My So Called Life

Room

2011-06-16T18:18:00.000-06:00

I've posted a new Book Review for Room by Emma Donoghue. Click the link to get to my new website and check it out.

http://daleyupdates.weebly.com/book-shelves.html

New Blog

2011-06-16T14:42:00.000-06:00

While Blogger themes and layouts are increasingly easy to change, it;s extremely frustrating. Pictures aren't orienting, paragraphs were melding, I decided to make a new website. This will allow me so much more freedom and the ability to customize everything so much more. Everything will be on here from now on.
Wish me luck!

http://www.daleyupdates.weebly.com/

Las Vegas

2011-06-12T20:29:00.003-06:00

For my Father-in-Laws birthday, we all took a trip to Las Vegas. We had absolutely nothing planned while we were there and had an absolutely wonderful time! Since we didn't go to any shows, events or casinos we didn't take very many pictures. While we went shopping each day, the boys were so patient and were completely content reading while we shopped.

We were able to go see a couple movies, Bridesmaids and Super 8 which were both really good. These are pictures of Diane and Brandt and Nick and I oustide the theatre.

I think that this is the Public Works building in Las Vegas. It looks like it's melting in the awful Las Vegas heat!

Our goal was to have a totally relaxing vacation, all we did was read, swim, watch movies, watch TV and go shopping. It made me look forward to seeing my kids, and was definitely the break that I needed.

Out of Town Kid Presents

2011-06-07T22:41:00.000-06:00

When I was younger and my parents went out of town, they would always leave a bag for each day. It would usually have a cute little activity, or as we got older a movie they'd rented and money for a pizza. They were always so much fun, and I remember looking forward to them each day.

On Thursday we're going to Las Vegas with Nick's parents, and it's the first time we'll be on vacation without our kids. I thought that I would do the same thing for our kids, and our nephew Noah. Here are the bags that I put together for each day.

Fluorescent Fun

Growing and Goodies

Movie Night

Create a Circus

A Dirty Job

2011-05-30T21:34:00.000-06:00

At the Semi-Annual Used Book Sale at the Main Library Downtown, I picked up this title for .50 cents. I'd read Christopher Moore's "You Suck" and while it was entertaining I wasn't expecting a whole lot from "A Dirty Job." Holy twisted cheese doodle, was I wrong!!

Charlie Asher is an average "Beta-Male" who has the unlucky fortune of receiving the calling of "Death Merchant." He's basically a soul-reclaiming Repo Man. As people die their souls are stored into one of their treasured possessions and it's Charlie's job to reclaim these soul items from the family of the deceased .

This book was memorable because I laughed out loud the whole way through. Whether it was the Gothic employee Lily, with her charitable sexing; the squirrel people creatures in complete time-period costumes; or Sophie and her set of 400 lb. Hell Hounds; there were laughs to be had through all 384 pages.

There was a fair amount of sex, a lot of swearing and copious amounts of violence. Like I said, fun for the whole family!!

Arming Your Children

2011-05-22T20:28:00.001-06:00

This is the talk that I gave in church today.

In a world where children encounter trials and confusion at every turn, arming them with a spiritual arsenal becomes a daily task. You might think that this boot camp training is best administered as a teenager, but starting in their infancy provides endless advantages to creating a spiritual armor.
Robert D Hales said: “Each family has its own special circumstances. But the gospel of Jesus Christ addresses every challenge—which is why we must teach it to our children.”

In the US Army, the stages of Basic Combat Training are broken into 5 phases. Like the army, we are charged with preparing our children for battle. The foe is more complex and cunning than any other, and our children’s need is greater than ever. We will simplify our parental training into 5 phases as well.

Phase 1: Introduction

Introducing the gospel to your children at a young age is perhaps the best beginning we can hope for. President Gordon B. Hinckley has counseled: “Let us nurture our children concerning Him whom we call the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us teach our children the grand saving principles of the gospel.”

Can you perceive of anything more important than laying a spiritual foundation for your children? What good would armor be without the defensive training needed to shield yourself?

Elder Gerald Causse said “Little children have a marvelous disposition to learn. They have total trust in their teacher, a pure spirit, and great humility—in other words, the same qualities which open the door to the Holy Spirit. “

Phase 2: Red: Basic Tactical Training: Prayer

The most basic tactic of your armament should be prayer. One of the first habits we started with Asher was saying nightly prayers. At first it was simply us praying to Heavenly Father for him. Thanking him for the park, and being able to play with his cousin Noah. But as he grew older, the prayers grew more mature and more important. While my brother was on a mission to Africa, we prayed for “Uncle Tyler” every night. By the time he got home, Asher knew my brother simply from our nightly prayers for him. Last week Asher gave the opening prayer in Primary and I was so proud as I helped him say that prayer.

Researchers say that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I would say that starting each day with a family prayer is the most important tradition of each day.

Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy had a new perspective on the effectiveness of family prayer and scripture study. He said: “We learned that later in the day at school they would probably not remember the exact words of the scriptures or the prayer, but they would remember that we did read scriptures and we did have prayer. Brothers and sisters, there is great power and protection for us and our youth in establishing celestial traditions in the home.”

Phase 3: White: Combat Training: Scripture Study

What better way to combat the struggles of a day than with the words of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the prophets.

Cheryl C. Lant, a former Primary President states “There is absolutely nothing more important we can do for our families than to strengthen them in the scriptures.” Many parents may think that children are too young to understand scriptures. In reality, the fact that a principle can be understood even by a child is proof of its power. President John Taylor said, “It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it”

Elder Gerald Causse said “The Bible has probably been the subject of more interpretations and philosophical debates than any other book. However, a child reading this book for the first time will have at least as much, if not more, chance to understand the doctrine as the majority of those doctors of the scriptures. The Savior’s teachings are adapted to everyone. At eight years of age a child can have sufficient understanding to enter the waters of baptism and make a covenant with God with complete understanding.”

Scriptures can be simplified and taught to any age group. If you’re still a little hesitant to tackle scripture study with a toddler, several church bookstores sell children based bible stories that will help hold a child’s attention.

Phase 4: Blue: Weapons Training: Teaching by Example

A weapon that will stay in your child’s arsenal forever, is the example their parent’s set.

Henry B. Eyring said “The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say. The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared.”

My father became bishop at age 33, and had 4 kids under the age of 12. Now that I’m a parent, I can’t fathom how my parents did it. My father also owned his own business and needless to say, was extremely busy. Yet I never felt that they were hassled, or put out by my father’s calling. My parent’s willingness to serve in any calling, has stuck with me. I remember many morning scripture studies where droopy eyes and sagging mouths greeted my parents, rather than attentive children and happy auras. But I remember that we had them, and I know that they were a strength to me and my siblings as well as my parents.

One of the things Christ asked the Nephite parents to do is found in 3 Nephi 22:13: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” And so, following their own experiences with the Savior, these Nephite parents taught their children about Him. They taught them to love the Lord. They taught them His gospel. They taught them how to live it. They taught them so well that there was righteousness and peace in the land for 200 years.

Phase 5: Graduation

This isn’t your typical graduation with balloons, streamers and that robe you’ll never wear again. This is more a recognition of what your children will face. You have prepared them with everything you could, and now it’s time to see if your little pigeons will fly. This is definitely that hardest of all the phases, and will no doubt fill you with a sense of dread and foreboding. The bright side in this phase is that the training never really stops. As your children are presented with new and trying circumstances, you can continually upgrade their armor and weapons. As they grow, their knowledge and adaptability will too. You never have to stop preparing them. As chinks and dents fill their armor, prayer and scripture will fill the weaknesses. When the armor gets heavy, your example and the Savior’s can lift them up. I’d like to leave you with the words of a Primary Song.

Teach me to walk in the light of his love;
Teach me to pray to my Father above;
Teach me to know of the things that are right;
Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.

I know that as we strive to teach our children, the spirit of the Lord will help us in whatever we need. My favorite scripture is Hebrews 13: 5 “For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Make sure that your children know that too. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My Blogging Attempt

2011-04-22T08:06:00.001-06:00

I was looking at my blog today, just browsing over my posts from a few years ago and I'm going to attempt to start blogging again. It was a great journal and brought back so many memories. So here is my official declaration, I'm going to try to be better at blogging.

Asher's Birthday

2009-12-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

For Asher's birthday we debated between a party and just a fun day with him. Since he doesn't go to school, we really didn't have any friends for him to invite, and we didn't want family feeling obligated to get him a present. We decided that Asher would have much more fun with his two favorite people, his Mom and Dad!

Asher loves pumpkin pie, so that was his birthday cake. He even blew out the candles himself with a little help from Dad.

He just can't get enough!

This was the first year Asher could open his own presents

He's not confused, he's just really liking the pictures.

He loves Little Einstein, so this Rocket transforms into 3 different vehicles.

We also got him a couple puzzles, a Little Einstein Look and Find Book and some clothes.

My parents stopped by and brought him a present for Asher and Nick . . . LEGOS!

The next day we took him to Discovery Gateway, and he had an absolute blast playing in the water center and the ball beehive. It was a great birthday and I love that kid so stinkin much!

Best Present Ever!!

2009-11-23T00:28:00.001-07:00

So, I had so many posts right around our Anniversary that I postponed this one. Save the best for last right?

For our Anniversary Nick made me the most kick a#$ jewelry mirror. We found the idea in a catalog that came to our house, but all the ones online were at least $300. Nick took a full length mirror we had in the bedroom, and created a box that would fit behind the mirror. He lined it with felt, and attached a bunch of small hooks for necklaces and bracelets. He also knows how much I like the little details so he attached a detailed leaf mounting on the front. I can now fit all my necklaces, pendants and some bracelets. It ended up only costing around $60. I absolutely love it, it's one of my all time favorite presents.I have such a stellar handyman of a husband!

Full Mirror

Mirror Knob and Leaf Mounting

Inside Top of the Mirror

Inside Bottom of the Mirror

Full Length Inside

18 Necklaces all in a Row

Daley Halloween Party

2009-11-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

Our Daley Halloween Party ended up being on Halloween this year. I love Halloween; the smell of Fall, the pumpkin flavored everything and the decorations. Each Daley Family has a holiday hosted at their house. Cam has the 4th of July, Aly has Easter, Kyle has Mother's Day and we have Halloween. This was our 4th or 5th Halloween Party, and they just keep getting better.

I had the perfect costume ordered by the beginning of September and then it never came in stock, so my Gypsy costume was a fallback but it was still really fun to put together.

Heather and Asher

Ryan and our Gumbi Casualty

Asher and Season

Nick made this costume out of scrap pieces. He's Ash from Army of Darkness. He always does an amazing job on his costumes!

Asher was Kratos from the God of War video game. Nick made the whole costume out of red fabric, plastic storage containers and plywood. He made the swords with a couple pieces of wood. My only contribution was the face paint. His costume is pretty accurate, wouldn't you say?

Asher and his first pinata

Halloween in a New House

2009-10-27T21:33:00.000-06:00

This is the first Halloween in our new house, and I love being able to decorate everything!! I couldn't get a picture of our spider-web in front of the house, but I got everything else.

These are the decorations on the tables in our front room.

This garland is hanging in our front window, so that when people look in the skulls and pumpkins run right through our big Jesus picture. :)

These huge bookshelves are built into the walls.

The fireplace is in between the bookcases.

The artist of the witch and pumpkin head figures is Jim Shore. I've become addicted to his stuff!

All these pumpkins are on our front porch.

We carved these Sunday night with my family. The mummy is mine. It had been so long since I carved real pumpkins, it was fun. I found a great recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, so let me know if you're interested. Costume pictures to come later this week.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Family Pictures

2009-10-27T21:14:00.001-06:00

My parents started a photography business and do a terrific job, so we decided to put their talents to use and get some family pictures. We took them at the City Building and the Library in Salt Lake. We had to go early in the morning, so that Asher would be fresh and happy. So many of them turned out awesome, but these are my favorites! Check out their website! http://www.stilltimeless.com/

My Perfect Show

2009-10-10T23:59:00.000-06:00

The past two days have been a "One Tree hill" fest and I've loved every minute of it. "One Tree Hill" has become one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm a big fan of TV shows and pride myself on the diversity of the shows I watch. I love the drama of "The Wire" and "The Shield". I love the comedy of "How I Met Your Mother" and the mystery of "Fringe". "Angel", "Buffy", and "Firefly" made me fall in love with Joss Whedon. The cleaverness of "Gilmore Girls" made my verbal abilities seem retarded, and the craziness of "Battlestar Gallactica" made me thankful for my simple life.

Peyton Sawyer: The Music Lover and the Girl that Everything Happens To

I love how a good TV Show or movie can draw you in and make you care about the characters. How you can so completely feel what they feel and care about what they love. "One Tree Hill" tugs at my heart one minute and makes me bawl and laugh the next. It takes me through a complete emotional roller coaster and makes me so grateful for amazing TV.

Nathan Scott: Ideal Basketball Player and Husband

I finished the last two discs of Season 6 Friday night. I stayed up until 3:30 bawling my eyes out, and loving this series more than any other. There are some pretty cheesy moments, and some stalkers that made me question what drugs the writers were taking. No show is without some strange story lines and weird episodes.

Haley James Scott: Singer/Songwriter/Mother/Tutor Girl

I finished Season 6 and wondered what could possibly happen in the 7th Season, because it all just wrapped up so well. I had been recording the episodes of Season 7 and just finished watching the first 4 episodes of the season. I can't decide if I like it without Peyton and Lucas, but I still love the remaining characters.

Lucas Scott: Best Friend and Writer

I've been slowly re-watching all the episodes and I'm currently on Season 3. I'm glad that I'm caught up because now I don't have to plug my ears and hum really loud every time a "One Tree Hill" preview comes on. I can finally go onto the show website and see why Chad Michael Murray and Hilary Burton decided not to come back on the show.

