Sunbeams Bumper Bowling Bash

Overall our bowling party was smooth sailing.

Honestly, you get eight 4-year-olds together and you expect them to sit patient and quiet? I don't think so. So in a way, having them in an environment where they CAN be loud and run around is easier than at church where the goal is to get them to sit reverently. So they ran around, got sugared up on donuts and milk, and all asked at least a dozen times "is it my turn?" They all gave huge hugs and thanked us profusely when they left. It was so fun.

The sad part was that an hour before the party started pmc realized he was getting a migraine. So he stayed home and missed it. I felt so bad for him. It was fine as far as help, all the moms had asked if they needed to stay and help, so we just grabbed one of them. But all the kids were so sad to not have him there. Also, even though we had called and made sure we found a day that all of our kids were available to come before we scheduled the event, we still had one kid missing. So alas, we never did get a picture with all eight of our year-end sunbeams! But let's just remember that over the course of the year we had 12 of them.

Anyway, here's our last picture and post for the year. I think we'll be redesigning for the new year, so check back soon!

Out with the Old, In with the New

Just in case you were all wondering, we're really excited about this new year! But before I tell you about what we have upcoming, let me tell you about what we have outgoing.

We taught our Sunbeams (Primary Class)for the last time today. We have had so much fun with them, we are even going to take them bumper bowling....that will be tomorrow morning, and I will post those pictures tomorrow for all to see. We love them and will miss them!

This was our first and last year "just the two of us." We had so much fun learning and growing on our own this year. I'm sure we will sometimes look back and miss it during the next 30ish years!

We had a great and humbling year in our tiny one-bedroom apartment! 'Nuff said.

In 2008 we look forward to...

Our new church calling is: counselors in the Married Student Association at the Institute of Religion at the UofU. Our main responsibilities include early morning meetings on some Sundays, and encouraging married students at the U to enroll in Institute. We think this will be grand, as we love attending our Institute classes. It's just nice to get a chance to have a good spiritual lesson during the week to refocus.

We so look forward to our baby due in June! Here are the answers to the questions many of us get asked. We're hoping we can find out what the gender is at our doctor apt. Jan 7, but if not, it will be the beginning of February. If it's a girl we will likely name her Anastasia Ruth Cundick. If it's a girl we have two possibilities now, Clark Thomas Cundick, or Cannon........Cundick (not so sure on a middle name there). No these are not firm decisions, just likely. Atec is feeling great these days, other than a rotten head-cold, so morning sickness has passed.

We are thrilled to have found ourselves a two-bedroom apartment which we will move into February 1st. It's perfect for us we think. We are excited to have space for our storage, bikes, and a baby!

Since we slacked so much during the Christmas season....here are our Christmas-time pictures! We have the Christmas lights at Temple Square, our Christmas morning tree, atec skiing for the first time since her broken leg (in 4th grade, a skiing accident), the beautiful snow, atec's siblings all together with spouses, atec's canadian nieces and nephews, and atec's best friend's wedding. For your enjoyment, we also have a little Christmas music from the Cundick family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS CARD!

Truly Enchanted

Dear readers....we want you all to know that we believe this Christmas season is Truly Enchanted.

We had so much fun doing our first Christmas tree this week. We spent Monday night looking for just the right tree. However, it took us two hours to decide on one! It's funny how we both had different ideas of what a Christmas tree looks like. For example...pmc's family apparently got different kinds of trees each year, sometimes more full, sometimes less full, sometimes a grand fir, sometimes a noble fir. Not my family. We had a full noble fir every year (as I remember). For me the $20 price difference doesn't matter, it's not a real Christmas tree unless those pine needles grow UP! Maybe it's because they are most like the pine trees I'm used to seeing in my environment, growing up in Park City, and on the ski slopes, or maybe it's just because that's all we ever had. I don't know, but I just think they look prettier. Anyway, I don't think I have pmc entirely convinced that it's worth the money, but he does love our tree! I'm just glad we didn't even have to have the discussion about real or fake trees.....it's a real tree for us....that's what makes it so enchanting. It's fun to work hard to keep it alive for a few weeks, and to vacuum up those endless needles, and to always remember that it grows up towards the heavens where the world saw that beautiful star on the night our Savior was born! How grateful we are that, although we may be politically incorrect, we still have the freedom to go around telling everyone "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" For further news, although we should have gone grocery shopping last night, we opted for a movie night. We saw the new Disney movie "Enchanted." To say the least pmc was entirely enchanted! He's been listening to the music all day! This is not to say I didn't enjoy the film, I fully enjoyed it....maybe I'm a little too enchanted with Christmas to be distracted for now. Anyway, that's our movie recommend and review!

