Karen's Birthday

So, as many of you likely know, it was Karen's birthday on September 19th.  Here are a few pictures that document the festivities and gifts she received.

This picture shows the phone that we got about a month ago because her phone decided not to hold a battery charge any more.  Even after we put a brand new battery in, it didn't work, but this one is a champ.  Karen is a text queen now that she has a full keyboard.  You can even see her thanking me for the phone with a text she sent me seconds after the picture was taken.

It's a check!  I woke Karen up from a nap to open presents after I got home from work that day.  Her first gift was a card and generous check from good ole Grandpa Wit.  Thanks a bunch!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  We officially have it now and Karen had never seen it.  My parents decided that she needed to have it.  She has that look on her face because she's trying to find the best way to open the DVD, her favorite thing to do.

These are the bath salts that came along with the movie.  Karen had a cold and was trying to smell them, but the package was sealed and there was no scent.  Bummer.

Karen's friend Nicole bought Karen a High School Musical refrigerator magnet and a book for bread recipes.  That's a gift that keeps on giving.  Thanks Nicole!

This was a jawbreaker that Holly gave Karen.  The story goes that back in 7th grade they were sitting in the rear-facing back seat of a station wagon and Holly decided to experiment with her kissing skills on the jawbreaker.  Little did they realize, Holly's older brother was in the seat just behind her hearing the entire thing.  How embarrassing!

Next came my bag.  Flight of the Conchords season 1 on DVD.  She was a little excited about this one if you can't tell...  Here's my new favorite part:

This was in the bag too.  It's a chocolate bar from England that says, "It's not for girls!"  I thought she would like that.  I will let her eat it, don't worry.

These are gifts from Bath and Body Works.  It's a foot cream and super soft socks.  I asked her how the candy bar and foot stuff were related and she gave me this look.  She didn't get it.

This gift was something I came across at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  It's a laptop holder thingy.  It's perfect for working on the computer while on the couch or in bed or on the floor.  I figured it would be a gift for both of us because we watch LOST episodes laying in bed a lot.

Next we had cake and finished out the night with a dinner at Ingredient where we had two very tasty gourmet pizzas and then we were the last people in the world to go see "The Dark Knight" in theaters.  We both really liked it, the pizza and the movie.

In other news, I finally have my website up and running again so you can go check it out.  I have some cool sunflower pictures on there that I took recently.  You can find it under the Nature/Landscape tab of the website.

Other than that, everything is going well.  We both had a busy week at school with tests and papers due in almost every class.  Work has gotten a little more busy for me now that the Operations Manager has switched to a new person.  I'm taking a little more of the responsibility now because I have more working knowledge with the equipment than the current Manager.  It's a great opportunity.  I love telling people that I'm a photographer now.  So hurry up already and check out my website and email me if you need pictures taken.

Hoy, hoy, mighty Troy! Go, fight, win!

So, I am never really a "tag" person.  But, after experiencing Joel's and Amelia's "yearbook pictures" and reading Mary's high school tag...I just couldn't resist.  High school was a very dorky time for me, which can make for a rather amusing post.  Plus, Adam is still uploading pictures from my birthday (it's technically his turn to post, so he'll do that next).  So, here we go!

HIGH SCHOOL TAG!

1. Did you date someone from high school? Ryan Q. for a week.  Five days of which were spent trying to break up (I asked one of my friends to do it, but she forgot, so I thought we had broken up and he had no idea....so another friend took care of it....you gotta love 14 year olds dating!). I also ended up dating Kory F. for a long time without even realizing it.  Chris L. and I dated my junior year, but I thought Adam Buhler and I were going to date, so I broke up with him.  And, no...Adam and I did not date...he started dating another girl right after Chris and I broke up.  Tragic. Then, Kevin M. and I dated my junior and senior year.  Good times were had by all.

(The summer o' love...)

2. What kind of car did you drive? Blue '94 Corsica.  And my junior year I drove our 12 seater van.  That wasn't awkward to park at all...

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS? My friend Secily and I were freshmen at the time, staying late after school to audition as dancers for our school's talent show.  We were practicing the dance and random turns in a hallway, using the glass window on the door as a mirror.  As I was attempting to do a double turn, I totally fell into the glass, realized that though the lights were off, there was an entire classroom full of adults....all starting at me.  Not cool.

4. Were you a party animal? Yeah...no, not all.

5. Were you considered a flirt? I think I considered myself a flirt, but I doubt anyone else saw me in that way.  Keep in mind I had the same idea of flirting as third graders.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Band for two years, choir for four.  Good ol' Mr. Ubicaritas.

7. Were you a nerd? I didn't think I was, but yes, yes I was.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? I was on the dance team.....if that counts.

(from our "Thriller" dance for Homecoming...it was pretty sweet.  I think I watched MJ's music video 100 times to choreograph it just right!)

