Plow it!

Well, the snow has come again to Orem. It has snowed several times in the last two weeks. This causes me to pick on the city of Orem. In K-town, the place I hail from, the snow plows actually ventured into residential areas everywhere. While they took a while because the main roads took precidence, they always eventually got to the residential areas. In Orem, that doesn't seem to happen. The main streets, such as Center and State Street, are plowed, the residential streets are generally not. Here are the pictures from my drive-way on Wednesday, two days after it has snowed:

The empty spots on the road are where cars were parked. While my car handles the snow well, I have seen more than one neighbor get stuck in the street. This is my plea to Orem to start plowing residential areas (or even start salting.) Thus ends my rant.

My first week

Well, it's been a week since I moved into my new place. So far, I like it. It has a few quirks (squeaky floors, an older furnace, and a light pink bathroom) but I like it. My roommates are very nice. While they don't know I have a blog, I will still only refer to them by their first initials. Roommate M has the room next to mine and is very nice. We both try to be very careful at night since our floors are so squeaky and are above other bedrooms. Roommate W is not home very much. She works quite a bit and is very social with her old roommates. She has a car, like me, and cuts hair for a living. Roommate E works two jobs and is usually in bed by 9pm every night. During the week she is up no later than 5am and out the door soon after that time. She has a cat, Francis, who stays in Roommate E's room for the most part. She doesn't have a car. If I were a nicer human being, I would drive her to work at 5:30am. Sadly, I need my sleep and am generally a mean person. I did drive her to the grocery store the other day though.
While we don't spend much time together, we all seem to get along. I would say our biggest problem is sharing the tv. Luckily, I brought my own (that Mom was able to get long ago from a hotel.) Sadly, it only currently gets 3 channels, but I am trying to fix it so that I get at least NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS. Luckily, I have books to keep me company. Speaking of books, I am still not done unpacking mine. While I plan to paint my room sometime in January, I couldn't bear the thought of all my books staying in boxes until then. I have unpacked almost half of them.
Work is going well. My main boss, MJ, and I are getting to know and trust each other. Apparently he had some troubles with a previous assistant so he wanted to make sure that I was trustworthy and capable before giving me certain projects. I like the idea that I am helpful and make someone elses life easier. While I do miss some aspects of HR, I enjoy being an Executive Assistant. One of my latest project is working on my bosses business cards. He has over 500 that have been sitting around (one his desk, in various containers, etc.) I have been scanning them into a business card program that will allow me to export them into all sorts of other programs (Excel, Outlook, etc.) I will then be putting them into a Rolodex. Our company Christmas party is this Tuesday and I look forward to socializing with my new co-workers. Sadly, the co-worker that I am the closest to will not be there (she will be leaving for her parent's house back east.)
The new car is great. I am now driving a little more normally (I was a little paranoid for a little while.) I love the fact that I don't have to worry about my car starting when I turn the key and the fact that I can actually reach the speed limit before I merge with traffic.
Well, I should probably go since I am at the library. I still don't have the internet at my house and I feel strange using my work computer for a blog update. I hope everyone is doing well. If I'm on the ball this year, many of you will get Christmas cards. If I'm not, take my best wishes for a wonderful holiday from this post. Speaking of Christmas, I am very excited to see my family (especially all the kids) in a few weeks.

So close

I am so close to having the walls done in my new place. The second layer of wallpaper is down and now I have to wash the final little bits of glue and paper off the walls. I tried to finish it on Wednesday but my arms were killing me. Last night I packed up more of my room and went to bed at a decent hour. Tonight I am packing up the rest of my room. In about an hour I will probably go over and work on the walls some more. This means that my room won't be very pretty when I move into tomorrow, but such is life. Here are some more pictures from my "work in progress" room.

I hope to paint my room later this month or some time during the first of January.

Wallpaper

My new room has wallpaper, or at least it will for the next two days. Last night I went over and started peeling it off (with permission from my landlord.) I also met all my roommates (Emily, Whitney, and Marne.) They all seem really nice. Here are some pictures of what the wallpaper looks like (the room has different wallpaper on two walls with a flower border all the way around):

And here it is with half of the top layer down. (I will be spraying and scrubbing off some of it tonight and finishing on Wednesday night.)

