Graduation & Utah (HUGE POST)

So, graduation ended well. I wasn't a wreck like i was in December, so that was nice. I sat by some great people at the Banquet. Clean up took a little longer than i planned, but oh well. Got it all in the van and home by about 7:30-ish pm. Kevin came and picked me up, we went home, i changed out of my dress, and we hit the road by 8pm. We got down to my Aunt & Uncle's place by 11:30pm. They were still up so we knocked on the door. We ended up talking with my cousin Kristin & one of her daughters Kaylee till about 1am. That was alot of fun. We couldn't remember the last time we had seen eachother. We are guessing at Carolyn's wedding...which will be 14 years ago this May! Crazy! Well as promised there are lots of pictures to show you. Hope you look now before people tell me to take them down. :)

Saturday morning we spent at my Aunt & Uncle's house hanging with the family. Carolyn & Natalie both left around lunch time to make the drive back to CA. Mom, Dad, Kevin & I went into Salt Lake City. We went to the new conference center, and then around temple square. We saw the new "Joseph Smith" movie and it was amazing! We saw it back in March at the Idaho Falls Temple visitors center but we were watching Charlee and didn't get much out of it. This time it was so powerful! Then we had dinner with the family and then back to the house for a fun game of "Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit - DVD edition". Which apparently Nick ALWAYS wins, well the Brown's won this round! WOO HOO! Let us know when you want a rematch! :) hee hee. That was alot of fun.

Sunday said goodbye to my Aunt & Uncle. Hung out with Mom & Dad for about an hour and then they hit the road to make the drive back to CA as well. We will see them around labor Day again. WOO HOO! We went to Sandy to see our friends the Mazuran's. We've been to their house once back in July 2006. We made it back there by just what we rememebered. Not to shabby, huh? We visited with them for about 3 hours. Man i miss those guys!!! It was fun catching up and seeing what they had done to the house since the last time we were there. We will have to make more trips this summer down there.

Easter dinner was PANDA EXPRESS!!! It was so yummy and WAY filling. Thanks Kevin for taking me there. You are the best! :)

Mom & dad infront of the SLC LDS Temple. They got married there almost 39 years ago!
Flowers on Temple Square at the SLC LDS Temple.
Flowers on Temple Square at the SLC LDS Temple.
Flowers on Temple Square at the SLC LDS Temple with the Hyrum & Joseph Smith Statues in the back ground.
Towers on the SLC LDS Temple. I forgot how "castle" like the temple is. Love it!

Mom & Dad with the grandkids.
SLC LDS Temple.
SLC LDS Temple.
Flowers on Temple Square at the SLC LDS Temple.

Dallin with some dirt on the mouth.
Madison & Dallin.
Carolyn, Michael, Alec, Madison & Derek.
Natalie, Steve, Sam & Dallin.

Steve & Sam "playing football".
Sam & Derek "playing football".
Sam tackling Derek.
Carolyn & her "mini me" Madison.

Day one done...

So day one of Cap & Gown pickup is done. YEAH! We gave out about 600 Caps & gowns. Hopefully the other 575-ish will show up tomorrow and we won't have to worry about people coming saturday morning. Well i guess i won't have to worry because i won't be there on Saturday. WOO HOO!!!! They don't really need me anyway. I'd be in the way. LOL.

Tomorrow is Cap & Gown day #2, along with the banquet and 3 convocations. After the banquet i'm really free to go home. YEAH!!!! Well we will be driving to UT actually.

I'm still at work. I need to print Place Cards for the banquet tomorrow. I better go. Hopefully i survive. ;) hee hee.

See you all on Monday! Hoppy Easter everyone!

Is it Saturday yet???

So, graduation is coming together. I'm a little nervous about getting through it all without freaking out! But i've got great people to help me out. Which is fantastic.

We made our plans to go to UT and stay with my aunt & uncle. Actually we are staying in their RV in the drive way. It's going to be fun. My uncle said he'd have it all ready and leave a light on for us...since we will get in so late on Friday night. Thank you so much. Saves us some $$$.

I am really excited to see my family this weekend! I hope all goes well. This will be the last time i see Natalie & family for awhile. They leave for NC at the end of April. So sad.

My cold...still here. I guess i should probably try to get into the Drs office. Which will probably have to wait till next week. Hopefully it will be gone by then. But it seems that Natalie & the boys are sick, Heather (my cousin) is sick. So i think we will ALL be spreading some germs. LOL.

Changes...

So we don't have to move out of our apartment. They are going to work with us this summer. YEAH!!! Too bad we already have stuff packed into a storage unit. Oh well. Luckily we can get to to all. We went and got the recipe books out. LOL.

Tina & Jared, whom we were going to live with, got the EXCITING news they have been accepted into the Masters program in Nebraska! They will become Cornhusker Fans! They are moving either the first weekend of May or sometime in July. They will find out more information probably today. We are SO excited for them, but sad they will not be around. It's been fun hanging out with them again. It had been a long time!

We are heading to UT Friday night instead of getting up early saturday morning. YEAH! I can't wait to see my family, even if it is just for a day. It's been almost a year since i've seen my sisters and about 7 months since i've seen my parents.

My cold is still around. I don't feel as bad, but still not 100%...i'm guessing 75%. I am hoping & praying i will be 100% by Friday. It's graduation & family time. I don't want to spread my germs too much. : )

Guess that's about it. I'm starving...need to see if Kevin's ready for lunch.

to see a dr. or no...

So this cold is worse than the one i thought it might still be. I've been trying to take just over the counter cold medicine but nothing seems to be breaking through the barrier of "stuff" in my sinuses (sp?). So kevin mentioned maybe i have a sinus infection. His brother Jeff had one when we went out there a few weeks ago. I really hope thats not what i have. But i just don't want to go in and have him say..."nope it's just a cold, nothing we can do to help". So i haven't decided on what to do. Maybe we'll see how i am feeling Monday if it's worth going in. Hopefully i'll be feeling much better by then. Seeing how it's graduation next weekend, our trip to UT to see my family and moving into our friends place till ours is done. It's gonna be CRAZY!

it's back...

