My ongoing lesson in patience....

I love the Mormon Messages that the Church puts out. They never fail to speak to me, inspire me, and allow me to apply them to my life. The newest one by Dieter F. Uchtdorf is one of my favorites. Patience is a virtue that I am currently struggling with in my life. It is something I am learning about, striving to gain, and always wishing I had more. I love the beginning of this message about delaying gratification--it is a study that I read about numerous times while going through school at BYU.  It is something that I always found interesting, but never thought it applied to me because I was not a child anymore. But, have I been so wrong. My life has always been great. My trials have seemed minimal and small. My biggest test of faith, my biggest trial, is something that I am going through right now. It is something I want right now. But, the Lord has a different plan for me right now. I am learning about delaying gratification on a daily basis. I know that I will not be given a trial that is too big for me. I know that the Lord will comfort me through this time. And I know that Christ has felt my sorrow, sadness, and pain. I know that I will receive the promised blessings, but it may not be in my timing, but rather, the Lord's timing. I will just keep enduring, focusing on what I am grateful for, recognizing the many blessings in my life now, and persevering to align my will with the Lord's will.

Baking....

 The past few weeks our apartment has been filled with lots of baked goods. A co-worker gave me TONS of zucchini--and I, never having baked anything with zucchini, decided to venture out. Zucchini bread and Chocolate Zucchini Cake. SO good. I shredded 8 more 2 C bags to freeze and use during the winter.

Over Conference Weekend I wanted to make some yummy breakfasts--since, we get to watch TV in the comfort of our sweatpants, non-showered selves. I made Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls--and they were, oh my goodness, best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. I froze 3 pans so we can enjoy them in the near future again.

No other news here. 

We loved Conference and enjoyed the messages. Leigh is pushing through school--he has some super hard classes, but I think he will make it. My work is getting worse each day, but I get a paycheck so I just keep trucking along. Am I complaining too much? We love being in Provo, like our Ward, and I have been enjoying spending time with a cute newborn and her mommy. :)

my latest endeavors...that have been successful.

 Life in Utah has been treating us well. Leigh is enjoying school and I got a job at the Head Start here. My class starts tomorrow--I have been working hard to set up the classroom and meet the families the last couple weeks. I am ready to start the school year. 

My wonderful friend and college roommate is having her first baby within the next week and I was so excited to make some things for her baby girl.

The main item was this quilt. It is smaller in size and thick so she could use it as something to put on the floor underneath her--for tummy time and such. I chose this main print with cute little birdies.

Along with the quilt I made a hooded towel and burp rags that coordinate with the quilt.

My wonderful co-workers from HS in Oregon got me this Parisian cookbook: Chocolate and Zucchini. I immediately wanted to make Courgettes Rondes Farcies au Boulgour (Bulgur-stuffed Round Zucchini). It was DELICIOUS! I bought the humongous zucchini and onions at the local farmer's market. It was filling, yummy, and the hubby liked it. A successful dinner, indeed!

 

Soon to come: pictures of the new apartment & possibly in the near or far future--the launching of a new blog...more on that later.

the happiest place on earth &SF

WARNING: massive amount of pictures included. :)

Before moving we took a little vacay that included DISNEYLAND and SAN FRANCISCO! We had a blast and I'm so glad we decided to go (no matter how stressed we were right before and right after the trip). It definitely included many memories that we will have forever. So here is our vacation in pictures:

I had to take a picture by the CA sign. classic, right?

We stayed the first night in Sacramento--and visited the temple there. We made it there at sunset and it was a beautiful sight.

THEN: off to DL. It was fabulous. We both prefer California Adventures, but enjoyed both parks thoroughly. Our favorite rides at DL: Space Mountain, Toy Story Blasters, Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones (although, it broke down on us in the middle of the ride...)

Our favorite rides at CA: Tower of Terror, California Screamin', and the Monster's Inc. Ride. The mean lady from Monster's Inc. that has the monotone voice was at the end, with a real person talking for her, and asked our car to give a loud scream--Leigh gave an outrageous scream and the response, "Wow, I knew I could count on you." It was funny. Made us laugh for days later.

Least favorite ride: Mickey's Fun Wheel--made us nauseous and I'm sure worried the German family sitting across from us in the car.

