7 Things

So I was tagged by Kira. I have decided to give it a try. I was tagged a few weeks ago by Kelsey. I should have done hers. It will be easier than this one. The rules are that you have to tell 7 interesting or weird things about yourself. Here goes:

1. When I am in pain or trying to sleep, I rub my feet together like a grasshopper. It drives Chris crazy, but seems to work for me.

2. I love to lounge around in my pajamas till noon or later. This only works when I am off track and Chris is at work. I think I got this from my childhood from my mother. She would only get dressed when she had to go somewhere or somebody came to the door.

3. I really like to speak in front of people. This may sound crazy, but I like to give talks in church. I would rather talk in front of people I don't know rather than people I do know. I hope this isn't a sign that I am going to be an auxillary leader in the church.

4. I can read 3 books at a time without getting confused. I love to read and can finish a book in two days if uninterrupted. This amazes my 6th grade students who can't finish a book if their life depended on it!

5. I love to read textbooks and go to college. I really miss college and learning everyday. One of my favorite things to do is read textbooks. (Only those I am interested in). I also liked to do homework when I was in college. Maybe this is why I was looking at going back to school. I am a nerd in the truest sense!

6. I hate to get ready in the morning. I think showers are a waste of time. Don't get me wrong--I like to be clean. I just think it takes too much time to get ready. I especially hate putting on makeup and doing my hair. I am glad my husband loves the way I look no matter what.

7. Finally, I hate buying shoes. I know most women have at least 15 pairs of shoes. Not me; I have only 3 that I wear most often. That is why my shoes are 'conditioned'. In my opinion, the older the shoe and the worse it looks, the more comfortable it is. I have even been known to superglue a shoe together and wear it 3 more months!

There you have it. I now tag Kelsey, Christy, Cynthia, and Amber.

'A privilege and honor'

It was 'A privilege and honor' to all those who knew my Aunt Judy. She was a teacher, coach, mother, grandmother, aunt, and most off all a friend to all those who knew her. Saturday was a day to remember her and hold on to memories we will always hang onto. Chris always said "I love you" at the end of his phone calls with her. This he hangs onto even more now as the last words from nephew to aunt and from aunt to nephew was "I love you." Let us always hang onto the love of family throughout eternity.

'A privilege and honor' is the title of a news article that can be found at the Northwest Herald a local newspaper from the county my aunt lived in. It was the cover story on October 27th.

Aunt Judy's dream

When we were at Aunt Judy's memorial service, the family made her wishes known. Instead of donating flowers to the family, they are establishing a memorial fund in her name. It was her wish build a tennis shelter for her Tiger Tennis Team to be used during tennis matches and tournaments. She was the coach at Crystal Lake Central for 36 years. If you are interested or know any one who is interested, please alert them to the Crystal Lake Central-Elder Memorial Fund. Checks can be made out to Crystal Lake Central-Elder Memorial and mailed to Crystal Lake Central High School, 45 West Franklin Ave, Crystal Lake, IL 60014 in the attention of Doug Blundy, Athletic Director.
I know most of you who read our blog are young married couples with small children, but we felt we needed to post the information here. We love her and want this dream to become a reality. Pass the information on to all those who may be interested.

Back at Home

Chris and I arrived back from Chicago yesterday. We had a great trip, but are sick of eating out!
Thursday was our flight. It took us about 30 minutes to get our rental car. If you are ever travel, use a GPS. They are awesome! Katina had a coupon for a free upgrade if they rented a GPS. Our upgrade was a PT Cruiser,which Katina loves. We used the GPS everywhere we went to and was much more reliabe than getting directions from Chris's family. We arrived to our motel in McHenry, IL Thursday night and then went out to eat with Chris's brother, Scott. We were planning on going to the Brookfield Zoo on Friday, but all the weather forecasts said it was supposed to rain all day. We went to the Chicago temple on Friday morning. There were only 4 people in our session; Chris being the only male. Apperentley, that temple is not busy except for Saturdays. Afterwards, we went to the New Words of Wisdom bookstore (totally awesome) where Katina bought two Christmas presents. We also went to eat at a great restaurant. That night we went to eat with Scott and our uncle David. We could have gone to the zoo this day because it hardly rained at all.

Saturday we went to Wheaton, IL to a family event. We arrived there about two hours early, so we went shopping and driving around looking at the neighbhorhood where Chris's grandparents used to live. We then went to eat with some family. Katina met two of Chris's aunts and a few of his cousins. We went to the cemetary to sprinkle the ashes of Chris's uncle who died a few years ago. It was very cold and windy and also a little creepy. We then traveled back to McHenry, IL where we had a nice dinner with Scott and Elizabeth, Chris's older sister.

Sunday we went to church in Gurnee, IL with Elizabeth. There Katina met another Katina! She was the RS president of that ward. Afterwards, we went to Elizabeth's motel where we made spaghetti for lunch. Katina really enjoyed getting to hold and love Micheal, their new nephew that was born in August. After that we traveled to Aunt Judy's funeral in Crystal Lake. It was a good funeral that lasted amost three hours. They had anticipated about 200 people showing up, but around 400 came. Chris and Katina did a good amount of crying. When we left after the social gathering, the temperature was about freezing and the wind was horrible. It felt like a freezing winter day in Idaho!

