Ben and Meg's!

This weekend, we drove up to Bothell with Brandon's parents and their good friends Jenny and Rod-to see a play in Seattle. Ben and Megan get everyone tickets for a play at Christmas time, and we go up in the Spring to see it.

This year we went to the Taproot theatre, and saw the play: "Charley's Aunt" it was super funny, and very entertaining. (Although we agreed that their British accents and mannerisms were slightly annoying...) :D We got to go out to dinner and play with baby Noah, and got to spend some good time together. We also had our family pictures taken at Bothell Landing, it was a little drippy and cold, but we had fun anway-and we are excited to see how they turned out! Megan's friend Lisa took them for us, and she was a great sport. I will have to post them once we get them back! Thanks again Ben and Megan for the fun weekend!

Quitting my Job

Upon arriving in Boise, I unpacked and started settling in to our new home. Come the following Monday, I started my new job, at Elements Massage. Let's just say the adventure wore off when I walked in the door. All drama and meticulous detail aside, I was led to believe that I would be working 4 days a week, 5 hours a day. When I pulled up the schedule, I was assigned 6 days-in the next 8 weeks. I had a deep feeling of foreboding, and was very uncomfortable and on the verge of tears...which really set my inner alarms off When confronted, my boss kept up her act and claimed she had explained to me that I would be training for the first few months-and that my regular schedule wouldn't be ironed out for at least 6 months. I decided I did not want to work in an environment that was dishonest-and went in the next day and told her that it just wasn't going to work. So, know I am looking for something else, and we are sad that things didn't turn out the way they should have-but we still have high hopes, and we are moving on!

Boise

For those of you who don't know-which might be a lot of you, we are moving/have moved to Boise, Idaho! (woo-hoo!) *name that movie!* Anyway, I found what I thought was a great massage job, and we found a great place that wasn't too far away.

We decided that since Brandon hadn't gotten in to the Radiology program at CBC, that he would work for a year-qualify for Idaho residency, and then apply at Boise State University for fall of '11. We are lucky in that we have lots of family (two sets of aunts and uncles on my side, and Brandon's sister) in town, we are halfway between our parents, and my grandparents, and just a few hours from my brothers. We are looking forward to being on our own again, establishing some roots, and staying in Boise for a good long while!

New Home!

Ok, I know some of you asked for pictures, so here are the few that I've taken! I will add more once we are all settled in, and the place is picture worthy! We are happy to be in our own place again!

Adventures in Fondant Land

Last week I decided it was time for me to play with fondant. I almost learned cake decorating for my Senior Project, and then I ran out of time. Anyway, I went to the store and Duff Fondant was on sale-so I thought, eh-why not? And here is the mess that ensued! :D 

Mowgli Jack

My first Saturday back in Boise, I went to a garage sale and picked this up:

Isn't he cute? :) I decided I needed someone to keep me company while Brandon and I were living apart, and he was the perfect fit! I named him Sophie, got him a pink bed-and then realized he was a boy! :D You can't blame me though, he was only 6 weeks old at the time, and it's hard to tell! So I re-named him Mowgli Jack, and that's that! Anyway, just thought I would share a few cute pictures!

Birthday!

Today my husband is 26...when did he get so old?? :D What happened to the 22 year old that I bumped in to 4 years ago and fell in love with?  Although older, and the tiniest bit wiser, I'm still madly in love with him even if he is now 6 years older than me, instead of my preferred 5 1/2. Happy Birthday babe I Love You!

(p.s.) this is how Brandon has been the whole time I've known him, and I think he might stay this way forever <3

Blustery Day...and it's not even "Winds"day!

(Sorry, had to make a little reference to Winnie the Pooh there...)

