Merry Christmas 2009

We hope you had a Merry Christmas! We did and still are :) There is more to come about our Christmas Festivities (when we get time to post).

The P-Town to SLC Christmas Extravaganza Fondue Holiday Spectacular!

It's really nice having so many close friends around us now. Several of Joshes friends from way back when, live in close proximenty of us. So the other weekend we were at Jessie & Trevors house warming fondue party and we all decided we needed to do a christmas party. We did (last weekend), kicked it up several knotches and had a blast! There was lots of laughing and crying as usual. Sometimes you forget how great it is to be with good friends.

There was a 3 course fondue meal. Cheese (Josh & I), Deep frying (Jessie & Trevor) and chocolate (Carlee & Zac). Everything was sooo yummy. The cheese smelled so sick while I was making it. We were all skeptical, but it tasted really good. Trevors "chicken balls" that were deep fried and tempura vegetables were really tasty too. At first we were all like, oil fondue . . . wierd, but it turned out to be delicious. The chocolate fondue was super good. How can you not like dipping yummy treats into chocolate and then consuming them?

The next part was the white elephant gift exchange. It was hilarious.

Beth opened her present and got a hat which spelled "Bride" in rhinestones. And a bride shot glass necklace. Perfect if your getting married.

I received "Real Women have Curves."

Zac stole the trash bags from Cody and Cody then received some sweet CD's.

Andy got a Nerf gun. Trevor got the coveted Specialized bike pump and I forget what Jessie got.

I gave up my Fast and Furious soundtrack. Taylor couldn't have been happier. I forget what Carlee got.

Josh got "The Last Don" VHS set featuring Steven Segal.

It used to be air-soft wars, but luckily it turned into a Nerf gun war. This ended the exchange. We then moved onto Cranium which is always a treat. All in all it was a really fun night for everyone. It was really good to see Tandy Tangle (Taylor and Andy). We were glad they made the trip from P-town. I hope to do this again next Christmas.

AFI

I finally saw AFI live. This has been a dream for many years and I'm glad it finally happened! Josh saw them back in the day, but it was still awesome for him too. This was during our "concert week." Dashboard on Friday and then AFI on Tuesday. Could life have been any better? Two concerts in a weeks span of time never happens!

Davey came out in a silver leather suit. It was ridiculously amazing. Everyone went nuts as soon as they started playing. In the Venue was packed. We went with our friends Josh and Candice and got a spot on the balcony. Davey even jumped into the crowed during the first song which let us know how wild the show would be.

AFI is a fun band to see live. There were well orchestrated jumps, swinging guitars and a few dance moves. The band played great. Daveys voice was phenomenal even with his surgery on his vocal cords a few years back. He has great range and great screams. I can't deny my love for punk rock. One crazy fan jumped from the stairs down onto the stage. It was great. AFI played a good range of songs from all albums, minus Black Sails in Sunset.

These are all photos from my phone so they aren't the best, but you get the point. This concludes our concert week and the nostalgia because these are bands from the high school and college chapters of our life. I love live rock. Nothing is better then a good concert.

Dashboard & NFG & Target

Last Friday Dashboard Confessional aka Chris Carrabba played an acoustic show. He is a stellar performer. He can sing and play the guitar like no ones emo business. The way he sings is effortless. The show was mostly just him and then for a few songs he had a piano player. Chris played a lot of their older songs which Josh and I were very happy about. Nothing beats the old raw Dashboard. They played a lot of The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most. They also played a few new songs. I actually like thier new CD (the acoustic version . . . you can only get it at Target). The song "So Right" is pretty sweet.

We had an excellent view on the balcony. The sound was great. We didn't have to deal with sweaty people which is rare considering it was at In the Venue. This was my first concert there, not leaving with other peoples sweat on me due to being jammed will 5 million other people on the floor. Being 21+ has its perks to the cozy balcony. I give this concert a 10.

