Strange Dream

For someone who rarely remembers her dreams, it was pretty strange for me to wake up mid-dream this morning and to recall every detail of my dream last night. I had just finished a choir concert and was with Raimo heading home (on foot). It seemed totally real in my dream--the fact that I had just sung in a concert even though I am now graduated. We ran into Uncle Alan and Grandpa Eldridge, both wearing long wool pea coats. It seemed totally natural. Uncle Alan said, "Oh, I forgot you were singing up there tonight too," which meant they had gone to hear Berit sing. Grandpa Eldridge said nothing, but he smiled at me, and I felt reassured that he had been watching me. Then we were at my apartment, which looked nothing like our actual apartment. I offered Grandpa some grape juice, and he went to the cupboard and pulled out a container of fig newtons, which he opened and began to eat. He walked into the kitchen toward the sink as I tasted one of the fig newtons, which to my horror had an unusually hot and spicy filling. Grandpa discreetly threw his in the trash and took a sip of grape juice as I spit out my own nasty cookie. Shortly after, I turned around and Grandpa was walking out the door into the cold night. He didn't say goodbye, and I couldn't catch up with him. And he never said a word throughout the whole dream. When I woke up, it took a moment to realize he is not actually alive anymore. So, dream interpreters, what is the meaning of this?

Birthdays are fun

I had a great day yesterday. The nicest thing about birthdays is you get to choose everything and do whatever you want since it is your day. Or maybe my husband is just really nice to me:) Yesterday I wanted to use a Bath and Body gift card I got for Christmas. I got body wash, which I always run out of quickly, and hand soap because we haven't had any in a loong time. It's exciting to have awesome hand soap that smells like apple and foams up for you. Then my baby was feeling like a snack so I said I wanted a parmesan pretzel, so we got pretzels. Meanwhile, I was getting lots of phone calls from friends and family throughout the day, which is fun, especially when they sing to you over the phone. Then we went to see The Tourist at the movies. It was a fun movie and the scenery and costumes were so beautiful! Then I wanted to go to Olive Garden. So we did. And had their awesome salad and my favorite meal there: Seafood Alfredo. And I ate half of it so I could get my favorite dessert that I first tried in Italy and loved: tiramisu. I rarely get to eat it, so I savored every creamy bite. It was a very Italian day with that movie and food. Awesome. Then we rented Knight and Day, which made us laugh a lot. I thought it was great. During that, Parker, who I haven't seen in months, stopped by and gave me some pink birthday flowers, which is my favorite color. He is so excited for us about the baby. We visited for a while, watched the end of the movie, then he took off and we went to bed. And... I got the best night's sleep. Lately I have been waking up a lot during the night, but today I was able to sleep in and it felt awesome. It was unusual that BYU didn't start school yesterday. Very often my birthday falls on the first day of school-ew- but he didn't start till today. So yay--I had a fun day. I got some great gifts from my grandma and Raimo's family, and my parents' gift is on hold till I think of something I want because I can never think of anything I want so soon after Christmas. And the best thing is, Raimo and I celebrate birthday month. So pretty much it is my month and there is plenty of time to do fun things all month. Today I am getting my hair highlighted and cut. I haven't had it done since August!!! My hair is reaalllly long and really grown out on top. I love getting my hair done! Well, my baby is hungry again so I am going to eat that second half of pasta. Yay!

Oh, and this is the picture Raimo took of me when I found out I really was pregnant. It is not that great of a picture, but he pretty much captured it.

Keeping Christmas

Romans 14:6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look beyond their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness-- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trip your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open-- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world-- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death-- and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

--Henry Van Dyke

Grandpa Green

My Grandpa has been gone for quite a few years now. I remember the last time I saw him--Grandma and Grandpa were leaving our house and we were outside saying goodbye, and for some reason I had the thought that it might be the last time I would see them. I brushed that thought aside, though I cried a little when they drove away, and shortly after I headed back up to school. I was on campus when I got a call from my mom saying that Grandpa had been very sick and was probably not going to make it. I sat down on a bench and cried--some kind student asked me if I needed some help, but I said no. It was very sad for our family to lose him--he was a wonderful grandpa and leader of my mom's family. And since we always lived close to my grandparents (I even lived with them for the first three years of my life), he was such a big part of my life growing up.

Often I remember something about him or I hear something that reminds me of him. He had his own dialect, unique probably to Idahoans and Utahns of his era, and sometimes I hear older people who talk like him. "Sundee, Mondee,Tuesdee, etc." He also had a slew of expressions that our family remember and use from time to time like, "Well for heaven's sake". He had so many unique ones too that I can't think of. He had nicknames for the kids like McGilicudy and Button and Peanut.

Speaking of which, Grandpa was very fond of nuts and always had a stash by his chair: peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, macadamia. I would sneak them--I love nuts too. He was also very fond of fishin and would tell stories about his fishin trips and camping trips. When I was little, I really liked rocks and started a rock collection. Grandpa gave me some of his--he knew a lot about them and had the tools to cut and polish them. He was known by many as a great jeweler, and I lucked out and got some jewelry from him over the years. On my 12th birthday we happened to go to my Grandparents house, and he went into his office and came out with my first string of pearls! I felt so lucky! Eleven years later I wore them on my wedding day.

