Tag, You're It!

Tag, you're it! ;)
1. Where did you meet?
HotorNot.com, and then officially at my highschool.

2. How long did you date before you got married?
Well, we were dating 2 years before I moved in with him, and we were together almost 4 years by the time we got married.

3. How long have you been married?
Almost 3 months....lol.

4. What does he do that surprises you?
He always comes up with quirky jokes...they can be the dumbest thing sometimes, but he gets you to laugh. He also is a very talented guitar and bass guitar player. He can listen to a song and he picks up on it the first time.

5. What is your favorite feature of his?
I love his eyes, and his smile.

6. Does he have an annoying habit?
Doesn't everyone? LOL. He likes to drum a lot with his hands....lol. At least he can keep a beat though.

7. What is your favorite quality of his?
He's just generally a nice person. He's very musically talented, and he's so sweet to me.

8. Does he have a nickname for you?
Sweetie.

9. What is his favorite color?
Blue.

10. What is his favorite food?
He's not really a picky eater. I don't think I could just pinpoint one. One that comes to mind though is Chili's baby back ribs....yummy!

11. What is his favorite sport?
He likes to play basketball, but he loves watching it as well as football

12. When and where was your first kiss?
October 11, 2004 at his apartment

13. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
That is an easy answer, don't you think?? (ditto)

14. Do you have any children?
Does Sadie count? She's a handful! Haha. I want to have a baby soon though, shhh! lol

15. Does he have a hidden talent?
He has many talents, but none that are really hidden. He's talented at music (guitar, bass, trombone...), cars, works well with his hands....the list could go on

16. How old is he?
He just turned 27

17. Who said "I love you" first?
He did. That was an emotional night!

18. What is his favorite type of music?
He likes a little bit of everything, but mainly he's into rock like me =D

19. What do you admire most about him?
He's hard working, sweet, funny, and most of all a loving husband

20. Do you think he will read this?
Maybe

I tag Melissa, Kimi, and Sheena

House Remodels

As you all may know, Brian and I bought a house in February. Well, here we are, 9 months after we've bought it, and I have so many projects in mind. I thought I'd type them up so I wouldn't forget.

The house was built in 2001. You'd think that the house wouldn't be in bad shape at all, right? WRONG! We tore up all the carpet (SO NASTY!!! I felt so gross after pulling it up!), repainted (would you believe that they painted the walls true green, and purple? Like Mardi Gras colors?!), cleaned the house from top to bottom! Also, we think that multiple families lived in the house, so it was overall, just dirty. Well, I've been battling bugs too (I've had the house sprayed, and have used numerous bug sprays on my own).

So a list of my projects are as follows:

1- Get rid of the stinking bugs!
2- Paint the kitchen cabinets
3- Remodel both bathrooms (this includes in the master: a new jetted tub, a pedestal sink, new toilet, tile, new paint [again!], new mirror with built in cabinet, and a new cabinet over the toilet since we have limited storage)
4- Finish out the basement (they called it a crawl space, but what crawl space has a 9-foot drop?!)
5- Tile the kitchen, and knock down the "make-shift wall" and continue the tile through there. Also new countertops to replace our beautiful PINK ones!
6- Put in a new banister or just knock the one down (I hate it, and Sadie broke one of the posts when she was jumping for something and fell)
7- Redo the back porch - we want something more open, and something we can put a bbq on
8- Get a fence up, even if it's not a REALLY nice one
9- Paint our bedroom (I'm already sick of the tan/grayish looking paint!)
10- Pave more of the driveway so we can have better parking. Along with up the side of the south side of the house, since grass really doesn't grow there)
11- Build out our porch out front to have an extended feel

Seems like a long list, but some of these things are a few years down the road. I'm just antsy to start on these things. I think I'll be starting on the cupboards soon though! I can't stand the basic oak cabinets. They're so ugly. We have a black table, so I'm thinking of painting them black!

Friday I had my doctors appointment, and can I say that my doctor is pretty awesome! Most doctors don't sit and listen to you (as I found out with Brian's doctor for his leg! UGH!). But Dr. Cutler is so nice and listens to everything I had to say. Anyway, he wants to do a full workup on me, which includes an Endoscopy, Colonoscopy, and blood-work. He had me scheduled for this next Monday, the 1st of December.

