Ugly Sweater Party

Our favorite holiday party this year was hosted by Steve and Marissa. It was an ugly sweater party which we thought was quite original. Here's a picture of some of the group. You can't see Dana's really well but think tight, short, grey and silky. There's a image you're gonna want to keep.
And then we had a holiday gift exchange and it just proves that if you have a gift exchange in Texas, someone's gonna end up with a golden gun. Oh how we like Texas. Dana's photo is one he took because he loves me. If you can't tell he has on his, this is ridiculous; I don't want to be holding this golden gun face. Ah well. The things we do for wives. Merry Christmas everyone!

Newsletter 2008

Yes another year has come and gone and while we feel like we’re running in one of those little hamster wheels that never really goes anywhere, looking back it really was an eventful year. So let’s start off with:
January
Spent time in Utah at Emma’s wedding, watched Cloverfield—sickness reigned. Dana returned to school fresh from a month of sleep and Wii.
February
Dana dug in deep with new Law Classes. We found out what Texas wind is really like and, um, not fans. Dana surprised me with a cake for valentines and we dreamed of warmth
March
Not to be outdone by Feb. notched up the wind to full blown tornado levels. Tiny dust particles invaded my inner ear resulting in a few weeks of vertigo and ER visits. Also visited Caprock Canyons just in time for the fire ban (yeah, brrr) but also wicked hiking and crock pot dinners inside with friends
April
Easter Egg battles with Chelsea and Dave, a dodgeball tournament of champion law students, and the annual hazing of the first years via an all night sleepover registration wore us out! Warm weather in sight...go away wind!
May
Rain Rain go away, drown our car another day. Lubbock drainage system not up to the challenge but thankfully our car can float. Found Freebies for moms website—life will never be the same. Dana crammed for finals while I crammed in books during my boredom at work. Hosted the Brian Regan night with laughter for all.
June
Summer! Oh and cockroaches. Took on the evening Lunar Lope run, accomplished goal of Dana and Kelli having ten t-shirts that are the same. Dana launched into summer courses and I launched into Accounting...one, two, three...that’s all I got. Why did I go back to school again? Hmmm...
July
Best month for a birthday(24), fireworks, and a slamming trip to the pacific northwest. Dana took me to his old stomping grounds, we got rained on in Seattle, and I found out that crab is usually served cold. Who knew? Visited the fam (thanks fam!) and sucked in the greenery while we could.
August
Three years of Gailan plus Gailan celebrated. More family trips with Dana and the boys taking on the docile Grand Canyon and the girls tearing apart every Motherhood Maternity in Utah looking for clothes for the now prego sister. Little AMR had a tantrum resulting in auto body repair shop trip and a night in train heaven Arizona.
September
Back to school...for both of us! And just in time for our first business trip together in Atlanta. We now have enough business cards to plaster our walls. Spent most classes talking about downward death spiral of themarket...good grief! More rain...and mosquitoes! Eegads.
October
4th annual Gailan Carve off declared a tie (ok, Ben won). Lots of sun and trips to the gym to work off our Halloween candy in advance. Tried to find trick-or-treaters without looking like stalkers...found four. Work, work, work.
November
School projects ate up most of our time but the weather (70 degrees...come on who wants to live in Texas now?) coaxed us outside for walks. Dana’s B-day (26!) came with a bowtie and some kicking new kicks! Got our guns up for a short while as Tech took number 2 in the nation! Squeezed in a family reunion at waterpark. Enjoyed fondu, Kitchenopoly, and not being in class. Woo hoo!
December
Ah finals. How we love to see you go. Plan (and this is a big if) to spend Christmas in Big Bend National Park “winter camping”. Sounds lovely, huh. Actively seeking ways to not be bored out of our gourd during the holidays.
Merry Christmas Family and Friends. May this holiday season find you healthy and happy and remembering all the blessings the Lord gives. Thank you for being a part of our lives. Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!

Pinata Nights and Lights

Our big activity this weekend was the Carol of Lights Texas Tech puts on. Basically it goes down like this; you show up right at 6:30 when its supposed to start, wrassle the traffic on University, finally get a spot among the hordes of Tech peoples, only to wait another hour for it to actually start. Texas time, people. It's kinda fun though. They have the horse and the red raider guy and a bunch of cowboys walking in the freezing cold with two bright red flares a piece. Then they sing songs and jabber on the mic for a while and finally...tada!! they light the place up. It's rather cool to see but since our camera didn't capture it last year we didn't take it and man are we upset because after the lights this year we wondered around campus for a while and found ourselves in the ESC, in a land of magical pinatas. It was really cool. The Hispanic society puts on a pinata fest every year with hot chocolate and sweet bread and pinatas made by their members. Some were a little lame (think anything I could produce) but some were amazing! We had stuie off the family guy, a giant cat in the hat, a yellow duck, cowboys. They were great. We didn't stay around for the judging or to help smack the poor guys to death but all in all, not a bad night in Lubbock.

O-Hi-O

Quick blog since it's a crazy finals week. We just got back from a fun filled family vacation in Sandusky Ohio at the Kalahari waterpark (indoor, obviously). It was a blast and even with nine grandchildren and thirteen adults the madness was controllable. We got to spend time getting to know our nieces and nephews and relish all their cute mannerisms and bold opinions. We definitely have a stellar crop of Kitchen's coming into the world. In just four days we fit in (several) shopping trips, a baby shower for Kristina, two packed days of sliding and tube carrying (thanks to our manly brothers and husbands for pulling those things up the six flights of stairs), a fondue party, Chipmunks Race Around the World, the first annual Kitchenopoly game and so much more there isn't space to write it. We had a blast. We are tired but I'm pretty sure your exhaustion after a vacation is directly related to the amount of fun you had. Thanks again Mom and Dad Kitchen for the best Kitchen family vacation...so far:)

And now another Primaryism

We may need to start a regular stream of these cause our kids are too dang hilarious. We had Jesse call goodbye to Aiden in the following fashion: See you Aiden, my brother from another mother. Earlier he missed on the bean bag toss and informed me "I could break it (the board) if I wanted to...I just didn't want to but I could if I did." We sang Christmas songs in class and when it was Aiden's turn to pick, he told us he wanted to sing the "Baby it's cold outside" song. I think its off Elf but he spent the rest of class singing that line over and over...very off tune:) And then, for the topper, a nice ten year old primary girl told Dana after class that he really should wear a tie to church (he was wearing a bowtie). He tried to explain that Professors wore bowties so it was cool and she patted his arm condescendingly and said, "well, you've got a long way to go".  We like our kids.