I would like to share something else I've been enchanted with this week though. When I was a missionary I often hoped that when the time came for marriage, I would find someone who I really connected with spiritually. I hoped that we could talk easily about spiritual matters, and understand each other, teach one another, and grow together. This week has been filled with some of those special occasions. We spent a good hour one night creating and discussing a gospel parable about music. Another period of time was spent discussing repentance. I feel so blessed to know that the gospel binds our marriage together, and brings us closer to our Father in Heaven.

I couldn't help putting two new songs on our playlist this week, one for the "Enchanted"bit from the movie. But also on the movie one of my older favorite songs was played, and I just want to share one more thing for posterity's sake. When we were married our sealer talked about three types of love: philia, eros, and agape. Whenever I hear the song "That's Amore" it makes me think about these and our temple ceremony, and how blessed I am to have agape in our marriage!

One last thing I'm entirely excited for, is that this week I am going to attempt making candy canes. Call me crazy. It's just this idea I had, and I couldn't help trying the impossible. So wish me luck.....

pmc here... I just read atec's post and can't believe she forgot the most exciting part of our week! Last Monday, we heard our baby's (babies'?) heartbeat(s?)! OK, we realize that it's probably not twins, since we only heard one heartbeat and she's not big enough to have two in there according to the doctor. The heart rate was about 160, which I've heard is slow, which I've heard is a boy. Two more months and we'll know! I'm grateful that we've reached the 2nd trimester... less sickness, more happy atec...

Well, it's been a long day...

I've kind of had a rough day. First off, it was Fast Sunday. Usually I am excited for this chance to have an added measure of the Spirit. But not today. I don't know if it was because atec isn't fasting now (pregnancy will do that), or if I was just a little more run down than usual (heading into finals week next week), or what. But that was a little frustrating... having something you usually like become an annoyance or problem is never good.

ALSO, I've been trying to plan another career change (can you have a career change without having a career? I would submit that you can.) I have decided that I don't want to be a child life specialist anymore. Well, that may not be entirely true... I'd still like it I'm sure, but I don't think it's right for me. I just wouldn't be able to support a family. At first I felt like I was being dumb for making a decision based on the money, but on some levels that has to happen. It's not like I'm giving up comfort to pursue luxury... more like I'm foregoing poverty to achieve sustenance. So for the past few weeks, I've been contemplating law school. Call me crazy. The funniest thing of all (or perhaps it isn't funny at all) is that the day after I told atec that I had changed my mind, I found out that the U added a class within my major beginning next semester called "Family Law". So, I've added that to my spring schedule and I'm hoping that the confirmation of the spirit that I'm on the right track is the next major feeling that I have in this regard.
PLUS, atec is still pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I am super-excited about that! But it has presented me with a few obstacles that were both unforeseen and unplanned for (is that redundant? I think close, but not the same.) Any of you who remember expecting your first, whether you were the mother or the father, will probably know what I mean far more realistically than if I tried to explain it. (And those of you who haven't experienced that, it would be unjust for me to spoil it for you!)

But LIFE ISN'T ALL BAD! We've had great fun this week as snow has finally arrived and Christmas is on the horizon. This means not only buying presents for one another (and baby?), but also acquiring our first round of holiday decorations, especially lights. It's been fun decorating a little bit, and we are both glad to be listening to our holiday favorites (though we're both REALLY SICK of the same versions of the same songs day after day on FM100 and KOSY106.5.)
Things to look forward to this week:
1) my last week of classes this semester
2) another visit to the doctor for atec and baby tomorrow!
3) we're getting a Christmas Tree for FHE too!
4) well, nothing comes immediately to mind, so you'll have to check back... we'll keep you "posted"

P.S. New this week is a poll question... look below the music player on the left to vote! (It is everyone's duty to vote... you're already registered!)

ATEC HERE: I just wanted to let you know two things. First, this picture really doesn't do justice to pmc's great job with our lights....it looks so good. But he sure did take a great picture of that wreath huh? We made that!!!! Pretty red bow, silver bells, lights and pine cones! It was so fun! We'll get some better pictures once we get all our extension cords and the tree up!

Homes...

Post-Thanksgiving Dinner:

This week I've been thinking about homes. I had the home I grew up in. I had my "home" in Logan......multiple apartments, but Logan in general is a home. I feel at home in Maryland....the whole mission boundaries. My family has moved multiple times in the past five years, and none of those places are home to me. I had a second home growing up, our cabin at Bear Lake. We no longer have it, but now just being at Bear Lake feels like a home. That's something like 4-5 homes before marriage I think. (Pmc has 3 I think....the home he grew up in, his cabin in Weber Canyon, and the Maryland Baltimore mission.) While living in those homes, not once have I ever thought, I'm ready to move on, I need a new home. Now pmc and I have our home. I like our home, it feels like home to me. Sometimes I feel more at home than I ever have anywhere else. But I am ready for a new home for us, we are cramped and going to get more cramped soon.

