Twilight Mania!!!!

The Twilight cast--can you tell who's who?

"I'm naming my baby Renesmee" t-shirt (we're not really using that awful name, but you gotta join in the festivities, you know?)

8 Things

In response to Alison's tag (this is Anna by the way--I know it gets a tad confusing when we both post stuff from time to time):

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch

*The Soup with Joel McHale
*The Office
*30 Rock
*The IT Crowd
*So You Think You Can Dance
*Heroes
*Lost
*Doctor Who (gotta throw in some British shows for good measure!)

8 Favorite Restaurants

*Cheesecake Factory
*Taste of Punjab
*Cafe Rio
*Sweet Tomatoes
*most pizza places
*In 'n Out Burger
*Chipotle
*Jason's Deli--who doesn't like free ice cream?

8 Things That Happened Yesterday

*skipped out on work! edit from Paul : I'd like to clarify that Anna did not 'skip out on work' she was sick and spent the whole morning in the hospital (she's fine though - well aside from a kidney infection - but hey it's better than the alternative - pre-term labour)
*Went to the doctor to sort out some pain I was having, without realizing that I was in for a world of pain there as well. Anyone ever experienced a catheter???!!
*vacuumed
*Made cookies
*Cried while watching "The Mentalist". Seriously.
*Changed Georgie's bandages on her foot
*Chased Georgie around the house 'cause she hates having her ears cleaned
*In addition to the catheter, had some other unpleasant things done to me, along with a scan of my kidneys. If you want to know, they are slightly swollen. But so am I in general.

8 Things I am Looking Forward To

*Going home
*the weekend--Twilight!
*getting my hair cut Saturday
*Having the baby
*Christmas
*going to some concerts with Paul
*Having the baby, and
*Yes, having the baby!!

8 Things On My Wish List

*Being jobless. I would love to be a full-time mommy and housewife. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
*that it was February already!
*that 4-day/10-hr. workweeks were easy.
*Clothes that fit
*Having a body again
*that poor little Georgie didn't have dermatitis and her little paw was all healed.
*that I didn't have to teach RS this Sunday.
*that I could just be happy & grateful and not dwell on the negative

My cute pregnant wife

So I just have to say pregnancy seems to be quite sucky (aside from the getting a baby part - which is so exciting) and I am so impressed with my lovely, cute Anna for putting up with everything, I really don't think that I could. This whole notion of 'morning sickness lasting just the first three months' doesn't seem to be the case with Anna, she is still sick and has a whole bunch of other not fun things going on. The funny thing is if you ask Anna how she acts like a trooper and will tell you she's fine, but I know different (and now so do you!). She is doing wonderfully and is going to be such a great Mum - I just hope she starts to feel better soon (as i'm sure she does to). Anywho here is a cute picture of her looking beautiful and rather pregnant!

make your own wordle (the cool word thingy) here

Georgie and her foot

This has been quite the stressful week for our little pup - Georgie. A week or so ago the dog groomer noticed that she had a little growth on her front paw, it looked a little sore so we kept on eye on it. Then a week ago we got home and she was bleeding and limping from said paw, so we rushed over to the vets and the vet said that she had a couple of tumors on her paw and they would need to operate on her to remove them. So last Wednesday we took a happy little Georgie to the vets (she had no idea what was coming) and she had her surgery. It all went well and the tumors turned out to be benign - so no worries, but now she is so sad. She has to wear a little cast, which she tries to constantly chew at, so she also has to wear a funky collar to stop her getting at it. Originally she had one of those big satellite collars, however it was huge and scared her to death (she just stood still looking sad with it on), so we switched it out for the inflatable version which is 1) more expensive but 2) doesn't scare her and 3) allows her to use it as a little neck pillow. She has to go back soon and have her stitches out, which will hopefully cheer her up (she is normally such a chipper little dog). She's doing good and I'm glad we got it taken care of but as you can see from the above photo, she is not too impressed with the situation - poor George.

New Kids On The Block Concert - they've got the right stuff!

