Christmas

So Christmas this year was so much fun and I'm really bummed that I am so horrible at taking pictures! I had the best of intentions and had my camera with me all weekend but actually pulling it out and taking pictures is another story.
Christmas Eve day we went over to the Lemon's house and met up with the rest of the family. It's not very often that we are all together so of course we had to get a picture of all of us! That night we did the progressive dinner and started out at Cody and Kat Lewis' house (Shawn's aunt and uncle) for appetizers, Shawn's parents for the main dish and then Todd and Val Lewis' (Shawn's other aunt and uncle) for program and dessert. The program was great and consisted of Kat singing Oh Holy Night, she has an AMAZING voice, saying what we were grateful for from 2008 and drawing names and saying nice things! I LOVE getting everyone together for Christmas and it was really nice to have my parents there as well! Then we came back home and got our Christmas presents and Hurley all packed up and headed to my parents to spend the night. Billy also tagged along and we all stayed up and watched Christmas Vacation. I have to say that in true Brittany form I fell asleep halfway into the movie and I really don't know why it was such a big deal that I hadn't seen it before?!?! Christmas morning was AWESOME and I have to say that we finally pulled one over on my dad. He really wanted a Jack Lalanne Juicer and so we went to Walmart and bought one of those old fashioned juicers and wrapped it up and let him believe that it was the juicer that we bought him. My dad is so nice that he actually said, "Oh this is just what I wanted." What a great dad!! So we let him go on believing that was it and while he was out of the room we pulled out the real juicer, put it on the counter and then wait and see how long it would take him to notice it. Well my mom couldn't hold the secret went right up to him, did some eye thing and he saw it. Let's just say that i'm pretty sure he will be putting some good use to it. Yesterday alone he used it like 3 times. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and then heading over to Brent and Theresa's house (Shawn's other aunt and uncle) and having Christmas dinner with the family. It was a great Christmas and I'm always so sad when it's all over...especially when I don't have any pictures!! But I do have to say that both sides are awesome and even got Hurley a little something! I am so grateful for my family and I can't believe that the year is almost over! This year has been filled with some amazing memories and I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us! Shawn and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year!

The Lemon Family

Kamay- Our niece (Shawn's brother Nick and sister-in-law Ashley's daughter)...isn't she adorable? Shawn kept saying say cheese and look at the camera...needless to say she is an energetic 2 year old and I can't believe how big she is getting!

Beautiful People

So you know those people that are BEAUTIFUL like their whole lives? They never go through an awkward teenage, high school phase thing? Yeah I totally don't know what that feels like! HAHA...I went through not one, not two but MULTIPLE awkward phases and sometimes I feel like i'm still going through one! Shawn and I were cleaning out one of our spare bedrooms and I came across a roll of film. I didn't know what or when it was from so I took it to Walgreens and had it put on a CD and found some funny pictures from a vacation my family took when I was in middle school. Please feel free to enjoy a couple of laughs on me! I am so grateful for my family. We seriously had some of the best times together!
P.S. I had more that Shawn was laughing out but I think those were WAY too embarrassing so I guess the few will have to get you by until I feel like embarrassing myself again!

Paramedic School

So for those of you that don't know Shawn is in paramedic school! When he first got accepted I kind of figured it would just be a little bit different then what he does as an EMT but everything else would pretty much be the same. Well I was wrong...way wrong. He is insanely busy. He not only goes to school on Tuesdays and Fridays all day but he works on the days in between that, goes out and works at the Fire Department on Friday nights and then all of the other nights he's up until at least midnight studying for all of the tests that he has. It's honestly really insane and i'm really glad that it's him and not me! Well they have also started doing injections and IV's. There was a time when I thought I wanted to join the medical field and possibly be a nurse...well I decided against it and now I am reminded why. I'm a little weirded out about needles....especially when I am the one that's putting it into people. So Shawn and his paramedic friends got to practice on each other and it resulted in some pretty funny/disgusting pictures. The guy that was putting an IV in Shawn I guess did something a little wrong because blood came squirting out and there was pretty much blood all over Shawn's arm...yeah I totally couldn't handle it! But I am so proud of Shawn and all that he's accomplishing. I can't believe how much he is learning already! So here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...we try to keep it PG on here...so none of them are TOO bad...plus most of you probably have much stronger stomaches then me! Yes...I know I am weak sauce. Next week they start on foot and possibly neck IV's...yeah and I thought this was bad! Until next time have a wonderful day!

