Second Hand shoppers!

For those of you who don't know us very well, you might be interested to know that our house is pretty much all second hand stuff from Lara. We were blessed when we first got married to get a whole bunch of stuff they didn't need anymore. So we got a king size bed, end tables for our bed, a huge black armoir, end tables for the living room, a coffee table, and two computer desks. We also got our couches from Sean's parents. We seriously scored in the not having to buy stuff department. Then, we also got a second tv, and tv stand. When Sean redid the office we also got this beauty. I love it! It was in his office and when they took it out and had nothing to do with it, I piped right up and volunteered. It's now happily in my bedroom!! This past weekend, we also found out that we can have another computer desk (this one is the one to replace all others!), and a laser printer! So, we just have to go pick it up, and we're so set it's awesome!! Thanks to the Freibergs for letting us live your life 11 years later!

The February birthdays!

This month, Dad and Erin both had their birthdays, and since Mom and Dad were going to be away for Erin's, we sort of combined the two. Dad had a big one! 60 years! So, as a little joke, he got 60 of different things from all of us. He got 60 diet pops, 60 loonies (for his 72 hour kit), 60 kisses with Almonds, 60 valentines suckers, and I got him 60 pictures of his family in a little album. We all shared memories we have of him, and luckily we got it on tape because they were all really special! Overall...it was a a nice evening. Mom made a wonderful dinner, and delicious cheesecake to top it off!

Dad's and Erin's Birthday

My Birthday- The big 25

Here are some pictures from my birthday! We had dinner at mom's house (pot roast with potatoes and carrots...mmmmmm.....and Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake...my fav). We then opened presents and played around with the kiddies!

Put it in Writing

Check out the blog for Put it in Writing for some ready to buy boards and things that Heather and I have been making, and stay tuned for the details about the party.

Long time

Wow, it really has been a while since I posted. I feel like the time has flown because I've been super busy. I had my birthday on Jan 14th. I hit 25...that's old! We had a big family party at my moms and it was nice to just be around everyone. Other than that, Heather and I have spent most of our time just getting this vinyl stuff going. I actually really love it, and if I could do it full time, I'd be a happy camper. Michael's been going to Vegas a bunch to get going on importing cars, so I've spent some weekends (like right now) home alone. It's lonely, and I'm not the hugest fan, but if we can make money, it'll be fine! I've been creating boards and frames and things for our company, and I really love coming up with new, fun things. Heather and I will be doing a party for those of you who are interested in checking it all out. I promise I'll post some more detail about life in the next few days, but for now, here's some pictures!

Here's Jeni and Natalie when I finally got to see them at Christmas time! I love them!

PUT IT IN WRITING

For those of you who don't already know, Heather and I are starting our own little vinyl lettering company. We should be up and running with our cutter in a little over a week. If you're interested in buying anything let us know. These pictures are just some samples of things that can be done, but literally you can do ANYTHING you want. Any quote, saying, name in just the lettering, or we can make the boards with your quote if you want us to. The possibilities are endless. If you can type it, we can cut it!

Check out our new blog for more info, and also check out our website!

Elf??

For those of who are familiar with the movie Elf I'm sure you love it. Well it is a favorite at my house. Michael and I watch it often and quote it all of the time. Well I laughed out loud today when I saw an email from Michael. See, I sing to him a lot. Not real songs, but ones that I make up. I'll sing things instead of just speaking them, mostly when I'm hyper, which is quite often I have to admit. There are a few parts in Elf where he sort of does the same thing, so you can imagine how much we like these parts. Anyway, here is the email I got from Michael this morning.

"I'm singing...and I'm at my desk...and I'm siiiingiiiing....and guess what? - I love you!....I love you!...I loooove you!"


Can you not see why I love him so much! If you don't know this movie, this probably won't be funny at all, but I laughed right out loud!

