Home Sweet Home!!

We're HOME!!

We had a wonderful time, aside from the freezing temperatures. I think I was 'used' to being freezing and put my coat on as I headed out the door today. The beating sun felt wonderful and I was quickly reminded about how much I'm loving living in south Texas! My vote is Christmas in SA next year! any takers???

Our week spent with Michael's family went by all too quickly! We had a great Christmas and we feel very grateful for everyone's generosity! We loved just hanging out with the family, fighting over the rules to games and 'rocking' out. It was great to just spend time with family we don't get to see very often.

Currently, myself and the baby were the only ones to not throw-up this past week. For that, i am very fortunate!

Making the treck through the six states was quite an ordeal! the drive there was definately easier than coming back. The last two hours I thought I was going to have to shoot myself to end the pain. We did break it up a little bit by stopping by the St. Paul temple, Liberty Jail, a drive-by in Independence, and we were even able to see Scott and Paige who just happened to be in Dallas for the same few hours as us. . . so naturally we had to do a little catching up and get a few games in.

We haven't gotten our pictures developed yet. yes, developed. we forgot our camera and baught a single-use for the week. We'll see how long it takes me to get that done, and maybe i'll share :)

now, on to un-packing and putting the house back together before JR and Aubree get here :) never a dull moment.

an update

I'M FREEZING!!!

I realized today I drastly under-estimated the number of socks I packed since I am currently wearing three pair.

We made it here safe and sound. We hit a little bit of fog and a few patches of 'icey' roads but other than that, the drive was rather smooth. "thanks" to Michael, we missed an accident in Oklahoma City. For those who don't know and are interested we did beat the Allsops traveling from UT. From the time our paths met they were ahead of us . . . due to some stealth work on our part we passed them about 20 miles from Michaels parents house and beat them by about 2 minutes. Saving us the $100 that Michael bet his brothers. (We make a game out of EVERYTHING) When your windshield wiper fluid freezes that is just TOO COLD. From Iowa on we resorted to not using the wipers and every 40 miles or so I had to get out and splash fluid on the car and subsequently, my clothes. Apparently I've got a bad aim.

Besides the snow and below zero temperatures we are having a great time spending with family. People often wonder how this Utah girl wouldn't miss the snow- maybe i've always been a texan at heart. (that texas pride comes easy) Too bad we forgot our camera to document it.

Wishing yall a very Merry Christmas!!

I'm Scared!!

So, I was looking up the weather for our trip to Wisconsin so I will have some idea of what to expect. The temperature acording to weather.com on our ETA is 12 degrees. . . . . . fells like 1

ONE DEGREE???? who does that???

well, apparently me but I'm not going to lie to you . . . . I'm terrified!! Will I be able to breathe in such conditions? Will I ever be warm again? I'm shivering just thinking about. I think I'll pack every coat/ sweater I own and all I can say it's a good thing we're driving!! this girl and her hobbies won't be fitting in one checked piece of luggage!! Maybe Santa will bring me some sunshine for Christmas (or an electric blanket)!!

Must ALL good things come to an end?

We had a wonderful at-home vacation! Lisa, Byron and Ella came to spend some time with us, including but not limited to Thanksgiving!! I attempted my first thankful feast . . . some of which will be repeated . . . . and some . . . not so much. I will preface the next story by proudly proclaiming that when Ella was about one I taught her "where her crown is" precisley because every little girl is a princess. Since then she has figured out that a crown is an acutal product and she soon realized she didn't have one. Well after telling her that she would be coming on an airplane to see Aunt Trish and Uncle Mike she was very excited to find her "wost cwown" with "aunt Twish"

This was actually a great 'ice-breaker' because she surprisingly ran right up to me at the airport gave me a big hug and in a very troubled tone told me her crown was lost and if I could help her find it! I luckily was prepared and had a cute little pink crown waiting in "her room". adorable.



One of my favorite things was when Ella would get excited she would yell "yeah, ya-hoo, yipee!!" over and over again and kick her legs! it was soo funny! In her cute little voice, I'm glad we got part of it on video. She was very excited to see the dolphins at sea world, if you look close you can even see the baby. Even though it may be a rip-off I love feeding them!!! And who doesn't get excited when a dolphin/whale breaches the water or does a flip? We could see the shows over and over and I still get all excited! At the shamu show the whale did a flip and Ella said "do it again!" classic.
We were also lucky enough to get some up close and personal time with the baluga whales! Thanks again Valerie!! You are the best!!

I'm pretty sure this is all the snow we'll be seeing while in Texas and I am A-OK with that!!The one bad thing about Sea World was that I found out that I apparently am on the "Naughty" list. Good thing Christmas came early at the Allsops, cuz it looks as if I'll get nuttin for Christmas :)

Aside from Sea World we also went to the river walk and the Alamo (which was PACKED), played frisbee golf, ate lots of great food and delicious ice cream, and lost drastically at canasta. I'll have to practice up before the next tournament.

The highlight of frisbee golf I would have to say was Michaels disc landing in the only puddle of water/mud on the course . . . . and then going in after it (the discs were borrowed). Never a dull moment with Michael around. He makes my life enjoyable!

