Little Things

I'm so grateful for the little things in life that make me smile.

Ice cream cones so cold they make my tongue burn.

Painting my toe nails. 

Pictures of Kirk making silly faces.

Hot, hot, hot showers.

Fruit Roll-Ups..Strawberry Kiwi flavor.

Getting mail. Real mail, not just junk.

What makes you smile?

Gladys Knight

We had the opportunity last night to attend a fireside at our stake center that was put on by Gladys Knight and the Saints United Voices Choir.  The point of the fireside was to introduce members of the church to the culture and music of other cultures and to introduce non-members to the gospel.  Let's be honest, I kind of thought that the entire choir would be comprised of members of African-American decent. I was surprised to see that most choir members were either white, or islander. Man, did they rock it like a baptist church choir though. Throughout the evening we heard various people saying "Amen!" or "Sing it, sister!" and that was just odd to me, because during our normal meetings where singing and music is present, we don't shout out things.  Also, the clapping during the songs...also strange to me. I was able to clap after the songs because technically we were in the gym, but clapping during the songs..not so much.  On the way home Kirk told me that he wanted to let out a "Hallelujah" or "Amen!" and put his hands in the air but he knew I wouldn't like it, so he didn't. What a good husband. We had the chance to hear the testimony of one of the choir members, and also the testimonies of Gladys and her husband.  The spirit was so strong, and I hope that everyone in the room could feel it.  I feel so blessed to have had such an opportunity to hear such strong testimonies from such talented people.

Who likes birthdays?!

I do! And even better than one birthday, is two! Kirk's birthday is on the 24th, and mine is the 25th. Every one always thinks it's so cool that our birthdays are a day apart. It's not cool...it's freaking awesome! It's like two days in a row of partying! It's a super excuse to go on a vacation. I think it's going to be an every other year trip thing. Our first birthdays together we both did a hockey thing. He got me glass seats and a Thunder t-shirt, and his friends wanted to go to a game on his b-day, so I had his name put on the jumbotron and they announced that it was his b-day (unfortunately the speakers in our section were broken, so he just saw his name, but there were a couple people from his work that were also there, and they said that they heard it at least.) On our next birthday together we went to Tahoe for a nice weekend. It was only a month after Kirk's knee surgery, so we mostly just sat around the house watching movies. Our third birthday together I threw him a surprise 30th birthday, but he'd just bought his house and almost nothing was unpacked so he didn't actually want anyone invited over, so it was a rather small party. I made him dinner, and he made dinner for my birthday and it was a rather chill birthday. This year we did the whole Vegas thing. On his actual birthday I took lunch and cupcakes to his work for lunch, and then made dinner and a coconut cream tart. For my birthday he left me danishes for breakfast (because he left for work crazy early) and then took me to eat at B.J.'s for dinner then watched The Phantom of the Opera with me. He got me a fabulous new dress from Down East basics. It is going to look fan-tastic(!!!) with the new shoes my mama bought me! That means next year we'll spend our birthdays at home (hopefully with a baby. fingers crossed) and then the year after that, something fabulous and not at home! (We've told his grandma that our birthdays are a day apart at LEAST 6 times, and every time it's like it's the first time she's heard it. I love it.)

Thank You, Little Brother

My little brother goes to a special performing arts school and they do all their homework, at school. That means he has way to much time on his hands when he gets home from school. He likes to spend time on youtube looking for funny videos. Tonight, he showed me this one, and I laughed so hard that I cried. (Even Kirk thought it was hilarious.) Now, I share it with you.

Thank you little brother for you waste of time. Thank you so much.

Questions or Answers.

I had my appointment with my Hormonal Specialist last Friday. They asked if I was there for irregular periods, or infertility. All I could say is "I sure hope I'm not infertile."  The Doctor came in and asked me to start at the beginning of everything. I told him about my surgery earlier this year, and he started looking at my test results from all the biopsies and things, and just kept saying "Wow. Oh my gosh. Oh wow!." He told me how unusual it was for someone my age to have such severely abnormal cells. Well thanks. It was good when he said it looked like they got it all.  I told him what was going on, and of course, like I've been doing a lot lately, I started crying. He just looked at me and goes "Why are you crying?" Rude. He kept telling me "I'm a specialist. I know what I'm talking about." Yes, I know you are..that's why I'm here. I asked about the cysts that my ob told me about. He proceeded to tell me that there were no cysts after all, and that everything looks fine in the ovary area. He told me in fact, that he would be more worried if my ovaries DIDN'T look like that. He told me that I've basically spent the last month worrying about something, that was nothing. Well that sucks. So now I've got a whole bunch of lab work to do, and another ultrasound to make sure i'm producing eggs still, and an ovulation kit to make sure that's all ok. So...lots more tests. Some sort of answer now would be nice. After I started crying the doctor goes "Look...you're crying over nothing. You could be pregnant now, as we speak!" Unfortunately I just cry a lot so that's probably not a very good indicator of things. 

Here's to waiting for answers...

Viva, Viva, Las Vegas!

