I'm back from Mormon Country

Ok- here is the latest! I went to Salt Lake City Utah for training for Sorenson last week. The night before I was doing a final check of email and trying to get pictures to Walgreens and the power went out to the laptop. No battery power- no power from the NEW cord either--- I thought maybe if I took it with me on the trip I might get it to work again, and well- I tried all week and it wouldn't work- so I dragged a laptop halfway across the US for nothing!!!! Anyway--- Here is more of the story...

This is the view from my hotel room. Check out all the HAZE!!! They reported that Salt Lake City has the worst pollution of all the cities in the US. With the additional heat we experienced it was pretty bad.

This is Pat Nola, he is the CEO of Sorenson Communications- which is where I work now. They were having an open house at their new office complex there in SLC- and it was great!!! They announced the plan for Direct Video Phone Numbers and how you can download SIP Relay on your Blackberry using their programs from http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ (Check it out!!!) Here Pat is signing "Thank You" I got to talk to him for about 30 seconds before he was whisked off to talk to other people.

This is a replica of what a typical videophone looks like- here it is a cake- and as you can see it fell or melted in the heat- take your pick!!! It was pretty neat to be there though.

This is the view from the new Sorenson complex! A bit clearer!

When I arrived on Monday afternoon I asked my shuttle driver what I should see or do while I was here and he said "Go to the Mall" so I went Monday night- I found some clothes for work- which I had been having a hard time here in Kansas. I also ate at Red Robin (my favorite!!!) but they had a different menu out there. Then I went back to the hotel room to get ready for my first day of training. Tuesday night we went to eat at a Greek restaurant and I had a Greek cheeseburger and spinach pie and I took a piece of Baklava back to the hotel room. I had to practice my phone scripts. Wednesday night was the big party back at Sorenson and then Thursday night we went to Temple Square... I went with two others from my training group.

I love this image! Christ and the atmosphere.

Pretty cool display I thought it also had images for Lehi, and Alma and so on and so on. The ladies I happened to be with had a few questions about it and I got to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon as well.

It's the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!!! We got hear them practice, and I snuck out and took some other pictures.

I thought this was kinda.... well... interesting.
Friday morning I headed to the airport and got on this dinky Delta plane and I was sitting next to this really weird guy who kept jabbing me with his elbow in the side, and he would shake his leg and it would hit my knee and he tried to put his coat on my shoulder once so he could lay his head down and sleep. WEIRD. So, anyway I was very anxious to come home. I missed my boys!!! It was really nice to be gone and on my own for awhile, I actually had the remote to myself- it was so nice!!!

Well- I have more pictures and more stories but I think this will sufice for now.

This week is busy again. Monday I take my Kansas Interpreters Written Exam, and Nathan goes to visit his girlfriends Riley and Taylor. Tuesday he bowls again, Wednesday I work at KSD and Sorenson and Thursday I work at KSD and Sorenson and Friday I work at KSD and SCRAP NITE happens! I have missed scrapbooking!

Chat at ya later----

-Sherry

Flooded with News!!!

This is the hotel where Bud and I stay at when we visit Mom. As you can see it is pretty much WET!!! So far everyone in my Mom's town is dry. So I just may get out of here in the morning.






Why did I come to Iowa in the middle of all this? I took my written exam for my National Interpreter Certification exam. I PASSED!!!! I needed to get a 500 and I got a 558. I almost didn't make it to the testing site due to the fact the place where it was held was in a lower level of a building that the address was blocked by leaves!!!!

Anyway- I head to Salt Lake City Utah on Monday, and when I return on Friday it is "study for my Kansas Written" exam. I take that the following Monday.

I also played UNO SPIN (a really cool version of Uno!) for the trophy with my nephew and my mom even decided to play and it was a close game between my mom and I. I ended up winning with a score of 617 to 371 (MOM) and poor David had a score of 40.

Shelly's cat Muffin trying to get into the action!

OH and my smart nephew got his toe caught in the table!

He can be such a dork sometimes!!!
Oh and speaking of David--- he is a working man! He works at the local DQ. I went to pick him up from work the other night and snapped a few pics of him cleaning up. But I don't have them uploaded on the computer yet- so watch for those.

Oh- also my brother turned 49 and we went out for Chinese food. Ok- guess I don't have those uploaded either.
Oh wait- I do have one!!! Oh and I found out my new nephew (married to my brother's step-daughter) was in college with me at Iowa Western. He thinks I busted him for alcohol a few times while I was the Resident Advisor. SMALL WORLD!!!

Ok, I gotta go pick up my nephew at work. Check in with you all later!

Hey folks! I'm back... Went to the visitation and memorial service for PaPa Douglass... After it was all over, we went to the dirt races in Moberly, MO and watched Clayton Crump #3 race! Why did we do that? Because Bud's cousin Lindsay is dating him! It was pretty cool. Nathan had a good time. Here is the whole tribe that went- I was behind the camera of course! We took the RV (HARVEY) and got back to Nanny's after midnight.

