November & December from Ashbrook Circle

The last few months have been all a flurry. Dad and I have been working hard to take better care of our bodies. We have begun an exercise program and are eating better. Dad has lost 50 pounds and I have lost 25 pounds. We haven't worked at losing weight since Thanksgiving - just maintaining our progress. After New Year's Day, we are going to see if we can't keep moving those pounds out of our lives. We are so glad we have done this because we feel a lot better.

We had a crowd of over 35 people for Thanksgiving. Arizona, thankfully, has wonderful weather for Thanksgiving, and we hosted the party outside. We did it on Friday because of my work. But, next year, I think we will shoot for Saturday. Uncle Doug has the lighting of Glendale Glitters on Friday and since Uncle Rex lives in Glendale, they like to go for festivities. Saturday would allow Aunt Marcy and her boys to stick around longer. As it was, we had a wonderful feast. Each family brought a bit so that no one was overwhelmed with the whole dinner. Since we live right across from a park, we attempted games (including football). Not everyone showed up in time, but hopefully, there will be more early arrivers next year.

December was filled with a wedding, sickness, and Christmas. Grandma, Dad, and Rachel have been sick the last month. Rachel was able to kick it quickly with amoxicillin. She usually is sick forever. Dad has had two colds. He stayed home from church today because of his second cold. Grandma has not been able to kick hers. She also developed an arrhythmia in her heart these past two months. We welcome your prayers in her behalf.

The wedding plans were fun. Megan was our wedding planner and did a lovely job of coordinating everything. Beth arrived early to help with the final preparations. It was so pretty. We couldn't have done it without all the help. Uncle Mel provided us his yard, which is always a beautiful backdrop to receptions. Troy's mother, Cary, and Aunt Ann ironed 100 chair covers that they loaned us. They put them all on the chairs for us. Ben & Raina made the wedding cake. It was red velvet cake, which was perfect with Beth's colors of cranberry and plum.

The day of the wedding Beth was a gem. We forgot to take her wedding dress with us to the temple. She took it all in stride - not one word of regret or distress. She called Dad and had him bring the dress so that she would have it to wear when she came out of the temple. She wore her temple dress for the marriage ceremony and was as lovely as could be.

Jake had eye surgery the Thursday before the wedding. Which isn't why he wasn't there - too far and the Army just isn't family friendly. We would have loved to surprise Beth as we did Jake for his wedding, but getting the time off was sketchy at best.

The day after the wedding, we had a late breakfast with Victoria and Chan and the other kids who live here in town. Granny also came. We had a fun visit with them. On Friday before the wedding, Dad and his sons-in-law went golfing. Ben was working and Andy was sick. It was Dad's first time golfing. He has a really good time. If you ever want to go golfing when you are in town, give him a call.

Christmas was nice and actually quite peaceful after all the hub-bub of the previous few weeks. We had the Christmas party at our house. In addition to our immediate descendants, we had Granny & Grandpa, AJ, Gina, and Alli. Jimmy (Michael) Miller also stopped by for a few bites of good food. The kids did a memorable pageant of the Christmas story for us - Raina was the author, director, and producer. She was awesome. After everyone left, we had our Christmas because I was supposed to work on on Christmas. Christmas morning dawned so peaceful and quiet. I got up and got ready for work and listened to carols. Just as I was leaving, I got a call that I could stay home until 11 a.m. At 10:30, they told me to stay on call, but that I probably would not be needed at all. At 11:10, I got called in. I took 2 admissions, but they were pretty simple and straightforward. The only difficult part of the way was the young man who was admitted to another nurse and coded shortly after his arrival. He died in spite of our best efforts. It was draining because of his age, his life choices, and that it was Christmas. It was nice to see the day end and get home to the quiet and peace of my own home.

We are excited to read everyones postings. Beth and Troy will have to tell us about rainy Catalina and COLD Alaska. Our prayers are for all you. Love, Mom, Dad, & Rachel.

November in Idaho

November was pretty eventful.  I had a bit of a melt-down on the theater kids, and then suddenly the play came together pretty fast.  So we're a week and a half from production.  We've run through a couple of times and should be able to run through probably 7 more times before production, so when we get props up there... we'll be golden.  :)

I also had my bridal shower, which was lovely.  Lots of friends and family were there, and it was perfect.  I got tons of great stuff, too.

Troy was also offered the Alaska job, so we are moving December 29th.  For Thanksgiving, we went to his Dad's.  The day goes so much more quickly, the older I get.  No time to just sit and eat and eat and eat all day.  Lame.

