An Invitation

I was just sitting here missing people. So I thought I would throw out an invite. If you are in Utah this summer please give us a call. I know a lot of you out there come to visit at some time during the year. We would love to see you. Also, anyone living in Utah, don't sweat it. You're invited too. We are happy to be closer to family and if you ever need a get away, just come on over. So hotel Nordstrom is officially open. It may be changing location soon, if we can find a house to purchase, but no matter where it is you are always welcome. So if you are in state, or in town let us know. 

Growing Up

Sunday night marked another passage of time here at the Nordstrom house. Kathryn lost her first tooth. I can't really wrap my brain around it yet. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was watching for each one to come in so I could write down the date!

Destiny

I think I have discovered the reason we needed to live in Nashville. Well two actually. Before revealing what they are I want to make a disclaimer and say that despite the answer to this question I love you all back there, and really you rank higher than food, but at this moment I can't help it. Okay it's BBQ and cole slaw! I know it sounds dumb, but those of you who know, know that I am not crazy. We made pulled pork and coleslaw on Sunday and I just had the left overs for lunch. It's so good. Now for those of my readers who live in the west let me explain a couple of things. BBQ (I am abbreviating because I hate spelling it out) does not necessarily have BBQ sauce. In fact, it is my opinion that the greatest BBQ does not. It is lovely slow cooked meet with tones of great spice served up with a fresh side of slaw. Now another thing, slaw is not mayonnaise based in the south either. Well maybe some is, but again I think the best stuff is vinegar based. There is nothing like spicy pork and cool slaw together. It's a great marriage. It ranks with chocolate and peanut butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, a good cheese and baguette, well you get the picture. It's heaven. But until I ventured into the great lands of Nashville and Goldsoboro NC, I had no idea they existed. Sad huh? This is where, if I was a good blogger I would have a beautiful photo to show you, but the BBQ and slaw is all gone. Maybe next time.

I finally caved

So last week I finally joined facebook. Steve had been on me to do it, and I had received numerous invitations from friends. So I did it. I had no idea how great it would be for my psyche. Really within 24 hours I had 100 friends. Steven was astounded at how fast my friend count rose and I was excited to check each time I got on the computer. Now if you look at it truthfully many people just added me so they would have one more friend too. They are all people I know, but it is still strange to be connected with some of them. The flip side is that I have found some old friends that I haven't talked to in several years, and we have been able to reconnect. It has been so great. It also left me wondering. Is it all healthy? Would these people have ever thought of me again if I hadn't popped up on facebook? Can I keep up with all these new additions to my friend box? Will me dreams get normal again and not include strange versions of past life? So many questions so few answers. I do want to promise that my blog will not suffer. It's still where I keep the highlights. I know, the way I've been posting makes my life seem pretty boring huh! I just haven't been real good lately. Well I need to go. Good day.

Altitude

There was a time not so long ago that I was a good cook. Most of the things that I tried to cook turned out well if not down right nummy. I thought that I was just getting better and my skills were improving through practice. Not so. Since returning to Provo my cooking skills have hit a wall in the most important section of my cooking; desserts. Desserts that I have had success with previously. I have started to doubt my ability, then suddenly it hit me tonight as I ate yet another failed dessert that had the right taste but horrible consistency. It's the altitude. Do I really need to re-learn all my recipes and constantly look for high altitude directions for recipes that I find? What a bother. I looked at Steven tonight and said, "Can't we move back to Nashville and you find somewhere else to work?" I know it's prideful. I just want my cooking to be normal again. I really don't do well with failure in the kitchen, it's something I'm working on, but as of yet haven't learned to deal with. Any suggestions?

Pay It Forward

The Rules:
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on their blogs, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.