Here he is!!!

Nathan and I in the RV on the way to Moberly. He is addicted to his Leapster game. What game is he playing? CARS!!!!

Now I am in Iowa. I take my National Interpreter Written Exam tomorrow. I have been studying and hanging with MY family. It is nice coming home. They sure have a lot of water standing around. I am going to try and take some pictures later today. It hasn't been this bad since 93!

Oh Monday- before I came up here I took Nathan to see Kung Fu Panda. But he wouldn't leave the WALL-E display alone...

Guess we'll have a WALL-E birthday party at the bowling alley. When I get back from my trip next week I gotta get my butt moving on his party!!!

Well- I need to study for my test... Oh- DW and I are gonna play Uno Spin today. We will see who wins that trophy this time!

I have an account on here- it is free- it is a really cool place to record your thoughts and it even gives you prompts!!! Check it out!

Bowling and Bad News Day

Nathan's Pee Wee Bowling League started today. First we went to nearby Burger King to get lunch, we thought we would play in the play area for awhile but their play area was closed, they had some damage due to all the rain we got recently. In fact, as I write this the sky outside is getting pretty gray again.

Nathan said "I am King right?" While we were eatig lunch we got a phone call from Grammy- PaPa (Great Grandpa- Grammy's Daddy) was being taken to the hospital in Centralia. He had quit breathing. So we were standing by.

We went to the bowling alley and hung out in the arcade there- lost about 75 cents to a few games. Daddy called from Texas and we talked to him for awhile while we waited for the league to start.

We bowled with Michael and Nicholus today. Nathan had a hard time switching lanes, but he had fun. He got real tired of throwing the ball down the lane, and he was the first one to get the ball stuck on the lane. The workers had to come over about 5 times to get his ball for him. His last two frames we got the metal slide thingy for him to use to throw the ball down the lane and it seemed to help a lot. Michael goes bowling with his grandpa every saturday and even though Nathan is the oldest- this little Michael throws the ball down the lane and even has his fingers in the right holes in the ball. Nathan still carries his ball with both hands.

His final score was 43. They only do one game- which is good because we got home after going to the bank inside Hy-Vee and he rode the horse there- anyway- we got home and he said to me....

"Momma put me to bed!" Oh, while we were bowling we got a phone call from Grammy, and PaPa passed away. It was very unexpected. So, we are heading to the middle of Missouri later this week.

Bud is in Texas on business... he has never traveled for work before. I think he was a bit nervous. But he is fine now. He is having a good time- eating Tex-Mex and seeing the sites. He is sending me pictures from his phone for scrapbooking.

This is Nanny and PaPa at Christmas this past year. We miss you PaPa. His Service will probably be on Saturday. I was to go to a workshop for interpreters on that day.

I have registered for my Kansas Certification as an Interpreter. I will be scheduling my Kansas written test sometime this week. After I pass that test I will have to take a performance test and that way I will get certified by the time schol starts. I have my national certification exam a week from Thursday. I have up to 5 years to take my performance exam after I pass that one. I heard it is taking over 6 months to get your results back- so there is no way I could be certified by fall... but I will get it all done- I have to!!

Well, that is the update for today. ...

Thanks for reading.

PJ Day

Yep, it's PJ day today. I think I am going to be making every Thursday PJ day this summer. What is PJ day? Well, it started several years ago when I lived with my parents. I wasn't working and was deeply depressed. I would spend a day in my pj's. I talked with a few people about it once and they now have PJ days too! I'm sure I wasn't the one that created it. Laundry days make great PJ days too!! When I was working all those hours I made most Saturdays PJ days. I like it better when it is during the week though. There is a different aura about it. ha ha ha!
So- today is PJ day. Nathan got up in the middle of the night and was yelling at us about going to the bathroom. I was dreaming he was doing that,and then I felt Bud get up and open his door and tell him he could go. Crazy kid!! Then he grabbed his "Bob pillow" his "Kung Fu Panda" and his "Baby" and brought them into OUR BED!!! He laid in between us and continued to hit me with his arm. I couldn't sleep- so I snuck out of the bed and went to the basement and proceeded to study for my upcoming RID Exam. Then Bud left about 7 and I crawled into bed and slept till about 8:30. Nathan was up and was watching cartoons and playing his Leapster. He is such a good boy.
Except for yesterday!!! I will post pictures later but we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead in OP and he and Riley took off running away from us (Paula and I) and we yelled and yelled and they ignored us and adults nearby just stood there- just dumbfounded! AAAA!!! Anyway- the two were brought back to where we were and had timeout and cried and cried and cried! So it will be awhile before we go back there.
Well I have some major studying to do. My test is in 2 weeks!!! I do not feel ready at all! I don't even think I am close...
OH MAN!! I can't have a complete PJ day- I just remembered I have my study group tonight for my test. DARN IT!!!
Maybe next week...

