The Purse Lady

Hi Kristen's friends and family! This is Joleen and I'm excited to be Kristen's first guest blogger! If I'm good enough, maybe she'll let me come back! Enjoy!

I should never have been introduced to The Purse Lady.

But four purchases later, I'm hooked. It started as a simple quest to find a brown purse that would fit my needs. I rummaged through the loot searching for something just my style. And I found it! A great size, not too flashy, and priced just right.

Summer came and I was bored of the dull browns and blacks. How was I going to make it through the summer? Lo and behold, who came around again but....The Purse Lady. I immediately set my eyes on this adorable item and couldn't put it down. Kate Spade was my new best friend.

A season later I was in the mood for some shopping. I set out through the mall looking for something fun and sassy. I was ready to take a leap past the blacks and the browns for winter. I found an incredible alligator print, deep red bag, but was not prepared to foot the bill for that $133 price tag. I did my best to justify the purchase, but couldn't bring myself to hand over the plastic.

Coincidentally, the VERY next day I received an email from The Purse Lady. She had new stock! I sent her a picture of the purse I'd seen the night before and asked if she had something similar. We set up a time and place to meet so I could peruse her goodies and I counted down the days.

The Purse Lady came and went, and I'm in love.

Gucci sat on my desk to be admired the rest of the day. Who wouldn't love the satin inside and the matching wallet to go with?Giraffe print is the new thing and it made it's debut over my shoulder just this evening. I flaunted it everywhere I went.It will be hard to decide who gets to be taken out for the evening now that I have so many choices. And I'm sure there will only be more to come.

Attention, please

Joleen (my co-worker friend) made some exciting purchases today. Since she doesn't have a blog, I offered her mine to be a guest blogger to shout from the rooftops her joy (she really was giddy today about these purchases).

Stay tuned.

Can you recognize him?

The one sitting to the right of the woman in the red shirt and black blazer...

Your getting closer.... click on the pic for a closer view (he's looking straight at me, I'm sure!)

Yep! Elder Uchtdorf!

He came down to the Provo airport hanger today talk to all of the UVU aviation students - since Brant works there as a flight instructor in his down time, he got us tickets to attend (we guessed that there wedre 400-500 people there).

He talked for about 45 minutes on his career as a captain for Lufthansa and likend "flight plans" to "life plans". It was neat to hear him talk about when President Bush came to Utah a few months ago and he got meet him and sit in the left seat of Air Force One (and when E. Uchtdorf's hand reached intuitively for the throttle, President Monson was standing behind him in the cockpit and read Elder's Uchtdorf's mind and said "Dont even think about it..." (in other words, it was funny...)

But my favorite part was when the question was asked how his wife supported him and she got up here and said "All you pilots out there- you can't marry anyone who is scared to stay home alone overnight. I love his career because he will be gone for days and I get to do all the things that I want to do that I can't while he is home, but then when he comes home it makes it that more exciting and life is always a second honeymoon."

Even from where I was sitting far back, I could see Elder Uchtdorf blush :)

Brick Of Mormon

One of my co-workers is pretty much a die-hard lego fan. So much that he (along with his younger sons) put together Brick of Mormon Stories - a collection of scripture stories from the Book of Mormon, with LEGO bricks and character illustrations.

Would it be cool if Lego sold a Brick of Mormon package that could be used in Family Home Evenings...?

Reunion Weekend

(photo courtesy of Dene Quimby :)

Friday: No biggie here- Brant got in from a trip around 5pm and then worked instructing down at the Provo airport while I went to the gym. Afterwards we went for ice cream cones at Sonic.

Saturday: Here comes the bride! We went to Chantel and Reed's wedding in the Mt.Timp Temple. While we were waiting and chatting outside afterwards for them to come out, we thought of a brillant way to pass the time- couple photos (an easy buy-in idea for Dene since she was once a photography major).

This is Dene (DuH-naY) and her husband Mike (in the classic Mt.Timp Temple wedding pose). Dene and I were room roommates for 3 semesters at BYU-I and used to joke that, with the exception of our spouses, that we were each others longest running roomates.