So, my cold either went into hiding or this is a new one. But it's kicking my butt. I so want to be home napping, lying around in my PJs. LOL. We went and bought some new cold medicine at lunch time. So far i don't feel much different. Why is it when you are sitting down your nose is stuffy but then you stand up and it's "fine". How random is that?! I don't get it. Kevin was nice and made my lunch for me while i sat in the bean bag. So i'm debating if i want to go to the gym tonight or veg. We'll see how i'm feeling in about 2 hours.

Today's weather has been perfect for staying inside. Cloudy, windy, rainy/trying to snow. Good thing we are at work all day and get to use their heaters instead of using our heat. LOL. We are at only 40 degrees right now. Tomorrow we should hit 47. fun fun.

Cool New Bags

My sister Natalie saw these bags at the OC Swapmeet (Orange County). She bought a diaper bag (which i don't see on the website) but she says it's AWESOME! I'll see it next week when we seet eachother for the day in UT. They are made out of neoprene (you know, wetsuit material)! here is there website...

http://beachcitieshandbags.com/Home_Page.html

My Sign!!

OK, so i got overly eager yesterday. Painted my board before church and then had Tiffany come over at about 8pm last night to help me put on the letters. It's SO EASY and FUN! Thanks Jaclyn for making my letters!!! Thanks Tiff for being "crafty" with me. We think it looks GREAT!!!! So, here is a picture...

Baby Lilia

CONGRATS go out to Craig & Shalece on the arrival of their new daugher (3/21/07). She looks SO much like her dad! Can you believe all that hair?!?

Lilia

Lilia & Big Brother Tyson

Vinyl Sign

A little shout out to Jaclyn Landon. THANK YOU SO MUCH for making my lettering! Jaclyn is starting a home business of making those vinyl lettering that you put on the boards or tiles. I work with her sister Tiffany and she told me about Jaclyn doing this. So i asked her to make me a saying. I just got the letters today! WOO HOO! I'm excited. I'll have to go get a board now. I'll run across the street here in a few minutes to see if they have one. If not i'll go to Lowes this weekend and get some board. I'll take a picture of it when it's done. : )

Furry & Feathery Friends

So at the Studio where Kevin works they have "pet squirrels". They buy peanuts and feed them pretty much 4 days out of the week. They are completely spoiled! Well they have gotten to the point that they will eat out of their hands! So i tried this yesterday and the squirrel was afraid of me. Kevin said it's because i have a "different smell then they are used to". So finally with Kevin by my side the squirrel took the peanut out of my hand, twice! It was awesome! They have too much fun with those little guys.

So, Kevin & I like owls. As you can tell with out "friend" Colonel Sanders. Well, i saw online these shoes. I think they are awesome! Too bad they are out of stock! Dang it. I think they are cool.

P.S. i worked a full day yesterday and today. Thank goodness for modern medicine that takes away head congestion. Though i am REALLY tired today. ugh.

Weekend and now sick

This past weekend we took Friday off to babysit our niece Charlee while Lynn & Shauna attend the wedding of Shauna's sister. I was a little worried that Charlee was going to freak out as soon the they left us alone with her. But it turned out just fine. She was really good. Except for the 15 mins she cried till she feel asleep. Which i couldn't get her to do. She liked sleeping on Kevin. It was really cute. :)

We then drove out to Twin Falls and stayed the night with Jeff & Barbara. We got up saturday and they made us a great breakfast and then we went down into the canyon of the snake river and played on the swings, walked out to the river, played from "baseball" with a wiffle ball & bat. It was alot of fun. Kevin's parents joined us after awhile and they brought us pizza and water. The water for sure was needed. It was about 74 degrees which was WAY HOT compared to what we have been used to lately. Then we went back to Jeff & Barbs and cleaned/organized some of our stuff in their basement. They organized some of their stuff as well. We took one load of stuff back home. Computer boxes mostly, a big rubbermaid with little boxes in it, and then our "old" microwave to give to our friends Tiffany & Donny. They have been married since August and didn't have one. How did they live?!?! LOL. Glad it's gone to a good home. We also attended the reception of Shauna's sister on saturday afternoon.

Jeffrey was feeling a little sick when we were out there and i'm afraid that he might have shared his germs with me. I woke up this morning not feeling all that great. And i still don't feel great. I'm considering taking the afternoon off. We'll see how i feel after lunch.

Saturday Pictures

OK, here are some pictures from this weekend out with Kevin's family.

Kevin in Linda's "smock" making churro's from a box
Our niece Charlee
Making of the churro's
Charlee (again)
Our nephew Karter checking out all the bowling balls
Lynn, Kevin, Jeff (typing everyones names)
Keith, Kevin & Lynn

Weekend in Paul (Burley ID area)

Well, Saturday morning after going to the airport (and Kevin sleeping till 8:45am - before i woke him up) doing 2 loads of laundry, doing dishes, getting the garbage ready to be taken out...we left for Paul (Kevin's parents place) and got there at about 12:15pm. It was a surprise to Doug that all the kids were going to be there and hang out on Saturday. And he was surprised. It was Doug's b-day on Thursday and Linda's on Sunday. So it was fun for both of them to have us all there. We did some family bowling that was alot of fun. We played games, hung out and watched a movie.

I spoke with my parents on Saturday as well and they are planning a trip up here in August (probably)! YEAH!!! That will be fun to have them come up again! When we see them in April we will hopefully (probably) get our BBQ grill from them. We gave it to them when we moved up here, but they don't use it. So we are getting it back. Since in a bit we will actually have a place to put it. YEAH!

I'll probably have some pictures tomorrow to post from the weekend. None of me of course. Since i take most of them (the pictures). LOL.

early morning

No sleeping in for my this saturday morning. I am taking a friend to the airport. Luckily it's only to the Idaho Falls Airport, but i have to be at her house at 5:15am! YIKES! That is way early. But she is a wonderful lady and it's worth it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. We are hoping for some NICE weather. I'd love to be able to be outside.

Panda & Exercise Update

So, i received one email from the Panda Express Corporation. They said they have sent my request to the development office to have a new panda built in BOISE! I wrote them right back saying "Not Boise, that is the other side of the state! We want it in Idaho Falls/Rexburg". I have yet to hear anything back. So who knows. I'll have to email them again I'm sure.

