Merry Christmas!!!

And Happy Birthday Mom! :)

Portland, Oregon

This past week, I flew HOME to Portland. I love going back to all the green, winding non-grid streets, no sales tax, and of course my family. :)


Avery's beautiful auburn hair...


...and smile. She is sooooo cute.


Joanna wearing a cat mask from JoAnn's.


And of course, Gretchen. She was currently keeping watch outside of Joanna's window. On her pillow. Mom would be mortified. :)

I'm now back in Utah where I swear the temperature has dropped twenty degrees over the week I was gone. Good thing I stocked up on hoodies in Oregon. Hoodies are great. Right Mom? :)

I miss my sisters

Every 2 Minutes

"You know Rachel, if you ever want to get married, you need to start going to more activities." -Mom

I went to Family Home Evening on Monday. By myself. Even though it was a stake activity (more people I don't know) and it was speed dating. You should have heard the snickers throughout the chapel when it was announced. But I decided to go. To make my mom happy. :) So I went. By myself. I even put on make up, did not put my hair in a pony tail...but I did wear a hoodie. As I left the house, Heather pointed out that since I would be "dating" one guy every few minutes, than by the time the night was over, I would have gone on about 50 or so dates. Which sets me up for the next year. Or ten.

Here are some snippets of what I experienced:

-after signing in and sticking the name tag on my hoodie, I realized I had chocolate on my hoodie. So Mom you'll be pleased, I took it off for the night.
-the wife of the bishop of another ward talking about dating and "cracking down" on us for not dating. accusatory glances were sent to each sex.
-sitting next to Kenya, the one girl I know of who got a phone number.
-starting out every date with "so what do you do?" and sometimes getting a blank look.
-after the question above, most of the guys would answer about being between school and/or jobs. Then they'd ask me. I'd say "I'm a nurse." Or as Joanna said "BOOM! I'm a nurse!"
-"I do archery in my basement."-one date
-"...NCIS..." -another date when asked about TV shows he watached. I got very excited to meet a fellow fan. And then the following occurred:
-"So what year were you born?" -me
"1992." him
*me looking down trying not to laugh while thinking I have a nephew older than him.
-"I'm really thirsty from all this talking." - me to Jen sitting next to me. She agreed.
-"Wow your mouth is really dry." -my next date who overheard me say the above comment and decided to begin our two minute date with me feeling self conscious...
....and ending with me slightly irritated. He found out I love to run and as he moved over to the next seat repeated "running is so boring!'
-the closing prayer. The guy mentioned that he hoped people had sparked interest with one another and he began to laugh which set off everyone in the gym. What a way to end the night. :)