My Handsome Husband

This is a picture of the man of my dreams. As I am sitting here trying to get everything organized in this crazy place we call home, I just started to miss him. Jon is curently working a Grizzly Game, and since he has to work one again tomorrow and then I have to work on Saturday, I thought I would take a minute to say why I love this guy so much. #1. He is so funny. No matter what we are doing, he can always make me laugh and he helps me understand that we should enjoy life and not get too stressed out. #2. He is the worlds greatest cook. I have seriously learned a bazillion things from him about cooking. He currently makes me a ham and cheese omlett anytime I desire and they are to die for. (I wish you were home so I could have one right now, YUM!) #3. He is always willing to do any chore that I have been despising to do for a week. #4. He is my better half. Helping and sometimes dragging me to get things done, especially at night when I just want to climb in bed, he reminds me my teeth will fall out if I don't get back in the bathroom. #5. He is the worlds Greatest Dad. Marcella absolutely adores him. Whenever I come home you will find them Dancing, playing or cooking, they have so much fun together it is fun to be with them. #6. He is so dang cute! just look at that smile, you just have to agree. #7. He loves the outdoors. We have had a bunch of adventures together and I am excited to have more this summer. #8. He is a hard worker and is doing awesome at school, I am so excited that he loves what he is doing, and can't wait to see what life has in store for us. #9. Did I mention he can Yodel? #10. He loves to joke around. I love that he will make fun of me over silly things, like how many times have I dropped a bottle of salsa at the store or before we even got it home? We started buying two so we would at least have one when we got home. I just wanted to say I LOVE YOU JON!

President Hinckley

It is so sad that President Hinckley died today. I am so grateful to him and am still in a little bit of shock. I just always thought he would keep going. I am very thankful for all he has taught me. He was an Amazing man. One funny story about President Hinckley I would like to tell is, one day Jon and I were late to Sacrament meeting and we came in during the opening song.. We Thanks Thee oh God for a Prophet. Everyone was standing up so we snuck in the back. Then we sat down for the Prayer. During the prayer the person said we are so grateful to have our prophet with us here today, Jon and I both looked at each other shocked and then looked up at the stand and there he was It seriously was an Amazing day. One I will never forget. He was such a special man and I will miss him.

Summer

After reading Caroline and Kristin's posts on snow, and with the news of a heavy snowstorm looming on the horizon, I thought I'd post what I love most about summer. Enjoy!

When it Rains, it pours!

I know you've all heard the saying. Let me illustrate how true it's been for us this past week. Saturday morning I got up, did the usual with Marcella, and went to turn our computer on to check my email. For Kanien and I, our computer is the most central technological fixture in our lives. It's probably like the TV was to 1950's and 1960's families...it's almost always on, either for email, blogging, photos, movies, pictures, or games. When it didn't turn on, I started the normal troubleshooting routine I've grown accustomed to in the last 15 years. We've had the machine around 2 years, which seems to be the lifespan for someone who always wants more computing power and better performance. I know some of my family members have had computers for 10+ years and are still running Windows 3.1, but I don't work that way. (To me that'd be like refusing a church calling or rooting for BYU.) When the fix looked to be around $200 dollars, I consulted Kanien and we decided to upgrade instead of replace the bad hardware with its equivalent. So I drove to Salt Lake, bought the components, and started home.

Kanien and I had been debating paying our car off, or getting some things fixed that have needed fixing and continuing making payments for 6 more months. We finally decided to pay it off, reasoning we'd better do it now while we had the money, or we'd end up squandering it on other stuff. She transferred the money on Saturday after I had gone to Salt Lake. She was worried about what she calls "The Dougal Curse," coming into effect, a family condition that regulates any attempts to get ahead by bringing horrid luck down on you and your acquaintances. I had a feeling of foreboding as well, and when I was less than a mile from home, I struck something on the road (not quite sure what it was...just that it was made of hard metal), and punctured a hole in our oil pan.



As I pulled up to our apartment, the oil light came on (along with a bunch of tones and warnings I'd better stop driving...thanks VW). I got out to examine the damage. Oil was pouring onto the pavement. The car wasn't going anywhere. I called Kanien, then the insurance to file a claim. I know an oil pan is less than $200 to replace, but I didn't know what else the mystery object had struck, and I wanted to be covered in case there was other damage. They couldn't really do anything until Monday, anyway. Kanien's parents were nice enough to drive Nathan's surplus auto down to us, and we were saved from complete immobility.

