tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51301366647292034332024-03-05T21:59:08.658-07:00The Blackmer FamilyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-60379776309094248322009-09-22T23:03:00.010-06:002009-09-23T00:31:04.289-06:00Our Blog is Not Dead...and we aren't either!<br /><br />For those of you doubting that the Blackmers were doing anything with their lives, and wondering if they were even still alive, here is your post.<br />We've been busy!<br />See?<br /><br />Rachel's brother Nick left on a mission to Spain<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srm2i1LqFRI/AAAAAAAAATM/qIXZs-9AyqM/s1600-h/6780_1206564436568_1002361884_636132_3533793_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srm2i1LqFRI/AAAAAAAAATM/qIXZs-9AyqM/s200/6780_1206564436568_1002361884_636132_3533793_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384535539005920530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Our trip to Eastern Canada (including Rachel's mission! and Green Gables!)<br /><br />(see slideshow <a href="http://s752.photobucket.com/albums/xx169/rblackmer/">here</a>)<br /><br />Dave in the Book of Mormon pageant<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmyxG9_aoI/AAAAAAAAAS8/UpKwWGbnwEs/s1600-h/P8150010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmyxG9_aoI/AAAAAAAAAS8/UpKwWGbnwEs/s200/P8150010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384531386252094082" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srm3UMr_ShI/AAAAAAAAATU/WwXsA3BfUDg/s1600-h/P8150014.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srm3UMr_ShI/AAAAAAAAATU/WwXsA3BfUDg/s200/P8150014.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384536387129133586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And, Rachel has been working like crazy. Dave has also started working again (back at AAPC) and he is working on his portfolio to apply to grad schools to get an M.F.A. in Film Studies. Check out his first film <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTpwiFKZ3g4">here</a>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-60260066731910788322009-09-22T22:48:00.008-06:002009-09-22T23:03:03.448-06:00KiraMany people believe that the sole purpose of having a blog is to post pictures of your adorable kids, especially so that friends and family out of town can ogle over how much they have grown, etc. etc. Well, we don't have kids, but we have an adorable dog, and figure that she can serve the same purpose for our blog.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmrXEH9wfI/AAAAAAAAASc/hReclhzCuT4/s1600-h/P5070332-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmrXEH9wfI/AAAAAAAAASc/hReclhzCuT4/s320/P5070332-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384523242230628850" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srmq9STFR0I/AAAAAAAAASM/eAaR1W9zZNU/s1600-h/kira+and+dave.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/Srmq9STFR0I/AAAAAAAAASM/eAaR1W9zZNU/s320/kira+and+dave.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384522799358756674" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmqmmuCiZI/AAAAAAAAAR8/GBjc_obnZIg/s1600-h/kira+0042.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmqmmuCiZI/AAAAAAAAAR8/GBjc_obnZIg/s320/kira+0042.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384522409703541138" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmrGRSdP_I/AAAAAAAAASU/mknlY4qDgMQ/s1600-h/P9160008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SrmrGRSdP_I/AAAAAAAAASU/mknlY4qDgMQ/s320/P9160008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384522953706520562" border="0" /></a>We are convinced that she is the cutest dog in the world, and we have 70+ photos to prove it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-78807451805417716272009-06-17T10:32:00.003-06:002009-06-18T10:50:50.614-06:00Blackmer Update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://files.myopera.com/magic_mania/blog/happy-woman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 285px;" src="http://files.myopera.com/magic_mania/blog/happy-woman.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I just got a promotion at work! One of my co-workers just had a baby and we all thought that she was coming back, but she was just too in love with her baby to come back to work full-time. So we basically took my position and her position and meshed them together. (If you think that that makes more work for me, you're right!) Now I am the Program Coordinator at the <a href="http://www.eslcenter.org">English Skills Learning Center</a>. I train and supervise volunteers that teach English to adult refugees and immigrants here in Salt Lake County. We do a lot of classes all over the valley, and we also do one-on-one matches with tutors and students. We serve those who can't attend traditional English classes for one of many reasons: a) they don't have the funds to pay for it, b) they don't have transportation to get to classes c) their English is so low that they would be completely lost in a traditional class or often d) they have children or sick relatives that they need to care for, so they can't leave the home for English classes.<br />The people that I work with are amazing (the tutors, students, and my co-workers), and I love what I do. I'm happy to be serving people and getting paid to do it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-31718530689010889042009-06-17T10:27:00.003-06:002009-06-17T10:30:22.642-06:00Playing House<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.inmagine.com/img/blendimages/bld052/bld052394.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://images.inmagine.com/img/blendimages/bld052/bld052394.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />For the next week and a half, Dave and I will be house-sitting for my aunt and uncle. We're looking forward to "playing house" - having a dishwasher, a yard for Kira to run around, a washer and dryer, and a whole lot more space!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-48533473718962574212009-05-29T09:26:00.000-06:002009-05-29T16:21:23.975-06:00Musings on May 29Dave here again. For some reason I had a hankering to write on our blog today. I don't even have terribly interesting news to report or anything; I just felt like writing to the world. Kira's sitting behind me, licking the vacuum cleaner. I'm sure from a dog's perspective, that makes perfect sense.<br /><br />So I did a little research and found out that while I may not have anything interesting to say personally, a lot of very interesting things happened on this day in history. For instance...