Christmas Shenanigans '09

This Christmas was so nice, and pretty much stress free. I got all of my shopping done early, and we stuck to our budget this year! The only hard part about being done so early was that I had the hardest time waiting to actually give Dan his gifts! I was up almost all night Christmas Eve because I was so excited; I felt six years old all over again. I had prepared a little scavenger clue hunt around our house for his main gift. They were quite clever...if you ask me :) I hid the bat well, at the bottom of our linen closet behind some sheets. (thank goodness because Dan confessed he had been searching for it around the house...after he gave me the "no peeking" lecture.)

Introducing The Worth Mayhem 120 aka the green booger. I cannot count how many home runs Dan has hit with this bat. He is very excited to use it this summer! He also got a nice shirt, some shoes, racket ball supplies, softballs, and some Jordan shorts. I was just as equally ecstatic about my gifts. He got me a new Kodak camera that is thinner that my cell phone so I can easily take it anywhere instead of hauling along our nice, but gia-nourmous Fujifilm. It takes awesome pics. I also got a wool coat, a "Taste of Home"cookbook, the last Michael Crichton book, "Pirate Latitudes", and a way cute purse!



After opening our gifts to each other we went to Payson to spend time with our families. Dan's mom makes her famous egg casserole breakfast every Christmas. It is so delicious! We opened gifts, ate lots of yummy food, including a yummy yaki niku lunch, and played ping pong; we also went and saw Sherlock Holmes with Lorin and Sue. Dan's family got a wii for Christmas so we spent a lot of time playing "Smash Brothers" and "Mario Cart"; the wii Sports was also fun! Dan's younger bro Jake got a skateboarding game for his xbox, and Dan had fun playing with him!


Later that night we went to Matt and Cathy's house to exchange gifts. We got a really special present from Matt and Cathy. This picture:

in a nice frame, with each of their testimonies and a neat story. Thank you Cathy for that very thoughtful gift! We draw "pixies" each year, and get that person/family a present instead of getting every sibling in the family a present. This year our pixie was Mandy and Neil. We got them a gift certificate to Los Hermanos because they just had a new baby and if I were a mom of two, I would want a night out with my hubby! Kelee had Dan and me for her pixie. She gave us the cutest Eternal Family picture frame. David came over and it was nice to spend time with family and play with the kiddos.

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

My husband is now 25. He was 22 when we started dating and got married. Now I am 22...that is weird to me. Time seems to fly by. I felt really bad this year because I had to be at school almost all day yesterday, which meant Dan was working during the busiest time of the month in the office all day by himself...on his birthday. After work was not much better, I had to meet with a group to get a presentation ready for one of my classes. It was absolutely the only day we could all meet together. BUT, the evening took a turn for the better when I finally got home! We cooked our own yaki-niku style dinner. It was yummy as usual. Dan opened a few gifts, and then I made him a very pitiful cake...lol I am not much of a cake decorator. Regardless, it tasted great! Happy Birthday Dan! I love you so so much.

Dinner!

The new racket he got from his parents

Dan doesn't get as excited about new clothes as I do for some reason?? :)

My prisoner for the evening :)

Thanksgiving 2009

We were spoiled this year for Thanksgiving... we got three yummy dinners! We celebrated with Matt and Cathy and family on Wednesday night. Dinner was DELICIOUS, and we had a fun playing "Guesstures", and "Imagine-iff". Thursday night we celebrated with Dan's parents and siblings...again DELICIOUS! After dinner we went and saw "Blindside" and played pool/ping pong. Saturday we celebrated with Dan's extended family...a third DELICIOUS dinner. After-wards, we lounged around at his Aunt Mar's house watching the football game and playing cards, and laughing at hilarious family stories. Our week was great, but I will be working my butt off in the gym this week to get rid of all the pie, stuffing, and mashed potatoes I ate! Here are some pics of dinner with the Brickey's:

