KayCee Burnside

My extended weekend

2012-01-17T19:14:00.002-07:00

It started with a very boring Friday night, started with grocery shopping and I'm sure included some NBA games and One Tree Hill, I purposely stayed up late so I would sleep in a little because I knew I had no plans for Saturday. On Saturday morning I got a message from my cousin (if you read this, again THANK YOU SO MUCH) asking if I wanted some stand-by passes that were soon going to expire. It's funny I was originally going to go down to Arizona this weekend, but backed out after I found out about going to New York. After going back and forth about what weekend I should come, I thought well what if I came this weekend. After looking at flights, it looked like I could get on one around 5:00 that night, so that's what I did. I quickly did some laundry, took Mr. Baxter to my parents and was on my way. It was such a fun quick get away. I've always wanted to do a spontaneous trip like that and thought it was perfect for the little slump I was in. It was great to see family, eat amazing oranges and constantly smell the orange blossoms and on Monday Mallory and I got pedicures and went to lunch at an outdoor patio place in short sleeves and flip-flops. We even had a bonfire on Saturday and went for a walk around the lake Sunday. It sure made it hard coming home to snow and 20 degree weather. It was such a fun weekend, I'm now feeling refreshed and got a little bit of sun which never hurts. Thank you everyone who made it possible!

Update of the past few months

2011-11-24T09:17:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile, but I blame never wanting to get on my laptop. If I could blog on my phone I'd do it all the time. Well, lot's has happened the past few months. I purchased my first condo which I love. I'm planning to do a video walk through and I'll post it. It's a little scary now being an adult with a mortgage, but I'm really excited about it. I also went on another trip this time to Hawaii. My friend Lidia got married on the beach there, again one day I'll post pictures. Speaking of marriages, Chalice and Blake finally got married too. I was also able to go through the temple and be there for it, which was a good experience. Recently I've adopted a dog, his name is Baxter and he's a bichon frise (I think that's how it's spelled). Besides that I think everything else is the same.

WIth today being Thanksgiving I'm grateful for the life I have. I have sooo many blessings, it would take me days to list. I'm thankful for my family, friends, job, opportunities in life, gospel everything in my life. I'm going to keep this short and sweet hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll try to keep these posts closer together!

Epic Fall of 2011

2011-09-05T21:27:00.003-06:00

And epic it was. It all started when I was running slightly late for an appointment on Sunday. Well that and I saw someone I knew that I was trying to avoid. I had my temple recommend interview with the Stake President. I got there and saw a group of guys talking, like 10 of them. I knew someone in the group and we all know I hate the small talk so I was hoping to avoid saying hi to them. I had the brilliant idea to run up the stairs, acting like I was in a hurry to avoid it. As I got to the second stair, I completed face-planted it. My scriptures went flying, purse and temple recommend. It was a good 15 seconds until I realized what happened and was able to get up. By this time a few of them came over to help me. I heard one say oh how sad, she's going for her recommend interview. I just grabbed my things and ran inside. To top it off when I got inside I lost it and started crying. I did hurt, but it was more the emotions of everything. I tried to find a bathroom, but of course got to the Stake President's office first. I think the secretary was like what in the world is wrong. I told him what happened and I was able to go to the bathroom to get myself together. All is well that ends well I suppose. I was able to do the interview and had a few battle scars. Of course I documented everything.

I just painted my toes the day before, maybe it was for the best it probably chipped off before the nail. Sadly my middle toe and ankle probably hurt the most from all of this and obviously you can't see that in pictures.

The top of my left leg. Of course I feel on the second stair so this scraped the top of it. It was the most painful thing to have my skirt on this over church.

My right leg, only I could fall so I hurt every limb on my body.

My leg and arm also have bruises, I think because my skin is darker you can't see as well, but let me tell you it still hurts.

I should bubblewrap myself I think...

