my lil' blog

hmmm...

2011-06-23T15:11:00.001-06:00

I am trying to use this app on my phone to view blogs...hmm...right now it is only letting me post stuff. That's cool I guess. I'll do some more research & report back. To...all of my...extra loyal followers...you'd hafta be extra loyal to still know this blog exsists! Haha! And a photo for good measure.

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2011-06-22T17:32:00.001-06:00

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fill in the blank because it's FRIDAY!

2010-04-23T16:06:00.002-06:00

1. One song that always takes me back to my youth is... Inside Out by Eve 6, anything by Britney Spears and Nsync

2. My first concert ever was... Carmen

3. If I could create my dream music festival I'd want these bands to be there: Nicklecreek, Raining Jane, paramore, Elvis, Reliant K, yellowcard, the kids from Glee, Colbie Caillat, Rihanna

4. The best make-out/"boot knocking" song ever is...DUH! Anything by Barry White.

5. The best concert I've ever been to was...I haven't been to a lot but...probably this concert festival called Con Dios. It's a bunch of Christian rock bands. That was pretty fun.

6. A memorable musical moment for me was... swing dancing with my friends. All of those memories!

7. The song on my iPod that's getting the most play these days is... lately it's been a lot of R&B/hip-hop/pop type stuff. Black Eyed Peas, Britney, Christina, Rihanna, anything that keeps me moving...because I only listen to my ipod while I work out.

St. George, how I miss thee

2010-04-16T10:55:00.001-06:00

Okay, finally! I can blog about or trip to St. George. You all know how this works. I'll take it a day at a time.

Chase helped me pack all the bike stuff.

He is pretty organized huh?

finally on our way, after much car preparation.

It was super windy and cold when we left SLC.

THE NEXT WEEK IN ST. GEORGE....

Saturday we got up (don't worry, it wasn't too early) and got ready then went to breakfast with our good buddy, Dan. (sidenote: stupid Budget Inn mislead me into believing they had free continental breakfast, which to them apparently means a 1 day coupon for $1 off any Denny's menu item.) After breakfast Dan showed us around town. We stopped at a bike shop and we did some shopping at the outlet stores, yes we found some pretty good deals.

When Dan had to go to work we took a nap :D and then we went to the St. George Arts Festival! It was really cool! The weather wasn't sunny but it was still probably in the high 60's and I proudly wore a skirt and flip-flops!

There was an abundance of art! Everything had an artistic touch to it. Even that statue there has a ANTM kind of look (google it.) We didn't buy anything, even though we saw a lot that we liked, because it was all pretty expensive, as they tend to be at these things. They also had numerous different food stands and stages with different performing artists. I almost didn't take any pictures but Chase convinced me to go back and get the camera and, of course, I'm glad I did! He knows me so well!

Do you SEE this guys hair??? loooooOoooong!

Sunday was Easter Sunday (don't ask why we planned a vacation over Easter...it wasn't really on purpose...) so we found a nice little church to attend and everyone there was very sweet! After that we went mountain biking...MY FIRST MOUNTAIN BIKING TRIP!! It was scary but I actually enjoyed it a lot! Once I got past being terrified of getting hurt it was pretty fun to go up hills and back down them and over rocks and I expected to fall -I mean CRASH (chase told me to call them crashes because it sounds cooler) because Chase kept warning me that I probably would so it wasn't a big deal. And people kept telling me not to hesitate and just be confident and go for it and what do ya know? they were right!! yahoo!

Later that night our good buddy Dan cooked us a delicious steak dinner! With Cheese jambalia and veggies!! It was the best thing we ate all week! And after dinner we shopped for dessert and a movie then we ate the dessert and watched the movie...well, I slept. It was a really fun day!

For the first time we went on the Bloomington Microloop (also heard it referred to as bearclaw poppy...?)

This is dessert! Spankings: microwave cookie dough for 45 seconds then add ice cream and whatever else. We opted for magic shell. SO good!

On Monday we took the car into the mechanic because it was acting funny. It had been acting funny for awhile and, of course, we MEANT to take it in before we left but never got around to it. It was just acting curiouser and curiouser! So we took our bikes on the back of the car to the mechanic then rode around town and back to the hotel and then we did some hot tubbing and some napping until they called us to get the car. After we rode back to get the car we went to watch Alice in Wonderland, enjoyed it then spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching America's Funniest Home Videos (greatest show ever made.) This was the rainy day so we didn't go out and do any mountain biking. I'm not complaining! I heard it snowed in SLC... :S

Tuesday we checked out of our hotel in St. George and packed up to drive to Arizona but did some Mountain biking first, naturally. This time we went to Barrel Roll and a kind of steepish, up hillish, side winder kind of trail. This trail was a lot more intimidating than the last because it was narrower and was really rocky and there were all these frightening thorny plants that lined the whole trail!! When we started out I couldn't help but think to myself "crashing might be a little more painful on this guy..." AND IT WAS! I had to warm up to that confident, brave, couragous, power-over-it-all stage. That's what Chase kept telling me on the super rocky parts "you gotta stand up, lean forward and power over it!" And I did. And I got better at it I think as the trail went on. I never quite got the hang of going up hill around a sharp turn, whew! but I certainly wasn't ashamed to walk my bike a little and Chase was very patient with me. :)

Once we made it to the end of the trail, which was on top of a big hill (some might call it a mountain) we had a wonderful picnic and looked at the view! (Side note: lunchables are so good.) then we started back and that was when I big crashed. In my defense, I WAS going downhill, over rocks around a sharp turn. Normally I would have walked my bike down that kind of obstacle but I was feeling invincible! ...I am not invincible. After that I took it a little easier. I still had a good time :) Once we got checked in at our hotel in Page, AZ we showered and ordered in some food and watched more, you guessed it, AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS! It was ANOTHER good day! :D

yes, this is my big crash proof. I don't do a whole lot that allows me to be hurt so this is pretty freaking hurt for me. :)

photo shoot at the hotel!

These are the pictures from Wednesday. Our Grand Canyon day. Okay, please keep in mind that this is our first vacation besides our honeymoon that was completely planned for us and all inclusive. We made some silly mistakes and maybe weren't as prepared as we could have been. For instance, the Grand Canyon is a HUGE national park...and I only planned 1 day for it...silly mistake #1. Silly mistake #2: I didn't really make any plans for that day. We focused more on what we would do and where we would go in St. George. The Grand Canyon day we just figured would work itself out apparently. Silly mistake #3: we didn't get directions to the GC. I printed out mapquest directions from SLC to SG(which is pretty unnecessary...it should just say I-15S) then from SG to AZ then back from AZ to SG then back from SG to SLC.

...This story could be very long. Instead, I'll just say that we drove for a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long time the wrong way then we drove back for a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long time the other wrong way. (dear Arizona, your signage sucks. But kudos on your ability to hide the Grand Canyon. I am impressed.) Anyway, we finally got there about 45 minutes before the sun went down. The silver lining is that we got to see the sunset ,which was kinda pretty.

Is the Grand Canyon marvelous? yes.

Is it worth an all day drive? not really.

It's a canyon, but bigger.

Driving...

....driving...

