Matt & Caroline Klein

Carribean Cruise 2010

2011-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

In December we went on a Carribean cruise with our good friends Darin and Sue. We had a blast! Lots of great sightseeing, reading books, and laughing with our friends. We went on NCL's newest cruise ship, the Epic, and it was amazing. Our stops were St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Nassau (Bahamas). Here are some pictures of our trip.

I had to throw this picture in because I thought it was funny. Matt with a sea creature while we were snorkeling in St. Thomas (the pictures aren't in order, sorry).

This is the waterslide on our ship. It was fantastic. (Wave to Matt!)

First stop was St. Maarten. Beautiful ocean!
More St. Maarten. Our ship is in the background.

The group - on our snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas. (It's soda, I promise).

Christmas in the Carribean! I kept forgetting it was the beginning of December and not the middle of summer! 75 degrees and beautiful weather.

View from St. Thomas. There were 6 cruise ships in port that day (i think). St. Thomas was absolutely beautiful. I would love to go back there.

Picture of Nassau as our boat was pulling in.

We had such a great trip! Thanks Darin and Sue for the fun!

New Addition....

2010-09-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

Introducing our kitten - Lily! We got her on Friday night. Caroline has been wanting a cat for a few months now, and so we finally decided to get one. She is 7 weeks old, and loves to play. We just love her to pieces!

New Car

2010-09-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we traded in Caroline's car.....

For this one! It is a 2008 Volkswagon Passat. We love it!

Island Park

2010-06-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Matt and I spent a weekend up at his grandma's cabin in Island Park a few weeks ago. We had a very relaxing trip! We spent a lot of time at the cabin just watching movies, reading, and hiking, but also spent a day up at Yellowstone. And we made lots of s'mores!

Us at Yellowstone, near some geysers.

Yellowstone Lake (it was really cold up there all weekend, hence the sweatshirts)

Some scenary during a hike. I think they call it the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone".

Some scenary on one of our hikes near the cabin.

Portland

2010-06-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

The beginning of June Matt & I took a road trip to Oregon to see our good friend graduate from Medical School! We had a fantastic trip! We spent a night on the coast, then drove into Portland for the graduation. We ate amazing food, went a hike, and just had a great time relaxing. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Date Night

2010-03-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

We needed a nice, cheap break from busy season so we went to the Bountiful rec center to go ice skating. It only cost $3 to rent skates for both of us and we got in free with our membership. We had a blast just skating around and talking and of course we went to Sub Zero to get ice cream afterwards! If you ever want to go ice skating, or go get ice cream - we are definitely game!

CPA Squared

2009-12-18T09:16:00.001-08:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Caroline found out last night she passed her final section of the CPA Exam!!!! She is now completely done with all requirements (except her application) and will be licensed sometime in January. I am so proud of her!!! And in case you are wondering, she did finish faster than me, with higher scores than me, and didn't have to retake any sections like I did. But who cares - now we're both DONE!! Congrats darling, I'm so proud of you!

Halloween Costume

2009-12-13T16:27:00.001-08:00

Okay, I know, this is a few months late. But I still wanted to post a picture of my amazing Halloween Costume! My mom helped make the pants, and my sister-in-law provided the shirt and vest. It was a hit at work!

I just returned last Monday from a FABULOUS trip to New York City to visit my good friend Erin. I'll post pictures of my amazing trip later this week.

The first thing I want to do

2009-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Caroline just took her last (hopefully) section of the CPA exam on Saturday so there is no more studying, all day Saturday classes, or anything else - just waiting for her last two scores. So I came home from work today to find her cleaning out the fridge. After almost 6 months of studying, Saturday classes, 4 exams, countless multiple choice questions - the FIRST thing she wanted to do was clean the fridge. I will give her credit, it looks fantastic! I just thought it was funny. So, I decided to help.

Utah Football Party

2009-11-16T20:59:00.001-08:00

We had a bunch of friends over to watch the Utah vs. TCU game on Saturday. The food and friends were awesome which almost compensated for the completely terrible game! We had a fun time - although it would have been much better had we won. Thanks everyone for coming and bringing delicious food! Bring on BYU!

