Tanner's Big Weekend Surprise!

Tanner's Sweet 16 was a surprise! He had no idea, and it was hilarious. Happy B-day T.

I am...

...disgusted by my inability to update my blog.

Fun Halloween Ideas!

So I picked up this pamphlet the other day at my local Macey's grocery store, entitled:

Halloween Tricks and Treats with....

Penguin Brand

Dry Ice

I thought I would share some with you!

So according to the pamphlet penguin dry ice..."adds the perfect touch to an eerie Halloween party...you can change the atmosphere from uninspired to spine-chilling." Doesn't is sound awesome?

Idea # 1 - The Witches Brew

1.First off you must dress as a dreadful witch in order for this idea to be effective.

2. Fill a plastic cauldron with .5 gallons of grape juice, 1 can pineapple juice, and .5 gallons of EXTRA PULPY orange juice.

3. Stir mixture together with a broom (preferably one that belongs to a witch)

4. Use some tongs to add small pieces of PBDI to the mixture.

5. Chant or perform some sort of malicious curse

6. Your witches' brew is now ready to serve to unsuspecting victims.

7. For little extra flavor, add some worms, real or gummy, it's all up to you.

8. If even further improvement of flavor is required, alcohol, in any form may be added.

9. Glow sticks may also be added, but not consumed.

Idea #2 - The Wizards Portion (Invite Harry over)

1. Different because a man makes it.

2. One gallon of water into a large container.

3. Followed by two cups of sugar.

4. One ounce of root beer extract.

5. Dissolve sugar, by stirring with magic wand, or wooden spoon. Whichever you prefer.

6. Add PBDI.

7. Mixture will become magically bubbly, serve.

Idea # 3 - Ghostly Fog - idea does not include instructions for making real ghosts.

1. If in need of an atmosphere of mystery, and fright, read on.

2. Hot water in a crockpot, of large proportions

3. Turn crock pot on, or keep warm over fire, or burning stake.

4. Add PBDI to create fog of the ghostly kind.

5. Serve refreshments and food.

6. For real fog, see weather service.

Idea # 4 - Smoking Pumpkin and Spooky Graveyard

1. Add PBDI to a small container with hot water.

2. Place inside a carved pumpkin

3. Place PBDI to a pan, add hot water

4. Place behind tombstones

5. Dead bodies and coffins are not included.

Four fun ways to use dry ice. All of which sound quite terrifying. Spooky....

Mess

I know my blog is a mess right now, but there are only two days until Halloween, and then I promise I will fix it.

And then you will be able to read it once again.

Then and Now

Then...

And now...

Happy Anniversary to us!!

October 28, 2005.

I think we still look pretty good!

Congrats to my brother and Hollie, who got married in October! Its a great month. The last two pics were taken at their wedding. Unfortunately we didn't make it home with any pictures of the bride and groom. There are, however, quite a few pictures of Tanner in his tux. Hmmm...strange.

School

Andrew told me this evening that I could quit school if I could find five people who agree with me, that I should.

Top 5 reasons I should no longer go to school:

1). Seven years is a long time

2). I am not getting smarter. I do believe my intelligence has plateaued.

3). It is not making me any money now, nor will it in the future. A history degree is good for nothing.

4). There is no where to park.

5). The world is going to end in 2012. So that's a whole year, I will have to enjoy my piece of paper on the wall.

I'm going for six...

6). Did I mention I have to take 4 semesters of a foreign language?

So I need five people to agree and I am set. Thanks for helping me decide my future.

2nd Annual Pumpkin Decorating

Remember the pumpkin from last year titled:

Bubonic Rat Pumpkin

It raised money for United Way through a silent auction at work.

It's a beauty.

Aren't those rats terrifying?

Well this year I went for something a little different:

This one is titled:

Rotting Corpse Flower Pumpkin

Complete with sparkles and spider webs.

However this pumpkin is presently residing at work, not participating in the silent auction. Due to the fact that I missed the deadline. There were some major communication issues between myself and the main office. So they don't get my pumpkin this year. Their loss. Obviously.

Oh...Say can You See...

Oh Fort McHenry! Who knows what happened at Fort McHenry? Maybe this picture below will give you some clues...

