Who, me?

11 months out of the year Emma is the sweetest kitten in the world. But for some reason when our Christmas tree goes up, she turns into a spastic tree climbing psycho cat.


Our tree was so pretty the first day we put it up. Maggie loves laying under it, so she tried to teach Emma how to enjoy the tree without driving Mom and Dad crazy. The second day it was still pretty, but some of the branches were bent down. By the end of the second day, I could stand back and see the path that Emma had taken from the bottom to the top of the tree. By the end of the third day we had given up trying to re-bend the branches and just decided to stick to threatening her with the evil squirt bottle full of water.

Finally, two days before Christmas Emma has decided that the tree is no longer exciting. Fortunately the only casualties that we've had this year were a bunch of candy canes knocked down and a broken Christmas ball. At least it's not Maggie that likes climbing the tree, right?

She LOOKS innocent

"Here Emma, this is the right way to enjoy the tree. And I will help hold you down just in case you are tempted to climb it."

This is the only real action shot we've gotten. Look at those demon eyes... and I guess the evil squirt bottle doesn't really have much of an affect anymore.
Here she is with one of the candy canes.

We even tried dressing Macie up like Santa to remind Emma who is watching her.

"Psst....Santa.... come here.... for Christmas I would like food. And treats. And food. And maybe a mouse. Oh, and food. Don't forget the food."

Do NOT let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

So it's been super snowy/icy in Lake Stevens since Sunday (December 14). It was so icy on Sunday that we couldn't make it to church! We went up a couple different ways and our tires were spinning so we went home. Crazy! Brent was able to make it to work Monday and Tuesday, but by the time Wednesday rolled around we had a LOT more snow. His work was open on Wednesday, but only about half the people were able to make it in (and they were the ones that live right by Seattle). It kept on snowing and his work ended up being cancelled on Thursday and Friday. Now it's Saturday and ANOTHER storm is starting right now. We are supposed to get another 10 inches tonight and tomorrow! So I'm betting church will be cancelled tomorrow.

On Wednesday we were both stir crazy from being trapped in our house so we decided to go out on Thursday. I called South Lake Pizza and Japan Teriyaki to see if they were open so we could walk up and get a calzone/teriyaki food. I talked to both places and they were open. So we got on our snow clothes and set out.

We got to Japan Teriyaki and it was CLOSED! Seriously, I talked to them twenty minutes earlier and they were open! So I was mad and pouting a little and told Brent I wasn't going to eat anything. We went to South Lake Pizza to get his calzone and he ate it there so it wasn't frozen by the time we got home. I eventually caved in after I saw how good it looked and I ate some of his calzone :) After that we walked over to Tom Thumb Grocery and got chocolate milk and Brent got baby doughnuts.

We got home and I shoveled off the driveway again. Brent had done it earlier in the day, but it had snowed more so it needed to be shoveled again. Then I decided I wanted to build a snowman so we could have a big snowman in our front yard for Christmas!! But as I started building the bottom I realized how long it actually takes to build a big snowman (I guess I didn't have a realistic idea since I have only 'helped' my dad build them) so I quit. We still had a pretty decent size mound of snow so we made it an igloo for Macie, who had come out to join us by that point. She was kind enough to pose for a picture and then she wanted to go back inside. She is definitely not a snow dog.

Hurray for blogs and cars!

Alright! So after a few weeks of waiting we (I) are going to blog again! I'll start by telling why we are going private.

A few weeks ago we went to Utah to visit and to go to the Coldplay concert. We got back Sunday night at 12:00 and were in bed by 1am. Brent woke up for work at 4:30am. In between those hours, right in front of our well lit house (we always keep our outside lights on at night) someone stole our LOCKED car out of our driveway!! Poor Brent always ties his shoes on the bumper when he's leaving for work and he when he put up the garage there was NOTHING THERE.

