My sister Jennifer just received her mission call yesterday. She will be serving in the Hawaii, Honolulu mission and will serve at the Laie Hawaii Temple in the visitor's center. She goes in to the MTC on October 21. I am very excited for her!
David and I just got a new puppy. She is a cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle) and is 12 weeks old. We are working on the training process, but she seems to be doing pretty well so far. She doesn't bark and seems to be a good puppy, besides the not sleeping through the night part. Hopefully that won't last too long...
Here are some pictures and a little video at the bottom (no sound though). We haven't decided on a name yet, so if you have any ideas you can give us suggestions in the comments section!
We recently finished getting our backyard landscaped, and we're pretty happy with the results. Our yard was just dirt with a concrete slab by the sliding glass door before. Our yard is L-shaped, so we didn't have a lot of width to work with, and the HOA also said we had to plant things 3 ft away from the wall/fence. We put an area of artificial grass in for the dog that we are hoping to get soon (also, real grass does not do well here in Las Vegas). The plants will be getting bigger and start to look nicer as some time goes by. Here are some pictures!
Over Easter weekend (Thu-Tue) we went up to Utah to visit friends and family. The main reason we were going up was for David's Grandpa Lowe's 80th birthday, but it also happened to include Easter, Laura's birthday, and 2 anniversaries (David and myself and Michael and Kristen).
For Grandpa Lowe's birthday, the whole family got together for pictures and a luncheon. It was very nice. The food was great and they had memory books put together and shared stories about Grandpa.
We were able to get together with friends and eat at probably my favorite restaurant ever, Bombay House. That night we played Rock Band (for the 1st time) with Russ and Phoenix and Dadoo and Mandy. I figured out I am not very coordinated with the drums (unless I'm only over 2 of the 4), so I mostly stuck to singing.
For Laura's birthday, Michael made her a cake that we all enjoyed after our Easter dinner with the family. We also went to see the Draper temple which was recently opened.
We stayed over one of the nights at Dadoo and Mandy's house. I just had to include a picture of their dog Sancho. He is a Chug (Pug/Chihuahua). Even when he was a cute little puppy we all saw his ugly potential. :)
Clint and Emily also came over that night (with their daughter Eden) to play games. It was fun and Eden is quite adorable.
Josh wasn't able to make it to play games, so we visited him at his work earlier that day.
Josh really missed David, as you can see here.
It was a fun trip and it was great to see everyone. We spent our anniversary driving home and I had work the next morning, so we didn't really do anything exciting. We are hoping to plan a trip of some kind this summer for our belated anniversary.
We went to our ward's yw camp fundraiser over the weekend. It was a very nice spaghetti dinner complete with roses at the table, Andrea Bocelli music in the background, and the young women as waitresses. There was a dessert auction afterward, and although I got outbid on a couple other items, I came home with this cute yellow polka dot cake with lemon filling.
We also went last night to check out the new M Resort and Casino. We ate at the buffet and it was seafood night. The food was very good and the desserts were also great.
David got a new whiteboard for our office room that he's pretty excited about. Hopefully it will come in handy for school. We've been writing to-do lists and grocery lists and other random things so far.
He also got a big new desk/writing table and office chair. We got them both for a good deal at a clearance center of a company that rents furniture. The desk is actually a dining room table, and it wasn't very fun getting it all the way upstairs and through the door of the bedroom. 
We also finally bought a matching loveseat to go with our couch that we also moved in the same day. Initially I thought, "oh, it's just a loveseat and a desk-they can't be too hard to move", but I realized that I'm weaker than I thought I was. I was quite sore for several days afterward.
I had to work all day on Saturday and it was very busy, so I was pretty tired when I came home. When I walked in the door, this is what I saw:
It actually looked nicer because it was dark and David had one light on that was right above it. As I walked up the stairs, I saw this on the window ledge (disregard our ugly lace curtains):
Under the vase and the box of chocolates were two funny love notes that David had written-he's silly and they made me laugh. When I got to our bedroom I saw this on the dresser:
Isn't that a cute monkey? And it's very soft. It's the first stuffed animal David has gotten me. Under the monkey was a more serious note that was very sweet. I think he did a good job at the Valentine's stuff, even though when I first got home he said he just wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day every two years because it was hard. ;) We also went out to dinner that night and David got steak and I had a delicious steak sandwich. When we got home I gave David his little Valentine's Day present which was a book of poetry by Billy Corgan called Blinking With Fists.
Ok, I'm finally getting around to doing my Christmas post. I'm sneaking it in the middle so it looks like I do things in a timely manner.
