Homemaking

Tonight, I am making homemade meatballs and spaghetti sauce. The reviews were (mostly) all great and people especially raved about the meatballs. I've never made homemade meatballs OR sauce, and I have most of the ingredients already in my cupboards! It has to simmer for 3 hours, so our house will smell delish by the time it is done.

 

(this is the new duvet set, and the new
white sheets have a small pinstripe)

Yesterday I put new sheets on the bed (after I rotated the mattress, because my body is starting to slowly sink into my side of the bed), along with a new duvet cover we got for our wedding. I forgot how nice it is to sleep on brand new, just-washed sheets. The duvet is gray and simple (I always prefer white, but it gets dirty so easily. I think I will get another cheap white one from Ikea again sometime.) My mom will be proud - I make the bed every single day. (Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, but it's done daily). I hate when our bedroom looks cluttered or messy - it's nice to hide extra pillows and throw blankets on the floor of Jon's side of the bed, too - you can't see it when you walk in! (I should probably just fold up the blankets and put them away in the closet. That's a novel idea!)

  I have been trying to make our house more like a home - Jon also helps out a ton. He always mows and trims the yard, takes out the trash, washes all of the "big" dishes (pot and pans, etc.) and helps me with meals whenever I ask. He tries to help me make the bed, but I like it just right, so I usually like to do that by myself. Haha. He's very appreciative and tells me everything I make tastes good (he even ate the squash and zucchini the other night, and I know he hates it!) I try my best to show him my appreciation for all he does for me. He's a great husband, and I hope I'm a good wife, too.

Sister Knight...

Last month, Jon and I gave talks in church. For 2 weeks I worked on my talk, spending hours making sure it was just right. We each had to speak for 17 minutes, and I had a hard time making my talk long enough. It turned out perfectly though, and I even had to cut some of it out while I was speaking so Jon had a enough time for his. I was nervous, but I felt prepared and it turned out just fine.

Yesterday in church, the Sunday School president sat in the pew in front of us, and turned around after Sacrament meeting and asked me to teach.  I thought he was lying, and I asked him if he was kidding. But he said "No kidding, I wouldn't joke about this. The bishopric asked me to ask you to teach Gospel Doctrine in two weeks."

GOSPEL DOCTRINE?!?!

I looked around the room in Sunday School and counted everyone in Gospel Doctrine. There were 90 people! 90! I am the YOUNGEST in the whole group. Everyone is much older and wiser than I am. I don't feel like I have anything to offer, they all know a lot more than I do. It's a new ward, and I don't know anyone, so I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse...I'm thinking worse.

But then I think about it more and try to remember that we are all brothers and sisters and we're all in church to learn and grow together. I've just never taught anything in my life! I don't know how to conduct a class, ask good questions, dive into the scriptures, etc.
Ha, I remember thinking "Whatever calling I get, I hope it's not teaching adults or playing the piano". It's not a calling, maybe this will be the one and only time! They are testing me! haha.
I have already starting preparing - last night Jon and I read the scriptures from the manuel, talked about the meaning, and I started writing down thoughts/questions for them. I've looked up different talks and quotes. The lesson is on "Your Body is a Temple" with scriptures in 1 Corinthians about Paul's preachings. The three topics I need to share are: Unity in Christ, Listening to the Spirit and not the world, and being morally clean.

So if you have any suggestions, let me know. I don't want it to be boring, so I may bring in a short video if I can find one that's relative, etc. (It's a new ward, I don't even know where the library is, haha!) But I feel like we always run out of time, so I want to time it nicely. It's hard when people keep having comments (but at least it wouldn't be silent!)

The members are very nice there, though. I joined ward choir yesterday (we are singing next week for Stake Conference) and there were 48 people there! It was great. I've sung one of the two songs before, but the other one is kind of a struggle. I may have to mouth the words half of the time. :)

The question is: Do you pronounce the place name COR-inth or Cor-INTH? Jon says the second, because you say CorINTHians. I may have been saying it wrong this whole time.

(Oh yeah, last night I even dreamt that I was teaching this lesson. Except it was at a kiosk in the mall, and I had a big whiteboard and only one person was there listening/watching!)

Places and Things

My whole life, I've always wanted to travel. I get Travelzoo's Top 20 deals, Budget Travel emails, National Geographic gives me pictures and updates on Facebook, the Global Volunteer Network emails me all of their opportunities, etc. BUT, I want to SHOW you the places I want to visit someday. I could say "everywhere", and leave it at that. But after looking at these pictures, how can you NOT want to go?

Look how small the person looks in the HUGE cave!

Elephants in Kenya

 (I love elephants, and have always wanted to go on a safari.)

 After watching An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle,

I think the Empire State Building is a must.

 GREECE. I've always wanted to visit this place.

This church in Greenland. (It is a replica of the church that

Erik the Red built for his wife when became a Christian.

He built the stone wall to keep the animals/livestock out.)

Ireland...mmm. Jon and I watched Leap Year last week (Jon admitted that

he really liked the movie - "a good chick flick"). Every time I watch it,

I want to go see and stand on the cliffs of Ireland.

