2010 Christmas Card

Another year is coming to a close and we are looking at each other and saying, ”Is it December already?"

The most notable event for us was Gentri’s guest appearance on NPR’s Morning Edition Sunday Puzzle segment. Heber was shamelessly working on the word puzzle during church with little success until Gentri leaned over and with one glance at the puzzle declared the solution. “Deep Cleanse” can in fact be rearranged to spell “Space Needle”. We are now the proud owners of a Diamond Edition Scrabble board which spins and everything, and of course, the highly coveted NPR Weekend Edition lapel pin.

We are still working on our graduate programs at Utah State but are happy to report that we will both be graduating in May (so happy!). We will finally have the couple graduation shot we’ve been waiting for, oh, and lives and free time. Heber says he’s heard of these things called “evenings” and “weekends”. We are looking forward to discovering those.

In August we were able to visit our families in Oregon. There is no greater dining experience then the hippy farm in Corvallis. Hopefully we’ll be able to go back someday soon. In one week, Heber made perhaps the most perfect macaroni and cheese ever created and put together a day of glass blowing at a large shop in Washington, making one incredibly happy wife. Several beautiful pieces were created.

Over Thanksgiving we went to Turkey, yes, ha ha, the real Turkey and no we did not eat turkey on Thanksgiving. We loved the kabobs and bazaars but we’ve had enough world traveling for a while. We do have a bit of Turkish Delight left over if you want to try it.

Heber has been working hard at being an engineer for Space Dynamics Laboratory solving documentation issues and writing code in TCL (pronounced “tickle”) to test their new ATM SONET (pronounced pretty much like you’d think) system which, despite the name, has nothing to do with banks or music. He enjoys thinking up new acronyms for things and laughing with coworkers when they both show up in a matching ‘Navy ShirT and khakI paNTs’ (iNSTINcT). Who says engineers don’t have style?

Gentri has kept herself busy in her graduate program in instructional technology, and has learned all sorts of new things like what a div tag is, and eliminating the “you oughta wanta” syndrome. She has also been teaching gospel doctrine this year and is excited to move on to the New Testament. Gentri has spent the year dancing and performing with her Irish performing group, Inishfre, at exotic destinations like Almo Idaho. She is excited to add singing to the performance as she is planning a duet for Celtic Night in March. When she’s not having fun doing those things she plans conferences for the Intermountain Center for River Rehabilitation and Restoration, or in Heber speak, ICRRR.

As we come to the end of another year, we remember how important all of you are to us. We appreciate your friendship and support. We wish you a happy and healthy new year!

Love,

Gentri and Heber

The Magic

Christmas has come and gone. It almost doesn't feel like it has passed already. It was a little bittersweet this year.

This was the first year without Grandma Lois. My grandma passed away a couple of months ago. She always made Christmas a magical time of year. I can remember many Christmas Eve's gathered around her Christmas tree and unwrapping wonderful things like down pillows and Holiday Barbie.

Even though she was gone, she still, by some miracle, made Christmas happen.
Her tree was set up in the living room just like all the years past and tucked under the tree were presents for every single person in our family, right down to the youngest great grandchild. She took the time to purchase and prepare a little magic before her time came. I nearly broke down just looking at the love.
I think it's because I come from a line of women like Grandma Lois, that I want to make the holidays a little magic for those around me. I want to take the extra time to make homemade treats even though its a bit of a hassle. I want Santa to visit (even though Heb and I are old) and for special traditions and family activities to occur.

It just reminds me of the first Christmas Heb and I were married. We were at my parents and on Christmas morning, his presents were wrapped with care and set out as if "Santa" had visited. He turned to me excitedly and said, "Santa came." As a youngest child, it wasn't quite as magical for him.

Heb, Uncle David and I

I know that I'm getting a bit old for the magic. It may be to the point that I'm now part of making the magic at Christmas. But if I can carry on even a little bit of Grandma Lois' love for the season, it will be well worth any extra effort.

New Notebook

I just bought a new notebook.

Do you know what this means? Well, a new big project is underway and I am so excited about it. When I start something new, I always buy a new notebook. Something about having a place to keep all my thoughts together on the project.

It's for my creative project for my program. I'm going to do it with the Utah State Library, which couldn't be more perfect because I love libraries. Not just kind of like, but love them. It brings me back to running to the library across the street from my elementary school to read books with Grandma Barbara. I can still smell the book smell as I write this. I used to sit on the little step stool between the shelves and just read. I'd take my ten penny candies from the Bluebird and spend happy afternoons. I think this is why reading is such an important thing in my life, oh and penny candy.

