A few more pics...

My dad took these with his camera so it took a little extra work to get these up but here are a couple of the two of us the night we got engaged!

BIG news!

Boy do I have A LOT to blog about! Sometimes I can’t think of a single thing to write about and other times (like right now) I have so many things I want to write about I can barely begin to decide what to blog about first! This post however isn’t going to be difficult to choose what to blog about first because the topic completely out does any other topic that I might ever write about. Curious?

Well this last Friday I got asked a VERY SPECIAL question. My answer to that question: YES! I don’t think it takes Sherlock Holmes to figure out what that means but in case you are a little slower I will spell it out for you. S.O. (now to be referred to as fiancé) proposed to me on Friday! Now I am sure you all are wondering how the lovely affair occurred so I will tell you!

The story actually begins on Thursday night when I received a phone call from my visiting teachee who called to see if I would be able to take her to the airport Saturday morning. Now this normally wouldn’t be a problem but I was planning on going home to Kaysville to spend the weekend with my family and fiancé. I told her that if she didn’t have any other options that I would be happy to take her. My phone conversation with fiancé afterwards went a little something like this:

Me: So I have to take my visiting teachee to the airport Saturday morning.

Fiancé: Ok

Me: So we can either hang in SLC (we had plans to go see the lights at Temple Square) and then come back to Provo or we can go home to Kaysville and then drive back in the morning. What would you like to do?

Fiancé: Ummm. Can I think about it and I will get back to you tomorrow?

Me: Yeah (thinking “what the heck?” this isn’t that big of a decision. Not really understanding why this is requiring so much extra thought my girl instinct kicks in and says “He is so planning something and I have a hunch that it might be a proposal!)

Needless to say I was totally onto fiancé and so even when an intense blizzard hit I made a special effort to get home anyway. I luckily was able to leave the office early (it was closed so that everyone could get home safely before the roads got too bad). I began my trek back to Kaysville at 3:00. Arrival time in Kaysville 6:00. It took me 3 hours to make a normally one hour drive. It was brutal and for those of you who know me well know that I have an intense phobia of driving (not to the point that I can’t drive but I really really just don’t like it and I especially hate driving in bad weather.) It stresses me out. Thankfully all of this was well worth my time ONCE I got home.

After having dinner fiancé asked if I wanted to go test drive his new car. I agreed only because I figured he was up to something otherwise there was no way I was getting back into a car! We began driving towards his house as he showed me all the features of his new car. Then he said in order to show me the last feature of his car I needed to close my eyes. I was a little reluctant at first thinking that he was going to do a donut in the middle of the road and give me a heart attack. Finally I consented and from there he kept me from opening my eyes by asking ridiculously hard questions that I would have no way of knowing the answers to (the condition was that if I answered the question correctly I could open my eyes) .

The next time I opened my eyes I was standing on a beautiful snow covered bridge overlooking a partially iced over pond at the park where fiancé and I have often met. It is something of a middle point for the both of us.

He had written me a sweet letter that I read by flashlight, which was followed by the giving of a few of my favorite things (chocolate, carmex, etc.) and then after a few more sweet words he knelt down on one knee and pulled out the ring. The ring box was inside of another box (see pictures below) that looked like a present. Probably one of the cutest things of the whole thing was the fact that he just threw the other box pieces behind him and opening the ring box as he asked me if I would marry him. Without any hesitation I said “Yes!” It was adorable, sweet, special and perfect!

We quickly retreated to the car because we were FREEZING! It was so cold! We returned to my house where we shared the story with my family and spent the rest of the evening enjoying each others company. It was so wonderful!

I can’t even begin to express my joy and excitement as I look to being the wife of such an incredible young man who I love so much!

P.S. It has been so difficult not to blog about my wedding thoughts…so beware they are going to be unloaded here very soon.

Sneezing Malfunction

I had a sneezing mishap the other day. I felt a sneeze coming on and I could tell that it was going to be a loud one. You know how you can tell when your sneeze is either going to go barely noticed and when it is going to make everyone in the office jump. This was a make people jump sneeze.

In an effort to not disturb my co-workers I tried to do the quiet sneeze. You know the kind. The kind where you tightly press your lips together, forcing most of the pressure out of your nose, decreasing noise but not really making your nose feel all that great.

Well the monster of the sneeze came. I tried for the quiet sneeze and FAILED. Instead of a tightly pressed upper lip both of my lips went a flapping which ended up making a REALLY LOUD spitting noise. Yeah that is right a spitting noise. Like when you play with a baby and you vibrate your lips to make the baby smile [I have come to the conclusion that the baby smiles not because of the sound but because WE look like complete idiots when we do it] anywho…I totally made this noise when I sneezed and it was loud and subsequently spit went everywhere. Don’t worry I was alone in my cubicle so I only showered my desk and surrounding office supplies. It’s my cubicle. It’s my spit. No big deal.

The part that was a big deal was the fact that not only did a make my whole office jump at the sound but I sounded like an idiot who didn’t know how to sneeze. I am sure everyone was wondering why my sneeze had malfunctioned. Answer: attempting to do the quiet sneeze. Lesson Learned: You sound much less like an idiot when you just let em fly!

BIG decisions

S.O. and I were talking the other night about some of the BIG decisions that we [more him than me because now my life consists of working five days a week and then attempting to have a life on the weekends] have to make in the near future. S.O. is looking to buy a car, deciding where to do an internship, and what direction he wants to go once he goes to law school and I’m well…yeah so I am not making any big decisions right now.

In talking about these things and S.O. sharing his thoughts on how he is going to make these decisions and me putting in my two bits [like I always do] I came to the realization that S.O. and I make decisions differently. Shocker huh?

I know it sounds silly but it hadn’t ever really crossed my mind that someone might go about making a decision the same way I do. When you start to get to know another person much more intimately you begin to notice these differences. Differences that you never would have noticed if you hadn’t been having that “deep conversation.”

I am learning that I need to be better about NOT pushing my thoughts and my processes on others. They have their own process and I am sure they would tell me that it has been working great for them for years! Just because an individual goes about making decisions differently doesn’t mean that those decisions aren’t good ones.

I completely trust S.O. to make wise decisions and I realized that when I push my process onto him I am sending the message that I don’t trust him doing it his way. Which is totally false.

First step recognition. Second step change. I am moving onto step two.

This is she...

For some reason I am on an "informing" kick right now. I feel the need to "inform" people of various things. Today it has do do with proper grammar.

Many times when people call they ask "Is this so and so?" and many times this is the response that I hear "This is her/him."

This is not correct grammar. My mom took the liberty of drilling this into my head. Every time I answered the phone using "This is her" she would say "This is she." At first it sounded so weird! It wasn't natural. After many times of getting it wrong and subsequently having my mom correct me I finally started to catch on and started saying it right.

Now I cringe when people say it wrong. It sounds so "hill billy." No offense to anyone who uses the "This is her/him" answer. Don't worry you can still change your grammatically incorrect ways.

Life after college...

I would like to clear up a few myths about life after college so that everyone understands exactly what expect once you are finished with assignments, papers and finals.

Myth #1 Now that you work full time and have begun your "career" you're instantly made of money. It actually is quite the opposite. In my case I have less money than when I was in school. Your income increases but your expenses double. Graduates are still in the "have to think twice about whether you can afford going to the cheap movie theater" boat.

Myth #2 You have oodles of time to do all those things that you kept saying you would do once you got out of school. There isn't a working person that believes this because it isn't true. Most of the time you don't leave the office until after 5:00 putting you home around 6:00, once you have had dinner and sufficiently unwound from the day it is at least 8:00. If you are like me then you are lucky if you have energy to do anything else and you are ready to go to bed by 9:00. So your oodles of time consist of the weekend. Sound familiar? That is right it is just like when you were in school except when I was in school I had more time during the week to do things. Oh and by the time you get off work everything is closed anyway!

