Adam & Hillary

Walter Kirschman

2011-04-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

Adam's grandfather passed away suddenly and peacefully on April 7th 2011. Although he was suffering with pneumonia it was rather unexpected. Walt, or Pop Pop as he was commonly called lived a colorful life. For those of you who attended our wedding ceremony you may remember him as our temple sealer.

Before I met Walt I was cautioned about his unorthodox approach to life. When we met for the first time at Adam's childhood home I thought he was adorable. Wearing a plaid beret he resembled a 19th century golfer and although he seemed somewhat oblivious to social norms he was genuine and devoted. I unfortunately never met his wife Linda, she passed shortly before Adam and I started dating. Even years after her death Pop Pop would sign Christmas and Birthday cards, "Love, Walt and Linda." She never seemed to be far from his mind. Even though we are sad to lose him we take comfort in the fact he went peacefully and is now with his love, Linda.

Having lost my own paternal grandfather only a few months ago the importance of living a full life is again brought into focus. Both men had a sincere appreciation for hard work, family and faith. These qualities mold a great life but can sometimes get overlooked as we move from day to day.

Florida!

2011-03-10T21:23:00.001-08:00

The first week of March I flew down to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida to visit my sister Cami and her husband Aric. Although I hate flying the promise of family, beautiful white-sand beaches, great seafood and shopping won me over. That, and Adam was going to be in Japan and I didn't want to be alone for ten days.

One of the first stops we made was Cami's work, an adorable beach side toy store called Duckies.

I love this print! If it looks familiar you may have seen it on Modern Family, it's in Lilly's room.

I had seafood every night for dinner. The craw fish were a lot of work for not much meat. They aren't my favorite shellfish but it was fun to try them!

Another fun shop although not quite as "classy" as Duckies.

Cami and Aric have two dogs, a Great Dane named Marley and a Yorkie named Gigette.

Gigette was my alarm clock a few mornings. I didn't mind because c'mon, look at that face!

I thought Cami was one of the few Cook family members that didn't own mass artillery. I was wrong. Sarah Palin watch out!

This was taken on the last day of my trip. It was hard to leave but I know I'll be back, this time I'll take Adam along.

Background Change

2011-03-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

I understand a background change does not constitute a blog post. This post is to prepare you for the totally awesome post I plan on posting when I get home.

Christmas Morning, Part Two

2011-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

After Adam and I opened presents we headed over to Kari and Steve's house for family gifts.

The Kirschman's are known for big Chirstmas's and 2010 was no exception.
Evelyn was very excited about giving Max and Adam their gifts and she insisted they go first.
Evelyn gave Adam a set of Westhighland bookends for his office, very cool.
I prefer the original.
I found these fun blankets at Sam's Club. They're like "cute" Snuggies for kids.

When it came to "best gift" Kari won. She sewed Evelyn a Mulan dress which she kept on most of the weekend.

While Evelyn channeled her "inner princess" Sophie channeled her "inner hobo."

Apparently you can purchase an entire bag of just white Tootsie Rolls.

Molly is very artistic and creative so it seemed only natural to get her a knitting starter kit. Now I can look forward to hand-made gifts!

Kari has great style so I never worry about getting an ugly sweater I have to pretend to like.
After all was said and done Max was well equipped for Beaver Mountain.

After opening gifts we always go over to Adam's aunt and uncle's house to eat great food and play games. This year each family brought a food from a different country. Kari choose Brazil and made some delicious meat skewers.

Another successful Christmas!

Christmas Morning 2010

2011-01-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Puppy stocking time!

After the puppy's stocking, Adam and I opened our stockings and gifts.

I gave Adam a Christmas ornament that looks just like Charli

(Adam's favorite of the three).

In exchange for the amazing Christmas ornament Adam gave me an iPad.

It may seem uneven but that's because the picture doesn't do the ornament justice.

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

This year Adam and I threw a Christmas Eve dinner party for Steve, Kari, Max and our puppies.

As always the dogs received their Christmas Eve present.

The bed was a gift for all three dogs but Charli runs the house and will determine who gets to nap on the new pad.

Usually she chooses herself.

Kari came bearing gifts! The dogs were very excited about their Beggin' Strips.

Norman is claiming his spot for the Annual Puppy Sleepover.

Kari gave me a lovely set of decorative Christmas word blocks. After dinner we played games, made fruit braid and talked late into the evening.
It was a great way to start off Christmas.

Christmas Decorations

2010-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

On December 4th we busted out the holiday gear.

Adam had the fun job of putting the tree together.

Charli is very protective of her bed space.

Before (with Norm)

After (without Norm)

Before

And after!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

The annual Kirschman Halloween party.

My face paint took a bit of time but was nothing compared to Adam's costume.

Kari hosted this year and did a great job on the food and decorations.

Russell and Adam.

Adam gets his drive to create made-from-scratch costumes from his dad. Steve welded his entire costume out of scrap metal.

Emily the pregnant ladybug.

The Huntsman's.

Kari and Sophie.

Max and Russell.

The Ozmun's.

One of the rare shots of Evelyn smiling. She refused to go into the same room as Adam because his costume scared her.

Another Halloween success!

Cupcake Contest

2010-10-26T16:18:00.001-07:00

Competitor #1

Competitor #2

The ingredients.

The judges.

The competition begins.

Entry #1

Entry #2

The taste test.

Deliberation.

The winner?

Undetermined.

Back in business!

2010-06-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my last post we have found the charger! Kari, my mother-in-law found the little guy after seeing the picture I posted. Apparently we (we means Adam) left it at her house over Christmas break! So we are back in business.

First off I'd like to let you know that I am creating this ground breaking blog post on our new desktop!

Before I would use my work computer when I wasn't busy to upload posts. Now, I can do it from the comfort of Adam's office. We have been married for four years and never had a home computer with internet. For most our marriage we've both had iPhones so the need for home internet was minimal. Adam would usually do homework at school or on his laptop so we've always managed.

One of the main reasons we purchased the desktop was Adam's decision to get his MBA. In May he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Public Health. The MBA was actually a last minute decision and since he didn't graduate with a degree in Business he is taking a accelerated business course this summer that will fill the requirements to enter the MBA program. Paired with his Internship at the National Center For Shaken Baby Syndrome, and a final Physiology class for his Public Health degree he needed a computer with a screen larger than 3 inches.

I was really looking forward to a summer of vacations and relaxing but that isn't the plan anymore. Adam is in school 4-8 hours everyday and when he has a short day he goes down to Ogden for his internship but manages to get home in time to work a shift at the restaurant. We see each other when we can.

As for me, I'm still at Stevens-Henager working in the Admissions department. I enjoy what I do and I am looking forward to our annual training in Vegas in two weeks. I can't really think about the flight or I will lose sleep. It's only an hour but I think it takes months off my life. I don't do well on planes and I always feel bad for the people that sit next to me. The other day a coworker told me he was worried about flying into Vegas in July cause the runway gets so hot sometimes they can't land the planes. Great! Like I need another reason to dread this flight. I have been asked by corporate to take photos for the two days we are in Vegas. I did this last time and it made the entire training much more enjoyable. This is another reason I needed the charger-thanks Kari!

The puppies are dirty and tired. We just got back from a hike up the canyon and both Howard and Norman are too lazy to come up the stairs to the office and sit by my feet like they normally do. Last week I took all three dogs on the same hike and damaged my Baby Charli. She is so oddly shaped (and overweight) that the incline tore up the little pads on her paws. I felt horrible as I watched her struggle to walk over the preceding days. We used superglue to seal the cuts but she was still hurting and lazier than normal. Today when I got ready to go I had to trick her so she wouldn't feel bad she couldn't come. It didn't work- she ran out into the yard just in time to see me load the other two dogs in the Jeep.

Sorry there aren't many photo's this post that's usually the best part of blogs. If I was a brilliant writer like Kristen I'd could be entertaining with words, but alas. Next time you will see more photos. We are also planning on joining the Skype club if you can't wait to see Norman.

Lost

2010-06-09T16:32:00.001-07:00

LOST

I have "misplaced" my Cannon battery charger.

If anyone has see this lying around their home please contact me.

REWARD: I will blog again!

Background Change/Baby Animal Day

2010-04-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

I understand I'm updating my background to Happy Easter a week after the holiday but I can't help it because I love the design! So please ignore "Happy Easter" and just enjoy the purdy colors.

I had every intention of blogging about Baby Animal Day today but forgot to take my camera. I was a little distracted with the news of David's motorcycle accident as I was walking out the door so everyone can thank David for this boring post!

Baby Animal Day was fun although colder than I expected. While there I got to see kids, kids, more kids and some baby animals. Observing farm animals in their natural habitat was almost as interesting as watching the inter workings of young, hip, Mormon families. Before Saturday I was unaware you could buy Ugg's in child sizes or that they were appropriate attire for a romp in the digested hay. Apparently children are a style extension of their parents and when mom is unusually thin and up on all the hair, bag, and clothing trends you get one stylish five-year-old. I found myself in a living Ralph Lauren ad.

