Pictures of the Inside

It's huge compared to our little apartment! 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms - practically a mansion!

Our New House!

I thought I would post some pictures of the house that we will be moving into in a couple of weeks. I love it. It We were cleaning there on saturday and I was thinking that there was something familiar about it. That is because as a child, this is exactly the kind of yard I wanted - complete with perfect climbing tree which I also included a picture of.

Cooties

this is serious business.

The Worst Christmas Task

I consider myself a big fan of Christmas in general. I love the Christmas hymns we sing in church, the nativity account, all of the fun stories we hear about giving - and getting into the spirit of giving. I can't say I don't enjoy the receiving end of Christmas as well. However, along with that spirit of giving comes the act of wrapping. Wrapping gifts is not a talent of mine. It is difficult for me to do the sides of the box or whatever is being wrapped. My gifts always end up looking all wrinkly - like a five year old did them. I also frequently misjudge how much wrap to use and then have to cut another strip so that you can't see what the gift is. That's another thing - in all of the accounts of the nativity I have heard and seen acted out, not once have the gifts presented to the baby Jesus been wrapped. They were all presented as they were, none of this ridiculous froo-froo wrapping or bows - nonsense all of it. I know that wrapping gifts is no big deal for most of you, if not all of you. If you happen to enjoy wrapping, you may disregard this post as the ramblings of one who is not good at wrapping. If you know me, I simply don't like to do things I'm not good at. But, then again, I think most people are that way to some extent. And for those of you whose solution is to do the whole bag with tissue paper thing, I am bad at that also. I wrinkle the tissue paper too much or don't use enough or I use too much. Plus I think that route is more expensive than the wrapping paper. Let's face it, I'm a lost cause. But I figure, if that is the only part of Christmas I don't like, I won't let it get me down. Think of it this way - a good laugh for those who receive gifts from me. Here are two of my better "wraps" - and you'll notice that one has an added on piece and the other just looks a little wrinkled. But those are pretty decent for me, you should see some of the others! I do think I got better as the wrapping progressed today.

So this whole blogging business is feast or famine with me so enjoy while you can. Below pictured are may way cute nieces and nephews - yet another added perk to marrying Lance! I don't have any pictures of Abby yet but I'm working on it. For now, here are Claira, Dallen, Callie, Bailey, Kayden, and TJ.

I love my way cute Nieces and Nephews!

Resemblances

While going through pictures as I am on a blogging roll this evening I found these pictures from last year around Thanksgiving time. I now can see how a lot of people think I Megan and I are sisters. In fact I look quite a bit more like Megan than I do like my own adorable sister, Amanda. Why is that? Oh yes, hello Ellen! You are looking radiant in this picture as always!

The Greatest Team You've Never Heard Of

So my coach - Coach Gabe as we call him, was laughing about how when he runs his camps for little girls they look so funny in their jean shorts with their shin guards on the outside of their socks and their hair in pig tails. He is used to seeing us in our boring practice gear all tucked in (looking exactly the same like little drones - I'm not bitter though) every day. Anyways, on wednesday we all decided that it would be funny to surprise Gabe. He thought it was hilarious and btu insisted that since we had decided to do this ridiculous thing, we had to practice like this the whole time. I don't see what's so funny, we look good ...

I was going through my pictures and I saw these pictures from my friend Summer's wedding. She and I played soccer together at Sierra and she married her husband Jake in the Sacramento temple on July 27th - exactly a week after Lance and I. Beautiful girl and just for the record she is the same age as I am for all of the skeptics who say we're too young. 4 months and going strong, huh Summer! Anyways I thought some pictures from her wedding would be nice. Someday maybe I'll post some from mine. Maybe...

Recent Highlights

I know that I haven't posted anything in 2 months - that is bad. I am bad - there, I said it. Moving on, I definitely have more time to devote to blogging now that soccer season has ended. Psych! Just because games are over doesn't mean that we stop practicing. Now we are playing "futsal" which is basically indoor soccer played on a basketball court. It is pretty fun, except for the small detail that we start at 6:30 am. But it gives me more time in the afternoon of course which I will devote solely to schoolwork and other productive uses of my time ; ) ... Sadly, soccer season is over, though our team did well. We came in second in our division. I am going to try to attach a highlights video of our season that my coach made. Don't get your hopes too high because I really don't know how to much with this whole blog thing. Erica is going to give me a blogger tutorial session soon so I can make this thing a little more exciting. I other highlights, I made 4 dinners last week which is a new record for me. 4 in one week - truly amazing. My masterpiece was the homemade clam chowder. If you know me, you know that if clam chowder was the only available food left, it would be heaven on earth for me. You also probably know that I am a clam chowder critic and though they are all good, none ever measure up to my mom's chowder. But, I am happy to say, that though it was not as soperb as my mom's, it came dangerously close. Someday I will perfect it. It was a rather complex process too, so I was proud of myself - because complicated recipes don't normally go over well with me. Lance thoroughly enjoyed the meal which made me happy. He says that their all good, but I'm not sure I buy it. I could tell he really liked this one though. If you have any "beginning cook" recipes that are tasty and not super complicated that you would like to share, I would not turn them away! My cooking skills I am working on.

Soccer News

The main reason that we came to Turlock was so that I would have the opportunity to play soccer at a University. Lance is very self-lessly working full time so that I don't have to work while I am in my season (it is virtually impossible to work while in soccer because of the time factor). So far the season is going really well. Our team won our first 2 preseason games 2-0 to two good teams, then we went to Washington and got spanked by 3 really good ranked -in -the -nation teams. It was a really humbling experience for me because up until that point I had never experienced getting killed in a game. One highlight of the trip for me, however was when we Seattle Pacific University who are ranked 10th in the nation and by far the best and most physical team that I have ever played against. We were down 2-0 halfway through the first half but you wouldn't have known it if you didn't see the scoreboard. Our team was battling hard and playing really well - by far the best we had ever played. Our backs were winning the ball and getting into the attack, the midfield was solid and moving the ball quickly and our forwards were doing a good job of holding it and creating good opportunities on goal. This particular play started in the back, went through the midfield up to a forward who crossed the ball on the ground perfectly across the box to me running full speed onto it and blasting it passed the keeper into the back of the net. Now the best part was that as the ball was traveling a defender saw that I was going to get to it before she did and she gave me this look like "Don't bother shooting it - you know you aren't going to make it." I showed her =). It was by far the best a goal has ever felt in my life. If I can score on Seattle Pacific I can score on anyone. In the second half they preceeded to put us away handily but it was a good learning experience for us and a soccer memory I'll never forget. Since then our team has started conference and after two games we are tied for first place in our Conference so we've come a long way since Washington. There's still a lot of season left but I think our team has what it takes to surprise a lot of people. Go Warriors!

Just the Two of Us

Photo complements of Denise Edwards photography and Jillian sending it to me. Excellent group effort from all! Lance is tickling me which is why I am cracking up and he has that "I am sooo sneaky" smile on his face. He is pretty cute though.

my new life

Well, I have been married for a little over a month now. So far, so good. Turlock is all I imagined and more =). No, actually it's great - we have everything here ... everything, that is, except a BJ's and chipotle. It is quite the obstacle, but I am finding a way to survive without my two favorite eat spots. Soccer is awesome - a whole new level of the game that I am adapting to. Lance likes his new job a lot - although I am still not sure exactly what it is that he does =). Something about measuring rock