Christmas Time

Here is our 1st christmas at our house. We won't be spending it here, but you can't not decorate! This saturday we are going to San Diego! I can't wait! I'm not really thrilled about the drive. Josh has given me two lessons on how to drive stick and on the last one I freaked out. He made me practice in a crowed parking lot and it was a horrible experience. I froze up, i couldn't concentrate and I was so nervous that I would hit a car. I couldn't function. So Josh might be driving the whole way down which sucks for him. A week in snow and ice is not long enough for me to learn how to drive stick. Its too much pressure! If I was a guy it would be different because I would have an interest in this sort of thing and wouldn't have fear either.

On a happy note Im super excited to go to Disneyland (and Josh too) with my family! Disneyland at christmas time is a family tradition. We always had a blast each year and I'm sure this year will be fun as well. Disneyland has been Michelles main topic of conversation lately. It will be so nice to spend time with family.

I'm most excited from a break from work. I have had to work a lot of 12 hour days lately since it is catalog and CHA time. On top of that its Christmas time which makes life even more busy. I really need a break to refuel.

Let it Snow

It has been snowing all of the sudden here. We took these last Sunday after church. I wasn't sure if we were "keeping the sabbath day holy" by shoveling snow, but I asked Josh and he said it was ok because you have to do it. If you don't shovel you get an icy driveway. I was then reassured that it was ok because the whole neighborhood/ward was out shoveling too. It was actually kind of cool because we got to meet more neighbors.



I thought shoveling would be a lot more fun, but its really not. It is not a girl task. You have to have a lot of back and arm strength and I lack in those areas. So i shoveled a bit of the driveway and walkway and Josh did the rest. He is the best!



All done!

Kitties

The Kitties are so cute! I can't stand it. Above is a picuture of me attempting to make a "holiday craft," with the help of Yeti and Gnarly. They are so curious and want to get into everything. They love to play and wrestle with each other which is Josh and I's main entertainment now. If they aren't going crazy over a toy mouse or a string they are wrestling with each other. Its hilarious how kittens play!!!



They love to be picked up and carried around. They also love to sleep on your lap whenever you are sitting. Then when you sleep Yeti turns into a cat scarf. She wants to be right up in you face or preferably touching your face. This wakes us up. She is so sneaky about it. All of the sudden you are peacefully asleep and then BAM cat scarf! She doesn't quite get that we don't enjoy it as she does. Gnarly is the good cat at night. She curls up into the cat bed and falls asleep.



Today was a big day for them. We let them outside for the first time. But they didn't really venture off of a one foot radius on the porch because of all the snow. But it was so cute to watch them flick their paws after cautiously touching the snow.

I'm so happy about our cute kitties!

Auto bailout—Really?

Reading the business section of the news lately is a lot like reading an obituary filled with people you know. I read the “news” everyday when I have a few minutes at work. Lately I have had to just skip over the business section because it has really begun to bum me out. With headlines like “Office Depot to Close 112 Stores” and “Horsemen of the Apocalypse Spotted Riding GMC’s” my buzz gets harshed pretty quick. Business news headlines should just all read “Bad” until things get better, then they should read “Good.”
That brings me to the current crisis: The auto industry bailout. Are you guys supporting this? The last funny SNL Weekend Update I saw had a segment called “Really?” where they talked about the Wall Street bailout and how lame it was that the CEOs just got a get-out-of-debt free card. I would like to apply that thick sarcastic “Really?” to the current auto industry bailout plan, or as Fox News reports, auto industry “rescue plan.” Rescue plan? Really? Short of Ford, GMC, and Chrysler magically turning into Honda, Toyota, and Subaru—there is no rescue coming. These geniuses of modern capitalism decided to fly on three separate corporate jets to Washington to beg for money they so desperately needed. Really auto industry CEOs? Private multi-million dollar jets? Well played. The bill will more than likely pass and the nation will sigh a collective gasp of relief. A year from now one of the three will be gone (my money's on Chrysler) while the other two try to cannibalize the putrefied remains only to awake one morning with an insatiable appetite for brains and a major accounting problem when they try converting all their American dollars to Japanese Yen. That’s right we are going to have two huge auto industry Japanese zombies on our hands. But hey it’s not like we didn’t pay for the zombies so shoot—it’s all good. I wasn’t in full support of the Wall Street bailout plan, and I’m still skeptical that it will actually work, the auto industry bailout however—totally lame. These three mega-corporations have been operating on a failed business model for decades and now we get to pay for it. Not only did we get shafted by the crap product these guys have been turning out, but now we get to help fund additional crap products. The purpose of the bailout is to save jobs and help buoy up the economy. But come on—throwing billions of dollars at these companies isn’t going to work. They have shown us year after year their complete incompetence in running a business. Look at Ford’s current line-up of vehicles, huge SUV after huge SUV, and then a complete line of gigantic trucks. Ford’s new tag line should be “Built Ford Tough—on your walle...and the environment...and the economy...” I found this ad on AdFreak.com and it’s pretty hilarious. It’s a PG-13 ad so try not to be too offended. Anyway if anyone out there has a good explanation of way the auto plan is a good idea, by all means let me have it. I’m trying to change the headline “$25 Billion Auto Bailout Passed” to “Good.”