Start of an adventure

2011-07-07T21:02:00.001-06:00

What a day! I feel typing this out will help me feel better so here goes and I'm not going to edit it this will be my spit everything out post. So, the amazing vacation with the cruise, day in Disneyworld and layover in New York is coming up on Saturday. Everything is scheduled and ready to go as far as when I'll pack, get laundry done, all of that. Well, today Marne emails saying we probably won't make our flight from SLC to JFK. Did I mention we decided to fly standby...keeping in mind we need to make the cruise by Sunday? Well, it's a risk we took because it was so cheap. AFter probably 127 emails back and forth anywhere from calling in sick tomorrow and driving to Long Beach to catch a flight, to just driving to Vegas. Well, we decided on the flight from Vegas to JFK then Orlando. After more discussion, we decided to not chance driving the 6 hours and just fly down there. Well, that's been officially booked so now our trip will entail flying to Vegas, then New York, then Orlando, cruising to the Bahamas staying in Orlando for two days and going to Disneyworld flying back to New York and spending the day there and finally back home..all in a week. HOpefully the only stress will be what came today and the rest will be peaceful and relaxing although it is fun now having quite an adventure.

THe other craziness of my afternoon is last week I went to the doctor to get some blood work done because I haven't been feeling the best. Well, they found out I have hypoglycemia. I think I've only heard of it just a few times and it's something with blood sugar levels. Basically the doctor wants me to change my diet, she said to Google diet plans and then they'll evaluate where I am in 6 months. Does anyone out there in the blogging world have experience with it? Any helpful websites or books? From websites I've read and discussion posts I'm really excited for how I should feel after changing a few things. It answers soo many questions about why I feel the way I feel and the dizzy/fainting spells I've had.

WEll that was just in the span of a few hours, let's just say I can't wait until I'm on that ship :)

Strut Your Mutt

2011-05-20T00:08:00.000-06:00

http://www.strutyourmutt.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=503&participantID=4286

Cruise time

2011-05-18T20:49:00.003-06:00

Bahamas cruise in 52 days. Debating if I should Google how to lose 50 pounds in 6 weeks or how to feel skinny and rock it in a fat body...this thought process started with swimsuit shopping. Maybe I'll just wear jeans and sweatshirts the entire time. Also, for the record, I'm more excited for the one day we'll be spending in Disney World after the cruise then the four days on the cruise and in the Bahamas and yes you can quote me on that, that is all.

My Weekend (or at least the first half)

2011-05-14T23:15:00.002-06:00

I feel like some weeks, the only thing keeping me going is knowing I have the weekend. And because of that I try to have a good mix of relaxing yet entertaining things going on. This week I was just so tired. I got home Friday and literally felt I could have fallen asleep at 7:00. But that was not an option. Me and Sam decided to keep it low key and since we had a baby-shower the next day went to Babies-R-Us for the gift. Now I'm not sure how many childless people read this (well let's be honest I'm not sure how many people in general read this) but have any of you childless people ever stepped foot in there? Well, in my entire life I never have. Of course I've seen the baby aisle at Walmart and even Toys R Us and I thought we were just walking into a slightly bigger selection then that. No, no it was like the size of a normal Toys R US, let's just say I walked out of there very traumatized for all the items needed for a baby. I think I pushed back what was already something in the very, very distant future after that small trip. We then watched a Red Box movie and called it a night. Saturday was the nice mix of productive and relaxation. I decided to get my behind out of bed by 8:00 to hit the gym. I told myself if I did that I didn't have to feel guilty if I wanted to watch movies the rest of the day. I was home alone and still had two movies left from the Red Box. The next thing I'm about to say, please don't judge. I was not a believer before and made fun of people that have turned into me. Well, I'll just say it. I watched the Justin Bieber movie...not once..but twice and actually enjoyed it, well obviously. I even cried three different times during it. I know, I know. I've already given myself the lecture. No worries, this isn't to the extent of Kyle Korver and never would be, I can now just see where everyone is coming from. Later tonight me and Sam went to the baby shower and after that I went with a group of friends up the canyon for a bonfire and hotdog/marshmallow roast. It made me very excited for summer nights. It was good temperature with a jacket, the moon was pretty and magical hearing the roar of what is supposed to be a small creek, now turned river. During the winter I forget how wonderful summer is, especially at night when it stays lighter for longer and you don't have to worry about driving home in the snow, I'm definitely excited. Well, that's been my weekend so far, we will see what Sunday brings.

