Attention! Attention! I've come up with a new way to change a car battery!

...and all you need is a hatchet and a wrench.

Or maybe I just confused hatchet with ratchet.

You decide..

I'll give you a hint (Grandpa got a kick out of it. He was laughing almost as hard as I've ever heard!)

Also, if you're wondering...the answer is yes. Yes, my car battery died. Yes I was in the middle of the freeway when my car just decided it wanted to shut off, and yes it was scary.

Not this time. :(

Lots of yelling/screaming...check.
No voice today...check.
Extremely happy Jessica...check.
Happy tears...check.
Praying...check.
Lots of people rooting them on...check.
More Vikings attire than I've ever seen...check.
Football fans who don't even like them, but still rooting for them...check.
People who don't even like football, yet still interested in the game and rooting for them...check.
Felt bad for old man Favre...check.
Disappointed in the way things happened...check.
Saying hold on to the &*!*&@ ball...at least 897 times...check.
Sad tears...check.

What a year. I don't know what to say about yesterdays loss, really. I do think that Minnesota is a better team than the Saints. There were many times we should have scored, but instead gave the ball away. There were calls against Minnesota, and calls for the Saints that were not fair. But that's football I guess. I'm sad. I, along with many other Vikings fans, thought this was our year. I guess we'll see what next year brings. I can only hope that Favre wants at least one more year...but even at that, can he keep up with another game played as well as yesterday's? I don't think so. Maybe we'll draft a worthy qb? Maybe Favre has taught Jackson all he needs to know...Although I don't think it'd help. Who knows what next year will bring. I just really wish it happened this year. :(

At least they kept up. They played hard. It was a good game, minus the ending--some of the calls--Favre's decision to throw that ball, instead of run 5 yards--and the turnovers.

Addiction.

I wish we'd hurry up and beat Super Mario on the Wii so I could start blogging again!! There hasn't really been a ton going on though too, so I'm not totally slackin!

The Vikings have made it to the NFC title game!!!!!! I get chills whenever I type or say that.

I also get tears and chills when I watch this video clip of Favre. I love that they are so happy!! Their hard work is finally starting to pay off. What a great year this has been!

GO VIKES!! Get them Saints!

Mr. Security Man.

Now that we're in a new building, we have a new security man. He's extra, super friendly. Every time I proceed to walk out the door, sometime around 5, he has been there. Outside. Waiting for me, just so he could open the door tell me to have a great night. What a great security man!

I've thought about this over and over...how does he KNOW when I'm going to be walking through that first set of doors so he can get up from his desk, walk outside, and be ready to open the door for me?

I think he might be magic. Or, maybe there are cameras that he watches. Or, maybe he just figures most people are off at 5, and 5 is a good time to get up and start opening the door for people. (I figured that one out today, and I'll go with that one..)

However he knows though, he's fantastic.

Besides opening the door for everyone because he's really nice, I think he might think it's funny to watch people find their cars after they are done working for the day.

Unless I'm the only one who forgets.

I doubt it, but just in case, I'll try to keep it funny for him.

Like today. I looked all over for my car. Turns out, it was right in front of me. I tried to look like I knew right where I was going, only turning around once...and then my plan failed because I finally saw my car. Directly in front of the doors I just walked out of.

Apparently it helps to not assume you parked far and start with looking right in front of you.

It was all a show though, I've got to keep things funny for him. I really knew where I parked. Definitely knew.

The reason I do the cooking at home:

Travis calls me into the kitchen the other night and asks if I will do the crust for the no-bake cheesecake he is making because I'm "really good at it"

When I get into the kitchen, he says "It might have a little too much butter in it, but it should still be okay.."

"Why would it have too much butter in it?" I ask, especially confused because Trav is the King of measuring everything out exactly as the box/recipe calls for. (He even measures water for macaroni :) )

"Well, because you always give me crap about measuring stuff out exactly...so I was just trying to eyeball it, you do it all the time."

