>just a quickie

>we went to Loveland Basin yesterday to try out B's new board. it was a beautiful day, quite windy, and we have red cheeks and chins to prove it. B also has a nice bruise on his hip after flipping twice over his board. i wish i could tell you an awesome story of how it happened, like that he was doing a trick and missed his landing. but no, he was us just crusin' and those damn snow snakes snuck up and bit him. he is doing okay, very sore, and ready to get his drink on. i, however, feel like the toilet and i may be getting better aquatinted. while nothing has happened yet, i feel so pukey, it sucks. OF ALL DAYS!! it is new years eve and i should be curling my hair and retouching my make up. no, no such thing happening here. i am camped out on the couch with Lifetime and can't eat anything. lovely.

Happy New Years!!

>preparations

>It seems that we are always preparing for something:

*work
*family visits
*doctor appointments
*a day on the mountain (my FAV!)
*relaxing (this requires careful planning)
*Christ's Birthday (always a fun one)
*Cabo trip in April
*Moving in June
*Maybe baby in July?? hummm...get back to you on that one.

So now, we are only a few days away from heading to NM to see my brother in law marry the woman of his dreams (and my new favorite sister in law!!). There is so much to plan for! I did all the laundry today so that most everything would be clean for packing. My mother in law blessed us with a hotel room for the first night we are there. We are making our New Years Eve plans around the time that we need to leave on New Years Day, which is early, so our night before can't be too late. Oh well...all I wanna do is kiss my hubs for the first time on New Years AS husband and wife!! This year is going to be great...I just know it.

**Christmas pics coming soon...

>"Take a load off Fannie, take a load for free, Take a load off Fannie, And you can put the load right on me."

>Okay, where to start?

Sometimes I feel like a doormat. I am a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy and if I can be apart of that, great, even if it means I might be sacrificing time, money or sanity. I do have my limits, though. And this week, my "people pleasing cup" is overflowing with hot oil and burning my arms. Yes, extreme, but I am over the edge with annoyance. Within that annoyance is the anger and frustration that has caused me to gush about being a doormat. I like helping people and at times, that seems to have a Catch 22 attached to it. No one will be happy. One way or the other, someone will be disturbed.

A family member took advantage of B and me and we are NOT happy about. We are so unhappy about it that we don't even want to talk to or help this person anymore without some sign of acceptance of wrong doing, apologies, and gratitude. Unfortunately, this person does not know these things very well and we are not going to expect the slightest from said person. So what do we do now? Rather, what would Jesus do? I want soooo much to just cut communication off and wait for person to step up and take responsibility but no such thing is going to happen. We both know this. However, I want to show Christ's love and forgiveness. The sad part is, only a tiny part of me feels like actually doing that. The bigger part is named Obligation and puts a rock in my stomach thinking about "doing the right thing". Isn't that what this is all about? B and I did the right thing by doing what we did and we did the right thing in showing compassion yesterday, only to have it stomped all over by belligerence. Lovely. So, here I sit letting my written word speak louder than my voice. *sigh*

Moving on, I have been having emotional issues with feeling like I could lose a few pounds. I know, those of you who know me are scowling but please, simmer down and just let me speak out. Just because I have always been a tall, thin person, does not mean that I always feel good about the way I look and I have the prerogative to say so. Thank you.

I am 5'9'' and two years ago, I weighed 118-120 lbs. In April of 2007, I got pancreatitis. In short, your pancreas produces digestive enzymes and insulin and when those things are not working right, you can experience the most horrible pain imaginable. Eating food and drinking anything other than water makes it worse (because if your digestive enzymes are not working, you can't digest and process the food properly). Anyway, I was in pain for about two days before I gave in and had B take me to Urgent Care (we had only been together 2 months--what a trooper!). They hooked me up to IVs and pain medication. The worst I thought was a bad case of heart burn, but nothing seemed to help.

