Christmas 2010

This year Christmas came an went... way too fast! Dave and I spent most of the time at home. However, we were able to go have dinner and spend some time with Dave's sister Patty and her family on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas day we went to West Valley for the annual Bingo party with my family. It's a really short one, but that's about it for this year.

A Few Firsts

Over the last week, I had a few firsts that I thought I would share.

* Went grocery shopping for the first time
in weeks - usually go weekly.
* Got lost in a Wal-Mart parking lot - couldn't find the car, had
to walk around for a few minutes.
* Was banned from going to the business - sweet hubby
said I couldn't go in to help.
* Took a nap.

Crazy Busy!

This is the first time I've had in a couple of weeks to FINALLY post that Dave and I are business owners! Oh the madness. Yep, we bought a pizza buffet in Provo, called Doc's. (Not our name, already established as such.) I cannot tell you how insanely busy it has kept us. Although, I do think that with each day we're in there, it is becoming less crazy. Still plenty busy, but we can take it in now.

Over the weekend Dave and I figured out that he does about 80-90 hrs/wk at the business and I do 60-70 between my "day job" and my "night one". At last, I realize why we are so exhausted. :0)

Despite the stress and chaos of it all, we are enjoying it and it has already been quite the venture. We have found out a lot in the short time that we have taken over. Some good things, others not so much. I think we are starting to get a handle on things though.

Among other things, getting the right staff in has been helpful. The previous owners had 6 Korean speakers and 2 Spanish speakers. Luckily, I suppose, I know a decent amount of Spanish. Nevertheless, the language barrier has been trying, especially for Dave. It was very interesting when Dave was training with the previous owner, another Korean speaker, and he would translate "Korean English" to "American English". While he was doing that, I was going between Spanish and English. So when we tried to talk to each other we both ended up really having to think what to say and how to say it. That is improving.

I will try to get some pictures up in the next couple of days before we start remodelling. We are planning on painting to start and will be getting that under way toward the end of the week. So until next time...

'Tis the Season

I'm so excited to be in the holiday season. We have really felt the Christmas spirit this year. It is so easy to get wrapped up in gifts, Christmas trees, and candy canes. While these things are fun and add to the holiday season, this is the time of year that we celebrate the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We have watched numerous Hallmark Christmas movies, each with wonderful messages. I have also been touched by holiday music. Amid stress, and hustle and bustle, it has been in these holiday tunes that I have felt great comfort and relaxation.

Of course, it's not to say that we don't participate in such holiday traditions as decorating the Christmas tree, hanging Christmas lights, and attending parties. We went to our ward party last night. It was nice to be with friends and get out for a bit. We have not done our family picture as of yet, but here are our lights and tree. Here are the new additions...

(present lights)

(snowman lights)

(holiday train)

Talkin' Turkey 2010

Yello and Happy Thanksgiving! This year year Dave and I are up in Cache Valley...in the cold...where it's going to be -15...slightly chilly. :0) We got to spend some time today with both our families. So despite the more so bitter cold than bitter cold down south, it is well worth being up here.

We started with lunch in Smithfield. Dave's parents, his grandma, and his brother Ben and his family were all here. Originally we were going to have fewer people; so I was told we would be going out to dinner. I thought that was a little strange, although I have done it before. Luckily, I think, we ended up having the big dinner at mom and dad's. I know mom put a lot of time and effort into everthing. It was a wonderful meal.

Next we went to my mom's. It was my mom, Pat, Charles, one of my best friend's, Jenny, her mom, Dave and me. We were able to have another fabulous meal! Of course, I am pretty sure I ate too much, but it was just so good. Not that's it's so important, but I ended up having 5 plates between the 2 meals.

Thanks moms for the Thanksgiving meals. We are so grateful for all that we have been blessed with, but especially our loving families and friends.

Another Week/end

Thursday, or Friday, Dave and I did something a little crazy. We went to the midnight (12:30 AM) showing of "Harry Potter." Now, don't get me wrong. We're not among the die-hard fans, but it was more of a we've never gone to a midnight "premiere" and I wonder if we could make it through a movie at that time. :0)

So Thursday night we were in bed 8:30 or 9:00, which is unheard of. We took a brief nap for a couple of hours then headed up to The District in South Jordan. We saw all the full blown "Harry Potter" fans, and in fact we sat next to one. The movie was good. Dave thought it was really a pretty sad one. Nevertheless, we did make it through the whole thing and it was just fun to go and try. We made it home about 4:00 AM and then I was off to work about 7:30. Also amazingly, I made it through the work day without completely crashing.

