To Wii or not to Wii, that is the question?

So I have been considering getting a Wii for Gerriss for his Bday for a while now. I really dislike video games because they are very addicting and take away from precious family time that you could be doing more strengthening things. Although, my other argument is that it would be a great and fun thing to do on relaxing nights when we don't have any other plans. It also would be great for our Sunday School parties as well. I am torn and need some input. I would like some pros and cons of Wii owners and Wii non-owners. I want to make a very informed purchase when or if I do get him one. Please HELP!

Happy Birthday Jeano!

Here is the birthday boy and his bebe! Our two good friends, and the world's best neighbors!


We went to Bonwood last night and had a blast! Gerriss brought his A-game as usual and I totally blew it, as usual. It's all fun! Right?


The two cheeseballs! AKA Precious and Mr. Big



We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us share in your day! Hope you have a great Birthday!

New Year's Resolutions

I have never been one to make New Year's resolutions, although I have never heard of any really good ones. Does any one have any really good resolutions this year?

Neil Diamond and Birthday Wishes

Today is my sister's birthday. So my mom got us girls tickets to go see Neil Diamond in concert. I think I am too young to know any of the songs he sang, but he sure is a good entertainer. Although I did know the "We're coming to America" song, that one was pretty cool! He also sang this "Sweet Caroline" song that was really cute. I wonder if anyone who reads my blog even know these songs. My mom LOVES Neil Diamond, so I am sure she LOVED the concert. It was a lot of fun, and was a great way to celebrate my sister's birthday. Thanks Mama for a fun girls night! Happy Birthday Dana.

Time to get movin!

Ok, I am all better now! I got the ok from the doctor this morning that I can go back to my normal routine as long as I take it easy. Well, that was this morning so this afternoon I decided to catch up on some of the Christmas shopping I missed out on for the past two weeks. I spent three hours out in all the madness....I almost died! People are CRAZY this time of year. I almost got run over, by cars and carts; no one is happy and jolly, everyone is pissed off and stressed to the max. I can't believe how insane it is out there. I am gonna start celebrating Christmas in a different month so that I can get the good stuff, not get killed and not be bitter by the time Christmas arrives that I am glad it is over with. I know, I know, this is not what Christmas is about, but it is a small part and it becomes a major part when doing little things this time of year turn into a fiasco because lines are so long, traffic is so hectic, and people are so mean.

Now that I have ranted and raved for a bit I actually feel a little better. Thanks for listening to me vent!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Update....

Gerriss and I went to the doctor today and found out that the blood clot is improving (shrinking) but it is still hanging around. It has moved lower in my leg, which is why I am not in as much pain and why I am able to move a bit more, but he has ordered me to stay on bed rest for another week. We are trying out two new things this week for treatment so hopefully they help get this little thing under control. Other than that I am still just going to be sitting here at home, reading, watching movies, doing crafts, and visiting with friends and family. Thanks to all who have helped us out so far, either with meals, friendship, or prayers, it means so much to us and we are so happy to know that everyone cares so much. We love you all and we will keep you posted on how things are going.

Bed rest...

I have been put on bed rest until further notice for a minor blood clot in my leg. I am so bored though! I have tons of movies to watch, books to read, and games to play, but that is not enough. I need human interaction. My mom came over today which helped A TON. She brought me all this healthy food that will help open up my arteries, so I guess I don't get to eat comfort food. Its ok, the faster I can kick this thing the better. Plus its not like I need to make it worse right. So if anyone has any ideas of things to do while sitting here doing nothing I am all ears! Oh and about the clot thing, no need to worry, its small and will be gone in no time at all. Just a minor mishap with my medicine. I learned my lesson to take EVERYTHING that the doctor wants me to though, even if it is yucky. Oops!

