Viddy and Jessica

Won't do that again!

2012-01-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

This past week we were scheduled to have the missionaries over for dinner. Both Viddy and I had to work before dinner, so I put dinner in the oven on low and went to work without thinking much more about it. Three hours later we came home to an apartment filled with smoke and all the smoke detectors going off. There was no permanent damage, which we were very grateful for. We have just been cleaning everything ever since then. That is how I got this picture - Viddy had sprinkled some cleaning stuff on the carpet and the fumes were just a bit much, so we stepped outside while the apartment aired out a little and the grass was covered with dew. So I ran back in the house and got my camera. Just another tender mercy.

Anniversary Getaway in San Antonio

2012-01-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Viddy and I went to San Antonio this weekend for a little getaway. It is such a fun city and we had a blast. In the morning we walked to The Guenther House for breakfast and on the way there we saw this cute squirrel posing with his acorn for a picture. Right after I took the picture he fumbled the acorn and lost hold of it and it rolled down the tree. It reminded me of Ice Age :)

This is a candy house at The Guenther House made completely of candy. The details on this thing were incredible. It had windows made of gelatin, and there were things going on inside the house too.

Us in front of the Alamo

The best part of the whole trip was the fact that we were able to go to a sold out showing of Les Miserables with the Broadway cast. We went to the ticket office at just the right time and they were releasing a pair of tickets an hour before the show, so I waited at the office while David went and got lunch. It worked out perfectly and we got seats that were in the 6th row. It was incredible!

5 Years and counting

2012-01-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to my best friend. Today is our five year anniversary and I wouldn't trade the past 5 years for anything in the world.

Here are a few of the big trips we've taken in the past 5 years:

Zions National Park

Havasupai (Grand Canyon)

Hawaii

Rome

India

Graduate School

Disneyland

It's been awesome and I can't wait for many more years to come.

Family Picture

2012-01-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

The whole Harris clan was together for Christmas, so we took a family picture. I think it's a pretty good looking group of people :) If Viddy looks like he was in pain it's because he was trying not to throw up. We took the picture while a couple people were sick.

Christmas

2012-01-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we went out to Utah to Viddy's parents house and my parents and brothers (besides Brent who's on a mission) were kind enough to come over also. It was a ton of fun besides the part where everyone got sick. There were only 2 people out of the 26 who were there for Christmas that didn't get it.

Some of the highlights from Christmas and New Years: getting to hold all the babies, getting to see both my family and Viddy's, playing games, eating tons of really good food, caroling, watching movies, talking to Brent on Skype, shopping, staying in pajamas all of Christmas Day, video contest, going to the temple with family, making necklaces, making t-shirts, and lots and lots of laughing.

Viddy and I holding our new nephew. It was a lot of fun holding all the nieces and nephews that were new to the family this year.

Our new niece.

We all got pajamas and ours matched.

Viddy and Lizzie.

This little chunker is only 6 months old and he is such a cutie!

Mary planned a minute-to-win-it game and it was a blast. I love this picture because everyone in the family is crazy... and I mean that in the best possible way.

One of the older nieces.

Viddy and Lizzie again... but by then he was finally feeling better.

New Orleans

2012-01-01T23:28:00.000-08:00

In September Viddy's dad had a meeting in Georgia and they drove over to New Orleans and we drove over from Texas to meet them. We were there the weekend of the tropical storm which brought a ton of rain but was also nice because New Orleans wasn't crowded at all. We ate a ton of good food, did some window shopping, went through an aquarium, and did some other site seeing.

This is where we ate the first night we were there. When our waiter came by Viddy had to translate for me because his accent was so thick.

At the aquarium. We walked through a major downpour before we went there, so we were both a little water logged.

This is the St. Louis Cathedral. We were lucky that there was a break in the storm so that we could get a picture of this.

Our Life Since Texas

2012-01-01T15:37:00.001-08:00

Since I haven't posted since we moved to Texas, I thought I would write a little about what we are doing there.

Viddy is loving his job and really likes working in a lab doing research. From what I can understand, he is working on making catalysts that make plastics and the majority of the plastics he is doing research on is for diapers. I started school again and plan to graduate in May. I am also tutoring a Sylvan Learning Center which is nice because I am able to keep up my math skills. On the weekends I volunteer at a salon in the Houston area which is giving me some good real life experience in the salon business.

Our ward has us busy also. We have the same callings (plus some) that we left our Tucson ward with... apparently we still have more to learn :) David is the Young Men's President and enjoying it. I am 2nd Counselor in the Primary, Activity Days leader, Primary pianist, and the ward chorister. Hopefully they will release me from a couple of those soon.

With work, school, and church we stay pretty busy. However we still have had time to play... posts to follow :)

Viddy has a Job!

2011-06-29T11:25:00.001-07:00

After interviewing with three companies, and getting 3 job offers, we finally took the third job offer in Baytown, TX (outside of Houston). Viddy will be doing organic chemistry research with ExxonMobil. We are pretty excited about starting a new chapter in our lives but very sad to be moving even further away from family.

Minnesota

2011-06-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

After Mexico we drove to Utah to stay with Viddy's parents until we found a job. There was a vacation planned to visit the areas where Michelle served her mission so we invited ourselves to tag along. It was pretty awesome. We went to the Mall of America in Minnesota, got cheese in Wisconsin, visited Mt. Rushmore, the Bad Land, and other national parks on the way home.

Mexico

2011-06-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

After we were done partying in Utah we went back to Tucson and actually did a little work... shocking, I know. We packed up our house and moved everything into storage in just a few days. Then we were off to partying again, this time in Mexico with a family in our ward and their extended family.

This is on the back porch of the house we stayed in.

I know that you can't really see it at all, but this is Viddy taking the little kids out on the ocean on the kayak.

One night when we were there we had a shrimp boil. Even though I am not a huge fan of shrimp I had a good time eating the potatoes, corn, and sausage. Viddy enjoyed all the shrimp he wanted.

