Not A Kodak Christmas

Christmas Eve I got out my camera at the Willie Christmas Eve party and the battery died after one shot. Then I was so completely busy on Christmas Day I just forgot to get it out.
Christmas Eve we went to Kent's parents for the annual Christmas Eve party.  We had lots to eat and then the traditional talent show.  Unfortunately Kent still hasn't worked up his number for Providence City so he didn't preform for us that night.  Everyone was having such a good time at the party we didn't end up getting home until almost 11:00.  While we were gone Santa had left us a gift of some new pj's, so we put those on and went off to bed to see if he would come back.

And he did!

He brought us both stockings full of fun stuff and each of us got new games because we hardly have any games to choose from.  Kent and I both got spoiled.  He got me a bunch of different attachments for my Kitchenaid.  It completely surprised me, I had no idea!  I always go into Kitchen Kneads and look at them longingly.  Kent got a new electric razor, a GPS and a iPod clock radio. Then my family came to our house for lunch. There were a lot of people in our house but we had a lot of fun.  We played the game where you can steal presents from one another.  I ended up with lottery tickets and Kent had a nice new pedicure set.  I was kind enough to trade him and he won $5!

It was such a busy day that by 9:00 at night we were beat and we went to bed!  I was out by 10:00.

Rejected Christmas Card Photos

Here's a little peek at the pictures we didn't use. My good friend Angie took these fun pics. Thanks Angie!

Kent and Aimee Take The Bay Area

Kent had a training session in Sunnyvale on Monday and Tuesday, so I tagged along. We flew in early Saturday morning and drove up to Sonoma Valley to visit a few of our favorite places from the last time we went. First we hit B.R. Cohn and got our favorite olive oil, then we went to Arrowood Winery because Kent got his favorite hat there last time. Then it was on to Korbel Champagne Cellars. We got to go on their tour which wasn't nearly as good as last time. Our tour guide had no personality.

But the highlight was we got to see Santa!

We also got to drive on the Golden Gate Bridge which we didn't get to do last time and it was pricey! California has a lot of toll roads.

The next day we drove to Monterey and went to the aquarium. It is always so much fun to go see all the fish! Prepare for picture overload!

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant that had good food but even a better view. It was beautiful!Then we drove down the coast a bit and took in the views.

The next two days Kent was in meetings. So I went shopping one day and then the next I went to the Winchester Mystery Mansion. It was really interesting but very cold! The Bay Area had the coldest weather they had had in 10 years. Lucky us!

This morning we headed home. On the way though we stopped at the Ghirardelli Factory and shopped the outlet store. Yep that's the big bag! :)

We had a lot of fun but it's also nice to be home to the freezing cold.

Answering Machine Message for Kent

"Hi this is Wanda* with Providence City and I'm calling for Kent. I'm calling to see if he is interested in doing one of our concerts in the park next summer. If you can call me back and let me know I'm at ***-****. "

Let me know how many tickets you all need because these babies are going to sell out fast!

*Name changed to protect the absolutely hilarious!

A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Each year Kent's parents hike up into the woods and cut their own Christmas tree. This year we decided to join them, and so did the the entire Campbell Clan.

Here we all are just before embarking on our little adventure.

We drove into Idaho and found a little spot for us all to pull out and find our perfect tree. Or at least close to the perfect tree, the permit we had only let us cut certain types and they were pretty sparce looking trees. Growing up, my dad always went out to the middle of nowhere and cut us down big bushy pinyon pines. So these trees just seemed a little like Charlie Brown's tree. After some searching though we found us a cute little tree and cut it down to bring home with us.

Here's Kent bringing our tree down the mountain (it's name is Bog Noggin in case you were wondering).

And here we are, a happy little family.

You can almost count the branches on one hand. We brought it home and gave it some TLC and I think it turned out cute. Putting on the lights was interesting, it was very hard to hide the wires, no needles to hide them in. Then I wasn't able to put a lot of my ornaments on because the branches couldn't support the weight.

But here it is in all of it's Christmas glory. All it's missing is Linus' blanket wrapped around the bottom.

You're My Obsession

Awhile back we bought a new vacuum, and like most new vacuums it is bagless. Since obtaining this little wonder I have become obsessed with what comes up from my carpets. It has a fill line which means you can vacuum with it until you reach that line and then you can empty it, but mine never gets to that fill line. I empty it probably every time I use it. I have to see just how much I'm picking up and I can not believe what comes up from the carpet! Even when I just vacuumed three days before. Here is my advice to you: if you haven't switched to a bagless vacuum, don't. Ignorance is bliss.

