Happy Halloween

I think Halloween in a fun holiday, especially for kids. I like the fun festivities as long as it's not too scary or gory. Even though I don't like to be scared, I think a good startle is fun every once in while. Actually, I like to jump out and scare Jason any chance I get, and he returns the favor.

This weekend Jason's brother Steve and his wife Kirsten and their two kids were here from New York City. We enjoyed talking to them for a few hours on Friday night in Alpine where I finally got to meet little miss Brook who was born about 4 months ago. Even though Brook was tired, Kirsten was nice enough to let me hold her a long time.

Saturday Jason played football in the morning, we did sealings at the temple in the afternoon. Then we headed to Provo for another Burningham family get-together. The nieces and nephews all dressed up in their adorable costumes and Jason and I went around to a few houses while they trick-or-treated. That area is a great one for trick-or-treating. After trick-or-treating for about an hour they brought home a LOT of candy, and fortunately for me, Claire didn't like about half of the candy she got. :)

Today after church Jason and I went home teaching to his family and then to choir practice. I love singing Christmas music! We also went over to my parents’ house for a birthday dinner for my sister that was delicious as always.

My little niece Brook

The trick-or-treaters -- Truman, Dallin, Claire, and Ben

Kirsten, Ben, Steve, Jason, and Julie

A Cake-Walk to Remember

Saturday was our ward Trunk or Treat activity. Since Jason and I are on the committee we spent a good portion of our day getting ready for it. This involved making and frosting cupcakes, finding Halloween music, cutting out bats and ghosts, and setting up chairs, table, and decorations.

At 6:00 the adults and costumed kids came running in the door for dinner, games, and CANDY. It almost seemed like there were more kids than adults--I'm estimating at least 50 kids or so. After dinner we hosted a few rounds of a cakewalk for different age groups. The first group we called up were children under 5. Big mistake! We suddenly had 20 small children who didn't know how to do a cakewalk and didn't know how to read numbers either. We quickly adjusted and called out the shapes they were standing on instead of numbers-- such as bats, pumpkins, or ghosts. That way, 1/3 of the kids could win at the same time. Our cakewalk adventure only got better after that, but out numbered shapes got TRASHED by the many children after the first 10 minutes. Note to self: laminate the shapes and TAPE them to the ground!

Well, we eventually got them all through with a cupcake of their choice. Some kids liked it so much that they stayed in the circle just to walk around again and again as they ate their cupcake. What they didn't know was that I rarely read the actual number on the slip of paper I drew from the bag. Just to speed things up, I called out my own numbers to make sure the people without cupcakes would win sooner rather than later. What a chaotic game! We only had one injury for the night though. As we were cleaning up the game so the kids could go outside for the trunk or treat, a 4-yr.-old boy was trying to get off the stage and lost his balance. I only saw his feet as they went over his head off the stage. He landed on his head and went home with a big goose-egg to show for it. I was just glad that it was the son of the activities chair and not someone else.

After most people went outside for the trunk or treat, Jason and I took a quick walk around the parking lot to see people's trunks and then headed back inside to assess the damage done to the church. The cultural hall was a disaster! I told Jason the bad thing about kids in costumes is that they tend to act like they're dressed, and when you have costumes like Thing 1 and Thing 2, Avatar, Batman, the Grinch, and such, it makes for a disaster, one that takes a long time to clean up.

I'm just grateful for those who pitched in to put away tables, chairs, wash dishes, and vacuum. I think you may be able to acquire saint-hood just for staying after church activities to put the church back together again. Needless to say that when we got home that night, we were EXHAUSTED!

Tis the Season for Cornbelly's

Jason had Fall Break this last week and enjoyed a couple days off of school. Since I still had to work he didn’t really do anything exciting, especially since he got pretty sick with a cold on Friday. Fortunately, he listened to his in-house doctor--me--and took some Tylenol. Lo and behold he felt much better a little over an hour later. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough energy to do much so we canceled our plans for the night and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies instead—another good anecdote for any illness.

