Holiday Highlights

Well now that the holidays are over and we're back to normal life I feel like we can breathe again. This was our First married Christmas and new years and it was SO great. And I am really getting better at my cooking! (which doesnt say much seeing as how I could not even make scrambled eggs.) Here are some highlights of the past month

Our Favorite Aunt Crystal and Uncle Dick took Jill and I for a day of food and shopping

And of course our Holiday is not complete with out some Disneyland magic. Jana Taylor dazzled us with her moves in the Holiday Parade. Her Husband, Zack and JD and I followed her whole route screaming and taking pictures. She'll thank us later.

This Santa was amazing. And he was actually the stand in for the one that was sent to the Emergency Room the night before. JD, however, Refused to sit on his lap so i settled for this.

All of these sweets can now currently be found on my hips or anywhere else it tucked itself away on my body. dang the holidays.

JD is abnormally good at Ice Skating. I have danced for the majority of my life and feel that I have pretty good balance. Naturally, I thought I could automatically get on the ice and spin around. such was not the case, however, my twinkle toes Husband danced circles around me.
The Girls got SNUGGIES, yes the blanket with the arms. And I WON a 32 inch LCD TV at my Work Christmas Party!!

And Lots and Lots of Family...

Hope you all had a good Christmas!! We love you all!!

SO Grateful to be in California!!

Happy Holdays

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Celebrating the Holidays in one weekend...

So since JD is still pretty new at his job he doesnt get any priority with time off this holiday season. So we are stuck here- working- the whole time. Although I think that this was actually a blessing in disguise because now we get to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas 2 times this year!
We Just flew home from our first celebration in Utah with the Prices. We had a blast with everyone!! We are so lucky to have such fun families on both sides! So Friday was kind of a catch up day as some of us were still flying in and arriving. The girls got away to see Twilight (and for those of you who havent seen it, youre not missing anything)while the boys watched the kids.
Saturday was our Thanksgiving dinner complete with Turkey, stuffing and all the works. I realize what a long way I have to go when I see his mother and sisters with their culinary magic and their baby skills!
And on Sunday we were priveledged in helping welcoming Luke Browning Barrett into the family with his baby blessing. Sunday was christmas and Santa came early to the Price's this year! There are 4 nephews all under the age of 3 and one on the way. needless to say- I have SO MUCH respect for those with mulitple BOYS in the house. Between the sword fights, throwing food, and learning the concept of sharing it was a very eventful weekend. Here is what happens when a two year old gets a hold of your camera.

Uncle JD and Luke managed to squeeze in a little bonding time

Even though I look bald, sky looks half his actual size, and jill looks twice her actual size, its the only one that the boys actually got in focus...

Start the OOOhs and AWWWs... We quite possibly have the cutest nephews alive.

and even though BYU totally disappointed...

we had the perfect early holiday weekend

And if it means getting more weekends like that- I could even get used to the cold

We look forward to the next time we can all be together again! Thanks for such a fun weekend, we love you guys!!

you tube deleted the last one

By far the funniest clip from SNL in a long time

Do yourself a favor

...inspire yourself

Free Stuff!!!

We are really excited for election day this year! There are reports that this election is supposed to break all sorts of records. And in efforts to get voters to the polls, businesses are giving away free stuff. So JD and I are making our rounds, beginning at breakfast and ending with dinner for an all expense paid day of free meals!!
So, to all of you who are not that political, and may still be debating whether you should vote or not, do it to get the free stuff! All you have to do is show your "I Voted" sticker and collect your free merchandise.

Starbucks is offering a free Small cup of anything you want. Their amazing Carmel Apple Cider is back in season and I would definitely recommend trying it... its free!!Ben and Jerry's will give you a free scoop of Ice Cream between 5-8 pm.

Krispy Kreme has designed a new doughnut specifically for election day. It is red white and blue sprinkled and if you get there at the right time you could enjoy a nice hot one- for free!!This Picture does not do this sandwich justice. If you have had Chick-fil-a before than you know what im talking about. show your sticker and get a free chicken sandwich!

And there's more. Top it all off with a free Grand Slam meal from Denny's!!
Some of these things may be regional. Call ahead and make sure that the location nearest you is offering these promotions. and most importantly-
DONT FORGET TO VOTE!!