Christmas Season 2006

Well since I've been getting into trouble for not posting, I thought I would do a huge massive one to tide everyone over for a while. Christmas was good, except for getting strep on Dec 22, and then a wicked cold on top of it. I didn't feel all that well for most of it, but I still had a wonderful time. We had so much fun with Heather and Gannon around, and we were together most of the time. It was an inlaw Christmas for my family, so we didn't see a lot of them. It's hard to be in the same city as everyone. You always miss out on something. We can't really complain though. We did tons of stuff, I got spoiled rotten (along with everyone else) and I loved every minute of being off of work for more than 2 weeks. It was wonderful and it gave me a taste of the life I'm missing being at work all day. I've got to remedy that somehow. Anyway, all of the pictures tell the story way better than I could. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas, and fun New Year!

December 23rd

Sleigh Ride

We went for a horse drawn wagon ride with the Palmer/Pratt clan. It was beautiful to be outside, and fun to be with everyone. We had hot chocolate, and then went to Blain and Linda Palmer's for some wonderful food.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2006

Christmas Eve is always my favorite. The anticipation gets to me and I feel like such a kid. We had dinner at the Palmer's house and then went to see my family. We carried out our usual traditions. Reading the Nativity story and trying to see how many names the Savior is called. Always super fun for me. We then went back to the Palmer's and stayed the night there. We played a bunch of Nintendo Wii, and watched a movie until we fell asleep.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day 2006

Christmas Day was wonderful as usual. We all got spoiled, and we had a lot of fun. Michael and I always get 2 Christmas mornings with each family. This year was a away Christmas for my family so we spent most of the time with the Palmers this year.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve 2006

Well we had a blast for New Years. We ate a fantastic dinner at Kevin and Cyndi's, and then we got to go and visit with my parents and Erin and Scott and the kiddies, and then we went back to the Palmer's house for the rest of the evening. We had so much going on, it was a blast. First, we had a huge chocolate milk taste test (for all of the detail, checkout Heather's blog). Then we passed around the hats, noisemakers, and necklaces, and rang in the new year with some Martinelli's. I just can't believe it's 2007. Wow.

Highschool Girls night

I also got to see a bunch of my friends from...well life...over the break. This baby is Joslyn's second. Her name is Kaydence. She's a doll. The other girl holding her is Marika.

These are all of the girls I grew up with mostly. It was great fun to get the see them, even if it was just for a few hours.

Emily's Baby Shower

So Heather and I put together a small baby shower for Emily over the holiday. A bunch of her friends were in town so we wanted to make sure they could be there. Since we'd never done a shower before we hoped that Cyndi would be there to guide us, but since she was out of town, we were on our own. It was a little nerve racking, but I think all in all, it was good. The best part for me was the cake I made (with the help of Heather). I made a diaper cake, with baby wipe filling. It was so cute and worked well as the center piece.

All of the food

The Office Quotes/Update

So, I loved The Office last week, as usual. There were so many funny quotes that this might be a little long. Oh well, there could be worse things.

Angela: Meredith! If you don’t come to my party you will be very, very sorry.
Meredith: Is that a threat?
Angela: No. It’s an invitation.

Ryan: I miss the days when there was only one party I didn’t want to go to.

Michael: Bro’s before ho’s. Why? Because your bro’s are always there for you. They’ve got your back after your ho rips your heart out for no good reason. And you were nothing but great to your ho. And you told her that she was the only ho for you and that she was better than all the other ho’s in the world. And then…and then suddenly she’s not your ho no mo’.

Dwight: Pam and Karen! I am ordering you to cease and desist all party planning immediately.
Pam: You can’t do that.
Dwight: As ranking number 3 in this office I am ordering you to…
Andy: Ummm, I’m number 3.
Dwight: You’re number 4.
Andy: Yeah, but I’m number 3.
Dwight: Uh no. You must turn over to me all Christmas decorations and party paraphernalia immediately that will be returned to you on January 4th.
Jim: Ok, I think I can help here.
Dwight: Ok good, they…
Jim: As ranking number 2 I am starting a committee to determine the validity of the two committees and I am the sole member of the committee. We’ll act on this now.
Dwight: Ok this is stupid.
Jim: Can you please keep it down? I’m in session. [long pause] I’ve determined this committee is valid.
Dwight: No, no, no. Wait. Permission to join the Validity Committee.
Jim: [thinks about it] Permission denied.

Michael: I’d like everybody’s attention. Christmas is cancelled.
Stanley: You can’t cancel a holiday.
Michael: Give it up Stanley and you’ll lose New Year’s
Stanley: What’s that mean?
Michael: Jim, take New Year’s away from Stanley!

