December Lights

We just got back from California, and what fun that was! We went shopping (of course), drove around Hollywood, and walked around Santa Monica. Here are some pictures from Santa Monica, a little dark, a little blurry, but fun nonetheless. The picture of the roller coaster is where an episode of Moonlight was filmed. Love that show, had to take a picture of that place. I stood under the place where Mick St. John stood!

Check out my beautiful, new, 8' x 11' authentic Persian rug!!! We picked this up in downtown L.A. Bryan was such a tough shopper. I couldn't hide my excitement, so I lost my bargaining power, but Bryan was tough. He refused to agree to a price until it was WAY lower than the guy started at. Merry Christmas to me!!! Bryan got a Wii and I got a Persian rug!!!

You know how people have their precious items that they are super-protective of? Like a woman with her mixer, or kitchen in general; or a man with his tools or car? My rug now ties with my couches for my precious items. We even sent the dogs to my mom's house this weekend because of the rain and the mud it creates. I'm just not ready for real life to take its toll on my new rug!

Feeling Festive

Aren't we festive? I put up the tree Sunday after Thanksgiving and decorated it. Can you believe it's done this early? Yup, it's done. I like it plain and simple. "I find the tinsel distracting." (If you're cool, leave a comment and tell me what that's from!) I even tied the bow on the tree myself! I am a semi-professional bow-tier. I haven't been paid to tie bows (that would make me a professional,) but I've had tons of people ask me to tie bows for them, so I figure that's semi-professional.

And look at the Thanksgiving spirit get to Bryan! He watched one too many cooking shows and had to cook his own turkey. Look at how beautiful it is! Look at him enjoy it! It really did turn out great-very yummy. Come over and have some--we've got tons now!

Well first and foremost HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Hope everyone out there had a great turkey day. It has been a few weeks since we posted anything and a lot has happened. But this post will mostly be about what Candace and I have been working on every weekend and some during the week since the middle of Oct, OUR BACKYARD! As you can see from the pictures to the side the change that has gone on. We finished the retaining all and finished digging out the pond and added the plants and fish. Now were able to go outback and enjoy the calming sounds of the waterfall cascading down into the pond. It was a great project that we are both very happy to have finished and love to enjoy as much as the dogs enjoy their new watering hole! We added lights around and in the pond. Its great to be able to enjoy the pond and the plants in the evening also.

I hope all is well with all as we enter the Christmas holiday season.

My Turn to be Funny

We were getting ready to make a run to Sonic tonight, and I asked him, "Are we just driving through?" I was just going to go barefoot.
He answered, "Yes."
I thought about it a second more and remembered what my mom taught me: Never go anywhere without shoes and your purse. (You never know if you'll get car trouble and have to walk somewhere, or if you'll need to have money or your i.d.)
I told Bryan, "Hold on, let me get some shoes. My mom taught me never go anywhere without your shoes and your purse."
Bryan laughed at me, "There's lots of times you don't take your purse."
I patted him on the shoulder and said, "That's because I have your wallet!" I tried to kiss him to show that I was teasing and trying to be cute, but he refused me. Apparently I thought it was much funnier than he did.

Silly Bryan

So last night, Bryan was laying in bed, already half asleep while I was getting ready for bed. By the time I laid down, he was mostly asleep. I was talking to him about who-knows-what, and he kept agreeing with everything I was saying. "That's a good idea." "Yes, you're right." "Uh-huh."
I remarked, "You are so well-trained! Who do I have to thank for you being so well trained?"
He replied, "Myself."
I said, "You trained yourself?"
He said, "Yes."
I asked, "How did you train yourself to be such a good husband?"
He told me, "I took some kids toys and made them into better toys."
I totally busted up laughing. This must have woke him up, because he asked me what was going on. I asked him, "How do you take kids toys and make them into better toys and train yourself to be a good husband?"
He looked chagrined: "Is that what I said?"
He had no idea. Silly Bryan! What a sweet, silly guy.

Playing "House"

Last night, Bryan and I were talking about having a baby, and I told him, "I can be the mommy, and you can be the daddy," as though we were playing house like I did when I was a kid, playing with my sister and cousins. Bryan nodded and then asked, "Can I be the boss, too?" I paused, thinking about what I might be giving him permission to do, then told him, "Sometimes."

