Happy Birthday Alisa!

Today we celebrate the day that Alisa entered the world! I’m sure Ronnie loved her to death as a baby, even if he did beat her up as they aged. Alisa is very considerate and is studying to be an expert librarian. She graduates this year! Yea for being done with school! In thinking about my dream jobs as a child, librarian was always at the TOP of the list. You get to stamp cards, and scan barcodes and read ALL. DAY. LONG. I’m sure that my dreams are not very realistic, but that is what I imagine.

Alisa is engaged and getting married in July and will be a beautiful bride. She is so great with kids and always has a book to read to them. She even lets me run all her errands with her! Hope you have a great day! Love you!

Snowmobile--no more

As the oldest child, I naturally compare my childhood to that of my younger brothers and sisters. As expected, they have and have done things that we would have not been able to do when I was that age.

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy my childhood—I loved it! My greatest treats were Barnum Animal Crackers for being good in the store or Handi-Snacks as the ultimate reward. I loved dressing up, and would play house, school, library or ballerina all day long. We watched old Disney movies like The Gnome-mobile and Family Band, and sang along to the bands my parents listened to (Kenny Rogers, Chicago, Carpenters and America).

As time passed, my family’s situation changed. We were not rich by any means, but had some money for the “extras” in life. This meant that I could have Lunchables for my lunch occasionally. Such was the situation when I left for college. I’m not trying to get pity. In fact; my mom is quite honestly the captain of the fair police and is constantly trying to make everyone feel “equal.”
After I left the house, (at least it seemed that way) my family began getting things I would have loved to have: snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, flying turtles, a ranch, etc. I have had to appease myself by using these toys when I am home for brief amounts of time. Surprisingly, I have learned that I am deathly afraid of snowmobiles. Every time I ride one, I feel completely out of control—as if I will die at any moment. For example: at Christmas time the family went riding and I screamed like a little girl for the entirety of my 20-minute ride. Conversely, my ten year old brother was dragged by a rope behind the snowmobile for a considerable while and had a grand-old-time.

I recently found out that I have no need to fear the snowmobile anymore. My brother, Adam, and his friend (let’s call him JJ) were enjoying an afternoon ride when JJ unfortunately met with a tree.

JJ survived.

The snowmobile didn’t.

Since it’s not too safe to snowmobile with just one machine, our family snowmobiling trips are at a minimum until we can get a replacement. Naturally most of the family mourns—I am just a little relieved. Now I can spend more time 4-wheeling, flying on the flying turtle and shooting guns on the ranch—activities I absolutely love!

Solemn Oaths

Overheard: I made a solemn oath to myself today—that I would not buy ANYTHING out of the vending machine.
Co-worker: I made a solemn oath to myself today—that I would not eat all of the Crazy Bread I bought for lunch…I failed.
KaLee: I made a solemn oath to myself last night—that I would get up right when the alarm went off this morning…I also failed.

The casual comment of a student at my work caused me to ponder solemn oaths. I make anywhere from 5-10 of these daily. Strong statements in my head that are never said out loud. Little goals to get me through the next day.
I will do all of the dishes when I get home from work.
I will unpack my jewelry so I can accessorize again.
I will go to bed earlier.
I will finish the book I am reading.
I will get my valentines made.
I will plan next week’s menu.

Does anyone else find themselves doing this? Am I alone, or part of the norm?

Superbowl Party

We were able to gather with many of our close friends for the Superbowl yesterday. Go Colts! It was fun to have everyone come—we really need to get together again soon. Now that we have the space (Thanks Grandma & Grandad) we can host anytime.

Stephanie, Chip, Gnickie, Josh, Scott, Emily and Cheryl.

Clay and Madison, Ronnie, Matt, Laura and Barbara.

As you can see-it was a time for extreme relaxation!

Ronnie and I with the always adorable Maddie! We love this little one!

Happy Birthday Alex!

I am a day late on this post, but we are living a little more frugally and don't have the internet at home anymore so when I forgot to post at work, today was the best I could do.

Alex is my soon-to-be brother-in-law (man, that was a lot of hyphens). I consider him the genius of the family. He is getting his degree from Caltech and although he has told me what he is studying, it has escaped me at the moment. I do know that he wants to save the world--one step at a time and work to improve the environment somehow.

We are excited to welcome him into the Cali clan and as a fellow "outsider" I know how welcome he will be. Have a great day Alex (yesterday)!

Roommates and Sugar

I come from a long line of dessert lovers. Lovers of chocolate, sugar, coconut, pecans, and sprinkles. When my mother or grandmother is invited to a party, they are always asked to bring one of their delicious dessert recipes. When I was growing up, we had a dessert after dinner five or six times a week, and it was the motivation of the sweets that enticed me to eat some of my most detested meals.

At college, my habits did not change. In the dorms, my cravings were easily satisfied by the cafeteria, and in apartments I would bake cookies or cakes for all to have. I even have two roommates that blame me solely for their need for dessert now. In the words of Cher, “You have ruined me! A meal isn’t complete without dessert!” My old roommates and I got together last night for dinner at Bajios and I’m proud to announce that we all resisted the urge for dessert! We had an awesome time and I'm so glad that we have remained close friends through the years (with or without treats).

The First One

Early this morning, Ronnie was awakened by a phone call. We are happy to announce that he is accepted to University of Akron Law School! I don’t think we will end up going there, unless we get a wicked-sweet scholarship, but it’s nice to know that we have at least one option.

Happy Birthday Ray!

I know it is incredibly late, but I needed to get this posted before the day was over. Happy Birthday to my wonderful father-in-law! Whenever I see Ray he always has a humongous hug ready to engulf me! I love that! He is very thoughtful and always makes sure I have a cold Dr. Pepper when I am in the house. He is very generous and I love to see him tease Ronnie. I hope you had a wonderful day! Enjoy a night filled with EnemyMine!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Tomorrow is my wonderful Grammy’s birthday! I won’t have the internet and wanted to get this up ahead of time. The picture is one I stole from my cousin’s blog so you also get to see Amber!

