Remember this show?

Remember this car from this show?

Well, look at what I've got parked in front of my house.....

Brandon obtained this car several years ago from a client we did a job for. He was ecstatic over this gold-toned Beamer. It would be the perfect transportation to and from the beach. It would be fun for Brandon to have a little car to add to his collection of big trucks and work equipment. And it has been. But I don't like it very much and I'm not sure why.

It could be that the electric windows only work when they want to. And the sun roof has a mind of it's own, too. This car doesn't have A/C either so it's a total sweat box in the summer. And it's an ice box in the winter. Not because the heater doesn't work because it does. But when you use the heater some kind of lubricant leaks from a hose onto the top of your right foot. I've forgotten about this three times. Once while wearing flip-flops, another time when wearing open-toed high heels, and again when wearing a pair of not-so-cheap Uggs. (& for those of you who know me.... mess with my shoes and we've got big problems. Comprende?) It's only got 4 seats so it's not even large enough to fit my family. It has 2 doors and I'm a 4 door kind of a gal. It seems to repel certain care that we give it like fixing headlamps and windshield wipers. It's zippy and sometimes I feel cool driving a stick again. But then I realize that I look "1985 cool" which is not really that cool at all. I like that it's good on gas and that it has a trunk but that doesn't make up for the fact that it sometimes poses as our date car!! That's right. It's a surf wagon by day but Moonlights as a date car by night. But I don't complain (until now). If shoes are my first love then date nights are a close second. And oh, what cute shoes I can wear out on those date nights....

My sweet, understanding, deal-lover of a husband is very sensitive to my dislike of this car. There have been a few times when there has been no other option but for me to drive it. The farthest I've ever had to drive it has been to San Jose (about 50 miles) but you would think I was heading off on the Oregon Trail the way Brandon hovers and frets over me. "Now are you sure you're OK driving this? Do you have your iPod? Do you have something to drink? I vacuumed it out for you. Your favorite CD is in the player. When you get home I'll give you a 3 hour massage and feed you chocolates. You're awesome, babe. I love ya." Then he stands on the sidewalk and waves until I'm out of sight.

And you know what? I love him, too. I happen to think he is quite awesome as well. So as long as he is OK with this ghetto-mobile I guess there's no reason why I shouldn't be. And he doesn't really give me 3 hour massages and feed me chocolates. I'll have work that angle the next time I'm forced to drive it........

Tiffiny needs...

Thanks to Stef for getting me out of my blogging funk. I've been needing a reason to blog. I've been jonesin' for a blog post idea. I've had bloggers block. Somebody stop me....
This is a lot of fun. Go to your preferred search engine, type in your name then "needs". (I couldn't find anything under Tiffiny Needs... apparently all of the other Tiffiny's in the world don't need anything because google asked me, "Did you mean tiffany needs ?") That's OK. I'm used to the spelling controversy of my name. And I went for 10 items because number 9 was just way too funny. You'll see. -Anyhoozer- this is what I need.

1) bigger breasts
2) love & support
3) to pray
4) to be stopped
5)a dreamhouse
6) a job
7) new gold hoops
8) a cough drop
9) the crapper (see.... funny, right?)
10) to attract a job

I had so much fun reading the needs of Stef's husband that I thought I would see what my husband's needs are, too.....

Brandon needs,
1) to suffer severe bodily harm
2) a band
3) to learn "The Kimbo"
4) a vacation from his vacation
5) help
6) a home
7) a sponsor
8) prayers again (again?)
9) friends' videos (yes, we do. Still waiting on the cruise video.... BRAD!!)
10) love

So for anyone out there feeling like you need something but just can't put your finger on it.... you now know what to do.

January 1st. 2009!!!

(Can anyone tell me why my pics are nice and neat while creating my post but never line up correctly upon publishing?)

Sing to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies:

"This is what we did on the first day of the year.

We scrounged thru the garage 'til everybody had some gear.

Gettin' dirty's what we wanna do, for sure

So we loaded up the truck and drove to Hollister.

Hills that is.

Greasy tools. Dirtbike scars.

The Hollister Hillbillies!!!

(Now wasn't that fun?) So I took 134 pictures of our fun day up in the dirt. No worries. I'm not posting them all. Just a few of my favorites. BTW- above picture is NOT a favorite. I just thought it was a good "hillbilly" picture. And that's not me, either. It's just an innocent victim of my trigger happy shutter finger.

