Lisa and Bryan's Blog

Catch Up

2011-09-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

*sigh* FOUR MONTHS behind on the blog, but rather than trying to write a million posts, I think I can sum things up pretty well with a few pictures and sentences.

For a long time, I was partying hard with these guys (aka the Fam):

(We were in Disneyland on the day of the Ole' Miss game, so this was our way of representin')

This guy is getting bigger by the millisecond:

And now has one of these:

Being in Utah was great, minus being apart from this guy:

So I'm glad to be back home! And blogging again, apparently.

p.s. In a moment of bad judgment, I removed all the links from my blog (to switch to Google Reader) but neglected to write down blog addresses. If you could comment (a simple "holla!" would suffice), so I can link to your blog, that would be exquisite.

New Parent Humor

2011-05-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

by Bryan

As new parents we do our best to be considerate of those around us. But alas, despite our best efforts, Blake is his own man.

Yesterday, during the passing of the sacrament at church, Blake started fussing. I put him up on my shoulder to comfort him and he started to calm down. Slowly I put him on my lap, when Blake could hold it in no longer and "broke wind" not once, not twice, but three times. I was more embarrassed than disgusted, hoping only I had heard him, until I saw this face. He went from a stern look of concentration to the biggest toothless grin he could muster (with his eyes closed).

I could take it no longer and tried to muffle my laughter as tears began to form. To my astonishment, we had avoided embarrassment as it appeared that no one around had heard.

Blake, however, was not pleased with his initial performance. During the next hour, he repeated his gastrointestinal efforts to draw attention to himself and managed to get myself, the father in the bench in front of us, and the sisters in the row behind us all struggling to muffle our laughter as Blake once again grinned from ear to ear and batted his long eyelashes at us - so proud of his accomplishments. Oh the joy of being a new parent.

The Hot New Fashion Sensation

2011-05-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Problem:
Bryan and I made a rare trip to the mall on Saturday. Deciding that at least one of us should be fashionably dressed, we quickly chose Blake as the designated "stylin'" one, since he--by far--has the most clothes. My co-worker gave us some adorable jeans from Baby Gap. Unfortunately said jeans, though size 3-6 months, *barely* fit over 2 month old Blake's super chubby thighs. The problem was made worse by the fact that Blake's thunder thighs were extra tender from getting shots the day before. I had resigned myself to the fact that Blake would have to give up the style and sexiness of designer jeans for soft and comfy pajama bottoms.

Solution:
Bryan reminded me that--thanks to Carter's (definitely my fav baby clothes maker)--Blake could have the best of BOTH worlds because he is the proud owner of the hot new fashion sensation . . . Pajama Jeans! Complete with mock fly, front-to-back contrast pocket stitching, and a smooth butt-lifting design. Thanks Pajama Jeans!

What I Accomplished Today

2011-05-18T13:45:00.001-07:00

I always look forward to when Bryan comes home and asks me how my day was. I feel exhausted, so naturally, I look forward to impressing him with how many things I managed to accomplish while taking care of Blake. However, over the past two months, I've noticed that once I actually have to verbalize what I did, it sounds lame, "Well, I fed Blake, then changed his diaper, then he was being fussy so I basically just read through my e-mails while holding him, then I fed/changed him again, got the mail, emptied the dishwasher...and well...obviously I fed/changed him more, and..." *getting frustrated* "...I did stuff, I promise!" I can hear how lame I sound, to the point where I hardly feel like answering anymore because as honorable as I know taking care of Blake is, the other things I do sound so pithy and lame. I want Bryan to know how hard I'm working since I know how hard he works to provide for our family.

The other day, I tried making dinner for a wonderful family in our ward who just had a baby. I knew when Bryan came home, all I'd really be able to say I did was, "I ran to Target, made dinner for that family, and took care of Blake." A list of 3 things sounds so lame. But for me (a terrible multi-tasker) that was a Herculean task that resulted in the house looking like this by noon. I was pretty tempted to just leave it looking like this so Bryan wouldn't have to ask how my day was, he would just know.

I decided that rather than trying to verbalize how insane my day was, I might just take a picture of the house at various points during the day so he can get an idea of how crazy my day was without me having to stumble through words to make it sounds impressive. Anyone else have this problem?

Diaper Heaven

2011-05-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

I always assumed there were two kinds of babies in the world:
(1) Babies that HATE having their diaper changed
(2) Babies that tolerate having their diaper changed

Just recently, I learned there is a third kind:

(3) Babies that think having their diaper changed is the best thing in the entire world and enter a state of euphoria as soon as they're placed on the changing table.

I don't get this kid, but Blake is definitely Type 3.

Blog Slacker

2011-05-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Do you ever get caught up in life and stop posting on your blog and eventually it's been so long, you feel like your next post has to be really great...so you just continue to slack off? Well, nothing great here. Just a few pictures. I'm still riding the new baby rollercoaster. Loving the ups and loathing the downs, but just so overwhelmingly thankful for the ride.

This pretty much sums up our life. Exhausted and barely staying in balance. But grateful for this little angel.

Labor and Delivery

2011-03-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Woah. That's pretty much all I have to say. Woah. New respect for all you moms out there. These first two weeks of having a newborn threw me for a loop. But I'm finally getting around to posting the labor and delivery story while I still remember it. Standard disclaimer: I really appreciated reading others' stories while preparing for labor, but if you hate super long-winded posts or the use of the words like "placenta," go ahead and skip this one. This post is mostly for me anyway.

For several reasons, as soon as I found out my due date, I started hoping for a St. Patrick's Day baby. It's been my favorite pretend holiday for a while now, mostly because I love the color green and I like when people wear matching clothes. I visited Ireland while studying abroad and I couldn't get over all the green everywhere. So when I started having what felt like menstrual cramps about 6:30am on the morning of March 17th, I thought maybe I'd tricked my body into false labor. After hearing so many stories about first time moms having contractions that soon stopped, I didn't get my hopes up. By 8:30, Bryan woke up and went on a walk with me. I had him time contractions on his iphone Ap. I had to walk really slowly because I was hurting and had to stop walking entirely about every 6 minutes. I wasn't feeling too hot so we headed back home. I read my friend Rivka's story about how she had her husband make up bed in the back of their car and thought that wasn't a bad idea since I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible. I told Bryan I probably wouldn't need it, but to go ahead and make one anyway.

I took a shower and laid in bed, all the while timing contractions. I called the hospital when they were averaging 4.5 minutes apart, but they told me that first time moms can take a while to get those first few centimeters, so I could come in if I was really uncomfortable, but I should probably wait until my contractions were 3 minutes apart. After all, they said, if I came in and was 3cm or less, they'd monitor me for a while, but send me home if I wasn't progressing. Fair enough, I thought. So I kept going, but started to get more uncomfortable. In labor class, they called early labor the "smiley" phase. I'd stopped smiling and was just trying various things (labor ball, bath, another shower, hip squeezes, etc.) to try to get me through this "early labor" so I could go to the hospital. I'd read the Bradley Method book and tried to prepare to possibly do a natural birth, but I soon realized that if "early labor" was this painful, I was definitely going to want an epidural for the later stages. My contractions were averaging every 4 minutes, but I was uncomfortable enough between contractions that I couldn't always tell when they started and stopped, so sometimes I missed timing entire contractions, which threw off the average. So when I called the hospital and told them I was 4 min apart, they again told me to hold off. I was discouraged, but knew that if I went to the hospital only to be sent home, I'd be so disappointed, so I kept going. Long story short, my sister Amanda called while I was having a contraction, who could tell I was certainly not in early labor any more. She called my mom, who called Bryan to say, "Now, I know you're not going to believe this. But Hortin women have been known to be stubborn. So Lisa may not want to go to the hospital, but you need to get her there." My sister Hayley is there, meanwhile, and I think she was starting to worry about having to deliver the baby in the car because I'd started to moan through my contractions.

So at this point, Bryan's called the hospital and convinced them I need to come in now (it's about 1:30pm). I get dressed, have Bryan help me through a couple more contractions before I make it to laying down in the back of the 4-Runner, thinking Chase and Rivka are brilliant because my contractions really started to get worse. I was moaning and starting to freak out because I was feeling pressure with the contractions, thinking, "I *really* hope this isn't the urge to push people were talking about!" but also thinking, "I just know I'm only 3cm and they're going to send me home--please be at least 4 cm!!" Luckily, we made killer time to the hospital. We walk through the ER entrance and Bryan's ready to have me walk all the way down the hall, wait in the elevator, and down another hall to L&D. Meanwhile, I'm grabbing at wheelchairs, finding one that works, pretty much having lost all inhibitions, not caring who's staring at me. He wheels me into L&D and nobody's at the front desk. Luckily, a nurse walks by, sees me in the wheelchair and asks me, "What are you doing here?" "Well, I'm *hoping* I'm having a baby." "Are you really that uncomfy?" (Apparently they're not used to women coming in wheelchairs?) Anyway, they get me in a room so someone can check me. I'm just praying I'm a 4 and hoping they can get me an epidural soon because these first few centimeters were bad enough. Everyone's moving pretty slowly until the doctor finally comes to check me and nonchalantly says, "Yeah, you're an eight." I literally sat up on the exam table and say to the doctor, "EIGHT?!?!" Psh. Early labor my eye! Anyway, luckily when you're an 8, people pick up the pace a little more.

The rest of the story is less eventful. Within a half hour, they had given my an epidural. It only worked on the right side, so I had them try to fix it. Still didn't work, but by then I had been a ten for a while and was starting to feel like I wanted to push, so the nurse and I decide the pushing will go faster if I can feel it anyway, so let's just move forward. I start pushing about 6:00pm and eventually my water breaks (and hits my nurse Juliett even thought she was ducking to the side). She tells me it's okay, it's supposed to be good luck. Anyway, even though I can feel everything on my left side, it feels okay as long as I start pushing when the contractions come. For the first 2 hours. By then, the contractions are lasting longer than they're letting me push for, so I'm hurting. After hour 3, with the baby's head still stuck, we start to talk assisted delivery (forceps, vacuums, etc). At 3.5 hours of pushing and no progress since hour 2, I know without a doubt that this kid isn't going to come without some help, so I sadly but easily agree to use a vacuum. I was so discouraged, I was starting to doubt if they could even get him out with the vacuum. It still took 3 sets of contractions with the vacuum to get his head out, then the doctor had to grab the baby's head with both hands and yank with all her strength to get the rest of him out. Then they put him in my arms at 9:31pm and the rest is history.

Born on Thursday (my fav day of the week) St. Patrick's Day (my fav holiday), in Lucky Delivery Room #7. Introducing: My Lucky Charm -- Blake Henry Schader

He Likes to Move It, Move It :)

2011-03-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

I often tell Bryan to look at my stomach to watch the baby move. One time he told me, "You know, Lisa, you're the only one who can actually see him moving because you're feeling it at the same time."

I don't know. You tell me.

Sorry it's at kind of an awkward angle. I'm just pointing it down at my tummy, in case you can't tell what the striped mass is. :)

Finally Done

2011-03-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Sorry--still pregnant. Which is why I have time to finally catch up on blog posts I should've done forever ago. The bathroom! Bryan and I (mostly Bryan and his Dad, really) worked really hard last summer and redid our bathroom. Such a huge project for such a small room, but we're not talking putting in a new vanity and mirror. The floor had water damage down to the subfloor and only had a tub (no shower), so we ripped out *everything* and started from scratch. No professionals whatsoever. Just Bryan, Bryan's amazing dad Fred, and me. It was unbelievable. When we started, I barely knew how to use a screwdriver. Now Bryan and I know how to demo, install a new construction window, stucco, remove a bathtub, plumbing (sewer and copper), repair a subfloor, install a new bathtub, install new drywall, texture, tile, wire a light fixture, install a toilet, vanity, etc.

This story is best told through pictures. I'd do just the before and after, but you really can't appreciate the after unless you at least glance at what it looked like in between.

Before.

Scary, right?

Yes, that is the crawlspace underneath our house. I'm telling you, we had to gut the place.
This is me adding stucco around the new toilet subfloor. On my birthday.
The joys of plumbing.
Fred taught me how to install drywall, then I did it all by myself. Like a big girl. I've already forgotten what it feels like to not be pregnant. I can't get over how small I am in this picture. And how easily I can lean forward. :)

Starting the subway tile.
I designed our floor tile after a Marriott hotel bathroom we stayed at. Inspiration comes from anywhere, I guess.
Finally--AFTER!

*sigh* I'm tired just remembering all the work it was. But we love our new bathroom. And we learned so much. So it was worth it. Thank you to Bryan for all of the many, many, many hours he put in.

Come What May

2011-03-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

4 1/2 minute video clip of Elder Wirthlin's last GC talk. I loved it when he gave it and I love this clip. I promise your time won't be wasted.

Doppelgänger

2011-02-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

I remember when I was about 12, my cousin Ryan said he'd just seen a movie with a young girl in it who he swore looked *exactly* like me. He told me about it several times because he couldn't get over how uncanny the resemblance was.

I don't have many old pictures of myself, so the best I can do is this small one my Aunt Ramona posted on FB.

And here is one of my--at the time--Doppelganger.

It's weird because as I look at pictures of her from that movie, there are actually some similarities. But our looks haven't seen much overlap since. One of us grew up to look like this:

And that other grew up to look like this:

Yeah. It's safe to say after age 12, I haven't had many people stop me to tell me I look exactly like Scarlett Johansson. To be honest, I wouldn't mind looking like her, but I wouldn't trade lives with her in a million years. I'm so grateful for the values I've learned that have taught me how to have true happiness. Because the way the world defines happiness (fame & fortune) are fleeting.

A week from now, Scarlett will undoubtedly be looking gorgeous in a stunning designer gown, walking down the red carpet for the Academy Awards, one of most prominent award ceremonies in the world. I, on the other hand, will undoubtedly be sitting at home, gaining more stretch marks by the minute, and reading my new book, "The Diaper Diaries: The Real Poop on a Mom's First Year." But several weeks from now, I have no idea what Ms. Johansson will be doing, hopefully something that brings her happiness. But I know exactly where I'll be and I wouldn't trade it for all the Oscars, beauty, and money in this world. I'll be kissing my new baby's little toes and feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude for my amazing husband who loves me unconditionally and my Savior who makes true joy possible. Cheesy, but true.

