I’ve figured out how Thurm & I are going to make our millions. We are going to become Bamboo Farmers!!! We will just have to move to Oregon and buy a lot of land and grow Bamboo. The genius is in the simplicity. Bamboo is the next cotton & wood put together. And we’re getting in on the ground floor! Who wants to be an investor?

In other news, I just had a four day vacation in Bear Lake with my family. It was four fun days of the four S’s: Swimming, Sun, Sand & Snacking! I could do without the sand. My niece organized the “Amazing Race: J Family Version.” We received clues and raced to complete challenges which included a round of mini golf, eating a raw onion, putting on a skit (per usual- anytime either of my parents perform some sort of pantomime, skit, singing, etc. hilarity ensues. Please ask me about the Blackfoot Fair karaoke machine incident of 2001), swimming the length of the pool, digging in the sand for hidden money, and eating a bowl of ice cream. Overall a great trip and I didn’t get sunburned too badly.

Favorite Weekend Quote: 5-yr old Carter (poking Uncle Jared with the orange flag while riding in a ski boat): “Um, excuse me, I think it’s time for me to go back to my family.”

Thurm starts teaching Wednesday. He seems pretty excited about it all. Which I’m SOOO glad about. I have a week left at my job, which I’m SOOOO glad about. I’ve been too busy wrapping up our life in SLC and Thurm starting his new job that I haven’t worried about my new job in Wendover, whatever that might be. I’m just excited to be able to walk to work : ) How great is that!

Yesterday Thurm & I took a trip to Walmart to purchase a small paint roller. We bought one that was only 4 inches long because we are fixing a hole in our wall. During check-out, the cashier, a 17-year old guy, looks seriously at Thurm and says "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but this (referring to the small paint roller) is going to take you all day!" haha. Its the little things that make life great : )

Wendover or Bust...

Thurm got a job teaching English at Wendover High School. We are moving there September 1st. I'm still unsure as to my employment, but a few options are in the works. Its taken me a week to wrap my head around living in a town made up of 5,000 people, all of whom work for the five casinos. Two hours from anywhere... in the middle of the desert...but I am actually warming to the idea of taking a 9 month sabbatical from the city life. It will be nice to get away from traffic. We can walk to work and go home for lunch : )
I am hoping that Wendover will just be a 9 month stint, but it could possibly turn into a 2-3 year stint. But it is going to be a great school for Thurm to get his feet wet in. Small classrooms, a laid-back principal, possible coaching positions. I think he is really going to like it there.
I'm sure my first week there I'll have goals set of how I'm going to spend my 9 months. I am FOR SURE taking up running. Nothing like a run in the desert. I think I'm going to photograph the entire town and all 5,000 people. Thurm & I talked about taking up shooting glass bottles with shot guns. Thurm thinks he might take up gambling. I could cocktail waitress in the evenings. The possibilities are endless. I need to re-name my blog www.wendovernatalie.blogspot.com.

Ahhh Wendover....Pop 5,000

City Statistics below:

http://www.city-data.com/city/West-Wendover-Nevada.html

Nate & Misty's Wedding Pics

This is the first time I've taken the entire wedding photos. I've done engagement. And I've helped with a wedding. But this is the first time I've done the WHOLE thing by myself. I was a little nervous, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks to my little bro, Nate, for trusting me with his wedding photos.  

See more pictures at my photography blog-

www.natalieheiner.blogspot.com

Glen Hansard Live at Sundance!

These are the people from the movie "Once" singing at Sundance. Awesome : )

http://oncethemovie.com/

This is a great movie. Glen Hansard is the guy with the guitar. In real life he is a singer/songwriter and they made a movie showcasing his music. I loved it. GO SEE IT!

The pictures below of the graffiti are of a building downtown. This guys bought it to tear it down and build some condos in its place. But before that he invited local artist to come and paint it inside and out. The whole building is covered with artwork, its pretty cool. He got the idea from a person in NYC that did that with a building they were destroying. And the artists liked the idea of having a temporary medium. On Saturday my little bro and fiance came down and I took some of their bridal pictures in front of the building. They turned out pretty cool.

We went to the Jazz Festival Tonight and found Thurm's hair twin. Don't be fooled, this is not Thurm's hair. This man uses better product and possibly blow dries.


We saw Dianne Reeves sing... she has a huge, beautiful voice!

A Before Picture of My Hair

Sugarhouse Park

Hanging Out

Ward Parade
Honest Abe and Honest Thurm
Kassie, our cute neighbor
Playing the Guitar

Swimming with the Boys

Fireworks at Sugarhouse Park!

“Ohhh, say can you see”

4th of July was great! We woke up at 8:30 to attend our neighborhood parade (50 kids on bikes). It ended at a little neighborhood park two blocks from our house, where they had breakfast waiting for us. I lead the star spangled banner for the crowd… does it really need leading? We watched our neighbor’s little girl for an hour at the park while he ran an errand. Kassie, the little girl, and Thurm had fun throwing water balloons at each other.
Later we went swimming at Thurm’s brother’s apartment. I took lots of swimming pictures. We ate dinner at “Eat-A-Burger” with Thurm’s brothers and our friend Amy. We watched “A Street Car Called Desire,” which, of course, was a great movie. Classic movies always are. There was lot of lying around time, relaxing, napping, etc. We went to Sugarhouse Park to watch the fireworks. I’ve done this in previous years, but never thought about traffic because we just walked to the park from my apartment. But traffic is a BIG consideration when choosing where to watch fireworks. The fireworks ended at 10:30 and we didn’t get home till mid-night.

Recent Events:

Thurm squished a HUGE, FAT spider in the bathroom and immediately after the squish, 40+ baby spiders crawled from underneath the tissue!!! AHHHHHH!!! A NIGHTMARE! I still have the heebie-jeebies thinking about it.

I rear-ended a car this morning. Well, not really, I just tapped her bumper, but I was still scared that she’d freak out. Stopped at a stoplight, I was tweezing my eyebrows in the rear-view mirror and not realizing that the pressure of my foot on the break was lessening. I bumped her, we looked at our cars, nothing happened, so we went on our way. But it still made me panic.

Danalin's Wedding

Millcreek a few weeks ago

The Beardless Wonder

Thurm shaved off his beard and is smooth as a baby's bum. Its been traumatic for both of us. Traumatic for me because I don't know this hairless man who claims to be my husband. Traumatic for him because I can't let it go and I keep making comments about it.

My best friend, Danalin, got married on Saturday in the Logan Temple. Thursday I threw her a small bachelorette party and Saturday drove up to Logan early to take pictures of her getting ready. Our other BFF, Heather, did the hair and make-up. I'll post pictures later.

I missed my 10-year class reunion to go to Danalin's wedding. Not that I was the least bit sad. But my best friends from High School, Deven & Emily, went together. This is a big deal because they haven't talked for about 8-years and left on bad terms. I was sort of bummed to miss out on any drama that ensued, but Deven has promised to give me the run-down.

My favorite subject