Myth #3 Your job will be everything that you ever dreamed of. If your like me you have great visions of being a professional, working in the field and making a difference. As much as I am sure that this is true at SOME POINT in your career it doesn't always occur right off the bat. Most of the time your job is not very glamorous and sometimes going to work isn't fun.

I hope that I haven't shattered too many dreams but this is reality people. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of great things about being done with school (particularly no homework or tests) and I really am happy, I just wish someone would have warned me that I was going to be just as broke as I was before, I wouldn't have any extra time, and that I wasn't going to be ruling the board room. Be informed. Share the truth.

Simple Pleasures

I don’t know if you have noticed my list of simple pleasures over here to the right but I would like to take a moment to highlight the simple things in life that bring me so much happiness.

1. Sleeping in. I do get a lot of happiness out of just plain sleeping but getting to sleep longer then what you normally do is probably one of the best feelings ever! I never want to get to the point where my body won’t let me sleep in because boy would I be missing out on such satisfaction.

2. Drinking sugary milk after a bowl of sugary cereal such as Fruit Loops. This is just plain tasty. Nice cold milk with and extra dose of sugar. If the cereal was Fruit Loops then your milk will probably be a pretty color too!

3. New pair of shoes. Pretty much I have a fetish and obsession with shoes. I wish that my budget supported this obsession a little better. Needless to say a pair of new shoes can make me one happy girl for weeks! Every time I wear them it makes the day just that much better.

4. 5:00 p.m. Who doesn’t like this hour? This hour means you are free! Done for the day! Now instead of sitting on your butt at work doing things that you are forced to do you can sit on your butt at home and do things that you want to do! Like blog for instance : )

5. Mail. What normal person doesn’t like to get something in the mail? I love it because it proves that someone thought of you long enough to write something, put it in an envelope, address it, put a stamp on it, and then walk it to the mail box. I love knowing people thought about me.

6. Carmex. This has got to be the most addictive but wonderful substance on the planet! My lips crave it (probably because there is something in it that makes you need it and nothing else). I love the way it feels and the way it looks (not a big fan of the taste factor but nothing can be perfect). Love my carmex.

7. Phone call from a friend. This is another one of those “someone thought of you” moments. They thought about you long enough to feel moved to call you AND be willing to take the time to talk. I love it when you get a phone call and it is a good friend that you are just plain excited to hear their voice.

8. Hot showers. These just feel good. So relaxing. I love feeling clean, fresh and warm!

9. Clean sheets. Oh how I love this. My favorite ritual is to wash my sheets, dry with TWO dryer sheets for extra softness and good smell. Once the sheets are clean I take a hot shower. Then clean me climbs into my clean sheets and I just inhale the freshness and it feels SO good!

10. Chocolate. Now of course I saved the best for last. This goodness is so wonderful and makes me so happy! There is nothing like a little bit of chocolate to make me feel better or simply to have some just for the sake of indulgence.

What are the simple pleasures in your life that make you happy?

The sun shines in the winter?

Honestly because my past three winters have been spent in Idaho I really had the realization (now that I am not in Idaho) that the sun does occasionally shine in the winter time.

I worked at the counseling center on the BYU-Idaho campus while I was in school and one of the most common things that people would come in for was for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Not lying this was a really prevalent disorder in Rexburg because of the lack of sunshine during the winter months which basically begins the end of October until the beginning of April.

I think that I suffered from SAD. The depression I felt in the winter was crazy! I literally craved sunshine! My body just needs it. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t seeing a counselor or taking drugs but there was a definite damper on things because of the lack of sunshine.

Now that I live in Provo I am amazed that the sun still shines even when it is winter time! I wake up in the morning and on my drive to work I still have to pull out my sunglasses. It is such a weird sensation to put your sunglasses on when it is cold outside. Who woulda thought you would still have need of sunglasses in the winter.

The point, I LOVE that I can still see the sun in the winter even when my most recent winter experiences have taught me otherwise.

I wasn't asking you out...

You know when you get placed in one of those awkward situations where you are either going to have to lie to save from making someone feel stupid or tell the truth so as to keep yourself from having to deal with the issue in the future, well I was placed in one of those situations today.

I got a random text message from, now get this...from a past boyfriends trainer from the mission. Yeah I know crazy connection but nonetheless we know each other and he texted me.

He said "Hey Marisa! How are you? It's been a long time, and I just thought about ya : )"

Are you thinking what I am thinking...because if you are then you know that this is headed right to the asking out question. You can totally tell.

Anywho...we proceeded to have small talk back and forth over text messaging and then came "the question."

He said "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

This is the part where I panic because I know he is going to ask me to do something, obviously, but I am VERY much dating someone and I have no desire to go out, even if it is just as friends. Unfortunately I totally am torn on what response to give.

My thoughts: "Well I can't just tell him that I am dating someone because that is being pretty presumptuous in assuming that he is asking me out because he is interested." At the same time we aren't good friends so this isn't like old pals catching up. I am 99.99% sure that he is interest. If I lie and say I am busy then I may have to deal with the whole thing later. I will also probably have to explain that I am dating someone and I am sure he will wonder why I didn't just tell him that in the first place."

I thought about it. Talked to my mom (she is the source of all wisdom and I pretty much consult her on everything difficult in my life.) Thought about it some more and this is what I said...

"You know I am actually dating someone pretty seriously and I know it sounds lame but I think he might be really bothered if I went. Sorry." (Totally put the blame on S.O. but it was the only way to make me not feel like I was hurting his feelings. Hope you're ok with that S.O.)

Overall I think I handled it pretty well. I was truthful but I didn't have to say "I don't want to go out with you." His response was classic. He said...

"Ha ha ha! Well it's not a date!! (Of course it would be a date that is what a date is, two people that go out together. But go ahead and tell yourself that if it makes you feel better) But I understand... (now he is trying to soften the blow of him basically telling me that it was an absurd idea that I would think he wanted to take me out on a date! How did I ever get such an idea!?) I mean I am pretty attractive...it might be complicated if you started to fall in love, I guess I understand : )" (Now he is building back his self esteem because I totally shot him down. I am proud of the boy. Picking himself up by his bootstraps and not an ounce of confidence lost...or so he lets on)

I most definitely chuckled to myself. I tried to give back some of the confidence that he didn't ever lose because he wasn't asking me out so how could he couldn't possibly have just gotten shot down? I said this...

"Yeah that would be bad news if I started to fall in love with you. Thanks for being understanding."

The fact that he didn't text me back just confirms the fact that he indeed WAS asking me out because if he wasn't he would have been able to muster a "Well it was good to chat with you." or something like that but I got nothin.

My advice for these situations...tell the truth. Things always work out better when you do plus an interesting dialogue might come of it.

Dichotomy

I realized that I often have somewhat of a dichotomy (props to S.O. for teaching me this word. yeah he is a smarty pants) when it comes to social events.

We were chatting at our office pot luck lunch about our different needs when it comes to alone time, unwinding from work etc. I expressed that I most definitely need my alone time. It doesn’t matter who it is but if I haven’t had a sufficient amount of alone time I don’t want to be around you. That is just the plain simple truth of it.

This leads me to the dichotomy I experience when I am invited to a social event. Most likely my initial reaction is that I don't want to go, I want some alone time. This mostly occurs when it is going to be a bit out of my comfort zone (doing something I don't normally do, going with people I don't know very well, I am intimidated by the people that are going, etc.) This is when the dichotomy occurs because I realize that I am being anti social and that I really should go out. I also know that I usually end up having a good time and that it is totally worth my while. This however does not make the decision easy. I am literally fighting against my natural response to want to sit at home in my jammies and spend some quality time with my lap top to get myself to go out and socialize like a "normal" 21 year old.

