.

It never gets "OLD"

2012-01-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

So my dad always starts the year off with a Birthday!! This sweet man is amazing! Hilarious, honest, grateful, and always has his kids best interests in his heart!

He hit the big SIX-ZERO this year and we had a blast reminding him, and everyone else, of it :)

Did you know Mr. Potato Head is the same age as my dad?

He is authentically official. Leather vest = induction in biker gang!

Alex's birthday was next and can you believe I was finding it hard to be creative in telling him 27 different ways, "Happy Birthday"

Since we're hoping to own our own house by the end of the year, he got some awesome, MANLY "house tools" Who knew Sears had so many things?!

Women fill the kitchen, men take care of everything else.

Not to be forgotten, my husband is the "Gadget Man" I found this awesome gadget called Rock-it. It hooks into your ipod/phone, etc. and then with a little sticky pad the amp magnifies sound through ANYTHING. We had so much fun sticking it to cans, boxes, walls, doors, cabinets, showers, etc.... it is endless. We have speakers wherever we go now.

My best surprise was last Saturday. My brother Jacob and I had bought tickets to see Brian Regan for Alex and Elaina's birthdays, except they didn't know. We'd been waiting months for this surprise and it went off perfectly. If only the weather had cooperated. We parked north of the conference center and had to run in the rain/snow to Abravanel Hall. We were soaked by the time we got there. Good sports though. It was so much fun I cried laughing.

Happy Birthday HUNNIE! So fun to have you join the 27 club!

So Bee, this is the picture I tried sending you of the ornament I made for Alex, thanks to your sand! All of the ornaments turned out fabulously. Can't wait for our own tree to hang them on :)

As of today, I have officially finished my rehab after my car accident!!

I was in a car accident the end of October last year and have been seeing a chiropractor and massage therapist since. But today was my last appointment and the Dr. cleared me to resume "normalcy"

These were my x-rays right after the accident.

My neck is supposed to curve back instead of going straight up, my Atlas bone was pulled out of alignment, beneath my skull as well as vertebrae in my lower back.

Again, my neck should curve rounded instead of bending in the middle and going straight toward my skull.

As a dental professional, I just liked this rare view of all my teeth... what are my bobby pins doing in this shot? ;)

I am happy to report I feel better. Therapy helped and although I won't miss the weekly appointments after work, I will miss the adjustments and massages.

Alex is in his 3rd week of this semester and I'm lucky if I see him at night before I fall asleep, "we know it will be worth it" but I think we're both excited for this semester to be over already! He's such a hard worker, love my Geek!!

2011 - The END

2012-01-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

December really began at the end of November. My family visited temple square's Christmas lights while my brother Josh and his family were still in town from Virginia

Alex was sick at home, so we made sure to take pictures of as many beautiful blue Christmas lights as we could, just for him.

Taking pictures is tricky with lights in the background

Grant trying to "stamp out" the light.

Another Favorite part of December was the Dicken's Festival! I'd never been and LOVED all the English tradition.

Excited to see my niece PorSha dance was an extra bonus.... or perhaps partly the reason we just happened to be there that night? ;) what a coincidence!

Among the chimney sweeps there were all the ghosts of Scrooge's Christmas, chestnuts roasting over an open fire and FUNNEL CAKES a MUST

Christmas lights

Christmas Eve was spent with the Martin's this year. Delish fondue, then Christmas treats.... don't they look like yummy gum drops? How was that dough Ade?

Candy cane kisses!

Couldn't get enough... we tried these later with the remaining dough and used Ande's mints. Alex was in heaven.

There is something magical about a Christmas tree

Christmas morning! Ade, Ry & Jen with their family and mom and pops. Breakfast was divine and Taunya was spot on with her character of Christ.

We had such a fun morning with laughs....

and tears. Like the boots mamma T!

Although Alex specifically asked for no clothes, I told him this year he was getting what I wanted him to have. So he got a new coat and BUCKY BALLS! Ok that was something he'd been begging for for several years, then won at a work Christmas party after I'd already gotten them for him. Still surprised :)

I couldn't pass up this shirt and a few more like it. Especially when they're for free ;) Thanks Bee! PERFECT

What is it with mom's crying?..... But us kids managed to do it again. She was so excited about this picture!

And then Alex's big surprise..... a mini fridge full of Mt. Dew for work. I can't believe how excited he was. Thanks mom and dad. I LOVE Christmas!!

To finish off the year, we drove out to the west desert and shot off a few rounds.

Alex was a pretty good shot. I have some lessons to learn from him.

I broke this skeet... with my foot. But I did actually shoot one down.

Jim and Kirt

My favorite pistol

Thanks for the great day!!! We had a fantastic time.

Then we rocked out to the Wii as we brought in 2012!

It has truly been an amazing year and we have been so blessed! We wish you all an amazing 2012 as well

FAVORITE!!

2011-12-05T21:19:00.001-08:00

It's FINISHED ~ FINALLY

I have a lot of favorites, but those who know me, know that anything UK is an obsession!!

And if I'm going to be spending time in a room, facing a wall while I sew, I might as well like what I'm looking at!

This is my sewing room MASTERPIECE

The canvas on the left was a birthday gift (thanks mom), the phone booth on the top is a metallic print, photo shopped by my amazing husband from a picture I actually took while I was in London and the map on the bottom is from a new favorite artist of mine (kudos Miss. Tait) that, again, my amazing husband worked his magic to blow it up to a giant size with photoshop!

I absolutely love this wall and cannot wait to have a house of my own some day to display with smiling eyes and a happy heart :)

oKtObEr

2011-11-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of my favorite days!!!!

hALloWeEn!!

Of course it started off with mom's famous donuts (my favorite's the holes)

Getting ready for the fryer.....

Frosting prep station

I LOVE DONUT HOLES

Ready for the feast!

My other favorite part of Halloween is, DRESSING UP!

Our whole office dressed up in the 80's. We even had our front office in "mom jeans" it was fantastic (how'd Sarah get her hair to stay like that?)

Halloween night Rachel brought her two dogs over, in matching outfits. A ref, football player (Zeus) and a football (Thor) it was Stellar!

But the best costume goes to my brother Ben. He dressed up as..... DAD!! I literally thought it was my dad when I came home from work and saw him from behind. He not only had his clothes on, but had his mannerisms down pat. Ben took his kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and all the neighbors got a kick out of his costume. Perfection.

Martin's rockin' out.... or putting?

Jacob carved this pumpkin.... and although it wasn't in black and white, it looked a little more like Jack, the Pumpkin King, this way......

And I couldn't showcase his work of art in the dark, so here it is all lit up.

I can't mention October without our amazing Martin family vacation to St. George!

We stopped on our way down for some squeaky cheese

Ahh, red mountains speak to my soul

..... and they say, YAY!!

Jenny!!!! Nice canyon

R-Dawg's pretty serious about his rock climbing

I have never seen Alex do this before, but he ran and jumped in the air like he had total control, then flipped and landed in the sand.... I love him!

Wonder where he got that from?......

Alex and I took a walk the last morning we were in Sunny St. George, and I longed to make it last forever

I thought this was a dragon's neck when I first saw this picture.... then I realized Alex had taken a picture of a plant. He's so creative. Thank you Papa Bear and Mamma T for sharing with us some amazing family time, and thanks to Ade for flying all the way out to show me how to do a "jumping picture" it's a new favorite talent :)

Overall, it's been a pretty great month. Sad to see it go, not believing it's already NOVEMBER.

We only have 2 months on this calendar year... isn't it great we get to end each year with some of the best holidays? FANTASTICO

Craftiness

2011-10-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from high school recently had her second little boy!! I was so excited to see baby Jackson, and for little Karl to be a big brother, so I decided to make them something their "hunting" dad would be proud of :)

I decided to make them neckties.... SUPER EASY

The pattern was found online by my SIL Elaina and it couldn't have been easier.

Big brother tie for Karl, and baby tie for Jackson

Finished ties!! The strap around the neck is actually a bra strap! (Thanks for the idea Brooke) $3 for an old bra at Ross which makes them $1.50 a strap with clasp and adjustable strap, can't beat that! I improvised the pattern a bit to make the strip on the back side of the tie for the smaller end to fit in. Works perfectly!

These ties are adjustable too they can be folded shorter or longer depending on their torso as they grow

I was so excited to make these ties and LOVED the finished product, but I was even more excited to give them to Melissa and her boys. I couldn't have been happier when Karl wanted to put his camo tie on, and couldn't take it off. He loved it too :) .... he just happened to be wearing camo shorts that day too

2011-09-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's official, I am a professional! My Boss felt the need to give us business cards.... so I can pedal myself?

And what does a professional do? Burn her mode of employment....

The culprit? A POPTART! I hardly ever eat these things and as I pulled the apple cinnamon delish out of the toaster, the frosting ever so lightly touched my finger and got stuck! I couldn't get to the sink fast enough. :(

Now all morning I've been trying to keep ice on it, of course wearing laytex gloves only magnifies the heat but in my downtime I've been managing to. However I have found that typing is difficult without a necessity pointer finger.... As my mom said right after it happened, and I was trying not to cry, "Two positive from this, at least it's Thursday, and it happened to your left hand." Thanks for the positive side mom :)

I wish my finger had one of these to cool it down... HEAVEN IN A CUP!!

Moose-tastic

2011-09-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

It is official people..... I'm getting OLDer

It's been almost two weeks now that I've been 27 and already Alex called me "old." However in my defense I think it has to do more with my job than with the actual number of days I've been on this earth.

I share my birth date with the great Michael Jackson and although I don't have his love for the spotlight, I could not keep quiet about the talent of my family and friends.

For my birthday my SIL Elaina made me this AMAZING Moose cupcake

She knows I love moose and found this idea in a cupcake book. It took her a while to make it and it turned out PERFECTLY!! Such a surprise!! Thank you!

My friend Mandi made me this cake as well - do these people know me or what?

I LOVED it!!

I did notice no one put candles on any of these cakes......

My birthday was such a fantastic day. I LOVE having a summer birthday.

I thank all my friends and family for sharing the love that day. Whether it was through e-mail, text, phone call, card, birthday lunch .... or a shamrock and a moose I felt so thankful for everyone who took the time to send a shout out.

sUMeR LuVin!!

2011-09-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have the bike of my dreams!
Alex and I decided to get bikes since we didn't go to Lake Powell this summer. I do wear a helmet, but this was my test drive. I fell in love and we ride them everywhere now. The library seems to be popular and anywhere else that can be a bike destination.
THANK YOU Sun Cruz!!

Brooke knows my style :)
Thank you for the sunglasses, they match PERFECTLY!

About 2 weeks ago my sister, her dog Zeus (and new puppy Thor) and brother's girlfriend, Maria, were on their way home from picking up the new puppy Thor and were involved in a car accident. As they were crossing an intersection a lady turned left into them. Even though they had to use the jaws of life to cut my sister out and were taken to the ER, they left a few hours later with bruises, sore muscles and a little heartache about her totaled car.
*The puppies were also ok

Her car is the one on the left - firemen are extricating her from the vehicle at this time.

Alex and I went shooting last weekend with Papa Bear and I have to say, after 2 years, I wasn't too bad.
(Gun placement was Alex's request)

I was getting my hair cut at my best friend Amanda's new Sports Clips and she offered to give Alex a neck trim....

This is what he ended up with. Mohawk and STEPS!! I LOVE it
Throwback to the 90's -HECK YES

BACK TO BLOGGING!!

