Throwback to Christmas '09!

hey y'all

for whatever reason I was reminded today of this past Christmas season's festivities and thought I'd flashback to last winter as Staci did in her blog.

in Frisco, TX the local town square is decorated in holiday lights, flashing in unison to music that was broadcast over a local radio frequency by this guy. they played a song by Trans-Siberian orchestra called "Wizards in Winter". it rocks!

there's no online video of the main street display, but I found a video of his house. watch it here!

Let it Snow!
                .-------.
      *         | #     |    *
                |_______|         *
               _|=======|_             *
   *          [___________]
               .'       `.   *   | /  
              :   @   @   :     \|/_
              :     <     :     //   
     \~_s~-~s~s`._`...'_.'     //      *
  *   `--~-~-~~s~/`"""'  `-.  //
            /'/s/   _       `//
           / /s/   (_)       /
          ///s/     _        :  *
    *    ///s/     (_)      .'          *
        // |/`.           .'
     __//    .-''-------'`-.
      /|\  .'       _       `.      *
     / | \:        (_)        :
         :          _          :
         :         (_)         :
  *      :          _          :     *
         :         (_)         :
          :                   :
  ""'"""'""`.               .'"'"""'""'""
             `-._       _.-'
                 `"""""'

6 weeks later

wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since my last post!

--SO SORRY!--

Anyhow, much has happened and much will happen in the weeks to come. since my birthday last month Staci and I have worked hard to shape up our apartment (including an all-evening rearrange of our 2nd bedroom/ Office). we're finding we're both so busy we rarely have time to be at home, nor enjoy it.
each day we have to be at work (respectively) between 8:30 and 9:30, work a full day and both of us get off around 6-7pm. bear in mind Staci works longer hours but I have a farther commute.

I seriously hate that drive. every day it takes between 30-45 minutes each direction to go about 12 miles. the only major road between that could speed up the process is a toll road that racks up 4 dollars a day. ouch! the good news is Staci and I have been working full time and like the extra income (40+ hours a week), the bad news is with a commute and lunch hour, we put in a good 50+ hours away from home. some nights we come home, make dinner, and go right to bed :P

but life is good. our cat Fry ("Phillip J. Fry") is growing larger by the day. last time I checked he was 15 pounds. and 2/3 the length of my arm. yeah he's a big kitty (or a small cougar!) but we love him. we're slowly introducing him to the same room as our cockatiel bird, Behr. their first meeting Fry charged the cage, but now he just sits on the floor and falls asleep. we gotta watch that guy though, he's probably just waiting till we let our guard down.

anyway things are good for us right now. we're trying desperately to get residency for me by August so that I can get school at the local Community College for 1/6 the price. they're pretty strict about the rules for residency though so we'll keep you posted.


Beyond that Staci and I are striving to improve ourselves, through better nutrition and an upcoming excersize program. heck, just this past week I finally went to our apartment's Gym. for the first time. ever. (been here since november...) -It was great! they have several machines I can appreciate, as well as some high tech stuff (the treadmills have touch screen LCDs you can flip to TV while you're power-walking!)

goodnight!

Birthday bash & a bounce house

Hey folks! this past Friday was my birthday and Staci decided to go all out, fulfilling a childhood dream. I'd always wanted a bounce house! sure, i'm a little over a decade "too old" for that sort of thing, but I've secretly always wanted to play on one. never had the chance. I had A LOT of fun!
Staci is by far the GREATEST PARTY PLANNER EVER!  Here's a few photos, enjoy!

Ready for Spring

I am so ready for spring. we've had record snowfall for DFW (12.5 inches in 24 hours back in Feb. / not alot, but for Dallas it is.) and an unreal amount of snow overall. I'm ready to get warm again. Staci and I have had a fun and interesting winter however. with our first Christmas in Dallas being a WHITE christmas, it was a nice welcome.

lately we've both felt a need to try new things. with the new year, new state, new apartment, we decided we needed to branch out to establish 'what we like'. food has become more creative particularly. so far we've tried spaghetti squash, papaya, almond milk, sweet potato recipes, homemade gluten free mac'n'cheese, potato skins, and several others. we're finding we eat the same (boring) foods again and again. if anyone has any creative recipes (for those with special diets) let us know!

since the last time I posted the main events have been the Super Bowl, & Valentines. (for a link to Staci's Blog with a picture of us at her brother Bryan's super bowl party Click here). we were rooting for the Saints, all the way. Awesome.

For V-day we had a low key 'holiday' the Friday/Saturday before comprising mainly of racquetball, dinner, an action flick and a custom box of chocolates :)

eat your heart out chocolate lovers. it-was-amazing...!

beyond that life is good. we filed taxes early this year for a tax return to get out of some debt, and after having attended a Stake Emergency Prep. seminar last weekend we're excited to get ready for whatever life may throw at us. My birthday is on Friday as well so we'll see what happens!

Monthly update

it's about that time again, time to update the blog. sorry folks for those of you more interested in our day to day happenings. try calling. it still works, I promise!

so much has happened I'll attempt to fill in on. after our *lovely* run-in with the Texas DMV and all that entailed we have yet to accomplish the rest of our "new apartment move in" checklist, but it's coming along. we DID get a cat, a big black adult male that we can't decide a name between Jett or Carl. (Karl?) we also acquired a couch, and as of last night rearranged our living room to accommodate it. I also rearranged our bedroom, and hung a few pictures. just a few more items and we'll be all settled in! (a few months after moving in... HaHa)

once again we had some car trouble, (Staci's Starter?) with Staci's dad to the rescue. Geez, we owe her whole family so much since getting here it's unreal. (Thanks guys!)

and as of last Sunday our ward (the Frisco 1st) was split and moved around to create the Frisco 7th ward, leaving those of us left in the 1st a little separation anxiety. we'll see how everything panned out next Sunday.

other than that, just the daily commute, and spring cleaning!

interstate moving, and getting back on track

who knew moving to another state took so long to set everything up?

we finally changed Staci's last name the day before we moved in August (9 months after we were married :) and have yet to get new ID's reflecting the change. we secured our new apartment over a month ago and haven't stopped running since! new insurance, updating mailing addresses, applying for new utilities (and subsequently having to contact the old utility companies for references), blah blah blah.

needless to say we're tired! we still have much to do. I received a letter in the mail stating my AZ registered vehicle has no AZ auto insurance. so they decided (on a whim sounds like) that they were going to cancel my vehicle registration. in 6 days. ouch.       so last friday Staci and I decided to get all of our stuff together to go the the Texas DPS office (DMV) and update our vehicle registration, DL's, vehicle titles, etc. we got up early, headed across town and got to the front desk 3 hours before I had to be to work a few miles a way, plenty of time to get everything vehicle oriented taken care of. they asked what we needed. "we just moved here from AZ, and need to get updated vehicle registration and driver's licenses". "you can't do that here. not yet. first the vehicles need inspected, with an inspection sticker, then you need to go register them with the state, then come back here with the information they give you and we'll get you new licenses."

(Whaaaaaaaat?!) "ok, then we'll just get our updated DL's today and get the inspection done later," I said.

"can't do that, we need the inspection and registration done independently before we'll update your license. 'NEXT!' "

oh. my. gosh. I hate that man. we spent the next 3 hours trying to jump through all their stupid little hoops, finishing most of them. first we went to several auto shops looking for someone to 'inspect' our vehicles. ($80) next we were told Staci's mustang wouldn't pass unless she put 2 new tires on ($178). we still have yet to register the vehicles or even update our IDs!

someday we'll finish our 'new apartment checklist' but not today. I'm again off to the DMV!