Thanksgiving

This past week was a much needed break. Its too bad I had to be sick for all of it! Now I'm much better and tomorrow its back t work. For Thanksgiving we went to Pocatello. I wish I would have felt better so we could have stayed longer, but we only went for the day. I think we need to have thanksgiving more often. Its always good to be with family and think about what we are thankful for. I think if we took more time to think about what we were thankful for the world would be a bit happier.

Here are 10 things im grateful for:
1. My husband Josh. I love him so very much. He is such a sweetheart.
2. Heavenly Father. He gave me my wonderful life and blesses me each and everyday.
3. My family. I love them so very much. They are so good to me.
4. America. This is the best nation to live in. Even though thngs are a bit rocky, we still have freedoms that many other countires don't have.
5. Good friends. I have great friends.
6. Our House. its great to finally have a "home." A place that I really feel comfortable living in.
7. My Job. I really enjoy what I do.
8. Our kitties. They make me really happy.
9. Warm weather. It would be awful to only have cold weather all year long.
10. Technology. It makes it nice and easy to stay in contact with family and friends.

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

Where an internet quiz thinks I should live

I took this quiz out of bordeum and it made me a little less bored. I have been sick and I'm finally feeling a little better. There is only so much laying around and watching TV that i can handle. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I better be feeling back to my usual self!

So this quiz asks you a series of questions based on weather, religion, entertainment, cost of living, etc. Then it comes up with this list of places that i should live. Utah (minus St. George. . . which is wayyy to hot for anyones good) and Idaho didn't make this list, should I be worried?

Little Rock, Arkansas "Where America Comes Together"
Oakland, California East Bay Living
Norfolk, Virginia Heart of the Hampton Roads
Portland, Oregon City of Roses
San Diego, California California’s First City
St. George, Utah Utah’s Dixie
Orange County, California Live The California Dream
Charlotte, North Carolina The Queen City
Augusta, Georgia Georgia’s Garden City
Honolulu, Hawaii America’s Tropical Paradise
Baltimore, Maryland The Sparkling Harbor City
Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Cajun Capital
Long Beach, California LA’s Ocean Playground
Chesapeake-Virginia Beach, Virginia The Southern Tidewater Region
San Jose, California The Silicon Capital
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Big City on the Plains
Providence, Rhode Island New England’s Best Kept Kept Secret
Albuquerque, New Mexico The Pulse of New Mexico
Los Angeles, California The Dream Factory
San Francisco, California The Golden Gate City
Nashville, Tennessee Music City, U.S.A.
Las Vegas, Nevada Entertainment Capital of the World
Washington, District of Columbia The World's Greatest Capital
New Haven, Connecticut Home of Yale University

We have a Yeti and a Gnarly

We FINALLY have two cute baby cats!!! We are so excited. I have wanted to have a cat for so long . . . since I moved out of my house for college. But since we have a house we could finally have kittens. The white kitten is Yeti and the dark striped kitten in Gnarly. Yeti is a lynx siamese and gnarly is a form of a tabby cat. They are from the same litter and are sisters. They are really sweet kittens. They are so fun!

More HOUSE!

Living room



Living room also



Dining room




Sweet Hutch


So there are some more pictures of the house. I love love love the house. I really like how open it is and how it lets the sunlight in. I can't tell you how crazy I am about natural light and big windows. We are pretty much unpacked minus the framed photos that we need to hang. We will get around to it. Or I will because Josh gets too stressed out when we hang pictures. I can tell if something is 1 cm off and it drives Josh crazy because I always go and fix it. Sorry! :)

I have been working 10-13 hr days the past 3 weeks and it has been rough. It is catalog season and its a lot of work. But I enjoy the company of my co-workers so its really not that bad. I just wish I was home finishing up stuff around the house. I have been so tired. Design sometimes sucks the life out of me.

You will notice the "decorative sheet" in the living room. Its a make shift curtain until I find some fabric. I haven't had much time to search for a suitable print and when I have been looking I can't find anything! UT is worthless in the fabric dept. unless you are making a quilt or a baby blanket. There are no other fabric choices besides thin cotton or flannel. Its so dumb!!!! Don't people make anything else??? I'm going to try a store down on 72nd on Saturday and if that doesn't work ill make my way down to IKEA. They have some plain brown fabric curtains with the large grommets, but the grommets are silver and I'm looking for black. We shall see.

Bountiful is really nice so far. Our neighbors are nice and friendly. Our ward is great. I don't feel like an outcast. People introduce themselves to us. It is just great! We got callings yesterday too. We are both teaching the 5 yr. olds in primary. Josh is completely freaked out. We have 11 kids. That age is easy. You teach the lesson, do an art project that correlates with the lesson and give them a treat a long as they behave. Plus kids are so cute and funny when they are five!