Dr. Stewart Yeager

So since Saturday when we moved all of our furniture back and reorganized our house I have had a VERY sore wrist. I developed tendonitis at my old job and it has occasionally aggravated me ever since. Well I went to my Chiropractor tonight, Dr Stewart Yeager, and *poof* he fixed my wrist and it is not in pain at all anymore! So if anyone has any really big problems that other doctors say can't be fixed, he's the man to call.

New carpet, long weekend!

We got our new carpet this weekend. On Friday night we moved everything into our kitchen and into our next door neighbor's house (thanks Jeano and Jess). Once everything was out of the rooms, the boys ripped out the carpet and Jess and I went to see Twilight! I know, we should have stayed and helped, but it was totally a man thing and I think they had more fun doing that then they would have had coming with us. BTW Best movie ever!!! That night we had a slumber party at our neighbors house, the boys played video games and the girls went to sleep. (we are so exciting I know) On Saturday Jess' dad came and put our new carpet in, thanks Alan. In case anyone needs new carpet, he is quick, efficient and affordable, and also he is totally awesome! Once the carpet was in, it was now time for vacuuming and moving everything back to its place (thanks David). It took the rest of the day to move it all and clean everything, but my house is now back together and smells wonderful. No more old moldy carpet smell!

Well...

Second place isn't as bad as not placing at all right? We totally brought our full A-game tonight. The other team just had a little bit more. (way to go Wandamere!!) But all in all we put up a pretty awesome fight!

Our Stake Volleyball Championship game was tonight. We played an undefeated season. And lost, right at the end of it all.

I think I am too sad to continue posting anything tonight...

To be continued once recovered...

One more week!

I can't believe it is only one more week til Twilight comes out! I am so excited! I only wish I was going to be able to go see it next weekend as well. You see, we are also getting new carpet that same weekend so we have to move all of our furniture into our neighbors house and get ready for Saturday for our carpet guy (friends dad) to come over and make our house look wonderful again. Unless Gerriss is ok getting absolutely no sleep and wants to go see it with me late that night, and if we can still get tickets, it looks like I will have to wait til a week or two after to go see it. Or....maybe I can talk Gerriss into seeing it for FHE on the following Monday night....well either way I am still so excited for Twilight and for new carpet! YAY!

Hmmmm...

My family is not very big on guns or shooting or anything of the sorts so when I met Gerriss and he had a gun rack with a rifle in the back window of his truck it was a bit much for my family to take. Me on the other hand, I didn't care too much at first, but as we thought of our future of children and stuff I said NO WAY. Well recent "changes" have made me start thinking... I know there are a lot of reasons why not to have guns in the house but I think that sometimes we have to compromise and come to an agreement. So Gerriss has done A LOT of explaining, complaining and sales pitching and finally I decided that it is ok to have them in our house. We have been talking lately about him getting his concealed weapons permit just in case he wants to get a handgun so that he knows how to handle it and for safety purposes. So since I said that he took that as an open invitation to get a hand gun. Tonight Gerriss traded his bass guitar and his amp for a Michigan Armament 1911 .45 acp ...whatever that is. But he is so happy and excited so I guess its good.

Hair cut anyone?

Tessa and her family came over tonight to help out Gerriss and I's sad hair. Since she just had Nixon we decided to give her a break for a while and get our hair trimmed at a cheapo place. Bad idea!!! Both of us have been very unhappy and have missed our expert stylist. If anyone needs a haircut she is the BEST! She may be far, but its worth the trip! The picture above is Gerriss in the middle of his haircut, doesn't he look cute....?!?! Now our hair is back to normal and we look great again. Thanks so much Tessa for visiting and letting me hold Nixon all night! I am sure that Gerriss also enjoyed his guy time with Blake and Easton! Come back soon!

Grape Juice!

Grandma taught me how to make grape juice yesterday. We spent the whole day prior picking grapes off the vines and washing them and getting them ready to be canned. It was a long process but now we have 25 bottles of delicious grape juice! I am so excited! Every time we go to mom and dad's house for special occasions they pull out the home made grape juice and I absolutely love it, and now I can too. Thanks Grandma!!