Late post

As you have noticed, I have been delinquent in posting lately. So this post should have happened on January 6. It would have been more funny, witty, and pointed, but as it's the 22 of January it might not be so entertaining. So I'll start with the circumstances. On January 6th we were in the middle of the longest storm I have ever lived through. It wasn't blizzards, hail, or sleet, just snow coming down hard for two days straight. I had shoveled, Steven had shoveled, the neighbor had shoveled, and still the drive way was never completely clear, ever. It even got to the point that the snow bank on the grass was so high, I couldn't throw the snow up and over it. I resorted to just scooting it over to the side and leaving it there. So on this particular day I was out shoveling when I noticed one of the neighbors cars that had not been driven, it was almost completely buried in the snow. I realized how crazy and really ridiculous it all was. I was doing something that was absolutely futile, and yet necessary at the same time. Not only was I doing it, but I had been for several days, and there was no telling how long I was going to have to keep doing it. So I started to really talk to anyone who would listen up stairs. This is where the post would be better, but it's been a while, and my bitterness has faded, and the snow did stop, I can see the street again, and it no longer takes me 30 minutes to drive 3 miles. You may wonder why this post now then? I read my friends blog this morning. She lives in Denver, it was 71 degrees yesterday and all the snow is gone. So I am feeling slightly bitter. There is no excuse, I know that there are places that are much more cold and have way more snow, but it was only 1 degree last night when we went to sleep. Also, we are now suffering from and 4 day long inversion that is horrible and killing us all. Cue the rain, it will clear up the inversion and the snow, and wow we might make it back up into the 40's! I remember when the 40's were clammy and cause for celebration. That's when I lived in Rexburg, and it snowed almost every year in April on Graduation, mine was no exception. Why am I complaining? I did not move to Rexburg, I was not prepared for a winter like this, and to tell it truthfully I miss my balmy humid days of yore. There it is. That's all I have to say at the moment. Now enjoy the pictures from January 6.

This is the driveway right after I finished shoveling.

The snow bank on the side of the driveway.

The buried car.

Still smiling, it's fake believe me. 

Christmas Program

So I am going to attempt to catch things up a bit. December was a very busy month and one of the first things to go was blogging. January always seems to drag so my solution is to keep extra busy and see if that helps the endless snow and gray skies to pass faster. To start off, the girls Kindergarten class had a Christmas program right before school let out for the year. Here is a little video of it. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving

I know I am a bit late with getting this posted. It seems that since Thanksgiving was so late everything is rushing up on me. Not to mention that since we moved, time seems to be flying. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The girls had tons of fun with their cousins, and got to meet more family that they didn't know. They were totally awed by Katrina's ability to knit. Besides Thanksgiving, we also visited the Dinosaur museum in Washington, and Zion national park. So here are a few pictures of our adventures. Enjoy. By the way, I stole this slide show from Steve, so the comments were made by him. I figured if the work had already been done, why should I do it all over again!

Dinner Prayer

This evening Steven asked Kathryn to say the prayer for dinner. She started off quite normal and then she said, "Please bless President B. Hinckley and all the other prophets who are almost dead." At that moment Steven couldn't resist a chuckle. We had to wait a moment until we were all reverent enough to continue. They never cease to surprise me with what they do and say!

Winter Wonderland

This is what we woke up to this morning. The girls were thrilled. I am not sure yet. It is beautiful and it has been a while since we had a good snow to play in. I am happy to know that it will melt and there will be warm days ahead for a little while.

Kathryn

Juliana

Halloween Celebrations

We had a very fun Halloween. It was the girls' first time to dress up for school and march in the parade. They did really well, and I had a good time watching them march by. It did make me wonder once again where the time had gone. 

We also painted pumpkins this last week. They can't really carve, so I figured painting would be much more fun. They loved it, and now I have two pumpkins that are still good to use as food some time soon. 

Kathryn and Juliana

The girls were fairies this year. At least that's what they went to school as. We borrowed costumes from a friend and they were thrilled to have wings. They decided to change that evening and went trick-or-treating as princesses. Kathryn wanted to wear her dress from last year and Juliana wore the one we borrowed. Here are some pictures of the events. 

They love to Pose! I can't get them to take a normal picture these days. Kathryn is on the left and Juliana on the right.

