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Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Chrismas in our house!

Christmas is coming and I'm so excited about it!! This weekend, I was able to get some decorating done :) Check it out!



Happy Holidays!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly did!

Trav and I started out at my Aunt and Uncle Smith's house. My Aunt is an amazing cook AND she does everything from scratch so it's extra yummy! There we were able to have dinner with my mom and brother, aunt and uncle, 8 cousins! and Grandpa Smith! Dessert was probably my favorite! It was "Pumpkin" themed so we had the choice of regular pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, brandy pumpkin pie, and carmel pecan pumpkin pie! SO many choices, it was a hard!! This part of the family lives about a half our away so I was extremely sad when I went to pull out my camera and the battery was dead :( No pictures this year :(. I will have to get double next year!

Next was onto dinner at the Wooten's. Grandma, Grandpa, Jessica, Travis, Dad, Kassi, Camille, Kyle, Harley, Mariah, Auntie Tammy, Uncle David, Alexis, Chase, Katie, and Megan were all there to feast on the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, emerald salad, fruit salad, candied yams, olives, cranberries, brussels sprouts, peas, corn, mustard potato salad, regular potato salad, macaroni-shrimp salad, deviled eggs, veggies and dip, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, stuffing, frog-eye salad, and a delicious pasta salad! Whew! Try and say that all in one breath!

The cooking and prep was a ton easier this year because Auntie Tammy, Megan, Grandma, and me all started the night before! We were up cooking until 2:30 in the morning! It was worth it though! It was nice to be able to just pull things out of the fridge on Thanksgiving :)

Highlights from this year's dinner:
We learned to read directions after making 4 emerald salads, instead of the normal 2. (Apparently it's not good to double the water and only use a small pack of Jello. The Jello gets a little picky and decides not to set. The nerve.)

After all these years, Grandma finally made a decision...this decision came after the FOURTH time we'd been to Harmon's (Grocery Store). She has now created a list! This list will be saved and used each year so hopefully we'll only have to go to Harmon's three times, instead of four.

Auntie Tammy had a battle with a knife and lost. The result was two band-aids. Jessica had a battle with the same knife and sort of lost. The result was Grandma wearing one band-aid. Yes. I accidentally cut my innocent, dish doing grandma. :(

Alexis (newb to the "living on your own" thing) had a wonderful idea and showed up with bags of Tupperware for some yummy leftovers!! Good call! Kassi (also a newb) thought it was a fantastic idea as well and hit up Wal-Mart for some similar Tupperware.


Time to eat!! Also time to see what Alexis looks like when she thinks she's not in the picture.


Most of the time, Kassi was doing what I should have been doing...


That being said..thanks for these pics, Sissy :) I had to steal them!


Everything was deeeeelicious!!

After dinner and clean-up, we always play games. This usually lasts until we are basically falling asleep at the table! This year was no different! We played Scattegories, Buzz Word, the "Who, What, Why" game (hilarious every time!), and more Scattegories, ending at a whopping 3am! Good, debateful, arguementative, funny times.


Oh, how I love Thanksgiving! In one day, we were able to see at least 30 family members that we don't get to see as often as we'd like! Holidays are such a fantastic time of the year!


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Awkward little situation!

