BOOK OF MORMON IN 97 DAYS

In honor of President Hinckley, we are going to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. I heard about this from a friend and I thought that it would be a great idea. This means you have to read just under 6 pages a day and we will finish around the 10th of May. We started today and are excited to do it.

"When can you come for dinner?"

So as many of you know, Emily and I moved to American Fork in a little townhome back in July. We started going to the ward a few weeks before we moved in. It seemed like a real nice ward from our first impressions. We also noticed that there weren't too many people that were our ages. It seemed that most of the ward members were in their early 30s to their mid-40s. After about a month there we were called to be Primary Teachers for the 8-10 year olds. We have found that once you get called to the Primary, you really don't get to know to many adults in the ward, but we know every primary child that are the ages of 8-11. Having said all that leads me to my story. Emily and I have our certain Sacrament Meeting spot. (It seems that in the Mormon Culture, if you set in the same seats for two consecutive Sundays, you basically claim those seats as yours every Sunday.)
Anyway, Emily and I claimed the first row of the overflow. (Yes they are hard seats, but it gives you so much leg room.) Last Sunday, we ventured out and decided to set in a different spot, and we arrived about 5 minutes early. As we were waiting for Sacrament to start, a couple, probably in their early 30s, sat in the pew in front of us. The only thing that we knew about this couple was the guy is the Executive Secretary in the Bishopric, and the only communication that we had ever had was when Curtis, the guy, asked us to say the opening and closing prayer for Sacrament awhile back, and if we had signed up for tithing settlement back in December. In fact, I don't think we have every formally introduced ourselves either.
Here comes the meat of the story. Seconds after we said Amen to the closing prayer, Curtis turns around, and asked "What day can you guys come over for dinner this week?" Both Emily and I were a little taken back from that question for two reasons. One, we had seriously never introduced ourselves! We had no idea what the wife's name was, and they only reason I knew his name was because it is always on the Sacrament program to make appointments with the bishop. Second, there was no intro to the question like, "How are you guys?"; or "How do you like the ward so far?"; or "We are Curtis and Krystal Read, and we would like to have you two over for dinner sometime?" Just, "What day can you guys come over for dinner?" We decided on Wednesday at 7:45, and as Emily and I were walking to our class, we both looked at each other and said, "Well, I guess we have a date this Wednesday with people we don't even know." We actually went searching for a ward list after church to find out what their names were. Anyway, we went to dinner on Wed., and we got to know a couple more people in the ward.

An Amazing Example

What an amazing example President Hinckley was to us! We are forever grateful for his life that he gave to this gospel and church. He was a man of great love and someone we should all look to pattern our lives after. I am amazed at his perfect companionship he had with his wife and his incredible testimony. His testimony helped mine grow leaps and bounds and will continue to do so. Although it is sad that he has passed on, I am sure that he is enjoying a little rest with his wife:-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!!

It was Joel's (TJ's dad's) birthday yesterday. He turned the big 53. Trina decorated their house with signs and balloons and went to lunch with him, and made him a big breakfast. Carson called Grandpa Joel telling him Happy Birthday... so cute! Trina, Kiffin, Dax, Aspen, Joel, TJ, and I all went out to dinner at Brick Oven in Provo. SO GOOD! All seven of us were squished close in a small booth, but that is how Joel likes it :-) He received shirts, fishing gear, ties, air freshners :-) and push-up bars to work his pecs! Way to go Chief!

Re-Cap

Well, I decided to finally participate in life! I thought that since we entered so late into the blogging community I would summarize what we have been doing since we were married. We were married over spring break in the Salt Lake Temple on March 22, 2006. We honeymooned in Cabo San Lucas Mexico, where we had to hitch-hike to the resort! (SO FUNNY!)

