Merry Christmas

I know. Technically, I'm writing this in the wee-early morning hours of the day AFTER Christmas. Eric and I had a wonderful - but very long - Christmas.

I took my mom to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Santa visited our house at about 5:00 in the morning, leaving presents for me and Eric and, of course, the dogs.

We spent the morning at Eric's mom's house opening presents and having breakfast. The afternoon was spent at Eric's dad's house with the family and friends...that's always very nice.

We drove to Kamas to spend the evening with Richard and his kids and to give them the presents we had for them.

All in all, I had about 3 hours of sleep and now here I am working the graveyard shift and trying to find things to occupy my mind.

SO!

This leads me to the Friday night movies list for this week:
What to get your boss if you forgot his Christmas gift...or if what you gave isn't quite enough:

2010 movie trailers of movies I can see myself paying to see in the theater:

Shrek Forever After:

Alice in Wonderland:

Iron Man 2:


Finally: I hope you and yours had a happy Christmas.

I will add my favorite Christmas and December photos soon.

Friday Night Videos

I don't have many videos to add today, but here's what I found this week.

The Pink Glove Dance:
St Vincent Medical Center made this video for Breast Cancer Awareness.


Bob & Doug share their 12 Days of Christmas. I found this song last year and love that someone added animation to it.


Another song at the Holden residence in Lindon, Utah:


A Christmas montage...Can you guess every movie?


My favorite part of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie.

Growing Up

I've been learning to use Photoshop at work and in the practice, I've been using my own pictures. I scanned in several pictures from my childhood and then decided to see what I could do. Here they are:

My Great Grandma Flint:
Before:

After:

My Great Grandma Lisonbee with me and Sandy. We were about 18 months old, I guess.
Before: After:
My Great Grandpa Lisonbee with me and Sandy - the same day as the previous picture.
Before: After:
My brother's blessing day with my Great Grandpa and Grandma Lisonbee. I really like the way this one refurbished.
Before: After:
This is my single most FAVORITE pictures of me and Sandy. Love, love, love it!
Before: After:
This picture of me has some serious damage on it! I will continue to work on it, but here's what I have so far:
Before: After:
Such a cute picture of Sandy!
Before: After:
That's it for now, but I'm working on others of my siblings and hoping they turn out better, too.
I would appreciate any feedback! Thanks!

Friday Night Videos

This week's video finds:

This has to be one of the weirdest commercials EVER! I can't even fathom where it would have played, but here it is - and 'I feel great!' It makes me laugh.


What do you want for Christmas? Well, here's the perfect gift for the lady in your life. A gift that even Santa can't deliver. LOL!


I love to use photoshop to enhance my pictures. You know: fix lighting issues, adjust contrast, and 'hide' my unsightly blemishes. The person who used photoshop in this video has some serious talent and serious patience:


Still not sure what to give for Christmas? Check these new ideas out:


I posted this last year, and thought it would be nice to post it again:


A family in Lindon has been doing these lights for 4 years now. I've never seen the house, but I'm sure if you stop in Lindon, someone can point you in the right direction of the Holden house. This is from 2008:


Here's a story the news did on the house/family this year:

Friday in Morro Bay

The day after Thanksgiving, Eric and I joined Sandy, April and Elida on a little road trip to Morro Bay (north of Santa Barbara). It was a beautiful drive through some wine country where all the grape vines were the various shades of fall. (I didn't get any picture, which is a shame.)
It was cold and windy in Morro Bay, but it was beautiful. We went to a wonderful restaurant - the food was so fantastic, I had to get pictures:

After we enjoyed a magnificent meal, we enjoyed the cold sites of Morro Bay.
First, we crammed into Sandy's car to decide where to start our site seeing. This is one of the only pictures I have of Eric. Beautiful Morro Bay:
Sandy and I having some fun: I definitely recommend the journey to Morro Bay if you find yourself even remotely close by.

Thanksgiving in LA

Eric and I were so happy to fly to LA for our Thanksgiving holiday. We left SLC on Monday morning and spent the week in 70 degree weather. Yay!

On Wednesday Eric and I went to Elida's house and made pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. We also made some empanadas for dinner and took them back to Sandy and April's that evening. They were delicious, if I say so myself.

Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful sunny day...it was a wonderful contrast to what we are used to in SLC. Loved it! April made a perfect turkey - I mean PERFECT! We were happy to find that we had plenty of potatoes and gravy (LOL!).

