Letters to Lyla and Lottie

We added a new addition to our home on Saturday!!! After a few weeks of relentless begging and researching, Todd consented to getting a dog. He's always wanted us to have one but wasn't sure about having one in the apt. Since we will be moving in 2-3 months, we decided we could get one! I love him so much. He's the cutest thing on this planet. We found him on KSL. The seller owns the mom and dad, which we got to meet. They were so cute and fun.

Ty is an 8-week old
Jack Russell Terrier pure bread (but not papered). We've had him for three days now and he is seriously the cutest thing on the planet. He is doing quite well with the potty training. We had him inside for about four hours the first day, then took him outside and he went #2, came back in and didn't have any more pooh accidents. He peed twice though. He is also so cuddly and cute! He is such a people person and sooo needy. Its adorable. When we got home the first day, we explored the apt and then sat on the couch to eat dinner. He whined bc he wanted to sit with us. Then, I sat on the bed and he whined to get up with me. Both nights he has slept on top of Todd. He loves Todd so much (I'm jealous). But he seriously has to be sucked to Todd's side while he sleeps. they kinda SPOON! Ty is so cuddly but he also has a LOT of energy. He and I literally run back and forth the grass stretching the complex. Over and over again. He never tires. I do though! He also likes to bite and eat stuff. Hopefully he grows out of it bc its not cool when he wakes up at four am to bite our toes, etc. Other fun highlights were the trip to Petco with him to get toys, meeting his Aunt Shauna, uncle Scott and cousin Jessy, and feeding him a bit of human food.

Ty and his Brother

Ty entering his new HOME!Awe!!!Exploring the new territoryLook at that faceBeautiful EyesSleeping on Todd's neck
Sleeping on my chest
So CUDDLY
Ahhhh
GRRRR. He loves biting things
Including this blanket
Funny position
On the prowl



We're already bad parents; I gave Todd a beater and Tye a beater of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Twistin
Dinner

WE LOVE TY!!!

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Valentine's Day or Saint Valentines Day is a holiday named after two of the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romanitc love in the circle of Geoffery Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when tradition of courtly loved flourished.
A CYNICAL PERSPECTIVE: The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimated that approx one billion Valentines are sent each year worldwide (making it the second largest card-sending holiday after Christmas). The association estimates that women purchase approx 85% of all Valentines
OUR PERSPECTIVE: As mentioned, Todd and I celebrated V-day last weekend (see below). Being that I'm in class until nearly 9pm on Thursdays, I sneakily prepared a basket early in the morning for Todd and left it for him to find when he got home from work. It was filled with all sorts of lil gifts; A BYU tie, trendy plaid shorts, cologne, sweets, and a Family Guy DVD (his favorite). He texted me immediately in shock and oozing over it. Then, when I got home, I walked into a clean house! Todd had cleaned our entire apt. A dozen roses were also waiting for me. I used to put up the front that roses were fickle and lacked purpose; I don't do that anymore. I guess I really am such a girl. I LOVE getting them.
All my psychologists-in-traning friends were going off about the "Cynical Perspective" of Valentine's Day; that greeting card companies fabricated the Holiday to build revenue. We've all heard it. I guess our perspective (or maybe mine) is WHO CARES? Why not, skip the card buying and appreciate the reminder to celebrate the love in your life? I'd like to live the fallacy that I don't need a reminder to be romantic, but the sad truth is that in our busy lives sometimes I do. Here's to celebrating our love for each other!!

LOVE

Sardine Canyon (on the way to Logan) also had a TON of snow...it was so beautifulThis is the side of the highway. That's like 6 Ft high!!!Another view of the majestic snow!This river snaked along the canyon road...it was so picturesque and ROMANTIC!!! The shot as you approach the Ranch. Basically all those dark spots are ElkAnother shot of these massive herds!Look at my new MITTENS. A Target find. They're so much warmer than gloves!Waitin in line...BrrrThe sleighOur escorts, Nickie and AubreySleigh Bells ring...An interesting fact....after Elk have their babies they leave them for about six weeks because as babies, Elk have no scent. They are kept safer this way by not being near their mothers who have a strong scent. Once they're old enough the mothers reunite with their babies. The added winter fur makes them look funky! Almost like a LlamaWe were literally three feet from this motha. What a sight up close!Our tour GUIDE. He was hilarious

The petals!The booze...NOT!

Relaxation in a plastic cylinder
Note the two TV's! It's so you can watch TV while in the tub. We of course didn't do that bc we were spending quality time together but it was a good idea.
Going out for Dinner...We went to Iron Gate Grill. It was delicious. I got a teriyaki wrap and Todd had pasta.
The massive bed, it was sooo comfortable!