When the cat came to visit...and moved in

2009-11-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Caroline has a cat named Molly. When Caroline and I were dating and things started getting serious, she told me that she and her cat were a package deal. I was okay with that - I just found us an apartment that didn't allow pets. ;) Molly stayed at her parents house and we would go over to visit. Leaving Molly at Caroline's parents house gave her mom someone to pester and her dad someone to take care of. When we moved in to our house, Caroline never mentioned that she wanted to bring Molly over to live. About a month ago, Caroline's parents went out of town for a week so we brought the cat over for a visit and after Molly ran away the other night, Caroline decided she wants to keep her here. So I have been chronicling the crazy things the cat does...a few of the highlights

1. likes to drink from anywhere BUT her dedicated water bowl - such as the shower or bathtub, especially while people are in it.

2. likes to walk on my back while I'm sleeping and meow in my ear

3. likes to stick her head in glasses of water

4. likes to slide down the windshield of my car with wet paws and leave streaks right in my line of sight

5. likes to go up and down the outside edges of the stairs

A Good Laugh

2009-10-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a good laugh for your Tuesday.

My parents are out of town this week so my cat, Molly, is staying with us. She came over on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we had some friends over to watch the Utah game (go Utes!). Molly wanted to go into the garage so I let her out there. After our friends left I went into the garage to check on her. I opened the door, called out her name, and saw that she was sitting on top of Matt's car. She stood up when she saw me and started walking towards me. Obviously she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, because the next thing I knew she fell through his open sunroof into his car!

I'm still laughing about it.

And yes, she isn't hurt (except for maybe her pride).

Racquetball Partner

2009-10-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for a racquetball partner - I have a membership to the Rec Center in Bountiful so if you have a membership there then that would be easy. If not, its $5 each time. So if you're up for it, let me know!

How to Wash a Cat

2009-09-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

My cat Molly (who lives with my parents in case any of my neighbors are wondering) is getting a little old - about 16ish. She has trouble keeping herself clean, so my dad and I thought it would be fun to give her a bath last night!

The victim:

The bathtub:

Scrub-a-dub-dub!

My favorite picture of this event:

The blow dry: (Okay, in this picture it really looks like she is dirtier than when we started. I swear her "inner dirt" came to the surface when we were scrubbing!)

The final product - a clean kitty cat!! (yes she is licking herself, maybe she got the hint)

If you are bored, or would like to learn more about washing your cat, here is a pretty funny video about washing cats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9QwK5EHSmg

Frankenstein

2009-09-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Matt was at a shooting range with some friends. He accidentally let the scope get too close to his head. The rifle kicked back and this resulted:

A trip to the Insta Care and 4 stitches later he is good to go!

I told him its too bad this didn't happen closer to Halloween, or with a little green make-up (and some screws coming out of his head) he could have been Frankenstein! Good thing he is good humored about my teasing!

My Half Marathon Runner

2009-09-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Matt ran the Top of Utah half marathon! He trained all summer, and ended up finishing in under 2 hours! I'm so proud of him! His new goal is to get me running, so we have been a few times in the morning. Too bad I'm terribly out of shape and feel like I might die at any moment - but I'm trying! Here are some pictures of Matt finishing the race (I wasn't able to be there because I had my CPA review course that morning = bad wife)!

Fall Cleaning

2009-09-13T21:12:00.001-07:00

Most people do Spring Cleaning, well we decided to do Fall Cleaning. We've been debating a coffee table vs. an ottoman for a long time. We took an early afternoon on a Friday and went on a shopping spree for a bunch of stuff and went to look around for a coffee table. We went to RC Willey first and we found our exact couches and they were paired with these tables and lamps and Caroline just looked at them and said we'll take them. I think she shocked the salesperson and I know she shocked me. She usually doesn't make decisions that fast but when she sees somthing she likes, she just goes for it because she knows she wants it. I guess that's when she finally decided she wanted me she moved quick to get married! :) Anyway, we got these new tables in and just kept cleaning and cleaning. We hung pictures, we got rid of 5 garbage bags of clothes and a box of shoes, we cleaned and organized closets, we re-arranged furniture, and it made us both feel really good to see our house so clean and feel like we're organizing our lives a little bit. We still have way too much stuff for two people but we're getting it under control! I try to make the bed everyday and keep the coffee table clean.