At work we are in the process of moving to another building so lately we've had people up on ladders and in the ceiling getting different wiring, or whatever they are doing, I'm not 100 percent sure. Anyway, they've been around lots. So, today I am at work taking calls and some guy comes like RIGHT next to my desk and plops his ladder down, climbs up it, and goes into the ceiling. I'm just at my desk, minding my own business, taking a call and talking to some operator with some company who's relocated to India. The guy on the ladder comes down from the ceiling and walks away. As he's walking away, there is a extremely loud noise! Like vacuum times 32. So, being DIRECTLY under this noise, and on a call...I try to ignore it and hope my Hearing User can still hear me as I'm relaying the call. The guy comes back and goes back up into the ceiling. This time he is carrying a bucket. Thinking nothing of it, I continue with my call. While on this call, the India operator I'm talking to all of a sudden puts the call on hold. No notice or anything. I thought that was kinda weird. So, then he comes back from putting us on hold and says Sorry, I uh...had uh...a...um...emergency, please repeat your question. As he is saying this to me, guy in ceiling is just chillin. The loud noise is still going on, and I am trying my hardest to just relay this call normally. At this point, I can only see ceiling guy from his knees to his feet and all of a sudden, there is a downpour. Let me be specific. There is a downpour of water from the ceiling to my desk. The guy jumps down from the ladder and apologizes over and over. I assure him it's okay and feel bad for him because cmon...how to do you say sorry to someone when you just spilled an entire bucket of water on their desk. I was pretty sure the shock on my face told him enough, and even if it didn't the first and only thing I could come up with to say was "It's okay...I didn't really need these papers anyway." I'm sure that made him feel like a champ! Poor kid. So I tried to let him know it was no big deal. I then continue on with my call and I get to thinking. What in the world could have been "India Operator's" emergency that he needed to place us on an immediate hold, only to return a few seconds later, ready to go on with the call? Maybe they too are moving to a different building and have maintenance men in the ceiling? I'll never know, I just found it rather hilarious that at the same time he was having an "emergency" I was getting a bucket of water dumped on my desk! What a coincidence! haha





I'm thankful for...

So, here we are! Only TWO days from Thanksgiving! Geez, where has this year gone, seriously?! I'm going to be a busy, busy Jessica these next couple of days so I'm going to wrap up the "I'm Thankful for..." posts and this will be the last one!

I'm thankful for so many things that I could honestly do an I'm Thankful for... post every day of the year, so to wrap this up, I'm just going to list some final (in no special order) things that I'm thankful for!

My sissy. (Couldn't have asked for a better one.)
My family. (I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for them, and for that I am extremely thankful.)
Travis. (High School sweetheart, still my sweetheart!)
My best friend, Mari. (Bestie since 6th grade! Just like a sister to me!)
My car. (Love my little Elantra. Pretty good little first car.)
Freedom. (Something we so often take for granted. As I am sitting here with all of my luxuries, men and women are out there, risking their lives and working hard to give each and every one of us our freedom. Amazing.
My house. (Such a nice feeling to have my own place. No roomates. Just me, Treydogg, and Trav :))
Good weather, fishing season. (Very thankful for fishing season, just wish it would last a little longer. Ice fishing is not the funnest thing in the world!)
The Internet. ('Nuff said.)
My lappy. (Definitely one of the best purchases I've ever made!)
My phone. (BlackBerry all the way! Especially when you have Pandora and Google Maps. Such amazing technology!!)

and many, many more!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! (I'm ready for his holiday break to begin!!)




Travis knows me all too well!

They say opposites attract, which is generally true. I mean in my relationship it's about 98 percent true. Travis likes the crunchy french fries, I like the squishy ones. Travis hates to cook, I don't mind it. Travis is not a fan of decorating and therefore just goes with the flow, I am a fan of this :). Travis doesn't like pickles, I love them...you get the point.

There is one thing, however, where "Opposites Attract" should be changed to "Opposites equals battle" It's temperature.
-Temperature of the car.
and
-Temperature of the house.

You see, Travis seems to like sitting in a sauna. While that can be nice at times...actually, I'm lying. It's never nice. I, on the other hand like to be cooler and I love to be able to grab a sweater or blankie to snuggle up with.

This is often a battle in the house and car! Usually what will happen is I will let Trav do his thing with the heat and then when he's not looking, I will do my thing with turning it off, or down at least.

Except for last night, my plan failed.

So, I'm laying in bed waiting for Travis to fall asleep because he has the heater turned up pretty high, and that needed to be fixed. I thought to myself "Self, as soon as Travis falls asleep, you can get up out of bed...act like you are going to the bathroom and then just on the way out the door, you can quietly adjust the heat. You will have to do this pretty quickly and quietly though, or else he will wake up!"

