This is the RIGHT place!

So most of you know that my friend Andre from Brazil was with us for two weeks. It was interesting having someone live in our house with us and we really enjoyed his company. He told me he felt at home at our house and that is all I would ever want from a guest.

One thing that did come from our visitor is an appreciation from this place we call home. We visited the capitol, temple square, downtown, the great salt lake, park city, most of the olympic venues, the outlet stores, the depot or whatever it is in Ogden, celebrated easter, made snowmen, snow angels, and generally had a good time. Here are some pictures from our tourism:



























Now, I have to tell you that our house looks SO good! I'm so glad I have a parent that does such quality work! The cabinets are being put in and the tile has been laid. We're hoping to move in the first week in May. It will be so nice...

Before and After

Justin and went over to the new house yesterday to meet with the Interior Decorator again. The cabinets were delivered so we took a few new photos. We're still thinking the move in date will be around the 2nd week of May. So... start thinking of vacation destinations you can be so you don't have help us move in!

Wanna know what else is awesome... Chivalry!

Today was one of those days where I was running late from my first appointment and on top of everything... I got a flat tire on my way to pick up a client. I pulled into the nearest gas station and tried to fill it up with air. Whatever I ran over was pretty impressive because the hiss from the hole was louder than the air pump.

So... I needed to change my tire. While I was in the middle of changing the tire a guy walked by on his way back to his car and said "That's pretty awesome -being able to do that (change a tire)" I just looked at him and said, "Yep, it's come in handy on more than one occasion." To which he replied, "Well, it's pretty awesome, a lot of girls couldn't do that."

You know what else is awesome? Offering me a hand. I may be a fully capable female (who changed her tire in UNDER 15 minutes) but you could still offer me a hand.

Thanks for nothing. How's that for being awesome!

*Side note... I can't remember if I listed the many ways that I love Les Schwab... but I've always received great service. Today was no exception. My tire couldn't be repaired, so they replaced it -for free.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday
dear Gordon

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy (post) Easter

I had good intentions to blog yesterday... and it didn't happen. Justin and I decorated Easter Eggs with Andre (Justin's friend from Brazil -that's another post I haven't done yet) and even hid the eggs Sunday morning for Andre to find. Hope you all had a good Easter Sunday!

Double Posts

Before you read this you need to read Justin's post. He always get's mad when I post the same day that he does, because then he says no one reads his. And... given his last post, well... go and read and COMMENT on it.

This was from Andrea -and for any of you that might care, it might make more sense if you go and read her's first -at least the high school one.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
-I was a senior in high school, trying to help my friends get their s@#% together so they could graduate with me.
-I was probably spending a lot of time shopping for my senior cotillion dress and accessories...you know, the super important things in life.
-I was UNpacking up everything Andrea owned so she would NOT move to Germany right after we graduated.
-I was spending most of my free time with Andrea, Shane and Taft...eating corn dogs and orange juice...and bowling.
-This the only original one for me -I was applying for universities, and decided to go to Utah State.

5 things on my to do list
-Pack up my whole house
-Pick up Justin's dry cleaning
-Clean the house so I can pack it up
-Get Justin to go furniture shopping WITH me
-I can't think of anything else... it's the weekend

5 snacks I enjoy
-Raw almonds
-Tortilla chips
-Avocado
-that's all i can think of.

5 places I've lived
-Roy, Utah
-Logan, Utah
-New Zealand (Nelson, Stokes Valley, Flaxmere, Masterton)
-Holladay, Utah
-Soon to be in Midvale Utah

5 things I would do if I became a Billionaire
-Pay off mortgages for family and people I love.
-Quit my job
-Have Justin quit one of his jobs
-Start traveling -New Zealand and Brazil are top of our list
-Take a couple friends to Wendy's for dinner. (haha that's from Andrea too, but I left it)

5 bad habits
-Not calling people back
-Snacking
-Critical of self and others
-Being too sarcastic.
-Speeding

5 jobs I've had
- Theatre concession
-Telemarketing -different companies over the years
-Director of summer camps -Clinton City and Easter Seals
-COPE Director for the Boy Scouts
-Caseworker for the State of Utah

5 things people don't know about me
I got nothing on this one. If you don't know already it's because I haven't figured it out myself, or I don't feel like posting on the internet. I guess I'm just not feeling all that revealing this morning.

Is anyone reading this?

Every time my dear wife Melanie blogs there are comments galore; yet mine are left UN-COMMENTED....have I been banned from the blogosphere!?

A few clicks away

I've been going over to this site for a couple of weeks and I just love it.

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb."

I'm not sure why I find these comics so funny, but I do.

Also... does everyone remember playing MASH? (Or other varieties like MASHO, MATCH, etc)

Well... you can do it online now over here.

It was pretty accurate so far... and it'd be nice if it continues to be the fortune telling tool it was for all of us in Elemtary and Junior High school. (Okay... I won't lie, we did it in high school too)

You will live in Mansion.

You will drive a White Prius.

You will marry Justin and have 4 kids.

You will be a mom in Salt Lake City.

Awareness

Coming Back Isn't Hard With Friends Like These!