Deep/Vague thoughts (So deep and vague I barely understand what I'm saying)

2011-04-26T21:31:00.003-06:00

Have you ever wondered if one small decision changed the entire course of your life? I've been reflecting over this a lot lately. Even little things like if I had said this or done that, maybe one misunderstanding wouldn't have turned into some huge fight that led to relationships falling apart. I also wonder, is it a good thing or would I have been better off if it didn't happen. I'm a huge believer and always will be in things working out in the end, but what if the end would have put me in a more ideal situation if the original misunderstanding hadn't happened in the first place. Anyway, just some of my thoughts tonight. I'm pretty sure no one on the planet Earth will even understand this post I barely know what I'm talking about, but it felt good typing it out. That is all, goodnight.

15 Completely Random Facts

2011-04-17T22:23:00.002-06:00

1. Me and Marne are currently sitting in almost the exact same position, with almost matching computer, blogging about pretty much the same thing.

2. I have a strong dislike for cats. I've been attacked by more then one and pretty sure they are the devil's minions. For example one cat in our complex follows me and gets its paw prints all up and down my car and no one else's. I think they sense how much I love dogs.

3. I have a new found love for Psych.

4. I just bought an amazing flat screen TV as well as Apple TV. I'm now enjoying Psych and other such shows in a totally new way.

5. For a long time there was only three reasons I wanted to get married. First, I hate getting into a cold bed so it would be nice if someone warmed it up before I had to get in. Second, so I would never have to get gas. I hate standing out in the cold and seeing my money drain away. And third so I wouldn't have to go to a single's ward anymore. Not that I don't like people in it, I just don't enjoy awkwardness of the single's ward. I'm becoming more open to the idea, but I'm still very scared and have a super hard time trusting anyone from past experiences.

6. I hate that I feel for the last two years of my life I've felt like I've just plateaued. I finished school so fast and during that time it was such a constant go, that even though yes I'm working I haven't accomplished anything where I could physically show something, like my diploma.

7. I'm planning a trip to Jamaica in July and seriously couldn't be more excited. A little nervous yes, it seems any time I travel to a foreign country there's like an earthquake or something...

8. The Salt Lake marathon was this weekend and I'm super bummed I couldn't participate like I was planning. The foot injury prevented that, so hopefully next year.

9. I have a huge crush on Duane Lee from Dog the Bounty Hunter. He's almost to the point of Kyle Korver, almost.

10. I have a new love of the song Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks, Google the lyrics.

11. I get super excited when someone starts a conversation with me on Facebook chat or sends me an unexpected text (I suppose I'm easily pleased)

12. For some reason I feel turning 24 in a couple months is like a huge step. I know it's not even a "milestone" birthday, but it just does for whatever reason.

13. I made sugar cookies today that look like Easter eggs.

14. I'm really not a chocolate fan. Once in a great moon I get that craving and if it's there I may eat it, but I don't get the cravings for it like some people. I much prefer the sugar (see 13)

15. I had the most amazing pedicure yesterday, seriously amazing.

Well, that was a lot harder then it should have been.

Firsts

2011-03-10T21:35:00.003-07:00

So, this past week my car was in it's first "official" car accident with another car (me hitting the box on the freeway doesn't count) And no it was not my fault, actually I wasn't even in the car. Here is a picture of the damage.

Another first, I can finally put my hair in a ponytail. I'm pretty sure it's been years since this was last accomplished. Anytime in the past it started getting long, I would get sick of it and cut it, but I've finally let it grow out a little. I know it's barely there, but hey its a start.
Well, here's to hoping this is the first winter I don't catch a cold (I can't say get sick because I got the fun stomach virus, but I have yet to catch a cold)

Money

2011-02-23T21:40:00.003-07:00

Lately I've been doing soo good with my money (minus that Jazz game...and my tax return helped quite a bit) I've finally been able to pay things off/down and feel I'm in a good position. With that though there's only so many things you can cut before it's too much. I think I've hit that with my wardrobe. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought an article of clothing (I'm choosing not to include shoes with this) I'm even bringing this up because I think I've hit my breaking point, where there's only so many things I can wear in my closet. On top of the fact most of them no longer fit, I think I need a major shopping spree this weekend. I've also been trying to dejunk and sell things I don't need, maybe that will help this new found clothing budget need... if only I liked to go shopping, that would probably help things out a little. If only I allowed myself this little spending spree to get a new iPad...

