a leap of.......?

Well its officially official. Dave quit his job at OpsGear, and is now focusing his efforts on full time freelance. The commute was too much to handle, and we figured, now or never. We're only going to add more to the Aller clan right?

What will his first endeavor be? He's editing 6 episodes of a PBS documentary series over the next 4 months. What he's stoked about is getting to work with one of his favorite directors Blair Treu. Although Blair has accomplished some great things in his career - here are a few points that make him a star in my book.

• he was Kevin Bacon's stunt double in "Footloose" (now we can all legitimately play '7 degrees from Kevin Bacon').
• he imposes a 9 pm bedtime on himself.
• his first big break in the biz was directing episodes of "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers".
  

In addition to editing, Dave will be working on motion graphics, visual effects, and directing for projects we have slated for 2008. Way to go babe! Its great to have you home.....

once in a lifetime.

Some major things happened in the Aller house this weekend - things that will change us forever.

#1. Preston tried solid food for the first time. I went with oatmeal mixed with some formula.

Here is the before.

Here is the after.

We got about 3 bites in - I'd say it was a success.

#2. I got tickets to the Police reunion tour that's coming through SLC this summer. Me + the immediate Doughty clan are attending (Dave opted out and PG was offended that he's too young to go). I was ecstatic that I was able reserve all 5 tickets - the concert was sold out in 10 minutes! I was on the phone with my parents an hour before sales opened "practicing" what to do online when 10 am hit. There are 5 of us total - but a 4 ticket limit per one purchase - so we had to coordinate our efforts. Long story short - the parents weren't puter savvy enough when things got jammed, so I did 2 transactions and got all of our tickets. I've never been more proud of myself (ok maybe I have - but this one is up there). Oh Sting - its been too long.

blame canada, or fedex.

Here is my latest rant - its a goodie. Long story short, I needed to send a DVD to Canada. Just one DVD, in a case, safely secured in a small bubble wrap envelope. Total weight 1.3 oz. It didn't need to be there by a certain date - its just needed to be postmarked by Feb.22. Please take a moment and guesstimate how much you think this would cost.

This is what FedEx wanted to charge me: $56.73.

Yup, that's right, $57 to mail a DVD to Canada. I verbalized my astonishment, then reluctantly handed over my debit card. Once in the car I called my Dad (who apparently knows everything about the mail, cars and taxes). He said the cheapest was always the US Postal Service - although they may not be as fast or efficient. UPS and FedEx are private companies and can charge whatever they want. I had no idea, Dave had no idea - shouldn't we be learning these things in school?

Needless to say, I U-turned it and demanded my DVD back. They handed it over, and canceled my transaction. I headed to the Post Office about a block away.

This is what the Post Office wanted to charge me: $1.95.

Yup, $2. I couldn't believe it. You'd think I would have been happy - but it just fueled my rage against FedEx. I choose to blame Canada and FedEx for my hideous afternoon.

not so 3-day weekend.

Dave had to work on President's Day, so we really didn't have a 3 day weekend. How did I spend my day off of work?...Taking care of one sick PG. Its so very pathetic when he's under the weather, but he's a champ and is rarely fussy. The first night I got paranoid that I wouldn't wake up if he needed me, so around 3 am I decided it was less exhausting to just have him sleep in our bed. Long story short - he slept in later than usual and had our giant giant bed all to himself. Its the least I could do.....

valentine's day

I felt the need to blog about v-day, due to everyone else's celebration of the holiday. Dave & I always celebrate it on a different day - there aren't any crowds, we can go out on the weekend etc. But even then we just use it as an excuse to go out to a fancy dinner.

Anyway - this year, we decided to do nothing on the actual day. And by nothing - I mean Dave getting me flowers and making me breakfast! What a sweetie. AND he got to sleep in b/c the previous night he spent 4 hours commuting home through a horrendous storm. It was a pretty great relaxing day.

quoatable quotes.

We had quite the lazy weekend, and since there are no highlights to report, I'll just leave you with some fabulous quotes.

• Dave: "Hey! Who am I?" (he holds his cell phone in the air with one hand, and the remote over his heart with the other).
• Sarah: "Um....Sir Topham Hatt?"
• Dave: "NO! The Statue of Liberty"
  

• Dave: "Preston smells like macaroni and cheese, only before you add the cheese."
• Sarah: "You mean - he smells like pasta?"
• Dave: "Whatever - he needs a bath."

• Tyler (from our CTR 7 Primary class during his testimony): "I know the Holy Ghost is.....1 foot tall"

Ok - so maybe its just me that thinks we're funny....whatever.

story time.

In light of the slightly depressing, non-conclusive Super Tuesday results, I thought I'd share a story of hilarity to lighten everyone's spirits.

Last Friday I was exiting the north doors of the Noni. I reached into my pocket to grab my phone, and all of the sudden - I was on the ground. I was laying on a huge sheet of ice, looking up at the sky. And then my ankle started to throb. I couldn't tell what hurt worse - the frigid cold, or my ankle. I started wincing and rolling around in response to the ankle pain, and eventually ended up on my stomach. I looked into the large glass doors I had just exited, and noticed a woman standing there reading a book (whilst waiting for a ride, I assumed). She was 10 feet away, totally ignoring me on the ground. I didn't really want her help, but come on! I decided to get up - and then quickly changed my mind, it hurt too bad. What was a girl to do? I just laid there, on the ground, for like 5 minutes in the frigid cold. Finally, the lady looked up from her book, tapped on the glass and mouthed "are you ok?". WHAT?!! I just gave her a weird look, then a thumbs up, and went back to laying on the ground....and the lady went back to reading her book. Weird science.

Eventually a guy from my department was leaving and saw me - he helped me to my feet. Oh, and he slipped in the process too - so I guess I'm not a complete idiot. But we'll let the masses decide.

Happy un-Super Wednesday.

baby instructions.

I have a baby, and a lot of my friends and family have babies - so I thought I would post some helpful hints on how to handle the new little ones in all of our lives. Thanks goodness I found these, because I was doing things all wrong.

Poor Preston - he's totally screwed. Sorry man!