Two smashing weekends! :)

Ok first of all...does she remind you of anyone??? Anyone who knows me knows that this child is without a doubt my sister. She somehow got a hold of my camera...and this is the result. Such a gem isn't she? hahaha. I love it.

So...regretfully we weren't in St. George for long a couple weeks ago...and I really didn't capture enough pictures. How lame of me. But I will post what I DID take of our short little adventure.

This is my grandma Irene and her husband Jack's little puppy. Her name is Gidgette! Cute huh? She's freaking small and adorable and SO cute to watch play!

There's grandma and Jack in the background...

I got to play with sweet little Mckenzie Dawn Campbell as well! Kara had JUST taken her hair out and was not impressed to have her picture taken like this--but I think it's PERFECT and sweet! She looks just like Kara, and we had fun watching her play with her doll and all her other toys. She's getting so big so fast! I just love all my friends' babies.

We kinda match eh? We had fun with Kara and Todd playing some game I don't remember the name of...some version of Phase 10. I didn't lose too badly, and I had a GREAT time cracking up with Kara! There's really nothing like old friends :)

K so St. George had some REALLY pretty sunsets while we were there...and I've always loved where my parents live because they get such AMAZING views of them! It was the sunshine after the storm I guess...cuz Friday night was apparently a really big lightning storm. There was a bit of lightning Saturday night, I noticed...so we slept with the blinds open. Really pretty stuff.

We had a good stay in St. George. I had been REALLY homesick and this visit REALLY helped me. It's hard to not live by family and friends. I'm still adjusting to this new life in California...
It was a long time getting to Utah, however, as we missed our plane Friday night due to REALLY long lines at the airport, and stupid employees who didn't help us get to where we needed to be. It was really sad. But we DID get to stay at the Westin Airport hotel that night and the bed was like sleeping on a cloud. AMAZING. Anyway...the next day we tried again and finally got to St. George at 4:15 p.m. We couldn't get on the Monday morning flight so we ended up staying till Monday afternoon...so we got almost exactly 48 hours in St. George! We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see, but we had fun getting Cafe Rio, and visiting my family up in Cedar!

This next segment is dedicated to my crazy animals. I love them SO much and am really sad that we are going to be losing my precious Lady. We are giving her to my parents so she can have a happier life running in their yard. Figaro will be stuck with us for now! :) In the above picture, our cat Zzyzx has just discovered the fish on the tv and wants to play!

Since the dogs eat all her cat food...she has now resorted to eating THEIR food..at any cost!

Then there's our sweet lady...she found these english muffins on the side of the sidewalk during her walk. this was her third attempt to bring them home..and we finally let her bring them in the apartment. I about died when I saw that she had ONE AND A HALF of them in her mouth! She would eat her own foot if it had some sauce on it. She kills me!

Now we get to show off our cute little "Odd-Son" Lincoln! In case Robyn forgets to post...she officially made Ben and I his "Odd Parents" this last weekend. We LOVE baby Lincoln...he makes us so excited to be parents someday! He's such a perfect sweet baby boy, and this weekend he got to meet his first dogs!

Lincoln got a nice little chunk of Figaro in his little chubby hands. Poor Figs...haha

The puppies we REALLY curious about Lincoln too. They wanted to play with him as much as they could!

This is the only picture proving that Tyler was at our house...and Robyn wouldn't allow me to post the picture of she and Tyler together at Pizza D'oro...so...all I have is a picture of Ben and I.

We had a really fun time with the Rowley family, and I'm SO glad they live so close to us! They came Friday night and we all went out for pizza, then had a slumber party. The next day Robyn and I were taking my laundry to the laundry facility at my apartment and as we were passing the pool decided it would be a funny idea to jump in with our clothes on! So....after dropping off the clothes and getting Robyn's camera...we ran to the pool and jumped in! hahaha one of those random moments that makes you laugh for a long time. The look on Ben's face when he opened the door to see us drenched was priceless. I love it. Robyn and I have way too much fun together! :) We spent the day together, and on our way to the beach we were all grateful for a higher power watching out for us, because we almost got in a wreck! Thankfully Tyler has incredible reflexes and Robyn and I have strong lungs for screaming...because we narrowly missed a car that cut us off and turned in front of us as we were about to get on the freeway! IT was really REALLY scary...and baby Lincoln didn't like it at ALL! Thanks again Tyler...for being a safe and alert driver.

We all had a good time at the beach as well finding "sea spoons" to use on our deserted island when we want to cook... hahaha good times. We are grateful once again to live so close to the majestic beauty of the ocean. We are so lucky Heavenly Father created such a beautiful world for us to live in! Thanks again Tyler and Robyn for coming out to have a fun weekend with us!