New Found Glory opened for them. They also played an acoustic set. They said they were being punished for making fun of Dashboard. It was funny. I'll admit it was strange because no one was jumping around and freaking out to their pop punk sound. It just didn't feel right to do so without everything plugged in. I think this was my 3 or 4th time seeing them live. They were always at Warped Tour back in the day. I LOVED this band in high school. My 2 fav songs were "Hit or Miss" and "My Friends Over You." They were great teen anthems for me. I used to listen to NFG in my old corolla all of the time everywhere I went. Ah, the nostalgia. I also had a big crush on Jordan their lead singer. I'm glad he got over his fat stage, he looks much better now (skinny again). I think him and Josh look like twins, but Josh would be the hot twin that is smart and attractive.

I keep forgetting to post about our little Diva Yetti. She is now in Target! I did the packaging for our Stocking Personalization line. We needed a photo of a cute kitty and Yetti was cooperating so she got the job.

Another line of packaging that I did is in Target called "Flea Market." All of these are phone photos so they aren't that great, but you get the point. Go check it out!

Gobs of the First Gobble

This was our first time hosting Thanksgiving. We had about half of the Ormond Family (Wallaces: Julie, Daren, Abby Lizza, Meg & Max, Ormonds: Jason, Tiff, Mitch & Mckena Ormonds: Mandy & Mark (sorry Mark, I don't know your last name) and Josh and I), which equals 14 people. I was amazed 14 people could stay at our house! I wasn't so sure this weekend was going to work, but it worked and I think/hope everyone had fun because I did.

We borrowed a table and 10 chairs from the church and added it onto our table.

We made a really good Turkey . . . it wasn't dry! This is an action shot off Jason carving the turkey. Josh really has an eye for food action photography. I made my famous "nattie salad" and candied yams. Everyone's food contribution was excellent. We had a very nice Thanksgiving meal.

There was no shortage of food this past weekend. We had tons and tons of leftovers. There were many activities over the break. Black Friday shopping, crafting, games, BYU beating the U, hanging out, finding out both Max and Lizza are allergic to cats, Chargers winning and several other things that I can't remember.

We went to Temple Square Saturday night with the rest of Salt Lake. It was super busy. Kinda like disneyland on a crowed day. The lights were beautiful and the nativity's were amazing. My favorite one was in the above photo. I love how its floating and all of the twinkling lights float around the pond. And you can't beat a background like the SLC temple.

Abby, Lizza & Meg

Abby, Julie, Meg, Mandy, Max, Lizza & Josh

Josh and I

Yes we are coordinating. I didn't realize this until the photo was taken.

Julie & Daren

Daren and Mark joined us after they got back from watching BYU conquer the Utes.

Mandy & Mark

It was a fun filled weekend. The ending was pretty neat. Elder Russell M. Nelson was at our sacrament meeting on Sunday! It was surreal to have an Apostle of the Lord at our Church meeting. His great grandson was being blessed in our ward. He bore his Testimony at the end and told us to rejoice in our blessings especially in these hard times. What great counsel. I feel blessed to be apart of such a great loving and supporting family. We need to have Thanksgiving more often :)

Best. TV show. Ever.

My love for cheesy action movies is no secret. If it has gun fights, bar fights, or car chases I’m in to it. And no other actor exemplifies my love of action movies more than Steven Seagal.

[Just look at that perfect tight ponytail and the Mr. Spock eyebrows. Born to make bad guys go dead.]

The man is incredible. Let me give you the film career rundown of Mr. knock-your-teeth-out-with-little-more-than-my-index-finger Steven Seagal: Hard to Kill, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, Above the Law (turns out this is an ironic title. No one's above the law, but Steven's not below exessive force), On Deadly Ground (anywhere within 100 yards of Steven is deadly ground), Exit Wounds, Fire Down Below (no relation to the film shown in high school health class), and of course Under Siege 1 and 2. You should be filling up your Netflix queue right now.