I won't bore with too many more details. Just a month ago, I was with friends talking about something with school and got the complete glazed look. You know, the one where you have completely lost them. No fun folks. I used to tease Heber about this when he'd talk about school and now it's me doing it. Kind of sad. I'm going to try to avoid that so I'll just say this, It's going to be great, just what I was looking for. Finally a project that could make a big difference.

The Reason to Vacation

Us outside the bazaar

Hello lady. Want to buy? You German? Chinese?

Yes, these are all things people asked us in English. I'm guessing they have a fairly limited English vocabulary but bravo for trying. That is much better than any of my Turkish skills.

I love to shop. I vacation to shop. Heber doesn't agree but it is really one of my favorite things about traveling. I don't need to buy a million things or spend a lot of money but finding that small item that will always remind me of that place is important. Like the pearl earrings I found in Florence, I wore them on my wedding day and they hold such good memories.

The shopping in Turkey was unlike anything I've seen. They had their small shops (like the picture of Heb below) but the craziest experience was the Grand Bazaar. Hundreds of years old and hundreds of shopping options under one roof. It went forever, shop after shop.

Me and Kim shopping. Loved having a shopping buddy that liked it as much as I did. Miss you!


I have to admit that I liked the Spice Bazaar much better. Smaller and not as easy to get lost in. The best part was the smell. It permeated everything but was so spicy and colorful.

Shopowners ready to tote their wares.

One thing I dislike about shopping is the pressure pitch. The feeling that you can't leave and here's where the carpet salesman came in. I saw way too many of them. Hebs and I who went in absolutely never wanting to buy a carpet almost did. That's how good they were. Each of them had their own little show, complete with apple tea.

This is how the carpet's made and why ours is totally worth the thousands of dollars you could spend.

As part of each and every tour, you'd stop at a carpet salesman or a leather dealer. They did a whole fashion show there.

That's right, people completely serious walking a runway for just Heber and I and an Indian tourist as we tried to keep from breaking out into laughter. That took some serious self control. I've just never seen anything like that. Wow.

I just have to say how nice it is to be home and to shop here. Little things like the item having a price tag and not having to haggle to a price where I don't feel like I'm being ripped off. It's good to be home. Can I say it enough?

The Wall of Wishes

As I've written in earlier posts, whenever I vacationed with my father, we always stopped at the local church to take in a service. I've been to churches all over the world and witnessed faith in many variations.

Every morning and several times throughout the day in Istanbul, we would hear the singing voice of the imam at the mosques throughout town as he called his people to prayer. The first morning we both woke at sunrise to the singing. Heber turned to me and asked if he should get up and do something, like to show respect. Jet lag can do some crazy things (I can definitely attest to that).

What it sounded like.


This was the view from our hotel room.

One of my favorite mosques - the Blue Mosque



It was so interesting to see women and men practice Islam. We saw women in the headscarf everywhere and the occasional burka. I didn't feel uncomfortable about women having to cover (ok, a little about the burka's. It's disturbing to see but the scarves, no problem), instead, I felt their faith and respect to Allah as they wore the colorful scarves. I wondered if I could show my faith in such an outward way.

Hagia Sophia with what people looked like there (VERY few Americans but no problem for blondies)

In a quick visit down to Ephesus, we visited the site that some believe was the home of the virgin Mary during her later years. I'm not sure if it was because we had been in a bustling and noisy city for the past 10 days and it was woody, peaceful scenery but I felt very peaceful there.

Below the foundation with a church built on top is a wall where people hang their wishes or prayers to Mary. On the wall were thousands of items, each one left by an individual with their deepest desires and hopes for their life. I left my prayer on the wall, the one that I yearn to be answered.

Home At Last.

We're home! After 5 planes in 2 days, I am one exhausted girl. I could go a long time without seeing the inside of an airport.

I can't tell you how happy I am to be here. No more kababs (even the most delicious things get old after eating them every meal for days in a row). No more squat toilets (yes, I wrote that down. You have no idea how lucky we are in America.) People who speak the same language (totally rare in Turkey. I saw maybe three Americans the entire trip). And being able to sleep in my own bed.

Although, when did it get so cold here? One day I was in sunny and 75 degree weather in Ephesus and today the snow and ice abound. It's going to take some getting used to. Also, maybe because I was traveling all through Thanksgiving I'm not quite ready for Christmas. If you run into me and I'm bundled up like an Eskimo, you know that I am not yet acclimated to the weather.

I promise to update the blog with some fun stories from our trip (and there are some great ones) when I can get over this jetlag and catch up with some of the projects from school.