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

When I sit down and think about all of the things I have to be grateful for it makes me realize that:
A. There are way too many things to even begin to list them
B. I should really do this more often
For some reason the fall season just makes me happy! I love the smells, sounds and feelings of fall. It reminds me of how wonderful my life truly is and how quickly I am to forget. I am so excited for this season and am so grateful for the reminder to be thankful. As for tomorrow, we are headed over to the Lemons house to enjoy Thanksgiving! Shawn is going to get up early and play football with some of his family and friends. I will probably sleep in and if I'm feeling up to it I might even take the dog for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner run...gotta keep my metabolism up for all of the yummy food I am going to be eating!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

3 years ago today...

Saturday Night Lights

On Saturday Shawn and I were able to go the USC vs Stanford game at the Stanford stadium. I bought the tickets back at the beginning of the year as an early anniversary present since our anniversary is about a week away. I was really nervous going into Stanford that we would be in the minority as USC fans but we were actually the majority...it's pretty sad when the home team is booed in their own stadium. USC is Shawn's favorite team so he was just in heaven! It was my first ever college football game and I have to say that it exceeded all of my expectations. Our seats were awesome and the atmosphere was so much fun! I definitely think it is going to be a tradition that we carry on...to go to at least one USC game a season. Shawn kept trying to get a picture of Pete Carol, USC's head coach, but only managed to get a picture of the back of his head. USC's band was awesome and before the game they even had fighter jets fly over. All in all it was a great night and I'm glad that we got to do something fun for our anniversary....even if we were about a week early!
P.S. Sorry about the order of the pictures...for some reason they came out backwards!! So go down and then scroll up!

We're having Kids!

So everyone else is having kids and we decided to jump on the bandwagon!





Then we saw what our kids might look like and I think we're just going to stick with the dog. Seriously?? One of our kids looks like mini-me, the other one has a Halloween costume on, another one looks like an alien, and then we have one that looks like it just came from yoodling in the mountains of Switzerland. Yeah I'm pretty certain that we're never having kids. And just for the record IF we do have kids...we probably won't have this many...just in case you were wondering! And another thing...isn't it kind of creepy how much these kids look a like...yeah I'm kind of creeped out...

The Bonds visit California

So I've kind of been putting off this post because there is so much that I want to say and I'm afraid that I won't be able to remember it all! Our friends the Bonds came to California to visit us! Brian is Shawn's old mision companion for Jersey. I have been wanting to meet them for forever!! Amy and I have been email buddies and we finally decided we had to get together. We were supposed to head out to their neck of the woods in November but Brian's work schedule changed so they decided to come out and visit us instead! We had such a good time and I am so sad that the time went by so quickly! Unfortunatly my immune system decided that this would be a great time to fail and so I was kind of sick/tired/gross the whole time...but I think we still had a good time!! The first day they were here we made a trip down to Old Sacramento and went into the fun shops they have down there, showed them the Capitol and finished off our little adventure at Joe's Crab Shack, then went home had Tops Yogurt (yum) and played some Rock Band! . .



Then on Friday we decided to make the trip down to the Big City...San Francisco. It is seriously one of my favorite places to visit! First stop was Cheesecake Factory on top of Macy's. I just love that resteraunt and the one in SF is the best! So we had lunch/dinner and then decided to walk around the town. We headed down to Pier 39 (sorry Amy I am totally stealing your pictures!), drove down the windy road and of course stopped by to see the seals. We really wanted to go to Alcatraz...it is so much fun...but they were booked out for 2 days! (I should have known!) But that just means they'll have to come back and visit!

Saturday we went up to my grandparents house so the men could do their manly thing and shoot guns. Amy, Broc and I decided we would go check out the animals instead.

Sunday was really relaxing, we went to church, had dinner and spent time with family. Then it was time to say good-bye. I am so sad they are gone. We had a ton of fun and I really hope that we start a tradition where we get together at least every 6 months (one can wish right?) But honestly it was a lot of fun to spend time with their family and I can't wait until we do it again! Oh and as a side note they are seriously the best house guests ever! I came home for lunch on Monday and they totally cleaned my house! I mean vaccuming, mirrors, tables the whole nine yards. Yeah they are pretty much the best ever!

This picture is really cute of Broc wearing Shawn's fire helmet.
This video is kind of crazy...try not to get car sick...lol...but Amy and I were laughing so hard because the boys put in their music and they were singing SOOO loud!Hopefully you can hear it!
The last one is one of Broc and Hurley playing (he is getting so big!) They were the best of friends and Hurley was so sad when they left! Notice at the end of the video when Amy asks if I'm recording her and I said no...yeah I'm horrible! And the loud noise in the background that's Brian and Shawn playing Halo. Sorry Amy, I think Shawn might have corrupted him..lol.