I have so much to blog about! A lot has happened especially Obama being the president and prop 8 passing! I am so excited that Obama is the president. He just seems so sincere and honest. Hes real! I feel that he will do everything in his power to fix the financial crisis and get us out of Iraq. He also is so motivating and hopeful. Plus his campaign advertising was a breath of fresh air. It is time for new leadership and a republican to take a vacation from being the president. ( *disclaimer* I am not a republican nor a democrat, I simply vote for the candidate that I feel will best lead our country)

Josh and I also went snowboarding this past saturday. I am still super sore, because it was our first day of the season. We had a lot of friends come and party at our new house this weekend. Dustin, Kate, Taylor, Cody, Beth and Kyle. Its always great to be surround by good friends. I am still super sore, but it was totally worth it.

Our new Home

Here is a picture of the front of this house. We took these last weekend after we moved in. Don't you love the leaves? We still need to rake them. So far we love the house. It is so great to finally have a place to call home and not have to worry about where we will move to next. We will post more pictures of the inside of the house soon.

Josh and I made a list: Why Our House is Awesome.
No more sharing walls
We can turn the music all the way up (to 11)
Our mail comes to our front door
We have our very own washer and dryer (we will post about this wonderful experience later)
We don't hear our neighbors using their bathrooms
No more ghetto vulgar fights outside our windows
Our neighbors are great
Our ward is awesome
Its quite and peaceful
We have a garage to park our cars in . . . we won't be scraping snow!
We have lots of space
We have a yard with trees
We have great views (by this we mean we don't get to gaze out onto a parking lot)
We get to get a kitty tomorrow
The kitchen is awesome . . . thank you swedish design (we actually want to cook and aren't disgusted by the kitchen)
No ghosts
We can have really big parties
Lots of people can stay over
Mini ramp is being planned out
We can paint the walls any color we want
We have house projects
Ample storage space
We can acquire real grownup furniture
We can display art
Make nail holes in the wall
We have an awesome street (good mix of old and new homes)
Great place to start a family
"Man space" in the garage and basement
"Girl Space" everywhere else :)

Its a good start for our list. We are so Excited!!!!

What you have all been waiting for . . .

a video tour of the house!

PS It didn't record the sound, so just pretend that I am an awesome tour guide.

For immediate release—Area couple purchases first home against all odds

Josh sent this email to our families yesterday, so i thought it would be a good idea to post it here.

Bountiful, UT—Area couple, Josh and Natalie Ormond, have officially purchased a home. At approximately 3:45 PM the home loan was processed and recorded by Davis County officials. "We are thrilled, tired, and grateful," said Josh Ormond upon learning his dream of home ownership has come true.

The Ormonds were originally intended to move into their new home last Saturday. However, due to unforeseen incompetence by the underwriting department at eLoan of Paradise Valley, CA, the Ormonds were unable to move in as scheduled. "I was so upset I was shaking," recounts Josh Ormond. He continued to say, "Natalie tossed and turned all night and called out 'You suck JP!' several times in her sleep."

When asked what he plans to do now, Ormond stated, "First, I need to locate the box labeled 'pots and pans' so Natalie and I can prepare food for the coming week. Next I need to find the 'food' box."

After the extreme frustration and anxiety of purchasing their first home, the Ormonds plan to relax as much as possible and begin moving small objects in to their new home. They also plan to look for a washer and dryer throughout the final week of October.

We are really happy and can't too move in on saturday. Thanks for sympathizing with us!

We don't like JP

So, remember how TODAY we were supposed to be in our new house? Yeah that didn't happen thanks to JP(the guy in charge of our loan who is incompetent). We are bitter about this.

Here is the story . . . Two fridays ago JP told Josh the loan had gone to underwriting and everything was done. Before that almost every night we were sending him: bank statements, W2's, pay stubs, work history. etc. And just when we thought he had everything he needed something else. It was quite ridiculous. Then monday he emails Josh and requests yet another pay stub for me. (We have seriously sent him about 100 documents at-least once, and then usually again because he lost them or forgot to tell us to sign them) Then on Monday we find out that my previous place of employment wasn't responding to any of his emails or faxes to verify my employment. Then Tuesday he said he couldn't figure out any if our deposited checks in our bank account. ALL of the checks said in out bank statement that they were pay checks. He couldn't match the words that spelled out our companies name and connect them that they were pay checks. Unbelievable! So all of that was taken care of Tuesday night. We were stressing about all of this because the next day wednesday were supposed to sign. So Wednesday comes around and we don't get to sign because the loan isn't finished and he blames this on underwriting, but it was HIS fault because he is in charge of everything. So we are told Thursday we will sign.

On Thursday morning Josh calls JP and he says the loan will be done around noon. Then we make arrangements with our realtor and the title company to meet at 4 to sign the papers. We all get there at 4 and JP hasn't been answering his phone or emails from anyone and the papers STILL aren't ready!!! We were all worried that we wouldn't sign that night, but after 40 minutes of waiting the title company gets him on the phone. She told him we were there and ready and had been waiting for 40 mins to sign. Then he lies and says he told our realtor we wouldn't sign till friday. And he lied again because the papers were said to be done at noon that day. Finally he gets is act together and finishes the paper so at 5:30 we signed. And because everything was signed and done we thought the papers would be recored on Friday and we would then be given the keys.