On our last night in Anaheim, we got to attend the Medieval Times dinner theatre. It was tons of fun. Yummy dinner, knights fighting, and our knight WON! woot!

SAN FRANCISCO::

When we got in to SF we went straight to Golden Gate Park (after some minor wrong turns...in Oakland...) and found this fabulous old Mill surrounded by beautiful flowers. It was a lovely find.

The next morning we took the CalTrain in to downtown and walked around.

A co-worker recommended some fabulous stops in SF. The Stinking Rose was a restaurant she had worked at when she lived here. It was SO GOOD. Definitely a must-go-to if you enjoy garlic.

The ceiling of the restaurant--

We then discovered the Cable Car Museum. Free&Entertaining.

We then attempted at riding a tandem bike--which we shall never do again. Let's just say--we obviously need to work on communication, synchronization, and not drawing others' attention/laughter. It is extremely hard to go uphill on a tandem bike and being in the back is awful. Definitely a test of love...that I think we almost failed. :)

We couldn't see much of the Golden Gate Bridge--the fog had rolled in.

My parents joined us for the rest of the trip. We spent time at Fisherman's Wharf eating and shopping...

Ghiradelli Square housed a yummy cupcake shop...I recommend the fleur de sel cupcake.

We made it to an Oakland A's game vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Golden Gate Bridge minus the fog this time.

After my heart attack going up the street BEFORE Lombard St (Crooked Street), I got to take a picture of it

Our last night included a yummy, yummy seafood dinner. Leigh had his first taste of lobster.&he loved it.

We had a great view of the bay::

Thank you, California!

What we will miss....

Well we made it to Utah! We are getting settled, organized, and unpacked. Leigh starts school tonight! I'm so proud of him for applying to BYU, taking this opportunity, and GETTING ACCEPTED! He is pretty awesome. We will be here for several years...which I couldn't be more excited for. It will be good for us now and in the future.

But, as we are leaving Oregon, we have been VERY sad. We will definitely miss Oregon. What we will miss most:

Leigh will probably miss Oregon Ducks football games the most. BUT, we get to go to one while we are back over Thanksgiving...so he can't be missing it TOO much.

I will be missing Head Start...the kiddos in my class and the co-workers&friends I made while working there....and the drama, of course.

We will be missing the Emeralds baseball games & Prince Puckler's Ice Cream.

&of course, the OCEAN. Being 45 minutes away from the ocean, beaches, lighthouses, yummy clam chowder was a highlight of being in Oregon.

BUT...what we will miss most is family. Leigh's family all (pretty much) lived about 15 minutes away from our old apartment. We will miss pizza night, Sunday night dinners, watching the kids, date nights with Kirsten&Jonathan, having Busy and P-man stay the night, and all the other fun things we did with the family. Skype will now be our best friend.

We love you!

One thing I have loved about being so close to Leigh's family & will miss dearly is :Kirsten. My long lost sister. :) She is always a great example of how I want to be as a wife, mother, and friend. I will miss our chats, girl's nights, staying up late to decorate cakes, and spontaneous, fun activities.

What we will miss most about the family AND Oregon are our nieces and nephew.

Miss E & Miss T (They just started saying our names and now we are leaving them...broke my heart& they will be 2 when we go back for Thanksgiving! AH!)

P-man, Uncle Leigh will miss video games, swimming, running around, and wrestling with you. We will both miss your energy, spunk, smartness, and ideas.

And Busy--the best Princess, most creative, and biggest chatterbox we know&adore. We want to hear all your stories, adventures, and dreams.

We skyped with the family Sunday night...and they are ALREADY forgetting us....we are going to have to make a plan so that does not happen. We would be so sad to go back and have them be shy and not call us Uncle Leigh and Aunt Ally.

WE LOVE YOU & MISS YOU!

lime.green.desk.