If I had my box of college memories with me (instead of back at my mom's house in GA) I'd post some fun pics of the 4 of us... too bad I never did get a picture of that turkey that Christy had put in the bathtub to thaw for Thanksgiving. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the shower curtain back one morning and found a floating turkey on the other side... and the brew-haha club, and the bathtub club, and the Taylor House, and lots more memories that I better not get started into :)

October 2008

This is "Snowview 9" Christy, Chantel, Dene and I. The three of them are all from Eagle River Alaska and took me under their wing as roomates :) Christy recently celebrated her six year wedding anniversary- she was the first of us to tie the knot and all 4 of us were there at her reception.October 2002

It was neat that even with Christy living in Alaska now that she was able to fly down and the 4 of us could have another reunion for the last of the marriages. (Alaska '09- we're totally there!)

Saturday Night - No pics, but Christy, Dene, and Mike came and stayed over for about 3 hours (Christy's husband Derrick didn't make it down to Utah with all the work being done on their new house back in Alaska) and had a blast!

Sunday - Ward (branch) conference at church. We've gotten to be good friends with our downstairs neighbor and had him up for dinner. We spent two hours just chatting and listening to his fascinating stories/life.

Wright Fam Portraits

On Saturday I met up with Chris, Rebecca and their kids at the the Riverwoods for some practice taking portraits (this was the family that gave us our couches when we got married in exchange for watching their kids). With the nice scenery around the Riverwoods, there were TONS of other people taking portraits out there too- so we were resourceful and a couple of these pics are from watching what the other professional photographers were doing and then posed the same way...(and I will conquer the art of lighting eventually).

Props go to Chris on Gavin and Jared's school picture pose- I just snapped the camera.

Brianna had a great smile. Too bad the photographer kept cropping her elbows out of the photo.

This picture of Maddy was seriously a mircale. Seriously.

Things I learned taking these photos:

(1) Its more of a challenge than I thought trying to get everyone looking (and smiling) at the camera at once.

(2) Taking family protraits is fun! Anyone else want their family portraits done this month? (Seriously, the first one or two people in the area that leave a comment wanting FREE portraits in the month of October- you got it! My camera isn't super impressive, and I don't have photo editing software, but it makes for good Christmas cards and scrapbooking).

KLAS Softball

Remember this post? Last week we wrapped up our co-ed softball season (so fun!) and Alyssa caught this group shot. You'd never guess by Andrea's mad photoshop skills, but my eyes were actually originally closed in this photo. Good job on our first season as a co-ed team, guys!

Weekend Spent Southern Style

Friday afternoon: to the airport and on the 4:40 flight to Atlanta. Brant had a stand-up trip (which means an overnight trip) out of the Atlanta base Saturday evening, so I took the opportunity to go with him to Georgia.

Saturday: LOTS of southern food including this cute place. Our trays were complete with chicken fried steak, potato salad, and cornbread (for Brant). Tallipia, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and peach cobbler (for me).

Saturday afternoon: we visited my long time friend Joyce and her husband Justin. We were pretty speechless when we learned that the 3.5 bed/ 2 bath home across the street from theirs was on the auction block with a starting bid of $29,000. I know that housing prices have plummeted- any maybe I'm just ignorant- but $29,000? (And no, I didn't forget a 1 or 2 in front of the 29).

Sunday: church at my mom's ward, dinner of baked chicken & rice, sauteed squash, meatloaf, and more (I may be mixing up the Saturday dinner with the Sunday dinner here) and then back to the airport to catch a flight back to Salt Lake (I was distraught to get to the parking lot at the SL airport and find that the car windshield needed to be scraped of ice. Bummer).

5 years ago this week

Five years ago yesterday I entered the MTC. Of course when I remembered that last night, I had to get out my mission pictures, but after 10 minutes, I realized Iwas going to have to limit myself to just a few more minutes or else I'd be going through them all night long (since they're still in one box since I haven't really organized them yet). A few awesome memories (I'll try not to make it boring, nor will I be offended if you don't read it since its so long, and well...aren't all missionary stories the same?) And yep, they are scanned. Can you believe that even just 5 short years ago we did have tons of those fancy digital cameras?


With my mom on the drop off day. Every missionary is sure to remember this first day...with the inevitable precious orange "dork dot" that screamed loud and clear to the other missionaries in the MTC "It'S MY FIRST DAY".

As if our faces didn't already give that one away.

