One more reason I'm sticking with Geico

When Bryce and I got in our car accident two years ago, we depended on our Geico Auto Insurance.  Their rate was the best when we got married, and they continued to beat out any other quote by at least $100.  We even just got a $20 monthly discount.  Thanks, Bryce, for having a birthday.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm not that opinionated.  Or sarcastic.  But I promise I will never switch insurance because of the awesome service we received.  Seriously.  It was above and beyond what I ever expected.  

Anyway, beyond the awesome insurance, I LOVE their current advertising campaign.  I could do without the cave men from the past, for sure, but their current celebrity campaign is of Target genius.  Here is the one we saw tonight while watching Leno.  It's killer awesome.

And please, for the record, please don't confuse the car accident I referenced here with the time I totaled my boyfriend's dad's car.  Oh, and yes, he did turn out to be my father-in-law.  Somehow he still hasn't forgiven me for that.  If you don't know that story, once again, you probably don't know me very well.  

This time it was a different inexperienced teenage girl who totaled our car.  But please note it wasn't icy. Or hilly. 

Dang it, Quint.  I'm even defending myself on my own blog!  

A few random things tonight...

I've had a few random things on my mind. I have wanted to blog about all of these different things, but I am not sold on each of the ideas. Apparently I have been tagged on Joellen's blog, but I never got a notice from her. I saw it on her blog eventually. I guess I will have to do that tonight too.

1. I hate Ryan on "The Office." I have always thought he was a prick. Tonight he really drove me crazy. I will leave it at that for those of you who haven't watched it yet.

2. I have wanted to blog about one of my favorite groups on facebook. It's called "Awkward Engagement Pictures Rock my Socks" or something to that effect. Here are a few of the reasons why I like it:

Exhibit A) Please notice the pictures loaded on this post. These pictures are merely promoting the group itself and not used with permission of the couple, even though the group claims so.

Exhibit B) I love to read people's comments on the photos. 

Exhibit C) There will always be more photos added to the site because there will always be people uncomfortable with themselves.

I have also wanted to write about More Tips on Going to Disneyland, but I am not sure how much my other tips people will really take to heart. The other advice I would offer is about why we fly down.

I still like Desmond the most from LOST. 

Magleby's Fresh is my new favorite restaurant in Utah Valley. 

I got the best birthday cards for Clay and Sterling. I want to write about them, but it would ruin the surprise. Sterling will have to blog about it in 7 weeks. 

We move in 3 and a half weeks. (That was for you, Shark!)

My RSS feed feature of my Mac Mail wouldn't download any new feeds for about 6 weeks. One night I opened my mail and I had about 115 new blog posts to read. 

I just started editing "50 Ways to Score More Goals." I just finished logging it yesterday. I have started to sync the multiclips today. I am about half way done there. I would like to devote more time to it, but I don't get paid for it until it is all done. I am trying to squeeze it in throughout render times and burning sessions. 

That's all for now folks. I hope to see Ironman soon. I am glad it got good reviews. 

Let me know which topic you want to hear more about. 

22min cut of Mormon Myths

new cut. Ignore the music. It is a bit longer.

Mormon Mythellaneous

Extremely rough. No b roll. Let me know what you think of the subject matter. I should have a nicer version in a few days.
First title is a bit long because it is actually a placeholder for the host. So there ya go!

Disneyland Our Way: The First of Many Ideas.

If you know us at all, you know that we go to Disneyland quite a bit. Quite a bit meaning since we were married three years ago, we have gone at least 7 times. That does not include the roughly weekly visits while I had my internship at Walt Disney Pictures in the summer of 2006. Some must think we are crazy. Some ask us how we can afford it. Some want to go with us. Well, here are a few tips on how we can go on a trip to Disneyland for a reasonable price.

- Buy a Deluxe annual pass. Sadly for a family of 4+ this probably doesn't sound like very much fun to pay for. At $250 a piece, they get expensive. However, If you buy a three day pass for everyone in your party (I think it is roughly $140 each or $110 each for a 2 day pass) and go once a year, the year pass is a better option. Plan a trip once a year like you normally do. Let's say you go on October 1, 2008 and buy your pass. Plan your next annual trip to be inside the year window. Your second trips cost will dramatically go down because by that time the illusion of your tickets being "free" will have set in. The passes also get you discounts on food, a mere 10%, but that adds up across a two or three day stay.

- Use Priceline.com . I cannot stress this enough. Hotels around the Anaheim Resort area can tend to seem really expensive. Location is everything. People can pay $120 a night at the Best Western across the street. The hotels smell of smoke, parking is terrible, and so on. While they have never really been within a comfortable walking distance (with one exception), we have been very pleased with all of them.

Here are a few examples:

- Holiday Inn, $40/night. Two and a half stars.
- The Hilton Suites, $52/night. Three stars.
- The Hilton (twice), $52/night. Three stars.
-Candlewood Suites, $35/night. Two and a half stars.
- Grand Hyatt (our first time using priceline), $70/night.
- Quality Inn, $40/night. Two stars.