Memorial Day and Family Pictures

2011-06-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

Continuing our vacation extravaganza, we went up to Utah for Memorial Day. Since this was the first time that everyone had been together for a couple years we took a family picture. I have to say that we are a pretty good looking group.

Havasupai Round 2

2011-06-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

We were invited to go to Havaupai with some good friends in our ward this summer and we couldn't pass up the opportunity, especially since Viddy had graduated and I took a leave from school, we had all the free time in the world! It was a blast.

This is just half of us, we also hiked in with another family in our ward.

The Paige and Joseph... we are sure going to miss them.

This was on our hike to the Colorado River. We never got all the way there, but there were some really pretty waterfalls. If anyone ever hikes down to Havasupai I would highly recommend hiking further into the Grand Canyon, because it is beautiful.

On the way in with all our gear.

John and Lizzie also came and made the trip even more awesome.

This was in front of Mooney Falls.

Even though we just went there in August of 2009 so much had changed with the landscape and water falls. We had a lot of fun hiking it again.

Life comes at you fast!

2011-05-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

I finished a Masters today. You would think after five years I would have finished the PhD program, but in the end a Masters was enough!

So what really happened was my boss decided to take another job and my research program abruptly ended. So then I had the choice to start again in another group or just leave with a masters and that was the choice that we made.

Wow it feels good to be done with school. I'me excited to try new things and work in new places. Also, I would like to thank all of you who have been my friend through graduate school.

Now that I have my nostalgic moment...We'll try to keep this blog a little more up to date so you might have some idea what we are doing in our lives. :)

Viddy and the Three Bees

2011-02-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

I know you've heard of goldilocks and the three bears... Well I think bees are worse than bears.

Last week I had a bout of the flu and was pretty sick and slept a lot. Also, the weather in Tucson was so ridiculously beautiful. These two factors were the main contributors of this horror version of a children's story.

Once upon a time there was a lowly graduate student who had been overworked and was feeling fatigued. One of his evil students brought with them something to class, something he never expected and something that he would later regret that he was unprepared to deal with: The plague that is more commonly called the flu.

His health was destroyed and he was quickly confined to his bed. The same bed that was not too soft and not too hard, but just right. Feeling that fresh air would help his horrible condition he decided to abandon safety and leave his bedroom window open. Little did he know that would cost him dearly and he would regret his desire to breath the clean crisp air outside of his house.

Feeling low on fluids he went to get himself a drink and with a full glass of water he got back into bed. Just getting from the kitchen and back to the room had cost him all of his energy and he was ready to get back to bed. As he pulled his comforter up to keep himself warm the first of the three bees struck with violence untamed. The blanket had apparently pulled a bee across the poor, unsuspecting man's arm where the bee suicidally tried to poison the man. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it; The comforter was to heavy and the bee's aim to far off for deep penetration, although the man felt the poison begin to enter his body and found the now dying bee in bed with him.

He thought to himself, "How dare he get in bed with me, how dare he attack me in my hour of sickness, and how dare he leave me more wounded than before." He then mustered enough energy to finalize the suicidal bees intentions and quickly brought death where he thought it was deserved.

As he lay back down, with heightened senses that can only be cause by increasing pain, he heard a soft buzzing sound and quickly brought out of his stupor and back on the defensive. The second bee was smarter than the first and flew to the lamp instead of remaining in bed with the infirmed fellow. The lamp was not far enough away though for the man's anger had been kindled and all who sought to hurt him would be challenged and claimed if possible. The man quickly found and shoe and tried to hit the bee sitting on the lampshade...He may have hit the bee, and he surely hit the lampshade hard enough to leave a foot shaped hole in it. The bee was either immobilized from fear or possibly from some slight damage that had been done to him, so the man quickly removed the lampshade and threw it out the window.

Tired from the exertion and from the now increasing pain the man again decided to go to bed. He was then visited by the third bee! That bee only came to tease and landed on the pillow next to his. Little that that bee understand that so exhausted at this point the man hadn't even let go of the shoe when he had gotten into bed and the price for teasing the man was the poor bee's life.

Finally, fearing there would be a greater influx of insects the man went and slept on the couch.

The question you must ask is was the man really so out of it, or so fatigued that he didn't think to himself, "Maybe I should shut the window?"...after the first bee attacked him

What is that stench?

2011-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

   With the new year I am trying to be a little more healthy, and with that I decided to start taking some supplements. Well I have this bad habit of putting them in my pocket in the morning and saving them for later in the day after I have eaten. (At the time it seemed like a good idea to not take the pills on an empty stomach)
   This morning I was getting dressed and I smelled something that smelled like fish. I tried to find where the smell was coming from, but I didn't put a lot of thought into it because Viddy has been eating more fish lately. As I drive to school I still get an occasional whiff of the smell, but I have no idea where it is coming from. It's not my shirt or sweater, and everything I have on has been recently washed. When I get to school and sit down the smell gets even stronger, so now I am determined to figure out where the smell is coming from.
   I smell my shirt, sweater, hair, armpits... nothing. Then I put my knee up to my nose and nearly throw up. I've determined that it's my pants that smell so bad, but I have no idea why. A friend at school suggests that maybe Viddy spilled something on them. My pants are black and I can't really see anything on them, so that doesn't help.
   By this point I don't have enough time to run back home to change so I just have to sit in class with fish smelly pants. We were talking about the structure of hair in class and then the teacher mentioned something about vitamins and minerals effecting your hair. Only then do I realize that I washed all my pills in my pocket when I did laundry, and among those pills was fish oil.
   Moral of the story: don't put your pills in your pocket. It might lead to a stinky mess later.

