We're Alive!

36 hours later, 28 of that driving, we are finally in Antioch, IL. Everything was find until we hit Iowa, then it took it 7 hours to cross a state that should normally take 3-4. We saw over a hundred cars in the ditch, nearly a dozen trucks in the ditch and were 4 miles behind an accident that killed 2 people East of Des Moines; so we are extremely grateful that we arrived safely...just a little later than we planned.
So i'm going to take a little hiatus from writting, at least until after Christmas. So to each of you, Merry Christmas, hope that it is everything you hope it to be.

Home for the Holidays!!

Bryan and I are officially on Christmas Vacation. We left Friday morning at 8 AM for Chicago. We are driving, too many presents to fly, and we did get out of Salt Lake before the storm hit. However, we are currently driving through East Iowa and it appears that the storm has caught up to us.
West Iowa was horrible and consisted of me driving 45 mph with the wind trying to knock my little Ford Focus into the ditch. Looking forward they are saying there are more storms in Wisconsin and Illinois. Yay for driving super slow. So I will keep all 5 of you that read my blog up to date on the trip and will let everyone know when we have arrived safely in Antioch, IL.
Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all have safety in your holiday travels.

Sometimes, life is just hard

So I know that many people out there in Blog Land only ever discuss the happy times. Their date nights, cute things their kids did, how Super Duper their spouses are. Well I believe in showing the good and bad times of my life.
I will say first, that overall my life is great. I am happy and have a great marriage; but sometimes, life is just hard.
You see, there is this opportunity that had come into Bryan and my life. This opportunity was going to change a lot of things and open a lot of doors for us. We had put a lot of effort into this opportunity and a lot of hope, and I mean A LOT.
Well yesterday we learned that the door to this opportunity was closed. Bryan informed me last night and to say the least, I was devestated. For those who know me, they know I don't cry very often. I do when i'm touched by the spirit and during Kodak and Disney commercials, but in real life situations where i'm supposed to cry...nothing. Well last night I broke down. Bryan's pillow had turned black from my running mascara. I felt like all doors have closed, my dreams that were so close had just been taken away and I failed to understand why.
I still don't understand why and I still want to break down, but after hours of thinking last night and lots and lots of praying i've come to the conclusion that I simply have to have faith. The lord does not close a door unless it's the wrong door and when he does he opens another. We simply have to find that other door. And even though I have come to this realization, it's still really hard to accept and i'm still slightly upset about this, but i'm trying. Life is amazing and a great blessing from our Heavenly Father, but just because it's a blessing that does not mean it won't be hard sometimes and the road won't be bumpy along the way. So hopefully this bump will lead us down a better path.
So for any friends and family out there who may read this, please keep us in your prayers. Thank you for all your love and support. Love you all.

Christmas Cookies

So Sunday night, Bryan and I are laying around talking about Christmast traditions and what we would like to keep from each family. Bryan mentions a tradition where his family would make Spritz cookies and hang them on the tree; and my family would simply make 200 Spritz cookies and Spenser would eat them all. So as we are talking about this, I mention that I wish I had a Spritz Maker. This then reminds me that we had this exact same combination last year and started wondering why we hadn't bought one. Then it hits me. I think my Mom bought me one last year for Christmas, and I think it's in our cupboard along with an apple peeler and a blender we have never used. Sure enough there it is, in all it's glory.

So Last night Bryan and I look over the recipe, decide we have everything that we need to make the cookies and are going to attempt this.

Well my Mom's recipe and the box recipe say specifically, not to use vegetable oil substitutes for margarine or butter. well that is all that we had so we used it anyway. We now know why. It's oily and does not make the shapes that they are supposed to. Let's just say my cookies look nothing like Mom's cookies. But, they taste good which is all that really matters. Here's some pics of my cookie adventure.

As you can see from my face, i'm struggeling and me and the spritz maker are having a fight. The cookies refused to stick to the pan or make pretty tree shapes.

Here are my best and my worst cookies. The one in the middle is a reject cookie, so Bryan had to eat it.

