"Keepin it real"

Or whatever? I've seen a lot of "keepin it real" post lately. I've had some very opinionated opinions on the subject matter. Just thought I'd keep it real for ya!

Lorism part deux

"stop trying to goat me!"

HA! I found this with a date of 3/25/09. I must have forgot to hit publish. But I do remember the night I said it.

Classic!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

I have a nerdy side. I know what your thinking.

Lori, aren't all your sides nerdy?

While I would answer, NO!

I am very. Very. Cool. On the inside at least.

But the nerdy side of me. Well...it loves Taylor Swift! Like...hard. Mad. Crushing. A few months ago I bought her second CD. Come to find out it didn't have my favorite song of hers on it. So I went and bought the other one. Honestly, I can't remember the last CD I bought. (I'm kind of an itunes junky.) Then I go and buy two. Of the same artist no less. Now I go around blasting it in the car, and singing along like its no ones business. Cause its not. Well except maybe my kids cause they have to hear me, and know I guess I kind of made it yours too. But other than that...

Then for Christmas we got it! Band Hero. We already had all the instruments because it compatible with rock band. But it comes with 3 Taylor swift songs. So one night I told my husband I wanted to try something out. I wanted to sing, and play the guitar. So we got out his mic head set, and I sang while I played. It was awesome! Fun along the same lines as giving a fake acceptance speech, or interview, or blasting the radio and dancing in your living room because nobodies watching. Kind of like that. But much more fun!
See... I told ya. Totally nerdy.

Its okay, I'm totally comfortable with my nerd-ulinity.

A day that will live in infamy

Richard said I shouldn't title my post that. Since when is he politically correct???

I figured anyone who would be offended by the title of my post has long past away or probably isn't reading my blog anyways.

Plus I really need to make fun of the fact that we got married on a day that is remembered as one of the worst in the history of our nation.

If your lost, sorry. Let me clue you in.

It's a little overdue but I'm posting about our 8th wedding anniversary. Probably not much of a clue. But we were married on December 7th. If your still lost...well sorry I can't help you there. The title should have already given it away.

On with the story.

Watch out now... because we celebrated by waking up early! I took are kids to my Mom's where they stayed all day (sort of). Richard headed out to the grocery store. When are paths crossed again we got ready for a day on the town.

First stop...Crossroads of the west gun show. That was a hoot and a half. If you've been to one you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't then you should count your blessings.

After a few hours, yes hours of looking at guns and things. When I say things I mean people. It was one of the most interesting places to people watch. Ever! It was like nothing I had ever seen. In real life anyways.

Since I was patient and such. By such I mean I suffered my very first case of claustrophobia. Never had it before, and it was a bit awesome. Not really. Richard decided to reward me by taking me to my very most favorite place in all of Arizona. Old town Glendale. We browsed the antique shops where I picked up some very cool things. Then we headed to where we dined on the best German food This side of the Atlantic.
I won't give you a review today. This post is already long enough. After lunch we did a whole lot of other very boring things before we took our own family pictures. I think they turned out quite nicely all things considered.

Since this post is supposed to be about my wedding anniversary I wanted to share some things I love about my hubby.

• When hes sick he puts on a sweatshirt with a hood. Hood up.
  

I love him more than anything. But sometimes he makes me maz-at-zal. You probably won't get the reference if you didn't live in Phoenix during the 90's. Even still you might not.

He can make me laugh harder than anyone. Even when I'm maz-at-zal. Sometimes I really just want to be...well you know.

He is brilliant! I'm not just making that up.

He can beat 40 lines in under 2min 30sec. While I can't even get under 3.

He's my biggest photography fan. At first not so much. Now he's honest, encouraging, and my biggest cheerleader.

He is a great missionary. Well maybe not the traditional kind. But he was recently called to be a ward missionary, and really enjoys it. Cough***when he's able to go*** Cough.

I think hes the hottest guy on the planet. I really do!

