Ned's favorites

We decided that Ned doesn't have enough favorites, so we are going to conduct a series of tests to help him out. First up: favorite nut. We tested peanuts, cashews (not technically a nut, I know), almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazilian nuts, hazel nuts, pistachios, pine nuts, and macadamia nuts. Pistachios were the clear winner. If anyone gets the munchies for nuts, come on over. We've got lots!!

What's for lunch?

Can you believe ned ate this?? And it was at a buffet no less! Who knows how long it had been sitting out there! I know it's a little blurry-we're having camera issues- but it's a whole baby octupus. Gross!!

For those of you who haven't seen my new black/brown hair, I promise I'll have pictures up soon! I'm getting it redone tomorrow, and I'll have Ned take some pictures..

108th US Open

I don't know how this happened, but somehow over the weekend Ned got me interested in golf. Sunday night He turned it on while I started my endless scrapbooking project (for work). He promptly fell asleep, but I watched nearly the entire 3 hour program while I worked! It was very exciting; Tiger tied it up at the last hole, so they (Tiger and Rocco) had to break the tie today. Again at the 18th hole Tiger tied it up and they went to sudden death where Tiger won in the first round. I think it's the simplicity of it that draws me to it. I can literally understand everything the commentators say.

Cafe Trang

Ned and I tried this Vietnamese resturaunt today, and it was fantastic!! If you're ever in the Draper area (shopping at ikea, maybe?) you should definately give it a shot! I had the most unbelievable caramel ginger chicken. Here's a few pics:

This was my second favorite thing we ate- vietnaese eggrolls

Memorial day is already a sad enough holiday without gloomy weather like this... And on top of that Ned had to work. We still managed to have a good time, and Bill made some delicious chicken!

Kids say the darndest things!

Ned and I teach a 5 year old primary class and sometimes they have the funniest comments. Today Ned was explaining some of the ordinances that require the priesthood, and he brought up baptism. Little Chase quickly stopped him to help explain a little more about what baptism is. He said," My Kelsey will be baptised when she turns eight. Then Daddy will punch her under the water and she'll have to drink it all gone." Apparently Ned has been teaching them naughty things when I take the girls to the bathroom.

Fear

The other day I was grocery shopping, and after waiting in line and finally reaching the register, I realized I didn't have my debit card with me. All the blood drained from my face-- I was completely horrified. (One of my irrational but still very intense fears) I asked if they could hold my groceries for a few minutes for me to run home and grab it, so he directed me to customer service. When I got there, of course, I found it at the bottom of my bag (which is pretty revealing about my bag I guess). Anyway, I had to wait in a long line all over again and face the same checker (sp?) all over again, and then he proceeded to give me unsolicited diet advice. Real nice. So not because anyone's asking for it but just because it's been on my mind lately, here is a list of some of my less common fears:

1. Not having enough money at the cash register. I think it stems from buying things as kid with cash. I would have try to guess what the tax was and try to add it all up in my head to make sure I had enough to cover it.

2. Looking straight up at something very tall. I don't have a fear of heights-- falling maybe, but not being up really high somewhere. Looking straight up at a street light or the site of a building terrifies me. I don't know why, but I get all dizzy and this sinking feeling.

3. Walking through metal/security checkers. You know what I'm talking about-- those things when leave a store or at the air port. I HATE them I'm always afraid someone planted something on me just to set me up. Totally irrational, I know. The airport is the worst; I have to psych myself up to do it every time.

4. Breathing on people. My sister in law, Kaylene, says she can't stand to smell other people, and I guess this is kind of the opposite. (Not that I really want to smell other people either.) She says she breaths out when people walk be her really fast so she doesn't breath any of their air. Well, I hold my breath or even breath in a little bit when people are really close to me so they don't get any of mine. I don't know why..

