Thanks G 2010

This year we were going to drive to Seattle to enjoy the holiday with friends and my sis, Krystle. Then the weather wagged it's snowy finger in our face and sent us south instead. Since mountain passes were closing, we decided to head to sunny Phoenix and hang with my awesome parents and cousins Alyssa & Kyle. So we hopped in the truck and made the 11 hour journey!

Here we are enjoying the "snow" every half hour at the mall in Gilbert. It was quite a festive atmosphere and only required a light jacket. Gotta love that AZ weather!
We were privileged to have a visit from Elvis!!
Here's Spencer and Mom as we walked to the park, there are a couple in the neighborhood. We had to walk off that delicious turkey, pie and strawberry fluff!
Here we are racing the boats, but the controls were interfering with each other...so basically we'll say I won!!
Family pic with the palms!
Knuckles was a great traveler; he stayed in his little bed and laid down. He would lift his little booty and shift his weight when we went around corners...cracked us up.
Hope every one had a great holiday, it's so nice to share it with loved ones!
PS we also braved the stores at 3am on black Friday...no major traumas or black eyes from the mobs and we even got a few things on our list!

Lopez Life Lately

Hello to my 2 fabulous blog fans out there!! I haven't updated lately because not a lot is going on. For the past 3 weeks I have been "working hard for the money" & putting lots of overtime and 12 hour work days in for new software implementation for the U of U Hospital. This week we have actually been using the software and there are lots of glitches and it will take time to get used to... but I am back to my regular work schedule at least... but there is hardly time for personal emails which is just plain wrong!! Paul kept up on most of the chores, dinner on my late nights. I'd make an occasional "list" for him... he's not so sure he likes being a house wife and definitely despises a "honey do list" --but I even drew boxes for him to be able to check off, who wouldn't love that?!?!! : )
On the Friday before Halloween, I wore a Boston Red Sox jersey to work...any excuse to wear jeans to work is fine by me! I only ran into one Yankees fan that I had to handle.
Knuckles told me he wanted to be a Ninja for Halloween and we went over to gramma and grampy Lopez's. I jumped up to pass out candy at every door knock to check out the costumes. My favorite of the night was a chubby cheerleader with pig tales...she reminded me of myself at 9 yrs old and she got some extra pieces of candy from me!! Little Ninja Knucks enjoyed his costume so much that I decided he likes clothes and his mama likes a good deal and is thrilled that TJ Maxx sells little pup clothes for only a few bucks!! He practically begs me to put him in his new sweater and it keeps him warm on these brisk fall nights.
He turns ONE soon---on either the 6th or the 9th...Hey, he was adopted don't judge me!! I'll have to find his paperwork so I can give him an extra raw hide for his B-day or I'll feel like a bad mom!Not that I obsess over my dog or anything!!! ..... October was full of work and hardly any play. I'm excited to enjoy the up coming holidays and looking forward to doing some crafting and treat making.
Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this blog to my dear dad, Roymundo Louise. He inspired me to update my blog by saying, "Hey! Update your blog, the St. Marten recap was so last September!!!!" Thanks dad, enjoy!!

St Marteen Vacay Sept. 2010

We all made it to St. Maarten in one piece with all of our luggage!! We got settled in and adjusted to the "island pace" there is a lot of waiting and many things that don't work on the island-and that is just how it is! The prices were high at restaurants and at the grocery stores. We tried to be savvy and purchased pancake mix, eggs, frozen pizzas and then went out to eat here and there too. On the 1st full day we went on a bus tour that took us through the French side and Dutch side in a quick over view. We stopped at Orient beach for an hour and one side is a nude beach and my mom was overly excited to see what that was about, but when it came down to it, we didn't venture "to the dark side!" There is one main road that circles the island and there are lots of hills and cliffs and crazy drivers. There are round-abouts and you just have to plow in there...no one lets anyone in-ever! Also, motorcycles just drive in the middle, between cars, whenever they want and there isn't much of a side walk, yet lots of peeps walking and narrow roads, so that's a fun game. We went on a sunset cruise around the island and there were fish jumping and a double rainbow--like scenes from a movie. It was beautiful and lots of fun! One day we rented jet skis. I didn't love it. You have to be balanced and plus there are waves and I was so afraid to fall off in the deep ocean. Paul says "Are you loving this?" screaming over the motor and I say " I am hating this." so he takes me to shore and goes on his own. Everyone kept pressuring me to try again, but it scared me to death...my arms hurt from grabbing Paul so tight and it was only for 5 mins. I can appreciate it-but its not for me. Since when did I become such a wuss??? One day my mom and Krystle went on a snorkeling tour and had a really great time seeing tons of fish. That day, me Paul and Katelyn and Jess went back to Orient Beach and rented a boogie board...I mostly just sat on it to avoid touching things!!! hahaha, but it really was fun, even thought I am afraid!! :) We took a bus to Phillipsberg-the Dutch capital. We walked around in the muggy air and everyone wanted to sell us t shirts and jewelry! We also took the bus to Maho Beach and watched the planes fly right over our heads!! Other than that we didn't make many structured plans. Lots of relaxing and swimming. This was definitely an adventure that I will cherish forever!!!
It was also my and Paul's 3rd anniversary while we were there--what a way to celebrate!!