Then I explained "The deal" to him:

"Here's the deal babe, there are SOME things you can eyeball when cooking...but some things need to be measured exactly. For example, water for boiling noodles...eyeballed. Butter for making a crust...definitely measured."

It was a good effort though, and he was right, the cheesecake still turned out okay. Shape doesn't matter anyway, right? As long as the blob of cheesecake on the plate tastes delish, we're in business!

One for the season-On Skiing and Snowboarding

Every time I hear someone talking about skiing or snowboarding, I am reminded of this story.

A few years ago my cousin, Amy and her husband, Dorian came down from California to visit us here in Utah. Whenever we have family come from California, they are always so excited to go skiing/boarding so they can experience our "Great Snow." So, not to fall back on tradition; we all packed up our stuff and hit the mountain!

Alexis and Dorian decided they wanted to give snow boarding a shot for the first time.

I told them they were crazy because boarding equals onyourbuttallday.

Amy and I decided to stick to the old fashioned skis.

Now, I’m going to brag a little here. I’m pretty fantastic with two skis on my feet. I went to school mainly in Idaho and each year we took a "ski trip" I learned to ski for the first time when I was in 6th grade and aside from running my classmate, Jacob, into a tree, (totally on accident and only because our ski instructor only taught us how to go fast, and not how to slow down) I had a great time! Each year I got better and better and started to go more than just the once a year trip. Now, I love it and will ski over board any day!

So, the thought of us going to Snowbird here in Utah and the fact that it would be my first time skiing in Utah (how different from Idaho could it be??) was not making me nervous at all! I was so excited!!

Amy, on the other hand is a California girl all the way! She had only been skiing maybe once or twice before, and she said the last time she’d been was with my dad and her dad and they brought her to a black diamond and made her go down. So, she was a little worried and informed me that she wanted to hang out on the bunny hill all day, and that would suffice.

After the 7th or 8th time going down the same bunny *hill* I tried to convince Amy that we should leave Alexis and Dorian who were still boarding and ontheirbutts, and try some new runs.

Finally after much convincing, she agreed!

Now, at the Idaho ski resort, there is one lift. You get on it, it takes you to the top of the mountain, you choose which path you’d like to ski down and then you hop on the lift again, same..simple..process.

Well, apparently in Utah, things run a little bit different.

"Let’s go on this lift. This side of the mountain doesn’t look too bad!"

"Okay, but Jessica, I swear you better not take me to anything crazy!!! I haven’t skied in a really long time and we’re just fresh off the bunny hill!!"

"Oh, I know! I wouldn’t take you on anything too crazy, we’ll just go a little harder than the bunny hill, cool?"

"Okay!"

We get off the lift, ride down and get a little adrenaline pumping because we’re finally doing something a little more exciting than the kiddie bunny hill.

"Let’s go again!" Amy says.

"Sure!!"

"Let’s just get on this same lift, and find another course at about the same difficulty when we get to the top."

"Sounds good!"

About halfway up the mountain we both start to realize that things are no longer looking familiar.

* We are now going almost straight up, instead of at a nice slant like before.

* We look over to our right and notice there is a professional snowboarding competition being filmed.

* There are only a few people on the lift. Definitely not as packed before.

* At this point, we are only about halfway up.

* We are scared

* Amy doesn’t know I have never been to this ski resort and therefore, I’m not sure where we’re headed.

"Jessica!! What the hell are we doing?? Where are we going?? You tricked me!! This doesn’t look the same as before!! I told you…!! Where is this thing taking us?? How many lifts does this place have???"

(Starting to get a little worried, myself) "Sorry!! I’m so confused...I swear this is the same lift...Except for things are starting to look different......?? I guess we will have to see what happens when we get to the top!"

After the super long ride to the top, we notice the sign indicating the different runs down the mountain.

They are all double black diamonds. (Hardest runs on the mountain)

Amy’s face drops and I calmly say to the lift operator "Excuse me, Sir...what do you think the easiest way down would be?" He looked at me like I was retarded and started to say "Ma’am, these are all extremely advanced runs. If you want easier ones, don’t take the lift from the middle to the top of the mountain. Stay at the bottom half." He was still talking but I was distracted by (what seemed like) a 6 year old little boy moving me out of the way, saying "Excuse me! Hey Dad...let’s go down THIS one!!" almost jumping out of his boots with excitement.

