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I've Come to Smell Your Vax! Ah ah ah!

Okay, so I'm not too into the whole Halloween holiday. I don't know what it is but something about creepy characters wandering around in the dark and begging for candy sort of strikes me as sick in a way.

Now, if you've been following along you'll know that last year for Halloween, the hubby and I threw a party and that helped me to get into the whole Halloween vibe. This year we had my siblings over one night, but what really got me going for the holiday was the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. Having never seen it and having an amazing ability to be able to recall songs and quotes from movies, I've been singing songs like "This is Halloween" and "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" for the past two weeks!

Well Halloween rolled around and I thought that hey, why not? I'd dress up! What sparked the whole idea? When I get out of the shower, I comb my short hair back while it's still wet so that I can do my make-up. Today I saw my wicked widow's peak and new I was going to be a Vampire!

So I put my concealer, which is significantly lighter than my skin, all over my face, blending really well around my neck and jaw. Then instead of using my normal powder, I used a white satin-finished eyeshadow and set my foundation with that. I took a deep maroon eyeshadow and did a deep crease on my eyelids, again blending it out. Then I took a black eyeshadow and I put that under my eyes and in the hollows of my cheeks to create the illusion of dramatic dark circles and a sunken-in face. To finish it off, I put dark red lipstick on and then put more black eyeshadow in the corners of my mouth to give it more of a sinister look. I gelled my hair back and donned some creepy skeleton earrings and a black robe. Taking a step back, I was ready to meet the masses, or at least drink their blood.

I got to work and for those of you that don't know, I work for my in-laws at a candle company. We make wickless candle warmers and waxes (yes, it's a mouthful) for Walmarts and Hobby Lobby stores nationwide. I run the little Outlet Store at the factory where customers can come in and buy our stuff for really cheap. It's fun because I get to interact with people and it's a really good creative outlet for me seeings how I have to decorate and all.

Well, my husband came down into the store to find me and I watched him look at me, look away, and then do a total double take.

"Genny...?" he said. Yup. My own husband at first glance didn't even recognize me!

So I thought I was so into the holiday this year. I go home and shower to get all the gunk off my face before I start to break-out. As I'm finishing up in the bathroom, there's a ring at the door.

"Trick-or-Treat!" hails my ears and that's when I remember we forgot to buy candy! Epic fail.

Two for TV and TV for Two

My husband paid rent today and on his way to the office, an ad on the community cork board caught his eye:

42" Plasma TV For Sale!

 Price $200

Our current TV is a dinosaur and weighs about as much! It was made in 1990 and was used in my husband's sisters' bedroom for a long time. When we got married they gave it to us, which was very sweet.

It definitely had it's quirks as TV's go: you would have to turn it on multiple times before the screen would be in color, not to mention turn up the sound so you couldn't hear the loud buzzing!

It didn't take much convincing on Jefferson's part before I gave in to the idea of having a nice TV. He even said it could be his birthday present this year and I wasn't about to turn that down!

After we picked it up and got it home and hooked it all up, we put in a movie and all I have to say is "Well hello plasma TV! You gorgeous hunk of 42 inch-ness, you!"

The Kimber Chronicles: Toby and the Toilet Trauma

As mentioned before, the hubby and I have been trying to find our puppy a friend/sibling. In other words, another pet who could be with her all day long, love to play and just keep her happy. We tried a kitten (that didn't work) and were still stumped as to what to do.

Well, yesterday being close to Halloween and all, we decided to have my siblings over to watch the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. My siblings, not having any pets of their own, love our doggie, and Kimber loves them too, especially my brother Stevie. She loves to jump and play (with Stevie especially) and when we take her to my parents house, she rolls around in the grass/mud and just loves to be outside.

So they were all having a good time, especially after I showed up with the pizza (funny story about that, it being a weekend and all, Little Caesers was packed. I should've known to avoid the wait when a guy, walking out right as I was walking in said, "hot and ready my..." yeah, the wait was long.). Kimber, being the puppy that she is, really needed to go potty after a while because she was that excited, so Jefferson took her.

When he came back, he brought a visitor with him. Introducing Toby. Toby was a four year old basset hound who originally belonged to our downstairs neighbor. While Kimber had been doing her business, Jefferson and the neighbor had been talking. He was a workaholic who was never home to spend time with his dog and was willing to give him up for free. If we didn't like him, we were more than welcome to bring him back and he'd try again with someone else.

Knowing we were wanting to find Kimber a buddy, Jefferson jumped at the chance and so, with all my siblings there as witnesses, Jefferson brought him home.

There was only one problem: Toby was terrified of Kimber. I don't know what it is about our puppy, but she's like the awkward kid on the playground who wants so badly to have friends but is so overbearing with love and attention that none of the other kids want to play with her. It's sad, but true.

Also, Toby being four years old and left alone for most of the day had developed some pretty bad habits. (Did I say there was only one problem?) For example, he practically lived on his owner's couch. Our puppy is not allowed on the couch because it's our only good piece of furniture that we actually paid for and weren't given as a wedding present.

