Clayton's Corner

Weekend before Christmas

2010-12-20T10:11:00.004-07:00

I know that the weekend before Christmas is usually busy but good grief!! All the madness started on Saturday morning. My company's Breakfast with Santa started at 9:00. Since I was helping with putting the party together I had to show up early. We arrived about 8:15 and started helping with the little bit of set up we had left to do. The party was great! Tons of people showed up and I think everyone had a good time. On our way home we picked up new wiper blades for my car and made a quick stop at the grocery store. We were only home for about an hour before we had to leave again.

The next party started at 1:00 at my cousin's house. We get together every month with my cousins on my mom's side to celebrate birthday's for the month. In December we celebrate my mom's brother since he's the only December birthday that comes to the party. Straight from the cousins birthday party we head over to a family Christmas party with all my mom's cousins. We have it at a church and there are always tons of people. The real Santa comes to the party and calls kids up one at a time to sit on his lap. Its been a family tradition for many years. After the Santa Claus party we headed to the mall to pick up some gifts for my mom and her siblings from my grandma. She recruited me this year to do her shopping for Christmas. I've helped her before but usually she gives me ideas to go get. This year she asked me to come up with the ideas. That's not what I thought I was signing up for. Well I got it all finished so hopefully I did good shopping.

After the quick trip to the mall we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese's for Paul's nephew's 3rd birthday party (part 1). They had reserved a big table and lots of people showed up. There was a mountain of presents. We stayed til almost 9:30. We were ready for the long day to be over.

Sunday was Kairo's (Paul's nephew) actual birthday. Since Paul's parents are divorced we always have to do 2 parties. So we went over to Paul's dad's house to celebrate part 2 of Kairo's birthday. There was lots of food and quite a few people. I think Kairo had more fun playing with the box his new Buzz Lightyear trike came in than with anything else. It was a long weekend that we were glad to have over. Only now we have something planned for every night this week. We only bought groceries this week so we would have what we need to make bean dip for Christmas Eve.

Golden Compass, Kevin & Annmarie and Logan

2010-12-14T14:56:00.002-07:00

Our weekend consisted of a few of our favorite things. First on Friday after Paul got home from work and we went out for dinner, we decided to watch The Golden Compass. We own the movie and we really like it. Paul just finished "reading" the book. He actually listened to it on his ipod. He wanted to see how close the movie was to the book. Kylie hadn't seen the movie so she came over and watched it with us.

On Saturday Paul had to go to work which left me time to finish reading, as in actual reading, the second Hunger Games book. It was really good. I can't wait to finish the series and see how it all turns out. I'm totally Team Peeta. I needed to pick up some curling ribbon so I could start wrapping Christmas presents. While I was out I stopped by Kylie's work to say hi and waited a little bit so we could go to lunch together. I wrapped a few presents before Paul got home. As soon as he got home we headed over to his brother's house to celebrate his older nephew's birthday. He's 15 now I think. Then we headed to Pleasant Grove to hang out with one of my oldest friends, Annmarie and her husband Kevin (as in I've known her longer than most of my current friends). I met Annmarie during my second year of college in the fall of 2003. We've been friends ever since. We decided a few months ago that we needed to set up a monthly double date night so we picked the second Saturday of each month. It's worked out great so far. We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Kevin and I enjoyed our sushi and Paul and Annmarie ordered whatever it was that they ordered. Afterwards we ended up bowling and had a great time. Kevin & Annmarie day is one of our favorite days of the month.

On Sunday we headed up to my aunt's house in Logan for the Jensen family Christmas party. Paul will admit this isn't one of his favorite things but since we only get together with my dad's family twice a year I like it. We all chipped in to help a needy family in my parent's mission ward and we took some time during the party to wrap all the gifts. The family will have a great Christmas now.

My life since May 29th.

2010-12-07T09:50:00.004-07:00

Ok, ok. So this has been a long time coming. I know I need to be better about updating my blog. Maybe I should make that my new years resolution. Is it too early to start thinking about that? Well anyway, on May 29th Paul and I got married. It was a great. Almost perfect in fact. We had a small ceremony at a local hotel that was officiated by our two best friends Karri and Paige. My whole family came and I was very happy about that. Now its 6 months later and I don't feel like anything is different. We were already living together and already had a joint bank account so life continued on as usual. Which is awesome! We went to Denver on our Honeymoon. A couple of people thought we were strange for picking such a lowkey location for a Honeymoon but it was perfect for us. We really loved Denver. We got to see some of the sites including the Aquarium, which we highly recommend, and the zoo. We didn't get to see everything we wanted to so we want to go back. But we both have permanent reminders of Denver in our tattoos that we got while we were there. Paul got "Namaste" written in Sandscrit on his left wrist and I got a star on my right upper calf. We both love them. In August Paul got his long overdue promotion to a Service Manager at Wells Fargo. He now has a lot more responsiblity and gets stuck working crazy hours sometimes but we are enjoying the pay increase and he's one step closer to being able to do what he would really like and that's being a trainer at the Wells Fargo training center. I also accepted a new job in August and started the first part of September. I now work in a Human Resources department. I love it. I definitely miss my friends from my last job but I am enjoying the new position. The people here are great and I love learning more about the HR process. Paul, Karri, Kylie and I went to Disneyland again in October for Gay Days. The first night we were there we dressed up and went to the trick-or-treat event. It was so fun. Karri and I went as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Kylie and Paul dressed up as the little green aliens for Toy Story. We were a big hit! The next morning we participated in a Scavenger Hunt and took 5th place out of about 40 teams. I was so proud of us. Last year we placed 11th. We are already planning to go back next year and we plan to WIN!! We really enjoyed ourselves. Our feet...not so much. It was a really fun weekend. Since Disneyland not much has happened. We celebrated Halloween with friends and family at several different parties. Thanksgiving was our usual marathon eating day. We have to visit 3 houses because Paul's parents are divorced. We finally said we couldn't eat by the time we got to the last house. Now Christmas is in full swing. We are so close to having our Christmas shopping done. I put up our tree last night before Paul got home from work and could complain about having to help me. We are looking forward to the holidays and we hope you all have a great holiday season.

47 Days and counting...

2010-04-12T15:35:00.002-06:00

We only have 47 days left before our wedding. I can not believe it is coming so fast. Sometimes I feel like it will never get here and other moments I feel like it is coming to quickly and we still have so much to get ready. I think we've made some good progress lately so hopefully we can keep that momentum. We took care of registering over the weekend. I was very impressed with how gay friendly both Target and Bed Bath & Beyond turned out to be. It made a process I was dreading so much better. We are getting ready to send out invitations and I hope people aren't offended if they don't receive one. We would love to invite everyone we've ever known and loved but we simply can't afford to. So if you receive an invite, know that we think you are special. And if you don't receive one, know that we had to draw the line somewhere.

Save the Date!!

2009-12-30T10:39:00.002-07:00

For anyone who may not have heard, Paul and I are engaged. It actually happened in Disneyland when we went in October. He had it all planned out and got Karri in on the excitement. He staged it right in front of the castle and Karri got the whole thing on video. You can't really hear anything in the video but its still cute. Paul teared up, I totally didn't (heart of stone) and it was perfect. So here is the important part. We are planning to tie the knot on May 22. Don't make plans for that day. Grab a sharpie and mark your calendars. We would love to see you there.

What a shocker!!

2009-11-10T11:50:00.004-07:00

We got a phone call last Monday night from Paul's sister informing us that their dad would be getting married...on Friday. We were pretty surprised. We knew he was dating someone but we didn't think it was this serious. Well the wedding was nice but it was held at a Mormon church and Paul's Catholic family wanted to party after the wedding. His brother invited everyone over to party in his newly finished basement. The alcohol flowed and dancing began. I snuck a couple shots of Paul dancing with his sister. It was a pretty fun night that ended very late.

Happy Belated Halloween

2009-11-10T11:46:00.002-07:00

I know Halloween was like 2 weeks ago but I'm just getting around to updating things. We found some super discounted costumes at PetSmart right before Halloween and we couldn't pass them up. We think our little kitties are pretty cute!!

Vegas Baby!!

