25 Christmas things

25. How many more days til' Christmas?
7! I am really excited to see everyone!

24. What color is your Christmas tree?
uh... the tree is green, the decorations are red, yellow and blue

23. Bought any gifts for anyone yet?

yup. including one for myself!

22. Are there any Gifts under the tree?

a few. we need to change that

21. Will it snow this Christmas?

possibly. probably not though, but there might be some kind of snow/ice on the ground.

20. How many family members live in your house?

must me and rand.... i guess you can count the cat if you really want to haha

19. Is Santa coming?

haha, no. if anything he came early and my gift is sitting in my guest bedroon (it is too big to fit under the tree)

18. Have you been naughty or nice?

what kind of a question is that! of course i'm nice!

17. Favorite place to get presents from?

depends. this year- costco...yay for kitchen aids!

16. How many places do you go to celebrate the holiday?

if i'm in utah, with my family and rands family on both days probably.

15. Ever 'peeked' inside a present?

of course! i get so excited i can't handle it- especially when i was a kid

14. Ever tried egg nog?

i used to like it when i was youner, but not really digging it these days

15. How cold is it now?

on my way home from work today at noon it was 32. we had a storm yesterday so it is cold and snowy now.

14. Decorated your house yet?

oh yeah. i get excited remember?! we had the light and decorations thanksgiving night! didn't get the tree until that monday though...

13. Do you still leave the cookies and milk, just for the fun of it?

nope. now that i am thinking about it... i don't ever remember leaving out cookies and milk...

13. Name 3 things you asked for this Christmas:

i only have two #1: black kitchen aid #2 christmas jeans ( i ended up getting two this year, so i guess that counts as three) now when i say christmas jeans i'm not talking jeans that are christmas-y or anything like that! ewe, i just make sure that i get a good pair of jeans once a year.

12. Ever watched The Christmas Story?

Yes, it is the best part of Christmas.

11. Have you ever been sledding?

yes, good times, good times. i honestly can't remember the last time i went though.

10. Do you get more money, or clothes for Christmas?

Money

9. Ever had a snow ball fight?

yes, rand makes sure to throw a few at me every year.

8. How many stockings will hang from the fire place?

just two

7. Does your dog/cat get a stocking?

no, rand would kill me if i got Chloe one!

6. How many people would you say you buy for a year?

probably about 10-for the most part just small things though

5. What kind of food do you celebrate with?

Oh, where to start! On Christmas day my mother makes a whole turkey dinner with all the trimmings, she also makes fudge, caramels, chocolate drops, divinity, orange drops. But it still wouldn't be Christmas with out Orange sticks or a Chocolate orange to whack!! good answer Bree... but we now have to add buckeye balls (for rand)

4. Did it snow on Christmas Day last year?

nope

3. Do you have one or more trees that are decorated for a specific theme?

only one

2. Do you go to Church on Christmas Day?

Only when it falls on a Sunday.

1. Merry Christmas!

Halloween party!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post my party pictures! For those that don't know me well, I love halloween and usually host a party every year. So this year, we partied the saturday before halloween and I dressed up as a bat. I bought ears and wings and dressed all in black. It was totally easy and so much fun... except when I walked through a door way I had to turn sideways because of my wings! We had some fun food as well. This picture shows the cake and finger breadsticks. We also had soup and salad dry ice in our drink. Halloween isn't halloween without dry ice right?!

The purple on my wings is glitter if you can't tell, and I sprayed purple glitter in my hair as well, so I pretty much made a mess everywhere I went!

Here are the partiers! We had a cowboy, pirate wilma and fred, bat and missionaries (only they really are missionaries, but we said it could count as a costume!)

Pumpkins!

At my party we were supposed to carve pumpkins but we didn't have time, so we all got together Monday for Family Night (including the missionaries) and had lots of fun. Here are some pictures


These pictures are out of order, but this one was actually taken on halloween. Rand insisted that we make a puking pumpkin. So here is the finished product, and all the little kids thought it was gross and way cool. Towards the end of the night, there was one kid that I was handing candy too and when he noticed the pumpkin he said " oh this is the house with the throwing up pumpkin, my friend told me about that!" haha. Rand is so proud.

here is the finished product! the cute smiley one on the left if mine!

Tornado!

