Dining Room Table

So early spring,Chad and I actually had some time to go out and look for a new VCR/DVD player. Our DVD player had been getting stuck half way through shows for a while. So off to Shopko we went and were successful in more ways than one!!
So we found what we thought would be an okay VCR/DVD combo, but as we were looking around, we found some great deals on tables. The first set was some banquet tables that fold in half for better storage. We weren't sure how flat they would lay when out, so we just picked up one since they were 40% off. Then just circling around the store we came to the dining room table area. We found this cherry wood table top with black legs that would coordinate with out kitchen cabinets and black appliances.... and they were 60% off. The table was big enough to seat 6 or more smaller people with the benches, just as we were hoping to find. We just sat there trying to decide whether we should spend the money on the table or not. So we decided to splurge and we bought 2 benches 2 chairs and the table. So we got rung up at the counter and the furniture department worker came and brought all the items up to the front and out to where Chad had pulled his car around. We soon realized that we hadn't planned this well, cause everything wasn't going to fit this time around and the table wouldn't fit in his car, cause his entire back seat doesn't lay down.
No sweat, we just took everything but the kitchen table and said that I'd come back with my car to pick it up as soon as we got home. So as soon as I got home, Chad set out to unload his car and I went back with mine to pick up the table. Well I got some assistance to help me out with the table and we soon found out that the table top was wider than my wheel well. so even though my whole back seat came down, the table still didn't fit. So the Shopko guy and tried to put it in the back seat and it still didn't fit. He told me the only way I was going to get in home with my vehicle would to strap in on the roof of my car. So I let the guy go and I told him that I would have Chad come and help me. So I called Chad and we started to get creative on how we could get it home. I gave a call to Mower's to see if Nick was home with his pick-up, but of coarse he was using to help someone else move at that time. Kim was gracious enough to offer to try her Subaru but wouldn't be able to come right away, because she had a meeting with someone in 10 minutes. So Chad and I decided that strapping the table down might be our only hope. So Chad came back to Shopko with the Tie downs. But when he got there we just couldn't feel good about strapping it to the roof of the car and so again I went through the same things I had done with the Shopko guy, to try and make it fit again.
What we finally ended up doing was putting it in the back seat and then had moved the front passenger seat as far forward as it would go and put one corner towards the front, put down the windows in the back left and the front right to let the ends stick out. We still had to tie down the back left door to keep it shut as much as possible and then Chad drove it home with me behind him with the hazards on!!! It was hilarious. And Chad drove it cause I was so embarrassed. I felt like white trash! But what an adventure!!

Christmas Eve

So despite of all the snowing and blowing that occurred on Christmas Eve day, Chad and I braved the road to our way to Janae's house for Christmas Eve. It was slow moving and totally crazy, but by the time we left the Idaho Falls area it was better and we got to speed up a little bit.
We had a wonderful dinner of soups and rolls then got to e enjoy a few games of trivia about Christmas, and another trivia about candy. They were great. Chad and I's game was the Marbles with ice on the cookie sheet relay. It was quite humorous to watch Boyd and Janet get into that one, but then we had our traditional sing along of Christmas carols and the $1 gift exchange!! Something we look forward to every year.
Chad and I always try to get one funny present for the gift exchange and just hope that someone good gets it. So this year we got this hot pink hair on a headband that is supposed to be like extensions!! Chad and I were quite happy to see that Kayl was our lucky recipient.

Appetizer night

So Brek got into town on Saturday, but had insisted when I talked to him when we were in Utah that out family needed to do another appetizer night. Now that last time they did this, Chad and I were still in Pullman and I just happened to call to talk with Derek at the time when they were doing to this. So we missed out. But it was so good that every person that Brek talked to about plans at Christmas he had to mention the need to repeat appetizer night.



So Chad and I were able to get in on this. It was a fun meal with lots of different options. Mom and Dad Joos did jouses? ( I totally did that phonetically I really have no idea how you spell it). So basically a hamburger base with some shrimp and cabbage in a won ton wrapper and fried!! HMMM!!! I loved those growing up. Then Britt and Derek did the fire sticks with alfredo sauce, Amanda and Greg did the sticker fingers, and Chad and I did a Spinach and Artichoke dip. They all turned out wonderful and we all over ate. But no disappointments really!!



We had some fun with Kallen and Ellisi showing up their tricky eye brows(See the videos)and playing around like usual. We also watched the Transporter 1, thanks to Brek that let us borrow a few movies for the trip. We sure enjoyed the action packed show.