Toby's first destination upon coming into the house was to jump up on the couch in his attempt to get as far away from our puppy as possible. That landed his stinkyness in its entirety right in my lap and he's a heavy dog!

Anyway, we decided to make the best of it and that night we put both doggies in the bathroom together. Toby saw the bathtub and beelined for it, seeing it's wall as a safe haven from the hyperactive puppy. Kimber, knowing that the tub meant bathtime, stayed as far away from it as possible.

Last night was one of the longest of our life. Kimber was whining the whole time because Toby wouldn't let her be friends and Toby kept howling (basset hounds are notorious for that, by the way) because she was trying to invade his space.

Flash forward to this morning. Jefferson gets up to use the restroom and hurries back to me, shaking me awake and saying the toilet is leaking.

Wha...? How did that happen?

As we were driving to Walmart to get the right size wrench, this is what we figure happened: Kimber at some point last night had tried to get into the tub to snuggles with Toby (she's a very snuggly puppy) and he, seeing her imminent approach, made an attempt to clamber on top of the toilet tank, knocking it partway over, loosening the bolts and spraying water everywhere.

It was an easy fix, and a box of Krispy Kremes (What? It's on the way to Walmart. Don't judge me.) for breakfast helped to smooth things over.

But, you may be wondering what happened to Toby after all of that? Well, this morning, as we were trying to get dressed for the day, Toby knocked over the pizza boxes from last night and started in on any leftover scraps. I caught him doing it, gave his snout a little smack and told him no. When he did it again, I went in to administer the same punishment and he bared his teeth and growled at me. I'm sorry to say that due to that instance, Toby is no longer with us.

The Kimber Chronicles: Scaredy Cat

Jefferson's sisters have a cat. Actually, they have several cats, but for a while they had one cat that wasn't fixed and was a kitten-making machine. This particular cat's name is Cloudy and that describes her perfectly: a cranky little cloud-storm.

Well, for a while they were trying to breed her, but being the cranky brat that she is, an arranged marriage wasn't doing too much for her. Finally, after much frustration, the girls decided to just let her be an outside cat and voila!

Kittens were the inevitable result of said promiscuity, but because they weren't pure-bred they weren't worth any money and the girls were having a hard time getting rid of the (yes, there was more than one) second litter.So much so in fact that one day they brought the latest batch to my work and tried to pawn them off on unsuspecting customers. (Don't even get me started on that! I just think it's funny that Jefferson and I got in trouble for bringing our house-trained puppy into work after hours but the girls could pawn kittens during business hours...but I won't get too into that can of worms. Trust me, it's not pretty.)

Anyways, our puppy Kimber had been so lonely for the past few months, howling and whimpering whenever we were gone and it was so sad. When the girls saw that they weren't going to get rid of their kittens at my store, they turned on me and started in!

Well, the puppy could use a friend...okay, why not?

So I called the hubster and he fought so hard against the idea, him being allergic to cats and all, but after I promised to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't go in the bedroom, we decided to try it.

Yeah....what were we thinking? (This is where Jefferson would pipe in and say," We? Oh no, that was you!")

Our puppy is big...okay, really big, and the kitten was so little. We keep Kimber barricaded in the kitchen during the day, a) so she won't get into things she's not supposed to, and b) if she has an accident, it's easier to clean up that way. The kitty didn't like that. She clambered over two baby barricades (about four feet tall) and hid under the couch. Kimber loved the kitty, wanting to maul and lick her and play, but being so big, she played rather rough and the kitty wasn't having any of that. either.

To make a long story short, the kitty lasted a day, and even then not 24 hours. Jefferson's dad had told us all sales were final and that if things didn't work out with her, we'd have to deal with it. Lucky for us though, a lady saw the ad online for the kittens and called. By then, they'd gotten rid of all the other ones, but they called us up and asked how things were going. We were only too grateful to wash our hands of all things kitty-cat.

Lesson learned.

The Many Adventures of Genny and Jefferson in: A Penny for Your Thoughts

Ever wondered what to do with all that spare change lying around? I mean, seriously, you go anywhere and pay with cash and unless you have the exact amount, you're gonna wind up with spare change. And it clutters up your wallet, it clutters up your underwear drawers, given enough time even the stoutest of piggy banks cannot contain it. So what do you do with it?

When Jefferson and I were married, we brought quite a considerable dowry in spare change to the table.

One day, after unsucessfully trying to fit a new batch of coins into our already bulging banks, we decided to see exactly how much coinage we had acquired. The count: $33.00. $33.00 had been sitting around taking up space on our shelves.

$33.00 can get you quite a few things: a bike helmet, blue ray movie, 5 dog collars, lots of candy, an ugly sweater, a new bra (not a Victoria Secret one), 3 plain white t-shirts, at least 6 things at Deseret Industries, a cat, a Black Friday deal for a bicycle in the children's section at Walmart, a paint set, an armchair at Ikea, and three hefty bags of potatoes.

What did we decide to buy? Two movie tickets to the dollar theatre, goodies for the show at Dollar Tree, and then a nice dinner out at Olive Garden. Win.