The DI pile

The new set-up

Picture #1 hung up - from my mom

Picture #2 - anniversary present for Caroline

My Dear Friend Erin.....

2009-09-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

My good friend Erin is moving to New York this weekend!! I went to her house tonight after work and helped her pack up a few of her things, and to say goodbye....Although I am sad she is leaving, I'm sure she will have tons of fun adventures and stories!! (Especially when I come visit!)

Here are some pictures of us over the last couple of year (note our signature pose).

Good luck Erin! I love you!

Island Park/Yellowstone

2009-07-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

We went up to my family's cabin in Island Park for a long weekend with Caroline's family. It was a blast - so nice to get away for the weekend and be in the woods, make a campfire, and SMORES! We floated down Henry's Fork of the Snake River but got out before Mesa Falls and spent one and a half days in Yellowstone. It was a great vacation but I forgot my camera! I was so sad, I was looking forward to practicing my photography and missed some great pictures. Hopefully I can get some good pictures from family soon and I will post again.

ASIA TRIP!

2009-06-10T21:06:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry its been so long but we've been gone for the last 4 weeks on a whirlwind trip to Asia. We have tons of pictures, literally about 2000, so if you want to see them all you can come set up an appointment. We'll put a few on here just to give a feel for the great places we went and all the fun we had. We started out in South Korea where I served my mission and went to Seoul where we went on a DMZ tour and actually got to step across the border into North Korea, before the nukes of course. Then we went to Jinhae and saw some people I knew and went to church. We spent some time in Busan, my first area, and then went out to Jeju Island, a tropical island off the Southern coast of Korea and spent 6 days on the beach. After all the Korean food and polishing up on my Korean we headed out for Tokyo. Tokyo is SUPER SUPER expensive and it was hard to get around and eat for the first day since we didn't speak any Japanese but we did great after we got adjusted. We were in Tokyo for 4 days and had a blast seeing everything and eating all the delicious food - we had a fabulous hotel on the 24th floor with a great city view right next to Tokyo Tower. Then it was off to Hong Kong for 4 days - thank goodness for English! We had so much fun in Hong Kong, it is small and easy to get around and we were able to see lots of stuff but relax at the same time. We had an even better room with a full view of Victoria Harbour. Hong Kong was very cheap and had fantastic shopping, everyone should definitely go there. Going back to work totally sucked - Monday was the longest day EVER. Its hard enough to go back to work after a week long vacation so imagine 4 weeks. Honestly though it was a little bit long towards the end, vacationing is hard work every single day but don't worry, we loved every day! We missed everyone while we were gone and can't wait to see people and catch up on all that happened!

View of Hong Kong from Victoria's Peak

Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong - over 30 buildings participate

Rainbow Bridge - Tokyo

Hello Kitty was EVERYWHERE in Asia - Caroline's favorite

We hiked to the top of Mt. Halla - highest point in South Korea...and then back down

My Korean Companion (Yoon Hawk Lee) and I at the Seoul Temple

Traditional Korean dress at an ancient palace

Caroline was a celebrity in Korea - all the schoolgirls wanted to take their picture with the blond American

GRADUATION!!