Merry Kentikah!

Here we are once again celebrating the joyous day of Kent's birth! As usual we had a three day celebration starting on Saturday. He got his biggest present that day so he could play with it all weekend. It's a new camera.

I think he likes it! :)

On Sunday we celebrated by making bread for the first time (yes, I'd never made bread, it turned out ok, tasted good, but didn't look very pretty. Therefore, no pictures.) Kent's gift for that day was a book of all of the National Parks. When we were in Capital Reef we bought the year pass for all of the National Parks and Monuments in the country. Now we will know where to find them.

For the final day of Kentikah we had a small get together here at the house. Kent's mom and his brother Rob's family all came over for cake (his dad is out of town). After watching me make my dad's cake Kent told me not to go to that much work. So we bought a cake at Sam's Club. It was just like the Black Tie Mousse Cake at the Olive Garden and it was delish!

He got to open lots of presents this night. Rob's family gave him a gift card to Chili's which was much appreciated. His parents gave him a dutch oven for us to take camping with us. That was really nice of them. I gave him a few other miscellaneous camping things to go in the trailer.

Here he is with his haul (isn't he cute?!).

Hopefully he had a great Kentikah and has many many more to come!

I need to think up a good Kentikah song so I could insert it here. In my head it sounds a little bit like O'Canada.

Happy Swineoween

We thought this was a great idea for a costume, but now that I've seen the pictures, I'm not so sure it was the most flattering :)

75 Years Young

Yesterday was my dad's 75th birthday. We had a party for him on Sunday and I was in charge of the cake. I tried very hard not to put too many germs in it because I have a killer cold, but I think it turned out pretty nice.

Here is my dad with said cake, I totally forgot to get my camera out to take a picture of him blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday Dad (who doesn't read my blog since he's never even been on the internet) Here's to 75 more years!

Can You Believe The Podiatrist Asked Me If I Fall A Lot?

I thought I would offer up another story of my clumsiness for your reading pleasure. On Friday, I got off of work early and it was a really nice day so I decided to mow the lawn. I was in the backyard, by our raised gardens, and I was trying to even out my lines. So I went forward a little, then pulled the lawnmower back towards me. I went a little too far back though and fell on my butt into one of the raised gardens. Our lawn mower is really hard to start so I was trying super hard to hold onto the bar so it wouldn't turn off. I'm pretty sure that bar is there so if you do something stupid like fall over you don't, oh I don't know, chop off a limb! I finally realized this and let go.

Did I mention that the garden hadn't been cleaned out yet and was full of rotten tomatoes?

You can bet that when I got up I looked around to make sure no one had seen me. At least this time I was in the backyard and there was no visible bruising.

Our New Vacation Home

We had been casually shopping for a tent trailer for a couple of months and I found one on KSL.com that was too good of a deal to pass up. It was a few days too late to take it to southern Utah but it does have a heater for next time. It has tons of storage and an outside shower. We are very excited. Now, like a proud mother, I bring you the pictures of our new home away from home:

Our Weekend Adventure

This weekend our friends Jon and Jen invited us on a camping trip to Capital Reef National Park. Yes, I said camping, in tents. Yes, it was cold, very cold. But it was also extremely beautiful. We covered a lot of Utah in one weekend and I was reminded of exactly how beautiful it is here and also how bleak it can be.

This is the scenery from our campsite. Not bad. We started out here at the visitors center.

Then we took off on a very long drive on dirt roads and roads that barely classify as roads.

I would say all that driving was worth it.

I have a ton more pictures but I will spare you all.

Glee

I'm completely in love with this tv show and I wanted to share this with all of you that may not have seen it (and I also want to be able to watch it over and over again).

Kent and Aimee vs. The Worm

Today Kent and I went out to pick a few things from his parent's garden. After I had picked 3 or 4 tomatoes off of one plant I looked down and saw this thing* I could only see the back end of it with the markings and I thought for sure it was a snake! I grabbed Kent's hand and tried to tell him what was wrong but words weren't really coming out. Finally I told him there was a snake in the tomato plant but I could not get myself to let go of his hand. He kept telling me to let him go so he could look but I physically could not let go of him. Finally he figured out that it was just a tomato worm and not a snake. He decided to pick a green bean and try to knock it off the plant but the thing just started eating the bean! (which freaked him out, he may or may not have screamed a little bit) I found a stick and Kent found a bucket, he knocked it into the bucket and took it out into the the lane and got a nice big rock to take care of it. He also probably should have iced his hand because I think I hurt it a little when I wouldn't/couldn't let go.

