Gnome Place Like Home

Pharmacy Etiquette

2009-07-16T22:06:00.003-06:00

Dear Walmart,

I'm sorry for my lack of etiquette at your pharmacy. You see, I'm thrifty. And...well...RiteAid gives me $25 gift cards for transferred prescriptions, and as luck would (not) have it, I was in need of two prescriptions today. So instead of just paying $4 for each of them when I dropped off my prescription at your pharmacy, I left your store, called RiteAid, and had them transfer them to their pharmacy. Not only did I have 2 coupons for $25 gift cards, the pharmacy tech also gave me two $5 off coupons. I came away with both prescriptions, $50 in RiteAid gift cards, and paid only $10.

I know that you probably cringe every time I bring in a prescription because you know that inevitably I will have RiteAid call you to transfer it. I just can't resist free money. I'm sure it's a huge pharmacy faux-pas to pretend like I'm going to pay you for your work and for your drugs but again, the gift cards...they're just too much to pass up.

I apologize again for teasing you. Thank you for all your other cheap items that I buy on a regular basis.

Sincerely,
Kari

Need a Car?

2009-03-31T17:40:00.004-06:00

I'm selling my 1989 Toyota Camry. 185k miles. This is a good car, I loved it while I had it.

Is it in perfect condition? No, but it is a good car and would be perfect for someone who needs a car to get from A to B with good gas mileage (mid to high 20's mpg in town, higher on the freeway).

The car runs well but the front CV axles both need to be replaced before it will pass inspections. (It will cost you around $350.) The right tail light also needs to be fixed. My hubby accidentally backed into someone's hitch so it bent the metal casing and knocked the light out. The light is still intact except for one small sliver but just needs to be put back on and have a new bulb installed and it's fine. The only other issue is that the trunk doesn't stay open on it's own. It opens and closes fine, just has to be held up.

Everything else in the car is in good working order. Some dings on the body but that's expected with a 20 year old car. Even as is, the KBB value is $1065. It needs those things fixed so I hope my price is pretty reasonable. Asking $500 OBO, and at this point, I'll consider any offer you bring.

Features:

Automatic Transmission

Power Steering

Power Windows & Locks

Air Conditioning

Tilt Steering

Cruise Control

AM/FM radio. It actually has an Eclipse MP3/CD player but it won't play cd's anymore. Probably fixable too, I just never cared too much when it stopped working.

Let me know if you have any questions or are interested. Thanks!!

Just to Make You All Aware...

2008-10-15T12:01:00.000-06:00

Only one month left til we leave for...

CANCUN!!!!!!!

ANOTHER New Swim Suit!

2008-08-25T22:21:00.003-06:00

I couldn't resist! I convinced myself that I NEEDED another suit since we're going to Cancun in November so I went into Layers Clothing again and found a suit I really liked. I didn't buy it at first because the pattern is exactly the same as my other one and they didn't have the right size for me. The next day it was all I could think about so I went back in and they had a different size that I didn't think would fit but it did so VOILA! Suit #2.

And I really do think I'm cuter than this model! ;)

New Swim Suit!

2008-07-22T12:53:00.004-06:00

Hello! Wow, two months since I've posted on this blog, eh? Nice.

Quick update: I got my first legitimate birdie in golf on June 13 on hole 13 at Glenmore. It was so awesome!!! I drove onto the green (it was a short par 3) and then made like a 30 foot put for the birdie! I was SO EXCITED!!! I've never had a birdie before, especially without cheating. ;)

Also important: I got a new swim suit!!! I love it! I got it at Layers Clothing thanks in part to Whitney, who I got together with at Cold Stone yesterday. She told me they had some cute suits and that they were all 20% off. So, I checked them out online and then went in and got this beauty. And yes, I look pretty much as hot in it as this model does. LOL

Our New Niece!

2008-05-15T21:26:00.004-06:00

Congratulations Natalie and Chandler!

Aubri Jean

Born May 13, 2008

6 pounds 6 ounces

19 inches long

Welcome Little One, we love you!

Mustache May 2008

2008-05-15T21:19:00.005-06:00

It's that time of year again. That's right folks, it's Mustache May! Here's Adam's 'stache this year:

Earthquake

2008-02-21T09:55:00.002-07:00

This morning at about 7:16 a.m. there was an earthquake in Wells, Nevada that had a magnitude of 6.0. I didn't know about it until I was driving to work at 7:30 and heard the news on the radio. They were saying people in my area felt it but I thought to myself, "Hmm...I didn't feel it."

Well once I was at work, I called my dental insurance company to check our benefits (Adam is getting a root canal today, poor guy) and the lady there asked me if I felt it. I said no but she said they felt it at her office, which is not too far away from where I live.

The more I thought about it though, the more I think I really did feel it. I nurse Jayci every morning at 7:00 a.m. before I leave for work and this morning while I was nursing her and sitting in the rocking chair I felt some weird movements. I thought at first that it was just Jayci's feet kicking, but then I thought to myself that her feet kicking wouldn't be rocking my whole chair. It was like it was being rocked or shaken by someone. I also thought it felt a lot like it did in November when there were construction workers in our yard digging manholes for the development that is going in behind our house. They had a huge trackhoe in our yard right next to the house and it would shake the whole house sometimes. It was a weird feeling, but it didn't last for very long and I didn't think much more about it...until that conversation with the lady at the dental insurance company.

So, you might think I'm crazy, but I really do think I felt the earthquake. Weird, huh?

A Scary Drive

2008-01-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

We went to Idaho this past weekend to visit my family. We hadn't been there since Jayci was born and I have to go back to work next week so we figured this would be an ok time.

We meant to leave here by 4:00 but we really didn't get on the road til like 5:00...surprise surprise. The traffic northbound on I-15 was out of contol...it took us an hour and a half to get to Bountiful. Yikes.

It was snowing a little but nothing bad. We stopped in Brigham City to get some food and fuel. Jayci was doing so well, she slept the whole time in the pickup. (We borrowed Dan's Dodge Ram). We had driven in four wheel drive the entire time but had taken it off when we were in Brigham City. We forgot to put it back in and Adam thought he had to be stopped to put it in so we just kept going.

We had just crossed the over the Utah/Idaho border and all of a sudden we hit a patch of black ice and before we knew it we were spinning out of control. It was the scariest thing I've ever experienced. The back end of the pickup just came out from behind us and there was no correcting it. Adam did really well by not over correcting or doing anything to make it worse. All we could see was snow flying all around and we were completely out of control. I thought for sure we were going to roll, but we came to a stop in the median after what seemed like forever. I was honestly more scared than I have ever been, and not for my own life, but for Jayci. When we stopped I checked her and she was sound asleep as though nothing had even happened. I was so relieved!

We had to call a tow truck to get out because we were so far in the middle and the snow was deep. Also, it was just a recipe for disaster because we were going too fast for those conditions (even though we were under the speed limit), we weren't in 4WD, we didn't have anything in the bed of the truck to weigh it down, and the tires on the truck were completely unsafe because they're totally bald.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father watched over us. Adam and I both have no doubt in our minds that He protected us. It would have been so easy for us to roll that truck if any single thing had gone any other way. We're so blessed to be ok and that nothing worse happened.

Christmas!

2007-12-27T11:53:00.001-07:00

Man, it has been forever since I've posted on this blog so I decided to post about our Christmas here instead of on Jayci's blog.

We had a great Christmas. Adam, Jayci, and I got up at about 8:30 and came downstairs to open presents. Adam videotaped us very first and Jayci smiled so big for the camera! It was the cutest little thing ever! She just started smiling this past week and it is so fun!

We all got lots of great gifts. From us, Jayci got a play gym, a fun toy, 2 lullaby cd's (she loves music), and some new pants which were desperately needed...she is getting too long for the few pairs she has now.

Adam got some new brown shoes, dress pants, a cord to hook the ipod up to the TV, and a new gun. Josh helped me pick out and purchase the gun on Saturday when he and his family were here for the weekend. Adam was really surprised and was totally excited. I thought he knew about it because on Saturday night, I asked him if the front door was locked when he came up to bed. He said he didn't check it but didn't even care if it wasn't because of the number of guns here. I was like, "Did Josh bring more than one?", trying to be cool but really I was totally bummed because I thought for sure he knew, but on Christmas morning he really was surprised. He LOVES it and can't wait to take a concealed carrier's class.

I got a diamond necklace (a journey necklace), two undershirts with lace at the botton and a really cute jacket but my favorite gift is a framed and matted 8 x 10 of me and Jayci. It is one that Ray Maxwell took when we did her newborn pictures and I LOVE it. (click here to see it....it's the one of me kissing her cheek). Adam did a great job with the frame and mat and the photograph looks beautiful. We are going to hang it in Jayci's room (that we hope to complete before the new year!).

From family, all three of us got spoiled. Jayci got more toys, books, 2 ocean wonders aquariums, and clothes. Adam and I got a gospel picture kit with every single gospel picture from all the lesson manuals and everything you can think of. My mom put it together and it is awesome. We also got gloves, candy, lotion, flashlights, Mad Gab, a clock, camera, golf balls, car washes (yay, we SOO desperately need them!), gift cards, a calander, a cute Christmas decoration, and a digital photo frame. We are very grateful for everything, so thank you everyone!

We went to Dan & Peggy's house after we were all done here and opened presents with all of them. After that we headed to Val's house for dinner. We stayed there til 2:00 am! I was so tired by the time we left!! We didn't mean to stay that long, and no one else stayed that long (except Leeana), but we like to be able to visit with Val and usually she is so busy getting everything finished and there are so many people there that she doesn't really get a chance to sit down and relax. So Leeana and I did dishes while Val held Jayci and we all chatted. Adam played X-Box with the boys and then came upstairs after a while and we all sat in the living room and talked for a long time.

It was really a great Christmas for us. We are so blessed to have this wonderful little baby and to be have been able to spend time with our families. It will definitely be one we will always remember.

Pineapple-O-Lantern!!!

2007-11-01T12:41:00.000-06:00

This year's pineapple was a good one! I took extra special care in choosing it on my way home from work. I seriously think I picked up every single one at the store and spent like 10 minutes deciding on which one to get. It has to be big enough to carve a face onto and the hair has to be just right too, so it's nothing to be taken lightly.

While we were cleaning it out, it was so juicy! The juice started leaking out the sides of it, which has never happened in the past I don't think. The inside of it was so yummy too! We scooped all of it out and it is in our fridge right now. YUM!

But here it is, our pineapple jack-o-lantern!

We didn't end up going to a corn maze (sad) but we had a good night together. We had a free meal at Cafe Rio so we went there for dinner. Then we rented "Evan Almighty", bought a pie....ok, bought 2 pies at Marie Callender's, and came home to start our tradition!

We carved the pineapple first, then Adam painted my belly! It was so fun!! I have more pictures posted on my other blog, so go check them out.

After that fun, we showered, grabbed a piece of pie, and watched our movie. It was a pretty good show with a nice message, so I liked it. I also slept like a baby last night so it was awesome!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T13:56:00.001-06:00

Yay, it's Halloween!!! I like Halloween, even though we don't really have anything to do tonight. We did make a plan to go to a corn maze though because every single year I want to go and it always passes and we never make it. =( So even though all the corn mazes are probably haunted tonight and I don't love that, I think we're going to go anyway and I'm excited! There's always a chance that our plans could change, but I really hope we get to go!!

Also, we get to carve our pineapple tonight!!! This will be our 5th year and it is the first tradition we ever made together and I LOVE IT! (read here if you need a little background on the pineapple jack-o-lantern). I promise to post a picture of it tomorrow! We're also going to paint my belly, yay!!!

Sick Day

2007-10-25T16:46:00.000-06:00

Today I did not feel good so I didn't go to work. I think it's because of a couple reasons: I have needed to get more sleep the past couple nights and my ribs are killing me when I breathe. Plus, I went to the doctor yesterday and that always leaves me feeling yucky afterwards, even though I like going and finding out how I'm doing. I asked my doctor about my ribs hurting and he said it could either be foods (but it's not) or maybe my gallbladder. I think it is that. It hurts so bad on my right side when I breathe. Today has definitely been the worst it's ever been, so I laid in bed ALL DAY. I know I should be doing something productive like cleaning my house (which is in desperate need) but I didn't want to. I honestly haven't even gotten dressed yet and it's 4:54 pm. I think I might try to do something before Adam comes home; maybe it'll make me feel better too.

Anyway, that was boring to read, but it's what you get for the day.

I Was Soooo Close....

2007-10-22T13:53:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday I really needed to fill my car up with gas, but for some reason, I only put in $10. Well I drove all over on Friday and Adam and I drove a few places on Saturday and by that time we REALLY needed gas. Well Saturday evening we ran out to get some dinner (cheese pizza at Fazoli's that was really good and an awesome bargain!) and it was snowing! SNOWING, people. So needless to say, we took our hot pizza back home to watch our movie instead of putting gas in the car.

Last night I figured I should get up a few minutes early this morning so I could stop and get gas on the way to work. Well, I didn't get up any earlier and didn't have time to stop and get gas. I thought I'd probably make it though, so I figured I'd be ok and I'd just go to my meeting then head straight to the gas station after it was done.

I was at the freeway exit, second car in line at the stoplight, and my car started kind of revving. I knew that wasn't a good sign. The light changed and I pushed on the gas and the car died. I was searching all over the dash for the emergency blinkers and I could not find them so a couple people behind me just thought I was stupid and wasn't going even though the light was green. I eventually found them and people went around me. There was a car behind me with two men in it and they got out to see if I was ok. I told them that I just ran out of gas so they pushed my car over to the side so others could get around it. They asked if I wanted a ride to the gas station, but I didn't really want to go (for many reasons!) so I explained to them that I work just down the road and that I'd call someone and have them come help me. They said ok and were on their way.

I called my friend Jen and asked her to come rescue me. I just sat there on the shoulder, almost directly underneath the overpass and waited, doing my makeup when the light was green so that the cars who were stopped at the red light wouldn't just think I was doing my makeup in the car in the most inconvenient place for everyone. Two other cars stopped to see if I was ok and I told them that I'd already called someone to help me. Right before Jen made it, I saw those same two guys who had helped push me to the side and they pulled over and had brought me some gas! I was SO THANKFUL to them!!! I offered to pay them for the gas and it was completely out of the question. They were just nice men and I was so glad to have them help me instead of anyone scary. I was also glad that it happened in the morning and not at night in the dark.

I have only run out of gas ONCE, and even then I don't even think I was the one driving, I was with Libbie and she was driving. So thank you, thank you, thank you to the guys who pushed my car to the side of the road and then returned to bring me gas!!! Also thanks to the guys who stopped to see if I needed help once I was on the side.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

2007-10-08T22:51:00.001-06:00

Happy 27th Birthday to My Wonderful Husband!!!

I love you so much and hope you had a great day!

(I have more about today but I'll post it later)

Fall Leaves!

2007-10-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

Today I was SO TIRED!!! We went to dinner last night with David, DaVeen (sp?), Dan, Peggy, Natalie, Chandler, and Leeana and had a good time. I really like DaVeen and we chatted all through dinner. Leeana left her car at our house so after dinner we drove home and ended up chatting with her for like 3 hours! I was so sleepy! I fell asleep in no time, but getting up today was not so easy. I have gotten used to going to bed earlier since I have to leave my house every morning at 7:30, so going to bed at 12:30 am was not condusive for a good night's rest. I didn't get up til 7:08! I made it to work on time, but I did not look so great. You could tell I was tired.

After work, I came home and cleaned out the Honda. I have been using it for the past 3 weeks and my work stuff was overtaking it. I organized all my stuff into two file crates: one that stays in the trunk with books that I need but don't use everyday and extra forms and contracts and the other that will be in the backseat with my everyday stuff. I promised Adam that I'd keep it clean from now on (not that he really cares, he just jokes with me about it) and I think this will really help. I still want to get it detailed SO BAD, but I think I'll wait til our next paycheck to get that done.

When Adam got home, he took a quick shower and we headed up the canyon to look at the leaves. I LOVE fall leaves! They were really pretty and it was nice to take a drive together and just talk and relax. We don't have any pictures of the leaves so we'll have to go again (plus, Leeana thought that we were all supposed to go together to look at the leaves and was quite upset with us for going alone). So yeah, we'll take pics next time.

We did see some little deer though! I love seeing wildlife! We were really high up the canyon and we were driving on this little dirt road. Adam said something about this being where they have ski runs in the winter and I was like, "On the road?" I knew the snow covered it by like 5 feet or more, but I didn't realize that we were driving on the run itself! It was kind of weird to me. We were almost right by the ski lift. Lately, I feel like I have been saying the most stupid things! I am going to blame it on the pregnancy because I really am a smart person, but these past couple days one might really question that.

Rachael & Orlando's Wedding!

2007-09-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

***UPDATED***
(scroll down to find red updated info)

This past Saturday we went to Adam's cousin Rachael's wedding. She is about the same age as Adam and her now husband, Orlando, and she have been together for like 7 years. We LOVE them! They are way fun and always so nice to everyone. We don't get to hang out with them as much as we'd like because they are super busy and they both work a lot, but we see them at family functions and the like and it is great.

They got married at Millenial Falls Wedding & Reception Center in Draper and it was really pretty. Poor girl, it was raining outside and it just so happens that they had planned an outside wedding. However, that didn't stop anything, because they still had it outside. They had umbrellas for everyone and the staff wiped off the benches so they were dry when you sat down. It was just a drizzle too and it wasn't super cold or anything, so it all worked out.

She looked GORGEOUS!!! She kept her dress a secret so no one but her sister and her mom knew what it looked like. I like that she did that because it was a fun surprise to look forward to. The dress was strapless and had beautiful beading on the bodice. It was a really pretty ivory color and had some gathering on the skirt, but not like every other dress you see with tons of gathering all over. It was just the right amount. It was very classy and elegant.

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few.

