see ya later alligator

i got this email the other day from a friend.  these are all stores that are going under (or partially going under) because of our lousy ecomony:

*Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
*Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
*Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
*Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
*Cache will close all stores
*Talbots closing down specialty stores
*J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
*Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
*GAP closing 85 stores
*Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January
*Wickes Furniture closing down
*Levitz closing down remaining stores
*Bombay closing remaining stores
*Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
*Whitehall closing all stores
*Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
*Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
*Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
*Macys to close 9 stores after January
*Linens and Things closing all stores
*Movie Galley Closing all stores
*Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
*Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
*JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
*Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
*Wilson Leather closing down all stores
*Sharper Image closing down all stores
*K B Toys closing 356 stores
*Loews to close down some stores
*Dillard's to close some stores

and i'm sure the list will continue to get bigger

utah vs byu

start 'em young!

go utes

5 for 5.95

so, the name of the game is to pick the 5th photo in the 5th album of your pictures on your computer.  this picture was taken by the fabulous melissa kelsey while shooting our engagements last february.  we were downtown having a jolly 'ol time when it started raining randomly.  i'm usually not a big fan of the rain, but it was kind of fun (even though my hair started to curl a bit) and it only lasted a minute.  i like how you can see some raindrops in the picture, too.

so, now it's time to tag 5 of my pals... and if i don't "tag" you, don't be sad- you can still participate :)

1- lindsay

2- krissey

3- kim

4- layla

5- stacy

that's a random enough group.  happy blogging!

christmas is coming...

ok girls, so the time is getting closer and closer to start that christmas shopping (something i know we all love!).  many of you will remember i hosted a party a few weeks ago for my friend layla.  she sells juicy couture jewelry and sweatsuits, ed hardy clothes and hats, christian audigier clothing, tiffanys jewelry, chanel sunglasses and more.  plus she has tons of cute jewelry and accessories that you can't find in the stores.  her prices are awesome and everything is at a great deal.  it's a great place to get some cute jewelry/clothes/accessories at affordable prices.  the last party we had was so much fun that we decided to do another one for christmas shopping (you can always buy yourself a lil somethin somethin too).  also, to accommodate for everyone, we're going to have one in logan and murray this time.  that means you slc girls won't have to be driving to logan again, and that also means you won't have any excuses not to come :)  seriously, the more the merrier!  i want everyone to know about this early enough so you can mark your calendars, tell your friends, and be there!  

logan party:

date: wednesday, dec 10th

time: 6-8 pm

place: my house was just too small for all the girls and shopping last time so this time we're having it at my friend kendra's house.  she only lives about 2 blocks away from me

murray party:

date: tuesday, dec 16th

time: 6-8 pm

place: hankins home

they are both open houses so you are welcome to just drop by for a bit if you've got other commitments.  i would love to know if you're interested in coming... also, if you want to come, leave me a comment and i'll make sure to let you know what the addresses for the parties are.  let me know if you have any questions and i hope you can all make it!

angel

isn't it interesting when a person can have a huge impact on your life, and you've never even met them and they don't know who you are?  i got the link to this blog about a month ago (thank you jon and donnarae) and it has affected me more than i can even express.  the first time i went to this blog, i read the entire thing, every post and many of the comments that people wrote.  i have since checked this blog daily to see how this little boy is doing.

the blog is a journal from a little boy (aroune 8 or 9) named trent duval.  he and his family live in the salt lake valley, and in july 2007 he was diagnosed with the AML form of leukemia.  he was living in the hospital for many months, went through many rounds of chemo, and had many surgeries (bone marrow transplants, blood transfussions, etc) to help him fight his illness.  he has been through every physical ailment you could think of- nausea, fatigue, pain, diarrhea, fever, stomach aches, and headaches, just to name a few.  but despite all the pain he has gone through, he writes about the positive.  he writes about his thoughts and feelings, the activities he does while in the hospital, his family and friends who come to visit, and the fun opportunities the make a wish foundation has granted him.  

he also writes about his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  he talks about heaven, his Heavenly Father, his brother Jesus Christ, and the reason he is here on earth.  he understands the plan of salvation, eternal families, and the atonement of Jesus Christ far better than many adults understand it.  my testimony on these subjects has grown tremendously just by reading this little boy's thoughts and feelings.

i think this blog has put many things in perspective for me.  when josh was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, i thought my world was going to end.  it was days after we had gotten engaged and all i could think about was "why me?" and "why us?" and "why now?"  i kept thinking, we're too young to be dealing with this, we can't afford this, and we have too many years ahead of us to have such a heavy burden on our plate.  it wasn't until after many hours of tears and prayers did i realize how truly blessed josh and i are and how good our situation really was.  i was able to start focusing on the blessings rather than the hardships.  josh's prognosis was good... he's in good health, has a good attitude, and the doctors are hopeful that they found the cancer early enough.  we both had amazingly supportive families (esp. josh's) and wonderful friends who stood by our side through the hospital stays, the late hours, and the tears.  josh had an amazing medical team, wonderful doctors and nurses,  and was able to start his treatment immediately.  he could have been a lot sicker than he was, he could have lost his hair, he could have been stuck in the hospital longer than he was, and his cancer could have traveled through his body much more than it had.  other than the complications josh had during his initial surgery, he has been in pretty good health and his body has reacted well to the interferon treatment he has been on for the past 11 months.  there were so many things that we had to be grateful for, and our situation could be much worse than it really is.  

