Ok, this post is long over due (and I did it especially for you Kara!).  Here are some pictures of our house before we moved in and after.  Some of the pictures are labeled before and after and some are not (the labeling was an after thought..)  Enjoy!    

 The right image is the before and the left is after (present)

Living room

Before.....................................................After

(Kitchen)

(Guest bath)

 Back yard.  This is still how it looks minus the plants/ bushes.  Eric tore those out.  When we re-do the back yard I will post picture of that too!  We will not be starting that project for a LONG time though, so don't expect to see anything soon..

This is one of the spare rooms.  I just realized I didn't take pictures of the other spare.. oops!

This is the master bedroom and bath.  These are how it looks now, I didn't have any pictures of what it looked like before :(

And there you have it!  You have officially had a tour of the Wurtz residence!  Hope you liked it!  I know I do!  We still have some work to do, but everything is great for now.  We plan on re-painting the outside of the house, getting different rocks in the front, re-doing the back, getting a new front door, putting in new counter tops in the kitchen, new light fixtures in the bathrooms, and MAYBE new tile/hard wood.  We aren't going to go too crazy on things to re-do because we do not plan on living in this house forever.  We plan to live here for about 5 years and rent it out.  We'll see how the plan goes!

Photo Preview

I have finally jumped back on the photo band wagon!  Check out my photo blog for the newest preview!  There is more to come :)  http://slidestories.blogspot.com/

Oh, here is my "Eric" plug since last time he complained about me only writing about myself on "our" blog.  lol!  He has midterms next week.  He has been working really hard, so I'm sure he's going to do great, but please keep him in your prayers!!  

Yogurt is now 10 lbs!! He is still the cutest thing I have ever seen!

Time, TIme, Who's got the time!

Things have been pretty busy. I started a new job in July and it seems that ever since I haven't had much time to do anything except work, cook, clean, and grocery shop. Eric just started another semester. He's not too busy yet, but he has been sick for two weeks. :( Both of us have had some health issues lately, but we are finally recovering!

I started painting again the other week. I haven't gotten much done though... I have decided I need to try a lot harder to focus on me and doing things I like to do. I have found that I have let my talents go to waste! :( I have been a major slacker with painting, photography, drawing, even working out! I work out about once a week or every other week. For those of you who know me well you know that me saying that is blasphemy! So, I am turning over a new leaf and making myself do what I love. I am going to make more time to workout, paint, draw and do photography. So, keep your peepers peeped for some new creations coming your way!


This is the picture I am basing my painting off of. I'll post a pic of it when I'm done :)

I'm thinking of doing a watercolor of this little guy!

And of course, a post wouldn't be complete without my little man...

Look at his bottom lip! lol! He has a major under bite that makes his lip stick out! Eric calls it a pretty funny, yet inappropriate, name that I am not going to write on here! Isn't he the cutest thing?

He doesn't fit all the way under the table anymore!

I can not believe how big he has gotten! He went from this...

To this!

我愛香港！！

The girl boarded the plane and took her seat. She looked longingly out the window at the place that she had called home for the past fifteen months. Thousands of faces flashed though her mind as she stared. Faces of friends, teachers, sisters and brothers. Faces she had served, learned from and loved dearly. The thought of the faces filled her with so much joy she felt as if she was going to burst, yet simultaneously she experienced a pain she had never felt before. It was like a giant piece of her heart was missing. The engines roared and the plane moved forward. The flight attendants took their seats directly across from the girl. She continued to stare out the window as the plane lifted off of the ground. With each inch the plane climbed she felt as if the hole in her heart grew . Tears rolled down her face as the plane gained altitude and her beloved home disappeared into the distance.

That girl was me... Exactly three years ago yesterday I was on that plane leaving Hong Kong. I have never been so sad in all of my life. I think that only those who served missions understand the impact the people and area you serve in have on you. I can honestly say that there isn't a day that goes by that I do not think of Hong Kong and my experiences there. I miss it every day. I miss the people, the food, the language, the siu ba (little busses), the MTR (subway), the buildings... I could go on forever!

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father in the city of Hong Kong. These last few months I have received the best news a missionary could hear. One of the girls I taught and baptized is going on a mission! She has been called to the Salt Lake City Temple Mission and reports to the MTC in August. I am sooooo happy and excited for her! She is the only member in her family. She sent me the sweetest letter thanking me for my service and example. You never know how you have impacted someone's life. I am so proud of her and feel so unworthy of her compliments.