Friday night we were able to hang out with some friends, who we had not seen for a couple of years. They made us an awesome pizza and we watched "Family Man." We also got to meet their adorable little twins.

Saturday morning we did our primary program practice, and Sunday was our primary program. It was Dave's 1st as a teacher and my 3rd playing piano. I had a couple of mess-ups, but I think I did pretty well. I'm afraid however, that our bishopric may be catching on that I've been in my calling a while and it might change in the next little while. We shall see.

After the primary practice on Saturday I went and met my mom and 2 aunts in Salt Lake. We had lunch at Sconecutter and wandered around Tai Pan Trading, none of us had been there before. It was fun to spend some time with the girls and to visit.

We made it through Monday and have started back on another fun-filled week. Luckily, it will be shorter because of the holiday.

Grr!!...

I tried to upload a couple of videos. It said it worked, but apparently not so much. This is attempt 2 at just getting a post up. Here are just a couple pictures of Jack and Sadie. We sure love 'em!

It was amazing that I managed to sneak a picture of Jack. Somehow he knows when I have or go anywhere near the camera, and he does NOT like it. Dave and Sadie sleeping, how could I pass that one up? And, we get the occasional mommy picture in too.

Quick Note

I don't feel like I've had much to write about lately. I do have news however about the business. Our loan was approved this week! Another step closer to finalizing everything and calling it ours.

Yesterday Dave and I were able to go to the BYU basketball game. It was fun and the Cougars did awesome. We left w/ 5 minutes left in the game, but since they were up 35 points, we thought we'd be okay to take off. :0)

Today we helped with a benefit concert for one of our friends who was diagnosed and is being treated for breast cancer. I think it was a big success. The concert was wonderful and there was an exceptional turnout. I'm not sure how much we really did, but I'm glad we could assist, even if it was just a bit.

One more day of the weekend and then back to the grind. On a side note, we were able to get our Christmas lights up. (Wanted to do that before it got any colder.) I'm excited to be headed into the holiday season. We love this time of year!!

Halloween 2010

This year Halloween landed on a Sunday, which means several days of observation. Once again, I was Raggedy Ann at work. I had thought about finding a different costume, although nothing came to mind. A co-worker reminded me of something I apparently stashed at the back of my cranium. I ordered my Raggedy Ann outfit in 2008. The thing is that it arrived on Halloween day, a Friday, while I was at work. So, I threw it on briefly that evening, but I was a princess at work. I think it is safe to say that I really do need to figure something else out next year, as apparently this was technically year 3 of Raggedy Ann.

Moving right along, this year Dave and I participated in our first trunk or treat...ever! It was an interesting experience. The most interesting thing I think, is that Dave actually got into it! He's a good sport about his wife dressing up and such, but he's never done much for Halloween. This year it was encouraged to decorate your trunk and Dave sure took that to heart. It turned out well, although apparently there are some seriously die-hard Halloween decorating peeps in the neighborhood. Dave said that next year he will have to "step up" his game.

The one thing that Dave really enjoys doing is carving pumpkins. That's the thing that I think he likes more than I do. We bought 3 pumpkins this year, and I think they turned out well. We had a lot of fun carving them. This is how they turned out...As usual, we did buy candy just in case we had trick-or-treaters, although frankly I don't think we expected many. In the past we have always bought candy, but we've only had a few people come by, ever. So it was kind of a surprise this year. We ended up with maybe 50 kids or so that stopped by, a record. I was a little nervous about Sadie too. I don't recall how we did it last year, but she did quite well, all things considered.

No Pain, No Gain!

Back in the day, i.e. high school and college, Dave was quite the exercise nut. Frankly, I don't know how he did it or why. Yes, exercising is very important and I know everyone should do it, but 3 hours a day?! Who does that? Well, as apparently tends to be the trend, once Dave got married... let's just say that the exercise frequency decreased and the waist size increased just a smidge.

