Mar's New Car, i.e. Really Jesse's

Jesse and I are posting this jointly - he uploaded pictures, and my assignment is to write the story. :)

Well, the car saga is wrapping up. We originally signed a contract to buy this car (in a darker gray color) from Larry Miller Subaru, and they were trying to ship it from Denver. Two-and-a-half weeks later, they said the dealer in Denver sold it before they could get it (you know, all the weather impeded anything from getting in and out of Denver). So, we went over to Nate Wade Subaru, because they had the car we wanted, fresh off the truck. Turned out that car was ordered for someone, but they said they could get another one for us. Oh yeah...they could trade it from Denver. Yeah, we weren't going through that again. So Friday, Jesse went to Mark Miller Subaru, who had the silver turbo you see. Jesse was in love with this car. So after intense debating over the color (we weren't arguing, just debating with ourselves, really), we decided to just get it over with, and get the silver.

This is a pretty car. Jesse gets permagrin when he's driving it...and I have to admit, even I get it, too! Saturday morning, I woke up around 8, and Jesse was gone. So I peeked into the garage, and sure enough - there was Jesse. Like a kid on Christmas morning, reveling in his new toy.

I'm just glad we're not shopping for cars anymore. Oh, and this one is really fun to drive! :) But I have been informed that on Saturdays and Sundays, I have to drive the truck.

This Is the Best Christmas Ever!

I did exclaim that on Christmas morning. Not only did I get my own digital camera (so I don't have any excuses not to blog anymore), but Mike surprised Jesse and me with our own Korean stone bowls. Imagine putting a heavy stone bowl directly on the stove top to heat it up - then eating right out of it. So cool! (I know, I know...you could eat right out of a pot if you wanted to, too, but with these bowls, you're actually supposed to do that.)

Oh, and the bowls came with cans of Korean "Grape juice with sac." *shudder* So here's one of the first pictures from my camera. Gross, huh? :)

Pictures at random

Ok, so I am guilty of not taking many pictures, but luckily, lots of other people put pictures on the internet, so I can simply copy and put somewhere else on the internet. :)
well, this picture has a couple good memories attatched to it. First, the Elder with the green tie is Elder Smith. He actually went home a week and a half ago, needless to say, I'm gonna miss him. He was a genious with the language, we could ask any kind of question, and he would know. Plus, he just had an awesome sense of humor that just cracked me up. Gonna miss him. The second memory here, is me and some fellow missionaries spending our lunch hour eating chinese food prepared by actual chinese people, mmmm, it was sooo good. Mike, yes, the real deal. The other elder in the Picture is Elder Conway, our Current Zone Leader, he is practically my mother out here, gotta love him. As for me, well, look at the picture, I am wearing a sweater vest with a short sleeve White shirt, a little wierd, but I gotta cycle through ALL of my white shirts...hahaha.
well, I hope this is somewhat enjoyable and doesn't take away from the moment of seeing those cute little cuddly puppies below this post!


hope everyone enjoyed Halloween yesterday!!

Were they EVER really that small??

Last night, I went downstairs to get something, and I saw Indy laying all cute-like against the hall closet doors - and he looked like he had a big 'ol gut! I don't know if it was the way he was laying, but I thought, 'Sheesh, Bob! Time to lay off the raw hides!' And of course, everyone knows that Bo is a fatty - he can barely make it between the chairs to go under the kitchen table when people are sitting in them! Despite efforts to get the pooches slimmed down (walks, diet food, low-fat treats, very few table scraps), Bo seems to be getting fatter, and Indy - while not as chubby as Bo - seems to be growing into his skin! (Sloans will understand that - Indy has a lot of excess skin.)
So I was going through some pictures I have on my work computer, and I came across this one, from when we'd only had the dogs a short time, and I thought... 'MAN! They were really THAT small?'

So I thought I'd post a few pics of the pooches from when they were...um... smaller. So cute!

And they're STILL cute even though they're getting bigger!

San Diego and the Four Main Questions

Mel: Hey Mar, what time is it?
Jesse: It doesn't matter! Time doesn't exist in this place. All that matters here are four things: Is the sun out? Are the waves up? And are you hungry or tired?

