Christmas Questions!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for christmas presents, gift bags for quick birthday gifts.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artifical, pre-lit, no needles and you can light a nice pine candle to fake everyone out.

3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as I get a chance after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Yearsish

5. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? NOG NOG or Apple cider.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Either a nintendo from my Dad & Pam or stuff hand-made by my Mom.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes...cute & crafty looking. Nothing special but it does the trick.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My Mom. She always is so grateful & loves everything she gets.

9. Worst Christmas gift ever received? A crayon sweater from my Dad & Pam in the 5th grade. I liked the idea of a sweater, but I wasn't really into crayons on my shirts in the 5th grade.

10. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic. I hate driving home every night with Target & Mall traffic. STEP ASIDE PROCRASTINATORS!

11. Mail or email Christmas card? Email cards if I photoshop them.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually around Halloween. I like to be done before or right after Thanksgiving.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Heck yes I have. If it is something nice that I think someone else would use more than I and it is still in the box.....you better beleive it.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sticky buns. MMMMMMM Can't wait for Monday morning (family brunch).

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? CLEAR!!!!!!

16. Favorite Christmas song? Away in a Manger; I love it!!!!!

17. Favorite Holiday Show/Movie? Scrooged with Bill Murray and of course A CHRISTMAS STORY starring the one & only RALPHIE.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Would like to stay home but with so much family, we travel around.

19. Favorite thing to do this time of year? Go look at Christams Lights.

20. Can you name Santa's reindeer? I know the song and I don't want to sing it.

21. Do you have an angel on top or a star? Star. Is that bad?

22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? CHRISTMAS MORNING. But I do still wake up about 7 because I am so excited.....so early Christmas Morning.

What about you?

P.S. Thanks to Laura for the quiz...I copied it from her blog.

Nano!

I am officially cool; I got an iPod Nano on Saturday. I can now hang with all of the young kids with razors & iPods.


I bought a cd player for my car with a built in iPod adapter, but didn't quite have the iPod. Because, I hate scrambling through cases of CD's to find what I want ato listen to and I have procrastinated making a bunch of mp3 cd's to play in my car, I decided to buy one. So, now I am all set! I just need to learn how to work it and justify the purchase by using it with my gym pass that is a little dusty.

Horay! BTW--anyone know how to group albumns into folders when transferring to an iPod with iTunes?

Puppy Love

Hasn't it been awhile since you heard about my pups?

Aren't you dying to see their cute faces? I thought so.

They love the snow! Fact is, they bark to go outside just to play in it. I put them out back and they played in the snow until it was gone....then they sat at the fence crying at the snow just beyond their gate that they couldn't get to. When they do decide to come in, there are tiny little snow balls all over in their fur. It makes for a wet entry, but what can you do?

Why not just bath them ourselves? Both in the tub they did best. Otherwise, Izzy was licking at Chloe to make sure she was ok.

Isabel still sucks on everything. She just finds a toy or blanket and kneads at it. At least she entertains herself; not to mention it is pretty darn cute.

Getting ready for our walk. Heck yes they have jackets!

Have I mentioned I just love these little dogs?

TUNNEL TIME! I bought a pet tunnel at all a dollar. It has been the best purchase thus far. They love it! Chloe will chase Izzy through it; Izzy will retaliate by trying to bite her through the side; they sleep in it; drag their toys through it.....the list goes on.

Well, I guess that is about it for recent pics of the pups.

We were in the "Red Garter" room so I thought the pose appropriate for the occasion. We will see if my co-workers agree (wink wink). It is not the cutest picture of us, but it was fun! I look chinese & Clayt is laughing at his silly date. Hanging from the banisters above us as we ate, were skantily clad women and drunken men (manicans). Interesting but fun.

Unfortunately no Cancun. However, the person who won it is so deserving! I am really glad he won (it was Ken). However, everyone got one prize and I won a second prize. I got a digital camera with digital frame. Great Gift!!!!! I am so stoked.

But shhhh don't tell, I might take it back to get these pans I want from Sams Club (that is where they bought the gift). Nerdy I know, but I need a good set and I have been eyeing them for months :).

Christmas Parties!