Earl can't bring me down! Saint Maarten or bust!!

We are SAINT MAARTEN Bound this Friday!! We are staying at The Royal Palm and have major plans to sit on the beach daily, enjoy the slow island pace.

A little island background:
Saint Martin (French: Saint-Martin; Dutch: Sint Maarten) is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 186 miles east of Puerto Rico. It is divided roughly 60/40 between France (21 miles) and the Netherlands Antilles (16 miles);it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations, a division dating to 1648..

We will be staying on the DUTCH side. Beaches are a main attraction on the island of Saint Martin; it has 37 total. Beach Bars and Cafes are very popular attractions with over 300 restaurants offering exquisite cuisines with European and Caribbean inspiration.

We have been planning this trip for a year and knew it was in the middle of Hurricane season...how else do you think we could afford these flights?! We figured we'd take our chances with Mother Nature. Turns out, she sprung HURRICANE EARL (and possibly his little sister, Tropical Storm Fiona) on the Caribbean this week.

"On Monday 8/30/2010, Earl delivered a glancing blow to
several small Caribbean islands, tearing roofs off homes and
knocking out electricity to people in Anguilla, Antigua and
St. Maarten. In Puerto Rico, nearly 187,000 people were
without power and 60,000 without water, Cruise ships were diverted and flights canceled across the region. But there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries.
Islanders gathered to watch big waves pound the shore as the
wind sent sand and salt spray flying."

"The eye of Hurricane Earl passed 40 miles north of St. Maarten
- St. Martin in the morning hours of August 30th. The storm brought plenty of rain and strong winds, but did not cause any serious damage. Business, banks, the International Airport and other offices have reopened Tuesday at 12pm. Tropical Storm Fiona is expected to grace the island on Wednesday, but forecast wind speeds are modest and will
not create problems. Resorts and most business on the Dutch side are
running on generator power, as the local utility company has decided
not to restore service until Fiona has passed. Residents are not thrilled
about this policy."

**Roy & Merrie, Krystle, Katelyn, Jessy, Paul and I begin our adventure on Friday If big, burly Earl doesn't hold us captive at the airport. He is currently gunning for the east coast coast where we are all flying out of different cities at different times. I hope we can all make it and meet up with out too much travel havoc! (famous last words?)

SO STAY TUNED!! The following post will be of an extremely sad and stranded Kim OR of a relaxed and happy KIM that made it to St Maarten!!

Over The Weekend

This weekend was fabulous. We traded in our TrailBlazer for a Nissan Titan and we are loving it. The cab is spacious and there is plenty of room for our "someday" 4 wheeler. Paul has been wanting a truck for a long time and I was never convinced I was a truck person--well move over "Grave Digger" I am ready to rally our Titan through a flaming hoop and over 20 cars! This bad boy will make for some fun camping adventures. But I don't want to see any scratches or dirt on my new baby, so that could pose a problem!
Saturday night we went to the Harvest Days fireworks. We were sitting, chatting, waiting for the show....and all of the sudden it was a war zone! We all screamed and kind of ducked for cover as the fireworks were being launched about 20 yards from us. The fiery boom was enough to make my nieces and nephews huddle up together and Knuckles climb up my face. With a scratched forehead, I winced at the brightness of the fireworks directly over my head. BOOM! POW! BAM! Like old school Batman! This went on for what seemed like forever, none of us sure how much "fun" it really was to be so close...and then for the grand finale, a nearby tree caught fire and the show was stopped early.

On Sunday, we headed up to Echo Lake with family and spent all day in the mud and water. Knuckles was waste deep in mud having the best time. We got to go out on the boat and soaked up the sun -literally- because our smart selves didn't bring sun screen. We towed the tube around and everyone took turns flying off. It was a really fun day; I need to remember to bring my camera on these outings.