2011-08-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

We are back to blogging my friends. We have finally figured out our computer/picture issue and recently got our camera back after having to ship it back to Nikon for a glitch to be fixed (under warranty yahoo!) So now I'm making up for the whole summer. It might be a bit overwhelming and you might want to get a snack while you catch up on all that we've been up to but it'll be worth it. Let's see if you can make it all the way through August without a break... ;) It's 5 posts long!!

One thing I've realized while spending.... 6 hours doing this now, is that we've really had a GREAT summer. I'm feeling so blessed. So without further adieu let us begin

APRIL

The whole reason we went to Virginia!

Grant was celebrating his first birthday and we wanted to experience as many FIRSTS as we could with him in one week.

CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES

the second reason we came to Virginia was to understand (and get hooked on) the cupcake craze. Boy did we get HOOKED!!

Round ONE

We enjoyed this round while watching Tangled.

Carrytown, round two

Round three, Frostings

Round four, back to Two Sweet - we decided after tasting so many, this place was our favorite. The bunny was for Grant

I wish I could fit all the pictures of the inside of their house, but you just get the outside. It's ADORABLE!! If my house looked like this, I could totally live in Virginia. It's just classic. I miss these guys!!

Grant's FIRST experience touching bark.... oh how the feet can feel

Grant's FIRST experience eating a leaf... shh don't tell Brooke ;)

Grandma Jo had given Grant this giraffe for Valentine's day and he LOVED to suck on it's head. It was so cute to hear him say 'raf" and know how much he loved his Giraffe.

Bath time!

Berkley plantation. It was awesome to see a real plantation house and all it's land. This house was the site of the REAL FIRST Thanksgiving.

Me, Brooke & mom at the Berkley plantation gates

I have my own store... every girl's dream ;)

Mom and I on the subway.... Brooke, you're facing the wrong direction

This place is HUGE

They had a special ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier while we were there. It was aww inspiring to feel the respect in the silence.

Grant's FIRST experience with grass.... he did surprisingly well.

It reminded me a lot of the American cemetery in France. It's a little overwhelming.

The Mall

There were so many things I learned while walking around this place with my mom. She retains interesting facts about everything. She was my personal tour guide.

We saw Washington's monument, Korean, Vietnam, the White house, National Archives and walked and walked and walked. Good thing I had a GPS in my phone.

This was part of the WWII memorial on our way from Washington's to Lincoln's. They're a lot farther apart than you'd think.

What an experience

I was so clever and used my iphone to find the nearest Hard Rock. Wouldn't you know, it was almost right up the street from where we were.....

Carrytown had a Galaxy Diner and I waited for about 20 min. while talking to Carl for my FIRST fried PICKLE!!! It was worth it

The kid is HILARIOUS. he would never leave his socks on long enough to put shoes on.

At For the Love of Chocolate, I found sour pickles to try!! They were so good. I love trying new things.

We found a vintage sore in Carrytown and I fell in love with this 1920's hat. I love the 20's and 50's styles so classic

We loved our tour of the HUGE Whole Foods, and Grant loved enjoying his FIRST taste of gelatto. Although it was an interesting try, I do not recommend the avocado flavor

Grant's FIRST petting zoo!

We celebrated Grant's 1st birthday on Saturday. Time went by so fast. He LOVES his Hop Hop, so Brooke enlisted Grandma Jo to make his bunny birthday cake. She's amazing right?

Birthday boy!

Brooke's ingenious idea to give him red velvet cake showed up so well on his white onezie to show how much he enjoyed his cake. He was so kind and gave his mom the first lick of the frosting.

After the cake it was time for presents, and I was so excited to give him his FIRST bean bag!! probably more excited than he was.

I had unbelievably so much fun in Virginia, it was like a therapeutic retreat. Thank you SO MUCH Bee and J it was just PERFECT!!

I introduced and consequently got Brooke hooked on Starbucks vanilla bean!! (you're welcome ;)

I surprised Alex by hiding an Easter basket at his parents house, where he was staying, before I left. It was so fun to hear him hunt for it and the surprise in his voice when he wondered how I'd done it.

Last, but certainly not least, in the month of April the future King of England was married to his lovely bride Katherine - let's admit it, we call her Kate.

My wonderful sister and brother-in-law who live in England sacrificed their time to wait on the sidelines to snap this picture and graciously sent it to me, so I could feel as much a part of the action as I could. No I didn't stay up to watch it, but I had it all recorded and was thrilled to relive the experience while wearing my authentic blue sapphire engagement ring replica!

Thank you RAYNE & TOM!

Riding through May

2011-08-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dad wanted to take a ride up to Promintory point the last Saturday in May so we hopped on the bikes and started driving. I hadn't been on a ride this long with my dad and his bike before, but I was definitely looking forward to it. I'd never been to Promintory before and I love learning history.

They do a complete reinactment of the Golden Spike happening.

Me, Elaina & Jacob.... and the actual conductor of the trains :)

They asked dad to participate in the reinactment. He brought the gold spike!! And he wonders where we get our flare for dramatics ;)

Dad and Jacob next to the Jupiter

It was definitely a fun way to spend the day. Something I'd never experienced before. I had no idea how long the drive was.... guess I missed part of it when I fell asleep for about 40 min on the back of my dad's bike. No one's sure how this could even happen, but when you're tired, you're tired.

Summer has begun - June

2011-08-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Jim and Taunya took the Martin clan to St. George for a weekend and it was fantastically HOT!! In all aspects of the word.

We started off Friday night at an amazing art village in Kayenta that was fantastically inspiring.

Amazing that we live in a desert but only see it occasionally. Heavenly Father is an amazing artist.

Alex was trying to "understand" the art

We had the most delicious mint lemonade I've ever had. It truly was refreshing. mm mm good

Alex and Ryan spent Saturday morning golfing. I was so happy he had someone to go with.

How could you not LOVE this face! This is one of several pictures of Rylie's mouth filled to the brim, and she's still smiling. She's amazing!

We braved the heat and took a hike in the desert.

It was a beautiful Sunrise, but we've learned that sunsets seem to be the most amazing. The rocks appear to literally be on fire... we'll catch one next time :)

Thanks to the Martins and to Steve. We had such a great weekend!

Celebrate in July!

2011-08-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Our regular Camperworld in Coalville was flooded over the 4th of July, so we took our adventure to Kamas

It was such an awesome place to try, since we'd never been there before there was a lot of exploring to do.

Mom got Alex jalapeno cheese hot dogs. He was the only one to try them of course.

Our fire cooks many things

And some things too well.... Elaina didn't mind the charcoal taste with her s'more, but she didn't let Jacob help her cook any more after that.

Which is where the new invention of dad's gusher s'smores came from. A surprise inside the marshmallow.

What could be more American for the 4th of July Independence day, than a game of baseball

While my sister slept, we kidnapped her dog and took him exploring with us

He followed this white line the whole way

From Zeus' perspective

I hadn't had tin foil dinners in so long, they were DELISH!!

Mom even found Alex mint chocolate marshmallows! Perfection.

When we got home, we decided to use some sparklers to celebrate while we watched/heard fireworks going off nearby.

We love sparklers

So many things to celebrate in July. One of them is our ANNIVERSARY!

Alex and I have been married 3 years this July and it was awesome. We had ice cream, just like our very first date, only super mini version and watched fireworks at the near by fire station.

Then he surprised me with tickets to see our favorite band Owl City.

We were literally right next to the stage I could feel the beat of the music in my bones. It was Alex's first concert and I was so glad to share it with him.

The next weekend was the premiere of Harry Potter #7 part 2 and mom and I decided to see the first showing.... by the time she went to buy tickets, we ended up with the 3AM showing!! We both went to bed and got up about 2:15 to be there on time, and when I climbed back in bed at 5:45, Alex never even knew I was gone. He was so surprised to find out the next day that I'd already seen it while he was sleeping. It was so much fun with my mom, I can't believe we both made it through without falling asleep. She's my hero!

That same day we saw Harry Potter, Papa Bear and Mama T took us to Flaming Gorge for a weekend. My first trip to the Gorge! We love new experiences.

We got in a little frizzbee time while dinner was cooking. Was it tacos or tin foil dinners this night?...

Jim's a great cook, but marshmallows are left to the fire :)

Saturday we got a look of the gorge from above. I had no idea it was as big as it is.

After our little hike, we took our picnic to the pond. It was such a great place to have lunch. I especially enjoyed the fresh cherries. I wish I had a picture of how much Livy did too ;)

Close encounters on the way back down, had us pulling over on the side of the road for a good look

When the afternoon heat started cooling down we brought out the baseball.

Mr. O was a good coach on the sidelines, he never had to use his whistle

Unfortunately, Alex broke his "bat" on Ryan's curve ball. It was a great trip and I'm SO GRATEFUL that the Martin's provided a time for us all to get together. I love spending time with them and a whole weekend? Who could ask for more.

Before my family took off to Lake Powell without Alex and I :( we celebrated the 24th of July with fireworks Elaina had gotten from her parents in Washington. They have AMAZING fireworks.

Here's our sparklers show

Alex is proud of this one... wonder if that's because it looks like Tron? ;)

Then we started letting off the big ones. Our whole neighborhood came out to watch.

Our anniversary weekend was delayed because of an issue with the hotel... which I didn't even know we were going anywhere so when we didn't "go to the movies" and we ended up at the Anniversary Inn I was completely surprised! I guess this was a good enough reason to miss Celine Dion ;) Then when Alex showed me the key to our room.... I was freaking out!

The rooms are all themed, and this one came with sparkling cider and cheesecake.

Even more perfectly, Alex brought the movie Twilight to have us watch while we were there. I'd never stayed anywhere like this and it was beyond amazing!! He's such a good husband.

I really do love July!!

August

2011-08-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

August = hot & fun

We began it with a great BBQ of shish ka bobs

Last weekend we took a "bike" ride up to Bear Lake. Since Alex and I don't have a motorcycle we drove our car as well as did Ben's girlfriend Maria and the kids.

(It's really hard to get a focused picture of people riding in front of you)

On our way up, family tradition stopped us at Ben's Burger Bar in Roy.

It was a hot ride and even Zeus had a nibble of a milkshake.

It's FAMOUS

We've been going there for years. My aunt owns a Wedding shop on this same street.

By the time we got to Camperworld, we were setting our tents up in the dark. Good thing we had several headlights to shine on us.

Five tents all together, we had ourselves a little tent village.

"Natural" improvisation is why I love camping. Logs can be versatile!

Saturday we took a trip to the Ice Cave. It was really cool to see a cave where ice was still frozen, in the middle of August.

You can imagine how dark it was inside....and cold

The gang

It was the perfect temperature for a trip to the Lake. The water has risen so much that we had TONS of "warm" water to wade around in, or make sand castles/volcanoes.

Of course camping means hot dogs and marshmallows!

My dad's own creation. We've named gushers. We don't use graham crackers, so the marshmallows get stuffed with chocolate.... or mini reeses' or whaterver

Sunday we crossed the border to the Minnatonka cave

444 steps one way means we climbed 888 steps... no need for the stair master ;)

We learned the difference between stalagtites that hang "tight" to the ceiling, or stalagmites that "might" reach the top. Thanks to these 7 dwarfs to help us figure it out.

They said not to touch.... but this one was just so smooth.

Ok, ok they gave us permission to touch just this one.

