AJ and Kandice!

Pathetic...

2010-11-01T12:17:00.001-07:00

Some people are so litigation-happy it's sad.

A judge in New York ruled that a 4-year-0ld can be sued for Negligence.

That's right. A 4-year old.

For some background, a 4-year-old girl and a boy of the same age were racing their bikes on the sidewalk in New York. As they were racing, they ran in to an elderly woman who fell and broke her her. She had to have surgery. I feel for the old woman. That really sucks.

She died 3 weeks later. Now the "estate" is suing the children and their parents.

But here's the kicker. Her death had nothing to do with being sideswiped by these children, or the surgery that resulted from it.

And because she's gone, you know she's not the one complaining. No, some greedy family members are.

Pathetic.

(To read more about why a 4-year-old shouldn't be sued for negligence, see here)

I loved our wedding but...

2010-07-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

I really did love our wedding. It was gorgeous.

We got married in my parents back yard, which is where I'd wanted to get married for years.

The weather was nice, for July.

We both said "I do" which was a good sign.

I loved planning the wedding, and would love to plan another one.

Not for me of course, since I don't intend on having another wedding.

However, there are some things I would do differently if I could do it again.

Maybe you own't make the same "mistakes" (if you can call them that) that I did.

#1: My Dress

My dress was gorgeous, and I really did love it.

However, it was a traditional wedding dress, i.e., huge, heavy and really hot for an outdoor wedding in July.

This is the best picture I have of my dress, taken off of Facebook :)

I rented my dress, which I do not regret at all.

But if I could go back and redo things, I would instead buy this dress:

I am aware that I would not look at all like the girl in the picture, but that dress is beatiful! Everything I loved about my dress, but so much lighter!

#2: The Camera's

I've always loved the idea of having disposable cameras on the tables at my wedding. So I insisted on it.

Bad idea. I think we got 2 or 3 good pictures out of the 12-15 cameras. They weren't too expensive, but after buying the cameras and getting the film developed, it wasn't worth it.

#3: Flowers

I've never really been attached to flowers.

Yes, they're pretty.

Yes, they're traditional.

Yes, I love it when AJ gives them to me.

But paying an arm and leg for them seemed ridiculous to me.

After some pressure though, and assurances from different people that they would be worth it, I met with a florist and ordered flowers.

They were really pretty, but I wish I had gone with my original plan: order boutenieres for the boys and corsages for the moms. No other flowers. Go to Macey's the morning of the wedding and pick up a $12 bouquet of roses for me.

Instead we spent about $200 on flowers that we didn't really need, and that I now wish we had back.

I did buy a $12 bouquet for my bridals, and they worked fine. Were quite pretty in fact.

#4: Colors

I've never been really pink person. Sure, I like it, but it's not a favorite.

However, pink did end being one of my wedding colors, because I wanted my dress to match.

Two weeks before the wedding I was wishing that I'd gone with yellow, grey/black and white.

That would have been awesome.

Too bad it was too late to change.

#5: Cake

Wedding cakes are ridiculous. Not all the time, but if you don't really like cake (like us), or have never dreamed of your wedding cake, they are.

We found the cheapest cake we could, and made sure it was basic and not crazy huge.

Even that was too big.

After our "honeymoon" I found out that my mom had saved all of the wedding cake that wasn't eaten. That was almost the entire thing.

She said she couldn't bring herself to through away all that cake.

So it sat in their freezer for the last year.

She finally took it out last week. It never got eaten.

So much waste.

Should have done this instead:

Then we could have used the cupcakes for food, saved money, and not wasted all that cake.

Things I did right!

#1: Water and Programs!

Getting married at 3:00 in the afternoon in July makes for a very hot wedding day! So what do you do? Provide everyone with crazy cold bottles of water as they walk in, and programs that double as fans!

#2: Involving my Dog :)

He sat on my mom's lap the entire ceremony.

#3: Having our guestbook double as a "scrapbook" of photo's from the time we met!

I still look at it all the time!

#4: I married this guy!

Does the rest of it matter anyway???

Husby over Edward Cullen

2010-07-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose a side I would say I'm on Team Edward. I will freely admit to anyone who asks that I like the Twilight movies, but I will also say that I felt that The Host was a much better written book. I've never really understood the hype of Jacob. Sure, Taylor Lautner looks good without his shirt on, but Edward is Edward. There's really no other way of looking at it.