Brooke Davis: Fashion Designer with a Heart of Gold

I can't list my favorite character, because they're each my favorite characters for different reasons. I love Haley's individuality and Nathan's responsibility. I adore Brooke's heart and Lucas' caring. Peyton's overwhelming sadness and happiness pull me in with her. They make me want to know them and be friends with them, but make me thankful that my life isn't even an eighth as drama filled.

Season 7 Cast

If you're looking for a series with heart, that will make you love the characters and make you happy at the end of the episode, then its "One Tree Hill" for you.

Halloween Costumes

2009-10-09T21:41:00.000-06:00

So, I was looking up Halloween costumes and I came across some really cool and creative ones that I thought I'd share. Feel free to comment . . .

Gardner Village

2009-09-26T19:55:00.005-06:00

Every year we have the amazing tradition where the women of the McCombs Family go to Gardner Village. It's only of my favorite things of the whole year and I look forward to it as soon as August hits. We eat at Archibald's restaurant, which is always so good, and then we shop. They have tons of little craft, clothes and candy shops. This year was even better because my sister and I were able to find sitters for our kids, so we were free to enjoy the beautiful fall day. I got some really cute stuff and I had so much fun! I would highly recommend it! We're even thinking of making it a bi-yearly event.

They have these witches all over especially for Halloween and they crack me up every year.

Me, my Mom, Rachelle (sister-in-law), Ashley (sister)

This sign made me laugh out loud. It was on the door to the candy store.

Update

2009-09-08T20:07:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anymore since it's been more than a month since I last updated. Nothing exciting has happened, so I've been slacking.

My face painting business has been doing really well. I think I've booked about 15 jobs so far. I absolutely love it, and at least every other night I'm in our study practicing face painting and watching Angel. I've just broken even with the money I've brought in and all the supplies that I had to buy. Now I just have to pay the stupid $200 for a business license, which sucks but is necessary if I don't want to get a visit from the IRS.

Nick is in the throws of making his and Asher's Halloween costumes. He's been working on weapons all weekend, and is so excited. It makes me happy whenever he gets excited for anything, whether it's a movie, board game or whatever.

Asher turns 2 in a few months, and I'm already excited for his party.

Other than that, everything is the same. I'll try to get better with posts. See you all later!

Face Painting & General Update

2009-07-28T20:39:00.006-06:00

I haven't been writting in this blog as much lately because I've been updating the blog on my face painting website . . .

http://www.facefun.weebly.com/

So far I've had 3 jobs. One at an apartment complex, one at a ward breakfast and a birthday party. All three were fun and offered their own difficulties and rewards. Right now I'm just looking for more gigs. I am doing face painting at an event called Adventure Days at West Jordan Junior High on August 15th. I also have a ward activity on August 29, but other than that I'm just trying to get my name out there.

I'm always looking for models to face paint on. If you're willing to bring your kid over to my house I would love to paint their face so that I can practice on someone other than myself.

Asher is great. Just growing like a weed. He now says apple, bubble and mama sometimes.

We are mostly done with moving our stuff into our new house, we're just working on little stuff now. Thanks heavens! It's finally starting to feel like home.

That's all the updates for now. I hope you're all happy and healthy!!

Father's Day : A Post by Nick

2009-07-14T22:44:00.002-06:00

The two problems that have been bothering me since we moved into our new home are the clogged upstairs toilet and the leaky shower in the basement. I decided on Sunday morning that I should be able to fix at least ONE of those before church. I figured it would make me feel like a man on Father’s Day.

I started on the shower. It was leaking into the wall between the bathroom and laundry room every time it was turned on. Luckily, the laundry room walls were just drywall so I could just cut into it to access the leak. I managed to fix the leak fairly quickly and I took a shower for the first time in that bathroom. But for some reason, I didn't have very much hot water. It was relatively cold regardless of how far I turned the handle. So I started fiddling with it and managed to create another leak. A pretty bad one…further into the wall. So much for going to church.

The only way to fix it was to shut off the water to the house and try to clamp off the pipes. I spent two hours at Home Depot and Lowes (three separate trips) trying to find the correct parts. I finally found the pieces necessary to just stop the leak, not fix the shower. That cost me around $45. After another hour of removing drywall and cutting pipes I finally stopped the leak.

Since I failed at that, I figured that I would just unclog the toilet. I mean, really, if I can't unclog a freakin' toilet I shouldn’t be allowed to own my own home. I tried three different chemicals and two types of plungers (4th trip), but nothing worked. I ran to Home Depot again (5th trip) and bought a snake. But that didn't work either. I just managed to scrape up the bottom of my bowl and get my bathroom floor wet.

Finally I just unhooked the toilet and set it in my front yard. I pulled out a garden hose and just went to town on that sucker. I was shoving the hose in the top, in the bottom, my hands were down inside the bowl. I’m sure my neighbors were glad to have me in their neighborhood. I had toilet water spraying all over the place, but I was determined to get whatever was in there OUT.
After about 15 minutes of wet, messy struggling, a rock and a tampon fell out. A ROCK. Who the H flushes a rock? It was more or less a piece of asphalt, so it looked like a poo, but luckily it wasn't. The tampon looked pretty clean though.

But then...as I set the toilet down on its back, the toilet seat fell backward and hit the tank, shattering it. It looked like this but without the Text:

So now I've got an unclogged toilet :), but I have no tank :(. I tried to get just a new tank from Home Depot (6th trip), but the guy there said that tanks are made specific to the toilet and not just any tank will work. That means I'll probably have to buy a whole new toilet. That should cost me around $170 to $200 more than what I already spent trying to unclog the broken one ($63).

Lizz called my little brother Kyle after she saw how frustrated I was, thinking that since he used to work for a company called Standard Plumbing he may be able to offer some assistance. He came over and we decided to tackle the shower again. Together we pretty much ripped out all the plumbing and one of the wall joists. But as soon as we pried it all out, we realized that maybe that big huge metal thing we just ripped out of the wall didn’t really need to be removed. Perhaps we could have just tightened this little bolt right here. Oh…Whoops. So now I have to buy new pipes, fittings, wood, drywall, and a big huge metal thing that costs around $40.

I guess that's what I get for working on the Sabbath.

Follow up: The next day Kyle called his contact at Standard Plumbing and hooked me up with a new toilet for only $60. He was even nice enough to go to my house and install it for me. He’s such a good brother.

- Nick -

Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T22:03:00.005-06:00

Age: 6

One of my 10 cousins asks me who I'm going to marry when I grow up. I respond, "Michael Jackson." My cousins burst out laughing and I wonder what I said that was so funny.

Age: 10

I see Captain Eo when we go to Disneyland and I fall in love with Michael Jackson. I think that he's so handsome and I want to spend all day in that 3D theatre.

Age: 17

It's been a long day of High School, dance practices and daily teenage drama. I'm alone in the dance studio after everyone has gone home. I lay on the hardwood floor and listen to Michael Jackson over and over and over.

I'm in my 1992 Chevy Van, making out with my boyfriend. We make out for 3 hours parked in front of his house, and Michael Jackson plays in the background the whole time.

Age: 19

I make Nick go with me on the city bus, since we're too young to rent a car, so that I can get the Invincible album the day that it comes out.

I've been married for 5 days and it's Halloween. Nick has fallen asleep and it's a stormy Florida evening. They're having a Michael Jackson music video marathon and I watch the entire thing including the longest music video ever, Ghosts.

Age: 27

I'm sitting at my cubicle when I glance up at the TV and do a double take . . . MICHAEL JACKSON DIES AT AGE 50. I immediately get up from my desk and head over to the TV. I'm a little in shock and the headline doesn't quite register.

I spent all day constantly hitting the refresh button on the CNN website, since I can't get video. I have to know what's happening. As cheesy as it is, I feel like I'm losing an old friend.

As small a part as he has played all throughout my life, it seems weird for him to not be there. I watched the memorial tonight and cried the whole way through. It makes me sad to think that so many people won't get to enjoy his talent, his creativity and his dancing like our generation did. Thank heavens for youtube.

My two favorite music videos of his were Scream, and The Way You Make Me Feel. I remember sitting in front of my parent's house listening to Earth Song for hours. I will definitely miss Michael, he had become part of my HIStory.

Face Fun

2009-07-05T17:09:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I decided to start a Face Painting business. I learned to face paint a couple years ago, for work and every time we do it I love it. I figured that I already knew how to do a lot of designs, and that it would be fun to start my own business. I'm really excited and have been spending my time lately creating a website, building my portfolio and getting my business listed on yellowpages.com.

If you or anyone you know is looking for something fun to do for an event, please keep me in mind. Here are some of my pictures and the link to my website . . . Face Fun!

www.facefun.weebly.com

Jolie the Cat

2009-07-05T01:20:00.003-06:00

About two days into living in our new house we lost one of our cats, Jolie. I don’t mean that she died, but that we actually lost her. We let her outside for a little fresh air, and she just didn’t come back. We kept figuring that she’d return eventually, but a full week went by and still nothing. Nick and I started checking local animal shelters to see if someone had turned her in, but didn’t have any luck. We stopped by our old house to see if perhaps she had decided that her new home sucked since it didn’t have a dark, dank crawl space for her to sleep in and tried to make her way back. Kind of like in Homeward Bound: The incredible Journey…except that it would have only been 9 blocks away and taken her less than half an hour to get there. I even passed around fliers to the neighborhood in the hopes that someone would have seen her recently. By the time 10 days had gone by, Nick had written her off as dead.

Because we already lost one cat, we were reluctant to put in a dog/cat door. We were afraid that our other cat would high-tail it out of here as well. But since Girls Camp was coming up and we needed a way for our pets to poop and pee outside of our house while we were out of town for the week, Nick reluctantly installed a dog door on Sunday evening. It happened to be the same brand that we had in our old house.

At about 12:30 that night, Nick was awoken to the sound of a small meowing sound next to the bed…, and it didn’t sound like the gruff meow of their remaining cat. He switched on the light and saw Jolie slinking around the room, looking for attention.

He just figured that she must have seen that familiar, glowing square of a dog door and made her way towards it. After 10 days, she just waltzed inside like nothing had happened. I started wondering what she could have done in those 10 days. 10 days is a long time. Where could she have been?

It wasn’t until the next day that Nick noticed that she looked slightly different than before. Don’t worry, it was still Jolie, but something was just off. After closer inspection it looked like her tummy fur was a little shorter, like it had been trimmed. Her ears looked cleaner. She smelled good. She just looked…better. Like she had been professionally groomed.

We believe that someone in our neighborhood had found her, taken her in, paid to get her all cleaned up, saw one of our fliers, and then decided to let her go. Then, that evening, Jolie just happened to see our new dog door and decided to walk through it.

It’s weird how stuff like that just happens.

PS. If the person who cleaned my cat is reading this, please contact me and I’ll let you borrow my other cat for a week or so. And maybe my dog too.

ADD

2009-06-14T00:29:00.006-06:00

Asher Denrick Daley

My friend Desiree is starting a photography business, and wanted to expand her portfolio so she came and took pictures of Asher. Here are some of my favorites . . .

If you would like Desiree's contact info, let me know!

Goodbye to 1021 W 400 S

2009-06-13T10:02:00.003-06:00

We put in an offer on a house back in the middle of April and we just barely closed on it yesterday. We will be moving in next week, and I will post pictures then. We have lived at 1021 W 400 S for almost 7 years.

It has been a great house despite the crooked floors, plaster walls and creepy basement crawl space. But what can you expect from a house built in 1901? She's been a really great house, and we will definitely miss her.

There are some things we won't miss, like not having a garbage disposal, a dishwasher or being on a really busy street. We will miss Bob, the decrepit old man with no teeth who lives across the street. Bob would stake his life on Scott's Weed and Feed, as Nick has heard every time he sees Bob.

We are hoping to rent it out for awhile, so we'll see how that goes. Goodbye 1021 W, we hardly knew ye.

Ella Minnow Pea

2009-06-06T00:15:00.004-06:00

There's a small island off the coast of North Carolina where the written word is worshipped with a reverence saved for Deity and movie stars. The town is named for the man who created a sentence that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet in 35 letters.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

When letters on a statue erected to this man begin to fall, the town elders decide that it is fate. As the letters fall, they are removed from the language and writings of the town under penalty of banishment.

As you read Ella Minnow Pea, which is a collection of letters between townspeople, letters will disappear from the book. What was once . . .

We wish you well with everything you try to achieve in these trying final days

becomes

We wish ewe well with ephereething ewe trie to asheeph in these trieing phinal taes.

You will never appreciate the written word more than you will as you read this book. It brings such a vigor to exercising your vocabulary, that you will wish your volume of words met those of Shakespeare just for the ability to use them all!

Photography

2009-05-24T19:26:00.002-06:00

I'm of the firm belief that a lot of photographers aren't really good at taking pictures they just have a great camera. I've been trying to take better pictures with my little $200 camera and make them look more artistic. Here are some pictures that I took this weekend . . .

That's all, have a great week!

I Usually Hate These

2009-05-22T22:06:00.005-06:00

I usually hate these, but I have yet to do one on my blog so it's a change of pace. I also added some of my own categories and took some of them out . . .

