T-Dog and Coach Stephens!

Congratulations to Trevin (aka T-Dog) for leading his football team to an undefeated season for his 5th and 6th grade football team. T-Dog was even the stud the quarterback! We were able to see him play a couple of times this year and they always kicked butt. They won their last game 35 to 12. Can you say Mercy???

Congrats also goes to Coach Stephen's (aka Evan) for coaching his son's team to an undefeated mark.

Almost another fire...

...tonight Joo Lin and I were making a gourmet meal, Mac and Cheese, and I was having her help me pour the noodles in to the colander, and she grabbed the pot with a dish towel and the next thing I see is a flame coming from the towel. Luckily she didn't ruin the meal by panicking and throwing the pot to the ground. After she gently put the pot down she threw the towel on the counter and she extinguished the flame. Whew...close call! Luckily we are safe!

I am getting ready for bed right now and I am going to proceed to make fun of her for the whole incident. It should make for a fun night time experience. Hopefully I can get a laughing fit out of her.

Night!

Kelley and Momma Rice...

On Tuesday, October 2nd, my mother and I were able to visit the Portland Temple to do some much needed temple work for my father's side of the family. It was an awesome experience to be there with my mother and do their temple work. We have been meaning to do it for a long time but we finally were able to get together and accomplish some of it. The spirit was present for the whole time and I know that they are ecstatic that we started their work. I know that it will take awhile to get everything done but it will be a great excuse to go to the temple more often now. I think having names of family members makes it even more special and more desirable to attend a temple session.

I am glad that my mother has been haunted by family members to get the work rolling. Thanks mom for being a great example for me!

Kelley wins Fantasy Baseball League!

For the past six months I have been participating in the Beaver Roto Baseball League. Well...I should say that for the past eight months, since I started doing research back in February for my team. To my surprise, and the wife's, this past Monday I was crowned the champion. I was able to beat out 9 other teams to claim the 2007 Beaver Roto League Championship! The trophy that I adopted was a WWE Wrestling Championship belt, and I have been going around town like it was the Stanley Cup, I even brought it to bed one night, it made for a good laugh that night.


I would like to thank my wife for her patience and for her cunning comments about fantasy baseball. My favorite comment from her was in regards to doing research for my teams draft. She said that if I spent as much time as I did on baseball that I would get straight A's in my classes. I can't wait to spend some of my winnings on her!

the BIG THREE-ZERO (30)

I'd like to give a shout out to Kelley on his birthday.... this is one of his most favorite days of the whole year. The BIG THREE-ZERO (30) as he referred to it on his last post. Therefore, he's older and wiser so ask him anything you want! (I asked him about spiders – one of my many random questions)

His mom came up Tuesday to spend the day with him. They went to the Temple to do some family work, which was very exciting. Kelley actually baptized his mom for the names. Nice quality time with the Mom... doesn't happen often with busy schedules. Then we hooked up with our friends Tanner, Michelle and their niños Wyatt & Mia for dinner at The Olive Garden. Neverending Pasta Bowl… can’t go wrong with that and breadsticks! Bad service, but it’s the company that counts, right?? It was pouring rain on the drive home… Kelley & Sherril were together and I drove our car. A quick peek at the gas gauge showed a nearly empty tank so I drove home pretty slow to be most fuel efficient. (don't worry, everyone else was going slow because of the weather AND the stretch between Salem & Albany is desperately gas station-less). I was behind Kelley in the hot yellow mustang but he didn’t realize that so he didn't see me pull off for gas in Albany. Too bad my phone decided to be funky on this night. They got home, I wasn’t there, and apparently they saw a bajillion police cars speed past with lights flashing and sirens blaring so Kelley thought the worst…. Especially when he couldn’t get a hold of me on the phone. Poor guy, it was almost a REAL “heart attack”. But then I got home, explained the gas & phone situation and he sighed with relief :)

Kelley had to be out late Tuesday night studying and helping some friends so while he was gone I “heart attacked” the bathroom door with reasons why I love him and made a sign for our front door. Cheesy, but fun.

For the big day, our good friend Amy took us out for lunch to celebrate – Baja Fresh – yum! She’s just great! Kelley did attend both his classes today… good job him. Then after work per his request we had weiner wraps and tater tots for dinner.

[Have to give a shout out to the hilarious movie "Napoleon Dynamite":
Randy: Napoleon, give me some of your tots.
Napoleon: No, go find your own.]

Per request, we also watched a scary movie…. “1408”. Ya, pretty creepy psychologically… check it out sometime. Then we went out for Frosty Floats at Wendy’s to top it off.

Happy Birthday, Husband!

1/3 Life Crisis

My birthday is two days away!!! I am really excited for that but I want to pass along a funny story that happen to me the other day. On October 3rd, I will be turning the BIG THREE-ZERO (30). So I have been telling the wife that I am getting old and she keeps telling me that I am being silly. Then this happened...

We went to the Oregon State - UCLA Football game this past Saturday (OSU lost big time 14-40) but before we got into the game, a man that was taking the tickets acted surprised and confused that I was a student. He said "You're a student?". Once we got to our seats, I told Joo Lin that I was going to have a one-third life crisis (kinda like a midlife crisis) since I have already had a quarter life crisis. She laughed and said I was silly but she was excited to find out that I would be living to be 90. Hopefully I don't disappoint her!!!

Scrap Booking

If you weren't aware, I have been addicted to scrap booking lately and last night I was able to scrap book into the late hours with my beautiful wife. She has caught the scrap booking bug too! I love spending the time with her and sharing in both of our creativity.

We were able to do four pages last night, two are from the Oregon State Super Regional baseball tournament, and the other were from her sister's, Mindee, high school graduation and a day at the beach with some friends from way back in the year 2000. Joo Lin was so cute back in the day.