2009-04-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

For those who didn't know, graduation at the U is coming up in a few weeks and Caroline will graduate with her Masters of Accounting degree! Her next goal is to pass the CPA exam and not have to retake like I did - even though she doesn't need to prove she is smarter than me, we both already know she is! ;) I just wanted to tell her how proud of her I am and how hard she has worked - even though she has ignored me sometimes to get her studying done she is very dedicated and has gotten amazing grades and compliments from teachers. I am just super excited because now that she is graduating neither of us will ever been in school again so it is nice that we will be able to have free time to spend together. Congratulations honey, I'm so proud of you!! Go Accountants! :D

Arby's Roastburger

2009-03-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone has been wondering about the new Roastburger at Arby's - STOP WONDERING IT IS DISGUSTING! I had one tonight for dinner and it was terrible. Hopefully this will save you a few dollars. If you're still just dying to try one then there plenty of coupons on the internet so you can save some money but if you want my advice - DON'T. I was rather disappointed as I am a huge fan of Arby's sanwiches, chicken, and especially the curly fries!

Blogging

2009-02-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you own or are inspired by those motivational posters like the one with the cat hanging from a wire or yarn or something and it says "Hang in There." If you're motivated by those that's great - I have a bunch of them with golf courses on them so I can feel like I play golf more than I actually do. Anyway, I found this fabulous site called Despair and they are create demotivational posters. This one was just fitting to post on the blog. But I must admit that there should be one for reading blogs as well because that can use up a lot of time too. So, if you're feeling particularly happy, then check out their website. I'm not sure how many of you sit in meetings at work but we have a lot of them and this is one of my favorites.

Doing Homework in the Arctic

2009-02-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

My house was really cold the other day was I was doing homework :) Matt was making fun of me. But looking at these pictures I did look kind of silly.

Caroline's Car Problems Continue

2009-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

I have an unlucky car. Although I love my car dearly, it has problems. When most people think of car problems, they think of a never-ending list of engine problems, flat tires, heat/air-conditioning problems, etc. But not me. Instead, my car just keeps on getting broken into by thiefs!!

This is a picture of my innocent car, who would ever want to break into this?

Oh wait. That's not it. Actually, I decided to protect the make, model, and color of my vehicle in case of blog stalkers/car thiefs. Haha.

Summary of incidents:

August 2004: Broke the driver window while in my parent's driveway.

Items taken: Stereo, subwoofer, lots of CD's. Fortunately for me the subwoofer and CD's didn't belong to me, but a previous boyfriend of mine :) Sad days for him. Don't worry, I broke up with him a few weeks later, then started dating Matt.

April 2006: Broke into the little triangle window in the back of my car (the most expensive window to replace!) while I was working. 13th South and 9th West - not the best neighborhood.

Items taken: Stereo and backpack (including my wallet, textbooks, and notes).

Random story: The night after it happened I got a phonecall from some guy - he had found my wallet by a dumpster. A few days later I got another phone call from a different guy - he had found my notes and textbooks (much needed for upcoming finals!). There are good people in the world.

January 2009: My car was at the mechanics. The door either wasn't locked or the thief really knew what he was doing!

Items taken: Stereo (notice a re-occuring theme), and garage door opener.

Note: The garage door opener caused us huge grief when we discovered it was missing while we were in Provo for dinner. Thanks to Zacc and Michelle for watching our house!

Lessons learned:

Never buy an after-market stereo, even if the radio in your car doesn't work.

Don't buy my car from me, the bad luck may continue to you.

Never leave your car at work, at the mechanics, or anywhere else for that matter. In fact, just sell your car and stay at home. Forever :)

Auto Show - Ford Flex

2009-01-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

We went to the auto show this weekend with Caroline's family - like we do every year. It is such a great time to go sit in all these cool cars and dream about one day owning a nice new car. I'd love to buy one now but Caroline doesn't want one and when it really comes down to it I'm content with having no car payments and our cars run just fine!

Anyway there was a group of 8 of us with Caroline's parents, brother and girlfriend, and Caroline's BFF Erin and her dad (family friends). We went around to all the different SUVs and crammed all 8 of us inside to see which was the best one and most comfortable. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the Ford Flex but it is kind of different. When it first came out I wasn't sure if I would like it or not and figured Caroline would think it was ugly. But it was by far the best one that we packed everyone into! Comfortable on all 3 rows for adults and it even had a cooler in between the seats and it has like 4 or 5 sunroofs! Definitely a great alternative to a mini-van!