I was talking to my dad, and thank goodness he told me to call my insurance to see what they would cover. I've only been on Brian's insurance since September, and we have not met our $1,000 deductible yet (of course we haven't! We've only had 2 doctors appointments since then!), it'll be $1,000 out of pocket. I really don't have that kind of money right now, especially with Christmas coming up, plus debt I'm trying to get rid of. I know it's probably a good procedure to go through to see what's wrong with me, but I just can't afford it. I'm just going to go in for blood-work, and see if that turns up anything. If it doesn't, I'm just going to change my diet around here and there, and see if I can figure something out. I could also try different meds if needed since the ones that I'm on now don't do much for me anymore. I'll then see what I can do next year with the procedure, maybe go through with it. I just couldn't believe that it's $1,000, but I shouldn't be surprised. It doesn't seem like insurance covers much these days.

Last night my mom invited me to one of her church activities. They were etching names into Pyrex dishes, and also doing some little Christmas or Thanksgiving decorations. I had a lot of fun doing stuff with my mom and grandma. Arianne was supposed to go, but she decided to go to something with her church. I wish she would have come. It's nice hanging out with her. Oh well, we'll be getting together this Saturday for the Twilight movie!!!!




The church is the one I used to go to with my parents back in the day. Now before anyone gets huffy, I'm gonna defend myself. The lady that claims that her son had stopped going to church because of me was there. Halfway through the night, she comes and whispers in my ear "I'm surprised you've lasted this long." The gall this lady has to make such snide comments to someone else, it just flabbergasts me! I do say on the defensive side of a few LDS people that I know are some of the most awesome people I know. It's just sad that there are these few who snub other people because they aren't the same as them, that give them a bad name. A good example of a few good people I know are a couple people that I actually work with. Both accept people for who they are, and not what they do. They are, in general, just very nice people, and I appreciate the ones who don't stick their noses up at me.

I just want to know why people think that just because they are a certain religion, or whatever that that makes them better than someone else. It's not true in the least. When I went to church, I did listen to what I was being "taught" (I was in fact, one of the bishops daughters). What I took from that church was that you need to treat everyone as you wanted to be treated. Respect people for who they are, and what the LDS church teaches is to be "Christ-like". This lady, and some of my own family in fact, just don't give anyone else the chance to be liked because they aren't "Mormon". To turn the other cheek because you don't want to make friends with, or talk to someone who is not a "member" is so absurd. Whatever happened to just being kind to everyone no matter what the other person does. I definitely cannot say I haven't been nice ALL of the time, but I try. I'm there for anyone who needs me, and I just want that in return. What I'm really trying to say is hear me out, don't judge because I am not religious, and have left a church. I think that I'm a good person, and my friends and most of my family do to. I understand that you don't agree with everything I do or say, but it's my life. Don't make rude remarks when they aren't warranted. Don't judge me on account of not being something you want me to be. I'm living my life to the best of my abilities.

Since I haven't written in a few days, I thought I'd finally write. Brian has been really busy playing in a band. The band is called The Trip, and they needed a bass player to fill in for a guy that works for Brian's company that has another band. Well, he's practiced a few nights, and then he's played a bar once. This weekend is going to be the busy one though. He's got a show on Friday night, which sadly I can't go because it's at a bar, but on Saturday, the band is opening for none other than Brett Michaels! Sweet, I know, right?! I most likely can go to that one since they normally do all age shows for "big" name peeps. It's up in Park City at the Star Bar, which is also cool. Then lastly, there's one more show on Monday night. *Sigh* it's hopefully going to be a long weekend.

Brian decided that he's needed a new bass. Well, he's wanted one for the last few years, and being in the band I think motivated him. He got a really good deal out of it, too, along with his amp. Getting almost $2500 off is just amazing! And he sounds so much better now! His other bass he's had since he was 14, so it was time for an upgrade. And his old amp, I'm about to go take a bat to it in the street. The one he has now is 250 watts, the old one only had 25....heh. I love seeing what he loves to do, and I'd love to finally go see him play live. He said he had a bit of a hard time since it's the first time since highschool since he's played in front of an audience. He'll get over that quick though.

Today I finally finished Breaking Dawn (For those of you who don't know, that's the 4th book of the Twilight series). Took me 2.5 weeks to finish all four. If I didn't have other priorities, I would've gotten them done sooner. Oh well. I'm just anxious for another book now. I think I'll start Stephenie Meyer's "The Host" this weekend maybe. I do need to start up on my cross stitching again. It's been lacking for a while now. I've gotten a quarter of the way done on it, and I started on it in the summer I believe. It's taking way too long.

