Two Christmases

Wow, I am one spoiled girl! I got to have two Christmases this year, and it was fantastic! Dustin and I celebrated with my family the weekend before the actual holiday. We felt very blessed to have my parents, grandma and bother and sister join us for church, lunch and way too many presents on Sunday. I think it was a little hard for my brother since we were mostly the ones getting gifted, but we got to hand out our gifts to everyone,too.

As you can see, we get pretty excited about presents in my family.

Dustin and I definitely got the best gift of all--a Wii! I have been obsessed with the Wii ever since playing it at my sister's house this summer. I love, love the boxing game and will kill anyone at it. I'm also happy to report that my tennis skills are improving enough to sometimes beat Dustin and not get totally creamed. Unfortunately, I don't think Wii tennis skills translate all that well into real tennis...

We spent the actual holiday in good ole freezing-ass cold Vernal with the other half of our family. All the kids were home this Christmas decking the halls with our holiday PJ's (thanks Tami!) and hanging our stockings with care.


We also all got matching fleece pullovers. Aw...how sweet!


I got to cook my first turkey all by myself, and it turned out pretty well. I'm so lucky to have people who let me experiment my cooking on them. I love hanging out with Wallis' and especially playing card games with them. The sibling rivalry really heats up and I couldn't even worry about winning--I was more concerned about walking away with all my fingers intact and not peeing my pants from laughing too hard.

Wow, look at those ears. Yes, these are my real ears and no, I'm not one of Santa's elves.


Also, the best present next to the Wii and being with family....

I got my braces off!! Whoo hoo! Now I can eat all the popcorn I want and not have people hand me the kid's menu when I go out to eat (but maybe I'll ask for it anyway because I like to color).

Hope your holidays were merry and bright, too!

Really, Rudolph?

This morning on my way to work, I saw a car decorated as a reindeer. Not kidding. It had big fuzzy antlers sticking out of the front windows and a red nose on the front bumper. Just call me a mean little Grinch with all the sweetness of a seasick crocodile, but that's not holiday spirit, it's tacky...and probably a safety hazard.

Lady Marmalade

OK, so don't make fun of me, but I'm totally turning into Little House on the Prairie or something! I am so excited about my activities of the last weekend that I just have to share. On Saturday, my sister and I spent the entire afternoon doing two things: knitting! and making marmalade! In case you were wondering, marmalade is an English-style fruit preserve, usually made with citrus, or in my case, pineapple (yummy!).


We used two huge pots for all the ingredients. If you look closely in the first picture, you can see the orange peel and cinnamon (don't worry, you pull those out at the end). It had to cook for like two hours and we had to get up from our knitting and stir it about every 2 minutes. It smelled so AMAZING, which is a good thing because I have to repeat the whole process this weekend. After all our hard work, it only made HALF of what is was supposed to in the end! So I'll be putting on my Christmas music and busting out the knitting again to complete my little home on the range. If you need me, you'll have to contact me by Pony Express messenger and make all inquiries for Lady Marmalade--that's me (only no prostitutes, just jam!).

Ewwww...

Two things:
First, I actually was craving chocolate milk yesterday. Gross. I hate milk--my maximum milk consumption is about 2 teaspoons in my green tea every morning and other than that, I never drink it or eat it, even on cereal. And don't even talk to me about chocolate milk because normally I think it's a big fat waste of chocolate. I'd rather EAT my dessert than swig it down. It just sounded SO AMAZING yesterday when I saw it at the grocery store. However I refused to buy it purely upon principle.

Second, Keith Urban has produced a song that I enjoy. Normally I think he is super ridiculous and sounds/looks like a woman. Plus I'm pretty sure we wear the same size pants...and the same style, which makes me gag. Check out his song "Sweet Thing." Maybe it's just me, but I think he sounds less pansy-ass than normal and it's got a very catchy chorus. Ewwww...who am I? I will try to keep both impulses under control, but if you catch me listening to that ridiculous song or imbibing any disgusting dairy drinks, please reprimand me promptly.

Happy Monday

Well, it's never really a happy Monday, so here are some goofy-ass pics to make your day a little more fun. When D and I were in Vegas a while ago, we visited Madame Taussaud's Wax Museum, which was a major dissapointment. There weren't nearly enough famous "people." I kept wondering who the heck everyone was. Whatev. Just so you don't have to spend the $50 (rip off!), here are the highlights:

Two feisty redheads:


My rockstar baby:


I don't know what that face is supposed to be...

I heart Tim McGraw!

This is my "I hate W" face--just for you mom!