<br /><br />Rhode Island and Wisconsin became official states of the U.S. Different years, of course, but hey, it should still be some sort of holiday. I mean, 1/25 of the states joined on the same day. I did some more research on this and found out that this only happened 5 times. So in my opinion, all 5 dates should be national holidays. We could afford another 5 holidays. Well, actually it would only be another 4 holidays, because Oregon and Arizona both joined on February 14th, which is already a holiday. Of course, a lot of people still have to work on Valentine's day, so maybe it needs to be bumped up in its holiday authority. This could be just the event to do that. I wonder if this means that Oregon and Arizona are like star-crossed lovers...<br /><br />So North and South Dakota both joined on exactly the same day, the only <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAkMYYEecI/AAAAAAAAAQU/QDfwWJ7Uvrs/s1600-h/BatMitzvah.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 252px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAkMYYEecI/AAAAAAAAAQU/QDfwWJ7Uvrs/s320/BatMitzvah.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341308953181845954" border="0" /></a>two that have that going for them. But then again, it's not exactly surprising, seeing how close they were to begin with. A cheap move if you ask me. If we make November 2nd a holiday in their honor, it would probably be very low on the holiday authority list. You'd definitely still have to work, and they probably wouldn't even sell any Hallmark cards for the occasion. That'd be rough, North and South Dakota. Out-holiday-ed by "Belated 50th" and "Bat Mitzvah".<br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Dave/Desktop/Blog/BatMitzvah.jpg" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Dave/Desktop/Blog/BatMitzvah.jpg" alt="" />Another interesting tidbit with all this is that Nevada joined on Halloween. Of course, that was back in 1864, so it was fairly different back then. According to Wikipedia (or as I refer to it, "the poorly-paid construction workers that stand on the side of the Information Highway, apparently making 'improvements'"), Irish immigrants first brought Halloween with them to North America during the Great Famine of 1846. So it had been around for a couple decades at that point. That was also probably the year they started giving <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdFPoEo3I/AAAAAAAAAPM/eM3zV0PR0eM/s1600-h/PeanutChews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 127px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdFPoEo3I/AAAAAAAAAPM/eM3zV0PR0eM/s320/PeanutChews.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341301133992567666" border="0" /></a>out Peanut Chews, because holy cow, those things have been around since forever.<br /><br />How do you carry Halloween with you on a boat? I don't know the answer to that, but I bet the boat drifted in to port and all they found were a bunch of dead people and a couple of coffins that were supposed to be bound for Transylvania but ended up accidentally being sent to Pennsylvania. I know what you're thinking and the answer is most certainly yes. Pennsylvania was definitely a state by that time. Hello, 2nd state of the union! Beat only by Delaware, five days earlier, which coincidentally was the last time Delaware beat anyone in anything, ever.<br /><br />Ok, last two factoids about the states' entry dates. First, December seems to be the popular month, with a grand total of NINE states that joined during that month. Incredibly, none of them were on the same day. They probably just didn't want to create too many holidays. Second, September is the loser month. Only one state joined during those 30 days. Of course, it was California, so maybe they're not a loser month after all. Then again, California brings you such politicians as Arnold and Joseph Spinney, who was allegedly the "most corrupt politician in Fresno County history" and only mayor for 10 minutes. Now that makes you think. Are there other counties with more corrupt mayors who lasted for less than 10 minutes? Calif<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdTvl54FI/AAAAAAAAAPU/bpeFhuXHbcA/s1600-h/tomato.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 90px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdTvl54FI/AAAAAAAAAPU/bpeFhuXHbcA/s320/tomato.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341301383091576914" border="0" /></a>ornia also brought you such things as Barbie dolls, the square tomato, and the ever-flattering wetsuit. Thanks a lot California.<br /><br />Ok, let's move on to other things that happened on May 29th in history. Like in 1913 when Igor Stravinsky's b<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdxNGK2rI/AAAAAAAAAPk/PnmYbxLvPWs/s1600-h/Bassoon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAdxNGK2rI/AAAAAAAAAPk/PnmYbxLvPWs/s320/Bassoon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341301889227741874" border="0" /></a>allet <span style="font-style: italic;">The Rite of Spring</span> opened in Paris and PROVOKED A RIOT. Yep, a whole bunch of ballet enthusiasts decided to riot. First, there was a lot of loud BOOing over a bassoon solo. Then came the arguments over the piece as to whether or not it was good. The arguments led to shouts and fist fights in the aisles. Luckily the Paris police arrived to break up the riot by intermission.<br /><br />Now, to be fair, I can actually see where the ballet-goers were coming from. I mean, a poorly-played bassoon really gets my goat. I could probably only name two or three pet peeves that are higher on my list. Seriously though, I simply cannot fathom several aspects of this whole issue. The most uncomprehensible part of it all is why people even attended a ballet.<br /><br />Moving right along, on this day in 1919, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Prekmurje">Republic of Prekmurje</a> was formed. I am not making this up.<br /><br />Also, on this day in 1964, the Arab League met in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian situation in Israel. I'm trying to tread lightly with this paragraph, I really am not trying to offend anybody. Now, I don't know about you, but I think the Arab League would be a phenomenal name for a gathering of superheroes. By doing a very small amount of Google searching under the term "Arab", I found quite possibly the greatest picture in the world, captioned "ARAB MAN (Egpyt)". I<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAeVFyGWpI/AAAAAAAAAP0/A1J1_JgtCFw/s1600-h/Arab1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 164px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAeVFyGWpI/AAAAAAAAAP0/A1J1_JgtCFw/s320/Arab1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341302505739803282" border="0" /></a>'m hoping to attach it to this posting in a moment. I think this guy should obviously be the leader of the Arab League. I won't take any stabs at his potential superhero name or powers, for the sake of maintaining some political correctness, but I will give hints. It's got to end in "man", like all good superhero names, right? Alliteration is always good, so it should start with an "M" too. You can take it from there, seeing as there are now at least 12 viable options I can think of.