Redwoods Camping Trip

This summer for Jon's birthday and the 4th of July, we went camping in the Redwoods. Our plan was to leave Thursday and drive to UC Davis to stay with Marshall and then all three of us would drive to Crescent City (which is right on the CA/OR border) the next day.

Thursday morning Jon was in the parking garage packing our car with all of the camping supplies when Brian (our building manager) came out of his "make-shift" workroom to speak to Jon. As they were talking they both started to smell smoke but they figured it was from somewhere outside of the apartment complex. They continued to talk and then Jon started noticing a lot of smoke in the air and all of a sudden the fire alarm in the apartment complex starts going off. It turns out that Brian's workroom had caught on fire because his American flag fell onto an exposed light bulb which caught it on fire and then the flag lit his work chair on fire. This in turn set off the water sprinklers which literally flooded the entire workroom and parking garage. From where I was on the 4th floor of the apartment complex, you could hear the alarm but it wasn't too loud, in fact, I thought it was from the apartment complex across the street (which is a little concerning to me). Once I stepped outside however, you could smell the smoke and see it in the air. Brian was pretty bummed because all of his equipment was damaged due to the water but at least everyone was okay. So with the smell of campfire already blanketing our car and belongings, we headed on our road trip. I am going to miss these types of wacky stories when we move.


We lucked out and got the best campsite in our campground. We were surrounded by Redwoods with no neighbors near us....just how I like it.

We went to "Trees of Mystery" which is pretty much a tourist trap, but it was still fun. They have paths that you can take in the redwoods with stops along the way that point out different facts . They also have a sky rail/ski lift that you can ride and really get the "feel of being amongst the redwoods" it was actually really fascinating and breathtaking being up that high.

We visited Jedediah Smith State Park. It was beautiful there. They have a beautiful lake and a lot of paths through the redwoods that you can wander around in.


For the fourth of July we headed down to the beach where tons of families and friends were setting off their own fireworks. I am assuming fireworks are legal in Crescent City because the amount and size of fireworks that were going off right above our heads by amateurs was both overwhelming and amazing. The city also had their own fireworks show. It didn't start until 9:00pm so by that time, the fog on the beach was really thick and we basically heard but didn't see the "official" show...but they sounded good :) Overall, it was an excellent trip.

Disneyland Adventures

For the Love of Fridays

I love that when we are done with work tonight, we are going to plan our trip to:

We will definitely visit here:

I love that we are going to go during this season:

I might actually get to see one of these:

I love that I will definitely get to see and spend time with him all weekend long:

And I love that we will be spending our time together here:

No School = LOVE

Otis Senior Show and GRADUATION!

The Otis Graphic Design department did a really great job at their senior show this year. Jon's project was awesome. He spent practically all semester and all day and all night working on his project. He designed music posters with fictional line ups. He used both his hand drawn art, graphic design and screen printed everything by hand. He lived in the screen printing lab this last year.

The cool thing about the senior show was that the seniors owned everything...they designed the layout, setup, locations and did all the man work involved as well. From the looks of it, he had fun too.

Jon's senior project: ( I will hopefully get a better picture..the lighting on this one doesn't do them justice)

Close Up of two of the posters:

Next day was graduation!

Standard walking shot right after receiving his diploma.

They had the CEO of Nike (Nike hires a lot of Otis students) speak at the graduation. His talk was very good and reminded us of President Hinckley's "6 Be's" and as it turns out, the CEO of Nike is a member of the Church...so that made sense. They also played the Indiana Jones theme song as the graduates exited...I thought that was really funny, but the entire time they were playing the song, I thought it was the Stars Wars theme song :)


Goodbye: Otis

Hello: Graphic Design Job at Eyerus!

I recently asked Jon if he missed going to school and he instantly said "No"...I guess it is still too soon :)

On the brink of graduation....

"Jon wow we could use you NOW!! ;)
I just want you to know we have not forgotten.
im going to work up a deal for you soon. i know May 9th is the date.
I will get back to you by next week .
thanks
Renee"


It's good to be wanted.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

What is in a name? I consider my complete name to be: Mercedes Noelle van Zijll Hoeveler. That is a mouthful and no, I don't go by that at all...ever. But in my mind, that is my name and I love every part of it.

My entire life, I have pretty much just been called "Mercedes" lumped into the "first name only" category at school, church and work. More likely than not, this is because "van Zijll" is a pretty intimidating last name to pronounce (if you are not Dutch) and no one else was named Mercedes. I didn't mind it per se, but I must admit that I love my maiden name. I love that there is no question about it... it is 100% Dutch, I love that it is two words, I loved that both my first name and last name were 3 syllables, I love that it is pronounced nothing like it is spelled, I love that both my best friend and husband can spell it correctly and I loved when a substitute teacher in school would be going down the roll taking attendance and when they would get to my name, they would hesitate after calling out my first name, and the entire class would yell, "van Zijll" (pronouncing it correctly as if the substitute was an idiot). Now that is the kind of name that has a presence.

When I got engaged I knew that I would take on Jon's last name and I didn't really question it. There are many things that I like about "Hoeveler" as well. I like that it is a European last name, like my maiden name, it is a very unique last name, both my first name and last name now have 3 "E's" spread out evenly within the name and the romantic side of me just likes the fact that it is the last name of the person that I love.

And still, I am just called "Mercedes"... I guess it is just too easy knowing that when someone (even in a formal environment) is saying my name they only have to say my first name and everyone will know to whom they are referring to.

However, lately at work, this "first name basis" reference has morphed into something that I can't stand....the transformation of just first name Mercedes into "Ms. Mercedes"!!! It's like people are confused that I only go by "Mercedes" with no last name reference, so they are making my name into some hybrid of first and last name but doing it in a really condescending way. The first time this happened was when I was dealing with a Recruiter on the phone and all of a sudden out of nowhere, he started calling me "Ms. Mercedes". I was a little bugged but just chalked it up to him being a little weird...but now, everyone is starting to call me this. Coworkers walking by my location, in emails and just now in a formal setting. When they call me this I suddenly feel 8 years old, playing grown up in a room full of adults!

Maybe just to be a pain, I will start asking people to refer to me as Mercedes Noelle van Zijll Hoeveler :)