This is one of her bridal portraits that she had by the guest book. It was huge, probably one of the biggest bridal portraits I've seen, but it was amazing! She looks beautiful and I love the scenery and the frame. I took two pictures so you can see the size of it and so you can see her up close. One of her friends was taking a picture of the picture with his iPhone at the same time as me and it turned out so much better than these...from my digital camera. Sad, huh?

Here they are dancing their first dance. They chose "Is This Love?" by Bob Marley and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I almost cried it was so perfect. It's kind of an unexpected wedding song but I thought it was really sweet.

***UPDATE***
I can't figure out how to get this video onto my page, but you HAVE to go here to see one of my favorite wedding dances ever. I think it is so funny!

Here are me and Adam outside where the ceremony was. I have some more pictures like this over at my baby blog. My hair really did look cute at the beginning of the evening...but we can blame it not looking so spectacular on the rain. ;)

Double Date Recap

2007-09-22T09:05:00.000-06:00

Last night was our hot double date with Kristen and Drew. She came over to our house at about 5:30 and we hung out and chatted and got ready. Then at 7:30 she, Adam, and I drove to Goodwood Barbeque and met Drew there (he came up from Utah County so we met him there instead of having him drive all the way to our house). We waited outside for our table and talked. She didn't say a whole lot, but the rest of us were very chatty. Then we were sat and just more talking and eating. The food was ok. Adam has been begging me to go there for almost my entire pregnancy and for almost my entire pregnancy I haven't liked BBQ sauce so I've never wanted to go, but last night I figured I'd suck it up and just go there since he wanted to so bad. It was actually pretty good. I had chicken crispers, that also came with mashed potatoes & gravy and fries. I wanted to try out the mashed potatoes since that is what I craved for so long while I was sick, just to see how they were. They were ok, but I have yet to find the mashed potatoes and gravy of my craving.

Dinner went ok.... I think it was better for the rest of us than it was for Kristen. She just didn't talk a whole lot. And Adam and Drew talked about a lot ot people they knew from high school, so it wasn't like there was a whole lot of chance for her to join in. When we left dinner, we went to Boondocks to play miniature golf. Kristen rode with Drew and Adam and I took our car. We were glad they rode together so they could talk. When we got into the car I said to Adam, "I don't think it's going so well....". He agreed, but we also agreed that they probably just needed more time to talk to each other and not have us around. So he said he wouldn't talk about high school stuff/people for the rest of the night.

We played mini golf and it was super fun. Maybe it was so fun for me because I WON! And, if that weren't enough, I got a hole in one! Woohoo!!! I don't think that's ever happened to me, sadly enough. We played on teams and wagered Cold Stone ice cream but at the end of it all, we ended up tying. Plus when we were done, Cold Stone was already closed. I have to admit, I was pretty sad about it because I had my hopes up for cake batter ice cream for 18 holes of mini golf! But I guess that in all honesty I didn't NEED the ice cream so it worked out for the better that we didn't get any.

Since it was only 11:00 and we were having a good time together, we decided to come back to our house and play Five Crowns. I love that game! Drew was the only one who hadn't played it but I was the one who got my butt kicked. I lost by almost 100 points! Ouch. We sat around and talked for a little while after we finished the game and then it was 1:00 and Drew said he had better get going. He got up to get a drink of water and then we just kept talking and he didn't end up leaving til 2:00! We haven't stayed up that late in a while! Kristen was so tired, I think she fell asleep at the table more than once, poor girl.

Overall, I think it was pretty good. Adam and I had a really good time and I think they had a good time as well, but I don't think there was much of a connection sadly. I don't know, it was weird. They really are a ton alike and I think on their own they would have a good time together. She said it wasn't awkward or anything and that she thought he is cute, but I don't know if either of them were super interested. She had to leave at about 8:45 this morning to go to her nephew's football game so I didn't get much of a chance to see what she really thought, but I'm going to call her while she's on her way home and see if I can get her to tell me. Drew texted Adam last night on his way home and said "Tell Kristen I had a really good time tonight", but we don't know what he really thought either. He's a nice guy and I decided we should continue to be friends with him because he has the same birthday as me. Oh yeah, also because he's funny and nice, but the birthday thing automatically makes him cooler in my book. jk

I wish I would have taken pictures, but I didn't. I have been such a slacker about pictures lately! Adam's cousin is getting married tonight so I'll bring my camera and take some pictures there so my blog won't be so plain anymore.

Double Date!

2007-09-20T17:56:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited!!! One of my best friends from Idaho is coming down tomorrow to visit us! Yay, I love visitors! No one ever comes to visit us (I hope you're all feeling guilty as you read this) so it will be so much fun! ;)

We're setting her up with one of Adam's friends (who just so happens to be Gina's brother-in-law, Drew) and we're all going on a double date!!! I can't believe how excited I am for it! First of all, we haven't been on a double date in forever! Well, we've been with other married couples, but with these two never having even met each other, I think it will add a little twist to the usual. I hope they like each other! I don't really care if they like like each other, althought that would be great, but I hope we all have a good time!

I feel like we're all back in high school again and that Adam and I are a couple and we're setting up our friends and we're all going out together and it's going to be so great. LOL! I'm a dork, I know, but I'm think it'll be fun! I don't know what we're going to do yet, I told Adam that he and Drew had to plan the date, so I hope they come up with something good. Maybe a corn maze? I know that is kind of lame, but I like corn mazes dang it, and I haven't been to one in a long time! Plus, the one at Thanksgiving Point is opening this weekend and it only costs 93 cents per person to get in on Friday and Saturday (if I'm not mistaken...I heard it on the radio, so I think I better double check)! Now I don't want to sound like a cheap date, but that's a pretty freakin' good deal if you ask me. But, like I said, they have to plan it.

Ok, I gotta go. I really do have things to do, like clean my house, make dinner, put away stuff from my baby shower that has been sitting in my living room for the past week...you know the drill.

What's a Girl To Do?

2007-09-17T18:19:00.001-06:00

Last night I came to a sad and scary realization. This is season premier time for all the good TV shows and I realized that Survivor starts on Thursday. I was so excited until I also realized that The Office also premiers on Thursday.... at the same time. We have Tivo and loved it in the past when we had regular cable, but now we have DirecTV and it won't allow you to record two shows at the same time! Also, it won't let you change the channel while it's recording, so it's not like I can record one and just watch the other. No, that would be too convenient too. AHHHH!! I know this is dumb, but I love both of these shows. This presents quite the conundrum. I need to figure out something quick because heaven forbid I do something more useful with my time on Thursday nights.

Baby Shower!

2007-09-17T11:01:00.000-06:00

Saturday Trish and Natalie threw a baby shower for me! It was so much fun, but you have to go to my baby blog to read about it!

I'm Sleepy!

2007-09-12T12:19:00.000-06:00

So I know that yesterday I wrote this big long post on my baby blog about how great I feel lately, but I am getting so tired too! Yesterday I was soo sleepy. My alarm went off at 6:00 AM and thankfully Adam got up and turned it off for me since it was across the room. He brought it (I use my cell phone for my alarm) over to me and I ended up hitting snooze for about an hour. I got up, showered, but didn't have time to wash my hair. I got ready and went to my meeting with Pete (the regional sales manager who offered me that job). I came home, got packed, and drove to Logan at 11:00 AM. I was so tired the whole way up here. I did some things when I got to Logan and then I felt so sleepy that I checked into my hotel room half an hour early to take a quick nap before returning to work. Well, that quick nap ended up being almost a 2 hour nap and it was 4:45 when I woke up. It felt so nice to sleep, but I felt guilty for not getting more done.

Later that evening I went to the workout room and did curls with 5 lb hand weights while I walked on the treadmill for about 40 minutes. I watched "The Biggest Loser" while I was in there, which is always good motivation to get up and move. I came back to my room, updated my blogs and read others, then watched TV. I wasn't so tired then because of my 2 hour nap so I didn't end up going to sleep until about 1:30 am.

Then, at 4:25 AM the alarm clock in my room went off and I was rudly awakened by a Vince Gill song. Two things wrong with that= 1. I didn't want to wake up at 4:25 AM! and 2. I don't like Vince Gill. I was NOT IMPRESSED. So I slept until 8:00 when Adam called me. He didn't go to bed at all last night because he had his friends over and they played Xbox all night and then watched Tonga vs USA in the rugby World Cup (the game was on at like 5:00 AM). We talked for a few minutes and then I went back to sleep. It wasn't really great sleep, so I kept hitting snooze on my cell phone too. I finally got up, showered, and got ready for my day. But now I'm so sleepy again! Maybe I'll try no nap today and going to bed EARLY. I don't know, the nap is very tempting.

Fall

2007-09-11T22:37:00.000-06:00

It is getting to be that time of year again. I can't believe that fall is just around the corner. Sunday evening Adam and I went on a walk and it was only like 8:00 and I totally wanted a jacket! What happened to summer that was here and it was still 80 degrees at 10:00 pm? Monday morning as I was driving to work at 7:45 am and I actually turned the heater on in the car. AHH! I love summer, it is my favorite season! I do like this time of year though, it brings back so many different memories and feelings. I like the smells and the colors and the crispness of the air. Also Adam's birthday is in October and mine is in November and I like birthdays. It is that blasted winter that I don't love so much, but it too has it's pluses. We were married in December and I like that part. Christmas is always fun too. And, we will have our brand-new baby then, so it will be a great time.

Hmm....what else. ...

My job. Oi. Ok, here's the lowdown. Back in June they hired 8 people to work in SLC only and never have to travel and put them on a nice salary. I, however, wasn't one of those people, even though I am well qualified. I didn't really want to think that it was because of my pregnancy, but even other people in the company were telling me that they thought that I should sue because even to them it was obvious why I wasn't hired. We just let it go and figured it was probably for the best and that we'd be fine without it.

Then, in August they announced that they were hiring 10-15 more people and I really wanted to get one of those positions. However, my boss told me that he couldn't offer me a position because (and I quote), "I don't think I can offer you one of the positions because I know that once you hold that baby you're not going to want to come back to work". I was totally taken back that he actually said that and said, "Well, you're probably right, I might not want to come back to work, but I don't think that that's going to be financially feasible for us right now. I plan on coming back to work after I have the baby so I would still like to be considered." Still though, no job offer or even an interview for that matter. He kept recruiting other people from other companies and interviewing other people and hiring like it was going out of style and never offering to interview me. I felt like it wasn't right so I talked to HR about it.

Well long story short, I talked to the state labor commission and decided to file a discrimination complaint because I was not given an opportunity solely due to my pregnancy and the boss's preconceived notions about it. I told the HR manager that I was going to file it and then conveniently I had the regional sales manager calling me telling me she wanted me to come back and work in SLC. I met with her today and she offered me the job. Interesting, eh? Well, I'm going to take it, even though I have my concerns about it. It will be a lot of pressure and much more responsibility, but the money is good and there will be no travel so I'll be home with Adam every night which will be nice. I hope it goes well!!! I am nervous, but I hope it all works out.

That is about it for now, besides pregnancy stuff, which is much more fun and is updated on my other blog, so go check it out!

Gone

2007-09-07T11:23:00.000-06:00

Oh my gosh, it's been almost a whole month since I last blogged! I am working in Logan again and I feel like I'm never home! Plus, usually when I come up here I don't have a computer so I couldn't blog even if I wanted to.

So let's see...what has been going on with us...

We decided to rent the house we've been living in since June instead of buy it. We'll probably move again sometime soon, which sucks, but I've left Adam in charge of that since I don't want to deal with it. He said to me the other day, "We'll just rent here for two months and then we'll move." HA! Let's do some math with that statement. This month is September and in two months, that will be November. What happens in November? Oh yes, the baby comes! We will NOT be moving in November, thankyouverymuch. He kinda laughed at himself when he realized that, so like I said, we're here for now, but who knows what we'll end up doing or where we'll end up.

My job is a complete joke right now. Well, not my job necessarily, but my company. I can't say much about it right now, but we'll just say that I am NOT pleased with them. I'll say more later, but we'll leave it at that for the time being.

I'll write more tonight or tomorrow too. Adam's friend is coming over tonight so I'm sure they'll be playing X-box all night so I'll get on the computer and update my blogs. Bye!

It's All About Meme

2007-08-13T12:31:00.000-06:00

It's All About MeMe
5 things Meme

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. Having volleyball tryouts and/or practice.
2. Doing 4-H and getting our steers ready for the fair.
3. Spraying weeds on the farm or picking rock.
4. Taking drivers ed.
5. Back to school shopping.

5 Things on my to-do list today

1. Go to work and get my sales packet ready to turn in.
2. Go pick up a paper I need for my health insurance.
3. Put away the clean dishes and load the dishwasher.
4. Figure out something to make for dinner.
5. Go to the bank and deposit the money Adam made last week, yay!

5 Snacks I Enjoy

1. Cookies! Last week I made Buffalo Chip Cookies, which I think I'll rename because it's not the most appealing name if you're unfamiliar with how good they are, but they were freakin awesome!
2. Snack size frozen Milky Way bars.
3. Fresh fruit (pineapple, grapes, watermelon, apples, berries, plums, peaches, nectarines)
4. Candy and chocolate of almost any kind.
5. Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnuts.

5 Songs I Know the Lyrics to

1. Ya Ne Zniyou (a little Russian song that I'm sure I spelled wrong).
2. Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.
3. I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys.
4. Hypnotize The Moon by Clay Walker.
5. Dirty Little Secret by the All American Rejects.

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. Pay for an awesome house in cash (and furnish it).
2. Travel!! Alot.
3. Buy a new car (and pay off the Honda).
4. Save!
5. Help our family members if they needed it.

5 Bad Habits

1. Procrastinating.
2. Not putting the clean laundry away... it just kind of piles up in baskets or stacks.
3. Not filing the mail and letting it gather.
4. Gossiping. I know it's bad, but at least I'm being honest here!
5. Not working as much as I should (or need to!).

5 Things I'd never wear again

1. Stone-washed jeans.
2. Big scrunchies.
3. Dance costumes.
4. My wedding dress (this is my only marriage!)
5. Bodysuits.

5 Favorite toys

1. Our baby! I know she's not a toy, but she's so fun and new and exciting, even though she's still inside.
2. Cards and board games (5 crowns, Scattergories, Taboo, Catch Phrase, Yahtzee).
3. Our laptop and the internet.
4. My parents' boat.
5. TiVo (this is bad too, but it makes TV so much better!)

Now for Tagging:

1. Trish
2. Paige
3. Sarah
4. Gwen
5. Maren

Great Neighbors

2007-08-06T21:37:00.000-06:00

I just have to say, I love our neighbors! Well, some of them at least (we don't know all of them). Max and Sue...they are the best!! They have been so nice to us since the day we moved in. They were very welcoming at church and we've spend a few nights in the driveway chatting with Max.

Last week we came home to freshly picked corn and tomatoes on our doorstep from their HUGE garden. I cooked some of the corn last night and it was good and I cut up one of the tomatoes for a salad tonight and it was DELICIOUS! I forgot how good home-grown vegetables, especially tomatoes, really are!!

Tonight while I was making dinner, Max called me and told me he had more corn for us so I stepped out the back door and met him at the fence where he gave me yet more corn and tomatoes. Then, he asked if we like plums. Hmm...turns out we do. Well he gave us a ton of them. It filled up my whole strainer. I need to pace myself on them because they are SO GOOD!

Adam came home just after that and I asked him if he would mow the lawn tonight, despite the fact that he'd worked hard all day. Our lawn was getting really long and our next door neighbor Aaron kinda gets a little uneasy when the lawn gets long. He's a nice neighbor too, we really like him, but last time our lawn was long, he came to the fence and asked us if we'd pay his son to mow it. We ended up paying him because a.) Adam really didn't have time to mow it, b.) the lawn mower we have needs to be fixed (the engine is in a few pieces in our garage), and c.) we already borrowed Aaron's lawn mower once and felt like he'd much rather have his son use it and make a few extra bucks than have us use it for free. Plus, we like the kid, so we gave him $20 to mow the lawn, do the trim, and pull the weeds on the side of the driveway. However, we decided that that would be the only time we did that, because we want to save our money. Adam likes to mow the lawn too so we just need to make sure we get our mower fixed and we'll be good.

So anyway, long story getting longer, I went over to Max & Sue's house to ask if we could borrow their lawn mower. They invited me right in for tea and scrumpets! Oh wait, nevermind. But they did invite me in and we ended up chatting about the baby, the house, and various other things for like 20 minutes. They are just so nice! I'm glad they are our neighbors, they are very good people. They let us borrow it (he even brought it over) and now our lawn is mowed! Yay!

We feel very grateful to have such great neighbors! Tomorrow I'm going to make them cookies to say thanks, so hopefully they turn out yummy.

Bear Lake (part 2)

2007-08-01T16:04:00.000-06:00

After we got the boat and got everyone loaded, we headed to the lake. Getting there was no easy task, as we had to stop every 5 minutes to either re-tie-down the tubes, pick up life jackets that flew out, go back to get life jackets from other boaters who we accidentally gave ours to (thinking we were good Samaritans---ha!), finding a spot to park on the beach, and the like. Once we got there though, it was nice. We went on a little ride on the boat then jumped in the water and swam once we were in the middle of the lake. After that I convinced Kailye that she should ride in the tube with me, which was no easy feat because apparently she has become quite afraid of large bodies of water. She did really well until we went fast and started hitting the bigger waves and getting bounced around.

Adam and I tried to build a sand castle version of St. Basil's Cathedral which didn't turn out so well. Adam did a good job at building the onion domes, but we eventually lost interest and quit. We went on the boat again with Michael, David, and DeVeen. I was pretty good on the ride, but was glad when it was over because some of the bumps were feeling like a bit too much for me.

We left the beach at about 3:00 to grab some much needed lunch and get our stuff together at camp so we could head home. Adam and I did really well with sunscreen and re-applying and he didn't get burned at all and I only got a little bit burned on the top of my legs right above my knees where I wasn't smart enought to put sunscreen on.