I think this Thanksgiving weekend brought this "home" pondering on. Earlier this week pmc opened his phone to call his parents to find out what time Thanksgiving dinner would be. Our phone started ringing, he had selected in his phone the number that dialed "home." I started laughing, but I was glad that he still felt like that was a home for him. For me, my former homes are no longer actually places I can call. I can't go to my first home or our cabin. Logan, Maryland, and Bear Lake are places I can go, but I don't have any actual homes to go to besides this one here! We were at Bear Lake this weekend at my mom's new cabin. Pmc didn't really want to drive all the way to Bear Lake for one night, but to me 5 seconds at the lake is like coming home.

We started our own Thanksgiving tradition of taking a walk as a family, and talking about the things we are grateful for. Instead of just stating them, we talk about them, and why we're grateful for them. It was so nice for me that we took our walk along the shore of Bear Lake, because I'm so grateful for Bear Lake, and my own family to share it with. It's a beautiful place, winter or summer, and I feel that it brought me and my siblings together more than any other thing. There we were removed from friends, homework, work, general contention, and could just play! I hope to have a similar place for our own family!

We're gonna make it after all!

Unfortunately, there's nothing too special to report on this week. So maybe I'll just write a little about some usual happenings that we usually don't mention.

This semester we've been enrolled in an institute class up at the U on Church History from 1830-1900. It's taught by Brother Case who pmc had at OHS Seminary. We really love it, and look forward to going each week. The wonderful thing is that Brother Case doesn't shy away from things... he's not afraid to tackle the controversy. This week he taught about Mountain Meadows. It is a sad part of church history, but I'm so glad to have my understanding improved on the matter.

I'm also happy to be entering the home-stretch for having braces. This has been a bit of a challenge for me for the past 11 months. I wish I'd just had them when I was a teenager, but that's not how it worked out. I am nevertheless very grateful for my parents' kindness in paying for them. Although I don't love the pain when they get tightened, it will be nice to look in the mirror and see straight teeth for the first time in my life. (And I'm sure atec is looking forward to their removal also!)We did have some fun this week going to see the Jazz on Monday night. It was kind of boring because Sacramento isn't very good, but at least it was a win, if not an exciting one. And it was fun to be there with friends. This week was also our turn to host pmc's married high school friends, so Friday night we enjoyed Navajo tacos and pizzookies, along with a mildly contentious game of Monopoly (husband and wife teams don't always see eye to eye... can you believe it?) We also made time for the Utes last home football game and are hoping for another thriller this weekend. Also wanted to mention our profound joy that Utah State finally won a game! After the U game we had the pmc's brother's family over to finish of the Navajo tacos....rvc and tlc REALLY enjoyed spinning around on our office chair. It was a great Saturday!

All in all it's been a good week. atec is certainly pregnant. Morning sickness (and occasional tension headaches) has not only arrived, but stays throughout the day and often into the night and it's taking its toll on both of us. Poor atec is feeling it, and I'm constantly trying to help her not feel it. We're hoping that this will improve after a couple more weeks and we can make it through the tough part.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving with family all over, and to some time off from work and school. We certainly have much to be thankful for.

Atec here: Pmc was typing the blog with his black cowboy hat on. I just want to tell you that since high school I have always thought that these make guys look super hot....and I'm not sure if he knew we would get married at the time, but he bought this one while we were dating! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.....and HIM OF COURSE TOO!!!!

The University of Utah

As most of you know, pmc attends the UofU, and is a die-hard fan. I even attended the U for a semester, though I am still a True Aggie and my degree is from USU. Well, we got a double dose of the U this week, as we decided on a doctor from the University Sugarhouse Clinic, and attended a Ute football game. (by the way, this will be by just me this week, as pmc is in the shower!)

So let's start with the doctor's appointment from Monday. Everything went well, and both pmc and I felt entirely pleased with Dr. Kiraly. However, all she really did was talk with us, and then send me for blood tests.....6 full tubes of my blood! I think I made the lady nervous though because I have no problem watching the needle and everything. She did a fine job mostly, but I've never bruised before, not even after donating the full bag of blood for blood drives.....and this time I did. Ugh! Anyway, she said she'll check me out next month, and we'll probably hear the heart beat! The biggest news is that I've started feeling sick.....so I guess that means the baby's doing well right?

