Gingerbread House Fun

There are some things that you can't let other people win. Some things are just that important. Like the Gingerbread House Competition at Melaleuca on Friday. Here are some pictures of our gingerbread house/mansion. Granted, we only had about a collective five hours to make this bad boy. They were due at 5:00pm and we brought our masterpiece over at 4:59pm. Literally.

There were several things that we really wanted to make that we didn't have enough time to do (i.e., our automatic garage opener). Oh well. Judging ends Monday morning-- so we'll see how everything turns out. (But our gingerbread house has a bay window... so beat that suckas!)

And another thing that is big (or at least getting bigger) is my puppy. He's getting really, really big. Well, I think so anyway-- I've included some pictures of him as well.

He's so much fun! I think he'll have a lot of fun in California where we can (and will) take him on walks. Sometime this week we're going to take him to the park and let him play in the snow. He's never been in the snow before, so that should be fun.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that he's indecisive. It's hilarious. And he's like a little kid that gets a really cool Christmas present, but plays with the box instead. As you can see in this picture, he's playing with a cream cheese container-- his absolute favorite toy. He also likes this hideous tie that Freddy let him have to play tug-of-war with and another plush soccer ball. But his problem is this: he will have the ball in his mouth but want to play with the container. He obviously can't play with both, but he certainly tries--- and it's awesome. Sometimes he'll try to play with like, FOUR toys at once. Sooo funny. It's also funny when his foot is in the container and he tries to walk. Funny, funny puppy.

Moving Fun

First of all- I was wrong, we certainly are not skipping winter. It snowed on Sunday (more like dumped snow on Sunday) but surprisingly it's been sunny ever since and the snow is melting. I imagine the snow will come soon, and when it does--- I hope we're already gone. So for those of you that didn't know, we're moving back to southern California. We're suuuuper excited and ready to go. But now everything feels so useless. For example, why should I attend my earrrly morning meeting for the Relief Society presidency when I'm, without a doubt, being released in a matter of days? Simply put, I just shouldn't.

One thing about moving- you always have more stuff than you think. And even if you don't, there are wayyy too many things that are fragile that take up more space than you would think they do. So yeah, we have a lot of boxes. We've accumulated much more than we had when we were first married-- seems like they're all real bulky things too. That's all I really have to say about moving. I'm sure more things will develop as the week goes on.

Now, on to Christmas, I'm making it much harder for Freddy than I want to. He knows what he wants for Christmas-- he knows exactly what he wants. Me? I can't think of a single thing that I want. And maybe that's a good thing-- maybe I'm just content in life. But it sure makes Christmas shopping hard for Freddy (I'm sure he'll figure out something... he's a really good gift giver). I think the main problem is this: I'm impatient. He was going to get me a sewing machine for our anniversary, but we ended up getting it in August instead. He was going to get me a puppy for Christmas, but we got him in November instead. I make things difficult because I trick Freddy into getting things earlier than he planed. Oh, I'm awful.

Ok, I have three finals tomorrow. That's not fun. However, unlike most students that study all night for their finals, I glance through my notes and hope that I remember the important things. You see, I just work hard (mostly) and pay attention in class throughout the year, which in turn helps me to remember things on tests. And I'm a horrible studier. I can't do it. At all. Also, this is my second sememster in a row-- without any breaks. Some students just started their year in September, but I've been in straight school since April. My year is over now and I'm just ready to be done. I think that's all I really have to say about that too. Hooray for vacations from school.

Are We Skipping Winter?

I'm sure every single one of you was concerned about the weather in Rexburg, Idaho. And to make sure each of you is aware, no, it is NOT snowing yet! How amazing is that?! For those of you that haven't been to Rexburg, please be aware that every year in the history of Rexburg, it has snowed on Halloween and somewhat regularly after that point. This year, we have a drought. I'm sure the farmers out there are sweating worried about their crops next year, but I, I am thankful that my prayers are heard.

Then I got to thinking. What if we skipped winter this year? I'm sure it's almost impossible, but just marinade in that thought for a minute. The weather here really is almost spring like, and it would be pretty nice if we just all together didn't bother with the snow and ice that inevitably comes each year. I've included a picture of the temple from last year--- mid December. It's not worth it I'm telling you.

I wish weather was a majority vote. I wish we would just have a daily or weekly ballot of how the weather should be for the day. Maybe we could have mandatory rainy days and mandatory snowy days, just so that we don't forget the beauty of different weather-- because I'm sure the majority would come out with sunny 72 degrees everyday.

Regardless. You have to admit. It would be nice. I think, anyway.

The Trouble With Giving Advice

I love being married. I absolutely do. And sometimes I get a little bit enthusiastic about others joining in on the fun of married life...

