tagged

Rusted Sun has been tagged by our good friends stuckihouse. I have been quite slacked in writing back but here it goes...

Six things people don't know about me.

1. Lonnie and I usually tell people that we were set up on a blind date. That is really only part of the truth. We actually met through an online dating service called LDS Promise. On this site, you fill out a really long survey designed by a couple BYU professors. They then match you with people they think will be compatible on several different levels.
We are both still kind of embarrassed that we met on the internet and when we do tell the whole truth we like to emphasis that we met on the internet, but we actually got to know each other and fell in love in person and rarely sent each other emails after our first date.

2. When I was six, after some serious thought, I told my mom that I had thought she was the Tooth Fairy but after examining her closet and not finding the required Tooth-Fairy-Outfit, I decided that she was really not the real Tooth Fairy.

3. I speak fluent Spanish. I love to speak in Spanish and sometimes can't find words in English that I know how to say in Spanish. Being in Spanish speaking countries and around Spanish speaking people makes me very happy. But it was not always so......I learned to speak Spanish at the same time I learned English (as a child in Colombia). But I lost it all once we moved back to the United States. As a matter of fact, I got a C in High School Spanish and never really learned to say anything other than "Camarero, dos Coca-colas, por favor", which phrase I have never used in any Latin American county. My father claims that the only reason I even passed my High School Spanish class was because I had the same High School Spanish teacher that he had when he attended High School, and the teacher loved my father.

4. When I was in High School, I was a drama geek and I was Vice President of the Speech Team, although I was never really good at either. I mostly just liked the excitement of the theater and thought the Speech people were smart. Only once did I have a staring role in a play. I was Alice, in a musical version of Alice in Wonderland at a local community theater during my senior year in High School.

5. I rode my bike to Haiti when I was on my mission in the Dominican Republic. The guard at the obscure boarder crossing asked us if we were angles. I also walked to Slovenia from Italy one Sunday afternoon with a friend while our hosts were taking a nap. I went back again later that night with our host and my sister so she too could have a Slovenia stamp in her passport.

6. I was born on Staten, Island, NY but I lived in Bogotá, Colombia from the time I was about 5 months old until I was 5 years old. We moved to San Pedro, CA (where my dad grew up and most of his family lived) two weeks before Christmas and I was extremely worried that Santa Claus wouldn't know where I had moved, so I wrote him several letters explaining that we would be at my grandparents house' on Christmas morning and if he saw it fit to reward me for good behavior that year he should make sure to not deliver the gifts to our home in Bogotá.

So I get to tag people, is that how this works? So I tag Willa, Tom, Dobbs Fam, Lester Bunch, and Persian Babies.

I, of course, have much more juicy things that people don't know about me. But I am not going to reveal them on the internet where everyone in the world will know my deep dark secrets. If you want to know the real juicy stuff, you will have to call or visit. :)

phone conversation with Sam

For those of you who don't know Sam, he is my 5 year old nephew. He lives in Salt Lake and I miss seeing him at least a couple times a week. We still try to talk on the phone here is out latest conversation......

Me: Hi Sam. Hey guess what I am going to have a baby!

Sam: Really how many are you going to have?

Me: Well actually I am going to have two. Twins.

Sam: I already knowed that you can have more than one baby at a time.

Me: Oh really you already knew that women can have more than one baby at a time.

Sam: Yeah, I already knowed that. It is a good thing that you aren't going to get orphans.
(Sam has a recent facination with

citizen schools

I am working part time for a non-profit program called Citizen Schools. I work with students at Sharpstown Middle School. They are strong, wonderful, resilient kids who are looking for a bright future.

I help coordinate an after-school program that invites community professionals to volunteer and teach apprenticeships. The kids are learning about solar car engineering, cooking, photography, debate, banking and community organizing, etc.




The photography volunteer and I took a small group of the students on a photography field trip to the Buddhist Temple across the street from the school.

testing the water



If anyone is looking for a great volunteer oppourtunity where you can share your skills with inter-city middle school age kids look into Citizen Schools. They are in various cities throughout CA, MA, NJ, NM, NC and TX.

-Alisa

wally and norma

Last weekend, Lonnie and I went to California for my grandfather's 90th birthday party. My grandparents have 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and a growing number of great grandchildren. I have always loved my paternal grandparents. They are kind and loving to each other and everyone around them.