I got all the flowers and miscellaneous items for the wedding.  Hopefully I remember to bring them all to Arizona...  I ordered a ring for Troy, so hopefully that comes before the wedding.  I'll be in trouble, if not... 

I am almost done with The Hunger Games Trilogy.  It's been really good.  I definitely recommend them, still.

Well, that's about all I can remember from the last month.  My brain is fried.  :)

October: Head Family Adventures

October was a fun month for us! We started the month by flying to Wisconsin with Katie (Chan's sister) and Mike (her husband). We went to celebrate Octoberfest. There are mini-Octoberfest celebrations here in the West but they simply do not compare to those in the Midwest. We attended the Octoberfest parade which lasted 3 hours (TOO LONG). We hung out with a number of Chan's former high school friends. I met several friends who I had never met before. There was a group of 6 who had recently gotten an old band back together and we went to see them play bluegrass. They were really good so it made for a great time.

On October 16th we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. All together we have been together for 10 years now. It definitely doesn't feel like 10 years!

To finish out the month, Chan was home for Halloween (for the first time in I don't know how many years). We decided to stay home and hand out candy since we're somewhat new to the neighborhood. We were impressed w/ the Trick-or-Treater traffic. They sported great costumes and we got to meet more of our neighbors.

Winter has arrived in Salt Lake City and I have already been bundling up. Fingers crossed for a mild/short winter!

October in Idaho

Well this month was pretty hectic.  Surprise!  The highlights of my October were as follows:

1-I got a root canal.  It took four hours and I was high as a kite on laughing gas.  It was pretty exciting.  While recovering, I also got the stomach flu.  It was an AWESOME week.
2- Troy and I went to Alaska for his interview.  It went well.  We'll know next week if he got the job.  Anchorage is GORGEOUS.
3- I had the best salmon of my life in Alaska.   It was at a restaurant called Glacier Brewhouse, and it was BBQ Bourbon with spinach & garlic potatoes.  It was INCREDIBLE.
4- I missed Frightmares for the first time in about 4 years.  It was a severe downer.
5- Troy and I went and saw The Social Network.  It in no way made me feel any different about Facebook... except I feel more bad for Mark Zuckerberg that these people felt like they did ANYTHING.  That's all.
6- I read the Hunger Games.  It's wicked good if you're into those types of books.  I'd recommend it.  I'm halfway through the second book now.
7- This happened in November, but I got my bouquet last night.  It's pretty.

Other than that, we've just been pickin' away at the play, and I got everything done for the wedding that I can do from Idaho.  Except I still have to get Troy's Wedding Ring.  :/  Any ideas, Jake?

Well, That's about it.

Have a fabulous November.

September at the Head Home

September was an exceptionally busy month for Chan and me. We can hardly believe October is already here.

At the beginning of the month we saw a band called The Avett Brothers play at Deer Valley Mountain Resort, which is a beautiful outdoor venue just past Park City. Oddly it was not as cold as most of the other outdoor concerts we've seen this summer.

Toward the end of September Chan and I headed to Wisconsin to attend Octoberfest with his sister and her husband. We were gone a total of 9 days and it was mostly a lot of fun. It is always interesting to observe the Wisconsin culture since it is so completely different than anything I've ever experienced. If it weren't for the uber-chilly winters and complete lack of outdoor recreation, I think I could buy into the idea of moving there. The people are probably the friendliest I've encountered when traveling. We attended the Octoberfest parade in Chan's hometown and saw a little bit of live music at the fest grounds. I saw oodles of old men in Lederhosen along with their wives in traditional German dresses. It was the LONGEST parade I've ever attended and near the end (3 hours later) it bordered on ridiculous! At any rate, I met some old friends of Chan's who I hadn't met before; all very nice folks. I'll put a few photos up on FB in the next day or two.

Not much else to report from this neck of the woods. Love to all.

Our September

September has gone by in a blur. I can't believe it's already almost October!

It was a lot of fun to have Beth and Troy come down to visit. We enjoyed having Troy stay with us, although I still feel bad that all he had was a couch to sleep on!! It was great to spend a weekend doing fun things with family, I feel like we get so busy sometimes and forget to take a break.

Our most exciting news is things are still going well with our little one! We went to the doctor last week and his/her heartbeat is still in the higher range (160's) and everything looked perfect! We get to find out what we're having on October 21st so we are very excited. Everyone will have to put in their guesses before we go :)

We were blessed with a great new job for Andy this month as well. He is still working for Bank of America, but now he is working as a Personal Banker in downtown Mesa. He is really excited to have a job where he can interact with real people instead of a computer screen all day!! We love that he works so much closer to home and that we get more time together in the mornings and afternoons now too.