50 things about me

I saw this on a friends blog and so instead of doing life insurance, I will be doing this:)
1-I broke the cycle of boy/girl, boy/girl in my family. I may have shoved my little brother out of that heavenly line.
2-My first job was McDonald's. Glamorous.
3-I hate that my nose is red all the time (they called me beeker in junior high)
4-Dana was my first, last, and only boyfriend--I know what I like!
5-I've always wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic
6-I wore pink glasses from 2nd grade until I was 12. Hot stuff!
7-My first orthodontist was a hack so I had to have my braces removed and then new ones put on by a second, shall we say, certified doctor.
8-The first time I saw a bug (a fly even) I started screaming and crying. I was four.
9-i remember almost all my dreams and they're always cool. I've had super powers, won grammy's, you name it.
10-If I published one of my books right now, I'd still probably finish school. It's that ingrained to have a degree...sigh.
11-I once hid in the bedroom while Dana was in the shower and when he came out I scared the living daylights out of him. It's one of my happier memories.
12-Sometimes I think my name is boring.
13-I love Italian food
14-i love food, any kind really
15-My whole family gets motion sick so my first sea kayaking trip was memorable
16-My second grade class met in double wide trailers (our school was under construction)
17-Not to brag, but I have a pretty darn good voice and I taught myself Alto in high school.
18-I cannot read a book unless I have time to do it in one sitting...oh wait, unless its school related
19-i will not be buying my burial plot in Lubbock Texas
20-I don't care where we live, really, honestly. I like a lot of states.
21-I was born in Virginia, but moved at 9 months.
22-I love walking out of an over air-conditioned building into a muggy hot day
23-Dana and I get obsessed with one meal or food and consume it so much over a few weeks and then can't eat it again for months. Our kids are doomed.
24-I want exactly two girls and two boys because I want them each to have a brother and a sister
25-I love The Office. Love, Love, Love
26-I'm impatient in general but I play it off well around non-family members...at least I think I do.
27-Dana and I teach primary at our church and may have messed a few of them up permanently.
28-I really want to be in young women's:)Drama, drama, drama
29-Sometimes I wish I had a soundtrack to my life--it would be awesome!
30-I really don't ever want to own a gun
31-I don't like most games because I like to win and by a large margin (a LARGE margin)
32-i love botanical gardens; they make me feel cultured
33-If I could do it again, I probably would have gotten an undergrad in something useful
34-I want to take Dana back to Africa someday
35-I'm running out of things to say...how sad is that?
36-I love surprises but usually figure them out early
37-I wore a side ponytail until I was thirteen...again, classy
38-I've moved seven times in my life
39-I really really really like my mom and sisters. I got lucky.
40-I'm going to pick my children's names based on what would look good on a business card
41-When I get my degree, I will refuse to get coffee for anyone...ever
42-I once ran a red light at three in the morning after a high school choir concert and almost got smashed by a semi. My friend still jokes that I was trying to knock her off.
43-I love pranks, t-peeing, anything mischievous. It feels like high school again
44-I love Halloween, almost beyond a rational level
45-As I've gotten older, scary movies creep me out more and more
46-I hate blood. I pass out when I see it and I get woozy if you talk about it
47- I think there are two places on the human body that no one EVER should touch: ankles and wrists...eegad
48-I cannot ice skate because I have an abnormally large knobby part on my ankle. It has a technical name, but I don't know what it is.
49-My favorite thing in the world is to say funny stuff until Dana laughs
50-I love to sleep, (10PM to 10AM is not uncommon). If Dana wakes me up, I glower at him.

You're a what?

Another fun primary story: the past two weeks have been practice for our primary program and I get to sit next to the funniest kid alive (Dana's tries to kidnap him every week). He was tired and slightly grumpy so when we stood for the umpteenth song, he tucked his little back against the seat and bent one leg up. I asked him to put it down and he rolled his eyes at me and said, "sister Gailan I can't. I'm a Flamingo." Can't argue with that logic.

Get your guns up!

While some of you were probably sleeping off your candy induced comas this past Saturday afternoon, the Gailans and apparently all of ESPN were in Lubbock Texas, watching Texas Tech absolutely trash (until the fourth) the number one ranked team, UT. Cori and Trav had us over to watch their giant HD TV (insert Dana drooling here)and scarf down piles of food while watching four knuckle biting, Chris pacing, ceiling hitting quarters of Tech football, the final culmination of course being a last second (cut it kinda close guys) pass from our QB to Crabtree for the final touchdown to end the game. In true Tech style we had a loco bell ringer, fans who rushed the field before it was truly over, and lots and lots of black face paint. Great times! As a side note, we even got to see BYU eek by Colorado, but, oh wait, that's right, it wasn't nationally televised like ours! Just kidding, nothing but love for ya cougs, sorry we couldn't bring our awesome luck to Provo. Seriously, an awesome little league team last year and now this...what will the Gailans do for Lubbock next?

4th Annual Gailan Carve-Off

Boo! Yes, the Gailans are keeping up the long standing four year tradition of hosting a Gailan Carve-Off. Last Saturday we had as many buddied as we could squeeze into our home (sadly not all our friends, sorry guys, we're just too popular) for the 4th Annual Pumpkin Carve-Off. I've included some photos to give you some sense of the chaos and just plain o'l good fun we had. We didn't really pick a winner this year, although I think little Ben chose him families as the best. We definintely won the 'hey ours isn't a face' award but as for the rest, they were just too good to choose between and even though we think we may have seen someone's pumpkin (ahem, Dave) sitting on our neighbors balcony the next morning, we're pretty sure everyone had a blast. It was great to get all the 1Ls who are now 2Ls back together and welcome in Halloween, Gailan style.

Georgia on my mind

Want a business card? I have four thousand. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration (its not) but really if you want one, take it, seriously, I'm getting a complex, someone take one already. Ok, ok, the Gailans recently went on our first professional not-so-professional trip together to the Schwab Impact 2008 conference in Atlanta (hmm, peaches). We were about as professional as you can get in matching TTU red polo shirts, which is to say, not. It was fun, especially the sleeping in separate rooms part and listening to people like Ted Turner and Lou Dobbs, you know, real family types, my kinda people! There was a lot of craziness and the Mormons stuck close from the hours of 4-10PM what with the free-flowing, um, dark beverages, or sometimes they were light and had umbrellas in them. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast and southern people are just too nice. It was good to get a feel for some of the industry and while we didn't nail down where we want to work we sure as heck-fire know where we don't! Gotta start somewhere (sorry North Dakota). We're glad to be back though but despite taking my camera, I have no pics so try to imagine us having fun drinking all the types of coca-cola products in the world at the Coke Factory (have to say that one carefully or the Georgians will look at you strange. Think about it.), think about us watching break dancers in Centennial Park and meeting lots of new friendly (for a price) people on our walks through downtown. We made it though and hey, even got to see the guy that got his ear bitten off by mike tyson. I can't remember his name but it sure excited a lot of the guys at the airport:) anyway, glad to be back in good old Texas and back in the grind of school. But seriously...want a business card?