Anyway, as those of you who live in the area know, it was WINDY today! Gusts of up to 60mph, and it seems like everyone has been making some comment or other about it! It really made me stop and think about it. Currently, in our own country, people are being killed by tornadoes, and being forced out of their homes by excessive rain/flooding. Less recently, hundreds of thousands were killed by earthquakes, planes were halted because of a rare volcanic eruption, that covered miles upon miles of the earth with thick, gritty, ash and debris-island nations were ravaged by tsunamis and landslides, leaving them with nothing to call their own. So, it has made me extremely grateful to live in a place where the worst natural disasters we are enduring are high-wind and dust storms. Yes, it may seem like the roof is going to be blown off, or if we step outside we will be carried away, and the highways might be closed-but after all is said and done we are blessed to only have this "little" problem. So, I am going to take a minute and say a prayer for those people who are having to deal with natural occuring weather disasters a little more difficult than mine.

Family History

This weekend has been a good one for family history type things. On Saturday, like I mentioned in yesterday's post-we were able to go to the temple. Not that this is a rare occurrence, but yesterday was the first time I felt the spirit so strongly, of the Sister I did the work for. As soon as I was handed the name, it was like I had known her in the pre-existence or something. I felt such  a strong connection to her and I couldn't figure out why! Anyway, it just made the whole experience so much more fulfilling, thinking that I may have known that person before.
I have loved worshipping and working in the Temple from the first time I went to do baptisms for the dead, and have always had a special affinity for things concerning my ancestors. My Grandpa Mitchell is the main Genealogist in my family at the moment, and from the time I was a little girl, I can remember him telling me stories of my ancestors, and sitting at the computer organizing information, or running off to the Family History Library with my Grandma to help extract names, or to help others with their own histories.
It was around 7th grade when I really started becoming more interested in Family History, and had my Uncle Mike make a copy of our family PAF file. I took it home and immediately started looking up names on my Dad's side (since I never had tons of time with his side of the family, I had no idea about my ancestors on his side) and adding them to my file. I remember getting really excited when I married Brandon, because that meant I got to add him and all of his family to my file as well!
Anyway, today at church, "Grandpa" Val Mitchell asked me if I had any ancestors with the surname "Hicks" (a little background info: when we moved here 10 years ago all of the Mitchell's insisted that we were related, due to my Mother's maiden name being Mitchell-but until today we were never able to find a common ancestor.) I knew immediately from the research that I had done, and stories I have been told, that I did in fact have ancestors with such a name. He proceeded to tell me that his Grandmother's maiden name was Hicks, and that she had married a Mitchell, but was from the same area that all of my ancestors were from. (South-Central Utah, Payson, Spanish Fork, etc.) So he told me the name, Samuel Moroni Hicks, and asked if I would look it up when I got home. Sure enough when I got home I looked it up and found him, snuggled in with my Grandmother's side of the family. That's right-not even a "Mitchell" connection! The one name we knew we had in common! It turns out that Samuel Moroni Hicks is my 4th Great Grand Uncle, making Val my 3rd cousin, 3 generations removed! It was so fun to know that I have had relatives here for the last 10 years, and never known exactly that we were related. One of my good friends from high school (Val's grandson) turns out to be my 5th Cousin!

It just makes me grateful for the blessing of Genealogy, and Family Histories-that helps us keep a connection to our ancestors who have gone before us. I am glad that I have my Grandparent's enthusiasm and example for keeping up with the records, and hopefully I will be able to share the importance with my children some day.

George Barton Hicks (Samuel's Father, Myself and Val's first direct ancestor, a great grandfather)

Happy May!

We spent a sunny/windy/rainy/hailing May day in the Tri-Cities today! We got up early, and Brandon went and helped some people from the ward paint their house. When he got home we headed down to the Temple to do a session, we had a great time, and there was even a wedding so I got to see the beautiful bride in the dressing room! When we left the Temple it was hailing, I thought it was kinda cool, but felt bad for the wedding party trying to take pictures. From there we headed to Clare and Levi's for a house warming/Levi's birthday party. We had lots of good food, and had great company. I love holding Reeg-Beeg and Heber-Beber all the time. :) I played some Wii bowling with the girls and had a fun time! Thanks for hosting guys, we love your new house!