YUCK!

I had a bad experience last night.

Last night, when Ian and I were finally done with everything for the day/night, we both decided we were hungry and wanted to eat. (Imagine that!) He went to the fridge and decided to eat some salad with ranch. I decided I wanted to eat something somewhat healthy too because of the time of night. I decided that since he already had the ranch out, I would eat some raw broccoli with ranch.

Ian started eating, and I stole the ranch from him, so I could smother each piece of broccoli in it before consuming it. I ate my first, second, third, and fourth piece, and with each one I thought---something doesn't taste quite right, but continued eating more and more. I figured it was probably just my taste buds being crazy. Maybe I was just imaging weird tastes? Ian hadn't said anything, so surely it was just me.

Well, Ian finished his salad and said, " That ranch tasted weird." At that point I knew exactly what happened! And I immediately wanted to throw up.
I opened the fridge to confirm what had happened and sure enough found the NEW bottle of ranch, still sitting in it's spot I had put it the day before. Ian got the ranch from the door----oh no! I had been meaning to throw out for a LONG time, but never got myself to do it because it was a brand new bottle, used once, and the frugal side of me wouldn't allow for me to waste yet another expensive item. Somehow it got moved from our apartment to the house, and made it into our fridge now.

I knew it was old (since it'd been brought with us from our apartment) but I decided to check the expiration date in hopes that it wasn't AS bad I thought----and it wasn't.....no, it was worse. MUCH WORSE!!!

The expiration date read 01/08/2008!

And because of this experience.....I am banning ranch dressing for a good amount of time. Also, I immediately went to the fridge and got rid of everything that I hadn't bought in the past week. Lesson learned: it's good to be frugal, but if something is OLD, go ahead and THROW IT AWAY! It will be OKAY! It's better to waste a few dollars, then to eat ranch dressing over two years old!

Weekend Getaway

A few months ago my oldest sister BethAnn invited me to a scrapbooking retreat. I thought it sounded fun (even though I don't REALLY scrapbook) and committed to go.

Little did I know (at that time) that going with her was EXACTLY what I would need after the past couple of weeks!

Work has been nothing less than totally CRAZY the past month and a half or so. A few factors for the craziness include; a hiring/firing (which is another story for another time), the results of our distributorship growing substantially in the past few months, making up for others mistakes, leaving/coming home from vacation, etc. I hope I don't sound like a complainer---I do enjoy MY job and am very grateful for a stable job and good bosses!

But between work, school, and everything else life has been offering, things were getting STRESSFUL and a little OVERWHELMING!

So---last Friday I took a half day off work, and we (BethAnn, Amy (friend) and I ) headed up to Francis, UT to stay the weekend in a nice cabin, with a big group of scrapbooking ladies. We were the first of the group to arrive, other than Melissa (the amazing lady that put the whole thing together) quickly settled in, set up the tables, and got busy. We ate some yummy pizza for dinner, and soon found ourselves up at 3 a.m. , still going at it.

Saturday started early, and flew by fast. The whole day was so fun, but my most favorite part was going outside to enjoy a nice LONG walk in the WARM weather, with some fresh mountain air. It was SOOOO beautiful!

We ate homemade Cafe Rio that night and continued our projects late into the morning AGAIN!

Sunday we finished (or more like came to a stopping point) cleaned things up, and left in time to get back for church.

I left with such positive feelings of rejuvenation, optimism, and happiness. It was so fun to spend time with a good size group of good, neat ladies. It's been a LONG time since I have hung out with JUST girls, but we sure had a fun weekend together.

I did miss Ian---but it was fun to get away and do something different. It was also nice to spend time with my sister without the distractions that are normally present (Ian).

Our California Trip

So, last week we went with our friends, Kalli and Joel, to California to enjoy some time off work and school, to enjoy the warm weather, and of course to have some fun.

