Desperately seeking signs from my dryer

Today when I was folding my laundry, I noticed that each of my socks had a mate. This has never happened to me before. I am taking it as a good omen for my love life.

Older than I've ever been

I thought I would give you a little sampling from my birthday. Now, here are people that know me well. My parents sent me this flower bouquet that looks like a Christmas tree. Beautiful! If you know me at all, you know that I love Christmas. If you don't know me and just stumbled onto my blog by clicking on a link on someone else's page (which I am totally fine with because I do that all the time), let me tell you something about myself. My dream job would be Mrs. Claus.

Well, I obviously have something else in my hands. My roommate has a membership to Sam's Club and whenever I go with her, I am inexplicably drawn to this large bucket of cheese puffs. I'm not sure why. It is not like cheese puffs are my normal snack of choice. Maybe it's because it looks like a big jar of warm fuzzies. Anyway, Camille kindly purchased it for me for my birthday. Along with this card, which makes me laugh like crazy. (If you can't read it, it is nurses in a Urology department, answering the phone and saying "Urology department. Can you hold?")

Well, there is more I could say about my birthday but this isn't my journal. Also, I feel like the most popular blogs are the ones with pictures of cute kids so here is my contribution. My sweet niece Rachel being tickled into oblivion by my sister.

Peace out, internet.

My New Favorite Movie

I love these kids!

Traumatic Halloweenn

Luckily I did not get into a car accident on my way to the Halloween party. Otherwise, it may have resulted in a very confusing and slightly embarrassing situation.

Ich freue mich!

I am way behind on posts but here is a little something from today. To celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall, I made German chocolate cupcakes for FHE dessert. Also, I downloaded "99 Luftballons" from iTunes. I have absolutely no memory of this day 20 years ago. But I have lots of memories of living in Germany for 18 months and meeting the good people of that land for whom this day changed their lives.

Wait

I never really considered myself a heavy sleeper until today. I came home from my night shift this morning and promptly fell asleep. When I woke up around 4 in the afternoon, I walked out of my room, then stopped in my tracks.

My thought process went something like this:

Wait, where is our furniture?

Wait, did we get robbed?

Wait, only Stacey's furniture is missing.

Wait, she does have a key and was going to move her stuff out.

then...

Wait, someone was moving furniture out of the house 20 feet away from where I was sleeping and I didn't even wake up?

I've decided to be a little bit concerned about this.

A fair to remember

I have actually gone to two fairs in the last month. They are so much fun! I especially enjoyed my first ever rodeo. I picked up some not-exactly-country boots from DI and was ready to go. I was mesmerized by the rodeo even though I didn't quite get what was going on. Luckily my Wyoming-native roommate was there to talk me through the different events. That weekend I also went to an all day clogging workshop and came to the conclusion that I am just a want-to-be hick. 

A ride on the ferris wheel on a cool summer evening made it all the more enjoyable!

Okay, confession time. Have you ever been to one of those cooking shows at the fair? These pots may just be about the most amazing thing and I may have spent a lot of money on a set. They warrant their own post which will come after I get them in the mail. :) 

Oh and this is not at the fair but I am going to post this picture anyway. My roommates and I went to see Wicked. It was magical! I had a hard time not singing along with all of the songs. 

Yea for my fun life!

Current Italian Soda Flavors

*Almond

*Banana

*Blueberry

*Butter Pecan

*Caramel

*Cherry

*Chocolate Peanut Butter

*Coconut

*English Toffee

*German Chocolate Cake

*Irish Cream

*Kiwi

*Lime  

*Mandarin Orange

*Mango

*Peach

*Pistachio

*Pina Colada

*Pumpkin Pie

*Raspberry

*Root Beer

*Strawberry

*Toasted Marshmallow

*Vanilla

*Watermelon

Mixing these flavors reminds me of the fun of having a big bag of Jelly Bellies. Only you drink it. Delicious. I may be going into business.

Before the end of the year, I resolve to...

*Run this:

The Folsom to Sacramento half marathon. I'm hoping that training will be a little easier the second time around. It is also conveniently located only an hour away from the Johnstons. I will be so excited to see two of my sweet nieces and meet my newest little nephew. 