A good thanksgiving memory

To read it you'll have to visit my photography blog! Should have subscribed by now. It's a good one. Or at least I think so.

Richard makes dinner

Oh, you didn't know? Well he does. Every Monday night. He declared it, Richard makes dinner night. He always tries to find something new to make, and so far it's all been very yummy.Some of the things he's made includes

• Carnita taco's


• Mongolian beef


• Chili from scratch


• and this week's pulled pork sandwich's

I'm a horrible food photographer, and give no justice to this yummy sandwich.

We were there too!

Jaren is a very good swimmer. He goes all over the place, and even worked up the nerve to jump off the waterfall. Were working on the nose plugging thing. Trying to break him of it that is. Here he is jumping off the waterfall at the Rolfe's

Here he is at Papa & Nana'sYes, I was actually there. My hubby thought it would be funny to take a picture of me when I wasn't looking. Lucky for all of us you can't actually see my body.

My birthday

I had a very wonderful birthday this year! The best I remember in a long time. I was woken at 6:45a.m. to a SURPRISE from Jace, and a bowl of captain crunch from Jaren. Along with 3 cards from him. I had a wonderful blog post from my husband, and lots of comments from the blog, and facebook. The rest of the morning was pretty hum drum. I worked on some photography stuff. Then started to get ready to go out. My sister babysat for my birthday, and Richard and I went to the temple with the Mortenson's and the Kobel's. It was a real treat to have two of my best friends there, and dinner afterwards was fun. It felt like old times.

First things first...

Don't think I forgot. I promise I didn't. In fact I picked a winner Wednesday night but didn't have time to post until now. Random.org picked #5. That's the Stevenson's. Congratulations! You will have to call me to set up your custom portrait session. Thanks to everyone else for supporting me and my button! I will do more, I promise. I'm thinking like 1 a month, maybe. It's a bit hot right now, and picture taking has slowed down a bit. Which it to be expected, and a good thing because we have a lot going on.

My handsome, handsome husband had surgery on his shoulder yesterday. Thank you to Abby for watching the kids, and my visiting teachers (who don't even read this blog) for bringing us dinner. It was delicious. I have been busy, busy taking care of everyone, and the house. We also only have one car right now, since Richard's truck in in the shop being repaired and painted. Black of all things. But the timing is great since he can't drive for at least 10 days anyways. He said since I've taken such good care of him he didn't care if I posted pictures. I thought I better do it quick before the pain meds wear off, and he changes his mind.

This pictures is appropriately named, He's got legs. I don't know why their always songs? Still fun none the less. He has to wear these very fashionable socks, Jealous??? We left one at the hospital so I picked him up the calf version when I picked up his pain meds. They are to keep circulation going since he won't be up and around very much for the next few days.
He has actually been a great patient,and I have enjoyed taking care of him. At least he didn't hit on any nurses this time. Oh yes, I would have been mad but the lady was in her early 50's, and I knew it was partly because of the pain meds. You see my husband is hilarious when he's drunk. Although I'm glad he's not often. He also has to sleep sitting up, hence the stack of pillows on our bed.Yes, we pulled them out of the closet late last night, and were to lazy to put pillow cases on them.Hope your not mad when you sober up. Love ya,

Lori's Birthday

Today is Lori's birthday. She is turning 25 for the fourth time. In celebration, I've created this blog post in her honor. Please enjoy responsibly...

28. You can't spell. It's okay though. Even though I may pretend otherwise, it makes me feel important when you ask me how to spell things.

27. You are a fan of food. All kinds. In fact, the only thing I ever recall you saying you don't like is American Cheese. I'm pretty sure this makes you a Communist, but I would flee to Cuba with you if necessary. I like Cuban Food anyway...

26. Also, you love plain pan fried pork chops. Skillet and pork chop only. That's just silly...

25. Your head bobbles when you're thinking about something. I noticed this for the first time when I used to watch you walk to your car after class before we had even formally met. It wasn't until later that I connected this with when you were immersed in deep thoughts. Now, I know not to ask you what you're thinking about when your head is bobbling unless I have some time.