Small and Simple

I took this picture last week. I know, it looks like I was driving but it was just too beautiful to let pass. These are probably some of the last in town.

I'd say winter is officially here. Which is not too bad, it means that Christmas is just around the corner and all of the friends and fun that brings. It means that my allergies will finally get a break, yay! And it means that another semester is coming to an end.

Change is an inevitable thing in our lives. I think we spend a lot of our lives wishing for things, saying that I'll be happy and enjoy life when I get to a certain accomplishment or point. I'm slowly learning the value of the journey, of patiently looking to small moments and finding joy.

So the question I pose to all of you is...what is one of those small moments for you? Where do you find joy?

Head Banging and Pumpkin Booming

The Halloween season ended with a bang this weekend. Not a headbang as it would appear here but a real bang.

I've got to throw in a few pictures from Halloween before all the stuff from this weekend. Yes, we actually dressed up. Here we are.

Notice the nose ring. So hot.

Me with the Owls. Carly and her new babe.


A truly excited trick or treater.

and the whole crowd of darling niece and nephews, with some friends.

Now on to this weekend. Since winter is so long here, we had to do something to celebrate the end of fall and we did it with a bang on Saturday. I finally visited Weston Idaho, the neighbor of Napoleon Dynamite's hometown. How have I gone my whole life not visiting?

Our friends from the ward invited us up to witness the annual pumpkin blow. I'm not sure if that is it's technical name but we sure enjoyed ourselves. Here we are with the pile before.

And here we are after a case of dynamite has done it's work.

Here's the video. Yes, I am so happy I caught this on tape. Heb is the one laughing at the end. You can tell he loved it. Is this not the coolest tradition ever!!

Thank you for letting us join the other hundred people to witness this great event. Could we please come back next year?

Last Night...

was awesome! My sister called me at 6:00 with free tickets to "So You Think You Can Dance" down in SLC. How could I turn her down? The tickets were for one of the luxury suites, now I see how the other side lives.

I was expecting a quiet night of dance rehearsal and homework (I know, my life is pretty darn exciting). I called my other sister to take the second ticket and hopped right in my car, I didn't even stop to touch up makeup.

It was pretty spontaneous. I'm not one for a lot of spontaneity. I'm usually the one that does what they're supposed to but for once I skipped practice and did something really fun. My sister and I had the best time watching and commenting on the dancing and talking together. Thanks for coming Loni.

The dancing was unbelievable. It's been a while since I've seen real dancing in person. The lines, extension, emotion... I could go on and on. It gave me the boost I needed to make it through the last few weeks of this semester. I've been a tad bit burned out (if you've talked to me in the last few days, you would have seen this).

Also, can I make one side note here? Did you realize that the show winner was a high school senior with everything going for her? As happy as I am for her, I almost wish it had gone to someone who had to struggle a bit before. Maybe it's the realist in me.

Thank you Carly and Jay for the tickets! Thanks to Mom Lawrence for watching the kids so Loni could come and watch the show with me.

All I can say is get out and do something spontaneous. It'll do wonders for your week!

The Truth About Halloween...

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I'd say it ranks behind pretty much everything. It seems odd, I love sugar and candy of all varieties. I love a good holiday but I just can't seem to get into it.

Perhaps it's the decor. I've never been a fan of orange or creepy crawly things. I don't get into tomb stones or skeletons. I don't even like a good spiders web. Come to my house in October and you will see a colorful leaf wreath, pumpkins and one measly little sign that I don't think really counts as halloween decor.



I like the leaves, the autumn colors, the pumpkins but black and purple together topped with a leaky cauldron, really? I see people's yards and houses decked out and I can't seem to get into it. Come around at Christmas and that's another matter.

When I was little, I loved dressing up as Scarlet O'Hara or Cinderella. I loved the year of the pink bunny and the tooth fairy too. You should have seen my sisters as Rupunzel or Mermaids and the Astronaut year. But now that I'm older it just seems like such a hassle to pull together a costume for myself in the midst of school. Does anyone else feel this way? Am I a cheapy for not wanting to spend so much time and money on something I would wear once? Or even, not wanting to look really creepy?

In all of this, I thought I should include at least one picture of me dressed up. The last big one was back in my single days. I was a snow storm.

I've been really making an effort this year. We went down to the Pumpkin Walk - great time. The family went to the pumpkin patch to pick their perfect pumpkin and I'm planning some great seasonal treats, but...I just don't love it.

So, what gets you really excited about Halloween? Am I missing the big picture here? Any ideas for an easy costume? You can see I really need it!

Grandma Lois

LOIS LAWRENCE

Lois Pike Lawrence 1933 ~ 2010 Lois Pike Lawrence, our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away October 14, 2010 following a sudden illness.

