Continuing the Adventure

First Night in the New House

Matt and I were pretty exhausted after moving all of our stuff inside the house, but my desire to not live in complete chaos was motivation to start organizing. First stop, Walmart. Unfortunately, that was also my last stop. After spending hours at Walmart shopping, most of my motivation was gone by the time I came home. Gone also was my motivation to have a nice home-cooked meal our first night at our new home.

Instead...TGIFriday's frozen skillet meal was on the menu.

It was a pretty yummy meal...but not very filling. Their definition of "a meal for two" is only true if those 2 people are children, or my mother (who eats probably less than most children).
The excitement of the night came when we got a delivery of what is probably my favorite thing about having a house...

...our washer and dryer! Finally, years of going to the laudromat at the apartment complex is over!!! Yeah!!

And how did the cats adjust to the new house?
Stormy was quite adventurous, hopping in every box, curious about everything.

But Chas was a little more timid about exploring, and found an old familiar friend to get through the transition with.

Beginning the Adventure

As most of you know, despite the lack of blogging by myself, Matt and I moved into our very own house in December in Saratoga Springs, UT. Even though I haven't kept current with blogging, I still can't just show you all of the finished pictures without first sharing the adventures along the way.

Adventure #1...moving:

We moved in on December 5, 2009 thanks to a lot of help from Matt's sister Jenn, his brother John, my brother Steve and my Dad.

John, Jenn, and Matt "carbing up" for the big move!

They needed all the strength they could muster to move all of this, plus more!Stormy took refuge in the spare tire on the deck while all of the action was going on.And once everything was out of the apartment, Chas just didn't know what to think about it.After loading up the apartment, our final stop was my parents house to pick up our refrigerator. Luckily it all fit in the Uhaul..who knew we actually had that much stuff?

Once at the house, the real fun began! Especially trying to get the refrigerator into the house..The refrigerator couldn't make it in through the garage like everything else, but luckily it made it through the front door, even without having to take it off of the hinges.While everyone was bustling about carring boxes and furniture to and fro, Ashton (my nephew) got to watch the Disney Channel...lucky duck!

Once everything was finally in the house Matt had to take a break among the madness. Now there was only one thing left to do...

...feed the troops!! Luckily one of the few eating establishments in Saratoga Springs is Little Caesars. We have definitely grown to appreciate their $5 Hot 'n Ready pizza and this was the perfect lunch after a lot of hard work. Thanks to everyone who helped us make the move quickly and easily...but for Matt and I...the work had just barely begun...

New Addition...kinda...

I have a goal to be a better, more consistent blogger. Those of you who know me well know that I will probably only do well for a week or two..but that's better than nothing right? So I will start updating you on some things that have happened within the last 9 or so months..

We got a new addition to our family on May 1st. We adopted a new kitty...

This was taken at the adoption center (with a cell phone camera, which explains the blur) after we officially adopted her. At the time her name was "Athena", but we knew that didn't match her. After a day or so getting to know the young cat, we decided on the name Ella.

And once home it didn't take Ella long to find a good hiding spot. She was 9 months old when we adopted her and she quickly became best buds with Chas...at least in her mind they're best friends! She's been a blast to have in our lives, and we refer to her as our "latin kitten" because she rolls her rrr's! She is such a curious little buggar and is always getting into trouble, but we love her!

Especially when she finally tuckers out and cuddles on your lap while you watch tv!

Lucky Streak

As you may have read, or can read below this post, I won a contest earlier this month and got to go to the Jazz game and be a true blue fan. Well my luck has continued. This morning on the KSL news at 6 they have a contest during the final weather segments. The question had to due with the Panda Express menu. It was:

Panda Express has a new entree, is it Honey Nut:

a. chicken

b. shrimp

c. kabob

Do you know the answer? I did....Luckily Matt and I had been to Panda about a weak prior and got to try the new Honey Nut Shrimp. So when I heard the weatherman finish the question I luckily had my cell phone next to me which has email on it. So I quickly typed the answer (B) and sent it away. I didn't get an email back, so I assumed I lost. Then magically I heard and saw my name on the television saying that I had won a $50 Panda Express gift certificate! Yummy...that will buy a lot of Panda! I'm wondering what good thing will happen next...I'm thinking I should give Wendover a shot!!!

True Blue Jazz Night

Matt and I love to watch JAZZ games on television. (More specifically we DVR them and watch them at our convenience, but either way!) During the game they have a graphic on the bottom of the screen and it tells you to text the number and you could win something. Well I entered the "true blue jazz fan" contest which was an opportunity for you to pick a job within the arena and be able to "work" for a night. Some of the different choices were ball boy, team president, security, tv producer, superscreen, game operations, etc. Well out of 20,000 text messages I won and got the chance to work with the game operations team at Saturday nights game versus the LA Clippers.

We arrived at the ESA at 5:30 a nd went into the Jazz 100 club downstairs for a nice meal of rolls, salad, veggies, pot roast, and yummy desserts. Each contest winner (two for each job) got to bring a guest, so of course I brought Matt. The vice president of the team spoke to us for a while and surprised us with a jersey of our very own.On the back of the jersey it says "Jazz True Blue Fan 2010". It is pretty cool and authenticMatt was jealous that he didn't get a jersey, but all was forgotten when the Jazz dancers showed up!!

