I love Christmas!

Well, after being married for almost seven years we finally bought a Christmas tree! I was so excited that I stayed up until midnight decorating it. i also made a stocking hanger at the Relief Society Super Saturday. Then I made a Christmas lap quilt for the couch. I am not quite done quilting it, but had to take a break because my fingers were killing me!



. Recent updates.... I chopped off all my hair. Here are the before and after pictures. I loved it long, but it is so much easier short. I Got to take some cute pictures of my niece and nephew, Talon and KD. My sister Sammy and her friend Shelby decided to try out the Dr. Seuss' who hair dos - I just had to play along. We had a great thanksgiving. We double dipped and gorged our selves with dinner at my moms house and at Kent's brothers with ALL the family. It was so fun to see everyone and the short drive was great! I am now the judges chair for the Miss Southern Utah pageant upcoming next February. I little different for my personality, but it is fun to do something new. Sorry it took me so long to post - some of you were patiently waiting. I will try to post more frequently for you avid readers.

Costume Dilemma

It seems no matter how clever or creative we try to be, or how much lead time we have, finding Halloween costumes is always a dilemma. We wanted to go as Kriss Kross - the band from the 90's that wore their baseball jersey's and baggy jeans backward but could not find baseball jersey's anywhere! And it is even baseball season! So we walked through multiple stores trying to come up with some idea for the party we went to Friday night and turns out we decided to be Punk Rock. Me being a Puck from the late 90's and Kent being Rock from the 80's. It was fun, but Kent is terrible at holding his lips right for lip stick. It was kind of like putting shoes on a toddler where they curl their toes, arch their feet and point their toe - anything to make it hard on you. Well, I guess it wasn't that bad, just funny. No one even recognized us at first. Well, I don't have much to write now that I have time to blog more frequently. It's kind of weird... It is quite the adjustment - only working part time, but my house is clean and we have a real meal for dinner every night. I just can't wait to get a calling. That will help.
We kind of look like the people from Guitar Hero don't you think?

Late night Halloween treat party with myself...

Yummy Food

Since moving to Utah and reducing my working hours to part time I have enjoyed re-learning how to cook. Here are a couple of my favories new recipes. They have proven to be a big hit with friends and family.

Hot Spinich Artichoke Dip

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup mayo
1/8 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1.2 tea. dried basil
1/4 tea. garlic salt
Pepper to taste
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts drained & chopped
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed& drained
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup white onion, diced

Preheat oven to 350

Lightly grease a small baking dish. In a med bowl, mix together all ingredients except spinich, artichokes and half the mozzarella cheese. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinich. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with remainig Mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25 minutes, until bubble and lightly browned. If not browned enough, turn up oven heat to broil for 1 to 2 min. Servie with baguettes, crackers, or tortilla chips.

Ranch and Cheddar Cheese Ball

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 1/2 cups finely grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbs. dried chives
2 Tbs. dried ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Set pecans aside. Mix all other ingredients together until well mixed. Form into a ball or log and roll in chopped pecans. Refridgerate until ready to eat. Great with Wheat thins!

Our new place...

Everyone keeps asking me to post pictures of our new place, so here they are. Here is the front of our house and the front living room/dining area.



Here is the kitchen...

Master Bedroom with the new bed set that Lori Hahn from Pepperdine gave us...

Our master bathroom. Funny story, I bought nice dark yellow rugs and towels to go in this bathroom - playing off the picture on the wall going with a brown and yellow theme; well Kent came home and all he said was, "looks like puke". Needless to say I took them back and went a little more neutral. And even worse, the guy at the customer service desk said as I was exchanging them, "the mustard didn't go over well huh?" I guess I don't have very good taste or something.

Here is the guest bedroom with the quilt I made that didn't match our bed. And the picture on the wall is a place holder for one I am painting to go in that room. The one on the wall now is a joke that got passed around work for like a year. It is a colorful piece to say the least.

And the guest bathroom.

We also have an office, but it is the last room to be unpacked so it looks like a bomb struck it. I will post pictures of it later once I get is unpacked and settled in.