Fast forward through the MTC and to St. George, this Jeff and his sister Sarah Fieldstad in St. George. Jeff was 19 and an ameateur boxer- we would go to his boxing ring every Wednesday night at 8pm for discussions. When I was transferred back to St. George a year later, we found his 16 year old sister Sarah was also baptized (with Sister Yagi from Japan).

I had such good companions on my mish- here's one of my all time faves; Sister Sugimoto (aka 'Sugi') from Osaksa Japan at Tuachan in St. George for a zone activity watching the BYU folk dancers. She was seriously the one sister in the mission who every sister missionary wanted to be companions with- and I got to be her companion on her last transfer! We later were roomates back at BYU-Idaho.
Who says there's no missionary work in Provo? With Sister Sawyer from Sacramento (another fabulous and fav companion- she flew from CA to GA for our wedding) and Kae Sae Chao (and wife) at his baptism. From here on out, you'll take serious notice of the "jody" brand dresses I wore throughout my mission. By the time I went home, I had 7 jody dresses accumulated that I rotated every day throughout my mission.

That's Tyanna on my left and some of her other siblings. She was 9 going on 25 and the most precocious girl I've met in my life. After her baptism, she gave a talk in the next Stake Conference (at least I was impressed.)

This would be Jackie Dudman. She was a graphic designer from Europe who came to the States looking for work. We would teach her in her hotel room- and in return she would teach us tap dance moves on the little patch of entry way inside her hotel room. She was such a fun character.

The Charles family who moved from Holland to Provo. They were golden and asked us if they could be baptized before we could even ask them. We taught them the lessons and set a date to be baptized- and then...yep, you guessed it. I was transferred out of the area 3 days before their baptism took place. Bummer.

Gina Sheffer. Sad story, but good girl. This was my on my 22nd birthday. Her and Sister Sawyer put together a little suprise party for me. They made a barbie cake and then the other cake with frosting that reads "Hey, Joe Rocks" (Joe was her older brother in tatoos from head to toe who we would also visit since he wife was taking the missionary discussions and set a baptism date for...yep- you guessed it again. About a week after I was transferred out of the area. (By, the way, these last 4 pictures are from when I was serving in south Provo. I really do chuckle to myself whenever I hear members say something alson the lines of "We live in Utah- there's no missionary work here." In my two transfers in south provo, we found and taught about 15 people that were baptized).

This cute family we met when I was serving with Sister Isameli (from Fiji) in Vernal. Their 12 year old son (far right) had ben adopted and was being baptized (another plug for Utah missionary work- in the one transfer, meaning 6 weeks, that I was in vernal, we baptized 6 people with another 4 on date for baptism after I left the area).

Sister Isameli (from Fiji) and I at a zone conference. It was probably a good thing that we weren't together for longer than a transfer. You can only get into so much mischef as a sister missionary in Vernal...

This sweet couple is Bev and Harvey Beavers. She was 75 years old and decided to be baptized. I loved visiting with them- isn't she so cute sitting on his lap? That's Sister Kuenzi from Switzerland. If her ambition to be a nurse didn't pan out, then she was gunning to be a comedian. This girl could seriously make me laugh.

With Sean and Candy Jones back in St. George. Such a sweet family- their 10 year old daughter had been killed in a four -wheeling accident just 2 months before we met them. Every time we prayed with them, we would pray for "Bay-o" (Bailey) to be watched over in heaven. Candy was already a member- Sean was golden.

This is Kylie (on the last Sunday before I went home)- she really surprised us by having always having read the chapters in the scriptures when we left them with her. She knew them well. So sad that her family wouldn't come with her to church or could afford for her to even have a dress for her baptism here (I gave her one of my dresses before I came home. Luckily it actually fit her well since it was a little snug on me).

Wow! So many memories this doesn't even cover a fraction of it. There was definately hard times in those 18 months on my mission, but somehow I forget most of them when I look back at memories like these :)

No candy this halloween

I love it when my friend Linsey forwards me funny/ interesting e-mails at work; this one she just sent earlier this week. (Remember the Japanese square watermelon post? That was from her too. )

P.S. At the beginning of the year, Linsey set a goal to read 50 books during 2009. As of this week, she's finished #40 and going strong. Between her full time job and life in general, I'm impressed. Go Linsey!!