So we called 911 (twice actually because it was taking them FOREVER to come to our house. Come on fuzz! The bad guys are getting further away with our car!) and waited for them to get here. The police lady got here and Brent went out and filed a report and all that. We were seriously so shocked this happened. You hear about it happening to other people, read about it in the paper, see it on tv, but I really never thought it would happen to ME. I actually peeked out our blinds when Brent told me to make sure it was really gone.

Anway about 15 minutes after the police lady left she called and told us that they found our car!! She was pretty frantic and told us we needed to get there ASAP. She told us "I'm at the blah blah blah block and something street. I have to go." Ok. Police lady. We are sooooooo glad you found our car (hopefully in one piece) but we don't even know what city you are in!!! So we waited for her to call back and she did asking us where we were. So she kind of gave us directions (we knew what city she was in, but we still had no idea where we were really going) and set off with trusty GPS. Well halfway to where we think we are supposed to be, trusty GPS dies. So now we have no idea where we are. So I called 911 again and thankfully we had a very patient 911 operator that was able to direct us to where poor Tinker (our stolen car) was.

We got there and it was seriously down this random gravel road in the middle of NOWHERE pulled into the grass on the side of the road. The cops told us that an off duty Seattle cop lived on that road and called it in on his way home from work because he thought it looked suspicious. When Police Lady called ours in it came up right away since he had already reported it. We were soooooooooo lucky that he happened to live on that road because that was pretty much the only way we would have gotten our poor little Tinker back. The cops told us that sometimes people steal cars and park them in random places and see if they are called in. If they aren't they go back later in the day and strip them for parts. Also, we were driving that one home from the airport that night and it had ZERO gas. I told Brent we needed to stop, but he said that he just wanted to get home and I could get it in the morning. LUCKY HE SAID THAT. The bad guys stole a car that had no gas! So that could have been part of the reason why they had to park it and come back, too.

Since we left it outside we never really kept anything in it. They stole the old Utah license plate and registration we had in there and our insurance cards. They also stole my blueberry hand sanitizer out of the side door (that's ok, that kind gave me a headache anyway). Brent told me when we started parking our car outside to make sure we always took our garage door opener inside with us when we got home. We are so lucky that we did that. It's sooo scary to think that if we had left it in the car the bad guys would have had acces to our entire house.

Anyway about 3pm lady police officer called me and told me that our license plate and registration and insurance cards had been found at the Snohomish golf course!!! So what I think happened was that the bad guys went back to our car and saw that the good guys found it and got it back to us and they didnt' want to be able to have anything trace back to them so they just ditched our stuff at the nearby golf course. So we got all that back too!!! The only thing that we lost was my blueberry hand sanitizer. And that was ok because I didn't like it anyway.

So now Brent and I are kind of paranoid about everything. It's weird to think that someone took something of ours that didn't belong to them. I felt weird driving around for a little. And as soon as I got home I took my Lysol spray and my Clorox wipes and sanitized the heck out of Tinker to get all the bag guy germs out of the car!! I also cleaned out the other side of the garage so now Tink can safely stay locked inside. So after all this happened we decided to make our blog private just because we are now a little paranoid about life and don't want whoever to be able to read what is going on with us. Still, after all this happened it made me very grateful for the police. And it gave me some renewed faith in the good people of the world. So thanks Snohomish police and off duty Seattle cop for getting us Tinker back!

ATTENTION BLOG READERS

Something very scary happened to Brent and I so we have been trying to take safety precautions in every area of our life, so now we're going to make our blog private. If you want to be invited to read it send me an email at samanthajoanderson@gmail.com. I will wait a couple weeks to make it private so that people can see this post, but in the meantime I won't be updating at all. Everything ended up being ok and I will blog about it after we are private. See you in a couple weeks!

A Hundred Million Suns

A little while ago I blogged about how excited I was for the new Snow Patrol cd to come out. Well, now that I've had it for a few weeks I would just like to say that it has completely exceeded my already high expectations. Even after having it for a few weeks, listening to it still gives me chills!!! It's not very often that I can listen to a cd and then just repeat the thing over again, but I do with this cd over and over and over. If anyone is looking for a new cd to add to their collection, I would definitely recommend this one. Snow Patrol, I salute you!

Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year! In the morning Macie and I went Trick-or-Treating to my moms and Brent's work. At Brents work everyones kids were coming in with their costumes. The only problem was Macie ended up being the only one that showed up. Still, you can't get much cuter than her in her bumble bee costume!!I took about 400 pictures before I finally got a couple that I liked. Mace HATES wearing anything so whenever you put something on her she looks like she's being tortured. It was quite a challenge to get a good picture where Macie wasn't looking like she was abused.

Dan, Brianne, and Lana came up to our house to Trick-or-Treat and spend the night. Lana dressed up like a little cow and she looked adorable! After Trick-or-Treating was over we played some Wii sports and watched 1408 (lame movie!).

The next morning we woke up super early to get to Target for the 50% off Halloween stuff. I got a bunch of cute decorations for next year! The only downfall was that the sales were on a Saturday and Brent came with me, which meant that I couldn't go too crazy with buying decorations and cheap candy :)
Lana is seriously one of the cutest babies ever. I told Brianne that if someone ever contacts her to let her know Lana won a cute baby picture contest not to be surprised, because I probably entered her in it. Creepy? Probably. But how can you resist that little face?

Seattle Ghost Tour

My dad, Brent, and I went to the Seattle Ghost tour the night before Halloween. I think it could have potentially been very spooky, but the tour guide started out the tour by saying that she didn't believe in ghosts (isn't that kind of like an Amish person working for G.E.?). Anyway the tour was by the Pikes Place Market after it closed for the day so that made it a little spookier.

The tour started at the gum wall. Brent was fascinated and a little grossed out by it.This is the old Seattle morgue. Every business that has been in there since has closed down and some very spooky stuff has gone down there. My dad took this picture. His flash is in the upper left, but what are the white floating orbs?... maybe it is haunted!!
Market sign in the dark.

This is what the market looks like after everyone has cleared out. Creepy!!

The past week

A bunch of stuff has been going on this past week, and it all started with our baby turning 2!

Macie only gets vanilla ice cream on her birthday, so she was REALLY excited about it. About halfway through her little bowl she started growling. She gave herself an ice cream headache but didn't realize what was going on so she kept eating! Goofy dog. The last picture is of her with her new frog. I don't know how to flip images on blogger, so just turn your head :)

- I got a calling on Sunday. My new calling is... drumroll... NURSERY! So my new calling is the same as my calling in our last ward!!! Seriously, when I found out what it was, I wanted to do a fist pump. Don't worry, I restrained myself.

- We also had our Fantasy Basketball draft on Sunday. Lets just say that Sammi's Swishers are going to be AWESOME this year!

- I got a flu shot this week! Most people would NOT be excited about this, but since I am almost done reading The Stand (Steven Kings book about the killer flu virus breaking out) I am pretty pumped. If by some chance the superflu breaks out this year and the flu shot I got at Safeway somehow protects against it, then I'm set! This was also the bravest I've ever been during a shot so I was pretty proud of myself.

- Keane's new cd Perfect Symmetry came out on Tuesday and it is AMAZING! I would even say that it is my favorite Keane cd so far.

- My mom's Mom (Grammi) decided this week that she is going to come to Seattle for Thanksgiving!!

Here's a picture of me and Gram at BYU for my graduation. She is sassy and hilarious and has a mouth on her that would make sailors blush. We're going to have so much fun!!

- Today I went to Albertsons to buy a roast for Sunday and there by the milk, was the thing I have been waiting for since January. EGG NOG! Seriously, it took all my will power to actually take a glass out of the cabinet when I got home and not just guzzle it straight out of the carton. I FREAKING LOVE THAT STUFF. I have to drink ridiculous amounts of the stuff when it's out so I am so sick of it by Christmas that I don't want it until it comes back out the next year. Even when I do that, I start craving it around August.

Picture of the bangs!