Saturday morning we went over to my sister’s house to help them build a shed in their backyard. Well, at least the husbands did. Jason was feeling a lot better so he, along with my dad and brother, all helped my brother-in-law for most of the day. And can I just say is that the weather was BEAUTIFUL. They couldn’t have picked a better day to do it. I came over to hang out with the women and helped shop, cook, and talk. The guys weren’t able to finish the shed by the time we had to leave, but they did get all four walls put together and put up.

That night we went to Cornbelly’s Corn Maize in Lehi with Jason’s parents. It was so much fun! We went last year and enjoyed it, so we decided to go back this year and bring some friends. Jason’s mom had never been in a corn maize, and I doubt his dad had either, but his dad didn’t last very long before he just wanted to get out by any means possible. Jason on the other hand was all about doing it the right way and so they bantered back and forth for most of the time. We also tried a few problem solving mazes, played tether-ball, went down a long slide a couple of times, and jumped on a giant pillow trampoline thing. The scariest part was going through the “monster,” a big blow-up monster that had a maze inside of it. It was dark and kind of scary. Well actually, the scariest person in there was Jason’s dad who kept making me jump while we were inside! Afterward we went to JCW’s for thick shakes and a rousing political conversation.

Ramblings about a business trip

Such a fun date deems it necessary to write so the date will always be recorded. :)

I never wrote about my trip to Dallas last week. It was a fun little trip, but I take it as a learning experience more than a trip of leisure. I flew there alone and met up with two women, one from my office, and the other a client from California. It was probably a typical business trip as far as eating out every meal, sleeping in a nice hotel, and attending to the required meetings, but it was different in the sense that I had never been alone as the only member of the LDS church for such an extended period. Even on my mission I always had my companion, so this was an experience of learning what other people's lives outside the church are about. What I found so different is that what is most important to me, and what I generally talk about to build relationships, is different for these women and for most of the people I met with. For example I found coffee and iced tea instead of water; expensive tailored clothing from the malls instead of practical reasonably-priced clothing, pets instead of children, careers instead of family, pleasures of the world instead of God.

On a lighter side, I did enjoy the beautiful weather in Dallas, a chance to go swimming, delicious meals without cooking or cleaning, a comfortable bed and room with a great view and room service to provide bedding and towels, and I had plenty of time to read a novel during the plane rides and before going to bed.

Besides the business trip, my life lately has been composed of work, dinner, dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, and reading. I enjoyed General Conference last week and look forward to rereading those messages. This weekend Jason and I watched Forever Strong, hung up pictures in our apartment, and had dinner and games with my parents. The day after we hung the pictures our landlord said, "I forgot to tell you that for every picture you hang, you have to stay here another year." I'm taking that as a good sign that we're good with our landlords.

Allergic to Exercise?

So you may hear that people say that they're allergic to exercise because they just don't want to exercise, but could it actually be true that someone could actually have an allergic reaction just because of the simple act of increasing their heart rate and physical activity? Well, that's a good question, one that Jason may possibly have answered last week. I like Jason's mom's account of the experience although it may be slightly exaggerated. She writes:

"Jason has now adopted a new friend: the same that Jeff and Cali have. Her name is EpiPen. Once on his mission his head blew up so big he looked like an alien and scared his missionary comp to death. Well, he decided to do the same thing again this week and impress Julie. She wanted to take him right to the hospital but it wasn't until his throat started closing off that he finally agreed to go to an instacare (probably because he could no longer talk) When he walked in the receptionist pushed other patients aside and rushed him to the back and made him drop his drawers. He had a new adventure--shots in the behind. If you want the details you'll have to ask him:) They're not sure what he's allergic to but believe it or not, it could be exercise! At the instacare they suggested that he still go to the hospital but he didn't--and they probably said, 'the next time, PLEASE go there and not here!'"

Jason and I had actually just come home from a typical night jogging in the park like we had many times before, but apparently, this time was different. Jason let me know as soon as we were almost home that he had started feeling like he was having an allergic reaction, but we didn't know to what. Within ten minutes he was sitting on the floor hunched over and having a hard time breathing, swallowing, and talking. I kept asking him questions but he couldn't/didn't want to say much. Go figure.

