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 :)

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