Unfortunately, Dave (and I) just haven't been nearly as with it on the work out ship. However, about a week and a half ago, Dave went on serious hike/camping trip. I'm not sure this was the world's best idea. I love that he went, but he really hadn't been working up to it per say.

He and one of his good friends went up American Fork Canyon, on a Tuesday night - another who does that? They did a 4 mile backpacking trip up the mountain! It took the guys 6 hours, but they did it. I'm so proud of Dave. The maniac did this little funfest with a 30+ lb pack! Pure craziness! Needless to say, the menfolk were pretty tired by the time they reached there destination.

They had a grand time, despite the ridiculously cold drop in temp that night. The other issue was that apparently it was so cold that their water didn't stay hot. I think they had a hard enough time even getting it warm at all. In turn their food wasn't cooking quite like it should have. The guys only took 3 hours to get back down. They got home around 1:00 the next day.

I was glad Dave made it back in 1 piece, but I was even more happy to be the one at home, with the kids, in our nice, warm bed. Good job Dave!

Business Ventures!

Last Friday Dave and I got some good news. No, it's not what some of you may be thinking. :0) Dave and I put in an offer for a business and it was accepted! We got a really good deal. It's basically ours, but now we have to get approved for a SBA for the deal to be "official." The business is Doc's Pizza Buffet in Orem. It's located on University Parkway, not too far from BYU. It's 1 of 2 pizza buffets in Utah county.

From the time I met Dave, I've heard him say how he's wanted to have his own business. We've been fortunate enough to be able to finally move forward in pursuing a business opportunity. There is definite room for improvement with the current set-up. We have some really good ideas. Since we're not 100% owners, I can't say too much.

We are thinking about changing the name of the business. I think we are planning on going for a more "rustic Italian" feel. If anyone has any ideas for the name, we'd love to hear them. We should know about our loan in a few weeks, hopefully. We'll keep you posted and tell you more as soon as we can.

Excellent Weekend!

I got to have a 3 day weekend. On Friday we got some good news, which I'm going to post next time, sorry. Dave and I got to spend some good time together. We went up to the city and attended the fall home improvement show. We generally go to the spring home show, but this was the 1st time we've gone to the fall show.

My aunt has a booth that she does there. I got to help her for a little bit while we were there. Dave and I always like walking around and seeing things we can do, new products, etc. It's more fun since we have a house. The other part I like is entering the drawings and getting treats. (That's really my favorite part.)

Saturday morning I was up and out the door before 7:00 AM! I got to go to a cardiology update in Murray. It was pretty good. I always enjoy learning more about what I'm doing. I'm proud of myself because I'm starting to know some of what's talked about at these seminars, butI still learn though.

Today was fabulous at church. I was really able to feel the spirit. We had testimonies shared and it was just such a good meeting. As usual, we sat next to our neighbors with their cute little girl. We love our neighbors, but we especially enjoy playing with their cute little kids. One day we'll hopefully get to have cute little ones too.

Autumn Colors

We went up Provo Canyon last week,
and this is what it looked like...

Prepare to be Amazed!

Kim is reading a book! Hold the applause. I'm working on "Twilight," which I realize is a young adult book. However, if you know me at all, the fact that I am reading anything is pretty good. Seriously, I don't know that I've read a full book since graduating high school. I'm just not a reader. I will say that I'm enjoying "Twilight" and despite it being thick, it really is an easy read.

On an unrelated subject, Dave and I got new phones. It's been fun. We thought maybe we'd get with the times. :0) So now we have messaging phones, with touch screens. We redid our plan, which cut down our cost on our bill and now allows us to have unlimited texting. Thanks to my job I'm getting better at texting and thanks to the new plan, Dave is now texting as well.

As usual, really not too much else going on right now. All in all, we're doing pretty well. Dave continues to try to figure out what he could/should do to earn an income. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share. I'm still hanging out at my job. I've really thought about switching to something closer to home, but have yet to do it. Until next time...

Where has Dave been? Anyone? Here's a hint.