"It's time for a change"

While I have been reading through a few many blogs this morning I have read many thoughts about our new President. I may not agree with the decision that was made but I will respect our President and his administration. I will also continue to pray the Barack Obama will make the right changes and choices for our nation. And like I read on so many other blogs today, my faith in Jesus Christ will lead me and my family in the right direction and will keep us all safe. All I can say is:

Jack.....and the Halloween Party

We gave Jack a bath today. He really hates his bath time, but he has been molting so much lately and we read that we should bathe him once a week. So we have been alternating between his spray on oil bath and a water bath. He looks so funny when he is wet cause his feathers are all stuck together and he looks all skinny and little. He was freezing after his bath today so we put him on top of the vent in our front room. He was so cute, he started to fall asleep he loved it so much. Then when the heater would turn off he would look at us like "hey why did you turn that off, I was enjoying myself." So we had the heat up to like 75 just trying to keep it running so that he could get warm and dry faster. It was the cutest thing ever! Ok maybe not ever, but I get really excited about really small things.

Also, we went to a ward Halloween Party tonight that was the funnest Halloween Party I have ever been to, seriously! So we are heading over to gramps and grandmas house to hand out candy cause there is a parade down their street every year. As we pull onto their street there is a fire truck and two police motorcycles and about one hundred other people in costumes. It was totally awesome! The parade has a police escort around the block! So we handed out candy and then once every one was back from trick-or-treating around the block, there was popcorn, hotdogs, and all other sorts of sweets and treats at our friends house. We got some pictures of the various costumes people were wearing. Some of them are quite amusing!

New Trailer!!

Saw this on Beth's blog. Had to share!

Which Cullen are you most like?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Find out who are!

Personal Progress

Since I got baptized when I was 19, I never had the opportunity to go to young womens or participate in personal progress. I decided that there is no time like the present to start. So tonight I went to my first mutual activity. It was personal progress night, which is a night for us girls to get together and we do a personal progress activity so we can pass one of the things off in our books. Yeah so obviously I don't know all the technical names of everything but still, I had so much fun and can't wait til next month for the next activity. Becca helped us with a Mary Kay makeover and Emlyn gave a sweet lesson about inner beauty and that we should care more about what is in our hearts than how we look. She is so wonderful! Thanks Emlyn! I am so excited to continue doing personal progress! Wish me luck!

New calling...

Today we sustained Gerriss as the new Ward Executive Secretary. I am so excited for him to take on this new challenge, as I know he will do great. I have already noticed a change in his countenence since his sustaining earlier today. I am so proud of him for being a worthy priesthood holder and for the amazing example he is to me. I would not be who I am today without him. I know that this calling will be challenging and time consuming, but I know that he can handle it. I want to thank everyone for all of the continuous support that we have recieved through our trials and struggles throughout the years. We took the long road but Gerriss and I are back on the path (we hope) thanks to wonderful examples and, I am sure, many prayers. We love you all!

Cutest baby ever!

Gerriss and I went to Colorado for the weekend. It was so wonderful to see Adam, Drea, and especially baby Caleb! We went out there in May when he was about a month and a half old, and since then he has grown so much. He is so adorable now that he has started figuring things out, and can make new sounds. He has such a wonderful personality! I can't wait to see him as he continues growing. Good job Adam and Drea on raising such a beautiful baby! Keep up the good work.

Bump, Set, Spike

We have the best ward in the whole stake! Yes, that's right, we are undefeated! We have been playing ward volleyball for three weeks now and we are doing great so far. Tonight we played our singles ward, who was also undefeated, until tonight. The coolest part about tonight was that, not only are we the best ward but we also have the best Bishop. Bishop Black played tonight in suit pants, a dress shirt and a tie. Holy Cow! He is so amazing! Go Kimball Ward!!!