[Adorable child holds baby chic while modelesque parents observe]

[Mother and daughter hold hands while father totes son on shoulders--all deliriously happy]

[Random (childless) twenty-something stands with confused look in last season's shoes]

I guess I always assumed when you reached the upper echelons of adulthood by baring kiddies you were no longer subject to such superficiality. Isn't parenthood all about getting your child into the best schools not the best shoes? I imagine the pressure for Junior to be scholastically superior is still there he just now has to do it in a pair of overpriced True Religion jeans.

Never mind the pressure placed on mothers themselves--barefoot and pregnant now requires a pedicure--they're also expected to dress the entire family to the nines. I barely have time to dress myself. These observations make me fear motherhood more than that video in high school. I lucked out with Adam being hygiene and fashion conscience but babies come out naked and covered in goop!

The Shaving Of Norman Chompski

2010-03-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Since moving last November we've gained a garage. This has been the puppy haven while Adam and I are at work/school. Because it's been so cold this winter we've kept Norman's hair long. He has such fine hair that it should be brushed everyday to keep from matting. Of course we haven't done this because brushing Norman is on par with shaving a cat. It finally came time to cut OBC (Old Boy Chom) so we made the appointment and let the groomer know that she would need extra time.

Above is a photo of Norman before his trim.

At the groomer.

Our OBC today.

Happy 26th Adam!

2010-02-23T10:00:00.001-08:00

Adam celebrated his 26th Birthday on the 27th of January. As per tradition Kari made her amazing carmel brownies at Adam's request. They were delicious!

Howard is jealous of the Birthday Card dog.

Between Christmas and his birthday I've purchased 12 BluRay's for Adam. We've watched half of one (this isn't entirely his fault).

Adam's new ipod dock.

Anyone wanna watch a movie??

Ice Climbing

2010-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

A few days after Christmas Adam, Tom, Jeff and Dustin all went ice climbing. This looks horribly cold to me but the pics are cool!

I Will Blog Again

2010-02-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

Promise.

Christmas 2009

2010-02-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

I know I'm late but here are some pictures of Christmas!

Wrapping makes Howard tired

Adam took this flattering photo Christmas morning.

The pups are excited for their treats!

Stockings.

Charli and Norman eyeing the goods.

For Christmas Bub made us this amazing dog house!

More presents were opened at Kari and Steve's house. Evelyn insisted on starting the festivities.

It was a great day with family and dogs. Adam got me three pair of shoes, a handbag, clothes and some jewelry. I'm lucky when it comes to holidays!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's almost Christmas and I'm just barely blogging about Thanksgiving! I'd blame it on kids but that would be a lie so I'll blame it on work and Adam.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at Kari and Steve's. Adam and I joined Molly, Tom, Evelyn and Sophie along with Bub and Kari for a wonderful meal.

Evelyn helped make the rolls.

I was commissioned by Adam to assist in cutting the squash. He gave me this job because it was awful. Kari doesn't know this yet but she's getting new knives for Christmas!

Below is Adam in a cute but ill-fitting apron. His YEARS at Copper Mill have paid off in the kitchen!

This is the stuffing recipe my mom shared with us. We had it last year at the Nelson's Cabin and it was delicious.

Ready to eat!

Bub, hamming it up with the turkey.

Mama's boy.

Charli was "thankful" to be under the table. Some scraps were accidentally dropped, others were dropped on purpose. All were intentionally eaten.

New Home

2009-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

We moved! After two great years we packed our stuff (in a single 24-hour period) and moved to North Logan. Believe it or not North Logan is a separate city from Logan. We had family in town due to Halloween so we commissioned their services. Thank you everyone who helped we honestly couldn't have done it without you.

We wanted to mimic the photo we took when we moved in... plus one.

Adam's job was packing the kitchen.

My job was packing the office/dogs room.

Lift with the knees!

The puppies were confused with all the moving so spent most the day locked in the bathroom.

First meal in the new kitchen, waffles.

Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. Our new town home has a side yard for the dogs as well as a garage. We'll post pictures of the inside once we get the walls decorated.

New Address:

1504 North 200 East

North Logan, UT 84341

Halloween Party

2009-11-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

Our annual Halloween Party was a blast! We didn't carve pumpkins this year but we did play a mean game of Pictionary. Below are a few photo's. For more pics of the spooky event check out Molly's blog.

Kari came as a gypsy. This is her in our black-lit foyer.

Evelyn as Alice In Wonderland.

The costume winners!

Angel Mo... er Russell?

The Knight family.

The Ozmun & Hunstman family.

Bub and Evelyn.

I dressed as Sandy from Grease. Thank goodness the bag is blocking most of me, those pants were tight!

So Long 328

2009-10-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Its official, we're being booted. Through no fault of our own our family needs to relocated. Our house has been on the market for a few months with no takers, until this past weekend. Yesterday our landlord called to let us know they had received an offer on the house and they were accepting it. They expect to close within 30 days. I think that's extremely wishful thinking in this economy but whatever, we're moving. There is the possibility that the new owners would want to rent to us but we are ready for a change. The house has been fun but it definitely has it's drawbacks so the move is both good and bad.

There is a townhouse across from the gym we both frequent that we are considering. They allow pets (which is rare) and they are in good condition (which is also rare). Plus my father-in-law does all the maintenance for the place so we know things would be fixed in a timely fashion.

Move-in Day two years ago.

You can tell this photo is old because Adam can hold Charli with just one hand, she now requires a forklift.

Everything we love about our family room we will be taking with us!

We are sad but excited about the change. Adam and I made a deal that any move we ever had would be considered a "good" one. What's wrong with looking for the positive? Unless the move included jump suits with numbers we'll consider it "good".

Thanks Molly

2009-10-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

I don't normally watch Oprah, nothing against her I'm just usually working. On Sunday Kari showed us a recorded interview she had done earlier in the week with a women from Provo. I was amazed and inspired by this women's courage and positive attitude after such a horrific accident. (I also think she has amazing style!) Below I've included her blog address. This is the polar opposite of "Seriously, So Blessed" which is also based in Provo.

http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Halloween Party!

2009-10-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Adam and I are pleased to announce the return of our annual Halloween party. We are planning the celebration for the 30th of October (it's a Friday) at 7:00 pm (we decided 6:00 was too early). Costumes are required so plan ahead. We had a blast last year and can't wait to do it again. I'm planning on sending out invitations but with work being so crazy I can't promise they'll get there much before the 30th. Last year things were a little last minute and we failed to notify everyone (namely Grandpa and Tana) sorry guys! I'm trying to be more organized this year. Get excited!

The Dog Park

2009-09-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

This little gem was discovered via Craigslist a few months back. I was in the "pets" section (slow work day) and came across a post sharing the location of a local dog park. In Logan there is no legal place to take your dog off-leash. We've long struggled with the lack of parks, canyons, open spaces that (legally) allow our four-legged friends. For the most part long walks have been Howard's only physical outlet.

For those of you unaware (I shall aware you) Howard is a Terrier, Terriers are relentless, Terriers are smart, Terriers cannot be worn out it's been proven, its science. Most the walks we would take the dogs on were as long as Charlie's legs. Unlike Adam I love all my dogs equally so I refuse to walk one without the others. Howard's need for exercise and Charlie's inability to walk long distances without the promise of food regularly collided. This impasse caused a good amount of mental anguish as well as destruction of couch pillows.

One day while scouring the Internet for answers (poetic license) I discovered the Craigslist post sharing the location of the dog park; a fenced one-acre lot littered with toys, balls, and two kiddie pools.

Our first few trips to the park we were the only ones there. Norman walked the perimeter smelling and marking, Charlie looked for things to eat and Howard walked around waiting for someone to throw something. We live in a house without a fenced yard so our dogs don't go outside without leashes on. This free range option was an entirely new experience for them. It wasn't until we went when other dogs where there that we saw how much exercise this park provided.

There are specific rules when entering the dog park. Rule one, you are required to love dogs more than most republicans. Rule two, if your dog poops you bag it. Rule three, someones dog poops you say, "Poop!" in a loud fashion and hope the owner takes notice of his/her dog. You are not required to pick up another dogs' poop but if you do so you are afforded a free poop pass. This means the next time your dog goes off into some far corner to do his/her "business" you can pretend not to see it. Rule four, you never ask the owners name only the dogs. When you are referring to a person you simply say, "_____'s owner". Rule five, if your dogs is humping another dog (regardless of gender) you are required to laugh, make a cliche comment, say its "normal" but eventually pull the dogs apart. Rule six, there are not bad dogs only bad owners. It is unlawful to bad-mouth the aggressive Pit bull but is completely legal to chastise the owner, under your breath of course.

We have loved the park and are not looking forward to the snow, which will inevitably close it for the season. The dogs are better behaved at home and Charli is slowing losing some weight.