Thanksgiving/Birthday weekend

On Wednesday I was able to leave work a little early and drive up to Salt Lake. I babysat Lauren and slept over at John and Jen's house. It was a lot of fun but I was exhausted because of a cold I had (and still have.) Lauren was as cute as ever. That girl seems to have endless energy. The next day, Thanksgiving, I drove up to my parent's house. Along with 27 or so other members of the family, I enjoyed an amazing meal that was mostly made by my parents. I am always amazed at all my parents do each Thanksgiving. There was plenty of food and talk to go around. Later, a group played dodge ball and a few board/card games. I stayed up late talking and slept in Friday morning. I spent most of the day chilling out because my cold symptoms were so bad. I did manage to meet with an insurance agent and finalize my car paperwork though. Mom, Dad, Nancy, Jen, Jeremy, and Britnie went to see the plastination exhibit at The Leonardo in Salt Lake. Renee and Grandma Roberts babysat Lauren for Jen. That night, Mom, Grandma, Renee, and I watched a BBC movie and then Renee, Dad, and I watched a Jeff Dunham video. (He's a puppeteer that has amusing but inappropriate humor. My favorite puppets were Achmed the Dead Terrorist and Peanut.)

On Saturday morning, I was awakened by my mother telling me that there were pullaparts ready and that I should give some people a ride in my new car. Once I had truly awakened from my NyQuil-induced stupor, I drove them to Costco and then Mom started on dinner while some of the rest of us cleaned the house. My family arrived for my birthday dinner around 4:30. All the kids were so cute, even if I couldn't hold or kiss them because of the cold. Some of the kids were pretty tired because they didn't take naps. Mom made potato soup as well as tomato soup and breadsticks. I am always amazed at how great Mom's soups are. We also had a great chocolate cake that Josh and Brooke had posted on their blog. Renee, Nancy, and I stayed up until after 2am talking. Sunday morning brought another great meal (breakfast cake, eggs, hash browns, bacon, milk, and orange juice.) After a shower, cleaning, and taking empty boxes and my luggage to my car, I talked with everyone for at least another 2 hours. Tonight I've been packing my room and returning e-mails.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I loved seeing all of my family members and eating all the amazing food. This coming week should be interesting. I will be moving on Saturday so I want to make sure that 98% of my stuff is packed and ready to go by Friday night. All of the stuff that I will need on Saturday (clothes, bathroom stuff, etc.) will go into a suitcase so that everything will be ready for those who will help me move on Saturday morning. I don't know my roommates but I choose to believe that we will all get along and become great friends. I will have 4 roommates but each of us have our own rooms. Here's a picture of the house that I will be living in:

Thus my blog entry ends. It was a great, if not slightly tiring, weekend. I loved seeing my family, driving my car, and eating great food.

A new car

For those of you who don't know already, I bought a new car. I bought a 4-door dark grey Toyota Corolla and I love it. It is awesome. I love knowing that my car is safe, getting good gas mileage, and is reliable. The picture is not exactly my car but it is pretty close.
I love it but I kind of freaked out the day after I bought it. Other than owing my parents a few hundred dollars, I've never owed people money. Yes, every once in a while I would borrow $20 or so from someone if I didn't have any cash, but I always paid it back as soon as possible. I now owe thousands of dollars and it makes me really uncomfortable. I don't know how people live with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. I have read stories about people who have $300-$400K of debt and I can't imagine how they must feel. I have since calmed down though.
Anyway, my consolation is that I know I can afford the payments and still pay my rent, phone bill, buy food, and have a little fun. I will probably still tighten my financial belt though. Anyway, I am really excited that I have a new car. Yeah me!
Now I need everyone's help to nickname my car. The old Saturn, depending on how it was running, was called The Red Devil or Big Red. Any suggestion for the new car?
(As a side note, no one gets a ride in my new car if they have food, drink, dirty clothes, or even dirty thoughts. :) Just try it.)