Last night I had a dream. In it I knew Husby, and I knew Edward. For some reason, they had both left me for a year. I'm not sure what any of us did during that year, but then Edward came back. He said that he needed to teach me to turn into a bird so that I could fly. In real life, if I could have any super power in the entire world, I would want to fly. Sometimes when I'm standing on the edge of something high I get this almost over whelming urge to jump off and soar. I am determined to go hang gliding some day, as I think it's the closest I will ever get to having wings.

Back to the dream. Edward helped me realize my number one biggest desire in the world. I was able to soar all over the place, and it was amazing! Then Husby comes back. And what do I do? I immediately ditch Edward and run back to Husby. There was no hesitation in my mind. That's right. I leave the goreous vampire who just taught me how to fly, and I go to Husby. I think that this is biggest evidence of love ever. Dream leaving Edward Cullen for Husby. I told him about it, but he didn't seem nearly flattered enough.

What's scarier than the idea of global warming!? Read on to find out!

2010-07-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

***DISCLAIMER***

The following was not written with any regret and does not imply that I at all question my decision to get married. I am not trying to offend anyone who has children or got married young either. We all have our own lives to live, so please don't let my idea of how my life is going make you think I look down on you and your life.

Sometimes the fact that I am 23 years old and married scares the crap out of me. I mean, I’m probably not even through ¼ of my life, and I’ve almost been married a year. By the time I’m 30 I will have been married for 8 years! By the time we retire we will have been married over 40 years. We will be celebrating our 50 year anniversary at the age of 72 and 73! That’s not even old! How is this NOT scary!?

The idea of my youth can also be comforting at times. When I found out that if I made the minimum payments on my student loans they would be paid off in ten years I freaked. Who wants to be in debt for ten years!? Husby, in his calm comforting voice, reminded me that 1)We are paying more than the minimum required, and plan to continue to do so, and 2)Even if our students loans are not paid off for ten years, that only puts me at 33. That's not old. This is the only time that realizing I'm 23 has been a positive experience.

I’d never imagined myself getting married before I was 27. I know it’s an arbitrary number, but I figured that was the earliest that I could have most my goals obtained by, so why mess with getting married before then? I didn’t want to have kids until I was at least 30, and still probably won't til I'm close to that age. I want time to spend with Husby, childless, before I start chasing children around the house and lose my sex life.

I'm incredibly happy that things did not work out as I'd planned, since if they had I wouldn't get to wake up to Husby every morning. I would much rather spend the next 5 years with Husby than be single for 5 years and then have to be with someone else for the rest of my life! I definitely wouldn't be nearly as happy with anyone else. However, if one more person asks me when we're going to start having babies and give me a "look" of pity or disappointment when I laugh and say "never" I very well may punch that person in the face.*

End of rant.

*I'm sure we'll end up having children some day, but saying "never" is better than saying "I'm really not ready to be a mom, nor do I have the desire at this moment. We'll have kids when we're ready and our sex life is really none of you business. Plus, I'm selfish and don't want to share my husband with anyone else right now."

An Obituary and a Birth Notice

2010-06-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

In Memoriam

Peel Mobile Chevy Lumina passed quietly from our lives on Monday, May 31 in Logan, Utah. He was 16.

Chevy was born in the Oshawa Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada in 1994 to Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. At the age of 5 he was adopted by Dan and Ellen Oster, and was welcomed into the family with open arms, joining other adopted vehicles, including GMC Suburban and Chevy Cavalier. He was taken care of by many of the Osters, each taking their time to raise him as their own.

In 2009 Chevy was passed on to AJ and Kandice Oster, to take care of in his old age. They nursed him through his last 10 months, before finally having to let go.

Chevy had many jobs in his long life. He worked as a chauffer vehicle for the Oster children, a drivers education vehicle as they each learned to drive, a sort of public transportation for their friends, and as a member of a caravan on several eventful trips. He saw many wonderful places in his life, including Seattle, Couer D'Alene, Salt Lake City, St. George and Boise.

Among the greatest moments of his life, Chevy includes losing his hubcaps with Celia, multiple traffic tickets, and a memorable road trip 1,074 miles long from Moscow, Idaho to St. George Utah in his late life.

Chevy is survived by the entire Oster family, Dan, Ellen, Celia, Tara, AJ and Kandice, as well as Subaru Forester, little red Subaru, Subaru Impreza, Ford Escort, and the newest addition to the Oster Family, Kia Optima. Although he only had one hour with Optima before passing on, it was obvious that they would have been great friends.

