Is branding in style?

I think I will forever be branded with a small symbol shaped like a U. Yes, I am that dedicated to my Alma mater! The story goes as follows...I decided to make a terrific meal for my terrific husband. It was this really good stuffed chicken dish that you first have to cook in a pan, and then transfer the pan and chicken into the oven for continued cooking time. I have made this recipe several times now, so I must have been a little over confident with what I has doing. When the time was up, I carefully pulled out the siring hot pan and placed it on the stove top. I continued to reach over the pan to get my tongs when disaster struck! My arm hit the pan handle, and it took its vengeance out on poor little me! Oh, it was painful! And the worst part of it was I could no longer enjoy my meal. What a tragedy! It has now been about three weeks since the incident, and I still have a very prominent mark on my arm. I am beginning to wonder if the scar will ever fade or will I be forever branded by the U? Only time will tell.

I will be happy to give out the terrific recipe, but warn that this could happen to you!!

Quick trip to Salt Lake

Well with it being President Hinkley's Funeral last saturday I took the day off so that Kimmi and I could drive down to Salt Lake and pay our respects. As funerals go it was awesome. the mo-tab is always Perfect and it was an extremely spiritual meeting. I think one of my favorite parts was walking into the conference center and having the whole place smell like a flower shop. There were the biggest flower arrangments on the stage, it really looked cool. It was also fun to see my sister and her family who flew in, seeing I havent seen them since July. Another great part about coming down to salt lake is the fact that we get to see friends. As most of you know, since moving to Twin falls Kimmi and I have lost all social interaction with other people of our own age..... thats a nice way of putting "we have no friends here!!" but when we come down we try to make it a point to hang out with someone in order to prevent us from going crazy. This week happened to be our friend Ashey's birthday.... well actually its until the 8th but we wont be around then.... Well we wanted to do something nice so we took her to eat at one of our favorite restauraunts. P. F.in Changs. Great stuff. We had a great time and a great server. my drink was never empty!!! she got a good tip. good service is so hard to find these days. Anyway I just thought I would shoot out a plee. "We need friends, move to Twin Falls!"

p.s. spell check didnt work for some reason so pardon my spelling. I suck at it

We will miss our wonderful prophet President Hinkley

You know it really is one of those times that I'll probably always remember where I was and who first told me that President Hinckley Passed away. I know he was 97 but it was such a huge shock to me because I thought for sure he would make it to 100...and I hoped he would too because he has some pretty cool Birthday party's at the Supernacle with some AMAZING music.
you know what? Ill tell you a personal story that really made me appreciate his calling and the great man he was. One of my favorite meetings of the year is the First Presidency Christmas Devotional because you hear some great talks, great music, and the whole First presidency's family's get together for a little get together afterward with some great little treats. One such get together stands out in my mind. Now I've met President Hinckley a few times in the past years but as we were getting situated at the after party my Grandpa made it a point to gather all his grand kids and individually introduce us one by one to the Prophet. Why did this stick out so much to me you ask? take a look at those YOU work with on a daily basis... don't you begin to under appreciate them over time? My grandpa has worked with president Hinckley for over 40 years yet he still took the time to have us each meet Gods mouth peace on earth. The respect the general authority's have for each other is amazing to me. I'll miss president Hinckley but Im excited that he gets to return to his wife and I know the work will continue as it has since Joseph Smith. I thank thee oh God for a Prophet, to guide us in these later days.

2007: a year in review

I stole this idea from Carrie who ultimately stole it from someone else. So props to the Creator! Mark and I had a year full of new experiences, and quite a lot of change along with it. I will somewhat start from the beginning. Mark graduated from the University of Utah in May! We are so happy to both be done with school! No more books, tests, or papers. Mark was offered a job in Twin falls Idaho at MiddleKauff Auto. He was, of course, thrilled and couldn't wait to start his new job.

