Wherein we are in Utah for Alyna's Wedding

We went to Utah last month for my sister's wedding. The wedding was fabulous, and there was a lot more going on besides!

All the sons and sons-in-law grew mustaches to match my dad's mustache to take a fun family picture together. Luckily, Jeran (and all the others, too) grew a full beard and just shaved down to a mustache at the last minute. Then they all shaved down to their normal, clean-shaven selves. Except Dad, because that wouldn't have been normal at all. :)

All the guys and their mustaches!

Alyna and Kevin had a nice reception in Logan. Surprisingly I think it was the first time I've been in the Skyroom at USU. There was a candy buffet, which was awesome. I got to talk to a lot of family and friends there. Then the next day, the wedding was performed in the Mt Timpanogos temple. It was lovely. Then we had pie in the cafeteria. I had some amazing creamy peanut butter pie.

 The beautiful couple!

 Alyna's dress was so gorgeous. I love it. Unfortunately it was so cold and windy outside for pictures - I hope they turn out all right.

I can hardly believe it; all of my siblings are married! It's so strange! Congratulations Alyna and Kevin! You guys are amazingly awesome!

We also celebrated my birthday with my family and Jeran's family while we were in Utah. Everyone was so nice and wonderful. We had awesome Chinese food and played fun games with Jeran's family. It was a really fun evening. With my family, we also had dinner and played a game: Family Chronology.

At the beginning of the year I was in Utah for business and stayed with my parents. Lisa and Cameron and kids were also there completing their Christmas visit. We all played a fun game of Lisa and Cameron's called Chronology. I thought it would be fun to make a family version of the game so I harassed all my family members through the next few months to send me important or interesting events that had happened in their life and their spouse's and kids' lives. I also added some stories from our ancestors (thank you, new familysearch.org features!) and some historical events that are significant to my family, like Church, state, national, or world events of particular interest, releases of favorite family movies, etc. We got stories and events from our grandparents lives and anything else relevant we could think of. I compiled these all together and we printed them on cards. We played this game of Family Chronology on my birthday and it was such fun! It was great to relive funny stories, learn new things about our in-laws, and be surprised about when things actually happened. I think it is a fun way to do some family history too. I hope we can keep adding to this game and replay it over the years. I love love love our personalized family version.

(Mom, I borrowed your pictures. Thanks.)

Jeran and I were a bit too familiar with all the cards to fairly compete so we read the cards and led the game. It is quite a bit easier to play the family version than the real version, so we had to up the winning card quantity, and then play single elimination, and then speed version.

There were so many people that we had to play in teams and push the table up against the island counter. Sooooo awesome. Thanks everyone who contributed or played!

A bunch of other stuff happened too:

• I had some important work meetings and goings on, and they went well.
• We got to spend the night at Raymond and Molly's new house and spend more time with their family than we have in the past. It was really nice to get to know our cute niece and nephews better!
• We went snowboarding at Snowbasin with family and friends. It was super warm and sunny, but the snow was pretty good. We got really sunburned but luckily it peeled or faded before most of our family pictures and the wedding pictures.
• We got to spend the night with our good friends Dan and Carrie and be entertained by their kids - it was especially entertaining to watch Frozen and see Elizabeth dance and the guys fall asleep. We went to a restaurant in Ogden and got the most interesting chicken pot pie I've ever seen. It was essentially a really tasty soup/sauce with a gigantic (like size of a ream of paper) crispy, flaky, airy croissant thing that you break into the bowl. I should have taken a picture!
• "Baby Tannow" (Tanner) was blessed. I'm glad we got to be there for that.

It was such a wonderful, action-packed trip that I'm sure I've forgotten to write about some other things we did. Thank you everybody who let us stay at your house and for being our family and friends! We love you!

We really needed a break from work too, so the timing of this trip was great. Now we're back home, focusing on getting Jeran done with graduate school, and figuring out what to do next!

