Merry Christmas!

 Robie spent this Christmas hobbling around on crutches, since he got ankle surgery a few days ago.  This year, we enjoyed relaxing at home, sleeping in, not having to work, and spending time with family and friends.  I was sad that we did not get to see my family in Texas this year (Did you know it is cheaper to fly to New York thank Texas from Utah?  Crazy, I know!), but hopefully we will be able to plan a Texas trip this summer.  We are so thankful for all the many blessing we have, and that we are able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Merry Christmas!

 

Why you NEVER fall asleep on the floor when you have a little brother...

Why I want a King Size bed for Christmas...

I can handle Robie taking all the covers at night, but this is just wrong.  If I am grumpy in the morning, it's because I did not get any sleep.  Can anyone see what's wrong with this picture?

Cooper (1) usually hates to get on our bed, and Katana (4) is a cat we have taken in for a friend until we find her a good home.  Recently, she has gotten in the habit of sleeping on our heads.  Gizmo (2) does not bother me so much.  He is soft to snuggle with, like a pillow, but the best part is he usually sleeps in between Robie and I.  Why is this great you ask?  Well, he acts as a bumper for Robie (3), so he does not roll over me or take over my side of the bed.  Most people would criticize that we should not allow our pets to sleep in our bed.  Well, it is not as easy as you think to enforce.  It's like they ninja into our room in the middle of the night.  This is why, all I want for Christmas is NOT my two front teeth....but rather a King Size bed.  Thanks, Santa.  Feel free to deliver it early.  I promise I won't mind.

Orange Chicken

Just thought I would share another one of my favorite meals to cook at home...Orange Chicken.  Thanks to a Wanchai Ferry ad I saw on TV, I decided give it a try.  All you need is the box and chicken.  Easy, and super yummy!  Check it out HERE.

Wow Danny...You are HOT!!!

Congrats to Danny winning the Biggest Loser!  You are one HOT Dad!  Seriously...call me.

Antoine looked amazingly hot last night too.  Congrats to him and Alexandra on getting engaged!  Here is a pic of the love birds.  Rebecca and Daniel are in the background being cute in love too.

And now...the blog you've been waiting for!

Meeting David Archuleta was not quite the experience I thought it was going to be.  I counted down the days, picked the perfect outfit, and left work early for the big day.  When I arrived at the VIP group, I quickly realized I was the minority.  Not even joking, 90 percent of VIP guests were women over the age of 40.  I will call them cougars...even though most of them would be lucky to be called that.  I consider myself a pretty big fan of David.  Anyone who knows me knows I can get a little crazy over him, but these cougars were outright CA-RAZY!  Wow...I don't even know how to explain.  If being Davids #1 fan means having to compete with these ladies, I will gladly hand over that title.  These ladies were giddy like little school girls over a boy who is over half their age, they all brought him lavish gifts in giant gift bags, some wrote him 10 page letters (where I am sure they proclaimed their undying love), and they all referred to him in conversation like they were best friends with him.  For many of the cougars, this was their second night meeting him since they paid for the VIP event the night before as well.  Obsessed much?  A small group of these cougars even went as far as to chew out one of the workers because they did not have a front row seat in his concert, which means they would not get the chance to touch his hand.  What!?  Bonkers I tell you.  Absolute madness!  Who do these women think they are?  I was honestly scared.  Scared for me, and scared for poor David Archuleta.  I really feel bad for him.  I can't begin to explain the creepiness. They look normal, but don't let that deceive you.

So, back to me arriving at the VIP event.  There were around 150 other VIP members, which was way more than I was expecting.  We all got in line where we received our tickets for the concert and our VIP badge.  They encouraged us to buy merchandise while the lines were low, so I took advantage and bought a shirt and a Christmas CD for my family (hoping I could get David to sign it).  Then, they took us upstairs to the VIP room where we were given finger foods and drinks.  After about 30 min of hanging out in a room with no one I knew, we were taken to a mini-concert where David warmed up by singing 2 songs.  He sang "Mary Did You Know" and "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire").  It was amazing hearing him sing.  He is seriously so talented!  After his 2 songs, he answered questions from 3 people that were randomly chosen in the group.  One of the girls was so lame, and didn't even seem excited that she was standing one foot away from David as he was answering a questions she got to ask.  Stupid girl. The mini-concert was still great though.