Moving back to Utah

WOW! It feels like forever since I last blogged. We have been so busy. So, here is the scoop. Kent got a job working for KKO Lawyers doing litigation and loss mitigation. YEA! SO - we packed up all out stuff and moved to Cedar City over Labor Day weekend. We are thrilled to have a house for a reasonable rate instead of our insanely high price one bedroom California Apartment, but we will miss the ward and our friends who are still trudging through law school. I will be moving out there this week after finishing up work here. Pepperdine has offered me the opportunity to continue working for them part-time remotely through December to finish up their online community project. What a blessing to be able to do so from home.

Just to catch up... Last July we took a trip to Bryce Canyon with my sister Sammy. It was so amazing! I think I had been there once before, but I was too little to remember. We got some amazing pictures. This is my favorite.

Our totem Pole...

We got in some fun bowling time with our buddies Tom and Jesse. We are always such goofs. It's a wonder anyone wants to be seen with us. :)

AND THEN...Drum Roll Please... Kent and I tried out for WipeOut! It is a hilarious story. We found out about try outs, I made shirts at 8 am right before leaving to try our luck at getting our chance to jump on those big red balls.

As we got there we saw that we were going to be a the back of a line comprised of 450 random WipeOut enthusiasts wearing outfits that hit every end of the spectrum. As the WipeOut staff came running down the incredibly long line of people with a camcorder apparently Kent thought, "This is my chance". Just as the camera was on him he literally wiped out on the ground. It was hilarious, and a little painful. I was of course contributing to the yelling and wild flailing of arms too. They thought we were so cool that they told everyone else they should be more like us and took us all the way to the front of the line. We went through the first interview and they made an appointment for us to come back. We then had to strut our stuff on camera to show our outstanding TV personalities - that was interesting. We even did the jump in the air and bump your chests together move - TWICE. Only once successfully. The second time I got slammed by Kent pretty hard, but everyone else seemed to think we had planned it that way. Hmmm. We then had to fill out the disclosure packet that is a million pages on and now... we wait. Turns out all our waiting paid off. Kent is moving on and may be appearing on your television screen soon while wildly maneuvering big red balls and out avoiding the motivator.

Last story, My sweet mother got me into making this quilt. While I tend to be fairly crafty, I don't sew. So after 6 months of strugling with this quilt and finally completing it succesfully, I realized that my new homeade bed set look atrocious with my cherry wood bed. The colors by themselves I love, but they just don't match the wood. So all that work goes to the guest room. But our guests should feel loved knowing how much time I put into their comfort, Right?

Graduation Weekend

The Pepperdine School of Law graduation was last Friday. It was so exciting. Kent's parents came out to stay with us and to come to the graduation. The Graduation was out on Alumni Park and although the weather couldn't have been better, it did get pretty hot - especially for Kent with all robe, hood and cap. He was "melting". He thought he better take advantage of his one legitimate opportunity to wear a "cape" like Superman and strike a pose. We all thought we would humor him. It was a great day.> The commencement speakers gave some really great speeches. Much better than I expected. The main messages that stood out were, no matter how successful you are in your profession and how much you accomplish, you are replaceable - there will always be someone else waiting to full your shoes, BUT to your family you are irreplaceable. The other speaker said that the most important thing he thought he could share with new attorneys entering the law profession was to "Enjoy your life", that if you don't make time for your family and serve in an area of law that speaks to you or has purpose - you may be successful, but you won't be happy and enjoying your life and your family is more important than earning the highest salary. We went out to eat at Paradise Cove afterward then enjoyed an evening in the pool at home. Saturday we went to The Getty Museum. I've been wanting to go since we moved here, and was grateful to have Kent's parents to give me a good excuse. It was really amazing. Aside from all the painting, furniture, sculpture, photography, and drawings, there were breath taking gardens. They also had a kid zone that we all played in of course. They had this cool room with all these mirrors and a back drop for interesting photo opps. It was pretty cool. We spent some time at the beach, and walked the Hollywood walk of fame. It was a good time and tomorrow I go back to work. I still need to add some pictures from our Utah trip. I got some great food shots of Sammy and Jello and Nathan with a whole fortune cookie in his mouth. Plus a special bonus picture of Kent, my dad and I doing "Scary face" which is a family joke after I started the tradition as a three year old. So, since I don't seem to have much time to write, I will at least upload the Utah pictures soon and let this post be the official description for them. I am now going to enjoy the rest of my Memorial Day watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Kent. I hope every one else had as good of a holiday as I did. Too bad it can't last longer. It's been such a nice weekend with family in town. See ya later!

