Blasts from the Past

I'm slow on getting together recent pictures, so I thought I'd post some of the digital scrapbook pages that I compiled while we were driving across the country. Lots of cute friends in these pictures who have really grown up!
This was April, 2005 in Tierrasanta. Everyone in the pictures have now moved from there!

In these pictures, Jack is 6 months, a little older than Trace is now. They look so similar! But then again all our boys do at this age!

6 Quirks About Me

I got this tag from my friend and old mission companion, Kerri.
1. One of my favorite treats is a whole carrot with mustard squirted on it. Hey it's low calorie, cheap, filling and tasty. I just can't imagine why this has not caught on! :)
2. Kerri admitted this, so I will too. I like (she said "love") the smell of skunks. I didn't used to. But after growing up in the country, then moving to the city, I found the city smells so noxious. It seems a skunk smell can cut through those carcinogenic city smells with something that is so very natural!
3. I cannot stand the feel of my hair near my face. If I was really brave I'd sport a Sinead O'Connor look.
4. I have dyslexia when it comes to turning on a stove. Those picture diagrams mess me up 100% of the time. So I like a stove with labels like "top left"
5. I have to have short fingernails. I've never bit them in my life, but I cut them every week. If they get at all long it gives me the creeps.
6. I have 47 of the state quarters. This morning I got Arizona at the coin car wash, then it fell out of my running shorts into the gutter!

Have we mentioned our favorite thing about living in Memphis?

My brother Joey and his fine wife, Katie. When we tell people that my brother moved here one week before us they say, "What an amazing coincidence!" And we say, "No, that's the best part. It was planned." Joey graduated from U of Maryland Dental School in May and hesitated to move back to Utah because of the glut of dentists there. Dentistry is the perfect Mormon profession--low amounts of work hours and stress, high amounts of family time and mullah. So he decided to live somewhere else, near non-Utah family, to pay off school debt and build up a nest egg. And we are the lucky neighbors! It's such a treat for us because in our 14 years of marriage/Navy life, we've never lived LESS THAN A MILE from family! Whoo-hoo! They are brave because we are a loud rambunctious group!

Above they are making us Pancake Puffs for Sunday morning breakfast.

And here's Tal licking the plate at that yummy feast!

I Thought I'd Give it a Tri

Have you heard about Nie Nie?

This past week I've been wrapped up in the life and blog of Stephanie Nielson/NieNie. You may have heard about her in the news. She has an amazing blog about the romance and joys of being a wife and mother. She's incredibly stylish, she's a vegetarian, she's a staunch Republican, she's a home birther. With all those divergent views she's bound to disagree with many, but yet what strikes a chord with everyone is the way she slurps up every day with such joy and celebration. My life is so changed, I hope forever, by getting to know her life. So if you've heard about her, you may also have heard that she and her husband Christian were in a small plane crash and she was burned 83% of her body and he 30%. Please pray for her and if you have extra funds send them her way at http://www.nierecovery.com/.

With a Trace