...driving...

we did take a stop to do a little shopping. I got this awesome ring from a nice Navajo woman. Real silver!

then we kept driving...

these are from the drive home. I appreciated their artisticly abstractness. :)

The next day we drove back to SG. (yes Chase has done all the driving thus far and yes he was getting pretty tired of it.) Once we checked into our second hotel in SG we got our bikes and did some more mountain biking!!! (I guess I didn't get any pictures of this day...or the next...) We went back and did a second trail off the Barrell Roll and then did the micro loop again too. It was a lot of fun, again. After that we did some shopping for a special sister-in-laws birthday with Dan and then watched some home zombie movies and then we slept.

Friday, our last day in SG, sucked. We were supposed to hike Angel's Landing in Zions but I woke up that morning and just didn't feel like it. Although I just wish we had done it 1) to prove that I could, some people seem to think I couldn't, and 2) we were just cranky at each other all day and the endorphines would have been good for us. I think Chase and I really aren't good at vacationing for more than 3 or 4 days. After that we just are ready to be home and back to our routine I think. So Friday wasn't great. We woke up feeling happy and bright though, ready to go home for sure! :D

What I learned on this vacation:
1) Don't expect Arizona to help you get anywhere
2) Don't plan a vacation for more than 5 days
3) "Economy" means small
4) the budget inn lies and won't save you money on free breakfast
5) I love love love St. George (and, yes, I get that it's hot in the summer)
6) Mountaint biking is fun

trip to the south

2010-03-23T16:07:00.002-06:00

So Chase and I have been married for about 9 months (exactly 9 months this saturday.) It seems like just yesterday we were up at the lodge getting married. :) ANYway, we decided to celebrate our 1 year anniversary a little early, since we are pretty darn positive we'll still be married in another 3 months. We wanted to go to St. George and the Grand Canyon and after starting the plan the trip in June it ocurred to use that it will be super duper extra hot in souther Utah in June so...we thought we would go in April when it would be just warm! :D We have 10 days until we leave!!!!! I am so very very excited (in case you couldn't tell by the extra exclaimation points...)

Here's the plan:

Leave Friday, April 2nd, after work. (it will be kinda late but that's okay.) Check in to our hotel, The Budget Inn, hang out/go to sleep.

We will be there until April 6th when we will drive to Arizona (just right over the border) and stay there, right near the grand canyon, and we will enjoy that for 2 days. Then we will drive back to St. George on April 6th and stay there until April 10th and drive home that day (probably leave early because when we get back KAREN AND BART WILL BE THERE!)

There will be a lot of driving but atleast we won't have to make the trip from AZ to SLC at all, just a bunch of short 2-4 hour trips. I am getting REALLY REALLY excited.

We had discussed going to CA for Comic con and to see Conan O Brien live BUT, alas, Conan is no more
:( and it was just getting a little too expensive. This is going to be a lot of fun too. We want to bring our bikes and do some mountain biking and we're defintiely going to go hiking and there is an arts festival that we get to enjoy and we will be stopping at the outlet stores (that is one thing everyone has told me to do...no argument here!) Mainly we are excited to relax! Our honeymoon was a lot of fun but it seemed like we were constantly running from 8am-5pm every day so it was kind of exhausting. This time we are definitely planning on taking some chill days where we sleep in, go for a walk, see a movie...ya know...whatever. We don't really have any solid plan (except for when we need to be checking into the hotels) and I really like that.

And for all you mothers and grandmothers that may worry about us, we have AAA!!! And we will have directions and we have plenty of CDs to listen to. Don't worry! :)

here are some pictures of St. George and the GC...get excited.

Our hotel in St. George is right on main street. I am excited about that.

You can take the girl outta the city but you can't take the city outta the girl!

So Beautiful!

This is the Grand Canyon skywalk...it is probably
1,000 times more scary than I am even imagining...
maybe we'll do it...

And, no, in all of my 22 years of living in Utah I have never been to St. George. Neither Chase nor I have been to the Grand Canyon. So this should be goooooooood!

My favorite niece

2010-03-21T23:50:00.000-06:00

These pictures are all from Saturday but I had so many and she's so cute I think she deserves her own post! I learned many things about Olivia on this play date.

I learned that Olivia's stuffed animals dog pile on her...when her dad makes them haha!

I learned that Olivia has recently gotten her first 2 teeth...so she likes to chew. :)

I learned that Olivia is mesmerized with tags.

I learned that she can sort of stand!

I learned that she likes to talk to her friend Bert (from her aunt Rachel)

I learned that she loves her feet

I got to watch her eat some baby food for the first time and I learned that she puts her thumb in her mouth after pretty much every bite.

I learned that she does NOT like peas...as you can see below (favorite picture ever!!)

mymymy saturday

2010-03-21T23:27:00.000-06:00

Our friends Heather and Josiah got married on Saturday so we went to their wedding.

You know how I love to get dressed up!

and I got to wear my pretty new headband. :D

This is Chase "doing his hair."

Keith, saving our spots while we hit up the food table.

Our buddies at the next table

The beautiful bride :D

Karen and Bart came up from Price too so

we got to spend some time with them :)

We had fun listening to music and playing with Olivia and talking.

Later we had Laurie and Keith over and we ate a delicious dinner

that Nathan and Breana made. Thanks guys!

After dinner we ate some gross stuff. First these Skittles Fizzle things...eeewwwww!!

Then Chase and Keith decided to lick on some bouillon cubes...

they weren't that gross apparently

Then the guys settled down to do some gaming

So the girls went out to see The Princess & The Frog

my friday night

2010-03-21T22:48:00.002-06:00

Me, my mom, Breana, Laurie, her mom, and her sister-in-law Megan

all went out to dinner and to see Odyssey Dance Company perform

Romeo & Juliet at Kingsbury Hall.

We met at Chili's after work.

Then we all carpooled up to Kingsbury Hall...so I tried to get some cute pictures.

I emphasize...TRIED

This is where we parked the car and the curb was really deep so the passenger door wouldn't open

and Legoria had to climb up and out the drivers side. Go Legoria!

Laurie and Breana made a friend on the walk to Kingsbury.

This is where it hit me that we get to see Odyssey Dance Company performe Romeo & Juliet

...

an all new hip-hop version!!!! :D

Once we got there we HAD to have a little photoshoot.

We attempted to get some jumping pictures.

I think you can see that Laurie has just smacked Breana.

I don't think we were supposed to be taking pictures in the hall

so we were being very 'hush hush' about it!

I came home to Crumb all snuggled up under Chases shirt. :)

the door...

2010-03-17T23:18:00.000-06:00

There is an escapee cricket stuck in this closet.

He is quite noisy.

Yesterday

2010-03-17T18:03:00.000-06:00

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday."
-The Beatles

Yesterday was SERIOUSLY super AWESOME fun! here's the run down

-- woke right up out of bed with enough time to eat breakfast, do a short Bible study, do my hair and make-up and ride my bike to work! --

-- Got to work with just enough time to change clothes and watch the sun rise over the mountains --

-- Chase and I rode our bikes home together and the weather was PERFECT, I mean PERRRRRRRRFECT! So so so beautiful and sunny and warm but not TOO warm, ya know? --

-- We stopped at sonic along the way and ate a delicious dinner outside, the clean up of which consisted of throwing everything in the garbage (gotta love it!) --

-- After we finished the ride home we got ready to leave again (in the car this time) to go pick up my pretty new hair accessories! --

-- I dropped Chase off at a friends house and went to read my book in quiet in a nice neighborhood (might have freaked the neighbors out) --

-- Later we went home and watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent and played with Crumb --

Perfect day.

