Practice New Years Party

We went to my parents house on Saturday night for a "practice New Years party". Really, I think they had the party then because New Years Eve happens to be in the middle of the week. Most of my family was there and some of my parents friends they have had for over 30 years and new friends they have met since moving to their new neighborhood....even the mail-lady and her husband. Lots of food and drinks makes for a fun party! For all of you that don't know me as well....I am not much of a drinker any more, but this night I actually drank alot. I had a blast and this party reminded my brother and me of a party they had when we were kids. The music blasting from the speakers and people singing to the songs. When we were kids, I remember this party where they blasted Paul Simon's Graceland CD or tape, not sure which is was back then. All of the partiers were outside singing in the night to the songs and dancing around. I loved it and it's always in my head. So fast forward to now and my parents finally give us a party that reminds of how they used to party. My mom and Marty singing into their fake microphones and dancing together. Mark and my mom singing along and even my grandma (she's 89) singing and dancing. It was a lot of fun. My dad even told me "you are a lot of fun to party with"!!! Oh so funny! Steve and I had a great time and even though we have been together for 8 years he had never seen this side of my parents.

No Luck

I think my luck has finally run out! I had never been in a car accident where it was my fault. I have had someone side swipe me, and two people rear end me but not where the blame lies with me. I decided to go shopping today with my friend Becky and her daughter Kayla. We were driving in my Subaru and we were almost to Target (which I am bummed I didn't make it to). We were stopped at the light behind an SUV and the light changed and he started to go but then quickly stopped. I started to go with him and when I tried to stop my car didn't. I slid right into him. No damage to his vehicle but he had a trailer hitch on the back and it went right through my grill, and bent my hood up and my radiator back. I am so sad. I felt awful. I ruined my 11 year no accident record. 2008 has proved to not be a great year for my cars. Maybe 2009 holds better promises!

Merry Christmas!

Today started off great when I got the call from work that I was canceled for the whole day! That meant that I could sleep in AND enjoy the festivities! Since I had made some food for work for a potluck I decided to take it in so my fellow co-workers could enjoy the goods. Then I headed off to my parents for breakfast. So delicious....pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns and my favorite EGGS. Steve went to his parents since that was his original plan and both sides of our families get togethers were at the same time. It was fun to see my family and hang out for awhile. My parents gave us Mickey Mouse shirts to wear to DisneyLand. Baby blue isn't my color but I actually like the shirt...it could grow on me!

After my parents I headed out to Steve's parents for the party there. I had begged Steve to not let them open the gifts we got them since I wanted to be there. I missed out on everyone but Grants. They kept his aside for me. So here is Grant opening his present and his little smile cracks me up. It's so fake because when he's really smiling it's so cute. But that's his "cheese" smile. We hung out and I played games with Steph and Robyn. I love games and I never get to play since Steve HATES games. 

We had heard it was supposed to be a big blizzard today. On my way to Steve's dad's house, it was so incredibly windy up in Sugarhouse but by the time I got out to Kearns it was a blizzard. And it was all blowing North, the snow went north, everything was being pulled north. Steve's dad's house got about 6 inches. When we got back to our house, there was no new snow and our old snow was melting. The sidewalks were completely dry. Now fast forward to 8pm and the blizzard has arrived. Roads are invisible, sidewalks covered and it's beautiful. Steve took me for a spin in the Toyota and I mean a spin, we did donuts in a parking lot for fun. And now as I write this Steve and our friend Aaron are out spinning donuts. Snow is still falling. 

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

It was my birthday yesterday and I definitely am feeling the effects of old age....hips are hurting, back is hurting, no longer can stay up and party. For my birthday we went snowshoeing with our friend Aaron. Poor Steve and Aaron had to listen to me complain the whole time about how I am not in shape for such a vigorous hike. I think my heart was going at a rate of 180 the whole time. I thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion. On the other side, Steve was literally running circles around Aaron in his shoes. We went up Millcreek Canyon to do a trail. We didn't even make it to where the trail starts since we had to walk the road past lots of cabins. All in all it was fun and my muscles hurt now. I fell asleep the second we got home I was so exhausted.

We met up with a bunch of friends for dinner at one of my favorite places, Tres Hombres. We had a great dinner and enjoyed chatting away. After we came back to my house for icecream cake. Those things are so hard to cut that it took awhile before we could cut it. Shirley got me the cutest pajama pants that I wore to bed last night. They were so comfy. Steve got me an Ipod...too bad the gym I joined closed. Emily got me a martini shaker since the last time I tried to make a martini I used Steve's french press for a shaker. It was the only thing I could find that had a strainer. Thanks to all my friends for celebrating this milestone in my life. Love you all!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Today turns out to be three of our family's birthday's. First it is Steve's dad's birthday and I don't know how old he is....but it's over 50! Then we have Steve's brother Spencer who should be 22. And last is our niece Riley who turned the big 4!