Such is life, camping at the beach in San Elijo. I tagged along with Marianne and Jesse to San Diego last week, to join the Knight clan in their yearly beach-camping tradition. I've been once before and loved it; I was stoked for this year's trip as soon as I found out about it. I'd been looking forward to it for 6 months. And it didn't disappoint! Here is a schedule of our first full day there:

7:00-7:30 - Wake up, eat breakfast, sit around campfire and read a book. (Or go surfing, if you're Jesse.)
9:30 - take a nap in the tent until the sun comes out and heats the tent up so much, you can't sleep anymore; eat a snack, read more if you feel like it.
11:30-ish - get hungry, eat lunch, play Mexican Train.
A little after noon: Hit the beach for some swimming and a toss or two of the frisbee.
Some time after that: Take a shower, walk up to the 7-Eleven for a slurpee, walk around town a little.
Later: Get hungry, eat sinfully delicious quesadillas for dinner; read.
After that: Sit around campfire and chat and laugh until it gets dark and you get tired; go to bed.

Do you see a pattern? After the the morning melts away, time becomes irrelevant. The next three days were exactly like that, with few changes - throw a bike ride in here and there, a trip or two to some surf shops, playing games with the Nolte kids (Jesse's sister and brother-in-law, Katie and Brad, joined the festivities on Thursday afternoon with their kids - Audrey (6), Justin (4) and Tyler (a.k.a. 'Chibes') (1)), playing frisbee with other kids on the beach, watching Jesse and his dad fly a stunt-kite, watching the surfers, watching all the dogs on the beach running into the waves, trying to keep Chibes away from the campfire... and eating so well, I swear I waddled on to the plane to come home.

It was interesting... on Sunday, at the Knight's house after church, Dennis (Jesse's dad) said to us: "It's a good thing we got back last night so you have today to unwind."
Unwind from what?
Perfect weather (except for the few short rainshowers that didn't seem to do any huge damage), great food to munch on whenever I felt like it, outstanding company, falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the ocean, walking on the beach, fun games to play, reading a book by the campfire... and more! No one worried about what time it was (except if it was the Nolte kids' bed-time), how many calories were consumed, if I should check my voicemail, or e-mail... anything that wasn't one of the four main questions was completely irrelevant.

All that mattered was that the sun was out, the waves were up, and if I was hungry, or tired.

AAHHHHH...

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

This month is such a special one;
It’s birthday-time for you.
We’d really like to celebrate
Your happy day with you.
Zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho,
Here’s something we can do.
We’ll sing a song that we all know,
Happy Birthday to you!

-LDS Children's Songbook

More Havasupai!

Just thought I'd throw up a couple of my pictures.

Happy 20th Birthday, Shawn :)

Hey buddy... I know that in Estonia it's not your Birthday anymore, but I still have an hour left of it here ;) I missed ya this year. Here's one for old times' sake-- think of Swimming, Sam Hawk, sleeping, Panda Express, and then more swimming. Good ol' summer days... Happy Birthday bro! We're proud of you working hard over there in Estonia!



p.s. I did get you a b-day present but haven't sent it yet... something to look forward to ;)

Havasupai preview

Preview because I don't have time to do a detailed overview of the trip :) Perhaps this weekend I can do some of that... but here's one to prove that we were there ;) (Except for me, I took the picture).

This was down at Mooney Falls on Friday night, the 15th of September, just after showering under the run-off of a nearby spring. The shower... yeah that was an experience to remember ;) We'll make sure to document it here later.


There you have Mar, Jesse, Mini (Megan), Curtis, Steve, and Jeff. Don't they look squeaky clean?

Lake Mary

A bunch of us went camping over the weekend, and took at short (but steep!) hike up to Lake Mary, by Brighton Ski Resort. It was so pretty! It's getting a bit chilly, the leaves are changing... Fall is coming!

