Christmas

Tom & I rotate Christmas & Thanksgiving. This Christmas was my family's turn. We all met at my parents house. We've all scheduled our holidays so we are all home and away all at the same time. Its always a lot of fun to get together and see one another. We are a very close family and I feel very lucky to have them in my life! This picture is my entire family (including the dog "Duke") except my little brother Blake, who is on a mission in Kentucky! As usual I look adorable! Hehehe!
Probably one of the most exciting things we did was we all went to the Dinosaur museum and out to dinner at "Wingers" together. ( I love their wings....best I've ever had). My nephew loved it there, he is a dinosaur enthusiast. He's only 3, but he can tell you the names of a lot of dinosaurs already! What a little brain! This is a very small picture of Austin under the big dinosaur skeleton in the lobby of the museum! I couldn't get the whole skeleton in the picture and still see Austin at all! We got to see a video of people mining for bones & walked through the museum of all sorts of displays. Here's a picture of Tom in the kids section playing with toys & Tom & I in front of the wall of fossils.
Christmas Day we got to speak to Blakey! He's doing great! He's only got about 10 months to go before he comes home! Everyone on the family got to speak with him. I don't know how much he got out of his conversations with Austin & Kinsey though! He had us this year for Christmas and he got us a digital photo frame. I'm very excited to use it.
Our big Christmas present of the year was the last one we opened. Each couple got a box. We all opened it at the same time and each found a little toy boat in the box with "Cruise 2009" written on it. In about 1 year we will get to go on a 7 day cruise as a family! We are all very excited. Tom & I have wanted to go on a cruise for quite a while! Can't wait!

I had to put this picture of my neice Kinsey on this blog. Her Dad is in the background & her Mom's hand is to the right.

Christmas Party at Temple Square

Last night my company had our yearly Christmas party. This year we had it at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was nice as always. Last night was also our ward Christmas party. We picked my work one for a couple of reasons, I hard already RSVPed to my work for the party before they every announced the party for the ward & more importantly they were going to give me Prime Rib at my work party. I love Prime Rib! I don't eat a lot of beef, but I do love a good Prime Rib on occasion.

Dinner was pretty good. For dessert they gave us creme brulee. Tom & I tried this for the first time on our anniversary when we went to Log Haven, an amazing experience for those of you looking for a swanky dinner place in the Salt Lake Valley. The Creme Brulee we had at Log Haven was AMAZING! The one last night, not so much. They burnt the top of it unfortunatly. I scraped off the top and ate the custard underneath. When this dessert is well made it is delicious!

The dinner was at 6:30. Everyone was worried about being able to find parking because of the construction going on downtown and the big concert that was happening that same night at the conference center. Tom & I went down early to avoid this possibility. We parked our car at about 5:30 and spent the next hour walking around temple square. We had the added blessing of it being raining while we were there, which was great for my cold! But the lights were pretty as always. My favorite part was probably the international nativity scenes. I love different cultures! It fascinates me!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
Aint We Cute!

Tommy My Hero

So I've got to tell all of you what a doll I married! I had the best surprise waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I had washed our clothes on Saturday (like I do every weekend) and had managed to fold all the clothes. However, actually getting them back into the closet and dresser seems to be a constant trial for me. So, the clothes were in the bedroom in nice folded piles on the floor. Monday & Tuesday I came home and meant to put away the clothes before I went to bed. This did not happen. So, Wednesday I went home with a firm commitment in my mind to absolutely do it, not if ands or buts! The great surprise was when I got home the bedroom was neat as a pin. Even the bed was made! My amazing husband had taken time out of his day to clean the bedroom. The night before, he had cleaned the kitchen. I married a gem!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year! We got abandoned by Tom's parents. They decided to go to see the grandkids in Indiana and left us behind. Fortunately for us, Tom's grandpa and most of his kids and grandkids had a mini-family reunion/thanksgiving dinner. The coordination started about a month ago, getting all the RSVPs & dish assignments assigned. When Tom emailed his Aunt that we could bring potato rolls or pumpkin cheesecake, I thought it would be buzy but doeable. Thanksgiving week at work is what everyone there calls "hell week". This is due to the reason that we have 3 days to get 5 days of work done. Always exciting. Obviously not a lot of time after I get home to do any cooking. Well, the assignments came back and guess what I got assigned: rolls & cheesecake. I heard about that with a groan! Luckily, I got enough done on Monday & Tuesday and was able to leave on Wednesday a little early. Well, except for a little problem with the cheesecake crust and it cracking a little everything went great. I was even asked for the roll recipe. Tastey! The best part of the food asignments was Tom's brother got assigned .....wait for it......are you ready.....butter! Freakin' butter, I was thinking it better be freshly churned! No such luck. But he did come over Wednesday night and helped do dishes while we cooked!
After thanksgiving we went over to Ashley's in laws and visited them for a little bit! It was fun to see some of my family for a little bit. I got to see Kinsey take a bath. So cute!
The rest of the weekend was relaxing! Overall, it was a great weekend!