Know your St. Patricks Day history?

2010-03-17T09:04:00.000-06:00

Here is some history on St. Patty's day. Copyright history.com...or whatever...I didn't write this out and I'm not trying to claim it as my own. That's what I'm trying to say. :)

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

The First Parade

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called "Irish Aid" societies like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.

In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world 's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants.

Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants.

No Irish Need Apply

Up until the mid-19th century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class. When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845, close to a million poor and uneducated Irish Catholics began pouring into America to escape starvation. Despised for their religious beliefs and funny accents by the American Protestant majority, the immigrants had trouble finding even menial jobs. When Irish Americans in the country's cities took to the streets on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.

However, the Irish soon began to realize that their great numbers endowed them with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize, and their voting block, known as the "green machine," became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates. In 1948, President Truman attended New York City 's St. Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America.

Wearing of the Green Goes Global

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore and Russia.

In modern-day Ireland, St. Patrick's Day has traditionally been a religious occasion. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. Last year, close to one million people took part in Ireland 's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions and fireworks shows.

The Chicago River

Chicago is famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week!

Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours. Although Chicago historians claim their city's idea for a river of green was original, some Savannah natives believe the idea originated in their town. They point out that, in 1961, Savannah mayor Tom Woolley had plans for a green river. Due to rough waters on March 17, the experiment failed, and Savannah never attempted to dye its river again.

Monday was Funday

2010-03-16T23:48:00.025-06:00

Beginning AFTER 5:00pm

-- drove to small group with Laurie & Keith--
--watched some cute babies--
--ate some delicious dutch oven dinner--
--was reminded of God's amazing power--
--went to Nathan & Breana's--
--watched Chase find a hidden birthday gift--
--ate a delicious cookie--
--watched Avatar: The Last Airbender--

Chase, looking for his birthday present
from Nathan and Breana that was hidden.

one awesome Sunday

2010-03-14T19:41:00.000-06:00

--Went to church--

--played sunday school lesson by ear, which I like because then I focus more on spending time with the kids as opposed to thinking ahead to set up the next activity--

--went out to lunch to Chilli's with old and new friends--

--Got crickets for Crumb--

--napped--

--short bike ride--

--cleaned cleaned cleaned--

--had funny conversation with Chase that went a little something like this:

Me: why do you have claw marks on your shoulder?

Chase: the chicks are always clawing at me

Me: must be because of your Axe body wash

Chase (impatiently): it's because they're zombies! I fight them at night?!

:D --

--relaxing and preparing for tomorrow--

*sigh* good day. productive but not TOO productive. ;)

Three picture Thursday

2010-03-11T23:24:00.002-07:00

I made my book marks! I realized three things while making these:
1) I can't cut straight, even on a PAPER CUTTER
2) I am really impatient
3) Crissy is INCREDIBLY crafty...she has craftiness coming outta her bottom, you could say

Thanks to Crissy's amazing bookmark making tutorial!!

One of my greatest joys in life is Chases bed head.

my photography assignment this week was a self-portrait. I like this one...it's "below the plane"

my favorite things about yesterday

2010-03-09T09:52:00.001-07:00

These are my favorite things about yesterday, since today hasn't been going on all that long yet...and yesterday was a super fun day!

Linking up to Crissy!

1. Hanging out with Laurie and Keith. We went to taco time (the food was not good but the company was) and we watched some HILARIOUS AFV videos on youtube :D

2. Reading with Chase in bed

It was a good night.

Get to know me

2010-03-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

1. Are you more of a talker or a listener? I think I'm kinda both...depending on who I'm with. If It's with people I'm comfortable with then I'm a talker for sure. If it's new people I don't know that well, then I'm definitely more of a listener.

2. Bra. Under wire or wireless? both

3. I wish I was.....? just starting my weekend instead of just ending it *sigh*

4. The Academy Awards are on tonight..will you watch? if I happened to just come across it then I would. I wouldn't seek it out and watch it from beginning to end.

5. Do you put your deodorant on before or after you get dressed? After
6. Would you rather do the dishes or clean toilets? Dishes!!!

7. How much did you weigh at birth? 8lbs 110z I think
8. If you could only buy one thing for the Spring/Summer season..what would it be? A PRETTY SPRING DRESS!!

learning stuff kinda

2010-03-06T13:41:00.002-07:00

so I'm not enjoying my photography class but I think I got off to a bad start. ANYway, here are some of my portraitures (that was our assignment this last week.) I don't really feel like I'm being very creative...I feel like my creativity has been sucked out of my heart by these stinkin' assignments. We just get like tips for each assignment. With the portraitures, the teacher gave us tips off of a website such as: play with the light, play with eye direction, play with the composition and rule of thirds and planes and such. I tried to do some of that...it didn't seem to make much of a difference...I guess it takes time and practice.

Q&A

2010-03-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I got these fun questions from crissy's awesome blog and I wanted to answer them (I guess because it's fun to talk about myself...I mean, it's the one thing I'm an expert on) but I also wanted to get some other point of views so I had some of my favorite ladies answer them!

First, me, Rachel Elise Gregory Norton: blog creator, obsessive picture taker, phone call answerer, dancing fool

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?   NEITHER! I have no desire to jump off of anything high up in the sky. I think I am allergic to adrenaline.

2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?   I sit right on the toilet normally. If there is stuff on the seat, ya know...stuff, then I will hold it.

3. Favorite flower?   Hm...it used to be daisies...now it might be lilly's or ochids. Flowers, in general, are wonderful though!

4. Pedicure or manicure?
I would rather people see the work I paid for, which would happen more with a manicure....but I like to have my feet rubbed and stuff....but I could get Chase to do that anytime so...MANICURE.5. How many siblings do you have?
I have 2 older brothers: Jacob and Elijah.

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
I have.

7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
tankini is ideal

8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Any store that is busy and crowded I guess...

Introducing, my sister-in-law Breana Ashby Norton: Mother to my favorite baby, spanish speaker, book reader, knitter extaoridinaire!

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?

I would rather bungee jump. If I'm going to be free falling through the air, I would rather have a safety line tied to me securing me to the "ground".

2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
I sit right on the toilet, its not like I eat with my butt or anything. Why do I need to keep that sanitized. Of course, there are exceptions - like when there is pee and other "stuff" dribbled all over the toilet seat - then I hover.

3. Favorite flower?
hmmm ... I'm not sure. I like daisies, and dandelions (yes the weed), and daffodils, and orchids, and ... lets face it I love all flowers, because flowers mean spring, and spring means the end of winter. I'm not too fond of winter.

4. Pedicure or manicure?
Well, seeing that I have never had either one I would have to guess manicure. My feet are very ticklish and I don't think I could get a pedicure without laughing all the way through it.

5. How many siblings do you have?
I have 5 siblings, 3 older brothers and 2 little red-headed sisters. I also have 9 adorable nieces and nephews :D

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
I will admit that I pee in the shower.

