Farewell to Pebbles

I was reviewing my stress level and I decided that I was way off the radar. I knew that something had to go. Sad to say that I have officially quit Pebbles in my Pocket after 2 1/2 years.
Pebbles has taught me:
how to freely talk to strangers
it's o.k. to get paper cuts
how to make friends (having so many co-workers come and go)
how to talk and work with angry customers. (thank heavens it didn't happen too often.)
When I began, I was extremely shy but I left having more confidence in myself talking to strangers.
how to lie to customers(such as when the customer chooses 2 pattern of paper that look totally mismatched together. I am dying inside at how ugly the papers are when put together, but I politely say that it's going to look cute.)
Not to stick my pointer finger in the hole of the ribbon spools. (one evening I was working with my co-worker Keli, when she was unraveling ribbon from the spool. She decides to put her finger in the hole to help hold down the spool. She says oh no I just got my finger stuck and I can't even move it and I believe it's bleeding. As she was saying this I was turning white. We had a customer come and help remove it from her finger. Her finger was cut, but not deep enough to need stitches.)
A great boss means having a wonderful work place.

My Day

My husband started my birthday January 23rd at noon when Dave and I went to Seven Peaks Arena to go Ice Skating. It was a killer deal because it was some Olympic deal of $2.50 per person with skates included. Well, we haven't been skating for over a year, but over all we did pretty well. We were only on the Ice for about 15 minutes when the bell rang to have the ice smoothed. We waited for 15- 20 minutes to get back on the ice and skated for another 15 minutes before I gave in to Dave. He doesn't get very excited about skating circles in a crowded rink. It's a good thing it was cheap.

At 2:45pm we headed down to the Riverwoods to go eat at Tucanos with our friend Jesse Brunner and his fiancé Kayla. We had a wonderful time visiting and eating the delicious food. Especially the fried banana, grilled pineapple and mango cod. Jesse and Dave also really like the chicken hearts.


Jesse and Kayla came over to our apartment around 8pm to eat my wonderful birthday cake from Lion House (actually, it wasn't a cake but a pineapple & coconut torte. A torte is a rich cake made with little or no flour) and play games. (we played the game "What" and polish poker).

On Sunday, after church, we headed to my parent's house to have a birthday dinner with them.
It was a wonderful dinner: Sister Boyntons lasagna, salad, garlic bread and my left over torte.

Today is my actual birthday (January 25). I went to work (their was a sweet boy, Miguel, who keep coming up to me with his big brown eyes asking me "it's your birthday?"
I would then reply, "Yes, it's my Birthday"
"Happy Birthday!"
They all sung to me and I blew out my candle that was pushed into a glazed doughnut. They also gave me a gift basket with IBC root beer, candy, movie tickets, and lots of balloons. I came home to find more presents and warmed left over lasagna, salad, and garlic bread. And of course more left over torte.
After eating dinner, I dropped Dave off at school and I went to Cold Stone with Spencer and Britnie to get my free "like it" ice cream. Spencer chose cotton candy and gummy bears for his creation. Afterwords, we went over to bath & body works to look around and smell all the fragrances. After a short time, sweet Spencer said, "my nose is tired."
After, I came home to a relaxing evening of watching television.





Aren't these gorgeous flowers my hubby gave to me.

2009 review

We had just moved into our North Orem apt.


* Ate at Tucanos for my 23rd birthday.


*My brother Brian received his mission call to Spokane, Washington and left for the MTC April 15.



*Walked through the Draper, Utah temple during their open house.


*Celebrated our nephew Spencer's 3rd birthday.


*Salem came to stay with us for a week while my in-laws went to Arizona to buy a winter vacation home and pick up some stuff from my mother-in-laws late mother's home in Garrison, Utah. Before they headed back home to Canada, my mother-in-law taught me how to make some really good jam.



*Went camping at Granite Flats and toured the Timpanogos Caves.


*We went the the fourth of July Parade!


*Walked through the Oquirrh Temple during their open house.


*Celebrated our 3rd year wedding anniversary.


We attended the Sefcik family reunion at Bear Lake on the Utah side.


We spent Pioneer Day in Spring City visiting Jesse Brunner.


*Spent David's birthday eating out at Wingers and the Brick Oven.


*We went the cabin in Montana for a week where we spent time on the lake, mountain, and in Glacier Ntl. Park.



*Attended the Jon Schmidt concert at Thanksgiving Point during the Labor Day weekend.


* I started a few new hobbies.


We returned after three years to spend Christmas and New Years in Calgary, Canada. We ate out a lot at the places we don't get to visit very often, we shopped for clothing since the airline lost our luggage for a couple days, and we brought in the new year by packing to fly home the next morning and cleaned. Included is a picture of one of my homemade ornaments.


*We also spent the year perfecting the process of making cheesecakes. I got a second job working at the daycare at Eastshore High School. David returned to university to get a degree in entrepreneurship. David's sister Amy returned home from serving as a missionary in Arizona. I accepted a calling in the ward as an activity days teacher.

Now we'll see what 2010 brings!

