Kilee's Birthday!

So Birthdays are a pretty big deal to me and mine is especially so. It's okay to be ultra excited about your own birthday as a kid, but I think it become less and less socially accepted as you get older. But I guess 22 is still young enough to get away with it. Last Wednesday was my birthday and I threw my own party to celebrate.

Anne Orme and Vanessa Parkes helped me to make the birthday cakes and get everything together during the day. We made a carrot cake, a German chocolate cake, and funfetti cupcakes.

The tennis shoes were one of my most fun presents and are from Soren. Amazing only to me was that they matched my previously chosen birthday outfit. I know, I am a total dork. Who even chooses out a birthday outfit after the age of 10?

We had a great turnout and it was so fun to be with so many of our friends. I am sure there were friends who did not get invited and I am really sorry. You weren't left out on purpose! Thanks again for all the love guys.

More of Kilee's Birthday

Thank You!

So no pics yet, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! to everyone who made my birthday so amazing! I really felt so loved and love you all so much! I am so sad to be leaving all of my friends. Anne-thank you for everything, you were the perfect birthday friend- you made it all happen. Thanks to all who attended the birthday bash. It was just perfect!

Lee Family Reunion

Soren's family has yearly family reunions and until this year he has successfully avioided them. We decided to go so that he and I could meet many of his relatives for the first time. It was a great trip. The reunion was held in St. George at the WorldMark Resorts. His Grandma had so kindly paid for all the rooms and we even got one of our own. There was swimming, quilting, ping pong, movies and lots of good food. We really had a nice time.

Soren's sisters are in the first picture. They is Kara and Amy. Soren's Mom Yvonne and I are in another picture below at the pool. We were also able to see Soren's paternal grandma who has recently moved in with the family. Her grandfather is the man Soren got his name from.

Baking Grandpa's Bread

So since I have lived in Utah I have wanted to learn the secret of Granpa's homemade bread. As we are moving in a few weeks I finally found some time a weeks ago to spend a Saturday there.

It was quite the experience. There is a very distinct way to follow the recipe and a lot of rules to follow. Even if I posted the recipe here I don't think it could possibly be followed correctly without watching it first. We made 6 loaves and my payment was 1 of them. They actually did turn out pretty well, although I have yet to try it on my own. Something tells me I have years ahead of me before I get this thing down.

The Largest Aquarium in the World!

So this was one of the coolest parts of my trip. I LOVE aquariums and this one was hard to beat. Georgia boasts that this is the largest aquarium in the world and they certainly had a lot to show for it. The day after the conference I had an extra day to myself in Atlanta. I made the most of it by going to the aquarium and then spending most of my food stipend for the week on shopping at the mall.

The jellyfish were some of my favorites. These aren't them, but did you know there are jellyfish that consume eachother whenever they bumb One of them just eats the other. They seem so peacefull. I did get to touch this anemone and I can't say I have ever felt anything like it.
I also got to touch a nurse shark, a sting ray and a starfish. Not bad. The beluga whales were an aquarium favorite. They had 3 of them there and they were awesome to see. Apparently they are like 45% blubber. It rippled when they swam. And they sure seem like happy creatures. What a smile this guy had.

This was a wall of the biggest tank they had in the place. The child in front gives a good idea of how enormous it was. What a beautiful place. I really think I could love scuba diving.

Altanta Trip

So this is a bit belated due to numerous issues, mostly being the loss of internet at home. As much as we miss Sam and Courney as neighbors, we really miss their internet too.

Last month July 19-23 BYU sent my professor and I to Atlanta for a conference of nutrition educators. For the past year we have been doing research on college student cooking skills and so we got to go present what we had learned. It was an awesome experience and I really learned so much.

I met a lot of contacts out in the nutrition career/job world which was extremely helpful right now considering I am currently on the market. There were lots of classes and seminars and it felt so good to be learning again and having intelligent conversations. I admit working at a used bookstore and cleaning houses back home really doesn't provide the mental stimulus I need.

Our research went over really well and is a part of the field that a lot of people are turning their interests to. Meals at home and with others have shown to generally

be more nutritious, but if people don't know how to cook this could be a big barrier for eating at home. I was proud to be a part of the cutting edge in nutrition research.