A Miracle

Kelley surprised me today with a Jamba Juice – yum! I don’t know what was in it, but whatever it was gave me some serious energy. After work I went jogging. The plan was to jog to the track, do 8 laps, and then jog home again. (Always lofty plans, but not always executed). Somehow, when I finished the 8 laps I still had energy so I kept going and ran 8 more. Then I jogged all the way home, even having the thought that I should keep jogging. Completely bizarre! 5 miles of jogging without stopping. I never thought I’d EVER be able to do it. Haha – not sure if I ever will again, but it gives me hope.

Kelley's work update

I have been getting use to working the third shift (graveyard) at the Lowe's Distribution Center. I have been training to operate a 8 thousand pound forklift called the Reach. It has a huge mast that will allow me to pick pallets up to 40 feet in the air. It's been fun.

In N Out

Joo Lin and I were able to eat at In N Out burgers this past weekend. We were in Redding, California for the weekend attending my grandfathers funeral and we were able to eat there twice during the weekend. It was delish!

Beside In N Out, we were able to introduce Joo Lin to my mother's side of the family. I think she has made a great showing and everyone loved her. Good job Joo Lin! We also got to hold one of our cousins baby, and everyone was asking when we were going to have one. Hopefully soon!

LOWE'S in the house!

I am almost done with my summer class schedule but before it ended I started working. I am now a team member for the new Lowe's Distribution Center in Lebanon, Oregon.

I went through their orientation this week and it looks like I am in their Building department. Basically what that means is that I will be cruisin' on a fork lift and moving box's from point A to point B. So far I like it but they had us do a scavenger hunt on Wednesday for six hours and I calculated that I walked over 25 miles that day. My feet are still hurting me!

Little Sister Gets Married

Well...my little sister got married! I still can't believe it. I am in awe but that is a good thing. Klorissa and AJ sitting in a tree...Here new last name is Sutherland. AJ and Klorissa Sutherland! It has a nice ring to it. Here are some pictures that I took from their beach ceremony that was held on June 29th.

Angry People

So we have received a few comments from people that are angry because we haven't updated our family blog lately. Well...here you go!

Joo Lin and I have been really busy lately. I just finished up three summer classes. I had a crash course in Finance, Perception, and Stress and Coping. Grades aren't out for the last two yet, but I got a B- in Finance. I still have an online class, Project Management, and so far I have an A in it.

Joo Lin just had a brief holiday. One of her friends got married in the L.A. Temple. Congrats to Amy and Dan!!! I wasn't able to attend because of test in my classes but from the pictures it looked like it was a beautiful wedding.

Joo Lin and I promise that we will be better at blogging!

International Business Update

I took my last quiz of the term, there isn't a final in this class, and I got a 92% on it! I ended up getting a B- in the class and I am really excited about that! I worked my butt of for that B- and it was very rewarding to get that grade. I had doubts that I wouldn't get that grade but I stepped it up towards the end and got the grade that I wanted.

Next up - Finance!

Scrap Booking

So I found a new hobby that I have been enjoying a lot lately. It may seem girly but I like doing it so if you make fun of me I will sock you in the throat! I have been scrap booking lately. I am working on my third page right now. It takes me about a week to get one done because I start them and then get busy with school and study.

I would like to thank the wife for humoring me with my new hobby and for allowing me to purchase my own black scrap book! Thanks for your support!

International Business Update

I got an 88% on my latest International Business quiz!

I have two midterms this week, one in Biological Psychology (Thursday) and one in Human Life Span Development (Friday). I also have another Intl Business quiz on Thursday. I can't wait to play some video games when all this studying is done!

Journals (& Flowers)

If you haven't started a journal yet in your life, go get one :) Besides the fact they are hilarious to read after the fact, they are good for the soul.

I wrote in my journal after 2 long months of blank pages, thanks to the urging of my sweet husband. He suggested I write about the flowers he got me last week (see photo), silly man! It was a great idea that must have worked because I now have a 6 page entry of the last 2 months of my life. By the way, Kelley wasn't "in trouble," he gets me flowers just for fun or because I am having a bad day. Unfortunately, I was having a bad day this time (which takes up its very own page in my 6 page entry!)

Back to the topic at hand, though, journals. Write in one. It is a release for all emotions whether sad, angry, or happy. It helps make me feel balanced in my life, and ready to move on through the next event. You also never know when you will have great advice to give yourself (or your posterity). We are all wise at one point and that should definitely be captured somewhere… hehe. Try it, you'll like it!

New Couch!

Joo Lin and I are excited to announce that we got rid of our ghetto couch and got a new (to us) couch. It is green and it is very comfortable. I have yet to fall asleep on it though, it will probably happen soon since I have been studying on it lately.

Thanks to Gwen, Amy, and Ed for making the new couch a reality and for letting us ditch our old couch in Halsey!

92% on International Business Quiz

I got a 92% on my first International Business quiz. I am really excited. I won't tell you what I got on the second one though. It wasn't as good. The 92%er is now on the fridge!

OSU Baseball

The wife and I went to an Oregon State baseball game on Saturday. They played the Evansville Purple Aces. Not sure why they are purple but it was comical to see them run around in purple. The Beavers, the National Champions, won 3 - 2. That was the final game in a three game series and they won all three of the games. We got to see the new additions to the stadium, new field turf in the infield, and the new scoreboard. They were both awesome to see finally in action.

I was even able to get to walk on the new infield as I participated in a student promotion during the fourth inning of the game. I got to play musical chairs and I lost when I decided to be nice and I gave up my spot after I totally took out some girl with my big booty. Luckily for her, her injuries where not life threating.

We have a few pictures of the game and I will post those shortly.