Bedding Bandits

Layne and I had a lovely weekend starting with a couples massage at Massage Envy Saturday morning. The only difference between that and a regular massage is that they open the doors between 2 rooms. Layne and I were waiting in the relaxation grotto for our therapists to come get us when in stepped a 22 yr. old Nordic goddess. Long blond hair, fair flawless skin, perfect physique. In a honeyed voice she called Layne's name and they began discussing what areas he needed concentration on. I sat back imaging what kind of muscle bound Adonis would sweep into the room and pronounce himself my masseuse, when suddenly my stupor was disturbed by a raspy voice calling my name. I turn to the doorway to see...

Ok, I have to pause for a moment here. First of all, for what I'm about to say I blame in part to my undergraduate study of Psychology. We always did those word association tests where someone shows you a picture and you say the first word that comes to your mind. Well, call it habit, but I still do that in my head sometimes. So I'm going to share with you the first word that came into my head when I saw my masseuse, but I must warn that it may paint me to be either very shallow or judgmental or both, so please don't think me an awful person.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, I turned to the doorway to see...the troll! Bless this woman's heart, I'm afraid my initial reaction at her appearance could be blamed in part on the strapping Sweedish lad I had envisioned. Before I describe her, let me preface by saying that she was EXTREMELY nice, and definitely knew how to massage. Its just a shame that the texture of her hands was akin to a Brill-O pad (not to mention her longish unkempt fingernails), and she refused to use adequate lotion on my skin which created the sensation of being scrubbed down post radioactive waste exposure. The sound of her voice betrayed about 20 years of chain smoking. I'd probably guess her age at around 46, and she was about 5'3"ft., but appeared shorter due to moderate scoliosis or just really bad posture. She had bad teeth and a mullet on top and erred on the side of not enough (if any) makeup. She also had a nasty, rattling, croupy cough which interrupted the sounds of the Peruvian rain forest throughout the session. It became especially bothersome when I was on my back and got the cough in the face and smelled the breath! YIKES!! Try mixing in a Tic-Tac sister! When she wasn't coughing, she was giving me tips on all the great things I could find at the Dollar Store if I knew where to look. I think I've mentioned it before, but I don't like small talk during a massage. Anyhow, in that moment when I first laid eyes on this woman and my word association of "the troll" popped in, I finally understood why they chose the name "Massage Envy" for their company, and as I watched Layne with the poster girl of therapy, I felt myself coming down with a SEVERE case of it!
The psychologist in me has to wonder why this is. Why should I consciously or subconsciously care what this person looks like? Am I just shallow, or is there something else going on? What I came to conclude is that my reaction would have been the same if I visited a dentist that had bad teeth, a Dr. with poor personal hygiene, a hairdresser with an ugly do, or an obese fitness instructor. When we seek professional services, we want our professionals to emulate the benefits of their trade or at least present themselves in a manner that makes their customers feel comfortable. Is that far fetched or am I just completely shallow?

Yesterday was like Christmas in July (almost) when my very own St. Nick brought home a trunk full of goodies from work. Layne has really enjoyed working for Select Comfort so far, which makes me happy, but what makes me even more happy is discounted stuff! Every so often at the plant they end up with an excess of non-bed items (pillows, bedding, blankets, etc.) and have to get rid of them. First crack goes to the office staff, and yesterday Layne picked out a bunch of stuff. Among the things he brought home were: 2 Queen size 310 thread count sheet sets with pillow cases (retail $140 each, Layne paid $15), a queen size feather down comforter (retail $300, Layne paid $20), 3 different kinds of pillows
(retail $50 each, Layne paid $15), a summer weight queen size feather comforter (retail $200, Layne paid $20) and 2 gigantic rolling duffel bag suitcases with the handle which could each easily fit an adult inside (retail $120 each, Layne paid $20).
Thats about $800 of top quality bedding and merchandise that we only paid $100 for! It was so fun to strip off the sheets, pillows and comforter that we thought were nice before, and outfit our bed with all new stuff. In the future, when these employee closeouts happen, Layne will let me know in advance so we can give our family and friends a chance to get in on the action. Let me know if you'd be interested so I can share the good fortune next time! Few things make me quite as cheery as getting a really good deal!

