Odds 'n Ends

Since I have been living a life of leisure, I haven't had much to post on our blog. I love my life-although I really do need to get a job. Besides looking for a job, I keep myself busy working on small projects and taking free mini-vacations.

In October, Jessica and I took a small road trip to Houston to visit our parents. Unfortunately, neither of us had operable cameras at the time, so we don't have any pictures to share. We had a very nice drive and enjoyed the scenery though the center of Utah, all the way through Colorado, three-quarters of the way through Kansas, down through Oklahoma, and through northern Texas. We were a little worried before we left, but it actually turned out to be a pretty drive. We stayed with Mom and Dad for about nine days. The weather was very warm and muggy; but, since we missed the first snow storm of the season here in Utah, I guess I don't have much to complain about. While we were hanging out with Mom, we did a lot of shopping. We explored the Old Spring Town shopping center, which is a lot like Gardner Village, as well as a few malls and fabric/craft stores. We also went to Dad's work party, a business dinner, helped one of Mom's friends assemble wedding invitations, helped set up for Young Women in Excellence, and attended Super Saturday. Unfortunately, during the trip Jessica's purse was stolen. It was a really strange situation, but fortunately she was able to cancel all of her cards and replace everything quickly.


We spent Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Barnes and then spent the rest of the weekend at Matthew and Alli's house. Again -- no pictures. We will have to do better for Christmas.

In the way of small projects, I have been experimenting with crochet patterns and have completed a couple of scarves and a doily.

I was really excited about this scarf, which I modeled on one I saw on Etsy.

I only took one picture of the doily before I gave it away and unfortunately it was while it was still under construction. In this picture it is still kind of ruffled, but I did get it to lay flat when I finished it.

This past week, I have been working on Christmas ornaments. I painted designs on some colored glass balls and was really pleased with the overall affect.

I also made snowflake ornaments out of salt dough and added designs with a red felt-tipped pen. Both projects were really simple, but quite fun.

I think that I am now quite ready for Christmas and am looking forward to family parties and two weeks celebrating in Idaho.

Sarah

Just Because...

It's way past time for us to update our blog. I am sick of seeing the same pictures. Jessica and Sarah will talking about their lives shortly. We've been pretty boring, but here are a few things we've been up too.

This is what I do at work to entertain myself.

This is what we do at home to entertain ourselves. We like to dress up. Unfortunately we were on our way an 80's party which we thought was for 25-35 year olds. We were one of 10 people dressed up. We had a great time dancing, while others awkwardly stood around. We realize we are getting older, but the people there were super old and boring. I'm not ready to meet 40 year olds just yet. Lesson learned, it's not so bad to stay home. We have a lot more fun doing that.

The Wedding!!

The event we've all waited for our entire lives finally happened last month. (Okay, maybe not our entire lives, but it sure seems like it.) Matthew and Alli got married. It was a perfect day for a wedding. It had been cold all week, but Saturday turned out to be the most beautiful day of the week, thank goodness! We enjoyed spending time with our family and friends. We are so happy that Alli is part of our family. We love her already! And we love having another sister.


So here are a few pictures of the day. Once again in no particular order because it's so dang hard to get them in the order you want them in. We had such a great day that just between Mom, Dad, Jeni, Jessica, and me we took about 1000 pictures! I won't bore you with all of them. Hope you enjoy because we sure did!

Silly Mom giving us her favorite smile and showing off her beautiful corsage.

Matthew shoving cake in All's face at the reception. Thanks Madison for taking this picture!

The family outside the temple.

Matthew and Alli showing off their boots. Matthew talked about his boots for months - white snake skin. They were pretty fancy.

Matthew and Alli right after they came out of the temple. Aren't they cute!

The four of us girls. I think we took more pictures of us that day than of Matthew and Alli.

Mom and Dad in front of the temple. They were married here almost 35 years ago.

It was the perfect day! Jessica even caught the bouquet. I won't post that picture because she'll kill me, but maybe that catch will bring her good luck!

