Babysitting Lauren

babysitting Lauren 039
Originally uploaded by thejohnsenfamily.

I babysat Lauren on Tuesday. She was so cute. I drove into Salt Lake and met up with Jen, John, and Dad. We ate at the Bombay House in Salt Lake. Mom was sick and Dad only joined us for dinner. Back at the Spencer house, Lauren and I ate some applesauce then played. Eventually I changed her into her pajamas and we played some more. Lauren noticed the bracelets that I was wearing and decided that she wanted to play with them. So I took them off and she decided to eat them and then throw them around. I put some on her ears and she eventually figured out how to take them off. We had a lot of fun until Lauren got tired. She refused to take a bottle. We went into her bedroom where we read books and talked to the plant in the corner. After a song or two, it was time for bed. She cried for two minutes, then went to sleep. I then spent the next hour and a half watching tv. All in all, a great night was had by all. The drive back was pretty good. The Coke I bought when I left Salt Lake helped a lot. Lauren is so cute.

Monday: scary then fun

This has been an interesting Monday. It started out very dull indeed. I did laundry, dishes, and cleaned my room a little bit. I looked at the want ads, then sent some e-mails out. By the time my roommate Camille came home at 4 pm, I decided that I wanted to walk to the library and to the cursed FedEx store to send some faxes. I left home while the sun was shining. As I walked, I talked to my lovely sister on the phone about my life in general, the job hunt, my roommates, and our planned meeting for the next day. (I am so excited to be able to babysit Lauren tomorrow night!) In the library I was able to pick up some children's books in Spanish for my roommate Camille (she is starting to learn Spanish) and then a video to watch sometime this week. As I walked home, I was almost hit by a car on Center Street when an older lady on a cell phone was not paying attention to the color of the traffic lights. It didn't really bother me since this happens almost every time I walk to the library. I stopped by the FedEx store where my favorite "bosses daughter" tried to help me again. I have given her this nickname because the several times she has tried to help me, she seems completely clueless. I would think she is a trainee but she appears to not care that she is unable to run any of the equipment in the store properly. Only a bosses daughter would be able to be so uncaring and incompetent and still have a job. It drives me crazy but cannot be changed.
The next part of my day was very exciting. I was preparing to cross the road that my apartment is on. I stopped at the curb, looked for cars, then stepped off into the road. Immediately, a car turned left from State into the road. I stopped and waved her on. She then stopped and waved me to cross the street. I declined and waved for her to go since I was on the side of the road and her car was in the middle. She waved me on again and I decided to make the decision for both of us by walking across the road. I was in front of her car when a truck turned left from State and came along side her. This truck and its driver had obviously seen that the woman's car was stopped but still decided to beat oncoming traffic and turn onto the road. He pulled along side of the woman, opened his door, and proceeded to yell at the woman and myself for being in the road. I immediately walked to the other side of the road and the woman drove off. The man then pulled into a nearby parking lot across the street and started yelling at me. He was of the opinion that I did not have the right of way because there was no painted crosswalk. I was causing a serious problem and he was going to yell at me like a maniac to fix it. I yelled back that I had the right of way because I had crossed at the corner. He then yelled at me some more. That is when I yelled that I only argued with rational people, turned around, and proceeded to continue walking to my apartment which was only 30 yards away. I think he was considering crossing the street when the woman who had stopped for me in the first place drove up. She had seen in her rear view window that the man was yelling and came to assist me. He then started yelling at her and insisting that she roll down her window so they could talk. She refused, yelled at him for yelling at me, and drove off. He then went into the bank. When I walked into my apartment, I told Camille what had happened and we expressed our shock at the mans rude behavior. An hour later, Sarah, Camille, and I went to Family Home Evening at Annie's house. We were led to her basement where I came face to face with the woman I had seen earlier in the car. It was the strangest coincidence. Our strange reaction to each other prompted everyone to ask what had happened. We, Tiffany and I, then proceeded to regale the group with the story of the rude man. It was pretty funny.
FHE was fun. We participated in skits in which we acted out stories of kindness. I played the wife of a man with leprosy. (My husband, Jake, was pretty cute.) After the serious part, we all mingled while we ate snacks. I had a good talk with Annie and was complimented by one of the Relief Society teachers. She said that, for someone so new, I was really fitting into the ward well. After FHE, a bunch of us decided to go to Baskin Robbins for ice cream and more socializing. Many topics were discussed, especially traveling to foreign lands. This something that I want to do more of. Chris discussed going to Germany and Africa. He is a very interesting guy. Anyway, now I am home. I so enjoy interesting days.

