Just a lil Somethin I threw together :)

So I've been looking to find a hobby that I can be passionate about.  I think, I think I've found one! SEWING!  So this here dress is hopefully the first of many!  It is a 1950's party dress of black satin.  You can't really see the neckline because of the shrug which is because of the garments, but it is boatneck and it turned out pretty good.  

 

I thought I would toot my own little horn for a minute.  I'd love to get more practice, so if you want something made, let me know! :) 

Semana 1 e 2 of the Adventure!!!

Alrighty folks!  So I have been in Spokane not quite 2 weeks, but I've had all sort of fun so far!  So hold on to your hats, I've got a lot to tell ya about the lilac city and its adventures!

The first full day, Wednesday, I was here I was invited to go play ultimate frisbee at Manito Park,  (beautiful btw.  Look it up!) Thursday the ward has a weekly dinner at one of the ward leader's homes.  So we had that at the Holbrook's.

And then there was Friday.  I guess I'm not too far away from home because I went to a 

RRROOOOOO DDDDDDDEEEEEEE OOOOOOOO!  It was fun.  Here I am with Kate and my new best friend Lauriann! 

 Oh yes people, that is a Canadian flag!  I guess I am a little farther from home! :)

 So this little guy was a big factor in where I decided to move.  I wanted whatever city I lived in to have a temple and the Spokane Temple is beautiful.  It is a small temple, which means it can only fit about 40 people in a session!  I've apparently never been in a temple quite that small because it really took me aback.

 Spokane is known for its flowers.  They were beautiful!

 As I walked around the temple taking pictures I made a new friend with a man named Julio.  He was very kind to take my picture as he waited for his mama to finish her session. 

 Later that night (Saturday) New best friend (Lauriann) got a few of us together to go watch the outdoor movie at "The Shop".  They were showing the Princess Bride and we were excited!  

L-R Shane, Paul (who showed me his ultimate playlist, which included Colors of the Wind and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus.  I think he is so sweet! :)), me, Lauriann, and Nick (who seems more like a Kyle to me...)

There it is just painted on the side of the building!  So much fun!  They raffled off couch and lazy-boy seating to raise money for a local charity. It was fun!

 Love this movie!

Okay, now for week 2 of my stay in Spokane, which happened to not really even be in Spokane.  The company that I work for (Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic) is based in Toppenish, WA and they have a lot of programs that they work with, so they send all their new employees to Toppenish to train for a few days.  Yakima is about 3 1/2 hrs southish of Spokane and Toppenish is another 20ish minutes south of Yakima.  So they got me a hotel in Yakima and I stayed Monday- Thursday.  It was a lot of fun.  I've never stayed in a hotel all by myself.  It was fun. 

 On my way down Monday afternoon I stopped at Wild Horse Point to look out over the Columbia River (by the way, I didn't realize how significant Columbia is to our country until I moved to the Northwest, but it is a "poetic name for the America's", before the statue of liberty, it was the female personification of the Americas). Anyway, It is HUGE!

 And beautiful!  See that nice, big bridge in the background.  Yes, I did drive over that.  And yes, I did scream the entire length of the bridge!  AHHHHHHHH!! :)

Yakima Valley is known for its vineyard and orchards.  There were SO many!  In fact I met some ladies that told me the Yakima school district was 50%+ ethnic minority because they need so much help picking all the fruit! 

 I drove through a lot of streets that looked like this!

 I ate out a lot.  Bruchi's was a Cheese Steak shop.  So good!

This was my very favorite restaurant that I've eaten at in Washington.  It is an authentic French restaurant called Carousel.  A-MAZ-ING   period

 Crab cakes with mustard sauce for appetizers.

Beef bourguignon and strawberry rhubarb soup (btw the cook came out to the patio where we were, but also where the fresh herbs were too and picked that little basil in my soup and went back to the kitchen!  In other words it was FRESH!)

When hiking in Moab Travis and Dolly asked me if I always talked to everyone I met :) so in other words, I have a little habit of making friends no matter where I go.  This here is Amy.  Proud Blueberry Farmer's wife.  Their farm is called Jackass Mountain Ranch!  I thought that was funny. 

 Anyway, we were best friends when she left.  I liked her a lot!

 I ate here.  Alaskan Halibut fish and chips!  So good!

 I just had to show everyone.  That little hunter on the top there rotated and it made me think of all the little red neck places I have visited in my life.  

 Alright, after my training I headed home through the Tri-cities.  After I looked at the map I realized I was only a few (45) minutes from the Oregon border.  So I had never been to Oregon and I had a little time.  So adventure here I come. 