I got the death stare from Amy and we chose a random one."
Standing at the tip top of the mountain, with the front half of our skis hanging off the cliff we're about to ski down, Amy says "Jessica, I swear! You better wait for me! Do NOT go fast; we have to take this very, very slow!"

Well, if you have ever skied down a pretty steep slope you know the slower you go, the more your legs feel. the. burn.

After my legs started to really "feel the burn" I looked back to Amy and was about to ask if we could go just a little faster, only to see that she had taken her skis off and was scooting down the cliff. I felt so bad but I had to keep going. There is no way I could go down that run as slow as we were moving!

As I was going down the run, trying to avoid at least every other jump that was coming up, I felt so bad just imagining my cousin from California, skiing for the second or third time, scooting down a double black diamond run. (But kind of thought it was a little, tiny bit funny)

Now we look back and it’s hilarious!! We both made it down safely! I would do it again, but I know for a fact that next time Cousin Amy comes down for a visit, she will NOT let me be her ski buddy!

2009--The Goods.

2009 had it's ups and downs! Here are a few of our 2009 "ups!"..

Trav got a really, really good job.

The Vikings are finally a decent team again and make it to the playoffs (Thanks Favre)

Lots of visits to Idaho to spend time with the bestest.

Took first place in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament (90 players) and won 500 bucks!

Bought our first washer and dryer. (Seems like such a little thing but man it's SO nice to do laundry at your own house!) So nice, in fact, for the first month of owning said washer and dryer, the laundry was so kept up that when something was dirty, all we had to do was put it directly into the washer because there wasn't enough to even do a single load! Oh, how I wish I was still that excited to do laundry!

Trav bought a car and now we have two :)

Auntie Kristine came down for a visit.

We got rid of our 832lb TV in the room and upgraded to a new, fancyish one.

Finally got rid of our ugly-green-old-hand-me-down-worn-out couch and bought newish pretty ones! (Thanks Heather!)

Strep throat didn't bless me with it's presence as many times as it usually does.

I. Blogged. *steadily* All. Year. (Again, something that seems small, but SO not like me)

Saw Modest Mouse in concert for the second fabulous time.

Went to Regina Spektor with Kassi. For those of you who are wondering, yes, you still get chills, even if you've seen her before. She is beautiful.

Actually, saw a ton of good shows. Went to free concerts at Gallivan, went to small local shows, and big *mainstream* shows.

Found that I love digital scrapping, and started something that I hope to never let fade away.

Killed a spider all by myself.

Found out how to put good use to my camera and took lots and lots of pictures.

Went on the yearly trip to Lagoon with bestest and fam!

Bought the coolest Peterson bobble head in the world.

Started looking into buying a house and looked at over 500 possibilities. (One step at a time)

Celebrated our 4 year anniversary.

Bought a Wii.

Continued our pumpkin carving tradition.

Saw my cousin and my little sister both move out on their own! SO proud of them :)
and had lots and lots of quality family time!

What a great year!

Here's to a bigger and better 2010!!

Bathtime--Like the good old days.

So, for Christmas I got some adorable little stars. (Thanks Megan!)

I was happy with said adorable little stars, just as they were, and then I found something out that made them SO much better! They are bath foamie adorable stars!

Awesome, right??

I know! I was about as excited as a 5 year old would be if they were to open a present and find these stars!

Baths are so relaxing, and now...so much better!

My second home!

This one's for my sister, Kassi! This is my work desk and *very* cute calendar :)

Christmas 2009 *Pictures!*

Strike a pose!

Christmas at Mom's!

Mom found the greatest thing EVER!!!

Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa's

Passing out presents

Time to pray!

Games, games, games

Kassi apparently has a thing with putting her hands over siblings/cousins ears. I don't get that.

Merry Christmas!!!