New Christmas Card Design

This is the design I came up with for my Christmas cards this year. I am interested to hear what others think of it. Please make some noise!

I am planning on doing a series of designs for 2010 and selling them.

The BEST Thanksgiving EVER!

In the snow...

This year will go down as "The Best Thanksgiving Ever". It was trickery, plotting, and outright lying at it's best! The Mann family pulled off the best surprise gathering to celebrate the holidays.

Here is a summary: Mom and Dad Mann went to Salt Lake City to visit their 3 children who live there. At the airport, they were approached with the question "Can you help me find my parents?" by their daughter, Gwen, who lives in New York.

Later that same day, Chris and I knocked on the door, and they could hardly believe it when it was us (we had chatted on the phone earlier in the day as we were driving across Nevada... :-)

Surprise! It's us.

Shawn (Chris' nephew) and Karlena showed up a few days later, after driving in from Washington. And George and his family drove in from Idaho.

But - the most elaborate plot came out on Thanksgiving morning. The Texas family, after driving for 30 hours, were sneeked into the house and we had most of the family down-stairs to Skype with them... so, the parents were amazed that through technology we were all together, and then Christy popped downstairs... the tears came instantly!

The shock!

Yes!!! We pulled it off, and no one spilled the beans.

We wound up with 33 people (all of the Mann Clann) in one house for Thanksgiving. Noelle, Brook, and I were doing a lot of cooking, and cleaning, and cooking, and cleaning...


Here's the whole Clann:


The Mann Boys:


And the WoMann's:


It was an intense week, but so fun! Thanks to John, Noelle, Brook, and David for hosting this. We could never have done it without you and your big ol' house!

What Are We UpTo?

Well, about 5'6"... OK, bad joke.

The last few weeks have been flying by! We have celebrated our 3rd anniversary, done some redecorating (painting!), and explored some more of SacTown...and all the usual things of course.

We went exploring some parks - I really like Capitol Park. And since we were there, we went inside the Capitol and wandered around. I haven't been inside since I was a kid and my choir sang there. And I had to get my picture taken with the Governator's door - There was a group of very excited girls near us who were way too overly thrilled to see it. It was kind of scary.


We also wandered down to Discovery Park which is right where the Sacramento River and the American River meet up... and nice wilderness place in the heart of the city. It kind of ruins the remote feeling when the freeway is right through the center of the park, but take what you can get around here in the way of nature!


On our anniversary, we celebrated by going to the Sacramento Temple and to the Cheesecake Factory - a perk about living in a big city - they have EVERYTHING! We dressed up and Chris was so handsome in his new suit. I haven't seen him in a suit since our wedding day!

And for the painting - we decided to paint the kitchen "Buttery Yellow". It is not much different than what it was before, but a little brighter and sunshinier. I was very impressed that we only needed one coat... so we have lots of extra paint. We could go crazy and paint more of the house yellow (but we probably won't... maybe just one of the bedrooms).

My kitchen colors have been Red, White, and Black, but I was excited to add in a new color to the mix. And the yellow goes so well with all my red things. I really like the red curtains Noelle left for us too - they match right in!


Here's a picture of the green wall we painted in our living room a few months ago... I HEART it!

A Beautiful Day by the Bay

I spent 3 days this week in Pacific Grove, on the Monterey Bay. I was their for a Training Conference for work (I was one of the trainers). But I did get some time to enjoy the scenery. We also were given free passes to the Aquarium, so I went there on Friday- I especially enjoyed the special exhibit "The Secret Lives of Seahorses" - they are amazing creatures.

Conference Cinnamon Rolls

Chris and I have adopted a new tradition - Cinnamon Rolls for General Conference. Yummy! These beautiful rolls are hot from the oven, and tomorrow we'll add the fabulous Maple Icing! Hope everyone enjoys the weekend while we Listen to the Prophet's Voice. We will!

Trying out a New Green Thumb

What a surprise! Today was the first day that there has been any hint that Summer is leaving. This was the thermometer reading at 2 o'clock in the afternoon! A miracle! Usually this is what it is at sunrise.

