1/20/09

This historic day that we will always remember. I have only started to watch the Inauguration that we recorded due to me being asleep for work. I can't wait to watch the whole thing and listen to the speech that Obama gives. I have heard it is a strong and great speech. I am so glad that Obama won the presidency. I really believe that he will do great things for this nation and move us forward. I am proud to have put my vote towards him. 

Shirley's Graduation Party

Last night Brandon (Shirley's hubby) threw Shirley a graduation party. Shirley worked her butt off to get her Bachelors degree and even had to stop going to school for a little while since KD decided to come early. But she did it and it's awesome. I have no desire to go back to school at all....at least not right now. Maybe someday I might get the itching to go back. 

Brandon had Kneaders bakery cater the event with delicious sandwiches and even yummier desserts...imagine fruit tarts, eclairs, and german chocolate brownies. Good drinks and friends with that combination make a better party. Lots of people from work showed up which made it fun since I have never hung out with some of them. 

Angie's husband Trevor tried to teach all of us how to play Texas Hold Em....that didn't work so well. It required way too much thought process for all of us to use. We quickly switched to 21 which was much easier. Unfortunately for Trihn, her cards always added up to 22. Tim quickly took over the game and was winning. 

Shirley mentioned that she had Dance Dance revolution and 80's Kareoke. Everyone was totally hyped up to play until it was discovered that the power cord to the Playstation was not in the bag. They tried a few different power cords but none of them were powerful enough for the Playstation. 

It was a great party and lots of good friends. We missed you Brit, Amy and Mel!

Sledding

We went to the cabin again this weekend but this time we included a little old school Nintendo and sledding. Dan brought up his original Nintendo along with multiple games, power pad and gun. Emily, Steve, Aaron and Dan played against each other for hours. Everyone remembered the tricks to get the games to play on the machine and each got a turn to try to get it to work. Finally it warmed up enough to play. Steve and Dan definitely are brother...they look alike and hold their lips the same when in concentration mode. 

Steve and Aaron created a sledding chute from the front porch down the side of the mountain. It was a bit dangerous due to all the trees, if you veered off the path you might be destined to hit one. Most of us did veer off the path since snow would fly in your face and you couldn't see. I hit one of the smaller trees on my way down. Then the boys got the bright idea of starting above the cabin across the road. So here are videos of them coming down the mountain, hitting the road and catching air then crashing. Listen closely to hear the branches on the trees snapping as they hit! It was a blast though I never went down the big hill....too dangerous. 

This is Dan after he wrecked on that first video...face first into the snow!

This is Aaron after he also landed face first!

Waterfront Property

This morning Steve received a picture text from our neighbor Rick. It was a picture looking out at our street from our front porch. The fire hydrant was spraying water everywhere. We never found out if it was hit or if it froze and burst open. Either way, the pictures looked like we had waterfront property. 

By the time we got home from the cabin, the hydrant was off but not fixed. It washed out our gutters of the snow and cleared off the neighbors front lawn of snow. It created beautiful icicles on the bushes. 

Cold Cabin Fun

Last night we went up to Aaron's cabin again. At first it was only Steve, Aaron and me going up to the cabin. We invited a bunch of people up but no one was committing to the idea. Later on, we dragged Emily up, then Daniel decided to come and the Becky and Scott committed to the idea. We were supposed to leave at 4pm so we could get to the cabin while we still had daylight. That didn't happen...I think I am starting to become a Shelton and be late all the time. We made it up there around 7pm. Steve and Aaron walked down the cabin to shovel the porch and get the heaters running. It was so cold when we got there. The thermometers said it was around 5 degrees F. It was bitter to walk down the hill with the wind slicing into your cheeks. My lungs hurt breathing the coldness. 

Daniel, Becky, Scott and Kayla showed up about 30 minutes later. We settled all of our stuff into the appropriate rooms and got down to business of warming up. Most of us were freezing. All the electric heaters were on high trying to heat the place. The boys got the fireplace going and it slowly started to heat up. Earlier that day, Steve and I bought Monopoly Electronic Banking and brought it up to the cabin. He seemed into the idea of playing the game but when we decided to play he bailed out on us. It was pretty cool, there's no paper money, only debit cards. There's a bank machine that looks like a calculator with two sides, one for minusing money and one for adding money to the cards. It was pretty cool. Someday I will get Steve to play. Kayla kicked all of our butts in purchasing property. 

Since it was so cold outside, everyone's beer kept freezing. So if you wanted a beer you had to bring it inside to thaw for 10 minutes before it was drinkable. I drank the rest of my Kalua and milk and moved on to Bailey's and milk. Lots of delicious snacks and drinks made for a great night of fun. We put on Family Guy episodes and laughed hysterically at them. Aaron dug out some old movies his uncle had....America's Most Funniest Home Videos Uncensored. So lots of boob shots and animals peeing on people. It was so dumb that it was funny. We also watched The Worlds Craziest Gags and Pranks Uncensored, circa 1980's. The most revealing in that was a topless women and then a female with a low cut shirt. 

All in all, it was a great time and we enjoyed hanging out with everyone. 

Memorable moments:

• Kayla's first "tattoo" (pen drawing on her back) and her saying "Oh my hell"
• Freezing our butts off
• Emily and Aaron "married" and arguing
• America's Most Funniest Home Videos Uncensored
• Kayla singing all the words to Family Guy's opening song
  

In the morning, the thermometer read 0 degrees outside. Unfortunately that was inaccurate. The thermometer only went down to 0 degrees. We later looked up how cold it was last night. The closest we could find was -22 degrees so I am sure where we were was somewhere around that.  Thank God the heaters never went out. 

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years to all my friends and family! Hopefully this year will bring us great things. Steve and I celebrated New Years Eve with our friends Aaron and Emily. We finally made it to Aaron's uncles' cabin up Big Cottonwood Canyon. For the past 2 years we have been trying to go up there around Christmas and New Years and each year Aaron has gotten sick. He finally was well enough to go! The cabin is old and outdated but it sure was awesome to be up there. I was so turned around with my directions since we arrived at night. I couldn't tell where we were on the side of the mountain. 

We watched the movie Eagle Eye on this tiny television. I am too used to watching movies on the big screen we have that the explosive scenes didn't make me jump on this tiny screen. Most of us made it through the movie until New Years. We had to wake Steve up for the fun. There were fireworks being shot off across the canyon. 

The next morning we went snowshoeing up to Donut Falls. This time I actually enjoyed the hike up. Not many complaints came out of my mouth. The falls were beautiful and the scenery gorgeous. I am so proud of myself that I made it all the way to the top. Go me!