white chRistmAs

a late happy birthday glenn. sorry these are so late, but i had to post them...

notice that there are no candles?

haha. poor senile old einstein. just kidding. he's a good sport and posed for the camera. i do believe that he went so far as to actually blow out air and pretend...

then...this past weekend, since christy and bex and their families couldn't come down for christmas, dave...being the best husband in the world that he is...took me and jordy and mom to visit utah for the weekend. it was a quick trip, but fun to see everyone! we had a little white elephant gift exchange party and watched christmas movies and had caramel corn and read books and had fun together. the kids even got to go sledding a bit. (dave and i politely declined and opted for a movie inside instead) it snowed a ton and driving in it was...entertaining... :) thank heavens for glenn's 4-wheel drive truck or else we never would have made it. we sure are glad to be back home in the warm rain. whoever said you needed snow to have christmas was crazy!

here are some pictures:

at one point in our gathering, we found that simeon had climbed in the dryer...so of course lia had to follow...

chex made us caramel corn... yummy! good job guys. it was gone WAY too fast. and jordy found a kernal in her teeth the next day. she was freaking out for about an hour of our drive saying "i have a cavity! my tooth hurts." then, she found a toothpick and had to show everyone the kernal.


and this isn't from our trip, but i just love this picture of dad-richard and jordy...

here's everyone (minus dad) at the sugus after our party. nata's giving jordann bunny ears and i'm assuming chip is using the monkey to hold a space for his coming baby. :)

my good sport husband posing for yet another picture. :)

happy christmas eve everyone!

two oNes

so here is number 2. i'm SUPER excited that it turned out! let's be honest...the second time around was MUCH easier. :)

yay! now we get to hang them!

she's cRAfty (iN the immoRtAL woRds of the beAstie boys)

How cute is this!? Yes...I made it! super fun! I'm so excited that it turned out as well as it did. Now I just have to make one more...

Jordy came over last weekend and we made a gingerbread house. We usually do them every thanksgiving, but it didn't work out this year, so she and I put one together a few days later. We were SO proud of our 1 hour gingerbread house creation...and we didn't even use superglue once!

suNdAy wiLL come

as you may already know, Elder Wirthlin passed away last night...just got me thinking about what a great man he was. i remember clearly his talk titled "Sunday Will Come" just after his wife passed away. holy smokes. what an inspiration of faith. then, his talk "Come What May, and Love It." that talk has helped me through so many fears and helped me to trust and be happy. this morning on my way to work, i happened to listen to "Praise to the Man," by the mormon tabernacle choir and was thinking about the incredible leaders that have come before us and paved the way for us. i am so grateful for inspired leadership and for the knowledge that i have that God still speaks to us.
what an incredible man. Elder Wirthlin will be missed and i'm so grateful for the messages he has shared.

we'Re gRAtefuL foR...the chANges iN Life!

especially the change from this...

to THIS!!!!

yay! just in time for thanksgiving!

its ALmost time...

i know, i know, we're a bit early on the christmas theme... but I CAN'T WAIT!! i've held out long enough. and i'm sure i'll change it a few times before dec 25th. dave picked up our nativity this morning and i'm so excited!! it will be so hard for me to hold off decorating for at least another week or so.
there is a house down the street from us that is in FULL decoration. i mean...christmas literally threw up on this house. every time i drive by it, i'm disgusted, but moderately jealous...

quick shoutout

so i know that sometimes i gross even myself out with how gushy this blog gets...but i have to give a quick shoutout to dave. with all the prop 8 stuff, i didn't get to post these pictures before. on my birthday, he suprised me at work with cake and a hat and balloon. he even brought 27 candles and had everyone sing. then we went to my favorite restaurant in orange county and got sprinkles. it was the best. he really does never cease to amaze me.


then that weekend we had a party with the families. i had to post this picture because of jordy's face... i think maybe she was helping me with the candles...but this picture is fantastic.

one final shot... on election day, krispy kremes gave out free star shaped donuts...since we went to the temple (and thus were "just down the street"), i begged dave to take me. of course, they were out...but we got regular free ones anyway. and dave felt bad leaving without buying anything, so we ended up with a dozen...and some free hats. so, i had to have a picture. :) he said "well. that's going on the blog..." so here it is.

hAppy biRthdAy gRANdmA k!

so today is grandma k's birthday. and we just have to say happy birthday! we love you and are so glad to see you all the time lately. we hope you have some wonderful dinner. :)



while i'm here... thanks to all who helped and prayed and contributed and especially VOTED for proposition 8. i know that hard times are still ahead, but we have both had some faith trying moments and have been stretched. we have definitely grown and i know we can all learn a few things from this experience. :)

GO VOTE!!!

oh my goodness. it's finally here! go out and vote! let's get this over with so we can return to life as normal! i dare say we all won't even know what to talk about for a while! i'm just so excited to see the end of this mess...which ever way it may be.
come what may...we'll enjoy it. :)