The football game was so fun, other than my nausea. It finally went away in the last bit of the third quarter, seems like salty products help settle my stomach. Anyway, we spent the first half sitting with pmc's family, and the second half sitting with my family. It's so fun that both our families are fans and live close by. This year's pictures didn't quite match the quality of last year's, where we had the whole Cundick family together.....but I was proud of myself for really dressing for the occasion. I had a red shirt, red jacket, a red ribbon, and Ute earrings.

We forgot to mention my new job last week! A few weeks ago I was driving home past a little shopping center near our house, when I decided it was high time I see what stores were in there. Then as I started driving past each store, I started wondering if there was a place that I could work in there (since my nanny family will be moving soon). Well, just then I saw a sign in the window of a little children's clothing store that said they were hiring. I called the number and she asked me to come in that afternoon to talk with her. So I did, and she said I can just take Friday's (my day off of nannying) for now, and start more days later! The best news is that the clothes are absolutely adorable, AND I get 20% off.....perfect for a new baby! So if any of you are interested in children's clothes, check out ONEiTY. I work on Friday's so you can come in then!!! I think the coolest part about the store is that it's designed specifically to help third-world countries, everything in the store comes from little ladies all over the world who hand-make everything. So it's helping our economy and theirs! The prices are very reasonable as well, kind of between Old Navy and Gap.

Last thing, my sisters and I finally have our String Quartet set up. We registered as an official business entity this week, with a tax number, bank account and all. We are the Millcreek String Quartet. We are still working on a good website, but for now you can look at the one we have. We've been playing for some weddings here and there, and really enjoy playing together! Pmc has been working hard on creating a logo for us too! I don't know how he finds the time amidst studying and work, but the good news is his grades are fantastic right now, and he's still loving all his classes. I love seeing him so happy with school!

And That's The Way It Is!

So, we've had a number of positive remarks these past few days regarding our announcement, and we'd like to declare that WE ARE SO EXCITED for us too! Tomorrow is our first appointment with the doctor, so we'll hope that we have more good news to share soon!

Atec here....for those of you who have known me for a long time, you may know that I've been wanting to have my own children pretty much forever, so you can probably imagine my excitement as well! I captured some cute moments this week nannying, the girls just started walking! It has been so fun to see their personalities develop, Gabriella is laid back, while Isabella wants to do whatever Gabriella is doing (including playing with her toy even if she has the exact same toy in her own hands)! Their new favorite activity, other than going on a walk on the sidewalk where they don't mind falling hard on their knees, is brushing their teeth!

We sure are excited that the Fall weather has arrived... it helps to keep our apartment cool, and the briskness in the morning feels so nice. We appreciated seeing a beautiful sky on Thursday afternoon, that reminded us of the beautiful skies of Maryland. Here is the sky in Salt Lake on Thursday on the Left, and a picture I took of the sky in MD a few months before I came home.

Skies like these happen far more often in Maryland than in Salt Lake!

While I'm thinking about the outdoors, I'd like to note (more for myself and for the journal-keeping aspect of this blog) that atec and I have found that taking a walk when we have a difference to work out is absolutely wonderful. Something about the bodies' physical movement helps to keep us thinking clearly and positively. I'm grateful to have a wife who has taught me to enjoy taking a walk. I also have found that I feel better physically when I make time to take a walk, even without a problem necessitating the action.

So last night we went bowling with atec's sister chelsia and husband sam, and little sister serenity. We grabbed one fun picture, and pretty much goofed off the whole night! We love Bonwood Bowl! Today atec made a fun salad with dinner, it was so colorful, full of all the autumn fruits!

Trick or Treat?

Last night for Halloween pmc dressed as a doctor/nurse and atec dressed as a pregnant woman. But was she telling us something?

The truth is pmc was the trick and atec was the treat. She's in her 8th week of pregnancy, not very far along.

So we just wanted to share this news with you!

And if you're reading this part of the post we apologize, atec forgot to bring her camera connector to post the picture we took. But we promise to post it, so check back later!

Happy Hauntings...

We sure have had a blast this Halloween season. Last year at this time, atec was still at USU, so we didn't get much time together for spooky stuff. I've decided that Holloween is kind of fun, and I think atec feels the same. We went up to This is the Place State Park for "The Haunted Village". It was a little more expensive than we wanted ($15 each) but since we were with friends, we sacrificed a little. It's so nice to have friends like we do - both old friends of pmc's, old friends of atec's, and new friends of ours together. Lately we've discovered a little bit more about the difficulties of blending together two lives. It can be hard, but it's also fun and rewarding to share everything you have and know with somebody you love.