Dirt Moving Day

Wow!! What a Saturday. A fun day of moving 3 tons of dirt from the front yard to the back. We wanted to raise up the area behind our beautiful retaining wall, so Bryan ordered and had delivered 3 tons of dirt. It didn't look like much in a pile in front of the house until we had to shovel it into the wheelbarrow and dump it in the backyard. Well, I mean it as a "Royal We." Really, Bryan had most of it done before I even woke up. He's such a sweetheart. Don't worry, I helped when I woke up. Then I cleaned the kitchen while he went to bed early. See last picture below. :)

Anyways, after we got all of the dirt dumped and smoothed out, we went to Home Depot (my dad always says that it's not a Saturday without at least one trip to the Depot) and bought thick plastic and 45 feet of light brown astroturf. We laid out the plastic first, to keep weeds out, and also to keep mud from coming up through the astroturf. Then we laid out the carpet and nailed it down with giant 10 inch spikes and washers to keep it from poking through. Now our dog run is all carpeted, so the dogs won't track in so much dirt, so they won't get all muddy when it rains, and so they won't have to walk on hot rocks/gravel. We hope this turns out to be a good idea and they don't destroy it. Now, if only we can pry the dogs away from my dad! He loves them! Even if we can't get them back, it looks like nice smooth gravel, and the best part is the easy maintanence: we just hose it down, or use the leaf blower!

Such a hard worker! He fell asleep while taking off his shoes! Only got half-done before he was snoozing!

Well greetings all from Fall Break!!!! Its been a little over a month since our last posting. Well we've been busy, I guess you could say a little bit too busy to post. So where do I start? Currently Candace is on fall break and I've decided to join her for a few days why we re-do the back yard.

But before I let you know what were doing in the back yard, I'll let you know what we've been up to. Really we've been hanging out not doing too much. Unless you count the long weekend we

recently took to California for some fun. We went a few weeks ago to go to the USC football game. We went over with my mom and stayed with
Grandma and Grandpa Stone for the weekend. We went over on Thursday afternoon and then on Friday we went to Disneyland! The picture to the left is of me in front of Matterhorn Mountain. As you can see a beautiful day in always sunny southern California. The forecast had called for rain, which worked out very nicely for us since people believed the forecast and didn't come out to play. We were able to walk on almost all of the rides with no wait times. So all in all a very nice time at Disneyland. On Saturday we slept in late, ate some nice home cooked breakfast and then headed off to the fashion district for a little shopping. Well Saturday wasn't as sunny and nice as it was on Friday, but it made

for a nice day to shop as we traveled around the streets looking for the deals.
After shopping for the deals we headed off to the LA Coliseum for the game. It was a great game with a little bit of rain with the sun still shinning on us. It was great and to top it off USC won!!! After the game was over we took a little stroll around the Coliseum to check out the history of it. It was pretty amazing.

Which brings us to the present week. We planted our winter lawn last week. Cut the grass down nice and short and as you can see from the pictures it's coming in nicely. Should fill in nice and thick over the next week or so. Also today we built us a little retaining wall along the back of the grass area. We got the retaining blocks that had the stone look to them. It adds a really nice look to the yard and even gives it a little bit bigger feeling to it because of the blocks. In the first picture of the yard we planted a new tree to add some nice shade to the area. In the same section we are also going to put in a pond. That is the project for Thursday, to finish digging the pond out. Should a fun filled day of digging. We've been soaking the dirt to make it easier to dig it all out. After which off to HD or Lowe's to check out which plants we want around the pond and the tree. Well once we get the pond all in we'll post some new pictures with the plants around it.

