The Pre-Christmas Family Visit

Ok, so I have about a bazillion pictures from my when my parents and my sister's family came to visit. No time for Smilebox, last time I used it it took FOREVER, so I just posted everything. Well, not everything, but close to it.

My famdamily came to visit last week and it was so fun and busy and loud and hectic. Most of all: FUN. Family visits always make my heart ache to live closer to family. But I guess living far away and seeing family so infrequently makes me appreciate them more. Or at least that's what I like to think.

Anywhoo,

An awesome lunch at Costco. Chase manages to try to ruin every picture and he's only FIVE. He still looks so cute at this age though, He's lucky. Might not be as cute when he's ten.

On our way to the Superstition Mountains! See, what did I tell you. Chase with his finger in his mouth.

A cute chapel at the Lost Dutchman's Museum. Apparently this chapel has been in many films. Films including Elvis. Oh wait, you don't get the whole Elvis craze either??

Fun, fun, fun in a stagecoach.

Dad, Cole and Chase in JAIL.

Off center, as per usual. I adore her. I guess I shouldn't single my sister out. I adore my whole family.


Like a pro with a 5 MP camera. Touche. Well I thought it was cool.


Chase wanted to look in the outhouse. I guess even though he lives on a farm he doesn't see enough of them?

FAMILY PHOTO OP.


Apacheland splendor.

Cole is so suave. What a dang cutie.

Somehow I bribed Chase into not being a goof in this one. Ty was a good sport. He hates pictures.

Mom, Katie and Cole on the train that went literally 1 mph around the Goldfield Ghost Town. The "conductor" said it had a max speed of 80 mph. I wanted some fast paced action, got none.

I have no commentary for this one. Wait, yes I do. See the bag that Chase is swinging? Ty bought him a petrified shark tooth and Chase was SO excited. But after leaving the store, Chase got all sad and forlorn. When asked what was the matter, Chase said, "You bought me this shark tooth and now we don't have any more money." Hahaha, it took a while to convince him that the shark tooth didn't break the bank. So cute.
Yeah Katie, try a little harder to get Cole to look at the camera when you have the stroller facing sideways!


Mmmmm, prickly pear ice cream at Tortilla Flats.


I got to bathe the boys. That was my duty as an aunt. This is the most appropriate picture with both boys unintentionally covering their dingle dangles.


Hiding under the foosball table. I think Chase might have sharp teeth.


Eating cheese.


Foosball action! I hardly participated. I seriously suck at this game. And I don't like to participate in games where I suck. Like volleyball, softball, Scrabble....


This was taken when we went to the Kartchner Caverns which is just Southeast of Tucson. It was quite impressive. Click here to see what it's all about. No cameras allowed inside, hence a photo of a plant/tree outside.

Katie is taking a bite out of what looks to be a gigantic asparagus.


Mom and Katie photo op.

Old Tucson sucks. We drove into a parking lot and it felt like a scene straight out of Vacation where the Griswald's arrive at Wally World and park at the very back of the parking lot only to later find out the park is closed. Yep, we were the only car in the parking lot and the place was deserted minus two "cowboys" I spied riding horses inside the gates.

A cotton farm driving from Tucson to Phoenix. Enthralled.


I just love this one.

Being quiet and not running around for once.

Happy Birthday Mom! She forbid us from getting her a cake, so we got her a large cupcake. A cupcake is not a cake.

Chase...GUHHHH.


I can't wait to see them again. Thank you all for coming, you are welcome anytime! Even in SLC where space may be limited! Perhaps we can all get together in Utah in the Spring/Summer and meet up in Moab? Camping would be great fun with these two busy nephews of mine.

Las Vegas Marathon Weekend

Finishing up those 13.1 miles. Clark's not an ace at action photos. Hence the photo of my back.
All done! You can't tell, but it was FREEZING. This was my first and last time participating in the Las Vegas Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon.
Kyle and Kim nearing the finish line for the full marathon! Way to go!

And the only picture we captured with the nieces/nephew. A picture of Violet's crazy bed head. So cute!

It's Official...

I'm moving to the Beehive State! We load and go on December 27th.

This is both exciting and terrifying.

The bonus is I have already put in my two weeks and will have Christmas Eve and Christmas off! YEAH BABY

THE FURMINATOR!!

