Breaking and Entering....a typical Saturday in our household

These pictures almost didn't happen! A couple of years ago the lock on the driver side door of the Jetta decided to die so you couldn't lock/unlock it. Alan and I told each other several times that we needed to get it fixed before the lock on the passenger side broke too. Well, you know how it goes. Life gets busy, you get distracted, your husband goes out one morning to start his car for work and the passenger side door lock won't work! Gotta love it! It's our fault we didn't get the poor car fixed sooner, but Alan's been a little distracted with his new VW toy. So, we finally had some time today to try and break into the car. The first slim jim thing Alan bought didn't work so he had to rig something up himself. He DID get the door open but it took him a minute to get the battery disconnected to turn off the car alarm. I tried taking his picture during the process, but he was pretty frustrated with the car and couldn't understand why I was laughing so hard. He was nice enough to let me take pictures after he was able to break into the car. Ah, the joys of life! Just another typical Saturday afternoon at our household! But, the car has been fixed and is locking/unlocking like a champ. Great job, babe!

Turkey Day Memories

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. A day to eat, ponder the mysteries of life (which Steve does so well), spend time with the family, play a little Wii, go to the movies, take self-portraits (Ellie wanted to take a picture of herself with the camera, so I thought she would get a kick out of me posting it!) and overall just have a fun, relaxing, un-stressful day. The day started off with the girls heading to the Twilight movie again (and yes, it was still as good the second time) before heading down to Seth & Misty's for food and fun (thanks Seth & Misty for having us over at the last minute!) Later we took the Wii down to Jeff & Tara's (thanks you guys for letting us crash your house!) for a little tennis, mario cart and ddr fun before it was time to head home. We didn't get up like normal for Black Friday, but did head out about 11:00 am to see if there was anything good still around. What I wasn't planning on was getting a freakin' huge tv, but oh well, it was a good deal and Alan's been wanting a new one forever. So, now comes the fun part, hooking it up and all the lovely football games that will now come with having hd. Yeah! But, the Wii will be a lot more fun and colorful!

Puppy pics

No, I'm not going to be one of those people who constantly post pictures of their puppies. But, I had to post these. Our friends came over the other night so their little girl could meet our puppy and she LOVED him. He was so good with her too. I had to post the other picture for Alan's sister, Kiersten. When she found out we had a puppy she asked Alan if I was going to be one of those people who carried my dog around in my purse and dressed him up. I don't dress him up, but I think he's a purse dog! He LOVES sleeping on my purse as soon as I set it down when I get home!

Christmas Tag.....the gift that keeps on giving

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? With me? Cellophane baby!
2. Real tree or Artificial? Definitely artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Hmm...when I eventually get around to it
4. When do you take the tree down? When I get around to it?
5. Do you like eggnog? Ewwww.....
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A ballroom barbie doll....she was pink & silver

7. Hardest person to buy for? Alan's parents! I NEVER know what to get them, especially his dad!
8. Easiest person to buy for? Alan....he loves everything!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Just purchased it a couple of weeks ago (and it's kid proof!)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail...that is, when I'm in the mood to actually make the cards
11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't really think of anything...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Nightmare Before Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All through the year

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yep, hey, I have no shame!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Alan's mom makes the BEST toffee and cinnamon bread. Mmmhh.......
16. Lights on the tree? How can you not have lights on the tree?
17. Favorite Christmas song? Ugh, not a huge fan of Christmas music. I know, that sounds bad, but they are sooo overplayed. I'm sorry but Christmas music the day of Halloween is not cool.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Depends on the year and where we're going!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Vixen, Dasher, Prancer, Dancer (copied these from Cristel!)
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We can open one present the night before - the rest, the day of!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Long lines, crazy people who don't know how to drive, no parking anywhere and SNOW!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Don't have one....I get bored with the same theme or color, I change it all the time.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Anything I don't have to cook
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Already got it....my puppy. Oh, and we just bought a huge tv too (but that's for Alan)

I'm tagging Tara, Mist (because she hasn't done hers yet!), Brookie, Jac, Brandy, Rach (he, he!), Bree, Britt, Michellyn, Kierst and anyone else who feels like getting into the Christmas spirit!