Hormones

2011-01-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

Haven't blogged lately. Just keeping my head above water with work and getting ready for baby. But I had to document the funny things I've done with this pregnancy. I wasn't very hormonal during my first trimester. I hardly cried, which is actually under par for me (I've been a cry baby since birth). But sometime around the 2nd trimester, my hormones peaked--or at least my ability to control them waned. They've regulated since then, but that hardly makes up for the times I wacked out on Bryan. A couple prime examples:

Example #1: One day, I came home from work to Bryan spoiling me with yet another wonderful home cooked meal. He had spent a lot of time making me some delicious enchiladas, but I was nonetheless on some sort of rampage. At one point during the meal, Bryan had cut off a bite sized piece of enchilada and was trying to get it onto his fork, but his fork kept slipping.
Appropriate Response: Nothing. Continuing eating my meal, feeling grateful for having such a great husband.
My Actual Response: In a rage, I jumped out of my chair, reached across the table, grabbed his fork out of his hand, viciously stabbed the enchilada, handed him his fork, sat back down in my chair and burst into tears, leaving Bryan completely shocked and bewildered.

Example #2: One Saturday, I was busying myself around the house. Bryan returned from running some errands and, among other things, mentioned that he'd heard a song on the radio that reminded him of me, so he'd have to play it for me sometime. I forgot about it until we were driving home from IKEA later that night. I said, "Oh, what was that song you said reminded you of me? I can pull it up on your iphone." He helped me figure out the title to search on youtube. Expecting to hear a song about some crazy tall woman who likes doing taxes, I was surprised when it was this song. Regardless of how you feel about Bruno Mars, you have to admit, the lyrics are quite tender:

Appropriate Response: "Oh, honey, that is so sweet! Thank you."
My Actual Response: Genuine confusion about how anyone can have any remotely kind feelings towards the hormonal, constantly expanding, sweet-as-Godzilla creature that has taken over his wife. *Instantly burst into tears.* Not, like, a few glistening tears. As in, bawling so hysterically, I am unable to speak. Throughout the entire song.

There are Oscar awards. And Nobel Prizes. Medals of honor. None of these compare with the award I think Bryan deserves for putting up with me these past 7 months. Well, for the past several years, really. :)

A Legitimate Baby Bump--and a Prediction

2010-12-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

I've been informed of my lame blogging. Bryan's been consistently out of town on business the past couple months, so I've been pretty boring. Most evenings consist of me staying randomly busy in a futile attempt to distract from the fact that I'm home alone. The good news is that I don't feel totally alone anymore. Did anyone else talk to their baby while it was in utero? I know the research says the baby can hear you and will recognize your voice after it's born, but I have to admit that I do it more out of loneliness than legitimate concern about him learning to recognize my voice.

These days, I mostly congratulate Baby on getting so big. From the dry cleaners to co-workers, most people notice (and stare--not sure why) at my baby bump. Even though my clothing options are narrowing, I'm so happy he's healthy and growing, so I'm thrilled. I'll be 6 months this week, which means he still has 3 months to get huge and make me look like Violet Beauregard. Maybe I'll have to avoid wearing all blue to avoid making the comparison too easy for people. So here's my prediction:

(From Friday Night--en route to my company's Holiday Party)

+ 3 Months
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

=
Considering Bryan weighed over 9 1/2 lbs. when he was born, come early March I may not be far off from this. But as long as Little Roo is healthy, I don't care. I will even sing the "Oompa Loompa" song as Bryan rolls me to the hospital. :)

The Baby Bump

2010-11-14T07:58:00.001-08:00

Because it wouldn't be a true blog pregnancy without pictures of the baby bump . . . here you go. I'll officially be 5 months pregnant on Tuesday, but these pictures are from last week. So here I am at 22 weeks, on Roo's first trip to Disneyland.

And lest I be accused of not having a bump, I did one with the awkward stomach grabbing just to prove that Roo is, in fact, there. And kicking. :)

It's a . . .

2010-11-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Boy! Are we excited? Oh, yeah. :)

p.s. For those of you not in San Jose, we had the previously mentioned housewarming/baby gender party last night and, thanks to incredibly kind friends, ward members, co-workers, and family, had an awesome turnout and a fun evening. Thanks to everyone who came!

Welcome to Life

2010-10-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Just thought everyone would like to know that it is OCTOBER 15th!! One of the best days of the year! Taxes were due today and my life begins again. I shouldn't exaggerate, I really haven't had it too bad this busy season (and never worked a Sunday!), but I am happy for all of the events coming up. So prepare yourself for real blog posts again (before/after pictures of our renovated bathroom coming soon!)

I need to take a quick poll. We moved into our home in May, but were so swamped with home renovations, then camp, then busy season, so we never had time to throw a homewarming party. Too late? I kind of wanted to combine it with a "Guess if it's a boy/girl" thing and make it extra random. I need at least 5 people to tell me, "Lisa, I validate your decision to have a horribly late housewarming party and make it weird by revealing the gender of your baby, as long as you serve awesome food and make it fun."

It's just that we've sort of thrown friends by the wayside, not because we don't like friends but because we got tired of telling people, "Hey, let's hang out!" and getting really embarrassed when they started throwing dates and times out and suddenly realizing we were triple overbooked for the next several months and barely had time to bathe ourselves, let alone hang out with other people.

I'm trying to justify here, so hear me out. We just thought it'd be a nice way to say, "See, we like you! We're fun! Please socialize with us!" Please give me your honest feedback. Seriously, I can take it. Housewarming party-yes, boy/girl reveal-no? Don't bother calling it a "housewarming," just call it the, "Bryan-and-Lisa-are-desperate-for-friends-and-are-willing-to-bribe-you-with-appetizers party?" Really, be honest. I'm at the bottom of an anti-social pit here and, at this point, can't afford to make a huge social gaffe.

Also wanted to mention--thank you for all your well wishes on the baby announcement. ........................tried to figure out what to say next and couldn't, so consider me officially speechless/overwhelmed by the amount of love and support I got from that post. Love you all! And for those of you that are into that sort of thing (I know I am), I promise to post a picture of me getting super-chunky-plumpy soon (thank you to Lauren for sending me maternity clothes so I don't have to worry about my trouser buttons crushing the life out of my little Roo).

p.s. Tomorrow's Saturday. And I'm not going to work. Just thought you should know. Because it's kind of a big deal. :)

Heard the Heartbeat Today...

2010-09-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

...best sound ever.

I was going to be content with just that, but the ultrasound machine was already on when the doctor came in our exam room, so we got a bonus peek at our Little Roo. If you think giving fetuses a nickname is dumb, feel free to mock me. Regardless, we call it our Roo, mostly so we don't have to call it "it" until the end of next month when we find out what "it" is. I'd post a picture of the ultrasound, but it's pretty unintelligible. Roo is really squished right now. So imagine a black and white Rorschach ink blot test and you'd be pretty close.

Did I mention how excited I am to be 14 weeks pregnant? Bryan has had to deal with watching my random bouts of jumping up and down and screaming, "I'm so excited!!" So weird... I just now figured out how the Kangaroo nickname developed.

Never a Dull Moment

2010-08-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Wednesday night, 10:00pm. I'm exhausted from a long day at work. Bryan was working on some stuff in the office. Just as I fall asleep, Bryan wakes me up.

"Did you hear that crack?"

"No..."

"Yeah...our tree fell down."

"WHAT?!?!?!" You see, I knew exactly which tree he was talking about. The one in our front yard that was way overgrown, but couldn't be trimmed until the fall because it's too fragile. It's not a small tree. And cars love to park under it because it provides such ample amounts of shade. And we're liable for the damage to whatever and whomever it falls on. But would you believe only half of it fell and it all fell right onto our front lawn?! Our entire front lawn, actually. Because it is that huge. Here's a picture we took the next morning on our way to work.

Thank goodness for great neighbors, Bryan's 6'6' "little" brother Ben and Ben's friends. By Thursday night, the fallen tree was chopped up and piled nicely next to the curb for pick-up.

Tree disaster in your front yard = Lemon.
Our shed stocked with this winter's firewood = Lemonade. :)

Summer 2010

2010-07-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Too tired and overbooked to blog. Please accept this barrage of pictures and sentence fragments in place of a valid blog post. Here's what we've been doing for the Summer of 2010.

Working on our bathroom. When that monstronsity is done, you can guarantee it will be an entire blog post by itself.
Girl's Camp

Bryan's been wearing himself out with his calling. So on the rare occasion that he does get a quick nap, he usually looks like this:
Where I spend most of my time (work):
Fun visitors!

The best part about visitors is they cause us to take time to enjoy this fabulous place we live called the California Bay Area.

Haven't had time to post much, but I still love reading your posts. You are all fabulous and I miss you a lot!

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Anymore

2010-05-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

We are officially moved-in, though not really unpacked.

I'll give a full photo tour someday. But for now, let me just give a little teaser of the 1975 glory of our home. Try not to be jealous or upset, just because you can't buy a new house with these features anymore.

Our fabulous Sunrise Yellow oven. Unforunately, it's not in full working condition and may have to be replaced. Too bad Sears doesn't sell appliances in Yellow and Avacado anymore. :(

Check out this light fixture. I'm so torn about replacing it. It's so spectacularly gaudy and once we're done updating this place, it may be the only reminder of the home's 70s origin. Okay, I probably will get rid of it. But not until I absolutely have to!

Our vintage doorbell. Yes, those are giant chimes that play the classic doorbell song. And no, I'm not getting rid of these beauties. Ever. I'm serious. They're too awesome. Although, I'll probably paint the wood.
Check out our mantle and hearth. Classic.
Our front door. I actually, truly love the color. It reminds me of my summer in London when everything at Top Shop was mustard and navy blue.Well, those are the 1975 highlights. I hope you've enjoyed your tour. For a full tour, *please* come visit us. We're proud to be just a place to stay while you visit San Francisco (which is about an hour away). Hotel Schader opens June 2010, once we've redone the 2nd bathroom (it was not 1970s fabulous, just ugly).

Good News, Bad News

2010-04-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

Good News: We bought a house, it's 1975 --all original (more details to come on all of its 1975 charms), but we got a sweet deal and we love it.

Bad News: I've lost the will to move. Any of you military wives, I don't know how you do it. This will be our 6th time moving in less than 3 years and I'm over it. Every time, I try to convince Bryan we should just get rid of all of our stuff (tv, computers, furniture, kitchen appliances) just so we don't have to move it anymore. I read about this guy who doesn't use money for anything and lives in a cave. All I could think was, "Lucky guy. Never has to load or unload a U-Haul." I know. I'm ungrateful.

Good News: We're going on a trip, then meeting part of my family to celebrate Bryan's birthday, our anniversary, my Mom getting her master's degree, my sister Amanda getting ready to have a baby, and about a million other things. Where are we celebrating? Disneyland, of course. Is there any other place to celebrate?

Bad News: There is no bad news. It's Disneyland, people.

Taming the Beast

2010-04-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

I survived the tax busy season. My mane did, too. But not for long...

Before: Hear me roar.

See the frightening resemblance?

After

Thank you, everyone, for writing blogs!!! Your blogs were my link to humanity during these past couple months! I didn't comment much, but I was there. Lurking.

Sunbeams and Goethe

2010-03-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

I am lucky enough to be a Sunbeams teacher. When I got this calling, my friend Britney said the people with the strongest testimonies teach the Sunbeams because it's such a crucial age. I flattered myself by thinking there could possibly be some truth to that. I'm shaking my head in utter embarrassment now because I know the true reason for this calling. I've been teaching these darling three-year-olds for months, but it just dawned on me like lightning last Sunday:

I was called to be a Sunbeam teacher so I could learn to stop acting like a three-year-old.

Last Sunday in Primary, I was sitting next to one of my sweet little Sunbeams. He is a really funny kid with a lot of energy and a lot to say, but during Primary he painstakingly forces himself to stay in his seat and be reverent because he knows the reverent kids get called on to participate. And he *loves* to participate. On Sunday, he was thrilled when he got to help hand out some papers. But even though he loved that, his three-year-old mind could not comprehend why he didn't get called on every time. One of the other Sunbeams was chosen to say the closing prayer and he genuinely could not understand. My heart was breaking as his sweet, near tears, completely confused face looked up at me and he asked, "Sister Sader," [they can't quite say my name] "Why don't I get to say the prayer?" I really felt bad for him, so I tried to point out all the ways he'd already been able to participate. I explained that we have to share turns. That we can't have everything. The whole time, I'm thinking, "Oh, what a cute little sunbeam. How funny that a three-year-old can't understand the basic principle of sharing turns and being happy for others." Being a complete thick-head, it didn't occur to me until hours and hours later what had just happened.

Like a lot of girls, I had my entire life pretty much planned out. To the day. Seriously. I'm an accountant, people--we do that. Lately, wrenches have been continuously jammed into the cogs of "the plan." And as much as I'd like to say I've taken it in complete stride, smiled to myself, and said, "thank goodness for fun surprises," I've actually just been praying for the strength to deal with the reality that sometimes we don't always get what we want. And to make it more entertaining, we get to sit back and watch other people get what we want. I almost laughed out loud when I realized that Heavenly Father had answered my prayer so directly as I slowly and carefully tried to explain it to a three-year-old.

“Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832); philosopher, scientist, author

I am so grateful for everything I have. It blows my mind how lucky I am. But even if I lost everything I have, I pray that I could still be happy for others. Sometimes I wonder why I'm so blessed with so many things, while others struggle for even the basic necessities in life. That's a whole other discussion, but I do know that my two greatest blessings are things that everyone can have: hope and faith. I am so grateful to have those two precious gifts and I know that if I stopped keeping score in life and, instead, spent my energy sharing those gifts with others, I would find joy beyond all description.

I received that Goethe quote in my inbox weeks ago. But no, it took a Sunbeam for that lesson to really sink in.

House Hunting

2010-02-26T21:30:00.001-08:00

by Lisa

I can't help but compare house hunting to the painful process of dating. You put yourself out there and start looking around. You meet someone you like, you spend some time getting to know him. Before you know it, you're emotionally involved. You start to imagine your future together. Then you find out he was off the market the day before your realtor even took you to meet him.

You're sad about it, but you eat a little (a lot) of cookie dough and move on. You find another great one. He's older, but charming. You can already see your life together, with babies and a puppy, and you really start to believe your search is over. You found your perfect match. Then you find out he has termites and a leaky roof.

*sigh*

Let's Go To the Hop

2010-02-18T06:47:00.001-08:00

by Lisa

Bryan and I are working hard these days. Our schedules are crazy, so we're having to work harder to make time for each other. But when we do, we make it count.