The redemption of the Orem Library

I believe that an explanation is in order. In my previous blog, I mentioned that I couldn't load the pictures for my blog at the Orem Library. I think I gave the impression that the Orem Library was somehow to blame. Here is the explanation: the Orem Library has just finished renovations. In fact, half of the library is still not available for patrons to use. They tried to cram the books and computers for one library into half of the space. Because of this, books were lining the walls by laying on the floor. If you want a non-fiction book, you have to ask a librarian to get it for you from their storage. The library had, and still have, only two Internet computers available. They are very strict when it comes to what you can do on these two computers. You cannot check your e-mail, any site that is for entertainment, or update personal blogs or websites. They are for research purposes and are limited to 15 minutes. As books and computers are moved into the new area, more computers will be available. I went to the Provo Library yesterday to get a card. There are a lot of computers there but I guess I would rather go to the library closer to my apartment. Anyway, thus ends my explanation.
On another note, I have had two interviews this week. Both interesting place but I won't hear anything for at least a week.

Aunt Jess is pleased to welcome....

Tanner Cole was born at 7:29 am on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007. He is 16 and a half inches long and weighes 6 lb, 5 oz. He is a little smaller than most of the Johnsen babies, but is two weeks early. He was talken by c-section after Brooke spend ten hours in labor. When his heart rate dropped and the amniotic fluid was half empty, the doctors decided to pull him out. (Plus his mom was only dilated to a 5.) His head is a fun cone shape and bruised from trying to fight his way through the birth canal. He also has a club foot that I find to be adorable, but will be corrected by surgery. I saw Brooke on Saturday afternoon. She was doing well although still a little numb and very exhausted after being awake for 36 straight hours. Josh couldn't have been prouder as he took me down to the nursery. I took pictures through the glass and we discussed how amazing Tanner is.

It is strange to think that all of my siblings are parents. Each one is responsible for a little life, someone who is completely dependent on them. I hope to be the favorite aunt to all of them. I know this is wishful thinking, but I am willing to work hard to achieve my goal. After seeing the baby, Mom, Jen and I went to a baby shower. Afterwards I ate dinner with my family and was able to play with Lauren and Isaac until I headed down to Orem again. After I arrived in Orem, I went over to Happy's house and played games with a group of people I had never met. (Happy is Sarah's best friend and a very lovely person in her own right.) When I am able, I will load a picture that I took of Tanner to this post.

Two weeks in Orem

It has now been two weeks since I moved to Orem. I like it down here. The past two weeks have been filled with job interviews, cleaning, and getting to know my new roommates and members of the singles ward. My roommates, for those of you who are unaware, are Sarah and Camille. Sarah is my cousin, and is only a year younger than myself. She works full time while doing independent study. She is a smart, strong woman with an infectious laugh. She shares her room with Camille. This quiet, blond transplant from Boise, Idaho, is very nice. Camille is 21 and will surely benefit from living with two older and more irreverent roommates. My room is basically unpacked, with only two or three boxes remaining. I can hear a little of the traffic from my bedroom at night, but not so much as to keep me awake. The apartment consists of two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a kitchen, a front room, and various closets.
Right now I spend my time cleaning, going on interviews, organizing my room, reading, and discovering Orem and the Orem City Library. I have gone on four interviews in the last week and have two more scheduled for this coming week. It is very frustrating to convey your ability to do a job to the interviewer. Knowing that if they hired you, they would be very happy with your performance and would be sad to see you ever leave. How does a person convey that message without seeming very arrogant and full of self-importance? I have not figured that out yet. Anyway, the search continues.
The singles ward that I belong to seems very nice. Yesterday was my first time attending church there. I met several very nice people and renewed my acquaintance with some people I have previously met at ward prayer or family home evening last week. Some of those include Tyson, Brian, Cassie, and Alicia. (Hopefully I spelled all of these names correctly.) It seems like a fairly normal group of people (hopefully I can make friends before they realize how strange I am.) I hope to be able to conceal my past ward callings from this bishopric. I really don't want to be called as the ward chorister again. Some members of the ward and other nice people have graced our apartment this week. Tyson came over to watch a video with us girls and then he, JR, and Melissa came over for games. They ended up staying until almost 1:30 am. It was a lot of fun. I wish I could post more pictures with this post. Sadly, Sarah's computer seems to be angry with me. In order to show me who's boss, it will not allow me to add pictures. I had to go to the FedEx store in order to add them. They card .30 a minute to use their computers. What a rip off. Oh well, such is life. They also charge $1.00 per page to fax.