Monday they flew back to Utah where the weather was 70 and gorgeous. They enjoyed their trip, but really stuggled with not being able to see Aunt Judy.

The beautiful Chicago temple.

Katina holding Micheal.

Cute picture of Michael.

trying to get him to burp

Allergies or Stress?

Katina has been having some horrible nights of sleep. She no longer has the flu, but for the last few days has been waking up at 4 or 4:30 and can't fall back asleep. She has been getting little white bumps everywhere on her body that itch like crazy. She bought some Benadyl cream yesterday, but it doesn't work that well when you itch all over! The last time she got these was in college. They told her then that it was stress or the result of mental angst. Whatever the cause, it is beyond annoying. Hopefully she can find some medicine that works. She doesn't want to take anything that makes her addicted. The only good thing to come out of it is that she studies for her Praxis test when she can't sleep.

Family Picture

Yesterday my whole family got together. My sister's family was here for a convention. The rest of my family was coming back from a trip to southern Utah. We went out to eat at Applebees and then back to my parent's motel room for cake and ice cream for Merritt's birthday last week. This was the first time our whole family has been together since before Chris and I got married. I was adamant about getting a family picture, so went do the restaurant and had the nice waiter take our picture.

back left to right: My sister-in-law Cindy, brother David, my dad Rick, me, Chris

front left to right: 9-year old nephew Merritt, my mom Cheryl, 11-year old niece Kelly, 5-year old nephew RJ (standing in front), my grandma Ina, my sister Amber, and my brother-in-law Nathan

Aunt Judy's obituary and picture

Here is the obituary of our beloved Aunt Judy. The picture was either taken earlier this year or in 2006 ( I can't tell from the trophy in the picture). She was a such a beautiful woman inside and out.

Judith Lee Elder
Judith Lee ElderBorn: June 23, 1947; in ChicagoDied: Oct. 3, 2008; in Chicago

WONDER LAKE - Judith Lee Elder, 61, of Wonder Lake, died Friday, Oct. 3, 2008, at the University of Chicago Hospital.She was born June 23, 1947, in Chicago, to Bob and Nan Beckman. She married David Elder on Aug. 13, 1971, in Safety Harbor, Fla. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1969 from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and a master's degree from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb in 1977.She was a teacher/coach for physical education at Crystal Lake Central High School for 34 years. She was the first and recently only girls varsity tennis coach at Crystal Lake Central for 36 years. She was the boys varsity tennis coach at CLC for 21 years. Survivors include her husband, David, of Wonder Lake; her two daughters, Jessica (Rob) Fetzner of Crystal Lake and Jillian (Bulent) Beydilli of Cary; a grandson, Drew Fetzner of Crystal Lake; and a nephew, Scott Anthony of Wonder Lake. A memorial service will be at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, at the Crystal Lake Racket Club, on South Route 31, Crystal Lake. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund to help support her Tiger Tennis Team has been established at CLC, donations and checks made payable to CL Central - Elder Memorial.




We miss you and love you Aunt Judy!!!

Finally off track

Katina is ecstatic over school being out for a couple of weeks. The last nine weeks has gone by so slow and the students have gotten so naughty over the last couple of weeks. On her last day, Wednesday, she had an aide meeting and got out of work early. She woke up that morning with a scratchy throat, headache, slight fever, and felt like she had been hit by a truck. Yup, you guessed it! She got the flu. She made it through the half day and spent the rest of the day in bed. She spent most of Thursday in bed and finally feels well enough today to take her head off the pillow. She is actually greatful that she got sick now instead of next week. She is not missing any work and feels this is the perfect time to get sick. Her family is in southern Utah and are spending Monday night in Salt Lake. They are also going to Chicago next week for Aunt Judy's memorial service and it would be nearly impossible for her to fly when she has the flu. We are leaving on Thursday afternoon and returning to Salt Lake on Monday. We plan on doing a session in the Chicago temple on Friday morning followed by spending the rest of Friday at the Brookfield Zoo. Saturday, Elizabeth, Chris's sister is coming with two of her kids and we plan to spend the day with them. The memorial service is Sunday afternoon. Katina is excited to see Elizabeth's new baby, Michael, and Ruth, the two-year old. She is not excited about Aunt Judy's memorial service. She has been been having a lot of dreams recently about Aunt Judy and it just doesn't seem real that Aunt Judy has passed. There is so much Aunt Judy taught Katina and now Katina feels she has nobody to talk to.
Chris is enjoying his job with the church. On Thursdays, he seems to see General Authorities. Last week he saw Elder Christofferson and Elder Oaks. Yesterday he saw Elder Ballard and Elder Cook on their way to the temple most likely.
Also our microwave decided to die on Sunday. It has gone on to appliance heaven. Actually it is going to DI tomorrow. Our new microwave works so much better.

Sadness

Chris and I recieved some extremely sad news yesterday. His favorite aunt, Judy, died yesterday. We absolutely love her! She has helped us so much with our weddding and offered great advice to us dealing with marriage, finance, family, jobs, and medical issues. This absolutely shocked us. She was a tennis coach, former health teacher, and was in fabulous health. She was like a second mother to us. I liked her better than my own aunts.
Chris and I are planning on going to her funeral. They haven't decided what weekend it will be. Please keep us and Chris's family in your prayers in this very difficult time for us.