Merry Christmas!

Okay, not that many people read this, but I must apologize. I have been most remiss in updating this. And also, these are the pictures on our Christmas cards(which I still haven't sent) so I apologize for the repeat. I have had a busy month and we are entering the REALLY busy point. I am not really sure where to start. Katelyn, I guess.

She is her usual cute self. She has learned so many words in the last few weeks. She can count to 6, although she usually just goes right to 4,5,6. She can say her own name and constantly says "fox", which sounds like something else. Today she asked my sister Erin, "where's Andrew at?". She is so smart. Certainly didn't get it from me. We had a couple of minor disasters this week. On Sunday she and daddy were playing "headbutt". She headbutted daddy a little too low and way too hard and hit him in the front teeth. She has a goose egg and he got a fat lip. Speaking of fat lips, we were watching Erin's kids today and she leaned too hard against the gate at the top of the stairs. It fell and so did she. She rode it, sleigh-like, down the stairs, but hit her lip pretty good. If she didn't have that gate to break her fall she could have been seriously injured. I swear someone will call CPS on us soon. She always has bruises on her head and face. Anyway, she is so fun and we are enjoying getting her Christmas gifts wrapped and telling her about Santa coming. I love her.

Jason is enjoying school being out for the next month. He got straight A's again this semester, so he is maintaining a very high average. I just realized that this is sounding like a christmas letter. Well, it kind of is. I don't ever write those, so there we have it. We went to his company Christmas party on Saturday and really enjoyed ourselves. The shrimp was delicious. Well, at least I thought so.

I have enjoyed the past couple weeks with the service we do in Young Womens. Last Thursday we went to St. Vincents and served dinner to the homeless. It was an amazing experience. I won't lie, I never look forward to it because I hate being out of my comfort zone. The youth were such good examples to me. They had perfect love for everyone they saw and loved every minute of the work. They were bummed when it was time to go. A couple of weeks ago, we took the youth to see the live nativity. That was a great night. I love to watch the story unfold in front of my eyes. I always feel the spirit. Good times. This week we will go on our annual hayride/caroling to the elderly in our ward. I look forward to this one every year. The look on their faces is so rewarding. I am trying to really get into the Christmas spirit this year and remember the excitement I had as a kid.

That is all. I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas. I can't help but feel close to the Savior more than ever at this time of the year. I hope that I and all of you can feel that same spirit and closeness and that we strive to keep it with us all year long. I love you all.

Here is some more of the freaking cute goodness that is Katelyn Sue Aivaz.

Tagtosterone.

Ah. so this is what a blog looks like.

Anywho, I am Seana's husband, Jay.

I should explain why I'm here, I guess.

Last week, my lovely wife was tagged by her best friend to reveal 6 deep, dark, embarrassing secrets about herself. Normally, I would have no qualms about my wife divulging any secrets online, because quite a few of them would probably make me look very good... however, as part of being tagged, not only was she given the responsibility of writing down the secrets, but she was also given the charge to assign the task to 6 more poor, unsuspecting souls.

But she only gave it to one.

Me.

So here I am.

Ultra-thrilled... can you tell?

Anyway, I guess I'll start with the secrets.

1. I am a HUGE fan of professional wrestling. I've always liked it, ever since I was a little kid... not too sure why, though. Maybe because, when I was a little kid, my dad would take us to events when they came to town... we never had much money and my dad worked a lot, so I guess those times were when we got to spend some time with him. Bet you guys feel real bad about teasing me for it now, huh? Anyway, the apex of my wrestling geekiness came on October 19th, 2007 at a Ring of Honor wrestling event. I post on a message board for other nerds, err, wrestling fans and I was given the task of making a report of the events. So, yes, I took notes. Of everything. And wrote them on the website. Seana laughed at me so hard that I shredded the index cards. I still had a blast, though.

2. I was in an anti-smoking commercial. It was like, a month after 9/11 and we were at the haunted house they used to do at The Huntridge. Anyway, xposecoalition.com was there, shooting a commercial, and asked if anyone wanted to be in it. My friends and I all said sure and they put us in front of the camera... they told us to talk bad about smoking, so I made some comparison to the number of people killed on 9-11 and the number of people smoking kills every year... well the producers lost their minds, kicked everyone out of the shot and made me do it again. It was on TV eventually, and I even got recognized from it a couple times.

