Hello there

So, long time...

Didn't realize until 2 days ago that I hadn't blogged since Sept. It's been crazy! Work's super busy, we spent a ton of time getting Christmas presents together, and yeah, other stuff.

Let's see. Halloween was fun. We ended up getting together with our friends Scott & Sarah and went to a little party in San Diego. We got our costumes last minute from my mom (needless to say, our selection consisted of all girl costumes - little girls).

Thanksgiving was great. We got to enjoy lots of family time with the Hansen Clan. Dave & Koren's triplets are getting so big! I can't believe it. Loved hanging out with them & of course the time off from work. We even got to tag along with the babies when they went to the beach & played in the sand for the first time!

On to December: I made these sweet aprons for Joy & her girls. I was stoked about it when I came up with the idea. I had called her one day & she was baking with her girls. Thought it was great - I love it when one of our nieces wants to help out in the kitchen. I made these aprons, then mom & I went shopping for a ton of fun baking tools & everything you could possibly want for making cupcakes. We loved it & Joy said she cried, yes!

Then Grandma P & Leslie drove out to visit for a few days. We got to spend some pre-Christmas time with family. It was fun, even if no one's face looks like it in these pictures!

I had a fun time with Aaron towards the end of our family get-together. I wasn't yelling, we were being silly. I love being an aunt and having family so close!

As long as I'm bragging about awesome Christmas presents.... Not only did I put together a sweet Cookie of the Month Club brochure for cookies that our dept of 5 decided to contribute to each month for our bosses, I also had this spectacular idea: Take a picture of our hot dept in some funny pose (we opted for Charlie's Angels, the original idea was America's Next Top Model), blow it up to poster size & replace a similar poster hanging up in our boss' office. It was fantastic! I also sewed a radical laptop bag for Brooke & put together photo calendars for all the parents & grandparents. If you didn't get a Christmas present from me, it's b/c I ran out of mind-blowing ideas & would rather not give a present than give a lame one just b/c. Maybe next year.

Christmas was great. We got to spend a ton of family time just hanging out and having fun. We woke up, went to my parents' for breakfast & presents. Then to the Hansens for more presents & food. Then drove out to the Moffats for a little paintball action - my first time & I proved I've got cajones! Then rush back to Poway for dinner at Grandma & Grandad's and finally more time with the Hansens. Overall quite wonderful, but I missed out on seeing my cousins b/c we were running late.

OK, and drumroll, please. We're on to January.

First, let me confess: Yes, we did watch our own little marathon of "Jersey Shore" on MTV. Completely ridiculous - everyone is a complete train wreck. Just don't start watching b/c you're sucked in by how retarded they are. Thanks Jared for pulling us in! Other than that, New Year's was pretty uneventful.

Now to the week of the most craziness.

Meet our new brother in law. Deb got married to a pretty awesome guy - Jonathon Moffat - on Tues, Jan 5th. It was a small, rather adorable ceremony. Moffat's a great guy w/a cute family & I'm very excited for them moving down here for more fun people to hang out with. Congrats to them both!

On Thursday, Jan 7th, we closed escrow on our first house! We're completely stoked & plan on being here for a long, long time. It's in Historic Escondido (which is where we wanted to be), 1100 square feet, 3 bed, 1 bath. We do have plans to eventually knock out a wall & extend a bedroom into a master suite & throw in a fireplace in the living room. We've got plenty of room to extend it out, we'll see if that's something that's actually feasible :) Regardless, we're going to love it for years to come! We have renters in there, so we don't move in until July 1st, but it's working out perfectly.

Check out our massive backyard. I can't wait to get a garden in there!

And on the same day, we found out that Dan was coming home. He's been out of commission since April, and though I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, it's definitely good to have him back! We went to a movie last night with Jody, Darlene, Jon and Dan; it was great. I love all our family so much!

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to making goals and keeping them, and growing closer to those we love!

