A wonderful Tribute

This is a tribute that Glen Beck put together for the Prophet. This is a must see.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

Snow Day

Monday morning we woke up to white! The whole area was blanketed in snow, and even our creek and pond were frozen over. My work was delayed a few hours, so I played outside with Brisbane while Matt shoveled the driveway. Princess wouldnt dare go outside and get her paws wet, so she was happy watching us from the window. She was very enthrawled with the ducks walking on top of the water (or ice).

Even though snow never lasts more than a few days here, we sure had a lot of fun. All the kids in our neighborhood built snowmen, and its been funny to watch them shrink and melt everyday.

The new kid

The litter that we have been waiting for was finally born and with 1 male, exactly the color we wanted! I got the news today, and I spoke with the breeder, and she is going to hold him for us until he is old enough to come home. He is the one on the right :) I think, even though he looks like a lump now, he is going to be gorgeous!

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

"Its not every day the World loses the best person in it."

The Prophet passed away last night at the age of 97.
He had done so much good during his presidency, and he will be sincerely missed by so many. I loved the prophet, and its going to be very different without him here. Although I have faith that whoever is called to lead the church will do the lords will, I cant imagine anyone accomplishing as much as did President Hinckley.
I am thankful for the Temple, and for the opportunity to be sealed to our family. The picture above is President Hinckley and his wife who passed away in 2004. I am so grateful that they are together again, and I am truly blessed to have the gospel in my life.
"I am no longer a young man filled with energy and vitality. I am an old man. I'm given to meditation and prayer. I would enjoy sitting in a rocker, swallowing prescriptions, listening to soft music, and contemplating the things of the universe. But such activity offers no challenge and makes no contribution. I wish to be up and doing. I wish to face each day with resolution and purpose. I wish to use every waking hour to give encouragement, to bless those whose burdens are heavy, to build faith and strength of testimony."- President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Sunday

This afternoon we headed over to the MacArthur's for their weekly "Halo Party." They had 4 LCD TVs up, and 12 people playing! It was a lot of fun, and would have been more fun, if I was better at killing. I am a PRO at falling over dead:) No one wanted me on their team for some reason....These are our game faces. Maybe the reason Rebecca and I were so bad is that we don't have that serious face that Matt is displaying. After breaking the MacArthur's fuse a few times, we headed over to the church with Chris and Tiffany for the "Potato Feed". They had a bar set up with all the fixins for baked potatos. It was a good dinner!All starched out, we headed back home to get our share of "Rock Band". Last night the kids were hard to pull away from the game, so tonight was our turn to make music. We got a little carried away!Brisbane even took part, and ROCKED out the song, "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog." Isn't this the greatest picture!!!Go Bizy, GO!

Photos of the house

The dining room. Our Buddha headThe half bath.
The living room including some good friends :) Recognize the rug from a previous post? I LOVE it in the room.
LCD TV. We are watching Brian Regan, of course.
The Hearth/Fireplace.
The Master. The guest bathroom. We haven't done anything with the guest room yet.The office. And, a very sleepy dog from last nights activities.

Housewarming Party

On Saturday, Matt and I invited our friends and family to attend a party at our new home. We sent out an evite to about 50 people in the area thinking that about half of them wouldn't be able to make it (as is with most parties). When over 40 people RSVP'd, we were a little worried that we weren't going to have the room, but we were happy to find out that our new home has a great "flow" and that having that many people over was not a problem at all.

I spent most of the week preparing for this night, making hors de'ouvres, buying a few decorations and making a sign for the front door. I was a little wired at the party, but I had a really great time.
We hooked up "Rock Band" for everyone to play, and it was a huge hit. The kids fought over it, while the adults casually "tried" out the instruments. My dad even got ahold of the mic at one point, while Malcolm rocked out the drums.
We couldn't find the drumsticks, so we improvised and used paint brushes and spoons. :)

Matt's parents went OVERBOARD with the food by making a Filipino dish called Lumpia that everyone loved. All of the food was wonderful, and I am happy that there was some left over for me to eat all by myself.

So many of our good friends were able to make it. It was fun to see all of them corresponding and conversing. Matt and I got to mingle in between house tours and even though we didn't get a chance to eat or sit down, we had such a blast!
Thank you to everyone that was able to make it, and we really missed those of you who couldn't. The house was NOT a disaster after ward, and nothing was broken or ruined (we were a little worried about all of our new stuff). I also want to thank my parents for arriving early to help out, even with headaches. My mom was a HUGE help with preparing the table and making sure that all of the food was out and full. Thank you to Ben and Jan for the gifts and for all the great food. We are so happy that we live close enough to see them more often.

