Angiony

A New Face

2009-11-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

So... we've officially changed our blog address. Check it out! :)

angiony.co.cc

Separation Anxiety

2009-10-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

First off, the one with separation anxiety is not me. That should clear up any confusion at the start.

This is not Jasper. But his eyes look like this...

It's poor Jasper. :( You see, on Wednesday Sophie left with Mom and her friend to drive up to Provo, where she had a connecting drive down to Las Vegas with Dan, but the layover is until this morning. Hehe. Either way, Sophie left on Wednesday. And poor, poor Jasper.

I thought he was fine on Wednesday - he played with me all day, with Isabelle (our standard poodle who got over her separation anxiety years ago), with the rest of the family, and all that jazz. Happy puppy = happy owners. He seemed great.

Until bedtime. Jasper and Sophie always slept together, one strewn randomly on top of the other. But this was the first time ever in Jasper's whole life that he slept alone. And he didn't like it. Like, an-hour-and-a-half-of-crying didn't like it. But Angie and I held fast, were firm, and didn't reward his whining with picking him up and cuddling with him (though we wanted to). Even though it was 1:30 in the morning. Ugh.

That was Wednesday night. Yesterday he was very clingy, so I played with him all day. He followed me around all day, like a puppy (hahaha). And again at night he whined, but only for about 30 minutes this time. We thought he was getting better.

We woke up this morning to find he went potty multiple times in his crate last night. Supposedly with separation anxiety puppies will go all over the place, so this is like a textbook example. And today he's like MEGA CREEPY DON'T-LEAVE-ME-OR-I'LL-DIE puppy. So, after trying to run the energy out of him (impossible), and seeing that he wouldn't take his eyes off of me long enough to even take one bite of his food, I left him in his pen so he would eat.

He's been crying for about 30 minutes right now, but I think it's more important that he realize that there's food sitting right next to him in the otherwise empty room and he'd do better eating it. His stomach has been rumbling so loudly today that he would even stop what he was doing and look behind him at his midsection with a look like "What on earth could that be?!?" on his face. So, I though that that would be better for him, to eat, than me being there. I could be wrong.

Any of you feel like putting on the Doggie Psychologist mantle and give some advice? I'm all up for advice - I've been googling Puppy Separation Anxiety for a while now, and could use some advice. :)

Hey, he stopped barking!!! :) Now to check on his food...

Weatherizing

2009-10-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

For those of you that know me well (and some of you who don't know me too well), I am an absolute fanatic about the weather. You know, the subject that strangers normally turn to when they don't want to create any social commitment, or acquaintances talk about to patch over an awkward situation.

In those circumstances I am in my element. Not the awkward situations, but the weather conversations! For the longest time (meaning, most my pre-college existence) I wanted to be a meteorologist (actually it was a Tornado Chaser when I was a kid). I even considered Oklahoma University over BYU because of its excellent meteorology program and its emphasis on Mesocyclonic Development.

Oh, those words get my heart beating fast.

Mesocyclones...cold and warm fronts...

upper-level low pressure systems...lenticular clouds...

...Ahem. Ok, back to the subject at hand.

Either way, this last month has been an excellent month for weather-watching on my part. Let me tell you what's been going on.

Well, about a month ago we had tons and TONS of rain. Like, more rain than I've ever seen in a week (except in Costa Rica). At our house we only had 7 inches or so in the week, but where we used to live in Benbrook got over 11 inches of rain! That's a TON!!! Like, almost 3 times the annual average in Las Vegas! IN A WEEK!

It rained so much that Nature forgot it was September and threw North Texas back to March, complete with waving grass and fresh flowers blooming everywhere (but sorry, Nature forgot basketball). A couple weeks after that, Nature decided to go on vacation to Ireland, and took us with her.

Day after day it was cloudy, cool, and wet. Not really rainy, but just wet. Lots of mist, fog, drizzle, light rain, and a breeze.

Finally, it just got cold. We had thunderstorms on Monday night/Tuesday morning, and suddenly it became winter. Overnight. High temperatures barely climbing into the 50s, then back down into the 40s at night.

So, we're freezing. And it's cloudy, so we're depressed. No, not really. But it could happen. I guess this is what it's like living in Portland, or anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest. I don't think I could handle it.

So, I'm hoping things brighten up here (literally) in the next couple days, and that something more exciting happens so I don't have to revert to blogging about the weather. But don't get me wrong. I enjoy it. So for your sakes let's hope something more exciting happens.

Hopefully we'll be back soon... ;)

Puppies are like baby-trainers

2009-09-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of. I guess since I've never had a baby (haha) I can't quite make the comparison, but it seems to me that having the responsibility of providing the protection, care, feeding, and (heavens) potty excursions of 2 5 lb defenseless creatures is a step closer to parenthood than just reading books about it. But, that's just me.

Yesterday was a case in point. I was sick (curse you, unknown virus!!) and generally not happy. I woke up, fed the puppies, gave them their meds (they're sick, too) and took them out to go potty. Mom and Dad were thinking of buying a new dining room set, so I was going to tag along with them all the way to Dallas to offer moral and physical support. Well, 30 minutes before we were planning on leaving, Dad wanted to leave. I stuffed (with as much love as possible) the puppies into their kennel and decided it would be like church: they be inside for about 3.5 hours and they'll be fine. It was just before 9am, and we'd be back by noon. So we did that.

Well, we ended up not getting the dining room set (awkward situation generated by the seller's lack of integrity), but we did go to an Antique Mall and found a table doohickey for the entryway. That was after we ate lunch at Arby's. And before we went to the storage unit and loaded up the formerly empty 14-ft trailer. And before we stopped by a friend's house to pick up a rogue chainsaw.

Starting at about 10:30 I could not stop thinking about poor Sophie and Jasper. How were they feeling?? Had they gone potty all they could before I packed them away? Were they feeling ignored? Were they going potty right now?!? These are things you have to think about! In between short dozing episodes I was just worrying to death about the puppies.

We finished with the chainsaw rescue at 1:20pm, by which time I was sure the puppies had chewed themselves to pieces out of boredom. We got home about 1:45 and I rushed inside, opened the kennel, grabbed the puppies, ran outside, and nearly tossed them into the yard while screaming "GO POTTY!!!". They did not disappoint. Within 2 seconds both did the l o n g e s t pee I had ever seen them do.

Is it strange to be full of pride and gratitude that your puppies chose (yes, it was a decision, I'm sure of it) to stretch their bladders and colons to the limit rather than wallow in their own excrement? Call me weird, but I was proud of them. :)

So, I think having puppies is a preview of coming attractions. Not that we'll have to worry about stuffing kids into a cage, but just the planning that goes into any outing whatsoever. Granted, we can leave the puppies home alone for a couple hours at a time while they're sleeping (heaven forbid we do that with a baby), but still. This is more than I thought it would be.

But it's worth it. :)

Finally! :)

2009-09-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have absolutely no idea why I haven't blogged in the last 2 weeks. It's not like I'm employed or anything. But for some reason, instead of taking advantage of all my free time I end up filling my day with random unproductive activities that make me feel really, really lazy. (bleh)

But days have been a little more exciting since these two came along.

Everyone, meet Jasper and Sophie.

They're our brand new adorable Boston Terrier PUPPIES!! (Or, as my mother-in-law calls them, her new grandbabies).

They came from the same litter but we actually got Sophie for my family at home. There are hardly any boston breeders in Las Vegas, so we made a deal. If Anthony and I bought and housetrained Sophie for my family, then we would get to keep Jasper! Pretty sweet deal.

Well, we have like a bazillion pictures/videos of them, so I had to narrow them down for you all.
(alert: I seriously almost typed y'all at the end of that sentence... what's happening to me?!)

