HATU

This is the first time that we have vacationed to our home town.  It is so weird how you can leave a place and it stays the same in your mind.  But come to find out that it changes and grows while you're gone.  Kind of slowly in Logan but that's what we like about it.  Everything is so relaxed and slow-paced, people just don't seem to be in a hurry to get places.  I never thought we'd say it but we really miss Cache Valley.  We've tried to soak in every minute since we got here.  We've spent a lot of time with my family and at my grandma's casa doing holiday stuff.  We also got a chance to meet up with old friends and shared memories and new experiences as well.

The only thing that we both agree that we don't miss is the snow.  It's pretty to look at and actually quite astonishing.  But trucking around in it when you're trying to do everyday stuff is just not our idea of fun.

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Ho ho hopefully the holidays are this great every year.

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Brake Lights.

Hi everyone, I did not fall off the face of the earth...I'm still here. There are lots of things keeping me busy. One that seems to take up a huge chunk of time is my commute to and from the office. Let's just say, that I didn't have a clue what rush hour traffic was until I moved here. I used to think that getting from 10th West to USU was the longest ten minutes of my life.

Okay picture this. I leave a good forty minutes before I should be sitting in my fluorescently lit cubicle. The first 15 minutes goes really quite smooth but the next thing I know I am at a dead halt for what seems no reason whatsoever. For the next 7 or 8 miles of travel movement is only at about 5 mph in my stick-shift civic. Let's just say there are only so many things to keep me entertained for that amazing 45-90 minutes of my life morning and night...phone calls, texting, schedule, xmas lists, flossing, calling radio stations, books on tape. Too bad I can't blog in the car...I would definitely complain about the peeps that cause the wrecks and especially about the gawkers.

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Say cheeeese!

Tanner's 23rd bday was a night to remember. When I finally got off work we went over to Nance's for some good ol' fashioned present opening. He got some great gifts like a keurig, mario kart, and some 80's style luggage. After presents and birthday phonecalls we went to a restaurant called The Melting Pot. It was freaking heaven on earth, if you like melted cheese and chocolate (not together of course). We had our own little pots of warm cheese to dip bread in for our appetizer, we cooked our own steak, shrimp, and chicken for the main course, and the most spectacular part was the dessert which consisted of strawberries, rice crispy treats, fruit, and marshmallows to dip into warm pots of white chocolate and milk chocolate with reese's. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I love birthdays! The perfect excuse to spend a night out talking, laughing, and enjoying high-calorie food together.

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TC: Events at The Verizon Center

It always seems like I am the one to write about events that Kirsten and I go to and the only ones we go to happen to be at the Verizon Center. We met a new friend (Shuster) that works at Comcast and his job is to "Manage relationships with people." Since he sort of has a relationship with my brother, we have got to know him pretty well. So far he has facilitated us going to two Capitols (hockey) games, a Coldplay Concert, a Wizards (basketball) game, and the Extreme gymnastic that Kirsten wrote about.

I am a huge fan of concerts and when we saw that Coldplay was coming to town we had to get tickets (thank God for creating Shuster's job). So on Halloween we went (as Zach Morris and Kelly Kapowski) to one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Coldplay is like one of those bands that is good on the radio and f***ing amazing live. At one point in the show all four of them ran up into the crowd and played 3 acoustic songs! It made me want to take off all my clothes and run around but instead I just recorded them on my camera which I can't share it with you because it's on my laptop that crashed...again :-( You'll just have to take my word for it when I say, BEST SONG ever played live.



The hockey games could easily become one of my favorite events. I am definitely starting to like it. I wrote on my other blog a few weeks ago about the first game.

