The Forgotten Carols

Two years ago, Jason and I were part of the choir in The Forgotten Carols show by Michael McLean. That was the last year that Jeff McLean was performing. He went on to bigger things like Spam-a-lot and Legally Blonde. We had such a great time doing this by ourselves and together, that when we heard he was doing it this year, we were elated to be part of it again!

This year was just as great as last time. We showed up, had our dress rehearsal, had some dinner, got ready for the show, and then, it was Showtime! Jason and I shared a room with Kristi. But we had many people stop by. Kjerstin and her hubby Steve, Nicole Nelson, all the boys from the boys dressing room across the hall. We even had a surprise visit from Jason's dad who nonchalantly snuck in back stage. It was also brought to my attention that Jason and I matched. Now... here's the story that goes with this. I don't have too many nice dress outfits. I have work clothes. I wear those work clothes everywhere because I'm in them most of the day and don't want to get home from work, change into after work clothes and then 2 hours later, change into jammies. So, I went out shopping to find a "jewel tone" top to wear for this event. I also went to find Jason a shirt because most of his button ups are white (for church) and the one or two other ones he has are too small and baby blue. I went to Penney's and got Jason's shirt and 2 different ties for him to choose from. (A poll was taken and everyone said he should wear the blue and black tie.) I had picked out 2 shirts from Penney's (blue sweater and purple top) and 1 from Lane Bryant (red ruffles). Since I was standing next to Nicole and Phil, I verified what they were wearing so I wouldn't clash with them. Nicole wore a fuschia top and Phil was in his suit, so it really didn't matter. I thought the fuschia would look great next to the blue sweater I got, so I wore that one.

As we were inthe boys dressing room awaiting Michael's arrival for our preshow "talk", everyone was pointing out that Jason and I were matching. One girl, I don't know her name, asked if it was a given that when you get married, do you always match? The majority of the answers were, "No. Only when you marry Jessica." Now, I'd just like to put it out there that Jason is a free man. He is able to do quite a bit on his own and doesn't need me to make his decisions (lol). Even if I did try to make him match me, he could have me change or go find soemthing else to wear (cause he did bring a black button up to wear - which I refused due to the black suit that he was already wearing and fading and blah blah blah). So, I do not try to make us match! Disclaimer: I was sent a thank you card a couple days after this performance from a wedding we attended in November. In the photo I was wearing my green wicked dress my mom made for me, and Jason had on a white shirt and a green tie. Ok... so what. I do like us to match. It says we belong together. LOL

O Tannenbaum

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, why do you bring such misery?

K-Not really. I love Christmas! It is probably my favorite holiday, for all the reasons everyone else loves it... PRESENTS! LOL Just kidding. The first year Jason bought his house, he went and bought a Christmas tree and his roommate decorated it... horribly. I will not mention how, but I will say I took the decorations off immediately and dressed it appropriately. The following year, Jason and I went on a hunt looking for a tree. We went to Q'doba for some stamina, and then set off. We drove to Rancho and Craig to a tree lot we'd seen quite a few times. I asked Jason if he had cash and he assured me he had $40, plenty enough for a Christmas tree. I giggled a little and explained, "Honey, Christmas trees are at the cheapest $60." He assured me that he got the tree from last year here and it was $40. We got out of the truck and as we entered the lot holding hands, I went left and he went right.

"Jason, the Christmas trees are over here."

"No they're not. They're right here."

"Jason, we want these ones. Those are bushes."

"No Jess. These are not bushes. These are the kind I had when I was a kid."

"Well, these are the kind I had when I was a kid!"

Needless to say, we had our first, not going to give in or budge fight in the middle of a Christmas tree lot. After some much very good debating, we came to an agreement, we would switch every year on what kind of Christmas tree to get. One year his kind, the next mine, then his, etc. Only one problem, "Jason? How are we going to decide who's turn it is this year?"

With his favorite line, "We'll paper rock scissor it."

I lost. No big deal though. I would still get my tree, I just had to wait another year. And THIS WAS MY YEAR!!!

(Yes, we crammed the tree in the LUVMCHN's backseat. LOL)

His voice makes me melt like a popsicle on the 4th of July

One of the greatest things about my husband is his voice. Just talking to him calms me cause he has a voice that compares to those of the voice-overs for Heavenly Father in church vids. His singing voice is so much greater than his normal talking voice. I truly believe that he was in the choir of angels singing at Christ's birth. I have always been a sucker for men who can sing - seriously, I always thought that musically inclined guys or the artsy kind of guys kissed so much better than jocks. LOL At least, that's what my studies have proved.