A couple weeks ago, our stake hosted an amazing 50's style dance. Before the dance, we went with our friends to Johnny Rocket's, a 50s diner. We were all dressed up and the diner really helped me get in the spirit of things. Apparently our stake is legendary for these dances and really went all out to set the atmosphere. But the best part was definitely the band. They were also dressed up in matchy red big-band style jackets and they were talented. The saxophonist had a wireless mike and would come out and play on the dance floor. I wish I had a picture of them, but I was too busy dancing to bring a camera. The stake offered dance lessons for the past month, so instead of lame junior high-style dancing, we were swinging, foxtroting, etc. with the best of them. It was a blast! Bryan is now officially a great dancer. He is great at leading and I love to follow, so it works. The whole night was kind of magical. :)

I'm posting pictures, but please cut me some slack. I had to rush home from work and didn't have much time to get ready.

Thank you San Jose South Stake for an incredible evening!

Love This Song

2010-02-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

I've had this song stuck in my head since I heard it on American Idol. I really like it.

And if you want to hear the full song, as sung by its writers, it is here. (Warning: the first couple minutes is gabbing--you can skip this).

Eye of the Tiger

2010-01-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

That's the song my phone alarm wakes me up with everyday. Rather than being an annoying "beep, beep, beep, beep," the music gets me fired up and makes me, though not always pounce out of bed, at least not grumble, hit snooze, and roll over. It was so worth the $2.99 I paid to buy the ring tone.
I think I picked it partly because I'm an OHS Tiger and we used to listen to Eye of the Tiger to get us pumped before a big game.

More so, however, I picked this song because I LOVE this commercial. It's so me. I walk/take public transit to work, I have to wear business casual, and I sit in a cube all day. But thanks to this commercial, "I'm the (wo)man of the hour, I'm the (Queen) of my cube. (Tax Returns) have finally met their rival.":

The View

2010-01-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

Is it just me, or is everything more beautiful right when you walk out of the temple?

The view from Oakland Temple, overlooking Oakland and San Francisco at sunset.

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day

2010-01-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

I promised I would send out a reminder when you could sign up for a volunteer activity to get your free day in a Disney park. The time is now. The sign up is here.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

2009-12-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

"But the prettiest sight you'll see is the holly that will be on your own front door" never meant so much until this year, the first time I've ever really been away from home.

Let's just say I'm pretty jazzed.

For those of you Orem-ites, I've having a Hillcrest/Lakeridge/OHS Reunion at my parents house on Tues, Dec. 22nd at 7:30. I hope you can be there!!!

And to everyone, have yourself a merry little Christmas. :)

DONE! DONE! DONE! DONE!

2009-11-20T06:14:00.001-08:00

by Lisa

Just got my last score this morning and I PASSED the last of the four major CPA exams!!!!

For once in my life, I'm speechless. Just wanted to say "Thank You!" to all you wonderful people who supported me through this! I love you all!!

Slow Loris

2009-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

Just thought I'd write a post in case of the 0.01% chance someone noticed I haven't posted in a few weeks and cares. I haven't written mostly because I don't know what to say. Starting this new job with a huge learning curve has me dazed and confused; consequently, the rest of my life feels jumbled as well. Some days I don't even know how I feel, but when I take a few steps back, I realize how sweet my life really is. To put it succinctly, I feel like this little guy:

I don't know exactly what's going on, but I like it.

First Day of Work: Good News/Bad News

2009-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Good News: I am no longer a bum, freeloading off of the productivity of the rest of society. I am now a rank-and-file employee, punching a time clock, and working hard. Of all the new hires that started today, only I and one other person didn't intern with my company, so my head is whirring with new information and acronyms.

*deep breath*

Bad News: Although I have always liked rain, we are on pretty shaky terms right now. Since I moved to San Jose over 3 months ago, I can only remember two rain storms.

Storm #1: The day I got my California Driver's License picture. Frizz City. The guy taking the picture seemed pretty stone-faced, but I'm sure he was laughing on the inside.
Storm #2: Today, right before I got my work badge picture that I will wear around forevermore.

I don't know exactly who Murphy is or was, but his Laws stink.

The Power of Positive Thinking

2009-10-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

By Lisa

What should you do when a couple of your fabulous college roommates (We missed you Judi!) come to visit and you have such a wonderful time, you can't stand to let them go?

After you drop them off to the airport, spend a couple minutes feeling sorry for yourself. Lament that your husband is out of town on business and that you're about to spend another Saturday night alone. Then snap out of it and start hoping for a miracle. Before you know it, you might just get a call from said roommates, informing you that their flight has been overbooked and they're being given a bundle of airline credit to come back tomorrow. You might be back at the airport a few minutes later, ready for Round 2 of fun!

A Few Lessons Learned This Trip:

1. No matter how old you are, carousels are always fun.
2. You can spend a day in San Francisco without having to pay for parking.
3. No matter how many times you've seen it, you haven't lived until you've actually driven down Lombard Street.
4. Few things in life are more precious than true friends.
5. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

P.S. Have I mentioned that I love visitors? And that you're all welcome to come stay with me? Simultaneously, if need be. :)

True Love Is . . .

2009-10-05T08:04:00.001-07:00

. . . walking into your room after brushing your teeth and washing your face to find your husband warming up your side of the bed because he knows you hate the cold.

(He's not really asleep, he just doesn't like to cooperate for pictures).

In other news, we had a fun fall getaway to Petaluma, CA. But right now I'm cramming for my last CPA exam (Thursday!), so rather than writing a post, I uploaded this facebook album. Lazy blogging at its finest.

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day

2009-09-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

Did you hear about the new promotion for 2010?

When you volunteer a day of service with the Hands-On Network in 2010, you get a free day in a Disney park! (The first million people to qualify).

I'm in.

Note: I've signed up for reminders, so I'll give more information as I get it (come January).

Top 3 Gems of the Internet

2009-09-25T15:46:00.001-07:00

by Lisa

Crunched for time? Skip to #1.

Being the wife of a . . . what's the word . . . techie? What do you call a super-handsome nerd? Anyway, Bryan's a genius and being married to him has improved the quality of my life in many ways, including technologically. He and his peers spend hours scoping out the web for the finest sites out there. I feel compelled to pass along my three favorites.

Disclaimer: You have probably already heard of all three of these popular websites. I *hope*, for your sake, that this whole post is a waste of your time because they are already the top 3 bookmarks in your web browser. But if you're not employing ALL of them, you are not taking full advantage of the internet. In my opinion, these are the GEMS of the world wide web. Things that I, El Cheapo, would pay good money for, but don't have to, thanks to the glory of internet advertising. So feel free to ignore me. Or read on.

#3: Pandora.com--A music station

If you have an i-phone, you're probably laughing at me right now, as this is the most popular app out there; but for those of us who still own cell phones with the fanciest feature being an alarm clock, you might not be using Pandora. Do. It's fantastic. Put on a classy Ella Fitzgerald station while eating dinner--it'll be more romantic. Put on a pump station while doing sit-ups and lunges around the house--you'll work harder. Put on a trendy station while doing your hair and makeup--you will find yourself being more creative and happier with the turnout. The list goes on! A MoTab station for Sundays! Debussy while you're studying! Christmas station for the holidays! It's fun to see how Pandora gets to know you. It's totally entertaining. I even got Rick-Rolled one time (10 points for each of you who appreciate that).

#2: Yelp.com--Reviews and ratings for restaurants, salons, doctors, stores, etc.

Yelp is a lifesaver. We never eat anywhere without it. Plus, it helped me pick out my dentist, who is hilarious. And I spend a lot of time at the dentist, so I am jazzed we were able to make a good choice. If you don't use Yelp yet, I guarantee you will (or wish you had) as soon as you move away from home. DEFINITELY use it to plan your next vacation. It's also a fun way to discover what great restaurants/things to do are right in your own backyard.

#1: Mint.com--"The best (free) way to manage your money"

Those other two websites are just fun, and we can still be friends even if you hate them, but this one is serious. Mint is for those of you that cringe at the "b" word: BUDGETING. Being a hard-core accountant, my main thrill in life is budgeting, but I *still* love this website. If you aren't using Quicken or some other reputable way to budget, I expect you to sign up ASAP. Seriously. I guarantee that by using Mint and checking it at least once a month, you will spend less, save more, people will like you more, and your hair will be shinier.

Note: You DO have to enter you bank info, which is why I want to mention that this site was referred to us by Bryan's colleagues in the Information Systems department, heralded for it's impenetrable security. Trust me, Bryan is the most security-paranoid person I know (Ex. #1: We have a separate credit card for all our online purchases. Ex. #2: I was forced to memorize Bryan's social security number early on in our marriage, as he would often flat out refuse to tell me what it was unless we'd had a lengthy discussion to explain why I needed it).

That's it for my Internet Low-Down. Are there any websites you can't live without? Please share in your comments. A girl can only study so many hours a day.

10 Honest Things: Europe Edition

2009-09-24T10:21:00.001-07:00

Honest Blogger Tag. Here are the rules. List ten Honest things about myself and tag 10 other bloggers who I think are honest in their blogging.

As I wrote a post similar to this one a few months agi, I decided to tweak it a little bit. Here are 10 Honest Things I learned about myself specifically while I was traveling Europe during August 2006.

1. I am the worst jaywalking offender I know. It drives Bryan crazy. I definitely learned this in Europe. Cars don’t stop for you, so I learned not to bother looking for a crosswalk. Just wait until it’s clear and go. I think more pedestrians are hit in situations where they think cars are going to wait for them. I have a whole theory on this, if you ever care to hear. Here is a picture of us stranded in the middle of a huge roundabout in Paris.

2. I really wish I was a good dancer. (In the Alps above Lucerne, Switzerland)

3. I can eat an entire half-gallon of ice cream by myself in only a few days.

4. I’m an adrenaline junkie.

5. At this point in time, I'd only dated Bryan for a few months. And we’d been apart for two months. But I already knew Bryan was for me. I thought about him a lot, as evidenced by these pictures.

6. I am a good orderer. Meaning, I can look at a menu and avoid possible pitfalls and order the best thing on it.

7. I do not photograph well in front of masterpieces. In this picture in particular, I look like that woman the movie "Monster" is based on. Hey, the tag demanded honesty. I feel like you have to put a least a couple embarrassing things to keep it brutally honest.

8. I can live out of a backpack for two weeks, but don't count on me looking good while doing it (see previous picture--bleh). And yes, I basically wore the same pants and a few different shirts the whole time. I did wash them, but that's a whole other broken- washer-in-Italy story.

9. I am easily entertained. The garbage boats working along the canals of Venice fascinated me.

10. I am enamored by old world charm and am completely jealous of those that are able to successfully incorporate it into their home decor. (Lyon, France and Burano, Italy)

I tag: Lauren I. P., Lauren R, Summer, Kali, Jessie, Karin, Laura, Casey, Emilee, and Brittanie (Britt, I lost the link to your blog, could you please e-mail it to me?) Also, my sister Amanda gets a personal invitation to write ten honest things about herself.

Perfectly Imperfect

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Being almost 6 feet tall, my attempts at mainstream fashion and beauty have often been ill-fated. Nothing is long enough. Alas, years ago came along the 3/4-length sleeve. I was ecstatic! Suddenly the shirts that exhibited my monkey-length arms by only making it a few inches past my elbow looked purposeful! And capris! Heaven sent!

Now the only real hurdle became my frizzy, half-curly hair. Last time I checked, fros haven't been in style since the 70s. But along came the summer of '09. Oh, what a fateful summer it was. Although it brought some unfortunate mishaps, such as those atrocious booties or "hooves" (I thought we decided against those a few years ago?); Luckily, it also was the summer of my new favorite hairdo: the "tousled" look. I saw a feature on The Thread a couple months ago that included a how-to video (a must for me). I dared to try it and found that I can wash my hair at night, let it do its thing as I sleep (curl until I look like an electrocuted Medusa) and wake up already half-way to my new "perfectly imperfect" tousled hair-do.

Here are a couple pictures of my latest attempt--holding my adorable new nephew Nathan and my sweet Princess Macy wearing her Cinderella (or "Cinde-wa-wa") dress:

I wouldn't be willing to divulge the embarrassing reality that I refuse to spend more than 5 minutes doing my hair on any given day, but based on the gratitude I received for sharing my secret about the PMS buddy, I feel I owed it to you. So ladies, this is your official invitation to be lazy and (if you haven't already) join the tousled hair movement!

Not For the Faint of Stomach

2009-09-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Friday night, Bryan and I were lucky enough to have the missionaries over for dinner. The evening was highly entertaining, as we made each missionary tell an interesting fact about his companion as part of their introduction. Turns out one of the missionaries sleepwalks EVERY NIGHT!!! He goes to bed, but doesn't remember a thing, just wakes up in the morning and has to hear about what he did last night. His companion has stopped him doing laundry at 1 am--he has no memory of it. One time, before his mission, he went camping and woke up a mile away from camp (his mom makes him wear a whistle when he's camping). Poor guy, but still so funny.

Anyway, while we were on the subject of crazy missionary stories, Bryan was telling them about his trip to the E.R. while in the MTC. He was setting a volleyball, when from the other side of the net comes this big Tongan guy who spiked the ball . . . into Bryan's hand. Now, as most of you know, I played middle blocker in high school and I've had a ball or two jammed into my hand. So even though I'd heard this story before, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't feel much sympathy for Bryan. I figured, yeah, it swells, so you ice it, if it breaks, you tape it, etc. But as I'm talking to the missionaries, I realize Bryan had left the room and was returning with pictures. THIS is what Bryan's thumb looked like:

Yeah, I feel like a jerk.

Moved In

2009-08-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

I got this e-mail from Bryan yesterday:
"So I was thinking you should write a blog post about being unpacked
and finishing up the last few things. Then tell people that if they
want to see the 'after' pictures, they need to come visit :)"

He must think I am really lonely.

He must be right because I am going along with it. But here are a few teaser pictures to tide you over until you come visit:

In other news, Bryan's mom and sister-in-law are so excited to have another girl around, they are spoiling me rotten. Other than that, I just study, study, study, study, study, fail an exam, then study again. Regardless, it's still a wonderful life. And it feels GREAT to be moved in!

Cookie Monster: Mystery Solved

2009-08-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Growing up, watching and loving Sesame Street, I always thought the Cookie Monster was a boy. Having since achieved greater clarity and wisdom, I now realize the Cookie Monster must, in fact, be a woman. A PMS-ing woman.

So . . . the Schwan's man brought me my free chocolate chip cookie dough today. Very bad timing.