3. I have OCD, but only when it comes to personal hygiene. In the shower, I have a certain pattern (called "rituals" in OCD talk) in which I wash. If the pattern is disrupted at all, I have to either start over, or go back to the last stage. It's weird. When I get out of the shower, I dry off a certain way, and wear my towel a certain way until I'm in my room. Then I get dressed... socks on first. I hate being in bare feet. After I'm dressed, I put my deodorant on... this is the part that freaked Seana out at first: I MUST apply the deodorant in multiples of 5, and the number has to the same on both arms. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25... I've even gone as high as 30 or 35. I don't know why I do all this, but it works. Seana says I've never smelled bad since she's known me, so I guess I'm doing something right.

4. I was a 4-year Theater student in high school. I was in a total of 2 plays and 4 musicals over those 4 years, I was even the lead in the play my senior year. But what's even better, I earned my Letter in Theater... imagine how lame someone would look walking around with a letterman's jacket... for theater?? Anyway, I am a member of the International Thespian Society and loved every minute of it.

5. I used to soap fountains. For the uninitiated, that means that my juvenile delinquent friends and I would go around to different fountains in the valley and pour large amounts of soap into them. This may not seem that cool, but after 45 minutes and a Slurpee... there would usually be a gigantic plume of suds coming forth from the fountain. They provided for truly awesome visuals, I assure you. One time, we soaped the fountains outside of the Paris. This was our Ocean's Eleven heist. We parked in the Venetian parking garage, walked through the casino, down the Strip and to the fountains. There were 5 of us... each with 1 gallon of hand soap borrowed McCarran International Airport bathrooms, and 4 40-ounce bottles of the FINEST dish soap to use on fountains:

Crystal White Octagon

So that was 9 gallons (1,152 fluid ounces) of soapy goodness. The resulting suds avalanche was so massive that Metro had to shut down the right hand traveling lane and sweep the bubbles into the gutter for about 2 hours. Immature, yes... but it makes for a DARN fine blog story.

6. I won a Bike Rodeo in 3rd grade. Why was this my final secret? Because it's the only time in my life that I won a trophy. For all those unfamiliar with the awesomeness that is a Bike Rodeo:

Go here.

And it was just like that. Figure 8's? Check. Lame-looking helmets? In abundance. Training wheels? Heck no. Not for me. I was rocking my K-Mart bought Huffy. The judges were dazzled... in awe... amazed by my skill on my bike. They also happened to be my parents' home teacher and my scoutmaster, so there may have been a small bias. But I earned that trophy. I don't know what I did to prove that I was a better bicyclist than every other 3rd grader at Oran K. Gragson Elementary School, but on that day... I was.

Well, you all have plenty of blackmail and extortion material on me now (especially for the fountain-soaping thing... I think that may be misdemeanor vandalism, and the soap from McCarran... that could be a felony, I don't know) so I hope you're happy. I'm going to tag Bill S. Preston, Esq., Ted "Theodore" Logan, Rufus, Jane Austen, the Writers Guild of America (take that!) and... OH, Becky Parry.

Thanks, and have a nice day.

I have been tagged...

Yeah, I don't really like this kind of crap, but since it was Eliza that tagged me, I will oblige.

I want to put a disclaimer up now and say that some of these facts are strange and almost sick, so I hope that I won't lose any of you as friends. And if I do, Good Riddance to bad rubbish.

1. I will just say the most embarassing one straight out: I was a finger sucker. Bad. Like until I was 13 or 14. I know, gross, right? My parents tried hot sauce, pickle juice, bribery, the whole nine. Nothing worked. Then I got braces. That did it. Plus, I eventually realized that thats what toddlers did and I was ashamed enough to make myself quit. I can hardly type this without wanting to kill myself.

2. I am borderline obsessed with reality TV. And its the dumbest crap that I watch. ie: The Hills, Dancing With The Stars, Biggest Loser, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, Kardashians, Little People, Big World, John and Kate Plus 8, etc. The list goes on forever. My hsuband has refused to watch tv with me any longer. I don't know what sick pleasure I get out of these crappy shows, but I love them.

3. I have always had this wierd fear about driving. I hate it. I was 23 when I finally got my license(i know, i know) and I still very rarely drive. It makes everyone around me crazy and even me most of the time. I hate not knowing what the people on the road are going to do, and it makes me nervous. Its a ridiculous thing, I know, but its me.

4. I love wierd boy movies that most people think are sucky, such as Rocky 1-6, Karate Kid 1&2, etc. A nice Saturday afternoon will find me watching any one of the Rocky movies and recting every line. Matter of fact, today I watched Karate Kid 2 just because I felt like it. I visited the art museum this summer where Rocky climbed the steps. One of the best moments of my life.