Anyway, we of course join our ward choir. Jason is one of 3 guys that is in attendance regularly. Though he usually gets stuck singing tenor, he enjoys singing so much, he'll sing whatever is needed (even an occasional soprano). When the ward chorister heard him sing, she insisted he sing in sacrament. I paired him with our good friend Heidi to do a duet. It was absolutely beautiful. Brought tears to quite a few eyes. Larry Taylor in our ward was so impressed by Jason's voice, he insisted that he come over on their family Christmas night and sing the closing song, O Holy Night. For months Brother Taylor said, remember, O Holy Night, my house. He DID NOT want us to forget!

The Taylor Family Christmas Night came and what an event! They had a lot of great food. Cindy and Larry's grand kids sang "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" which was absolutely adorable. Bishop and his family performed many great Christmas and other songs on the piano, violins and harp. Shannon Winkel sang a couple songs, Karla Huntsman (professional story teller) read a Christmas themed story and then it was Jason's shining moment. He didn't do anything frilly to the song, just sang it with Bishop accompanying. And again, my husband was able to awaken and move the spirits of people through song.

A new Tradition in the making!

Jason's dad's birthday is the 27th of November. We crashed his Turkey day in '07 and only felt like it was necessary to crash this years since we would be able to be up there for his dad's birthday too! We set off for New Harmony, Utah as soon as Jason and I were off work on Wednesday. We wanted to be on the road by noon, but didn't get going til about 4ish. We stopped to fill up on gas, and get some snacks. We made it to St George at about 6ish and I wanted Cracker Barrel! So of course we stopped cause Jason can't pass up good down home cookin'! I think he only likes going there to play with the toys.


We arrived at New Harmony and was so excited to spend the next day with his dad. We got him Dancing with the stars for the Wii for his birthday, and we all had a hoot trying to learn it! I was of course fantastic! It must be my amazing dance body that lets me be so flexible. HA HA HA right. The Graf men dance. It's quite awesome how great they are. =)


The weather there always has something to report. I loved how cold it was, but I loved bundling up and snuggling with Jason the most! We decided to leave earlier than planned cause the weather was making a pretty good layer of ice on the roads. After living in Missouri for 3 years and being the only to make it to seminary in the winter (thanks to the Bronco), I didn't want to drive home on icy highways, so we left early. We said our goodbyes and as we stepped out the back door, the backyard, mountains and sky were incredibly beautiful! You can usually see the mountain they call The Hand of God as you are leaving their house, but there were so many clouds so low to the ground that you could hardly see the mountains! It made me want to grab a blanket, a mug of hot chocolate and snuggle with Jason on the back porch for the rest of the day. I was so sad to leave Jason's dads after a great day and beautiful weather. We obviously arrived home safely and on our ride home, we made a decision that Turkey Day every year we will be going to New Harmony.

Canada Eh?

Getting married on February 29th was not a surprise to anyone that knows us. Going to Canada for our Honeymoon was no surprise either. We were wanting to learn to snowboard so we could go snowboarding in the great white north, but after a mishap on our first trial run, we decided we'd hold off til the following year. Though we missed out on snowboarding, Banff, Calgary, Alberta, Canada still had a lot to offer us.

We flew from Vegas to SLC to Calgary. What a welcome we got! Customs was very happy to have us there. The rental car company was a little bit of a joke. The gal helping us told us that she couldn't use our debit card. After she insisted we pay with our credit card, Jess asked her to just run the card as a credit (not as debit) and if it still didn't work, then we would happily pay with our credit card. She was amazed when it worked! We got our little "dingo" and were on our way to Canmore.
Canmore use to be an old mining town back in the day. Now that the mine has closed and due to it's location, it has become quite the tourist town. It's located just south of Banff. It is a great location for honeymooners. Close to almost everything!