We left Tuesday night and drove half way to Mesquite, where we stayed the night at the lovely Virgin River. We woke up early Wednesday morning, drove the second half of the drive, and arrived to our final destination for the day--- Santa Monica beach. There was so much to do--so, we spent the rest of the day wandering the beach, pier, and shops. We saw many entertaining things including dolphins playing in the ocean(right off the end of the pier) a movie (with tons of crazy teenagers running, jumping, and screaming happily down the pier)being filmed, some men in Speedos running down the beach, and much more.

That night, we went to my aunt Pam's house and had a good St. Patrick's day dinner (corned beef, cabbage, and red potatoes---YUM!) with her, my cousin and his wife, as well as their kids. Also, my little sister Andrea came a little bit later. It was fun and good to see her and everybody else! My camera deleted the first few pictures I took there, so I don't have any of those from that day...:(

Thursday we woke up, ate breakfast, then headed off to the "Happiest Place on Earth"----Disneyland! This was Ian's first time, so I was excited for him to experience it (although it is MUCH different as a child than as an adult). The weather was fantastic, the lines (thanks to the Fastpasses and Ridemax-thanks Mom)were amazing, and we all had a good LONG day there! My favorite rides are still Indiana Jones and Space Mountain---so fun! Ian's favorite----take a guess......Buzz Lightyear. Maybe because he kicked my butt when it came to our scores?!?!

We walked over 26,000 steps (equivalent to a little over 15 miles) according to the pedometer on Ian's phone, so you can imagine how tired we were and how bad our feet ached by the end of the night(except for Ian's-he said). All in all, we all had a great time and it was worth the pain! :) I am very grateful that I wore my running shoes even though they weren't the most fashionable shoes.

Had to get the two classic pictures taken! :)

Even after all the walking---Ian still managed to climb this lego in Downtown Disney. Security was NOT very happy about it when they saw him and told him to get down. They didn't need nobody cracking their head open.

It made me laugh that this kid ran under there to get his picture taken and both he and his mother were completely oblivious to Ian up above...

We spent Friday at California Adventure. We had a great time there as well. Ian was more of a fan of that place---I think because its geared towards an older crowd. The weather was nice that day as well, the lines were a little longer, but we still had a great time. Our favorite rides include: California Screamin, Soarin over California, and Tower of Terror, which are probably most people's favorites.Our only picture with characters.

Ian looking haggard (on purpose) on California Screamin.


On Tower of terror---sooo scary! The only pictures we have with Kalli and Joel are the ones on the rides---oops...I guess we forgot to get group pictures!

Saturday came too quickly, and we soon found ourselves on our way home. Ian wanted to stop at this sandstone rock formation he saw on our way down. We stopped here so Ian could climb to the top---or should I say run (cause that's what he did). We did some research when we got home (because we had no idea what this was) and found out the name of this place is the "Mormon Rocks"--because this is where the pioneers would camp after their trips across the Mojave desert. If you look close enough, you may see Ian!

We had a great time in California with Joel and Kalli. It was hard to come back home and get back to our routine, but at least we didn't come home to snow---right?

How Fairy Tales Really End

Last week we went to Disneyland for some fun! I got back to work today and one of my friends had sent me an email with these pictures. I thought it was funny---so I decided to share it. Once I get my pictures uploaded, I will do a real post about our trip!

Hope you enjoy~

It's finally almost time for...

Running again. I have finally made it out a few times this week---and boy has it felt good! My serious training will start next week.............or maybe the next :)
Isn't that the way it works?

Good Kitty

The cat has redeemed himself. I was reminded this week of why we kept him after all his naughtiness when we first moved here.

The weather has been a little bit nicer, and Ki (the cat) has been going outside more. Ian was out working on his car Tuesday, came into the garage, and found him with a nice little present he brought home. Yesterday, he was dying to go out soon after he woke up, so I let him out with me. Ten minutes later, Ian went downstairs, looked out the window, and saw him with grass and a mouse in his mouth. What a good kitty! Keep those yucky creatures away from our house!

I love his facial expression in this picture----he looks so serious and mean! I guess he is trying to be hard core or something.

2010... so far

Wow---its almost been an entire month of the new year and no posts yet---this is exactly why I don't make new year's resolutions--they never get met. Alright, so where do I start? I will start with day 1.

