Crafty Me!

Just thought I would throw this on the blog - pics of the baby blankets that I made for a few friends. I am actually missing a picture of another one I made, but that's ok.

My "Watered-Down" Sketch Pad :(

I am only posting this because Jason wants me to. I had a sketch book that was kind of my pride and joy - a while ago. It was in the trunk of my car for a bit and my trunk flooded... the sketch book sort of dried, but we had to throw it away. I haven't drawn much since, but the drawings that were in that book were some of my best that I was drawing (or had drawn) for other people. Here are some of those pictures that were in that book:


This image is from a National Geographic photograph. It was my first attempt at drawing with carbon pencils. Before I was able to complete it, the cat walked across it... jerk. :)




These two images are rough drafts of the same project (believe it or not). They are of my best friend who passed away in 2002: Michael Warner. Regretfully, I never completed the project and never gave it to his family.


This image is of the Savior. It was just to get the feel of "painting" with the carbon pencils.


Was going to be a self-portrait.


A portrait of my sister and brother-in-law. It was completed at one time, but they didn't like it and asked me to make a zillion changes. I just never got around to finishing it the second time.


This one is supposed to be a Young Woman looking at the Liahona. I drew it for a boy I had a HUGE crush on just before he left to be a counselor at EFY. I did finish this one, this was just a draft of it.

So, that's just some junk from my sketchbook. It's history, except for these few images. Maybe one day I will pick up the pencil and start sketching again.

Halloween

So Halloween has be one of the coolest holidays there is. I am finally excited about it after 15 years (since I haven't been able to go trick-or-treating). Lol. What is frustrating about it, though, is trying to decide what to dress up as - which only gets HARDER when you try to do it as a couple costume. We went from He-Man and She-Ra, to X-Men, to Adam and Eve, to 300. We ended up doing a sort of rendition of 300 - Jason's costume was too Roman to be Spartan, but I made mine to look like Queen Gorda's in the movie (except I didn't have time to finish the sleeves).



I threw a party with Becky Beckstrand and Bekah Barnson, and it seemed pretty fun. Here are some pics:





Then, Jason and I went to a party Natalie Summerhays threw - which was awesome! Here's a few pics from that.


Natalie and Jon - Nat's costume was my favorite!


John (the sexy viking!) and Kim (Dolly Parton)


This one I HAVE to post because it won all the costume awards - thank you Michael Phelps! Jaime and her gutsy husband, Burke.

I love Halloween! It's so much fun!

It's Christmas!

Jason and I spoiled each other today - it was so fun! I got a BUNCH of stuff and bought him a BUNCH of stuff. My favorite gift I got him (well... us) was a walkie-talkie set with 3 handsets. (I've always wanted one! And his old one doesn't really work... well, it might if Jeremy ever used his...)

He bought me the Nike+ iPod attachment that helps you train for running marathons (or the shorter races - which I am more interested in). OK, that's actually not true. I have decided that I am going to run in the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back Series this coming June (unless I have a reason not too ;) ). It's June 19th-20th and it's 180 miles that you run with 11 other teammates in 24 hours. The whole idea of it is to raise money for charity and then kick your own butt to get your team to win. It starts in Logan and ends in Park City. Seriously, if anyone is interested in running with me, lemme know. It's going to be SO awesome! Anyway, to help me train for the race, I have placed my Nike + Mini widget on the blog to track how many miles I have run. My goal right now is 30 a month. Not bad, about 8 miles a week. I have really started to enjoy running (I NEVER thought I would say that!). You should all join me in June!

Oh, and we did get Spike a gift. All we needed was one... he LOVES it.

Jason says that I should mention what we've been doing this holiday season: Nothing. Jason works 10 hours a day, but is gone 12 with the commute (Yes, regardless of the hours, he really likes his job). I get to play all day at the gym and on the computer (occasionally I will work :) ). I have been doing a bunch of shopping for the holidays, but that's over as of yesterday - except to return a few things I bought myself. (Dumb shirts from Aeropostale run small!) I can gladly say that I haven't gained any holiday weight - I have actually maintained! That's good for me! But, tomorrow is a new day! Time to get serious! Other than my random babbling, that's about it. If I think of anything else to say I will write more. :) MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Visiting Tyler and Destiny (and baby Tyce!)

While Jason and I were in Cabo, Destiny had her baby! It was a blast! They are just about the coolest friends ever. Here are some pictures of them and Tyce. We drove down to see them while they were staying in St. George. They took us to Zion's Canyon and it was Jason's first time going. It was the perfect time, though. The leaves were changing and it was so perfect! It was one of the best weekends we've had since we got married.


Jason and I.

Tyler, Destiny, and baby Tyce.

'Nuff said.

Just some of the beautiful scenery.

All of us. Just outside of the South Entrance of Zion's National Park.

