Memorial Day etc

For Memorial Day  we drove the Alpine loop and then stopped in Provo Canyon and roasted bratwurst and marshmallows. Ian and I have come to a picture truce, so I am allowed to take some pictures of him, if he can take pictures of me. Here are the results.

Since there was a handy stick and a pocketknife, of course I had to whittle. It came in handy for the marshmallow roasting.

Our best attempt at a self portrait.

This is our house on May 24. As you can see it snowed. We had about an inch at our house, though it doesn't look nearly that impressive, but that is because the grass is about a foot long. (It has been mowed since then.) At the temple there were probably 3-4 inches.

We were going to do our marshmallow/brat roast last Friday but it looked like it was going to rain. Ian didn't want to wait for smores so we had those for dessert.

The best thing about roasting smores over the stove is you don't have to worry about the marshmallow catching on fire. Also its a lot easier to wash your hand and face when you're done.

Ian and I are both wonderful at taking flattering pictures. Portrait, anyone?

Weddingness

It's only taken six months...

After I got endowed.

Everyone who came to the temple with us. Ian's parents, my parents, and my sisters Emma, Clarissa, Camilla and Eliza.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple the night I was endowed.

This is probably my favorite picture from our wedding.

I love that we both have our noses wrinkled. I don't remember why.

Some of Ian's nieces and nephews. Another one of my favorite pics.

My family. One of my sisters and her family couldn't make it.

Ian's family. They were all there.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple on our wedding day.

Me and my mom.

With all our nieces and nephews (though there are more now). They were all so cute in their matching dresses and suits. It was pretty cold though so they're all covered up.

Ian's watch adds just the right touch.

 So cute.

Ian and his mom.

The photographers had hand warmers for us. They told me to put them on my nose in between pictures so it wouldn't be so red. It didn't always work as you can see.

It must've worked in this one, though I'm surprised the goosebumps don't show up in the picture. By this time we were pretty dang cold.

Outside Tucanos waiting to go in for our wedding dinner.

Ian's family at our reception in Washington.

Only three of my sister's made it to the reception.

Random Things

My sisters Emma and Camilla and Camilla's boyfriend came over for General Conference and Easter. I figured that since its been a long time since we've been home for Easter it would be fun to make them all Easter baskets. But, I was too cheap to get them actual baskets so I put their stuff in Tupperware, which they had to give back.

Since Ian is kind of a picture grouch this is one of the few pictures in which he isn't scowling.

I couldn't get the ironing board to close (I may have broken it) so Ian fixed it for me. Of course I had to document the occasion, but due to the picture grouchiness I had to sneak up on him. He still looks like I betrayed him, but it was too late. He didn't let me take another one though.

For my sister Camilla's birthday Emma and I drove up to Salt Lake and we went hiking in the hills up by the U. It was kind of a bipolar weather day... It started out hot and sunny but ended up cold, windy and rainy. The black things on the bottom are the straps of my backpack. It was the only thing we could put the camera on and get our faces in the picture and not our knees.

Another self portrait attempt. We did have one that was more centered but I looked like I had 4 chins, so since I have all the power I used this one instead. I think Camilla and Emma look better in this one anyway.

Of course we had a snack. In this case it was saltine crackers and cheese, apples and granola bars. That's what my dad always brought when we went hiking with him when we were little, so we were being nostalgic.

Organ Woes

So for the last few months I have been playing the organ in our ward. The first few weeks were pretty bad as I relearned how to play. I took lessons for a year in high school and then I took a class, but since that ended more than a year ago I didn't even touch an organ until I got called to play. So, needless to say, the first few weeks were not so good. So eventually I got the basics figured out all over again and I decided to get a little fancier- like maybe change the registration in between verses and use the pedals a lot more. For the uninitiated, a basic organ has two rows of keys and pedals that work basically like a piano. But, unlike the piano, for each level you can pull different stops, each of which has a different sound. This is registration. To simplify the process you can preset registrations so you can completely change it just by pushing a button instead of by pulling a bunch of new stops. So I went to do all of this as normal, but when you push the buttons it makes a very loud noise for a few seconds (as if I was playing one of the keys), and it doesn't seem to change the stops. So there went that. So then I was just sticking with the basics, however that didn't end up working too well either. Apparently one of the pedals has a short, so if I have any of the pedal stops pulled it sounds constantly. So now I have just been playing the organ as if it were a piano, but it is just incomplete sounding. All I have to say is that that organ is unlike any organ I have ever played or that I have learned about at all. It is a lot cooler though because it is a pipe organ. And I do like playing the organ, but it's way better when I know how to do what I want and when I can play how I want.

First blog

I decided to join the ranks of the bloggers, and since I have nothing to do at work today (except homework), I thought why not. I did toy with having a yellow and green background w/ John Deere tractors just for Ian, but decided against it. I'll put up pictures of the wedding and our house as I get around to it, which might not be until May, but we'll see.