Frequency of posting

I just wanted to warn everyone that the frequency of my posting will most likely be going down for the next few weeks. Sarah contacted Comcast and our internet will be turned off sometime tomorrow. Since I try not to do personal stuff at work (blog posting, phone calls, e-mail) I will have to do it at the library or somewhere else. I hopefully will have the internet at my new place.
In other news, one of my bosses, MJ, is returning from a week long trip tomorrow. I suspect that I will be pretty busy between tomorrow and Thanksiving. I've really enjoy my new job, especially this week. Since MJ was gone, RJ and BM have given me a lot of HR stuff to do. (Wow, that was a lot of initials in one sentence.)
I am really excited for Thanksgiving. I love getting together with my family every year. I've taken the day after Thanksgiving off so I will be able to spend time with my family and celebrate my birthday with my family.
On the moving front, I have managed to pack up 11 boxes of stuff I won't need in the next three weeks. I don't know how much more I will be able to do this week since I do have to use most of my stuff to live the next three weeks. I've decided to use this Saturday to test drive some cars.
Anyway, that's a quick update on my life.

In honor of the movie....

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

"Music?" she said in a sweet, questioning voice.

On Thursday I was able to take off early from work (my main boss had a flight to Texas earlier that day.) I drove to Salt Lake to Jen and John's house. Lauren and I looked at books, danced to The Sound of Music, and generally drove her mother crazy as she tried to cook. We had an excellent dinner. I especially enjoyed the flavored rice, and then Jen, John, Mom, and Dad went to see Noises Off at Pioneer Theater. Lauren and I danced, played, and read. After dancing, I would pause the music so we could play with some toys. After five minutes, she would look up into my face and say "music?" I would then turn on the music and we would sing and dance. I always think it is so cute to see a two-year-old dance. She also sang along with the "Do Re Me" song. We played until a little after 8, when I changed her into her pajamas and we read some books. Her eyes were getting droopy and she had yawned twice so I knew it was time the bedtime. We read two more books, sang two songs, and said our prayers. She went down quietly and I settled down in front of the tv. By 9pm, I realized that there was nothing on tv and I was growing drowsy. I decided to make myself useful and empty the clean dishes from the dishwasher and attempted to load the dirty dishes. I found the problem of doing dishes in someone else's house is that you are never sure what goes into the dishwasher. Such is life. Jen and John came home, we spoke for a few minutes, and then I was off to drive home. I got home late and spent a few minutes talking to Sarah before going to bed. I was pretty tired on Friday but I still managed to get a lot done.

I have officially found a new place to live. It is in a house less than a 1/3 of a mile away from where I currently live. I have put down a deposit and paid December's rent. I hope to move in the first or second weekend in December. Before I move in, I want to tear down some wallpaper (which I have the permission of my landlord to do.) Depending how long it takes me to do it will set my moving date. I have already started to look for boxes to pack. It will be hard moving away from Sarah but I had to find a place to live before Sarah leaves for France. I am hoping that she will let me buy some of her spare dishes and pans at a small discount since I don't have many of my own. I will have at least two roommates, whom I have met once.

The next big event in my life is looking for a new car. I haven't really had time to test drive cars although I've done research into cars for gas mileage, dependability, and other important factors. I will admit that I am pretty nervous since I've never made a purchase so large. I haven't the slightest idea how to proceed when it comes to financing or bargaining. Oh well, I guess that's what parents and siblings are for. I will have to ask a lot of questions to try to figure it all out.

My first week of work & other stuff

I have completed my first week of work and I am finally think I'm getting the hang of it. I understand the e-mail, IM, and calender systems. On Friday, some of the people in the office had a marshmallow fight at 5pm. We divided into teams and used marshmallow guns that you blow into. It was fun. (I've included a picture of an example of a marshmallow gun. Since it's just made of PVC pipe, I'm considering making one of my own.) I left after 20 minutes so that I could go tour a house. I heard about an open room in a house within the ward boundaries that I'd thought I would check out. (Before anyone starts worrying that Sarah and I aren't getting along, remember that she is going to France in January and I have to look for another place to live.) It looked pretty good. The house has five bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. It also has a kitchen, dining room, family room, living room, and a garage. The rent's decent (utilities are included) and it will be nice not having to worry about trying to find a place to live once Sarah leaves. I will be going over later tonight to check it out a second time.