We've been starting a baseball card collection, which will hopefully become an online card shop. When Dave was younger he had a collection, but unfortunately he sold all his cards for all of $25! It's not up yet, but Dave has been working on a website, which is coming together quite well. I'm rather impressed with what's he's accomplished.All of these binders are full of cards. There are a number of other boxes of cards that I didn't take a picture of. Here's one more of the most recent "acquisition".So, if anyone would like any cards, knows anyone who might like some cards, or would just like to pass the word along, we would appreciate it. A lot of the cards are common players, but we'd love to sell them at $0.03/card (or make us an offer). Side note, we do have more valuable cards as well. Thanks!

Labor Day Weekend 2010

Had some good dates over the long weekend.

Friday night - We went to Thai Village for dinner. In our last ward we had a friend from Thailand. She married a guy who had served his mission there, and we were able to have dinner with them a few times. She made excellent food! Thai Village was pretty good, although I think both Dave and I would prefer our friend's cooking. :0)

Saturday night - I "dragged" Dave to a Jon Schmidt concert at Thanksgiving Point. Now, I did ask him about going before I bought the tickets...a month or so ago. (He forgot.) It was at the gardens in Thanksgiving Point, an outdoor amphitheater. We both enjoyed the music and the interaction with the audience.

Monday morning - We hit the road at 8:00 (actually 8:15) and went hiking for 2 1/2 hours in American Fork Canyon. The weather was awesome, and we definitely enjoyed the company. It may be news to some people, but I really do enjoy being outdoors and doing "sportsy" things. I was really proud of Dave. He did a great job today. All in all, another good weekend.

I'm at a Loss...

I feel the urge to blog, yet I'm really not sure what to write about. So, I guess we'll just start and see how it turns out. Recently, got to go to Logan and spend some time with my mom and my aunts. We went to lunch at the senior center in Logan (not bad) and we went to a Celtic festival. Sadie got to go with me, which made it a total girls weekend. Dave was going to go camping with the boys, but due to in climate weather, that didn't happen.

I'm feeling good about working and my job. My opinion changes from time to time, but I'm doing good now. Random note, I got a compliment (or two) from my boss, i.e. the Dr. that I work with. He had just mentioned to a lady he knew that it is not being just a medical assistant. He told her about how the MA's in his office do a lot and keep things going. While we hear "thanks for all you do" and that we are appreciated, it just seemed to be more sincere. So, thanks for letting us know that the work we do is noticed.

Last night I spent the night at American Fork Hospital...in the sleep lab. I did an overnight oximetry test at home, which showed my O2 level drops while I sleep. So my doctor ordered a full overnight sleep study, in which I got hooked up to I think around 16 wires and spent the night at the hospital. Evidently, I was rather nervous about doing the study. Once I got to sleep however, it went fine I think. I feel like it was my "typical" night's rest. The results won't be back for a week or two. I think it seems kind of bizarre that I have done a sleep test. In the event that I start using a CPAP or some other aid to help me sleep better, hopefully it will work. From what I've heard, it really can make a difference. I generally think of a CPAP as something used by "older" people; so I guess we'll just see what the results showed and go from there.

Well, I think that should be good and that's about all I've got for now. I'll write again soon and hopefully have some idea what to write about.

Hmm...

Alright, so now that I've posted we're heading back to school, I already need to "update" my progress. I went to take the Accuplacer exam yesterday, which is one of those see how much you know, or don't know, type-tests. The results surprised me and they didn't. Ready for this?

Test & Score:
Basic Algebra 66%
Sentence Structure 99%
Reading Comprehension 52%

Recommendations:
Reading and writing 0900

Math 1010

The report I was given stated that most college majors require at least the ability to do Math 1050 and English 1010. I don't have a problem with that, except that I've already taken Math 1050 and 1060, as well as English 1010 and English 2010. Granted, it has been 7+ years since I've taken those classes, but I think enough said.

Making the Grade

It's that time of year again - the beginning of a new school year. I have gone back and forth about going back to school for ongoing education, and up to this point I have kept putting it off for one reason or another. On a sporadic whim about a week ago, I ended up applying to Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). A couple of days later I received my acceptance letter.

Oddly enough, although I started out at a university, I have done more higher education at smaller schools. The irony is that I have had some pre-conceived notion that "tech schools" and colleges weren't as good as universities. Yet, I will end up spending more time in the smaller schools than I did at Utah State University. I am hoping to just do a few classes through SLCC over the next year to finish pre-requisites for nursing and then I will be applying for a LPN, nursing program.