Here's the picture I took with my cell phone of my bangs. Since I feel like a little kid I tried to do one of those smiles that little kids do when they're going through the awkward smiling phase, but it just looked like I was constipated. I'll post another picture in a couple weeks when they look more normal, too.

Blasted bangs!

I got my bangs trimmed for the first time since the middle of June today. 4 months is a pretty long time to go without a hair cut, let alone a bang trim. I can't even call what I had bangs. They were pretty much just hair that I tried to sweep to the side and make them resemble bangs. So now I have bangs again, but my bangs forgot how to be bangs because they haven't had to do that for 2 1/2 months. So now my bangs make me look like I'm 12 years old. The real kicker was that it was only 5 bucks, so why did I wait so long to do it? Who knows... hopefully I will have learned my lesson, but I doubt it :) Maybe I will put up a picture when they are out of their awkward phase.

Freak out!

My mom and I went to lunch yesterday and during the conversation we talked about some things that scare us/freak us out. I started thinking about it more and realized there are some strange things that are on my list. Here are some:

Birds- I'm fine if it's someones cute pet bird that's walking around or sitting in it's cage. I'm even ok if birds are near me when I'm outside. But as soon as there is a bird flying above my head I freak out. I am sooooo scared that the stupid thing is going to poop on me that I have actually ran to avoid being under it just in case it decides to relieve itself. I am also petrified of the bird flu.

Homeless people- Usually homeless people are ok and keep to themselves. I do have a heart and I feel bad for them, but lately I've heard some crazy stories! And the ones in Seattle are aggressive! Brent had one come into his work about a month ago and started stealing all the cookies that are there for clients. When Brent's co-worker asked him to stop he started screaming about all this stuff that has been going on for "Millions and billions of years!!!!" and yelling the f-word. One also walked up to my little sister in downtown Seattle, looked her square in the eye and said, "I'm going to slap you in your f'ing face b-----". So I try to steer clear of homeless people now.

Relief Society- I know, I know, it's CHURCH. Still, there is just something about going to Relief Society where I don't know anyone and sitting for 45 minutes without Brent there with me that makes me soooo anxious! For the first two hours in church I'm fine but when it's time to go to Relief Society I start sweating and my mouth gets dry and I go from a happy girl to a mute. I try to sit in the very back behind someone that's tall and countdown the minutes until I'm outta there!

Breast feeding- I've had lots of people tell me, "Oh when you're a mom it will be DIFFERENT." and "It's natural!". No, no, no and NO! It freaks me out to no end. Seriously, I love babies but I cannot think about where they are getting their food source without my knees getting shaky and my stomach churning. It might be not be natural, but I don't care. My babies are getting the bottle.

Toxoplasmosis- I read in my 'What to Expect when you are Expecting' (no I am not pregnant, I just have the book so I know what I'm in for once I do get knocked up) that you can get this disease from cleaning up kitty litter. I'm sure that since I've been around cats all my life that if I was going to get it, I have by now. Still, that doesn't stop me from holding my breath for as long as I can when I clean the litter box. I've gotten it down to where I breathe three times MAX when I clean it out. And I am sooo looking forward to getting out of litter box duty for 9 months when I'm preggers.

Mole People- Chances are these people don't exist. Still, that doesn't mean that when I go to New York for my sisters graduation in May that I won't be peeking down grates in the sidewalk looking.

Volcanoes- When I was younger I was scared of Mount Rainier (I don't know why, the way it looked freaked me out for some reason). I've gotten over that, but recently I had a dream that I was up at Mount Baker and it erupted and a giant piece of flaming lava rock fell on our Honda. So now when I see that mountain in real life I'm a little wary and I'm pretty sure we won't be taking any Sunday drives up there any time soon.

Deep Water- I'm fine when I'm in a lake and I can't see the bottom, but I hate deep ends of swimming pools. I have dreams all the time that I'm at a pool and the deep end suddenly becomes 35 feet deep. Realistically I know that even Shamu's tank at Sea World isn't that deep, but it still freaaaaaaaaaks me out.

