Light-Black And Decker

My parents are in town for the Christmas Vacation, and we've been having lots of fun. They got in Thursday night and we (and my brother and sister-in-law) all went out to eat at Sizzler. On Christmas Eve we hung around at home for awhile, played the piano. And then went to Temple Square to see the lights. We got some pictures of the area and of us in the daylight, then we headed over to see my brother's lab. He is a grad student Utah. While there we looked at various things underneath an electron microscope, including bugs and Jarom's eyelash. Pictures of that are to come. Unfortunately we forgot to make plans for dinner, so by the time we got hungry, around 7 ish, we started looking for a restaurant to eat at in Salt Lake and they were all closed! Who closes down on Christmas Eve!? ha. Luckily we finally found on cafe that would be open for another half hour, so we ran in and ate quickly. Then we continued our tour of Temple Square for the nighttime events. So here are pi...

People who live in Utah, do you remember about a month ago, two days before Thanksgiving, how they issued a "Severe Weather Warning" that was supposed to be the worst we've seen in years? For those of you not in Utah, it was supposed to be an awful snowy, blizzardy, cold cold day. It was so bad, that businesses closed down early in preparation for it. Even BYU, who I have NEVER seen shut down for a storm, closed it's doors at 3 Tuesday afternoon and was closed all of Wednesday in preparation for the Blizzard of 2010. When all was said and done, Utah County had about a half an inch of snow on the ground. OOOO, scary! Yeah, they were totally off. Granted, I will give them that areas north of us actually did get more snow and bad weather, but my issue is that they predicted it would reach as far south as us, and it so did not. Well, today it is snowing. It has been snowing for more than 24 hours straight. I have lost count of when it started. This is the biggest storm w...

Last Friday our car's check engine light decided to come on. So Saturday morning, right when they opened at 8am, we took it in to Toyota (after calling and making an appointment) to figure out what was wrong. They told us it would cost $98 to diagnose the problem. Eight hours later, at 4pm, they called Jarom's phone. He tells them that we are in fact STILL in the lobby, so they can just come talk to us. Yes. We waited there, with no word on our car, for EIGHT HOURS. We ate all of their free fruit, had a bunch of their water bottles, used their bathrooms multiple times, drank their hot chocolate and apple cider, and finally just walked across the street to Walmart at 3 to get a sandwich. At 4 they were done. We had almost outlasted them. A new guy came out to talk to us from the one we talked to in the morning. He told us that they had to order the part and it would be in next week. He then asked us if anyone had offered to give us a ride anywhere. Nope.... He grumbled and compl...

It's Christmas Time! We officially have decorated for Christmas. Remember our tree last year? The black and silver one that Jarom designed? Well we decided to rotate years, so this year I got to get a little more traditional. I kept the silver and just added some red. And here ya go! And by the way we had a nice Thanksgiving. Jarom's family came to visit and we cooked, ate, cooked, ate, and ate some more. I was lazy though and didn't take a single picture...

Story number one : I've always heard of people making fun of the cliche that kids nowadays send texts to people that are in the same room as them. I've always heard it, but never seen it. Until now. It was after school during 4H, where I help out at. I was on one side of the room getting ready to start a game, and a student next to me was texting her friend on the other side of the room, asking her to come play. She told me, "Hold on, I just texted her." We waited. She then shouted, across the room, "Hey! Did you get my text yet!?" Her friend replied, "No, hold on.." The whole time I was sitting there thinking, is this REALLY happening right now? They actually just did that? I'm not making it up? She just yelled to her to see if she got her text.... Story number two: I walked into the cafeteria for 4H again (this is where we meet at the beginning). I saw a girl climbing into one of those big black rolling garbage cans, trying to get down below ...

Who doesn't like a good game night?! Last night, we had the best type of game night. With Minute To Win It Games. We got together with some friends, Lisa and Andres , Kailey and Juan and baby Jack Jack, and did NOT make fools of ourselves. Here is photographic evidence. And then we enjoyed a cake. I know it's silly and weddingish with the doves, but I just found them and thought it would be funny to put on. I do have to say this was the best chocolate frosting recipe I've had, and the cake was yummy and moist with a suprise filling of caramelness and crunchy crunchy chocolate chunks. Mmmm.

I don't consider myself to be very old yet, but the other day I actually had an old person moment! It was kind of funny I thought, instead of humiliating like most old people think. I was at work/school, talking to a student about his photography class he was taking.I told him how I took photography when I was in high school and thought it was really fun to learn how to develop the film and then print the pictures onto the photo paper. He then said, "I think I saw a roll of film once, when I was like two!" I just had to laugh and realize that it's all digital now and no one in their right mind would use film, right?!

Out with the old: In with the new: Last week we got a new couch! Well, not new from a store, but new from ksl.com. It was a rather interesting experience during the process of getting rid of our old couch. So first of all, we got the new brown couch before we got rid of the blue couch because I wanted to make sure we would actually get it and have a place to sit before getting rid of our only couch. So then we had two couches filling up our living room (and kitchen). We needed to get rid of it fast. So I posted it for cheap and had a few people call. The first lady who saw it said she wanted it and would come back with some twine. She brought her two kids and complained most of the time that she didn't have a man around to do stuff for her and that men are worthless. So when she showed back up, I started looking around for a truck of any kind. And saw none. I then realized her plan was to strap it to the top of her car. In my mind I'm thinking "ummmmm...ok. Don't bla...

Today at work, I got paid to go and watch the Utah Symphony play. I can handle that.

It must be school time again. I know because I'm sick. It took me a whole week and a half of working in this germ infested place until I got sick. Last year I got sick every single month. And so it begins.