So after going back and forth and agonizing over the decision for probably a couple hours I finally make a decision. Most times it ends up being the jammies and quality lap top time but occasionally I break out of the comfort zone and do something social. Usually I come back feeling so proud of myself and really having had a good time. You would think that this would help diminish the dichotomy from occurring in the future but it doesn't and I go through the whole process every time I get a social invite. Is this weird? Am I the only one out there who sometimes struggles to be the "social butterfly?"

Flaunting Feathers

I have recently joined a gym, only because now that I am no longer a student and don't have access to a school gym anymore. I have never really been a big fan of gyms mostly because I am not a big fan of working out in front of a bunch of people.

I am not particularly bothered by people seeing me sweat or get all red (because I do both when I work out) but it is more the fact that I am in public and with being in public comes certain rules that should be followed. On that note many of the people at the gym do not follow these rules of public conduct and frankly it makes being at the gym a not so pleasant experience.

For one I don't know what it is about working out that gives people the idea that it is ok to show an uncomfortable amount skin. There are most definitely people there that should NOT be wearing what they are wearing. Just because you're working out doesn't all of the sudden make it ok to wear things that a super model or a body builder would wear.

Watching all this parading around makes me think of peacocks. You know how peacocks fan out their feathers and stick out their chests. This is what I think of when I am at the gym. I see a bunch of little peacocks walking around fanning their feathers and trying to look as good as they possibly can. However this little peacock isn't all that excited to show off my feathers (not saying that I have any to show off) so all this feather fanning makes me a little uncomfortable which causes my dislike of the gym.

[Some of that might also be the fact that working out is PAINFUL but I am pretty sure it is the uncomfortable feeling. Getting to the gym isn't hard for me at all...I am pretty much UNLIKE every other person in the world who usually struggles to have the motivation to go work out. I practically live for going to get some good exercise!] *Note if you did not catch the sarcasm there know that pretty much every day is a struggle for me to get to the gym. Don't start feeling bad about yourself because it is hard for you too.

In an ideal world I would love to have that whole place to myself...but seeing as how that is probably never going to happen I guess I will just have to get more into one of the shows on one of the 6 T.V.s as an attempt to try and distract myself from the parade of feathers going on around me.

Random Thoughts

I have this horrible dilemma. When I don't get a chance to blog all my ideas build up and my little sticky notes with my blog ideas start to over take my desk. I can't just throw them out though because I really want to write about them but usually by time I get around to actually writing about each of the items on my list they either aren't "timely" as we say in PR or I would just will feel stupid posting like 10 posts all at once. To solve this problem I decided to just do a post with all my random thoughts. Cover all my ideas on my list and then I can move on! So here we go...

1. I was mentioned on Holly's blog and that is BIG! This girl has a following and she is probably one of the best bloggers I know. So the fact that she said MY name on HER blog pretty much made my day...no my week...no pretty much my whole blogging life.

2. I don't understand why everyone thinks I am such a Grinch for refusing to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I started playing Christmas music (because it is after Thanksgiving) and I keep getting comments like this "Oh so now it is ok to listen to Christmas music." Yeah, NOW it is ok. It is just my little way of giving Thanksgiving the proper attention that it deserves after that I am ALL about the Christmas music. I'm not a Christmas music hater I'm a Christmas music lover.

3. Totally worked on my budget the other day and I am BLOWN away by how quickly my money goes. You would think I would have more savings by now but I don't and really I am wondering where all my money keeps going. I think someone is eating it...

4. Apparently there are still pirates out on the open waters. After reading this article I wasn't all that excited to go hop on a ship anytime soon.

5. Got up at 6:00 a.m. ...yeah that is right 6:00 A.M. to work out. Miracle. Yes.

Me + Cooking= Bad News

I had a horrible realization this week. I pretty much stink at cooking. I always knew I wasn't the greatest but when I burned a sandwich that I was just trying to grill I realized that I need help. Poor S.O. was stuck eating a burnt sandwich for lunch. I swear that sucker (the sandwich that is) burnt in like 30 seconds. I was trying to be so careful NOT to burn the sandwiches but to no avail they burned.

I pin pointed what it is that turns me from bad cook to horrible cook and that is cooking for others. As soon as I am cooking for someone else all cooking skills go out of the window. I get nervous like I always did before my piano recitals (hated piano recitals and probably could have vomited every time I had one). I am somewhat of a perfectionist and that doesn't help with the low cooking self esteem. I am determined to get better though. It is just going to take practice and some willing and forgiving eaters who will endure what could be some really frightening attempts at meals so that I can overcome my cooking inabilities.

P.S. I come from a family of really good cooks my hope is that they all started out like me and that maybe there is still some hope for me.

T-day Recap

What a great weekend it has been and it isn't over! I am just now getting to catch up on my blog reading and writing and it is Saturday afternoon. I have kept myself busy spending time with family and of course S.O.

Thanksgiving was so nice. We had Thanksgiving here at our house. It was the Garrett's year so we had the grandparents and 4 out of the 6 of my dad's siblings with us as well. Also a wonderful addition to the crowd was S.O. who I happily introduced to all of my dad's family (I think we just have one more aunt & uncle to go on my dad's side). Also S.O. was introduced to my mom's dad, who had previously called and arranged to be sure to come when he could meet S.O. That's right, an interogation was going to go down.

[I love when my family is protective of me. I have had both grandparents express that they must approve of S.O. and make sure that he is good enough for me. I also have wonderful neighbors who also feel the same. It makes me feel so loved.]

After finding out what S.O. is studying and what he ultimately wants to do my grandpa told me that he approved. I officially have approval from both grandpa's so I am good to go! I wasn't worried. S.O. is very impressive and an amazing young man. Who wouldn't be impressed?

T-day went well without too many embarrassing moments until both of my grandpa's talking about beer. This had to be the funniest thing but completely out of the ordinary. I was amazed how far they went with joking about having a few beers in the fridge. Finally my dad cut in and said something like "Alright you two not in this house!" LOL! I thought it was the cutest thing to watch both of my grandpas chuckle and smile at the reaction they had gotten out of their antics. I have such a great family!

S.O. and I also spent some time with his family. This included a lively game of Catch Phrase in which the girls whomped on the boys for both games. We also played a compatibility game with S.O.'s married brother and sister. With three couples total S.O. and I came in second (with a little bit of cheating. I know I know cheating is wrong but give us a break we were already at a disadvantage because we were the only ones not married. We had to even the playing field a little bit.) Both S.O. and I agreed that it was a stupid game and was all pure luck and had nothing to do with compatibility. It was good times though. I really do love S.O.'s family.

Overall the big T-day was wonderful and couldn't have been more perfect. I am a very blessed and I had a lot of gratitude for these blessings this Thanksgiving.

grandma corner

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending S.O.'s ward and as he likes to say "show me off." Don't worry I already "showed him off" a couple weeks ago. We of course got to enjoy the first two meetings together but then of course there is the fated separation that must occur. Now we still WANT to be together so separating is sometimes a painful thing.

Needless to say I was concerned about not being with him and of course and even bigger concern of who was I going to sit by in RS! [his mom serves in the nursery and his visiting married sister was missing in action. So I was left to fend for myself]. Luckily the sweetest sister ever came up to us and asked if I would like to sit by her in RS. I thankfully accepted. Before I knew it I was surrounded by some of the cutest old ladies ever.