What's been happening

Greetings all!! Hope this finds you all in good health at this time. It has been a number of weeks since our last post. I apologize to all those that need to hear from us and have been having to go through withdrawels because of our lack of attention to our blog. It has been on my mind to do so but just haven't sat down and did it up.
So another week has past and we find ourselves this week home and healthy. Which is not what I can say for the past few weeks for us. A few weeks ago I, Bryan, was deathly ill and unable to do anything for like 5 days because of influenza, which sounds really bad, but otherwise referred to as the flu. Luckily it just gave me a bad fever, nothing like what Jaxx had. So that made for a fun week for me of doing nothing!!! I don't recommend it to anybody. Luckily I have an awesome wife that nursed me back to health and made sure I was going to make it through it.
After finally getting healthy it was Labor day weekend and we were off to Utah. Candace's other sister, Chelsea moved up to go to school there at LDS BC. So we went with her family to take some of her stuff up to her and spend the long weekend there enjoying some cooler weather. That I would have to say was the nicest part of it all. Just to get out of the blistering heat for a few days. So we didn't do to much while we were there except hang out and enjoy each others company. On Sunday we once again decided to take in the Music and the Spoken word. Which as always was very good, a "Can't Miss" while visiting SLC. After which we went to Sacrement at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Which is always an awesome place to visit just to see the detail work that was done so long ago. So while we were waiting for sacrement meeting to begin, everyone was sitting down waiting patiently. Then the front doors opened and everyone begin to stand up as the Prophet walked in. Now this was the ward the he attended when he felt good and was in town and he just happened to be feeling good and in town. So that was a neat experience to be able to attend sacrement meeting with the Prophet. He waved at everyone as he entered in and kind of waved everyone to sit down. Since we were visitors they have you sit in the back so that the ward members can sit more towards the front. I guess so that way they can kind of know who is sitting around where the Prophet might be sitting. After the meeting was over we all stood and waited for Him to leave, waited a few minutes and we were able to exit the chapel. That was a highlight for me to be able to go to church with the Prophet.
We came back home on Monday and it was back to work for the both of us. So another week has passed for us. Today we spent the day cleaning and getting some projects down around the house. That's about it for now, hope you all have a good week.

Birthday Boy

Saturday, August 11, 2007 was Titus' 2 year birthday! He's a big boy now! Officially, that is adult for boxers. It's starting to show, too. He's so much more mellow now than he used to be. I guess old age takes its toll on us all.

Titus has been with me through some crazy, crazy times in those two years. When I'd sit down on the floor and cry, he'd climb up on me and put a paw on each of my shoulders as if he was hugging me, and he'd lick my chin, which is how they give kisses. He always knows when I'm upset. People laugh at me for how spoiled these dogs are, but they don't understand what they were for me during those crazy, crazy times. I can honestly say that Titus saved me.

For his birthday, we went to Petsmart to get his free treat with the birthday card that Petsmart sent to him. Then we went to the dog park, which was closed for grass issues, but he met a tiny little Italian Greyhound and his friendly owners, which he enjoyed. He's so social. Here are some pictures of Titus, and the last picture is Princess Leah, all on Titus's birthday.

Greetings from Salt Lake City!! Well, not really, we're back home at this point. But being the travelers that we are, that was last weekend. We are now back home safe and sound. We have been, how you say, a little bit of slacking on keeping up our blog. Its not that we've been so busy with everything else. No, its more like nothing has been going on. At least until last weekend when we went to Utah. But up until then its been quiet. Candace's sister Cathie, moved to Utah for bigger and better things. So she has been there for several weeks working without any of her things. So last weekend Candace and I went up with her dad, and other sister, Chelsea, along with a very big trailer loaded down. So off we went on our short little "vacation". We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a much cooler SLC then we would have expected in Arizona. So that was a very nice change for at least a few days. So we began the unloading process then went in and did our best to arrange the rooms that were suitable to at least us. It was a quiet evening after that with some dinner and of course a trip to Walmart for some Sunday food supplies. We had decided that while we were in town to go see some of the sites that were available to us on a Sunday. So we were up early and off to the newly renovated Tabernacle for Music and the Spoken Word. The extra cool part about that, was since we were with our "insider" Cathy, who works at the church office building we were able to park underneath the buildings right next to where the Apostles park. So that was a nice extra special treat. So a little shout out to Kathy for the extra in sites and fun weekend, Thank you!! After the spoken word we went over to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for Sacrament meeting. If you've never been to the building I would have to say that you make it a place to see. The architecture and the art deco that is inside of the building on the 20 foot ceilings is just incredible. The chapel is located a few floors up and is just incredible. I would have to say probably the nicest chapel that I have ever been in.