It was a fun weekend with absolutely no family drama to report, which is a nice and refreshing thing. Once we get rich we'll have to build an awesome house there and invite you all to come play!

Bear Lake (part 1)

2007-08-01T15:27:00.001-06:00

I am such a slacker lately! I haven't taken a picture in FOREVER, even though we've done fun stuff.

This past week we went to Bear Lake for a couple days. It is GORGEOUS!!! The water there is so blue, it's almost out of place because it looks like it is straight out of the Caribbean. I decided that I really like it there.

We got there on Friday afternoon after a very early morning of golf, which didn't go so well for me, but went even worse for Adam. Then we had lunch in Logan at the Bluebird, grabbed some last minute things from the store, and met Michael & Trish and drove up behind them. Adam drove like a crazy man because that's how Michael drives and he "had to stay close to him" because we didn't know where the campsite was. I get so freaked out in the car sometimes, I don't know why, but I honestly fear for my life! Adam gets mad because I'm always gasping and yelling, "Stop!!", "Slow Down!!", "Don't do that!" or just simply "ADAM!!!". It does not go well. Closing my eyes helps some, but then I'm afraid he'll rear-end someone or something. He gets so frustrated with me. It's not that I don't trust his driving, he's just much more adventurous and daring than me.

But alas, we made it without killing each other. We got all set up and hung out a little then drove to the property that Adam & Michael's Uncle Brett owns. From there, we went to the North Shore of Bear Lake and it was so pretty!!! The lake is so shallow for a long time and the water was really warm and crystal clear. Fun, fun, fun!

That night we went into town and ate pizza then came back to the camp ground and hung out with everyone and played Yahtzee. I lost horribly and Trish kicked everyone's butts.

We slept in Michael & Trish's tent that night, hoping it would be better than our last tent-sleeping adventure. Sadly, it wasn't. I think Adam got more sleep this time, but I didn't. We again got up at 6:00 and took Michael & Trish's puppy Marley with us on a 4-wheeler ride to the top of the hillside to see the sun rise over the lake. It was so pretty!!! We walked around a little, then came back and got ready for the day.

This is getting long, so I'm going to make it into two posts so it seems a little more enticing, right? Ok, maybe not, but I think it helps break it up. =)

Adam

2007-07-20T17:46:00.000-06:00

Who has the best husband ever? Sorry ladies, you might think it's you (and actually, I hope you all do think it's you), but in [my] reality, it's ME!!! My hubby is so great. On Monday evening I was supposed to be leaving to go to Logan and I was just so sad to leave my little Adam. I don't know if my pregnancy emotions were in overdrive or something, but Adam and I were laying on the couch and I just cried because I didn't want to leave! I really feel like he and I have become so close lately. We have been getting along so well and dealing with some major issues (house, family, new baby on the way, etc) and I feel like everything has really brought us closer together and reliant on each other. I love him so much!

On Wednesday when I was working in Logan, one of my clients cancelled so I decided to come home that day instead of staying til Thursday as originally planned. Well I called Adam to tell him I'd be home and he says, "Well don't leave your hotel too early." I prodded the question and he didn't want me to checkout because he ordered me flowers!! I had to checkout by 11:00 so luckily he was able to have the flowers delivered to our house instead and they are BEAUTIFUL!!! I love them and they make my house smell so good!!!

He is so sweet and I love, love, love him! Thank you Adam for being so wonderful.

A Fun, Sleepless Weekend

2007-07-16T10:14:00.000-06:00

This weekend Adam and I went to Idaho and I was so excited! We left on Thursday morning which was a big feat for us because usually when we go we don't even get on the freeway until Friday at 7:00pm. I wanted to go there for the 4th, but my family was all going to be here this weekend for a rafting trip my parents got us, so we compromised and came on Thursday so we could have some extra time instead of coming on the 4th AND coming this weekend.

The drive was nice and we were even so generous as to not take the downstairs bedroom when we got there so Libbie and TJ could have it since they haven't seen each other in a while because he's working in Cheyenne, Wyoming and she's still in Moscow. (wow, run-on sentence.) So anyway, we took the extra bedroom on the main floor that has a twin size bed.

That afternoon...well ok, it was early evening, Mom, Katie, Alli, Isaac, Jake, Olivia (Alli's friend who was staying with them for the week), Tara, Travis, Libbie, Adam, and I went to the South Hills to go camping with the Loughmiller family. We went to a place called Bear Gulch where we all used to go camping when we were younger. Adam was not so excited to go camping because he had a hard day at work the day before and just wanted to relax in a comfortable setting, not so much with a ton of people in the woods. He ended up having a good time afterall though and played Kick the Can with a bunch of cousins, which helped lighten his mood. We set up our tent and our whole family, minus Katie and the kids, slept in it that night. I was feeling all tough and so I declined Libbie's offer to use her thermarest pad... a decision I regretted because I felt like I got NO SLEEP at all that night. Man, the ground is so hard! Adam and I woke up at probably about 6:00 a.m. and decided to just get up instead of trying to go back to sleep. We went on a little hike and talked and spent the morning together and it was really fun. I'm so glad we got up! We spent about an hour hiking, watching the sun rise, and looking for wildlife. I thought we were in luck because on the hiking trail we saw some animal prints and as we got further onto the trail, I saw something about 30 feet away. I paused, looked, then let out a sigh of disappointment at the cow on the trail. To me, that's not wildlife. I was totally hoping for a big deer or something, but no. We did see some deer on Thursday night though so that counts for something I guess. And one of the little foot prints on the trail was a baby deer which was cute, so it's not like we were just looking at the cow's hoof prints the whole time.

Once we were back at camp, Adam started the fire and eventually everyone got up and moving. Breakfast was really good....ham, bacon, sausage and french toast, YUM! We got all packed up and chatted some more with everyone and then left at about 11:00. When we got home, we took a much-needed shower then an even-more-needed nap. We snuggled on the twin-sized bed and slept for about 2 hours and it was so nice!

When we got up, Adam and I really wanted to go golfing so we got ready to go, but decided to hit balls instead because it was much cheaper. Libbie and Tara came with us and we all had a little competetion at the driving range. Adam had to hit his ball past 300 yards and he got 5 points and then 10 points if it went past 400. We only had to hit ours past 100 yards to get 5 points and then got 10 points if it went past the 200 yard flag. Adam was beating us pretty badly so on our last ball, we decided that he had to hit his past 400 to get any points at all and if he did, he'd get 25 points. We had to hit ours past 200 yards and we'd get 50 points AND if we didn't make it on the first shot, we could take one more for 25 points. Not really so fair at all, but it was ok because Adam still won.

After the driving range we went to the mall to get some things. At Aeropostale I REALLY wanted Adam to get some plaid shorts, but he said they're just not him. I was so sad because I really love plaid shorts and I think they would look so cute on him, but he wasn't so into them. He did get some jeans though, which he really needed so that was good. Also, while Libbie, Tara, and I were at another store, he stopped at Fanzz and came back with an awesome Chicago Bears hat that he's been wanting (and looking for) since before Christmas. I was really excited for him to find it and he looks HOT in his new hat. Yay!

Katie, Josh, and the kids came over and spent the night in a tent in the backyard and we had a big yummy dinner with hot dogs, homemade buns, salad, watermelon, chips, grapes and more that I'm sure I'm forgetting. TJ flew into Boise at 10:00 pm and got to our house just before midnight. Adam and I went to bed in the twin bed, hopeful because we had had a nice little nap in it earlier in the day. Oh no. It was NOT so comfortable this time. We tossed and turned and I stole the covers and neither of us got much sleep for the second night in a row.

Saturday morning, all my sisters and their husbands and my husband went on the rafting trip that my parents got us all for Christmas. I didn't go because I didn't want anything bad to happen to my little baby and I also didn't want to make the trip less fun for anyone else by making us go on an easy-going float trip instead of going through fun rapids that I'm sure would freak me out in my pregnant state. I stayed home with my mom and cleaned out our boat so we could go out later that day. I also helped watch the kids, who actually didn't need much watching because they played downstairs and watched a movie for quite a bit of the time. At 1:30 I went to my friend Lindsey's bridal shower and then came home and we got ready to take the boat out. I think it's an unspoken rule that no matter how hard we try or what we do that we will never get to the river before 6:00 pm. I really don't think that in the 9 or so years that we've had the boat that it's touched the water before the evening hours. Except once, which was the first time we took it out I think. It doesn't matter though because we always have a blast. Everyone who had gone on the rafting trip met us down at the river and we took the kids out on the tubes. Isaac and Jacob were so good and had a really good time on the tubes. I really wanted to go on the tube and I was SO HOT so when it was my turn I jumped in the water and then my mom and I went on the two tubes. I knew Larry would be nice and not dump me since I'm pregnant and because my mom was out there and she'd probably kick his butt if he dumped her. It was way fun, even though we didn't stay there for too long. Everyone else who had been at the river all day was so tired and sunburned and ready to be home, so after everyone who wanted to tube had had a turn, we packed up and came home.

Everyone stayed for dinner again and Tara had made us an awesome asphault pie that tasted EXACTLY like the one at Wingers and was so good! Adam decided to sleep on the couch because I said there was no way we could both try to sleep on the bed again. I offered to lay down some sleeping bags and sleep on them next to the bed, but he wanted me to sleep on the bed and he didn't want to sleep on the floor. I finally got some sleep, but it wasn't the greatest. Adam got up at about 4:00 and came in to lay on the floor because (as I suspected) the couch wasn't comfortable for him at all. I kept thinking that someone was vacuuming because I could hear the AC vent that was right by the headboard and I think I asked Adam at least 3 times who was vacuuming. So again, the the THIRD night in a row, the sleep wasn't great.

Sunday morning we got up and chatted with everyone, ate breakfast, got packed up, and left at about 1:30. When we got home we decided to just relax so we came upstairs to watch Star Wars on TiVo. I don't know what it is about that show, but I CANNOT stay awake, no matter how many times I've tried to get through it. I was so tired from the weekend anyway so I asked Adam if we could just go to bed, but it was only 8:00 when the movie was over. People go to bed at 8:00, don't they? Umm yeah, but those people are usually over 70 and they get up at 4:30 in the morning by habit. We do not fit any of those qualities so we forced ourselves to stay awake til 11:00.

Oi, this was a long post! It was a fun weekend and it was awesome to get to spend time with the whole family. I want to be able to do it more often!

Picaboo!

2007-07-09T15:36:00.000-06:00

Don't you love free stuff? I do! Two weeks ago I saw a segment on one of my favorite shows, Good Things Utah, that had great deals on cool stuff. One of them was a free large leather-bound 20 page book at Picaboo.com and all you had to pay was the shipping. It is a $39.99 value and I only paid $8.99, completely personalized and all about us!

I wish I would have had more time to work on it, but the coupon expired the next day so I had to hurry. I made my book about our trip to Russia last summer and it came in the mail today!!! I love it!! It is so pretty! Like I said, there would be some changes if I had more time because you can do so many cool things with the program, but it is so good still and such a cool thing to have.

Here's my work of art and a few sample pages....

My Thoughts On...

2007-07-04T00:07:00.001-06:00

The Matrix movies.

Do you think it's possible that they be any dumber? I, for one, do not. Granted, I've only seen the first one, hated it, then decided not to waste my time watching it or any others ever again. Tonight as I was reading blogs though, Adam has on The Matrix 3. I didn't really pay any attention to it, I think I may have looked up once when there was a strobe light in one of the scenes, but that's it. Oh but then, I got up to check the laundry and I look at the screen to see the people in these robot-spidery-machine things listening to the commander/leader person giving a motivational speech before they go out and fight with other machine things. What??? People like this crap?! I seriously do not get it. Sorry if any of you like these movies, I just can't handle it! Where does the appeal come? Oi, it's too much for me.

Anyway, that was kind of negative (and random), but sorry, it's just how I feel!

Yellowstone!

2007-07-02T22:45:00.000-06:00

And if you'll notice the dates on the pictures, I'm only a week late!

This is the bear we saw! Yeah, a bear, on our first day there. I was so excited! We didn't have binoculars, but he was only about 300 yards away. It was really cool.

This is Adam jumping into the river at a spot where the rapids take you downstream. It was fun, but I only jumped in from the left side of the bank...I'm more about being safe and not drowning.

On our last day, Adam and his cousins had a water fight. They had waterguns and used buckets and anything else that would hold water. Adam does have quite the advantage here though. Poor Amanda was SOAKED by the time they were through, but she had a blast.

Old Faithful!

Finally, as we were driving through Island Park, we saw a moose!!! Chandler (my BIL) and I both wanted to see a moose SO BADLY while we were in Yellowstone, but I said to him, "I think we're more likely to see one in Island Park than inside the park" and lo and behold, I was right!!! I'm BRILLIANT I tell you!

It was a fun trip and I think we'll go back again sometime soon. It's really not that far away and it's so pretty!

We Probably Should Have Our Own Show on the Food Network

2007-06-16T22:58:00.001-06:00

Yeah, we're that good. Tonight we barbequed on our new grill and it was SO GOOD!!! I made an awesome teriyaki marinade for our chicken earlier in the day and then we made kabobs with pineapple, zucchini, mushrooms, and green peppers. We each made our own skewers and then Adam cooked them while I threw some rice in the rice cooker and got everything somewhat cleaned up. Oh man, the chicken was so moist and delicious! We ate outside and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The only thing I don't like about eating outside is that the food cools down much faster and I really like my food HOT. It didn't matter though because our kabobs rocked!

After dinner, I unloaded then reloaded the dishwasher while Adam helped rinse the dishes then cleaned up the grill. And, to make the night even better, we went on a walk! I LOVE walks, but Adam's never been so big on them, but now that we live in an actual neighborhood he is much more willing. We even tried to be neighborly and introduce ourselves to the people who live next to us, but they weren't home.

Tomorrow we are going to our new ward for the first time. I'm excited about it. We missed last week because I slept in (hmm... imagine that, me sleeping in, weird). It starts at 9:00 which is always a challenge for me, but it's also good to get up early and then be home right after 12:00.

Well, I better go make sure I can find something to wear to church!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads and dads-to-be tomorrow!

Housing Disaster...Take Two

2007-06-14T14:04:00.001-06:00

Ok, I had to delete my first post titled "Housing Disaster", so I will leave this in its place. We are officially in housing limbo. Maybe we'll stay, maybe we'll move again. Who knows. It's kind of a mess. That is all I can say. Please feel free to call me for details if interested. =)

I Promise, I'm Still Alive

2007-06-12T23:05:00.000-06:00

I have been blog-absent for a long time! I'm sorry, I hate when people quit blogging for a while! We have been kind of busy. We are in the process of buying a house (Adam's dad's former one) and we're living in it right now. It is a disaster with boxes and random things ALL OVER. Today Adam set up our internet so it's really the first chance I've had to write. I promise I'll write more, probably tomorrow, but I'm sleepy and want to go to bed. Goodnight!

Happy Graduation, Adam and Kari!

2007-05-29T08:53:00.001-06:00

For our combined graduation gift, my parents told us that we could pick out something that we needed or wanted (within a certain price range) and they would buy it for us. I originally wanted to put the money towards an ottoman for the living room, but since we are probably buying a house within the next month, I thought a grill might be a better idea since we don't really need an ottoman. (And Adam was much more excited about that anyway.)

So yesterday we went to RC Willey and picked out a new barbeque grill! Our new BIL's brother works there and he helped us pick one out and even gave us a discount and a free propane tank. Not to mention it was on sale....my favorite! We are going to pick it up today and I think Adam is really excited. I don't know a whole lot about grills---I think I might not even know how to start it, but I'll learn. ;)

Isn't it pretty?

The View

2007-05-23T19:52:00.001-06:00

Hmm...is it weird that I keep posting about television shows? Can you tell that I'm sick and stay at home a lot lately? ;)

Today I am not so much pregnancy sick as head-cold sick. Yesterday evening I went with Adam to help our friends Alex and Jessica move into their cute new house in Lehi (that Adam sold to them!). I thought I was being all helpful, ya know, serving my fellow beings. I didn't carry anything heavy, they let me carry anything little or light. But it was windy outside and hot inside and after about a thousand trips up and down the stairs, I became kind of hot. But after a few hours (and a few breaks on my part), it became cold outside AND inside and then I was freezing. I felt fine after two cups of hot chocolate and we came home and watched American Idol (Go Jordin!).

HOWEVER.

When I got into bed, I was so stuffy and my nose was running like crazy. I didn't get hardly any sleep at all and we even went to bed at 11:30 which is super early for us. And I think I went through about half a box of Kleenex. Oi, it was annoying. The other half of the box is destined to be gone by the end of the evening, I can almost guarantee it.

But, back to the topic at hand. Do any of you watch "The View"? I just started watching it a few months ago and I have mixed feelings about it. Adam HATES that I watch it because he REALLY HATES Rosie O'Donnell. Sometimes I like her; I think she can be funny and lively. Other times, she's totally loud, obnoxious, and way too political. (Not to mention, a lesbian, and I for one, in no way support or agree with homosexuality.) Today she was so annoying to me. She got really mad at Elizabeth Hasselbeck for "not defending her" the other day when someone in the media said she thinks our troops are terrorists. In my opinion, she kind of did say that they were terrorists. She's always too busy spouting off stats and numbers and making such a big deal about how badly she hates republicans. Blah, blah, blah. Usually when they start to talk about politics I fast forward through it because A.) I don't like to hear them argue, and B.) I don't agree with Rosie or Joy's views and they are the loudest and so unwilling to listen to anyone else. I'm glad I didn't fast forward it today though because it was a HUGE blowout and I liked that Elizabeth kind of told her where to put it.

This became a long post, but my main point was to ask you all if you watch it and what you think. Wheww. I'm done.

The Office Season Finale

2007-05-18T13:55:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm so excited about it! Did you see The Office last night?? Oh my gosh, it was brilliant. Sometimes that show makes me so mad because they freakin go like a month without a new episode, and how do they think people like me are supposed to react to that?! Anyway, I really liked last night's episode. If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading, watch it, then come back and comment. If you have, please continue reading, and still comment.

