AUDREY

Let me tell you a little about my friend Audrey. She's amazing. We met the first few weeks of our grad program at the University of Utah and clicked immediately. A little over a year before I met her, she lost her husband in a road bike accident. They were married 4 years. Over the last 3 years that I've known her, I've seen her work her way through the grieving process. I'm so proud of her and how far she has come. She has overcome every one's worst fear and taught me so much along the way. I don't think the process of grieving ever truly ends, but I do know from watching her, that it is possible to be happy again after experiencing something so devastating.

Her husband Derek was from Oregon. When she came to visit we went to see Derek's grave. We took a few pictures, which seems a little awkward, do you smile? do you look sad? Who knows what's appropriate but this one was my favorite...

I think it shows where she's at in life. Although she loves and misses Derek, she knows that he wants her to be happy and move on and that's what she is doing.

Audrey has been dating now for the past year. She dates a ton but is having no luck in finding anyone that is even close to being worthy of her (in my opinion). She might kill me for doing this, but I know that I have quality friends out there that read this blog and they might have quality single male friends or family that might be interested in taking Audrey out. Here's a little info about our eligible Bachelorette and a few pictures to seal the deal;)

ABOUT AUDREY:

• Lives in SLC, UT.


• Owns a cute home and has 3 roommates.


• Has a great job, that she loves, as a speech therapist on the acute floor of a hospital.


• Loves the outdoors (hiking, camping, etc.)


• About 5'2'' tall


• FUNNY


• very organized


• healthy and active lifestyle


• great, healthy cook


• loves to travel and experience new things


• grew up all over the place (Canada, Germany, can't remember where else)


• loves music (she's my official music coordinator - keeps me on top of what's new in the world of music)


• can talk to ANYONE, makes everyone feel comfortable around her.

There's obviously SO much more but there's a start. Here are a few pics.

Serious, how many girls do you know that can do that? She is a rock and I love her so much. I'm grateful for her friendship. She makes me laugh, she lets me cry, and she loves me no matter what. What more could you ask from a friend. Lets just hope she still loves me after this!!!:)

Let me know if you know of anyone:) They must get through me first!

The Beach with Audrey

Meet my best friend Audrey. She came up to visit during the week we were at the beach. I accidently left my camera in her bag when she left, making this posting a little back dated. I didn't want to pass up on posting about the time spent with her, so here ya go.

We spent about a 1/2 a day in McMinnville showing her our house, etc. We then went out to the beach house. We borrowed the 1st season of LOST and fit in about 5 episodes a day. We also...

made Dan brave the fire for our tinfoil dinners on the beach,

spent a morning jogging on the beach while Dan surfed, followed by lunch,toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory (the ice cream was great too!),
and had our fill of talking and laughing.

Thanks for coming to visit Aud! Love you!

Aspiring Photographer

I've been interested in photography for years. In high school I took my first class. I never really learned how to use the camera, just the dark room. After the class ended, I set up a dark room in my basement and continued trying to compensate in the darkroom for my lack of proper camera usage. Thus, my pictures were never very good and I'm pretty sure the basement still smells fowl from all the chemicals I dumped down the sink..... Oops.

In college I took another class. We reviewed camera function but the focus was more on composition. Again, never learned what they meant by f/stop & shutter speed. For some reason, those terms were SO intimidating to me.

Years past and I continued to take pictures with my automatic camera. Sometimes they would turn out the way I wanted and sometime they didn't. I knew that if I just learned how to control the settings I would get the kind of pictures and exposure I wanted, but no, ... F/STOP......SHUTTER SPEED.....ROCKET SCIENCE!!!!

About 3 months ago I bought a digital SLR camera. I kept the settings on automatic until early this week. I decided it was time to REALLY learn how to use my camera the way it was intended. I took off the training wheels and went completely manual. Guess what... it's not rocket science. Man, all those years of being intimidated. What a waste.

I have had such a great time playing with my camera this week. My favorite subjects are kids. I've been following my nieces and nephews around playing with different settings and lighting. Here are a few of my favorites....

FYI: Those are Mr. Potato Head Shoes:) He wanted to try them on.

I'd love some critics or tips if you feel so inclined. It's really the only way to get better. I promise I won't cry...... in front of you;).

Costa Rica Memories

A year ago from this week Dan & I returned from Costa Rica. We went there for 6 weeks to do a language emersion program and to play! Today, I found myself looking through some pictures and thinking of all the fun memories. I thought I'd share some of the highlights. We'll start with my favorite - White Water Rafting! Beautiful, physical, and a blast!

We have tons of these pictures and in every one Dan looks SO intense. He was showing those rapids who was boss! 4-wheeler tour through the jungle to a waterfall and swimming hole. Surfing - Dan was loving the warm water, he is used to surfing in a wet suit in Oregon. I loved the warm water too, but didn't so much like the surfing part:) We'll leave that sport to Dan. He was able to rent a boat and go to a famous surf break named Ollie's Point with some friends from the school. I'm pretty sure he'd say that was his favorite day.