I proceeded to assemble the new components, and ran into some problems, which is pretty much par for the course. When we built the original PC, I had installed a RAID array, which is two hard drives assembles so each file is split and copied 1/2 to each drive. This increases the speed at which your machine operates, but it also decreases the fault tolerance of the disk, as an error on one drive corrupts the entire array. I was able to get the drive back online long enough to rescue all of our pictures, but transferring it to another RAID controller didn't work, and they were corrupted in the process. It only took about 6 hours of my time to figure this out, but it felt like a week, and left me pretty distraught.

That's what I was working through on Monday when the tow truck came to take the car away. Marcella was down for her nap, and I went out to help the guy with the car. I made sure I had keys so I could get back in the house. After Jim had towed the car away, I realized I'd given him the keys to the car, and no longer had a house key. It was then that this nexus of misfortune seemed to culminate, and in a moment driven by both need and frustration, I opted to kick the door in, instead of calling a locksmith. It gave on the first kick, and didn't really do that much damage.

I'm no longer worried about our PC or our car, but have this large feeling of insecurity that has taken its place. Maybe we need better doors!

Marcella

Here is one funny little two year old. She seriously surprises me more and more everyday. Here she is at the cabin. Drinking about her 20th cup of hot Chocolate. I couldn't believe how much she loved it. She not only would drink the whole cup but she would continuiously ask for more after it was all gone. She has started into the terrible two's. Not sure how to handle it, but I am trying. It makes me laugh a lot which doesn't help matters, but when you stop for a minute and recap how your conversation with a two year old is going, it makes me laugh.
Me:
"Marcella please stop that."
"Marcella, Marcella, are you listening to me?"
"Please stop that now!"
Marcella:
"NO YOU STOP THAT!!!"

This goes on for a minute or so until I realize I am fighting with a two year old. Then I tell her we can't talk to each other until we are going to be nice. This has helped so far, just cross your fingers it continues to work. She has a fascination with being scared. Whenever she thinks something is scary or is scared, she talks about it for ages. Not only that but her favorite books include The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything, and the Pale green Pants with Nobody inside them. I don't know about you, but if I would have read those as a child I would have been scared for life. She is so funny. Every night when we tuck her in she will say,"the tigers not going to come in my bedroom?" then I reassure her that Tigers live at the zoo not at our house, she then will say, "okay if you weave the door open?"

She not only has a terrible two side, but a sweet how can you not love me side. She really has started to be the sweetest little girl on the planet. My favorite things she has been saying lately are:
"no, I LOVE YOU!"
"Sure"
"Can I wash the dishes?" (Don't know how long this is going to last, but I will take it any day)
"Just a minute"
"Oh, let me tell you a story."
"mommy I wook cute?"
"Mommy what a pretty necklace, I wike it."

I can't think of any more right now. But I must admit whenever she says Sure, it just melts my heart. I should record her so I can let you just hear how she says it. It is adorable. Well, I guess I better go, but I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Christmas!

This year was so much fun. Marcella's expressions and excitement was the best ever. It really made this year so much fun. We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Wallin's house for her annual Christmas party. It was awesome. We then went to sleepover at my parents house. We all got to open some Christmas Pj's then off to bed. We didn't get up until 7 or so, and after that we had a blast. Especially enjoying the Christmas Delight. YUM! We told my mom she can no longer only make 2 she has to make 3 next year. (This was coming from 4 kids who wouldn't even touch it Christmas morning growing up because we thought it was gross. Thanks for keeping the tradition alive mom, it was delicious.)

Here is Marcella checking out her stocking. She got a lot of stickers and was really excited.

She got a play kitchen and some food from Santa and Grandpa Dougal made her a table and chair. It is really awesome and Marcella uses the table everyday. She loves it and always tells me, "Grandpa made this for ME!" Thanks Dad.

This was pretty funny, Nathan got my dad and himself a pair of I believe they are Beaver skin mittens. He was super excited.

Marcella's next favorite, shoes. as you can see she HAD to put them on. I am just wondering what is up with her eye... EVIL EYE, everyone beware.