David and his girlfriend Kim

DJ and Amy holding Tayler

Dan playing Guesstures
Cathy playing Guesstures

Tayler

Dan and Holly playing

I have so much to be thankful for this year. At times, I get caught up in all my wants and desires that I forget just how much I do have and how blessed Dan and I are. Here are a list of the things I am most thankful for at this time (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. My husband, who is the only man who can put up with me :)
2. My job. We have a steady income, free rent, and a flexible schedule so that Dan and I can both go to school.
3. Family, all of them! At times I get frustrated with family affairs, but when it comes down to it, family is who has helped me become the person I am today. They are there for me to lean on, to laugh with, and support me in what I do.
4. Friends. I have the best friends in the world! Many of them are considered family.
5. My health
6. My religion
7. The opportunity i have to go to school.

And many, many more things! These are just a few quick ones that came to mind. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and were able to think about all the things you are thankful for!

Cruel and Unusual Pet Owners

I saw this little outfit at Target for two bucks and couldn't resist....too bad for Yuki. Her reaction went a little like this:

1. Shock and disappointment

2. Anger and annoyance

3. and finally she gives in!

Aren't you glad you're not my pet?! :)

New Moon

When I heard about New Moon, I just knew I had to go see the midnight movie showing. I asked my sister Kelee to go with me because she is an even bigger Twilight fan than I am, and we always have a good time together. I was not sure how early we would need to show up; I am not too keen on the idea of camping out at the theatre all day, but I figured if I was going to see it I want dang good seats, and waiting in line forever would just be part of the experience...at least we got to wait inside!

Kelee and I got there at 7:30. The earliest fanatics showed up at noon.. that's right, noon! We played cards and got to know our neighbors in line. Talked about school, boys, movies, etc. The waiting paid off because we got seats right in the middle of the theatre. Now as for the movie itself, overall I was impressed. It was a huge improvement from Twilight, but Bella still blows. Seriously, she is the worst actress I have even seen. Plus she looked 12 years old in this movie. I gotta say, I was a die hard Edward fan, but Jake has one over a little piece of my heart. For those of you who saw it, what did you think?

"Twilight Junkies"

Halloween Shenanigans

Once upon a time there was a husband and wife who had way too much time on their hands, and a $1.69 face-painting kit. They decided to paint each others faces and begin their own fairy tale story. The wife became a feared, merciless pirate who plundered the seven seas with her ferocious, rabid rabbit from hell. Together they sailed the ocean in search of lost treasure. On their way they defeated many other pirates including Jack Sparrow (with one hand tied behind their backs). They slaughtered the Kraken and roasted him for dinner (wouldn't recommend, not very tasty). And they managed to sink Davy Jones' already underwater ship. They did it all, except for finding the treasure. After many years of searching they realized that the treasure was not actually buried gold, but the true treasure had been there all along, it was the love they shared for each other...And they sailed off into the sunset together in eternal bliss. El fin.

Arrr! You do not wanna mess with this.

Rabbit in the headlights

The rabbit showing just how rabid he can be

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we were feeling the Halloween spirit, so we decided to carve us some jack-o-lanterns. It was fun, and super gooey. I think they turned out really good!

First, we had to clean out all the goo, or in Dan's case eat it

And... viola! Dan's frightening masterpiece


My spooky masterpiece

P.S. Any one have some suggestions for a couples Halloween costume that is cheap and easy to put together???

Dan beat me to it....

...giving birth, that is.

My husband sure is a trooper. His first kidney stone came back in April of this year, and then again in May, June, and July...we spent July 24th in the ER. Things were smooth sailing from July to the beginning of September. He hadn't felt the last one pass, but was sure it was gone because he had been symptom free for a few weeks. One morning Dan woke up to go to the bathroom when all the sudden his "flow" was blocked off, and was replaced by an intense sharp stabbing pain. He knew it was a stone because we could actually feel it in his urethra; it felt like a BB. He could barely urinate, it was more like a drip from a broken faucet.