After the mini-concert, we were taken back into the VIP room where we waited for David to come for the "meet-n-greet".  Well, it was not much of a meet and greet.  For one, David's voice was sore, so his manager told us we were not allowed to ask him any questions, and he was not allowed to talk.  Lame.  For two, David was not allowed to sign anything, because it would take too much time since there were so many people there. (Thanks for letting us know before I bought a CD for him to sign that I could have bought for $10 less at Wal-mart.)  Instead of signing things, he likes to take pictures because the memory lasts longer...which I think is really cool.  However, the third lame reason the meet and greet sucked was when it was time for me to FINALLY get a picture with David, the moment lasted half a second before the VIP workers pushed you along to make room for the next person.  Seriously, this is how it went:

(Walk up to David)

Me: Hi, my name is Chelsea.
David: Hi Chelsea.
Me: I just wanted to say how much I love your music.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent.
David: Smile and nod.

(Picture taken)

Me: Thanks

(Being pushed along by the workers to make room for the next person)

(Me thinking, "This can't be it!  This is the moment I have been waiting for?  No way!  I have to say something else.  What should I say?  Oh, I know...I will say Happy Thanksgiving.  Or maybe I will say Merry Christmas.  Chelsea, hurry up, pick one, and say it now...!)

Me: Bye David, Merry Thanksgiving!

Yes, I really said Merry Thanksgiving.  I will never live that moment down. Never. After all the pictures, David waved goodbye.  That was it.  We were given gift bags consisting of a David Archuleta Christmas scarf, a David Archuleta Christmas ornament, and a David Archuleta light up heart necklace.  A few autographed shirts and other merchandise were raffled off too, and of course the stupid girl who already got to ask David a question in the mini-concert won an autographed item too.  Double lame.  Do I have the worst luck ever or what?

 

Meeting some band members

Finally, we were able to take our seats for the concert.  I was sitting in row 5 smack dab in the middle of the stage.  To the left of me sat a crazy cougar, and to the right of me I was blessed to have some normal teenage girls.  The concert was AMAZING!  It was everything I hoped and dreamed of, and probably the best part of the whole night.  David sang flawless, like always, and there was a peace in the air when he sang the beautiful Christmas songs about the Savior.

Singing with his Mom

Now I can say I met David Archuleta (even though it was hardly a meeting).  Although the whole experience was way different than I expected, it was still fun and memorable.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for getting me the tickets!  As much as I love David Archuleta, I hope you always know I Love YOU a million, bazillion, quadrillion times more infinity!  MWAH!


A few days after the concert, I was so excited to hang my new David Archuleta Christmas ornament on our new tree.  As I was oh so carefully hanging it on the perfect branch, something went horribly wrong.  It slipped, and it broke...more like shattered.  I'm not going to lie, I was pretty devestated.  I will never get another one like it, but I took a picture as an eternal memory.

I'm NOT dreaming of a white Christmas

Dear Winter,

Please stop depositing this white stuff all over the roads.  I am scared to drive, and it is making me cold...really, really cold. I know the dogs love to hop around in it, but believe me, they would much rather be playing frisbee in a warm park somewhere.  Plus, it gets on their fur, and they shake it off in the house...which is not fun for anyone.  I would really appreciate it if this stopped.

Thanks, Me

 

Deck the Halls

Hooray for putting up Christmas decorations!  I actually put them up the day after Thanksgiving, but I'm a little bit of a slacker lately on my blogging updates (thank-you working full time).  This year, we are so excited to have a tree bigger than 2 feet tall.  We don't have a ton of room for a full size tree in our living room, so we searched everywhere for this slim 6 foot tree that fits perfectly.

 

Another great thing about a bigger tree is how many more ornaments we can fit on it.  Every year since the day I was born, my Grandma gives me a special gold ornament engraved with my name and year.  This is our family tradition, and she gives them to every grandchild every year for Christmas.  Since I have 22 of them, it was difficult fitting them all on a tiny 2 foot tree.  However, our new tree hold them all perfectly!

