Kyle Shmyle

My last post of last year was about Kyle.  I think that's a good tradition.  For some reason, it seems too mushy on his birthday or our anniversary...but on Decembr 31st, anything goes.

This past week in Amarillo I got to appreciate Kyle's childhood in a new way. It was so fun to see his old houses, his schools, his favorite hangouts, and meet his old friends. I got to hear a lot of stories.

 Let me just say, he was an incredible kid.  First of all, he was FREAKISHLY CUTE.  I want to have sons just based on the hope that they will be mini-Kyles running around.  I've never seen such an adorable child as Kyle (specifically at around age 4 in his bomber jacket).  If we could find the scrapbook of baby pictures that his mom made, I would figure out a way to scan them and put them on this blog because OH MY GOSH.  SO cute.

He was a funny kid--he was always looking for ways to make money (which he then ironed and kept in his "bank"--and then loaned it to his older sisters, charging interest of course).  He talked really fast (like, unintelligibly so) and actually took years to learn his sisters' names--they were first The Blonde One and The Brown-Haired One, and then they were The Mean One and The Nice One. I think he knows who they are now :)  He had many pets who he still speaks of fondly, but most of them died because of the carbon monoxide leak in his house.  The little ones died, anyways.  The dogs lived (even after he accidentally drop-kicked the chihuahua--that's a really funny story).  He got in fights at school, but I'm pretty sure he only fought in defense of his friends.  He was so tough that in 3rd grade, he had an earring for at least a month (on the non-gay side).  There's still a little scar on his ear.  When Kurt Cobain died when Kyle was like 9 or 10, he decided that music was dead to him forever.

In middle/high school, he was just so cool.  He was a punk skater boy, but all the moms in his ward wanted their daughters to date him because he was so polite.  He had an occasional mohawk, but he also made a goal to dance with girls who never got asked at the stake dances.  He hung out with the "bad" kids, but Kyle never once drank, smoked, or even cut school.  He was a cool kid, but he was also a really good kid.  I know that I would have liked him in high school.  I get the feeling that everyone did.  This year, a kid who Kyle knew at home went on a mission (his friend's little brother).  In his farewell talk, he actually quoted Kyle from the pulpit, something that Kyle said in his farewell talk.  Something he said YEARS AGO and it just really stuck with this kid.  I know that Kyle was a great example to the kids in his ward and they looked up to him.

Kyle was an incredible kid and is an incredible adult.  He turned out great.  He is a phenomenal husband and I know that he's going to be an amazing father.  That's not an announcement, by the way--I just really look forward to seeing Kyle as a dad.  He's a great guy to have by your side--hard-working, funny, and incredibly handsome.  And oh man, his latest songs are "Hold me Closer, Tony Danza" and "He Ain't Heavy, He's Danny Glover."   I love when Kyle sings--especially his songs. SO FUNNY.  It is so cool to be married to Kyle Robert Vaughn.

Anyways, love and rainbows and kisses aside, KYLE IS AWESOME.  The end.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of Kyle from 2009:

For Valentine's Day we fulfilled my dream of going to a Monster Truck Rally.

He cut his finger while doing the dishes- we spent Friday the 13th in the emergency room getting him stitches.

At Amanda's wedding in Boise--us friends had fun at Jack In The Box.

Holi with my husband was a dream come true!

I love this face. From Lucy's 2nd birthday party.

We celebrated our first anniversary in Hawaii!

Another Hawaii picture--we went to Duke's for Hula Pie.

For Halloween, Kyle was smuldering.  I can't believe I said that. And I can't believe I never thought of that pun before.

A Very Vaughn Christmas

I've been trying to blog about Christmas and our trip, but there was so much going on I barely know where to start!  Here's just some highlights:

--Amarillo has amazing antique stores.  One day Kyle and I spent hours on 6th Street, looking at all the awesome stores! There are so many, full of such incredible antiques.  I bought him some great green malachite cuff links and he bought me beautiful earrings.  We also weirdly ran into Kyle's old best friend who he hasn't seen or talked to in a million years and who I've heard a ton of stories about.  I loved our afternoon on 6th Street.

