Catching Up November

Hello readers! Ya, this going private thing is a little annoying, but thanks for hanging in there!

Has anyone seen Julie and Julia? I feel like my blog is really really boring now!

Anyway, it's catch up time yet again. I never realized how much free time I used to have until I noticed I have no time to blog =p Sorry!

November was filled with visitors! We had Kato, Janelle's brother, with us for an entire week. He just joined the military and will be leaving January. He wanted one more visit to CA before he has to leave. He got quite the visit too! Knotts, Universal Studios and Disneyland!

We also had Summer and Dan over! Summer wanted to go to Disneyland one more time before heading back to Australia. Well, that and to see me of course! Dan hadn't been to Disneyland since he was a child, so he was the perfect companion to drag along! They came up to L.A. to have dinner with us at the Americana. Then we drove down the next night to have dinner in Downtown Disney with them and Nathan. Has it not been just wonderful having Summer so close again, if only for a little while?!!


Next, was my Dad! He drove up for Thanksgiving, which was fantastic! This was the first year I made dinner! Usually I just helped my Mom with a dish or two... but this year, I did it all! I was a little nervous, but I soon realized that it
wasn't hard at all. Not nearly the drama I expected! Did I mention that our oven is like half the size of a normal oven?! I could hardly fit the turkey in it! I intended on buying a 5 pounder... and yet walked out of the store with a 20 pounder! How does that happen?! It was so much cheaper to get the bigger one! Luckily, I like waking up early on Thanksgiving to watch the parade, so I just threw it in there before the parade started. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful husband- he got up and pulled all the guts out of that thing. YUCK! And because of my accident, he actually put it in the oven =) It's a heavy bird! I didn't really think about spices when I bought it. So I just threw on some Pampered Chef Jamaican Jerk Rub I happened to get free with one of my purchases! haha! Once the turkey was done, I threw in the casseroles, two at a time. So, buy the time we ate, the turkey was still warm. Yay! Our menu consisted of turkey and gravy, corn bread muffins, green bean casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, cranberry sauce (not that jar crap, real boiled cranberries), candied yams with marshmallows, and items Janelle's boss sent her: mashed potatoes, stuffing, and carrot pudding. My Dad also made cranberry relish. We don't have a kitchen table, so we had a picnic on the floor =) We were stuffed!


I LOVE Black Friday shopping! I love the chaos, I love the grumpy people, I love the lines, I love the deals. I've done it every year since I can remember. I love it. Well, this was the first time I did it in CA. Usually I'm always in AZ. This time, Janelle wanted to brave the world and come. It was her first time and it was a success! She LOVED it and can't wait to go next year! My poor husband came with- but forgot his phone. He was left/lost a few times. Oops! But we all managed to make it out alive =)


After shopping and a nap, we went to the El Capitan to see A Christmas Carol. It was in 3D and because we went to the Disney theatre, they had a live stage show! It was my Dad's first visit to the El Capitan theatre. He just laughed at all the extra and free things that were included in seeing the movie. "Leave it to Disney to go over the top"-Dad. After the movie, they had props/costumes from the movie to view. The movie was really good. In fact, it was a bit scary at times! haha!


During my Dad's visit, he and I took a father daughter day and had high tea in Pasadena. This little tea house was voted best in L.A. Apparently, even dignitaries go there! So we went to this charming tea house, bought Cadbury, and had tea! It was really fun and a wonderful experience.

Thanks for visiting! Who wants to visit next?!

Friday the 13th Car Accident

Last week, I wrote a blog about the car accident Janelle and I were in... However, I don't think I'm going to be allowed to post it. It was very theraputic to write though, so it wasn't a waste of time.

I just wanted to say that although it's all becoming very overwhelming- I'm very thankful that this accident didn't have a different outcome, if you know what I mean. Thank you Mom for that Guardian Angel pin that has been in my car since I bought it. Janelle and I are feeling very fortunate. We are seeing a Chiropractor and hope to be 100% soon.

