Sunday, December 28, 2008

1 Year!!!

Wonderful Curtis and Melody Linton, our aunt and uncle on my mom's side gave us this video for our anniversary! What a great gift and well made movie! I had to lower the quality a lot to get it online, but I hope you all enjoy.

Monday, December 22, 2008

December Update

It's been a while since we've updated and since I've read any blogs, but we'll try to catch up during our time off. Jeremy and I are both off of work till next year! Here's what we've been busy doing (not necessarily in order):

1) Weekend yard work. The neighbors helped us rake up our leaves, bury our dog, and trim down our persimmon tree. It was the big trash pick-up in our neighborhood. The junk by our sidewalk was swiped up in literally 5 minutes. Wow.


2) Christmas Tree Lane. We went on the second walking night with Jazzy. It was very crowded.


3) Decorating our house for Christmas. We actually have quite a few decorations that we got as wedding presents last year. No real tree, though. Maybe next year!

4) New recipes. Our favorite right now is pizza bites.


5) Babysitting a family from the Alluvial ward from a Thursday through Sunday. Good extra Christmas money!

6) Friends. We've been trying to catch up with our buddies and actually doing stuff with them, not just wishing we could. We had a blast playing the new game of LIFE with Staci and Marshal Robinson, and their baby Lily.


7) Grandma's grave. We were able to see the new headstone before church when the weather was beautiful on Sunday. It turned out very nicely.


8) Jeremy is still working hard at Decipher. His company gets Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off this week for Christmas and next week for New Years. Jeremy took Monday and Tuesday off for both weeks so we can spend a ton of time together! He definitely deserves some time off after much overtime and even some double-time.


9) I am working as a long-term sub at Garfield Elementary. My class consists of 5 Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I am extremely blessed to have this job till their teacher returns after maternity leave some time around March. The students, interpreters, and staff are so fun and welcoming. This has kept me very busy and tired, and the lack of housework has definitely started to show!


10) Jeremy went to his work Christmas party (unfortunately it was employees only) while I babysat for the Wards. I love their musical trees in the front!


11) Christmas shopping/making/baking. Can't give too much away. And this year we can actually concentrate on Christmas because we're not preoccupied thinking about our wedding!


12) Planning our first year anniversary. Our dream was a cruise but our funds told us otherwise. We were thinking Las Vegas, but now we're leaning towards Magic Mountain on New Years Eve. Who knows? We just hope we have fun!


13) Our ward calling in the nursery, and our ward Christmas party on Saturday.

Well, after listing our activities it doesn't seem like we've done a whole lot, but it sure has felt like it! I probably forgot a few things here and there, but our December sure has been fun and it will just get better! Also, as of yesterday (12/21), I have been an endowed member of the Church for a whole year!

We truly have been blessed. Merry Christmas to all!


Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday!

We had a great day-after-Thanksgiving day. It started at 4:30am getting up to go to Old Navy, which opened at 5. We let Matt cut in line with us, got Jeremy some new pants, and then were out pretty quickly since the men's side was relatively calm. After getting home around 5:30 from our only shopping destination, we (of course) went back to sleep!
At 9:30 we joined the Short family in their 15-passenger van on an excursion to Yosemite. We survived the winding roads, passed through the amazing tunnel, and arrived at the beautiful lookout in the Yosemite Valley.
The giant Sequoia trees were huge!
We ate lunch near a little waterfall and walking trail, but in the van because it was so cold.
We visited the Yosemite Store where it was very difficult to find a bathroom that wasn't closed. On the way out of the valley, we took some pictures at Bridalveil Falls.
It was a beautiful and breathtaking day, yet very tiring. Many naps were taken in the van.

It was super crowded in the park so this may not become a Black Friday tradition, although shopping in the early morning certainly will continue!

Did you get any great deals? What are your day-after-Thanksgiving traditions?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Fall

The leaves on the trees are beautiful this time of year. I have a hard time concentrating while driving sometimes because I am looking at all of the wonderful colors surrounding me.

Our house has a big ginkgo tree in the front. I love it because it reminds me of my old house where we had three ginkgo trees in the front. It also provides nice shade during summer evenings and now is a bright splash of color on our street.




Unfortunately, since it is fall, all those leaves have to come down. That means raking. (I can't imagine all the raking my dad had to do with THREE! I do remember making his work worse by jumping into the piles and then seeing tons of black trash bags piled in the yard.)


We don't own a rake, and we certainly weren't prepared for all the yard work we'd have to do since we moved from an apartment to our very own house.

Thankfully, our next door neighbors have some great kids because this weekend they knocked on our door and ASKED if they could please rake our leaves. They said they did it all the time for the old owner of the house. Well, SURE! They did a great job, but wouldn't you know it.... the very next day our grass was covered with yellow leaves again! Hopefully they'll come over again and we can give them a little thank-you gift!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Bodering on Boredom

So lately I've noticed that I have to really stretch my mind to figure out what to blog about. Nothing in our lives seem all that exciting at the moment. We've already moved from our first apartment to our first house, we've blogged about our first pets, we haven't been on any trips lately, no more crime in our neighborhood (let's keep it that way, knock on wood!).....

It seems like instead of experiencing the excitement first hand these days, we get to see others enjoying their moments of joy. For example, our last post was about our newlywed friends, Leslie and Jason.

From the weddings to the babies...



Here are some pictures of our adorable new family member, Maycee Givens. She's one month old already! And parents Rob and Cody are just the cutest Daddy and Mommy.