As for work, I was finally able to sit down with my main boss, MJ, and get some assignments. He has been so busy preparing for a big conference that we haven't really had time to to discuss my responsibilities. My other boss, RJ, has given me the assignment of gathering info for the EEO-1 report. This is the first one that CR has had to file since they've always had less than 50 employees. I can probably now explain the reason why I have to gather information on ethnicity and gender in my sleep since I've been asked so many times. My job is different every day. For example, today I had to find a chair that didn't have arms for a bigger client. Since I was unable to find such a chair in the entire company, I ended up talking the arms and back off a chair. I ended up creating a fairly comfortable stool, but it worked. That was just one of the interesting things I did. I am getting to know new people (and remembering their names.)

I'm an American...and I voted.

I am so grateful that I live in a country where I can vote (and it only took me 10 minutes.) Even if I had had to wait hours, I still would have voted. Since I have been able to vote, I've tried to vote in every election, no matter how small. Mom and Dad always taught me that it was part of being a citizen of this country. Besides, you can't complain if you don't vote (and I love to complain.)

This was a historic election. I was impressed with John McCain's concession speech. It was very classy although his supporter's booing was not impressive. Barack Obama's acceptance speech was excellent. His supporters clapped for McCain. Both, along with their vice presidential running mates, fought a good fight. I love that the opponents can now take off the gloves and go to work. What would it be like to live in a country with dictators, where a change in power includes death and destruction? I am very lucky indeed.

Last day/first day

My last day at Prosper was Monday. It was strange. In the morning I had almost nothing to do since I had trained everyone else to do the various parts of my job. I walked around and said goodbye to some people, two of which are shown below. (Sherri and Emily are two of my closest Prosper friends and I can't believe I managed to say goodbye without crying.)

In the afternoon I helped Erin put the new hires into the system, answered a few questions while Cami wrangled with the team list, and made generally obnoxious comments. I sent some final e-mails and made sure my out-of-office had the contact information for all my projects/responsibilities. I said good-bye to the the HR staff. Travis, Cami, and Erin all wished me good luck. Susan and I said good-bye during my exit interview and Bradley came out and shook my hand. Emily walked me out to my car and we said a final "see you later" since a couple of us are going to lunch together next week. I learned so much from working at Prosper. Even though it could be very frustrating and tiring at times, I'm glad I worked there. On a strange note, it turns out that Monday was the last day for another person working at Prosper. I won't mention a name since I generally try not to embarrass others, but his leaving surprised most people. If I had known it was his last day as well, I would have shared my good-bye candy with him. Once again, I didn't manage to get a picture of Susan.

My first day at CR was interesting. My new boss, we'll call him M, was really busy and didn't really have time to talk. Natasha trained me on the phones and e-mail system (they use Zimbra, something that I have never used before.) I met lots of new people, who all seemed really nice. I also met my other boss, we'll call him R. I will be helping R with Human Resources and M with all sorts of random projects. Hopefully I will get to meet with M tomorrow to discuss responsibilities and expectations. (It's hard to exceed expectations when you don't know them.) Although change is really scary, I think this was a good one.

Parties at Prosper

On Thursday, a few people got together at Prosper for a pot-luck/good-bye party for me. I was surprised how many people showed up. It was a lot of fun. George, the head of the legal department, said some very nice things about me and I was really touched by all the people who came to say good-bye. Here's a picture of some of the people who came to the potluck:

On Friday, Halloween was celebrated at Prosper. People dressed up and we had trick-o-treating for the children of employees. We then had a costume contest and had pizza. Sadly, we didn't get as much work done as we should have. It was a lot of fun though. One of our owners dressed up as another of Prosper's owners. It was pretty funny. Here is a picture of the HR group (minus Susan):

Cami was Raggedy Ann. Erin was the High Priestess of Evil, I was a Geisha (minus the white face make-up,) Travis was a "mack-daddy," and Bradley was a woman. When I first passed by Bradley's office, he had his back turned to the door and I thought "who is sitting at Bradley's desk?" It was pretty funny when he turned around.