Jasper has the blue collar and floppy ears, and Sophie has the red collar and pointy ears.

Just LOOK at that face!! (sigh)... I think we're in love.

The Ozarks

2009-08-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

(Ugh! It has been a battle to get this thing posted! I think every website I used refused to work for me. First blogger, then picasa, and this morning it was photobucket! Sorry for the long wait. Sheesh...)

For a week in August we vacationed in Arkansas with old family friends Paul and Crystal. Their house is beautiful and their 40 acre property is to die for. The weather was pretty much perfect (except for a rainstorm Thursday morning) and we had so much fun!

Here's a quick list of the things we did.

1. Shooting - the whole family participated!

2. Boating - which included swimming, jet skiing, and riding tubes.

3. Eating and lounging on the back patio - a very important aspect of the vacation. You can see the lake from the patio in the bottom left photo.

4. Silver Dollar City - a theme park with an old southern theme: Roller coasters, handmade leather, knives and pottery, homemade honey and a petting zoo :)

AND

5. Lambert's - home of throwed rolls (they literally throw them)

Anthony's disclaimer: He's hardly in any of the pictures because he was behind the camera. What a good boy. :)

It was an amazing week and the Henry's were so hospitable and generous. Can't wait to go again next year!

Not Arkansas yet people...

2009-08-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, couldn't help myself. Angie's gonna post tomorrow (hopefully) about Arkansas, but I couldn't help but quickly blog about tonight's events.

Out here in the country, living in a geographical anomaly (20 minutes from everywhere!!), we don't get city trash service like city folk. We did order a dumpster and people to come I think once a week or every 2 weeks, or maybe just when we tell them to, but the dumpster hasn't arrived. In the meantime, we've been collecting more and more garbage, mainly from the unpacking and moving stuff (tons of moving paper, plastic bags/wrapping, cardboard boxes, paper kitchen products, etc.). Also the previous owners left a lot of food that presumably went straight from the fridge during their reign into trashbags left in our garage until today. Oh boy, did it smell. And I won't mention the maggots. ...whoops...

Either way, the only option we had was to burn everything.

So we did.

Well, it wasn't that big. But it was big. And HOT. Like, ridiculously hot. Like, run around frantically spraying water on EVERYTHING that could possibly ignite (meaning everything but the dirt) within a 50 ft radius. Seriously. I couldn't stand within 20 ft of the fire without feeling like this guy.

Now it's all good, after running around with a shovel making sure the embers wouldn't start The Great Azle Fire or anything, and after digging a moat around the entire fire and filling it with water.

So, even though trash burning isn't exactly my cup of tea, when faced with trash burning or mounting garbage (that smells like rotting meat), I'll take trash burning. I guess this is country life...

Ok, back to normal programming. Expect an Arkansas post pretty soon...

Texas

2009-08-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well.. we're officially living in Texas and we helped Anthony's family get moved into their new home in Azle about 2 weeks ago. (Last week was our trip to Arkansas. I'll get to that later :) ) But it's been pretty stressful the last 2 weeks with all the heavy lifting, getting hardly any sleep, and the absolute WORST part of moving: unpacking.

Our room is almost completely unpacked. Except for our computer, bookshelf, and everything else that's hung on a wall. But we have set up the TV (with satellite TV), the Wii, our bed and the piano. What more do we need right? :)

So here are a few photos of the new house and the "mother-in-law" suite that we'll be living in for the next 8 months or so. We'll be very spoiled for the next 8 months.

This is our secret entrance in the backyard. That's our own little patio on the left.

Our bedroom (I'm standing in the front door) :

The TV/entertainment center on the left (as well as the door to the patio)

The four poster bed in the middle. A little over the top, I know.

And our own door to the garage. The bathroom is at the end of that dresser on the right.

I don't have very many pictures of the rest of the house yet, but I'll get those out soon. I needed to post this one quick for my impatient (but loving) family :)

Upcoming blog post: ARKANSAS!!!

Moving

2009-08-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Space bags are a mover's best friend. :)

I'm a believer.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

2009-08-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Or woman's, as the case may be.

On Monday, Angie and I were making plans to go to Happy Sumo (only the best sushi place in Provo) on Wednesday evening, and called Ben up to see if he wanted to go. Ben asked if I could first go to the Wilkinson Center and see if there were any spots open still for the Brigham's Yard Sale.

"The what?!?" I asked, confused.
"Brigham's Yard Sale," Ben replied. "It's like a big yard sale where you get a booth and sell stuff. There probably aren't any booths left, since it's 2 days away, but if there are I'd rather do that than Happy Sumo."
"Well, maybe we could sell stuff with you, since you wouldn't be eating with us," I said.

In fact, Angie and I had already signed a D.I. death sentence on a pile of stuff, so we could just see if somebody else wanted it. To make a long story short, we got a booth and decided to do Happy Sumo after the sale was over (7pm). Angie, however, was dubious about the benefits of a yard sale. But I coaxed her into it.

On Wednesday, Angie and I got to Brigham's Square on campus and began setting up. Ben called up and said he had already sent everything home that he was willing to part with. So Angie and I were left alone.

And it rained. No, it poured. And the wind was blowing stuff everywhere, people were getting hurt (literally), loud thunder. The first thunderstorm in a month, right in the middle of the yard sale.

But despite that, a lot of our junk sold. In fact, we made over $70 profit. Not bad for stuff we were just gonna chuck at D.I. Yep, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Actually, most of the profit came from jewelry Angie sold, not bought by men.

And Angie's yard sale opinion totally did a 180° . Now she's a fan. And richer, too. :)

Behold, the much-maligned aubergine!

2009-07-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those of you who have expressed condolences or amusement at my last post. The job has actually been quite fun, and I'll be sad to say goodbye to all the friends I've made over the last month. C'est la vie...

Now to the pressing issue.

Aubergines.

Brinjals.

Nightshades. (women screaming)

No, these are not villains, X-Men characters, or video games. (Though if you happen to find Nightshade for PS2, I've heard it's a disappointing game.) The nightshade is actually a nickname for the name of the plant family Solanaceae, and aubergine and brinjal are common names for this often-not-well-received culinary item.

Ladies and gentlement: the EGGPLANT.

You've gotta admit. This guy's cute.

While searching through coupons the other day (a fully-developed habit over the last few months), Angie found the Sunflower Market ads, on which we found a coupon for $0.55 eggplants. Since I am a devoted fan of Eggplant Parmigiana, we decided to pick up a couple. Then, upon reading the recipes for my beloved Italian dish, we decided to leave the eggplant alone until something a bit more...ahem...healthy.

We found this recipe in the Wok recipe book sold at Ikea. It's called Sweet Garlic Eggplant, and the moment we saw it, we knew it was our recipe. Well, at least I knew it was our recipe. Here's a legal version I found online, basically the same thing (but add 1/2 chopped onion, and it's 6 Tbsp brown sugar, not caster). Actually, who am I kidding? I don't even know the legality of posting copyrighted recipes online.

(I could only find the Pasta cookbook image on the internet. Imagine it's blue. And says Wok.)

So, last night, during Angie's second headache during our entire relationship, I made the eggplant in the wok. And it was DELICIOUS!! Who knew eggplant could be so good?!? And what's all this information about eggplant being gross and all that I was flooded with as a child? Not to any parent's fault - I think it was just society in general. (Except that one video game, remember Ben? With those eggplants that restored health? Yeah, that was a good one...) But I did do a bit of research last night on the vegetable (also known as aubergine or brinjal, and a nightshade like the tomato and potato), and found out a good bit of information.