A few weeks ago before the Redskins game I met Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, and Mike Green down on the field. I will not lie and say I am a huge hockey fan cause I'm not. I have never been to or even watched a game. So for me, meeting these three was like meeting some regular guys excited for a football game. But after attending the Caps game last night, regular would be the understatement of a lifetime. I am not kidding when I tell you that what these guys do on the ice is nothing short of amazing. I mean I can remember when I was in middle school playing field hockey. It was hard for me to score a goal then...on an inexperienced 13 year old goalie. And last night, the Caps scored three goals. The most exciting came with 5 seconds left. It was an open netter that traveled the entire length of the ice.

The second hockey game was just as good. We got to sit behind the bench and behind some crazy Canadians that wore Davey Crockett coon skin caps...and there were 6 of them! I don't have a picture of them though I so badly wish I did, but if you click on the link you get the idea. 

So I hope that helps catch you all up on the fun times we try and have out here. I can't wait for more visitors to come. We had a blast with Billy and Nikki, and can't wait for our next guests, the Doyles.  Hopefully while they're here we can catch a Tina Turner concert. 

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Brrrr...

Last weekend we had our FIRST house guests. Billy and Nikki came out to visit for a little weekend getaway. We loved having them out, they are such great people. Its hard to find a couple that you both get along with, you know? Tanner and Billy had lots of old stories to share and they made some new ones too (the both nearly peed their pants on GW on the way to the Wizards game.) And come to find out Nikki and I are basically twins. We're both super honest and outspoken. We all had a lot of fun. The weekend was full of football, shopping, basketball, freezing cold weather, and lots of greasy food. Here are a few photos, I'll post some more later :)

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he-rows or here-oes?

It's funny how people in certain areas all sound like each other.

For instance, Northern Virginia has a very distinct accent that is very different than even the rest of Virginia. I pointed it out to one of my co-workers and he was like I don't have an accent and was all self-concious. But they say their O's like "e-oo" instead of "oh" and they don't say their L's. So, instead of saying "hold on"...they say something more like "hoe-d on." I wondered if they have an accent and don't notice it then maybe I do too? Ever since that day Jen and I have been picking out words that I say funny. Here are a few examples, I listed my way first and Jen (she's from Jersey) second.

Heroes: Do you say he-rows or here-oes?

Grocery: Do you say grosh-ery or gross-ery?

Coupon: Do you say cue-pon or coo-pon?

Those of you from Utah (or elsewhere) will have to tell me how you pronounce those words or if you can think of any other words that might be good ones for Jen and I to test.

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I mean, I guess it could be worse…right?

You know it’s pretty bad when you start thinking of the all the positive things and they sound like this…”Well at least I didn’t break my nose…or my glasses,” “At least you didn’t bite through your lip,” “At least I didn’t chip my tooth,” “and thank goodness I am an accountant not a model.”

I am such a moron! Last night I stood up a little too fast in my closet when I heard the phone ringing and stepped smack into the doorframe. I didn’t even see it coming. The next thing I know I am sprawled out on the floor screaming as blood flowed from my nose all over our white carpet. Tanner came to the rescue and after he saw I was truly all right he managed to let out a little laugh. It was quite the night of freezing my face off while I tried to ice down the frightening swelling…I have the worst luck!

All I have left to show from last night is a ‘honkin’ fat lip and swollen nose and I guess I bruised my ego to top it off. I look like such a freak but the best part about it is that it doesn’t hurt too much to smile…so I can at least try to laugh about it.

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Man's Best Friend

So, Tanner's been laid up for a week. He strained/pulled (not sure) a muscle in his back and is in such fierce pain that he can't even move. Listen how cute...Tanner dropped some chapstick on the ground and was like, "Ah, man!" But didn't try to picking it up, it just wasn't worth it. A bit later he was upstairs and Jack came up with something in his mouth and dropped it on the floor by his feet. It was the chapstick...he brought it upstairs for Tanner. He honestly brought it to him!?! No chew marks or anything. When Tanner told me I died! It's crazy how animals can actually sense how you are feeling and even try to take care of you.

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What you've been waiting for...

