Four little elves!

Check this out, click on the link below! I dare you to try not to laugh!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1375606710

French Onion Soup

My parents came up to Ogden last Saturday. They gave us money to help us buy new leather couches for Christmas and they wanted to see them. We also went to dinner at the Union Grille and ate some of the best ever French Onion Soup. Seriously, you should try it if you ever get the chance. It is worth the drive from Salt Lake to Ogden.

This is our fancy tree for which we have spent years collecting matching decorations.






This is our fresh-cut tree with hand-me-down decorations. There is one ornament Gib made his Mom back in 1986. Wow, that's a long time to keep a homemade ornament in such good condition! Gib's Mom also gave us his first ornament, a glass soldier, to put on the tree. Also, notice the homemade tree skirt my Mom made before I was born. She's so talented. I think she thought it was funny to see that I still had it.

Oh Christmas Tree. . .

Gib's parents, Dave and Cheryl, came up to Ogden to visit us on Saturday. We saw a Christmas tree lot on Washington and decided to stop and look. Gib's Dad bought me a tree. I was really excited to get a fresh cut tree that smells like pine. Now we have an artificial tree in the living room and a real tree in the kitchen. The artistic snob inside me rejected the flaws of a real tree but now that we have decorated it with homemade ornaments I am very fond of the real tree. It looks great with a hand-me-down tree skirt made by my Mom over 20 years ago and special ornaments given to me and Gib as gifts. We also had dinner at the Pizzeria and drove past Pine View Reservoir to see the snow. As you can see, it was so beautiful with the banks covered in fresh snow. We had a fulfilling weekend. On Sunday, Chad blessed Logan. It was a touching blessing and it was rewarding to watch the men in our family join efforts to bless our sweet little spirit. Here are some great photos from that day.

Above is Grandma Brems with Taylor Tebbs. She is so fun-loving. She kept running around in a circle over and over again with a huge smile on her face. She was very proud to tell me and my Mom that she wanted shiny diamond things for Christmas. Amy said she sat on Santa's lap and told him exactly what she wanted without any prior coaching from Mom. She is a girl after my own heart. After all, who doesn't love shiny diamond things?

Funny Gib

Have I told you how much I love my husband? He keeps me laughing. I was in a bit of a bad mood when Gib stuck this bottle on his forehead to cheer me up. It worked! He was so kind to let me take this picture. Isn't he cute and talented?

Please Comment

I have fixed our settings so anyone can comment on our blog. If you're here, please comment! We love to hear from anyone. . .

Thanks Credit Union One (especially Chris)!

Have you ever been in a cash grab machine? Credit Union One had a cash booth at their grand opening today. We each took 15 seconds in the booth while dollar bills and green pieces of paper swirled around us in a whirlwind. The paper literally flies around your body! The Brems family banked! We took home $251. Gib and Mom both got the only $100 bill in the booth. Gib and I thought we would come out of the booth with a few dollars but were astonished and pleased with catching $127! Thanks Credit Union One! Check them out at cu-one.com, it's worth it.

Tribute to the new Snowboarding season!

Last season, Jolleen, Justin and their family came to Utah from Pennsylvania for their family vacation. I had the chance to snowboard with our nephew, Nick Stewart. He's good at snowboarding and he loves it! Gib commented on a jagged looking peak on the mountain top and Nick would respond, "I'd grind that." He also said that about stairs, rails, rooftops, trees, curbs, etc. Nick definitely coined the phrase and now we all love and remember him for it. We had one funny incident on the slope after Nick caught his front edge and belly flopped on his stomach. Every snowboarder understands what I am talking about. We have all done it plenty of times, right? He had to pee so bad after his crash. He took off his snowboard to find a good tree and his snowboard leaped down the slope without him. We both frantically chased his board half way down the slope but we couldn't keep up. We found it after it slammed into a big metal box. Whew, we were glad we found his board. I can't wait to board with him again this year. I'm sure he will be teaching me some jumps and turns this year!

We've been tagged!

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. Gib and I love "Little House On The Prairie." Most people collect the season DVD's of "The Office" or "24", but Gib and I have collected the first 2 seasons of "Little House On The Prairie." Only 6 more seasons to go!

2. I HATE to vacuum. I can scrub a toilet, clean a stinky litter box, scrub cat throw-up or diahrea from the carpets without problems, but I really dislike vacuuming. This means Gib is the lucky one to vacuum the floors every time it is needed in our house! Good thing Gib doesn't mind vacuuming.

3. We love cats. I have always loved cats. My first pet was an ornery old cat named Blossom. She is most remembered by Chris for chasing him while attacking his feet. Yes, that's right, Chris ran from a cat. Ashley's friends still make fun of Blossom's old croaking meow. Oh, I love my Blossom. Gib was never much of a fan of cats. After marriage he developed a "tolerance of cats", as he puts it. From the way he baby-talks to our cats, Ichabod and Carma, I think it's more a fondness than a tolerance!

4. I am terribly uncoordinated. I tried out for junior high dance company and was one of only 4 people to be cut, out of a total of 96 girls to try-out. I also tried out for cheerleader a couple times but wasn't good enough. I guess something could be said for persistence, right? So, I decided to focus on other talents and spent my time practicing the violin. Secretly, I still want to be a cheerleader!