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Moving into our house
2. Asher to stop teething
3. For our family to not be sick anymore
4. For Nick to not get mad at me for packing
5. The Harry Potter movie this summer
6. Planting some pretty flowers
7. Slurpees
8. Swimming

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Write a book that would make me independently wealthy so that I wouldn't have to work or worry about money.
2. No matter what Asher does, not get frustrated at him.
3. Not have to shave my legs!
4. Keep up with Capoeira
5. Be a Super Hero
6. Be more organized at home
7. Fulfill my life long dream of being a dancer
8. Make Nick's and Asher's lives wonderful all the time

8 of my Favorite Books:
1. Outlander
2. Water for Elephants
3. Thirteenth Tale
4. White Oleander
5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
6. The Book Thief
7. The Dark Tower Series: Wolves of the Calla
8. The Dresden Files: Grave Peril

8 Simple Pleasures that I Love:
1. Sound of rain on the roof of my car
2. The first grape in a bunch, cause it always tastes different than the rest, it's the best
3. Finishing a book that I absolutely loved
4. That no matter how many times I watch them, The Notebook and Moulin Rouge always make me cry
5. When people tell me they loved a book that I recommended
6. That moment right before you fall asleep, and you think, "Am I falling . . . asleep . . . maybe a little . . . (snoor)"
7. A Slurpee on a hot day
8. When I laugh or smile so hard that my cheeks fall asleep

8 Things I Want to Improve:
1. Be more patient
2. Stop being judgemental
3. Write in my journal more frequently
4. Making goals and reaching them
5. Spending more alone time with Nick
6. Eventually get a piano and start playing again
7. Spending my money more wisely
8. My attitude toward church

8 Desserts I Wish were Fat Free:
1. Better Than Sex Cake
2. Chocolate Yummy
3. Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake
4. Sugar Cookies
5. Eclairs
6. Peanut Butter with M&M's
7. Banana Splits
8. Caramel Brownies

Living Traditions Festival

2009-05-20T20:58:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday we went to the Living Traditions Festival at the SLC Library. It's a huge cultural celebration with food, entertainment, craft demonstrations and it's all free. We went right when it opened and it wasn't crowded at all. There was free parking at the library, so it really was completely FREE. We did pay $9 for some plates of awesome Tongan Food. We will definitely be going next year, and anyone in SLC should definitely come!!

I also chopped my hair this past weekend. I needed something new and the girl who does my hair, Jenny @ Wild Styles Salon does an amazing job!! I'm still getting used to it, but so far I love it!! If anyone wants Wild Style's number it's 801-451-7789. They do an amazing job and are really inexpensive. Love you all! YEAH!!!

http://www.slcgov.com/Arts/livingtraditions/

Messenger

2009-05-16T21:14:00.003-06:00

I've started two books in as many days and neither of them grabbed my attention. Messenger is one of the companion books to The Giver, but you don't have to read The Giver to love Messenger. I finished it fairly quickly, and I loved every minute of it. I love Lois Lowry's style of writing and the worlds she creates are so creative and entrancing.

A small boy is a messenger in his community, who accept outcasts from other towns. When the town decides to close its borders to outsiders, he starts a journey to retrieve his caretaker's daughter.

This is an incredibly easy read, and it a great short book. These are a couple gross parts as far as illness and injury are concerned but I think it would be great for anyone, especially your 8-11 year olds.

Texas, Hollywood and Alaska

2009-05-14T18:54:00.002-06:00

You might be asking yourself what those three places have in common, they were our three themed days for Associate Appreciation Week this year. This is my biggest event of the year, by far my most fun and our theme this year was "Stayin in the States." Tuesday was Texas with BBQ Hamburgers, Lasso Contest, Manager Shooting Gallery, and Old Fashioned Pictures. Here are me and my committee members . . .

Wednesday was our 1920's Hollywood day. We had Karaoke, a huge buffet, movie games and a Stunt Double Obstacle Course. Here is part of the room for the Hollywood day, that's film hanging from the ceiling.

The Stunt Double Obstacle Course was so fun to put together, each part of the course represented a different movie . . .

1. Save Nemo from the Burning Building - Ladder 49

2. Jump ecstatically onto the beanbag - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

3. Spin in the office chair 5 times - Office Space

4. Walk the plank - Pirates of the Caribbean

5. Crash through the brick wall - The Hulk

6. Throw Nemo into the hospital - John Q

Nick took this picture with his department. What a complete nerd!! He looks pretty cute as a girl!

Thursday was Alaska and the Outdoors. We got all kinds of Outdoorsy things from Tai Pan Trading and decorated the whole room. We borrowed wood carvings from a business and placed them the bears, eagles and dolphin all around the room. We had picnic lunches, a fishing pond, a Frozen T-Shirt Contest (it's not as dirty as it sounds, you just wet and freeze a t-shirt and they have to unthaw it as quickly as possible) Arctic Canoeing pictures, and an Animal Call Contest.

I have a committee of 9 amazing people who helped me out all week. They were wonderful and I couldn't have done it without them. Since I work alone and don't have a team, my work committee are some of my best friends. I've known most of them for at least 4 years now. Each year Associate Appreciation Week gets easier and easier because these people keep getting better and better. Eventually our preparation will become so advanced that we will just be able to telekinetically set up everything. I love them like family and they helped make it a great week!!!

Outlander

2009-05-11T17:42:00.001-06:00

It's 800+ pages make even the most avid reader quake in their boots, it's sheer mass made me think twice about starting the Outlander journey. In reading this massive book I received tears, out loud laughs, feelings of revulsion and a 3:00 am feeling of contentment when I finally closed the back cover.

Claire is a war-nurse in the 1940's and married to Frank. She encounters a place which takes her back to the 1700's in barbaric Scotland. She immediately puts her nursing skills to use extracting a bullet from a young Scot named Jamie. The remaining pages follow Claire and Jamie on their journeys through a Scottish castle, encounters with English dragoons, witches, monsters and more importantly one of the best books I've read in awhile.

This is only the first book in a series of 5 or 6 books, and I'll be reading them all. Outlander is definitely not for the faint of heart. It contains copious amounts of violence, sex, swearing, blood and pretty much anything that would make a book worth reading.

If you decide to accept the challenge of this book, you will be surprised how quickly it draws you in and wraps you in the history and love of a Scotland long past.

Outlander

2009-05-11T09:09:00.005-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted a book review because of my busy-ness and because I've yet to find a book worth taking the time to review. Outlander came to my rescue, literally and metaphorically . . .

It's 800+ pages make even the most avid reader quake in their boots, it's sheer mass made me think twice about starting the Outlander journey. In reading this massive book I received tears, out loud laughs, feelings of revulsion and a 3:00 am feeling of contentment when I finally closed the back cover.

Claire is a war-nurse in the 1940's and married to Frank. She encounters a place which takes her back to the 1700's in barbaric Scotland. She immediately puts her nursing skills to use extracting a bullet from a young Scot named Jamie. The remaining pages follow Claire and Jamie on their journeys through a Scottish castle, encounters with English dragoons, witches, monsters and more importantly one of the best books I've read in awhile.

This is only the first book in a series of 5 or 6 books, and I'll be reading them all. Outlander is definitely not for the faint of heart. It contains copious amounts of violence, sex, swearing, blood and pretty much anything that would make a book worth reading.

If you decide to accept the challenge of this book, you will be surprised how quickly it draws you in and wraps you in the history and love of a Scotland long past.

My Fav Five

2009-05-08T10:50:00.014-06:00

My sister-in-law Aly asked me who my favorite five actors were. I thought it would be a lot harder, but my top 5 came surprisingly easily . . . all 5 are my favorites because of the unconventional films that they do. Ones that I've loved and ones that a lot of people haven't seen.

Johnny Depp is a fairly recent addition. My favorite movies that he's in are Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Finding Neverland and Sleepy Hollow. I love that he and Tim Burton have teamed up to put Johnny Depp in some of the weirdest and more memorable rolls. He made the Pirates movies which I didn't particularly like but would have been complete crap without Johnny.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt hasn't been in many main stream movies. My love of Joseph started when I saw the movie Brick and The Lookout. He tends to stick to the independent films and that's what I love about him. Nick and my brother-in-law Ryan got to meet him at Sundance this year, and I'm totally jealous!

I got a crush on Ben Foster when I was in Junior High and he was on a show for the Disney Channel called Flash Forward with Jewel Staite. I thought he was so cute. He always plays small roles in movies, but that's what I love about him. Most people probably don't know who he is, so let me enlighten you . . . Get Over It with Kirsten Dunst, in Hostage he was the creepy guy with long, black hair, in Alpha Dog he was the main kid's brother, in X-Men the Last Stand he was Angel, in 3:10 to Yuma he was Russell Crowe's right hand man, and in 30 Day of Night has was again the creepy guy in the jail cell. He's my absolute favorite!

I loved Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, what girl didn't? However, he became one of my favorites after I saw him in Fracture with Anthony Hopkins and Lars and the Real Girl, which is one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen that movie you need to. He plays a guy in love with a mannequin, it's not dirty at all like it sounds and it's a great movie!

Christian Bale is my longest love. I fell for him when he was 'Cowboy' in Newsies and I haven't hit ground yet. I loved the movie Swing Kids because of him, he stole my heart in Little Women, American Psycho made me realize what a phenomenal actor he is, and his dedication to lose 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist is amazing. He turned around and gained it all back, plus copious amounts of muscle a year later for Batman. Me put The Matrix to shame in Equilibrium and was a broody mystery in The Prestige. He made me want to hunt dragons in Reign of Fire, and made me depressed in Rescue Dawn. 3:10 to Yuma was lucky enough to have him as their leading man, and I'm looking forward to seeing his machine killing lust in Terminator this summer. Christian Bale is the epitome of a great actor, markedly one of the best out there!

I'll make a list of my top 5 actresses later, but that might take some thought.

Other Favorites Who Didn't Make it to the Top 5: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pierce, Brad Pitt, Cillian Murphy, Ryan Reynolds, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Bateman

Florida

2009-04-29T09:44:00.008-06:00

We just got back yesterday from a 9 day trip to Florida. Our last vacation was almost 2 years ago, and we just stayed at home then. It was a ton of fun. We were able to stay free at 3 of the Marriott Timeshares in Florida! We stayed at Grande Vista in Orlando for 3 days, went down to Fort Lauderdale and stayed at BeachPlace Towers for 3 days and then back up to Orlando and Harbour Lake for 3 days. Since we stayed in 2 bedroom units, we were able to take my whole family.

Asher did surprisingly well on the plane. We also dosed him up with Benadryl, which helped.

Here is Nick and our nephew, Noah.

Asher playing around

The best service we EVER had at a restaurant, was at the Hooters in Fort Lauderdale. She was so sweet, catered to Asher the whole time, gave us drinks to take with us and when he wanted her to hold him, she danced with him!

Nick was totally awesome, and drove 2 hours from Fort Lauderdale to get to the Fruit and Spice Park. I'd read about it in The Fruit Hunters, and it was absolutely amazing! Totally worth the drive, and I got to taste and see some amazing things!

This is a Blackberry Jam Fruit

These are called praying hands and they grow off of one of the varieties of banana trees that they have.

This is a Cherry of the Rio Grande, which grows in Brazil.

I don't even know what this is, but it was a pod that was hanging from one of the awnings at the park.

This is Jaboticaba, the fruit only grows on the trunk, not the branches.

I ate one of these, it's a Surinam Cherry. It was very seedy and not very good.

This is a Fried Egg Plant.

A Breadfruit from the Archipelago.

Nick and Asher on the Fort Lauderdale Beach.

We didn't go to many parks, but we did end up going to Blizzard Beach. It was a whole days worth of fun!!

We went to a miniature Golf Course in Orlando called Pirate's Cove. Everything was pirate themed, and they even gave Asher a little pirate goody bag at the end.

They also gave him a little plastic putter to walk around with.

Fishbones, was one of the Florida Specific restaurants that we went to. There was a fish tank right next to our table, that's what Asher's looking at. We also tried Bahama Breeze, and Cici's Pizza and Hooters which we'd never eaten at before. Cici's sucked, Hooters was really yummy.

We had an amazing time, but it's nice to be back home. This is the last big vacation we'll be taking in awhile so I'm glad that it was a good one!

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T19:01:00.003-06:00

This was really Asher's first Easter, since last Easter he was only 4 months old. We weren't sure that he would get the whole Easter Egg Hunt concept, but he loved it. After he found all of his eggs, we would just throw the same ones onto the grass when he wasn't looking and he would start all over again. He picked up eggs and put them in his basket for about 20 minutes. It was so great to see him get so excited every time he saw an egg.

My Twilight Change of Heart

2009-04-11T22:11:00.003-06:00

My Mom asked me if I wanted to watch Twilight with all the girls in the family. I was immediately game. I figured that since I didn't like the books, maybe this was a chance to get a new outlook on the whole series. My Mom and sister-in-law, Rachelle both read the books and liked them. My sister, Ashley and I mainly went to mock and enjoy some merriment at the expense of the infamous Twilight Stars.

If you read my review on the first book in the Twilight series, you'll be surprised to hear that I actually liked the movie.

http://lizzmd.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-twilight-attempt.html

Don't get me wrong, there were a few cheesy parts, but I was genuinely shocked that I really liked it. There were some bad special effects, but some great ones that made up for it. I'm not sure if the reason I liked the movie was because I didn't like the books, or if I went in not expecting anything and was pleasantly surprised. Either way, I'm giving Twilight its props!

I've come to the realization that women love these books because they love the idea of an Edward. It has nothing to do with the writing, which wasn't anything special, but just the concept of having a perfect man love you so perfectly.

I'm undertaking a project where I'll have to use Twilight as a reference, so I'm swallowing my pride. I'll be there in the theatre to see the following movies. I won't have fake fangs in or anything, and I'll still cringe when the vampires sparkle like diamonds, but there you have it.

Woman's World

2009-03-31T21:21:00.005-06:00

I came across "Woman's World: A Novel" while I was browsing at Sam Weller's Bookstore. The cover caught my attention. As I read the back, I immediately knew that this was a book that I wanted to read. The author took over 40,000 excerpts from women's magazines in the 60's and created a readable book all about a woman's life. Below is a sample from one of the pages . . .

The creativity of this author alone was enough to commit me to reading it cover to cover, but as I read I came to discover that the text that was put in, actually made the story more interesting. You may assume that eventually I didn't even notice that I was reading a collaged novel, but that never happened. It wasn't like subtitles, where eventually you forget about them, but I actually liked that they never faded into the background. It just made the story more interesting and creative. I absolutely loved this novel and would recommend it for anyone looking for a completely "novel" experience.