Ok, who doesn't love a good Christmas Party? I must say, that although not everyday I wake up wanting to go to work, I do look forward to our annual Christmas Party. You can look back at last years post to see the funny board members dressed up as elves & santa to bring us good cheer. I laugh & eat plenty at these little festivities (oh, did I mention laugh to the point of almost peeing my pants?? It's true). Tonight is just that night, STEAK at the TIMEBERMINE MMMMMMM...My mouth has started to water and hopefully I will win the big give-away which is CANCUN. It would be no problem for me to schedule at tropical vacation on the bank's dime. Heck, it would be a nice honey moon (yes, I have informed Clayton of such intentions :)). So, keep your fingers crossed and I am sure I will post if I am a big winner. They might even get a Bob Barker Yell out of me. Come on BOB, let's win that prize!!!!!!

*By the way for those of you who did not know: I have always wanted to meet Bob Barker and I have a yell/scream and everything all picked out for when that time would come. Only a few choice people have seen it....but I have missed my chance as Drew Carrey has ruined the Price is Right.

Love is in the air

December 10th is our three-year anniversary. I can't beleive how fast time has flown!!!! Here is a quick slideshow of some of my favorite pics.

By the way--I just wanted Clayton to know how much I love him and how wonderful he has made each day of my life since we met! It is always nice to fall in love with your best friend and I could not ask for more.

PYZAM.COM

A new found love: pyzam.com.

It has changed my blog life forever. My techno-savvy friend Laura hooked me up with the link. She has several great links on her blog for scrapbooking & free stuff (check them out). Anywho back to pyzam--this site has hundreds of blog backgrounds that are not the same ol' same ol' from blogger. You simply copy the code and paste it in over your current code.

Go to the template tab, then edit html. Delete what is there and paste the new one in. You will have to fiddle with your old links, fonts & colors, but oh well. IT IS FINALLY A CHANGE!

I hope you enjoy! Thanks Laura for showing me the link I have been waiting for.

Tagged with 7

Now—this little TAG of 7 interesting things about me, came from my friend Linday’s blog—so I gave it a shot. Thanks Linds!

1. I have 8 brothers & sisters (including me makes a family of 9). Not all are real siblings (1/2 are step), but I have 4 brothers & 4 sisters. It makes for interesting family parties!

2. I have two Shih Tzu puppies. They make my life so enjoyable! I honestly love coming home to two little fluff muffins that are so excited to see me. The feeding and constant clean-up of two puppies is not always the greatest; however the joy of waking up with them and seeing them play together makes my day. Whenever they learn something new, I get so excited. I can only imagine what it must be like with kids of my own. I am constantly saying, “Clayton look how cute”, “Oh, where is the camera”. I LOVE’EM!

3. I am a nerd with spunk. It is unique because most stereotypical accountants sit in their nerdery with their calculators constantly pushing their glasses up their noses and I don’t completely fit that mold Sure, I enjoy a great number crunching session, balancing financials and looking over profit margins but I also enjoy a great concert or sporting event. Who in the right mind wouldn’t? Don’t get me wrong there are several others who also break out of the accountant mold and we have bonded—but the ones that do fit into the “accountant” category are hilarious. I think Dwight would be an accountant if he wasn’t a star on The Office.

4. I am but I am not from Utah. Confused???? I lived here until I was 4, moved to Oregon until I was 18 and now am back. It is always a fun question when people ask,
“You look familiar, what high school did you attend?”
“Crater High.”
“Oh, where’s that?”
“Oregon…..”
“OH!”

5. I have death-boarded. What is death-boarding you are asking yourselves? Well, it is where a few bored kids get together in the middle of summer, go to a dam and find a rocky steep hill. They proceed to strap on a snow board and see if they can actually snowboard down the rocky terrain into the water. I did fine the first 2 times (holding someone’s hand until I turned the board to go down the hill), but on my third try when I actually turned the board myself it caught and I tumbled down. I had rocks in my elbows, knees, ears and mouth. It was spectacular. As for the rest of the boring afternoon, we rode an old door down the hill on to a jump and into the water. Lets just say we did not make the jump that was built into the side of the dam because the angle stopped the door and did not allow it to continue in an upward fashion. I wish I still had pictures.

6. I have double-jointed toes. I can actually pull my big toe back and touch the top of my foot with it. If I were to ever get in a running stance for the Olympics barefoot, people would freak. Try yours and you may find out that you have the same unique talent.

7. I like dough. I like most dough or batter. Even pancake batter. I don’t like to “bake” cookies, but I certainly love the dough. I eat bread dough, muffin mix, cake mix (handfuls out of the box or as cake batter), Navajo bread dough, you name it. The only thing I do not like is corn bread batter, that does not strike my fancy.