Grammy is the sweetest grandma anyone could ask for and is a true friend. A fanatic Jazz fan, she has been known to cancel other plans to stay home with “her” Jazz. I love going to her house to watch the games, mainly so I can hear her swear at the television! Grammy always has a million projects going on; she does porcelain work, crochets and knits, dips chocolates and makes delicious cookies! She also creates beautiful dolls—especially my wedding doll (if I do say so myself) which I will always cherish. She may have a small frame, but she is a ball of fire.

I love you Grammy! Have a wonderful day!

I'm Anne of Green Gables

You're Anne of Green Gables!

by L.M. Montgomery

Bright, chipper, vivid, but with the emotional fortitude of cottage
cheese, you make quite an impression on everyone you meet. You're impulsive, rash,
honest, and probably don't have a great relationship with your parents. People hurt
your feelings constantly, but your brazen honestly doesn't exactly treat others with
kid gloves. Ultimately, though, you win the hearts and minds of everyone that matters.
You spell your name with an E and you want everyone to know about it.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Who Paints the Floor?

Warning: this post contains LDS-specific words and references—if you don’t understand, I apologize.

Seminary. It all starts with Seminary. Most LDS youth attend an early-morning class during their high school years where they learn more about the scriptures (except those lucky dogs in Utah who do it during school). I loved seminary. Except for the 30 minutes right after my alarm went off. I also loved the catchy slogans and pictures that would be hung up to remind us to CTR (Choose the Right). In my day they were called MormonAds. They are now called New Era Posters.

There is a comedy group at BYU called Divine Comedy. They do shows several times a semester and most of their material is based off of LDS and BYU-specific situations. On their website they have redone quite a few of the old MormonAds and I find them HILARIOUS. I have included a few of them below, but encourage you to check out their website (there does seem to be some errors, so you can’t make the pictures bigger). Enjoy!

In my spare time...

Since I have graduated from college, I have found that I am a little antsy. I am not running around trying to get everything done, and as such my down time is not as treasured as it once was. I have several activities that I like to do to release some of my energy.

Sewing. This one is not done as often as I would like, but with my new machine and new space, I believe I will be able to get a little more done. Here you can see my efforts at making a Halloween costume for Cheryl.

Crocheting. Another that may seem a surprise to some. I am not hard core, in that I can make you a sweater, but I like crocheting around the edge of baby blankets for friends. This is actually a great hobby for people traveling, etc since you can take the blanket, yarn and hook anywhere (a sewing machine is significantly harder to tote).

Stamping. Most of this hobby is evidenced in cards. I have a hard time creating an entire scrapbook page, but a small 4”x5” card is easy for me to handle. I post most of my cards in a gallery at Splitcoast Stampers, which you can view here. I’ll put a shameless plug here—I do sell my cards for $1.50 to $2 each depending on the level of work involved. Email me if you ever need anything.

Ronnie also enjoys these crafts. (I wish I could say it is because he joins in because that would be a pretty entertaining post in and of itself.) But, it is actually mostly due to the fact that they allow him to watch whatever his heart desires, since I do not do as much watching and we don’t have to negotiate.

Wherein he WILL become a lawyer

Ronnie finished the LSAT in December and since that time we have been working on applications. As with most things, the actual application is relatively easy, fill out personal information over and over and hit submit, but the additional essays that you have to write are another story.

Ronnie worked on five completely different essays before he finally came up with one that he was satisfied with. Then we sent that out to seven people to proofread and edit. When all was said and done, we had written ten drafts over a period of four weeks to finally come to THE “personal statement.”

Now that all of that is out of the way, we have finally completed applications. Many people have asked where we are applying, so I will provide a list.

Places we originally planned on applying to: (in no particular order)

• BYU
• Utah
• UNLV
• Whittier (CA)
• Wyoming
• Texas Tech.
• Buffalo
• George Mason (VA)
• Tennessee
• ASU
• Ol’ Miss

Places that we have now applied to because we received fee waivers and figured what the heck?

• University of Akron (OH)
• Campbell University (NC)
• Yeshiva University (NY)
• University of Houston (TX)
• Marquette University (WI)
• University of the Pacific (CA)
• Santa Clara (CA)
• Temple University (PA)
• Washington and Lee (VA)
• University of Connecticut (CT)

As you can see, we really could be headed anywhere. A scary thought, but I’m starting to get more used to it. There are so many pros and cons to each school that I try not to think about it (at least until we start getting in places.) We will probably start receiving letters the end of February through the end of March, so stay tuned!

Michelle's Adventures

Some of you will remember, or know my friend Michelle. Earlier this month, she and her husband, Matthew, set out on an eight month (or possibly longer) adventure. They start with Hawaii for a month or so and then fly to Mexico. They will then spend the next six months backpacking across Central America. You can follow their journey here, although I hope that they do some more updates soon.

I admire them for starting out on this journey. I would love to not work for almost a year, but my “planner” nature doesn’t lend itself to this kind of travel.

Good luck Michelle and Matthew! I hope you have a great time!

Blind Dates

I am going to assume that most of us have been on a blind date. I’m even going to assume that some of those blind dates have worked out for the best. (i.e. my aunt and uncle). While I was not blessed with good blind date experiences, I also haven’t had the worst.

As I have mentioned before, I grew up in Wyoming. I really enjoyed living there, and would even like to go back—someday—for a predetermined amount of time. Both of my parents grew up in Pleasant Grove and came from largish families. Most of their siblings (read: all of my dad’s and half of my mom’s) have stayed in the vicinity.

Naturally when I decided to come to BYU for school, they all began to scope out boys that would be “acceptable” for me to date. I’m still not convinced that there wasn’t a contest between my mom’s sisters on who could get me married the fastest. This resulted in a blind date every weekend for the first two months of my freshman year.

Most of them were run of the mill, not too horrible, but definitely not people I would care to spend any more time with. There is one that exceeded my every expectation, and not in a good way.

Blind date #1 (BD1): This particular aunt was extra excited and set this date up before school had even started. My mom was in town to help me move all my stuff in, but we couldn’t get into the dorms until the next morning. He picked me up at my Grammy’s house and when I opened the door I was nearly floored by the strength of his cologne. I’m pretty sure my head even did that backwards-movement-with-a-slight-eyes-closing thing. We said our pleasantries and were on our way.