We had quite a few kids turn out for the trick-o-treating. At 1pm, we had the costume contest.


Two of my favorites were Traci the jellyfish and Neal the giant Muppets character.
Happy Halloween!

Halloween with the family

Last Saturday I was able to go home and spend time with my family. I went home early to help set up. Sidney and Dad were hard at work decorating. I did my part, then got ready for the party. I got to speak with Jordan and Josh before the party, but Jordan had to go to work. Everyone else was able to come though. The costumes were great. Dad took this picture of me and the kids:

I haven't the slightest idea what all the kids are looking at. I apparently think something is funny though. After pictures we played pin the nose on the pumpkin, throw the candy in the jar, and find the ghosts. We then went in to eat. It was crazy since I was sitting at the kids table with Lauren, Wyatt, and Isaac. Sadly, they were all pretty distracted. After eating, we went into the front room. Lauren, Wyatt, Sidney, and Isaac ran around in circles while I held Ava and watched from the sofa. It was actually pretty funny. I got so distracted that I forgot to take dinner to Jordan, and Alison had to run it down. I eventually headed home. I would have stayed over but I had to teach the Relief Society lesson the next day. It was all about putting more meaning into your prayers. It end up being a pretty good lesson. My favorite picture that I took from Saturday is this one:

I love this picture of Dad and Ava. You can see the love on Dad's face for his newest grandchild.

It's a sickness

Many of you know about my obsession with books. I've often said that it's a sickness. One of the other things I truly love are musicals. I recently went to see Aida, which I thought was great. Tonight I went to see it again. I know, I know....I'm strange. I even saw it alone. Unlike the last time I saw it, there were different leads. Radames was played by Darick Pead and Aida was played by Josephine Scere. About half-way through the performance I realized why Josephine looked so familiar. After some thought, I realized that I had seen her in a production last summer. In June of 2007 she played the character of Sarah in Ragtime. Sarah and I went to see it at the Scera Shell. Once again, Josephine was amazing. I felt envy, then amazement. The male lead was also excellent, although I admit that I think I preferred Greg Hansen. They were both great though. I would highly recommend Aida to anyone. It runs until November 22nd.

A new job

Almost three weeks ago I had an interview at another company. It wasn't the usual interview, as it seemed to be as much about my personality as my work experience. It did, however, give me a chance to learn more about their company. With the collapse and then getting a cold, I didn't have much time to think about it.
I've been thinking about my job and it's future for the past few months, but I wasn't sure what to do. When I received a phone call from a representative of CR on Tuesday afternoon, it was the answer I had been looking for. The CFO of the company e-mailed me an offer letter and I decided to accept. My first day at CR will be on Tuesday, November 4th. (For those of you who are confused as to why I am not naming the company, I will explain later. For now, I will use the initials of the company.)
I am really excited for this new opportunity and will be performing both HR and Executive Assistant duties. My biggest concern now is getting my current HR group ready for my departure. Yesterday, I spent over three hours training. Over the next week, I will most likely have to do 7-12 more hours of training, as well as continuing to do my own work. I will most likely work until 7 or 8pm every night for the next week. I have learned a lot at Prosper, but I have to say that what I will miss the most are the people that I've met. I have made some really good friends at Prosper.
In other news, Sarah and her family will be leaving for DisneyLand tomorrow and will be gone for a week. I will be going up to my parent's house for a Halloween party today, and can't wait to see all the kids in their costumes.

