Grandma Wanda

I'm trying to take it well, but it's not working.

I lost my grandma this past week. She was 87 and lived a beautiful, full life and touched many lives. But right now, all I can think of is how she touched mine. And I want her back. In an attempt to see things in the right perspective, I found and posted some pictures of my grandma that I love; both so I can remember those moments and so you (if you hadn't already) can meet her a little bit.

Grandma and my brother Jim. I can't even imagine how many birthdays she clocked with us, either at her or our house. She came and helped us celebrate as often as she could. As you can see, she was willing to indulge her very young at heart grandchildren by wearing a smiley face party hat. She kept it on too.

Pauline, Larry and Grandma at yet another family party at my parents' house. No occasion was too small, as long as she could hitch a ride (and she always could), she was there. Once she moved down to Glenwood, she wasn't a frequent birthday party guest, but she always timed her birthday cards to show up exactly on my birthday. And the years she didn't do that, she called. Being one of 20 grandchildren, I always felt special, and was impressed at her memory (or willingness to write things down...I could learn from that).

Me and Grandma just outside the temple the day Nate and I got married. I was so very glad she could be there with us. Grandma had written me a letter in March of that year, just kind of checking in on me, but I think she wanted to make sure my dating situation was going well. In the letter, she wrote: "Take advantage of every opportunity you feel good about as you have nothing to lose". It became the theme that year, as that was right around the time when I worked up the courage to email Nate and figured a way to get him to ask me out. I'm so glad she got to meet the result of one of those opportunities that I "felt good about".

I love my grandma. I love the presence that she was/is in my life. She is such an example of so many wonderful qualities and I feel blessed to be her granddaughter. One more thing I love: that I will see her again. :)

Fred Rogers, science and love

To celebrate our third anniversary, Nathan and I headed to Pittsburgh for the weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

I kind of made Nate go to Kohl's and Burlington Coat Factory before we did any real sightseeing. To my credit though, I found some great deals and a whole patch of discount witch shoes.

This is what we did for 2+ hours on Saturday. There was a Panthers game that day and we didn't make it to the Carnegie Science Center in time to miss all the rabid game goers. To prove how right we are for each other, Nate and I took equal turns yelling at fans walking in front of our car, and cars full of fans cutting us off. It was a nice way to get to know the city.

This was the only part of the fanaticism I found enjoyable.

Once we made it to the Science Center, we had a serious talk with Darwin. He wasn't sure why it took us so long to get there either.

After our talk, I held onto this dirty wing for a photo op. I've made it a habit to carry hand sanitizer in my purse now, so I felt okay about it.

Nate found the smarter toys.

Like this one: here he is mining for treasures. It was basically a glorified claw prize game, except this one was honest about no one actually getting to keep any of the cheap toys inside.

Infrared. Proof my nose is way cold.

Liz at the Mr. Rogers sculpture near Heinz Stadium.

Liz continuing on with her "I'm just a big kid" weekend. Here we are at the Fredosaurus Rex Friday XIII sculpture. A biker stopped and offered to take our picture. AND he told us about the other Mr. Rogers statue...that we'd already been to. It made me feel a bit better that another adult knew about them.

Church shot I got out of the car window.

After growing up in Utah (where construction is king) and now living in Toledo (where construction is a king that everyone ignores), we appreciated this happy medium of construction decoration.

Pittsburgh was cold, childish and a lot of fun. Maybe we'll visit again in the off season.

Thanksgiving Part II

This is fairly representative of a fair amount of our days in Atlanta. Just like on my side of the family, all the kids love Nathan, but they love to attack him even more.

Some of you may already be aware of Nathan's desire to match/embarrass his brothers. (On their brother mancation he would wait for Ben and Aaron to get dressed, then find his matching shirt...they wouldn't notice until it was too late). Thanksgiving twinners was just a lucky coincidence...or was it???

Who doesn't need a vestido ho ho ho (ho ho ho dress)?! While Nate and I were padding around a Wal*Mart at 5:30am on Black Friday, we found this beautiful dog vestido. We didn't like it enough to buy it (Kathryn doesn't wear just anything), but enough to take a picture.

This belongs in the aquarium post, but I just wanted to remind you that we saw sharks there.

Tiny Aaron and the 30" pizza. That size didn't really register with me as being incredibly huge, but it is. It was a disgusting amount of pizza, but it was tasty and our group easily finished it off.

Ben and Jenn took us to their local mall so we could people watch...it didn't disappoint. Kudos to Nate on this capture.

Nathan and Oscar. Oscar is enormous and incredibly tolerant. After we got home, I expected the same out of our cats (but only got the enormous part). I bet Oscar would wear a vestido ho ho ho.

Pictures after church. Jenn stayed professional, but I couldn't stop laughing. Why? Because I had this image in my head:

I don't know; a lot of kicking occurred after church.

Thank you to our Georgian hosts, we had a great time!

The Georgia Aquarium

Nathan and I went to Georgia (Atlanta to be exact) for Thanksgiving. Since I have more than a little bit to show and tell, I figured I'd split it up into parts. We'll start with the Aquarium. It's the largest in the world and it was awesome! Here's some of what we saw:

We determined that anyone would want a fish tank like this one.

We also determined that we were glad glass was separating us from these guys...way too big.

Piranhas! I didn't see much teeth on them...I wondered if they'd been deteethed (think declawed...word wise anyway) or if that is just how these kind are. They still looked hungry.

Ceiling fish! We knew these pictures would look fake, but here it is anyway. The ceiling is a tank for these fish to hang out; it was a very cool/creepy effect.

School of fish.

School of larger fish (or sharks...)

Jaws will always scare me. In turn, sharks like this will always scare me.

Liz, David Cross (of Arrested Development fame), and Nathan. Nate's brother Ben deserves the credit of initially approaching him...then Nate went over...then I couldn't help myself. I stayed at a distance and waved. He reached out to shake my hand...who was I to say no? He wanted to meet me. He told us he's from Atlanta and he was in town for Thanksgiving; I say "ya, us too". Yes, Nate and I are actors "in town for Thanksgiving". I wrapped it up by telling him that I loved him; Nate agreed so it seemed to work. So we say bye and start to leave. Nate, not being able to stop himself, went back and asked for a picture. It was a bit awkward, but he was really nice. He complimented Nate's wedding band. (that I bought, David). While the picture was being taken, Nate said: "we washed our hands, I promise" David said: "I didn't". I decided to chime in with another clever bit, saying "that's okay". "That's okay" made my mouth look the way it does in this picture. I'm glad we didn't find a really attractive celebrity to meet...as it is, I think we are pretty equally matched in the photo...right? ps-I didn't realize until after, but I'm fairly sure the girl he was with was Amber Tamblyn (she took the picture)...so she was treated like a commoner. Sorry Amber, the next time Nate is out of town I promise "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" will be watched.

After our brush with the stars, we headed for the jellyfish tanks. We were both ridiculously giddy, so I'm glad Nate had the presence of mind to take pictures because I wasn't really paying attention. They turned out pretty well. It's probably because the jellyfish isn't talking in this picture.

Nate and I in front of the Barrier Reef tank.

Nate missed the "do not pick up sign". Once he was noticed, there was a flurry of "don't pick them up, don't pick them up!" Ha. He DID pick it up.

Whale shark and some fish friends in the big tank.

Continuing in Nate's spirit of rebelliousness, we didn't "keep off the rocks".

We loved the aquarium!