He opened the car door for me (point BD1) and made his way around the car. I took this opportunity to take a look at my surroundings. I was in a lime-green Honda Civic with leather seats, lime metal interior accents, manual transmission and what I could only assume were speakers taking up the entire back seat. BD1 got in the car and turned on the radio, causing me to jump from the sheer force of the sound.

We drove to a restaurant, ate, and then he decided that the best thing we could possibly do to get to know each other would be to drag State Street. Every red light was a race, and every race resulted in my head slamming into the leather seat. After an hour or so of this, he answered the tenth call that had come through on his cell phone to talk to his mother. We met the whole fam-damily for shakes and awkwardly talked about me. The night ended with a drive back to my Grammy’s that consisted of talking about his recent ex-girlfriend and music too loud to even think. I finally got out of the car and feebly waved as my head and ears continued to pound. He gave me a peace-sign (no—really!) and drove off in a cloud of music-filled smoke.

I invite you all to share an experience that may have helped you to love/hate blind dates. I’m sure mine pales in comparison with some.

Our New Ward (Church congregation)

Ronnie and I attended church with my grandparents yesterday. This is our first experience with a family ward. (We have been spoiled and going to BYU Student Wards for our entire marriage, so everyone was our age and in basically the same situation.) I thought church went really well, I met a lot of new people, and now have to remember all of those people’s names. AHHHH!

Two things happened of note:

1. An elderly woman told me I was beautiful. I LOVE when they do that. Especially when this is the first time they have met you and you have a larger-than-normal zit on your face.

2. Ronnie was told that he has an accent.

Not just any accent, but a Southern UTAH accent.

I laughed for several minutes when he told me the story. I thought that his family might enjoy that, since they have claimed that he has a Utah accent for over six months and he always denies it. Proof girls! You have proof!

Moving....and Sharing

Ronnie and I are officially moved into the basement of my Grandparent’s house. I learned a lot of things…things that can only be learned when you move.

Things like:
1. The sound of packing tape can be grating to the ears after several hours.
2. No matter how organized you pack in the beginning, you will always have boxes at the end that can’t be categorized simply (I have one with a list of 8 different things on the side).
3. Everyone should move every two years in order to clean out all of the crap you accumulate.
4. The very last thing that should be carried out the door as you are doing your final lock-up is a bottle of lotion. My hands were so dry that Ronnie would not touch them, and I was in serious pain as we quickly drove to their rescue.

Now that we are “settled,” we are also learning a few things about living in the same house as someone else for longer than a vacation.

1. We are constantly whispering to each other, not about important things, but for some reason it just feels appropriate.
2. I find myself literally tip-toeing around, something I am pretty sure I haven’t done since I was about seven.
3. Each morning I dig for instead of select clothes appropriate for work.
4. Food is hard to share, especially when you have double the condiments available.

The hardest thing about all of this is not that we have to share a space, because my grandparents are pretty much the coolest people ever and have bent over backwards to ensure that we feel at home, but that I can’t truly unpack anything since we are moving into a different bed, bedroom, closet, and even floor of the house once they leave on their mission and I don’t have the energy to organize everything twice. If anyone has any quick-fix suggestions for me to keep my sanity, let me know.

What I have learned from living with a MAN

It is sometimes necessary to drive in complete silence so that you can listen to each and every creak, bump and rattle the car might be making.

Complete happiness = warm food and clean laundry.

People playing sports on the television really can hear your cheers. (If you believe hard enough).

Anytime is a good time to talk about guns.

The estimated time of completion on any car project should be multiplied by 2.5 for accuracy.

SportsCenter is on 10-11 times DAILY and needs to be watched at least twice.

Silence is golden.

Making the bed has no purpose….in 16 hours you will just be getting in it again. (This is the argument I hear, most of the time my upbringing wins and the bed does get made).

Paper cups and plates should be used as often as possible.

Pepsi is a food group.

Happy Birthday Erica!

My lovely sister turns 22 today! Erica and I have had the pleasure (or curse, take your pick) of looking similar throughout all of our growing up years. Even now, we have to say hi to people in public that think we are the other person (so as not to offend). Erica has even had five minute conversations with people that then emailed me and said that it was nice to chat. We are pretty good at letting each other know when this happens, so we don’t look like idiots in the future, but I have gotten completely off track.

Erica is studying to be an elementary teacher and it is the perfect profession for her. She is great with little kids and cares enough to put in extra time coloring and making things look exciting for her student teaching. She has a wonderful singing voice, and is constantly making me laugh. She is always up for any impromptu skit, and she probably should have done some acting, she really is talented. She is the basis for the M&M post that has been so popular (we love those “blonde” moments in our family).

I hope you have a great day! Love you!

Christmas Traditions

We just returned from a wonderful weekend away in sunny, California and are now about to embark on an adventure to the snowy tundra of Laramie, Wyoming. I have to admit I’m very excited to go home for Christmas this year and in anticipation of the events that will happen, I thought I would share a few of the Wyo family traditions.

Love Ornaments. When we decorate our tree (with white lights of course) we put all of the ornaments on except a tin with 20 heart-shaped ones. These are placed next to the tree and are our love ornaments. When you see someone do something kind for someone else such as making their bed, doing the dishes, cleaning up a mess that isn’t yours, etc, you take an ornament from the tin and place it on the tree. The goal is to get all of them up before Christmas.

Gifts to Jesus. Each year we write our gift to Jesus on a piece of paper and place it in a family box which is wrapped under the tree for Jesus. To be honest I can’t remember if we open this box at some point on Christmas or if we wait until the next year. I guess I will find out this week.

The Nativity Scene. On Christmas Eve we reenact the Christmas story. We have very specific costumes for each character. When I was younger, my sister and I would fight over who has Joseph and who was Mary, because Joseph had to wear a paper beard, which was embarrassing. Then there was the year that by brother Adam only wanted to be a dog, so we added one to the scene. As we have grown, we have not acted as willingly, but for the little ones, we trudge on.

