Over the desert and through the woods to Grandma's house we went!

Last Friday evening after Craig's interviews were over, we drove from Bellevue to Tacoma/Lakewood to see my Grandma and Grandpa Nasson! It was the first time in 4 years I've seen them and the very first time I've ever driven there. It was funny- even though it has been several years since I have been to visit and it was the first time I'd ever driven in that area, I just sort of knew where to go. It's funny the random things you can remember. We got to grandma's quickly- it's funny how quickly time can pass when you're having fun singing everything from 80's pop to grunge songs at the top of your lungs with your bestest friend. That was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Once we were at grandmas, Craig sat with grandpa in the living room and talked and I helped grandma in the kitchen as we chatted. While grandmas yummy lasagna was baking, we all got to sit and talk! I had printed my bridal pictures and the wedding pictures to give to grandma & grandpa. Grandma needed to update her pictures of me-- there was a rather incriminating photo of me from the summer I felt the need to put an entire bottle of "sun-in" in my hair- and grow it out. To top it off, I was in my purple & teal majorette costume complete with a cowboy hat. Grandma loves it. Must be a grandma thing. In any case, we have supplied her with 50 new pictures. Her photo book (one I made her and grandpa for Christmas last year...or maybe the year before) is now completely full.

After dessert (homemade carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting...my mouth is watering even now just thinking about it) we went back to the living room to talk some more. Grandma showed me the book everyone contributed to for their 50th wedding anniversary. This sparked conversation on topics such as learning that grandma and grandpa had been married for a while before they were sealed in the temple. If I recall, all three of their kids had been born at that point. I was curious about that and found out that grandpa didn't join the church until well after he and grandma had been married. Who knew? Does that make me third generation? Oh, and we got to hear stories about my dad and aunts when they were growing up- things such as Aunt Carol getting really badly injured playing church softball.

It was just a lovely time. I miss my grandparents so much. It was sort of surreal to be there with my husband. Whenever I think of going to grandma's house, I imagine being a little girl playing tea party or house using the little tin kitchen (which apparently is still in the garage), climbing the green apple tree that is no longer in the backyard, going on evening walks with grandma & grandpa, getting star bursts out of the candy bowl on the little counter in the kitchen, taking baths in the bathroom with "crystal" lights, playing board games at the kitchen table, going down to the sound and watching the ferries and, among many other things, best of all, sitting on grandma's lap on the pink recliner. Shall I admit the thought very briefly crossed my mind when grandma sat down?

Beautiful Friday Morning

Craig had to be to the lobby of the hotel by 7:00 Friday morning to catch a shuttle the Microsoft campus in Redmond for breakfast and a series of 4 interviews. I'll let Craig post about what that was like. All I could gather from his itinerary was that he would be in 4 interviews for 45 minutes, get a 15 minute break and then go again. 

Apparently, during that 15 minutes the interviewers would conspire against the interviewee's  and try to trip them up or find their weaknesses. So kind, right?  With Craig off sweating for 6 hours, I had plenty of time to do just about whatever I wanted. After helping him get bathed and looking really great in that argyle sweater, I got back in bed and rested for a while longer. 

Oooh so nice. Then I took a 20 minute shower. Also so nice. Then I did the unthinkable. I blow dried my hair. And flat ironed it. And took time to put on my makeup. Wow.  At this point it was only 10 so I decided to go do something exciting like try to find a Verizon store since someone *cough* forgot to pack our phone chargers. Once again, I got turned around but I didn't really care because I was planning on exploring anyway. (Besides, how lost can you get when you can still see the giant skyscraper that says "Microsoft?")

 I found, by accident, a gorgeous park in the middle of the city and decided to take advantage of the great lighting and awesome sights to play with our new digital SLR. 

The photos in the blog are a few of the pictures I took. The rest will be on facebook since I still haven't gotten the hang of putting pictures into a blog aesthetically.  I was just goofing off with these, but the park was so pretty I wish I had been able to capture it better. 

