Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Book Club


As part of the new Enrichment groups . . . my ward started a Book Club. Problem is - there was already a Book Club in the ward and they didn't really want us to join the other one. I thought that was kind of weird but it is mainly some of the "older ladies" in the ward and they have been doing it for 3 years so you almost don't even want to intrude. Anyway - so far there are only 3 of us in this new book club.

We had our first official meeting last night and the book up for discussion was "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger. It's a decent book and covers a lot of different themes but overall - not really my favorite book because it is rather slow. It's told from the viewpoint of an 11 year old boy with Asthma and tells the story of the family as they travel across the badlands after their fugitive brother who killed 2 men in self-defense. There are spiritual undertones of the small miracles that happen in every day life that many times go unnoticed and the close bond that families can have.

Up for next month is the book "Hoot" (the movie either just came out or is coming out - I can't remember). When I was at BYU - I took a children's literature class that I just loved. We read a lot of juvenile literature like the book "Holes" and Cynthia Voigt's "Homecoming". Another girl in book club took this same class at BYU - so we thought it would be fun every other month to do more of a "light reading" in juvenile literature since they are such great books that can cover very powerful and mature themes. Plus we're hoping that we'll be able to recruit more of the younger ladies in the ward who many not have time to read a ton but would be able to get through a "fast" read.

Since graduating from BYU - I've been pretty good about doing my readings for "fun". I try and read at least one book a week. I'm one of those people that will read just about every genre! From Jane Austen type novels to "1776". I've learned though that the adventure type books - like Da Vinci Code and even Harry Potter - give me some of the craziest dreams. It's pretty funny.

Anyway - so I know Jessica did a similar post this week . . .But I'm always looking for new suggestions on books! What are some of your favorites? Any books that you would recommend for a book club?

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Happy Memorial Day

I'd like to take a minute to pay tribute to all of those who have fought in our armed forces. My husband Rob actually was in the Army for a while. He ended up breaking BOTH of his ankles though and they sent him home (lucky for me since I met him when he was home). But it holds a special place in my heart that my husband was willing to go and fight for his country.

I think I've always had the feeling of patriotism. Growing up - I loved Memorial Day because my backyard overlooked a cemetary and the section closest to my house had many people that died in the wars and their tombstones were covered with little American flags on that day. And they always did a special ceremony on Memorial Day where the local military branch (I lived close to McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis) would come and do a speech and shoot off their guns. It was a great way to grow up realizing the importance of Memorial Day and it not just being a day off of work or school.

I've had the chance to go to Washington DC a couple of times - but most recently, my friend Nicole and I went out there in 2003 to visit Shanna. I didn't think I was a very emotional person but visiting many of the historical sites made me teary eyed. As I get older - I think I realize more the sacrifices that others have gone through so that I can enjoy these freedoms.




Nicole and I at Arlington National Cemetary



Iwojima




Happy Memorial Day!

Friday, May 26, 2006

Puppies

For those of you that have known me for a long time. .. .I was never a pet person. My mom didn't like the care and maintenance of pets so we never really had any besides the occasional fish and the birds we rescued from the back yard one time. I never thought I would own a pet in my life because I just didn't see what the big deal was about them. Then I married Rob who is probably the biggest dog lover that I've ever met. From day one that we moved into our house - he started talking about bringing a dog home. I was scared he was going to bring this giant dog home so when our friends Colette and Shawn decided after having their pug for 2 weeks that they couldn't take care of him - I agreed to take him. Now if any of you have seen pugs as puppies - they are really cute! And I admit - I really didn't do much research into the breed of dog. We got lucky since pugs are a lot of dog packed into a little package! So we got our white pug that we named Maximus (Max) and I turned into a dog lover! Surprised myself even. I've turned into a sweeping/vacuuming fanatic because I don't want to be one of those people that you are scared to go over there because of the dog hair! I think I drive Rob crazy since I'm obsessive about not seeing dog hair! Anyway - a few months ago we decided that Max was getting lonely just having us humans to play with. ... and we got a black pug female named Roxy. It's still weird for me to admit but I love my puppies! It's so fun to come home and have them so excited to see you - even if you just went out to get the mail and came back. They don't like to be left out of anything though so I find myself usually with at least one or both of them following me around the entire house. I think I'm crazy for having two dogs and I know their no substitute for children - but for now they work! :)



Roxy and her bone



Puppies Sleeping



Maximus aka Max

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Happy Birthday To Me!




