'Tis the Season for...Christmas Parties

fWe went to a few Christmas Parties this month. One was with Ryan's friends from Indiana...It was an ugly sweater party and guess who won? ME!!! I have to give credit where credit is due...MOM! Thanks mom for having beautiful Christmas sweaters years ago that now are considered winners at "ugliest sweater" parties. I took a picture but it is lost amongst the many pictures stored on my computer so to see a picture go to our friends blog: ben and Chrissi. My gold pants may have had something to do with the win! :) Thanks Ben and Chrissi... we had a great time. Then there was the family party we had at our house. Here is Ryan with our niece, Aulbanie.

This year I made all my family gifts. Here is what I made...It is their last names on blocks. My friend in AZ showed me how to do it and it is really fun. Dani...your is coming :)

We had a good time playing Christmas Bingo and hanging out. There were a ton more picture but two is enough...right!

Viewmont High Class of 1998

Last Saturday I attended my 10 year high school reunion! Awesome! Sitting in that room with all those familiar faces who once had names attached to them set me back in time about 10 years. Where many scenes took place very similar to that one...with those same people in that same place. It made me want to go back and look through my old scrap book and WOW, WOW! :) Looking back 10 years later I was able to recognize some things about me that I could not see back then...let me share!
Please bare with me as we travel back to 1998!
And the list of things noticed:
#1: my friends and I wore overalls way too much...
(this is one example but trust me there were MANY!! and the overalls were usually accompanied my candy necklaces...YEA!)

(Typical weekend night)
Along with the first picture comes #2: we posed for the camera way too much!


(Christmas Dance senior year)
Pretty much my high school experience revolved around boys, friends, and softball (not in any particular order).
This is where I realized #3: when it came to softball I was not very humble...

The "Back" this article is referring to was this one...Nici Back (wow--who says stuff like that?)


All the seniors on the team
#4: all dance picture are awkward.
This my Homecoming my senior year--it was with my good friends, Chuck but picture after picture of dances...they look so uncomfortable, awkward, and...young!

Those are my lessons learned--here are just some funny things we did-
My boy best friend in high school was my back door neighbor Chris...This was the Valentine's Day dance we went to together-we made our own shirts:

Not really sure why or how it happened but I would draw on Chris' back...cool Viking stuff--Again wow, who does this?

There were a couple trips to Lake Powell with friends families:

I don't care who you are Powder Puff will always be cool as long as you put black lines under your eyes!

And after all that fun and foolishness--we still managed to go to class, get good grades, and graduate!

I can't believe it has been 10 years! I think the comment I got the most at the reunion was "When did you go dark?" (meaning my hair) My hair has been dark for so long I didn't realize it had been any other color but after going down memory lane I realized...
lesson #5: it is ok not to bleach dark hair blond and constantly have dark brown roots--maybe my friends should have let me know...10 years ago! :)
Two final words: GOOD TIMES!

Oh MY...Hidden Hollow!

Well, Tuesday was my last day of work. It pretty much revolved around eating all day with the same people. My two favorite things... food and people, who I like! :) First we went to Bajio (my fav) for lunch and then everyone came over to our house in the evening for a BBQ!
I have loved working at Hidden Hollow! I love my supervisor Laetitia, she has taught me so much and I hope to take what I can from her into my new position and be a leader like she has been to me. She is a powerful woman! I love the guys who live there. I have really come to form relationships with them and I hope to be their friends forever! Last but not least I have loved the people that I worked with! Not only did they think that I was funny (sometimes), but they are all extremely hard workers...which made for a great team. They made it easy for me to do my job better.

Melissa, Brian, Bryant (and Bryce, his son), The Harker

Holli Berry, KJ, and Me!
I loved Hidden Hollow but I am very excited to move on to my new job. It is a chance for me to learn more as a person and as an employee. My fear is that I will not be surrounded by the great same co-workers that made work fun! Or maybe I will! I am excited to find out and I am excited for the new challenge!

This is KJ and Holli Berry...they are best friends and Holly came to work with this shirt on and it just so happens that I had the same shirt so I donated it to the "BFF" cause! Aren't they cute! Best friends and twins!

Life Without James, Dede, and Ramonie Macaroni

Lonely.....



Call us

THANK YOU!

We owe a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped us move! We had a bunch of friends come over on Saturday to help us load up the truck. Everyone worked really hard and fast. We were able to get everything loaded pretty quickly. Dede helped me clean while all the guys moved stuff down the stairs. When everything was cleaned and packed we all went over to James and Dede's to have our favorite pizza one last time NYPD pizza. It is so yummy and it was awesome! Afterwards we all cleaned up and went to a new outdoor mall that had just opened up and looked around. Pat was looking for jeans with flaps over the back pocket...he says they make your butt look good :) After walking around the mall we went back to James and Dede's and crashed. We had a sleepover because we didn't have anything left in our apartment. We all got up early and they made us German pancakes, Ry had never had them before. Then we packed up and left. It was really sad. There are a lot of things we will miss about Arizona but James, Dede, and Ramone will be one of the main ones. It is really fun to have friends to do stuff with and everyone has so much fun. And Chase will miss his best friend, Ramone. We have a lot of good memories of Arizona and look forwards to getting things moving forward in Utah! Although about now we are both freezing and would like our 80 degree weather back!

Thanks again to everyone that helped...we are very grateful for you all!

This is the morning we left, after the sleepover, that is why we all look like we just woke up...because we did :)

Little Ramoni Macaroni, Mac, Apple, Appy...whatever comes to mind...he is so cute!

Best buds!

Happy Birthday James!

We had a really fun weekend. It was our friend, James' birthday so we celebrated all weekend. On Friday we went to a really good Thai restaurant, I had never had Thai before but I really liked it. James got a 12 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback for his birthday so after dinner we let him and Chase have a play date. Chase was very excited and going crazy! But, he was having a lot of fun.

