May in Evansville

May in Evansville meant an average temperature of 70 degree weather, and a chance of rain occuring at least once a week. We were able to make weekly trips to the library and take our bike out for a ride almost weekly, but with so much rain that meant there were also plenty of puddles to jump in.

Some significant events that occurred this month were:
-We biked to the church and back (a 4.2 mile trip one way)!
-We celebrated Mother's day by starting a garden
-Genelle's and I performed in a small dance performance on the 18th
-We made a family trip out to St. Louis over Memorial Weekend (to see the zoo)
-We visited 3 new parks and 2 lakes (Audubon Park, Smothers Park in Owensboro, Boonville City Lake/Park, and Scales Lake Park)!

We are excited to see all that June has in store for us!

April in Evansville

I plan to share all the adventures that our family have experienced over the past couple of months here in the Midwest, but first here's a little sample of how the last 30 days went... Enjoy!

Evansville, Indiana

Last December we moved across the United States to a lesser known part of Indiana called... Evansville.

Due to the large distance between us and the majority of our family I thought it appropriate to start up this blog again in order to help our family members know what's going on in our lives (complete with pictures). I hope you enjoy the upcoming photos and stories of our adventures here in the Midwest. We certainly are. 😁

Down South

Throughout May and part of June we were traveling down south to Hurricane, Henderson and California almost every weekend. Looking back it was quite expensive for us to be traveling so much, particularly since we had just moved into a new apartment and were trying to adjust to the increased costs associated with that. But it was worth it to spend so much time with family!

Highlights from the trip

1. Birthday nachos as big as Genelle! (April 26th)

2. Discovering Genelle's first two teeth popping through (Memorial Day Weekend)

3. Seeing and holding Ida Jane for the first time (Father's Day Weekend)

4. Genelle really chowing down on food for the first time (May 31st)

5. Genelle's first time in the pool (April 26th)

6. Seeing family (EVERYTIME)

A Hess Family Reunion

In May all of Mike's siblings, and their families, got together for a little family reunion in Burbank, California --his home town.

Thanks to their family friend, Cynthia Eccles, all of the family from out of town were able to stay in the same condo throughout our stay.

It was so much fun to see everyone and hold/kiss all the new grandkids! We certainly can't wait to see everyone again!

  Highlights from the trip

1. Trying the Apollo breakfast burrito for the first time --loved it!

2. Seeing/kissing/holding Areta for the first time!

3. Seeing/kissing/holding Miles for the first time!

4. Getting a professional massage with all the ladies (also for the first time)

5. Having Jamberry nails applied by Susan (and my hair braided by her too)

6. Experiencing the glorious cooking of SMP Catering (Steve Marshall Productions)

7. Chilling at the pool with Genelle and the rest of the fam!

8. Seeing Marilyn (Genelle's Grandma Hess) in a bathing suit for the first time! (She looked gooood!)

A Mini Vacation with Friends

Towards the end of Genelle's sixth month we decided to go on a little vacation to the Oregon Coast. It was beautiful and so much fun!! The water was too cold to put Genelle in, but she had a ball hanging out with our friends over at My Life of Checked Boxes!

Highlights from the trip

1. Waking up to see/hear/smell the Ocean EVERY MORNING!!

2. Seeing all the green and brown loveliness that is Oregon

3. Getting to see and touch Sea Stars and Anemone during low tide

4. Eating Seafood!! (Even Mike tried some oyster, crab and fish!)

5. Relaxing for a whole week and playing games with some of my bestest friends!!!

6. Tillamook Cheese Factory and the Blue Heron with it's petting zoo

7. Visiting Portland (specifically, VooDoo Donuts, Powell's Book Store, the Washington Park and some Food Carts just down the street from Washington Park)

8. Breakfast on the Smelt Sands Beach in Yachats

9. Newport!

Goals for 2013

Every December towards the end of the month, individuals all around the world start reflecting on how well they've done on their goals throughout the year as well as what goals they may put into place the next year.

Well, Mike and I are no exception. Below you will find the goals that we've decided to work on, together and separately. 

If you have yet to decide what goals you will make over the next year may I suggest looking up Change Anything's post, "How to succeed where others fail." It has great advice on how to go about setting goals and reviewing them throughout the year!

-Ace the GRE

-Fix the truck (aka Vehicle #4)

-Read 2 books a month

-Don't drink my calories

-Journal regularly

-Exercise 4x a week

-Eat on smaller plates

-Blog More! -at least twice a month...

