Jessica & David

Thanksgiving weekend 2011

2011-11-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving weekend 2011 was pretty amazing. I got up early on Thursday and did the Utah Human Race 5K with Sharann. It was so much fun! We both wore our footie pajamas (with the foot rolled up and crammed into running shoes) because they encouraged costumes. I guess we thought our costume was, "4 day weekend bums" but really, we just wanted to wear those cause they are so comfy. We finished in good time for alternating walking and running but next year, we are running the whole thing.

Me and Dave went to my mom's house for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I was looking at all the delicious things she prepared and thought, "Man! My mom busts her butt putting this whole dinner together." I am excited for when I get the chance to do the big meal on my own but slightly intimidated because of how well my mom does it. Everything was delicious and we visited with my siblings that came. My older sister was with her in laws so there was a lot of the kidlets missing this year.

After dinner we drove to Provo to pick up Dave's daughter, Cindy. She was my Black Friday shopping buddy. We recruited my 2 younger sisters and my best friend, Britta as well. We thought the Saratoga Springs Walmart would be our best bet because it's a newer one and last year it wasn't too bad. Dave had to work Friday morning so he opted out on the shopping madness. We arrived and the aisles were full of people and some were already stationed at the item they wanted, guarding it with their cart and entourage of family members. Britta is a well season Black Friday shopper so she put together the battle plan. One girl manned the cart with our purses buckled into the baby seat, the others stood in front of an item and grab as soon as they let the bulls loose. It wasn't too crazy but it was pretty squishy getting up to the item and then back out of the crowd. The worst part was trying to get up front to check out. My youngest sister is preparing to get her own apartment and she got a waffle iron, electric skillet, mini chopper, blender, Rubbermaid set and a programmable coffeemaker for less than $70.
Me and Cindy had planned to go home to sleep a few hours and then head back out to do some apparel shopping in the early morning. Well, we got back to my place, wrapped a few gifts and sat around chatting until nearly 3 am. I missed all my alarms and we didn't get moving until almost 9 am. We tired ourselves out pretty quick with Rue 21 and Hobby Lobby. Cindy helped pick out some adorable ornaments for our candy themed Christmas tree. We holed up for the afternoon to decorate and wrap more gifts. Sporadically, we decided to go see The Help at the dollar theatre. I've seen it a few months before with Britta. I loved the book and Emma Stone is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. Back at home, we watched movies while wrapping more gifts.

Saturday afternoon, Dave, Cindy and myself headed out to see Breaking Dawn Pt. 1. The theater was nearly empty and the movie was really good. I loved the Twilight book series and I felt that this part of the movie series really was as amazing as the books. Saturday evening, we rode Trax downtown to see Temple Square lit up. It was beautiful, the trains were packed and it was much colder than we anticipated. We took a few pictures and headed right back to Murray. Pictures will be uploaded once I figure out my new camera
.
All in all, this weekend was top notch fun. Cindy is so fun to go anywhere with and I'm so glad she spent this time with us. I am not sure I will do Black Friday at Walmart again. Unless we find one that is out in the sticks because the Saratoga Springs one is just going to get busier next year and crowds give me mad anxiety. A lot of the sales we wanted were available online for until later Saturday afternoon so that might be the plan next time.

I can't believe it's December this week! I want to slow down time because I feel like we just finished with Christmas 2010 and here we are, less than 30 days from Christmas 2011.

Summer fun

2011-07-14T19:27:00.002-06:00

Summer has been great so far. I keep thinking I will get time to sit down and blog but I'm learning that's just wishful thinking. Dave's daughters are here from Texas and we've stayed busy. Like, exhausted and constantly going busy.

Things we've done so far this summer: (in no specific order)

Went to a special screening of Green Lantern for the Utah MS foundation.

Crystal Hot Springs with my sister and her kids. Soak in the hot pools and go bananas on the waterslides. I'm still missing a spot of skin on my elbow from our 'slide as fast as you can' competition.
Lagoon Amusement Park with Dave's work for their summer picnic. Roller coasters that pop your phone right out of your pocket and Lagoon-A-Beach for (you guessed it!) more water slides.
Family pics at Bridal Veil Falls. We were lucky enough to have Dave's sister Melanie join us so we could get some of Cindy & Macaila with Melanie's kids.

Kearns Oquirh Park- We enjoyed the outdoor pool for a couple of hours. When the outdoor one closed, we went indoor for more swim time. I have trophy bruises from our sliding competitions and my leg ached for a day or so from the cannonballing off the high jump.

Murray Pool- Not as fun and a somewhat congested pool. Still nice to enjoy the sun.

Cowabunga Bay for Macaila's birthday. No sliding competitions (mostly wedgies from the slides) but lots of Lazy River time.

Moochies- featured on Diners, Driveins and Dives. We've got Macaila junked out on their Philly Cheese steak. She even requested it for her birthday dinner!

Shopping

Barbeque's- Grilled corn, chicken kabobs and pasta salad. Oh! Ever heard of a Juicy Lucy? Get your mind out of the gutter. Burgers, with the cheese inside rather than on top, all dried up and crusty. Make 2 thinner patties, cheese goes between the patties, crimp the edges like a pie and grill. I have officially awed the teenagers (I know, it's a feat!) with them. I owe it all to Sharann. She brought the William Sonoma catalog to work for me to slobber all over and they had a stuffed burger maker in it. Didn't buy the maker, just improvised at home.

Taylorsville Dayzz- carnival and fireworks

Murray Independence Day Parade and fireworks in the park

Lots of walks to 7-11 for Slurpees

Haircuts

Feather extensions (a couple times)

Spa days for manicures and pedicures.

Evenings of hiding from the heat, laying in bed with Netflix.

Running the track at Murray High school.

And we still have camping, hiking, the 24th of July parade, Katy Perry at the Energy Solutions arena and more to pack in. I'll post pics or I'll just have a link to my Flickr.

2011-05-10T22:21:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted here in AGES!
We went to Arizona to visit Dave's youngest sister and see a baseball game.
I'll tell you more about it later. Now, enjoy this:

"Moochies is MONEY!"

2011-02-21T10:41:00.003-07:00

This weekend was full of new things. We both love new things!

Friday night we went and got acupuncture together. Not because either one of us is ill or has any extensive health problems. We just wanted to see what it is like. We both loved it. I let Dave go first and watched Heather do her magic. I shouldn’t have watched because it got me really nervous. It was at SLC Qi, they do community acupuncture where they have an open room that is warm with soft, relaxing music playing. You hop into a big soft recliner, kick off your shoes, get your needles inserted and relax. Heather said that acupuncture works best when you are sleeping but I had a needle on the inside of my wrist and I couldn’t stop focusing on it. The sensations were strange but felt good. My wrist was intensely warm and tingly. Not the awful, asleep with numbness. It was just a relaxing and pleasant feeling.