My family gathered photos of my grandparents' life, and I put them together into a slide show. It was great to see photos of them as children, then as young couple very much in love, through the years raising their children, going on a mission, exploring the Holy Land, and loving their grandchildren.

They are wonderful amazing people. Through the course of our lives, Lonnie and I hope to contribute to our family in much the same way as my Grandpa and Grandma Allred have.

-Alisa

two years

On Sunday at church our Relief Society meeting was about marriage. After reading a beautiful story about a couple married for over 50 years the teacher asked if we had ever been strengthened by a trial in marriage. Thinking about how our struggle to have children has brought us closer together, I wanted to share. Thinking that I normally can pull together coherent comment, I raised me hand. Unfortunately Sunday was not a regular day, I was in the middle of an infertility-drug-induced-hormone -roller-coaster and it was the day before my anniversary.

I started to say that Lonnie is not a romantic man. He doesn't bring me flowers, he doesn't make plan romantic plans for our anniversary, without much insistence, etc... Then I just started blubbering and crying which I believe by most was interpreted as meaning that I was sad that I wasn't married to a Don Juan. Or that I was sad that Lonnie didn't have another honeymoon trip planned for our anniversary. I kept talking but I can't really even remember what I was saying, blah, blah, blah.....

What I wanted to say is that more important and more essential to our marriage, Lonnie is my strength when I am weak. He is my shield from pain and my defender from my own self deprecation. When it really counts Lonnie is always the perfect husband.

If I want flowers, I can buy them myself. But after two years of being married to Lonnie I am a kinder, more considerate, more confidant person.

Two years ago Lonnie and I were married in Manti, Utah. It was a breezy and beautiful day. People often say that their wedding day was the best day of their life. I can't really say that, not that the day wasn't amazing. We were surrounded by family and friends and everything went as planned. To be honest I was in a daze most of the day. I was so happy and giddy to be married to Lonnie that I floated through the whole day. But it wasn't the happiest day of my life. The happiest days of my life have been every day since then.

I can't imagine being happier, more fulfilled, better appreciated, more respected or more loved than I am with Lonnie. As a 30-year-old getting married I had expected more of an adjustment to marriage. But some days I can't remember life without Lonnie at my side, building my confidence, filling my spirit and strengthening my heart.

-Alisa

lake powell slideshow

lake powell with the mercers

Last week, we spent several days at Lake Powell with the Mercer family. I grew up spending many days at the lake waterskiing, kneeboarding, and wakeboarding. We spent enough time waterskiing that I have often joked that I waterskiied before I was born (in my mother's womb, although it's probably not likely since I was born in April).

When I was growing up, my family would make at least one trip to Lake Powell every year, but recently we hadn't been on a family trip to Lake Powell for several years. So when my parents and siblings purchased a timeshare on a houseboat, we all got excited for a trip back to Lake Powell. We filled up the houseboat and enjoyed a wonderful time together. And Alisa experienced her first trip to Lake Powell.

-Lonnie

funny faces.....

Eden making funny faces.


Eden and Logan

We had a great visit in Pueblo, Colorado with my cousin Heidi and her family. Thank you so much Heidi and Brain for hosting us at your lovely house!
-Alisa

the stars at night...

We went to an Astros game on Saturday night with some friends from church. They had company tickets and we sat right behind the backstop (well ok we were about 15 rows behind the backstop, but I still flinched when the ball hit the net). I think I could really enjoy baseball if I always had such good seats and good company.

We also learned something special about Texas, after singing the typical 7th inning "Take me out to the Ball Game", everyone continued standing and sung with even more energy "Deep in the Heart of Texas". I didn't record the event because I was in such awe I couldn't get my phone out. So I have posted someone else's record of the regular event. But next time I will be prepared.

We felt like we were in Peewes Big Adventure.
Yes, we really are in Texas.

We didn't bring the real camera (only the camera photo) so the photos are pretty bad. But posts with photos are so much better. :)

The view from our seats!

At the end of the game.

this I believe

I love NPR. I especailly love the "This I Believe" segment.
This is a great one about adoption. Click here. Then click "Listen" to the radio segment.