Road Trip

So, Mar and I went to St. George over the Labor Day weekend, and stayed at the Coral Hills - our family's favorite Best Western motel. We got stuck in some gnarly traffic on the way down - it took us over 5 hours, when it should have taken us 3.5 or 4 hours. So we called the Coral Hills to make sure they didn't give away my reservation, and they assured me that they had a room for me.
We rolled into town just before 11:00 that night, and went to check in. The lady at the front desk gave us a room number and some keys, and sent us on our merry way. We found the room, dragged our stuff upstairs, anxious to crash, put the key in the door - which unlocked - and...
Someone was in there!!!!
So we hightailed it back to the front desk, totally shocked, and told the front desk lady what happened. She was as shocked as we were - that room was supposed to be empty. She had no reservation scheduled for that room, no desk card... well, now what?? She looked in her schedule for another room that might be empty - even a room with just a king bed that we could share - and she had nothing for us! So we got the last possible resort...
The HONEYMOON SUITE!
That's right! A big huge four-poster bed, a massive TV, and a heart-shaped jacuzzi tub that was about in the middle of the room. Mar hit the nail on the head when we walked in and she said, "This is SO awesome! And just a little bit awkward..." SO funny. But we definitely enjoyed the room! I even took a bath in the heart-shaped tub - but I made Mar stay in the bathroom the whole time.
That was a nice, relaxing trip. We went to the Brigham Young Winter Home, and across the street is the Seven Wives Inn, a late 1800's home where our great-great-grandfather lived for a time while avoiding the law for polygamy reasons; several of the rooms are named for some of his wives.
Incidentally, did you know that St. George was named for George A. Smith? Well, I'm sure some of you know that. But where did the 'Saint' part come from? Well, in that time period, a lot of people were suffering and dying from scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamins and nutrients. Well, George A. taught travelling companies to plant and eat potatoes, then re-plant them for the next company coming through, who would then harvest them and eat them, then re-plant them for the next company, and so on; so George A. was nicknamed the 'Potato Saint' by those who were able to benefit from his knowledge. Hence, 'Saint George'!! :)

Moving Day!

Welcome to the new Knight residence!


Jesse and Mar moved into their new house last weekend. We gathered there at around noon (give or take an... hour... or two) to unload the moving truck.

It's a really nice house - should be fun for the first while, since they're about the only ones in the neighborhood so far! I can't wait to see what it will look like when it's all put together!

Congrats, Mar and Jesse!

Oh Bob!

This one’s for Elder Shawny Poodles and Sister Kato Wally. I know they miss Bobo and Bob, so here’s one of Bob being adorable =)

Camping and Stuff

Okay, I just wrote this whole story about our latest camping adventure and tried to post pictures, but blogger erased it all... GGGRRRR... So here's the shorter version:

We went camping on Friday night at Redman Campgrounds, and after some annoying confusion about the campsite hosts giving our campsite away, we settled into a group campsite with some nice people who let us stay in their area. They boys set up the fun figant tent, not bothering to put on the rain fly because hey, it's July! It's perfectly clear and warm! Our mistake... 2-2:30 in the morning, we were all rudely awakend by pelting rain on our faces (Mar and Jesse too, not having used their rain fly either)! Mike and Steve worked as fast as they could to get the rain fly up, which was tough because it has all these little strings that were all tied in a knot ('Little knot here! I'll let you work on that.') so Mar stood there with a light up while they worked. The rain had all but stopped, but they finally got the rain fly on the tent - and just in the nick of time! Almost as if on cue, it started pouring rain again, right when Mike and Steve stepped back into the tent and zipped it up. Most of our stuff was soaked, and poor Steve left his sleeping bag open while he worked on the rain fly with Mike, so his bag was soaked when he got back in it! Aww, fun times camping! The tent is way fun - the room on the left (or, as it's now called, 'Mel's wing') sleeps 2 people, and the room on the right (or, 'the Boys' wing') sleeps up to 5 people, and there's a 'common area' between them. Fun!

Random extra picture I have to post, because it made me laugh so hard - I went up to Park City to do a bit of shopping with Mar and Jesse tonight, and we were in a Bed & Bath store. Apparently Jesse was either REALLY bored or REALLY tired.

