Newport 09

It was time for our annual trip to California to visit the beach this year. We went to my parents' time share in Newport Beach this time, and we both ended up pretty sunburned. Jordan and Robyn were there which made it a little more fun. We forgot our camera every time we went to the beach though and as such we have very few photos of the time actually at the beach.


We were all going to go out for dinner for "date night" on Saturday, but decided that it would be more affordable to make our own steaks at home, which it was, and more fun too. So we took a photo of the fam that was there to enjoy the evening.



In the spirit of our 4th of July photos I wanted to do more time exposure shots, since I love them. This is one of the resultant photos of that photo session.





These last two were our attempts at getting a beach scene drawn with sparklers. Our sparkler work needs a little honing but you get the idea.



This is Jordan and Robyn and us at Balboa beach, which has become our favorite beach in the Newport area. This was the first day, before any of us had gotten any sun. Jaala is now a healthy brown and even I have some decent color (due in part to the 4 day camping trip I went on directly following our return from Newport).



And that concludes our pictures from Newport this year. We are hoping to be able to get a beach house of our own to rent someday, since there are tons of them in the area. Here's hopin'

A Day in the Life of a Mullet

Alright folks. About a week ago I got an email from yahoo saying that they would be closing Geocities in October so I needed to retrieve all my files and such from my webpage that was hosted there or I would lose them.
You see back before my mission I had a band, and for a while after my mission too. That band was The School Uniforms. Anyway Geocities was a place that hosted webpages for free and actually provided you with quite a few tools to maintain it as well.
At 18 years old I was SUPER into maintaining the webpage so I had quite a few files on there.
At any rate part of the webpage was dedicated to an adventure I had one day when I decided to cut my hair from about chin length to "missionary" length since I was leaving on a mission shortly. And since I didn't want to lose that story to the money hungry dot-com-ers, The following is what that webpage included in pretty much the same format, Begin:

Since I am going on a mission, I had to cut my hair. So I thought I would have a little fun with it. And what better way to have fun with hair than with a mullet. So I woke
up on Monday the 12th of February, took a before picture, and proceded to cut a mullet. the following is an account of the experiences I had on the
darkside of haircuts.



First, Taking A Shower: This was a very interesting experience. All shower taking routines are thrown out the window. It was actually kind of a pain, and it made me wonder
how people do this everyday. Washing and conditioning is very different. The mullet needs the same amount of shampoo and conditioner as the rest of your head.
Rinsing it all out also becomes a challenge. Instead of bending forward, you have to lean backward under the shower, so the mullet doesn't get stuck to your head.
I thought drying would be a rather straight-forward task. I was mistaken. The hair on the top of your head drys much faster than the mullet, so a lot of towel rubbing occurs.
Which could explain why so many mullets have such fluffy plumage. I also noticed that any faces you make, are made about five times uglier because of the mullet.

and now the day begins..
all pictures by Noah K***** except before and after



I had to go to the post office that morning, Incredibly nobody even looked twice at such a beautiful display of winter plumage.



After the post office, I had to go to rite-aid and buy some sunglasses, afterall how can a mullet really express himself with a bare face. While trying on glasses I began
stroking the mullet involuntarily.


The mullet was obviously taking control. I couldn't help but grab my crotch to display my manliness


Displaying it's true prowess,the mullet prompted this cashier to compliment my choice of haircut and sunglasses


I began to jokingly look at playboys, but found myself instinctively drawn to the earlier 80's issues. And thinking that the girls in the new issues were far to modern.


Walking to a pawn shop, I found a can of budwieser. I couldn't help but hope there was a little left.


We went into a pawn shop to look at guitars, but mysteriously the only one I liked, had a picture of a girls butt in see-thru underwear on it.
And when I picked it up to play it all I could play was Black Sabbath and finger-tap solos.


I had a strange craving for something very greasy.


I didn't even know we had a knife store, but somehow I knew right where to go.


Nice Car!


Nicer Car!


Well, that concludes My experience with a mullet. I couldn't handle it's power for another day. It was far too strong for a tried and true coldneck. So I cut it off the next day.
hope you enjoyed it!

YOUR MOM!

Since I have been living 40 miles away from my workplace, I have to commute every morning and evening. I have become accustomed to reading the billboards on my way to and from Provo. This one caught my attention last week and I have been trying to get a photo of it without endangering the other motorists around me. I got one this morning. If you look close, the billboard says "Your mom uses billboards".



If any of you know me, you know that "Your Mom" is a phrase used by me MANY times a day. Anyway, here is the photo... YAY!

Waiting with baited breath!

I knew that buying a house is a big deal and a very "adult" thing to do... but nobody told me what it would feel like to be WAITING and stressing about the loan process. Holy crap! Harrison and I put an offer in on the very nice 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath home featured below. Our offer was accepted and we couldn't be happier! But... now we wait and wait and wait for the bank to basically say "OK Mr and Mrs Allen, you are legit and have jobs and have money so we will give you the loan". SCARY! I don't like this waiting thing. Anybody who knows me knows that I am not the patient kind (holy cow, it took me until I got married to finally NOT peek at my Christmas presents.... sorry Mom, Dad, and Santa... I was naughty).

