Welcome to the Land of Spare Oom

We moved a little while ago (okay...a long time ago...). Here are some pictures of our new home:

I know it looks creepy ... but I promise it's fine.

Please, come in.

Just inside the door.

We love our (old) new washing machine!

The kitchen.

I had to make some new curtains. Do you like them?

Our wishwasher...

...thanks everyone for the
great Christmas present!

A view of the living room from the kitchen.

Our lovely rug - the one spot of "carpet" in the whole apartment. The rest of the flooring is linoleum.

We also got a new entertainment center.

 Let's take a step outside to the patio - it almost doubles our square footage!

Our room.

The hallway. Hope you don't get too tired walking from one room to the other.

To the right, you will see the bathroom...

..and one of the billion poufs that I now own.

And finally ... the spare oom...

It may look like just an extra room where we store all our stuff (and our guests) but...if you walk through that closet, you might just find Narnia.

Well, that ends the tour of our "new" home. Hope to see you again soon!

I've Been Xeroxed

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I finally got a job! (For those of you who have heard, here is my looooong-promised post about my new job.)

I was originally hired to work for ACS, A Xerox Company, a company that, among other things, provides contract work for government agencies. I was hired to work on the newly-acquired Medi-Cal contract (California's Medicaid program).

Now here's the surprise: I am a web analyst. You guessed it - I sit in my cubicle, hunched over my desk, refreshing websites and occasionally yelling "los links!"

Actually, I usually just write/edit/post articles and documents on the Medi-Cal website. I'm learning all sorts of interesting things about web writing, including JavaScript and CSS (which happens to be my favorite so far). If you would like to see a sample of something that I have created at work, you can view the CDP: EWC tutorial, which I designed and wrote (the script, not the actual content). (FYI, the Web page looks much better if you view it in Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.) It was fun to make! I guess that I should start vamping up our blog a little bit ...

Anyway, I was recently transferred over to Xerox, so if anyone ever asks you what I do, you can tell them that I am a web analyst hired by Xerox to work on the Medi-Cal contract with ACS, A Xerox Company. Is that confusing enough?

Here are some pictures of my work (sorry that I can't take any pictures inside the building):

The building that I work in is behind all those trees.

"The Ponds"

This is where I eat lunch.

It really looks much better in real life.

Ah, finally the building.

Casual Friday.

Have You Herb'd?

Did you ever wonder what happened to our herb garden? Well, wonder no longer!

Our cilantro and parsley grew wonderfully.

The oregano and basil, on the other hand, forgot to grow. I have a slight suspicion that they did not get enough sunlight (which is, apparently, important in plant growth). 

An example of some of the delicious food we cooked with the herbs that did grow. Yum!

The verdict from our experiment: fresh herbs are definitely delicious, but our small window sill garden was almost not quite worth the effort (or the money) it took to grow. We'll probably try it again when we have a larger window sill/more access to sunlight.

Love is a Strong Word

Are you surprised to see me on here again so soon? I certainly am.

Zac and I had our own personalized Valentine's Day this year. Rather than going on a date on the 14th, we decided to wait until the weekend (mainly so I wouldn't be stressed about my interview). I did, however, make a special Valentine's Day dinner on the actual day:

Q: Aren't you a little manly to be eating pink rice?

A: Why yes, yes I am.

That Friday, Zac planned a special date night. We decided not to go out to a fancy restaurant and went to Panda Express instead (yes, that is still one of my favorite places to eat--I'm not sick of it yet). Then, we went to a local Borders to ... read? no ... buy books? no ... do a scavenger hunt? yes! Zac picked some categories and we searched to find the best book for that category. Need some examples?

Category: Best book for Zac

Winner: Discover Your Inner Economist (I found that book, of course)

Category: Best book for Amanda

Winner: some book about making decisions 

Category: Weirdest

Winner: Cinderella Ate my Daughter

Category: Book Club Book

Winner: The Book Thief

Category: Dumbest book

Winner: Death by Rubber Ducky 

We had a really great time! (Go ahead and steal Zac's scavenger hunt idea. You know you want to.)

There was also a stake dance on Saturday that we went to. Here are some pictures of the dance:

Leaving for the stake's Valentine dance. 

At the Valentine's dance. There was a delicious chocolate fountain there, so we just had to "rest" every once in a while.

Needless to say, we had an awesome Valentine's day week this year!

And by popular demand, here is a picture of the dress that I made. Isn't it lovely?

The End of an Era

Zac and I went to Sacramento a few days ago to see the Jazz play. We had a great time, and there were even some other Jazz fans near us to help us cheer them on. Little did we know that we were watching Jerry Sloan's last win as the coach of the Utah Jazz - a few days after this game, Sloan announced his resignation. Sad day for Utah Jazz fans, especially for those who, like us, have only known Sloan as the coach. Had we known this was one of his last games, we would have tried to sneak onto the court to get a photo with him (ha ha). Hats off to Sloan for a fine 22 years as head coach. 

Here are some pictures of the night:

No, we didn't get nosebleeds, thanks for asking.

Warming up during halftime

Whoo! Jazz won!

 Thanks Amber for the excellent Christmas present.

The Twelve Days of the Holidays

So ... remember our awesome holiday poem from last year? Well, we decided to try our hand at again this year. A tradition, some may say. We're combining Christmas and Thanksgiving into the holidays, so hopefully you don't get confused. Here it goes ... (this year it's complete with pictures).

Think "Twelve Days of Christmas"

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

A new sister by the Christmas tree

A little cold, Zac?

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Too (many) family pictures 

(I love Zac's face in this one)

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Three rockers rocking

Trevor took the picture

Also, notice the snuggies (not product placement)

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

40 to 7

Go BYU!

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Five yup, yup, yup, yup, yups (ks, ks)

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Six below zero

The building where Zac asked me to marry him

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Seven swimmers swimming

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Eight diners toasting

Warning: the following photos may make you hungry.

My favorite holiday food. Hands down.

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Nine different yogurts

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Ten pins a-fallin'

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Eleven fighter planes

 

If it's holidays with the Lewi, you will likely see

Twelve dozen cookies

The ones Zac and I made by ourselves. Note the evil snowman.

Eleven fighter planes

Ten pins a-fallin'

Nine different yogurts

Eight diners toasting

Seven swimmers swimming

Six below zero

Five yup, yup, yup, yup, yups (ks ks)

 40 to 7

Three rockers rocking

Too (many) family pictures

One new sister by the Christmas tree

And one family trip around the world.

Story: what started off as an innocent attempt at finding a better backdrop for the family pictures turned into a fun-filled family vacation that was out of this world (sometimes literally). 

Come with me as we go on a magic ... rock ... ride.

Moral of the story: Photoshop is dangerous late at night.

Thanks everyone for helping to make our holidays great!

Ever heard of wearing shorts to a Christmas party? Zac did.

Thanks Julie Chubbuck for the picture.