Three Blind Dogs

2009-08-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Its official, we have mice. Although I know it is unlikely a house would contain only a single mouse I had convinced myself of such last spring. Unfortunately you don't have a mouse, you have mice.

We were watching a movie with Adam's parents one Sunday night a few months ago when Kari saw a mouse run across the floor. Over the next few hours we (three grown adults and three useless dogs) proceeded to try and corner/kill a four ounce mouse. We were unsuccessful. After everyone had left and we were in bed Adam heard the mouse out in the kitchen. When we turned on the kitchen light it became apparent that the mouse had found the sticky trap we set. The so-called humane traps don't kill the mice so you are then required to finish the job, with the help of a heavy work boot.

I ignorantly thought that because we had found a hole and killed the one mouse we saw that we were somehow mice free. Not the furry case.

This past Sunday Adam and I were in bed when we heard something move in the kitchen. Upon closer investigation we found a little rodent on our kitchen counter, that's right the counter! We tried for thirty minutes to catch/kill the bugger but without success. Mouse eventually found it's way into the family room. We came to the conclusion we were not going to catch the little guy and resorted to driving to Wal-Mart (at 2:30 am) and buying traps.

As we started to open and move around appliances we discovered an abundant amount of mouse poop. It looked like he (I'm assuming the rodent was male) and some buddies had opened up shop in the bottom drawer of our oven. I was sick to my stomach. How could all these mice be thriving in a kitchen occupied by three dogs? Chali's breed is known for rooting and rodent trapping but she can't even catch a mouse living six feet from where she chews her bone for 90% of the day? Apparently I bought the short end of the dachshund stick.

Thirty seconds after setting the traps we purchased from Wal-Mart we caught another mouse on our counter. We couldn't figure out how the little diseased vermin were getting in the house. Then we found the hole; a dark, intentional, carpet-chewed hole. The mice had created their own transit system by gnawing a tunnel from the basement into our bedroom. The disturbing hole was located two feet from where we sleep. Gross. If they could get on the counter they could get on the bed. That was the final straw, we called the in-laws (now past three o'clock) and invited ourselves over to spend the night. We stuffed the hole and placed traps throughout the house. The next morning we found another mouse humanely trapped on a sticky board and smashed it with a heavy boot. The landlords have been notified and we are still waiting to see what will come of the mouse (mice) situation.

Three important discoveries have come from this experience.

1) Landlords work on their own time frame

2) You never have a mouse

3) If it was a dog-eat-dog world all three of my dogs would be decomposing in somebody's backyard.

I guess this is why people buy cats.

The Winds 'Er Changing

2009-07-13T10:10:00.001-07:00

First, a 4th of July recap.

Adam and I had a great weekend with family. Mom and Dad came to visit us on Friday. They met the dogs, ate lunch and even went to the car show. It was great to have them come see our place. That makes two, ladies and gentlemen! Two family members that have come to visit our little home in Logan. I'm not bitter, Cami is the one that should be bitter. Who would want to come to Logan? We have no beach, no Marley, no second bathroom.

On Saturday we floated the river in celebration of our country. We did the same thing last year and made the mistake of floating the entire length which gave us close to four hours on the water. Only about two hours too long. This year we got in at a better spot and had a perfect trip. The river comes out of a hot spring (or so they say) and is very warm. Last year I took Howard and he sat on my lap for all four hours, what a good dog! He was so exhausted by the time we got out he jumped into a random strangers car ready to go home! This year we were Howard-less and Max-less, which kinda sucked.

Sunday was Sophie's First Birthday. We had a party in Nibley with Tom's family. If you'd like to see photo's hop on over to Molly and Tom's page.

I only took a few photo's of the weekend activities and realized that I had zero of Adam and I so that is really where the reluctance to post comes from (I like visuals).

Adam and I rent a little house in Logan. It's old and dusty but we love it. We had the option to buy it when we first moved in but opted not to. Thank goodness! Over the past two years the basement has flooded, the roof has started to leak, the electricity has gone in and out and two windows have broken. Not big issues but enough that we are glad we rent.

Last week our landlords put the house up for sale. They are asked 10,00o less than they did before we moved in two years ago. We still aren't interested in buying and hope no one else is because we don't want to move. The house in 130 years old (built in 1880). That's before CARS! No wonder there isn't a garage. They are selling it as a residential home or rental property. There is a downstairs apartment but it is zoned as a Mother-in-law apartment so you couldn't legally rent to anyone unrelated (which is why it has always been empty). I don't know what will happen, but I'm just planning on eventually needing to move that way I'm not surprised.

Today I found out that we are hiring another Admissions Consultant for our growing campus. It is good and bad news. Its good because it takes some pressure off but is bad because it means I may need to move out of my cute office and into a cubicle. I know, another move?! I'm very attached to my little space and I enjoy being able to shut my door. Oh well, there are worse things!

Last summer was a summer of change and I feel like this summer could produce some changes as well. I welcome them, if we were always comfortable we'd never grow anywhere!

Seriously, So Funny

2009-07-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered this blog and I must share it. It took me a good twenty minutes to figure out if the author was legit. She's not. Although she is a 26-year-old new mother and RM the character is a composite. I'm pretty sure everyone can see bits and pieces of their lives in her posts. After reading several entires I was trying to figure out if I should laugh or be offended by her spot-on presentation of LDS culture. I think the author does a superb job of keeping things funny but not mean-spirited. We all have a little Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole or Jordan/Jason/Wes/Taylor in us! The URL is below. I also plan on creating a link in my blog list. That way I can quickly direct myself to her page anytime I'm taking my life too seriously.

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Resign? You Betcha!

2009-07-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

I've decided to resign from my blog to pursue a "higher calling". I hope you understand... and vote for me in 2012!

New phone. Same old Kia.

2009-06-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

I know my hopes were too high when it came to a rental car but c'mon... a Kia? For those of you lucky enough to be one of my 200 virtual friends on Facebook you're probably already aware of my current pseudo-SUV. Not much can be said about Little Red, he's small, gutless, and smells of bad Korean food. (Get it?? They're made in Korea!)

We took the Jeep in over a week ago to get repaired and needless to say I'm still without Hemi. Tomorrow we leave on vacation with the family and they better have my baby ready or else... you know... bad stuff.

Driving to Manti is TOTALLY enjoyable regardless of what you're in but I'm pretty sure one large husband, two in-laws, and three dogs would max out Little Red. Adam and I were both surprised to see it was an '08 because it currently has just under 50,000 miles and more stains/smells than Charli's crate.

One thing that does make up for the pseudo-SUV is my new Iphone! That's right, Nokia has left the building! Adam surprised me last Friday with the new Iphone 3Gs (the "s" stands for superior to Blackberry). I'm pretty sure the reason for his graciousness had more to do with my terrible shorthand than anything else. "I luv u." "u r gr8!" "hate kia!" "thanx 4 nu phon!" The above isn't entirely accurate, the real Nokia texts contained zero punctuation.

Regardless of the reason I'm very grateful. I can now instantly read email, blogs, Facebook posts, Tweets and many other vital tidbits. My life just wasn't the same when I didn't know what Paris Hilton was eating for lunch (I meant drinking).

Now all I need is my Jeep back. Don't worry, I'll instantly update everyone when it happens!

(photo of Kia courtesy of new Iphone 3Gs)

Jeep for the win!

2009-06-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

I love my Jeep. I love everything about my Jeep, the color, the way it drives, the pointless upgrades. We've had her for over a year now and last night she got hit for the second time. The first time was a no-fault accident with minor damage more annoying than anything. The second accident happened yesterday on my way home from work.

I left work around four thirty and was headed home on main street. For no reason I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a SUV swerving in and out of the adjacent lanes. I thought it odd and assumed it was a young kid texting. We began to slow down for the upcoming light and I glanced at my rear view mirror again and noticed the SUV behind me wasn't slowing down. I knew he was going to hit me. A few feet from my perfectly white bumper he slammed on the breaks and eventually into the back of my beautiful Jeep. Fortunately I was able to prepare myself for the impact so no whiplash took place. He hit me pretty good, the Accident light as well as the Airbag light lit up my dash but luckily no bags deployed. I saw him get out of the car as well as walk around so I knew no one was seriously hurt. Seeing the damage his car had incurred I was prepared to see quite a sight when I actually got out to assess the damage to my lovely Jeep. I was pleasantly surprised.

When we bought the Jeep with a "tow package" we weren't aware that one of the off-label features of said package was a heavier duty frame and bumper. The hitch is actually fastened to the frame of the Jeep so it tows better. It also makes for a safer car in cases like these.

I immediately called 911 and reported the accident. In Logan if you are caught running a stop sign on a bike, they ticket you and usually call for backup. The Logan Boys ALWAYS seem to be around, except when you need them. It took ten minutes for anyone to show up, we were .97 miles from the Police Station (I MapQuest-ed it).

Anyway, the single officer that arrived proceeded to investigate what happened. The kid openly admitted it was his fault. Once the kid returned to his car I informed the officer that I was pretty sure the driver was intoxicated. We had only exchanged a few words before the officer arrived but he was acting strange (plus the obvious swerving). I had a skirt on and it was windy so I asked the Officer if I could remain in my car. Ten more minutes passed and another officer arrived to the scene. He proceeded to administer a field sobriety test on the other driver, which I watched him fail.

After a good thirty minutes of watching rubber-neckers I was allowed to leave. I was given the Insurance Exchange Information Sheet from the Officer and told to contact the kids insurance company. It was after five so the agency was closed but I did notice the box titled "Insurance Appears Valid" had been checked "NO" by the Officer. Great! I just got hit by a drunk diver with no insurance! I only had a local number so I couldn't report the claim until the SLC office opened the next day. When I called the next morning they informed me they had never heard of the kid or the policy number. They did however direct me to another number that turned out to know the kid. I filed a claim with them and am now just hoping all goes well.

Moral of the story: if you are going to drink, don't drive (especially not at five in the afternoon on a TUESDAY). If you ARE going to drive, hit me instead of a mother with kids in the backseat of her Ford Focus. At least I know my Jeep can handle it.

St. George Trip

2009-06-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Adam and I took some time off work and went to St. George to visit family. It's been over a year since our trip to Las Vegas so a vacation was much needed. Mom and Dad have access to a condo in Ivins and were kind enough to allow us to use it for the weekend. We left Thursday morning and began the 5 1/2 hour trip from Logan to St. George.

Highway boredom.

Adam takes driving very seriously.

Out in the middle of nowhere!

As you can see.... nothing.

The best part about the drive was the patches of 80 mph through Beaver. We finally arrived in St. George around three in the afternoon and decided to try a really exotic restaurant called Cafe Rio. We then met up with Mom and Dad and went to the condo to get settled. That night we had dinner at Kristen and Tyler's. Spencer was nice enough to give us a tour of the whole house. After dinner Adam and I played basketball with Carter and Tyler. Well, not everyone played, Adam kind of watched...

The next day we decided to take a trip up Snow Canyon on our bikes.

It was a tougher ride than we expected but totally worth it.

On Friday Emily and Russell joined us. That night we went to a really good Thai and Sushi place called Benja's. We then discovered a little hole-in-the-wall called Dixie Bowl where we played pool and foosball and then went for dessert. When it came to our trip the thing I was probably most excited about (besides seeing family) was Nielsen's Frozen Custard! I love ice cream, I enjoy all kinds... all I can say is that my last meal will consist of a pint of Nielsen's vanilla custard. When the trip was over I had successfully eaten it all three days.

On Saturday we took Emily and Russ up Snow Canyon to do some rock climbing. We stopped at the dunes to take some photo's of the incoming storm.

Just off the Three Ponds trial.
Petrified Dunes.
The weather turned out to be pretty much perfect. Emily and Russ rode home with us on Sunday which made the drive much more entertaining. As we got closer and closer to Logan it began to rain.... for some reason it seemed fitting.

Vintage Love

2009-05-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mom emailed this picture to me (and most of you) for Mother's Day. I remember seeing this picture of Grandma and Grandpa Wood when I was a kid and loved it. Looking over this photo got me thinking about how wedding photography has changed over the years. You can tell without a doubt that these two people love each other. The picture isn't perfectly posed, or even centered but it doesn't seem to matter. The photo was merely taken to capture the event not necessarily emote an emotional response. The subjects are what is captivating, not the lighting, effects or positioning. Adam and I love photography and we are constantly taking pictures. Some of the best pictures we've taken have nothing to do with how we took the photo but when. Catching the "moment" that real smile, or imperfect kiss is what makes the best picture. It seems that with most modern wedding photography it's all about how to make the subject(s) look the best. Look here, hold hands, now kiss.

I love Grandma and Grandpa's wedding photo, it reminds me of what marriage is all about, love.

Easter Weekend

2009-05-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I felt it imperative I share the death of my iphone with everyone before Easter photo's but regardless here they are...

Molly, Emily, Bub, the girls and I went to Baby Animal Day over Easter weekend. For those of you unaware of what Baby Animal Day is I share aware you. Baby Animal Day, or BAD as I like to call it, is an annual festival held at a heritage center just outside Logan City. You can compare it to Wheeler Farm for those of you who grew up in Salt Lake. Every year before Easter Sunday the heritage center invites the public to come see all the baby animals. I'm pretty sure I get more excited than my three-year-old niece, Evelyn. Everything is cuter when its small.

Along with the baby animals come a slew of heritage workers who actually grew up in the 19th century. I try and care about early settlers but I can't seem to muster the interest. I know there will probably come a time when I do but for right now I'm more concerned with my dead iphone. I have never understood the fascination with antiques either, especially completely unusable antiques.

"Wow, that tiny chair is over 100 years old? Is it comfortable? No? Looks small... So can I sit in it? No? No, I understand what an antique is I just don't... Okay, I'll be outside by the overpriced rock candy."

I know I might be black-listed for this but I gotta say I just don't get the church history tours either. Sorry Grandpa and Tana... I'd be happy to visit Hong Kong with you! I'm more of a nice hotel, wake up late, lay by the pool, eat and shop kinda girl. You can call me shallow, ignorant and materialistic but with glowing skin like this who cares!? Of course when Adam and I come home from vacations we have nothing to share with anyone.

"Tell us about your trip!"

"Well, here we are in front of Saks, and here we are laying by the pool. There are only two pictures because we got tired of carrying around the camera."

I just discovered how off track I've gotten with this post. Easter weekend was great. After the animals we went shopping for birthday gifts for my mother-in-law. We celebrated that night with lemon cream cake. Sunday was full of eggs and pastels. I made trifle, because it's easy and pretty, like Adam. Kari made Lamb with mint sauce. I was all around a great weekend.

Good Night Sweet Iphone

2009-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Two good years... One of the best relationships I've ever had. You were always there for me, never crashing, never freezing, never telling me you were too busy. I loved you but treated you poorly. I can't count the times I let you down, sometimes on the hard pavement. Initially I took better care of you, buying you things, downloading new software but over time I got careless and took you and your abilities for granted. I thought every phone had GPS, a built in commercial directory, google maps, facebook, instant email and web surfing... I thought wrong. Only you, my sweet friend, could take care of me the way I needed. I have lost you, and unfortunately all my phone numbers. Did I give up too soon? Could we have made it work? Perhaps a hard re-boot? I don't think so, what is done is done. We both knew when I dropped you outside Smiths while picking up fresh cilantro for Adam's chili, it was the final straw. You just couldn't take it anymore and I don't blame you, I blame the rain. For now Nokia will have to do. She isn't anything special, no camera, calendar, fun ring tones, alarms, pictures, predicted text, apps... but she was $20 and with Apple about to release a new version of you, that's all that really matters. We had a good ride, at least I have the memories... and a very expensive paperweight.

Man's Best Facebook Friend

2009-04-09T16:50:00.001-07:00

Its official, Norman has a Facebook page. For weeks he's been bugging me about getting his own profile so he can stay in touch with his bitc.... female dog friends. The breaking point came this morning while watching Norm's second favorite show, Rachel Ray. She had a guest on that was going over the in's and out's of Facebook and Norman vowed that if I didn't establish a profile page for him he would proceed to rip the bathroom rug apart. Luckily work was slow because Adam just bought new bathroom rugs. If you are interested in becoming one of Norman's friends you can search for him by his full name, Norman Chompski. I'm fairly certain it won't be long before he accumulates more "friends" than me. I would have let him established his own page but he is missing the necessary opposable thumbs required for efficient typing. He also doesn't meet 13-years-old age requirement so we measured in dog years.

April Fools!

2009-04-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I came into work today and was promptly offered a chocolate. I'm not normally greeted with such love especially on a Wednesday. I happily accepted the said chocolate and took it too my office to consume. I broke off a corner of the ball of goodness and was about to eat it when I noticed something odd...

Upon closer inspection it became clear that I was being duped. One of my coworkers had dipped cotton balls in milk chocolate as an April Fools joke. Luckily I had eaten breakfast recently and wasn't hungry. If I hadn't then I'd probably still be fishing cotton out of my teeth. This event got me thinking about pranks... Later in the day said coworker was shredding

massing amounts of documents (she works in finance) and I had an epiphany. I told her not to throw out the paper and instead bring it to me.

Years ago when I was a wee lass living with other wee lass(es..?) at Alpha Chi Omega, Adam and his lame friends decided to cover our chapter room with diced packing foam. I wasn't dating or aware of Adam at the time but somehow ended up being the one to clean up the nine bags worth of packing foam (while he took another girl out to dinner!). Many plans were made to retaliate but none were ever executed.

Last week Adam spent all afternoon cleaning both cars. He drives the Jetta which has black felt-like interior. I decided that a good home for the two bags of shredded paper from said coworker would be his freshly vacuumed car. I took a break while Adam was working and proceeded (with much enthusiasm) to dump the bags all over the car. Below is the evidence.