Ear-itable

Yesterday stunk plain and simple. For me it started on Wed. night at mutual. We had a pool party with the girls and actually had a blast, as you can see by the picture of some of us doing the "Martha Washington" with our hair. However, during one of my trips off the diving board (trying to mount the inflatable Alligator) I landed hard with my head to the side, and when I came up out of the water, I could no longer hear out of my right ear. I figured I had just gotten a lot of water in it and I would use some Swim Ear drops when I got home. Well, the swim ear was no help at all. Neither was the hydrogen peroxide or olive oil. I decided to sleep on it and see if it cleared up over night. Unfortunately there wasn't much sleeping going on and at one point during the night I was seconds away from ripping my ear off in a fit of frustration and desperation. My remedy was to turn to my good friend WebMD for help. All signs pointed to needing to see a Dr. so I scoped out the closest clinic that accepts our insurance and went back to bed to toss and turn for a while longer. First thing in the morning after dropping Layne off at work (our Honda was being repaired) I called 10 different clinics to find one that had an appointment slot that wasn't 3 weeks away. Don't you hate that? I agreed to see a P.A. at 11:15 so off I went. He was nice enough (though very young and not extremely friendly), and after looking in my ear determined that my ear drum was very red and angry looking, and my ear needed to be thoroughly cleaned in order to see the damage and clear out any infection. And so began the 'Ear-rigation' process. For those of you who have never had this experience, allow me to describe it for you.
First I was dressed in a poncho and the nurse filled what looked like a bedpan with water, peroxide and some other stuff (probably eye of newt, toe of frog...). She then filled a gigantic syringe with her brew and whilst I held a plastic cup to ear, she proceed to SHOOT this stuff into my brain via the ear canal at terminal velocity. I swear I even felt it hitting the back of my eyeball. My only warning was, "You may feel some pressure and discomfort. Oh, and you may get dizzy and pass out." Great! Sounds like fun! Not only did we play this fun game time and time again in my right ear, but also in my left! The whole process took about an hour and a half. All the while the nurse would ask me how I was feeling, though I'm sure she could tell by the lack of any color in my face that I was swooning. She told me to think happy thoughts. Though I had planned on pondering the plight of the American Indian, I decided to give her advice a try. About 500mL into my bad ear however, I passed out. Good thing I was already sitting because I went down like a sack of hammers. I'm pretty sure that was my first experience passing out without the aid of drugs. They let me lay on the table for 10 minutes to recoup before we started up again. While I lay there listening as a nauseating version of 'Jumping Jack Flash' arranged for piano and flute wafted into the room, I wondered if that was what it felt like to be drunk. I've never felt so dizzy/disoriented in my life. I felt like Mrs. No Depth Perception from the old SNL sketch. If I had eaten breakfast it would have most certainly paid us all a visit.

After the flushing, I was given a prescription and was escorted out (they were in a hurry to get to lunch). I didn't make it very far before I had to sit down. My head was still literally and metaphorically "swimming". I made it to the in house pharmacy to pick up my prescription and had to sit down again. I made it to my car where I had to lean my seat back for 15 minutes before my attempt at driving. I've never had to focus so hard on the bumper in front of me before. It was a long, slow and scary trip home. When I got home I ralphed, and nearly fell down the stairs when I went to get the phone to call Layne. After that I ate some strawberries and grapes, had a tall glass of water (taking great care to keep it clear of my ears) and sacked out for 3 hours. I felt MUCH better when I woke up and was able to pick Layne up from work without swerving into oncoming traffic. I now know first hand just how much the delicate inner ear vestibular system controls our balance and spatial orientation! I'll never take it for granted again.

Oh, the other fun part of the day was the bill for our car repairs (a mortgage payment) and instructions that we REALLY need 4 new tires (another mortgage payment). Yippee!! With gas prices the way they are, you'd think the car would be making a better case for itself to stick around, especially since it's heard me threaten repeatedly to trade it in for a Vespa or this early model Segway.

Five years older and wiser too...

...Well, at least one year older. I've never had a hard time with getting older before, but 26 was a little weird, being that the first quarter of my life is now officially behind me. It didn't help that on my big day a relative wished me a happy 30th (in all seriousness). I can hear a lot of you right now chuckling to yourselves at how silly I must sound, but please don't mistake my musings for some kind of quarter life crisis. There is still a lot of candy left in this pinata! Actually my birthday on Saturday was probably the best birthday I've had in many years, because I got to celebrate it with my family. That hasn't happened since before we got married. Not only did I get to be with my immediate family (minus Dane who was at EFY) but also my wonderful extended family as well. We went to the temple together, took pictures, had a big lunch, and a big party that evening with cake and ice cream, music, dancing, gifts and a few hundred people etc. Ok, well the party wasn't for me, but who am I to quibble over minor details? :) Saturday was also a special day for my cousin Jessica Williams (now Jessica Fisher) who was sealed to her husband in the St. George temple.