Two Day Fail

2011-02-19T22:18:00.004-07:00

If the last two days of my life could be summarized by a picture this is what I would choose.

Seriously.

Bad two days.

Let me just begin with the cookies. I swear on my life I followed the recipe exactly, yet somehow they turned into pancakes and came out like this. I almost took a nap instead of making them, but decided I wanted a quick treat, I should have stuck with the nap. Next, so in my entire life I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've ever honked at someone. Well tonight was one of them. Seriously people if I'm in a lane and you're in a lane, that does not equal you having the right to just merge into my lane without a blinker or warning at all. I won't even get started with Applebees. I waited there for over a half hour, it was a party of 6 and every single party who came in before or after me was seated before we were. Some groups even had 4 or 5 people, seriously frustrating. Pretty much the rest of it deals with other things I probably shouldn't blog about (haha that makes it sound much worse then it actually is)

Also, I keep missing opportunities to talk with a certain someone. I feel I either keep missing chances or they don't get when I'm putting myself out there. I'm nearly positive they have no idea either, I think we're both pretty clueless. So much so, I haven't had enough of a chance to get to know them to see if I am even interested and see if all of this over analyzing would be for something or not...there are moments when a person doesn't really need a drink they're just trying to start up a conversation.

One thing though and even though it happened today, I still blame yesterdays stuff on it too. I didn't listen to the Spirit today. I was at Costco, in the rain, and was running to my car when I saw this old lady trying to put her groceries in her van. I usually always offer to help and I think I've been turned down every time (not sure why, I don't think I look THAT scary) Anyway, something told me to ask her if she needed help. Well because of the rain and the fact I'm always turned down I ignored it. It kept getting louder and louder, I finally got to my car and mentally said no she's fine and just drove off. I feel awful now. What if she really needed help? Or what if she didn't and it was just a test to see how well I'd follow promptings even if I was having a bad day? Regardless I failed miserably and I feel super bad because of it.

Well, at least I have Monday off to hopefully calm down and relax a little and get over the slump of bad happenings, whether my own doing or the stars just not aligning for me.

Jazz game!

2011-02-16T19:46:00.002-07:00

I had the amazing opportunity to go to last weeks Jazz vs Bulls game with Shelley. Since my husband was playing we decided to go all out and get lower bowl seats. To our luck we found a pretty good deal on Row 10, just up from the Jazz bench. Little did we know what a game it would be. Sadly, we lost although Kyle played a good game. But the bigger story of the night was it ended up being Jerry Sloans last game. The next day he resigned. I'm sure knowing that people would have paid triple for the tickets. Whatever the reason, I'm very sad to see him go but he was a great coach and I'll miss seeing him. Of course I got some pictures at the game.

This is our view.

I was able to zoom in to get a picture of my favorite player, even if he's now in a Bulls uniform.

I think this one's my favorite, before the second half they did warm ups on the basket we were closest to. He was literally feet away I think I was drooling a little.

Anyway, it was an awesome night. Now only if the Jazz could get out of this funk they seem to have gotten themselves into...

My weekend

2011-02-13T22:00:00.002-07:00

Another week has come and gone. It's funny now that I don't have semesters to break up my year it seems to go by pretty fast and there's very little difference to whether it's February or September except maybe the temperature. I decided to do a post on what did KayCee do this weekend.

Saturday:

7:15-I'm not sure if I'll ever know why but my body always automatically wakes up at this time. And I always have to get out of bed to use the bathroom, brush my teeth and take daily medicine. If it's a work day usually I'll just be up and get ready sometimes I get back in bed. Since today wasn't I got back in bed.

8:45-I never fully fell back to sleep, but it was still nice to relax. I got up and tried out the new Zumba video I bought. Around 9 Sam came out of her room, I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous but after a minute she tried to.

9:15-After my extremely exhausting, haha, 30 minutes we decided we deserved breakfast, so it was off to BK we went.

