Turkey Week!

TURKEY WEEK!!
And when I say Turkey week I mean TURKEY WEEK!! Yes, Ryan and I had the bright idea to stay home this year and make a full Thanksgiving dinner. After making a trip to Costco two days before Thanksgiving Day, we found the smallest bird we could find; a nice 21 pound plump poultry. That’s right, turkey for a week!! So that night Ryan and I seasoned it and had such high hopes of eating it for the next few weeks to come. I suppose I should start before that. . . Ryan and I decided to stay home from Utah this week so that we could have time to get his new office moved, finish the guest bathroom, see our friends from out of town, and have time to relax. I was so excited to have Ryan’s help with finishing the bathroom!! The poor guy never saw it coming!! That will be a whole other blog for another time!!

So the dinner… Well I worked Ryan to the bone up until the day of the big feast. He had gotten up early so that he could play basketball with his brother and friends. When he came home he was completely wiped out!! So that left me to finish the Thanksgiving feast. I didn’t mind so much only that I had no one else to blame but myself if it was a complete disaster!! I am proud to say that I think I did an ok job!! It only took three trips to the grocery store (not all in the same day)!! The only thing that I completely messed up on was the sweet potatoes. I have never made them before and I have never seen anyone else make them. I was flying completely solo on this one without even a recipe to fall back on. So I didn’t know to drain the juice out of the can before adding it to the dish. I essentially made a nice sweet potato soup!! All that really matters though is that the marshmallows were unharmed and a golden brown!! Let’s face it, those are the only things that really matter when eating one of these delicatessens; right?! So the menu for the evening was turkey, stuffing, corn, (real) mashed potatoes, (real) gravy, cornbread, sweet potato (soup), and pecan pie bars with (real) whipped cream!! I felt pretty proud of myself and thought of changing my name to Martha Stewart!! But boy was I tired!! Ryan was great. He felt so bad for sleeping through it all, that he went and picked up Grandma, he did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen!! So worth it! Such a helpful little assistant!!

After dinner Grandma wanted to play Rummy (surprise surprise). She and Ryan slaughtered me! I have the excuse of slaving all day in the kitchen, right? Then we went to my Aunt Carol’s house. We got to meet my cousin’s fiancé and my Aunt Carol gave me a great recipe for sweet potato casserole. So, next year better watch out, I have my game plan this time!! You are all invited!! Heeheehee

Can you tell that I had cooked all day?? I look horrible but doesn't that table look great?!?!?!

Even Lacy got to enjoy the Turkey. She needs a bath!!

I am trying to get the bone away from her so that she didn't have any choking hazard! She was not about to give it up that easily!! Cute little dog!!

Grandpa! A great man!

Grandpa ... Gone but not forgotten
As the shadows fall, O Savior,
Turn our thoughts and minds to thee.
Help us Lord, that we may strive for Peace,
and find our rest in thee.
Father, please watch o’er our loved ones
As the evening round them flows.
Lord, accept our supplications;
Be with us in our repose.

Life is eternal,
And love is immortal,
And death is only a horizon;
And a horizon is nothing
Save the limit of our sight.

Vegas Baby!!

I swear I am never this busy with stuff. I think? This week I drove my Grandma to Vegas. It was just the two of us. She needed time away and she loves Vegas, so Ryan had the brilliant idea for us to go. We left on Monday (Veterans Day) but stopped off at my grandfather’s grave. I cleaned the head stone and put some fresh flowers on it as well as Ryan’s grandmother’s grave. It was sad. Then we set out on our adventure. We stopped off at my cousin Monica’s new house in Apple Valley to see her and her new puppy. I am so impressed with her house!! It is so large and beautifully decorated. She is so happy there! I miss her not being close but I am glad that she is in a great neighborhood and around family. She really has a great life out there!! I am so happy for her. Such a cute puppy!! I want another one!!
We got into Vegas around 5:00 and after settling into our room we hit the tables. Most people who know my grandparents are aware that they went to Vegas every month. So it isn’t a surprise when all the employees know my Grandma and remember my Grandpa. So it is fun. I felt like a character on “Cheers”. The majority of our time was spent at her usual casino. I dragged her away to see the Bellagio fountains. She loved that!! Then we left on Thursday morning after a quick good bye to the tables.
I came out ahead on my money. But felt so strange to think that I had no connection to the outside world. We didn’t watch TV and I had no internet. So to come home and find that the Kings lost to the Ducks and the writers strike is still going on was a push back into reality. All in all though it was a great time! I really enjoyed having my Grandma all to myself! She is such a character!! She is legally blind so it was a lot of fun giving her the audible play by play of all the events. It was great to hear all of her stories again and some new ones. She tends to brag so it was fun to hear about her glory days. I may have to take her away again. It was a lot of fun!! I was so happy to come home and see Ryan and my animals. If there was a way to have Ryan come that would make it a perfect trip!!