A Beacon

2009-03-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

My wonderful place of work has officially blocked all social networking sites, blogs and any streaming video. While I understand this for productivity sake I have a hard time finding things to do when work is slow and I have no appointments scheduled. I have found that if I use the wireless connection instead of the network I can have access to blogger but this wears on my conscience. So this post is to inform you that I will no longer be blogging with the same frequency I once did. Until I can justify to my superiors the need for me to update family and friends with important puppy news on a daily basis I will be slower to post. Adam and I have yet to purchase cable Internet for our home so work was my only hope when it came to staying up-to-date in this 21st century world. I apologize, I know my blog was a beacon of hope in the mundane lives of so many out there. With each dog-post I brought care and understanding to the world, light and truth, bedtime stories and false pregnancies. I ask you, my humble readers, to not lose hope with this turn of events but to find understanding in your hearts and take this as a new opportunity to go and do something better with your lives. I am not admitting defeat, only respecting "the man". I'm sure you will find that although my blogs may be less frequent, they still will be full of the same Pulitzer prize winning material you have come to love.

A Healthy Competition

2009-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

I have always been an active person and over the last few years I've been going to the gym on a regular basis. I love the way I feel when I exercise and the way it helps me feel better about being me. When I met Adam I was struck by how tall and built he was. At the time we had been attending the gym occasionally but once we met that all went to pot. Shortly after we got married I began to notice how chubby I'd gotten (Adam still denies it, isn't that cute??) and decided to make a change. I started going to the gym again and quickly fell back in love and have been going consistently since 2006.

Adam has the metabolism of a 16-year-old and never really needed to exercise in order to eat whatever he wanted. I, on the other hand can't eat two bowls of cereal without one of them ultimately adding to my "junk in the trunk". Getting to my point. Adam has recently taken up weight lifting again. Within the last few months he has cut out all junk food and upped his protein intake to over 200 grams per day. We've started going to the gym together about five times a week and tired to eat healthy. I've seen little change in my physique. Adam on the other hand has dropped to below 10% body fat and put on what seems like twenty pounds of muscle.

My beef is not that I have a fit and good looking husband, I can live with that. My beef is the fact that Adam has made more progress in the last few months than I have the past few years! What I wanna know is why? Why does God love him more? I require 60 minutes on the treadmill, four times a day, six times a week, in the snow, both ways, to drop a jean size. Meanwhile my other half eats seven times a day and is being offered Bowflex commercials.

I'm not trying to discredit Adam's workout ethic, he has awesome dedication and amazing willpower. I'm just upset that is seems to come easier and quicker for him. His dad started running at age 49 and by 50 logged a 3:06 marathon. How is that fair? If it's a gender thing then why on earth are women the ones to bare children? Let a man do it, they'll be playing Rugby in their "skinny jeans" by weeks end.

For two years I was the one refusing white bread and 2% milk. Adam is now making the same food requirements and for the first time I see how annoying it can be. Eat your pizza crust and shut up about your workout routine! There are times I feel like saying, "being healthy was MY thing! You're totally stealing my healthy thunder." I've officially lost my shoulder devil, instead I've gained a workout partner telling me to put down the donut and do one more rep.

There are far worse things than a fit spouse. In all honestly I've gained a new respect for Adam, I am more encouraged to be healthy due to his example. I feel competitive with him but when it comes down to it we are a team, I just hope our future "team members" inherit his metabolism... and my taste in workout music.

Caramel Blondies!

2009-02-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

A sophisticated treat.

I know it took me long enough but here is the Caramel Blondie recipe. They call them Dulce de Leche Blondies in the cookie book we have but these little gems don't need to gilded.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 package (14 ounces) caramels

1/2 cup evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Spread 1/2 to 3/4 of mixture in prepared pan. Bake 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on wire rack. Meanwhile, melt caramels in evaporated milk in nonstick saucepan over very low heat. Reserve 2 tablespoons; pour remaining caramel over baked layer. Drop dollops of remaining dough over caramel layer; swirl slightly with knife. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. When completely cooled, cut into 1-inch squares. Reheat reserved caramel, if necessary; drizzle over blondies.

makes about 3 dozen blondies

Side note: Adam finds that drizzling the blondies with the left-over caramel makes for caramel overload, so I usually only do half the pan so people can choose. Also, these must be consumed with cold milk.

A Very Merry Birthday

2009-02-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the edition with photo's!

I am notorious for packing everything when we go on trips even over-nighters. For my birthday this year Kristen and Tyler were generous enough to allow Adam and I the use of the cabin. [insert cabin photo]

We only planned on staying one night but I still managed to over pack. Sure I brought two sets of PJ's and four different colors of eyeshadow but the camera? Na, only the essentials please. Luckily Adam's sisters were with us most the weekend and they had their cameras. So as soon as I upload their photo's I'll update this boring post.

The birthday weekend was awesome! Molly's husband, Tom is a ceramics teacher at Mountain View High School in Provo. When he heard we were coming down to Utah County for the weekend he decided to invite us to come to his studio and make some pots. I haven't made pots in years, not since high school and I was so excited to be able to make some pots again, it's quite addicting. [insert marijuana joke here]

Tom: The Expert

Molly and Emily, their husbands, and Adam and I all got together Saturday to play around in Tom's studio. It was awesome! [insert studio photo's here]

After that everyone joined Adam and I at the cabin for soup, which Molly provided. It was delicious taco soup with Frito's... yummy... it's good I don't have pictures because I'm quite hungry. Anyway, we played games and sat by the fire. Before we knew it it was past midnight. Emily and Russ had to teach Sunday School the next morning and had every intention of heading home that night but then Emily fell asleep and we convinced Russell to stay and leave early in the morning. Molly and Tom lived only 15 minutes away but the girls had already gone to sleep and Tom was doing quite well at Scatagories so they stayed too!! We stayed up for another hour or two fighting over legitimate answers to Scatagories.

I think the game ended shortly after I convinced everyone that "D"racula was considered a Hero to those in Romania, I still hold to that. The next morning Molly was up early and being the mother she is cleaned the entire cabin before Adam and I woke up. She washed all the sheets, cleaned the kitchen, everything!! Now that's the kind of guest you invite, one who provides dinner and cleaning services! Thanks again Molly. We rolled out of bed around 11:00 and made some killer french toast for breakfast then we bummed around the cabin until our next meal which happened to be at Tom and Molly's. Family is so wonderful. Thank you so much to the Nelson's for letting us use your beautiful cabin, everyone was so impressed they can't stop talking about it. Thank you Tom and Molly for sharing your work, home, children and food with us! We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

yum... peanut butter cookies covered in chocolate...... yum....

Adam turns 25!

2009-01-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

It's official, Adam can now legally rent one of those little golf carts on Catalina Island. Wow, what a milestone. Next time we're off the coast of California we'll totally have to do that. That's right, Adam is 25 years-old (I really hate it when people use the term "years-young").

Yesterday we celebrated the day by working. After I was off work we went to the gym so we wouldn't feel as bad for eating half a pan of Carmel Blondies later that evening. Adam had one request for his birthday, Carmel Blondies. If you have never experienced this delicious treat I recommend you do and I can happily share the secret family recipe with you. No cake holds a candle, let alone 25 of them to these dulce cookie bars.

As far as gifts go Adam got a framed picture of his favorite dog, charli as well as a new gym bag, gym shirt and iPod Shuffle. I got Adam an arm band for his iPhone for Christmas so he could listen to music while he worked out but it actually doesn't fit (apparently working out is working out for him!) hence the need for the iPod Shuffle. The last Shuffle he had was lost as sea. So next time we are on Catalina Island and we take a break to go swimming I'll have to make sure he has left the Shuffle in our rented golf cart.

Below are some pic's of our evening. Happy Birthday dude!

Yes, I'm aware we are a few candles shy.... in more than one way.

Are prayers are with Steve Jobs.

She really is his favorite, we choose favorites depending on who last chewed up what.

This is a picture of baby Baby Charli. She wouldn't even fit in the frame now.

Clever Mama

2009-01-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

I came across this poem mom wrote a few years back. I was cleaning out my external hard drive and not only did I find a whole slew of poorly written college papers but this little gem! Enjoy.

I Have Parents Who Are Lazy!

I have parents who are lazy!

You may say it isn't so

But I'm as sure as sure can be

An I'll tell you how I know.

Whenever there is something that

Needs a doin'- big or small

You can betch 'yer bottom dollar that

You'll her my Mama call

"Fetch me this and please do that

An why you sittn' there?

There's projects, tasks and jobs to do

'Fore takin' to the chair!"

An if Daddy says "Come with me

Jus fer a tic or two."

Well, kiss goodbye your afternoon

Cause it's hours till you're through.

That's why they had a bunch of us

An not jus one or two

So's we could work 'n work 'n work

Leavin' none fer them to do.

They say we're buildin' character,

Habits, skills, and such.

Plus longside work they say we need to

Not complain so much.

