1930's test

Don't know what this means about me... Old fashioned? I guess Jenn and I were meant to be. Good in the 30's or the 21st century. Seminary starts tomorrow... Gotta go to bed.

74 As a 1930s husband, I am Superior Take the test!

1930's Quiz

This was an actual quiz from the 1930's. Apparently, a wife if expected to "Keep self dainty, perfumed, and feminine". Really? When I'm at home, I'm all about kicking off my shoes, throwing on some comfy clothes and putting my hair up. At least Tim is all about comfort too- he lives in his basketball shorts & t-shirt... and neither of us could care less! I would have had a tough time in the 30's! Good thing it's 2008!

76 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take'>http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/">Take the test!

I won! That was easy!

As most of you know I work for the corporate division of Staples, the best office supply company on the planet. I have been working REALLY HARD lately and putting in more hours than normal. Things are crazy busy for me at work, but it's all good stuff! As anyone in Sales knows, the more you put in, the more you get in return. In addition to the increase of business I have been experiencing, the greatness just keeps coming! All my hard work is paying off! Literally. It seems I have been winning contests left & right! Last month I won a $500 bonus and the month before that a $350 gift card to Raley's- all for doing things I do on a regular basis-- things that are part of my job! I received a phone call this morning informing me that I won a LAPTOP... for FREE! I even get to pick out the one I want! Tim got a new laptop for his birthday and we have been talking about replacing our desktop computer for a little while now. It is old and super slow. I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore. We'll each have our own! Woo-hoo! Thanks Staples!

Where's my copy of Breaking Dawn? No one really knows...

Like many of you, I have been anxiously awaiting for my copy of Breaking Dawn to arrive in my mailbox today. I re-read the other 3 books of the 4 book Twilight series) so that I would be completely refreshed and ready to dig in to Breaking Dawn today. To my dismay, it was not waiting for me in my mailbox with the rest of today's mail. So, I hopped online to track the package on the USPS website. It said my package was undeliverable. So, I called them. No help there either. After a LONG time on the phone with the postal service & Overstock (where I pre-ordered the book), they basically told me that the driver couldn't read my address and sent my book back to Overstock. So, now I have to wait another WEEK (at best) to receive it, possibly longer depending on the processing time. SO, if you were one of the fortunate ones to receive your book today along with the rest of the world, PLEASE don't tell me what happens. I'll be ready to chat about it after you've likely read it the second time around...

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday Tim! I can't imagine life without you...

Here are some of my favorite things about you (in no particular order):

1. You make me laugh every single day.


2. You put up with and understand my numerous "Friends" references, and have even gotten pretty good at it yourself. Ikea? Yep, you are probably the only other person besides me that finds that funny.


3. You do the ironing- and never complain.


4. You pick up after the dogs and never ask me to do it instead.


5. You always wash my car for me without me ever having to ask.


6. You rub my shoulders every morning when I am getting ready for work- just because.


7. You always fulfil your church callings and then some.


8. You always support me and my decisions, no matter how crazy they may be.


9. You are willing to try anything I cook- and eat every bite, no matter what it is.


10. You are the best husband and friend I could ever ask for!

And a few of my favorite memories- so far... (once again, in no particular order):

1. The time we left the play during intermission and didn't realize there was still another act. We had no idea how it ended!


2. The time we drove home from Ikea with the bed frame on top of the car. My fingers were freezing. That was um... interesting.


3. The time you sanded the wall so our TV would fit because you just had to get that thing to fit that night.


4. Staying up all night painting our new house. Do you remember how exhausted we were?


5. Moving the treadmill and elliptical upstairs on our own. I was convinced we were going to get trapped on the stairs with the heavy machines crushing us, or the dogs. I'm so glad we survived that! And, yes... we did it all by ourselves!


6. Assembling the basketball hoop in the garage in the freezing cold. How many hundreds of unlabeled parts were there? And the awful instructions? But we did it, and we only ended up with a few extra parts. If only we knew where they were now. The rim is a little crooked.


7. Getting engaged- You caught me way off guard!


8. Getting married- Best day ever!


9. Dropping the top layer of our wedding cake in front of the Sheraton after our wedding reception. We were covered in cake and couldn't stop laughing! I'm so glad I had already changed out of my wedding dress!


10. Our cruise to the Carribbean- what a great honeymoon!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday! I love you!

4th of July

We had a relaxing 4th of July. How nice! We started the day out by taking the dogs to the dog park. I recently found out there is a new dog park only a few minutes from our house. There are even seperate areas for small & big dogs. We were a little worried at how Echo & Bandit would behave. Would they be the "bad dogs" that tried to take the other dogs' toys, or the ones that everyone thought were just plain crazy? We were pleasantly surprised to find out that they LOVE the dog park & were so good! They ran and played their little hearts out. They even played nicely with the other dogs. Sure, they marked on every square inch of the garbage cans and fence, but hey- so were all the other dogs, and I can only imagine how many different scents there were for them to cover up! Once the smoke clears and gets cooler than 90 degrees at 8:00pm, we'll be back for more fun!