--Naomi Naomi Naomi.  We ADORE this baby.  She is 6 months old and absolutely incredible.  We had so much fun playing with her!  She squeals really loud when she's happy--which was basically any time Kyle was around.  She loves her uncle.  She has phenomenal chubby cheeks and gorgeous coloring.  She is also SUPER clever and fun to play with.

She's the happiest baby!

She has a weirdly long attention span.

Her cute Christmas dress.

--Braxton!  We got to spend an evening with Kyle's best friend Braxton and his wife Mary.  They made us a delicious meal, took me to Braum's (the favorite post-stake-dance ice cream place in high school), and took us to the beautiful Christmas lights of Bishop Hill, which is famous in Amarillo. Braxton gave us a beautiful painting to hang in our home--he's a really talented artist. It was so fun.

--Jennifer and Jason have a coke machine in their backyard--like, the fridge that holds sodas that are next to the checkout lines in grocery stores.  It is constantly stocked with a beautiful array of sodas--and it was the DEATH of us.  I swear, if we gained weight on this trip it's because of the steady stream of delicious sugary carbonation that was being pumped into us.  It was heaven.

--Jennifer and Jason also have two dogs--Baby and Garbage.  Baby is a hideous little creature and Garbage is sweet-looking but smells bad.  Kyle loves them both and is so nice to them.  You um can probably tell that I don't like dogs.  These dogs are okay though--I don't think they minded that every time they tried to play with me, I made Kyle call them over to play with him.  For some reason I think they're hilarious though--maybe because of their misnomers?  Plus, Baby only has one eye and that's always entertaining.

Demon Dog

Sweet but Smelly Garbage

Baby needed some love from someone. Kyle was happy to oblige.

--It was my first white Christmas!  The weather in Amarillo is pretty crazy.  Dry snow + crazy insane wind = some INTENSE snow drifts.  It was really pretty and totally bizarre.

--Presents!  We made out like bandits.  There were a MILLION presents piled around the Christmas tree.  The most exciting present wasn't even for us--our niece Sydnie got a Barbie Dream House that everyone else coveted, mostly me and her dad.  Kyle and I are so excited about the thoughtful gifts we received!

Intense mountain of presents

Oh how I covet that dream house. You can tell Travis does too.

--Because of our obsession with the show Supernatural, we had a weird desire to stay in a seedy motel as we passed through Gallup, New Mexico.  Sam and Dean always stay in the coolest old motels!  Those, apparently, don't exist.  Old and cheap now gets you...nastiness.  We regret our decision. BUT it was kind of exciting and we had some sketchy adventures.  We didn't battle any demons or monsters--but that's just because we didn't load up on rock salt and lighter fluid first.  Next time.

--And, most importantly.....

We only went to Rosa's three times during our trip, but we gorged ourselves each time---and left with 3 dozen tortillas to make Utah a little bit more bearable.  Seriously--they are the most incredible tortillas in the country and probably the world.  Let's just go with universe.

And here's our slightly goofy family picture.  Kyle's in his new rhino shirt and Naomi's face is covered with her hat, but I think it's cute!  Can you tell that the Fanelli Brothers are...brothers? With all 3 kids in Kyle's family married, there are still only Vaughns and Fanellis.  I think that's so neat!

I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve with Kyle.  Last year we rang in the new year with Prison Break.  This year it'll be, you guessed it, Supernatural.  We've been saving two discs for the occasion.  I CAN'T WAIT.

Movies

Kyle and I saw Avatar in Amarillo.  We'd heard things about how incredible it was, but didn't really expect to love it.  Especially Kyle--his expectations were low.  But he walked out of there and said "Whoa. That was AMAZING."  He also has a thing for 3D movies, so that was probably a factor.  But we LOVED it.  It was so interesting and it made me want Pandora to exist--mostly because I want to walk somewhere and have the ground glow under my feet! The beasts scared me, but the Navi were cool.  Sam Worthington was (don't read this Kyle) super attractive, both as a human AND a Navi.   The story was predictable but still exciting and cool.  I think the coolest thing was the animation!  I am normally not a fan of CGI.   I'm not impressed by cool new animation technology--it's dumb to not use real people most of the time.  BUT.  This movie's animation blew me out of the water.  It is SO GOOD.  I seriously forgot that I wasn't watching real people!  Anyways, this movie is highly recommendable.  I think the 3D added a lot to the experience, but not everyone likes 3d (Katy), and you're probably fine without it.