9:30-Didn't have the best of experience there, but came home to a meal I didn't even order...

Sadly the rest of the day's time kind of was a blur. I remember I went to Walmart for grocery shopping, back home and cleaned the house, met Lidia up at Spoons and Spice to buy a rolling pin (I've been using a glass to roll my cookies...) went back to Walmart because I forgot three things. I was not happy that place was a zoo. Back home, Sam and I had a late lunch then she went off on her date and I went to a friends house to help her decorate sugar cookies. Came home and made a banana cream pie and got the sugar cookie dough mixed to make them today. And finally went to bed :)

Sunday:

7:15 Again same routine and this time was completely able to fall back asleep

10:00 Woke up and couldn't believe I slept that long then got ready for church

11:00 Went to church, then came home and started preparations for baking the cookies.

I finished those, then went to JJ's house for dinner, came home cleaned some last things up now I'm here. Have you ever tried to type out your day? I forget what times I did what. Anyway, that was my adventurous weekend, what did you do?

Random thoughts

2011-02-06T22:33:00.003-07:00

I'm not really sure what to write honestly, kind of sad I know. I just felt like typing what came to mind and seeing where the post went. I'm going to the Jazz vs. Bulls game on Wednesday, we have row 10 tickets and I couldn't be more excited. I also applied for a mortgage loan on Friday. It's been an on/off thought for awhile now. I decided to just apply to see if I'd even qualify, we will see what pans out from it. I made Valentines/heart cookies this weekend. I wonder why my weight loss doesn't work out, then I look at the kitchen and see. My foot still isn't better, I really should have it looked at again but that's prevented me from running and seriously set me back with things. I've decided for the time being to give up on boys. Remember those toys as kids where it was a block with shapes cut out and you had little wood shapes where you were supposed to fit them in the holes cut out? Basically matching the shapes... Well I feel like I'm trying to fit the square shape into the circle cutout. It's just not working and not worth trying over and over when it's pointless. Because of a few instances I think I'm giving up. I know, I know as soon as I say that something will come along. And that's fine, I'm not saying I'm boycotting it, just not going to try forcing something that just isn't there. I really want a vacation. Yes, I did just go to Vegas/St. George, but it was a last minute and rushed thing. I want a true vacation, no I need a vacation. Well, I'll leave you this Sunday evening with those thoughts.

Vegas/St George Weekend

2011-01-30T19:56:00.004-07:00

This past weekend me and my parents ventured down to St. George for my cousins mission farewell. I've never been to Vegas so we decided to make it a mini-vacation. I was awful with the picture taking, but did manage to get these in. My dad really wanted to see the completed bridge over the Hoover Dam. It was a little less then an hour away. We got there and drove over it....

...Yeah exactly what I thought. Until we drove down underneath (the old way you used to have to go before the bridge)

It was pretty cool to see, although I wish you could realize what you were on while you were on it, I bet some people drive over it and don't even realize. Like I said that was the extent of my pictures. Later that day we went to a big marketplace were I got some pretty awesome silver shoes. We saw the M&M Factory and Coke store where I snagged a pair of Diet Coke earrings. Me and my dad decided to try something crazy. We almost went on a helicopter ride over the Hoover Dam, but instead opted for a ride on the New York New York Roller Coaster. Let's just say I wasn't the biggest fan...

Can you see that? It goes taller then some of the buildings, makes a loop and several corkscrews. After this adventure I was done for the day and spent the rest of the night in the hotel room (awesome, I know, I'm in Vegas on a Saturday night and choose to be in the hotel, to my defense we were out until 3:00 the night before). We got up early the next day to make it back to St George with literally a minute to spare for the farewell. It was a nice warm getaway, even though it was just go, go go.

I'm back...

2011-01-08T23:07:00.003-07:00

It's been awhile since the last post. I hardly ever get on my laptop now that I'm out of school and I think that's part of it, I just check things on my phone and I can't do a post on there. With that being said I don't exactly feel like putting together some elaborate, witty and entertaining post about what I've been up to over the last month. I'll say this though, I'm excited for this week to be over. It started out rough when I got my mom's truck stuck in the snow, went even more downhill when I caught some sort of stomach bug for two days and hit rock bottom when I almost seriously injured myself like three times today between the gym, Walmart and Costco. Well, I'll leave you with that, I hope I just needed a rough patch to begin 2011 and the rest of it will be an excellent year.