So I will admin, i'm not very good when it comes to baking cookies and bars but when it comes to mashed potatoes and a roast, i'm the best. So try not to judge me too harshly on my cookie baking.

Sign of Christmas

The lights at Temple Square are a tradition for most families. Well last year Bryan and I missed it, so the last time we were here together was 2 years ago when we were still dating, not even engaged. So here are a couple pics from our little adventure.

We tried to take this pic by ourselves, didn't work. Thank goodness for the hundreds of Sister Missionaries on Temple Square.

This tree was absolutely gorgeous. I told Bryan that I expect him to do our Christmas trees like this...you know when we have a yard....and trees.

I love that they put a mini nativity in the reflecting pool, and I especially love the floating lights. They make it seem slightly magical.

A very nice older woman took this picture for us. Told us that it better be our Christmas Card or she would be offended. She's going to be offended. Sorry. I also want to mention that there was practically a line to get your picture taken. Seriously thousands of people there. Crazy Mormons and their traditions.

We found Bryan's language on the bags

And finally a picture of the temple. Back in the day when I was a server, I would get a lot of tourists who would ask what to see, and of course I would say Temple Square. They asked where it was and what it looked like and I would always say "it's the building in the middle of town that looks like a castle". That's what i've always thought of when I see Temples in the middle of cities of peaking up over highways. It makes me thankful to know that I can go inside that "castle" anytime I want too.

Merry Christmas Everyone

It's About Time!!!

Well, it’s about time that I contribute to this blog, seems how my name is in it. I am not as graceful as my wife with words or as articulate. So here goes. With everyone blogging about what they are grateful for this holiday season, I thought I would do the same. The number one reason that I have to be thankful for is MY WIFE. She does so much for me and for us. She works so hard at a job where they don’t fully appreciate her contributions just to put me through school. She then comes home and cooks dinner, because I am the typical man that doesn’t really know a thing about cooking. I’m lucky I know how to turn the stove on and off; don’t ask about the oven though. She works hard to make our tiny, cramped apartment a home by adding little touches here and there to remind us of how LUCKY I AM to have her as not only my wife, but MY BEST FRIEND. We always try to make each other laugh; we are always talking and chatting with each other from politics and the future to how she is going to tell our children lies when they get to the age of endless questions. I absolutely LOVE spending every single and available second with her and it does not matter what we do. I am thankful for the fact that she chose ME; a half city-boy, half farm-boy who just barely started college when we got married a year and a half ago and didn’t have much to offer her, besides my love. She puts up with my teasing and throws it right back at me. She knows how to make me melt with just a soft touch of her little finger. She does so many little things to show me that SHE LOVES ME, and I have no idea why she does. I thank my Father in Heaven EVERY DAY that she chose me and ask Him to help me to never lose her.

But i've been here since 2 AM!!!!!!!!!

This year, Bryan and myself decided that were were going to take advantage of the sales on Black Friday; we decided to wake up at 2 AM, drive to the target in Sandy and sleep in our sleeping bags (by the way, didn't seem like such a great idea at 2 AM when I actually had to wake up and drive)

So we get to Target and we are #3 in line HOLY CRAP!! Extremely lucky. Well it was nice to just lay on the ground in sleeping bags for maybe...an hour. Than the rain comes, a few drops at first, than a torential downpour. This is at 3:30 in the morning, I still have 2 and a half hours to wait for the doors to open, my sleeping bag has turned into a river and my pillow turned into a giant sponge. I was miserable. So Bryan and I debate whether or not its worth it and decide to suck it up and stay. So we wait around for another couple hours; in the process we watch a guy get escorted from the line for budging, we got glared at by the Nazi line lady who would stop every person walking to the front of the line asking when they got there, and met a nice lady who brought along her 4 children to guard their basket with their lives.

