Coral Pink Dunes Ride

While I slept Saturday after a graveyard shift, Kyle, Trent, and Kalin headed out to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. They met up with a co-worker of Kyles and spent the day riding the dune hills and eating hot dogs. Ew yum. Can't get over missing out on THAT one.
Pictures compliments of Kalin. :)

New Car Syndrome

So...remember how I said we checked out the new '09 VW Jetta's while we were in Las Vegas last week? Well...yeeeeah...we went back down yesterday and got one. Yayyy! We've actually been thinking about getting a new car for awhile since mine is getting up there in miles, but I had wanted to wait a little longer for more hybrids to come onto the market. The problem was that I didn't really care for the Prius and really loved the Jetta that I already have (black 2001).



So after we read and researched some things about the new high-miles-per-gallon 2009 Jetta "Clean Diesel Technology," we decided it was the next best option to waiting around for a non-Prius hybrid. The new Jetta diesel engine(along with the new low-sulfer diesel fuel) burns cleaner than a standard unleaded car, and gets 38 mpg in city and 45-55 mpg on the highway. Even though diesel gas is more expensive than unleaded right now, the higher gas mileage offsets that cost (600 miles per tank vs 430 miles per tank). Additionally, since it's considered new "green technology," the purchase qualifies for a $1,300 federal tax credit. Woohoo! I did a lot of homework beforehand checking non-biased tests and reviews to make sure it was all it was cracked up to be. Finally, we decided to buy and did plenty of shopping around and negotiating before finding one with the things we wanted (white exterior, manual trans, beige interior, sunroof) for the price we wanted. Its an awesome car - drives like a champ!
Looks like ramen for dinner for the next couple of years ;)

Happy Third Anniversary...to us!

Kyle and I celebrated our third anniversary on November 5th by heading down to Las Vegas to see The Phantom of the Opera. We stayed at The Venetian where The Phantom was being played at, and loved both the play and the hotel room. The theater was beautiful, the special effects and sets were awesome, and the theater was packed! We also did a bit of shopping at the mall (well I did anyway, Kyle sat on the bench), ate at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, stopped at Nakata Market (japanese food) so I could get some dango, okonomiyki sauce, and other treats, and then we checked out the new '09 VW Jetta TDI's at the dealership. One night away was all we got, but the show was worth the trip alone and we would love to see it again!

Halloween Fun 2008!

We attended Thriller at Tuacahn the night before Halloween and enjoyed it just as much as in years past! It's fun to see the new dances they come up each year, as well as our favorite repeat ones. We were so glad that Rachelle and Matt, mom, Candy and Lloyd, and Tyler and Tia went with us! A few pics from Thriller:





As for Halloween day - we were glad that our hard work finally paid off! After spending a week straight of decorating (not to mention the month long design and assembly of equipment and props), we enjoyed actually getting to haunt our haunt! Everyone participated and we were joined by Candy and Lloyd, who played excellantly as the mourning yet psycho parents of the "skeleton baby." Matt was the graveyard werewolf, Tim the swamp monster and psychotic doctor, Nate the autopsy room victim, Tia played both zombie and black light room Jason, Kalin as the creepy guy in the cage, and Trenton as a black light room skeleton. Rachelle, Mom, Kyle, and I played the wandering zombies. We put a lot of work into it this year because Tia and Trent won't be with us next year. We were sure glad to be together as a family this Halloween though! Big families are the best! Here are a few pictures from the night: