Every tooth in a man's head is more valuable than a diamond.

... This is exactly what I thought when I saw the total bill for my braces. Woah. $4200 for straight teeth?? Are you kidding me? No, the orthodontist was not. So, in November of 2007 I signed up (laid in a chair rather) and had orthodontic appliances put onto my very crooked and very gnarly teeth. I needed braces for a myriad of reasons, but Harrison and I decided that this simply could not wait any longer.

22 months later, just about a week ago, I had my braces taken off. After almost two years, I couldn't even remember what it was like to NOT have braces. I hadn't bitten into an apple for ages nor had I chewed gum for that long either. I went into the orthodontist very anxious to get the dang things off. All he did was snap them one by one with a pair of pliers. WHAT?? That is all it took to take them off? It took about 45 seconds. I took a look in the mirror and in true Jaala fashion, started to cry! I could not believe that my teeth looked that good! HOLY CRAP! Straight teeth in Jaala's mouth. A miracle to me.

For any of you who read this and are thinking about getting braces but are worried about the cost, pain, maintenance, hassle, blah blah blah... I am here to tell you that it is TOTALLY worth it. Go get those braces. I thought I was "too old" for braces, but my orthodontist specializes in mainly adult orthodontics... so they made things quick, professional, and my braces were as discreet as braces could possibly be... and then I started to notice that there are TONS of grown-ups with braces on! Its awesome!

Here is a time line of before, during, and after photos of my orthodontics history!



I am so happy with the way my teeth turned out. They are beautiful. I can't believe it really. Harrison is really happy too. He tells me everyday how beautiful I am (not that he didn't think I was beautiful before, but I think I really just shocked us both at how good my teeth look). I get compliments left and right on my teeth. Thanks for those (and thanks to the total strangers who give them to me to).

OK, Im done for now :)

Facial hair

Howdy folks,
Harrison here, just wallowing in the all too expected loss of BYU to FSU....Not really, that was pretty much a given loss. It is funny when speculation about games is on TV. Shouldn't a game between a team that is ranked #7 in the nation and a team that is not even in the top 25 teams in the nation be a non-issue? Unless of course everyone knows that that #7 team doesn't really deserve to be ranked so high. And as such it becomes fun to discuss who will win said game, which it just so happens was the team that was not even ranked....hmmm.

Anyway on to better things. On the note of BYU let's discuss why I am actually writing this post. After I graduated from BYU I felt the need to grow me a Grizzly Adams-type beard. Which is what I did.


Shortly after this photo was taken I trimmed my beard and along with it, my hair. (because a smaller beard made my hair look a little gay so long).


I personally was very disappointed with this haircut because I told the lady to leave it 1in long on the top and 1/2 in on the sides, but it came out the same length all around. Of course it was impossible for her to put the hair back on my head so I told her I was satisfied and promptly left. I got used to it though and I had to keep better tabs on my beard length as it seems to grow much faster than my normal hair.

But today I finally felt like my hair was a good length on the top so I could get the sides cut down again. So I went to Supercuts and got me a trim.
Along with this trim I have been contemplating a beard overhaul to prepare for some official photos Jaala and I are getting taken next weekend. So as always I decided to have a little fun with it for a minute.



minutes after this photo I finished off the beard and left some somewhat conservative "chops" reminiscent of our newly married days.



I am satisfied with this look. But I do think the beard makes me look older and the non-beard makes me look younger. Plus the beard made me look a lot tougher. Right?

Las Vegas - my favorite desert mirage.

Well, I have arrived ALMOST permanently in Las Vegas (I still have a couple of trips to make back to Utah for logistical stuff). I came down here with 4 suitcases full of clothes and shoes (the essentials of course) and "moved in" with Harrison. We are staying with some friends until we know if the house we are under contract with finalizes and we are able to close (yes ladies and gentleman... we STILL do NOT know if we got the house yet).

I have been spending the last 2 days filling out job applications and submitting resumes here in the Las Vegas valley. Harrison asked me just this morning how many applications/resumes he thought I had submitted. I estimated about 40. Yup, 40. Nothing has come of any of them quite yet, but I haven't lost hope.

The weather here in Vegas is wonderful.... HOT HOT HOT!!! Just the way I like it. I am, as my mother-in-law told me once, a desert iguana. I am very happy to be with Harrison, though I already miss Nick and Joy and the kids. I wonder if I can persuade them to move down here to The City of Sin??

We appreciate all of the concern and love that we feel from a lot of you. I know that we have a lot of family and friends that read this blog and I know you pray for us often. We appreciate it. Please keep us in your prayers as we try to close on this stupid house (I didn't mean stupid... it is just getting frustrating) and pray for me as I try to find a job to help pay the bills.

So, it seems that is where we are at right now. We are stuffed into a little basement bedroom with way too many clothes (I just couldn't leave them behind until the REAL move) and we are loving it. Its good to be together again, although it is proving to be a little harder than we may have thought to get used to sleeping next to each other (more for me maybe). But I am so happy to be with Harrison and to be able to talk to him face to face instead of over the webcam or over the cellphone (which always proves to be frustrating since most of the time the reception is always bad).

OK, that's all for now. Shoot us a comment. We love hearing from people who read our blog. Family, friends, strangers.... whoever! Let us know you read :)