The Giver

2009-03-13T20:04:00.003-06:00

I don't have a problem reading Young Adult books. I read "The Book Thief" last year and it is now one of my favorite books. "The Giver" has more than 3,000 positive reviews on Amazon, so I thought I would give it a go.

Even though it's over 170 pages, the pages are small so it's not a very long read.

The concept is about a community where everyone doesn't feel, they have strict rules, and everything is decided for you from the clothes you wear to the occupation you have. Her writing style reminds me of Stephen King, but it's a completely clean book. No swearing, sex, or violence.

One of my favorite parts of the book was reading about a character named Asher, who was always happy and who everyone loved. He was such an easygoing kid and he's the main character's best friend. I'd never heard of this book, so it gave me goosebumps.

There are two other books in the series, Gathering Blue and Messenger although I heard that they can be read independently and all three are equally great.

If you're a movie buff, this was a cross between The Island, Equilibrium and Pleasantville.

Recommended to:
Those who like a good, short read OR
Those who like fantasy/science fiction books OR
Those who are looking for a book to read with their teenagers.

Educating Esme

2009-03-03T21:23:00.004-07:00

Everyone of us had that really awesome teacher in our school. The one that every student wanted but only the select few were lucky enough to have.

At Swope Middle School, my junior high there was a teacher who dressed in period costumes and decked out his entire classroom. When they studied the Wild West he dressed as a cowboy and made the inside of his classroom look like an old west main street complete with store fronts and porches. I always prayed that I would get that teacher, but I had a boring teacher who when we studied the Donner Party wrote each person's name of those who had been eaten on a plate next to a fork and knife. Kind of morbid for 13 year old kids.

Esme is that kind of teacher. Surprisingly you find out that aspiring to be the most awesome teacher ever wasn't her first choice. She would love to be an opera singer, or a librarian, but decided to give teaching a go. The stories are absolutely hilarious, and it will make you glad that you aren't sending your kids to a downtown Chicago Elementary School.

She approaches teaching with such creativity and bluntness that it makes me want to become a teacher myself. It's an incredibly short read, only a couple hundred pages, but the text is large and the pages are small. My only complaint is that it didn't last longer.

Season of the Witch

2009-03-02T21:48:00.004-07:00

I just finished reading "Season of the Witch." If you like fantasy or just a good story, this is the book for you.

It's about two sisters who live together in a decrepit old house. They become suspects of a murder and a RV (Remote Viewer: Psychic) is called in to investigate. There were so many new concepts that I'd never even heard of which made this book a fascinating read. At the end of the book the author tells you that some of the more far fetched ideas were actually based on true events.

I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to give anything away, but it was a great read and I finished it in just a couple days. It does have some sex scenes which aren't too graphic.

Some Fun Pictures

2009-02-26T21:49:00.006-07:00

If you didn't think that Asher was a happy kid, here's proof.

We were trying to take a picture of his food baby.

Asher trying to "get rid" of the competition.

Asher just discovered this bin of balls. He crawled into the small cube and wedged himself down into it, so that the balls were all around him.

Asher and my Mom

Asher and his friend, Jerry.

Asher being surprised

With both mine and Nick's eyesight being so bad, we figured Asher better get used to the glasses right now

Nick looking all hot and sexy in a shirt that we bought for Asher.

Johannesburg, South Africa

2009-02-26T21:15:00.003-07:00

My youngest brother, Tyler, left for his mission last week. He is now a white Mormon kid in a sea of dark African people.

He is serving his mission is Johannesburg, South Africa!

Right after he got his mission call, I got onto Wikipedia to read up on all the wondrous, Lion King-like amazement's of Johannesburg . . . this is what I found out . . .

1. Only 86% of the city have a flush toilet.

2. South Africa has 11 official languages, most of which I can't pronounce (Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu.)

3. There are 1,200,000 orphans in South Africa, whose parents have both died of AIDS.

4. South Africa was ranked second for murder and first for assaults and rape per capita.

5. A vast amount of South Africans suffer from Xenophobia, fear of foreigners.

Needless to say, I didn't mention any of these facts to my mother, but quietly whispered them to Tyler and his friends in a hushed tone as their eyes grew wider and wider with each fact.

I've grown pretty close to Tyler and I'm definitely going to miss him. I'm sad that he won't get to see Asher till Asher is talking and potty trained, but at least it's before Asher will remember anything.

I love you Tyler, may the brown natives worship you for the white, shiny red-head like God that you are!!

The Fruit Hunters

2009-02-14T14:41:00.008-07:00

I started the Fruit Hunters with some trepidation. It sounded like an interesting book, but the cover looked old fashioned and I was prepared to find a Farmers Almanac, rather than an exciting look into exotic fruit.

I completely misjudged The Fruit Hunters. While there were a few chapters that weren't as interesting as most of the chapters, it made me want to journey to far away locations to sample cloud berries. And fruit that proves that God has a sense of humor, the coco de mer is a fruit that looks like a woman's butt, but whose seeds look like fully erect penises.

There were so many interesting facts about fruit that I didn't know about, or even thought about, or even realized that I should have thought about.

When we go to Florida in April, I'm going to go the Fruit and Spice Park south of Fort Lauderdale, where you can sample more than 100 varieties or mangoes and other fruit from right off the trees.

If you're looking for an interesting read, about all things fruit including fruitarians, the "Fruit Detective" and fruit that tastes like vanilla ice cream; then this is the book for you.

David After the Dentist

2009-02-09T21:16:00.002-07:00

This video is hilarious!

Our Valentine's

2009-02-08T18:07:00.006-07:00

So, for Valentine's Day my parents decided to watch Asher and Noah the Saturday before Valentine's Day, so that us couples could go have some "couple" time.

It was a great day!

I had asked Nick a week before our Saturday what he wanted to do. He sounded slightly less than thrilled, so I volunteered to master the most amazing Valentine Day since cupid himself shot Romeo and Juliet in the bummies! The only condition was that he had to consent to do whatever I planned. We had a deal.

I decided that we would get each other Valentine cards because I really don't really need to add the chocolate to my already voluptuous thighs, and flowers just die. I made him a card and wrote all the usual declarations of love. This was the card that I received from Nick . . . and Asher . . .
I absolutely loved it. Nick is always extremely creative when it comes to gifts. A few examples that come to mind are the year he built my hedgehog a cage, complete with separate compartments and Mother's Day when he got me a unstuffed animal and a gift card for Build-A-Bear so that Asher and I could go and create a memory together. We ended up creating a red and grey skull toting elephant named Elewyn.

The day I had planned didn't go exactly like I had anticipated, but it was a great day nonetheless. Here was my Ultra-Multra-Super-de-Dooper Romantic Day . . .

12:00 Drop Asher off at Mom's

12:30 Go to Blue Boutique to pick out Fun and definitely inappropriate lingerie

3:00 Get Massages

4:00 Eat Dinner at Nick's Restaurant of choice

5:40 or 6:45 Go see Taken or Coraline

This is how our day actually went

12:00 Ashley and Kristo show up and drop off Olive (their ultra hyper puppy) at our house

12:30 We drop off Asher and Noah (Ashley and Kristo's baby) at my Mom's

1:00 Lunch at Red Iguana. We saunter over to the Hostess store next door and Nick purchases a candy necklace for us and Ashley and Kristo, what a Casanova!

2:00 Blue Boutique where Kristo and Nick spend the majority of the time in the Adult Only Room with each other

3:00 Ashley and I get massages because even though Nick has never had a massage he says that he feels uncomfortable, is dreading it, and that the remote possibility of him getting a man masseuse makes him feel less than adequate as a man. During the massage, Kristo and Nick go to Best Buy and play games.

4:30 We go up to Jamba Juice and grab smoothies. I think on the way in Nick "fwapped" Kristo in the crotch.

5:00 We head to the Gateway and go to the arcade to play video games. Besides a completely disastrous game at Skeeball and me looking like a bunny rabbit on downers as I play one of the dancing games, it's uneventful.

5:40 We watch Taken, which is a surprisingly good movie. Liam Neeson reminds me of a slighter older Jack Bauer who can take anyone out, regardless of how large or intimidating they are, with just one karate chop to the neck.

7:30 We head back up to my parents to pick up the kids.

8:00 As we arrive home we notice a dog limping along the side of the road. Ashley leaps from their moving car and I tell Nick to go "fix him." Ashley comes back a few minutes later crying, she says that the dog is throwing up blood and that his back leg looks broken. She starts to cry. We watch the kids, while the men attend to the "Men" stuff. After about 15 minutes I walk outside and ask what's taking them so long. Nick says that they've called animal control, and I ask how the dog is . . .

"Oh, he's dead."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he died about 20 seconds after Ashley left."

"Well I don't want to tell Ashley that, she's already crying."

"I'll send Kristo in."

As animal control comes up the dog's owner finally finds her dog, in slightly worse shape than she left him. The Animal Control guy berates her for a couple of minutes for not taking care of her dog, for letting him out of the yard and for being a veritable ingrate as well. Good for him.

10:00 Kristo and Nick come in from the killing of Lassie, and head upstairs to spend 15 minutes talking about video games.

Now, you might think that from my sarcastic undertones about the day that I had a lousy time. I didn't, I had a great time. I was glad that Ashley and Kristo were able to come, it was our first day without Asher, and it was nice to just be able to eat at a restaurant and not have to worry about feeding kids, them crying in the ear of the large man at the table next to you, or just being grouchy and unsoothable. I'm glad that Nick and Kristo are such good friends and I hope that they had a good Valentine's Day together.

God Bless us Everyone, Happy Valentine's Day!

This picture isn't even from yesterday.

Wicked

2009-02-01T11:16:00.004-07:00

I embarked on reading Wicked because it got an amazing number of good reviews on Amazon and I hadn't heard any bad things about it. The book wasn't really what I expected . . .

The book is surprisingly more political than any other book that I've read, I guess that's not saying much since I hate politics. It goes into a lot of detail about the different political groups in Oz, their beliefs, their problems and their work either for or against the Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy is only in the book for a grand total of 5 pages, so if you're looking for something that more closely resembles the movie you loved, this isn't the book for you. I would instead suggest the musical, which is much more superficial when it comes to morals of the story and endings.

After I finished the book I went onto Wikipedia to see the plot of the musical and they were like two different things entirely! Except for a few instances where the characters or the story are similar to the book, it's completely different. It seems like the musical is much more, and should be, musical. I mean that it has more about friendships, love will conquer all and pretty musical numbers and sparkly costumes.

I'm assuming that a lot of the people that gave Wicked good reviews are either biased toward political novels, or have seen the musical before reading the book.

If you click on the title of this post it will take you to a synopsis of the book in case you just want to know what it's about.

Make of it what you will, but the sparkly shoes, flying monkey, and Wizard of Oz couldn't make this a must read.

Camouflage

2009-01-26T08:40:00.007-07:00

We have three black rugs in our house; one in front of the kitchen sink and two in the bathroom.
I liked these rugs when we first got them, but lately they've been trying to kill me. If you look at this bathroom rug really closely you might be able to spot the reason why. The rug is like that stone bridge in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You have to look at it from a different angle or throw dirt on it to really SEE it.

For some unknown reason these rugs are where our fat cat, Sonde, chooses to sleep. These pictures were taken with all the lights on so you can imagine how difficult it is to see him when I get up in the middle of the night to take a leak or get a drink of water.

Unless his eyes are open or he happens to make a courtesy meow before I step on him I generally end up tripping on his bloated body and falling against our sink. I've gotten hurt by him so many times that I don't even walk on these rugs anymore. So now I have to treat these rugs like they're hot lava and if I touch them, I'll die.

But I like the rugs. Maybe I'll get rid of the cat.

Asher the Enormous Growing Wonder!!!

2009-01-21T20:06:00.003-07:00

Asher is growing up so fast. It just seems like yesterday I was holding him in my arms at the hospital wondering, "What the crap did I do?"

Asher looking all coy at the Olive Garden
Asher with a giraffe in his pants

I love this monster hoodie that I got at Wal-Mart. He makes it look even cuter!!

In a Sunburned Country

2009-01-18T10:18:00.001-07:00

I just finished a 350 page book about the dangers, wonders and comedy of the forgotten country of Australia. It's by the author of "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" which I enjoyed reading, but doesn't hold a candle to "In a Sunburned Country." I've always looked for a book that combines enough comedy, with the right amount of information without being daunting and overwhelming. I found that in this book.

I found myself being so intrigued by the subject matter, that I actually read the scientific names of the flora and fauna. I couldn't put this book down, and it gave me a new perspective on the country, people and enormous treasures of the Australian country. It made me want to visit, never venture there, and meet the people all at once.

My Heart Dropped . . .

2009-01-17T11:38:00.003-07:00

This morning at around 7:00 am Nick and I hear Asher on the monitor starting to wake up. Nick gets out of bed to get up with Asher, and I go back to sleep. That's one thing I love about the winter is that it's darker, so it's easier to sleep in.

I wake up a couple hours later, and roll over. The digital clock says 10:00 and I think "Thank You Nick."

I come downstairs and notice that I don't see Asher or Nick and it's completely quiet. I walk into the bathroom and see this note on the mirror.

I pick up the phone and dial Nick at work . . .

Lizz: "You're so awesome."

Nick: "Uh, thanks. Why am I so awesome?"

Lizz: "Because you let me sleep in."

Nick: "I didn't let you sleep in, Asher let you sleep in."

Lizz: "Huh?"

Nick: "What are you talking about?"

Silence

Lizz: "Asher's not here."

Nick: "Lizz, where is Asher?"

Silence

Lizz: "Nick, don't . . . "

Nick: "Don't what, is Asher not in his bed?"

I walk into Asher's room and look into his crib. My heart dropped to a black cavernous region somewhere below my belly button.

Lizz: "Nick, he's not in there."

Nick: "Are you sure?"

Lizz: "Yes Nick, he's not in there."

Nick: "Lizz, check again."

Silence

Some adult words of the four letter variety came out of my mouth.