And please, to those of you who live in California, please help PROTECT OUR FAMILIES. Thousands of people up and down the coast of this wonderful state have pulled together- putting religion, race, and any other barriers aside to join forces to campaign for prop 8.
thats all im going to say- Yes on Prop 8.

HAPPY ELECTION DAY!!!

Celebration of Life!

2 years Cancer FREE!!! ....and many many MANY more to come...
Love you JD!

Prop 8

Many of you are from California so you're familiar with the political winds blowing these days. On November 4th we're voting on many different propositions as well as for a replacement Commander in Chief. The presidential debacle will cure itself, but this whole Prop 8 thing is an issue close enough to home that I really want to do everything I can to ensure that California gets it right. Prop 8 is a very simple addition to the California constitution that simply defines marriage as "between and man and a woman". Defining marriage in that way will do a few things, the three most important being,
1) Perpetuate the family the way God has instructed us to. "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". People can't do that without having kids.
2) Protect our children from being taught, in public schools, that same sex marriage is synonymous with traditional marriage.
3) Defend the tax exempt status of churches and charaties. If prop 8 is passed, and a church (such as ours) chooses not to allow 2 members of the same sex to get married in their facility then they can be sued for discrimination and when they lose that lawsuit they lose their tax exempt status and our tithing dollars will not stretch half as far or bless half as many people because Uncle Sam will have his hands in our pockets.
If prop 8 does not pass, current gay couples will not lose any freedoms that they currently have. They already enjoy virtually all the rights that traditional couples have so they only thing they won't have is the title of "husband" or "wife". So what are the next steps? If you're from California you NEED to be registered to vote. If you are already registered, good for you. If not you need to click here and either print out and mail in your form, or have the form mailed to you and send it back in. If you're from California but you don't live here anymore you need to get an absentee ballot here. Once those steps are finished you need to join the revolution. We walk door to door on Saturdays gathering information and data to gauge peoples interest and knowledge of prop 8. You can call me or Katie if you want to know when and where we'll be on the weekends. If you want a sign in your yard you can get one here for free. So there you go California, do the right thing for the kids and for the future.
YES ON PROP 8

Playoffs?!

You know whats crazy about playoff baseball? One play often makes the difference between a win and a loss. This series with Boston has honestly been decided by just 2 or 3 plays. In game one it was Lacky's poor curve ball that hung over the plate just long enough for Jason Bay to knock it out of the park. In game 2 it was the miscommunication between Torri Hunter, Erik Aybar and Howie Kendrick when they let the routine fly ball drop between them scoring three. Game four was decided by Willits getting tagged out at third when Erik Aybar couldn't make contact with a ball in a bunt situation. It seems to me that regular season baseball is so much more preditable, or at least if you make a mistake you have more time to make up for it. Playoffs is a whole new creature, its kind of like a rattlesnake because it strikes so fast and so painfully, but its also like a poodle because playoffs are so showy and gaudy. So think about that; playoffs are like a rattlesnake-poodle hybrid.
Check it out, it's Playoffs the Rattle-Poodle!!!You're welcome!

Stayin' Alive

Katie and I watched all 6 hours of the Angel game tonight, and didn't for a single instant feel sorry for the boston (notice I didn't capitalize boston, they don't deserve that kind of honor). They didn't end up leaving fenway (notice the lack of capitalization again) until 1 am. We are living examples of how positive energy can travel long distances. Go Halos!!!
Katie was at the game on Friday night (game 2) and she was on TV. If any of you have it recorded let us know, we never saw it and we want to. We want to freeze that moment forever not only in the majesty of television but also in our brains. Hollar at us.

A week to remember...

I was surprised at how much negative feedback I got from my last blog. Aparently a lot of you out there are really into fire places. Although I still maintain that the average American spends about 1000 times more time in front of a TV then a fireplace, but whatever. Anyway, I thought that since I can't even voice my opinion on my own blog I would write about something nobody can argue with, and that is Neil Diamond!