A coworker introduced me to this product the other night at work. After watching demonstrations of it here, I was sold. I went on ebay and bought not one but TWO Furminators as Christmas gifts. One will be gifted to me from me, and one will be wrapped up all nice and shiny for a specific someone in my family who loves a cat named Caesar, aka King of Fur, aka Precious.

Scott and Dagmara, do not let the cat out of the bag! No pun intended.

This is my favorite picture found on Amazon. The fact that someone actually took the time to form a cat shape out of shedded (is that a word??) fur bewilders me.

This product will be glorious, I can't wait to try it out on Gretchen and then make my own cat shape out of her fur.

This Made Me Cry...

from laughing so dang hard. My coworkers and I replayed this video at least 5 times last night at work. Even a doctor who was writing admission orders had to see what we were dying over. And she cracked up, too. Enjoy!


The last 20 seconds gets me every time. Maybe I shouldn't think this is funny but I just can't help myself!



(I think this goes to show that alcohol can be just as debilitating and dangerous as drugs...)

Dallop of Thanks

I am truly grateful that holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas bring together family and friends. I guess I am grateful to the government for declaring holidays so that people can get together and celebrate, too.

I fell asleep this morning with a huge smile on my face thinking about how many people would be surrounded by their loved ones today. Aside from being thankful for the obvious reasons : my spouse and family, friends, The Gospel, food, clothing, shelter, etc..., I found myself thinking about how thankful I am that millions of people can gather with their families and friends this week/weekend. Ahhhh, such a warm, happy thought. Seriously, it made me so happy to think about.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Does anyone else have difficulty extracting contact lenses from their eyeballs?

I'm trying to wear contact lenses again.

I haven't worn them for about three years and when I did wear them, it was sporadic and only lasted about three months.

Since I'm older and wiser now, I thought I would give them another shot.

I had an appointment with an optometrist and received a new glasses/contact lens prescription. Of course, she wanted to ascertain that I indeed had worn contacts in the past and made me demonstrate my ability to insert the contacts into/onto my eyes. It only took me about 5 minutes per eye-which was a little embarrassing-and I left wearing my trial pair.

About an hour ago I extracted the contact lenses from my eyes and it took about the same time as the insertion of the contacts.

And now my right eye is all red and irritated.

SOMEBODY, PLEASE, WHAT IS THE TRICK?? Is it really going to take me 20 minutes of my day to insert and extract contacts?

I had problems with this the first time around 3 years ago, hence the reason I stopped wearing them. What am I doing wrong?

Lesley, remember in middle school when you tried to put those colored contacts in my eyes and it became such a desperate situation that you had to pin me to the floor and you still couldn't get the contacts in my eyes? Maybe I should have taken that as a sign from God that I'm not destined to wear contacts...

But destined or not, I am determined. Glasses just make the backs of my ears and the bridge of my nose too sore after a 12 hour shift. I need this change!

Half Marathon Video

Awww, Kevo and Des are the best. They woke up at 7 am on a Saturday to come watch me run and they even took a little video on their phone. Cracks me up that he posted it on Youtube. Hope to have some pictures up soon that they took as well.

I ran the half in 1:25 so I was pretty pumped about that. If I can shed a minute or two off that time in Vegas in December I will be THRILLED. And the best part of the whole dang race???

I DIDN'T HAVE TO STOP TO POOH! NOT ONCE!

That was my major malfunction during last January's marathon. I stopped FOUR times. Killed my motivation to ever run another marathon. Now a half...well, now I know I can conquer the half without having the sensation to stop and pooh! Sorry, my elation is out of control. Just super stoked is all.

Too much info? Sorry again. Being a nurse, I could talk bowel movements and the like all day long. Wanna chat BM's with me? Holla at your girl. I'm a good listener.



I know, the video is not exciting at all. And I look like I am going sooooooo slow. Pick up the pace, Rach! I think my average mile time was a 6:31. Gotta get it down to 6:20...

Happy Birthday Me!!! :-)

Yes, I stole that title from your July birthday blog post, Dagmara ;)

(Somebody named Rachel didn't know that I would steal a picture of her birthday cake and use of for my own selfish purposes. MUWAHAHA)

What does a newly minted 26 year old female do on her birthday? Please, allow me to bore you with the mundane details of my birthday day.

