New Toy

T-Mobile recently introduced a cell phone plan that allows you to switch seamlessly from traditional cell airwaves to WiFi when it gets within range of your wireless router. The cool part is that when the phone is using your WiFi connection, it doesn't deduct minutes from your plan. What an awesome idea! So, for $10 more a month on my cell plan, looks like I should be able to drop my home phone line. I'm going to make sure that I have good connection throughout my house before I do that, but am excited to save that money. Unfortunately, to use this special WiFi plan, you have to have a phone that has WiFi capabilities. Needless to say, I got a new toy today :-)

What a Great Start!!!

Yippee! Season 4 of The Office has started! I hope everyone got a chance to watch the season premier (if not, you can watch it for free on NBC's website). It was well worth the wait, don't you think? I thought it was stinkin' funny... I loved Michalel's "I'm not superstitious, I'm just a little-stitious." :-) Ahhhh, back to happy Thursday nights!

D-Nye-D!

My little sister Beki is on her high school's varsity soccer team for the third year in a row. She's now a senior, and tonight was her last home game of the season. I was so excited to be able to attend her game tonight... and even more excited when she scored the first goal of the game (and her first goal of the season)! Way to go Beki! I almost started to cry when she ran across the field after the game, ran directly to me & threw her arms around me, giving me the biggest hug. I am so proud of my sister, not only for her athleticism on the soccer field, but for the caring, genuine, happy-go-lucky girl that she is. I love you Beki!

Hooray for the Women's Fitness Celebration!

Yesterday I participated in the largest women only race in the nation... the annual St. Lukes Women's Fitness Celebration. I joined the Cutler Crew (my team) and more than 12,000 other women for the 5k event that went from the Boise capitol building, up the hill to the train depot, across the bench, and then back down the hill to Ann Morrison Park. It was cloudy, cool, and there were even a couple sprinkles, but that didn't dampen the excitement. Performers lined the streets to cheer us on... from singing groups to rhythm groups to cheerleaders. My favorite, however, was Tuxedo Row - right after the 3 mile marker, men in tuxedos and shorts line both sides of the streets clapping & offering high-5's. They put a smile on your face just before the finish line. Oh, and don't forget the free food at the end - fruit with yogurt & granola, bagels, ice cream, apples, Subway cookies (and a photo opp with Jared from Subway!), etc... It was a fabulous way to spend my morning - can't wait until next year :-)

Happy 30th Anniversary!

Happy anniversary mom & dad! My parents were married September 20th, 1977 in the Salt Lake Temple - today they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Just wanted to say congratulations and that I love you both!

Homage to the Pedestrian

I love Boise! I could go on and on listing the reasons why... While attending college at BYU, I always touted Boise as the best place to live. One person, in response to my excitement, suggested that I should work for the Boise Chamber of Commerce! Anyway, today I add another reason that I love Boise to my list. I love the abundance of public art throughout this beautiful city. This morning, I came across a piece that I hadn't seen (or at least hadn't noticed) before. As I was walking to my conference, "music" started coming from several lamp posts. I looked up, trying to determine what could possibly be making that sound. I then realized that the lamp posts had motion sensors on them, and that each lamp post produced a different rhythmic sound. I loved it - it put a smile on my face. A big thank you to the artist for adding a little excitement to my walk!

Time Out for Women

Today I have been strengthened and uplifted. I attended an annual event sponsored by Deseret Book called Time Out for Women. The program was packed with magnificent speakers and touching musical numbers that reminded me of the importance of my role as a woman and of the significance of Christ in my life. I laughed and even cried a little as the messages were shared. And if the messages and music weren't enough, I ran into several high school friends - what a treat! It was a beautiful day!