It's a work in progress but everyone has been asking for updated photos of our house. So, here are some before and afters. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

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Superstar Gymnastics

I don't know how you all feel about Olympic Gymnastics...but when I found out the Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were going to be at the Verizon Center in D.C. I knew I had to go. We got four tickets to the show and I was excited to say the least.It was crazy to see all the US Olympic Gymnasts in real life but I will be honest the second half of the show I thought I was at a Disney Concert with the music and dancing that went on. It was interesting...and I was a little embarrassed that I had made such a huge deal about it all week. But it really was fun to see them and to get out and do something different.

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"Sinny" Bears

Until this year I never had a chocolate covered cinnamon bear. My sister and Ty introduced them to me one cold night in March. I was pretty leery of the concoction…I am not a big on any of the ingredients. But I ventured out of my comfort zone and popped one in. And that’s when those interesting little candies got their name, “sinny bears.” I am pretty sure that I ate the entire bag leaving none for anyone else in the vehicle, they were amazing.

Well the point of this post is to complain a little. It turns out that no one in the state of Virginia has even heard of a chocolate covered cinnamon bear and they give me the stink eye whenever I express my love for them. Thankfully I have the best sister on earth to send me a box of them to fill my desire and to share them with the deprived people of the east coast.

I am introducing to the people in my office and I think they will be a hit and eventually spread across the state. At least I hope they do so I can buy them at the store instead of waiting for the postman to deliver them.

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On a roll

After work and the gym I was driving home at 7 and I get a call from Tanner. He must of been on a high from his busy day because he was full of energy. He was like, "what do you want for dinner? Do you want to carve pumpkins? Do you want to go out for a drink? I'm in the mood to do house stuff, let's hang stuff up when you get here." And he wasn't asking me which one I wanted to do either, he wanted to do all of them. I love nights like this...just spending time together. Here are a few photos from our pumpkin carving experience.

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The last supper

Brooke and Gareth are off for more adventures. It has been so great having them here, we are really sad to see them leave. Although, their departure gave us a good excuse to go out for sushi with them last night...it was amazing! We ordered so many rolls that they had to bring it out on a ship.

Good luck you guys! Hope to see you soon.

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Batteries have a crappy life.

They work their whole lives and then they die.

Last night we went to Brentsville to go on a ghost hunt in an old haunted jail. I did not want to go at all but Tanner forced me to. We made the forty-five minute drive with Gareth and Brooke and as we got closer to Brentsville it got more and more scary. I'm not sure if it was because there were no lights in the town or if we were telling our own ghost stories in the car. Tanner was the only one of us who claimed to not believe in spirits. But I was scared s#*%less and we hadn't even arrived.

When we finally got there the spookiness only increased. There were some professional ghost hunters (John #1 & John #2) telling stories of how they got into ghost hunting and sharing experiences of investigations they been involved with. A story that stood out to me was when they first started investigating the courthouse and John #2 set down a camera, a spool of fishing string, and flashlight and walked downstairs. He went back to pick it up and couldn't find the spool...he searched all over for it and then gave up thinking he must have misplaced it. Later that night when they were getting ready to leave the lights were off and something hit John #2 in the chest and they heard plastic hit the ground. They turned the light on and saw the spool lying on the ground. We were in the courthouse...instant chills.

My creepy experience involved batteries. Before I left the house I put brand new batteries in my camera. I took a few photos in the haunted courthouse and started to video the ghost hunter when suddenly my camera stopped recording and the screen said batteries exhausted. Right after the videographer that was there said his batteries were dead and he had been charging them for two straight days. The ghost hunter, John #1 overheard us and says this is a pretty common occurrence. Freaky!

