8 Things

Okay, my BFF Kristin tagged me and I'm finally doing it. Yeah!

8 shows I love to watch:
1-Eli Stone
2-My Own Worst Enemy
3-American Idol
4-Designed to Sell
5-Jon & Kate Plus 8
6-Extreme Makeover
7-Will & Grace
8-Design on a Dime

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1-The Cheesecake Factory
2-Brookside Grill/Wasatch Broiler
3-Rumbi Island Grill
4-Red Robin
5-Bajio Grill (salad)
6-TGIFriday's
7-Jasmine Bistro
8-Winger's

8 things that happened yesterday:
1-I voted! (only took about 15 minutes!)
2-Played matchmaker with my cousin
3-Compiled a Josh Groban mix for Steph’s birthday (by request)
4-Worked from home
5-JT & I cleaned out each other's ears with ear candles – very cool!
6-Watched Obama’s acceptance speech in disbelief
7-It hailed as I left the voting location
8-Read a chapter in the BoM with Jeremy

8 things I look forward to:
1-Snow in the morning
2-Seeing my parents again
3-The benefits of marriage :)
4-Girls Night Out this Friday
5-Cuddling with my Jer-Bear every evening
6-Vacationing in Phoenix for Thanksgiving for 6 days!
7-Getting completely over this annoying cold
8-Not having to work!

8 things I love about fall:
1-My favorite colors appear, courtesy of Mother Nature
2-Annual drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon
3-Finally the end of HOT weather
4-The chill in the air
5-Layering
6-Anticipation of Halloween
7-New wardrobe!
8-Jer-Bear saying "I love autumn in the fall"

8 things on my wish list:
1-A permanent size 8 body
2-Peace in my heart
3-Heath, happiness, & security for all my friends and family
4-Plenty-o-money in my savings account
5-Granite countertops & under-mount sinks in all my bathrooms
6-That my car will last another 100k miles
7-A closer relationship with my nieces and nephews
8-World peace

People tagged:
Jodi, Heather, Amy, Lindsey, Shauna, & Mara

Birthdays!!

Two of my good friends recently celebrated their birthdays, and the rule is: you're a princess the entire week of your birthday. Shauna & Rob came from Sun Valley to celebrate Shauna's birthday and Kristin & Michael from St. George came and stayed for the weekend. The next week, it was Heather's birthday, so Stephanie & I took her out to dinner. It was so fun to catch up w/ these good friends. Happy Birthday, girls!!
UPDATE: Stephanie's birthday was Nov. 5th, so we celebrated hers too! The food at Epic was so beautiful, we had to take pictures!

Brian & Jordan visit Utah

Last week we had a rare and lovely opportunity to see our brother Brian and his son Jordan. Brian had to work at the SLC airport to resolve a "million-dollar problem," and Jordan attended a youth conference with Liahona Academy at Aspen Grove all week. Shaunna & Keith and I got to go out to dinner with Brian Wednesday night, then I had him over and we hung out with Jeremy. Brian even taught us how to install a new light fixture. Yeah - I feel so empowered now!!!
Friday afternoon we met up with Brian & Jordan and played a mean game of miniature golf at the new Liberty Land Fun Center in Lehi. Jordan beat us all. Personally, I blame the cold weather for my poor score...hehehe. It was so cold and windy this weekend! Winter is upon us! Anyway, then we went to dinner at Citris Grill in Draper, where Jeremy met us. We all had a great dinner, enjoying a great variety of appetizers and entrees. Then we hung out and talked until our movie started - City of Ember. It was a kids' adventure movie and pretty entertaining. We all enjoyed it. Jordan turned 15 on Thursday, so it was fun to be together for his birthday celebration.
Saturday morning, Jordan and Brian came to my house and we fixed scrambled eggs and pancakes and hung out awhile before they left for their next adventure before heading to the airport to return home to Seattle.
I'm so mad at myself for not taking more pictures while we were together - especially Friday. But at least we got a few Saturday morning.
It was so great to be with family and catch up. I couldn't believe how much Jordan had changed, but then again, I haven't seen him in probably 4-5 years and hadn't seen any pictures of him in a few years. Crazy how fast kids grow up. Jordan was our first nephew born 15 years ago, just before I got home from my mission. Such craziness... Anyway, great to see you guys!!!

