Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving weekend started out Wednesday.  I got up early and began my morning by making sugar cookies.  This quickly became a very large project.  Let me explain why.  Last year I burned out the motor on our hand mixer and we just never got around to buying a new one.  Why?  I have no idea.  So anytime something needs mixed,  I grab a sturdy spoon and start stirring.  This morning trying to make a triple batch of sugar cookies with a wooden spoon was challenging to say the least.  But after hours of baking.  I had enough cookies for Thanksgiving and was even able to put some in the freezer for Christmas.     

Jordan had gone into work and was sent home early and told to enjoy his holiday.  So we went to the movies and saw the new Russell Crowe movie 'The Next Three Days'.  We thought that the acting was good but that the story line was depressing and didn't flow very well.  It was OK.  After the movie we came home and I started making frosting for the cookies.  (For future reference making frosting without a mixer is way more work than cookie dough.)  I mixed all the colors and filled my frosting bags.  Picked out the tips I wanted to use to create cute turkeys on circle cookies.  I started with the feathers and realized right away that they were not going to work.  The looked horrible.  I had to start all over.  I made another batch of frosting and went for a more simple look of frosted circles. 

We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with Shawn and Nicole's family. The idea of going to a strangers home for the holidays, knowing very few people, felt a little strange.  But once we got there it felt like Thanksgiving.  They were so welcoming and friendly and within minutes we felt like part of the family.  We had such a great time and although we missed spending the holiday with our families we couldn't have asked for anything better.  They had a traditional Thanksgiving feast with two turkeys, a ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, stuffing, and cranberries.  They also had a snack table set aside for those waiting in line which I thought was so smart.  It was full of cheeses, a vegetable platter, crackers, and olives.  After dinner we had my cookies, pumpkin, blackberry, chocolate and key lime pie especially made for Jordan.  Then began the afternoon of Bang.  Bang is a wild west card game that Shawn and Nicole introduced us to and we LOVE playing this game.  There is a lot to grasp when you are just learning but once you have the rules of the game down and can come up with strategies it gets fun, really fun.  It took awhile to teach everyone the game, but once they had it down they were hooked and we spent hours playing. 

Right before we left Nicole asked if we wanted to go shopping at Target in the morning.  We got online checked out what was on sale and what did I see.... a $3.00 hand mixer!!!  We were going black Friday shopping!   At 3:00 A.M. the alarm goes off.  We roll out of bed, throw on some shoes and a coat and are hit with a blast of cold air.  Luckily Shawn and Nicole had arrived earlier and had saved us a spot in line so we only waited for about a half hour in the cold.  It was crazy.  Hundreds of people were waiting in line.  They handed out maps showing where in the store the items on sale were.  Right at 4 A.M. the doors opened.  Jordan headed to the movies with Nicole while I went to find my hand mixer.  I turned down the aisle where the mixers were and there was a woman using her cart to block the mixers on sale.  Much to her dismay I politely moved her cart and started handing out the mixers to everyone around me.  It felt a little like Santa Claus and I left with last mixer in the store!  We ended up getting five new movies, the games connect four and battleship and my hand mixer all for $30.00!  Not too bad.  It was a crazy experience. I am not sure that I would want to do it every year but it was fun and worth it this year.

I am thankful for Jordan, his job and the move we made to Arizona. 
I am thankful for our families and the love and support that they give us no matter where we live. 
I am thankful for the gospel. 
I am thankful for science and the hope it gives us that someday we will be able to start our own family.
I am thankful for friends who have welcomed us into their lives and made our move so easy.
I am thankful for the uncountable blessings we have been given this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!     

Harry Potter and the ticket thieves

A month ago Jordan won a gift card at work and surprised me with tickets that he had bought online to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part1 at the Imax. 

Last week we were anxiously awaiting the opening night of the movie and decided to go pick up our tickets a few days early.  We got to the ticket booth with our printed receipt and were politely told that we had to have the exact card we made the purchase online with in order to retrieve our tickets.  We explained that we had paid for our tickets with a gift card and after the card was used that we had thrown the card away, like most people do.  They told us that they were sorry but that there was nothing that they could do.

Frustrated we walked back to our car and I decided to call the customer service number on the receipt.  We explained the situation and were told the same thing.  Very frustrated we went home. 

The next morning I did some research online and found their corporate customer service and sent them an email.  The response we got back told us that we should have read the policy and agreement before making our purchase.  There was nothing that they would do for us.  It was simply our mistake and not theirs.  This response well...brought out the feisty side of me.  I called customer service and demanded to speak to a manager.  I told them that we had paid for a product and that regardless of their retrieval system that we wanted either the tickets we paid for or our money back and that they had one day to figure it out before the movie opened.  

The rest of the afternoon was spent sending emails back and forth and ended with the same statement.  They would not give us our movie tickets and they would not give us our money back.  We were so frustrated!!

I filed a complaint with the better business bureau but in the meantime we missed the movie.  Jordan and I talked about when and where we wanted to see the movie and decided to wait a few days.  We instead spent the night watching the Boise State broncos play a great game against Fresno State (51-0).  Although we missed the opening night of the movie we were glad that we didn't miss out on such a fun game.

This afternoon Jordan surprised me again when he came home from work early to take me to see Harry Potter.   Five days late and $50 later we finally made it to see the movie and LOVED it.     

  

 


  

The Phoenix Sun's Game

Jordan won tickets at work to the Phoenix Suns/Denver Nuggets game. 