Then it was back to Utah ... ELEVATED

Of course the trip wouldn't have been complete without a raspberry shake!!

DELISH at Bear Lake and perfectly melted in the heat

Our ride home was a little hotter than on the way up, so we stopped to take a break.

At Grandma Helen's!! She's always so nice to share her AC with us ;)

It was a really good camping trip and it's been a fantastic Summer.

I LOVE MAKING MEMORIES

Perfect Treat

2011-07-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

When something's frustrating, what should you do?....

Have a cupcake!
I haven't been able to blog any pictures for a while because I don't understand computers. Whenever I blog pictures they come out HUGE and until I figure this out.... (I, meaning Alex) my blogs will only be decorated by interesting words :)
And so I have chosen a picture from a while back. A trip to Virginia I never blogged about.
These were the best cupcakes from a cute place called Two Sweet. They were DIVINE!!
We had so many cupcakes on that trip, a plethora to complete our taste test and we tried them all until the very last minute on the very last day of our vacation.
It was such a wonderful trip. I LOVE Virginia. When Alex asked if I would be willing to move there, I wouldn't hesitate... if we could move our families there too. ;)
Life is such an adventure with a very long yellow brick road stretched out in front of us. Although patience isn't my strong suit. I am excited to see where our story takes us.
I do love that I know no matter what, even if I don't have red shiny shoes to click. I always have a place to come home to.

sUMmEr tIMe

2011-06-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's finally summer time!! It seems like we've been waiting forever for it to get here and it comes with a vengence that I welcome gladly. I love seeing people's blogs about summer adventures and projects. Recently we've had my SIL Brooke and nephew Grant in town. How fun it's been to watch him walk bow-legged and unstable, I will miss that. Most of all I will miss his squeal of delight at the joys of simply living and learning.

You have left today

and sad I will be

Can't wait for you to return

It'll be time for some TURKEY!! :)

Love you Bee and Lil' G

How does Ozzy say it? "Going through..."

2011-04-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

changes

Alex and I have been blessed.

With blessings, we usually experience some kind of change, for the better or not sometimes.

This time, it is for the better... I think ;)

Alex has said good bye to America First. It was good to us for 3 years, but at this time it is more important for him to be focusing on school. He felt that he'd like to continue working somehow but preferred it be more closely related to IT.

He was in the vicious cycle of, "Experience needed" but if no one hires you, how do you get the experience? Exactly. He knew by the time he graduated he would need that experience.

I know when Alex really wants something to happen because he makes it happen.

He met with the employment advisor at UVU and after revamping his resume attended their job fair. Personally, I don't like to get my hopes up, so I pretended like he wasn't going to get anything out of it.... without saying so much to him of course.

From his contact with the employment advisor, she let him know of an internship through a company called Control4... which no one has ever heard of. He applied as quick as could be and although he'd gotten an interview with a company in Orem, from his contact at the job fair, he would have preferred the Control4 job in Draper. So we prayed, fasted and had faith. We are believers in "meant to be" and so we waited for what was meant to be....Sometimes we forget that we have to make decisions, it doesn't always fall into place.

So when we heard from Control4 that they wanted an interview we were excited, to say the least, but when he got offered the job in Orem, on the spot, we had to actively make a decision..... Alex's faith told him not to take the job in Orem. The next day, he was offered the job at Control4.

This company fits Alex to the T. He comes home talking about work, working on work... makes me wonder if he's doing enough studying as well ;)

We couldn't have been more excited about this job. He LOVES going to work every day now. I couldn't be more proud of him. He works so hard. I have been that full time student working full time and I know how hard that was. Then he comes home and has to please a wife. That man is truly Amazing!!

I know that the Lord has blessed us and continues to bless us on a daily basis.

Thank you to family and friends for all of your support and understanding while we finish this journey called school. It takes so much time and that has put some other things in our life on hold for a while. Or so WE thought. That was according to our plan anyway. We keep trying to remind ourselves to live His plan instead. Cause it really is working out well.
Thank you for this Change!!

I'm definitely not as in depth at explaining about it as Alex, so if you'd like to find out more: http://www.control4.com/

Me Lucky Charms in a Sea of Green

2011-03-19T13:31:00.001-07:00

March, for me, can be a bit of a big deal.
But I have recently been reinformed that it is the month for girl scout cookies, so a big deal for other people as well. How could I be a girl scout for 2 or 3 years and not remember that?
Anyway, when I got online to see what girl scout cookies they had come up with this year my curiosity eventually lead me to a website on how to make your own Samoa cookie (my favorite), so I thought, why not give it a try.

The recipe begins with a shortbread cookie dough. These will eventually be bars and not round cookies, but who cares if it tastes like a Samoa right?

While the shortbread cooled. I began on the coconut. The recipe says, "brown the coconut"
HA do I even know how to do that? The toaster browns things for me, how would I do this on my own in the oven?.....

Hmm, I put it on a pan and stuck it in the oven... could it be any easier?
So while that browned, I began on the caramels. From watching Alex make turtles (another favorite) I know it's better to melt them on the stove than in the microwave, so I took on the challenge.
I have a tendency to get distracted while I'm cooking. It becomes difficult for me to multitask. Good thing I could focus on caramel. When the coconut came out of the oven it was PERFECT :)
I wish the rest could have gone so smoothly.

MMM I LOVE CARAMEL

Mixed with the coconut and spread over the shortbread it looked delicious.
Then that had to cool as well.

This is where the tricky part comes in and you decide if it's worth it.
I had to melt chocolate for dipping..... not so tough? Where's Julia Child when you need her?
I followed directions for the microwave, when that didn't work, we tried a double boil, when THAT didn't work, we got another bag of chocolate chips and handed it to my mom, where she graciously took over when she saw the frustration and maybe the beginning of tears appear on my face.
Even with a crumbly cookie, this is what we had in the end.

Our version of the Samoa. It took a lot of time to let everything cool between cooking it and using it and there are definitely things I would do differently if I ever chose to make these again. But I would for sure agree it was worth the experience, once the frustration left ;)

Next up in March was ST. PATRICK'S DAY
I love this Holiday. I love everything about it's Irish heritage and the celebration of the color green. This year was exceptionally special because it was on a Thursday, also my favorite day.
We began the morning with traditional green milk and Lucky Charms (or marshmallow mateys)For lunch it was sandwich, green beans and key lime yogurt.
I don't know how it could still shock people, just how into this holiday I get.
For dinner, we had Spinach wraps

with chicken, celery, and avacados

It was FANTASTIC!!

I was pretty impressed that this year we ate all green and didn't have to color anything!

From my head to my toes I was completely green and made sure my patients at work had some green to show for it too.
Thanks for the shirt Bee n' J, it was just the thing.
Everyone asks if I'm Irish, my answer is, "Irish at Heart"

Happy St. Patrick's Day and if you only like it for the fact of celebrating something, that's the positive thinking of the Irish!!
Green on!!

80 degrees and a Sunburn with a smile!

2011-02-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

Alex and I have been looking forward to this vacation for quite a while. Much needed and such a great deal, with great friends.

We took off to California with a dream in our hearts and cold weather behind us!

We stayed in Leeds, with Pat and George, for the first night to help break up the drive.

Pat and George are Mandi's grandparents in all sense of the title. They were fantastic hosts and just TOO CUTE!!

They didn't even mind us keeping them awake with our uncontrolable laughter.

Pat and George were so nice to take us in. They felt bad only having Pb&J, however I would like to point out a few things that made this one of the BEST Pb&J's EVER.

Have you ever seen EXTRA crunchy peanut butter, topped off with BUMBLEBERRY jam? It was fantastic!

What a beautiful Southern Utah morning

George was in aw every morning at how the hills lit on fire with the rising sun

We woke up to watching our breath as we tried to figure out why the car wouldn't start and wondering if our vacation was going to be getting a late start.

Thank goodness someone was awake that early to jump start our car.

*Note to other drivers of the Chevy Trail Blazer - DO NOT leave the cooler plugged in all night.

Officially the Happiest Place on Earth.

Let the Memories begin!

Adam once proposed to Mandi at this very fountain on this very Valentine's weekend a few years ago. Once he lost his wedding ring, Mandi knew the perfect way to give him another one.

Make a wish..... He was so surprised!

Did you know you can go up inside the castle now? It had been closed since the 60's or 70's and they've just reopened it.

Who knew it was Aurora's caslte... I always thought it belonged to Cinderella

Adam was really excited about the Peter Pan ride :)

This Toy Story ride turned out to be one of Alex's favorites - it has a video game aspect and he kicked trash on all of it. However, the spinning was not how the likes to play.

Let's take a ride through California

Toy Story seriously is the bomb! No Army pun intended.

She's not an official princess, otherwise she'd be my favorite. Tied with Belle and Ariel for sure!

So glad they added this ride. In all of it's splendor, I sat admiring.

OOH spooky Hold on tight or you might disappear

I love this ride!!

I was trying to concentrate on hold my hands up, like I was told, hence hair in my face. Apparently everyone else knows when these cameras are going to snap a picture, except me.

Just grillin up some hot dogs for dinner. Oh yeah, we brought a microwave too.

One of the best roller coasters. I LOVE it.

We had to wait in line for an hour, with our fast pass tickets in order to see the World of Color show. It was well worth it.

I was so happy to see Sebastian, Little Mermaid has been a favorite for a long time.

This water show was amazing! The things they can do just amaze me.

Fire is such a good way to end a show

Electronica... there are no words. But don't you LOVE Adam's face!!

I found a house/door my size!!!

We were waiting in line for the Alice ride, which broke down twice, and we ended up waiting for an hour. It was our last hour of the night so we didn't really mind.

Plus we got some good ghost stories out of it...Timmy ;)

We FINALLY got to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride!

He actually ASKED ME to drive!! Is that because I know how to drive with steering wheels on the right side? It is British blood that runs through my veins

Our camera was to good for the effect we were going for, but I love her happy smile :)

OF COURSE there's a green cup!

Yay, Adam made it into a picture!

Ironically this ride broke down RIGHT AFTER we got off.

Let me say it just one more time, I don't like water rapid rides.

I did not conquer a fear, but I do not like it to be said I won't try things I hate....

Evidence of the SOAKING wet pants and lack of a smile.

Lego lovers eat your hearts out

Jungle ride is always so funny!

For someone who loves pickles as much as me, this GIANT pickle was heaven at the Happiest Place on Earth

Yo ho, one of the best rides!!

No we're not trying to escape, just see what's on the other side of the wall.

$11 and we got what?.... That's why we brought our own griddle and microwave, to make meals in our hotel room for a mere $1.50 per person.

Every time we went on a ride they'd tell me to make a face for the camera.

I NEVER knew when the camera was coming. This time however I decided to hold my face like this the WHOLE ride, just to make sure ;)

Mandi and I planned breakfast for the boys on Valentine's morning.

Complete with hashbrowns, sausage, and pink, heart shaped waffles. Yeah that's right, we brought a griddle and a waffle iron to our hotel. It ROCKED

He was such a good sport about being woken up to eat breakfast.

For the cereal man, this was an upgrade for sure ;)

Is it possible that you can love someone so much there are not words to express?

Feelings to be shared and moments held in a memory for the things you wish to never forget.

Hold them tight, your memories, your feelings, your time with them. For although tomorrow is another day you will be blessed for having them, never take for granted the precious gift, to love.

It was such a great time and much needed vacation!