That's all I can think of right now. Lets just hope when I go to my sisters graduation some homeless man doesn't chase a pigeon over my head while I'm walking across a grate in the sidewalk as some lady is sitting on a bench getting ready to shove her mammory gland in her baby's face.

Yes, I am THAT excited

So today I was reading one of my celebrity gossip sites (guilty pleasure!) and saw that one of my very favorite bands (The Killers) were coming out with a new cd in November!! So I listened to the new song called Human and I LOVE it. So I was reading comments about the song from other people and one person mentioned that Keane (another one of my very favorite bands) is coming out with a cd!! So on Youtube I found their new single called Spiralling and LOVE that! Their cd comes out on October 13. This all happened within a 5 minute time frame. So then I was thinking, I wonder what my other favorite favorite FAVORITE band is up to... and found out that Snow Patrol is coming out with a cd at the END OF OCTOBER!!! I found their single on Youtube and listened to that and it's amazing, too! So now my computer has three windows that I'm going to keep open until the cd's come out so I can keep listening to the songs. In other words, Brent is going to be sick of listening to the songs before I even get the cd, but at least he will get to take my other Killers and Snow Patrol cd's out of the cd player in the car!

Fun with friends at the Puyallup Fair!

Brent and I went to the Puyallup Fair this year with our friends Dan, Brianne, and their adorable baby Lana. We had such a fun time!
Here we are watching Mutton Bustin'. This is always my favorite part at rodeos and it was hilarious to watch the poor kids ride the sheep. The last kid fell into a pile of sheep poop. Good thing he was the winner! I wouldn't want to walk around the fair like that for the rest of the day.

Next we ate funnel cake! I love funnel cake and it was amazing! I hate it when it's crunchy and the roof of your mouth hurts after eating it, but this was cooked just right. We also played skee ball for a while and Brent, Brianne and I won little stuffed dogs. Basically it's two more toys that Macie has to play with now and she loves them even if they are half the size of her.

Lana during skee ball

After that we went and watched a cooking presentation for waterless cookware. It was AWESOME and the food tasted really good. I am such a sucker for things like that (just ask my Kirby vacuum) and Brent told me maybe next year we can get some (I think he's just hoping I forget :)). Anyway the lady doing the presentation made some jokes about cooking Lana in one of the pots (creepy!) and Brianne won the door prize (nice kitchen scissors).

After that we came back to our house and watched the BYU game (BYU beat UCLA 59-0!!) which made the boys in VERY good moods and then we played Wii until the Wii (see what I did there?) hours of the morning. We had an awesome time and I'm so glad we have friends up here that we can do fun stuff with!

I've been tagged!

My good friend from high school Kathryn tagged me! So here ya go!

First one:Post these rules on your blog.List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 Joys:
1. Brent (even though he is complaining about me hogging the computer at this very moment)
2. Macie and the kitties
3. Seattle weather!

3 fears:
1. Something happening to Brent
2. Snakes
3. Bad guys getting me

3 goals:
1. Try to use our elliptical machine more
2. Have a good attitude more often
3. Try to learn SOME patience since I have none

3 obsessions/collections:
1. Hand washing! I seriously wash my hands at least 35 times a day.
2. Trying to save money. Lately I've been getting into coupon clipping
3. Kashi GoLean cereal. I eat at least 2 bowls a day

Facts about me:
1. I have to tell Brent how to drive. If I don't I start vibrating and turn red and feel like I'm going to explode.
2. I have the three cutest pets on the planet and for now they really are my kids.
3. There is no invention in the world that I hate more than skate shoes.

Second one:Rules:Each player answers the questions themselves.At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names.

Ten years ago:
1. I was on my school's varsity badminton team.
2. I went to the 'N Sync concert for my birthday
3. I had my first boyfriend

5 things to do on today's "to do" list:
1. Take a nap (I love Sunday!)
2. Make stir fry for dinner
3. Help Brent get ready for New York
4. Give Mace her medicine
5. Watch the MTV VMA's.