Exercising. We've been doing really good about going to the gym almost every night. Well last night we finally decided to lift weights. OK, so in high school & Jr. College i was in really good shape lifting quite a bit. I'VE BECOME A WIMP!!! It was embarrassing how little i was lifting. So we've decided that lifting will now become part of our workout routine. Hopefully there will be no more flabby arms this summer! I know I'm not going to win our "biggest loser" contest, but i am so grateful that i started doing it, because it's got us going to the gym and feeling really good. Thanks Heather & Gang!

Crazy Crazy

Things have been SO CRAZY at work this past week. That's one of the reason's for no posting for almost a week. I probably shouldn't even be doing it now, but i'm going to anyway. Weather has been pretty good. We did get about 4-5 inches of snow last week, but it's already melted a ton. We are supposed to have some nice weather coming our way again...hitting into the 40s. YEAH!!!! But that could totally change in a heart beat. We will be seeing my family for a day in April. I am WAY excited. i wish it was for longer, but i'll take what i can get.

Panda...yummmmm

OK, so i have been SO CRAVING Panda Express. It's a Chinese fast food place i went to all the time in CA. The nearest ones are in Boise (5 hrs approx) or in Utah (3-4 hrs approx). So i emailed Panda telling them to build one in Rexburg or Idaho Falls. I'll see if they respond. LOL.

http://www.pandaexpress.com/

new treats

We had a game night Friday & Saturday. We could have had a third on Sunday, but we decided to stay home. My dessert on Friday was "Cherry Dump Cake" and it was a HUGE hit. Then Saturday i was looking through a magazine and found some cookies that looked really good. Well i noticed i had everything to make them. So i made them for our get together for Saturday night. They were really good. So i thought i'd share them with everyone. I hope the picture opens up big enough for you to see the recipe. Let me know if it doesn't.

Game Night

Tonight is a monthly game night with our new group of friends (people we met through the Larsen's). Every month it changes houses. I'd be interested when it's our time to host. How are we all going to fit?! I am leaving a bit early from work today, because i need to go make a dessert for tonight. Have a great weekend! See you all Monday!

Moving East

My brother-in-law Steve is in the Marine's. He got his new assignment and they are moving out to North Carolina this summer! They are happy about the move. Natalie loves the East Coast. But with this move means another deployment for Steve. He will be heading back out to Iraq late summer/early fall. I am happy I get to see them before they move. And meet my new little nephew Dallin for the first time come this April, even though he will be almost one. My family is coming up for my Aunt & Uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party in April. yeah!

Busy Night

Last night was pretty busy for us. I ran to the library and checked out a book before picking Kevin up from work. He has changed his work hours now that we are carpooling. So i get there at 5:25 to give him a 5 min "warning". But alas we didn't leave until 5:50. Then it was run home change into our gym clothes, go to the gym, work out (which i was less then motivated), come home, make dinner, take showers, get dressed, go grocery shopping (Walmart & Broulim's), come home put it all away, seperate the hamburger, put that away. We watched the opening of Jay Leno and i stayed up to watch Jamie Pressly (from "My Name Is Earl") and then went to bed. Kevin was in bed reading already. I feel right to sleep when i got into bed. Kevin was nice and warm so i stuck my cold feet on him and he was not to happy about that. LOL. But hey he does it to me. :-) Is it the weekend yet??? I'm tired. LOL.

too personal?

So my sister called me yesterday and mentioned that i am "too personal" on my blog. I've been racking my brain and reading over things to see how i am too personal. But i guess there is a need to be more careful, you never know who reads these things and what they are capible of doing with information. I think i've watched too many "CSI" type shows. Since there are a billion of those on a week and on the only channel we get clearly.

She also mentioned some other friends sites that were more "generic" and "not too personal". Well mine would probably be that way too if i had kids to post pics of and tell stories about, etc... but as of now it's just Kevin & I so that's what i have to talk about.

24 hrs in Island Park

*HUGE NOVEL AHEAD*

So saturday we decided to call Tina & Jared to see if they wanted to come over for dinner & games. So i left them a message. When they called back they said they were actually in Island Park for the weekend at a friends cabin and invited us up there. Kevin had to work today (Monday) and so we didn't know if we should head up. But i told them that if i could find a sub for our primary class we'd come up. Well after seven calls i found a sub. We got up just after they had finished dinner, but they let us eat leftovers. We only knew Tina & Jared and not the other couples/families up there. They were all SO NICE and made us feel so comfortable. It was the family cabin of Jeff & Andrea. They have a little girl Alexia. Then there was also Aaron & Tiffany with their young boys Porter and Ethan. They too were so nice. Kevin & I both said on our drive home yesterday that they everyone was so nice and made us feel part of the group. Neither of us felt like "the outsiders". They all knew eachother from Dance on campus (BYU-Idaho).

Well Saturday night Jeff got out this puzzle that was harder then hard. They stayed up till 1:30am, and it wasn't even (well maybe) half way done. Then once you get it together than you have to find the answer to some story in the actual puzzle. Well Sunday morning they start working on it. When we left at about 6pm Sunday ngiht, the puzzle wasn't even finished, i hope they got it done today.

Kevin went snowmobile riding with Jared right after breakfast. Then Kevin took me when they got back. We FINALLY got to use our new snowboots and pants. They were FANTASTIC!!! Kept us so warm and comfy. In about 20 years when we can afford it, we will TOTALLY buy some snow machine's. It was Awesome!

Well Kevin took me where him and Jared went early, but we decided to turn around in another riders path in the snow. Well to say the least we both got stuck. We got mine unstuck, then i got it re-stuck while trying to get back out to the path facing the right direction. We unstuck it again and then mine was fine. Kevin's on the other hand was WAY stuck! I think it took us about 45-60 mins to get his out. Those things are HEAVY machines, especially since we were sinking into snow up to our waists! And Kevin has long legs so you know it's deep snow. LOL. Finally after about 2 hours we were back at the cabin and telling our adventure to the others. All in all it was a GREAT time and we'd loved it. Thanks Tina, Jared, Jeff, Andrea, Tiffany & Aaron for a very memorable weekend. You guys are great!

Check out some pictures below...

Island Park 2/18/07

Porter ready to go play in the snow.
Alexia smiling her big beautiful smile.
Tina, Kevin & Jeff at the puzzle table.
Tina, Kevin, Jared, Jeff & Andrea at the puzzle table.
Porter, Tiffany & Aaron doing some family bonding out in the snow.

