More Pictures!

Tri-City Dust Devils Game for our friend Grant's birthday.

More friends at the game.

The Moms on Father's Day!

A Father's Day picture. My sister Marie was visiting from Reno too.

The ice cream cake melted a bit but it was still delicious!

Favorite Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the wedding in Spokane, Father's Day, and Dust Devils Game.

Jill had a beautiful dress!

WSU: Stevens Girls

Great friends Dan & LaRena Draper

Centerpieces

Leaving in a sea of bubbles


More to come...

To Tide You Over...

I have a lot of pictures to upload from the wedding last weekend and fun times this week but haven't found a chance to do it yet. Because I've been watching a lot of America's Got Talent! That's not all I've been doing but I love to watch that show when it's on. Especially now that Howie Mandel is a judge. He's great!! Here's one of my favorite performers so far:

Jury Duty: Part 2

After Monday afternoon when we were selected for a trial we were told to come back Wednesday at 1:30pm for the start of the trial. We were given special badges to get in the back gate & parking lot and in the back door to our special jury room.

I went to work Tuesday & a half day Wednesday and tried to get as much done as I could! Wednesday I almost didn't make it out of there in time but I was not about to get a call from the bailiff asking where I was or have a sheriff's car after me....

Wednesday we heard opening statements as well as testimony from the first witness. I thought the defense attorney was going to get in a fight with the witness - he kept getting so angry. They had to take several breaks to talk to the judge so he could regulate! After that we were sent back into the jury room for a recess and then ended up going home after a half an hour.

Oh I forgot to tell you - 2 other jurors and I started putting together a 500 piece puzzle (yes they have those in the jury room) during that recess and we almost finished it the next day. That's how many breaks we had.

We came back Thursday morning to hear from 3 more witnesses. We then took a break for lunch - almost two hours and heard closing arguments. Then it was time to deliberate. Thankfully, this did not take long as we were almost all in agreement. We found the defendant not guilty.

The case was about an alleged rape of a girl by her supposed best friend and roommate. It was basically he said/she said and we felt that the prosecutor did not present enough evidence for us to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There was alcohol involved and we were all convinced from the defendant's testimony that they had messed around before and this time was no different except the girl got really angry and freaked out. Unfortunately, they both need to go to counseling for alcohol problems but hopefully nothing like this ever happens again.

I think the most interesting part of the case was afterward when the judge came into the jury room to give us his take on the trial and answer any questions. It was really neat to hear from him.

So jury duty was interesting and not the worst thing in the world. It just felt like a waste of time with all that waiting around. But I wouldn't mind getting chosen again.

Jury Duty: Part 1

I had to report for jury duty this week. I ended up getting picked for a case but before that even happened I spent all of Monday just waiting.

Jury duty is all about waiting. It's a wonder that anything gets accomplished in our justice system! I know things get accomplished but it seems like someone needs to come in there and speed up the process.

So we showed up at 8am and for the first hour we waited. There were a ton of people. 32 were moved to different room and I assume put on a case because I saw a few of them during our case in the other jury room.

The rest of us waited for another hour and 32 other people were given numbers and told to report back at 1:30pm that day (this was at 9:30am).

More waiting and then the rest of us, 70 people I think, were given a number and told to also come back at 1:30pm. So I came home, hung out with Tinkerbell, had lunch and then went back.

We were separated into our groups. 1 of 70 people and 1 of 32. Then us 70 were taken down to the courtroom for jury selection. I was number 10 so I was already in the jury box. The judge questioned us and asked if anyone had any obligations preventing them from serving. After that we had to go around and he asked if anyone recognized anyone in the courtroom and if that made them unable to be neutral they were dismissed. More people were questioned based on a queestionaire that we filled out earlier and finally the lawyers were allowed to question us aobut how we would handle the case.

They dismissed 3 additional people and once those were replaced there we were. 13 of us in the jury box selected for the trial. We had 13 in case we lost one along the way for one reason or another.

Up next is Part 2: The Trial.

Summer Sunburns!

This last Saturday was so beautiful and warm. My friend and I decided to take advantage and sit out by the pool at our apartment complex (since we've had bad luck searching for rental houses we are probably going to stay here for the summer so the pool is our one advantage to that plan).

Anyways, the pool was a bit brisk seeing as how it hadn't seen much sun and had a chance to warm up yet so after sticking my feet in we decided to just relax in our lovely lounge chairs!

Well bring on the sunburn! We both applied sunscreen but why is it you always forget to reapply in time? The damage was done.

When we saw each other at church later that night we both discovered we had gotten progressivly redder after leaving the pool. Time for the aloe vera gel! It's the summertime sunburn.

Although I got sunburned a few weeks ago at a BBQ, I'm not counting that because it was gone by the next day. This one is sticking around. Next time I'm grabbing the SPF 50!

Prioritize Your Life

Having a new schedule has made me realize that I need to get more done when I am home then I am used to! Let me explain. When I worked 3-11 I felt like I had so much time in the mornings to do things (like dishes, dusting, bills, etc....) and still had (or made ;) ) time to be lazy. But with a new schedule - being gone all day - I feel like I have so much more to do crammed into one little night. And I don't want to do it because Chris is home. Plus we have our dog so I feel bad running errands right after work since she's been crated all day and wants to go outside and run around.

So I'm learning to prioritize. One thing that needs help right now are my mornings. I am a morning person but I HATE to get up before 7AM. Right now, my alarm is set for 7AM but I am really good at pushing the snooze button for 20 minutes. Which doesn't help when I'm trying to get out and jog with the dog in the mornings before getting ready for work. I guess I should put my phone further away from my bed so I have to get up to turn it off.

Night-times are harder though. I never feel like doing anything when I'm home from work but once I start I get energized to keep going. So I hope to use that energy to get most things done before Chris gets home from work. It helps that it stays lighter later because I feel more awake.

I hope to start good habits now so that I can continue then into the future when we have more to get done, a bigger house to clean, and kids to chase around. But like I said, that's in the future!

Homemade Tortillas

Last night I made homemade tortillas with a tortilla press my uncle handmade for me. It was really fun and they turned out pretty well. I could not press them very thin but the one Chris did was perfect so that will be his job next time. Regardless of the size they tasted pretty good! These were made with masa and next time I think I'll try flour tortillas. Then it's on to flat-bread for gyros. Delicious. Thanks Uncle George!

Looking forward to....

....the Farmer's Market this weekend - yummy strawberries & asparagus.
....going shopping (again) for new work clothes. I have literally run out of outfits to pull together with what is in my closet. Time for key pieces like shirts to layer and more dress pants as well as a nice pair of brown shoes if I can find one.
....seeing family this weekend. My cousins are visiting from Germany and Chris and I are going to hit them up with questions about what we'll do when we visit them in Germany this fall.
....sun and summer weather. It's supposed to be (GASP) 72 and sunny tomorrow!
....trying out my new tortilla press (handmade by my uncle) tonight for tacos. Yum.
....Crossview. Going to Sunday service this weekend which is fun because we see different people who don't go on Saturdays.
....spending time with my husband this weekend. I love him!

What are you looking forward to?