 

I love how it immediately feels like Christmas the second these decorations go up.  December 25th...I can't wait for you to come!

Seriously? Did I really make this?

Yes...yes I did.  My wonderful sister-in-law, Stephanie, showed me how to make this yummy homemade chicken pot pie.  SO DELIC!!!  If she can make it, and if I can make it....then you can make it.  It was surprisingly easy, super filling, and absolutely a new favorite.  Click HERE for the recipe link.

United Way

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to serve the community with United Way.  I volunteered through my work, not really knowing what I was signing up for.  All I knew is I thought it would be a fun way to give back to the community.  By signing up, I actually became the group leader/coordinator for the project.  I have not served in a long time, and I forgot how great it feels to serve.

Some friends from work and I had a great time serving pancakes to the volunteers before heading out to our individual group projects.  It was family volunteer day, and I lead my group to The Alpine House in Provo.  The Alpine House provides a temporary home for individuals already in the community with emotional problems of such a nature that the atmosphere of the home would be beneficial for them.  These people have severe mental disorders and most of them have just been discharged from Utah State Hospital.  The Alpine House gives them a place to live for a short time while they are trying to get back on their feet.  We spent 3 hours putting up Christmas trees, hanging holiday decorations, and making Christmas cards for the home.  It was such a great experience and reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas.  I hope to find more opportunities to serve in the future.

 

 

Crush the Utes!

This year we did not buy season tickets to the BYU games (which is fine bc I usually don't care to go to them), but we made sure to get a pair for BYU vs Utah.

It was a lot of fun.  Not only was the game entertaining til the end, but so were all the zoobies sitting around us.  For example, only at a BYU game can you find someone like this:

I am so glad BYU won, because Robie was taunting some Ute fans right behind us the whole game.  If we lost it would have been really embarrassing to walk out of the stadium, but we didn't lose, so life was good.  Go Cougars!

Thanksgiving/Black Friday

For Thanksgiving this year, we ate with Robie's family at his sister's house in Heber.  It was a really fun time full of stuffing my face with all kinds of things I should really be staying away from.  But still, fun.
As much as I love Thanksgiving, the best part about it is the day after known as BLACK FRIDAY.  Robie and I just love waking up at an unatural hour and fighting people to the death to get the best deal we can on things we probably don't really need.  We woke up at 5am this year (a later start than normal), and shopped til we dropped wearing slippers and pjs.  There was no time to take pictures to document this event.  We were just too busy.  Here are some of the things we got amazing deals on this year:

• Home Depot- Mini light up Christmas trees for the front porch, 120 AA batteries for $20
• Radio Shack- Wii remote charger
• Wal-Mart- A ton of random things that we use to stock up for wedding presents for future married friends, movies, mini food processor
• Best Buy- More movies, Microsoft Office Programs for our computers
• Staples- Hard Drive
• Roberts Craft Store- Christmas tree to replace our 2-foot tree we have had for the last 2 years
• Kohls- 4 new pillows for our living room couch
• Bed Bath and Beyond- Cool serving tray, glass drink dispenser, Christmas gift for bother-in-law, Salt City Candle
• PetsMart- A million dog bones/treats for our dogs
• Sears- Christmas presents for family
• ShopCo (My favorite for Black Friday deals)- New Christmas ornaments, Christmas lights, Christmas tree light thing to hang in window, Christmas wrapping paper, and a glider/rocker for my sister-in-law's nursery we picked up for them

Okay, so that is SO much stuff right?  Well, yes, it is, and it filled our FJ up so much I had bags and boxes on my lap for the drive home.  The most amazing thing about Black Friday is everything is crazy on sale, AND we had coupons to all the places.  So we basically got discounts on top of discounts, and we seriously only spent around $200-300 for EVERYTHING...no lie.  As far as I am concerned, our Christmas shopping is done...and it feels so good!

You know you want to do it too

When I was a kid, my Mom painted eyes on my blow-dryer.  I loved it!  The other day, I got bored.  I decided to carry on the tradition.  I think everyone should do this.  Plus, who wouldn't want to blow-dry their hair with a one of a kind personified blow-dryer?