So I admit - it's a shamless plug for my birthday today!! It's funny though how I've always looked forward to birthdays but as I get older ....I am not such a big fan. Don't get me wrong - I love the attention and presents (ha ha) but it's sometimes a reminder of how fast life is going and I'm not ready for that! But - I'm going to just live up my birthday - eat lots of yummy foods and have a great day!

I thought it would be a good day to follow up Jessica yet again (there is a link to her page somewhere on my page). My parents named me Lachelle Tenae becuase . ..... First of all - my parents met at BYU. While they were there my mom had a class with a girl named Lachelle. She never knew her but really liked the name and always wanted to use it. They made up my middle name Tenae because they thought it sounded good with Lachelle.

I always liked my name growing up. It was just different enough to stand out but not a name people thought my parents were crazy for naming me. I have always had problems with people pronouncing it though. To me - it's not really that hard! Look at it and figure it out. I usually have to clarify it and say - it's just like Michelle but with an L. I have gotten into the habit on the phone with clients and such just to let them think my name is Michelle because sometimes it is just more of a hassle to deal with than to try and get them to figure out what my name really is. I'm working on getting my neices and nephews to just call my Chelle because they can't figure out the whole La part of my name either! I plan to name my children names that are just slightly different like mine. Enough where they hopefully won't know too many people with the same name but people won't think it's crazy. Although Rob had such a common name that he wants really bizarre names. So beware of my future children and their names! They might be crazy.

I had never met anyone with my name until I went to BYU and there was a girl with a somewhat similar name (LiChelle) but she pronounced it Lee-Shelle. And then I moved to Mesa, AZ and was sitting in a singles ward and looked at the program and about had a heart attack when I saw my name next to the ward organist title! I play the piano but no one in this ward even knew me. Good thing I looked further and realized that there was a different last name attached to the Lachelle. Kind of creeped me out though since I had never met someone with my name before. The ward was so big that it took me months to meet this other girl with my name and then it was funny when we did meet - both of us with dark hair, darkish skin, dark features, etc. For the most part though - people have usually never heard of my name and give me comments like - that is pretty or that is unique (never know if that one is a good or bad thing).

I did have to tease my parents after I went to BYU though. Before Freshman year starts - they send out those letters that tell you the names, addresses, etc of your future roommates. Well my full maiden name was Lachelle Tenae White. I had never really thought about it - but apparently to a good portion of my new roommates ... . they thought they were getting a black girl for a roommate! So that was a good laugh when we all got there and realized I could pass for just about every other ethnicity BUT black. My mom and I had a good laugh about my "black name" that they gave me.

Anyway - that is probably enough for day.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

A little thing called My Life Tuesday (to spin off of another blogger's post)

Ok - so after reading Jessica's blog where she borrowed an idea from another blogger called "My Life Monday" . ... I had to copy it! Only since I'm a day behind . .. .it'll have to be My Life Tuesday.

My Life Tuesday: The Story of My Spouse

I will try and put this story into a shorter version - so bear with me!

It first goes back to my senior year at BYU. I was pretty close to graduation when my serious boyfriend at the time decided it wasn't going to work out. I was obviously crushed because I had been procrastinating what I was going to do after graduation and that just didn't help me decide! I subsequently came down with mono (somehow he managed to avoid that dreadful fate) and spent the last month of school pretty much cooped up in my bed and trying to finish my thesis and trying to convince my teachers I was really sick enough to be at home and not at school.

But I digress . . . After graduation I had no job and no idea what I was going to do with my life. So I went on vacation to Hawaii, down to Arizona, and up to Washington and tried to apply for jobs in between those events. Pretty much I was just stalling on what to do with my life! My parents finally said - either go to Arizona (my grandparents had a house down there that they weren't using) or come to Washington. So I finally bid Provo goodbye and decided to make the move to Arizona (I had gone there for a friends wedding that month and met lots of cute guys so I figured it couldn't be that bad).

On my way to Arizona - I stopped in Vegas to stay with my aunt and her family. During that weekend I met a lady in her ward who had a brother who lived in Arizona that she wanted to set me up with. I didn't think much of that but after I moved to Arizona - her brother Josh did call and we went out quite a few times that summer but he was heading back to BYU to finish school.

