vacay

We're back from San Jose and we had a great time (once we finally got there... yes, we were stuck in the airport during the blizzard)! Our vacation included delicious food, shopping, playing games, cutting down a christmas tree, seeing harry potter and spending time with family. Although it still felt cold there (in the 50's) i hear it was much warmer than Utah. Now that Thanksgiving is over, it means it's... moving week! I'm not ready! I feel stressed just thinking about it.

I hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving. I really feel so blessed and thankful for all of the many good things in my life!

TSO

Last week we went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I honestly had only heard a few of their songs, but I thought it would be a fun concert. We invited my parents because I knew my dad liked their music. We went to the show and it was crazy! haha... we had a good time though. When we walked in they even traded our tickets for better seats because the show was not sold out. We went to the matinee, so I don't know if the evening show was different. But we got great seats!

When you hear orchestra, you would think all of the music would just be instrumental. But they actually had singing too. I didn't love the singing (i swear one song was at least 10 min. long), but.... all of the instrumental songs were great. They really rocked out and got into it. There was even some headbanging going on! I was not sure if my parents would like it, but they both really did! My favorite parts were the Christmas songs with the cool pyrotechnics and lighting effects.

Here's a few pics from the show...

Cool lights!

During my favorite song (the one I have on the blog playlist)

They came out on these walkways that were right above our heads!

My parents have been telling my siblings about it and it sounds like everyone wants to go next year! Maybe it'll be a big family event next time. All of my brothers/brother-in-laws love electric guitar/rock music... so I think they would really enjoy the show a lot!

it may be a little early, but...

...the blog got a little winter makeover today.  I then decided to add music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra to my playlist because we are going to their concert in a few days!  I wanted to prepare myself :).  I've heard their show is awesome.  I can't wait!  I then proceeded to add more Christmas music to my playlist.  I know I have a million things to do before Christmas, but it's still fun to think about!  I even have all of my christmas gifts planned, I just need to go buy them :).  I also keep asking Dan to watch Elf with me, but he says we have to wait until after Thanksgiving.  At least he'll drink hot chocolate with me!  I just love this time of year!

weekend trip

This weekend we made a quick trip to St. George to get everything set up with our apartment down there.  It was in the 60's and sunny!  Then we came home to 40 degree weather.  Oh well, gives me something to look forward to!  However, I was slightly disappointed with the apartment.  It's not bad, but our condo is much nicer.  It's a little hard to leave something nice for something not quite as nice.  I keep having to remind myself that we are going for a great job which will help us get a really great house some day :).  And honestly, the apartment is not bad at all.  It's pretty much the same layout as our condo, just doesn't have all of the upgrades.  I am just too spoiled here, I guess!  I do like the little apartment community though.  The managers are great, they even gave us a cute little welcome bag w/ treats, toilet paper, and paper towels.  Plus the clubhouse always has free cookies and one of the pools is about 10 steps from my building.  It looked so fabulous!

See:

Pretty, huh?  My favorite part is the waterfall, which you can't really see.  I also love the palm trees!  If you are ever in St. George, you are welcome to swim at my house :).  I also decided the drive really isn't that bad.  I have a feeling we will be doing that drive a lot!

Oh and side note, while we were there I got to go to bath & body works to get my foamy soap and wall flowers!  Yay!

Lately

I went to work today!  Hooray!  The kids were so funny, they asked me questions like "Mrs. Deceuster, why were you sick?" and "Mrs. Deceuster, how did you get sick?"... etc...

Anyway, just thought I'd put up a post about what we are really up to.  As much fun as it is to blog about random things I want to buy, events I want to go to, and stores I love, it's time for a real update.

Let's see, we move in less than a month!  It's crazy because I feel like we haven't gotten anything done and we are not ready to leave yet.  But, we'll figure it out.  Lately we have been debating whether we want to hire movers to do all the work for us, or just get a truck and do it all ourselves.  My vote goes to movers, but still not sure if it's worth the price.

We found someone to live in our condo too!  We're actually having Dan's brother, Ethan, and his wife & baby live here.  It's quite a relief to have someone live here that we know and trust.

Dan has already started working for his new company.  He works from home and I can tell he is sick of being at home all the time.  He's a very social guy, so I think he is really looking forward to working in an office again.  He also spends lots of time on the phone trying to work things out with his co-workers in St. George.  It'll be much easier for him to work once we get down there.  But... I think he likes his new job.

As for my job, my last day is Friday.  I am excited and sad.  I will miss those cute kids, but there are some aspects of the job I will not miss.  The next two days will be spent training the new person.  Once I get to St. George I haven't decided what I'm going to do.  I will probably wait to look for a new job after the holidays. 

We are getting excited to move, but I will really miss being close to family and friends.  Luckily St. George is not too far away.  I will also miss Gap, Zupas, and Carrabbas... three places not in St. George.  I am however, looking forward to warmer weather, having a pool, and a change of scene.  It'll be an adventure, for sure.