After sacrement meeting was over it was back to the house for some lunch and of course a nap. Once we were all well rested we were off to the Conference Center. Which is just an amazing building. It looks big from the outside, but then you get in and its just HUGE!!! Each floor seems like the ceilings are 30 feet tall and the craftsmanship is just amazing. The main seating area is something like 21,00 seats on 3 levels. It seems like the ceiling at the bottom was well over 100 feet high. They were setting up for conference in a few months. I guess it takes a few months just to set up everything. So that was fun to see that getting put together. We went floor by floor and then made it to the top of the center. Which has a stream that starts there and then there is about 5 waterfalls down the side of the building and then is a stream on the ground level that goes around the building. The roof allows for some great views of Temple square which is where the pictures here were taken from. The building is simple amazing to see first hand. It looks big on TV but actually seeing it first hand is truly an experience. The sheer size and just how nice it looks and all the finishing touches is worth the trip along. So if you haven't yet, you need to and should make it a priority to go and see. All in all it was a fantastic trip! We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. One of the best parts I think was the trip home, mainly because we flew. Sure beats that 12 hour drive!!

Well what a week it's been here at our house. OK not really, but it could have been and you all wouldn't know unless I told you. So on Tuesday Candace and I went bowling with her brothers and sisters. Her sister Cathie was leaving to go live in Utah, where Chelsea will shortly follow next month. So that was a good time then went to get some pizza and then back to her parents house for some band practice on the Guitar Hero. Gotta get faster if there is to be a live performance some day. Wednesday was a big day around here. Our dogs had been living at her parents house due to the fact that they have a nice big backyard for them to be able to play in. But there was a party going on that night at their house so we went over and got the doggies and took them to Petsmart and got some new fish for the sweet tank. Then it was off to home for baths!!

They hadn't received baths for a while due to the fact that they lived outside while at grandma's house. But since they were coming home where they get to enjoy some nice air conditioning and a soft indoor bed, they were in desperate need for some baths. Also during the day had a little training at work where there was a giveaway for all those that attended and I won it!!! It was a brand new PSP with game. If you don't know what that is you can always Google it. Basically a handheld xbox, everyone should really have one. So that's been fun, retraining the dogs the things that they seemed to have forgotten while at grandma's. I think we brought them home just in time for the storms that have been coming this week. Last night was a doozy, lots of rain and lightning with some thunder. Didn't seem to bother them too much, just slept right through it. So tonight we'll go over to her parents for some pizza and more band practice. Have a good weekend!

Symbolism

I have a set of four wine glasses, given as a wedding present from one of my favorite people. I love drinking out of stemware, so these are my favorite glasses in our cabinet. Either last night or the night before, I had a dream that I was holding out the glass and it fell to the ground and shattered into thousands of tiny little pieces. There was some little kid in the dream that I was trying to keep from walking through the glass shards, but I can't remember if they did or not. Anyways, that part's not important.

I looked up several dream symbolism sites to see what breaking glass represents. I'm going to cut and paste what they said:

To break glass dishes, or windows, foretells the unfavorable termination to enterprises (An enterprise is an undertaking, especially one of some scope, complication, and risk.) (http://www.paranormality.com/dream_dictionary_g.shtml)

If glass is shattered in your dream, it could symbolize breaking of both negative and positive things. It could be the shattering of dreams or hopes that a person has been holding close to his heart.

(http://www.experiencefestival.com/dream_dictionary_glass)

To see a cup in your dream, represents nurturance and the womb. To see a broken cup in your dream, denotes feelings of powerlessness, guilt and/or low self-esteem. Perhaps you feel unqualified or inadequate in dealing with a situation.

(http://dreamcrowd.com/dreamopedia?drid=4471)

This is the best one...

To see a wine glass in your dream represents happiness. It may also be symbolic of a pregnancy. If you break the wine glass, then it may denote a miscarriage.

(http://dreamcrowd.com/dreamopedia?drid=3094)

Holy Crap! Could it be ANY more obvious??!! I used to think dream interpretation was like astrology; a person could stretch it to fit a situation if they really wanted to believe it. But this is unmistakable!!

