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.