Times up! Pencils down. Fort McHenry, located in Maryland was the sight were Francis Scott Key penned the words that would become our national anthem. We happened to go to Fort McHenry on the one day a year that admission was free!! Score.

After seeing that famous star spangled banner in the American History Museum, it was very gratifying to come full circle with the trip to Fort McHenry.

O'er the ramparts we watched....

I am watching o'er some ramparts.

And I just want to say that after getting into an argument with Andrew over what "ramparts" are I emerged victorious! Ha ha! I would like to thank google, wikipedia and the iphone for backing me up. Of course as a history major I would know what ramparts are.... to be honest I thought everyone did....I am not sure why Andrew didn't....

Needless to say I do find the history behind the Star Spangled Banner to be very interesting, and the Fort did a great job bringing that history to life. That's coming from a girl who doesn't even like American history, so that's saying a lot.

Props to Andrew for taking some really great pics.

We heart Pa

Hey, remember back in July when we lived in DC? It seems like such a long time ago. Whilst there we often took day trips to Pennsylvania. We decided to brush up on our civil war history and head out to Gettysburg. Actually I didn't really need to brush up since I am now officially a history major and had just taken and passed, American history from 1870. Oh no wait, that wouldn't have covered the civil war. Lucky however I had also just taken American History to 1870...so that pretty much covered all the civil war bases. Needless to say I totally know way more than Andrew.

So here we have a fence, and a road.

this is not necessarily an important fence or road, but

I really enjoy old fences. So there you go.

This is a picture of the valley of death, and in the left hand corner to can see the rocks of what is awesomely referred to as the Devil's casket. Okay, just kidding I made that up. But those rocks were called the devil's something....cauldron perhaps? Or the Devil's labyrinth. I can't remember but any of those names would give you the general idea. So when you go to Gettysburg, this is what you do. Drive to the visitor's center. Purchase a CD tour at the museum store. Or you can pay extra to purchase an actually civil war soldier (tour guide) to ride around in your car with you. You can guess which one we did.

Here we have a reinactor now. He looks like he is having great time. And I was very appreciative of this display of living history.

More living history. Me being dead on a stone wall where other civil war soldiers could have possibly fallen. Inappropriate? Probably. But the damage has already been done, so I am putting the damming photo on our blog. Plus it was really good practice for when I graduate with a history degree and have to find a job being a historical actress myself. So technically it was kinda like...homework.

Before we move on I just want to point out that any lack of knowledge of American history on my part is not a direct reflection on the quality of education I am receiving. It is more of a reflection on the fact that I don't really like American history, and therefore choose not to waste my precious brain space remembering it. I didn't say I don't like America, I just said I don't care about its history. It's personal preference.

On to something that I do like; Amish people.

We will call this little guy Moses Thomas Ezekiel.

On another weekend we took a day trip to one of the greatest places in America:

Intercourse, Pennsylvania.

Being the mature adults that Andrew and I are, there were, of course, no inappropriate jokes whatsoever. And if you believe that then you will probably also believe that there are actually giant living gingerbread men running around Lancaster county.

Oh wait! There are!

Andrew thought this guy was hilarious...I am not sure what he has to do with the peaceful loving people of the Amish. I mostly thought he was a little creepy. And thanks Andrew for making me take a picture with him.

So if you are hanging out in Intercourse, and you get tired of eating homemade jam and pretzels, and staring at the buggies when they come into town. There is something to remind you that there are still people in the world who believe in violence and having lots of weapons.

That's right! There in downtown Intercourse, is the:

American Military Edge Weaponry Museum.

Of course we had to check it out.

We support the small museum.

So basically there were lots of knives.

Edged weapons.

Overall we love Pennsylvania. But as Andrew said many times last times last night, he hates the Steelers. I am not exactly sure why he hates the blue-collar workers that helped build the nation. Maybe he feels the same why I do about American history.....

Best Day of the Year!

This picture conveys how happy I am. Today. 

Andrew doesn't look quite that happy today. He looks a lot less happy. 

