Howdy All!

I realize that I have posted several very depressing and miserable posts, and I am sorry for that, but what do you expect? I thought I would update for those of you who John and I don't really have much contact with. I am in my 8th day of recovery and here is what's going on:

I am still very depressing and miserable - ask anyone we have visited with the past week.

Day one and two were okay.
Day three was the worst.
Day four was the worst.
Day five was the worst.
Day six was the worst.
Day seven was the worst.
Merry Christmas Eve, day eight is the worst!

I have stopped taking the prescribed pain meds. they all make me incredibly sick. Tylenol PM, I heart you all hours of the day. Since I stopped taking them, I have been doing much better. It is far better to be in pain. I hope that none of you ever have to experience throwing up when your tonsils have just been removed.
This morning at 2:00 am I woke up and couldn't sleep, I decided to watch a little HGTV(which has become my favorite since the surgery). I fell back asleep and woke up a little before 4:00, my throat was bleeding which is a bad sign. I waited for it to stop for 30 minutes but it didn't so I called my doctor and he told me to get to the ER. There, they would put me back under and cauterize the site, it would be like starting over from the beginning. Luckily when we got there at 4:30 am the very nice doctor told me that the bleeding had stopped! Yay! At the moment I would have rather died then do this whole thing a second time. The very nice doctor made fun of my little ice pack that I always keep on my neck(which is gross, so I dont blame him), but it made me laugh and I was very happy that there was someone pleasant to be around at that hour in my situation.

I am back to eating stuff that I dont consider real food for a few days(doctors orders) to help prevent bleeding (if I can manage to force myself to eat). Ice cream really isn't doing it for me, I am finding myself getting pickier by the day.

It could be much, much worse and I am so incredibly thankful that it isnt.

I am so excited for Christmas! John hates it, but I still can't sleep on Christmas Eve, I get excited like a little kid. I dont even know why, we dont have presents for each other (except for little things that we spent like 20 bucks on) and I never got around to finishing the adorable felt stockings that I made. But you can bet that I will wake up at 6:30 and want John to do the same and I will take pictures of our tree and the little presents being opened and I will be as happy and excited as I was when I was ten. I just love Christmas Day. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! We love you all.

A little update on the surgery

Everything went pretty well. I don't really remember much from afterward except that I kept asking for John. Wednesday I was doing great, I was drinking plenty of fluids and I was able to manage the pain without too much trouble. Yesterday was a tiny bit worse, but I figured that the day after the surgery would be the hardest. I wish I would have been right. Today (3rd day after) I have had a pretty serious earache, and been terribly hungry, but its just so hard to eat. Not a good combination when you are taking pain meds, you can probably guess what happened with that. After spending some time on the bathroom floor I decided to force myself to eat. John went out and got me some fishy crackers and I was able to eat a bunch and take some more pain killers without getting sick again. I love my hubby! He has been taking care of me so well, making sure I stay in bed and that I keep eating and drinking. .
I have already lost about five pounds, which is disgusting. My body is withering away, but hopefully I can gain back the weight when I feel better. I try my best to eat as much as I can but I swear it gets harder by the day. I have even had problems talking today, but nothing too bad.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support! We love you all.

Merry Crazy Christmas.

I am trying so hard to get all Christmas related stuff done today before I get my tonsils out. I ran all over the valley yesterday and this morning. I have done about 7 loads of laundry, 3 dishwasher loads and have attempted to start cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming the living space about a dozen times to no avail. Oh, and the 7 loads worth of clothes that need to be folded and put away. I have been very impatient today because I am pretty sure that I have some form of strep, and I am running a fever and the dog wont stop whining because all she wants to do is go outside and play in the snow.

I am SO looking forward to the surgery tomorrow.

In all of this craziness, I feel so incredibly blessed to have a healthy family. I know that we all have our little issues, but it is nothing compared to how it could be. We are all healthy and I hope very happy. Family and friends I love you all so much!

Merry Christmas a little early - I dont know if I will be capable of saying it by the time Christmas comes.

Happy 13th Birthday Aly!

My youngest sister, Aly turned 13 years old on the 6th of December. (This was also the day that John took the L.S.A.T.) We celebrated as a family on Sunday night with an amazing dinner cooked by my mom, and an absolutely delicious cake.


I started making Aly a really cute felt bag for her birthday along with some one of a kind slippies. Unfortunately I havent finished either of those things yet, so I need to get on that.