Thanks for all the good times!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Eye for Me

2011-02-01T18:44:00.001-08:00

I woke up Friday morning with something in my eye.....

I actually couldn't even see out if it to find out what was up.
Once I got Alex to finish taking pictures of my "disease" I cleaned it out to find.....

Something I didn't want to see. RED. my whole left eye was just like the inside of a Christmas cinnamon bear. YIKES. At least it wasn't a work day.
I began with a regimen of eye drops and warm packs hoping it was just a little dry. Hmm I seemed to be the only one thinking it was nothing. Alex recommended I wait to go to the Dr. until Saturday, in case it was nothing and went away.
Of course my luck was like the movie "Ground Hog Day." I woke up Saturday and it was the exact same thing again. So.... I waited a few hours before I was once again seriously encouraged to call a Dr. In case it was pink eye and needed to be taken care of.
*Side note* I do NOT like going to the Dr. office when "something is wrong" I know they're going to charge me $25 just to tell me something is wrong and then give me an Rx that costs way too much, and I won't get it anyway. Isn't insurance awesome!

So I made the appointment, sat in the waiting room for 30 min, in the patient room for 5 min, with the assistant who said, "Oh you've got the Stink EYE!" Really? and you're not even the Dr. good thing I had you check me out :(
Sure enough the Dr. poked his head in and said, "ooh nasty looking eye you got there. Looks like pink eye, or some kind of bacteria or virus. Either way it'll run it's course in about 72 hours. But let's just give you this antibiotic you have to put a ribbon of goo on the inside of your eyelid and blink"
*Another side note* I DON'T let anything touch my eyeball. Are you serious? It's hard enough just to get eye drops in. It's drama enough with that.
So I left feeling like I'd just been told everything we researched on WebMD and turned in the Rx at the pharmacy.... Hmm pay $90 for the scrip or wait till Monday morning and I'll be ok.... What do you think?

Wear an eye patch instead of course!
Thanks Ryan and Jenny. It was put to very good use.
Although I did have to miss snowboarding and felt diseased with my Stank Eye for a few days, I am all better now and can FINALLY wear make up to work again.
Yeah, who decided to take our staff picture today of all days without make up :(
Oh well, at least it's Finally February ;)

2011-01-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm blogging, can you believe it!?!?! I am amazed, inspired and depressed by how much other people blog and yet apparently I'm lucky if I make it once every 2 months.... sheesh. Who has the time these days?

Can you believe that excuse!? I have a husband who works and goes to school, till all hours of the night sometimes, continues to study and even has time to relax and watch an episode of the Soup or play a video game. Yet all I do is work, make dinner and feel achey. I know I could do better at this thing called life, but part of me just doesn't want to. I write in my journal, every so often, less than I should, and blogging feels like a journal. Lately I probably blog more than I write in my journal. I'd like to say it's easier, but at the same time, not so much. Although my hand definitely doesn't ache as much after I blog it's also not tangible. I write things in my journal I wouldn't want others to see, things I may or may not want to remember and move on from, or enjoy when I reread them.

Blogging is not really for myself it is a journal for others. I know there are not many who even follow this blog. Mostly those family members who live far away…. Some friends I don’t see frequently and bless your hearts for all caring what goes on in our lives.

To say it plainly, I’ve gotten lazy. Some days I enjoy being lazy. Other days I wish I could be like my mother-in-law who uses every minute of every day, and then some. Work is sucking my life away…. I need to change my attitude, I realize that. It’s hard in January, I hate this month, can I get some sunshine?….. Again, working on changing my attitude about that. In fact, I even started a list about the things I did like about January. First thing on the list “it’s almost over.”

For today this blog is more about getting my feelings off my chest…. it happens once in a while. A good release is healthy, right?

And an update, if that’s what you seek. I still work in the same office, Alex has the same job at America First, for now, and going to school at UVU. Sometimes life throws you curves and you complain about it. I’m not saying a curve up, or down, just a curve in general. I would welcome one of those right now. Just something different. Something to look forward to. Maybe a drive to California ;)

I’ll see you again after next Tuesday when it’s February J

David ARCHULETTA!! Need I say more?

2010-12-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to see DAVID ARCHULETTA.... and the Mormon Tabernacle choir, on temple square.
Little did we know how many people would be there just to see this infamous performance that we had almost no time to eat dinner. Amanda and I were amazingly fast.
(thanks to the Normans for an awesome evening)After we RAN, literally in our Sunday dress clothes, to get in the longest of all long lines, we ended up waiting.... the lines were ridiculous.
Apparently somewhere along the lines of 1.5 million people put in for tickets to this concert, and we drew out, LUCKY!

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside :( but we were "so freaking out cause like we got to see DAVID!" hahaha I wish we'd been that excited. I didn't even know who was performing with them until we got there. Low and behold did I know Michael York would be there too. we were so blessed that night. What an experience.
I've never really paid attention to David Archuletta (I don't even know if I'm spelling that right) but he's actually a very good singer.

This is how excited Mikki was after just seeing David... not quite the same faces we had on, but she holds in the excitement very well. You should have seen her swinging her arms and singing David songs all the way home... :)

Two nights later my niece PorSha had her Christmas performance. It's a singing and dance group and they were very cute. It helps that she's such a ham.

Her group had such cute costumes... she wanted to wear it to bed and to church the next day.

I was so impressed by her solo. She was supposed to have a partner who we guess didn't show up, but that didn't even phase her.

I LOVE HER FACE!!!

As I sit here blogging this Christmas Eve, I've figured something out. Nothing matters but family. Not just biological family, but everyone in your life that you consider family. We literally are all brothers and sisters and I get so excited just thinking about how awesome my family is!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Is it really December already?

2010-12-05T16:34:00.001-08:00

I LOVE FIVE GUYS!!
Elaina and I decided to head over to one of our favorite places for a warm bite to eat at the beginning of November... Little did we know how cold it would actually get.

Peanuts and french fries. They are truly the best. We actually didn't eat many of the peanuts, but had to have some out of tradition.

One of my favorite memories this year will be the Hogwarts Harry Potter Party my mom and I went to the night of the premier. We didn't see the movie until the next week after Thanksgiving, but it was a perfect way to get ready.
Platform 9 3/4

We got galleons to spend

Couldn't decide where to start....

Finally chose professor Trelawney to have our fortunes told - I'm a little fickle and mom's "inbetween worlds"....

When we visited care of magical creatures, they convinced my mom to touch the GIANT BOA!!

We both tried butterbeer. A lot different than I had expected but fun to try at least once.

We were both sorted into our houses. I was Ravencaw and mom was Hufflepuff.

We also got to play Quidditch, got our very own wands, treats from Honeydukes, jokes from Zonko's and a little magic of our own.

Mom made me a scarf for Harry Potter #4 and it was the perfect place to wear it. I LOVE Harry Potter. From a true skeptic to a believer. We had so much fun that night.

Then it got a lot colder and we had a ridiculous snow storm. It was so crazy that halfway through the day we went outside to scrape our cars of.... I couldn't even reach the top of my car to get it all. I can't wait for a garage some day :)

That wasn't enough to stop my brothers on Thanksgiving morning at 15 degrees.
They are dye-hard "Turkey bowler's" That's where all the boys from our old neighborhood get together Thanksgiving morning and play football at the park by my parents house. However this year with the snow, only my two crazy brothers were there.
Jacob was determined to do a diving catch.

and Ben's just the type to go all out regardless. Yep, he caught it.

My dad had a nice warm fire when we got home and we warmed up quick.
We took a trip up to the Martin's for a quick visit and soon it was turkey time.

We had a great Thanksgiving. My sister had heart surgery, that she's been waiting for for a long time. Ben and his family were staying with us for a few days and it all went by so fast.

This weekend we went to temple square with some friends of ours. When we got to their house, their tree was all decorated in Blue LED lights. Alex was in heaven.

Our plan to get hot chocolate when we got downtown was foiled when the place was closed :( Luckily for us it wasn't really that cold, however it was raining. Weird, we weren't expecting that at all.

We did have a good time though and hopefully we'll get back down when it's not raining.

We love Christmas

Even if it is snowing.....or raining :)

haLLoWeeN!

2010-11-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's Halloween.... or it was Halloween. Our computer's been struggling lately so this is the first chance I've had to show you all about it.

Friday night we had a pumpkin carving contest with some friends. I'm not exactly sure what Alex's design was, but I know it was a character from a video game. Any guesses?

I decided to go for a traditional classic. Although I don't have an ultimate favorite, Tinkerbell is definitely in the running ;)

Then it was Saturday. Not officially Halloween, but my mom always makes donuts the Saturday before... which for Halloween in Utah on a Sunday, actually means it's on a Saturday!

One of my FAVORITE parts, is the DONUT HOLES

For Alex's work, they all dressed up as "Rock Stars" This was his impression of one

I love donut holes either with frosting, or plain sugar.... don't they just make your mouth water!

That night, Alex and I were invited to a Murder Mystery night. His character was Count Dracula and I was Little Red Riding Hood. It was so much fun. Everyone really got into their parts.

We were all there for the funeral of Jasmine..... low and behold Sherlock would reveal that she was MURDERED at the hand of someone at her funeral!

Our friends Mandi and Ashley who put everything together did an AMAZING JOB!!

They were so creative, right down to every detail. They made everything from scratch too.

These were our chips, baked tortillas, cut out in Halloween shapes

Scary bubbling green Cider

Which filled our skeletal goblets perfectly

They even got morgue toe tags for our drink labels, so we wouldn't forget who's poisonous drink was whose.

The food was so good and the entire place was decorated like a scene from an actual "Scary Tale"

In the end, we had so much fun and we all came out of it alive. Although our friend Adam, ended up being the murderer.

Alex aka The Count & Me aka Red Riding Hood;

Adam aka Long John Silver & Mandi aka Juliet;

Ashley aka Alice & Joe aka Mad Hatter all from Wonderland

It's been fun to see how everyone celebrates Halloween.

However you do it, make sure it's ghoulishly DELICIOUS!

fAmiLy ReUniOn

2010-10-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

My uncle Eldon was in charge of the Randall reunion this year and decided to have it in October and make it full of Halloween fun!
After everyone brought their favorite soup, stew, or chili (mm mm GOOD) we played a fun game of "right, left, across"

The kids got the chance to receive candy SEVERAL times throughout this reunion - truly Halloween. First was the pinata - Our little pink cheetah butterfly, Lexus, got in a good hit.

Then we had the costume contest/parade... Rachel and I were a duo. Instead of Super Sista's, we were the Super Mario Brothers!

1Up
(We know Luigi is supposed to be taller than Mario - as we were reminded several times ;) that was our only flaw)

And then there was the trunk-or-treat. My mom was literal, and sat in her trunk!!The lady bug and the surgeon

I wonder if Mario ever has problems keeping his mustache in place?

and of course there was cupcake decorating

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

I LOVE FAMILY
Thanks for a great reunion. It was so much fun to see everyone.

I don't know how Moms do this!!

2010-10-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

I watch Alex suffer from allergies on what seems like a daily basis. I feel so bad for him, all the time. He comes in from mowing the lawn, just miserable. Can't stand going to our friends house because they have a cat, etc, etc. There has to be something we could do?....
Be careful when you think you're willing to do what it takes to stop the suffering. I'd heard about allergy shots from my brother, coworkers, friends whose family members have done it, and they all say it's changed their lives. So I figured, yeah that sounds like a GREAT idea. They test you for what you're allergic to, and then you go in once a week and get a shot and in 5 years, viola!
Well..... what I didn't expect was how emotional I would be to watch it all done.
I went with Alex to his allergy testing appointment so we'd both know what his options were. They begin with marking his back with a pen to know what the corresponding allergy was.