We've Moved!

Okay, not really (don't we wish) but since we spend at least four days a week from 7AM-8PM on Tech Campus, I think that qualifies as a residence. School has been great to get back into and Dana and I are already competing in our Life Insurance Class--mind you, it's to be the biggest complainer. Not our favorite:) It's strange being back in school and sadly it looks like heck has finally frozen over since the extra strain on my brain has made me not funny. Honestly, I can't think of one funny thing to show you guys today. Well, ok, that's not entirely true. I'll brag about one of our primary kids. He who will not be named (cause it would bug him) is the oldest five year old I've ever met. He's eloquent, a little narcissistic and I learned on Sunday that he also...wait for it...sings opera. Now he will not sing if you ask him but if he's pretty sure no one is listening, he'll belt out a little "I belong to the Church" in a deep, vibrato. It's hysterical. That coupled with the sunbeam who could pass for a bass is about all we can take in church. Good times. Well friends, hope life is great for all those changing and just know if you need a laugh or a helping hand, the Gailan's are here...check the library first.

3's not company, it's progress

Last Wednesday Kelli and Dana celebrated a momentous occasion--we passed the three year marriage mark! Yay! Go us! But to celebrate, here are some things you should know about the Gailans:

1-Kelli and Dana were born exactly 599 days apart...unless you can prove me wrong. That's July 8th, 1984 and November 15th, 1982 for those who aren't savants.
2-They both have luscious brown hair and one of them can pull it off shaved but honestly, what can't I pull off? We have one paley pale girl and one nicely tanned husband so I know I will get three tan little children and one albino...the albino will probably get spoiled.
3-Kelli has blue eyes; Dana is a brownie (hmm...brownies) so we think the kids will pull a green or violet on us.
4-We like some of the same things: hiking, exercise, delicious food and the someday-when-we-have-money game. We differ in: musical tastes (but he's coming around), movie quotation skills, and things we think are fascinating (i.e. egyptology vs the NBA final four...zzzzz).
5-Dana pulled off both a first hand hold and first kiss but I let the "I love you" phrase out into the cosmos first. We call the proposal a toss-up and it officially happened in a tree in South Provo. The down on one knee engagement came about in the BYU library after a rigorous game of cubical tag--the real winners here were the people studying in the cubicles who got quite a show.
6-Aaaaand finally, We, the Dana and Kelli Clan are living in Texas currently. We are both getting a Master's in Personal Financial Planning so we can have even more in common. One of us is getting a law degree to show up the other (although after three years in law school, who really wins in that scenario?)

It has been a wonderful three years and we'll probably do it a few more times:) My husband is the best; I'd choose him again and again. Thanks to all of you who have been a part of either setting us up (Roomates, you know who you are!) or keeping us together!

Trains, Cars, and things we don't have in Texas

Well, we are back from our wonderful whirlwind trip up to Utah (for the girlies) and down the grand canyon (for the boys). Here are some quick highlights. Made it up in time to grab a quick dinner at Cafe Rio (hope that can last two more years) before the boys took off for their sizzling trip down the canyon. Dana will have more on that later...right dana:) I spent most of Monday taking a test (hey it was free in Provo, 20 bucks in Texas...anyone hear a cheep cheep). Then I had a blast outlet shopping with mom (since our Gap doesn't have sales...snobs) and playing with Isaac and Ethan my nephews. We watched Olympics but somehow got tired and retired to bed riiiiight before the amazing stuff happened. Men's relay, yeah we were in bed; men's gymnastic bronze...snooze city. Go figure. I had the best time visiting with old roomates and I even remembered the grid system enough to only turn around half a dozen times in Taylorsville (next time Jamie, I need a map...or was that nap?).

Wednesday all the girls drove down to St. George and half of us had air but don't worry, the other half had fans and ice cold Mr. Misty Freezes. We swam in the indoor/outdoor pool and Ethan and I enjoyed the "warm pool" aka the hot tub. We shopped till we dropped and Dana was ever so sad to miss all the hours of trying on shirts, color matching, and baby clothes, baby clothes, baby clothes! I ate way too much food and popcorn and got to enjoy every minute with my two sisters, nephews, and Grandma Tina (that would be my mom). And contrary to my sister's thoughts, no the cute little boys did not turn our two year baby plan into a ten year baby plan...although I'm seriously considering a patent for a perma-baby-bib; it would have this nice trough shape and food that fell from their little mouths would magically disappear into a void. Genius!

Nothing eventful really happened until we took off Saturday to pick the boys up and halfway there my car up and had a tantrum. After some green liquid explosions and a lucky break with the NAPA mechanics, we found out one itsy bitsy piece was making all the ruckus and it was able to be fixed. We also had time to find a nice little restaurant called, funnily enough, Grandma Tina's, but then we realized this Grandma Tina has no concept of pricing and we went for the delicious mexican food instead(ten bucks for a weenie sandwhich or 5 bucks for huge tacos? You decide!) We met the boys halfway, pushed a very lethargic Dana into my car, gave hugs all around, looked at some of Taylor's now reddish socks that were once white, and took off for Texas. We could have made it home by 5 in the morning but we decided to stop in Flagstaff Arizona and boy are we glad we did. Aside from the highway robbery at the hotel (busy season my rear) we were also treated to a lovely room next to the ice machine and then, oh ho ho, a cacophony of sounds at night. Nobody mentioned the train parade was in town but from about 2-6 that morning we were delighted with the whistles and bells of their local locomotives. Little ones with a beep beep beep and looooong ones really letting loose. Dana of course slept like a hibernating bear and after I tried my ipod, little wadded up paper earplugs and some good old fashioned threats (oddly ignored by the trains) I gave up and let them toot away. We did finally make it in Sunday night and crashed. Yes folks, although we loved the family and those strange bushy green things called trees that don't exist here in Lubbock, the gravitational pull of Texas was just too large (kinda like the hats, trucks and food with the words "big Texas" in front). We're glad to be home and I promise pictures will follow soon! Happy School year to you all and thanks again Mom and Dad for the best separate but equal vacation yet!

Washington!!!