The end of the evening. They were pretty tired after walking around the neighborhood. They wanted to knock on our door, so we took the opportunity to get a picture.

Just a little note for all our dear friends in Nashville. When the girls pray they often ask Heavenly Father to "Bless our family in Nashville." It really does feel like that. We came here and are close to family, but we left a whole family behind. We love you guys, and think of you often.

School

As most of you know, the girls were ready to start Kindergarten this year. Because we were moving we decided to wait until we got here to have them start. So they just had their first day of school this week. They are loving it, and I think that I am going to love a little free time too. Their school is just down the street and so we get to walk together. They have already made some friends. Here are a few pictures. Before you judge me about the hair, it's what they wanted and I couldn't resist the chance to say, "That's what you wanted." in ten years when they can't believe that I let them out of the house that way. Also they love to "pose" right now and thus the individual shots.

Kathryn

Juliana

The End Sort of

So we arrived on Thursday evening. The girls we very excited to bet reacquainted with their cousins, and it was wonderful to be out of the car. Friday the search was on, and it went on and on. There wasn't a lot that was decent, in the right location, or affordable. We were very blessed and Susan's mom had some contacts for us. One of them turned out to be the right one. I am making it sound very simple but really we lived with my Brother for 9 days. The girls were in heaven and I have to say it was sad to leave. We officially moved in on the 10th of October. Since then, we have been busy getting settled. I don't have any pictures of the house yet. I will try and get some today to post. Here are some of us enjoying our time at my brother's house.

The Middle Days 2-5

Now for one reason or another, we didn't take a  lot of pictures over the next few days. Day two was spent crossing Kansas, and really there wasn't much to photograph. We made it to our friends house in Denver where we rested for two nights and took some time out of the car. Now I am not sure why, but some how we don't have pictures from there house. I thought we took some, but I can't find any so you will have to imagine that part, and if our friends are reading this, please send the ones you have! So after a break we continued on into Utah. We took the I-70 route for the first time and it was beautiful.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Still happy day 2.

The mountains were really beautiful. A picture never really does capture it.

This one is to show how high up we were. Notice that the trees stop. We were almost as high as the tree line. I think we got up to 11,000 Ft.

We went through 3 or 4 tunnels this one is the longest.
It was a good moment when we finally saw the Utah sign.

(Even if we were still in the middle of no where.)
The first signs of real civilization since entering Utah!
Once we saw the Y on the mountain we were excited. 

(Forget that we got stuck in traffic and it took us twice as long to get to my brothers house than it should have. Welcome to I-15 in Utah county!)

The Beginning Day 1

Here we go. I will now attempt to sum up the last two weeks in a series of posts. On Monday the 29th of Sept. We finished off everything and got going. The first day was the longest. We traveled in 5 different states and drove for 12 hours. Here are a few pics of the adventure. I guess this actually covers a couple days before day one, but who's keeping track right?

Packing Up

Saying Goodbye

One last picture in front of our old place

Kathryn

Juliana

This was at one of the many rest stops along the way. It made me laugh.

Goodbye

In a few short minutes, we are going to unplug and pack the computer. So I thought I would say goodbye for a while. Hopefully we will be back online in no time. Until then have a great day.

Playing Catch up

So I finally updated things. This is our month so far. I have been putting this off, and I decided that I better get it done, since very soon we won't have access to a computer for a few days. Hope you enjoy.

Vanderbilt vs. Rice

Finally, Steve and I got to go to a Vanderbilt football game. It was a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to have friends that took the girls so we could go to the whole game. We also got to go to the faculty tale gate party too. The food wasn't that great, but it was a fun way to start the evening. Go Comodores!!

Luau

Now this was definitely a highlight of the month for me. We had a big luau for our welcome enrichment. There was great food, lots of conversation, and the entertainment was tops. Now, because I value my friendships, I will only post two pictures of the event that I am in, and let the rest stay in my computer and in the memories of all those in attendance.