Saturday

With about 30 free minutes of my Saturday, I look at my to do list that takes about a page and decided my blog needs some love and everything else. . . well it's not going to get done in 30 minutes especially with Saturday traffic in Salt Lake. I could clean a little but my mom will be here Tuesday and she might need something to do, just kidding, (but no one cleans as good as mom and honestly she usually does it anyway). Before I got married she stayed with me and I came home to her scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush, maybe I imagined the toothbrush but I didn't have a mop yet so it must have been a sponge or something.
Yea for moms and for having one day besides the Sabbath day off a week that happens to also be everyone's day off in a metropolitan area! We hit our year anniversary tomorrow and I still have not made enlargements, that was my goal, oh well, I don't even know where a decent photo place is and if I were to find one it would a) probably be closed or b) take more than 3o minutes to get to and back. I think we should arrange Salt Lake into six zones like on my mission at Temple Square and all have different preparation days. Reasons I'm in favor:
1. less traffic congestion
2. when I go to a store I won't have to wait in line for ever, wasting even more of my free day
3. less people would have to work weekends
4. the stores will remain more organized throughout the week causing less manpower to reorganize them (also when I'm trying to find TJ a size Large sweater I won't have to dig under and through piles of clothes) see good for the store and for the customer
Reason's I'm opposed:
1. I actually like being off when "normal" people are so that we can all get together for events
2. I like the feeling of community, because I actually see people on Saturday's, I hardly see people in Salt Lake, mostly just cars!
3. It just wouldn't be a weekend anymore
4. I like two days off in a row where I am able to completely space out work and forget that I even work there till Sunday night or Monday morning when the alarm goes off
My final conclusion is that everyone except my friends and family should be subjected to the new zoning laws immediately for my convenience. Now I'm just feeling selfish, ah well.

Book Club demanded that we be something scary for Halloween something I've never done before so I went for a witch. TJ chose to be a scarecrow to kind of match. At work one of my coworker's daughter asked me if I was the witch from Sleeping Beauty and I said "yes the one with the apple" she looked at me confused and I realized later on because that was the witch in Snow White whoops anyways, we stopped by with the nieces and nephews for a family hot dog BBQ at Jeff's and then headed to a party at one of my friends Rachel's. Rachel and I picked out the same wedding ring, except they added more diamonds to theirs. We have the same dress only mine in Ivory and her's and white and recently we learned we have the same camera. All of these things were chosen before we became friends. Somehow I neglected to get a picture of us. One of the highlights was TJ playing Rock Band for the first time. He aced everything the first try. One of his natural talents who knew? Up top is Vanessa and I we were roommates when I first moved out here everyone thinks we are sisters even when I went to look at the house the other two roommates said I reminded them of her. So there we are the Spaniard and the Greek somehow that European blood crossed into something similar.

TJ's brother Brian and his wife Julie had a Clue Murder Mystery night at their home it was such a blast! TJ and I went as the White's the picture is compliments of my lovely sister-in-law, Caitlin. The killer turned out to be the very pregnant Miss Laura Scarlet, who knew.

Where to start, so I've had my TJ back for a week today it's been wonderful!!! Halloween week was a blast as well. All the parties and caramel corn were fabulous, the week kicked off with our book club Frankenstein Halloween party. I did not really enjoy reading Frankenstein but the ladies in my book group helped me see a lot of good in it and learn lessons like take responsibility for your mistakes early on as well as there is good and evil to everyone and the older we get the more mistakes we have made but we have to learn to overcome mistakes with beauty or something like that. The main thing that caused me to not like the book (stop reading now if you plan on reading the book) was when Frankenstein's life long love Elizabeth gets killed on their wedding night. Who leaves their bride alone on their wedding night!!!??? Anyway there was a lot of flowery language as well that I found my self dazing out during. But the book is quite an accomplishment by the 19 year old Mary Shelly and she came from an absolutely amazing background, her mother and father were both writers, her mother was one of the original feminists and her father a politician as well as she hung out with other authors such as Lord Byron. I love my book club group they are some of my favorite ladies great examples of down-to-earth but very enlightened and intelligent women who are all around amazing women who have impacted my life in different ways.