Every 3.5 oz of eggplant contains only 20 calories.
The same amount contains 3.4g of dietary fiber (that explains something...)
Eggplants block the formation of free radicals.
They are richer in nicotine than any other edible plant.
-Don't worry, it takes 20 lbs of eggplant to equal the nicotine of 1 cigarette.

So those of you who are unfortunately duped by the misinformed and still believe eggplant is gross and inedible and all that, give it a try. There are TONS of recipes online, and it's really good. It mostly absorbs the flavor of whatever it's cooked in, and it's very filling! Angie and I only ate 1/2 of what I made (1/4 each), much less than I thought. Angie said it filled her like chicken does. At a fraction of the cost!! :)

Either way, I'm an eggplant fan. And I'm spreading the word. Enjoy!

My job, for another week

2009-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Angie's been dominating the blogosphere as of late, so I thought with my extra time this morning I'd post an entry.

This is about my job, the call center. Now, I know a few of you have worked at a call center before, but for the rest of you, let me explain. I get to work every morning at 8:45am, sit down at my computer in my little cubicle (which yesterday was upgraded with my name taped to the inside!), sign in to the appropriate software, click a button, and receive a call that's been waiting anywhere from 3 minutes to who-knows-how-long.

"Thank you for calling customer support. My name is Anthony. How can I help you?"

I repeat this mantra dozens of times a day. And a few other phrases. In fact, I've been noticing that in my normal speech to friends and family I've begun to include my "phone phrases". It's rather depressing, actually. Phrases like "Have you had the opportunity to..." or if I interrupt someone I automatically stop and say something like "Go ahead..." or "Excuse me", without realizing it. Not that it's bad to not interrupt somebody, but it's like a Pavlovian effect. I feel somehow less of a person... ;)

I wish I could explain the wide range of calls I get, but I don't have the time. And neither do you. But I can tell you of the extremes. For instance, a couple weeks ago I had this freaky, psycho Mormon-hater guy call. I began with the mantra, and he immediately asked "Are you LDS?" I sat there a second, confused at the abnormality of the question. He repeated himself, "Are you LDS??" My mind was saying 'Don't tell him anything!!', but my mouth said "Uhh...yes...", at which point Mr. Mormon-hater asked me (quite nicely, actually) to put him on hold, and tell my supervisor that I wouldn't receive calls concerning one of the companies we do support for. I told him we couldn't do that. He began berating me for compromising my religion by working for them. I asked if I could help him somehow, and he repeated his request, which I refused for a second time. Then he asked if I knew the "big Mormon church by DC," which I have seen (DC Temple). He said "I drive by that church every day going to work, with its big spires and its golden man pointing his golden stick in the air. And evertime I pass it from now on, I'm going to think about how bad of a Mormon you are! Does that make you feel bad?!?" I spoke before I could stop myself, with a slight chuckle, "Actually, I find that quite amusing..."

That didn't make him happy.

I've also had a lady who screamed herself hoarse on the phone. Like, literally, hoarse. She couldn't speak more than a whisper by the time she was done.

But then, I've spoken to a lady who was absolutely kind and wonderful. She was 82 years old, engaged to be married in a couple months, and just talked about how life starts at 80 and how wonderful my life will be with my wife and how I should just love every minute of it. That call was about 20 minutes long, and totally made my month. :)

Either way, I have to get to work, but now you know what I do every day. Well, at least the extremes. Just try to find a midpoint, and that's my job. :) It's not that bad. Besides, I only have another 8 days in it.

Ravioli

2009-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

With all of my extra time at home, I've been thinking up more creative ways to make dinner. Nothing expensive, just homemade. :)

So for the first time I tried making homemade ravioli. Not too hard right? I didn't have a pasta presser though so I did have to ask Anthony and his bulging muscles to help out :).

They actually turned out a little on the big side but they tasted great! The filling just consisted of spinach, mozzarella, parmesan, salt and pepper, and 1 egg. Super easy! :)

We ate it with tomato sauce from a jar and the best homemade Rosemary Bread
ever!

Side note: If you ever do make past dough from scratch, unused dough doesn't keep very well (actually... not at all!). It must be all the eggs involved or something because when I pulled the leftover dough out the next morning it was green. Definitely not edible.

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

To start off my boring week of unemployment, I decided to figure out the square footage of our teeny tiny apartment. The measurements:

17ft by 24 ft

which equals.... a whopping 408 sq. ft. :(

I think my parent's living room is bigger than that.

Update

2009-07-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Just in case all four of you who read our blog are dying from the suspense from the last post, here's the update:

Anthony took the call center job and I'm still trying to hunt one down.

As for the guy we met at Costco:

We did have interviews with his financial services company on Saturday and I felt like it was my last and only option. It's a commission-based salary and even though I've always avoided sales jobs like the plague, this product actually helped people save money rather then scamming them into spending more money.

However, these type of jobs require some upfront investment to become an official representative. It covers a lot of things, like getting licensed and having an online account. It's not a fortune but, remember, we are literally dirt poor. So what I thought would be my saving grace from boredom and laziness, was just a dead end. Back to job searching... (silent sobbing)

Now some of you right now might be thinking that you'd rather be in my place than work at the boring job you have now. But I've learned that being unemployed with your husband is a lot more fun than being unemployed with yourself. Apart from searching craigslist every 5 minutes, I've taken to baking my own sandwich bread and making homemade potato chips to fill up my free time.

It's going to be a long 5 weeks.

Stormy Interview Results

2009-06-26T15:31:00.001-07:00

Stormy, because I'm watching a strong thunderstorm approach from the West, over Utah Lake. Just beautiful...

Interview results, because, well, the results from the interview are back. Let me explain the whole situation.

First, read Angie's blog from last night.

Good. Now, here's how it all went down. We showed up there a few minutes early, a little flustered because our printer decided to only be "half there," printing only half a line (like the bottom half, not the top), so we had to stop by campus to print our resumes there. The building is one of those beautiful stone and brick office buildings on North University Avenue before Riverwoods. We walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor (forget the elevator - we needed to get rid of nerves) and meet some guy at the front desk of the suite. Something seemed a little odd at first. He's wearing a polo (nice one, but still a polo), and jeans. "Hmm..." I think. "Relaxed kind of guy."

Then he greets us and asks Angie to wait in a side room while I'm interviewed. He takes me back, starts the small talk, then asks me who I know that works here. Suddenly I begin to think that maybe, just maybe, this isn't the interview I thought it was. As my palms began to sweat I looked up at him with a completely natural face and explained that with all the phone calls we made and resumes we sent out, I can't really remember who it was that referred his company to us. (Meanwhile I'm wracking my brain - "This isn't the Costco guy! Who is it?!?")

At this point I realize that my Heavenly Father really does love me. Just as I'm about to spill the beans and announce that, in reality, I have no idea what company this is that I'm interviewing for, he says, "Why don't I explain a little what we do." I bit my tongue. "We're a customer service call center..." I shook my head as if it was an expected comment, while internally I was screaming out of relief and thanking my Father in Heaven for His obvious hand in keeping me from stuffing my foot in my mouth.

He went on, but for the minute or so afterward I was sort of lost, wondering how on earth I could have mixed up the interviewers and how I was going to tell Angie before she stuck her foot in her mouth. I quickly rerouted my Interviewing Strategy from Finance stuff to phone calls/customer service/sales, which took a few seconds to jive in my head, then began to proceed with the interview as if it was completely planned. We were interrupted for a moment when an employee knocked and needed his signature on a document, during which time I stealthily snuck out my phone and texted Angie "this is the call center".

