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. :)
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