-Continue writing my Missionary Friend twice a month

-GET TO EUROPE!! (July/August)

-Become Debt free January 31st

-Completing all 52 dates on their to-do list this year!

A Christmas Trip

There's something to be said about going down south for the winter... It's warm, there's family and... it's warm.

This Christmas Mike and I went to Las Vegas, Los Angelos and Mesa. It was great to see our family in all three places (even if we didn't end up staying very long with any of them).  While we were there we ended up...

Las Vegas
-Seeing the Hobbit
-Buying my Dad a trashcan
-Having Dinner with my Mom, the girls, my Dad and the Boys

Los Angeles
-Seeing 2/3 of Mike's sisters
-Holding Mike's sole nephew, Landon
-Trying Stained Glass Candy for the first time

Mesa
-Seeing almost all my Aunts and Uncles (on my Mom's Side)
-Singing in the Trees
-Seeing Les Miserables (With my Lovely Aunt Micki and her kids)
-Meeting up with my sister and driving her up to Vegas

And with all that we managed to get TONS of photos in Mesa, 1 photo in Los Angeles and no photos in Vegas.

It was a TON of fun seeing everyone and we hope to do so again soon! Love ya'll!

A Request

Can we just pretend that I didn't just abandon the blog, and start over?

Okay. 

Well, we'll start over next week. Today I'll just share some pics from the last... couple of months (ouch) so I don't feel so guilty about being so neglectful...

Visiting my stud of a brother after his football game.

Some of the best photos my sisters took of themselves. (I'll have to share some of the silly ones later!)

Camping up by Bryce Canyon with the Boys

Some panoramics of Bryce Canyon.

Artwork from the Russian Exhibit at the Woodbury Art Museum

My friends, Rebekah and Brianna, and I with the Russian Folk Dancers who performed at the Woodbury Art Museum's Opening Night. 

Learning to juice...

and can apples!

Halloween!

 Fall Temple Trips, Walks around Town and Voting!

Playing Catch-Up

To say it's been a while would be an understatement.

A lot of things have happened since I last seriously blogged that it's hard to know where to begin... Several changes have occurred at home, but as for Mike and I one thing will remain the same: we are going strong! 

We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and Mike is in his last semester at UVU so we couldn't be happier! Recently Mike joined a softball team and I was promoted to full time at work so life can get pretty busy, but we also like to make time for fun...

 We participated in several 5ks over the summer, went to the State Fair,

Just a night at the Fair

All the Gates & Hess Ladies

 the Whittaker Family Reunion,

There was Potato Sack Races,

Cattail Coloring

and Slingshot Practice

 as well as a Family Reunion on Mike's side,

It was up in Heber Canyon

Landon in his shades

The Hess Representatives

 and we saw Wicked!!

We had a lot of fun doing other things as well but to understand the fullness of the summer you will just have to follow us on Instagram!

Post California Trip

Wow, it's amazing how a brief hiatus from blogging can turn into a 2-3 week long absence :$

Sorry about that.

Anyhow, our trip to California, while short, was much needed! We left Thursday morning and stopped in Hurricane for an hour to visit with family.

There was dancing, and swimming, it was quite a party. unfortunately we couldn't stay so we all got back into the car and continued on our way to Cali.

Over the next couple of days we stayed at Susan's and Charlene's homes and ate at Dino's and Corner Cottage!

Can't get enough of them Burritos!

The best part of the trip tho, was seeing our little nephew, Landon Thomas.

On Sunday, the entire family gathered for his baby blessing, and boy was it beautiful day!

The Original Seven

The Randall and Marilyn Hess Family

 We had so much fun holding little Landon and spending time with Mike's family...

But all good things must come to an end, so on Monday we said our goodbyes and left for Utah.

On the way home, we stopped at the Hebdon/Wright house again for some more pool time and then we drove the rest of the way home.

It was a great weekend and we sure hope to see all of our family again soon!

California Dreamin

This weekend, Mike and I are going to California for a baby blessing. Not only am I excited to view and hold the handsome nephew but I am excited to be traveling with the hubby.

I am reminded of this print...

and this music video...