Changes

2010-12-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

With the new year Viddy and I are making some changes in our lives. We have decided to stop the adoption process and try to get pregnant with the help of modern medicine. This was something that wasn't an option a few years ago, and we really feel that everything we endured with the adoption process was a preparation for this next step.
Another change is me going back to school. In January I will be attending cosmetology school. It's something that I've always wanted to do and I now have the opportunity. I should be able to finish before a baby comes and it will be something that I will be able to do part-time when we have kids.
We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and have a great new year!

Wedding #3

2010-11-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Liz and Glenn's wedding was the 3rd we went to in October. It was such a wonderful day and I even survived all day in heals, which was something I didn't think I would be able to do.

This wasn't the wedding cake, but it was the bridal shower cake. I really liked how all of the flowers looked.

Wedding #2

2010-11-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

The second wedding we went to was Jenny's (Viddy's sister). Jenny was a beautiful bride and we loved spending time with the family. I have to thank everyone for all the help with the food. We wouldn't have been able to do it by ourselves.

The weather couldn't have been better.

Wedding #1

2010-11-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

The first wedding that we went to in October was Viddy's aunt Diane. It was wonderful, and what made the whole day even more special was when Donavon was sealed to the newly married couple.

All the May siblings

The first official wedding cake completed by Jessica and Viddy. And it didn't turn out too bad if I do say so myself - it's amazing what can be done and how funny it can be at three in the morning.

Awesome Food

2010-11-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

We participated in a few weddings in October and we had the opportunity to do the catering for my younger sister's wedding and here are a few pictures of the food. I think we will open a catering business when I finish grad school and we have a little more spending money. We had a lot of fun and a lot of help

We made an edible bouquet of fruit. Basically a bunch of skewered fruit sticking out of a pineapple. My brother built us a stand so the pineapples wouldn't fall over. Fun.
We made a couple thousand truffles of various shapes and sizes...There were mint, oreo, chcolate, and cookie dough truffles. We also covered pomegranate in chocolate.
These are called Canapes. It's nearly impossible to pronounce correctly or at least remember how it's pronounced correctly so everyone started to say it like a Samali pirate. It was more fun that way.
This is how the food was served and displayed... You can see that we had an abundance of awesome food and didn't even mention the hundred of mini-tarts that we made that all turned out really well.

Jenny's Wedding cake...Dad decided chess pieces make the best cake topper. There are edible diamonds and pearls decorating the cake and it took a long time to make, but turned out better than I even thought it would.

If you need catering we can probably help, for a price. We were so exhausted after the reception we didn't function well for a week, but we had a great time and it was so good to see family.

Viddy has Talent!

2010-11-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

The other week Viddy and I were sitting at church when the person conducting stands up and says that the person who was supposed to do the musical number wasn't there and they might call someone out of the audience to improve. For some reason Viddy gives him an enthusiastic thumbs up. As soon as Viddy did that I turned to him and said, "Are you crazy? Why would you do that? Now he is going to ask us!" Sure enough now three minutes later a note is brought down from the stand asking us if we would be willing to do a duet. The small amount of singing that I do is limited to the shower, the car, and the little boy I nanny. I don't really like performing in public, although it has been done before, and there is no way that I could do it without any practice.
So Viddy and I discuss what we should do. I don't have my flute with me, and there isn't time to run home and get it. We can't really pull off a duet on the piano without running through it at least once. So Viddy returns the note and says that he will do it. After much debate about which song to do, he finally settles on Lord, I would Follow Thee. Viddy walks to the piano with nothing in hand, opens the hymnal that is at the piano to the page and then proceeds to play an amazing piece which unless you had been there and witnessed the whole thing, you would never believe he had no time to practice and was just looking at the music in the hymnal. After he was done (even I was impressed and I know what Viddy is capable of) the girl next to me turned and said "I have no idea where he was able to pull that from."
Moral of the story is, don't give your bishop a thumbs up when he announces that the person doing the musical number is not there. And I have an incredibly talented husband!

He's not single!

2010-11-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

October was the month of weddings for us. We went to three, two in Utah and one in Arizona. It was a lot of fun. One of the funniest things that happened was when we were at Liz and Glenn's wedding. We were at the reception and all the single guys had been called up to try and catch the garter. Viddy and I were sitting back enjoying it all, when out of nowhere the DJ says "You in the back, someone with that hair style has got to be single!" That's when I proudly held up my left hand and all the bling that is on my ring finger. The DJ didn't quite know what to say. He got out something that kind of sounded like "Wow" but I can't be sure. :) All I can say is that I'm glad that I had just had my ring cleaned the day before because it was extra shiny and could be seen across the room.

There is a Plan

2010-10-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking this past week and I have came to the harsh realization that life is not easy and there are things that will happen that will break our hearts. Yet through it all we can learn to love more than we ever thought possible. Sometimes it is very hard to trust in the Lord's plan for us, because it might not seem fair or it isn't what we wanted. But as we trust in Him, He can and will make us stronger and we can know that He is in charge and there is a plan. I can't say I'm glad to have gone through what I did last week, but I believe Viddy and I will be made stronger for it. There is a plan and just because we don't know why things happen, doesn't mean the Lord doesn't love us.

Photography Class

2010-10-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Viddy bought me a sweet camera. The only stipulation was that I had to take a photography class. So in order to hold up my end of the deal I registered for the class and am now a couple months into it. The first critique was 2 weeks ago and out of the 200+ pictures that I took I only really liked 1. Tomorrow is the 2nd critique and this time I have pictures that I am actually proud of!

The one picture last time

My three favorites from this time around

I had to save the best for last! This is my all time favorite

Hawaii

2010-10-10T09:48:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a few months since we went to Hawaii, but I thought I would post about it just so everyone can know how incredibly amazing it was. We had the greatest time!!! I told Viddy when we left that we need to live there someday... I was in love. Here are just some of the activities we did and places we visited while we were there:

Snorkeling

Para-sailing

Hiking

Swimming

Eating

Shopping

Watching Fireworks

Waikiki

Pearl Harbor

Swap Meet

Lyon Arboretum

Hanamuma Bay

Sharks Cove

Pali Lookout

Dole Plantation

BYU Hawaii

Temple

Polynesian Cultural Center

Luau

Diamond Head

and lots more!