We're back! Bet you didn't even know we were gone, but we were. Dana and I just returned from a fabulous week in Washington and you want to hear all about it (warning: long blog ahead). We started off on Monday the 30th from Lubbock to drive to Dallas because a. the flight was cheaper and b. we are crazy. We found out one small town has an annual one armed dove toss and a billboard urged us to join the NRA (a gun rack would so complete our car). We made it in one piece to Seattle and drove down to eat dinner with Dana's older brother Brian and his amazing family before finishing our long day at Lake Sylvia campground where the gate attendants gave us some weird looks (hey, who doesn't like to set a tent up in the dark?). We collapsed. Tuesday was great. Dana took me around his old stomping ground showing me the field that was once a high school (some kid burned it down trying to change his grades...smart). I got to see his old houses and the loooooong road up; hey did you know Washington was hilly? It's like San Francisco with trees. Weird. We also went to the beach where it was overcast but the sand was actually quite warm and we ate salt-water taffy and saw deer. We went back for a nap at the campground and I tired to get some good shots of our river and trees and Dana consumed a lot of chips. We ate primitive hot dogs and roasted mallows and had an almost roaring fire and collapsed again. Wednesday we packed up and headed north to the beautiful (and pricey) Bellevue area where everyone looks like their in a walking eddie bauer commercial. We ate panini's and went for a looong trail hike. Washington really is beautiful. If we ever have, like, ten million dollars, we might live there. We stayed that night at the best hotel and went out for steaks to celebrate my 24th birthday! Oh, we also stopped by the original REI and tried out their sleeping pads and Dana found his dream tent, freak that he is. Thursday was Seattle and did it rain? Of course it rained, we were in Seattle people. We took a ferry over to Bainbridge island, not to get off and explore of course but just because Dana's a sadist and likes to see if I get sick on boats...turns out I still do. We went through famous Pike's Place Market where they throw the fish and give you free samples of things like raspberry honey and nectarines (we had to keep passing that one for more samples...yum). Of course we had fish for lunch but who knew crab was cold?! All those Red Lobster commercials show steamy plates and melting butter. Liars. It was great though and we saw just about everything including the Seattle Art Museum whose defining sculpture was of a giant rat atop a sleeping man. Deep dude. Deep. We took off that night for Yakima where Dana's folks live. The fourth was a mismash of family time, long walks in the cool morning, a trip to the fair and fireworks seated in front of some colorful people. They had a great show for a little town. The rest of our weekend was visiting aunts and uncles and their apple orchards and looking through old memorabilia of Dana when he was The Man. It was another long flight and drive home and I almost almost got that NRA subscription but held off...maybe for Christmas. We had the absolute best time and I'll almost admit that Washington was spectacular but of course that would make Dana right so instead I'll just agree that it was...pretty. Happy July!!!

Friday Funny

Dana suggested I post this one so here goes. This makes me a horrible person but I'm going to laugh at someone today, no, no, not with them, but at them. See, Dana and I love watching StupidVideos--it's an online archive of hysterically funny things like people walking into poles on their cell phones or jumping thirty feet into a shallow vat of water. Real classic stuff. I've always wanted to see one live and yesterday, I got my chance. Walking to my car at lunch I casually noticed a car passing in the parking lot and a biker coming from the opposite direction, intent on crossing onto the sidewalk where I was walking to continue on his merry way. That never happened. Being careful to avoid the car, the biker tried to move suavely up the ramp onto the sidewalk but misjudged it and instead took the sidewalk head on. The sidewalk won. The back tire of his bike flipped up in the air like a spring and he wisely decided to launch himself over the handlebars. He managed to hold onto the bike though and looked around wildly. Our eyes met with that "did you see anything? I didn't see anything. Bird?" look and he proceeded to bend down and check his bike--like it was its fault--as I continued on. To my credit, I made it almost all the way around the building before I busted up. I keep picturing it in slow motion and it's still funny. But happy ending, the guy was fine, just a little ego-bruised, and the bike was fine, but it might want to find a new rider--one with depth perception.

Side note: We leave Monday for our much needed trip to Washington. How am I feeling about it? Fan-freakin-tastic! See you sometime in July!

Eeegad!

Random, but at least I now know the guys who come to spray for bugs aren't cheating us with water or something. Huge cockroach just ran across my floor (I jumped on the seat of course) and it tried to climb up the wall but must have encountered our treatment because it is now writhing upside down on the floor. I am watching it even as I type this and will continue to do so until it has laid still for 2 and a half hours or until I can get one of the guys to stomp on it to ensure absolute deadness. I think I'm done with Texas--anyone know how Alaska is this time of year?

Lunar Lope

Quick update on the Gailan front: We participated in a 5K run put on by Tech last night (yes I did say night). As with all good ideas in Texas, this one featured a night run because, well, it's 2 billion degrees in the daytime or at 8AM or anytime really but at night it's only 1 billion degrees so...better. Dana finished not even winded and then turned around to come back for me (show off!) and that was after his one mile warm up. Yeah, he's a runner; it was all I could do to keep him from joining the high school running pack and painting on a yellow racing stripe on his head like the crazy kids. I accomplished one of my all time goals--to actually run the whole thing. This would be a miracle in the eyes of my high school gym teachers. It only took me half the race to pass a father and his two hyper kids--go Kelli! We had quite the time, added to our matching t-shirt collection and found out that running in the dark is marvelous. Here's to our health and yours!

A-CCounting my life away

Okay, so I'm not very puny but seriously folks, I'm so flooded with Accounting information right now that I literally dreamed I was counting my assets last night (remember assests are debited) and then checked them off against my liabilities (credited) to equal my owner's equity. I was sad to discover...we don't have much:) So I want to give a big hooray to all my friends who are accountants or who did accounting or who watched those crazy Norm Accounting 201 CDs in your bedrooms late at night at double the speed. I give you props. I have to say getting back into school was exactly what I thought it would be--stressful. But at least in the Fall I will be in classes that I love and might maybe want to use someday; hopefully then I can get back to counting sheep...oh, come on, that was funny!
P.S. If you have a Sonic in the area, all throughout June their milkshakes are 99 cents and while I don't advocate expanding your waist line, they are rather tasty. Dana recommends the strawberry so of course you should choose Chocolate! Happy Summer!

Oh what do you do in the summertime...