Once the Morphine kicked in, I was feeling a lot more comfortable. They took my blood and did a whole work up on it and after an hour, the results were in. I had pancreatitis. The doctor gave me two options: go across the street to the hospital (in Greeley...) or call my doctor and see what she says. I opted for the later because no one wants to spend more time in Greeley than necessary. My counts were low enough for me to just go straight to my doctor, as she wanted, and have her make the call whether or not I needed to go to the hospital.

As soon as I arrived at my doctor's office, the Morphine wore off and I was wrecked with pain. They soon gave me a shot of demerol, the best drug ever! ;) My doctor said I could go home after an X-Ray of my gallbladder to be sure nothing was going on there as well. The Rx?

1. Mom, Dad and B had to watch me around the clock to be sure I did not take a turn for the worse.

2. NO food or drink, other than water, for 48 hours.

3. Percocet, as needed.

4. Daily visits to the doctor for the next three days.

While this might sound nice, I was starving! I wanted to eat so bad and over the course of 3 days, I lost almost 10 pounds, which brings me back to the purpose of this story. Ever since I lost that weight and got sick, my metabolism has slowed down. It took a good 4 months for me to get back up to the weight I was at, which was about 124 lbs. Maintaining that weight, though, has not stuck. Which I know is not a bad thing and, according to stats, I am still considered underweight for my height. I can't help but think that I could still do more to be a little more healthy. I have resolved to not worry about my weight, and think that I just need to be more active. Which I am starting, slowly, to do. Dance on Tuesday nights and Yoga on Mondays and Wednesdays. All set.

Sorry this has been a long one and if you read all the way through, thank you. Have a great day.

>unmistakeable

>the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

feeling the wind, without seeing it.

unconditional love.

the stretch of time between yesterday and tomorrow.

growing up, growing wiser, and just growing.

the sound of a mother's child among hundreds.

the unyeilding strength, faith, endurance, and commitment from our Savior.

Happy Birthday.

>"Let's frolick and Play, the Eskimo way!"

>WOW! B and I have been married for almost 5 months and now we are just 10 days away from his brother's wedding! I will be blessed with an INCREDIBLE sister-in-law who has felt like family since day one. We are just hours away from beginning the festivities as newlyweds for the first time and boy are we having fun! I got some nice stocking stuffers for B that I still need to wrap and am picking some things up in a little while to compete our gift-giving. Our big present for one another was our TV that is saaaweeeet! But even thought we both said we would keep other smaller gifts under $20 total, that is so not happening. My giving heart just needs to give more and thankfully my bank account is agreeing with me! One thing I am totally missing is snow. It is super cold and sunny but there is no snow for us unless we beline up to the mountains. There is some snow around that has stuck, but nothing nice enough to play in or enjoy. Last year on Christmas morning, B and I were in Denver with his mom and it was snowing like crazy! We had 8''+ by 2pm and we were out there shoveling snow for 2 hours. The dogs loved it.

Here is what I have bought for B:
A new Schick Quatro Razor with blades
Tommy 20 Foam Dart Blaster (yes, this is a Nerf Gun toy...lol)
Tool Lateralice (sp???)

We shall see if something else comes up.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

>"I've been caught stealing, once when I was five..."

>Since my last post, I have started to title my posts with song lyrics. I would love for you to try to guess the title and artist of the song, but they are quite difficult unless you google the entire lyric. Go ahead and try, and on the next post I will tell you the details of the previous title. Last title: Placebo's "This Picture".

On Thursday night, B's dad called and asked if we wanted to go to the Bronco's game. We were both thrilled by the idea, as it would be my first NFL game ever. I was only slightly worried about the cold and more worried about not having fun. Neither were necessary. I should have been worried about whether or not we would actually have tickets. You see, B's dad's friend had two tickets that she got from a season ticket holder that was not going to be using them. So on Friday, Dad left town and stopped the mail. His friend left the tickets in the mail box for us to pick up. When we arrived at noon on Sunday to retrieve our awesome prize, there were no tickets to be found. We called Dad and his friend only to find voicemails and no answers. We drove around the neighborhood and did something illegal (I think) by looking in every mail box on the block. Nothing. After 30 minutes and calls from Dad that the mailman probably stole them, we resolved to go to Mom's and wallow in our disappointment. We were so ready to go. I had two pairs of socks on, Hot Chilis (long undies), sweats, snow pants, tank, thermal shirt, hoodie and coat. I did not even bring a pair of jeans with me! We were so bummed.