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I hope it feels like home where ever you are :)

Day 9

**Written May 16th, 2009 about the day before, while on my study abroad in Italy**

I've been waking up pretty early all week long. Yesterday Nancy asked me if she could borrow my notes to compare with hers, she said she'd wake up around 5:45am to go over them but when I woke up at 6:30am she was still sleeping. I tried waking her but she wanted to sleep in til 7am so I let her be. :)

I went outside to check on the laundry that I had laid out the night before and it was all wet! I had forgotten about the morning dew so I'm going to have to leave them out again today so that they re-dry. 

 ***

Steve's nephew met us in Barberini Piazzo after breakfast and continued on with us to Santa Susanna and Santa Maria, two churches with huge facades. Inside the churches were amazing (overdone of course, but never the less beautiful)! One of the girls, Tempest, had a report on the Vittoria so we all sat down in the pew as she told us of the story of Saint Theresa (the statue that resides to the left of the altar).

Just in case you were wondering, St. Theresa had a "vision" in which an angel (who apparently was very beautiful, and high-ranking as angels go) came at her with an iron-tipped arrow and stabbed her repeatedly in the heart. After the vision occurred she later wrote in an journal that it was agonizing, but at the same time, ecstasy itself. 

Any how.... The next building we went to was the San Carlo. 

A totally Baroque building that has got to be one of the coolest places I have ever been!). It was constructed with ablsolutely NO right angles! It's completely made up of concave and convex-es. 

The next building we went to was the San Pietro in Vincoli. It had some eerie tombstones, one had two skeletons holding up a portrait of the dead guy, while the other had the grim reaper. Also in the church was the tomb of Pope Julius II. It was designed by Michelangelo and was one of the few pieces of artwork that Michelangelo both started and "finished". It took him over 40 years to complete because he was also commissioned to do 50 other works of art at the same time.

After leaving the church everyone went around the corner to get a bite to eat and then we split into two groups: one that went to the catacombs and the other (the one I was in) to Villa Borghese and the Soccer Stadium. However, by the time we got off the metro at Flaminio Piazza it was raining so we decided to skip the Villa Borghese and move on to the Olympic Soccer Stadium, Stadio Olimpico. However, when we got there it was all locked up so we went to a small park instead and listened to some music.

Day 8

**Written May 14th 2009 while studying abroad in Italy**

This morning we had to be out the door by 7:15 so that we could get into the Vatican Museum right as it opened! I packed a small lunch and brought a couple of euros to buy Vatican Stamps. The Vatican was only a couple of blocks away from our hotel so we walked over there and waited in line outside it's walls.

Around 8:20am the doors were opened and the Vatican Guards let us in. 

Once inside we went straight to the Egyptian Art display,

then we traveled to the Assyrian Department...

and then on to the Roman/Greek Exhibits.

There is something about seeing the progressopm pf art through sculpture that is just so moving. We advanced from Polykleitos's "Spearbearer" to Lysippos's "Scraper" to the "Laocoon and his Sons" a masterpiece of emotion and drama!

(I love the emotional turmoil that is so evident on Laocoon's face!)

We then moved through the painting gallery. we saw pieces by Giotto, Giovanni, Perugino, Rafael (!!-It was beautiful, the moment ou stepped into the room holding his works your mind just stops working for a moment. His works of art are so beautiful that it's hard to leave the room...), Poussin and Caravaggio. 

From there we moved into the Sistine Chapel (!!), in one of the rooms along the way we saw the School of Athens  (which was bigger that I had imagined it would be)! 

It was life-sized and brilliantly colored! 

But oh, the Sistine Chapel! 

It was beautiful. Michaelangelo really outdid himself... the twisting, bold figures, the mannerism, the bright colors and creative uses of light and dark was beyond anything I think I've ever seen before. We stayed for about 45 minutes, gazing in awe at the various biblical scenes depicted above us. 

On an adjacent wall was the Last Judgement, which was also done by Michaelangelo. This one piece was completed 25 years after the Sistine Chapel and is a complete maze of twisting torsos, anguish and... nudity. It was still beautiful however, and definitely moving (one figure's face still haunts me)!

After leaving the museum we all bought some stamps and for those who didn't have the addresses they needed, parted ways. I went with Nancy and Natalie to the Flea Market outside the Vatican's walls where I found candied peanuts(!) but since I didn't not have more cash on me (I spent it all on stamps) I'll just have to come back tomorrow for some!

After the Market, Steve took us all out for some gelatto. Afterwards I got some laundry done (with soap and water in the sink) and we had a delicious dinner. 

Not to shabby of a day :)