And being the goofs we are, we didn't exchange the coins, but counted them out into baggies, each baggie containing a dollar. The best part? When we gave our waiter the bags of coins. The look on his face was priceless. But even better than that? When he came back with our reciept and asked us if we wanted our change. Double win.

We gave him a pretty nice tip, in cash, for being such a good sport!

The Many Adventures of Genny and Jefferson in: The Dinner and a Movie Mystery

What do Kung-fu Panda (aka-Panda Express), Jamba Juice, a birthday bag, and the movie theater all have in common?

Well one fine day, Jefferson and I went and bought movie tickets (I don't even remember what movie we were going to go see, but that's besides the point). We were both starving, and knowing that the previews take up at least 15 minutes, we decided to make a quick detour to Kung-fu Panda (ever since that movie came out, I have always called Panda Express Kung-fu Panda. I don't know, the name just stuck). But we couldn't just go to Panda and not get a drink, so we stopped at Jamba, too.

Now the real dilemma: how to get all this food into the theater without getting caught. Dollar Tree is a wonderful place. We bought a huge birthday bag and some tissue paper, and while Jefferson drove us back to the theater, I stuffed that birthday bag full!

Crunch time. We were waiting in line to have our movie tickets checked, when we saw who was doing to checking: the Manager of the establishment! Ahh!

Don't panic, just play it off, I thought. Jefferson and I had already discussed what to do in the event that we were stopped/questioned about the contents of our birthday bag.

"Hi, how are you folks doing tonight?" asked Manager Man.
"Great, thanks" said Jefferson.
"You don't happen to have any outside food or drink in that bag, do you?"
Now was my leading role: "Of course not!" I said with a disdaining look on my face.
"Actually," Jefferson said, "It's my wife's birthday today."
Just like in rehearsals people: "And he won't even give me any hints." I reinforced that last statement with a playful elbow to the ribs.
"Yeah, it's been driving her crazy all day," Jefferson added.
"Okay, theatre 5 is on the left, you folks have a good night," Mananger Man said.

And just like that we were in! Afterwards, we even had the audacity to throw our trash into one of the theatre garbage cans! Muaahaha! We win!

The Cake Incident

Jefferson and I went grocery shopping with our newfound moneys the other day.

Let me just preface the rest of this story by saying that we were both so gosh darn tired, it being close to 9 o'clock at night and all, so bear with the stupidity a moment.

Jefferson was coming home from class and he asked me to write out a grocery list for us. I've gotten pretty good at that, even keeping a mental tab on what we already have and then picking a menu that uses mostly things we have on hand.

Jefferson then picked me up and we went to Smith's. Now just having gotten a fresh supply of moolah, we didn't want to blow it all on groceries (not that we would ever do that, but gosh! groceries have gotten so expensive!) so I had planned a menu involving a lot of casseroles, homemade bread (yes, I know how to make bread...so what if I use a breadmachine? That's besides the point. :) and one dessert that would last us a week or two: A Better-Than-That's-What-She-Said Cake.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was over the gooey, caramely goodness that is this cake! I was so looking forward to cutting into the mouthwatering confection and taking a big bite of heavenly scrumptiousness that I was drooling just thinking about getting the groceries for this bad boy.

Then Jefferson saw them: the chocolate-covered chocolate cake doughnuts. I knew those were going to find their way into our cart (call it my feminine intuition, but let's just say I know that look in my hubby's eye) and I held my tongue. What can I say? My hubsand likes his doughnuts.

As we neared the end of our grocery list, the last few things were for my Better-Than-(...you know the rest) Cake, when Jefferson said, "uhh, honey? I think we have enough groceries for this trip."

"Just a couple more things," I said.

"What are they for?" the million dollar question.

"Cake."

"Well, maybe we should wait on that."

The horns and pitchfork came out at that point. You just don't come between a woman and her cake if you know what's good for you. Apparently, Jefferson doesn't know that.

To make a long story short, we put the doughnuts back (yes, I was a bad wife and brought them up saying if we have enough money for doughnuts, I can have cake) and bought the cake ingredients.

Day Two (yes this lasted more than just the one day):
I got to work and Jefferson had bought breakfast at a nearby gas station: chocolate-covered chocolate cake doughnuts and hot cocoa. Yeah. Okay. I got the message, Mr Subtle.

After work, we swung by Walmart so that I could pick up a few things before going to workout, and while I was grabbing my things, I saw a shelf of doughnuts and I couldn't help buying a dozen. I figure it was a suitable apology, don't you?

The Blessings of Friday

seriously. this was my exact facial expression when I saw our savings account balance.

The past two weeks have been a little tight (well, if we want to get technical, this past entire summer has been tight financially) and Jefferson and I were crossing our fingers and our toes that we wouldn't have any unexpected bills drop on us before our next payday, which was today.

That was until the checks started coming in the mail. First check was from Springville City, returning our deposit of $90.00 or so.

The second was our previous landlords returning our deposit basically the last possible day they could and still be following the lease agreement. That was another $375.00.