Wow. That's about all I can say. Wow.

2009-08-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yeah. It's real: https://www.snuggiefordogs.net/

Washer and Dryer, PLUS Why I love IKEA

2009-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I are officially in the market for a washer and dryer. I was wondering if anyone out there has any thoughts. ANY thoughts. If you've never owned a washer and dryer, what does your mom/friend/neighbor recommend? We are clueless. Front-loader? Top loader? What capacity? Brand? Where to buy from?

Sorry to bore you, and as a reward, you get to find out why I love IKEA so much. Nope, not for their fabulously cheap furniture or treats. THIS is why I love IKEA (Warning: you have to be in kind of weird mood for this):

If My Wedding Hadn't Been In The Temple . . .

2009-07-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

. . . It probably would have been a little something like this:

Hayley's Blog

2009-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know my sister Hayley, I wanted to let you know she has officially started her own blog. Well, actually, I kind of started it for her. You can read that story here. Hayley has a crazy life full of monthly Disney trips, skydiving, and constant random travels and adventures, so it should be good. :) Feel free to add her to your blog list and comment on that first post so she knows who is reading--I think it might encourage her to post often: http://wanderingprincessconfessions.blogspot.com

In other news, you'll never guess what I did today. I'll give you a hint, it starts with an "s" and ends with "tudy for those stinkin' CPA exams." Yes. Hayley's blog will definitely be more exciting than mine.

Groovy California

2009-07-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post for those who weren't aware, I am in California with Bryan. I'm sorry I haven't posted, but my life is (as promised) nothing but studying for the CPA exams. I have, however, succeeded in finding a wonderful apartment for August (we're at Bryan's parents for the couple weeks until then--thank you Fred and Loretta!). Our future apartment has:

- Two big bedrooms
- Huge patio outside, big enough for a full patio set and grill
- No shared walls and no one living under/over us
- Garage! Granted, it's a old manual one, but it is big enough for our
- Washer and dryer! (for those of you that are apartment rats like us, you know this is a BIG DEAL)
- 3 miles from work and right next to a light rail station in case I don't feel like driving/parking in downtown
- Right next to a really nice bike trail that goes 10 miles to a beautiful lake and park (so I can actually train for next year's MS bike tour)
- Across the way from a high school with 6 tennis courts and a track

Sounds great, right? You're probably thinking, "Lisa, I knew you both had great jobs, but don't you think you're going a little overboard? I'm sure you're paying an arm and a leg for such a sweet place."

Nope. We came in $250 under budget (heck yes).

"How is that possible, Lisa?" Easy. All you have to do is be willing to live the groovy life in a fabulous 70's kitchen! Apparently the landlords just barely replaced the avocado fridge with this white one. Dang it! Oh well. Regardless . . . Can you dig it?

The Magic is Gone

2009-07-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Since Bryan left for California, everything has gone wrong.

The magic hamper is broken (it used to empty itself, then the clothes would reappear clean and folded).

The magic oven is broken (I used to just say what I wanted for breakfast/lunch/dinner and it would appear).

The magic mailbox, the magic refrigerator, the magic gas tank, the magic garbage can--all BROKEN.

In an unrelated note, I was reading about birth order's affect on personality. You'll never believe what it says about me:

Youngest children, according to birth order theory, tend to be dependent and selfish—as they’re used to others providing for them. But despite the negatives, they’re also quite often the life of the party—fun, confident, and comfortable entertaining others.

Ridiculous. I don't know where they get this stuff from. Obviously this theory is bogus, but just out of curiosity, does it work for you?

Eldest children are socially dominant, highly intellectual, and extremely conscientious. Unfortunately, they’re also less open to new ideas, and prone to perfectionism and people pleasing – the result of losing both parents’ undivided attention at an early age, and working throughout their lives to get it back.

Middle children, sandwiched between older and younger siblings, often develop a competitive nature – making them natural entrepreneurs later in life. They tend to be the most diplomatic and flexible members of the family and often, eager for parental praise, develop musical or academic gifts.

Cutest Thing Ever

2009-07-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

These cuties are two of my nieces, Ashley (left) and Macy (right). I love them both.

Ashley is amazing. She just turned 7. You know those huge 96 Crayola crayon boxes? You can pick any crayon out of that box and just by looking at it, she can tell you the name of the color. We're not talking blue or red here. We're talking, she can tell the difference between Purple, Royal Purple, and Purple Mountain Majesty. It's freaky. It amazes me every time.

And Macy, a two-year-old darling, is just about the cutest thing on the planet. She loves my sister's cats, but can't quite say their names, so Brutus is Boodis, Jack is Jackie, and Isabelle is Dizabows. The other night, my sister gave Macy a temporary tattoo of this lovely lady:Just when I thought Macy couldn't get any cuter, I pointed to her tattoo and asked, "Macy, who is that?" She looked me straight in the eyes and said, "TwinkerBows." Oh Macy! Please don't grow up while I'm in California.

Getting Back to Goal Weight

2009-06-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

By Lisa

So, I am a Weight Watchers Lifetime Member. I joined after gaining the freshman 15, but that is an entirely different story, complete with being quoted by the Associated Press for gaining said weight (call me an idiot, but I thought it was just a local journalist). Anyway, as I said, I am now a Lifetime Member. For those of you unfamiliar with Weight Watchers, being a Lifetime Member is great because you can still attend meetings whenever you want for free, as long as you weigh in at least once a month at or below your goal weight. Although I had some close calls in my first year as a lifetime member, since getting married and living through the stress of BYU's accounting program, I am well under my goal weight (20 lbs. under, to be exact). This has never been a problem until Weight Watchers changed to the new Momentum Program. Under this new program, you cannot weight 2 lbs. above or BELOW your goal weight. This may seem like a weird rule, but I think it's to prevent people like me from setting their goal weight too high and then continuing to lose weight for free. Luckily, my Provo Weight Watchers leader does not enforce this rule. However, as Bryan and I will be moving to California in a few weeks, I started to get concerned that the WW there would not be so kind and either make me move down my goal weight or charge me the moolah.

Not really wanting to do either of those things, I came up with a brilliant plan and all it requires is:

- A winter coat (a jar of jewelry cleaner in one pocket, a flashlight in the other)
- A full 100 oz. bottle of laundry detergent
- Bryan's jeans, belt, and heavy church shoes
- A fully equipped knife block

Here I am, standing on our kitchen scale at my original Weight Watchers goal weight. Mission accomplished.

Living the Dream: Disneyland on my Birthday

2009-06-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

If you have never been to Disneyland on your birthday, make it a goal now because it is AWESOME. First of all, the family/friends with you feel obligated to make your birthday really special, so they'll indulge you in your lifetime goal of eating breakfast at the Carnation Cafe and meeting the famous Chef, Oscar. p.s. That lady in the background behind my mom was there in Disneyland by herself. Some of you make be thinking, "Sad." I'm thinking, "That'll be me in 40 years when Bryan is finally sick of going with me."

Also, you will be fitted with this miraculous button (as pictured below). Not only will you be sung happy birthday to by restaurant servers, Jungle Cruise guides, Storybook Land hosts, you will be wished happy birthday by not only Disney employees, but also total strangers who just happen to see your coveted button. You may be thinking, "Ugh, that's a bit much." No, it's not. It's AWESOME. Think about it, don't you hate it when people are rude to you on your birthday and you're trying to convince yourself, "it's okay, they don't know it's my birthday," but really, you're annoyed? Think about it, this way, EVERYONE knows it's your birthday and therefore must be nice to you. After hearing this rave, I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear I saved this button and plan on wearing it on every one of my birthdays henceforth.

This last picture is from the end of the day. We'd been on every ride and were, by all measures, ready to go home. But I couldn't stand to leave Disneyland yet. So I made Bryan sit with me there for 20 minutes and then I did a sit-in protest where I refused to leave until Bryan promised to take me back within 2 years (June 10th, 2011, people--you're my witnesses).

Super Annivegasvacation Part 2

2009-06-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

by Bryan

After stuffing ourselves with the glorious dishes of La Fondue, my family celebrated Lisa’s Birthday in classic California style with an outdoor BBQ. After sleeping in and attending a wonderful church service the whole family got together to BBQ steaks and chicken and wish Lisa a Happy Birthday. As if La Fondue wasn’t enough, Lisa got her favorite present and her favorite dessert. My ever so crafty sister-in-law made Lisa some customized stationary which Lisa absolutely loves, and my mom made a home-made angel food cake with chocolate drizzled along the top and sides and topped off with strawberries. Lisa was in Heaven, and our vacation had just begun.

Here is Lisa with her Birthday presents

Here is Lisa with her delicious Birthday Cake

And Lisa being the happy person she is :)

Super Annivegasvacation Part 1

2009-06-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

by Bryan

Lisa and I have been going from one great adventure to another this summer and our most recent adventure has been our Super Annivegasvacation. This trip took us to California where our first stop was in San Jose to visit with family. Then we celebrated our anniversary at Avila La Fonda at Avila Beach down the coast from the Bay Area. Our next stop was Disneyland and a Dodger game. Then we trekked across the desert to Chandler, AZ to visit the babies before finally heading back to Provo. Each of these stops would have been a fun vacation, but when thier powers combine, they become the Super Annivegasvaction. Today I want to write about Part 1 of our Super Annivegasvacation, La Fondue.

To truly appreciate the significance of La Fondue I need to take you way back to before Lisa and I were married, when we were still only engaged. As is customary, Lisa had a bridal shower prior to our wedding in which she and her friends played games. One of these games invovled Lisa answering some questions of which I had previously given answers to too see how well we knew each other. One of these questions was, What is Lisa's favorite restaurant. I answered that, while she had never eaten there, La Fondue was her favorite restaurant. This has been a long running joke in our marriage that Lisa has never eaten at her favorite restaurant. That is until now.

"La Fondue offers a unique fondue experience serving over 50 different fondues. We offer a 'chill out' dinning experience, a little bit glamourous, a little bit classic." My mom described it as a high end Russian Night Club. It definetly has a unique style. You can see some pictures at www.lafondue.com. This is a picture Lisa took:

Our family had decided on the Fondue Feast, which is a four course fondue meal. The first course is a gourmet salad, which was excellent and a meal all in itself. the second course is the cheese fondue. You are given different breads, fruits and vegetables to dip into your choice of cheeses. I went a little light on this course because you had to save room for the main course, and the chocolate fondue at the end. The choices for the main course are almost endless. There are 50 different types of meats to choose from including aligator, vennison, shrimp, steak, buffalo, ostrich, etc. You get to pick 6 different meats and they give you a small handful of each type for your main course. That was abslutely amazing. And the best part of going with family is everyone shared their selection with everyone else so we got to try 10 or 12 different meat selections.

The final course, and a favorite of everyone, is the chocolate fondue. The chocolate fondue was everything you could ever hope it to be. With options for dipping including, strawberries, marshmellows, snickers bar, and chocolate chip cookie dough; the chocolate fondue was indeed quite heavenly.

If you ever find yourself in downtown saratoga with 3.5 hours at dinner time, make sure you take advantage of the La Fondue experience. Its a lot pricey, but it is totally worth it.

Cancun

2009-05-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

by Bryan

Despite the drug wars, earthquakes, prison breaks, and swine flu; Lisa and I decided to continue with our vacation down to Cancun. For those who are worried, we have been through the incubation period and are NOT, I repeat, NOT sick with the swine flu. The only thing we caught down in Mexico was a couple sun burns :)

This was possibly the best vacation we have even been on. My brother owns a timeshare in Cancun and cashed in all his weeks to take the entire family down to Mexico. My parents paid for our flight and food as a Birthday/Anniversary/Graduation present. Thanks again to Adam and the folks, it was great.

Our daily schedule included sleeping in, walking downstairs to the buffet breakfast and getting fresh fruit, pastries, and an omelet made to order right in front of you (did I mention the food was included). Then it was back upstairs to put on our swimsuits and sun screen. Then we would head down to the beach for an hour, then swimming pool volleyball (with Mexican rules, which meant no rules) then we would lay out by the pool and get drinks delivered. I am happy to report that the Schader Family single handedly beat the best and brightest of the remaining guests of the resort in swimming pool volleyball. It probably helped that we were on average 2-3 inches taller than everyone else...

After we had dried off we headed over to the snackbar for some lunch of more fresh fruit, hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, ribs, and whatever else thy happened to have that day. Here is a picture of the crew at lunch time.

Then it was some more playing in the pool, laying by the pool reading and eating. Then by the early afternoon the drunks had shown up so we would pack up and head upstairs for a shower and a nap before dinner. Dinner was much like breakfast, a buffet where we chose from several different main courses. After dinner we would head back to the room where the family got together go play games until finally passing out sometime between 10 and midnight.

It was a great trip, but Lisa and I were ready to come home after the week. No family vacation would be complete without the family drama. As we drove up to the resort I noticed a 7-11 and thought we should go have a Slurpee one day. A couple days later I decided to head out with Lisa to go find the 7-11 to get a Slurpee and a bag of candy. My mom decided to come with us and we started walking and it was REALLY HOT. After 2 miles my mom was finished and stopped at a convenient store to cool off in AC and get something to drink. Lisa and I continued on for another mile before realizing it could be several more miles before we find the 7-11 so we decided to turn back. So after searching for 3 miles and getting burned and blistered on our feet (i was wearing sandals) we caught a cab back to the hotel. Once inside we realized there was a store inside the hotel. Oh well, that's what makes it a family vacation.

Here are a couple photos of the beach right off the resort we were staying. The beach was literally right off the resort. You would walk down the stairs from the pool and to the right were the beach chairs and little tree umbrellas. And to the left was the rock with the flag on it and the beautiful beach.

The best part about the beach was how clear and warm the water was. You could walk out of the pool and down into the ocean and there was almost no temperature difference. You could also see several feet down in the water. Unlike Santa Cruz where you can't see your hand 2 inches under water, you could see everything under the water here, which made seeing fish an adventure for Lisa. The second she saw a fish she would jump on me until it swam away. Some things I don't understand. Lisa will kiss a dog, but won't let a fish swim within 15 feet of her...

Next time my flight is delayed . . .

2009-05-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

. . . I want to be like this guy.