Twilight Movie Premiere....It Came, We Went, We Saw

Last night (or should I say this morning?) we went to the midnight premiere of Twilight and it was SOOOO worth not getting any sleep. This is the only pic I got of us.....Alyssa (my little sis) didn't want to be in the pic. However, Tara & Misty were kind enough to jump in. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and we were in very good company. The entire movie theater was completely sold out. Picture it....a bunch of young, middle and some older age women (and some guys who were dragged there by wives/girlfriends) and you have Twilight. The movie is worth it if you're a Twilight fan....go and see it. We (and I mean me because I drove) ended up getting home this morning about 4:00 am and still was at work by 9:30 am. I was pretty proud of myself, considering I had to get up early to take care of the puppy. Thanks you guys for going with me, I had a ton of fun. We need to get together more often!

Guess what tomorrow night is?

It's the Twilight premiere and I'm so freakin' excited! I'm going with my very cool sister and sister-in-laws. Hopefully we'll all be able to stay awake as the premiere is at midnight (hey, we're getting up there!) Good thing I took Friday morning off of work. I need to catch up on my sleep. I'm going to take my camera along, so hopefully I'll get some good pictures to post!

Oh, by the way, we've decided to name the dog Oreo! It's cute, which matches him!

Our new little guy

On Saturday we ended up buying a puppy.....Alan is thrilled! I don't know if you read on my tags, but I had wanted to buy a puppy a couple of weeks ago and Alan pretty much said, um, no.
Actually I was okay with that because let's face it, animals are a lot of work and we're not home a lot. So this past Saturday Alan came home from getting new tires on my car and told me they were selling the puppies again. He asked if I wanted to go look at them. Of course I said yes and of course they had this little guy and OF COURSE I HAD to buy him (look at that face!) So, Merry Christmas to me! And yes, he is a lot of work! He's a long haired miniature chihuahua which I've always wanted. So, now we're in the process of trying to potty train him and all the other fun puppy stuff. But, he is a lot of fun and Alan even said the other night that he's pretty cool. He won't get much bigger than he is now (I think right now he might be a little over a pound and they only get to be about 5 lbs) which is great. I wanted a small dog that stayed cute forever. He's so fun, I love it! Thanks honey, you're the best husband ever!

Our new little guy

Sorry, a lot of pictures, but he's just too stinkin' cute! Oh, I have to apologize for my voice....I know I sound like I'm 12 anyway, but my "baby" voice makes it that much worse!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

On Thursday night we went to the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. This is our second year attending and it's worth every penny. We started our new tradition last year when we took my mom for an early birthday present and ended up loving it so much we bought tickets again this year. These two videos are just a sample of what an amazing concert it is. They have everything from lighting effects to actual fire to snow. I was kind of afraid to take pictures or video anything. When we went last year they were confiscating people's cameras who were taking pictures. A lady sitting next to us was taking pictures (even thought on the tickets it specifically stated no photographs) and had a security person come up and take her camera. However, the tickets didn't say anything this year and a lot of other's were taking pictures, so I jumped on the band wagon. I have to apologize for how jumpy they are at first. The camera was in my purse and I had started recording accidentally. I tried to get some video showing all the cool effects. The first one was going okay until the guy in front of me (with the big head) sat back. The second video is pretty short because I thought for sure someone was going to come tap me on the shoulder! I think I finally got it right the third time (which is why it's posted first)!

