Duped by the Del

Today was a big day, and while I'm embarrassed on my timing, I'm still proud of the accomplishment-my car is an Ohioan! Yes, yes, yes, I just posted announcing our year mark, and registration comes around more often than that, but whatever. Nate discovered that both downtown Toledo and the title and registration office are often vacant, so I was able to get everything done during my lunch break.
To celebrate, we went to Del Taco for some eats. The arrival of the Toledo location has been an exciting event for us, but I have mixed feelings about them today. I was tricked. I was offered a medium or macho sized meal. Medium being the smallest choice she offered, I went for it. Nate and I were rewarded with a vat sized cup to fill with soda, and I have an extra taco that won't refrigerate well. The trick here is that a small option exists; I'm wondering if someone was trying to win a contest at work? Thanks, Susan. (it should be mentioned that she was really efficient and has obviously mastered the upsell)


Oh, Tom.

All this reminded me of a favorite Halloween...I had planned to go to lunch with Tom and Ruth; we decided on Del Taco (their Murray location has a long drive thru line at any hour of the day). Ruth drove, so she got to order. With Tom (dressed as one half of Siegfried and Roy complete with a blond wig and a white stuffed tiger) in the passenger seat, I hid in the back while Ruth yelled "NO, NO MACHO ANYTHING. JUST REGULAR" (there was either a broken speaker or a language barrier, I don't remember). While embarrassed at the time, today I saw the wisdom in her clear communication. Reheating a taco means heating up lettuce. Hiss, Susan.

Happy Birthday Ohio!

Although Ohio gained statehood in March, not August, it became a state for us one year ago yesterday. I still hesitate (read: cringe) to call it "my" state, yet as we apply/fight for residency however, I am more inclined to say whatever it is that will give us a tuition break. So in case the University of Toledo Residency Committee is reading...I love Ohio and will never leave. Never. Moving on, we've been here a year!

To commemorate such an event, I feel the need to review my introduction to Toledo...toll roads were an unknown to Nate and I, so we quickly ran out of money on I-80. The last toll booth I stopped at was my favorite (I'm sure the booth worker's too): at that point, I had no money, save a few foreign coins, and I had lost the ticket I was supposed to give them. I was near tears, but I also figured she had to let me through at some point. She did and gave us a new route into town that avoided the rest of the tolls. We rolled in, saw a Costco on the verge of a grand opening, and somehow managed to find our way to our apartment. Looking back, Toledo may not be a booming metropolis, but it's still big enough to consider our apartment discovery miraculous.

Once we arrived, we crept in (it was 1am), our apartment and a summer's worth of heat welcomed us. The apartment was completely bare, hot and I was so tired I wasn't rational. Nate started moving around the blinds and windows in an effort to cool the place down. It was a good idea, but...most of the windows/blinds Nate opened or pulled up came crashing down, dramatically showing us that we would be renting an "old soul". Sometime around there, I started crying because I hadn't yet (it seemed like the time). It was so hot that we decided a visit to the local Comfort Inn would be the best choice for the evening, so instead of worrying about never waking up (from the heat), I worried about my car getting broken into.

Since then, I have worked 3 jobs, Nate has finished 1 year of law school, we've purchased 3 cats, joined the local YMCA, bought a Costco membership, and most important, learned how to enjoy life with lots of (foreign) change.

Here are a few pictures of our journey east.


Liz trying to look as much like Abe as possible

Nate studying a map in Wyoming

Generic Motel: The first fly is free!
(this place is in Nebraska for all who want to avoid or experience)

Times Like These

I've taken note how much Nate loves surprises for birthdays, Christmas, etc., so I tried it out on him. I found out that the Foo Fighters were stopping in Cleveland, so I bought him tickets in April and had to bite my lip several times to avoid ruining the secret. Not sure if we had both passed the age of concerts being cool, I asked him fake questions involving Lyndsay buying tickets to a Interpol concert for her husband Erik. I'm a horrible liar, so I didn't expect Nate to go for it. I got lucky and I either pulled out a good performance or he was still sleepy. In any case, we both ended up with a surprise. Nate with the tickets, and me coming away happy that I've seen Mr. Grohl in concert.

Most of the video we took turned out better than our pictures. In it, we tried to include the drunk trio in front of us. I had forgotten how much meaning raising one's plastic cup of beer to the sky really has. We were also reminded that "rock on fingers" (don't pretend you have no idea what I'm talking about) are still way cool. Although I continue to age, I still think I can pass for a young concert goer. I wondered about the dude next to us...he was late 30s (fine) and had brought his wife and kids with him. He knew every single word (that I could see anyway) to each song; while impressive to me, I wasn't convinced his 8 year old boy really cared. Should he?


We had reserved a hotel room across the street from the concert venue, so parking wasn't an issue, nor was driving home two hours in a sleepy/deaf state. We stayed in Cleveland the next day (last Saturday) and looked around. There is actually a surprising amount to do in Cleveland, but we settled on the "Vatican Splendors" exhibit, a car museum and a big candy store. We spent too much time at the exhibits to have a lot of time with the candy. We reluctantly shuffled out of the sunny candy store and found ourselves in a Wendy's location with openly defiant/arguing workers. I got a salad cause most of it is pre-packaged. Eek.


It's a Delorean!


It's a...something!


After the concert

During the concert

Home is where you keep your sharp knives

Look who wasn't tangled up!!