May-O

The month is almost over and I have hardly written. So here is the latest from ol' Spluuugir

Retirement Party: Got there and Nathan asked where Grammy's Party Boat was (based on a party boat that was won on The Price is Right- earlier)

The next day- we went to Trader Joe's

Which is a really cool grocery store in St. Louis. They used to sell ths wonderful garlic oil but they discontinued it. We bought some snacks and a reuseable bag (so we can go green-someday) and while we were checking out- I tried some hand lotion and it was citrus my favorite flavor! It was wonderful lotion- my fingers and hands were so soft!!! Vicki and I went back in and I got a travel pack and 2 large containers - since we don't have a Trader Joes near us.

Went to lunch at Applebee's and Nathan refused to eat. Something was going to happen.

Then we headed to the Magic House. http://www.magichouse.org/ It is a perfect place for little ones. Nathan played and played and played! Yep- that's us- with the electromagnetic thingy. Shortly after this picture was taken Nathan quietly asked me to sit down wit him. His face became red pretty quickly. We got back to the In Laws and he had a 103 fever!!! Bud and I were to go out and chat- and Nathan went to bed- and we trust the In-Laws and we went to downtown St. Charles and for Ice Cream at Cold Stone Creamery. The next morning we had Nathan into the doctor- STREP THROAT!!! So he stayed home 2 days last week.

This was my last week at KSD till August. I also put in a few hours at Sorenson. I had an exhausting week with Nathan home and 2 jobs and a sermon to write. In fact, I did not get my sermon written till late last night. OOPS!!!

Friday night we (Bud and I) went and saw Indiana Jones 4. It was good. I forgot I was in the theatre! Then we went to Joes Crab Shack we ate Mussels for our appetizer, I had never eaten mussels before. They were good but SPICY!! Then we picked up Nathan and stopped at Sonic and got ice cream. We tried to sit outside and eat it but the bugs were too bad.

So, anyway- oh- one more pic to share- I HAVE DAISIES IN MY FLOWERBED!!! My tulips and Nathan's flowers were destroyed by our spring storms, but this week the Daisies appeared!

My sermon went ok today. I got a bit long winded. This week Nathan goes to school two days a week. Tuesday and Friday this week. I get to be a MOM again. I get to sleep with my hubby again, and I get to do laundry and get to all those projects around the house that I haven't been able to get to all school year.

----Summer goals and plans!

1. Get "my room" upstairs organized and cleaned up so I can make my "sanctuary."

2. Get the garage cleaned out (5th year this has been on my list!)

3. Go somewhere fun once a week with Nathan (movies, pool, etc)

4. Read two books for fun!!!

5. Get the basement organized (another thing that has been on my list for 5 years!)

6. Pass my Certification Exam on June 13th.

7. Get my interview/performance exam scheduled for the fall.

8. Get bills paid down

9. Write on my blog at least once a week (aren't you happy?)

10. Start digital scrapbooking again.

Well,I need to get busy (as you can see!) Till next time!

May-be Maybe not?

Ok- I am at work- it is 4:19 in the morning. I am supposed to be working on my homework from Sorenson, but no- I had to take a break. I discovered Google Docs tonight!!! I have made presentations of sign language to practice with. I made a spreadsheet which will be converted to flash cards later of information for the RID Written Test.

In a few hours (about 4) I will be getting into my car- and my hubby will drive and my son will be in the back and we will head to St. Louis. Why? My Mother In Law is retiring from the school she has worked at for umpteen years. She has worked in the food service dept there. We are heading back on Saturday sometime. I have the house being watched- so don't try to break in or anything!!!

Sunday- I get to Bless my friend's baby. It will be my first "blessing" as the speaker. Normally I am just the assistant. So I am a bit nervous about it- but it will be fine!

I am so thrilled!!! I went to QT last night and got me a new "SQUART!"

What is inside my Squart? Diet Pepsi and Rooster Booster Lite
Normally I have Diet Mt. Dew and Rooster Booster Lite mixture- but I am seeking a different taste today.

Anyway- I am thrilled that the Squart is back!!! I even remember they had Koozies for them to keep your drink cool for awhile I wonder if they will bring that back or not.

Ok- I am going to Salt Lake City in June! I can't wait- I will be in training during the day- but I will have my evenings to sightsee I guess. I have a lot of work to do before I go too... I take my big exam 2 days before I leave! The day after I get back is my 20th high school class reunion!

My summer is filling up fast. I really, really wanted to work at this camp for Deaf children in St. Joseph Missouri- but I just can't fit it in. Mom has mentioned a trip to Michigan- but she still isn't sure.

Oh- I got a new phone- another Blackberry- (Pearl) this time- it was on sale but after taxes and upgrade fees- it really wasn't. Which stinks!!! But I needed to upgrade pretty bad. The old phone was so outdated and I had it full- I found some really cool FREE Ringtones for it at www.phonezoo.com it is still in beta right now- but they even have that "$5.00 footlong" ringtone!!! I love it!!!

Ok- gotta get things picked up and watch the morning news and get meds ready to be distributed so I can go about my day....

ta-ta for now!