24. You used to make me pink chicken when we were first together.

23. Now, you are an excellent cook. You make absolutely amazing meals.

22. Despite that last one, you love to eat at restaurants. However, it's very hard to sway you from cooking at home. I have to take the extraordinary step of suggesting that we eat out.

21. Since I've met you, here are the jobs you have wanted: Teacher, Cosmetologist, Nurse, Actress.

20. You can't stand surprises. You've already read this post even though I delayed it until your actual birthday.

19. You love taking Facebook quizzes and are according to the Facebook "experts" a) 97% Black and b) most compatible with Robert Pattinson (although you admittedly rigged the last one to come out this way).

18. You drove a Geo Prism when we met. I still have to hear about the fact that I demolished it every time I bring this up.

17. You like cheesy girl books designed for the teenage crowd (*cough* Twilight...).

16. You made me go through the Taco Bell drive-thru on the way home from our wedding reception.

15. In said drive-thru, you sneezed on our wedding cake rendering it useless for the 1 year anniversary eating gross old frozen cake ritual. I'm actually kind of thankful for that one.

14. You love tulips, especially pink ones, but will settle for calla lilies.

13. Your favorite movie before Twilight was Hope Floats. When I'm not at home for the night, you like to sit and watch girly movies.

12. You once cried at a ProActiv commercial while pregnant.

11. You have what I call "Lori-isms" fairly frequently. Examples: "If I was alone, who would I be with?" "If you went that way, it would be on your way."

10. You are really blossoming as a photographer. You still make me look at all your favorite pictures, and don't get mad when I give my "honest" opinion.

9. You are much smarter than you think. All you've ever needed was a little determination and push.

8. You have to be the most tolerant person in the world. You'd have to be to stick with me for this long.

7. Along the same lines, you have this gift of being able to befriend just about anyone.

6. You are a stellar mom. Our kids are very spoiled and privileged to have you.

5. You smell good. Seriously, sniff her next time you see her.

4. You are a closet singer. You like to belt out random songs at opportune moments.

3. You like to ask me questions that I could never legitimately answer with a "No." For example, "Am I a good singer?" Absolutely...

2. While you insist that you don't like video-games, I once came home and caught you playing Halo for 4 hours...

1. You are singularly the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I love you.

Happy Birthday!

Richard

Our 24 hours

Or 22. But who's counting. I had previously arranged a night for the two of us to be by ourselves for Father's day. My Mom was so nice to watch the kids for us. I don't know if you guys know this, but looking after three boys is hard. (Please don't laugh if you have more than me. I will probably cry. I have two sisters, so three boys was never even in my wildest dreams.) Especially when one of them is cranky and has a fever. Anyways back to the point. When I told my husband about my devious plot to have him all to myself he insisted we celebrate my birthday. I thought this was very sweet of him, and took him up on it. Mostly when he suggested we get massages. I have been asking him to do this with me for years. We crammed as much as we could into one day. Starting with the couples massage at Lavenders. Then we were off to Caramba's for some taco's. After that we did a little shopping. Then headed our little relaxed self's to see Transformers.

My short review- Lot's of funny banter.Too long. Too much action, not enough talking. Too many robots.

After the movie we went home and got ready for dinner. I felt young again when we went to dinner at 8:00 p.m. Don't laugh y'all. We are usually done with dinner by 5:30 max. We wanted to try something new but still stay close so we went to Vogue Bistro just down the street from our house. It was nice. Very expensive, and if for any reason at all we never go back that would probably be it. The food was good. I give it 3/5 stars. After dinner we went to Culver's which was still hoping after 9:00p.m. It was delicious, who knew something so good, was so close. After dessert we walked around Tar-jay. Picked up a couple of necessities and where home at the wee hours of 10:30. Oh wait, it gets better. We got to sleep in until 8:00 a.m. When I couldn't take it any more and had to get out of bed. Then I took my sweet little time getting ready for the day, and get this I wasn't interrupted one time. It was pure bliss!