After being primed for the haunted jail it was time to go in. We all started to enter the building and I was trying with all my might to stay outside in the cold, non-haunted yard. But nope, that wasn't allowed the next thing I knew I was standing in pitch black nearly peeing my pants. Apparently this jail had two spirits...one named James Clark who was a prisoner in the jail and a slave girl named Agnus. They told us a few things about the spirits, James is an angry spirit that hates women and when you walk into the room where he resides you get a sense of heaviness and can instantly get a headache or become nauseous. Once when the ghost hunters were trying to interact with the spirits they told Agnus that she could leave, and James said "Get out. Get out of here!" and John #1 the ghost hunter had to shine his uvb flashlight on him to calm him down. And Tanner expects I'm going to walk in the room where this happened, hell no! Tanner and about five other people who are making a movie called "Ghosts Don't Exist," went upstairs to try to interact with the ghosts. Nothing happened but they are going to review the tapes to see if they can detect any voices with their high frequency machines.

Tanner was a skeptic, not me I believed everything they were saying. They wouldn't go through so much trouble to make it all up. What a way to spend a Saturday night. It was interesting to do it once but I'm pretty sure I would ever do it again.

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Rare as Hen's Teeth

Well it's time to say goodbye...it's exciting yet sad at the same time. Today is our last day at our EY training and it's crazy but we've formed some amazing friendships in the span of a week.

We bonded over a lot of things such as working through an entire corporate tax return together. We were all soooo drained...we decided to reward ourselves by getting out of the Q-Center and going out to dinner at an awesome little restaurant named Urban Grille. We had lots of great lunch conversations and fun times at the etiquette dinner, outlet mall, and margaritaville. But the one thing that we just can't seem to get over started on day one. Someone (we'll call her Betty) hated us for no reason whatsoever. She warned people about us. She didn't like our answers even if they were better than others, or she would give credit to someone else for it. She always had a smile, but she had fire behind her eyes. She gave us blank stares in the halls and she was out to get us. We had a hard time thinking of an uncommon commonality but we definitely found one.

The good part was our grandma was there to save us with encouragement and life lessons like a "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and sayings like "rare as hen's teeth," "don't judge a book by it's cover," and "we's done here." She could always make us laugh and she was such a sweet and sincere lady. The best part about her sayings was trying to explain them to each other. Dimitri asked "what's a hens?" and I was like "What?!? You don't know what a hen is!" I went on to explain it and we ended up laughing so hard because of the confusion. He knows what a hen is...he just didn't understand what we were saying. It was great.


We have had lots of unforgettable moments during the week and having each other around made the unbearable hours staring at each other in the classroom bearable.

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Chicago...well not quite.

EY does not fall short on training...we do A LOT of it. I have not stopped learning since October 1st. We have the opportunity (and/or obligation) to go to a Tax 101 training in St. Charles, Illinois this week. We were all very excited to come out to training but we didn't really know what to expect. Here's what was in store for us...

Dorm rooms with twin size beds and barely enough room to roll in your suitcase, lots of high calorie delicious food, rough tp, training from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Skype.com to check out the homestead, ping-pong practice, meeting people from all over the U.S., awkward silences, jogging outside in 50 degree weather, and the most unforgettable part is getting lost in the maze of the Q-Center.

It's been a great experience so far but I honestly cannot wait to go home, three days to go! Tanner has been painting our house since I left and I cannot wait to get home to see it (and him and the pups).

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slowly coming together

We've been in our new place for two weeks now...and the progress is really slow. Especially now that I've started working. I am a terrible blogger these days but I wanted to post a few fun photos from when we moved in and I will add some progress pics soon (we are painting this weekend and finally hanging things on the wall) It still doesn't feel like home, but I think it will soon.

This is how long we have been away from Utah. It's crazy how time flies.
I couldn't find the silverware for about four days...here I am using a mini-wooden surfboard as a pseudo-spoon for my oatmeal. Eating dinner on the floor next to our broken down dining table. Tanner throwing boxes over the balcony.
Unpacking was almost worse than packing.....
Tanner was really proud of all of his hardwork putting up this ceiling fan. Much to his demise the light didn't work...but the fan did. One out of two ain't bad.We are such posers. Our first wall-hanging...how special.
cute pups.

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