My little brother and sisters are growing up so fast. Aly is in 7th grade at Hillside and Ben is going to be 15 in April and goes to Highland. Ben kicks butt on the swim team and is quite popular amongst the ladies.



.....................................................................................................................


On a completely different note, I have tried my hand at knitting. I quite like it, but all I know how to do are the rows. I cant make a hat yet, which is what I really want to do. Laura and Leslie: do you remember those cute little pants that were green and had a monster face knitted into the bum? I am pretty sure if I had a pattern, stuff like that would be so easy to make because you are just building off of the rows. I have been experimenting with patterns lately and this is what I have come up with.



I am trying to make this into a scarf for myself. I go outside in the freezing cold to take the dog out and I always wonder why I make dozens of hats, but never end up making one for myself. I decided that a scarf would be nice too. So this one is all mine!

Lynda, I guess these are mostly for you.

About an hour ago, I got rear-ended while driving the truck. Luckily the woman that rear-ended me was a very nice lady and took responsibility from the start so I didn't have to fight with her about it. Here are the pictures of the damage:



If you blow this picture up, you can see two scratches on the bumper on the lower plastic part. Also, the bumper was pushed down about a half an inch. I was lucky enough to have my parents about 15 minutes behind me, so my dad came by and looked over the damage and tried to see if he could find anything else. As far as we could tell (even though we aren't mechanics) everything else was okay. The tailgate works just as well as it ever did. Of course we will have it looked at just to be sure.


The "not-damaged" side:




No one was hurt, and I didn't get a ticket. I just feel a little guilty because it is not my truck and I try so hard to take care of it. Just goes to show that you cant control everything.

Nieces and Nephews....and Sally

We went out to Leslie and Cam's to watch the U of U v BYU game this evening (go UTES!). I had tons of hats that I wasn't sure would work or not (some seemed quite goofy) and I was looking forward to finally seeing them on little models. They turned out much better than I imagined and I look forward to making some more strange-but-absolutely adorable little hats.

I still cant get over how cute Ben looked in this one. I think that the plain hat with pom-pom is way under-rated. I mean, COME ON:

This is one I really thought would not be cute. I really liked the colors together and thought it was unique, but that no one would share my opinion. After seeing Lizzy in it I couldn't help but think of other designs that I wanted to get started on.

And of course, the always darling Jane.





It was fun to watch the game with everyone and I am so glad that I got these cute pictures.

You know I have to post at least one picture of my Sally Wag. This was taken a few weeks ago when it snowed really hard. It was hilarious how excited she was to be in the snow. I was snapping away trying to get the perfect picture when I accidentally hit the button and got this:



When I looked down at the little screen to see this, I started laughing so hard that I was crying...I couldn't even breathe. I immediately ran up the street to Costco and got a print of it. How I get these funny dog pictures I do not know but I love it.

Still Good.

Okay, so on Tuesday I subbed in the special needs preschool class. It was pretty easy because it was only about 1-3 kids per teacher and there were three teachers in the class. Really, all I did was just help out. It was a whole lot of fun and very thought provoking. During a break I was telling another one of the girls that was there about how someday I wanted twins. There was a 4 year old boy in the class who was about 95% immobile because of a stroke at birth. He basically has the functions and mental capacity of a 4 month old. He is a twin and his brother is a normal 4 year old. We started talking about all of the sad things that can happen. I got to thinking: It isn't scary enough to prevent me from truly looking forward to babis. Even if there are complications with the development of a baby, he is still yours and you are going to love him more than anything in the world.

So any way, Tuesday was a good day. Today I was in the fourth grade (this is when they are old enough to realize that you can treat a sub poorly and probably get away with it). It was challenging but super fun. Social studies was a blast...again. I cannot figure out for the life of me why I am feeling myself drawn to the social studies. I guess because it is much like history. I don't know. I decided that subbing elementary school is probably more fun because you actually get to teach and do stuff.

When I grow up, I want to be a teacher.

After feverishly looking for a job for about two months, I was certain I had covered all of my bases when out of nowhere last week I thought "I should just substitute teach." Today was my first day. I substituted in a third grade class in which we went to a Ballet West performance (nothing like a little art to soothe the soul), and I taught an amazing social studies lesson that I came up with all on my own as I was teaching it- It may not be a "real job" but I do get paid AND I had such an amazingly wonderful day subbing that third grade class that I could not be more excited to go to work tomorrow. It might be sad to say, but I felt better today teaching those little kids than I have in a while. Best part is, if I ever have a crummy class I don't have to go back the next day! which is especially nice because tomorrow is pre preschool. Yes. They aren't even all potty trained. I still cant wait.