Since this is a downward spiral story, of course it didn't happen. It didn't record on Friday because we had to sign another addendum and it didn't get recorded on time. Thanks again JP! Friday night we found out we weren't moving on Saturday.

We were supposed to sign on Wednesday, get the keys Thursday and move in Saturday. That was the plan. Giving us enough time. We packed all of our stuff throughout last week and just left out the essentials to pack Saturday morning. All of our Kitchen things were packed. Including food because we planned on eating out friday and then moving and unpacking Saturday. I feel bad too because we had friends that were going to help us move and we inconvenienced them. But they were understanding. We transfered our gas, electric, power, trash, TV and internet. Our power is supposed to be turned of tomorrow so tomorrow morning may be interesting. I don't like it when my carefully planned out plans get messed with!

Moral of the story: make sure your loan officer is competent and his name isn't JP.

Hopefully tomorrow (Monday) we will get the keys and we will make the move on Saturday. This whole buying a house thing has been a mess. We were told this kind of mess rarely ever happens. I just wish we would have been told everything was going to be late and we wouldn't be upset.

Tic, tac, ZING

I bought a typewriter. Natalie says it’s because she won’t let me buy a new laptop. And while there is some truth to that statement, that’s not the whole reason I bought a typewriter. It’s beautiful by the way. The typewriter is from around 1951 give a take a year or two. I have wanted a typewriter for awhile now, but I could never find the right one. When I saw this one on KSL it jumped off the page and said “I’m what you’ve been looking for.” A quick jaunt over the freeway and $20 later, I was the proud owner of my new typewriter.

Why did I buy a typewriter you ask? It’s real. Probably 99 percent of our written communication is accomplished by electronic means. Whether we write e-mails, text messages, term papers, or novels, chances are a computer and word processor had a hand in the process. Don’t be mistaken, I love technology. Computers and word processors are monuments to their purpose, to make communication accessible, easy, and efficient. But—and you can call me crazy—I never liked the idea that words are represented by numbers. That just seems perverse. When we stretch our pointer finger from home row to tap the "t" on our keyboard that action initiates a coded response, and computers don’t use alphabetic codes, they use numeric codes. So a "t" is not really a "t" when we strike the button, the "t" is actually 01100100 (totally just made this number up). And I can’t get behind that.

Typewriters are real. Words are created not represented. The "t" that a typewriter produces is an actual "t." Lately I have been thinking a lot about the creative process, how it happens, how to engage in it, and how to cultivate it. Creativity takes force and action; it is anything but a passive thing. So in my overblown meta-free-phor-all mind a typewriter is a good metaphor for the creative process. Creating words with a typewriter requires a few things: metal, ink, and force. A key stroke on a typewriter activates type set in metal tiles that strike against an ink-laden ribbon. That mechanism creates words. Creativity has “metal” and “ink” requirements too, but the most crucial element is the same—force.

My typewriter is awesome. I intend to write letters with it. E-mail is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, but e-mail is easy to delete and forget. Letters are real. I am going to use my typewriter to create real words to send to real people that I love and care for. I also love the sound of a working typewriter. Next time any of you are over I’ll play a few notes for you and we can get swept away in the cacophonous cadence of creativity.

Ella's Blessing & Friend Reunion

(yes I'm aware of my closed eyes)


(Ella Gholson)

So last sunday was Ella's blessing. I still can't get over that Jordan and Ryan have a baby! Ella is so adorable. so much has changed from 5 years ago.

Lets rewind to 5 years ago. I had met Ryan & Taj in the Galley with Cassie. I then met Amiee at The Nordic through Ryan & Taj. Then right before I had met Amiee I had probably just gone to Tomossitos to get my dinner (to take home) from Josh. This all happened March/April 2004. Then in a few weeks I met Jordan because she moved into my Apt. And her and Ryan were then dating. We all became the bestest of friends that next semester of Summer 04. Of course this photo above of us is missing some key friends, but there is some from the group. We had way too much fun together that summer (my grades speak the truth). And now Ryan and Jordan are married and have a cute little girl. Its so crazy what 5 years can do!

It was really fun spending time with Ryan, Jordan, Ella, Amiee this past weekend. I love my friends. Its just so fun to be with each other. We laugh a lot. I'm pretty sure I have the best friends in the world.

Moving soon

Just to let everyone know, I am being forced to listen to the worlds worst music compilation ever! First it was Eminen, then Nelly, then Metallica (i do like them sometimes), then some sappy R&B song and now a COUNTRY song. My ears are bleeding! Im so annoyed.