He gets numbered 1-41 and then they poke him. 41 TIMES!! I couldn't believe it. They poke him with all kinds of allergies from grass, to mold, to animals, everything inside and out. And then we wait.

This was what his back looked like right after the pokes. They all begin a little red, cause they've just been poked. But we wait 15 min. and they check every 5 to see how he's doing.
Imagine being poked with all the things that you could potentially be very allergic to. The antihistamine reaction is very itchy and he just had to lay there.

This was after 5 minutes. I just tried to tickle his arms, anything to keep his mind off of it.

This is after 10 minutes. And if you think 10 minutes isn't that long, try laying still while your entire back itches.... an endless itch you can't scratch. Finally after 15 min, they came in to check for the final results. I was loosing it. I felt so bad, so helpless and couldn't do anything. I don't know how moms handle watching their kids in the Dr. office.As you can tell he had some pretty big ones. They use a measuring tool to decide how big the wheel of the irritated area is and how allergic he is. The middle ones were GRASS!! He tried to get the Dr. to say he didn't have to mow the lawn anymore... but once he starts the shots he'll be good to go in May to start mowing again ;)So we decided to go with the shots! I won't be going with him every week but I'm glad he'll finally be getting help, relief from his daily suffering. I guess that's really what it's all about.
This has been an eye opening experience. He was such a good sport, as they say, "I think I did worse than him."

My how our Garden Grows

2010-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend we took our boat out for the last run of the season... sadly it was our first and last :( We had been busy this summer and didn't get a chance until then. Jordanelle was a little on the chilly side in the morning.

Elaina was the first brave soul to jump in the water.... or rather ease her way in. We're still debating if it's better to just jump.The cold water didn't seem to affect her as she popped right out on her first try.

Then it was my turn to ease in....

The temperature really wasn't bad after you were used to it, but when you haven't done this all season you get exhausted quickly and I took a little break ;)

Jacob got to try out his kneeboard for the first time. As you can see he's a real water cowboy.

What's a good run if it doesn't end like this....And then of course our own little pro...

I really love watching him do his tricks.

All in all it was a very successful day. We had lots of fun, it warmed up nicely and I NEVER got my head wet!!

Now onto the Garden!!
These are some of the amazing flowers in our backyard and I just love how they've blossomed this year.

But what has really taken off are our PEPPERS! We feel pretty lucky that from seeds we have come up with this...

Our Anaheims are delicious and plentiful

And our bells have turned out better than we thought.

What Alex is really thrilled about are our jalapenos. We've had great success with them. Some more hot than others but all together we feel very lucky to go out back whenever we please to add something we've grown to our meal.

This Anaheim was cut up and added to our lunch this afternoon :)

Tonight was our Relief Society Friday Frenzy.
I chose a domestic art project and I actually feel very pleased at how it turned out. Not just because it's green but it's Halloween! I love October and everything about it. Fall, Oktoberfest, Halloween, General Conference, etc. I can't wait!

Take Me out to the Ball Game

2010-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

Alex got tickets to a Bee's game through his work at the end of August.
We absolutely LOVE baseball in my family and go every year. This time however, Alex and I were waiting for the game to start and got asked to sing a promotional song out on the field...... AWKWARD but at least they got a picture this time. Alex has done it twice and we finally got proof.Ben was in town with his girlfriend Maria and we made it a whole family affair.

Even Taunya braved it with her tired arm... :(

Even though the Bee's didn't win, it was still a great game.

PorSha LOVED her blue snow cone. I loved it too, cause it turned our tongues blue.

The fireworks at the end were also amazing. Special treat that night.

The next big thing in August.... I now fit into the age category of 26-39. I actually ended up filling in that box on my birthday. Which was AWESOME, by the way.
Brooke and Josh sent a uniquely crafted card that inspires!
Rachel gave me a box full of craft/card making supplies. I LOVE it all. And I'm not telling anyone the code ;)

I also got this FANTASTIC, very appropriate card from Jim and Taunya. Not only did it include "authentic" chicken scratch but Jim then called and clucked his way through "Happy Birthday" a truly special moment to my day. Thank you!!!
And among other GREEN things I was given (thanks Jenny) Alex gave me a gift that made me cry..... a card! You'll notice there are fireman coats hanging up.... if you know my past you might see where this is going. The inside said, "Ok, they're ready. Light the candles"
We ALL laughed to tears.
He'd been saving this card since right after my last birthday and it was well worth it.

Dessert was something else. My mom had this idea. Dessert kabobs!
I'm not a huge cake fan but I LOVE brownies and what better to put it with than fruit.

Everyone got to put their own together.

And some even drizzled chocolate fudge over top.... are you drooling yet?

The last special treat of the day was our first anaheim pepper! It was so good. The best part, is being able to walk out the back door and pick something to go with dinner.
(today, Alex and I picked a jalapeno to eat with our lunch - perfect addition)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes it was a fantastic day. Finished off with Vanilla Bean, slow churned ice cream. Thanks bishop it was the perfect way to end the day.

Speaking of changes, today Alex decided to make a change. For unknown reasons, even to him, he's been growing his hair out. I've only trimmed it once since the first of June... but he wanted it cut! :) Secretly I was excited. I'd let him "do his thing" but was glad he asked me to cut it.

Half way through. It was a bit early for him...

Yeah, long enough

AFTER!!

Good lookin! Wish I could shower and get ready in 10 min ;)
Summer's almost over.... I'm not ready to let it go yet. But it's really been a good one.

Hello Seattle

2010-08-27T09:43:00.001-07:00

Alex and I took a break before school started and headed to Washington State with Jacob and Elaina. We got off to a little bit of a rocky start, which just gives us something to blog about :)
We got to the airport and found our our flight was delayed 2 hours.... so we hurried and called my dad to come back and get us. And what else was there to do in a short amount of time but get ice cream!
Dad downed his cone before Alex and I even got our shake. Just so you know, Arctic Circle no longer has nutter butter shakes :( Butterfinger is second best.

Yes, that's Elaina reading Catching Fire. (Already onto Mockingjay now - SO GOOD) It was a late night flight - thus the no make-up tired looks.

We literally sat in the last row of the plane. Which means you deboard about 1/2 an hour after the first row. I've never seen a plane empty.

We were staying with Elaina's parents in Marysville and her sister in Puyallup.

Our first day was filled with MUSIC! Literally. We went to a place called Experience Music Project and it's all about music. I was pretty much in heaven. This Tornado of guitars actually plays music!

Then there was a place where we could actually play instruments. Elaina's dad Norman was in his own heaven. He used to play a lot of instruments until he lost the tips of two fingers.

I already had a groupie!! Didn't know I was that good ;)

Good thing Alex isn't serious about a drum set....

I really loved this place

Then we visited famous Pike marketplace. Why would I be so excited to be sitting in this seat.....

I LOVE Sleepless in Seattle and I love Tom Hanks even more.

They had delicious treats and snacks and it was so crazy, packed with people. I miss the chocolate/peanut butter brownie.

Who could miss Hard Rock, especially when it's right up the street.

Hard Rock Seattle just opened up this spring. It was meant to be.
Elaina's sister Michelle and her husband Nick, along with their two kids joined us for dinner.

On our way back to the parking lot we happened to take a ride up the Space Needle and waited around for sunset. It was gorgeous.

Space Needle

The next morning we headed west and stopped at this awesome town, Poulsbo that was an old Viking town. Where they got the idea to put a British phone booth, I don't know...

The patient who told us about this town, gave us the reason for it because of this bakery

Boy was he right. This "cookie" was DELISH! Shouldn't have eaten a powdered sugar cookie while wearing a black shirt.

Then we headed up to Olympic National Forest.

We hiked Heather Park trail and found huckleberries. Elaina said they were ok to eat. And I'm willing to try anything.....

Me, Jacob and Elaina. Isn't this place RIDICULOUSLY gorgeous

In case you didn't know, you pretty much have to drive through Port Angeles to get to the forest, so of COURSE we'd stop by a Twilight store.... those of you who know, will understand. ;)

Perfect timing on the way home.... Fat Smitty's. Jacob found this place while on his mission (yes his mission was in the same state his wife is from, no they did not meet until years later)

They have signed dollars on every inch of this place. Tradition started as an exchange for a customer who asked to leave a business card. The owner said, "You can leave anything for a dollar." and .... here they are.

The famous Smitty burger is HUGE

One of my most FAVORITE things the whole time was picking wild blackberries from the side of the road.

DELICIOUS

The next day we decided to hike Mt. Rainier but got half way up and needed gas.... they pump it for you!

We decided to hike Sky Park Trail - which was apparently pretty popular but we braved it anyway.

And although we didn't hike up to the top, we got close enough for a cool picture at the Look out point.

We had enough time that night to hurry to Munchies and get Teriyaki - which we were told is the "real" kind. Then dash through downtown to the Pacific Science center.

At the science center we watched this very cool laser show to Michael Jackson songs. We laid on the floor and sang to our hearts content.The next evening, Elaina's sister Karina and her awesome family provided a BBQ for us. Delicious BBQ corn, when peeled back kind of looks like a skinny pineapple. But don't peel the husk off it keeps the corn moist.

We tried jalapeno poppers. Which we've since learned, don't put eye drops in your eyes if you get jalapeno juice in them, it does more harm than good.

And for breakfast. I ate this FANTASTIC granola cereal every morning and once we picked the berries it became delicious heaven in a bowl. I miss Washington....

Monday morning we headed back into Seattle for this amazing Underground tour. Google it to find out more. But we literally toured what used to be the streets of Seattle that are now underground because of a fire.

It was an amazing part of history preserved.

So we've already visited the site of one movie while here.... couldn't hurt to throw one more into the trip!
This is in fact the troll from 10 Things I Hate About You. Our family's really into movies. This was pretty cool. That night we all watched the movie.But not before stopping, for the first time at a Starbucks. I figured since this was the place they originated, if I was going to ever go, let's make it now. And I couldn't have been more pleased. My favorite ice cream to eat by itself is Vanilla Bean and wouldn't you know it. They had just that!! Coffee free of course, it was once again HEAVEN. I'm sure finding a lot of heaven in Washington....Which I wasn't at all sad that I had dessert before dinner. We went to a place called Claim Jumper and their dishes are HUGE!!! This 8 inch pizza was split between Alex and I mm, mm, GOOD.Alex and I were sad it was our last night :(Tuesday morning was our last day in Washington but before we headed to the airport, we stopped at the Boeing factory. Elaina's dad happens to work here but not in the part you tour. These planes behind us were HUGE. (again google Dreamlifter) We got to see several in the construction stage. They have over 100,000 miles of wiring in each plane.... no wonder it takes for ever to figure out what the "mechanical" problem is.

Part of the head of a plane they run tests on (what Elaina's dad does)

Remember those "mechanical problems" I mentioned...Well just as we were eating lunch before heading to the airport, we got a phone call that the plane coming in that was supposed to be taking us home had a mechanical problem and they'd canceled our flight. After a few raised voices to Delta, we were stuck on a flight the NEXT MORNING. I wasn't happy about missing work.... for a minute. Then we decided to make the most of it. At least we were lucky enough to have Elaina's dad still with us.
After checking in with Delta and getting our hotel and food vouchers figured out, Norman took us to the Ballard locks. This is another one of those cool things not many outsiders would know about.