Thank you to Matt for being such a great host, and helping out with the cleanup. He was happy that it didn't take too long!

I invent feelings

Last night I wasn't feeling very good. I had hot flashes, an upset stomach and body aches. I couldn't think of a way to describe how I felt, so I told Matt that I felt, "Pested." I made it up. It sounded like how I felt, and this isn't the first time I have done this. I told Matt a while ago that I felt "Skrunty". All he can do is laugh, but it makes sense to me!! Do either of these made up feeling describe anything to anyone else? Or am I really as weird as my husband thinks I am?
Cactus feels "Dulley" This man has a case of "Chars" A sufferer of "Quagly Syndrome".

2008 Election

Confused about who would best represent your opinions and beliefs?

Well, I took this quiz and it really taught me a lot, even if it matched me with a candidate I dont really like. You can click on the issue it is addressing, and give you both sides of the argument. This is a really great site.

http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html

LOMBARDI'S!

Its true! There is a Lombardi's in Everett, just 8 miles from our house! This is my all time favorite restaurant, and I am happy to know that I will not have to drive down to Issaquah to eat my Tortellini Gorgonzola anymore. Matt surprised me tonight by taking me here for dinner, and he even made me close my eyes until we were at the restaurant. Gotta love it.
Anyway, if you haven't eaten here, its a must. The best Italian food in Issaquah and Everett

VOLT Party

My office had a party out on the water this weekend, and believe it or not, this is a picture of us standing in front of the Space Needle. See it? What do you mean its all black? Its there. Go to the ophthalmologist or eat some carrots.At the party there was gambling and food. It was a lot of fun, even though we didn't win the Wii like we were hoping.

Sonics Game

I put tickets to a Sonics game in Matts stocking this Christmas, and on Friday we got to go. They lost, of course, but we still had a good time. Doug and Laurel bought the seats next to us (from work) so it was good to hang out with them. Laurel won a tee-shirt!

Home decorating

I am having SO MUCH FUN decorating our new home. We have a house party coming up in a few weeks, and I want to have everything some what completed by then (even though I know decorating never stops).

I bought the greatest rug today on Overstock.com. I love this web site. Isnt it so pretty? I cant wait to add it to our brown and green "Asia" living room. More pics to come for sure!

Puppy Plight

Matt and I (80% me, 20% Matt) have decided to get a puppy. Maybe its to fill this baby void I have inside of me, or maybe I am so jealous of my brother for having the cutest pup, but it is something I have been thinking about for a while. We have a yard now, and heaven knows Brisbane needs a friend to play with so I think its a good time to make an animal addition to the family.

Here is our problem.

The dog will mostly be Matts dog since Briz is rarely interested in him (shes a mommas girl), so I have kind of turned over the breed decision to him.

Matt wants a "mans" dog and so we thought of Boxers. I have always liked them, and when I worked at the vet one of my favorite patients was one. So we have been researching the breed to find out the traits and personalities of them. We read that they are good family dogs, very social and good with kids and other dogs. However we also heard that they are messy, slobbery and gassy. Hmm....

Last night we got to play with 2 male puppies at the pet store by our house. They were SO sweet and very cuddly. (Although not as cute as the picture above. He is so handsome!)

The other dog we like is the Australian Shepherd. We know already that we love the breed since we own one, my mom has two and my brother is new to the club with Dundee. They are not destructive, aggressive or slobbery, and shedding is not very bad either.

However, they are very stubborn and intelligent (which can be a bad thing). Not to mention, they aren't really "manly" dogs like a Rott or Boxer would be.

So, let us know what you think. Any information about either breed would be good. Its a hard decision! Is there anyone out there that has had the opportunity to get to know both types of dog? We want an obedient, playful but not hyperactive, sweet and loving dog that will get along with kids and our anti-social Brisbane. Is that too much to ask?

Fun with Photoshop

Our friend Brett got me Photoshop CS2 to go with my new computer. I am having a great time using it, and I am happy to be back at work designing wedding invites and blog pictures :)

Here is something I did for fun to test out the new program.

Photoshop makeover. Never believe anything that you see on a magazine cover and this is why (and I'm not even a pro!)

And congrats to Louise and Brad on their up coming marriage. I hope that they love their invite as much as I do! (First is the original picture, second is the final proposal.)

Yay for Adobe Photoshop!