Jim Brickman Concert

Jeremy's and I went to the Jim Brickman concert last night in Logan at the Ellen Eccles Theatre. Jim Brickman is my favorite pianist. I love all of his stuff and love his style. This is the 3rd time I have seen him. Jeremy's parents got us tickets as part of an early Christmas present. I was so excited. However, I didn't realize how freakin' far away Logan was. Giddy up for the 2 hour drive there and back. I forget how uncomfortable I get when I sit for that long. Ugh. But, it was still worthwhile.

We did in fact bring our camera, but they wouldn't allow pic's... so, I'm sorry to say we don't have any pics at the actual concert. Here is a picture of me at the FM100 concert in Salt Lake in December of 2006 when Jim Brickman was playing the piano and Collin Raye, country singer, sang. It was awesome. I love music! I love how talented and inspired people are and how it uplifts everyone around them. I don't know if there is anyone in my family that doesn't appreciate music or some aspect of it, and I thank all of you for "culturing" my life in that view. If you look back at my December 2007 posts, there is a short video clip of me playing one of Jim Brickman's pieces on the piano.

Afterwards, we drove over to the Logan temple. This is the first time I've seen it in person and I was in awe of how beautiful it was. It was also so much bigger than I'd pictured. It just became one of my top 3 favorite temples next to Manti and Salt Lake.

Rare Pictures

I was going through some of my wedding photos and realized how truly rare this photo is. This is probably the only photo that will ever be taken in my entire life which contains everyone in my family, minus my little brother Brian, who passed away a few years ago.

It was funny... the photographer said, "Now... JUST have your immediate family in the photo" and everyone responded saying, "This IS her immediate family."

This next picture is also rare. It has all of my bestest girlfriends in it. I think we're just missing Lorie who was in Paris or Hong Kong or somewhere like that and Marina, who also had another wedding to go to in her family and couldn't make it. I don't even think they all know eachother because they are scattered all over the US, but loved that they could all make it to my wedding. I love you girls! Thanks for coming.

Kankles

Definition: Kankles (as described in the Urban Dictionary)-
Calves that become feet without taking an ankle break.

*Used in a sentence: "Look, Sue! Al is making a special anklet for your kankles! It's a kanklet!"

WARNING! Images below may be disturbing or contain graphic content. Please be forewarned before looking further.




Yes. This is in fact what my feet and "kankles" look like. Notice the fingr print left in the top of my foot. It is terrible. I swear I used to actually have pretty cute feet. But you'd never know under the blimpie disguise. I told you that my water retention was ridiculous. I pretty much have this everywhere. It is AMAZING to me that my blood pressure is low. Me feet and hands go completely numb every day. If I posted a pic of my head on here, you'd think my head was going numb too. My face and nose are pretty much in the same boat... which is exactly why you do not see a picture of my face right now. :)

Dr. Appt: Week 36... The beginning of the End!

I'm starting in my 9th month. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. The baby has slightly dropped making it an "interesting" fit for most of my maternity shirts (meaning that some/most of them don't come down far enough). I have muscles in places that are sore that I didn't know I had muscles which also means that it is painful to even lift my leg to get into a car. The water swelling has gotten worse and makes it hard for me to move any of my joints. I have developed pregnancy carpal-tunnell over the last couple of months and can barely close my hands all the way or move my wrists. I've found that you can have pregnancy-anything-disease. :S I asked the Dr if I needed to be concerned about any of these things and just said, "Nope, everything looks good... We want a Happy Baby and a Miserable Mom." Perfect! :)

But, like I said, after seeing that new baby of Jenya's I know I would do it all again. From here on out I start seeing the doctor every week.

The baby now weighs about 6-6.5 lbs and is about 18 inches long and would most likely be healthy with no complications any time from now until the due date which is still January 2nd. Ugh! (But remember, he's still "measuring for Dec 27) And, like I said, we are doing all the natural remedies we can to make this baby come earlier as soon as we are officially "full term" (37 wks). But the doc said that the baby can come at any time now and it won't be considered Pre-Term.