Tina preparing the nights dessert...cheesecake. yummmm.
Me in my new snow boots and pants. boy do i look fat...but i promise that pants are really puffy.
Me doing a drive by around Kevin so he can get a pic of me.

Island Park 2/18/07

Kevin ready for take off.
Off they go!
The outside of the cabin & the snow.

Island Park 2/18/07

Kevin coming out of the cabin walking towards the snow machines in his new snow pants & boots.
Jared getting on his helmet to go riding.
The boys by the snowmachines.

Long Weekend Ahead

So no big plans for the weekend. Though i do want to do ALOT of cleaning. I was noticing the "fur" growing on the ceiling fan blades and that the window blinds could use a good cleaning/dusting. So those are my plans. LOL. fun fun. 3-day weekend of cleaning. Maybe we'll try to hit a movie or something along the way. Oh yes, we NEED to wash the car i got plastered with bird pooh yesterday. nasty!

TGIF!
* see you Tuesday

Happy "Hallmark" Day

That's what one of our student workers said. It's a day for Hallmark to make LOADS of money with everyone buying cards. So we decided we weren't going to buy ANYTHING this Valentine's day. We hand-made our cards for eachother. That always seems to mean more.

Last night Kevin was feeling TERRIBLE. He is fighting a cold and he was just wiped out! So he went to bed around 8pm and Taryn & I made sugar cookies. They turned out GREAT!!! But we have a ton of cookies. It was a 3 hour process of making the dough, rolling it out, cutting out the hearts, cooking them and frosting them. Most of the time was frosting. It was alot of fun. We watched movies while doing it.

Kevin stayed home today from work. Hopefully he will be feeling better by the time i get home tonight. Just gonna watch a movie probably and cuddle in the beanbag...since we don't own a couch. LOL.

* Eliza -- we put in all our info into the program Quicken. It tells us where we spend our money. And we make the decision of "how much are we willing to not spend or spend" in a certain category. Then we just track our progress and see what we need to "fix". That's how we are doing it. But i'm sure there are better ways. LOL.

Budget Meeting

So last night Kevin & I sat down to look at our finances. Not a fun meeting. We use Quicken and it's really cool because you can see all these graphs, charts, lists, etc... of all your spending and income. Kind of depressing at the same time. So we have set a "budget" and we are going to be really strict and write everything down into their categories in a spreadsheet and see how it all goes. Hopefully this will help us alot to see where the money is going and what we need to adjust. So starting today the budget begins. Wish us luck!

Our Weekend

Well, since the computer was back, "we" did alot on it Saturday...after running to Idaho Falls to get some printer ink, stop at Barnes & Noble, and then a trip to Super Walmart.

I did stuff with our address book, so i could print some labels. Kevin messed with iTunes and backed up all our files and such. So now IF something were to happen we have a more up to date version of our files saved. We need to do that more regularly.

I did finish Sarah's baby gift and another blanket (rag quilt) that had been sitting in my "craft basket" for almost a year. LOL. It's nice knowing its finally done. Too bad i have another waiting to be sewn. Sewing it's fine, it's the cutting the edges that suck!

Oh while on the computer i looked through my files and deleted a few things out, but i also found some things. Like our 2005 New Year Resolutions...well they still apply today! So i printed them off again. We are going to sit down tonight and make up a real budget. Yes we've been married 6.5 years and never had a real budget. That should be fun. NOT! But it's really needed.

Oh yes, looks like we are going to be down to ONE car now. Kevin's car (my old car before i started driving his - which my old car is the 1987 honda i grew up in) decided to finally crap out friday night on his drive home. Luckily he was already in our parking lot. We could have NEVER done this in CA, but it's do-able here in ID, but it's going to take some adjusting. Kevin's gonna need to ask his boss to change his work hours. Right now he is 9-6 and i'm 8-5. So hopefully that won't be too much of a battle. Summer will be fine to move his hours back since Kevin rides his bike anyway. So really it's like he needs "Winter" and "Summer" hours.

Oh yes, we woke up and it was snowing this morning. Still continuing to snow. I bet we got about 2-3 inches in 1.5 hours. What happened to our Spring like weather??

Well that was our weekend in a nutshell. Now for another busy week of work and working out.

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Computer Update (again)

Well, we got the computer back already! Kevin & I went and picked it up this morning at the bookstore and took it to the studio. Kevin plugged it in and it works! So glad that we were able to get it fixed and so quickly!

Well it's almost time for the weekend and i am counting down. No big plans, but it will be nice to have a day or two to stay home.

Computer Update

Ok, so Kevin just called. It is only the power source. YEAH! Which means we won't loose anything and it will be fairly "cheap" to fix it ($130). They have to order the part, but they usually have them in stock, so we should have the computer back in 4-7 days...most likely 4-5 days. I don't know what Kevin will do not having the computer over the weekend. Oh well. Maybe we will go use our snow gear! It's beautiful now, but i think we are supposed to get more snow this weekend.

First work trip

So i've never made a trip for work to any sort of "convention". BUT that will soon change. I will spend my birthday (4/30) in DENVER, CO. I've never been, so i'm really excited. Kathy & I will head out on 4/29 and return on 5/1. Sad to leave Kevin behind, but just think of all the art stuff he could get done while i'm gone. I like to bug him alot while he is working. I don't know why but i do. So Eliza Jane we will be in touch, hopefully we could have dinner together one night. : )

* Kevin's computer is currently at the Apple shop on campus. We should know something by noon today. Please pray that it's an easy (cheap) fix and that we won't loose any data on it.

window down

It was SO beautiful this afternoon that i didn't need my jacket and i had the window rolled down in the car while running an errand. I bet we hit about 42 today. FANTASIC!!!

sad sunday

Well Sunday our computer (at home - kevin's mac) decided it didn't want to work anymore. Sunday kevin tried to start it up, and nothing. We are hoping it's just the power button on it has worn out. We hope we don't loose everything on it. We haven't backed up stuff for a couple of months. There is a place on campus that fixes apple computers. So we are going to call and see if they can take a look at it. I joked with Kevin that this is his way of getting an upgrade. Seeing how the computer is about 5 years old. But alas we can't afford an upgrade. So hopefully it will be an easy fix.