Here are my favorite pictures through Thanksgiving:
Making the pumpkin pie filling: Me and Sandy: April preps the turkey: The table is set: Damon carves the turkey: Elida and Mason await the food. Mason has mastered the Lisonbee blank stare: The table is almost ready for the eating to begin. Mmmm, rolls: Did I mention that the turkey was really tasty? Cuz it was: Of course, after all that food comes the turkey stupor: Sandy and Elida: We ended the evening with some Phase 10...and we were begging to be put out of our misery by about Phase 6..but we made it all the way through. (note to self: Sandy is picking up a yellow two. That's a 'yellow two') Thanksgiving rocked! We just might have to do it again next year.

Friday Night Videos

Back again from vacation. I will post the rest of my favorite vacation pictures in the coming week.

In the mean time, here are the videos that captured my attention (if only for a brief moment).

Tee Hee Hee! My guilty pleasure. I can't help it! I just really like Masterpiece Theater! I always have and I'm looking forward to watching this in January:


Another one. I missed this because I was in California, but I'm hoping to catch a re-run of it:


I was planning on posting this prior to Thanksgiving, but here it is now. I just love it!


I think I posted this video last year, but I totally don't care. It's great!


Okay. Seriously!?!? Crazy technology! It's like we're living in a Star Trek world!


I loves me some U2. This is a great time lapse video of getting ready for the concert, the concert and then taking down the space ship:

There's nothing more to add. I mean, U2, has to end this, right? *sigh* I loves me some U2.

A Day Full of Activity

Eric and I are in California for Thanksgiving this year. Eric's mom is our house/dog sitter and the dogs love her. Yay, Kathy! Thank you. After a panic moment of realizing we hadn't given Kathy the keys, and she rushed back to the airport so that we could get them to her, Eric and I rushed to catch our flight. We were literally the LAST people on the plane. Yikes!~

We've never been away for the holidays before (both of our families are in Utah). My sisters live in LA and we wanted to spend Thanksgiving with them. We are being gracious hosts.

We flew out of SLC on Monday morning. It snowed the night before, so it was cold and beautiful in the morning light. Here are a couple of pics I took from the airplane window:
Elida and Mason picked us up from Long Beach Airport. We flew our favorite airline: Jet Blue. I think we beat the rush of Thanksgiving because there was an empty seat next to us. But it was a pretty full flight, just the same.

Elida and Mason took us to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was really nice and it was a wonderful sunny, warm day. Such a contrast to what we left in Utah.
Here are some of the pictures I captured:
Mason watching the fish Eric and Mason watch the fish swim by: I don't know what made him laugh, but I'm glad I got it: Elida being...Elida. LOL! Mason mesmerized by the sea lions: Elida and Mason: In the evening we took the dogs for a walk to the beach - yup! my sisters live TWO blocks from the beach. We got there just in time for an incredible sunset.

Friday Night Videos

Yay! Thanksgiving is upon us and I am excited to spend time with my sisters in California. It will be the first time Eric and I have been out there for a holiday since they moved there.

So I found some fun videos for tonight.

You may have seen this before, but I thought it was great!


With the passing of Michael Jackson, it seems everybody is trying to find ways to use Thriller in their every day lives. I, of course, remember when it came out originally and loved it. My brother can still dance most of the dance. LOL! It's fun to watch him.
The waiter in the middle seems to forget some of the moves during parts of the dance, which is too bad.


A cute little old couple playing the piano together at their anniversary:


Funny, funny prank in the ladies room.


Swim! Swim for your life, little penguin! Okay, so if I'm that little tiny boat, I don't know that I'd be sitting on the edge. I'd be freaking out!


I hear this video is circulating around a lot. I like watching the elk play in the puddle. It reminds me of a dog who first discovers the snow.


So, I'll try to post again while I'm on vacation, but here's a Happy Thanksgiving wish to all my friends and family!

My List of Things That Must Go

So X96, the radio station that Eric and I listen to on our way to work, has a feature called the "list of things that must go." This is where they list the things they'd like to see go...and the following week, they read what listeners have submitted.

I have never submitted my list because it is a long list. And maybe not the best entry to put in here in the month of November, but here goes anyway:

1. People who don't know me very well (and even some who do) who ask me: "when are you & Eric gonna have a family?" Uh, RUDE! We are a family. If your real question is: when are you going to have kids, well, it's not like you're asking me to go out and get a loaf of bread. What an incredibly rude question to ask. It's not like I ask you how often you and your spouse are having sex...so stay out of my bedroom and I'll stay out of yours.