I had a different picture on here, but the flash made my nose look orange! Thanks Val for the updated pic! This picture is of Natalie, Val, me and Meckenzie during one of our breaks :-)

Our Fast-Paced Lives

Note: I debated about whether or not to post this, because some people will see this impatience as a character flaw I have. Oh well. I decided to post it anyway... maybe it will convince some people to change their ways :-)

We live in a fast-paced society. It seems like we are always running from one thing to the next. I love some of the conveniences that speed things up... like debit/credit cards! I almost never carry cash, and rarely write a check - what's the point when I can just swipe my card? I think it's interesting how my outlook has changed when it comes to exchanging money. I was in the grocery store today and the two people in front of me wrote out checks! I found myself a little annoyed, as this slowed down my grocery shopping experience. I was in a hurry to get to my next commitment. Why not use a debit card? The money comes from the same place! Hmmm... maybe I need to learn a little patience. Reminded me of those Visa commercials - I love those because that's really how I feel!

Seriously, What Do you Do...

... with this many tomatoes? This is just my harvest from tonight. It consists of 64 roma tomatoes and 53 grape tomatoes. And that's after I threw out all the ones that were split or looked like they might have been snacked on by the roly polys in my garden (who knew that roly polys like tomatoes?). Did I mention that I only planted 4 tomato plants this year - 2 grape and 2 roma? Anyway, I made fresh salsa with the tomatoes I picked last week and have been snacking on that... I'm not sure that I have the ambition to can salsa. Any other suggestions on what to do with this many tomatoes???

Humility

I was asked to give a talk today in church on the topic of humility. I really enjoyed my studying over the last week as I prepared. I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes that I found:

• To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support.
• “Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God – the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and a testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption.” -Bishop Richard C. Edgely
• “How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?” -Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Series

As you know from some of my past posts, I'm on kind of an environmentalist kick right now. I want to congratulate my sister-in-law Tonja for organizing the Fall 2007 Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Series here in Boise. Over the next couple of months, she has organized five sessions to help us learn how to save energy and care for the environment:

• Be an ENERGY STAR! - Simple no/low cost energy & money saving ideas for your home.
• Beyond the Green - Remodeling or building? Identifying green products & understanding their benefits.
• Get Your Ducts in a Row - Get ready for the heating season with weatherization, insulation, ductwork, & ventilation ideas.
• One Less Napkin - Ideas of how to: rethink, recycle, reuse & reduce.
• Fact or Fiction - What you should know about wind & solar energy sources.
  

I've marked my calendar & I invite you to join me if you're in town. I'll be sure to fill you in on all the exciting things I learn!

Smile :-)

Just another picture of me and my cute nephew Alex - he thought putting orange peels in our mouths to look like we had orange teeth was just hilarious!

One of My Favorite Things...

This might sound silly, but one of my favorite things to do is decorate my table based on the season. Fall is my favorite time to decorate my house - the colors are warm and match my house well. I decided because it's September, I can start to decorate for fall :-) Anyway, thought I'd share some pics of my table and new centerpiece. I'll probably be adding more and adjusting over the next month or so, but here's my start. It sure dresses up my dining room and makes my house look a little more festive.

PS - The pine cones in the cornucopia are from my tree out front that I blogged about earlier this year... I knew the pine cones would come in handy for something!

Motorcycle Gang

Today I went on a bike ride at lunch with a couple of my coworkers - Ross & Greg. I felt pretty cool as we rode around town - we got lots of looks as we rumbled down the street (okay Greg's bike rumbled, mine purred!). We went to this great restaurant - West Side Drive In. I had to take a picture - my bike is the cute little one in the middle :-) Have I ever mentioned that I love riding my motorcycle?

Ready, Set, Hike...

Well, my Broncos are off to a great start! The season opener was Thursday against Weber State. I was a little nervous this year - there were high expectations because of the big Fiesta Bowl win (oh, how sweet it was - I have it on DVD!). I was also nervous because we lost a lot of seniors. My boys didn't let me down - they pulled off a 56-7 win... and that was after putting in the 2nd & 3rd string players after pulling ahead 56 points in the 2nd quarter! Our new quarterback, Taylor Tharpe, looks like he's up for the job, and I was impressed with some of the new freshman talent. Let's see what these players can do against Washington this coming Saturday. Go Broncos!