After consulting Google, I confirmed that Jason was having a serious allergic reaction and should be taken to the hospital immediately. Unfortunately we had just moved so I didn't know where the nearest hospital or doctor's office was and without great insurance until Oct. I didn't know how expensive that option would be if he didn't REALLY have to go. Jason's face had started swelling up, and as he puts it, he looked like a werewolf. I got more worried after seeing his face and called Dr. Mark to ask his opinion. He pretty much said, "Take him to the doctor right now." So, I got Jason in the car and had Mark look up the nearest Insta-care. Mark stayed on the phone with me until we arrived at the Insta-care. Jason said he felt like it was getting a little better by the time we got to the doctor's, but I decided we should go in anyway and find out what was going on. They took Jason almost immediately when they saw he was having a hard time breathing and gave him two shots before I even got in the room.

He felt a lot better soon after the shots, but he also started feeling drowsy as a result. I was so worried that he would fall asleep driving to work the next morning that I made him call and get a sub for his classes. He claims he would have been okay, but sometimes I think I do a better job of listening to his body than he does. :)

Crazy experience! And while we don't really know what happened that night, one thing is certain, we were definitely being watched over so that everything worked out. And until we have more information, we have to assume he's allergic to exercise. Who'd have thought?

Random happenings plus a trip to Dallas

So, a lot has happened the last couple of weeks, but I'm not even going to report it in any kind of order, so enjoy the randomness.

I found out about a week ago that I get to go on a business trip next week to Dallas, TX. It's for three days and I'll be there with the Senior Design Lead who is assigned to do a project that involves doing some interviews and focus groups for a company. I'm not officially assigned to the project, but I am not as busy with projects as some others, so I get to go. I'm kind of excited though because it sounds like they're treating us really well with a fancy hotel and meals and all. I'm not used to being treated to all this stuff by businesses--I guess that because I'm the product of the educational system, not the business sector. Work has been kind of slow lately, mostly because I'm ahead on the project I'm working on and have run out of things to work on. I'm learning about how much having no work can be a trial for me. I'm sure there won't be many times in life that I'll have to deal with that. :)

Speaking of trials, Jason is still doing well with seminary. He is trying to learn how to both teach and entertain and even though he spends hours and hours preparing, he still has good days and hard days. He was really excited this week to find out that some of the high school basketball team comes over and plays with the Junior High faculty on Friday afternoons and so he went to play with them for the first time on Friday. He said he really liked it because it was "his style" of basketball. I translate that to mean that the players are actually decent players who know how to do plays and stuff like that. I'm glad that he will get some exercise time that will keep him in shape. He goes running with me a couple times a week, but he usually stays by me if we run at night and I don't know if he even breaks a sweat. :)

We've tried to take advantage of the amazing weather we've had the last two weekends. Last Saturday we actually cleaned the church, washed both of our cars plus Rita's car, and waxed my car. I attended a family bridal shower for my cousin's daughter with my mom and sister and that was fun. Yesterday, after cleaning our apartment, we hiked to Donut Falls. Jason had never been before and it was a fun walk down memory lane for me. It's been a few years since I last went but the trail hasn't changed much even though a rock fall has changed the waterfall part quite a bit. The changing color of leaves in the canyons was beautiful and it was such a beautiful day. The sad part was that a boy had just fallen through the hole of the falls about 30 minutes before we got there and had dislocated his hip. We saw a lot of firemen and emergency help hike up the falls and lower him down in a stretcher. It was quite the drama. We felt like we were watching a movie as we sat there on a rock eating our picnic lunch and watching the emergency people try to get this boy down the falls.

Another happening was that Jason lost his wedding ring last week. He lost is some time Saturday and noticed it on Sunday when he didn't have it to wear to church. He look quite a bit on Sunday and Monday, but didn't find it. He thought he might have left it at the temple and we called and went there to check with no luck. Then yesterday we decided to look more diligently. We prayed and then found it about 5 minutes later. Apparently it had fallen into some gift boxes when I was wrapping a gift last week. I'm glad we found it then because I don't think we would have come across is again for many months.