i have learned so much from this little boy.  i've learned so much about the strength and understanding you can get through the principles of our gospel... it is comforting and reassuring.  by truly understanding the purpose for our life here on earth, we are able to understand that all things happen for a reason and that trials are put in our lives for a reason.  i am so grateful to have this knowledge in my life.

trent got sick yesterday and i was worried about him all last night and all day today.  his mom finally posted this afternoon that he had passed away.  instantly, my eyes filled up with tears and my heart ached.  i have been so inspired by trent and his family and i'm so grateful for these angels that our Heavenly Father puts here on earth to help the rest of us understand his plan.  i encourage you to read his blog, read his testimony, and see the beautiful outlook he had on life.  he changed my life and i know he will change yours too.  my thoughts and prayers are with his family and for all those who are going through such challenging times as well.

http://trentduval.blogspot.com

185 days

it's november 1st and i'm sad to see all the halloween festivities over with. i've come to like halloween more and more as i've gotten older. maybe that's because i like halloween decorations. i don't usually go all out with costumes, but i do like all the pumpkin carving, the haunted houses, and the scary movies. on monday we were able to go to the pumpkin walk with some friends from the ward. i know what many of you are thinking, the pumpkin walk on family night?! are you crazy? the answer is yes. however, we were fortunate enough to have our friends (mike and michelle) wait in the massively long line so we didn't even have to wait in line for a second. any of you who aren't familiar with the pumpkin walk are missing out. it's a logan tradition and i love it! basically there is a theme every year and different groups of people use pumpkins and other types of squash to come up with a creative display. they set them up in the park and everyone and their dog comes to see what fun ideas people came up with for the year. i am impressed with the creativity of the people in this valley... there were some cute displays!

i thought this one was cute... it was a little league soccer team. i loved how they were able to capture the moment so perfectly... right down to the goalie putting grass in her shirt.

this was one of my favorite displays of the night... noah's ark. it's probably hard to see, but i loved the detail they used to add character to all the animals. i especially loved the elephant bums and the bow on the female's behind
this one was cute because it was done by a preschool class. i couldn't help taking a picture

this was an operating room. the pumpkin on the operating table had its guts (all its seeds and goop) pulled out and spread around him. very creative
the sword and the stone. i loved this movie when i was young!
hansel and gretel. super cute with the lollipops made out of squash

so, anyone who lives in logan has come across brent at least once. he is a guy who rides around on his bike and honks and waves at everyone. you could be having the worst day ever walking around campus and just one beep of his horn and a wave and a smile from him can turn your mood around. i love how the theme this year was heroes and one group came up with this. well done!

josh and krissey. like i said, mike and michelle came with us but for some strange reason, i didn't get their picture!

wednesday was a day josh has been looking forward to since may. it was the season opener for the utah jazz. last season, josh and i got addicted. yes, i'll admit it. we watched every single game, even if we weren't together (nights i was working at the cheesecake factory, i always swapped to work in the bar area so i could keep one eye on my tables and the other on the game. i was also fortunate enough to serve the jazz players after many of their games... that was a highlight!) anyway... wed was the first game and josh was stoaked. i got home from school late that night but the second i walked in the door, josh made me put on my jazz shirt (kyle korver's number, of course). he was already in jazz shirt and shorts. we ordered pizza and watched the jazz win their first game of the season. (i am currently watching the jazz play the clippers. let's hope by the end of the night we are 2-0)so i had to work all day on halloween. it was fun to see all the cute kids dressed up in their costumes. it makes me so excited to have kids one day so i can put them in oversized costumes, paint their faces, and have people gawk at them all day long. it will be fabulous. we were supposed to dress up for work but i didn't really have any costume that i wanted to wear that i wouldn't mind getting dirty (us servers have a difficult time keeping ourselves clean). so i didn't dress up during the day shift and definitely got crap for it. so, during my break, i decided i'd borrow some of josh's coveralls and dress like he does everyday for work. i made sure to add some grease (it was actually smeared pencil) all over my face, neck, and arms. just what josh looks like after a rough day at work. i was sad that i had to work and missed out on all the fun parties our friends had for the night, but it's ok... we'll just plan on attending next year with some killer costumes.

the sabor gang all dressed up
this is my boss's daughter, london. she was dressed up as boo from monster's inc. her costume was adorable (i don't think she liked it very much though, the hat kept bonking her in the face) and my boss and his wife actually made it all for her. see what i mean... halloween is fun when you have kids to dress up!