By this point, we knew we were going to make it to the end of the week and that was such a relief (Seriously, both credit cards were drawn to the hilt, not to mention the 11 cents we had in our savings) but Jefferson and I both know that this is such a blessing.

Now with money in our account and our bills paid we can sleep easy!

The Baby is Seven....Man I feel old

Quinn,

I remember when you were born. I was thirteen years old and you were all pink and wrinkly. You had chubby cheeks and great bigs rolls on your arms and legs and I loved you as soon as I set eyes on you.

When you got a little bigger, you liked to scoot around the kitchen floor on Mom's pans and pants were not an option, ever. Balloons were your favorite part of your birthday, and you didn't learn how to use a fork until you were three.

Now you're seven. You like legos, the Wii (especially Super Mario Smash Bros Brawl), and you've gotten so big! You can read and write and do all those big boy things, but one thing is still the same: you're still my little brother and I love you.

Have a happy birthday, kiddo!

Book Review #1

Jefferson and I have been reading stories to each other since Christmas, so almost a year now, and we've gone through quite a few books at this point.

I'm huge into reading, always have been. As a matter of fact, when I was in the fifth grade, my teacher was having us do a reading fund raiser.

We were to get our parents/friends/neighbors to donate money based on the number of books we read, so a certain amount per book. I remember being so mad because the rich girls had parents who could afford to give them $20.00 per book, so all they had to read was one book and they were set (as I remember, there was a minimum amount of money that had to be raised per child to be able to go on a field trip of some kind, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details).

My folks have nine kids. There was no way they could spare twenty some odd dollars, so I think I was getting $0.25-0.50 per book (also, the books had to be over a certain number of pages, etc.) Well, I got disqaulified. No, I didn't cheat. I stayed up all night the night before (all night as in past midnight, remember, fifth grade here) trying to get a couple more books read before the due date. I read five books that night. Mrs Meyers thought I was lying.

Anywho, I digress. *ahem* I thought I'd take a minute and go over two books that I've read recently, one with Jefferson, and one that I read all by my little lonesome.

This first book I'm talking about is one that Jefferson and I started in Montana, part of  the Ranger's Apprentice Series, the first book, The Ruins of Gorlan. It totally sucked Jefferson into the plot. After that, I caught him reading it without me, and before I knew it, he was on the second book in the series. Now he's on the seventh. It hasn't even been a month yet.

The story's about an orphan, named Will, who lives at the castle of his fief with all the other wards of the state (aka orphans).

 In their society, when kids reach a certain age, they're apprenticed to Craftmasters based on their skills, etc.

There's a Battleschool that Will really wants to get into because he's heard rumors that his dad was a Knight and he wants to follow in his footsteps. There's only one problem: Will is puny. The Battleschool Master doesn't even give him a second thought. Well, if you don't get chosen to be an apprentice, you're given to local farmers to be a farmhand.

As this thought is going through Will's head, Halt, the fief's Ranger, enters the room and hands the Baron of the fief a note. The Baron dismisses everyone, and Will waits his fate. By the next day, Will is Halt's apprentice.

The rest of the story is Will and Halt bonding, Will learning the skills and trades of a Ranger and it also follows the life of Horace, once Will's bully turned friend. It's a really fun and fast read, which is good because there are ten books in the series. Yeah...I'm on book two, but I would definitely recommend these books to anyone ( I mean, my dad loves 'em. He asked me for a Ranger's Cloak for Halloween one year! Even my 24 year old brother read them and enjoyed the story line and they're great for young teenage boys, too, but I think girls can read them as well!)

Book two is more along the lines of Pride and Prejudice lovers: The Grand Sophy by Georgette Hyer is one of my all time favorite books.

The Grand Sophy was my very first Georgette Heyer book. Since then, I think I've read over thirty of her novels. She is just so witty and clever and I get a kick out of her every single time, which Jefferson doesn't understand. You've read one regency romance, you've read them all, right?

Wrong! Wrong I say!

The Grand Sophy follows the Ombersley family, particularly Charles and Cecillia Rivenhall, a brother and sister who don't see eye to eye.

You see, Cecy fancies herself in love with an aspiring poet named Augustus, whereas her brother Charles insists upon her marrying a very respectable, if not quite as handsome gentleman named Charlbury. (Confused yet?)

Enter Sophy stage right. Sophy is their cousin, whose father is called out of the country on matters of state. Sophy, motherless from a young age, is quite used to handling and managing things on her own. Thrown into the mess at the Ombersley house in Berkley Square and the rest of the novel consists of her setting things all to rights in such a clever way, and with laughs throughout!

I don't think I could emphasize enough times how much I love this book! It's not one of those cheesy cliche romances, and the ending is adorable. I've read it more than I can count, and I'm already planning a re-read soon!

The only thing that makes me sad when I think about The Grand Sophy is that I leant my paperback copy to my sister for a little while when I first got married and she leant it to her friend. Yeah...haven't seen it since, and whenever Bonni asks about it, her friend says she's writing a book report on it. It takes you a year to write a book report?!? I had to buy the digital copy on my kindle, which is fine, but my collection is sadly missing its center piece!