If you're singing the wrong words to this song, then you grew up in my family. I've been asked a lot lately what my plans are for this summer since I seem to have an inordinate amount of time for things other people don't, say for example blogging (hi) and youtube searching so today I want to assure you that I will be very busy this summer. First I'm trying to get more of the ideas in my head down on paper where they belong. Prying them out has become quite an ordeal and often my head feels like the death star has just exploded inside it (See a nerd for reference). I've decided to take two Independent Study classes from BYU to fulfill my Accounting requirements and to slide back easily into school with the only subject that makes me hyperventilate. I've decided to read two books every week so right now I have Bill O'Reilly's Culture Wars and The Daring Book for Girls which has shown me how to make a lemon powered alarm clock--I am also trying that. I'm trying to learn how to swim with my face in the water and failing. I am not a fish, for the record, so this is harder than you'd think. I'm trying to get buff this summer.  I'm trying to eat less sugar so I made peanut butter cookies last night. I'm trying to make it through the NYTimes Crossword puzzle each day without cheating (never gonna happen) and of course I'm squeezing in some actually work work (three students hired and twelve trips planned so far this week). I'm also trying to stop adding and dropping classes for this fall on a bi-minute basis. Lastly, my ultimate prima goal is to get really really tan down her in Texas--okay stop laughing now, I have a lovely hue if you want to know. I also will be turning our air-conditioner on and off several times each hour this summer as my body cannot regulate itself anymore. I will probably also sleep, eat, giggle, spin in circles, and fall over numerous times before I'm done. There. As you can see, I will be quite busy this summer and I might throw in some travel there too and maybe take up biking. You don't know. Oooh, youtube just added a new video I haven't seen. Gotta go.

P.S. How to make a lemon powered alarm clock
Get a battery operated digital clock without a plug, two large galvanized nails, copper wire (do not steal this from a construction site, they have it at Home Depot), three electrician's clips, and two lemons. When you have those...um...give me a call, I will verbally slap you over the phone and mail you ten fifty for an alarm clock. And you say I have too much time on my hands. Sheesh.

Raindrops keep falling up into my car

There is a phenomenon that happens in Lubbock anytime we have more than 2 hours of consecutive rainfall....the entire town turns into a lake. We had such a day yesterday and as I was driving home though Indiana street-lake. I decided that perhaps Tech's engineering and construction programs should be revoked posthaste. You see the principle of the Lubbock drainage system doesn't involve gully's or retention ponds or even drains for that matter, it revolves around this concept of diverting all the water possible into intersections on all of the major roads (some side roads too) and just really piling it in there for safe keeping and then crossing any number of fingers and praying for sunshine to dry it up or for the cars to splash enough into the saturated ground to make up the difference. This often works but alas any moisture over two hours in duration will be forever trapped and Lubbock will become a veritable roller derby of bumper cars and belt-tightening weaves in your frail and diminishing hope of reaching anything past the loop. I did arrive home safely but have to give most of the credit to my father who taught us to always be prepared and also how to do a j-stroke in a canoe. With my windows rolled down, my car drifting along Quaker and Slide, I paddled and waved at the giant monstrosity trucks with their large tires still able to grip pavement below and for once I did not see them as 'backwater hillbillies' but today rather like women with food storage--genius' who prepare for the inevitable flood. The sun has risen again today to dry our earth and restore asphalt where once was only water and just in time--we were missing our sand storms.
Ok, now imagine that water at the top of my car...yes, that's more like it. Go Raiders.

I'm a nut

There's a girls camp song that I can't quite remember except somewhere it declares "I'm a nut" and so I am. I was on a friends blog the other day and discovered this wonderful site called Freebies4Moms that has all these blogs about free stuff around the country. I realized even Wal-Mart sends freebies if you just log onto their website and hunt for it. I'll admit, I was a little peeved. Getting things for free is like a natural drug for me and I've been missing all these. I'll admit to becoming quite the addict lately. Poor Dana has to hear about tiny trial size shampoos and granola bars that will be showing up in our mailbox in the next 4 to 6 weeks. Luckily this is not the craziest thing I have ever done so he's rather chill about it. But it's made me think, why is it that people(and I'm not including sane ones here, just the nuts like me) get such a thrill from finding a 30 cent coupon for our cereal or when someone ships a Pantene Pro-V trial packet to our home (even if it's for natural blondes)? What is that? I'm no scientist so naturally I don't care but if you would like a tiny thrill, try out the site or just wal-mart. Sometimes all it takes is a free stick of Orbitz on Tech campus to turn even the bluest of days a bright shiny yellow!

This week I'm getting free deodorant, drink mixes, and frizzeaze hair serum....dana's getting a looney.

Good humor

Just had to post something since it's been forever. Dana is making it bit by bit through finals blah and I'm so proud of him for sticking it out. Man can the law be really really boring. But we took a few hours off last night (well he did, I take every night off:)) and watched Brian Regan's new DVD "Standing Up". We're having friends over on Friday so we thought we should proof it and it was great. I think we both needed a laugh. So, here's me thanking those who put out good wholesome but still gut wrenching humor to make my day happier. And here's to all my roomies who have laughed with me throughout the years to some truly stupid things:) The jokes on you!

White men can throw

 Sometimes in the thrill of a game, a mature twenty-fiveish law student might forget that he is no longer 16 years old on the basketball court. Such an event happened Saturday morning at the law school Dodge Ball tournament. Four fun filled hours watching men (and a few brave women) throw not so squishy balls at one another's heads. There were official refs (who need to go back to ref school), a designated body target, and men with bandanas. Our boys should have won their game, but they felt so bad for the obvious inferiority of the other teams that they let them win and so the best looking powerhouse came away with some good pictures and sore arms. It was quite a show! Our team consisted of John, Jeremy, Dana, Cliff, Harley, and Travis.

The Nine

This is a strange post for me--mainly because you won't laugh once...probably. But I have never really been a fan of biographies or really anything that isn't fantasy for many years but this year for lack of anything decent to read, I've expanded my milieu of literature (and my vocabulary). The one I just finished is called "The Nine" and it's about the lives of current, and a few past, Supreme Court justices. The author is Jeffrey Toobin and although he has liberal leanings, I thought he did a great job of sounding impartial and covering both sides in each case. It covered all the eras from civil rights, abortion, military law, Gore vs Bush and so many others and it really was an eye opener to me for how our court system works and also how much politicking goes on when justices are nominated. Overall it was just a neat look at some of the laws that have been passed and how this branch of our goverment shapes America. It also had some great tidbits about the personalities of some of the Justices that I thought were cute. If anyone likes this genre and is looking for an interesting read, I recommend this one.
Oh, ok, just one joke at the end:
An elderly couple had been shopping at a grocery store, and the wife decided to steal a can of peaches. The inevitable happened and she was caught. Upon her court date, the judge asked her what she had stolen.
"Your Honor, I stole a can of peaches."
The judge replied, "How many peaches were in the can?"
She said, "Six."
The judge then said, "I will sentence you to six days in jail."
Her husband stood up behind her and replied, "Your Honor, she also stole a can of peas."