Can you see the determination in this kid? You know what else I see? Future broken bones. But I won't worry too much about those as long as Cal-Star is still around.

Cal-Star is the helicopter company that will come up to Hollister Hills and fly you out of there in the case of broken bones, spinal injuries, etc. We entered a race that was a fundraiser for their Cal-Kids program. They brought a chopper in

and let the kids climb inside. It's not unusual for them to fly up to the Hills 5 times in a Saturday to pick someone up. Mostly for broken legs. Let's just hope this is the only time these kids have to see the inside of one of these. Unless they're a Cal-Star employee someday. That would be cool.

Another great hillbilly picture.

Back to the tune....

"Well now it's time to say good-bye to me and all my kin.

I'd really like to thank you folk for kindly droppin' in.

You're all invited back again to this locality

To have a heapin' helpin' of my hospitality.

'Blogspitality' that is. Set a spell. Take yer shoes off.

Ya'll come back now, y'hear?"

It's really nothing to blog about....

... but I'm going to anyway. Because I think it's funny. Not roll on the floor, gut-busting laughter funny. It's a different kind of funny. In fact maybe funny is not the word for it. Surprising? Confusing? What the...? Questionable? I don't know.... I can't think of the word. If you think of the perfect word when it's all over then please, share it.
So there was an Eagle Court of Honor a few weeks back. Brandon is the Priest Advisor and planned on attending. During a conversation with a fellow member of our church Brandon mentioned that he was an Eagle Scout. (Church member will be know as Bro. X) Bro. X. could not believe it. He would not believe it. In fact I think he darn near had Brandon talked out of believing it himself! The conversation went something like this;
Bro. X. : "You're an Eagle Scout?"
Brandon : "Yep, I sure am." (Proudly)
Bro. X. : "NNNOOOOO.....Really? (eyebrows raised)
Brandon: "Yes, really." (Chuckling)
Bro. X. : "Are you really? You're not kidding?" (doubtful laughter)
Brandon : "I'm not kidding. I AM an Eagle Scout, Bro. X." (humoring him at this point)

So when Brandon told me about this I, for lack of a better word, thought it was "funny".

Me : "You know what just happened to you, don't you?"
Brandon : "No, what?"
Me : "You've just been spiritually profiled"

At that we both tilted our heads back in boisterous laughter. We saw the humor in it. And we're not offended. In fact, "spiritually profiled" has become a favorite saying of ours. We told our cousin in San Jose about it and he laughed, too. He's decided he's got dibbs on the phrase in the San Jose area and anything south of SJ is ours. (But we never said anything about the World Wide Web. Sorry, Ben... Cyber Space now belongs to us.)
I named our band on Guitar Hero "Spirichlee Profiled" as a tribute to our new favorite term. Our logo is quite fitting... a microphone with wings & a halo. (And as a side note: for those of you who read my post about Disneyland Daddy...and didn't play along with my tag, you Hum-Bugs...... my GH rocker is named "Carnie Mom".)

So we can laugh about it. We'll still go to church on Sunday. We still like Bro. X. But I can't help but wonder.... why the shock & awe? Is it because our boys occasionally attend church donning mohawks & wearing Vans? Is it because Brandon sometimes sports a mildly rebellious "soul patch" under his bottom lip? Is it because we didn't meet and court at BYU? Is it because Brandon is a surfer and our family loves any kind of extreme sports?

I don't know what it is but I'll let you in on a little secret. Brandon is also a seminary graduate!! (but, SSSHHHH don't tell Bro. X. It might be more than he can handle.)

Holiday Highlights

Here are our 2008 Holiday Highlights



1)Being totally, utterly, 100% prepared for Christmas. We started shopping before Halloween and finished weeks before Christmas Day. This is the first year we haven't spent hours wrapping presents on Christmas Eve just for them to be eagerly torn into less than 24 hours later. I don't mean to toot our own horn, but.... HOOOOONNNNNNNK!! I am very proud of us!