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. PEANUT BUTTER M&M's!!!
2. Gala apples
3. Kashi cereal with walnuts!
4. Fiber One bars
5. Garbanzo beans

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire:
1. Pay off my house!
2. Travel
3. Go on a shopping spree at Sephora
4. Get the NBA channel so Brent can watch all the Jazz games
5. Save

Five place I have lived:
1. Herminie, Pennsylvania
2. Sammamish, WA
3. Provo, UT
4. Layton, UT
5. Everett, WA

Done! I am tagging Taffee, Brianne, Sharee and Adam/Becka (whoever feels like it :) )

A Night in the Puppy-ER

Yesterday when I woke up from a nap this is what I saw laying next to me: Since this is what I normally see:I knew something was wrong. I watched her throughout the afternoon and around six she threw up and then started throwing up from the other end. She seemed ok after she threw up so I thought she just needed to get something out of her system, but around 9:30 she seemed worse so we made a trip to the Emergency Vet. After getting her termperature taken (sorry Mace!), getting weighed (7.7 lbs!) and the nurse getting a stool sample (sorry Mace!) we thought we were ok. The nurse came back in and had to get another stool sample because they didn't get enough the first time (sorry Mace!!) and then we waited for an hour while they tested it. The highlights of the wait were me seeing a weight chart on the wall that reaffirmed the fact that Maggie is obese and seeing a spider crawl across the floor that was the size of my palm. Seriously, I thought I was going to open the door to the room for that thing to get out.

After waiting patiently for a couple hours we found out that Macie has some bad bacteria in her that made her sick. She is now on puppy amoxicilian and some supplement for her food. She is also taking pro-biotics to help her get good bacteria back in her system. She had a rough night last night after we got back (and I had a rough morning cleaning up after the rough night) but now she seems like she is doing a little better. The doctor said that it should take about five days for her to be all better. Seriously, I can't believe how stressed and worried I was for our puppy, I don't want to know what it's like when we have a baby!!

Macie and a stressed out Dad waiting and waiting and waiting

The look on Macie's face when the Dr. gave her the diagnosis

FPC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Brent got back from New York for training he found out that he got promoted at work! So now he is a financial planning consultant! I am so proud of him for all the hard work that he has been doing since he's started in Seattle. He also passed his insurance test so now he is licensed to sell insurance stuff (I'm know there's more to it than that, but I always zone out when he starts telling me about work). So if there is anyone that needs financial advisement, Brent is your man! Great job love!!!!!!!

We are alive!

Yes we are alive. It has been a very busy time for us lately. I don't think I've ever had a time in my life that has been as busy as this. I've been working in Seattle now, for over a month. I love my new job! It is the busiest job I've ever had, but I love it. This was something that I had worked for, for about a year. Seattle is awesome. The weather is so nice and cool. In fact it's raining right now. It doesn't rain in the summer as much as you think it would. I love go to the Mariners baseball games. Yes they are horrible, but I love to go to major league baseball. We saw the Tigers and the Ray, and next week we will see my team, the New York Yankees!!!

We found and bought a house that we love. It is north of Seattle which is a little more affordable. We love it, and hope that we have plenty of visitors!! The pets are all very happy especially the kitties. I think they are happy that it isn't so hot. Macie is happy too, just being a creature of habit, she is adjusting to change. She has gone back to her old ways of going to the bathroom in her cage when we are gone for a while. Hopefully she adjusts quickly!

The big news is that Sam has quit her job. With her coming up here, her company wanted her to come into the office and work full time. She loved working at home, but I guess they wouldn't let her continue to do that. Basically, it didn't make sense for us. We wouldn't be able to car pool, and for the extra gas and parking that she would have to pay, it just wouldn't work. So we are going to try the one income scenario for a while. Scary!!!

I got an awesome opportunity to go to New York City for a training for my new position. I was so excited because I've always wanted to go there. Man that is a busy town, but I loved it and saw some way cool things. Here are some pictures.

The ants go marching 3,402 by 3,402....