Here are some pictures just to show you how awesome it was! I know there's a lot, but it was just so incredible, and there are lots to choose from.

Our Lives Since India

2010-07-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, nothing really seems as exciting as our trip around the world, but life still goes on. So let me update you a little on some of the things that have been happening in our lives. On Memorial we drove through the night to surprise Viddy's parents in Utah. Nearly all of the family was going to be there and we didn't want to miss out on the excitement, so we decided to go. It was a ton of fun seeing everyone and doing all the crazy things that we do when we all get together. Some of the activities included hiking Stuart Falls, going to Thanksgiving Point to see all the beautiful flowers, an awesome bbq, movies and games.

Then I was given a job offer that I couldn't refuse, so I put my two weeks notice in at the hotel I was working at and took a job as a nanny watching the cutest little boy ever and I'm having a blast. One great benefit of the job is that I get to try out a bunch of baby items without even having to buy them.

Over the 4th of July holiday we went hiking up Mount Lemon and for about 3 minutes I actually felt cold for the first time in several months. But then we started hiking and I was sweating in no time.

Come to think of it, we really haven't been too exciting since we got back, but we do have a trip planned to go to the mountains and another one to visit Hawaii. Then our summer of traveling will be over.

India Part II (The Wedding)

2010-06-07T20:58:00.001-07:00

Before going to India, I didn't really know what Indian weddings entailed. Here is a little of what I've learned.

This is us and the bride and groom after a long day at the wedding hall. The wedding ceremonies started the night before with a washing and cleansing process. The next day the groom and his parents went to the wedding hall around 6 in the morning and we followed about an hour later. There were things going on all day.

Bhaskar and Deepika. The rice all over is symbolic of blessings. I've never seen so much rice thrown before!

This is me in a sari. You wouldn't believe how complicated these things were to put on. Let's just say that I didn't dress myself for that part of the day. The lady putting it on me kept asking me questions like "Do you want 3 or 4 pleats?" Finally Bhaskar's sister told her that it didn't really matter since I had never worn one before.

This is the wedding hall and the outfit that I wore for the most of the day because it was the most comfortable. What I am wearing here is a dress that you see a lot of girls my age wearing. I think that they are a lot more practical and more comfortable. After I had changed back into this outfit after wearing the sari, a little girl asked me (in Telugu-the language spoken in this part of India) where my scarf was. I didn't understand her of course, but there were plenty other people around to tell me that I had forgotten my scarf.

Before the bride and groom saw each other.

This is a tradition where the groom (Bhaskar) tells everyone that he has decided to call the wedding off and live his life as a bachelor. Then the brides family comes and persuades him to go through with the wedding.

Deepika, the bride. This was an arranged marriage, like most of the marriages in India.

The final ceremony done at the wedding hall (there is more that goes on once the bride and groom go back to his parents house that night and then in the morning) is one that I thought was pretty cool. Here the bride is being accepted by every member of the groom's family. Once the bride is married she is no longer a part of her family, but becomes part of her husband's family. Another thing that I learned is that you can tell whether a woman is married or not by the color of her bangles. Darker bangles means that the woman is married.

India Part I

2010-06-02T20:39:00.001-07:00

These are some of the things that we did before the wedding.

Charminar: Which literally means four towers. It was built in 1591 and the story behind it is that the ruler at the time (Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah) was praying for to end a plague in the city and he vowed that he would build a monument in the very place he was praying if the plague went away.

This was the view from Charminar. And no, those autos aren't parked, everyone is driving/walking and they drive and walk wherever they want. The only reason there isn't people driving on the other side of the street is because there is a median. Another thing that you can't see in the picture is the constant honking. People honk all the time there. And as far as I could tell, they honked when they wanted to pass, someone was in their way, someone got to close to them, they wanted to turn and wanted to make sure that the oncoming traffic stopped, or just because they hadn't honked in a while. I would never be able to drive in India, and I thought that I was going to die every time we got in a car.

In Charminar. The price to get in for Indians is 5 rupees, (the exchange rate when we were there was 46 rupees to every dollar) which is nothing, but the price for foreigners is 100 rupees, which is still very cheap, but still 20 times more expensive!

After visiting Charminar, we had coconut water straight from the coconut. At the time I thought it was the best thing that I had ever tasted, but later I began to wonder if that was because I was really thirsty and dehydrated.

Yes, there is McDonald's even in India, however you won't find a hamburger on the menu. There is no beef sold in any stores.

One evening before the wedding we went out to go sari shopping. It was crazy! There were so many people in the store. There weren't any racks, but instead you sat with a store worker who brought you tons and tons of material until you found the right one you wanted.

One of Bhaskar's nieces. And if it looks like I'm really sweaty, it's because I am. It was so hot all the time and humid as heck. I don't think that I could ever live there because of the constant heat... and I live in Tucson where it is currently 101 degrees at 7:30 at night.

I got a head shot so you couldn't see all the sweat marks on our clothes. But then again, sweating was the only way to stay cool.

The toilet that we used. Not pictured is the shower, but all you have to think of is a bucket and a cup under a spigot. The shower heads that they do have don't work because the water is so hard that they just clog the shower head.

Lunch. I should have put my hand next to all the food because you can't really see how much food there was to eat. I ate about half of the rice (on the left) and I was completely stuffed. While we were there, Bhaskar's family kept telling us that they were concerned about us because we hadn't been eating a lot and they didn't believe us when we told them that we hadn't been hungry the whole time we were there, even though we were only eating about half of what everyone else ate. The first night we ate dinner with the family I noticed that I was the only girl eating with all the boys and when I asked why they told me that it was tradition to have the girls eat after all the men ate. However after that first night, there was always another girl eating with me during dinner, which they probably did on purpose to make me feel comfortable.