Exciting News!

Sorry, I'm not pregnant, but KENT PASSED THE BAR! We just found out last Friday and have been celebrating ever since. We were even more relieved when we found out that only 33% of those who took the test actually passed. So it is finally offical. Kent is a licenced attorney and will get sworn in on June 2. I have a lot to blog, but so little time so I promise to post soon about our recent trip to Utah and Kent’s graduation.

Ben Stein confession

I received this as an email chain letter from my dad, while most are entertaining I usually don't share them with others. As I read this I realized that I was not the only one who feels that in the fight for equality (which I believe in), we have created inequality the opposite direction. I must be tollorant of others, which I feel I am, in order to be respectful, and it's just the right thing to do, but because I am in the majority, others do not have to be respectful or tolorant to me. Hmmm. Sounds equal doesn't it. Anyway, here is the story...

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

Ben Stein

Play Time

With Kent done with the bar and awaiting his results, it feels as though we finally have a break from stress. I should say ACTIVE stress. We are still very worried about the current economy stumping all the job opportunities in California, and are a little frustrated at the amount of resumes Kent has turned in without any responses. The good news is that Kent's found a way to keep busy and bring in a little bit of money on the side. He is tutoring math to a couple of different kids in the area. Despite what he may say - he loves it. He is stopping by the store on his way home tonight to buy "incentives" AKA candy bars for his kids to show their work. We were able to get in some fun hiking this past weekend.
We went to Malibu Creek state park and did a five mile "hike" up the river to the lake at the top. What this hike secretly beheld was no trail, thousands of huge boulders, no ground to walk on in some placed (as you can tell from the rock climbing pictures below), and my favorite part, wait for it.... the place where there was no alternative solution to just plain swimming across the river. Kent, somehow found a much treacherous way to hack it, but I chose to swim, well kind of. I tried to jump the big underwater rocks so I only had to get wet up to my waist, but slipped and skinned up my knees and shins pretty bad. Four days later - the swelling is finally gone, but some pretty blue, green and purple shades are starting to peek through the skin. Kent says I am an "enemy to nature", but I think this is just my kind of hike. Who wants a boring stroll down a dirt trail where the coolest thing you see is the spider that you just stepped on or a chipmunk run under the bush next to you? I know a lot of people like that, but it's just not for me. We got to see giant tadpoles with heads the size of golf balls!!!! No joke - you couldn't make this stuff up. If you want to see pictures of them shoot me an e-mail and I'll forward them along. I also wanted to conclude with the continuation of my spray paint marathon. Below is a picture of my newly refurbished china hutch. It was sure a pain and Kent wasn't happy with my using our plastic lined deck for my work station, but the end result looks pretty good. Fun stuff.

Pepperdine Homecoming 2009

Before I tell you about Homecoming, I must make an announcement. (throat clearing) KENT IS FINISHED TAKING THE BAR!!! I AM SOOOOOO RELEIVED! And Kent for the first time in a long time has spent his day leisurly skating at Venice Beach, walking Santa Monica Pier, and hanging out on the sandy shore. Man, I wish I didn't have to work today.
Homecoming was a blast - very, very long weekend, but fun. We had our annual Duke's 5th Quarter Event after the basketball game and got to have our picture taken with Willie the Wave. My all-time favorite part of the event was this adorable little boy who danced his heart out. He shook his little pom pom to the beat and really grooved. He was so cute! And below are my good friends and fabulous co-workers Allie "the short one" and Kelly "my right hand". We are all wearing the famous P-dine tatoos on out cheeks. We bought them thinking they would be fun to hand out and it turns out they were a huge hit. There were two students that plastered about 50 - 100 tatoos all over there face, neck and arm to show their pride I guess. It was pretty funny. Someone should give them an award of some sorts.