Since Steve had to work today I went to Riley's birthday party by myself. She is such a firecracker. So sassy and full of attitude. She cracks me up. She got lots of Barbies and clothes from all of us. She loves the Disney Princesses alot. I got her a Cabbage Patch Kid and some cute clothes from Old Navy. We played with all her dolls and pretended to feed her cabbage patch some cake. Her doll's name is Leilani, sounds Hawaiian. She went and put on the clothes my parents gave her. She is so tall for her age that she wears 2 sizes above what you would think for her age.

After Steve got home from work we went to his dad's house for dinner and cake. His cake was going to burn the house down with the amount of candles in it. But he blew them out with one breath...impressive! We enjoyed hanging out with the family and then helped decorate the Christmas tree. Claire is getting bigger but not by much. She is smiling at people once you get her attention. 

Obi Sitting

Our friend Emily went to California for 5 days for a Respiratory Therapy Convention. While she is gone, Steve volunteered to Obi-sit for her. This is Obi. He's a carpet muncher also, literally. He ate a hole in her carpet in the middle of her living room.

Obi is the most skittish, nervous dog we have ever met. He jumps at anything and everything. It's quite sad. Emily took him in after he was rescued by a policeman. They said he was abused as a baby. Well, Blue and Cooper are adjusting to him. He must of smelt like his playmate, Zara because Blue was going crazy for the first day. I could never own a unspayed female!!!! They are all friends and lay together, play together, follow each other around. This actually has been a good experience so far for me. I get very nervous getting dogs together, I am always nervous that they will fight. 

Obi and Toast are not friends yet. They have gotten close to each other but Toast scares the living crap out of Obi. She hisses at him which makes him run. But they have been doing these staring contests at each other. It's pretty funny because you can't get either ones attention during these. The above picture of Obi is of him staring at Toast. The next is how Toast thinks of him. Her back was arched and her fur was starting to puff out. My poor Toaster!!!

All in all, it's been good so far. But we do have 4 more days to go with him.

Surprise

Well, I guess the cultures came back saying NO strep. So whatever I had still got it's butt kicked by the antibiotics! Ten hours after I had antibiotics on board in my system I wanted Wendy's chicken nuggets and fries. Well, I ate them and kept them down. It was delicious. 

Hello Childhood Friend

So I am pretty sure it's Strep. I went to the doctor today and we did a rapid strep test which came back negative. But when she looked at my throat, the first words out of her mouth were "oh my that's definitely strep!".  So she is sending off my swab for cultures but I got drugs. I hope I start to feel better by tonight. I am so hungry but everytime I try to eat I get nauseated. So happy wishes to me that I start to feel better!

Being Sick Sucks!!!

So I don't know what I have but it all started out as a sore throat. I woke up Sunday morning at 5 am freezing. Steve said I was burning up. He felt so cold to me which is very unusual. Lucky for me, my husband loves me enough to get me drugs and extra clothes while I am sick. Throughout the day my body has ached so much and my throat has gotten worse. Then I couldn't get up without getting dizzy today. I couldn't sleep on my stomach or side without getting nauseated. It is awful. I would have gone to the doctors today but I couldn't stand up. So maybe I will go tomorrow, I will just keep monitoring my throat. As a kid I was prone to getting Strep throat, so maybe that's it. I think I need drugs!!! Being sick sucks so bad. I thought to myself "what if I was really that sick, how would I get to the doctors since I can't stand up without getting dizzy or nauseated?" Poor people who can't make it to the doctors without help.

Thanks to Shirley who would have taken me to the doctors!!! You are the best! 

Christmas Party

So over the weekend we went to our Marie's parents Christmas party. They hold one annually but we haven't attended it in a long while. But since Marie was in town we went out to it. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures there and not one of Marie. The best part about the party is the white elephant gift exchange. There are usually a couple of gifts that are a hot commodity. This year the two gifts that made the rounds were a humping Chihuahua and a flashing crossdressing Santa. Steve just had to have the humping dog so we worked on getting it for him. Unfortunately there is no rule that the gift can be stolen only a certain amount of times. Luckily we have such a wonderful friend, Marie, who had the last number. She stole the dog back from her mom for Steve! So here is a video of what the dog does, now this is not for children to watch or hear. And if you have a sensitive mind, please don't watch this.

Becky, Scott and Kayla joined us at the party also. It was so fun to see them and hang out again. When Kayla got her present and opened it, the first words out of her mouth were "Oh my goodness!".  She got a sewing machine and thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was so cute. She and Marie's nephew Marcus helped the adults open all the presents. This is a pic of Kayla with her new sewing machine. Mind you, she told me she doesn't have any "broken clothes". 

And last but not least, my favorite picture of that night. Everett was in awe of Steve for some reason. He kept staring and trying to crawl to him, so Marie's mom picked him and put him on his lap. I didn't get a picture of Everett just staring at Steve but this one is so cute. 