To-Do list

Off to Vegas for a spontaneous 3 day getaway.  Blogs on my to-do list when I get back:

• Meeting David Archuleta!!!
• Thanksgiving
• Black Friday
• Christmas Decorations
• BYU vs Utah game
• Vegas Trip  

Favorite song for the day   
David Archuleta- Zero Gravity   
Just makes you want to dance!

Can This be made into a bumper sticker for all the stupid people who text while driving?

Sonic-BOOM!

Crazy good video of the METEOR SHOWER last night.  (Click HERE)  I'm so sad/mad/disappointed that I missed it, but I do love my sleep.  Around this time last year, my brother-and-law and I saw a mini version of this.  We thought we were crazy since no one else saw it.  It was still pretty big, but it sure didn't make the night turn to day like this one.  I'm glad to know it was probably just a meteor and not a UFO or something worse...Enjoy!

Happy 12th Birthday Nate Man!

Happy Birthday to my little, little brother NATHAN!  He is 12 years old today.  When he was 7 years old or so, I made a promise (which I now regret) that I would fly him to Utah and take him skiing when he turned 12.  I was trying to comfort him, because I was moving to Utah for college, and I didn't actually think he would remember.  Well, he did.  Today, when I called to wish him happy bday, he said, "Now I'm finally 12 and you owe me a ski trip!"  I guess now I know never to promise anything to a 7 year old.

 

Happy 12th Birthday Nate Man! I love ya little, little brother!

Gobble Gobble

Yesterday (Sunday), Robie's whole family celebrated Jon David's birthday.  Robie's Mom sent Jon on a scavenger hunt in and around his house for clues to his present.  Every clue came with a costume piece, and before we knew it, Jon was a walking talking turkey.  It was pretty funny.  After the gift giving, we all ate turkey, ham, and tons of food.  It was like an early Thanksgiving, minus a few family members.  Happy Birthday Jon!

 

ARRRRR...

We decided to take a gamble, and visit PIRATE ISLAND.  It is a new place next to the University Mall Cinemas in Orem.  We were thinking it was going to be a kid place, like a pirate chucky cheese.  Not at all.  It was SOOO cool! It was like the Mayan in Salt Lake, but with Pirates.  The whole thing is a cave, and there are pirate people everywhere.  It is a real restaurant, and they have an arcade there too.  At night, they have live bands and it turns into a pirate dance club.  The food was reasonably priced, and pretty good.  Two thumbs up to Pirate Island for a "ARRR-some" time!  (I know that was corny.)

 

(Please ignore how this shirt makes me look pregnant.)

Booooozer!

Last week we went to a Jazz game.  We have not been in a while, and it was a lot of fun.  The seats were not the best, but the tickets were FREE (Thanks to Robie's work).  The Jazz lost (of course), but we cheered them on anyway.  Go Jazz Go!

Robie was sad the Jazz lost.

 

Hanging at the game with Russ and Misty.

Trick R Treat

Halloween 2009 was a blast!  Again, I thought this year would be different, so I bought tons of candy thinking we would actually get trick or treaters.  Again, I was wrong.  Now we have a million pixie sticks.  I guess that is what I get for not buying the "good candy"...whatever that is.  Chocolate?

After passing out candy to the 5 kids that actually knocked on our door, we went to our friend's party (Mario and Luigi...aka-Lucy and James).  We dressed up as Magician and Rabbit.  It took some longer than others to finally realize the relation of our costumes.  Ya know, because a magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat...duh!   Anyways, we had a great time dancing to music, playing old school video games, and eating way too much junk food.

This costume (below) was too funny.  She was a uterus, and he was "The winning sperm".  LOVE IT!

Backtracking to Friday, we were required to dress up at work.  One of the team leads, Bryce, had the sickest outfit ever.  He was the Mad Hatter from the upcoming Alice and Wonderland (2010).  Crazy awesome!

 

Halloween 2009 was great!  Can't wait until next year!

It snowed today

For many people, snow brings happy memories and marks the start of a jolly winter season.  This is not at all how I feel. Let me illustrate what snow means to me:

Getting my car stuck...all the time

Traffic jams and car wrecks

Cold hands and being late to work

Being miserable and sick

Welcome winter.