My husband the father.

I love him, that I could never deny. He works very hard to provide for our family, and loves that I can stay home with our children. He tries to remember to read scriptures to his children and have praryer with them every night. He has grown a lot spiritually, and I'm sure will grow even more. As an extra bonus, he's really HOT! (Even though he doesn't like to smile for pictures.)

Dinner in Sedona

A before dinner shot. Pictures really don't do justice to the pretty landscape, and you are completely surrounded by it. Before dinner we also stopped by the Sedona Fudge shoppe. Don't act like you all could just walk right by it. We snagged us an after dinner snack!

Finally we were off to dinner.
We sat outside at the Cowboy Saloon. Where we were entertained by this guy. Until...
We also tried cactus fries. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Deep fried cactus. It was very... different.

Thanks for hanging in there. Stayed tuned for my last post about Sedona, and our afternoon in Jerome.

Our evening in SEDONA

Are you all dreading my series of post? It won't be that bad. But I can't promise it will be that entertaining either. So on with our evening. When we got up there we had to decide where we would lay our pretty little heads that night. We decided to stay at the Matterhorn inn. It didn't take us very long to decide since it was the cheapest by quite a bit. Not the classiest of places but we really didn't mind since we weren't going to actually be in the room for very long. So we got all our stuff in, and ventured out to all the shops. All within walking distance. Actually quite a bit was attached to our motel, and all of it was on the same strip. I will only tell you about the most exciting (well, exciting to us) places. First we went to Buck Thornton's beef jerky shop. Have you met my husband? This was He-a-ven for him. After much thought he decided on the Hot beef jerky and I, some prickly pear taffy. When in Sedona...After this we went to many of the little shops. After a while it all starts to turn into the same thing, and is very expensive. The running joke turned into "All I need is one." You guys remember that jack in the box commercial? It is one of my favorites, and something I quote when things are so expensive the place only needs one person to buy something.

This one was my favorite. It had real charm, and a real Indian. Which is still being debated here in the Calhoun home. Richard wanted to buy a sword that was on sale. But after deciding to sleep on it. He refrained. After some more walking, browsing the shops, and people watching. We decided to have our aura's read. Totally, something we would normally never waste money on, but it was so fun!

I can't get the pictures to scan right now. But mine was very accurate. I was blue-Indigo. It said I was loving, loyal, sensitive, helpful, a daydreamer. It goes on, and was all pretty right. We thought Richard might be more of a red but yellow-orange fits him too. His said, analytical thinker, creative, intelligent, scientific, detail orientated, perfectionist. I am a big believer in aura. You don't have to call it that. But you have to admit just by being in close proximity to someone you can get a pretty good read on them. I also think this is why I get stepped on a lot of the time. Most people don't have a hard time telling me how or what they really think. But Richard. . . not so much. Oh, sorry. Got off track. When I get back, dinner.

Sedona-introduction

Sorry, I am blogging about the whole time!!! I know I am such a big dork! But this was my first stop on the list of places I have never been. Now that I can cross it off of my list I can begin planning what's next. The VERY tentative plan is the Grand Canyon, East coast (including but not limited to New York), then the grand Daddy of them all will be Italy. I proposed this for our 10 year wedding anniversary. That would be less than 3 years away! We had better start saving and planning now.

Okay, so Thursday was a very busy day. Starting with taking my car to the body shop (a very long story, which I just realized is kind of crazy- funny and I have never shared on here). We got a rental car and it dawned on me that we should take this puppy for a spin, and my Mom had mentioned a while ago that it would be a good weekend for them to take the kids. So I very quickly planned a tiny get away. I picked Richard up from work on Friday afternoon. When we left we had absolutely no idea what we were going to do. Including where we were going to stay. This is so not like us. I'm usually a planner down to the last detail. Including time schedules. It was so nice to just be spontaneous. We only knew two things! We would not eat at one chain restaurant, and we were heading to Sedona. To tell you how bad my planning was. Neither of us even looked at a map. We were just going to follow the signs. Okay more details, and some pictures to come soon!