Hazing

Hazing is, as you know, fairly illegal around the country but, as the Gailans recently experienced, highly unenforceable. As many of you know, Dana is a 1st year law student at Texas Tech University and last night (shudder) he was forced to submit to a vicious form of hazing I like to call "we thought it would be funny to make you register for classes at midnight while we are home sleeping comfortably in our giant plush king sized beds". Yes, Tech's favorite form of hazing comes in the form of opening up registration for classes at the stroke of midnight--about two hours past la la time. With our borrowed internet most often on the fritz, Dana and I opted to spend a fun filled evening at the law school clicking and reclicking the add/drop button in the vain hope it would come up early (it was two minutes late). We want to thank Tech for this experience and the subsequent narcolepsy we are experiencing today. We know how valuable your time is and we so appreciate you having no concern for ours. Go Raiders!

Okay, so all my whining aside, it was actually a kinda funny night but yes oddly enough they make you register at midnight which meant the law school was pretty much a party of 1Ls last night. Those of you who have good internet or are just brave enough to wait until morning, we missed ya!  Get some sleep friends and family, we wish we could!

Thankfulness

This will be a nontraditional thankfulness list but I was moping today about being sick and grousing about my job and decided, dagnab I have a good life so stop whining. So I'm posting a thankful list for myself.
1-My job can sometimes be fun. I personally whacked the living soul out of a flying cockroach the other day which is huge for me. I also got to meet Susan Polgar who is the first woman grandmaster chess player ever.
2- Sickness can be fun. I'm still having fun twirly episodes but today while walking down the stairs I realized my visual field moves up and down as I do and it reminded me of a fun house. Now everytime I walk, I remember that people pay for this sensation...I get it for free:)
3- Dana is fun. My husband actually wants me to shop! Dana is probably the only man alive that encourages his wife to buy clothes because I'm so bad at it. He's patient and gives me honest feedback and when I walk out of a store with the thing I came in for, he looks triumphant. How cute is that!
4- Our weather is fun! It's 82 degrees today and I really like the warmth but it is also windy and that can be annoying but fun too. Sometimes it feels like a giant hand is pushing you along impatiently and if you go the other way, sometime you come to a dead stop trying to fight it and believe me, people who are fighting an invisible wind barrier look funny. We know we look funny, laugh with us.
And finally,
5- Pranks can be fun. I was told by an Icelander (?) that the US does not do April Fools correctly so I got online to see some pranks pulled outside the US and let me tell you, ha ha ha. My favorite was a Japanese stunt where they hid someone under a false floor in a hallway and jumped out at people. Believe me, it was funny. Or the one with a trick or treater where a guy dressed like a scarecrow jumps out at a girl and she decks him. Classic.

Anyway, that's what I grateful for today. Thanks for letting me share. Stop to take a minute and re-evaluate your trials and I'll bet you'll find some fun in there too. Have a fun day! I did.

Tally Ho and Vertigo?

We're back from the long break and what a doozie it was. Let me take you through a day by day.

Thursday: I get off early from work, pick up Dana, stop by the wal-mart for some last minute supplies and then we are on the road headed for caprock canyons state park...or so we think. Our last direction says "take country rd 29 for 1.1 miles." We take the road and start going downhill, really downhill, like we're driving through a dry lakebed downhill and it turns into 2 miles, four miles, lots of miles. Apparently, mapquest thinks its funny to take you through the entire canyon to reach the park on the other side rather than just going around it. Oh what fun. By the grace of a giant trucker we found it and quickly realized our camping might be cut short due to wind (real wind people, the kind that picks up your tent and makes it do the hokey pokey), cold (the kind that makes you shiver in your 20 degree sleeping bag) and no fire (a county wide ban of all things warm and required for marshmallow toasting). Needless to say it was a cold night which brings us to...

Friday: We awoke or rather got up from already being awake all night to take down the campsite and get a map and then the fun began. Caprock State Park is gorgeous and it turned out to be a beautiful day so Dana and I hiked 7 miles total in our four hours and pictures will follow. We found pink cactus and a lovely stream to drink from:) and lots of dirt for me. Despite cramping legs and a very red Kelli (Dana is a beautiful tan of course) it was a fantastic trip! We returned home about four and went to have the dutch oven dinner we were supposed to have up at the campsite but instead had in the Babcock's home. Thanks Julie and Harley for saving the day!

Saturday: We cleaned and lounged and ate the Easter candy Mom sent (thanks mom!) and were just basically lumps on a couch with our CSI.

Sunday: 12:30AM started our Easter Sunday. I awoke out of a dead sleep with the room spinning and made a beeline (that turned into a wobbly zigzag) for the bathroom where nothing happened except for me lying on the dirty bathroom floor (eww) and Dana coming to see what on earth I was doing. After several attempts at eating bananas and other home remedies we visited our friendly neighborhood ER where I got stabbed and IV'd and three hours later found out it was a bizarre case of Vertigo. They aren't really sure what set it off but it takes about three days to completely disappear. So, I got some great drugs and we got home about four-ish and we missed all of Sunday church. We did make it to dinner at Chelsea and Dave's that night and had a blast watching hard boiled egg wars. We got home and I oddly enough went back to sleep.

So that was our weekend. Eventful and a blast most of the time and if I could just stop feeling like I'm on a rollercoaster, life would be grand. We hope you all had the best of weekends and thanks to those who made ours great! Happy Easter!


We start with Dana bored in the tent, and then the storm, followed by lovely shots of our campground (shade included). Enjoy the beautiful scenery of Caprock including the outhouse and trickling stream. We neglected to bring enough water on the trip so we figured, hey, why not get some hepatitis C while we're here. Anyone know why a cactus would be pink? We didn't. Happy Easter everyone!

Love, Love, Love

This was on Jamie's blog and I Loved the idea (chuckle, chuckle). So here it is: Ten things I love...in no particular order.