I love this walkway in Japan. (As long as I could find a cool stone
stairway like this, I don't care WHERE it is!)

I'll admit, I always worried that I would get into a kayak, flip over, be stuck, and drown.

(This was before I realized that they made bigger, roomier holes for your body, too.)
Don't the rocks and the water look amazing?

I just want to step into this lake
and go for a night swim...

Look at these huge trees in Madagascar! What a sight.

Along with all of the beautiful views, I also want to know all about the culture and the people.

I would love to help these women and carry a basket of tea leaves on my head, too.

I would like to eat at this restaurant...

Infinity pools... I love them! I can't get over how cool they look.

Zip lining! Talk about an adrenaline rush!



A romantic gondola ride. People say it is expensive

and overrated, but I still want to go on one!

See the pyramids, and ride a camel. (This picture

kills two birds with one stone!)

Doesn't this roller coaster look awesome!? Look how

steep that drop is! ( I always wait in the longer

line to get in the front seat. That's the best spot!)

Anyway, that's all for now. There are so many more things to do and places I want to go! I'm sure there will be a "Places and Things II" blogpost coming soon...

Surprise Date

Jon and I went to the Bingham Canyon Mine last week - he took me there for a "surprise" date, followed by walking around Gardner Village and looking at the cute shops and sampling the fudge.

Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home, but the open mine was amazing! It is the largest open mine in the world. Look at the size of that truck!! They were HUGE! The workers have to climb a tall ladder just to get to the steering wheel.

If you look really closely, you can see how tiny

the huge trucks look on the road. We saw a semi truck

pass one of them and it look SMALL compared to it!

We walked around the Visitors' Center and watched a few informative videos and put quarters in the  magnifying machines so we could see some action up close. (I'll remember not to wear a dress up there again - the wind was blowing around like crazy and I had to hold my skirt down the whole time!)

Here is what the official site said about their huge hauling trucks: "There are about 80 gigantic haulage trucks operating in the mine. These trucks carry from 255 to 320 tons of material in a single trip. The largest haulage trucks have 1,300-gallon fuel tanks and use very low-sulfur diesel fuel. The fleet of trucks will travel more than 10,000 miles a day."  CRAZY, huh?! No wonder they have to be so big.

It was a nice 45 - 60 minute drive to get there, and on the way we stopped by Daybreak - a community of newer homes. I drove by this neighborhood once before, 2 years ago, and could never find it again. It's right by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I'm so excited we passed it!! I have been wondering where it was located for forever, and I had forgotten what it was called. I love these houses -  you usually don't see these kind of houses in Utah. Jon said there are houses just like this in North Carolina, so we may have to settle there. (I really don't like the brick/brown stucco houses in Utah - I like more character and color!)

Daybreak has their own shops, community parks, running trails, lake and the yards are beautiful (because of the HOA).
I always thought I would want to live in a place with a huge, well taken care of yard, but I definitely do not have a green thumb (and I lack the passion for it). They have small yards, but they each look so nice and have flowers/trees/etc. The houses range from small to large, depending on your budget and the size of your family.

Here are a few of the houses they have there:



 

 

 

I just think they are so cute and pretty. They remind me of houses by the beach back home. Someday....!

Wedding Pictures

(These pictures will be out of order. Blogspot is giving me trouble. So first are pics of the reception, then of the temple!)

I started to write a loooong post about the wedding and reception, but it was getting to wordy, so here are a bunch of pictures and a few comments for some!

Reception: table centerpieces - a mix of candles and flowers

Mom and dad

Jon and I dancing our first dance, to Doris Day's

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Terri took our pictures, and got some

developed right away to have at our reception!

The sky that night - the weather was perfect!

Our "growing up" and "dating" pictures, strung between the trees.
(I found this idea on a website and loved it!)

Jon's dad and mom

Guests enjoying the ice cream bar

Grandma and Grandpa

My girlfriends from the Somersworth ward surprised

me and came to our reception!
Megan, me, Hillary, and Amber

Dancing with dad, to Frank Sinatra's:

They Can't Take That Away

I think Chris was like this most of the night...haha!

Jon's nephews, serving at the ice cream bar

The cake

(We just cut into the cake - we figure the ice cream bar
was good and we didn't need to serve cake also. It was
delicious and I loved the simplicity of it!)

The favor bags
(we ordered salt water taffy from
The Goldenrod in Maine... people could
go fill up their bags with different flavors!)

The day before the wedding, I took my endowments out in the Provo Temple. Afterwards, Jon's family and my family went to Carrabbas for dinner. After dinner, we all went to a local LDS church and Jon and I received father's blessings. It was a perfect evening.
Right after the temple Thursday night

Here we are coming out of the temple - NEWLYWEDS!

(Jon was making sure not to step on my dress...)

Chris and Marian ran right up to us and asked, "Did you guys get married?!"

Bridesmaids!

With Grandma and Grandpa!

Jon and the nephews

Jon with his two *single* brothers