2. People who tell me I should quit my 2nd job. It's a good job and I like it. It's none of your business why I work it and it's not for you to tell me to leave it. I'm shocked at how frequently people tell me, "You should quit that job." I don't understand it. Why do you care that I work a 2nd job? I've worked two jobs most of my adult life because I WANT to.

3. Diets. People who talk of nothing else. People who broadcast to the whole freaking world, every single little itsy bitsy thing they are doing to help them lose weight. News flash: I DON'T CARE! AND, on that note I really hate stupid little competitions at work; like: let's have a stair climbing competition. Count how many flights you climb and document it on this little chart here. Okay, how about NONE...no flights...happy?

4. Bicyclists who run stop signs and then glare at you when you almost hit them because you had right of way and surely they were going to stop at the STOP SIGN, right? Wrong! You are a moving vehicle and are held to the same traffic rules as the rest of us in moving vehicles.

5. Random paper cuts: I'm typing on the keyboard and suddenly I realize my thumb is a little tender, so I look at it and there's a little cut - looks like a paper cut - It's red, and a little swollen and there's a little bit of DRIED blood...so this did NOT JUST happen.....so I wonder, where was I when this happened? Did my brain just chose not to register that I'd cut myself?

6. Speaking of random injuries: Random bruises have also got to go! Have you ever been changing your clothes and there on your thigh or arm is this massive black and blue mark? What happened there? I checked out again!? How is it I don't remember that!? It looks like it had to be pretty painful, so why don't I remember? I seriously have a mental check-list in my head: did I walk into a table? Nope. Did I just decide to give myself a dead leg? I mean really! I need a new memory!

7. People who clear their throat with a cough but don't cover their mouth. Yuck! You do know what your clearing FROM YOUR THROAT, don't you?! I don't want that crap flying out freely in my direction! Grody! Cover up! If I wake up tomorrow with some new cold virus, I'll hunt you down!.....of course, I do have a poor memory, evidently, so I may not remember who passed the cold on to me.

Friday Night Videos

Another round of videos that have caught my attention.

RFH played this the other day on X96. I thought it was interesting to see how many movie clips I could identify:


I thought this was fake when I first saw this video of the Hoff. I used to LOVE Knight Rider - and as a 13 year old (or whatever age I was) I thought he was so cute (*swoon*).


Some kid made this video as part of his science project. I thought it was clever:


I never played Super Mario Brothers (parental restrictions) but this takes some mad skills!


Speaking of gaming, I don't play Guitar Hero very often (due to my vertigo), but I can love the game. This guy has some serious ability (and obviously has spent HOURS practicing)


Things to do when you're bored. LOL! At 4:00 in the morning, this stuff is hilarious!


Last, but definately NOT least, have you seen this??? I love the idea of it! Gaming with no controller! wow!

October Picture Review

October was an active month as we all tried to get in as much pre-winter activity as possible.
Driving downtown I spotted this wonderful sunset! I really wanted to be in a better location (like the Great Salt Lake) or high on a mountain. I took the shot because I take what I can get, sometimes.
I love when the lighting in the evening is just perfect for pictures. This day in Sugarhouse park was one of those days. I loved the blues of the water and the colors of the fall leaves.
And then this man sat down in the midst of various birds with his daughter to throw out bread. It was a perfect shot.
My dad and I went out to Antelope Island in hopes of finding some fun shots. We were very lucky to find several herds of buffalo along side the road. Usually they are way up high. It was a very reverent experience to watch the buffalo cross the road.
When the sun set, my dad and I were ready on the west side of the island. We were eaten by mosquitoes, but it was awesome to watch the blue waters turn to orange lava in the sunset. Beautiful!
Early in October, Eric and I went to the zoo with Evan, Kirsten and Chance. There is a baby elephant, baby giraffe and baby monkey. It was a beautiful day and we had fun watching the animals. It's been forever since I was there and Hogle Zoo has changed a lot!
The first snow "storm" didn't last long. It hit mostly the mountains. My coworker and I went out the parking lot in hopes of finding a fun picture moment. We caught this snow cloud coming off the mountain.
I didn't do much for Halloween this year, which is totally out of the norm for me. But I worked that night and didn't have time to do a lot. We had trick-or-treating at work and my nephew, Chance, joined in. He was so stinkin' cute! It was so fun to watch him.
My costume at work...not super original, but it was the only one from the group that was 'scary.'