As soon as Travis turned over, I gave him a few minutes to get into a deep sleep and up I went! As soon as I got around to the other side of the bed, I looked and his eyes were still closed! We were in business :) So, I open the door quietly, start to walk out and adjust the temp. Success, right?

Wrong.

The second I put my hand on the thermostat, Trav woke FROM A DEAD SLEEP and said "I know you didn't just turn the heat down!!" Then, I did the worst thing I could do. Being the startled Jessica I was, I SAY "No, I was just going to the bathroom!" and then I go get right back in bed...apparently forgetting what had just come out of my mouth.

I was caught.




Monday, November 23, 2009

Music equals everything.

Today, and yesterday, and last week, and a year ago, and tomorrow, and the rest of my life I will be/was/am thankful for music! It is so powerful. It can honestly do anything I need it to. If I'm having a bad day...I turn on some music and it can completely take my mind off of everything, and instantly have me singing along and improve my day. If I need to clean the house, but I'm not really in the mood, I plug in the pod and put on a good play list and I'm ready to clean my little heart out. It keeps me entertained. There is SUCH a great variety of music out there that I'll never get sick of it! It wakes me up in the morning, and puts me to sleep at night. It gets me through long drives, and helps me do yard work. It is the greatest thing ever. Without music, well...I don't want to think about that.

I just want to give a big fat thank YOU to all musicians!!! You truly are the greatest.




I'm thankful for...

my blog! It may seem like a crazy thing to be thankful for, but here are a few reasons why:

-If I have a story to tell, it prevents me from telling it 823728 times, to 823728 different people. I can just blog about it and tell 823728 people to read my blog :)
-I have fun with changing the fonts and backgrounds and making it a little festive peice of goodness.
-(My favorite one)It's a journal, except for kind of in disquise...because if my mind knew it was an actual journal...it wouldn't be as happy about posting posts because any journal I've ever attempted, failed after the first 1 or 2 days. This way though, I will always have it! I'm excited to be able to look back at this when I'm older and remember all these good times!

So thank you blog. You're a peach.




A good excuse/THANKFUL for....

Last night after yelling at Travis for turning the lights off while I was in the bathroom and telling him how childish that is, I walk out of the bathroom to find out that he, in fact didn't touch the bathroom lights...and the rest of the house looked the same. :(





So, after apologizing, we go around the house, lighting all of the candles and gathering our flash lights!





We'd been home from Price for like 20 minutes so at the time, Trav was doing the dishes and I was about to start laundry, then blog. This being the "Good Excuse." I called the power company and they said it was estimated to be off until 9:30! (It was 5:30 at the time) The first thing I do is look at Travis and ask what we were going to do for dinner now (knowing in my head that the reason I'm asking the question is because I already know we can't cook anything) and he says "I don't know, we won't be able to cook anything though." I reply with a nice little "Way to go, Captain Obvious!" He laughed and then said he was just telling me that because I was asking what we would do for dinner. Um, duh...

After a few minutes, we decided to go to Subway with the hopes that when we got home, the power would be back on. (It's really no fun sitting at home with no power. Although, we were pretty hooked up. Wrapped in a blanket, listening to Pandora on my phone, and passing the ipod back and forth after every "game over" on the most amazing game ever.)

While at Subway, I looked out the window and noticed how bad it was snowing and how FAST the snow was flying. (Note: Travis was NOT looking out the window) I nicely said to him "Wow, look how fast the snow is flying!" he not so nicely replied "Way to go, Captain Obvious!" Funny, except for his didn't work as well as mine. Not even a little bit. He seemed to think he was pretty funny, though.

Anyway...I think something that we take WAY for granted is power!! Last night made me definitely realize how thankful for power I actually am!





Sunday, November 22, 2009

So very thankful for.....

My football team! The Vikings have definitely struggled in the past, in fact in previous years where we were like 5-4...we were doing pretty well. THIS year, however, things have changed! We have a great quarterback (Favre) who has done an exceptional job this year! The other great thing is it's not even all owed to Favre...THE ENTIRE TEAM HAS BEEN FANTASTIC this year!! :) I've very much enjoyed watching all of the games, and I'm so happy about the 9-1 record!! WOOT!! Go Vikes!!