Steven Seagal now has a reality TV series on A&E: Steven Seagal: Lawman. Apparently kicking major trash in the movies wasn’t enough and Steven had to bring his neck break’n into the real world. And he’s been cracking skulls in Louisiana as a cop for over 20 years! I know, I know Louisiana should be the safest place in the world to live right? Wrong. There are plenty of bad guys for Steven to roundhouse kick through a convenience store window. Check out the trailer. When I saw this on TV I started squealling so loud Natalie came running down stairs and was like "Is a Twighlight commercial on?"



This show just proves that Steven Seagal is capital R Real (I’m beginning to rethink my position on Santa Claus). Watch the trailer and then watch the show Wednesday nights on A&E. If this show gets cancelled there’s no telling what Steven will do. But I’ll be putting my local Comcast employee in a submission hold until he gives up the name of his boss. Then I'm going to embark on a single minded quest to bring the show back. No matter how many doors I have to kick in, or how many henchmen I have to put down. My quest will be righteous and my violence justified.

Before & After: Night-stand

{Before}

Before . . . ick! This was my old night-stand. This was one of the furniture pieces my parents brought up to us back in April. I have always loved it, but I haven't loved the paint. So I finally painted it several years later.

{After}

Ta- daaa! Here is the after. I am pretty impressed with myself. It turned out looking really elegant and chic. It was very tedious, but I enjoy tedious projects. I also painted my old twin bed frame white. It was off white before and I wanted to make it look fresh. I intend to add black accents to the bed frame and I'll post photos onces I get around to finishing it.

The photos aren't so great so just pretend they look pretty.

16 shots in 1 month

***Disclaimer this is medical. Not for the faint of heart or queazy. It's a little TMI too, but hey, I warned you.

First off I am deathly afraid of shots. They make me feel faint, queazy and really upset. I am also extremely afraid of any western medical procedures. I can handle acupuncture, but when I'm faced with any western medical procedures I freak out. Weird I know, but I have always been this way.

So at the beginning of the month I went to my dermatologist. I knew what the appointment was about and had been stressing about it daily for the 6 weeks previous. The doctor wanted to remove several of my freckles (moles is too gross of a word to use). I was completely freaked out from my last visit because he was like you have a lot to get rid of. I knew one day this would happen again. In High School I had one removed and it was a terrible experience which freaked me out even more knowing that I had "several" that needed to be removed. This is what I get for having blonde hair (once upon a time), blue eyes and fair skin and bad genetics. I have also been a devoted sunscreen user. Which I feel a little bit jipped about because it was supposed to prevent this. My dad always had to get things removed and would show them to me in hopes of scaring me into always using sunscreen. The crappy thing is, I was scared and I used sunscreen.

Somehow I drove myself to his office. I have no idea how I didn't talk myself out of it(I tried all day). I had no one to hold my hand either which made me sad and nervous. Josh couldn't get out of work. I got there, went into the room and went into a silent panic. To make matters worse the Doctor was running late. He finally came in and I asked him if he was going to numb me? He laughed and assured me he would. Phew! I felt about 7% better.

When he came back he counted them up and said we could do them all at once or spread them out into other apts. I asked him how many had to go and he said 12. My heart sank. I was like Oh NO, 12 shots . . . I'm going to get 12 shots??? I agreed to see how the first shot went and then I would decide how to go from there. The first shot wasn't bad so I said, "ok lets just do all of them, I don't want to come back again for this." It was HORRIBLE. 12 shots. Some were ok and others were terrible. I was in complete panic nervous mode. I don't think have every felt so weird. I was sweating like crazy and my head was spinning. I felt so gross. Thank goodness I couldn't feel the scalpel cutting and digging into my skin. I did have to smell my burning skin as he cauterized the 12 incisions. I felt some of that part too and it was awful. It was so sick.