School is pretty crazy for both of us this semester. If anyone's felt like we've disappeared lately, that's why!! Andy is taking math and public speaking right now, and starts a history class soon. In his last class, his teacher assigned everyone a topic and gave them 2 minutes to prepare a speech. Then they had to get up one by one and give their speech in front of 30 people! It's definitely not my type of class, but Andy is really liking it.

Nursing school continues to surprise me every day! We are studying Labor and Delivery right now, which is sort of freaking me out! I've been doing clinicals in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) and get to do one in the NICU (Neonatal ICU) soon which I am super excited about. I had a patient last week that was diagnosed with "Rabbit Fever" which is a disease that supposedly comes from rodents. The doctor believes a mosquito bit a rodent, and then bit our little guy and transmitted the disease to him. So I guess West Nile isn't the only thing we have to worry about!! It was interesting to get to take care of this little guy because there are only 100 cases of Rabbit Fever diagnosed in the United States every year!

We are really happy that October is coming, hopefully with cooler weather. We're going to try and get out of Mesa on Columbus Day weekend, hopefully to Greer or Sedona.

That's all that is new with us!!!

Love you all,

Annie & Andy

September in Rexburg

WHAT A MONTH!

For Labor Day weekend, Troy and I drove to Arizona.  We've recently found really inexpensive tickets out of Idaho Falls, and will use that venue in the future.  We were able to visit everyone down there, and Troy was able to meet everyone.  Due to an unexpected surprise, Mom, Granny, Megan, Rachel & I went Wedding Dress Shopping.  We ended up finding the one in the picture.

We had lots of fun down there.  We had Megan's famous Sweet Pork Tacos, Annie's Hawaiian French Toast, and everyone's favorite: Birthday Syrup!  We also went swimming, played games, and just spent time with everyone.  Troy, Annie and Andy also played video games, and from what I hear, Annie has some impressive skills!  We also listened to a lot of Dad's

Not so surprisingly, Troy asked Dad for "permission" when we were visiting.  Dad told him yes, but warned him, "She's a handful."  He told me that he had figured this out by my Wedding Dress Meltdown the day before.    Somehow, he decided he still wanted to move forward, because the next weekend, he proposed!

He told me that he would propose within 6 weeks after my birthday.  This meant he had until September 28th.  In my typical, patient manner, I asked him every day to marry me.  It seemed like six weeks was SO LONG, and would never come.  I was positive that he was going to make me wait until 11:59 pm on the 28th to do it.

Troy had broken his phone and needed a new one, and when he got it, I stole it and put on his calendar "Propose to Beth" on September 10th.  I forgot completely about this.

During the week preceding September 10th, he told me that his Grandparents were going to take us to dinner at Henry's Fork Lodge.  I believed it was true, and so on we headed up to Island Park.  The week before, his Dad had been in Island Park and their family went to Yellowstone.   You're able to use the pass again within a week, and so we went to stop by their cabin to pick up the pass that he left behind.  Troy ran in to go grab it while I waited in the car.  He came out a couple minutes later and told me that he couldn't find it, and that he needed my help and ran back in. 

I went in after him, and as I opened the door, there was a candlelit path, with all the lights off.  It was so surreal, and I knew what it meant.  All I could keep saying was, "Are you serious!?" over and over.  Finally I got to the end of the path, where he was on one knee, with the ring.  It said "Marry Me" on the table in candles, and my favorite song, "You Have That Effect On Me" by Brad Paisley was playing.  He asked, "Will you marry me?"  Of course, I said yes.

We have taken our engagement pictures, and the first set is available online.  The next set will be available on Facebook after Wednesday.

Aside from engagement & wedding planning, I've been working with local homeschool kids to put on a play.  Our first full on rehearsal is Wednesday.  We've been doing auditions and introductions the last couple of weeks.  We are doing A Christmas Carol.  We perform December 10th and 11th.

Well, that's about it.  :)

Beth

Stillwater Farm at Ashbrook September

We have had a very busy month. I don't know how life gets so busy. We aren't even doing violin lessons, yet.

I love the look of the blog, Beth. Good job.

Thank you to all of you who posted last month and thank you to those of you who thought about it. Maybe this will be the month.