We had just finished Spanish class and my friend and I went to the bathroom to put on our makeup (Benefit #1 of Marriage: You can go to class without makeup because who really cares who sees you-- your husband isn't there and so it doesn't really matter). In the bathrooms of the Smith building you walk in and there's like a lounge area with a bench, a mirror, and a shelf. Then there's another door that goes into the bathroom area. So my friend, M, and I are in the lounge area doing our makeup just chit chatting about this and that... and somehow we get to talking about marriage. Then I, all too enthusiastically tell M, "You should get married! C'mon M, there's so many good things about marriage.. It's just wayyy more fun than being single."

She agreed. She was like, "Oh yeah! I should! Why in the world am I still single? I should just get married!" (Keep in mind that we are completely joking about this.)

"Yeah M, I mean, just get married. 'Who cares if I've only known you for 10 minutes! Let's get married!' You should start proposing to guys because sometimes they take forever to decide they want to get married and what not. Just start proposing to them."

We're still totally kidding and laughing about the whole thing. And then...

This girl (also in our Spanish class, she's from like- Albania and we'll call her O) comes out of the bathroom part and (we've been there for like 10 minutes and had no idea that we weren't alone) and she looks dead at me. "Do you have any idea what the divorce rate at BYU-Idaho is?!?! Do you even KNOW what it is!!!?? It's like EIGHTY PERCENT!!! So MAYBE you should look at that, and THEN tell her to get married right away! Everyone just GETS MARRIED to people they don't even know and then they ALL end in DIVORCE!!!"

"Oh, um, well, we were totally kidding, O... And I'm sure it's not 80%... that's seems a bit high."

"OHHH NO- it's EIGHTY PERCENT... And you know what? Everyone I know that got married young is like, 'DON'T get married!!! Enjoy being single!!!'"

"Oh, well, I actually love being married, but my husband and I didn't meet up here, we've known eachother for years. And I definitely was kidding with M, I wouldn't be serious about marrying a guy you met 10 minutes ago." (O leaves.)

Wow. It was pretty intense... So, in the end, now M and I joke about that all the time. Pretty funny morning.

Our New Puppy, Riley!!!!

Isn't he just adorable?? This is Riley, our puppy that we just got! We had been wanting to get a puppy for months but our apartments don't allow pets. But since we're moving (oh by the way we're moving back to So Cal, if you hadn't heard) we decided we would get one for Christmas. But then, we were listing our apartment on Craig's list and I happened to get distracted in the pets section. I saw that in Pocatello they had SEVEN puppies for FREE!!! Whaaat? Free?? Oh, we couldn't pass it up. So we emailed the girl and apparently they only had one left; he was male and suuuuper cuddly and lovey. Great. We'll take 'em! He's a Icelandic Sheepdog and Australian Shepherd mix. Sooo cute.

He's suuuuch a good little puppy. And he's soooo cute. But he's not so fond of baths quite yet as apparent in the picture below.

And he's teething, so instead of letting him chew on us, he chews on this little cow thing that I got during a presentation in my accounting class. He also likes this little plush soccer ball that we have.

He's really sweet... we have a collar for him, but it's like 47 sizes too big... he drowns in it. But he'll only grow to be about 2 feet tall and about 25 lbs or so. A good sized dog.

Oh! AND! Petco is having a FREE puppy training class in two weeks! Riley is SO excited to go (or at least I am)!! We're already having tons of fun and we've only had him for a couple of days. OH! And last night was his first night sleeping all the way to a decent hour without waking us up! Good puppy...

The BEST Movie EVER

Ok. So we've had this movie forever now--- one of our coworkers gave it to us to let us borrow it (she really thought we would like it). It had been sitting in our car, on the table, laying on the floor next to the tv, back in the car, waiting to be watched, back to the owner, "Sorry, we didn't have time to watch it, but didn't want to hang on to it forever."

"No really, just watch it-- you can keep it another week." Then again, sitting in Freddy's desk, sitting in the car, on the table, laying on the floor next to the tv, waiting to be watched. FINALLY, we watched it last night. Good, good, good movie. We'll probably buy it. I cried like, probably fourteen times. You should rent it tonight. It's in Spanish, but we had the English subtitles on (Freddy is still working on his Spanish and he wasn't sure if he would understand it all... naturally)... Also, there were a few bad words with the subtitles, but Freddy said that they weren't actually bad words, they were just poorly translated. Overall, it was a very good movie.

The Great Thing About Procrastinating

One thing that I love is banana bread. Not necessarily because I really enjoy the taste or anything like that, but rather because it's the one thing that the longer I wait to make it, the better it tastes! How wonderful it is to know that I don't really have to make it when I originally want to (if I run out of time or something) because chances are I'm improving the ultimate result by procrastinating.