Fall at the Shoreline Trail

TJ and I had a wonderful week, marriage really does get better and better. So last week my dream of all dreams at work came true well I thought it was about to anyway . . . . my boss came around one by one herding us to new seats. My seating situation has been a touchy subject at work, my boss and I are both runners so I used to sit a seat away from him and we would chat about running good times for work ya know. Then one day his evil boss Gina, who I'm convinced is a really nice person just not to our department moved into the seat across from my boss and continued to glare at me and tell me she could hear every word I said everyday. My response was "I'm sorry but I served a mission at Temple Square where I was used to projecting my voice sometimes over the drilling of concrete or the collapsing of buildings to large groups" that's not what I told her but that is the truth. Temple Square sisters are loud I only knew one who wasn't but she could have been. So my boss cast me to the other side of our department amongst all the smokers and told he put me there to help them, I cried no joke 2 times. I hate the inversion and I hate when smokers smoke. Most of the people over there worked there longer than me so I felt useless. Eventually I trained for a while. One day after they all came in from a smoke brake and the circulation was very poor I was granted to move to what was my desk for about 4 months. In walked in some guy, he smelled really strange, infectious, and he told us he was supposed to be on house arrest for the Swine Flue. We all joked about how we would get it and sure enough about 5 days later I went to the Dr result being the Swine, H1N1 or Influenza A. It was a glorious week of chicken broth, TV, and sleep, I almost wish I could get it again but still be able to run, I missed running. So let me find a picture of my desk. The above photo is similar. Soon after my return from my Swinevacation I was placed permanently in the very desk I contracted it. Assigned next to me was a super smoker with a loud voice and the most negative attitude, Josh, and a guy who was married after I was and already divorced, Chris poor kid. My two least favorite people in the building really. I thought I would die. I didn't cry this time though. So work is not fun unless you talk to your coworkers, so my little social butterfly came out and really I feel like Josh and Chris are my brothers now. We had our row orchestrated quite nice and were about to install our own refrigerator under my desk. The day we all got moved we were happily playing a card game together. That week we had thoroughly decorated our row with webbing and spiders. So Josh got moved right next to the desk I always dreamed of, the only desk with real lighting even though it was through an opaque skylight, it was the cubicle I always pictured myself in, you could even see down the hall to real windows in another department. Sadly I got cast to the farthest cubicle away. I have been lonely and bored for a couple days but more and more I'm talking to people I can't see on the other side of my cubicle and trapping unsuspecting people with my layout of books into missionary moments. As one of the voices from the other side said "sitting there alone will build character." It looks pretty much exactly like this except I have a big white flat screen, that was a good day too, when we were all granted flat screens. I found this photo on a blog giving tips for taking cubicle naps, really funny. http://humblehumanhowtos.com/2007/08/24/how-to-take-a-worktime-cubicle-nap.aspx
TJ has gone fishing with his brothers in Idaho for the weekend this is our first night apart since we have been married minus my swinavacation when I slept on the couch.

for older blogs go to http://elizabethandreadakis.blogspot.com/

Catching up with friends again! TJ and I enjoyed the last warm weekend with Kinzer and Hannah one of our favorite couple friends up Millcreek roasting corn, hotdogs, and smores. Kinzer was TJ's trainer on the mission and we all seem to be able to relate really well together to life as newlyweds.
The week after that the institute issued a Temple Square scavenger hunt. Kristen one of my mission friends and I were way excited about this so we invited anyone we thought might be interested and went. My friends Drew and Josh showed up, they were there the night TJ and I "clicked" also at Temple Square so we relived some of that first night, it was a blast! The day also happened to fall on the exact day I got my mission call 4 years earlier and TJ and I are pictured in the exact spot I got it also at Temple Square, I might just spend too much time there but I'm not sure that's possible.
The next day brought mission reunions and General Conference. This marks a year since TJ and I got engaged! I was also able to see my mission president from Las Vegas, finaly! What added even greater joy to that was much of the Mesquite Zone was there upon my arrival! However my conviction was renewed that the Prophet and all our church leaders are called of God to speak to us in terms directly for the days we live in.