-get home from work at 8:20 am. Go on a short run and try not to fall asleep or twist my ankle while doing so.

-wake up at 2:45 pm to an overcast sky. YES! The sky likes to taunt me. I know it won't rain but I hope for it anyway.

-check out the goods on www.6pm.com. Wail and fight back tears when the shoes I found on the website last night at work are no longer in stock. What the?? A mere 12 hours ago they were in stock.

-treat myself to a manicure. Subtle pink clear coat. Excellent choice.

-pick up my requested Anita Shreve books from the public library. I love her novels. They are so tragic and beautifully written. Oh, did I mention tragic? I've cried at the end of at least two of her novels. I can't get enough. Check her out at www.anitashreve.com.

-pick up my race number and goodie bag for the half marathon I am running at 7 am tomorrow morning.

-indulge myself in the free "pasta dinner" provided by the half marathon sponsors. 'Twas quite skimpy and I left with my belly unfulfilled. I had to come home and cook myself another dinner.

-spoke with the manager of a progressive care unit at a hospital in Utah. (eeehhhhhh!!) And this manager is ok with the fact that I wouldn't be able to start until January. Are the stars aligning? I sure hope so...

-let my friends Kevin and Desirae come keep me company for a while--and they even brought me a cake! Chocolaty chocolate yum yum. They are so good to me. Always trying to help me feel loved.

It's been hard not to be able to celebrate this birthday with my loverman Clark. Glad to say my fortune has been good today. Friday the 13th actually isn't an unlucky day after all. THANK YOU to all of you who remembered this day of my birth and for making me feel important :)

Dessert Choice

Dear Mom Tobler,

I have been thinking long and hard on the idea of getting to choose what dessert I would like for the combined November birthday celebration during the Marathon reunion. ( I'm excited to hear that three of us get to choose what we want--that means LOTS of treats!) I have narrowed it down:



or



You know I could eat the entire batch of your cinnamon rolls in one sitting and that everyone else would enjoy them, too (if there were any left over). It feels like forever since I've had a famous Mom Tobler cinnamon roll. But if you are feeling ambitious, you could make a Barbie doll cake. I haven't had one of those since I was four. Awwww, little Rachel was so excited!



As much as I hate to admit it, I would probably be the only one to appreciate the Barbie doll cake. Maybe the cinnamon rolls are the best idea since everyone would definitely enjoy those. And I promise to make sure everyone has their fair share.

Maybe you should make Clark one of these??



With more masculine colors of course. He's not really into pink. But Clark'll have the final say on what he wants his dessert to be.

Love, Rachel

RECAP

Here's a recap of my most recent visit to SLC. I have decided that there are 2 things I strongly dislike about Salt Lake (and no, it does not have to do with the weather. Yet. The weather was fabulous, if fact.):

1. Anytime you order a milkshake at any restaurant/fast food joint (excluding McDonald's and Burger King), it looks like this:
THIS IS NOT A MILKSHAKE!! First of all it comes in a cup within a cup and second of all it is served with a spoon and not a straw! I have been duped TWICE! I have learned my lesson. I will never order another "milkshake" in the state of Utah ever again. You cannot imagine how bummed I was when my brownie "milkshake" tasted like vanilla. And all my brownie bits were at the bottom of the cup. I almost asked for my money back when I was halfway through. I was that disappointed.

2. This city shuts down early. I mean, waaaaayyyy early. Downtown Salt Lake dies around 9 pm. Downtown areas should never shut down before midnight. It should be a written law.

And I just want to mention that we finally ate at a Cafe Rio and we weren't impressed. At all. This place is ridiculously expensive (especially when they ask you if you want you burrito enchilada style and if you want sour cream, guac, and pico de gallo. if you don't read the menu thoroughly you won't realize that the above extras cost a dollar a piece! Clark's burrito came out to over $10! We could have gone to a nice sit down restaurant. what a scam.) I honestly believe you get better food at Rubios--for way less. So there.

Anywhoo, here are a ridiculous amount of pictures. I just love to go overboard when posting. Can't help it. We are just too beautiful :)

At a random venue in Layton(??) to see Strung Out. Clark's face cracks me up in this one. He's my special boy.


They're getting old, but they still know how to rock.