Yay for our toaster oven

OK, I've always been a believer in toaster ovens. No question there, they're great. When I moved out on my own, Josh used to come hang out after work & I'd make dinner for the both of us - usually something that worked perfectly in a toaster oven - like chicken & veggies - one pan kind of thing. So it made sense that 1 thing we kind of splurged on with our giftcards from Bed Bath & Beyond after the wedding was a higher quality toaster oven. It has a convection (no Kim, not confection - that's candy, silly), setting, can fit an entire 10" pizza (that's a bit tricky, but I've heard works really well if you remember to rotate it mid-way), toasts, bakes, broils, you name it you got it, right?

So here's the excitement. Back in the day I could've been the poster child for Bagel Bites. Pizza in the morning - check, pizza in the evening - check, pizza at suppertime - you get it. I have since married a guy who completely spoils me when it comes to meals, so I rarely resort to Bagel Bites. But today I had some in the freezer (oh yeah, thanks mom!) & Josh is gone. I already spent an early lunch break going for a run & I'm hungry, so I popped some in. Here's how it works - 13 min on the highest setting under the bake function at mom & dad's. Get this - 8 min in mine @ 400 on convection. Hell YES!

I say again, Yay for our toaster oven! Here's to money WELL spent! I will say also that I have some individual-portioned cookie dough in the freezer that works perfectly here as well, I may go for that later & embrace yet again the joy that is the toaster oven. Cheers!

What is this, a joke?

First off, my lack of posting isn't due to our inactivity, or even a lack of personal interest; Dana has been doing a perfectly adequate job of not only blogging about what we've up to, but reminding me that this whole thing was my idea. So it seems we've been horrifically busy since we've been married, which would only surprise me more if Dana and I weren't so totally awesome. Labor Day weekend we jammed back out to PHX with some of the fam for the blessing of The Trips. It was incredible, seriously incredible to be there and to be a part of that, I feel like it's such a huge blessing having them added to our expanding family.

The next day Jon, Dave and I met up with a group of guys Dave knows to play some paintball, it was pretty wicked fun and we did a good job of showing that we don't mess around. Interesting fact, as it turned out opening season for Dove started that same morning apparently, and the first location we showed up to play was soon filled with half drunk hillbillies wandering around firing bird-shot at anything that stirred up the brush, we ended up taking when the gunshots we're getting too frequent, and after Jon and Dave got shot, seriously (just not seriously). The last round we played was capture the flag, and you weren't out until you said you were, basically it's a toughness thing, and if the 90+ visible welts were any indicator, I'm a pretty tough dude. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because with my shirt off I looked like I was suffering from some bizarre disease. Other notable things that have happened in or around the last month. We learned that there is a very real difference between "Phantom" and "The Phantom of The Opera", mostly that Andrew Lloyd Weber used up every one of the good ideas that could be associated a play about "Opera's being invaded by a phantom!"; also that "Cats" is not a very good play unless you're super interested in any of the following things:

- Actual cats

- Local theatre

- The physiques of people that are involved in local theatre

- Said physiques stripped down to nothing but form fitting spandex

- ...and acting like cats.

So yeah, if that's what you're into do I have a treat for you, and if not I'm sure you could look up the songs "Memories" and "Mr. Mistoffelees" familiarize yourself with those two songs, learn the phrase "Jellicle cat" and imagine a theatre nerd dressed like catwomen, and you can pretty much say you've seen Cats...

No Jay Maynard did not actually make a guest appearance as the Rum Tum Tuggard, but you get the idea right?

I Love My Family!

I have officially started my marathon training - thanks to Kim. I love my sister (not so much waking up at 5am, but it sure is nice to have someone who's diong it with you).

This morning we went running & she ran to the store to pick up OJ & brought me back a bagel. In the meantime, Roman & Isaac woke up so I got hugs. But then I had to leave. Isaac said "Aww, does Dana have to leave?" and I said "Yes, I have to work." :( Then Roman asked if I would come back later. "Like when?" "I don't know, maybe this afternoon." Oh, I love my nephews! Unfortunately, I had to decline b/c today's Henry's day & I was going to grab groceries on the way home for dinner that was supposed to be at 6:30pm.