7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
A one piece while working out (there is nothing more annoying than having your bottoms attempt to come off with every flip turn), and a tankini for other recreational swimming.

8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Walmart! and it isn't even because it is walmart, its because it is always busy. It doesn't matter what walmart you go to, they are always full of people and the check-out lines are forever long.

Now, my sister in all ways except biologically, Laurie Janae Barton Gunnerson: best hair haver, witty stuff sayer, favorite coworker, smarty party pants!

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Bungee I guess…. I would like to sky dive more so that I don’t get whipped around… but I don’t have the guts

2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
Sit, preferably with a seat cover
3. Favorite flower?
Iris or lily

4. Pedicure or manicure?
Pedicure? Just because I have never had one

5. How many siblings do you have?
1

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
not regularly no…

7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
One piece or grandma two piece “Gidget” style

8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
The grocery store? Or DI or Savers but I don’t go there much

Finally, my mother, Patricia Sue Oswalt Gregory: director of plays and lives, thesbian for all time, God lover, best friend, stylish beyond compare

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Sky dive! And someday I WILL!

2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
Sit…after wiping seat off, of course

3. Favorite flower?
Hmmm….whatever smells good! Lilies or lilacs come immediately to mind

4. Pedicure or manicure?
Have had only 1 of each in my life…I’m thinking…pedicure! That leg massage was wonderful!

5. How many siblings do you have?
1 brother in heaven, 1 sister on earth

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
now why would I ever answer that?

7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
Well, when I was young and thin, bikini…but now I’m old and not so thin so…one piece

8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Hate to shop?! I don’t think I understand that concept….

(there are some other ladies I've questioned but they haven't answered yet...possibly out of fear of being put on my blog...grandma...I'll post their answers when I get them :)

Chase much?

2010-02-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

Featured person of the week do-dah do-dah! Chase is featured, oh so chic oh dah do dah day!!!!!

Chase Facts

Hair: Blondette

Eyes: blue

Hometown: Price, UT

Siblings: 1 older brother: Nathan and 1 older sister-in-law: Breana

Pets: 1 lizard: Crumb

Spouse: ME! (Rachel Elise Gregory Norton...if you're reading my blog you should really know this)

Job: Architectural drafter at 3form (wanna see what we do? http://www.3-form.com/ )

My favorite thing about him: His creative imagination and confidence...and encouraging attitude...and his hot bod! ;)

Chase's answers

1. Do you Iron your sheets?

Like, Forge them?

2. Your dream car is...
I would rather a couple kinds of bikes. A downhill, CX, and Road.

3. Do you have an innie or an outie belly button?
Innie, but its really none of your business.

4. what is the first thing you would do in a zombie attack?
Start filling the bathtub and sinks with water. Who knows how long you have until the water shuts off. And water IS the most necessary resource, besides air, but I would like to see the stupid zombies try to take that from us.

5. What meal do you look forward to most? Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Lunch

6. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Textiles

7. What would you say your decorating style is..traditional, modern, eclectic, country, french country, shabby chic, etc..?
Since I don’t know what any of those mean, I would say I have no style. I just put things where they go, or not.

8. have you ever been skinny dipping?
I’ve been naked in a public pool for a half a minute.

9. I hate the smell of...?
Mustard

10. What is your favorite thing about your wife?
Her selflessness comes to mind, but there is so much more!

11. What do you do in your spare time?
Video games.

Favorite Things

2010-02-17T23:21:00.001-07:00

Linking up to Crissy These are my favorite things about today.

1. WORKING WITH LAURIE!!! That's right! For those of you who haven't heard, Laurie (yes, the Laurie I mention all the time in this blog) got a job working with me at 3form! :D I am training her right now and it makes work SO much more enjoyable and I way less high strung because I can laugh off any mean customers! Huzzah for working with friends!!!!

2. CRUMB!!!! As always, I love Crumb. And he made me especially happy today because he did something new and exciting! He was so excited for his crickets (he hasn't had any in a couple of days) that he was standing straight up and, I didn't get a picture of it but, he was slapping at the glass with his hand...paw...claw...whatever. It was REALLY cute! :) He is just so fun!

3. MY NEW SAUCEPAN!!!!! That's right I FINALLY got a saucepan large enough to make MAC N CHEESE! As you can see in the picture below, both of my previous saucepans (which were passed down from Nathan and Breana and we are very grateful for) fit inside of the new saucepan! :D AAAANNNNDD it has a lid!

V-day 2010

2010-02-14T21:53:00.003-07:00

Today was Valentines day. Chase and I aren't HUGE Valentines Day celebraters. We have fun celebrating pretty much any holiday though and this Valentines Day was no exception! (Any excuse to buy gifts and go out right?)

Yesterday I went to a movie with my friend Laurie and when I got home Chase had these shelves all set up! It's perfect because I had just been stacking up my craft stuff and not really messing with any of it because it was such a mess but NOW... :D yeah, he's the best.

There had also been talk of me making french dip sandwiches for Chase, becasue that is his favorite meal, and I was scared to try it because I'm not the best/most experienced cook but after the shelves...I HAD to try! And I did. And they TURNED OUT WELL! Can you believe it??? We invited Laurie and Keith over (they are dealing with flood issues and we figured they could use a good dinner with friends) and we all enjoyed them together (most importantly Chase enjoyed them!) I don't mean to toot my own horn but I AM pretty proud. :D

There is a video game coming out that Chase is absolutely dying to get so I was going to buy him that as his Valentines Day gift but then I saw that puppy card the other day at Target and got it (it says: hit the snooze; snuggle; hit the snooze; snuggle; hit the snooze; snuggle and on the inside it says: I love waking up next to you. Awwww! mush!) And then we saw that tuxedo chocolate on a wal-mart run today and I thought it was cute and picked it up randomly (there wasn't a big bite taken out of it when bought it) and we made valentines in Sunday School today so I made Chase one!

These are some valentines I got from some of my kiddos in sunday school :)

(God is love)

Here is Crumb giving Laurie some lovin'

Here are some fun V-day get to know you Q's from Crissy...linking up to Keeley

1. Favorite Valentine's candy? those mystery boxes of chocolates

2. Pink or red?   red

3. Will you be doing anything to celebrate today?   I made valentines with my kids in sunday school and then I spent time with Chase and then made him dinner and then we had friends over!

4. Do you put up Valentine's decorations?   Nope (maybe some day)

5. What does Valentine's Day mean to you?   It's a day to remind us to love on our friends and family...we shouldn't need reminders but it doesn't hurt. :)

6. Would you rather get..flowers, candy, or a night out? hm...if I have to choose...right now...FLOWERS :)

7. Sexy lingerie or nothing at all?  wouldn't you like to know!

8. Do you say Valentine's Day or Valentime's Day? ValenTINES...I'm pretty sure......yeah.

Knitting 101

2010-02-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

I had my last knitting class last Wednesday. I went and bought wooden needles because my stitches kept falling off the metal ones. And I got some fresh, new yarn! I started making my scarf, a basketweave pattern, and I feel like I'm pretty far. :) I kind of wish I had chosen a different color because I already have a yellow scarf, I'm just drawn to yellow as an accent color I guess. Anywho, I feel like it's going well, I'm no perfectionist though, so who knows! Wish me luck on the rest!