1 Wedding + 1 Wedding = Lots of Pictures!

We went to two family weddings in the last three months. Yes, we had fun and had good times, or as Jeran would say, "It was a wedding." Since most interested people have already seen pictures on Facebook, I won't go overboard on the pictures.

The first was my lovely sister, Jessica. She got married in Atlanta to the dashing Chase and they are now living happily ever after.

Maybe some hugs now or something?

Relaxing before the reception

The other lovebirds

Bridesmaids

Us

The second wedding was Jeran's brother, Rylen's. He and Desi got married in Idaho Falls (which was gorgeous - good choice guys!). We flew out west and got to go to the wedding and spend some time with both our families even though it was a quick trip.

Rylen and Desi

So happy!

Idaho Falls panoramic

What a beautiful morning around the temple!

Brothers and nephews

In between these two weddings, we had a month full of getting lots of work done and still making time for some fun summer activities like going to the beach, hiking, and bowling. Here's a picture from Topsail Beach. It makes me sigh every time I look at it. Sun, sand, water, warmth, ocean breeze...

Christmas 2012

This Christmas we finally(!) made it back to Utah to spend the holiday with our families. We decided to keep it a secret and surprise both of our families. I thought it was going to be super hard but it didn't turn out to be that bad, except for hearing the disappointment in people's voices when we said, "It doesn't look like we'll be able to make it."

We flew out without any troubles, rented a car and stayed overnight with our good friends Dan and Carrie. We were reintroduced to Dominion, which we now love (thanks, guys!). The next morning we drove up through the snowy canyon to surprise everyone. We first stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Briscoe's to drop our stuff off and borrow a car so we could return our rental. After that we went to the Briscoe household with a plan for how to best surprise them. When we got there no one was home so we called Mom and found out they were all out shopping. We didn't let on where we were but let ourselves in and tried to decide what to do. We started dishing up some soup for lunch when we saw the van pull in. We ran into the living room and waited. Jessica and Alyna, my sisters came in carrying shopping bags and a sleeping nephew. They were suprised when they saw us but we said Shhhh so they wandered around in circles waiting for whatever was going to happen. Then Mom came in, which we knew would be the funnest surprise. She came around the corner and saw us and put her hands over her mouth, screaming internally, I believe, so as to not wake aforementioned baby. Then she cried (a given) and everyone was all surprised and happy and confused and "don't ever do that again"-ing. A pretty good reaction.

We later went to Stratfords. We had been trying to figure out their plans all day but it was difficult to pin it down without being obvious so we just drove up and walked inside. We encountered family members one by one: again confusion, happiness and hugs, etc.

Anyways, we had a nice Christmas and New Years. I think Jeran shoveled driveways 15 times. We got to see all our grandparents and a lot of aunts, uncles, cousins and other family. We had previously met one of our nephews but we got to meet the other four nephews and one neice. Hooray! Unfortunately I was sick about the entire time and Jeran got sick near the end so we weren't always having the greatest time possible or being the best company, but that's how it happens sometimes. Here are some fun pictures from the trip:

 My brother Andrew and his wife Lindsay and little Riley.

 My sister Alyna.

 Silly Benjamin ready to run through the wrapping paper over the door.

Mom, Jessica, and Dad on Christmas morning. 

 My sister Lisa and her husband Cameron and Benjamin. Little Caleb was sitting in a seat just out of this picture.

 Dad, Andrew, Lindsay and Riley checking out gifts.

Jeran and me on Christmas morning at the Briscoe's.

Jacie and Amanda

Rylen

Kaydee

Isaac, Jacob, and Jaleece

Raymond (yes, this was the best shot of him)

Jacie with Amanda, Jeran, Isaac and Molly

Denae ready to go snowboarding.

Jeran: "This is very sturdy construction."

Denae, Desi, Rylen, Jeran, Mindy, Kenny at Beaver Mountain!!! Raymond took the picture.

Westward Ho!

We recently returned from a nice trip to Utah. It was both a snowboarding trip and a family visit trip (and for me a business trip also). Nice to have it be so multi-functional.