One HOT 4th of July

Our plane was empty as we flew to Phoenix over the 4th of July Weekend. Most people were leaving the heat for the long weekend. We embraced it and landed at 10pm with the temperature at 105 degrees. Normally, the camera is not allowed anywhere near a pool...

who really wants to see tons of scary swimming suit pictures? But we spent the majority of the time in the pool and a las, the rule was broken.

We swam all day.
And All Night!

We had a great weekend filled with playing our favorite card game, Grouch. Although the name almost got changed to something much stronger due to the easily moody Merrie when Krust E Pup (Krystle) was taking all of the good cards. There was only one blow out with a re-deal... so we all survived!! We also saw Eclipse and everyone enjoyed it and we went to a Diamond Backs baseball game and they lost horribly... 14 to 1...but we stayed for the fireworks show afterward. Unfortunately, our seats were on the upper deck and we couldn't see but just a corner of the fireworks, but we could hear the music and the "booms" so we were ok. The girls all got their toe nails done and we had a BBQ. Dad took half the fam on an early morning desert hike, before the heat really set in. I am glad I slept in for that adventure!! Let's just say the heat really set in, another hiker forced his water on the inexperienced group and Dad came home limping. I think it was overall a neat thing with awesome views...but m0re preparation and maybe a 4 wheeler would have been better!!

We also pulled together for an ultimate frisbee game for a good 20 mins before we got too hot. My parents have an awesome park right across from their house...too bad it's too hot out to fully enjoy the dry, green grass and the smoking hot metal play ground!
We also visited our favorite 4 star restaurants: In and Out and
Jack In The Box

Bottom line, we had an awesome weekend with the family. it was great to be together, just hang out and relax and get in some good pranks. Mom has a doll from her childhood that stands almost 3 feet tall with a red wig and summer dress.... it is quite a creepy thing. We kept hiding it in various places to scare each other. We'd put it on the other side of a closed door, in each other's bed, in Katelyn's suite case, under the bed with a creepy little hand sticking out. It was always a surprise where that thing would end up!!


Thanks everyone for a fabulous weekend and some great memories.

Happy 4th to all.

We survived the heat....barely...it took lots of Peachy Shakes!!!!

Camp Lopez

We camped at Rockport over the weekend for the 2nd time already this year. The weather was warm and Paul caught a fish. He promptly put it in the freezer and the size kept getting bigger and bigger as he talked about it. I started to tease him about his tiny fish so he pulled it from the freezer to show me it was at least a foot long as he set it on the bench next to his own foot to compare. It was coming up a little short...he said it curled up because of the freezer, but laying flat it was a good 12 inches!!

Paul's parents brought Redneck Horse Shoes; a game where you throw 2 tennis balls tied together to score points on a PVC pipe ladder. I promptly flung the tennis balls out of control and into a tree branch that was way higher than ever expected to be an issue in the game! So the new game was throwing a log with a rope attached to it- tryng to free the dangling tennis balls from the tree. After dozens of throws and a hot dog break, Paul and his dad were able to make the tennis ball rescue and we continued our game.

My niece and nephew became JR Rangers and were in charge of litter patrol.

Knuckles is now an official camper and loves the out doors and getting tangled up in his own leash. He is also a JR Ranger survivor!! (see below!!)

BFFS, River Rafting and a Dog Cake--Oh My!!!!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Lindsay and Devin came to visit from Washington. We jam packed our time with a trip to Moab where we slept in our old (but new to us) tent trailer...we survived the night after getting told to "Shut it down!!" by the not so friendly biker man-camping neighbor. The trailer stayed up and Lindsay finally tucked her legs up in the bed instead of dangling them down for support in fear of the bed snapping! We hit up the Colorado river for a half day rafting trip and hit one REEEAALLLY GOOD rapid that practically bent the raft in half and got everyone drenched!

We got back to Salt Lake Saturday night and went to El Chihuahua's (our favorite Mexican restaurant) and had Katelyn and Jessi over for a Grouch tournament. It's a fun, progressive card game like rummy that can make for grouchy moods if people become card hogs and "trash bins!"

We also went to the Melting Pot where we had cheese fondue, lobster, shrimp and lots of tasty things to dip in chocolate for dessert! It was the richest foods and most expensive dinner I have ever had (thanks for the gift card, Krystle!!)
Then I was surprised when we went to Jessi's house and the back yard was set up for a surprise Birthday party for me. There were balloons, decorations and tiki torches! They went above and beyond and had Jessi's sister make me a cake in the form of Knuckles! It was an exact replica-down to the one bent ear! I didn't want to cut it up and serve it! Quite a few friends and family came and I was just so surprised by each guest that continued to show up.