Canopy Tour Repelling

Zip Line Tours

Tubing town rivers that would NEVER be allowed in the states! Horse back riding. Yup, he should a been a cowboy!Our favorite host family - Jose' and Olga. We didn't know much spanish when we first got there so we did a lot of dancing. They sure knew how to shake it!

My absolute favorite part was being side by side with my best friend for 6 weeks straight. I'm sure glad we had that experience. These pictures definitely make me smile:) Hope you enjoyed them too!

Heat Wave!!!

Last week Oregon experienced a "heat wave". Yes, it did reach 100 degrees and I'm pretty sure everyone thought they were going to melt (laugh it up all you AZ people). Thankfully it's now back to normal 70 degrees right now, a high of 83 later today (now who's laughin'!!).
So, in order to escape the hellacious temperatures, we hit up the swimming pool with the Ruden family. Here are a few pictures to show off my cute nieces, nephews, and in-laws.

What is it with guys and needing to see how high they can throw their kids? It's a good thing the kids LOVE it too!
Zachary, the flying wonder!! What a sport.

Moms are a bit more gentle.


Baby Joel's enjoying his first summer swim with his parents.

I think he liked it!

And then there's cute little Jaycie representin' the girls.

Thanks for the fun Ruden family!

BOBS

And this is why Dan cooks. Beautiful meal. Well done. Thanks babe!

Tagged by Amanda - thanks babe;)

Jobs I've held:
1. Speech Language Pathologist
2. Speech Assistant
3. Reading Specialist
4. Kooley Park Snack Stand Worker


Places to go for a weekend getaway:
1. Oregon Coast
2. Backpacking
3. Mesa
4. Salt Lake


Movies I Can Watch Over & Over: (I don't usually like watching movies more than once, but if I must)
1. The Notebook
2. Napoleon Dynamite
3. Zoolander
4. Hitch (mostly for the dance scenes - love it)


My Guilty Pleasures:
1. plucking eyebrows (especially if they REALLY need it), don't know if that's considered guilty but it's a strange pleasure
2. Desserts - not candy
3. Sleeping In
4. Buying things for my home


Places I Have Lived:
1. McMinnville, Oregon
2. Salt Lake City, UT
3. Prov0, UT
4. Mesa, AZ


What were most likely the first things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?
1. "Wow. His friend is hot"
2. "Funny guy"
3. "He totally wants me" ;)
4. "He needs a hair cut"
(For all of those who don't know the story of how Dan & I got together, lets just say it was love at first sight for one of us. However, it didn't take too long for the other to come around:)


Places I have Been on Vacation:
1. Costa Rica
2. New York
3. Guatemala
4. London


Favorite Foods:
1. Dessert
2. Cereal - Honey Nut Shredded Wheat...mmmm.
3. Anything Dan cooks
4. Korean Food


If in a "jam" with your spouse, what tactics do you use to get out of the doghouse?
1. Sex
2. Sex
3. Sex
4. Sex
Was that too honest??


Websites I visit (ALMOST daily):
1. hotmail
2. blogs
3. myfamily.com
4. wellsfargo


Best 1st kisses landmarks.
1. Dan's apartment ("best" because it was with my MAN! And I made the move!)
2. In the back of a packed suburban
3. Outside of my sister's apartment at BYU when I was a Junior in H.S.
4. Mine aren't that interesting so I'll use Dan's - Floor of the BYU Law Library during finals week with a girl he just met - what a man slut!


Places I'd Rather Be right now:
1. Right here (maybe with something chocolate in my mouth)
2. Europe
3. Lake Powell with Stephanie
4. Salt Lake


Now I get to pick 4 other blog buddies to do this!
1. Hillary Whalen
2. Suzi Pearson
3. Kara Pothier
4. Kara Kelly

Beach Week continued

(Read the previous post before this one)

After the 4th and anniversary celebrations, Dan & I spent a couple of days going on hikes, exploring different beaches, watching movies, and being lazy. On Friday we had all of the Young Women in the ward come up for a little retreat. How about a picture review...

We started the fun with tinfoil dinners on the beach.

Then risked our lives for the perfect smore.

That was one HOT bonfire!!

But of course, the girls found the best way to protect themselves from the fiery inferno.

Not without casualties though.

But, Oh when you get it right!

The rest of the night was filled with fun and games on the beach and at the house. These girls know how to PARTY!

The next morning, after a nice big breakfast, we all went on my favorite hike. At the top we all took 20 minutes for scripture study followed by a little devotional. Amazing girls with incredible testimonies.

All in all it was a successful retreat. Nothin' but good times had by all. Gotta love these girls.