I do believe the accident is still under investigation. I'm hoping to get a copy of the report. Obviously I'm now looking for another car to purchase, so if you know or see any good Toyota's for sale, let me know. I'm hoping to buy a car in AZ, so for those of you I missed seeing due to the circumstances, I hope I get to visit you then!

Because we are getting a lawyer, I may have to block this blog and go "private". I know it's really annoying, but I promise it will only be for as short a time as possible. Sorry! Please send me your e-mail address so that I can grant you access.
THANK YOU!

50 and Fabulous! Happy Birthday Barbie!

Did you know that Barbie turned 50 this year? Yep, that beauty is still looking good after 50 years! For those of you who didn't know, Janelle and I have been obsessed with watching the Barbie movies. I know, it may seem silly, but they are like the Disney Classics-except that a new one is released every year! It started with me loving Barbie's Princess and the Pauper. Now, every time a new Barbie movie is released, Janelle and I will watch it. Don't get me wrong, some have been pretty hard to sit through, but most of them are fantastic. If you don't believe me, just try one out. Classic stories with Barbie. Amazing!

Anyway, because we've had this love of these movies (we even went to see Barbie Live on Stage in Fairytopia a couple years back!), our Barbie facination has grown beyond the love of playing with Barbies in our childhood memories. So, when we found out that Barbie was celebrating 50 years, we decided to throw her a birthday party! Not just any ordinary birthday party, a 3 day expo! Our whole point was to watch ALL the Barbie movies leading up to the newest so we could have a "world premiere" of Barbie and the 3 Musketeers. Unfortunately, our schedules and colds (I caught a nasty one) kept us from watching all of them, but we did finally skip over what was left and watch the new one.

Lindsey and Domonique joined our party. Lindsey has also loved the Barbie movies. Domonique, however, was breaking out of her shell for this one. By the end of the first night, she was a Barbie lover! haha! We had Barbie Expo badges, Barbie Girl tiaras, pink 7-Up, pink strawberry cake, and our celebrity guests- Barbie Dolls!

Since it was such a crazy idea, we went all out with decorations and food, complete with singing "Happy Birthday" to Barbie. Our kids are going to die laughing.

We had the party the very next weekend AFTER Halloween. From scary, to PINK! haha! Go pull out your old Barbie, snuggle up on the couch and grab "Princess and the Pauper", "Island Princess", or "Diamond Castle" (our favorites). I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed!

Christmas Time Is Here!

Halloween decorations never stay up long in our house. We have to put them up early, otherwise, they come right down! Three days after Halloween, all our "scary" decorations were pulled off and replaced with Christmas! Yes, we tend to skip over Thanksgiving with Christmas decorations- but is there really any cute Thanksgiving decorations out there?
We decided to have a Family Christmas Decorating Party! For those who think we put
up our tree too early, let me just say that we are on "Disney Time". When we worked at Disneyland, we got in to this habit of decorating for Christmas around the 2nd or 3rd of November. And here is proof that Disneyland decorates that early:

Our friend Erinn came over to help. We had egg nog and played Christmas movies in the background. I couldn't bring hardly any decorations out, but I packed up all my new red poinsettia decorations I bought last year (50% off day after Christmas sale!) and my Mom shipped them out. I think our tree this year is so chic!! Our angel is a big heavy, so it tends to lean to the right. haha!


Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

Halloween Sweets

I bought my costume for Halloween early- last year actually. I love hitting those after Halloween sales. I found a really cute poodle skirt and planned to be a 50’s girl. However, that changed….


Janelle and Domonique decided we should be a unit. So they talked me in to being a “baked good”. Janelle had already chosen a chocolate chip cookie (her favorite dessert) outfit and Domonique was going to be a chef. Therefore, I decided to be Cherry Pie, since that’s MY favorite dessert. It was a great excuse to also BUY chocolate chip cookies and cherry pie =) Yummy!

Jan-Michael decided to be a vampire. Not the old school, huge fangs, blood dripping down, Dracula vampire…. The new “hip” version of vampire. Somehow, we talked him in to wearing glitter and therefore he became a Cullen vampire haha! Gene came up from Arizona to celebrate with Domonique. He was one of the characters from Reno 911. This was his first year ever dressing up!! I think he was nervous, especially since his shorts were really short, but he had a lot of fun. Lindsey was also part of our Halloween group. She was a punk fairy, compete with sassy black boots!