Avoid Failure by Avoiding Resolutions

2009-01-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

I realize it is kind of late to be posting this but I figured probably half of us have failed on our resolutions already this new year. I myself, avoided failure by avoiding resolutions. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Robert Kirby, he is a columnist in the Salt Lake Tribune and his columns are hilarious. I've included the link below. For those of you who are still going strong - good for you! Keep it up! As for me, I've been eating healthy now for almost 2 whole days and I've been to the gym both of those days - my goal is one week and then we'll go from there.

http://www.sltrib.com/athome/ci_11315652

24 IS BACK AND IT'S TIME FOR A PARTY!!!!

2009-01-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

Who else is so super excited that they can't contain their excitement for 24 coming back to TV after 2 long years without it!?!?!? Who can't help but love Jack Bauer. I'm going to list reasons why I'm excited for 24 to start again and why this season is going to be awesome!

1. I once had a dream that I was Jack Bauer - it was probably the best dream ever
2. Honestly, who would not vote for David Palmer for President of the United States if he actually ran? We'll just have to make do with the Allstate commercials
3. Tony Almaeda is coming back from the dead this season
4. CTU is gone and Jack is rogue and Chloe is still back so at least something fundamental in the show is changing
5. I hope Jack still gets a sweet SUV with gun drawers in the back and PDAs in it that can fax, scan, make phone calls, and upload maps at lightning fast speed - probably can also launch nuclear missiles.

Enough said? If you love 24 you know exactly what I'm talking about! If you think I'm talking about the number of hours in the day then you need to get on the bandwagon!

And to celebrate we're having a 24 party this Sunday to celebrate the first two hours of the show! It starts at 7 pm so come on over around 6 pm for some games and food - don't feel obligated to bring anything. Hope to see everyone there on Sunday!

To keep you entertained until Sunday click below:

http://www.notrly.com/jackbauer/index.php?tophundred

SUGAR BOWL!

2009-01-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Who did not watch the Sugar Bowl or at least hear about it? After going back to work today - which sucked after a long holiday - I realized that most everyone watched it and is excited to talk about it. So not a lot of sense posting a lot about the game except for the fact that I wish I had sold my car and gone to the game!

Who else loved that at halftime FOX made the announcers eat their words from pregame show? Especially Barry Switzer saying "there is not a player at Utah that Alabama would have recruited out of high school." Incredibly frustrating! Glad our Utes stuck it to them!

I also loved watching Alabama's coach Nick Saban - he had such great faces and stunned looks during the entire game - I wish someone would compile a book and call it the "Faces of Saban" To get it started I will post a few pictures here.

Saban claimed his team was the only team from a "real BCS conference" to go undefeated. Saban's comment definitely fueled our fire and his response: "If that's what gave them their intensity, then I guess I'm responsible for the way they played and I'm responsible for the way we played," he said "So I am resonsible for the whole [dang] kit and kaboodle."

Caroline was said that Louie didn't play too much of a role in the game but still performed great for his last game as a senior! Go Louie in the draft! Go Utes!

2008-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

Last night when I was driving home from my parent's house I was thinking of some of my favorite Christmas memories, particularly on Christmas Eve since I tend to enjoy Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day itself. Probably because it is just a day spent with family, and you don't get caught up in the material things as much on Christmas Eve. Anyway, I've compiled a little list of my favorite memories from when I was little:

Working. Don't laugh, I know it is a little odd. I worked at a bakery when I was in High School, and there was nothing better than waking up really early on Christmas Eve to go get all the orders ready. All of the customers that would come in were so happy and cheerful. I just felt like Santa's little elf. Plus the smells of cookies and bread coming out of that bakery at 6 a.m. were incredible.
Grandma's rolls, popcorn balls, and sugar cookies. Need I say more? We would always go over to my grandparent's on Christmas Eve and have a big dinner with all my cousins and aunts and uncles. My grandparent's passed away a few years ago, but whenever I think of Christmas, I think of them.
Reading the Christmas Story. Christmas just doesn't feel complete without it. At the Christmas Eve party at my Grandparent's, all the grandkids would do talents. I would play the violin, my cousins would play the piano, etc. My Grandma's "talent" was reading us all the Christmas Story.
Sticky Buns. We would have them after we finished opening presents on Christmas morning. Delicious!