1. Dust. You all know this. If you don't, take me to a construction site sometime and watch the crazy. I love swirly dust and super dry dust. I love the smell and feel of it.
2. Husband Dana. He makes me so happy. I really don't know what we talk about half the time but I never seem to get bored of the guy and he's the only guy (other than family members) who has ever successfully gotten me to laugh (not the pity laugh but the real one).
3. Waterfalls. There's something cool about the raw power of waterfalls and they always smell great and its an easy excuse to take off your shoes (also a love).
4. EL Fudges. It's fun to bite the heads off and they are absolutely delicious. Plus they have strange phrases on the back that I can't figure out. Did I mention they were cookies?
5. Music. I like music from almost every genre but it has to really move you. Music has to evoke a strong emotion be it grief or sorrow or get up and dance. None of this wa wa wa music. Real music.
6. Fantasy. Why can't someone have hoofs for legs or purple eyes or sprout wings? I say pbbbbbttt to anyone who can't appreciate the beauty of imagination.
7. Education. I like being in classrooms. I'll admit the monotony of it after a whole semester but there's something about soaking up knowledge and knowing something you didn't when you come out that's nice. I've never found more education to be a bad thing.
8. My parents. They are the funniest, most grounded, most sensible and yet outlandish people I know. I wouldn't trade them for the world. I relish every crazy family vacation and silly email and just normal phone call I get with them. Go mom and dad!
9. BYU. Yes, I'll admit it. I like the school. Call me the typical Mormon yuppie raised to think it's the holy land of universities. I don't think it's all that, but it's a beautiful campus and the best years of my life--so far--were spent there. I love their colors and their little ra ra ra and the cougar and the fact that no cars can drive on it and that I never hear swearing or see cigarette butts on the campus. Our kids could be so lucky to get in someday.
10. Lysol Disinfectant Wipes. I'm a loony, we all know this. I love Saturday morning getting every surface of my house wet with one of these wipes and then I imagine the little germies screaming for their lives (they have tiny voices). I love getting light switches and door handles and the fridge door. I love clean. If it wasn't for doctors recommendations that kids need exposure to germs, I would probably wrap my children in disinfectant wipes everyday. Ahhh...clean.

Well, that's me. I hope you all can take just a second to think of ten things you really really love. Not generic flowers or warm weather (although those are good) but things you take for granted like toothpaste or a working pen. Think it over. It can't hurt, right?

The Man in the Texas Hat

Chapter 1: The Road to School
It was 7:35 and Mr. Dana and Mrs. Kelli were running late. They passed 50th and Indiana and as the light changed from green to yellow, Mr. Dana stomped on the gas.
"Watch out." Said Mrs. Kelli. There could be a cop around. Mrs. Kelli was nervous; it was very important to get to school on time.
"We'll make it." Said Mr Dana. They passed 34th street. Mrs. Kelli waved to the gas station on their right. She hoped it was having a good morning too.
"Oh no!" Mr. Dana wailed.
Mrs. Kelli looked back at the road. There was a long line of cars in front of them. Mrs. Kelli looked at the speedometer. Mr. Dana was only going 25 in a 40 mph zone.
"Go around them." She suggested.
Mr. Dana signaled carefully and pulled into the next lane. He sped past one, two, three cars until they saw the car that was going very very slow. It was a silver Cadillac with a man and a woman inside. Mr. Dana peered inside the car.
"Why it's the man in the Texas hat!" He declared.
Mrs. Kelli laughed and Mr. Dana laughed too. Silly Texas man. They should have known. They pulled in front of the man in the Texas hat and made it to school on time.
The END

Pardon my weird formatting. Dana and I pass this one old couple every morning on our way to school. We call him Texas Hat man because he's always wearing his big hat when he drives and he always goes about 25 mph so whenever we see a long line of cars backed up, we pull around and sure enough, it's the man in the Texas Hat. I hope you all got the Curious George reference:) Have a great day!

Husband Tag

Hey, all my roomies were doing blogs about their husbands and I thought, what better day to tell all about Dana because I love him so much. Sorry he doesn't get much screen time, he's a little busy with the books. But here's more than you--and probably he--ever wanted to know about my husband.

What is his name? Dana Pascua Gailan (interesting fact, pascua means "easter" and Gailan means "handsome" It's a good name. )
How long have you been married? Coming up on three years in August
How long did you date? BYU standard. Met in August. First real date before halloween. Engaged in January. Married in August. Man are we typical.
How old is he? He is 25 but turns 26 in November.
Who eats more? Ha! Dana. I have the 2/3, 1/3 rule in our house. It works pretty well but he's also a less picky eater.
Who said "I love you" first? Me. We were in SLC walking around temple square and it was freezing and we were stuck trying to cross a traffic light and the thing wouldn't change and I knew if I didn't say it then, I'd chicken out, so I did:)Who is taller? Dana...unless I'm in heels
Who sings better? Sorry love but I do. Dana has a great voice but mine's not too shabby either. Plus I have four years of choir on him.
Who is smarter? Equal smarts, different parts. I'm great with the writing but stick a number towards me and I panic. Dana's great with statistics and politics.
Whose temper is worse? We don't have tempers. Our arguments last about 2.3 seconds.
Who does the laundry? Me usually because he studies on Saturday but he helps fold and sometimes he refolds the laundry I've already done.
Who does the dishes? Okay, this week he's got me. He's great about doing the dishes...not the counters...just kidding love, he even does those now!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? which way am I facing? My right or your right? Well, I think it's Dana because its closer to the window and I get cold.
Who pays the bills? Me again but only because I'm a crazed control freak
Who mows the lawn? If we had one, it would be Dana. He loves lawns. He'll mow yours if you ask him. Something about the fresh cut grass smell...
Who cooks dinner? It's a joint effort. I usually plan the meal and we shop together and then we try to cook together but our kitchen is really tiny so it's a funny ordeal each night.
Who drives when you are together? Oh Dana hands down. You should see him push his little airbrake when I drive.
Who is more stubborn? Kitchen women have that in the bag. He's so lax like his dad and always eager to please the cookoo wife

                                                                   Dana's mission in the dominican republic
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Gailans are never wrong
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine cause my mother loves planning and executing family reunions but it's about once a year for both
Who has more friends? We have the same friends so...tie
Who has more siblings? Me. Three brothers, 2 sisters; dana just has four brothers...sucker.
Who wears the pants in the family? We both wear pants, mine are fancier bill paying pants and dana's are more rugged studying and providing pants but its all pants. Sometimes I have to wear a skirt too so I guess he wins.

To my shirt

My beloved gray shirt, so super tattered and thin
I wore you back when, way way way back when
It was high school for us and college life too
It's been a long while since you were, well, new
I got you in boy scouts and wore you each day,
While running and dribbling and playing croquet
You came on my mission where we played lots of ball
You even came to college where I knew no one at all (except Doug)
And when I wooed the ladies and would get into a jam
You were there to prove what a truly awesome catch I am
I courted my lovely wife with you upon my back
Your threads less a covering and more of a lack
But your holes were memories of my life from boyhood up to man
At least they were until that wife made me throw you in the can
So farewell my shirt, my compadre, buddy and pal
We had a lot of real great times, but now I've got my gal


I hope my loving husband won't kill me for this:) He had a favorite running shirt that was, quite literally, falling off him and I feared for it every time I did the wash but last night he did the magnanimous thing and stuck it in the trash. I think eleven years is a good life for a shirt. Farewell, dear friend.

