Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving with some of my mother's family in Logandale, Nevada [about an hour north-ish of Vegas]. Serra had so much fun "chatting" with everyone, getting tickled, and just being silly. Ian and I went out shopping first thing black Friday morning and got a lot of great deals- mostly movies and games for Ian, but a few other things too. :) It was nice to spend a few days with family, but it's also nice to be back and unpack our suitcases! I guess it gave us a taste of what Christmas will be like- 2 WEEKS of vacation!!! It's going to be fun, but it's also going to a long time away from home...

SimplyFun.com

I went to a party hosted by Ian's aunt in the Jordan area and had SO much fun. Instead of the typical, our product is so great you should buy it jargon, we actually just sat around and played the actual games that they sell- no pressure at all to buy- and it was tons of fun! So much fun in fact, that I am now hosting my own party- and anyone in the area is welcome to come and play with me! It's Wednesday, December 3rd at 7pm. I'll even have refreshments- just let me know if you're coming so I can plan the right amount of goodies! [If you need my address again or directions just let me know!]

Tis the Season!

For those of you asking, our wishlists are still posted online, just go to www.kristenspoetry.com/wishlist

Crazy 8's

I've been tagged again- so here goes!

RULES
1. Post rules on your Blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 FAVORITE SHOWS
1. American's Next Top Model
2. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
3. House
4. Psych
5. Monk
6. The Office
7. any Law & Order version
8. Everybody Loves Raymond

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. woke up :)
2. showered
3. made waffles for breakfast
4. comforted Serra while she teethed several teeth :(
5. went to church
6. conducted music in Relief Society
7. made dinner - not always done every day :(
8. and then I went to bed!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Thanksgiving- Nevada!
2. Christmas- California!
3. finishing Christmas crafts
4. putting up my huge & beautiful Christmas tree
5. Serra turning 18 months and going into NURSERY!!! :)
6. Ian's retirement [I know, it's a long way off, but I can have long-term goals!]
7. February 20th, 2010 [those involved know why :) ]
8. moving to Pocatello... hopefully eventually!...

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Olive Garden
2. Sizzler
3. Johnny Rockets
4. Cafe Rio
5. Don Pablos [Ohio]
6. La Gondola [Illinois]
7. White Castle... they really need one in the West!
8. Iceberg- but just for their HUGE shakes :)

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. a makeover
2. a new camera
3. kitchen gadgets
4. movies
5. furniture
6. gift cards
7. anything to do with crafts
8. more time with family...

8 PEOPLE TO TAG
1. Cassie
2. Jes
3. Allison
4. Denise
5. Molly
6. Becky
7. Malia
8. Erika

Eyeballs and Ten Teeth!

Serra now has TEN teeth- we couldn't believe it when we finally pried her mouth open and counted them. It's amazing to think she had one 2 just a couple months ago...
Also just for fun, Ian and I decided to take pictures of our eyes really close up and use Adobe Photoshop to figure out what color the computer thinks our eyes are. Mine are obviously a bright shade of blue, but we are unsure of what to call Ian's and Serra's eyes. Here are the colors Adobe came up with [although I think mine is a little off... and therefore Ian's and Serra's must be just a little off as well.]

Ian's Blue-Gray

Kristen's Blue

Serra's Green-Gray

Silly Serra...

I can't tell you how many times in a day I'm calling Serra "silly"- she is such a nut! Not even a full 24 hours after I post silly pictures of her last week, she decides she has to go out and top them all! She's been quiet for a little while [usually not a good sign] so I go to investigate what she has gotten into this time. I suppose I should have been looking to see what she had gotten UNDER... she had pulled my lace tablecloth off of the end table in our living room and was wearing it over her head like a ghost... or a bride! What a silly girl!

Then of course after she had Mommy laughing hard, she had to walk around the house and find Daddy to show him what she had done [I guess she thought it was hilarious that she had put a blanket over her head but she could still see through it because of the holes!]

Funny Moments

Here are some pictures of some funny moments this past week.

"showing" for nothing

Well, apparently they didn't like our house because we never received an offer. We never received any feedback either- our real estate team isn't the greatest in that field. It's frustrating, but what can we do? Our contract with them ends next month, but I don't know if we should really switch to anyone else. After hearing our "sob story" they agreed to discount us to 5% realtor fees instead of the normal 6%. Any other realtor will still charge us 6%... which we can't really afford. But these realtors aren't really doing the job... so I don't know- we'll let you know what we decide next month! But just an update from our Halloween showing- no sale! :(

Babysitter

We decided to find a babysitter for Serra for those times that we just need to get away- my sister, Paige, can only watch her so much! So I asked around and, long story short, found a 15 year old girl in our ward. Her name is Rachel and I used to visit teach her mother, Nancy. She came over for a couple hours tonight to meet Serra and Ian and to give me a chance to show her around the house/Serra's schedule, etc. And for the first time ever, Serra didn't come running and screaming into my arms when we came back after leaving for a short while! I guess she really likes Rachel! So we'll be leaving her here when we go to the next BYU game next week. Ahh, time away is going to be nice...

A lot of guts...

Last Thursday, on my father's birthday, some jerk decided it would be a good idea to walk in our garage, open our car door, and steal my wallet- right during the time most of my neighbors were getting up and going to work! Thieves nowadays sure have a lot of guts! So I've been busy the last few days with things other than Halloween... calling VISA, closing bank accounts, ordering new cards, notifying my medical insurance in case of fraud, calling the police, writing statements, getting my picture taken. What a perfect time of year to waste money on fees for closing accounts, ordering new checks, etc. Christmas shouldn't be affected too much, but it has certainly changed the mood around here. We're constantly checking to make sure our garage is closed- and we lock our car even though it's parked in our garage [and I don't keep my wallet in the car anymore- although that one is annoying because I've driven off without it a couple times now!] It's sad that I have to adjust my life because one person took it upon themselves to try and ruin it- all for $1 in change, a $25 Sizzler gift card, and a fraudulent $45 gas charge. It's been hard trying to stay cheerful when in fact I'm thinking about all the ways to help the police catch this guy... Hopefully I can eventually forget about it enough to go back to living my life- but remember the lessons I've learned from this horrible experience! So to those of you who are even less careful than we are- beware! The world isn't as safe as you think [not even Utah is exempt from crime].