Echo & Bandit- exhausted after a fun day at the dog park!

After the dog park, we joined my family for swimming (and food, of course!). We had lots of fun, and were all dead tired at the end of the night.

Here's a picture of Cristian enjoying the waterfall.

Having fun in the pool...

To top the day off, we get a full fireworks show every 4thof July right from our bedroom window! We have no idea where they are coming from (maybe the river or old town?), but a great display nontheless. We enjoyed it!

Dinner & a show

My stepmom got tickets to the Music Circus through work so we were able to go see The Sound of Music last week. First, we met Beka & Bill at The Melting Pot for a fun fondue dinner and then enjoyed the show!

Bring on the fondue!

The amazing cast of The Sound of Music. While they were all super talented, cute little Greta stole the show in my opinon. She had to be the cutest thing ever...
Just us...
Bill & Beka
Jenn, Tim, Bill & Beka having fun during intermission

We all had a great night. What a great way to start our 3-day weekend!

Natomas Crime Spree

So, many of you in Northern California have heard about the recent crime spree in Natomas. Tim and I heard about the actual spree yesterday (Monday). From June 1 to June 24 there have been 15 home invasions and 14 street robberies in our neighborhood. I have always felt our neighborhood was fairly safe, and while I have always been a bit paranoid about safety, I have felt comfortable taking the dogs for a walk, leaving for work in the morning and returning in the evening with all being just as I left it. We have a security company that patrols the neighborhood 24-hours, so that makes me feel good too.

This past weekend was exhausting. I got home from my day trip to Girls Camp Saturday morning around 2am. Just after getting ready and laying my head on my ever so comfy pillow, I realized that I needed to send in some reports for work. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night. I was dragging all day Saturday and attempted to run errands and keep up with my normal Saturday pace to get as much done as I can. Tim literally had to drag me along on our errands. We helped chaperone the youth dance that night and had to do some household chores once we got home. Once again, we got to bed later than I would have hoped.

Just before 5:00am, we were all (Echo & Bandit too) jolted out of bed when our house alarm went off... loud. I looked next to me and we were all laying in bed. No one opened a door by mistake. Tim & Echo ran downstairs. Luckily, no one made it into our house, but our sliding glass door was slightly open. We think the latch must not have "caught" and locked properly. Thank goodness for our alarm! It scared off whoever was there!

I checked our bedroom windows, which give us a view of the entire backyard (and most of our neighbor's backyards too), but saw no one. Poor Bandit was scared senseless, as he has never heard the alarm sound before and, after peeing on the carpet (I really couldn't get mad at him for it this time) curled up in a ball on our bed and waited for everything to get back to normal. He kept looking up at me with his big scared puppy-dog eyes.

It's scary to think that had we not had our alarm, someone would have been inside our home with a gun (all of the other home invasions and robberies involved guns). I'm grateful that we are all ok, but realize that there are more precautions we can take to keep our family and homes safe. In my household, we will no longer put off getting a motion-detector light in our backyard. We will be adding an additional lock to our front door (we currently only have one deadbolt and that's it- not like most houses that have a key lock and a deadbolt). Gone are the days of opening the downstairs windows and sliding glass door in the morning to cool the house down while we are getting ready for work upstairs. And, I just ordered a key remote to our alarm so that when we leave in the morning we can set our alarm on "no-delay" so that it sounds instantly if someone tries to break in (as of right now, it will only beep for 30-60 seconds and then will sound if the code is not entered).

Tim and I have been talking about other ways to keep us safe and won't be stalling on getting them done. This has been a real eye-opener for us. Most of the criminals have been caught, but there are still more out there. There will always be someone out there willing to break and enter, harm, and take what isn't theirs. We hope you all stay safe and are aware of what is going on in your neighborhood!

Girls Camp

It's been such a busy week. Work has been crazy (all good, just crazy busy), and there just doesn't seem to be enough time to get everything done. I guess that's pretty normal though. I was able to go up to the last night of Girl's Camp yesterday and had such a good time. Jaycee and I drove up around 3:00pm and got back home around 2:00am. The YW were having such a great time and are so much fun to be around. Great job Beka & Princess-You two were great Camp Directors!

Dalicia & Annie (2 of our YCLs) explaining our next challenge...

Me, trying to figure out how to do the challenge... Lola & Dalicia scarfing down the YUMMY dessert Sister Christensen made for us...
Annie posing for the camera...

Sara, Rachel & Emily before dinner...
Claiming the coveted Capers Award Friday night!
Bishop Christensen all decked out in his army gear...