Not only did he win tickets to the game but they gave us tickets to the club annexes that included leather seats and an all you can eat buffet during the first half of the game. 

 

Jordan and I finally went to the eye doctor and both got new glasses.  Here are my new glasses.  I went for a more square shape and brown color.  I can still wear my black frames, so now I have two choices which will be so nice.  (Jordan got glasses as well but would not wear them in the picture.  He is still getting used to wearing them.) 

Jordan and I are not huge basketball fans but we like going to an NBA game every once in awhile.  The Suns game was fun and we really enjoyed the first class treatment we received.  The suns won 100-94.

After the game we had a long trip home.  The city offers free rides on the light rail to the games so we thought we would try it.  It was great to just be able to hop on the light rail after the game and not have to deal with traffic.  We did however have to deal with some questionable people.  (The guy sitting next to us proudly announced that he had just been released from prison and how he couldn't wait to take a shower and eat real food. I will admit it he made me a little nervous.) It seemed to take forever to get to our stop where we had parked our car.  An hour and a half after the game we got home.

I would probably ride the light rail again if we were going to another game. A little longer commute home for convenience and cost.  Its a decent trade off.

We love having the benefits that come from a good job.  Jordan has needed glasses for years and finally with a great health plan we were both able to get new glasses.  And this last week alone Jordan won tickets to the game and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble.  It is allowing us to be able to do so much.  We feel so incredibly blessed and are thankful every day for this job.        

ASU-Stanford game. Not quite the same.

Jordan and I were able to go to an Arizona State game against Stanford.  I believe that it is always good to cheer for the home team so we are slowly trying to become ASU fans.  It just so happened that my Dad was in town for work so he came with us to the game. 

The sun devil stadium was amazing. 

It is huge.  Our seats were up pretty high but we still felt like we could see everything. 

I liked the pitch forked field

Jordan liked that they had won the salad bowl in '50 and '51.

I loved being able to see my Dad and especially going to a football game with him.  That has always been one of my favorite things to do.

Jordan couldn't quite make the adjustment to be being an ASU fan.  He proudly wore his BSU sweatshirt the whole game. 

After each touchdown they had fireworks instead of the confetti we are used to at the Boise State games.  The crowd was great.  No swearing or yelling which we appreciated. 

It started out as a good game with a close score.  The defense was good but the offense just wasn't playing very well.  The came the fourth quarter.  We intercepted the football from Stanford, made a pretty good drive down field, got a holding call, turned over the ball to Stanford and then one of our players gets a personal foul.  What does he do?  He starts yelling at the ref resulting in a second personal foul.  That one play lost the game.  17-13

The crowd starts booing and yelling to bench the player.  The player comes off the field yelling and then throws a punch at one of the coach's who was upset with him! What does the head coach do? Puts him in the next play.  I was so disgusted.  All I could think was what Boise State's coach Peterson would have done in that situation.  That player would not have only been benched but probably out a few games with behavior like that.  And throwing a punch at a coach. He would have been thrown off the team!

There is a lot of talk about ASU firing their coach after this season.  Until then I may be only cheering for Boise State. 

We had a great time with my Dad and after the game he took us to dinner at P. F. Changs which was good food and good conversation.  It turned out to be a late night for us but well worth the time we could spend with family.       

Some days are just like that..

I woke up this morning tired from a restless night, watched the morning news and decided to make breakfast.  Just as I had started putting together a yummy cheese and ham omelet Jordan called to say good morning. I talked to him for a few minutes, not realizing that the pan was getting hotter and hotter by the moment.  I got off the phone, put the eggs in the pan and BAM, smoke and fire alarm blaring.  I pull the eggs off the stove, get the fire alarm to turn off and turn the fan on to help get the smoke out of the room.  Breakfast ruined. 

I got ready for the day and headed to the fabric store and Target.  While at the store I found the perfect fabric for my next project but decided it was just too expensive.  It was just going to be one of those 'wait for a sale or coupon and hope that the fabric is still there' days.  I stopped by Target and bought a new mascara, calender and hairspray and headed home.

I was at home for awhile when I decided to pull out my new calender and write our meal plan and events for this month on the new calender when I realized that the hairspray bottle had unscrewed and the bag was completely full of an entire bottle of hairspray.  It was such a mess.  Calender and hairspray ruined.

Luckily I had made dinner the night before and it was in the fridge just waiting to be cooked.  Jordan came home from work and we decided to eat dinner a little early so I pulled out dinner from the fridge and put it in the oven to cook.  30 minutes later and its still cold, 40 minutes later and its still cold, an hour later and its still cold.  I probably should have allowed it to come to room temperature before I put it in the oven to cook.  Dinner heated in the microwave and yum!  Dinner saved.

Some days are just like that. 



     

Ewwww!!

Our apartment complex sent out a notification that they are having cockroach problems and sent out a list of things to do in order to keep roaches out of your home. 

SICK!!!

I have never had to deal with cockroaches before and do not want to start battling those nasty bugs.  With me at home we are able to keep our apartment clean which is key to keeping them away; still I was bothered by the idea that bugs of any kind might be crawling around in our cupboards without my knowledge. 

I went to the store and found some glass containers that were on clearance and then bought some stickers to label the jars.  I put anything that was not in a can or a box into the jars.  

Not only do they make our cupboards look organized but they are keeping the food that we don't use very often, like sugar, bug free.    

So stay away cockroaches!!  You are not wanted here.