I just have to comment on my experience in RS. Now as adorable as each of these old ladies were they could not sing if their little delicate lives depended on it. Of course they all THOUGHT that they could sing so they were not holding back...at all. It was so bad I found that I couldn't even sing! All the sudden I had lost all ability to even carry a tune, they sucked any musical talent that I have out of me. There were a couple ladies who THOUGHT that they should be in the Mormon Tabernacle choir and that their talent wasn't truly appreciated. Others thought that they were the undiscovered opera star and were happily sharing their talents with the rest of the room.

To top it off I was swimming in an cloud of "grandma perfume" as I like to call it. You know the smell. The scent that smells like it is 70 years old and also is more powerful then you could ever imagine a perfume being. You almost get to the point that you wonder if you are going to start hallucinating because the fumes are starting to get to you.

Besides the fact that I was surrounded by a bunch of Mormon Tab wannabes who smelled like they walked out of 1950 I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the grandma corner.

Thankful November 24th

Really thankful for running water. I didn't realize that not having running water meant that I couldn't use the bathroom. Dumb I know. At work today the water had to be turned off so they could do some work on the pipes and so that meant that ALL the bathrooms were out of commission.

[It is amazing how as soon as you can't have something or use something you need it more than ever! I experienced this today. I normally don't have to use the bathroom all that much during the day but as soon as I knew I couldn't go if I needed to I felt like there was absolutely no way I was going to make it to 5:00. Don't worry, I made it...but it was not easy.]

All in all I had an increased appreciation and gratitude for running water and how convenient it makes our lives.

Thankful November 21,22, & 23

So I got a little behind this weekend on my thankful November's. I had a little distraction...

Anywho...

Here is a recap for the last few days.

21st-Grateful for weekends! So thankful that we have a few days to recoup and get a little break from work.

22nd- Thankful for comfy clothes...more specifically jammies. There is nothing better than after being in a dress all day long to get into comfy clothes that completely cater to lounging.

23rd-Thankful for pictures. How wonderful is it that we can capture moments in time so that we can later go back and revisit those memories. Love being able to learn of others lives through pictures and also take a trip down memory lane through the wonderful memories in my own life.

So much to be grateful for!

Thankful November 20th

So thankful that the piano playing maniacs upstairs [I swear they never stop playing the piano. I wake up and they are playing the piano. I come home for lunch and they are playing the piano. I am eating dinner and they are playing the piano. I am going to bed at 12:00 at night and they are playing the piano (this is for real)] Anywho...the piano playing maniacs upstairs learned how to actually play a real song! For the past three months that I have lived in my apt. the piano playing person(s) have only been playing random scales and what sounds like random pounding of the piano day in and day out. Thankfully today I recognized a tune! I couldn't believe it. I am forever going to have "Because I Have Been Given Much" stuck in my head but it is nice to actually get to hear a song! For this I am grateful.

sweet surprise

I think you really love someone when you receive a package and you see their name is on the return address and you get REALLY excited! I mean REALLY excited.

S.O. sent me a little package which I received yesterday and it was such a lovely surprise. In my package was a beautifully written and sweet letter (love letter #8) [we send each other love letters because we are doing the long distance thing. You know flirt long distance style. We number them because when the first love letter was sent it was titled “Love Letter #1.” and have just kind of stuck with it since then. Now it is my turn to send love letter #9. How can I make it special?]. Also in the package was a Caramello. This boy really knows me! He knows of my deep love for chocolate and he sent this candy bar in hopes of satisfying my chocolate craving that comes so frequently.

I love packages. I love letters [especially love letters]. I love chocolate and I love S.O. I am one lucky girl!

I already ate some of the Caramello. Seriously, cravings all the time.

Thankful November 19th

I am really thankful for insurance. I am thankful that I work for a company that has good benefits that allow me to be able to afford to receive health care. This really is such a blessing. I am so grateful that I can go to the dentist or doctor and not have to pay a fortune! Sometimes being "all grown up" can be tough and especially hard on the wallet but because of insurance I am able to get the medical and dental help that I need. I truly am blessed even if the dentist appointment ended in me having a couple of cavities.

Thankful November 18th

I am grateful for all the people who go to work everyday and do their jobs. Have you ever really thought about the fact that if everyone just up and quit going to their jobs we wouldn't be able to do anything! There would be no person to check us out at the grocery store, no one to help us at the bank, and no one to place our order at a restaurant. I am thankful for all the people who do their jobs and do them well. Having a friendly cashier can make all the difference in your day and I sure am glad when I get that friendly cashier.

Thankful November 17th

So thankful for medicine! I am not one to take a lot of medication but you better believe that when I get a migraine I am taking something. Those babies will take me out if I don't. Nausea, sensitivity to light, and not to mention a throbbing head. No fun. I am so glad that we medicine to help ease our pain (especially when you are someone like me with fairly low pain tolerance). I am so grateful that we continue to make medical discoveries to better combat the diseases and illnesses of the world. I hope that all the trained medical professionals continue to do what they are so good at and help to keep us all healthy!

Thankful November 16th

I am so thankful for roommates. I am thankful for past and present roommates. Good roommates that is. I have been so blessed by having really great roommates. Every stage of my life I have had roommates that have been a perfect fit for what I needed at that time. I had such fun roommates when I was a freshman. We were crazy and lived the college life to its fullest. That is when I began to realize what a true meaningful friendship meant. As I moved onto new roommates I found even more what it was like to really open up to someone and to literally feel as though you can share anything with them and that it will be safe. I have been taught so much by the girls I have lived with and I would never change any of it for the world. I love my cute roomies now. I was left all alone today and I really missed having them around. I am so grateful for the wonderful roommates that I have had and currently have and the way in which they have impacted my life.

Thankful November 15th

I am so thankful for washers and dryers. I washed my sheets, comforter, and even decorator pillow cases today. The works! As I was doing it I thought about how grateful I am that we have these wonderful machines that clean our clothes, sheets, towels etc. We have it so easy. How convenient is it that we can just put our clothes in a machine, come back in 45 minutes put them in another machine and wala you have clean clothes! I love love love clean sheets especially when you use fabric softeners and they smell so nice afterwards. I couldn't enjoy this simple pleaure as quickly and conveniently without washers and dryers. Glad we have machines that cater to my OCD about cleanliness.

Thankful November 14th

So thankful for chocolate! I honestly don't think I could survive without it. You know I try and make myself feel good about the fact that I am not hooked on drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes but if we are really being honest I am totally addicted to chocolate. I went a whole month without sugar (yes I really made it a whole month) and I was probably the most unhappy, grouchiest person alive that whole month. I think I literally have something in my body that NEEDS chocolate. I was feeling a little drowsy at work the other day and so I just popped in one of my trusty little Hershey mini chocolate bars that I keep on hand at work and whabam I was wide awake. Granted it only lasted like 5 minutes but that just gave me all the more reason to eat a few more! Really though I am so glad we have delectable, delicious, and oh so satisfying chocolate in the world. It brings me joy!

Thankful November 13th

I am a little late on this post (a day) but my sweet mom was visiting yesterday and I just simply didn't have time to post anything. We were having too much fun having mother daughter bonding. In honor of my mom's visit I would like to say how grateful I am for a WONDERFUL mother AND a WONDERFUL father. I am SO blessed because of the great parents that I have. So much of who I am is because of them. They taught me good solid principles and also allowed me to learn and grow. They have been there through all the ups and downs. They have laughed with me, they have have felt my frustrations, and they have cried with me. I look up to my parents so much and dearly hope that someday I can be just like them, if I can do that I will be doing really well.