(Looking in retrospect, though, I should never have let my sister borrow my book in the first place, because the very first time I let her borrow a book from me, not only did she drop a wet swimming suit on it and therefore warped all the pages, but she also had to go and get a bloody nose on page 180. Hmmm....yep, I should've known better.)

Raindrops on Roses, Etc.

I'm simply remembering my favorite things today:

--falling leaves, in all their rust, gold and ruby splendor

--brisk breezes, the kind that lifts your hair off your scalp and lets you see your breath

 

--clean sheets. I love the feeling of clean sheets. If it wasn't nearly impossible to find california king size sheets, I'd change them every day.

--good movies. There's really nothing quite as good as snuggling in with the hubby and a snack for a good movie. (You can always tell when I like a movie these days because I have to eat something to stay awake!)

--finishing a project. That "there-I'm-done-and-it-looks-fabulous" feeling is something I crave. Ever heard of an adrenaline junkie? I'm an accomplishment junkie. What a rush!

--turning the last page in a book. I love reading and lately I've been re-reading a lot of my old favorites and catching up on my "to read" list. There are so many good books out there!

--long walks. Kimber and I go on a walk/hike almost every day and she loves it, which of course makes me enjoy it more, and the best is when Jefferson can come, too! So fun, especially with all the changing leaves and the mountains so close.

The Sticky Sequel

Remember the episode where I accidentally went up to the wrong car and it had sticky notes with cute sayings all over the window?

Well today Jefferson and I met the owners of the other Passat. We were walking out to our car (to go to Mcdonald's and steal the free wifi, I know, so ghetto, right?) when another couple saw Kimber who was following behind us and they oohed and aahed over her, then followed us to the parking lot.

When they turned to their Passat, Jefferson and I looked at each other and Jefferson said, "So you're the guys with the other Passat."

"Yeah," said the guy.

"Hey, didn't you have sticky notes all over your window the other morning?" asked Love.

"Yeah, we did, but we don't know who they're from," said the girl. "We thought that maybe there'd been a mix-up and the owners of the other Passat (aka-Jefferson and I) had accidentally put them on our car instead!"

"That's what we thought!" I said, explaining how at first I'd thought it was my car, then when I realized it wasn't, well, you know what happened.

Turns out, someone had left random notes on their car. So either she has a stalker, or I have a stalker who got the cars mixed up, or someone is just really mixed up and put stickies to their sweetie on the wrong car all together!

Mush!

Jefferson and I recently moved to Provo, UT, to a little apartment complex near the base of Y-Mountain. I was so excited about that simple fact because, during that month when Jefferson was in Asia, I decided to hike Y-mountain at least once a week. Now that I live less than a mile from the trailhead, I want to hike it even more often, and with Kimber, too. My goal is to be able to hike without stopping all the way up, and my dream is to one day be able to run it...but we'll see.

After having officially moved in, I decided it was time to take the puppy up the mountain. Since she was not a fan of her leash at the beginning, I brought a handful of treats and the trek began. That little stinker of a girl! I practiaclly dragged her to the trailhead. We only made it up to the third switchback (there are eleven) and then I dragged her back down and back to our apartment.

It didn't help that every time I would yank on her leash to get her moving, she would make this dramatic and nasty cough sound, like I was strangling her. People hiking along must've thought I was the worst pet owner ever!

Needless to say, I was a little skeptical about trying that hike again, but yesterday, after a weekend full of peanut M&Ms and lounging about, I was beginning to feel guilty, so I leashed Kimber up and we set out...again.

This time, however, Kimber had been stuck inside all day. She's gotton bigger (maybe twice the size she was when we first brought her home) and so the kitchen/entry area has subsequently shrunk, too. She was more than willing to go on a nice long walk, and I was thinking, Gee, this'll be great! I'll hike her til she's tired and then she'll sleep through the night! Wonderful!

Yeah...that's not what happened. Remember how last time, I dragged Kimber up the mountainside? Well this time, she dragged me. She was so curious, sniffing everything, and boy! did she want to see what was at the top of that mountain. We took breaks at each turn, and maybe once or twice in the middle of some of the really long switchbacks, but there was plenty of shade and the air was cool.

Go anywhere with Kimber and you're instantly a celebrity: random people come up to you, ask what breed she is, want to pet her, compliment you on her; the only thing they don't do is ask you for your autograph! This hike was no different and Kimber loved all the attention.

About halfway up, another gentleman was coming down, and he saw how Kimber pulled on her leash, nearly pulling me along with her, and he said, "Just say 'mush', right?" Right. :)

We finally made it to the top, and we took a short break, loving the wind and the view (I mean, the view from our apartment is gorgeous, but there's always something so breath-taking about mountains, isn't there?)

On the way back down, Kimber wanted to run so bad. I was tempted to let her off her leash, but decided instead to run a little ways. Turns out it was really hard on my knees, so I just let her pull on her leash.

At one point, a big group of people were passing us along the trail, and Kimber decided it was the perfect time to use the potty, right in the middle of the trail. Cute Kimber. Cute.