Lois was born on May 5, 1933 in Holdenville, Oklahoma to Jesse and Carrie Pike. She was the fourth of six children. Her father worked on the railroad which brought them to Grantsville where she met and married the love of her life Dave Lawrence. They had a good life together always surrounded by family and friends. She was always so proud of her sons and their families. She lived for her grand and great-grand-children. She dearly loved having the family together and never allowed an opportunity for a party to go by. She loved going to breakfast with her family every Saturday morning. Her favorite place in the world was her cabin in Ophir canyon. Her gentle ways and kind words touched all who knew her.

Dave and Lois loved attending the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City for over 30 years. She served as the chairman of the 100th Old Folks Sociable in Grantsville. She served in many callings in the LDS church which always brought her joy. Her dearest friend in the world is her sister Leta Sutton who loving cared for her every need for the past several years. She is survived by her children: David, Matt (Lori), and Dan (Denise), nine grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren, her brother Al (Margie) Pike, and sister Leta (Bill) Sutton. She is preceded in death by her infant brother Austin and sisters Joyce and Wanda.

The beauty of her smile and the warmth of her love will be forever remembered. Her spirit will live on forever within us all.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. at the Grantsville Stake Center, 550 East Durfee St. in Grantsville on Tuesday, October 19th. Family and friends may call Monday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Tate Mortuary, 110 So. Main St. in Tooele and Tuesday from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. at the church. Interment: Grantsville City Cemetery.

Dancing at Snow

I spent the weekend in Ephraim at Snow College dancing with Inishfre. I had the best time. I think I laughed for hours. In all of that, I did not take one picture. Figures.

We performed in the new Eccles performing arts center in a hall with acustics that made our shoes loud and clear along with the Leaping Lulu's band. It was my first performance for several new dances which meant the first with multiple costume changes.

The gig had booked us a large house for all of us to stay in together and of course we stayed up way too late, I told pagent stories (good ones) and woke up laughing about how wild our hair was.

While sitting in church today, I was thinking about these women that I dance with. We all support each other through the good and the bad. I need this so much.

One of the gal's new boyfriend joined us for the event. He said, it's not just because you like dancing, really its all the rest - the fun we have together, the listening, the friendship. And he was right.

Simple Living

I'm not sure why but I've been thinking lately about the world we live. Just think, about the simplest and most common thing to our lives like cars or temperature controlled rooms have come into being in the last hundred years. These things that are so integral to the way we live did not even exist.

I remember using our old apple computer to pull up DOS and getting my first email account in middle school. Today, I know of babies who have email addresses (no joke). Kids have cell phones and are what are called "internet natives." How fast things are changing. Everyday there is a new technology that changes the way we live and we are moving away from the simpler times.

For hundreds, if not thousands of years, people lived in much the same way. They lived on their land, they interacted with their family and lived simply. Today, its a completely different world. From almost the moment we are born, we are connected with a world wide network.

Hebs and I just watched the documentary "Babies" that follows four babies from across the globe from birth to their first steps. Not sure I'd recommend for kids but I digress. They followed a baby in tribal Africa. They didn't wear clothes and spent their time grooming. Watching how drastically different they live was a stark reminder of how the world is changing.

Perhaps watching all of this change makes me yearn for life to be simple. It feels like we are pushed and pulled in so many directions and miss out on what is really important like family and friends. People are so focused on being successful that they forget what would actually make them happy. And the secret here is that its not money.

Do you see it too?

Idaho Falls

I spent last weekend in Idaho Falls with my friend Phaedra. I know that I live right on the border of Idaho but I really don't get up there all that much. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've been in Idaho. When she invited me up I thought, why not.

Phaedra and I have danced together for several years and I missed her when she moved up there for work at the beginning of the summer. Why does everyone have to move? Ok, ok, no more talk of that.

It was good to get away for a day or two. I knew this would be a tough week and the offer came at just the right time. All the time driving gave me some time to think and I needed it. While there we shopped (I bought one beautiful pair of boots. I'm almost excited for it to get cold), ate out and talked.

I'm not sure if any of you will agree with me but with chain stores moving into towns all across America, they are slowly starting to look like each other. It's sad to see the individuality of mom and pop stores disappear. Now, to me, Idaho Falls seemed like any other mid sized western city. I did get down to see the falls - a completely unique feature. They are quite beautiful with the Temple overlooking them.

What do you think about the world changing? Am I right?

They See Him Here, They See Him There....

I went to see the Scarlet Pimpernel last night and it was awesome. The costumes, the scenery, I was blown away.