Since Friday night is Bishop's night, we go to see lots of great (&hilarious) performances.

Last week at Enrichment night, we had a talent show. The YW presidency performed a waterless synchronized swimming bit we came up with. It was such a big hit, the YW decided to use it as their talent for Girls Camp. Here's the video...

Another great year of camp!

1st chapter of Breaking Dawn

For all you fellow readers of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series who haven't read the first chapter of the 4th (and final) book in the series, Breaking Dawn, found in the re-released version of Eclipse, here you go: http://laei.bloxode.com/2206759,breaking-dawn-first-chapter.html . You have to scroll down a bit to get to the first chapter, but I assure you, it's there. Breaking Dawn's release date is August 2, 2008!

Seminary is Over!!!

So, it's all finished! At least for the summer. I decided I want to do it again next year. It's been such a great experience for me learning the Old Testament better. The New Testament is coming up and it's time to get a head start over the summer. So if you have any suggestions for me or cool object lessons let me know.

I can't believe it, but I'm excited about being able to stay up past 10:30 without any ill effects the next day!

He's a keeper!

We've had Bandit for about a month now and still, no one has claimed him. So, he's a Hahn now! He & Echo are getting along better, though they are not without their brotherly squabbles. But, what siblings are? Bandit is still very puppy-like in most everything he does, but he's learning quickly. He's a keeper...

Bandit posing for the camera. Doesn't he look happy?

Awww...

Pain at the pump

I drive a car. A regular car. Not an SUV. Not a truck. Not even a Winnebago. Ok, so it's a nice car, but nevertheless, still a CAR . A 4-door, 4-wheeled, has-a-front-seat-and-back-seat-car. I love my car. It's pretty, extremely comfortable, and has nearly every modern convenience I could want built right in. I am ALWAYS in my car. I drive all over for work. It is my office most days, which was a motivating factor in purchasing a "luxury" car. One of the downfalls of a "luxury" car, however, is the "luxury" gas it takes. Only premium. No regular 87-octane for this baby. Overall, it's not a huge deal. 20-25 cents more per gallon than regular only turns out to be a few dollars each time I fill up. But with gas prices on the rise, I pretty much don't even look at the price when I am filling up anymore. Except this time. Recently it has cost anywhere between $45 and $50 to fill up my tank. This picture was from a few days ago... And, gas prices have risen since then.

Luckily, Tim's car costs just a little less to fill up. But, it, too, only takes premium gas.

I think I'll go back to not looking anymore...

Movie Mondays

Tim & I have been catching up on a bunch of movies lately, thanks to our new favorite & FREE deal at Redbox. I had seen those Redbox machines at Walmart, Longs and Raleys several times before, but never gave them a second thought, until I found out about their great promotion! Check out Redbox's website where you can get a free code for a free 1-night rental. Or, you can enter your cell phone number and Redbox will send you a text message every Monday with a new code for 1 free movie rental! Redbox normally only charges $1 per night for a movie rental and the best part is the movies can be returned to any Redbox location. You can also find the nearest Redbox location to you on their website. If you use the promotion code, you do have to swipe your credit card (in case you don't return the movie on time) and return it by Tuesday @ 9pm to get it absolutely free. The promotion was running in April and in now in May. I'm not sure if they will continue it every month, but I sure hope so! So long Blockbuster!

Echo's playmate: Day 3

Today is day 3 of Echo's playmate at our house. Night 1 was SO not fun. No one got any sleep. Tim ended up having to sleep downstairs on the couch to be with the "guest" (who we are dubbing Bandit), and Echo and I were upstairs- neither of us were sleeping either. Echo wanted to tackle Bandit and whined at the door most of the night. Bandit was the only one who actually got any sleep. Bandit likes to sleep A LOT! We think he is still a puppy.

Night 2 was much better. They both slept in our bed with us & we all survived! Not even an attempt to destroy one another- ok, only one, but that was well before bedtime. I think Bandit now knows not to take Echo's treat away from him. Now, they play with each other and throw in the occasional attack. Big improvement. No one has claimed Bandit. Tim took him to the SPCA and he is not chipped. Why wouldn't anyone chip their pet? Especially if they don't wear a collar and tags on a regular basis? The microchip is the size of a grain of rice and is basically like getting a shot. Slightly stings for a second, but that's it. But, in the instance that your dog gets lost, all a person has to do is call a phone number on the dog's tag, and voila! The owners are contacted & the dog is returned to its home! I really hope some little boy or girl isn't crying themselves to sleep every night because their puppy is missing. Tim hasn't seen any signs around where he works about a missing puppy, and no one has gone to the pound or SPCA looking for him (we filled out a lost dog card with his info & how to contact us in case someone comes looking for him).

And so begins Night 3...