Colonel Sanders Products

So, Kevin & I have an Owl. His name is Colonel Sanders. We found him when we lived in CA. He was a decoy Owl on top of our apartment building. Well one day when i was coming home from work i was walking up to the building and saw something on the ground. I went to see what it was and found a decoy owl that had falling off our building (4 stories down into the Parking lot). Well the body was severly damaged but the head was great except for a small crack near his ear. I picked up the head and brought it up stairs to joke with Kevin about it. We decided to keep it and Kevin named him. We joked about taking him places and taking pictures of him. Well, we've done just that. He now travels everywhere with us. He has even been on a cruise to Mexico. He even has his own website. Well, Kevin found this company on line where you can create products with your own design's on them. So we have created some products with Colonel Sanders on them. This weekend Kevin even uploaded a new design. So check it out.

http://www.cafepress.com/colonelsanders

http://www.kevindbrown.com/theowl.html

Crazy

Work has been crazy this week. I've had meetings everyday and there is just "stuff" to get done. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, i only have one meeting, but it's not on campus, so i can get away with wearing pants. The joys of working for the Church, you have to dress up and wear "appropriate hoseiry". Yeah, it's freaking cold outside, i'm wearing tights!

Today is an All Employee Meeting i get to help out. Joy of joys! I will be a microphone carrier. During the question/answer/comment/etc... time i will be walking around section 4 giving the mic to people. fun fun. I just hope i don't screw up! lol. All i need is for President Clark to think i can't handle something as easy as handing a mic to people. LOL.

Kevin & I have been doing good at working out. It's a little frustrating that we'd be on the same settings on the machines and he burns more calorie's than me. But i guess if you weigh more you burn more. It's been really fun going together. He is enjoying it too, i think mostly because the TV channel's are clear and he can watch ESPN. LOL. I can tell a difference in my energy level since we've been going. It's great.

Any whos. That's what is happening here. I better get some more stuff done before i head to lunch and then the meeting.

OH! if anyone remembers me mentioning i wanted to clean my desk. IT LOOKS GREAT! :)

Corn Chowder Recipe

Thanks Kate! You gave this to me awhile ago and we finally made it. It's fantastic!

CORN CHOWDER
1/2 cup Diced bacon
4 Medium potatos, peeled and chopped
1 Medium onion, chopped
2 cups Chicken Broth
3 cups Cream-style corn (2 cans)
2 tsp. salt
2 cups half & half (Kate used fat free)
Black Pepper to taste


Place the bacon in a large pot over med-high heat, and cook till crisp. Drain and crumble, reserving 1-2 Tablespoons of drippings in the pot. Mix potatos and onion in the pot with the crumbled bacon & drippings. Cook & stir for 5 mintues. Pour in the broth, stir in the corn. Season with salt & pepper. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and cover pot. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until potatos are tender. Mix half & half into chowder, heat through. ENJOY!

Errands & Lists

So this weekend was a weekend of Errands & Lists. We both made "to do lists" and we accomplished them. Well i still have one thing on my "dust". UGH! I hate dusting with a passion! I added a few things to Kevin's list, but it did them graciously and without complaint He even did one off my list...mop! He is THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

Taryn & I ran to Idaho Falls so i could get a b-day gift for my co-worker/friend Kathy. We went to JoAnn's and got some material so i could make a Valentine's & St. Patricks day curtains for my front door. They look great i finished them last night. I had a $20 gift card...i have 16 cents left on it. LOL.

Today is a typical Monday morning. Nothing too exciting.

OH! we made Corn Chowder last night for dinner. It was AWESOME! And i made some of my home made rolls. Which i am very proud that i only ate 1.5 rolls last night. Normally i'd eat like 4 or 5 of them easy. LOL. I'll post the recipe for the Chowder. It makes ALOT for 2 people. But a family of 4-6 it would be good, with maybe a little leftover...depending on much your kids eat.

Jackie to the Rescue

So as i mentioned in my previous post, Kevin plays basketball everything Thursday night. He drives down to Rigby and hitches a ride with Eric to Idaho Falls. Well I get my normal call close to midnight came saying "ok i'm on my way home". "OK great, i'll see you soon". Well last night i received a second phone call. Kevin had ran out of gas! Luckily he made it only about 1.5 miles from home. So i threw on some clothes, put my contacts back in, and gave the car like a second to warm up and was on my way. We pushed the car over to the shoulder, the plan was originally to just push it over to Cheveron, but it looked closed. So we pushed the car to the shoulder, drove over to maverick, bought a little gas can, filled it with $3 of gas and drove back to the freeway on ramp, put the gas in the car and we were on our way. I followed him to Maverick again so he can fill up completly and i just topped off my tank, i was going to do it today anyway. So there we were at 1:20am freezing, filling up both cars with gas. So then we got home i took out my contacts and went right to bed. I fell asleep in about 15-20 mins, but i woke up at 4:30am and noticed Kevin wasn't in bed yet. So i go out to the living room, there he is under 3 blankets asleep in the beanbag. So i woke him up and took him to bed. What a night.

Oh, i did make it to the gym barely yesterday. I was so tired after work that i said "if i don't go now, i won't make it." So i went home changed and left for the gym. It was much harder last night then the previous night. But it was good.

Workout Buddy

Since Kevin is FINALLY getting off work on time now a days he has decided to be my workout buddy. I've decided since doing this biggest loser competition if i want to win, i have to hit the gym. Last night was our first night. It was great having Kevin there with me, though with all the students in the gym we were never technically near each other, but it was nice to know he was there supporting me.

Kevin plays basketball every Thursday night, so he is not going with me tonight, but i think i can handle one night a week by myself at the gym.

I thought i was going to be really sore this morning, but i'm not and i actually feel pretty good. I can't wait to go tonight.

Weekend of Games

We had a fun time over at Eric & Rochelle's place on Friday night. We met some great people and had a fun time. We are going to get together with this same group hopefully once a month and play games. We will rotate houses each month. I wonder how 12 people are going to fit into our apartment...should be interesting. LOL.

Then Saturday our friends Tina & Jared came over and we played MORE games. It was alot of fun! I think they were originally calling to just exchange some movies they borrowed, but i talked them into playing. :)

Sunday was good. DC did better, not great but better. So i'm hoping in about 2 months he will be able to sit in his own chair and not running away when there is an open door. LOL. Sharing time is over and done with for another 3-4 months when it will be our turn again. fun fun.