Greatest Movie of All Time?????

I want to start this blog by stating.....I just don't get it! I have no idea who decided this (2001: A Space Odyssey) was the greatest movie of all time, but whomever it was must have been on something at the time. I can now say I've seen most of this movie. I say most because it was so slow I fell asleep twice while watching it. And this is coming from the girl that loves old movies that usually bore other people.

The best part of this movie (and this says a lot) is the beginning when there are a lot of apes yelling at each other with ape sounds and jumping all over the place. From there on it just gets really weird! Until the end is the part I just don't get! I'm the kind of person that likes to watch a movie or read a book for the enjoyment of it. And this movie just didn't cut it for me!

If anyone could explain what the last 10 or so minutes of this movie means to me I would appreciate it. Supposedly the guy becomes a "star child". No freakin' idea at all. The movie ended and Tom & I looked at each other and both thought the same thing...."HUH???"

Profit Sharing

Last night was our yearly profit sharing meeting for my work. I call it a business meeting where they happen to feed you. Tom, however, calls it a free dinner. Interesting how people have different views on the same experience!
At my work they invest money in an employees name. This of course gathers interest based on how well the investments increased that year. This year we did quite well...yeah! Also an exciting thing is I'm now fully vested!
This is a nice start to our retirement, somewhere down the road! We of coarse hope to continue to build upon this! I really love the company I work for! Pete really set up the Company to help the employees. Biggest heart in the world!
Dinner was really good too. We had chicken cordon bleu (or something like that) & cheese cake for dessert. Nummy! The rolls were very good too. Anyone that know my family know we like rolls a lot. All that starch, tastey!

Job Interviews

I was talking to Tara today and she informed me that I need to submit more blogs. I proceeded to inform her how boring my life was and other people couldn't possibly want to read about it. She told me I needed to blog about anything. Tom then informed me that something that I find boring might not be boring for someone else, so here goes.
This part is actually pretty exciting for us. Our excitement right now is Tom's interviews for a real career. For those of you that don't know, Tom's in his senior year. He's been working really hard the past little while on his senior project. In the past few weeks he's had a few on-campus interviews. This is when companies that are looking for engineers to hire at the end of the school year come to the school and interview the seniors.
All the companies he's interviewed with he's pretty enthusiastic about. There aren't really any bad choices at this point. One in particular is pretty exciting, although it would be quite a change to our life right now. They would transfer us around every 9 months or so for the first 5 or so years. They have sites all over the world. It would be crazy, but very exciting and a crazy experience.
Who knows where he's get an offer. There's no knowing where we'll end up.
Exciting!

Harry Potter is Finished!

For those of you that don't know....I love to read! I do it a lot and at a pretty quick rate. I remember one of the first books my Mom recommended to me when I got home from my Mission was the first Harry Potter book. I wasn't quite sure if I was interested or not....my first thought was "that's a children's book". Well the day came that I got bored enough to give it a try and surprise surprise I loved them! And I continued to love them until today. Even though these books were originally written as children's books they have as much of an adult following as anything else. I think it has almost become a part of the culture now.
Well, as sad as it is to admit.....its over! We don't have any more books to look forward to. Everything has been resolved & that's a little depressing and sad. However, we still have the movies. Not near as exciting or good, but at least it's something. The movies & books are something Tom & I enjoy doing together.
I'll enjoy sharing these stories with my nephews and nieces for years to come!