Dwight: He was already dead and we Schrutes use every part of the goose. The meat has a delicious, smokey, rich flavor. Plus you can use the molten goose grease and save it in the refrigerator thus saving you a trip to the store for an expensive can of goose grease.
Jim: Wow. Win-win.

Dwight: [looking at his dead goose] I accidentally ran over it, it’s a Christmas miracle!

I know I say it everytime, but wow, what a great show! Just reading these makes me laugh all over again!

Anyhoo, not a whole lot going on with me. Just getting SOOOOO excited for Christmas. I don't know if I'm abnormal, but Christmas just makes me feel like a kid again. I love that feeling. Normally, I'm stressed with all of the realities of life, and this time of year, I just let all of that go...which is sometimes not a good thing. We had our work Christmas party on Friday, and we had dinner at the Calgary Tower. That's the place Michael and I got engaged, so it holds special meaning for us. Such yummy food too. I think that's really all I did this past weekend...eat. Heather and Gannon and the kiddies got here early early on Saturday morning. It's so fun to see them and the kids. They sure change when you dont' see them for a few months. I hate it. The same thing goes for Amy and Brad's kids. You just miss so much.

Saturday morning we had "Family home morning" with the Melchin clan. We had the breakfast we would have had on Christmas morning since it's the inlaw Christmas this year. So yummy. We also had a great lesson on reading the scriptures and SEan challenged us all to read the Book of Mormon as a family. I'm up for the challenge!Saturday night Kevin and Cyndi had their annual Christmas Open House. It was so fun, and of course we ate way too much. But it's so worth it. It's only once a year. It's always nice to see people you don't get to see all of the time too. Sunday we had our ward Christmas program. Michael and I sang in the choir. It's hard to go from singing in the Messiah with over 200 people to a choir of about 25. We seemed so quiet, but I think we did an ok job. I have to work tomorrow so that I get Friday off. That's hard when you're used to having Monday off, but I'll be happy when Friday rolls around. So those few things were pretty much the kickoff to Christmas! This week is full of fun things and then this weekend...ooohhh...I'm so excited. The only thing I'm upset about is that I haven't been taking pictures. I'll get on that!

Christmas Recipe

I got this recipe from a girl at work. Be sure to read the entire thing. I think it's a pretty good one.

Yummy Christmas Cookie Recipe

Christmas Cookie Recipe
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Crown Royal/Whiskey/Rum

Sample the Liquor to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Liquor
again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and
drink. Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large
fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this point it's
best to make sure the Liquor is still OK, try another cup.. just in case.
Turn off the mixer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in
the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit off floor...Mix on the
turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose
with adewscriver. Sample the Liquor to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift
two cups of salt, or something.... who giveshza sheet. Check the Liquor.
Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon
of ar, or somefink....whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake
tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the
turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the bottle of
Liquor. Make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas

Banff Springs 2006 or (BS06)

Well I know it's taken me longer to get these up than it should have. I went to do it on Tuesday, and Michael had "fixed" the computer again, and the internet didn't work. Ahh...lovely. Well it was a blast. We had the best time in Banff. It was beautiful.

We got there on Friday and got to the room and just chatted until we had to go to dinner. The food was amazing. Between us we got Beef Tenderloin, Pork Chops, Trout, and Chicken Alfredo. Yum. The highlight though was the dessert buffet. It was so good. I of course ate way too much, but all of the walking we did around the hotel took care of it I'm sure (right). We toured all over the hotel, and it was so beautiful. We looked in every room we could. We then went back to the room for some See's candies, and more talking. We wanted to get a movie, but none of us would have made it through.

We woke up the next day and were going to get breakfast brought to the room, but we decided to go the buffet instead. While getting ready we blew a fuse and had no power for a while. That's nice when 5 women are trying to get ready. So, we missed the buffet, and we just ordered breakfast instead. It again, was super tasty. We walked around a little more and then checked out and headed into the town for some shopping. We looked in the little gift shops, the gem store, the Christmas Store, and the Fudgery of course. We then stopped for Starbucks before heading home. It was so much fun. Here are the pictures, and most of them have captions for some more details.