2) Getting a much sought after Wii from my parents. My kids began jumping for joy in disbelief and screaming, "We got a Wii! We got a Wii!". This went on for several long minutes. Nonstop.
So my parents were the heroes of Christmas. My mom miraculously found it on Christmas Eve of all days!!! (We looked and looked for weeks prior with no luck.) Papa was the funder, Go-Ma was the finder. Good team work, guys! You pulled off the impossible. Wii love it!!!!





3) My mom LOVING the photobag we gave her. It was her "favorite" gift this year. (Or so she says. She probably told all of her kids that.) She is a hard person to shop for so I was very pleased that she liked it so much. My dad is quietly coveting it. This might be the one time in his life when he wished that men carried purses. Some men do. But most don't. (Thank goodness.) He's too much of a man's man to even carry a "man bag". (Again, thank goodness.) Now if I can just do this same thing to a tool belt I think he'd be stoked. Hmmmmmmm.........

This is the photo on the other side of the purse. This picture was taken on a warm November day. Gotta love California!

4) Being able to cook my family Christmas breakfast. This is the firt time I have done this in our 11 years of marriage. No. Not because I'm lazy. (I had way too much time to be lazy this year. HUH? Read on.) We usually tear through presents, rush to look presentable, rip our kids away from their new toys, bolt out the door and head to San Jose for Christmas brunch, tear through more presents, rush to load up our loot, rip kids away from cousins, bolt out the door and head to Oakley, tear through more presents, exhaust ourselves and stay the night at my family's house, then mosey on home to the beautiful disaster that is the day after Christmas. (The ribbons, the wrappings, the trimmings, the trappings.) This is the time when the laziness sets in. I don't unload the car for a good 2 or 3 days. And cleaning up the house? We won't even go there. I did miss the scrumptious Christmas Brunch and the beautiful spread that my classy mom-in-law works so hard over. But this was a fun first.

5) Stone Caleb Thompson. Need I say more? I seriously hunger after this baby boy. Is it the big brown eyes? The soft, smushy cheeks? Seriously... take one look at my adorable nephew and tell me that you don't fall madly in love with him. I dare you.

(And if you ask me, Disneyland Daddy looks pretty sexy with a baby in his arms. Look at those big guns tenderly surrounding that sweet, fragile, dependent creature. I love it. )

6) An unexpected visit from the Ericksons. Does it surprise you to know that Brandon used to be a "manny". (You know.... a male nanny.) Well these are the boys -all grown up- that primed my husband for the patience that my kids now take advantage of. Judging from Brandon's high patience threshold they must have been really, really naughty. Just kidding. They were driving through the neighborhood and saw our car parked out front and stopped by to say hello. We're glad they did. It was fun to catch up. (And just think.... if our Christmas was anything like the usual...see #4... we probably would not have had this visit.)

7) Cousins. We love cousins.

























Especially "KISSIN' COUSINS"!!!

And it's a little sad for me to see that the former members of the "Little Kids Table" are not so little anymore. This is more like the "Tween-Table" now. Or something like that.

8) Chocolate. I love it. I gotta have it. Have you ever seen such a big box of chocolate? Why have I never known that such a beautiful thing exists?

9) My mom turning 50. Her birthday is on New Year's Eve. That day I drove out to Brentwood to take her to get her nails done and to lunch. It was just the two of us. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring my camera until I was pulling into her driveway. (Major blogging faux-paus, I know!!!) We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Especially with the uncomfortably flirtatious Vietnamese guy who did my nails. I'm sure he thought his behavior would get him a bigger tip. (It didn't.) I had to stifle my giggles when he told us to "Go BBQ." Translation? "Stick your hands under the nail dryer." I'm LOL-ing right now as I type.

10) Going to the temple to see the lights & nativity.

.....even though my 6 year old hopped on one of the drained fountains with his friends and said, "Hey look, we're walking on water." Good thing we ran into our Bishop there and he busted 'em. Although I think he found it quite humorous. So did I. It ranks right up there with the kids playing "baptism" in the spa.

This is the ONLY time that all of these kids were in one spot at the same time. And we're even missing one..... where was Jacob?

11) New Year's Eve party.

Even Bodi joined in the fun.

Until the fireworks started, anyway. Then he tucked his tail between his legs and hid.

All in all this was the smoothest holiday season ever. We were blessed to be surrounded by loving family & close friends as we celebrated the birth of our Savior and rang in the new year.

And with this blog post, we kiss 2008 GOODBYE.