As a gift to ourselves for our 1 year anniversary, graduation, and both birthdays we took an amazing vacation to Australia! We decided to go back to Mark's missionary stomping ground and visit all the people and places we could. We stopped in Sydney for the first leg of the trip. We saw the Opera house, the harbor bridge, the aquarium, The Rocks(a little historic town, I loved it). We went out the the Blue mountains, and pretended to enjoy that Mark was climbing up and down a cliff. We visited the Sydney Temple and ate at a lot of great places.

The second leg was to Melbourne, where Mark served his mission. We visited a lot of people and a lot of different places. I am so happy I was able to meet all these people that were part of Mark life for 2 years!He really did make some lasting friendships while there. We went to an animal sanctuary on Phillips island and feed kangaroos. We visited the Nobbies (kind of a beach but no sand, just massive rocks, great white sharks, the blue penguins, and a blowhole). We traveled the Great Ocean Road and saw the Twelve Apostles. The Dandanonges was our last stop in Melbourne. Its a big forest I guess, but it was beautiful! Great restaurants and great scenery.

We last stopped in Brisbane, which is one of the surfing capitals of the world. We saw the beaches, lots of little shops, and had some great seafood. Over all it was such a great trip and we had an amazing time.

Once we got back from Australia, we dove right into buying a house! We found something perfect for us just on a drive around town. We have had a lot of fun fixing it up and making it our own. But there are always more projects in store for this year.

Mark and I have both started our jobs, and are starting to fit in well. mark loves his job, and has been privileged to be the salesman of the month a couple times now. My job at the hospital has been a lot to get used to (graveyard shift) but I am starting to like it a lot.

Our newest addition to the family is our basset hound named Beatrice. We are so happy to have her in our home. She is the most spunky and intelligent dog!

2007 has been a great year. We can't wait to see what 2008 has in store for us. We can only hope its even bigger and better.

THIS IS WILL TRIP YOU OUT!!!

Ok so go to this link and follow the instructions. This little website is cool. so cool its just plain creepy! Lets just say that i spent a good part of my day trying to beat this thing and let me just tell you up front. it cant be beat!!! If your stumped just ask and Ill tell you the way it works. it took me a while but i finally figured it out. HAVE FUN!

http://milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

IT'S BACK!!!

So there are quite few childhood memories that I look back on with fond memories. Going to Disneyland with my cousins, Riding my bike all summer long, hanging out in Midway, But there is nothing that I look back on with greater love then AMERICAN GLADIATOR!!! Quite possibly my favorite early 90's tv show. I used to watch it ALL the time. How could you not love the gladiators with names like ZAP, NITRO, LACE, and THUNDER. but in growing up the show was lost and forgotten until recently they have been playing reruns on ESPN classic. Kimmi and I have had a lot of fun cheering on our old friends laughing at the hairstyles and clothes of those in the audience. But tonight the answer to my prayers were discovered. AMERICAN GLADIATORS IS BACK!!! Hosted by the ever amazing Hulk Hogan (another 90's ICON) and just as fun and exciting as always. Kimmi and I REALLY enjoyed the 2 hour season premier and hope that you will all tune in on Monday nights to revisit the phenomenon that made the 90's bearable. as a motivation for you to watch I posted some pictures of the cool new Gladiators!

JUSTICE

SIREN

WOLF

VENOM

My wife is SOOOOOOO crafty

AHHHHHH Christmas time. isn't it a splendid time of year. sure its a time of freezing temperatures but hey its also a time to haul out the Christmas decorations and for me to scale the roof and flirt with death in order to attach Christmas lights. I didn't do the best job but hey its my first time so no complaints. We also went and got a Christmas tree. We enjoy the live variety because they smell wonderful and frankly we don't have space to store a fake one year round. Plus going to the little Christmas tree lots and searching around for the perfect tree is like shopping for a new puppy. when you find the right one its fun take your new coniferous friend home. Never-the-less I am happy to have such a crafty wife to get the house all festive. she brings all this stuff home from the store and magically turns it into Martha Stuart esk creations. You can see her handy work in the photos attached. she made the garlins over the fireplace and the wreath from scratch. (I made the roaring fire though. you can see my eagle scout skills at work! Well now that I'm done bragging about my wife I shall wish everyone a wonderful Christmas season.