Thursday, November 20, 2008

Babysittin'

Last weekend Darrin and I agreed to babysit my two nieces, McKinley and Ireland. Darrin got really sick, so I was pretty much on my own. Good thing they are ANGELS or else I wouldn't have made it :). Seriously, I hope my children are as behaved as Ireland and McKinley! We had all kinds of fun! Here are some Pictures:
Sorry, I don't know how to rotate a vido. So, you'll have to crank your head to the side :).
We watched Movies...
And rode Tricycles...
And made cookies....Yummm...
And took a bath...
Mckinley scrubbed my feet...
And we went to church!

I had a lot of fun with the girls! Love you McKinley and Ireland!

Friday, November 14, 2008

I am grateful for my Best Friend!









What is his name: Darrin Craig Simon

How long have you been married: 9 Months, 14 days

How long did you date? Uhhh…I think everyone knows…haha...dated 4 weeks before we got engaged and then were engaged for 2 ½ Months

Who eats more sweets? Well I REALLY enjoy baking, so we both eat it  but since there are only two of us, there are always leftovers! Darrin has been really good about refusing them lately because “I’m making him fat”. So, I’ll just end up fat I guess. But hey, it just tastes SO good!

Whose parents do you see most? We try and make that pretty equal. Both of our parents are fairly close, so that’s great! For example, we are doing Thanksgiving with both families. We did that last year too. Let’s just say we get REALLY full!

Who said I love you first: We argued about this the other day…cause I really don’t think either of us know the answer. Haha. From what I remember he said it first because right after he said it I asked, “Have you ever told anyone that before?” His answer was “No”. 

Who is taller? Darrin who is 6’1”. I’m 5’5”. It’s a good thing he’s taller cause I like my heels!

Who is smarter? Hmmm…JK he is. He is extremely smart concerning anything business or marketing. That’s what he went to school for. He’s also great with computers and electronic stuff. And he’s usually up for learning more and I love that about him! For instance, he has learned how refinish wood floors, how to do crown molding, some electrical work, how to take up linoleum, he pushed our fridge back into the pantry and much more! WOW! What a handy man! But hey-I'm not dumb! I guess each of us are smart but with different stuff :)

Who does the laundry? I do. I guess I’ve never asked him to do it though. But I don’t mind doing laundry. At least I know my clothes are safe

Who does the dishes? I do. If I ask him to he’ll do it though. I think I’ll start asking more often because when he does do them he goes all out with doing the counters and backsplash too  he’s really good at it!

Who pays the bills? I usually pay the bills but he checks our online statement constantly making sure that we’re doing ok. And he’s the one that takes care of paying off the credit card.

His guilty pleasure? Computer games. I don’t know if it’s so guilty though…haha.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does. It just seems natural.

Who has more friends? How do I put this nicely…I do. No, I just keep in contact with my friends from high school and he doesn’t do much of that. Don’t get me wrong though, he has friends! Haha. And his brother’s are his really good friends and I think that’s great!

Who cooks dinner? I do. But he’s pretty much a pro at making sandwiches! And the past two nights he’s been making dinner with me. I love that!!! Plus, for my birthday he gave me a coupon for him to make a dinner of my choice, so I chose a Brazilian dinner (he served his mission in Brazil). So, that’s coming up. I’m VERY excited!.

Who is more stubborn? We both get pretty stubborn over various subjects. I wouldn’t say either of us are controlling, but at the same time, neither of us are push-overs. .

Who kissed who first? He kissed me. On our FIRST DATE! It’s funny because I DID NOT like our first kiss. I just felt like it was way too slow etc. I went to school the next day (cosmetology school) and told everyone that I really liked this guy but he was a bad kisser. They all gave me the advice to give him another chance because LOTS of first kisses aren’t magical. You’re both just too nervous. So, let’s just say I gave him LOTS more chances and we made up for the first kiss . But it’s funny because Darrin said he felt the same about our first kiss. Haha.

Who asked who out first? Well, we were on dates with different people when we sort of asked each other out. Haha. We were talking about our favorite foods and I said my favorite was Steak by far. But I mentioned that I’ve never prepared steak before. So, we agreed right then and there that we would cook a steak together. And that was our first date. We made steak, potatoes and veggis. It was a lot of fun!