Total shocker...umm hello, Jan's boobs??? That was hysterical!

Second big thing.... Jim and Pam. I am SO GLAD! And I think it was hilarious that he just left Karen in New York. He left. I know she was at lunch with friends, but he drove back to Pennsylvania without her. LOL. I like Karen, but not Jim and Karen. Adam was mad because he likes Jim and Karen, not Jim and Pam. Hehe, too bad. I'm even willing to look past Jim's horrible hair cut because of this new twist; yes, I'm that happy about it.

I'm so excited to see what happens next season. When does it start? Not soon enough, I can tell you that.

Also, you need to go here and watch deleted scenes from the episodes. They. Are. Awesome. I especially like the one from last night with Michael's interview....glue tooth?! LOL!!!

Adam's PaloozaHead!

2007-05-17T13:59:00.001-06:00

ThEsE ThInGs CrAcK mE uP sO mUcH, I hAd To MaKe AdAm OnE tOo!

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

My PaloozaHead!

2007-05-17T13:45:00.000-06:00

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

American Idol

2007-05-15T22:43:00.000-06:00

Ok, I hate to post about American Idol, but I'm going to anyway. And how do I say this politely? Oh wait, I don't care, so here goes: I DO NOT WANT BLAKE LEWIS TO WIN!!!!! Ewww, he annoys me so badly! I really think he is gay (literally, I think he's a homo) and I hate his dance moves. If he wins, I'm going to be so bugged. I sound so mean, but really, he just is irritating. And yeah, we know you can beatbox, and that is cool, but enough already!

Also, I don't want Melinda to win either. I like her and I think she's such a nice, good person, but I just don't prefer her voice. I think she's very talented, her singing style is just not my taste.

So, yes, I want Jordin Sparks to win. I think she is AMAZING and I like her fun personality. I definitely think she's the best by far and the most marketable. Yay Jordin!! I voted like 20 times tonight, not only because I want her to win, but mostly because I really don't want Blake to win.

So Pensive

2007-05-09T19:23:00.000-06:00

Our friend sent Adam this picture. It's me in the hallway at our friend's wedding, waiting for Adam to be done talking, I'm sure. But I thought it was kinda cute in sepia tone, and you can see my cute winter coat that I never posted a picture of and my pretty boots!

My Husband, the College Grad!

2007-05-04T23:00:00.000-06:00

Today Adam gradutated from the University of Utah with not one, but TWO degrees! Yes, he's amazing. His degrees are in Russian and International Studies. He looked so cute in his cap and gown! I married a very handsome man! I'll have to post pictures later since my camera (of course) died while we were there so all the pictures are on other people's cameras.

I'm so proud of him! I'm also so excited for him to be done with school!!! (Well, unless he decides to go back to grad school someday.) What a freakin' relief though! It will be so nice on him too, not to have to worry about school anymore. It really does feel like a huge burden has been lifted around our house. Hmm....now only if we could get someone to pay off those nasty little student loans we'd be set!

New Job?

2007-04-30T15:19:00.000-06:00

Ok, not so much a new job, just a different version of the same one.

This morning we (everyone at my company who works in SLC, managers- district and regional, and the VP of the company) had a breakfast meeting at The Belgian Waffle. It was the last day to get all of our sales in for Salt Lake's next book, which will be coming out in August or September. Anyway, it was kind of a celebration mixed with some potentially good news for some and some crappy news for others.

They made a big announcement that next year, the Salt Lake canvass is going to be run a little differently than it ever has in the past. They are having one manager (instead of the 3 like they have right now) and will only be having 8 sales reps come back to work the market (instead of the 30 or so that currently work it). Those 8 reps will be responsible for ALL of the outside sales. That means that if you are not chosen to be one of those 8 reps, you will be giving up all your revenue from Salt Lake and moving to work other markets. At the same time, the 8 who stay in Salt Lake will have to give up their revenue in all their other markets and it will be redistrubuted to the people who will be working those areas.

For me, this sounds like a perfect thing. The thing that makes it so perfect is that it has a salary! And the salary is TWO TIMES what I made last year! You do not get commission until you sell $360,000 and after that commission will be 5% for renewal dollars and 25% for new business. I think I could sell $360,000 and to be honest, even if I didn't reach that, I'd still be plenty happy with making twice as much as I did last year and having a steady income at all times. Also, there is no travel involved. It would be sooo nice not to have to travel, especially considering that I am going to have a baby! Plus, the company does not reimburse for any travel expenses, so not going anywhere outside the valley would be awesome!

There are a couple drawbacks to this deal. The first is I have to actually be chosen for the position. I will have to have an interview with the vice president of the company (who also happens to be the owner's wife and is somewhat intimidating to me) and the regional sales manager. I think the RSM likes me so that is good and my manager has told me that if I want the job, it's practically mine. Who knows though until it's a done deal. The second drawback is that I will have to change managers. I really like my manager right now. Sure, he's kind of scatter-brained and is a compulsive exaggerator, but he's a good guy and he's helped me out a lot. Thirdly, I'm a little worried about the difference in workload this is going to pose. I don't want to work like a madwoman all the time; I like my freedom and flexibility with my job right now.

Overall, I think it would be an awesome opportunity for our family. Like I said, I don't want to work all the time and while I am fine with going to work after I have the baby, I don't want to work 40 hours a week. If I would still be able to make my own schedule and get my numbers without working Monday through Friday 8-5, it would be great.

Some people are really mad about it because they are not going to be chosen and will probably not want to change managers and travel to different markets all year long. Also, they're not keen on giving up the revenue they've worked hard to sell in Salt Lake. People sometimes just don't like change. Understandable. If I get chosen, I'm not in love with the idea of giving up all of my accounts in the different markets I work. However, the way I see it, the benefits are definitely in my favor if I am chosen.

Slacker

2007-04-24T22:26:00.000-06:00

I have been such a slacker at work lately! I have not sold very much in the last 3 weeks. I feel bad about that not only because I don't want to be a bad employee, but because my paychecks are totally going to suffer! A lot of it is because I'm not feeling so hot lately, but part of it is just laziness I think, which I'm also going to blame on pregnancy. ;) I need to work really hard this week (and the next week, and the next week...) to catch myself up. Luckily Adam is doing well at his work so we'll be able to make ends meet.

Adam graduates in 2 weeks and I am so excited! He still has to do 2 papers and take a test so he's been working on those a lot lately. It will be so nice not to have to worry about school anymore!!! Everyone please pray that he does well!

I feel like such a slacker on this blog! I want to be able to keep both blogs up, but it's hard! Sorry if I don't update as much as I should. Check my other blog regularly because that's the one I'll be focusing on most.

Introducing.....

2007-04-12T15:11:00.000-06:00

Go check out this site! Read from the bottom up to get all the info.

Easter Weekend

2007-04-09T17:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend was kind of busy for us. Adam and I had our niece Kailye come over on Friday and so we could take her to the zoo and then have a little sleep over. Neither Adam nor I had been to Hogle Zoo in probably 15 years so we were excited to go. Kailye was excited too and we had a really good time. There were TONS of people there because it was spring break for almost all schools in Utah, but it still was good. The weather was nice and we stayed for probably 3 hours. We have some pics, but I'll have to post them later because the camera is with Adam at the moment.

Saturday Adam, Kailye & I drove to the rugby field and picked up Trish. Adam stayed and got ready for the game and Trish and I went to Costco to get some food for Easter dinner at Val's house the next day. Kailye was not having a very fun day...probably because Adam and I let her stay up way too late....sorry. She really needed a nap and was finally able to take one back at our house after the game was over. I was probably more grateful for her sleep than anyone else... 4 year olds are hard! She is a good kid, but even with that, she's all over the place and does not lose energy! And kids have to look at and touch everything...at all times. It was kind of draining and we only had her for 24 hours! She did good though and we had fun having her. Adam was really great and I'm very thankful for his help and patience! He will be an awesome dad.

Katie, Josh, and their kids were in town so they came over to the rugby field to watch for a few minutes while they ate their lunch. They had to go to a birthday party so they weren't able to stay long, but it was fun seeing them!

We went to dinner that night at a new place by my work called Parrothead Island Broiler. It was a really fun atmosphere and even though I didn't like what I ordered (a shredded pork sandwich), I liked the place overall and will definitely go back and try something else. And they give you a piece of pineapple and a Dove chocolate with your meal, which I thought was a nice little touch....like at the tanning salon when they leave you a little candy on the clean towel in your booth.

Sunday I made cherry turnovers for breakfast because I decided that they're just too good to only have on Christmas morning. We went to church and Adam taught the lesson in Sunday School. Then during Sacrament meeting, the primary did their program and it was SO CUTE! We couldn't stay for all of it because we had to leave to get to Val's house in time, but there were some cute kids and cute Easter outfits! It was so funny to watch them, they're just adorable.

Dinner at Val's was excellent, as always. She always decorates so well and has cute place cards for everyone and great food. This year she cooked cedar-planked salmon (along with ham and roast beef and tons of other sides) and it was definitely my favorite part of the meal. It was delicious! I LOVE salmon! She also makes these crescent rolls that are amazing and I always end up eating way more than I should. It was a fun dinner and we had a really good time.

Well, I think that about sums it up... a busy, eventful, good weekend.

Reality TV Addict, Table for One.

2007-04-03T11:51:00.000-06:00

Oh my gosh, I almost felt a little guilty last night when I watched "The Bachelor" because the guy is SO HOT that I had to keep pushing naughty little thoughts out of my brain! Just kidding, but seriously, He. Is. Beautiful!!! Wow, definitely a good looking man. And he seems like such a genuinely good guy too, which is always nice. The girls who were on there...wow, there were some crazies, but I'm excited to watch it this season. I'm such an addict to reality tv, but I can't help it, I just love it for some reason! And I feel better now that we have TiVo because I can record all my guilty little pleasures and watch them in almost half the time! That makes up for part of my problem, right?

Updates

2007-04-02T22:49:00.000-06:00

Hmm....let's see...it's been a while since I last posted. I haven't really had anything too exciting to write about I guess. We went to two movies in the last 4 days; "Blades of Glory" on Friday night and "Meet The Robinsons" tonight with Leeana, Natalie, Chandler, Michael, Trish, and Kailye. I totally have been wanting to see "Blades of Glory" because frankly, what's not to love about Will Ferrell? He is freakin' HILARIOUS!!! The movie itself was ok, not great, but it was pretty funny. "Meet The Robinsons" was really cute, full of funny things and good messages. I didn't expect a whole lot from it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a good little family night activity. And what makes the night even better, now that we're home, Adam is doing homework for once, which is also a pleasant surprise. ;) He graduates in one month and I am so excited!! He is too, but I really am. It will be so nice to have both of us done with school! Well, until his student loans start kicking us in the butt, then it might not seem so great, but for now it sounds swell.

Ok, really, I don't think there's anything else blogworthy, so this little post will have to suffice for now. Bye!

It's My Blogiversary!

2007-03-21T21:51:00.000-06:00

Thanks Gwen, for this excellent word. My blogiversary was actually yesterday, but I didn't have time, so I'm writing about it tonight!

I love blogging! I wish I could convert more of my friends and family because it is so fun to see pictures and learn what everyone is up to. (hint, hint).

I'm glad I've blogged for an entire year. This is only my 74th post, so obviously I'm not so good at it, but it's good to have something to look back on and see some of the things Adam and I did, where we went, and what I thought.

And oh yes, to celebrate my 1 year in blogland, I treated myself to some new shoes! Yay!
Ok, that's not entirely the reason. I had a gift card that's just been burning a hole in my pocket and I went into Dillards to try on some Crocs that I saw on Stephanie's blog because I think they are just too cute and I LOVE how comfortable Crocs are, but I just couldn't justify buying them (until I saw hers) because they're pretty ugly. (Sorry, I said it people!) Sadly, they didn't fit because I really needed a half size, but they were having a huge sale on tons of their shoes and I found these by BCBG for 75% off! I think they're cute! Also, I thought I should add some closed-toe shoes that aren't pointy to my collection, just to switch things up. So, after my gift card, I paid $1.07 for my new trendy shoes! Yay!!

Free Template...Go, Sign Up, Win!

2007-03-19T21:46:00.000-06:00

Lindsay over at Splat Designs is hosting another free custom template giveaway! In case you don't remember, I won her last free template giveaway and she designed this beauty of a blog for me, free of charge, and we all know I LOVE free! All you have to do is go to her site, sign up, then post her link and contest image on your blog and you're in. She is awesome to work with and does GREAT work. You can see all of her super-cute designs on her page through the link above. Hurry! She'll be drawing the winner on April 1st.

My Creation!

2007-03-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here it is!!! The picture is with my phone again and it really doesn't even do it justice. I am so proud of myself!! Now I just hope my friend is half as excited about it as I am!

It was pretty easy. I just went to this site for my instructions and looked at some pictures from other cakes on the internet and this is what I came up with. I wanted it to be pink and girly and pretty. I didn't put gifts or anything else inside the cake, it's just diapers, ribbon, and flowers. These things can get expensive! But now that I have all the stuff (besides diapers), I could make another one relatively inexpensively.

It really didn't take too long for me to make either. I got all my supplies at Walmart and Michael's. I'm glad I went to Walmart first because the stuff at Michael's was so much pricier.

The only things I recommend for anyone else is to use those really large file rubberbands around the tiers. I didn't really know what they were or that they even existed until I went to look for rubberbands in the office supply section, but they are just giant rubberbands that are about the size of an elastic headband. They worked really well and streched wide enough for the largest tier or could be doubled around for the top tier. My other tip is to use Glue Dots to adhere your smaller ribbons to the larger ones. I've known about Glue Dots, but I've never used them. I am so glad I did because they are awesome!

I really love how it turned out! I used this really fun ribbon for the middle tier that I found in the craft section. It's kinda like fringe but with little whispies all over. I'm also probably going to put tulle around it, like a gift basket. I hope you all (and my friend!) like it!!

Diaper Cake!

2007-03-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

If there are any of you out there who have never heard of this phenomenon, you're not alone. I must admit, when I first heard it, I thought someone was having a cake made in the shape of a diaper, in which case I really didn't see the appeal. In fact I found it kind of disturbing and bordering inappropriate. However, when I saw the actual diaper cake, I realized they're totally cute and fun!! And not so much a cake made in the shape of a diaper, thank goodness.

I've only seen one in person, but I Googled them last night and I totally want to make one for my friend who is having a baby this month! (whom I hope doesn't read my blog regularly or else she will not be very surprised).

Does anyone have any tips for me? I got instructions and ideas from a few different websites, but I just wanted to see if any of you had seen or made any yourself and could give me any suggestions.

(Don't kid yourself, I'm SURE mine will not be nearly as elegant as this one from lilbabycakes.com, but I'll see what I can do.)

Things I Do While I Should Be Working...

2007-03-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

I swear, I think I should just become really rich and live in Northern California. It. Is. Gorgeous!!! Green rolling hills everywhere, nice mild weather, and palm trees galore. Oh my gosh I love it!

Yesterday I went to San Juan Bautista to meet some clients. I didn't know the history of the California missions, so my client gave me a brief rundown. The missions were started by Spanish missionaries (hence the name I guess) and were built as resting places that could be reached within a day's walk from the other. The main purpose of the missions was to convert the native Americans to Christianity. The first mission started in San Diego and the last ended in San Francisco. Altogether, there are 21 missions along California's El Camino Real. San Juan Bautista (the name of the town and the name of the mission) was build on the San Andreas fault.

There. I said it was brief. She probably said lots more, but I didn't remember all of it and didn't want to type it all. When I was done meeting with her, I took a little self-guided tour of the mission. It is so awesome! Very pretty and really neat. I took some pics with my phone and then emailed them to myself and THEN posted them here for you all to see! Wow, I'm feeling pretty technological after all of that.

Also included is a another awesome picture of me taken once again, by me! It's on my balcony at my hotel. Yay, Kik loves California!

I'm Still Alive!

2007-03-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ok girls, I'm still alive and I don't think I'm being stalked, yay! I have been very careful to watch my surroundings and the cars behind me. No stalker, I'm so glad.

Other than that, I've just been LOVING the beautiful weather here in the Bay area! This weekend I think it was 70 degrees on both Saturday AND Sunday and today I'm pretty sure it's going to be even warmer! I had to turn my AC on in the car at 10:00 am. I LOVE SUMMER!! I know it's not really summer, but it feels like it! Ah, it's wonderful!

I went bowling on Saturday night with my coworkers and I got a 143 on my first game!! That is so good for me! I got progressively worse throughout the night though, so we won't talk about my other two games.

I also went and saw "Music & Lyrics". I was glad to see it while I was out here because Adam HATES both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore (Hugh because he cheated on Elizabeth Hurley with a hooker and so he thinks he's one of the stupidest men alive (I'd kinda have to agree), and Drew because he just thinks she's kind of annoying and not pretty). Anyway, I really liked it! I thought it was funny and totally cute! I cannot get that song they sing out of my head either!

On a different note, my husband is being a little poopy face while I've been away. Sometimes he reads my blog, sometimes he doesn't but I've already told him that, so I'm not afraid. hehe But really, he's been a punk almost every time I've talked to him! He got this new phone and he's completely in love with it. It has a game on it called Brick Breaker that he also loves. He had that game on his old Blackberry and had a really high score so now he feels like he needs to get a new high score on his new phone. So what ends up happening is he uses his bluetooth to talk to me and plays the stupid game, still while talking. Sometimes he can talk and play at the same time, but sometimes he's totally distracted. And what makes it even worse, I can hear the stupid scrolling thing while he's playing and IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! I ask him to stop playing the game like a thousand times per phone call. Should that really be necessary? NO. So Adam, if you're reading, please please please, next time we talk on the phone, don't play Brick Breaker or I'll breaker your face, ok? jk Love you!