*Take this:

I am pretty sure that I am going to go back to school next fall. At least sure enough that I am going to take the GRE by December. I would love to get a Masters in Public Health and the University of Washington has one of the best Public Health Schools in the nation.

*See this:

Well, I might as well have a fun goal, right? I am very excited to see this musical! It helps to have catchy music to listen to on my long runs and while I am making vocab flashcards.  

I'm not done with you yet, 2009!

Dear Sister Bylund....

In the last week, I have been transferring all my documents to my new laptop. Among other things, I found this video which I haven't seen in quite a long time. It makes me happy every time I see it. I just loved my mission. I can hardly believe this was four years ago!

PS- Watching this video also makes me miss the Briar House. Lots of happy memories there!

Guess What!

Does anyone else have the tendency always to put a question mark after this phrase? I always have to remind myself that it isn't really a question but a command. But a period doesn't feel like appropriate punctuation either so I end up putting an exclamation mark.

Guess what I did on Saturday...

Climbed Mt Si for the second time this summer. It is always a great workout with an incredible view. Incidentally, I also learned quite a bit about computer science as I was hiking with 5 guys who all intern at either Microsoft or Amazon.

Guess who came to visit...

The Lindquists!! It has been more than a year since I have seen them so I was so happy to get a chance to catch up with them. They were just finishing a week of boating with their daughter and her friend.

Guess who's getting married...

My roommate, Stacey. Yea!!

Guess what I'm watching...

Harry Potter. As some of my friends were getting excited about seeing the new movie, I realized that I hadn't watched most of the earlier movies. In order to conform with popular culture, I am now making my way though the first five movies. I can't believe how long they all are! I am currently in the middle of number 3.

Guess what last night was....

My last night of working before my schedule switches. I've always dreaded going into work on Sunday nights, missing firesides and dinner with friends. After a year, I got my schedule changed so I don't have to work on Sunday anymore.

21 Reasons I Love My Family

Did you know that I totally love my family? Well, I do. We had such a fun time in Pennsylvania last week. Here are favorite memories with each member of my family.

Dad: The first night of the reunion, my dad gave a lovely spiritual thought and then had us count off by our numbers. Since Bylund Team Numbers were his idea originally, it was fun to see them in action!

Mom: My mom made a fishing pond out the window of the cabin for the grand kids. They loved getting to use the fishing pole to "catch" their prize. I was excited to also get a turn to fish and love my patriotic hair band. :)

Carma (sister): We were in charge of making dinner Sunday night. We decided to make waffles. To make sure that we had enough, we mixed up almost the whole big box of Bisquick. It took over two hours to cook them all in the one waffle iron we had. But they turned out great.

Greg (brother-in-law): Our last day, we went to Six Flags. I love roller coasters almost as much as Greg. It is so fun to go on rides with him because of how excited he gets. Two thumbs up for Superman and the Joker's Jinx.

Thurman (nephew): The Lincolns brought their Wii and Thurman patiently talked me through how to play golf. He was also there to rejoice with me when I miraculously scored an Eagle.

Nico (nephew): When we were at the pool, I heard a Rambo-style cry and then something on my back. Nico was looking for a ride to the deep end of the pool and off we went. I love how much energy he has.

Eric (brother): I wish we would have had more time in DC so Eric could have gotten to visit all the sights that he wanted. Luckily, we were able to see his #1- the White House, even if it was from a distance.

Michelle (sister): One night after the kids went to bed, we were hanging out in the kid-free cabin and Michelle had the urge to play some of the games from our childhood. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then Land, Sea, Air and to top it off, Hello Mr. Butterfly. So much laughter...

Dan (brother-in-law): While at Six Flags, we decided to take Anna on the log ride. Dan estimated where we could sit to get the least wet. Not sure how well that worked because we were totally soaked when we got off. It was a warm day so it actually felt great and luckily, Anna didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Anna (niece): I got to take Anna on a few rides at Six Flags, besides the log ride. She really wanted to go on the teacup ride. She wanted to know how we could make the cups spin and I explained that we would have to turn the wheel in the center. As soon as the ride started, she was cranking it for all she was worth. A girl after my own heart!

