have taken advantage of the opportunity when we were in Utah....I've always heard people say to take advantage of the opportunity in Utah, but I guess it didn't really sink in till we got out here. I'm just glad we got to go...and now that Andy has his clothing, we should be able to attend the Temple more often.

I'm grateful for the Temple and for the Prophet Joseph Smith...While in Nauvoo, we also got to see a few demonstrations and visit Carthage Jail. I definitely think that everyone should experience Nauvoo at least once in their life. It's a great place to learn about Church History!

These are just some random pictures I took during the pageant...I thought it was cool. :)

Waiting for the pageant to start....

Andy, Me, Katie, and Cory in front of the Temple. We just finished a session.

Random pics we took in Nauvoo...

Andy and I in front of Carthage Jail.

Demolition Derby!

On Thursday August 3rd, we decided to go to the county fair and see the demolition derby. It was soo much fun watching these old cars bump into each other. Talk about real 'bumper cars'... :) Luckily we sat further up in the bleachers because mud was flying everywhere. Unfortunately, we only stayed a little over an hour because the cigarette smoke was getting to us. The clean air is definitely one thing I miss about Utah. Anyway, it was a little pricey but we were glad we could see it...definitely highly recommend seeing it once. :)

 

 

Tubing and BBQ

July 15:

Today we had a lot of fun! This afternoon we went tubing down the river with our new friends Chris and Ronnie Voight. We went to a place about 40 minutes away....I believe it was a small German town. Anyway, we managed to rent some tubes and floated down the river. It has been so nice lately that it felt very nice. The trip lasted about an hour. If you have never had the chance to go tubing, I highly recommend it. :)

July 21:

Tonight we had some friends over for a BBQ! Andy and I bought a Weber Baby-Q Gas grill...we had received a gift certificate to Linen's and Things and it was the only thing we wanted. Anyway, it's perfect for grilling and this was our second time using it. I'm proud to say that Andy does a very good job grilling. :) Plus, the grill is very easy to use. Anyway, we had hamburgers, polish dogs, pasta salad, chips, and fruit. Very YUMMY food! The best thing is we got to meet a few new people. We all sat around and talked...it was great!

Great River Bluffs Camping Trip!!

This weekend Andy and I went camping at Great River Bluffs State Park - it was about 45 minutes away. We were very excited to go camping with our new camping gear we bought 2 weeks ago. :) It was a lot of fun and the campground was beautiful...on top of that, the weather was PERFECT!

Our little tent. We bought our tent at Sports Authority ...it was on sale. It's the perfect size for 2 people... later that night we decided to put the rainfly on because we thought it might rain..but it didn't. The weather was perfect!

Tin foil dinners...YUMMY!! It's one of my favorite meals to have when camping..:)

View from the bluffs...one of which includes the Mississippi River!

We had a ton of fun camping! Hopefully we'll be able to have a camping trip with the whole family.

Pictures of the house!!!

So...here are a few pictures of the inside of our house. Hopefully they'll give you a good idea of what it looks like. :)

Picture of the living room..

Picture of the living room...leading to the eating area.

Dining Table 

Piano and Computer Room

Picture of the bedroom

Adventure of the week!

Friday was a very interesting day...I was driving to the gym when I heard this 'POP' noise. I wasn't sure it was from my car but next thing I knew, my car was very load. It was like sitting next to the engine in an airplane. I assumed my muffler had gone bad but since I don't know a whole lot about cars, I wasn't sure. Anyway, I was nervous about driving my car. I thought maybe it would blow up or something.

Anyway, after working out, I spoke with Andy and my brothers. They confirmed that it was probably my muffler. So, I called around to a few shops. Estimated fixing cost was around $200. After speaking with Ted, I called Midas. They were about the same but the offered to do a free inspection to make sure the muffler was the problem. So, I made an appointment for later in the day...I also found a $10 discount coupon. :)

While I was driving to Midas, the car seemed to get louder and louder. I was 'embarrassed' and didn't want people looking at me. As I drove, I was constantly glancing at people to see if they were staring at me. I felt soo bad. In fact, there was one lady that was walking along the road that stared at me. But there wasn't anything I could do about it. Finally, I arrived at Midas. They put my car up and sure enough, the problem was the muffler. However, it was an odd problem. It looked like there was a backfire...instead of being flat, the muffler was bulging. No cracks or holes. The mechanics were baffled and had no idea what would have caused it. I guess it's not something you see in newer cars. But, at least we got it fixed and the car is now nice and quiet again. :) That's all that I could ask for.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Life in Minnesota

Wow! Time sure does fly!! I can't believe that we've lived in Minnesota for 1 1/2 months now. Andy finally started working about a month ago and I'm still looking for a job. Job hunting is sure not easy..but I know something will come up. :) In the meantime, I've been decorating our house. I finally got the the rooms organized and decorated. Granted, the walls are still a bit bare, but I figure that they will be decorated over time. We didn't want to rush into buying pictures. I've also been going to the gym everyday.