 I stopped at the Visitor's center. This is my friend Karen.  She was so nice.  Gave me all sorts of free maps and tourist guides for Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  She also took my picture!  I liked her!

 Karen recommended that I eat lunch at Java Junkie's!  $4 lunch special was awesome!  

This sign was hung above the door.  I thought it was super cute and will hang a similar one in the shop I may own one day!

So this is me trying to take my own picture.  I guess that might be the worst part about traveling alone, the pictures aren't always exactly how you want them! :)  But you do get to stop a whole lot more to take pictures of pure randomness because you need not consult anyone else!  :)

So that, you see, is my first two weeks in the great state of Washington.  It has already brought much adventure and I've now officially been in all of the western states with the exception of New Mexico.  Things are good and seem to be working out quite nicely.  Lets just hope the housing thing works out.

Tomorrow is my first day of official work! Wish me LUCK!  

Thanks for reading!

Family Time

During the fourth of July week, I was able to  spend a really wonderful week with my family!  The only sibling I wasn't able to see was Scottie, but after his surgery, he wasn't really in the mood to sit that long! :)  I spent the first few days with Melissa and her family.  No pictures were taken for the documentation of this, but it was very nice.  

So I spent the actual fourth of July with Dolly and Travis and their family at Mona Reservoir.  That was a lot of fun.  So later that evening, they set off a few fireworks in front of their house. 

 Here is Connor with a sparkler.  He loved it!

 We jumped on the tramp a lot while I was there.

 I love that Dolly's kids are so cuddly.  I love to snuggle them.

 The last day I was there, I went with them to Connor's swimming lessons.  He is sooo cool.

 Cambree wanted to be in the water so bad!  She loves the water!

 So later that day, I headed to Austin and Sherry's for a couple of days. 

 We swam in the pool!  Austin and Sherry have such a fun house, with all sorts of things to do.  

It was so fun to be with them and the kids!

 Austin is a big dork, OH, but look to the right.  Yup, make that two dorks!

 So the last day I was there, We loaded up and headed to the Monroe mountain where Andrew and Megan were camping out!  I got to love on little Hunter and Jordan.  Ella, was playing in the dirt the whole time. :)  I should've got a picture, it was so cute, the front of her was 10 times dirtier than the back. 

 We played bean bags.  My team obviously lost! :( It was a lot of fun though!

 Just chillin'

Jordan! :)

Altogether, it was such a pleasant week to just be with my family.  I'm so grateful for them.  I feel so blessed that we have all been able to stay so close to each other.  I know Austin says I don't call enough, but I love each of my siblings so much and I know that we were sent to do this whole Earth thing together!  Love you guys!

So Once Upon a Time I Got Really Brave

So, Once upon a time, I got really brave and decided to do something crazy.  So I packed up everything I own, Strapped it to my car if it didn't fit in it and drove away!

 I wanted to tie yellow and orange streamers to the chair legs to make it look more like flames, but I figured it wouldn't last very long.

 It didn't take long to get into Idaho, but it was very pretty.  Very green and lots of fields. 

 I stopped in Idaho Falls because they had King Tut on exhibit and I wanted to see.  Here is the art museum where King Tut was not, but they kindly gave me direction to the history museum.

 Sadly I did not get a picture of it from outside. : (

 Here is just a sampling.  These are containers for the internal organs.

 A guardian of the tomb.

 Some incredible pictures.

 This is a mannequin that King Tut would've used to lay his clothes out. 

 A mask he would've worn during certain ceremonies.

 And of course the coffin that he was laid in.

 After that nice little stop, I headed out again.  At this point, I believe I was in Montana.  It started to get a little more mountainous.

 It was very pretty.

 This is heading back into the Idaho Panhandle.  The trees were suddenly so big and so close.

 I stopped during my decent into the Spokane valley and took a picture here.  It was gorgeous!

This was my last stop before I made it into Spokane!!!  The sunset was beautiful and I was a happy and satisfied girl.  

The large amount of things on my car slowed me down quite a bit, so it took a few more hours to get there than I had expected, but it was such a pretty drive, I can't complain.  I am now getting mostly settled.  I had my orientation at work yesterday and I found a fully furnished apartment that I am hoping to get.  Things are working themselves out and I have a lot to look forward to.  

The people here are very nice and I have made new friends already.  The ward is always having some sort of activity and I have not sat home one night yet.  Tonight I am going to a rodeo in Cheney and I am so excited!  Next week I have to go to a little town called Toppenish for some training for work.  Its in Central WA, so I get to do a bit of exploring on the company's dime which is nice! YAHOOOOO for adventures!