Road Rage 101

This is a little montage dedicated to all my fun on Texas Tech roads. This is my typical day. Throw in some old people in the wrong lane and kids on bikes and that's pretty much accurate. Enjoy! Drive safe!

There are exactly 4 stop signs, 2 traffic lights, half a mile and 43 million coeds between my office on campus and my husband’s law school. 5:01. I pull out of my parking spot like an old grandma with cataracts because the boys behind me are talking intently about Tolstoy and don’t notice me…okay, so they’re oogling girls but fine. I’m out. Now the fun begins. I have to make it onto the road. My obstacle? A truck that Shaq would have to pole vault into. I creep to a stop and try to peer around its obese frame, inching, inching. Beep! Beep! Brake!
Inch, inch, look left, right, left again, left one more time, still can’t see, gun it! Whew! My lucky day. 5:04. Stop sign number one. Brake. Turn right, brake suddenly for coed texting on cell phone. Smile understandingly. Mother probably is in the hospital. Turn left onto uneven road. Stop sign. Accelerate. Stop sign. Accelerate. Brake! No stop sign…just coed walking in the street looking angry. Probably didn’t do well on a test. Calm, breathe. Touch gas, brake! Four way stop sign. Wait…wait, wave arm stupidly for guy in volvo on right. Yes, yes sir you got there .23 seconds before I did. Yes, you did. Go. No? Fine. Gas—Brake! Screeching from Volvo. Ga—Brake! No, no sir, go! Volvo go! Volvo eeks out and turns left. Accelerate forward. 5:07.
Stop light 1. Pull out book and get through first 9 chapters of Twilight. Green. Smile and pull—slam on brake! Coed crossing against light. Lick upper lip and tap hand on steering wheel. Probably had…something fast he needed to do. Accelerate and brake for bus now blocking way. Wait for no one to get off and…no one to get on. Tap steering wheel again in beat with music. Make it look nice and natural. 5:11. Let bus pull slooooowly out into traffic and through stoplight. Turn—brake! Wait for coed to cross against light. Let anger fester. Stamp foot on gas, fly around corner….brake at 22, no, 24 mph. Ha! 5:13. Tech Scientists did great job. 20 is perfect speed limit to test road rage limits. Slow enough to make you want to jump onto sidewalk and mow everyone down; not fast enough to make pedestrians flinch. Contemplate barreling through stream of coeds crossing…brake instead. 5:14. Vein in head pulsing. Law school in sight.
Sigh of relief. Turn left into parking lot—Brake! Streamers blocking route, woman pointing to detour with large teeth. Whip car around—seven point turn—turn right back onto main road. Turn left again…wait for second bus to offload, shock, nobody. Pull into parking lot. 5:17. Pick up frozen husband. Turn back onto real road for 20 minute drive home. Turn onto 40mph road with a sigh. Brake. Traffic. Vein explodes. Husband takes wheel.

Put the camera down, dude!

We had a fun experience this MLK day. Dana and I decided to get out and spend some wild cash so we went to a matinee and saw Cloverfield. It's by the guy who did LOST which we love and it got good hype and we were excited. Let me just say--barf! And I mean that literally. The story was pretty cool--it's a Godzilla in NY type thing but the whole thing was supposed to be a documentary of some kids at a party who are filming and then it all goes down and they keep rolling. Which basically means they gave a camera to a college student and said, run amok. And he did. Do not, I repeat, do not see this movie if you a) respect your body, b) have vertigo, or c) plan on eating nachos afterwards. It was only an hour and ten minutes but that was fine with us! Anyway, we wish you all happier movies and if you do decide to brave it...don't say we didn't warn ya:)

Off to Utah we go

I jetted off to Provo, Utah this weekend for some time with my older sister Kristina and college roomates and of course to celebrate Emma getting a new last name...it was a fruit i think:) I learned several lessons about airplane travel, namely it takes at least three tried to get out of Lubbock Texas. I'm not sure if the gravitational pull is stronger (I suspect the hats factor in) or if it really is necessary to go to El Paso, Phoenix, and Salt Lake to get to Provo but...whatever. I got lots of shopping in and it was frankly weird to be back in the bubble where you see bumper stickers like "Got Gospel" but I loved the time with my sister and friends. Below are some pictures of our roomate night out where we ate brownies and had a suprise baby shower for Rachael and almost got eaten by a pirana.

This picture is not what I got her but it's my favorite. All together now....moosen...many much moosen in the woods in the the woodsen. If you don't know that reference, frankly, I just feel sorry for you.

I want to thank everybody who picked me up and carted me around and especially my sister and her hubby Fred for letting me stay with them and showing me how to do things with blueberries I never thought possible. It was a fun trip but Dana is just so needy so I had to come back:) I love you all!

Pictures at last

I promised, so here they are. By the way, it was 70 today...that just never gets old:)This is our Christmas morning, we got a lot of Brazil stuff (thanks mom and dad) which we love. we also got a Wii as previously mentioned and this is a photo of the first golf match between yours truly and her hubby. He tried to turn it off quickly but let's just say I won by a significant stroke!

And us at the Riverwalk and Alamo. Tiny Davey Crockett tribute but I think he'd be proud of the gorgeous grounds. Again, we love you all and are loving this new year!

It's a Davey Crockett Christmas

Happy New Year one and all. The Gailans rode out the break in high style. We got a Wii from my parents and Dana spent perhaps what some might call an inordinant amount of time killing people with Zelda and I may have locked myself in the bedroom when he fought the bosses because I can't handle the stress but...whatever. We spent the break in Texas, mostly in Lubbock reading books but we did venture down to San Antonio for a bit. It was great. Our hotel was not exactly...yeah, well we enjoyed the Fween bed (cross between a Queen and a Full) and it was close to downtown. Our restaurant choices were...cultural and it might have been nice if Dana could have a been a 245 pound linebacker for the day but we managed. The Alamo is so cute but apparently owned by Davey Crockett but at least now I know what he's famous for...memorabilia. We took in the Riverwalk and the "historic" distric, though we decided to experience that from the bus:) We visited the artists' colony and El Mercado and almost bought a giant belt buckle....ha ha ha! No seriously folks it was scary for a second there and Dana had the wallet out and I had to slap it right out of his hands. Texas makes you do crazy things. We rang in New Year by making it to midnight which was a feat and then watching the Rose Parade (in high def--ask Al Roaker if you don't get it). We had fun and we love you all. I'll post pictures soon.
To recap:
1-Texas is green, you just have to fall off the panhandle to find it
2-Wyndham Worldmark is a timeshare...and it is everywhere
3-Our winters are just as cold as yours...and let me tell you, that half hour was brutal!