GO UTES!!!

2008-11-25T13:02:00.001-08:00

I've heard that several people enjoyed this little picture and have taken it from a previous post on the blog - well here it is again for your viewing (or taking) pleasure.

Sorry, I could hardly contain my excitement from the game on Saturday so it has taken me a few days to get around to posting about the game! It was incredible! It was also fairly cold but once we took the lead and starting catching all of Max Hall's passes I warmed right up. I thought the two teams were fairly matched except I think Max Hall was trying to outdo Brian Johnson in seeing how many passes he could throw directly to Utah guys.

Also interesting that Bronco didn't adjust the playing as BYU was running all over our defense. But hey, who am I to complain. The one thing I will complain about though is Bronco's statement where he said without the interceptions he thinks it would have been hard for Utah to put points on the board. Sorry, but that is THE POINT of interceptions - for the other team to put points on the board! We proved that our offense could move the ball and capitalize on opportunities and make tough plays when it counted. We also proved that our defense could catch Max Hall's passes...I mean stop BYU's offense. Plus there's the issue with Bronco calling review on the most obvious plays - lose with dignity! Anyway, enough about that - it was an awesome game and so fun to be at! BCS Busters twice in 5 years!!

I would like to take this opportunity (seriously) to apologize to all my friends who are BYU fans for our STUPID fans who wouldn't even let the BYU players get into their own locker room without getting in their faces and basically being stupid Utah fans.

Halloween

2008-11-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

For our ward Halloween party there was a trunk or treat and a spook alley. I'd never been to a trunk or treat before so we didn't know exactly what to do - we just dressed up but didn't decorate our car or anything. It was a lot of fun although by the end of the night we felt kind of lame since we didn't have any kids or nieces/nephews to take with us! ;) Anyway, as you can tell I basically dressed up like I do for work everyday. I thought it was pretty fitting for my costume though. Caroline, as you already know is obsessed with Hello Kitty, so why not dress up like her as a costume!?! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Does anyone else think Caroline has a little too much Hello Kitty stuff?!? This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Vacation in Cedar City

2008-10-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

This post presents a problem that we faced all weekend - explaining why we were vacationing in Cedar City. Caroline's aunt has a condo in St. George and we wanted to go down there for Fall Break just to get away, since Caroline is busy with school and work and me with work (and Caroline work 41 hours in 3 days!). The condo was being used by someone else but she has another uncle who works for Crystal Inn so he got us a room at the Cedar City Crystal Inn (because the St. George one was full) for $25/night.

As surprising as it was, we actually had a great time in Cedar City! We found this amazing Japanese hibachi style restaurant that was better than Benihana's and Tepanyaki. We also went to Cedar Breaks and Navajo Lake one day and then down to St. George for some shopping and In n Out burger another day!

All in all it was just a relaxing getaway where Caroline finished up some homework and I hit up the only golf course in Cedar City. At least there was a hot tub there - so nice sitting in the hot tub every night and people are always chatty in hot tubs which is fun to get to know people. I don't know how to do one of those fancy slideshows so I'll post a few pictures of our trip.

Quirks

2008-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks Cara for tagging me! Now everyone can get to know me better - at least my most interesting side anyway :)

Here are the rules: Link to the person that tagged you. Mention these rules on your blog. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yourself and tag 6 fellow bloggers.

1. When I highlight things, it has to be straight, and not too thick of a line. If the highlighting is crooked, like if Matt hits my arm or something, then it drives me crazy!

