Not So Silent Night In Oakland 2009

So my amazing Mom flew my brother and I up to her place in San Jose to go to a concert with her. "Not So Silent Night" is an annual concert up here with some top-notch performers. We got floor spots and squeezed our way to the front. We were hot and sweaty as a mofo but we had an amazing time. I got to see two of my all time favorite bands: MUSE and AFI plus some very good others. Also, some girl bit my arm because I was trying to break up their girl fight. Nice!

Me and my bro, Steve

Mi Madre

My favorite security guard, dubbed, "Dirty Santa"

That guy is way too tall for his own good

First band: "Vampire Weekend". They were whatever...

Seconds band: "30 Seconds To Mars."

Mars was great. They got up-close and personal. I miss his musk.

Third band: AFI

We had stellar spots. Davey's pants put off a great silver shine.

Last and definitely not least: MUSE!

Muse was SO good. Matt Bellamy is a grade A Stallion.

Pee break. Their set had very studly lighting effects...

and a studly white piano.

As part of Muse's Amazingness, they released big ol' balloons filled with confetti.

So rad...

I can't even describe how amazing Muse was. They're such a talented band and kick butt live performers. If you've not listened to them yet, please, check them out. As you can tell they're kind of like Lady Gaga, Josh Groban and Miley Cyrus.

Amazing bands, Dirty Santa, bitten arm, rainy weather, great night.

(Outside the show they were giving away a ton of new Monster flavors, so Im a little buzzed on energy drinks that's why the 4:00 am post and the 5,000 spelling errors.)

did you notice?

Erik got his hair cut! He has been growing it out for months so he could have it long during the winter but I have been driving him crazy about cutting it. I came home last Thursday and he cut it for my birthday! I will admit I like it a little bit longer, just not as long as he had it. It got a little out of hand.

It went from this:

to this mullet looking thing:

he lost all of this hair:


and he now looks like this!

That is why I have the best husband in the world. Yes mom I know that was sweet and mushy or whatever but I really do! He does so much just to make me happy, I'm kind of spoiled in that way.

Curiosity is killing me, do you like it better short or long?

Please comment!

Disneyland!

If you don't know by now, Disneyland is basically my favorite place EVER ON THS ENTIRE EARTH! (for some reason I felt that if I put it in caps it would make it more true). But I'm not a fake lover of Disneyland, I'm a real one. A fake lover is when they buy the Disney clothes and have been to the land a few times, but they don't know the hidden secrets. Like where the best ice cream is, how to keep dry on Splash Mountain, and how to strategize the usage of a fast pass. A fake lover doesn't know where all of the hidden Mickey's are (don't know what a hidden Mickey is? well I'm not telling you). But not me, I'm a real lover. I know all of those tips. That's why going to Disneyland is so much fun with me (Erik even said so, you can ask him). Well last Saturday was my 20th birthday and Erik surprised me with a trip to DISNEYLAND! When I say surprise I mean he told me a month in advance by casually mentioning it in the kitchen one morning. But I didn't care at that moment, because we were going to Disneyland!

So we packed our bags and loaded everything in the ranger, including the $30 I spent on snacks. (hungry=cranky=no fun!)

One of Erik's mission companions John was nice enough to let us stay at his house for the weekend. His parents fixed us dinner when we got there and made breakfast for us in the morning. It was so wonderful! They were so nice and it definitely helped us out alot. Thank you Skaggs family!

One of the things I was looking so forward to was wearing the Birthday Pin! It said "Happy Birthday Amber" and I sported that thing like it came straight from Tiffany's.

Us on Indiana Jones. I'm pretty sure they wanted to yell at us for taking so many pictures while on rides. Oh well it was my birthday.

Me and my churro. I savored every cinnamon-sugary-butterness-$3 bite. It was amazing.

We're too cheap to buy the pictures, so Erik takes his own pics. For some reason everyone got the biggest kick out of Erik reading that book in the picture. I'm pretty sure they wanted to buy it just to show their friends.


Ice cream from the best place on Main Street while waiting for the parade to start. Yes Erik does have ice cream on his face and yes the people behind us did laugh about it for about ten minutes.


The castle looked so pretty at night! And that was around the spot that an old red headed lady called Erik a not-so-nice word for bumping into her. I punched her.

The fireworks were AMAZING! I think I was bugging everyone around me with my clapping and squealing and "Oooohs" and "Aaaaahs". I didn't care, it was my birthday.

It was the best birthday I have ever had!

My family went out to dinner and had cake to celebrate before we left. My parents got me a Kitchenaid! What's a kitchenaid you say? It's that cool mixer you plug into the wall and it stands all by itself and it's amazing! I was so shocked. My sister and brother in law also got me a Costco membership which I have been needing so I am way exicted. Now I just feel the urge to go bake something! I forgot my camera that night so hop on over to my mom's blog to see pictures (if she hasn't posted them yet she will soon!)

Hope you guys had a good weekend and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Halloween 2009....Halloween was how many weeks ago?

Erik told me I needed to keep up on our blog. And when I didn't do it that day, he posted for me. That is why you have been staring at these pictures with no words. Well, thanks to me you now get commentary.

Before we left the house I swear Erik almost got struck down by lightning for his costume. But I have to say it was extremely hilarious, and he did look pretty cute (?). Of course, I was thy typical gangsta-thug.

Why yes you are right, that is Obama on my money necklace. And yes my belt buckle is a goblet that says "PIMP" on it.

You know the party gets wild when Erik starts singing karaoke.

Camping

This past weekend Erik and I went camping with some friends of ours. We were expecting it to be freezing, but thank goodness it wasn't.