Well thats not why I'm posting. I'm posting because I'm really excited to move, to our house! My friend Julie gave me some boxes today which will be a big help. We close on the house in 12 days!!! Josh and I realized last night that we kinda needed to get on the ball with this whole moving thing. We have a big to do list of things to do. It is all very exciting/scary. The Economy freaks me out. But I guess all I can do is roll with it.


This is a picture from our move from Rexburg to UT in Dec 2007.


Things I can't wait for:
1. No more sharing walls with strangers.
2. We get to have a cute baby cat. (I really want 2 baby cats so they can be friends and not resent us when we come home from work all day)
3. 2 words: Washer Dryer. Life will be amazing with these 2 things. I can't tell you how inconvenient it has been for the last 5 years to have to use my/our various apt complex washers.
4. I can display my art and have a space to create
5. I don't have to climb stairs outside of my house.
6. We won't have to make 1 trip from the car with all the heavy grocery bags piled up in our arms because its too cold/hot to make another trip back to the car.
7. I won't have cigaret buts all over outside.
8. Closet/storage space
9. Backyard and front yard with beautiful trees
10. Garage... no shoveling or scraping ice off the car in the morning.
11. We won't have to have white walls if we don't want to.

... and owning a house will be really awesome too.

Just for fun

If you ever wanted to know what you or a loved one would have looked like in the past (say their senior yr. of high school) check out yearbookyourself.com. Its hilarious! Well at least Josh and I thought it was. We had a good steady laugh for about an hour when we visited this site. Joshesof course were more funny then mine. I love how his 90's picture is a replica of a standard Boy Band shot while I look like an extra from 90210 or Saved by the Bell.

I really wanted to do a Tahoe post, but our camera charger has gone MIA. So when we find it, we will post and email pics.

House update: We close on October 22nd!!! Whoo Hooo!!!! So in 3 weeks we will have a house. The only real problem is the garage roof. There are many patches where you can see the sky. We will have to fix that which probably won't happen until the spring. But the rest of the house is all good to go.

Today there was another reason to move. Our water was shut off for 6 hours. The building next to us had a flooding problem so they shut off all the water. I had just barley got out of the shower after they told us they were shutting it off. Josh had't taken a shower yet and therefore had a hygiene breakdown. It was a rough day for him. However im a very glad our building didn't flood or I would have not been a happy renter.

Xeno-fast food possibilites

I haven’t traveled out of the country much. Compared to my older brother Aaron who is in a different country every other week, I haven’t even left my front porch yet. As a teenager I traveled to Japan for a week, when I was 18 I went to Peru with my family, and for my honey moon I explored Mexico. In my admittedly limited travel experience there has always been a single common denominator—McDonald’s. Personally I can’t think of another place I’d want to eat at less. That realization got me to thinking, what would fast food restaurants be like in say England, India, or Russia? The only fast food restaurants I remember seeing were all born in the USA—McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Our nation’s culinary ambassadors: a crazed clown, a voyeuristic King, a Coronel that looks like a guy that would have a “The South will rise again” bumper sticker on his model T, and a pizza soaked in a greasy pan (delicious, silky grease). What would an England born fast food restaurant look like? I have a neon sign with “Kippers Kidney Pies” emblazoned in green flashing lights and a cartoon character shepherd with a kidney pie in one hand, a fork in the other, and four teeth left in his ingratiated smile in my mind. That would probably fill a niche market in the States for sure. Or how about from India? I personally love Indian food. Imagine heading out to “Yo-Goa-urt Deserts” after a quick bite at Russian born “Borscht-A-Go-Go.” Nothing like some premium mass-produced bacteria cultures to chase down a hearty dinner of borscht.

I suppose we should be grateful that such venerable eateries as Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr., and Arby’s had their genesis in the good ol’ U S of A. No matter what the rest of the world says about us, they can’t deny the savory ubiquity that American fast food has brought to pass. It’s like America in its benevolence and mercy smothered the world in seven secret herbs and spices. That would explain global warming—how else are we supposed to get that crunchy golden brown exterior? America is a nation of innovation. Henry Ford gave us the assembly line and Ronald McDonald showed us how to use that innovation in a way that actually mattered. Building cars at break neck speed is nice, but I ordered mine with no tomatoes or onions thank you. You’re welcome world.

What are some other fun expatriate fast food restaurant names that you can think of? I personally think “Yo-Goa-gurt Deserts” is pretty fantastic. Think up a name or mascot and leave a comment. The best entry will get a prize (probably just me calling you up and laughing really loud).

Why I love design

Curious about why I do what I do? Click HERE and visit my design blog.