$200 later

Last month Gerriss and I were saving for a few trips we are planning on taking this month and in February. So since we had to save so much for the plane tickets and stuff we decided to be as frugal as possible on our spending habits. Well, we learned that if you don't buy extra groceries for a month and only live off the essential items, it costs more the next month to replenish the extra things used up. So in the long run we didn't really end up saving that much at all. This month has just begun and we have already almost maxed out our grocery budget. I really need Richelle to show me how to get groceries for cheaper, and to use coupons better! If anyone doesn't know who I am talking about just check out her blog, and you can see how amazing she is at food storage and such. Oh well, at least we won't be eating mac and cheese every night again.

Snowbird

Last Saturday my dad and I hiked UP snowbird. I emphasize UP because for years we have ridden the tram to the top and hiked down, and this time we decided to hike UP and get a FREE tram ride down. Well....... all I have to say is we survived. It took us nearly four hours and one bad knee and two pulled muscles, but we did it. I left Gerriss at home to clean the house and do the laundry (you know, just the usual Saturday stuff) and we took on the task of this mountain. The pictures are of us about 20 minutes away from the top. It was freezing! The wind was blowing extremely hard and it was about 40 degrees. Next time I will know to bring a bigger jacket, and maybe something that is windproof. We had so much fun. Thanks for going with me and for all the encouragement Papa!

New Range

We got a new oven range today! It is so exciting. Alright, I know that we don't own our house or the new range for that matter, but we got a new one in our apartment to use as long as we live here! Our old one burned me every time I used it. The thing was so old that the entire outside of the oven heated to extremely hot when I would bake and the sides of it would get almost as hot as the burner when I would cook. So Gerriss complained to our landlord, and told him that I have gotten burned A LOT from our oven/stove. The landlord knew right away that it could be a big liability so he replaced it as soon as he could. I am so excited! Its one of the flat top ones so hopefully I don't ruin it, I have read all of the instructions so I should be ok. Now I just have to figure out what to make for dinner!

Long time, no post

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. We have been so busy. We haven't even been busy with things that are fun to read about, so I won't bore you with the details of our day to day....

But I want to mention how much I love family. Gerriss' aunt is doing something very incredible for us and I want to thank her for caring so much. I hope that she knows how much we love and care for her, and that we are so grateful for what she has done for us. Thanks also to her daughter... :) Whom without, I know the situation would not have been known, and we would not have this incredible opportunity. Thank you so much! Sorry to be so vague, but I don't want to blaaaab to much.

4 pizzas and a gallon of ice cream

Tonight we had a party for our Sunday School class. There were seven children in my little apartment. 2 girls and 5 boys. All between the ages of 12 and 14. Oh my goodness was it crazy! But we made a deal with them that if they brought their scriptures to class every Sunday, continued to participate, and either wrote down or shared their testimonies we would have a party for them. So we got together tonight at our house and had 4 pizzas, a watermelon, a gallon of ice cream, almost two gallons of water, and watched Back to the Future 1. The most amazing part of it all was that Gerriss and I survived! Just kidding, they were all pretty well mannered. We are planning on having another party at the end of the year and we need to come up with some better challenges that they have to do. But not anything to difficult. Any ideas?

Idaho

We went to Idaho this weekend to visit my grandparents and my sister and her family. On Saturday we went to the old Idaho Penitentiary. The buildings were so cool! We got to see some of the changes in the prison cells over the generations. They started out all tiny and gross, and now the cells are big and spacious and kind of comfortable, or at least they are compared to the old ones. There were so many things to see there. One of the buildings had the Gallows, it was kind of creepy to see the place where they were hung and then to go below and see the place where they landed. Eewww! All in all it was a very fun day. I think it was a bit too much walking around for my grandparents though, but they sure were troopers to take us there.