Does it get more romantic than this??
Our Cheesecake!!! Yummy (so not diet approved)
Cheating!Our breakfast they brought us the next morning. It was a parfait and a pastry filled with strawberries and cream cheese. It was amazing.
I guess the gist of this post is that I have the most wonderful husband in the world (sorry ladies). Basically, he knows just how to make me feel special and loved. Thanks hunny!!! Forever and Ever I love YOU!!!!

This Friday Todd and I got the once-in-a-lifetime, will-never-take-it-again opportunity to experince what it must be like to have triplets! Okay, not exactly but close. Todd's brother asked us if we could tend their two kids, Angie and Lilli while they went to a buisness meeting. Then, my sister and her husband asked us if we could watch Elise while they went out for her birthday. So we thought, why not? It really was quite fun. No major disasters! We got happy meals from McDonalds, played dress up with all my jewelery, got serious with polly pocket, and tried on all 35 of my lipsticks (or, as Angie calls it, "Lips").


What was interesting was the social learning. Angie, while younger than Elise is potty trained. When Elsie saw Angie get on the big girl potty he just watched in utter awe. I definately think there was some social learning going one. I find the influence of humans, even at such a young age so facinating. Did Elsie want a hamburger? No, not until Angie did. Did Angie want to watch Dora? No, not until Elsie did. Did Lillie know she could jump up and down on the couch, and have fun until Angie did? No. You get the picture. We take cues from others and learn social norms so early on in life! Not sure if this is good or bad, but it certainly is interesting.


The evening was a blast! It did however, make Todd question his abilities as a father. I have not doubt he'll be great.







Little Princesses!!!!

So I feel silly making this post- I'm not one of those "toot-your-own-horn" kind of people, but I am trying to take pride in my successes (aka not be so hard on myself) so I thought I'd share this. I was invited to join the U's honor society, Phi Kappa Phi. Read the description below, but the honors are basically reserved for the Top 10% of students in a graduating class. Meaning, I am in the Top 10% of all seniors and graduate students at the University of Utah graduating in 2008. Pretty shocking. When I got the e-mail saying that the application was sent to my house I just deleted it, thinking it was one of those "Who's Who" nonsenses. Then, the director of admissions called me to ask me if I had applied yet. Anyway, it basically means I get to wear honor cords at graduation and get to put it on the resume. Yippie.

Here's the description....

***Congratulations on earning an invitation to membership in The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi! It means that you are among the very best and brightest that your university has to offer—not just in your chosen field of study, but among all academic disciplines.
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society. Standards for election are extremely high. Membership is by invitation only to the top 7.5 percent of second-semester juniors and the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students. Because Phi Kappa Phi is highly selective, membership is a stamp of excellence that is recognized by graduate and professional school admissions committees and employers alike.***

A history of the SUPER BOWL. This is the only way I can get into the arcaic ritual (I realize I'm exposing the world to an inner vulnerabily; the NERD in me, but oh well. ) This is the first time I've realized how young this event really is. My dad was like 13 when the first bowl airred. Todd and I got talking about the history and realized neither of us knew exactly how things began (which is suprising bc Todd is such a sport's history junkie). So I decided to look it up. I thought this was interesting.....
p.s. isn't WIKIPEDIA wonderful?!?

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In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). It and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday, which over the years has become the most-watched U.S. television broadcast of the year, and has become likened to a de facto U.S. national holiday.[1] In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the Super Bowl's pre-game and halftime ceremonies. This is also the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving.

The Super Bowl was first played on January 15, 1967 as part of the merger agreement between the NFL and its younger rival, the American Football League (AFL) in which each league's championship team would play each other in an "AFL-NFL World Championship Game". After the completion of the merger in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL's championship game, played between the champions of the league's two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year it was held since the NFL season extends beyond New Year's Eve. For example, the New York Giants, winners of Super Bowl XLII are the champions of the 2007 season, even though the championship game was played in February 2008.

In the history of the Super Bowl, the following "firsts" have yet to occur:

1) Snowy weather. - While Super Bowl XLI was the first to feature rain, snow has yet to fall during the game. This is highly unlikely (barring a freak occurrence in Arizona, Florida, Southern California, or Texas, and/or a malfunctioning retractable roof) since the NFL only schedules the game in warm weather climates and/or indoor stadiums.