Anyways, to make a long(er) story short, this was the call center my sister's friend works at and gave me the number to, since they hire for the summer and expect everyone to quit once school starts again. Which is what we're gonna do anyways, minus the school starting thing.

He wants to hire me (he can't hire both of us because the company doesn't allow family members to work together) full-time, 9-5 M-F, and I said yes.

To thicken the plot...

20 minutes after I shook Mr. Call Center's hand, the Costco guy called. We have interviews tomorrow at 11am... Oh dear...

Currently Unemployed

2009-06-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it definitely has been awhile and we're definitely back in Provo. Not just from the Singers tour (we've been home from that since May 26) but from family trips to Texas and Las Vegas. Devan and Bekah both graduated from High School so we had to be there to celebrate! It was great to see family, relax and not really have to worry about the real world.

But as I told you before... we're back in Provo, which is as close to the real world as we get. Anthony and I both had jobs on BYU campus and because of our recent graduation in April, we're no longer qualified to get paid by the university. So where does that leave us? The "currently unemployed" status. We're not really students anymore but we're not really full-time job material either. We're only in Provo until the middle of August which gives us a less than 7 weeks of working time. Every morning for the past week and a half we've checked craigslist.com, monster.com, the Daily Universe and even the Daily Herald for job openings. I'm even guilty of creating a profile on a few babysitting websites in hopes of some income.

So all of you who have had the intimidating task of job hunting probably understand our frustrations. We've also had quite a bit of free time, so we've gotten into the habit of window shopping (more like browsing around stores because we have nothing else better to do.) Costco has been one of our favorites. Mostly because they have so many free samples! :)

This past Wednesday, we were browsing through the kitchen aisle in Costco and I spotted a very nice set of bamboo utensils. As I was having an internal struggle of whether to buy them or not (we really do need a wooden spoon) a man started eyeing the same set. I wasn't really paying any attention to him, but then he started to ask me questions about the set. (tangent: Honestly, when strangers start talking to me, I try and give the shortest answers I can. I don't start conversations, and I don't really like sharing personal information. You probably think that sounds rude, but I just have a hard time making small talk with someone that I don't know and probably won't ever see again.) Anyway, after asking me about the wooden utensil set, he asked us if we were planning on buying anything. Odd question, but I guess it is small talk and we are in a store. Anthony is much better at talking to strangers than I am, so he answered him by saying we were just browsing, but mostly wishing for things we couldn't have. The man then asked us if we were wishing because of space restraints or because of the lack of income. Another odd question, but Anthony just went along and replied that it's really for both reasons; our apartment is the size of a cardboard box and we both have no income at all.

Then the man's personal interest in us all made sense as he started to tell us that HIS financial office was hiring part-time employees right now. What are the odds? :) We told him that we would be leaving in August but he said the company is nationwide, so there's no reason to worry. He nicely asked for our names and phone number and said that he would be contacting us soon for interviews. Not too bad.

So after all of this job hunting on the internet, we finally found an opportunity in the kitchen aisle of Costco. Weird. He called us earlier today and both Anthony and I have interviews Friday at 3:30pm. This guy we met (I don't even know his name) said that he mostly helps older people plan for the retirement, but the website said that it's a mortgage home loan company. By tomorrow, we'll see what we're actually getting ourselves into.

So for right now, we have one possibility and we're really hoping that it works out. So be sure to send us some good vibes tomorrow around 3:30pm. :)

Mother's Day! And Mom's Birthday!!

2009-05-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!! From far away Ireland we both wish you two (Cathy and Lydia) a happy Mother's Day with all the love we can show across text on a blog. :) Mom, happy birthday! You're 28!! YAY!!!! ;)

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures on my computer; they're all on my hard drive at home. I was hoping to make a collage or something similar of our mothers and the good times we've had with them, but it'll have to wait. Just know that we love you two, and are getting stuff for you ;) You are not forgotten. :)

Due to our current location and circumstances, I found this Irish Blessing about mothers. :)

We LOVE YOU!!!

Belfast (and all the other days mixed into one post)

2009-05-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, we've had the internet now for 24 hours, and what have we done?? Not used it! Well, we have been busy, but still. Let's recap...

Monday
We left the beautiful (and mostly dry) city of Cork to head up to Limerick, Ireland. Limerick is still in the Republic of Ireland (the southern part of the island), but on the west side, opposed to Cork in the east. On the way we passed through Blarney, Ireland, where we had to see (and kiss) the Blarney Stone, located on top of Blarney Castle. There are so many pictures I want y'all to see of it, but we'll just have to be satisfied with this picture and give you the link to all the others.

Angie, Ben, and I all kissed the Blarney Stone, granting us the "gift of the gab," or the gift of eloquence. Aww. Now we's can talk purdy. :)

The stone was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but our lips managed to find it. After which our lips also found some hand sanitizer to bathe in, just in case. With all the swine flu scares, we didn't want to bring back, or help mutate, any Blarney Flu. That would be terrible.

We had some fun in the Blarney Castle Gardens and took a lot of pictures, then continued our travels up to Limerick, where we went to a really nice Pub for dinner (fish and chips!! YES!!) and stayed in the most basic of Travelodges in the world. But it did the job. :)

Tuesday
We went ahead and drove 20 minutes to get to breakfast Tuesday morning. Our original plans had been to eat at this Diner-like restaurant next to the Travelodge (Johnny Rocket's, or something like that), but Sister Hall vetoed that on the spot. We instead went to a different hotel's buffet breakfast, but it was great. However, I think we started getting a little tired of the traditional Irish breakfasts, including sausage, weird bacon, beans, eggs, toast, pudding (blood sausage), and steamed tomatoes. Needless to say, the cereal line was much longer than in Cork.

The biggest thing we did (besides passing too many castles to count) was visit the Cliffs of Moher (supposedly pronounced Mow-Air). These cliffs towered 650 feet above the ocean! At least that's what they told us. The cliffs were beautiful! Also really cool about them was the blasted wind - it was howling over 40 mph the entire time! We had a lot of fun leaning into the wind, until my eardrums started pounding. It was absolutely gorgeous, though. A wonderful stop in Ireland. Though, Sister Hall let me know in a matter-of-fact way that these were nothing compared to the Cliffs of Dover in England. Hehehe.

That night we had a really good concert at the Limerick Institute of Technology (I think), and it went really well. There even was a guy there from Brazil, and we had a 15 minute conversation in Portuguese! Supposedly I was the only one in the choir and audience who could speak Portuguese, so we had a fun time talking. It was a good evening. :)

Wednesday
We left Limerick on Wednesday to make our way up to Derry, if you're from the Republic of Ireland, or Londonderry, if you're from Northern Ireland. It's the same place, but your political side determines the name of the city. There used to be a ton of political unrest and violence there, but about 10 years ago they established peace, and it's a beautiful, historic city to visit now. On the way we stopped in Sligo to eat lunch, which is funny because Sligo is mentioned in one of our Irish songs. That was, I think, the only reason we stopped there.

The weather decided to turn against us on Wednesday, becoming much colder, windier, and wetter (word??). However, it was a good drive. We got to Londonderry and met our host families (Raymond and Sharon Douglas), and they took us home the long way, which meant we drove on the coastal road for about an hour. It was gorgeous!! We even drove on the beach...like, on the beach for a while. Then they took us home, fed us dinner, and took us to Portstewart and Portrush for an evening stroll on the seaside and ice cream. So cool. :) The fact that the sun goes down there about 10pm this time of year was convenient.