Hawaii

It's been almost two months since Jeni and I went to Hawaii, so I thought it was about time to blog about it. We stayed in Waikiki - we decided it was okay to stay in a tourist town because we're tourists. The weather was wonderful, a bit rainy some days, but still beautiful. We stayed for 6 days and enjoyed every minute. We are already to go back again (next time we'd like more company).

We rented a car for our stay. When we picked up our rental car, the man asked us if we wanted a GPS. We said no because really how lost can you get on an island. Well, you can get pretty lost, but you can always find your way home. We saw parts of Oahu that most tourist probably don't see - like the homeless camps. But it was always interesting.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures (in no particular order because that is too difficult). Enjoy!

Jeni and I went for a drive in the pouring rain and this contraption happened to be driving in front of us. I hope they enjoyed their ride!

We went to church at the Honolulu Tabernacle and this beautiful tree is in front. We loved "outside" church!

Before church, from our balcony overlooking Waikiki beach.

"Ha! The Breath of Life" performance at the PCC. Jeni's still talking about it.

Jeni's tatoo in the New Zealand village at the PCC.

Jeni using those pom-pom like things in the New Zealand village. I was terrible at these. I kept hitting myself.

The coconut tree climber. Amazing!!

Jeni and me with our new friend Lani. She sold us our beautiful pearl rings and helped us get around the island.

Pineapple plant at the Dole Plantation.

Pineapple whip - I wish I could've eaten it every day!

Pearl Harbor Memorial - USS Arizona

The Memorial wall on the USS Arizona Memorial.

Jeni in her beautiful muumuu from the swap meet. It even has one pocket!

This picture was taken on our hike to Monoa Falls. It was a small rainforest right on the outskirts of a neighborhood.

Lunch at Keneke's. Jeni loved her garbage plate and the shave iced, but not the beans at the bottom.

The water has so many beautiful shades of blue. We took a lot of pictures of water.

This car was painted with puffy paints. It was crazy!

Jeni snorkeling at Turtle Bay. She wasn't a big fan. I didn't even bother to try it.

This sign made us laugh, but also made us a little more afraid of the ocean.

Jeni at the top of Diamond Head.

Part of the Diamond Head hike. I think one time on this hike is enough. It wasn't my favorite and it was really hot and cramped in the stairwell.

We spent our last day at Sunset Beach, just hanging out until we had to get to the airport. Jeni spent her time doodling in the sand.

Sunset at Sunset Beach.

Jeni running along the beach.

I just got attacked by a wave - not a big wave, but bigger than I anticipated.

Catching up . . .

I decided that it was time for a short update. We aren't very good at keeping our blog up to date, but we usually hit the highlights.

So, what have we been doing since December 13th? First, we had a fabulous Christmas celebration. Mom and Dad flew in mid-December to close on their new house in Whitney, Idaho. There was lots of driving back and forth, moving, cleaning, unpacking, and fixing plumbing. It was busy, but we got everything ready by Christmas Eve. It was perfect. Everyone had a couple of weeks off of work and school (except Alli, but she was able to spend most of every day with us), so we had lots of quality family time. We went on walks, played card games, played on the Wii, played Beattles Rock Band, watched movies, and put together puzzles. Jeni posted lots of pictures on Facebook, so I will just include this one. Not the greatest composition, but you can't expect perfection when you have to use a self-timer.

In January, Crystal and Jeni had to go back to work, Mom and Dad had to go home, and then Jessica and Matthew had to go back to school. Dad got sick on New Year's day and after he left, I got sick. So, I spent most of January in bed trying to get better and avoid spreading germs. Jeni, Crystal, and Matthew also had colds; so, we are glad that February seems to find us all feeling better. Fortunately, Jessica did not get sick because she has been very busy with her last semester of school. She even got to take a class trip to Monterey, Mexico, for the last five days of January. They toured four businesses to learn about international HR practices and did a little sight-seeing on Saturday. She had a great time and then had one of those conference story type of missionary moments on the flight home.

February finds us all back to our normal routines. I have finally started a serious job search. Jeni and Crystal are preparing for parent-teacher conferences and looking forward to their Hawaiian vacation in March. And, Jessica is writing lots of papers, taking lots of tests, and looking for a job to start after graduation.