Jessica, Colton, & cousins

Before leaving town for the wedding, Layne took my to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday with just the two of us on Thursday, and bought me beautiful flowers. Friday after work we picked up Kim and drove down to St. George and met up with my family.

Layne and I were very privileged to be able to attend the sealing ceremony Saturday morning. It was the first sealing of a relative that I've been to since my own and it was wonderful. It was also the first time I had ever been inside the oldest operating temple in the church today. There are a lot of special things about this temple. It was the only temple completed during Brigham Young's 30 year tenure as president. It was the first temple where endowments for the dead were performed. It was the temple where our founding fathers twice appeared to Wilford Woodruff asking why their temple work had not yet been performed on their behalf. It is also where my grandma and grandpa Church were sealed, and we certainly felt their presence there.

After the sealing and pictures there was a big family luncheon followed by family napping. What better gift could I get!? -- besides the thoughtful gifts from my family of course. After our naps we went out to eat and to the reception which was beautiful. We did have a little scare when our car wouldn't start Saturday evening and all signs pointed to the alternator. For a while we were worried that we wouldn't get in to see a mechanic until Monday. Fortunately we got a jump and were able to get it to an Auto Zone where they diagnosed a bad battery. PHEW! That would have been a disaster! We took off Sunday afternoon after attending a local sacrament meeting and made great time getting home. All in all a great weekend. Thanks to everyone for the calls, emails, gifts and wishes that made my birthday special!

Bad Spelling Makes Me [sic]

I don't know that anyone who didn't major in English isn't a teacher or doesn't have a firm grasp of Latin will find any humor in my post title, but I thought it was pretty funny. Dad, that one is for you! So I witnessed an incident of pretty horrific spelling today and thought I'd share. For the record, I am not the worlds BEST speller, but I do consider myself to be relatively competent and more importantly, careful, when it comes to spelling. I saw an email that had been sent to a friend that I work with in which a relative was describing the fun plans they had for the upcoming "weakend" particularly on "Saterday". There would be "shoping", children's "swiming" lessons, trying a new "resteront" etc. Needless to say I was mildly tickled by it.

This narrative paled in comparison however, to this letter that I found on the Internet. This is a real letter that was sent from Mississippi to Boston. It sat in a Boston post office for several weeks while the post master and his clerks puzzled over the direction written on the envelope (which was sealed with something that looked like tamerack or hemlock gum), until in a moment of sheer inspiration the post master connected the dots.

“tu doktur B—— tuth-doktur in bostun masychoosits"

Dr. B--- was a well known local dentist! The letter was sent on its way but is currently on display along with the envelope at the University of Virginia Alderman Library. The letter had no capital letters and no punctuation whatsoever. The letter read as follows (names have been omitted):

“ dere Sur wen i wos in bostun last spring u sodderd up a holler tuth wich aked orlmity bad miss L—— has got tu teth wich is orlso holler——sum konsideribil holes in um jest as u remembur wos in mine afore u soderd um now as mister V—— our kounti taksgathur is a kalkerlatin to put fur ure diggins toomorrer, i arst him tu korl an git sum of the soddir so i ken plug um up, kos sheze a-yellin like a bar kort in a trap—getin no slepe nites no moer than a skaird paintur mister V— wil pa u for the soddir wen he gits it ure servunt n— L— miss L— woad like a tuth skrubir as she karnt git none nerer than Nachese hante no wa tu send thar orlso she wood like tu no if ule cend sumthin fur her gooms wich is soar mister V— wil pa u fur ure trubbel wen he korls for the sodir, kos i gin him the munny tu.”

How great is that? I can just hear this woman's ancestors now, "Oh wut a beeutiful wuden horse, yes, of koarse I'll sine for it!" Maybe this guy is her husband. This whole subject reminded me of one of my favorite sitcom episodes in the history of television on the show Fraiser called "War of the Words". The following are a few clips from that episode, in which Fraiser's son is competing in the National Spelling Bee and wins, but afterward is disqualified because a video taken by the father of the rival child shows Fraiser mouthing the letters as Freddy spelled the final word. I tried to find the clip where they discuss spelling stance, "bend at the knees, spell with ease", or Nile's lecture to Freddy about trying not to get too caught up in the "glitz and glamor of the Bee". But these are the only 2 clips I could find. They're both great. Enjoy, and happy spelling!