Dave wanted to try Moochies because everyone at his work has been raving about them. I’ve had them before; we used to order it when I worked downtown. They are known for their meatballs and Philly Cheese steaks. We got a six inch and split it because holy smokes, that is a sandwich!

We ate and made fun of Guy Fieri with the signature thumbs up

and going, "Mmmm. Mmm. Yup. Mmmm."

Food Network was in Salt Lake in the last year and

they stopped at Moochies for Diners, Drive-in's and Dives.

They have a little pepper bar (I can’t say that without thinking of the Quiznos commercial from about 5 years ago. “They got a pepper bar!”) with pepperoncinis sliced and whole. And these little delights called cherry peppers. In mild and hot. I got the mild and they were tasty.

Cherry peppers

I bit into one and it popped really loud and shot pepper juice straight across the table. Hazardous things! Moochies is right next door to Circle Pottery and unfortunately, they don't offer classes anymore. But there are other places they recommend. I think I just added something else to our 'to try' list. Playing in clay.

Swayze and Moore. Clay. Hot.

Dave had a surprise planned for Saturday and I was stoked! I plan most of our dates and such so it was nice to be the one who got to put her feet up, not research location, pricing and hours. We went to The Living Planet Aquarium! Dave had planned to get there shortly after they opened but lazying around in the morning was just too good. We drove up in the rain and right as we pulled in the parking lot, we were kicking ourselves for not getting there earlier.
It was packed.
There were so many families there. Some lady ran over my foot with her stroller and some kid almost pushed me over trying to see one of the exhibits. Aside from being way too busy, it was nice to see all the animals. Minus the eels. Cause they are just a flatter snake in water. Gross.
I took some pics with my camera phone but I they are just that. Camera phone quality.

Jellies!

Dave watching the jellies

The penguins were really active. Nothing like the ones at Hogle Zoo that just huddle in the corner. They were swimming, walking around and playing with each other.

The rest of the weekend was just lazying around. Some laundry, cleaning and lots of relaxing.
We did go shopping for Samantha's (my niece) birthday on Sunday. She wanted the new Justin Bieber CD and some JB shirts. We were picking out Sammy's shirts and I held one up to Dave and asked if he thought it was the right size and if he was sure he wanted it to be a belly shirt. A lady about 10 feet away gave us a stinky look. Riiight lady, we are buying an adult male a girls Bieber shirt. We left that store snickering about the 'Bieber Fever'.

We both are really excited for the weather to get nice and enjoy scootering around, park dates and everything SLC has to offer. I am looking at the calendar and there is something to do every single weekend and often weekdays. Hopefully we will be able to travel this year and go see some of the other cities we are fascinated with.

Valentine's weekend

2011-02-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Why blog when you aren't in a mood to blog? Obligation, duh.
Often I don't want to blog, I do it anyways and then I get into it.
Here goes...

Valentine's weekend disclaimer. I've said it before. Make your holidays YOURS. I don't like to go all bananas at Christmas. Everyone gets Christmas. I like to get the cool, highly desired gifts for birthdays. Same rule applies to Valentine's Day. Don't go all nuts. Save it for the anniversary, that is yours and more than likely aren't sharing it with anyone you know.

Unless you were married in a mass wedding and that's kinda.... cultish.

So, back to the events. Valentine's weekend.

Friday: I took Dave to Madeline's in Soutb Jordan for a nice dinner. We'd never been there but it's a pretty place and I drive by it all the time on my frequent trips to Elase Academy. Ever had Texas Cheese Fries? Don't do it. They should call them fat on my ass fries. Fries, cheese and bacon with green onions. Internet says jalapenos too but ours were missing that.

(I won't shun you for the things you eat but I sure will shun myself. I've gotta shed some of this post wedding weight. Or at least, that's what I'm calling it. )

After dinner, we went to Wiseguys in West Valley and enjoyed some entertainment with a few local comedians and then Ben Bailey, from the Cash Cab. He was FUNNY. He reminded me a bit of Jim Carrey, his facial expressions are very animated.

Saturday: My friend Sarah is opening her own studio and she invited us to have some pictures done. It was fun and they turned out pretty cute.

We went down to Provo to have dinner with Melanie and her family. And cuddle her 1 week old baby! I swear he's grown so much!

Sunday: It was over 60 degrees. We were at my mom's doing some yard work and the scooter caught my attention. At first it was, "Well, I'm just going to put the battery in and make sure it starts ok." And then before we knew it, we were scootering around. And then it didn't start. So we walked a few blocks with it and then it decided to get going. My verdict? It's still too cold to scoot around.

Monday: Dave sent pink and red roses to my work with some treats. He wanted to make sure I wasn't the only girl who didn't get flowers at work on Valentine's Day. Uhhh, only one other lady got flowers in my work group so.... yeah. No worries there.

After work, we had a really nice romantic dinner. At Chick-Fil-A. Hahaha. They took reservations, seated us, served us and even had a chocolate fountain. We both liked it and got each other a card with some nice words inside. I don't think either one of us invest in Valentine's as a big special day where all our love for the other can blossom and burst. Naw. I like to wear pink, put pink on everything and no one can be frigid about it. Cause it's a pink holiday! Dave likes the candy. It's a win-win holiday.

Family. Lobsters. Babies.

2011-01-10T11:26:00.002-07:00

Melanie’s baby shower was a success; we had a lot more people than anticipated. I’ve learned from organizing events that people do not RSVP. They just don’t. We had enough food for everyone, thank goodness. She has some really fun coworkers, neighbors and family. Her home teacher took on delegating food assignments to some ladies in the ward. I was so grateful for the help and they made things I probably couldn’t. They made lime bars, German chocolate brownies, sweet rolls, fruit soup, a cracker and cheese tray as well as a veggie tray.

Melanie’s gifts were so fun, baby Ashton is going to have a lot of cute stuff.

Dave, Melanie’s husband and Stephanie’s boyfriend took the 3 nieces to see Tangled while we had the baby shower. They got back and couldn’t stop talking about the movie.

I'll admit, I was envious they did a kid date. I love taking any and all of my nieces and nephews on kid dates. Did I see Up a bunch of times in the theater, thanks to my sister's kids? Yup. Did I want to? Hells yes. It makes it more valid for us if we have a child with us.

We were all hungry so the adults went to dinner at Red Lobster. Has anyone else ever had the cheese biscuits at RL? They are so good but so bad. They just bring more and more to you.

If you didn’t guess it by now, I’m kind of a sucker for nearly all animals. Except centipedes, they can kiss my jazz. Too many legs for my comfort. YECK! The lobsters in the tank at the front of the restaurant made me feel sad for the clawed crustaceans. It’s not like they would survive anywhere in Provo if they had the chance to be free. But I doubt they wanted to be in that tank. Sad face.

Me and Dave love the movie Julie and Julia. We chanted, "Lobster Killah" through the parking lot.