2009-11-10T11:15:00.011-07:00

Ok so this post is a couple of week late but oh well. We took Paul's sister Carla to Vegas for her 21st birthday. Karri came with us. It was a really fun trip. We left Friday afternoon around 2:30, stopped and got Karri then hit the road. We got to Vegas around 8:30 or so and got checked into our room. We stayed at the Tropicana. It was ok. Not too fancy but not gross either. We looked through the information book and saw a special for the buffet at the Tropicana that let us eat there as many times as we could/wanted to within 24 hours for only 24 bucks. So we headed over for dinner. They had some pretty good stuff. We got really full. Right outside of the buffet area there was a karaoke lounge. The guy that was singing over and over during dinner was so horrible. At one point the bartender that was close by said he'd give a free drink for anyone else to sing. After dinner Paul and Carla wanted to go to a haunted house and Karri and I didn't want to so we sat down in the karaoke lounge. We picked out two songs and got up there and did our best. We pretty much rocked the first song and the second song was a little rough. But we were so much better than the guy that had been singing. Then we decided to walk over to the MGM Grand and wandered around. We were looking for our favorite StarWars slot machines. We found a new version that was no good so we wandered around some more. In our wanderings we found some Survivor slots. We played them for a little while and then moved on to find the CBS store. When we got there they had already closed so we wandered back through the casino and headed outside. We thought about heading down the strip but decided that we weren't going to gamble anymore (that night) and all the stores would be closed so we headed back to our room and I pulled out my knitting and Karri busted out her cross-stitch. We worked on that stuff til Paul and Carla got back. They called us when they got back to the Tropicana and I met them for Carla's first (legal) drink. Then we all headed to bed. I love not being woken up by an alarm clock. Karri and I were the first ones up about 9. She jumped in the shower first and I got in after her. When I got out I pulled open the curtains so Paul and Carla would have to wake up. When we were all ready we headed over to the buffet for breakfast. We didn't have to pay this time because of the cool deal we found. So we got stuffed for breakfast and then started walking down the strip. We wanted Carla to see the fountains at the Bellagio. When we got there a lady told us that there was a wedding taking place and that they wouldn't be having shows for a while. We were about to leave when Karri noticed the jets stick out of the water. They did three shows right together and it was awesome. I got some pretty cool pictures with my phone. After the water shows we took her in to see the Bellagio seasonally themed gardens. Paul had never seen them before either. It was really beautiful. We made our way over to Cesears Palace and wandered through the mall. We headed back to the MGM to go to the CBS store. We decided to do a preview screening for a new tv show that might be released soon. They gave us a discount coupon for the store so Karri was able to get a shirt and I got a survivor shot glass. Its so awesome. After that we headed back to the buffet where we didn't have to pay to eat again. (So three meals for 24 bucks. Not bad at all.) Paul and Carla wanted to go to a night club which Karri and I didn't want to do so we bought tickets to see a show. After dinner we went to our show and they headed to the club. After our show we played a few slots before we headed back to our hotel. We wandered back over to the karaoke lounge and I decided to sing a song with out Karri. We had a pretty good time. There were definitely some characters there. One guy was really good. The karaoke lasted til 1:00 AM and afterwards we played a few more slots. We headed back to our room and text Paul to see when they were coming back. Karri and I had both fallen asleep before they got back. The next morning I was the first one up. I wanted to make sure our day got started with enough time to visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. We got checked out and had some breakfast then headed to the Shark Reef. It really is so cool. There were a lot of people this time. After the shark reef we were on the open road. We stopped in St. George for gas and then we didn't stop again til Nephi because Carla wanted to use the bathroom and we decided to eat. It was a really great trip!!

3 Months!!

2009-11-10T10:58:00.003-07:00

Yesterday marked 3 months til Kylie is done with her mission. I unfortunately will not get to see her til she gets home a week later with my parents but that's not that much longer. (I can't believe I'm saying that... that week will feel like an eternity!!)

So the entire time that Kylie has been gone I have had dreams about her on a regular basis. When she first left I would dream that I was a missionary again and we were on a mission together. Sometimes we were in Mexico and I was showing her around and sometimes we were other places. Lately I have been having dreams that she is home. Two nights ago I dreamt she was home and we were hanging out. A about a week or so before that I dreamt that I was sitting in church waiting for her to give her homecoming talk. The weirdest part about that dream is that when she walked into the chapel it was the first time I had seen her since she got home. I don't really know how to interpret these dreams other than to say I really miss my sister and I can't wait for her to get home.

Disneyland or bust

2009-09-28T15:24:00.002-06:00

Paul, Karri and I leave for Disneyland on Thursday afternoon. We are very excited. We have tickets to a special trick or treat event on Friday night and we are dressing up as Wendy, John and Michael from Peter Pan. It is also Gay Days Anaheim this weekend and we are participating in a special Scavanger Hunt on Saturday. I wish today was Thursday.

Brothers and Sisters

2009-09-28T15:20:00.003-06:00

Last night was the season premier of Brothers and Sisters on ABC. If you aren't already watching the show you should rent the first 3 seasons on DVD and get caught up. This show is the definition of disfunctional family. I love the chaos that ensues every week. Plus one of the brothers is gay. His husband is the most level headed pacient man and I love them together. Watch this show!

Just because I'm obsessed

2009-09-28T15:11:00.004-06:00

So because Paul bought so many Halloween decorations he tried to smooth things over by buying me the two newest sets of Mr. Potato Head. The first one is Tubby Tater. There are holes in his hat so you can scoop up the water and it will drain out. The other set is called Spud Bud Pets. There is a little doggie and a little kitty along with a little spud bud. I love them all.

Time for Halloween

2009-09-28T15:04:00.002-06:00

Paul's favorite holiday is Halloween. So as soon as the decorations start appearing in the stores we have to look at all of them. Over the weekend we bought these two...plus few more. And I think Paul plans on buying some more. These two came from Target. They have a lot of really great stuff.

Survivor Samoa

2009-09-24T14:57:00.001-06:00

Don't forget to watch!!

Cougartown

2009-09-24T14:49:00.002-06:00

Cougartown also premiered last night on ABC right after Modern Family. I've never seen Courtney Cox in a better role. She is hilarious as a 40 year-old divorcee trying to have a little fun now that she is single again and she does an excellent job of embarrassing the hell out of her teenage son. To make matters worse her neighbor across the street, a 40 year-old man, is bringing home a different girl every night and is receiving praise from his buddies. (The term they use is Samurai. As in, "Way to go Samurai!") They show is totally hilarious and full of inappropriate out-bursts. I laughed the whole way through.

Modern Family

2009-09-24T14:38:00.003-06:00

Modern Family is a new show that premiered on ABC last night. It was GREAT!! The show is about 3 families that are actually one really big family. Ed O'Neill is great as the father of the whole family with a much younger hispanic wife. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who in my eyes can do no wrong, plays O'Neill's gay son who just adopted a baby from Vietnam with his partner. Julie Bowen, from Ed, plays O'Neill's daughter who is married to a man and has 3 kids. I am really looking forward to what's ahead for this Modern Family.

Rainbow Duck

2009-09-22T11:00:00.001-06:00

I earned myself a little prize last week at work. This awesome rubber ducky from the Kimpton brand of hotels. I can not get over how cute it is!!

GLEE!!!

2009-09-22T10:52:00.002-06:00

If you haven't started watching Glee you need to. I would have to rank it up there with my favorite shows. The characters are great, the songs are fun and a few of the guys aren't bad to look at. Ok lets be honest they are hot! Karri gave me a poster that I hung above my computer at work. I love that they look down at me throughout the day. Everyone out there needs to start watching Glee!!

My kitty is so cute

2009-09-22T10:49:00.003-06:00

I mentioned in a post last week that Rosie has become a lot more cuddly. Well last week she stretched out on her back right on my lap and took a nap. Then later in the week she curled up on my chest and did the same thing. I don't mind, I think she is adorable.

Any suggestions

2009-09-14T13:10:00.003-06:00

When we first moved into our new apartment, before we had the chance to hang a picture the kitties tipped it over and broke the glass. I kept promising Paul that I would take it apart so we could save the frame. Now we have a huge frame and I'm not totally sure what to do with it. I'd love to hear some suggestions.