The Oster family would like Chevy to be remembered for his years of wonderful companionship and reliability. He will be missed. No formal memorial service will be held.

Birth Announcement

AJ and Kandice Oster and please to announce the arrival of the newest member of their family, Kia Marie Optima.

Kia Marie was born in Hwasung, South Korea in 2007 189 inces long. Kia Marie escaped that same year to California, where she was adopted by a rental agency. She was loving taken care of there from Januray, 2008 until May, 2010, when she was taken in my Murdock Hyundai of Logan. Days before she would again be fostered by another dealership in Salt Lake, the Osters rescued her.

Kia Marie is dark red with grey interior. She brings joy to her parents with her wonderful cruise control, great gas mileage, steal of a deal price, and working cd player.

To buy a car, or not to buy a car. That is the question

2010-05-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

I know I've slaughtered Shakespeare here.

Forgive me.

Anyhoo.

I think we're gonna buy this car tomorrow morning.

We've been test driving it all weekend and we really like it, but we almost feel like it's too fancy for us. We think we should still be driving the crappy Lumina. It's sad really.
We'll know tomorrow. Guess we'll see!

By the way, this is not a Sonata, so no, it's not $15,990.

New computer!!!

2010-05-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

AJ and I finally went and bought a new computer today! Horray!

Yay for posting pictures!

Yay for being able to watch Hulu while I craft!

Yay for embarrassing AJ by posting the funny things he does!

Speak of which...

The Story of How We Got a Computer

Once upon a time Kandice and AJ needed a new computer. They looked and looked for a good deal and finally found a computer for $299 at Staples. They went to Staples to buy said computer, only to be told that Staples was sold out. Not only that, but they had to beg someone to even talk to them about the computers. Bad customer service. Kandice became very cranky and did not want to wait for a computer to ship, but wanted one NOW.

So they walked to Best Buy. It looked like they had found the same computer at Best Buy, but for more money. Not wanting to spend more money, they asked if Best Buy would price match, which they said that would. The Osters asked Fred* to do a price check with Staples so that they could get their computer now. Fred called Staples, who told him that the cheapest computer they had was $399, and they told him different specs. This upset Kandice and AJ, as they knew that Staples was lying so that they wouldn't buy a computer from Best Buy. Fred said that without proof of the Staples computer price he couldn't do a price match.

So they walked back to Staples. After closely looking at ALL the computers Staples had, their suspicion that the sales associate had lied to Best Buy. There was no $399 computer, and the $299 computer had the exact same specs as the one at Best Buy, not the specs the Staples associate had told the Best Buy associate. AJ was not happy with Staples. They did not want to give Staples their business. So AJ took the price tag with the specs on it. Ripped it right out of that laminated little thing and walked out the door, with Kandice laughing the whole way.

They got back to Best Buy and found out that while the computers were almost exactly the same, the one at Best Buy was a newer model. Because Fred thought Kandice and AJ were awesome for stealing the Staples price tag he gave them a deal for their trouble. So AJ and Kandice bought a computer from Best Buy. And some discounted accessories that were offered to them too. Now that is customer service!

The moral of the story...Shop at Best Buy, not at Staples.

The End.

*Name has been changed

Stupid Computer...

2010-05-10T13:38:00.001-07:00

I hate our computer situation. I really really do. I've taken some pictures lately, but can't share them. I've wanted to add stuff to my Etsy shop, but can't. AJ's needed to apply for school and had to do it at my parents. It's just getting bad. And then last week our printer ran out of ink, so I couldn't print off some stuff I needed at the last minute for the Gardners Market. Yes, I waited until the last minute, but still, I have a right to be exasperated! Some day we will get a new computer!

Catching up!

2010-04-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Because of our dumb computer problems, I haven't been able to share pictures very regularly, so today I'm going to play catch up for the last 6 weeks or so!

AJ's birthday was almost a month ago, but I wnated to share my atrocious attempt at cake decorating!

In case you can't tell, that's supposed to be a Lego piece. I'm thinking I may need to join the Cake Decorating classes at Michaels!

A couple of weeks ago I decided I couldn't stand all the white walls in our apartment. I got permission to paint them, and even though they probably look white in these pictures, they are a soft beige. Who knew a couple of shades could change the feel of the room! Since I was painting anyway, I redorated at the same time, with the following result:

I've always loved giant mirrors, so when I saw the one above the couch at WalMart for $40 I couldn't resist! Plus, we got the employee discount too!