Over all what a great night but who wouldn't like all that great food. I'm sure it'll become a tradition when Brek comes home!!

The Girls' Yearly Christmas Trip with Chad and I

So on Saturday the 22nd we connected with Megan, Erica, and Shayla at the Grand Teton Mall for the yearly christmas shopping spree. We always have so much fun breaking into little groups so we can shop for various people. Then I always have a second opinion about what I get Chad. It really is a great deal!!

This year we even met up with Chris Christensen and Kade and MacKayla at Kohl's and definitely got some good deal with Chris' coupon she had. I know that Erica sure loved the help she received to pick out Dannielle's gift.

We then went to TGIF for dinner with the girls and if was wonderful food!! We mostly shared entrees so we had room for Cold Stone Ice cream afterward.

Spaghetti Dinner

So we have a tendency to go to Derek's house a lot when we're all home for the holidays, cause it about the only place that handles us all very well. But we went up a little earlier to help prepare dinner, where I was recruited to fix my garlic cheese French bread. Ry came up with Dad Joos as soon as Dad was home from work. Amanda, Greg, and Darian met us there. We had lots of fun just being together. Chad was having fun with Lisi and Kallen playing with blankets.


Greg also showed us a trick he uses to occupy Darian while shopping to amuse both of them. But I took the video of it sideways and I'm still trying to get it to flip!! I guess I need to talk with Derek to maybe get that on eaccompmlished!! I was laughing so hard at the clip. So Greg has Darian on his sholders and then lean from one side to the next and fron t and back while Darian tries to hold on!! He just giggles and grabs on to anything he can. Greg's hair, nose, eye sockets anything!!! It's hilarious.

Pizza night at Derek's!!

So later on the 18th we traveled up to Archer for a pizza party. We made our traditional supreme pizzas, but had to get in our new favorite chicken garlic pizza and also the dessert pizzas too. It was wonderful.




Ryan had brought his bucket of money to count the donations from his Seminary class going toward a needy family for the holidays. Way to go BUD!!!


The next day (Dec. 19th) Chad and I went to the temple and did a session, but had some technical difficulty with the hearing impaired and audio was messed up, but we still got out of there in a timely matter. But then we were able to go to Karen and Jed Hancock's apartment for lunch. I got to see their youngest boy for the first time and then the older two were cute as always. They were a little shy just waking up from their nap, but by the time we were leaving we got great hugs from both of them. We had a great time there, and Chad finally got to meet them after all my stories. (I've always thought that Jed and Karen lived in Summerset 209 when Chad was in 108. But he assures me they lived there the year after he was in there. I think I agree once I think about it, but I can't tell how many times I think we just missed each other on campus).
Then we were off... Chad with his nephew, Derik, and me with my mom. We split up to do some Christmas shopping for each other. It was nice to have some of it completed. Derik was in town after having gone to the temple with Carlos and Trina and then we all went up to St. Anthony to watch Erica play ball for the Snake River varsity team. They ended up losing, but Erica played very well.

Making Clocks

December 18th was the start of our errand days. Chad and I went shopping at Lowe's to find all the stuff we needed to make crackled clocks for Brittney and Amanda for Christmas. (I learned how to do it at an Enrichment activity in Pullman). It actually ended up taking a few trips to get everything, but we sure had fun getting to learn how to use the router for the clock mechanisms to be in the back. But Chad got pretty good at it. Here he is sporting his sexy safety goggles!!! So we did this in my Mom's kitchen. SORRY!! We had sawdust everywhere. So note to self. ..Never do it in my own kitchen or house. We spent a little time after just cleaning up the mess, but it beat doing it out in the cold garage!! So this was just the start of our endevor, but they ended up okay except for the clock hands didn't show up until after Christmas and then the hex nuts that helps put it together are missing. So hopefully we'll get them all put together eventually.

Pullman Christmas Dinner-December 9

How could I have forgotten about our Christmas dinner we had the Sunday before we left Pullman. I was great to be able to have some close friends come by and share the day with as after church. It's one of those things that make you wish you had more resources so we could invite more people. But we had over the Hanks, Griffiths, Hunts, Barnes, and Andrus'

(Milo was on a rotation for Vet med that didn't allow him to come though). We had ham, sour cream potatoes, green salad, a veggie tray, rolls (that Merkley's brought even though they were unable to make it, HOW NICE), and of course dessert. I made a cake with my new skills from my cake decorating classes. I wish now that I'd taken a picture of it, but it was a two layered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but I had made some poinsettias to cover the top. I can't believe that it turned out okay, except that I made the layers quite large. After I'd frosted it and before I'd put the flowers on top I'd put the lidof my pedestal on and hit the top. Half of my frosting came off when the lid came off, but it patched up nicely and with all the flowers to top it off then no one knew.