We stayed at the Falcon Crest Lodge. Though Jess would describe it as friendly and home like, Jason describes it as Mary Poppin's-esk. Everyday we walked past the reservations desk/check-in, they always asked, "How are Mr and Mrs Graf today?" It wasn't rhetorical either, they really seemed to care how we were doing! HOW AWESOME! We had our own little kitchen, living area and balcony that had a BBQ! Not to mention 2 hot tubs that were accessible that you could hang out in at the end of the day and look at all the beautiful stars. Jess was really hoping to see the Aurora Borealis, but even in the little town of Canmore, it was too bright and not the right season. The hotel package we got included tickets to a few different activities in the Banff area. There was...

The Banff Gondola - You take a ride in a little carriage like thing to the top of the world... it was a peak of one of the beautiful mountains, but you could see over other mountains so to usit seemed like thetop of the world. It was absolutely beautiful, and cold. Once we exited the gondola, we saw a thermometer that read -5 degrees celsius. YIKES!!! That's roughly 30 degrees fahrenheit. Then we hiked about 2 miles to the meteor observation site. It was totally worth every step.

Banff Hot Springs was a great place for us to relax one of the last days we were there. Much to Jess' surprise, it didn't smell like rotten eggs. We were told that Banff is famous for it's hot springs. This particular spring has been there since th 20's. They even had 1920 style bathing suits to rent, should you want the whole experience. We enjoyed the nice dip.

There is a little theatre house that we spent one night at on a date. They had the play Snoopy going. Though the show was cute, the food was GREAT!!!

Our First Halloween as Man and Wife

We spent Halloween Eve at Jenny's hollowing out pumpkins and decorating for the big party the next night. There were about 12 pumpkins and 2 and a half hollowers. Surprisingly, it only took about an hour.

Jenny handed me a tablecloth like thing to put seeds in, but when I realized it was a surgical apron thing, I put it on to keep my clothes from getting all pumpkiny.

Jason called me a month before Halloween with his idea for our costumes. At first he said, "We should be Fred and Wilma." I confirmed, "Flintstone?" To which he replied, "No, from Scooby Doo." Then I realized he meant Fred and Velma. My mom made my skirt. She altered a few shirts to make Jason's. The rest we had. Here's what we got------->

Jenny was Wednesday from the Addam's Family, and funny enough, my momwas Morticia. John was a mad scientist. Mike was an airline pilot and his wife, Katie, was a stewardess. Bobby was a hilarious chicken. It was a fun night. There were other great costumes, such as a Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, Slash and his wife, Pajama Man and a delivery man. All looked spectacular! I can't wait for next year's party!!!

Green Tee Dorothy

My friend Charlotte is currently attending Beauty School. She was trying out for Design Team and needed a model. I was honored that out of all her friends she picked me!

The theme was the Wizard of Oz. She was to pick a character from the movie, and transform them into her style of character. So, she picked Dorothy. (Had I not gone brunette a while ago, we totally would have done Glynda).

I wasn't supposed to be the regular Dorothy with the blue and white dress. I was to be Sepia toned Dorothy. And I wasn't supposed to be down the dirt road Dorothy, Charlotte, being the rock star she is, wanted me to be Pin-Up Sepia toned Dorothy. My mom made an adorable dress frombrown and white gingham. I got platform ruby red slippers (like I needed to be any taller). And Charlotte did my hair and make-up. She wanted red highlights, so the only things to be red were my lips, the bow in my hair and the shoes.

I showed up to her school at about quarter to noon. It seemed like those 15 minutes took forever!!! But, as the clock struck 12, we were on a roll. She did Victory Rolls with the rest of my hair in ringlets. We pulled it to the side and put a big red bow at the nape of my neck. I thought she did a great job! The judges thought so too, but unfortunately she didn't make the team.

Some of the other contestants did amazing work! One girl did a flying monkey. She didn't make it either, but I thought she should have. There was a tree. A few Glyndas, quite a few scare crows, a lion and one girl involved her whole family and they were citizens of Oz. It was an experience for me and for Charlotte.

Obviously, the clothes I was in were not comfy. After being in 5 in. heels, very constricting clothes for a few hours, and swallowing enough glitter to lay a ruby red egg, I got home and got comfy. I didn't want to undo my hair cause I thought it looked great. So, Jason and I played photo booth on the couch for a while. These are a few of the pics.

6 months already!

WOW! It's hard to believe it's already been 6 months since the wedding.

Jason's Birthday Weekend Bash!

