Sarah Through the Ages

I just got an email from the Stake RS Prez, Bev Anderson, with this picture. Seeing it made me decide to toss it in the blog. My calling in the ward is Stake Relief Society Representative. It sounds important but basically twice a year I help plan a big event/dinner/party with the Stake RS. This last one was themed "Sarah Through the Ages". I represented Abraham's Sarah or Sarai in the Old Testament. There was also Lehi's Sariah, a Pioneer Sarah, and a Modern day Sarah. An overhead recording was played with the narrative of each of these women and the struggles they faced. Following their husbands through the desert, wilderness, across the plains, and in college! It was neat to see that they all faced similar struggles and that the Lord was there to help them all! I had fun with it.
I was also in charge of the decorations. I decided to make the dinner tables a location (theme) where each of these Sarah's had traveled. It was fun, I made little signs that gave a little bit of insight to their lives. I think my favorite was the Egypt table where I made a pyramid and painted it gold and told the story of how Pharoah wanted to marry Sarai because she was so beautiful but she stayed true to Abram even though he was pretty poor at the time. Anyways, it was a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy serving in callings. I wish we did more than get together twice a year. Oh well!

I Love (Fill in the Blank) Party

So Bret has two cousin's, Brian and Brent, who are about the same age as him. They grew up together and are Best Friends Forever. Here is Bret and Brent when they were kids.Here is Brian, Chris (not a cousin), Bret, and Brent in High School.
Anyways, every once in a while we all get together, along with Brian's wife Amy and daughter Hannah (about the same age as Kien) and hangout or eat. A couple weeks ago Brian came up with the idea of an "I Love Asians" Party where we'd all bring Asian food and eat it. I made Vietnamese spring rolls. It's rice noodles, shrimp, pork, and lots of fresh veggies wrapped in rice paper and then dipped in peanut sauce or fish sauce. I love the peanut sauce but Bret loves the fish sauce so I usually have both on hand.
Brian and Amy brought Sushi and also a Japanese noodle dish. It was tasty!
Brent brought Garlic Bread and Tortilla Chips with a nacho cheese dip. Something tells me he's never been to Asia. About a week later Bret brought home a bunch of frozen Garden Burgers that he got free from work. He's always bringing home expired goods from the Nutrition Store. That gave me the idea of throwing an "I Love Vegetarians" Party, especially since Brian and Amy are 90% Vegetarian.
So we had free Garden Burgers, free corn on the cob from the ward garden, free zucchini patties made from zucchini given to me by Chalise Mitchell, and bread crumbs I made from the left over croutons from the Stake Relief Society Social that I took home. The lettuce for our burgers was also free from Sunshine Nutrition. I love free stuff. So anyways, I was trying to think of other clever little parties we could throw along the same lines. There's the obvious "I Love Mexicans" and "I Love Italians" but I want to be more clever than that. For example "I love Mermaids" and it would be seafood.
So post a comment with your idea for the next party: "I Love (Insert type of person here)" Party.

Kien's Portraits

Well here are the professional pictures I talked about. Isn't he just a cute little guy? I love him.

Trip to Salt Lake City

I went to SLC this past weekend for a wedding. It was for Shannon, my mission companion. We had so much fun together in Annapolis, MD. She just made working fun. I was so happy for her when I found out that she was getting married. I know she's been wanting to start a family for a while now and I'm so glad that she gets her chance. When I was in the Temple watching her be sealed to her husband I was reminded of when Bret and I were sealed. All the promise and hopes at the beginning of a marriage just reminded me of what is really important in this life and it helped me to refocus. It was a beautiful ceremony and I got emotional, I think I cried more than she did!
Here is a picture of Shannon at my own wedding along with Erin, Bret's sister.
Afterwards I went to the Olive Garden and met up with one of my roommates from BYU-Hawaii. Her name is Adrian. I hadn't seen her in years and it was so fun to catch up! We relived our old memories and all the boy drama we had to go through during our college days.
After lunch we called a couple of old friends from Hawaii to say hello. They were so thrilled to hear from us. I really do want a reunion of old friends but it's so hard to get everyone together since we are all in different places. This will just have to do for now. Here is Adrian and I in front of the SLC Temple.
Here is a picture of Adrian and I with our other roommate Jamie at Hanauma Bay in Hawaii, 2002.

Black Eyed Baby

Well Kien got his first black eye on Labor Day. We were in the yard playing when he went to inspect my bike that was leaning against a tree and then he started pulling on it and when he saw that it could move at his will he turned and looked at me and started laughing. I started walking towards him but before I could get to him he gave it one hard jerk and the bike fell on top of him.
Poor thing! On a lighter note, I high-lighted my hair. Get it? Lighter? Haha... I'm such a nerd. I also got it cut.