By sheer MIRACLE we made it to the first session of Conference last week. Literally, it had to be a miracle. We didn't even wake up until 7:50, but we were parked and in our seats by 9:28!

We were both very disappointed in the quality/quantity of the protestors. Remember the good old days when there was tons of them, and they've wave stuff and yell? Well those days are gone now. There were only about a 18 there this time, and they were spread out all around the square. This was our favorite...

We walked by him and he would just yell out "I'm SATAN!" a lot. Quite entertaining.

The weather hasn't been too great for the last couple of weeks, but we have gotten some bike riding and hiking in!

And we made it to the opening game for Real Salt Lake last weekend against the Seattle Sounders!

I've made a huge mistake!

2010-04-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

I suppose everyone has to make a fool of themself at some time.

Today was my time.

For those that don't know, I do most of my blogging at work. Because of this, when I want to add pictures to my blog, I have to save them to my desktop.

One thing I do every day at work is send out "sales acknowledgements" to all of our customers who made orders. At the bottom of each email I send there is an electronic business card that looks like this:

It is also saved to my desktop, titled "untitled"

Apparently yesterday when I posted about how AJ and I met I saved the final picture as "untitled" onto my desktop.

Big Mistake.

I normally don't look at the sales acknowledgements after they've been sent out, and the text in the email is long enough that I don't see the electronic business card at the end.

After sending out A LOT acknowledgements I ended up checking the sent messages.

There, blown up gigantic, is this picture:

Luckily the people I work with have a good sense of humor, and the emails that are sent out look like they're coming from Jane. Now a lot of customers know how cute me and my husband are :)

Ridiculous.

How We Met (with pictures!)

2010-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

In 2007 I (kandice) was going to school here:

And AJ was going here:

We both wanted to go here:

This guy hired me:

And this guy hired AJ:

(This was before this happened):

These were our friends:

We didn't really talk for a while. I think it's because I kicked him in the face with:

One day we finally talked while eating in the cafeteria here:

I convinced him to come to a game with the rest of us:

To pay me back for his ticket he took me here the next day:

Then we enjoyed DC together:

Then we went home :(

That wasn't much fun, so after we each did this:

He gave me this:

And we did this:

Now we do this a lot:

The End.

The real end.

My inlaws and their awesome son!

2010-04-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

AJ and I have been having some serious computer issues. Our laptop will only get on the internet, but I can't access any files or my desktop. Our desktop will let us on the desktop and into files, but won't let us on the internet. Thus, my terrible habit of random blogging lately.

My inlaws, Dan and Ellen, came down this week to visit, and I have to say, it's nice having inlaws you love! I've heard enough horror stories to be incredibly greatful for the wonderful family that I married in to!

While they were here we only took two pictures, and we took them with their camera, so I don't have access to them! So, here's an old picture of them from our wedding

We were able to spend a couple of days with them, going to Park City and eating with my parents. It was great to see them again!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sometimes I get this overwhelming feeling of graditude and love for AJ, and last night was one of those "sometimes". I hope everyone else feels that way too sometimes, because it's a great feeling. I started making a list in my head of all of the reasons my husband is great, and thought I'd share some of it. You know, just to embarrass him!

He does the laundry because he knows that I hate the way towels feel when they come out of the washer.

He brought me chocolate peanut butter eggs randomly yesterday.

He never complains about my crocheting or the little bits of yarn all over the apartment.

He loves me and makes sure I know it!

He lets me make lists like this and post them for all to read.

He doesn't ever play video games when I'm home unless I ask him to (sometimes I like to watch while I crochet).

He encouraged me to start my Etsy shop and completely believes in me.

He lets me take pictures of him all the time.

He surprised me with two of my favorite movies for my birthday and Christmas, and I didn't even ask for them! (Tarzan for Christmas, Horton Hears a Who for my birthday).

He hates to work out, but be works out with me when he has a day off because he knows I want to but don't like missing time with him.

He introduced me to Battle Star Gallactica, the greatest TV show ever made!

He cuddles with me every night until I fall asleep, even though he's not tired.

He doesn't think I'm messed up.

He does the dishes.

He works at Walmart :)

He let me buy him a new wardrobe at the thrift store.

Sometimes he dances, but only for me.

The list goes on, but I don't want to drive anyone away with my cheesiness!

After my own heart!