Then on Saturday we had a party at their house with all their friends and then we went roller skating! It was hilarious! In college James took a roller skating class and knows how to do all these cool tricks...we even saw a video of the final where he had to do a 3 minute routine...WOW! :)

Well, you see that smile on Ryan's face? It was not there all night. It was a frustrating experience for the big guy! He fell three times. Although, I have to say he was a very good sport and stuck it out! I was very proud of him for trying. He is awesome! I honestly never thought I would find myself back in a skating rink after all these years. I think we could all tell we are getting older...because by the time we left our ears were ringing because the music was so loud and we were all worn out! A bunch of old farts! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES...WE HAD A GREAT TIME!

Me Too....

I guess I've been tagged, too. By my wife and an old friend Sarah Bennett.

1) My best friend is Nici. Why? She is always there for me, rarely annoyes me except for at work cause she follows me all the time and asks me what to do and used to call me all the time asking what to do in a situation but she doesn't do it very much anymore cause she knows I HATE to talk on my phone. She gives really good neck rubs, sometimes I have to really bug her to do it, but it's always worth the extra effort I have to put in. She takes care of me when I don't feel good. She buys me things. She laughs with me all the time. She supports me. She loves the Chaserbug like I do. Her cycling nickname is The Demolisher, cause that is what she does to any climb in her path, demolishes it. And she must have a butt of steel cause today I sat on her bike seat and almost cried it was so hard. She has squinty eyes. Sometimes she thinks she is so funny that she can't stop laughing and in reality it's not funny at all, but I laugh cause she is going crazy thinking she is so funny. She's really good at whatever she does. She is motivated and can do anything she puts her mind to. That's pretty much it. JK, hon. For those of you reading this and don't know her very well she is awesome.

2) My second best friend is my buddy Chase. He is awesome. I never thought I would care so much for a dog. I hope I love him as much as he loves me. He is so smart and well behaved. (those of you who have meet Chase might not see this in him cause he does get so excited around others he just can't help himself but be crazy). He is an awesome swimmer and can jump off the dock and do big belly flops. When he swims he lives by the saying "leave no ball behind" He won't come back to the shore until all the balls have been gathered and brought in. He dreams so hard when he sleeps he wakes me up sometimes whining and moving around. When he sits his butt goes down really fast.

3) Cycling is my new favorite thing to do. Climbing is sweet. Getting to the top of a big hill is such a good feeling. I love to go down hills as fast as I can. Spandex shorts are sweet, and jerseys are even sweeter. Bright white cycling socks are sweet, too. One of the things I'm looking forward to about living in Utah again is that I think the cycling is better there. Nic doesn't know this yet but next summer we're going to get into mountain biking.

4) I love to read. If I could only do one thing the rest of my life it would be to just read books. I've read a ton of books, well almost. I'm really good about starting one, getting to the middle, and then starting a new one never finishing the first. Some good ones I've read lately: Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, Thinking for a Change, the most recent issue of Bicycling, I've read others but can't think of any right now.

5) When I was a little kid I was really, really afraid of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. Deathly afraid. And the Tinman was my favorite.

6) I don't like to drink from straws. In fact, I never do.

I guess the first few weren't about me, but more or less my favorite things and why I like them so much. Anyways, I can't tag six people cause I don't know enough. But I will tag James and Dede cause I don't think they have been yet.

Tag...I'm it!

My friend, Jess, tagged me and that means I have to write 6 things about myself...although about a month ago it wrote 100 things about myself so this will make it 106:)

1. I "heart" cycling! This is my new favorite sport. Since my birthday I try to ride 5 times a week. On Saturdays we go for long rides and it is so fun and tough...but it is really fun.
2. I have lost 24 lbs in the past 9 weeks with going to Weight Watchers meeting...and still have some to go:) but, I am very proud of my accomplishments.
3. I am a new big fan of the Ellen DeGeneres show. I think she is really funny!
4. We bought a new vacuum last week and now I love to vacuum. And I cannot believe how much a Golden Retriever sheds...it is insane!
5. I think Walt Disney was probably the smartest man ever.
6. I am very excited to be in Utah this Christmas and to have snow for the Holidays...Christmas in AZ is just like a day off work with presents, sometimes lacking the Christmas spirit.

Well, consider me tagged. Now, I have to tag others so...
TAG: Ryan (my hubby), Lisa and Brett Anderson (separately), Lisa Echoles, and Mike and Lindsay Nerhing (separately)...have fun!

"Wii" Be Boxing

The other night we fell in love. We fell in love with the Wii! Our friends have one and a few of us got together and played. This is a picture of me and James boxing. It was hilarious! I didn't give up with out a fight...he may have gotten the knock out but not without going five rounds first! I was laughing so hard I could barely punch. We also played a ton of tennis...so much that the next day my arm hurt. I am a little embarrassed to admit it. But one thing that I am not embarrassed about is that Ryan and I bowled and he got 76 while I got a whopping 191! Who's the Woman! :) We had so much fun!
Chase also had a good time. He had a play date with his friend Paisley. They ran each other out...well he was tuckered, Paisley was still a ball of energy. He was just happy to play with dogs! :)

Seriously, one day we will have a wii and you are all invited to play...just does expect Ryan to bowl.

James this is for You!

James we just wanted to give you a Para Beins Para Voce! It must feel good to be done with classes! Way to go... this is for you (because I am pretty sure you guys might be the only ones who read this, besides my parents)...

A _ -A- _O Y

S P A N C Y O

and

T A R _ _ R
_ _ NT R _ L
T _ _ T _ _ A ST_ _

R S N J UA TL

We know you will have a little time on your hands... good luck!