<br /><br />I wonder who his sidekick would be?<br /><br />I gotta be honest, that picture doesn't look like an Egyptian to me. I feel I can say that with some authority because I've been to Egypt. This guy looks more like "cousin Steve", dressing himself up to be one of the 3 Wise Men in his local living nativity scene, and taking the picture himself. He's probably in California. Another tick against you, California.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAfmW-i3wI/AAAAAAAAAQM/8D3bs-Urv88/s1600-h/Arab2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 181px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAfmW-i3wI/AAAAAAAAAQM/8D3bs-Urv88/s320/Arab2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341303901924810498" border="0" /></a><br />By the way, I think I found the sidekick. On the same page as the first picture. Also captioned "Arab Man" but from a different country this time. I'll make sure to attach his picture. And for the record, he did not exhale.<br /><br />Oh but Middle East, we're not done with you yet. On this day in 1999, Charlotte Perelli/Nilsson, of Sweden, won the Eurovision Song Contest which was being held in Jerusalem. Ok, first of all, I have to address h<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAfR_LmxyI/AAAAAAAAAQE/8uys3sE8Pfk/s1600-h/Charlotte.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 109px; height: 143px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAfR_LmxyI/AAAAAAAAAQE/8uys3sE8Pfk/s320/Charlotte.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341303551939757858" border="0" /></a>er name. Wikipedia can't seem to agree with itself as to what her last name actually is. The thing is, Perelli isn't even close to Nilsson. Maybe they're spelled differently in Swedish. Maybe there were some errors in translation. Secondly, the Swedish title of the song is also NOT EVEN CLOSE to the English one. In Swedish it's <span style="font-style: italic;">Tusen och en natt</span>, which as we all know means "One Thousand and One Nights". In English it's <span style="font-style: italic;">Take Me to Your Heaven</span>. Oh yeah, I see the connection.<br /><br />Now for those of you who still think <span style="font-style: italic;">Take Me to Your Heaven</span> is an awesome song for a Swedish chick to be singing in Jerusalem, let me give you a taste of the lyrics. I'll just quote the chorus. Again, I promise I'm not making this up.<br /><br />Take me to your Heaven.<br />Hold on to a dream.<br />Take me to your Heaven.<br />When my nights are cold and lonely,<br />flying high together,<br />on a journey to the stars.<br />Won't you take me to your Heaven to your heart.<br /><br />I wasn't entirely sure of the punctuation so I offered my best guess. It looks like the translator felt similarly. For those of you with iTunes, I highly recommend doing a search for this song. It doesn't look like Charlotte's version is available, but if you do a search for "Take Me to Your Heaven" and click on the 5th one listed, I'm confident you'll get a sufficient int<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAejBxbEGI/AAAAAAAAAP8/y2qZ4mPkTjM/s1600-h/Arab2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 114px; height: 171px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SiAejBxbEGI/AAAAAAAAAP8/y2qZ4mPkTjM/s320/Arab2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341302745181392994" border="0" /></a>roduction. Keep in mind folks, this won the contest. I think we can all guess who was put in charge of the judging...<br /><br />Lay off the hookah, Bedouin Boy. No really, I think that's a pretty good sidekick name.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-33233511011214289962009-05-11T18:56:00.000-06:002009-05-11T20:37:02.584-06:00New Puppy!Rare moment: Dave is writing this posting. So Rachel's wanted a dog for a long time. On our camping trip with Aaron and Katrina, Aaron and I saw an amazing dog. We were away from the ladies for a few minutes and we came across this really cool dog that looked incredibly calm, intelligent, friendly, and yet muscular and strong<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SgjPKE4MFoI/AAAAAAAAANo/3N-BixAlweA/s1600-h/P5080351.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SgjPKE4MFoI/AAAAAAAAANo/3N-BixAlweA/s320/P5080351.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334741530635409026" border="0" /></a>. We chatted with the owner for a few minutes and found out that it was a Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed. They don't bark much at all, they're very smart, they have great stamina and endurance but aren't high maintenance when it comes to exercising, and they're just all around wonderful. Great coloring too. So right then and there I told Aaron not to tell Rachel about this dog because that was the breed I was going to get for her!<br /><br />We came home and I went to work. I researched a whole bunch about the breed, where I could get a puppy from, the consequences of having a puppy, etc. I went through the house and figured out how I could "puppy-proof" things, made lists of stuff we'd need to purchase, and asked tons of questions to a bunch of people that know more about dogs than I do! I even slyly figured out Rachel's preferences (on dog personalities, coloring, etc.). She knew a surprise was coming but made no connection between the surprise and the possibility of getting a dog.<br /><br />Finally I made my decision. I was going to get a 3-month-old puppy named Mitzi from a breeder in Missouri. The breed is so rare in the States that I only found a handful of breeders from whom I felt comfortable buying a dog and who even had new puppy for sale! So I called the breeder a few times to make some arrangements and ask some questions. Last week I had finals. In between finals and studying, I managed to get everything else taken care of to prepare for the puppy's arrival and to make sure she arrived safe and sound! Keep in mind, I couldn't prepare the apartment at all because it was a surprise for Rachel. I was just buying the different things needed.<br /><br />On Thursday morning (May 7) I took my last final, rushed to the hardware store to pick up some chicken wire, rigged up a puppy-proof system for the t.v. area (too many cords), then dashed off to the airport to pick up Mitzi. She arrived just fine and I'm sure she was content to be off the plane but she was still very scared and shy. I made the rest of the purchases and preparations throughout the day. When Rachel came home from work, I told her to stop at the top of the stairs.