Friday funsies

2010-02-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Fill in the blank Friday!

1. I am hoping my Valentine's day this year includes lots of down time with Chase and lots of romantic memories of our first married V-day

2. My biggest guilty pleasure is High School Musical

3. I am most proud of my family

4. If I could choose one outfit to live in it would be a pretty maxi dress (that covers my clevage!!!!!!)

5. People are not perfect

6. I would rather eat junk food than eat healthy food

7. I love Chase more than I can express in words (predictable, but so true)

Getting to know Grammaw!

2010-02-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

This week I am introducing you all to my Grandma Kitty!

She is a wonderful, caring and funny lady who just wants to be helping others constantly! She is the best baker I know and she can handle any jigsaw puzzle you throw at her. She has the sweetest laugh and she gives the absolute greatest hugs. She hates to have her picture taken so I'll just share one instead of A LOT. :) I love you Grandma!!

Facts:
Name: Betty Joan "Kitty" Caton Gregory
Living: Newport, OR
Work: stay-at-home worker bee
Hair: Silver
Eyes: Blue
Children: 3 Boys: Bradley, David, Stewart
Spouse: Grandpa Eddie. He passed away last year and we all miss him like crazy!
Interesting Fact: She used to sing in a country western band. She was Kitty Caton, Queen of the Westerns! (That is where she met my grandpa.)

Questions:
1 -- What was your first job? baby sitting

2 -- What is your favorite activity? doing Puzzles, Jigsaw and Cross word and jumbles

3 -- Where are you from originally? Allen, Oklahoma

4 -- are you an early bird or a night owl? Night owl and early to rise too. ha

5 -- What is your favorite song? In The Garden, Amazing Grace

6 -- Do you dance? I miss it, yes

7 -- Do you iron your sheets? No. That's weird.

8 -- what is your favorite thing to cook? Cookies

9 -- Do you have an innie or an outie belly button? innie

10 -- What meal do you look forward to the most..breakfast, lunch, or dinner? None

11 -- Favorite accessory? Was grandpa. ha

12 -- What would you say your decorating style is..traditional, modern, eclectic, country, french country, shabby chic, etc..? Eclectic shabby

13 -- favorite place to visit? family

14 -- finish this scentence, I hate the smell of... Fish

catching up :)

2010-02-07T16:09:00.001-07:00

SO. I have some stuff I wanna say and instead of doing a post for EACH...thing...I'm just going to do it all on ONE post. Get it? Okay.

1) Knitting -- I have my last knitting class this Wednesday. It went by so fast! I deally I wanted to have the teacher, Heidi, show me how to bind off last week and talk to her about scarf patterns and then by the last class (this week) I would have some scarf done and she could show me what I was doing well and what I could work on and then I could finish it on my own. As it were, I have just continued practicing. As you can see in the pictures below, I HAVE DEFINITELY IMPROVED! :)

2) Photography class -- I have only made it to one photography class so far. You know, the one where you all have to stand up and introduce yourselves and you learn what you will be learning in the class over the next few weeks. SO, I haven't learned a whole YET.

My assignment last week was to take pictures of relationships. Well, I got sick and didn't take a whole lot...a helmet + bike and yarn + needles... *sigh* I'm kind of dissapointed in myself but it's strange to HAVE to take pictures of a CERTAIN something. It's all new to me.

This week our assignment is to take pictures with light as the subject. I missed talking about it last week but I understand what the assignment is and I have a review that my teacher sent me so I'm going to just do it and then the teacher, Mark, can critique them later.

I have been writing Mark emails because 1) I had questions 2) He told us to call or EMAIL with any questions 3) I much prefer email over calling. SO. I email him three or four times, each email with two or three paragraphs of questions, concerns and comments and he emails me back with this:

Got your Images, Missed you in class

Get better quick and see you next week

Mark

So...obviously emailing isn't the best form of contact. I don't really understand why he even put his email down on the syllabus...but WHATEVER! That's how that's going.

3) Crumb -- I still loooooove him! He is super fun but I think he is going through his angsty "teenage years" because he is puffing his beard a lot more and flattening out his body too.

The other day he was doing is "glass dance" and he really seemed like he wanted out so I got him out and I was sitting with him on the couch and he just took off running back towards his terrarium. He ran off the ottoman and when I went around to pick him up he looked up at me from the floor and puffed out his beard! I was too scared to pick him up so I made Chase get him and he was NOT happy. (his beard really IS scary.)

We love when he is sleepy and wants to snuggle though. The light seems to be bothering him more and more so he finds any dark, warm place on us and snuggles on down! Here, Chase had the perfect collar for him to fit under. :) He looks so cozy.

4) Frozen Hog -- Chase was in a mountain biking race!!! Yes, there is an annual race in Alipne, UT every February, in the snow. It's for those hardcore mountain bikers that can't stand staying inside aaaalllll Winter long! It was a race but Chase wasn't really trying to win. It's probably a good thing just because they were terrible conditions! Apparently it warmed up just enough to, not melt the snow away, but just enough to make it extra slushy! So he biked maybe 2 miles out of the 7 mile race haha! The rest was just running with your bike. He said he was glad he did it though and he got to ride his new bike, which was SUPER exciting AND his new helmet camera, alos SUPER exciting! :D I was very proud of him!

That is all for now.

My achin' kidneys

2010-02-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, as most of you have heard by now I have a kidney infection. I guess it's not too bad because I'm at work today and I feel alright.

Quickly: the story of the most sickiest I've ever been in my life COLON life or death SEMI COLON when I had my kidney infection COLON The Rachel Norton Story

I had a strange and unfamiliar stomach pain a week or so ago but it went away after a couple of days so I didn't worry about it then it came back last Saturday night and Sunday morning I woke up shivering, with my stomach hurting, aches everywhere and dizziness so I got in the shower (that usually makes me feel better) but I couldn't stop shivering and I just felt dizzier so I went back to bed (called in sick to church..can't remember ever doing that) and Chase and I just laid around aaaaaalllll day long. I woke up the next morning, not feeling much better, but went to work Monday and Tuesday because we weren't familiar with the symptoms and figured it was just some weird flu/cold type thing that I could sleep off. If we were the responsible adults we sometimes don't claim to be we would have a thermometer and would have taken my temperature and realized I had a ridiculously high fever (102.something...I think) and we probably would have gone to the doctor much sooner. Well, once we finally went to the doctor, because I was only feeling worse by Tuesday night (had to miss my 2nd photography class boo!) we went to the doctor finally and after I described my symptoms it was determined I had a kidney infection. The doctor told me we came in just in time and these things can get very bad and since I had such a high fever and had had the stomach pain for so long they needed to give me a shot of antibiotics (IN MY BEHIND might I add) in addition to the pills they would send me home with.

Anticipation of questions COLON
-Don't know how I got it exactly
-I'm on Ciprofloxacin. 2 pills twice a day.
-It has effects on my bowels, dehydrates me and takes my dairy away. Also, I think it's making me more anxious and giving me nightmares (those were listed on the side effects list...I am a hyphocondriac sort of though so I could just be imagining those last couple) BUT it's making me better AND it's better than shot in the butt every day! (or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right mom? ;)

Any other questions?

So. Pain in the stomach. Could be a kidney infection. Probably just go see a doctor for any unusual pain in the stomach. Agree? Sure you do!