New video

Just another Prop 8 video. :)

pRop 8 AgAiN...

i love this video for it's simplicity. sorry. not gonna shut up about this until november 4th. :)



i've spoken with a few friends from other states who have a hard time reconciling their friendships with the homosexual community with their beliefs that marriage should be between a man and a woman. how can we deny rights. in california, we have the advantage. Rights are already the same for any couple. This page helped me understand that.
http://www.ca-trusts.com/Domesticpartners.html

This really isn't about rights. it is about defining marriage. :)

moRe foR pRop 8

I just discovered this link and had to share it. It's from NPR about the ramifications of the legalization of same-sex marriage.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91486191
(i don't know how to hyperlink it, so you'll have to cut/paste it. sorry!)

so, last night we read that an elementary school took a class field trip to a lesbian wedding. wowee. if that's not infiltrating the schools, i don't know what is. Granted, at least they gave the parents the opportunity to opt out...but they took a school bus and did it on a school day. now, have they ever taken a field trip to a heterosexual wedding? i would love to see it. sorry. i'd rather spend my tax money on learning mathematics and science. thanks though. :)

why do we cARe About pRop 8? eLdeR bedNAR sAys it peRfectLy!

wowee! ANd hAppy biRthdAy dAve!

phew. this week has been busy! we went to orlando to visit jamie and disneyworld. SO much fun! not only did we get to go to all four parks at disneyworld but we also got to see the kennedy space center and the orlando temple. plus, we had an EXCELLENT tour guide. so when it is your first visit at disneyworld, they give you these buttons. we also got a happy birthday one for dave to wear on his birthday the day we got home. so wherever you go, the employees ask you how your first visit is going and if you need help or anything. on your birthday, they scream happy birthday at you, and they have buttons for many other occasions... gotta love disney!

our first picture the morning we got there. bright and early before we met jamie at the park.

we spent the first day at animal kingdom...where they have this fantastical safari ride with no fences and animals all around you. this giraffe walked right in front of the truck across the street so we had to slow down. i took the picture early so we could really look when it passed by. so fun!

i believe this picture captures disney at its best. anything that can make dave smile this big is worth whatever it takes to get there. :) thanks dave for being so excited for the camera. :)

jamie got us in to mickey's not so scary halloween party. OH MY GOODNESS! so much fun! trick or treating in a half empty park. the show was a "not so scary" halloween show. where the main characters are the villans like ursula and jafar. and the ghost from the haunted house. done in a way that only disney could do halloween. even i, being anti-halloween, loved it. they had a parade and it was so much fun. this little hussie hit on dave and i had to claim my man. haha.

since it's free at the not so scary party, couldn't pass it up...this was a first for me. apparently jamie ALWAYS gets minnie mouse. dave passed on the face painting saying "he'd probably get a rash." only after he had left us in line did i find out that it was all water based paint and completely hypo-allergenic. have no idea how he snuck so easily out of that one...

putting on 3d glasses for what had to be the 50th 3d show of the day. i was getting the biggest headache! but this one is the best. mickey's philharmagic. so much fun.

the buzz lightyear ride. jamie kicked butt the first time, but dave smoked us both the second time.

next day at epcott. jamie tried sushi for the first time, so i had to document it. congrats love... on to the sashimi next...yeah, and the monkeys were hung across the road like christmas lights. SO fantastical. i had to get a picture. :)

we went to this super obnoxious restaurant and i had to ride around the room singing happy birthday to the waitress at the top of my lungs... like i said, gotta love disney...

kennedy space center... SO neat!

and just before taking a quick jump in the atlantic. yes. just me. haha. dave freaked me out right before telling me that alligators swam in the atlantic! so it was real quick...

quick stop at the orlando temple before we headed out of town. so pretty!

and the day after we got home was dave's birthday. we had a birthday party for him...i promise, there was more there than chilren. :) but i just love this shot. he really wanted a "huge twinkie" for his birthday cake so i found a recipe for golden sponge cake and made whipped cream frosting. unfortunately, i couldn't get it out of the pan so it's not so twinkie like. but it tasted good. plus, we had a pinata and a delicious bbq. it was so much fun. happy birthday dave. xoxo

oNe moRe thiNg!

oops. forgot to post this one. so i have been keeping plants on our patio and last weekend i planted flowers in one of those window boxes. i have been watering them and taking care of them and could not figure out why they were not growing! so the other day at 5 am i went outside to put something out and find a cat taking a little tinkle in my flower box. i was SO mad! i yelled and kicked it. then, yesterday, went outside to find the thing had dug and dumped! i want to kill it!

dave had 2 suggestions. electric fence or ask dad where he got his squirrel trap... hmmm. any suggestions?