Slippies.

I made these super-cute, super-comfy slipper socks for my sister for her birthday. I do plan on making tons more and putting them on my etsy shop. I absolutely love them and it will be hard to give them away!


Please ignore my legs, they look gross because I had socks on and they got all line-y.

Doggy Adventures

Last week John and I took care of my sisters little dog, Bella while she went on her honeymoon. Here she is pictured below, you may recognize her from such posts as Doggies!, and Pictures Worth a Thousand Words:

Sally was absolutely thrilled to have her doggy cousin over for a whole week. Sadly, it took about a week for them to get used to each other. Bella liked to curl up in a little ball on any lap that would take her....including Sally's:

Just kidding, this picture was posed. John shoved Bella into Sally's lap, it is pretty cute though. Here is what's NOT cute:

This is what the doggies (mostly Sally) did while I was away one day.

These are the innards of Bella's favorite toy. He is now a mere shell. His remains were strewn across the floor and I am still finding pieces of fluff that Sally is hoarding.

After all is said and done, it was a fun week. But it is very hard taking care of two doggies and I am not planning on doing it again any time soon. Sally was sad to see Bella go and moped around for a day or so after we took her home.

Aw, but isn't her Halloween bandanna so cute?

....

Laura, I know you tagged me last time and I never did it. So, I will do this one.




This is a picture that I took on a hike that John and I went on. You can kind of see Sally in the back ground. The mountains are so beautiful this time of year. I love the fall.

I have (kind of) conquered the afghan!

My chronic tonsillitis has been getting the better of me for the last couple of days. So has my newest creation:


It took a lot of will power to finish this thing, but I finally did this morning. It felt like it was taking me weeks to make it, but it only took a couple of days.

I started making this baby afghan when I came across the pattern in a book that I was browsing. I wish that you could see the colors a little better, but there are other pictures on my etsy site that show them better. I wish that I could say that I made a full size afghan but if I ever started one, I dont know that I would actually be able to finish it.

Okay, okay.

Okay Laura, I guess I wont try to get away with posting only pictures. Plus, I got the link for my hats wrong.

I was feeling like I wanted to post, but have been working on some pretty time consuming projects that I am trying to get on my etsy site(dont worry-I am still looking for a job), I gave it a shot though.

Okay, so on Friday my sister and her fiance finally tied the knot atop a very windy mountain with a gorgeous view...it was funny because in the pictures that I posted you can see that her veil is blowing and right after I took the pictures the wind carried it right out of her hair.
Leslie, unfortunately I cant claim artistic ownership for the wretched dog sweater. But then again, maybe that is a good thing. John continued to hold the dog like a baby for twenty minutes after that. I mean it. Look:

The wedding party was fun and we are all glad that they are finally married.

On Sunday while listening to Conference in the car on the way to my parents the car over heated. John's phone was dead so I called my mom to come and get me. We managed to get the car to her house to cool down while we finished the first session and ate crepes. I then attempted to drive the car back home thinking that John was probably worried that I had been gone for so long. On the way home the car over heated again...luckily I was off of the freeway (on Redwood and 21st) and made it into a parking lot. I lifted the hood and smoke started billowing out. A nice gentleman named Otis happened to walk by at this very moment and stopped to see if there was anything that he could do to help. I told him that I wasn't too far from home and that I would be alright. He stayed to help anyway. It was even Otis that noticed that there was fluid completely pouring out of one of the hoses-he told me that I would be able to fix it and how to go about doing so.
I don't think that I will ever see him again, but I wish I could thank that wonderful man. And if I do ever see him again, I will thank him.
So I got home and pulled the busted hose out and fixed the car. I am proud to report that since Sunday everything is great with the car. I would also like to thank Dave for walking John through what to do with the radiator fluid. THANKS DAVE!! It is very satisfying when you learn something new that you thought was so beyond your power to learn. Although it was a hectic situation, I am so glad that it happened. And don't tell anyone, but I think that I secretly want to be a mechanic.

And last, on Monday I made and sold two hats to a woman in Canada. I was very happy to see at least some of the stuff that is cluttering our apartment go. I am now working on an absolutely adorable little pink baby cardigan dress thing-y and the sweetest little baby afghan. Hopefully at least one of them will be done by the end of the week and in my etsy shop. Then, hopefully someone will see it and have to have it.