So, for Christmas this year my parents were going to come to Vegas from Oregon and my younger sis Jennifer was going to come here from Utah. We had the flights all arranged: Jennifer would come in the morning on Dec. 21 (her birthday) and then my parents would be arriving that evening. Well, it didn't quite work out as planned. Jennifer got here fine, we went to church and everything, but my parents called and said there was a big ice storm in Oregon. We were hoping their flight would just be delayed, but it ended up being canceled. And sadly, the earliest rescheduled flight they would be able to get would be on the day they had been planning to return home. So, no parents for Christmas. :(
I took Jennifer to see the Cirque du Soleil show "Mystere" for her birthday/Christmas gift. David and I had seen it together before, so he didn't go, but I really like it so I didn't mind seeing it for the 2nd time. Jennifer and I also took an outlet mall shopping excursion to Primm. We all went to see the Christmas light show at Sunset Park (which was somewhat disappointing) and the lights at the Cactus Gardens. We went to see the Christmas display at the conservatory in the Bellagio and took a bunch of pictures.
more Christmas pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/Christmas2008?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfq9d6M85uC9gE#
Ok, so I was apparently a little premature with the snow pictures a few days ago. It snowed pretty much all day today, which was crazy. According to the Weather Channel, it hasn't snowed this much since 1979. I just got a couple of pictures-I know for those of you in Utah right now it's not very exciting, but it's unusual for Las Vegas.
David and I were also able to visit with our friends Cyndie and Bryan and their little girl Kinsey tonight. They made a stop here on there way to Disneyland. We got some good food at Bahama Breeze and then played a German board game. It was good to see them.
It's official! It is actually snowing in Las Vegas! I took some pictures to mark this historic event...you can't really tell much in the first picture, but some of the snow is sticking to the cars parked outside, even though it's not sticking to the ground.
These dancing kids are hilarious. My favorite is Nathaniel. I like to say "My name is Nathaniel and I like to dance!" and then do funny little dances. I thought I'd share with everyone...
I was tagged on Julene's blog to do a post with 7 weird or random things about myself, so here it is:
1. When I was a baby I would sit up and use my feet to scoot myself across the floor instead of crawling and instead of sucking my thumb, I would suck on my first two fingers with my palm turned outward (probably the cause of my overbite).
2. I hate the texture of potato skins. I'm cringing a little just thinking about it. David has to do most of the potato-washing and peeling in our house.
3. I'm really weird about things matching. That's probably why I like black-there aren't a lot of different shades, so it's easier to match with.
4. I really like reality tv shows like The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, and Top Chef. Maybe it's the psychology aspect of it and that I like watching how people interact with each other.
5. I get really nervous if a bird (someone's pet or otherwise) flies anywhere near my head. I get this image of it getting tangled in my hair and flapping violently to try to get free.
6. I am envious of creative people. I'm very un-creative...I usually just end up copying other people's ideas.
7. I have recurring dreams of driving and not being able to stop the car when I need to. Also, of flying, but it's a little different than "normal" flying dreams. I make myself hover by pumping my arms up and down and then control how high I go with my arms. I also have recurring dreams where I can rollerblade or ice skate really well and gracefully, which in real life is far from true.
Ok, there are my 7 things...now I'm going to tag Erica, Amy, Misty, Laura, Stacie, and Allison to do their own list.
So after about 2 months of looking, 45 houses looked at (17 in one day!) and 8 different offers put in, we got our offer accepted on this house. We should be closing tomorrow after our final walk-through and will probably have the keys by the 30th. Although I'm not excited about the packing and moving part, I am excited that we will soon have our own house in a nice newer area and be away from our noisy neighbors here.
The house will be in the Southwest part of Las Vegas. We're almost as far west as we can be-we're pretty close to the mountains on that side and near the Red Rock Conservation area.
The house was built in 2006, has 3 bd and 2 1/2
ba, and a lot of nice upgrades. Downstairs, it is all slate tile flooring, the kitchen has granite countertops and nice cabinets with crown molding, and there are wooden plantation shutters on all the windows (except the big ones by the stairs).
The house is at the end of a street, and there is a little park area right next to it with a picnic table, bbq, and horseshoe area. There is also a small walking trail one house behind ours. We would love to have visitors after we're all moved in, so if you're planning a trip anytime soon, you can always come stay with us. Here's a link to some more pictures if you'd like to check them out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/House?authkey=KgVUyDjOZ5c#
Hopefully I'll get some more pics up once we're unpacked and I've decorated a little, but knowing me, that might be a while. :)
David's parents were in town for a couple of days, and we all went to Red Rock Canyon. David and I hadn't been there before, and it was a really nice day. We went to the visitor's cen
ter where we learned some interesting things and then went on the 13 mile scenic drive. There were a lot of cool rock formations to see and we even saw two coyotes or foxes, we're not sure which.