Sadie has some stupid obsession with this green football that I got her for her birthday. Boy, that was a mistake. She actually paws at it to make it squeak. She also throws it at us while we're laying on the couch. Brian put it on our ledge in the living room/kitchen area on the edge, and she got on the stairs and tried to jump for it! Stupid mutt fell and broke one of the posts on our banister. I freaked out touching her everywhere on her body to make sure she didn't break anything, but her balance has been off lately. She's been walking into walls, and then Brian threw one of her toys, and she jumped into the wall. She has such a personality sometimes!

Anyway, other than all that, life's good.

Brian's doctor's appointment went ok on Monday. He didn't have an infection (says the doc), which was a relief, but he developed a spider-vein where the varicose vein once was. They gave him an injection of some sort, and I have never seen him wince from pain before. I felt so helpless. I hate how doctor's think they know everything though. I was trying to tell him what was wrong, he wouldn't listen "no, it's a spider-vein". I was trying to tell him he had little lumps down his leg, but no, he wouldn't hear of it. Well, explain to me why there's lumps further down in his leg along the line of where his varicose vein was! He's got one on the ball of his ankle, too, but we'll see if this injection he's getting works.

I go in for testing next week for my stomach. My mom went to the fair for her chiropractor (I don't know why, maybe it was a health fair? Who knows?), and she was talking to this lady there. She was explaining her symptoms to my mom, and my mom thought of me naturally. This lady has Celiac Sprue (aka Celiac Disease). I really wasn't tested for anything when I first had my problems. I just had this unbearable pain in my stomach that started my sophomore year of highschool. Some days I couldn't even get out of bed, and so I stayed home from school. My parents felt so helpless. My mom and dad at one point thought I had appendicitis, but I was having the pain on my left side just under the ribs. My mom said some people experienced the pain there. We went to instacare to avoid the ER. They said my spleen was enlarged, but I already knew that. I had a relapse of Mononucleosis that year, and wasn't fully recovered. Well, I finally got into my pediatrician, and they recommended me to go see a gastroenterologist. They are so hard to get into that we had to wait for 4 months (it still makes me wonder!). When we finally went to her, we explained my symptoms, and she diagnosed* without a single test. I was put on medication, and it seemed to start to help, but up until now, I've just been trying different things left and right.

I've gone off of soda completely (except for the occasional drink), I've changed my diet several different times with different combos. No relief. I avoid really anything that upsets your stomach. I'm thinking my doctor is going to request an elimination diet (which I've read up on, and it's not going to be easy!), or a combonation of a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I have had a new gastroentorologist, and he was curious as to why I didn't have one before, but I really don't want to go through that if I don't have to.

Anywho, enough of our health problems.

*diagnosis being held for "privacy"

Every morning during the week, I am the first to get up because I take longer to get ready. After Brian got out of the shower this morning, he starts looking at his thigh. Out of curiosity, I ask him what's wrong. He said that he thinks his leg is infected. I go and look at it, and sure enough, he's got a few lumps on the inside where he had his surgery.

A little over 3 years ago Brian was experiencing heaviness in his legs, and his feet were swelling. His dad had his veins stripped years ago, and so I think he recognized the symptoms. He went into a vein specialist, and sure enough, the blood wasn't getting back to his heart very well. He was scheduled for 2 separate surgeries. About 2 years ago, his leg was hurting, and had the lumpiness. We went to the ER, and they did an ultrasound on his leg. There was infection in his leg. I think they ended up putting him on broad spectrum antibiotics, and we were there for over 4 hours (that was fun). So I wasn't about to sit back and watch this happen again. If we could catch this thing before it got too aggressive, that'd be great. So I called up his doctor's office, and they had a cancellation today. I didn't know if Brian wanted me to call them or not, but I did because I just wanted a doctors opinion. They wanted him in ASAP, and so we're scheduled in today. I want to avoid the ER if we can.

I always think that it's funny because Brian had an ultrasound way before I ever did, and has had a lot more too. I didn't have one until they did the echocardiogram on my heart a year ago. Fun stuff.