This afternoon was just crazy! I have to tell you all about it. At about 3:30 I am sitting at my desk being busy when I hear one of the assistants in Op. 1 say "Tornado watch in Warrnesburg!" Just then my boss walks in and asks where the remote is for the flat screen on the wall so we can see what is going on. Sure enough, the news had a huge red wall across the screen and warrensburg was in the center of it. The news reporter said that a tornado would pass through our city in about fifteen minutes and everyone needs to go to a safe place. I looked out the window and it was cloudy, but not even raining. Within maybe five minutes this black wall came across the sky and dumped on us. Luckily we only had one patient in the office at the time (just happened to be my friend Riis) so we all grabbed our cell phones and went to the lab(which isn't safe by any means, but we had no where else to go). Call me crazy, but I was kind of excited because I have never seen a tornado before! As we wait, we all get on our cell phones and call everyone we knew to make sure they knew to take cover-it was pretty funny. Then one of the assistants suggested that we go down stairs and hide out in the office under us because it is probably safer. So as we are going down the stairs it is just pouring rain and incredibly windy! We wait in that office for just over thirty minutes or so, but nothing. No tornado, just lots of rain and wind and a little hail. I was a little dissappointed. So was Riis, she had never seen one either. Crazy huh! it let up not long after that and was quiet for a little while, but even as I write, at 7:45 pm, it is still raining pretty hard. Here is a picture of all the rain outside my house

Flat Stanley

About two weeks ago I get a letter in the mail addressed to Aunt Hillary. Enclosed was Flat Stanley (or flat Kobe) and a letter stating that I must take him out into my community and show him the sites. I was to take a picture and write a letter about what we did together and send it back to Lincoln Adademy for Kobe Mickelson (my nephew). I thought it was a fun little idea! So of course I have to show you all what Stanley and I did these past few weeks. (ok, ok, so I photo shopped him into a few pictures, but little kids won't know right?!! and even if they do, I think they will like the pictures anyway).

I took Stanley to the Dentist today to see where I work. Dr. Heath (my bishop) was nice enough to check his teeth while he was there!


Here was are at the Whiteman Airforce Base just outside of town. I totally forgot what kind of plane these are....sorry!

Another Whiteman picture with the B2

Here we are at a Royals Game

So as you can see Stanley had a really good time here in Missouri! Ihope Kobe likes it!

The Joys of Missouri

I have been such a slacker! Sorry for never posting. Pretty much every day I think that I should post something and then...... never happens. But I have had a good excuse lately- apparently I have allergies no, and they have been kicking my butt the past few days. I think it turned into cold/sinus infection. Yesterday was the worst, but after lots of medicine, I am feeling much better.
So I have been wanting to let all you see some of the joys of living in Missouri that Utah for the most part does not offer.
First off frogs. Frogs everywhere. I don't even want to think about how many frogs are killed while mowing the lawn. I really have to pay attention while running at night because they all like to sit on the sidewalks.

Second, turtles. I don't remember seeing turtles in Utah, but these babies are all over here. I think I see more dead on the side of the road than actually alive, but... this picture was taken in my living room. Rand was nice enough to shove this thing in my face while I was talking on the phone and scared me to death. We let it roam around the living room for a while and the cat loved it!

And my personal favorite- the wolf spider. At least that is what I am told they are. I can not keep these things out of my garage. This beauty is probably 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. I was going to put something next to it so you could get an idea how big it is, but there was no way I was getting anywhere near it!

Here is another pic just for fun!

Hey Ladies...

I'm sure you will be able to tell by the post and the pictures, but this is Rand. Hillary is pretty sick today, and of course when she is sick she demands that I do everything for her! So she is making me post something since it has been so long since she has written. Things have been pretty busy for us. Nothing really important, just work and hanging out with friends, etc... The weather has been getting nicer, but I think we are a month behind you guys as far as the fall leaves and weather goes. I don't think the leaves start to change until late October or so here.

As you can tell we went to a Kansas City Royals baseball game this last Friday night. Our FedEx sales rep at work gave me two pretty good tickets, they were 6 rows up from the field. It was nice to not sit in the cheap seats for once. Usually we go with other people so Hillary can talk to the other wives while the husbands watch the game. So it was a little more difficult to get her to come with just me. I told her it would be our date night since we are always with other people, plus it would be the last game of the season. I think she really ended up having fun though. It was a perfect night for a game, and they had fireworks afterwards. The last game we went to alone she made me leave before the end, but this time I figured it out. If I get her some ice cream in the 7th inning she forgets about leaving early! The fireworks helped a little too i guess... And of course I always like to take lots of pictures, so here are a few I picked out (Hillary picked out the hot dog race one!). Hopefully Hillary will get feeling better and you will hear from her soon. bye...

