July 4th Reunion

My cousin and is cigar (he smokes them at every reunion)

Cathy & I on the Rhino

My Great Aunt Dot on the right

Fishing pond Below

70+ year old man in middle

For the 4th of July weekend, my sister and I went to the annual family reunion held in Cullpepper, VA. Some highlights of the family reunion(in no particular order):

1. Being hit on by a 70+ year old man (not related to me)

2. Going on two atv/rhino rides through my cousin's 400 acre farm

3. Eating good southern cooking

4. Seeing my Great Aunt Dot who is my Grandfathers sister.

5. Spending time w/my Dad and sister

6. Catching three fish in my cousin's fishing pond (and releasing them back)

7. Seeing pictures of myself and my grandparents from when we were much younger

8. Holding a navy seal hand pistol w/a silencer and a semi-automatic machine gun (my cousin loves guns)
If you can't tell, I'm related to some serious Southerners. They are the best and so loving. I'm happy to be a part of the family.

My Cousin's farm house was built in the late 1700's and I took some pictures of the foundation of the old slave quarters, as well as the house itself w/some party tents out front.

Summer Adventures

OK, so I may not have been very active in my blog writing but I've been having a very active summer so far. First of all in the first week of June my best friend, JennyLyn, flew in to visit from Utah. We met my Senior year of college at BYU after my mission. With in a week we were practically inseparable. Now that a husband and baby have come into the picture there has been some separation; not to mention the fact that I moved across the country to Buffalo, NY. Anyways she came out and spent most of the week with me along with her adorable baby boy, Ammon. We had a good time hanging out, going for walks, having long conversations until early in the morning and shopping. We also went on the Jet boats up in Lewiston,NY. My friend JennyLyn is famous for having a great scream so I thought what better way to bring out some screams than going on the jet boats. It turned out that I was the one who screamed the entire time. The older I get the more I realize I'm not as tough as I thought I was.

Oh, I forgot. I went with some friends (Jessica P., Martha S., & Sara A.) to climb the "highest peak" in Pennsylvania. We got a bit lost trying to find the "trail head" but a friendly Amish man showed us the way. It was my very first time having a conversation with an Amish person. I loved his accent! It turned out that we could actually drive straight to the top. Needless to say we were a little disappointed. But all was not lost. We decided to do a loop hike through the forest area which ended up being around 6 miles or so. It was a beautiful hike and good times with friends. Also Gwen H. and my sister Cathy went on a trip to Vermont over Memorial day weekend. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures but we had a good time exploring new restaurants, knitting shops and ice cream shops. Since I've been in Buffalo I've been to Vermont three times. That equals out to once a year. I just love that state. If you haven't been you've got to go!

Now yesterday my friend Jessica P. and I, along with her sister and family rode in a bike ride called "The ride for Rosewell". It's a hospital in Buffalo that does cancer research. We raised funds and then went on a short 8+ mile bike ride. I haven't been on a bike for more than a city block for years. So even though the ride was so short I am actually sore today. OK, mainly my rear end is sore. I think I'll stick to running. The ride was fun and I had a good time running around w/Jessica's niece and nephew on UB North Campus. After the bike ride I went with my roommate Gwen on a kayaking trip to one of our favorite spots just off of Main Street in Williamsville. There is a castle hidden in the back woods and it's always fun to kayak around the castle. Also typically we are able to see dear and other fun animals.

I hope to have more fun adventures to update you about. Enjoy the summer!

Winter Blues

Hello All,

I haven't dissapeard off the face of the earth since October. This year I didn't get Christmas week off so I spent Christmas here in Buffalo. I felt like a missionary again (it could be that I spent the entire morning with the sister missionaries) because I was invited by a family that I didn't know to dinner and I accepted. It was the family of my good friend Jessica who you see in all my adventure pictures. I had a great time with her and her family and was able to eat some food that is very Western New York. At Christmas dinner we had Perogies. I'm sure I'm spelling that incorrectly but basically it is a Polish "hot pocket" of sorts.

For Thanksgiving I was able to take a few days off so that I could fly out to visit my sister Theresa and her 8 kids. Those kids are just amazing!! The two oldest girls Sileena(12) and Chrishann (9) are in a local cheerleading group and they love to perform all the moves they know. Sileena is also enrolled in gymnastic classes and with two large trampolines in the backyard, it didn't take long for Sileena to be throwing her body all over the gymnatic floor. She is so athletic. It was always a dream of my sister Theresa to be a gymnast so I'm sure it makes her very proud to see her daughter flying all over the place.

In late December I had bronchitus and two weeks ago I had a 24 hour bug that made me throw-up for the first time since Jr. High (about 15 years ago). I do not like throwing up at all!! And just today I went to the doctor because yesterday was one of the most miserable days of my life (health wise). The doctor gave me one of those notes stating I should not go to work for two days, but I have so much to do in the office. Once my boss saw the note from the doctor she threw me out the door and said I couldn't come back until Wednesday. I hate being sick!!!! I'm losing my personal days on actually being sick. It's much more fun to use them when I'm healthy and want to tromp around in Vermont or Maine. Hopefuly this string of sickness will end soon. I think my immune system is weaker because I'm not sleeping as much due to teaching early morning seminary. Of course I choose to go to bed at 10pm. I should move it up to 9pm.

OK I'm signing off. (PS, the spell check does not seem to be working so please forgive my horrible spelling)

I didn't have any current pictures for this very boring blog so I attached some pictures that I recently found on an old photo disc. These are some pictures of my trip to China in 2005. I can't believe how skinny I was. Since moving to Buffalo (the home of the chicken wing) and working for Applebee's restaurants I have gained a bit of weight up here. The middle picture has some wonderfully translated Chinese advice. The picture on the left is the Great Wall, and the picture on the right is my good friend Holly who I went to China with. Thats us either in the Salt Lake airport or the Seoul Korea airport. I can't remember.