ATEC HERE.....WE'VE BEEN HAVING A BIT OF A HARD TIME FIGURING OUT TIMING ON SUNDAYS ESPECIALLY....WHEN TO SPEND WHAT TIME WITH WHO'S FAMILY WHERE. MAKE SENSE? USUALLY THIS MEANS WE SPEND ALL OUR TIME VISITING OTHERS AND LESS TIME GETTING TO JUST SPEND SOME QUIET TIME AT HOME....DOING THE BLOG! BUT TODAY AFTER GOING TO ATEC'S COUSINS HOMECOMING WE OPTED FOR DOING THE BLOG TOGETHER! WE'VE GOTTEN SOME GREAT QUALITY TIME TALKING ABOUT LIFE THIS AFTERNOON. WE'VE HAD LIFE THROWN INTO SOME EXTRA FOCUS THIS WEEK, AFTER ATEC'S SISTER CHELSIA ANNOUNCED SHE'S PREGNANT, AND THEN PMC'S SISTER-IN-LAW SHAUNA WENT INTO PRE-TERM LABOR AND HAD HER BABY GIRL, SMC, AT 27 WEEKS. (NOT THAT CHELSI ISN'T PMC'S SISTER-IN-LAW, AND SHAUNA ATEC'S SISTER-IN-LAW.) ANYWAY, IT'S HELPED US LEARN LOTS ABOUT HANDLING NEW SITUATIONS IN LIFE.

Really, it's amazing that we've done as much as we have this week, and I would like to publicly (is this blog really public?) thank my wife, atec, for dealing with my passion for sports, especially watching sports with my siblings/parents. The Red Sox have been in the World Series this week (of course last week's ALCS was just as important to me), and I've been excited to witness this thrill as I was righteously detained last time around in '04. But atec has really been willing to let me watch the games, and although she isn't always motivated to sit at my side and watch with me, she does it often enough. And I've made some breakthroughs of my own too! Thursday night (Game 2), I CHOSE to go and listen to my sisters-in-law playing a Halloween Concert with the U of U Philharmonia. And thankfully, I was rewarded with a win for the Sox, and a good night with family.

HE WAS ALSO REWARDED BY FINDING OUT THAT MY SISTER WAS PREGNANT, AS HE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO KNOW IF HE HADN'T SHOWN UP......I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHETHER MY LITTLE SISTER KNOWS YET, AS SHE DIDN'T SHOW UP!

ANYWAY, WE ALSO HAVE DECIDED TO HAVE A MONTHLY DINNER DATE NIGHT WITH SOME FRIENDS......THE MATHESONS, NAYLORS AND SEVERINSENS. THIS MONTH WE CARVED PUMPKINS AND WATCHED "THE VILLAGE" (SINCE SOME OF US WERE ON OUR MISSIONS WHEN IT CAME OUT AND HADN'T SEEN IT YET).

WEEK WAS ALSO THE "SUZUKI CELEBRATION VII CONCERT" WHERE ATEC GOT TO BE AMONG THE MANY TEACHERS HELPING THE SHOW RUN SMOOTHLY, AS WELL AS HER VIOLA STUDENT PARTICIPATING.

WE HAD AN INSTITUTE LESSON THIS WEEK ON THE STORY OF THE CRICKETS GETTING ATTACKED BY SEAGULLS HERE IN THE SALT LAKE VALLEY. ON HER WAY HOME FROM WORK THIS WEEK, ATEC SAW A SWARM OF AT LEAST 200 SEAGULLS IN THE AIR. IF YOU LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, IT JUST LOOKS LIKE BLUE SKY, BUT CLICK ON IT AND YOU WILL SEE THE SEAGULLS ENLARGED. AND NOW, WE ARE ON OUR WAY OVER TO GRAMMIE AND BOBA'S......I THINK IT'S PIE MONTH! YAHOOOOOO!

Romantic Ramblings?

Honestly, I don't know what to say for us.......I wish I had anything exciting to tell, but alas, we are boring, poor, college student/working newlyweds. I will be posting the pictures from our trip to St. George here, but other than that, really everything is pretty much the same.

So, if you don't mind I will share some ramblings on my husband. Yeah, pmc. He's fantastic. In a way I really can't see why I married him......BECAUSE it's only over the past 9 months that I've really discovered how fantastic he is. When we were engaged, and people asked me what I liked about him, my usual answer was that he is so charitable. Well, I had no idea how true that was and is! The number one thing that impresses me is that when I'm moody (which I usually am.....) he just tells me it's okay and does anything and everything for me. He'll make dinner, wash the dishes, do the laundry, clean, listen to me even while he can hardly stay awake. But the cool thing is that, he doesn't only do it when I'm moody.