We went underground to see the salmon swimming the Ladder, upstream. These fish were HUGE

Then we all went to the restaurant across from our hotel. It was an ale house... not much to choose from that wasn't made of or had something to do with beer, so we all ordered off the appetizer menu.

In the meantime we drew on the table. Alex started with a Transformer head and it morphed into his own robot? Good thing he's sticking with computers ;)

This was my favorite part of the whole meal - a GIANT glass of strawberry lemonade, drank to the bottom. I am a lemonade freak - I know a good lemonade.

We like to look on the positive side of things and so, even though we had to wait an extra day to come home we did benefit from it.
1. More time for Elaina to spend with her dad
2. More time for us to spend in heaven.... I mean Washington
3. An extra day off work
4. MOVED TO FIRST CLASS!
We boarded first, where they already had bottles of water waiting for us when we sat down, and then she asked if there was anything we'd like to drink as soon as we sat down, before the plane took off. We had our own basket of goodies during the whole flight at any time! NICE

Good bye Seattle

Mt. Rainier as we fly by. We will miss this great place and will keep it in our hearts. As we listen to one of our favorite songs "Hello Seattle" by Owl City - YouTube it ;)
Thanks to Jb and Elaina for taking us on an awesome adventure, you guys ROCK THE CASBAH

Hot, hot, hot, food, food, food

2010-07-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

This summer Alex and I have been trying our hand at gardening. Tomatoes are my parents specialty, we've been tending to the zucchini and our very own peppers!

2 years and counting! July 10th Alex and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with FOOD!

Our first item of business was picking up some pictures from our wedding photographer she had been using for her demos and didn't need anymore. They were cool! and Free. Since we were up in Roy, why not stop at Big Ben's... actually it' s the Burger Bar but we gave it our own name. We love their food and it was so hot - perfect for ice cream.

Of course we had to have dinner that weekend eventually, and we love, love, LOVE Olive Gardens 5 cheese ziti. It was a no brainer.
They even came out with a new berry drink that was divine too.

Look at that cheese!

It wouldn't be Olive Garden without bread sticks and alfredo sauce!!

The middle of the month was filled with 24th of July and the RODEO! Our family loves the rodeo. Unfortunately none of the pictures would upload. You get to picture Alex and I in our country outfits... plaid shirt, belt buckle, cowboy boots and all!

Then it was off to Camper World where we got to use our tent.
We love our tent not only for how many it can sleep, and all the cool features but mostly we could all stand up inside.

The evening's treat was roasted starbursts. Our personal favorite, smokin when you first put them on.

Nice n' bubbly when they're ready

Good thing it was warm outside - we all forgot our jackets.

The next day of course there were plenty of activities - traditional horseshoes.

Knitting - mom's getting all ready for winter.

And my cousin's cute little 11 month old was giving foot massages!

By the time we'd packed it all up and headed home we were so hot from being outside and ready for some AC.

Summer's going great! Too fast, but great. We can't wait to pack more into it and have more memories.
Enjoy the heat and the FOOD!

Aloha Ohana!

2010-07-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had the awesome opportunity to take an 11 day trip a few weeks ago, with my family, to HAWAII!

I unfortunately got a sinus infection the day we left - so flying was not so much fun but that was the only frown the whole time.Our first afternoon was the Waimea waterfalls

While the boys went golfing on the beach.

The next morning started with a smaller flight - my first helicopter!

Hawaii's Grand Canyon

James Bond's archway

Before we knew it, we were on another island and hit the beach

Some hit it a little too hard ;)

and some just took it easy

We got to see and experience so many amazing things
USS Bowfin

USS Arizona Memorial

USS Missouri

the bullets it shoots

Sunsets and sunrises

Laie temple

Polynesian Cultural Center
Easter Island

Luau - pineapple and poi

Punchbowl Cemetery - we found Alex's uncle Edward Martin

I ridiculously LOVE pineapple. So the Dole plantation was perfect! and their pineapple with Li Hing it was so much better. I had to bring some back with me :)

Then I won a raffle to pick my very own oyster and see what was inside....

My very first pearl and it's BLACK! Could that be more perfect.

Alex - performing the sleeping test. He was such a trooper and so was Grant!

Parasailing was SOOOO peaceful

Nice landing

Of course I find them.

Our last night in Oahu we threw our leis into the ocean as tradition and our hopes to return.

Edgar brought us fresh mango the morning we left his house. DELISH

Hilo's burgers are fabulous

Volcano National Park
Lava tube

The fuming crater

Volcano at night

I don't like nuts in things... this place changed my WORLD!

Hilo is BEAUTIFUL and so surprising

One of my FAVORITE surprises was the black sand beach - it's BLACK

You'd know we were sisters.... if I wasn't so white. I promise I did have a tan

Maui
Snorkeling for the first time - can you say cheese?

It was windy on the drive back

Pride of Maui

Cool Cats not only had good food, but their live music was a riot

There's Britain in my blood

Maui has one too!

This is for you Bubba

The whole family - Baby G was a trooper

My parents are truly the cutest and the BEST!! Thank you, thank you!!

The ride home was much better - especially considering it was a red eye and had a descent movie.

I couldn't believe I got all my luggage home. Like my dad said, who could mistake that for their own.

I still can't believe it's over. It was AMAZING!!! We had so much fun and can't believe we got to experience everything we did. It was the best and can't wait to go back. Until then, where will our adventures take us.......

Let the Good Times Roll

2010-06-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

We had some fun before we moved.
So in case people don't know, we've moved into a house!!! No it's not our own house, it's my parents basement and we've been getting ready for a while but took Memorial weekend off - kind of, to have some fun. We always went camping to Camperworld when I was younger but without a trailer of our own now, my family usually just goes up for a day during the weekend. It happened to be a great day on Sunday and my dad decided to take his new pride and joy for a ride and my mom agreed to go along! Can you believe it?

Don't let that fool you, she used to ride on the back of my dad's hog all the time "before you kids came along..." haha we all know what that means. "Us kids" are somehow responsible for parents restraining their wild sides until....

we are old enough to join them! (Jacob & Elaina)

And while Alex and I don't own a motorcycle of any kind, we couldn't be left out of the photo shoot :)

It is well known that we all learned the game of horseshoes from Camperworld. Which we all secretly love, but aren't quite sure if we're good at it yet.

My dad took on Alex and Jacob by himself and after a ringer that put him over the max point, dropping him back to 11 he STILL WON! I love my dad throwing a horseshoe.

He's a pretty good shot too.

Even Alex is getting the hang of this game.... for a newbie he's not too bad ;)

Once the game is over they just can't resist a few "extra" shots. Alex's came from behind is back and Jb had a sweet spin-action to his.

Then Alex started getting really creative with them.... Not sure what that's about but I'll accept creative expression. I have never seen one of these signs before, therefore it warrants a picture :)

It was a fun day camping and we even got a little sun. Too bad it wasn't on a Saturday so we could stop at Park City on the way back..... another day.

After that weekend we had a big job ahead of us.... MOVING. Officially we packed up everything and got it all finished up Friday morning in an hour and a half!! Can you believe it?!
Thanks mom, dad, Jb for all your muscles and Dad Martin for letting us use your truck so much - minus the goose.

and now, after all that hard work .... we CELEBRATE!!! We are off to Hawaii in 6 1/2 hours and I couldn't be more excited about waking up at 4:00 in the morning!!
The next time I blog I should have a few pictures of a beach or something exotic to share :)

it's about time.....

2010-05-19T19:53:00.001-07:00

Moving has begun!!! The last weekend we had that was nice weather, Alex and I decided to reorganize our storage unit. I have been sharing it with my sister for the past couple years and after adding, removing, moving home from college, and getting married we knew it was time. Let's just say it was a jumbled mess of stuff...
After our unit had been broken into, half my boxes were ripped open anyway and needed to be reboxed so we decided that in the process we would go through ALL of our stuff, get rid of what we didn't want to keep storing, make a list of everything that was in every box and tape it all back up with numbers on each box so we'd know which "box" it was. YIKES
I had warned Alex it would be an all day process and we weren't kiddin ourselves. We began Friday at 9:30 in the morning as soon as Alex got home from his morning meeting.
First we loaded up dad Martin's truck with everything from storage so we could bring it home.There was so much dust, even with our bandanas on it got everywhere. Who knew you could sneeze so much in one morning.
Bless my mom's heart, she's been helping us collect empty boxes for the move. This truck was entirely full of them.

We'd brought everything home, gone through it, spent the WHOLE morning/afternoon doing it and then had to pack it back to the storage unit. Alex was such a trooper. He knows how I don't like to leave anything unfinished and was just as determined to get this project out of the way. It was actually kind of fun going through stuff from my youth... oh the things we think are important then. :)

After we'd finished loading the truck BACK up once again, we headed off to storage to put it all back. On our way to the unit Alex and I drove past the duck pond... hahahaha it's already funny just remembering. We saw this goose flying in front of the truck and I said, "Alex there's a duck! Of course he'll move....." Then I quickly turned my head to the side and closed my eyes and BAM! "Alex did we hit something?" hmmm..... Sure enough Alex pulls over to the side of the road and looks back to see a goose get up off the ground and waddle away. WE HIT A GOOSE!
We weren't going that fast, but sure enough when we got back to the unit I checked the truck.
Notice the white feathers still stuck to the grill.

Oh and it broke the grill! I couldn't believe we hit it! They always move.... think again!
I felt so bad for the truck. We later found out that by hitting it the head lights had been knocked loose too. Luckily we could fix those but, oh my goodness. My family does not have good luck with birds, right Josh?
Good ol' GMC, I think it saved our lives

Although we were side tracked for a few minutes, we were not done with our job. Onto the unit.
We repacked everything, organizing everything at the same time. My sister's stuff is from the right side, across the back and up the left side a bit. The rest is ours, with more to come.
Here's the before pics...

I know, right? What were we thinking....

TA DA!! I had actually been waiting for this day for about a week and a half. Crazy it seems, I'm sure Alex thought I was but I LOVE to clean up and reorganize things it's like my meditation.

We still had three more drop offs after this. Martin's to pick up some dressers that dad Martin took such time to paint, even the knobs for us!! They look great! He also fed us dinner, we realized we needed to eat. Then to my parents to drop the dressers off, along with the chair and coffee table, then back to the Martin's to give back the truck. We finally got home about 10:30 and showered all the dirt off. Moving has just begun and honestly I'm excited to keep going next weekend where we'll actually begin putting everything else into storage and finally move the first weekend in June. Crazy how time flies.

IRONMAN
Ben came into town for Mother's day weekend and although he couldn't make it to see Iron Man II with us, (awesome by the way) we all met up after for dinner. Dad and Rachel never seem to be able to look at the camera just right... so we take what we can get.

Ben and his girls

I loved Alex's face in this one... he said he loved mine. I'm sure he'd say that no matter what though ;)

PorSha is crazy! She orders this "green burrito" every time. It's really a spinach tortilla wrap. But surprisingly she ate almost the whole thing. I SERIOUSLY love her face. She had the funniest way of pouring ranch over every bite.

Sorry this video is sideways, but listen closely to hear how much she loves ranch.... she's way too funny!

She even ate her two pieces of cantaloupe. Again, I LOVE HER!

