Tracie's World

Left work Friday evening a little gloomy. It had been a big day in the news, and I knew there would be a lot of disagreement amongst friends and neighbors and colleagues and church members. I'd also struggled in a work meeting and it had left me frustrated and feeling like I just didn't have what it takes. To top it off, I'd had to brave the masses at Wal-Mart while I ran errands on the way home. And all in triple digit temperatures. I was exhausted, overheated, and depressed, and my family had all left to go home. As I was driving home, I prayed out loud for some relief. It came a few minutes later as I was pulling in to my garage, in the form of my good friends Cyndee and Robin. Robin, knowing it was last minute, texted to see if anyone wanted to go see a show, and it ended up being just what the Doctor ordered. I met up with them an hour later at the discount movie theater down the street. We saw a fun show, and afterwards hung out and visited over ice cream at the loc...

I recently purchased some new fixtures for my bathroom, and my plumber was over yesterday to install them. The previous fixtures were quite old and out-of-date, and I'd been wanting to upgrade them without having to do a complete remodel yet. I like them much better.  The tub still needs the drain and plug replaced, but I wanted to get a recommendation from the plumber first. So I'll probably have him back sometime soon to take care of that.

We were fortunate to have several of our family members in town this week, a real treat for me because we don't get to be together all that often, and I love being surrounded by my nieces and nephews. The Texans were here to drop off niece #1 for a special week of classes at BYU, so while we dearly missed visiting with her, we were thrilled to see the rest of the family. And since the Texans were going to be here, the Wyomingites made the trip down as well, along with the Parentals from Oregon.  Day 1 - Dinner and fun times. I made a family favorite called "Hawaiian Haystacks" and served ice cream cones for dessert. The older girls helped me cut up the fruit and veggies, while one of the nephews helped the Madre make the sauce. I absolutely love moments like that, where we get to just do regular stuff together. Priceless. Day 2 - Utah's Hogle Zoo. We met up early in the morning at Utah's Hogle Zoo, and spent a few hours walking around and checking out...

Went for a walk through the neighborhood this morning. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I saw a lot of interesting things along the way, which I thought I'd share.  Christus Statue, looking through the Cemetery fence It's hard to tell, but this is a family of quail, parents and babies More of the quail family Cemetery entrance. As you can see by the sign, the Holladay cemetery has been around since the 1840's. Skeleton on an old tractor - I think this guy's done. View of what used to be Cottonwood Mall. The mall was torn down several years, and the only thing still there is Macy's. On the left, you can see Kennecot mine in the background. Pretty purple flowers Another trip down Memory Lane.

This Tuesday, I will celebrate the completion of my fourth month on the job at SelectHealth. Over the last four months there have definitely been ups and downs as I've tried to find my way, build relationships, and learn the insurance and healthcare business. It's definitely been challenging, and at times exhausting. There's things I like, and things I definitely don't, and things that are downright weird.  For example, I work with a lot of men, all of whom are software and quality engineers. And it frankly gives me the heebies when they go in to meetings with said nurses, and start talking matter-of-factly about things like vaginal deliveries, and breast reductions (as they apply to our software product). I'm a female, and I can't even say those things. The first time I ever had to use those words in an email to a group of mixed company, I about died of embarrassment. On the whole, things are going well. I'm working hard, I'm figuring things out, an...

Yesterday Angel, Janeen and I trekked up to Ogden to attend the temple. They're both from that area, and I've been wanting to attend a session there ever since the remodel and re-dedication. So it wasn't that difficult to convince them to join me. We left around mid-morning, the plan being to stop for brunch. When our first choice appeared out-of-control busy, we decided to try our second choice, and drove up Ogden Canyon to The Oaks. It's a historic spot, and it ended up being a fortuitous choice. It was a lot less busy, so we got in fairly quickly. We sat outside under a canopy, surrounded by trees and bushes and flowers, and had a pleasant canyon breeze to accompany our meal. We even had a visit from a hummingbird. It was fabulous! (Word to the wise - whatever you order, make sure it includes the hashbrowns. Aside from my Mom's, they're the best I've ever had.) After leaving The Oaks, we took a drive up the canyon to Huntsville, where we passed s...

A final update on the saga of the dining room wall. The Home Teachers happened to be over the other night, and as they were getting ready to leave, asked if there was anything they could do for me. I told them that unless they had some handyman skills, I was ok. Their eyes lit up and they asked what I needed done, and I showed them the dining room wall. Come to find out, one of them grew up working as a finish carpenter, and was confident he could do the job quickly and easily. He took down the top piece of molding, then proceeded to measure everything and make a list for things to pick up at Home Depot. We made a plan for him to come back the next week. Joy and rejoicing! They left, and I cleaned everything up, when about 30 minutes later, he called back, said he'd already gone to Home Depot, and did I have time for him to come do the work that night. I said absolutely, and he arrived a few minutes after that. He proceeded to install the new molding, which he had measured perf...

