Another mission call!!

My parents have decided to serve another mission. Their first mission was served in the Phillipines and they got back last September in time for Dave and I's mission. They told the family they would be home at least a year before they put their papers in again but after some thought they realized if they left in January they would be back for half the summer instead of coming back for the winter. So they put their papers in and put their availability date for the beginning of January. All the family has been patiently waiting for their call and it finally came. As a family we went up American Fork canyon to my sisters in-law's cabin and my parents surprised us with their call. They had told everyone it had not come on Thursday, well it came on Friday and they surprised us. They will be serving in the Kenya Nairobi mission!! Their main assignment will be in the Welfare Services helping in the Employment Resource Center. Everyone was shocked!! My mom thought they would be going back to the Phillipines, however my dad had thought about Africa. They are so excited and so is the family. They leave January 5th to the MTC, and that means we get one more Christmas with them! So if anybody knows anyone from Kenya or anyone that served there they would love to talk to them!!

New fun hobby!!

Since I have graduated I have had a lot of time at home looking for a job and studying for my licensing exam. During that time I was introduced to the cooking show world on TV. I fell in love with the 30 minute meals shows. After watching a lot of them I realized these cooks grow their own fresh herbs and then they don't have to go to the grocery store and spend a million dollars on herbs for their meals. So I decided I wanted to plant some herbs so I could make some yummy meals for my cutie. So this is what has happened and I am so excited!! This is just in a week and half. The best part is seeing them pop up out of the soil. Every day I come home from work and check my herbs and give them a little water. I know I'm a nerd but it's a fun hobby. Plus we have a great window that faces south, so they get plenty of sunlight. I planted the following: lemon basil, basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley, chives, and oregano. So if any of you are looking for a cheap, fun hobby, try planting some herbs. It's not that expensive for everything and then you get fresh herbs to try in your cooking!! Bon apetite.

This is the lemon basil on the right and the basil on the left, it's been growing the fastest.

If you look close you can see little green things on the right, that is the thyme

Today the cilantro finally poked it's head up, a little itty bitty one on the left

My Superman!!

This post is to brag about my hubbie. I don't like to embarrass him on our blog or on the internet but he deserves a little praise and recognition. Ever since we have dated he has loved superman and expressed to me that he is amazing and just like superman and will never die. I have slowly come to realize that he is like superman and is completely amazing. Last night after I got home from work about 7:30 there was a beautiful card and these beautiful flowers waiting for me on the piano. He also gave me a congratulations card for my new job. Dave is an amazing husband who is so thoughtful and kind. So everyone who reads this, tell him he is amazing!! I love you sweetie and thank you for all the support this last year and the last three and half months of unemployment!!

Dave's hair was so long he made a superman curl, isn't he the spit image of superman?

The beautiful flowers dave bought me, he said "I even arranged them myself" with a big smile!

First day on the new job!!

After graduating in May with my graduate degree I was SOOOOO excited to work in the field I've wanted to work in and bring home a real paycheck. However I've learned that things don't always go your way and life is very humorous. I have been looking for a job since May 1st and finally found one last week!! I know interviewing, resume building, internet job searching, thank you letter writing, and sucking up better than anyone. After a lot of "It was a hard decision between you and one other person, but we went with someone else . . ." I finally heard the words "we would like to offer you the position"!!!!! So for those of you wondering where I found a job I will tell you. It's a company call "Gentle Homecare", it's located in West Jordan (Yea for the 20 minute drive and no commute!!) and is a great home care and hospice company that's only a year old. I am their first social worker and will be doing homecare and hospice visits, starting their volunteer program and their bereavement program. I am so ecstatic that I actually cried when I got back in my car after my last interview when I was offered the position. To finally be able to help the elderly in my community through home care, hospice, death, grief, etc is a dream come true. I've worked so hard to finally get here, I'm excited to work hard and hopefully help people I am fortunate to work with. So if you know of anyone in the Salt Lake area that could benefit from home care or hospice, let me know. This company is very person oriented and is very dependable and reliable in their services. Thanks to all my family and friends who helped by fasting and praying!!

Camping with the Kelly's

The Kelly family camping trip this year was a blast!! We always go up the 24th of July (well we have for the past two years). Instead of being in the crowds of people and fighting traffic for the fireworks and floats we leave the city to enjoy the beautiful fresh mountain air. We went up to the Uintah's this year, up by Kamas. Our campground was called Lost Lake Campground and the only difference between this year and last year is that we didn't have flush toilets :) but we got through it. We were up by the bear sighting at Mirror Lake and did not see any bears, but as you can see below we did see a moose!! We had a lot of fun lounging around, fishing, hiking Mt. Baldi, playing "The Newlywed Game" with 5 couples, reading, bike riding, and just camping.

This is Provo Falls with the fam

Here is the moose that walked right through our camp and stayed nearby for a while

Dave and I on top of Mt. Baldi, isn't the view gorgeous

The whole family made it to Mt. Baldi, we were so proud of everyone!!

My cute fisherman. Dave caught a few small ones, there were not any big ones apparently :)

The Kelly's enjoying camping, this is one of our favorite things to do together

This is our cool Costco tent that we bought for a great deal. I forgot to take a picture when we were camping so I took one when we came home and washed it off. The picture doesn't show the coolest part of the patio that is on the front.

Tim Tam Slam

I want to share with my friends and family one of the little treasures here on earth. I was lucky enough to have an Aussie companion on my mission in Japan and she introduced me to the wonderful world of Tim Tam Cookies. Now these cookies are all chocolate with a creme chocolate in the middle and then the whole cookie is dipped in chocolate. Alone, these cookies are amazing for chocolate and cookie lovers. However, my companion taught me what is known as a Tim Tam Slam. Normally this is done with coffee but since I don't drink coffee and neither does she we did it with good ol' milk. What you do is bite off the two ends of the cookie, just a small smackeral. Then you put the cookie in the milk and suck the milk in to the cookie. Once the cookie is good and soaked you eat the cookie after you have drunken some of the milk and you get the most delicious milk and chocolate experience of your life!! Anyone who knows me know I love chocolate and I LOVE milk. This is a little slice of heaven, as my hubbie would say. Unfortunately you cannot get these cookies in America, however my mom was nice enough to bring me back some from Canada when she went to visit her sister. I don't know why Canada is importing them and America is not. So if you want to try a Tim Tam Slam let me know because I have two boxes of cookies and I would love to share this wonderful treat to anyone who wants to try it. Thanks mom for the cookies and for reminding me of Tim Tam Slam's and how wonderful they are!!