Happy Birthday Emily!

You are finally a teenager! Yay! You are growing up so fast. Weren't you just 2 years old?

We celebrated at Color-Me-Mine, from which I painted a christmas tree cookie plate (and think I ruined it), and then we made little mini pizzas and had Emily's requested "Donut Cake" which my mom kept thinking was a cake made out of donuts... but, found that Emily was referring to the "bundt" cake I had made last week and it looked like a donut. lol

Hope you had a good birthday Em. You are officially, no longer a kid.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A short summary of our day, stayed up all night last night and watch season 4 of The Office and then woke up early to finish watching it. Made 3 green bean casseroles for the 3 Thanksgiving dinners we went to. We started off at noon at Humpherys, 2:00 at the Green's and then 4:30 over to the Terry's. We tried to be miniscule on how much we ate at each place as to not over do it, but we failed. We are so full that we are miserable. I don't recommend or wish this misery on anyone. The dogs were spoiled at each place we went and now they are sick and "stinky" if ya know what I mean. I think the baby is even sick he stopped moving when I did. lol Now we are home early, being sick, and it looks like a lonnnggg night of recovery. I hope everyone else had a plentiful Thanksgiving too!

It's A Girl!

Gotchya... No, I'm not talking about me.

Jenya, one of my BFFs that has gone through almost the whole pregnancy with me just had her baby today. We went and saw her new little one tonight and it made me soooooooo much more excited for our little baby. Jenya was 5 weeks ahead of me and almost a week overdue and I'm hoping to be 3 weeks early. ha haaa. I can't believe that in just a few weeks we will have a new addition to our family. Whoa! I wish I had a pic of her baby to put on here because she is so freakin' cute. She was 7lbs 11oz (surprisingly the same exact weight that her and her husband were when they were born) and 19 inches. After a long labor and a last minute c-section, baby Avery and mom are doing wonderful.

I have been so determined to NOT forget the crappy parts of pregnancy, but I can see after holding Jen's little baby girl how you don't even care how crappy it is. I already secretly signed up for the next kid (not any time soon), but maybe in the next year or so.

Congratulations Jen & Pres! Avery's boyfriend is on his way soon.

Sappy Moments by Tara

I'm sorry that I'm posting yet another sappy blog post, but I can't seem to help myself. I feel like I sound like an old, sappy, mormon mom. Yikes.

Last night I finally got to read Jeremy's Patriarchal blessing. He hasn't been able to find it since I've known him and his mom found it the other night at her house as she was going through her stuff, along with finding all of his old mission letters, pictures, etc. I was so excited to read it. I actually made it through reading it with out crying, but only with a large headache to follow because I was holding back the tears. I know that P blessings are very private, so I won't go into details, but I will say that it is the BEST feeling in the whole world to know:
1. You are in love with your husband, AND, he is equally in love with you
2. You are, with out a doubt, with the person you are supposed to be with for the rest of eternity
3. You can trust your own feelings when making large decisions and that they are re-confirmed through a blessings (his and mine)
4. You are starting a family at the best time of your life and bringing your children into a loving environment and that they parents that are willing to give them everything and more
5. You are blessed with a testimony of the gospel and the opportunity to have it as a guiding foundation in your life along with a husband that has a strong testimony and faith and is willing to lead your family with the priesthood.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

Twilight Follow Up

Ok, Ok... so a few of you have asked me what my thoughts are on Twilight now that I've watched the movie and had no interest in the books. I have to admit that I really liked the movie. It has slightly intrigued me to read the first book. Jeremy asked me if I thought Edward was cute at the beginning of the movie and I said, "not really...". At the end of the movie I said, "Actually, I take that back. He's pretty hot!" lol

So, there ya have it.

And the winner is...