Rachel (niece): Rachel has always been kind of wary of me (as she is with most people). But in the pavilion before the family talent show, she suddenly warmed up to me and we had a great time playing and jumping from one picnic table to the next.

Kevin (brother): Kevin never disappoints when he pulls out his juggling equipment. His clever routine involved a "walk through the zoo" and imitating several animals while juggling. My favorite was the ape. My description couldn't do it justice so let's just say it was funny!

Emily (sister-in-law): Despite, a several year hiatus from clogging, Emily was able to learn the dance in one evening. The Sunshine Cloggers debuted at the first ever Bylund Bash Talent Show. I hope we have more performances in the future.

Grace (niece): When talking to Gracie about her new house, she said, "Yes, we have a new house. Do you want to come see it?". I said that I did and she said, "Okay, how about you come tomorrow." I told her if I went tomorrow, she wouldn't be there because she would still be at the reunion. Undeterred, she replied, "Okay, I will drive up tomorrow, too."

Anne (niece): I loved watching Annie at the swimming pool. She loves being in the water and looked so cute in her little polka dot swimsuit. Her thunder thighs didn't stop her from taking a few steps (while holding her daddy's hands) in the kids pool.

Jenny (sister): One of Jenny's great family reunion idea was to have people memorize the Gettysburg Address. Even though I didn't have it memorized when I got to the reunion, Jenny convinced me that it wasn't too late. I spent a couple of hours one morning memorizing it and it was a very positive experience.

Aaron (brother-in-law): Some of us decided to run the Firecracker 5K course. Despite having run a half marathon only a week before, the hills of Pennsylvania proved very difficult for me. Even though I know he could have run faster, Aaron ran with me and distracted me from the pain by talking about the Civil War as we ran past the different monuments.

Spencer (nephew): When making smores, I helped Spencer roast a marshmallow and put it together with graham crackers and chocolate. This little guy knows what he wants- he pulled out the chocolate, ate it and went looking for more. When his dad said, "You sure love chocolate. Do you get that from your mom?", Spencer replied, "No, I got it for me".

Joshua (nephew): This is the happiest baby I have ever seen. Despite clogged tear ducts that results in perma-tears on his cheeks, he is all smiles. I loved watching the other grand kids play peek-a-boo with him and never failing to get a giggle.

Emily (sister): Emily and I have loved Family Feud since we were kids. I stayed with her for a few days before the reunion and we made a point to watch the show each night. Even better, we found an online version and spent several hours delighting in our awesome skills.

Richie (brother-in-law): When everyone lined according to their family number, most of the in-law were towards the lower number end. But since Emily and Richard were just married a year ago, he was at the other end surrounded by babies.

This Seemed Like a Good Idea Three Months Ago

I saw this on one of the t-shirts for sale at the Rock n' Roll Expo this weekend before the half marathon. Well said! It did seem like a good idea back in January when I signed up. But at the starting line Saturday morning, I definitely had the jitters. Luckily I was running with Lindsay and Christy who are both awesome! We started off in a pacing group that would finish us in 2 hours 22 minutes and so we were wearing signs on our backs that said 2:22. That worked pretty well for the first 8 miles or so but then we started lagging behind. I told the girls that I couldn't commit to that time anymore and ripped the sign off my back.

The last four miles were pretty tough. Each mile seemed to double in length but near the end there were people everywhere on the sidelines cheering us on. I have never had so much positive feedback while running. Of course, some of the people might have been cheering for the other 25,000 runners who were participating. As you may guess, it was rather congested most of the time.

Lindsay was so great in encouraging me- especially the last couple of miles. I don't know why 13 miles was so much harder for me than the 11 miles run I did a couple of weeks ago but I was really struggling towards the end. When we finally crossed the finish line, I didn't feel the rush of euphoria that I had been dreaming of. I kind of just felt like dying instead. Lindsay looked at me and said, "You look really pale. Are you okay?" I did feel a little woozy. Luckily, Lindsay had a gel pack which she shoved down my throat and I felt better. I tried not to notice the first of the full marathon runners that were coming in at about the same time we did. Granted they started a half hour earlier but still! We did finish in 2 hours and 26 minutes which was pretty close to the pacing group we started with and more importantly was under our goal time.