5. I love, love, love Harry Potter. Books, movies, you name it. I have spent many an hour waiting in lines for midnight showings and book releases. I think the story is so clever and have loved every minute of reading the books. I have even been known to cry and/or get angry when things happened that I didn't appreciate. I am a nerd.

6. I enjoy circus peanuts, peeps, and any other marshmallow treat a great deal. They are things that 5 year olds eat, but I like em. Easter is my favorite candy holiday.

Well, thats all. If you need to go vomit, I will understand. I don't even know 6 people to tag. So I am just tagging jason.

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! We hope you all had a great holiday. We did. This post will be short as Katelyn is screaming at me for my full atttention. I have guilt that I havent updated this forever, but not too much guilt considering only a few people even read it.

Baby girl is doing well. She has really started to say lots and lots of new words and even a simple sentence now and again. For example, yesterday we started our first fire of the season. I was very nervous because Kate loves to climb on the fireplace and what not. After the fire was going, she thought it was amazing and wanted to climb up and take a closer look. I told her "it's hot" and to be careful. She immediately said "its hot" and kept on saying it every time she saw the fire. This morning we had another fire burning and she climbed up and sat on my lap to look at it for awhile. Then I asked her if she wanted to get down and she nodded and said,"bye its hot". I nearly died. It was so cute.

Thanksgiving was amazing as usual. My family and Jason's both live in town so every year we hit both houses for the meal. We went to my sister Erin's house first and had the whole spread including the chips and dips that I was full on before the meal started. By the time I ate dessert, I was feeling some regret for not pacing myself. About an hour and a half later, we went to Jason's grandama's house. They had 3 full turkeys and all the fixins (if you will). By my third bite of yams, I was in pain. By the fifth, I wanted to die. I didn't eat any dessert there and came home with a large stomach ache. I wish I could say I learned my lesson, but I am sure that next year will have the same results.

All in all, it was a great day. On a side note, my tooth that I just had that root canal on was crowned the other day. No pain in a long time, which I am grateful for. Thanks to Eliza for babysitting, by the way. Thats all for now. I don't really have any pictures from yesterday because i forgot my camera like an idiot. Til next time.

I Wish I Were Dead...

Wow. What a week. Well, more like 2 weeks. So much happened that my brain is actually a little fried. I will attempt a recap.

Last weekend I took a nice trip to Disneyland with my friends Eliza, Natalie, and Nat's sister Jennifer. It was soooo fun. We stayed in this really cute little hotel just down the street from the park. There was shuttle service to and from the park and that was so convenient. The continental breakfast was better than any other that I have had in the past. The really good part about the weekend was that for some reason, the parks were not busy at all. Both Disneyland and California Adventures were unusually empty. We didn't really have to wait in any lines. I think the longest we waited was 20 minutes. We got to go on everything many times. I think our favorites were Soarin' over California and Tower of Terror. Eliza and Natalie forced me on the ferris wheel which I am scared of for some strange reason. The gondola we had swung back and forth as we went around. I almost wet my pants. I was glad they made me though. I would have felt like a wuss if I hadn't. We were also able to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, which is mostly Disneyland's appeal to us. They were amazing as usual. For anyone who doesn't know who they are, I would highly suggest looking them up online. Please see Eliza's blog for pictures.

While we were gone, Katelyn was so sick. She was throwing up and had really bad diarrea. I initially had a lot of guilt about being gone when she was so sick and that Jason had to be the one to deal with it. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I was glad that I wasn't the one cleaning up vomit and was instead having a great time on free falling rides. I know, I am a jerk. Anywho, it turned out to just be a little 24 hour bug and she quickly recovered. For anyone who has seen Kate, she is so not a mellow kid, so to see her just lay there was so sad. We are glad she is back to her normal crazy self.

The last few months, I have had small aches in one of my upper molars. All this week I have been watching my friends daughter, Kaedance, at her house. The first 2 days were fine and then on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, my tooth started to really hurt. My dentist was able to see me late Wednesday. She said what I already knew and was very familiar with: I need a root canal and a crown. Merry Christmas. Thats gonna be cheap. Not. She doesn't do root canals, but she is having a specialist do them in her office on the 17th. I scheduled for then. In the mean time, she prescribed me an antibiotic and ibruprofen 800. I took them and started to feel a tiny bit better. I went to the movies with Liza and Nat that night (my thoughts on that film later). When I got home, my tooth was bugging me again, but I was able to fall asleep. About an hour later, I woke up to it just throbbing. Literally the worst pain I had ever felt. I took more medication, but to no avail. I was laying in my bed just sobbing. My amazing husband tried to console me, but there was nothing anyone could do. I had a C-section with my baby, but the contractions I did have were nothing compared to that tooth pain. I was seriously considering taking a hammer to my face and dealing with it that way. I was wishing for death. Somehow, I finally fell asleep. I got like a total of maybe 2 hours sleep that night. In the morning I called my friend and she told me someone else would be able to watch her daughter that day and to try and get my tooth taken care of. I called my dentists office and told them there was no way I could wait any longer. They called an endodontist that I have seen in the past and they were gracious enough to fit me in that afternoon. To make a long story even longer, I was there for 3 hours and could barely keep my mouth open any longer. That doctor gave me some Darvocet and now I am a happy camper. Moral of the story: Don't ignore tooth pain. It will cost you. Literally.