*I could not paste a picture of it in this post. It was too gross and freaked me out have to look at it again.

Chillin'

I meant to post this back in June but I never actually hit publish. It shows you just exactly how wet June was when the ducks just hang out in the middle of the road. This was on my way home from work:

They really made no effort to move either.

63 Truths

My friend Angie sent this to me in an email this morning and I thought it was so funny I just had to share:

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

5. That's enough, Nickelback.

6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the **** was going on when I first saw it.

11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people... I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecondearlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

12. The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way... We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can re cognize their own image.

13. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

15. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

18. Was learning cursive really necessary?

19. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

21. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

22. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

23. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

24. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

25. I love the sense of camaraderie when a n entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

26. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in....(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

27. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

28. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

29. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

30. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

31. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

32. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

33. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

34. Bad decisions make good stories.

35. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

36. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

37. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

38. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

39. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

40. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

41. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

42. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

43. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

44. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

45. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

46. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail.What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

47. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

48. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

49. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

50. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

52. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

53. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

54. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

55. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

56. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

57. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

58. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

59. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

60. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

61. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

62. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

63. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Hot Date

Once again Kent and I spent a Saturday night at Insta-Care. This time it was for him though. He got a cold about a month ago and the cough wouldn't go away. He finally decided he was tired of hacking up a lung. This Insta-Care was pretty aggresive, they gave him an albuterol treatment, an x-ray, and did a test for whooping cough which looked terrible. They stuck a swab way WAY up his nose and made him cough. I had to look away, it looked so uncomfortable, poor guy. In the end, they didn't find anything conclusive and sent him home with an antibiotic. Hopefully it goes away soon but I just heard him hacking again.

Happy Anniversary!

A week late....

Last Wednesday marked 3 years of wedded bliss!

Thanks for 3 great years Kent!

Yellowstone Weekend

My sister Diane and her family invited Kent and I on their annual Yellowstone vacation and Kent promptly took her up on it. It was sort of short notice so we only felt comfortable in taking one day off of work so we just made a 3 day weekend of it. We packed a lot of fun into those 3 days.

Here is our first encounter with the wildlife of Yellowstone, as usual there was a long line of cars to check out one buffalo.

In all of the gift shops there is this book:

I'm going to write another one titled "Who Stepped In Poop In The Park", that would be Kent. We went out in search of firewood and first thing out of the car Kent stepped in this giant bison poop. You can sort of see his foot print in it. It was a really big poop.

I'm going to write another one titled "Butt Cracks of Yellowstone" because this is the second time I've seen too much crack in the park. Last time it was a stranger at Upper Falls and I got video of it (which I am too lazy to upload right now). This time is was a family member who shall remain nameless unless you ask me her name.

That night we took in the ranger presentation at the amphitheater which was on wolves in Yellowstone. It was interesting but butt numbing. During the night we were awakened by howling. Loud howling. I heard Kent say "Hey Aimee" to which I responded "hold me!" It was just a coyote but still a little bit unnerving.

The next day we went to see some beautiful falls. This picture is in the same spot as the one in the header but I wanted to show just how big the rocks are. My sister Diane and my niece Megan are in there waving.We got caught in a thunderstorm and for a second I thought Kent had been nearly hit by lightening. He missed it by just seconds. Since it was raining we couldn't really cook dinner, although it had stopped by dinner time, so we went to the hotel and ate in the cafeteria. That was my first time to the hotel and it was very nice.

This fella ate his dinner in our camp.The next morning we had to pack up and head out. For breakfast entertainment my nieces decided to do a little head butting. Then we all went on over to Old Faithful, only to see the herds heading away from it because it had just gone off. Kent and I decided to not wait the 90 minutes until it went off again and we started home. We got in a terrible traffic jam all for this one buffalo. I'm pretty sure it was 1/2 hour long. I forget that there are a lot of people out there who don't get to see nature like we do. On the way home we also stopped at Mesa Falls in Idaho. They were also very beautiful.

It made me feel really lucky to be so close to Yellowstone and to live in the West where we have the beautiful mountains and such great scenery.