We had so much fun!!! Although the New Kids were not so new nor kids anymore they did put on a jolly good show. The concert was most entertaining, and although we didn't stay until the end, we had lots of fun. The concert had two opening acts, the first (which was not advertised so I'm glad we were on time) was Lady Gaga, who was quite great. Anna and I have her CD and were quite surprised to see her opening for NKOTB (I thought she was a little cooler than that). She's a little kooky but quite entertaining - although she only did 4 songs - she's like a mix of Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani. After she was done Natasha Beddingfield came on and was, once again, fun to watch. I thought I knew more of her songs than I actually did but it was good all the same. After the two opening acts it was NKOTB time, and my goodness I have never heard so much screaming (and the arena was only half full). They were actually quite good and did quite a few of their old songs (who knew they had new ones!) and even did the old dance routine, which was jolly entertaining to watch (considering they are not as young as they were). Anna was hoping that Marky Mark would be there to his brother but alas no. We stayed for about half of their set (it was getting quite late and we are old) but I got to hear my favorite song from their extensive back catalogue - Tonight (I actually am quite familiar with their 'work' as I had a friend back in the day who was obsessed with them). All in all much fun was had, and we got to hang out with Josh and Cyd, so it was a great evening - aside from the fact that the E-Center now charges $10 for parking, but we had free tickets so it's all good. Anyway bring on Carrie (it's tonight) oh and an update for you - Miss Dion has postponed her concert on Friday to now be held Feb 22nd - which does NOT work us (what with having a baby and all) so I guess I don't get to see Celine for the 6th time (good news though; my friend at work is buying the tickets from us). Here's some pictures (courtesy of Josh and his iPhone) from the concert:

Lady Gaga

The New Kids during 'Tonight'

Something to think about...

As many of you know I work for a non-profit organization, Utah Community Action Partnership Association and we work with many community partners across the state to provide immediate needs assistance to needy Utahns. One such community partner is United Way of Salt Lake. United Way of Salt Lake is taking a proactive role in response to the serious challenges presented by the current economic crisis by coordinating donations of cash and products to distribute to our community's front line nonprofit service providers. These increased resources will not only shore up those families and individuals who are struggling during this difficult time, but also create hope for a brighter future for us all. I would encourage you all to take a look at the information below and think about how you can become involved in addressing your communities needs, whether it be by becoming involved in the United Way's program or by supporting other community programs.

One last thing is that the program I work on directly, Earn It.Keep It. Save It - which provide free tax assistance to low-moderate income Utahns, is in need of volunteers. In tax season 2007 our program completed over 16,000 free tax returns across the state, bringing in over $14 million in total tax refunds and credits and saving over $1.6 million in tax preparation fees. These outcomes are awesome and a true testament to our 656 volunteers who worked over 15,000 hours to accomplish these results. However there is always more to do, there are approx 44,000 Utahns who are eligible for free tax help that we are unable to serve as we do not have enough volunteers, so if you are interested in becoming a volunteer tax preparer (no experience needed - really - even I can do it!) please let me know. Training is provided by the IRS and we would love to have you - we have locations all across the state!

Thanks for reading!!!!

Background
The effects of the current economic crisis are all around us. Many families are forced to make decisions between daily needs, such as food, rent, and child care. Local community providers meeting crisis needs are dealing with longer waiting lists and fewer donations. Food bank shelves are bare and people are sleeping on the floor at local shelters. More and more people are seeking credit counseling and mortgage assistance to try to make ends meet. More families have been pushed to the point of desperation resulting in rising numbers of foreclosures. It is impossible to predict the serious challenges that lie ahead.