So I got back to work & called Josh about an hour later. He said he'd do the grocery shopping today so that I could hang out with my nephews. I love my husband!

And I got to play with legos after work today b/c my family loves me :)

We should go to the Temple more often if these are the kind of days you have afterwards! (We went last night for Ward Temple Night - loved it).

Aww Mans...

Josh just told me I have a lesbian hair cut. Good thing it will grow out in 2 days. Now if only I can convince him to get a hair cut! He's lucky, though. I've been strongly considering going completely bald or with a little boy haircut - I guess the lesbian comment shouldn't bother me since those were "possibilities". I'm a freak...

Arizona Again...

Deb turned 30 this month, so we snuck back out to AZ for a surprise party. It was a ton of fun.

e got to head out to Christopher Creek again in Payson to jump off the rocks - pictures this time (to be posted shortly).

Deb's party was fun. She was totally surprised that we were all out there & we had a good time. I have to round up some pictures from that since we forgot our camera!

More fun times with the triplets, though I would have liked to spend more. We just had to stay hidden most of the time we were there. Not too worried, though - less than 2 weeks until we're back there.

Until then, back to the grind!

Arizona

Finally met the trips this past week - they are so adorable - next chance we get, we're headed back out there to hang out! Cate's so laid back, Isaac's such a cutie & Chloe is the best little clinger. Loved it!

Joshie & Chole loving life

Isaac & my silly face

Chlomonksupial - I loved her clinging on!

(not angry, she was just over the flash of the camera, so she closed her eyes)

We headed out there & I worked while Josh hung out with McCall. He put her hair in rag curlers & I got all super model with it (I think she looked oto sexy b/c Deb took it out & put it in lame poof pony tails before we went over to Dave & Koren's, but here's a pic).

McCall's hair was righteous - wish I could pull that off. Only her & African super models!

We had the greatest dining experience ever, no joke. If anyone is ever in or near Scottsdale, check it out: Digestif

We sat at the bar (which was 1/3 of the total 25-30 seats in the whole place, so it's cozy) and chatted with the chef while he served a taster, which basically is a several-course meal that he splits between you & your date/friend/whatev and tells you what everything is. So great, our 8-courses (b/c I can't say no to food). Drum roll, please...

Dungeness Crab & Watermelon

Burrata

Shrimp Ceviche

Grilled Flank Steak w/Sweet Corn Relish

Mac N Cheese for Adults

Butter-basted Wild-caught Halibut

Warm Cookies & Milk

Banana Bread w/a White Choc Banana Sauce

Their menu changes every week depending on what's available from the market & it's all great. I loved every moment (of our 2.5 hr experience). In fact, we loved it so much we've already made plans with a couple of friends who will coincidentally be there for Labor Day weekend as well. Can't wait! We'll have to document it next time - I am ashamed that we forgot to the first time, but it took us by surprise with how great it was!

Dr. David (Josh's bro) hooked it up with hour long massages at his office, which was the greatest massage I've ever had. Most likey another tradition for Phoenix trips :)

We crammed in more fun on our last day there. Drove up to Payson to do some hiking, rock-climbing & cliff jumping. Believe it or not, I jumped off a rock that was probably 55-60 feet high into water. I was so proud of myself! I was shaking at the top, so I just did it. Dave's friend who acme with us totally wussed out & I was the first one to do it. So rad. I only felt like I broke my nose off, and I was still shaking for next hour, but I think I could get myself to do it again sometime. Another tradition in the making - who knew AZ could be so much fun?! Still no desire to move out there, but I think we might make more frequent road trips!!

And after the cliff diving, we jammed back to Scottsdale to go out karoaking with Deb & friend. Much fun as we laughed at everyone & the girls stayed & sang with everyone at the table & the boys rocked their stuff with the microphone.

Josh finally got to do karaoke - he's been trying to make that happen for months!

Wish I had more pics of our fun times, but we forget the camera too many times - that's also Josh's responsibility ;)

Thanks to Deb, Dave & Koren for a fun time! Ready for the next adventure!

Also signed up for the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January - everyone's invited!