Day 10 Letter 6 from Cabos San Lucas

Hola... and stuff...

So, it's been a long 10 days and we are ready to come home now....

Today we went jet skiing and then lounged on the beach for about 6 hours. We had 8 strawberry daiquiris between us, a large plate of nachos, and some KILLER JUMBO coconut shrimp - which will be my biggest reason for returning soon. We got the jetskis and $80 to spend at the Baja Cantina for doing the tour yesterday.... VERY WORTH IT. Then we came back to the hotel and watched "Hitch" - (they love Will Smith here - he's been on every channel every day). Then we walked around the marina and bought a bunch of little plastic animals and small packs of gum from the adorable kids walking around pedaling them. We figured it would be a great way to get rid of our change.... they were adorable anyway. :)

Now we are emailing you. :) Karen, thank you for writing back to us and telling us about your days while we've been gone! Mom, Dad... thanks for typing a word or two so we know you are still alive - see you tomorrow night at the airport. We will call you when we are in LA. :)

Anyway, for the pictures: They are mostly just random stuff: Jason. Me. The annoying vendors that plague you on the beach. Some of the cute kids that we bought stuff from. The view from the 2nd room we stayed in. A boat being pulled out of the marina. Jason jet skiing - no Cabo Wabo. The cute way the maid made our bed one day. And, the swimsuit that I fell in love with - it was only $196 - not pesos. Other than that, we will see you soon!

A & J




Here is Jason doing some awesome tricks in the Sea of Cortez right inbetween two GINORMOUS cruise ships. :) Isn't he amazing!



The last day in Cabo, we took one last walk on the marina, most of the people had gone now that the Brisbee tournaments were over and so most of the vendors and street peddlers were gone as well. What remained were a few straglers, We had to bribe them to pose for us, and even then after spending our last few coins on them, they ducked. LOL


Right before our last night out on the town. This is in the Hotel Room.


Oh yeah... She is that ~HOT~!!


Jason on the beach, under an umbrella and on a chaise lounge... nice tan lines!


The Vendors that walked up and down the beach all day in the hot sun with piles and piles of merchandise to move. Its the best way to shop, they come to you LOL


Jason on the beach, under an umbrella and on a shaise lounge, sipping Strawberry Daquries and eating coconut shrimp the size of your fist with an amazing cocunut mango pinapple sauce.


Our Hotel at night looking over the Marina


I couldn't pry Jason away from this scene. He was like, "wow check that out!" They were just taking it out of the water.


Aimee's really expensive Bikini that she wanted until she found out how much it was. $196 USD.


Here is the view from our second room.


Here is the cute way the maid made our bed one day.


Here is a view from the beach, in the distance you can see the peninsula and on it Lover's Beach and the Arch. Truly amazing!



On our way home! The airport in Cabo (Actually San Juan), only has 6 gates - so everyone loads and gets off the planes on the tarmac. I know I am a geek, but I was really excited about this!

Day 9 Letter 5 From Cabos San Lucas

Hi!!!

First, don't forget to pick us up from the airport on
Tuesday night.... k?

We haven't updated you, mom and dad, 'cause you
weren't responding! Gosh! Whatever. :) Karen already
knows this stuff, but here's catchin' yous guys up:

So, nothing's really happened. We have been just
vegging. The other night at about 1:30 AM Jason woke up
shaking uncontrollably and nauseous. He had to get in the
shower and turn on the hot water cause he was so cold and
couldn't stop shaking - he was violently shaking. I
think he was in there for about an hour before he felt
better. Then he threw up a lot and went back to bed. It was
pretty scary for me, but someone today said it sounded like
a bout of sun stroke. Not fun. The next day we just spent
entirely in the hotel room because he had a massive headache
the entire day.

Our older couple friends left yesterday morning, not that
we got to see them much. We bought them drinks and desert
the other night at their resort to pay them back for helping
us out. They still got away with buying us dinner - they
wouldn't let us pay them back. Errgh!

Yesterday, we did go parasailing! That was a blast.... but
also the only thing we did the whole day. We even had
dinner brought to us! You can check out the pictures of the
parasailing. It was fun... but I will be honest.... I
delayed going for a few days 'cause I was TOTALLY
scared! We had a couple of friends tell us that they made
you land on the beach - when we saw that they pulled you
back down onto the boat (and that it was totally painless!)
we were super cool with going. :) AWESOME!!!