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year Steve and I had a 4 day weekend during Thanksgiving. I was thrilled to have so many days off with Steve. We usually don't have many days off in row together. Our celebration for Thanksgiving started on Wednesday night. Our cousin Havilah was in town from New York and decided to cook a turkey dinner for Steve's moms side of the family. I didn't get there until after 8pm so everyone was done eating. But I got to see the fam and hold my little niece. She smiled for the longest time but my camera was off and by the time I got it on and ready she quit smiling. Oh well! The funniest thing with Claire is that each time she eats, she gets the hiccups afterward. Rinda said even during her pregnancy she hiccupped. This is the first time Steve held Claire. It was so cute, atleast to me!!All bundled up and ready to go home. She didn't like it right after I took the picture. She started crying really hard.

The next day we went to my parents for dinner with my small family. It is so different from Steve's family. My brother's girlfriend is harder to get to know and I have a niece I hardly know. She barely knows that I am her aunt or that I am someone. We rarely see them. And Riley is so incredibly wild versus Grant. I pray that I get a child like Grant!!! Riley wouldn't take pictures, she kept hiding her face everytime. The pictures I got were me snapping them when she had no idea.

The best news we got on Thanksgiving was that my grandma wants to take the whole family to Hawaii. We are so excited to go! She wants to go in April or May for 7 nights. Can't wait for that time. Now if only I can get my butt on a treadmill....ha ha!

On Saturday we got out the Christmas lights and hung lights on the outside. Unfortunately Steve's favorite color is blue so now we have blue and white lights....byu...blah! We will add some red soon. I tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out so you will just have to drive by if you want to see them.

Oh yeah...one more thing

One more thing that bothered me about Twilight is Edwards car. The car shown on Stephenie Meyers website is a 4 door Volvo and the car in the movie is some stupid 2 door crap. The 4 door is way sexier!!!

Steve's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Steve!!! Today is Steve's 31st birthday but last night Matt, Emily, Steve and I went to Benihana for dinner. It was delicious and fun. Of course with Emily there she wanted Steve to tell them it's his birthday tomorrow. He is so adament about not celebrating any birthday or holiday, that there was no way he was going to let the server know it's his birthday.
Well Emily took control...she asked for a candle which led to icecream and a candle. However, she did tell them not to sing. At Benihana, they take your picture and print it out for you. So here we are. It was fun for the rest of us....Steve didn't like it still.

Twilight...the movie

Finally the movie is out and I've seen it. I was a little disappointed in the quality of the film. I know I know, I should have realized with the previews that it wasn't some high budget film. But I really do think it could have been much better. Maybe they should have borrowed Harry Potter's producers. 

The things I loved-

1. Bella and Edward are hot together!
2. Forks is beautiful.
3. Ballet room scene fight was pretty good.
4. The kissing was sexy, too bad there wasn't more.
   

Maybe with the next films they will get better with the special effects....running and jumping through trees. I think since I read the books before they showed the characters and some of the scenes, I just had it in my head how it would be.

Sweet Truck

We finally found Steve his dream truck....almost. It needs a few more things done to it to make it just right. We bought a Toyota Tacoma on Saturday morning after looking for over a month. We checked ksl classifieds at 8 in the morning and just happened to find this gem! Lucky for us nobody had come to see it or buy it yet. It had all the features Steve was looking for...4 doors (extra room for a baby eventually), supercharger on the engine, nice tires, low miles, and a decent price. The guy who owned it babied this thing, it is so clean and in tip top shape. Steve and I were pretty excited to bring our new Baby home. Now if anyone knows anyone looking for a Jeep Cherokee, let me know. It's got to go!

Happy Birthday Sue!!!

Yesterday was my mother in law Sue's birthday. We all went out to dinner for her birthday at Macaroni Grill. She is the best mother in law ever. She is so supportive of our decisions and doesn't butt in to our lives. After raising seven children you are bound to be a little nutty, and she is in the best way. Happy Birthday

More Baby Claire

I spent the day today with Robyn and Grant. We went on a hunt for a duvet cover for my new down comforter. We drove all the way south to IKEA and got our exercise just walking through the building. It's insane how large that store is and how they have maps just to help guide you. Unfortunately we didn't find anything that I liked or that I thought Steve would like.

Grant was such a trooper with all the stores we went to. There was a whole chain of stores across the street from IKEA that were for bedrooms and had sofas. He played on all the bunk beds and of course wanted one to share with baby Claire. All day he kept saying he wanted to see Baby Claire and that he wanted to hold her.

So in the afternoon we headed down to see Rinda and the baby. Grant was super excited to her. Grant just had to hold her first so he jumped up on the bed. Check out her position, it was pretty funny.

Rinda didn't have a bow on her again so I had to put one on. Robyn and I decided to put her in her Rockstar outfit with a pink bow. I think the bow is half the size of her head. It is so cute! I told Grant to give her a kiss and we will get pictures of it. He is so excited about being a big brother.