I settled into my grandparents house and started making friends in Arizona and dating a lot and figured it really wouldn't be too long before I would find Mr. Right. Instead, the next 3 years I had a great time meeting new people, traveling a ton, and just enjoying life. I had my heartbroken plenty so I was getting pretty sick of dating and just ready to be friends first instead of jumping into things!


Summer 2004 found me going on a hiking trip to Havasupai, AZ. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth! But you have to backpack in on a long hike to appreciate the beauty. We had a big group of us going and turns out that in our group was my old friend Josh (remember the kid I first met through my aunt's ward in Vegas?). Josh is a really friendly sort so while I was in my "friend" train of thought - I figured I should start calling Josh more and see who he knew that I could be friends with.


So the next week - my roommates and I decided to invite people over for ice cream and game night at our house. It was the end of July and easily over 100 degrees outside at night and for some reason - our air conditioning was broken in the house. It was so hot in our house that the ice cream was all melting! Josh ended up bringing over his friend Rob with him that night. A lot of guys had tried to see if they could fix our air conditioning that night but were unsuccessful. I didn't really notice Rob until he managed to fix our air conditioning and then I got a good look at him and thought he was cute! :) But he didn't talk to me much so I wasn't too concerned with him.

The next day - I got a call from Josh inviting my friends and I to a fish cookout at Rob's house. Rob's roommate had just gotten back from Alaska where he worked on a fishing boat. I have to admit I wasn't really thinking of Rob at this point, but of what cute guys might be there. We went over and had a good time hanging out with Rob and his roommates that night and then a few days later - Rob got my phone number and invited my friend Nicole and I to go jet skiing. We had fun and then they took us to a movie afterward. The next week Rob took me on a date to go off roading and he runs a pool business and forgot to latch the back of his truck and he had pool gear fall all over the mountain. It was pretty funny!

The clincher for us really starting to date though came about a week and a half after we first met. I was still somewhat in my mindset that we were just going to be friends and had even told him that on my first date that I wasn't looking for anything. It was late and I had come home to find that the water in my house wasn't working. Toilets wouldn't flush, we couldn't shower, etc. Not a good thing for 2 girls to have to deal with! I remembered that Rob had done some plumbing work before so I decided to chance it and call him at the late hour and see if he could come and help. He came over right away and proceeded to work on our problem and ending up having a few little situations that resulted him being soaking wet and after about 2 hours - finally was able to fix the problem. He told me as payback that I had to give him a kiss . . . so I obliged! The rest is basically history. 6 weeks from the time we first met we were engaged! And then married 3 1/2 months later on December 30 in the Mesa Arizona Temple.



This picture was taken on our honeymoon in Cabo.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Entering the MTC

Elder Kory White entered the Provo, MTC on May 3rd (3 days before his 19th birthday) to prepare for the Phoenix, AZ mission. My dad and brother Tysen along with my Aunt Misti, and cousins: Sierra, Harrison, and Camryn were able to be there with him and send him off.



Take a look at all the suitcases!



Elder Kory White with his official missionary badge



Getting ready to go inside the MTC - his home for the next 3 weeks



With Aunt Misti and Cousins Sierra, Harrison and Camryn



Elder White with Dad



And my personal favorite . . . .if any of you remember the constant chalk drawings on the way to the temple in Provo


I sent him the first package that hopefully arrived on his birthday. Crossing my fingers on that one. But in 3 weeks he will be here in Arizona (just in time for my birthday!) So I'm trying to figure out if I can see him when he lands at the airport . ... but I don't want to get him in trouble with the mission president either. We just might have to see where he gets sent and then take him and his companion out to lunch sometime. :)

Sun


Sorry for the lack of posts lately - I've been waiting to get some pictures of our trip to Washington to write a report on that! But that might take a while (since I'm waiting on my dad to get them to me) . .... So it looks like temperatures in Arizona are going to reach into the 100's by the middle of this weekend. Everyone claims it is not that bad because it's a "dry heat". But you know what? Once you get past 100 degrees - it's just plain HOT!!! The best part of Arizona is living here from October through April when the weather is perfect. We roll around to May though and I question what I'm doing living in this desert heat. Luckily we forget about how hot it is in the summer during the other months - I suppose that is why all of us stay here. That and the gorgeous sunsets! :)

Oh and by the way - go Phoenix Suns!!!