We went snowboarding twice, one full day at Beaver Mountain and one full day at Snowbasin. They were such different experiences. At Beaver, there were a few inches of new snow and we spent a good portion of the day off the beaten path enjoying the powder. At Snowbasin, there was pretty much no new snow and the groomed trails were a bit hard, but we had such a large group with us and were less familiar with the terrain so it we stayed on the trails so it didn't matter that there wasn't fresh snow. Considering what snow conditions have been this season, I'd say we got pretty lucky on this trip!

Lunch break at Snowbasin

We snowboarded (and some skiied) with lots of Jeran's extended family at Snowbasin. It was so fun!

We visited Temple Square and toured the Conference Center with friends.

We got to some good quality time with family and visit with friends and relatives.We played lots of fun games, shoveled snow (some of us...), and forgot to take many wonderful pictures. As always, it went by way too quickly, but it's good to be home!

February

Hello February... and goodbye. You were here and gone like a flash. See you next year.

We've been pretty busy this last month. We went to Utah to visit our families and snowboard and whatnot. It was a good trip, although it was pretty busy and didn't feel as long as we thought it would.

We got in late Thursday night and on Friday, I went in to work to see and meet my co-workers, do some work and go out to lunch. We went to a new Brazilian Grill (in Logan! I know, can you believe it?! Hope it survives...). It is very good food. Jeran helped out my Grandma and Grandpa with a project while I was at work. We hung out with the my fun family that night: cooking, eating chili, and playing games.

On Saturday we played some games with Andrew and Lindsay, my brother and his wife, and went to a Jazz game with Jeran's dad and sister. We rode the FrontRunner train from Ogden to Salt Lake. We had sweet box seats, courtesy of Utah Worker's Comp. The had dinner and amazing dessert for us. It was awesome even though the Jazz lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a night of firsts for me. I had never ridden the FrontRunner (or any commuter rail that I recall), had never been to any professional Men's sport event, let alone a Jazz game, and had never been in a box seat for anything.

On Sunday we went to church with my mom. Dad had left for a business trip so it was just us and Mom. What a difference from the old days when someone had to arrive early to save most of a long bench for all of us. Sigh. We also went down and saw a lot of Jeran's extended family for a Super Bowl party.

Jeran went snowboarding on Wednesday with his cousins and I hung out with Alyna and worked on entering recipes. Jeran's Grandma Stratford used to give boxes of chocolates to the grandkids for Christmas. Jeran only recently found out that she had been making them at home all those years - they were so nicely packaged and so delicious and pretty he thought she had just been buying them! She doesn't make the chocolates any more so Jeran asked her if we could borrow her chocolate recipe file to copy. She handed over not just a few beloved chocolate recipes, but a folder of over 400 homemade chocolate and candy recipes. We worked on typing, scanning, and sorting recipes from her file, many of which came from 1960's and 70's Farm Wife News or old newspaper clippings. It was so fun to look through her collection, and even better, now we can make sure the recipes stay alive.

We worked on a computer project at Jeran's family's house for a good part of the week while listening to The Hunger Games audio book. It was a tight fit, but we (or rather Jeran) got the project finished. I spent some time with my Mom, just hanging out, looking at sewing project stuff, and just having a nice time being together.

We went snowboarding for a half-day on Saturday with Jeran's sister, Denae. There wasn't any fresh snow the last few days, but there was still some untouched powder in the trees that was really nice and we had a great time. Sunday we went to church with Jeran's family and then had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Briscoe's with the extended Briscoe family. It was great to see everybody. We even got to meet some exciting new family members (two adorable babies).

We got a chance to see all of our grandparents while we were there. (It was good to see you!)

I know I'm leaving stuff out, but I just wanted to say we had a great trip and loved seeing everybody!

This is pictoral proof of meeting my 2010 New Year's resolution to eat some "serious" seafood (non-fish or shrimp). Here, Mom took us to Sizzler and I tried some King Crab Legs. They were pretty darn good. Also, for medical reasons I allowed myself an extension on this resolution, so it still counts for 2010. Thanks, Mom!