the last news of the week is that josh and i have officially hit the 6 month mark. that's right, 185 days of pure marital bliss. the mini-anniversary was on thurs but i had to work that night, so we celebrated it today. we slept in, got some breakfast, and headed up to bear lake. the drive was beautiful! when we returned to logan we decided to eat at blackstone because we've never tried it. it was alright, not too much to say about it. i'd probably take a salad from sabor next time for half the price but whatever. anyway, it was a great day and i was happy to spend it with my hunny. it's crazy how fast time flies, but then again, i feel like we've been together forever!!

another homecoming week

josh and i have had yet another busy week.  last weekend we made a random trip down to murray to see the families.  it's always nice that we can hit both families in one trip.  very convenient.  we were able to hit up the mall and get some necessities (pumpkin cheesecake from the cheesecake factory and a new shirt for me) and of course i was able to have laura do my nails.  we were also able to go to dinner with jon and aubree which was fun because i think it has been almost a year since we've actually hung out with them without a huge group of people.  as usual, we didn't leave murray until after midnight which made for a very long drive home and a lack of planning as far as alarm setting goes for church the next morning.  that can't happen again.

this week was homecoming week at usu.  in past years i've been in charge of some of the festivities- street painting, t-shirt designing, float making, parade walking.  this year i had no responsibilities but felt the need to support my classmates.  so late monday night all of us audiology students (and spouses) met in front of our building to participate in a fav usu tradition- street painting.  basically every club gets a spot to paint on the street and it's a contest of some sort to see which club comes up with the best design.  we pretty much came up with the design when we got there, so it wasn't the most creative,  but it's always fun to hang out with your classmates when studying is not involved. our club's name is nafda (national association of future doctors of audiology) and basically we painted a huge version of the nafda logo (i'm still confused as to why the logo is what it is) and painted our names all around it.  it's always interesting to see throughout the following weeks what parts of the paint get worn away by traffic and which parts stay.  sometimes we have paint that has lasted a year and we just paint over it again.  anyway, our club is pretty sweet and we're planning some cool stuff.  we're going on a humanitarian mission in may to either the dominican republic or mexico to do hearing tests on children and fit them with hearing aids.  i'm excited because it's my first humanitarian mission.  josh is getting excited to go as well to help out.  we're trying to raise money for our trip by selling custom made ear plugs.  people who need shooters plugs, swimmers plugs, ipod plugs, musician plugs, sleeping plugs... you name it... if it plugs your ear, we can make it for you.  if anyone's interested, let me know.  we get to sell them at a discounted price and get to keep a chunk of the profits to put toward our trip so it's for a good cause and it's cheaper for you!.  it's a good idea for christmas presents too.  i hear the musician plugs are pretty sweet and usually cost around $200 but we can get them for $100.  just throwing it out there.

 tues night i hosted my jewelry/clothes party. it was definitely a success!  thanks to layla and sierra for all the fun stuff they brought and thanks also to all the girls that showed up.  we all had fun shopping for cute jewelry, hats, and sunglasses plus much more.  the party ended up being such a success that i've decided to do another one for those who weren't able to come, and those who came but asked for more!  we're going to do it during december so it'll be a great place to get some christmas presents.  just a reminder- there was juicy couture and tiffany's jewelry  (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc), chanel sunglasses, ed hardy and christian audigier shirts and hats, juicy couture tracksuits, other cute fashion jewelry, hats, and more.  hopefully those of you interested in coming to my next party will be able to make it!

sat was the big usu homecoming parade and football game.  josh had to work that day but i was able to walk in the parade with my classmates as we handed out candy and fliers with info about our hearing clinic.  it's so funny how ghetto that parade can be, but how many people love it and show up for it.  we had a fun time and it's good to get the word out to everyone to get their hearing checked!!!  after the parade was the big game.  as most of you know, usu has a dreadful football team so i wasn't interested in going to the game (esp since josh was working).  however, i turned the game on in the last 5 mins and realized that usu wasn't playing as poorly as they usually do and actually took the lead by one with less than a min left in the game.  everyone was going nuts with the thought that we might actually win a game!  and our homecoming game at that!  but, alas, it was too good to be true and fresno state managed to run the ball down to the 58 yard line and had the chance to kick a field goal at that length with 2 seconds left... and made it.  talk about a heart breaker.  i thought the entire usu coaching staff was going to fall to their knees and sob.  it was pretty sad.  oh well, maybe next year (i'm sure...)

that pretty much sums up the week.  we've got a few halloween activities planned for this week so hopefully i'll remember to snap a few pictures. i have to work on halloween which is lame.  i don't even have costumes for me and josh because i figure what's the point?  especially since i told josh i really really really wanted to be a ghostbuster and have him be slimer and he said there was no way on earth he'd ever be caught dead as slimer.  it pretty much crushed my dreams and i haven't thought of anything else creative for the two of us to be.