Aaah, the Pacific Northwest

Yeah for fun trips!
Several months ago, Craig took part in a career fair interview with Microsoft. While we were home at Christmas, he received an invitation to fly to Seattle to interview again with the company. Since he was only going to be 15 days out from a fairly intensive surgery, I got to go with him! (Hey, someone had to drive him around.) Microsoft flew us Delta which perhaps isn't the most glamourous airline but when you're used to the Southwest cattle call, it was 5-star. Since Craig was in a delicate condition, we went to ask for a pre-board pass but instead of just getting to get on early, they changed our seat assignments and we got an entire row to ourselves so he could stretch out. So nice. Oh, and there was internet on the flight. What? How does THAT work?

As previously mentioned, I was there to drive Craig around. Microsoft also paid

for a nice rental car. We spent our time there driving a saucy silver two-door Nissan Altima. It was an automatic which threw me off for a bit and made Craig a bit nervous, but it was great! We made it to the hotel- The Westin on the East Side in Bellevue (very nice)- got checked in and then walked (well, I walked, Craig scooted) to McCormick and Schmicks fish house for lunch- also on Microsoft. It was delicious. Craig needed a nap at that point so we headed back to the hotel so he could sleep and I could follow up on email. I had checked and taken care of things about 6 hours earlier and by the time I got to check it again, I had another 18 items to follow up on. Good grief.

As most of you know, I am a bit directionally impaired. Wait, my mom is going to read this- I am impossibly directionally impaired.  Craig had a dinner shindig on Thursday evening with the recruiters and the other people who were interviewing. Since we were so close (about 8 minutes according to google maps) to the Seattle temple, I decided to go for a session. I got lost going to the temple and ended up on my way to Issaquah. I was planning on making the 6:30 session but ended up getting into the 7:30 session. Then, once I was finished there, I got lost again. I knew something was up when I saw exit signs for Mercer Island- which meant I was on the floating bridge. In my attempts to get turned around, I ended up near Safeco Field in Seattle. Then I was on Mercer Island-very pretty. I had been trying to call anyone who Washington at all at that point and no one was answering. So what did I do? I called mom in Connecticut! Sure it was nearly 1:00 in the morning and 17 or 18 years since we lived there, but mom could get me back! Jeffery woke her up by saying "Mom, Sarah doesn't know where she is" to which my mother replied something along the lines of "okay, me either." She then repeated something similar to that once she woke up enough to answer the phone before telling me exactly how to get back from 90 to 405 to Bellevue. Yes, that is love.

BREAKING NEWS!

THIS JUST IN:

In a strange and unexpected turn of events, Sarah totally kicked Craig's trash at Checkers, the game of choice for "Craig & Sarah's Sunday Evening Game." When seeking a reaction, all Craig could manage to say was, "I thought I wore the left brain in this relationship." Sarah was unavailable for comment.

Maple Mountain High School Winter Color Guard (Or MMHSWCG, if you prefer)

As most of you know, I've been the color guard director at Maple Mountain High School in Spanish Fork for the past 9 months. Starting with summer band the end of last April through fall band finishing in November we're now two months into our Winter Guard season! And the season was started off quite strongly yesterday afternoon. This is my first season teaching winter guard and my second being involved with a winter guard. Needless to say, it has been both educational as well as stressful. I have a great group of girls to work with and I absolutely love each one of them. I haven't been able to say that about other groups elsewhere in the past. 

Anywho, I think I'll step back and start at the beginning of my day. I am running a show at BYU called "Tartuffe" this month. My friend, Kt, is the sound designer and has done a great job on it- I recommend seeing and hearing the show. (I hope you enjoyed my shameless plug.) We had a tech rehearsal yesterday that was supposed to run from 9-12 giving me the time to scoot out of Provo by 12:15 getting me to the school by 12:40 followed by a 1:00 departure from the high school. Let's guess how much of that happened.... I ended up leaving rehearsal at 12:35ish (leaving Kt-I felt bad about doing that to her) and getting to the high school around 1:30.  We then stopped so the girls could get some food and then carefully followed the speed limit. We got to the competition site in Salt Lake at about 2:50.

After getting checked in, we found our warmup location, ran through the routine a few times and then we were off! All the while, Craig and Laura gimping along behind us on crutches, both favoring right food breaks. (Laura broke her metatarsal while catching a rifle triple toss with her foot at practice on Friday morning.) The girls got in the gym, set up and in their places very quickly and professionally. The music started and they went for it! Laura included. She was able to do some of her swing flag work and then gimp off the floor. Everyone has been very supportive. The judges had some good suggestions for me as the designer and choreographer as well as for the girls and things that they can personally improve on. We have survived the first show and I am feeling much more confidant about my role as director as I now know more of what to expect! More stories of success about the Maple Mountain High School Winter Color Guard coming soon!

p.s taking suggestions for a group name as MMHSWCG doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. EWCG (Eagles Winter Color Guard)?