The Best Things...

Yesterday was a special day, and even though I'm a day late in actually posting about it, I wanted to make sure to pay a brief tribute to my dad Timothy John Flaherty! There is a lot I could say, but I think a picture is worth a thousand words, so in this case, I'd just like to share some pictures of a great father that seem to say it all! I love my daddy!






I'd also like to pay tribute to my wonderful dad-in-law Ray Nelson. He is amazing and one of my favorite people in the world. He was and is a wonderful and supportive father to Layne in spite of some major health challenges he's faced in his life. I love his sense of humor and how he knows how to have fun and enjoy life (as evidenced by the cane he pimped out for Christmas). Ray was probably the toughest football player EA ever had and he also happens to be a gourmet. Thanks for bringing Layne up to be an honorable man and a worthy priesthood holder!


Also, there is no Grandfather's day, but I had two of the best grandfathers in the world and wanted to honor them as well.

Howard Bailey Church

Robert Reed Flaherty

So now that you've just seen the best father & grandfathers in the world, it's time for a few more of the things I think are the best.


When Layne and I think about juice, there is only one word association that fits the bill anymore, and that is "Simply". Everyone has seen them in stores or seen the commercials, but this stuff is the real deal, and the only juice I know of that is 100% pure fresh squeezed with nothing added. We fell in love with the Simply OJ years ago, but since then have expanded our horizons to include the lemonade, limeade, grapefruit (my new favorite) and apple. The apple juice will totally throw off your entire perception of apple juice because it actually tastes like a an apple!! Of course, thats because it IS apple, not that High Top urine colored watery stuff. BRAVO Simply!

Walmart: $2.95ish




For my wedding I was given the magical gift of a microfiber kitchen towel by my good friend Melissa. No other towel or cloth stands up in comparison. If you haven't discovered microfiber towels/cloths (not the cheap knock off ones) you're missing out. These scratch free, lint free, chemical free towels can absorb up to 7 times their weight in liquid, and trap dirt and dust and won't let go! Their also safe to use on fine crystal, china and silverware. There is nothing I hate more than grabbing a towel to dry something and it not absorbing the water but just spreading it around. It's a simple thing I know, but I'm tellin' ya, microfiber is the way to go.

Bed, Bath & Beyond: $13 for a pack of 3

I discovered the saving grace that is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser in North Carolina when everything in our house was white (cabinets, counter tops, base boards, fireplace and mantel, porcelain sinks, doors etc.) One time in particular I was trying to clean a wax stain from my mantel where a red candle had dripped. NOTHING would get it out...until Mr. Clean came into my life. After that, we used them for all sorts of things including permanent marker on the wall (don't ask). I could list all the amazing things it has cleaned for me, but suffice it to say that I have yet to meet a mess it couldn't handle. I wish I had discovered these earlier!

Walmart: $2 for 2 pack


This belt spinner may seem silly to some of you, but I think its cool. I never knew what to do with belts before this thing. I would either lop them over the closet bar or maybe latch them over the hook of a normal hanger, but then it would hang crooked and muddle up the order of things. Layne actually bought this one and its the bomb for belts. Simple I know, but it saves closet space and hey, who doesn't need more of that?

Bed, Bath & Beyond: $7



Last but not least, an entry from the Swiffer Family. The Swiffer Duster and the Swiffer Mop. I L-O-V-E these products!! My house gets so dusty so fast and I HATE mopping the floor with a traditional mop and bucket of water, so naturally I am BFF with Swiffer's dusters and mops. Again, no new news here, but my house wouldn't stay clean on a daily basis without them! They indeed give cleaning a whole new meaning.

I get the generic refills for both, reasonably priced.


On Saturday, Layne and I went through the Jordan River Temple with my cousin Jessica Williams who is getting married this weekend in St. George. It's the first time I've ever been through with a first timer that I know. Even though there were about NINE other first timers in the same session, it was very special and I'm so proud/happy for her to have made it to the temple. Congratulations you guys!

STP

Last night Layne and I went to see the Stone Temple Pilots in concert at the E Center. The tickets were only $10 and STP was a favorite band of Layne's youth and is still today.