<br /><br />I had her close her eyes and I walked her inside our apartment to a designated spot (there was a video camera set up). Her parents and her brother Nick were there, but since she had her eyes closed she had no idea. I picked up the pup and when I was right in front of Rachel, I had her hold out her hands. Imagine her sheer surprise and bliss when she found herself holding a new puppy! She was speechless; she just kept laughing!<br /><br />Anyway, we've named the puppy Kira because neither of us liked the name "Mitzi." Kira's doing very well. She's very intelligent and very loving. She's still getting used to other people but she's pretty good at socializing. She's also been very great with both of our families, including small nieces and nephews. We love our new family member!<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxTxjPWS4QgRxkj59q7vSA2ELwgBWDVesIh3vN_l7TUjTPRcSWMog5lSb87fgiOimq5dGX6OGf4GWWCgUVp8g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzQNnKd1cJmn65zi7z-iCgKUcXDiDm6R5dSCgcTrjPIBMDoZKa0tBuzerCL6_zjHK_VrNDWbRTL6dhKYZAXzg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-49840159347445840912009-04-24T05:24:00.000-06:002009-04-24T05:38:08.491-06:00Elder Ryser!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGkKlwG7-I/AAAAAAAAAMs/PJBC_qlZwA4/s1600-h/call"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328220335995547618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGkKlwG7-I/AAAAAAAAAMs/PJBC_qlZwA4/s320/call" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGhwVZtRiI/AAAAAAAAAMU/PO3INXeErwg/s1600-h/call"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGiGkPzYKI/AAAAAAAAAMk/lIZKHGfLk3w/s1600-h/cafe+madrid"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328218067848880290" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGiGkPzYKI/AAAAAAAAAMk/lIZKHGfLk3w/s320/cafe+madrid" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGhrFdxtrI/AAAAAAAAAMM/t0nt-QKPirE/s1600-h/call"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>My brother Nick, the youngest, got his mission call last week. He's going to the <strong>Spain, Bilbao mission</strong>! He leaves August 26th and will go to both the Provo and Spain MTCs. To celebrate, we went out for some authentic Spanish food at Cafe Madrid. The other guy with our family is Maggie's high school friend, Skyler, who works there, standing in for her in this family photo. Now, in the Ryser family, two of us served French-speaking missions, two of us will have served German-speaking missions, and two of us will have served Spanish-speaking missions. Dave also served a French-speaking mission, so he has tipped the scales in a good direction. We are so grateful that Nick is worthy and excited to serve, and know that he's going where the Lord wants him to be. </div></div></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-17363305583258232082009-04-24T04:59:00.001-06:002009-04-24T05:11:00.194-06:00Guess Who's Behind the Mask?<div><br /><br /><br /><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGb7YptUaI/AAAAAAAAALM/dXswJfRjKTs/s1600-h/hippity+hop+4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328211278687981986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGb7YptUaI/AAAAAAAAALM/dXswJfRjKTs/s200/hippity+hop+4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGda_u9QKI/AAAAAAAAALU/rA6uY5iwDtk/s1600-h/hippity+hop+5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328212921266552994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGda_u9QKI/AAAAAAAAALU/rA6uY5iwDtk/s200/hippity+hop+5.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGbqkEaxiI/AAAAAAAAALE/VXC_ZGdvpGM/s1600-h/hippity+hop+6.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328210989695026722" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 180px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 135px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGbqkEaxiI/AAAAAAAAALE/VXC_ZGdvpGM/s200/hippity+hop+6.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You guessed it, my wonderful husband doing his latest "gig." He was the Easter bunny for an Easter-egg hunt in his parents' community. As you can see in the last photo, he's growing a beard for his upcoming gig...stay tuned to find out what it is! <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGeLtMGlbI/AAAAAAAAALk/WyjiyG2mg94/s1600-h/camping.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328213758102115762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGeLtMGlbI/AAAAAAAAALk/WyjiyG2mg94/s320/camping.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SfGdjd-xBdI/AAAAAAAAALc/H1JhKNvMu6E/s1600-h/camping.jpg"></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-66544178671163650522009-02-26T22:18:00.000-07:002009-02-26T22:45:13.088-07:00Good FlicksLast week Dave and I were both sick - I was home from work for two days, so we watched a lot of movies. Thankfully, we found some pretty wonderful movies to watch, so being sick was not as lame as it normally is. These are the top three that we both highly recommend:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:7r4Wegu8KyLZWM:http://matsu.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/amazing-grace-movie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 86px; height: 127px;" src="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:7r4Wegu8KyLZWM:http://matsu.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/amazing-grace-movie.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Amazing Grace </span><br />This movie is about William Wilberforce, a member of British Parliament who worked tirelessly his entire life to end the slave trade in Britain. One of his mentors was John Newton, the man who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace" and who had transported and traded slaves for over 20 years. This movie is amazing - no pun intended. I think that the trailer is the best movie trailer that's ever been made. Watch it and tell me it doesn't give you goosebumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Cv5P9H9qU<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.noelgreen.com/uploads/2008/03/arranged.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.noelgreen.com/uploads/2008/03/arranged.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arranged</span><br />This movie is about Rochel, an Orthodox Jewish woman, and Nasira, a Muslim woman who become friends. They work together, and find that they both are going through the process of having arranged marriages through their respective religious traditions. It's a fun, sweet film, and I kept thinking about it for days after seeing it. It's also part of this cool monthly movie subscription program: www.filmmovement.com. For $15 a month, you are mailed an award-winning independent or foreign film every month. Pretty cool!