We almost didn't make the concert because of what a brainiac I am. Usually it's held at the Energy Solutions Arena which is right across the street from the Gateway in Salt Lake. The show started at 7:30 pm and we were down at the Gateway and parked by 6:00 pm. Since we had so much time we decided to eat before and ended up at Applebee's. I was joking around about how funny it would be if the concert was at another place (no, I didn't hadn't looked at the tickets yet!) So, I pulled them out and lo and behold, the concert was at the E-Center in West Valley. Needless to say, we ended up missing the first half hour of the concert because of how horrible traffic was (and for those of you who have gone to a concert there, you know what I'm talking about!) That was okay because it's the second half of the concert I like the best (it's a three hour concert) which included new songs they have done and dueling pianos. All right, that's my plug for the night! Enjoy!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Fertility or Bust......

Alan and I thought long and hard about whether or not to post our fertility experiences. It's an extremely personal subject and I wasn't sure if I wanted the world to read about it. Then we thought about going private, which we still might end up doing in the near future. However, as this is the closest to keeping a journal that I've done in a long time, I thought it would be nice to a) keep everyone up to date on our progress and b) be able to look back on our journey. So, here we go!

We had our first consult with the doctor today to discuss my body and the wonder it is. As many of you may or may not know, I had a miscarriage a little over a year ago at six weeks. We had decided to start trying in October of 2007 and much to our surprise, got pregnant that month. However, in early November I ended up losing the baby and then having some other problems. They found a benign tumor on my ovary that was causing pain. It wasn't the reason of the miscarriage and the doctor advised it shouldn't affect us getting pregnant again, it was just painful and annoying. In August we felt like the time was right to start trying again, but even with the ovulation kits, haven't had any luck. Actually, it was due to using the ovulation kits I found out I wasn't ovulating (I know, tmi, but it's my blog!) Even though we haven't been trying long, I decided to make an appointment with the doctor to see what was going on and what are options are.

We met with the doctor today who ended up doing an ultrasound to see if there was anything else maybe going on. The only problem with the fertility treatments are they are all out of pocket. To try and keep costs down the doctor's office won't bill insurance. So, it can get kind of pricey. After looking over the ultrasound the doctor advised it looked like I had either just ovulated or was in the process of doing so. It kind of surprised me.....one month I took an ovulation test for the entire month with no positive hit. So, now it's a waiting game. I've made an appointment for the beginning of December. If I'm still not pregnant at that time, we start the follicle checks (again, I know, a lot of tmi) and start on meds. Oh the joy! Everyone keeps teasing me I'm going to have more than one, and that's actually okay. For some time know I've felt that maybe twins are in our future. More than that, I think I would probably cry!

So, there's the update for today. If after a while the meds don't work, it's off to other various types of treatments that help in the baby process. Alan and I have also talked about adoption. If for some reason I'm still not pregnant by January of 2010 we'll start the process and are looking at South Africa. I think it would be the neatest experience to be able to adopt from another country. If there's anyone out there who'd like to offer advice, leave a comment. I'm new to the fertility game!

Tagged Again!

I've been tagged again by my very cute cousin, so here I go.....

8 Places I like to eat:
1. Olive Garden
2. Chilis
3. Mel's Drive In (where I met Alan....although they don't have one here)
4. Bajio
5.Hug Hess Cafe
6. Macaroni Grill
7. Hard Rock Cafe
8. Fresh Choice, but they don't have them in Utah

8 Shows I like to watch on TV: I actually don't watch a lot of tv, so....I"ll give you two!
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to the Hallmark open house (I admit it, I'm a Hallmark junkie)
2. Picked up some Christmas presents at Desert Book
3. Had a girls day and went to lunch with my mom & sister
4. Thought about buying a puppy....Alan said no
5. Went shopping at Walmart (oh, the joy!)
6. Made a trip up to Brigham City with Alan to pick up a part for his VW
7. Thought about cleaning up the house....who am I kidding?
8. Went over to our cute friends house for dinner and a movie