Even for $10 we had great seats and I would have paid that just to hear them perform 'Plush' live. It was awesome. In spite of their age, the band sounded really good, though I've never seen a front man smoke 6 cigarettes while performing. We ended up leaving early for a few reasons.

1) It was a week night and we both had big early days at work today. It seems like every concert we go to, the headlining band takes longer and longer to actually take the stage. The tickets said the show starts at 8:00, but the Pilots didn't take the stage until 9:30. Ouch. Maybe we're just getting older and don't like to stay out late anymore.

2) We had both lost our hearing after an hour.

3) We only paid $10

4) After about 45 minutes, the entire row in front of us starting smoking pot. There were 3 joints being passed up and down the row and it was becoming quite overwhelming. Layne was starting to get concerned that if they asked him to do his new hire drug screen today, that something might show up if we didn't stop inhaling 2nd hand pot and it would turn into this situation:



The moment illegal drugs start getting passed around, this white Mormon girl suddenlybecomes as out of place as a drag queen at a tractor pull! We had a good time though. It's nice to get out and do things during the summer. Did I say summer? I'm actually not sure about that. Most of the day yesterday is was 48 degrees out and the mountains got a fresh coat of snow. Does everyone else's calendar show June 12th or did I miss something? Just wondering.

Mattress Man & Wal Mart Woes

Yesterday was Layne's first big day at his new job as a materials planner for Select Comfort! Everyone knows what the first day at a new job is like. You get to bond with the HR person over W2's and benefits forms and get your security badges etc. Then she ships you off to the IT guy for a phone number and an email address. After that its off to the races starting with a tour of the facility (which you'll surely get lost in more than once), meeting all the people you're going to be working with (whose names you can't possible remember) and getting a crash course in systems and processes along the way (which take some people YEARS to master). Lets just say it, the first day at a new job (probably more like month depending on the field) is just plain exhausting! You have to concentrate a lot harder to remember and absorb things, and of course, you want to make a good first impression, so there is a lot more pressure to be your best self and be on your A-game. What Select Comfort doesn't yet realize (to steal a phrase from Layne's sports banter) is that they just acquired an MVP for a late round draft pick and a bag of balls. I'm proud of my mattress man! Good luck getting adjusted to your new job.

Things at my job have been utterly frantic lately. We've been under some heavy duty grant deadlines over the past few weeks. Several animals were slated for surgery last week, which meant we had to have arrays ready to implant. The tricky thing about surgery is that you can't just postpone it if something isn't ready. Animals are prepped for months in advance of their implantation date and a whole team has to be assembled on the day of the surgery to ensure that the implant goes as planned and that the chip is alive inside the animal and can both stimulate and record data as well as transmit and receive information from an outside source. Of course, having an array ready for all this isn't as easy as it sounds, especially since nearly my entire team decided to take their 2 week vacations at the same time, leaving me with only one other person who is about as flaky as a Greek pastry. I worked some long days trying to get all the work done practically by myself.

So this little guy has been the source of all my stress at work over the past several weeks. This is the back side of the most recent version of the wireless electrode array with a wire wound power coil and chip. I took this picture under the optical microscope to show in a meeting so it's a close up, but this little guy is only about 1 square mm. I know it looks like a hot mess, but this little guy is fully functional and to the right people is probably worth about half what I make in a year.