6 months old

2009-09-14T12:58:00.009-06:00

Rupee and Rosie are now 6 months old. We got them when they were two months old in May. We do love them but they have been quite the handfull. They love playing in the laundry basket whether its full or empty. Our closet has sliding doors and they like to push the doors open and sleep in the laundry while we are at work. Their other favorite place to nap is on top of our dresser. That means no decorations there. They also love to stare out the window and play with anything they can get their little paws on. Sometimes we feel like they are getting so big so fast and then at other times they still seem like little kittens.

They like to sleep on the couch while we are watching tv. The other day while Rosie was enjoying her nap Rupee climbed right on top of her and settled in. It didn't last very long (just long enough to snap a few photos) and Rosie moved out from under her sister. Rosie has become very cuddly. She used to always go sleep on a dining chair while we were home. Lately she likes to curl up on my chest and rest her head on my arm or shoulder. She is so cute. I love her!!

My sincerest apologies

2009-09-14T12:53:00.002-06:00

It was recently brought to my attention by a dear friend that I need to update my blog a little more often. I will strive to be better. I just haven't had that much of anything interesting to blog about. I guess the solution to that is to do something worth mentioning or at least think more highly of what I have done. I guess that's a good place to restart.

Pocket Protector...really?

2009-07-29T09:18:00.001-06:00

This is what I looked at on my train ride in to work this morning. And old guy taking up the entire seat sporting a pocket protector. Oh and this is the samy guy that busted out his nail clippers and started clipping away. I love public tranist.

2 YEARS AND COUNTING!!

2009-07-28T15:15:00.002-06:00

So today is our 2 year anniversary!! It doesn't seem possible that we have been together for 2 years already. Last year at this time my family had just started accepting Paul and including him in family functions, Kylie hadn't left on a mission yet and we were in an different apartment. Not a lot has changed since then, except that Kylie is on her mission now and we are in a new apartment that we are loving (pictures coming soon I promise). We still love each other but I think we love each other more now than we did back then. I love you Niño!

July Family Party

2009-07-27T15:22:00.002-06:00

Every month my family gets together to celebrate birthdays for the month. In July we celebrate my cousin Todd's, my cousin's daughter Taysie's (her birthday is really the end of June but since she is always with her dad on Father's Day when we have the party in June we count her in July) and mine. This year we had an addition with my cousin having a baby in July and adding Bryden Lillie-June Payne to the mix. She is so tiny and cute. We are happy to have her in July with us.

Vertical Horizon

2009-07-14T12:22:00.002-06:00

Paul and I went to a special VIP performance by the lead singer of Vertical Horizon on Thursday night at The Puck in West Valley. It was a really fun night and he signed passes and took photos with everyone who wanted to. Thanks My 99.5 FM.

Rupee's new favorite position

2009-06-30T16:08:00.002-06:00

The kitties like to jump up on to the bar stools and relax. Lately Rupee decided that she likes to lay with her back legs just hanging off. She kind of grips the front with her claws but eventually she always slides off. Oh the crazy things kitties do.

Family picture

2009-06-30T16:01:00.002-06:00

Last summer while we were in St. George we took a family picture. I would argue that we shouldn't call it that considering Paul isn't in the picture but I won't push that issue right now. Also missing from the picture is the newest addition of Atlee but she was just barely on her way when the picture was taken. My awesome sister-in-law set the camera and then ran to join my brother on the front row. She did great and made all of us look normal. Good work Kimi!!

Security Breach!!

2009-06-29T10:26:00.002-06:00

I have added a new post to Kylie's blog today. I received an email from a woman over-concerned with Kylie's safety. I will be setting Kylie's blog to private at the end of July. If you would still like to have access to her blog please send me an email by clicking here.

Attention Siblings!!

2009-06-19T11:20:00.003-06:00

Calling all of my siblings! It seems you have all forgotten where your home is. I included a map so you would remember. Please report back home immediately! I don't like feeling like an only child. Family dinners aren't the same when I'm the only sibling at the table. If you all insist on living out of state atleast update your blogs more regularly so I know what is happening in your lives. For now I will continue to represent the siblings at Family Parties, Baby Showers, Family Reunions and Birthday Dinners for our parents.

Kitty Update

2009-06-16T14:01:00.006-06:00

So we've had the kitties for about a month and a half now. In that time Paul has had insane allergies. We both ignored all the warnings that it was the cats he was allergic too. He finally got in to see an allergy doctor last week. The tested him for several different allergens. (I had a picture of his back with a bunch of numbers written on it but he made me delete it.) It turns out he's allergic to 2 or 3 different types of trees, grass, dust mite (which isn't really a problem in Utah) and cats and dogs. Of coarse the doctor instantly tells us to get rid of the cats. Well that's just not going to happen. What are we supposed to do with them, return them to the shelter? I don't think so. So the doctor gave Paul tons of medication and a bunch of prescriptions. Once Paul gets his asthma under control he can start receiving a shot treatment that will tell his body not to be allergic to cats any more. (It works pretty much like a vaccine.) Since we visited the doctor and Paul has started taking his medication he has no allergic reactions to the cats. He hasn't used his inhaler since Thursday and he stopped coughing. So far so good!!

The only problem now is that our little kitties are growing up so fast. Look at how big they are now. I can hardly believe it!

A picture from Kylie

2009-06-16T13:56:00.003-06:00

Kylie sent home a picture last week that only I got. I decided I wanted to share it. Anyone familiar with Utah County can recall greating to missionaries spelled out with plastic red cups stuck into the chain-link fence that lines the pedestrian walkway across the freeway. Well in Germantown, TN they spell out something a little different. This is a picture that a sister missionary can only send to her older brother. I love my sister!!

Atlee came to visit

2009-05-29T16:20:00.002-06:00

My niece that lives in Arizona came to visit me over the weekend. She is so much bigger than when saw her last in March. She is so adorable!! She drools alot so her clothes are always wet. I wish she didn't live so far away. Oh yeah, my siblings that live in Arizona came to visit too.

Don't worry that I look a little stoned in the picture. I promise I'm not.

The Pit!!

2009-05-29T16:11:00.002-06:00

I recently spent a week in Raleigh, North Carolina for a genealogy conference. My friends Cherie and Dominic and I went to The Pit for dinner one night. The Pit is a BBQ place that was featured on The Food Network and even Bobby Flay did a throwdown with the pitmaster. I think Bobby Flay lost but I'm not sure. The food was so good. Cherie and I split a Banana Pudding for dessert. It was so delicious.

2009-05-04T11:13:00.001-06:00

I just found out i can blog from my phone. I don't think i can add pictures this way though.

Meet Rupee and Rosie!!

2009-05-04T10:48:00.004-06:00

We have two new additions to our home. And we think they are pretty freakin' cute!! We got them at a Pet Super Adoption over the weekend. This is Rupee. She is named after the form of currency in India.
This is Rosaleen "Rosie". She is named after the character Jennifer Hudson plays in The Secret Life of Bees.
They are so cute when they sleep.

Don't mind the shaved belly, they were spayed on Friday.

They are sisters so they like to be close together.

Oh for me? You shouldn't have!

2009-04-14T10:42:00.002-06:00

Lately my job has consisted of scheduling site visits for tour operators from around the world. I planned 5 visits from 3 different countries. The last visit ends tomorrow and it is a huge sigh of relief for me that they all ran smoothly. My boss, Kaitlin, took the last client out to dinner last night. This morning when she got to work she handed me a boss from the client. He brought me to special edition coffee mugs from Germany. I was so shocked. I have had very little actual interaction with the client other than sending him emails with his itinerary. I'm glad I made such a good impression. I'm not a coffee drinker but hot chocolate fills the cup just the same.

Family Initiation!

2009-04-14T10:35:00.002-06:00

Every month my family comes together to celebrate the birthdays during that month. My parents house is flooded with aunts, uncles, cousins, children and "potential" family members (by potential family members I mean people who are not actually born or married into the family). We don't usually celebrate birthdays for people who are not actually part of the family. We had this month's party on Easter and Paul was added to the list of birthdays to celebrate in April along with my sister-in-law Kimi, my cousin Heidi and my cousin's wife Leisha. Paul is officially part of the family now!!