So, this is a photo of the house we are wanting to get. I won't post photos of the inside until we know for sure we got the house (I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch).

OK, I just had to get all of that out of my system! Phew. I feel better!

Wishful Wednesday... I mean... Thankful Thursday

Well, I know I will forget to write this tomorrow, so I will do it today. Things I am thankful for:

Bryant and Jessica

They had a baby this morning (well, Jessica had the baby) and she is darling. Her name is McKenna Jade and she looks exactly like her dad and big brother. I was able to go visit her in the hospital this afternoon.

Answered Prayers

I have had a lot in the past little while!

Family

I was able to spend time with my family last week while my brother, Curtis, got married! YAY. I love them (in small doses.... KIDDING).

Harry Potter

I was able to go on a "date" with my sister in law, Joy, to see the new Harry Potter flick. I was reminded of how awesome the series is! I was thankful to get out with Joy for a couple of hours, see a movie I love.... and stay up past my bedtime! (and just a little secret... I kind of have a crush on Ron Weasley now) HA

Well, that is it for now. I will write more later I am sure! I am off to Grand Junction this weekend to attend Curtis and Holly's wedding reception. I will have lots of fun photos I am sure.

The Hitching of Curtis and Holly

What a jolly ol' time we had in Omaha, Nebraska for the hitching of my brother, Curtis, to his new wife, Holly. The entire trip is one for the record books. From the moment I left Provo, UT to embark on this once in a lifetime adventure, things were funny.

First off, Harrison and I missed our flights to and from Omaha. We were less than an hour early (53 minutes to be exact) and so the Las Vegas Airport would not check our bags. So we were not able to make our 12:50am flight and had to go home and sleep for a few hours and come back to make a 7:00am flight..... ANNOYING!

We finally made it to Omaha in just enough time to check into our hotel, shower our airplane sweated bodies, and get to the temple for family photos.

The sealing was amazing and I am pretty dang happy for my brother, Curtis.

Curtis and Holly Gladden

Me doing what I do best (bossing people around)
My entire family (including my grandparents).. I have a large family... let me list them off to you:

Harve and Beth (grandma and grandpa)

Nancy and Charles (mom and dad)

Jaala and Harrison

Charlie and Shawna

Curtis and Holly

Charnae

Laura

Brok

Westley

Here are some fun photos of the day:

Me and my sisters ended up wearing very similar shoes. Very fun!

Brok and Westley

Harrison and I.... this is the real photo from our last post (pre photoshop)
Harrison

Charlie's Angels.... No really... my dad's name is Charlie!

After the sealing, we all went to downtown Omaha (which was actually quite lovely) and ate a family meal at SPAGHETTI WORKS. It was super fun. We laughed and yucked it up big time.

Laura, Brok, and Westley drank almost an enitre pitcher of Mr. Pibb while at the restaurant. It was super funny. They had tummy aches and the burps for hours afterwards.

After the Spaghetti Works fun... we went to my family's hotel to visit for a few mintues before we had to head back to our own hotel to get some shut eye before our 5am flight the next morning. While chatting in my parents/grandparents room a disgusting cockroach decided to scurry around the room! GROSS... so... my family checked out of the roach motel and went to another... quite lovely hotel instead.

Harrison and I got back to our hotel and packed up our things so we would be all ready to leave at 3am to get to the airport on time. Harrison set his alarm and we bedded down for the night. I woke up a short time later (or so I thought) and I felt quite rested. I had only had a few hours of sleep... why did I feel so rested?? OH NO!!!!!! The alarm clock read 6:17am. Our flight had departed an hour ago... without us! So we scurried around getting the last of our things together to get to the airport to get on another stand by flight.

Well, we were able to spend the rest of the morning/afternoon with my family while we waited for our next flight. We ate breakfast at Denny's (a family tradition). It started POURING rain and I didn't want my hair getting wet. So, I put on this fancy schmancy bonnet (channeling my inner Laura Ingalls) to keep my hair dry while running from the truck to the restaurant.

After starting our wonderful meal at Denny's I went to take a gulp of milk that I had with my meal. Right as I was taking a drink, my brother Charlie asked my Mom to taste his milk because he thought there was something wrong with it.... then I gulped. OH NO!!! The milk had gone sour. I tried to spit out as much as I could but it was too late. My gag reflex had already kicked in and I ran around the restaurant like a crazy lady trying to find the bathroom. To make a long story short... when I emerged out of the bathroom, it was as if I didn't eat anything at all... hee hee.