Today is the best day of the whole year. Why? Because today is the day the sports world stands still. Its the day after the all-star baseball game, and so there is no baseball. Football season hasn't started, no football, no basketball, no hockey. I love it. That makes today my most favorite day of the year. I've heard rumors of another no-sports day, the day after the NBA all-star game. So I will wait with baited breath...for the next best day of the year. 

*Andrew, for some reason, looks more bald in this picture than he actually is. Just so you know. (He made me write that.)

I cannot contain...

.... my excitement.

I haven't been able to sleep or eat or think about anything else. My life has been taken over, yet again. How many more times must I go through this? Where will I be Wednesday night? That's right, and for all you suckers who live on the west coast, I will be drooling a full two hours ahead of you. TWO HOURS. 

I pity you.  Sweet dreams Harry. 

How American are we??

How much more American can you get? Its the 4th of July, and we were here in DC. And we had an utterly fabulous weekend. 

We went to a baseball game, had apple pie and fried chicken (which was gross, the chicken not the pie) (and okay I didn't make either one of them. I'm a slacker I know.) We went to Mount Vernon, and to top it off we watched fireworks, whilst lounging on the National Mall...with 500,000 other people. What could be more American? 

The following sequence of photos is not in order. 

Here's a little taste of the firework show. Just a little sampling.

If I was an awesome blogger you would get an edited video of the fireworks, set to some very American music. While I am awesome, I am not an awesome blogger, so those pictures are all you are going to get. 

We sat on the grass on the west side of the Washington Monument. And you could look across the road and the reflecting pond and see how many people were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 

Earlier that day, we ran down to Georgetown an attended a dog parade. Which was awesome. 

I am going to go ahead and say that it is going to be the highlight of the entire summer. I don't think there is anything that could trump a dog parade. Unless of course I got my own dog.

Uncle Same led the parade. 

Meet Dante, he is a Sheltie. And I wanted to take him home with me.

I don't know these guys' names, so I will call them.... Thunder and Yukon.

I don't know his name either, but he was really cute, because he wanted lots of treats.

This little ones name is Bowie, and he is a fat papillon. Super cute, he loved us.

Look at the ballerina. She's darling.

Treats for the parade participants were donated by the Dog Store on Wisconsin.  The dogs loved them! And I loved the parade. 

Next up we have the Nats baseball game.

During the 4th inning, there is a race between the presidents...and its hilarious. 

TJ, Washington, Abe and Teddy. Teddy never wins, but he can moonwalk. 

Look how dedicated to baseball I am. 

Me cheering on the home team.  

Quite honestly I don't know if the Nationals won or lost, but I do know that if you go to a Nationals game, and you want a funnel cake, you should get in line early....Andrew still owes me. 

Olde Towne, and a day on the bay.

Its time. Time for a real update. And that's it. A real update. 

So here we go....

Old Towne Alexandria. One of our favs. There is a fabulous latin eatery called Cafe Salsa and they do one heck of a brunch. The breakfast burrito is to die for. But that's not what this picture is. These are the docks in Alexandria. Lovely.

One day when we were down at the docks and there was a company that saves parrots. And for a donation to the cause, one could hold a number of birds and get a picture taken. I mostly did this to gross out my Mum. She hates birds, although I was only kidding when I told the birdman that I wanted to hold ten birds. He however took me seriously. Those birds were a lot heavier than you would think. The one on my head is Oscar, and it was his first time.

Mum this one is for you.

Next up, we have Annapolis and the Chesapeake. 

Someone forgot to take the camera, so all we have are subpar photos taken with the phone. I blame Andrew, he blames me. We all know who is right. 

We took a ferry ride around the little harbor. And it was great. I love boat rides. We love the navy, and we love all you can eat crab. Delicious. 

We rented bikes and rode around town. I love bikes, especially ones with baskets. 

I would especially love a bike of my own with a basket and a bell. Does Andrew know this? Yes. Does he care? Apparently not. 

Andrew's favorite thing: eating here.  

And this turkey sandwich. Andrew loves his turkey sandwiches. And I will admit this one does look delicious. And as I recall it was. 

We also walked around the Naval Academy, and saw were John Paul Jones was buried. Whose grave/crypt it supposedly like Napolean's in Paris, so it's like we were there. Again. 