Love the skin you're in

Work is slow today so I thought it a perfect opportunity to update. Okay, where to start. I don’t know how many of you have seen the new Jerry Seinfield and Bill Gates Microsoft commercials. If you haven’t you aren’t missing much. They were slated to run five separate spots, each building on the previous. Well they were met with mixed reviews, let’s be honest, they just plain sucked. Microsoft was trying to spin this as a “buzz building” campaign, but how much additional “buzz” does the world’s largest software provider need? Anyway the spots are being pulled after only two of the five spots aired. They are being replaced with an Apple knock off commercial with a look-alike saying “I’m a PC, and I’ve been stereotyped.” I can’t even begin to tell you how lame that campaign is going to be. I can’t believe Microsoft signed off on that direction. That must have been an interesting pitch, “So you know the, I’m a Mac and I’m a PC commercials? Well imagine that but in reverse.” “That’s perfect, someone else has already done it and we’ll just steal the idea. Excellent Smithers, excellent.” (Also, Mr. Burns is the new Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft.) The good news is McCann Erickson didn’t have anything to do with either of these campaigns. That makes me happy. I thought they were from us for awhile and I was trying to figure out how to explain that on my resume. “Worked at McCann Erickson, but I didn’t have anything to do with the Seinfield, Gates stuff, promise.”

Enough about work and ad-nerdness; it’s time for a house update. We are in the process of getting the loan taken care of. There is a lot of paperwork, you wouldn’t believe. Right now we can blame lenders for destroying our economy and single handedly wiping out the rain forests. They sent us a little care package with pictures of the trees we just caused the destruction of, but hey what the heck they grow back eventually right, no worries. We had a home inspection performed Monday night and all was well with the house. A few minor things that we already assumed would need attention, nothing major. However, the roof on the garage needs to be replaced, which we knew from the beginning. When you stand in the garage and look up you can see the sky through the shingles, which is bad. Our realtor drew up an addendum requesting a credit toward the replacement of the roof. I’m sure the sellers are less then stoked to refund us $5,000 (that’s a rough estimate; it could be more than that). Tonight we will find out if they accepted that request. If they don’t then things can get interesting. The closing date still stands at October 2, and is steadily approaching. It’s going to be awesome to have a house, I can’t wait and Natalie is beside herself with excitement. I think she’s mostly excited about being able to have a cat. In the near future we will host a “name the kitty” competition on the blog so get those names ready, and let me warn you, I have some pretty awesome kitty names in mind so bring you’re A-name-game. That is just about all there is about the house.

I went on a walk today during lunch (I didn’t have hand weights, a fanny pack, or visor but it was fun none-the-less). Down town SLC is a strange place. I was struck with the dichotomous nature of the city. The old beautiful monoliths left behind from the early twentieth-century and the new citadels of industry overshadowing them. On Market Street I came across a three story building I have never seen before; the corner stone proclaimed 1891, and the bricks in the windows and doorway whispered a history of neglect and marginality. My building was built as a retreat for executives and the Salt Lake City bourgeoisie in 1908, and has been well maintained throughout its life. My desk is located in what was once a large Roman style bath. I love the re-tooling of the past. But I started thinking about what was the difference between this building of one time luxury and excess, and the 1891 building less then a block to the west. I don’t have any answer to that, but I think someday the 1891 building will be used again. The lot next door is being prepped for a foundation—across the street a shiny new slab of concrete waiting to support a new citadel of industry. A second chance at immortality. Salt Lake is nothing if not a city for second chances. That’s the duality I enjoy so much about Salt Lake. You can just about have it all here—modernity peppered with rooted history, city convenience under the shadow of tectonic playgrounds, and did I mention they have Carls Jr? I’m stoked to be here.

Times are Changing

First off, a little eyecandy. Thank you Apple. You have done it again!

I had a really good week. Making Memories is an awesome company to be working for. I really enjoy the people whom I work with and the work that I'm doing. Packaging design is really fun, but also pretty complicated. It is a welcomed challenge. I enjoy working with type again (it had been toooo long!). One of their clients is the beloved Target. Its a dream come true that i am working for Target in around about way. I feel like this job is going to be a great fit. Oh and did I mention, they have A/C, pay their employees on time, and the printers have ink??!!! They also purchased a 23" apple screen for me which I'm loving!

Even more exciting is. . . . . . . . our counter offer was accepted! If all of the inspections, loans and the other house stuff goes though we will be first time home buyers. We are nervous and excited. Its just crazy to think we will have a house in shorter then a month. And that we can afford to own a home. Life after college is good.

Utah has defiantly been a destination of change for us. It has taken a little while for us to settle in and find the best jobs and residence. Its hard moving to a new state and not knowing the area, wards and companies. But everything happens for a reason.

2 BIG Things

One, I start at Making Memories on monday. Read my Graphic Design oriented blog Natalies Patterns for the story. Click here! Im nervous and excited for this new change.


Two, We put an offer on our realistic dream house yesterday!!!! Click here for the link to the house. You can see some photos and specs if your interested in our could be future home.

The Party

Wyrick Girls. Me Michelle, Chelsea and Gabe.


Dad and I blowing out our candles. I had to remind him to be happy about his birthday. :)


Matt, Carrie, Fisher and Tyler came too! It was really cool of Matt to come down to work on my family. They loved it.


Josh gave me a really special present. I never ever thought I would get a Tiffanys Heart charm bracelet. I have wanted one since High School. I think its pretty neat that he gave me one. Jewelry is something that is really special to me. It always has meaning and is always a reminder of the person that gave it to you.