I cringe when I see expiration dates approaching on milk, eggs, bread, etc. because it kills me to see money wasted when we throw things away. And it doesn't help that I'm extremely cautious about expiration dates. Freddy keeps trying to tell me that when it says "SELL BY:_______" that means we still have a good two weeks or so to use it. I'm not buying it. Who wants to eat/drink old, potentially rotting food? Not I, said the Tracy.

But regardless, my bananas have been piling up lately. I've been freezing them so that I can wait even longer to make it... and today I (finally) made the commitment to actually make the bread. Little did I know that I had enough bananas to make THREE batches. We will have banana bread for months (not really, because obviously it won't last long enough to go bad---since I don't like old food). Also something that I do occasionally is this: if we can't eat something fast enough (usually a cake) we take it to work and drop it off in the break room with a sign that says "FREE FOR ALL." Easiest way to get rid of anything-- bar none.

Ok- so I only had two pans, so I made two loaves, and banana bread muffins. And surprisingly- they look really good. I haven't tried one yet-- they just got out of the oven, like a minute ago. Anyone reading this is welcome to come on over and grab a freshly baked banana muffin!

Update on Life

How is it that everytime I blog I tell myself that from that point forward there is no way that I will let even the shortest time pass without updating my blog, and then the next time I blog is weeks later. I hate Jessica and Mitch's stupid little counter--mocking me for how ridiculously long it's been since I last blogged. Ugh. Remove it. Let me be satisfied with my lazy blogging habits.

Regardless, let me tell you all the latest in our lives:

1. Freddy is (finally) done with his training in Idaho Falls. He is now back in Rexburg (with me) and enjoying every second of it (or at least, I am).

2. We're in the process of (hopefully) buying a house (but not getting our hopes up). I will give updates on that as they become available.

3. We finally heard back from work and we got all the days off for the holidays that we requested. That means that we will be visiting Jessica and Mitch for Thanksgiving, including both the day before and the day after. And we will be in California for Christmas, from the 19th-28th to be more precise. How wonderful.

4. Yes, for those of you that heard, it has already snowed in Idaho. Once. And compared to last year, we are very thankfully enjoying these last few weeks/days before the dreaded snow comes.

5. We found a car wash that we love dearly. More appropriately, we found a place that will do our oil change and give us a free car wash, which we love dearly. Instead of giving you the cheap wash that has soap and water, and nothing else, they give their oil change customers the top of the line car wash. Wonderful. And my favorite part is the triple soap layer, in which soap is sprayed all over your car in pink, yellow, and blue. It's so... ice cream sherbety.

6. Everyone should buy those pine cones that smell like cinnamon. I vow to never go through the holiday season without them.

7. Renee is due in less than 10 days. Incredible. Mom said that if we move down to Idaho Falls then I could babysit. I said that if we move down to Idaho Falls then I could play until he started crying and then go home to my very own quiet house. (That update isn't directly about us, but I figured everyone should really know about it.)

8. Also, Chami is due in less than 11 days. But she usually has her babies early, so my bet is that Chami's baby beats Renee's baby through the birth canal. That's where my money is. (Once again, not directly regarding us, yet important.)

9. Does anyone else send out Christmas cards? Part of me feels that it's my duty as a wife to make sure that the Christmas cards get sent out. But why in the world would we send them if no one else is really doing it. Is anyone else really doing it?

10. For some reason I feel inclined that I must reach 10 updates. But quite honestly I can't think of a single thing to update about. This will be my closing update instead, at which point I will tell myself that from that point forward there is no way that I will let even the shortest time pass without updating my blog. Go me.

Meeting Gov. Mitt Romney

Who would have thought that I would go into work today and find an email in my inbox inviting me to meet Mitt Romney? As it turns out, our CEO, Frank Vandersloot, is quite good friends with Gov. Romney- he was staying at his house for a few days. Today they were having a small get together to support Jim Risch in his running for Senate (and I really like him, by the way). So we drove down to Idaho Falls and spent some time with Mitt Romney and some other local politicians! I even shook his hand and asked, "So 2012, huh?" And what did he say?

"Yeah, we'll see about it!"

He's so amazing. So presidential. When November 4th rolls around I'll be taking a Sharpie into the voting booth with me. My ballot will have no hanging chads, but rather big black letters that will say, "ACTUALLY, I CHOOSE MITT ROMNEY."

And then- the other day Freddy was walking through our Home Office in Idaho Falls, passing the colleagues and saw someone that looked eerily familiar (double take). The guy was on his phone, but Freddy waited for him to finish his call. "Hi, I was just wondering... do you have a brother named Spencer Weston (his mission president)?

"Yes, I do!" How weird. So Freddy saw his old mission president's older brother who now works for Melaleuca. Crazy. So now we're going to go down to Salt Lake for Freddy's mission reunion. He's so excited.

