We're Still Alive!

I haven't written in a long time but I just want to let you know that we are alive. I will try to have my random thoughts posted on a weekly basis from now on--we'll see how long that lasts.

Car Update

So I hope my post isn't too difficult to understand (I am going on a few hours of sleep). I received a phone call this morning at 1:00 am (it felt like 5) telling me that they had found my car.

They had found it a few minutes earlier and gave me the info to pick it up today. It got impounded so we had to go through a bunch of things to get it out. When I went to pick it up, to my surprise there didn't seem to be any apparent damage. The car did "ding" as though there was no key in the ignition. Most of my stuff was still there and everything had been lovingly--or not so lovingly thrown out of the glove box (apparently they did not find my valuable sporks that I keep in there as my secret stash). They did get into the trunk and I no longer have skates. That's probably the worst part of the whole thing--now I have to save up for a new pair of skates. :(

They did trade me a jacket for the skates though (what kind of thief leaves things?). I also have a DQ cup with a straw still in it. I am going to call the police and see if they would want to saliva from the cup...sneaky, sneaky. Stupid though to leave that as well. I also found some business cards for a photographer in Ogden who has a pretty nice site (don't worry I checked it out).

All in all, it wasn't too bad of a deal. I still need to take it in and get the ignition fixed since I can drive it without any keys and the car may have an alignment problem. At this moment, Jared and I are not quite sure what we will do with the car since I'm the "sugar mama" for a few more months. Bryce does seem to think that we could get a pretty good car that has been repoed because of the economy. For the time being, we will put an alarm on it so that it doesn't get stolen a third time while I own it.

I have had several offers of people who would like me to drive their cars around in hopes that they will get stolen. I did have to break the bad news and let them know that the cars that get stolen for me are on a three-year cycle and they usually get found.

Sugarhouse = Car Theft!

Many of you may not have known, but about 3 years ago my car was stolen from outside my house/apartment when I lived in Sugarhouse. Luckily (or unluckily) my car was found a week and a half later in Lehi and had been abandoned because the car battery went dead. I continued to drive my car faithfully....that is until Friday night.

We were attending a old roommate party in Sugar House (four blocks from my old apartment). Upon leaving Training Table I found that once again my car had been stolen! What are the odds?!? Twice in 3 years, same car, about 4 blocks apart.

So now I'm at the time where we wait and see. At least I've been through it before and I know what to expect although I have changed car insurance since being married. We'll see what happens. Part of me wants it to be gone forever (so that it can't be stolen again) and part of me wants it to return so that I don't have a car payment until Jared starts working. Of course if I got it back, I would try to get rid of it probably this summer. I'll keep the blog updated on all the fun that I have with my '99 Honda Civic.

Silver Rush!

Tonight some of the students that are in SkillsUSA at Riverton (for which I am an advisor) were featured on a news segment tonight. (They are the ones who are selling singing telegrams to raise money--Kim, you'll remember the posters from the Jon Schmidt concert).

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

This year the school has chosen the Family Support Center in Midvale to raise money. The students are raising money by doing "Odd Jobs" (going around neighborhoods and earning money), having benefit concerts (Jon Schmidt and Battle of the Bands), and donating money and items for the Center. It is not just about the money though--it is about the service and changing the students' lives. In our homeroom classes, student representative conduct activities/discussions about how we can all improve our families. It's a great cause and I'll blog on Dec. 19th when we find out how much money was raised for this year's Silver Rush.

HSM3!!!

Some of you may know, but others may not that Jared helped on the set for High School Musical 3 this summer. He got the job because he builds the sets for BYU currently. Well, because of his hard work, we were invited to attend a special cast (dancers) and crew premier at the Gateway Megaplex. One of the producers was there and also Troy's dad. They gave some speeches and then we watched the movie. We didn't see Zack Efron or anyone special like that but it was still fun. Jared did score a HSM3 Construction Crew shirt which is pretty cool.

It's a cookie in a skillet!!!

This post is about the Skookies that Kim wonderfully introduced to me. We bought them with some of our wedding money at BB&B. Jared did give me a hard time because he seemed to think that it would have been cheaper if we would have just bought the skillets and not the ones that specifically say "skookie" on the box. I think I remember TJ saying the same thing to Kim. Hmmm. Well, this wonderful dessert-making-contraption has fed Jared and me for the past couple of weeks and we thoroughly enjoy them. Let's be honest though, sometimes it's a little on the large side (check out the picture below that I found on this fabulous recipe blog--I know, I'm getting domesticated since being married.) As a side note, this same site has the BEST Cafe Rio Pork recipe (I have tried a few and this one is yummy!) I did find a cilantro-lime rice recipe that I like more though. Enjoy the recipes (especially for those who are in lands far far away from the Cafe Rios of the Wasatch Front.)

Surprise Date

A few weeks ago, Jared asked me if we had anything planned for Oct. 3rd. Since we didn't, he informed me that we now had plans. He did a good job of keeping it low-key and a secret. I had forgotten that he had even planned anything until last night.

The surprise date was going to the Shangri-la Chinese Acrobats. I accidentally found out what it was an hour before we went because he had the tickets sitting out--oops. It was a great show but some times a little disturbing with the contortionist. The first time we saw the contortionist, she was wearing pointe shoes and did a dance on pointe (ballet). She then proceded to twist herself in all sorts of positions while on pointe. For the finale of this particular number, she went on pointe on her partner's shoulder. Crazy!!!