New Year, new goals

2010-12-10T22:06:00.002-07:00

Normally, I'm not a fan of new year resolutions. I think its so cliche and most people give up after only a few weeks. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge goal setter, but I don't do it because I'm "supposed to" I do it because I want to accomplish something. This year has been hard, very hard. I hate to say it but I'm going to be one of those that says I can't wait until next year when I get a fresh start. I've been pretty good about going to the gym 4-5 times a week for the last couple months (minus the week from you know where when I was in the ER and this past week actually because I've been dealing with a cold/sinus thing) Anyway, it's been really good to go but I feel I need a goal to keep me motivated. I do not want it to solely be for weight loss either, that will come on its own and its not something that can keep me motivated enough to keep doing it. So, I've officially decided I want to participate in a half marathon. I think a marathon would be too much and I've already done a 5K before. It's funny I'm really not a fan of running, but over the last little bit I've started to like it more and more. The Salt Lake Marathon is in April and I think what better time, its far enough away that I can train for it, yet close enough I won't feel it's out of reach. Who knows if I'll back out, but a few months ago I would have laughed at the idea of it and well I just never know where 2011 will take me.

Happy Rivalry Week!

2010-11-23T21:37:00.001-07:00

Go Utes!

What my mail consists of lately...

2010-11-18T21:37:00.002-07:00

I about passed out when I opened these...yes that one does say $4524.24

....luckily I saw this important note....

...Then this one came.

I could chose to either be mad or grateful. I think I'll be grateful I even have health insurance, as you can see I would be in a completely different situation if not.

PS...where has this year gone??

Random things about today...

2010-10-21T22:07:00.003-06:00

1. I may or may not have had 5 big pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from the store today...

2. I bought more "treats" then real food when I went grocery shopping.

3. This included 2 boxed cake mixes with frosting, gallon of pumpkin ice cream, box of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and stuff to make rice crispy treats

4. I bought material to make my Halloween costume, I'm going to be a Christmas Tree!

5. I bought a new pair of super nice scissors I'm super excited about.

6. I went to recipe group with JJ tonight where I hit the sugar overload, it was cake night.

7. I decided I need to work in a bakery with the sweet tooth I have.

8. I told the Coke restocker dude at the store today that I alone, in the Diet Coke I buy probably provide his paycheck.

9. I didn't go to the gym for the first time this week and I actually miss it and can totally tell the difference it made.

10. Realized I may never fully get over missing my Grandma

11. And finally got invited to the Utah game Saturday!!!

I thought she'd live forever...

2010-10-18T21:28:00.003-06:00

She was seriously the best dog ever. She grew up with me, 15 years. I know it might seem dumb since she was "just a dog" but she was so much more to me. She was always there and I'm sad, but know she's not hurting anymore. Two of my favorite beings in the world died this year, I hope next year turns around...

iBooks...where have you been all my life

2010-08-31T21:54:00.000-06:00

My new toy

2010-08-30T21:19:00.001-06:00

Yeah...not sure if having this week off was the best idea...

No title needed

2010-08-26T12:16:00.001-06:00

PS I’ve debated using real names in this post, since it truly did happen and most of you would probably figure out the names anyway (or ask me) I’ve decided to use them. I also have decided not to go through and edit it, sorry if there’s too many errors and it becomes difficult to read.

Wow, where to even begin this post. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite awhile, but it just never seemed the right time. I think I’m now at a place in life where I’m completely over the things that transpired, for a long, long time I felt I couldn’t say anything relating to that on here because certain people were not worth my time or energy to even worry about anymore. Well, I still feel the same way, however, I know things were said about me and since I never had the opportunity to defend myself, I’ll use this to share my side of the story (as I’ve said all along, I’m not taking the blame completely off me). And I realize the people it directly related to probably don’t read this anymore, but maybe for certain people who’ve heard the story, maybe partly true and not so true things about it, blog stalk me (cause, well I blog stalk people I’m sure they’d be shocked to know about…) Anyway, I’m sure some of you are dying to know what I’m talking about and others may have guessed it by now. I’ll just start the story from where I think things initially started down the wrong path.