Andy and I have also been studying the Preach My Gospel...the stake president challeneged everyone to study it have have it read by October. We've only studied it a few times but its been really good. I highly recommend everyone to read and study it. We both also received callings -- Andy was called to be the Assistant Ward Clerk and I was called to be a Den Leader for the Bears. I've never been a Den Leader before so it should be fun and a good learning experience. Andy's calling definitely keeps him very busy.

Other than that, we are enjoying ourselves. Still adjusting to the changes and not having family close by, but we are slowly making friends here. :)

Memorial Weekend!!

So, I hope everyone had a fabulous memorial holiday!! Andy and I went to visit James and Winnie in Wisconsin. Winnie and James were about 4 hours away. The drive wasn't bad at all and the scenery was beautiful...however, on the way there and back, we saw about 15-17 dead deer. It was soo sad.

Anyway, the most challenging part of our trip was not having out stuff....we had packed everything, but for some reason, neither one of us double checked and the bag got left behind. Definitely a big mistake that won't happen again. But, despite that, we had tons of fun!! We did a variety of things..went to Michigan Lake, Farmers market in Madison, played DDR and karaoke, saw a parade, and had a BBQ.

Well, that was our exciting trip...i've posted some pics...I hope you enjoy them. :)

Here we are at Michigan Lake. It was actually pretty cool in the area...which was a nice break from the heat.

There was a kite festival at the Lake. I thought it was pretty cool. There were lots of people out enjoying the weather and having a good time.

Finally in Rochester!!

So...I finally found time to update my blog! Here's a quick update...

April 28th - Andy graduates from BYU!! Graduation was fun! The best part was being able to see everyone in my family...minus my parents and Ted's family...They weren't able to make it because Stacey was very close to having her baby. I was especially excited to meet Tanner...at that time, he was the newest addition to the family- Son of Aaron and Alison. He was sooo cute!

May 1st - Arrived in Rochester, MN and moved into our new house. It was so good to have a place to move into right away. We started painting right away and actually finished the day before the moving truck delivered our stuff. It was quite interesting...we had no furniture and nothing to cook with! We slept on the floor for the first few days and ate out quite a bit. Luckily, we got a few gift certificates from our realter and mortgage broker. I thought that was really nice of them.

May 12th - After 2 weeks of hard work, we finally got our house finished...furniture and everything! It felt soo good. Now, the only thing we need is just a few more decorating items. But, we figured we could wait on that. :)

May 16th - Today, the weather was sooo nice! It was actually SUNNY! It had been raining the last few days. So, we went out and got my car fixed and then walked around to explore the area. It was nice to finally spend time outside. In fact, we finally got to explore the Douglas trail...which is just right by our home. It was beautiful!! Everything is soo green! I love it!

Anyway, that's basically all the updates now. I will try to get pics up later. We hope everyone else is doing well...and we hope you guys can come visit sometime. Visitors are definitely welcomed!

Update! Moving to Minnesota - Buying a house

Wow! I can't believe how fast time flies!! I've been married for a little over 3 months now. CRAZY! Anyway, things have been awesome. Definitely some adjusting..but we really enjoy being together.

Recently, we went to Rochester, Minnesota to go house hunting. The best part was all of our expenses were paid!! Hotel, Car, and Food. Talk about a great vacation. Andy has a job at Mayo Clinic and the relocation benefits is awesome.

House hunting was quite the experience. We contacted a realter a few months back and he has been sending us the new listings that come up. His name was Rick Witt and he works for Envarian. Great guy and very helpful! While we were in Minnesota, he took us around to look at the houses. At first, we didn't have a whole lot of options. We were too conservative with our requirements. So, after that first day, we re-evaluated our requirements and made a few changes. Andy had also created a spreadsheet that would estimate what our monthly payments would be. By doing this, we were able to see what we could affor - we wanted to make sure we were living within our means and still be able to save money for retirement and for MBA school. This spreadsheet was very helpful in deciding what we could afford.