Now I'm not saying we don't have differences, one of the biggest things being our views on what to do with free time and extra money........generally he wants to use it on sports, and I want some big adventure.....aka traveling. We've discovered it was the way we were raised.....my family took trips to Hawaii, Cayman Islands, we started saving (including the girls) for our missions at age 9, and we participated in a series of orchestras that culminated in a trip to Europe during high school. Pmc's family spent time together watching sports, going to sports, playing sports, playing games at home. Now we've both discovered there are benefits to both! Pmc's family definitely spends more time together just talking, and tends to have more logical thinking abilities due to the strategies of games. My family got the extra learning opportunities that new places affords: history, biology, culture, people skills.

But even where we differ on this scale, I'm usually the one who finds something to keep myself busy while we watch or attend sporting events. Pmc on the other hand always tries to make the best of, and enjoy something he generally isn't interested in.

So anyway, there are three reasons I went off on this......1. I love my husband. 2. I wanted something more than nothing to post this week. 3. I had a song I was going to post on here, but I can't make it work.......but if you'd like to hear it, check into a local band called Lokalgrown, and listen to the song "White Knights."

Here we've got some of atec's first golfing adventure, fun at the hot-tub, a bat we saw on a trek up snow canyon, our efforts to look like we're rock climbing, and the overlook from the cave with atec and her sister.

Weekend in Dixie

Greetings from St. George, UT! We decided to spend Conference Weekend and the first couple days of Fall Break down south. It's been great... but lets start with late last week.
I'm in quite a good mood with the Red Sox getting a few good play-off wins already. (Sorry, I know most of you don't care, but this way everyone knows that I do.) Wins on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday gave them the series win and a trip to the ALCS. And then on top of that, the Utes went down and shocked Louisville (and most of the fans back in SLC) with a win. I couldn't ask for anything more, since the Team Down South had a bye week and therefore couldn't lose!
Thursday night we went on a surprise date courtesy of atec. We had dinner at
Noodles and Co. -one of our favorites- and then headed to Home Depot to peruse the merchandise. atec got me something I've been needing for a while now... precision screwdrivers. I'm excited now to get a battery into atec's new watch.
Friday night we enjoyed our mission reunion. It was great to see so many of the friends we love from that period in our lives. Many were missed as well though, so we'll have to do a better job of keeping in touch. After the reunion, we got packed up and headed down here, not making it until 3 AM. Thanks to atec and her sister, pmc stayed awake and got us all here safely.
Yesterday, we enjoyed going on a walk to the edge of the neighborhood we're staying in. There we found some sweet caves for climbing in. I love the unique beauty of Southern Utah. We're definitely looking forward to round of golf in the desert today! Pictures coming soon (when we get back to our own computer!)

Photos?

On Wednesday atec got to bring the twins into pmc's child development class, it was really entertaining to see how they reacted to so many adults staring at them. But the good news is that they seem to right on track for twins their age.

And for pictures, well we made some silly mistakes as far as the camera is concerned!

This is the second time we've headed up to the cabin with our friends, without a camera. On Friday night we had the pleasure of enjoying a sleepover at the cabin with our friends the Naylors and the Mathesons. We played games, watched a movie and fell asleep. In the morning, we went on a nice walk through the mud, which was fine for everyone except PJ who was wearing slippers! On the way down the canyon it started snowing......again no camera.

Pmc got involved in the U game, and headed to work, while atec headed straight to a quartet gig. She played for an outdoor "lesbian wedding ceremony." Interesting, except for the kiss, which she closed her eyes for! But hey, when you get paid good money who cares? Luckily they had a tent and heaters, so our instruments and fingers didn't freeze! They did have to care the "bride" in to the tent so her dress didn't get dirty, but she walked up the aisle to her "betrothed" just fine..........again no camera.

Then she (atec) and her sister Serenity headed off for the General Relief Society Meeting at the Conference Center......again no camera.

Although we were supposed to head up to Logan on Sunday, our battery died Sunday morning when we were trying to get to church.......nothing exciting to take pictures of.

So that leaves us with pretty much nothing for pictures! Therefore out of desperate measures, we thought we would share our prized idea for scrapbooking. We have decided to use our blog as a journal and scrapbook combined. So we print out the text from each post on our blog, get the pictures printed, cut and paste......wah lah!

p.s. remember to look at the wedding picture slideshows over on the left! We still haven't gotten any of our own prints.....it seems photos are just not that important to us? jk