After finishing the semester, we moved to Apple Valley Minnestoa for the summer to sell for Pinnacle Security. We had a hard but wonderful summer. Riley Warner (TJ's brother) left on his mission for the Munic Austria, Germany mission in May. After returning from the summer, we moved into the Warner's basement apartment(which was pure luxury) while we put some more school under our belts. TJ and I were both going to school at UVSC (soon to be UVU). TJ was heavily involved in student government and I was also working for Pinnacle security. TJ graduated with his Bachelors of Arts in History, and I received my Associates Degree in English. TJ started his new job with Wells Fargo as a Personal Banker, and I continued to go to school through the summer and also worked for Pinnacle Security. We went a a couple of fun vacations one was to Bear Lake with the Warner family. We had so much fun camping, swimming, hanging out at the beach, and spending time together. We had quite the event in a large storm on the lake, lets just say it was one for the books!! Thanks Warner's for an amazing time, cannot wait till next year!! The other vacation we went on was with the Staples. We went back east to see the church history sites in Kirtland, Palmyra, also Niagra Falls in Canada, and New York City. We had a wonderful time.

In the middle of these vacations, we bought a townhome in American Fork, UT. WE LOVE IT! After we purchased it we spent a month fixing it up. Lets just say the people that lived there before us didn't clean for two years. So we... washed everything, put in new carpet, new paint, new blinds, new tile in the kitchen and bathrooms (thanks honey!), bought furniture, decorated, and cleaned...cleaned...cleaned. We had a great time!! Thanks to every one for their help it was greatly needed; and thanks to my hubby for all of his hard work. We spent the rest of the summer and fall spending time with each other, with friends, and a lot of family events. This pretty much brings us to TJ's entries.

Now for the most recent items of business... Ashely Quist (my sister) had her third girl on December 28th. She is so cute! Her name is Claire Lula Quist.

We went snowmobiling with the Staples at the beginning of Jan. We went to Bear River Lodge for two nights and had a blast! This was our last little family vacation before Tanner left on his mission.

And last, Tanner (my not so "little" brother) left on his mission to Paris, France. We are so excited for him but will miss him a lot! Love you Tanner! Well, thanks for reading our life history!

Prison Break

So, after two months of waiting, Prison Break is finally back every Monday Night! Emily and I have a pretty good Monday routine. During lunch, I go to my parent's house to eat, and to make sure that Prison Break will record on TiVo. After work, both Em and I meet at mt parent's house around 7:30, and we start watching Prison Break. The funny part about this routine, is we were able to convert Trina and Joel to be Prison Break-watching-addicts. (I knew we could get my mom hooked, but I couldn't believe that my dad got hooked.) Anyway, the first episode was exciting. I won't share details incase you didn't see it. I don't know what it is about this season, but I get nervous almost every episode. For those that want to join the Prison Break club, you can watch it on Monday at 7:00 pm.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Happy 2008 everyone!! I hope that everyone's holidays were as good as ours...a lot of a family, a lot of treats, a lot of presents(well maybe not a lot of presents but a few), and a lot of happiness and love. Here is what happened:

• December 23-We dressed up like Shepard's and Wise Men at the Staples home, and we image what it would be like if we were "Back in Bethlehem" at the time of the savior birth.
• December 24-We spent most of the day with the Warner's, and Emily experienced her first Pyne Christmas Eve party. Which involved a lot of yelling, food, racial comments(courtesy of Trish), and singing! We also saw for the first time Grandpa Pyne play the trumpet, and Taylor sticking a whole pen in his nose!
• December 25-This was the first Christmas in our home and completely by ourselves. We started the day off by giving each other our presents. Then, we went to Kiffin's house for breakfast, and we opened up our presents from my mom and day. At 1:30, we headed up to Fruit Heights to spend the day with the Staples. We were also privilege to see Mark and Jana dress like punk rappers and freestyle an awesome rap about the family!
• December 26-Em and I worked.
• December27- Em and I worked
• December 28-I helped at a wrestling tournament and Em spent time with her family and our new niece, Claire.
• December 29-I helped at a wrestling tournament and Em spent the day at the house.
• December 30-We went to 2 homecomings, 1 baptism, and a lot of food.
• December 31-We worked and spent the new year laughing hysterically with friends, drank at least 5 gallons of Sparkling Cider, lit fireworks, and caught up with our old friends the Fitzgeralds.
• January 1-Spent the whole day at the Staples. I watched football, and Emily cleaned.
  

And that is a wrap!