I had been planning on seeing the show for weeks - one of my friends was in it and the lead singer from the Leaping Lulu's (a local celtic band) was the lead. He really made the show but the other singers were very strong as well. You know me and singing. I'm pretty picky but when's it's done well I really appreciate it.

The highlight beyond the singing was the costuming. It was completely over the top but in just the right way. Big dresses with sparkles graced the stage and I really love sparkles - must go back to my pagent days. My personal favorite of the evening was Scarlet Pimpernel's band of "stylish" men. Pastel colors were combined with feathers, bows and outlandish sparkly hats topping each of the 12 men. It was awesome.

It was sold out last night but we were able to sneak in - it's good to know people in the arts community. If you haven't seen it, tonight is the last night and you'd better get there early because it will probably be sold out too.

Equinox

All summer I've been wearing these.


Very soon I'm going to have to start wearing something like this.


Wah. I'm not ready for winter!



Watch for many more posts soon - overwhelmed by school but lots to say.

Number Five

It's anniversary number five this week for Heb and I. Unbelievable. When did I become a non-newlywed? More on this later. Hebs gave me his gift a few weeks early, mostly because you have to go to Oregon to find places that offer classes where you work with glass. As you can tell from many posts before, I am pretty much enamored with glass in any form, I so enjoy working with it to make beads or anything else.

Heb, our sister-in-law Nicole, and I were able to go for a 4 hour class to really learn how to work with glass to make ornaments, drinking glasses and paperweights. We didn't just watch someone make them, we learned the process and did it ourselves. How I wish I lived near one of these places that I could take classes and really master this.

We stood at the 2,500 degree furnace to get the molten glass out. We worked the colors in and worked with the tools to shape them. I was so inspired to come home and work more at my bead making. We brought home some really fun items - they may not be perfect, the first ones never are, but they are our work.




Heber gives very thoughtful gifts, even from the first. It reminds me of the first birthday that Heb and I were dating (just a month in). My mom told me later that when she saw the gift, she knew that Heber was the one I was going to marry, even 3 years before we got engaged. He had put together a bag of all of my favorite things - chips, salsa, starburst jelly beans, etc. He also made a small bat that he created an ad for, he called it the "tommy whacker" to keep all the other boys away. I guess it worked.

A Year Ago

I can't remember if I've written about this before, but I have a funny habit of thinking back to what I was doing exactly a year ago. I like to see where I was and how far I've come.

One year ago I was starting grad school. I came from a series of terrible job experiences and a realization that what I graduated in before was NOT what I wanted to do for a career. I had been accepted into my program and was proud of myself for realizing what I wanted to do with my life (I hoped, anyway).

Today is the first day of school. Fall semester has come again. There's so much that I love about this time of year - the new freshman on campus with the "deer in the headlights" look (I so remember feeling like that my first few days of school), new possibilities and friends to make.

I think this may be my last fall semester ever. This past year has been so good for me. I feel like my confidence has grown, I feel stronger and more sure about what I'm doing and who I want to be. Most of all, I've found things to be excited about. Like, who knew that I really liked HTML and web design? I took the class this summer and was excited to learn and had a desire to learn more (does that rarely happen to other people as well?).

With the new year starting and fun classes at last, I'm just excited.

Highlights

I finally got home on Sunday. It had been two weeks - one for work, one for play. As you can tell from my last post, the conference was not that bad. Something that I am truly grateful for. I was in Park City but it was much less stressful. No angry boss, I had time to do everything, people weren't breathing down my neck and it was just generally better.

It's funny the things you do as a conference coordinator. I felt like the mom all week. I cleaned up the messes, provided food and made sure all of the needs were met. I'm still tired thinking about it.

I got home on Friday at 5 and we flew out of Salt Lake on Saturday at 3. It was an absolute whirlwind but it was good getting away and not thinking about work for a whole week. Highlights would have to be:
- Heber's gourmet mac and cheese (that man of mine makes a mean mac and cheese)
- the most incredible toy store that had everything. Why don't we have one of these here? There were tables where the kids could play with almost all of the toys. Obviously, Heber had a great time.
- Hiding with my 3 year old nephew to scare Heber and him tooting and giving me a "what?" kind of look. Stinking funny, literally.
- The loop of waterfalls and hikes. AMAZING! I filled up on the green and lushness of it all. I know in just a few months here it will be brown and gray for a long time.
- The beach. Playing in the sand and eating the best hippy pizza. What is it about hippies and incredible food. I even tried duck for the first time. I could move there just for that.

But most of all, just spending time with the families up there. I miss them. Here are some shots of the trip.