My Retard Dog

So this is my dog. You would probably believe him to be doped up on somthing but no, he really is just a retard. I love him to death. Not in a Lennie way, but in a 'you can't really help the way you are but I will love you anyway' way. Seriously though, the dog is 1 1/2 years old and he still barks like he's 2 months old. He is such a dork.

You don't have to watch the vids. I find them funny but that could just be because he's my dog. He usually sounds even more retarded than this but I couldn't capture it last night. Morgan and Sam were over at our place last night and when there is new company, Bacardi won't leave them alone.

Some Thoughts That Are Rolling Around in My Head.

Last night Paul and I went to the Gateway to spend an evening together. I had a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen that I have been wanting to spend since I got it...last March. :-) We love going down to the Gateway and it was seriously perfect. After we chowed down at CPK, we strolled around outside and the weather wasn't too cold, there was hardly anyone around, it had just rained but it hadn't poured, it was after dark, and it was just plain old pretty and I dare say romantic. Well I was carrying out my take-out box with half my pizza left inside (it was their Pear and Gorgonzola pizza - holy amazing!!) when Paul and I passed a homeless guy. I wasn't really paying attention until after he had passed us. Paul and I just kinda shared a look - we both feel bad seeing people in that situation - and we kept walking, knowing we didnt have any cash on us. But then it hit me that I was carrying around half a pizza that, even though I was looking forward to enjoying the rest of it later, I really didn't need and he could have used it a whole lot more than me. So I told Paul I wanted to give it to him and we turned around and I caught up with the guy at the park bench he had just set his stuff down on. I only talked to him for less than a minute but the humility and appreciation in that guy as he accepted my leftover pizza almost made me cry right in front of him. I didn't, however, because I am sure that while he was glad for the charity, he wasn't the kind of guy who needed pity. I wished him a good night and walked back to Paul where he just smiled and winked at me, and we walked on together in silence. I was thinking of all the ways I am blessed and I know Paul was doing the same thing.

I usually would keep something like that to myself, but at the same time I like hearing stories like that because it reminds me of how short life is and brings you back down to earth for a moment and reminds you of the more important things in life. It's so easy for me to get caught up in my lifestyle and my routine and at times my biggest concern can be something as small as finding the time to get a movie watched so it can be returned (hard life, huh?). Even though I have had my fair share of trials and hardships and even though I express gratitude for my life and the things that matter the most to me on a daily basis, and even though I try my best not to take even the smalled things for granted, it's still super easy to do exactly that and forget how easy I have it right now. Like the fact that I can go out to eat with my husband and spend $30 on food, have a nice evening and enjoy some laughs and a few trips down memory lane. That to me is a blessing because a lot of people don't get to do that and the funny thing is, I was thinking exactly that in the restaurant. A lot of people have to worry about how they can get any food at all, and where they are going to sleep that night, and how to stay warm at night. Even though I was happy to help someone out and happy to have shared what I had, it still made me feel small because all I did was give a guy my leftovers in a box after I had already eaten what I could. I didn't know the guy or what he's been through or how he came to be walking the streets at night with his belongings in a bag. I was glad to help but sorry I didn't have more pizza to give and sorry that all I had on me was plastic and no cash. My small act of kindness made me feel really happy, but really sad at the same time. Life is strange, isn't?

The Bro's Homecoming/Carrot Wars

Sunday, my littlest brother, recently off his mish in Seattle, Wa, gave his homecoming talk. So Paul and I found substitutes for Primary (a big thanks to those brave men) and headed out to my parents ward. He gave his talk a long with a couple missionaries that just gave back from the Congo. They used to be my teachers in Young Single Adults (I was there for quite a long time!) so it was really nice to see them talk at the same time! Our relatives all came out to hear him talk, along with his close friends and parents of his other friends who happen to still be on missions. He did so good on his talk. You can tell that he went out on his mission and 'grew' and 'developed' and all that jazz. It's such a difference than his farewell talk. I was so proud of him up there!

And of course, afterward we all went back to the house to grub out!

Me and the bro!

That's the good stuff right there - pulled pork sammiches. Yum (as you can tell by his enthusiam):

Amanda really getting into her pickled asparagus...someone needs to teach her that it isn't a tool:

My sister and I got in a carrot fight. A food fight where carrots were the ammo and they hurt like a SOB. It was pretty funny. You can crawl on over to my Facebook to watch the vid my cousin, Nicole took - if your little heart desires such a thing. Amanda is pretty ruthless when you get in a fight with her - she don't hold back just cuz you are related to her, so I inquired a few battle wounds. Paul is pointing out the welt on my hip that is still there today! How fun for me:

That's both my sisters and Kenny, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, checking (and laughing) at the video of us going at it.