I am enjoying having a yard! And now the weather is cooperating and I can spend more than a few minutes out in it, instead of watching it from the comfort of the AC. Chris isn't thrilled about the fact that now we have a lawn to mow, but he is a good sport. Even when he has to trim the edges of the lawn with scissors... we definitely need to get a weed-whacker one of these days! But it is so fun to plant things, to watch them grow.

Noelle and John left us a really cute little garden... The carrots are the only thing still growing, and they are little bitty things - I think partially because the ground is really hard. They get really fat at the top, but don't get very long. We've eaten lots of onions, and there was a cucumber and lettuce too. But the flowers are my favorite part.

Chris and I (OK, mostly me) spend a lot of time thinking and planning what we want to plant, and what we want to do outside. But for now, this is what we have:

The newest addition to our yard... I can see it out of our bedroom window. This tree took about 6 hours and 20$ (to buy a new shovel, and work gloves) just to plant it.That hole is 4 feet wide and about 18 inches deep - but the ground was as hard as concrete. We had to soak it, then dig a little, then soak it again. It is a Red Oak and will provide beautiful shade to the back of our house (according to SMUD, the power company here). They provide free shade trees to help lower power usage. Right now, there is a blade of grass that loves the shade it gives... but in a few years, it should be taller than the house.

The Iris-like blooms... I love them. They don't last long, but they are pretty! Anyone know what this is called? I have no idea.

One of my favorite flowers... I love Gerbera Daisies. We currently have FOUR big beautiful orange blooms! (Thanks Noelle!)

The Crape Myrtle Tree (the one that's still alive of the 2) is blooming. I see it out the office window as I work away on the computer. I love the vivid color! Chris planted another tree, with white blooms, next to it. And we'll be replacing the dead tree with one that has lavender blossoms. I can't wait for a few years from now when all three trees will be covered with color!

The "Get Current" List

In case you are wondering what's been happening at our house, here is the list:

1. Planting Trees in our new place is HARD work... the ground is like rocks. No joke, friends in the area have told me that the best way is to rent a jack hammer. So Chris and me with a couple of shovels had a hard time.
2. Commuting is hard, and my mind goes sometimes. I got to the office in Rohnert Park, a 2 hour drive from home, and realized I had left my computer at home. I was supposed to give a training that day to a bunch of staff... I had to postpone due to technical difficulties.
   
3. With all the extra time in the car, I "read" good books. Audiobooks are keeping me sane. My current project - Jane Austen.
4. Chris loves school - he is doing well and is excited about his program. On the first day of one of his classes, he came home and told me what they were learning - photoshop (which he already knows) and some basic design principles. He was able to talk to the department head and get that class waived, so now he has one on designing a class - he is learning how to teach, a VERY useful subject.
5. I got sick, but thanks to my new Netti Pot, it wasn't bad. I got off with sneezing and congestion, instead of the sinus infection/bronchitis that usually sets in. And no coughing. Yeah!(Netti Pots, by the way, are amazing. You have this little teapot thing that you stick the spout of into one nostril and the saline solution goes out the other one.... very fun and very effective. I used to have a constantly stuffy nose, and now I breathe freely. Check it out - you can get it for $12 bucks at Target.)
6. We took a fast roadtrip to Utah to visit family. I never want to drive all night again, but it was still a fun time. Great to see the family.
7. Settling into the new house/area has been fun. We've been painting, exploring, and learning how to get across town without getting stuck in traffic... well, still working on that one.
8. The Job Search still presses forward. Chris has been applying all over the place and working hard, but not even getting a call from most places. It's very frustrating for him, and for me too. If anyone knows of anything, please let us know! Your prayers and good thoughts are appreciated too.
9. Chris and I are reading Harry Potter together, and enjoying it very much. There are nights when we stay up way passed my bedtime because we're into it.
10. We are looking forward to Fall - cooler weather (it's been over 100 all week!), General Conference, our 3- year Anniversary, and the good times we'll have.