Who proposed? He did-of course! We had made the decision together that we wanted to get married. After that we started looking at rings and found “the one”. He bought it right then and there because they were having a sale and it ended at the end of the day. So, I KNEW he had the ring and so it was gonna happen any time. But I told him that it HAD to be a surprise! I didn’t want to know when or how it was going to happen. I told him he had to be creative or I’d make him do it again . So, the day after we bought the ring, he proposed! I did NOT expect that! Haha. I expected him to wait at least a few days! I was at work (Sally Beauty Supply) when my dad called into my work. I was taken back by surprise because my dad hardly EVER calls me let alone at my work! He said that he and my mom were stranded downtown because they locked their keys in the car and he needed me to drive to their house and get their spare keys and then go save them. My dad never asks me for help so I thought, ‘this must be really serious!’. My dad said that they had tried everyone else and nobody could help them. So, I called my boss and asked if I could leave work to go save them. She said, “I guess. Just this once though!”. I went all the way to their house, got their keys and drove downtown where they said they would be. Darrin was waiting for me. I asked him where my parents were and he said that I’d see. We walked toward the temple and I thought he was going to do the “classic” proposal in front of the temple. But then we headed in a different direction. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building. When we went inside the Lewis family was playing the piano, guitar, flute and violin. Darrin asked me to dance. There were people all around watching us and my parents and his parents were video taping it and taking pictures. We danced in the center of the room and he told me that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He promised he’d always be there for me and he would always care for me. Then got down on one knee and popped the question. Everyone started clapping when he put the ring on! Then there were girls coming from everywhere wanting to see my ring. Haha. After that we had dinner at The Garden. Then went back to my apartment to find it spotless and roses on my table. It was perfect!

Who has more siblings? He does by far! He has 6 brothers and a sister. I have 3 sisters and a brother. He wins by 3.

What is your favorite thing about him? That statement sounds like it wants me to pick just one thing. That’s impossible! So, where to start? I LOVE his eyes. They are a greenish blue color and they are beautiful! I love how he tells me he loves me and how beautiful I am every single day! I love that we can get into the same TV series and wonder together, “What’s gonna happen?!?”. I LOVE that we can BLAST music together, sing at the top of our lungs! That started last Christmas season when “The little Drummer Boy” song came on in the car and we blasted it and we both busted out the “ba-rump bum bum bum”’s. haha. We still do it to this day sometimes and I LOVE those memories! I love that he tells me when he's frusterated. I love his creativity. I LOVE when we dance together! I love that we can read the scriptures together! He’s SO knowledgeable with the gospel and I feel comfortable asking him any questions that I have. I love when he lets me go shopping! I love when he thanks me for working so hard. I love his determination. I love that he’s so good with kids. I love that he can fix almost anything (in the house and even my bad attitudes). I love his hugs, his massages, his kisses and his caresses and so much more.

I love you Darrin! Thank you for blessing my life so much on a daily basis! Sometimes it hit’s me SO hard how much I really do love you and how grateful I am. And when that happens I just cannot express that emotion like I want to. When that happens I am overcome with gratitude. It’s just not possible to show or tell you how truly blessed I feel to be held in your arms, or to be kissed by those lips, to be blessed by your existence. Thank you.

Monday, November 10, 2008

New Toys







Last week I came across a BIG "FREE" sign and next to it were THREE Tricycles! I knew I had to have them! They are almost antique but still are in great working condition. So, I called Darrin up and told him that I had a surprise for him when I got home. He wouldn't be able to guess it for the life of him. haha.

Anyways, I didn't end up getting home until about 11:15pm and I told him to come outside with his eyes closed. TADA! Three tricycles right before his eyes and he said, "What the heck are those?!?" haha. We rode them around for a while until we were freezing. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures of us riding around so late at night having a BLAST!

The next day McKinley (my niece) came over and rode them with her mom. She rode them so well!

So, I know we don't have kids, so why should we have tricycles? Well, they're REALLY FUN! That's why! We might spiff one up and use it as decor, we'll see. Aren't they sweet though?!?

P.S. If anyone wants to come and play you're more than welcome :)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Scouts



Most of you know, but Darrin and I are Blazer scout leaders. That is eleven year olds. Anyway, to be honest, I wasn't quite sure why they called me. I know NOTHING about tying knots, first aid, and overnighters. I could teach them about how to get chicks, but unfortunately that's not in the cirriculum :).

It's a lot different from young women's! In young women's we work on personal progress once a month and we're on our own the rest of the time. In scouts, it's hard core work, work, work. Not really any time for play because you're too busy gettiing all the requirements done.

But last night I think we all had a great time. We worked on swimming requirements and everyone showed up (including someone new for the first time)! That was fantastic! While we were waiting for one of the boys and the other leader to show up, we played a guessing game. They were talking about various people's ages and I asked how old they thought Darrin and I were. They each had their guess for me: 35, 25, 38, 23, 40!!! Ahhhh! Do I really look that old? Haha. When we told them my true age they were shocked! When I was that age I guess I just though adults were OLD though :)

After we got the requirements passed off for swimming we just played around. Darrin and I organized a game of "Hands up Stands up". NOT ONE OF THEM KNEW WHAT THAT WAS!!! Can you believe it? Who doesn't know what hands up stands up is? Anyway, we had a lot of fun playing once we explained the rules.