Dinner like Jesus. This is a newer tradition, but one that I actually like. On Christmas Eve we eat as Jesus ate, with only candles for light, torn pieces of french bread, cheese slices, nuts, dates, grape juice and fish. When I was younger the “fish” was fish sticks, but now we have Halibut-delicious!

We have many others, but these are some of my favorites!

Happy Birthday Kari!

And again, another birthday! Kari is the youngest of the Cali clan and is just the sweetest thing. She is a wicked-sweet soccer player and loves to sit and watch chick flicks with me, which I appreciate (since Ronnie has to be tricked into that sort of thing.) Kari is very generous with her time and energy, always willing to help when needed.

Have a great day, we love you!

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Today is the special day for Maggie, Ronnie’s cousin who currently lives with his family. She doesn’t say a whole lot, but when you listen carefully, what she does say is usually really funny. Ronnie loves to spend time trying to get her to crack a smile.

Have a great day Maggie, we love you!

Happy Birthday Dan!

December is full of birthdays (6 of them) and I managed to get this one done on the actual day. Yea for me!

Dan was welcomed into the Wyo family two years ago and we sure do love him. He is always looking for an excuse to laugh and has even made up nicknames for the two youngest kids that I get a kick out of (J-dawg and S-kitty) His new love is the 1946 Willy’s Jeep that my dad is restoring and I think more time is spent talking about what they could do to the Jeep than actually doing anything. We hope you have a wonderful day (you old man)!

What did you just say?

Every family has some inside jokes, at least I assume so. My family has many but telling them to you here would be less than entertaining as most of them are of the youhadtobethere sort. Nevertheless, these experiences have caused us to evolve the English language a bit.

1. Yember. This word came about when my youngest brother was…well…young. He loved to talk about things we had done earlier in the year or even earlier that week. Instead of starting every sentence with “Do you remember…?” he shortened it to “Yember?” We laughed about it at first, but then realized the genius of it all. We always say it to each other, and occasionally I catch myself using it when talking to a friend. (I usually just move on quickly with the story, hoping they won’t realize I just used a made-up word.)

2. Snoofers. This is courtesy of my mother. She refuses to say “snot” or “booger” and as such combined the two to create a secret word that she could use in public and not be too embarrassed.

3. Fast as a pig. My other brother was about five at the time and my father asked him to do something quickly, he looked up, wide-eyed and asked “fast as a pig?” My dad tried to stifle a laugh and said “yes, please.” Ever since that time, if we want something done fast, we use this phrase.

4. Fair. This one actually came from my cousin Cole. When he was younger he didn’t understand the difference between fair and unfair, so when he felt he was being slighted he would yell, “THAT’S SO FAIR!” Ronnie and I would look at him and answer, “Why, yes it is!” Since that time, it is a constant battle to figure out whether something I make Ronnie do (as if I can make him do anything) is fair or unfair.

Happy Birthday Aubrey!

I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short on these, I really need to get better! Yesterday was the actual event.

Aubrey is the oldest of Ronnie's side. She is great to talk to and one of my favorite things about her is her ability to listen (no matter how long I go on). She is an extremely hard worker and has always made me feel a part of the family. I love her infectious laugh! The other day we were on the phone, and I scolded Ronnie in the background and called him 'Ronald!' She loved it! (Probably because Ronnie was getting scolded, but it was funny none the less.)

I hope she had a wonderful day and look forward to seeing her soon!

Free Stuff!

I thought that title might get your attention. As we are in the process of moving, we have come across a few things that we no longer need. The biggest of those being a desk with a hutch. Before you get too excited, I feel it necessary to tell you that Ronnie purchased it at DI several years ago. It is still very functional, but may not be the "looker" you desire. I have not taken a picture of said desk, and after searching on the internet have discovered that no one has a desk similar to it, so you will see my artistic rendition below. Let me know if you are interested.

Rockin' Out

Me: Hey! Do you want to go to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert on Saturday? I can get us free tickets.

Ronnie: Uh, I don’t go to anything with the word “orchestra” in the title.

Silent Pause

Me: Hey! Do you want to go to the Trans-Siberian ROCK concert on Saturday? I can get us free tickets.

Ronnie: Yeah, that should be fun.

Ahhh, the single life

I have recently had the pleasure of helping cover a night shift that was started at work to expand our customer service. We have hired four students; two girls and two boys. They are all single.

You can imagine the conversations.

As I supervised last night, I was able to sit back and just listen for a while. We were on our break and I pretended to be engrossed in my computer. Seeing as how everyone had just officially met for the first time, we are not experiencing full-out flirting, just subtle-feel-it-out flirting, but flirting none the less.

Watching this human mating process has caused me to reflect upon how I may have acted when I was single and working in a very similar office environment.

I have just one thing to say to all those who may have had to work around me, or listen to the conversations I know I had.

I’m sorry.

I hope you have been able to completely block out those memories and if you have, please let me know how so I can do the same.

Moving!

We didn’t think we would be doing this for another 8 months or so, but we are moving. My grandparents are heading off on their third mission to Phoenix, Arizona and we will be taking care of their house and whatnot in PG.

As much as I’ve thought that I just want to get OUT of Provo, I am sad to be leaving. I love our ward and little apartment, but look forward to two bathrooms and saving money!

If you are in the area (and yes, Provo is considered in the area) please stop by, we will still need our friends!

Presents

Christ. Family. Love. Others.

I wanted you to know that I do know the true meaning of Christmas before I began this post. As I sit here typing, there are four presents sitting in my living room. I love presents. Truly. Not your average love, but passionate-can’t sleep at night-giggling love. It is when the child inside of me comes out.

Since my birthday is in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, ever since I moved out of the house my mother would leave my birthday presents with me (to save on shipping) and expect that I would open them on the 16th.

This has only happened two of the six years I have been away. (Sorry Mom!)

After stuffing myself with turkey, I would say goodbye to the fam and proceed back to my apartment, presents in hand. I always have every intention of waiting until the morning of my birthday to dive in, but little by little those wrapped boxes wear down my resolve.

