My little brother Thomas (or Teeg, to me) is currently serving a mission for the LDS church in the NY, NY South mission. This mission includes Long Island, Brooklyn, the island of Burmuda, and other areas in NY.
So far Tom has loved his mission! We are missing him especially at this time of the year, since these are the first set of holidays that he will miss with our family.
We are lucky because Jason's aunt and uncle were called to serve a medical mission covering the East Coast, including Teeg's mission. Tom was
able to meet them and snap a few
pictures (see above). Thomas's dedication and love of the mission field is touching. For the past two weeks he has been on crutches and in to see several doctors because of a serious foot condition. Although no one really knows what it is, apparently it is healing now and he is doing better!

*This is Tom and his companion on Halloween night*

We are so proud of Thomas and are grateful for his precious spirit! We love you Tom!

A little while...

So, we really don't have a great excuse for not updating everyone on our lives! I guess we just forgot to write for a while. So first of all, I want to start out by telling everyone that one of my dearest friends was married on August 30, 2008. Her name is Brittany Anne Olsen Nielsen, and she is just fabulous! I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids, and I had the best time the entire day! I was able to attend the temple ceremony, luncheon, and reception. It was a beautiful and memorable day. Brittany and Chase make a wonderful couple and it made me happy to see how in love they are with each other! Yah Britt, Congratulations!

Shortly before Britt's wedding, we took a trip to Newport. It was really fun! It's always nice to revisit favorite places. We mostly just hung out at our favorite beach in Laguna, but we also went to Disneyland and took a few walks on Balboa. It was nice to get away for a little while before school starts and our lives become outrageously busy once again.



Arriving at Disneyland! It was so much fun :)



The Disneyland castle with my mom.



Out at the Wedge.



Making pizza at my Grandma's house.



At the Newport Temple, one of my favorite temples. It is so beautiful


So this is going to be the longest post ever, but I am also going to include pictures of other events that occured spontaneously over the summer.



The picnic on Jason's birthday, right after black-light miniature golfing and right before his surprise party! He had no clue.. I totally got him :)


Jason's surprise party! It was so fun! Thanks again to everyone who came and made it such a hit.


Jason's millionth sprained ankle. Basketball baby.



Ben's wedding luncheon. Congratulations you guys!

My Husband is my Hero!

This morning I woke up to an unexpected surprise... breakfast in bed! I felt just like a princess. My sweetheart Jason woke up early (like 6am early) to venture out to Smiths and buy ingredients for what I must describe as some of the very best scones I have ever had in my life! Now, I am a big fan of scones, so that is saying something :) These scones were big and fluffy with the perfect amount of sugar and the perfect texture... I'm talking Emigration Market hot out of the oven-like scones! They were awesome! I think that my husband is well on his way to becoming something of an expert chef! (I am hoping he picks this up as a new hobby ;)) Anyway, it was so cute! He brought the scones (dusted with powdered sugar) in on a tray with a glass of orange juice. I am telling you, that is the right way to start the day! This entire breakfast in bed was warranted by the fact that I almost died of fright last night. Seriously. I was minding my business, just working on a crossword in bed, when I glanced up and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving slowly and smiling, definitely creepy. Now, obviously I knew it was human and reason would think that I would quickly know it was Jason (I didn't get a good look, but duh!) but unfortunately for our neighbors my fear reflex was too fast and I let out a good loud scream immediately followed by an onslaught of tears. Looking back it is funny but at the time I was terrified! It was SO scary! I think that that is the most scared I have ever been of another person in my entire life! Jason compared my reaction last night to that I have had on the Rocket at Lagoon (that ride is NOT what fun is, folks). Jace loves to try to scare me all the time and last night he finally accomplished his goal! Hahaha... So, that is just a funny story and I want to let everyone know that I am seriously considering opening a scone stand on the corner of Wymount and 9th, to capitalize on Jason's newfound talent! (Just kidding :P)

Campfire Dinner

Yesterday Jason and I went up Provo canyon for a campfire dinner... it was so fun! We had hotdogs, chips, potato salad, and smores. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoying the scenery. A funny man in the camp next to us ripped a whole branch off a tree and was trying to stuff it into his firepit. The park manager came over because the fire was making so much smoke and told the man to take the branch off the fire. It was kind of sad because he was there with a date and we were sure that she wasn't too impressed, ha ha ha.

