Odds and Ends

With my grandfather's funeral scheduled for next Saturday, Clark and I get to travel back to Pasco. Though I wish this visit could be under brighter circumstances, I will get to see my entire family. My sister is due to burst forth with child any day now, my big bro will be coming in from the west side of WA, and my little bro and his wife will be flying in from South Korea! Oh, and Chase and Cole, how I miss those boys! In addition to seeing my parents and siblings, in-laws, etc, I will be able to visit with relatives I haven't seen in 5-10 years. If anything, this funeral is definitely bringing family together. I just know that my grandpa is very happy knowing that we are all gathering together to celebrate his life. Let's just hope the funeral is more celebratory than glum and that there is no family drama to deal with.

Things we are excited for in Pasco:

-family

-Clark meeting extended family

-meeting my sister's newest little teeny tiny addition (hopefully she pops out soon!)

-Griggs

-taco trucks galore

-Viera's Bakery

-the river

Things we aren't excited for in Pasco:

-the funeral (I've only been to one funeral before, and that was 12 years ago)

-sad faces

-wind

-possibly running in to people from high school that I don't care to see (can anyone else relate?)

Clark wanted me to let everyone know that he is junking out: he recently sold his childhood AMF bicycle and his tires/rims. He sold the bike almost immediately and is still getting emails about it--nearly a month later. Lesson learned: start high in price and decrease as necessary. He could have gotten way more than $40 for that bike. But at least we have extra space in our apartment.

Lately I've been trying to ameliorate my vocabulary (it's working!). I bought this box o words and started going through them last week. I'm about 1/5 the way through. Hopefully I'll be ready for the GRE this fall! I've had a huge fear of standardized tests since high school. The NCLEX went extremely well so hopefully I'll fare well on this one, too. But knowing my luck, I won't see a single word I study on the test. Go figure.

Words I want to start incorporating into daily life:

-castigate (different from castrate...)

-bevy

-abstemious

-amalgamate

-burgeon

-convoluted

...just to name a few. As you can see, the words all start at the beginning of the alphabet...I haven't gotten farther than the "D" words yet. (And yes, I have heard these words before, but it is so nice to now know their meanings!)

Here are some mugshots we had taken for an upcoming language test...they crack me up! Clark's neck is thick football playa style and he really looks like he just got into trouble. And my hair is all scraggly and I have a somewhat confused look on my face. I sure wish they would let you smile for these pics. (If you think this one is bad, my passport photo is even worse.)

So the other day Clark and I decided to "hike" the "U" that overlooks Salt Lake and the U of U campus. We were in for a shock. The "hike" was maybe 100 yards in length and basically started in someone's backyard. Anticlimactic for sure. So of course we took some pictures proving we hiked the "U".

That's about it for now folks. Clark is at work and I'm all alone...and I can't watch Man v.Food without him...that wouldn't be right. What to do, what to do?