I was very sore after. I went back with Lindsay and Stephanie to their apartment where I had left my car. Stephanie took pity on me and got my purse so I wouldn't have to hobble up the stairs.

Well, as soon as my legs forgive me, I'll start running again. For now, I am looking forward to a fun week of family fun on the east coast!

Sailing and Sunset

Today was a great summer day. In the morning, Camille and I met up with our new friend Nick. He lives on his sailboat and took us out on it. I don't recall that I have ever gone sailing before and I had such a fun time. I asked Nick if I could be the AS1, which would be first assistant sailor. I didn't have very many responsibilities but a couple of times, when he asked me to pull on a line, I did it and quite well, if I do say so myself.

Here I am on the sailboat. I wanted to do my best Bob Wiley imitation... "I'M SAILING! I AM SAILING!!"

Here, Camille and I are pulling up the sail. It is harder than it looks.

Okay, this was seriously cool. When we got back to the marina, Nick asked if I wanted to go up the mast. Um, yes! So I put on a harness and he pulled me up.

Here is our little boating group and the boat's name is Genevieve.

Tonight my roommates and I went and watched the sunset from the beach. It was seriously so beautiful. Here we are!

Weekend O' Fun

Well, it is about time that I blogged about Emily's visit last weekend. Our Saturday included the Folklife festival and a late lunch at the Space Needle.



Then the Ride the Ducks Tour

We finished the day by getting pedicures and going to the Mariners game.

On Sunday, we went to church and I showed Emily the sights of Seattle (the Temple, the troll under the bridge and the beach) and then we had a little dinner party.

Monday, we were up early to go hiking on what turned out to be a very snowy trail. We took the Bremerton ferry, ate at Dick's (a Seattle favorite) and had FHE at our house.

Tuesday morning before I took Emily to the airport, we went kayaking at Lake Union. It was a beautiful day!

As you can see, I don't have that many pictures from the weekend because most of the pictures we took with Emily's camera. So I guess we will have to wait until Emily blogs to see the rest of them (hint, hint Emily).

It was so fun to have her come visit! Thanks for coming sis!

Root beer

I was at a ward activity on Saturday and someone told me that it was the anniversary of the day that root beer was invented. How great is that? I just love root beer and I'm so happy that there is a day to honor it. My roommate and I wen to Target and bought the really good root beer- you know the kind in glass bottles. I told the checker about it and gave him a bottle. Then last night at work, I bought root beer floats for all the nurses.



Here's to you, root beer. Thank you for being so delicious! May I never let another May 16th go by without rejoicing in your awesomeness.

The new digs!

As promised here are some pictures of our new home. It is a fourplex with our own entrance and quite the upgrade from our last apartment. Here is the living room. We kept our humongous tv- it seemed to fit the retro style of the house. And luckily we have some nice young men in the ward who moved it for us.





Here is the view of the living room from the other side. Now you can see my little music corner. That stool is doing double duty. Sit one direction to play the keyboard and the other to play the harp.

Here is the kitchen and breakfast nook, what you see when you first come up the stairs.

Our wine cellar and bar. It will still be used, even if not for the exact purpose it was intended.

So, I may have gone a little overboard buying glasses from Goodwill but it will sure be fun to serve Martinellis and Italian sodas in them.

Our sunroom, with a lovely view of interstate 5. No more checking traffic on the computer before I leave for work, now I just look out the window.

View number one of my room.

And view number two.

Well, I left out a lot of things like the hot tub and the huge closets but you get the idea. It is surely a fun place to live.

Sick Day

I called in sick to work today. No, I don't have swine flu. But I didn't think that my patients would appreciate me sneezing and coughing all over them. The thing is that I've never called in sick to anything before. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I feel a little guilty for not going to work even though I know that I would just be spreading germs. Mostly, though, it is awesome. Not only do I get a night off but I am actually getting paid for sitting at home, drinking my blueberry tea and watching a documentary on Walmart. One of those perks to having a grown-up job.

Conversations with Anna

Here is a sampling of little talks I had with my 4 year old niece in California last week.