{HAPPY 24 BIRTHDAY}

Dear Kelsi,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am so blessed to have you has my friend. I have loved that we have always been friends through thick and thin. You have been my only friend that has not looked down at me because I was "large". You loved me for who I was and what I am now. It was you that helped me to become who I am now. I am truly blessed to have you has my BEST friend, aka my other sister.
Love always, your friend,
Stacie

Family Pictures Again...

Our cute cousin Chelsea Olson took our family pictures.
Go visit her website www.chelseaolsonphotography.blogspot.com
Thanks a million Chelsea!

December Adventures

I started off December by going to Thanksgiving Point with my mom, Britnie and Spencer to ride the trolley through the Christmas lights. As we were driving to Thanksgiving Point Spencer says, "I am going to sit right next to the driver and help him drive." Afterwords, we stopped to look at the Reindeer and went inside to eat warm chili soup.






Saturday after work, Dave and I went up to Temple Square to see the lights. We decided that we will never go the Saturday before Christmas again because every one had the same idea. First, we couldn't find a parking spot. We had to park in no mans land. Second, the air quality was extremely bad and we could hardly see the buildings near us. Finally, it was overly crowed around the temple and lights. Anyway, we ended up having a good time enjoying the beauty of the temple lights.
After we left we went to McDonald's to have hot chocolate for the drive back. It was the most disgusting thing ever. Never again.
We couldn't get enough of lights, so we ended up at the Thanksgiving Point lights. We had a wonderful time sitting in the warm car listening to Christmas music and talking about life.




On Sunday the 20th after church, Dave and I went to my parents house to have a yummy imperial chicken with cumberland sauce dinner. Afterwords my parents had us open presents from the family.
We received: our very own Christmas tree(now we don't have to borrow my sisters),books, warm ski gloves, money,and a brand new windshield for our car.







At East Shore High School we had a Christmas party and I had Spencer and Britnie come see Santa Claus and play with the daycare kids. Spencer sat on Santa's lap and told Santa, "I want a big toy".





We headed to Calgary, Canada on December 23rd to spend Christmas with Dave's family. Once we arrived in Calgary's airport, we headed to get our luggage. To our dismay we found only 1 out of 2 bags. We searched all 3 luggage claims wtih no luck. We reported our loss and headed out with only the Christmas gifts and no other clothes. Amy (David's sister) came and picked us up with her boyfriend. By the time we made it to the Sefcik's Christmas party, we were a 1 1/2 hours late and just in time to eat and clean up. I needed contact solution so afterwords, Amy, Brady, Dave and I headed to crazy Wal-mart. We then went home and watched the movie Taken with Dave's cousin and sisters and love ones.
December 24th we were still stuck wearing the same clothes we arrived in. Feeling gross we decided to head off into the crazy city of Christmas Eve shopping to find some new clean clothes. After a few short hours, we returned home and dressed into our new pajamas. Our Christmas Eve was fabulously filled with family, friends, missionaries and a yummy dinner. After dinner we gathered together and sang Christmas carols and talked.
Christmas morning we received a call around 7am from the airport saying they had our luggage. Dave gets off the phone and announces "its a Christmas miracle". It was also a white Christmas. We ate our Christmas breakfast and then gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents. Dave and I got: a board game, GPS device, pandemic kit and cookbooks.
That afternoon, I got a call from my family who conferenced me up to talk to Brian. It was wonderful to hear his voice and knowing that he is loving his mission. We talked for a long while, but David left the conversation half way through to join his family in the theater room to watch the newest Star Trek movie.
The next couple of days was filled with eating out at Summglers (yummy steak soup, salads and ginger chicken pasta), Harvey's, Moxies with their delicious white chocolate chip brownie, Peter's Drive-in, Chinese with David's brother Ben and his family, and Boston Pizza. We went shopping and bought Canadian candies, scarfs and toques. The weather was pretty mild. We also really enjoyed spending time with family and eating homemade chocolates. We don't have a piano anymore so David enjoyed daily working on his compositions at his parent's home.
The night before our schedualed departer time, my mother calls to explain that their was a huge snow blizzard and their was another one coming tomorrow. On top of that, due to a terrorist attack on Christmas day, the airport was even more crazy with longer security lines. As a result, we called the airline and changed our dejparting flight to from December 30 to January 1st @ 7:50am.
On New Year's Eve we went to the movies with Blanche and Doug and watched Avatar in 3D. We then came home and made Steak Gorgonzola-Alfredo and drank sparkling apple cider. We were to have Amy and her boyfriend Brady over, however they arrived late but engaged. We spent the rest of the evening cleaning and packing for our trip home.
About 4:45am we left for the airport. What an adventure. We were in the security line for about 1 and a half hours. Once through, we walked directly onto the plane. However, we had about 60 minutes before our plane could take off since one of the engines wouldn't start since something in it was frozen. However, I slept through most of the delay. Due to new flying restrictions, during the last hour of the flight we had to put on our seat belts and couldn't leave our seats. It doesn't help when I am not feeling well. We finally arrived home around 12 noon. Home Sweet Home.
















Who was there: Blanche, Doug, Heather, Dan, Landon, Madison (Shipley), Amy, Dave and I