All in all, everything is good.

The end.

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

first official hat sale of the year.

I *sigh* locked my keys in the car.

Be prepared, I am going to complain. I was helping my dad out today-I even brought Sally in with me-and when it came time for me to leave I realized that I had locked my keys in the car. So I have to wait for John to come pick me up and I have about an hour to go. I am really frustrated because I have tons of stuff that I need to do before my sister's wedding tomorrow afternoon-go to the bank, find shoes(we all know how long this could take), try to figure out how to force my husband to get a stupid hair cut, figure out what to do with the dog tomorrow and I dont know what to make for dinner. I dont even know where to start. At least we have a spare key! And at least I have my Sally Wag:

I cant figure out how to make this picture bigger. But if you can make anything out, it is my Sally on her bed with her green bone at work with me, you can kind of see all of the foam core stacked behind her-not that foam core has any importance except that it signifies that we are at work.

How could I forget

To post a picture of my sweet Sally?
We still love her...we haven't "sent her up the river" like I have been threatening lately.

Wait...what is that sound?
Sally just stuck her nose in my huge ice cold cup of water and dumped it all over the floor. And when I look over(every time that it happens) this is what I see:

You think I did that??? How absurd!



I figure its something like having a child. Especially when she does something bad and I say to John "YOUR dog is being a little turd!" or "YOUR dog just knocked over my glass of water for the tenth time!" or "YOUR dog wont stop jumping on the counter!" I guess it is a way of placing blame when there really is no one to blame.

Oh, but I could not love her more.
Especially when she is like this:

I have been crafting....

A few weeks back I was wandering around the Joann's craft store when I came upon a long lost friend...Vanna's Choice Yarn. Yes, you heard me right, Vanna. As in Vanna White. Yes, she has a line of yarn and yes, I am in love with it. It was on sale so I bought some and began crafting. I figured if I start now and get a big variety by October or so I can put them on etsy or something...we'll see.


This one is my current fav. because of the cute little flower that I learned how to make and because the colors(which are not properly represented in this photo) are so stinking cute.






Another favorite. I made one just like this in an adorable maroon-purple-ish which my boss bought for her grand baby and this pink one was later commissioned- I still have to put the flower on it. The tiny ones (which fit two months old to about six months) are fun because they are easy and quick.




I honestly can not get over how much I love the new colors.
This green is one of my favorites.



I decided that I would benefit from lowering the price from what I had it at last year...mostly because I am using less expensive (much cuter) yarn. The next few hats I sell, I am going to save the money to get a pattern book that I have had my eye on (its $25!!!). It has patterns for baby pants and onesies and little cardigans.

I LOVE CRAFTING!

Good Recipe.

I know that I have already told most of you about this one, but there might be some out there who haven't tried it before. This is one of our favorites.

Italian Chicken

3-4 Chicken breasts (frozen works best)
1 packet of 8oz cream cheese
1 packet of Italian salad dressing (the powder kind)
1 Small can cream of chicken

Here is the best part...

Put it all in the Crockpot until the chicken can be easily shredded. It takes about 5 hours on high, and about 6 1/2 on low. It is so easy! Just serve over rice. Mmmm.

I love Crockpot recipes because you don't have to do anything. If anyone has any good ones send 'em my way.

Blessings.

I had a dentist appointment today. I know its weird, but I actually love going to the dentist and I am seeing a new guy who actually seems to know what he is doing. Good news, only one cavity(much better than having eight)! I know there are people out there who have never had a cavity. I despise you all. My teeth are aparently so soft that the little cavity bugs cant help but chew right through them. This is something that my whole family is cursed with. To my future children, who will probably not like going to the dentist as much as I do-I am so sorry. He also thinks that I am going to need a veneer on one of my front teeth(although it would be 90% for cosmetic reasons), and I need a crown from a previous root canal. This is all good news. I really was expecting more like five cavities and another root canal. I guess my obsessive dental hygene habbits have paid off, and I will continue brushing three times a day(my mouth is so small he politely suggested using a childs toothbrush) and flossing in the morning and at night.

Moving on. I GOT A NEW JOB! And its the one I actually wanted. I interviewed with the company Advanced Lighting Solutions about two weeks ago. It all went really well and I thought for sure I would get the job. I called a week after the interview and they told me that they had filled the position. I was bummed, but then my current employer told me I could stay. I just brushed it off. This morning I got a call while I was hanging out at my parents house waiting for my appointment. It was the company and the want me to start in the morning! I am so thrilled.