Positive Outlook

I've been a little bummed and then happy, but then bummed (and then happy again) at work since yesterday morning (don't we all love life's little roller coaster rides?).

Today I left work a little early to go to the cannery to can our raspberries and blackberries for the jam I want to make for our food storage. Since Brant's on a trip, I headed over there solo and- after getting my hairnet secured, my plastic apron tied, and my gloves on (its quite stylish, the cannery it is) - I get on the assembly line and meet the sweetest 70 year old sister missionary there (they have missionary couples working at the cannery). The first thing she said when she saw me in my hairnet and plastic apron was "my, you have such a pretty face." I was definately caught off guard and the first thing that popped into my mind was is this woman kidding? Maybe I should wear a hairnet more often..., but I immediately replied thank you and that she had such a pretty face too (Seriously- I don't think those eyebrows of hers could have been penciled in any better ;). As we get started bagging frozen raspberries, she goes on to rave about the "glow" that I have which starts us talking and sharing life experiences (well, she had a lot more to share than me- she really was just so sweet).

I don't think that I've ever in my life met a sweeter stranger than this older woman. I dare say that its help make up for the recent bummer times at work.

Problem, problem, who owns the problem?

(yep- another text heavy post!)

Remember that awesome parenting class that I was telling you about the other night? Well here's finally why I liked it so much (and wrote more notes on it than I have since my college days).

This class categorizes parenting into 3 categories:

(1) Helicopter parents (who hover, rescue, and protect)
(2) Drill Sergeants ("Do it! do it now, or else!")
(3) Consultants (are there to give advice and let the child make the decision, with the idea that they will let the child make as many mistakes as possible when it doesn't harm the child).

Now, I'm not a mom yet- but I do have a mom and know a number of moms personally (seriously). Naturally, I think that mothers tend to be more of "helicopter" parents. Meaning that mothers have a need to be needed and will do pretty whatever they're kids running toward them with a problem want them to - because it fulfills that need. However, the message that "helicopter" parents are telling their children are "you need me to protect you" and "you can't make it in life without me". The instructor of this class talked about how moms want to serve, but when that service causes a child's dependance, then its not service at all.

So. Why did I like this so much? Well, the next point discussed that night was how to distinguish a child's problem and if its the child's problem (in my opinion - the majority of the time) and when its the parent's problem (and again my opinion - the minority of the time).

For example: a child shoots off their mouth at school (child's problem) vs. child shoots off their mouth at the parents too (the parent's problem now). Or the child's room is a dsiaster area (the child's problem) or the child strews belongings throughout the house (parent's problem). Or perhaps my most favorite... (well, actually I had something written here but Brant wanted me to take this part out after the orginial post...)

Anyways, our class instructor is a vice principle of an elementary school with 7 grown kids of her own. She's had much practice with these principles (which I can now with confidence say that they are principles and not simply my opinion).

Case in point- since we don't have kids of our own to "practice" these principles on, we "practice" on other's people's kids. So on Sunday Brant's younger brother had come over to watch the last session of General Conference, which we enjoyed his company. After it was over, we put a frozen lasagna into the oven to cook- which would take a good hour to be ready. So, we asked his brother if he wanted to stay and wait for dinner, or if he wanted us to take him back to his college dorm where he could eat right away at the cafeteria. Our conversation went something like this:

Us: Do you want stay and wait for another hour for dinner to cook and eat with us or do you want to go back to your dorm to eat now?

AK- I don't care.

Us- Neither do we.

AK- No, seriously, I don't care- you guys decide.

(Ok- hello?? This is a no-brainer. Home cooked food or cafeteria food on a Sunday evening?? The issue here was that he wanted us to make the decision for him after we had told him that we didn't mind either way).

Us- No, seriously- its your decison and we won't make it for you. It's what we learned in this parenting class.

Silence. And then the discussion topic changes. A few minutes later...

AK- Ok, I'll stay and eat with you guys. Man, that parenting class really works...

Us = :)

P.S. Love ya, AK ;)

Whoa.

I just got home from the parenting class that Brant and I have been taking (well, for the past three weeks its actually been me that's be taking them since Brant has been on trips on Thursdays) and I am super excited to post about this particular class we had tonight...

When I have time.

I still need to update the D.C. post too - I'm thinking it will happen over this conference weekend between sessions and working on Christmas gifts. Stay tuned!