I should also mention Grandma Bee hasn't been doing well these past few months. She has been struggling with anxiety attacks and the doctors prescribed her medication that didn't mix with her existing medication. So lately she has been to the hospital and ER a lot. So they moved her to Fredrika Mannor to have better medical attention because my mom couldn't be her nurse 24/7. Then Grandma Bee went to the ER right before we came and then was in the hospital when we got there. We visited her the next day and I was in Shock (the last time I had seen her which was in March she looked normal happy and was active). She was soo skinny and just looked terrible and miserable. I tried not to cry while I was in the room and I burst into tears when we left. She just looked soo helpless.

So during the trip Grandma Bee had open heart surgery to fix a valve. Her Lungs had been filling with blood. If she hadn't decided to have the surgery her quality of life would be as it had been the past few months. Bed ridden and frequent trips to the hospital. The surgery made the week really traumatic. I was scared for her. She is 83 years old and has congestive heart failure. My mom was really scared. She didn't want to loose her mom and I can't imagine how that must have felt for her. But she prayed and left it in Heavenly Fathers hands. Magnificently Grandma Bee came out of the surgery and has been recovering with flying colors! I talked to her twice this week and she sounds better. I really hope she can have some of her old life back now.

That pretty much sums up the trip. It was fun and tiring and a little traumatic.

Holly Hoood!

We had a blast in Hollywood! It was more fun then I expected. We all went, Me, Josh, Michelle, Mom and Dad. We barley made it to hollywood in time. We had a bus tour scheduled at made it there with 10 minutes to spare. LA traffic blows.

We took a tour of the Historic sites and Celebrity Homes. I felt a little like a stalker, but it was really fun. The tour driver kept on talking about how he has spotted a shirtless Matthew Mcconaughey running around Mulholand Drive (its this street where all the celebrities live on sides of cliffs). Sadly we never saw him! It was really interesting seeing all of the beautiful houses. I liked going down Sunset trip and seeing where the old rock scene happened. Our camera ran out of batteries so I only have shots from the tour and none from the hollywood strip.

We also went to the Burton store. Which was a dream come true. I got some new winter everyday gloves. My old ones are kinda ratty. Plus these are red! next time we want to go to Melrose Street and go shopping. There were a ton of cool stores. Oh and we spotted Spidey and we didn't have a net gun!


Holly Wood sign


Downtown LA. Admire the pollution.


Rodeo Drive. We went into a few stores. They are wayy out of our price range but it was cool to see some real collections. My mom loved that part.


How sweet is Elton Johns new house? See the Grand Piano resemblance?


Leonardo di Caprios house. I thought it was cool.

You belong in a Zoo, The San Diego Zoo

We really didn't take many pictures since we went to Night Time zoo. But we sure had some fun. I am an animal lover. I love learning about different species. My mom taught me a lot growing up about animals because she worked there pretty much my whole life.




It was really dark when Josh took this picture. He must have used our flash and then took the picture when someone else's flash was going off. Thats why its kinda bright. So if you can see there is a baby Giraffe in the pen. It had just been born that very day. I am always amazed how they can walk the same day that they are born. All of the giraffes were crowding around looking at the baby and kissing and nuzzling it. Its funny how giraffe babies receive that same love that Human babies receive from everyone when they are new into the world. It was cool to watch.


These are Hippos "fighting." They are actually playing around. The water was all blurry because they pooped. It was really fun watching them play. I wish the picture could have been clearer!

Padres Game

This was our first time at Petco Park. The game was a lot of fun. The Padres won and the give away that night were shoulder Padre Bags. I really enjoy going to live sports games. The stadium is downtown and is surrounded by buildings. The park has a really cool feel to it.


I took this after the game. I love, love, love those Palm Trees.


Photo of the field during warm ups.


Michelle, Mom and Dad.


The field during the game.


Josh and I. I made sure we were wearing Padres colors. You gotta have the blue!

Lets play August Catch Up

Here is a start of some very delayed pictures. These are from Mission beach. We made it to the beach 4 times on the trip!


One of my Favorite landmarks. The Bel Mont Park rolled coaster!


My Mom and Michelle. We are waiting to cross the street.


Josh and I after a fun time in the water.
We broke down and purchased an "adult" body board for Josh. On all of the other trips I would let him borrow mine and I couldn't figure out why Josh couldn't body board. We all know how talented Josh is with "board sports." Turns out I forgot that I have a kid size board. My bad! I was pretty excited for Josh to feel the thrill of riding waves that bounce and buck you around. We had some pretty fun rides. We made it all the way to the shore a bunch of times. I really love being in the ocean and the rush of the water. Its awesome!


Josh and the beach. 2 of my most favorite things!

In a world where keeping it realer is the only way to keep it real...