On the way home, they were all talking about the election. I was SHOCKED at how knowledgable they were about it! They were discussing Sarah Palin, how young McCain's wife is (they said "did you know that his wife is like 20?!?")haha. And then they were talking about which states had whos votes, who they predicted to win etc. I was so impressed about how much they knew.

So, those were our highlights from scouts last night. What great boys! And most of them are so polite! These mini gentlemen that I can just tell that they're going on to do great things, be amazing missionaries and husbands someday.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sorry...False Alarm

Sorry guys, just after I posted that last post the server went down. Oops. Anyways, it's up and running now:) check it out! www.StrikingImageSalon.com

Monday, November 3, 2008

New Website Update



So, Darrin has been working really hard on the website and has made lots of improvements! Last week he even got a retail store up and running! I'm really impressed that he's done SO MUCH with it.
For those of you that don't know, he made me the site as a birthday surprise! It was the very first website he'd ever made and he learned how to do it on his own. I know, I know, he's pretty much amazing!
Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know about the brand new retail store! Free Shipping on orders over $50 (including the CHI), lowest price garantee, and 30 Day money back garantee! Check it out at
www.StrikingImageSalon.com to see what we've got!
The reason why we can offer such low prices is because I have been buying the product that's on sale so that I can sell it at what I would normally buy it for. Also, if there is a product that you don't see on the site but want, I can still get it for you. Go to the contact us page and let me know what it is you want!

We currently carry products from: Paul Mitchell, Joico, RETRO Hair, Redken, Matrix, Wella, Sebastian, American Crew, Bed Head, CHI, and Pureology.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Our Halloween






The first pictures are of our friends Shane and Mel Otvos. They rent our basement. Aren't their costumes fantastic?!?

For our Halloween my brother in law, Brady, came over because his wife had to work until 3am. So, we hung out at our place and had a lot of fun.

First, we made dry ice root beer as you can see from the pictures. I swear that thing fogged and bubbled for about four hours! It was pretty cool. And then we watched the latest episode of the office (awesome), then Ellen Degeneres: Here and Now (Hillarious!!!) and then we watched Swimfan (We all thought it was pretty good. Kinda freaky though! haha)I know,I know, lots of movies!But hey you've got to have a movie-a-thon once in a while, right?

So then we played the game Farckle (if you haven't played it you should!!! Darrin won) and then played yatzee (I won!)After that we watched Run Fatboy Run (British movie-therefore was a bit crued but good).

Needless to say I was exhausted after that and so I went to bed (1:30am) and they stayed up and played computer games until 4am. We ate tons of candy and it was a great Halloween! Oh, and we had way more tick or treaters than we thought we would! That was fun to see all of their costumes! Overall I thought it was a fantastic Halloween.

Oh, and the picture of me, Marta and Amanda was at girls night earlier this month. FYI. It was a lot of fun!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Things I Love!
I have never done a Tag before. Nobody has ever tagged me :(. But my friend Sarah tagged "Anyone". So, I took that as an opportunity :)

8 T.V. Shows I love to watch:

1. The Office
2. Prison Break
3. The Price is Right
4. The Unit
5. Heroes
6. 24
7. Smallville
8. Alias

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Ruby Tuesdays
2. Olive Garden
3. Cafe Rio
4. Stella's
5. Noodles & Co.
6. Ruby River Steakhouse (even though I can't have steak anymore :((()
7. Shanghai Cafe
8. Anywhere as long as it's out!

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

1. Woke up
2. Had my first client at 9:30-Perm
3. Came into the office to tell Darrin about how my appointment went (this is a routine now. An advantage of having Darrin home with me :) I'm pretty sure he's an expert on hair now!!!)
4. Worked on the computer (advertising, facebook, email, blogging etc)
5. Made Dinner (chicken enchaladas. yum!)
6. Took off my nailpolish
7. Took a bath
8. Ate my home made apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream

8 Things I look Forward to:

1. Celine Dion's concert (We're going on Nov. 21!)
2. Twighlight movie to come out (also on the 21st!)
3. Christmas
4. Girl's nights
5. My first anniversary
6. Having a steady income (maybe someday?...)
7. Having a family
8. Thanksgiving

8 Things I love about Fall:

1. Fall Colors (including hair colors)
2. The crisp air
3. Not too hot, not too cold
4. Looking forward to the holidays
5. Wearing thick winter socks
6. Getting out the long sleeved shirts and sweaters
7. Cuddling with Darrin (and not sticking together:))
8. Getting to start wearing hats and scarves but it's not so cold that they don't do anything

8 Things On My Wish List:

1. Audrey Hepburn movies
2. Build up a full clientelle
3. To get all the remodeling and decorating done in the house
4. My hubby to make me a Brazillian Dinner
5. To not be allergic to my wedding ring!!!
6. Clothes (I can NEVER have too many!)
7. Money
8. New Bra

People I Tag: Marta, Amanda, and ANYONE else!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

What was the #1 Hit Song the day you were born?