2)An all-wild card matchup (teams who failed to win their divisions). - Nine wild card teams (since the 1970 merger) have won conference titles, but never two in the same season.

3)A shutout. - Every Super Bowl participant to date has scored. In three cases the offenses have been shut out while the special teams scored a single touchdown:
Super Bowl VI: The Miami Dolphins finished with 3 points, the fewest in a Super Bowl to date (and the only losing team to date to fail to score a touchdown).
Super Bowl VII: The Washington Redskins returned a fumble for a touchdown after blocking a field goal attempt.
Super Bowl IX: The Minnesota Vikings recovered a blocked punt in the end zone but missed the extra point.
Super Bowl XXXV: The New York Giants scored a 97-yard kickoff return.
A punt return touchdown. - While many kickoffs have been returned for a touchdown, a punt has yet to be returned for one.

4)Home field advantage (playing in one's own home stadium). - The closest instances to this have been Super Bowls XI (featuring the Raiders playing down the coast) and XIV (featuring the Rams from nearby Los Angeles) both being played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; XIX (featuring the 49ers from nearby San Francisco) being played at Stanford Stadium which is about 25 miles south of the 49ers' home stadium, Candlestick Park; and XXXVII (featuring the Raiders again playing downcoast) being played in San Diego.

5)Overtime. - The narrowest margin of victory in a Super Bowl is one point, in Super Bowl XXV (1991). The closest instances to overtime, in which the result of the last play of the game could have realistically led to a tie and thus an overtime, have been:
Super Bowl V: Baltimore's Jim O'Brien kicked a game-winning field goal with :05 left.
Super Bowl XXXIV: Tennessee's Kevin Dyson was stopped one yard short of a tying touchdown.
Super Bowl XXXVI: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked another game-winning field goal with :04 left.

6)An appearance by every team. - Six teams have yet to reach their first Super Bowl: Arizona, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, and New Orleans.

7)A team winning without a touchdown. - Every Super Bowl champion to date has scored at least one touchdown in their efforts (New York Jets scored only one touchdown in their Super Bowl III triumph).

8)No touchdowns scored. - In every Super Bowl to date, there have been at least two touchdowns scored (Fewest combined - 2, in Super Bowl III).
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AS FOR US....Todd and I celebrated in an anti-social way; just the two of us in our little apt. We had a few invites to parties but Todd has been pretty sick and I am trying to stick to my diet so we decided we'd be best served in our own little retreat. It feels like its been forever since the two of us just spent the entire weekend together. It was lovely. We did some Sugar House DI shopping, some laundry and rented a movie on Sat. Today we took it easy, I baked some yummy treats for Todd, and wrote a paper during the game. Todd wasn't too happy with the outcome of the game, but it was a good time.

Ah the allure of a pink iphone; it was the demise of our new HP widescreen laptop. Last night Todd was checking his e-mail and I guess the gayness in him took over and he opened an e-mail promising a pink iphone. Since that time my life has been a living hell. Not five minutes later our computer started flashing pop-ups and various prompts saying a remote attacker was scanning our files. It said "corruption, corruption" and various other things. Then, it took over our homepage. Then, it masqueraded as the vista "cancel or allow" prompts and asked me to allow things. Then, slowly, our programs and the start up menu disappeared.

At ten p.m. I called GEEKSQUAD's 24-hour services. They offered me remote help for the cheap price of $135.00!!! All I could think of was, I could buy a damn pink iphone for that much. Then the night unfolded like a scene from The Net. I was asked to go to a Internet page, enter a code and next thing I knew my geek was controlling my computer. I could see the mouse move, see files being scanned, but I wasn't touching a thing! I was informed that I had a zrob, the most infectious Trojan virus. A remote attacker was going through our cookies etc to get our personal information. I was informed he would get anything I used to pay bills online. Fantastic! I was up with this geek until two a.m. Then he asked me to call back tom. I called today when I got home at 4p.m. At one point he said, "I found it!". I thought. Great, delete the bastard and lets move on. BUT NO!!! My lovely virus has the ability to learn and to recreate. He can't just delete the files bc they will recreate themselves. Awesome. This dude then informed me he had to send me to another dept bc my virus was too sophisticated for their tools. Again, awesome.

8pm this evening (after nearly 10 hours of them working on it) my lovely Agent Martinez informed that the virus was beat. Wow. The panic finally subsided. For weeks I've been thinking that I need to back up my files and pictures. ALL OF MY PICTURES ARE STORED ON THIS COMPUTER. Needless to say, I'll be doing that.

My hand, not moving, but the mouse is!!!