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:XiTqn2A1b6i6JM:http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/images/movie/large/Henry_poole_is_here_%282008%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 87px; height: 129px;" src="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:XiTqn2A1b6i6JM:http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/images/movie/large/Henry_poole_is_here_%282008%29.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Henry Poole is Here</span><br />This last film leaves you feeling so good afterward. I fell in love with the characters, and I won't tell you any more than that because it'll give it away! You just have to see it!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We got Amazing Grace and Arranged from the county library for free, and we own Henry Poole is Here, if you want to watch any of these fabulous films!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-12030225707528249412009-02-15T14:50:00.000-07:002009-02-15T15:07:45.240-07:00Valentine's Day Dance<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SZiSDVvfdyI/AAAAAAAAAJs/FnmpkMvGubg/s1600-h/P2130027.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SZiSDVvfdyI/AAAAAAAAAJs/FnmpkMvGubg/s320/P2130027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303149147302360866" border="0" /></a><br />There is a great story to go with this photo. A few months ago, we were hanging out with some friends and Dave mentioned that he was never asked to a girl's choice dance. Our two wonderful friends, Keri and Kara, suggested that I ask him to a dance, and offered to decorate our apartment to have the dance there. So, they/I asked him to the dance last week - a Utah dance-asking, complete with doorbell-ditching. The high school dance was the same night, so I led him to believe that we were going to chaperone the dance. I told him it was a formal dance, and I pulled out one of my old dresses from a dance in college, and he got a hold of a tuxedo. He also surprised me by borrowing his friend's cherry red sports car, and we went out to a fancy dinner. Meanwhile, Keri and Kara decorated our place, started up the music, and even set up a mini-photography studio for our "dance photos." Aaron and Katrina came over and joined our dance, too. This was by far our best Valentine's Day ever!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-57522806813557276332009-02-15T14:33:00.000-07:002009-02-15T14:39:58.923-07:00I'm in Print!Well, kind of. The Salt Lake Tribune published an article about the English Skills Learning Center, where I work, including information on my program, the Empowering Parents Program. So cool! Read it <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11701900?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com">here</a>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-21620420659036096772009-01-22T17:59:00.000-07:002009-01-22T18:32:13.828-07:00Dave's Career Progress!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcW84f-ZI/AAAAAAAAAJk/xyEMYLfzPw8/s1600-h/P1090010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcW84f-ZI/AAAAAAAAAJk/xyEMYLfzPw8/s320/P1090010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294294017576532370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcWtbJ8XI/AAAAAAAAAJc/2HOesUOhp68/s1600-h/P1090011.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcWtbJ8XI/AAAAAAAAAJc/2HOesUOhp68/s320/P1090011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294294013426921842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcWpLeQ7I/AAAAAAAAAJU/91H9I7KrlCI/s1600-h/P1090005.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SXkcWpLeQ7I/AAAAAAAAAJU/91H9I7KrlCI/s320/P1090005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294294012287402930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So Rachel roped me into making a post of my new career plans, here we go! On Friday, January 9th, I went up with Shane (one of the instructors at Upper Limit Aviation) in a Robinson (R22) for an hour-long introductory flight. I loved it! So three days later I started my ground classes at Salt Lake Community College. That week was also my last week of work at AAPC (side note: I really did enjoy the people I worked with there and am sad to leave them). I'm including some photos of that intro flight here as an idea of just how amazing it was (on a scale from one to super-great, it was mega-awesome). Shane demonstrated a landing in the mountains, let me fly a little to get a feel for the controls, and even had me try to hover about five feet from the ground. By the way, hovering is about the hardest thing I've ever tried to do in my life. I think I was decently successful for approximately 3.8 seconds (on a scale from one to ridiculously hard, hovering is about a "Holy crud I can't believe how difficult this is"). The controls are VERY sensitive. Imagine if you were learning how to drive and on the "stay in your lane" lesson, all you could do to succeed was jerk the wheel to the left and then to the right to compensate. That's what it felt like.<br /><br />Anyway, it may be difficult to master, but I'm looking forward to every second of it (even the white-knuckled seconds...or minutes...or hours...)! One of the tricky things I've learned is that helicopters are not made to be balanced. The very physics of them is anti-equilibrium. In a fixed-wing aircraft, it's all about symmetry and balance. But the rotor blades (on top) of a helicopter are spinning in one direction, forcing the helicopter in the opposite direction. So there are just a lot of little tricky things to get used to.<br /><br />I'm waiting on a couple things before I really get more in-air education. But as soon as everything gets worked out, I can't wait to go flying again! Meanwhile, I'm learning TONS of things through SLCC's professional pilot program. It's really interesting and I'm actually enjoying these classes (I might even attend all of them...)!<br /><br />So the plan is to wrap up the certificates and be an official pilot by October or so. At that time I'll have about 200 or so flight hours and need another 800 before I can really get hired at most places. So the schools hire the students who have recently completed their program as instructors. So I'm banking on getting a job at Upper Limit around that same time, as an instructor. Then I get the rest of my hours over the next year or so. Meanwhile, I should be able to wrap up the Aviation Technology degree at SLCC by the end of December, 2009. So by the end of this year, I'll be done with all my schooling and actually working as a pilot!<br /><br />Check out <a href="http://www.robinsonheli.com/r22main.htm">what I'll be flying around</a> during my education!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-23798863841947913972008-12-26T17:25:00.001-07:002008-12-26T17:28:52.398-07:00A New Career<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.superiorambulance.com/Images/Helicopter%20InAir%20.