Love and Kindness

Well it is Sunday morning before getting ready for church. We have been neglecting our blog for several days. It has been a busy few days with much ups and downs for us.

Candace and I went to the doctors office on Friday for her check-up to see on the baby. What we found out was that instead of hearing a heartbeat we found out that the baby had stopped growing a few weeks earlier and there would be no heartbeat today. So that is the reason for the ups and downs that have been experienced the past few days. So sorry to say we will not be having a baby as previously hoped for around Jan. 22, but will have to wait a few more months after that.

But on the bright side life does go on and this is not the end. We have received much love and support from both of our families the past few days.

After our trip to the doctors office I had been thinking about getting Candace Guitar Hero II. Its a game for the XBOX360 that you play with a guitar and can play along to different songs. She had played it a few times and was already a professional. So I decided that we would go get that and then grabbed the 360 and headed over to her parents house for pizza and living the dream of being a part of the band. Her brothers and sisters loved playing along almost as much as she did. They all got really good at playing and keeping with the other band members. We left pretty late from there after having a good time and decided to leave it there for her fam to work on there skills to be able to keep up with hers. We'll see later on tonight just how good they've gotten since Friday night.

Saturday we got up and did a little cleaning around the house. One of Candace's friends came over for a haircut and we talked for a little while. Then he left and we did some more cleaning up around the house. Just your normal weekly stuff and finished the laundry, that sort of fun things. Malissa called and asked if they could come over, so we said sure. Then we doubled our efforts to finish faster knowing people would be coming over and had to make sure everything was cleaned up. We don't get many visitors since everyone thinks its such a drive to come over that we had to make sure the house was cleaned when ever they do come over. So when they arrived it wasn't just Malissa and her crew but also Troy, Holly, Kimmy, and Heidi carrying a large vase of flowers for Candace. As pictured in the blog. So that was really nice of them to come over and do that. On a side note i'm sure other people would have made it either but were working and could not come. So a shout out to those that were able to come over and deliver the flowers and hang out with us. They were able to inspect my craftmanship of the before mentioned in the first blog of the bookshelves. They said that they were much bigger in person and even nicer! So that was nice of them to say. They checked out how the nursery murals that Candace was painting were going. Which are coming along nicely by the way. So with this latest setback and with school starting up for her she should be able to get them done with the little free time she will have before the baby does finally get here.

After they all left we finished up around the house to head to the bowling alley. We hadn't gone for awhile because it turns out that Candace is like a Semi-pro bowler and always wins. So that takes some getting used to. So I finally decided to go bowling with her. We invited those that had come over and those that weren't able to make it at that time. Some couldn't make it because of some prior engagements and some because of some scrapbooking stuff. So we headed over to Malissa's house and got those that wanted to go bowling with us and headed over to the bowling alley. It was Ty, Makinzee, Tony, Candace and I. My mom stopped by to watch but is still under doctors orders not to play as she might re-injure herself from falling again. So we bowled a few games and after ME WINNING the first game and then Candace winning the second game. We then averaged out the two scores to see who the winner was that day--get this it was a TIE. We couldn't believe it!!! It was the weirdest thing too. But I guess that's better then being beat by your wife, again.

After the fun of bowling Candace and I went and got some yummy Mexican food at The Gecko Grill. Which has the best green salsa in town. As we were sitting there enjoying some chips and salsa Candace's Aunt walked over and said hello. We didn't even see her come in we were enjoying the chips so much. So we talked with her for a few minutes and then said good-bye and got back to the salsa and chips. After dinner we headed over to Barnes and the Noble to look for an author that Candace wanted to check out. Because let's face it, we didn't go there for me. But we were unlucky in finding what she was looking for so we headed for home and off to bed after a fun filled day. Thanks to all that were involved in making it a fun filled weekend for us!!

My Personal Cricket Killer

I hate crickets. I cannot tolerate sharing my house with them. (I did tell them that the garage is neutral ground.) I must kill them when I see them or hear them. Last night we were sitting on the couches watching t.v. when I saw a cricket crawling out from under the couch that Bryan was laying on. Bryan's shoes were right nearby, so I screamed, "Cricket! Kill it! Your shoes are right there!" Bryan leaned forward--not even fully sitting up--picks up his shoe, and tosses it onto the cricket, killing it instantly. Impressive! In the picture, the flip flop is where it landed on top of the cricket.