We made it home just before dark, me a dripping puddle, and Kimber was ready to play. What?!? I just hiked your stinky pants up a mountain and now you want to play? What is wrong with you, dog? She just had to be content to lounge at my feet until daddy (Jefferson) got home and would rough-house with her.

Update

I was reading back through my archives and realized that I never posted how we actually got the booth into the house, or for that matter, much about Kimber after that first day.

The Booth: After dragging previous neighbors to our home on several occasions and trying to jam that useless piece of &@#$ through the door, then down the stairs, then back up the stairs, then through the door one more time, putting several scrapes and dents in the walls along the way, Jefferson finally decided to listen to his sweet wifey and cut the &!@% thing in half. We borrowed a jigsaw from my dad, and went to town on that thing! We cut it just enough that we could fold it in half, but not through the cushioning. It still took some wedging, but by some miracle, we managed to get it past the door and into the living room!  All those involved broke out into the Hallelujah chorus, okay, not really, but we were thinking it!

Kimber is such a blessing, if a little stinker at times, in our lives. We absolutely love her to pieces. Not only is she such a good girl, but she is so smart, too! Already, she knows to sit, and she's started to love her leash, putting together that leash and outside are correlated! She loves when Grammy Angie (Jefferson's mom) gives her pig-skin bones, and she adores Mandy, Jefferson's parents' dog. They had such a fun time in Montana, running around, and going on walks together.

One thing, though, because Kimber is so smart, she figured out how to climb over the baby gate that separated the kitchen from the living room, and she soon decided that the living room was her poopy spot. Bad news bears. I had to go and buy another gate and we put them one over the other, which is great for keeping the puppy in her spot, but it's a hindrance when the only walkway to the living room is baracaded so high that I can't get over it either. But that first day of double high baracade, Jefferson came home from work and Kimber had dragged her bed and all her toys and stacked them right up against the gates, like she was trying to build a ladder, or something!

She's growing so fast, too! Already, she can drink from the toilet (yeah, not my favorite watering hole. I didn't buy her a cute water bowl for nothing, but apparently, the toilet water tastes better for some reason.) and my eight year old brother, Stephen, is petrified of her. Okay, lets think that one through: Kimber-30lbs vs Stephen-130lbs and somehow Kimber wins. How does that work?

Occasionally, she still has messes, but she's started to sleep through the night, until about six am, which is when we need to wake up anyway. When she does have a mess, as soon as you say, "hey", she gives you this look like, oh crap! I've been caught! and then she bolts for the nearest hiding spot. Well, in our 600 sq ft apartment, there aren't many, so she's outta luck and is dragged back to the spot of her oopsies. She's caught on rather quickly.

But we love playing with her. She loves her rope and has become quite good and tug-o-wars. Her ball is fun, but she hasn't quite mastered the concept of fetch, yet. And her Elephant has lost his squeaker, but she loves to have Elephant Wars with Jefferson. She really is such a joy in our lives. We love her to pieces!

Heads Held High, Touch the Sky

You know that old Disney movie, the Rescuers? Well, whenever I hear an announcement about Relief Society, I think of that the song they would sing about the Rescue Aid Society, only I subsitute Relief Society in there instead:

R-E-L-I-E-F, Re-e-lief So-ci-e-ty! Heads held high, touch the sky, you mean everything to me!

This past week, I got an email saying that my new Relief Society (cue song) was having a get-a-way over-nighter at Heber Valley Camp! I talked to Jefferson about it and he thought it was a good idea for me to go and meet some of the women in our ward.

I rode up with a neighbor, who was also leaving a little later due to work, and we chatted the whole way there. We got there just in time for dinner. I stood in line and grabbed some of the delicious dutch oven shredded meat and corn, then found a spot at a nearby table. I met several ladies, and when I left the table for a moment, they all began to ask my carpool buddy how old I was.

Now this is something I've never understood. Is it my face? My voice? Something about me just looks/acts young and people usually think I'm seventeen to nineteen years old. Come on! I've been married a year already!

I had to own up in front of all these older women that yes, I am only twenty, and yes, I've been married a year already. Thank you very much. We had a sweet devotional on hope, with the guest speaker being Sister Shirley Tong, Utah's Mother of the Year for 2010. She gave such a sweet talk on hope and loving and learning how to lean on the Lord in all things. What an inspiration!

The next day, after a long night on a wooden board of a bed (literally) we made little foam sun-visors. After trying to be a good sport (some women thought the visors were lame, and to be honest, they were...kinda, but I was determined to participate in everything) and making a visor, I was told how, when I wore the visor, I looked just like a baby with a bonnet. Thanks...I think?

After the visor fiasco, we went to the Challenge Course. The main feature was a large swing, and since the average age of my new Relief Society is at least fifty, this was perfect for all involved. Everyone took one turn on the swing and then it was time for lunch: chicken wraps and fruit. Yum!

After lunch came a sweet testimony meeting. I have moved into such a wonderful ward! Aside from a few pokes at my age, everyone was so sweet, and I love my RS President, Debbie. She sang Mary Poppins songs with me! It was meant to be, I tell ya!