Grandma and I in front of Bellagio

She was willing to wait the 15-30 minutes for the next show. After three minutes she was done waiting. So we headed back.

Happy Birthday to Ryan, Part Deux!

I will warn you; this is going to be a marathon of a blog! This weekend has been one of the best weekends since living in California. This weekend will be known as the continuation of Ryan’s birthday.
This is not to take away from the wonderful birthday weekend in Vegas, where we had the majority of my most favorite people in the world join us for a weekend in Sin City!! Every September around Ryan’s birthday there is an awesome hockey game at the MGM Grand. So we go to the game and play around the rest of the weekend. This year was a blast!! We didn’t have the usually large group since there were two weddings that we missed that same weekend and most of our friends and family went to those instead (what can I say we have our priorities). That however is a whole other blog. But I will add (if she is reading this), Michelle, thanks for dodging puddles and wearing a bag with me!! You are my favorite person to walk through the sports den with!!
Sorry for being side tracked. So the best weekend started with Friday night. Ryan was in charge of putting a holiday party together for his employees. We rented a room at Dave and Buster’s with a Buffet and a comedy troop to perform. It was a lot of fun! There were around 30+ people there and the comedy troop was an adaptation of “Whose Line Is It Anyway”. Then I helped him with a raffle where we gave out a bunch of money and a digital camera. The best part about that was I got to buy the items for the raffle. Great way to help my shopping fix but not spend any of my money! Then we got to play video games. I totally smoked the sniper game!! Maybe I will join the NRA!? Ryan found that he has a knack for trivia. So Brain will have some competition!! If I were to bet I would put my money on Brain!! I still love you though Ryan!!
Saturday we got to sleep in!! Then our niece Aubrey came over. I was trying to teach her how to play video games. I know, I am not a very good example. But I think she enjoyed kicking my butt!! She doesn’t need to know that I handed it to her willingly. While Ryan went to take her to her dance class I got ready so that we could go see “Wicked”!! Ryan got these great tickets from his Parents for his birthday. We saw the play back in February this year. But Ryan and I enjoyed it so much that he asked for tickets for his birthday. It was so much fun!! To quote Wicked, “It was Festivalious!!”Outside of the fact that we had some really annoying people sitting behind us, it was worth it!! After the play Ryan took me to one of my favorite restaurants Roys!! (I know, whose birthday is this?) On the way to dinner we drove by a flat bed truck filming the car behind it, and drove by a red carpet event where there was press and paparazzi! SO HOLLYWOOD!!
Then we went to a hockey game, Brain joined us as well as Jason. Jason thank you for the pretzel!! I won’t go into too much detail. However, I would recommend that you read up on this game!! THE BEST GAME EVER!!! They are trying to find a name for it since it will be in the record books!! For those of you who don’t follow Hockey I will try and make this simple (which is easy for me since I am simple minded!). Basically, we made it to the last period of the game with no goals. At about 5 minutes left to the game we were down by 4 goals. Well, the Kings picked it up and was able to score 5 goals in about five minutes. The Stars tied it with us and we went into overtime, which we won!! I have never been in the Staples Center where the crowd was going crazy!! I can safely say that if there was a mediocre fan in the crowd they didn’t leave as just a run of the mill fan, but a full fledged FANatic!!! It was great!! Ryan completely deserved that win!! He was such a kick to watch during the win. If you have ever had the chance to see Ryan truly happy and excited then you would understand how contagious it is! He is completely charming, cheerful, and youthful. Such a cute boy!!! Everyone was taking notice on happy and excited he was. A six foot four guy almost in tears is hard to miss in a crowd!!

Then on Sunday (yes, we missed church) we went to the “Meet the Players” Kings team autograph signing. It was a lot of fun!! It was held at Hollywood park (horse racing track). So put me in a building where I can look at horses and eye candy, I am a happy girl!! I couldn’t believe the lines to get an autograph. So Ryan and I found that we could stand behind the players and take a shot that way without the player knowing. That way we have proof that we were only two feet away from a NHL player. We stood in line for some of the players. I really enjoyed it! They had free hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, and soda. So all around a great day!! It was such a confidence boost to be standing behind a player to try and get a picture and to have them come out of their seat to stand next to me and take a picture, when I wasn’t even in line for it!! I love FROLOV!!! They are all such studs though!! I got Kopitar to smile at me, as well as a few others!! Made my day!!
We of course had to bet on a horse just once. I think because we did it on Sunday we lost!! But that was a lot of fun too!! It is funny to watch all these angry men come swarming the track and yelling their horses’ number. Very intense!! I think Ryan and I were on TV though. This camera guy kept pointing the camera at us and waving to get us to wave back. Then he kept smiling at us. So who knows we could have been on the big screen at Vegas in their sports den. That would be cool!!
So all in all it was a great weekend!!! Happy Birthday to Ryan, again!!!