Anyway, this week was good. Just painful. As for the movie, it was called "Bella". So good!! I highly recommend it. It was an indie film, so it has a different feel to it, but go see it. Worth your money and it was surprisingly clean.

After my rant last week about Dancing With The Stars, justice was served this week and Jane Seymour went home. Rightfully so. I am still sickened that Sabrina is gone, but hopefully America won't be so retarded in the future. Then again, we did elect Bill Clinton... thats a whole different blog. Until next time.

OH! And before I forget... here's some pictures of my baby at Halloween.

WHAT THE DEUCE?!!

There is a rage and fire in me today that I will write about in a minute. First, though, my usual daughter stuff...

This week has been a little difficult because she has not been feeling well. Part of it is the teething, and part of it is that she is still fighting some kind of cold virus. In any case, her nose won't stop running, she won't stop coughing, and she certainly won't stop whining. I am aware that she is only 15 months old, but she follows me around and just pulls at my legs until I almost go crazy. She has managed to redeem herself with a couple of funny moments. Yesterday I was in the kitchen and she was in the hall. I could hear her kind of grunting and pushing, so I went over there to make sure she was okay. She looked up when she saw me and said, " I poo". I picked her up and she sure had. She is funny. She was also hilarious to watch at our ward Halloween party. Everybody loved our costumes. They mostly loved Pebbles. She looked so cute. We are going to Jason's mom's party tonight and will take more pictures.

Okay, on to my rant. I will give a disclaimer now and say that it has nothing to do with anything important and that my husband made fun of me for being so upset about this. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am nigh unto obsessed with "Dancing With The Stars". Such a great program. My only beef with that show, and has been since the beginning, is that the nation holds the power to vote. Most of the time its okay, but sometimes people are voted off that have the most talent and do not deserve to go. Example: 2 seasons back, Jerry Springer was on the show. Now I love him just as much as the next guy, but it was painful to watch. He sucked. Just awful. Now, he was funny and a tiny bit entertaining. Vivica A. Fox was also on that year. She was good. Elegant, fun, graceful. The total package. She was sent home before him that year and it made me sooo mad. Last night my anger was rekindled. I am not a fan of the Cheetah Girls, but Sabrina Bryan is one of the stars this year and she is fabulous. Amazing. Monday night she and her partner danced the fox trot. It wasn't their usual amazing routine, but still high scoring and really good. So, at last nights results show, I was shocked to see that she was in the bottom two with none other than Cameron Mathison, who is also amazing. She was voted off and Dr. Quinn, and Marie Osmond are safe. I'm sorry, but they are old and not even remotely as entertaining. I was almost throwing things. I understand that more older women view the show and are more likely to like a little more country than a cheetah girl, but come on. I think that the judges ought to say who goes home and the retarded fans should not have a say. Having said all that, I don't ever vote, so I guess I shouldn't be allowed to be mad. That is all about all that. I know I sound like an idiot, but perhaps I am.

Until next time.

Sorry, no cutsie title.

Not much has happened this week, as in most weeks. I am trying to be faithful and write these blogs weekly following the good example of Eliza. Thanks for your encouragement, by the way. Well, let's see, Katelyn is cutting her molars on the bottom. She is actually a very good sport about it. When these ones come all way in, she will have 10 teeth!! My baby is not a baby anymore. So sad. She cracks us up and keeps us constantly entertained. She learns a new word almost everyday, with her favorite one this week being "bath". She says it all the time and runs to the bahtroom. She also calls my cell phone "daddy". She is so smart to notice that I always talk to him on it. I love her. She makes my days happy.

So, again following Eliza's example (and Chelsa's), I returned to Boe Boxing to start the kickboxing class again. Let me just say, when I was going before I was married I was at my thinnest and healthiest and I could never finish a class. So, obviously, I was scared to return. It was the hardest thing I have done in a long time, but I was able to pretty much finish. He works us so hard that I almost wish I could throw up and then die, but I am glad that I went once its over. I have gone twice this week and hope to continue going often. Last night the instructor came and had me do the combinations on her mitts and I told her that I wished I was dead, then she made me go longer, so I said under my breath that I wished she was dead. I hope she didn't hear me.