We were sustained last week as members of the activities committee. Neither of us has ever been on any type of activities committee before, so it's a new experience for us. Jason claims it's not his forte, but it looks like he's going to get some learning experiences. Hopefully it won't be too painful. :)

We're grateful for all the yummy meals we've been enjoying with people lately. Two weeks ago  Boyd and Rita, our landlords, invited us over for dinner and treated us to barbeque ribs and some Venezuelan food since Rita is from Venezuela. It was delicious. Last Sunday we ate a delicious dinner at  Jason's parents' house for a family FHE and watched the CES fireside. Monday my parents came and visited me at my work during lunch time since they are just four blocks away. And tonight my old roommate Sara Moulton came over for dinner and peach cobbler. We like visitors and hopefully can keep arranging more visits from friends and family to our new apartment.

One last random thing. Last night Jason and I went to a Stake adult dinner thing and ended up participating and helping more than most of the long-time members of the Stake. We got there early and helped set up, we participated in a "minute to win it" game, starred in a ward skit, and then stayed afterwards to help clean up. We were probably one of the youngest couples there with an average age of 50+. I'm sure the older members appreciated the help and energy of us young whipper-snappers.:) Oh, and did I mention that we actually won the game? We had to keep a feather in the air by hitting it with our hands longer than the other teams and we won. They rewarded us with the Golden Feather Award--very prestigious I'm sure. :)

Well, that's probably enough news for today. Thanks for hanging in there to read it all.

Labor Day Weekend

This week has been a little calmer in comparison to the newness and busyness of the last few weeks. I’m settling in a little more to work and was assigned a project for a pharmaceutical company. It’s not a big project, but a relatively simple one for me to start on. It will be to create three web-based training (WBT) courses. The first course in 30 minutes and the other two are 20 minutes each. We had the kick-off meeting with the client and it went fairly well despite that it was a teleconference to San Francisco and we had technical difficulties for the first 20 minutes or so. I’ve starting learning the content and writing up the design documents. I’m working with one other full-time designer for the first course. She has been there about 5 months and her name is Julie also.

Jason had his first full week of teaching seminary. He likes it and is learning a lot about teaching and about 9^th grade motivations. He works long hours since it takes him a long time to prepare lessons for the next day. He was already observed once and he felt like the observation went well.

Both Jason and I had a couple of firsts this week. He volunteered at the church cannery on Wednesday and helped can corn for several hours. One sister working with him called him “lightning hands” but he wasn’t too flattered since most of the people volunteering at the time were twice his age. He said it was amazing what resources the church has to do projects like this on a regular basis.

My first happened to be walking a dog. Our landlords own a German Shepherd and since Jason grew up with a Golden Retriever Cali during his teen years, he volunteered to help walk their dog named Estrella (which means Star in English). Apparently Estrella wasn’t as excited to run with us as Cali is and we were running faster than she was for a lot of the time. At one point Jason couldn’t handle going so slow and wanted to run faster so I volunteered to take Estrella around the loop of the park while he lapped us. Having never walked a dog before, I was a little anxious since I didn’t know how she would react to other people and dogs, but she did pretty well.

Saturday we ate lunch at Jason’s parents house with his Grandpa and Grandma Richards and three of his cousins attending BYU, two of which just got home from their missions recently. The food was delicious! That night Jason and I volunteered at Thanksgiving Point for the Jon Schmidt piano concert. We had to be there a couple hours before it started to help direct people being seated. It was an outdoor amphitheater and it was fairly hot outside. Before the concert we got to walk around the gardens for about 15 minutes and they were beautiful. Then we sat down and watched most of the concert. I really enjoy listening to his music, so it was fun. However, at the end, both of us decided that the next time I want to go to a concert, we should just pay the money and not come 2 1/2 hours early. :)