After changing our requirements, Rick took us house looking again..and we found a house! It's a 2 story townhome. It has 2 baths and 2 bedrooms! It was perfect! We made an offer on the house and they buyer accepted. Waiting was the worst part! In fact, we were at the Mall of America when Rick called and gave us the good news.

Now, we are waiting for the final approval on our mortgage loan and we will be moving to Minnesota around the 1st of May. I'm excited but nervous at the same time. Now, the only thing I need to do is find a job. Hopefully, it won't take me too long.

Anyway, for those of you who are looking at buying a home, we will be putting up the mortgage calculation we used on Andy's website. His site address is www.zerostudio.info. I hope you guys find it helpful!

Wedding Website

Hey Everyone! I've created a website for our wedding. On the site, I've posted our annoucements and we will weventually post pictures from our wedding. There is also a guest book you can sign.

I still can't believe I'm getting married soon!! So crazy and surreal! But i'm excited to start this new journey.

Anyway, the website address is tandywedding.blogspot.com. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Eventful Day!!

Today was an awesome day! First of all, Julia and Crystal put together a very fun bridal shower. About 20 of my friends and co-workers showed up to participate in the games. We played 3 games. The first one was matching brand names with the product. The 2nd one was name as many songs as you can with the word "LOVE" in the title. The final game was making a wedding dress out of newspaper. That game was the best. Everyone was soo creative! I also got a lot of cool gifts. Everyone was so generous! I'm lucky to have such great friends and co-workers.

Afterwards, we went to the Provo Temple where Andy received his endowments. It was awesome! I am so glad that I am getting married to a worthy Priesthood holder who can take me to the temple. What more can a girl ask for?

Julia and Tim were also able to attend the session. I'm grateful that they were able to come. It really meant a lot to me. Two of Andy's friends also received their endowments at the same time. It was neat to have family and friends around.

After the session, Tim, Julia, Andy and I went to Red Robin to eat dinner and to celebrate.

Thanksgiving Holliday!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone! It was nice to have a break from work...too bad it couldn't have been longer.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was awesome! Nice and relaxing! The best part was I got to spend more time with Andy. Because of his CS projects, I don't really get to spend too much time with him. He is always sooo busy! So, spending time with him was definitely something I was grateful for. :) To make things easier, here's a break down of the holidays:

Wed the 23rd: Worked until 5 and then we went to our ward Thanksgiving dinner. Then Andy played bball until 11 pm. Then we watched a few episodes of 24.

Thurs the 24th (TURKEY DAY!): Cooked the turkey Nu Skin gave us. It's a tradition..Nu Skin gives a turkey to every employee for Thanksgiving. Very nice! Watched a movie and the we went to Tim and Julia's for dinner. I thought it was very kind of Sister Nuttall to let us join them. We had lots of GOOOD food. Afterwards, we went to my place and watched more 24. We were trying to stay up to go shopping at 3:30 am (Black Friday Sales).

Fri the 25th: Went shopping at 3:30 am. Our first stop was CompUSA because they were already open. Unfortunately, there wasn't really anything left. We then went with a few friends to Best Buy. The line was HUGE! So we decided to go check out Staples. We wanted to know what time they opened. Turns out, Staples didn't open until 6 and there was hardly anyone in line. So we stayed there. It was soooo cold! But, 6 am finally rolled around and we rushed into the store! We got tons of good stuff! We got a free remote control, laminator, and paper shredder. Then we got 2 web cams for 5 bucks each! I thought that was cool! I also got a 512 mb memory card for my camera and Andy got a 19" LCD flatscreen monitor. He's always wanted one and they were on sale for only $200 bucks. Luckily we were there early enough so he could get one. He also got a great deal on a hard drive and USB keys. Shopping that early was definitely an experience but I don't know if I'd do it again. :)

After shopping, we went and ate breakfast at Denny's with our friends. And then we went to watch RENT at the movies. We didn't like it too much so we ended up walking out halfway through and watching the new Zorro movie. Then, we we ate dinner and then we went to a friends house and played games. We played Sequence! I haven't played that game for a long time. It is a FUN game! :)

Sat the 26th: We finally got a chance to go to the zoo! It was much fun! The only thing is it was really really cold! The zoo is in SLC and it had snowed! Other than the cold, we really enjoyed seeing all the animals. Especially the gorrillas and the turkey knocking on the door. We assumed it was trying to get out of the cold. :) After that, we went and did some registering and then watched "The Forgotten Carols." It's my favorite Christmas story so it was fun to see. :) Afterwards, Andy had to go back to programming so he could finish his projects. Such is life!

