Lovely Trip to Utah!

I just had a wonderfully jam-packed week in Utah! It was full of friends, family, and reunions! My wonderful friend, Lori Qian, was in town visiting people before the Qian family moves to China next week. I hadn't seen Lori since Kiersta and I visited her in Pleasanton last March, right after baby Alex was born. We had such a great time together! We even had a sleepover! It was a great reunion and such a blessing to see her and her beautiful family...hopefully I can make it to China to see her in the coming years.

(Sorry if some of these pics are repeats of the same people, but not everyone had a camera, so they are for sharing, too. :))

Ally and Lori Right After the Joyous Reunion

Sara, Kiersta, Ally, and Lori

Sweet Little Baby Alex Qian


3/4 of the BYU 203rd Ward Relief Society Presidency - 2005 - 2006 (we missed you, Ali!!)

A Melding of the RS Presidency from Different Eras (at our sleepover)

Fun Pics from the BBQ

The Precious Galaso Twins (Lucy and Audrey)

Kiersta and I were like a quasi-married couple in the summer of 2006. Both of our husbands were far away (Chris was doing an internship in Phoenix, and Ryan was training in Baltimore) for the summer. I would come home from work, and she would have dinner waiting for me. It was awesome!!!

Me and Sweet Errson Bailey

I liked this goofy one of me and Lori.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of Brian and Liz Shelley (the hosts), but we did get this pic of the group. Our old bishop and his wife (Bishop and Sister Colyar) were able to come to our mini-BYU 203rd Ward Reunion and send off for the Qians!

A Wonderful, Belated July 4th

I had a great time in NC over the 4th of July holiday! My mom's 60th birthday was on July 3rd, and we had been planning a surprise party for her for about 4 months. Everyone (but Chris) was able to make it home for the party, and it was truly a surprise! We had all the cars parked up the street and out of sight, and we were all ducked behind the couches in the dark when my parents came home from dinner. We turned on the lights, jumped out from behind the couches and yelled "surprise!" It was awesome!

We had a great weekend filled with food, fireworks, the pool, a movie, games, "riding" Papa's motorcycle, and lots of family fun time! It was a great trip, but we wished Chris could have been there!

The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Girl with Collin and Kylee

PaPa with Evan and Leah

The Fam

The Fam Before Fireworks

Nana and Gavin

Aunt Ally and Gavin

Daddy and Braden on the Moto

Braden Loving Sparklers

Collin and Braden Waiting for Fireworks

Fireworks are Scary

Day Trip to Carlsbad Caverns

I took Monday off, and we took a 3-hour (each way) day trip to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. It was our first time there, and it was quite amazing! It was like Timpanogos Cave times 50. The cave was HUGE! We hiked down into the largest part of the cave, which was a total of about 2.5 miles (1 mile down and 1.5 miles once you were inside). We had a hard time getting our flash to work right inside the cave, so I'm including a couple of pics taken by other people to show you how cool it was. (The pic with the guy pointing shows the entrance - the tiny light.)






Also, here is a pic from the drive showing some oil wells of West Texas, for those of you who have never been here.


And, this will only be interesting to my family, but 10 years ago my dad, brothers, and I drove across the country together and ate at this dive of a restaurant in West Texas (after searching for a normal place for an hour and practically dying of starvation). We often reminisce about that experience; it was like stepping back in time about 50 years. (My dad thought it was so cool that real Texas ranchers were telling cattle roping stories.) The place has since been renamed and painted, but you can still see how ghetto it is. So, this is the old Cattleman's in Pecos, TX.

Six Years Later...

Today is my sixth wedding anniversary, so I thought I would post some pics from these last six years...I look forward to many more!

New Bathroom!!

We FINALLY finished our bathroom renovation! All we did was remove the wallpaper, texture the walls, and paint. But, boy, was that a major task! Taking the wallpaper down was the worst part, but now it is back in working order. Come one, come all to visit us and this can be yours.....

BEFORE: I didn't get great pics, but you can kind of get the idea. This ugly wallpaper has a forest with dancing, woodsy bears playing trumpets. Why?



DURING: We were down to the sheetrock at this point. What a mess!





AFTER: It was A LOT of work, but worth it.







We learned a lot doing this, but I don't look forward to removing the wallpaper border in the master bath now...

Chris likes to say that this blog isn't really his since he never posts on it. But, just to prove that this is his blog too, I am posting a pic of him and his brother Rich. We were in Utah last week for Rich's law school graduation from the University of Utah and to visit family and friends. It was fun!

OK, so finally I am posting some house pics....We are still putting things up in most of the rooms, but here are some pics of the living room, kitchen, and my office. Those are the rooms that are closest to completion. Notice the new carpet we put in...MUCH better than what was there before. I will post more as we finish the decorating. We tore all the wallpaper down and scraped the popcorn ceilings in the guest bathroom, so that is a work in progress...one day you will see before and after pics...