Sorry this has been the longest post over! Amy, sorry I stole all of your pictures. Good thing you took some or I wouldn't have any! Brian, Amy and Broc thank you for coming out and visiting us! See you soon!

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL

Hello all! Well this past week has been full of new experiences, Shawn now spends all his time either at work, school, scouts or studying until 12:00am. I've been keeping myself busy by sleeping and watching T.V.... I think i totally have the harder jobs!
This last Saturday we drove down to San Jose for a Dashboard Confessional concert, there Shawns favorite group. Well it was my first concert and just may be my last. We were on the floor really close to the stage but as the different groups would come and go it seemed to get more and more condensed until I finally couldn't take it anymore and Shawn had to pull me away from a girl that tried to push me out of the way so she could be 2 steps closer( it's a good thing that Shawn stepped in or I would have killed her). The concert was fun aside from the crowd.. the opening groups were the CAB (never heard of them)

Plain White T's (they did a good job)
Panic at the Disco (wasn't a fan)

and Dashboard. (they did a really good job, I never really liked them but after seeing them live I listen to them all the time now.)

It as a fun week, and we're going to have some friends coming down from Utah this next weekend so I'm sure we'll have stories and pictures to go along with that.

Fun things about me!

So in case you can't tell I'm bored and thought this would be kind of fun...so in an effort not to bore you all to tears here are 6 random factoids about me....

1. When I was little I used to act like I was Martha Stewart. I would come up with these crazy recipe ideas and act like I was on her show and go through step-by-step (out loud of course)details of everything that I was doing. I ended up with some pretty interesting foods like celery/carrot/peanut butter sandwiches. YUM!

2. I used to take my teachers old school supplies home and decorate my bedroom. I would copy handouts that I got from school and make my brother play school with me. I loved being a "teacher" and really thought that was what I wanted to be when I grew up. SO even when I was off-track and out of school I was still "in school."

3. When I was really young I would wake up really early and do this little work-out/gymnastics thing they had on the Disney channel. I honestly thought that people in the TV could see me...so I had to make sure that I was doing the moves perfectly so the people in the TV would hire me and I could be on their show.

4. When I was in elementary school I saw a commercial about a psychic and decided that it would be a good idea to call them. So I called and I talked to this lady for a good 30 minutes...that I got for "free". I totally thought I got away with it until my mom got the phone bill. Luckily she has a sense of humor and laughed and told me never to call one again. Don't worry...I haven't...she had horrible advice and believed that I was 18.

5. I used to make animal noises and sing super loud when I was little and this resulted in some pretty messed up vocal chords. Well they got so bad that I actually got these little bumps on them. So when I was about 8 I had to get them removed. So now instead of sounding all out of breath when I talk I sound like a man. Good trade off.

Ok so all of these have been about my "early years" so i'll add a more recent one just for fun.

6. I am a certified dental assistant. The summer right before my senior year I moved to Oregon and worked for my uncles who are dentists. I decided that was my calling in life and signed up for an ROP program that I could do while I was still in high school. I graudated from the program and got a job at a grocery store. I never looked back. HAHA

So there are 6 FASCINATING facts about me. If you're reading this you get to do it too!

Think Pink!

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Go to www.armyofwomen.org sign up!

GIANT Pumpkin and Harvest Festival

I am really lucky that I get to work for a company that has such awesome activites for our community. One of these activites is the annual GIANT Pumpkin and Harvest Festival. It's held the first weekend of October and it's always a good time! I got to work on Saturday in the kid's craft area. It started out as kind of a slow day because of the rain that we got on Friday but it turned out to be a beautiful day! On Saturday they had the GIANT Pumpkin weight off which is basically where people bring their huge pumpkins and get them weighed to possibly win not only bragging rights but can also win some cash. This year the biggest pumpkin was 1536.5 only a pound heavier then last year. Yeah that's huge! Then on Sunday the pumpkin growers actually dig a hole in their pumpkin and participate in something called the Pumpkin Regatta where they climb in their boats and row their way around a lake inside Elk Grove Park. Yes, we are one of the only festivals that actually has people that use pumpkins as boats. The theme for the festival this year was the Pumpkin Party...for the election year. I am so happy that this year was a success and can't wait to see what we come up with for next year! The pictures above are obviously the pumpkin regatta, the HUGE pumpkins and some cute pictures that my friend Kelli drew for an activity that we had at the festival where people got to vote on their favorite "veggie" candidate.