Lisa

First Five Gimme Gimme

2009-05-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me, my choice, for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It’ll be done sometime this calendar year.
4. You have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

CPA CPA CPA CPA CPA CPA CPA CPA CPA

2009-05-24T07:34:00.001-07:00

by Lisa

I'm sorry for the lack of interesting posts, but with the exception of this past week when Bryan and I were on vacation, this is my life:

Wake up. Make up excuses about why I shouldn't have to study for the CPA. Study anyway. Realize I should have started earlier because I have a lot to get through that day. Incredibly bored for hours upon hours. Almost fall asleep, until revived by the most interesting part of the video lecture, when the instructor says "allowance balance" and realizes that it rhymes. Hilarious. Wrap up studying somewhere between 6pm to 8pm, so Bryan and I can go do something fun. Unfortunately, I usually ruin the something fun by bringing my flashcards.

Thought this post was boring? Welcome to my life for the next 5 months.

Healing

2009-04-30T22:47:00.001-07:00

by Lisa

Warning: If you don't like dogs, you probably won't like this post. Feel free to skip this one. I put more tears and emotion into this post than anything I've ever written, so I would kind of like this post to be read by pet-lovers only because they are the only ones who can truly understand.

When I was seven years old, my mom asked me if I could keep a secret. She whispered to me that we were getting a dog. Soon after that, we went to the local shelter. I vividly remember walking around all those cages, but the only dog I remember is the little black dog who looked so cute and scared. She was scheduled to be euthanized the next day, but we asked them to hold off until my Dad could come in and meet her. The next day, we took her home. She was so nervous, she hardly ate for weeks. Needless to say for those that met Wendy in her later years, she soon got over that and never looked back.

It's hard to tell stories about Wendy's life because her life was so integrated with my own. We got her at the beginning of my 2nd grade year and she lived until the last year of my Master's degree. She was there for everything I can remember. She definitely brought her share of mischief and trouble, but her love for our family was deep and unfailing. I loved her more than anything.

I especially loved watching her do her tricks (I made this video a couple years ago, always concerned each picture and video I took might be the last--this was, in fact, the last video I remember taking of her). (link to video)

Occasionally when you were in my parents' bathroom, thinking you were alone, you'd suddenly hear a faint sneeze from the walk-in closet. Wendy loved my Dad more than anyone in the entire world. She missed him so much when he was at work, she'd hide under his clothes (probably because they smelled like him). By the time he was about to come home, though, Wendy was guaranteed to be waiting by the door, ready to throw a fit of excitement the moment he walked in. I feel bad, but sometimes when we couldn't find Wendy and we got worried enough, we'd lie and yell "Dad's home!" She'd sprint from whatever corner she was hiding in, and then we'd have to deal with the heartbreak of seeing her wait at the door expectantly. Like all dogs, Wendy slowed down over the years, but she never lost her enthusiasm for my Dad coming home. However, I remember watching my Wendy, at age 17, struggle to get up on her own and then fail completely. It shattered my heart because even though her health had been declining for a while, I finally knew it was time.

Saying Goodbye

One of the worst days of my life happened last November. I got a voice mail from my sister Amanda, who was sobbing, saying that my Dad had made an appointment to put Wendy down, so if I wanted to say goodbye, I had to come over to the house. Luckily, she had called Bryan as well. So when he picked me up from school, I didn't have to say anything. I just sobbed hysterically the whole ride. I had the afternoon to spend with her before riding in the back seat with her to the appointment. I could hardly look at her because it killed me that I knew what was about to happen and she didn't. At first I couldn't go into the vet's office because there was a cute little boy there with his dog and I didn't want his mom to have to explain to him why I was so upset. When Amanda, my dad, and I finally took her into that little room, it was like a horrible nightmare. Nothing could prepare me for this. One of the most heartbreaking things I've ever done was having to say goodbye to my littlest family member who was so scared and didn't know what was going on.

The last few minutes of Wendy's life were, I think, the best symbol of who she was and what she meant to me. What I loved most about my Wendy dog is she always knew when I was sad. My whole life, whenever I was crying, Wendy would slowly walk up to me and tenderly try to lick my face. Then she'd just sit with me and let me hug her. You can imagine the joy and pain as, even in the last moments of her life, with her failing vision and hearing, Wendy could still sense how upset I was. Even though I'm sure she was in pain from all her ailments, she kissed my face so sweetly trying to comfort me, it just breaks my heart to think about it. She didn't seem so upset anymore because she was just worried about me. After the doctor administered the drug, he left us alone with her. I couldn't stand to touch her body because I knew my sweet puppy dog was gone.

Healing is slow. I still cry. I still ache. Yet, I know I will see my puppy again. Until then, I will try to be a little more like her: always more concerned about others than myself and unconditionally loving.

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Things I learned at BYU…outside the classroom

2009-04-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

by Bryan

As I sat and waited during graduation, (and I had a LOT of time to wait) I thought about all the different things I had learned while at BYU. As I was thinking about the five forces model, the 7 layer OSI model, and the history of philosophers, I realized that there was a ton of stuff that I learned while a BYU student, that was not inside a classroom. Below is a few of the things I learned outside of class:

Taxes, how to pay them, and how glad I am that my wife understands them
The stress and frustration with renting an apartment
How to live with a roommate
How to live with a roommate of the opposite sex
How to live on a budget
I can sleep on an air mattress for 3 months with minimal back problems
How much cereal I can eat in a month
How to date
How to complement a girl (I blow this all the time. For Example, the other day Lisa was getting ready. I should have said "you look nice" Instead I said "you look better" It didn't go over well. Which leads me to my next point)
How to apologize to the opposite sex
How to break up
How to convince someone way better than me to marry me
How expensive life can be
How to find a job
It really takes 10 hours to get to Disneyland from Provo
There is NOTHING between Salt Lake City and Reno
I can drive 36 hours in 58 hours time
Snow is as cold as it sounds
I love living by the mountains, but can’t stand being so far from the ocean
How to grocery shop
How to cook dinner outside of microwave dinners
How to send a text message
How to do laundry
How to submarine myself in a game to get a girl to like me
How to start and run my own business
How to invest and trade stocks
I love BYU football and will miss it dearly

Finally Done

2009-04-21T20:39:00.001-07:00

by Bryan

Done: having finished or arrived at completion.

Lisa and I are officially and finally done. We have arrived at the moment of completion for school. The first 25 years of my life has been dedicated to educating myself for the rest of my life. Now that I have arrived at this point, it is a scary thought to think that the world now views me as educated. After being a drain on society for so long, I am now expected to be a productive member.

That is not to say that Lisa and I are not absolutely ecstatic to be moving on with the next phase of life. We have loved our days as college students; the endless meals of top ramen, rolling pennies for gas, and sleeping in on Thursdays just because. While I am sure that Lisa and I will be happy with the adventures that lay ahead, we are sad to say goodbye to the college life.

Fresh Prince

2009-03-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

by Lisa

Umm . . . Is it weird that I actually kind of love this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJGQ_tTmYgI

Fake Spring

2009-03-24T16:32:00.001-07:00

by Bryan

I blame the weatherman for this crazy spring weather. I know he has no real control over the weather, but he is getting paid an awful lot to look into a camera and tell us what the computer told him.

Have you ever thought about how cushy a weatherman's job is? Who else can be totally wrong, change their opinion all the time, and still maintain a job. Not to mention that he only makes guesses 7-10 days into the future. Corporations make projections years into the future and their stock plummets if they are off by a few percent. The weatherman can change his forecast from sunny and warm to snowy and cold and people don't even sweat. I am thinking I chose the wrong profession.

Needless to say, what started this rant is the wild shifts in weather we have had/are having this week. I would rather we just stay with winter until we are all done with the snow and then get warm and sunny and stay that way. Those 70 degree days last week have been playing with my emotions as I look at the forecast with rain and snow coming in the next few days. I can't wait until spring arrives for good.

WildCard Round -- My Thoughts

2009-03-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

By Lisa

Von Smith - Great Singer. Too obsessed with opening his mouth freakishly wide when he sings.

Jasmine Murray - Cute. Very cute and sweet. I hope she does better tonight because her first performance was not good. At all.

Ricky Braddy - Honestly don't remember who this is. Must have tivo-skipped through his performance. Oops.

Megan Corkrey - Really like her. As long as she doesn't totally blow it tonight, I am 100% sure she will make it through to the next round. She's gorgeous, she's different, and she's a girl, which the top 12 is really hurting for right now. But PLEASE stop doing that twisty dance!

Tatiannoying Del Toro - UGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! NO WORDS.

Matt Giraud - I actually really like this guy. I want to hear him play with the piano.

Jesse Langseth - Unless she wows me tonight, I don't have much hope for this girl. A little too awkward. I get the vibe that she was unpopular in high school and is trying to compensate.

Anoop Dawg - See post below. I think he has a great voice. And clearly he's gotten some help with his style (did you notice?). But he has to be more entertaining if he wants to make it through because, like I said, the top 9 is made up of 3 girls and 6 boys! Rough road for Anoop. I think Matt Giraud might edge him out, which is fine, but lame if Jasmine or Jesse make it through instead just to have more girls. Especially beacuse there's no way either of those girls could compete against Alexis, Allison (love her!), or Lil.

The end. I have go study for my individual taxation class. If you have any tax questions, now would be the time because I'm in fine form.

p.s. Thank you for all your comments on the PMS Buddy. Glad I could contribute to the world's knowledge.

Bryan's BEST Buddy

2009-02-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

It's that time again. I am gorging on chocolate chips. I almost had a meltdown at work today because I did my first partnership return and couldn't find the right place to enter each partner's guaranteed payment. And yesterday, when someone (obnoxiously) celebrated their perfect quiz score, I vividly imagined bending down, untying my shoe, and throwing it at his head.
*DEEP BREATH* It's definitely that time. Driving home from work, I vowed not to let my biological bad mood rear its ugly head on Bryan. So I came home, said nothing, and thought I would quietly lock myself in our back room for Bryan's protection.

Despite this, when I walked in the door, Bryan immediately asked if I would lay down and relax so he could rub my feet. He later left to go to the store, calling me on the way just to tell me he loves me. You may be thinking: "WOW! Bryan is incredibly perceptive!" Maybe so, but I happen to know he has a little help in that department. Last week, Bryan received this e-mail:

WARNING: You should ONLY sign up for pmsbuddy.com if your husband has g-mail which automatically blocks images. Each suggestion comes along with a picture link (e.g. 1800flowers and a picture of a flowers, which is fine, but you can only imagine the picture for the lingerie link) But, like I said, as long as he has g-mail--it shouldn't be a problem.

I signed up a few months ago as a joke. Yet, it's actually come in quite handy. I don't even have to apologize for my actions anymore because every time I'm about to, Bryan will say, "It's okay, Lisa. I got my reminder last week." Bryan will testify that pmsbuddy.com has saved his life several times already. And despite the TMI nature of this message, I hate to withhold possibly life-saving information. :)

I like 'em chunky . . . and American Idol

2009-02-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

The post title is thanks to Lacey for getting this song completely stuck in my head today. Still love it. For anyone who hasn't seen Madagascar 2 yet . . . it's worth a watching.

I like 'em big. I like 'em chunk-ay. Sorry. Still stuck in my head. I told Bryan when we have our big, chunk-ay babies, I'll sing this to them.

*ahem* Back to the point. I have had some feedback regarding my lack of posting. I've just been getting so excited for the tax season, I can't help but start to put in some hours. I actually like preparing tax returns. Weird. I'm sure it'll stop soon.

The truth is nothing has happened that has inspired me enough to blog. Until now. American Idol has really kicked into gear and I am excited. Last season was the first time I've watched more than one episode in a season (though I missed the first few weeks), but this season I'll be watching it from start to finish. I am jazzed enough that for the first time ever, I actually voted! For whom, you ask? I was sad to see Stevie completely bomb because I was pulling for her. She seems like a sweetheart, but man, that was bad. Casey Carlson is adorable, but I'm sure all the visually impaired people are wondering how in this world this girl got on the show. So far, it seems like looks are all she has. I really like Alexis Grace and, of course, Danny Gokey. But I think they'll get through without my vote. So guess who I voted for . . .

Anoop-Dawg. To quote one of my favorite movie characters (name that movie), this kid is "screaming for a makeover." He dresses like an accountant. Although we bean-counters ARE known for being cool on the inside, we can be "ensembly challenged" (same movie). But, unlike some judges *cough*Simon*, I think this competition is about more than just looks. I don't think dear Anoop will go all the way. But this guy has the voice to at least make this show worth watching. So for this week, he gets my vote.

Chunk-ay, chunk-ay.

Darth Thriller

2009-02-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

by Lisa and Bryan

This was a classic YouTube find. Just our type of nerdy and inane humor.

I need help...with music

2009-02-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

by Bryan

Hey everyone I am reworking my workout playlist and am looking for suggestions on some good workout music. I am open to any and all suggestions as I am starting from scratch. I am not that picky when it comes to artists so please, suggest anything that you think i might like, songs from your workout mix, or songs you think I should listen too. Once I have compiled everyone's suggestions I will post my new workout mix.

Here is a sampling from my old mix:

Eye of the Tiger

Linkin Park - What I've Done

All-American Regects- Move Along

Guns And Roses-Welcome to the Jungle

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

Groundhog Day-Last 6 weeks of winter...ever

2009-02-04T10:56:00.001-08:00

by bryan

I am not a huge groundhog day person, but seeing this is my LAST winter in Utah I was excited to hear that there will only be 6 weeks of snowy winter for the rest of my life. While I have loved my experiences at BYU and the lovely Utah powder for snowboarding, I will not miss trudging through the snow on my way to school. For those who are as excited for spring as I am, here are some average high temperatures for the next few months:

February: 44
March: 54
April: 62
May: 72
June: 82

The Sonicare Difference

2009-01-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

by Bryan

For Christmas Lisa and I received sonicare toothbrushes. After about a month of use I am converted to sonicare. Let me tell you why I think sonicare is so amazing.

First is the design of the toothbrush. Other companies understand the need to replace brush heads, but the sonicare top is dishwasher safe, a nice plus for long term usage.

Second the battery is replaceable. I hated that I had to shell out $20 every 12 months b/c the batter on my old automatic toothbrush died.

Third a 2 year warranty. Seriously, who warranties a toothbrush?

Fourth the 2 minute timer. The sonicare has four, thirty second segments to help you focus on each quadrant of your mouth with a pause between each thirty second segment to switch quadrants in your mouth. When your 2 minutes were up, the toothbrush turned off automatically. I love it and brush my teeth longer now than I ever have before. Which leads to:

Fifth the results. Here is a picture of teeth before sonicare

and here is one after sonicare.