Almost a year ago, my lovely sister-in-law had a desk in her garage sale that didn't sell. A little while later I was contemplating a new sewing table and thought of the desk in the garage sale. A couple text messages later and it was mine. My sister-in-law also graciously let me use her house to store it and work on it and her handy husband helped me. I wish I had taken a before picture, but I didn't. The old finish had bubbled and was extremely hard to get off. Once the old finish was off it revealed this beautiful wood that I soon covered in paint. We had to rebuild the drawers and I bought new handles (only $2.00 for ALL of them). After several coats of paint I added this awesome paper with mod podge and then a couple coats of clear spray paint to ensure it wouldn't come off. I absolutely love it.

I'm thinking I want to start my own craft blog so I can separate the Greenquist daily life journal from my crafting attempts. That way maybe I will blog more about what we do....maybe...? I have no idea what to call the craft blog....any ideas????

Summer 2010

Why do I have such a hard time blogging? I have an idea, but nobody needs to hear my excuses. On to the marathon of pictures....

A friend from work got married over the 4th in Vegas (on a gondola at the Venetian), so we all went in on a gift and I made a cake to celebrate.

For Em's birthday (my sister-in-law) I made her a camera strap cover. She is a photography major at BYU-I and I thought a cute camera strap would just add to her wonderful photography abilities. The fabric is from Guatemala (where her husband, my brother-in-law, served his mission--he got it for me when we went to get him), I thought it would add some meaning to the gift.

For Em's birthday she requested a camera cake...so I whipped this baby up. She has a pentax camera, so I tried to replicate a simple one.

Busy in my glasses, isn't she just darling?

The guys all went fishing one Saturday--Leigh with his catch.

Preston with his catch.

We live in an apartment and I have REALLY wanted to attempt at gardening, but with no backyard it creates a problem. I decided to plant a few things in pots behind our complex and hang one of those topsy turvy tomato things. Our strawberries were the first to fruit--they are little, but absolutely delicious.

In May I saw this and had to make my own. I bought a black shirt and used scraps from other old shirts and some ribbon. I absolutely love it.

VACATION!!!! We went on vacation the week before the 4th to Iowa and Missouri. It was fun, relaxing, and just what we needed. We got to see lots of family (grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles), go on boat rides, shopping, tons of homemade YUMMY food, and a few baseball games.

My cousin, Sydney, was in a parade for her tumbling class. My parents kept it a secret that Leigh and I were coming--so everyone was surprised to see us.

Ryker pitching--a classic sports face.

My two favorite men watching/talking about baseball.

We got to go to a St. Louis Cardinals game in Kansas City (they were play the Royals). They lost miserably, but it was a ton of fun.

I LOVE this picture of my grandparents. It was their 31st wedding anniversary and my grandma asked me to make the cake. We were looking at their wedding pictures the night before and I thought it would be fun to try and replicate their wedding cake. I had to make it slightly different due to size of the cake, but essentially the same. We spent the night at the dock eating cake and lighting off fireworks.

My mom and Aunt Glenda on the boat for a sunset ride.

Leigh got to drive the boat--and I think we both decided we want a boat....after we get a house and a truck for Leigh. :)

Leigh before attempting at water skiing--the life jacket was slightly too small, and slightly funny looking on him.

Leigh got up...pretty much...for like .2789 seconds.

While we were in Missouri we also got to spend a day with Leigh's grandma--sadly, we didn't take any pictures. She made us breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND dessert--YUM, YUM. We also spent a lot of time talking, exploring the house, looking at pictures, went to the Bass Pro Shop, sat out on the deck enjoying the sunshine, and watching a tv show on DVD that we all found very interesting. It was great to spend a day with just us and her--I have only spent time with her while at Leigh's parent's house with everyone over there, which is fun, but it was enjoyable to spend the day with just her.

BACK IN OREGON:

We spent the 5th going on a bike ride with the family to a park so the kids could play. It was perfect weather and I loved every minute of it.

In other news:: We are moving in about 6 weeks and going to Disneyland/San Francisco in 5 weeks. I only have 5 more weeks of working with my class--which I am going to be sad to leave my kiddos. I am excited for our new adventure though. We are going there without jobs and a place to live, as of now. I have been looking on a daily basis--so we shall see what the next few weeks brings us. It is stressful, but exciting at the same time. We are both glad to be going back to Provo--no matter how bad I wanted to get out of there a couple years ago.

I shall update sooner than last time...

do I say that in every post?

I really will this time...