2010-04-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Remember my loving post about Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs yesterday? Well I stumbled across a new blog today, and I think if I knew this blogger in person she would be my best friend! In fact, I consider her my best friend now just for blogging about Peanut Butter Eggs! Not only she did blog about them, she provided a recipe for them as well! Check out Simply Designing for the recipe! I can't wait to try it!

Second Greatest Love of My Life

2010-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

It's 12:00 on a Friday night...Do you know where your husband is at?

2010-03-26T23:17:00.001-07:00

It's 12:00 on Friday night.

We're sitting in bed watching Seinfield.

I'm eating chocolate ice cream covered in caramel.

He is eating potato chips and strawberry soda.

We are awesome.

Today deserves an A+

2010-03-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Reasons why today was a good day:

1: I (Kandice) work for a great company. In all, I've been there 6 months, and they're working hard to promote me to their marketing team. The economy has been getting in the way, but I think it will be worth the wait. I wrote a press release for them last week that got published today (my first real press release!) as did some other announcements I put together. And I also got a raise!

2: After getting off of work me and AJ took our bikes out for our first ride of 2010! We love riding our bikes during the nice months, and today was a great day to kick-off the fun!

3: My slow cooker sweet and sour chicken turned out amazing!

4: After dinner we walked to Village Inn and got free pie! I love free pie!

5: I'm married to this guy -

And he just brought me this:

Sick Week :(

2010-03-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

That terrible flu that has been haunting people for weeks finally hit our place this week! AJ got sick on Monday, although I still have lingering doubts about his illness, as he got me to tell him to stay home from work on Tuesday. I later realized that Final Fantasy came out that day and I had given him a free pass to stay home from work and play it, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt :)

We did get to paint our living room last week, but there are no pictures yet. Really our life just hasn't been very exciting. sorry :)

Sweet.Kiwi.Crochet

2010-03-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

If you know me at all you know about my obsessive need to crochet! I don't plan on mentioning this again, as this blog is not designed to promote my crocheting, but for those that are interested I do have a crochet blog here at www.sweetkiwicrochet.blogspot.com. I also have an etsy shop here at www.sweetkiwicrochet.etsy.com

Enough of that. This week has been pretty lame honestly! AJ has worked the last 4 nights, and works everynight until next Monday, so we haven't gotten to do anything fun. No fun = no pictures = not a whole lot to blog about :(

Don't tell him, but tomorrow I will be painting our apartment! Pictures will definitely be taken of that!

Ode to the things I miss...

2010-03-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today I have been reminiscing about things I miss. Three things in particular.

1: My brother, Kory. What a freaking awesome guy. I love this kid. He's three years younger than me, but definitely one of my top five favorite people in the world. I haven't seen him in almost 5 months since he's on a mission in Columbia, but I got to read letters from him today and see pictures and he's having a blast! Only 16 months left!

2: My dad. He's only been gone a couple of days but I was wishing I could build something this weekend and he's gone. Mi Madre doesn't like me working in the shop alone, so I guess I won't be out there for at least another 15 days.

3: New Zealand. This ties directly in with the first two, since I went with them :) Good times. This was the best trip every, and it just happens to be where my dad is right now, without either of us! This is one of my favorite places in the whole world, and AJ has promised me he will let take him there some day. For my own please I will not insert some great pictures from that trip.

We're the same age!

2010-02-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday, and we celebrated for three days!

Texas Roadhouse with the parents, aunt and uncle...

AJ made his first attempt at baking and made me this wonderful cake

It was delicious, and he was very proud of himself!

AJ kindly pointed out that in two years he would have to buy two packages of candled for me! First time I've felt old!

After cake and ice cream we headed out to buy our Wii!

AJ's birthday is next month and we decided too buy a Wii for both of us! Since they've been out for so long we didn't think finding one would be a problem. Wrong! After checking both Wal*Marts, Game Stop, Hastings, and Smiths we finally found what I'm pretty sure was the best Wii in the valley, at Best Buy. After buying our accesories and Super Mario we were up until the wee hours of the morning playing!
Since we've spent most of the weekend inside playing the Wii we decided to get out and walk around First Dam. We didn't take any bread since we assumed the ducks were south for the winter, but apparently some stupid ones stuck around. Guess we know for next time!

Attempt 1,004,567

2010-02-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

I have tried many times to keep up with a blog, often to very little success. I've decided it's time to change that! I'm at work now, so this post will be short, lacking in pictures, and probably boring. Still, it's a start.