Safe Shopping

Here's a funny sign we saw in the parking lot of the "Ghettos Mall" (Meadows Mall) a few days before Christmas.

Winter Fun

So, as everyone knows, it snowed a lot. It snowed for two days straight in St. George, and it snowed in Las Vegas. Here's a cell phone picture of what I saw out my front door right after the snow began to fall. (Note: This picture does not fully capture the true snowy blizzardiness.)

Now, I'm not complaining about the snow (like everyone else is). I loved it! I wish it had snowed more. I just heard a lot of whining at work today from customers that were terrified by 4 or 5 inches of snow everywhere BUT the roads. I'll admit the roads were a smidge slushy this morning, but that's about it.

Nathan & Mary Lynne invited me to their ward's Christmas party tonight, since I was all alone. For an activity, they had a box at each of the 20 or so tables filled with random Christmasy items that we were decorate our tables with. Mary Lynne and I had a great idea to tear the box apart and make a little dog gingerbread house (with a crazy tree in the backyard). See below:

Christmas Cheer

Check out this totally awesome holiday giveaway by The Cupcake Goddess! I think you might be interested...CLICK HERE to enter the contest. You could win this:

There are two other spectacular prizes too. Also, check out how much it snowed in Cedar (in only a few hours) on Saturday.

O Tannenbaum

Yup, that's our tree. Anyway, it's more like my tree since I got up at 4 AM last year to get it on a Black Friday sale, since I found and bought all the decorations, since I decorated it all by myself, and since I look at it every day BY MYSELF! I was thinking I'd get full-time husband for Christmas, but better luck next year. Seriously though, better luck next year. Preston does his special timed run on Friday, and I think he's going to make it! Hopefully he moves here two to three weeks after that. Yippee skippee!

Jubilee of Trees

A week or two ago, my sister Mary Lynne, my bro-in-law Nathan, little nephew McKay, Preston, and I went to the festive Jubilee of Trees. Where's Mary Lynne? Sadly, we won't see her in this segment.

Mckay loved all the lights.

See these trees?

As evidenced by this picture, Preston is more jolly than Santa.

It Actually Worked This Time

As I was driving from unspecified Point A to unspecified Point B tonight, I noticed another driver (who was sharing the same unspecified road with me) was driving rather erratically. Fairly early on in my 1.75 hr journey I saw this other car speed up to 90 mph and slow down to 60 mph and then speed back to 90 repeatedly. Also, this car "penned" others in next to various semi trucks, and four or five times the frustrated "penned" car "brighted" the lousy driver. This was all done while this vehicle was crossing their lane line every few seconds. Oh yeah, their brights were on the whole time too. I debated for a time whether or not to call highway patrol. My past efforts to stop crazy, drunk-acting drivers in Las Vegas had gone unassisted by law enforcement, so my thought tonight was, "What difference does it make whether or not I call highway patrol? They won't show up, as usual." I did recall an instance or two where Preston phoned the appropriate authorities while observing totally nutso driving in Las Vegas, and at least one of his calls was responded to, resulting in arrest of an underage drunk driver. As I neared my destination, I decided to make the phonecall. I gave the highway patrol dispatcher the description I had, and she said, "We actually received a call earlier on this same vehicle. We'll get someone on it." I'd heard that line before. After a mile, I noticed an officer in the median and wished that he would pull out and get the car. Well, much to my surprise, the patrol truck did pull out and sped, with great gusto and decisiveness, up to this car to pull him over. Yay! My phonecall finally worked! So, I just want to say to everyone who drives that if you see a car that you suspect to be loaded with a dangerous driver, please make a phonecall. It's your responsibility. I'll never wait that long again!

Nothing to Report

I wish had an interesting post for today, but alas, I do not. Preston and I live apart during the week, and I've been leaving the computer with him; therefore, I have been unable to write anything. It is now the weekend, and I've forgotten everything clever I had to say. I will say that since we've been living apart, Preston has been motivated to go running every day, sometimes twice, in order to get his time down so he can come live with me. How sweet is that?

Exactly

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

What we'll miss...

