And here's to Christmas

I realized that this is the first time in my life that I have not had a long break for Christmas. I used to think it was a short break when I only got a week and a half, but two days? I guess that's what you get for growing up.

Despite my short time off, we had a wonderful Christmas here in Utah. This will be last year for at least a few years that all of the siblings will be home for Christmas, as my little brother is getting ready to go on a mission soon.

Here are some delightful pictures of the festivities.

My mom made this fireplace guard when I was a wee babe. The other side is Halloween, and nothing makes me think of my childhood more for some reason.

The table set for a feast...and what a feast it was.



Two fatties after the feast on Christmas Eve.


She loved the snow (the little one, not the big one...pretty sure she hated it right along with me).

We all got in some much needed R&R.

The booty on Christmas morning.





Apparently all the excitement caused Nik and Jasi to erupt in spontaneous bloody noses, at the exact same time. Weird.

iPod Touch= Pure Joy.
Apparently TV remote = pure joy as well. Don't worrry, I did actually give him the whole TV, I just wrapped the remote to throw him off the scent.

Matching footie pajamas, classy.

And of course, Temple Sqaure. Beautiful, yet Freezing.

Here's to two

Two Years of wedded bliss (yesterday). We were busy celebrating.

Time sure flies. When i told Chris that we had been married for the length of a mission, he asked "Does that mean we now get an honorable release and we can go home?" Really sweet.

It seems a sin...

To work on the 23rd of December when no one else is here and you have a niece at home who wants to play with you.

Perhaps the stars will align and I can leave early...

Birthday Girl

Yesterday was my birthday. I mostly just wanted to show you the flowers Chris got me and had delivered to my work. He was very proud of himself.


Also, we went to dinner with a couple of peeps.

Christmas tree

Here is my lovely Christmas tree, which brings me great joy every night when I get home from a long day at the office. :)

New things at our house we love...

This is a picture a new couch we bought. We are slowly phasing out all of the "grandma" furniture. (He gets mad when I call it the "ugly" furniture--one man's trash is another man's treasure...blah...blah...blah).

Anyways, come on over, we have plenty of seats! I tried to post a picture of my Christmas tree because it is rockin' but no such luck. I need to figure out how to get back to the old blogger format.

After an exhausting week at work, I am very grateful for a comfy place to sit and relax.

No posts

Some of you may have noticed my lack of posting as of late. That is, the three of you who read this blog.

Anyways, aside form my busyness and lack of interesting things going on in my life, there are weird things going on with my posting window. Has anyone else's format changed and now it is really hard to upload pictures, etc.

I am willing to take any suggestions.

Free Massage

Today we got free massages at work in celbration of Thanksgiving. Not too shabby.

Although, I do feel a little sore now. Is that normal?

Boring

I have to echo Chelsea's post about Novemeber. It must be a boring month all around. So i apologize for my lack of posts, goodness knows i have enough free time, just not enough good ideas.

Here's what we have done in November:

1. Saw "Where the Wild Things Are." I laughed, I cried. That is really not saying much if you knew me, I cry sometimes watching Friends. Really, though, it was good. Made me feel like a kid again.

2. Hate to admit it, but we have been busitng out the Christmas tunes. Don't judge us, we need cheer in our lives.

3. Chris took the Praxis (teacher qualifying test) he thinks he bombed it, I really hope he's wrong.

4. Celebrated my wonderful father's birthday. He turned thirty.....

5. Went to a bridal shower where I was the only person over the age of twenty and married, but it was fun noneltheless. It made me feel wise.

6. Found out I am having a nephew born in March. My very first one!

7. Spent a lot of time on the internet dreaming about buying our own home. Someday...

Hopefully something more exciting will happen soon.

I love Fridays

Who knew that being able to wear jeans and stay up late would bring me so much joy?

Massage Chair

Check out this little beauty that I found this morning at work. Sometimes I like to just scavenge around and see what kinds of treasures there are here. I guess that makes me a scavenger.

So it was all heaters and back rubs for an hour until I figured out that it actually belongs to the assistant I replaced. She hasn't come to get it yet, and the way I figure it, possession is nine-tenths of the law, right?

p.s. Kindly ignore my dirty desk, I left in a hurry the night before.