Lexus and Elaina. We're not quite sure where Lexus learned her stare from, but we have suspicions about the Russian mafia..... ;)

Mother's Day
We spent mother's day with mom Taunya - what an amazing example of patience and love!!
To my own mom, I will never pretend to understand your struggles but I have learned how to deal with mine because of you, I love you both!

Mom's birthday was Sunday and although it was her 60th, we did not want to make a big deal about it - for her sake really or we would have swamped her ;) However Elaina and I decided to make a video of her life. We found classic pictures of her as a baby, a rare find and such a treasure. The movie was AWESOME My mom has seriously done some cool things and been AMAZING places. For all she's done, we wanted to celebrate her life, and we had so much fun surprising her with it. Priceless. LOVE YOU MOM!!

Heather!
Today was my cousin Heather's wedding. Alex and I were invited to her ceremony up in Bountiful on the rooftop of a building. This was a second marriage for her and so, had to be done civilly for now, but was still amazing. I forgot my camera at the ceremony, but remembered to bring it to the open house. She was gorgeous and so classic! My cousin and I have been very close and I was so privileged she invited me to share this day with her. Congrats cuz, I love you!
(Jenny - this is the green dress)
Grandma Helen - I LOVE YOUR FACE!

And my Aunt Tammy, I can't even say how much I love this woman! I miss her living in Chicago, but some day she will be back.

I wanted to get my dad too, but it had to be in the car - at least he tried to smile for the camera. Best to not have him look or his eyes would be closed while driving. Like I mentioned earlier, he can never seem to look at a camera and keep his eyes open.

And we couldn't leave Alex out. He was such a trooper today. I went to work before the wedding for a couple hours, then rushed home to shower and Alex helped me get ready so we could turn around and leave up to Bountiful. He hung out all day, patiently, dropped me back off at work, picked me back up a few hours later and then drove all the way back up to North Ogden for the reception..... Have I ever mentioned how much I love him!!!!!!

How could you not love this face!?!?! This was actually the first of MANY pictures I tried to surprise him with, when really he surprised me with every face he pulled.

As you can tell, life has been busy. I'm sure it will continue to be so and I'll continue to be catching up on my blogs after events have long passed, but really this is all about family and that's what we live for.

Hula and painting

2010-04-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's getting closer to our family trip to Hawaii, so we got together for family dinner and discussed a few things. Of course my parents made it all "Hawaiian" and we showed up with our Hawaiian gear and laid back attitudes!
Rachel and Jason definitely had the feel of being on the beach with their sunglasses.

Elaina, Jacob and Zeus - chillin before the meeting

Even Ben made an appearance for us all to see him while we went through our presentation. Brooke and Josh were on the phone the whole time, probably wondering what was going on most of the time. ;)

My sister also brought her other dogs to play in the backyard. Buddy's a GREAT catch with the ball. You wouldn't believe it, looking at this picture, but he caught that ball.

Diesel just likes to lick the glass door and get his nose print all over :D

Then it was time to get down to business. We're all so excited about this trip and true to Hoffmann fashion, we've got it all figured out... well except the parts where we'll just be relaxing!!

I'm most excited about the pineapple. I LOVE PINEAPPLE! Which is why for our wedding we asked for a pineapple-corer. It is the most wonderful thing.

Isn't it such a wonderful fruit?

This was our dessert. We didn't really know what we were doing but Tucanos does it, how hard could it be?

Not hard at all! Again, may I say DELISH!!!

The next weekend it was our weekend to drive to Lake Powell and work on our houseboat.
We left about 3am and drove all morning to miss the heat of mid-day.
Jacob and Ilene started with scraping the paint off the trim.

I couldn't believe this caramel colored liquid could turn into such a milky white.

Dad and Marlin began painting the trim from the front and we realized it was a two person job.

Then we realized it was easier to do it from above. Well kind of, for us short people we had quite the reach.

Elaina and I then had the job of painting two boxes that sit on the front of the houseboat for the anchors and ropes. That wood soaked it up quick, we had to put 3 coats of oil based paint just to kind of cover it.

Then we joined Ilene painting the underside of the houseboat. Why do the short people keep getting these jobs? ;)

Because the boys were nailing in the trim! Jacob, dad, uncle Gary and his friend Dennis worked so hard and it took so long, while uncle Marlin "supervised"

It was much longer than we anticipated, but looked fantastic when they were done. My dad has DEFINITELY taught me the value of hard work.

Then us girls had the guys put the boxes back on the boat... us short people got lucky with this one.

We finished about 3 in the afternoon and successfully I did NOT get any paint in my hair this year :) It was a long day, rewarded with Stan's at the end.

I had to imagine myself on the lake this year because we won't be able to go. It was a sad day that for only the 2nd time in 20 years I won't be going down this summer. But we've decided to go to Washington with Elaina and Jacob in August. That'll be for a much later blog :)

What to do While Waiting?

2010-04-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Make DESSERT!

So I've been waiting to get pictures from my dad's camera of our events for the last week.... well I've been waiting a week and haven't gotten them yet. So I thought I'd blog about FOOD!!!
Since that's what we do best here is eat, we decided to try something new.
Alex and I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate combined, as he puts it "safe combo every time."
So we decided to put a spin on traditional rice krispie treats.

Start with the mallows.Add some peanut butter!!With of course using Coca Krispies!!

Smooth it out, and with a glass of milk it's pure deliciousness!!!
Some of you may have already heard of this or have tried it yourself. It's not a new thing apparently, they already have a recipe online (I googled it) But if you haven't, you're welcome for sharing! ;)

I just had to post this picture of Alex's face after I almost dropped our camera! That was his exact face!!! Lesson well learned, ALWAYS wear the wrist strap :)

And FINALLY
To end this blog on the bestest of best notes, I am an AUNT again!!!
My brother Josh and his wife Brooke had a little baby boy on Friday April 23rd. He's a little over 7 lbs and 19 inch. long. And understandable that they couldn't name him after me, him being a boy and all, they gave him the next best name Grant Rodney Hoffmann.
We're so excited!!! They don't get to blog often, due to the fact that they don't have internet, so let me be the first to welcome him to cyberspace.

Congrats!!! We're so excited and can't wait to see you all in about a month!

Frustration spills

2010-04-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

I have never used my blog for venting.... there's always a first for everything.

I HATE when I let things affect me. I know it is our choice to feel or react in a certain way but gosh darn it, sometimes your human nature takes over before your "reasonable mind" can figure out that how you should react or feel isn't how you're reacting or feeling. I let myself respond to frustrations in the wrong way, and then I get more frustrated that I did that... it's a vicious cycle I'm definitely working on. What makes it worse, is when these feelings begin at work and follow me home. Poor Alex has no warning and he's the first in the line of FIRE. He's under attack before either of us even know what's going on. Is this possible that I am the only one who feels this way? I will not, I REFUSE, to chalk it up to "female hormones" it is neither true nor valid. I have control over such things..... but why do my responses act faster than my brain. I know it is illogical, I know I'm just frustrated. I'm so grateful that my husband knows too.

Alex is so patient and understanding, helping me to work through idiocies of others that have affected me so. I should not have to babysit at work, I should not have to remind you what your job is. The worst part is, you're oblivious! I am understanding what it's like to be a teacher, but without the satisfaction of a student who finally understands the concepts.

I owe part of my frustration to my parents, who taught me well in the manners of responsibility, to know when someone is not fulfilling theirs. I am not old enough to say anything about the "younger generation" but I will say that I am old enough to KNOW BETTER. Come on people!!!

Baby Shower Long Distance

2010-04-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Brooke is far away in VA and could not be here for a baby shower, but would that stop us ladies from having an excuse to get together and have fun?! NO WAY :)
LaRae and her daughter Nichole came, with her two daughters and twins on the way. Aunt Tana and Aunt Debbie with her daughter Celeste were there too while Tyne represented the Karin Randall girls.We played some games, had to have tie breakers cause they were all too good at some of them and laughed a lot. Celeste had some really good answers to BABY A-Z.

Then we took a break to call Brooke and open a package from her.

What a sweetheart!!! All the way from Virginia she sent us thanks yous and favors!!
Mom read the card and inside the box were "rattles" with the coolest pan scrapers, or as dad likes to say, "You could use these for anything. But I guess scraping a pan is a good idea." haha such a guy.

While we were on the phone, we decided to play a game with Brooke..... and used my dad as a visual.
The game was to guess how big around she was and used my dad to estimate.... boy were we WAY OFF. Nobody guessed under 48 inches around, she was 38!!! Can you believe that? Well if you've seen her or a picture of her you would.

Then Mom or Grandma Hoffmann brought out the gifts to OOH and AHH about.
I think pretty much anything tiny is worth an ooh and an ahh. They are SOOOO CUTE

And then it was breakfast time. Really it was lunch by then but mom put together an awesome brunch full of "little" things. Little baby cinnamon rolls, little mini muffins and fruit. It was all so delicious.Brooke, we wish you could have been here, but we had a good time talking to you. Thanks for giving us an excuse to get together. You are so thoughtful.
We miss you, we love you.
We hope everything goes well this week, I expect a call sometime! Dad's not the only one now who's said low pressures bring babies :)

This is for Ben

2010-04-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

Friday

Easter at the Hoffmann's begins Friday night with our creativity shining through on our eggs!
All three of Ben's girls came to dye eggs with us. My how they've all grown.
Since Ben wasn't able to be there and his computer had gotten a virus we all got to talk with him on the phone.PorSha has her dad's intensity for art, and her Hoffmann OCD for detail - she's even using a paint brush to make sure it's perfect! BayLee's only 13 but you'd never guess by how tall and grown up she is. It was so much fun to have her come, we don't get to see her often.

I even convinced Alex to get in on the fun. I promised him I'd eat his eggs :)

Alex and I both only colored 3 eggs. These are mine. My Boston "B" had a picture of two Sox on the other side. My sunflower on the end isn't quite visible through the yellow, but I loved doing them anyway.

Saturday
We don't do the "bunny" part of Easter on Sunday because we like to keep Easter Sunday focused on Christ's resurrection, so Alex and I did ours Saturday morning before he went to work and I left for my mom's house.He was definitely surprised when he came out of the bedroom and I told him he had to follow the trail of his eggs to his basket.And such a good sport to do it too.We don't have official baskets yet, so I got creative.
My family's pretty into movies, and the Easter Bunny always brought one for the family.
This one came out just in time. Alex was so excited! How did the Bunny know?As a dental hygienist, I can't really condone too much candy. So I allowed the Easter Bunny to bring a movie and cookies. Alex doesn't like eggs, so like I said, I'll be eating those.The Easter Bunny came to grandma and grandpa Hoffmann's house this year, for Ben's girls. And of COURSE he left Trix, he always does!

Lexus doesn't always eat much, but she'll always eat cereal. LOVE our LEXUS

PorSha found the "lip stick" whopper eggs. It's just not Easter without them!

Torie made sure the girls were very Easterish, matching outfits and all.
(Don't you just love Lexus' toothless smile)

It was too cold for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs outside, so they were found in the basement this year. The girls had to search high, low and everywhere underneath.

That face says it all

Lexus needed help getting her basket down, like a true Hoffmann ;)

PorSha was even daring enough to put her hand inside a crocodile's mouth just for an egg.

I LOVE these girls!!!

Since Alex had to work, I found our basket. Ok Lexus really found it first. She's really good at looking. My mom made all of us baskets when I was born and we've used them every year since. I hope to make the same baskets for my family some day.