A few good thiNgs

sorry for this random post. we have been NON stop lately. i wanted to get some pictures up because i finally found the charger for my camera batteries. sorry if some of the pics are blurry. some came off my phone.

by request, here are some of our house pictures. yes, bex. i came home from the store with a bunch of plants. :) here's my favorite. (the wall behind it is now sage green and looks amazing!

and here's the walls in the dining room. as i was going through pictures of grandma k, i found this one and i just love how short she is next to dave. haha. not the best picture of any of us, but i just love it. we were taking pictures because grandma's supposed to lose her hair soon. i'm not sure how, but she's on round 2 of chemo and still got lots. she even has super cute hats for the winter for when it goes.



last weekend, dave went to help his parents on their house and i went down to balboa park to meet andrea and we did the american heart association annual heart walk. it was AMAZING to see so many people. by the end we felt like cattle. it was so fun to see andrea though and so great to walk and talk and play. sure have missed that girl! we also got to go see grandma this weekend. kurt and chamaine brought baby ansley down to see her too. oh my goodness, she's adorable! SO tiny and precious!
and this one's for the bex. most people may or may not know...i'm obsessed with flan lately. i go to dinner just to eat flan. when bex was here a few weeks ago, we made flan and ate it super hot out of the oven at like midnight. oh goodness. it was delicious. my caramel is so much better than any restaurant. the custard definitely tasted lower in fat than most...but super good nonetheless...
isn't it pretty? :) and we're off to disneyworld this weekend so there will be more pictures to come next week!

it's officiAL, we'Re stAyiNg...

i started painting this weekend. holy smokes. i finished the dining room in about 2 hours (yes, it's super small...). plus, i bought some plants and they are FANTASTICAL and brighten up the room. everyone should come see them!!! as i'm painting the wall with the fantastic colors i bought, dave says "so, i guess we're staying?" i didn't know that was up in the air still. haha. anyway, sorry for the lame posts of late, but i'm just so excited our little place is really ours. :)

couLd it get betteR?

i hear that it does, but i can't even fathom it.

mostly for our californian friends

okay, so i know that neither of us are the type to go too political on anyone, but this is something we feel strongly about, so we gotta say it...

Californians...VOTE YES ON PROP 8!!!

here's the thing. we love all people, and don't want to deny anyone their rights. but the people we want to protect most are our children. when it comes down to it, that is the most important thing we can do, right? no success can ever compensate for failure in the home...you know, heal the world, make it a better place...(did i just throw out MJ?) anyway, i don't know how many have heard this story, so i'm gonna post it here so none of our friends can claim that they didn't know. choose to take it for whatever you want.

so, there's this book out called King & King...long story short, it is a children's book about a prince who is supposed to marry and can't find a princess...yeah, he falls in love with another prince and they "live happily ever after." anyway, so apparently a teacher out in massachusetts (where homosexual marriage is legal) thought it would be a grand idea to read this story to her 2nd grade class...without pre-warning the parents or anything. parents found out and went nuts. the superintendent completely backed the teacher and said that the she had done nothing wrong. the judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying, "diversity is a hallmark of our nation."

apparently last year the same school started something else by giving kindergarten students a "diversity book bag." in that bag, a book called "who's in a family," which challenged the definition of a family in pictures and descriptions.

now don't get me wrong...we're all for diversity and people having choices, but when those choices compromise what we teach in our home and we're not even given the choice to protect our kids...and i'm talking as early as kindergarten...how is this a "protection" of rights?

there's story after story of the ramifications of legalized homosexual marriage including the pressure on churches to support adoption into gay couples. which is fine for churches who are okay with that, but when the state starts telling churches what they can and can't do...doesn't that violate some other rights?

okay, one more quick story...a few weeks ago we heard a story about a high school teacher down here who stood up in front of her class and said "i just received a memo from the district telling me that i'm no longer allowed to use the terms mother and father or husband and wife in my classroom. so neither are you." yeah. that's so not okay with me. apparently diversity means i'm in the wrong?

i just recently realized that not a lot of people even know that prop 8 is gonna be on the ballot in CA this november - or even what it is. even fewer see that the ramifications go WAY beyond allowing the union of two people who love eachother. so, do what you want with what you know, but we just wanted to make sure that you knew. :)

here are some refences...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_&_King

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23077

http://books.google.com/books?id=cRN5NGTmzdYC&dq=the+king+and+the+king&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

the gemmeLLs!

on 8/8/08...our good friends keith and shannon got married. it was so fantastical to spend such a wonderful day with them. we are super happy for them and so glad they made it. :) the temple ceremony was amazing and the reception was beautiful. they were both so happy all day and it was wonderful to get to see them so in love! congrats to them both!!! here are a few pictures.

i'm also posting some pictures from shannon's shower...just cuz she's super cute. we did a question game where we asked shannon and keith the same questions and recorded his response. i think she missed like 1 question out of all of them! we were all way impressed. and she was just so excited to marry him. it made me happy.