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Once for fighting (jjjjjjust kidding!).

10. Can you still sing the fight song? "Give three cheers for Old Topeka High, one, two, three - rah! rah! rah! Show that foe that we cannot deny victory! Team! Team! Let every Trojan son know we're behind the gun, til the battle is won.  So if we all pitch in another victory we'll win for Topeka High!" I can do that dance to it too if you ever want to see it.  Just let me know...

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. V. for teaching me the school fight song. Mr. H. for letting me get out of band and play office in his office.  Mr. E. for being so ridiculous and providing a many opportunities for us to mock him.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? Either by our lockers or in "the cave."  It was right by the side stairs and we had a perfect view of people falling down the stairs.  Beautiful.

13. School mascot? Trojan!

14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? We didn't have a formal homecoming dance.  My freshman year I "went" to the casual homecoming dance with Ryan Q. and that began the five days of trying to break up.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I enjoyed high school a lot, but I am glad to be done with it all.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? Meeting with my girls at Nico's house before....driving to the Expo and feeling like we were just watching a movie.  It was surreal.

17. Where did you go on your senior trip? The choir was supposed to go to D.C., but Mr. E. cancelled the trip due to terrorist activities (which didn't happen, btw).

18. Were you in any clubs? Technically, not really.  I was on Heritage Panel because I was LDS, but I had never been discriminated, so I didn't have any stories to share when we went to other schools.  But on Yearbook Club Photo Day, I was totally involved!  Spirit Club, Math Club (we had the coolest picture), treasurer of Frisbee Club, etc.

19. Have you gained some weight since then? Of course!

20. Who was your prom date? Kevin M. both years.  Our first after-prom picture looks like I'm pregnant (the year of the peasant shirts) and the next year we learned to spend the majority of the time at the blackjack tables, then spending our earnings at the prize table.  I got a hair dryer, computer speakers, and gift certificates for college. Not too shabby!

21. Good grades? Until I slept through AP Calculus, yes.

22. Did you ever ditch? Two times.  Two stories to go with them. 1. Sophomore year - After a band concert, we do nothing in band the next day.  Mr. H. gave us permission to leave and go to Anna's house for breakfast.  We left, ate breakfast, then drove back to school.  On our way back, we stopped at a four-way stop....and who was also stopped there?  Nicole's mom (Nicole was driving us in her car, by the way)!  Nicole tried to get away, but her mom followed us and caught us.  Her parents laughed about it and would say "busted!" any time she came into the room.  I told my parents who probably sat me down to explain the importance of honesty and attendance at school.  2. Senior year - Kevin was at KU, but came to Topeka to take me out to lunch one day (we had 25 minutes).  He called the front office, pretended to be my dad to excuse me from choir.  The office is used to my mom calling in, called my dad at work, told him someone had pretended to be him, and then called my mom.  The entire time, we were at Schlotzsky's having a grand old time.  When I got home, they let me know that they knew!  The best part?  Kevin apologizing to my dad that weekend and my dad reminding him that when he takes the bar, he would have to describe any times he had been dishonest and this would have to be on there (Funny thing - Kevin is now at Washburn, sees my dad all the time, and will be taking the bar later this year....).

23. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Now that I have stalking through Facebook, what's the point?

World Travelers

While we may not agree on the need for excessive amounts of throw pillows, Adam and I definitely agree on one thing - we like to travel.  We haven't done much, but we want to do more!  We've made lists of where we want to travel, and in true missionary style, have set goals and made plans to achieve those goals!  I would say we have been fairly successful so far in our life together.  It's been over a year since we've dated (then been engaged and married) and we've already taken a road trip to Utah, two roadtrips to Nauvoo (okay, so they don't count as much), a honeymoon in Chicago, a trip to Florida, and a cruise to the Bahamas.  Not too shabby!  It's a good thing we don't mind cutting out the little things (restaurants, movies, tv, etc.), because we enjoy the trips much more!  It looks like the next year will be just as exciting!  

This fall break, we are spending three jam-packed days in Utah.  The main purpose of our trip will be Adam taking pictures of Kevin's and Amy's wedding and reception in Salt Lake.  But, we are good with our time and will be able to see one sister, two sets of aunts and uncles, three mission companions, and one jewelry store (we need work done on my ring).  Not bad for just about 60 hours!

Over winter break, we will be marking one year of married bliss.  We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate, than to head over to the Bay and visit Grandpa Witt.  He was quite the traveler with Grandma and Uncle Louie, so we are looking forward to hearing about his adventures and having a few of our own.  Debbie and I got to spend a week with him last August before school started and it just wasn't enough!  Besides, Adam and Grandpa were roommates over Thanksgiving this past year, so I'm sure they'll want to catch up.