5. I love to sing in the car alone. . . especially Primary songs. Lucky for anyone else they don't have to hear me. I wouldn't say that I'm tone deaf, because I spent a lot of time training my ears when I practiced the violin and I can HEAR that I sing out of key. I have never been able to develop my vocal chords to sing the notes on tune. But I love to sing when I am alone, even if I sing poorly and get most of the words wrong!

6. I love raw cookie dough. When Gib's brother lived with us, we would make a whole batch of cookie dough and use a spoon to eat it all before we had the chance to bake the cookies. For people who sell cookie dough for fundraisers, this is so unfair! It has definitely hindered my diet.

Lessons learned from a Classic

Gib and I loved this story Grandpa Brems told us about his first car when he was 16. He had been working hard and saving all of his money for his first car. Knowing Bob Brems, there is no question he was working very hard. He has an incredible work ethic and serves as a great example to his kids, grandkids, great grandkids and all who know him. At a dealership, he had his eye on a canary yellow roadster with a rumble seat in the back. Finally, he had saved $50 and bargained the purchase of the roadster as his first car. He tried to register the car but the state wouldn't allow it because there was no VIN number on the vehicle. Back then, the number was etched right onto the engine block but his new car's number had been ground out with a grinder. The state said it was a sure sign the vehicle was stolen. Grandpa's folks wouldn't allow him to drive an unregistered car. Half a block down the one-laned Ford avenue then back up to the house was as far as he drove his prized first car. With the help of his persuasive brother-in-law, Jim Reed, Grandpa returned the car for a full refund. The reason we like this story is because of the lessons learned from Grandpa and his Ford Roadster. The first lesson exemplifies his dedication to hard work. It is admirable for a 16 year old to work hard enough to earn enough money to purchase his own vehicle. The second lesson is his ability to set a goal then saving money to achieve his goal without debt. The third lesson is his obedience to the laws of the land. He understood that it was required to register his vehicle to drive it on our city streets. I'm certain that it would have been easy to drive his unregistered car all around the city but Grandpa chose to follow the law and not drive illegally. Thanks Grandpa for your good example. We have a lot to learn from you and Grandma!

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to post this picture in honor of Halloween! and thinking about pirates I wanted to share this with you. To tease me when I asked Gib what was taking him so long in the shower, he responded, "Aaaargh, I'm scrubbin' me poop deck." He, he, now you can tease Gib.

Microwave Popcorn

I was cooking popcorn in the microwave the other day at work. We have an old-school heavy duty industrial microwave that cooks a bag of popcorn in 30 seconds. I turned the dial and started to watch the popcorn since there isn’t a timer on the microwave. I was distracted and went into the lab to help a technician. A few minutes later I recognized the rank smell of burned popcorn. I ran to the microwave to try to salvage my popcorn but it was too late. A small thread of black smoke escaped from the microwave door when I opened it. In normal conditions, this wouldn’t have been a big deal, right? Throw away the burned popcorn then end of story. Well, in the propulsion industry, where I work, fire is a serious concern. A small flame from a match or cigarette lighter could be fatal. Even ignition from static energy is a big concern. Every room on plant has highly sensitive smoke detectors that immediately alert one of two fire departments on plant. Before I could close the microwave door, blaring alarms started sounding and the whole fire department arrived at my lab prepared for an explosion. How embarrassing! All because of my burned popcorn. The fire department teased me unceasingly about my cooking skills. Oh well, at least the fire department got some entertainment for the day! Hazmat was then called for a nuclear fallout analysis. . .

Gas Mask

Gib taught gospel doctrine today at church. He related the armor of God in Ephesians 6:13-18 to his personal protective equipment he uses at work. He works at a microbiology testing laboratory where they use ethylene oxide (EO) to sterilize medical devices. Gib discussed the danger of this toxic gas by describing EO. It is a colorless flammable and highly reactive gas. It's health and safety dangers are extensive in that it is carcinogenic and mutagenic. Lung injury, cancer, and nerve damage are a few of the symptoms of exposure. Circumstances sometimes require Gib to be exposed to moderate levels of EO, which is a considerable health concern. I often fear for Gib's health because of his chances of EO exposure. For protection, he wears a Darth Vadar mask which filters out the toxic gas, providing him with clean oxygen in the hostile, EO rich atmosphere. Gib was wearing his mask one day while working, as required by safety protocol. A new hire working in the same vicinity mistakenly exposed Gib to a large volume of EO. Without his proper personal protective equipment, the gas mask, Gib would have undoubtedly suffered serious lung and nerve damage and would have run the increased risk of cancer, reproductive problems and even death. Gib described his fear after the exposure and expressed how grateful he was to have chosen to follow protocol and wear his gas mask. He then related his protocol to wear personal protective equipment to the protocol layed out by the Lord, to "take unto you the whole armor of God" and how we have the choice to fortify ourselves against the "fiery darts of the wicked." While Gib's exposure to a large volume of EO was not expected, our exposure to temptations from the adversary are unquestionably inevitable. Gib said how thankful he was for his personal protective equipment at work that day and challenged the members of the class to fortify themselves against the exposure to the adversary by putting on the armor of God.

Our own blog!

I was so excited about the birth of our nephew, Logan, that I wanted a chance to share the pictures with everyone. . . so, I started this blog to celebrate. He was born 18 Oct 07, weighing 8 pounds 15 ounces. He's a cutie! It has been a pleasure to spend time with Ash, Chad and Logan these last couple days. I love everything about him, even his little cry. He has clear blue eyes and curiously looks towards his Dad whenever he hears Chad's voice.