Body Worlds 3 Exhibit at The Leonardo

On Saturday, Jeremy & I went to the Body Worlds exhibit, now at The Leonardo, located at Library Square, downtown Salt Lake City. It was fascinating! You can learn all about your own body by viewing the insides of these humans who have donated their bodies to science. You can also see cross-sections of all sorts of body parts, and they'll usually have one for a non-smoker and one for a smoker. What a difference! It's disgusting!

A big point of the exhibit is to help people "understand more about how their bodies work and how they can break down, so they are empowered to take a more active role in their own health choices." I know even I felt like taking better care of my heart after seeing the exhibit - I'm sure it would make a smoker want to quit even more.

The exhibit really make me wonder how people can see such a complex system that the human body is and NOT believe in a God who created it. Our bodies are spectacular in how we heal ourselves, how we function in optimal circumstances, and how we break down when not treated properly.

I highly recommend going! Tickets are $22, and the exhibit runs through November 15. It's very popular, so get your tickets right away. Just a tip, too...Saturday was very crowded, so if you can possibly go on a weekday, I recommend that.

Guest room is finally done! (well, almost)

After many weeks/months of preparation and shopping, my guest room is finally (sort of) complete! Jeremy hung the shelf last night and I hung the canvas art, so the "decor" is up. I made the headboard from MDF (micro density fiber = cheap, fake wood), brown paint, and lovely ultrasuede covered padding (similar to the headboard in my room). There's even a light rope on the back, for "effect" -- but I'm not sure how "effective" it really is... Jeremy & I framed out the window, which I really like the look of. What do you think?

I have a couple things I still need to accomplish: sewing the curtain panel, finding a coordinating nightstand, and sewing some pillows out of the brown & tan geometric patterned fabric used for the curtain panel.

Go ahead - RATE MY SPACE!!!

Annual Drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon

On Saturday, Jeremy and I took our annual drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, up and over Guardsman Pass, which leads into Park City. It was a gorgeous fall day with a light rain (providing rainbows), big clouds, and a cool breeze. Utah is so gorgeous!!!

Trip Home to the Tri-Cities

For the long Labor Day Weekend, we drove to our hometown of Tri-Cities, WA, to see Bruce and Mandee's new baby, Cooper. Shaunna Keith, Jeremy, & I had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. Jeremy & I stayed with life-long friends, Mara & Nate Kraus and their fun kids - plus her dad took us on a great boat ride on the Columbia River. We also did a tour of Kennewick & Richland, visiting all our old houses, including Grandma's, and taking pictures to document how they have changed since we lived there or Grandma and Grandpa lived there. Everything seemed smaller this trip, for some reason - it took less time to get places (than I remember, anyway), and it's grown. The cities have really made some great improvements to the infrastructure, gotten better stores, and spread out. Nice to see some things do change.
It was a great weekend. Thanks for hosting, Mara!!

Jeremy's Home Teaching Experience

These experiences just don't happen every day, so I wanted to share a good one that Jeremy had the other day. He & his home teaching companion had an appointment with a girl, and Jeremy was in charge of giving a spiritual message. He didn't have much time beforehand to prepare anything, but he was thinking about it as he was getting ready to go. He had the thought that he should share what we'd been reading in the Book of Mormon a day or two earlier, about Alma the Younger's conversion in Mosiah 27. So while they were there, they got caught up with her and then he shared his thoughts about how evil these guys were, going around, trying to destroy the church of God, doing some pretty bad stuff. And then an angel appeared to them and they went through this long conversion process, which required a lot of repenting. But even though they had been so bad, the Lord still loved them so much that he forgave their sins. Jeremy shared how amazing that was, that no matter what we do, the Lord loves us and is anxious forgive us - even if we keep making the same mistakes over and over. He bore his testimony to her and closed. The girl started crying and said "thank you so much - I really needed to hear that right now." Both Jeremy & his companion were teary eyed and they all felt the Spirit. She sincerely thanked them for coming and said she really enjoyed having the Priesthood in her home.
When he shared this experience with me, I thought it was pretty amazing and another testament that the Lord loves this girl because He saw to it that she got this message - which required a chain of events or circumstances: Jeremy had to read this chapter and focus on the message, then he had to be worthy to feel the Spirit touch him to share this message with this girl, and then the motivation to act on that prompting and visit this girl he was assigned to.
Heavenly Father truly does use other people as tools to relay messages to His children. I hope we can all help Him out with this important task of helping others, and by doing so, we can show our love for Him in return.