As I said, my "job" was with the game operations team. These are the guys that coordinate all of the pregame,timeout, and halftime entertainment and contests. They have a log of approximately when all timeouts will be and who does what during this time. There wasn't a lot of "work" to do during my time with them, but I did get to hold a banner for Toscanos while the Jazz dancers handed out food to a chosen section. Don't feel too bad for me that I didn't have much to do, because I got to stand on ground level and watch the game. It was so awesome being that close to the action!!

Plus I ran into the Lil Bear! I'm not sure if its an L.P. in that costume or a kid, but either way I thought it was awesome! I must have been looking hot this night or something, because Baron Davis is staring right at me with a huge grin on his face! I mean, what else could he be so happy about? During halftime we got to walk onto the court and be announced as contest winners and what our "jobs" were. It was pretty neat, and pictures should be coming soon! So after all the fun and glory of the first half, I was sent up to our seats where Matt had been sitting the whole game. It was quite a hike to get up there! But ultimately even though we were in the upper bowl we still had a pretty good view of the game!All in all it was a great night! Now I just hope my luck helps me with the other contest for a 42" HDTV!!

Where Have I Been?

Most of you have probably seen this video, if you haven't been living under a rock like I have! Apparently this little kitty took youtube by storm and its not hard to see why!!

I've tried to get stormy or chas to do this same thing, but so far it's not working...darn cats!!

The Big News

Well, it has been FOREVER since the last time I blogged. Not too much has been going on, but one big piece of news officially was set in stone today....

I am now a proud homeowner!!

Matt and I bought a house in Saratoga Springs, UT. For those of you who don't know where that is, it is on the west side of Utah lake, south of Lehi. It is a really cool new area that is constantly changing..and best of all, we have an awesome view of Utah lake.

We built it (or at least told them how to build it from the ground up!

Here is Matt with the lot that we chose! We then chose the floor plan, and let the fun begin!

The foundation almost finished

The framing getting started

Looks like a fully framed house

Jumping for joy at the sight of the house

We absolutely love our new house and can't wait to start the next chapter of our lives in it! We got the chance to pick out the carpet, flooring, cabinets, paint, countertops, and customize it ourselves...but all those pics will come later when we've actually moved in.

A Night of Hearing Loss

On Saturday Matt and I ventured out to Rocky Mtn Raceways for the IHRA National Championiship. There were all sorts of racers from low-end dragsters to a jet engine semi.

This is one of the "regular" dragsters, which traveled the quarter of a mile drag in around 8 seconds.

We were all smiles until the the big boys came out! The alcohol fueled dragsters were INSANELY loud! We had ear plugs in, and our ears still rang as those guys raced past! Unfortuanately between the camera being low on batteries and the fact that they went from 0 to 60 in approximately 0.7 seconds...we didn't get a picture of those dragsters!

Here is a pic of a dragster and a "funny car". A good funny car will finish the quarter mile in 10 seconds or less! (Remember, on the Fast and the Furious...he was promised a 10 second car!

Matt getting a closer view of the races!

One of the highlights of the evening was the jet engine semi! This puppy went over 250 mph, and that was probably not even maxed out (it was late, and there was a sound ordinance in effect so it probably didn't do its full potential!) It was amazing the amount of flames this thing put off and the heat it radiated!

This was one of the fire trucks on hand, but I'm not sure how effective it would have been. Jelly Belly is known for delicious jelly beans, but not it's fire extinguishing skills! But the good news for me is that I caught some jelly belly candys thrown into the crowd after all was said and done. Yum!

Overall it was an awesome evening! We can't wait till it comes back next year. And hopefully our eardrums would have healed by then!

My New Favorite Way to Eat Ice Cream

Most of you are well aware of the fact that I love ice cream! Well, I've figured out a fun new way to eat it...and brownies!! I got the idea out of a Costco cook book, but made it my own a little.
The basic idea is to make a brownie ice cream sandwich. First you make or buy brownies, and then put brownie pieces in a food processor and make small crumbs. Layer the brownie crumbs, followed by the ice cream of your choice, topped with more brownie crumbs in each cup in a muffin tin. Then place back in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Yummo!! So tasty! I made mine with a babyruth flavored ice cream and it was great! I totally recommend trying it. It is super simple and a nice proportioned snack!

I'll Add It To The List...

This just in on the list of things that I just don't get ...

(it's a very long list mind you)...

In N Out Burger!

What is the BFD? It's a burger people! And not even a great burger! I ate there when I was in St. George last weekend, and wished I hadn't. There is just such a food turn off when you can see the grease seeping through the paper bag! Plus waiting 10-15 minutes for an average burger? No thanks! Sure it is cheap, but that's about the only good thing about it! So why doesn't everyone stop complaining about the lack of In N Out in Utah and stick to Wendy's burgers.

And since I'm on the subject, I'll add in 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. I guess since it's good enough for President Obama to eat at everyone else suddenly wants it..but once again, it's just a burger and it's not worth battling the crowds to get!!