(P.S. Sorry, I skipped a few "I'm thankful for..." posts because we were up in Price, Utah visiting Trav's family. I'll catch up soon, promise!)




Thursday, November 19, 2009

The good stuff.

I'm thankful for "Raid--Kills on Contact" spider spray. I first came in contact with it when I lived with my grandma. She bought me my very own bottle and hoped I would put it to use (so she didn't have to kill all of the spiders I scoped out)...Good idea!

It's definitely a product that does exactly what it says it will do, no matter what...it kills. on. contact. The spiders don't even have a chance to run!! :) It's an amazing thing and it sprays far so you (or in my case, Travis) don't even have to stand very close to the spider! It works perfectly..Trav is really good at using it, and I'm really good at watching to make sure the spider is dead, on contact.




Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Our doggie.

Today (and always) I'm thankful for my Treydogg.

It was about a year after graduation and I'd already started telling Trav how badly I wanted a puppy. "No way!" He would say. "We don't have a house, we live in an apartment, and they are a lot more work than you think!!" I assured him that we had plenty of puppies growing up and and it would be just fine. I said the apartment had tons of grass, so we'd have no problems. It still didn't change his mind.

I still knew I wanted a dog though. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a beige (red nose) pitbull.

One weekend I was in Idaho visiting the bestest and she mentioned that her parents got a puppy and then decided that they didn't want him after all. She didn't know what kind of puppy it was because he was too little. She THOUGHT it might have been a pitbull.

The minute she told me about him, we picked up and left to go see him!

We pulled into her parents house and there he was. Huddled in the corner of the house and the step, all by himself. He was a pitbull, I could tell right away. He wasn't beige, or even a red nose...He was a brindle, but I loved him. I picked him up and didn't put him down until we got to the Petco to get his "free puppy nail clipping." I couldn't resist. He was the most adorable puppy I'd ever seen and I was pretty sure Trav would be just as happy about it as I was!

Mari (bestest) lived with her cousins at the time so when we went back to the house, everyone was getting ready to go out and have fun and I didn't want to. I couldn't really. I had this little puppy...who was a little scared because of all this new excitement. Deep down, I started to worry at that moment...What was I going to do with him while we were at work? What if we couldn't have puppy's at our apartment? Would I be able to afford anything he needed? Shots? Food? Toys? It didn't matter though, he was mine and I would do the best I could. I didn't want to let anyone know I was worried about it, mainly because that part couldn't get to Travis! I remember it was a Saturday and all I was thinking was how excited I was to get home with my new puppy and show Travis!! I couldn't wait until Sunday, so Kass and I left that night, instead of going out with our friends.

I went home with Trey and he slept on the couch with me that night. Travis had spent the weekend at his dad's so he saw Trey when he got home the next morning. He wasn't the happiest Travis in the world, but he knew how bad I wanted a puppy and agreed he was adorable. He kept saying over and over though, how much work it was going to be to have a puppy!

Trey was 4 weeks old and so, so, small and cuddly!!

Now, he's 3 1/2 years old, weighs 55 pounds, and still likes to cuddle! In fact, he gives hugs and kisses for free, anytime!!

I'm extremely lucky to have Trey as my first dog. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better dog. I couldn't even pay $1000 to buy a better dog. He is such a sweet boy! With any other dog, we most definitely had rough times. Potty training was fairly hard because Trav and I were both working during the day. He had a few months where he decided he wanted to see how many hoses he could make us buy, and he chewed a few of his 30 dollar beds up, the night after we bought them...but now, he is perfect and everything we went through to get to this point was 100 percent worth it. There are also many, many things that we never even had to worry about with him. Things that kind of just came in the package deal. We never had to worry about him going out of the yard. In fact, he's a scaredy cat sometimes and won't go potty by himself unless you walk with him to the part of the yard that he likes to conduct business with. We never had to worry about him jumping (or stepping) over any type of gate that we'd put up when we weren't home, and he's always just been nice. (For awhile there, we didn't think he even knew how to bark!)