And she thinks she won the fight because she ended up getting me on the ground - but in fact I couldn't see because right before we went down, she had me in a headlock and my dad had a hold of my wrist from his perch on the couch and I was losing my balance and I knew I was gonna knock myself out on the cedar chest if I fell so I was worried more about my noggin' at that point. She would call me the loser for that....whatever sister.

It's okay though cuz she got what she deserved - all dished out by her fiance! Oh how sweet the revenge, he he he! Just kidding. Most my family ended up in the front room relaxing, talking, playing the piano and, lastly, a huge wrestling fight to get Kenny's shoes off of him so that we could tickle him to death. He is ticklish everywhere, but his feet are the worst, and Amanda and Bronsyn were getting him pretty good. But Gav and I stepped in to help get those shoes off and once we got one shoe off and started tickling, Kenny (being super duper ticklish) starting fighting really hard to get us off and he accidentally kneed Amanda in the nose!! Ouch!! I thought she might cry for a sec - she got it that bad. But she ended up okay. Kenny felt super guilty and we razzed him for it so bad. But they are a really funny couple and just had fun with it....who knew?

I do acutally feel bad - a knee in the nose is a little too harsh of a punishment for a carrot welt!

More Super Fantastic Sibling Fun! Woopee!

Friday night the siblings got together for what is looking to become a monthly event - our game night!! This time was a little different though because Amber made it for the first half and Gaven was there!! Makes me so happy :-)

We did another Quesadilla bar where the phrase 'Make yourself a dang quesa-dila, Napolean' was said a couple hundred times. We then played Dirty Minds (which Paul and I won) and Smart Ass (which we decided to quit half way through so we could go rock out on World Tour).

That's us, Baby!! Diiiiiirty all the way, he he he.

Since Sam (Morgan's girlfriend) had to work, Morgan and Gaven had to be partners during Dirty Minds....pretty freakin' funny if you know the game:

And he we are rockin' out to our favorite pasttime:

I must brag about how much I seriously rock - I played the guitar AND sung (at the same time) to one of my favorite songs Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups. Bow to me for I am the RockStar Qeen!!!! Booya!!!

#100

So this is like, totally my 100th post. Wowza. I wasn't even paying attention to what number I was on and then I went to check something on my dashboard and was like "Hey check that out. Perhaps I shall write a 100th Post post about nothing in particular because I don't really care, but am I suggesting that I care by even posting that it's my 100th post?? I just don't know....hmmmmm." Interesting conversation I had with Self. So, uh, go me and all. Happy Blogging Day?? Happy 100th Post?? What-the-hell-ever. This is my 100th Post y'all.

Valentine Snowboarding

Paul and I don't go big for Valentines day anymore. Sometimes we do something small and cute but Saturday we opted for some much needed time on the slopes instead. It. Was. Awesome. Reasons being:
1) Since it had snowed all that morning and the night before there was oodles and oodles of heavenly powder - so fun.
2) Night boarding is ten times better than going in the day when you have ten times the people to worry about. It's so nice when you can go down the slopes and hardly run into people. Saturday was even better than a typical night up at Brighton and I am guessing that's due to the husbands and boyfriends who were expected to create romantical evenings for their women. Ha!!! - losers.
3) My brother Gaven and my niece came along for the ride. Gaven hasn't been in awhile due to the fact that he was on a mission and Bronsynn has only been up once before. I was super excited to be able to teach Bronsynn how to board and to hit some wicked runs with Gaven and Paul.

Before Gav and Bronsynn showed up at our house, Gav went and bought himself a whole new boarding outfit cuz he has grown so much, nothing fit him anymore. We made sure Bronsynn had double of everything to keep her warm since she doesn't have anything of her own. She was a big ball of mismatched hand-me downs! She was complaining that she was so hot when we were on the bunny hill and I told her that in an hour she would be singing my praises and she was! It got bloody freezing up there.

We planned to take Bronsynn up the biggest run but when we got to the lift she pretty much hyperventilated at the thought of getting on such a big lift. So I took her to the bunny hill while Gav and Paul took off a did a few runs. Then the boys came back and Gav took my spot and I went out with Paul. When we went back to the bunny hill, the kids were gone and we searched a couple places before Paul decided we should head back up the run we were just on. He theorized that, knowing Gaven, he would have gotten sick of being on the bunny hill and made her go on the bigger run. He was right. We spotted them from the lift about half way down so we got off the lift and raced downt to meet them. From there we just had fun hitting jumps and helping Bronsynn - who actually picked it up really fast and was doing super awesome.