A day for dresses and dances

I thought it might be about time that I add some wedding pictures to our blog. I mean, we've only been married for almost two months. Okay, two months next Sunday. I can't believe it's been two months. In some ways, it feels like much longer and in others it seems like it was literally just a couple weeks ago. Okay, fine. It WAS just a matter of weeks ago. Work with me a little, here!

The following pictures were taken by Clair Williams of "Photo's by Clair." Check out her work on www.photosbyclair.blogspot.com.

With our parents. Craig's on the left (the ones he resembles) and mine on the right. (I am told I look like my mom.)

Everyone who was at the temple with us. I'll do my best. From left to right and back to front. Mark, Jenny & James Lyon, Elizabeth Rollins, Sarah, Alyssa & Matthew Lyon. Grandpa Merrill, Dad Peterson, Mom Peterson. Grandma Peterson & Grandpa Peterson. Craig & me. Dad & Mom Nasson. Mark & Jennifer Everette, Mallory Siebers. Scott & Paula Siebers. Kent & Bena Reid with Oliver Williams.







Craig and I coming out of the temple.











Mallory, Me & Elizabeth. Check out my cute bridesmaids and those sassy red shoes!











One of my favorite pictures of the day and currently the background picture on my laptop. LOVE!






p.s Posting multiple pictures and adding text near them seems to be rather difficult. If you'd like more pictures, I'd be happy to direct you elsewhere to see them.

Yes, I'm writing one of THOSE posts...

Okay, yes. I AM writing one of those posts. Today you can read a list of several of the reasons why I love my husband. In no particular order...


1. He spent 6 hours in closed quarters around 8 high school (14-17 years old) girls yesterday. Craig accompanied me and my wonderful teenage students to a color guard show in Salt Lake City. (More about that in a coming post)
2. We have a cat. She is nutty. I call her Kat (Short for Katharine). We are best friends.
3. He asks me what the schedule for the day is before we get out of bed. If you know me, my planner or my life you'll understand why this is amazing to me.
4. He's an innovative & great cook.
5. He gives good advice
6. He listens the first time about half the time. (I tend to forget that when he's on his computer he's in another world. Call collect, that usually works.)
7. He watches "girly" movies with me- I fall asleep in the first 5 minutes and he watches the whole thing. That is love.
8. He is exceptionally patient. Something that I need.
9. He humors my silly whims- such as, lets eat pizza and fruit for dinner.
10. We go grocery shopping together. He leaves me to my list and he goes to play video games. It works.
11. I drive his car. He only holds on for dear life when I'm on the interstate.
12. He taught me to drive stick. (No euphemisms, please.)
13. He eats what I cook.
14. We both do laundry.
15. He really does support me in what I want to do- and suggest ways to enhance it
16. He is very generous
17. We can make poop jokes together.
18. He loves my brothers in all of their insanity, WOW playing and imaginative story-telling
19. We went to my family for Christmas- a major sacrifice with time and financially
20. He let me take care of him when he had surgery. He is about as independent as me and that was a huge way of him either a. Saying he loves me or b. giving up knowing that in his drugged state he couldn't really win.

So, there is my Sunday morning post.

Stay Tuned!

A little move, a little teaching and a little cat

We moved in with Craig's grandpa Merrill last Saturday.  Since Craig had to have surgery, living on the third floor with the only access being three flights of crumbly icy stairs just didn't seem practical. Living with grandpa who was living alone and had a way to keep Craig bedded and bathed on the first floor did. The move was... interesting. We got back from Connecticut late Friday night and I had to be in Spanish Fork teaching a guard clinic at 9:00 on Saturday morning. The plan was to get up early (smart planning) and get most of the major packing done before I had to leave and then I would finish whatever Craig hadn't done while I was gone when I got home from teaching around 1:30. When the car wouldn't start, it sort of changed our plans. Long story short, no packing in the morning, no packing during the day since once we got the car started we didn't want to turn it off-Craig drove me to work and then took it to get fixed which meant not packing during the day.  By the time I realized this was going to be how my day was going, it was already 10 after 9 and we were still in Provo. Luckily, I have a great guard captain who was able to start rehearsal. About halfway through the camp, I got a phone call from my FiL informing me that my BiL had been taken to the emergency room and was going to have to have emergency surgery that evening. Then I continued to teach, however somewhat distracted.