We weren't able to leave until pretty late in the evening because poor Domonique had to work. SO we hit the worst traffic ever. EVER. I've been in this traffic before (a couple Halloweens ago), but this was just awful. It pretty much took us an hour and a half to go 10 miles.... the worst of it being the last 5 miles. People go crazy for Halloween in Hollywood! So, our plans to go to the West Hollywood street party were overrun by our stomachs. We went to Mel's Diner on Hollywood Blvd. instead! It was still fun though because everyone was dressed up, even the waiters. The table next to us was a unit- all characters from the movie "Up". They looked fantastic!! Best unit ever!


The day before Halloween, I actually got to dress up at work! We even had a costume contest! I was really surprised that so many people actually participated. I had to borrow one of Janelle's Disney costumes for the office. I decided to go with Sleeping Beauty so I could get away with sleeping at work! All I kept hearing was, "I like your Sleeping Beauty costume, but you should have been Belle." If they only knew...


After work, Jan-Michael and I headed to Universal Studios Horror Nights. My husband LOVES to go to the theme parks when they have Halloween haunted mazes. He especially loves Michael Myers-Halloween. The "haunted house" they had for it looked just like the house in the movie. They also let you get off in the backlot and go through sets- of course creatures are jumping out at you... They also had mazes for My Bloody Valentine, Saw, and Chucky.



I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

In a Nutshell....

Neglectful blogger here…..
The end of October in a nutshell….



Spending time with Janelle shopping in the O.C. (where we previously lived and therefore feel more comfortable shopping).




Domonique’s new fun job: It’s Sugar. This is how you make your own candy bar- choose your favorite candy, give it to Domonique, tell her what chocolate you want it made out of, she makes it, it goes down a cooling rack, she packages it and voila! But she doesn’t want her picture taken…… too bad!






Lindsay’s going away party. What the heck, I just got here and she’s leaving!! She’s going back home to IL. We will miss her smiling face. We are now adopting her BFF and Roomie, Erinn who is staying in CA.


Hubby makes it to CA! His car broke down, his aunt died, his car broke down again… so his cross country trip turned in to a flight to Los Angeles. Thank Heaven he is here!!

More updates to come including Halloween =) I hope everyone is enjoying fall!

Arizona Wedding, Congrats Kelly!

I've become a bad blogger. My job is just so demanding that by the time I get home, I don't want to look at the computer. Not to mention the computer is a dinosaur so everything takes longer.


At the beginning of this month, I made a trip back to Arizona for my cousin's wedding. Kelly and Paul were married in Glendale at Sahuaro Park. It was a beautiful breezy and sunny day. My family from New Mexico were there, as well as a cousin from Iowa! It was wonderful to see so much family together in one place.




This is my cousin Katie, my Grandma Klassen, and me- the shortest girls in the family! We decided that since we were finally all three together, we needed to take a picture of the "small club". Everyone else in our family is at least 3 inches taller than us!

Here's a picture of my Dad and all his siblings. There hasn't been a picture like this in years! My Uncle Grant, Aunt Norene, my Dad Glenn, and my Uncle Garry.

My beautiful and talented Rock Star sister sang at the reception.






My cousin Kim and I. We used to be inseparable when we were kids!






My Grandpa and Grandma... married for 62 years!








Lots of cousins =)












More highlights from my AZ trip...
SUMMER!!!!! She's visiting from Australia for a month, so we got together and had coffee/breakfast. I have missed that girl! We shrieked for about 10 seconds and then went on talking like normal, as if no time had passed...







Beth's baby girl Kyler! She's growing so fast!!










Oktoberfest! I haven't been to Tempe Town Lakes since my Sophomore year of college. I went with Steven and Tiffany and we caught up with Suzi, Paul, Lisa and Summer. Yay for high school friends!



Michelle was visiting from Utah at the same time! Here we are with Cari at a pizookie party =)