Sweet Tomato Pie

It's been such a busy week... and you all just finished reading about the whole Maryland adventure, so I'll keep it brief and detail free.
For FHE on Monday we went down to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building so that pmc could finally see the new Joseph Smith movie. It was fantastic. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed sharing our feelings about the Prophet as we walked back to the car.
Wednesday we had the privilege of doing an overnighter for the twins that atec nannies. I went out and met up with them at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner (really good, don't know why I've never been there before!), then we went and visited the Cannon's (our Mission President[s]). After spending the night out at Daybreak, I headed back in to work and atec kept right on going until about 6PM Thursday. When she got home, she was really tired.
Friday was the beginning of a new adventure as well. We had a handful of things to get to, and had to stay right on schedule. I got off work early so that we could get to a matinee of The Secret Garden at HCT. (atec's favorite show!) It was really good... we had lots of good things to say and very few bad. Immediately following the show, we rushed to get "Spag" to go and make it to the Highland homecoming game (vs. Olympus), so that we could see Aubrey perform the Highland Fling with Pep Club at halftime. She did a great job. As if that wasn't enough, Friday night was our only chance this year to become True Aggies. (Don't worry, a Utah Man am I... this was for atec. However, I don't mind declaring that USU is certainly #2 in my book.) We managed to make it to Logan by about quarter after 11 and up to Old Main easily by midnight. We are now certified True Aggies. And we had more fun in Logan on Saturday visiting with Grandma Ruthie and some of atec's good friends. (Actually, they're my friends now too.) We had planned to go to the football game, but the weather wasn't cooperating, so we headed home early and instead got to see the Utes get spanked in Las Vegas. (FYI, the Aggies lost a heartbreaker too.)
We spent Saturday night at my parents house so that we could be there to take care of t & j's kids when my parents left for MoTab in the morning. All in all, it wasn't so bad taking care of them, but we're pretty worn out now and happy to be getting a few consecutive nights in our own bed.

We got Tagged

So really, atec is not trying to take the blog over.....we just haven't been getting to this on Sunday evenings anymore, as you might have been able to tell.....which leaves atec with the job during the week since pmc is in school and at work all the time! But we've now switched our blogging time to Sunday mornings, so maybe we'll be better off!

Apparently we got tagged to tell 8 things about ourselves that not many people know....and since we don't have any pictures this week, we'll stick with that!

1- Actually most people know this, however we still get questions. We met as missionaries in the Maryland Baltimore Mission. We didn't think that we would be anything besides friends when we returned home, but then we met up, went out, dated, enjoyed, got engaged, and then married on 3 January 2007. I recognize that's a quick summary, but at least you know the basics!

2- Most know atec plays and teaches the violin, but the news is, she's also working on putting together a studio of quartets to coach!

3- Pmc is currently working on a degree in Human Development and Family Studies so that he can become a Child Life Specialist!

4- We both love woodwork and household projects. Pmc recently made a DVD rack from wood, and installed our dishwasher without help other than online. We would love to make our own bunk beds for our kids and stuff!

5- Atec hates scrapbooking, so she's decided to get into digital scrapbooking.........she's putting together slide-shows of pictures and stuff, burning them to DVD and now we can just watch them!

6- Pmc loves children almost as much as atec! He is almost more excited to have some our own than atec is!

7- One of pmc and atec's favorite dates is going to watch musicals. This week they will be going to see The Secret Garden at Hale Centre Theatre.

8- We actually hope we get to have twins at some point. We had twin boys in our sunbeams class, and atec is nannying 1-year-old twin girls....we think it's rather delightful!

Alright, we hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading and have a stellar week! Sorry I'm not passing on the tag......

In Tandem

Two weeks, one spent planning and the next spent playing. So frankly we're going to try to let the pictures do most of the talking......

WEEK ONE:

Monday we got to have F.H.E. with atec's family this week. Her sister Aubrey was distracted by the book she was reading, so we decided to sit on her for the picture. Here's how she felt about that....

On Thursday, pmc's sister finally had her baby.....Jacob Davis Olsen.

The rest of the week was spent planning, you know, trying to work out the details of covering the entire State of Maryland and the District of Columbia in one week.

WEEK TWO: Back to the Mission-Field

Saturday: We started by flying into BWI, and were supposed to be picked up by the Seger's . However, Melissa Seger got appendicitis :( and was at the hospital, so we were picked up by the Sperry's. We went to dinner in Severn at our favorite Baja Fresh and enjoyed some time with their cute 8-month-old twin girls. Then we met up with the Olson's who took us to their home in Frederick.

Sunday: We attended church at the Frederick Ward and got to visit with nearly everyone we wished there. However, some people were missed, so we dropped by some other homes during the afternoon and evening. But we also got a chance to jet up to Gettysburg for a few hours.