We also saw Sherlock Homes.  It was exactly what I expected and exactly what I wanted.  It was clever, funny, had plenty of action, and plenty of Jude Law/Robert Downey Jr.  Their relationship was probably my favorite aspect of the movie--even without being so attractive, they were just cute with each other.  And hilarious.  I'm a sucker for brotherly love.  They both did a really good job. (Who else is so impressed that RDJ is an actual human being now? He sucked for so long.  Maybe I just hated him because he kills Noah in U.S. Marshals.  But yeah, his comeback is awesome. Go Ironman.)  RDJ even manages a non-distracting fake British accent!  Also, I love Rachel McAdams because she's so pretty.  Even in her mannish costumes in this movie, she's hot.

(And I'm pretty sure Katy has a crush on Mark Strong, the bad guy--so Kate, you should definitely see it.)

So happy

Because:

• It's Ludichristmas! I get to see Lucy open a million little princessy presents.  For some reason, my sisters and I had the most fun buying each other dollar store presents.  We could be random and fun because we already have real presents for each other.  I think Kyle will get the most presents tonight.  I'm glad--he deserves it because the rest of us had fun together all week while he had to be at work.  Kyle misses out on a lot of fun but never resents it--he's such a good worker.

This will be even better once I find an extension cord and plug in the tree lights.

• I got to spend a whole week with both sisters.  That hasn't happened in a while--we're rarely all together these days :(  Katy had finals this week, so that cut in to our time together, but I treasured the moments we were all together.  Sappy but true.

• Last night we finished season two of Supernatural.  It was more fun than usual because Christy finally got to watch it!  We introduced Katy to it a disc ago, and she was instantly hooked.  One of my favorite parts is discussing who is better, Jared Padalecki or Jensen Ackles.  You'd be surprised who likes who (mostly, you'd be surprised that Kyle has a favorite).  I am immaturely obsessed with this show and we have had so much fun watching it--can't wait to pick up with season 3 after we get back from Amarillo.  We better have those Netflix discs waiting in our mailbox when we get back!

• Ashley got me an amazingly thoughtful Christmas present.  She doesn't read blogs (we just can't get her into it) but she is just such a good friend I had to mention it because it made me so happy. It belongs on the list.

• Itunes free holiday sampler.  Listening to it right now. So festive.

• This season of SYTYCD is over, which means a new one starts soon, and hopefully there will be dancers I can actually love.  I liked lots of people this time around, but I never loved anyone the way I loved Jason.  It's not as fun when you don't care all that much.  All I cared about was Russell not winning--I would have been fine with anyone else in the Top 6.  And he won.  Oh well.  I hope next season is more exciting.

• I spent all day with Lucy yesterday!  I babysat all morning and enjoyed every second of it.  Then she didn't take a nap because she's an adorable ratstink so I got to play with her for even longer!  I secretly love it when she doesn't fall asleep in her nap--she just sits in her crib and reads her Cinderella book to herself.  Out loud--she has it memorized.  Add she YELLS her favorite parts.  It's hysterical!  After an hour of that (usually she goes for longer) she wanted to be taken out of her crib so we laid down in my bed and read books to ourselves.  We all ate Little Caesars for dinner and watched Supernatural all night once Lucy went to bed.  It was basically heaven.

• Tomorrow Kyle and I are driving to Amarillo!  We are going to have a great drive.  I'm packing sandwiches so we don't get stranded in the snow and starve to death.  Also, so we don't have to stop as often--we want to get there as quickly as possible.  I'm going to read Catching Fire to him on the way there.  I wonder how long it'll take/how long my voice can keep it  up?  I read most of Hunger Games to him while driving, so I know from experience that it makes the trip go really fast.  They are just such freakishly good books!  So I plan on having fun on the drive there.  

