Brandon's New Toy

So Brandon and I have two cars... well, at least we used to. He drives my old high school car (a '98 olds achieva) and I drive our nicer car. Not for long!! He found a pretty good deal on a red Ford Explorer the other day from a private owner. I guess he had been talking to him about it for awhile and the guy finally said he could just take it for the price Brandon offered (which was a bit lower than what he could actually get for it if he tried to stick it out). So, last week Brandon drove down to Lewiston to pick up the beauty. I actually like it and it is getting a detailed clean tomorrow at a car shop... hurray! It is nothing spectacular but as soon as we sell my old high school car, we will have made up the difference (that is why it is a pretty dang good deal). The most important thing is that he likes driving it tons better than my old high school car. We have already had someone call on my old car. I think Brandon just put it on Craigs List today. So we are pretty excited... I have not taken any pictures of it yet as it is at a car shop so that it can get the detail clean tomorrow but the picture above is pretty much exactly what it looks like. Now we just have to get the kids coming so we can fill that thing up, right?!

Bishop Rowley

For those of you who may not know me well, I am a family freak. I love being with my family and doing anything... working, playing, etc. My dad has taught me many things in life and I have treasured being born into the world with him as my father. He has been a strength and inspiration to me as I have faced challenging decisions in my life.

Just last week he informed me that he had been called to the bishop of my home ward. This was already an emotional week for me as there were lots of other things going on that were playing with my emotions. So after I got off the phone with him I really had to try hard not to cry. I was so happy and I knew it was right but I still knew it would be a difficult calling for our family.

I am truly blessed to have learned so much from him. He is very understand of his children. He knows each of them well and that is something I will always treasure is the personal relationship that I have with him. Though we do not discuss personal matters as much now that I have a husband, I still feel that bond.

So today while he was sitting up on the stands, as I looked up from the congregation I saw my dad with a mantle of great leadership falling upon him. I do have to say the weirdest thing about it is that I still look at him and he is my dad. I don't see him as bishop, I see him as my dad and someone I have grown to love greatly.

He will do wonderful at this new calling as a bishop. In our faith, a bishop is the one who is at the head of a ward family. He does not get paid for his service to the members of the church. However, I am sure that he and his family are very blessed while he is serving for the Lord. I am grateful for his powerful example and I will always see him as my dad- no matter what office of the church he serves in. I love you dad!!

Pure Content

On Friday afternoon we left Moscow to meet my parents at the Columbia River Temple to do an endowment session. Our session started at 7:30pm. I was all excited because we left early enough that I knew we could probably make it to my absolute favorite restaurant in time to eat there before we had to be at the temple. It wasn't until we were ten minutes down the road that realized we were going the wrong direction! We were driving to Walla Walla not the Tri-Cities. So, we turned around and headed back to Moscow and then on our merry way in the right direction. Just about the time we were ready to take the temple exit, we second guessed ourselves and took the wrong exit which put us on another busy highway. So we ended up spending ten minutes trying to get going back in the correct direction. Finally, we were on the right road. Now my favorite restaurant of all time is the truly divine Olive Garden and it just happens to be on the same main road as the temple. One of my all-time favorite stores is Costco. There is also a Costco on this main road. I knew that we were completely out of my staple food, granola bars, so I was initially thinking that we may have a split second for me to dart in and grab a few of their big boxes of granola bars just before our splendid Olive Garden experience. To my dismay, because of the few set backs we had experienced, we did not arrive in the Tri-Cities in time to actually go and sit down to eat somewhere. Brandon pretty much told me that I had time to run into Costco and nothing else. However, I pled with him to let me at least see if the Olive Garden could make me a quick take out order. I darted into Costco and was back out in ten minutes (now that is record time!). I was doing this so quickly only because I was dying to have my Olive Garden and I was going to do whatever it took to get it. We raced over to Olive Garden and I ordered my take out. Ten minutes later, I was one happy girl with my granola bars in the trunk and goodness on my lap. We parked in the temple parking lots and I scarfed down my soup and breadsticks so fast it hurt but it tasted soooooo good and I was one content girl! Thank you Brandon for making me so happy! P.S.- I totally look pregnant in this picture but I am definitely not!

Bowling While Beat

You can tell we both are totally out of it!

And this is my fun friend Lara. I am so glad she got to come with us!!

So we decided to stay with my parents for a few days during our half of a a Spring Break and in order to maximize our time there we decided to drive back to Moscow super early on Wednesday morning instead of on Tuesday afternoon. So we drove back super early on Wednesday and I went straight to work. After a long day at work I went home exhausted and ready for bed. However, instead of going to bed, we decided to go bowling! It was fun- only because we went with some really cool people. Brandon and I felt half asleep nearly the whole time which probably says why our scores were probably the lowest we have ever had!! Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Brandon & I had the opportunity to go and visit my family in Walla Walla this last weekend. I was kind of bummed because I only got Monday and Tuesday of this week off from work so we could not stay as long as I had hoped. However, it is probably a good thing because I know Brandon is kind of behind on his school work right now. One of the things we did do though while we were at my families house was fly kites. We have had two kites in the trunk of our car since Easter of last year. Brandon's mom put them in our Easter baskets last year (what a great idea by the way!). It was super windy in Walla Walla last Sunday and I was thinking of something that we could do that would be fun with my littler siblings and then I remembered our kites! My siblings also had some of their own. It ended up being a blast. These pictures are kind of dark so I will lighten them up a bit when I get home from work but as of now they will have to do. The last picture of Brandon with the kite does not really capture how good he is at kite flying. After a few minutes, he had that kite up so high I could not even take a picture!!! What an amazing kite flyer he is. He is going to be so good with our kids!!!

My New Best Friend

I am always cold when I go to bed and Brandon is always a furnace. So he always has the fan at full blast on his side and I am always trying to snuggle up close to him to get warm (he does not like to snuggle when he is trying to go to sleep). So the other day he bought me a heated blanket from JCPenney online. Can I just tell you how amazing this thing is or what! I cannot believe we did not make this purchase sooner! I absolutely LOVE it. I never go to bed cold now. It is like lying down on a warm massage table every night before you rest and then I can adjust it so that it is not so hot after I get warm. I put it under my sheets so I do not have direct contact with it. Though it is not the cheapest item in the store, I highly recommend it!

This Is Pretty Much the Coolest Birthday Cake You Have Ever Seen

So my littlest brother Stewart had his 11th birthday today. My mom sent me to the store to pick up the cake she had ordered (this is a first for our family by the way- no one has ever gotten a store bought cake before- it is always homemade). I guess my mom paid big bucks for this one and I can see why. It is pretty rad that they can just take a picture of BYU basketball player Lee Commard and have it turned into edible frosting so I think it freakin rocks!!!!

Ouch Mommy That Hurts!

I used to get cold sores like crazy but since we have been in Moscow I have steared clear of them for a long while. Unfortunately however, I had the biggest one I have ever had show up just a few days ago and it hurts SOOOOO bad! It makes me want to cry all of the time. I have been putting my persciption medicine for coldsores on it all day and I have already taken lots of Licene. Please go away painful thing on my lip!!!

Pretty Toenails

So tonight my friend Lara came over and did my toenails. I love it when she comes over because we can chat and have some good girl time. She also just really has a talent for painting toenails as you can probably already see. This is by far my favorite design that she has done. Thanks Lara for making my toes pretty tonight!