So many of you wonder what Jeremy does at work and because Jeremy starts to "geek talk" when you ask him, no one gets it any more at the end of the conversation than they did at the beginning. I listened to him for over an hour so that I could come up with the "dumbed down" version when people asked me. So, here it is. :)

First off, Jeremy works for Symantec. It is the 3rd largest software company in the world next to Microsoft and Oracle. Symantec is a security company, hence, you've heard of Norton Anti-Virus which is one of the hundreds of products they put out. Instead of coming up with new security products, Symantec usually just buys other security software companies and keeps them running as usual, but with the "Symantec" name behind it. All the companies that Symantec works with have security measures that they must abide by legally to protect customer information, right? So, these companies are constantly programming, re-programming, fixing errors, and updating their policies and needs for the software that Symantec provides them. This is where Jeremy comes in.

Jeremy is a Level 2 Support Engineer and is a personal rep to some of their larger clients. One of Jeremy's clients is Visa. Therfore when Visa has problems with any of their security policies, they contact Jeremy (which is like everyday, all day on conference calls). Jeremy does the programming and scripting for whatever it is they need fixed and tests errors, follows through on it if its something that a level 1 can do and so forth. So, to sum it up, Jeremy fixes the programming of the internal database that executes queries for visa and follows through and tracks what changes they've made. Does that make sense?

Jeremy, I'm so proud of you babe. You have been doing so awesome at work and it's paying off. Good Job! It's nice to see and hear how awesome you are doing during this rough economy and I'm grateful for your job.
*As a side note, Symantec just laid off 4.5% of their work force (which I think is about 25,000 worldwide). We feel lucky that Jeremy is still there.

Jeremy has once again been nominated by another one of his co-workers and has won an award for "Trust". Yay... more gift cards. :)

Message to recipient winner: Jeremy, thanks for going out of your way to always be there for myself and the Level 1 folks. Your constant availability and willingness to help out means a lot. This has built a definite environment of trust that the Level 2 team will be there to support the frontline teams. Thanks!

Further comments to Jeremy's manager: Jeremy is contstantly asking if I or anyone on L1 needs help. He is proactive in examining ongoing cases that L1 is working and contacting them proactively if he has an idea of what might help. He does not shy away from taking on tough cases and views them as a challenge.

Letters to Teagan

After the 50th anniversary party, Jeremy and I wanted to write a letter to Teagan. After all the family discussions tonight, we were feeling overwhelmed with happiness and anticipation to see him and meet him and tell him how much he is loved already. He has already brought so much joy to the family and we feel so blessed.

What made me start thinking about it was something as simple as my grandma telling me how excited they are to see him and to tell us that they pray for him and his health each day. Jeremy and I pray for him everyday and I know my mom has told me that and so has my Grandma and Grandpa Grover. My dad told me that tells everyone he's going to be a grandpa next month and Grandma Lona can't wait to have a baby around again and his Aunt Kiley talks to him in my belly every time she sees me. Aside from all of his real aunts and uncles, he has all of his adopted aunts and uncles from those that are closest to Jeremy and I that can't wait to see him and watch him. This little guy already has a fan club and has already affected people's lives and he's not even here yet.

Maybe it's because I am in the latter stages of pregnancy that I'm even MORE emotional and touched by everything or maybe the holiday spirit is all around me. Maybe I'm more in tune now with the 'bigger picture' or maybe I choose to see the good and stay optimistic. Either way I have felt humbled and blessed this last year. For once I don't feel like I'm trying to live for the future, but am finally on track to take in "the present".

I will spare everyone of my long, typed posts lately and not type up our letters, but I wanted to express how excited we are (once again).

The Golden 50!