2. I have this fear of someone trying to open my car doors while I am driving, like if I am stopped at a stoplight or something. So I ALWAYS lock my car doors immediately after I get in my car. My father-in-law asked me what would happen if I drove into a lake while I was driving, because my car doors were locked no one would be able to save me. Interesting thought...but I still lock my doors! I think the chances of either of these things actually happening are very small :)

3. I never paint my fingernails. In fact I haven't since 7th or 8th grade. I play the violin, and I think that painting my fingernails will weigh my fingers down so I can't play as fast. I don't play as much anymore, but I still don't paint them just in case.

4. I always bite on the inside of my skin in my mouth. Matt says it makes me look funny. But I just do it when I'm bored or thinking.

5. If I'm taking notes at school, I have to use a bic mechanical pencil with a decent eraser. If I'm taking notes at work, I have to use a blue ink pen. Can't use the pen at school or the pencil at work...that's just how it works in my world.

6. I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty memorobilia. Seriously, I have tons of Hello Kity stuff. Pencils, pens, stickers, a build-a-bear Hello Kitty, t-shirt, pajama pants, even a cute little water cooler. Matt even bought me a long-sleeved Hello Kitty shirt today. Super cute.

I think most of my friends have already done this tag, so I tag anyone who hasn't shared their quicks yet :)

My Heartthrob

2008-10-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Seriously...isn't Louie Sakoda super cute? Sorry Matt, he is my new boyfriend (in my dreams anyway). Not only is he good-looking, but he is the Utes secret weapon! WOW! What a game against Oregon last Thursday. Louie really saved the day!

Utah vs. UNLV!

2008-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

We squeaked by Michigan last week and I was worried that the team projected to finish last in the MWC was going to destroy us. At least until Brian Johnson ran for a 56 yard touchdown and finished with more rushing yards than our two running backs! It was a completely different team the second half and it was actually fun to watch! We are in the FUSS (Former Utah Student Section) but we still miss the MUSS. If anyone is in the FUSS or Alumni Association and goes to the Alumni Tailgate parties - we need some game buddies to hang with! Utah State this Saturday - we'll be watching the game at our place if anyone wants to come!

Updates

2008-09-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry we've been slacking but we got asked at Church today if I got a new bumper and if Caroline got a new phone so we thought we'd let everyone know that life does go on. Caroline's phone is definitely cooler than my car! Its great that my car looks the same as it did before but it cost too much money.

BUT if any of you ever get in accident, go to Bountiful Collision Center. It is on 500 S just East of the train tracks and they did an amazing job on my car and did it super fast. They washed and shined the exterior, completely cleaned out the inside, and even polished the tires and wheels. I was very impressed!

Caroline's phone is the LG Venus (Verizon) and the fact that it came in such a cool pink with a cooler pink case totally sold her on the phone.

GO UTES!

2008-08-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't know - we are HUGE Utah football fans! We are so excited for the Michigan game this Saturday. Football season is by far the best time of the year! We wanted to go to Michigan for the game but it was just too expensive. We'll have to settle for watching the games from our second row season tickets. We'll be having parties for the away games so if you're a Ute football fan let us know! GO UTES!

IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR!

Final Year of School

2008-08-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have to pay tribute to my beautiful wife! She is such a hard worker and is so dedicated to getting her degree. She started school this week to get her Master's of Accounting degree in Tax. Notice that she is dressed up - not only is she getting a Masters degree but she is also working 16 hours a week. I have to make fun of her because she is a total nerd - she couldn't wait to go back to school. While I admit that I enjoyed the social aspect of school I think I prefer working full time. Lets just hope she's not such a nerd that she wants to go do another degree after this one! She is already studying super hard every night which is no good for me because when I get home from work I want to play! So if you're playing - let me know cuz I'd love to come!