On our way to Mom's, Dad's friend called us and was soooo sorry and had put them in there Friday and noticed they were gone Saturday and just figured we had picked them up. After we were home for a little while and 15 minutes away from the first kick off, we ordered pizza and took shots of jager. Then the friend called us again and asked if we still wanted to go-duh! Of course! She had called the stadium and told them what happened. We just had to provide the last name of the season ticket holder, ID's and we were good to go. We raced over to the light rail and dash down town. We were sitting in our awesome seats about 5 minutes before half time and were able to enjoy the entire second half. The game itself was not that great (we lost) but being there and seeing the fans dancing around to stay warm was surreal. 

After the game we jumped back on the light rail and went to pick up my Grammy so we could do our Christmas gift exchange together. It was so fun! Mom made meat loaf, potatoes and a salad. We had wine and enjoyed ourselves.

Monday we just hung out with Mom and headed back to my parents house to see more family and have more Christmas celebrations. My mom made an awesome Christmas ham dinner that was sooooo yummy! My brother was off his rocker. He had no filter whatsoever with young little ears around. One example: DIA experienced a default in one of their Continental planes when it did not crash, but just could not make it off the ground and veered off the runway causing a fire. Well, my cousins had been on a Continental plane only hours before and he started talking about a "plane crash" and "don't ever fly Continental" and I thought they were going to have heart attacks at the young age of nine. Not cool...we had to curb the  conversation and make it sound like he was joking and thankfully, their young minds took it. I hope that whatever was going on with him last night, he has fully recovered from and feels some sense of guilt for his behavior.

That is all for now. I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas Holiday!!

>"I hold an image of the ashtray girl as the cigarette burns on my chest."

>

.december.

.november.

.october.

.september.

.august.

.july.

.june.

.may.

.april.

.march.

.february.

.january.

what.a.year

>crazy eights

>Eight is my favorite number, next to four, so naturally when I saw this silly little post at Baby Bangs, I had to indulge. Also, I am at work, counting down the minutes until I go home. Enjoy! Oh yeah, and it is SOOOO your turn to do it to...see the end.

8 TV Shows I Watch:
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practive
America's Next Top Model
One Tree Hill
Gossip Girl
Tyra Show
The Hills
Weeds

8 Things that Happened to Me Today:
I woke up first to let the dogs out and tried to find free skate times at Epic, but no such luck.
Took the dogs to PetsMart so they could pick out their Christmas presents.
Opened and used Butte's new present, a bat with a scoop on the end of it with a ball, at the park for a good hour, only to see that is really as cheep as it looks and broke the scoop. Dang it!
Worked on the baby blanket I am making for Kathleen.
At lunch at the Spicy Pickle and had the Gobbler, and AWESOME sandwhich.
Came to work right as I was ready for a nap.
Tried to work on a project new boss gave me and was not successful.
I have a headache.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
Going to bed.
Spending Christmas with B for the first time as husband and wife.
Going to K & M's wedding in Jan.
Going to the Dew tour on friday and seeing 3OH!3 and All American Rejects for FREE!
Watching Amy's doggies on Saturday.
Resting and sleeping and doing nothing on Saturday before the dogs come over.
Going to Cabo in April with B.
Moving out of our basement into a house, even if we still have to rent it.