We were headed home and at the last second, we decided to see Tangled. It was the second time that day for Dave. We called Melanie to see if she was pooped from all the excitement or wanted to come with. She was excited and met us at the Provo Town Centre. Spontaneity strikes again! The movie was really cute. At one point both Mel and myself were going, “Oh he did NOT!” Cute movie, I think everyone liked it.

Morning Glory was at the dollar theatre and I was just talking the night before about Rachel McAdams. So we went, we saw. Again, cute movie.

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

Ink in and ink out

2011-01-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Remember when we last talked about tattoo removal? There is some good progress happening with that!

Click here to go to the start.

Here to go to the next update.

Sorry for the inconsistency (jumping from Jessibella.com to here)

And here is the most recent pics.

It's really starting to fade out and the color is breaking up all spotty.

Oh! Do you see his arm/shoulder tattoo in the top left?

Even if you aren't a tattoo fan, it's easy to admit that those lilies are gorgeous. That is a work in progress too. We have to get some more of the top left of that X off, that's there the 3rd lily goes. 3 lilies, 3 roses.

Ringing in 2011

2011-01-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

For New Years Ever, we had plans to go to a party but got spontaneous and went to Wendover!

Neither one of us had ever been on the Fun Bus but it was an adventure.

On our way!

In the seat in front of us, there was a girl and a long haired boy. The girl had a small liquor store in her backpack and was mixing drinks for the boy (her boyfriend?) pretty quickly. Before we knew it, he was swaying in his seat and couldn't hold his head up. Ooops. I hope they had a good New Year and didn't spend it on a bench waiting for him to sober up. That would be a bummer.

The buffet was ok. Everyone on the bus that had been out to Wendover before had their own opinion on which buffet was the best. We got off the bus at Montego Bay and Dave was starving. So it was straight to the food. We didn't know it was mostly seafood until we got inside. Eeep. I don't eat much seafood and Dave is a fish hater. The pineapple was good and Dave found the prime rib. Food in the bellies and off to play some games.

Wendover kind of stinks, we both were so smelly from the indoor smoking.

Dave won $20 on penny slots! I won... a really strong cocktail? The kind that gives you shivers. Ugh.

We rang in the new year with TONS of people on the dance floor at The Golden Nugget and shared a new years kiss.

We ran into Dave's coworker and chatted with him for a bit.

We got on the bus headed home at 1 am and listened to the people babble for a bit. The guy next to us asked if we won big. Nope, we don't really gamble. He asked if we drank lots. Nope, not big drinkers either.

I fell asleep on Dave while he was playing his DS.

Woke up in Taylorsville around 3am. Headed home to watch a minute of TV and crash.

All in all, it was a successful New Years!

I saw this online but don't remember the source:

"Every year I make a resolution to CHANGE

myself...

This year I'm going to make a resolution to BE myself."

Christmas with the families

2010-12-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

We both agree that this was the happiest Christmas we’ve shared so far. We started celebrating on Christmas Eve at my mom's house. It is our annual dinner and gift exchange.

My mom made a delicious dinner and then we enjoyed some gifts. The kids did the gift exchange this year. Reese got lucky with three Nintendo t-shirts. Samantha got the softest Hello Kitty blanket. Abigail and Mike got some pajamas. Lily got the cutest Tinkerbell play tent. It was just her size! She invited all the kids into it and she could only fit her, Reese and Samantha at one time.

Lily: Where is my tent?

Candice (her mum): I put it in the box. Let's keep it put away until we get home.

Lily: Let's go home!

And the tiny tator marches to the door, opens it and is halfway out before we can grab her. Sassiest little 2 1/2 year old.

Our old tradition is that everyone participated in the gift exchange. However, as the family gets bigger, sometimes it is difficult to pick the right thing for your selected person. This year, the kids did the gift exchange and the adults did a gift card exchange. We picked up a gift card to somewhere we would like to share with others. Then we put them in identical envelopes, numbered them and drew numbers. Dave and me brought Cafe Rio gift cards. Only because Leatherby's was too rude to help us at their cash register- little rant to come later.*

I scored a Megaplex gift card and Dave got an Outback Steakhouse gift card. He loves that place! Perfect picks! My mom wanted my Café Rio gift card and she didn’t even have to swindle to get it. I think everyone was really happy with their gift cards.

It was a nice little get together with my family. Dan and Marlene had the holiday death flu so they stayed home but everyone else was there to celebrate. Except our little Jada but that is because... yeah. I miss that little loud mouth bossy girl so much, I hope everything turns out ok and she can come back around to drive me crazy some more. She is ok, just parental dramatics between her mother and my brother. Mostly the mother...

Christmas day was great! I woke up to breakfast made by Hillabean. She is a good little cook for how young she is. Age aside, she is a good cook. I watched the younger kids open their gifts and chatted with the family for a bit. My mom got Dave and me season tickets to the Hale Theatre! We love going out and seeing theatre, it is a perfect gift. Hale Theatre puts on such great productions, we just went last month to The Drowsy Chaperone.

I headed down to Melanie's early while Dave spent some time resting up and getting ready. He had some sort of stomach/butt bug or whatnot. I opened gifts with them and then helped Elle set up her new sewing machine. The girls got Pillow Pets, some cute outfits and craft kits. We started cooking and before we knew it, Dave was there to join us! I am glad he was feeling better because to sit at home on Christmas would have really been a crapper.

Melanie's family got me a gorgeous Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear with a pink dress. Mel also gave me an adorable ceramic hanging with a saying about sisters. She is so thoughtful!

They gave Dave a cutting board, paper towel holder and a chef knife. The cutting board and towel holder smells amazing! It smells 'woodsy'. Melanie knows someone that makes custom cutting board, and she put in a request to them. Handmade and local, it turned out so nice!

The girls loved their bow boards and pajamas. We gave Melanie and Brooks a bunch of baby stuff since Ashton will be here in just about a month.

We made a smaller dinner than planned because we were unsure if Dave was joining us but it was still delicious. I learned some more family recipes and traditions.

Dave and I bought a gingerbread village when we first saw the kits in the stores (before Thanksgiving) and it was perfect. It had five small ginger houses. Each one of the nieces decorated one with their parents help. We couldn't resist, we made one too.

Desserts of banana cream pie and eggnog cheesecake (yuuu-u-u-um!) and we were headed back to Salt Lake.

We lounged around a bit today, killed it at the gym (go cardio go!) and went to see Tron with our Megaplex gift card. I think it was good but I don't know any Tron history. Daft Punk did the music for the movie and that makes me incredibly happy to see new music from them.

I hope everyone had a good holiday! 4-day weekend is just about over but we have another long weekend coming for New Years. And my birthday next week!

*Leatherby's rant: We went in to get a gift card and stood there while four employees were doing stuff (filling cups with ice, scooping sundaes for the seated guests, staring into space and the last one kept disappearing into the kitchen). One approached me after 5+ minutes and asked if I was waiting for the 3-gallon refill. I told him that I was not but I did need to purchase a gift card. He walked off... Two women approached the register to pay their dine-in ticket. An employee rushed up to help them and I decided they didn't want my business and left. Cafe Rio was attentive and quick to help me give them money. That made me feel a bit better that some people do know customer service still.