*Anna on Good and Evil
(We are talking about a movie)
Anna: And those guys were very bad.
Me: Why were they so bad?
Anna: Because they didn't listen to Jesus.

*Anna on Health and Beauty
Anna: (while watching me get ready) What is that?
Me: This is lip gloss. Do you want to try some?
Anna: Oh yes! (I put a little on her)
Me: See, it makes your lips shiny.
Anna: Yeah! Before my lips were zero shiny and now they are eight shiny!
(Anna likes to give everything a numeric measurement).

*Anna on Marriage
Anna: Can I tell you who I am going to marry?
Me: Yes, please.
Anna: I am going to marry Jonah because he is older than me and I like him so much. Who are you going to marry?
Me: I don't know. Do you want to help me decide?
Anna: Yeah! (we look at pictures of my facebook friends)
Me: Who do you think I should marry?
Anna: This one! Now what you should do is send him a computer message that says, "I will marry you."

I sure love my little buddy!

Tulips, tulips, and more tulips!

Remember how I love Seattle? I am always surprised by how many interesting things there are to do around here. Today I went to the 26th annual tulip festival in Skagit Valley.

We had a fun time walking around the fields of tulips. There were at least 88 varieties of tulips, as well as daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and iris. I had no idea that there were so many different types of tulips or that there were so many of them in one place (outside of Holland anyway).

I so enjoy being out in nature. It was really quite a lovely way to spend Earth Day.

Pleasing my Public...

Sorry for posting twice on the same day. I just discovered that three people had asked for my pumpkin pancake and buttermilk syrup recipe. I honestly just got the recipe off the internet but here are the links if you are interested.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Pancakes/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buttermilk-Syrup/Detail.aspx

Easter!!

When I found out that my ward was going to be having a smorgasbord after church on Easter, I immediately signed up to bring a dessert. Mostly so I could have an excuse to make this:

That's right! It's the traditional Bylund Easter cake. Smother a cake with green frosting and coconut, throw on some Starburst jellybeans and top it off with some peeps that no one ever eats. The only thing that was missing was Easter poppers and if you know what those are, then you are probably in my immediate family.

Today was also wonderful because we had such a lovely sacrament program full of readings and special musical numbers. I can hardly believe how much musical talent is in our ward. It makes me extra self conscious about playing the organ, knowing there are all those musicians out there. I don't think I will ever get over my organ jitters.

We sang "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown" for the sacrament hymn. During the singing I was just trying to hit as many of those eighth notes as I could and wasn't really paying attention to the words. But during the sacrament I started reading the text. It seemed to reflect those feelings for which I have a hard time expressing. Especially these lines:

What praises can we offer to thank thee Lord most high? In our place thou didst suffer; In our place thou didst die.

I am so grateful for my Savior. He is risen!

Filling in the family tree...

One thing that was sad for me about moving to Seattle was that I wouldn't have any family here. When I was going to school in Utah, I was lucky to to have a lot of my extended family close by. While I have made many lovely friends, there is nothing like family.

Well, it just so happens that one of my lovely friends is named Layne. He recognized my last name as his grandmother's maiden name. We did a little research and I was excited to discover that we are second cousins! His grandmother is my grandfather's sister. Beacause my dad grew up in Pennsylvania, he didn't know his cousins (including Layne's mother) very well.

I guess when your parents and your grandparents all come from large families, you will never be far from a cousin!

How to have a great General Conference weekend

First start off Friday night by driving to Bellingham with fun people. Eat yummy pizza and relax in the hot tub before bed.

Saturday morning, run a 15K with Lindsay along beautiful Birch Bay.

Make sure to bring along some lovely cheerleaders to encourage you along the way.

Then rejoice when you finish the 9.3 mile course.

Watch some conference that afternoon and maybe cry a little at Elder Scott's talk.

Then go to the Relief Society book club and discuss "My Antonia"...even if you didn't finish the book. Feel a little nostalgic for Nebraska.

That night, go see "The Sound of Music" at the local community theater. Feel a little nostalgic for Austria.

Sunday morning, have friends over. Make traditional General Conference breakfast (pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup) and enjoy watching conference in your pajamas.

Then, if you _have_ to go to work Sunday night, at least you've already have a slamming awesome weekend. :)