We thoroughly loved the time we had to just enjoyed being together before we all parted for the holidays.

.Leah and Rachel playing after dinner!

Extended Joos Family FHE

So Monday morning we work up, packed up and then went to Aunt Beverly's place to pick up Mom. While we were there, my assistance was needed so Beverly could shut down her computer. She had been trying to show Janet some geneology pages, but was unable to find the one she needed and lost the place where she was working. She had so many applications open that the bottom task bar was full with several bars and each of them had about 5-7 documents pulled up in each of them. I started closing them and she was so afraid that I was going to lose all the work she'd done on them. I closed them and saved them as I was doing so and assured her that I wouldn't lose anything that was pulled up. I just hope that nothing was lost before I got there, and that she can find it when she goes to work on them again.


But then we were off. Back on the road and up to Idaho we went. We had an enjoyable drive and it seemed so fast. We finished reading that we had started on our way down, and we even put Janet to sleep. I wonder how late Aunt Beverly kept her up! Or I'm just a boring reader. The later could really be the cause. But before I knew it we were in Blackfoot and dropped Janet off and picked up the scooters that we bought in Boise and off to Idaho Falls we went.

We got to IF and got settled into the basement of my parent's and had finished assembling the scooters, just in time to pack up to go to Derek's, my brother, place for our Extended Family Family Home Evening. It was a great evening too. It was good to be there. My mom gave the lesson and it was on our own personal ministries. It really got me thinking about what it is that God would like me to accomplish while I'm here on earth.

After some wonderful donuts for dessert, we got to hear some great karoke from Derek's clan!! Boy do those girls love to sing!! Oh and don't forget how Kallen is starting to get on things.

So again, I have some video clips that are loading well. So stay tuned.

Sunday December 16th

After a wonderful night sleep at Chuck and Cheryl's, we got to sleep in (Well maybe mostly me, Chad' took Janet to her sister's Aunt Beverly's since we didn't wuite make it there the night before to drop her off.) Then we went to Sacrament meeting with Drew and Ali (Chuck and Cheryl's son and daughter-in-law). Drew's Sacrament meeting was at 11am and that allowed for Chad and I to visit my brother Brek again that afternoon. So since Derik, Kim, and Megan went to Provo for a homecoming talk by one of Derik's companion's from his mission. So Shayla and Shandarae came with us to Drew's house and we got to see their new house and all the work they've completed on it. We also go to meet DUKE. Their Burnese Mountain dog. It was fun. This is the type of dog that I decided I wouldn't mind having (as an outside dog of course). The picture on the right is an example of a Burnese Mountain dog. CUTE huh!!

So we made arrangement to adopt a puppy when the time is right. So after Sacrament we went back and the girls changed and spent the afternoon with Drew and Ali and off we went to visit Brek.

We were able to go see his new apartment, since we haven't been down to see him since he moved to downtown SLC. We had an enjoyable visit and got to see all the little perks about his apartment that he's been enjoying.

That early evening the entire Larsen family (except for Jordan, since he's still on his mission) gathered at Chuck and Cheryl's and we enjoyed quite the feast. It was wonderful to see everyone again. We ate till we were stuffed and then played games. We played some intense games of Speed Uno that some twist that were fun to try and get used too. It sure took me while. Rachel had to leave early so she couldn't show Drew up, but watching the two trash talk was great entertainment. Rachel even called after her little get together just to see if she had to come defned her title!!

Then Stacie and Kenny came over after his family's get together and we played Wizard. It's a trumph game with 4 wizard that are the unltimate trumph and 4 jesters that are zero and I actually really enjoyed. My dad would be so happy!! We played a round of that and decided to go over to Stacie and Kennny's place to see their newly decorated nursery for their expecting little girl. It was very cute and we spent the rest of the night just chatting away. We really had so much and fun and didn't want to go back, but we were so tired and needed to get to bed. So we just need to be closer to them in the future so we can have more great evenings like that!