Here are all the chapter leaders and our staff, Oh, and Kent. He is the goofy looking one in the lower left. Just kidding. He just REALLY knows how to pose for a picture. :)

Double Blond Moment

Kent is about two weeks away from the bar and studying like crazy! But we are almost done - I can hardly wait. In the mean time, I have been spending a lot of time with my good friend Shawna. We recently had one of those blond moments - at the same time - that doesn't come very often and makes perfect sense at the time it occurs. You see, Shawna was given a desk, only it wasn't the color she wanted. She asked me to help her paint it. I jumped at the chance as I love painting anything. We went to the store and bought the spray paint, went back to her house and proceeded to assess the best place to start our fun little project. Keep in mind, we started all this at about 9:30 pm. Not the best time to start a spray painting project - unless you are 14 and running amuck under an overpass. Well, we took this huge roll of painters plastic and lined the floor and all the walls in plastic clear up to the kitchen ceiling - that's right - the kitchen. We figured that the paint would only go the direction we sprayed it. What we didn't expect is that the paint particles floated all over the place. We decided to move the project outside, but when we came back in we noticed foot prints all over the tile floor and black film all over the counters, walls, ceiling, dishes, EVERYTHING! We finally got it all wiped down and cleaned up just as we took a moment to view our own appearance. I had a goatee and Shawna had a Hitler mustache, but what was worse is what came out of our noses! Gooooo! Anyways - it was a fun night and we created memories right? As you can see, the desk turned out great and the project ended in success despite our blond moments. I mean, who paints in the house. Really.

I also joined Shawna and her husband Josh for a game night. We played the longest game of Jenga that I think has ever been played. There were absolutely no theoretical moves that could be made let alone pieces that could easily come out. I wish we would have measured so we could start some type of competition. I am not sure we could do it again. I think we ended up 36 blocks high. We also played Scrabble in which I lost because I played CAB just before realizing that I could have played AXE with the X on a double letter square for 22 points. Blah! Well that is about it for the recent adventures of Amy. I also wanted to ad one last picture of Betty. She loves my running shoes, I can't get her to leave them alone. She doesn't chew on them, she just likes to sleep with them. Crazy dog.

Come What May and Love It

This Christmas season had some interesting issues. Someone got a hold of Kent's debit card number and drained our checking account just before we left for vacation, then someone backed into our car. Luckily we got all our money back after a police report, some investigating and an affidavit. I spent a couple extra days in Salt Lake, but our car is now fixed as well. Luckily, these things gave me some extra time to visit some friends when I was able to borrow a car. The snow in Salt Lake before and during Christmas was CRAZY! It has not been like this for a few years - there was also snow all along the drive staring at the Cali/Nevada border.

Family has been so fun - I will add some pictures once I get home. I left my camera battery charger at home so I unfortunately don't have very many.

What we did over the break...

• We went rollerskating
• We played in a giant bounce park
• We napped a lot
• We had many Halo tournaments
• Tried our luck at Dance, Dance Revolution
• Played would you rather (Kent got to pose me for two minutes - Hmm - You can see the picture)
• We dressed up as Mary and Joseph (Betty was a sheep)
• Kent flew home in a blizzard on Christmas
• Kent took a six day intense Bar prep course
• Betty got a hair cut
• Amy had a Tecken rematch after 7 years with Ben (Break dace guy rules!)
• Kent went to Vegas for the New Year
• Amy beat her best Scramble score on Facebook
• Amy learned how to grind, manual, nose grab, wall push, and kick flip on Tony Hawks (skateboarding video game)
• Started a Book of Mormon Family Marathon
• Amy tried not to work :(