He is extremely nice, friendly, playful, and lovable. He will follow you until...well, he never really stops following you. When you stop though, he stops and lays down and gets comfy till you're ready to move again :). Then at the same time, he has a personality! Sometimes he is stubborn and when you tell him to shake, he will look at you and let you know he knows what you are talking about, he just decides not to do it. He eventually gives in though, so he has a cute stubborn-ness to him. Not an annoying one!

If our next dog is even half as amazing as Trey, I will be satisfied!

Here's a pic of my buddy. (He has been right here, resting his head on my lap, the entire time I've been writing this post!)





Now we're off to bed!




Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I'm thankful for...

My job.

After graduation, I moved to SLC and had NO idea what I was going to do for a job. I went to SOS (a temp staffing agency) and they told me that they didn't really have much for me because of my lack of experience. Finally, after I took all the tests and everything, they said they'd take a chance on me because I've got to start somewhere.

They started me at Sorenson Communications and I am still currently there. It has been a wonderful experience and I've been there four and a half years. I got in when the branch of company I am in was just starting so I was able to promote fairly quickly, which was nice.

During the times where the economy was so bad, it was the greatest feeling to go to work each day, knowing that most people were going in and getting laid off. That is something that was never even mentioned to me. I'm so lucky to work for such a great company. It's also nice to be able to provide for myself and my doggie and not have to worry about money or finding a job!




Monday, November 16, 2009

'Tis the Season

To take a step back and think about the things that truly make you happy, and most often, things we take for granted. I'm kind of getting a late start on this but from today until Thanksgiving day, I'm going to post one thing (each day) that I'm thankful for...these things are in no special order.

You should try it too!! :)

I was going to post a funny little story today anyway so we'll go with this one first!

I'm so thankful that Travis was able to find a job. It's not even just a regular 9-5. It's one he likes. It's one where the pay isn't horrible. It's one where he is working with his friends, and one where he can and will learn so many new things. This is SUCH a relief. There was awhile there where it seemed like NOTHING was available and we were kind of struggling so I'm very, very thankful for his job. :)

Speaking of his job, everyday at noon Trav calls me for a sec during his lunch. Today he said his boss started to teach him how to weld (something he's been wanting to learn for a few months now) he knows a tiny tiny bit, but there's definitely a lot for him to learn! After asking how he thought he did, he said he thought he was doing pretty good...and that he'd only caught himself on fire twice.

Yeah.

I had to think about it for a sec too.

"Caught yourself on fire twice???" (Trying not to laugh)

"Yeah...well, the first one I just burnt my hand pretty good. It wasn't really on fire..."

"And the second one?"

"Well, I had just finished welding some pipe and I was walking back to put it away and I looked down and noticed my pantleg was on fire. I just had to pat it out real quick."

I laugh only because I can picture this happening. Only I wish his boss would have made him stop, drop, and roll. That would have been even better. Apparently the "pat" works just fine though. Everyone in the shop has already learned how to weld so for now, Travis is the excitement I guess...hopefully not for too long though :S That's sort of scary!






Thursday, November 12, 2009

Two for two...pretty fantastic.

Today both things we got in the mail were good. (I don't know if I've ever had two keepers. It's usually junk or bills!) I'm so excited!!

This alone:



Would have been plenty. Has anyone EVER had customer service this good? Man...what a nice guy! Now if only I could re-locate his business card for my next purchase, we'd be in business. Literally.

THEN as I'm about to throw away what I think is a normal, every day ads magazine, I look twice and this is what I see!!! Damn straight my boys' merch is on the cover. About time they learn some good sales techniques.





I'll admit it. I need to go to AA.

...and I'm wondering if I'd be the only person there.

I was thinking of my "podium speech" this morning. It would go something like this...