Thankful November 12th

I am so thankful for American food! I know that sounds disgusting but I really like to eat things that are deep fried on occasion. Some days (like today) you just need some grease and of course American food can provide just that. Besides the fact that you feel kind of gross after eating something that has been deep fried or maybe is a little more greasy then what is probably healthy it can still be very satisfying for that occasional craving. Good ole American food. Gotta love it!

Thankful November 11th

I am so thankful for my freedom and for all those who have fought and are fighting for my freedom. We are so blessed in this country to be able to live under a government that allows us the many rights and privileges that we have. I am especially thankful for the freedom to worship how I choose. What a blessing it is to live in this country. Thank you to all those who have fought and died so that each of us can enjoy the freedoms that we do.

abslolutely no exceptions...unless

I have a very staunch rule that there will be no Christmas music listening until AFTER Thanksgiving. This is just one of those little pet peeves of mine.

Poor little Thanksgiving gets overlooked every single year! The moment the Halloween decorations come down the Christmas lights go up. What about the cornucopia? When does it get its moment of glory? I honestly LOVE Christmas, I really do, but I think that it just like all the other holiday's should wait its turn.

So in order to support Thanksgiving and give it the attention it deserves I refuse to listen to Christmas music before the Thanksgiving feast has commenced.

Now that being said...I fell to temptation today. I was reading one of my favorite blogs Seriously So Blessed and her playlist began playing "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. I would like to remind you that I did not search out this music, it was thrust upon me. I am completely positive that this must have been of the devil because there is NO WAY I could resist listening to my favorite Christmas song! I succumbed to the enticing sounds and listened to the whole song...

twice...

I know. I am ashamed. But don't fear I have recommitted to my no Christmas music before Thanksgiving policy and will do my very best to uphold this standard all the way until November 25th after which Christmas music is FULLY permitted.

Thankful November 10th

Today I am so thankful for music! I really do love music. All types too. Music just has a way of ensuing so much emotion. I can immediately feel energized, ready to party, or lovey dovey. I love being introduced to new music and new musicians. I love the way the combination of words and music can make such a powerful impact and really touch a person. Music brings joy to my life and is a wonderful way in which I can unwind and sort of go to a different place for awhile. Truly it is so great that we have the blessing of music in the world.

BYU Football!

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend my very first BYU football game. S.O. was here in Provo this weekend (that is two weekends in a row!) for a competition that he participated and part of the deal was that he got a ticket to the BYU game and because he is so good fanazled a way to get me one as well. Luckily I don't live extremely far from BYU so a walk to the stadium only took us like 20 minutes. It was a breeze and for all who know me you know I hate driving, and you know that I really hate driving in traffic so this was probably a really good thing that I didn't drive because...one we may not have made it all in one piece and two I probably wouldn't have been in the greatest of moods once we had gotten to the game. No worries though, I didn't drive and neither of those occurred.

I was anticipating that it was going to be cold. It is November for heavens sake. I put my thermals on under my pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, coat, hat, scarf, gloves, the works. I was ready! Well about 3 minutes into our walk I was sweating bullets and REALLY regretting the thermals. The only good thing about all my clothing preparation was that it was very useful as padding for my bum on the hard bleachers.

I obviously shed a few layers and put on the sun glasses because boy was it warm! It was a great day for a football game. It really was the perfect temperature. I felt bad for S.O. because he didn't have his sunglasses and we were looking right into the sun. We were playing the not so great San Diego and at first we weren't really playing as well as we should have. I think they were stooping to the level of San Diego. It didn't take long before we had secured a good lead. It was fun to be in that atmosphere. Being a BYU-I graduate I never experienced that kind of school spirit. It was fun to see the traditions that are had for every touchdown, field goal, first down and so forth. I was beginning to get the hang of the school song before the game was over.

S.O. had to take off a little early to take the shuttle back to Rexburg : ( and so I enjoyed a little walk back to my apt. on my own. Not going to lie it was much more enjoyable doing it with someone especially a special someone. The game was fun and I am looking forward to going to more BYU sporting events. It is lots of fun! Here are a few pics taken at the game.

S.O. and Robert (fellow BYU-Idahoian who was on S.O.'s team for the competition)

Robert, S.O. and I enjoying the game and the wonderful weather! It was a little bright hence S.O.'s squinting face. Oh and Robert totally snuck into this picture, he did a good job you can't even tell he wasn't supposed to be in the pic.

Half time show. They did a mortal combat piece and the flag girls fought one another and also showed a big version of guitar hero by using colored umbrellas to show the notes. Classic comment from some kid behind me "I could totally play that!"

Thankful November 9th

Today I am especially grateful for S.O. We have officially been dating for 3 months! Wahoo! Go us! Seriously though this boy has got to be one of the most solid and amazing guys I have ever known let alone dated. I am consistently amazed by the person he is and how he lives his life. He is such a great example to me and makes me want to be a better person. He is a saint for putting up with me and I am so glad he does. He bring so much joy into my life. I couldn't ask for a better guy! Thanks S.O. for being so wonderful!

Thankful November 8th

Thankful for a washer and dryer...right down the hall! There really can't be anything greater than a NON-coin operated washer and dryer that is right down your hall. No lugging your laundry to some location on the property hoping that your underwear isn't hanging out for those passing by to see. You don't have to go get quarters every two weeks (which are a big pain to get). You can do as much laundry as you want because your only expense is to buy a big box of laundry detergent that has already lasted you a whole semester! I think I wash more frequently just because I can, plus I don't have to pay the water bill! HA! Really do love the convenience of a washer and dryer right in my apt. It is a wonderful thing.

I really would love to hear those things you are grateful for during this lovely month of November. So for those of you who actually READ my blog step up your commitment and mak a comment and share what you are grateful. It really isn't much to ask.

Can't take it back now

I am working away at work on Friday and get a text from my sweet mother that says. . .

DAVIS 20 ALTA 7

My brother had a high school football playoff game on Friday and because I had to work I wasn't able to attend. So being so glad that my mom thought to tell me the final score I texted her back and said "Yeah! Oh man I am so excited!" I wanted to tell my brother congrats on a big win and the chance to continue on in the playoffs. I was about to ask my mom if my brother was there so I could tell him congrats through her, but I didn't. That was my first mistake. I thought why do that when I can just text my bro directly on his own phone. So I text him this "CONGRATULATIONS! Dude I am so excited you won! That is so sweet! Who will you play next?" This was my second mistake. Like 5 minutes later I get this text from my mom.

DAVIS 20 ALTA 14

My heart sank. The game wasn't over! I had already sent the congratulations text and the game wasn't over! I text my mom saying "Oh boy. I thought the text you sent me earlier was the final score. I will really be hoping they win now. Keep me posted." I later got a phone call from my mom saying. "You better figure out a way to get that text back."

Unfortunately Davis had lost by 1 point! I was so bummed out and felt even worse that my brother had a congratulations text waiting for him and how much that was going to stink to read when it wasn't true. I tried to smooth things over with my brother by explaining that I text him what I did because of my mom's lack of clarity in texting and that I had gotten confused. I told him I was sorry that Davis had lost but that I still thought he was awesome! He will be ok.

I learned a valuable lesson about texting. Even when you are trying to use it for good sometimes it can come back to bite you in the toosh, and hard. Never assume you know what someone means by their text. Don't send the congratulations text before you KNOW that it is actually in order.

P.S. The mistake was totally MY fault but it was just easier to smooth things over with my bro by saying it was my mom's lack of specificity that caused me to get confused. My mom rocks and I LOVE that she texts my brother and I. She is so good to try and communicate with us the way we are communicating these days. Love you mom! By the way she is getting good at texting...even if I interpret them wrong. LOL!