Bonding with the Fam!

Friday & Saturday we got to stay at my Aunt Carol & Uncle David's house. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with them! They were great to us. We had the opportunity to learn some history and insider information about the history of Las Vegas that was pretty fascinating! To start the family time off Tom & I went to the movie "Transformers" with Carol, David, & Crawford. It was very entertaining! Tom was way into it! It took him back to his childhood I think. He got to brag to Crawford about all the transformers he had when he was little!

We tried to call Tom's Aunt to arrange a time to go see her right before we went to the movie & they were in a movie. Surprise surprise she returned our call when we were in a movie. The funny coincidence was they went to the same movie as we did, just a little bit earlier. That night we went to their house & had a barbecue and a little dip in the pool. It was nice to get rid of some of the heat! It felt great!

Saturday morning we got up bright & early and headed out to Hoover Dam. They opened up the visitors center at 9:00, so we were out there a little before 9:00. We got there before most of the rush. The tour was very interesting. My favorite part was feeling the rushing water vibrate the floor under my feet. It was a cool feeling! Plus it was a beautiful view at the top! We also thought of going on a helicopter flight, until we read the fine print on the sign and learned it would cost us about $70 for both of us to go on a 2 freakin' minute flight! 2 minutes? Needless to say, we didn't do it.

That afternoon we went with Aunt Carol to see the temple & some of the casinos we missed that she really liked (Bellagio, Paris, & the Venetian). It was a lot of fun! The Bellagio was amazing. They had some great glass flowers on the ceiling. It was so cool! I loved how all three hotels had little mini towns hidden in the back with street restaurants.

Sunday we got to see Steven & spend some time with the family. It had been a long time since I had seen him and it was a great time! We had a fun lunch with everyone and had a lot of fun conversations! It was a blast! Viva Las Vegas!

Viva Las Vegas

We had an amazing 4 day weekend in Las Vegas! We've been doing our best to be smart with our money, so we wanted a fun place to go that wouldn't cost a lot. Some of you might think we're crazy to go to Las Vegas, but when you don't gamble it's very doable!

Being July, it of coarse was a little warm....okay it was HOT! But we stayed inside as much as we could during the day & enjoyed the evenings & the air conditioning. This is a new experience for me! I'm the girl that usually doesn't like a lot of air conditioning. It gets a little cold, but I actually enjoyed it in the heat of the Las Vegas Desert! Will miracles never cease!

We spent our first night at the Luxor Hotel on the strip. It was a blast! We actually stayed in the pyramid portion of the hotel, which was an interesting experience. For those of you that don't know anything about that hotel, the casino is in the bottom level of the pyramid & we stayed on the 3rd floor. Not far enough away once the TV is off. Occasionally I'd hear random cheering in the wee hours of the morning. Nutty people! I loved the motel, but next time I think I'll try the tower instead! I've always been fascinated with Egyptian stuff. It's very different than anything we have here and I love different cultures!

We spent that night wandering the strip and had a great dinner. As fun as it was to see all the interesting people and things, my favorite parts were of course the Bellagio fountains (of course) & an IMAX movie we went to about the Nile. It was really interesting! By the end of the night my feet were killing me! I'll admit it, I'm pretty woosey when it comes to being on my feet a lot. I work in an office in a chair all day....I have no stanima. Luckily Tom is very patient! One kind of funny thing happened at the Bellagio. Out in front of the fountains was a guy in a wheelchair with a megaphone and speakers preaching about hell & damnation! I agreed with.......some of what he said, but he wasn't getting much of a response (shocker shocker). But a part of me admires the devotion it must take to make a fool of yourself like that for what you believe in! (Yeah Blakey!)

Well, that's it for now. I'll make another post later about the great time we had with our family down there. This post is getting to long!