GRRRR

Ok. So I'm OVER it. I'm over my hormones...and I'm over being female. I have cried more in the past two weeks than I have in months...seriously. Let me recount my afternoon yesterday...

Wow I'm hungry...I should eat something. I had a small lunch.
But what one earth should I eat?
I guess I'll settle for some rice and milk with sugar (I know that may sound gross to some of you, but I love it)
Ok that was good. I'm REALLY tired. I should take a nap...
But WAIT...One Tree Hill is online? I haven't watched that show in forever...
Ok I'll just watch ONE episode.
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One Episode later
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I can't believe I'm HUNGRY again!!! What now???

Ok...chocolate milk and cheese nips. That oughta tide me over till dinner.

I can't take a nap...I feel bad for the dogs. I need to take them for a walk...
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ONE MORE EPISODE LATER
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K now I'm REALLY tired. Darn. It's already 4:30. Ben will be home soon. I need to make dinner...
I search through the kitchen to find I have NOTHING to cook.
So...reluctantly I go to the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store by our house cuz it's ALWAYS crowded. No matter the time of day or night. But I braved it cuz I wanted my husband to have a good dinner. I've been slacking lately and just don't have the energy to cook! He's been working 11 hour days to get ahead at work, and I'm SO proud of him. So I have to do this small thing. Go to the grocery store!!!

WELL...I was already a bit ornery that I didn't have the ingredients I needed..and that I had to go buy some the day BEFORE pay day. I figured I'd just write a check and that'd be good cuz it wouldn't clear till AFTER we got paid. So I hurried as fast I could to get my 8 dollars worth of dinner groceries. I got to the check out and the cashier was an idiot. Sorry...but he really was. I stood there waiting for him to scan my groceries, and he just stared at me, and then suddenly realized OH! Those things on the belt waiting to be scanned must be hers...WOW.

Ok so we finally get things scanned and I write out my CALIFORNIA check...and he says he can't take it cuz my ID is Utah. WHAT?! I was here two days ago and you said NOTHING about not taking an OUT OF STATE ID!!!!! JUST THAT I COULDN'T HAVE AN OUT OF STATE CHECK!!! THIS IS AN IN STATE CHECK!!! LOSERS! (I only said half of that out loud)
Then I sorta SORTA calmed down.

I hate California sometimes. Some of the dimmest bulbs live here. AND I hate being an adult. I hate all the rules and things and people who tell me NO all the time!

So as I was making my way out to my car, some random guy said "LEFTIES ROCK!" WHAT???
Is anyone NOT going to bother me today?! He had seen me writing my check with my left hand. How he saw this and WHY he was staring I don't even need to know. But he did. And it bothered me. I made it almost to my car..and I started to cry. I cried because I felt dumb that I hadn't been able to find my debit card in the store, so I had to use my mom's emergency credit card...and I cried because this simple stupid thing was making me CRY!! I am SO sick of feeling like a basket case!

I cried the whole way home, then started making dinner. I had fresh onion in the fridge but I didn't feel like chopping it...so then I cried again cuz I knew I was going to use the chopped onion seasoning in the cupboard, and I felt bad cuz I knew Ben would rather have fresh onion! I finally got a grip as he got home. But as soon as I heard him walk up beside me I LOST it! I started bawling uncontrollably about how silly I felt and how stupid being a girl is! Luckily my husband is AMAZING..and he just hugged me while I cried and kissed me and wiped my tears. It's awesome having someone love you that much.

I finally calmed down. I needed a good cry. But I cry and get SO frustrated lately..it's a bit out of control.

There's no point to this post..I just wanted to rant and rave again about how much hormones SUCK.

That's all.

Impromptu!

So can anyone guess where Ben and I spent our weekend??? We got to visit this super cool guy down below...

So Ben and I woke up Friday morning (dreading work of course) and started talking about how we wished we could go to the temple,  but ours is closed for maintenance for the next two weeks...so...

 Ben said: Well let's just go to San Diego Temple! (jokingly)

I said: Okay!!! We can have an impromptu weekend away!

Ben: Well...when should we leave?

Me: Just go into work early and we'll leave at three!

SOOO we found a kennel for the dogs, packed our bags in 10 minutes, and we were off! Ben found a Marriott room for 75 dollars ( he apparently had some Marriott points) and we found the mexican restaurant I had eaten at with Wes, Chanelle and Elliot last May, which was SO yummy! 

Here's me holding the menu--the food here is so good!

Those weird lines are from the window I was taking the picture through. This was my view at the restaurant. So pretty!

Ben and I on the beach

This was our view out the window of our hotel! See the beautiful San Diego Temple? We were on the top (15th) floor!

Close-up of the Temple

I really love Marriott hotels..they are always SO beautiful. This was the lobby! Cool fixture eh?