One year it was the Sunday before and I just opened one. The next was a week before and I opened all but two. The following year I held out until the day before, but just couldn’t seem to make it. The funny thing is, I wouldn’t USE any of the presents until my birthday, but I just wanted them open!

Dating and then marrying Ronnie has had a positive effect on this illness. (I actually think that I have improved because I have someone who cares whether I wait or not.) I have found the cure to be his knowledge of the gift. If he sees my mom or anyone else hand me the package, then it is safe from early raiding. If not…it’s all up to me.

Unfortunately, he knows about the four presents here, but what he may have forgotten is that one had the instruction to open on Dec. 1st.

Hopefully that will satisfy my inner child for 15 more days.

Happy Belated Birthday Karen!

Since we were at the cabin for the actual day, I didn’t get to post my birthday post until now. (I’m really sorry for the scare of no communication Karen!) I love my mother-in-law for many, many reasons. She mothered Ronnie, and goodness knows that would have been tough! :) She is one of the kindest, most considerate people I have ever known-I am constantly getting little surprises in the mail that she knows I just HAVE to have (who doesn't love those?) She is selfless and constantly looking for ways to help others. I have always felt at home in her home and love spending time with her and the family. Even though the first few times I met her I was using her house as a place to crash with girlfriends (back when Ronnie and I were just friends and not dating), she still liked me enough to let me into the family. I love you and hope you had a terrific day!

Thanksgiving Fun

Ronnie and I were able to spend Thanksgiving at my grandparent’s cabin, that’s right 29 of us bunked in the cabin. I should probably start by saying that if you are picturing a two-room log structure; you need to get that image right out of your head. This cabin is really more like a mountain home. While the outside structure IS made out of logs, it is three stories, has four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and can accommodate quite a few. 29 may have been pushing it, but we managed wonderfully. We ate the big meal at 1pm and were all so stuffed that when my Grandma started getting out food for dinner later that night, we all looked at her in disbelief for a moment, groaned…and then proceeded to fill our plates for the 3rd or 4th time that day (despite our straining waistbands).

Night-time was filled with screaming cousins, movie-watching and some kitchen crafts by the girls. Grandma taught us how to make beautiful caramel apples—seriously beautiful, like the ones that you buy in the mall. We also learned how to make chocolate covered popcorn (yes, it is as delicious as it sounds.)

All in all, we had a great holiday and hope you did too!

Guitar Hero Revisited

I have received complaints that the video of my mom playing guitar hero cannot be viewed. I have put the link below. Let me know if it still doesn't work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOgfR4PIkZc

The Softer the Better

Apartment life has its ups and downs that’s for sure. I love that it is affordable, basically commitment-free and that none of the problems are mine! If the ceiling caves in, microwave stops working, or fridge goes caput, I just sit back and wait for repairs to be done with minimal inconvenience on my part. I’m not quite as enamored by difficult parking, midnight vacuum sessions by the upstairs neighbors, and dumping my hard-earned money down the drain.

But most of all, I despise the lack of soft water.

My skin and hair know the difference and choose to share their dislike through itching, flaking and dryness (just dryness from the hair, not the other stuff). Because my love of soft water is a little on the freaky side, I have talked about it with several people and would like to let all of you (all 5 of you) know a little more.

Some people don’t like the slightly “slimy” feeling that is on your skin when you use soft water. You may feel that soap is still on your body. In response to this, I would like to propose that you wash your hands with soap under hard water until you feel you have gotten them clean-now lick your palm.

It tastes like Dawn or whatever soap you used.

Now, wash your hands with soap under soft water until you feel that you have gotten them clean-lick your palm.

It will taste like….the palm of your hand.

Contrary to your belief, soft water has removed all of the soap from your hand, while hard water has left a soap residue on your skin.

I encourage all of you to run, not walk to the nearest location with soft water, take a long shower and rejoice when you are not forced to put on lotion afterward!

Our Heritage

I was introduced to an entertaining site lately. In addition to helping you with genealogy, www.MyHeritage.com offers a celebrity match program. I am pleased to announce that I am a 83% match with Jessica Simpson. She is the celebrity that I my face structure most resembles. If you are as shocked as I am, don’t worry. I uploaded an additional picture to see what the difference would be and I’m pretty sure that it depends on what position your face is in. You know that you are curious as to who you look like, so go try it out!


I know you are all dying to know about Ronnie as well. Apparently his Mormon-ness came out in the picture I submitted because his highest match was none other than the great Donny Osmond.

Mmmmmm.....

On Saturday, Ronnie and I were craving a little BBQ and decided to use a buy one get one free at Lon’s Cookin’ Shack near our home. I am in LOVE with their rotisserie chicken! We ordered to go and once we received our food, we got in the car to drive the two blocks back to our apartment (I know we should have walked, but what can I say? We’re lazy….and it was raining.) We pulled out of the parking lot and down the street. As we were waiting to cross University Avenue I was startled by a knock at the passenger window. It was a Lon’s worker who asked if we were the order for Ronnie and handed me the spinach salad they forgot to put in the bag. What customer service! He had run out in the rain and knocked on our car window on the off chance that we were the people he was searching for. If only every store I frequented would have this kind of service.

A weapon?

The other night Ronnie and I were watching TV and I was laying my head on his shoulder. I had been in this position for a few minutes when he wriggled away suddenly and said, “Your chin is sharp and VERY dangerous!”

So if you are looking for something to chop vegetables, whittle, or wreak havoc in general, my chin may be available.

M&Ms

It was the year 1999; I was a sophomore in high school and pretty much the coolest girl ever. But this post is not about me….it is dedicated to my younger sister, Erica. She is just two years younger than me, and is fortunate enough to look nearly exactly like me. (just kidding, Erc!) Erica was in 8th grade and also a very cool girl. She was sitting in her drafting class talking to the boy next to her (BNTH), when the subject turned to music. The conversation went something like this:

BNTH: “So have you heard about Eminem, the new white rapper?”

Erc: “Uh….no, M&Ms have a brown wrapper.”

BNTH: “No, I mean Eminem, the new white rapper.” (I’m sure this was accompanied with some “ghetto” like hand motion)

Erc: “I just bought some at the store, and they had a brown wrapper!”