Thank you Katelyn & Jessi, for an awesome B-day Surprise and thanks Linds and Dev for coming to SLC and making it the best Memorial Day weekend ever!
I can't wait to have another BFF weekend somewhere fun with Kreesh and Paul too where we can all kick back and relax with friends we enjoy most...each other!!

Latest & Greatest

OH OH OH OH! OMG by Usher is my hot new song right now. It's makes me and Paul get our dance on instantly when it comes on the radio!

Below is the video of the latest web sensation playing Lady Gaga. I can’t get enough of this kid!

I saw The Last Song with my mother in law last week. The story was a bit dramatic with lots of crisis and quick fixes, but "what's his name" was cute enough to keep it somewhat entertaining!

We saw Robin Hood over the weekend and enjoyed every minute of Russel Crow! Then we went home and watched Gladiator, our other Russel favorite.

Usher featuring will.i.am - OMG

Greyson Chance Singing Paparazzi

'The Last Song' Trailer HD

Robin Hood Super Bowl 2010 TV Spot Movie Trailer [HD]

Birthdays and Coupons!

Last week Paul turned the ripe age of 28 and we celebrated with a night out. We had a nice dinner at Red Robbin with a free Birthday meal coupon and then headed to the movies to see Date Night. We loved the movie and laughed our faces off; we were quoting it the rest of the night and week! We ended our evening at Iceberg for a free Birthday Milkshake. This is Paul's faaavorite dessert ever and I stealthily put a candle in it before it was served to him! It was a lovely Birthday night out and we saved money too!!

Using coupons and freebies shouldn't be a sign of cheapness, it is a sign of being money savvy and money smart. I prefer to make home made cards too! My cards often rhyme and have stick figure drawings-- Hallmark has nothing on me! Homemade cards allow for personalization and can save a few bucks that you can spend on the gift. I also reuse gift bags and tissue paper, but that's a whole other blog on Reusing & Regifting!

My Birthday is coming up and I made a little wish list with coupons attached for Paul! Not all of us are blessed with the desire to seek out coups; hopefully at least one member of the household is and can pass them along. Also, remember to give a gift from the heart: a homemade card!!!

My perfect Heaven will be full of coupons and buy one get one free offers!!!

To Tame A Wild Beast

Little Mr. Knuckles is quite the escape artist. We put him in an antique trunk wrapped in chains, put it in a bathtub full of water and he made it out in 4 seconds flat.

Well, I bet if we tried it, this little Houdini pup could do it!

The other day he managed to greet us, nubbin tail wagging, at the front door after work. This would have been a really sweet greeting after a long day at work...but that dog was locked in his kennel when we left the house. His kennel was fully intact, locked shut, no signs of struggle and there was Knuckles ruling the roost while we where away. He had jumped on counters and shredded the toilet paper supply in the closet. Little did he know he would get his a few short days later. Mr. Knuckles Lopez was fixed on Friday the 16th of April. They say once a dog is fixed they will be calmer, more compliant and friendlier toward other dogs, etc. Well this little doggy has an agenda! I think he is mad at us and has been shredding things on site to get back at us!! That is until we give him his pain meds and he practically passes out in an angelic face plant. Yesterday was his final puppy class and graduation. Our little pumpkin decided to sass me and not even sit! That is his favorite command and he always loves a good treat. But nope. Nothing. He wasn't having it and I think he knows my biggest fear is for my kids to have bad grades!! But our trainer took pity and gave him his diploma (a dried ribblet!) and it was a glorious day after all! So congratulations to our little guy, he survived being fixed and graduated puppy school all in one week. They grow up so fast!!

Recalculating!!

My Nephew's baseball team lost on Friday, cutting the tournament short for the Salt Lake Saints. This left some of the 12 year old boys in tears prompting my nine year old nephew, Tristan, to pipe up and say, "There's no crying in baseball...unless you're really, really hurt!"

We almost missed the game because my father in law's GPS system had us on a recalculated whirlwind that took us in loops and through hoops. Why do we put so much faith in these electronics? Is it the sensual voice? It seems as though we are willing to go against our instincts and better judgment to follow commands that can lead us to industrial dead ends instead of to freeway entrances or to a ball field. Well, lead on voice of wonder, I am no good with a compass...which way is north again? I suppose in a round about way, we did reach our destination.

The rest of the trip involved swimming and some slot playing. Darn you Sally Shrimp. Your tempting shrimp shack bonus left me with only lint in my pockets at the end of the day!! We had a great ride, though.

All together it was a really nice getaway. Better luck next time, Saints. Farewell Sally Shrimp!