Anywho, I always talk about how I never get sick and I'm a super hero or that guy from Unbreakable, the movie...I guess he was sort of a super hero...I get what was probably strep throat and a kidney infection in the span of probably 30 days. *sigh* My body is starting to wear down finally. 22 years. Not bad.

So, I'm feeling better. I think it will take more than a day or two to get completely well (not very Unbreakable of me) but, I'm feeling better. :D

PS
I have this compulsion to blog. When I think "I wanna blog about that later." it nags and nags at me until I do it. I really like blogging, I fear it's because I just like talking about myself and my life and me...need to work on that, so it's not a bad kind of nag but it's like a compulsion because I can't get it out of my head until I get it on the blog! Unfortunately I also have this compulsion to add pictures to every post (because I HAVE pictures for EVERY post) so I don't ever feel like blogging until I have my pictures and lately I keep forgetting my pictures any place I'm not. *SIGH* so I'm going to blog about my classes soon! You just WAIT!

My gal Laurie

2010-02-01T10:59:00.002-07:00

I saw on someone's blog that they would do a featured-person-of-the-week each week. They would get have them answer questions and give some background and stuff, just for fun. (I got the questions from my friend Crissy's blog) so I'm going to start doing this. Beginning with Laurie!

Laurie JaNae Barton Gunnerson:

Laurie is my best friend and has been since 6th grade. We met at church, our mom's worked together so we were expected to hang out I guess, LUCKILY we loved each other basically right away. Laurie is a very beautiful, intelligent and outgoing person and I feel like she is a big part of who I am today. :D

Laurie Facts:

Hair: Brown

Eyes: brown

Hometown: the SLC

Siblings: 1 older brother, Jayme and 1 sister in law, Megan

Pets: 1 dog, Pepper and 1 hedgehog, Sonic

Spouse: Keith Chris Gunnerson

Job: Receptionist at Hand and Orthopedic Rehab

My favorite thing about her: Her sense of humor. She is SO witty!

Laurie's answers:

1. Do you Iron your sheets? No, I wish I did sometimes because they are really wrinkled.

2. Your dream car is... I dont really care. A newer model of a Ford or Honda... something that gets good gas? I dont have favorite cars.

3. Do you have an innie or an outie belly button? Innie

4. What meal do you look forward to most? Breakfast, lunch or dinner? hmm.... Lunch because it means I am almost done with work

5. What is your favorite Mascara right now? Rimmel London... something. Its Black

6. What would you say your decorating style is..traditional, modern, eclectic, country, french country, shabby chic, etc..? Traditional... or modern?

7. have you ever been skinny dipping? Nope- talked about it though

8. I hate the smell of...? garbage?

Beginning Digital Photography

2010-01-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took my first photography class. It was at East High School (yes, where they filmed High School Musical ;) and it seems like just what I was looking for. A beginning class focused on the basics of picture taking and basic operation of the camera AND we also will be learning some basic photo editing techniques, which is a special treat since my photo editing class was cancelled.

My assignment this week is to take pictures of relationships. I am excited! I'll be posting some pictures soon...although they will probably look a lot like all my other pictures until I learn some more about photo editing and composition and light variations and all that fancy picture-taking stuff. I am excited to learn it all though! :D

Wish me luck!

Stray cat anyone?

2010-01-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

This is our stray cat (and when I say "our" I mean the whole apartment complex's...since he doesn't STAY with anyone in particular.) I named him Sylvester. I call him Sly for short. I feed him cheese and give him water sometimes. I would probably do more but fortunately the neighbors next door are taking care of him too...sorta. They leave out water and food sometimes and they got him a bed, though he doesn't really use it. We really can't have a cat right now. We can't afford the pet deposit + the additional pet fee each month + the vet care, not to mention we really don't have anywhere to put a litter box and it would stink up our shoe box of an apartment real good AND we are not home much to potty train him or spend time with him. :(

SO. if anyone needs an adorable, shy, sick kitten to love and nurse back to health, I've got one for you!!!!!! :D otherwise I'll just keep him as my own little stray.

Getting to know me...getting to know all about me

2010-01-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Took this from CRISSY!

Getting to know me:

1. Waffles, pancakes or french toast? FRENCH TOAST!

2. Dream home...What would it look like? Don't really know...big but not too big, architecturally pleasing to the eye, colorful and full of kiddos! :)

3. Favorite sport to watch during the Winter Olympics? Um...oh! That one where the people jump off that thing with skis on and flip and stuff...that one's cool

4. The first word that comes to mind when describing yourself? average

5. Dresses, pants (jeans, leggings, etc.) or skirts? dresses!!!

6. What is your favorite time of day? 5:00pm

7. Beach or Mountains..which do you prefer? I think beach...maybe...

8.Will you watch the Super Bowl? Not unless all my friends are around to talk to during the football part :D

he's GROOOOOOWING....

2010-01-23T13:18:00.001-07:00

Crumb is getting .SO big! Our best guest is that he is 6 or 7 months old! In a few more months we will have to get him a bigger terrarium. (that is an aquarium for terrs...Chase made me type that.)

Here is a couple of pictures for comparison...

little Crumb

big Crumb

little Crumb head

big Crumb head

he is getting VERY spikey!

I thought it was SO cute, he just crawled up on Laurie, snuggled down by her collar and fell asleep

this is the Crumb ninja kick!

This is Crumbs VICIOUSLY INTIMIDATING beardie beard!

(really though, it's kind of scary looking) He is puffing it out more and more lately. It's a good thing!

I loooooove my apartment

2010-01-23T12:46:00.001-07:00

So, my friend Crissy (who is one of my favorite bloggers ever) recently posted this post about what two things she likes best in her house and I thought "that looks like fun. I like things in my apartment." So I decided to do it too!!! Even though she didn't ask me to or tag me or anything. There are no rules in the world of blog right?

Hm...I like a lot about my apartment. It's the first place I've lived besides my parents house AND the first place I've lived with my husband! So, it's kinda special to me. SINCE I like so much AND there are no rules in the world of blog, I am uping the number to 5 things I like about my apartment!!! :D (I feel so free)

Here goes...

5 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY APARTMENT:

1) The accented walls! I know it's kinda silly but I think the fact that we could accent the walls kinda pushed this apartment complex over the top for me. I just like a nice looking place and the more you make it your own and make it feel like home, the easier it is to stay there for a few years, which is our plan.

2) The BIG windows!! I have been living in basements for QUITE a while! My bedroom at my parents house, then Chase had a ground floor apartment then he was in a basement at the townhouse...so I was spending a lot of time in the dark and then we got this lovely apartment and we're on the SECOND floor and we have these BIG windows that let in A TON of light! And we don't even look out onto the street or anything! It's just wooded area and we saw 4 deer there the other day! It's magical. :) (it's not a very sunny day in this pic)

3) Our new bookshelf and how it holds all my photo albums AAAANNNNDDDD Crumb's living appartus!

4) Our new pully thing for the shower! :D (I'm including the maintenance on this one because we asked for a new pully thing and we got one the very next day!!!) it's annoying to take a shower when you have to spend an extra 10 minutes pulling up the thingy for the shower. After that, my fingers hurt too much to take a shower!