After frantically cleaning to be outta there by two-thirty, we all piled into our respective cars and headed home. What a fun weekend with just the girls! I can't wait to get to know these women so much better!

Awwwwkward

Last night, I just happened to park by a car that looks exactly like mine. I even remember saying to myself, "Now remember where you parked so that tomorrow morning you don't look like an idiot when you're standing in front of the other car trying to unlock it before you realize it's not your car."

This morning, I went outside and walked up to "my" car. There were sticky notes all over the driver's side window that had cute messages on them like, "Don't worry, be happy," and "All you need is love."

Cute! Jefferson went out of his way to put happy thoughts on my window before he went to work this morning, I thought as I was delicately peeling the sticky notes off the window.

Then I hit the unlock button on my keychain and the car next door unlocked. Oh smash. This is not my car. Crap. I glanced over each shoulder, hoping no one had witnessed my stupidity, and then hurriedly slapped all the sticky notes on the door again, in no particular order....so I'm really hoping there wasn't a particular order to begin with (Like it would really suck if they were positioned so that on the other side of the door it would read, "Darling, I Love You," and after I'd gotten ahold of it it said, "You Ruined My Life" even though those two sentences contain different letters and therefore that specific scenario would be impossible, you get the idea.).

I jumped in my car (I mean, seriously, Jefferson and I just got home from a road trip to Montana. If I had just glanced through the door of the other car, I wouldn't have made a mistake at all: they're car was pristine, with nice leather seats and vacuumed carpet. Ours looks like a hurricane full of rabid squirrels blew through it.) and raced to work.

On the way to work I got to wondering: What if Jefferson had made the same mistake I made? What if those really were his sticky notes to me and he just put them on the wrong car? Well, whosever car it is will get a nice stalker-like surprise in that case, and Love and I will get a good laugh.

When I got to work, I asked Jefferson if he had left sticky notes for me on a car. "No," he said, "but I know what you're talking about. Those stickies were there when I left for work and I thought the car was ours, too. I was thinking, 'Whose leaving love notes for my wife?' and then I realized it wasn't even our car."

Well thanks for passing that along, darling dearest heart of mine, I thought. Yeah, I'm still not sure if the giver of the stickies wasn't watching from some secluded spot to see the reaction of his sweetie...I sure hope not.

Road Trip!

Jefferson and I have only had one vacation this summer. You might be thinking, "So?" but last year we had four: our honeymoon, trip to Montana, trip to Missouri, and camping. What with Jefferson being gone for the entire month of June, we were only able to go on an anniversary vacation.

Well, then we decided to follow Jefferson's parents to Montana to visit Grammy and Grandpa Harvey. We couldn't afford to take a week off work, so we decided on Labor Day weekend. Jess, Jefferson's sister, came with us because she had class and so couldn't leave with everyone else.

Jefferson drove the whole way there. We arrived at three am and crashed well into Saturday. Then, while Jefferson and the Gang (including Megan) went pot-gut shooting, the Ladies, Angie, Grammy, Jess, and I, went shopping. With not much money, I was more of a fasion advisor, though Angie and Grammy did both get me a few things (perfume, recipe cards, lipgloss, and Christmas ornaments).

Speaking of Christmas ornaments, Jefferson's family has this tradition where every year each child gets a new Christmas ornament. When we got married, Jefferson brought his box of ornaments with him. I love the idea of theming the ornaments for each child, too (Megan has every cat and kitten ornament you can imagine, and Jefferson's are mostly Santa Claus in different situations). Our first summer in Montana, Angie gave us the cutest Mickey and Minnie Mouse ornament.


We were spending our first Christmas in Roatan, Honduras, so the plane was perfect!

 This year, I saw another adorable Mickey and Minnie ornament and, when I wasn't looking, Angie got it for us!

I love how Minnie is kissing Mickey's face off!
 I do that all the time to Jefferson!

Grammy also gave us two ornaments as well:

This one has a little button and when you push it,
everything comes alive and it starts dancing to the tune of
 Santa Claus is Coming to Town.



The true meaning of Christmas. So precious.

 Now all I have to do is finish my Christmas Tree Quilt so that I'll have somewhere to hang all these pretties this year!


It'll look something like this when it's all finished,
with button holes to thread lights through and buttons on it
to hang the ornaments on!

Anywho, on Sunday, we stayed close to home base, having a nice home-cooked meal and just enjoying each other's company. Then Jefferson and I went on a walk with Kimber.

She was so good in the car all the way there and back. I just held her in my lap and she slept for the most part, which was great until we got there and she was ready to play at three am. Sirry doggie!

It was so cute, though, because while we were walking on this gravel trail, Kimber stepped on a rock funny and let out a loud yelp, then rolled on her back and put her hurt paw to her forhead as if to say, "Oh no! I'm wounded! Puppy down! Puppy down!" After a good belly rub and a treat, she was more than willing to keep walking.