Here's a link to more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/RedRockCanyon?authkey=oxk9QnHrkpM#
So David and I were eating at Macaroni Grill the other day, and after a little while a couple came in and were seated at the table right behind us. The man proceeded to say, "I'll have your ribs." The waiter replied, "I'm sorry sir we don't serve ribs here." "You're kidding me!" said the man. "Perhaps you're thinking of another restaurant, sir" suggested the waiter. "Well, this is Tony Roma's, isn't it?" the man asked.
Once they found out it wasn't Tony Roma's, they left the restaurant. Tony Roma's is right next to Macaroni Grill, but the exteriors and interiors look very different. You'd also think he'd notice the Italian opera music playing in Macaroni Grill. Ah, well-made us laugh, anyway.
A couple of weeks ago we took a vacation to California with some friends and family. On Wednesday afternoon, David's sister Laura and her husband Mason flew into Las Vegas. They did some Vegas-y things during the day while I worked and then the next morning we drove to California. We rented a house in Anaheim and after we got there we met up with Dadoo (Andrew), Mandy and Lowe (Nate). While we were waiting for everyone, we went to Huntington Beach for a quick visit. The house had a nice backyard with a grill and table and chairs, so when everyone was back we grilled up steaks for dinner.
David's brother Michael drove up from San Diego the next morning and we all went to Disneyland and California Adventure. I had never been to California Adventure and I liked Tower of Terror, the rapids ride, the roller coaster, and the new Toy Story arcade ride. Disneyland was a lot of fun too. I went on all my favorite rides and we saw the fireworks show at night.
On Saturday we went to Universal Studios. There weren't as many rides to go on there, but I liked the Simpson's ride and the Jurassic Park and Mummy rides.
Michael, Laura and Mason left that night to go back to San Diego and the rest of us headed back to Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon. Before we left, we went to L.A.'s farmer's market where David and I had some really good crepes. We also stopped in Olvera St. which is like an old Mexican town. We had some taquitos and churros filled with caramel there.
As we were driving back, we stopped in Baker, CA for gas and went to a Greek restaurant there and also saw the giant thermometer.
On Monday, Mandy and I went to the spa to relax for a while. For dinner we ate at the Carnegie Deli in Mirage. They have giant sandwiches, as you can see below.
That night we all went to see the show Le Reve at the Wynn. It's a water show done on a circular stage and there are acrobatic and aerial elements, diving, synchronized swimming, and ballroom dancing. It was a pretty cool show-I even caught a swimming cap someone in the show threw out at the end (well, not so much caught as got hit by).
The rest of the time our friends were here in Vegas was mostly centered on food. We ate at David's favorite pizza place and got a stuffed pizza and we went to a buffet and had lots of crab legs. At that buffet, they would saute the crab legs in your choice of butter, garlic, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, or hot peppers. I got mine done with butter and garlic-they were good.
It was a fun vacation and it was good to be able to hang out with our friends and family.
Here are some links to more pictures:
Disney and California Adventure:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/DisneyCaliforniaAdventure?authkey=kyR9gjdIHGk#
Universal:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/Universal?authkey=fZcHhVU_S9Y#
Other CA pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/OtherCaliforniaPics?authkey=2FQzu8fwHhc#
Vegas pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schmelode/Vegaspics?authkey=JK9iQzHnuRk#
David has always been frustrated with my "piles"-I have a big one on the floor in our bedroom (mostly papers) and one has recently taken residence on the third cushion of our couch (books about Grave's Disease and commission reports and tip envelopes from work, etc.) This has been the way I've "organized" things for quite a number of years, and I at least think that I always know where everything is. However, David recently started threatening that he would just start throwing away things if I didn't find some better way to organize everything and get it off the floor, so he took me to some stores to look at options. His initial idea was to just buy a trunk or storage bench and throw everything in it, which of course didn't work with me. So, since I was only given one day to decide on something, this is what I ended up with-part bookshelf, part cubbies with fabric drawers/boxes to put stuff in. I put it together myself, and I think it looks fairly decent for being $40 (about $65 with the drawers). It's a start...I cleaned the closet out a while back too and it's looking much more organized. Wish me luck in my continuing efforts to de-clutter!