8 Things I Wish For:
New uniforms at work: as in, WE pick out nice clothes that don't make the residents gag when they see us.
To have a baby someday soon that is healthy and happy.
To buy a house.
To find my dream job (motherhood!) asap.
That B gets a fab job that pays well and is good for our family.
That health care will be provided for everyone.
MORE snow!! Snow me in, God!!
A new sewing machine that I can make fun things with.

8 People I Tag:

Heidi
Carrie
Katie
Andrew
Aaron
Amy Beth
Sarah
A Maybe Baby

Have Fun!!

>talented eyes, hands and ears

>I don't really have "talents". There are a few things, less than a handful, that I can confidently say I am good at:

Playing guitar: I started when I was 15 taking weekly lessons. My instructor knew Classic Guitar and taught me how to play arpeggios. I still, to this day, cannot read music. But I can read tabs and know cords well enough to think of a song I like, find it on Ultimate Guitar, and play along to the song the first time around. The one thing my instructor never taught me was how to strum to a correct rhythm. It was not until I was in college and met some amazing friends who were willing to teach me Dashboard songs that I learned to strum correctly and eventually, sing along as well. Mind you, my singing sucks.

Taking pictures: I don't have any formal instruction in photography but I must admit: I have taken some damn good photos. It makes me wish my family had a nice, digital camera when I was in high school for senior pictures. We could have saved hundreds of dollars having those pictures taken. Here is one of my proudest pictures I took this year:

I know this is not the greatest picture taken and it is simple, but that is why I love it so much.

And my last little talent: crocheting. I started crocheting my freshman year in college and learned how to make blankets, hats and scarves. I made an adorable hat and scarf set for my friend Niqi's little girl, Auna. I made my mom a blanket, my cousin Heidi's first son a blankie, my friend Ash's son a blankie, and numerous hats and scarves for others. I am working on a baby blanket for my friend Kathleen who is due in February and I hope it is done in time! Once I am finished with that blanket, I will start one for my dad. Pictures will be up soon.

What are your talents?

>The tree, the rents, the dogs and the film that rocked my world.

>Last Sunday B and I had the day off and spent it with our parents and his mother. We cut down our Christmas tree and it was, as you saw below, one of the best days of the year for us. We both woke up early and B rushed off to the store to get a few things for Chili, something I had never made before. When he returned, I cut and diced and mixed a slue of yummy veggies and meats together in the crock pot and turned it on low. My parents arrived promptly at 8:30 to take us up to the cabin in Red Feather where we were going to find that perfect tree. The best part: it is Tulo's and Butte's first tree hunting expedition and I can say for a fact that we were just as excited as they were.

When we arrived, our hosts had a wood stove going and banana bread to much on. We let the dogs run around freely and freely they did run! Around the house in circles over logs and between sick (Pine Beetle) trees. Our host marked the trees that were not sick and okay for us to remove. We bundled back up (though it was not necessary once hiking down the hill, we warmed up quickly) and pealed our eyes for "the one". Within five minutes of trekking the hillside, we found our tree. It is full and lush from top to bottom and I did the honors of sawing it away from the ground. B finished the work and within moments, our tree was in hand. My mom took our picture and we tired to get the dogs to sit with us but that did not work out.

After the tree was tied down and my parents found their tree, we headed back home to enjoy the mess of Chili I made. Survey says: the Chili mess was wonderful! It warmed everyone to the bone and we enjoyed watching football on our new TV.

Soon after our parents left, B's mom came over and we decorated the tree, drank egg nog, and I gave her a tour of Fort Collins, complete with a tour of my workplace. She loved it! She also said it was a much prettier and nicer town than Albuquerque (thank God!). We went out to dinner at an Irish pub and enjoyed margs. MMM...she left Sadie, B's brother's dog, behind with us and headed home to prepare for a week-long trip out of state.

Our week with Sadie was really good. She is so jumpy, which made our dogs more jumpy, which made me more irritated with all the barking and growling at the air, literally. She, by far, has the WORST gas of any dog or human I have ever encountered. She cleared the room, but when you live in a basement, there is not a whole lot of rooms to go to. The best part about her being with us, was that she and Butte are best friends now. Sadie still tries to dominate her but is not as aggressive as she had been before. Now they can take turns with the toy and have fun.