Thriller

On Saturday, I was able to do two fun things. In the afternoon I saw Isaac and Aaron. Alison came down to Orem for a book event at the mall and I took Isaac and Aaron to the library. We saw the boat, read a book, rode several elevators, and ran up and down the grassy hill outside. We had a lot of fun. Aaron sat at the bottom of the hill and Isaac and I ran up and down. Every time we ran down, Isaac would laugh hysterically. It was so much fun and Isaac didn't want to leave. At 5pm, Alison took the boys home and I drove up to Salt Lake to meet Ryan. I hadn't seen Ryan in person since the early spring, so it was nice to see him. He and I ate at Paradise Bakery. Afterwards we went to see Thriller on the U of U campus. It was great, as usual. I found some great pictures online of the performance here:

As usual, Odyssey Dance Theater did a wonderful job. My favorites were The Curse of the Mummy, Jason Jam, Salem's Mass, and the River of Blood Dance. If any of you can get tickets, I would highly recommend it.

Afterwards I got to see Ryan's house (or where he rents a room.)

This week

This week has been a little strange. On Monday I went to work as usual, but it was a very long day. There's something called the team list; it's a bear of a project that happens every week. This Monday it took a very long time and caused me considerable stress. On Tuesday I went to work with a sore throat. I felt so awful by noon that I decided to leave at 1:30 and take a quick nap. I was planning to return to work after an hour and a half. I ended up sleeping until 7:30pm, despite setting my alarm. When I awoke, I felt horrible. I was so cold that I was wearing pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and socks and I had two blankets and my heavy quilt on me. I probably lost two pounds in sweat alone (sorry for the gross details.) According to the digital thermometer, I had a temperature of 102.5. I went back to bed at 9:30 and slept until 11am the next day. I then went to a car appointment and to work. I was so behind that I worked until 9pm on Wednesday night and I was at work by 10am on Thursday. I had 76 new e-mails in my inbox to deal with. At 6pm I remembered that I had tickets to Aida at the Hale Center Theater. I called Sarah and planned to meet her to go. I ended up going home at 6:30, so she and I enjoyed a quick dinner of cereal, followed by a ten minute showing of the house to prospective buyers.

As for Aida, it was pretty good. The first time I saw Aida was at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. I drove down from my job by West Yellowstone, Montana, to join my parents. I loved it and took the CD back to Montana. I would listen to it as I closed up shop every night. I was so excited to share it with Sarah. My review is as follows: it was pretty good. The main male character was excellent. Greg Hansen was a lead in another play I saw this year, She Loves Me. The female lead struggled. I wasn't sure if it was a talent thing or a voice thing. By that, I mean that she may have been loosing her voice but I'm still not sure. After talking to a co-worker today, I think she may have been loosing her voice. According to the Broadway-loving co-worker, she is usually an excellent singer. Of the supporting characters, my favorite was the man who played Mereb. His name is Jared Young, and he apparently played Nephi in the Liken the Scripture series (which I haven't seen.) In the small, theater in the round style I thought that sets and choreography would suffer. For as small a space as they had to work with, they did a good job. All in all, I would recommend it, especially for those who have never had the opportunity to see Aida before.

Today I am feeling a little better. My nose isn't running as much and I am almost back to my normal self. I expressed another strong opinion at work, for which I may or may not get in trouble for on Monday, but I was still able to get a lot done. After feeling so rotten most of the week. I decided to take off at 3pm today. Now, I sit at the computer. Tomorrow I am looking forward to watching Thriller with a good friend of mine. Man, who's ready for a nap after such a week as this?

A visit from Lauren and Jen

On Saturday morning Jen and Lauren came down to visit. At 10am on the dot, a little girl in a red coat and her mother were on my doorstep. We first drove to Springville to go to the museum. Lauren had fun finding the horses, camels, and other things in the paintings. In one of the rooms were drawings from Utah illustrators. They were all from children's books and I recognized about 2/3 of them.

On the way home we stopped by Gloria's, an Italian restaurant off University Avenue in Provo. I highly recommend it. Lauren ate like a pro and I liked my pasta as well. We then stopped by the Orem library so Lauren could see the boat, ride the elevator, and I could pick up some books. She got to sit at a little table that was just her size. We then returned to my place and Lauren and I went down for an hour nap while Jen read. When Lauren woke up, she and her Mom came to wake me. Jen and I then talked while Lauren played, then I realized I needed to go to the store. After we got home, it was time for Jen and Lauren to go home so they could get home in time for Lauren to get a shower before bedtime. I had a lot of fun with both of them.