We're pretty happy to be leaving Las Vegas. That sounds pretty crazy eh? How could one be happy to leave one of the hippest, most swingin' places on earth? Well, the answer can be found in that question. It's a little too hip and swingin' for our taste. We've thoroughly enjoyed our years here. There are many, many things we'll miss about good old LV. We'll of course miss all our dear friends and wonderful family (ESPECIALLY the Chamberlains for their ESPECIALLY wondrous wonderfulness), but since we're only moving 130.18 miles away, it's really no biggie. So, we'll miss:


1. Being able to go out for a treat (i.e. ice cream or wings) after midnight.

2. The shopping! This includes the Nordstrom Rack, Cost Plus World Market, and Las Vegas Premium Outlets.

3. Tamale availability (especially the ones sold out of car trunks in the Walmart parking lot, but we actually never bought those. We'll just miss being regularly offered them. )

4. My place of work. I really got attached to my co-workers and regular customers.

5. (This is the place where we'd list "the water park", but since they got rid of that, we can't really list it. We're just so ANGRY about that. ; ))

6. The variety of restaurants. I know we listed food before, but now the focus is variety. We love Carino's, the Geisha Steakhouse, Eiffel Tower Restaurant, Planet Holleywood Spice Market Buffet, Claim Jumper, Roberto's, Pho Saigon 8, & Hush Puppy.

7. Our first house.

8. The Nevada resident discount on various shows and exhibits.

9. The IMAX options.

10. The numerous radio stations from which I won prizes. Since most stations generally have a rule about winning something no more than monthly, it helps to have different stations to win from. I've only won about 7 prizes while I've lived here though, so actually it's not that much of an issue.

11. The Bellagio Fountains and Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

12. Our Sunday School class. We'll miss them because we won't have as many people to tease, but after a few months I'm sure we can find replacements. I'm not sure if that Amber kid can be replaced though. She's pretty "special".

Because this was not a well thought-out posting, we're sure there are several items we've left off the list. If we can think of anything else, we'll add it. In closing, I'd like to quote the words from a Disney song sung by Jesse Mccartney: "My whole world is changing. I don't know where to turn. I can't leave you waiting, but I can't stay and watch this city burn...watch it burn..."

Math Problems

Preston and I have talked to several people who haven't even heard about the following clip. For this reason, we feel we need to post it in order to spread the joy we feel when we watch it.



If we didn't listen to The Mark Levin Show or visit The Drudge Report daily, we wouldn't have known about it. For reasons completely unknown, television news stations refuse to show it. Ha ha.

If you listen closely, he says "John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S." There are two problems. First, he says that the JOB facing the middle class is JOBS? Interesting. I'm not sure how that makes a lick of sense. The second problem is obvious. He needs to go back to preschool, because I'm pretty sure that's where they cover counting to three (if you already didn't learn it at home). I'm most certain that if Sarah Palin had called "jobs" a three-letter word, it would have been unforgivingly exploited through all media channels.

Oh yeah, our other favorite quote of his is: “When the stock market crashed (in 1929), Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’ ” The reason this quote is so fun is that Herbert Hoover, not Roosevelt, was president at the time, and commercial television didn’t exist.

Recommendation

Preston and I have been considering various water storage options and have come across this nifty little device. Whether or not you plan to store many gallons of water at home, this dandy water purifier would definitely come in handy. Even if your emergency plan involves moving to a cave in the mountains, as long as you can find water, there will be no worries.

As you'll read on the website, this bottle will purify water that's contaminated with bacteria AND viruses, as well as metals, chemicals, fungi, and parasites. It's incredible! The great part is, we don't work for this company. So, whether you choose to buy one or not, we could care less. Now, I say we "could care less" instead of we "couldn't care less", because we actually do care. We want to you have safe water to drink. Go to the site and check out the demo, ok?

lifesaversystems.com

7 Facts - By Preston

7 Facts -- I was tagged!
Here's how to play:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I believe almost every meal is better with bacon --- sandwiches, pizza, salads, pastas, breakfast, etc.

2. I sing. Kristin wishes I'd do it more. As a child I was part of "The Jane Porter Singers", and I was in a show choir in high school.