WICKED Awesome!!

2009-04-13T09:37:00.002-06:00

On Friday night last week I went with my parents, Paul and Karri to see Wicked. It was so amazing!! We literally bought our tickets in June of last year through a shopping group my mom is a part of. They had discount tickets for specific nights and we snatched them up as soon as we could. We thought April 10th would never come but it finally did and the wait was totally worth it. The only thing that would have made it better is Kylie. Miss you! Love you!

I thought Costco was a family store

2009-04-08T15:38:00.002-06:00

I was at Costco earlier today with my co-worker friend Larry getting some supplies for our breakroom, when we stumble upon this tent. Immediately the phrase, "That's what she said." comes to mind. How inappropriate for Colossimos Sausage to put such a vulgar sign in such a wholesome store like Costco. (he he he)

Crazy Chihuahua!!

2009-04-02T11:50:00.002-06:00

I recently spent some time in Arizona visiting my siblings and my new niece, Atlee. She is so freaking adorable. One morning my parents, my sister and I took a walk with my sister's dog. Along the walk we encountered this chihuahua.

He was barking like crazy and trying everything he could to get out and attack us.

Keys on Main revisited

2009-03-27T14:04:00.005-06:00

Last week on Friday we went back to Keys on Main with some other friends. Annmarie, Kevin and Karri came up from Utah County to party. We rode trax from Sandy to Downtown and stayed until about 12:30. We had lots of fun and several drinks.

Is there an Agustus that lives here?

2009-03-27T11:09:00.003-06:00

So on Tuesday when I got home from work there was a card (like a business card) clipped by my front door with an officers name and badge number written on the front and nothing but "Call me on" the back. I was on the phone with my cousin Heidi and told her that I needed to go so I could call the police and see what was up. So we hang up and I dial the dispatch number that was indicated. I explain the situation and they ask if there is a case number on the card. I tell them no. The man asked for my name, phone number and address and he tells me he will have the officer call me back. I hang up and call Paul at work to explain the situation. I wait about 35 to 40 minutes before the phone rings. The woman on the phone identifies herself as officer Kelly, not the name on the card. She tells me the the other officer is off duty and will be back on in the morning from 6:00 - 4:00. I ask if I should be worried and she tells me no but that she understands why I would be concerned. So when Paul gets home I fill him in on what I've learned and we agree that he'll get up a little early and call them before work. So I head off to work on Wednesday morning wondering. Around 8:30 Paul calls to tell me that the officer returned his call and that he is looking for Agustus... No Agustus here sorry. It turns out that our new invisible roommate has been writing bad checks with our address. Paul was able to convince the officer that we didn't know Agustus and we haven't had anymore "Call me" notes from the police.

Skiing Day

2009-03-23T13:38:00.002-06:00

So as you can probably tell my job has a lot to do with skiing. I as a Utah native, had never been skiing when I accepted the position. (In fairness I didn't know it was a ski related position when I took the job. Not that it would have stopped me.) Well my bosses decided that I needed to experience it for myself. So we got it all worked out and we went skiing. (This was back in February I just barely got the picture from my boss.) I did pretty well considering it was my first time. My feet hurt really bad the whole time and my legs felt like jell-o after only a couple of small runs. I had a couple of minor wipe-outs. All in all I did great. I'm not too excited to go again though.

Ski Tops is over!!

2009-03-23T13:19:00.002-06:00

Ski Tops is over and I'm officially exhausted. It actually ended last week on Thursday but I still feel like it kicked my butt. Everything went well, but now I'm exhausted.

Preparing for Ski Tops

2009-03-09T09:22:00.003-06:00

I mentioned a few posts ago about preparing for a big event that we are having next week. Part of the preparation for me was preparing the Super Passes we are giving to all the attendees. Here is what we are giving them. It looks simple enough, but here is my process. 1) Apply label that has been trimmed to fit on the back of brochure. 2) Peel glue dot off backing and stick on back of Super Pass, press Super Pass firmly against brochure. 3) Apply Super Pass COMP sticker to front of Super Pass. 4) Repeat 220 times!!

And incase you are wondering, yes that is a beer bottle peeking out from behind the basket that has been haunting my dreams. Yes it is still sealed. We also designed our own beer label for the event.

Excel Hell

2009-02-25T15:22:00.005-07:00

So I'm sure that everyone has been to a party when an overly-confident, very-talkative, know-it-all tool walks in and starts trying to prove his intelligent to impress a pretty girl. You spend the rest of the night imagining this dude's head will swallow itself and save everyone at the party from his jabbering non-sense. The ray of sunshine about this situation is that you know the pretty girl won't fall for this guy and you'll never have to see him again. Well my nightmare has come back to haunt me. That annoying guy is now teaching the Excel class I took for work. I get to spend 8 hours with him today while he does what he loves most...listen to himself talk. I'm about ready to rush to the front of the room and introduce his face to the whiteboard.

Newest addition

2009-02-24T12:40:00.003-07:00

We finally got around to hanging the set of pictures that I got for Paul for Christmas. We have been meaning to do it for a while and finally ended up doing it on Saturday night. Then last night while we were enjoying Heroes we heard a terrible crashing sound and rushed into the bedroom to find the one furthest to the left and come off the wall. See we hung them with 3M picture hanging strips so as to not put too many holes in the wall...well we didn't peel the paper off the back of the pictures and the paper wasn't strong enough to hold the picture to the wall. We took down the rest of them and now we are back to square one. We need to buy more 3M strips and peel the paper off the back before we try again.

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!

2009-02-24T12:12:00.005-07:00

In honor of Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday I thought I would post pics of the masks I made last week. Originally we were going to go to a Mardi Gras party on Friday night so I busted my ass to get our masks done and then we didn't even use them. Oh well I think they are really cool and maybe we'll get to use them some other time.

Keys on Main

2009-02-24T12:04:00.003-07:00

On Friday night last week Paul and I joined some friends for a good time at Keys on Main. If you are not familiar with Keys on Main it is a dualing piano bar. It was so much fun. The concept is this, people request songs by writing them on pieces of paper and handing them to the piano guys with money as incentive to play their song. You can give any amount. The piano guys play songs in the order of highest amount to lowest. If they start a song that is horrible anyone can pay to get them to stop playing it. You just have to give atleast one dollar more than the person who asked for the song. The original requester can buy their song back by out paying the person who killed their song. They play a lot of songs. It was really fun to sing along and laugh with friends. Enjoying ourselves at Keys on Main!!
Our friends Paige and Mandy.

3 of 12

2009-02-19T13:51:00.003-07:00

Last night on American Idol the first 3 of the top 12 were announced. Michael Sarver, Alexis Grace and Danny Gokey. I was very happy with the results especially because Tatianna didn't get through. She was just too much to handle.

My New Blogging Adventure!!

2009-02-19T09:02:00.002-07:00

I have started another blog for anyone who might be interested. It is called the Adventures of Mr. Potato Head. Check it out if you want. I'm kind of excited about it!!

Seriously cool

2009-02-18T12:52:00.002-07:00

Ok so my last post was about something not so awesome about my job. I'm seriously grateful that I even have a job in these tough times. At work we are getting ready for a huge event next month and I ordered these specialized glasses to use at our closing night party. I think they are awesome!! I hope there is one left over so I can take it home!

Part of my glamorous job

2009-02-18T12:44:00.003-07:00

As part of my glamorous job I get to prepare information/welcome packets for groups that are coming in. I put these packets together yesterday. Here is what it looks like closed. (Nice, right?) Here's what is looks like open. (Very informative!)
And here is what it looks like 43 TIMES!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-13T15:16:00.002-07:00

Today Paul had a vase with two roses delivered to my work. I am very lucky to have someone as sweet as Paul love me as much as he does. I love you too Niño!!

I got a new computer...

2009-02-11T09:18:00.003-07:00

at work. I was out of the office on Friday learning to ski, more to come on that, and when I got back in on Monday I had a brand new computer. It's pretty cool. I love the wide flat screen. And my Potato Heads feel right at home with it. (Yes I am looking at a rental car website, my boss needed one.)

18 months!!