I don't think that's helping...

OMG! While at the gym yesterday, I witnessed the girl on the machine in front of me seriously crack open a Pepsi while she was working out. And...there was a jumbo candy bar perched on the display, too. What are you even doing?! It was so bizarre. At least she didn't have like a box of doughnuts of something. Then I would have had to go steal one.

Words we make up

One of my all time favorite games is Scrabble. I’m good at spelling and vocab, and before I met Dustin, I always won. We don’t play very often, but when we do it’s always very fun. We like to play until absolutely all the tiles are used, and we usually refuse to turn in our tiles for new ones. This mostly results in some ridiculous words and word cop-outs, like adding an “s” to the end of a word. Here’s our latest: adding an “er” to the end, i.e. “taxer”—one who taxes, “axer” one who axes. What? That’s a word right?
Here are some others that have come about without the aid of Scrabble:
Ranch Sauce:
(Noun) aka Ranch Dressing
This is Dustin’s creation since I think ranch is disgusting and would never eat it. Somehow, he thinks ranch sauce sounds more appealing than ranch dressing.

Skankily:
(adverb) Trashy, slutty. As in, “that girl sure was dressed skankily.”

Crunchy:
(adverb, adjective, noun, whatever) Used to describe any of several things or traits associated with being overly into nature, sporting activites and disregard for personal hygiene. Often applied to persons seen shopping at REI, wearing Tevas (with or without socks), sipping coffee in Sugarhouse, perusing the dried goods section at Whole Foods, driving a Subaru, or sporting dreads in a carefully crafted attempt to appear socially apathetic (belied by their $500 backpack). This one is mine, and I wasn’t even aware I made it up. I just thought it was commonplace.

You know...

...sometimes I just want to eat the WHOLE box of banana flavored Teddy Grahams. They're just. that. good.

God Bless America aka VOTE

I almost didn’t vote. I just couldn’t decide. I felt so overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time due to the complete lack of logic the nation displayed in choosing their candidates—and then the candidates choosing their running mates. What a mess.

With the rise of news media and the internet blaring “election updates” 24/7, I just couldn’t get away from all the hype—or the fact that I couldn’t wholeheartedly endorse either candidate. Every comparison I saw for months held the candidates at virtually the same level on most political issues, the only clear division standing on civil matters.

I was accused of being jaded (thanks Mom), but I can’t help but feel that it won’t matter who becomes elected because the heart of their policies are so similar that by the time any act is dragged through Congress and “porked” to death, we will end up with virtually the same watered-down mediocre policy without any major change. People get all riled up about the “liberal news media” and name-calling and whose funds go where, but all candidates engage in the same dirty, nasty, underhanded behavior regardless of which party line is drawn.

So I researched and researched and made my tick marks on a piece of paper, going back and forth and back and forth until I could form my own logic where the logic of the nation had failed me. After all, you can’t depend on rednecks clinging to their guns and religion, the “liberal news media,” your husband or your mom to formulate your opinion. I did vote. I voted early, and I was proud of my decision and my fulfillment of civic duty. If you haven’t already, please vote—be proud of your decision, too.

Reading

A looong time ago, I posted about starting to read the Twilight books. With the release of the movie approaching, I thought I should mention that I actually finished all four of them about a month after I started reading. I promised that I would let you know what I thought, but I ended up being fairly disenchanted by them, so I neglected to mention them any further. It’s not that I didn’t like the series—if anything it was a very fun read and a good distraction. Nothing too heavy (or realistic for that matter) and a little silly. I kept having to take silliness breaks. Like, that’s not really happening is it? She’s not really going there, right? She can’t be serious, can she? But, of course, the answer was always yes, and it really was that silly.

With some incredulity, I waded through all four. I did not become seduced by Edward, but I found Jacob to be quite attractive—what can I say? I like big, broad-shouldered guys with inordinate facial hair (love you babe.)

I think the biggest disappointment was Bella. She had the opportunity to be such a strong character, but ended up a little flat for me. I felt like her entire self-worth was based on a pattern of male affection, either from Edward or Jacob, and it was more than slightly off-putting for this Gender Studies thesis minor.

One thing I did love about reading Twilight, though, was that it reminded me how much I adore reading. I mainly read magazines now (which I love, love, love) because I don’t feel like I have time to sit down with a whole story, but I’ve been making time lately, and it feels good. After a couple other wholly unsatisfying book reads between Twilight and today, I finally finished a very good one last night: The Book Thief. Amazing. Read it. Thank you Markus Zusak, for restoring my faith in good writing, and my re-found desire to read more, more, more.