Website value

I found this on Noelle's blog, and thought I would see what our blog is worth. I was totally expecting negative dollars and at best $1.

But lo and behold....

hermansce.blogspot.com Estimated Worth $146 USD

Who knew? I'll take it.

Freezing

This is what I saw when I walked out into the living room this morning. You will notice the leggings underneath his shorts, as well as the blanket wrapped around his feet. Think it's time to turn up the heat?

We had to call our landlord to come turn it on finally after like two weeks of freezing to death because he "forgot" it was cold outside. And like the champion that he is, he turned it to like 60 degrees. He also someow set it so that it doesn't come on until like seven in the morning, runs for an hour, and then shuts off until like eleven at night for another hour. So if you are in the house and awake anytime not duirng those two hours of heat, you are out of luck.

Needless to say, we will be giving him a call this weekend.

*The reason our landlord comes to turn on our heat is because there is only one gas meter for all three levels, so he controls it. This does mean we don't pay for it, so I guess there is your silver lining.

FHE

Now Chris and I only hold Family Home Evening about once every quarter (don't judge us...we are trying) but last night was one the lucky Monday nights when we actually had a planned out FHE. Cory can attest to that, as we were "babysitting" him while Karissa was at work and thus made him give the lesson.

After the fantastic lesson ( which was the home teaching message), we proceeded to my favorite part of the evening...pumpkin carving!

Might I say, I was very impressed with the way our pumpkin turned out.

Home Sick

What are the odds that you will wake up sick with the flu on Monday morning, four hours before your scheduled flu shot?

If you are me, pretty good.

Kind of Corny

But, oh so cute. This is how the corn from our garden turned out. I guess this is what happes when you have no sunlight in your garden. Everything is mini. Although this corn represents hours of wasted time, I still couldn't help but smile becuase it was so cute.

Happy Birthday

It is kind of belated, since his birthday was on Sunday. But here is a tribute to my wonderful "old"* husband, two days after his 25th birthday. I am not doing the "top 25" list of things I love about him because that makes me want to barf...no offense to anyone.

Two things most people don't know about him, and he will probably kill me for sharing:

1) He always reads comics when he is on the can. Helps to get things flowing apparently.

2) He currently owns six transportation vehicles, only three of which work. He's a tinkerer.

Five awesome things he has done in his 25 years:

1) Marry me--duh.

2) Serve a mssion in Sweden, and attempt to teach me Swedish. It's not sticking so well.

3) Teach at-risk high schoolers for two years. Major props from one teacher to another for this one.

4) Driven a Volkswagen bus across country (almost) twice.

5) Develop an aesome laugh and a permanent smile for everyone around him.

*Chris thinks he is old now. He reckons his life is about halfway over at this point because I will probably drive him to his grave in the next 25 years, so he makes it a point to dress in as much polyester as possible so he can get his fill.

Dirty Laundry

When you wear a white shirt to work and then spill orange juice all down your front at eight-thirty in the morning, your day is pretty much ruined, right?

Not if your boss has a washer/dryer in his private bathroom. Booyah!

One hour later...cleaner shirt than i showed up to work in.

I heart carbs

Yesterday we had an executive committee meeting--I am the offical caterer for this meeting. I dutifully went and got breakfast from Einstein's, however, only one person partook of said breakfast. Thus, one dozen bagels at my disposal.

Now, i love, love, love bagels. So you can imagine my sheer joy at this prospect.

I have subsequently eaten two bagels a day (breakfast and lunch...would probably eat one for dinner if Chris would let me). Mix this with a desk job. Not good. So, those of you who thought I was chubby before--you ain't seen nothing yet.

Lunch

Sometimes when I don't have enough time to go home for lunch, I like to walk around Costco and eat the free samples.

I'm white trash, and I like it.

It's Hammock Time

O
We recently acquired a new hammock, thanks to Brent, Nicole, and the lovely people of El Salvador. We have enjoyed Sunday afternoon naps and such on it. Notice also the lush natural foliage of our backyard. What else could you ask for?

You know you're an adult when..

