buggin

do you ever have those days where everything bugs you?  when your list of pet peeves becomes much longer than normal?  today was one of those days.  here are just a few things that come to mind:

1. people who go when it isn't their turn at a 4 way stop.

(if you live in logan, you know that 600 e and 1000 n is the worst)

2. people who drive 30 in a 40.

3. those same people don't slow down to 20 in a school zone.

(my drive to school this morning was anything but pleasant)

4. when people ask me what i am going to school for and i say audiology.  they then say "what?!  i didn't hear you!" and then proceed to laugh, thinking they are so clever and just came up with the best. joke. ever.

5. love handles.  yep.

6. professors who finish their lecture 20 minutes early but refuse to let you leave.  "if class is scheduled to get out at 2:30, i'm going to make sure you get your money's worth.  you are paying for your education, you know."  really?!  because sitting there for an extra 20 minutes while we talk about nothing audiology related is hardly educational.  let me go my way, you can go yours, and i'll see you again on wednesday.

7. people who can't figure out your vs. you're

it's vs. its

their vs. they're vs. there

didn't we all learn contractions back in the 3rd grade?

8. when the waiter at olive garden forgets my frozen lemonade.  i tell him i don't want it anymore when my meal comes but he brings it out to me anyway... half melted.  i don't drink it because it isn't good when it's melted.  and he still charges me for it.  so i ask for a new one to-go and he acts put out.  lame.  

9. loud gum chompers

10. vienna on the bachelor

11. josh beat me in scrabble by playing "jeep" on a triple word tile.  54 freakin points!

and just so you don't think i'm super ornery today, here's a list of things that made me happy today

1. no inversion in the valley

2.  booked my flight for chicago in a month

3. dinner date with josh

4. the jazz came out victorious in another nail biter

5. jcrew is offering an extra 30% discount on their sale items

6. i'm officially registered to run the salt lake city half marathon on april 17th.  you should join me!  let the training begin!

it's an absolute miracle

remember my previous post?

the one where i complained about our dumb as rocks dog?

the one who couldn't figure out a doggie door to save her life?!

well, she decided to prove us wrong!!!

our little tess finally figured it out

(and it only took a can of alpo to get her to go through the door on her own for the first time)

i don't think you can even imagine how excited we were...

we were such proud parents

and once she figured it out, she kept going in and out

in and out

in and out

so then we decided to test our luck.  we went to a movie and left her alone in the house.

dun dun dun

(i'm not sure if you even understand how big of a deal this was.  for the last 3 months, we haven't been able to leave our house without her destroying her kennel with poop, resulting in us scrubbing her kennel down and then giving her a bath.  we have also gone through about 5 rolls of paper towels because when we leave her in her metal enclosure on the tile, she poops and then smashes the poop into the tile, resulting in us scrubbing the floor down and then giving her a bath.  she has had to go to work with josh so she isn't left at home.  she comes with us when we run errands and we leave her in the car.  when we go to our friends houses, she comes with us.  it was getting a bit old.)

but when we got home from the movie, there was no poop

there was no pee

our furniture was all still in tact

we were elated!

we then decided to test our luck one last time.

we went to school today and left her home

alone

from 9 am till 2:30

and guess what?!

there was no poop

there was no pee

our furniture was all still in tact

and i just about peed my pants

because our little tess is finally growing up

(and we are finally able to have our lives back!)

our dog

she's cute

she's cuddly

she's friendly

she's always happy

she's vain (she loves staring at herself in the mirror)

she's hyper, but not too hyper

she's great at giving kisses

she's a good dog...

but boy, is she dumb!

she hasn't completely mastered the whole potty training thing.

she is trained for the most part, but if we leave her during the day,

she pretty much freaks out

and poops and pees

we are sick and tired of cleaning up her poop and pee

so we bought her a doggie door hoping it would solve the problem

but our dumb dog cannot for the life of her figure out how it works

we've tried everything

begging

whistling

clapping

bribery
luring
forcing her through the door

nothing has worked so far and it is so frustrating!

like i said, she is adorable, but looks sure can be deceiving!

i hope to become resolved

i don't normally make new years resolutions

because... let's be honest... i'm really good at working on them for the first month or so.

and then i give up.

but i think 2010 will be a good year, and i want to make the best of it.

so, here are some things i'd like to see happen:

- take time each day for myself, even if it's only 10 minutes

- show more gratitude

- learn how to take better pictures

- take more pictures

- do more service

- attend the temple more regularly

- exercise every day

- write more thank you notes

- run another half marathon (or two) and attempt a full

- be more patient

- learn photoshop

- read my scriptures every day

- show my husband how much i love him everyday

- play the piano more


- try new recipes

- more leisure reading

- watch less television

- take tess on a walk 3 times a week


- start digital scrapbooking

- put more effort into my calling at church

- spend more time with our families

- call the grandparents more often

- make someone feel special every day

i know it's a lengthy list, but i guess that means i have a lot to work on.