5) The stray cat that hangs out next door. I named him Sylvester and the people next door got him a bed (although he never lays in it) and they put out food and water for him! I put out cheese for him sometimes too. He is a really mangy-looking cat but he is SOOOOO cute. (Don't have a picture of him. He's very sneaky)

The KnitWits

2010-01-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Stuff is happening in my life so I am going to blog about it now.

Last night I went to my first knitting class with my friend Laurie. We got there a few minutes late and the class was so big that we didn't get to sit together which was kind of a bummer BUT we sat on either sides of this nice girl named Brooke. :) She was already great at knitting so we flanked her and bombarded her with questions haha!

The teacher is really nice and earthy. (Sounds like a weird description but earthy is the word that kept coming to mind when I thought of her...*shrug*) She has been knitting for 17 years and she started when she was a vendor at the farmers market 17 years ago. She made homemade paper and catnip potpourri from her garden (see what I mean? earthy.) Anywho, while she was there she met these nice ladies that were selling their knit wears and they taught her how. :) nice story. She's kinda funny too!

She told us we were learning continental knitting as opposed to...throwing? I think that's what she called it. The history behind it is that back in the 1800's wealthy women, who had never knit before, wanted to learn to knit for something to do (and she said to help with the war effort...someone explain that to me) but they needed a way to distinguish themselves from the women who knit for money (of course!) so they started up this 'throwing' way of knitting and we are learning the continental way. The way the women who got paid to knit would have knit. :)

ANYway, I was getting very frustrated and discouraged at first (as I tend to feel when I'm not good at something right away. silly.) because I really was NOT getting it. She had us look over her shoulder while she knit a few stiches then she had us start to work on our own and she came over to each of us to see how we were doing. When she came to me she had to actually put her arms around me and basically force my fingers to do it. After much sitting and staring at others, bothering Brooke, bothering Laurie and completely destroying my line of stiches (dunno if this is the right lingo...I'm still a beginner) I had her restart it for me and THEN I finally started to kind of understand what goes where and which twists around whos whatsit. I felt like, at first, she wasn't really explaining it as if we were beginners. BUT I think she was probably feeling overwhelmed since her average class size is 4-5 and there were...oh...12-15 in this class! She told us she has a Tuesday night class so some of the girls will move over there next week.

When I got home I was feeling frustrated again because I had pretty much forgotten everything I had figured out. AND she didn't teach us to 'cast on' because she says when she teaches people that skill right at the beginning they often forget rather quickly so she said she will teach us after we get the hang of 'knitting' and 'purling'. Well, Laurie and I were both pretty worried that when we got home we would mess up our stiches and not know how to start over and then just not be able to practice anymore. Well. That's exactly what happened. So I hopped on youtube and watched a video about how to 'cast on' and I figured that out and now I can start over and over and over! :)

By the end of the 4 weeks we are supposed to have a scarf knitted. :D we'll see how that goes...haha!

Holding Out Help

2010-01-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

hello my blog buddies!

I wanted to tell you all about this totally awesome organization that I have just recently become aware of. (I think they've only been around for a year or so...) It is called Holding Out Help (or 'HELP' for short...go figure). This organization's purpose is to assist those that are have been living in a polygamist community and wish to leave. They provide a place for them to stay, food, friends, clothes, medical/dental attention, legal counsel and pretty much anything else they might need. Here is the link to their website: http://www.holdingouthelp.org/ this could explain it all better than I ever could.

it's a really great organization. What little I've heard from the women HELP has helped, they are told they are going to hell for leaving and that everyone outside their compound is evil so you can imagine how terrified they must be to leave and how bad their living conditions must have been for them to take the risk AND what amazing relief they must feel when a stranger that is supposedly "evil" (these are their words not mine) shows them love, not because they have to at all, just because they choose to. I feel really blessed to be given the opportunity to be a part of this organization any way I can. Last weekend we spent most of Saturday rennovating a couple of houses that will be used as "safe houses" for anyone leaving polygamy until they can find a more permanent place to live. It just feels good to help.

That's all, go to link and take a look. :)

TAG!

2010-01-15T15:53:00.003-07:00

Yay I got tagged! I got tagged! HUZZAAAAHHHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! BEING TAGGED ROCKS!! (thanks Crissy...I hope I have properly conveyed how much this means to me ;)

Okay, I will now type down 7 things about me. And I'll try to make them interesting.
(I must REALLY like to talk about myself because this sounds like fun)

1-- I prefer texting or emailing (or facebooking) to talking on the phone. I'm not trying to be impersonal, talking in person is my favorite way to communicate, but people always sound angry to me on the phone and it just seems to get awkward a lot of times (I may be making it awkward because in my head it's already akward...). Oh yeah, AND I talk on the phone 8 hours a day 5 days a week! So...maybe that has something to do with it.

2-- I REALLY don't like roller coasters. Really.

3-- I love anything to do with PICTURES! I like taking them, editing them, developing them, scrapbooking them, framing them...everything!

4-- For now, I am basically obsessed with Law & Order: Criminal Intent. I will pretty much watch any crime drama though

5-- I am a very jealous person but I'm working on it

6-- According to some husbands, I chew my flaming hot cheetos much louder than the average person

7-- I sing to my lizard. YES, that's right, (I'm really opening up to you people) when no one is around I will sing and dance with Crumb. There! happy?

Now, who to tag...hm...well, since there are only 3 or 4 of you who read this I choose ALL OF YOU!!!! Megan, Breana, Amy, Angie, Eric, Chase, Blair, Keri, Heather (wedding style).

TAG!!!

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

I realized I didn't include my resolutions in my "welcome 2010" post so I'll give them their very own post!

Rachel's Resolutions:

-- STOP worrying about every little thing
-- Do something active every day (even if it's just 10 jumping jacks)
-- STUDY God's word (don't only read it. STUDY it.)
-- Only let laundry get to one basket load
-- Take a photography class
-- Take a photo editing class
-- Run a 5k
-- Play my guitar

These are all things that don't always come easily to me necessarily but they are all things that I am much happier if I'm doing them/have done them.

I'm already getting started on one of these actually...
I have registered to take a digital photography class! It is through Salt Lake Community Education. It is Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30PM and it starts January 20th and goes through March! :D I am really excited. (I was also going to sign up for a photo editing class but they had to cancel it :( So maybe I'll take it in the spring!) I am really excited, REALLY I am...but...I would really like to find a film photography class where you get to develop the pictures yourself too! I like that. And then it's like the picture is ALL yours. :) If anyone hears of one...let me know...:)

HELLO 2010!

2010-01-04T23:30:00.002-07:00

So...I just typed all about my new years but it seems to have...evaporated? ANYway, my new years went a little something like this:

-get off work early

-go home & relax

-get dressed up

-go to dinner with friends at yummy restaurant

-head back to friends' house

-play games

-celebrate the new year with kisses & sparkling grape juice

-go to read, and fall asleep in the process, with Laurie in her room while the

boys stay up late playing video games

Here are some pictures. I really really wanted some pictures of us in our finery but it didn't happen! oh well.

Oh yeah, we hung out in our PJ's

Also, I dunno if it was the new year or what but I got sick of my long hair finally so I CHOPPED IT ALL OFF!

BEFORE

.........................................................................................................................................................................

