Independence Day!

Yes, I'm aware the fourth of July was almost three weeks ago. But this year was the last year that Sugar House Park did fireworks, and I took some really cool pictures. I'd never been to Sugar House Park, but Cori (sister-in-law) grew up going there, so we went early to get seats, then were joined by Greg's brother, Jeff (Cori's husband), and his sister, Kimberly and her boyfriend, Josh. It was really fun and we got a nice spot in the shade so it wasn't even too hot.

Left to right: Josh, Kimberly, Cori, Me

The Finale

Our 4th Anniversary

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary! We are really celebrating on Friday but we went out to dinner tonight. It's funny to think that I've been married the majority of my adult life :) While 4 years doesn't feel like a particularly long time, it's still worth saying that I love Greg more each day and am so happy I married him!

Adjusting...

Please note the below post has been edited for accuracy. Our kitten is much friendlier and VERY active. After a few days, we could walk right up to it and hold it....and I noticed something. Look for the edits in the below post, can you figure out what I noticed?

Another Surprise

No, I'm not pregnant. But remember how I said, just a few days ago, that I wondered what other strange things June had in store for me? Well, Friday after work I came home and started talking to Greg. After a while, I went into our bedroom for a minute and when I came out, Greg asked me to open the extra bedroom door because "it was too dark in the hallway." I thought he was acting very strange but opened the door to placate him. As I started to walk away, something caught my eye. I went into the bedroom and there was a styrofoam box with a door cut out and a blanket, a food and water dish (with food and water in the dishes), and a cardboard box I hadn't seen before, with a bag of food inside it. I looked at Greg and he just smiled at me. I looked at the food closer and realized it looked like cat food. I asked him if it was and he said yes. At this point I became quite confused because 1) I couldn't understand why these things were in my back room when there was no cat in sight, 2) Greg does NOT like cats. At all. In fact, I was pretty sure the only thing that would ever get him to agree to getting a cat would be our kids begging for most of their childhood. So I asked him what was going on and he said "It looks like it's a game of hide and seek." Huh? So I carefully lift up the blanket in the styrofoam box, nothing there. I look behind one curtain and don't see anything, so I lift it up and out jumps this:

Yep, he got me a kitten!! Our friend, Stephanie, has a brother whose cat had kittens and asked if we wanted one. I wanted one but Greg said no, as expected. But here he is. I stood there in shock for a minute and then tried to hold him. Except he was TERRIFIED of anyone, anything, any noise, any movement. He just crouched in the corner and was shaking. He finally hid behind the toilet and we put a towel back there and let him stay there until he was ready to come out. I named him Rajah (RAW-juh). Like the tiger in Aladdin. Greg spent all day with him on Saturday because I was visiting a friend, and he got him to come out and play a little. Today, he was even more friendly. He played and wants to be pet but still hides occassionally. Greg built this for him:

He likes it, but has trouble climbing the styrofoam.

Two other pictures of him playing.

Isn't he cute? Greg and I are working on training him not to chew any cords, scratch the furniture, or be so scared of loud noises. I feel bad leaving him alone in our condo all day (barricaded, of course) but I don't trust him over the whole condo yet and he's way too little to be outside all day. Now, the only problem is that Greg might be allergic to him. I really hope it's a cold and not allergies!!

Wow!

This has been a weird, random, but cool month, and it's not even over yet.

First, in case you weren't aware, Utah is a desert. This means that we are constantly trying to conserve water and that the Spring and Summer seasons are usually blistering hot. Except this season. It has rained nearly every day for the entire month of June. As of June 9, we were 110% over the average rainfall amount for June. Greg and I turned off our heat around the end of March/early April. We still haven't turned the air conditioning on. The cool part is we've had some cool lightening storms and everything is really green, which makes me think of Maryland. The thunder and lightening aren't as cool as Maryland, though.

Second, my old roommate, Nicole, and I have been talking about throwing darts at paint-filled balloons for a long time. If you've seen Princess Diaries, you know what we were aspiring to. Nicole is an artist, so she led the adventure. She recruited her current roommate, Shelly, to help since the resulting artwork would go in their apartment. Now the tricky part was filling the balloons. A quick internet search will yield you few results, but the ones that do come up make a firm point about the pressure you need to fill the balloons. We didn't want to take the time to make a pressure vessel, so we improvised. We ended up blowing up the balloon, letting the air out, carefully pouring the paint into the balloon, then blowing the balloon up again. This was a very interesting process. Especially since occassionally, the balloon wasn't held tight enough and sprayed paint in your face. Luckily it was non-toxic paint! Then, we pinned the balloons to a canvas over the wooden fence. But, remember, it's rained almost every day in June. The pressure changes as the storm came in that night caused some of the balloons to pop before we could throw darts, but we still got to throw quite a few darts and had a ton of fun. Now, while this is weird, it wasn't as weird as realizing that Shelly went to school with and now works with Tom, a friend in our ward. So my old roommate is now roommates with my friend's friend. Here are some pictures of our night:

Now, here's the most random thing that's happened. A little background info, first. When I was 11, there were two girls at church I was close with. One of the girls, Molly, moved very quickly and I never spoke to her again. I tracked down her address when I got married, and I knew she'd had a baby. The other girl moved a few years later, and she found me on Facebook a few months ago. At church on Sunday, a friend brought another little girl with her to church with her kids. Someone asked who this little girl was, and she started explaining that it was her ex-husband's step-daughter (she and her ex-husband are both remarried). I heard her say the name Molly and another name, the name I happened to know was the name of Molly's baby. I started asking questions and lo and behold, it was the same girl. My childhood friend is now married to my friend's ex-husband! Luckily they are all good friends, but how strange is that?? I called her after church and ended up going over there for dinner. It was so great to see that after 11 years, she is happily married with a family of her own. I don't want to put any details out there on the internet, but if anyone in my family or from Severna Park is wondering what happened to the Browns, email me.

I wonder what other strange things the month of June has in store for me!

My legs are throbbing

Now that it is getting warmer, I thought it would be a good idea to pull the bike out and go for a "short" ride. I have not been on any serious bike rides this year so I should have just gone on a shorter ride to ease my way into it. Well, that was at least the initial plan, until I started riding. As I was riding, it seemed as if the Kennecott Copper mine was just so close. I thought it would be a good idea to go to the mine entrance. We do have to remember the road is like a roller coaster to get there and a nice hill at the end right before the mine. Of course, I was not giving up even though my legs felt like jelly. It took all I had to make it home. I was so weak I could not make it up some of the hills on the way back. I was out riding for a total of 3 and a half hours. I got home and google-mapped the distance. It ended up being a total of 28.4 miles. I don't think I will be doing that ride again any time soon. I am now feeling the consequences of my actions with throbbing muscles and a bright red sunburn.
Also, Kay's 23rd birthday was this past Tuesday, May 5. Happy Birthday, Kay!!!

What? They're Alive?

Yes, we're alive. And apparently horrible bloggers. They were a myriad of things I meant to blog about over the past almost-two months, but it just didn't get done. It's finally getting warmer here in SLC after a few spring snow storms. So I'll try to give you a nice synopsis of the past two months. We went down to see my sister, Erin, in early March. Her son, Max, is absolutely adorable as you can see from the pictures on her blog. We relaxed, rode horses, went to a slot canyon, and went to Zion's National Park. I'd been when I was little but didn't remember any of it. Greg had never been, so it was fun. Poor Erin was sick since she's pregnant (she announced it on her blog so I can say that, right?), so she didn't hike with us. I was impressed I got to the Upper Emerald Pool with being out of shape and my asthma. It was worth it, though. Even with all the trees still dead-looking from winter, it was very pretty. This is us standing below the waterfall at the Upper Emerald Pool:

Me in the slot canyon. I discovered I was not tall enough nor flexible enough to get out at the end. You have to lift your leg up onto a ledge about 3 feet off the ground you're standing on. I had to first put my other foot against the flat wall, then pull myself up with my hands.

Greg riding the horse we both rode. I went on a longer ride with Erin and her friend. For those who know anything about horses, this one is 17 hands tall. I had to stand on a bale of hay to reach the stirrups and get on!

We were sad to come home, and especially to go back to work. I've been part of building a new customer relations database for my department and training other employees to use it. I'm basically not allowed to take any more vacation time until September. But that means I have a job, so I'm not about to complain.

Another funny picture requires some explaining. I started working out after work. Usually I'll use the gym in my buiding's basement, but sometimes I'll come home and use the Wii Fit. It's not exactly an aerobic workout, but it's fun and the strength training and yoga are actually rather beneficial. The Wii Fit speaks and gives directions as though it was an actual person and can be slightly disturbing at times. Then, there are the days when it asks you about the others whose profile has been registered but have not used it recently. For example, it asks me to rate Greg's posture:

Then, when I said it looked the same, it said "Oh...change is more exciting, don't you think?" Followed by:

Why, thank you, Wii Fit, for that helpful marriage advice. Lest you think I really have been ignoring Greg, his 27th birthday was April 21 (Tuesday) and we had friends over and a strawberry genoise cake with whip cream frosting, which I was very impressed with myself for making from scratch. Our birthdays are exactly two weeks apart, so we get to repeat the celebrations in 10 days.

Happy Birthday, my love!!!!!!!