8 Things I love about Fall:
1. The smell's
2. Leaves changing
3. The colors on the mountain
4. Getting ready for Christmas (yeah for Black Friday...yes, I am a freak)
5. Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas decorations
6. Wearing warm and snugly clothing (that can also hide potential um, weight flaws)
7. Snuggling with my honey and watching a movie
8. Thinking of all I'm grateful for

8 Things on my wish list:
1. Money/Economy stress was a little lower
2. Better/more affordable health care
3. Hmmm....totally body makeover?
4. We could find a house we really like/can afford
5. Stability for the family
6. More time with Alan.....less work, more play I guess
7. Another cruise (hey, it's getting to be cold again!)
8. A baby....we're just starting the fertility thing, so it would be nice if it could all be over

8 People I am tagging....sorry guys, I think I tagged some of you before!
1. Misty
2. Tara
3. Cristel
4. Brookie
5. Britt
6. Bree
7.Tiffany
8. Jac
And, anyone else who feels like being tagged!

What are you grateful for?

At work I'm in charge of holding a monthly activity for the employees in order to build up the team and work together better. We've gone to movies, went trick-or-treating for Halloween, held luncheons, you know, fun stuff at work. This month I decided to give everyone an 'All About Me" poster that I got at a local store that sells supplies for teachers. It was so funny to see everyones reactions because the posters were pretty big and were ones that pre-schoolers or 1st graders might fill out. Along with the poster I gave them a paper feather on which I wanted them to write something they are grateful for. Once a day I spotlight one employee and then take the feather and attach it to "Tom" our gratitude turkey who hangs on the back wall for all to see. It's been a lot of fun to see what the people I work with are grateful for. The responses have been great because it's a real eye opener to have a small glimpse into that persons world. Once the turkey has been completed I thought I would take a picture to post, but in the meantime, I'm going to post some things I'm grateful for. I've posted before on blessings, but will make this shorter:

-My husband! Love him to death!
-My family: They make me crazy sometimes, but I love them anyway!
-My job: I'm so thankful to have employment during this time of economic crisis
-My home: It might be small, but it's ours and a safe haven for all those who enter it
-My freedoms: We are so blessed to live where we do and in the time we do.

I know, small list, but sometimes I tend to go overboard. Now, it's your turn.....during this time of thanks giving, post a list of what you're grateful for. It's surprising how much we can think of! Have fun!

Election Day

Tomorrow is election day and I have to say, I couldn't be happier. Not so much because I'm eager to vote (which I am) but because I'm looking forward to the elections being over. As I've listened to loved ones, friends and co-workers points of views, I found them to be so interesting and varied. Alan's family has a website in which some family members have made their views known. As I've read the different posts, I've found some of them to be quite narrow minded (sorry, my blog, my views). I haven't agreed with or really liked some of the statements that have been posted, BUT (and this is a HUGE BUT....no pun intended) I respect their views. What is that saying? "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend to my death your right to say it?" That's exactly how I feel. I might not like or even agree with some people, but I will respect how you feel and your right to say it. So, on this election eve, I hope everyone that hasn't already done so will get out and exercise their right to vote. Democrat, republican or unaffiliated....it will soon be over. Here's to election day!

Alan's legal!

After a lot of hard work and dedication on his part, Alan's car is FINALLY legal! It no longer just sits in the driveway.....it can actually now be used to drive! This past week it finally passed safety and the same day Alan made a visit to the DMV to pick up the tags and plates. Although I'm the fondest of the car, I am very proud of Alan. Things haven't gone as planned and he found more problems than he thought, but he kept plugging (and fixing) away until he made it work. Great job, babe!

Breakfast Time

From time to time "the guys" will get together for breakfast before work. Sometimes I'll go, most times I won't. We have to be at the restaurant by 6:00 am so the guys can be to work by 7:00 am (ugh...I had to get up at 4:30 to go!). I'm no longer part of the "Harmony Crew" as they just didn't have enough work to keep me busy, but thanks for letting my tag along guys, it was fun! I'll miss working with you!

Halloween Fun

Make a Smilebox scrapbook