...seven a.m is sleeping in
...your free time consists of visiting teaching and cleaning your house
...if you don't get to bed by ten thirty, you have a mental breakdown
...going to the gym is a treat
...your boss is on speed dial
...you spend hours a day on the computer writing emails to people about policies and procedures you really have no idea about

When did I become an adult? lame.

Introducing...

....the new executive assistant to the President of Tahitian Noni Intl.....ME!

After seven, yes seven, interviews I was offered the job this morning. It is so nice to finally be able to say my degree has gotten me somewhere. :)

What has unemployment done for you lately?

Thanks for asking. It has given me time to refinish some furniture, which has been on my to-do list for about a year now. Seriously, our dresser has been half sanded down, without any handles for about a year. I lucked out and bought the stain that was on clearance for a dollar because I am cheap, but it turned out that I loved the color, so no harm done.

The dresser started out an ugly piney yellow finish, and the table was really dark with lots of chips and scratches. I forgot to take before pictures. But, trust me, they look better.

Also, for some reason the flash on my camera makes the dresser look lighter than it really is. It is the same color as the table.

Birthday Shout Out!

This little man turns eighteen today! They grow up so fast. It would be distasteful for me to say he is my favorite sibling, so I will just say he is my favorite little brother. With all the wisecracks when he is around, it is nearly impossible to be bored. Happy Birthday Nik!

I think this picture captures the essence of the two men in my life. They had decided to go Christmas caroling together--the dynamic duo.

I love her...

It's true, I do. She is wonderful, and adorable, and hilarious. She is also two--with a vengeance. (We watched Monsters, Inc. four times in a day and a half.) I can't believe she is getting so big. :(
But, I am glad we got to spend some time with her this weekend. :)

56

Yes, that was my bowling score last week; and no, you could never attain that level of performance even if you tried. In case you're wondering, that means I had four frames that were 100% gutter balls. Nevertheless, we still had a blast with Jordan and Kelsey.
Kelsey and I with our matching lime green bowling balls. I thought for sure it would be lucky. Not so much.


No, that is not posed. That's his "bowling face."
We celebrated our high scores afterward with this AMAZING cake Kelsey made.

When nature calls

So today at work, I am getting ready for my last lesson of the day. I am welcoming all the kids when I notice that one little boy is missing. Both of his sisters are there, but they tell me that they don't know where he is. So we start swimming and ten minutes later he runs up, and wouldn't you know that the first words out of his mouth were: "Sorry I'm so late, but I really had to poop." Ha! It totally made my day!

A little bit of that, and A LOT of this...

Yes, a lot of swimming. My life is essentially made up of swimming right now. But let's be honest, my tan is wicked awesome.

p.s. that second picture was from when Chris bic'ed his head, don't judge him too harshly.

I lost my voice.

I just woke up this morning and it was gone. No letter. No note. No apology. It just up and walked out on me. Truth be told, I sort of miss the little guy. So if you see it, I would really like it back. Thanks.

It's a beautiful thing...

When the A/C in your car gets fixed, especially when you are about to lave for Reno. It is a Pioneer Day miracle.

California

A few weeks ago we went to California with my family. We had a great time. We went to Disneyland, the Del Mar Fair, the beach, and a bunch of other wonderful places in San Diego. It was so nice to have a vacation (being a swim teacher is rough). Here are our beautiful selves:

Old Town San Diego. I remember this big tree from field trips as a little kid.

Balboa Park in San Diego.
Love the Fair.



To the untrained eye, this robot we ran in to at the Fair may seem cool or interesting. Trust me, he was terrifying. He was huge and he kept making fun of me (yes, there was a person inside...one with wicked awesome dance moves.)The County Fair really brings out the best in people. Makes me wonder why I have been wasting all my life with organized religion.
It also brings out the red-neck in people. Case in point: turkey races.

My aunt and uncle got this new puppy. She loves me, as you can obviously see.

He also loves me, almost as much as he loves Winnie the Pooh.Waiting in line for Indiana Jones (don't worry, we went on it three times...I think Chris almost wet himself, he loved it so much).
On Indiana Jones...pure joy.

My two favorite men.Boys will be boys. The sign clearly said: "Do not rock the bridge."