30 Days: Day 14

Day 14: A picture of you and your family

Not sure what we were going for here... and not too recent. Oh well, you get the picture.

Trips and Falls

Last night I was lying in bed and I started thinking about funny stories involving me tripping or falling. What started out as one or two incidents turned into a good-sized list of memorable trips or falls. So here is my top 10 list:

1. Tripping over Lisa because we were wearing nightgowns.
When I was seven, my sister Lisa and I both had on nightgowns that we got for Christmas or something. We were running down the narrow hall to our rooms to go to bed.  Lisa was in front and stepped on the hem of her nightgown and fell.  The light was off and I was running close behind her so instead of stopping, all I could do was try to hurdle her.  It doesn't work so well in a dress.  We both were down and laughing.

2. Falling off footboard of bed because arms and legs were pulled inside shirt.
 When I was little, when it was cold I would pull my arms and sometimes my legs up into my oversized nightshirts. One time I was sitting on the inch-wide footboard of a bed and I was cold so I pulled my arms and legs in. A minute later, I tipped over (away from the bed) and my arms and legs were stuck inside my shirt so I couldn't catch myself. Now that is a real cannonball!

3. Flipping out of hammock.
When I was about 13, Andrew (brother) and Nate(cousin) and I were playing with our big hammock in the back yard. I don't quite remember what we were trying to do, but I had the hammock bunched up and was sitting on it while they pushed me really high. I think the idea was to jump off like on a regular swing. The problem with the plan is that unlike a regular swing, you only have the seat to grab onto and not higher handles to make sure you don't flip off backwards during the back swing. Completely unexpecting, I flipped over, managed to keep a hold on the hammock and was dragged along the grass all sprawled out. Turns out a lot of people were watching from inside the house at the moment.

4. Wearing a tall box and playing Marco Polo or Blind Man's Bluff.
 We were playing a game in the 2nd Apt. and it involved the person who is It wearing a long skinny box over them that reached down to about mid calf. Then it was a game of blind and armless Blind Man's Bluff or Marco Polo. When I was It I went to 'sit' on the couch, not realizing that I was turned 90 degrees. Thinking I was leaning back onto the couch, I ended up falling straight to the ground. It was a shock.

5. Repeatedly getting tripped while pacing the kitchen and rehearsing for a speech.
 I was attempting to practice a presentation I had to give in 5th or 6th grade and I was walking circles around the kitchen table and island. Andrew was bothering me and watching basketball in there and tripped me while I was passing him by simply sticking out his foot. Being very focused, I got right back up (with probably only a tongue-out or a glare) and continued practicing and pacing. The very next time around, he tripped me in the very same exact way and I fell again.

6. Big black garbage can falling on me and trapping me under it.
When I was about 15 or 16 I was raking up some of the millions of small pine needles in the front yard. I put a lot of them into the black garbage can and was ready to roll the can back to the backyard. It was heavy and off-balance and I fell and it fell too, trapping my legs underneath it. I tried squirming, lifting, anything, but I stuck tight. I yelled 'Help! Help!' until a man I didn't know came running over from the neighbor's house. He lifted the garbage can on me and freed me. Thank you nice man!

7. Getting pushed off the bunk bed when not expecting it.
I think it was Jessica who pushed me off. A few of us kids were up on the top bunk and all of a sudden I was under the desk. Accidental? Maybe. Completely unexpected? Definitely.

8. Rolling off the car hood accidentally.
I was helping set up a drink station for Top of Utah Marathon with the P City Youth Council and we got set up and were waiting for runners. It was cold so I sat on the hood of my car across the street in the sun. One second I was happily soaking up the rays and the next I was trying not to eat the dirt from the road shoulder. I still don't know what happened but I rolled off that hood onto the ground very fast. P.S. Everyone laughed.

9. Tripping and being tripped while going up the stairs.
A classic move in my family. To this day it is dangerous to walk up the stairs directly in front of a sibling for fear of having your ankles grabbed.