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 302px;" src="http://www.superiorambulance.com/Images/Helicopter%20InAir%20.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As much as Dave <span style="font-style: italic;">loves</span> answering phone calls and e-mails all day for a medical coding company, he is looking for a different career. Right now he's thinking about going back to school to be trained as a helicopter pilot. He'd really like to be a life-flight pilot - a goal several years down the road. We'll let you know when he starts his program!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-58044539557228950142008-12-01T20:05:00.001-07:002008-12-01T20:08:22.770-07:00Reunion Island Trip<div style="width: 480px; text-align: center;">We are back from the vacation of a lifetime! Here are a few photos to give you a glimpse of how amazing it was!<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://w380.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w380.photobucket.com/albums/oo241/soeurblackmer/985d8e2f.pbw" width="480" height="360"></embed><a href="http://photobucket.com/slideshows" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn.gif" style="border-width: 0pt; float: left;" /></a><a href="http://s380.photobucket.com/albums/oo241/soeurblackmer/?action=view&current=985d8e2f.pbw" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn_viewallimages.gif" style="border-width: 0pt; float: left;" /></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-47214227457696224082008-10-11T22:16:00.000-06:002008-10-11T22:25:27.097-06:00Maggie is off!About two weeks ago we dropped off my little sister at the Missionary Training Center. Dave and I have never been on the staying-at-home side of things there before, so it was a new sad but good experience for us. Maggie was so excited and she's going to be a wonderful missionary! She'll be leaving for Berlin from the MTC on December 1st.<br />Here we are at the MTC:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSSa0RMbKRey9TC4_CODFaxkV_vE0gpRARk2Nbym_GDqOyEfpv70yuBefucGxHdlsJJhfTNZ8wclScK-uAHut8oTtJr9Va-8ip0CFOyK6bsRbxhPtFbyEaAOSPpDHAG3jI6AZacsj2Sc/s1600/IMG_0030.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSSa0RMbKRey9TC4_CODFaxkV_vE0gpRARk2Nbym_GDqOyEfpv70yuBefucGxHdlsJJhfTNZ8wclScK-uAHut8oTtJr9Va-8ip0CFOyK6bsRbxhPtFbyEaAOSPpDHAG3jI6AZacsj2Sc/s1600/IMG_0030.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnnh87O2ixYZQfZ2RJr8P5C2XpUmiXEV0l-nkXF5m-tmjwWhXjtIoxj7PVoWhtXSef_U-LEjNDM6O3Vv_kPeorUZtEas6HG0NFS1DKG-5KBVnZOUCw4VbMDL3auBcs4yo_qch4d0FlI4/s1600/IMG_0031.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnnh87O2ixYZQfZ2RJr8P5C2XpUmiXEV0l-nkXF5m-tmjwWhXjtIoxj7PVoWhtXSef_U-LEjNDM6O3Vv_kPeorUZtEas6HG0NFS1DKG-5KBVnZOUCw4VbMDL3auBcs4yo_qch4d0FlI4/s1600/IMG_0031.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-40175896254120748242008-10-11T22:05:00.001-06:002008-10-11T22:16:02.449-06:00Reunion Island<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.reunionisland.net/resources/1/MediumSize/Mafate1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.reunionisland.net/resources/1/MediumSize/Mafate1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tropic-island.net/gallery/img/motu_tiahura/7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://tropic-island.net/gallery/img/motu_tiahura/7.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is where we are headed on November 12th. Jealous, aren't you?<br />Dave served his mission on Reunion Island, a tiny island off the coast of Madagascar. It's like the French Hawaii. We're going back for two weeks to visit in November and we are SO excited!!!!!!! We've been saving up for this across-the-world trip for a long time, and now it's finally going to happen! We're also passing through Germany and Paris on the way. No, we won't be cheating and seeing Maggie while we're in Germany, though. We have a loooong layover in Detroit, so if anyone has suggestions of things to do in Detroit, please send them our way!<br />Here's another beautiful photo of Dave's beloved mission area:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/373874675_95076db4ff.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/373874675_95076db4ff.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-76903129228809450682008-08-20T16:52:00.000-06:002008-08-20T17:09:21.551-06:00SerpicoSerpico is the newest member of our family. Dave and I both need cars for work now, so we had to buy a new car, and look at what Dave chose. He feels that it is his "civic duty" to drive Serpico (for an explanation of the name, click <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpico"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">here</span></a>) because everyone slows down on the freeway when they see him. It's really fun driving around with him in Serpico, especially when Dave gets all dressed up like this.<br />For our brother-in-law Brad's birthday awhile ago Dave showed up dressed like this (costume thanks to my enthusiastic mom) and pretended to be giving Brad a ticket for being parked in front of his parents' house. Brad wasn't fooled, but <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> he went and got his wife - Dave's own sister Lara, and she was not very happy to see a policeman giving her a ticket in a place where she knew she could park. She walked right up to him and said, in a voice full of attitude, "Can I help you?" Then she realized that it was Dave.<br />If you ever need to pull a prank on a friend, feel free to give us a call!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyg6MlzUlI/AAAAAAAAAHo/85IsWq_OB1I/s1600-h/P8170446.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyg6MlzUlI/AAAAAAAAAHo/85IsWq_OB1I/s400/P8170446.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236737388397679186" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKygvKrJYTI/AAAAAAAAAHg/42CqiTKJqTc/s1600-h/P8170448.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKygvKrJYTI/AAAAAAAAAHg/42CqiTKJqTc/s320/P8170448.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236737198904664370" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-57579571562912548712008-08-20T16:35:00.000-06:002008-08-20T17:13:13.403-06:00Twin Falls, Idaho<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfYj-6AHI/AAAAAAAAAHY/cH6Kr2ah7iE/s1600-h/P8080364.JPG"></a>A couple of weeks ago we went to the Twin Falls Idaho temple open house with our friends Keri and Kara. What a beautiful temple! We had a wonderful tour guide, too who really helped us to feel the Spirit while we were there. We stayed with my awesome Aunt Cheri and Uncle John who have a cute little country house in Jerome, and they took us around to see the sights in Idaho. If you think that there aren't any, the last photo will prove you wrong. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfYj-6AHI/AAAAAAAAAHY/cH6Kr2ah7iE/s1600-h/P8080364.JPG"></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfYj-6AHI/AAAAAAAAAHY/cH6Kr2ah7iE/s1600-h/P8080364.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfYj-6AHI/AAAAAAAAAHY/cH6Kr2ah7iE/s320/P8080364.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236735711049810034" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfCuoxprI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/vVqftO9fAms/s1600-h/P8080367.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyfCuoxprI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/vVqftO9fAms/s320/P8080367.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236735335952656050" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyeai_xB9I/AAAAAAAAAHI/--eWdzEUeko/s1600-h/P8080374.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyeai_xB9I/AAAAAAAAAHI/--eWdzEUeko/s320/P8080374.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236734645633091538" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKydfTORrDI/AAAAAAAAAHA/BhHMlVt607E/s1600-h/P8080397.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKydfTORrDI/AAAAAAAAAHA/BhHMlVt607E/s400/P8080397.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236733627786701874" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-64695029841394488742008-08-20T16:28:00.000-06:002008-08-20T16:35:08.834-06:00PageantryIf you were wondering why Dave has been looking so shaggy lately, it's because his mom recruited us to be in a pageant in her ward. She was called to be the producer, and there weren't enough interested actors, so my husband was recruited for his amazing acting skills, and I tagged along. He played a Nephite apostle and I was Woman #3. No speaking parts, thankfully. His dad was Nephi, his mom was in it, and his sister Lara had a main part. So it became quite the Blackmer Family Production. Oh, and his best friend Aaron and wife Katrina got in on the fun, too. And his sister Clarissa came and took so many pictures she could have been the official photographer. We had a great time, and it was a wonderful spiritual experience for everyone involved.<br />Here's our group:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKybs0_zMmI/AAAAAAAAAG4/FXQTp5ss62o/s1600-h/P8020355.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKybs0_zMmI/AAAAAAAAAG4/FXQTp5ss62o/s400/P8020355.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236731661167833698" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-58900965581836416422008-08-20T16:20:00.000-06:002008-08-20T16:26:37.664-06:00"GOOD DAY, SUNSHINE!"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyZ5w7pdsI/AAAAAAAAAGw/vSN2kYutL4k/s1600-h/P8020350.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKyZ5w7pdsI/AAAAAAAAAGw/vSN2kYutL4k/s320/P8020350.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236729684391720642" border="0" /></a>If you want to start out your day feeling really good about yourself, one of the best things to do is to have a super-healthy breakfast. Dave and I have been doing this for awhile, and it's simply wonderful. We juiced vegetables for breakfast for about six months, but it just took too long every morning. Now we do smoothies! They are really easy and delicious. And, for those of you who know me well, this will come as a big surprise - they have bananas in them!<br />What you do is you buy a lot of bananas, let them sit out and get good and spotty, then peel and freeze them. Then every morning you put them in a blender with some spinach and soy milk and ice cubes (if necessary) and any other tasty fruit you have on hand, and you have a delicious, healthy smoothie!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-29386916859128490032008-08-16T22:06:00.000-06:002008-08-16T22:50:36.432-06:00The Land of My BirthSince Maggie just got called on a mission and Nick will be going too while Maggie is still out, we decided to do one last Ryser vacation before we're separated for awhile. We went to Washington, the state of my birth, and stayed on San Juan island. Beautiful! Here are some photos of the awesome things that we did:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeoLKudIgI/AAAAAAAAAFg/pcOl2tPi5mU/s1600-h/IMG_0038.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeoLKudIgI/AAAAAAAAAFg/pcOl2tPi5mU/s200/IMG_0038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235338001652720130" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKekzAtDDCI/AAAAAAAAAE4/mFYRVTI5BXs/s1600-h/IMG_3155.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKekzAtDDCI/AAAAAAAAAE4/mFYRVTI5BXs/s200/IMG_3155.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235334288110717986" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKetNFYqdwI/AAAAAAAAAGg/h9SlF4GnEHY/s1600-h/P7260338.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKetNFYqdwI/AAAAAAAAAGg/h9SlF4GnEHY/s320/P7260338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235343532137019138" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeolyVlo_I/AAAAAAAAAFw/kntAS1wK7B4/s1600-h/IMG_0042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeolyVlo_I/AAAAAAAAAFw/kntAS1wK7B4/s320/IMG_0042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235338458962437106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKept2nvM9I/AAAAAAAAAGA/C11R1OcHQTc/s1600-h/P7250236.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKept2nvM9I/AAAAAAAAAGA/C11R1OcHQTc/s200/P7250236.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235339697062884306" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeq_oMoLhI/AAAAAAAAAGY/oTWKzOlL5_U/s1600-h/IMG_0050.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeq_oMoLhI/AAAAAAAAAGY/oTWKzOlL5_U/s320/IMG_0050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235341101940354578" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeqDMz1nwI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/3etwtPCsWz0/s1600-h/P7250251.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKeqDMz1nwI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/3etwtPCsWz0/s200/P7250251.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235340063796469506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKelm6CT5dI/AAAAAAAAAFA/kVsNpeqiwO8/s1600-h/IMG_3221.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKelm6CT5dI/AAAAAAAAAFA/kVsNpeqiwO8/s200/IMG_3221.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235335179674052050" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKepUVXkLTI/AAAAAAAAAF4/ExKC0AqoK7M/s1600-h/P7250212.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKepUVXkLTI/AAAAAAAAAF4/ExKC0AqoK7M/s320/P7250212.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235339258639953202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKemMUQqpNI/AAAAAAAAAFI/zyc8kQnIgX8/s1600-h/IMG_3202.