Well due update for Winter

2010-12-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

I suppose it’s time to update this blog. And maybe Jessibella.com will get an update too. Do you ever go into hiding when shit hits the fan? I do! I don’t like to be talked to, talked at or to talk much. It used to be that I would write about things that were good AND bad in my life but as I got older, I just wanted to sort through the bad stuff on my own without other people muddling it. Things are getting better and that is why I am back.

We’ve done some fun things this fall and winter. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with Dave’s sister, Melanie and her family. She has 3 daughters and a little boy on the way. We planned a family date to Wheeler Farm to the hay/corn maze, a hayride and to pick a pumpkin out of the patch. And we celebrated Halloween some more a few weeks later by going on a Halloween cruise on the Provo River. It was really fun but I don’t have any pics because my camera is against me.
Our youngest daughters came to Utah for the week of Thanksgiving and we got to spend a lot more time with them than anticipated. Tuesday before the holiday, we went and got their nails done for the holidays and for having really good grades first quarter. And then some shopping and dinner at Café Rio.

Thanksgiving Day was spent with my family at my mom’s house. I learned how to make some really ridiculously good yams and that stuffing is waaaay too easy to make.

Dave had to work the day after Thanksgiving so I made plans to go shopping again with Cindy and Macaila. I woke up early and was headed out the door on time. I decided to swing through the drivethru to get a coffee. As I was pulling away, my window went up, down, up, down, up and then finally down. All on its own! I didn’t want to make the girls wait for me to switch cars with Dave, so I pulled up my hood, turned up the heat and headed to Provo. It was colder than cold!
We hit a few different shops and got some good sales. They both took home a big bag of clothes as an early Christmas present. I drove back to Salt Lake (with the window STILL down) and started to take off the inside panel of the door. I thought I might examine what was going on. Right as I got everything tore apart, Dave arrived home from work. He suggested pulling on the glass while pushing the up button. A few tries and… the window was up! I think I had a renewed gratitude for my car's heater and windows. I said I wasn’t going to roll it down cause I didn’t want it to get stuck again but.... I was running errands and completely forgot until after it had been rolled down and back up. Whoops. I’ve chanced it a few more times and it’s worked fine. Maybe it was the cold that day that froze it up? Murphy's Law...

Christmas is coming and I am pretty excited! I normally don’t have Christmas spirit but this year I have lots and lots of it! I’ve got all of my shopping down except for Melanie’s husband and everything is wrapped too. I hope everyone like what I’ve picked for them.

We enjoyed the PHS company holiday party this last weekend at the downtown Hilton. They had a really nice dinner and a bar. Casino Parties of Utah was there with some tables for Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps. They let everyone play for an hour or so and then we cashed out our chips for raffle tickets that offered a chance at a cash prize. We didn’t win any of the cash prizes but I was winning pretty big at Roulette. And lost a lot of chips while playing Blackjack. Only about 1/3 of their Salt Lake employees showed up but it was nice to see everyone socializing and having a good time outside of work.
We have only 12 days left to Christmas! Christmas Eve's tradition is dinner at my mom’s house and we do a gift exchange and play games. And just this year, we are starting a new tradition with Dave’s family. Dave’s grandmother used to host Christmas Tea. It was a nice dinner on Christmas day for the family to enjoy the holiday together. Melanie and David have been reminiscing over the traditions their grandma had and we are going to try to make some new memories with the old traditions. Dave and his sister are both really good cooks and have some amazing recipes in mind.
There are more traditions that are starting this year. Me and Dave have decided we have so much ‘stuff’ in our lives and we don’t always use this ‘stuff’. So we aren’t doing physical gifts but we are going to start sharing the experiences as gifts. For his birthday last July, he really wanted a new tattoo and that’s what he got. It’s still a work in progress but it’s looking beautiful. For Christmas, we decided to not shop or get more stuff; we are going to enjoy a nice dinner at The Roof restaurant. I’ve been there once with my grandma and I remember it being really good. We both are very excited to get dressed up and enjoy a nice meal together.
And after the holidays, we get to celebrate my birthday and I am hosting a baby shower for Melanie and baby Ashton. Her due date originally was early February but he’s growing fast, they bumped it up a week or two. So let’s hope he doesn’t arrive too early cause we have to celebrate him before he gets here!

Swim weekend!!

2010-09-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was all bleach. Lots of it. Hehehe.

Saturday was Gabriela and Analeasa’s (nieces) birthday party. Dave’s sister hosted a pool party for them and a bunch of their friends. There were 16 girls, all elementary school age. It was fun to help Melanie get everything ready for these super energetic kids and hang out with the nieces. I may have mentioned it before but I will say it again, Melanie’s girls have the BEST manners of any kids I have ever met. It is amazing because I know I sometimes forget my ‘please’ and ‘thank you’s but they are on it. They always give hugs when we leave with ‘Love you’ and ‘We’ll miss you.’ Awe!

I wish I had taken pics but my camera has been acting like a giant piece of schmidt. Mel’s husband, Brooks, was the lifeguard and endured the super chlorinated pool. Dave, Melanie and myself got lunch ready, directed the late arriving kids to the pool and watched Enchanted. The girls swam and played for about an hour and then swarmed inside for food and drinks. One little girl ate 6 pieces of Little Caesar’s pizza! She was thin too. I was impressed! Cake and ice cream commenced and then they opened gifts. There was Barbies, Build-A-Bear clothes, Zhu Zhu pets, Littlest Pet Shop and Squinkies. Those Zhu Zhu pet hamsters are so silly but super cute at the same time.

Sunday was swim day for us! I had two passes for Cowabunga Bay. This water park looks like the game Mouse Trap. It’s small and doesn’t have any really high thrilling slides but that was right up our alley for a relaxing Sunday.

We floated the lazy river for a bit, played on the slides and but then there was overcast that made it too cold to play in the water. We wrapped up in our big beach towels and hung out in the sun for a bit. I noticed a little girl that was probably about 2 years old playing at the shallow end of the pool where there was three spouts spraying up.

Spouts

And as she was sitting on them, her swim diaper was leaking some stuff. I looked around for a parent or someone but there were only two girls under the age of 10 with the baby and they weren’t paying attention. More stuff was coming out of that diaper by the second. Dave asks me, “Are you seeing this?” Ummm, yeah. So, I had to let the staff know. They immediately evacuated the pool and cleanup took almost 40 minutes. The slides and playground side was still open so no one had to just sit around and wait. The mom appeared, gathered up her baby and disappeared in the ladies room for a bit. She seemed PISSED the rest of the afternoon but she didn’t leave that baby alone at all after the incident. It could have been worse, leaving a baby in shallow water unattended has lots of potential for something tragic. Aside from that, it was nice to get some sun before summer is done.