Supa Freak

2007-03-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I had the weirdest encounter today. I was getting a client's advertising renewed and we were doing it all by phone. Fine by me, it's sometimes a lot faster that way. I just had to get his signature on the contracts so I tried to fax them, but kept getting a busy signal. Well, I just figured I'd get ahold of him tomorrow since it was past 5:00. I got all my workout clothes on and I had my key in the door of the workout room at the hotel, and my phone rings.
"I can meet you in about 10 minutes if that's ok."

Umm.......sure, I didn't want to try to lose weight anyway and I love that my pants were feeling so tight today.

So I rush back to my room to change back into my work clothes so I can meet him downstairs to get the deal done.

The guy is a private investigator and so we chatted and he told me about what he does. It was all very fascinating. He follows cheating spouses, finds missing persons (both still living and finding dead bodies), and even catches drug dealers and criminals. It was crazy, I've never met a freakin' bounty hunter!

He knew I was from Utah (we'd talked about that before...my phone # gives it away every time) and he asked if I was Mormon. I of course said yes and he says, "I knew you were. Even before I met you." I was all proud, thinking my wonderful spirit was evident even through the phone (jk), but he continues with this:"I have this theory that all Mormon girls are just outstandingly beautiful. Not just pretty, but INCREDIBLY OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD gorgeous, and you are stunning. You completely prove my theory right."

Oh wait, it gets even worse.

I am not kidding, he asks me, "Can I take your picture and send it to my friend?" What the heck kind of question is that?!?!? Do you honestly think I'm going to let you, professional stalker whom I just met, take my picture for ANY reason??? It was so weird!!! I said "NO! That is really weird!" He said that his friend knows all about his "theory" and that he will be able to appreciate it even more if he sends him a photo. He told me, "If you let me, I'll give you a lead (for another advertiser) ." Umm, STILL NO.

The guy was nice and wasn't totally creepy, but I did feel uncomfortable with him asking me that!!! Seriously, who does that???

Oh how I wish this was the end, but no, still more. He text messages me at like nine o'clock saying "Goodnight, Kari. You are a wonderful American and are blessed with amazing beauty."

Eeeeeewwwww. Is this making anyone else want to take a shower?? And what makes it even worse, if he wanted to stalk me, he totally could and I'd probably be none the wiser. He does that for a living! I honestly don't think he will, I wasn't all freaked out by him and he seemed very normal, but still, yuck.

Everyone please pray for me just to be on the safe side!!!

Brand-new Blogger!

2007-02-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting! I have another person whoI actually know who has started a blog!! I have been trying to recruit people since I started blogging, but to no avail. Finally, the other day I was at dinner with my SIL, Trish, and she told me about her blog. Her what?! Yeah, her blog! I almost fell off my chair I was so surprised! I have been blogging for almost a year and no one I know (besides my family) really cared about blogs and didn't even look at mine. But she's now addicted and I'm so happy to have another family member/friend blogging! Go check her out, she's awesome! She also wrote a pretty cool post about yours truly that is a must-read. ;)

A-Z Meme

2007-02-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am going to be honest. I don't know what the word "meme" means, but I going to post this one anyway. Seriously. What does it mean? Will someone please tell me? In the meantime, you can read about me. (From Gina, who got it from Stephanie.)

ACCENT: I didn't think I had an accent until I went to Russia this past summer and they all thought I did. Other than when I'm in a different country, I don't really think I have one.

BIBLE BOOK THAT I LIKE: Proverbs

CHORE I DON'T CARE FOR: Hmm...only 1? No, I'm going to choose 2. Sweeping and filing.

DOG OR CAT: Dog

ESSENTIAL ELECTRONICS: laptop

FAVORITE COLOGNE: When I think cologne, I think of MEN'S cologne, not perfume. So for cologne, I'm going to say Very Sexy for Men from Victoria's Secret (the original one and the one in the blue bottle. I don't remember what it's name is, but it's a version of Very Sexy.) For perfume, I really like Be Delicious by DKNY. Also ALMOST anything from Victoria's Secret Garden.

GOLD OR SILVER: Silver (white gold)

HANDBAG I CARRY MOST OFTEN: I kind of change bags a lot, but the one I like most right now is a Nine West bag that is kind of caramel colored. It is aligator patent leather and is really cute. It isn't too big, but can hold all the things I need, and it zips up--something I LOVE because all my things don't spill out when it falls off the seat of the car!

JOB TITLE: Advertising Consultant

KIDS: None yet. Hopefully someday soon!

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom condo.

MOST ADMIRABLE TRAIT: I don't like to embellish things or lie, so I think that honesty is one of my good qualities.

NAUGHTIEST CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR: When I was in middle school, my sisters and I used to ride our bikes all around during the summer. We lived on a farm (kind of) and had a good amount of space to ride around. I liked my sister Libbie's bike better than mine and one evening my mom asked us to go feed the animals and I wanted to ride Libbie's bike out to where the animals were. Well she got on it and wouldn't let me ride it. I don't know why I thought I should be able to ride it, but I did. So while she was riding away, I picked up a rock and threw it at her and it hit her in the head! She kind of wobbled and got off the bike and looked at me with the most confused look and said, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" I feel bad about it still, it was so mean.

OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAYS: Never

PHOBIAS: Mice! Eeewwww, could anything be more gross?! No. I really am terrified of mice and I think they are so yucky!

QUOTE: "Sometimes, God calms the storm and sometimes, He lets the storm rage and calms His child."

RELIGION: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon)

SIBLINGS: 4 sisters- Katie (25), Libbie (24), me (24), Tara (20)

TIME I WAKE UP: It depends on what I have to do that day and if I have appointments scheduled early. Today, I woke up at 7:45, but fell asleep again and got up at 9:10. I get embarrassed about how much I can sleep.

UNUSUAL TALENT OR SKILL: This is lame and I think about anyone can do it, but I can balance a golf ball on top of another one. It's not impressive if you've seen if before, but if not, it is kinda neat.

VEGETABLE I REFUSE TO EAT: Beets! Yuck. Pretty juice, disgusting taste.

WORST HABIT: I used to bite my nails, but I get them done all the time now, so I that takes care of that. I think one that I hate is not putting my laundry away right away so it ends up in the basket for days and stays wrinkled and then the other laundry ends up on the floor. IT'S A VICIOUS CYCLE PEOPLE! ;)

X-RAYS: I think I've only had one and it was in high school. I had pain in my arm when I was playing volleyball so they X-Rayed it and I had tendonitis, but no broken bone.

YUMMY STUFF I COOK: I don't cook a whole lot, but I think I make good sesame chicken, baked potato soup, and fruit dip.

ZOO ANIMAL I LIKE MOST: I love the zoo! Giraffes are my favorite, but I also like anything that is big. Whales, rhinos, lions, anything.

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TaaaaDahhhhhhh!

2007-02-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is, my new blog template!!! I don't want to brag or anything, but isn't it AMAZING?!?!

I am SO happy with it! Lindsay did an excellent job! She is so great to work with and she is beyond talented. Love the template, love her!!!!

Tell me what you all think!

My Valentine

2007-02-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I love you, Adam!

Close to Home

2007-02-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about this story? This happened last night and it is all over the news here today. (I'm sure it was on for hours last night too, but we hardly ever watch live TV now that we have TiVo.) It is such a scary thing and is way too close for comfort. It makes me really sad that people do things like this.

Click on this link to check it out.

I Guess It's Better Than Leaving Empty Handed

2007-02-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

We rent. It's been good because our rent is really cheap and our condo is really cute and nice, but we've been here for a long time. Anyway, we have these ugly vertical blinds in the living room and dining room (they're kinda one room together). I've been trying to convince our landlord to buy curtains to cover them and to keep it warmer in here during the winter, and finally in December she caved. (I think she gave in because she raised our rent $15, but still, I think it's all good.)

I want chocolate brown curtains. That doesn't sound so hard, right? Brown curtains. Well, let me tell you...it IS hard! They have to be 95" length, so that means I pretty much have to order them online. But I have a $200 budget. Well, after seriously months of searching, I found some at JCPenney.com that I really like, so today I went to the store to order them (free shipping that way). What do you know, they are not available. Grrr. I don't know what I'm going to do now. Anyone got any good ideas for where to get pretty brown curtains for a good price?

Oh yes, there is more to this story which has become longer than I intended. So while I was at JC Penney I shopped around a little because they had clearance stuff EVERYWHERE. I ended up getting 2 new bras for $8.49!!! Woohoo, I love a good deal, and that is almost unheard of! They are pretty good quality too, so I'm super excited! Yay!! I guess that helps make up for the let down of not being able to get the pretty curtains I want.

New Profile Pic

2007-02-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

I posted this profile picture the other day, but then it disappeared, so I am posting it again.

Two Posts in One Day? That's Right Girls, a Blogging First for me!

2007-02-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hello! It had been a while since I'd posted last because I was in Seattle for business last week. I swear, it's like I've been gone this whole year! Ok, that's not entirely true, but really, 3 1/2 weeks out of 5 1/2? That's a lot of not being home. Anyway, I'm home again, yay! Granted, I'll be going back to California in 3 weeks, but that's almost a month away so I'm not gonna worry about it. So, for this momentous 2nd post of the day, I'll catch you up on what we've been up to.

~My cute husband flew to California so we could drive back to Utah together. We drove to Reno and stayed at Circus Circus. I was totally excited to stay at Circus Circus because I'd never been there before AND I used my AAA card and got my room for $35! You can't even stay at the Motel 6 for $35! And does the Motel 6 have free circus performances? I think not. Some of my coworkers made fun of me for wanting to stay at Circus Circus because they said it was a hole. Anyway, I really liked it! It was way nice; much nicer than the crappy hotel I'd been in for the past 2 1/2 weeks in CA. We didn't have time to watch a circus which disappointed me, but for $35 I think I'll have to go there again.

~I had a conference in Seattle that I had to go to for work and Adam came too! We stayed at the Westin Hotel downtown. It was a great location because it was close to shopping, Pike Street, and within walking distance to the Space Needle. I didn't have a lot of time because I was in meetings from 8:00-5:00, but we saw some sights and had a good time. I hate when work gets in the way things! jk

~This weekend I caught up on my sleep. I really felt like when we were in Seattle that I didn't get enough sleep. SO, Sunday morning I slept in WAY later than a normal person would. It was nice, but a little embarassing. Then of course, Sunday night I couldn't sleep at all since I hadn't been awake for all that long. Finally at about 3:30 a.m. I fell asleep, only to get up at 7:00. YUCK! Well, I went to work and after my meetings, I came back home at 11:00 to switch cars with Adam. I was wide awake and felt fine, but Adam tagged me (we always play tag!) and so we went and layed down for a few minutes. I just laid there for a while, thinking about all the things I needed to get done, then Adam's alarm went off and at that time I was just about to fall asleep so he hit snooze and I fell asleep. When it went off again, he got up and I was still sleepy so I asked him to call me in 20 minutes to wake me up. Well, he forgot. And it's dark in my room people! And I had only slept for 3 1/2 hours during the night! I didn't wake up until 3:00 in the afternoon!!! I slept for 4 hours! I did not mean to sleep that long at all! I felt like such a nerd for not waking up earlier, but I do have to admit, I love sleep, so it was nice. And it's justified because between the two, it's almost like a solid night of sleep, right? That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

~To counteract my day of rest, I walked/jogged 3 miles! (emphasis on walked, but there was some running and jogging in there!) It was really nice outside so at 5:00 I went with Adam and his brother to a high school track and worked out. I was going to go to the gym, but it was just so nice outside that I didn't want to be indoors. I am sore! But it's a good sore. It really makes you remember just how much of your body running really does work out. I'm so proud of myself! Adam is going to start playing rugby again and will have practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays so on those days I'll go to the gym and on Mondays and Wednesdays we'll run at the track together. I'm so excited!

Who's That Girl?

2007-02-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

My sister did this post on her blog and I'm totally copying it because I thought it was fun!

Your real name: Kari. Although, there has been some confusion, so I'll clear that up. My name is Kari and when my cute cute niece was little, she couldn't say Kari so she said Kiki. Thus, the birth of my favorite nickname. Kari, Kiki, Kik, Kika, I'll answer to any of them.

Your Gangsta Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle): Karizzle

Your Detective Name: (fav color and fav animal): Green Giraffe

Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, and childhood street): Lynn Orchard

Your Star Wars Name: (the last 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name): Grikamon. Oh wait, I did that wrong, it's actually Feekamon. I like them both!

Your Super Hero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Pink Shirley Temple

Your Iraqi Name: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your mom's maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad's middle name, 1st letter of a sibling's first name, last letter of your mom's middle name): Ailoakn

Your Witness Protection Program Name: (great-grandmother/grandfather's first name and Jones): Nina Jones

Your Goth name: (black, and the name of one your pets): Black Whit

My favorite is my Star Wars name, which sounds more like a Japanimation name if you ask me, but potato potahto. You should all do this on your blogs too!

New Template, Here I Come!

2007-01-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

YAY! I am sooo excited! Lindsay over at Splat Designs is going to make me a cute new template for my blog! No more of this regular blogger template for me, thankyouverymuch. And what makes it even better? It was free! That's right, F-R-E-E. For the second time in my life I won something! (The first thing I won was my wedding dress, and while I do have to admit that that one might be a little more significant, this one is a close second). She had a fun little contest with 15 trivia questions with answers that could be found on the blog templates she has already created and the first person to complete the contest with all the correct answers won the free template. Oh man, I really am excited, can you tell?! Lindsay does really cute work, just check out Nicole and Anna's blogs.

Woohoo pretty new blog for Kari, I can't wait!!!

My Trip to the Aquarium

2007-01-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend my coworkers and I went to Monterey (again!) to get some fresh chowdah and see the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Mmmm....the chowdah (isn't it just more fun saying it that way?) was good...and so were the fish & chips. YUM! I like sea food, especially fresh seafood. I'm excited to go to Seattle the week after next to eat some more! Anyway, can we all tell that I like to eat?

Back to the post. So the aquarium. It was so cool! I really like stuff like that and they have a lot of really neat exhibits. They have tons of different kinds of jellyfish and they look so cool. There is a HUGE 1 million gallon outer bay exhibit with sharks, barracuda, stingrays, sea turtles (or so they claim...we didn't see any), blue fin tuna, and this:

Can you believe this thing? Do you know what it is? Go ahead, take some guesses.

It's an ocean sunfish, a.k.a. mola mola. It is the weirdest looking sea creature I have ever seen.

It is huge! I don't know exactly how big the one at the aquarium is, but they can be up to 11 feet long and weigh 5000 pounds!! It looks like someone cut the head off of a whale or something and it just healed itself and keeps slowly swimming around. Here are some more pictures so you can really get a feel how odd they really are.

CRAZY, HUH?!

A Day of Such Wonder

2007-01-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I am so proud of myself! I went to the library on Tuesday as promised and I checked out not one, but TWO books, both by Nicholas Sparks. I have noticed a strange trend...all of his books seem to involve the state of North Carolina. I'm all about giving a shout out to the home state, but the same shout out in EVERY book? Is that necessary Nick? Anyway, I read a whole book in 2 days! Granted, it was only 212 pages, but that is a big accomplishment for me! I don't think I've ever done that in my life! The book, Nights in Rodanthe, was good too. Certainly not quite as good as Dear John, but still a cute little book. I don't think I'll have time to read the other book I got, since I only have 3 days left here to finish all my work, so I think I'll probably do the responsible thing and focus on that. Gosh, reading an entire book in 2 days AND making such an adult decision about working instead of reading a mindless book in the time remaining here... I think I deserve a medal.

A Few Random Thoughts

2007-01-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

First of all, you, my handful of readers, will be pleased to know that I finished listening to my audio book last night. It was so good! Man, those characters seemed so real to me too, which is part of the reason I got so into it I'm sure. I REALLY recommend it! It didn't quite end the way I wanted it to, but it was still just sooo great! I'm going to make my trip to the library today, where I'll be torn on whether to check out an actual book or just get another book on disc. I'm going to try to force myself to get a book, mostly because I kinda feel lazy when I'm just sitting in my hotel room staring at my laptop, listening to disc after disc. Somehow I think it's a little more socially acceptable to read. You know... doing something slightly more active with your mind and all.

Second, I debated on whether or not to post this, but the more I thought about it, the more it really bothered me, so here goes. Sunday night, I was BEYOND BORED. I went to church in the morning and went on a little drive that afternoon, but after I made myself stop listening to my audio book I had absolutely nothing to do, so I decided to go rent a movie from Blockbuster. But, once I got to Blockbuster, they told me I couldn't rent a movie there without my membership card (which I didn't have), so that kinda bummed me out. But then, I headed to the Golden Oak to pick up my takeout and once I got there I parked my car by a curb so I could just jet in and grab it. However, someone pulled in behind me and as he was letting his wife and kids out in front of the restaurant door, he feels inclined to roll his window down and say to me, "You know, that's not a parking spot." At first, I kind of thought he was kidding, so I just smiled at him. Then, he continues: "Could you NOT just walk the extra 15 feet and park in a spot?" This comment really bothered me, but I didn't want to say something too rude, seeing how I had no idea who he was, and I especially didn't want to spout off if he was the owner of the restaurant or something. So I just said to him, "Who are you?" to which he said nothing so I knew he was just that, NO ONE, so I continued, "And why do you care where I park anyway?" I shook my head with confusion because honestly, why would he care?! It's not like I was parking there for a 2 hour meal, I was just going in to pick up my order. And, it's not like my car was in the way of anything and it wasn't blocking traffic. He again said nothing (or at least not that I heard) so I just kept walking and went inside. I waited for a minute for the hostess to appear and by this time, the man's wife and children were inside standing right beside me. The wife leans over to me and says with a kind smile, "I told him to mind his own business; he's not the parking police." That made me a little more comfortable, knowing that she wasn't as impolite as he was. The hostess finally surfaced at about the same time that he came in from parking his eco-friendly Prius (puke). She handed me my food and I looked at him with my bag in my hand and said to him, "I'm not staying." He then says, "Oh, well I guess that's ok then." UUUgghh! I rolled my eyes at him, as if I care about his approval or think he has any place voicing his opinions about the parking situation. WHAT A PUNK! He really made me so mad!! I really don't know why he thought it necessary to tell me that I was not only parking in a place that indeed was not a parking spot, but that I was lazy for doing so. Yeah, I could have walked the extra 15 feet, but I wasn't doing it to be lazy; I wasn't even doing it with any real thought about the matter, other than just to park, run in, grab my food, and leave. AND, he was dropping off his own family in front of the door! Does that mean that they were lazy or inconsiderate for not walking the extra 15 feet (or whatever) from the parking spot?! No, I don't think like that. I think it was polite of him to drop them off while he parked, however, it really made him look like a hypocrite for chastising me for it. I hope his food was bad and his service really sucked.