Thankful November 7th

Thankful for my car today. It is so nice to be able to go wherever I need to. I never have to do coordinating with anyone I can just go. I also have a car that I have become quite fond of. You know how you just get to know your car. Well my car and I are best buddies and I know everything about her. I know just how to get her to do what I want and when I am pushing it too much. What a great car I have. So grateful for my car!

Thankful November 6th

What would we do without cell phones!? I am especially thankful for cell phones today. I know I am on a technology kick but we really are so blessed to have the technology that we have. I am so glad that I can call and talk to whomever I want, pretty much whenever I want and wherever I want! You can send text messages, picture messages, and record video all with your cell phone. Cell phones have completely changed the way we communicate.

Scary Water Cooler

I had a somewhat embarrassing moment at the water cooler the other day. It potentially could have been a lot more embarrassing but luckily no one was around to see. This is what went down…


I went back to the water cooler to fill up my water bottle. I began filling up my water bottle and looked up and out of the window. Outside of the window there was one of those big security trucks that carry loads of money around in them. What happened next is flat out proof that women’s minds go a million miles an hour.


Within in a couple of seconds I had envisioned some “bad guy” coming and breaking into this truck, stealing money and then making a break for it through our building and running right passed me, possibly threatening me with a gun or something (yeah I thought about all that in a matter of seconds)


Meanwhile I am still filling up my water bottle. So as the water cooler always does it makes a gulping noise as the water gets lower and I jumped.


That’s right the gulping water cooler scared me. My heart even skipped a beat or two! I immediately looked up to make sure no one else was around to see me get scared by an inanimate object. Luckily no one was. I think it scared me because of the previous thoughts I was having...that is my guess.


Don’t worry though I don’t think it will turn into a phobia of the water cooler.

Thankful November 5th

So thankful for email! I don't think that I could function without email. I can't remember life without email. So glad that we have such a great technology that allows us to send/receive information and more importantly to keep in touch with people we care about.

Thankful November

Today I had got the greatest idea from one of my co-workers to make November the month to be grateful. You know with the whole Thanksgiving holiday at the end of this month and all I think it is very suiting. I decided that I am going to post something that I am grateful for everyday this month. Now I am obviously a little behind because today is the 4th so I need to do a little catch up before I am on track. So here are the things I have been grateful for the last four days.

1. Family and that they are always there for you
2. Relief Society and the sweet sisterhood that is there
3. Apt. that has heat
4. My freedom and to be an American

I would love to hear what you are grateful for each day as I go along. I have a really big pet peeve...and that is that Thanksgiving always gets looked over and everyone goes straight to Christmas. Well not me I am going to give Thanksgiving the attention that it rightly deserves!

Fabulous Weekend

I truly had one of the greatest weekends ever and surprisingly it happened on the weekend of Halloween. Here is what I did and why it was so wonderful!

First I got to eat stew and scones, the Garrett family traditional Halloween meal, on Friday night with S.O. who came down for the weekend (obviously that being one of the main components of why the weekend was so great). We enjoyed dinner together and then proceeded to check out what I decided to refer to as "The Pumpkin Patch." The Pumpkin Patch was really just a house in West Layton that had close to 100 carved pumpkins. Now these aren't just your cut two triangles for they eyes, one for the nose, and a crescent moon for the mouth. There were carvings with Sean Connery's face, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course your standard spooky ghosts and ghouls. They were so cool looking! Some of the pumpkins were hard to tell right at first what they were and it turned into a fun game to try and see who could figure it out first. The rest of the night consisted of chatting by the fire with the parents and playing two versions of Speed. The first being S.O.'s version which I only lost by a hair and second my version which I pretty much whomped on S.O.

Saturday morning I spent time with my family and just enjoyed being home. I went running which just about killed me. I couldn't decide if it was the elevation difference from Kaysville to Provo or if it was the fact that I hadn't exercised in two days and ate a bunch of crap the day before...I am thinking it was the elevation. Later in the afternoon S.O., his two cute younger brothers, and I all went up Farmington Canyon on four wheelers. It was so much fun! We started at close to 70 degrees weather at the bottom of the mountain and by the time we got to the top it was at least in the 40's. Talk about cold! It was definitely worth it for the view once we got to the top. I had fun driving and riding and just plain being outdoors. Below are some pictures from the four wheeler excursion.

After showering for the second time (I was basically covered in a thin film of dirt over my entire body and a significant amount of dirt was embedded in my hair once we were back down the mountain) I headed to S.O.'s house for dinner with his family. S.O. gave me the low down on voting and what to expect. We went through each of the decisions I had to make and by the end I felt a little more at ease about the whole voting thing. The best part of the night had to have been our walk through the park. We talked, swung on the swings, played on the playground toys, and even played in the leaves. I am calling it my "could have been in a movie" night. For real if someone would have been recording it we could have totally made a chick flick and been a HUGE hit! Well at least in my mind : ) Later back at S.O.'s house the power went out because there was a thunder storm. That was kind of cool too. We just sat in his living room and talked by the light of an old fashioned lamp. It was so great!

Sunday S.O. came to church with me and met a bunch of the wardies and of course was a huge hit and everyone approved of him. I was so proud! I loved taking him around and introducing him to everyone. I sure do have a great guy who I am VERY fond of. I really just plain enjoyed the weekend so much and was so sad when Monday rolled around. I had a Monday with a vengeance but I think that it was all worth it for the great weekend that I had...yeah definitely worth it.

one of those days

I had "one of those days" today. The day actually started off pretty good. I got up on time (first time in like two weeks), had time to eat breakfast (slowly), read, and get to work at a decent time oh and not to mention I actually got ready for the day.

The bad began when I got to work. Don't get me wrong I love my job but I have had a really light work load as of late, I mean we're talking REALLY light, to the point that it is almost non existent. So the problem comes when I sit for 8 hours a day trying to feel like reading online trade publications is work enough to have earned my salary. Needless to say I feel somewhat bad/guilty about this.

I have been wanting to talk to my supervisor about the possibility of me getting on some accounts sometime in the near future, so I finally got brave and...sent an e-mail. I know...I know...I am a total chicken but I really didn't want to come off as a complainer/whiner I just wanted to know where things were at as far as getting me a little more consistent work. You know if someone needs a reminder that I exist then I would really like that reminder to be made. My supervisor is so great and really is doing all he can to help me out. Unfortunately much of what needs to be decided is out of his hands, so that was slightly disappointing but I think that it will get better soon...I hope.

Anywho...

I left work feeling somewhat discouraged and just feeling like the day had given me a beating AND I had a zit growing (you know growing zits just have a way of dampening your day, especially when you feel like you should be out of that "stage"). I got home and shortly after i arrived one of the owners who was doing clean checks (who was supposed to come yesterday but didn't have a key to get in, yeah go figure on that one) came and breezed through our apt hardly looking at anything (I'm glad we cleaned so much, jeez) and then passed us. So that was good. I also got new blinds, which now open and close, which is also nice.

I went on a run to try and relieve some stress. It was beautiful. It was so nice out and I really enjoyed my solidarity and just letting my mind go. So I am running along feeling better and better with each step and then... wha bam!... I look up and guess what I see? A black cat. I just started laughing! My bad day had just been topped off with a sighting of a black cat. Wonderful. I don't claim to be superstitious but this was just too funny that I happened upon a black cat on what I would consider a not so great day. I guess I can plan on having a few more bad days in the future. Lucky me... or I guess not so lucky me!

special people in life

*WARNING* This is a..."I've been thinking post." If you have an intense fear of seriousness you may want to avoid reading this. Thank you.

For awhile now I have been pondering about the special people that each of us have come into our lives. Some enter only to exit after a short time, others come, exit, and return at later time and still others enter your life and will be there forever. No matter how they come or how they leave each touches our lives and impacts us in one way or another.