Call to Action
United Way of Salt Lake is taking a proactive role in response to the serious challenges presented by the current economic crisis by coordinating donations of cash and products to distribute to our community's frontline nonprofit service providers requesting help. We are calling on individuals and organizations in our community to take action in order to keep our neighbors from falling into crisis. These increased resources will not only shore up those families and individuals who are struggling during this difficult time, but also create hope for a brigher future for us all. The following are some examples of ways individuals and organizations can help:

• Make an additional financial contribution beyond your normal level of support
• Contribute to drives for food, baby products, and other needed items
• Talk to your neighbors about getting involved by making a monetary donation or coordinating a drive for needed items
• Send letters to the editor about the importance of supporting this critical effort
• Organize drives for needed items such as food, baby products, and other needed items
• Commit several hours to volunteer work like taking calls at 2-1-1 Info Bank
• Help people improve long-term financial stability by volunteering for our Utah Saves or Earn it. Keep it. Save it. initiatives

Please visit Neighbor to Neighbor Response to find out how you can help!

The week of concerts

Now I'm going to make you all jealous - well maybe not, but if i read this on someone else's blog I would be jealous - over the next week we are going to three, yes three, concerts! On Saturday we are going to see, courtesy of my work, New Kids On The Block (and Natasha Beddingfield), I am most excited as I hear that they still dance, I am expecting it to be most entertaining. On Wednesday we are off to see Carrie Underwood (and Little Big Town), for those of you who don't know who she is, i.e. everyone in England, she won American Idol a few years ago and I am a big fan. She sings country music, so Anna is thrilled about this one (Anna isn't the biggest country fan - but I am, and she loves me, so I get to go!). Then last but not least we are heading on Friday to see Celine Dion - now Anna is excited for this one (well she would be if she wasn't pregnant - we've had these tickets forever). This will be, I'm not sure I should admit this, the 6th time I have seen Celine in concert (wow that makes me seem quite obsessive and odd - but this is over a 10 year period and one of those times was in Vegas so that doesn't count). Anyway I am most excited for the next week, although it'll be tiring, and I'll be sure to post some reviews for your reading pleasure!

A fun night out to Noah's

On Monday we got an email from Anna's sister Tracy informing us that she had won a free night out at Noah's in Lindon - oh my was it fun. I'll let Tracy tell you the story -stolen from her blog:

"This week I won a contest called "Monday Knights" from Sportsbeat Sunday. I didn't even remember entering the contest, so when they emailed me that I'd won, I just ignored it. Then, I got a call on Sunday telling me I'd won the party for the next night. It was a party for 12 in the Theater Room at Noah's. (Noah's is like this party/reception hall in Lindon) I decided that it sounded like a nice break from wedding planning and everything else, so last minute, my parents, Eduardo and I and my sisters and their husbands went. Well, it was quite the adventure. I'm sure that Paul's account of the outing will be more exciting, so if you want, you can switch over to his blog. First of all, FYI Noah's is not recognized by MapQuest. So- if you are planning on going there, don't follow the little blue dot on your iPhone while your whole entire family follows behind. It will lead you to a place very, very far away from Noah's. Secondly, if you win the "Monday Knights" contest- and they tell you that it includes a catered meal for 12, what that means is that it includes some cold chicken from Chick-Fil-A and store-bought brownies. Now, it was free, so I'm not complaining. They also had 12 T-shirts laid out on the pool table for us in an "array" of sizes (one Large and 11 2X Large) We did stay for one hour and watch "Dancing with the Stars" (my dad's choice) and play some pool. All-in-all it was a complete waste of time, but we all laughed so much (at my expense, mostly) that it ended up being the perfect break! Good times. "

Hanging out at Noah's - enjoying the 'catered dinner'

Anna's favorite picture ever

Halloween 2008

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have recently discovered Facebook (which is jolly good fun) and thus my online time has been occupied by that. Anyway here are some pictures from our little Halloween party form the other week.

Cutie Pie Edison as a Bumble Bee - boy did he enjoy the balloons!


Alison and Edison



After much convincing Anna finally agreed to dress up with me as Target employees, we then spent the whole night asking people if we could help them find anything. (Georgie - in the spirit of saving money - wore last years Snow White Costume, and as you can see here, was thrilled about it)



While Edison enjoyed the balloons, Georgie, on the other hand was not so sure


Maia was not up for having a cute kid group shot taken


But she did pose in her Ladybug costume for me