A few sentences later, Erica finally figured out that Eminem was indeed a new white rapper, but ever since that time, I can’t buy any form of M&Ms (brown, yellow, blue, or cream) without chuckling to myself in the candy aisle.

That sewing machine IS getting some use!

Cheryl asked me to create a cheap and cute pumpkin outfit for Halloween. After perusing the internet for some general ideas, we ventured off to Joann’s Fabrics to see what inspiration would hit us there. Luckily, I was able to come up with a suitable idea for a mere seven dollars. Then it was off to my house to sew the bad-boy together. Below you will see the finished product. The hat was the best part.

Cheryl was a pumpkin and Scott was the mathematical symbol pi. Get it? To clarify: They are holding their nephew, they do not have a baby.

10 Weird Things

I have seen posts such as this on the internet, and decided that it would be a fun thing to include for all of you.

1. I can’t live without my to-do list. This may not seem very weird, but the weird part is that if I accomplish something that is NOT on my list, I have to add it to the bottom, just so I can cross it out.

2. I did not know what the little white lights were on cars until I was 20. That’s right; I had no idea that car manufacturers were kind enough to let you know when someone is going in reverse. (I would like to note that I did pass the driving test at 16, I had just been driving regularly for 4 years without this knowledge.)

3. I would love to live in a musical. Seriously. I think it would be amazing to be talking to someone and then break out into song. What would be even cooler is to have synchronized dancing scenes with strangers on the street. Think about it—you know you want to live in one too.

4. I enjoy cleaning bathrooms. I should probably clarify that I mean bathrooms in my own house, not public bathrooms. I enjoy scrubbing hard to make something sparkle and love standing in a perfectly clean room. Bathrooms are small enough that you can clean the whole thing and it really is clean, clean, clean.

5. Whenever I peel potatoes for a delicious meal, I always peel one extra one, so I can eat it raw as I work. I LOVE raw potatoes. Enough said.

6. I have always had a hard time putting down a good book. This was evident even as a child, when I would get tucked into bed and then lay in the dark for what seemed like forever (most likely 5 minutes) and then grab my book and a flashlight and read underneath the covers where I was sure my parents could not see what I was doing. (How did they ever know?) Once I discovered that they could see the light under the bedding, I moved to reading inside the closet. Finally, my parents learned to take my book and flashlight out of the room when they kissed me goodnight.

7. I am truly afraid of the dark. Ronnie enjoys a good laugh if he can ever turn off the lights in our house when I can’t get to a light switch within 15 seconds. I begin to plead with him to turn the light on…I just realized how pathetic that sounds as I typed it, but it is true. (I have a very vivid imagination-okay? I’ve read a lot of books!)

8. I have a semi-photographic memory. It wasn’t until college that I realized I studied differently than most people. Once I made a study guide for a test, I would read both sides 5 or 6 times and then go in to take the test. As a question was asked, I would look at the study sheet in my mind and answer accordingly. While this may seem pretty neat, I also have memorized things that don’t matter at all…such as where every holiday decoration is placed in my parents home.

9. I can completely block sounds out. This is done most often while watching television and is increasingly frustrating for Ronnie. He will try to tell me something or ask a simple question such as “Do you want something to drink?” and get nada. Most times he has to say my name three times before I realize I missed something.

10. I have to be in a precise position in order to fall asleep at night, down to the placement of my hands, legs and the blanket.

Dress Standards

For those of you who are not familiar with my father, he is a bit of a character. This is fairly evident regardless of the situation in which you may meet him. His stories are wildly amusing, and it is due to his example, that I do not consider a story successful unless everyone lets out a whole-hearted laugh. He serves in the Church as a member of the Stake Presidency and as such, has to give a talk at every Stake Conference. Regardless of the topic, he usually has a memorable personal story to emphasize his message. These range from pulling cactus out of his bum, to falling into a septic tank, to shooting arrows straight into the air while lying on his back—to see how close to his body they would hit.


Sunday night he was asked to give a fireside to the Beehives and Deacons on dress standards. Since most of us were either Beehives or Deacons at one time, I’m sure that you can remember how you dreaded firesides on dress standards. My dad is aware of this attitude and tried to ‘jazz it up” a little. As a disclaimer: this fireside was not held in the chapel.

The entire oufit: Camo pants, ugly Hawaiian shirt, socks with sandals, a clip-on pirate earring, and the Mohawk (Courtesy of the whole fam)

I'm told that it took some work to get his silver locks to look this wicked-sweet. Again, notice the pirate earring. Arrrrrgh!

I guess it was a hit! He has been asked by several of the YM and YW leaders if he will do it again for the other age groups. So, if my family is lucky, they may get to see dear-old-dad looking like this at least one more time.

Dancing with Bowie

My good friend Bethany forwarded the video below to me and I enjoyed 2 minutes and 52 seconds of pure joy. I thought I would share that with you. I have also added Bethany's website to the side bar, so be sure and check that out.

Our United States Travels

Ronnie and I decided to make a map of everywhere we have been together. As you can see, it is pretty pitiful. Ronnie has now decided that he is motivated to go on a few road trips to expand our experiences. (I guess I will have to be the one to remind him of how irritated we both get when in the car for long periods of time.)

I'll try to update this as we continue our quest for United States Domination!


create your own personalized map of the USA

Guitars and a Haircut

My brother Adam is a freshman at college and is a hoot to be around. He has been growing out his hair since high school graduation (much to the disdain of my mother). After a few months of nagging (I bet she would prefer I use the phrase “gentle reminding”), Adam finally agreed to cut his hair once he got an elk. I don’t think my mother has ever hoped for an animal to die quite that badly, but lucky for her and not so lucky for the elk, Adam bagged one last week. This came not a moment too soon, since she had planned family pictures this weekend while we were all there, and I’m sure that she preferred a clean cut boy. Below you will see before and after pictures of the event.