"Hi. My name is Jessica and I am an arachnophobic. I'm hoping by joining this group, I will somehow be able to overcome my fear of spiders. I'd like to start out with a goal. I mean, that's the first step to recovery, right...well, after admitting. Anyway,I'm hereby declaring that I will try to kill at least one spider a...year. Some of my weaknesses include but are not limited to: waking up from a dead sleep to do a "spider check" because there was a spider in my dream and I am worried that there is also one outside of my dream. Waking Travis up from a dead sleep to either help me look for the spider I swear I saw, or to kill a spider for me. Making myself watch any spider be killed so I know for a fact, he is a goner. After watching, I then tell myself that the spider's momdadsisterbrotherunclecousingrandpa is after me. I also have a horrible problem where I remember each spot in the house, where a spider once was. I will also not stand in that spot...because you never know, if they were there one time...there's got to be something about that spot that just attracts spiders. I don't see that as a problem though, because there are, thankfully, plenty of other spots to be in. Like this morning...I was picking out what I was going to wear and remembered a time where I was doing the same thing and a spider crawled out from under my shoe, on the left. My simple solution was just to move slightly more to the right...you never know. I'd also like some help with my constant spider checking. Everywhere. I. Go. Most people watch TV 100 percent of the time. Well, I watch TV 80 percent of the time because I know spiders don't just stop moving around when the TV comes on. (They also don't go to sleep when the lights go out. I learned that a few years back.) Also, when I walk into someones house, I'd like to be able to point out a cute decoration, or really, anything besides the spider chillin in the corner. And so, I'm hoping I'm not alone in this group and hopefully someone can provide some sort of help. Things that generally work for me are men who kill spiders, or kills on contact spray. I'd like to know what things you guys do to help solve your arachnophobia problem."

Then people would probably clap, and I would take my seat (after the spider check of course) and listen to the next testimony.




Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Overheard in our house tonight.

(Travis gets out of the shower and walks into the living room where Jessica is sitting on the couch catching up on Ellen DeGeneres)

Travis: Noooo, we are not watching this!!

Jessica: Um, yes we are. We always watch your TIVOed Deadliest Catch and Modern Marvels and How It's Made! Plus you are cooking dinner. (He's being a sweetheart cuz I'm sick and he's not as sick anymore)

(The couple goes on their merry little way. Jessica watching Ellen, and Trav in the kitchen, cooking dinner.)

30 minutes pass...

(Ellen is playing "Blindfolded musical chairs" with select guests where they play music and have one less chair for how many people are playing. The players are blindfolded and must find their way to a chair when the music stops. Jessica was sure one guest would win it for sure because of how ruthless she was. It came down to the last two players. One chair.)

Travis: (from in the kitchen) AHHH, she sat on it!!! (The she being the girl that wasn't expected to win...she cheated a little!)

Moral to this story: Don't listen to men when they say they refuse to watch something. Also, once you start watching what they "refuse" to watch...don't let them fool you, they are most likely 100 percent interested.





Dear strepandsinusinfection:

Travis hates you and I hate you. Please leave. Also, could you tell the side effects of my strep medicine to leave too? Thanks. I'd like them to have no reaction, like Trav's sinus infection medicine. If that's possible, it would be splendid.

Hope to talk to you neveragain.

Bye.




Sunday, November 8, 2009

Regina Videos!!








Regina Spektor-In The Venue-November 6th, 2009!

Regina Spektor. I don't even know where to start! One year ago Kassi and I saw her for the first time. The second we heard she was coming back, we knew we would be there. She is an amazing artist. She is funny, adorable, shy...yet outspoken, witty, sincere, loving, caring, original, natural, and cute. She's Regina Spektor and it doesn't get better. Her music will make you want to learn every single word so you can sing along, it will make you want to dance your socks off, and cry your eyes out. Every song tells a story. Some funny, some sad, some true, some made up, some serious, and some that don't make any sense. No matter what though, it will give you chills. Regina Spektor is a genius and I am so, so lucky to have her sing to me twice! I cannot wait for the third time. Until then, I have the three short videos I was able to take, and many, many pictures. Enjoy!









































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