And there you have it folks. It was fun to read my friends 7, so please indulge me, play along, TAG YOUR IT.


P.S. After posting this Clayton came up with a few I should have mentioned that he brought to my attention:

I love hearing the sound of clap-clank against tiled floors. In several movies when you can hear lawyers, politicians, CIA or just any character in a hall way I LOVE IT. I absolutely love that sound.

I not only love, but get sheer thrills out of organizing stuff. It is not only a complete sense of accomplishment, but my mind totally relaxes. If I am having a rough day, I can organize a closet or cupboard and be soothed. I have a few ideas of why that is....but I just enjoy having everything in a perfect spot.

I have a tickle bone; similar to a funny bone. Every once and a while--while I am watching a movie or TV something hits my tickle bone. I laugh out loud uncontrollably for minutes and the mere thought of it again (hours later) will bring the same results. Recent occasions--Watching the Office and seeing Michael scare Phyllis. Another occasion (Mike & Lyd can attest to) is watching "Fun with Dick & Jane" where he goes into the store and follows the black lady who then says "I saw you eye-balling me. You was all up in my goodies"(something to that effect). And the final instance, is the commercial for dropped calls.
"Hey, I need 50 pounds of roast beef"
"Sorry pal, we are all out"
"What? Did your wife hork it down for breakfast"
CALL DROPPED
"Oh I am sorry that did not come out right. I mean, she probably weighs as much as me......oh"

And there you have it--what Clayton finds interesting about me :)

More pictures

Friends at work! And yes, Krysti is over 6'. We make a great pair.

My favorites--Wendi Lou & Krysti Lou

Big Bad Warewolf & Little Red Riding Hood.

Our little Angel

Dogs that play together stay together.

Yes, Izzy can already take Chloe to the ground.

All tuckered out.

They officially have bonded!

Picture perfect!

It's official. When the two pups sleep with each other, it must mean they like each other. I had my camera with me this weekend when I watched my two nephews in Perry and snapped a couple cute photos. I kept running for the camera, saying, "Awe, now don't move". Most of the time the dogs moved and followed me or just started playing with each other. Either way, they are friends. It is the cutest thing in the world; Chloe will not allow Izzy to sleep on the couch when Chloe is on the floor. And Izzy will cry at the top of the stairs (she can go up, but not down yet) if Chloe leaves her behind. I just love these little dogs!

My neice, Haylie. (before we went to Perry)
My nephew, Tate.




FOR PRECIOUS SAKE!

It is quite funny that this little Piggy Izzy will take anything and everything away from Chloe. Chloe is just so mellow, she gets pushed aside at dinner, or when Izzy sees her playing with something that she wants. We actually have to hold Izzy when we feed Chloe her dinner because Isabel will eat it all! She is quite the little go getter. She can already wrestle her big sister down to the ground. She mastered the stairs in about four days and has gotten the courage to leap off my 3' bed, which Chloe will still does not dare to do. Izzy is all spunk. We just love them!

Izzy at 8 weeks......

Chloe at 8 weeks....

Puppies, Puppies and More Puppies

Meet Isabell (Izzy). Clayton saw these adorable puppies online yesterday and had to get a sister for Chloe! She weighs a little over a pound and it is all fluff; she snorts and is the cutest little thing ever (along with Chloe of course)!


Let's meet my new sister!


Awe!
She's a licker!

She is the one in the middle laying down. These are the ad photo's with her family.

She is camera shy, in the middle again, turning away a bit.

Chloe was aprehensive last night but when we got up this morning, she was happy to see her little friend. She is still quite curious about this snorting little fluff ball, but Chloe lays down and paws at her to try and get her to play. It is so cute! Now we do not have to worry about Chloe being home all day cause she has a friend (sister)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Candy—so this should be my holiday!!!

In celebration of the candy holiday I wanted to decorate my house for Halloween. I got a candy dish, a wreath and a string of decorative black and orange beads for my front door. It is just not enough; I am still trying to come up with something inside to decorate… Now that I have a house, I just want to decorate a little for each holiday it is so fun!!!! Maybe I will just have to decorate my inside dog.

This will be Chloe’s first Halloween and I am sure we will be getting her a costume. I got a few good ideas from an email sent to me from a co-worker. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. BTW—my favorite is the dog with the fighting knight strapped to his back. ENJOY!!!!!

How can you not love these little guys!