My BFF, Lauren Green, is expecting soon. It is so fun to see her blog with ultrasound pictures and a baby crib with bedding. I can't relate to the whole baby thing yet, but I am so excited for my family and friends, and I can't wait for my turn!

Hmmm...what else?

We washed Jazzy.



Jeremy tried a new recipe with jalapeƱos (with some modification because me no likey bacon).


And.....that's about it....for now!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Weekend of Wedding

On Friday we went to the wedding and reception for Leslie Hansen and Jason McOmber, a couple that we have been friends with for a while. They are the cutest couple and it has been really neat to see the development of their relationship.

I met Leslie about 2 years ago when Micah brought her to our weekly "12:01am donuts" (don't you miss that Lauren?!) and we grew closer last summer when we became the Beans (Chili Bean - Christie Bessinger, Lima Bean - Leslie, Jelly Bean - me). Jeremy has known both Leslie and Jason for a while because they all grew up in the East Stake.

Well, this weekend all started Thursday when I went to the East Stake Center to help Leslie set up for the reception (actually all the prep started earlier but whatever). I wish I had pictures of her adorable polka dot tablecloths and her tents with colorful paper lanterns. Leslie is so creative and she planned and carried out everything all by herself! Later that night, Leslie took us bridesmaids out to dinner and then we finished setting up the reception.

Friday morning, Leslie and Jason were sealed in the Fresno Temple. They looked absolutely perfect for each other. We then took pictures outside of the temple, had a luncheon at the Sierra/Fowler building (the McOmber family hosted it and the food was great!), and then we took more pictures at a member's beautifully landscaped yard. While I was posing for photos, what was Jeremy to do? No worries -- he was busy helping the photographer hold the light reflecting screen things. They loved his work and his willingness to help!


Jeremy and I were able to go home and take a nap cause it had been a very long day so far. Then it was time for the party! Our feet were definitely hurting by this point so we bridesmaids took off our shoes and helped collect presents from the people standing in the large receiving line. Jeremy was great and helped collect/buy supplies to decorate their car and apartment. After everyone else had partaken of the wonderfully catered food from Luna's and most of our duties were done, we got to sit and enjoy the food.



Towards the end we loaded all the presents into a van (I was getting itchy fingers at all those pretty and big gifts!), then we were very ready to say goodbye and good luck to the bride and groom and head home. After a group watched them drive off in their decorated car, we got into our own car and rode off into the night.

I was never one who extremely enjoyed going to weddings or receptions (it tends to make single women feel even more alone), but I have always loved being a part of the wedding party and seeing the joy of the families and couple. Looking back I feel really bad towards my cousins and other family or friends who have been married because I didn't understand the excitement or significance of weddings, especially temple weddings. Now that I have experienced the excitement, the nervousness, the stress, the wonderfulness of it all, I have noticed that I am much more understanding of what people are going through. For Leslie's wedding I couldn't wait to hear her talk about her ideas and decisions or help her get everything ready. I know I can't change the past, but I do wish I could have done the same and been more excited and understanding for past weddings.

The point of this post? I'm not even sure but I do know that going to weddings as a married person definitely makes me feel happy that I am married and reminds me of all the wonderful feelings that we felt almost a year ago. Instead of being a reminder of being single, weddings are now so romantic! Also, I figured it was time for an update and this is the most significant thing that has happened in our lives lately. The reflection at the end of this post is kinda apologetic and silly but it's nice to get my feelings out there. I'm sure I'm not the only post-wedding mind changer! Plus, I'm tired of all the anti-Prop 8 stuff happening, so with that it's time for more pictures.



Thursday, October 30, 2008

Jon + Kate + 8 + The Soup = Awesomeness

Janice and I love watching Jon and Kate Plus 8, it's hilarious to watch the dynamics of the family and each of their personalities. One of the things that I really like is what a good example Jon is of a great husband (most of the time.) Kate sometimes is a drama queen and Jon is usually very patient and doesn't get frustrated or angry with her. I'm sure Janice will add some more reasons why we love the show later, as well as fix all my grammar mistakes :)
One of the other shows we really enjoy watching is "The Soup". If you haven't seen it before, it is a show where the host, Joel McHale, stands around and makes fun of all the hilarious moments from the last week's TV shows. For example, if someone did something stupid on survivor, he would show the clip from the show and then make fun of it. It's awesome because Janice and I love seeing what we missed and remembering the funny things we saw and having their funniness validated. Well one of those funny moments comes from Jon & Kate + 8. Below is the actual clip, I think it speaks for itself.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Picture Game

Grab your camera &
take pictures of the following WITHOUT cleaning up!
(I got this from Jennifer's blog)

1. KITCHEN SINK

I swear I did the dishes earlier today.
What else is there to do when you're home sick?

2. TOILET

Our "master" bath is SO little!

3. LAUNDRY ROOM

In the hot garage...Boo!

4. FRIDGE

I swear half our fridge is soda.

5. WHAT THE KIDS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW

The closest thing we have to kids:
Squirt (eating) and Jazzy (scratching).


6. FAVORITE SHOES

They were $4 from Payless!

7. FAVORITE ROOM IN THE HOUSE

Most of the pics were blurry, but I love the family room because it has our comfy love seat and our DVR!

8. DREAM VACATION

Anywhere with my hubby!

9. CLOSET

I have sliding doors so I had to take two pictures (No, these are not all of my clothes -- naturally the spare bedroom closet holds my other clothes. And like Jennifer's, I color sort mine).


10. SELF PORTRAIT
Now it's your turn! Have fun!