Accessorize

Look what I'm wearing today! This is a big deal because I typically don't wear jewelry at all--just my wedding rings and MAYBE some earrings if I feel like I need a distraction from my face. Dustin's sister, Jessie, made all the girls these for Liz's wedding and I liked it so much, I really wanted to try to wear it again. Perhaps in the future, I'll make an effort to decorate myself a little better, but I wouldn't hold your breath :) Unless someone keeps making me cool jewelry...

Lovely Liz

This weekend, D and I were happy to be down in St. George where it's warm and sunny even in October. We were even happier because Lovely Liz finally got officially added to our family. I'm super excited because I like her a lot--she's completely down-to-earth and totally rad to boot. It's always fun to add more sisters! The wedding was beautiful and a lot more relaxed than I remember mine being (for me anyway!). It was nice to see all the relatives--I'm finally beginning to remember who is who! Here's the day:

These are my other two "added" sisters, pretty Jessie and Sophie:


Here are the Wallis brothers posing next to thier dad's Harley. We had our moments of sadness missing Dustin's dad, but we all knew he was there and this was a great way to remember him.

This is one of my favorite pics of the day--it's pretty reflective of their personalities. Gotta love my strong-man.

Busy

K, so I haven’t blogged in quite a while, but I’ve been highly occupied with a few things:

Work:
Sometimes it sucks to be in charge of stuff

May the best loser win 2008:
Decisions, decisions…but more on that later.

Weddings:
Everyone who is anyone is getting married October 25th, so there have been lots of showers and gift buying and planning. Unfortunately, D and I can only be in one place at a time, so I’ll miss the pig roasting at my friend Cassidee’s wedding (boo!), but we’ll be making a pit stop in Vegas (yay—buffets!) before heading to St. George for my bro-in-law and lovely Liz’s.

Don't worry, future posts coming very soon.

Cake Guilt

Definition: the quadrangle that occurs when
A) there is a huge hunk of cake sitting in your refrigerator calling your name and trying to convince you to eat it before it goes bad
B) you want to eat THE WHOLE THING, but are quite aware that THE WHOLE THING contains a bazillion calories
C) you know that your mom will be disappointed and hurt if you avoid temptation by just throwing the darn thing away
D) you go ahead and eat it anyway *sigh*

At least I only ate half THE WHOLE THING. I had to share with the husband (but I did steal some of his frosting).

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Today is my brother's birthday and he's turning 23 which means that I'll be 25 soon, and that just makes me feel incredibly old! Not that 25 is ancient, but the fact that I've actually been alive that long (and picking on my baby brother for most of that time) seems phenomenal. Our family had the chance to celebrate last Saturday in Ogden--very fun and very yummy thanks to my mom's chocolate cake! Happy Birthday Christopher! I love you.

Letter #6

Dear Giada di Laurentiis,

I know that you are very beautiful and a killer cook, and you are so fantastic that you have your own show on the Food Network (my fave). On Saturday, you were incorporating a little Sicilan-style cooking into your segment and you explained that Sicily is a hot place and people from warm climates like spicy food. Ooookay, but I just wanted to clear one thing up for you: Sicily is not hot because it is close to Africa as you so ridiculously asserted. Sicily and Africa are both hot because they're close to the Equator, not each other. Even I know that.

Sincerely,
Emily

For dinner last night...

We had a very autumnal meal and it was fabulous: Pork tenderloin with potatoes, roasted pumpkin and baked apples. I am Martha Stewart. Just so you know.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I know I'm totally cheesy, dedicating a video, but this one's for you Dad! This song always reminds me of you. I won't tell you how old he is, but I will tell you his favorite quip about aging: "This isn't anything an 18 year old kid with 45 years experience can't do." (So that gives you a clue)You are my hero and I love you. xoxoxo

I looked in the mirror this morning...

...and after I seared my corneas, it became painfully obvious that I will need to continue the application of self tanner long beyond the summer months in order to avoid also damaging the eyesight of those around me. My apologies to those whose vision has already been irreparably harmed. *sigh*

This is embarrassing…

But I totally used to LOVE Hootie and the Blowfish. Cracked Rear View was the first CD I ever got, and I even loved it so much that I actually went out and purchased a new one after the old one became scratched beyond all read-ability. So when I heard that Darius Rucker, the lead singer, was back in action, I was very excited! Just the kind of gravelly-voiced, pop-tinged, soul-infused angst country music has been missing. Go Hootie! xoxo

Mt. Olympus

Last Saturday, Dustin and I hiked Mt. Olympus. I didn’t really want to go, and Dustin really had to talk me into it because I’m lazy and would rather go to the gym than hike up a humongous mountain. It turned out to be really awesome even though it took about 5 and ½ hours total (which included me waiting impatiently on the way up and falling into a tree on the way down). I have to admit I felt pretty bad-A after scaling all these rocks to get to the tippy top.