Tuesday night, B and I went and saw the most horrifying movie I have ever seen. Worse than any Michael Meyers or Jigsaw flick, The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas chilled me to the bone. It was and incredible film and our first Bollywood flick in the theaters together. The time passed by so quickly that, before I knew it, the film was over and I was stuck in my seat, uncontrollable tears staining my face. Then, all of a sudden, it was all I could do to get out of the theater. I did not want to hear the tainted music or see the credits end any longer. I silenced my horror and could not remark anything about the film until we were almost home. The film was so touching, just as any film is about the Holocaust. However, while Schindler's List was also incredible and horrifying in the same respect, this film knocked me off my feet and I could not sleep for two nights after we saw it. It is like The Passion of the Christ: you only need to see it once. And yes, I think everyone should see The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas. Despite the pain I felt after seeing the movie, the magnitude of the film is Oscar-worthy. The acting, cinematography, and story are near perfect. Even having learned at a young age what the Holocaust has left in our history, I am still moved and sickened by what one human did to many. It's not fair and I am so thankful for understating and acceptance in our country. I know similar events are occurring in Darfur as I write these words and I just cannot bring myself to hear or read about it, as my heart just cannot take the wrenching pain.

The rest of our week was okay. Work was fine as always. B and I had plans to visit friends in Junction, but mother nature interfered with a rearing winter storm that smashed the mountains and is falling lightly on my car right now. We spent a lazy Saturday together in PJ's watching movies and teaching our dogs new tricks.

Have a great week!

>10 Best Moments of 2008

>1. Marrying my best friend on August 8th, 2008 in Steamboat Springs, CO. The weather was the best part: Rain, lightening, sunshine, rainbows and sunsets! I also loved having my father walk me down the aisle barefoot. Ahhh so many perfect memories!

2. Going camping for the first time with B on our honeymoon with the dogs. B went horseback riding for the first time! The dogs LOVE nature. If Tulo was a person, he would be a forest ranger. If Butte was a person, she would be giving Mr. Phelps a swim for his money. She LOVED swimming in the lake.

3. Celebrating One Year of happiness with B on February 23, 2008 at nOrth in Cherry Creek. We ate at this super fancy and expencive restruant that would have cost us a lot, but B had a discount and his mom slipped him some money without my knowing...how sweet.

4. Seeing Hanson at the Bluebird on November 8th, 2008. This day was also a happy three months married with B, but we spent it alone. He was down in NM with his bro getting sloshed to celebrate his bachelor party. I spent they day and evening with his lovely mother.

5. Going to cut down our very first Christmas Tree up at the ranch! They dogs loved being able to run around freely and we found the perfect tree.

6. Thanksgiving with my father in law and his fiance and new puppy, Sophie. One of the best things about marrying Irish, is the holidays. Every holiday is a party!

7. Going to the Denver zoo with B and mother in law. It was such a HOT day and none of us had been there in forever. It was great.

8. Signing our leases for our current rental. It is not much, but it is nice and was revamped before we moved in. It was the first major "married" thing we did together before actually getting married.

9. Also signing our marriage license a few weeks prior to the wedding. Another way of "officializing" our marriage before actually saying "I DO".

10. The day my mother and I purchased my wedding dress. It was the 5th time I had tried it on and the first day it was on sale again. It was also the first day that the matching flower girl dress was available. Perfect Bliss!

Now it is your turn.

>girlfriends.