Banff 2006

Quotes

Ok, so here are a couple of goodies from last night. Jeffrey and Emily came over to watch with us, which is always fun, and we had some good laughs that's for sure!

Michael: Close your eyes. Picture a convict. What’s he wearing? Nothing special. Baseball cap on backward, baggy pants. He says something ordinary like, “Yo, that’s shizzle”. Now slowly open your eyes again. Who are you picturing? A black man? Wrong. That was a white woman. Surprised? Well shame on you.

Michael: Why did the convict have to be a black guy? It is such a stereotype. I just wish that Josh had made a more progressive choice…like a white guy...who went to prison for polluting a black guy’s lake.

Michael: [picks up a dumbbell] Why don’t we pump some iron. Anybody wanna pump up?
Jim: What is that, like, 5 pounds?
Michael: It’s two and a half. I’m not going for bulk, I’m going for tone.

Dwight wasn't around a lot, and Michael stole this show! Ahhh, so nice to have a new one istead of a rerun! Well I'm off to Banff....I'll be sure to document the trip so my blog can be filled with pictures!! Don't you worry!

Messiah 2006

Since I don't know if I'll ever get Michael to sing with me again, I thought I should document the event! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, every year here in Calgary, Keith Wood (who's actually my sister-in-law Emily's grandpa) forms a choir, and orchestra to perform a number of selections from Handel's Messiah. It's become quite the tradition here and I've been in it now for 4 years. I convinced Michael to join this year, which was a miracle in and of itself. Well we have about 5, 3 hour practices and then 3 performances. Last night was our last one, and by far the best one. The music is so fun to sing and I've come to LOVE it so much. It's not Christmas to me without starting with Messiah! Anyhoo, just thought I'd share the pictures. Oh, everyone wears red ties, we're not just matching for fun! It's the uniform.  

Christmas is Coming

I'm so excited to be living in twinkle light land now. I wait all year for my house to be festive. I love the gentle glow of the tiny lights all over, and I hardly turn on the overhead lights once my house is done. One of my favorite things is to just sit on the couch with all of the little lights on. Ahhh. I'm excited! I'm finally done my decorating so I just thought I'd share what I've been up to since Monday. I can't believe it's almost a month away. I still haven't gotten to my shopping. I HATE the malls right now. They're so busy already. I'm most stumped on what the heck to get Michael. He doesn't give my much help though. Everything he wants, is way outside the budget. A little frusterating.

Not much going on with me. I have just been up to the usual. My weekends have been busy with Messiah, but since it's over after this weekend, I'll be loving my Sunday nights again. Two performances this weekend, but at least they're close to home. Last weekend we were at the opposite end of the city. Next weekend, we're headed to Banff for a girls night. I'm so excited, except it will be freezing. I hate the kind of cold where you step outside and instantly, you can't feel anything. It'll be worth it though, and you can count on the fact that the trip will be well documented with pictures! I'll be sure to post. Well I just found out there is no new Office tonight, and Michael is out with his uncles and his dad, so I just might be heading to bed early. Wow, what would that be like? Oh one more thing. Michael bought Nintendo Wii, and I have to admit, it's awesome! I've never been one for video games, but I really like this one. Maybe that's because I can actually do it. Oh, and last Thursday, Michael and I camped out all night in order to be some of the few to get Playstation 3's. Yes, we slept outside, but we did get 2. We're in the process of trying to sell them. Michael's had this idea since last year. We're hoping that the need for them as Christmas presents can help us get a little extra cash for our own Christmas presents. We'll see. If not, we'll break even and have a crazy story to tell. I'm telling ya, last Friday at work was NOT fun. After being up most of the night, the last thing I wanted to do was go to work. I'm just glad it's over!


Here are a few shots of the decorations. I call it decorating on a budget, but it's fun for me!
Our stockings are already hung! This is the wreath I made the first year we were married. I couldn't bring myself to pay the money they were asking for a made one, so I did my own for way cheaper! All it took was a gluegun. I'm going to go to the craft store and see if I can make anything else for a bargain!

Cyndi bought us this Nativity last year. I really love it! The detail on the pieces is so beautiful!