First day in Orem

This was my first day in Orem. It was strange to wake up in a new bedroom. I slept well though. Nine hours of sleep for me is a little strange but I managed it. It must have been walking up all those stairs with boxes. My room is about 2/3 of the way unpacked. Today I helped clean the apartment, make dinner, and met some of the girls from the ward when they came over for a Relief Society lesson and pie. All in all, a good day. Tomorrow I plan to start looking for a job. Later this week I will give a longer update with pictures. I miss Kaysville but I know this is where I should be right now. Camille and Sarah are great roommates so far.

IHOP

About two and a half years ago, my best friend and I started going to IHOP together on Tuesday nights. Faithfully, we would meet every week and discuss our lives and what was happening. Sometimes different people would join us but the core would always remain the same. Sometimes we would talk about how work was going or any other unimportant topic. Sometimes we would have deep discussions about life and where we wanted to end up. If either one of us was upset about something, we knew that we could go to IHOP on Tuesday and talk about it. Tonight was the last IHOP night. Because I'm moving to Orem, Ryan and I won't be meeting up every Tuesday from now on. It is a depressing thought. So tonight we ended how we started: just the two of us in a booth in Layton. When Ryan told the waitress it was our last night, I started to cry. The waitress was suprised since she has been working there for almost a year and remembers us each time. Her name is Jessica. Before she started serving us, one of our regular servers was Shawn. Our first regular server was Karen. Sometimes, she would sit down and talk to us. I have so many wonderful memories of sitting at IHOP at 9:30 at night and eating breakfast with friends. I have a feeling that when the next Tuesday comes around, I will shed a few tears in memory of a wonderful two and a half years eating with my best friend. Have I ever mentioned that I hate change?

Stake Conference

Sunday was Stake Conference, at which a new Stake Presidency was called. After years of faithful service, Pres. Hess, Pres. Brunnette, and Pres. Child are getting a break. The new Stake President is Bro. Richins, with Bro. Heard and Bro. Barlow at his side. The conference was presided over by Elder L. Tom Perry. In his talk he discussed the importance of the priesthood, bearing witness to those around us, living within our financial means, preparing spiritually, and following church leaders. It was amazing to see him in person and stand within five feet of him when Mom introduced herself to him.

Wednesday through Saturday

On Wednesday, there was a going away party for me, Judy, and Suzanne. Suzanne is going to another branch to be a Children's Librarian, a job that I envy. I love childrens and young adult books and would kill for this job. Sadly, without a degree, I would never even be considered for the job despite my knowledge and experience. Such is life. Suzanne will do a great job. She is animated and enthusiastic. Judy has taken a part time job at Headquarters in the processing department. She is very detail oriented and knowledgeable and will be wonderful. Both of these great women will be missed horribly at Syracuse. I have another week of work before I leave for Orem. I can't help feeling bad for my boss Deanna. She has to find the replacements for three people and hire a new circulation person. Yuck; that is a lot of interviews. Anyway, at the going away party we had cake, ice cream, cookies, chips, and salsa. Wednesday was Judy's last day and Thursday was Suzanne's last day. Despite the sadness of the occassion, the cake was excellent and I did manage to get good pictures of both Deanna and Judy.
On Friday I had an interview for a secretary job in Provo. I must admit that I hate interviews. I know that I can do the job, but it is hard to convey this information to the interviewer. What I want to say is this: "I can do this job. If you hire me, you will be very pleased with the job that I do. You will never regret it and will be sorry when I leave for another job. Just give me a chance." Of course, you can't just say such things without sounding incredibly pig-headed and insane. Grrr.
After the interview I emptied my car of some boxes and unpacked some of my books. On my way back from Provo, I remembered that I needed to get an oil change. Luckily, the car dealership had an open appointment. After they had emptied my car of oil, they informed me that I had a rather large crack in my oil pan and it had to be replaced. Three hundred dollars and two hours later, I was on my way home with a new oil pan. Friday night I drove down to the Gateway and met up with Ryan. He took me out to dinner, then we went to the Planetarium for a light show. In the building is an amazing, complex, perpetual motion machine (pictures are included in this blog entry.) After the light show I was a little sick to my stomach so we walked around in the cold and talked. We ended up at the Skybox for a yummy cookie/ice cream dessert. I always love spending time with Ryan because he makes me laugh and think at the same time.
On Saturday morning, Dad and I went to the temple for baptisms. There were two big groups there so we only were able to do conformations. Dad and I realized that we wouldn't have time to wait an hour to do baptisms so we left and had breakfast. I got to work five minutes late and worked until 6pm. It was an insane day. One of the circulation people went home sick, so Suzy and I ran the last half of the shift. We stayed late and still left three full carts of books for Monday. There is nothing so scary as a busy library run by a skeleton crew. Because of the busy day and the fog, I got home 45 minutes late and missed the adult Saturday session of Stake Conference.