10. Almost falling out of the fort tree.
Getting a little desperate for a #10 here, this is only an almost fall. Only because I managed to hold onto a precarious tree branch and dangle there. It wasn't that dire of a situation because there was another branch I could climb onto but it's amazing how hard laughing makes the simplest of things. Anyways, eventually I got safely to the other branch.

Honorable Mention:

Kindergarten Concussion There was a pull-up bar that everyone stood in line to take turns jumping to from another part of the playground equipment. I was good at this but this time my hands slipped and I fell straight onto my back and was dazed for a good while.

Tripper on Tramp Another recurring classic. Whether it is 3 people or 15 people, tripping and being tripped makes for a fun trampoline game.

Good times, good times. Thanks for remembering with me.

Green Corn

So yesterday, I was playing through some old piano music and trying to get Jeran, who was sitting at the computer near me, to sing along. He, of course, refused and I, of course, called "Join in!" when starting every single song I thought he might know.

I came across the old classic She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain. I played the first line then interjected, "Green Corn!" as I always do before the next line. Jeran about fell out of his seat.

"What did you say?! Green Corn?! What are you talking about? You are supposed to say 'Choo-choo'."

"'Choo-choo?' No one says 'choo-choo'. Everyone says 'Green Corn'."

We then got into a short debate about why we would say either thing. Jeran argued that the song is about the railroad tracks being built and the train coming along, which is technically correct.

I argued that my entire family sings "Green Corn" because during one family road trip, we had that old brown song book and we were singing this song and I hollered, "Green Corn" because that was the next song in the book. From that time forward, we all sang "Green Corn!" in all the pauses of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.

So who was right? Jeran, obviously. But he will never hear me say anything there but "Green Corn".

Pictures from Europe

Some of the highlights from our trip to Europe this month can be seen here.

We had the opportunity to see a lot of Europe with some family members. My sister Lisa and her husband, Cameron, my brother Andrew and his wife, Lindsay, my Mom and Dad, and Jeran and myself, all hopped into a van and went on a fast-paced tour of Europe for two weeks.

We flew into Dusseldorf and went to Cologne and Marksburg Castle in Germany. The next day we went to a few sites in The Netherlands, Zaanse Schans and Amsterdam. Then we went to France and saw the sites in Paris for a few days. Then we went to Normandy and then crossed the channel to England via a ferry. We saw things in London and then some things in the country surrounding London. After that, we headed home. Woohoo! It was a great trip. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Double trouble

Jeran's brother Rylen was here visiting us for the last week. He came out just for a fun visit and to go to a Relient K concert with Jeran.

I came home from Girl's Camp on Wednesday and Rylen flew in late that night. On Thursday, Jeran went to work and Rylen mostly slept and played on the computer. That evening I headed back up to Girl's Camp to help them back up and bring stuff back on Friday morning.

On Friday, I got back from Girl's Camp with all the gear and whatnot and Jeran headed in to work. Rylen and I went around taking the camp equipment back to it's various owners (Thanks for carrying all that stuff, Rylen!) and went to the grocery store. That night we all went to our friend's, the Gladden's, house for pizza, Rock Band, and a movie. It was good fun. Rylen is really good at the guitar so we did better at Rock Band than we usually do. When we got home after that, we ended up playing Warcraft III until about 1 AM. Blagh... Rylen did finally beat Jeran with my pitiful help, or maybe just my lucky charm-ness, since all I did was stay alive.

Saturday we got ready and headed out to the beach. We went to Topsail Island which is just over a 2 hour drive. It was a perfect day, not too hot, but not so cool that the water isn't inviting. We had a good time playing in the waves and finding very small beach wildlife. I wish I had some pictures. Jeran found a tiny hermit crab in his shorts and we also caught some tiny horseshoe crab-looking creatures that were burrowed in the wet send near the water. I wish I had some pictures because it was a nice day. That night we went and played Carcassonne and Liar's Dice at some friends house.