In less then 5 days some of my best friends in the whole world are flying here to California from 4 different states for a gathering like none other. Here's how it's going down, Thursday evening Teddy, Zane, Brick, and Marcus are coming into town, I'm leaving from work early to meet up with them. We will then catch up with our local boy Kino and then the six-fecta will be complete!! Once we get together we will find some nourishment and then we will drive the 20 miles (may take us 2 hours) to the Hollywood Bowl where we will spend the next 2 - 4 hours beholding the greatest singer/songwriter of our or any generation. Neil is going to do things on that stage that have made hardened war criminals weep (which is the sissiest way of crying), depressed Orange County cougars rethink their third botox treatment and unite all of Los Angeles if but for one night. The Neil concert is the Main Event of the weekend, but it is happening very first, which leaves the rest of the weekend open for total chillin. I have some ideas of what do while the boys are here and this is what I have so far...

The first thing we're thinking about doing is Midevil Times. Its this awesome jousting and sword fighting dinner theater, I know it sounds kinda lame but in all reality its unbelieveably awesome. I went to the Pirate one a few months ago and they encourage you to call your server "wench", and any place you're supposed to use sexual slurrs to sterotype women, I'm in with both feet. At this Midevil Times you have a whole chicken dinner and they don't give you and silverware and you sing drinking songs and you eat and drink as much as you want. I have a feeling that we'll all leave the place with NO voice left or else we'll get kicked out before we get to the main course. Its really awesome. So that will be our initial vain effort to match the majesty of Neil.

Our second option is one of my favorite places here in California. It a little place called Balboa Island, although when you check it out it isn't an island at all, its a penninsula. Anyway, its this awesome little town with a lot of cool shops and places to eat. It will be a good excuse for Marcus to rock his deck shoes and not look completly out of place like he normally does. There a lots of awesome yachts down there and its really good for people watching. Its an awesome way to spend the day, or night. Not as good as watching Neil change with world one song at a time, but I think it's a nice runner up.

I know there are bowling alleys all over the world, and you wouldn't think much about flying to the west coast and wanting to go bowling, but this is not a normal bowling alley. Imagine the Wynn in Vegas with all of its fancy decorations and the servers who don't ever let you stay still for more then 10 seconds without asking you if you want a drink. So imagine that... but add a sweet bowling alley with movie screens and music videos and you have the bowling alley at Gardenwalk. I looked for ages for a photo of the inside but I can't find one. Just think about the caliber of bowling alley that Neil would bowl at, and then put Marcus, Teddy, Zane, Brick, Kino and myself there. I'm sure we'll have lots and lots of pics this time next week.

There is also an awesome driving range that is all water that is close by and a lot of fun. We have Knotts Scary farm close and I'm told that is supposed to be really cool especially now that its October. Of course I live less then a mile from Disneyland, and if they dudes want to be totally gay I guess we can go there, its free for me so I wouldn't mind. And with living in Orange County you can't forget the beach, its there and its still warm enough to enjoy. So that is the rough draft of what our weekend is going to be like. Tune in again next week for the update.

Apparently the teleprompter died...

the LOVE wedding

In the mormon world, I feel like I got married at a pretty "late" age. While going to a church school you see the girls just drop like flies at age 18 or 19, who all married great guys and are doing awesome I might add. But I lost a lot of roommates! I, on the other hand, successfully escaped BYUI as an unmarried working girl! So at a happy age of 24 I married the man of my dreams after we both finished college.
This past weekend I attended a wedding of one of my best friends from high school. I was the first to go and I hope the next few years will be full of them! So I drug my poor husband to feeding frenzi of screaming girls that he didnt know. And since I am the ONLY one that is married he was the only guy- bless him. But JD, being the charming, charasmatic man that he is, had all my girls laughing with him all night.

I love these girls. I love what we all bring to the table and how different we are. Most of them will never understand me, being the only mormon. And I am probably the only member they will ever really be close with. Things like not taking advantage of the open bar was beyond their reach. And understanding the concept of marriage, why get married?
Anyway, Congratulations to the new Amanda and Blake Love!!! (Isn't that such a perfect last name!)





We had to leave the Reception at like 10:30 Because both of us had to finish our lessons for the next day. Everyone was pretty drunk when we left so it wasnt a big deal. SO at around midnight JD and I are reading when we had a drunken phonecall from my best HS friend. They called just to tell me how much they loved my husband and how they hope to find someone like him. They are so right, JD is incredible and everyday with him is so much fun! I love being married.

Love my Diamond Bar girls!