Basically, that was our weekend. On Sunday, Andy met with Bishop and the Stake President for his Temple Recommend. I'm excited for him to go through the Temple Saturday night! I know we'll receive even more blessings!

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

The Latest News!

So, I haven't been really good at keeping my blog up to date...but here's an update of what's been going on...

September 13: Got ENGAGED! Andy and I got back from a presentation in SLC around 10 or 11 pm. Because we hadn't eaten dinner, we went and at ate Betos. After we were done, it was almost midnight. As we were leaving, he asked me if I wanted to go home. I didn't really want to but I had expected Andy would want to go home to do homework. But, I told him that I didn't really want to so he asked if I wanted to go somewhere. I said sure. So we just went driving and we were talking. We ended up going to the bottom of the 'Y' to look at the city lights. It was really pretty! We were talking and somehow got on the subject of me having a ring. He then asked my how I wanted to be proposed to. Of course I thought it was a silly question and I told him he had to figure that out himself. But then he said he needed ideas just like I wanted ideas for his birthday. So giving in, I said I would want it to be romantic and be a surprise. He then asked me if I considered where we were was romantic. I said yes. The lights were really pretty and we were together and talking. Then, he gave me a kiss and slid the ring onto my finger at the same time. Then, he asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES!!

October: My family came down to Utah because my parents were leaving for their mission. They have been called to serve in the Taiwan Taipei Temple for 18 months. At first, I was worried that my parents wouldn't be able to come back for my wedding, but they've received permission to come back. I'm sooo excited that they'll be able to make it!

Anyway, those are the big highlights. I will be getting married Dec 20th in the Columbia River Temple. Sometimes, i still can't believe that it's acutally happening. It still seems like a dream. But I'm excited for Andy to become my husband. :)

Fourth of July!!!

Well, I hope everyone had an awesome 4th! My 4th was tons of fun. Andy was kind enough to fly all the way from Minnesota to visit me...it was really nice seeing him again and spending time with him. Here's a summary of the weekend...

Thursday: Andy arrives at 11 pm...we made tinfoil dinners at Tim's house to prepare for our camping trip.

Friday: I worked until noon. In the meantime, Andy went to BYU Campus and Campus Plaza to run a few errands. Then, we had to get a few things for our camping trip with Tim and Julia. We grabbed lunch and drove to Nun's Park Camping Grounds. Tim and Julia were already there reserving our spot. We just had to switch places so they could grab a few things. We did a little bit of exploring and played some card games. That night, we ate our tinfoil dinners...they were soooo good!!! Then, we played card games again and watched a movie. Tim had rented a projector and screen from BYU. It was fun! I've never watched a movie in the Canyons before. On top of that, we didn't even bring a tent....we just brought sleeping bags and blankets and slept under the stars.

Saturday: Andy and I went and checked out Bridal Veil Falls. We had parked at the viewpoint and decided to avoid the trail and climb down the side of the mountain...pretty crazy huh? It really wasn't bad...but it was a little adventure. Then, that afternoon, we went and saw War of the Worlds. The acting and special affects was really good....but, I would suggest waiting till it went to the dollar theatre. That night was Stadium of Fire...we went to my favorite spot (somewhere in Helaman Halls...behind the baseball stadium) to watch the fireworks. They were soo cool! It was almost like they were falling on us.

Sunday: Of course we went to church...Later in the afternoon, we went to Rock Canyon Park. Luckily it was still 'flooded'. I thought it was really cool. The water was really cold too. The we went to FHE.

Monday: Went to a BBQ at Tim's house. After that, we went up to SLC to the This is the Place Park. I think I was expecting more from it...but it was neat to see the spot where Brigham Young said this is where the Saints would settle. Then, we went to the planetarium and watched a show. It was called "Night Vision". It was pretty cool because he was explaining the constellations.

Tuesday: Andy leaves to go back to Minnesota at 4 am.

Well, that's my 4th of July weekend in a nutshell. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about it. :)

Fireworks from Stadium of Fire! 

Random pics Julia took while we were at 'This is the Place' park