Thursday
We were up and in the tour bus by 9am this morning, and took a bus tour of Londonderry. It was really cool to see how far they've come in the last 10 years and how much the city has grown. We also got to walk along the Derry Wall, enclosing the city and making it the only fully walled city in Ireland, with the original wall to prove it. The wall's been up since at least the 1640's. Wow. And it rained. :(

We stopped in a beautiful cathedral and had a tour, then had lunch and got ready for our concert in the Guild Hall, which was beautiful, too. We had a great concert with the Londonderry Youth Choir and got to sing our last song with them. Then we went back home with the Douglas Family.

Friday
We left Londonderry on Friday morning, but got to sleep in! The bus was going through Colerain (something like that) to go to our next destination, and that was where we were staying with the Douglas family. So we slept in (gratefully!) and then met the choir and the bus, and headed out to Giant's Causeway on the way to Belfast. Giant's Causeway is incredible! I can't describe even a part of it, so here's the Wikipedia link. It was so cool and so much fun! Oh, and soooo windy. I don't have the pictures on my computer yet, but we'll post them as soon as we can! Just know they're great. And I have a couple of good videos, too.

We made it to Belfast, which is the second largest city in Ireland, after Dublin. We met our host families (in the rain), and figured out that our host family was not in town, but we got their house! Angie & I, plus 4 other guys. It's funny - when we drove up, we went to the wrong house and tried to open the front door with the key. It wouldn't work! Hahahaha, they probably think we're burglars... Well, we finally got here and found a flat-panel TV in every room, a stocked kitchen, trampoline, XBox, Wii, the works. So, the two of us made dinner for everybody, made them eat their vegetables (steamed broccoli), then watched Iron Man on the biggest TV and went to bed. Great day ;)

Saturday
We got picked up early, like 8 o'clock, then got up to Belfast at 8:45 and started another bus tour. I tried my best to stay awake, but that Iron Man movie was over way too late for us (12:15am!!), and we just didn't have the energy to stay coherent for the whole tour. But it was really good and informative while we were awake...hehehe. Actually, we had a woman give us the tour, an Irish woman living in Orem now. Her name is Molly Bird, and she's actually a tourism...uhh...person, living in Orem. Sounded like she does some travel agent stuff, too. Either way, she was hilarious and really knew her stuff about Belfast, probably because she grew up here. Just a few facts: the Titanic was built here. Well, that's not a few, only one, but that's all I could think of right now. Hahaha. I'll let you know more when I can.

We looked around Belfast all morning, rehearsed in the afternoon, then had a concert in the Ulster Hall (I think), which was made for choral singing. It sounded great, we sounded great, the other choir we sang with sounded great, and our concert went from 7:30pm to 10pm. Seriously. I was soooooooooo tired when we finished. But, they kept clapping, so we kept singing! It really was fun.

We returned to our stocked house, had ice cream or drinks (just fruit...don't get any ideas), then all went to bed. Well, all of us except two of the guys who decided to "sacrifice" their night to finish a group load of laundry, while watching a movie. Such big hearts. So selfless... ;)

Now
It's Sunday morning as I'm typing this as fast as my fingers can go, so I may have missed a few things. I'll see if I can fill in any holes in the next blog, which I don't know when it will be. We're at the mercy of fate when it comes to posting. If the family we stay with has the internet, and a wireless router, we can post. If not, it may not happen. We'll see. :)

A Busy Sabbath

2009-05-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today was interesting and eventful. :)

Since we haven't been staying with host families we had to improvise a little for sacrament meeting this morning. It was the first and last time we'll probably ever have sacrament meeting in a hotel suite but it wasn't lacking in spiritual nature. Dr. Staheli presided our meeting and Nick Bishop conducted. We had an opening hymn, prayer, a few announcements and went straight onto the sacrament. As the prayer was said and the coarsely broken sourdough bread passed around on a china plate, I couldn't help but think of the early members of the Church in New York not so long ago. Were their sacrament meetings much like this? Small groups with an intimate sacrament passed around on dinner plates? And then that led me to think of how much the Church has grown in the last 170 years. It started with just a few members have meetings in someone's house and now it's 11 million strong- with people all over the world. I felt so overwhelmed with gratitude for my ancestors who believed and brought my family the truth so early on. It's a great blessing.

That sacrament meeting was a great prelude to the Sunday services we did attend that day. We had the opportunity to participate in a local Catholic Mass in Cork. We sang the traditional texts within the mass (Cantate Domino, Kyrie Eleison, Alleluia, Gloria) and also added some of our own sacred pieces during communion, etc. like I Know that My Redeemer Lives and I Feel Like I'm on my Journey Home. It was amazing to perform for the audience but it was also amazing to see how many faithful people were there. Ireland is one of the most religious countries in Europe and there were plenty of people there to prove it. They were so grateful for our singing and after the services, they fed us very well indeed :). There were (of course) little finger sandwiches with cheese and ham, but there were at least twice as many desserts. And I think I tried every single one! Let's hope that trend doesn't remain consistent for the next 3 weeks.

After the services, we had a few hours to relax at the hotel and maybe grab some lunch (but I doubt anyone was hungry). Anthony and I had good company with Nick and Chrissy Bishop and we just chatted while they borrowed our computer and internet. Once 4:30 rolled around though, we were off to City Hall again to receive the results for last night's performance. They kept us waiting and riveted by having a traditional Irish musical performance before announcing the winners (but it was a step up from the dramatic reality shows). The reason we were invited to compete was for the Fleischmann Trophy with 11 other choirs competing as well. BYU really want us to win 1st because that would have been a big influence on the festival and probably the community. But we didn't get 1st, we actually got 2nd, but the festival also issued additional awards for excellence in other ways. And to our surprise, we won the PEACE trophy along with 2nd place, and these were his exact words:

Festival audiences are many and varied. They are represented not just by those who attend the Gala Concerts and Competitive Sessions, but by those who listen to choirs in their church visits, and informal performances throughout the week of the festival. This year the PEACE Trophy is awarded to a choir who touched the hearts of all who heard them and exemplified the intentions of the trophy's benefactors, the P.E.A.C.E. Movement, Cork.

Wasn't that our initial goal? Seeking to express rather than impress? It was the perfect award for us and one that we were unintentionally trying to achieve.

Cork City Hall

The day wasn't over though. Once the awards were given, we were called back to the Cork City Hall and every choir that competed sang a lighter program for the Gala Concert. Each choir was allotted about 5 minutes and they were allowed to perform anything they wanted (keyword, anything). A few were very good but overall... I felt like I was back in high school. One choir actually sang Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana...? (we just won't go there) But luckily we were last and were able to save the concert by closing with Leonardo Dreams by Eric Whitacre. It was definitely a crowd pleaser and we didn't even have to "head bang" to get it. Who'da thought?

So now, it's late, we're tired but we're sadly leaving Cork tomorrow morning at 11am. We are staying in a hotel, but I can't promise that we'll have the internet. We're planning on visiting Blarney Castle tomorrow, perhaps kiss the stone, and see some other little villages on the way.

And a video to prove that Ireland is cooler than the US :)

Competition Day!

2009-05-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

First things first: We didn't take any pictures today. Not a one. Not because we didn't want to entertain y'all, but because of one of two things: 1) Nothing really happened today worthy of taking a picture; 2) Part of the day we didn't have anything on us, including cameras. So, this is just a text post. Enjoy!

This morning we slept in. Yes. Oh, yes, it was great. We caught breakfast 30 minutes before the buffet closed, and ate with quite a few other late-bird Singers. Once again I ate a ton, but that's been saving us money in the long run. :) We've been eating light lunches and dinners after a HUGE breakfast.