What a fantastic weekend!!! Jason's birthday is the last day of August. I love his birthday being then cause we always get to take fun trips (i.e. Grand Canyon camping trip, Mt Charleston camping trip). Because it's usually the same weekend as Labor Day, I get that Monday off so we're able to have a fun filled weekend.

This year I decided to surprise him with tickets to WICKED in LA. What a fun time! I had the whole weekend planned out to nearly every minute. We left Vegas right on time and we were headed south. Due to my car being in the shop, we had a rental and it had a GPS system which was very new to me. The freeways I remember were still there, but I didn't have to pay much attention cause the GPS led us to Southern California. =)

Well, when you get to the divide between LA and San Diego, it said to go right. Jason didn't realize it was the far right lane, so we ended up getting on the freeway that goes South instead of West. No biggie, over the next mile of driving, we saw a sign for Redlands and thought, this place can't be that big, let's go check out their temple! So, we spent the next 2 hours trying to find the Redlands temple. We had to call in special op's to help us locate the structure. However, we found it and it was beautiful.

Since our detour took longer than anticipated, we were coming upon "really late" for our dinner reservation at Gladstone's. Not to mention we still hadn't checked into the Woodland Hills Marriott. The great thing about the GPS system was that it gave you phone numbers for places you needed to contact so we didn't need to call information. We called Gladstone's and let them know that we were on our way, we just had a little hiccup. We also called the Marriott to let them know we would be having a late check in and that we will be there, just really late, so don't give away our room!

I took over driving, and Jason plugged in Gladstone's for the GPS. We get there in about an hour. Not too shabby, except for when we finally get there, it is NOT at the end of Sunset Blvd like dad said, AND it's right next to the Queen Mary! "Uh... Jason, I'm confused. Had I known we were going to be next to the Queen Mary, we'd have skipped Redlands and taken a tour of this. I don't think we're where we're supposed to be."

After a quick, embarrassing call to Jenny, we were back on the freeway, calling the correct Gladstone's again, and letting them know it would be another half before we get there.

When we pulled up to Gladstone's I thought, "Really? This is it? What a dump!" But, Jenny and my dad highly recommended it. Dad grew up here, it was his hang out. He loved the atmosphere, the people, and that depending on the time of day, the tide can be at your feet while you eat! Being that it was low tide, Jason and I opted to sit on the deck; the area that if it were high tide, we'd get soaked and our food would be back with it's family in the sea. LOL

Looking at the menu, it had so many delicious things. My dad insisted we try the Clam Chowder. Thanks for the recommendation cause I think it was the best we had EVER had! Jason ordered Salmon, I ordered shrimp and before the waiter left, I tried to sneakily ask Jason if he wanted ceviche, and he said, "I'd like an order of ceviche too" in a matter of fact attitude. His passion for food is absolutely adorable.

We had already had a spectacular evening there, with our hilarious waiter, the guy catching sharks on the rocks down by the water, and just being out of Vegas and with each other. Because everything had been so great already, we decided to get some dessert. I got what I thought would be a piece of key lime pie, and Jason wasn't allowed to order cause they already had a surprise for him due to it being his birthday. When dessert came out, we were in shock! What I thought would be a slice of key lime pie actually came out as a half a pie! They placed it on the plate and decorated it with Strawberry glaze to look like it was a crab. Totally cute! And Jason's, oh my goodness, Jason got a piece of chocolate cake, but they're chocolate cake seriously is larger than the Mother Load at Claim Jumper's. He ate maybe 2 layers of it and packed the rest to go with us to the hotel. (I know what you're thinking, Jessica? Your's had strawberry glaze. I handled it pretty well. Jason ate the part of the pie touching the glaze and I tried to eat the rest, but I too had to pack it up.)

We went down to the beach for a little bit. Walked along the shore just to feel the sand between our toes, but it was getting pretty chilly and there was another patron of Gladstone's fighting with the guy catching the sharks. So, we headed off to the hotel arriving a little past midnight.

The next morning, we had room service. Not too much cause we were still gorged from the night before. When I drew the curtains, I saw the green beautiful mountains and beautiful houses. I opened the balcony door and I could smell one of my favorite smells, California air. After lunch we started getting ready for our show. It started at 1 pm, and we had to leave the hotel by noon to get there in plenty of time (pending we take a wrong exit or get lost). We got there in plenty of time.