2009-01-29T14:28:00.003-07:00

Yesterday Paul and I crossed the 18 month mark!! I feel like that is a very big milestone. We didn't really do anything to celebrate because we're poor and payday is tomorrow. We are planning to go out to eat or something tomorrow night. I would like to see a movie too. We'll see what happens. Here's to more happy memories for years to come

Atlee Jean Jensen

2009-01-26T10:05:00.002-07:00

Here is the newest addition to our family. Atlee Jean Jensen. Born Sunday January 25, 2009. 8 pounds 1 ounce 20.5 inches.

New wallpaper

2009-01-07T12:02:00.001-07:00

I found a new picture that I applied as my wallpaper on my computer at work. I think it is hilarious!!

Pretty birds, pretty birds

2009-01-05T14:40:00.004-07:00

Saturday Paul, Karri and I went to a starving artists art sale at the Sheraton downtown. They have tons of paintings in several sizes. All the same size paintings are the same price and prices range from $18.95 to $119.00. I found a painting of a bird couple. I instantly fell in love and had to take them home with me so they could keep my other parrot painting company. I'm not really sure what kind of birds they are... if you know please leave a comment telling me. Also I think I should name them. The orange and green one is named Cantú after the artist that painted it. I brought that one back from my mission. You can leave name suggestions in my comments also. I will announce which names I have chosen when the time comes.
I know the picture is kinda crooked. I'll work on taking straight pictures but that will be kinda hard considering I'm not straight.

Follow-up...

2009-01-02T09:55:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted about a picture I had ordered online to hang above our couch in the living room. I had mentioned that some other pictures would join it. Well I finally got around to putting it all together last night. I think the camera was crooked and not all the pictures... I'd better make sure when I get home. Feed back is welcome as long as its nice. :)

Small FYI this is 100th post!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2009-01-02T09:40:00.005-07:00

New Years Eve for us was quite an adventure. We had to stop and see both of Paul's parents and hit up 2 parties. We got to his mom's a little after 7:oo, had dinner visited for a little bit and then left about 8:45. We headed straight over to his dad's and played video games with some kids that are friends of the family. It was fun even though I wasn't very good. We ended over to a party that Paul's friends from work were having. We got there about 10:30. We just stood in the kitchen and visited for about an hour then we were off again. We were on our way over to Paul's best friends parents house and Paul was calling Paige to let her know we were on our way and that we were hoping to make it there by mid-night. When Paige didn't answer her phone Paul called her parents house and talked to her mom. She said we were more than welcome to come over. Before we got there Paige called back and said she had received a last minute invitation to hang out with her boyfriends family in West Jordan (where we were coming from). So we still went to her parents house. We got there, parked, walked inside, put on the silly hats you see below and started shouting HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We just made it. Then Paige's dad started lighting off the fireworks he picked up in Wyoming. It was a really great show. It was fun to see all the other illegal fireworks that were being shot off just a couple od streets over. We headed home a little before 1. Paul wasn't ready for bed yet so we stayed up playing Settlers of Catan and dominos until I finally convined him it was time for bed. All in all we had a great new years celebration. Here's to 2009!!

Post Christmas/Pre New Years Update

2008-12-31T12:08:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone out there had an awesome Christmas. I am planning on taking pictures of the stuff I got and posting it on here but I still haven't done it. I should start off by saying that Paul is the BEST and he totally got me the phone I wanted!! I am now the proud owner of the Motorola Motozine!! I really love it. I haven't even had it a whole week yet and I've already been taking pictures and sending them to people. I posted pictures on Kylie's blog that I took with my phone. Check it out if you want.

Now that we are starting a new year I guess I should set some goals that I probably won't keep. My friend at work, Larry and I joked about walking on all of our lunch breaks over to the Olive Garden. I don't think that's the same as the Subway diet. Although, the Olive Garden is further away than Subway is. My biggest goal for this year is to get out of debt. We have been doing a pretty good job. I would also like to buy a house. We'll see how that goes. I hope everyone had a great year and I wish all of you the best for the year to come!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Crazy 8's (thanks a lot Kimi)

2008-12-23T09:12:00.001-07:00

CrAzY EiGhTs

8 Shows we Watch:
-Heroes
-Big Bang Theory
-How I Met Your Mother
-Fringe
-Americas Next Top Model
-Survivor
-Rita Rocks
-Eli Stone

8 Places I like to Eat
-Cafe Rio
-Enjoy Chinese Cuisine
-Chipotle
-Noodles and Company
-Iggy's
-La Costa
-Taco Bell
-My parents house

8 Things on my Wishlist
-No Debt
-A House
-A puppy
-A Kitty
-Same job, more money
-The Motorola Motozine
-Acceptance of Paul by everyone in my life
-A fancy car (not that I need one but it's a wishlist right)

8 Tags: (I'll be checking!)
-Karri
-Amber
-Holli
-Meagan
-Brenda
-Michelle
-Micah
-Kathy

You know its Christmas...

2008-12-22T08:19:00.001-07:00

when the crazy lady on the train wears her antlers...

Ski Biz Expo

2008-12-16T10:30:00.003-07:00

Last week on Wednesday my department hosted the Ski Biz Expo at Club Elevate in downtown Salt Lake. It is a big event where ski related vendors set up booths and talk about their products. We spent months planning the event and it was a huge success. Below is a picture of the Tourism Team and the "Utah Snowflakes."

WEGE (pronounced wedgie)

2008-12-16T10:10:00.002-07:00

Every year the "Bureau" holds a White Elephant Gift Exchange or WEGE. Anyone who wants to participate draws a name and buys that person a gift. Most people write a little poem or something explaining why the gift was given. Most of the time it is something funny. I bought a stuffed dog for the girl that let me follow her around like a lost puppy my first day. My boss Kaitlin drew my name and bought me a Baby Potato Head and turned it into the Tourism Edition. I like that she took the time to dress him up and make him a little sign. I work with the coolest people.

It's only taken a year

2008-12-05T14:49:00.003-07:00

So Paul and I have officially lived together for over a year. We moved into our apartment the weekend after Thanksgiving last year. (But Paul actually moved into my apartment in Orem 2 weeks before that) We never hung anything on the main wall of our living room over the couch. Once we saw a collection of art at Target that I really loved but we couldn't afford at the time and then when we could they were sold out. A short time ago I found the art below at Target.com. I wanted to order it right away but again I didn't have the money. But we finally decided to order it and it just arrived at my office today. I am so excited!! I plan on hanging 3 brown 5x7" frames on either side with pictures from our year together. I'm very excited to finally be hanging art on the wall.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T13:09:00.003-07:00

So I survived Thanksgiving '08. That doesn't really sound all that impressive until you hear the list of events of the day. The morning was relaxed after I made french toast for breakfast. Then Paul and I headed over to my parents house about 2:00 for the big event. The dinner was the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, yams, corn and cranberry sauce. Needles to say I was STUFFED!! My mom is getting very good at coming up with ways to tweek things so that Paul and my cousin Heidi can eat traditional food and still be vegetarians. My mom tweeked her stuffing recipe and made a small portion that Heidi and Paul shared. Below is Heidi showing off her control of the roll basket. Kylie wasn't there to monitor how many rolls she ate so she helped herself. After dinner at my parents we headed over to Paul's mom's house. There was a very long table set up in her living room and as soon as we walked in we were instructed to sit and plates were placed in front of us. Paul's mom makes turkey, rice and potato salad El Salvador style. It is really tasty and very different from American style. After eating at Paul's mom's it was time to head over to Paul's brother's to celebrate with his dad.

Luckily everything was running behind, as usual and we didn't eat for a few hours. Actually it was about 9:30 by the time we sat down to eat. After dinner we took Paul's tipsy sister home and then returned just long enough to cut out 3/4 of a pan of brownies and leave behind. We got home about 11:00 and went straight to bed. Paul had to work the next morning so we didn't get to do crazy early morning shopping.

Help me decide

2008-11-26T16:23:00.004-07:00

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!! Please visit Kylie's blog and vote on the poll.