During this time there is a security guard wandering around answering questions "where are the digital picture frames?" "behind the counter", "do you guys have Wii Fits?" "Yup, a whole display of them". This of course gets us excited and we decide that we are going to buy 3 Wii Fits and sell them on eBay. Well 5:55 AM rolls around and we are all practically jumping up and down (us and the 400 people behind us) Let me tell you, ntohing is scarier than knowing that there are 400 people in line behind you who will happily trample you to the ground just to get that Xbox or $300 26 inch flat screen TV, I was borderline terrifed.

6 AM, the doors open, Bryan screams "GO" and I sprint past the 2 people in front of me in line and bolt straight for electronics. FIRST PERSON THERE!!!! I ask where the digital pic frames are, there's a display case of about 200 of them. So I grab and find someone else "where are the Wii Fits"..."WE DON'T HAVE ANY"

WHAT!!!!!!!

I have been in line since 2 flipping AM and you don't have any freaking Wii Fits!!!! I was pissed off. So instead I induldge myself in $40 worth of movies.

After Target we hit up Wal-Mart and decide that all the other sales can wait till that afternoon. We run home and sleep for 5 hours than hit the sales again.

That is when we decide, on a whim, to stop by Game Crazy and ask for a Wii. They have 1 left in stock, so of course we buy it!!!!

I LOVE IT!!! This thing is amazing, my legs are killing me today and have been for the past 2 days. This thing weighs you, tells you your BMI; although I don't like the fact that it makes my Mii slightly heavier to resemble the real me, and the way the board SIGHS everytime I step on it like it can't breath. So below are a couple pics of Bryan and I working out. And yes we may look stupid but everyone does on the Wii.

I'm doing step aerobics. And yes, I know i'm Sexy!!

Bryan doing Yoga, I never ever thought i'd see this. He also got a better score than me.

So, over all I would say it was worth it, but will I do it again next year? Probably not. Would I recommend a Wii Fit? Heck yes I would!!! Just don't be offended by the fat Mii's and the sighing board. It's nothing personal.

Thawing my turkey in a bathtub

So, let's start at the beginning of this 4 day Holiday Weekend.

Wednesday night Bryan and I head out to Wal-Mart to pick up a turkey, we figured they would have the largest selection. We get there at about 4:30 in the afternoon and they have practically NOTHING, only a handful of 5 lb turkeys left over. So at this poin i'm freaking out thinking that we will have to cook approx. 4 of these midget turkeys just to feed us. So we decided to chance it, left and ran across the street to Harmons. THANK GOODNESS for Harmons and their massive selection. We grabbed a 20 lb Turkey and ran home.

This is when I have to start the thawing process. You are supposed to thaw the turkey 2-3 days in advance. Well this is t minus 18 hours till dinner, so that was not going to happen. So the plan is to fill the sink with cold water and place the turkey in there, fully submerged. Well....have you ever tried to put a 20 lb turkey into a sink? Doesn't fit. So we decide to do the redneck thing. We placed the turkey in a garbage bag (to prevent leakage) and we place it in our bathtub surrounded by cold water.

Our cats were loving this. They were batting at it and trying to eat it.

Here is a picture of Riddle sniffing the bag. I know this is incredibly hillbilly, but we needed the turkey to be thawed.

So luckily the turkey thawed in plenty of time and didn't taste like shampoo at all. However, the next morning we found all 3 cats sniffing and licking the tub in hopes of some turkey remains. We ended up bleaching the whole tub on Sat just to be safe : )

So...the turkey turned our great, by the way. While we were waiting for the turkey to cook up in Coalville the boys and myself decided to go do a little bit of shooting. So below are a couple pics. I would also like to mention that my husband was the best shot there, even better than the cop : )

Being all manly

Talking about how good of shots they all are (we actually all sucked, Bryan and Allen are the only 2 who hit the can, I was lucky I didn't shoot anyone)

Tender (thats the best I can do at being politically correct with this picture)

So to sum up thanksgiving-thawing my turkey in the bathtub, shooting guns in Coalville. Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving. Next post, waking up at 2 AM only to sit in the rain and find out Target doesn't carry Wii Fits.