We are going up to Logan tonight for dinner with Grandpa Perkes and Kathy and then hoping to make it to the fair tomorrow. Maybe I'll attempt to take some pictures this weekend too.

Some more 'blah blah blah' about August

2010-09-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

I am back to ramble about the rest of August.

The weekend of the 21st we worked at the SLC Farmer’s Market for the Toyota Farm To Table Tour. It was really cool to be a part of that and make some extra money too. They had 4 small tents with chefs from local upscale restaurants preparing some really tasty samples and all the ingredients from the farmers market. I think it was pretty cool of Toyota to do an event like that. They also gave away a free plant if you sampled at least 3 items from the chefs. The chefs were rotated out every hour so there was an opportunity to try 12 different things. Dave was assigned to be a runner so he was a pack mule all day and he also led the chefs to their spots as they arrived. And you know he sampled as he did. I was kind of jealous because I was in the main tent greeting and asking people to sign up for the Santa Barbara culinary vacation. And my sister, Hillary, was at the little garden spot planting the herbs that were being given away. We worked on our feet from 6am to 2 pm and it was hot all day by the time we got home and showered, we were exhausted. The rest of the weekend was devoted to loafing around in the air conditioning and watching movies.

August ended with another beautiful wedding, congrats again to Briawna and Aaron! We drove up to Log Haven in Millcreek Canyon for their reception and it was so gorgeous! There is a large patio outside and everyone was enjoying the music by the Utah Swing Orchestra. It was such a romantic venue for weddings, we both just loved it there. And Dave finally found out what a mint julep tastes like!

Labor Day weekend was filled with lots of family time. Saturday was the night we designated for Melanie’s family. We planned to barbeque but Melanie and her husband had been carpet cleaning all day long and we thought they deserved a break. We grabbed a couple Papa Murphy’s pizzas and headed to Provo. We left Salt Lake really early because all our errands were done. We both were really happy we did because we completely forgot about the BYU football game that night. I-15 traffic can be so frustrating and I’m convinced drivers are worse in different areas. We got off the freeway and headed down Geneva Road. On our detour, we found a farmer’s stand selling fresh corn! Dave’s three nieces are all elementary school aged and they are so super sweet. They helped shuck the corn and get it ready for the grill and set the table, all without being asked. We enjoyed some good food, played a game of Apples to Apples, visited for a bit and were on our way back to Salt Lake.

Sunday was a day of exploration with my family. Dave and me planned on going to Cowabunga Bay but my sister, Michele, wanted to go play in the hot springs. Michele, her three kids, Dave, myself, my two younger sisters and a friend all piled into the big ole Expedition and we were off to Box Elder County. Indian Hot Springs are about 20 miles west of Corinne. We were using the information from my sister’s favorite book, Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest. “Drive something something miles after you see the dirt mound, and then another .856 of a mile after seeing the squirrel with a top hat.” Ok, that’s not how the directions went but we were lost for an hour and a half on Highway 83. We gave up and decided to head back to Corinne to ask for directions. About a half of a mile east of where we were searching, the hot springs appeared on the side of the road. Geez. We could smell them before we even opened the car doors. The hot spring is also called Stinking Hot Springs because of the sulfur in the water. We looked at them with a lot of hesitation because they were really different than the book’s description.

What they looked like in 2002

How we found them in 2010

All of us

They water was green and a bit slimy. And of course, stunk like Old Faithfull’s cousin. No one wanted to get in so we all piled back in and headed over to the Ogden Hot Springs. We arrived right as a group was leaving and we had the pools all to ourselves. Also, there is some volunteer work happening up there on some new pools. We chatted with one of the guys that is working on them and he rigged up another hose so we got some super hot water flowing in. We made it back home and crashed out for the night.

Monday was hiking day and we were both so excited! We hadn’t hiked in over a month. We tried to do Bells Canyon in July when it was about 100 degrees outside and it was just too much. I have this book, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, and it is the best! I have a couple other hiking books but often they are saturated with hikes in the Moab, St. George and Lake Powell areas. It’s nice to know about hikes that are less than an hour away. We decided to see something new and ended up on the Farmington Creek Trail. It was relatively easy and the scenery was great. We saw lots of tiny lizards, huge dragonflies and various other bugs. Our stopping point was at the cascading waterfall but the trail goes all the way up to the Sunset Campground. I haven’t been up in Farmington Canyon since my family camped there nearly 10 years ago but I was reminded of how beautiful it is.

Summer 2010 isn’t completely over but all the way up to this point, it’s been really fun.

Bear Lake reunion 2010

2010-09-12T23:32:00.000-06:00

Well, summer 2010 is ending. We aren’t very sad about it this year. I welcome the cooler, tolerable temperatures.

I just realized our blog has gone neglected for over a month.

So I’ll share some things we’ve been doing, thoughts and plans.

The second weekend in August is always the Gines Family Reunion. My grandmother’s side of the family. The family is so big that we take up a whole campground at Bear Lake. I lucked out and got to bring my youngest niece, Lily. She just turned two in the spring and she is just so fun to spend time with.

This trip got off to a rough start but ended with fun memories. Something was wrong with my mom’s big ole RV so she took it in for service the week before our trip. The service shop worked right up until 4:30 on Friday the 13^th (I blamed that the whole time) but luckily they had it ready so we could head out. It took some time to get it fueled up with gasoline and propane, last minute groceries ready and the big beast all packed. My mom and me were debating over leaving late Friday night or early Saturday. We settled on Friday night because we knew we would set a goal of 6 am and that would end up at 11 am due to everyone dilly dallying.

11:30 pm and we were on I-80 headed towards Bear Lake! She wanted Dave and me to ride in the RV with her, Hillary and Lily but I opted to drive my car because I like to have my own schedule. And thank goodness, I did drive my own car.

I was keeping it pretty slow all the way up to Echo Lake to ensure they were right behind us on the road. From there I raced into Evanston to grab a second of sleep before they pulled in. My mom and the kids pulled in around 1:30ish, woke us up and parked. We chatted and…. the RV wouldn’t start. So, I drive the main roads of Evanston looking for someone with a truck to give a battery jump. There is NO ONE out in Evanston that late. I finally flagged down a police patrol car and he pulled in. He called for another officer for some reason. They had no jumper cables but one of the officers touched a cable near the battery, got a decent jolt and then the RV started. Hahaha, it was pretty awful because his hand was numb but he said he was ok.

We were on the road again!

I was getting extremely tired because it was nearly 3 am and I’d been awake since 7 am on Friday. My mom has to go much slower in the RV than I like to (I make excellent time on road trips if you know what I mean) and my patience was running low. However, I had a feeling to keep close enough to see the RV headlights in my rear view mirror. Before taking off at the junction to UT-30 west, I pulled over because I thought I lost them. We were only about 35 miles from the campground and I was eager for some sleep. Dave was passed out in the passenger seat most of the night and I was envious. They pull up without any lights and going significantly slow. Then the RV dies again with not an ounce of electricity. What the freak. I pull my car behind it and put on some blinking hazards because people are flying up to the junction turn. So scary and unsafe.

