Nicotine Free

I guess now is as good as time as any to be able to "announce" that I now can consider myself a non-smoker!! I have been without any form of nicotine for 2 1/2 weeks. That's no cigarettes, no patch, no lozenge, no gum.

I have been struggling to quit on and off for years, but tried to get real serious about it a year or so ago. I wasn't having much luck. I would get down to 1-3 a day and then would go back up.

I've ended up going cold turkey. On a previous post I told about going to the human bodies display in Vegas on Valentines Day. What I didn't mention is that they had a couple of examples of healthy and cancerous lungs. Also at the end of the exhibition they also had a cancerous lung that had been preserved and you could actually hold to see what the organs feel like after the preservation process.

So officially my last cigarette or nicotine of any sort was on February 14th. I haven't had anything since. My cravings for nicotine is starting to go away, so I guess now I can call myself a non-smoker!!!

I'm very proud of myself and Jake is pretty proud of me as well. I already feel like I can breath a little easier.

Sand Dunes

I finally agreed to go riding with Jake and his cousin at Sand Hollow. I'm not one for doing the climbing of the steap hills or any of the jumping, but I still had a blast putting around on the small hills. I also was the designated photographer for jumps. Here are a few of the really good pictures that I was able to capture.

Jake is on blue bike with red shirt. Brandon is on yellow bike with red/black shirt. Rendall is on the yellow bike with the yellow/black shirt.

Nothing New

Well it's been quite a while since I posted anything. Probably since there hasn't really been much going on out of the ordinary in our lives.

Since Christmas we have just been working -working - working and playing a little.

Jake now only goes to California for his work only every other week instead of every week, which has been GREAT. It's been a lot better on him since they changed the install schedule. Also, his brother (who has been working at the same company for a while), is now his install assistant and works directly with him both the week that they go to Cali, as well as the week that they stay in the St George/Vegas area to do "local" installs and service calls.

We went to Las Vegas for Valentines Day. Went to a nice lunch/dinner, then saw the Human Bodies display at the Luxor while we were waiting for our show to start (way cool) and then saw the Cris Angel Cirque show "Believe". We had tickets for our anniversary in September, but the opening of the show was pushed back, so we were unable to go. It was ok, not the best Cirque show that I have seen. Also wasn't quite what I expected, but we enjoyed it.

Well that's about all for now. With tax season in full swing, I probably won't have much to write home about for a while. Although, after tax season over, we are taking a vacation and that will give me a little more to blog about.

Love to all.

Saturday Fun

Brooke called me on Friday and told me that a bunch of people were going to go sleding up by Veyo on Saturday.

Brooke, Nick & Candice, Jake & I, Cody & Crystal, Anne, Chelsey (Nick's sister) & Brandon, & Chris (Nick's Brother).

We all met at Tire Pro on Bluff street and purchased our tubes. We all loaded up and headed toward Veyo. Jake & I took one of our 4-wheelers, which was great so that we didn't have to hike up the hill every time. Anyway pictures are better than words.

As you can see we had TONS of fun!! And then...... as Jake was loading the 4-wheeler into the back of his truck.....

Yeah that's kinda of a mood killer.

The next thing I know Jake and I were at the Nissan dealership looking at new trucks. (We had been talking about purchasing him a new full size truck for the last few months). One thing lead to another.

So.... Yeah .... Jake has a new truck. I don't have pictures, but he is sooooo excited.

I don't know how he can be so lucky. He breaks the back window in his truck and ends up with a new truck!!!

Gaming Weekend

I am not a gamer!!! I haven't been into any type of console gaming since the good ol'days of old school Mario Brothers. Once the games turned 3 dimensional I lost all interest - and skill. I have heard many conversations of how fun Guitar Hero and Rock Bank are and addictive. I always brushed it off.

Jake's brother bought Rock Bank for the Xbox 360 this weekend and brought it over to our house. After a little persuasion I agreed to be the singer. Yikes!! I am as tone deaf as you can be! It wasn't long until I was told maybe I should try one of the instruments. Suttle way of telling me that I'm a very poor singer.

Both Jake and Tyson had tried to drum and neither of them could get the hang of it. Since they were both playing the guitars (bass & lead) they thought I should take a stab at the drums. It took a few songs, but I started to get the hang of them.

This all started on Saturday late afternoon. Next thing I knew it was 1:30 in the morning!!!! Yikes, time to go to bed. Falling asleep I saw the beat colors all night.

Sunday woke up late and we started playing again. I took breaks to work on laundry and do the dishes. I even took a break to take a quick shower and get dressed. 9:00 to 3:00, with the short breaks.

OK I'm addicted!! Good thing that it isn't our game and that Tyson took it home with him.

We did accomplish a few other things this weekend before and after the game feast. Did some Christmas shopping on Saturday. Had a great visit from a friend and her family - so glad they came to visit and see our new house. Sunday evening we even put up our Christmas tree and all the snowmen decor.

I'm exhausted and my arms are killing me from pretending to drum for hours on end. I guess that I have to change my views on some of the console gaming.

Christmas Lights

My sweet dear husband, with his dad and brother, put up our Christmas lights today. I am so excited, our first Christmas in our new home. Neither Jake nor his brother Tyson like latters or heights very much, so this was a great undertaking for them. They all were so cute trying to be the ALPHA male on how each of them thought the hanging of the lights should happen. In the end it turned out so good.

And the finished product with and without flash.

Pictures of the inside of the house (the ones that didn't show the mess from the MEN putting up the lights)

I will get actual pictures of livings space when I get a few things cleaned up.

Remembering my youth

Ok so I guess we have established via a few of the comments on my page that I was a little fanatic about New Kids on the Block (NKOTB). I make no excuses - every generation has that one person or group that girls go crazy over. For me it was NKOTB.

Anyway - when I first heard that they were re-uniting and going on tour I was planning on going to the concert in Vegas. I don't particularly like the Mandalay Bay Concert Stadium, but hey it is NKOTB. Then life got a bit hectic and next thing I knew I realized that I hadn't bought tickets and more so than that I remembered a few days after the concert was over. A sad girl was I.

Then I remembered that they were going to SLC as well. Checked Ticketmaster. Not only had I not missed the concert, but the ticket prices for the cheap seats had been reduced. IT WAS MENT TO BE!!

I asked Jake if he would take me. Apperently his love for me draws the line at attending an NKOTB concert. He was willing to go to SLC with me (as I'm not good driving long distances myself), but no how no way was he going to go the concert. Hmmmmm. So I called Shondell my best friend from Jr High that I'm still very close with (she lives in Ogden). Of course she wanted to go!!!

So this last weekend we packed up and headed North. NKOTB here I come. Shondell and I were both pleased to find that Natasha Beningfield was the openning act. She was amazing - that girl has some pipes on her!!

Finally that anticipation was over. The long build-up and then they were on stage. Shondell and I had so much fun - we sang, we danced, we swooned, we giggled - we became 14 again!! Neither of us knew any of their new songs, so we had a moment here and there to catch our breath (as neither of us have the energy of a 14 year old any more). All in all it was a great time. Fun was had by all. My only problem is that if the NKOTB look so much older that they did way back when - does that mean I've aged too?