The second bit of news I heard was from my trainer. My first area was the hardest area of my mission. It wasn't hard because I didn't really know the language (I didn't). It was hard because we worked hard everyday and had no investigators, so we were working with a recent convert that was going inactive. She was going through a rough patch in life and was severely depressed. Every time we saw her she was upset. She had two beautiful little girls and a husband and yet nothing could ever cheer her up. The only time she went to church was when we or a member picked her up. I left that area and never heard anything about her again, that is until a few weeks ago. My trainer went back to Hong Kong and visited this sister. She took a picture with her and her family. When I saw the picture on Facebook I didn't recognize her. My companion then wrote me and informed me that it was Sister Chan, the same Sister Chan that was always so upset and sad. She was now going to church on her own (even though the building has been moved far away from her home)! She also told me that her two oldest girls and husband have been baptized!!! I cried when I read her message. It's amazing how much of my heart is still there with those people. We worked so hard, and I am so happy that she found happiness.

Here is a look back at some of my experiences.



The Hong Kong Temple

I also just found out that there is a family from Hong Kong in our new ward!! I can't wait to talk to them!!

Also,
Yogurt update:

He barked for the first time today! He is good at going on walks with and without the leash! He is an expert at playing fetch. He LOVES his little teddy bear, and apparently golf balls! He is getting strong enough to push his "child" gate over and get out of his play area. He has unending amounts of energy and is still having "accidents" in the house! He has gone "swimming" in the bathtub and cries whenever you get into the shower and he can't see you or come in.

Our growing boy!

Well, it has been about two weeks since Yogurt has entered our lives and we are loving every minute of it!! I wish we would have measured him when we first got him so we could see how big he has gotten, but we didn't :( He definitely has grown. He's about two times the size he was (at least in length). When we first got him his whole body fit in my hand! Now he is almost as long as my forearm! Here are some new things he does!

He likes to play with his mommy! He loves to play hide and seek and is pretty good at playing fetch!

He bites anything he can get in his mouth! He loves to bite our fingers (and my hair). He also likes to bite our ears and noses.. He is starting to bite kinda hard too LOL.

This is a comparison pic. There is another picture of him next to the baseball and it's about half his height. I realize this is not the same position, but it's hard enough to take a pic of him without him biting the camera or running toward me, so the best shots I get of him are when he's asleep. Lol :)

You can see how big he is compared to my hand/arm.

He likes to sleep on his back with all of his legs spread out! He's just so dang cute!

He has discovered his toys! He loves to chew on his 'bone/stick' thing I got him. Also, his hormones are starting to kick in... He has found his 'humping' toy... The bone he is laying on in this pic is the one he likes to "get up on" if you know what I mean! He tried to hump my arm too, but we won't be having any of that in my house!!

After he eats his tummy gets HUGE! It looks like he swallowed a tennis ball! We call it his Buddha belly :)

Some other things he does now:

- He is pretty good about peeing on his pee pad, but his new thing is smelling the pee pad and peeing on the floor just in front of it!

- He likes to sleep with his head hanging off of whatever he is sleeping on. Sometimes he falls out of bed because of it!

- When he's tired he will crawl up into my lap and fall asleep :)

- He likes to chew computer cords, shoes, pillows...

- He is getting better at jumping onto and over things.

- When he's full he rolls out of bed because his belly is so big he can't get up to get out. You know when he gets up because all of a sudden you will hear a "thump!"

- His ears are starting to flop over instead of stand straight up.

- When he hears music he sits up straight and cocks his head to the side.

He is our joy! We love him so much! He is so sweet and full of personality. We can't wait to see what he'll do next! (Though we hope it's not having accidents in the house!)

Yosemite

I went to a family reunion in Yosemite last week. The weather was beautiful! We used to go all the time when I was little, so it was nice to go again. The last time we went was in 2001 (also a fam reunion), I was 15. Last time the waterfalls were all dry, this year was the exact opposite! There was SO MUCH water! They said that this is the most water they have had in a long time! Here are some pics from the week.

I have more, but I haven't had time to edit them. I have to do it when Yogurt is asleep because he likes to chew my computer cord, and if I sit up where he can't get to me he just sits there and whines. He's just so cute I can't help but want to sit and play with him! He is seriously my lifesaver! If I didn't have him I don't know what I would do. Eric is so busy with school that I would be so lonely. Thanks to Yogurt I have a constant buddy by my side :) Anyway, enjoy the pics!



Yosemite Valley

Happy isles trail (? I can't remember the name, but it connects to the mist trail)

Sweet spider I saw! It's butt was the size of a dime!

Mirror Lake

Vernal Falls (the Mist Trail. You get SOAKED on this trail because you get so close to the Falls!)

Top of Vernal Falls

Top of Vernal Falls

Top of Vernal Falls

Half Dome (which I did climb, the pics are on my other camera, so I'll get them on the blog soon!)

It was fun to do all the hikes and be in nature. I miss camping and being able to do stuff outside and not frying... Can't wait until fall, or at least monsoon season so I can see some sweet lightning storms! I will get the rest of the pics up soon as well as an update on Yogurt with pictures to go with it so you can see how big he's getting! He's probably doubled in size already! Don't get me wrong, he's still small! Lol!

To be continued....