Announcing the arrival of Cooper Burt!!

Meet Cooper Merek Burt. He is my brand-spankin-new nephew, born today on 08/08/08. Isn't that so cool??? He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and is 19 1/2" long. Mommy & baby are both doing great!

Congratulations, Mandee & Bruce!!!! Can't wait to meet him when we come up for Labor Day Weekend!!

#1 song when I was born...

So I stole this site from my friend Amy. You can find out what song was #1 on the day you were born... mine (November 27) is "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family - very cool, but wow, that makes me feel really old!!
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
Please post a comment and tell me what yours is!

Broadway Rocks! with the Utah Symphony

Saturday night we got to go up to Deer Valley again - this time for a night of Broadway music by 4 featured vocalists. It was great! Rob Evan, who was the second lead in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway, in '97-'98, was one of them - we even got to talk to him afterwards and he pretended like he remembered us. :)

Thanks to Shaunna & Keith for volunteering at the ticket office at Deer Valley to get us all in for free! Pictured below are me, Jeremy, Shaunna, Keith, Jenny (my cousin's daughter), and her boyfriend, Hank ("The Vice"). It was another beautiful night up in the mountains.

Memory

I got this from Jodi's (Wiberg McDonald) blog...

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!

Overnighter at Mike's Cabin

Jeremy's sister Angie's fiance, Mike, had Jeremy's family up to his family's "cabin" for an overnighter Monday night. It is located about 20 miles outside of Oakley/Kamas in the Uinta Mtns and was absolutely gorgeous! We enjoyed steak & salmon for dinner, a dip in the hot tub under a star-filled sky, and each others' company. It was way too short. Then we went to Park City and rode the Alpine Coaster (FUN!). A fun day and a half, but Jeremy and I concluded that taking a Tuesday off work really sucks. We should've planned ahead and had a 4-day weekend!

Overnighter at Mike's Cabin

Utah Symphony at Deer Valley

I love summer concerts...can you tell? We love to go up to Deer Valley Ski Resort during the summer and see a concert with the Utah Symphony. Our good friends, Stephanie & Aaron, invited us to go up on the 18th for the 1812 Overture. We were so excited! Plus, Shauna & Rob happened to be in town from Sun Valley and were able to come too! It was so fun to hang out with them. The symphony sounded great, but my favorite part is just hanging out on blanket, eating snacks (and yummy DV food!), and enjoying the summer night air (which is much cooler than in SLC) with my sweetie and our buddies.

American Idol - Live!!

So I've been a huge American Idol fan the last few seasons, and this season did not disappoint!! Jeremy wasn't too keen on paying $60 to see them live (though he was great to watch it with me every week), so my friend FUN CORY came up from Provo and we went together. We had had such a fun time at the Kelly Clarkson/Clay Aiken concert a few years ago, I knew he was the perfect "concert buddy" for this show. He screamed like a little girl (just to entertain me, really)!

The concert was entertaining - each of the Top 10 winners sang 3 songs each, ending with David Cook, the winner of American Idol. The top 2 ("the Davids") sang a few extra songs, then all 10 did a song or two. This Salt Lake crowd was out of control!!! They screamed and cheered SO loud, several of the singers commented "wow, you guys are loud!!" David Archuleta, our hometown hero, sounded great and the fans just loved him. He even got a little emotional at all the love shown. LOL - Personally, I think it's rude to scream when a performer is singing. When s/he is done, hey, scream all you want - let 'em know you love their talent; but when they're singing, shut up and listen!! I assume this comes with maturity....who knows. Anyway, that's my two cents. It took our ears an hour or so to recover afterwards, but what a great concert. Good times!