I feel like ranting a little today so please indulge me. Layne went with me to Wal Mart to do the grocery shopping yesterday evening. I love it when Layne comes with me because we are like a well oiled machine. We get through the shopping in no time at all...and then comes the check out line. It's always bad, but can be made MUCH MUCH worse depending on who is in front of you. I consider myself a pretty tolerant person, but yesterday, the lady in front of us had Layne and I so worked up that I could've kicked a kitten through an electric fan. I'm sure you've all been in line behind "her" before. She had 2 carts, each cart had a child in it and a few groceries. I picked that line because she only had 15 or so items in each cart. The little girl's name was Princess (if you think that is just a nickname, think again), and I could be wrong, but the boy's name was either "PUT THAT DOWN!" or "STOP IT!" She was the only person ahead of us in line, but as Layne and I would come to find out during the solid HALF AN HOUR it took her to check out (no exaggeration for dramatic emphasis) we had chosen our line poorly, though I'm pretty sure time is irrelevant once you've entered the 7th circle of hell.
Now, I have a lot of sympathy and patience when I see a mom with kids in a store struggling to keep it together. In fact, I often offer help to such. But sympathy only comes when I see a woman (or man) who is actually TRYING. This lady was making no attempt at all to control her children and even less of an effort to "hustle". Quite the contrary actually, the boy was opening bags of candy and throwing the contents on the floor (which she didn't notice or pick up) and she was taking her sweet time loading her items onto the scanner (which she waited to do until she got up to the front). Once all the items did make it onto the scanner, she made things even more fun by buying the items in chunks. The first chunk was scanned, bagged, and paid for in cash, which of course she took her sweet time spreading on the counter and counting out. The next chunk was scanned, bagged and paid for with a check which of course she hadn't even begun to fill out, which needed to be accompanied by her ID which of course was lost somewhere in her handbag/diaperbag/trashcan/black hole. It wasn't until AFTER she had paid that she went back into the abyss for the 500 coupons she hunted down, retrieved and uncrumpled one-by-one from this same outter darkness of a purse. The third chunk was scanned, bagged and purchased using yet ANOTHER check!! HOLY CANNOLI LADY!! (Side note: I'm not aware of any bank that now lets you open a checking account without giving you a free debit card. Why do people refuse to use debit cards? Can someone explain that to me?) Of course this whole process is slowed down each time she looks up from her check writing to yell something at Princess or the boy child. By now we have been waiting 20 minutes and there are 50 people in line behind us. Does this woman ever look back and apologize for taking so much time? Nope. Does she try to speed things up at all? Nope. In fact, even once she finally had her 3rd receipt in hand and her groceries in the cart(s) she decided that instead of moving out of the way for the next person, that she would stay right there while she put her "cash back" neatly in her wallet, re-organized the unused coupons, entered the details of her transactions into the ledger of her checkbook, and opened some of the bagged food for her and her kids to munch on. All of this was done with her burly bare leg up on the bag wheel so the check out lady couldn't scan our groceries and put them in the bags because she couldn't turn the wheel!!! I guess I just don't understand certain things. It doesn't take a college education to have a grasp of common courtesy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make it through a grocery store checkout in under 10 minutes. Or does it? I'm pretty sure if she could have taken her 2 IQ points and rubbed them together to get a little fire going, she would have managed to realize that other people were WAITING!! If had had my own kids with me, I think I would have given up and gone home. Am I being too harsh?

The House of the Lord and The House on the Hill

Last weekend John flew in for a weekend visit from Las Vegas where he has been working for the past couple weeks and we had a great time as usual. Friday night we drive up to see the Draper temple under construction and to scope out a hike for the next day. Very close to the temple, there is a house under construction that is so big and so lavish that you can see it from the bottom of the mountain.
We drove up to it and had a look around. Thanks to loads of gigantic windows designed to give the owner limitless access to an unparalleled view, we were given a great view of the inside of the house, which had a full size indoor basketball court with fully functional score board, an entry way that looked like a ballroom and a yellow tube slide coming out of the wall in the living room probably originating from one of the kid's rooms upstairs.

That was just the beginning! This place was amazing, and as you can see, the view is of the ENTIRE Salt Lake Valley! It was pretty amazing. We speculated that perhaps a member of the Utah Jazz was building this house especially since the basketball court was painted baby blue. Who else has that kind of money and would build a full size basketball court INDOORS!?


Saturday afternoon, John and Layne and I went to the SLC temple to do some sealings. It was a gorgeous day and as you can imagine, there were more weddings at the SLC temple on a sunny summer Saturday than there are middle aged women at a Rod Stewart concert. Needless to say, getting into a sealing room and finding a sealer that wasn't already up to his eyeballs was a bit tricky. While we were waiting on the benches (next to multiple nervous and eager looking newlyweds-to-be) a worker came out and with a big grin told Layne and I that everyone had gathered in the sealing room waiting for us and that it was time. It didn't take her long to see by the looks on our faces that we had already been there and done that. It's a nice thought though that we could still pass for young unmarrieds even though we've been hitched for nearly 5 years. I do vividly remember that feeling of waiting outside the sealing room for the big moment. All those young couples had the same look which was a mix of terror, anticipation and lack of sleep that I felt. Some of their faces were slightly greener than others. It was pretty funny to observe. I'd be interested to find out how many sealings are done in the Salt Lake Temple each Saturday during the summer months. Check out this couple and their brides maid(en)s! I don't think these pictures need any explanation. This is Salt Lake people.