Either way, we had yet another rehearsal this morning for about an hour and a half, but we made big progress with all the facial expression we started putting into our singing yesterday. Seriously, the choir sounds so much better! :) It makes me happy. Well, we rehearsed for a while, then had time off to go eat lunch and change to watch the afternoon session of the competition. Angie and I decided to try the market (a picture of the market entrance is in Angie's post 2 days ago), so we headed over there after changing into some official tour clothes. We bought a big chunk of cheese (€1.47), a gigantic baguette (€2), and 2 of the best oranges I've ever eaten (€1.34, yes they were expensive, but they were worth it). That was just what we needed for lunch, and it came out to only €4.71! I'm pretty sure those were the numbers, but if not they were pretty close. It was less than 5. And let me tell you - Gubbeen cheese with a baguette and an orange straight from the celestial kingdom is a mighty fine lunch. Mmmm-mmmm....

We headed over to the City Hall in the blowing drizzle to watch the afternoon session of the International Choral Competition. It was pretty good, but there was some weird music being performed. And coming from Singers, that must be weird music. But the singing wasn't bad.

Intermission came and those of us who wanted to leave were let free. Angie and I agreed - even though we absolutely love performing and being part of choral music, neither of us can sit through choral concerts well. Uhh..let me re-word that. Angie and I have a difficult time being entertained with sleep-inducing music (or just not good music). So we took the invitation and headed out quick. We decided to go to a nice hot chocolate place right around the corner from the hotel, and were shocked to see what Ben labeled as "chocolate porn" displayed on a flat screen above the truffles. Intoxicating images of chocolate creation, truffle coating, decorating chocolate beauties... Oh, the 5 guys there (me and 4 others) were just spellbound. Angie and Aubrey (Kevin's wife) looked at us like we were idiots. Oh, but it was just beautiful. ;)

After wonderful hot chocolate, we decided to continue our culinary excursion of Irish cuisine by visiting a Chinese restuarant! In Ireland! Hehehe, it wasn't that good, but it wasn't bad. It was just expensive. Like, €27.90. But, between the 2 meals it was still under €36, which is our allotment for the day (€9 per meal per person). We just won't try Chinese out here anymore.

We finally had our competition concert tonight! We could only sing 10-12 minutes of music, so we sang 4 songs, all in Latin, about our Savior. It was gorgeous, and went very well. We won't have any results from the judges until tomorrow at 5pm, but it's not that important to us. We didn't come to win; that wasn't the purpose of our tour. We still have 3 weeks of tour and over a dozen concerts to do give and more firesides, so this is just the start of what we're doing. Angie actually hopes we don't win, because so many other choirs came here for that purpose. We'll see how it turns out.

And to end the night, Angie was getting out of the shower when I heard a big bump, ran in, and she was in her towel holding her head. She slipped while getting out of the shower and hit her forhead on the metal hand bar on the side of the tub. :( I called room service and got some ice for her to keep the swelling down, and we're hoping the bruise doesn't travel down to her eyes. Everybody would think I beat her... Haha, yeah right. But it'll look bad anyways. Hehehe, Angie told me that before we got married she never had any accidents or got sick or anything. Now it starts...

Well, it's super late, and I've gotta get to bed. We'll write tomorrow! Happy Fast Sunday!

Cobh and a Concert

2009-05-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

Today was an unexpectedly busy day! We started with a wonderful breakfast (again), then had a rehearsal for an hour and a half, 10-11:30. Well, it was supposed to be over at 11:30, but Dr. Staheli asked the men to stay a bit later for a men's rehearsal with one of our pieces, then we had a meeting with Sister Hall (a secret meeting...shhh!!). She let us know that our sound was exceptional, superb. But our peformance, our presentation on stage, was not good. At all. Normally we don't really care about that (not out of choice, just our concetration is on technique and musicality), but Sister Hall let us know that the Irish judges will base a lot of their score on our performance (she knows...she's done this a lot before, being from the UK and all). She said her rating of our mock performance yesterday in City Hall (Angie mentioned it yesterday) would have received a 2/10 rating from judges. That's it. SOOO, she told us she'd take notes at tonight's concert on each one of us, and if we wished, we could go to her afterwards and she'd let us know, with complete candidness and honesty, how our individual performance was and what we could do to help the choir improve.

On that happy note, we all got ready quickly and left for Cohb, about 30 minutes east of Cork by train. Yes, we took a train, which was really cool! :) Cohb is the seaport that the Titanic left from on that ill-fated maiden voyage. It was a beautiful town! And look what we saw!!

That's the Voyager of the Seas, the Cruise ship, the exact cruise ship, we took in January! Here, in Cohb, Ireland!!! What are the chances?? Hahaha, we couldn't avoid thinking about it the entire time in Cobh, because it's this HUGE ship just sitting in the harbor. Hehe, anyways...

We mainly visited this gigantic cathedral in Cohb, St. Coleman's Cathedral. It's 210 feet long and 120 feet tall at the highest point. But that doesn't say much of anything about the grandeur of the architecture and stained-glass windows. Oh, gorgeous!

It was so cute too, cause they were having a Catholic School class made just of little girls (like 9 or 10 years old, maybe younger), all preparing for a Primary Program type thing this coming Sunday. And they sang the cutest song about Jesus and how they loved him (I think...). Either way it was way cool hearing the little girls' voices filling the HUGE cathedral while we were just sitting there. :)

Then we finished our time in Cohb with some ice cream (no fish 'n chips yet - too expensive), almost lost one of our basses, then hopped on the 3:30 train to get back to Cork. We got back to the hotel quickly (4:30 or so), picked up dinner on the way (hot sandwiches, only €6 each, and delicious!), then got ready in our tuxes and dresses, and left at 5:45 to get to the venue of our first formal concert, in St. Michael's Church in Blackrock (suburb of Cork). We rehearsed, then had our concert at 8pm. It was fabulous! I was even surprised by Dr. Staheli asking me to sing a solo I had no idea I was even on the list for. :) It went great, too. Everbody was doing their best to show expression on their faces and really tell the story they were singing about in each piece. Afterwards everybody's faces were hurting from smiling so much! Hahaha. But the concert was great. Probably one of the best we've ever had, and far better than our Bon Voyage concert last weekend, even though that was great, too. Sister Hall said our faces and our eyes were so much better, and that was what contributed the most to the improved sound. :)

Oh, and the Irish people! After the concert we talked and talked and talked with this one Irish gentleman who told us all about his life as a global manager for an American company (he never specified) based in Chicago, the "training meetings" they had during 3-day rafting trips on the Colorado River, or 4-day Safaris in Africa, about how he worked on a radio station in Cork for a few years, and all this he tied into the effect of music on people. He was a great guy. :) We talked to a woman who was all tears and handshakes, men who were all smiles and handshakes, and acknowledged many who just smiled and thanked us.

Angie and I realized how much we're going to miss giving concerts and expressing our love of music to people. We're determined to make this last tour the best we can make it and really (no no...really really) make the best of each individual concert. Cause we're never gonna give concerts in this capacity again. And it's going to be really sad. :(

So, that's our day in a nutshell. It was a fabulous, rainy-turned-sunny day here in Cork and Cohb, Ireland, and we can't wait for tomorrow. We have our competition!!!! We'll let you know how that goes! :) Love you all!!

The journey begins

2009-04-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

We're in IRELAND!!! And (lucky enough) we have the INTERNET! The hotel we are staying at in Cork, Ireland has free internet and the best continental breakfast ever! We'll be here until Monday morning, so we'll keep you posted until then. After that, I'm not so sure we'll be lucky to end up with the internet again.

Anyway, we left for our trip early Tuesday morning at 8am to the Salt Lake airport. Our flight left at 11:30, we arrived in Atlanta around 4pm (their time) but didn't leave for Dublin until 9pm. We did make a dinner stop at On The Border in the Atlanta airport though and it was divine (and probably our last time eating Mexican food until May 26) :).