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. It feels like we have been on a dead sprint for most of August. We spent a week in San Diego and it was totally awesome. Natalie got some serious shopping done and I got some incidental “oh that looks cool” shopping done. Before we left Utah, we gave each other a budget for the week; Natalie spent her entire budget at H&M and I spent less then half of mine. We celebrated Natalie’s birthday in California with her family at the annual “Natalie and John Wyrick backyard birthday blow out.” Matt and Carrie came down from L.A. and brought the boys. It was way fun. I spent most of the party hunting for cats with Fisher. The beach was fantastic, incase you were wondering. The water temperature was 68 degrees, so it was a little cold at first but a refreshing cold. All and all it was a great trip. We returned from California and reported to work the next morning. Layton to San Diego is almost exactly 12 hours so we drove both ways in one day. Work was cracker-crazy. My boss had a death in the family so she was gone all week and one of the other proofers was gone too, so that left me in charge of the Microsoft account. I have since been promoted to the Microsoft account fulltime, which is nice. Before I was bouncing back and forth between Verizon Wireless and Microsoft and they are pretty different accounts. We had an urgent project that had to be submitted by week end so we scrambled all week. I’m not going to lie; it was nice to be super busy. I much prefer being busy to being bored.

So that brings us to the Labor Day weekend. Friday I only worked half day and then Natalie and I drove up to Rexburg for our friend Cassie’s wedding reception. (Rexburg was exactly the same as when we left, surprise surprise) We stopped at Ryan and Jordan’s house first and caught up for awhile. Jordan is due any day now (unless Ella has already been born and no one has told me yet). Cassie’s reception was nice. She looked happy, and tired. (Oh to be a newlywed again, (Natalie is totally going to chop me in the neck for saying that)) I was a little freaked out because Cassie’s whole family was there and they all look like clones. It’s creepy. To compound the issue they were all wearing the same dress, except Cassie of course. Families that look like twins but aren’t twins freak me out. After the reception we went to Craigo’s in Rexburg, one of our favorite restaurants in the burg. Friday was Natalie’s official birthday so we celebrated it something proper by ordering a giant cookie-monster. For those unfortunate souls that don’t know what a cookie-monster is I’ll tell you. It is a pie pan with a giant warm chocolate chip cookie on the bottom, topped with copious amounts of vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream, caramel, and chocolate. UMMMM … so good. So after driving to Rexburg, hanging out with the Gholsons, partying at Cassie’s reception, and gorging on a delicious cookie-monster; I was spent. So we drove home and I was exhausted, and I was pretty grumpy (allegedly). Natalie says I only communicated in grunts and whimpers the whole car ride back to Pocatello. I don’t even remember driving back to Pocatello. The only thing I remember is a dream about Josh Jackson selling crystal meth and me being super pissed about it. Any way the rest of the weekend was chill-a-licious (stupid Blayne from Project Runway!). We hung out with Kyle and Dusty and my family and that was basically it. I did buy a bike this weekend and am pretty stoked about that. I figure I need a little more exercise in my life than wanting to go skateboarding. We came home Sunday night cause we just wanted a day to do nothing at home, and that’s what we did for the most part.

The big news is I now have a Facebook. I kicked against the pricks for so long, but Natalie finally broke me down. It has turned out to be a fortuitous thing however, I have found some old friends and that has been very cool. So I’m a Facebook-cadet now just like everyone else. Natalie told me that she always gets what she wants, eventually. And she’s right, I’m a wuss.

Other big news: we are looking at a house in Bountiful. It’s an older home, built in the 40’s, but remodeled recently. Of all the houses we have looked at, this one is the best and the one that feels the most like a home. We are stoked on it but still want to see other houses while we get the financial stuff taken care of. So progress is taking place in the finding a home department. Other stuff has happened I’m sure, I think I’ve hit on the most applicable tid-bits of Ormond family fun though. I’m sure Pictures of California, Rexburg, Labor Day weekend, and house will appear in the future. Stay tuned folks…

Olympics 2008

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

Ohhhhh Traffic

This little diddy came to me one day while i was roughing it. By roughing it I mean spending time in traffic. I was thinking, what if I knew what other people were thinking while in traffic or not in traffic. I would be able to better judge if I wanted to drive behind them or get away from them. Everyday, I sit in a lot of traffic. My morning commute isn't filled with traffic, its about 35 mins long. However, my evening commute sucks with a capitol "S". It almost always takes me atleast an hour to get home. By the time I get home I am completely done with everything. And I always think I never want to get in a car again. I hope you enjoy my fun little art project.

Fun Month

Its officially here, The fun Month! For the past 5 summers i wait for this Month. This was because school was out and I got to go home for a visit. I miss my family and San diego tons and this month is the Annual San Diego Summer Trip. This year we have some fun stuff planned.


Padres Game


Josh and I have never been to hollywood.


H&M and I fell in love in NYC. Josh will most likely fall in love with it too because they have some sweet guy clothes.


Mission Beach. Its always fun

The August Birthday Party
The Burton Store in LA
and a bunch of other fun stuff that I'm forgetting about.

Other Highlights that make this month even more fun:
Mandy comes today
Matt comes in Thursday
Friday we are going to Pocatello to see everyone
On my Birthday Cassie is having her Wedding Reception