Random Housekeeping...

I just had to write about a few funny things at the Hagen Home. We have three main pastimes together... caring for our children (the hanging flower basket on our balcony) playing on the elevator, and lasering people with Jon's green laser. Let me start with the latter, Mr. Green Laser. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I married Jon. :) He is a tech geek (meant with all the love in the world) and he loves little gadgets. He used to have one green laser that we could shine up to a few blocks away on the tall buildings and into cars to freak people out. It's pretty funny... until people get mad and call the cops. I was becoming okay with him owning one laser, but then he went in on one with his buddy Jim and it came in the mail from some crazy website www.wickedlasers.com . Check it out if you too want to be a nerd. Hee hee.
Now Jon can use his laser to shine people on the freeway, point at stars, and really freak people out on the road below our condo. But... and this is a big but... it should only be used while wearing protective eyewear. This sucker is powerful. Should I be worried? What's next?
On to the elevator. Jon is the HOA representative for our condo complex. This basically means that he has keys to EVERYTHING and gets called all the time for complaints. Pretty posh job. The only thing we really enjoy about this "job" is that one of those keys is to the elevator shaft. From time to time we will stop the elevator the floor below ours, get on top of it, and ride on top while people are riding inside. It's awesome. Especially when Jon is feeling particularly mean or if someone offends us... because there is an on off switch on top. Ask the jerky movers, the annoying kid downstairs or our needy neighbor... the elevator just SEEMS to be stopping a lot lately. :) Hmmm... wonder why.
Finally - our flower garden babies. This is practice for us. Someday we'll move on to a living animal (some call them pets) and later we'll take on the adventure of having kids. But for now, the flowers are all I can handle. They were my idea, but sadly, Jon is much better at remembering to water them. It's especially hot this time of year and he's so sweet to them. He even remembers to get babysitters for when we're gone. I think it's a good sign... for him anyway! I need to step it up...

Our San Francisco Treat

At the end of August we decided to escape the heat and take advantage of Jet Blue's AWESOME $59 fare to San Fran. We took a risk on a priceline hotel and were very pleasantly surprised by what we got. Not only was there a killer jungle in the courtyard, but I think we may have had more fun there than in the city! (Maybe not...)

Let me explain... Jon and I like to get into trouble like we're little kids. We must bring it out in each other! One morning we saw a woman being rude to a maid, so we decided to show her that it is not okay to be mean. We make about 10 paper airplanes and threw them down at her and her breakfast from our sixth story balcony. It was crazy! Jon even got her with a cardstock one... luckily someone from the 10th floor (we're guessing a kid) made one too so he threw everyone off our trail.

Then the next day Jon got his green laser out (which I will explain in a later entry) and lasered the floor around kids. They chased it, squished it, tried to catch it, and even attacked family members if the green dot appeared on their anatomy. :)

So the hotel was kickin, but let's be honest, San Francisco is one of the coolest places in the world. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had. The first day in, I made Jon drive around my shady first area in my mission, SSF. It made me giddy to be back there with my great partner in crime. But it was late so we found our way to the hotel (about 15 min outside the city) and crashed.

Saturday was devoted to sappy reminiscing and visiting all my old cities. I grew up in Hollister and my best friend Amelia lives in Santa Cruz, so we drove to SC and picked her and her sister and brother in law up. We partied like teenagers at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and ate all kinds of fried food. YUM! Then I made Jon drive to Hollister and San Juan to visit my old homes, schools, restaurants, etc. So fun!

The rest of the trip we saw a few mission folks, then saw ALL the sights. We did Haight-Ashbury, North Beach, Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, SHOPPED downtown, walked across the bridge, ate sushi in chinatown (sketchy idea), played at the Palace of Fine Arts, drove down Lombard Street, did I mention shopping??

Our friends Caity and Bob came on our last day there, so we had some adventures with them, too! We even found a bonfire on the beach. It was awesome. I love San Francisco. The best part was sharing my absolute favorite place with the man I love. It was amazing.

I can't decide which pictures to post, so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned for more!

Things I learned in SF: 1. Jon thought vacations were to relax. Obviously my family doesn't. We'll go somewhere relaxing next time! 2. It's dang cold in SF - even in July. 3. We can never get away from Draper people. Ew. 4. Drag queens put on a mean parade! (I think he was cold.) 5. My love for SF only grows each time I visit. 6. Jon is a good sport. :)

Deseret News 10K

10K. One hour, two minutes. What more can I say?

Okay... I guess a little more: Jon beat me by like 4 tenths of a second. Our friend Emily did it in a hand cycle - she rocks! And our sisters Candace and Connie and Grandpa Foote did it in around 50 something minutes. Awesome! Happy Pioneer Day!

Family Reunions Rock!

We've been married now just over four months, so it was high time I got to know his extended family. I recognized a few of them from the blur that was our reception, but during this amazing reunion I came to feel like one of them... like family. I loved getting to know everyone's personalities, quirks, inside jokes, and hopefully I let them get to know me a bit. We drove a couple of hours to beautiful Bear Lake to be with the Nielsen Family (Jon's mom's side). We stayed in an gorgeous cabin and had fun from the wee hours of the morning until later than we may have wanted! :)

There was boating, tubing, relaxing on the beach, lots of yummy food, tie dyeing, games, a crazy talent show, and a beautiful moment when Jon's grandparents really opened up and shared a lot about their lives and what is truly important. We are so blessed to have our families and each other. I'm so lucky!