Ok, and Jessica was exactly right. We totally went to Calgary for our one year anniversary. And we suck for not blogging for an entire month, I know. But we've just been so ridiculously busy. And really I should be writing an essay for Spanish, but obviously, I'm so not. So let me go ahead and post a few pictures and then I'll explain a little--- maybe a little more later.

This was at the Cardston, AB temple. This was after driving alllll night long. We left Rexburg at 10:00pm on Friday night and drove all night (with a nap around 4:30am, when we were both too tired to just switch off). So we stopped at the temple and originally wanted to stay for a session, but there simply wasn't time. We took some nice pictures and enjoyed seeing all the couples getting married. It's like the smallest city you've ever seen. Up until about a mile away, you'd never guess there was a whole city there in the middle of nowhere.

And here we are on the very top of the Calgary Tower. So after what seems like 500 stories you just get off the elevator and walk around for a 360 degree view of Calgary. And then there's this ledge with a glass floor. It's only about 4 feet off the edge and I'm sure the glass is like 3 feet thick, but there's something incredibly scary about being that high up. Somehow I think that even though millions of people have walked all over it, somehow it's going to shatter once I step on it. Down to the ground I'll fall, no doubt. Really. It's surprisingly intense. You really wouldn't think so-- until you're THERE.

This was Sunday morning at the Zoo/Botanical Gardens/Prehistoric Park in Calgary. It was pretty cool. I was pretty impressed with their wolf exhibit. There was this one white wolf that was just eying this little three year old girl just outside the fence. I thought for sure she was a dead girl. I mean, this wolf was in this stern, attack mode. It was hilarious. And their Africa exhibit is pretty sweet. You're like RIGHT there with the giraffes. Cool. I love zoos.

Alright. It's just about time for us to go to bed and I haven't even read what I'm supposed to write about. Gosh, I just don't want to do it. I promise from now on to keep our blog updated. Pinky promise, sealed with a thumb (which somehow makes my vow that much more meaningful).

The Last Week!

We're so stinkin' excited. Like, so excited. We're finally going down to California for a vacation-- a long due vacation. We've been working so hard all year long and haven't really had a vacation since our honeymoon to Cancun last year (now that was a vacation). So now we've both got a week of paid vacation that we are so ready to use and enjoy. We're leaving for CA on Friday afternoon and not coming back until the FOLLOWING Sunday night. Wonderful. We're also taking advantage of the time we have down there to have TONS of fun (i.e. Sea World, the LA Zoo, Galaxy game, sewing with the girls-- Freddy's not joining in on that one, etc.). Now, just to get through Monday through Thursday without getting distracted.

Our Home!

I thought I would add a few pictures of our home here in Rexburg. We love our apartment and we're especially excited for our new ward building across the street to finally be done! We found out on Sunday that it is the largest church building the church has ever built! It has TWO chapels, one on each end. The whole building is larger than a football field (with both end zones)-- it's two story and will be finished on August 30th!! We can't wait to move into our beautiful new building!! We've been going to church in the seminary building by the high school- which is pretty cramped, but we're making do. There are just wayyy too many wards here and they're running out of place to put them. So they built our building-- which is going to be a prototype for future buildings!

Also, there's a couple pictures of the outside of our building... We're on the second floor on the left! And then there's also a couple pictures of our entry way, living room, and kitchen. Maybe I'll add pictures of the bathroom, and both bedrooms as soon as I clean them... :)

Living in Rexburg!!!

We're up here in Rexburg enjoying the married life!! We'll be done with this semester in about two weeks, so we're certainly getting excited about the break. Maybe a little too excited and probably a little less focused. :) I even have a hot pink paper chain on my desk at work to count down the days until we're done. Freddy won't be back in school until January, but is thinking about taking a couple night classes to get ahead during the fall semester. And I'm going to be right back enjoying all the fun that classes bring next semester.. for fun, for fun.
The company that we work for, Melaleuca, is having their annual summer picnic the day after classes get out and we're SO excited for it!!! Their Christmas party was a BLAST and then someone was like, "Just wait until the Summer Picnic..."
"The what????" Oh I was so excited.. and now it's actually here!!
At Melaleuca, Freddy is in Corporate Training and I'm a Team Lead in Customer Service-- we LOVE working there...
We actually just got a camcorder from work- they have all sorts of programs to reward their employees and so Freddy got a camcorder. I'm saving up my points for a flat screen tv and I should have it by August!!
The 4th of July was so much fun! Melaleuca has a fireworks display that's the LARGEST WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI! It was incredible!!! We tried to record the whole thing on our new camcorder, but it was longer than we had room for. But we definitely enjoyed it...