So Melanie usually gets most of the blog-time, but I thought I had enough ammunition with these photographs to make it interesting enough for you all to see. As you know we went to the skydiving simluator in Ogden, and here is a picture of the team all geared up. My friend Andre from Brazil says it looks like we are going to the moon:



Our house has also been making much progress, and I have to say after the latest snow storm that I am so grateful to be getting a two-car garage so I don't have to scrape my car off every morning... Here's the happy homeowners to be:



Speaking of the snow storm, Andre had never seen one! Nor had he ever made a snowman. So I in my childish way got us all dressed up (him mostly because this weather was anything but tropical) and we went out to create our new friend, Ji Yeon (watch LOST to understand):



And lastly, one more Happy Birthday to my wife and her brother. You guys are just so cute!!!



:)

Flying High

Well, as 28th birthdays go... this one was pretty good.

We met most of my family and a few friends in Ogden for a quick dinner and some iFly time. They have a wind tunnel/tube that is supposed to be a skydiving simulator. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be and you didn't get the scared/height fear that I would imagine is there when there is an actual jump, but it was prety fun. The video is on it's side and the pictures were pretty hard to get, but here you go.

Just a splash of color

Did you see the new $5 dollar bill?

BORING

I've always thought that US currency has always been so boring... especially after living in New Zealand. Those guys know how to make some colorful and counterfeit resistant bills!

Back to my routine (sort of)

I'll be honest... it felt really good to drive up the gym this morning. I was (and still am) pretty tired, but I am (for good or bad) a creature of habit, and I like my routine. I've missed working out every morning at my gym. We climbed a LOT of stairs, and I hit the El Pulso every other day while on vacation... but I was happy to be back.

How Should You Upgrade Your Workout?

My Result: Gym Junkie

No pain, no gain! From the weight room to the machine room, an independent exerciser like you would be best served by hitting the gym. To some the gym is torture. To you, it's likely to be a safe haven where you can do your thing and blow off steam from a stressful day or those extra calories from last night's decadent dinner.


The gym's got everything to keep a go-getter like you going. Since you probably like doing your own thing, you can put on some headphones, and pedal, lift, or glide your way away from the rest of the world for a while. And if that doesn't get your pulse pounding, you can always take a class. Kudos to you! Keep it up!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=workoutstyleogt&c=50652

More details

It looks like my sister-in-law Shondel is planning on doing a much better recap of our wonderful vacation... so check over there in the next few days!

In the meantime, I do have a few cute clips of my neice Laila

Waiting in line for Immigration

And this one... she's almost got crawling down, for now it's more like a belly flop and some wiggling. BUT... she's pretty smart, if you can't get to the phone... bring the phone to you!

The first step is always the hardest

I hope that's true for starting back at work after our vacation. Justin wouldn't know what I'm talking about yet (he didn't go back today) but today was rough. Luckily... there wasn't any immediate fires, just a few smoldering ones to look into. Not too bad.


I'll post some pics... they're still uploading at the moment. It was great. There were only two times we had to worry about... before lunch, and before dinner. That was it. The rest was laying by the pools, on the beach, playing in the ocean, going out to dinner, a bit of shopping and reading.


I finished a couple of books..





























I'm not quite finished with the Harry Potter book yet. I LOVED The Glass Castle and My Sisters Keeper, I think I'll borrow another one of her's from my mother-in-law.

The trip back wasn't much better than the trip to Mexico. We made it back with our luggage and a very tired and cranky baby! I hope Shondel made it through the night okay!

View Album

Get your own

Winding down...

Yesterday, we went sportfishing on the ocean - no bites, no fish, but Justin sure had a good time (he got horribly sick like on the Little Mermaid when the guy is green and loosing it all overboard).

Today we had HOUR LONG massages on the beach - WOW.

Tomorrow we are going to Sacrament at 9AM, and then on Monday....

...well I don't even want to say what happens Monday...

...maybe we'll just stay.

Don't Mess with Texas

Well... Texas messed with us!

Yesterday started out fine -if you call getting to the airport at 4 am fine. Laila (our 9 month old neice) did AWESOME -even better than the four adults at times.

On route to our layover in Houston our flight needed to be re-routed. Unfortunately, our little plane didn't have enough gas for their extended flight plan. So we landed in San Antonio. And waited... and waited... and waited. They finally found a gate for us to get off the plane -which was so nice! It didn't last long because they had an inbound plane that needed our spot. So, they had us board again (uh, they didn't even check our tickets, so ANYONE could have walked back on -although I'm not sure who would have wanted to). We sat on the plane for another 30 minutes and thankfully got the ground stop lifted! Yeah... we got in a line of 15 or so planes and PATIENTLY waited for our turn to take off.

We made it to Houston. What a mad house -almost every flight coming and going from that airport was late. Luckily for us... our flight going to Mexico was late. Three and a half hours late! Good news for us... bad news for our bags.

We finally made it to Zihuatanejo and our resort and we're HOPING that our bags arrive within the hour.

It's almost noon here, and I'd REALLY like to brush my teeth.

And then put on my swimming suit and start my vacation!

Enjoy the snow!

2:45

I set my alarm for 2:45 am this morning.

I never knew 2:45 existed before.

It does. And it's a good thing we're getting on a plane in 2 hours, because I'm not very fond of 2:45 A. M.