Motorola Motozine

2008-11-24T11:18:00.006-07:00

I have been a long time fan of Motorola phones. They really won me over when they released the orange Pebl. I was in love for the longest time unti the spring that opened the cover broke. Now Motorola has done it again. They have released the new Motozine. It has a 5 mega pixel camera with Kodak technology built in. Just think how much cooler my blog could be if I have a camera phone like this. Unfortuneately it cost like $250 bucks and I can't afford it. I think it is time to start saving my pennies. And if anyone would like to contribute to a Make-Clayton's-blog-cooler-by-buying-him-a-new-AWESOME-phone Fund then I certainly would not complain.

Um, that's a problem

2008-11-24T10:51:00.002-07:00

Up until today I have taken child-proof caps on pill bottles for granted. It's always so annoying to have to fiddle with the stupid little secruity devices just to get a little relief for a migraine. A while back Paul took me to a whole foods store into the natural medicine section to have me get some homeopathic migraine relief. (I think he thinks I take too many painkillers.) So I got this tiny little bottle of natural something that is supposed to relieve migraines. It works better for preventing them if you take two during the very early stages of a migraine onset. And the best part is that because it is all natural, it isn't harmful and there is no real threat of overdosing, so it doesn't have a child-proof cap on it. Well this morning I found myself with a full on migraine so I decided to go for the strong stuff and started searching through my bag for my Excedrin Migraine. I always just shove one hand in and search blindly until my hand finds the all too familiar shape of the bottle. Today however my hand discovered the tiny bottle of natural pills first and noticed a crucial part was missing...THE LID!!! I quickly emptied the contents of my bag onto my desk and the picture below is what I found. Yeah that's right. The entire bottle of tiny little natural pills lined the bottom crevices of my bag. So now there is a slight dusting of crushed homeopathic migraine relief on everything that belongs in the black hole that is my bag. I snapped a picture for blogging purposes and then proceeded to pick each and every dusty little pill out of my bag and replace it into the tiny little bottle that is its original home. And no I didn't throw the bottle away. Aside from a little lint there is nothing residing in my bag that would be harmful if consumed. So I think child-proof caps should instead be called keep-the-pills-in-the-bottle-and-not-in-the-bottom-of-your-bag caps. Does anyone second the motion?

FANTA FANTA!!

2008-11-20T12:45:00.003-07:00

Everyone knows who the Fanta Girls are, right? If you don't that is just sad and you should google them or something. Here is the point of my post. When Kylie and I go to Disneyland we have to drink orange Fanta because they don't serve Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew. Everytime we fill up our cups with orange Fanta we sing the "Fanta Fanta" song. Kylie said in a tape she made for me that everytime she has orange Fanta now that the song plays in her head and she thinks of me. (Brainwashed? I think so!) So on Sunday at my parents house Paul was drinking his warm (I know, gross) orange Fanta and said, "Do you know what I'm thinking?" And I immediately knew he was referring to Kylie and me singing Fanta Fanta in Disneyland. So we decided to commemorate the moment (not like in the Sonic commercial) by taking a picture. Here we all are holding our Fanta cans.

And just in case you could tell what they were, here is the close up. Kylie, here's to you!!

"Fanta Fanta!! Don't you wanna Fanta Fanta?"

Worth the Pain

2008-11-19T09:15:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I went back under the needle. I decided it was time to add my tribute to my cousin Stephanie and to my dad.
My cousin Stephanie battled breast cancer but lost. I remember being in the 4th grade when Steph was enlisted in the service and we would write each other letters back and forth. It was fun being her pen-pal.
My dad is currenly in remission from Lymphoma. His type of Lymphoma is not curable and will come back eventually. Hopefully much later rather than sooner. We like seeing him with hair while he can still have it.
If you would like to see tattoo #1 follow this link: http://claytoscorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/tattoo.html

Kylie Update!

2008-11-13T10:58:00.002-07:00

Kylie's blog has been updated again. Actually I completely over-hauled it. It has lots of new pictures. Please check it out and tell me what you think.

Jackson Hole

2008-11-12T11:54:00.002-07:00

Right now I HATE JACKSON HOLE!! Paul works as a personal banker for Wells Fargo and they sent him to Jackson Hole to train in a newly purchased branch. He's been gone since Sunday morning and I have been going out of my mind with out him. Sitting alone at home all the time sucks. And nothing is worse than a big cold lonely bed. I have resorted to sleeping on my side facing the wall so that it isn't quite so obvious that no one else is there.

On the bright side I think I am going to take a half day on Friday and make the 5 hour drive to Jackson Hole and then bring him home on Saturday. Technically he has a plane ticket for Saturday morning but he doesn't have to get on the plane. So by this weekend I might love Jackson Hole. Only time will tell.

Halloween Costumes

2008-11-07T13:43:00.006-07:00

Halloween has come and gone and actually I'm relieved. Halloween is Paul's favorite holiday and so I wanted to make sure he had as much fun as possible. I suggested that we, along with my friend Karri, dress up as Lock, Shock, and Barrel from Nightmare Before Christmas. I spent tons of time stressing over and creating the 3 masks that are essentially the signature pieces for these costumes. Not only that but I had to create Paul's skeleton costume. He had the idea to attach a glow in the dark plastic skeleton to his clothes. (Easier said than done.) We ended up having to get a hand saw from my parents house in order to cut the skeleton into separate bones. Then we hot-glued the upper body to the black t-shirt and I had stitched the bones of the legs on to the black lounge pants we bought. Paul mentioned that he wanted to enter the costume contest at the club we were planning to go to which only added to the pressure of creating good costumes. Not only did we need masks but we also had to paint our faces according to the movie.
Here are the close ups of the individual masks. And incase you don't know which is which...
Lock is the devil, Shock is the witch and Barrel is the skeleton.

We had fun even if we didn't enter the costume contest.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T08:50:00.002-06:00

Paul's favorite movie of all time is Nightmare Before Christmas so when we were trying to come up with an idea for two boys and a girl (Karri is hanging out with us) I thought of being Lock, Shock and Barrel, the 3 kids from the movie. I immediately went to work on creating our masks. And we all started putting together our costumes. My finished mask.
The tail is my favorite part. I will post pictures of all 3 of us once we all get together.

Arkansas update

2008-10-29T13:46:00.004-06:00

I updated Kylie's blog again. Check it out.

Where do you stand on Equality?

2008-10-28T10:11:00.004-06:00

This post is prompted by a comment made by my cousin. I absolutely took no offense to the comment but I figured I would blog about my opinion. If you don't agree with me that's fine and you don't have to continue reading. But I am sharing my opinion. As you can tell from the image at the top of the page, I support Obama. In fact I already voted for him. (I know my vote doesn't count for much in Utah but I still did.) Paul and I had our ballots mailed to us early. We filled them out and mailed them in. My main reason for voting for Obama over McCain is because of the simple matter of Equality. I want a president that believes that all Americans should have equal rights. I don't understand why anyone would want it any other way. Frankly the opposition to equal rights is sickening to me. Think about how far our country has come since it was established. Blacks and women now have all the same rights as white men. Then why is it that two consenting adults are not being allowed to marry each other? Our country is not run by religious leaders or their feelings and religions (especially one in particular) have been persecuted and now they are persecuting another group of individuals simply because they don't agree with who they love. What is so wrong with loving another human being? That seems wrong to me and frankly I am glad I am no longer associated with an organization that asks it members to persecute others. Remember this is only my opinion and you don't have to like it or agree but I hope it makes you think.

MPH!!!

2008-10-27T12:49:00.002-06:00

Karri spent some time in Disneyland last week and sent me this picture. She says its because she thought of me when she saw it but I think she was just rubbing in the fact that she went with out me. Either way I'm totally jealous that I haven't seen it yet. Paul, Karri and I are now officially planning to take a trip to Disneyland next spring. It will be so fun!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2008-10-23T15:34:00.003-06:00

I'm trying to decide if I would get fired if someone walked by and saw me sleeping at work. I feel like my head could come crashing down on to my desk at any moment without warning. Maybe I should roll up my scarf and place it on the desk in front of me just incase my head comes tumbling down. Not only would it be softer than smacking my head on the desk but it would also muffle the sound of the THUD that would undoubtly accompany the descent of my head.

Kylie's Blog

2008-10-22T14:52:00.001-06:00

Kylie gave me access to her blog so I will be updating it while she is in Arkansas. She emails me on Wednesdays and has attached pictures that last couple of time so I have posted them there. Please take a look and enjoy.