Craig came back to collect me, we went home, started packing things in boxes and then our friends showed up to help us move/pack. Now, when I say pack, I'd like you to imagine how a college male might pack a box. Can't visualize it? Let me help. I was looking for a baking pan for my chicken. In the box that I found that in there was also: a shoe, a small green pillow, some silverware, a hairbrush and the  pants that I had left out to wear last Saturday night. It was very creative but very helpful. We do have some great friends.

After we'd gotten most everything moved, we went to Salt Lake to see Craig's brother, Brent. He was doing alright but had had to have a surgery removing a few more inches of his intestines. Crohn's is not a pleasant thing to deal with. After spending some time there, we hoped in the car and ventured back to our apt. and collected our favorite furry friend. 'Miss Kitty' (otherwise referred to as Kodak-I didn't name her and I don't care for the name) has adapted quite well to her new surroundings. She enjoys sitting in a window in grandpa's office and watching the wildlife of Provo. Aaah, the simple things in life!

Sweet new toy!

Okay, so maybe it's not a toy, but it's pretty awesome! My mom gave us a bread maker for Christmas but since we couldn't pack it in our suitcases, we returned it in Connecticut and re-bought the same one here yesterday. Craig has been asking for homemade bread for some time now so I decided to try it out today to go with our tortellini bake. Being the impatient one I am, I decided to use the "ExpressBake" setting which claims the ability to take the ingredients from a pile of mush to bread in 1 hour. They win. It works and the bread is rather tasty! (We made a light wheat bread today). As soon as grandpa Merrill gets home from church we'll be enjoying our fresh wheat bread, tortellini and squash bake and homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.


*Is anyone else so tired once they're done making a meal that they don't even want to eat anymore?

My Sweet Husband

So, Christmas morning. We're opening presents at my house in Connecticut. I've given Craig almost all of his gifts (he got a tool set with each item wrapped individually and a few new articles of clothing) and now he's wanting to give me mine. He hands me this medium sized box wrapped very cutely in such a way that you know much care was taken... even if the corners don't convince you of that. I carefully open the wrapping, excited to see what Craig has chosen to give me on our first married Christmas. I remove the last bit of wrapping paper and pull out... an old modem! Yes, my sweet, loving husband had given me a much outdated modem-one that looked a lot like the one my parents had given Andrew to play with in the basement. Okay, so he just wrapped it in the box but since I was afraid of hurting his feelings or being slightly disappointed like with the Christmas Eve PJ's, I went along with it trying to be happy. (I didn't have to pretend to be surprised. That came naturally). I was then encouraged to open the box and inside there was... a "sick" bag from his flight from Vegas to Connecticut! Yes, my husband had already outdone himself! Outdated modem AND a sick bag! But the best part was inside. (No, he wasn't giving me his 'sick'.) My sweet husband had gotten me two one-hour massage sessions, something that I have wanted for a long time! Everyone who was watching this whole thing unfold thought it was pretty amusing that I thought Craig had actually gotten me a modem. Hey, there are stranger things in life!

I went tonight to use half of the gift and it was A-mazing!! An hour of pure relaxation, modem free!

New High Score!

Craig has done it again! He has renovated his personal hardware store and is nearly open for business! We in the newly formed "Nas-terson" family really like to go all-out with everything we do.

Craig had surgery yesterday morning to attempt to correct some of the issues he's been having over the past year. The doctor decided that at this point it would be best to fuse the foot and ankle bones thus reducing the pain in movement however, this also means limited range of motion for him. Since his bone had essentially died, they cut/chipped/hacked out the dead part and grafted in bone from just below his knee to replace the dead bone. The procedure lasted about 4 hours and Craig did quite well! He's getting some good care and should be able to go home within the next few days.

Thank you's to all for good wishes, prayers and Wii fasts!

A new year...

Well, after a few fun adventures, several flights, some interesting weather- including fabulous cloud formations- we are back in Utah! I'm sure we'll be posting again soon as there is much to share!

Love to all and happy new year!