There are taxes and what not associated with the price so it really ends up being $5-$7 more a night, but that's a steal compared to paying face value.

A Disney Rewards Visa Card. So the 1% rewards rate doesn't look so great. I end up putting a lot of businesses expenses on the card and every couple months they have a promotion for 3% rewards in certain categories. Usually our rewards we get pays for the food we eat at the park. In the past couple trips we got some bonus rewards on accident from a customer service call so we were able to do character breakfasts.

That's all I feel like posting at the moment. Let me know other questions you have about the way we do things. I hope this gave some good insight and hopefully you can save a little bit next time you go.

It's apparent you're a parent when. . .

So, Nancy here. Do you remember those Family Circus cartoons called "It's apparent you're a parent when. . . "? I remember reading them as an eight-year-old-child-or-so and pretending I knew what they meant. I'm not so much a comic reader these days, but my college roommates make up for it (yes Dani, Angela, I'm talking about you two.) They always kept me up on the funny ones and do I dare admit? the soap opera ones. Hilarious.

Anyway, sorry about that tangent. This post is in honor of those childhood days when you never knew certain things about being a parent. And this post is certainly not about how I know everything... heavens, no. This is about some of the things that I have learned since the day Derek was born. Some of these things are the obvious, I understand, but I feel that their new addition into my life is at least worth a blog post.

1. You buy so many tissues. In travel, upright, and bulk, we have tissues. At least enough for today. This may have to do with my obsession to make sure that Derek always has a clean nose, but I had NO IDEA how many tissues I would purchase in one winter with one child. It's insane. The boxes are all over the house (sometimes more than one in a room) and the travel packs are all over the car, my purse, and Bryce's computer bag. Tissues are everywhere -- snot is not.

2. Your house can transform from a pretty clean state to an utter disaster in about 2.4 minutes. I have a routine to clean up Derek's toys while he takes a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. But somehow after those 2.4 minutes since he woke up have passed, I step on some sort of sharp object. Never fails.

3. No WONDER my mother hates doing laundry. Hello!? I swear that our washer and dryer are always going. Oh, and Oxy Clean is sent from heaven. I thought folding my own laundry as an elven-year-old was bad. No way. Folding laundry blows.

4. Thank heavens for Teddy Grahams and Goldfish. These two buddies have been a very recent addition to my shopping list, but they always seem to make Derek happy. The brilliant idea for crackers to have smiley faces is one I wish was on my track record. Gotta love cheese and graham baked into one small bite.

5. Light blue minky blankets are better than me. It doesn't matter what the competition, Derek's blue blanket is much more loved than his mother. The picture here is of Derek in the bathtub this morning upset because he couldn't bring his blanket with him. Sometimes it's hard to be one. You should have seen him when I had the brilliant idea to let him help me put it in the laundry. He sat in for 20 minutes whining to the washer for taking away his best friend. It was awesome.

"Mornin' Dad"

Tonight I am going to write about my dad. Sterling and I were having a chat and a few of my dad's signature phrases came to mind. So lets go through a couple of things.
Dad's Best Phrases or One-Liners

1. "Well, there is some truth to that."
This is something that usually comes up when I tell Dad something that either annoys or upsets me. I can tell he doesn't completely agree with me or want to come full on to my side of whatever disagreement I have, but he is trying to be help me out. It's one my favorite dad sayings.

2. "Love ya, bud." (pat pat pat, rub rub rub, pat pat pat)
My brothers and I like to mimic this back patting to each other as a joke, but what it really means is "remember how dad does this..." I don't know if he got this from his dad or what, but we have a good time with it. You know you have done well when Dad gives you this message.

3. "Welcome to the real world"
This is really the only one that sometimes drives us bonkers. Dad is trying to help, but this one always seems to add a slight sting. Ouch! But I think this is part of his responsibility as a parental figure.

My dad is quite the superhero. The other night someone from High School was asking about how dad can do music and BYU at the same time. I laughed. Lately Mom has decided to restrict Dad's latest business idea, but it isn't like he should be bored until then.

Dad is not only a BYU Communications professor who gets a lot of work published, but he is also a business owner. Dad is one of the owners of DrumsonDemand.com. He spends a bit of time doing that. He also is in a band called Joshua Creek. We joke around that Joshua Creek's target market is women age "24-54." A colleague of Dad's, Dale Cressman, added to that "who have breastfed." I find that hilarious because it is true. Dad is also into bees. Growing up he worked in that "field" (no pun intended) for some time and in the past two years he has continued that dream occupation. He also stills owns Hockey Player Magazine, which I run now, but he still involves himself with random phone calls.

I try to be more like my dad. He has a very interesting background and I like to learn more about his childhood. I love it when he starts to explain his songs, stories, and give light to experiences he has had. He may be involved with so many things, but he is still my dad. He is a good grandpa to Derek and a great dad to both of us.

"Love ya, dad."