When Brent got up at 5:30 to let Macie out he noticed the kitties in the front room crouched down staring at something. He figured they found a bug. Well, that is an understatement. Our front room had hundreds of ants WITH WINGS!! So after he bravely killed them with ant spray he looked outside and saw a sea of black. So then he went outside and sprayed all of those until his little can ran out of ant killer. After that we called my new best friend, TNT Exterminators, to come and get rid of the rest of the evil things.

When we swept up the pile in the front room it was seriously the size of a huuuuuge pancake. I wouldn't even look outside because I thought it would give me nightmares. So after the dead ones were swept up Macie and I ran upstairs and hid under the covers until after the exterminator came and left Brent with the task of vacuuming up the ones that were still alive and jumping around our front room.

After my new best friend sprayed our house we thought we were in the clear. I was in our basement in the bathroom when I looked down and saw about 30 more by my feet!!! I guess they figured since we closed off the vent to the upstairs they were going to go down.

Finally after 24 hours of killing ants and itching like CRAZY (I haven't been able to stop feeling itchy) we think (hope) they are gone. I guess they were everywhere in our neighborhood so it wasn't just our house, but man that is sooooooo disgusting. I'm so proud of the kitties for warning us and catching a bunch of them.

This is what I feel like our house looked like:

Our brave little kitties:

Hiding upstairs:

Proud wife moment!

I just want to take a minute and share how proud I am of Brent. Back in February he took the Series 7 exam for work and dominated! Well, ever since he passed we have been wondering what our next step was going to be. Finally we found out that after all his studying, hard work, rolling money, writing leads, and all that other financial stuff that I don't understand (or really care to :) ) that he landed himself a position in Seattle!!!! The manager called yesterday and let him know that he got the job and they want him to start ASAP. So in the next couple weeks Brent is going to be starting his new job with Fidelity!!!!!!

The next few weeks are going to be insane!! We put our house on the market last night and we're flying up to Seattle tomorrow to look at houses. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about something!! I've been running around the house like a crazy woman trying to get stuff done. Basically I do about 8 things at once half way and then remember that I have to finish the other half of what I started and then start that again and remember I still have OTHER stuff that is half done. Needless to say I made a list today of stuff that has to get done so I don't have a house that is VERY 1/2 clean.

Great job baby!! I'm so proud of you!

Santa, Can I have a Dog?

So I've got an hour to kill before the Jazz/Lakers game three. Yes, this is a must win for the Jazz, yes I'm getting the pregame butterflies, and yes I've got my AK47 jersey on, even though DWill is my favorite. I was mentioning to Sam, that she needed to post our pictures from our vacation. Not to be one who is told what to do, she reminded me that I hadn't made a post in a while too. Marriage, you gotta love it!

Sam's post about our animals and their changes took me back to my childhood. I had to reflect on my many Christmas's lists that went like this.

Santa this is my wish list.

1. Dog

2. Wrestling Figures

3. Sega Genesis games

4. Utah Jazz jacket

5. Shares in Google

Ok besides the last one, which would've been awesome if true, those were pretty much samples of my lists from previous years. (Sam better not tell that the wrestling figures was from last year) Pretty much every year I asked for a dog. I wanted a dog so bad growing up. I've always loved animals. Of course, my parents would tease me by getting me dog puzzles or dog stuffed animals or even dog poop! I just always hoped that I would pick up a box and I would hear a little yelp or bark. Sadly, it never came true. Their reasoning was that it would be to big of a responsibility or that they would have to be the ones who took care of it. When pressed further they would throw out things like, "What part of NO don't you understand?" or my favorite, "Because I'm the Mom THAT'S WHY!!!" Seriously, when we become parents will we get a parental cliche book? I hope so. Shoot, I should just make up my own. I put the D in Dad, or No is in your name son! Life is short....and so are you! Exactly, they don't make sense.