Boxes #2

I found some more pictures of some boxes that I've painted. Once again, feel free to vote for your favorite.

Friday

I awoke on Friday with a stuffy nose and slightly sore throat. I got ready for my interview in Orem and drove down while listening to music. After what seemed like a rather short interview, I stopped at the apartment that I will be living in after February 4th. I measured my room and tried to decided what to take from my current room and what to leave. When I left Orem, I called Mom to discuss the interview and Alison answered her phone. It turns out that Mom and Sidney were still at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. They had been joined by Alison, Isaac, Jen, and Lauren. I stopped by for some fun at the museum. I did my best not to touch the babies, although I did hold Lauren for a little while. I was careful not to kiss either of them or their hands. I spent most of the time running around with Sidney.

By late afternoon, I was exhausted and my throat hurt more than it had in the morning. I decided to not go out and play and stayed home, packing up books and some clothes. After watching an episode of Greys Anatomy and taking some cold medicine, I went to bed.

Curtis is home!

After work on Thursday, I went down to the airport to welcome home a friend from Iraq. Curtis left in September and I have been praying for his safe return for months. Along with Ryan R., John, Ryan P., Kyle, Katie, Drew, and Doug, I welcomed home our conquering hero. His plane was almost an hour late. Luckily, we ate candy and drank soda pop to stay awake. I made friends with other people waiting for the plane, one of which took our picture once Curtis got off the plane. We were surprised because he left the plane in civilian clothes after an 11 hour layover in Minneapolis, MN. Because of the long layover, he was able to go to the Mall of America and buy some civilian clothes including the grey sweatshirt, jeans, and red shirt he was wearing. Curtis had been awake for two days after flying from Iraq to Qatar, then to Germany, Ireland, and then across the Atlantic Ocean to our grand country (I think I left out a stop or two, but I can't remember which ones.) After getting his lovely green duffel bags, we headed out to the parking lot. While almost everyone else took Curtis out to celebrate, I headed home because my nose was running and I had been sneezing all day. I am so excited Curtis is home safe and sound.

Library parents

There are three types of libray parents: good, the uninterested, and bad. The first is a wonderful sight to behold. They come at least once every few months, usually every couple of weeks. They pick out new and interesting books for their children and occasionally choose a video or DVD as a reward for good behavior. When their children come, they behave in a civilized manner. If they do not, their parents immediately discipline them or remove them from the library after a warning or two. They care what their children are reading and are able to engage the librarians in pleasant conversation when checking their books out. Oh, how these parents warm the heart of a librarian. Yesterday, two such parents came in with their two children. They came up to the counter and asked for a moment of my time so that I could talk to their three-year-old son. I came around and they had their son present a broken video. He said that he was sorry for breaking it and then presented me with a jar of pennies. He looked at the jar with longing, then handed it over as payment for the broken video. What wonderful parents. Even though the parents payed the difference, they were teaching their small child the importance of library materials and the consequence of his action. These are the type of parents that a librarian truly loves.
The second type of library parent are those who do not care what their child is reading or what happens in the library. Their children come alone to the library after school. They stay anywhere from 30 minutes to five hours. Their parents do not have library cards of their own, and only deem it necessary to enter the library if their child or children do not come out of the library at the appropriate pick-up time. While these parents are not harming their children or the library, I can't help feeling bad for these kids. I wish their parents took more of an interest in their reading. It is sad to see a second and third grader wandering around the library for an hour while they wait. While I realize that parents work and the library is a safe place to stay, I wish they would come in and check out some books for their children.
The third kind of library parent is a figurative thorn in the side of any patient librarian. They bring their children, then let them run free while they chose their own books, read the paper or a magazine, or sit on the internet. These children play tag, fight, pull many books from the shelves, scream, talk loudly on their cell phones, and generally bother other library patrons. We had two such parents the other night. The mother looking through the romance books for a half an hour while her three children created chaos. The oldest tormented the baby of the family. The baby screamed her protest every few minutes. The middle child pulled many books off the shelves, moved chairs, and ran around looking for her parents. The father of these three children sat on the internet, seemingly unaware of the situation. From my seat at the reference desk, I saw him check his e-mail, check his myspace account, and read the sports scores on the ESPN website. All this while ignoring his middle child's plea for his help in finding a book about rabbits. Another librarian took pity on her and showed her where she might find these books. I told the oldest child to stop harrassing his baby sister and the middle child to stop running in the library. After a half an hour, the mother finally checked out her many romance novels and six childrens videos. Only one children's books was checked out, and that was done without a glance at the title or subject. This last type of library parent drives me crazy. Why bring your children to the library at all if they cause only trouble and you don't bother to pay attention to them? Thus ends my tirade about library parents. I can only hope my siblings and friends are considerate and caring enough to be good library parents. My parents certainly were.