Lizz: "Oh my ^*&%, oh #&$% . . . "

Nick: "Is he there?"

Lizz: "Yeah . . . "

Nick: "It's okay."

I go directly above his crib and notice that he's curled into the fetal position in the lower right hand corner, surrounded by stuffed animals. The corner wasn't visible to me when I first checked his bed. I immediately start to cry because I realize how not all right that would have been.

Asher got his immunizations yesterday and didn't wake up till 11:15. As soon as he woke up I hugged him for as long as I could stand. Stinker . . .

St. George Wedding Bells

2009-01-04T09:25:00.002-07:00

This past week our family traveled to St. George for my brother's wedding. Ever since he got home from his mission to Japan, he's been inkling for a wife. He met Rachelle Lyon at BYU and they got engaged. He was so happy, that it was almost painful to be around him, he was so corny and in love. I really am so glad that he's happy, he's one of the nicest people I know and definitely deserves it!

Aaron and Rachelle McCombs' in front of the St. George Temple.

It was a 4 hour drive to St. George and Asher did surprisingly well, until the last half hour. Here's us in the hotel room watching Baby Einstein's.

Me and my four siblings. Ashley Anne (22), Tyler Andrew (19), Aaron Oliver (25) and Me (20) :).At the reception, which was in Overton, Nevada that same night, Asher was so tired. He had had such a long day and all our attempts to take pictures with the bride and groom turned out looking like a lesson in torture.

The Men in my family. Aaron, my Dad and Tyler. Aaron has been working with my Dad for as long as I can remember, I know that my Dad will miss working with him. Tyler and Aaron are best friends, and with Tyler going to South Africa on a mission in February, they won't see each other for awhile.

It was an extremely long day, and crossing state lines and time zones from the wedding to the reception were a pain in the keister, but they were both so happy!

CONGRATULATIONS Aaron and Rachelle!!

Weird Pictures

2008-12-28T21:01:00.006-07:00

I'm no Ansel Adams, I enjoy taking pictures but I don't do it professionally or pretend to. Even so, I thought that these pictures might be fun to post especially because they all have good stories to go along with them. Let the show begin . . .

When my grandma died years ago, I made sure that I took some things that I would be able to remember her by. Some pictures, a purse, a few clothing items, and these sheets. The horrid orange color completely reminds me of my grandma, and while the color is no indication of what kind of person she was, they're a happy color, like my grandma. She was always so happy and full of life, I don't think she ever said a bad word about anyone. I love her so much, and I miss her. Whenever I see these orange sheets I think of her.

I am always very compulsive when I decide my hobbies and consequently they usually last only a couple weeks. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to become an Auto Mechanic. I don't remember what movie or idea prompted this thought, but I looked up Auto Mechanic classes at SLCC and ordered some car manuals. During my searches, I discovered what my dream car was. I love the curves, nostalgia and class of the 1940 Chevy Coupe! I still have a dream that when I become a millionaire I will buy an old Chevy and completely refurbish it complete with upgrades like airbags and air conditioning. Nick isn't able to buy me a car, but he bought me and put together this model 1940's Chevy Coupe for me. Ladies, did your husband buy you a car?

The second to last week of November, I had a work party for all the people that help me on my committees. We have one every 6 months, and I decided to bring a couple dishes. Our 13 X 9 pan was left on the counter needing to be cleaned. Nick thought that it had already been cleaned and put it in the cupboard. Imagine my surprise when I went to make a cake the other day, almost a month later and discovered this "culinary abortion." My 7 layer dip, complete with cheese and sour cream, looked more like a 3rd Graders Science Project in Mold Development. There were at least 5 different kinds, and the black stuff, that's not olives that furry mold. I almost threw the pan away, but Nick washed it 5 times and sanitized it with bleach. I'm still not completely convinced that there's not microscopic mold embedded in the metal. (This is best viewed by zooming in.)

Lately I've been sleeping on the futon. No we're not having marital complications, we have a Full sized bed and there just isn't room for both of us and our dog. I sleep better on the futon because it's a little firmer. The other night as I went to switch my head positions from the right to the left I hit my brow bone pretty hard on the metal bar. I literally saw stars! I told Nick about it the next morning, but you always feel stupid when there's no visible evidence of your pain. It still stung a little, but while I was putting my makeup on in Asher's room, the natural light revealed this horrible bruise on my face. I'm a little embarrassed that it didn't come to me in a cooler way, like hitting some punk at Wal-Mart who was swearing at their kid, but what can I say. I'm just a bad ass.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T00:31:00.005-07:00

Christmas is so much more fun when you get to see how much your kids enjoy the wrapping paper and bags more than the Christmas presents you spend your paychecks on. Seriously, Christmas was really fun. Here are some pictures to commemorate the occasion.

Asher got this hat and mitten set from my Mom. I put the hat on him with the mittens still attached. Did I mention that it's a size 2T-5T and it fits his one year old head perfectly! :)

I love this present. When you open Cookie Monster's mouth he says all kind of "cookie monster" things.

This is all of us enjoying the wrapping paper.

We got these blocks for Asher to play with, but he liked using them as teething toys.

Merry Christmas from Asher!

2008-12-22T19:03:00.002-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Thirteenth Tale

2008-12-22T01:31:00.000-07:00

I consider myself lucky if I am able to find 1 book a year that I absolutely love. This year, I have been fortunate enough to find 4 books that I rated an A. The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Water for Elephants and now The Thirteenth Tale.

You know how when you read a book and you get to a specific part and you think, "Man, if they had just left that part out if would have been so much better!" I did not once think that throughout the whole book. I pride myself on watching so many TV shows and scary movies that I can almost always predict the twists and turns before they happen. I did not see this book coming at all, I thought I had it all figured out and then KABLOWEY! it threw me for a loop.

Synopsis
Vida Winter is the most famous living author, with hundreds of books published and an amazingly huge fan base. A woman, Margaret, who has only written a couple biographies and about "ordinary" people receives a letter from Vida inviting her to write Vida's biography. This would seem normal, only that Vida has never told the truth about her life and in the last 2 years alone has given over 20 different accounts of her story. This is the chance for Margaret to realize some things about herself and for Vida to get some things off her chest.

There were so many things that I loved about this book. The writing didn't trip me up at all, I didn't have to go back and re-read sentences because the working was all jumbled. I finished it in 2 days; I just couldn't put it down and like I said, it kept me guessing.

For anyone looking for a good read, with a little bit of everything, I definitely recommend this book!

Merry Country Christmas!!

2008-12-16T21:04:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Asher's 1st Birthday

2008-12-13T21:35:00.007-07:00

It's a strange feeling when you find out that your going to have to push a kid out of your vagina and then love it more than anything else. You definitely feel overwhelmed, tired, and scared crapless. You feel like you've just barely become an adult and now you're supposed to Carol Brady it up and become the perfect Mom.

Well, there is no secret to parenthood, puke is still gross to clean up and your kid isn't going to be the exception to the rule and turn out perfect. I've now been a Mom for a little over a year and it's still scary. What if Asher breaks something? Can I get him to the hospital before I pass out? What if he swallows a quarter? Do I really just wait for it to pass? What kind of guilt trip do I have to lay on Nick to make him pick through the poo to find the 25 cents?

I can say however, that having a wonderful kid makes it easier to be a good Mom. If you haven't met Asher, let me fill you in on the wonder that is a Nick and Lizz spawn. He is happy all the time, and he will smile at anyone if you smile at him first. When he gets shy, which is when someone first talks to him, he puts his ear to his left shoulder and looks all bashful. I thought that he did this when someone talked to him, but when a talking Christmas ornament made him tilt his head, I just laughed. What a weirdo!

We haven't found a food that he doesn't like yet, he almost always sleeps through the night and he crawls so fast that you could swear there's some "High Speed Internet" in him. (You've seen those commercials.) I love this kid so freakin much!

He turned 1 on December 10th, and we threw him a Birthday party on December 13th at my Dad's showroom in Salt Lake. We had both families come and we had a lot of fun. Asher wasn't really in to the presents at the party, but he loves them now that we've gotten them home. It was really fun planning a party for someone I knew, rather than for work, but at the same time it's definitely not as much fun to have to use your own money.

Here are some pictures from the Momentous Occasion . . .

Me feeding Asher his first ever Cupcake

Asher hasn't gotten the whole blowing concept yet

My nephew Milo was so excited to open Asher's presents, oh I mean help open

I had to go to work to blow up these balloons and was consequently 10 minutes late to my own party. But he loved tugging on them and watching them bounce.

I don't have a comment for this one, it must be something cool we're looking at though.

I made the cake for the party, and was really proud of myself. I used the extra cake batter to make cupcakes with little banana runts on top, and then used a little icing for the stem. I loved this cake!

I really love my son, and I'm already looking forward to his other parties when we can have Creature Encounters bring all kinds of reptiles to his party, for the party at the library and so much more. It will be a great time!

Happy Birthday Asher!!!

Book Club

2008-12-08T19:08:00.005-07:00

In July I started to become an avid reader. Our work had attempted to start a Book Club the year before, but it had fizzled out, and so I began the process of starting it anew.

I've taken the job of selecting books very seriously. I have a rigorous screening process before a book is selected for our Book Club.

1. I find the New York Times Best Seller Lists. I pick a couple of the more popular books.

2. I then go to amazon.com, and see how many reviews the book has received from customers. I try not to pick books that have under a couple hundred reviews.

3. I make sure that the majority of the reviews given for the book are 4 or 5 stars. If the reviews are pretty spread out in terms of 1 to 5 stars, I don't pick it. I need to find a book that will appeal to a large group of people.

4. I make sure that the book isn't sexist, meaning that I want a book that will appeal to both men and women.

5. I check the price of the book and the release date. I try not to pick things that came out too recently, because then they will be harder to get from the library. I also try to pick a book that is available in paperback so that it will be a cheaper price, although this doesn't always happen. Some books haven't been released in paperback yet.

If a book meets all these criteria and I have a strong feeling that it will be a good fit for the Book Club, I try to get it from the library and read it before I suggest it. Sometimes I like to read the book for the first time with my group, so I won't read it in advance on purpose.

After reading it, if I feel that the majority of the members will like it, then I put it on my Monthly Book List.

One of the best parts of this Book Club is the feeling when someone tells you that they absolutely loved the book that you recommended. It's become something that I cherish and it makes all the work worth it. This has actually become the highlight of my job.

You don't have to be a employee of Marriott to participate. You are more than welcome to read along with us. We have a discussion each month, and I am going to post the Discussion Questions, so that any of you can participate. Here is the link to the blog and

Happy Reading!!

http://mvcibookclub.blogspot.com/

Candy Making

2008-12-06T22:51:00.007-07:00

Every Christmas me, my Mom and Ashley get together and make tons and tons of candy. This year, we got to add Rachelle, Aaron's fiance, to our candy making. We made even more this year than we did last year. Here are some pictures of our lovely yummies!

Almond Roca

Heavenly Hash (Marshmallows, coconut, Rice Krispies)

White Chocolate Popcorn

Peanut Butter Balls

Here is a ton of the candy, but it's not even all of it. Here's a list of what we made today.

Peanut Butter Balls
Almond Roca
Dark Chocolate Cashew Clusters
Milk Chocolate Peanut Clusters
Milk Chocolate Almond Clusters
White Chocolate Almond Clusters
Fudge
Fudge with Walnuts
Heavenly Hash
White Chocolate Popcorn

We had a great time and made a lot of calories! I look forward to this every holiday season . . .

Merry Christmas!!!

Our Family

2008-11-24T23:19:00.001-07:00

Our Family

Ima Whore

2008-11-22T07:59:00.006-07:00

I was surfing the news the other day at work and came across the

Worst Baby Names Ever!!

These are names actually taken from the U.S. Census Bureau, so they're legit.
I can't believe people will name their kids . . .

Harry Pitts
Tiny Hooker
Moxie Crimefighter
Audio Science

And so many more cruel names. Click on the title of this blog to check them out!

What's your favorite bad baby name?

What Makes a Woman Hot?

2008-11-17T00:52:00.013-07:00

I've often wondered what makes different women attractive to different people. I'm frequently surprised by the "hot" people, and even what other people find beautiful.

If you click on the Title of this blog, it will take you to a link where IGN is having you vote on the most beautiful woman. Go ahead, you know you want to . . .

Hot Women Surprise #1

My brother-in-law, Cam, recently started a movie review show. He and his friend, John, are talking about the movie "W." Cam starts to say that he finds Condoleezza Rice attractive, and John starts laughing. I also start laughing as I'm watching, because . . . Really?

Hot Women Opinion #1

I think she has what Tyra Banks calls a Fivehead, rather than a Forehead. Her front teeth are so large that they look like Chiclets, and I think that her hair looks like a plastic Halloween wig. Condoleezza Rice is not attractive.

Hot Women Surprise #2

Nick and I are celebrating our Anniversary and because our family is watching Asher, we decide to go to a movie. We decide to see the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace." As soon as the main "hotty" graces the screen, my first thought is "really?"

Hot Women Opinion #2

Olga Kurylenko the girl on the left has pretty skin, but is she really a James Bond kind of pretty? Then we have Gemma Arterton, the girl on the right. She's really the sex scene in this movie? She looks a little shy of her 14th birthday! I think that both women are too skinny, and that neither one is good looking. Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton are not pretty.

Hot Women Surprise #3

This weekend my mother-in-law, Diane took all the girls in the family up to Park City to shop. We're in the car talking, and my sister-in-law, Aly says that she thinks Angelina Jolie is kind of weird looking. Now Angelina Jolie thinks that she "looks like a Muppet" but I have a very different opinion.

Hot Women Opinion #3

Ok, granted my opinion of Angelina Jolie's beauty comes more from what I know about her, than what she actually looks like. I was on the Angelina Jolie bandwagon before she became a household name. When she was starring in Gia and Original Sin was when I began to take notice of her. I became infatuated with the women. I began collecting magazine covers of her and started a scrapbook of beautiful pictures with Angelina Jolie as the subject. It might sound a little serial killer/stocker-ish, but really I just admired her.