Sunday we went to church and relaxed. I think Rylen got tired of everyone saying things like, "Wow! You look just like Jeran!" or "You two look exactly the same," or "Ooooh. A younger, smaller Jeran!" But it was true, especially since Rylen wore some of Jeran's clothes to church.

Monday we mostly just hung out and played games and talked while Jeran was at work. That night we went to a Durham Bulls baseball game. This reminded me that baseball is very boring and slow and that baseball games are only fun because of the people you go with and a little bit of the environment. We went with two other couples and had a good time talking, eating cotton candy and (for some people) hot dogs, and watching the fireworks afterwards. The Bulls won also, which is always good.

On Tuesday, Jeran came home early so that they could fit in some more Warcraft games. That night they went to the Relient K concert, which was apparently awesome. Besides that they got separated from each other right from the beginning and didn't find each other again until it was over, they had a great time. Here's a video Jeran took of Who I Am Hates Who I've Been if you want to sample their music:

Hooray! Thanks for coming to visit us Rylen! It was a lot of fun!

Things I want to do in Utah this time

It's no secret. I'm getting purr-etty excited to come to Utah next week(!). I've been trying to think of a list of things that I want to do while I am there. This is what I have come up with so far:

• Eat at Sizzler
• Go snowboarding
• Make a snowball
• Take lots of pictures
• Go the Distribution Center
• Hang out with Family
• Help prep 3rd Apartment for the newbyweds
• Go to Macey's
• Play Nintendo/PS/N64, etc.
• Attend Andrew's wedding and reception (Ooohhh boy!)
• Go to Down East Outfitters
• Eat at Village Inn
• Call to check on the cats
• See everyone's home renovations, etc.
• Eat delicious food
• Say goodbye to Missionaries
• Trim Pepper's claw's
• Go on shopping expedition with sisters
• Cook delicious food for family (oo-la-la!)
• Get ring inspected at Needham's
• Don't bother Jeran while he's studying for his test or working on his grant
• Have fun in both P-Towns
  
• Eat at Cafe Rio or Costa Vida
• Visit with friends
• Go into work just to say hi
• Test new shower in 2nd Apt.
• Sleep
  

If you have any other ideas and suggestions please feel free to let me know. Of course, I will be doing much much more than just these things so be excited, either to experience these with me or else to hear about it afterward!

A History Lesson

For those who just met Jeran and me recently or those of you who want to know what we are up to, here is some background on both of us.

Jeran and I met at Utah State University in Biology class. He had just gotten home from his mission and it was the first semester for both of us. We finally got around to dating and were married the next summer in Logan, UT. Both of our families live in Cache Valley so we got to live near both of them while we finished school. We both graduated from USU in 2007, Jeran in Biochemistry and I graduated in Management Information Systems.

Jeran was accepted to graduate schools all over the country but decided he wanted to be a Tarheel, so we moved to North Carolina in July 2007. He is currently attending the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to get his PhD in Pharmacology. He works in a large research lab that researches pancreatic and colon cancer to "delineate the molecular basis for cancer". If you're into the science stuff, their lab studies Ras superfamily GTPases, oncogenes, signal transduction, and target-based anti-cancer drug discovery. I can't tell you which stuff Jeran specifically works on because it all goes over my head. Anyways, he is very good at what he does and is making some good friends there. After he finishes in 3 to 5 years, who knows where we will go. There are a lot of options and we would eventually like to move back to the west and perhaps to Utah, but we'll go where the jobs and opportunities are.

While I was a junior in college, I started working at a software company, New Dawn Technologies in Logan, UT, that makes case management software for agencies involved in the justice system. This includes Courts, District Attorneys, Public Defenders, Probation and Parole Agencies, etc. I do database scripting to move data from Legacy systems into New Dawn's system. This job has been a great blessing for me because it pays pretty well, is very flexible, and the company is young and well-managed. When we moved to NC, I was able to keep my job with them and telecommute from home all the way across the country. Now I am self-employed and have huge work flexibility and choices. In many ways it is a dream job and I was so blessed to have found it all those years ago.