Dave too is headed back to school. He has tried a few things since he graduated with his BS in Finance, but his latest one is web design. He's pretty excited about it. He is taking just a single course through a tech school to see if he really likes it first, and then if he does he will do a course to be "certified" in that. Wish us luck! :0)

Bittersweet

I've hit a hundred grand! Well, Little ET (my cute little car) just crossed the 100k mile marker. It was bound to happen, and really I've put on a lot of miles. Sadly, my 2003 car has only a few 1000 miles less than Dave's 2000. The good news is that we've done some good work on both cars and they should be around for some time longer.

Quicky

Tried once again to load pictures from the Florida trip, but it was a futile attempt. This is Dave and our neighbors at the Rockies vs Red Sox game. (Best part of our time in Denver.)

In other news, we had hail yesterday and our power went out for the 4th time in a week. Luckily, the outage last night was about the time we were heading to bed. Other, other news doesn't really exist at this point - not too much else going on. Hopefully we'll have more to report in the next post.

Out & About

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to Smithfield for Mom and Dad Porter's 50th anniversary party. We did family pictures Friday evening, then had an open house/reception for them. It was beautiful and they had a good turnout. On Saturday we had a family picnic, which was also excellent! Here are a few pictures that we took. The professional ones aren't back yet.

The following week was my office's summer party. We went to a Salt Lake Bees game. There weren't a ton of people there, but still a decent group. The Bees won 5-2. It's always fun to see people outside of work.

This weekend is a Utah holiday, Pioneer Day - July 24th. The holiday was observed today by a lot of businesses, including mine. Last night Dave and I went on a date to Trafalga. We played miniature golf, which was awesome. It's been some time since we've done that. It turned out to be $3 Thursday, which was even better. The course really wasn't that great, but it was nice weather and great to just be able to get out.

We went to lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill today, tomorrow we are getting up at 5:00 to paint the fire zones in our community, hopefully we'll go swimming this weekend, and see a movie. Hooray for long weekends!

End of the Trip

We've been home a couple of weeks now, but here's the end of the trip. Friday and Saturday we played more at the Disney parks. We watched fireworks from the pool Friday night, which was cool. Sunday we started off for home. A long trip...

Before we left for the airport, Dave was getting out of the shower, when some siren went off and we were informed we should exit the building. We didn't leave, but it was just the start of our fun-filled trip ahead.

In order to make sure we got to the airport on time, we arrived 5 hours early. So we got to the airport, where we thought we could get checked in, etc. However, there was a sign that said they wouldn't be checking passengers in until 2:00, which was 3 hours before we took off. Finally got checked in, we weren't sitting next to each other, got our seats reassigned...next to each other...in the row in front of the emergency exit - no reclining.

Got in the air, got close to Denver, and were informed there was a tornado watch. Plane was diverted to Grand Junction, Co (1/2 way back to Salt Lake), and then circled around the Denver airport for another 3 hours of so. Arrived at the gate about 10:30 vs 6:30 PM. Hoped we would be able to start driving part way back to Utah, didn't happen. Finally found a Village Inn that was open at 11:50, restaurant closed at midnight. The employees were very nice and it was great to eat after 28 hours of fasting!

Almost done - stayed with Dave's sister in Fort Collins, then finally headed home. After all we had been through in our traveling, how could we finish without getting a ticket? Yep, speeding ticket through WY. I'm still working on the pictures. Think it's about finished, and hopefully I'll get them posted soon.

A Note on a Few Days...with a Few Pictures

Last few days:

Tues - Epcot
Wed - Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Thurs - Animal Kingdom

Attempt 3 at pictures...Epcot

Teppan EdoYummy, yummy food and
our funny, funny chef

Rock 'N Roller Coaster

Dave in a line with Hollywood
Tower of Terror behind him

Tigers

Kim chillin' by the tigers.

Hippos

One of the walking trails

at Animal Kingdom

Progress and Resistence

Progress: Things have been going better. We got to visit Wayne and Sandie and their family on Friday, then Sonja, Brent, and Brian on Saturday. We enjoyed our time with all of them and are glad we could visit and catch up a bit. We attended church with Sonja's family on Sunday, and then it was off to the airport.