Monday, instead of joining the Gang and going on the annual fishing trip, I went with the Ladies to the mall again. We went to the Estee Lauder Counter and, with a purchase of over thirty dollars you got a free gift. Grammy bought Jess and I both lipsticks and glosses and then we got our free gift. We went to Fuddruckers for lunch, which was delicious, if not too filling. Jess and I were both bulging out of our pants and feeling almost ill from all the food.

Then, after rejoining everyone else, we went to a nearby Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Jess and I hardly ate anything, but it was fun to sit with everyone and be a part of the atmosphere.

We said goodbye's Monday night and then, at 4:30 am on this morning, we headed home. What a whirlwind trip!

Bumble Tumble

Jefferson's parents went out of town yesterday and asked us to spend the night and make sure all the kids got to school okay ("all the kids" more like "the two kids" haha). We brought a change of clothes and Kimber, thinking this would be fun.

It was Jefferson's first day of classes yesterday, not to mention a full day of work on top of that, so needless to say, he was ready for a nice long sleep. Somehow Kimber got it into her head that eleven o'clock at night was a good time to be hyper and noisy and want to play (and this was even after she was a butt the whole time I was trying to give her a walk on her leash. That little girl is so stubborn. She's more than happy to follow you around, but as soon as you snap a leash on her, she drags her feet and whines the whole way.).

By midnight, Jefferson decided maybe it would be a good idea to put her in her kennel. Emphasis on the maybe. She whined and scratched, whimpered and pawed, incessantly: up at 2, 2:30, 3:00, 4:00 am, all spent disciplining, trying to give the poor puppy a crash course in kennel training. She's stoopid sometimes...this was one of those times.

Well, when the alarm went off at 6 am, it woke up Kimber. She started to whimper, so I took a turn and ran her upstairs and outside to go potty.

Let me preface this next part by saying, I have never been stung by a bee in my entire lifetime. I remember once, in the fifth grade, I was on the monkey-bars during recess, hanging upside-down, and a bee flew up my shirt. I didn't so much as breathe for the next however long it was until my friends gave me the all clear. (Thinking retrospectively, it was my friends who told me there was a bee up my shirt in the first place...hmmmm....well, it just goes to show you how seriously I take my bees!)

As I turned around to go up the porch steps and back inside, I felt a prick on the bottom of my foot. The intial prick wasn't too bad, felt sort of like a splinter (have I ever mentioned my ridiculous fear of splinters? The last splinter I had, I was 16, and my dad had to sit on me while my mom extracted the nasty thing. I screamed the whole time. Yeah....no pain tolerance whatsoever.) Then the burning started. It felt like someone was holding a match to the bottom of my foot, times ten.

It also didn't help that I glanced down to see what I'd stepped on and in my contact-less and glesses-less state, saw a blurry black bug-looking thing crawling away. Spider? Scorpion? I had no idea. I hopped up the stairs back into the house and started yelling for Jefferson. At this point I was bawling (I honestly had no idea that bee stings hurt so much! That is until today.)

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Jefferson's Grandpa Harvey is a beekeeper? Jefferson used to work summers at his Grandpa's place in Montana, so he is very well versed in the art of aiding a bee stung individual.

 First he ran outside to see what I had stepped on (I guess "big black blurry bug-looking thingy" wan't discriptive enough. Go figure.) Turns out it was a bee. He then showed me the correct way to extricate a stinger. Did you know, if you pull out a stinger it actually releases more of the venom, which is what makes it burn and swell, into your system? The proper way to get out a stinger is to scratch at it. Suprisingly, scrathcning at a fresh bee sting didn't hurt as bad as it sounded. Then he sopped a paper towel in vinegar and had me dot it on my foot.

After all that, you'd better bet I was awake! I'm just suprised I didn't wake up the hole house with all of my hollering!

Jelly Doughnuts Gross Me Out

Calvin never said truer words. I don't know what it is about Calvin and Hobbes, but Calvin reminds me of different family members in almost every strip. Usually he's a brother, but today, he was totally Jefferson!

Oozing, pussing, slimy, blech. I have never liked Jelly Doughnuts.

That is, until I discovered the Hostess Raspberry-filled powdered doughnuts. (Well, if we want to get techinical, Jefferson discovered them. Yes, he reads my blog and subsequently corrects me if I tell it wrong.) There's no oozing, no guts spilling out the other end, no mouthful of slime. Actually, it looks like a normal powdered doughnut, but hidden inside is a ring of seedless raspberry filling. Yummy!

Well, usually yummy. But not today. And Jefferson made sure of that. It could've been he was a little miffed  because I accidentally dried and so therefore shrank a pair of his favorite jeans (okay the favorite pair of jeans) so they're now too short and too tight on him (but boy do they look fabulous on me!). It could've been the lack of sleep we've been having lately what with the new puppy needing to go potty every couple of hours.

But whatever the reason, this morning, during breakfast, as I was scarfing down my second doughnut, he thought it would be fun to describe bodily functions, and show me pictures online of oozing sores and the like. Gag, gag, and double gag. As Calvin's mom says, "My friends ask me how I stay thin."