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKemMUQqpNI/AAAAAAAAAFI/zyc8kQnIgX8/s200/IMG_3202.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235335822368744658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKemwhZ38GI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ru4H_aKQK88/s1600-h/P7240110.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKemwhZ38GI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ru4H_aKQK88/s200/P7240110.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235336444372316258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKenowzOjBI/AAAAAAAAAFY/7J_yWPuO_7Y/s1600-h/IMG_0028.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SKenowzOjBI/AAAAAAAAAFY/7J_yWPuO_7Y/s200/IMG_0028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235337410577861650" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-65601139611056038092008-08-16T22:01:00.000-06:002008-08-16T22:06:21.560-06:00ESL CenterFor those of you who don't know, I got a new job! I am the Empowering Parents Program Coordinator and the temporary Volunteer Coordinator at the English Skills Learning Center. It's a non-profit that offers free English classes to immigrants and refugees in the Salt Lake City area. I love it! I work with awesome people and I love the students that we serve. I have my own desk, my own business card, and I feel very grown up all of a sudden! The Empowering Parents Program that I run offers English classes to parents of elementary school parents in elementary schools. The ideal is that parents develop their English skills and literacy skills while their children are doing the same. They can read to their children, help them with school, and eventually become involved in their children's education through participation in the PTA and volunteering in their classrooms. It's a wonderful program, and we have awesome volunteers that teach the classes. Interested in helping out or learning more? Go to our website at eslcenter.org. (Shameless plug, I know!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-21194487754467464702008-08-16T21:53:00.000-06:002008-08-16T21:57:14.153-06:00Cool Website<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://findbabymoney.com/Other%20Pics/logos/FBMlogo.GIF"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://findbabymoney.com/Other%20Pics/logos/FBMlogo.GIF" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Hey everyone!<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">If you're thinking about or planning on having a baby, you should check out this website: www.findbabymoney.com. It has all kinds of great info on insurance, saving LOTS of money, and on investing. Our friend Aaron started it up, and he's really cool, too.<br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-46378719786546566892008-08-02T12:05:00.000-06:002008-12-10T15:42:05.917-07:00Dave's HobbyLast year Dave bought an expensive digital camera. He's been taking awesome nature photos ever since. Here are some of his best shots:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSrIvH4WLI/AAAAAAAAAEg/4P8dBTB8eAQ/s1600-h/PC270537b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSrIvH4WLI/AAAAAAAAAEg/4P8dBTB8eAQ/s200/PC270537b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229993233860810930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSqQGMwyoI/AAAAAAAAAEY/G3KU52bPFXM/s1600-h/PC270587.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSqQGMwyoI/AAAAAAAAAEY/G3KU52bPFXM/s200/PC270587.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229992260802759298" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSosWgW2cI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/d_D-dOCZdKQ/s1600-h/PC270534.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSosWgW2cI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/d_D-dOCZdKQ/s200/PC270534.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229990547192994242" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoAU493GI/AAAAAAAAAD4/_Yc6VB8M7yA/s1600-h/DSCN0554.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoAU493GI/AAAAAAAAAD4/_Yc6VB8M7yA/s200/DSCN0554.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229989790845099106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSk2nDXAoI/AAAAAAAAADw/RwIuloH78NI/s1600-h/DSCN0707.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSk2nDXAoI/AAAAAAAAADw/RwIuloH78NI/s200/DSCN0707.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229986325386953346" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSr0aU3IYI/AAAAAAAAAEo/KkmKuF1a_ME/s1600-h/PC270551.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSr0aU3IYI/AAAAAAAAAEo/KkmKuF1a_ME/s200/PC270551.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229993984192356738" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSiRPvyGgI/AAAAAAAAADg/lN6bW-TmRAc/s1600-h/P1000040.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSiRPvyGgI/AAAAAAAAADg/lN6bW-TmRAc/s200/P1000040.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229983484452411906" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSkm9BahkI/AAAAAAAAADo/gp0bjHMlctQ/s1600-h/DSCN0679.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSkm9BahkI/AAAAAAAAADo/gp0bjHMlctQ/s200/DSCN0679.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229986056406468162" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoLPVF7PI/AAAAAAAAAEA/TPzer9379M4/s1600-h/DSCN0642.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoLPVF7PI/AAAAAAAAAEA/TPzer9379M4/s200/DSCN0642.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229989978331016434" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoWtir1hI/AAAAAAAAAEI/r8jwgE_yAcw/s1600-h/P8230054.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSoWtir1hI/AAAAAAAAAEI/r8jwgE_yAcw/s200/P8230054.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229990175419651602" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5130136664729203433.post-5281561792462977362008-08-02T11:58:00.000-06:002008-12-10T15:42:06.107-07:00Maggie wird Deutsch sprechen!My sister Maggie got her mission call last week. It was sent to Salt Lake, but she lives in Logan. She was working until 11:00pm, so we drove it up to her and opened it late that night.<br /><br />Here she is:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSg1zGQI7I/AAAAAAAAADY/YWX02oA0OZE/s1600-h/Maggie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TfaSmOEJmks/SJSg1zGQI7I/AAAAAAAAADY/YWX02oA0OZE/s200/Maggie.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229981913393931186" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's where she's going:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=64803&rendTypeId=4"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=64803&rendTypeId=4" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1