Ben and I slept in (till 6:30 a.m....bleh) and went to do a session at the San Diego Temple! 

We loved being able to feel the spirit in such a beautiful place! 

Me using our cool camera's effects...

Next we drove on down to Sea World! Here we are in line for "Journey to Atlantis" We got SOAKED from head to toe (to say the least).

Here's Ben with the penguins in the background! You can see by his hair that he got drenched on the ride before this! :)

My FAVORITE part of Sea World..the sea lions! AHAHAHA! I wish I could put some video up...and maybe I will later but it takes too long! They are SO funny, especially at feeding time! 

I got some REALLY great action shots of Shamu! (Even though the show itself was sorta lame)

Ben and I sat in THE soak zone. Four rows back. WOW. Stupid. 

And there's Shamu showing off the very fins he drenched us with!!!

We are SO lucky to be able to just plan a trip to San Diego, and get there in less than an hour and a half! We had some much needed R&R, and felt like we had been blessed with a little second mini-honeymoon! We love where we live, and that we have such a great time together.  We are SO blessed!!!

Walk a mile...

Soo...it's been a little while since my last post.  Here's a little update on what Ben and I have been up to the last couple weeks...

I mentioned before that my company was going to go on a harbor cruise in a yacht...but the yacht wasn't ready so the owners decided to hit the race tracks instead! They said "We're going to have a Del Mar day...we go to the Del Mar races and have some fun betting on the races and getting some food. It's really a good time. We'll get a bus or something to take us down." So I was thinking..ok that's cool...I won't bet cuz that's against my religion, I'll just go down for the ride. And I thought ok...a bus ride. That should be interesting...little did I know it was a LIMO bus! I walked in and almost peed my pants! It's like what you see in movies. It was so crazy cuz I walked on (I was the last one on) and everyone was sitting in there with their beers and the huge flat screen tv's on both sides of the bus, a pole (I think for strippers...I swear) and all the flashing neon lights. It was quite a sight to behold. I had been a little leery of going because I knew everyone would be drinking...but there was another LDS guy who went, and we sorta did our own thing.  The company ended up giving us all $150 dollars for the day! $50 was for food, and the hundred was for betting. Josh (the other LDS guy) and I reasoned that we would stash the fifty, and buy some food and some random bets with the hundred.  Whatever we didn't feel like betting, we took home to spend on our spouses. Some of you may find that a little dishonest...but we figured they gave us the money and we could use it how we wanted. So we made a couple bets (this we figured was ok because it was NOT our own money)...and it turned out to be fun! See the pictures I got...

The guy on the left is Dave, the partner who hired me, and on my right is "Izzy" our intern!

Left:Pete (he does equities) Center: Bob (C.E.O.) Right: Josh, my mormon buddy!

This is a fantastic shot of our stripper pole and flatscreen...and the apparent trend of older men in short shorts. Wow...

Far left: Fitz (NY accent, hilarious guy) Center: Our newest trader, Steve Right: Chris (the third partner of the company, and the one I work with the most)

Here's us Mormon betters! Josh told me to keep this off facebook...so blogger will just have to do!

Some boring shots of lame horses that I don't think even raced...

I wanted to get a shot of the BEAUTIFUL venue! This race track is a BIG deal. A lot of Hollywood stars have spent some time here...

Me being silly with my betting tickets. I think I won $3.80 from this race. 

My glory shot. Isn't it so cool?! This is a turf race, where the horses run on turf, and are literally just inches from where you're standing. Behind them are the stands we sat in for all the other races. 

Sort of a group shot...there were 17 of us total. Obviously we're not all in here. 

So don't worry...I'm not taking up a life of gambling. By the end of the trip I was ready to be home. The music in the bus was REALLY loud, and everyone was boozed up.  You can definitely tell when the Spirit isn't residing somewhere.  I missed my husband and my dogs...and just the quiet life I lead. I was only gone for 7 hours...and that was almost too long!  I DO work for a great company though...they always ask about Ben and his company, and how I'm doing and if I'm ok. They are very considerate and I feel important working there!

On another note...Ben and I sorta started a little tradition! Last weekend we walked from our apartment to South Coast Plaza with our dogs to give them some exercise (actually to wear them out so we could sleep in) and to get some ice cream! It was a nice walk, and we got some pictures...but they aren't very attractive of me..because I had spent NINE and a half hours at traffic school that day!!! The things I do to save money on insurance...it was HELL. And when Ben hugged me when I got home after hitting EVERY LIGHT... I lost it and bawled (hence the need for ice cream). ANYWAY...I'm not going to post those pictures. Long story short, we decided after that we were NEVER taking the dogs again. It was too hard to keep them from running into the street.  So this weekend we walked over again to return something to Best Buy, and buy me some more makeup! We ended up buying a few things (one of those cool pads you can hook into the computer and literally WRITE on...and it transfers to the screen!) and then as we were deciding which route to take home, I remembered that MAMA MIA was playing at a small theater across the street. So we walked the OTHER way to the theater (this made for a long walk...) and made it just as the lights were dimming! It was such a fun night and we got like 3.5 miles of exercise! We loved it so much we are considering selling BOTH of our cars and walking everywhere! hahaha...