Ok... I'm now taking in deep breaths and relaxing my tensed shoulder muscles.

And now for the last thought/story of the day, Adam and I want to have a baby. Can you just imagine the cuteness that will result from our procreation? It's almost too much to stand! ;) jk So, we started trying last month. I didn't want to make a big announcement about it, but Adam has told everyone he's ever met, so I figured I might as well post it here for you few readers. Anyway, my period is late this month and my cycle is usually very regular. I didn't want to take a pregnancy test here all by myself because I wanted to be with Adam and be able to celebrate if I was pregnant, but he was DYING to know, so I headed to the store to get a test. I wasn't going to do it until the morning, but by then I really wanted to know, so I did it right then. I was really thinking it would come up positive, but it didn't. The words "Not Pregnant" appeared and I was kind of shocked. Oh well, not pregnant. I kind of expected my period to start at that exact moment, but still, 3 days later, no period. I thought that maybe my first test was just a false negative, so I did another test this morning and again, "Not Pregnant". Well, where the heck is my stupid period if I'm "Not Pregnant"? This suspense is kind of annoying. Did this ever happen to any of you?

"Dear John"

2007-01-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

I am listening to my book on disc that I bought the other day and I. CANNOT. STOP. I brought it inside my hotel today after I came back from church and have been listening to it all day! It is totally engulfing me! I am torn, because I don't want to listen to it all today because I want to have something to listen to for the rest of the time that I'm here, but I really like it and don't want to stop!

It is really a good book and it is so cute! It is telling about this love story and John and Savannah's meeting and their short courtship and it completely reminds me of mine and Adam's. I like that it's being told from John's point of view because it kinda gives a glimpse into how guys feel during times like that even though they don't everything they're thinking and feeling.

Adam laughed at me when I told him that I couldn't stop listening to it. "You know, some people even get involved like that and read the actual book," he said. LOL, I know! I used to read somewhat frequently when I was younger, but once I went to college, I didn't read books other than textbooks and I guess I haven't picked it up since. I have wanted to read a good book for a while, so this is a good way to break me into it I think. I'm going to go to the Morgan Hill library tomorrow and actually check out a book to read on Tuesday (since it's closed Mondays). I'm sure I'll be unable to not finish this one by the end of the evening. I actually have to stop typing because I feel like I'm missing important details by not giving it my full attention. =)

Nothin' Like a Good Day Trip

2007-01-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

For my first weekend in Califonia sans husband or any other plans, my two coworkers and I took a little day trip to see the surrounding sights. First we drove to Santa Cruz and went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The drive there from Morgan Hill was so awesome! We took a little two lane road that wound through hills and tall, tall trees with bright green moss growing up the trunks. Once we reached the top of the road, there were several pull-out points with terrific panoramic views of the valleys and the ocean in the horizon. It was really such a great road! The Boardwalk was pretty cool. They had limited operation because it's January and all, so we only rode one ride--The Hurricane--but it was fun! Too short, because I like rollercoasters and it's been forever since I've been on one, but fun nonetheless. The famous rollercoaster, The Giant Dipper, was closed down while they are doing some rebuilding on the boardwalk, so we didn't get to ride it. I was kinda bummed about that because that's a pretty popular one, but that's ok.

From Santa Cruz, we went to Monterey, and I have decided that I really like northern California and the Bay area! We went to the Bay and it climbed around on the rocks and watched the ocean. I even saw some sea otters out in the water and I was so happy! I REALLY wanted to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I don't think anyone else wanted to go, plus it's $25 to get in, so we skipped it.

(You'll have to click on this picture to enlarge it. I'm not sure if it's the exact place where we were today, but it looks really similar.)

We didn't really do much else during our little outing, but it was a nice, nearly free little excursion! I'd like to come again with my husband when the weather is a little warmer. Adam & I have both been to California a few times in the past 3 years, but have never had enough time to do any sight seeing together (usually he's with his rugby team and I'm with my sister-in-law taking a little day trip before the rugby game starts), so someday I want to take a trip with him out here so we can experience some of these things together.

Are We in Elementary School or What?

2007-01-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, let's just be honest here. I don't mean to complain, but I am SOO over this whole stupid "Rosie vs. Donald" fued that the media thinks is so important to update us on multiple times each day. As I'm watching TV at night here (really...I don't have much else to do...ok, AND I'm kind of one of those people who likes to watch television, but anyway...) I cannot go more than 3 stations without hearing about the fiasco or reading about it on the scrolling news at the bottom of the screen. At first, yes, I was a little intruiged. I thought it was funny. But it is such a stupid thing and I am so sick of being bombarded with its continuance. If they were everyday people, this would be over by now, but no, they're both famous and it just seems like this is not ending. I think they're both kind of milking the situation. Also, if they weren't famous, everyone around them would tell them that they are both being childish and tell them to shut up about it and move on. Instead, the people around them just try to fuel the fire and keep it going, despite the fact that it's completely ridiculous. Who really cares if someone says you have bad hair? And who really cares if someone you don't even like says that you're fat? Ugggg....I wish it would stop.

(deep breath)

Ok, now that I've gotten THAT out of the way, I'm feeling much better. I'm so excited!!! Adam's dad bought him a plane ticket so he can fly out here and visit me and then drive back with me! I miss my little husband! He isn't coming for another week and a half, but it will be good to see him and be able to drive with him for 10 hours.

I also bought a book on disc today though to help with the time that I am in my car here. I can't seem to find a good radio station and when I do happen to come across one that I like, inevitably it will turn into a Mexican station within five minutes of driving, and while I do wish I was a fan of the sounds of polka, I'm afraid I just haven't aquired that taste yet. So I went to the store and bought the book Dear John by Nicolas Sparks. I think it will be pretty good....I mean, The Notebook. Need I say more?

California...Here I Come!

2007-01-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm actually already here, but yep, sunny California! I'm here on business working in Morgan Hill and it is beautiful!

I am going to be here for 2 1/2 weeks, which I am NOT excited about, but the hopes of making good money are helping the situation. It was so sad to leave my little Adam though. I really almost cried. He is the best husband EVER! I hope the time goes by fast, but if I keep myself busy with work I think it will be ok.

I left on Sunday at about 11:00 am, following 2 of my coworkers--the leader of which who was not a fan of cruise control making THAT a fun experience in and of itself. (oh wait, I'm lying. It actually really annoyed me.) He is also a crazy driver so as we were driving through Tahoe I really thought I might die. HOWEVER, I did not, and we made it to Morgan Hill in about 11 hours.

My manager had told me that the hotel we would be staying at is a little different and sure enough, he was correct. I had envisioned a scary, ghetto place, but when we pulled up, the palm trees and well kept grounds made me feel much better. Oh...but when I got to my room, I was thrust right back into the harsh reality that this hotel actually IS somewhat yucky. The furnishings are quite old and the dim lighting does not help hide any imprefections. My absolute FAVORITE part is the fan/light in the bathroom that sounds like a 1940's war plane. Mmmhmmm, it's fantastic.

Ok, it's actually not too bad, and I brought my Lysol disinfectant spray and wipes so I think I'll be alright. Plus, no one stays here. Ever. There are 4 people from my company staying here and I really think that maybe only 15 other guests are staying here. The maid has yet to come to my room, except once to bring me extra toilet paper. Not sure why she thought I'd use a whole roll in the 24 hours I'd been here, but I'll let that one go. I'm going to have to track her down because I'll need new towels in the morning.

The food here, however, is really good. We have endless trade at a restaurant called Golden Oak. We ate lunch and dinner there yesterday and they have the best salmon I've ever tasted in my life! The other reps here tell me I'll get sick of eating all this high-end food, but I'm gonna go ahead and try to prove them wrong.

If anyone has any good suggestions of what to do or where to go while I'm here, please feel free to tell me. I do have quite a bit of time to kill at night and on the weekends. I think we're going to go to Santa Cruz or Monterey this weekend. Otherwise, I'll be updating my blog from the golden state!

(P.S. Sorry I haven't posted a picture of my magical new coat! I promise to do it when I get back home.)

Boots, Boots, I Love Boots!

2006-12-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

My wonderful husband was so stinkin' good to me this year! He bought me my beautiful coat that I oh-so-politely asked Santa for. He tried to fool me, but I knew he'd get it for me. (He's really nice like that.) What I didn't know, however, is that he'd get me FABULOUS brown boots too!

These boots are Nine West and are even prettier in person. He did such a good job; he picked them out all by himself and they are SOOO me. He is the best!

Adam's mom also bought me footwear for Christmas. These are Antonio Melani and they were way comfortable (which is almost unheard of) and I liked them, but I felt like they were a little bit too mature looking.

They are way more money than she or I would ever normally spend, but her good friend works at Dillards so she was able to get a HUGE discount. Sooo, I braved the crowds on Tuesday afternoon and went to exchange my $90 shoes for something different. Let me tell you, it was no walk in the park. I went to the mall close to my house and I found a pair of Kenneth Cole boots that I really liked, but the sales person I asked told me that they weren't on sale so I drove like 20 minutes to the next mall and where they told me that the boots I loved actually WERE on sale but that they didn't have any left at that store. GRRR. Therefore, I drove BACK to the mall close to my house and luckily found them in my size, yay! And since they were on sale and I didn't have a receipt from my return, I got full credit for the $90 Antonio Melani shoes and ended up paying 74 cents for my $150 Kenneth Cole boots! Can we say bargain shopper?

Dear Santa

2006-12-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year. I have been nice to my husband (most of the time), have visited my family, and even tried to keep my house clean part of the time. This being said, I would please like you to bring me this magical coat by Laundry by Shelli Segal. The coat itself isn't actually magical, but it's so so pretty. Adam showed it to me at Macy's last night and of course I fell in love with it. Now Santa, it's a little more than I would normally spend on a coat...or a car payment...but it is BEAUTIFUL. I would like it in the color Bark please, size 10. I will try to find a picture to post in the next day or so. As of right now it is on hold in Adam's name at Macy's in the Cottonwood mall in Holladay, UT, so if you are headed in that direction, please feel free to pick it up.

Thank you!

Love,
Kari

Pictures from the Beach!

2006-12-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Yay! I finally reinstalled my camera software so I can upload my pictures onto my computer, thus being able to share them with all of you!

This is the view from our room at The Royal Islander.

Here we are at Tulum. I loved it there, it was so pretty!

This is one of my favorite pictures! We got up really early to watch the sunrise and collect sea shells.

Not the best picture of us....I told you, it was EARLY! Still, kinda cute, right?

What do you mean it looks like we got a little too much sun this day?

Well there you have it! Sorry it took so long!

The Biggest Loser

2006-12-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by openly admitting that I am kind of a TV junkie, especially when it comes to reality TV. However, that being said, I'm not a huge die-hard for "The Biggest Loser". I'll occasionally watch it, but I never go out of my way to see it. BUT, I love watching the finale and seeing how much weight everyone has lost. It seriously blows my mind. And yes, I cry.

With that in mind, I am totally feeling so yucky about myself lately. I don't know if I can blame it on my period or the prednosone I am taking (for eczema) or what, but I just feel so unmotivated to do anything. And food? Yeah, I eat lots of it. Nothing healthy either, it's like, "Hey, look, Pringles that I really don't even like that much but they're salty and sitting right there in my cupboard so I better have some" or "Well, I don't have anything planned for dinner, so...let's eat at Astro Burger". Then, of course, I feel gross for eating that kind of stuff, but instead of go to the gym or do anything, I kinda just stay at home and don't. So, tonight while Adam is at indoor football practice (oh I hope he doesn't get hurt---he doesn't have insurance!), I am going to the gym! I'm a big believer in being proactive about things that you want to happen, change, or fix so I am going to try to not constantly be thinking about my weight, food or laziness. I really want to lose 20 pounds, and believe me, I could use even more than that, but I think that 20 pounds is a good and achievable goal. I wish I had a workout buddy! I think I'm going to have to try to go outside of my comfort zone and (gasp) make a friend. Luckily, there's a cute new couple in our ward who just happened to join Gold's Gym, so maybe that will be an easy in for me.

Alright, wish me luck!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2006-12-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I haven't posted my pictures of Cancun yet. I'll try to do that by tomorrow, I promise. In the meantime...this past weekend (December 10) was our 3 year anniversary! We have done the same thing each year, so we continued it again. We got all dressed up and went to a nice dinner (this year it was at Christopher's Seafood and Steak House) and then to Ballet West's production of "The Nutcracker". I was excited to try out Christopher's, and the food was pretty good, but the seating arrangements kind of sucked. There were obviously just the 2 of us and they sat us right in the middle of a separated table so it really felt like we were eating at a table for 6. We were literally like arm's distance from each of the other couples on both sides of us. Not the most romantic or secluded spot, but it was all good. The ballet was great, as usual, and the little kids in it were freakin' adorable. Fun, Fun, Fun! We have decided that next year we will do something different though because Adam wants to bring his mom with us to "The Nutcracker" and quite frankly, that doesn't sound like a good anniversary to me. We're ready for a change anyway, so if anyone has any recommendations, let me know. After the ballet, we went to Cold Stone then came home and watched "The Bourne Identity". It was a fun weekend and I do not look forward to this week, as I really need to make some money--seeing that my last paycheck was really crappy due to our endless vacationing. Good thing my Christmas shopping is almost all done!

Wow, It's Been a While

2006-11-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

So it's been a long time since I've posted. I'm lame. Ok, that's not true, I'm just busy! Let me catch you up on some of the things we've been up to since my last post a month ago!

Adam & I carved our annual Halloween pineapple jack-o-lantern. (Here's the quick version of the story behind that in case you're not familiar---when we were engaged, Adam came up to Logan where I was going to school on Halloween and I really wanted to carve a pumpkin. Well, it was Halloween and there were no pumpkins at ANY STORE IN ALL OF LOGAN. So, as we were leaving the last one, he said, "Do you think we could carve a pineapple?" Well, the answer in fact is yes, you can carve a pineapple. We did it and it turned out really cute so that was the beginning of our first family tradition and now we do it every Halloween. I know, we're adorable!) ;) I'll post pics next week when I get them uploaded.

Then, it was my birthday on the 5th. I can't believe I'm 24! We went to Idaho and had a little party with the fam and it was way fun.

The next week, we went to St. George for a rugby tourament. It was good too. We saw "Stranger Than Fiction" while we were there and sadly it wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be. It was one of those movies that shows all the funny parts on the previews so by the time you actually see the movie it's like you've already seen it, ya know? It was good, just not what I thought it would be.

Then last week we went to Cancun! It was way fun! Adam's dad has a condo timeshare there and bought us plane tickets for Christmas last year (and this year!) so we just had to pay our food and activities while we were there. We left last Saturday and came back yesterday. I'll post more next week when I have my pictures uploaded. We did some fun stuff....went to Tulum, XCaret, jungle tours on jet boats (not so jungle-y if you ask me, but whatever), and played at the beach. I got a pretty good tan and we had a really good time. It was really weird being there for Thanksgiving because it totally didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all (and I missed out on Black Friday shopping), but it was just the price we had to pay I guess. Well....that and a pretty penny out of our savings....everything is so much more expensive when you're on vacation than you think it will be! It was really fun though, and we figured it's good that we don't have kids or a house to pay for or else we'd be in big trouble.

I'll post more this coming week with pictures and everything. Bye!

Anyone Got a Good Recipe?

2006-10-26T22:16:00.000-06:00

I really want some good pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! I don't want to buy some from the grocery store bakery; I want to make them myself. However. I have tried 2 different recipes in the past week and a half and neither of them have been anything spectacular. The first recipe I found on Cooks.com and is as follows:

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. crisco
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
12 oz. chocolate chips

Cream butter, crisco, and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Drop by tsp. onto cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

I liked the texture of these cookies and they tasted pretty ok, but they weren't pumpkin-y enough.

The second recipe I remembered from Adam's cousin Rachel. She made them for us one time and they were so simple and tasty!

1 spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin

Mix together and bake.

I didn't remember if there were any measurements for the pumpkin or what temperature to cook them at and for how long. So again, I went to the internet to see if I could find something close. I found a couple and just decided to go for it. But my cooking time and temperature must have been off because the first batch came out way not done in the middle and the second batch had to be left in the oven for nearly 20 minutes.

Does anyone have a tried and tested pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe that I'm sure to love? If so, please share! Honestly, Adam and I are just wasting away here without them.

What? No Crisp Bean Burritos?

2006-10-16T16:06:00.000-06:00

(This is a letter to the editor from the newspaper at Utah State. I thought it was funny, so I cut it out when I was a sophomore...or maybe a junior...I don't remember and of course I didn't write a date on it. But anyway, I liked it, so enjoy!)

Editor,

Sometimes being on a budget is tough, but in some ways it transforms the little joys of life into momentous occasions.

Recently, I had great reason to rejoice. Through careful planning and some luck of finding 35 cents in the Merrill Library stairwell, I saved enough money to buy a little treat during a study break. At 5:30 p.m. I ran over to the HUB [food court in the student union building] to get a brand new Crisp Bean Burrito, fresh from its warm oily bath.