Boxes

I found some pictures of boxes that I have painted in the past and I though I would post the most interesting ones. Anyone have a favorite?

New Years Eve

For those who are new to reading my blog, New Years Eve isn't a really happy day for me. It is the anniversary of Caleb's death. On Sunday morning I thought I would be able to make it through the day without crying. I made it to sacrament meeting. It was very quiet in the chapel until a baby started crying. Then I started crying. After church I went over the Ryan's house. He held me until I stopped crying, his mom gave me food, then I fell asleep on the couch while his dad slept in the chair. It is strange how comfortable I am around his family. They are really like a second family to me.
I was home by 5 pm where I helped set up for our family get together. Our whole family (minus Jeremy and co.) was there along with the Wrights, Aunt Renee and Aunt Nancy, the Lowes, and Collings families. It was nice to celebrate life and those we love. It was a great way to ring in the new year. We ate lots of great food and played some games. After most people left, a few of us talked until 2:30 am. Happy New Year!

What kind of reader

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Visiting on Christmas

On Christmas day, Mom, Dad, and I went visiting for almost six hours. First to Jeremy and family, Josh and Brooke, Jordan at work, to Salt Lake to visit Jen and family with Alison and Isaac along for the ride, and then we ended up visiting Grandma in the hospital. Here are some pictures of the day:











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Book review

In the last week I have finished two books. They were both good reads although very different.
The first is Magic Study by Maria Snyder. This excellent sequel to Poison Study is a fantasy novel about a women discovering her magic abilities after being kidnapped as a child, killing a man, and later becoming a food taster for a leader of the land. I found the characters to be believable, the plot to be engaging, and the fantasy well crafted. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy although, be forewarned, there are some fairly violent scenes in this book as well as one non-graphic love scene.
The second book is Dispatches from the edge by Anderson Cooper. This retelling of moments in CNN reporter Anderson Cooper's life can be hard to read. The suicide of his brother and his many stories of suffering people are vividly retold. The end of the book contains several chapters on the Hurricane Katrina storm and aftermath. Reading these chapters are sure to make the reader angry at the federal government and their lack of action. If you can read about Hurricanes, starving people in Africa, and war-torn countries, this book is very interesting. After finishing it, I just wanted to give Anderson Cooper a hug. His eyes have seen too much.

Super hero quiz

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 65% Robin 62% Spider-Man 60% Green Lantern 55% Supergirl 55% Wonder Woman 45% The Flash 45% Catwoman 35% Batman 30% Iron Man 30% Hulk 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

The R family on Christmas Eve

One of my favorite families, besides my own, is the R family (the initial is for privacy reasons.) When I became best friends with Ryan, they welcomed me into the fold with no reservations or hesitations. I went to see them on Christmas Eve after going to church to see Sidney sing in a Christmas program, then to see Dad sing in another Christmas program. I gave Ryan his gift (sadly, it was two gift certificates) and then took a few pictures of the family.

Among the many R family members that I love, Jason is perhaps one of my favorites. The reason for this is because he reminds me of my nephew Caleb. He was born a month after Caleb was. Since my beautiful Caleb has left this earth, I measure how big he would be and his development by watching Jason. Jason is expecting a baby sister in a few months. It is strange to think that Caleb was perfectly healthy when he was born but then left us. Jason, on the other hand, spent the first week of his life in the NICU and had more than one serious operation. It never ceases to amaze me how life turns out. At one time, I couldn't look at Jason without crying. Now, I just look at him and smile. In the picture to the right, Jason is throwing cushions off the couch just like an active little boy should be.

Above is a picture of Ryan, my best friend. After much harrassing, he finally smiled for the camera. He, I'm sure, is very grateful that I didn't put some of the other pictures that I took on this blog. They were not very flattering.

Slade belongs to Dave and Haley. He is so cute and is crawling in his own unique way. Like most R kids, he is a curious child who is very loved by his family. In this picture he is playing with his Grandpa, a back scratcher, and his Mom.