Weekend Get-away (It's kind of a novel- you don't have to read)

Ned and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary last weekend. Originally we planned to go camping in St. George or Moab, but we couldn't find any reservations, so we just decided to do something closer to home. Friday night we went into the canyon and cooked our dinner over a campfire. We didn't have an ax, so we (Ned) thought it would be fine to just use a spackling scrapper thing and a rubber mallet to split the fire wood. It was interesting... Saturday we had breakfast with Rolyne, then went to go see the (not so) world famous Salt Lake Bees. We bought our tickets off a scalper, and the Bees ended it in an exciting 10th inning victory! The people watching was fantastic, even if the players' baseball skills weren't. After the game, we went to trolly square, but it was kind of wierd to us, and I kept picturing a gunman coming around the corner, so we scrapped it and went to the Gateway for a great dinner and shopping. (We bought an ax.) We also saw Baby Mama, which I totally recomend-- it was hillarious!!

The next day we went to the park and played a little baseball. When we got tired of that, we went up to Salt Lake to Liberty park and tossed the football around a little bit. Liberty park is also appearently a gathering place for hippies and gypsies. The place was full of boothes selling tie-dyed items with marajana leaves on them, Middle Eastern massage sessions, and pole dancing lessons. There was even a "space ship" that made funny noises and preached the horrors of non-renewable resources. We listened to a little of the live music, but decided to leave when I smelled pot for the first time. That night we stayed at the Anniversary Inn in the Jungle Safari room. It was so fun! The shower came out of an elephant trunk, and there was a huge crocodile that greeted you at the door. Ned climbed all the trees. Monday we did some more shopping and had lunch at the Myan. It was so hard to go back to work after all that!

Happy Anniversary to us!

For our anniversary this year, I gave Ned the best present possible-- I arragnged for the Spurs to finish off the Suns in the 1st round of the playoffs! (Sorry, Uncle Jim) It was pretty tricky, and I had to call in a few favors, but we got it done. Next stop: New Orleans!!!

The drug test from you know where

Today at work I sprained my ankle really badly. We all heard a big pop, so they took me in for x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. It turns out there was no break *thank goodness*, and I just got a brace and crutches. Since it was a worker's comp claim I had to take a drug test. Drug tests are no fun for girls anyway, but this was the worst one I have ever tried to do. The bathroom was significantly smaller than my closet, in fact, it was about as wide as our broom closet. So I got stuffed in there along with a set of crutches and tried to manuver everything so I wouldn't make a mess. All the while there was a man gaurding the door listening for me so I was having to perform under pressure. The upside was I got a 3 hour break from work!

The birds and the bees during Sharing Time!

Yesterday while I was out visiting teaching (my favorite thing), Ned got a call that we were in charge of sharing time in just a few short hours. We kind of freaked out. In order to involve the kids, we decided to have them say a few of the comandments our current prophets have given us. Little Chase is only 5 years old, and he doesn't speak very clearly yet, so when I whispered in his ear, "The prophet asks us," he repeated what sounded like, "The prophet has sex." Repeat it out loud a few times-- you'll understand how the mistake could be made. For some reason I figured if I said it slower, he would say it more clearly. This was not the case. After he said it about 5 times, and I couldn't stop my embarassed laughter, Ned finally took the mike away from me and had the kid say anouther line like any sane adult would have done the first time while I collapsed behind the podium. Not my proudest moment!

Ned and I went hiking on Saturday in Pleasent Grove for the first time this year, and we had a blast! The weather was perfect-- a crisp morning, but warm in the sun. We liked it so much we've decided to try to do it more regularly. If you have any suggestions for where to go around here, let us know!

A new addition to our family!

We went into our backyard a couple days ago and foud this little cutie in the back dogrun area! We're not sure how she got there (probably our land lord, who has a ranch), or how long she (he?) will be here, but it was an interesting surprise. I sure hope he's not expecting us to feed her or anything! We came with a name for it, but I can't remember it now. Any suggestions?

Escargots

My mom and Emily came up for conference weekend and we had a great time! We got to go to the Solemn Assembly and the Sunday morning session. Unfortunately Ned and I were pretty busy with work and school, but we managed to get in plenty of eating. Here's ned trying escargots for the first time. What a trooper! We also made tons of Chinese food and my mom introduced us to a new favorite-- pablano soup. (The recipe's on the side bar.) It was a fun break from the usual for us.