An I suspect whiles we're a slavin'

Doin' all their stuff,

They gots their feet up nice and snug

Talk'n 'bout how life's so tough!

But there's one thing that troublin' me

And scratchin' in my head.

A comment that I everheard;

Somethin' Bishop said.

"I need," he says, "some youth to help

in serve- quite a few.

Less if you've got Cooks a comin'

They work as hard as two.

That made my heart feel big and kinda

Swelly deep inside

So much that I's afraid I'd pop

My buttons cause of pride.

So maybe there is somthing

To this work thing after all.

Maybe that day when I'm in charge

Of little one's who's small

I'll send him here and her there

To do some job I see

Knowin' someday they'll thank heaven above

For lazy folks like me.

P.S. Angie just called and informed me that everyone is headed to St. George this fine weekend. I'm jealous (Adam has to work) and I expect someone to blog about your trip so I can be even more resentful. Angie is off the hook because her computer is broken. Anyway, have fun and all that crap.

Christmas Day

2009-01-07T10:22:00.001-08:00

Hooray for Christmas! I have to admit that Adam is the best at Christmas, (he's pretty good the rest of the year too!) he really goes all out. We have agreed that I turned Adam's family onto Halloween and they turned me onto Christmas. I've always loved Christmas but I do have to say that there are a few times in high school that we wouldn't have put up a Christmas tree if I wasn't will to do it. The Cooks are low maintenance when it comes to the holidays!

This year Adam surprised me with bike instead of another dog! Isn't it awesome? It came with a bell and basket! I was totally surprised. I've wanted one for a while but ever since Summer ended I had kind of forgotten about it. Norman is below grudgingly demonstrating the basket capabilities.

We were a little strapped for time Christmas morning because we were so tired from the puppy sleepover we were in no hurry to wake up, we even set an alarm! Norman was the only dog to survive the sleepover so he is the only one in the morning pictures. We only opened stockings before needing to leave to the Kirschmans so we packed up all our gifts and took those and Howie with us. Adam gave me Howard for Christmas last year so we decided to make it a tradition to take him with us to the festivities, that and he is great at destroying things while we are gone so we figured it might save some of our furniture.

Breakfast is an important part of Christmas day. I volunteered to make french toast because it's by far the best breakfast food!

Here is Evelyn posing with her toast.

One of the things we were looking forward to the most was being able to talk with Max who is on a mission in Brazil. It was so good to hear his voice. He was able to receive all his care packages by Christmas and Kari even shipped him his stocking. Above is Max's cute girlfriend Toni saying hi to him. I think one of the highlights of the call was hearing Evelyn sing the Elephant song to him. Molly has a video clip of her singing it on her blog, it's adorable.

Bub took a week off from running (quite a feat for a man with such an addiction!) to build Kari an awesome piece of furniture for the entry way. He built the entire thing from scratch using only some photo's from the Internet. It was cool to see her shock when he busted it out that morning.

Adam and I exchanged gifts after Max's call and breakfast. We both bought each other the exact same arm band for working out at the gym! Adam got a scarf, some Ugg slippers, The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray, and some great clothes. I got a sweet bike, some sexy new shoes and a pair of rockin' Wayfarer Ray Bans!

Sophie was in a great mood all morning!

After breakfast we all went over to the Ozmuns to eat lunch and play games. We met up with Emily and Russ who had been celebrating Christmas at the Petty's in Sandy.

Around five that evening it started to snow really bad. It took us 40 minutes to get from the Ozmun's back home, a trip that normally takes ten. The boys decided to take advantage of the snow and hook a sled to the Jeep and take turns trying to kill eat other. We tried to take photo's for the police report we figured would be coming once one of them killed the other but the snow made it hard to see.

Take a look at that mess! This photo is AFTER we cleaned up all the boxes. Emily and Russ hadn't been with us that morning so we decided to exchange family gifts Christmas evening. This is me opening a healthy cook book that Em and Russ got me! Emily even demonstrated her domestic skills by scrapbooking a cute cover for it.

Adam and I have been going to the gym a lot lately so I was thrilled when Kari got me some new workout clothes. I pretty much haven't taken the jacket off since Christmas.

Evelyn is quite camera shy but we were able to capture this little diddy of her in her new night gown from Grandma Ruth.

Ahhhhhh look at that sweet Bub.

Below is Kari opening her gift from Em and Russ which happened to be the same thing she bought them. Everyone could use a new lamp!

After eating yet another meal around midnight Adam and I headed home completely exhausted. It has been an amazing Holiday Season. God bless family, we love you all.

Puppy Sleepover!

2008-12-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

Norman is the only bed approved dog, mostly because he is so small and doesn't shed. Adam and I promised the dogs we would have a puppy sleepover on Christmas Eve on the condition they were all freshly bathed and on their best behavior. I think we looked forward to this event more than any of the dogs. Norman LOVES sleeping on our bed but the other dogs don't really care they just prefer anything over their kennels. Howard has caught on that when we say "bed time" it means he must retire to his small, stinky kennel upstairs. This nightly requirement is just shy of animal abuse in his eyes (and Norman's). Due to his recent discovery bed time has become more and more trying, you wouldn't believe the painful looks you can receive from an animal that eats poop (for the record, we've never actually seen him eat poop it's just assumed). The last few weeks our only comfort has been in the impending puppy sleepover. On Christmas Eve we purchased a new bottle of dog shampoo and proceeded to bathe all three of the dogs like promised. Charli is easy to bathe so is Howard with the proper amount of intimidation. I'd rather bathe a cat than Norman. A few hours later it was time for bed. We knew the probability of this thing actually lasting the entire night was slim. Charli is a dachshund which were initially bred to burrow after badgers and boy does she know how to burrow. It doesn't matter if you are laying flat on your back dead asleep, she will find away to get underneath you. It's amazing, she has no fear of closed spaces and actually prefers to be completely encased. We knew this going in but still decided to proceed with the sleepover. Below are the pictures.

If you are wondering where Charli is, she is the long mass under the covers between Norman and Adam.

Needless to say the sleepover only lasted until 2:00 am at which point we thought it was best to take Howard and Charli to bed. Howard didn't even complain.

Cook Christmas Party

2008-12-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

All the little one's.

Sunday the 21st we all gathered at Scott and Angie's to celebrate Christmas. Everyone was there. I'm trying to remember the last time we all were in the same place, spouses included. Amber and Chris came from California so did Jonathan and Gina. Cami and Aric flew in from Florida and everyone else drove from their Utah homes to meet for dinner and presents. I met Amber's daughter, Grace for the first time- she's two!! Adam was able to make it down that morning thanks to his sister Emily and brother-in-law Russ. I picked him up in Draper.

Hold the phone! I need to back up and tell you about my crowning moment the night before at David's. The brothers and their significants often gather together and play poker. This time is one of the first and ONLY times we have never actually played for money (Sorry Mom, I know David has told you we play with candy... I guess you could buy candy with the money you win so I think that's how he justifies lying to his mother). Anyway, I won! That's right I kicked some serious booty and won.... nothing. Bragging rights can't buy me candy, pride never purchased anyone an energy drink! I'm still bitter. The next time we play everyone will pitch in ten bucks and I won't come close to winning. Just slightly bitter.

After I picked up Adam we went to David's to change then milled around town a bit. The party started at five in Lehi. I was in charge of bringing a dessert so we picked up the stuff for Root beer Floats, much to the unhappiness of Adam who does not consider Root beer Floats appropriate dessert material. I also purchased a container of brownies so he'd stop complaining. I'd like to point out that everyone loved the Floats and we quickly consumed an entire gallon of vanilla ice cream. As for the brownies I believe there where plenty left over. Hillary wins again!!

Because everyone was together we wanted to make sure and document the moment because no one knows when it will happen again!

You dun good mom and dad!

What is a party without presents? A crappy party! The "gift exchange" had specific rules which included NOT purchasing anything. Your white elephant had to be something you already owned and there was no limit on how much the item could be worth. I was surprised to see how many people had unopened cellophane wrapped DVD's lying around the house! The gifts where actually pretty good, a chafing dish, a bread maker, scrapbooking supplies etc. It makes it more fun when you actually have a chance to win something good. No one likes playing if they can't win something! Am I right?? I'm trying to get over my poker bitterness before Christmas.

Amber and Chris brought a giant gumball machine wrapped in tinfoil. No one seemed too excited about it except me. My boss has a gumball machine in his office and I've always wanted one, thanks to our gift exchange I now have one. I was so excited I even took a picture! I have yet to fill it with anything but that's not the point, the point is that it's bigger than my bosses!

We had a great time with everyone. Thank you Angie for allowing us to trash your house. Merry Christmas everyone! We love and appreciate you and all you do.

Pinch To Grow An Inch

2008-12-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

Austyn turns one! This past weekend the Cook family got together to celebrate the Holiday Season as well as Austyn's first milestone. It was great to have everyone together, it hasn't happened in a few years. The weather has been pretty ugly the last few days but I was bound and determined to make the party regardless of the snow conditions. It was the first time we really tested the jeep in the snow and she passed! I figured if Cami could come from Florida for this thing then I could drive 90 minutes from Logan to Salt Lake.