I have been taught so many great lessons by the amazing people that I have been so lucky to encounter. I have people that I have experienced grand adventures with, bonded, shared and really lived and when the adventure ended our constant contact ended but no matter how long you are apart when reunited that bond instantly returns. I have people who have guided, supported, and advised me through the many ups and downs of life. They are people that I will forever look up to and admire for the very person that they are. I have people in my life who simply know me, inside and out, top to bottom. They can "read me like a book" and always know exactly what I need in the moment I need it.

The more I have thought about it the more I have realized that each of these people were tailored to fulfill a specific role in my life and they have helped to make me who I am and who I will be. Each have added more depth and character to who I am. What a beautiful thing it is to have each of these people make their mark on our life.

Thanks to all the very special people in my life! I love you and appreciate all you do for me.

A little laugh...

At work today I was searching on the Internet for trends among small business publications and I saw this cartoon on smallbiztrends.com. I thought it was pretty funny! It made me smile/chuckle at 3:30 on a Friday. Enjoy!

P.S. I think it get's funnier every time I read it. Look at their faces...classic! Oh and one more thing the cartoonist Mark Anderson said this about the cartoon he said "I don’t know why, but the word 'apparently' makes this caption work. Seriously. Try taking it out and it’s nowhere near as funny."

may as well have been wearing nothing

My roommates and I made a little trip to the mall this evening and were having a wonderful time perusing and looking at a bunch of things that we couldn't afford. We wandered into Wet Seal because I wanted to get myself a cute red belt to go with a black shirt that I have. By the way this is the belt that you wear more around your stomach rather than you waist. Anywho...I found the belt I wanted and went to go and pay for it. As I approached the counter what do you think I found?? A quarter dressed girl... she wasn't even half dressed! I am serious this girl was barely wearing anything.

Not to paint an ugly picture in your head but it needs to be done. The girl was wearing what should have been a shirt...and it wasn't a very long shirt I might add...and this shirt was all she was wearing. That's right ladies and gentleman she had no pants on and her supposed "dress" was not covering much. It doesn't end there the top didn't have much to it either and I wondered if it was going to fall off the front of her. Needless to say this girl was barely covering herself, she put a sweater over this shirt/wanna be dress like that was going to make it any better. I walked out of the store amazed and just kept wondering how she could possibly feel comfortable in what she was wearing not mention keep warm!

IDAHO!

So I totally fell out of the blogoshpere for awhile and I have truly been neglecting my blogging duties and to be honest I have missed it so much!

My excuse...I was preparing to go to Idaho and then I was in Idaho and then I was catching up after being in Idaho. So basically it is Idaho's fault that my blog hasn't been updated in way too long. But I am here to give the latest!

As I am sure you have gathered I went to Idaho this past weekend. I took off a couple hours from work on Friday and began making my TREK to Idaho...yes TREK. That is such a long drive. I know I am weak sauce but 4 hours in a car is just not an enjoyable experience for me. I am not used to driving 4 hours I am used to 3 and so the one extra hour just about put me over the edge. Luckily it was somewhat scenic and I had good music and talks to listen to on my way there.

I arrived in Rexburg about 6:45 and boy was that a weird feeling. It was so great and so weird to be back in my college town after only having been away for 3 months. I felt as though it wasn't mine anymore and that I didn't really belong there. Yet at the same time it felt so familiar and so good. I hung with S.O. for a bit before I left him for a night of total GIRL FUN!

I stayed with my roommate of 9 months whom I just adore and loved getting to see. We went to Guitars Unplugged which is probably the best event held on the BYU-Idaho campus. It was fun to get to be in the student scene again. It kind of made me miss it and I determined that I need to get a life. At the same time I was happy to be done with the college scene. Weird how you can have two totally different emotions. Roomie of 9 months and I went and got Domino's pizza after Guitars Unplugged (where we have had many interesting experiences) and also rented a movie at good ole Horkley's! The night was so fun and of course didn't end until 4:00 a.m.

I had told S.O. before the weekend that the only two things I wanted to do was to...

1. Go to the temple and do baptisms

2. Take a walk around campus

The first occurred at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning (which was still a little to early with bedtime having only been 6 hours earlier). We had a really nice time at the temple and the cute temple workers were so accommodating. I love that temple.

After baptisims I got ready for the day and met back up with S.O. and we proceeded to have a day of getting in touch with our inner cowboy/cowgirl. We did as the country folk do. We spent the day at S.O.'s roommates house on his acres and acres of land. I got to to ride a combine, shoot a gun (twice, and I missed the clay pigeon both times. But S.O. never missed a shot! I was so proud), play soccer, football, basketball, and then the kicker made a pipe bomb. That's right I had my first experience with a pipe bomb and frankly it scared the crap out of me. Why boy's have these desires to blow things up is beyond me, how they get the knowledge to blow things up without killing themselves is incomprehensible.

The rest of the night included...

1. Hamburgers and cold lemonade

2. S.O. and I getting creamed in Foosball (twice)

3. Me getting shot across the room when S.O. jumped on the other side of the love sack. This was repeated because it was just too funny!

4. Turing the sound off of the movie "Little Rascals" and doing our own commentary. This only lasted for about 20 minutes and then we just watched the movie. Great idea though...just have to be in the right kind of mood and have the right kind of people. We were lacking the mood.

5. Leaving S.O.'s roommates house 7 times and each time it got even more funny! An awesome tradition is held at this roommates home that you fake like you are leaving but then you turn around and go back around the circle again and the whole family always stays at the window and waves. We did this 7 times and each time the WHOLE family was still at the window waving and we honked our horn and waved back. I thought I was going to die of laughter!

Sunday was fantastic and I got my walk through the gardens with a significant other which I have always wanted and funny that I got it AFTER I graduated. I had a wonderful dinner prepared for me by S.O. and then was able to get on the road at a decent hour so that I could get home. I stayed at home with my family for the night and it made for a great ending to a great weekend!

Here are some pictures of my country experience!

Classic BYU-Idaho Moment

S.O. told me a most hilarious little story the other day about a conversation he overheard at the gym at good ole BYU-Idaho. I think this story has got to be one of the most classic BYU-Idaho moments. This is a little of how the conversation went…

Big macho kid: "You should lift those a little slower; it will work your stomach a lot more."

(Said with the tone of voice that say's he thinks he is all that and totally knows what he is talking about when in all reality he probably really didn’t. S.O. was convinced that it was just a tactic to start up a conversation, and I agree)

Girl: “Oh yeah. Thanks.”

Big macho kid: “That’s a cool bracelet. Did you make it?”

Girl: “No, it’s from Guatemala.”

(And then the bomb... and the best part of this WHOLE story and what made it totally worth S.O. eves dropping on the conversation)

Girl: “My missionary sent it to me.”

As you can imagine the conversation came to an abrupt end…I wonder why? LOL! I absolutely love this because I think it happens so much at BYU-Idaho and only boys at BYU-Idaho and probably BYU get shot down by the classic “missionary” comments.

Poor boy.

Squeakers

One of my co-workers little girl came into work today and you wouldn’t believe what she was wearing!

Squeaking shoes!

It had to be the most adorable thing until about 10 minutes later when it began to get slightly annoying. Everywhere she walked there was a little squeak squeak squeak like the noise little kid’s squeaky toys make. Her parents commented on the fact that they love that they can always know exactly where she is and when she is on the move!

Not going to lie I think it would be kind of fun to wear an adult version of these. I wonder how long it would take before someone hurt me??

Here is a pic of a pair of these squeaky shoes that are very similar to the ones that my co-workers daughter was wearing. Check them out at this Web site. Who knows maybe they do special orders for adults!


http://www.kidsqueakers.com/index.asp

What's in a name?