On Sunday we went to Brandi and Scott's out in Kuna, ID. It was a relaxing day full of cleaning out drawers and trying to convince a 16 year old to clean her bedroom. Ha ha! No really, I got there and noticed that one of the drawers in their kitchen didn't close all the way and Brandi says, "Oh that has been like that for 6 years, something fell behind and we just haven't gotten it out." Ok, so everyone knows that I am a bit OCD about cleanliness and this was just not going to fly, so I took the drawer out and began digging behind it to get whatever it was out. Little did I know that this would start a cleaning frenzy, because of the massiveness of the job that I just took on. But we did it! All four drawers were cleaned out and the bottom one will now shut completely. YAY! I tried to get Kierstan to clean her room as well since I couldn't even see the floor underneath about three feet of clothes, but she decided to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead. Can't say I blame her though, I LOVE THAT MOVIE! Anyways, while we were cleaning out the top drawer in the kitchen we found these googly eyes that you use for crafts. Kierstan decided that these would look cute as finger nail decorations instead. As you can see they turned out pretty cute!

After all the cleaning and making
dinner and baking cookies and working and playing volleyball and everything else we did, we all sat on the couch and played the Wii. We definitely aren't as good as the kids are, but we still had a lot of fun. Thanks again for letting us invade your house for a day!
Earlier in the evening we went to pick up Kierstan and her friend from Chevron. After we dropped her friend off we were turning out of his neighborhood and I saw a cop and I just knew I was going to get pulled over, the night before I had noticed that one of the headlights in my car was out. So just as I suspected, the cop immediately whipped around and pulled us over. He was really nice, I just let him know that I was planning on fixing it before we head home the next day. He checked my license and let us go. Later that evening when we had left the Hurless house and were on our way home, still in Kuna might I add, another cop saw our missing headlight and decided to pull us over. Oh yes that is twice in one night! I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to do in Kuna, that is why we were pulled over twice, the cops had nothing better to do. That concludes our night in Kuna.

We had such a fun time in Idaho with all of our family. I love spending time with Mimi and Bop and hearing stories of their youth and of the war. They have so many great stories. Thank you so much for everything. We had a blast!

Sorry this is going to be a long one. We went to church today out here in Idaho at what would be my grandparents ward if they were members. The couple that spoke had such a wonderful message that I just had to take a minute to share a few things. First the wife spoke. She was a returned missionary who felt as if she was inadequate to be a missionary because she did not fit the "cookie-cutter" mold that everyone thinks missionaries have to be. Through her struggles and lessons she learned that everyone is different and that everyone has different lessons to be learned by all of the things life throws at us. She referenced a talk given by Joseph B Worthlin, it was called, "Concern for the one" ( I think....I will find out for sure once I am home and update this) But anyways, in this talk he said that everyone is different and everyone has talents that are picked by our Heavenly Father to be unique to each of us. This is so awesome! I feel so blessed to know that each of the talents I have been given was chosen specifically for me by my Father in Heaven and he knew what things I would need in order to return to live with Him. That is as long as I use those talents in a good way. That isn't everything she shared but it is all I have time to type. The husband spoke next. He said that he had only been a member for about three years, and in this time he has given eight talks, one at a Stake Conference as well. This sounds very familiar, being that I have only been a member for a little over 4 years and I have given my share of talks already. Anyways, he started talking about his life and some of the trials he faced being a non-member in an area full of members. (he lived in Idaho Falls) A lot of the things he talked about were similar to the many things that happened to me and my family growing up as non-members as well. To sum it all up he stated that the Gospel and the Church are perfect, but that can't change the fact that we are all human and we are all sinners. Just because we are members of this perfect church, doesn't change the fact that we are given our free agency to make our own choices, which often times we make the wrong ones, thus we may offend people along the way. But we also need to be quick to forgive and not hold anything against our friends and neighbors. Sorry to be so preachy, but these two people really did an awesome job and I wanted to recognize them for their efforts. It is so nice to come six hours away from our home and to know that the Church is the same everywhere we go. Also it was nice to hear the Testimonies of the Saints in Idaho, they are so strong out here as well. Thanks for letting me share!

Last Sunday we went to my parents house to celebrate my mom's 29th again birthday. (I wonder how many times that is now...) Anyways we had so much fun! I hope that my mom liked her gift as much she liked her new hair decoration. Doesn't she look fancy!