Pictures

It occured to me today that I really like pictures of my nieces and nephews. Above my desk at work are calendars. The current month is in its holder on my desk, but the old months are above my desk. (In case anyone is wondering, the little calendars were made by Jordan and Alison as a Christmas present last year.)

Last year, Sarah let me have a frame that she wasn't using. I filled it with pictures of my kids (at that time, we only had 6.) We now have 8, so I had to combine two. This frame is on the wall by my mirror where I put on my make-up and do my hair. Every morning I get to see my kids and their beautiful faces. I would like to thank my dad, brothers, brother-in-law, sister, and sister-in-laws for taking almost all of these great pictures which I enjoy so much.

On a side note, I wouldn't say no to a birthday or Christmas gift of a frame with 8-12 spots for pictures. (Too obvious?) :)

Nichols Park

Fall is coming. I love the leaves when they change.

Sidney in the woods.

A little hut in the middle of the woods.

The culvert that brings water from the mountains under Highway 89. We considered going in but there were spiders in there.

Words of wisdom by the culvert. The real question is: what has the world been connected to?

Sunday in the outdoors

On Sunday I was awakened by Lauren jumping on my bed. She told me, in her sweet voice, to come downstairs for breakfast. I went downstairs and had a great breakfast with my extended family (minus Josh and his family.) My parents really outdid themselves with fruit, omelets, sweet rolls, peach crisp, muffins, and bacon. We watched Conference, with most of the kids playing downstairs. Lauren, Wyatt, and Isaac had lots of fun playing downstairs on the slide and with the toy kitchen. After Conference, Jen, John, and Lauren went home while the rest of us went to Nichols Park so that Jeremy took pictures of Jordan, Alison, Isaac, and Aaron. I did my part by making Isaac laugh by pretending to sniff, almost eat, and be totally grossed out by a rotting nut I found on the ground. Afterwards, Sidney and I explored the ravine (or whatever it is called.) We took lots of pictures and had fun talking about the water cycle, deer, and life in general. After a phone call from her Dad telling us it was time to end the adventure, we headed back. Jordan found us after a while and graciously helped Sidney up the steep slope. Jordan and Alison took their kids home to take a nap and Sidney and I played on the playground for a little while. Eventually we returned to Mom and Dad's house, where I consumed yet another sweet roll and thought about heading home. We watched the last of Conference, then Aaron woke up. He is such a cute boy. He was especially cute when he was trying to take his father's glasses off his head while all of them were on the couch. I stayed too late talking to them, then I drove home. I took a quick shower, then went off to Hayleigh's blessing. I missed the actual blessing but stayed to eat and talk with Diane, Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Heather's great-grandpa. Afterwards, I went home to unpack and realized that I had left all of my toiletries in Kaysville. Luckily, I had a travel toothbrush and toothpaste at home. I watched Brothers and Sisters on tv, then got ready for bed. I wasn't very tired until I started thinking about what I needed to accomplish at work the next day. Suddenly I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. Oh well, such is life. The pictures from the park are in the next blog post.

Rainy Saturdays aren't so bad

On Saturday I drove up to Mom and Dad's house. The rain was pouring down so I had the fun experience of hydroplaning twice. I got a late start and didn't end up leaving until the end of the first session of General Conference. By the time I got there, Tanner had gone down for his nap so I regaled my parents with stories from work and my life. Tanner woke up, we played a little, then Josh and Brooke came home from the hospital. I couldn't believe how great Brooke looked after having a c-section. They let me hold Ava, who was sleeping soundly. She is so darling. It is always strange to hold a newborn since they are so small and generally are asleep. I love the way that they curl into a ball and snuggle into you. Anyway, after a diaper change, Josh, Brooke, Tanner, and Ava were off. I listened to General Conference while I was on the computer, then Mom and I went to dinner at Crown Burger while Dad went to the Priesthood Session. It was nice to talk with Mom about everything. At night, Mom taught me how to make cinnamon rolls and I stayed up a little too late.

Welcome baby Ava!