AFTER

It's a big change but that's exactly what I wanted and I LOVE IT! :D

ps there was so much hair I got to donate it to locks of love!

more family memories

2010-01-01T13:40:00.002-07:00

So we decided to get some family pictures as a gift to Karen LAST YEAR (2008)! The Nortons had not had pictures taken in quite a few years and they have aquired 2 new daughters AND a granddaughter so we figured it would be fun to get some pictures taken of all of us. It took us even longer to schedule these pictures than the Gregory family pictures! We originally wanted Megan to take these ones too but, as I mentioned in my previous blog, she is taking a break from the photography game. So, we found a nice photographer on craigslist instead. She's no Megan Kunz but she did a pretty fine job. It was one of Olivia's first big outings so we weren't sure how she would be feeling but she slept up until the last 10 or so minutes when she woke up to get some pictures taken and get fed. We took them at the provo library and it was a bunch of fun. :)

here we are trying something a little bit different

(I think Karen & Bart look like perfume models or something)

She was trying to get us to be serious here...as you can see in the pictures before and after this one we are cracking up!!! We're not the 'serious' types I don't think haha!

Family Memories

2009-12-31T11:16:00.006-07:00

LAST year for Christmas (2008) we got my mom a coupon for family pictures! It had been a few years since we'd taken any and Chase has joined the family so we needed an update. We didn't get them taken until...April I think. They are at Wheeler Farm (chase locked himself in the trunk of my car...that's a story for a different day though...) It was a lot of fun!

Megan Kunz took them. She also took our wedding photos and engagements and my bridals and she is AMAZING! Her photo blog is under my friends on my sidebar. Unfortunately I am just teasing with her blog because she isn't taking pictures right now as she is pregnant and due in May! :D YAY!

I can't seem to get these pictures downloaded from this website to my computer hard drive and I don't exactly know where the cd is (don't tell my mom) but here is a link to the pictures! They are wonderful!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3100517013/a=120662160_120662160/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Christmas is fun

2009-12-29T00:16:00.003-07:00

So, we are done with our first Christmas as a married couple! It's all so special, but for how special it was I got very few pictures of the two of us together...ANYway, we drove up there Christmas eve day and later that night we went to the Norton family Christmas eve par-tay! It was a lot of fun! There was family and food and white elephant gifts and cute babies and candy etc. Unfortunately I got pretty ill on the drive up from some rather tasty, but obviously gone-bad, gas station taquitoes so I was not able to enjoy much of the yummy food. :( Thanks to God though, I was feeling better by Christmas morning. :D

Chase and I woke up around 6:00am (an air mattress without any air is no air mattress at all!) but we didn't want to wake everyone up (well, we DID but we thought it would be kinder to let them sleep) so we watched a movie and by 8:00am everyone was up and ready to celebrate the birth of Christ by the giving and receiving of gifts! I think it was a success (sidenote: Thank you Karen and Bart and Nathan and Breana for all of your thoughtful presents to us! We are enjoying some of them as I type!) After that was done Bart made us all cheese omlettes, which I'm happy to say I was finally feeling well enough to partake of....and I did...quickly... We stayed in our pajamas all day and ate treats of all sorts and watched It's a Wonderful Life. Oh yeah, we probably played mexican train dominoes, love that game!

All in all the weekend was a success! We didn't have to leave until Sunday afternoon so we had plenty of time to catch up and relax and read and play games. It was very relaxing and a GREAT break from work!

The beautiful Christmas tree!

I love ornaments! This one was made of ramen noodles!

And Chase had a big bird one that he used to lick!! haha!

We got to decorate sugar cookies when we got to price! And they were yummmmmmmy!

This is a tiny Christmas tree. :)

Karen says it's her when-the-kids-aren't-here-for-Christmas Christmas tree.

(I think she misses us when we're gone :( We miss you too Karen)

We got to open our Christmas eve present as soon as we were all there!

Chase and Nathan got little motorized hot wheels! Breana and I got some super cute slipper socks!

Here is Olivia in her sorta big snow suit :)

Grandpa Dale and Karen

Yep, she's a thumb-sucker!

Chase and I hanging out at the Norton party.

(I was still feeling a bit sick at this point)

All the white elephant gifts!

I got a brush and play pony that I promptly gave to Chases little cousin who I'm sure would enjoy it more than I. Chase originally got a window scraper with a glove attached, which he was very excited about but traded, begrudgingly to his cousin because he had been using an old blockbuster card to scrape his car. He ended up with movie popcorn and candy and we were both happy!

The ladies

This game was HILARIOUS! I was feeling too sick to play but it was just as enjoyable to watch I'm sure!

Chases aunt Janelle read a story and it had different candy bar names in it and whenever she would say a name everyone had to grab for that candy bar! fun stuff!

Merry Christmas!!!

Nathan planted himself right by the presents.

I was glad to see I wasn't the only one that was SUPER excited.

Olivia amongst all the presents

Olivia in her Bumbo

(I think it should be a bumbA...since she's a girl)

Chester got a present too!

Nathan and Olivia are both interested in what Karen got haha!

Chase got me a wedding band!!!!!!! :D I didn't know he would because when I brought it up he said he probably couldn't afford it so I wasn't expecting it at all!!!! It was the most perfect gift! And it goes beautifully with my BEAUTIFUL engagement ring. :)

Me and Olivia on Christmas morn!

(Breana knit me that hat and scarf btw...THANKS B!)

Olivia with her new monkey friend from uncle Chase and aunt Rachel!

(She doesn't care about it now but she WILL!)

The aftermath

The boys and their matching shirts.

Breana and I got matching sweaters too but we didn't get pictures taken BUT, trust me, they're cute!

We played a bunch of mexican train dominoes! It was AWESOME!

I even won a game!

This picture was taken right after Breana won, this is why she looks so happy!

We had some delicious DELICIOUS turkey for Christmas dinner!

(And delicious turkey sandwiches for a late night snack!)

And Olivia gave us all the gift of music haha!

Small group. Big fun.

2009-12-22T16:05:00.002-07:00

Monday night we celebrated Christmas with our Bible study group! It was the classic white elephant and appetizers party and it was SO fun! We call these groups "small groups" and it started out fairly small but last night was NOT small. :) It was a good-sized group for sure! I think there were 13 adults and 2 babies! :)

there was a ton of delicious food!

My special girl was there! :)

This is Emma. She belongs to our Bible study leaders. She is...around 3 months. ADORABLE!

Chase got those animals that grow in water!

Laurie got an engineering text book!

Keith got some cool glow stick jewelry!

Breana got a paddle ball game!

Carl got Operation!!

Melissa got a gun and suction cup bullets

Nathan got a notebook and a ring. What a lucky duck!

Heather got OREGON TRAIL!! (that rocks)

Josiah got a big gulp cup...and a baby!

Kelly got bubble bath...and lots of it!

Troy got fart machines!! Luckily, one of them was broken haha!

Nathan got Balloons! Who would give something SO cool??

I got Kelly and Caleb's ugly sweaters from another Christmas party...thanks guys!

Kala got a basket. It's pretty stinkin' cute!

Caleb got a travel iron! (we don't even have A iron)

oh yeah, Breana also got some parachute men but she handed them over to Nathan pretty quickly. haha!