And did you know that Annapolis was at one point the capital of the United States? Well now you do. 

Only Me

So the only one who saw the white next to the new background was me. Why? I believe it was because of my parent's widescreen monitor. Sorry for wasting everyone's time with that pointless post. My apologies. 

New Background

EVERYONE has a cute background, except for me. Well, until now that is. After like 2 years of plain black, we did an upgrade! And once I had carefully read the instructions, it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. However, is anyone else seeing the white? What is that about? I need to know whether or not its normal, since this is my first foray into backgroundom. Let me know, any help would be appreciated. Thankssssssss. I think I like the bright pink title, it adds a little something extra, don't you think?

So it begins. The Summer of DC

After a slow start the summer of DC has arrived!!! Andrew is busily working away, and I am busily sitting around. There are many things that I am liking about living in DC, which I will go into in a moment. But the one thing that I hate, is the humidity. Most people do hate the humidity, but perhaps not for the same reason. No I don't hate it because of what it does to my hair, the damage there is minimal. And no I don't hate it because every time you walk outside, you are automatically wet and clammy.  I hate it for one reason, condensation. I don't like the fact that whenever I get a 32 oz. diet coke it becomes dripping wet. I don't like my glasses of water leaving puddles on the tables. It is more condensation than I have ever experienced. And I don't like it. I like to pick up a glass of juice and know that all of the wetness is contained within.  It is utterly obnoxious. 

Things I do like about DC:

I like the 4 locks I have on my apartment door, I feel very safe.

Smartrip cards, which make public transportation much easier. 

The ceiling fan at our apartment.

Dogs getting the respect they deserve with dog parks.

Al fresco dining.

Embassies, especially Russia.

Whole Food

H and M

The Metro, which I occasionally refer to as the Tube, its basically the same thing people. 

Living alone with just Andrew, no Australians, no cats. 

And that's all I can think of right now. I have no doubt that my hate list will grow longer as well... 

We're not in Kansas anymore.

So we have been nomads for the past couple of weeks. Nomads or gypsies, whichever you prefer. We drove both the Alero and the Explorer to Idaho. Where I informed my father that I never was to see the Alero again, so it better not be there when I get back. I didn't care if he had to push it off a cliff, I didn't want to lay eyes on that beast ever again. Luckily however, within days he was able to sell it, I pity the person who purchased it. We left the Explorer there and took my mom's car and started out across the country. Two things: First off my moms car is really fast, and compared to our cars it's like riding in the lap of luxury. Second, it stinks. Ever after having it detailed and finding a dead mouse in the fan, it still smells. This fact annoyed Andrew to no end. We tried everything, and eventually it went away, or we got so used to it, we didn't notice it anymore. But it smelled pretty much across the entire country. Regardless of the stench we are very grateful that my Mom let us take her car. Thanks Mom! 

So we left on Saturday from Jerome planning on driving 11 hours to Kara's house in Colorado.  We planned on stopping in Pocatello to go to breakfast with Dillon and Hollie, however that didn't happen. Why? Because halfway to Pocatello, in American Falls, Andrew remembered that he left his suits in the closet in Jerome. The one thing we couldn't buy when we got to DC. Ha ha ha. I would have laughed harder if Andrew hadn't been so mad. So we called home and got Tanner, with his new driver's license to drive to Burley with the suits where we would meet him. So instead of having a delicious breakfast in the company of Dillon and Hollie, we got to eat at Carl's Junior. Yum. 

After being on the road for 3.5 hours and only making it to Pocatello, we did meet up with Dillon and Hollie to pick up some presents for the Coloradians. They also gave us a bag of treats, chips, apples and water. Which saved Andrew's life. He kept saying we would stop and get some snacks, but we never did. And soon we found ourselves in the middle of Wyoming with nothing to eat. So he was very very glad about the bag of snacks. Me? I slept the whole way there. And in spite of what my family was anticipating, I was NOT cranky when we got to Kara's. Not even a little bit. 