Annual Summer Picnic

The best part of our annual summer picnic is I get the whole day off and get paid for a full 8 hours of work. Woohoo! This is something we get to do every year, all we have to do is put in an appearance at the picnic and we get paid for the whole day.
It was a pretty nice day. Unfortunately, Tom had to get up early to help take the scouts to a special scout camp up at Mirror Lake. They were suppose to leave at 6 this morning, but as usually happens with most church functions nothing happens on time! They got out late, which means that he really had to hurry to get back in time for the picnic, but he did! We got to the picnic just in time for us to get our pictures taken & to get in line for lunch. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, KFC chicken (of course) and all the fixins'.
At most of our picnics we usually have a bunch of carnival rides. This is a lot of fun for the kids, but for those of us that don't have any of those yet, it's just the excuse we need to leave early. After lunch Tom, Tammie (who was there because she workes in the IS department for the same company), & me took a little walk around the place we were at. This year the picnic was held at Wheeler Farm. Being a farm (kind of), there were animals there. I was able to find them with my acute sense of smell. It's not hard to mistake the smell of cows once you've experienced it. It took me back to my youth (flash backs...yeah!). We also took a walk around the rest of their property. It was nice to get out and take a little walk. I really enjoyed it!
The past couple of years my company has been doing a fund raiser for JDRF, this is for Diabetes. This year at the picnic, they raised money for that cause by having a raffle drawing (which we bought a few tickets for) & they also did a dunk tank. Everyone had the opportunity to nominate people to be in the dunk tank. People would then have the opportunity to pay to throw balls at the dunk take to get them very wet. It's a fun way to raise money. Everyone is always up for getting our co-workers wet!
We didn't stay much for the dunk tank though, just enough to see Dave totally soaked! There wasn't really a way to top that so we took off (hehehe).
The rest of the day we spent most of the time relaxing and hanging out (otherwise known as sleeping). I was also able to find a sub for my primary class so I can go to Mom & Dads house this weekend. I wasn't suppose to have to. The other teachers of my class were suppose to teach, but they had their baby early......so yeah me! Luckily I was able to find someone on my first call!
Well, time to go to bed. I still have a day of work left before the week is over. It was nice having a day off in the middle!

Drama at the Office

Hello cyberspace folk! My husband has been encouraging me to start my own blog for a while now! He's had one for about a year now, I think (he just corrected me...it's been 2 years). Time just flies...... I think he likes writing in his blog, even though he doesn't get much of a chance. I just had an epiphany, he always writes about things he thinks I'm not interested in. Maybe he just needs an outlet for his excitement, because of his unsupportive wife! I think it's like a public journal that you can't write specifics on because people might read it and get you in trouble. Interesting thought, but I'm open to try anything! This could be fun! I like to hear myself talk as much as anyone!
The reason I finally buckled down and did this is because my Mom's side of my family started a family blog. It's a lot of fun! You have to be invited to have access, so it's very private and open only to family. It's fun to be able to stay in contact with your loved ones. Especially as we get older, we don't get the chance to see each other very often.
The main excitement in my life right now is the drama at work. For those of you that don't know, I work in an office of women! Enough said!!!!!..........Just kidding, but it's true. There is never of shortage of drama and back biting in an office of women. I'm not your normal woman, so I get emotionally exhausted and confused by most of that crap! Right now, I get to look forward to training again! Woohoo! I'm the resident untitled, unnoticed, uncomplimented trainer in my department. The reason for this is mostly because I'm a good teacher, I think. Anyway, I've had the opportunity to do this 4 times already (this will be #5). As much as I enjoy teaching someone, after 5 times enough is enough. For goodness sake, the department is only a 4 freakin' person department! We're not so scary we should be scareing people off like this! The main problem is the demand of the job. It takes a lot of detail skill & hard work and some people (well maybe most) don't want to do both of those things or can't do both of them. I don't know. I guess I have a little bit of work-a-holic in me, so I love a job that keeps me hoppin' & keeps me busy! This one certainly does. Not everyone likes that in a job though. I hate to be bored!
We're kind of running out of people to choose from though. My company likes to promote from within. A lot of people we have to chose from, just couldn't do it (for one reason or another). Oh, well. The choice is not up to me anyways, just the teaching. I just hope we have someone to train before our third person goes on maternity leave in 2 months. Hehehe! This could get fun! But we've done it before and we can do it again! Gotta love it......or you'll go crazy!