It was amazing to me how concerned about our welfare everyone was. They were always making sure that we had enough to drink, and that the water was sanitary (which I was grateful for). Overall, everyone was very nice.

Rome Part III

2010-06-02T20:01:00.001-07:00

Our last full day in Rome started out with a visit to a pyramid, and yes there is someone buried inside! This pyramid has the same proportions as the ones in Egypt, it's just built on a smaller scale.

This is a part of what is left of the Jewish Ghetto. Quick history: when the Nazi's came through Rome they said if they were given 50 kilos of gold they would leave the Jews alone, so the whole community pitched in and raised the 50 kilos. In the end the Nazi's still took the Jews.

This is Hercules with the head of Medusa. The statue is in the Vatican Museum.

Us in Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica is in the background.

The Pieta, carved by Michelangelo it depicts Mary holding Christ after he was crucified. Very amazing.

Pictures don't do justice to the massiveness of St. Peter's Basilica. The gold lettering here is 7 feet tall. The building itself is over 450 feet tall (comparable to a 45 story building) and took 120 years to complete.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. The alter behind us is 7 stories tall and made of walnut wood.

The whole experience in Rome was wonderful. The weather was great and the food was fantastic. I really liked shopping at the supermarkets there because there are lots of treasures to be found! We came back with about 10 pounds of cheese, which if we would have bought in the states would have cost well over $150. We spent a little over $20 for all of it. We also brought back some fun pasta noodles and really good chocolate.

Rome Part II

2010-05-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post more about our trip. I think for the most part this was the second day that we were in Rome.

This is the Pantheon, which is the first known example of a building with a spherical roof.

Here is us in the inside of the Pantheon.

The point of this picture was to get Vatican City in the background, but the guy taking the picture didn't count to three (which is why my eyes are closed)

The gelato was amazing, which I already mentioned in the first post about Rome, but seriously... I could eat it all day!

In front of the Fontana de Trevi (the movie When in Rome was based off this fountain). And yes, that is a gelato cup in my hand :)

We had this crazy idea to rent one of these rickshaw bike things. I was pretty sure we were going to run someone over with it. It was a lot of fun! We thought it would be a good idea to ride over to a museum that we wanted to visit the next day (we thought they were all sold out for that day). So we rode over there - going up hill in a rickshaw is not an easy task - and the museum didn't have tickets for the time that we wanted but they said that since we were only two people we could go through the museum right then! Which was great, except that we had to return the rickshaw and then run back to the museum before it closed. In the end it was good exercise and the museum was well worth it.

Viddy planning what our next stop will be, or just trying to figure out the best way to get somewhere. I took a picture because he was doing this a lot on the trip, which I was grateful for.

Rome Part I

2010-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Rome was our first stop on our trip to India. It was awesome and I loved every minute of it.

The first day we were there we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, but before we could even walk a block, we had to get some gelato!

Sadly, my first experience with gelato wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. It turns out that the gelato was old, and I picked a flavor that I didn't like. But the 50 other scoops of gelato that we had were awesome.

At the Colosseum.

This was a view from the Colosseum overlooking the Roman Forum.

That is the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine in the background.

We had a tour book and we were going to go to a restaurant that the book recommended, so we walked and walked and took a couple wrong turns and walked some more. When we finally got the restaurant, they were closed until dinner time. So then we went around the corner and found a little pizza shop and had some great pizza. Why is it that pizza tastes so much better in Italy?

This was our last serving of gelato for the 1st day and it was really really good. As you can see, I was pretty excited about it.

After lunch we went to a couple more museums and then decided that since it was getting late we better try and find our hotel. Well it turned out that our hotel wasn't really in Rome... After figuring out how to use the pay phones there, we called the hotel and asked them what tram we needed to take to get there. So we got a train pass, and got on the tram... heading in the wrong direction. Luckily it didn't take us long to realize our mistake, so we got off and headed in the right direction. Since this hotel is so out of town, there isn't a bus that goes up there, so the hotel has a van that makes a few trips a day to and from the hotel to the train station. The last pick-up from the train station is at 9pm and when we got off the train it was 9:10 and there was no sign of the van. We were really lucky that night because there were other people there waiting for the van. I'm pretty sure that the van did an extra trip that night because all the other times it left right on the hour. Anyways, in the end we made it to our hotel.

And for any of you planning on traveling to Europe, remember to bring toilet paper. Not everyone believes in it there and apparently at the place we were staying it cost extra to have it put in your room.

It's Official!

2010-05-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

After nearly a year of waiting, we are finally approved as an adoptive couple. Our profile is up ready!

Here is a link to the profile. https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/23421045/ourMessage.jsf

Thanks for all your prayers and love. We are so excited.

Lesson Learned

2010-04-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it wasn't my lesson learned, but a good one none the less. On Sunday Viddy learned the very valuable lesson of always securing the top to a blender in use.

We had invited a family over for dinner and thought that we would make strawberry lemonade in our sweet blender. I'm still not quite sure what happened but all of a sudden Viddy started screaming and I looked over to see ice slush shooting out of the top of the blender. My first reaction was to laugh hysterically, which I did for at least 10 seconds (brought on by Viddy's screaming). Then my second thought was "Oh shoot, we have people coming over in a few minutes and now there is a wet sticky mess all over." Before we started cleaning it up I made him wait in the slush so I could capture it on camera. :)

One man's toxic sludge is another man's potpourri

2010-04-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today after our forever long hike we were at home just taking it easy and I heard the front door open but it didn't close, so I figured Viddy had just gone outside to get something. A few minutes later I still hadn't heard him come back into the house so I tried to find him and he was no where to be found. When he came back into the house I asked him where he went and this is the story that he told me:

I went out to check the mail and I saw a lady drive by and throw her cigarette butt out the window in front of our house. Then she parked a few houses down so I picked up the cigarette butt and walked it down to her. I went up to her car and told her that she had dropped this. She gave me this really odd look like "Are you serious?" and I told her that I would appreciate it if she didn't litter in front of my house. I asked her if she could throw it away in her own trashcan and when she said yes I handed it back to her and walked home.