It was hard to get back to work today after such an awesome week!! We feel really lucky to have had as many visitors as we've had in the short time we've been away from home and family! Yet I'm not willing to turn anyone away just yet!! Thanks to the McMurtrey's for making our thanksgiving FABULOUS!!! We can hardly wait til next time!!

New San Antonio Pictures with Byron and Lisa's Visit...

Well so far we have had a great time with Byron, Lisa, and Princess Ella! She seriously is sooo funny! We have gone to Sea World today and that was a blast. We were really excited to see the Shamo show today because it was the Christmas special. While on our way to the show I found another thing I am thankful for Thanksgiving. Duct tape is amazing!



I guess there were two Shamo shows that we went to today.....

We saw this truck on the way over to Sea World. As we all know the elections are now complete. Texas is a red state as everyone knows.....and Texans aren't afraid to show it. Apparently this is directed towards the next administration!


We are currently living in an apartment complex and just resigned for another seven months. We are looking for a new house to move into once the seven months are complete. We are told that the light blue house will be available then. Here is to hoping that we move up in the life of luxury!!!! We would be soooo lucky if we could get this place! Also apparently you have to have a felony to move into one of these amazing trailers, so I will have to get started on that. I'll take any recommendations from anyone!

Some of you may know I got in a car accident awhile back. I was at fault. It was unforunate that it happened however we were able to find a cheap solution to fixing it! I really think it looks great. The cool thing is now Trish can get in the car like they do in the Dukes of Hazards! I'm thinking about doing the same to the other side of the car. I'm also thinking about getting a CB radio as well. My CB name probably would be "Bubba Love". She won't wear the Daisy Dukes shorts so I guess that means I have to wear them..... I'll post pictures later!

Back to Byron and Lisa's visit! While we were coming home from Sea World today we noticed someone was having trouble with their truck. With the spirit of giving/serving we both pulled over to help out. Byron being a good guy went to lift the truck up while I thought I would see if he could lift the truck with me on top of it. Byron has some amazing gluts by the way! He lifted the truck with no problem. Well I got bored and started throwing rocks and trying to see if I could hit the logs supporting the truck. I missed quite a bit and hit the guy a couple of times, he didn't think it was funny specially when I eventually knocked one of the logs down. I think he was thanking Byron and I, as he was waving good bye with a crow bar chasing us but I couldn't tell because I was running away from him. It feels good to perform service.

With Christmas coming up I feel like I really need to find someone and help them out. You know there are people out there that say they ran out of gas and go and get beer or something instead. I found a guy that you know what, tells the truth. It is so refreshing to find someone like this. So I actually went out and got him what he asked for, too bad it was Odoul's!!!!! I couldn't really understand him because he was missing so many teeth. I don't think he was too happy it was Odoul's though. He did some how mention/sign/mumble/and show me that he was actually on his way to Elko, NV. So I gave him Chad and Melissa's address and phone number. I told him you guys could help out with the teeth and that he could stay a couple days with you, hope you don't mind!!! Merry Christmas!

I'm just kidding I didn't get him any beer! Honestly though he is coming to Elko and he is planning on staying with you Chad and Melissa.

We are having had a fun time with Byron and Lisa. I'm sure Trish will also post a blog about all the fun stuff we did with them. I wanted to give everyone a behind the scenes look though. Well I'll talk to you all later!

Here's to a big electricity bill

Ah, our Christmas tree. I actually really like our little set-up. These three small trees have between 5 and 6 strands of lights ( i lost count) equalling somewhere between 500-700 bulbs. ( all but one work ). If you look in the daylight it looks like green plastic wires instead of green plastc needles. And, we acctually have more ornaments than our trees have branches so only our favorites made the cut.

This was my project yesturday . . . . welcoming the christmas season. I blasted christmas music all afternoon, lit a yummy holiday candle and got to work. I love, love, LOVE Christmas lights. This really helped put me in a fabulous mood and i'm sure this is going to be a good rest of the week!!! We are getting very excited for my sister to come and be witness to my botching our first thanksgiving dinner. Ok if this thanksgiving isn't a good one i'm in trouble. I've ordered everthing but the potatoes, gravy and stuffing. Hopefully Rudy's won't let us down!!

I also thought I'd share my thoughts on the long awaited Twilight . I had pretty low expectations but the anticiaption got the best of me and I went with Michael to the theatre to wait in line with every other 13 year old within a mile radius. Michael complained that we were the oldest ones in the theatre but I didn't care. I was a little disappointed in the shade of lipstick they had edward wear, and his hair was a little ridiculous too. Like an elvis impersonator or something. All in all it was a good film but by no means even in comparison to the book. I did read that it grossed 70.6 million dollars (14 of those came from us thank you very much!) where the article also stated "teen girls rule the earth" HILIARIOUS!! Still I can't wait for #2 and I want it on DVD for my birthday :) so I guess I liked it more than I thought.

Here is for the future win!!!

My two week fast will end tommorrow with a win over Utah!!!! Just kidding, no, but seriously I'm done with my fast! Anyways here is to hoping we win tommorrow and make it three years in a row!!!!

I saw this and thought it was hilarious!!!!