After a great stay with Kara and Drew and the kids. During which time we celebrated Sierra's birthday, went to an outdoor mall, picnicked, etc. We also went on a hike to Red Rocks, which was great. I'm very disappointed that I won't be around to see Celtic Women at Red Rocks. That would be great, but don't worry we are going to see them at Wolf Trap, although I have to sit on the grass. Gross. Just kidding.  

The O.C and I both have crazy hair. I kept telling Kara to give him a haircut, but I admit he does look really cute with his long unruly hair. 

Here is a great picture of Si Si and Drew and the amphitheater.  And I am telling you it was hard to walk up all of those stairs. I blamed it on the altitude. 

So we began our drive to DC. Some thoughts on states:

Wyoming: I have nothing to say about Wyoming, other than why? Why does it exist? 

Kansas: I loved Kansas. Most people claimed it boring, but I thought it was great, I like the calm rolling grass lands. The historic Cathedral of the Plains, birthplace of Eisenhower and resting place of his presidential library, childhood home of Bob Dole, bleeding Kansas. What's not to love? I think Kansas is waaaaaay under rated. 

Missouri: I am glad that after much weather watching, we avoided some tornados. I did try and convince Andrew to let us become storm chasers like on Twister. He didn't like that idea...lame. 

Illinois: One word: Lincoln. How could you not like Illinois. 

Indiana: Only slightly better than Wyoming. Why? Because its green. Which makes it only marginally better than the western giant. That and it's not never ending like Wyoming. 

Ohio: I liked Ohio, very pretty and its officially the state in which Andrew broke his life long goal of never going to Cracker Barrel. Thanks Ohio! Ohio is also the state were after two days in the car, one of us almost had a breakdown, and surprisingly enough, it wasn't me. 

Pennsylvania: Due to our sometimes malfunctioning GPS I saw more of the Penn state than I wanted to. Well actually it was just one town, which was a lovely place, but I definitely saw more of it that I had anticipated. I also enjoyed the fact that Pennsylvania has townships. 

West Virginia: Two reasons I like this state, Beth Ann, and John Denver. We listened to  "Country Road" the whole time we were in WV, it was both wild and wonderful.

Virginia: At last.

And so we made it. Finally. 

And unfortunately I will not be driving back home to Utah. I will be flying. I think driving across the country is something sane people only do once. I don't know who will be driving home with Andrew, but it won't be me. 

A Long time ago...

We lived in Utah. And after finals were finalized and Andrew had gone golfing at least 8 times, I made him take me somewhere I am sure he didn't want to go.... The Tulip Festival.  At Thanksgiving Point and it was great. I love flowers and I love festivals. So this was perfect! 

Ahh...Purple tulips. I believe we've already been over the fact that I love purple.

How can you not be happy looking at tulips? It makes me wish I was Dutch. 

A long long time ago...

I went to Idaho for Easter. And here are the pictures. Finally.

I don't think Tanner has ever dyed an Easter Egg. So since I was home this Easter I forced him to dye eggs with him. And lets just say that his attitude, in the beginning left something to be desired. First off he got really mad, when I supposedly mixed up the dye wrong. I didn't see him trying to help. And then I accidently put two dye tablets in the same cup, which turned out a disgusting poop color. After much yelling and thrashing about, I think he ended up having fun. 

Here are the finished products. I think we turned out some really good ones. Thanks to Mom for also participating. No thanks to Dad however who sat on the couch the whole time. Not surprising. 

A week later I was home again! Why? Two reasons....

My kiddies. Kara and the children were out for a visit. How could I resist such cute faces? I couldn't. 

Along with Kara et al. Hollie and Dillon came home. Congrats to Hollie for making it on the blog...I think she beat Dillon. Sorry Dil. Anyways, it was Hollie's birthday so we celebrate with much feasting. Salmon, steak among other delicious things. To top it off we made individual trifles. Obviously this was my idea, since I am something of a trifle enthusiast. We also had italian sodas. And I can honestly say that I have never ever eaten so much food in my life. Ever. I couldn't even drink my nightly glass of citrucel I was so full. It was disgusting yet so great. What's the point of going home if you can't indulge? 

 

Oh...one more thing. Kara, Dillon if you want more than candy in your eggs, you have to make an appearance on Easter. Lets just say Tanner and I got a little something more...why? Because we are dedicated.