We apparently cut it close; however, I thought we had enough time to get everything done. At any rate, we decided it would be best for us to drive ourselves to the airport. We got there with approx 90 min to spare. What we didn't foresee is that getting from parking and then checking in was going to be such a pain.

We flew on Frontier, which is definitely not my favorite airline, and "barely" made it. It wasn't too bad getting through security, although, Dave set off the alarm with his belt. Our bag was checked in late, but made it onto our flight with us. Hooray! We also learned that we weren't seated together. It was a mere 5 row difference, but it was 5 rows nonetheless. After 3 hours of flying time, we arrived in Orlando.

We got to our hotel around 11:00 and got a nice surprise. As we were checking in, I mentioned that we were on vacation for our anniversary, and we got our room upgraded for free 99...to a suite! (I'd like to find out, but I think it's about the size of our first apartment.)

Today we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World and we had a great time. It was definitely hot, but surprisingly not as bad as I think I thought it would be. This is my first trip to Florida, and to Disney World. It has been interesting to see some of the differences from Disneyland. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the week. :0)

Resistence: Once again, I took pictures and have downloaded them. The issue tonight is that I can't get them to upload. So, I suppose there will be a somewhat lengthy picture post in the next week or so. The other challenge of the day is that I can NOT get the computer to let me type without everything being underlined. I guess it's all just that important today.

Let the Fun Begin!

Happy anniversary Porters! And that's about as good as it got. We started our vacation today (or rather Tuesday night) and it went something like this...

Wednesday:
* Kim hoped to get off work a little early, left at 5:40 instead.
* Went to Wal-Mart to get prescriptions, took 45 minutes.
* Left for Logan around 8:00 PM to take Sadie to stay with Grandma Nelson; got home about midnight - still had much packing to do.

Thursday:
* Got up, later than we had originally planned.
* Took Jack up to the PetSmart Pets Hotel, got Jamba Juices, and dropped off some things at work.
* Realized we left a bag home and decided to go home to get it.
* Decided to try taking I-70 to get to Colorado - good plan until we got to the huge accident, not too far into the trip. (Highway was shut down.)
* Took the "alternate route" that was suggested, which led back to the same accident.
* Debated driving down I-15 and over to Price or up to I-80; decided to try taking Provo Canyon up to I-80.
* Made it to Denver in surprisingly good time, despite I don't know how many construction zones.
* Got to the Red Sox vs Rockies game, horrible lack of parking.
* Found a spot, didn't see any signs about not parking there and/or paying.
* Good game, Red Sox won 13-11.
* Went back to the lot to find our car missing... along with at least 3 other cars!
* Learned all of our cars were towed, hopped a taxi with several other people, stopped by an ATM to get cash to get our cars, and went to the impound lot - not so near to the ballpark.
* Took at least an hour to get the car released and $269!
* Finally got to our hotel, where we were put in a smoking room with lovely brown plaid curtains and 2 full size beds!

Definitely a good start to the trip I think. Hopefully we've had all of our "excitement" and we can actually relax and enjoy the rest of the trip.

P.S. I took a few pictures at the game, but seeing as it is 2:00 AM, I won't take the time to plug them in today.

Not So Surprise Birthday Party

Here's the scoop on the birthday party. We just had family and friends down to a park in Provo for lunch. Maybe it's not too exciting, but I was proud of myself for getting it planned and for getting out of my "bubble" to call several people, whom I have never or rarely talked to - i.e. Dave's friends. We had excellent weather, good food, and great company. We're so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Here are some pictures:

Sheldon, Stacey, Brandon,

Paul, Dave, Dave, and Dad Porter
Ben, Melissa, Jenna, and Dad PorterPaul and Becky

Pat, Aunt Ann, Aunt Terry,

Paul, Ginger, and Mom Nelson

Jenny and Kim
Hannah and Stacey
Sam, Rebecca, Dave,
Sheldon and Emily
Dave giving his speech...

(or nor really...)

Richelle, Jim, Thomas, and Kimberly

Dave, Mary, and Liz

Dave, Paul, Ginger (can't see her,

but she was in the shot), Mom and

Dad Porter, and EmilySheldon, Braydon, Dad Porter,

Mom Porter, Pat, Mom Nelson,

Aunt Ann, and Aunt Terry