First. My doctors appointment with the hormonal therapist is supposed today. My fingers are crossed that it doesn't get canceled today. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would you? Thanks.

On to the good stuff.
In October Kirk and I decided we wanted to go on a Birthday trip to Vegas. Our birthdays are only one day apart so we usually like to do something fun. We found the shows we wanted and planned our trip around those. I counted down the days till we left. We flew out of Stockton, which was super nice, and then it was only an hour flight.

When we went to check into our hotel, they didn't have a non-smoking room available so they asked us if we wanted to wait for a non-smoking room and of course we said yes. They said it would only be about 45 minutes, so we decided to walk around for a while. We watched a couple water shows at the Bellagio, and after almost an hour and a half when we still hadn't heard from the hotel we went back to ask about the room. They apologized and gave us a free upgrade to a bigger room, complete with a jacuzzi tub!

On Monday morning we went on a tour to the Hoover Dam. I found the deal on Groupon and knew it was the  perfect idea for Kirk's birthday gift. The tour company came and picked us up at our hotel, and drove us out to the Dam. When Kirk saw a sign for the Dam and got so excited. He was totally geeking out and it was adorable. 

My Engineer 

For dinner we went to a restaurant that was highly recommended by a friend. It was DELICIOUS. I got steak and mashed potatoes, and Kirk got Scallops. They had whole baguettes that they put on the table, and I don't know that I've ever had bread that good. We also got Bananas Foster (also recommended by my friend) Yum! 

                                           

                                                   

After dinner we got to go to MY show. Phantom of the Opera. I'd seen it twice already and I wanted to share my love of the show with Kirk. Unfortunately they changed and took out little pieces, so it wasn't entirely they show I loved. Still great though. Kirk, being the fantastic husband he is, even bought me a shirt from the show.

On Tuesday we had breakfast at Planet Hollywood then spent the morning just walking around the strip. 

On Tuesday night we went to Kirk's show, Celine Dion. It was AMAZING. 

We had dinner after the show at

We knew this would probably be one of the last big trips we get to go on before we have a baby so we wanted to do as much as we could. 

Wednesday morning before we flew back to Stockton we had one more place to get food from. Kirk's brother suggested a sandwich shop called 

They specialize in hot sandwiches, and the bread is baked after the bread and cheese is on the bread and put through the oven. It was absolutely one delicious sandwich.  Thanks Jon!

Then we had to fly home...it was a sad moment. We had a fantastic trip, and eagerly look forward to the next one!  

Immortal.

Apparently that's what Cirque du Solei thinks Michael Jackson is.
I saw tickets for this show advertised in October of 2010 and automatically thought of Kirk. He's a huge MJ fan, and I thought something like this show would be perfect for him. I saved to buy the tickets, and was so excited to buy them. Then after I did, I promptly got an email saying that it was January of 2012. I bought them for his Christmas present for 2011, so you can imagine my disappointment. I'd talked to Kirk about this show, and after I bought the tickets he told me that he didn't want to go to the show because it was to far away.  I replied "Well that would have been nice to know before I bought the tickets." I told him that I would just sell them and get my money back. Of course I didn't. I knew I could save them for the next Christmas, and he would forget about it. I hid them away in a safe place, and kept them all year long. Then, on Christmas morning, he opened them.  I couldn't tell how he really felt about it. He said he was excited, but he'll say it even if it isn't really true to not hurt my feelings. We (I) counted down the days till the show, then last night it was Date Night! We got all gussied up and headed to Sacramento with MJ music on the radio. The show was amazing! They had some amazing acts, with some very, very, very talented dancers. At one point of time there was a break dancer, tap dancers, and a ballet dancer on pointe. I didn't know where to watch! I was so torn on which dancer to watch.! There was a pole dancer..uh amazing! There were acrobats, and contortionist (I really don't know how bodies bend like that!) It was absolutely just unbelievable. I loved it. Kirk however..his reaction when I asked if he loved it was  "Eh....I enjoyed it.*silence. silence. silence* I love you." Yeah, not so much love on his part. Kind of a let down because I paid kind of a lot for tickets but..I loved it!
T- 3 days till Las Vegas!
You can watch a trailer for the show here:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/michael-jackson-tour/videos-extras/videos.aspx

Seriously. Can someone tell me why my pictures won't stay upright?

New Years Eve

Kirk and I were able to partake in the Stone Family tradition of Fondue dinner at Grandma and Grandpas house. There are usually 5-10 fondue pots, and fondue forks everywhere. We have meat, and veggies, and all sorts of delicious things that taste good fried (or cooked in broth). And as always the delicious cheese fondue. Yum! I think that was half of my dinner. After dinner we hung out for a while, then headed home and watched "This Is It" which is the movie about the Michael Jackson tour that got canceled. For Christmas I bought Kirk tickets to the Cirque du Solei Michael Jackson show, so he wanted to watch the movie to get ready for the show. We started the movie late, and I totally fell asleep. It was a pretty low key evening, but it was so perfect!