S.O. (by they way many of you have commented on the fact that it is ridiculous that I am referring to my significant other as S.O. because many of you already know who he is anyway, but I don't care. I am going to continue to use it because I like it and second of all I am just obeying the words of caution from my wise father who told me not to put too much "personal" information on my blog. So view it as simply being obedient.)

Anywho...

S.O. posed a great question through a lovely Facebook message to me, asking me what I thought his name meant. This got me curious so I looked up his name and subsequently mine as well. I have known for awhile now what mine means but I think I looked it up again in hopes that it had changed somehow because I really think my name meaning is LAME!

So for all you who just can't contain your curiosity anymore. My name means... of the sea.

Stupid. I know.

I have come to terms with it and have just decided to forget about the meaning of my name and concentrate on the fact that it is a totally AWESOME name and to be quite honest I am pretty fond of it. What does your name mean?

back and better than ever!

I am on the up and up from my recent sickness...I am not totally there, still a few residual effects but I think that I am going to be as good as new come Monday! All I need is a weekend of relaxation and rejuvenation and that is what I am going to have!

To start I am going to take a hot shower, use a clean towel that has that wonderful clean towel smell, shave, moisturize, and then paint my toenails (let's be honest they are in desperate need). All while in some comfy pj's I might add. Then I will probably eat a bowl of cereal as I enjoy a great chick flick. I wonder what I'll watch??

Simple plans for Friday night but oh so wonderful plans!

Sicker than a Dog

Yep it is true...I am sicker than a dog right about now. Which I don't know where that saying came from or why it means that you are really sick but that is the saying I am choosing to use. I basically feel like lying in my bed and doing nothing but blog and read blogs. I felt way sick yesterday and a tiny bit better today. Going to work when you are sick bites. I have had a huge reality check in that you can only be sick a certain number of hours when you are a working professional (as I like to refer to myself as) and you know what when you are brand new at a job you don't have a whole lot of those hours accumulated just yet. So basically I would have to be dying in order to take a sick day. Which leaves me sitting and starring at my computer screen all day trying desperately to get my brain to function. Not a fun experience. I don't write this to get sympathy (although if anyone feels the need to buy me some Gatorade and chicken noodle soup please don't hesitate) but mostly nothing exciting has happened in my life the past two days because all I have done is sit at work and then come home and gone to bed. Hoping I will feel better tomorrow...

Sundance

Sorry I am going post crazy...I didn't get a chance all weekend and so I am well overdue and the blog ideas and opportunities are just flooding in. Maybe I should learn some restraint...nah. This is really blog worthy so I need to post something about it.

S.O. and I went to Sundance Ski Resort today and took a scenic chair lift ride! So much fun! It was so beautiful! With the leaves changing colors great company it was just a wonderful evening. Not to mention I was sluffing work. I used two of my very precious PTO (paid time off) which I found out have to be accumulated. Dumb. Anywho it was SO worth it! I would highly reccomend that if you are in Provo to go and do this because it is so awesome. Go before it gets too cold and before the leaves start falling off the trees. Take a blanket and a jacket and you should be set!

One last note before I let your eyes set upon the glorious photography of Miss Marisa. The very last picture if of my behind and yes I know I am being very brave to post this picture but it is too funny to not. So when I got off the lift my behind was wet and totally looked like I wet my pants! Weird part about it was the S.O.'s pants weren't wet at all! Luckily I had a sweatshirt to cover up my bum so that people didn't think I got a little scared on the ride...if you know what I mean.

Enjoy!

For more pictures from this scenic chair lift ride check out my Facebook photo album titled Sundance Scenice Chair Lift Ride.

Women at the Priesthood Session?

After the second Saturday session of Conference, and viewing the artwork at the JSMB , S.O. and I were walking back to see if he could get into the tabernacle to watch the priesthood session while I went and caught up with a good friend from the good ole day’s at BYU-I. As we walked up to the sweet old men who were helping at the Tabernacle, S.O. asked if they were letting people in to watch the priesthood session. The man just stared and looked at us, and you could tell the wheels were churning in his head as he looked and me and wondered how he was going to tell us that I was not invited to priesthood. LOL! As I realized that this is what he was thinking I quickly responded that I was leaving and with great relief he replied that they were letting people (more specifically men) into the building to watch the session. Not going to lie it was pretty stinking hilarious to see that mans face when he thought that I wanted to come to priesthood! I think that I will leave the priesthood session going to the men.

Attack of the Umbrella

First of all I had the most WONDERFUL weekend of my life. I was home with the family and a very special significant other, relaxing and enjoying the special spirit of conference. It really couldn’t have gotten any better. As part of the wonderful weekend “significant other,” which I am going to refer to him as for anonymity and mysteriousness : ), and I were able to attend the Saturday afternoon session of conference with my family. As I am sure you are aware it rained hardcore most of the day. After the session was over Significant Other (S.O.) and I decided to go and check out a collection of artwork being displayed at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Thankfully we had an umbrella, as did the bazillion other people surrounding the Conference Center.

While walking to the JSMB we ran into a friend of S.O's. In the process of our chat with this friend a couple with one of those huge umbrella’s that soccer mom’s prop up at soccer games that shade the entire sideline comes walking through the crowd. What happened next had to be the funniest thing I have ever seen! The man and his wife were briskly walking and most definitely not paying attention to where their ginormous umbrella was landing. As they walked by S.O's friend the umbrella hooked around his head and he had to duck to keep from getting drug along with the couple! I couldn’t believe that this clueless couple had just about taken off this kid’s head! Funniest part about it was that they did it to someone else about 5 seconds later! Lesson to be learned here, watch where you’re hooking your umbrella or else you might find you have some additional passengers.

just do what the video says

I thought that this was actually a really cool video and surprisingly compelling.

like an old sneaker

Unfortunately I had some car problems this weekend. Out of the goodness of my heart I let my not so little brother but most definitely younger brother (I have still got him on that one even if he is at least a foot taller than me) take my car on his b-day to go ice skating with his friends. I was not excited to get a phone call from my kid brother asking if my window doesn't go up...my thoughts...ummm yeah it usually does a pretty good job of going up and down. Long story short, window got stuck DOWN and put me in a pickle.

I was very frustrated and annoyed as I thought of how inconvenient this was. I needed a car! I would have to become that ghetto car with duck tape and plastic on the side, find somewhere to take the car to get fixed, and finally find a time to do it (how do people do this when they work full time!??). Needless to say I started to think of possible alternatives to this oh so enticing plan.

Wouldn't it be so nice if I could leave my car at home, take my dad's very nice Acura back to Provo, have my dad take the car to a trusty mechanic, and I come back to get my car once it is fixed! Sounds like a plan to me! And that was the plan I went for! It took a little convincing but my dad (out of the goodness of his heart) let me take HIS very nice Acura while he so kindly took care of the window problem.

I am not going to lie it was a lot of fun driving around a car that I will probably never be able to afford. Not only did I love driving it but it was awesome to know that people were totally checking out my ride! It was fun but I was also basically paranoid every time I drove it anywhere because I was afraid I would get some kind of dent in it or something. I had the car for Monday and Tuesday and drove back home to pick up my car on Tuesday night.

This may sound so dumb but when I climbed into my '94 Lexus after two days of driving a 2000 something Acura...it felt SO good. It was like putting on an old pair of sneakers. So comfortable and it just felt good. I had missed my car! I had missed the way it drives (which is very smooth by the way), the funny noises it makes, and the lack of any acceleration. I have a much greater appreciation for my car and hope that she will get me through one more winter...we'll hope!