• Then, we'll be in Amarillo for a whole week.  It's going to be really fun. I want to know my sisters-in-law better!  I haven't seen them since the wedding.  I'm so dang shy and awkward that I'm still a little nervous, but I know that they are awesome and once I can be a normal human, we'll be great friends.  This week is a great opportunity for me to be more comfortable.  AND a great opportunity for me to get my hands on my new niece Naomi.  I can't wait to hold her and kiss her--she is SO CUTE.  I'm really excited about that.  We're also going to hang out with Kyle's friend Braxton and his wife Mary Beth.  We went to their wedding in Amarillo last year, and they came to our wedding in California.  I know we'll have fun together.  The other exciting thing that Amarillo has is Rosa's Tortilla Factory Cafe.  I am obsessed with tortillas (often that's all I order when I go to Mexican restaurants--nothing beats tortillas and beans), and Rosa's has hands-down the best tortillas I've ever eaten.  They are incredible.  I can't wait to go there several times next week.

• OH and it feels like Christmas is just around the corner! 

Whew!  Christy and Lucy and Danny are visiting this week, so I'm busy having fun. Amanda and Jack were also in town last weekend, so we went to Rice King, looked at puppies/seahorses, and admired my new couch.

I have wrapped a MILLION presents.  First I did all the take-to-Amarillo presents (for Vaughns, Fanellis, and Braxton) (I already wrapped/sent to CA the presents for my family), and the last couple of days I've wrapped the Ludichristmas presents. This is only our second annual Ludichristmas but it promises to be AWESOME.  This year, it includes Katy and Christy/Danny/Lucy, so it is bigger and better.  We've all bought a ton of dollar store gifts for each other, plus Kyle and I are going to open the presents from my parents that they brought us at Thanksgiving.  We have a ridiculous amount of presents "under" our teeny tree.  I'm not sure what the other plans for Ludichristmas are, but we've talked about eating Chinese takeout by candlelight.  Somehow, Ludichristmas has become freakishly exciting.

We've had a ton of fun so far this week, and I haven't taken a single picture.  Lucy is hysterical. Seriously.  She is so clever and saucy.

I have seen so much of my family in the last month.  And next week we're driving to Amarillo to spend Christmas with the Vaughns!  My niece Naomi has gotten SO CUTE and chubby. I can't wait to meet/kiss her. I'm not super excited about the million hour drive in the harsh winter, but we'll hack it.

Good/Bad

To feel good:
Click the link in the first post.

To feel worse:
Click the link  in the post underneath.

Enjoy both.

From my trip:

I've never known anyone who lounged exclusively in princess costumes.

See what I mean?

We taught Sleeping Beauty about gingerbread men.

From Saturday night:

Eliza looks like a little bug!

I can't resist this baby.  She is too funny.

Right now from my balcony:

It's been snowing all day.  Those horses must be chilly.

Inventory

Computers in my home:
1. Kyle's laptop.  It is about 5 years old and a piece of shizzzzzz.  Sorry Kyle.  (He's kind of protective of it.) It is the slowest device on the planet and it has been my nemesis since I first met my husband.

2. The Mac.  A hand-me-down from Christy and Danny.  It's Kyle's main computer and we love it. It's pretty old so it lacks the intel chip that makes it possible to watch Netflix instant play movies...which is a problem.   I'm still unsure of macs so I generally use my laptop, which brings us to...

3. My laptop.  It can't open or close and it won't read discs and has to be plugged in at all times and the fan doesn't work so it gets REALLY hot and sometimes just turns off randomly when I'm in the middle of something, but other than that it works fine!

4. THE NEW COMPUTER I'M ON RIGHT NOW.  Yeah!  I love it!  It's another hand-me-down from Christy and Danny (they have lots of random computers laying around apparently), and I just brought it back with me from California.  They told me it was old, chock-full of viruses, and may not even work.  When Kyle first started trying to get it up and running, it definitely wasn't working.  BUT we have access to a handy asset that I like to call Alan Broadbent.  He went to town on this thing and now it's our best computer!  I love it.  It's a little Dell.  It not only works perfectly, but it holds a charge! For like, HOURS!  This is basically the first time in my life that I've had a laptop on my lap that isn't plugged in.  It's beautiful.  I am having so much fun!

Thanks, Christy and Danny.
Thanks, Alan.

Proud Owner

Christy and Danny are too nice to me! I've wanted one for ages.  Now I'm cool.