Last night we celebrated my Grandma and Grandpa Humpherys 50th Anniversary. The whole family surprised them with dinner waiting for them at my unlce Scott's house. Scott decorated his place with beautiful flowers, balloons, and 50th anniversary decorations. My dad compiled a dvd of all the old videos and pictures my grandma and grandpa had when they grew up and recorded them talking about each of them in the background. Then he put another dvd together, put to music, with all the Humpherys kids growing up. It was fun to watch with everyone and hear everyone's comments. We all got to know grandma and grandpa a little bit better. My grandma was so modest in thinking that we'd all be bored to death watching a video about her or wanting to hear from them and their stories, but it was their special night.

My grandma's tears brought tears to my eyes as it hit me... THIS is what life is all about, Family! And maybe it is more real to me because we're about to start a family of our own, but I know that looking at my family tonight and listening to my aunt, uncle and dad laugh about all their child hood experiences and the good memories they had growing up... that my life is JUST starting. I couldn't have progressed any more in my life with out getting married and beginning a family. Just as God progresses through his children, so do we. I can't wait to build those memories for and with my family; to begin new traditions. I can't imagine how my life would be with out those things in it long term. There would be no sense of fulfillment, no progression or personal growth with out learning to live and grow with a companion.

I am thankful for all of my grandparents and the sacrafices they have made to bring us good memories and build a happy life for their posterity. I'm grateful for their examples and feel lucky that I was blessed with the foundation they worked hard to lay. I'm grateful that when there is nothing else but hard times, we always have our families.

Happy 50th Golden Anniversary!

Then:

Now:

Turkey Farm

I forgot to post that last weekend we went to the Turkey Farm in Moroni, UT with Jeremy's parents and aunts and uncles. If you ever get a chance to go, you should. Their turkey is YUMMY, fresh, and cheaper than you can get it in the stores! We came home with so many turkeys for friends and family, it was crazy. My friend Jenya personally recommends the SweetHeart turkey, which I haven't had the chance to try yet. But she said you don't have to season or flavor it and you cook it right in the bag and it comes out perfectly moist and flavored. I personally recommend their gold deli turkey. It has the best flavor and tastes almost like ham. Plus it is crazy cheap from buying it in the store. $25 for 9.5 lbs vx. $10/lb in the store. It is crazy good. (Have I said "crazy" enough yet?)

If anyone wants some for Christmas, I think we're making another trip out there and I'd be happy to pick some turkey up for you.

Taken

Since I'm on the subject of movies, I will put on here that I did just watch this movie and it is freaking awesome! It is only released in Europe right now in the theatres and doesn't come out in US theatres until January or February 2009. Let's just say that I have some talented people around me that made it possible to watch in the comfort of my own home right now. ;)

Anyway, I give this move 5 stars and want to see it in theatres when it starts showing. It is suspenseful through the whole thing. I had so much anxiety while watching it that I thought I was going to put myself into labor.

Click HERE to watch a trailer of the movie "Taken".

Twilight

Ok. So, since this movie has come out, all my girlfriends keep asking me if I've read the books and telling me that I need to. But to tell you the truth, I actually have no desire to read them. The only thing that has made me wonder if I should read them at all is the fact that everyone is so crazy about it.

My 17 year old sister was the first person to tell me about them and from my first interaction about them, I thought it sounded corny. Plus something that was so enticing to my younger sister in high school and all her friends kind of made me think that it was probably written for teens. No offense... cause I'm sure there are lots of things that interest me that the teenage group has interest in as well.

I have one friend that absolutely loved it and the passion of young love she said is what made it exciting. I have one friend that read the first one and part of the second one and didn't want to read it anymore. She said that the love scenes in the book drover her bonkers. And then I have another friend that only read the first one and doesn't care to read more of them, and happened to mention the love scenes driving her bonkers as well.

I read a lot when I was younger, but now I seem to only read if I go on trips because it's the only time I feel non-distracted from "getting stuff done" on all the projects I start. I guess that is the 'red' personality in me.

Anyway, I am in fact going to see the movie tomorrow because the previews looked good. We'll see if it peaks my interest to read the books...