I got a kick out of this story and thought you might too. Viddy is one of the few people I know who can return a cigarette butt to someone and ask them (in all seriousness) to throw it away in their own trashcan and then have them agree.

Final Touches on the Adoption Front

2010-04-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

This past Friday I called our case worker for our adoption to see what was happening with our file. Come to find out, he was putting the finishing touches on our file and needed just a few documents. So... our file should go to the Arizona court system on Monday (Arizona is one of two states that you need approval through the state and not just the adoption agency). After we are approved our profile will be available online for all to see :)

Conference Weekend

2010-04-10T21:38:00.001-07:00

On Saturday night after the guys got back from the Priesthood session of General Conference we had some friends over for dessert. I had to make something quick, so this is what we came up with: 7 pizookies and 1 1/2 gallons of ice cream!

One of our friend's boy Nixon enjoying his ice cream. I think that he was eating it as fast as we would have liked to.

The two adorable babies that we at our house that night: Max and Hudson.

New Calling

2010-04-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago the 1st counselor in our ward told Viddy that he wanted to meet with us after church. Of course whenever they tell you that your mind races a million miles an hour thinking what it could possibly be. We had been called in to Young Women and Young Men's at the same time and that was only eight months ago and I didn't think that they would release either of us and I couldn't imagine getting another calling so I was out of ideas. So we walk into to the room with him and we both sit down, then he looks directly at me and I'm thinking "Oh crap, what did I do" and then he proceeds to tell me that they would like to release me as the 1st counselor in YW. This came as quite a shock, but then he goes on to extend a call to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary. I bursted into tears right then. The only thing that was going through my mind was, "You are taking me away from YW and putting me in Primary?!? What? Are you sure/crazy?" With tear filled eyes I accepted both the release and the calling and left the building trying to hold myself together. I called my mom who told me that with every calling comes a release (which I knew) but why so soon and then why Primary? I'm not creative enough for Primary. This next Sunday will be my first Sunday in Primary and I am in charge of Sharing Time, and I think that I might get sick just thinking about it. The one thing that gives me courage is the fact that who the Lord calls the Lord qualifies. I just hope that I qualify quickly before I make a fool of myself.

Weekend in Mexico!

2010-04-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

The other week our friends invited them to spend a weekend with them in Mexico (well actually they invited us for the week, but since we had to work we could only go down for the weekend). It was really relaxing and just what we needed.

Viddy found this clam on the beach and our friend was kind enough to cook it for him. Viddy liked it, but I wasn't a fan.

We collected some shells while we were there and since Viddy had pockets I gave all my shells to him to hold. I found a spot where there were about 10 sweet looking shells, so I picked them all up and handed them to Viddy. About 30 seconds later he screamed like a girl and dropped all of the shells in his hands. Then he yelled, still a little freaked out, "Those things are alive!!!" Sure enough, this is what was living inside all the little shells that I handed him. After that I was more careful to check for living things in the shells before I picked them up. :)

Viddy swimming in the ocean. It was really calm with no waves, but the water was still a little too cold for me.

Viddy enjoying a book on the deck of the house that we stayed in. This is the view from the back porch.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun and successful in Viddy's eyes because we came back with lots of vanilla.

Weekend with the Thompson's

2010-04-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago we had some good friends move to Phoenix. The other weekend they came down and we had a ton of fun. The morning started with a great breakfast cooked by my sweet husband and we were joined by another couple from the ward where we all met. After breakfast we and the Thompson's went hiking in Sabino Canyon.

This is Carter, their adorable little boy.

Meagan and Jessica

Chase and Viddy

Desert Museum

2010-04-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

The other weekend, Viddy and I went to the Desert Museum in Tucson. Although it was a short visit, it was still a lot of fun and we were able to see some animals that we don't typically see.

This deer walked right up to us, but he didn't look at me, so this was the best picture that I could get.

This visit was one of the few that we saw the javelina. Although they look like they are dead, they are just sleeping.

This is possibly one of the best pictures I took of the hummingbirds there. It is by far my favorite one.

This cardinal was making all kinds of noise, and shut up when I tried to take a picture of it. I guess all he wanted was a little attention.

Hurry up! Before we all come to our senses!!!

2010-02-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

After thoughtful consideration and prayer we have decided to take a trip across the world to India. We have a very good friend who is getting married in May in Hyderabad, India who has invited us to stay with him and attend his wedding. On our way to India we will spend a few days in Rome and after the wedding we will spend a couple days in Madrid.

Three Wonderful Years

2010-01-20T08:03:00.001-08:00

Yes I know that I am posting this 15 days late, but three years ago on January 5, 2007 I was married to my best friend. The last three years have been wonderful and I fall more in love with him every day. Thank you Love for being who you are and making me want to be better.

For our anniversary this year we made a trip to Scottsdale and went to dinner at the Roaring Fork. The dinner was really good, but dessert was amazing. It's crazy how someone can take something simple like a banana split, dress it up a little, and create something delicious.

And because everyone needs a little more symmetry in their life...

Viddy has known since we started dating, that I'm the type of person who likes things to be symmetric and even. Well for the past year or so Viddy has working on getting another band for my wedding ring. It wasn't easy since the company we bought it through destroyed the mold, but somehow he was able to get another band. I think it's beautiful!

Christmas with the Harris'

2010-01-20T07:45:00.001-08:00

On Christmas day we flew from California to Utah. I have to admit that I didn't like the cold a lot, but having family around was so much fun!

Michelle sent us all Minnesota shirts (she is serving her mission there right now). Here is a shot of the whole gang - minus Michelle.