The base player ran off stage a few times to partake in the fun in the mosh pit. But no one wanted to mosh with a guy with an instrument.


My husband is a better cook than your husband. Don't be offended. He's just that awesome. Fried chicken and twice baked potatoes. I could never pull this off.


I made Clark hike Ensign Peak with me. He was not enthusiastic and said he didn't want to "waste" our whole day.


Clark sped ahead, I literally had to run to keep up with him at first. He really didn't want to waste much time enjoying Utah's beauty and a bit of history.


Hello downtown neighborhoods.


Looks like someone got a little tired. Should have paced himself. At 5,000 feet hiking can be a little strenuous.


And the time it took us to get to the top?? 17 minutes. Not exactly the "all day" hike Clark was anticipating.


Awww, I think he enjoyed himself after all.




Yes, Clark, that's a big nest.


All time favorite pose from my all time favorite youtube music video.


I love fall colors.


A charming park in downtown.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARK!!! Is that a used ABBA CD from Zia Records? Why yes, it is. I am an awesome wife. Only the best for you, Clark.


What's this?


A homemade scarf! This is the extent of my domestic abilities. I've been promising him one for years now. But there was never any reason to make one for him while living in AZ.


Look how I came through. A used Abba CD, a back scratcher, hand lotion, a scarf and a 16 gig nano. Like I said, I'm kind of awesome.


Ready to hit the town. We can clean up nice sometimes.


Looking good fellas.


Next door to the jazz club that ended up being under new ownership without the same musical connections as the last owners...lone behold, a naughty boutique! We may have mingled for a few minutes inside. Always entertaining. Roooaaaahhhhrrr.


Can you guess what is taped to the window? Stocking stuffers I suppose.


Tomas, Clark and Nate trying desperately to figure out if any clubs have live music on a Wednesday night. The verdict? Hells no. It's Salt Lake and the city dies at 9, especially during the week.


We're sad our fabulous idea to watch live jazz did not pan out.


But we're happy to be together. I am, anyway.


My so so cute shoes! I just have to advertise for this website I found while browsing the internet at work. The website is http://www.6pm.com/ and I found these super cute shoes for $13!! The really sweet deal is no matter how much you buy shipping is only $6.95. I may have splurged and bought a few more items. But when shoes are only 12 bucks a pair you can't go wrong. That is definitely my female mind using pure logic and reasoning to justify spending money.


A possible picture for Christmas cards. Clark said I made him feel pregnant with my hand on his stomach.


So I think this picture might be more appropriate for Christmas cards. Yeah!???


No live jazz+dead city at 9 pm = eating out again for the 5th time that day. But I think Clark still enjoyed his birfday.



It's always a good time when we're together. Though we didn't get dressed up for Halloween (we don't yet have many connections in Utah) we have perfected our ideas for our costumes for next year. But I'm still kicking myself for not getting dressed up to go to Hollywood Video.

My favorite quote of the week was from Tomas: "You know, it's a good thing you run because I've noticed you have quite a sweet tooth." As evidenced by my need for a package of toaster streudels one night, ice cream basically every night, and Halloween candy. Yep I like my sugar. I go crazy without something sweet.

PS We finally got a Costco membership. It is so fun to walk around and not buy anything and then buy a sausage dog, pizza, frozen yogurt and a churro. Cheap and delish. Well worth the membership fee. And our glasses and eye exams will be, too.

I can't tell you how hard it is to leave Clark at the end of my visits. Each visit gets more and more difficult. Though I have my beef with Salt Lake I really do hope I find a job opportunity soon so I can move up there and be with him and take a huge pay cut and like it. Oh yeah, and suffer through the inevitable, miserable cold winter too.

If only I had a few million laying around...

http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/decor/articles/2009/11/05/20091105castle.html

one of my dreams, so close by, so out of reach.

Birfday Boy

Clark is 26 today!!! We are celebrating by going to a jazz club tonight in downtown SLC with some friends. here's the link: http://www.slctravel.com/zanzibar.htm

Jazz hands, jazz hands, jazz hands, jazz hands!! We're pretty stoked.

Happy Birthday, Clark! You are such a wonderful husband and I am so glad I got to spend an extra day here in Salt Lake to celebrate with you. You fill my life with such joy, I love you!