I purchased her book about her work as a United Nations Ambassador, and made a very guilty feeling donation to the UN Refugee Fund after I watched Beyond Borders. I was very impressed when as a single woman she embarked on adopting a little boy from Cambodia, a country she fell in love with while filming "Tomb Raider." She said that Maddox, her son, was her saving grace and that he changed her outlook on life.

When she decided to make "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Brad Pitt, I thought how awesome it would be if the world's two most beautiful people became a couple. They did, and the Angelina Jolie phenomenon was born. Since then, she has been on more covers than I can keep track of, adopted and birthed countless children, and done some great movies. A couple years ago, I decided to try to sell the 50 magazines that I had collected with her on the cover, and eventually ended up throwing them away. I didn't really need the collection anymore, but I still have an amazing amount of respect for a woman that has always marched to her own tune, wanted to be a funeral parlor arranger, and consistently looked for challenging roles to portray.

Now, I really have no grounds for judging the appearances of the women listed above, they're just my opinion. I certainly don't consider myself more beautiful than anyone else, but I think I'm pretty okay. I think that no matter what a woman looks like, what I know about her will always factor in to how beautiful she is, as it should.

The Dresden Files

2008-11-09T16:45:00.006-07:00

At work I volunteered to run the Book Club. I spend a lot of time each month looking over the bestseller lists, Barnes and Noble, the Library websites and Amazon, trying to find a great book. I do a lot of research, a lot of mulling and then select a book that's different that I think most everyone will like. For October I wanted to try a different genre, so I looked into the Fantasy category and stumbled across the Dresden Files.

The best way I can describe the Dresden Files is that it's a Harry Potter series for adults. The main character is a wizard named Harry Dresden, who advertises himself as such in the phonebook and occasionally helps out the Chicago PD with "Special" cases. Everyone lists it as a Sci-fi genre, but it's really more Fantasy. Its a veritable shopping list that includes pretty much every aspect of anything fantasy, faeries, demons, vampires, werewolves, angels, exorcisms, magic, sorcerers and so much more. Of course, since it's Harry Potter for adults, there is swearing, sex, violence and gore; all things that make a book good.

The first book was just ok, the dialogue was rather cliche, but it was interesting enough for me to read the second and third books. I just finished the third today, Grave Peril, and they just keep getting better and better. I've made a little (DF) next to the Dresden File books in my book review section. Harry keeps developing as a character and you slowly find out more and more about his past. The plots gets so much more interesting and complex, and I loved the third one so much that I finished it in two days! There are 10 books in the series so far, and the 11st is slated to come out April next year.

They made a TV series following the books, but I don't know how good it is. They also came out with some graphic novels, if that's more your thing.

If I had to compare them to something already out there; I would say it's a cross between Harry Potter, the Dark Tower series by Stephen King and a really suspenseful Dean Koontz book. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a good series to start, and I can't wait to keep reading them!

My Halloween Holabaloo

2008-11-04T21:31:00.006-07:00

Halloween is always an extremely busy time of year. Nick and my Anniversary is on October 27th, we have the Daley Family Halloween Party the Saturday before Halloween, and we always make a big to do at work.

Tuesday, October 28th
We had 5 of our associates read Tarot Cards for all our associates. They did an amazing job, and most of them didn't take a break through 4 hours of reading!

Wednesday, October 29th
We had our Annual Halloween Petting Zoo. There is this amazing guy, Cary Drage who helped me out 4 years ago when I started this. He comes every year, and brings all his own animals. He said that he owns hundreds of animals, and even has his own business. http://www.creatureencountersinc.com/

This is his Albino Burmese Python, Whitey. She's gorgeous!

I brought my ferrets and everyone loved to hold them. The only reason I got this hat on Gadianton is because he was so sleepy!

Me with my two guys, Gadianton and Sparticus.

It took me 4 years to build up the courage to hold the tarantula, I hate spiders. I finally did it.

Cary then tried to get me to hold the Black King Scorpion. When I said "No Way Jose" he tried to show me how harmless they are by sticking it in his mouth. I freaked out!

Thursday, October 30th

We bought all the fixins for Caramel Apples and had all the associates come make their own. It was a very yummy and diet ruined day.

Friday, October 31st

We had a costume contest for all of the associates, and then employees were able to bring their kids in to Trick or Treat. We ended up having about 175 kids show up.

Me and Asher

I'm holding the pumpkin, because once he realized that it rolled off the haystack, he wouldn't leave it alone.

It ended up being a great Halloween, but I'm definitely looking forward to a time when I am able to celebrate my Anniversary on my anniversary. I guess for now, Tarantulas, caramel apples and flying monkeys will have to do.

LOL Cats

2008-10-28T16:53:00.003-06:00

For those of you who don't know LOL cats, are pictures with cats where the cats are "saying" things, which are completely misspelled. I know if sounds lame, and a lot of them are, but some of them crack me up. Here are a couple that I liked . . .

A Daley Halloween

2008-10-26T22:02:00.007-06:00

Every year we host a Halloween party for Nick's family. The attendance has slowly gotten bigger as our family has grown. We now have 12 adults and 6 kids. It's always a Costume Party, which is great because it gives us adults an excuse to spend money on a costume we'll only wear once. We always take a family picture, this year we decorated sugar cookies, and we always have a pinata. The weather was perfect, so we were able to spend the majority of the party in our backyard. Here are a bunch of pictures . . .

Asher was a flying monkey, we bought the monkey costume and then made the hat, vest and wings.

Nick decided to dress up as his little brother, Kyle. Kyle always wears polos from the DI, and in High School he grew a blond Afro.

Nick's Mom, Diane with Asher. The black kiss is from me.

We always take a family picture, here's the whole fam damily.

All the girls in the family, we almost outnumber the boys now!

Nick's sister, Aly with her family. Cherish the Devil Woman, Brandon as Papa Smurf, Aly as White Trash and Milo as a Hot Dog.

Kyle and Heather as a Creepy Old Man and Jackie O. Kyle stayed in character for half of the party.

Nick's brother, Cam with his family. Season the witch, Boston as a dinosaur, Tyton as Captain America and Cam and Betsy as Adam and Eve.

Nick's brother, Ryan and his fiancee Mandy were high schoolers attending a dance who got attacked by zombies. You can't see it very well, but they both had gashing wounds and Mandy even had a scraped knee and ripped tights.

Nick's parents were the Wicked Witch and a flying monkey. No, we obviously didn't talk about our costumes before the party, they're usually a surprise. Imagine my surprise when out of all the costumes in the world, Nick's parents, and Asher and I are the same thing.

We tried to get Asher to take a nap before the party, but he wasn't tired enough. Halfway through the party he was sitting on my lap, fell asleep and slumped onto the couch.

We had a great party, and it was fun to get to see everyone and we always get so many laughs out of all the costumes. I need to recooperate a little bit, but I'm excited for next year.

The Ordeal of a Family Picture

2008-10-20T10:25:00.003-06:00

I'm sure that those of you who have tried to take family pictures with kids, will admit to wanting to throw your kids halfway through the process. Having kids definitely complicates the picture taking process.

Once upon a time, my Mom decided we needed to take family pictures before my brother goes on his mission. (He's going to the Johannesburg, South Africa Mission,) She said that we were going to meet at Mueller Park to take them. I'd never been to Mueller park, and needed to get directions from my Mom. This is how my Mom gives directions . . .

"Well you know the street that goes up to the Bountiful Temple? Just follow that road and then it will curve around, you go over a little hill and then take a right. You keep going till you hit Mueller park." (Love you Mom)

That was the first issue, the second was that my Mom failed to mention that Mueller Park isn't really a park, it's a camping ground with steep roads leading into the park. This wouldn't really have been a problem, but anticipating pictures, I had worn 4 inch heels. (Love you Mom)

Once we got to the spot that we were going to take pictures, the kids starting getting restless, and we were still waiting for my brother. (Love you Aaron)

We got the pictures done, and since we took about 35 family photos, there were 2 or 3 where someone wasn't making a weird face, or blinking and there was even one where my Dad looked like he was pulling back to punch my Mom. How does that happen?

It was a sweaty, annoying bees, and patience trying process, but we got some really good pictures. Just remember that if you're trying to get pictures, shaking the baby won't make them quiet, it will just get you arrested. Instead, put your hand over their mouth till they pass out from the lack of oxygen. :)

Haunted Houses are a "Hell No!"

2008-10-15T20:30:00.007-06:00

Since I've had Asher, I've been spending more time with my Mom and Ashley on my days off. We go to the library, out to lunch, to the Gateway, I love having 4 days weekends!

One of my favorite things to do around Halloween is make sugar cookies. All the yummy sugar, Crisco, and butter just make me want to eat them till I get diabetes and then sneak them when the nurses aren't looking.

As my Mom, sister and I are making cookies, my Mom says, "Do you want to go to a Haunted House?" "Really?" My Mom has never expressed interest in anything scary, or haunted housey before so I was a little shocked. When I asked her why, she said that she had seen a review of a bunch on Haunted Houses on KSL and thought that they looked fun. She then went on the explain what some of their spooky features were

At one, if you wear a poncho into the Haunted House, you're saying that you are OK getting man-handled and squirted with stuff like fake blood, ooze, whatever. One is strewn throughout a forest and one is actually in a maze where the maze changes while you're in it. You go down one corridor, turn around and the hallway that you came from, is now a wall. They all sound pretty cool, except for the bodily fluids one. It actually reminds me of a concert one of my friends went to in High School; she said that they hosed the crowd with fake blood. Hhhhmmm, something tells me it wasn't a Hannah Montana concert.

I blatantly and forcefully told my Mom that under no circumstances would I go to a Haunted House. Here's why . . .

When I lived in Reno, my Dad was the Bishop of our ward. He used to have Haunted Houses in this little basement classroom. Now it wasn't anything too gory, but I remember that they had a guy laying on an "operating" table and they had spaghetti and fake blood as his guts all hanging out. Talk about the Spirit! I could definitely feel Heavenly Father's love as the patient screamed, and played with his own entrails.

Ever since then, I am terrified of Haunted Houses.

At Universal Studios we went into a ride for the Mummy movie. A couple turns through the line and a Mummy park employee jumping out at me was enough for me to insist (insist is a nice word, more like berate them) that they get me out of there. I was led through a back hallway, and to a service elevator. Of course when I saw 8 year old girls with pigtails skipping into the ride, I felt like a wiener.

So, while my family is being pummeled with intestines and hosed in blood, I'll be at home eating sugar cookies.

Conundrum

2008-10-11T21:11:00.022-06:00

I take 4 pills every morning, a couple prescription drugs, a multivitamin and birth control. Since I have 3 medications that I have to refill at the pharmacy, I sometimes get behind and will go a couple days without meds before I have time to go to the pharmacy and refill them.

I've now been about 4 days without my birth control. I've earnestly made 3 attempts to pick it up, but either something has come up, or I've forgotten. I have a horrible memory.

As we were in the kitchen I, in passing, said that I hadn't taken birth control in 4 days. Nick looked extremely shocked and said, "You didn't ask me for help picking it up?" Honestly, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Nick immediately left to Rite-Aid. Now, Rite-Aid is only about 7 blocks from our house, but after 45 minutes Nick still wasn't home. After about an hour, I hear the car pull up.

"What took so long?" I made sure that this statement sounded nonchalant, rather than concerned, so that he wouldn't think I was ungrateful.

Nick then proceeds to tell me that once he went to Rite-Aid, the store was open, but the pharmacy wasn't. Seriously? Why the H else would you go to Rite-Aid if not for prescriptions? So, he was going to buy some condoms, but he felt dumb just buying condoms. He told me later, "I'm not sure why, but I've always been afraid to purchase condoms. Even though I'm almost 30 and have been married for seven years, I feel uncomfortable buying them. When it comes to tampons, pads, Vagisil, or whatever, I'm fine. I think it might be because when I purchase those, the checker doesn't assume that they'll be used on my genitals. But if I buy condoms, they'll know that I'll be having sex. And if I buy just condoms, they'll know that I'll be having sex within the hour. And if I buy condoms and just a few other items along with them, then they'll assume that I'll be incorporating those few items into whatever sexual experiences I have planned."

So he decided to run up to Smith's Marketplace which is about 10 blocks from Rite-Aid, because they have a self check-out stand. He grabs the hot glue sticks and yellow fabric dye he needed to make Asher's Halloween costume ("yeah, hot glue, dye, and condoms...I wonder what this sicko has planned") and strolls by their drug department to snag the condoms, but what does he find? That the pharmacy is closed, and while the pharmacy doesn't have to sell you the condoms, they have conveniently locked the front of the pharmacy, which is where the condoms are located.

They were only about a foot inside the iron grate, so if he was clever enough he could maybe squeeze his arm inside. ...Or perhaps, if he ran up to the Halloween section he could snag a plastic pitchfork and maneuver the condoms to safety. But then he realized how awkward it would look to be kneeling on the ground in front of the condoms, poking and prodding them with a plastic pitchfork. Coming to the conclusion that he wouldn't be having sex that night, he bought his other items and left. On his way to the car Nick vowed (again) to never shop at Smith's. (The first time involved a bagger with Down's.)

So when you go to Smith's, remember that anyone can purchase alcohol or cigarettes, but if you want to buy some condoms you'll have to get a manager to unlock them for you.

It turns out that we actually had some condoms tucked away in a drawer so we ended up doin' it anyways.

Silly, Nick.

Gardner Village

2008-10-05T10:37:00.006-06:00

Each Fall my Mom, sister Ashley and I go to Gardner Village. It's become a tradition that I get so excited for and start looking forward to in August! For those of you who haven't been, Gardner Village is a tiny little village with about 20 shops that sell tea, crafts, candy, clothes, jewelry and tons more. They always decorate it up for Halloween with stuffed witches all over the place. They sell mucho amounts of Halloween decorations, which is the main reason that we go.