Today, we decided to go for a tour through the Cabo Villas
Resort - just so we could get a few free activities. It was
about 2 hours. It was great because we got these to
grandma's who are retired here with their husbands and
just do the tours for fun. They were more concerned with us
coming back with a "baby bump" than selling us
anything. They wanted you all to know that they had your
interests at heart. "Your baby already has two Aunties
in Cabo waiting!" They were cool. One was from Canada
and the other from Scotland. They mentioned that McDaniel
was a very nice Italian name. :) We also went snorkeling
today at Lover's Beach - total disaster, but I don't
think I am capable of leaving a beach without a scar from
coral. A "Cabo Wabo" to go with my "Maui
Owie" - only this one is way worse.... took a chunk out
of the bottom side of my foot.... oh yeah, same foot. And
the antiseptico burns LIKE HELL FIRE!!!!!! But, we did see
one or two fish.... Hurumphhh....

Tomorrow we are to go out on a few Jet Ski's (free for
going through the tour). I am ok with that because there
won't be any coral around..... They are actually
pretty crazy - you can go anywhere with them! And as fast
as you want. :) :O Jason is counting on his own Cabo Wabo! :)

Alright. Time to hit the sack! Love you all! Miss us!

A & J - just like PB & J!!

P.S. The lizard in the picture is not the puny Hawaiian
lizard! He was 6 ft long!!! (ok, ok.... like 10 inches...
but still!) Just enjoy the animal life here - we do!!


The gigantic lizard. :)


Livin' the dream... on the beach.


The arch from the parasailing boat.


Strapped up and ready to go!


Us in the air! Up so high!


Me and the cruise ship.


A view on our way to the pool.

Day 5 Letter 4 from Cabos San Lucas

Ok, So today was pretty basic. Aimee was up late again as
usual reading the Twilight books. She is on the third book
and will finish it Tonight no doubt. I will be watching TV
and playing Saduko. Since we don't drink and party we
are fish out of water at night. The Marina is quite alive at
night though. Maybe one of these nights we will venture out
just to see everything in chaos LOL. Anyways, we went to
Maricado Beach. (I think its called that) It was nice. Aimee
bought a sweet cowboy hat, that looks good on us both! I
feel kinda weird when I wear it though, there is something
perverse about wearing a cowboy hat lol. Just kidding.
Tomorrow we are planning on going Parasailing! That will be
a blast. It looks like it will only cost us $80-$90 bucks.
Should be pretty scary. We also FINALLY found hot fudge! We
have been looking for it since we got here. Dairy Queen was
out of ice cream. Johnny Rockets was out of hot fudge.
Finally it came down to McDonald's. We shared a hot fudge sundae. It was good.
We will talk to you later. We hope everything at home is
going really well. We love you all.

Jason & Aimee McDaniel

Day 4 Letter 3 from Cabos San Lucas

Hi guys,

Sorry we didn't write last night.... we were too tired.
Yesterday we went to Lover's Beach. It's a
beautiful beach. You have to take a boat to get there, but
they take you around the point of the Baja - we got to see
the famous arch. It is so beautiful! We also saw sea lions
and TONS of pelicans. We were dropped off at Lover's
beach and had 4 hours before our boat was to return. The
beach faces the Sea of Cortez on the east, and you can take
a very short walk to the west side - to the Pacific ocean.
The water's waves are MUCH stronger there. They
affectionately call that side Divorce Beach.... It looked
more like Widow's Beach to me... it was pretty crazy!
For the four hours, we just laid around in the shade. We
also went swimming (on the safe side), though Jason had to
swim out and save a couple from being thrown into the rocks.
It was pretty scary, but at least they were able to get
back on their cruise ship later.

After we got back, we showered and got dressed. Then we
went to dinner at Hooters and had the yummiest buffalo
wings! Then we walked back to our room. It was a quiet
evening.

This morning we had breakfast delivered to our room, but in
my opinion it was a waste of money... it didn't taste
very good. Oh well, I will just stick to the box of Trix
that we bought. At 11, we had our massages and facials at
the spa in the resort. IT WAS AMAZING! Totally worth it!
It was a good 3 hours of pampering. Super nice! Then we
had lunch on the marina. Jason was exhausted and took a nap
while I read by the pool. I am halfway through the 3rd
book.... thanks mom.... Those are seriously addicting
books....

After that we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. They were
out of ice cream so we ended up at our 3rd choice, Johnny
Rockets. (Our second choice was closed... :( ) We are
now back at the hotel and pretty pooped... it's tough
laying around!

Well, we just though we'd check in and say
"hi"! Congratulations to Eric for getting a job!
We have been keeping our fingers crossed! Mom... Dad... we
haven't heard from you and we are starting to suspect
that we might be seeing you soon...... BEFORE we get
home.....

Love you all! Take care!

Aimee & Jason


Me. The supermodel. Lol.


Jason. Just adorable!


Divorce Beach (I'm not kidding.) Check out those waves crashing! The Pacific Ocean side is brutal. NO SWIMMING ALLOWED.


On our way to see the arch!


A peek through to the Pacific side.


Look close... it's a pile of sea lions!


The famous arch. It was SO beautiful. Love it!


Us. Taken courtesy of me. :)