Today was the last day of Welcome Week, so the last time I can make fun of clueless kids trying to dress up in something that they have no idea about. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need catch up already. Read my previous two posts) Today: 80's Day. Keep in mind, these kids were born in the late 90's. I saw: A few decent 80's costumes, mixed in with lots of afros, disco costumes, and 70's hippie flair. Also, the student council kids were trying to figure out what 80's songs they should play during lunch. They asked for our help. Them: "Elvis?" Us: "Um, no. Try again." Them: "Uh, The Beatles??" Us: "..." Eventually we got them on the right track, but man. They were all sorts of confused.

Yesterday's theme: Wizard Day. What I saw: A guy in angel wings, made with real feathers. I have a feeling I will be posting about Friday's theme as well.

This week at junior high school/work is “Welcome Week.” Everyday has a different theme that the kids get to dress up as Today was Superhero Day. I was expecting to see lots of Supermas, Spidermans, and other caped heros, but instead I learned that the current generation of kids need a lot of help in their superhero knowledge department. Today I saw a bumblebee, a princess, a penguin, a dinosaur, Minnie mouse, and a cat. I’m so depressed for these kids. (FYI: This picture suggests the penguin is actually a super penguin, but at school, there was no such superness included in any of the above-mentioned costumes)

The other night we were driving home at night, using some back roads from the freeway to our house. We started smelling something aweful. Aweful aweful. I'm not sure how to describe the smell, but part of it had a burning smell, almost like burning rubber and glue. It was horrendous, and it kept getting stronger. I started getting really worried that the source was our car and smoke would soon start pouring out of our engine, or maybe it would just blow up. Right at my moment of panick, I found the true source. A dead skunk right in the middle of the street. I drove right over it. I've never smelled a skunk so foul before. After passing it, the smell started to fade. Awe. But then.. We got home and smelled our clothes. It had penetrated our clothes! AUGH, we can still smell it! And, the next day, we could still smell it inside our car! GROSS! It must have been a super skunk or something. It was aweful. Luckily, after some washing and some airing out, I think it's gone now. ...

The other day I got to babysit my niece and nephew. He is almost 4, and she is 1 and a half. She is starting to learn more words. (Previously she only knew “hi” so she would say it over and over: “hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!”) Upon this visit I learned that she has learned quite a few more words, one of which included my name! For the next four hours I got to listen to “Dina! Aughbelubgableuh. DINA! Kubolyhjayk. Up. Dina! Dina! Done! Dina! Dina! It was quite cute and made me happy that obviously she loved me best. (She doesn’t know Jarom’s name). I like to attribute it to the fact that when she was younger I took care of her when she was sick, even after she threw up all over me, and the couch, and the floor. Ya know, a special bond was formed. But then…Jarom reminds me that babies are like cats. No matter what you do or don’t do as an adult/person, the baby/cat will like whoever they like best regardless. For all intents and purposes, their choice is completely random. There is no w...

The last couple of weeks I have started wondering if we are turning into Rednecks, I would like to think not. But we have gone to some pretty funny "redneck" activities. This past Saturday was the demolition derby in Riverton. It was very entertaining. I was laughing the entire time. To give you a picture of what happens there, you sit in bleachers surrounding a dirt pit. (The same dirt pit, in fact, that the rodeo was in). Five or six cars drive out into the dirt pit that have obviously already been through some abuse. They have their bumpers chained on, the bodies are all dented up and not in place, and they're all spray-painted paint jobs with other sayings and stuff painted onto the sides of the cars. The rules. #1) Don't smash somebody's driver's side door. That's it. I guess they're trying to reduce some possibility of injury, but not all. Then it turns into a free-for-all and everybody is smashing everybody, trying to be the last car still runni...

This last weekend was a holiday. This holiday landed on a Sunday. What do you do when a holiday is on a Sunday? Do you observe it on Saturday? Or on the Monday you get off of work? Decisions, decisions. Well, we couldn't make up our minds, so we did the only thing there was to be done. Celebrate BOTH days! Saturday we spent playing volleyball, while having a hotdog barbeque, and then watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from our front porch. But that was not enough. So Monday we played MORE volleyball, had an even BETTER barbeque (ribs and smoked salmon) and then listened to our neighbors set off their fireworks. I approve of this holiday.

We had a pretty packed and fun weekend. It started Friday night when us and friends went to the Manti Pageant. Unfortunately I don't have pictures yet, because I forgot my camera and they're all on her camera. While we were sitting there waiting for a few hours for it to start, I decided I needed to go to the bathroom. So as I was walking down the street heading for them, this really happy cheery lady said "HEY! Would you like a MILLION DOLLAR Joseph Smith Bill?!?!" I thought it was kind of funny so I said "Sure!". I noticed there was a bunch of information on the back of the bill, but decided not to read it until I was back at my seat. So on my way back from the bathrooms I passed her again and saw her offer some to two little girls, both of whom turned her down. I was thinking "Hm, I wonder why they don't want one, it's fun!" Then I got to my seat and showed everyone, and their FIRST response was "Is it Anti?" I was like, "...

Yesterday I had some extra riccotta cheese that I didn't know what to do with. So I made cannoli! I've never even eaten cannoli before so I didn't know how it was supposed to taste. I did have to redo a couple of things. I haved the recipe on everything except the water in the dough. That was the last ingredient and I forgot. So it turned into a big goopy mess. So I had to redo the dough. Also, for the filling, I forgot that "Confectioners" sugar was Powdered sugar, not granulated. Why can't they just say powdered!?! After I added all the sugar I re-read that part of the recipe and noticed they said "sifted" sugar. I thought, "Why would you ever sift granulated sugar..." And then it hit me. Because it was supposed to be powdered sugar. So I dumped as much of it out as I could, but it was impossible to get everything. So there was a little extra graininess/crunch in the filling than there was supposed to be. It was a fun adventure. For the s...