Finally it was over and I was so glad. The doctor wouldn't let me sit up for a long time. He kept grabbing my hand and asking if I was alright. I kept telling him, "yes, medical things freak me out. I'm fine. I'm just still nerved out." He kept telling me I was too clammy (another gross word). After about 15 mins of no change he let me sit up and get ready to go. I was a hot mess, but I just wanted to get out of there and have a good cry. Finally I was able to leave after I looked less freaked out to the doctor.

I felt proud of myself for being an "adult." I never cried while I was in there and I didn't have anyone there for support. I actually lived. I cried when I called my parents and Josh. They felt bad for me. My dad said I could punch him 12 times since it was "his fault" I inherited his skin. I laughed and felt a little better. Some of the cuts are nickel size and have taken a while to heal. They all seam to be located next to clothing seams, which is not good. My clothes rub on them and it's painful. I hope next month they will all be healed. Good news is none came back as skin cancer. I don't think most 24 year old girls have to worry about skin cancer.

The next 4 shots were for my cavities. Dr. Ormond, my father-in-law is a fantastic dentist. His office provides you with laughing gas and TV. The shots hurt, but the nitrous oxide and Gilmore Girls made them sooooooooo much better then the ones at the dermatologist! It was like a walk in the park. I never mind getting my mouth worked on after 5 years of braces. Mouth pain doesn't bother me. My entire mouth was numb which was totally weird. I was distracted my Gilmore Girls and the Office for the 2.5 hours I was there. I laughed a lot according to Josh. How can you not with my 2 most fav comedic shows and nitrous oxide??? I had 5 cavities. Previous to that I had only had them once before. This is what I get for not going to the dentist for 2 years. BTW Josh is fired from making our dental appointments.

There you have it. The saga of the 16 shots. Moral of the story is don't have fair skin and don't go 2 years without going to the dentist.

Lots-o-Leaves

It's has been Fall for about a month now. I have neglected to post about it because I'm not one to look forward to cold weather, or any weather for that matter. I'm from San Diego, I can't help it! However, I have actually started to enjoy Fall. Fall in UT is a million times better then Fall in Rexburg, ID. It actually stays somewhat warm (50-70 degrees) and doesn't really snow. It has only snowed once this fall. Plus the leaves actually change into beautiful colors. The above picture are some of the leaves from our dinning room window.

The only pain about Fall is all of the fallen leaves which need to be raked. We have a lot of trees and neighboring trees in our yard. Fallen apples and leaves are not cool. They smell gross. I learned last year raking up soggy-wet-after-the-snow-has-melted-leaves is much worse. It's best to get it done now.

Saturday Josh and I raked almost of the leaves into piles and shoved as much as we could into the street. We have a street leaf collector which is awesome because we don't have to bag any leaves! The house across the corner from us is for sale. Anyone want to be neighbors?

I came home to a Giant Crate&Barrel box the other day. You have no idea how happy I was! Gnarly promptly took ownership of the box once I hauled it inside. Cats are so funny about new things and ours in particular love new cardboard. They love ripping new boxes to shreds.

Josh and I have been in the house for one year now. Time has gone by so fast! I love our house so much. I remembered we made a "House Wish List" last year and surprisingly we checked off several things.

Low table behind the couch (thanks grandma Bee)

Coat Rack (Tai Pan)

Accent Wall around fireplace (Lowes and our manual labor)

New Desk (thanks mom & dad for bringing mine from home)

Dresser (thanks mom & dad for bringing mine from home and Grandma Bee's for the guest room)

New TV (purchased last weekend Panasonic 50" . . . its amazing)

New entertainment center & end tables (Ikea 3 day sale)

bar stools (Ikea 3 day sale)

reading chair(x2) for living room (Ikea 3 day sale)

Mini Ramp (Joshes awesome friend)

Bannister (Lowes and Jason for helping set it up)

Guest Bed-full (thanks Grandma Ruth and Jason for hauling it to us)

Guest Bed-twin (thanks mom & dad for bringing my old one from home)

Curtains (thanks mom for sewing them)

I know there are things missing, but you get the point. We scored killer deals for the most part. The rest were blessings.