Well, we have no idea what happened the first half of the week besides the normal. But I suppose the remainder of the week makes up for that.

I finally got the materials for my student development course I need to finish before I can start real classes again for my major. I did two of the nine lessons on Thursday and Friday. It feels good to get them done.

On Saturday we went to an exhibit called the Dead Sea Scrolls. There were a billion million people there which made it a bit slow to go through the exhibit. It also made the exhibit seem more boring than it probably really was. We got to see the actual Dead Sea Scrolls. Well, parts of them anyway. It was especially exciting to see the scrolls from the creation in genesis and the burning bush part of Moses where Jehovah says “I AM THAT I AM.” The number “2000 years” seems really big when you are talking about something that people wrote down. I thought it was hard to fathom. They pretty much all looked like pieces of beef jerky though. I had been reading up a lot on the Scrolls, especially last year. I think in the end I had more fun reading the transcriptions on the Internet than seeing the original manuscripts. They were really small and dark.

Our garden is starting to go to sleep for the winter. We are picking some of the last of our dahlias, moping over all the tomatoes we can’t possibly keep up with, and joyfully harvesting the few other surviving vegetables. We managed to keep three bell peppers alive, though they are a bit scrawny, and we pulled up a bunch of carrots last night. Lots of tiny ones and one big one.

There’s this thing up in Issaquah called Salmon Days. October is when the salmon come back to spawn and there is a big salmon hatchery in Issaquah. It’s like a mini-fair. Except it’s not so “mini.” There were tons of people there. You could tell that it was in Issaquah and not Seattle because there was only one booth with hemp products. Every fair in Seattle is required to have half of the booths devoted to hemp it looks like. Anyway, we got some fair food and a salmon bake. There were salmon swimming upstream through the middle of the fair area and you could go watch them jump. My mom used to take us there when we were all little. It was fun to finally get to go again. (It usually falls on conference weekend.)

This week has been an extra special one. Not because we are preparing for a holiday to Lake Powell or because Chad had his annual Microsoft review, (which wasn’t all that stressful after all), nor because we harvested about a billion tomatoes, but because last year on September 14th Chad and I had our first introdution at a little get-together affectionately known as The Cereal Party.

I had hoped I would be able to have a testosterone-free evening with some girls I had just met. So I cancelled a date, dressed down a bit, and brought my offering of Cocoa Pebbles. After getting comfortable, much to my dismay, a male arrived—with granola as his cereal of choice! It was unthinkable. Granola isn’t all that bad. But recently Elisa has convinced me of the merits of Chocolate Lucky Charms. Shortly he became the center of attention for the hungry ladies. I had wondered if he might know the hunky guy I knew he went to church with. I did, but Elisa never got the chance to meet him because she and I were dating within a few weeks.

The unexpected male (Chad) and I began to discuss our views on staying spiritually active in our lives. In trying to explain my point of view I might have been a bit unclear. Chad questioned me and I tried to explain myself. We ended the conversation and I was entirely certain that Chad thought I was completely self-righteous. I remembered such a different version of events. Now that we know both sides of the story we think that it’s pretty amazing that we ever got together. I remember telling Elisa that I didn’t agree with what she had said. She gave me a look that clearly showed that she had understood my concern and had already taken it into account. So I realized we both pretty much agreed with each other on the subject. And I didn’t think anymore about it, ever. I was so upset that I could come across so negatively, especially with a topic I felt so deeply about. So I went home and cried. This supported my theory on how important it is to make a big impression with someone when you meet them. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a good impression, just a big impression. 🙂

That was the first chapter in how Chad and I met. To celebrate that joyous occasion we had our 2nd Annual Cereal Party. This time we were packing last minute for Lake Powell and my Grandma Sophie, who took us to the airport early the next morning, joined us. The menu was Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp and Vanilla Milk, however we ran out and had to mix up some powdered milk to make up the difference. I thought the sugar cereal in the vanilla-sweetened milk was a good idea, because our cereal tasted more like a dessert by that point. I doubt our year-old wedding cake will be that good when we get around to eating it next April.

Overall it was much better than the first time around, though Chad insists that making me cry is a vital part of the tradition. Well, the fact that Elisa cried was what made the story memorable. 🙂 I threatened to pluck her nose hairs if that’s what it took to draw tears. But Elisa peremptorily shed some happy tears at the beginning of the evening.

My mom, Chad and I are in the car heading down to Portland to meet up with my grandmother and her side of the family. The last time we saw them was when we went down for my grandfather’s memorial service and Chad was really sick and had to go to emergency. I spent the night at their house with a 103° fever. In the morning I threw up in their garden on the way to the hospital. I got to have Elisa stay up with me, caring for me in bed. That was the first night we “slept” together. It will be fun for them to meet him when he’s well.

This week has been insanely busy. We are so beat. Luckily the first half of the week we were able to take it easy. Tuesday morning Chad came with me to the temple and sat around waiting to go on the 7:00 am session. I also sent a box of delicious cookies Chad and I made, to Jason. But they were scheduled to arrive Thursday. They will probably be stale if they ever get to him.

Wednesday we mowed the lawn and weeded to get ready for Cheryl and Sean’s rehearsal dinner.

I made my first wedding cake. Tada! It was chocolate with a whipped Bavarian crème filling and Chocolate ganache poured over the top. Ganache is a kind of chocolate frosting. My mom helped me out with putting it together and decorating it. But I got to do most of it on my own. It turned out very nice. I am pretty pleased. Too bad I had nightmares that I dropped it and that I was late delivering it for a few nights. Elisa woke up every hour.

While I was making the cake, Chad was off single handedly getting six round tables and 36 chairs from the church to our house for the rehearsal dinner. We had people at the house practically all day Friday setting up and cooking and running things over. It was a little chaotic. It all ended up well, though we never want to haul tables and chairs like that again.

Saturday was the wedding. We started the day out by returning the tables and chairs to the church at 6:30 am. It was early. My reflexes weren’t very good so I started off the day by smashing my wrist under four tables. We were driving to the chapel on this smooth, straight road (at about 25 mph) and suddenly two tables jumped and bounced out of the truck. I still don’t know how it happened. We just ran out and rolled them to the side of the road. A half hour later, after we had cleared room in the truck, we finally went back and picked them up. I’m done moving tables.

When we got home we finished up decorating the cake, got ready and ran out to Seattle to greet Cheryl and Sean’s guests. The ceremony was very nice. We got to dance at their reception which they held at an old ballroom across town. Chad and I were in charge of cutting the cake and then we left to get a quick nap before we ran off to the reception of one of the guys I grew up with. They held it at a home just down the road from my parents. I was asked to sing a couple of sets of cheesy love songs. I got to hear Elisa sing two sets of songs and hear her practice. I was happy to have the opportunity and especially pleased to see how well my friend is doing now.