I saw this on my friends blog and I thought it was really cool! Go to

http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

to see what song was the #1 the day you were born. Mine is "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns 'n Roses. AAAWWWWW Cute huh? Darrin's was "Missing You" by John Waite. Let me know what yours was!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Neighborhood Watch



Ok, seriously, who would have thought it would happen again! Darrin caught TWO kids last night breaking into cars in our neighborhood. Again, at 3:30am! Different kids. Darrin is litteraly our neighborhood watch. He's caught 3 kids now! He came into our room (I was obviously sleeping) and told me the story afterward. I couldn't believe it! He's amazing :) He did not bring a weapon of any kind this time either. He was in too much of a hurry. But he did bring his cell phone and was able to call the police. They didn't show up in time, but hey, if they ever come back we'll get 'em!

Murder Mysery Dinner Party






We got together with the Simon family and did a murder mystery dinner party. If you've never done one, I highly suggest it! You can even find free ones on the internet. My sister in Law, Melissa spent many hours preparing to have it at her place. Thank you Melissa!!! Darrin was a famous country singer cowboy (BillyBob Joe) and I was the WINNER of World Idol (Like American Idol but the whole world-ya know?) and I think my name was Keeley? Anyways, we all dressed up like our characters and it was a lot of fun! And I would like you all to know that my husband and I are NOT murderers! Yay! Below are some pictures of the night. Those witch fingers were made by my sister in law, Tamara. She's super talented in the cooking and baking department! Seriously, look at those things! They looked discusting (they were supposed to obviously) but they did taste good. I was a little afraid to eat them though due to the fact that she might have gone to the extent of putting a candy cane in the middle to be the bone or something!!! Luckily, she didn't :)

My New Red Hair!





So, I decided that since I'm a hair dresser then I should be adventurous and try being a RED head. I feel like the Pictures really don't do it justice. It's REALLY red! The longer I have it, the more I'm liking it! It's fun for a change! I asked Darrin if he liked it better blonde or red and he said, "Change is good". That's all I got. So, there you have it!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Park City Getaway

A while ago Darrin and I went to one of those 90 minute time share things. If you don't know what they are, you go to a 90 minute shpeil about buying a $15,000 time share and they are so sure that they will convince you to buy one that even if you don't, they give you a free vacation. Needless to say, we were broke and in dire need of a vacation. Who isn't? So, we went, listened to them and then we got our free vacation. Unfortunately, since I'm not 21, we had a small selection of vacations to choose from. We chose Park City. Included in the package was: a 2 night stay at a hotel (we didn't know what hotel), a $100 gift card to the Olive Garden, and a $25 gas card. Our arrival date was October the 6th and departure was October the 8th. When we were planning the trip the Sunday before, we discovered that the closest Olive Garden was about 40 miles away, a lot of events were closed, the pool at the hotel was under construction, and we are broke! (we didn't need to do much research to discover that though :)) On Monday we went to eat at the Olive Garden before we drove to the hotel which was actually in Heber. Close enough to Park City. When we got to our room at the hotel, the walls were bare except for a big bug on the wall. And the fridge and microwave were as mini as they come. But hey, it had cable:). The next day (Tuesday) was our day to go on the Alpine Slide. We've both been before, but it's probably been 12 years or so for both of us. We were worried that it would be freezing, but it was a gorgeous day! As we drove to our destination, we were able to see the beautiful mountains up close that were full of fall colored trees. We got there only to find a ghost town. We saw no one! We were bummed that it was probably closed, but we went to check anyway. To our surprise, it was open! With literally only 4 people other than ourselves. It was the PERFECT time to go! Take a note of that for future reference. We took the ski lift up to the ride and it was so wonderful looking at God's beautiful creations and the warm colors of the season. Once we got to the top, it was time to go down, down, down...FAST! We did not expect how spectacular the alpine slide was! You can go REALLY FAST! As I was going down,there were lots and lots of grasshoppers on the track that were flying into my face. And then, I almost squished a squirrel that was running across the track. That part wasn't too fun. Funny though. And we were both screaming the whole way down. We really enjoyed it. After that we decided to do the tramoline thing. Darrin is amazing on the trampoline, so I wanted to see what he could do with strings attatched. We both really enjoyed that too except for the fact that it was exhausting. We needed the workout though :) We went to historic Main Street after that and it was fun to see all the shops. We ate dinner that night at a Chinese Kitchen restaurant that we don't know how to pronounce the name of. It was delicious! We saw the movie "Eagle Eye" after eating dinner and then we went back to the hotel for a nice nights rest. So, that was our trip:) Overall it was a very nice getaway that didn't cost much at all!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Darrin the Brave...and a bit stupid