Though I spent a lot of my youth in Glendale and my mom tried to do what she could to show us the cool things about LA, the Pantages Theater was something I had never been to. What a glorious building! The colors were vibrant, the atmosphere was classic. It was so amazing! Jason and I were in row G, and though we were on the aisle seats, they were still fantastic. The show itself was impeccable! I was kind of wish washy about seeing the show and now having Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel be the main characters because I feel both of them have phenomenal voices and I didn't think the Glenda or Elphaba could compare, but those girls did wonderful! And, my favorite, Carol Kane (Miracle Max's wife in The Princess Bride) played Madame Morrible. I GOT TO SEE ONE OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE!!!

The show ended about 4 o'clock and there was still quite a bit of daylight to burn. So, I convinced Jason that we needed to go to the Griffith Park Observatory. I loved that place as a kid. I remember looking at Saturn through their telescope when I was 7 and thinking it was the greatest thing I had ever witnessed. Jason had never been there, and I felt bad for having to drag him from some areas, but there was A LOT to see. I think his favorite thing was the pendulum when you first walk in. It was quite the hike to the observatory and back to the car (parking totally sucks), and because we had already had a long excursion, we started heading back to Vegas.

I don't know how Jason felt about the weekend. When I first told him that I had great plans for his birthday, he said that I didn't need to spend too much money on things we can't take with us to our next life. When I hinted about the weekend and said, "Honey, a billion years from now, we will remember how great your 26th birthday was." He was a little confused. I think the most terrible thing about the weekend was that I took a lot of pictures. I mean, A LOT! So many that I had to delete bad pictures cause I ran out of memory. I downloaded them onto my computer, but because I just bought a brand new computer, I didn't back them up. BAD JESS! The hard drive crashed a few days after our return, so there are no pictures to see. =( I saved the hard drive in hopes that one day I will have enough money to get everything off that hard drive, but in the meantime, the memories are all that are left of that wonderful weekend. After all, isn't that the reason we went - so we can have that great experience in our memory in the eternal life?

Caching in St Joe with Janell on Memorial Weekend

My friend Shelley from high school was getting married Memorial weekend. Janell and I decided that we were going to be there no matter what. It was interesting being in St Joe without Jason, but it was even more interesting being there the same time as Janell and being able to hang out with her. It was almost like being in high school again, but we had these alternate lives we had to return to after the weekend.

I arrived on Friday and the weather was actually great! It was getting to that humid time that I HATED! By Friday I was getting a little irritated with the weather, but that is one of the greatest things about Missouri. I love how it can have a down pour in the middle of the day and be beautiful the rest of the day.

When Jason and I were on our honeymoon a cuople months before this trip, we got hooked on geocaching. I told my mom about it and she was yearning to learn more about it and actually go out and do it herself. Janell joined us on a few caches. Being new to it myself, we still ended up in very random places far from where we should be, but like most things, you get more used to it after you have the experience.

I have to admit when it comes to caching, Missouri cachers are almost as creative as Canadians. It felt like my mom and I walked all 30 miles of Parkway til she found this one IN the tree. She nearly fell in the middle herself just trying to get it out!

There is also the bird. When you are placing a cache, you always need to check with the owner of the property that it's ok to place the cache. When looking for the bird one, there was a gazebo right next to it that I thought it JUST HAD to be there. I didn't want to get caught walking around on people's property, even if they give the ok - I still feel like I'm terespassing, so I made my mom go hunting for it. After a few minutes, she gave up. I HATE not finding caches, so she satin the car while I went on a last hunt. Finally, after looking in a bush on the opposite side of the bush than the gazebo, I found the bird which was the cache!!! VERY CREATIVE!!!

Wedding

The week before and after our wedding was so windy. I was so concerned that with us having an outside wedding in February, everything was going to get blown away and all the guests would freeze. Luckily the day of our wedding was absolutely perfect! In fact, the tan lines I have in pictures are from that afternoon. Though the ceremony started way behind what time we anticipated, it was a perfect day. Jason looked amazing (but I never think he doesn't). I felt like a million bucks thanks to everyone that helped me get ready, and I had quite a crew. I had the best bridesmaids and photographers. My dad was absolutely wonderful. Casey (our DJ) played perfect music. I felt so blessed for everything that day. Great family. Great friends. Great everything.

I have uploaded some of the pics from our awesome photographers...

New Beginnings

We have been dating for quite a few years and now our Big Day is February 29th.