More remodeling fun!

Its taken nearly a year, but we finally got ambitious enough to tackle another round of renovations to our bathroom. This means that for the next few days, we are back to living in a one-bathroom home:

After spending the better part of Saturday at Lowes looking at various shades of blue and white paint, Tori found some great colors that matched her vision of what she wanted the room to be:

(The beadboard isn't painted yet)

After doing the crown molding in the living room, I swore I would never do it again, but decided to add some to the kitchen cabinets anyway. This project only required 3 mitered corners and I didn't have to deal with the uneven ceiling, so this time it went much more smoothly. (But I can't guarantee that there were no "choice" words uttered under my breath as I was putting it up.)

It actually turned out pretty well and looks spiffy with the cabinet lighting we put in last month:

We can't reasonably continue to cover up the stains on our awful carpet with new rugs, so the next project has got to be re-doing the flooring, but barring some kind of tax-return miracle this year, thats still a while off.
(Thanks to those who gave gift cards to Lowe's for Christmas, they really helped!)

Christmas at the Lloyd's

Rachel had a great time opening her presents yesterday morning:

She also met the newest member of our family, a Betta fish that she named Star:
Daddy likes his new present too.

Goodbye, crappy old TV that we found in a dumpster outside of our apartment after getting married. You've served us well and we've really enjoyed changing your channels with a pencil because your buttons were broken off, but we're moving on:

Merry Christmas

We've spent Christmas Eve morning at home as HVAC technicians from Smedley heating and pluming diagnosed and fixed our broken heating system. They sent people out on Christmas Eve and did a great job of getting things back up and running.

Now that that's out of the way, we look forward to spending some great time together as a family. Hope that you are all able to do the same.

Merry Christmas from the Lloyds!

Weekend Update

Our weekend was busy like usual. It started with a trip to the NPS store inSalt Lake where they sell almost expired products and slightly damaged stuff. The prices are ridiculously low. Some items are in great shape, but stores wont sell them. So, they end up at NPS instead. If you see on the news that a truckload of cereal overtuned on the freeway, chances are that cereal will be on sale there the next day. It is the perfect store for poor people, immigrants and people who want to stock up some food storage items. It is on California Ave. I'll take you some time.
Then....
We headed to a quick little Hermana reunion. I don't really know the first sister on the left, but I served with or around the others. We met at a Venezuelan eatery. I was excited for Tyler to taste a bit of my mission food, but he hated everything. I couldn't believe it. I ate everything. It was neat that the flavors brought back memories. My favorite thing to eat in Venezuela was a Cachapa or a big, sweet corn pancake with really salty cheese on top. It was like candy! Yummy!
After lunch we went up to Brigham City to spend the evening at the Matheson's, but ended up spending the night instead after this 31-car pileup closed I-15 in both directions.

Rachel's hair is finally long enough to curl. Sort of....

We went to Temple Square to look at the lights with the Lloyds tonight:

Rachel had a good time, especially riding on Grandpa's head. (Yes, that is a scarf around her head and yes those are socks on her hands. We realize that she looks like a hobo, but we forgot her gloves and hat at home)

NPR Story on Mormons in Russia

If you're a nerd like me who listens to National Public Radio, you'll enjoy the following story which I heard NPR yesterday. It combines two things I'm quite fond of: Russia and Mormons, and they feature some members and missionaries from Chelyabinsk.

Here's the link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98391530

3 Years and counting...

Tori and I were married 3 years ago today in the St. Louis Temple:

Happy Anniversary, Tori. I love you!

We've never had a nice Nativity scene, so we let Rachel play with the one we've got to help her learn the story of Christmas.

The problem is that until we find a replacement, Mary is now a single mother because Rachel broke Joseph's head off:

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Today we bought a TiVo. At DI. For $10. It still has 2 years of the original 3-year subscription left on its account.

Basically until 2010 we have nearly free TiVo because someone bought it earlier this year at Best Buy for $249, (they left the receipt in the box) also bought 3 years of service and then decided to donate it to DI.

Internship

Sweet! My finals are all done. I hope I ended the semester with 2 Bs and an A. It was a tough semester, and I know the next one will be just as challenging. I thought I would have a great two and half weeks to relax and worry about nothing. However, my internship called and asked if I could start early to get the program for January ready. I said yes, because I want to make sure that I get enough hours to complete the credits. I did want a little vacation, but I was very excited to start working in the area I hope to work in someday.
My internship is with R&O Construction Company in their wellness program. Every year, they hold a weight loss competition called "Choose to Lose." I will work with their wellness director to plan, implement, and evaluate the program. I stared last week with employee fitness assessments. It was so fun to take what I learned in the classroom and actually use it for a purpose. LOVE IT! I guess i can give up a bit of vacation for this! Hopefully, I don't let anyone down, I learn a lot, and I get my foot in the door for future corporate wellness opportunities. Wish Me Luck!

Wal-Mart :-(

Walmart.com emailed today asking me to rate the product I recently purchased.