The Utah Symphony

2009-01-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

by Bryan

As we begin the year of change Lisa and I have decided to make a few changes of our own. Due to the lack of quality films in the dollar theater, we have been forced to look elsewhere for evening entertainment (sorry, but HSM 3 just doesn't cut it). We are branching out and are looking for other cultural activities.

Last Thursday Lisa and I went to the Utah Symphony to listen to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. To prepare for the evening we had been listening to various versions of the Four Seasons and other work by Vivaldi (thanks pandora).

Sometimes the best part of going out is not the activity, but the "experience." This night was no exception.

As we were sitting in the concert hall waiting for the concert to start a couple sat down next to us and I could see the literal look of disgust on the womans face about where she was sitting. Something to the effect of "these seats are awful, I can't see anything." to which her husband replied, "well we bought last minute, what do you expect." I had two questions 1) what possesed you to wake up this morning and decide, lets go to the symphony despite the fact we will pay full price and have bad seats? 2) Buddy, you have been here before and you CAME BACK! I don't know what bet you lost, but I hope you got a football game or major sporting event to restore that lost testosterone.

The performance was exceptional. I want to point out that Lisa's suggestion to listen to the music before going really makes a difference. My favorite movement is definitely summer, while Lisa thinks winter is superior. If you haven't heard the four seasons, the whole thing is available for free on Wikipedia, or add it as a pandora station.

There are a couple of lulls in the performance where my ADD kicked in and I started looking around. That's when I noticed that one of the violin players had some serious white hair. It wasn't a fro, but it was as punk as you could get in a symphony. I could only imagine that the guy was looking for a way to stick it to the man, but didn't want to lose his job and the furthest he could go was this long flowing ghostly white hair. We were a good 500 yards from the stage and he stood out like a sore thumb.

Here is a picture of the orchestra players from the utah symphony website and you can see the white hair violinist.

As exciting as white hair guy was, nothing was more fun to watch than the conductor play his hair instrument. I am convinced that all conductors have long hair so that they can play with the symphony by moving their head in short quick violent movemnts. Our conductor had shoulder length straight black hair and he jerked that hair as hard as the solo violinist was moving his bow. What made it even better was that when the conductor turned around it was obvious that he had a serious receding hair line, just further proves my point about why he had long hair in the first place, he felt jealous he didn't get to play.

Random Things About Lisa

2009-01-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

Triana tagged me in a random-facts-about-me tag. I always love being tagged. It's like the universe recognizing your significance. Okay, so my maturity is still at junior high level.

More rules:

2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. Bryan and I often talk to each other like the 3-year-old who describes Star Wars. "The siny guy always worries . . . " The youtube video for that is down right now, so hopefully you know what I'm talking about.

2. Refer to the posts below for more detail, but when I open my Christmas presents, I always end up wearing everything I open--at the same time.

3. One summer when I was 13 or so, I refused to use car doors. I made sure my mom left the window down on the loser cruiser (aka:Dodge Grand Caravan) and I would crawl in.

4. I have trypophobia: fear of holes. Seriously. The surinam toad makes my skin crawl. I'm not posting a link like last time because it traumatized me every time I checked my blog. If you hate to be on the outside, feel free to look it up on youtube, but I'm warning you: you will probably regret it.

5. Many people organize their clothes by color. I organize everything I possibly can by color.

6. I am obsessed with Costco. If it were up to me, my engagement ring would be from Costco.

Some people are ardently opposed to being tagged, so I hope these people aren't:

1. Lacey 2. Brittanie 3. Melanie 3. Casey 4. Whitney 5. Rachel 6. HolliJo

Promised Christmas Pictures

2009-01-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

by Bryan

Well unfortunately because our Christmas was off from everyone else we didn't get any pictures of Lisa in her full getup. However, Lisa's sister Hayley was able to find me some pictures of Christmas' past to help you visualize.

Here is Lisa modeling her mom's old Christmas clothes, notice the great layering technique.

This is from a few Christmas' ago. It might be hard to catch everything here, but Lisa is wearing boots, two beanies, scarf, jacket, sweatshirt, and two pairs of pajama pants.

This last one is Lisa modeling her Christmas spandex doing her batman impression. Oh Lisa, how we love you.

If Only I Could Have a Puppy

2009-01-10T06:41:00.000-08:00

by Lisa

I'm sorry to bring down the quality of this blog that Bryan has done such a great job maintaining, but I am so in love with this puppy, I can't think about anything else!

p.s. This is just a popular video on YouTube and obviously not my puppy. I wish! Bryan keeps telling me all these crazy things like, our apartment doesn't "allow" puppies. Or, when we start working nobody will be "home" to take care of the puppy. Or those red, itchy eyes he gets when he's around pets is because he's "allergic." Pshh. Honestly, I think he just wants me to remain puppyless forever.

Christmas Fashion Show

2009-01-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

by bryan

Christmas is over and Lisa and I feel so blessed by the kindness and generosity from our friends and family. Between graduate tuition, the down economy and saving for an apartment (yes an apartment) we knew that this was going to be a lean Christmas for the Schader family. However, our parents and siblings took pity on us and gave us some wonderful gifts that we are both so thankful for. So thankful in fact that Lisa wanted to show everyone just how thankful she was.

Lisa has a habit, an addiction if you will, that she must put on every piece of clothing that she receives for Christmas as a one person fashion show. While she puts on everything she receives, she doesn't ever take off anything either. Let me attempt to portray to you what our family saw.

Lisa was wearing jeans and a sweater at the beginning of the day. However she opened pink polka dot pajama pants, which she immediately put on. Then came the new green sweater, which went on over her existing sweater. Then came the black spandex capris, which she threw on over her pink pajama pants. Followed next by a stylish cranberry overcoat. Finally to complete the ensemble were new light brown ugg boots.

With each additional piece of the ensemble lisa would run over to the mirror in the room and began modeling the new piece of apparel for all to see, remarking about how much she loves the present. While this fixation often shows some interesting combinations, the collection of pink, black, brown, green and cranberry was just a little over the top. I will work on getting pictures for everyone when Lisa is not looking, but I warn you, they may not be suitable for the fashion conscious.

10 Best things about Christmas Vacation

2008-12-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

10 Best things about Christmas Vacation

10. Not waking up to an alarm. As silly as this sounds, there are few things better in life than waking up naturally to the sunlight peering through the blinds dancing on the ceiling above you. I always feel like I have a better sleep when I wake up naturally.

9. Christmas desserts. Today I ate chocolate pie, home made fudge, Lacey's cookies, brownies, sugar cookies, and peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses in the middle. Diet starts Monday :)

8. Naps. Need I say more.

7. Avoiding Christmas Crowds. Lisa and I officially finished our Christmas shopping on December 18th, and couldn't be happier we did. I had to get some things from Costco on Monday and stood in one of three lines that started in the meat section and wound their way back up to the front of the store. It is a good thing i didn't have any cold stuff.

6. Reading for fun. I forget how much I enjoy reading when I get to choose what I read. It is like pulling teeth to get me to reed 10 pages in a textbook, but I can read 100+ pages of a good novel in a sitting when I am into it. As long as someone gets hurt or there is a murder, I am hooked.

5. Team Exercising. Despite number 9 on this list, Lisa and I are still trying to stay active as we binge on delicious Christmas goodies. Lisa hates running. I know hate is a strong word, but Lisa HATES running. In order to get Lisa out the door for a run this morning I had to promise her I would make this particular run interesting. This meant that we had to play red light, green light as we went for our run around the school. It worked and Lisa and I happily ran 2.43 miles (I was happy, Lisa was just tolerant).

4. No school. I recognize that this will be the last Christmas vacation I will have for the rest of my life. I graduate in April and will no longer have 2 weeks of total relaxation during Christmas ever again. And so while i have no school these two weeks I plan on enjoying them to their fullest by doing absolutely nothing relating to school for the whole two weeks.

3. Naps. I felt the need to emphasize this point greatly. I haven't had a nap since i started school and have been enjoying my daily nap since vacation started.

2. Christmas. Really? Christmas? Really? While Christmas doesn't quite feel the same when you are paying for the gifts that you are receiving, I still love the act of giving. There are few things as wonderful as seeing the eyes of someone you love light up with excitement as they open a gift from you. I had the joy of experiencing that last Christmas with Lisa and am looking forward to that tomorrow morning.

1. Family. That's what Christmas is all about really. Spending time with family and friends. I have found that while it is nice to be with your family during the holidays, Lisa is the most important family to me. No matter where we are, if Lisa is there, I won't feel homesick or left out. I love being with Lisa and Christmas could not be complete without her.

Gingerbread House

2008-12-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

For Family Home Evening tonight we wanted to do something fun and Christmasy. So last time I was at WalMart I picked up a kit to build a gingerbread house. The kit had this picture on the front and I thought it would be a fun exercise to build this together.

So today we got out the kit and started pulling out the pieces and the various candies. I was a little over excited and so instead of waiting for the decorator to come over and help, i just jumped in and started building the house. I decided I didn't need to watch the instructional video, besides, I had Lisa who had graduated from cake decorating school. So I cut open the frosting and apparently when they say a tiny 1/4" hole they really mean that. Lisa was just a little frustrated with my nearly 1" hole in the frosting bag as that was going to significantly hamper her decorating ability. While it didn't look exactly like the picture I thought we were on track. This is a picture of our house from the front.

However, if you scroll down you will see that while the front of the house was moderately decorated (remember my attempt at the snowflake?) the rest of the house needed a little work.

Here is an aerial shot of the whole house.

Next time we are going to save the money and do a graham cracker gingerbread house. I hear graham crackers have a little better structural integrity.

A Festivus for the Rest of Us

2008-12-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I are happy to be back in town after a fun filled Thanksgiving week. It was a rough 3 minute drive from Orem back to Provo, but we are safe and sound for those who were concerned. I think we win the award for least miles driven over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

I had a particularly enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with a total of 10, yes 10 days off before I had to drag myself back into the classroom for 8 more days (but who is counting)

We had all the Hortins together for this Thanksgiving and so as always, it was time for a family picture! If coordinating 7 different family schedules wasn't tough enough, add in 4 grandchildren (3 were sick) a pregnant sibling, matching outfits, and a dozen very different and distinct personalities and it was quite an event. Needless to say we were able to get everyone to smile just long enough for the photographer to take the pictures. Once pictures were completed the family headed over to Mi Ranchito for some tasty dinner and good family fun. Lisa tried to get me to take a picture with her while we were eating, but she forgot that I had already hit my quota for the day (1) and was unwilling to cooperate.

During the week of Thanksgiving I was determined to get caught up on my TV watching and so I spent many countless hours watching old episodes of Bones on DVD (thanks Hay!) I am almost done with season 2, but it did come at a cost. At one point Lisa couldn't stand hearing any more of that show and so in order to keep watching, I had to improvise. It is not the best way to watch TV, but it works for me. It was after this that I realized I had a DVD player in my laptop. And yes I am watching this while drinking milk and eating sweetarts.

Thanksgiving was a marathon of activity. We began the day with the annual Hortin family Turkey Bowl. I am proud to say that I was on the winning team, and Lisa was on the losing team. As a rule all brothers/married couples had to be separated. In addition to the Hortin clas I had several friends come and play so we had a good game of about 7 on 7. There were no major injuries except for some hurt egos and sore legs the next few days.

After the game was the delicious Thanksgiving meal. Ozi continues to outdo herself year after year. And the pie, oh the wonderful sweet pie. It is a good thing that Thanksgiving only comes once a year becuase I could sit there and eat Pumpkin pie all day if I had the chance.

After awaking from my Turkey coma, Steve, Dennis, Lisa and I went and saw the new 007 film, Quantum of Solace. The action was amazing, the story was weak. If you love action go see it, there is tons of action. If you are someone who needs a story, wait for the DVD.

The day after Thanksgiving Hans had arranged to have the family go up to Salt Lake to have dinner together and to go to Temple Square and see the lights. We caravaned up to Trolley Square and had a great meal the the Old Spaghetti Factory. I am not sure why it is so fun to go out to eat with family, but we always have a good time telling stories and entertaining the grandkids. Because we had such a big group there was a little wait for our food so Lisa started taking pictures while I made her a crossword puzzle with my placemat. She loves spending time with her nieces and nephews.

Finally I wanted to tell you about our newest family tradition, the Schader Snowflake Cutting Competition (SSCC). For our FHE activity we were each handed 2 pieces of paper and were tasked with creating snowflakes to go on the tree. The snowflakes would be judged with the designer of the best snowflake receiving an award from the designer of the worst snowflake. I was the judge as I was the only one capable of remaining independent during the judging process. Below are the snowflakes that we created. In each picture 1 snowflake is from Lisa and the other is from me. Now before you decide whos is who I need to remind you that being the older spouse I have been out of kindergarten longer than Lisa has and so my snowflake skills might be a little rusty. That being said, in my mind there was an obvious tie. Taking into account my lack of experience and time away from participating in these projects, I see the two as being complete equals. Lisa did not see it that way, and I lost.

Ordering Food from my TV

2008-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is from the news briefing on the web:

Hungry viewers can order pizza when they see a Dominos ad on TiVo and click "I want that" through their remote. TiVo subscribers will be able to set-up a user name and password on Dominos.com and each time they use their TiVo remote to place an order, they can log-in via their account number.

Through the TiVo/Dominos interactive system, subscribers can also create a custom pizza from television and select types of crusts, toppings and sauces. Users can also track pizza delivery timing. The companies promise that pies will be delivered in 30 minutes. The new service is free and payable in cash upon pizza delivery.

All I need now is the Lazyboy recliner with the built in toilet from Home Improvement's Tool Time and I will never need to leave my living room again.

Glad it is over

2008-11-05T07:55:00.000-08:00

After two years of what seemed like a daily bombardment of election coverage, I am so glad that it is over. As I sit here on this Wednesday morning after a truly historic election it makes me proud to be an American to see that our country has made such progress. Yesterday we elected the first African American President in our nations history. Whether you agree with his politics or not, you must agree that in retrospect to 50 years ago, our country has made enormous progress in race equality. With that being said, if you thought running a campaign was hard President Elect Obama, just wait until you are in office. You will be watched like a hawk and criticized by everyone over the next four years. I wish you the best of luck.

On the other hand, I am even more happy that Prop 8 has passed in California. As someone who firmly believes in the value of the family to society, I can sleep easier tonight knowing that in one of the most liberal states in our great country, the majority of people also believe in the value of the family. While as of this writing all news outlets consider the race "too close to call," with over 90% of precincts reported, the proposition is winning 52-48 and holding strong. While I know the debate was heated on both sides for this proposition, I hope the people of California can accept defeat gracefully and move forward as the country should with supporting their new President. While I for one do not approve of President Elect Obama's political persuasion, I will support him as the next President of the United States. I hope the people of California can do the same with the respect to Prop 8.