Wednesday night my friend Rebekah and I got together to go see "The Cokeville Miracle". It's based on an event that took place in the mid-1980's, in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, where a man and his wife took the elementary school, and all the kids and teachers hostage.  It's a disturbing story, but one filled with a lot of miracles, and a lot of hope and forgiveness. It's a terrific movie, and I definitely would recommend it. Although I'd be careful about letting school-age kids see it.  It was directed by the same guy who made "17 Miracles" and "Ephraim's Rescue", and has many of the same actors. So if you liked those movies, you'll definitely enjoy this one. But definitely be prepared with some tissues, because you'll weep for sure.

Met up with Inge yesterday for this year's Asian Festival. It's an annual event for us now. This year I tried Filipino Lumpia (kind of like Spring Rolls), and Chicken Adobo, and Vietnamese fried bananas, fried sweet potato slices, Spring Rolls, and something called Three Bean Dessert (with coconut milk, mung beans, a kind of string bean, and a kind of red bean, topped with shave ice. It was all delicious. From there, we decided to continue our Asian Adventures and drive down to Provo, where the BYU Museum of Art was hosting an exhibit on Origami. We saw a really cool exhibit of Japanese Art Deco pieces, along with the Origami Exhibit. And we got to practice our own origami creations. What a fun day!

Friday night I got together with a few of the girls here in the neighborhood for dinner at Rice Basil. It's a yummy Sushi place just up the street. We each ordered a couple of sushi rolls, and all of us got something different, so that we could pass it around and share. Then we proceeded to stuff ourselves with tuna, salmon, crab salad, wasabi, ginger, and lots of rice. It was delish, and a fun evening. Now that I have more friends who live in the neighborhood, I'm planning to arrange more evenings like this, walking around Holladay, getting dinner or dessert, and staying connected.

You may remember from last week that with the assistance of the Padre and the Brother, we took down an ugly kitchen cabinet, leaving behind some ripped up drywall. So this week, I hired a handyman guy to come and take care of it.  Luckily the wall didn't require any patching, other than a couple of new coats of mud, and sanding it. For three mornings in a row, he arrived here at 7:00 AM, to do the work, which only took a few minutes at a time. And now here's the finished product. The wall still needs to be painted, and the molding around the kitchen entry needs to be taken down and replaced. But so far, it's all looking much better.

Last week I finally broke down and ordered a new pair of glasses. My previous pair was several years old, out of fashion, and the lenses were starting to crack. So with the visit to the new Eye Doctor, and the ordering of another years worth of contacts, I added on a new pair of glasses.  The said glasses finally arrived this week, and here they are. What do you think? You may not be able to tell from the picture, but the frames are purple, which aside from the ability to see out of them, was for me the major draw.

This week, the switch on one of my lamps went bad. It's a lamp I love, and I hated the idea of replacing it. The base was still good, and if I replaced it, I'd have to replace the other one that matched it. I did a little investigation on google on how to replace a lamp switch, and got the Padre to help me take out the old switch.  Then yesterday afternoon I ran down to the Home Depot and found a replacement set, and the Padre got it all back together for me. Now it's good as new!

For awhile now, I've been wanting to take down a cabinet in the kitchen. To me, it blocked off a lot of light, and space, and I've pretty much hated it ever since I moved in. It wasn't something I felt I could do on my own, although I did manage to take off the doors and hinges. While the family was over the other night, my Dad and my brother decided this was a task they could handle, and immediately got to work. A few minutes later, said cabinet was gone, along with the faux wood paneling on the wall, and the ugly wallpaper underneath it. And now I have a cleanup job to do. The original job of installing the cabinet doesn't appear to have been done right in the first place. They used nails instead of screws, cut away the molding, and barely had the old eyesore secured. It all came down far too easily. Eventually, I'd like to take down that wall altogether, and for a brief moment, we actually considered demoing it right then. But I think that's a bigger c...

What do you do after a special baptism day? You get your family to join you for a marathon session of SORRY! And then proceed to beat all the grownups!

Yesterday, one of my nieces was baptized. My parents, and some of her cousins, came along to participate and mark the special occasion. It was a joyous day, and my niece was so excited and happy to have everyone there. Love her so much!

This past week has been an emotional one, spent mourning the passing of two good and faithful servants. Shortly after leaving the temple last week, my sister gave me the news of the passing of Elder L. Tom Perry. Various members of our family have been fortunate to have interactions with him over the years, and he was also related to my brother-in-laws's family. So we held special feelings for him and his messages. His passing from an aggressive cancer was very sudden, and shocking. We'll definitely miss him, his enthusiasm, his Cache Valley accent, and his spiritual messages. It has been quite a spiritual week, reading and listening to some of his past messages. That same day, I was notified that a special lady from my former job, Debra, was close to her own passing. She ended up leaving us the next day. She was a great lady, loving, happy, and a joy to be around. This was in spite of the many difficult trials she had experienced in her life. Everyone at IHG will miss...

Last Saturday, one of my nieces got to go to the temple for the first time to participate in doing baptisms for the dead. My Sister stayed home with the other girls, while my niece and her Dad drove a few hours down the road to the Boise Temple, and I'm told they had a great time and an awesome spiritual experience.  Even though I live far away from most of my nieces and nephews, I try to find ways to be supportive of their special activities. So knowing that she would be at the temple that day, I went too. Only in my case, it was the Jordan River Temple. As you can see, it was a beautiful day to be at the Temple, either way. It makes me happy to know that my nieces and nephews are growing to love the temple as much as I do.