P.S. Don’t look at my hair—it’s not poufy in these pics

Letter #5

Dear Clueless Metro Cheeseball in Serious Need of Yoga Class Etiquette,
Ujai breathing is only appropriate if everyone else is doing it. If not, you just sound like some pervry-perv making an obscene phone call. I just thought you’d want to know. Also, don’t match your head bandana to your tank top. It’s just silly.

Namaste,

Emily

Rondez-view? Ew!

There's nothing like kicking off Labor Day weekend with a trip to the mountains...or the dusty desert. So D and I went to the "mountains" on Saturday, and lo and behold, we encountered some mountain men at the famous Ft. Bridger Mountain Man Rondezvous. This usually isn't my thing, but I thought it would be funny to go, and it was.

First of all, if you ever want to piss off animal-rights activists, this is the place to be:


Miles of fur....

...stacks of skins.

Also the place to be if you want to see a bunch of weirdies dressed like they probably dress in normal life:



Buy some "authentic" mountain man gear:


Big belts are in this season...



And this hat is cool, too, right? If you're Amish?

And my favorite part--the most common view from the (rondez)Vous! Totally ew!

We saw this guy everywhere, and there were more like him. Fantastic. As if people needed another excuse not to wear pants.

Last Weekend

I always take pictures of the things that we do throughout the week and on our weekends with the intention of putting them up on the blog ASAP. Obviously that usually doesn't work out because I get all busy at work and have to be an adult and not play on the computer.

These pics are from last weekend at the youth conference I helped plan. We went up to Snowbird to stay the night, have a very yummy breakfast the next morning, and do all the little summer activities they have up there the next day. It was tons of fun and everyone seemed to like it, so congratulations to me for being a good planner. Here are the highlights:

This is my Bishop. He's pretty rad and you can see why they must have chosen him to be in charge of such a young ward :)


This is a fun game--see if you can tell the difference between the YW and the YW leaders...

...at breakfast

And here's the hub. We ended up with some extra tickets, so he and another spouse came up to join us on Saturday. I was super glad he came, and even more glad the he got to ride the mechanical bull.

I’ve succumbed...

...to the dark side. A million years after everyone else I know, I’m reading the first Twilight book. I’ve had absolutely no desire to read this series because fantasy of any sort really doesn’t appeal to me. Dragons, fairies, Star Trek, Star Wars, paranormal, vampires—whatever—I’ll take reality. But almost every single girl I work with is obsessed with these books, and they finally convinced the other skeptic (traitor) to read the first one. So when she finished, she plopped it on my desk and said, “Your turn.” Yes, I gave into peer pressure, and I’m about three chapters in now. The first ten pages were probably the worst ten pages ever written, but I persevered. I’m not totally impressed so far, but I’m no quitter, so I’ll probably have to finish the whole thing. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know what I think and whether or not I become seduced by Edward.

Letter #4

Dear Old Nasty at the Gym,
Boxer briefs are NOT gym shorts. I'm sure you're aware of this and I don't know why you continue to make your underwear multi-task. You'd probably like it if everyone else pranced around in their panties, too, but I can assure you that no one else thinks that's a good idea. Ew and gross. Just gross.
Sincerely,
Emily(who wears a ginormous baggy t-shirt and boy's soccer shorts while working out and does not appreciate random displays of underwear nastiness from ANYONE)

Solo Hike

Dustin went on a solo hike Tuesday after work, and when he got home I was totally jealous because it looks like a beautiful area! He was kind enough to take pictures for me...and pictures of him with a beard for everyone who requested. Sexy.

Facial Hair

My husband is growing a beard and I love it. It's so hot! Don't shave honey!

Look!

We finally grew something in our jungle/garden! We actually have several of these little baby tomatoes--cute!

Happy Birthday Dustin!

Dustin's birthday was this weekend, so we celebrated Friday, Saturday and Sunday with friends, family and lots of yummy food. We got to hang out with all of our old "college crew" for a bonfire to kick things off--it was so great to see everyone all together again (and thanks for the marshmallow roasting tips, Chris!). Dustin's family came down on Saturday for lunch and shopping, and then we got to have just the two of us on Sunday to relax and be together. Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate. Love you!