Emily worked so hard on Austyn's birthday, from the invitations to the party favors there were no holds barred. Austyn took some convincing to eat her cake but she was the only one. None of the children seemed bothered that we were eating Nemo.

After the party Amber and Chris invited all the adults to dinner at Chef's Table in Orem. Jonathan worked there during his reign at BYU and recommended it. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was good and the company was awesome! Thanks Amber and Chris! Adam couldn't make it to dinner he opted out for a chance to work, lame. Luckily he made it to the Christmas party the next day.

It's Tree Time

2008-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

This year we put the tree up earlier than ever before. I've always tried to wait at least until December first but that didn't happen. The day after Thanksgiving we brought out all the Christmas decor we could find in the basement including the busted tree lights and several damaged Nativity scenes. Our tree is not a fun assemble. Our tree is not fun to light. Christmas trees are the reason alcohol is added to eggnog.

We have two Christmas bears a tan one and a white one. Norman hates the white one (I'm pretty sure that's reverse discrimination). They both sit on our bed and when left alone with them Norman won't touch the tan one but the white one is always later found on the floor missing his red sweater. We're still working on a confession.

Charli, Charil's bone, and Adam.

It honestly took us two hours to put this stupid tree together. We ended up taking a break and going out to dinner and then coming back to finish.

Charli held down the fort while we were gone.

Holiday Weekend

2008-12-10T12:30:00.001-08:00

The best place to be during the holiday season is a cabin. I'm not a fan of the cold and I do not enjoy layers unless it's cake, but I have to say there is something about the fall and early winter season that really feels right when experienced in a cabin.

A few weeks ago we got the chance to visit Kristen and Tyler's cabin up Springville canyon for Thanksgiving. It hadn't yet snowed but it was overcast and felt seasonal. I remember going to the cabin once before when I was a tweener but a lot has changed in ten years, including the cabin. Tyler hired David to remodel the interior and I believe the exterior as well. It looks awesome. Adam and I believe a lot of things but one in particular is that cabins should look like cabins, not homes that happen to exist in the forest. I was so impressed with how nice everything looked while still maintaining the true feel of a cabin.

Thanksgiving dinner (more like early lunch) was awesome. One thing the Cook family knows how to do is eat. There were several kinds of meat, potatoes, salad, rolls and pie. Yum, I haven't eaten lunch yet. After filling ourselves with holiday goodness it was time to exercise our right to bare arms. Another thing the Cook family knows how to do is shoot stuff. Targets, pumpkins, clay pigeons, real pigeons, doesn't matter!

Below is Tyler diagnosing the pumpkin's cause of death.

After our shooting rampage we all had worked up an appetite for pie. Yum...pie... Because I've always worked the day after Thanksgiving I've never had a chance to shop on Black Friday. Emily informed us that the mall was opening up at midnight and seeing as we're NOT morning people we thought it would be fun to go at midnight. I was always under the impression that crazy housewives and grandmothers shopped on Black Tuesday but apparently the mall has an age cap of eighteen. I've never seen so many cooly depressed and hormonal teenagers in my life! We didn't end up really buying anything except for some Sabbaro pizza at one in the morning (I don't advise anyone to make that decision).

All in all it was a great trip and we look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas time. I'm always reminded of what a great family we have every time we get together with either Kirschman's or Cook's.

Vegas, again.

2008-11-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I leave for my first corporate training in Las Vegas. The last trip I took was to Vegas oddly enough. Adam and I went in May for our second anniversary. If you read my post about our trip you would know that I am not a huge fan of Vegas. I don't understand gambling, I mean I understand how it works I just don't understand the draw. It's like throwing money away! What a rush, I just lost forty bucks! If it were someone else's money then maybe I'd be more apt to go "all in" with an off-suit seven and two. I do have to admit I am excited about the shopping! Sephora here I come!!! I'm okay with twelve hour training days as long as I can buy designer mascara and $30 lip gloss before the day is over. I was going to take Adam's camera but I'm pretty sure there won't be much to document. Here is Hillary in a meeting. Here is Hillary at the buffet. Here is Hillary trying to stay awake in a meeting after eating at the buffet. Here is Hillary spending unnecessary money on overpriced lip gloss. All kidding aside I am excited to go. Any reason to leave Cache Valley in November is a good reason.

The Fall Spirit

2008-10-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

Last year Emily gave Adam a Hot Drink Maker (the generic version of a Cocomotion) for Christmas. We recently remembered we had it and busted it out for the first time this fall. I love chai as well as a strong cup of hot chocolate so I was excited to start making delicious designer drinks again. Here is a goofy picture of Adam enjoying our first concoction.

Halloween Party!

2008-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last year Adam's sister threw an awesome Halloween party and started a family tradition. This year Molly decided to pass the hosting torch to Adam and I, we were happy to accept and looked forward for weeks to throwing the party. I have been working a lot lately so I'd like to say we worked for weeks but the truth is we crammed everything into two very busy days.

After several trips to Wal-Mart (a nightmare in and of itself) we had just about everything we needed. The food was our first priority because well, we enjoy eating and figured everyone else does too!

I looked all over the Internet for fun party food ideas so I will take no credit for the originality of the food you see. We decorated the house in true Halloween fashion and costumes were STRONGLY encouraged. We voted on the best and scariest costumes as well as the most original. Russ, Emily's husband won the Most Original award when he dressed up as his devoted father-in-law, Steve (take note of the white hair, soul patch and running trophy in hand). Adam went as a "home boy" and I rocked a red Mohawk and punk attire. We were totally impressed with how everyone went all out when it came to their costumes.

Our upstairs hallway

Emily and Russ-Bub

Adam and I

The Ozmun and Huntsman family

What is a Halloween party without some friendly competition and games that make you look like an idiot? Not my kind of party! We had a pumpkin carving contest as well as a donut eating contest.

Molly Vs. Hillary

MaKenna's pumpkin

Jake Vs. Adam

Adam's pumpkin

By the time the night was over we had all eaten our weight in candy, donuts, and junk food so it was no wonder that no one was really up for pie. We made Carmel apples as favors for everyone and luckily they were packaged so people could take them to go. We really enjoyed throwing the party and we want to thank everyone that helped and everyone for coming. Below are just a few more photo's of the fun night.

Toni (Max's cute girlfriend)

Tom, Molly, Evelyn and Sophie

Evelyn

Kari and Bub

Our awesome pumpkins!

I've been tagged!

2008-10-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with my post, I just thought it was cute

Molly "tagged" me the other day which I guess means I need to write six quirks about myself and then proceed to tag six other people. So here goes, six quirks about myself...

1) I collect dogs like celebrities collect children. (two breeds from Europe and one from Asia)

2) I use at least a full yard of floss every night.

3) I require background music or the TV on when I'm alone.

4) Each of my dogs has at least four names they respond to.

5) I refuse to watch anything with Paris Hilton unless she dies as part of the plot.

6) I love mornings but hate waking up.

I would like to officially tag:

Cami Ellis

Emily Cook

Angie Cook

Mom

Gina Cook

Kristen Nelson

Logan Canyon

2008-10-03T11:28:00.001-07:00

Adam took the puppies up the canyon last week to exercise them and take advantage of the great photo opportunities with the leaves changing. After the five mile hike Howie came home and and wanted to go for a run, Norman wanted to lay on the couch and pick the burrs out of his fur and Charli simply wanted to die.

Max Aaron Kirschman

2008-09-19T12:54:00.002-07:00

We knew the day would come but it still seemed to sneak up on us. Max left on his mission on Tuesday the 16Th of September. We dropped him off at the airport at 11:00 am for his flight to the MTC in Brazil. When he finishes his MTC training he will be serving in Porto Alegre, Brazil speaking Portuguese. When he received his call a few months ago September seemed so far away but now he is out and serving. The Mission President and his wife sent a letter to all the family members letting them know that he was there and safe. It is reassuring to know he has arrived and is in good hands. Adam and I didn't think it would be so hard to say goodbye to him seeing as we only seemed to see him once every few weeks but we both cried at the airport. I think his talk on Sunday really set the tone for his departure. Up until that point I hadn't seen the spiritual side of him but after hearing him talk I am so excited and proud of him. I know he will do great and we all will be blessed because of his faithfulness.

New Job!