Dad and I just got our second calling in this ward today. I thought we were going to get to coast now that we were here among so many talented members. We were called as ward missionaries. We are very excited. Our ward is working so hard with the people living in the Orange Grove apartments and lives are being touched in positive ways. Last Monday, before we were called they had a barbecue at the complex and had 143 non-members attend. We are having a Thanksgiving potluck there the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The apartments have some of the very poorest people in Mesa living there, but what big hearts they have.

We served in the kitchen at the temple this week. That was quite interesting. We didn't feel appreciated or even particularly wanted while we worked, but as we left, we overheard the two regular staff comment to each other about what a good job we did. They were impressed with how well Dad did the dishes. He is an old pro from girl's camp. I hear they are closing the kitchen when they remodel -which is happening after the Gilbert temple opens. It was so busy that we had to park at the back of a church parking lot across the street from the temple. We rarely saw that in New England - and never on a week day.

Rachel has settled well into school. Her teachers have high praise for her. She shouldn't be surprised because she comes from a family of really smart people, but it is always fun to hear.

Tawnya arrived yesterday. She is a lady from Maine. Hard to think of her as a lady when she is so short, but she is 23 years old. Granny said that she is going to find her Statue of Liberty and put it in my front hall. She says that her dad, Grandpa Lane, would be impressed because he was always helping people get a step up even when he was dirt poor.

It is almost time for the Bennett FHE again. We will miss those of you who won't be in town. Maybe we can do a speaker phone thing or webcam for any who might be interested. Just let us know.

We love you all.

Mom, Dad and Rachel

Stillwater Farm at Ashbrook

By Pink Mom

We brought our Stillwater Farm rocks from Maine. I just noticed the rebar that they stood on made it as well so maybe we will recruit some help when Troy & Beth come & set them up.

August has been nice. Visit from Vici. Decent weather. Rain. Still unpacking boxes. I did snap the tendon in my right forefinger while mopping the floor when Vici was here. I will be in a splint for at least two more weeks. Not fun.

Rachel started school the 11th. She is in the bridge program at Eagle Ridge. It is a charter school for homeschoolers. They have a program to bridge 9th graders so they are ready for full-time school in a regular classroom in10th grade. She goes on Tues & Thurs 8-4:30. She takes science, algebra I, English, & world history. It is much easier than she thought. She has gotten 90's on all her tests. She goes to seminary at Heritage Academy on Monday & Wednesday afternoons. Lots of running for us. But, Emily & Max go to school just down the road from HA so Monday's Megan picks up Rachel & Wednesday's we pick up Emily & Max.

Work is good. The people don't have these monster ego issues a lot of ICU nurses seem to have - especially "day-bags" (term for the witches that we usually see on dayshift.) So I asked to be put on the list to move to days & got a slot immediately. It is so nice to spend evenings with my family.

Dad & I have a great,new calling. We are the Ward Physical Facilities Representatives. PFR's for short. We coordinate, train, & hopefully, inspire Ward members to care for the building. The Church designs these buildings to last for at least 100 years. Just as Heavenly Father expects us to be good stewards of the earth. - we can show our respect when the members care for the buildings. We only have to coordinate it every three months. We didn't get our training until last Wednesday & August, November, February, & May are our months. So Dad & I got to clean alone yesterday. We did get help the last hour - which was nice.We figure it takes a minimum of 11 man hours to do a decent job, but 14 would be better. It is a great opportunity for families to work hard side -by-side at something that looks like you've accomplished a good thing when you're done. Most families don't have gardens or many work opportunities these days so this is great.

We broke for lunch while we were cleaning & went to Barro's Pizza. Just after we sat down, Andy & Annie showed up. The fun things that happen now we are in the same town. We had a leisurely lunch with them. It made a good day much better.

I will end by seconding Vici's plea. Dad, Rachel, Granny, & Grandpa are out on bikes a lot. Do watch carefully.

Just enought Head-room for a comfy ride!

August in Salt Lake City disappeared clean off our calendars but to where I do not know. My trip to AZ at the beginning of the month was a great time and despite everyone's warnings about the heat I loved being toasty. (Excellent pick for a hike too Meg!)

Chan spent the month enrolling dealers in their 2011 commitments. During the course of those efforts he sold the heck out of some bikes and was pleased with his final numbers for the month. If you've never lived in a house where at least one income is based on sales you have no idea what a nail-biter the last week can be.

I am busy at work with some pretty large projects - one of which is a complete reorg of my department and more of an enmeshment with two others. The end goal is to hopefully build departments and groups that are more quickly scaleable as the company grows. It is exciting for me to be included in something like this as it will be great on a resume. I'm also working on deployment of a new software tool that will be used by a large segment of the company. I was part of the original dreaming and designing when we started working on it a year ago. Finally we are seeing the fruits of the efforts put forth and it's exciting.