"One Crisp Bean Burrito, fresh from its warm oily bath please. What? You don't have any? OK, never mind." I was crushed. The person standing behind the counter said they had some other stuff, but it would take a lot more then my 35-cent jackpot to get that.

I looked at the clock and it said 5:40. So I checked the signs and confirmed Taco Time is supposed to close at 6 p.m., but all of their supplies were already saran-wrapped up. I wanted to say something, but when I talk while trying to hold back tears I end up hyperventilating.

That's actually not the real reason I didn't say anything. I could have said, "But the sign says you're open until 6." Or, "GIVE ME A CRISP BEAN BURRITO, FRESH FROM ITS WARM OILY BATH, NOW!" Yeah, I could have tried that, but I already realize that 40 percent of pre-made food has some kind of unwanted special ingredient from the cook. I'll never do anything to someone at a restaurant or fast food joint to increase those odds.

I could have a server calling me names, laughing at my gut, or insulting my dog. But I would never be rude back. It doesn't take much to change those 40 percent odds to 75 percent.

Now, even without those odds, I think I would still have been kind. I don't want to be mean. All I really want is a Crisp Bean Burrito, fresh from its oily bath."

-Chad Mano

New Post Time!

2006-10-10T13:16:00.000-06:00

Oh, so it's been a while since I've posted. Let's see...what has been going on in our lives since Russia? Umm...oh yeah, we're poor! Weird how travelling all over Russia catches up with you and your pocketbook.

This past Sunday was Adam's birthday. The big 2-6.... man, he's gettin' up there. jk Usually I like to either do something fun or have a surprise party or get him something he really wants, but this year, with us being poor and all, I didn't. I kind of blame that on him too, though, because I asked and asked and he never told me one thing that he wanted. Well, ok, that's not entirely true. He told me he needed a new black belt, so I did get him that. I also ended up getting him a hoodie from American Eagle (in white) and Season 2 of The Office. He's a hard person to shop for, so with my limited budget and limited number of ideas, I felt like he got a good amount of things that he'd like, and as it turns out, he really did like all of them, so all was well.

Honestly there really isn't anything else exciting here. I need to clean my messy house and since it's 3:00 in the afternoon and I'm done with work for the week, I figure now is a good time to start. I promise we'll have more exciting things to blog about someday soon.

St. Petersburg Montage

2006-09-28T21:35:00.000-06:00

It took a while, but here are the pictures from St. Petersburg. Thanks to Gina, they are in a lovely montage, courtesy of OneTrueMedia.com. It took me a really long time to decide on songs, and even still I don't think I've got it totally the way I want it, but this will have to do for now.

The first song is very catchy...I think you'll have it in your head all day long. And you will thank me. I'm sure of it. ;)

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

They're Finally Here...Pictures From Russia!

2006-09-20T19:49:00.001-06:00

Yay! I know you've all been dying to see my pics from the motherland, so fear not dear readers, the wait is over. Of course I can't post everything, but I'll try to give you a good look at what we did, where we went, and what we saw.

This is us on our first day: St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow. It is my absolute FAVORITE building that we saw in Moscow and I loved it.

I'm not sure what the name of this building is, but also on Red Square and it's very pretty too. It reminds me a little bit of a giant gingerbread house.

Our good friend Lena is so nice! Without even having to be asked, she stopped to help this lady freshen up her lipstick.

This is at a park in Omsk. Me, Adam, Sasha, and Lena. They are our favorite friends in Russia. Hopefully they will be able to come America some day!

I love this shot. This is at a little park/amusement park/zoo thing and it is an ancient ferris wheel contraption. I wish we would have taken a picture of it from the ground so you could see it straight on because it really was pretty frightening, but everyone else rode on it and we didn't see anyone die while we were getting our tickets, so we figured, "Why not!"

The view from the top...Does Adam look a little ~~scary~~ scared to you?

We felt very patriotic here. This is also in Omsk at a World War II park. I LOVE the huge statues in Russia!

I tried to get Adam & Sasha to be cool and pose like this guy, but they weren't very good sports about it.

Here is Adam with his good pal Lenin in Novosibirsk. Almost every single city in Russia has a statue of Lenin similar to this one.

This is a view of that same statue from the back. You can see the other statues beside it and get a better idea of how big they are.

Yay! One of my favorite pictures. This building is a puppet house that was close to our hotel. How cool is that?!

I was so excited about this too....a pack of wild dogs who were running by in front of our hotel. There are stray dogs everywhere and they're all intermixed so you'll see a dog that has the face of a german shepherd and the body of a weiner dog...it's crazy.

Here's Adam on our train to Krasnoyarsk looking very content reading my Us Weekly.

You kinda have to look close at this picture, but it's really awesome. All the towns along the railroad have their own water towers, and this was one of our favorites.

This cute little church is at the top of a big hill in Krasnoyarsk and you can see the whole city from there. It is a good hike, but very worth it.

I hope I'm not incriminating myself by posting these pictures! I swear, we didn't take any and we only took the pictures...nothing more! Yep, it grows all over the hillside. The people we were with didn't even know that that's what it was until we told them. They just thought it was a wild weed. Haha! I guess they are right.

This is us hiking to Stalbuoy. It's like a state park and they have big rock formations and stuff. Let me tell you, this was no easy hike. It's probably about 3 miles to the top (where all the rocks are) and those Russians can hike! They walk super fast...all of them...babushkas, little kids, everyone. I had to tell our friends that I needed to take a break and they were like, "Yeah, we usually take a break up here a little ways." They are much more fit than lots of Americans because they walk everywhere all the time so I had to inform them, "No, I need to take a break now" and proceeded to sit myself down on a log. What is that you see in the picture you ask? Yes, that's snow. It's snowing. In the middle of August.

Finally, after more stops than any of the Russians had to make, we made it to the top! I'm kinda annoyed at this guy for messing up our cute picture, but he's our friend so we'll ~~Photoshop him out~~ forgive him.

This family LOVES Adam. Ok, all the people there love him, but them in particular. He helped teach the wife (the husband was already a member) and she was baptized. He was able to confirm her and then they were able to go to the temple as a family and be sealed. They didn't know we were coming to Russia so when we showed up at church, they were so excited they invited us right over for tea and scrumpets!

This was in front of our hotel in Krasno. These are youth in the church (all about our age) who are good friends with Adam. Back row from left to right: Costia, Adam, Sasha. Front row from left to right: Lena, Olya, and Lena (Sasha's girlfriend). The statue is of Chekov, a famous Russian author.

Ok, that pretty much does it for the first 4 cities. I wish I could post all of the pictures we took, but that would take me all night and let's face it, I've got to make brownies, so this is all I am able to do. We have TONS of pictures from St. Petersburg so I'll post them tomorrow in their very own entry. Paca!

Adventures in Hair Coloring

2006-09-18T14:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend I decided it was time to highlight my hair again. The decision was a pretty easy one, seeing how my roots were about half an inch grown out. I wanted my hair to look pretty much like this:

(Not the greatest photo, I know, but you try doing a Google search on Carmen Electra and see how long you want to search through to find a decent one.)

My sister-in-law Trish is the one who colors my hair and so when I got to her house with the products, she warned me that this might not be the color I was going for, even though I fully explained to the lady at Sally Beauty Supply what I wanted. We did a small test strip on the underside of my hair and it seemed that it would be ok so we went ahead and put foils on top for blonde highlights and did the rest of my entire head with the color.

When she was rinsing it all out, she sounded pretty skeptical about the color and I was pretty worried myself. We decided not to fully judge until it was dry, but we didn't even need to get it all the way dry before we knew it was not looking pretty. I came out looking somewhat Strawberry Shortcake-esqe. My hair was this yucky orange-ish color with blonde highlights and my roots showing through still. You know when people who have black hair try to dye their hair blonde and it turns that brassy, NOT BLONDE color? Yeah, that was kind of what it resembled.

Luckily, she had some brown dye and I didn't even have to think twice about it. We finished drying my hair and headed directly for the kitchen again to re-color my hair. I've always wanted to dye my hair brown but I've always been too much of a wuss because I've had lots of blonde in my hair since I was like 13! So I figured, "No better time to go brown than when your hair turns orange!"

At first it was so weird seeing myself. I would walk by a mirror and think, "Hmm..who's that girl with the brown hair? Oh wait! That's me! And that's my hair!" It was an adventure, but I think it turned out really well, considering. I like it, but tell me what ya think.

(Pictures taken oh-so-professionally by me today in my kitchen)

Work Shmirk

2006-09-12T16:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, so it has seemed like forever since I've posted! Our laptop is being totally revamped and it has all our pictures and video clips from Russia on it so I've kinda been waiting for that. It may be a while before you get to see all of our cool pics, but I'll try to update you on what's been happening since.

I have had such a hard time coming back to work! (can you tell, seeing how this post is being written at 4:00 in the afternoon?) Last week Adam and I just kinda spend time together and ran a few errands and the like. He decided to take this semester off since he missed the first 2 weeks of school and found out that his financial aid wasn't going to kick in unless he had a full schedule and he was only registered for 2 classes. It's not so easy to add classes two weeks after school is already started and some of the classes he needs for graduation aren't offered until next semester anyway. So he's going to work this semester and finish school in the spring. I don't really have an excuse for this week other than the fact that I really enjoyed not working for the past three and a half weeks! It's not that I'm a lazy person, because I really don't think I am; it's just that I like being able to get things done around here and run errands and spend time with my husband. I am totally hoping that I can quit once we have kids.

I think I'm a little frustrated with my job right now too though. I really like my job, and I am working in Salt Lake again which is great, but I am supposed to be selling my accounts from last year and we're 3 months early! I really don't think that people who advertised with us for the first time ever and signed up between December and March of this past year are really going to want to renew their contracts so soon. Plus, this book just barly finished distribution, which means that a lot of them haven't even had a chance to see their results yet. It is really making me feel very unmotivated.

On a side note, my mom called me yesterday afternoon and told me they're taking a little vacation and would love it if they could stay the night at our house. Yay! I visit my parents fairly frequently, but they haven't been to my house for almost a year. They left late and didn't get here until about 1:30 am and I wanted to stay up and wait for them so I was so tired when they got here! I have become such a wuss about staying up late! I need (and LOVE) my sleep!!! This morning we went to breakfast at about 9:30 and then they were on their way east to Nebraska and South Dakota. I totally wanted to go with them because I feel absolutely estranged from any work responsibility I have, but I knew my boss would kill me and that I need to at least try to make some money. Good thing it's only Tuesday.

I'm Writing to You From the Future

2006-08-29T21:37:00.000-06:00

7:30 am Wednesday 8-30-06 = 8:30 pm Tuesday 8-29-06

Hello Mountain Standard Time citizens! I'm writing from my new favorite city in the whole world, St. Petersburg, Russia. It is GORGEOUS here! This is the most European-feeling city I've ever been to and I love it! The buildings here are so ornate and there are statues and carved figures and monuments everywhere. Plus, everything is done in beautiful pastels with different shades of oranges, yellows, blues, and greens. It is mah-velous. This city was built on a swamp so there are canals and rivers throughout, which mean bridges and fabulous water everywhere. I could spend so much time here! Unfortunately, we only have 2 days. So, while Adam is making the most of his time by participating in his fantasy football draft (those Utah rugby boys are such dorks!), I'll fill you in on some things I've noticed on my trip.

Kari's Observations of Russia & the Russian People

1. Mullets= cool to Russians. For some unfathomable reason they think the mullet is something to be proud of & they are seen in large numbers in all cities. I've even started to make classifications for the vast styles of this horrible 'do: the Pixie Mullet; Gothic Mullet; Faux-Hawk Mullet; Cat Mullet (this one was probably the best one we saw--hair cut short all the way around a ponytail--oh wait, it was a banana clip!. Hilarious!); Baby/Young Child Mullet; She-Mullet (a classic); and Businessman Mullet.

2. Russian girls are very skinny. Their thighs don't even touch (yes, Katie would fit in well here). And, they wear high heels everywhere & at all times...on the plane, on rainy days, walking a million miles all across the city...

3. Smelling good? Not a priority. Smelling bad? Very common...one might even venture to say it's the norm.

4. Nothing in Russia opens until 10:00 am...probably because everyone is too hung over from the night before to get out of bed any earlier. On weekends, it's 12:00 instead of 10:00.

5. Light switches are low on the wall instead of higher like in America. They are at hand height when your arms are at your side. Makes some sense I guess.

6. Lots of people go by shorter forms of their names, even if they're not shorter. Here are some examples (given name first, shorter more commonly used name second):
-Olga= Olya
-Daria= Dasha
-George= Gosha
-Maria= Masha
-Natalia= Natasha
-Sergei=Seriosha

There's also about a 60% chance that any given male is named Alexander (shorter name Sasha--how they came up with that from Alexander??) and any given female is Olga or Lena.

7. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as emissions testing.

8. There are no set prices. Oh wait, yes there are, it's just that Americans get charged 2 or 3 times more than Russians. Some places will even have it listed: "Russian Price" and "Foreigner Price". It makes me very mad because in America, we don't discriminate like that and screw over all travellers. They even come and live in our country and we end up paying for it! This issue really makes me mad, but I digress.

I'm sure there will be more, but for now I am done. I've written 38 pages in my journal so far and I haven't even journaled past last Saturday. I will be home on Thursday so I'll try to give a little summary of highlights from the trip sometime after that.

Paca!

Privet from Russia!

2006-08-21T20:08:00.000-06:00

We're in an internet room at our hotel in Novosibirsk waiting to check into our room so I can only write a little bit. For this blog, I will take an excerpt from my journal.

"Ok, so let's talk about how lines work in Russia. You have to stand very close or someone will come & just cut right in front of you, even though it's totally obvious that there are a million people in the line. And you really don't want to stand close because everyone stinks! No regard for personal hygeine (spelling?); no deodorant; no gum or mouthwash. Or, what I like even better...someone comes from out of nowhere & goes directly to the front of the line & says to the person who is next in line, "We're late" and proceeds to walk right ahead of them."

It is very interesting being in a different country. We are having a really good time though and have been very safe and well. It helps that my husband is an "armoire"... meaning a very large and strong man (as referred to by a lot of members from the Omsk branch). Everyone here is really excited to see us and has been very friendly.

I'll try to post again in about a week when Adam insists we come to an internet cafe so he can be there for the draft for his fantasy football league. Yes, we still have our priorities straight even though we're on vacation and will be in one of the prettiest cities in the world!! (st. pete's)

Much love!

Well...We Didn't Really Want to Fly to NYC Today Anyway...

2006-08-16T17:00:00.000-06:00

So, you might think that we'd be in New York right now, probably boarding a plane to Moscow. Ha! You're wrong. We have stand-by tickets and while I was a little worried about making our flight, I thought, "Nah, we'll be fine". So we got to the airport this morning, checked our bags, waited in some long lines and went to the gate to watch the plasma screen hoping our names would show up on the cleared list. They did show up on the waiting list and we kept going up and up in priority, but Adam went and asked the lady how many seats there were and it wasn't looking so good. Then, they called us and asked us to come stand by the door so we'd be ready and then they broke the bad news. "We can take one of you". Like that's a viable option! So, we had to go all the way back downstairs to international check-in and try to reschedule.

Luckily, we had a really nice man who helped us and now, we are leaving to Atlanta at 11:45, arriving at 4:3oam and hoping our bags arrive there (since they are probably already in New York). Then, we will leave tomorrow from ATL to Moscow at 3:30 pm. That's presuming we get on those flights. Actually, the Delta guy who helped us said that we really have great chances of making it onto those flights and even if we weren't able to get on to ATL tonight, we have like 3 more flights to try. I wish we would have thought to fly to Atlanta in the first place, but, being the ever-so-unprepared travellers that we are...we didn't.

So, it's really like it's been an exciting trip already. (I keep having to tell myself that so that I don't be disappointed that this delay alone is taking like two days out of our trip!) Wish us luck!

What is with the weather lately?

2006-08-14T18:41:00.000-06:00

There has been some crazy weather here in Utah! There were huge microbursts down in Utah county a couple weeks ago and on Saturday, this is what we had in Salt Lake.

Yep, that's hail. It was coming down so hard! Adam and I were going to grab some lunch down the street when it first started and so we decided we'd wait it out in the car underneath the carport because we thought it was going to dent our car! After about 20 minutes it had slowed down a little so we figured we were in the clear. Not so much. While in the drive thru at Iceburg, it started coming down even bigger and harder. We're talking dime-sized balls of hail. When we made it back home, I was completely content eating our ever-so-healthy lunch in the car under the carport, but Adam--being a boy who likes pain--decided he wanted to know what it felt like and convinced me that we should just sprint into the house. Well, there was a river running through the middle of the parking lot which I ended up stepping directly in the middle of and the hail? Yeah, it hurt! It pelted down on my head and completely soaked us in the five seconds it took to run to cover.
It did eventually stop, but only to start again an hour later. We probably got 4 inches of rain and hail in 2 hours. There was an inch of hail covering the whole ground. I am so not ready for summer to go!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...........Kong!"

2006-08-13T17:30:00.000-06:00

As we all know, Kari= not the biggest fan of the movie "King Kong", so you can imagine my surprise when last Friday I checked my mail and found a package in it. Now, we weren't expecting any packages in the mail, so I took the mystery parcel inside for further inspection. What I saw when I opened it..........well, here, take a look for yourself.

Yep, that's right...a King Kong shirt. Now, who would be so clever as to pinpoint my love for King Kong and send me a surprise, unmarked package containing such a wonderful gift? Adam? Let's call and find out.

Me(sounding slightly suspicious): Hey...I got something in the mail today.
Adam: Oh yeah, what?
Me: A shirt.
Adam: What kind of shirt?
Me: A shirt with...(laughing a little) King Kong on it.
Adam (still a little bit confused): What?
Me: Yeah, did you send it?
Adam: No.
Me: Ok, because I think someone who read my blog might have sent it. Remember my post on "King King"? I think someone might have sent it from there.
Adam (now quite aware of how truly funny this is and bursting into laughter): Man, I bet you're right. I wish I would have thought of it.