We found out that Jason's loans for this year will be coming in soon!!! We are happy. Merry Christmas to us. Just kidding. Only not really.

I think that is all. For anyone who cares, my brother in law Kindle turned 30 yesterday and my Grandma Garber turns 90 on friday. I thought he was old and then I typed her age. Dang Gina.

We are looking forward to Halloween. This year we will be dressing as the Flinstone Family. Katelyn will make the cutest Pebbles ever and Jay and I will look as hot as Fred and Wilma could be expected to look. I know I keep lying and saying I will put up pictures, but I really will. Especially for halloween.

I guesst thats all. My life is pretty boring, but if you are reading this, yours must be too. Just kidding. Kind of. I love you all and hope all is well with all of you.

Cute Stuff My Baby Did This Week.

So, I guess that I underestimated how quickly kids pick up on what we do just by watching. Before I tell this story I must give a little info for those of you who don't know our situation. We live in my mom and dad's house that they still own with my brother and his wife and their baby. Before they moved, my dads parents lived here, so we are still getting mail for like 4 different families. When I get mail for my parents or grandparents, I sort it and put in slots above our filing cabinet- out of the reach of children. Or so I thought. Yesterday I took my eye off Kate for 4 seconds and she had reached up and took 2 pieces of my Grandmothers mail and put them in the shredder. The SHREDDER!!! I freaked out and screamed because I thought she was going to get her fingers cut off. That, of course, got her upset and she started wailing. I hit the reverse button and was able to salvage just a little corner of some document. Upon further investigation it appeared to have been a check of some sort for a significant amount of money. I have no idea who issued it or if it is replaceable. After a couple of minutes all I could do was laugh that my 1 year old daughter knows how the shredder works. I have since moved the mail to a VERY high location.

So, something else she does is (sorry Eliza, I know you hate potty humor) whenever she or anyone else passes gas she says, "Oh Wow!". It is hysterical and I try not to laugh so she doesn't make a big production of it, but its so cute and now she goes out of her way to do it. Maybe you have to be there, but I think it is hilarious.

Now, finally, I believe I have saved the best for last. I found out (quite humorously and quite by accident) that if you play the song by Beyonce called "Crazy in Love", my daughter will do the booty dance the exact same way Beyonce does it. She will bend over and just start shaking it. Its awesome. Beyonce is not my favorite or even close to it, but now I try to play it frequently so as to enjoy my baby's show. She is rad. I love her.

Thats about it for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you, drive thru.

Testing, Testing...

1...2...3?

First blog.

Not too much goes on in my life so I will mostly talk about Katelyn. She is now 14 months and can be quite the challenge. She has pretty mcuh mastered walking and is working on running. Mostly, she only runs when she gets a hold of something naughty. She can say lots of things and her favorite word is "dog". We don't have one, but she says it constantly. Over and over again. If she sees them on T.V., she goes crazy and will maim anyone who gets in her way. She has 4 teeth and is growing the sixth right now. It can be torture sometmes . Last week she had a virus that caused her to break out into roseola. Bad. The doctor told me she was no longer contagious, though, so we took her out to watch Playhouse Disney Live (shut up Eliza, the tickets were free) which she loved. All of her cousins were there. Then on Monday I went to babysit Erin's kids and her son Andrew was COVERED in the same rash. I felt some serious guilt. That was pretty much our week. We loved General Conference and I made myself take notes, which I haven't done since my mission. I got soo much more out of it. I loved Elder Oaks' talk and Sister Becks' as well. Sure made me want to be a better person. On a side note: Jason got his Graduation packet last week so he will get his associates degree in May. You all may laugh and turn up your noses at a two year degree, but it's lots of progress and we are excited. In a couple of months he will begin the application process to UNR, SUU, UNLV, etc. We are hoping for some sort of scholarship. I am also hoping for 100 grand to show up on my doorstep one of these times. Oh, I forgot to write at the beginning that we are sorry to report about the death of Jason's grandpa Jerald Wasworth. He went into the hospital 2 weeks ago with encephalitis and never recovered. His funeral is this Saturday. This is Jay's first death in the family. He is handling it well. I will end here and hopefully the next one will be either interesting or funny or perhaps even both. Jason will add pictures soon cuz I am computer illiterate. I hope some Parrys besides Eliza read this and give me some feedback. Becky, you can correct my spelling and/or grammar. I love you all and will write again soon.