Time Flies

So I realized today that we moved to Missouri exactly a year ago- Aug 30, 2006. It is crazy to me how fast time flies. It feels like we have been here forever, but at the same time, it hasn't been that long. I remember when the idea first came up that we might move out here, and how much I hated it. There was no way I was going to leave my family, friends and everything I have ever known to live far away in some unknown place. But I can honestly say that I am happy that we did. This small(er) town has really grown on me even if we have to drive to "the city" for any decent shopping. I actually like the slower life. Living out here has really brought Rand and I closer together because for the first little while, we only had each other. It has helped us spiritually-we have a great ward that put us to work right away and keeps us active. We have made some awesome friends through our ward that are such great examples to me and are so much fun to hang out with! We were able to buy a house that we never would have been able to afford in Utah. Rands job is doing well and I am finally able to work in the field I have always wanted to. The list goes on and on! The last year has been good to us! Of course there are some down falls like unbearable humidity, nasty huge bugs, ice storms and tornado's... but all in all, living here has been a real blessing for us and we are happy!

Tagged Continued...

Thanks for more questions Bree! Here are my answers:

Would you bungee jump?
never ever! That is just crazy scary! Freaks me out just thinking about it...

What's your favorite cereal?
I love raisin bran too!! I also love cinnamon life and shredded wheat

What color pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing?
Khaki capri's, a light yellow dressy shirt, no shoes

What's the last thing you ate?
grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. I usually eat much healthier!

What are you listening to right now?
the new smashing pumpkins cd

Who is the last person you talked to on the phone?
besides people at work, probably my visiting teacher

Eye color?
Brown (Everyone loves a brown eyed girl!) good answer Bree!

Scary or happy endings?
happy duh. I used to like scary movies, but now I just can't do it. I love when movies end happy

Summer or winter?
SUMMER, I hate, hate, hate the snow!! But the snow isn't bad in Missouri- it's the ice that sucks!

What's the farthest you've been from home?
I would say Belize

Do you like the person who tagged you?
Of course. Tristan is a lot of fun!

Tagged

My friend Tristan tagged me the other day, and I thought it would be fun, so here it is!

Jobs I've had:
* Confirmation caller for Russ Whitney Real Estate Seminars
* Food Service Worker
* Diet Technician
* Title Clerk
* Office Professional
* Receptionist


Movies I never get sick of:
* Meet Joe Black
* Office Space
* Dumb and Dumber
* Breakfast Club
*Never been kissed

Places I've called home:
* Pleasant Grove, Utah
* Orem, Utah
* Warrensburg, Missouri

Favorite TV Shows:
* Lost
* Desperate Housewives
* 24
*Greys Anatomy
*The Office
*American Idol
*Alias
*Anything on the food channel
*Oprah


Favorite Vacation Spots:
* California
* Disneyland
* Hawaii
*the cruise we went on last summer (Key west, Cozumel mexico, Belize). I would love to do that again!

Favorite Websites:
* Friend's and Family's blogs
*myspace.com
* yahoo.com
* ebay.com
*kraftfoods.com


Places I'd rather be:
* Utah
* on a cruise
* Hawaii
* Europe


I am now tagging:
* Bree
* Jenn
* Amber
* Allison

new purchases

Here are the new things we bought the other day. Jenn wanted to see them so here they are!

This is a cool mirror we added to our bedroom. I wasn't sure if it would look very good, but it matched perfect! It's cool huh?
This is obviously the kitchen. It took us forever to decide what to put on that wall because it is so big. So this is what we decided on (thank you Pier 1 sales!) but it needs some companions. Any ideas what we could put on either side so it doesn't look so funny?

Pictures!

Once again there isn't much to say today, so I thought I would post a few pictures. Don't worry, more to come...

Some of our Missouri friends (plus two utah friends) at a Royals game on the fourth of July. Because of some rain before the game, they ended up having to cancel the fireworks- but we got free tickets out of it...Boo Yah! We had our own fireworks the night before and lets just say that Missouri fireworks kick Utah fireworks butt!

Rian, me, and Stephanie. We decided to go back to Junior High and get matching shirts. (Notice my comparative lack of boobs!)

My bashful cat Chloe

Our house in the Spring before it got crazy hot and our grass was actually green.