That night we went over to Grandpa Wallin and Grandma Katherines house. We had a lot of fun opening presents and then acting out the nativity. We had such a wonderful Christmas and had so much fun being with our Families. Thank you for making it wonderful. We love you and wish you a happy new year!

When it rains, it pours!

I know you've all heard the saying. Let me illustrate how true it's been for us this past week. Saturday morning I got up, did the usual with Marcella, and went to turn our computer on to check my email. For Kanien and I, our computer is the most central technological fixture in our lives. It's probably like the TV was to 1950's and 1960's families...it's almost always on, either for email, blogging, photos, movies, pictures, or games. When it didn't turn on, I started the normal troubleshooting routine I've grown accustomed to in the last 15 years. We've had the machine around 2 years, which seems to be the lifespan for someone who always wants more computing power and better performance. I know some of my family members have had computers for 10+ years and are still running Windows 3.1, but I don't work that way. (To me that'd be like refusing a church calling or rooting for BYU.) When the fix looked to be around $200 dollars, I consulted Kanien and we decided to upgrade instead of replace the bad hardware with its equivalent. So I drove to Salt Lake, bought the components, and started home.

Kanien and I had been debating paying our car off, or getting some things fixed that have needed fixing and continuing making payments for 6 more months. We finally decided to pay it off, reasoning we'd better do it now while we had the money, or we'd end up squandering it on other stuff. She transferred the money on Saturday after I had gone to Salt Lake. She was worried about what she calls "The Dougal Curse," coming into effect, a family condition that regulates any attempts to get ahead by bringing horrid luck down on you and your acquaintances. I had a feeling of foreboding as well, and when I was less than a mile from home, I struck something on the road (not quite sure what it was...just that it was made of hard metal), and punctured a hole in our oil pan.



As I pulled up to our apartment, the oil light came on (along with a bunch of tones and warnings I'd better stop driving...thanks VW). I got out to examine the damage. Oil was pouring onto the pavement. The car wasn't going anywhere. I called Kanien, then the insurance to file a claim. I know an oil pan is less than $200 to replace, but I didn't know what else the mystery object had struck, and I wanted to be covered in case there was other damage. They couldn't really do anything until Monday, anyway. Kanien's parents were nice enough to drive Nathan's surplus auto down to us, and we were saved from complete immobility.

I proceeded to assemble the new components, and ran into some problems, which is pretty much par for the course. When we built the original PC, I had installed a RAID array, which is two hard drives assembles so each file is split and copied 1/2 to each drive. This increases the speed at which your machine operates, but it also decreases the fault tolerance of the disk, as an error on one drive corrupts the entire array. I was able to get the drive back online long enough to rescue all of our pictures, but transferring it to another RAID controller didn't work, and they were corrupted in the process. It only took about 6 hours of my time to figure this out, but it felt like a week, and left me pretty distraught.

That's what I was working through on Monday when the tow truck came to take the car away. Marcella was down for her nap, and I went out to help the guy with the car. I made sure I had keys so I could get back in the house. After Jim had towed the car away, I realized I'd given him the keys to the car, and no longer had a house key. It was then that this nexus of misfortune seemed to culminate, and in a moment driven by both need and frustration, I opted to kick the door in, instead of calling a locksmith. It gave on the first kick, and didn't really do that much damage.

I'm no longer worried about our PC or our car, but have this large feeling of insecurity that has taken its place. Maybe we need better doors!

Resolutions

So I know you all are just dying for some fun Christmas Pictures etc. (Because we did have one awesome Christmas. I loved it!) But I wanted to get this out of the way first. So a few of us were talking over the holiday and we decided we wanted to start a "Biggest Loser"game of our own. So I just wanted to let all of you out there know, that if you are interested in joining with us you can read the rules here. (If you are a little hesitant to join because you are a blog hopper like me and don't really know me, just join in anyways, it will make it more fun.) We are still open for any suggestions on how to make this work, so if you have any ideas, just let me know. I think it will make it a lot more fun if we can get more people involved. As of right now we have 4 of us. If it makes everyone feel more comfortable in the group I will make the blog a closed blog, so those only who are invited can go and look at it. Take a look at it and see if you might be interested then just leave a comment. Bring on the new year! This year I am going to make my weight goal!