To start the story off, this last Thursday our renter's car got broken into for the second time. Well, not exactly broken into. But that's a story I'll get to after I tell you about the first time their car got broken into.
A while ago, when their car was parked on the street, his car got broken into, glass shattered, and his whole A/C and stereo unit was taken. Nicely and neatly done though. Not torn out, but unscrewed. How very kind of them.
They were very worried about it happening again and we felt sorry for them. And that's when we let them park their cars in the driveway so it wouldn't happen again.
Then on Thursday morning, after Melanie (the wife) had left for work, his car got robbed I guess you could say. They didn't have to break in because one of the back doors were accidentally left unlocked. So I guess that they checked all the doors to see if it were unlocked first. Everything was torn out of his glove box and scattered. But Shane (the husband) said that all they were able to take that was of any value was a small baggie full of change.
That same morning, Darrin and I walked out the door at about 8:30am and there was a gym bag just sitting on our porch. A blue speedo gym bag. We had no idea who's it was. Darrin opened it to find just that, extremely sweaty gym attire. After Shane told us that his car had been gotten into, we kind of assumed that it was the gym bag of whoever got into his car. That they were in too much of a hurry to remember it. However, there was nothing in the bag to identify whoever the bag belongs to.
All of this information is leading up to the story I'm about to tell of Darrin the Brave...and Stupid. Another side note is that we keep our bedroom window open pretty much all of the time to keep cooler air flowing through the house.

I headed to bed at about 11:30 last night. Darrin couldn't sleep and so he went into his office to work some more on my website. Nothing unusual, right? Until I woke abruptly to the sound of LOUD yelling and screaming coming from what sounded like the elementary school right by our home. It was 3:30am. I am sure I wasn't the only one to be awakened by it. Voices yelling "what do you think you're doing?", "What are you doing here?", "Get back here", etc.
I immediately sat up and my heart was beating a million miles an hour. I yelled Darrin's name to the office. No answer. I called his phone. It was sitting right next to me on the bedside table. I ran to the office. Darrin wasn't there. And the front door was open. You can't imagine the racing thoughts I had. I thought that he was in a fight with some guy, that someone would have a gun, or a knife. That he would be killed. I didn't know what to do. Just as I was about to call the police, Darrin came stomping through the front door.
As it turns out, he heard a little sound, not sure where it was coming from and looked out the front window to see if he could see anything. Sure enough, there was a punk who was just getting done with our neighbors car (Darrin couldn't tell if he'd managed to break into it or not), and he was headed to our car. So, Darrin's first impression was to go after the kid. WITH NO CELL PHONE, NO FORM OF PROTECTION, AND NO TELLING HIS WIFE! Anyway, so he chases this kid into the school parking lot and through the grounds yelling these things I had woke to. And the kid was yelling back, "I'm sorry man...I SCREWED (using a different, four letter word) UP!!" and kept repeating himself.
When I heard stomping footsteps coming toward our house, I was waiting there more terrified than I think I have EVER been in my life. What if it was the other guy? What would I do? Scared out of my pants, Darrin comes through that front door and says, "I sure scared him!" I was so happy to see him, but at the same time I wanted to SMACK him! How stupid could he be? He had no idea what this kid had on him. Why didn't he bring his cell phone? Or just call the police?

Needless to say, I was glad he made it safe. It took me a LONG time to get back to sleep after that. Racing thoughts kept racing. Darrin said it was just some dumb high school kid, but those dumb high school kids can still be dangerous, right?
Shane came running up the stairs after Darrin got home wondering what on earth was going on. He woke abruptly to the yelling and screaming too. After Darrin told him, I believe that he called the police and now they will be patrolling around our house at about 3:30. Thank goodness.
But everyone is safe and sound and let's just hope that kid never comes back.

I love you Darrin! And I never knew you were so brave! Now that's a man! Just DON'T DO IT AGAIN!

Friday, September 26, 2008