This is Jameson, our nephew who is growing way to fast. He is so dang cute and we just love him.

Any guesses as to what they got for Christmas?

I brought my bead collection with us and we had a blast making fun necklaces and bracelets!

This is a roller coaster that Matt helped the nieces make. It was pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

While we were there Jameson was blessed. It was such a neat experience.

This is the family, plus friends on New Years Eve. At midnight we all go out in the snow and bang pots and pans and make tons of noise.

Mom Harris banged two of her good cookie pans together and this was the result. Lizzie wanted her to make a guilty face and as you can see we are still working with her on her facial expressions.

If you have someone to kiss at midnight... well you just have to kiss 'em.

Christmas with the Marriott's

2010-01-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

The first part of our Christmas vacation was spent in California at my parent's house.

It started very eventfully, with locking the keys in the car. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but we only brought one pair of keys (which was in the ignition and may or may not have been my fault) and there was perishable Christmas presents in the back seat of the car.

I told Brent and David to try and look guilty. I don't think that they would make it as thieves.

Timmy finally got the door unlocked (after an hour or so of trying to use a coat hanger to unlock it) by "persuading" Brent's key to his Nissan truck to unlock the door. Way to go Timmy for using the ol' noggin.

Just one of the awesome pictures of my dad.

Timmy got deodorant for Christmas and I don't think that anyone was trying to hint at anything...

I'm not sure what Timmy is doing... the world may never know... but these are the swans that Viddy made for my mom.

Again I have no idea what David gave Brent for Christmas, but I'm pretty sure he liked it.

Viddy got a Mormon version of Mad Gab for Christmas.

Playing Apples to Apples with Jessica, Tim and Timmy

My cousin's daughter who is adorable.

Braden got some play food for Christmas and Race is going to town on a carrot (left). Braden was teasing my dad by poking him every time he ran by and this time my dad finally caught him.

Christmas Festivities Party #2

2010-01-15T12:10:00.001-08:00

The second party that we hosted was Viddy's work party. Even though it was a bunch of chemistry nerds who told really odd jokes, it was still a lot of fun.

This time everyone brought some type of finger food. It was still quite the spread.

We played Scategories and like always there were some pretty awesome/funny/interesting answers. :)

We had a white elephant gift exchange and there were some sweet gifts given. Above is Alex in his nerd glasses and below is Michelle with her log of meat. It was pretty coveted by her, and I think that there may have been some cheating involved :)

Christmas Festivities Party #1

2010-01-15T12:00:00.001-08:00

The first party that we had at our house this year was a dinner party with some couples from our ward. We made it a date night and had a Lion House dinner. It was a ton of fun and the food was really good. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

The invitation. It took six adults about an hour and a half to come up with this... no joke.

The dessert table. There was fudge, almond roca, peanut brittle, lemon bars, raspberry jello, cream cheese mints, cheesecake, and I'm sure that I forgot something.

Here's the spread. We borrowed tables from my work and made a table that was about 11x7. I was really surprised that we fit everyone around it comfortably.

Homemade Ornaments

2009-12-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Over the past semester Viddy took a glass blowing class. The name of the class is Chemical Glass Blowing, but more important than being able to make distillation apparatuses and fix any broken glassware in the lab, was all of the sweet Christmas ornaments that he made.

An icicle

There was a little hole in the ornament so we filled it with colored water.

This on is my favorite.

Havasupai (Again summer updates)

2009-12-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

This summer we hiked Havasupai. It is located on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. We hiked eight miles from the rim to Havasupai and then 2 more miles to the falls.

This was before we started hiking. We hiked the switchbacks (about 1 1/2 miles) the night we arrived.

A scorpion illuminated in black light.

We slept at the bottom of the switchbacks. Everyone thought that it was going to be really warm so most people didn't bring a lot of blankets. I on the other hand brought a sleeping bag and when I was really warm in the morning, Liz came and sucked the body heat out of me.

This is us on the way to Havasupai.

After the 8 mile hike.

Viddy with our two nieces.

Fun on the rope swing at the falls.

This was the sign before the hike down to Mooney Falls.

Us in front of Mooney Falls. It took all of my strength to stand that close to the fall because the water so strong.

The whole group in front of Mooney Falls.

The girls found a lizard in the falls and thought it was pretty awesome.

There is a new fall that was created by the flooding last year and there is a ledge where you can stand behind the falls and jump through them.

The group at the new falls.

The new falls were short enough, and the pool at the bottom was deep enough that we jumped off them. Viddy was the first to jump, but it took a little more coercing to get me off the falls.

I had to have some one walk with me to the ledge of the falls and Viddy was at the bottom just in case I suddenly forgot how to swim when I hit the water. The fall was a lot longer than I thought it would be, so while I was mid-air I had time to think "I think that I should have hit the water by now." Also going through my mind: "Let me guess, we're about to go over a huge waterfall. -Yup. Sharp rocks at the bottom? -Most likely. Bring it on!"

You can barely see her in the picture, but right under John (the person with his head cut off at the top of the picture) is Emma. She's eight years old and she really wanted to jump off. We were afraid that she wouldn't clear the rocks so John "tossed" her off the side. She had so much fun and couldn't wait to tell her class at school that she had jumped off a waterfall.

One night at the lodge we had a BBQ.

This is us on the way back. The weather for the hike out was perfect. It had rained earlier that day which cooled things off and there was a breeze. Although with the sweat on our backs you might think otherwise. We actually took less time hiking out (up-hill) compared to the hike in.

The whole experience was amazing. We hiked over 30 miles in three days and although we were sore from the experience, we would gladly do it again. So let us know if you are interested. :)

More Summer Adventures

2009-12-16T13:09:00.001-08:00

While we were in Nauvoo we took 2 days and traveled through the night to Cedar Point - the coolest amusement park ever! We didn't get a lot of sleep those couple days, but it was sure a lot of fun. Here are just a few pictures.