The trials of being in IT

2008-10-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

This last week in my ISYS classes we have been discussing how to get the executives in an organization to involve the leaders of the IT organization in developing corporate strategy. In today's business environment, if IT is not well integrated into the overall strategy of the organization then you are falling behind. Great companies that have integrated IT like WalMart, Amazon, and Exxon all figured this out early and are not reaping the benefits of being ahead of the curve.

While it is great to see academics cheer leading this push toward involving IT, there is still this distrust and misunderstanding of IT people. Even within my own great college our department is treated as the unwanted child. For example, in class yesterday we were informed that if we don't use our MISM lounge than we would lose it. The students immediately responded, "We have a lounge?" For the last several years MISM students have shared the MAcc lounge. The school decided that with the addition, there was now room to give the MISM students their own lounge. While I am grateful to finally be separated from the MAcc students (except Lisa of course :) the school never told anyone that the new room existed. Needless to say I am now sitting in the new comfy lounge writing this post.

With the new addition to the building a very nice new lab was constructed filled with powerful computers to be used. This lab takes the place of the old lab in the library. As a student in the program let me take this opportunity to thank all the donors who provided the funds for this lab. This lab is incredibly useful and has all the necessary technology to help me learn how to prepare for entering the job market. I think a special thank you is in order for Professor Lindstrom for all the work he has put into the lab.

With that said, I hope that the lab will maintain its current setup with free time in the lab. Several of the projects that we are assigned to do require the use of the lab computers and if the lab were always scheduled with classes I would not be able to do these projects. Similar to the accounting lab in the library, the ISYS program needs a lab where students from all levels in the ISYS program can come and work on their projects. Currently there are rumors that additional classes will be scheduled for that room. Please do not take away the free time that is available in the lab.

For those of you who are not IT people, please realize that the only time you come to us is with problems. We are happy to help, in fact, we enjoy it, that's why we are IT people. But please don't treat us as SCC (Second Class Citizens)

Perspective

2008-10-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight marks yet another dashed hope of going on a date. Bryan and I keep planning these things, I get so excited, then something inevitably comes up. I was being a total baby about it and then I remembered this quote from President Hinckley:

"Life is like that--ups and downs, a bump on the head, and a crack on the shins. It was ever thus. Hamlet went about crying, "To be or not to be," but that didn't solve any of his problems. There is something of a tendency among us to think that everything must be lovely and rosy and beautiful without realizing that even adversity has some sweet uses. One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented: Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . . Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

I am glad to have the ride. Delays, sidetracks, jolts, and all. :)

(Photo from one of the occasional beautiful vistas: Our California Coast Honeymoon)

PowerShell

2008-10-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Every now and again Lisa gets frustrated with seeing me play on the computer and watch T.V. while she is studying. When these precious moments occur she begins to ask me accounting related questions like:

You have a 19% interest in a subsidiary and you gain an addition 5% interest, so you are switching from the fair value method to the equity method, how does this affect your equity subsidiary earnings account?

I lovingly smile and respond with comforting words like "Lisa, you are so smart and you can figure this out, " or "I don't know babe, it's a good thing you are the accountant in the faimly." However on this particular night I chose to respond to her question with my own question:

Can you write a powershell script to alter a group policy that automatically clears the cache of internet explorer every time the program is closed.

Lisa, without skipping a beat proceeded to write this in notepad on my laptop:

c:Run//Powerscript
Stimulus: Exitus Programmus: Internetus Exploreous &#*$)
Command: Clear Cache for Programmus: Internetus ExploreousPrompt: None)
Run: Run//(Go GO Gadget Powerscript)

I tried to run the script, but it didn't work on my laptop (must be a vista thing.)

Every day I am learning something new about Lisa...little did I know she could program in Microsoft PowerShell!!!!

My Woo?

2008-09-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

For my organizational behavior class, we've been taking personality tests. Officially, these are my greatest strengths:

Woo: You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you.
Empathy: You can sense the emotion of those around you.
Developer: You see the potential in others.
Positivity: You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation.
Inclusiveness: "Stretch the circle wider." This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group.

I also took the "Big 5" Test. These are the 5 elements of personality and my ratings in relation to adult woman in my age group.

Extraversion - 82 (High) -- This means I like people.

Agreeableness - 87 (High) -- I guess this makes me a "people pleaser."

Conscientiousness - 2 (Low) -- I am irresponsible and impulsive.

Neuroticism - 97 (High) -- Apparently I'm so emotionally unstable, it's amazing I can get out of bed in the morning.

Openness to Experience - 30 (Low) -- I am relatively conservative.

It's interesting, you can see your state's complete personality here:

Utah actually rated pretty well! We're extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, open people. Go Utah!

If you want, you can take the test yourself (takes about 20 min.):

Big 5 personality test (take the long version) -
http://www.personalitytest.net/ipip/ipipneo1.htm

It breaks down every element of you personality and tells you what they mean. Pretty interesting!

The Move

2008-09-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Below are some statistics from our move from California to Utah

1000000 - gallons of rain we drove through
2974 - lbs of stuff moved
1640 - Miles Driven
314 - songs played on the ipod
95 - Gallons of Gas consumed
125 - minutes used on the cell phone
58.58 - average speed during the trip
50 - human hours spent physically moving
42 - combined hours in the car
13 -people who helped us move-thanks for all your help!!!!!!!
10 - Pounds of junk food consumed
1- Very happy family to be done moving...for now

Transient

2008-08-28T04:51:00.000-07:00

Google: "Define:Transient"

Results: one who stays for only a short time; 'transient laborers'"

I actually prefer the Physics definition:

"a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load"

Well, we are finishing up our summer as interns in the Bay Area and moving on to the next load. I am feeling the voltage.

Here is our excellent plan. Last day of my internship on Friday. Move out Saturday. Drive Sunday. Move in Monday. Start school Tuesday. Brilliant, Schaders. Brillant. I've been up since 2 in the morning because I can't sleep because I haven't been exercising. Or perhaps because Bryan and I sleep on an air mattress. Well, after this weekend of moving (not to mention getting a brand new mattress), I think I'll soon be sleeping soundly. :)

In other matters, I have been slacking on my blog. Please forgive me and I promise to understand that you feel no moral obligation to check the blog of someone who posts semi-monthly. :) Right now, I'm vowing to start posting more regularly, but then again--It's 5 in the morning and I'm not thinking clearly.

I wanted to post pictures of our apartment since i have been majorly slacking in that department. So, two days before the move, here is where we lived this summer (p.s. no judging the decorating: We only brought what we could fit in our cars):

Notice the blue air mattress.

Our little bathroom. How I loved stooping low enough to fit my head under the showerhead.

Kitchen with microwave that shot sparks every time you put a tortilla in it?

I love our couch. Really. A lot.

The view from our patio.

And like every girl, I can't help but hope for bigger and better things one day. Here are some rooms that I like:

I wish I were more of a "bloom where I'm planted" kind of girl, because I can't seem to motivate myself to decorate an apartment we'll only be living in for a few months. Can someone please motivate me? Or at least help me decorate our apartment this fall?

Gettin Paid in Disney World

2008-08-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well after a difficult internship of 40 hour work weeks and free intern lunches and dinners, it was time for the always un-popular intern conference in Disney World. Ernst and Young fly's all the U.S. interns and some international interns to Orlando, rents out a resort for the weekend, and pays us to go through workshops, team building activities, and yes, to play in Disney World. It is one of the hardest parts of the internship, but I feel that I have prepared well for the difficult task.

Of course Lisa sees this totally different. Somehow she gets this crazy idea that I was on vacation, and that there is no such thing as a group brainstorming session on hammocks by the pool. Little does she know...

I stole some pictures off my friends from facebook since I am too lazy to take pictures and Lisa wasn't there :( As you can See, I was a little lonely.

Here is Brad, Matt and I standing in line for a ride. Who knew I could look so good at 1 AM

And just to make sure that Lisa knows I was not getting close to any girls here is Brittany and I, about as far apart as possible.

Over the summer EY has re-branded itself and has adopted "the beam." Can you find the "beam" in the picture? Hint, we are pointing at it

Life in The Slow Lane

2008-08-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Lisa is busily making cupcakes for one of her co-workers birthday and so I thought I would take a few moments to update everyone on life and some thoughts I have had.

Our days have been so jam packed lately that it seems normal that we don’t get to see each other until 11:00 at night, and that is only while we are brushing our teeth before going to bed. Between work commitments, family, friends, callings, hobbies, and everything else we do every day, the few minutes we get to spend alone together become more and more valuable. So to compensate for the craziness in our lives, Lisa and I have worked to set aside a few minutes here and there to spend time together doing something just the two of us.

A few weeks back I missed the bus (literally) that takes the ward to the temple, and so Lisa and I drove up to the temple just the two of us. It is hard to imagine that sitting in bay area traffic is a fun and relaxing activity, but for us it was so nice to be together and just talk.

One of the other pastimes that Lisa and I have started is playing tennis together. We run home from work, grab our tennis rackets and begin a brisk walk to the park down the street. While the tennis is gruesome and there is some occasional taunts and teasing, we wouldn’t trade that time together for anything.

My favorite thing in the whole world is walking around our apartment complex. Let me remind you that we live in a HUGE complex and it takes us 10-15 min to walk all the way around so it’s a good walk if we complete 3 laps. I think Lisa would agree that no matter how stressful the day has been, I always look forward to our evening walks and the chance to be together.

As we prepare for our last year of school (YEAH!) before heading out into the “real world” it will be life in the slow lane that I think I will miss most, right behind BYU football and no class on Fridays.

Tagged!

2008-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Rach! I've been secretly hoping I would get tagged for months! I haven't filled out one of these things since 8th grade! I'm lazy and only filled out my favorites.

C- Cake or Pie? Mmm . . . pumpkin pie. I eat 2 whole pies at Thanksgiving. By myself.

D- Day of choice? Thursday is my favorite day of the week. It's almost as fun as Friday, but without all the hype.

E- Essential item? Chapstick. And I'm out right now! I hate spending money, so I'm trying to use my giftcards. Unfortunately, Starbucks does not sell chapstick.

F- Favorite color? GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

H- Hometown?- Orem, UTAH (UTAH! People working together . . . UTAH! What a great place to be . . . )

I- Favorite Indulgence?- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. OHH baby.

K- Kids?- 4 or 6. Never an odd number because everyone has to have a ride buddy at Disneyland!

N- Number of brothers and sisters? 3 brothers, 3 sisters-in-law, 2 sisters, and 1 brother in law (meaning one single sister who has nothing better to do than taunt me with her constant Disneyland and Disneyworld trips!)

P- Phobia and fears? Asymmetrical holes. Like you'd see on the back of a surinam toad after giving birth. Look it up, people. GROSS!

Q- Quote? Never, never, never give up.

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." --Winston Churchill

R- Reasons to smile?- babies, puppies, pandora.com, reconciled accounts, cuddling, visitors, texts, e-mails, and NetFlix.

S- Season of choice- Definitely Fall. I want to go to New York in the fall some day! Or basically anywhere in the North East, preferably Stars Hollow.

T- Tag 3 people: HolliJo, Lauren Inouye, and Madelyn (For those that I tagged, see the full version of this thing here)

The 'rents

2008-07-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

My fabulous parents came to visit this weekend. Some of you know my parents, some don't. Let me tell you, my parents are 100% amazing.

Highlights of the weekend:

- Having fantastic in-laws who are willing to house their in-laws for days and days (I love Fred and Loretta!).
- Accidentally giving my mom a bottle of exfoliant, promising her it was sunscreen (oops!).
- My dad telling me he went to the bathroom in the SLC, Vegas, AND San Jose Airport ("I'm an international whizzer!")
- Boogey-boarding at Sunset Beach (and getting further into New Moon)
- Biking the Golden Gate Bridge! (My dad is deathly afraid of heights, so he practically did the whole thing with his eyes closed).
- Watching my parents--married 35 years--still holding hands. :)

Love them!

What I love about California

2008-06-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is the second summer I've spent in good ol' California. Being 100% Utahn, it's quite an adjustment. I haven't gotten over the sticker shock (gas is over $4.50 a gallon), but I must admit I love a lot about California. Here are my lucky #7 favorite things:

#7. The land features. I miss my mountains, but California does have hills to hike in. It also has Yosemite, which I look forward to visiting. Yesterday for "work," we went white water rafting on the American. Going through crazy rapids and swimming in the river was about 50 times more fun than I even imagined. Oh, it was a blast. Also, gotta love the Beach! Bryan and I were Santa Cruizin' it last weekend.

#6. The weather. Hate to sound cliche, but it is nice. I go insane during April in Utah when the weather constantly pretends to get pleasant and then proceeds to snow two feet right before finals. Grr...

#5. The fruit. Oh, the fruit!! Lunardi's is a grocery store known for its fresh, locally grown, (cheap!), delicious fruit. Basically, it is a heaven on earth for me. I have a steady supply of watermelon, nectarines, peaches, and cherries. Some of this stuff, our friends just grow in their backyard and give to us! It's amazing. I love it.

#4. The stuff. So much to do here! Whether you're the type to go to a cosmopolitan restaurant in San Francisco, the cultured Cantor Art Center (Stanford museum), or just hit up a Giants game, NorCal really is a cool place to be.

#3. The people! Here I am with Clayton's fabulous gf, Tessa. The longer we live here, the more wonderful people we meet. But fear not, I've taken the wisdom of my favorite Girl Scout Rachel to heart: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold." :)

#2. The fam. Our niece and nephews here are adorable. And we get to play tennis with Bryan's parents on Saturday mornings (I love tennis!). Fred turns 60 next weekend, yet he and Loretta whip our tushes every time. *sigh* Maybe next week.

#1. Bryan. Those of you who know me know my obsession with Bryan E. Schader. I would follow him to Antarctica if he asked me to. Luckily, he chose California instead (much closer to my dear Costco). See Mr. Hottie himself below doing what I told him to and cluelessly imitating Duckbill Platypus from Runaway Bride (I love him!).