On ANOTHER note...we almost threw our dogs into the ocean this past week.  lady was sick and Ben came home more than twice to find a nasty mess all over the cage, all over Figaro...and other things. But after eating some rice she is feeling MUCH better. TMI for you all maybe...but I just wanted to say that I DO love my dogs even though they are a PAIN! And it has taught me a lot about what parenting will be like...(I think)

Ok peace out!

Gluten-free!

So I know some of you know that Ben has Celiac, which means he's allergic to wheat...but for the rest of you...read on.  Being allergic to wheat is a really tough thing--it makes meal time much more complicated! Celiac disease is actually an allergy to gluten, which is in wheat, barley...stuff like that.  The safe foods are rice and tapioca derived things.  Ben was doing really good with his gluten free diet, and lost about 20 pounds in less than 6 months!  Celiac also makes you really tired when you eat wheat, and when you stay away from it, your energy level becomes a lot higher! About the time Ben and I got engaged, he stopped eating gluten free. With the vacation to New York, and all the traveling we were doing, it was just too hard. And it's really tough cuz as soon as you cheat once...you're in big trouble. You'll just wanna keep cheating! ANYWAY...after a horrid experience with the cabbage soup diet, we decided to start eating gluten free together! So for about a week now we have slowly been changing our diet, and we already feel a LOT better! Our appetites have really shrunk.  For dinner tonight all we ate was a half of a chicken breast, and a baked potato! And I'm STUFFED! The thing that really helps is that when you eat rice bread and rice products, the rice expands in your tummy making you feel more full! 

  I'm really excited cuz today I found a gluten-free blog that had a link for this amazing gluten free restaurant in Denver you can order from online! They have perfected gluten free all purpose flour, so now instead of buying tapioca flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, xanthum gum, and all that other stuff, I can just use this flour as a substitute!  I also bought some pizza crust mix, pancake and waffle mix (we love waffle Saturdays), graham cracker pie crusts, and some chocolate cake mix! It's WAY more expensive than regular ingredients that are full of gluten, but MUCH cheaper than you could buy at a grocery store.  

 

I want to encourage you all to look into a gluten free diet! Today on the phone I found out that the amount of gluten in flour used to be about 7%, but in the past 20 or so years, that has tripled! So recipes are different now to account for the amounts of gluten and stuff in flours.  I feel SO much healthier after even a week, my clothes fit looser, and I feel like I'm in control of my life!  Ben said that after a while the taste of regular bread will become nasty to me...I hope so! I'm just glad that with that all purpose gluten free flour, I can make onion rings and fun stuff like that!  If nothing else, this diet is teaching me how to cook! So I'll keep ya posted on all the fun recipes I learn how to make!  

If anyone has any questions or wants to know more about this fabulous way of life (not fad diet) let me know! I'm no pro yet, but I've learned a lot since I met Ben about how to eat gluten free!

Bond anyone?

So I was going to wait a little longer to blog about my amazing job, because I blogged about the last one and it seemed to be a jinx...cuz I ended up hating that job. But the thing that put me over the edge, is that I found out today, that in two weeks my office will be closing about an hour early (at one) and going on a harbor cruise! Yeah...someone owns a yacht that holds like 40 people so we are cruising the afternoon away, then going "bar hopping" (I'm sure that'll be fun for me and the other two LDS guys...haha) and then to dinner! So 2 weeks from now is my month point, and that's about when I quit the other job. I figure there's NO way things could go south in two weeks since there's such a fun excitement on the horizon! hahaha SO without further ado...ahem...my new job. 

I LOVE it more than any job I've EVER had. It's HARD and I'm learning TONS everyday. Their training method is this: "just give Kirsten a project, without much explanation and she'll figure it out...actually give her 10 projects, see how she multi tasks, and see what kind of product we get..." haha. It's WORKING though! I have become such a little smarty pants! I work with bonds mostly, it's not a stock market firm. These are BIG ticket items. Like everyday we trade 50 MILLION dollars worth of bonds. Some of our traders are making $45-90,000 PER MONTH. It's really cool to see numbers like that and to know basically everyone that works there is RICH. haha. Anyway...besides  my new infatuation with being wealthy...I really do love my job. I have CO-WORKERS now...the other job really didn't! We laugh so hard we cry but still do good work!!! I really thank heaven everyday that I landed such a wonderful job with such grand opportunity! :)