After a few weeks of this, he realized it wasn't going anywhere so he made an appt. with our family doctor. She told him he could give it another week or so and try to force it out himself; the idea was that by pinching off his urethra when he had to pee until the pressure built up, then releasing it, it would force the stone out. Similar to when you fold a hose in half then release it. Well, unfortunately that did not work either, and he made an appt. with a urologist. The urologist figured that since it was so close to coming out he could go up there with a wire scope, which had a clasp on the end to grab the stone and pull it out. Dan was not put out, and was only given a "local" anesthetic (he was given a shot straight down the middle of his penis). Well this stone was just too stubborn, and too big; hence, that did not work either. They only alternative left was actual surgery.

This morning we went to the Utah Central Surgery center where Dan was admitted. They put him out, which I was grateful for, but let's hope I still feel that way when I see the bill lol! The surgery itself only took about 45 minutes. The stone looked like a cluster of granola. It was as big as my 1/2 k diamond, but overall has cost much more! Dan was a little loopy afterwards, but didn't say anything too embarassing. For the next three days he has a catheter in, and will be pretty doped up, but we are so grateful this stone is finally out, and that there were no complications with his surgery! Now we can take it in and have it tested to see what is causing them!

I have been alive for 8035 days and counting...knock on wood

Today I am officially 22, wow I am getting old. It was a great day, I went to my first class because I had a midterm review, but decided to take the rest of the day off of school and work! Dan let me take a nice nap! Later that night we went phone shopping; my old pink razor and I sure went through a lot together these last four years...but i lost it a few weeks ago so I finally had a good reason to say goodbye! I got a Samsung Gravity 2. It's sweet, but it will take me a while to get used to the keyboard texting.


We also went to dinner at Ruby River (yum!) with some friends, I am not the kind of girl that likes getting sung to by the Restaurant staff...even for free dessert, so I am glad Dan didn't volunteer that information! It was fun to visit with friends (we haven't seen most of you in months)! Thanks guys for celbrating my special day with me lol.

Most of the gang except Shawn and Jana got cut out and Casey was the photographer

Me with my super blonde hair, my hott hubby, and Courtney who must have been playing Pictionary in the background

My entertainment of the night...

...Was a police standoff. It was literally on our curbside. From what we heard the cops talking about, the blue van was refusing to cooperate arrest (not sure why he was pulled over in the first place), and he had a pipe bomb inside. The swat team came into our facility and made the tenants who were back there stay back there, and they shut down our entire road west of the freeway. I am probably the nosiest person alive, and Dan kept warning me to get back in case an explosion caused our windows to burst, but hey, I got a few cool pics. I'm sure in an hour or so we will hear the details on KSL, but until then you can read about it first here :)

One of the officers on our lawn

The driver refused to get out, how scary would it be for both parties!

They brought in this bomb defusing device robot

Masquerade

Last night Dan and I had an AMAZING opportunity to go the the 2009 Lord's and Ladies Masquerade ball. It was hosted at by our boss at his huge property in Lindon. His property is AMAZING... it is a full blown park with a huge Castle in the backyard. It was a charity event, and all the proceeds go to their charity "In Our Own Quiet Way" to build an orphan feeding center in Kenya. We spent about nine hours helping to set up for the event, most of which was spent draping the pavilion ceiling. But it looked AMAZING!

The night started off with a delicious dinner from Carabas. It was some kind of chicken with mushrooms, and it was AMAZING. My new favorite restaurant is going to be Carabas :) Then we had a live auction (Dan and I are way too poor to bid on anything that was up for sale, and it was too bad because they had a river rafting trip, and some really nice paintings that I wanted lol)! Then it was outside for an array of festivities. They had belly dancers, various different dance performers, a fencing demo, your own professional portrait, fire and knife jugglers, and of course a live band with tons of dancing. This entire event was AMAZING! You should all come next year! I wish I had been able to get more pictures of his property/all the events, but, of course, my camera died early on in the night.

P.S. No, amazing is not the only adjective I know, it's just the only one I wanted to use at the moment :)

Waiting for dinner to be served

oh la la

these were live human statues

this entire background is only a portion of the property



fencers, notice the pavilion celing lol

some ballroom dancers

a few of the belly dancers

inside the castle, this is also where our professional pic was taken, I can't wait to get it back, it should be pretty funny!