Well, lets see. I ordered it in October and it still hasn't arrived, so here goes:

(I had to edit my review to protect the identity of the item because if it ever arrives, its going to be a Christmas gift for Tori)

First, it was out of stock, then the one they sent was damaged. They re-shipped it a few weeks ago and since then it has gone from Syracuse, NY to Henderson, CO to N. Salt Lake, where it was apparantly damaged again, then back to Colorado, back to N. Salt Lake, to Grove City, OH; again to Syracuse, NY and yesterday it was delivered to me in Marcy, NY. Here's the best part: they have signature conmfirmation that I received it yesterday. At my home in New York. Even though it was supposed to be shipped to Utah:

I'm betting that by Christmas it will end up in Zimbabwe.

All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth is this 3100 SF penthouse condominium under construction downtown across the street from Temple Square:

Get to work, Santa!

Where were we then?

Its time again to look back and see where we were and what we were doing 5 years ago at this time in 2003:

Tori (from the MTC in Provo)

So, I guess I didn’t write in my journal the entire month of December. I was still in the MTC and everyday just runs into the next, because everyday, including the cafeteria menu is exactly the same.

Anyway, here is a short entry from January 7, 2004:

I’m glad to report after a long, humbling, joyous repentance period in the MTC, I am finally recognizing pieces of my purpose. I have millions of weaknesses, but I’m grateful for them.
I don’t know exactly why the Lord wants me here, but I want to serve with my whole soul. He will take care of everything. I need to let go and allow the atonement to work. I have a long journey ahead!
No tengo mi visa, entonces (I don’t have my visa, so) I get my new assignment tomorrow!!!

Tyler (from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia):

I've jumped ahead in my 2003 journal entry for December to share the most memorable Christmas of my life which I experienced while serving on Sakhalin Island:

Wednesday Dec. 24th, 2003

Yep, its Christmas Eve, or as they call it in Russia: Wednesday. Orthodox Russians don't celebrate Christmas until Jan. 7th and even then it isn't much of a holiday. (New Years is the big holiday in Russia) It is P-Day and I am looking forward to getting some rest. The past weeks have been really busy and we haven't had much time on any of our P-Days lately. It really hasn't been too hard to be away from home this Christmas, because there is nothing here to remind you of the holidays. We have some lights up in our apartment, but other than that there's not much Christmas spirit around town. I am just grateful to be here in the Lord's service and am beginning to feel some of the true spirit of the season as I strive to lose myself in the work.

Friday Dec. 26th, 2003

Well, a lot has happened in the past few days. On Wednesday evening, (after my last journal entry) we got a call from President. Elder Black took the call and I overheard him talking about things such as plane tickets, cab to the airport, get cash from the Kammers to pay for it, etc. From the conversation that I heard, there could only be one conclusion: President Oswald had decided to fly Elder Black and I to Vladivostok for the mission New Year's eve party so that we wouldn't spend the holidays alone on this island.

Wrong. Apparantly there are new visa problems and we have to leave Russia and travel to Seoul every 6 months now for new migrations cards and not just annually for a new visa. Since Elder Black has been in Russia for 6 months on his current visa, he had to leave Russia by yesterday(Christmas) or be deported. So, Elder Black and I had to quickly go and buy a plane ticket so that he could leave for Korea the next morning. He left for the airport alone in a taxi yesterday at 4 PM. Since Elders Harmer and Purcella are gone now and their replacements aren't due until after the new year, this leaves me alone on the island on Christmas with no companion, and E. Black alone on Christmas roaming the streets of Seoul looking for the Seoul mission home since the temple, where we usually stay when visiting Korea, is closed for the holidays. Since I've got no companion, I can't actually get out and do much work and I've moved in with the Kammers until E. Black gets back on Saturday.

It made for an interesting Christmas yesterday. Also, after we returned to the north area apartment where we've been staying until the new Elders arrive, we got a call informing us that the other apartment had been robbed and we had to go to the police station. It is actually a blessing that we decided to move all of our stuff into the north apartment until the new elders arrive, becuase all of our stuff would have been stolen (on Christmas Eve!) Instead, the theives just got the landlady's TV and a bunch of her other crap. We had a Christmas party last night at English Club and had a good turnout. We showed them "Joy to the World" and several people asked to learn more about the church. It snowed again last night and it will be fun to go out and work in the blizzard. I am looking forward to talking to the family today for Christmas. Since we're on the other side of the earth and a day ahead of Utah, it will Christmas morning there even though it's already the 26th here. It has certainly been one of the most interesting and memorable Christmases of my life.

Christmas in Russia

This is a video we made in our little house in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk as we prepared for Christmas in 2003. Yes, that's Neil Diamond you hear in the background, Elder Black's mom sent him the CD that year and we pretty much listned to it exclusively for the month of December. (Just don't tell my mission president.)



You'll have to excuse the darkness in the video, for some reason we had the lights off while shooting it. Maybe to show off the lights and decorations? If you're attentive, you'll notice our paper Christmas tree taped to the wall at the beginning of the video.

Tori started getting out the Christmas decor today, including Rachel's drumming Santa toy from last year's bingo game. This means that we'll be enjoying this until Dec. 25th comes or the batteries die, whichever comes first:

Home again

Just before getting on the freeway to return home from vacation:

"Where's the black suitcase?"

After turning around and heading back, we found it in the middle of the road.

After this and a series of other setbacks, we finally arrived home at about 11:00PM Sunday night.