Accidents

2008-08-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

We had two accidents this week. Caroline's accident was with her cell phone. We went to Lagoon on Wednesday and rode Wicked - we haven't been on it before as its been a few years since we've been to Lagoon. Caroline and I inadvertently took our cell phones and sunglasses (which was retarded). If you've been on wicked, you've probably lost something because as we found out there are a lot of people that lose stuff on that ride. Luckily I held onto my sunglasses and phone but Caroline's sunglasses hit my arm on the loop at 50 mph. When we got to the end she then realized she had lost her cell phone as well - both of which were in her pocket. So we were told to come back to the ride at 10:00 when it closed. When we got back, there were about 15 people there all waiting for things they had lost. When the ride closed, 4 employees went running out and scoured the grounds and brought back phones, glasses, car keys, hats, etc. But as you can see - Caroline's phone wasn't so lucky. We were going to buy Caroline a new phone on Tuesday but the city council meeting ran so late that we couldn't make it - guess we got lucky afterall.

As if that wasn't enough, my car was hit in the parking lot at work on Thursday morning and the person didn't leave a note or contact me, they just drove off. I don't understand how you can rip the bumper completely off someone's car and then drive away. It makes you wonder about the integrity of people in the world today. There was nothing that building security or the police could do so its gong to cost me $750. It made me so mad but I think I'm dealing with it now. The best part of the whole thing was that all the cop could say was - I believe in Karma. While that might be true - it doesn't give me $750!

Summer Vacation

2008-08-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Oceanside, CA with Caroline's parents for a week for an end of summer vacation. We stayed in a beautiful brand new resort on the hill up from the beach. We went to San Diego one day and took a ferry out to Coronado Island. We went to the Hotel Del Coronado where a Marilyn Monroe movie was filmed - Some Like it Hot. Since we went to the hotel we rented the movie and watched it - it was hilarious! We highly recommend it! Every Thursday Oceanside has a Farmer's Market in the morning and then a larger market in the evening. There were so many vendors with fruits, vegetables, and flowers for dirt cheap. Other than that we just sat on the beach and enjoyed doing nothing. We had tons of great food! I went running a few mornings along the beach and it was so beautiful and such a great place to run.

This was a diner on the pier which was right outside our hotel - it was so good we ate there twice.

This is Mission San Luis Rey - it is just up the street in Oceanside. It is famous because The Mask of Zorro was filmed there.

Hotel del Coronado

The Farmer's Market on Thursday morning.

St. George

2008-07-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

We went on a trip to St. George over the 4th of July weekend with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. We had a blast! We went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and saw Othello.

We also went to the Tuacahn Theater and saw Les Miserables. It was amazing! We also went swimming, shopped at the outlets, and, of course, no trip to St. George would be complete without a visit to the Rick Shaw :)

This is a picture of my brother, his girlfriend, my parents, and of course me!

Country Summer

2008-07-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

In conjuntion with UVSC becoming UVU, there was a huge concert at the UVU baseball field - UVUphoria. Josh Gracin, Collin Raye, and Joe Nichols performed so it was an awesome concert - especially considering the tickets were only $5!

The concert did go pretty long though but there were awesome fireworks at the end so it was worth it. There was this kid standing in front of us and he was wearing a black shirt so he had pulled some of it up and you could see his underwear and this guy next to us yelled out "shirt down or pants up - crack kills!" I felt bad for the kid but it was really really funny. Anyway, we had a good time - next time we'll have to get a big group together for a concert.

Mexico!

2008-06-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

In May we went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We road-tripped it down to Los Angeles, and we stopped in Baker, California overnight.

Here are some pictures from our sketchy motel room - and trust me, the pictures don't do it justice!

Matt was the only one that showered that morning, and we think he got dirtier! At least the bugs in the shower got clean!

Don't worry, we survived and made it safely on our ship. We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.

Matt's sister Megan and I even got kissed by a sea lion.

We also went and rode these really cool zip lines in the jungle over the scene of the movie Predator so now we'll have to have a Predator movie party to see what it looked like when the movie was filmed.

The sunsets are beautiful on cruises! I'm sure the sunrises were beautiful as well but we weren't up early enough to see those - maybe one day. I guess if you took enough pictures of the sunset and looked at them in reverse it would look like the sunrise. ;)

Welcome

2008-06-16T15:24:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to our new blog.