We always eat at the restaurant there, Archibald's. They have a delicious Turkey Gravy Sandwich! Before we went to Gardner Village I attempted to mousse Asher's hair, but he fell asleep on the way there and consequently ended up with this . . .

Our waiter kept chuckling every time he came to our table.

After about 45 minutes of going through different shops, Asher started getting angry. He always gets restless if he's in his car seat or restrained for too long. We plopped him on the ground and he had a blast crawling around, and playing with Grandma.

I think that Asher has started teething, although no teeth have poked through yet. My sister Ashley had her baby, Noah Kristopher, about 3 weeks ago. He was such a good baby and slept almost the whole time.

We stopped by the candy store, and I sampled some Heath Bar Fudge which was so yummy. I ended up getting some great Halloween decorations and we had a wonderful time like we always do. I love getting to spend time with my Mom and Sister, we've all grown closer as we've had children. It makes you appreciate your mother so much more, when you experience what they did for you. I'm already looking forward to next year!!

Halloween

2008-10-05T10:25:00.006-06:00

Halloween and Fall are my favorite holiday and season. I love the cool weather when you can start wearing jackets and hats. I love the colors of all the leaves, and I even love the smell of Fall. Halloween is just fun. The costumes that you get to wear, the little kids all dressed up like their favorite character, it's so nostalgic.

I put up our Halloween decorations at home, and I was so excited that I wanted to post some pictures.

Nick and I created a spiderweb a few years ago. He does a great job decorating the outside of the house. His favorite part is dressing up as a huge reaper and scaring the kids.

Baby Asher

2008-09-29T18:04:00.004-06:00

I just wanted to brag on my boy for a little bit . . .

My Mom had never been to the new Salt Lake City Library, so we took her today.

You can go up onto the roof at the Library, and they have this awesome grass everywhere. It felt like you were in the Amazon.

My Dad and Asher catching some ZZZzzz's

We recycle EVERYTHING!

Asher at the Gateway watching the kids in the fountain.

Asher LOVES taking baths, I guess Nick likes them too!

Asher playing with the Halloween decorations as I try to put them up.

My Twilight Attempt

2008-09-27T10:04:00.006-06:00

The time has come for me to put in my two cents about "Twilight."

The reason that I haven't read the Twilight series is because there's just too much hype. Whenever that happens, it seems like they never live up to the impossible "best book ever" ideal that people set them up to be.

However, I remembered that I had felt the same way about the Harry Potter series, and they ended up being some of my favorite books.

It was with a lot of trepidation and reservations that I began "Twilight" this weekend. I got about half way though and I'm done. I didn't finish reading, I'm just done with the book.

My brother in law, Cam, read "Twilight" and I completely agree with his assessment of it. The writing was mediocre, spastic and this girl who is supposed to be so intelligent, is completely ruled by the will of this "gorgeous" vampire, and has no will or thoughts of her own. I made it half way through the book and am tired by all the "velvety voice" and "perfect body" quotes describing the main vampire. It was just much too hokey and cheesy for me.

If you want a good vampire read, one that's actually interesting and doesn't hold you in the mind of a 17 year old lemming, here are some much better alternatives.

Interview with the Vampire: Anne Rice
Bloodsucking Fiends: A love Story: Christopher Moore
Bitten: Kelly Armstrong (Werewolf)

Vampires are supposed to be mean, vicious, malicious, evil and the devil incarnate. Take all of that away, and what do you have, Edward Cullen. Come on, a vampire who sparkles, doesn't eat humans, and is so gorgeous that you can't think in his presence. That's like taking a werewolf and saying he doesn't turn into a wolf, but a cute little puppy, the cutest puppy ever. Oh and he doesn't hunt animals, he only finds ones that are already dead. Makes me want to hurl, personally.

Now, I'm not putting down any of the millions of women that love this book, and want to marry Edward and bear his vampire children, but it was just not my cup of tea. You want some real vampires, try these bad men on for size. This is what a real vampire looks like!

Needless to say, I won't be reading any of the other books in the "Twilight" series.

http://corneralacameron.blogspot.com/2008/08/twilight-male-perspective.html

Fears & Hemophobia

2008-09-18T12:38:00.000-06:00

Have you noticed that a lot of people have weird fears or quirks?

*EXAMPLES*

Ashley: My sister has a huge fear of zombies, it takes all her strength and a lot of pleading from her husband to watch a zombie movie.

Nick: Can't stand the sight of people putting wooden things in their mouths, Popsicle sticks bring on chills and cringes.

Diane: My mother in law, can't stand it when her kids pretend that they're going to fall. A trip to the Grand Canyon, had the kids leaning over the edge of the cliffs, and giving their mom nervous breakdowns.

I: Can't stand holding anything fabric in my teeth, towels, shirt, anything. Yuck, I get gross feelings just thinking about it.

Brandon: My brother in law, can't stand people walking barefoot on the carpet while brushing their teeth. I have no idea what that's about.

I know that a lot of people know this about me, but a lot don't. From the time I was about 5 till just last year, I had hemophobia and trypanophobia. Rather extreme cases too. Hemophobia is the fear of blood, and trypanophobia is the fear of injections or needles.

When I was 5, I saw my brother get in injection, and I passed out. Ever since then, for as long as I can remember, whenever I would see an injection or anything bloody, I would pass out. It got to the point where even if people talked about blood or needles, I would pass out. Sometimes, just the fear of passing out, would make me pass out. Paradox. As you can imagine over the years, I've had some pretty amazing blacking out stories . . .

Squid: One of the earliest memories I have is when my Kindergarten class dissected squid for our school's Ocean Week. I got nervous about it, and asked not to participate. I remember sitting over on the bean bags by myself, while my class was dissecting squid. What fun!

Sarah: When I was about 10, my cousin Sarah was playing in the yard and hit her foot on a sprinkler head and had to get stitches. I was staying over at her house the day she got them out, so I went with her. A couple minutes in the Doctor's office had me passed out on the floor. My cousin was just fine.

6th Grade: We were having sex education and talking about AIDS. That's all we were doing was talking about it. I woke up with my very fat teacher standing over me. I went outside and sat against the wall and heard my classmates talk about how weird I was.

Seminary: It seems like a lot of my experiences happened in classrooms, now that I look at it. Anyway, we were in a very stuffy classroom, talking about the Crucifixion. We were going into detail about how a Doctor had said that after 36 hours of labor (or some unbelievable number like that) the woman had two beads of blood appear on her forehead. That was enough to put me out for the count. After I recovered, my teacher delicately brought up the fact that I was skinny and asked if I was anorexic. If only it had been that simple.

Photography: You wouldn't think that starting a photography class in high school would be cause for concern, and it wasn't. Until my teacher told the whole class that being in the dark room can be disorienting and he's had people pass out. I panicked. As we walked into the dark room, the heater had been on all night, and that only added to my anxiety. I rushed out of the dark room and passed out on the floor in the bathroom.

Philosophy in Literature: Yet another wonderful school experience . . . I had to fill a requirement for college and ended up taking Philosophy in Literature. It was a completely crap class, but anyway. We had to read Dracula, and in our class of 5 were talking about the blood and transfusion scenes in the book. I quickly exited the classroom, found the nearest bathroom and immediately passed out in a stall. I woke up on the floor, with my legs completely sticking out of the stall, and I just prayed that no one had walked in.

The Breaking Point: It took many, many years, 17 actually, but I hit my breaking point when it started to affect my job. My manager, Susie, was talking about the medical procedure that she had, a lap band. I don't even want to think about it, cause it still creeps me out a little. As she was explaining it to me, I started to walk over to my desk, thinking that I could sit down before I passed out. I came to, sprawled in a walkway at work with a bump on my head, and about 5 people above me. I started to cry and they told me that they had sent for an ambulance. As you can imagine that only made it worse. Nick showed up and escorted me to the car before the EMT's got there.

The worst part was that I was so nervous about work, that I couldn't go back. I would have anxiety attacks in the parking lot, and couldn't make it into the lobby. I had to take some pretty strong anxiety medication just to make it back to my desk. At this point, I was sick of it.

It got to the point where even a simple Doctor's visit, had to involve the day off of work and Nick accompanying me.

I met with a therapist, in her house, which was kind of weird, and we talked about it. Just getting to the appointment, had made me a nervous wreck. I got a little more comfortable and after a couple meetings we were able to talk about my problem. She asked me to explain what happened when I passed out. I told her that I would get dizzy and black out and get hot and cold flashed.

EPIPHANY: She said, so simply, "that sounds like what happens when you stop breathing." (Hallelujah choruses commence) After 17 years of having anxiety about the smallest things, all I had to do was breathe. I was getting freaked out and not breathing, so obviously my body was passing out in order to take over and reset me.

It wasn't as easy as that, but it was a huge start. When I became pregnant there were many reassuring talks by Nick as I would have anxiety attacks on the way to the Doctor's office, because I had to have a blood test.

The ultimate triumph was a goal that I had set to get a tattoo. I know that sounds weird, but it seemed very cathartic. If I could go and get a procedure done completely by needles, that was just something that I needed to do. I had to get it done very compulsively, so that I wouldn't have time to think. Consequently I didn't get the best quality tattoo, but every time I see it, I know that I've come a long way.

A few other passing out places were the kitchen after my tattoo; during a blood test for my Marriage certificate; getting an ingrown eyelash removed, and a lot of others I can't even remember.

Of course, the very best triumph was when I was able to have my son, Asher, in the hospital and not pass out even once! He's a constant reminder of how tough I've become. Watch our Sarah Conner, you've got nothin on me!

Pictures of Noah

2008-09-11T20:46:00.003-06:00

I went to the hospital and got my first look at Noah, he is so cute. And I'm not just saying that, if I didn't think he was cute I wouldn't say anything at all.

I don't really know what else to say, cause he didn't come out of my vagina. So here are some cute pictures!

Noah Kristopher Allred

2008-09-11T11:58:00.003-06:00

This morning at around 4:30 am, Noah Kristopher Allred entered the world.

Ashley started having contractions after we walked around the fair for 4 hours, and went into the hospital last night at around 5:00 pm.

He's 6 lbs. 9 oz. and is 21 inches long. He's completely bald, but has nice long "guitar playing" fingers. Here are the first pictures that I got from Kristo's phone. I'm going to see him later this afternoon. I'll post more then.

Congratulations Ashley and Kristo!!!

Utah State Fair

2008-09-10T14:25:00.007-06:00

Last year was the first year that I went to a State Fair. I had never been before and I was drawn in by the white trash-ness of it all. This year Ashley, Kristo, Asher and I went. No matter how redneck the fair makes me feel, we still had a great time!

We ate authentic Utah food, The Pie Pizza; rode amazing Utah Rides, The Huge Slide; looked at genuine Utah Animals and Utah Crafts, goats and scrapbook pages; and ended with a very un-Utahan, Tigers of India Show.

But seriously, we all had a great time, and I'm pretty sure that all the walking put Ashley into Labor, which was an added bonus.

I think the fair is going for another week, so if you haven't gone yet, you need to take part in this Utah tradition of Deep Fried PB & J, and Veggie Tales on stage.

Water for Elephants

2008-08-29T22:03:00.006-06:00

I've recently become an avid reader, and I've been averaging 1-2 books per week. There have been some good, some bad, some ugly. There have been some page turners, plot flops, and some words that just went plain over my head. I've come to love reading again, a past time that I had abandoned awhile back. When you find a great book, it reiterates the possibilities of life, the heartbreak of failure and it creates a new world for you. I found that book in Water for Elephants.

Through 331 pages I was drawn in from the beginning. The basic plot is it's about a man who joined the circus during the depression, and all the strange and amazing things that transpired. I was so completely drawn in by the story, that I didn't want to put it down. At the end of the book, the author says that most of the oddities told in her story were actually taken from real events at other circuses.

I laughed, I cried, I told Nick that I would watch TV with him later. I didn't really neglect my child, he was completely content to play by himself while Mom read, promise. It went with me to work, to the backyard, and even the car, but the story will stay with me much longer than an hour read-a-thon in the bathroom stall at work.

Once in a blue moon, you come across a work that speaks to you. When I saw Amelie, and Finding Neverland in the theatre, they grabbed a piece of me. As I read White Oleander and Water for Elephants I was given a fresh outlook on life and a definite appreciation and disappointment for the normal life that I lead.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

2008-08-24T19:38:00.004-06:00

I found some pictures that my parents had taken, and they were really cute, so I thought I would post them. Enjoy!

Asher when he was only 1 month old. He's so little!

Mom and Asher taking a nap.

A family picture at Pineview Reservoir.

Asher and my brother, Tyler.

Asher when he had pink eye. Poor guy!

Zombies

2008-08-22T18:41:00.008-06:00

I was introduced to the phenomenon of the zombie by my husband. I hadn't seen any movies with zombies before that, and I didn't realize that my husband was a zombie-ologist.

My husband loves zombie movies; Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, I would say that they're his favorite kind of movie.

There are zombie books, for real, there are. When I was in the hospital with Asher, Nick read me World War Z while I was in bed. It's actually a really good book. It's a story about a fictional war with zombies from all different view points. He also owns the "Zombie Survival Guide," which tells you how to survive a zombie attack, which or course is immanent.

Did you know that there is actually a series of Zombie Superheroes! Captain America, Spiderman, The Hulk are all zombies. I'm not sure if they eat people, and are bad rather than good. But they're pretty gory, just like all zombie things are.

My brother in law, Kristo told me that this year was the first annual Zombie Walk in Salt Lake. A bunch of people met in downtown Salt Lake all dressed as zombies and walked around. I actually found out that they do this in large cities all over. I had no insight into this side of Salt Lake, before now.

Zombies; can't live with em', can live without your brain. Dilemma . . .