Random Bits of Etiquette

"One is apt to think of Etiquette as being of importance to none but brides or diplomats or persons lately elected to political office. As a matter of fact, there is not a single thing that we do, or say, or choose, or use, or even think, that does not follow (or break) one of the exactions of taste, or tact, or ethics, or good manners, or etiquette--call it what you will.

Considering manners even in their superficial aspect, no one--unless he be a recluse who comes in contact with no other human being-- can fail to reap the advantage of a proper, courteous, and likable approach, or fail to be handicapped by an improper, offensive, and resented one. And certainly the greatest asset that a man or woman or even a child can have is charm. And charm cannot exist without good manners--meaning by this, not so much manners that precisely follow particular rules, as manners that have been made smooth and polished by the continuous practice of kind impulses." ---Emily Post


This is will be my recurring theme. As I prepare for the arrival of my baby, I'm thinking of the things I will need to teach him or her. Good manners and proper behavior, also known as etiquette, should not be overlooked. I've seen too much of that as a teacher.

In 2002, my sister and I were antiquing, and I picked up the official book of Etiquette by Emily Post. The original copyright date is 1922. Amazing. Much of what she says will not apply to us, such as the entire section on Domestic Help (maids, butlers, cooks, etc.) But the bits that do apply, that we're all lacking, I'm going to post.

May we all learn a little bit more etiquette.

"It's Not a Tumor!"

"It isn't at all!" It's also not the 5-week flu. I really, truly am pregnant. 10 weeks and 3 days, the doctor says, putting my due date at January 22, 2008. We went to the doctor this afternoon....finally. I've been waiting forever! Well, 10 weeks, I guess. It was a pretty uneventful appointment. The Doctor heard ONE BEAT of the baby's heart. We didn't know what we were listening for, so we didn't hear anything. We go back to the doctor on Aug 2nd--the day before I have to go back to work! At least I'll have some news for everyone! Yikes!

What a funny guy!

On Wednesday evening, I needed Bryan to make some cinnamon rolls for my last class of the summer (thank goodness!) I bought a couple of the Pillsbury containers because they're the easiest. I could hear Bryan in the kitchen, getting things prepared, when all of the sudden, he hands me the containers of cinnamon rolls. I gave him a questioning look, and he explained that he does not open those exploding containers!! I asked him what he did on his mission, and he said he'd just peel the corner and grab it with tongs and shake it until it opened. (I wonder where his companion was....?) What a funny guy!

Bryan's Beautiful Bookshelves

I don't mean to be a copy-cat by blogging, but it seems to be the only way I'm going to be able to get out of the "dog house" with Bryan..... Plus, this way I'll be able to keep a record of our family life, since I hate to scrapbook.

These pictures are of the awesome shelves that Bryan built. He's quite handy and likes to build all kinds of things. He really does a great job, but I forget how sensitive he can be sometimes.

We had the basic frame of the shelves put together. It was just a few sheets of birch plywood thrown together, nothing special. He asked how it looked, and I told him it looked like a couple of newlyweds built it. I only meant that it was just plywood nailed together, but it REALLY hurt his feelings. I knew he wasn't done, and I told him I was sure that his finishing touches would make it look great when he was all done, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

I explained to him that I was referring to my parents. They were very poor when they got married, and my dad built a lot of the shelves and other furniture. He also did (and does) a great job, just like Bryan. When my dad builds something, it's tough enough to last through the Millennium. Seriously. He helped me build stairs for my dogs to get in and out of bed with me, and they are so sturdy, I can climb around on them. So comparing Bryan's work to my dad's should NOT have been an insult to him, but I did hurt his feelings.

To make it up to him, I promised to create a Blog for our family, and the first posting would be in honor of his bookshelves, which really turned out great once we got all the detail work done. Please make sure and let Bryan know if you like the shelves he built; post a comment here or send him an email: bryankw@gmail.com

By the way, the bead board-backing was my idea. :)