So I'm sitting there playing "What I've Done" by Linkin Park on Guitar Hero: World Tour, and Brian looks like he is shaking his head in disapproval as I end the song. I look at him wondering what he's disapproving, and he starts laughing. "Just my stupid jokes!", I ask him "what?!". He looks at the PediPaw set that we just bought, and grins, "they have Pet-a-Cure, PediPaws, how about Ped-i-file!" I LOST IT! Only Brian would come up with something like that. I love how quick-witted he is sometimes!

The last few days I've been thinking with this election and all. I've decided it seems to bring the worst out of some people. Being in a red state, it's really hard for my side of anything to be heard. People wonder why I haven't registered to vote, and this is the reason. My voice to be heard in this state does not seem to matter (and don't give me that crap about how if I don't register, I don't have the right to talk about politics). Now, I know that the reason behind that is because of the "Christians". Most choose to vote all republican, but when someone has a difference of an opinion, they "don't understand how anyone could vote democrat." Hearing that everywhere I go is no picnic, mind you, and when my own family puts other people down just because they don't vote (or think) republican, is just plain absurd! I just don't understand how a religion who teaches you to accept people for who they are, treat others as you wanted to be treated, and "judge not lest ye be judged" can be so condescending to their fellow friends and family.

I have to say this, because I know that not all people of that faith are like that. For you to accept people as they are is truly a "Christ-like" (this seems to be the best way of explaining it) behavior. To actually befriend someone who doesn't believe the way you, yourself do, is a great act that anyone can show someone.

A great example of a person who shows everyone kindness is my father-in-law. He doesn't claim to be any sort of religion, but he is the kindest person I know. If anyone is in need of anything, he is there for them. A great example of this is his so-called "mid life crisis". He has taken in young women who have had addiction problems with amphetamines, alcohol, and any other sort of addicting habit that usually throws you in jail. His act of acceptance of others is something you do not come across very often in the state of Utah. He went to NA and AA meetings with these girls. He took them in when no one else would. He helped them through there habits, and has made so much impact on other people's lives. He is a person who cannot say no to helping someone out. His father, who is 93 years old, who cannot take care of his yard or other simple tasks around the house, gets helped every week by my father-in-law. To show so much compassion for so many people is just a great thing.

I would not consider myself to be a democrat, but a libertarian. I believe that people should have the freedoms that were written within the constitution that our fore-fathers meant this country to stand on. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in equal rights to everyone (yes, even the homosexuals), because of this so-called "land of the free". I see our country slowly going into a downward spiral because of someone who has abused his power time and time again over the last eight years. He lied to, and deceived us, and promised so many things, yet here we are, 4,191 of our young casualties who have died because of someone who didn't solve the problems that needed to be dealt with at hand first and foremost! Now don't give me that crap about how those people signed up and knew what they were walking into. Yes, they knew to a point. 9/11 was committed by some Afghanistan people, not by the Iraqi people. There was no evidence of WMD's, so do what you need to do and get our troops back home safely.

I know everyone has a difference of an opinion, but to just outright place the blame on everyone else but yourselves (and certain people in office) is ridiculous. This country has taken a turn for the worse since his reign of terror. I am not afraid of what Obama will bring to this country. He seems to want to make peace with our fellow countries who have lost all respect for us in the last 8 years. I think he is the right person for this, and a large percentage agree with me on that. And to that, I say God Bless America, and let the afraid flee to Canada!

Last night was one CRAZY night! Haha. Normally how keggers are, but it was fun. It's good to see some regulars there, then I don't feel so out of place just knowing Brian and his cousins!

We were some of the first people to arrive at Ford's house just before 10. By the time 11 rolled around, the house was packed. It didn't help that it was raining either, because normally you have people inside AND outside! Ha!

A lot of interesting costumes, and I am surprised to say that I only saw one Joker there. There's really not much to say except there was a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing, and a just a huge halloween bash. It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to next year when I don't have to worry about cops.

Brian's been a bit hungover today. He didn't seem to have much to drink last night, but boy were we wrong. I feel so bad because there's nothing I can do. Just take care of him the best I can I guess =). He's finally been up and around since about 6ish tonight. We got pizza, and we've been playing the new guitar hero.

Here's some other pics from last night:

Cade & I on her 21st birthday


Brian (Frylock), Baker & Megan


B.J. the Pimp


Vampire!


Kimi & I


The Posessed Pimp


Lil Jon: "Yeyah!"