After the girls found all the eggs down stairs it was time to use their jump ropes and bubbles, so we headed up stairs.
SURPRISE
Ben came through the front door. My mom and I just screamed and the girls ran to him, arms wide open. He'd brought them baskets all the way from Colorado, where the Easter Bunny had dropped them off, just in case they had been in Colorado ;)

The girls found all of the plastic eggs. Good thing they don't smell if you forget one....

Next it was Rachel's turn. She'd come over after to look for her basket and see the girls......Little did she know Ben was the one hiding it :)
That was AWESOME!!! And we were prepared with a camera for this surprise.

We hung out with Ben all day. The boys came home from work later that evening and headed right off to the Priesthood session while us girls just hung out.

Sunday
We watched part of conference in the morning with my parents until Ben came over. Then it was game time. Thank goodness for DVR ;)
We had a good time with Ben while he was here. I can't believe it had only been 2 weeks since he'd moved. He caught a flight back to CO Sunday night and we headed up to "THE Hoffmanns"
My grandma Hoffmann is crazy about Easter. Alex and I had to hunt for our "bowl" in her backyard. It was good to see family.
I LOVE Grma H!!!

It was such an awesome holiday and I love spending time with family.
Ben, I loved having you here - if you couldn't tell by my scream!
Our FHE this week was on Easter, traditions from the past and ones we'd like to have for the future, and our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us not forget His sacrifice and that we can all be as he is some day. No matter where you live now, we will be together forever someday.

See you soon! Rayne, Tom & Ade!!!
Josh, Brooke and BABY HOFFMANN!!!!

Big Ben

2010-03-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

Has moved to Denver, Colorado :(

We decided to celebrate his birthday a little early because he was leaving. His birthday isn't until June, and we'll actually be in Hawaii during that time but we couldn't wait.

My parents gave him a camera for his birthday and us sibilings decided to give him a bigger memory card and tripod since he'll be taking pics while he's there.

He was so surprised and it was WELL WORTH IT!!
Last Sunday we celebrated with the family, perfect timing with his girls there too. PorSha and Lexus are sad to see their daddy go, but he will try and make it back often.
He has gone to a better position within his company and will hopefully only be gone for a few years.This was the best family picture we could get.... dad just can't seem to keep his eyes open.
Ben actually used his tripod to take this picture. It was pretty cool. He wrapped it around the top of the chair and it stayed right in place.

My Big Brother Ben -
I love you for your quirkiness, I love you for your thoughtfulness, I love you for your smile.....

Even when it's covered in banana shake!!!
You are my big brother and I will miss you!!!!!

We love you!

It's green, green GREEN!!!

2010-03-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

So you HAVE to know that my favorite color is GREEN, naturally my favorite holiday would be St. Patrick's Day. It makes me so excited to see everyone's blogs about all the green they wore and the "not-so-appetizing" green-looking food they were eating, that naturally wasn't meant to be green.
My sister-in-law, Elaina brought me this cookie yesterday because she said she saw it and it made her think of me.... I LOVE sugar cookies. THANK YOU It started my St. Patrick's Day Eve off to a great start.Now of COURSE today I would be eating any and all GREEN. Our milk for cereal had a "touch" of green and a "green" lunch just wouldn't do, I had to make it an Irish Green lunch. Which meant POTATOES!!!
That's right, I had creamy potato soup in a bread bowl.....GREEN colored!! That kind of made it look like pistachio pudding, but it was so good. Alex came to visit me at work and have lunch, since it was his spring break. And my awesome husband did not let me down. He had full green on too.

I also had a few other green things - key lime yogurt. MMM I LOVE yogurt. The picture didn't show it's true green potential so I left it out.

Now, I don't know if everyone just got the hint that I like St. Patrick's Day, but we got more cookies and treats at work from other dental offices, than any other holiday, except Christmas. It was awesome! Green cupcakes, green shamrock cookies (not pictured), the most DELISH sugar cookies from QB (that's Quilted Bear for all you non-frequenters), and "pot of gold" sugar cookies. Again, it was AWESOME!

When I got home, Alex had a surprise for me. He often will shape our blankets (yes those are both our baby blankets - feel free to be jealous) into some kind of shape. Today, it was none other than a shamrock!! He ROCKS!! When picking pictures, I found one from last year of a shamrock he'd made then too. He's so creative and funny.

I was completely green from head to toe, literally. It was so much fun. Girls at my work said they struggled to find anything green. One girl only had hair elastics!!! How sad.... I had a PLETHORA of things in my closet to choose from. But I was definitely going to wear my Old Navy T - I will always "heart" St. Patrick's day, thanks for the shirt Hunnie.

So Alex's shirt says, "Would it Matter if I was Irish?" and the Back said, "Lucky Me" ..... It doesn't matter he's not Irish I'll kiss him anyway!!! :)

In case you doubted my St. Patrick's Day green dedication, I will fill you in, Head to Toe.
Green ribbon, green eye shadow, green shamrock earrings, green St. Patrick's Day shirt, green fingernails, green scrub pants, green shamrock socks, green toe nails, green shoes!! YES I have GREEN shoes!!!

To top it all off, Alex made GREEN waffles for dinner. I LOVE green and I LOVE waffles = PERFECT!!!

Thank you to everyone who remembers me on this holiday. Because if there's anything I can do, making people aware of this day and of the color green is my favorite!!

I LOVE ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!
GO GREEN

PS: Do you know how many times I said the word "green" in this post?

Well if you included EVERY time, it was 34 - sheesh I must like that color ;)

It's coming...

2010-03-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Something big. It only comes once a year. It will arrive sooner for some than others.

And if you don't know what it is,

you deserve to get PINCHED!!

Something you MAY not know...

2010-03-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

Or you may.I am a HUGE Boston, Redsox fan!! and tomorrow starts their Spring training!

I'm not going to make any predicitons cause it doesn't matter to me if they win or not (of course it's always sweeter if they do.) I just LOVE watching baseball, favorite with......
HOCKEY!!!

I know, I know they're only 8th in their division right now, but I still love my boys.
Season ends in June, if they make it to the playoffs. If not, I've got baseball to keep me busy.

Let's make it a good season!

Sweethearts and Yumminess

2010-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

What is Valentine's Day about?.......Well our Valentine's Day was a lot better than anything "internet access" could give.
Alex surprised me with my FAVORITE SUNFLOWERS! They were so beautiful and they didn't even smell :)

Isn't this flower amazing! I LOVE Sunflowers

I made sticky buns for breakfast. This is the shot before they went into the oven.... taste buds were already excited.

Jacob and Elaina came over to eat breakfast with us that morning. We ate so quickly, I didn't ven get a picture of them out of the oven before they were gone. I LOVE sticky buns.

Valentine's Day happened to fall ont he second Sunday, so we were at my parents for dinner. And sticking to tradition, my sweetheart of a dad got us girls my mom's favorite, carnation flowers and a candy. The boys got a candy bar.

My mom gives us girls Valentine's socks every year. These were mine from a few years ago. They glow from the black light in Alex's car - so I took a picture.
We had a fantastic Day full of love and family. Hopefull you did too!!
XOXO

This weekend I had the UDA covention, for work, downtown and because it's the 150 year celebration, we got free tickets to the Gala. The event was a comedian - who actually happens to be a patient of ours. I got an extra ticket, so I brought Alex. This guy is HILARIOUS. He does impersionations and does them to the "T," in this picture he's doing Michael Jackson. This was from Alex's phone, we were on the front row. It was a great free date night to finish our Valentine's week!

If it happens....

2010-02-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

You know how you have those moments in your life where you think, "I've heard of this happening but I never thought it would happen to me.".... Well I had one of those moments last week..... TWICE.

So as a hygienist, I tell people all the time that if a crown/restoration comes off while I'm cleaning, it was going to come off the next time you floss or eat a peanut. You can see where this is going. I was cleaning a gentleman's teeth last week and his crown right on a front tooth just slid right off!!! In all fairness it had been about 10 years since he'd been in to see us but I kind of panicked. I had Dr. C come over and take a look and cool as can be he said, "Oh that's easy, let's just cement it back on." I immediately calmed down and the guy was SO nice and understandable and lucky for us he was scheduled on the Dr's side after for some restoration work. He got it taken care of right after the cleaning.

My story does not end there, this is where the TWICE thing comes in .... only a few short days later a patient we've never seen before, and it's been about 2 years since his last exam, comes in. I do the whole initial exam, x-rays, and then... the cleaning. Sure enough crown right on the front tooth came right off, I barely touched it. This time I kept my cool, explained to the guy what had happened and reassured him that we'd be able to put it back on today. He was very nice about it too. Both of them said, "At least I'm here and can have it fixed rather than being at home."

I've had fillings come out while cleaning before. But there's something about a missing tooth with a tiny little peg underneath it that makes your heart race a little.

What a week that was. At least now I can say, "Yeah, I've had that happen to me. It's no big deal." ..... I just got really lucky with the two patients that were very nice about the situation. So the lesson learned? GO TO THE DENTIST REGULARLY Cause if your crown's going to come off, at least he can fix it while you're there ;) And be nice to the hygienist, it wasn't her fault.

Happy Birthdays and Hockey

2010-02-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

My best friend's birthday is January 21st, as well as my sister-in-law Elaina, and new nephew Owen. (Which I totally called that name)
As tradition, we went to a hockey game to celebrate with Amanda and it just wouldn't be complete without a chocolate covered chocolate donut from DUNFORD!!!

There were other people to the left, but we couldn't fit everyone in. Elaina's in the background too, in case you can't see her.

HOCKEY rules!!!! It is almost my favorite sport, but only "almost" because I couldn't pick just one favorite. If you don't understand what's so cool about hockey because you've never been to a game.... here's a taste. By the way... that was TOTALLY goal that was unawarded. IF you have slow-motion, you'll see what I mean.

Birthday girl and her BFFAE. If you want to see a really awesome picture of this birthday girl, you'd have to go to my facebook HAHA

Hockey players are known for causing a rukus, this one happened so fast I only got a picutre of the end. Really they just like to give each other a good pat on the back and hug for "good game"

So why this day is so popular we'll never know, but all the people born on this day are very special!! Happy birthday to you all!!

13,148, 719.2 minutes

2010-01-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

That is how old Alex is!!! Can you believe it? He had his 25th birthday on Sunday!

We started his birthday off with Olive Garden on Saturday and our waiter was really awesome!
She brought him an extra plate of olives and a candle in his Olive Garden mint - with a song by her and 4 of her fellow tone-deaf friends!
The next morning was Sunday, the big day, so I decided to surprise him with blueberry muffins - his favorite (other than cereal...)

After church Alex had several messages waiting for him, all wishes for a fabulous day!

Then we made home made pizza, mm mmm GOOD!
We seriously love our pizza stone
Our special plate, for the special person, on their special day!!
Thanks Ryan and Jenny - many memories will be made with this plate

Time for the gifts - hair gel, controller things and a new blue controller.

He was SO surprised

Alex and I aren't really cake or pie people but we LOVE our brownies - it's best we didn't use candles

But he was REALLY surprised when I dished it up with his favorite - mint chocolate chip ice cream. He couldn't figure out how he didn't see it in the freezer - I'm that good ;)

This brings so many options to Alex now that he's 25, the most exciting thing for him is being able to rent a car!! haha Really though, I want to wish my husband the happiest year being 25!! Don't forget you also get a discount on your car insurance now :)