Mara's Mommy Vacation at Sherrie's

Mara came to Utah (from the Tri-Cities, WA) to visit Saturday morning and stayed until Monday evening. She got a break from being a busy mom of 4 active kids, and I got a great visit with a great friend.

We hung out at the pool, ate yummy salads at Rumbi Island Grill and Bajio Grill, talked, shopped at local home decor stores (Rod Works, Interior Elements, Taipan Trading, and IKEA), talked, made some great CD mixes, got pedicures, talked, saw the chick-flick Made of Honor, and talked some more! It was way fun, and I'm sure she'll be a better mommy and her kids + hubby will appreciate her more because of her 3-day break. Thanks for sending her, Nate!! We loved all the catch-up time together!!!

Journey / Heart / Cheap Trick Concert

Friday night was one of those great summer nights at USANA Amphitheatre, where Journey headlined the concert tour with Heart and Cheap Trick. Journey's new lead singer is a Filipino named Arnel Pineda who was discovered on YouTube. What a great Cinderella story! This guy is totally livin' the dream!!! He has an amazing, beautiful voice!! We loved it. Heart was great too, tho' they didn't "rock" as much as they used to. The band was there, but they kept things more "acoustic" sounding.

Waiting for the show to begin

Arnel, doing his thang
Sherrie & Jeremy, rockin' out to Journey!!

Mara Kraus is Comin'.... to Town!!!

I'm so excited - my good friend since I was 6, Mara Kraus, is leaving her 4 adorable children to come have a relaxing weekend at my house (the Burt Hotel). She got a killer deal from Delta and jumped on it. Yeah, Mara gets a Mommy vacation!! We're looking forward to hangin' by the pool, shopping, talking, and eating - all without interruption!! Have fun kids, and go easy on your dad!

Celebrating Father's Day with Jeremy's Dad

Last week we finally coordinated schedules with Jeremy's Dad & Brenda to take him out for Father's Day. His restaurant of choice was Taggart's, up near Morgan. It was a beautiful night up in the mountains, and the restaurant's grounds were beautiful.

Thank you, Mark, for being such a wonderful Father to all of your children and for always being so upbeat and generous. You're a hard man to treat, but we love you!!!

Introducing the combined family of Angie & Dave Davidson!

A long-time friend of mine (since middle school) got remarried this weekend to a guy she met online 6 months ago who lives here in Salt Lake City. So she's moving from the Tri-Cities (WA) to Sandy, Utah, with two out of three of her kids. Kyson is choosing to stay behind and live with his dad, and Jesalan & Rylan are staying with their mom.

The wedding was beautiful and everyone was very happy. Lotsa smiles. And though it was about 95 degrees out, it was great to be there and connect with old friends.

Yay for Karaoke!!!

Last night my friend Candy & I went to sing some karaoke at our good buddy Mark's place. His beautiful dining room has been converted into a Karaoke Lounge, complete with big-screen TV, a huge karaoke selection (all contained on a laptop computer), huge speakers, and some comfy seating. It's great for any bachelor pad and creates fun for hours. Kimi D joined us and while she wouldn't hold a microphone, she sang along with us to all these great songs. Mark & I love to sing duets together (it all started with Endless Love on the singles cruise in 2001), so we are always looking for great duets.

Our selections last night included As Long as You're Mine (from Wicked), I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You (from Zorro), Dress You Up (by Madonna), The Boy from New York City, Tell Him (by Babs & Celine), I'll Be Seeing You (Linda Eder's version), The Crazy Bull (Candy & Mark knocked it out in Espanol!), Come What May (from Moulin Rouge), and many more.

Jeremy missed out - he was rocking out with his buddies at the Stone Temple Pilots concert.

It's always a good time at Mark's. Thanks for hosting!!

Girlfriends RULE!!!