I took pictures but I broke my camera yesterday. Yeah I am pretty pissed. I accidentally dropped it when picking it up off the counter. So....basically that's two broken cameras within four months. Awesome.

Dude. Like...Welcome Home.

This is my family...being totally dorky and hangin' out...as we waited in the airport.





(my dad hates to have his picture taken so Amanda and I were ganging up on him and he was running around us trying not to laugh while we snapped away at him)


And why were we all dinking around in the airport?


Because my little brother, the youngest sibling and baby of the family, came home from his mission in Seattle, Washington Monday afternoon!!!

Here he is hugging the Mom. She was all tears the entire time we waited for him and somehow (don't ask me) she pulled it together right before he got there:

Gaven with my dad and my sister, Amanda:

When we spotted him coming down the escalators, we all started snapping away. I had a video going in one hand and was taking pictures in the other. Aiden broke away from our group and ran to him and jumped up in his arms. He has been missing Gaven lots! Then we all took our turns and hung out while we waited for his luggage.

Gav learned the Uke while in the MTC and he carries it around with him and plays it all the time:

As we left the airport, each of the boys got a ride on Gaven's luggage. It was so cute and funny.


This is what the house looked like when we got home:

The front door and side window were painted on, as well as both sets of French doors, there were four huge signs made, yellow balloons and crepe paper running everywhere, yellow ribbons tied to the front trees, and balloons tied all around the fence of the front horse pasture (i actually didn't get around to taking the pictures till night so I don't have one of that but it looks cool!). Lots of yellow...super cheery! Yay!!

We were all hungry by the time we got home so my dad was sent on an Arby's run. That's what Gaven really wanted so we pigged out on curly fries and roast beef sandwhiches and leftovers from my husband's party on Saturday night.

(That's a cup full of fry sauce! And Morgan is super happy to have his only brother back home.)

We snarfed down food and then Morgan, Gav, Bronsynn, Benny (Gav's best friend who arrived home from his mission just a few days before and is practically an extra brother) and myself all went downstairs and lifted and ran and worked out together. Gav put on a few LB'S during the mish and now he's on a mission to slim down!

We helped clean out Gaven's room, unpack and organize. My parents were planning on getting his room re-painted while he was gone and then they found out he was coming home and had two days till he arrived. My dad set to work and got the room painted and put back together in one day!

Aiden rarely left Gaven's side. When Aiden had to sit and eat his food, Gaven went back to his room to work on getting old clothes thrown out and his stuff unpacked. Aiden would then find me and ask..."Where is Uncle Gaven?" and I would tell him and he would make a beeline for Gav's room and follow him everywhere. So cute.

Gaven's birthday was last Thursday. He turned 21. Looks like he came home just in time.....ha ha ha ha. (just kidding). And Paul turned 26 on Monday. So we celebrated both of their birthdays at the same time. We had Papa Murpheys, leftover cheesecake and two very yummy cakes (both made by Amanda and Bronsynn the night before while they were on a roll decorating the house for his return):

And I am really pissed off because I videoed the entire singing process and....it's not on my camera anymore. Pissed. Off. I don't know how that happened but I am pissed. PISSED!

Then we pulled out the Wii. We played Mario Kart for a long time and Guitar Hero (of course) and had a blast together:

My mom was a little tuckered out by the end of the night (hee hee hee - I am so naughty!):

And as a side note - check out that hair! Bronsynn was blessed with near perfect hair (it's a little naturally curly and she hates that) and a sense of style, not to mention a mother who works in hair and is around fashion 24/7. She looks like a freakin' model at age 13 - unbelievable. Why couldn't my hair do that? I tried for five years to get my hair that long and healthy. It took her two. TWO.

This is Gav as his last few moments as a missionary. After waiting all day, the Stake President finally came home and Gav and my dad went to his house at 9:30 p.m. so he could get released. And when he came home, he was no longer 'Elder Foxxy' (I named him that when he went out cuz his and Morgan's middle names are Fox).

And shortly after that, we all went our separate ways - damn it being a work night!! It feels so good to have him home! It's like he never left, or maybe went on a short trip because now he has all these stories to tell and about 40 ties in his possession (even after giving away about 20 of them before he left!). And now it feels a little weird when we IM on Facebook. I almost forgot that he was home and not up in Seattle! But I like that he is home and glad we were all able to spend the day together.