We are headed to Idaho in about 12 minutes to visit my grandparents and my sister and her little family. We will post some more pictures, when we get back, of the wonderful and exciting things we see in Idaho!!! (do I sense a bit of sarcasm?) No seriously though! I think we are for sure leaving now, so wish us luck on our journey this busy, crazy, traveling weekend.

I was over at my friends house the other night and we were having a little girl time while the boys played the wii. Well she showed me this way funny blog! It is called Seriously, So Blessed. Ok, so this blog is a fake person who is sort of making fun of LDS people, but not really. She is only really pointing out all of the totally crazy, funny, weird, or to some normal things that most of us do, but just all together at the same time so it is really intense. I can't really explain it very well. the best way to experience it would be to read through some of the posts. Have fun!!

Hogle Zoo

We went to the zoo today! It was so much fun even though it felt like we were the only people there without kids. Who cares, we are trying to hang on to our childhood, while we still can.

Here is the famous white alligator. We found out that there are only a few of these in the world and they are lucky to be in the zoos cause they have no way of defending themselves cause they aren't camoflauge. He is only two years old. Cute huh!?!

My favorite! The zebra! It was sad, everyone else was over looking at the bears and it seemed like no one wanted to look at or even cared to look at the zebras. I love them! They are so pretty!

We still looked at the bears though...

This was one of the owls from the bird show. While they had him flying around they were playing the theme song to Harry Potter. It was great!

Now that our feet hurt from walking around all day to see the animals it is time to relax.

I get it........sort of

So I was reading through some of Staci's old blogs and I saw a link for Leelou Blogs. So, I was scrolling through the blog and I LOVE IT! She has the cutest things for blogs on there. Now the trouble is figuring out how to use them. I figured out how to use the template, but other than that I have no idea what to do. I want to add one of the link buttons that directs you to the church website and I want to add music. So anyone who wants to clue me in, please feel free! Thanks for all of your help too. All the posts with links to blog stuff websites have been such a great help as I am still learning how to make the world's greatest blog page. Let me know what it needs!

Meeeooowww

Gerriss and I were outside with our neighbors the other night and we saw this cute little kitty. So being the nice person that I am I went inside and got him a bowl of milk. He gulped it down very quickly and then hung around out there with us for a little while. Well the next night he showed up again and was hungry. So, we had some extra salmon from our dinner earlier and we decided to give him a little taste. He devoured it! So now we can't get rid of him. Every night without fail he comes for a snack and some milk. I know we aren't supposed to have pets here and that Gerriss is totally allergic to cats, but he is so cute. I guess having an outside kitty for a little while will be fine. Although leaving him outside every night, even though he begs to come inside, breaks my heart a little bit. Well at least he is well fed. We don't know who he belongs to, but I hope they don't mind us feeding him every night.

Breaking Dawn...Best ending ever!

Ok, I know it has only been three day since the book came out, but I finished it! It is so amazing! Thanks Tessa for getting me hooked on these books. It has been a great pass time while I sit around doing nothing while Gerriss is hard at work and I am required to be quite (because he is on calls). Everyone should read them if they haven't already!

Aiden turns two!

Today was my nephew Aiden's 2nd Birthday! Well it's actually tomorrow but we celebrated it tonight. We had so much fun getting together with family and friends at my sister house in Bountiful. They bought him a new big boy bed that is a giant Lightning McQueen! Its so cute! They also had a Lightning McQueen cake for him. I'm glad we were able to be there for his special day! We love you Aiden!

A day at the Manti Temple

Gerriss and I and Jed and Tara went down to the Manti Temple today. We had such an enjoyable time. We just love hanging out with family! I am getting a little bit better at this whole blogging thing, I guess I just have to jump in and start experimenting. We'll see how I do :)

I decided to make a blog....so here it is! I need help. So all you expert bloggers out there, HELP!