I have been Tagged

Ok I have been tagged for the first time!! Thank you Annelise, for giving me a hearty welcome to blogging!! So six things that you may not have known about me. . .
1- I am scared of the dark!! I have a very active imagination that literally makes me scared of everything. I will frequently wake up from nightmares and the dark room just makes it worse. So of course I will not put up with it on my own, Ryan has to go through it with me!! Weird to say but Ryan’s snoring is a comfort at times like that. In fact I have him trained; he is able to throw one of his arms on me without even fully waking. If only I can train him on other things!!
2- I have a BAD sweet tooth!! But not a big fan of chocolate. I know, very odd! But give me a tub of Hot Tamales or anything else and I am your friend for life!!
3- I am a closet dancer. I miss dancing at clubs and in high school classes. I love to watch dancing with the stars!! Makes me want to Cha Cha just thinking about it!!
4- I am addicted to TV and Movies. It may be time to get professional help on this. I blame my mother . . . I think the TV was my babysitter growing up. I can’t sit in a quiet room, I need background noise, and so I will have the TV on and not even watch it. I know, I know Al Gore will be waiting on my doorstep ready to beat me into a “green” mind frame.
5- My biggest sin is vanity. I am always looking for new items that will make me pretty. No secret, I like most women have a low self esteem. It is really appalling the assortment of creams, make up, hair care, etc. that is ever growing!! It is also very embarrassing on how long it takes me to get ready in the morning. I am secretly humbled by those women who take 5 minutes to get ready and they look flawless. So jealous!!
6- I am terrified of drowning. I know, I know add it to my list of countless fears!! I have difficulty putting my head under water with out manually plugging my nose. You may ask “how are you able to scuba dive?” and that is a great question. Ryan helped me to first conquer snorkeling, then Snuba, and then finally on our vacation to Australia we did our first scuba dive with sharks. After that nothing can match the fear and adrenaline that I went through on that. (I would totally do that again) So after going through all the classes and required dives Ryan and I are currently Rescue Divers. Does that mean I am healed? No, I have had some moments of weakness that Ryan has had to talk me through (such a frustrating thing for him). I am looking into taking some private swimming lessons. Then maybe I will be cured??

So hopefully you all have learned something new. After putting it all down it makes me realize how odd I am.
Thanks for tagging me Annelise!! That was a fun blog to do.

Oh the pressure!!

So, after not joining in on the MySpace mania, or the FaceBook fad, I have been convinced to bounce in on the blogging obsession.
I never fully realized what all comes in to play with the creating and maintenance of a blog. So much pressure!! So forgive me if this blog is not up to par with what you are currently reading. Perhaps I can get all of my friends to write enough comments that you won’t have to put up with just me on this thing!!
For starters, I will follow the trend and introduce myself and my life.

Ryan and I went to Australia, this was taken at the Taronga Zoo
This is the largest part of my life. Ryan!! If you haven’t guessed yet or you don’t know me, Ryan is my husband. We will be celebrating eight years of marriage in January. We love to travel, scuba dive, and go to LA Kings hockey games together. He has given me a very fun and interesting life. He is the personification of “like a man”. (Had to throw that in there for Brain, Annelise, and Jerky!!)

The second largest part of my life is my animals.

Lacy

We have a Cavachon (half Cavalier King Charles half Bichon Frise) in other words little white dog, Felix (named after Felix Potvin hockey player) Sydney (named after where Ryan served his mission)

They are mother and daughter so they are always cuddling. Really cute!!

one calico cat and one grey and white cat, two hamsters, and a fish tank full of fish. It would be safe to say that I am slowly getting a zoo. I really adore all animals. If Ryan would let me I would have more. But, he is more than generous to let me have as many as I do. “Like a man that let’s the wife turn the little condo into a barn!!” (another one for Brain, Annelise, and Jerky)

We are minutes from Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and the Beach!! Very Fun!!

We live in Sunny California where Ryan was born and bread. I however, was born in California but raised in Utah. So yes, I am technically a Utahn, Ryan claims that my redeeming point is that I was born in California. So at least I have that??
That is essentially me. I will leave the rest for another blog. Thanks for visiting! Please make my blog more fun and leave a comment. I doubt people only want to hear from me on this thing!