Friday night I spend a fun evening at The Cheesecake Factory with two of my favorite relatives, Jenny & Shannon Brown. Jenny is the daughter of my oldest Brown cousin (my mom's brother's son) and Shannon is her brother Scott's wife. I just love all those Browns!! They are my family!!! Thanks to those family members who watched their kids so they could have a night out with me!

Anyway, I think everyone needs girlfriends - especially married people. Let's face it - your husband doesn't want to talk about stuff that your girlfriends will! I'm grateful to all my girlfriends who are there for me when I need them or just there to have fun with me!

I got my phone back - I'm whole again!!

So this is the wildest story!
On Thursday, May 8, nearly four weeks ago, I was at the Salt Lake City Airport, waiting for my flight to NYC. (The next day I'd be flying from NYC to the U.K. where I'd spend the next 12 days.) About 30 minutes before my flight left, I was sitting in Wolfgang Puck, having some food. I remember taking my phone out and checking the time and I must've set it on the counter I was sitting at. I headed to my gate and then realized I didn't have my phone on me, so I hustled back there, arriving not 6 minutes later than when I'd left. I asked the restaurant employees if anyone had turned in a phone. The manager let me use her cell phone to call my phone to see if anyone answered, but it went straight to voicemail. Whoever had it had turned it off or was using it.
Since I had to board my flight, there wasn't much I could do. The guy at the gate gave me Delta's Lost & Found number, assuring me they're really good about calling people back, then I found my seat on the plane. The lady next to me was pretty friendly so I explained what had just happened. She offered to let me use her phone and try calling it, but it just rang and rang now. I called and left a message for Jeremy, letting him know I'd lost my phone but that I'd check in once I arrived at Lyndee's.
The next day I kept calling my cell phone, as did Jeremy. No answer. It finally came time to go to the airport, so I called AT&T and deactivated my phone so I wouldn't be responsible for any phone calls. Of course that meant that anyone with the phone couldn't use it to find out who I was either...
Three days later, while staying at Cherina's in London, I got an email from my friend Stephanie, saying that someone had called her who had my phone! However, they had taken it to Toronto, Canada, of all places!!! She said they were going to ship it to her and then I could reimburse them once I returned from the U.K. I was very relieved!! Yet flabbergasted at how they found Stephanie's number in my phone since she's buried in my Address Book and wasn't in my recent calls. Oh well, at least he called someone who was helpful!!
When I got home from vacation, Stephanie still hadn't received the phone, so I asked her for the guy's phone number in Canada. She hadn't written it down, so she had to call T-Mobile to get the number from when he'd called her on May 11th. So, after missing the phone for two full weeks, I called and spoke to Mike. It turns out it was his father who had found my phone. Apparently, he thought he was doing me a favor by taking it home with him to Canada (as opposed to leaving it there for some thug to find and keep). Mike has not yet shipped it, but was willing to, once we could arrange for him to be paid. I asked him to ship it COD, and he said he would go the next Monday (because by then, the post office was closed).
On Tuesday, Mike called to tell me that COD was not an option for international shipping and asked how I'd like it shipped now. I asked him to ship it express mail ($22), and he said he'd go again the next day. On Wednesday I got a call from Mike at a UPS store. They were able to take my credit card over the phone and ship it. Plus I got a tracking number! Yeah! A week later it has finally arrived!!!! Oh Happy Day!
Bless his dad's heart for trying to do the "right thing," but I sure wish he would have turned it in to Lost & Found (even though they never returned my phone calls). Apparently it was because he's old and doesn't speak English.

Vacation to the United Kingdom

I've got to learn how to do this blogging thing so I can be cool like all my "Mom" friends...

So I just returned from a fabulous trip to the United Kingdom with my friend, Lyndee. We visited London for 3 days, then toured around Scotland (based in Glasgow) for 3 days, then saw lots of the northern coast of Northern Ireland. We saw such beautiful places, lots of cool, old castles, and met some fun people - all with fabulous accents. If I can figure out how to post some pictures, I will. Otherwise, check out my complete gallery from the trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sherrieburt/UKHolidayMay2008