Monday: We spent the morning recovering from missionary work, and played on the Olson's sweet rope-swing. We went to lunch with Brother Kippen and then enjoyed some time in his shoe store, where he gave atec some advice on her shin-splints (ugh!). Then we had to get into the Catoctin "Mountains" for a picture by the caboose.....which is right near Camp David. We also stopped off at Cunningham Lake to dip our feet in the cool water. However, our toes were nearly attacked by minnows. We attended the Frederick Ward Annual Ice Cream Social before meeting up with the Castle's who took us to Hagerstown. We went directly to a BBQ at the Harne's where the Antietam Ward families pmc knew got together just for us. We were amazed to see there were still Fireflies out this late in the season.

Tuesday: We cruised up to Pennsylvania to have breakfast and visit before everyone left for work and school.....aka EARLY (enough to see the morning Maryland Mist and sunrise)! Then we went to West Virginia for some visiting, then ate lunch in Maryland at Weaver's. We then went to the Antietam Battlefield, where they talk about the Bloodiest Battle in U.S. History. Then we spent the afternoon at Harper's Ferry, where the Shenandoah and Potamac rivers merge and the whole deal with John Brown, before cruising to Virginia for dinner and some more visiting.

Wednesday: We stopped back into Frederick to visit Sister Smart....the most amazing Relief Society President on the planet.....literally! But then we headed down to Kensington to go to the Temple. It was so nice to take a break and just sit in the temple, we reminisced about what a refuge from the schedule of missionary work it had been for us. Then we headed to Olney to stay with pmc's cousin Joel and his wife Kristin and their kids. We took a nap, had dinner, and then drove down to D.C. to see the sites in the night lighting! It was so beautiful. On our way home we couldn't help stopping in at Rita's for a gelati.

Thursday: Joel took us to work with him where we caught the Metro to head back into D.C. We rented a tandem bike right near the Washington Monument, then covered the Capitol, Jefferson Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Memorial Bridge, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and the White House before returning the bike. We highly recommend doing the bike thing! We also decided that all Americans should be required to visit Washington before they can register to vote. It's amazing how visiting these sites can remind us of the foundations our country is established on. Anyway, we spent the afternoon at the Smithsonian museums, where the highlights for us were the Sunstone, U.S. History in general, paintings by Renoir, Monet, Manet, and a Stradivarius violin. When we headed back on the Metro, there were some emergencies in a few stations on our line, so we ended up spending about 30 minutes in the tunnel.......ugh! When we finally got out, Joel had figured we would be at a different station because of the emergencies and had driven there. Nevertheless, we did finally meet up with him again. We spent the night playing the famous Cundick Marble Game before trying to meet up with the Rich's. We had a hard time getting hold of them, but found the reason to be that John Rich's brother had a heart attack that morning. At this point we decided we were bringing curses upon people we were staying with! Anyway we did finally meet up with them to get back to Severn.

Friday: Amidst the family emergency John had to fly to Utah, so we ended up not needing to rent a car! However, as we were leaving for Baltimore, atec could not find the camera. She searched her bag at least 8 times, got on her knees and prayed, and after looking through the rest of the bags hopelessly, we called Joel and Kristin and left a message. We ended up heading for Baltimore without it, and took the missionaries (including pmc's last companion) out to lunch, before doing a little shopping. However, the shopping was not going very well on account of atec's concern over the camera. We got in the car and found a message on pmc's phone from Joel and Kristin saying they had searched everywhere and couldn't find it. At this point atec blurted out how frustrated she was that she knows so many people who can't find something, then they pray and it suddenly appears......why doesn't it ever work for her? Then, out of frustration she grabbed her bag, pulled it open, and there was the camera! We decided Heavenly Father was testing us! But we sure were grateful for the answer anyway. So we headed to Camden Yards for the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles game. We couldn't help keeping our eyes out for the typical BELIEVE signs of Baltimore. This one was found on the side of a fire engine. You'd think that having lived in Baltimore we would be Orioles fans........however, we both wore Red Sox hats and were pleased with the final score. It does look like we have nosebleed seats, but we actually moved around a bit for the fun of it. Being lacrosse players ourselves, we enjoyed the Johns Hopkins lacrosse team pitching the first pitch. We also enjoyed watching a funny fight on the field when the entire Bullpen came onto the field.

Saturday: We spent a little time trying to visit a few families, to no avail, before we had a late lunch with Sister Rich and the Seger's (as Melissa was feeling a bit better!). Then we went to the airport so we could come home. We almost forgot our tradition before boarding our flight. Since we both love children so much and are excited for the time we get to have our own, we decided that our souvenir from each trip will be a stuffed animal. So in the airport we grabbed a little stuffed red crab! This otter is our souvenir from our San Francisco trip! Finally, although our final flight from Chicago to SLC was delayed by an hour, we got home safe and sound!