My next call was to Katie Belle. We talked about some other things first and near the end of our conversation, I said to her, "So I got something in the mail today...". To which she replied, "Oh really?". (Insert audible grin and an attempt to mask giggling).

So, thank you two clever girls, Katie and Gwen, for being so funny and sending me this awesome gift. It really did make my day because I was totally stressing about our trip to Russia and getting everything all worked out so when I got the package, it really did make me laugh.

Where Shall We Go? To Russia, Of Course!

2006-08-08T10:48:00.000-06:00

AAHHHH! I'm so excited...I really think it's happening. So yeah, we're going to Russia! Some people think it's kind of a weird place for a relaxing get-away, but really, we're so excited. Adam served his mission in Russia and so we've talked about going back since we met pretty much, but we sat down about 3 weeks ago and looked at the calander and our bank account (small as it may be) and we figured, "Hey, let's spend almost every penny we have AND let's just go ahead and do it on these days".

Yes, planning a trip to RUSSIA in about two weeks....not the easiest of tasks. And, if you want to add a little more stress? Try travelling across the entire country! Oh yes, and let's not forget...I had to get a passport AND we still have to get visas. And what fun would it be if you could plan things while in Russia if you didn't have to have your passort number? Obviously none at all, that must be why those smart Russians DO make you have your passport number for anything that you would be remotely interested in having ahead of time, such as flights within the country and hotel rooms. Man, they really were thinking.

So hopefully the travel broker we are working with can get my passport number to us today and Adam can make the reservations for hotels and flights. We have our flights to and from the US to Moscow and got a screamin' deal...$395 each round trip...thanks to a guy Adam works with whose wife works at Delta. I'm a little scared because they're standby tickets, but I think we'll be ok. Plus, she sent us an flight schedule and we're scheduled right now to be flying business class the whole time, so that would be awesome, seeing how the flight to Moscow is something ridiculous like 16 hours or something.

Here's a rough break down of how our trip will be. Click on the map above to enlarge because it shows all of these cities.

Wednesday August 16: Fly from SLC to NYC, then from NYC to Moscow
Arrive in Moscow on the 17th--stay until 18th--fly to Omsk
Stay in Omsk from 18th-21st
Take train (Trans-Siberian Railway) from Omsk to Novosibirsk
Stay in Novosibirsk through 23rd
Take train the night of 23rd to Krasnoyarsk
Stay in Krasnoyarsk until 27th
Travel somehow (train or plane...I don't remember) to St. Petersburg on the 28th
Stay in St. Petersburg until evening of 30th--take train back to Moscow
Leave Moscow on 31st--Fly to NYC, then home to SLC

Yay!! I am so excited! I'm not going to understand a word they say, but I can say "I don't know", "I don't understand Russian", and "Please", "Thank you", "Hello", and "Goodbye", so really, I think I'm set. Adam tells me I probably won't like a whole lot of the food there except for bread and a few other things, so if I'm lucky I'll shed a few pounds while I'm in the motherland as well. Woohoo! JK, I'm sure I'll manage to eat enough of something so I don't drop any of my much needed weight. (HA!)

Ok, well that's our plan for now. We'll see how our reservation making goes today and turn in our visa applications tomorrow. Just a tip for anyone planning to journey on over to Russia in two weeks notice without proper travel documentation...it costs a freakin' ton! Wanna know how much it costs to get a visa overnight for the two of us? Almost a thousand dollars. I guess we bring it on ourselves by being fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of planners in this venture, but oh well.

I'll keep you posted on how things go today. Let me know if any of you have suggestions on MUSTS for things to do in Russia!

A little something to look forward to...

2006-08-07T22:48:00.000-06:00

I received a most wonderful present in the mail the other day. I really can't do it justice with a post alone, so I will hold off until later this week when I can get a picture. Two of you lovely bloggers know exactly what I'm talking about, but for the rest of you (Gina and anyone else who happens to drop by), you will be in sheer suspense for a few more days. Keep checking back, for you never know quite when it will be here, and yes, it's that great, so you don't want to miss it.

I'm back!

2006-08-04T09:47:00.000-06:00

It has been forever since I posted! I have been busy working in Cache Valley and there's a chance that I MIGHT have dropped our laptop (while it was open and it landed flat, face down) a few weeks ago and oddly enough it just hasn't been itself since. Hmm...weird. Anyway, I haven't taken it with me so I don't have any way of posting. But I have some pictures from our boating trip with the fam last week that I hope blogger will let me post so here goes.

Look how cute this boy is!

My cute sister Tara (and half of Larry's face)!

Tara & Travis on the tube.

Josh & Kate--the tubing champions.

Adam & Jakey-Bake in the front of the boat.

Pretty much the cutest little girl ever!

Here's a picture of my mom too (from the next day) because I didn't want to leave her out!

Golf

2006-07-19T15:07:00.000-06:00

If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. ~Horace G. Hutchinson

The font on this post is green---as in golf course green. I've been working in Cache Valley pretty much all summer and so at night, I have nothing to do besides watch TV and workout in the hotel's not-so-fabulous "gym" since there is no Gold's up here. Anyway, yesterday as I was in the office, one of my coworkers asked me if I had my golf clubs up here and asked if I wanted to go play. I felt a little bit weird since he's a man, but he's a good guy and I feel comfortable with him because we've discussed family, religion, and the like. Plus, the guy could be my dad. So we drove to the canyon to Sherwood Hills Golf Course (click on the link!). I drive by it every time I come to and from Logan so I've wanted to play there for a long time, but I've just never gotten around to it. Let me just tell you, it was gorgeous! And, since my coworker had used some of my food trade when he didn't have any, he insisted that he pay for me. Again, that made me feel a little odd, but really, he's not a creepy guy so I didn't care. (oh yeah, and I like free).

We got paired with another twosome and I gotta be honest, I was a little scared because I'm really not very consistant. One day (or should I say, one hole) I'll be shooting really well and the next, it's like it's my first time holding a club. So, of course, on the first tee box, I tee off last because I'm playing from the womens' tees and I hit my ball 20 feet to the right and hit a tree. Yeah, I felt cool. Luckily, they didn't care and one of them even ran and picked up my ball while I hit another shot. Thankfully, it was much better--long, straight, and actually in the middle of the fairway. Yay! It was weird actually playing my own ball because I've only played in scrambles so far this year, but when we were done with our nine holes, I shot a 49! That is really good for me!!! (totally legitimate too--no real cheating even!) And what made it even sweeter was that I beat my coworker and one of the other men! Oh my gosh!!! I was so impressed with myself! And it was totally fun. The weather could not have been better and the whole course is beautiful! Beating two men kind of made it all that much more enjoyable too. Plus, I found more balls than I lost so really, I totally came out ahead.

OH MY GOSH!!!

2006-07-07T10:34:00.000-06:00

Ok, let's just be honest, people..."The Office" on NBC is pretty much one of the funniest TV shows ever. Seriously. It is so freakin' funny!! I can't wait for the next season to start. Probably every one of you should go to their website, which I have conveniently linked for your viewing pleasure. Once you're there, take a gander at the videos. The fake public service announcements are a must. You can also read some of the actors' blogs and all sorts of other way cool, excellent things. Yay!

So Full of Good Advice

2006-07-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

Adam & I went to Idaho this weekend to visit my family. While we were at Katie's house, Adam and I were playing with Alli and teasing each other. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: "Alli, Adam smells funny, huh?"

Alli: "Yeah, Adam does smell funny."

Me: "I think it's because he doesn't shower. He stinks."

Alli: "Uncle Adam, when you get out of the shower... just get right back in."

Funny girl.

She later went on to side with Adam and told me that I am really the one who smells funny, which of course, I didn't find nearly as amusing.

(FYI--Adam really does shower, don't be scared. And for the last time, I DON'T SMELL FUNNY!)

Germophobe?

2006-07-05T21:12:00.000-06:00

Ok, I don't know what is with me lately, but I feel like I am becoming a total germophobe!! And what frightens me even more is that I never used to worry as much about the things I worry about now, so does that mean I was just gross before for not caring? I think it's probably because I'm getting older and I'm starting to become a little smarter, but here is a list of things that totally gross me out lately.

1. Door handles! Bathroom door handles, of course, seem to be the ones that disgust me the most, but even doors and handles that you have to touch in general are making me feel unclean! If I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt or jacket, I totally put my hand inside of it so I don't have to actually touch the apparatus. And if I'm walking through a door behind someone, I use my elbow or foot to keep the door open just so I don't have to touch it. If I do end up touching one, I wipe my hand on my pants right afterwards (like that's really going to help, but I think it makes me feel a little less grossed out).

2. Railings. I didn't really used to think of these as being complete cestpools for bacteria until in college when someone else pointed out to me that they probably hardly ever get cleaned by janatorial staff. I used to use them and enjoy the feeling of safety while walking up or down stairs, but now, I try very hard to keep my balance sans handrail.

3. Toilets! Honestly--seat protectors should be required in all public restrooms, especially the yuckiest ones like at gas stations and convenience stores.

4. Gym Equipment, money, animals, and shopping carts. Need I say more?

I'm totally a hand sanitizer girl now and feel so gross if I've gone more than a couple hours without washing my hands, whether I've come in contact with any of the aforementined items or not. I don't think I'm being unreasonable about anything really; I think it really is just good common sense to want to be as germ-free as possible, but did this transition happen to all of you as you got older or were you like that all along?

"The More You Gnome"

2006-06-28T22:17:00.000-06:00

(This is a research paper I wrote in college in my English 2010 class which focused a lot on creative writing. I thought I'd post it so those of you who don't understand my whole gnome fascination can maybe get a little history. Plus, I like this paper and sometimes run out of things to post so.......here ya go!
I'll post a pic of my gnome later so you can all get a visual of how stinkin' cute he really is.
P.S. Oh yeah, this paper is a little long.)

Ahh the things people are amused by. The vast matter we fondly refer to as happiness can be brought into our individual lives by means that might not be conceivable to others. To some, a hobby might be restoring classic cars or competing in athletic events. Yet, others, such as myself, can find amusement in something as simple as decorative lawn ornamentation.

My fascination with gnomes might have developed when I was about five years old watching “David and the Gnomes” on Nickelodeon in the comfort of my living room in the big brown recliner we had inherited from my grandfather. The little gnomes would work and play and go about their daily activities with happy smiles on their faces, laughter echoing from their small mouths, and noses rubbing to show affection towards one another. I don’t really know what it was, but the idea of little people living in forests grasped my attention and held on pretty tightly.

As I got older, my television habits changed, and odd as it may seem (and I want you to brace yourself), watching Nickelodeon somehow escaped my daily regimen. It was not until last year when I took an Introduction to Folklore class that I was once again reacquainted with my long lost interest. Garden gnomes, which broadly fit under the category of Material Lore, can also be more distinctively classified as yard art, and were thoroughly discussed throughout the course. Learning of these little people was very intriguing to me and the information and fun facts presented seemed like viable stuff to know. This information was actually something I could share with others and I soon realized that if I was impressed by it, the witty remarks I could come up with on my own and the clever knowledge about the history or meanings behind things in their own lawns or the yards of others would highly impress them too.

I revealed my enthusiasm for folklore and the things I was learning when I called home each weekend and talked to my family in Idaho. I expressed to my mother how badly I wanted a garden gnome, and one day when I was home for the summer she said to me, “Kari, I’ve found some of the cutest gnomes! You should go look at them.” So, being the curious thrill seeker I am, I allowed her to take me to Joann Fabric, where I must admit, I was rather surprised to see any gnomes at all, let alone the countless other forms of yard art ranging from ceramic deer and frogs to fountains and plastic pink flamingos.

She walked me over to where the gnomes were located and showed me all the different varieties. It must have been my lucky day too, because they were all 40% off, which to a poor college girl like myself was like an orange tuxedo to Lloyd Christmas! I looked carefully at the entire selection, inspecting each one for any flaws or defects, because quite frankly, this was an important decision and there would be no ordinary gnome for me, thank-you-very-much. I searched the shelves, getting a little skeptical as to whether or not I would really find “the one”, when alas, hidden in the back, there he was-- casually sitting on a fat mushroom atop some resin grass. He wears a dark red cone-shaped hat, which stands about five inches high, perched on his large round ears and bushy white eyebrows. His shirt is blue and his pants a dark honey color. In his right hand, he holds a small fishing pole with a gray fish hanging from the end of his line. His chin rests nonchalantly in his left hand and his white beard extends down to his waist. His little cheeks are rosy red, and some might daringly venture to say he resembles a miniature Santa Claus.

My family thought I was a little odd for buying the gnome when I could have easily spent my money on other things that 20-year-old females would typically prefer to buy, but this gnome was important to me. He would serve as my little friend over the next three months as I moved away from home to Provo, Utah, where I knew no one except my sister, her husband, and their little girl Alli.

I took extra special care of him when I got my car packed and ready to go. He sat carefully in the front seat, partially secured by the automatic seatbelt and maroon interior of my 1989 Toyota Camry. When we arrived in Provo, I showed him to my two-year-old niece who loved him almost as much as I did and would talk to his fish on a daily basis.

From that time on, whenever I made trips back home to Idaho or even to other places, I took him with me. He was a sense of security when I traveled and something funny for me to look forward to seeing. Needless to say, explaining to other people why in the world I even had a garden gnome, let alone traveled with him in my front seat all belted in was quite entertaining as well.

Unknown to most, the practice of yard art is something that is learned through daily interactions and examples, yet hardly ever talked about or formally taught. Though you may look, it would be somewhat difficult to locate a 'how-to' book on strategic placement of garden or lawn gnomes (Thomas 9). That is my favorite thing about them; they are just so versatile.
Garden gnomes originated in Germany in 1883 and are the brainchild of native-born Phillip Griebel. Horst Dinkelacker, author of numerous articles for the Journal of Popular Culture pertaining to garden gnomes, states, “The all-time favorite is the jolly gnome pushing a wheel barrow or engaged in some other meaningful activity, preferably in the garden, or relaxing under the umbrella of his mushroom home (‘klein aber mein’- small but mine)”. In Europe, fishing gnomes, such as mine, remain the largest selling version, despite the large assortment available.

When Griebel invented his garden versions of gnomes, he carried with him the same historical ideology that Carol Rose points out in her book Spirits, Fairies, Gnomes, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia of the Little People. She writes, “In Teutonic mythology, gnomes resembled dwarfs in that they were small, stocky beings who invariably appeared like old men. They dwelt in the earth and were able to disappear into the ground or trees. They were industriously occupied within mines and were supposed to be guardians of treasure” (14). My gnome (who does not have a name and is most often referred to by me as ‘my little friend’) does have features of an old man, but underneath the white beard and bushy eyebrows, his face looks relatively young and wrinkle free.

Gender roles play a large part in the looks, physique, and clothing of garden gnomes. Males are dressed appropriately for outdoor activities and play, while females are not at all dressed for sports or activities, and when they are shown doing something questionably “tomboyish”, like swinging for example, they are often dressed in frilly dresses, as not to question their femininity (“Naked Barbies” 84).

Gnomes typically wear brightly colored hats, usually pointed or cone shaped, and the sizes, colors, and dimensions vary dramatically from gnome to gnome, as does the popular consensus. There are several Internet sites dedicated not only to the liking of gnomes, but to the killing, freeing, and decapitation of gnomes (not in any way related!).

Throughout their lives, gnomes have found themselves to be the topic of some pretty heated debates. One dispute lies in the gnome production industry itself and the contention that was brought about when Germany’s neighboring country Poland began to mass produce replicas of the German originals at a fraction of the cost. Nowa Sol, a town in Poland of merely 43,000, is home to 200 gnome producing factories, which operate around the clock and bring gnome fanatics in by the dozens to purchase and smuggle the illegal (and less costly) imitations back to Deutschland (Husarska 10). It seems strange that such an insatiable demand exists in a country that does not even buy gnomes, but uses them only as a source of income.

Another interesting debate is the freeing of gnomes. Many groups are out to “liberate the oppressed gnomes” from their so-called captors. Some individuals take it upon themselves to free garden gnomes everywhere and practice “gnome-napping”, which is relatively harmless to the gnomes, but saddening to gnome owners. In 2002, ESPN used what is known as “the traveling gnome” as the theme for one of their advertisements (“Naked Barbies” 90). This theme has also continued over to Travelocity, who possibly owns the country's most famous travelling gnome known to date. The traveling gnome is usually a pilfered gnome (often taken by one who hopes to release the endangered and sheltered soul), who sends home post cards and photographs of his travels to let the owner know what a great time he is having and possibly make them realize the gnome is better off experiencing life than stuck in a flower bed in their front yard. Gnome owners are usually not at all pleased when they realize their gnome has been taken, but have a hard time not enjoying the mail that comes, courtesy of said liberators.

On the other hand, there are some who do not believe in protection; rather they prey on the unassuming characters. While researching, I came across a website, “Die Screaming with Sharp Things in Your Head”, that not only displays pictures of maimed garden gnomes, but also encourages others to participate in the brutality. The website quotes one Mr. GnomeMaker: “If you see a Garden Gnome, pick it up and take it home. Make sure it is really dead; stick something sharp into its head”.

I don’t think it matters what we like or the things that make us happy, as long as they serve their purpose, small as it might be. Due to common courtesy, I would highly encourage the halt of gnome-related fatalities and incidents and believe all gnomes would be safe if people did not take it upon themselves to destroy the happiness of others.

I have yet to name my gnome, so I still just refer to him as my little friend, but he now sits on my desk in my room on a green “grass” doormat with a daisy in the lower left hand corner and a vibrant, flowery calendar behind him. He doesn’t travel with me much anymore, nor do I intend to put him outside unattended so that he may be gnome-napped and embark on journeys with strange liberators, but he makes me happy when I look at him. I am excited and diligently looking to add to my collection in the future so that he, too, might have someone to call his little friend.