Hillary’s cell was dead along with the RV so it was a good thing I waited or they would have been sitting ducks for quite awhile. We decided to call my amazingly helpful brother-in-law. My sister’s family came up Thursday evening and was already at the campground. Its 5:30 am at this point and we already woke him up with a call when we were in Evanston. He got out of bed and headed right over. He towed the RV off the road with his big ole truck, removed the alternator and was headed back to Evanston.

All this time, Lily was asleep on the back bed and hadn’t woke up for a second. She is a squirrely sleeper though cause she rolled right off the side and was tucked into a nook, sound asleep. Hillary went to lay down with Lily, leaving my mom and me to sit and worry because that is what we do. Around 8 am, Lily wakes up and leaving me with no hope of sleep. Feed the baby, change the baby, and entertain the baby.

Around 10 am, Dave and Ryan appear back. They had to visit two different auto parts stores. The first one took a long ass time to tell them they didn’t have the part and the second took even longer to find it. Quick repair, jumpstart and again, we were Bear Lake bound.

We arrive and start the RV dance. Hook up hoses, level it out and a whole bunch of other things.

We played on the beach all weekend, visited with family and ate some good food. We even got a chance to go over to the Bear Lake Hot Springs for a hot soak Saturday night.

Dave and me got another glimpse of how exhausting babies can be. Lily is an angel unless she is tired or hungry. I didn’t have timing perfect so having lunch 45 minutes later than the bebe wanted, just doesn’t work for her. I have a bunch of pics of her being fussy and ornery while I was attempting to feed her before naptime. It was cute to me but she did not appreciate her picture being taken at that moment. My mom took over for me and somehow made it look easy. Phew. My mom also saved me from two stinky diapers that almost made me toss my cookies. It was so embarrassing but they were BAD! Again, my mom is a pro at most things, another one of those things is not gagging over dirty diapers.

My sister’s kids were fun to be with for the weekend. I do want a rewind option though because they are growing up so fast! Samantha even went on the tube with her mom and again with Abigail. I did too and got a bit crazy. I had no intention of being tossed off it and held on until my arms almost popped off like a doll’s might. It was way fun but I was quickly reminded why I hadn’t rode the tube it since I was a kid.

I love the reunion at Bear Lake more every year and spending that time with my family.

I was going to write more about the rest of our summer but I will spare you from a never-ending post.

More to come later!

I'm a freelance archaeologist

2010-08-08T01:28:00.000-06:00

Check out the excavation I did on Hillary's room over at Jessibella.com

And Dave found a new best friend while he was helping me hang shelves. She is an absolute doll. HA!

Some mannequin Hillary had in her fashion stuff.
I couldn't possible let the poor girl sit around with nothing on...

Freakshow

2010-08-05T16:03:00.005-06:00

Would anyone like to be a judge in our face pulling contests we have all day over picture mail?

I won the staring contest. Obviously.

Summer fun

2010-08-04T14:50:00.000-06:00

I tend to forget to update.

2 weekends ago, I died all day Saturday. Well, not really but I was SUPER sick from whatever we ate Friday.
Sunday, we went back to Lagoon on our Bounce Back passes. Sunday is a great day to visit Lagoon.

Dave on The Colususs/Fire Dagon

Me and Dave are anxiously waiting while Hillary & Abby are playing paparazzi.

It seemed to be less crowded and we got there early to do Lagoon-a-Beach for a few hours. Both Dave and myself LOVE lazy rivers. Lagoon's has portions that get you a second of shade but we still like Raging Waters better. That opinion may change when we go float the Weber river or the Salt River. (In Arizona with Dave's sister. Upcoming vacation! Weee!)

Last weekend:

Friday was movie night. I looked up movie times for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on Thursday and by the time we went to see it on Friday, it had moved out of half the theatres. Luckily, we found it somewhere else. It was a good movie and only had one part that was a tiny bit long. Then again, we almost never go to showings after 10 pm, so that could have been our bodies saying it was much too late. I love the books and the movie didn't disappoint. Did anyone else think Jacob's traps were freaking huge?

Taylor Lautner has done a complete transformation to become Jacob. He was a cute kid before but now... Holy crap. Lock up your daughters.

Saturday we went to a bbq at Jen's house to celebrate Jerad's birthday. Surprisingly, I have no pictures. I just enjoyed the company of our friends we hadn't seen in a few months. And a few new friends too. Jen and Jerad (Jahnee & Jasen too. Pretty much all the Perry's) are the easiest people to get along with and they are always down for a good time.

Sunday was Dig-Out-Hillary's-Room-While-She-Is-At-Lake-Powell day. I have before pics & after pics. Not only to ~~torture~~ show her, but also to show my hard work in her room. Those will come soon. I spent some more time in there Monday but I am pretty beat up from it.

Me and Dave love the time we spend together, regardless of what is is. Everyone that asks when we got married responds with, "Oh, so you are just a newlywed?" Yeah, I suppose so. I hope we'll be on this honeymoon forever. The feelings of adoration that we share is a treasure.

I am pretty excited, our annual Bear Lake family reunion in coming up. Life is near perfect the weekend of Bear Lake. Family, food, beach, boats. Oooohhh yeeeaaah.

April text me last night and said that if she goes into labor, they aren't hesitating. Corey's (her fiance) mom's birthday was the 11th so she is hopeful that baby Kaylee will get here on that day. I can't wait to meet her!

Lagoon, wedding, Lagoon.

2010-07-19T16:21:00.001-06:00

Dave’s work had their Lagoon day and we finally got to go! We had lunch with his coworkers and I was able to put a face to the names.

We stayed for a minutes and then went up to Mendon to my cousin Julie’s wedding. It was at this cute little building about 15 minutes north of Wellsville. She used the same arch we were married under (my grandpa used it at his too, just last week!) and all her decorations were really cute. I don’t have any pictures because we got there, enjoyed some treats and visited with the family and left back to Farmington. The AC was out or something and it was toasty. The bride was out of her dress by the time we arrived!
I’m really happy for her and Dan and wish them the best!

We went back to Lagoon but only after navigating some nasty traffic. I-15 was closed to one lane southbound all through Willard We took Main Street but it was just barely creeping. Nearly 2 hours later, we were back at the amusement park, joined by my sister and oldest niece.

Highlights of the evening:
Me and Dave got absolutely SOAKED on Rattlesnake Rapids.

Hillary’s phone jumped out of her dress on the White Roller Coaster (they found it at the end of the night, completely undamaged)

Hillary and Abby wanted to ride The Samurai but me and Dave didn’t. While they waited in line for one ride, we rode the Jet Star 2 twice and the Scrambler once.

We got Bounceback passes so we are going again!