Our summer vacation wouldn't have been possible, were it not for my younger sisters' orthodontist work, college tuition bills, and my mom's new kitchen appliances.  Yes, my friends, my parents are paying for us to fly to England with frequent fliers.  We are so grateful and excited...we would not be able to afford this trip were it not for them!  Having seen Adam's mission, I can't wait to go back to mine and introduce him to everyone.  Plus, he's never been and I am quite the tour guide.

Since it will be a long time before we can cross the pond again, we decided to take a train over to Paris for a few days.  We're hoping to get by with Adam's French/Haitian...we'll let you know how that turns out.  The real excitement will be to see my Sister Margueritte (she goes by Alina Bertola now for some reason....not sure why....).  She and her hubby will come meet up with us.  Those boys have no idea what will happen!  Here's a little snapshot of our companionship:

So...that's our upcoming travel plans.  With Adam's new job he's able to take on lots of extra projects and make extra money, so we're hoping to use some of that for these adventures.  Or, my dad always tells us, "Two can eat as cheap as one if only one eats."  So, if things get tight, we'll just switch off weeks.  That should cut down our grocery bill!

And though we don't have the means or time yet, we've already started planning our next trips:

We had so much fun hanging out with these three (Finn's not in the picture), that we are hoping to make it out to Georgia before it gets washed away by more storms.  

And, what can be better than the Geeky Gees out in D.C.?!  We've already decided we'll take the train out to see them.  Cheaper, two stops in Chicago, and way more fun than airlines.  

Spring Break '10!

Any other travel ideas?

The New Job

So I started my new job on Monday and I feel like it's a really good fit.  Besides the usual, "Where does this go?", or, "Where do I find that?" stuff, I feel pretty comfortable with the demands of the new job.  For those of you who aren't on the up and up, I got a new job at University Photography as the Assistant to the Operations Manager.  Basically I'm there to keep the Operations Manager from having a stroke at an early age due to work induced stress.  I'm there to put camera and studio light kits together that we ship off to photographers across the country, charge batteries, fill out paper work, and general organization stuff.  I also have first dibs on whatever new assignments come our way and those do a very good job of compensating me for my time.  The best part of all of this is that I don't have to worry about taking a certain number of calls per day, or dealing with a difficult customer that thinks a lost order of shoes is the end of the world, or hearing a manager complain about how their back office printer won't print their daily reports.  I can deal with things in the realm of photography and understand just about everything that's going on.  Whatever I don't understand is explained to me or I just do my own personal research about the topic and become the expert myself.  The photography isn't the most creative but I still love it.

Speaking of photography, I recently took some engagement pictures and will be shooting the subsequent wedding on October 17th.  The wedding will be for Kevin Player and Amy Gowans in Salt Lake City, Utah.  You can check out one of my favorites here:  

I would normally post a link to my website but I've been trying to get some new features to work on it and it's temporarily down right now.  As soon as it's back up again I'll let you know so you can see some of the others pictures in the shoot as well.  Karen will be accompanying me out to Utah so we can see family and old mission friends that we haven't seen for what seems like forever.  It will be a great way to spend Fall break.  Well, my fight with technology today has exhausted me and I need to distance myself from a computer for the period of at least a good night's sleep.

Our new addition...

So, ever since we got married and moved into our apartment, we've been having issues with one thing - our stove.  Two of the burners on the stove wouldn't work (unless I blasted the gas, then got very close with a match...too dangerous for me).  The knob for the oven wasn't really attached, so at our first official "dinner party" as a married couple...what we thought was broiling, was actually warming at 125 degrees.  Let's just say dinner took a little longer that night!  We smelled gas a lot, so I called it into maintenance in February to check out.  They said it was fine.  Since then, it continues to be dodgy - the oven would only turn on half the time.  The gas would always turn on...just no heat.  Well, with my new bread-making hobby and my post-mission assertiveness, I decided to complain again to maintenance.  I called at 1:30 this afternoon and spoke with two people - both said they probably couldn't do anything about it.  They told me to wait for a call or call back in a week.  No promises.  I left the apartment at 2 to go to class.  Imagine my excitement when I get this text from Adam at 4:30..."WE HAVE A NEW STOVE!!!"  I freaked out, I was so excited.  It's a little thing to be excited about, but it's nice to now have appliances that aren't as old as our buildings (built after WWII, btw).  I'm sure it was even more exciting for Adam since he didn't know I had called it in.  It felt like Christmas!  This is definitely a blessing of being renters - we didn't have to pay a thing!  We'll enjoy it while we can!

In school news, Adam and I are quite bored.  After a crazy semester being engaged, an insane semester being newly married (we're still newlyweds!), and a relaxing summer...this semester is just not what we were expecting.  We're both taking classes that don't really peak our interests too much and so far, they haven't challenged us either.  No good.  As a result?  We do our assignments during other classes in order to stay awake.  Plus side?  We've been watching lots of LOST!