Electrical Storm

Thursday night we had an incredible storm, the likes of which I had never seen before. See for yourself:

This was the first of two big storms that passed over us. It was really quite amazing. Zach and I turned off all the lights and sat with our front window open to watch it. Zach had been outside in the rain getting wet so he decided that he needed some hot chocolate. (I tried to remind him that it is still August in Arizona but he was so excited that he felt cold for a second that he made it anyway.) After a little while the storm started to move away from us and we started to see some amazing lightning flashes. I ran outside to try and catch some of them and I got lucky. I hope you can see them. I remember Aunt Janet talking about the amazing lightning storms that she would see when she was a missionary and I've seen some good ones down in Safford but I've never seen one like this. Zach said it was the end of the world but I'm hoping that the end of the world is a little more cheerful than that, what with the Savior coming back and all.

Little Trees

These are my little trees:


My mom gave them to me for my birthday this year. When I got them they were about dead but I nursed them back to health. Then, my house flooded and it got so humid inside my house that all of the little bugs inside the dirt hatched and started killing them. They lost all of their leaves and nothing I sprayed on them would help. Tonight I repotted them. I took all of the old dirt out and sprayed off the roots and cleaned out the pots and then I put new dirt in. This is my last hope. I'm so sad that they are practically dead but I haven't given up hope! I hope to have new pictures in a few weeks that show leaves and lots and lots of improvement.

Beautiful Places

I've been very fortunate in my life to be able to travel a little bit and I've seen many beautiful places in the world. For some reason I've been a little bit reminiscent today and thought I'd share some of them with you.


This is Macchu Picchu, Peru. Zach and I took a trip this spring and hiked along the Inca Trail. It was incredible. The last day of the hike you arrive here. Walking among these ruins is like stepping back in time. Every time I've tried to describe with words what the hike was like, I end up saying words like incredible, amazing, and breathtaking a lot. There really aren't words to describe it. (Just as a side note, see the big mountain that sticks up behind the city. Ya, we climbed that too.) There were many other beautiful places we saw in Peru but Macchu Picchu certainly was the most aweinspiring!


This is Hacienda Manteles! It's an obscure little hotel stuck way up in the Andes mountains outside of Banos, Ecuador. We stayed there when I took my family back to Ecuador 6 months after I got home from my mission. It was very scary getting there. We drove and drove and just about the time we had decided that this place really didn't exist, there it was! There was a beautiful view of the volcano Tunguragua and at night we got to see the lava shoot up out of the top. I think it was almost an out of body experience for all of us. We couldn't believe we were actually there seeing what we were seeing. We're lucky we found it!


This is Sedgwick Meadow. It's a very special place for my family and our good friends the Gassons. It sits in the middle of the Wind Rivers mountain range in Wyoming. It's one of the most peaceful places on earth. The only thing you can do there is fish, nap, and listen to the wind blow through the tall grass. If I were Preston, I'd have some poetic way of describing this place but since it's me I'll just tell you that it's one of the most peaceful places on earth.



This is the Sacred Grove. It was really the inspiration for this blog. A friend of mine took this picture and gave it to me and every time I look at it I'm just amazed so I wanted to share it with all of you. We took a family church history trip when I was about 8 so I remember being in the Sacred Grove but I don't think I really understood the significance of the place. I actually think this is about what it looked like when Joseph Smith went there to pray. This picture was taken April 1st of this year. The trees aren't exactly what is portrayed in all of the paintings that we see but it just looks like such a peaceful place.

These are just a few of the beautiful places I've been privileged to visit. Not only are they beautiful but they are special to me and have lots of good memories that go with them. Thanks to all of you who have shared your beautiful places with me and allowed me to make them my own. I hope you guys will enjoy them too!

Presents

This week was a week of presents. First Zach's present:

This is his new super cool super fast customized computer. Our friend Homer built it for him. I'm very excited because that means I get my computer back.

And now my present:


No it's not a car!!

It's window tinting!!!! I've been driving around Phoenix for almost 3 years with absolutely no tinting and now I get to drive in the dark. It's wonderful. The back windows are limo tint. Now you can ride in my car and not roast; you'll be icicles. Well maybe not icicles but at least a little cooler.

Zach's mom and dad were also down this weekend. We had a great time. We went to dinner at Macayo's, which I have discovered is one of my favorite restaurants. Then we watched the olympics which is always entertaining with Jeff Brown. He has decided that he doesn't like the new suits that the swimmers wear because he can't tell who is a man and who is a woman. In the morning we got up and all went to play raquetball. I have decided that I don't like doubles; I get very confused. I did win when we played cutthroat though and against two boys. (I had to throw that in.) So it was a good weekend and I'm very excited about my tinting!!!!

Birthdays

We went home last weekend and boy was it one action packed weekend. First, the olympics started and Zach and I are both huge fans so every spare moment was spent watching all of the 3 olympic channels. Other than that, there were lots of goings on. Saturday was Collin's birthday party. We discovered what happends when you put Mentos into a bottle of Coke. You can see for yourself below.

It was very exciting. After that we were given a very detailed play by play of the video game Call of Duty 3. Let's just say I won't be trying it out anytime soon.

It was also Tessa's birthday. She's 18!! Happy birthday Tessa. You can gamble, buy pornography. . . oh ya and vote. For her birthday we had some amazing quiche made by my mom. Aunt Janet and I both agreed that her quiche is way better than ours. Then we had red velvet cake. It was amazing as you can see for yourself.

We're very glad that Tessa has discovered that she likes baking because we all get to enjoy her experiments.
All in all it was a great weekend. You can't get much better than Mentos/Coke fountains and red velvet cake.

New Wall Hangings!

I, unlike my siblings, am not artsy. I can't paint, modge podge, sew etc but I do enjoy decorating my house. I learned how to decorate from my mother who is very talented at taking random things and putting them together and making them look good. Those of you that have been to my parents house know what I'm talking about. My house is pretty similar but without the really nice antiques. Anyway, below are my latest editions.
Aunt Janet gave me these. They were Grama and Grampa Smith's. Uncle Boyd gave them to them when he got home from his mission. They're Japanese. I'm very excited about them.

Hello World!

I don't really know how to start this. That tends to be my problem with all writing. I guess I ought to explain my blog a little. First, the title. When my little sister, Tessa, (I say little but the only way she is littler than me is in age) convinced me to start my own blog she told me that I had to decide what kind of blog I wanted. My hesitation in having my own blog at all was that my life is quite boring and there isn't much that anyone would want to read about. Then I realized how much I enjoy everyone else's boringness and so maybe others would enjoy mine as well. I decided that my blog would be an eclectic collection of random everyday life stuff. Tessa then told me to pick a name that fit my blog. Her suggestion was Marriage. Are you Kidding Me? I didn't think that fit very well for obvious reasons. Then Zach suggested the name of a song from one of our favorite bands, Bishop Allen. The song is Queen of the Rummage Sale. Since the whole idea of a rummage sale is for other people to look at all of the crazy stuff that you have gathered over the years, I thought that The Rummage Sale was a fitting title and since this is my blog that would make me the Queen. There you have it. Now to my thoughts for the day.














This is my husband Zachary. He's as goofy as they come but I love him. Coincidentally today is our second anniversary. WAHOO!! It's been a very fast 2 years but they've been full of fun! How could they not be with a guy like him!

And he's good lookin too! We celebrated by going out to dinner at a very nice restaurant with my family and eating the best red velvet cake known to man. Then we surprised the heck out of my mom by taking her to a James Taylor concert. (For more details see Tessa's blog.) It was great fun! A great weekend, a great guy and a great 2 years!