>
when someone asks me what my greatest strength is, i tell that person: loyalty. i am so loyal, it might even be a fault at times, but i am not going to talk about that. i am going to talk about my favorite girlfriends and why i love them so much.

shorty j is one of the coolest people you could ever meet. she is the best person to call more than twice a week and only have a few things to talk about and no matter how small or big, she cares about it. she will do anything once, even if she has no idea what she's doing. like being my maid of honor. i have never even been a maid of honor so we both did what books and magazines told us and things turned out better than i could have even imagined. she also has one of the coolest jobs ever that i get to benefit from quit often...thanks! here are some of my favorite moments with her that only she will understand...

1. "We're following the leader..."

2. "It's nailed to the ground!"

3. Music videos in the am.

4. Gilmore Girls and Joan of Arcadia--thank you for your awesome VCR!

5. We are the best hair-dying-from-a-box chicks--ever!

6. "You can't fake awesome" with the crazy hand motion down the body--i have tried to do this and i just can't.

7. Our totally unofficial, unscheduled, un-everything book club.

8. "He is soooo high!"

9. Getting through the lose of grandparents together.

10. Shots, shots and more shots.

11. Taking Lauren Graham to my wedding in a dream=me jealous at my own wedding.

12. You 16 weeks preggers in a dream--i really just can't get over how funny that was!

**There is so much more...

Love you J!!

Ash is another super awesome chick who has taught me how to be more wild and crazy. She is an incredible wife and mother and I want to be just that. She is also an amazing teacher and has superior English skills. I told her today that she and B should have a grammar-off. They learned phonics when they were kids (I did not...) because that is where I suck. But hey, at least I have a degree. Today she also told me that she read a book, which she is mailing to me (thank you, whore! ;)), that totally reminded her of yours truly. I was driving at the time but I felt like running all the way to GJ just to hug her I miss her so much. It was so nice to know that she was thinking of me all week because of this one book. Once I read it, I will fill you all in on how cool I am. lol...just kidding. Anyway, here is her list.

1. We invented Dr. Blows on the night I decided not to study for a math test and instead became so wasted off this new concoction, jumped in the hot tub in our undies, and peed in the yard becuase she FLUSHED HER PHONE DOWN THE TOILET!

2. "Oh my Gosh! I just realized I forgot to bring a change of panties! Oh well." That was when I told myself we would be great friends.

3. "Hey look! It's the epididymis, I mean, epidermis."

4. Boomer Sooner!

5. Ash makes the BEST buttery nipples EVER!

6. Team Edward!

7. Team Jacob!

8. "Suck for a Buck", Ashkon and his hottie undies (that shorty j ended up with!), and the penis shot glass, of course.

9. Spending the night together when Case was gone so neither of us were scared.

**And manyyyyy more.

Love you, Ash!!

You are my favorite girlfriends and I will forever be loyal to both of you. Thank you for the great times and laughs!

xoxo,

S.

>credit check

>MONEY is so annoying. we need it to get the things we need and we want it to have the things we want. so, here is what we have done. b and i have been thinking for a few weeks now what we should do for Christmas. should we get separate gifts for one another or go in together on something we both want? we decided on a joint gift. ---drumroll please---- we got a new TV: Samsung HD 1080 flat screen. it is a beauty! did we need it? no, but....maybe. since i have a bit of debt, my credit is not great. b has great credit because he has never had any debt. together, our credit is still not super, but not bad either. so we are financing the TV so that we can build our credit and put a down payment on a house in a year or two. we are very excited about what the long term effects could be. pray for us!

>recap.

>Noteworthy events:

1. Thanksgiving day: Ruthie (our almost step-mother-in-law) celebrated, not only her birthday, but an OFFICIAL engagement that NO ONE knew about and we were all shocked and happy and i teared a little. I even got the video!

2. Ruthie and pops-in-law have a new sweetie pie, Sophie!

3. DU Hockey game. It snowed! And my camera was being awesome:

4. Kyle and Martha's Engagement party was on Saturday night and it was great!! Stoli-Dolies are awesome!

5. Wednesday it snowed up here and the dogs love it! Their friend Jake came over to play and they got super muddy. It was well worth their all-day naps. 

6. MORE snow today and I love it! Keep it coming!