Game Night

Well our friends Eric & Rochelle are having about 5 other couples over tonight for game night. We are one of those lucky couples. Should be interesting, i'm sure we are going to know no one other than Eric & Rochelle. LOL. We were asked to bring a "snack". Well everyone was asked to bring a "snack". Kevin tried clarifying with Rochelle last night but all she said was "not really dessert but snacks". ugh. I need to have something assigned to me. Like..."Jackie please bring chips & salsa" or "Can you bring some drinks?" I hate this open ended stuff.

Also i remembered this morning while i was getting ready for work we have to do Sharing Time in primary on Sunday. Oh joy! So i was looking up stuff on Prayer this morning. Hopefully we can make something out of it. LOL. Oh yes and i was called and asked last night to give a prayer during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. I chose the closing prayer because i know we will be late, we are always late. LOL.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. We'll see you at the start of next week.

Oh and if you are wondering, it's a toasty 20 degrees outside (at 5:20pm) and it feels great! :)

Thanks Nomee

OK, so my friend Naomi mentioned on her Blog that she downloaded this thing on her desktop that will tell her the weather outside at a glance. We are always looking it up here at work, so I thought that would be pretty cool. I downloaded it TWICE! LOL. It's in my tool bar when I open up Explorer and it's also down in the right corner of my screen--you know where it has the time and such. I look at it ALL THE TIME! Thanks a lot Naomi! I've become addicted to knowing how stinking cold it is outside. LOL. Though this morning we were in the POSITIVES!!! First time in a LONG time. We even got some very fluffy snow last night and it's still snowing. You just walk by it and it flies away its so light -- looks really pretty. We are currently a toasty 13 outside.

Inside Weekend

OK, so it was absolutely FREEZING all weekend long. I think the highest we got over the past 3 days was 11 degrees yesterday. We are still in the negatives until about noon everyday. When will it end?! We've entered hell and it's completely frozen over! We literally only left the house when we needed to. Other than that we tried to stay warm. We did go bowling on Saturday with our friends the McDonald's. I won the first game with a score of 118. Calvin was a close second with 113. But the second game, not so good.

Sunday was the first time I met our new sunbeam class. Boy do we have our hands full! Kevin and "I really miss our other boys". I'm sure these ones will "grow up" and be good like our other ones. Give it 6 months. LOL. I held one boy, DC, on my lap the entire time of primary. And yes, that seems to be his name. Kevin asked me at one point is I was "OK". I think he was glad not to have to worry about him; he just dealt with the other 4-5 boys. They all seem to love him and want nothing to do with me. LOL.

Well the official "weigh in" for my "Biggest Loser" competition was yesterday. Wish me luck! Cat, I'll take any training, eating, whatever advice! I need to make a good workout schedule that doesn't just repeat the same thing all the time -- it doesn't work. LOL. I want to loose 25-30 pounds. I know I can do it, I just have to be determined!

in the NEGATIVES

OK, so i love winter and snow. But this morning is just HORRIBLE. When i left for work at 8:30am ( i was totally late) it was NEGATIVE 14 degrees! We are only supposed to get up to about 6-10 degrees as our high. What the heck is up with that?!?! Why did we leave CA for this?! Though summers are fantastic. So, i need to live in CA in the winter and ID in the summer. So needless to say, this weekend we will be inside the whole time!

Biggest Loser

So, i've decided to join my friends in a quest to get in shape. We are starting a competition with a little prize at the end. Check out our "Biggest Loser" blog.

http://toomanyrolls.blogspot.com/

feeling better

Well i am feeling a bit better today. Not nearly coughing as much and don't feel sick to my stomach. But the day is still young. :)

I was SO tired last night that i fell asleep around 8:30 and woke up and made myself go to bed around 11pm. Slept till about 7:10am. Woke up to about 3-4 inches of snow. I really didn't think we were going to get anything cause it's SO COLD, but sure enough it came.

The Mazuran Family found out they are expecting a GIRL in May. YEAH!!! I'm so excited!!! Max & Sam will be great big brothers to protect her. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

ugh!

OK, so I never really get "sick" but this cold/flu thing is kicking my butt! I made it through the day at work barely on Monday. Tuesday was a different story. I felt totally sick to my stomach all morning and then finally I had to leave a conversation I was having to go throw up. So needless to say I went home yesterday. Today, so far so good. I didn't take any sort of pills or medicine this morning. Hoping that my stomach will be fine. No, I'm not pregnant. This is strickly a cold.

Well, my goal is to clear off my desk today. That's been my goal for awhile now. LOL. Lets see if I can get that atleast accomplished today so I feel like I've gotten something done.

Oh! My friend Sarah Maz. should be finding out the gender of their 3rd baby today. I hope it's a girl, but Sarah thinks it's another boy (they have 2 already). Hopefully the baby will cooperate!

Sick

Well, the New Year came and with it came a cold. I was out of the office on Friday and went to the Doctor's. He thought I might have the beginnings of the flu. I think it's just a bad cold. Kevin might be coming down with it now. Oh joy. I hate that colds just get passed around. So, I have been laying around the house for 3 days and made myself come into work today. I'm doing OK. Especially if I don't talk, then I don't cough. It's a good plan.

Yesterday was our first Sunday with our new Sunbeam class of all boys (again). Kevin said it would be alright if we didn't have this new arrival in our ward named DC. Kevin had to literally hold him the entire time. I felt horrible that I wasn't there to help him out. I'm not sure how much help I would have been though. I'd make them all sick so none would be here next week. LOL.

2007 here we are!

I can't believe it's 2007! WOW!