In the car on the way to Cedar Point, as you can tell, not a lot of sleep.

Just a few rides they had there. This park is so massive, we were riding rides and standing in line all day. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth the little sleep.

After a long day at the park we went to a hotel where we got a good night's sleep before the drive back to Nauvoo.

Summer fun... I know it's really late

2009-12-16T12:45:00.000-08:00

This summer we went to Nauvoo and visited Grandma May. It was a ton of fun and here are some of the pictures from the trip.

Again, I know that it's been a while, but better late than never right?

The Nauvoo Temple at night.

The Nauvoo temple during the day.

The group at Adam-ondi-ahman.

Michelle bought some awesome candy and shared, and as a result we all had pink tongues.

There were a lot of fun games that we played (they were games that we played during Joseph Smith's time) I'm pretty sure that Michelle won.

The game was to stay on the stilts and try to knock other people off. This was the result. Way to go Liz!

This is the upper floor of the Assembly Hall where dances were held. This is us dancing on the same floor that Joseph and Emma danced on.

The door at Carthage.

While we were there the BYU Dancers came and performed. That was a treat.

We went to the shows while we were there. My favorite was Sunset on the Mississippi. We had front row seats and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. After the show cast members came up to us and asked if we would come every night and just laugh. They said it made it so fun to perform.

There are three of us laying on one couch and Courtney is feeding us Sweedish Fish. My favorite is Liz's face :)

Grandma May: She was so fun to visit and everyone we talked to had something nice to say about her. She made the whole experience a blast!

Fruit Picking

2009-09-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

The other week... I know I haven't updated the blog for quite a while... we went fruit picking at an orchard about an hour a way. We had a lot of fun picking the fruit, but you don't realize how much fruit you are picking until you get to the cashier and she tells you that you have 20 pounds of apple and 20 pounds of Asian pears. We dehydrated all of the Asian pears and took them hiking with us and the apples we are still working on.

This is the group that we went with. From left to right: Jessica, Viddy, Dave, Michelle, Kristen.
Some of the good fruit was a little too high for one person to reach, so this is what Michelle and Kristen had to do :)
The fruit picker.

Michelle sampling an Asian pear.

We got an icee that was green and blue and this was the result.

Adoption

2009-08-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago we went to LDS Family Services for our initial interview about adoption. The interview took about 15 minutes. We then had an explanation of the process of adoption for about an hour and a half. So let me tell you a little about the process so you can see what we are doing. We are currently in the initial application phase. We are fingerprinted, have a physical, provide proof of employment and attend an adoptive parenting course. When all of that is finished we turn in all of our paperwork and the Arizona Court System approves us as a couple that may adopt. We then have 18 months.

Then (and only then) we put our profile on the webpage and start hoping for a child. At that point we want to be looking for someone who may be willing and in a situation to place a child for adoption. So if any of you hear of anyone (Anywhere in the US or Canada) please let us know.

Once we have found someone (or they have found us) we discuss with them the type of adoption we want (open or closed) and the family services office takes care of all the paperwork.

The child is born and we become it's foster parents until all paperwork is finalized, a court date set and we are again approved by the court system and are granted full custody of the child.

Then we can have him/her sealed to us and give them a baby blessing.

Hopefully this gives you all an idea of what adoption is like and how many places little things can go wrong...Therefore, we would appreciate your prayers as we go through this process. Also, we'd appreciate keeping your ears open to any opportunities for a child.

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful day.

P.S. From now on we won't use the term "give up a child for adoption", but replace that with "placing a child with adoptive parents." We like many others want adoption to be looked upon in a better light and although a mother may be giving many things up the hope is that she is giving the child more.

Softball

2009-08-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Viddy and I played on our ward's softball team for the past couple of months and I thought that I should document our last game. Please don't think that we played on the team because we were any good at all (especially me... Viddy can pitch at least, well every other pitch :) ) I think the only reason they asked us to be on the team was because they would had to forfeit if there weren't enough players. Also we brought treats of some sort every week.

Me playing catcher. I think it was the only place where I couldn't mess things up too much.

Viddy, after he made a run.

The battle wounds from the night. It wasn't really a slide, but it looked something like that and this was the result.

Saying goodbye to Corina

2009-08-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

We recently had a good friend move to Southern California and although it was a good move for her, we were sad to see her leave. Here are some pictures from watching the sunset at Gate's Pass with her that night.

Youth Temple Trip

2009-08-10T19:11:00.001-07:00

Since Viddy and I now have callings where we get to be involved with the youth we were able to go on the youth temple trip on July 11th. I volunteered to make cinnamon rolls for everyone, but little did I realize that would entail getting up at an absurd hour in the morning to make them. Luckily one of the young women in our ward came over to help me.

We had some troubles getting the middles to stay down.

We got to the temple safe (although one car did get a warning for speeding) and had an enjoyable time preforming baptisms for the dead.

Since we were already up in Mesa we had to stop at Ikea and get new chair for our dinning room table! They were much needed since the old one would leave black marks on the freshly painted kitchen walls.

July 4th, catching up :)

2009-08-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

Since we haven't posted anything yet, I thought that I would catch up on what has happened in the past month, starting with July 4th. In the morning we had a pancake breakfast at the church where Viddy played the Star Spangled Banner on the trumpet, and I have to admit that he sounded pretty awesome and looked dang good while he was playing. After the breakfast we came home and did a little yard work, which our yard was in dire need of. After that we went to the movie theaters and enjoyed the nice air conditioning :) Since we have a swamp cooler, and no air conditioner through the whole house, we find any excuse to go some where that is cooler during the hot months. It was a pretty fun day and we got to hang out with each other and with our friends which is always fun.

At the pancake breakfast. Viddy is holding our friend's baby, Emilee, who wasn't too happy at the time.

Decked out in the red, white, and blue!

2009-07-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

This blog is to allow those interested in following activities in the lives of Jessica and David "Viddy" Harris!