We've seen some great live music this month: Yonder Mountain String Band (Bluegrass/New Grass), John Prine (an old country-ish folk singer) and in a few days we'll see The Avett Brothers (genre-less but one of my all time faves).

We have more traveling to do and concerts to attend in September.

As my PSA this month I want to remind everyone to please be aware of cyclists and pedestrians on the roads. I just attended a viewing for the father of a friend who was killed while riding his bicycle. He had the right-of-way in that the semi-truck turned right (directionally speaking) in front of him. No matter how fast you need to get somewhere and how annoying it is to be stuck behind a rider, remember they have family and friends that would rather see them come home at the end of the day than hear some sad apology about how you didn't see them. Love to all.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50177977-76/bryner-bus-lake-salt.html.csp

August with the Good's

Well it sounds like Beth had a funner month than we did. I thought I was done with school only to be suprised that while my overall GPA is 3.45, I only have B's in my science classes and took a too advanced humanities/art class and will have to retake one Science and take an basic humanities class like art or music appreciation, world religions or philosophy. Aren't we all glad we are so educated when we get out of school??? Won't you all be glad I took intro to cinema when I am cleaning your teeth? So screwed up. So I lost my free time and am back to school retaking those so pray I can make it through the last half of A&P with an A this time (and that my family survives my neglect). I could care less about my grade in the other one but at least I get to watch some movies with Charlie and call it "homework".

It was fun to have Vici come down though at the beginning of the month and go on one of my favorite hikes up North where it is so much nicer to be outdoors. Another month or so and evening walks will be nice again (hopefully). I can't wait for Miss Beth and Troy's visit, we haven't seen her in FOREVER it seems.

Emily AND Max started school and are loving it. The first day was fun, Max was so timid and shy, but just wanted to wait by his class even though there was 15-20 min. before school started, I was very worried about how it would all turn out. But by the time I picked him up he said, "Mom, school was a lot funner than I thought!". He has finally remembered his new friends names and even decided to go play on the playground instead of just waiting by the door in the morning, too bad it took him 2 weeks to figure out that would be funner for him. Emily is growing up to fast, and turning into a teenager, bad attitude and sleepy girl at times. The other day on the way to school I asked her if she was ready for the day and she said, "I need a 5 Hour Energy, I think." She pays way too much attention to commercials and things on the radio! She keeps me on my toes, she remembers everything that is ever said (except when it is a chore of course). We did start doing achievement days for the girls in our ward at our house and she is loving that. It is sometimes chaos but fun for her and the girls so that makes it worth the late nights planning and getting it all together.

Well that is about it for us, hope you are all doing well too.

August

August was a pretty cool month for me.  It's the best month of the year.  Obviously. I began working in Medical Staffing in July so I've been learning this new field and enjoyed all there is to it, quite a bit.  I help staff a variety of positions, and it reaffirms that I want to work in staffing when I grow up.

Troy made me a bet at the beginning of the month that I couldn't stay awake for 7 evenings in a row, and if I did, he would take me ring shopping.  Despite his failed attempts to get me to fall asleep, I did it, and we have shopped at 6 or so different stores.  I liked several rings, so I suppose it's just a waiting game, and meeting the family now.  Oy vey.

We went to a Jack Johnson concert in Salt Lake.  It was really good.  Then we hiked to Elephant Rock near Bountiful.  We accidentally used the wrong entrance and the first quarter of the hike was vertical.  It was rugged.  We went with his brother and set him up with my friend Alycia.  It was pretty fun.

For my birthday, Troy surprised me with breakfast.  He made Norwegian Pancakes for me, and ended up setting off all of the alarms in the house.  It was pretty exciting.  After work, he picked me up and took me to The Cellar where he had taken me on our first date.  He had called ahead and asked for a nice table, expecting something next to the window or fireplace.  We ended up having a private room in the cellar (as in the Wine Cellar, not the restaurant) and it was candle lit all around.  It was pretty much out of a movie.

After dinner, my friend Sheeba had made me a birthday cake.  It was Triple Chocolate Raspberry.  Very Yum.  We did presents and whatnot and then went home.  It was a great birthday.

I was contacted today about helping a homeschool group put on a play this fall, so that should be fun.  I'm thinking of doing A Christmas Carol, since the play will be in December probably.  Fun, fun!

Well, that's about it!  Next month I'll shoot for putting up pictures, too.