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is Richards birthday. So since the 25 random tag is going around. I decided to one for him. Except there's 28. I'm sure you can all figure out why.


1. You get your haircut every pay day.



2. You always order your Chinese food without mushrooms.



3. You do not like to hang your towels on the towel rack.



4. You have very little tolerance for lazy people.



5. You are very shy.



6. You are a very hard worker.



7. You love to play flag football. You have since I met you.



8. You love watching Auburn football.



9. When we first met. You had pimped out speakers in your car.



10. You also worked at Finish Line in the mall.



11. You have come a long way since that last one.



12. Whenever you assemble something there are always "spare parts".



13. You love to read.



14. You love to play video games.



15. You had a 3.9 GPA when you finished your Masters.



16. A 3.82 with your Bachelors.



17. If you couldn't tell by the last four. You are a closet nerd.



18. You are extremely competative.



19. You remember EVERYTHING!



20. When you leave the room you always turn the tv to food network for me.



21. You hate crowded places, and driving.



22. Your favorite Holiday is Thanksgiving.



23. You love jalapeno beef jerkey.



24. & Peach knee-hi.



25. You love to eat at new restaurants with me.



26. But insist on driving 30 minutes to eat at Lenny's at least once a month.



27. You give very thoughtfull gifts.



28. I love you more than you will ever know.

Catchin up on some scrappin!

Tate's first birthday!

Last Saturday we went to the park to have a waterballon fight. I was trying to get some pictures for an assignment. They didn't turn out exactly how I was hoping. But it didn't matter the kids had so much fun, and I still got some good ones!

Richards graduation party. Better late than never!

"Look at my husband, yall!"

What movie is that from? I know I am a little biased. But my husband looks so handsome in his new suit. This is the first time he has ever owned one, and I must say it suits him well! HA! I am so hilarious! This Sunday we gave talks in sacrament. So he had a chance to wear it. He wasn't excited about the pictures. It could have been the nerves. Or, the fact that he was sick. Still looks handsome to me. Plus he did a great job on his talk. His talk was on fasting. I love the spin he took on it. He learned that fasting is about serving. What a great concept! I never thought of it that way. I have always considered it more of a sacrifice. Knowing that it is serving makes it seems all that much more worth it to me!
p.s look at the black, and brown rug Richard got me for are living room! Great job honey. I love it!

Look what Richard got at work today!!!

A Michael Scott "World's Best Boss" mug, in jello. No, he did not buy the mug for himself.

Richards graduation par-ta!

Richard was a little reluctant to have a party. I think it was something about being the center of attention? But, he had a really great time. Just some of his closest friends, and some family. He even went as far as to tell me "I was a great hostess". Yeah, that's right me. It really was a great time, at least for us. I was thinking in the middle of it all. That I could do this every weekend. Just spend time with the people I love. Just talking, joking, laughing, rockin out on rock band. I didn't get a lot of pictures. I know (gasp)! I was to busy having fun. So lets see... Dinner was fabulous. Brandon did all the food. I had taken a picture, but it didn't turn out. Bummer, because not only was it sooo good, it was also very pretty. Anyways, here's the pretty table.Matt & Rachael doing the crossword puzzle. We also played I never. Which was a ton of fun. The prizes included Journey's greatest hits with some Hot Tamales, and The Will Farrell movie Kicking & Screaming. With a huge bag of Red Vines. All Richard approved material, and snacks.Tearing it up on Rock Band!That's right people the Konopaski's are in are ward now! So neener, neener, neener. Plus if you missed Chuck singing. You really missed out!The Phipps had to bail early. I don't know. .. something about kids to pick up. We sure do miss the best neighbors ever.