The #1 most important thing that I have learned in my first year of marriage is that the Lord has his own time table for me. I get anxious and try to stretch things out longer or hurry and change something quick, and it never works out, ever. Then right when I am about to give up(or maybe already have), or don't know what else to do it just gets dropped right in my lap. I am always so amazed how things always work out-maybe not the way you want-if you just have faith. I honestly can't even begin to remember how many times this has happened to John and I in this first year...and I am so grateful for it.

Legs.

Yes, legs. John claims(and I believe him) that he hasn't worn shorts since he was 13 years old. Well, yesterday we found some shorts at Target that he believed to be acceptable-they were only 9 dollars-and is now showing off his 10-years-of-never-having-seen-the-sun legs. I had to follow him around the apartment to get this pic.

Sally is joining John in the experimental clothing test and is wearing this cute little bandanna that I tied around her neck. She tried to get it off for a minute or so and then gave up. John insisted on taking it off as soon as I turned around, but isn't it just adorable how she posed for me!


I love my Sally Wag.
I also love the fact that after much hard work and being worried that it would never happen, we have managed to get her to stay close to us when she is not wearing a leash. We can now take her out to the side of the apartment where there is tons of grass and just throw the ball around until she passes out. There have been a few times when she got a little too excited about being able to run free and totally took off, but now we know she will always come back to us.



Look at that face!

Do It!

Please, if you haven't already go eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Order their Cajun fries. Just do it!

I realize that sometimes John and I are a little behind when it comes to trying out recently opened places...I don't know how long they have been opened or if any of you out there have eaten there already. I just know that it is SO good, we have to recommend it.

It is so cool how they work-all that is on the menu are hamburger, cheeseburger or bacon burger in two different sizes, little or regular. Then you pick what toppings you want. You can have whatever it is that makes your tummy happy without making your wallet sad. We went last night for the first time and ordered their "regular" cheeseburger with the toppings that we wanted at no extra charge, how cool! Come to find out the "little burger" isn't really that little and the "regular" is freaking huge (two patties), and these aren't like McDonalds patties these are like grill your own in your backyard, huge patties. Good thing we were hungry! Also, don't trick yourself in to believing that you can eat anything but the regular sized order of fries. They fill a cup up with fries put it in your bag, and then throw a whole extra scoop in the bag on top of all of your food. It is awesome.

John and I both agree that they have the best burger that you can get-maybe even better than making your own. So, just do it!

Batman, Batman, Batman!

Today was our third, yes third time of seeing the Dark Knight.

Come on though...we couldn't get tickets for IMAX until the Sunday after it came out and we weren't about to just wait for 3 whole days until we could see it! The first time was on Friday. Second on Sunday in the IMAX theater, which by the way is the only way to go. And the third was today with the majority of the Barron family. Who can turn down a family movie? Not us!

I guess I lost one of the tickets.


I realized that I never put pictures of us on the blog, so I took this one when we were in the car. I now realize that it would be a more entertaining picture if we were in the theater standing in front of the movie poster, but it was kind of an after thought...we are however in the movie theater parking lot. Not a very flattering pic, but oh well.



We are now anxiously awaiting the much-anticipated and very-long-way-away graphic novel-turned movie Watchmen. If you feel like it, you can see the trailer here. Be warned, it is kind of intense. We have both read, and loved the graphic novel and I am sure will be some of the first in line to see it when it comes out on 3.6.09.

Happy Birthday Jane!

Our little niece Jane turned 4 today!
These pictures were taken six months ago to the day.



John LOVES Jane. He is always talking about how smart and clever she is. We both think so.



Here is one from her party...I know Laura took some, so I'll just post these ones.




I loved her princess cake. I don't remember if it was mine or my little sisters, but once when we were younger my mom made a cake for one of our birthdays that was shaped like a little lamb. She was always so creative with our cakes for as long as I can remember. My mother is gifted when it comes to baked goods. Actually, she is just all around amazing.




Jane got to eat this cake all by herself. She appeared to have had a wonderful birthday- Happy Birthday Jane!

I also wanted to post these other pictures that I snapped of Ben and Lizzy-they were adorable.






If the pictures aren't enough to convince you of how bad Ben wanted the cake, I don't know what to tell you.



Jane finally decided to give him a little taste.




And he kept coming back for more...even though he couldn't reach it.