The flight to Dublin was 8.5 hours long but Sister Hall guaranteed that we wouldn't get jet lag if we slept during as much of the flight as possible. So Anthony and I took a generous dose of Benadryl AND melatonin and slept pretty much the whole way there. IS was fantastic. One moment I was dosing off and the next I was being woken up by the flight attendant for breakfast with only an hour left on the flight. Others weren't as fortunate (or, rather, they didn't take any drugs) and were up watching movies and playing games through the entire flight.

Once we arrived in Dublin, however, our traveling wasn't over. We still had a 4 hour bus ride to Cork, in the rain (of course). Again, Sister Hall gave us her advice and urged us not to sleep on the bus on the way to Cork. I tried listening to Harry Potter 7 but the narrator's voice ended up putting me to sleep faster. We stopped for lunch in I don't remember where (somewhere halfway between Dublin and Cork) and had our first taste of Irish food. Anthony had traditional Shepherd's Pie and I had Quiche Lorraine. The vegetables were delicious! Most we were already familiar with but a few we weren't - like parsnips and rutabagas.

Finally we arrived in Cork, took the lift up to our hotel rooms and had a group walk around town.

Sidenote: At the beginning of the trip, Nathan (our tour manager) gave us our per diem cards from BYU so we can pay for all of our meals. Their like debit cards with a maximum amount of money available to us. We were given about $12 per meal (excluding breakfast) which transfers to about €9.

So, as we were taking a lovely walk around Cork, we quickly noticed that €9 wouldn't hardly cover a meal at a sit down restaurant or pub. But then we soon found the solution: Marks and Spencer. The UK equivalent to Target, but it also offers ready-made meals to go that are SO much cheaper than cafes and SO yummy. Today we both ate a full dinner, which included pesto pasta salad, 3 bean salad, cheese and bread, AND chocolate pudding for only €11... for both of us.

So far, it hasn't felt like any other tour I've been on. We been in a hotel the whole time and we haven't really performed formally. We did have an informal performance in the Cork library this morning. The audience was probably 85% senior citizens but they were the cutest old irish people and they were the most grateful audience. We only sang for about 20 minutes and even after we performed one encore there was an old man sitting in the front row who yelled for us to do one more. It was so cute, but we didn't really have time since there were other people scheduled to perform after us.

Later on, we did have another informal performance in the Cork City Hall for anyone who wanted to come. The performance was mostly for us to be able to get a feel of the acoustics in the room and be prepared for our real concert tomorrow. But there were a few groups of elementary school children that seemed to enjoy it very much. :)

After that, we ate lunch, had a little rehearsal and went on another walk with Sister Hall around town. This one was a little longer and we visited the beautiful St. Anne's Cathedral. There were lots of cool pictresque spots on the way as well and we took plenty of pictures, don't worry. We also saw an old traditional Irish pub with traditional Irish music playing nightly. Pubs aren't exactly the same as bars are in the States. People go to pubs for socializing and eating as well as for the ale, and Sister Hall said we're allowed to be there for the Irish music at 9:30 pm. We're considering it. :)

That's all for right now, and instead of posting every single picture/video we take on our blog, I'm planning on putting them in a Google web album accessible to all of you! So if you want to see everything, be patient, it's coming. We love and miss you all! :)

Easter Festivities

2009-04-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

There was no Easter bunny, egg hunting or even any chocolate (gasp!) but we had a great time eating yummy food and dying eggs the nontraditional way. The whole family came (i.e. Dan, Ben and Trevor) and we highly recommend silk-dying Easter eggs. They turned out so awesome!!

We did have to sacrifice about 6 silk ties though. The boys felt a little guilty :)

And our favorites:

HAPPY EASTER!!

Oh Rats!

2009-03-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

In my English class right now we're giving presentations of our latest persuasive essays. Mine's gonna be on the importance of fathers (of deaf children) learning sign language. But that's not for another week. Today, one of my fellow students gave a presentation persuading us (we represented middle-school age adolescents looking to buy a pet rodent) to turn to pet rats instead of hamsters. Then she described the various pros and cons of rats compared to hamsters.

Which, in my personal experience, is that hamsters are just fluffy, cute poof balls that really don't do anything except run in their annoying wheels from 12:43am to 5:14am. On school nights. And they don't really serve any purpose besides being cute to look at. And...uhh...being cute to look at. Yeah, that's about it. Oh, and they like to bite.

But rats are friendly and playful! Not only are they not nocturnal, but they like company and people. (Ahem, tame rats like people. Don't go picking up rats out by the gutter. They are wild. And they don't like you.) I began trying to tell Angie about them, but - miracle of miracles - Angie wants a pet rat TOO!!! (Enter Alleluia Chorus) So we decided a few things. First, we're getting a rat once we move out of this apartment. :) Second, we were going to look at cute rat pictures. Right. Now. So we did. And here's our spoils:

Notice the guy's tongue on the left, the overbearing grandma the top right rat
unfortunately posseses, and the adorable eyes of the white one.
::sniff::

Now come some of our favorites. Of. All. Time...

This is Bug. He's "the most adorable rat in the world." (Angie)
And where did he get those miniature teddy bears???

These were runner ups:

The cutest position a rat could stand in.

And this mama & baby rats were to die for

That's what we stayed up late doing. And we're happier for doing it. ;) Soon we'll have a rat. Any name suggestions??

New Toy

2009-03-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

We got a webcam from my family so that we could have lovely conversations over the internet. Anthony was really excited to get it set up. :)

Chester

2009-03-09T18:48:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday March 7 around 4pm, I received a call from my mom that our beloved dog Chester had passed away in the animal hospital. He was unexpectedly attacked by our neighbor's Rottweilers the day before but only suffered a few teeth marks and a broken leg. But when they put him under the anesthetic on Saturday morning, his lungs reacted to it and he died of a heart attack.

The news was extremely sudden so I had a hard time controlling my emotions. I pretty much didn't want to be (or pretend to be) happy all weekend. But thanks to my wonderful husband, I did have a little fun Saturday night and got my mind off of it for awhile. He was so supportive and very comforting. I'm very grateful to have him in m life :)

Chester was 8 years old and the best dog we've ever had. He was energetic, obsessed with playing fetch, slept with me in my bed, loved to cuddle on the couch and had the two biggest puppy eyes that no one could say no to. I will miss him very much and I'm not sure any other dog could hold such a dear place in my heart.

Reminisce

2009-03-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Awww...

I was just looking through some old family pictures and look what I found! Bekah and Jordy all snuggly. :) These two wouldn't be caught DEAD cuddling like that now. They grew out of that loving sibling stage years ago. So why are we so eager to become adults when we are young? Amidst adulthood, I often wish I could go back to those carefree days of playing Barbies and watching cartoons all day. Those were the good 'ole days.

True Love

2009-02-24T11:04:00.001-08:00

True love is found in many ways, or rather, many things may trigger the realization of true love. I assumed that getting married would have opened the doors to the deepest love you could have, but once more I was incorrect. That's the bad news.

Here's the good news! Angie's love for me went a bit deeper this last weekend. After sleeping in and watching some cooking shows (a developing tradition...) I decided I had to take a shower. Our whites were still in the dryer (which sits on top of the washer), so I began rummaging through the whites to find some fresh whites to wear. During my rummaging I was planning the day in my head, and after a few moments thinking I realized something that I hadn't done in a while that I had done many a Saturday before. With my hands in the whites, I told Angie, "I feel like going to the mall today. I haven't been in a while."

There was a short pause, when I heard no response. I almost repeated myself louder, believing Angie hadn't heard me, when she scared the living daylights out of me.