Picture Tagged

2008-10-20T11:38:00.007-06:00

I was Picture Tagged by my friend Meagen. (I happen to be really excited that Meagan tagged me because I met her through my friend Holli that works at the hotel I used to work at. Meagen is Holli's sister and we only really know each other through Holli, and Brenda. So I like that Meagen thought to picture tag me.) Here's the deal, open your photos, open the 4th folder and upload the 4th picture with an explanation. Then tag 4 more people. This is a picture of my birthday present my parents gave me. Well part of my present. It has 2 stools that go with it. It sits on our patio and right now is draped with faux-spider webs courtesy of Paul. I tag Karri, Kimi, Kathy, and Amber. (Not that I don't love you Amber but another "K" name would have been cool. Too bad Kylie is in Arkansas.) :(

The Secret Life of Bees

2008-10-20T09:04:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned on Friday, The Secret Life of Bees opened over the weekend. I got to go with Paul and Karri. It was a great movie. It is a crying movie so be prepared. (We were not considering none of us have read the book.) I even cried and I never cry at movies. I read a review that said that this movie follows the book very closely. So if you have reservations about seeing a movie based on a book, this one follows it pretty closely. I hope everyone goes to see the movie and really enjoys themselves.

The Secret Life of Bees

2008-10-17T08:49:00.001-06:00

Jennifer Hudson's new movie is out today. The Secret Life of Bees is based on a best selling novel and stars Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys and of coarse Jennifer Hudson. I am very excited about seeing this movie. Maybe I'll go tomorrow morning and save a little money on the ticket.

Jensen

2008-10-16T15:11:00.001-06:00

I figured I should let him have his own post since I deleted him from the other one. Gorgeous right?

Picture Tagged

2008-10-16T14:45:00.006-06:00

I saw this Tagged on my friend Ambers blog and I was only going to look up my pictures but wasn't going to post them until I started realizing how awesome all the pictures were.

Age: 26

I'm not sure why this showed up for 26 but it did and I like it. Where I Live: Promontory Point

I probably could have found an image of my apartment complex, called Promontory Point but then it wouldn't be educational.

Where I would like to travel: Spain

I don't know why but I have always wanted to go to Spain.Favorite Food: Mexican

I swear this is the first picture that popped up when I typed in Mexican. I think it is hilarious and is the sole reason that I decided to post the pictures in my blog. Where I grew up: Sandy, UT

A beautiful scenic place.

Favorite Color: Orange

As if you didn't already know that.

Favorite Animal: Monkey

I have always loved monkeys, and when I found a picture of an orange one I had to post it. Some thing I used to love: My Little Ponies

I'm totally serious. I had so many of them and I used to play with them all the time. I know you aren't really that shocked, are you?

First Name: Clayton

I'm not sure where this sign is but I really like it. Middle Name: James

Perhaps some of you didn't know that. I think this guy is hot so he had to make it into my blog.

Last Name: Jensen

Who could pass up a chance to include the beautiful Jensen Ackles in their blog. Not me!!

(Oh shit I just deleted him and to add him back in means starting over. Yeah, That's not gonna happen.)

Happy Boss's Day!!

2008-10-15T15:47:00.002-06:00

Boss's Day is actually tomorrow but since both of my bosses will be out of the office tomorrow I'm celebrating today. I made hand-dipped chocolate covered pretzels last night for them. Then I typed up a little note first thing this morning at work. I inspired Kaitlin to do something nice for our collective boss (the V.P. of Sales) and we took this picture and wrapped it around a wine bottle like it was our own special label. I think it turned out pretty cool. (I'm a little bias of coarse considering I put it together.) I haven't really properly introduced my bosses. Kaitlin is the Director of Tourism Sales and Lee is the Tourism Sales Manager. We have a lot of fun together. It feels good to be part of a team that has each other's backs.

Tattoo

2008-10-14T14:03:00.004-06:00

So I decided it was time I added my tattoo to my blog. I had it done back in March but I was too afraid to post it on my blog because occasionally my parents read my blog. When we went on vacation to St. George back in August the inevitable finally happened. Our St. George vacations always consist of watching movies, swimming, eating and repeating. So the moment came and I stripped off my shirt and climbed into the pool. We started playing around and soon enough everyone had seen it. No one said anything at first. Then a little bit later I was standing by my mom and she said ok I have to know, does it hurt? We talked a little about how much it hurts and then no one else said anything about it. The following weekend my sister Jetti got a close up look at it while we were swimming at her brother-in-laws house in Arizona and her comment was oh it's a "C." So I figured I had better explain what it is. First of all, I designed it myself, mostly. It is my version of an Aztec sun. (I wanted it to look like it was made out of rock so that is the only part the the tattoo artist added to it.) It has 6 points because I wanted to include the colors of the rainbow as my expression of not being ashamed of being gay. And the "C" in the middle represents that I did it for myself. It was something that I had been thinking about for years before it actually happened. I had been carrying around the design in my bag for atleast 2 years before I got it done. And in case anyone is wondering, I am planning on getting more. I already have the design finished for the next one that will be a tribute to my cousin Stephanie, who died from breast cancer, and my dad that is living with Lymphoma. I am also in the process of thinking of a design special enough to represent the person in my life who loves me more than anyone else does, my sister Kylie Jo.

BIG SHOPPING DAY!!

2008-10-01T12:11:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was a big day for me. For anyone who may not know, I am head over heels in love with Jennifer Hudson. I have been since she was on American Idol. In fact I have not voted for a contestant since she was voted off. When I found out that she was going to be in Dreamgirls I was so excited. I went out and bought the soundtrack before ever seeing the movie. And of coarse she was AMAZING!! I went to see the Sex in the City movie, having never watched a single episode, only because she was in it. And I am highly anticipating the release of her latest movie, The Secret Life of Bees where she will co-star along with Queen Latifa, Dakota Fanning and Alicia Keys. I have been anticipating the release of her first album for a while now. It was announced around the time of Dreamgirls that her album would be a soulful gospel album. Yesterday was the big day and I am now the very proud owner of Jennifer Hudson's self titled debut album. And it is not a gospel album. I haven't had time to listen to the whole thing yet but what I have heard so far is FANTASTIC!! Last week on Tuesday the final season of Will & Grace was release on DVD. Along with the final season was released the complete series in one box set. When Paul and I saw it at Target on Saturday we were super excited. We went home immediately, gathered up our collection of the first 7 seasons and headed directly to FYE to sell them back. We got a $50 store credit and vowed to return after pay day. (That was yesterday!!) I headed straight to FYE to purchase the box set and my Jennifer Hudson cd right from the trax station. Now it is positioned nicely among all our other DVDs. And it draws attention to itself because it is shorter and squattier than all the DVDs around it.

After I finished shopping at FYE I headed over to Target to get the Target exclusive special edition of Iron Man. It comes in a really cool helmet case. Only sadly when I got there they had already sold out of the special edition ones. I text Paul to tell him of my disappointment. Little did I know that while we were texting about my dismay he headed over to the Target closest to where he works and was able to find one. I was so happy. I love him so much!! I know he thinks I'm crazy sometimes but I also know that he loves me and that's good. (No image currently available for the Iron Man case. Maybe I'll take one with my phone and add it at a later date.)

As promised!!

2008-10-01T12:07:00.002-06:00

Here is Kylie's new address:

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
200 Millwood Cir #525
Maumelle, AR 72113

And the mission home address:

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
905 Kierre Dr.
North Little Rock, AR 72116

Anyone who reads this feel free to write her. Shw would love a letter no matter who it comes from. Just explain who you are if you think she might not know you.

Arkansas or Bust!!