Before & After

Okay, Elder Sloan might kill me for this, but I had to post these. Kate's room took me a couple of hours to straighten up, a few weeks after she left.


Shawn's took me months. I worked on it off and on for weeks. I know he wanted it left alone, but I couldn't bring myself to just close the door and ignore it! Who knows what could have grown or reproduced in there????

At least I left all the Redskins stuff up, Shawnie! Not to worry - all your stuff has been boxed, not thrown out.
(Don't know why the second 'after' pic isn't showing!!! Can you fix it, Mike??)

water buffalo bobo

This one is for Kato and Shawn, who miss the pooches =) Bobo loooooves the pool, in fact, he loves any water he can climb into. I remember taking him on walks and he's stop by this fountain and just climb in and splash around like a cute chubby pooch. So sometimes we fill this pool up for him and he'll just run around in circles splashing water with his paws and nose, it's so silly and adorable! Bob never jumps in, he just plays with Bobo from outside the pool.

Heheh... my favorite is the shot of Bobo with his ears all sticking up. Silly pooch!

Been Some Time

Lately I have been so preoccupied with my own blog, that I never post here. I think it is about time I share my two senties. This picture here is of my beloved Pärnu. It has been about 2 months since I have seen that wonderful place. Tallinn is just not the same. This picture is taken from the coolest apartment there, right on the river. This is the famous river I saw every day of my training, both frozen over and looking all fantastical. This should simply sum up the great feeling I had when it started to warm up! If I could live anywhere in Estonia, it would be right there on the edge of that river. Good Times

as pizza the hutt would say

"chow boys"

Zone diet

This is a conversation that just took place in the elevator after lunch today at work:

Mar: So, I think I’ll start that “Zone” diet.
Mike: Zone diet? What’s that?
Mar: It’s another one of those doctor-created diets, except there’s no...
Mike: No detox at the beginning, huh?
Mar: Nope.
Mike: But isn’t detox a real test of your commitment?
Mar: So anyways, this diet... [interrupted by my comment]
Mike: [looking off thoughtfully] Hmm, I wonder if I have any Kit Kats left...
Mar: Well never mind then!
[we both bust up laughing as I exit the elevator]
Mike: You call tell me more about this diet as I munch on my delicious Kit Kat bar!

Hehehe... You can guess how successful my summer dieting / exercising has been! Now if you'll excuse me... I need to dig through my stash for a Kit Kat ;)

Hurrah-age camping and stuff

Good garbage the eats were good this weekend.


Those aren't Jesse's pants. They're Mar's pj pants. Jesse didn't bring any pants of his own, so he borrowed her PJ pants to shield his legs...


Dan was making a great face but by the time I got the camera out he had retreated... just as well, this pic is equally amusing if not more so. Hey Shawn-- you asked about your gallon team gulp. See it there in the background? Yeah it's still around. Dan fills it regularly with gatorade at the sev ;)

Since we got rained on the previous week at Tanner Flats, "the gang" decided to go camping again this week. We wanted to hit the Redman campgrounds up Big Cottonwood canyon, but it was still too soggy up there so the campground hadn't been opened yet. So instead we hit the Spruces— a little more crowded than we'd like but the weather was great. Of course what I was stoked for was the food... We did Korean (삼겹살)-- we grilled up some side of pork (samgyupsal) in addition to some thin strips of steak and even some prawns (nice call by Jesse)-- oh man it was good. We had it both just grilled with sides, as well as some of it marinated in some spicy Korean sauce. Mar and Steve couldn't believe that Dan, Jesse and I all sat there eating for at least an hour. Needless so say I was very very full and very happy, hehe.

Besides that, it was the first time we used the new tent that Mel, Steve and I pitched in for last weekend... It was fairly large compared to our old one, and somehow I failed to take a picture of it. It's got a commons area and 2 wings for sleeping people... I'm sure Mel appreciated that she had her own wing and didn't have to sleep in the same area as her obnoxious brothers (2 of which had consumed mass amounts of grilled garlic, hehehe...)

Good times, good times...