Angie screamed, "OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU!!!" and threw herself at me from behind, grabbing me around the waist and shoving my head into the dryer.

So, moral of the story is, when I'm feeling a little in the doghouse, or like I need to make Angie happy, trips to the mall are in order...

Animal cutidity

2009-02-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

Cutidity - the state of being cute; cuteness.

While eating dinner today, our computer began scrolling through random images as part of its screensaver. One image caught our eyes (well, only one eye, really...Angie's). This picture was one among dozens I took this last summer when I spent a weekend at Angie's family's cabin down at Panguitch Lake, UT. I remember we were sitting on the deck watching a light rain shower pass by, snuggling in the brief chilly spell the clouds and rain brought, when this guy interrupted (rudely, I might add) our cuddle session. By interrupt I mean he just showed his (ugly) head and took Angie's attention from me. Here's the culprit.

Supposedly his "cutidity" was enough that Angie compelled me to save it for eons to come. I thought this next guy would win over the Coleoptera specimen and take Angie's cute-attention, thus restoring it to a more naturally cute animal. Not that anything that takes her attention away from me is a good thing, but I would rather it go to this guy than the beetle.

But it didn't work. Just today, while eating dinner, Mr. Beetle Face popped up and stole my darling's heart again, though just for a moment.

He's now my enemy.

Cursed art thou beetle! Thou wilt rue the day thou didst point even one of thy long antennae at my queen!! Make haste and get thee hence!

Ha. It worked. :)

Later:
Upon further examination at a really really zoomed-in image of Mr. Beetle Face, Angie is in agreement that her Beetle Beau is actually not very cute.

However, his butt is another story... ;)

Paradise

2009-02-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

We've been home for quite a while now, but I just wanted to post some pictures of our AMAZING cruise to the Caribbean. We loved the boat, the hot tubs, the sights, the warm weather, the food (mmm...), and the towel animals that greeted us every evening in our room. It was truly Paradise. It was like the polar opposite of Provo.

Observe:

vs.

Bleh! Come back blue skies... warm weather... We miss you :(

Well, this just means that we'll have to go on another very, very soon.

Dinner was divine - a 3 course meal every night that took at least 2 hours. We learned how to play shuffleboard (horribly) and played soccer, mini-golf, and volleyball onboard (pretty awesome).

We still have a water-proof camera that we need to develop. It has pictures of stingrays attacking Anthony and the whole family hiking up the Dunns River Falls in Jamaica. Good stuff.

More photos in my picasa web album:

Cruise!!! 1.18.09-1.25.09

iTunes explains it all (aka Brother on a Hotel Bed)

2009-02-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

This has kind of become the fad, but I think it's funny, so I'm joining the bandwagon. There's one on facebook that my brother did (pretty funny), but this was the first I laughed at from a friend's blog. So, here are the rules:

1. Put Your iTunes on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.

If someone says "Is this ok?" you say:
Can you handle it. [You can't handle the truth!]

How would you describe yourself?
Next year. [Wait for it...wait for it...]

What do you like in a guy/girl?
Another Saturday Night [uhh....no?]

How do you feel today?
Ain't no mountain higher [feelin' pretty good]

What is your life’s purpose?
One day more [what can I say, I'm optimistic...]

What is your motto?
Ding Dong! Merrily on High! [now that's just weird]

What do your friends think of you?
Mormon rap [I can't believe I even own that song!]

What do you think of your parents?
Rejoice the Lord is King! [...Dad???]

What do you think about very often?
I hide myself

What is 2 + 2?
Devil came back to Georgia [sorry....no.]

What do you think of your best friend?
Your heart is an empty room [bwahahahaha!]

What do you think of the person you like?
For you to notice [yes, my wife should notice me...always...]

What is your life story?
Kiss the Girl [well, if you really knew me...]

What do you want to be when you grow up?
The Shepherds had an Angel [uhh...shepherd or angel?]

What do you think of when you see the person you like?
At the Sign of the Prancing Pony [what the.....?!?!?]

What will you dance to at your wedding?
They call the thing rodeo [hahahaha, no sir, we did NOT]

What will they play at your funeral?
Angels we have heard on high [Gloria?!?]

What is your hobby/interest?
O Holy Night [i don't get it]

What is your biggest fear?
Paradise [it's scary, k?!?]

What is your biggest secret?
Rollin down the river [is that secretive or what?]

What do you think of your friends?
The Garden [like DAISIES!!]

What will you post this as?
Brother on a Hotel Bed [now that's just weird...maybe not]

New Toys :)

2009-01-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Today, Angie and I spent some money. A lot, actually. Well, not like we're not going to eat solid food for the next week, but still a lot for the newlywed couple that we are. But it was for a good reason, at least, we think.

We bought a new used computer!! Or a used new computer! Or just used! Here's the deal - every couple months or so, BYU gets tired of their stash of electronics, either because of their performance or they just have too many, and has a "Surplus Sale." Today was the first of the semester, and was at 4:30. Angie and I got there at 4:00 to get a good spot in the line, but upon arriving saw that the line was, like, 50 people long. No, really. FIFTY PEOPLE, people. And that was 30 minutes before opening. I was surprised to say the least.

So, the wait began.

And annoyance.

Only because of old people. Well, not necessarily old. The full-time faculty and staff got first dibs, and didn't even have to stand in line! They just walked right up to the front, flashed their nifty BYU ID cards, and were let right in with a smile. At least the employees were curteous.

We got in at 4:15 and immediately ran in different directions - Angie was in charge of finding a suitable monitor and keyboard (we already had a mouse) while I ran in the direction of the CPU's (computer processing units, or the towers). I actually found both the monitor and computer we liked, but Angie helped (<--required). She found the keyboard. We got out of there with a very modest price (you'll have to ask) for the computer and monitor we got. It feels like Christmas again!

Ignore the potatoes and flour sack under the desk, please. Thank you.

We afterwords went to Best Buy to see the price for internal wireless cards (we don't have LAN in our apartment. I know. Dumb.), and while searching we were distracted by the Wii games and saw the Legos Star Wars game was on sale!!! Oh, how could we stay away?!? Angie actually demanded we get it, so I had to comply. Hehehe. So we bought that, too.

Now we're going to enjoy the game, the computer, finish downloaded/upgrading software on the desktop and eat dinner. Once it finishes cooking. (We just realized the oven was set at 325 for the last 45 minutes instead of 375...hahaha.)

Hopefully an extra 20 minutes will do the trick...

Bon Voyage

2009-01-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last night we got a total of 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Right now, it's 8:24 am and we're stuffing the last few articles of clothing into our already overstuffed suitcase. Caribbean Cruise, HERE WE COME!! Hopefully there's an internet cafe or something on the ship so that we can keep you updated throughout our vacation. If not, we'll just recap it when we get back.

Forecasted high in Cozumel, Mexico: 80 degrees ... just FYI :)

Home Sweet Home

2009-01-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

So this is the current condition of our new apartment. Yay... :( Hopefully we can get it somewhat organized and take some nice pictures later. But to break up the monotony of unpacking, our new neighbors invited us over for an impromptu dinner. They were so nice and the homemade pizza was way better than the Little Ceasar's that we were planning on eating tonight. We felt all warm and fuzzy inside :)

So... for the next 5 days (at least) we'll be stuck in our apartment trying to get everything somewhat organized. Please come visit us :)

Our First Christmas

2008-12-24T17:02:00.001-08:00

Seeing the Nutcracker in the Irvine Barclay Theatre

Our last minute tree from Target (30% off!)

Making a popcorn garland

A hotel Christmas :)

Merry Christmas!!