When Adam arrived for his hair cut (courtesy of Ronnie), he brought with him the video game Guitar Hero. For those of you not familiar, it is similar to Dance Dance Revolution only you are strumming a plastic guitar instead of stepping on a pad. Adam has spent significant time perfecting his plastic guitar-playing abilities since he moved out of the house (I guess that’s what happens when you have no job and no girl) and is actually quite amazing—in fact if it was a real guitar instead of a plastic one, I would have to say that he ROCKS! I wonder what kind of actual skills he might have if he had put that much time into real guitar lessons. Hmmmm…thoughts to ponder.

Anyway, we all experienced the magic that is Guitar Hero and it was quite entertaining, in fact, I would have to admit that it has made me think about purchasing a game system. I don’t think I’m ready for that leap, but I have thought about it. The best part about this particular game is that everyone, from 8 years to….well….my mom played and enjoyed it. Feel free to watch the entertaining video of my mother rockin’ out! I love you mom!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah and Brooke!

My lovely little sister Sarah turns 14 today! Yea for Church dances! She is the sweetest girl who is constantly giggling. Every time we are with her, Ronnie tries to see what he can do to get her started on a giggle run. She is the most organized 14 year old I have ever met and has long dark hair that most girls would kill for. She is always willing to help and keeps everyone at home in line. We love you Sarah!

Our cute little niece Brooke also celebrates her birthday today! She is 4 and is starting to sound like a grown up! I can’t believe it. They are going to Disneyland to celebrate, every little kid’s dream! I was feeling pretty good about myself when we called her and she would talk to me, but not Ronnie—take that! We love you Brooke!

Triumphant at Last

After two weekends of hunting, Ronnie has returned triumphant! We traveled up to Laramie for the opening of Deer season. Early, EARLY, Monday morning we drove up to the camp and started hiking up to the fence. I consider myself to be semi-in-shape. When I say that I mean that I could run for help, but I would prefer to walk, and didn’t think that hiking up a little hill would be a problem. Boy, was I wrong! This was not just some little hill, in fact, since I forgot to take a picture; you will find a diagram below. I’m pretty sure it was at least a 30% grade.

After I had finally managed to make it up the hill, (with my 8-year-old cousin beating me), we rested for a few minutes and then split up to begin the hunt. Ronnie, Dan and I took the upper side and my Dad and Uncle Gordon took the lower part. We hiked for about 15 minutes and saw four bucks about 60 yards away. By the time Ronnie and I finished arguing about who should shoot, they were around 200 yards away. We both shot.

Ronnie split his deer wide open.

I missed.

We tracked Ronnie’s deer for about 30 more minutes and then he was able to finish him off. At first, I think Ronnie was a little sad that the deer was not bigger, but as the day wore on and no one got anything else, he was feeling better and better about himself. Dan told him that at least he has no where but up to go from here.

Ronnie with Bambi

Me with the little deer. (I think Ronnie cut my hat out of the picture on purpose because it was a University of Wyoming hat.)

Welcome Little Madison!

Our good friends Clay and Jess had their little girl on Sunday. I had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday evening and she is just the cutest thing! She has cubby cheeks! We just wanted to congratulate the Shorters! You can view the cute little one on their blog.

We Were the Champions!

During the summer, Ronnie was on a BYU Intramural softball team that came back from the loser’s bracket and won the tournament! This was an exciting night—for the boys, because they got a coveted t-shirt, and for the wives, because no one had to deal with cranky-pants husbands. I thought that I would share that experience with all of you. (These shots are courtesy of Jessica—she is a great little photographer).

Ronnie concentrating as he pitches. I'm pretty sure this one was a strike.

The wives; Me, Gnickie, Laura and Kim.

Ronnie and Clay between games. They had just gotten done discussing if they needed to make any adjustments so they could beat the other team for the second time.
The San Fransisco 49ers. (Yes, that really was the team name, courtesy of Clay). Mark, Jared, another boy, Dave, Ronnie, Jason, Clay, Ryan and Matt.

The Great White Hunter (a phrase I stole from Karen...and apparently a movie?)

Ronnie returned from the elk hunt on Monday. They scouted all day Friday and went out Saturday morning to make the kill. Ronnie spotted a 3 x 4 along with two spikes, and though the trees were extremely thick, was able to get a shot off.

He missed.

None of the animals moved an inch. As Ronnie was hurriedly getting another shot ready, Grandad shot.

He missed as well.

For the rest of Saturday and all day Monday, they did not see another bull elk. Ronnie is really hoping to redeem himself this weekend in Laramie on the deer hunt. I, on the other hand, am just trying to live up to the name One-shot KaLee. (if you are lucky, I may share that story in a post soon)

This is a picture of what the extremely thick trees look like. I did not ask Ronnie if this is actually what he was shooting through or if he took a picture of the thickest part of the forest to make us all believe him. I guess you will have to ask him that yourself.

Grade School Ronnie

I thought you all would enjoy this picture from Ronnie's past.

Just kidding! My Dad likes to send us anything that teases BYU and got this through an email. He put that it was my classroom, but last time I checked, I don't have and have never had short-boy hair, but I will admit to owning high-tops.

Props to my peeps (that's right, I think I'm cool)

Since being introduced to this world of blogging, I have spent some time looking at the links on some of my friend’s blogs. I have found two blogs from which I derive a great amount of joy reading. They are the kind of blogs that I strive to have: witty, random and informative. The first is written by a girl named Claire, who is a friend of a friend of a friend. The other is a girl who goes by the name Smash and I really don’t know how she is related to anyone I even know. I am planning on putting their links on my sidebar, but for now, just wanted to give some props.

Who Needs a Plan?

Towards the end of the summer Ronnie and I were looking for some excitement. We had been to visit both of our families and wanted to go on a trip. Given our limited monetary and time resources we decided upon a trip to Yellowstone National Park. When going on a trip, you usually need to have at least an idea of what you may be doing...for those of you that know ME, you may know that I am a bit of a planner.

Okay, okay…I am a freak about planning.

I began what I consider to be a necessary part of any trip—internet research. Ideally, I like to have our lodging planned and paid for as well as a general itinerary of events throughout the day. I don’t need minute-by-minute plans but a solid itinerary in my mind would look something like this:

Breakfast

Morning: visit Old Faithful, Look at deer, elk, moose, raccoons and other animals. Visit Artist’s paint pots.