If all this talk has you wanting to visit--please do! If coming this summer seems too soon, we'll be back after we graduate next year. We'll even have a comfy queen-size air mattress for you to sleep on (it must be comfortable--it's the bed we're using all summer. Three cheers for being poor newlyweds!). Please keep posting on your blogs, everyone. I love reading them because I miss you all so much! xoxoxo

Moving, Birthday, and Park Fun

2008-06-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

I know you all have been anxiously awaiting our next blog post and I hope this does not disappoint! The Schaders have been very busy the last few weeks.

First and foremost was the wonderful weekend for the Hortin family. I flew in to Utah on Friday the 23rd and rushed to Murray with Lisa to catch the luncheon for Tom and Gwen who were married that morning in the Salt Lake Temple. (Here is a picture of the happy couple)

As excited as everyone was for Tom and Gwen, everyone in Lisa's family was more excited to see me than to see Tom. Apparently Lisa had been a little vocal about how much she missed me while I was gone. Everyone gave me a big hug and was so excited for have me back, except Russell who still hasn't given up the protective big brother roll...

After the excitement of the luncheon Lisa and I jumped back into the car and headed south to Provo where we began the excitement of preparing for the next wedding tomorrow. On Saturday the 24th, Lisa and I had the opportunity to travel down to Manti and witness the sealing of Amanda and Dennis Cluff. It was wonderful to see the family filling the sealing room as we watched Amanda and Dennis be sealed. Picture of their wondrous event can be found here. We traveled down with Tyler and Cristi and the always cool, baby Cameron.

The remainder of the weekend was spent preparing for our drive back to California. For anyone who has driven those 800 wonderful miles, you can understand our excitement as we went across country. However no weekend at the Hortin home could be complete without dinner with the grandkids.

We did have some excitement. As we were pulling into our 1st gas stop in Elko, NV, gas was almost $4.50 a gallon!!!!!! and this was when gas in San Jose was still under $4! I looked down at the speedometer and realized that we had just rolled over a very important mile. We had just put on 222,222.2 miles. I excitedly asked Lisa for a picture and we just missed it, so the picture is of mile 222,223.

We have now finished our move into out little apartment in Sunnyvale and we are loving life. Lisa's commute has been reduced to only 20-30 minutes and is loving life at her new job at WTAS. I have been enjoying working at CFM and will be sad to say goodbye as I leave CFM at the end of the month and start my new job at Ernst & Young. Before I leave CFM Lisa and I wanted to spend an FHE in the park next door to my office, so we spent last Monday night here at Vasona Park.

As we were walking back to the car we found an un-expected visitor on the trail, a skunk! He didn't see us at first, but after we took the picture he got really excited and pointed his tail in the air and we took off running the other way.This last weekend we celebrated Lisa's 22nd birthday (her real birthday is tomorrow, the 10th) Lisa was so exicted for her birthday. She got books 2, 3, and 4 of the twilight series, an amazing new tennis racket (thanks dad!), thank you cards, stationary, an LED clock, and a gift card from Adam and Elaine, first edition comics hand drawn from her nephews Ryan and Nathan, and her absolute favorite birthday cake with homemade vanilla ice creme. I might be just a little jealous of her birthday, but she deserves every little bit of it. Here is a picture of Lisa in her birthday shirt and gifts from her super stylish friends.

Once In a Lifetime

2008-05-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I finished Winter semester, moved out, and went into serious vacation mode.

First Stop: Disneyland

Vacation Buddies: My Dad and My Sister Hayley

Favorite Moments: Seeing 13-year-olds waste their Disney experience huddling around Nick Lachey, Meeting Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, Winning Spot-the-Mormon, and reaching level 5 on Buzz Lightyear.

Second Stop: Long Beach--BYU vs. Pepperdine Volleyball Game

Favorite Moment: Spotting the baby cougar across the way and Hayley consequently promising to buy said costume for our future cougar (note: no bun yet in my oven--sorry!)

(note 2: Bryan and I joked about naming one of our kids something fierce like

>Blade Schader<. For some reason, my Dad thinks this is the funniest thing he's ever heard. He now randomly giggles and says its under his breath at the dinner table, church, watching tv, etc.)

Third Stop: Fabulous Royal Carribean Cruise with ports of call in exotic San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensenada

Vacation Buddies: Richard and Jill Talbot, Richelle Talbot, Steve Myers, and Andy and Lisa Baxter

Favorite Moments: Mexicans peddling prescription drugs on the street, meeting Lavell Edward's cousin, attending the cheesy shows (especially our Cruise Director JohnnyO playing some kind of electric wind instrument), and--of course--eating my body weight in delicious food.

We left for California stressed and exhuasted. We returned with lighter pockets, but feeling "refreshed, replenished, and rar-rarring to go!" (bonus points for sourcing that quote)

April showers bring May flowers

2008-04-02T20:32:00.000-07:00

The light at the end of the tunnel is not only visible, but is almost within reach. Only 7 more days of classes and counting. Some of the classes I have are both first and second year graduate students and it is so hard to not think about what would have happened if Lisa and I had just decided to just graduate with a bachelors degree and move on with life. But looking at my schedule for next year, I am excited for my last year of school. Instead of these boring general education classes I now get to take the fun and exciting geek ISYS classes and more upper level MBA classes. Poor Lisa, she still has lots of fun tax classes! :)

The exciting news is that while we are working hard to finish April, May is going to be an amazing month. With two sealings in the family, a cruise, and vacation, April showers will truly bring May flowers. We are so excited for the next month, we just need to focus and finish these last couple weeks of school strong so we can head off on all these fun activities free from the stress of school.

The last few weeks have been as wild as the weather we have been experiencing. The last two weeks have been jam packed with midterms and it has been a struggle keeping up with everything as we spend countless hours buried in our textbooks. The good news is, Lisa got an A on her super hard tax exam. She blew away the curve and did amazing. I am so proud of her! My midterms were okay, but we don't need to talk about that.

Every once and a while we get together with our friends and have a dinner group. It isn't like a normal dinner group where we all take turns with the cooking. In this dinner group, we have a designated semi-professional chef who does all the cooking, we just provide the eating part. Hopefully we can get some photos up of the event. I love getting together so we can visit as friends, and because the food is soooooo good. Cameron made chicken alfredo this last time and it was amazing. We had everyone over to the apartment and Cameron was cooking it here. I knew that there was a lot of butter, but when he kept adding cube after cube of butter, I got a little nervous. All that butter was going straight to my stomach and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sunday dinners the last few weeks have been so much fun. There is truly a houseful of people now we when all get together at Lisa's parents house. With Ozi, Steve, Hayley, Lisa, Bryan, Melissa, Dennis, Amanda, Christi, Tyler, Hans, Tasha, and the four grandkids; Ashley, Tanner, Macy, and Cameron. Then we add in the extended family with Tom and his brand new fiance Gwen, Matt and his girlfriend Tiffany, and then on rare occasion, Grandma and Grandpa, its like a mini Thanksgiving every Sunday. And without fail, Ozi always has a fresh batch of amazing rolls, good tasting vegetables (especially rare from my mouth), the weed salad (sorry Steve) and a mixture of meat and other side dishes. It is so much fun and Lisa and I love coming to visit everyone. Having the kids around is so much fun for Lisa and I and we love being Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bryan. Hopefully we can get some photos of us and the grandkids up soon as well.

How did I get so lucky?

2008-03-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I definitely make time for fun and relaxing, but our weekends often consist of laundry and homework. Last week, I asked Bryan to make Saturday a "real date," so he set everything aside and gave me the best day ever!

First, Bryan offered to do the grocery shopping while I worked on my talk for Sunday. He came home with a big bouquet of Stargazer Lilies that bloom more everyday!

At 6:00, we got all dressed up--cologne, perfume, the works. He let me choose the restaurant, Yamato Japanese Restaurant in Orem. The owners were great, the place was quiet and beautifully decorated, and I loved my sushi!

Bryan let me choose the movie, too! We saw "Enchanted," so we were able to laugh and cheer with all the other kids in the audience. Such a fun movie! Singing, dancing, and dresses. I honestly think I was smiling for 80% of the movie.

I love walking out of the theater feeling motivated, like I have a new lease on life. Bryan and I ended our one enchanted evening with Mimi's Triple Chocolate Brownie with ice cream, topped with caramel and fudge. Mmm . . . chocolate coma.

Life and marriage aren't perfect, but sometimes it sure feels like it!

How *did* I get so lucky?!

Lisa Did This

2008-03-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

Being an accountant has its thrills (reconciling bank accounts . . . tasty), but it's not always as exciting as it seems. So, I decided to kick things up a notch. My good friend Lauren helped me explore my domestic side with a little CAKE DECORATING. :)

What day is today?

Messing up my own cakes wasn't always enough. Lauren's cakes were victims as well.

Not gonna lie. Worst person in the class. But I definitely had the most fun!

Moab Half Marathon

2008-03-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

After months of training and a short 3 hour drive, we arrived in Moab for the much anticipated half marathon. I felt like my training regiment had been going along fairly well until I got the flu two weeks ago. I was down and out for a solid week, and last week when I went to the gym I could only do about half of what I had been able to before I got sick. However, I had paid my money and we already had the reservation for the hotel, so we went for it.

We drove down Friday night and stayed at the luxurious comfort inn in Green River. The hotel was packed with runners and we got to stay in a handicap room. The bathroom was huge, but the shower head barely came up to my shoulder. They did have an indoor pool and spa, and we were not going to miss that opportunity.

We drove into Moab on Friday night to check in and pick up my packet and that was where I realized that I had left my socks. I had set aside some nice running socks to bring, and then I forgot to pack them. Thankfully I only forgot my socks and not my shoes! So we bought some socks at the check-in and then everything was set for the big day.

On Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn to eat and get ready because we had to drive into Moab and be on the bus by 8:30. All week I had been wondering how cold it was going to be on the actual race day. Every day the forecast would change and the temperature was going to swing from the low 30's to the mid 60's. So in the morning I layered up and had my sweats on because it was cold! Here is a picture of Bryan Martinez and I as we were getting ready to walk over to the bus up to the starting point.

Bryan Martinez and I loaded up on the bus and rode up to the starting point. Meanwhile Lisa and Rachel sat and talked for the couple hours before we would be back down at the finish line. As we were riding up on the bus I began to realize just how far 13 miles was. As we passed the 5 mile marker and I realized that his bus ride was taking 20 minutes, that meant that I was going to be running for a very long time.

As we unloaded I couldn't believe the sight of the thousands of people just standing around waiting for the race to start. As we got off there were lines of people waiting in front of the 40 or so porta-potties. Unbelievably it didn't smell all that bad. We then had to strip off all our sweats and put them into our nifty sweat bags as they would be transported to the finish line for us. We than stood and waited at the starting line for 45 minutes while the other races were under way. Finally the race began!

I was feeling great as the race was under way. I had my ipod giving me status updates on how fast I was running, how long I had been going, and the distance I had covered. My plan was to average somewhere between an 8 and 9 minute mile. For the first 6 miles I was doing great, my average pace was around 8:45 and I was on track for my goal of completing in under 2 hours. Then mile 8 came.

At mile 8 I began to notice that my legs were not moving very fast. In fact, they were barely moving at all. All of a sudden it was like I was running through thick mud and every step was a serious effort. My feet were okay, but my thighs were screaming bloody murder. I decided to take a 5 minute walking break where I stopped jogging and just walked at a brisk pace. I couldn't give up on my 2 hour goal this early in the race, I could afford a 5 minute break as long as I maintained my pace for the rest of the race. This strategy worked and I was back at it until mile 10. Then the pain in my calves started to increase, my thighs were hurting, and I was quickly running out of energy. I swung by the water station and grabbed water and gatorade as I realized I needed to replace the liquids I was burning through. It was about this time that it started to warm up as well. The sun was breaking through the clouds and it was beginning to turn into a nice day.

I started alternating between a slow jog and a quick walk from mile 10 until mile 11. Then at mile 11 my legs were on fire and I could barely keep them moving. I was determined not to stop and I struggled forward one step at a time. I walked for the majority of mile 11 jogging at times to keep myself motivated and not getting too far behind on my goal. At this point I had missed my 2 hour goal and was now trying to finish in 2 and 1/2 hours. I passed mile 12 and got a resurgence of energy. I again grabbed gatorade at the water station at mile 12 and was now on the home stretch. I was determined that I was not going to walk into the finish line. I began to push myself harder than I had ever pushed myself before. Every step was painful and my legs were so tired.

I rounded the final turn and was now only blocks away from the finish line. I could see the yellow finish sign and the crowds of people cheering the runners on. I was so close I knew I would be done in only a few minutes. I was for sure not going to let Lisa see me walking, so I continued to push myself. I entered the last stretch with the gates on the side and I began searching the crowd for Lisa, listening intently for her to call my name. I got closer and closer to the end and still did not see her. Then, standing on the right, just 100 yards from the finish, Lisa was there, camera in hand, and I couldn't help but smile. (This picture is from her. I am the one in the bright yellow shorts) In all the pain and tiredness, there she stood cheering and waiving and holding up the camera. I ran by and focused on the finish. As I ran through the end gates I heard the yells and screams of the crowd and the slight hissing sound of the computers tracking all the incoming runners.

It finally felt good walking, and I walked through the end gates and stopped at the timing chip removal. It felt so good to stop moving and I could barely force myself to start moving again, until I could see the food tables. For a moment I had forgotten how hungry I was. I looked down at my ipod and it said that I had burned over 1800 calories. I could feel it, and I was ready to eat. I grabbed everything in sight, oranges, bagels, chocolate milk, bananas, and cookies. It was like a taste of heaven. I walked out of the food area with my goodies in hand, kissed Lisa, and was ready to sit down and never get back up.

The tale of two pictures

2008-03-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, Lisa and I have a deal. The deal is, when Lisa gets a puppy, I get a Porsche. I know what you are thinking, that is such a totally fair deal. Well, I think so too. While I continue along with my fantasy, Lisa just smiles and constantly reminds me that she doesn't really want a puppy, but in case she changes her mind, she says that we never actually made a deal.

Fast forward several months and I come home from school one day to find a little surprise on the desktop of our computer. There was the following picture:

Apparently this was a not so subtle hint of what Lisa wanted. This whole argument of not wanting a puppy is just a giant facade. Whenever we are out and about and Lisa sees a puppy, she grabs my arm and starts pointing. She also does this when she sees a baby, but that is another story. . .

. . .

So in response to this I used my mad Microsoft Paint skills and developed a response:

Needless to say, the desktop background changes constantly.

Welcome to our new Blog

2008-03-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I will try and post something exciting for everyone to read every week. If we do post something, we will let you know.

-Bryan