I loved how having a dog was a huge responsibility, but yet I never had the chance to prove that I could handle it. I guess it was a good thing. I had some goldfish, and their fishbowl looked like the second home of the swamp thing. Which reminds me, we went to Lake Powell one summer for a week, and I had left behind my two goldfish. Well when I came home, there was only one! Seriously, to this day that stumps me. I searched for bones all around my room thinking that my fish had probably jumped into the blue carpet thinking it was the ocean. I was to naive to think that maybe the surviving fish actually ate the other one. It still seems impossible to me. Did I actually own a pirahna? When we can see a video of our lives that is one I'm def going to replay. Actually why would it be a video? I couldn't imagine viewing my life on a video, that would drive me crazy. I even banned Sam's videos when we got married. Yep, they are in a box!

Anyways fast forward a few years, and I'm married. I promised Sam, that if we lived in Utah we would get a puppy. I also promised a hot tub.....errr...... Anyways we had just moved into our new house, and she sent me this picture of a puppy in an email. She wanted to go and "check it out." Of course, by now I had realized that when Sam wants to go and check something out, she has $$ in her eyes and she wants to buy it! When we met Macie she was so tiny!! She walked over to me and rolled on her back, wanting a belly rub. My heart melted and I was hooked. Needless to say that was the first of a million belly rubs.

Now this blog isn't going to be about our pets, but I have loved having Macie. It's been hard work, but I think it will help us be great parents. She makes you feel so loved. There is nothing like having Macie waiting for me when I get home....well except my wife! I've enjoyed the puppy classes, playing in the backyard, the first time she jumped on the couch, even the memories of potty training in the snow, and even the dreaded night after she lost her lady parts. Some might think she is spoiled or even sometimes demanding, but we just think she is loved a ton. She is playing well with other dogs now, in fact we are dog sitting Duchess, our neighbor's dog right now. She is even doing well with kids which is nice.

So there you have it, I finally got my puppy. Now, I'm going to have to wait and see what my kids have on their Christmas lists.

New glasses and those kids of ours!

So Brent and I decided to take advantage of our insurance and get our yearly free eye exams! We both got new glasses and I got contacts. Here are a few pictures of us with our new glasses:

When we were at our exam they numbed our eyes instead of using the air puff thing that makes everyone jump. The only negative to this was that it made our eyes feel VERY sleepy for a couple hours. After they numbed us up they dilated our pupils. This would have been fine if they had done it to me OR Brent, but they did it to BOTH of us and then sent us on our merry way. Needless to say, when we got out into the sun we were wandering around like two old fogies not being able to see where our car was or being able to open our eyes. Then we went to IHop. Between our pupils being the size of dimes and our eyes being heavy from the numbing stuff so we couldn't open them very wide, I swear the waitress thought we smoked a ton of pot and then the munchies hit us so we came to eat a bunch of pancakes.

And since there is no Baby Anderson our pets are our babies so I thought I would post a few current pictures of them.

Speaking of looking high...

Sleepy kitties

How fast they grow up...

I was looking through pictures the other day and I found some from when the pets were little. It's crazy how much they have changed! I especially love how they have developed little personalities of their own!

This is baby Emma. You can't tell TOO well in this picture, but man, did she have a funky shaped head.

Emma is our little sweetheart now. She's the smallest at 7 lbs. so she can fit into places the others can't (like our cooler). She also LOVES watching the Jazz. She will sit there for thirty minutes sometimes watching the game.

This is baby Maggie. This is probably the only time in her life she was called a baby.

Because she turned into THIS!! Now she's 13.5 lbs. and is also known as "Moo". You can't really tell how large she is in these pictures, but let me tell you, she's a whole lotta cat. She also has a pretty big attitude.

Last is baby Macie. She was 2 lbs. when we got her and VERY spoiled. Mostly by Brent.

Now that she's a 'big girl' (at 7.5 lbs) her eyebrows have turned brown and she thinks she is a model. She also smiles when she gets really happy. I know it looks like she's going to bite me, but that is really a smile. Oh, and she is still extremely spoiled. Again, mostly by Brent.

I love our little family!!