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7176964&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=271940661

Son of the Dark Knight

2008-08-17T09:09:00.003-06:00

I don't really have anything to write, but this is hilarious!

Here's the original, they did a great job!

Work It!!!

2008-08-11T15:07:00.003-06:00

Lately I've joined the ranks of the dieters. I put on a lot of extra weight from Asher, and I really want to get it off before we decide to have another kid (this isn't an announcement, sorry.)

There's a place by my house called the Sorenson Unity Center, and you can get a monthly pass to the work out equipment and the pool for $25. I've been going 3 days a week and then doing ab stuff at home the other days. I've only been doing the treadmill, but I've been doing it for about 3 weeks now and I've lost 3 pounds! Yeah!

I'm also trying to eat healthier, so I'm trying to avoid fat and sugar. My best friend lately has been those 100 calorie snack bags.

My ideal goal is to lose about 30 pounds, which would put me at the weight I was when I got married. My realistic goal is more like 15-20 pounds. So if you have any ideas for great workouts or great diet tips, let me know. I can use all the help I can get!!

Uncle Kyle

2008-08-07T17:17:00.004-06:00

Aly, my sister-in-law has been amazing enough to watch Asher twice a week, 10 hours a day for no charge. I know, I know, she's awesome! She just got a boob job, she won't mind if I tell you. I went over to her house last week and her 4 year old daughter said that, "Mama's working, so she can get her boobs."

So, she wasn't feeling very well this week. Kyle, Nick's brother, was nice enough to watch him so Aly could get a break. To our utter astonishment he called last night to ask if he could watch Asher today. Nick immediately thought that Aly had put him up to it, but Kyle said no. He said that he just had a really good time with Asher. We emphasized to him that Asher just got shots and it starting to teethe and it would be a 10 hour episode of "Adventures in Babysitting." We even tried to tell him that he could drop him off at Aly's if he got fed up. He insisted that he would be fine, and that he really wanted to watch him all day.

I was a little worried, because Asher has been fussy, and I thought Kyle might be up to his head in upset baby. At around Noon, we got this picture.

I'm so glad that I have awesome in-laws who are a little crazy!

Lizz's Best Foods Awards!!

2008-08-06T17:56:00.010-06:00

I'm am not a connoisseur of food, by any means. Nick and I frequent the same couple of restaurants and neither of us are very adventurous when it comes to new things. There are some things though that I think are the best out there, here they are . . .

Best BBQ: Sugarhouse BBQ, The best Pulled Pork Sandwich ever!

Best Pastries: Schmidt's Pastry Cottage, They have awesome magic bars, lemon bars and Napoleons.

Best Salmon: Chili's, It's crispy and extremely flavorful without being too fishy.

Best Tacos: Red Iguana, They have deep fried chicken tacos that make me excited.

Best Bread: Sizzler, their cheese bread is crispy and yummy

Best Shakes: Ruby's Diner, they only have these in California but they have the best Strawberry/Banana shake ever!

Best Produce: Costco, they have the best fruit ever! Cherries, strawberries, grapes, nectarines, it's all the best!

Best Non-Guilty Ice Cream Treat: Skinny Cow Cones, these are just like drumsticks, but they're topped with Caramel instead of peanuts but they are still covered with chocolate on the inside of the cone. Only 3G of fat per cone!

Best Dinner Mints: Olive Garden, I don't know why but mints always taste better when you get them from Olive Garden.

Best Pasta Dish: Cheesecake Factory, there's a dish called Fettuccine with Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes and it comes in a Parmesan, garlic sauce! It's even good re-heated.

Asher Laughing

2008-08-04T00:38:00.003-06:00

I thought it would be fun to post a video for those who haven't seen Asher in action. The video is a little grainy, but I'm no Spielberg. Here he is, without further ado . . .

"You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way." Homer Simpson

2008-08-01T07:43:00.000-06:00

Throughout my life I've been kind of a whore when it comes to jobs. Especially right after High School, I bounced around from job to job, never staying with one partner very long. I've have a plethora of employment opportunities, and I found what I wanted in a job, and that none of these had it!

Kaysville Theatre: April 1999 - April 2000
My first job was when I was 15 or 16 and it was at the Kaysville Theatre. I worked at the concession counter and sold tickets. I remember pretending to find damaged boxes of candy, so that we could eat it. I also remember that it was owned by a family, the Calls, and I loathed them. They had an 8 year old son who would constantly pester me and tell me that I had to do what he told me because he was a Call. @^%@$!

Lagoon: May 00 - June 00
The most coveted job among under age youth everywhere! At around 18 I decided to take a hand at working at Lagoon for a summer. They put me in retail, to my relief, but it was all I could do to get through training. I ended up quiting 1 week after my training was done, and only made enough to cover the ugly ass uniforms they made us buy.

Mervyn's: June 2000 - August 2000
After my month at Lagoon, I got a job at Mervyn's working in the Logistics department. Which basically means that you get to restock clothes and are in the back room all the time. I loved not having to work with customers, but when I worked by myself and things didn't need to be stocked, I had to sit in the back stock rooms all by myself and watch my life pass by.

Delta Center Box Office: September 2000-April 2001
This was probably my most fun job. I worked here after my days of school at the University of Utah. I got to see Marie Osmond and some of the Jazz players. It was a fun job and everyone that worked there was pretty nice. I also got first dibs on any seats for any events. I got to walk in on a lot of events as well. This job got me my 8th row Janet Jackson tickets.

Millennium Tanning: April 2001 - May 2001
I worked at a place called Millennium Tanning for a month. This was by far the grossest job. It probably wouldn't have been that bad, but we had a gym right next door, and so the sweaty work out people would come over and sweat more all over the beds. YUCK! This also included selling power bars, and washing towels and body wrap bandages. After one of my employees just stopped coming I re-evaluated if this was really my cup of tea.

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined." Johnny Carson

Olive Garden: May 2001 - August 2001
I decided that I would try my hand at the food industry. It seemed like they made pretty good money, and it had to be better than Lagoon, right? Yeah. Oh, how I loathe thee, let me count the ways . . .
1. The horrible uniforms, the long sleeved white dress shirt, black slacks and official Olive Garden tie.
2. Standing on your feet for 4-5 hours at a time on a tile floor.
3. Having every single person around you, including your supervisor, hate their job and voice it every other customer.
4. Having to stand in the 90 degree heat from the open door, in your long sleeved shirt for 4-5 hours.
The only benefit was the food discount, I still can't eat Fettuccine Alfredo, and all the mints you could eat. The only thing I retained from my time at the Olive Garden, was that you say that their pager will "Shake and Light Up," not vibrate, vibrate sounds dirty. Needless to say, food was not my calling.

Annie's Main Street Floral: August 2001 - November 2001
Right before I got married, I decided that I might try to find a job that I actually liked. I got a job at Annie's Main Street Floral. There were only 3-4 employees, and the shop wasn't run very well. It didn't really seem like they knew what they were doing, and were kind of at a loss at to what to do with me when I was working. My first day I spray painted 300 carnations for a High School. My pointer finger will never be the same. After a couple months, they had to let me go because they were shutting down one of their locations. I remember when my cousin Amber had me do all the flowers for her wedding, when I hadn't had any formal training. I spent all day making corsages and boutonnieres, it was a nightmare.

Xtreme Dance Studio: November 2001 - December 2001
After the Flower Shop I was looking for jobs in the paper and found a lady who owned a aerobics/hair/nail studio and was looking for someone to run a dance program. After my year at the U, I figured that this would be perfect. It was a complete hole in the wall place, where I had to do everything myself. Advertising, teaching, book keeping. It proved a little too much for my 19 year old mentality, and I dropped it after a couple months.

Davis School District: January 2002 - April 2002
I needed an easy job, I found it in being a substitute teacher. For those of you who don't know how it works, you call a job line each day you want to work and listen to the jobs that are open. You pick a job and show up, or if there aren't any you like, then you pass. You have to get up at about 5:30 to check to get the good jobs. I enjoyed teaching elementary school because they were all so excited that you weren't 80. The little girls would hang out at recess, and the boys would write you notes, it was cute!

High School wasn't too bad, just monotonous. They would usually give you movies or tests, and you would just do them over and over for 8 hours. I did like to explore the schools on my free period. I usually just brought a coloring book on High School days.

Middle School is HELL! I taught one day, a couple different courses all for the same teacher. I ended up sending 2 kids to the principals office, cursing at a couple and vowing that I would never teach Middle School again.

Substitute teaching was fun, but I knew it wasn't a life long career.

Marriott Vacation Club: April 2002 - Present
My sister-in-law Aly had started a job at Marriott Rewards, and when we found out how much she was making Nick and I both applied. Nick got into Marriott Rewards, but my grandma's funeral postponed me being able to start and so I got into MVCI, which was actually more money.

I took phone calls from people booking their timeshare for about 8 months and then I transferred to another department that dealt with scheduling. I was there for about 1 1/2 years, and then I got the job I have now, Recognition Team Leader.

My job is to make our associates feel appreciated and recognized. I think it's fair to say that almost everyone at work wants my job, and think that it's a piece of cake. Let me tell you, that creating events that will make 450 people happy, and trying to rearrange your entire day of events 1 day before hand because you just found out it's going to rain, is not easy. It's definitely my most challenging job, but the one that I've enjoyed the most. I've learned so many new things; how to do henna tattoos, origami, calligraphy and a lot of design. I've learned that some people are never happy. I've learned that you always buy extra. I've learned that you are never fully prepared. I've learned that you can never have too much help. I've learned to delegate. I've learned that nothing is better than feeling that you're appreciated. So I'm happy for my job and will be here for awhile.

"Think enthusiastically about everything; but especially about your job. If you do, you'll put a touch of glory in your life. If you love your job with enthusiasm, you'll shake it to pieces. You'll love it into greatness." Norman Vincent Peale

Asher's First Trip to the Library

2008-07-28T16:02:00.018-06:00

So today was Asher's very first trip to the Library. I've been a reading fiend lately, and so it seemed fitting. They completely remodeled the Library a couple years ago, and it is absolutely amazing! It's very artistic and everyone should definitely go when you get the chance. The kids area is especially cool, all the pictures I've posted are from the children's library area.

Asher loved this toy. I remember that my dentist used to have one of these and even though all it is, is beads and wire, I remember it being SO fun. He played with this for awhile, and then got bored and was about to start chewing on the wheels of the stroller.

This is called the Crystal Room, and you can't tell, but all the surfaces are all glittery like crystals. There's also a little staircase that you can climb where a skylight shows you the bottom of the pond outside. All the walls are very angular and it really seems like your in an ice cave. Especially when the reflection of the water above the skylight reflects on the walls.

This is The Attic Room and Asher is perched up on one of the levels. They have rocking chairs and pillows all over.

Here's a better shot of the Attic Room. There are wood beams everywhere and tons of nooks and crannies where kids can curl up with the pillows they have and read. It really does feel like you're up in the attic of Grandma's house. If Grandma was a new age artist, and a little high.

This is a little secluded area where waterfalls are all around you in a little half circle. You can walk right up to the wall and get wet if you want to. We sat here for a little while and ate lunch and just looked around. Asher loved to people watch.

We were there for about 1 1/2 hours and it was so much fun. I even went to Night Flight Comics, and purchased some little kid superhero comics for him. I think they'll be perfect for when he starts reading, that and they were just so damn cute!

Things That Give me the Heebeegeebees!

2008-07-28T10:58:00.006-06:00

Seeing spiders suspended above my head, on a thin strand of web that looks much to thin to support them.

When women have drawn on eyebrows.

Watching a needle poked into someone's arm. Even in movies or TV shows, this creeps me out.

Vomit. Whether it's being projected, cleaned up or just minding it's own business.

Holding any kind of fabric between my teeth. I shudder like a naked 80 year old woman standing in a snow storm.

Whenever anyone is watching one of those shows where people break skin, bones, and egos. I can't even watch.

Nails on a chalkboard.

When I can't tell if a person is a male or female, especially after 10 minutes of trying to decipher which they are.

When people have piercing in weird places, and I mean really weird places. Chest, not nipples, back, forehead, places like that.

That high pitched noise that you hear sometimes, which usually comes from electricity.

When women have prematurely saggy and wrinkly throat and neck from tanning way too much!

When you walk by overweight people and they have a distinct odor.

Haunted Houses. I've never even been in one. At Universal Studios we started to go into one, and I was so freaked out that I made them take me out through the emergency exit.
Biting cold things with my front teeth, even watching other people bite cold things with their front teeth.

Pineview with the McCombs

2008-07-27T00:47:00.002-06:00

Last weekend Nick, Asher, me and my family ventured into the realms of N. Ogden and thus played and swam in the mucky Pineview reservoir. Asher had a wonderful time, he loves swimming and he even loves his baths.

We did the prissy girl thing and stayed in a Condo, which I was so grateful for because it was insanely hot up there. It was nice to be able to go to the lake, go swimming at the pool and then be able to return to the air-conditioned condo and play board games and take a shower and just hang out and watch movies.

I had so much fun with my family, and it always makes me love them that much more. I hope that this becomes a family tradition and that it becomes something that we can look forward to each summer. Well, let me change that . . . it better be, for my sanity and by extension everyone involved.

In 5 Years . . .

2008-07-19T22:55:00.006-06:00

In 5 years I think that . . .

We will be living in a different house, whether it's one that we build or one that we buy.

We will be done producing Nick's and Lizz's.

One or both of my ferrets will "take a long vacation."

My parent's will move from Fruit Heights to Salt Lake because, well, they should.

I will have talked myself into and taken enough Valium that I will be able to get Lasik.

Asher will be starting kindergarten and will have grown into his massive head.

Nick will have taken a managerial position at Marriott, even though he would probably rather stay where he is.

My brother will be married, since his life right now is dating.

I will be 31, and will probably celebrate with a boob job and a tummy tuck.

I will hopefully have lost all the weight I gained from having chillins.

Lime Rickey will still be my favorite ice cream.