friend of a friend

Tom's sister Wendy had a friend's wedding last weekend. Check out these boys moves. I am so proud and impressed. I guess the groom (in white) is a cop. Next time you get a ticket, ask him to show you his moves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qt1jSlfBiI

A lovely summer

I don't call. I don't write. I just watch my life fly by. This summer has flown by and I've loved it. It's been super busy. Here are some photos to help me remember:

Here is Crystal and I at the great salt lake. I think it is so fun to go out there and feel like you weigh 1 pound. I would totally recommend it. The 2nd picture is Crystal and Sophia at Steiner. What cuties.

Here is Tom, I, Kable, and Angie down in Moab. We went down one weekend when it was cold here. It was super fun. We ate at Milt's and rode a little slick rock. I am weak sauce when it comes to mountain biking but it sure was beautiful.

Here is a sunset hike from the "living room" hike. A few gals in my ward invited me to go and it was fun. I couldn't remember the last time I was there. Very pretty.

Here are pics from Audra's 4th b-day last week. She looked so cute and was excited. They gave out toy cell phones for party favors which makes me think times have changed. Watching little Wyatt pretend to talk on the phone was super cute.

Tom did Lotoja for the 3rd year and it was a long but fun day. I kind of like driving 200+ miles and just being alone with my thoughts. I think Tom looks so cute even after riding 206 miles in a push. It makes me wish I wasn't so lazy.

This last weekend I had my annual HERA Climb4Life Event. It is my 7th year volunteering but I spent many moor hours helping plan the schedule for other volunteers. Wow, it was a lot of work but it turned out great. Crystal even volunteered and we got to climb together. Good times. Tom and I were dancing machines at the party and I forgot what an amazing dancer I am. Oh wait...

I was wishing my HHS girls were there to help me quick make up a line dance for all the awkward outdoorsy folks who don't know how to dance. Oh wait, that's me.

Let's see. What else? I got a new job in Bountiful working at a long term care facility for people with Alzheimer's and Dementia. I am still in training but am falling in love with these residents. Hurray!

were you wondering how cute my husband is?

This September, I am the volunteer coordinator for the Climb 4 Life which raises money for Ovarian Cancer research. Tom is one of the local athletes who will take folks out climbing. He is so handsome: http://www.herafoundation.org/SLC/events_slc4.cfm

Happy July

Hurray for summer. These are some of the reasons I love summer:

• flip flops every day
• no jacket needed
• delicious fruit
• need for sunscreen (which means I'm outside)
• long days (I don't even mind waking up early)
• flowers & birds
• ice cream cones (Tom loves coke slurpees more)
• BBQs
• girl's camp
• I'm in the mountains
• feeling glad that I'm out of school even when I'm not going back
• being outside at night and taking the time to look at the stars
• walking on the grass (but my feet are sometimes too ticklish)
• everyone whines about how hot it is (who cares? it's summer!)

Here is a pic from breakfast at Ruth's Diner for Crystal's birthday. I made her wear a crown and continually yelled "Happy Birthday Crystal" which is a little adolescent but I'm over it.
It was also Miss Heidi's birthday and we missed her. She is loving life in Portland so I can't be too sad she wasn't here too. The brother in laws in the back love that I am always doing family pictures. Can you tell?

Hurray. It's summer!

Well, it's been busy but life is good.

Tom and I had our 1st year anniversary and we bummed around that whole weekend. It was great. I couldn't be happier to have married this handsome man who makes me laugh all the time and is my best friend.

Natalie and Erica had birthdays in May and it was fun to get together to celebrate.

Thanks to one of my teachers at the U, I was able to graduate at the end of May and am exited to have completed my degree. I also passed my test to be certified which was SUCH a relief.

After school ended, Tom, his mom, his sister and I headed to Italy and it was a fabulous trip. Here are some pics:

We went and found Tom's mom's uncle and his family in the town where his mom was born. That we even found them was truly a miracle. They gave us the most warm welcome I could imagine. They were so loving and fed and fed us. Manja, manja. They said we can come back anytime and I hope they'll come visit us too. They were the best. It was also way fun to find out that Tom's mom totally speaks italian fluently. She was the bomb.

After that first stop, we headed to Rome and hit the classics. I can't believe how gorgeous it is. We stayed right in San Giovanni square and it was super fun. Now, after watching Angels and Demons I feel even cooler to have just seen most of the places.

When we saw the Duomo (sp?) in Florence, I was dumbstruck. I don't remember ever seeing this dome in humanities but it was incredible! The naked demons were amazing and horrifying. We didn't realize when you walked in that you will need to walk up 460ish stairs but it was so worth it. Holy smokes. Zoom in on this one...

Totally loves Venezia. We could have ridden that bus boat around all day. It was so beautiful. I totally loved the thin crust pizza and every picture I took made me think I was a brilliant photographer since the place is so picturesque.

On this trip, between the 4 of us, I'm sure we consumed gallons and gallons of gelatto. It was heaven actually. The gelatto there is so delicious that I wish I could fly in a freezer full every month. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

And now, back home and trying to get over the jet lag still. I am excited to have some new beginnings so we'll see what this summer brings: I'm doing ward camp, helping with a few volunteer efforts, finishing up a school project and job hunting. Plus, it's summer! So I get to play outside. Hurray Hurray.

Wow. Busy.

Well, I have no news other than I have been busy. I am working hard in my last (hopefully) semester in school and each day already is full. I hope I can get it all done. Regardless, the semester will be over in a few weeks and it will be time to get some play in. I'm ready to get back to climbing and hopefully will be out on my bike a bit.


Hope all is well. -Gwendolyn

Marchness

Well, my nephew is offically 1 year old. What a cutie! He didn't really care for his cupcake but did like the balloons. His big sister and cousin really like the frosting. Mmm, cream cheese frosting. My sister had everyone over to help with their back yard and I helped watch the kids. It was fun.

He is so handsome.

Let's see. My knee is healing up great, I had a nice relaxing sunday yesterday and today I went to cowboy grub with brighton friends. Life is good. I had forgotten how delicious spuds are there. Does it seem like forever ago that I worked there? Yes, like 10 years ago... Weird. Well, hurray for March. The sun has come out and I love it.