Today Jace took a test on which he thinks he got 100% (cross your fingers!). Yah!! And that's all for now :)

Movie Night... Turned into NBA Playoffs!

Tonight Jason, Ash, Trent, Whit, Brooks, and I all planned to have a movie night! It was so fun to see everyone and get to know Brooks better. We all brought parts for an awesome dinner... pizza, koolaid, caramel popcorn, candy, and and ice cream pie (healthy, I know haha). When we arrived at Trent's he was already watching the beginning of the first NBA finals game. We all got into it and decided to watch the game instead of a movie. It ended up being a great game! The Celts and the Lakers were close the whole game, but in the end Boston pulled ahead to win it! Go Celtics!! But anyway it was so fun to be with everyone and just hang out- we need to do it more often! We love you all :)

Woo Hoo!

Jason and I have started exercising on a regular basis! It is so great! I usually go running, stair-steppering (thanks for the advice Ash!), and do a few weight machines. Jason loves to play BB- I am lucky if I can get him to come in the workout room with me, ha ha ha. I have also started a yoga program at home which is wonderful. Jace has tried a few of the stretches with me, ha ha, but I don't think it's for him.

We have just started working on crosswords together before we go to sleep. It is so much fun! It gives us time to work together, and trust me, we get a few laughs out of it too! (Ex: one of the clues was "Evergreen support?" and we thought the answer was treehuggers or some other green group. Oh no, the answer was "Spruce spine"!!!... was the heck? How is someone ever going to guess that? Hahaha, when we looked up the answer we were laughing so hard.) Anyway, it's a fun activity! I highly recommend it!

So.. in closing: exercising and crosswords- do them! :)

Today

Today Lizzy and I drove up to Salt Lake City to see her sisters' graduation. They both attended Skyline and the graduation was held at the Huntsman Center. We enjoyed the rainy drive which was very refreshing. It seems the air is always cleaner after some rain and it smells so fresh. It was also fun to notice the cloud formations around the mountains. I wish I could've taken some pictures, but we forgot to bring our camera. After watching the graduation and handing Sioux and Becca bouquets we went out to T.G.I. Friday's. I tried their Peacan Crusted Chicken Salad, which was delicious, and Lizzy ordered Pot Stickers. We then enjoyed the drive back to Provo and took a nap as soon as we were in the apartment.

Maui Honeymoon

School Day

Today Lizzy and I enjoyed some school work. Lizzy had a test in Physiology and got a 97%! which made me very proud. I treated her to a chocolate shake at the Malt Shop and then we enjoyed some burgers and cheese fries at the Training Table. In my class we learned about polymers and how they react differently to strains than metals. I thought it was really interesting but I'll spare everyone else the boredom.

Jason

I'm a Lucky Guy

I thought I'd post a picture of Lizzy and I, and say how lucky I am to be married to such an amazing girl. I look forward to the many fun and exciting adventures we'll have together and hope everyone enjoys reading about them in this blog. I also hope everyone in the family will share their fun experiences in their individual blogs so we can enjoy reading them as well!

Jason

Summer Sunday

Today was an exceptionally beautiful day! After church Jason and I walked the path through Bridal Veil Park and up by the falls. It was so nice to be outside in the sun. We really liked our walk today because the path was quite shady, which is nice on a hot summer day. We were surprised to see the old overgrown tram that used to run up the cliff past the waterfalls. You can look up and see where the tram used to run... it is so steep!! I don't know if I would ever ride it if it runs again (I'm afraid of heights you see). But is sure would be a beautiful view!

As we were walking along the path we spotted this tiny little puppy with the family ahead of us- it was so cute and so small! That started our conversation of what future dogs we would like to own. Jace is a huge fan of the weimaraner breed. They have kind of a silver-ish coat and pretty light eyes. If any of you have owned one, let us know what you think!! I also like labs and bull terriers, so we'll see what happens. Anyhow, it was fun to take a walk after the craziness of school and life.

Because this is our first blog, I will catch you all up on all that is happening in our lives... Jason is in the Mechanical Eng. program at the Y and will be ready to graduate in about a year. Afterwards he will attend business school to earn a business degree as well. He is so excited! He loves engineering and will be so good at it. I will graduate in December in Biochemistry. I may apply to Pharmacy School at the U for the following fall. I have already worked a chemical job in a QC lab and will gladly do it again! (Its great pay for an easy job :)) We love the Y but we will be excited to graduate and move on to the next adventure in our lives!