3. I miss farming. I miss driving tractors and the smell of freshly cut Timothy.

4. Kristin wants me to say that I'm a good speller, because she thinks it's a weird fact that a boy would be a good speller. She obviously didn't know any Canadian boys before me.

5. I had an 8-cow mission.

6. I'm a cancer survivor.

7. I used to have bright red hair. After the chemotherapy made all my hair fall out, it grew back in brown.

Everyone has already been tagged, so I'm skipping rules #3 and #4.
Kristin did her tag on the other blog.

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Here's the video that Preston BEGGED me for days to watch. I kept telling him, "No thanks!" The thought of watching it both horrified and saddened me. I finally gave in to Preston's constant nagging, and what was the result of viewing it? I'm even more horrified and saddened. Enjoy!

Cooking Motivation

My talented friend Sunni made these aprons, and I was so excited to receive them in the mail this week! Can you even believe how extra cute they are? I meant to get a picture of me wearing one while I was making Sunday dinner, but I forgot. Here are a couple of post-dinner shots, taken in a non-kitchen location. Sorry Sunni. I'll bake cupcakes later (maybe after a nap).

Ouch

Preston was tased (or tasered) yesterday. He's asking me to post a picture of his electrical burns, but I think that's best left to the imagination. The tasing took place in some correctional officer training class. I was definitely not as excited about it as Preston was.

New York - Day 4

Preston decided our NY photo album would not be complete without a picture of a NYPD officer. I really wasn't too interested in going up to a cop to ask if I could get a picture with him, so Preston asked for me. I mean, I look pretty excited in the picture, right? Thanks Preston. Dream come true!

Here we are at the end of our loverly carriage ride through Central Park. Near the beginning of our ride, our carriage driver person said he and his girlfriend were mugged last night. I really appreciated his story.

Well, I finally made it to Carnegie Hall. I guess I can make it anywhere now. I liked Steinway Hall down the street too. I don't really have a picture of that because it's not as famous as this place. Only famous stuff matters. I suppose Steinway pianos are famous, but you aren't really here to look at pictures of pianos now are you?

This is a neato sign for many reasons. I'm sure you can think of the reasons.

This little mangled-looking sculpture, known as "The Sphere", used to be situated between the World Trade Center Towers. As you can see, it was a little damaged. This is a temporary memorial erected at Battery Park in honor of those who lost their lives in the attacks.

Statue Of Liberty

Photo Collage by Dundoo - MySpace Editor

New York - Day 3

This is, of course, Times Square. We took a night tour on a double-decker bus, and it was just delightful. I highly recommend it!

We had a great time in Chinatown and Little Italy. Upon the suggestion of someone we know in Las Vegas, we ate at Da Nico's (the sign is up on the right side). It made Olive Garden look like McDonald's pretty much. I mean, I love McDonald's and all, but I think ya'll know what I'm trying to say here. If not, move on.

We made it to the top of the Empire State Building (with some help from an elevator). We took the stairs for the last 6 flights because we were too impatient to wait for the second elevator. On the way back down, our laziness overpowered our impatience, so we waited.

There's the ESB from below, along with Macy's on the left. That reminds me, we need to leave our hotel room RIGHT NOW and do some shopping.

We attended church on Sunday at the Manhattan 1st Ward. Aren't we extra good?

Due to its popularity, "Wicked" gets its own slideshow.

New York - Day 2

Here's a really, really big sandwich we got from Ben Ash Deli. This is just half of the sandwich actually. Luckily I didn't have to eat the entire thing.

That's Times Square behind me. Better pictures are coming...I hope. We're on our way to see "Wicked". We went to "Mary Poppins" the night before, and it was so magnificent!



This is Preston, and he seems pretty happy to be driving away from the biggest church building in the US, and second biggest in the world (second only to the Vatican)

We're on our double decker tour bus, and we're pretty excited to be starting another day's adventures. I think that's the Museum of Natural History behind us. Oh, and there it is below.

As we were riding around on our bus tour, I looked up and saw a familiar figure. Can you see it too? We just turned a corner, and there it popped up. How fun!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York - Day 1