1/1/10
I had my own mini celebration during the day on New Year's eve--I got to leave work a little bit early, got my car back with a new tire, and got my stitches out from getting my moles removed (and thank goodness all three moles were benign--what a relief!) We celebrated the New Year's eve with Neil and Charity playing games and then lighting fireworks at midnight. The rest of New Year's day, Ian and I spent together---not at work (which was a wonderful break) and then later on celebrated with family, food, and fun. At my parent's we ate salmon and french onion soup (yummy!). Dinner was amazing thanks to my mom! We also played games with Laura and Gavin one last time before they headed back to CA.

1/2/10-1/3/10
Weekends are always nice....not sure what went on that weekend, but I am sure it was good stuff! It probably consisted of figuring out things for our house, shoveling snow off our steps and driveway, meeting new people at church, etc...

1/4/10-1/5/10
I spent two days at work, both of which were EXTREMELY busy, crazy, and somewhat chaotic (which has now turned into our usual) but I knew as soon as I left work on Tuesday, I would be somewhat "free" the rest of the week.

1/6/10-1/8/10
I spent these days traveling to, being in, and traveling from Warsaw, Indiana! What's there you might ask---well it's famous for being THE Orthopedic Capital of the World. Our corporate plant and offices are there, and they had a nice meeting for office/operations managers. I actually had a lot of fun out there, going to nice dinners, meeting people I work with (who up to that point I had only talked to on the phone), hanging out until all hours of the night with the other distributorships managers, seeing the manufacturing side of the business (it's pretty crazy stuff!) feeling right at home with the HUGE snowstorm they had, feeling proud of myself for traveling all by myself and not getting lost (except for once---thanks to the GPS) and of course learning some new things and gaining great insight to better our business' day to day tasks.

1/9/10
My 25th birthday! That's right---I am now a quarter of a century old. Ian took me shopping to all my favorite stores (which was a nice gift within itself---as he is not very fond of any of them) and bought me some nice presents that I chose out. He also took me to lunch to the Macaroni Grill---I had been CRAVING their penne rustica. We spent the rest of the day together relaxing---I couldn't have asked for more!

1/10/10
We pretty much woke up late, went to church (at the beginning of the year we switched to the 1:00 schedule which is not our most favorite) and then to my parent's for my birthday dinner----we all loved the french onion soup we had on New Year's so much that my mom made it again, along with some really good chicken and salad! Oh yeah, and my favorite birthday cake! We then went to Ian's parents for some cake(s) *Judy made me two this year! Yum* and some good times with friends.

1/11-1/16
This week school started again. Ian is finishing up his last semester! We are both VERY excited about that! And I am taking my last class available at SLCC---which has some pros and cons. This week was also very busy as Ian's been working for TNT again, and my work is just INSANE! On Friday of this week, I decided to have a get together with my old group of friends at our house. Everybody was able to come! It was really fun to see them all again and to catch up! I decided we need to get together more often---I miss them!

1/17/10
Ian and I both got new callings in our ward---can you guess what they are? Yep---Ian is in the Young Men's, serving as secretary and I am a primary teacher---teaching the cute little sunbeams! I lOVE primary!

1/18/10-1/24/10
Snow, work, the Bachelor, school, taco Tuesday, Biggest Loser, snow, work, dentist visit (first one in YEARS-but SHOCKINGLY NO CAVITIES!!!) visiting and home teaching, work, school, more work, and more school. Oh yeah, and we FINALLY got a washing machine and dryer on Friday. Ian found an AMAZING deal. And Saturday (last night) we went to the Jazz game, thanks to my boss Brett. And guess what---the Jazz actually won! Yes, they played the Nets, but still--they WON! Ian and I have never been to a game that the Jazz have won---so we decided to celebrate by stopping at McDonald's and taking advantage of the free big macs McDonald's gives with your ticket when the Jazz win.

Well, that is our new year so far folks....thanks for tuning in. Hope you are all having a wonderful 2010! (does anyone else still find it so wierd to type/write that?)