I remember Grandpa would squeeze some orange juice in the mornings. I have this image of him in the kitchen in some plaid pajamas juicing a few large oranges from his tree outside. I have no idea if this is just my memory of one day, or if it happened often, but he just made enough to fill a glass. Grandpa was always making things in his shop. He made me my first little dollhouse. It was so cute! Once I was assigned to make a pioneer wagon for school, so he and I made one out of wood. I have no idea how I did that ;) Another thing about Grandpa is he was always handing everybody money. That was so cool. And at Christmas he would type up his testimony and give everyone a copy. I have a stack of those letters in one of my boxes at home that I am excited to read again. He was at all my big events growing up, he blessed me when I was a baby, he confirmed me when I was baptized. I think of him whenever I sing How Great Thou Art because he loved that song. He is a great example to me, and I'm grateful to be his granddaughter.


http://lumangreen.com

So Blessed

The last few weeks, though at some points exhausting, have been very happy ones. I have been feeling very blessed and feeling Heavenly Father guiding my life. I feel lucky and also a little bit guilty because I have not been incorporating Him into my thoughts and life as often as I should. I need to be more diligent in my prayer and scripture reading. Why are those simple things so hard for me to do sometimes? However, despite my slacking in some areas, I am still feeling close to Him. Sunday was a really great day for me--our Relief Society lesson about the Savior's life was so powerful and I felt it added to my testimony. I have just felt more joyful and more grateful lately and I am so thankful for my blessings. Sure, we have lots of worries and stress with our busy lives, and it seems like no matter what we do we are scraping for money. But we are also greatly blessed, and I feel like Heavenly Father is reminding me of that.

First Thanksgiving

We made our first Thanksgiving dinner this year. Raimo made the turkey. We also had mashed potatoes, yams, carrots, and apple and pumpkin pies with homemade whipped cream. Raimo also got his nintendo to work. He was pretty much overjoyed.
It was a very special Thanksgiving

100 Books

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolken

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Mine

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Now I have a new book list!

& Thats The Way It Goes... Sometimes...

Its funny how these things happen sometimes. But they indeed happen. First off thank you Grandma for the card & everything. As a Door salesmen, you indeed have a lot of interesting experiences, I think I mentioned knocking doors on halloween, it got to the point where people were handing me candy as I knocked from door to door. That wasn't bad, but talking with some of our customers, they had noticed that the internet speeds were slowing way down from the expected 10/10mbps, Which is highly unusual. It was raining, I had made some good potential leads, to follow up with on Monday.
Monday came, and so did a notice letting me know I had been laid off... Apparently my companies profit margin was to small, & costs were too high here in the Utah area, they did address that if I was graduated they would have liked to keep me, but move me down to Arizona or Las Vegas. But that wasn't happening. But thats the way it goes... At one point you're on top, bringing in sales, the next you're no longer needed. I'm still waiting on my pay, and reimbursement from them since the 1st of this month.
But just as that so happens to be closing, My companies biggest competitor here in Utah, called me up & invited me to an interview. After two interviews, they'd like to hire me, and have me do the same things I was doing with my company, that is recruiting training, & selling. The difference would be that I can knock everydoor in Provo, that my new company owns the network in Provo, and we can continue to knock doors on the Utopia network throughout Orem Payson, Lindon, Murray, S. Salt Lake, Midvale, Brigham City. So my big push is going to hire guys up in the Salt Lake area. To create a Salt lake team, & a Utah county utopia, & Provo Team. Along with that we can also sell directv & dish in the Utah area, so if anyone wants to sign up for those, it would be helpful if you signed up with me. (there's my spill selling to friends, sorry about that). Well, I started as a door salesmen, I was let go as a door salesmen, & I'm hired again as a... door salesmen.

& Thats The Way it Goes... Sometimes...

To do list

Here are things I still need to do in Utah

go to the Blue Lemon restaraunt
see the Waldorf Astoria (stay there??)
go to the Festival of trees
go to that pizza place i can't think of the name of in SLC
go to studio 600
go to a Mountain West ballet
go to zions (i'm iffy on that one)
go snowboarding some more
see manti pageant

Seattle

We drove all 14 hours through boring Idaho for a trip. It took all day. But we loved our hotel.
The next morning we drove into town

Blue blue skies


We enjoyed Seattle in all its colors
We spent our first morning driving all over the city

We had to go to the one-day sale since I was missing it back home

Went to the open marketand the first Starbucks



We drove around the peninsula. It took a whole evening, but it was so beautiful.
Ate fresh fish

We had our competition. We took 5th in Amateur. Hair and makeup took longer than the actual competition, as always
We played pirates


We got rained on at the temple

Found our future house
Found Raimo's old apartment
Found the Grangers, one of Raimo's favorite couples from his mission. They Looove him.
Digby, who was and still is the ward mission leader, told us his favorite story of Raimo. They tracted into a man who was very negative and kept telling them all the things he already knew about the church. I already know this, I already know that. And Raimo just said, "Well how about a tap dance." He still gets a kick out of remembering some of those times. They had the best things to say--that he and his companion were the highest baptizing and the best missionaries.
Stopped by the chapel (it is surrounded by the most gorgeous trees)



Went to Gig Harbor, or the Gigity Gig as Raimo says. It was my favorite city
His apt in Gig Harbor
On the way back I read him the third Hunger Games outloud. It was such a wonderful trip. I'm glad we went--it was great.