The next weekend was my little sister Christina's birthday. I made her one of my famous star ice cream cakes, it had been about 6 years since I made my last one and it was for her as well so I embarqued again this time it was funfetti with vanilla ice cream. My "little" sister may be younger than me but in many ways I think she is way ahead of me. Although she is only 23 she is a wonderful woman who has done many great things with her life including getting her degree, serving in a Romanian orphanage for a semester, getting married, and buying a really cute home. More importantly I remember her being a team with my mom always helping her do something she is one driven woman!

The weekend following Colorado Springs I ran the Salt Lake Half Marathon by sports am obviously different than the one I ran in the spring. This was a beautiful and wonderful run up Emmigration Canyon and then down it. There were only 2 water stations the whole race and none for the last 6 miles but I still managed my goal of under 2 hours by doing it in 1:58 something, just 3 minutes behind first place in my age group placing me in 9th place. Imagine what some water could have done I was parched! One of the best parts of the half was that it ended right in front of TJ's work so he could come out and cheer me on, when I reached the finish line strangers were cheering me on got to love my husband! We were filmed again but I didn't even bother to see by who, I just remembered that haha. We were on the news after I ran the St George marathon and TJ proposed. The top 3 pictures are from the St. George marathon where we got engaged. Sorry I tend to where the same shirt for race days.

Wow I'm behind! TJ and I ventured to Colorado Springs in August, we winded along the way stopping in Moab and an amazing hike I've always dreamed of hiking called Hanging Lake. We went to help my mom paint the house so our trip was short. On our way out the car was making a funny noise so we had to take it in luckily the repair wasn't too pricey and they even fixed what was left of my drooping muffler for free, yea for Meineke I only got one run in on one of my old trails and didn't even get to eat the best Chinese food known to man kind! Guess we'll have to go back.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

Today was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication. For those of you not from Utah, the Oquirrh mountains are a mountain range to the west of Salt Lake City, UT. The word Oquirrh (pronounced Oh-ker) is and Indian word for "wooded mountain" or "shining mountain". The first time I heard the word Oquirrh I thought it was Ogre, like the mythical creature in Shrek, and it took me a few times to pick up on what Oquirrh was. This is the 4th temple in the Utah Valley and the 130th temple worldwide. The temple always helps me keep things in proper perspective and see things as they really are. It's a place that has always drawn me to it and a place where I can take time to worship God and remember the promises I have made with Him. One of my favorite quotes is by Bruce C. Hafen "We must put both hands on the temple and hold on for dear life. One hand is not even almost enough." I've found that to be true we can't have one hand or foot dangling away from the temple floundering about in the world holding onto worldly things, it will pull us away from the important things in life like family, truth, God and service, the things that believe it or not bring true joy. That's why we must hold on with both hands to the temple which embraces the fundamental truths of Christ's gospel with both hands for dear life.
TJ and I are enjoying this month we have together before he starts school, marriage really does get better and better!

Friends

On the far left is Natalie, she's one of my favorite people from the mission, she's from Sweeden, but she married a Salt Lake local, so now I get to see her again, JOY!! The apron shot is 2 of my old roommates and a sister-in-law out for a wifes night out, we watched Julia and Julia. The bottom photo is Liz from my mission at her bridal shower. Yea for friends in Utah!

We were going to go tube the Provo River but it was raining off and on so we went to Bridal Veil Falls instead, my camera was on night mode so the pictures close to the falls are a bit blurry and will not be included. Notice my U shirt, I don't like to be in BYU territory without it.

Twilight Hikes and such

Our Twilight hike up Bell's Canyon