I would like to announce the birth of my newest niece. Ava June was born on Wednesday morning. She weighed 6 lbs and 14 oz and was 19 inches long. While I haven't seen her in person, the pictures show a dark-haired beautiful baby. I can't wait to see her. Congratulations to Brooke, Josh, and Tanner.

911 fun (it's a long story)

Tuesday was a stressful day at work. Since I took Friday off, I was playing catch-up after staying late on Monday night. After 5pm I went upstairs to talk to Emily, and discuss a new wrinkle in the sales department. After I came downstairs, I sent an e-mail and printed off a piece of paper. After going over to the printer, the next thing I remember is laying on a stretcher in an ambulance. For an explanation of what happened, I actually had to talk to Ben, the Facilities Manager. Here was his basic explanation:

Ben was looking for me because he wanted me to send an e-mail. He passed by the HR area but didn't see me. Then a sales manager, Patrick, came in with some paperwork and found me on the floor. Apparently I was sitting upright but immersed in a cold sweat and complaining of chest pain. I then fainted. They stretched me out so I was laying flat. Ben called 911 and members of IT came out to help. Because Ben's phone wouldn't get reception inside the HR area, he went out by the door. More than one person formed a line from me to Ben so that he could relay information to the 911 operator. Someone said that I wasn't breathing although I don't know if that's true. I was told that I then gasped for air and when wheezed. By the time the EMT guys came, I had regained conciousness although I don't remember that. I apparently told them to call my roommate and cousin, Sarah. I also apprently told someone to lock the HR area and make sure the door was closed. I don't really remember any of that.

When I came back to the world, I started making conversation with the EMT guys while they drew blood and hooked up an IV. My chest really, really hurt and I couldn't feel my legs, feet, arms, hands, and my face. As a precaution, they gave me Asprin, which tasted like rancid Tang. They took me to the hospital in Provo. They eventually took me in a room that was decorated in a Finding Nemo theme. They ran some tests including a EKG and an X-Ray. Sarah and Aunt Diane met me at the hospital. They had called my parents, who I then talked to over the phone. After about an hour and a half, I finally regained feeling in my legs, but not my feet. I also could feel my hands unless I raised them at all. At that point, they would loose feeling again. They cleared my chest, which felt much better after two hours. Eventually they released me, with the words that I should probably start doing yoga or meditation. Apparently stress, exhaustion, and a panic attack is enough to lay me out for the night. My parents eventually took me home, after a quick meal. I went to bed after talking to Sarah for a few minutes. I woke once, at about 3am. That's when I realized that I had fallen asleep with my light on. I slept until about 2:30pm, when I woke up I had some food, took a shower, and then decided to run some errands. I went to the bank and post office, then to work to make sure it hadn't blown up without me. Everyone was pretty worried about me (it's nice to know that I'm loved) and I only stayed a little while. Since then, Sarah and I have been watching episodes of Bones. We also watched the season debut of Private Practice.

Anyway, I'm feeling better although I am still a little tired. As a side note, Prosper sent me some great flowers (see picture above.) Also, I received my acceptance letter to Utah Valley University.

The fridge

So today I wanted to marinate some chicken. I looked for Italian dressing in our fridge but all of them were expired. I started looking at all the salad dressings and noticed that most of them were from 2007 and 2006 so I threw them away. I ended up marinating it in spaghetti sauce.

I then got out the eggs to make some cornbread. On a whim, I tested them to see if they were still good. Turns out that all the eggs in both cartons were bad. I started pulling out containers of food and kept finding rotten and moldy food. After thinking about it, I realized that it's been over three months since I cleaned out the fridge. Every week I try to empty the garbage's, vacuum, and clean the upstairs bathroom but I totally forgot about the fridge. Anyway, by the time I was done, I had thrown away a fourth of everything in our fridge. I didn't actually end up making corn bread. (Maybe next weekend.) Here's an example of what I found:

I would encourage everyone to take a look in your fridge and see what's growing. You never know what exciting things you'll find.

Grandma's Enchanted Yard

What do you think? It kind of reminds me of The Secret Garden, halfway through the transformation.