Well, we ended up going to our friend's Calvin & Megan's for games & snacks on New Years Eve. Though Kevin admitted he too would have been fine going to bed as well. We had alot of fun with them though, it was worth it. We have to spend time with Calvin while he is in town, he works for two weeks (in WY) and then is home for a week (in ID). So he isn't home all too often. Their house is BEAUTIFUL!!! They got these great couches for their family room. So soft and comfy. Makes me want a couch bad, we just have two bean bags and a banana chair. We went to bed around 1:30am on Jan 1st. I slept horrible that night and was yup around 7:30am. YUCK! I so wanted to take a nap, but when it was time, I just couldn't fall sleep. Then last night we were over to our friend's the Larsen's to watch the Boise State game. Which was AWESOME!!!! I could not believe it! We were all getting into the game - jumping, oohhhing and ahh-ing. It was alot of fun! Now today we are both back at work. This has been a LONG morning. Thanks Kate for chatting with me. :)

I am starting to get a cold so I am trying to fight it. Good thing I have 11 hours of Comp time I can use before I have to touch my sick/vacation time. So I won't feel bad for leaving early or not coming in later on in the week.

New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR (almost)! I can not believe it's going to be 2007 in a few days. CRAZY!!! I don't know if we really have any plans yet, but i'd rather be sleeping...i'm not big fan in trying to stay up to say i was awake at 12:01 am Jan 1st. LOL.

Whatever you all do, please do so in safety!

See you in the new year!

Books for sale

My sister Natalie is now a consultant for a book company. My 2 year old nephew Sam LOVES the books. Check out the website and make sure you order through Natalie Pederson's website. That way she gets credit for the sale.

Usborne Books Online
www.ubah.com/M2366

THANKS!!!!

Totally White Christmas

Well, Christmas Eve morning we woke up to get ready for church and looked outside to see about 5 inches of beautiful snow freshly on the ground. So we totally had a white Christmas! It was alot of fun. Jeff & Kevin got in some good snow ball fights and they also built a 7 foot snow bear. But it didn't stay too cold that night so he partially melted. So good thing we got some pictures with his parents new digital camera. Hopefully we will get copies. Jeff also "white washed" their mom in the snow.We forgot our camera AGAIN! We forgot over Thanksgiving and then we forgot for Christmas. We are slackers! The roads weren't too bad heading out to Kevin's parents on Christmas Eve. Coming home on the 26th they were beautiful! We totally got spoiled this Christmas. We used some of of Christmas money to go towards bills and then the rest we used to purchase "winter wear". We are now fully equipted to play in the snow. We've got boots, snow pants, and gloves (for me, Kevin already had some). We just need to get Kevin a hat/ear muffs. We woke up this morning to about 1-2 inches of new snow after most of Christmas' snow melted due to rain pretty much all day yesterday.

Kevin enjoyed his day off yesterday. He got some stuff done he wanted and we also made a trip to Idaho Falls in the afternoon (i took the afternoon off). We had our treadmill looked at yesterday because ever since the move we haven't been able to use it. Well a baring is going out in the front roller and the belt was loose. So he tightened up the belt, but we said not to fix the baring because it's gonna be about $300 (parts/labor) to fix it. So we'll use it till it starts to go bad and then give it to DI or somewhere and let someone else buy it & fix it. Still cost $79 to have someone come out to look at it and tighten the belt. What a rip off!

Work is SO quiet this week. I should be able to get alot done, if i could get motivated. :)

White Christmas?!?

OH PLEASE! OH PLEASE! It started lightly snowing last night around 8:30pm. Seems to have lightly snowed all night. We have a nice little layer of snow. It's still trying to snow all day so far. Luckily its below freezing outside, so the snow is like dust. Easily just brushed off the cars, etc... I've been looking on line at the weather checking to see if we will have a white Christmas...looks like we have a good chance we'll have something. YEAH!!! But like everyone keeps telling me "Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change". So, i guess we won't really know until Monday if it will be white.

I hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you get to spend plenty of time with Family and Friends. I miss my family in CA very much. But i hope to see them soon. Please everyone travel safe, as we will try to do on our way to Kevin's parent's house.

Clean Up Begins!

So last night after everything (my part of graduation) was done, i dropped off everything at the office in one big pile. So now the clean up begins. FUN FUN. But i wore jeans today! YEAH!!!

Everything went fairly smooth yesterday, though there were TONS of kids picking up their caps & gowns right was they were lining up to walk in to commencment. So i think our numbers might be off. Which scares me.

The luncheon about killed me yesterday. There were people not on the RSVP list that should have been and so i didn't make placecards for some people, cause i didn't know they were coming. I seriously thought i was going to be sick! Which i didn't eat much yesterday anyway. No breakfast, maybe 1/3 my lunch and then a plain waffle for dinner. I fell asleep around 8pm last night! I was worn out!

Today i'm feeling much better, though i still haven't eaten that much. But i've lost 5 lbs. LOL.

4 Days till Christmas...are you ready?!?! I think i am. For the most part. Gotta get the food we need to bring to Kevin's parent's house. But other than that. I'm good to go.

Just a few more hours...

I have just a few more hours and graduation will be over...until April. But still it's a break! I have alot of nerves today about the Luncheon and getting everything ready for the convocation's tonight. I am feeling totally sick to my stomach. I hate getting nervous! I couldn't even eat my breakfast this morning, but i've had two glasses of 7-up.

I was talking to Natalie on Monday and thanked her for the pictures and i told her how much i think Dallin looks like her. And she told me that our mom pulled out her & my baby pictures and it was a toss up between us who he looks like. My neice Madison looked a bit like my pictures too when she was born, but now she looks SO much like my sister Carolyn. I hope my own kids will look like me, since my sisters kids look like me. :)

We got a package yesterday from my parents and then i picked up our package from my sister Carolyn this morning before they tried to bring it to the apartment again, when we aren' there. I was there just before they opened at 9am, and i was 6th in line and then more people came in after me. The post office has to hate this time of year!

Well, wish me luck in making it through today.

busy busy

I had Cap & Gown pick up for the Graduates today and i have it tomorrow and then we have the Banquet (Luncheon) on wednesday because graduation is all that evening (20th). Man i can't wait till Thursday! Natalie sent me more pictures of the boys. Sam loves to say "CHEESE" now when taking pictures. Dallin is getting much more mobile and can now get toys out of the toy basket. So cute! I hate that i'm missing them. Hopefully i'll see them soon!!! These were taken this morning.

Dallin
Sam

New Pictures

I received some pictures of two of my cute little nephews. So i had to share.

Dallin sure loves to eat his yummy toes! I'm sure we could find some pictures of his mom doing the same thing when she was his age. hee hee. :)
Sam & Dallin sitting cozy in the recliner. Look like good buddies to me. :)

YEAH...ERIK WON!!!!