Lazy Day

Well, there isn't a whole lot to say about today. It was one of those days that just comes and goes and that is it. In fact, I don't think I did anything...besides work. I don't think I could have been more lazy! But you know what? Sometimes that is exactly what I need. Normally I get up early and go to work. When I get home around 4:45 I change into my work out get-up and get my turbo jam thang on in my basement for an hour. When I am finished stretching, I take a shower and eat dinner (which usually consists of a salad or wrap, etc.). By this time it is usually around 7:00 or 8:00 so we watch a recorded show (or read my book) and call it a night. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I am usually busy up until bed time.
But today was totally opposite. I went to work as usual and got home around 5:10. I wasn't really tired or anything, but I talked myself out of my work out and decided to read. I have been reading a series recommended to me by my friend Maegan. They are by Stephanie Meyer- the first one is called Twilight, the second one is called New Moon (which is the one I am on) and the third one not out yet is called Eclipse. These are young adult books so they are a way easy read, but totally good! I didn't think I would be interested in fantasy books about vampires, but holy shiz- I can't put them down. So if you are looking for something fun to read, I highly recommend them. Anyway, so after reading a few minutes Rand walks in and decides that he is going to make the best ribs ever (seriously... that is what he said). Side note: We have the missionaries over once a month for dinner. We always make a really good dinner- you know, not something we would eat every day. These poor guys probably get a lot of the same stuff, so we try to mix it up a little. Well, the word is out that Rand and I make good food (well...mostly Rand), so some of our friends are trying to compete. It makes me laugh. So we bought some pork ribs to test out as an option for the missionaries this Sunday.
Well, as Rand is preparing the ribs for the grill, I fell asleep on the floor for about 40 minutes. That's right, I was lazy enough to just tip over on the floor and sleep! The ribs took about two hours to cook and the result was amazing. I don't like meat much, and even though the texture was a little weird, they tasted great. So Rand was pumped to have made the best ribs ever...actually I am pretty sure he said in the entire world! After cleaning up, I still don't want to do anything and that I why I am sitting at the computer typing instead of being productive.
So that was my day... I still need to take a shower and wash my hair, and I really don't want to...but I am looking pretty mangy right now so I had better.

My Evening Update

I was wanting to get some pictures posted last night, but that didn't happen. The only time I get to post anything is during the day at work, so of course I don't have any pictures.
Well our anniversary was really good . First off around 4:00 Rand walks into the dental office with a big vase of daisies and roses and totally embarrassed me in front of the ladies training me. Of course they had to tease me for a few minutes after he left as well...so it was lots of fun. I have a feeling I am going to get along with these ladies just fine. After work we drove to Independence and ate at Macaroni Grill (not a super nice restaurant like we originally planned, but I love it and it really sounded good!). Of course we ate way too much food and made ourselves sick, but the night was young so we decided to go to Pier 1 across the street just for fun. We ended up buying a fun big iron hanging wall thingy for our kitchen and a unique wood mirror for our bedroom and headed home. So that was it, nothing really out of the norm, but it was really fun to spend time together- just the two of us.
The dental office I will be working in is going to be beautiful! My Bishop is opening his own practice (he originally shared with another dentist in our ward). The office they purchased had to be completely changed, so it is a mess right now. We are scheduled to open this coming Monday, but they are cutting it really close. As of right now, they are still painting walls, there is no carpet, no cabinets, no counters etc. Not to mention we are all learning dentrix. We are working out of the back office on a card table. So it is pretty crazy there and hopefully everything goes as planned and we can open on time.

Hello!

So I finnaly got a blog! Youa re all so excited I know! I am still trying to figure this out, so I am sorry for the lack of pictures- I will get some up soon. There is so much to tell, I don't know where to start...
First off, we are now known as The Rands. Several months ago our Bishop was thanking me for doing a wonderful job with the ward newsletter over the pulpit and accidentally called me Sister Rand (he didn't even realize it). Well our friends thought that was the funniest thing and it just kind of stuck, so now we are the Rands. It is kind of an inside joke between all of us to call each other by the husbands name. Got to love our friends!
Second, today is my anniversary! Three years- woo hoo! I can't believe it has been that long! We don't have any big plans because it is a week day. So we are happy traveling to the city and eating at a nice restaurant. It is times like this that I wish we didn't live so far away from everything! But it will be fun.
Third as most of you know (I'm sure mom has told you all about my drama the last few weeks) I have accepted a new job and start today, well this afternoon. I will be working at a dental office here in town as their receptionist. My Bishop is the dentist, so it will be a little wierd but he is a way cool guy. He said that he will at one point work me into being an assistant too- so I couldn't be more excited. I am not excited to learn dentrix though- from what I have heard it is pretty hard.
Well, that is all the exciting news for today. If I have time later, I might add a few pictures. So until next time enjoy your warm non-humid days! lucky you!