and for those of you wondering what fun and exciting things we did on new year's eve..

well, i had to work that night at the restaurant.

and my little sister laura came up with our good friend kevin.

and then came in to the restaurant with josh to eat.

and when i got off, i put on my sweats and we watched the jazz lose to the thunder.

then we headed to the grocery store

to buy the supplies to make the greatest pizzookies you've ever seen.

and we ate our treats while watching home alone.

and when it hit midnight, no one really cared.

we stayed up and talked for a while, and looked for a new macbook for laura online

and then we all hit the sack.

life is pretty exciting when you're married!

home for the holidays

let's rewind all the way back to thanksgiving

we had a fabulous week in murray.  we stuffed ourselves silly and spent lots of time with our families.  thanksgiving dinner was spent at my grandma's house and it was delicious.  we ate way too much.

and then the day after thanksgiving came and we ate another great thanksgiving meal with josh's family.

we also went and saw the lights at the temple

with these two great kids

we didn't do much this year as fas as christmas festivities go.  i spent way to much time working nights at the restaurant to allow for any free time to go to christmas shows and christmas parties and other fun christmasy things.  and the free time that we did have were typically spent in our sweats, watching jazz games, and beating the cox's in various game nights.

however, the week of christmas josh and i were both off of work and were able to spend it all at home in murray.  the week included watching josh's brother spencer coaching murray's basketball team.  it was tess's first basketball game.

i spent a lot of time at the mall catching up on all of our last-minute christmas shopping.

we met up with our high school friends for some yummy food and leatherby's ice cream afterward.

we went to my family's christmas eve party/program.  the family is getting so big that this year we had to hold it at my aunt's church.  i didn't mind it being at the church.  in fact, that just meant that everyone was together at christmas time and that is all that matters.

we watched my cute little cousins perform the nativity.  they brought such a special spirit to the evening.

we also sang some christmas hymns and it helped us all reflect on the true meaning of christmas

we played our traditional "dice/gift" game.  i forgot to take a picture of all the presents before they all started getting snatched up.  just know the mound was enormous.

my cousin's little boy, croy, was enthralled with this present.  it was the cutest thing.

for the first time this year, my grandma decided to do a money jar guessing game.  and look who won the loot!

we also were able to talk to our dear nate-dogg on christmas eve.  it was so good to talk to him and hear how life is going for him in washington.  he is doing well and is such a good missionary.

we also participated in the hankins christmas eve program.  i played the piano while josh played the guitar.  josh and spencer played a few duets on the piano.  dave and kristi sang a song.  kylie brought a christmas game.  we had a fun time.

christmas morning we woke up and opened presents with the hankins family.  we got some very generous gifts from them including a new video camera, camping equipment, games, and gift cards.

we then headed over to my parents house where we ate a delicious christmas breakfast and opened up more gifts.  they also spoiled us with nice gifts including clothes, emergency preparedness supplies, stuff for our kitchen, and money.  my dad also surprised all of us girls with beautiful tiffany & co. necklaces.  we were then told that we are going on a vacation with my family in june to either hawaii or a cruise to the caribbean.  regardless of where we end up going, josh and i are super excited!

after presents, we went and had christmas dinner with josh's family and then saw the movie sherlock holmes with my family.

we had a great christmas and it was especially nice to spend so much time at home with our friends and families.  we sure are lucky to share our holiday season with people we love so much.

oh, christmas tree...

i am late in my posting, and wanted to put up a quick shot of our christmas tree...

it's nothing fancy or trendy or anything anyone would be envious of.  but it is full of memories.

i mentioned in my christmas tree post last year that as kids, is was pretty much our only christmas tradition to get a new hallmark ornament every year.  i have been getting them since i was born and now my tree is filled with the ornaments i personally picked out throughout the years.  i plan on keeping the tradition now that we're married and was excited to pick out our ornament for 2009.

i ended up getting 2.  the first one is for our cute little doggie tess.  2009 is the year when that cute little bundle of fur joined our family.  i know this dog doesn't look exactly like her, but it's close enough.  and now, tess has been added to our tree of memories.

this is the other ornament i chose for the year.  there's some background to it- josh's little brother nate left on his mission this past year in june to washington.  when the boys were younger, they always did a christmas eve program with random christmas songs and skits.  on one of my favorite home videos, nate is singing "i wanna hippopotamus for christmas".  he's like 4 or 5 years old and it's the cutest thing ever.  so, when i saw an ornament that actually plays that song, i knew it was meant to be.  i bought one for us, and also sent one to nate-dog on his mission.  and i'm so happy that he absolutely loved it.

happy new decade!

(wish i was here rather than stuck in logan)

here's to a great decade... but looking forward to an even better next 10 years!

hope you all had a fun and safe new years!

(stay tuned, i promise i will be posting about the holidays sooner or later)