Lunch

Afternoon: visit other various geysers, hike to the lower and upper falls.

Dinner

Evening: More animal gazing.

Fireside fun

Bedtime

In my opinion, you cant go on a trip with anything less than that, and you really need to know the mileage and time estimates for each activity so that any surprises aren’t too extreme.

So back to Yellowstone. We were hoping to go with friends, and invited our friends Josh (with the incredibly strong neck) and Gnickie. They were happy to go but wanted to leave that day.

Yep, you read that right.

Ronnie and I had toyed with the idea for a few hours the night before and they were wanting to leave the VERY next afternoon. Ronnie called me with this information at 11am and told me to be ready to go right after work. WHAT!?!?

Did we have a place to stay? NO!

Did we know who was driving? NO!

Had we decided on food? NOPE!

I went into psycho-planning mode and began more intensive internet research, compiling lists and calling Ronnie every 15 minutes or so. By the time 5pm rolled around, I had secured a place to stay and had the best itinerary that I could have possibly done in a mere 6 hours. I continued to stress until we were on the road…but in the end we had an excellent trip and actually got much more done and seen than I could have planned in even more time. Below are a few pics of our adventures.

Ronnie and I at an overlook at the Artist's Paint Pots.

Ronnie, Me, Gnickie and Josh proving that we really were at Yellowstone.

The Grizzly bear that was 40 yards from where we decided to eat lunch. We ate standing up constantly ready to run for our lives. It also made sleeping in Grizzly country that night more of a "real" experience.

Manly-Man Hunters

I grew up in a family of hunters.

A family of hunters in Wyoming.

That being said, I don’t want you to think that we only wear flannel shirts and eat raccoons and other rodents for dinner, but a normal Sunday dinner at my house does consist of elk roast or steaks. In fact, I did not know that this was semi-abnormal until I came to college and my roommates were somewhat disgusted with the idea of eating wild meat. Every fall, the men in my family constantly have a boyish grin on their faces, and have even been known to kick their spouses during the night while dreaming of getting that trophy animal.

On Monday, my Dad’s dream came true. He got a 6 point elk. Not only that, but he killed it on his own land. I think that is the epitome of all manly-man hunting dreams. In true hunter fashion—he loaded the whole thing in the back of the 1946 Willy’s Jeep that he is in the process of restoring, and drove all the way through town. He even had the pleasure of offending some lady to the extent that she sped up to give him the bird.

My Dad with the prized elk shortly after the kill.

A shot of how the elk was triumphantly escorted across town. I can see why this may have warranted the bird. :)

My brother, cute little Jord-man and the animal. We train 'em young--notice the camouflage hat!

Since joining the family Ronnie has become interested in such activities. Growing up in California did not lead to many hunting experiences, although he is an avid fisherman. After a new gun, scope, camo, sleeping bag, shells and other various items, he was finally ready to go. Today he is off with Grandad to try his hand at elk hunting. I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Flag Football and Ambulances

The ironic thing about everything that has happened is that just yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about how nothing really exciting happens to us and I didn’t know if I would continue to be able to write about anything that anyone would want to read. (not that any of you are sitting at the computer in anticipation of my next post.) I sincerely hope that what happened last night is not a direct result of my pondering. If it is, I guess my thoughts have much more power than I give them credit for.

Last night Ronnie had a BYU Intramural flag football game. I was not able to attend due to my last sewing class, but as I was driving there (late) I called to see if it would be worth the trip. I was quickly informed that someone on our team had broken their neck. Naturally, I began to freak out and ask a million questions: Who was it? (our friend Josh) Was he moving? (not much) Was it Ronnie? (no, KaLee, I just said it was Josh) Were they going to the hospital? (the ambulance and fire truck were already there). Now just a quick background—Josh is from Alabama, and we just love him and his wife Gnickie. He broke his neck in high school in two places and was paralyzed for about six months but then regained the use of his legs. (if any of this is wrong, I will correct it later)

As you can imagine, it was a bit of a tiring night. Ronnie arrived home, and I made sure to give him a big hug, then he got ready to go to the hospital to give Josh a blessing. We picked up our good friends Clay and Jess and headed over. When we got to the hospital we were happy to see Josh sitting up, without a neck brace. Soon afterward, the doctor came in and gave him a clear bill of health—he even offered to sign a paper saying that Josh was normal so he could prove it to Gnickie. :)

What we have learned: Flag football is not necessarily a non-contact sport. Josh’s neck is stronger than we realized. Heavenly Father is watching over us all. Good friends are priceless. Even doctors that graduated from the U of U work in Utah County.

P.S. For those of you who may be wondering (Adam) they called the game at 0-0 as a tie.

Leaving Comments

I thought I would put a short tutorial on leaving comments, in case any of you feel the urge to do so. At the bottom of each entry there is a little comments counter (it should read 0 comments). If you click there, you will be taken to a page that will ask you to sign in. There are two options. If you have a Gmail or Google account you can click on that link and use your username and password to sign in. If you do not have Gmail or Google, then click on the “sign up here” link to set up a Blogger account. After signing up you will then be able to sign in and leave comments as you wish. Email me if you have any other questions.

Softball Skills...

I thought I would give a quick update on our lives at the moment. I work all day and then come home and try to stay busy with one of my many projects. I am also taking a sewing class once a week that was included with my sewing machine purchase (Thanks Mom and Dad!). Ronnie also keeps very busy at work and is on two softball teams. One is a men's league in Orem and then a co-ed league in PG. You may wonder why I am not playing on the co-ed team...and the answer would be because I have no softball skills. I have knunchuk(sp?) skills and computer-hacking skills, but no softball skills. It also does not help my self-esteem that every other girl on the team played high school ball, and my experience consists of a team when I was 10 and then the occasional, poorly organized, Church softball tournament. Aside from his extracurricular activities, Ronnie is also studying to take the LSAT in December and begins his class this Wednesday. I'll try to keep up this blog a little better, so you can all enjoy our wild, crazy adventures.