2008-09-23T12:07:00.003-06:00

Today Kylie goes to Arkansas!! She got to call early in the morning before her flight at 6:30. So my phone rang about 5:45, and by rang I mean buzzed. It was so good to hear her cheerful voice as she recounted the mornings events. Apparently she and her companion didn't hear their alarm clocks so they slept way longer than they should have. The office over-head paged their building and a couple of sisters from another room heard the page and barged into their room to wake them up. She had time to pull her hair back into a ponytail and get dressed before they were on the bus headed for the airport. Once she arrived at the airport and checked her bags she made her way to the bathroom to blowdry her hair and put her face on. She said she feels gross and can't wait to get to Arkansas and get a chance to take a shower. I was of coarse laughing the whole time and tried to tell me it wasn't funny. We talk for about 11 minutes or something until she felt like she needed to go to be ready to get on the plane. I wished her well and we hung up. She just called me again a minute ago. They have landed in Atlanta and have a two hour lay over before departing for Arkansas. She said she doesn't get to get into her checked luggage until tomorrow which means she probably won't get to meet her new companion until tomorrow. She traveled with 4 elders from her district and another few from another district. But she is the only sister that is headed to Little Rock right now. Her companion from the MTC is headed to Indiana with the other half of the elders from their district. I'm so proud of her for being brave enough to serve a mission. I love her so much and miss her so much. I can't wait for Christmas now so I can talk to her again. I have the address to the mission office and I'll post it soon. She loves letters so feel free to write!!

Kylie's Address

2008-09-10T08:31:00.004-06:00

Kylie has been in the MTC for one week now. I thought I would post her address here so that anyone who reads my blog could write her. She would really love the letters.

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
MTC Mailbox # 137
AR-LTR 0923
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

I am super proud of my sister and I love and miss her like crazy.

Celebrating 21!!!

2008-09-02T10:52:00.006-06:00

My little sister turned 21 a few weeks ago. We took a trip to Pheonix a week later and stopped in Las Vegas for the night. We had already decided that we would each take 5 bucks to gamble with. We both ended up taking 10!! We wandered around the casino for a while, while our parents trailed behind. Finally we decided on a couple of penny slot machines and the fun began!! We picked out a couple of great machines and soon we were both winning. The first picture is one of Kylie's big pay outs. (Now remember we are playing penny slots so 1270 credits equals $12.70) That's awesome. I was getting pretty close to breaking $30 and I had decided I would cash out when I hit $30, but Kylie beat me to it. So I made her cash out and I walked her over to the ticket redemption machine. The pictures below are Kylie with her big ticket and then a close up of the ticket so we can prove how much she actually won. When we returned to our favorite machines our parents had jumped on trying to steal out luck. But they didn't win and then we never did again either. We finished up the night with a stop a Fat Burger, the only restaurant open in the casino and 1 in the morning. We all ordered a "Baby Fat." The best part of the meal was the crazy lady that took our orders. All in all it was a very fun night with my sister. Now she is about to leave on her mission so we'll make more memories when she gets back.

HUGE PROGRESS!!

2008-08-13T09:28:00.002-06:00

Every month since as far back as I can remember we have had a family party with my mom's side of the family to celebrate birthdays for the month. As a result we are all very close with our cousins. August's party was on Sunday and we celebrated Kylie's birthday, which is tomorrow, and my cousin, JL, who is only ten days older than my sisters. I always feel bad leaving Paul home while I go do something fun so I asked if he could come too. After the progress that was made on the 24th of July I thought we might stand a chance. And they said YES!! So we got ready and headed over, after picking up my grandma of coarse. She was nice to Paul, again. When we showed up at my parents house only my mom's brother was there with his wife. I introduced them and they were really nice. They had heard alot about Paul from my cousins and they have always been silent supporters of me. Slowly more and more family members showed up and were all introduced to Paul. It was funny that the 3 cousins that had already met Paul were not there. So he got to meet all new people. Oh and that included my brother Ryan. The last of my siblings. He had even met Ryan's wife Kimi before he met Ryan. Anyway the point is that Paul was invited to my parents house. Now if only he could come on vacation with us.

Tagged!!

2008-08-08T12:08:00.002-06:00

Jetti, my sister, tagged me so I guess I have to now.

Tagged

3 Joys:
1) PAUL!!
2) Playing cards with my family (especially my grandma, she is hilarious)
3) Being alone in the car singing along to musical soundtracks at the top of my lungs

3 Fears:
1) SPIDERS!!
2) Coming home and finding someone in my house. (Now do you all understand why I almost died at my surprise party?)
3) Losing Paul!!

3 Obsessions:
1) Reality TV!!
2) Mexican Food
3) The color ORANGE

3 Surprising Facts:
1) I only like tofu when I make it myself
2) I get a headache everyday
3) I HATE talking on the phone

A day in the life...

2008-08-08T11:35:00.004-06:00

Welcome to Salt Lake!! 47 TIMES!!
So my project at work today was to prepare these "gift bags" for a tour group that is coming in on Sunday and only staying for one night. They will all receive a Visitor's Guide, a brochure for the Connect Pass and City Tour and a packet of wildflower seeds tied to the front with blue wraphia. It costs us next to nothing and it looks really nice. My left hand is totally cramped from holding the Visitor's Guide tight while I tied the wraphia with the other hand. I asked the other assistants if they would help me when they could, but I got finished before anyone had a chance to offer assistance. (In the words of my friend Holli, GO ME GO!!)

ONE YEAR ALREADY!!

2008-07-29T12:53:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was mine and Paul's one year anniversary. I seriously can not believe that an entire year has passed since we met up to go dancing with his friends. It's funny to think back to the beginning of July last year when I moved out of Karri's spare bedroom. She said to me, "I bet you'll have a boyfriend by the end of the month." I seriously didn't think it would happen. But sure enough after posting a personal ad online he answered and the rest has been history. We don't always see eye to eye and sometimes we annoy each other. But we always manage to work it out. I love him so much and I am so excited to see what this next year holds for us.

HAPPIEST 24th I've EVER HAD!!

2008-07-29T12:21:00.002-06:00

So as many people know my parents aren't entirely ok with me being gay. With that being said they have had very limited interaction with Paul since we stared dating over a year ago. They kind of met when we moved in together. And they did attend his birthday dinner, which we were both thrilled about. And then there has been a couple of other casual encounters but he has never been invited to participate in a family activity. Well thinking that my dad would have a doctors appointment on Thursday Kylie asked if Paul and I would go to the parade with her. We agreed and the plan was set. Then it turned out that my dad finished all his appointments for the week on Wednesday and he and my mom decided to go to the parade. I told them that we had already made plans and that I couldn't just cancel my plans with Paul and go with them. So Paul, Kylie and I were still planning on going. Then on Wednesday night my dad calls and asks if it would ok if he and my mom and grandma joined us for the parade. I almost hung up the phone because I thought it was a prank. But I explained that I was never the one that had a problem with everyone hanging out together. He assured me his only concern was my somewhat "racist" grandma. I told them we would risk it and we set up the time to meet.

Thursday morning came and my parents came over and Kylie jumped in our car. We caravanned down to the parade area and all sat and played cards together until the parade started. (Paul said later that he was only uncomfortable during the card game because he was sitting next to my dad and felt bad about making him draw cards. Even though we told him that there are no friends when you play cards. He just wanted my dad to like him. He's so cute!!) After the parade my parents were debating whether to go to Park City to go shopping or just go home and bbq. Paul wanted to go back to the tattoo shop that did his tattoo and ask some questions so we told my parents they could follow us over. Their eyes just about exploded out of their heads. But it was fine. They waited in the car while we ran in, then we all went to Park City. Paul and I spent time hanging out with my grandma while my parents and Kylie shopped. My grandma is so funny and we were all just talking and joking the whole time. (She even touched his brown skin so we figured she liked him.)

After Park City I opted to go home and take a nap since we had been up since 5:30 and I didn't get to sleep on the way to or from Park City. We met back up later for the fireworks. We sat a little too close and we were treated with some fall-out. It was still fun. Nothing like the threat of having burning ash land on your head.

Then on Sunday while I was driving my grandma over to my parents house my grandma said, "I really liked Paul."

"He's nice, right?" I reply.

"Yeah. I hope he liked me too. I hope I behaved ok."

"He did like you. You were fine."

"He has a really nice smile."

I love my grandma so much. She is very observant. Paul said its because she plays cards. No one has told her about me but I know that she knows. One day she even said to my uncle, "You know I think Clayton might be gay." She based her hunch on the fact that I like to help my mom in the kitchen. She's hilarious!! With all of that being said, I had a great holiday. I was so great to spend the day with both Paul and my family.