Me, a farmer tan, and the Yellow family

Ah, look at it...an open trunk is a beautiful thing

Our family showing off their masterpiece

Nate and the fam after finishing a game involving flimsy rope and a dangerous fence...good times

Austin braving the trust fall...I actually did it and it was surprisingly scary

In my last post, I alluded to Youth Conference, and here we are! Last weekend Nate and I had the opportunity to serve as parents for one of the youth groups on their "wilderness camp". Anything that allows one to wear flip flops doesn't really count as wilderness for me, but I wasn't about to fight it. We met at the church in Lima, met our family, played introduction games that really weren't, and headed up what should've felt like a canyon, but really was just farther from the Interstate than when we started.

Once we arrived, we went on a hike to help us bond; I think it worked, but sad that bonding sometimes needs to include people watching others fall in mud. The next day we stayed in families and played games that included Frisbee golf, the blind walk, partner tag, and volleyball. Nate and I were also was privileged to watch a fine production of the story of the Prodigal Son. I'm trying to find a place to post the video, but until then, know that my favorite line came from India; her reason for going back to her father: "I'm out of beer". Fair enough.

That night we also had the opportunity of making our own dinner. Because we wanted to distinguish ourselves from the other groups, we got a late start. We also ran into some trouble when we realized the two "sharp" knives we had were really dull, and the others didn't even try to deceive us; they were butter knives (you try to cut a raw carrot with a butter knife and tell me how long it takes). After some great prep from the kids, and a desperate enough look on my face for some help from the Stake, our food was cooked and delicious regardless of how it tasted-we hadn't eaten all day.

Nate and I had a really good time and are healing nicely from the sun and bug damage. We learned a lot and it was a weekend well spent. Thank you to Aaron, Austin, D, Eli, Emily, Franklin, India, Morgan, and Sarah!

You can't lock yourself out of a horse

When I started driver's ed my sophomore year, I nurtured a crazy fantasy that the horse and buggy would/should come back into vogue. I figured I was safe either way from learning how to drive as no one would make a lady drive a horse around...or whatever. Once I learned the ropes, got away from Mr. Lambrum (famous for saying "I'm just going to get my pen, I'm not going to touch your leg"--rough year for accusations??), and my driving group, I did just fine and agreed that the horse wouldn't need come back with the same force as in the good old days...until last weekend. More on youth conference soon, but during a rain storm, I ran out to my car to get a jacket, so I could find my kids and Nate. In my rush, I locked my keys in the trunk. I had a strong urge to scratch at my car to get said keys back, as if that would help...instead I shared my "I just locked the keys in the trunk" moment/almost cry face with Nate and an onlooking stake leader. Because a locksmith would be "astronomical" (said the AAA guy that could only open my car), we headed back to Toledo and took the 2 hour return trip to Lima/Sidney Ohio. We ran into a really cool lightning storm and more bathtubs in lawns serving as a shrine background, (picture a bathtub, vertical and buried halfway with Mary inside, like a little house), so it wasn't a total loss.

Nate attempting to open my trunk via a missing trunk release

4th of July

To celebrate this 4th of July, Nate and I decided to visit a bed and breakfast I had heard about in East Lansing, Michigan. First though, we kicked off the day by going to/Nate being in charge of an Elder's Quorum breakfast. We were worried no people/food would show, but both came in droves; I would call that a success. After packing up, we headed north and found the Wild Goose Inn without too much trouble. The Michigan State campus is in East Lansing, but not much else; we didn't necessarily consider that a bad thing as the 4th of July would've found lots of places closed anyway.
After walking around a bit, we set out to find a battery for our new camera. For all those interested, Meijer (kinda like Super Target), CVS, and Rite Aid do not carry Kodak lithium batteries, but do keep hours on the 4th of July. After dinner at Los Tres Hombres, we were told that the parking lot of the mall is where it's at for fireworks. I thought it was a lie, but we had no other leads, so we went over. Sure enough, in between Macy's and Target was a great fireworks display that we have no documentation of (a battery wasn't successfully found until the next morning, okay?). We also discovered that East Lansing houses "Caesarland". Any guesses? Apparently it's like a Chuck E. Cheese type place, Little Caesar's style. It looked like it was still in operation, so for all interested, it's next to Best Buy.
The Wild Goose Inn has great themed rooms (ours was Autumn Arbor, hence the tree looking bed and leaves on the ceiling), and we took a bunch of pictures hoping to copy their bathroom style one day.

After checking out, we got a parking ticket, went over to the Michigan State Campus botanical gardens, and smelled perfume plants. We left Lansing, stopped at the outlet mall on our way back home, and found shirts and books for under five dollars. The top winners? Nate's button up shirt for 1.90 and my new coffe table book "Big Hair" for 50 cents.

Tour of Toledo

I hope you can see all of the words on his bold billboard. Nate will try to get an internship with him next summer so he can learn how a "bald eagle" that breaks bricks interprets law.


Just down the street from the YMCA. I don't know, it's just jazzy-the turquoise lights, the solid compliment within the title, etc. I could see this as a hair joint up off of President's Circle, the big cheesy U and all...we'll give them time to branch out.

Tell me why Jon is confused. Is he ready for the 4th season? Does he understand what that means? Can he punctuate? My favorite part: The annual "X-Mas Party" and subsequent Super Bowl party annoucements were listed on the marquee until about early May. Sorry we didn't catch it on camera until now.