We finally made it to the airport and made it home to Las Vegas. When we got to the airport, Harrison convinced me to put my first dollar into a slot machine. YES ITS TRUE... I HAVE NEVER GAMBLED BEFORE.... EVEN THOUGH I SPENT THE FIRST 19 1/2 YEARS OF MY LIFE IN LAS VEGAS.
Well, I hit the button and WON!!!!!! YAHOO!

Hey... winning is winning! I don't care that it was only $4.

A trip well worth attending.

Husker Country

We were in Omaha this week for a wedding.....


more on that to come

Independence Day

We went to my Grandparent's cabin this weekend near Grand Junction, CO and we had a pretty good time. The cabin is always nice to go to for relaxation and avoidance of tons of people. We spent Friday-Sunday at the cabin and on Saturday night had a small fireworks show which included taking the above six-second exposure with sparklers. From left to right we have Jordan, Kali's Friend Tasia, Jaala, Kali, and Robyn. I love doing time exposure shots because they always turn out so awesome looking. So here are a couple of others:


This is Jordan drawing around Robyn


This is Robyn making a star


This is Jaala's attempt at a design, not sure what though :)


This is when everyone decided to take advantage of the opportunity to relaxate


I was feeling quite greasy not having taken a shower in a day and being in the wilderness and all so I wet my hair down and put my beard to use for a little comic relief.



On the 4th we got all the folks together for a photo. This is all my brothers and step brothers, and my step-dad Dennis.


This is my mom and two of her cousins. I basically put this on here because she complains that I never mention my family on the blog. So here is my WONDERFUL mom. Thank you mom, I love you mom. You're the greatest mom!


and this is the whole fam-damily that was up at the cabin including step bro's and all their children. And the lady to whom we owe most of our lives and especially the cabin my mom's mom, my grandma.


You may have to click on this photo to read what is on the tree, but it is a carving dated 6/29/38 from my Grandpa, Lawrence Aubert. Jordan pointed out that this carving was done when my G-pa was only 18, before he met my grandma, before the cabin existed and long before any of us existed. Pretty awesome to think about my teenage grandpa carving this with probably none of these things in mind. Just carving for carving's sake and now we are here to enjoy all of his hard work.

One of my worst fears... came true!

So, Harrison and I bought a small deep freezer when I moved into Nick and Joy's house so I would be able to keep all of our meat and frozen food that we bought. Well, I went out for the first time today to get some chicken nuggets out for dinner... and.... OH NO... What is that smell???

The deep freeze wasn't on. Everything in the freezer was rotted and smelled like death. I would guess that there was close to $200 worth of meat and veggies in that freezer... not to mention Harrison's grandmother's wonderful peach jam! DANG!!!

Well, I started to investigate and it turns out that the GFI outlet that the freezer was plugged into had tripped sometime in the last few weeks, but we didn't know it.

I am totally bummed. I got the freezer back on that I will let the food freeze again before emptying it. The smell is just more than I can handle. I now know what a rotting body smells like for sure. So, next week I will have to shut it down again and scrub it down and disinfect the thing.

Well, that is my life update for now... note to self... check the freezer every couple of days!

Another Round of Thankful Thursday Please

And what a Thankful Thursday it is. This last week has been SO LONG. It has felt like 3 weeks rolled into one... not good. So, I have been reflecting on the things that I have been thankful for this past week.

Differences of opinion
I know... hard to believe that I would be thankful for a difference of opinion. I am. I had a conversation with some of my co-workers this morning on the value of books and different authors. We all have very different opinions. This is why I love working with these people. It is so wonderful to learn and embrace their differences. I love to learn about what makes people "tick". I think its good to work and be friends with people so similar to you yet so different... does this even make sense??

Camera Phones
Something I don't think about often, but I am thankful for these handy devices. Last weekend (click here for the post) I traveled to Las Vegas to see Harrison for a long weekend. We visited the Hoover Dam... it has been 5 years since I have been over there. Anyway, we both decided that I wouldn't bring the good camera on this particular trip and so when we got to the Dam and so many awesomely cool things, we were sad that the camera was not at our side. So we took pictures with our phones. Amazing technology, really.

Sunshine
The weather here in Utah has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL the last week. Breath-taking really. Not too hot, not too cold. It is perfect weather to get out and see the blooming peonies, roses, and daisies on a morning or evening stroll. There is not much I like about Utah, but this weather has been amazing.

Pink Toes
I gave myself a pedicure last week and chose to paint my little piggies HOT PINK. I have quite enjoyed them. Something small and insignificant some might say, but a set of hot pink toes can do a heart good. Yes indeed.

Horizon Ward
This ward is the ward I grew up in. While in Las Vegas, I attended this ward. It was AMAZING. There were so many good friends that were there. I was so happy to see them. The ward has changed quite a bit, but I was so excited to see some of my former youth leaders and good family friends.

Well, this concludes this weeks edition. I am thankful for so much, but when I sit down to write these blog posts, it seems that everything escapes my pea-brain.