So, Erik from NY won biggest loser season 3. He started out at 407 and lost 214 pounds!!! He looks AMAZING!!!!! So many people this time around lost more than 100 pounds. It was insane. And we knew that one of the contestants wasn't going to "come back to compete" as one of the final four, and we pretty much thought it wasn't going to be UT, and it was. She ended up getting pregnant like right when she got home, because she announced she was 5 months pregnant! You can check it all out right here... http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/

CONGRATULATIONS ERIK!!!

Final Show of the Season

Tonight is the last night for the "Biggest Loser" I am SO looking forward to this! I know I will totally cry, I always do. LOL. I've gotten much more sensitive as I've gotten older. I SO hope that Erik from NY wins. I've liked him from the beginning. So lets keep our fingers crossed for him.

I wrapped presents last night & this morning for our niece's and nephew's. I'm going to pick up my sister Carolyn's present tomorrow (Thursday) when I am down in Idaho Falls. I need to get their package in the mail. I want it to be early/on time. So, I'll mail it first thing Friday morning.

I can't believe it's 12 days till Christmas. CRAZY!

OH! HAPPY HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY MISS MADISON!!!! So sorry we aren't here to celebrate your birthday and attend your baptism. I can't believe my niece is 8 today. Where has the time gone!

Christmas from the Rupps

Well, Monett was the first person i received a Christmas Picture & "letter" (in an email) from for Christmas. I look forward to getting them every year. I haven't seen Chris & Monett in ages, i can not believe how fast the kids are growing up.

Chris, Monett, Blake (5) & Aubri (3)

Making Changes

While Kevin & I were on our walk last night i told him that i think i just needed to go to the gym right after work. Since i don't seem to be getting up in the morning, plus all the snow/cold and having to warm up the car and scrap off ice i wasn't making it to the gym. So, he said that was fine and he'd go to the gym at another time. I can still go with him, but i think the bulk of my workout will be right after work. I noticed this morning i've gain about 2 more pounds. UGH!!! I am going to see if i can work with a trainer and get a good workout schedule so i'm not always doing the same thing every day.

This weekend we went to see "The Holiday" with Jack Black, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. I liked it alot. It about killed Kevin to watch it. But he made it through it. He survived. Such the chick flick. We went to eat a late lunch at Bajio Mexican resturant by the theater. We won't be eating there again. We both didn't feel well after eating there and kevin said that there food is going downhill in taste.

We also had Kevin's work party Saturday night. That was fun. Ate dinner, played a few short holiday games, did a white elephant gift game, then had dessert, chatted and left.

Woke up this morning to a light covering of snow. We had pretty much melted everything we had prior. but it looks like we should get some sort of snow all week. It would be nice to have a White Christmas.

Get Moving Lazy!

Kevin & I decided that the Monday after Thanksgiving we'd start going to the gym on Campus. With it being about 10 degrees average in the mornings, we haven't been getting up to go. We haven't even gone in the evenings after work. Plus Kevin's never home at a regular time. I guess i need to go by myself. Which defeats the purpose of working out "together". I have been feeling pretty down lately about my apperance and some promises i made to myself & Kevin. I was getting ready for work this morning and put on some jeans that i wore in CA before our move up here and when we first got here and they are tighter then i remember them being. DANG IT!!! So, i guess i just need to be determined to go to the gym every moment i have free and Kevin can join me when he has time. He has gained his cruise weight back that he lost. LOL. I'm glad i'm not the only one gaining.

"Big" plans

Yeah, i have BIG plans for tonight. Making dinner, doing laundry and watching the 2 hour special of "Biggest Loser". I am totally looking forward to it. :)

FUN weekend of trees & visitors

Well we did end up watching our friend's kids for a little bit on Saturday while they attended a concert on campus. It was alot of fun. First they played with toys, then we started a movie and then they were starting to loose interest in it, so i got out the stuff to decorate Sugar Cookies. That was alot of fun. Their oldest Hannah was great by herself. Kevin helped Landon, and then i pretty much did Gracie's for her...seeing how she will be 18 months old at the end of the month. So we got them all nice and sugared up for their drive home. LOL. We chatted for a few minutes and then we drove over to see their house they are purchasing. It's way nice and it will give them plenty of room for the kids to run around and play. We are looking forward to having them around.

Then Jeff & Barbara showed up. We had to run to Walmart to get a medicine dropper thingy for Karter's medicine. Then we ate dinner, decorated cookies, and started some cards, but we noticed that Karter was running a bit of a fever so we ended that so they could take care of him. So off to bed it was. Got up and kevin & I went to church on Sunday. We ate lunch and then off to the woods to cut down our Christmas trees. What an adventure. Kevin & I will need to invest in some true "winter wear". We were in jeans & hiking boots. LOL. Not the best gear to be walking around in knee high plus snow. We had a great time, Karter did fantastic! A little bit of a meltdown near the end, but he is a real trooper! So, i've posted tons of pictures below, so make sure you scroll down. Oh yeah, Barbara got the car stuck a little bit, that was fun doing some pushing to get it free. My friend said without fail they got stuck every year, i didn't think it would happen to us. We were stuck for a whole 15-20 mins maybe. So it was a true adventure. :)

Our tree in our house! We have trimmed a few branches, but we will decorate it tonight.
A happy Karter (with mom Barbara) in a nice warm car after cutting down our trees. The boys were still tying the trees on the car when i took this photo.

Strapping down the trees

Here are some pictures of the guys strapping down our Christmas tree's onto Jeff & Barbara's truck. Once again they are not in the same order as i "asked" them to be. UGH!

Christmas Tree Hunting Cont.

Dang i hate how it puts the pictures in a different order than how i tell them to upload. Well, sorry they are not in order.

Kevin hauling our tree to the car.
Kevin triming a bit off our tree before hauling it.
Kevin hauling the tree.
Kevin just before cutting our tree.
Our tree freshly cut.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Jeff & Karter - Karter was a heavy load to haul in the knee high(plus) snow. Jeff had to sit down for a moment.
Jeff, Barbara & Karter trekking through the snow.
Barbara on the hunt for a Christmas tree.
Another of Jeff sitting in the snow with a very bundled Karter.