2008-09-19T12:54:00.001-07:00

I have a new job! My first official check came today so I found it appropriate to let everyone know the good news well I guess that depends on the check right?! I should preface this by telling you how hard it is to find a job in Logan. For the past few months I have been reading every job site religiously trying to find something decent. I was even offered a few positions in Salt Lake City but decided the drive wasn't worth it. When the median age is 23 where you live you are lucky to find a job that even cares if you have a degree. This valley is known for it's large factory employers and they have pretty much set the low standard for all businesses. Anyway, a few months back it became necessary to make a career change so I started perusing my options. A few weeks ago I interviewed for a company that looked pretty promising. By this time I was getting used to rejection so it came as a pleasant surprise when only a few days later they called back an offered me a position which I accepted. Well, it has now been a few weeks and I am really enjoying my job. I have a pretty little office with a big window and they even set my up with a MacBook that I use at work and at home. So what do I do? Good question! I work as an Admissions Consultant for Stevens-Henager College. I meet with potential students and see if we are a right educational fit for them. I do interviews, give tours of the campus and mostly just get people excited about going to school. I did a lot of the same things as an Ambassador at Utah State University and that was really rewarding. So even though it is just a few weeks in I feel like this is a good fit and I look forward to the future. Wish me luck!

Who is excited for Halloween?!

2008-09-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

I know I am a little early but I can't help being excited for Halloween! Every year we go all out when it comes to pumpkin carving, costumes, doughnuts... For someone not really interested in candy I sure do get excited for trick-or-treaters. Unfortunately with all the trunk-or-treating and mall trick-or-treating we never really get little kids at our door on the 31st. Two years ago I spent close to $100.00 on black contact lenses that no one really saw. Last year I bought long fake lashes for no good reason and this year I intend to find another equally cool waste of money. Adam and I are in an unfortunate age group when it comes to Halloween activities. We are too old and too married to find a young party to go to and we have yet to have any children to dress up for the occasion. You know how parents get so excited about how cute little Tommy looks in his dinosaur costume and they take so much pride in toting him around the neighborhood? Well we are the same way with our dogs only no one really seems to care that we were able to keep Norman from tearing his bat ears off, or find the humor in Charli wearing a hot dog costume. So we end up watching a scary movie, well Adam watches it while I hide under a blanket wondering why I love this holiday so much.

Sweet, dignified Norman

2008-08-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Our boy Chompski is quite a dandy. I have never owned nor met a dog with the type of personality as our sweet Norman. Just to give you an idea how "special" our little guy is you need to start by knowing that he only eats the colored pieces of his dog food. I'm not sure is if it's the kibbles or the bits but I do know that it takes him a full fifteen minutes to eat one cup of food. Norman starts by spreading all the food out onto the floor so he can sift through it easier. We have to feed him in another room separate from the other dogs because he takes so long to eat the other dogs will finish their bowls and start eating his. It didn't take long to discover that only the brown and tan food pieces remained when we went in to clean up his daily food disaster.

Norman thinks he is a person. Every time I attempt to leave the house without him I'm forced to tear his front paws away from around my leg. The moment I grab my purse and look like I'm even ready to leave he starts whining and dances around me as if to say "don't go don't go don't go" he really thinks I've got a lot of nerve leaving him locked in the kitchen with these two dogs.

Adam and I keep late hours and the dogs usually don't get put to bed until around midnight. Every night we do the same bedtime routine, call all the dogs, tell them to go to bed, heard them like sheep, realize one of them is missing, immediately head to the master bedroom and discover Norman sleeping atop the king sized bed he is duly suited for, call him, watch him immediately turn on his back and beg us not to crate him, and so on. The dance never changes and neither will our sweet Chompski mostly due to the fact there are nights we let him get away with it.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-08-01T23:54:00.001-07:00

The Petty's

The Knight's

The Kirschman's

Happy Fourth of July everyone! To celebrate the fourth this year we joined all sides of the family for the annual fireworks show at the university. We never actually buy tickets for the stadium show instead we set up blankets outside and watch the show for free. We work the system in true american style!

Welcome Baby Sophie!

2008-08-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

A bakers dozen! Adam and I would like to welcome beautiful baby Sophia Belle Knight. Adam's older sister Molly and her husband Tom added a second beautiful girl to their family which means we get another niece. Hooray! Sophie was born July 2008 a healthy nine pounds and twenty some odd inches. Although she opted for a bumpy arrival we are pumped to say that she is now home and as perfect as God intended. We would like to thank Tom and Molly for yet again setting the Kirschman standard for perfectly adorable children. Thanks guys!

Vegas

2008-06-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

For our second anniversary Adam surprised me with tickets to Las Vegas. We had never been together and we both were really excited. We flew out the morning of May 10th and arrived nice and early. I'm not sure how many of you have been to Vegas but believe me it is a whole other world down there. We arrived at the stripe around noon on a Saturday and were shocked to see the majority of people were already drunk! Redneck weekend! Adam and I are big shoppers and we love eating out but other than that we found ourselves quite lost when it came to entertainment. We tried slot machines but didn't find the draw. Adam is a great poker player (he always steals my money!) and we considered playing something other than nickel slots but couldn't find a table cheap enough!! Five bucks a hand?? I guess the saying goes, "you have to spend money to make money" but I'm not sure if that applies in Vegas. I think a more appropriate saying is, "you have to spend money to loose money" that was our philosophy at least. Well the food, shopping, and people watching was quite fulfilling but other than that I think we felt more at home when we vacationed in Denver the year before. Coming away from the experience I can honestly say I'm not sure if the problem is with us or with "America's adult playground". Either way it was a great anniversary and quite a learning experience! Love you baby!

Norman, The Biggest Loser

2008-06-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Norman cut out carbs and had amazing results! Not only

does he look better but he feels better too.

Charli's False Pregnancy

2008-06-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

We don't have kids, so naturally our dogs play the baby role for the time being. All the pups have been fixed for obvious reasons and the two boys had no problem when we neutered them. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't at the top of there lists of things to repeat but they were up playing only hours after surgery. Our baby Charli on the other hand had a real hard time. The Vet spayed her in the morning and we picked her up around noon the same day. We immediately put her in her kennel for a few hours to sleep off the anesthesia. When we went to get her a few hours later we discovered that she was swollen EVERYWHERE. She had irritations all over and her face was so swollen that she looked like a Shar-Pei puppy. Naturally I was fit to be tied and ready to sue the animal hospital. We called the emergency Vet and she told us to give her two tabs of human Benadryl and if that didn't help to call back. We rushed to the store and got the antihistamine and gave it to her immediately. Two hours later her bumps where almost gone and she seemed to be doing better. We thought we were through the woods but then she wouldn't stop whimpering and was really hurting despite the medication the Vet gave us. I had to work the next day but Adam was able to take her back into the Vet and see what on earth was going on. Later that day we discovered our sick pup was in "False Pregnancy". I was at work when I got the news but proceeded to Google everything available about the condition. Basically what happens when a False Pregnancy takes place is that the body (the condition also can affect humans) thinks it is pregnant and goes through all the symptoms of pregnancy minus the actual fetus. The belly gets large and the dog lactates, etc. It turns out that we got her spayed at the worst time possible, the middle of her False Pregnancy, and the trauma of surgery actually tricked her little body into thinking it had puppies. For the next few days we had to witness her walking around the house searching for her "puppies". It was heart breaking to watch but funny to see her try and nurse Howard who at the time was only a few weeks old. In a few days she returned to normal and lost the weight she had gained weeks prior to the surgery. No lingering issues have shown up and although the whole thing was scary we are thankful it wasn't anything life threatening.

Camping, kinda

2008-06-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took our little grill camping and actually slept outside! We also took all three dogs which was an adventure by itself. Howard will stick around when he's not leashed but the other two will take off after any given stranger or wildlife when offered the chance. Around eleven we drove the dogs home (only a ten minute drive) and picked up more firewood. We are what you might call "five star campers", we had ribeye steak for dinner and brought the laptop to watch movies. Sorry dad I know that's not really "camping". Hopefully we'll eventually learn to sleep on air mattresses less than six inches and leave the magazines home. As for now I have to say I think we've taken a giant step forward!

Family wedding

2008-06-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Adam's sister Emily got married last weekend and he took some great pictures. He is a great photographer but it didn't hurt that the couple is adorable.

2008-06-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

We bought a little charcoal grill that we have been loving. It's small enough to take camping (which might one day happen) but can fit six hamburgers! This is a shot of the maiden voyage.

Christmas puppy!

2008-06-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Christmas, Adam added to the madness by giving me a West Highland White Terrier for this past Christmas. I've always wanted a Westie, not to discount the two previous breeds we had already. His name is Howard Washington and he only gets cuter as he gets older. Just so you know, Norman is the oldest and is a designer breed called Maltipoo (maltese and poodle mix). Charli is a girl and is an unusually LARGE mini dachshund, we were duped. So there is the clan you can see all of them off to the right hand side of my blog.

The Christmas card we never sent

2008-06-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Adam and I sometimes have a hard time following through on projects. For example, this is the Christmas card picture we took to send to loved ones. We printed pictures, found cards, addressed cards, and then never mailed them. So now that it's June we would like to officially wish you all a Merry Christmas.

At Last

2008-06-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I tried this once before but I can't remember the URL so I decided to start over. Maybe this go around I'll do better at this whole Internet thing. So everyone take note that at last I'm an official blogger... I think.