Our friends Evan and Amanda Greer.

And our other friends Mark and Megan Taylor.

(She's prego with their first baby-yay!)

Erik doing all the work and keeping the fire going. That's my man!


Of course we have the men make breakfast for us, there's no other way to go! It tasted delicious by the way.

I was behind the camera the whole time I didn't even manage to get a pic of Erik and I, but we're all over this blog so much I'm sure you don't mind!

Hope you guys had a good weekend!

Hey There,

Remember me? I used to own this blog and then I disappeared off the face of the planet. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten our agreement: I blog, you read. When I don't blog, then you get random posts from Erik with only one word, or a whole post about mustaches. Well there is good news today, I'm back.

Last night Erik and I carved pumpkins for Halloween.

Of course Erik has to make a face in every picture, but that's why I love him.

Mind you, it was a lot colder than it looked outside.

(Has anyone noticed Erik's mustache yet? I can't wait for Sunday to come so he can shave it off)

Me making my typical thumbs-up sign.


And the final project: every year I always end up doing some different face, and of course Erik had to remember good ol MJ on his. It won't be Halloween without some Thriller.

Happy Halloween!!!

DANCE!

Slow

I apologize for not blogging as much lately, we still don't have internet at our apartment and I'm too lazy to walk 30 feet outside our front door to get the Ham Bone's internet. I am always super bored at work with nothing to do because no one wants to come in and buy yogurt when the prices are off the wall. Mesa FroYo is waaaaayy better than this place. And our credit card machine is down and lets face it, no one carries cash with them anymore. So most people get to the door open it halfway, see the sign that says cash only and then walk away. And it doesn't help that I was not exactly happy about working today so I'm only wearing half a smile instead of the one that overpowers my face. I work every Saturday so its not that big of a deal, but I just wanted to sleep in a little, make breakfast for my husband and me and have a snuggle fest while watching conference in our G's. Instead I'm sitting at work watching conference by myself in this freezer.




Which I don't think is going to last very long because I can soon feel this coming on:

I hope you're enjoying your conference weekend!

I'm Not the Funny One

I must be honest with you, my motivation to blog lately has been quite slim. Something will happen and I think to myself "Oh I could blog about that" and then I remember, I'm not the funny one. You see, a few weeks ago my aunt was visiting for the weekend from Tucson. My mom was telling her about her blog and how it was a great way to stay in touch and to know what is going on with the fam. She then continued to pull up each page on the computer to show my aunt the proper way to get into each of our sites. She then told her about my blog as well as Erica's blog. This is what I heard:

Mom: "And then there's Amber's blog but she's not funny. She is sentimental and only talks about boring things that happen with her and Erik..."

(I, being distraught, hang my shoulders in saddness)

Mom continues: "...But ERICA'S BLOG, man is she hil-ar-ious! She is the funny one, she's always blogging about something that will make you laugh every time you read it. I suggest always reading her blog because once you start you won't be able to stop!"

Mom claims it didn't go down that way, but I know it did. As she said this one sentence, my childhood desires came flooding back. I always thought as I was growing up that I had imagined it. But no. My mom had proved what I was always trying to avoid. I am not the funny one. Of course my parents had always told us we each brought something special to the table. What they really meant is "Erica is the funny one and we're just glad Amber thinks of food so much so she'll never forget about bringing dessert." They meant it literally when they said "to the table".

Through the years I have been trying to go from the "easy-going, can't make decisions, go-with-the-flow, so-called 'peacemaker', favorite child" to the "hilarious, just can't be around her enough, where did you get your jokes?" kind of person. Obviously I have not succeeded.

And then I got married and we get invited places and I think "Yes! Maybe I'm actually funny. Maybe I'm finally overflowing with clever lines that get people going and they just want more." Until Erik got invited somewhere without me. And then I remembered: Oh ya, my husband is the funny one.

Well fellow bloggers, I AM DETERMINED TO BE FUNNY. I will be funny! It will take a lot of effort, it is not something that comes naturally (as my entire family continues to point out) but it will happen.

I know my family is my family so they have to be honest. But doesn't someone out there find me funny???

I am a LazySuck

We are officially moved in to our new apartment, which has no internet. So unless I want to walk to 20 feet from my front door so I can reach just inside the boundaries of the bar across the street "The Ham Bone" (which I am usually too lazy to do), you don't get a post. And yes this makes me sad. But we will have internet soon, so I won't be a Lazysuck anymore. But until then, I hope you miss me!!


(Mom, you better be prepared for a freakin hil-arious post which is brewing inside of me!)

fun.

So if you enjoy listening to a little band called "The Format," then you might have heard that early last year they broke up. Well the lead singer of that band, Nate Ruess, recently formed a new band, appropriately named, "fun." They just released their debut album "Aim & Ignite", which is amazing! If you haven't heard of it/ listened to it, definitely check it out. We went to an acoustic show/CD signing party they did a few weeks ago that was superb. Here's some photos:

Check out their album, "Aim & Ignite." You'll have.... fun...? Oh I slay myself.

and p.s. this kid was getting a little TOO into it/ emotional.

iEl concierto del Incubus con mi mamá!

My (Erik) mom flew down from the San Jose area just to get her groove on for the night.

The crowd was intense. Some drunk chum tried to fight me.

We got way sweet spots right next to the stage.

My man crush, Brandon Boyd.

They were stellar, pun definitely intended.

My mom just about passed out from sheer giddyment when Brandon took off his shirt.

Studs.

Getting their acoustic on.

We were so close! (This is unzoomed) The security guard adds 10 points to this picture. staring contest! you win, you always do.

Next concert for me and the madre: Radiohead?