I can be in 2 places at the same time...

2010-07-15T10:10:00.001-06:00

Does anyone know that there is another place that has MORE about just Jessica?

I'll bet my regular stalkers (I say that with love, unless you really are stalking. If so, then git! Go find something to do) know about it but for all the others, here is a link to my blog.

It's mostly updates on my thoughts and randomness. Enjoy!

N-N-N-No annoying sounds

2010-07-13T09:33:00.001-06:00

We saw Despicable Me in 3D on Friday. Sadly, I think I am over the whole 3D experience. We went to one of the Cinemarks that have discounted rates for new movies and I guess it paled in comparison to seeing our last 3D movie on the Megaplex IMAX. And sometimes you wanna see it in 2D, right? Plain and simple.

The movie was really cute and Steve Carrell was awesome as Gru. Even though I kept envisioning Michael Scott at certain points. The little minions and their chatter added to the 'awe' factor of this movie. Go see it, I'm nearly certain you'll like it!

Easter Bunny in July

2010-07-12T15:43:00.015-06:00

We really don’t just do fun stuff only on the weekend, those are just the times that are easiest to blog about because the weekdays tend to blur together.

We bought this Bunny Hutch back at Easter time and just now, in July, found an afternoon to make it.

The frosting that came with it sucked big time (it had the consistency of soup) so I got out the powdered sugar and made up some decorator’s icing real quick. It didn’t turn out NEARLY as cool as some of our other (Gummi Town USA!) ginger houses but it was still fun to make together. Anyone want to put bids on how long it will hang out before we throw it out?

Dave's tattoo removal update

2010-07-12T09:46:00.001-06:00

Warning:
Don't click on the link to the back post or scroll down to the pictures if you are squeamish about blood/blisters. It's not pretty.

Dave decided to remove his largest tattoo last year. It's been slow and steady but I am finally seeing progress in it!
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Pictures are below.
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Some updated pictures from right after the session on Friday:

All blistery and hot.

You can see more pink skin coming through now in small spots. The large spots are moles that the tattoo artist didn't go over. I have no idea if it's not safe to tattoo over moles/freckles/skin tags or what,

We still have quite a few more sessions to go but I am hopeful that he heals quickly.

Welcome the newest member to our electronic family

2010-07-09T15:45:00.003-06:00

Me and Jess have silly things that excite us. 'New toothbrush day' is one of them. Believe me, new clean bristles feel awesome.

We received some Target gift cards as wedding gifts and have waited to purchase something because we were undecided between a Nintendo Wii or a Sonicare.
The Sonicare won.

We went to buy it at our local store but it was $35 more than on Target.com. So we ordered it online and waited a bit more.

And it is finally here.
Can you imagine the suspense? The anticipation?

We got the FlexCare with the UV Sanitizer. This is going to trump any and all other oral hygiene moments.

Fourth of July weekend fun

2010-07-06T11:25:00.001-06:00

Yet again, another awesome weekend!!
Friday was a bit high and low but in the end, it came out alright. We left the house on the scooter to go have dinner. Zooming along and at 21st and State, the pink darling started to sputter and wouldn’t accelerate past 25. So, we take it home, going slower than slow on all the side roads. Grab the VW convertible and back out to our dinner date.
We wanted to go to Acme Burger and I thought I had a BOGO coupon for it but….I thought wrong.
See, we rarely go out to restaurants unless we have a coupon because it’s such a waste. Meals that cost $25 for 2 people can be made at home for much less. But it is a nice treat to let someone else cook it and clean up.
We found a discount for Blue Iguana in the trusty coupon book. I haven’t been there in almost 2 years, since the summer of Kat, Kiesha and myself. There is a painting on the wall of three old bags and I thought of those girls when I saw it again. We joked that it would be us one day.

Back to the date with Davey. Blue Iguana makes a pretty good margarita!

On the way home, we could see fireworks from i-15 and started to drive towards them. I had forgotten that South Salt Lake was doing theirs Friday night at the old Granite High School. The fireworks were really good and their finale was bigger than I’d seen in a long time.
We went home, enjoyed some cuddling and Food Network.

Saturday was errands day, as usual. We took the Passat in for an overdue oil change and called the scooter store to ask what could be the problem. Turns out, I had just filled the fuel a little too much and there was something called ‘vapor lock’. The scooter got an oil change too and the left mirror repaired. We had about 3 hours to wait on the Passat so we decided to spontaneously go to a dollar movie. I love the dollar movies! We pulled up and Date Night (huge Steve Carrell fan here) was out but How To Train Your Dragon was starting in 5 minutes so that won the decision. It was cute and funny in most parts but I don’t think it’s going to be something we watch repeatedly.

Went home and made the BEST No Bake Cookies with oatmeal, peanut butter and coconut.

Around 8:30, we decided to get going to Sugarhouse Park to watch the fireworks there. It was packed there! I don’t think I’ve seen so many people in the park ever.

The fireworks were great, they had some new designs neither of us had seen. Unfortunately, the finale wasn’t better than the ones South Salt Lake put on the night before but we were still grateful to be able to enjoy them. We hopped on the scooter and cut through the lines of cars until we got to a block near the exit where the law enforcement was directing traffic. He asked all motorcycles and scooters turn off their engines and wait for the pedestrians. We waited….. and waited…. And then we saw a bicyclist walking their bike so I followed suit. Walked the scooter out, turned it on and got out of the traffic congestion at least an hour+ than if had we brought the car.

Sunday was supposed to be pool day but that flopped when we realized the key had been changed (my old apartments have the most relaxing chill pool and I just happened to acquire a key to it). But we did get to see Kiesha and Jake on their new scooter. It’s an orange Stella and she is beautiful!!
We rented Shutter Island and Avatar and went home to hole up for the afternoon. Shutter Island was a trip! I didn’t know there was a book but I want to read it now because I think there was a whole lot the movie omitted. Avatar… I am neutral on. I wasn’t bored with it but wasn’t blown away. I might watch it again, I don’t know.

Monday was when the holiday week got really fun. My younger brother works at Raging Waters and was going to get us discount tickets. He forgot to give the office 24 hour notice so we had to look elsewhere. City Deals had a voucher that saved us almost $10 a ticket and I jumped on that really quick.

We spent the whole day alternating between the wave pool, lazy river and slides. Such a fun and relaxing end to a holiday weekend!

Best of times

2010-07-02T13:41:00.004-06:00

Last weekend was the best weekend we’ve had being married so far. Minus the honeymoon, of course. Which, I still need to write about.

Friday: We rode the (new and pink) scooter over to Taylorsville Dayzz to hang out and have a bite to eat. I picked a Hawaiian skewer that had meat with onion and bell pepper. Oh, and there was the tastiest grilled pineapple on the side. Dave found a booth that had Jamaican jerk chicken with these amazing curry potatoes. They had a quippy name for the tators but I forget.

After that, we went to the Friday Night Flicks. There is a giant blowup screen in the park; everyone lounges in the grass, on blankets, and camp chairs. And they supply popcorn! It’s known that we are popcorn junkies. The movie was Three Amigos. I'd never seen it before but we were laughing the whole time. Steve Martin was never funny to me as a kid but I get his humor now that I’m older. We bought Pina Colada Slurpees on the way and let the Appleton Genesis make them a bit happier.

Saturday: Lounged around most of the day. Went to a BBQ and games with Davey’s coworker. Then over to my friend Mike’s house for some drinks and watermelon of doom.

Sunday: Pool day! We went over to Taylorsville Pool to get some Vitamin D. As well as a pretzel. ;) When we came back home, my mom wanted to get out of the house so we took the Hogwa (Ruby) to the dog park, picked up my niece from her other Gma’s, washed my ma’s van, went to dinner and then picked up my little brother from work. Dave hasn’t done the random errands with our family ever and he learned SO much by the time we all got home.

It all sounds really simple but we just enjoyed our time together and with our family as well.

This weekend is a 3 day holiday weekend! More adventures to come!

Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious.

2010-06-30T15:19:00.003-06:00

I am working on Dave's FAFSA and other items to get him back in school!

I've been urging him to go to school for nearly the whole time we've been together.

He is looking at this program.

I am excited for him!!

Mystery gift

2010-06-15T13:15:00.002-06:00

Sooo.... we received a wedding gift but the tag/card must have got lost.

I would love to send you a card to express our gratitude but, I dunno who you are mystery person!

It came with a bag of tennis balls...

Anyone? Anyone?
email me at JessibellaM@Gmail.com

I wish I was taller....

2010-06-08T12:06:00.006-06:00

One of my most favorite moments with Dave is fairly recent.

We went to Disneyland in January and decided to venture up to Los Angeles for a bit. The plan was to go to the Griffith Observatory but parking was down the hill and at least a mile+ away.

Instead, we drove to over to see the Hollywood sign. This song was on the radio, sunroof open, smiles plastered on and sunshine bathing us. We left Salt Lake on New Years day at 17 degrees and arrived to a very welcoming 71 degrees in Long Beach. Good times!

Ahhh, I am so deeply in love.

2010-06-03T21:26:00.013-06:00

Dave here. I'd like to tell you my favorite things about our wedding and honeymoon. My new wife would be blogging but she is saying she needs a vacation to recuperate from her vacation. Not likely sweetie.

Wedding likes:

Lots of happy loving friends and family.

The magician Christopher Fair, was really good.

The clown Sunny T, worked his butt off making anything and everything the kids requested.

The cake was just want Jess wanted and it tasted delicious.

Everyone loved the photo booth.

The spread of food Pam and my sisters prepared was also delicious.

The DJ and photographer were working every single second to make sure we were having fun and capturing that fun.

Everyone was very helpful. Setup, Organization, Food, Cleanup.

Our amazing friend Keisha, offered Jess tons of relief all day long.

Honeymoon likes:

Rum in pina coladas

The beach was so close to our room. Probably less than 100 yards.

The resort employees were so kind and hospitable everywhere we went.

Rum in strawberry daiquiris

Frozen mochas at any time of the day at the pastry shop.

Mimosas with breakfast.

Fresh omelets, done to your request.

Starfish in the shallow parts along the whole beach

Rum in Miami Vices, Jamaican Smiles, Hummingbirds and Dirty Bananas (all names of drinks) while sitting at the pool, doing absolutely nothing.

Daily contests and games that the resort had for everyone.

A beautiful and relaxed new wife who put her feet up and ate 2 sugar cookies in bed. And then cuddled up with me. I appreciated that the most, considering she was watching every single bite before the wedding. A girl in love can have cookies.

White pineapple. I don't know if it is a different kind but it was the best I've ever had.

There is much more to the honeymoon too but Jess can type faster and writes better. I'll leave the nitty gritty to her.

Pictures are comin' along, intermittently

2010-06-01T08:32:00.006-06:00

I know y'all are photo hungry from our super awesome little event. I am working on getting them all collected and ready but it's slower than I thought.

In the mean time, we have the photo booth pictures!
CLICK HERE to see all the fun.

BTW: It may ask for a password. It's the wedding day in this format: MMDDYYYY.

100% ridiculous? Yes, please.

2010-05-14T09:57:00.004-06:00

I am a big supporter of practicality. And this item is not practical at all. But I will endorse it with the fun factor.

"'Just Married' flip flops leave an impression in the sand! "

These are cheesy as all goodness. But have a secret (not so secret now) love of them. I think we will make a game of seeing how many couples in Jamaica are wearing these. I'll let you know the tally when we return.

Under a honeymoon

2010-05-05T18:07:00.005-06:00

Just thought I'd share... Jamaica doesn't have a snake problem. The internet says so.

Just sun and beach.

Updates

2010-05-05T18:02:00.004-06:00

Target registry is updated but it still stands, we just want you to come and celebrate!

A few people have asked if kids are welcome and the answer is: hells yes. We are having a quick ceremony and then we'll enjoy dinner, a magic show, a clown and a photo booth. It'll be a relaxed but really fun carnival party.

We are getting closer, yeah!

Paparazzi!

2010-04-19T22:16:00.010-06:00

We did round one of engagement pictures last fall with Britta. They landed on the Save the Dates and all over our sites. It was our first time having someone actually take our picture (Not just handing a camera to someone) and they came out spectacular.

And then we did some more with Britta on the beach. I'll have those tomorrow. She is such a trooper, she got down on the wet sand and in mud for good shots.

I won't say too much but there is some mad sexy pics coming from that session. Wait and see...

And THEN we did some more with our photographer we hired for the wedding. We went all over the Salt Lake Library and caught some fun shots. I love doing pictures!

See more on my Flickr.

Gifts and registries

2010-03-14T03:48:00.010-06:00

We have had a few people ask where we are registered and Jess didn't mention it in the last post.

During dinner tonight and out of nowhere, Jess asks,"What if everyone is busy and doesn't come to the wedding and reception? What if we piss off someone, somehow and even they don't come?" I doubt that will happen but if it does, we will do like always and find a way to deal.

In summary, we really just want our family and friends there to celebrate with us.

We have registered at Target but honestly, I think there is less than 10 items on there currently. I suppose we'll go get those nifty scanner guns and update it.

Update: there is items now. Click here.

Wedding

2010-03-14T03:23:00.001-06:00

Save the Dates were sent. We hope we didn't miss anyone. Let me know if we did. Who knew that sending things postal was so complex? Collecting mailing addresses, printing labels, and ensuring everything is sealed and has postage... phew.
Invitations will be out the door by in the next few weeks.
However, so you might plan prior to receiving an invitation, here are the details:

Jessica and David

May 22nd, 2010

5 o'clock pm

Dinner and reception to follow

Lone Peak Pavilion

10140 South 700 East

Sandy, Utah 84070