I’m going to start with a background. I was born and raised at a house in Taylorsville because my mom worked full time me and my sisters would stay with my Grandpa at a house in Murray. My parents decided it would be easiest to just put us in school there, so that’s what we did. We all made friends, after my grandpa died, when I was going into junior high they decided to switch to a school closer to our house. I never could really get into it, something always felt off like I was in the wrong place. So, my junior year of high school after talking to them, they let me transfer to Murray where I was back with my friends. That’s a little bit of our background, now I’ll pick up where everything started to happen.

I started a new job working anywhere from 25-35 hours a week (timeline is around beginning of the year 2008, I was in my junior year of college), just finished an internship where it was roughly 15 hours a week and full time school (I can’t remember the credit hours probably 15). It started to drain me out, but I still wanted to be social and hang out with my friends. We mostly would congregate at Amanda’s house, which was fine it’s how it usually was. Staci was generally there, she had moved back from school, Maranda and Eileen. I was the only one working and going to school the majority of the time, each of them only had part time school or work. As things started to go along I usually could only get together on the weekends or an occasional weeknight, where they were usually together all the time, even during the day. They would call me, I just couldn’t miss class or work. When I would go over since I wasn’t always there, it was hard to catch up on things or for example they would always play rock band. Since I was barely playing it I wasn’t very good, when I would try I would lose for them and feel dumb so I’d end up not playing anyway and just sit there while they did it.

Anyway, Amanda started dating a few different guys she’d meet off the internet. I did the internet dating thing too for awhile so it wasn’t like I was judging her or anything. But one in particular she let things go a little too far with. I felt she always looked to guys because she lacked confidence. She felt oh if they want to kiss me that must mean boys like me. Well, things definitely started changing after that. One particular instance I remember she picked me up one night to go either for ice cream or a drink or something. We hung out for awhile talking then she said she needed to go home. Later that night I was in bed and got a call from her dad asking if I was still with her. I wasn’t of course and said she had dropped me off several hours before, this made me very upset because she was using me as an excuse. I never really liked this particular guy, I felt he was just using her. I think he was, I can’t exactly remember what happened, but I know soon after he had a new girlfriend.

Soon after this she started hanging out with someone new, again from the internet. At this point I was pretty much done with the internet thing. I will tell this side of the story and I’m sure its where they blame me for things going bad. I had a friend I met off the internet, we never dated though. His name is Joed (as a side note he’s engaged now and I still keep in contact with him and his girlfriend) Anyway, we all would occasionally hang out, he worked a lot and lived in Provo, so sometimes it was hard. It was rare just me and him would hang out, but once in awhile. One night we all decided to go to a movie. We wanted to see a certain one, we got there and would have been maybe 5 minutes late going into it, the time of previews right. Well Amanda threw this huge fit, we wanted to go to another one, but someone we just decided to go back to her house to watch one. At this point I was frustrated and just wanted to go home. As a side note they would regularly make fun of me. It was usually for little things, but I’m not one to become defensive about it. I know that’s what their intentions were to egg me on, but at times they went too far with it. I remember thinking I didn’t want to go back and have that happen again. Joed and I ended up just going home and not even doing anything. But again I think this is where they would begin to blame me, because of him when really it was that I didn’t want to be around people who were rude to me. Another instance I remember telling Maranda and Amanda I just bought my MacBook. They were both like why would you do that, that’s so dumb, why would you even need an Apple. I was like umm that’s my major, every program I use like FinalCut, is better on an Apple. I think they were just jealous they didn’t work hard for something they wanted.

Again, I’m not quite sure on timeline I believe this was around December of 2007 Amanda started dating a new guy. I did not like him at all from the beginning. I honestly couldn’t tell you what it was, I just didn’t trust him (again after she had dated the other guy who was just using her) he was also a little younger and he wasn’t very nice to me either. I did try a few times, I remember one example we all went ice skating together. Well, again things happened, like right after they met too. I went to our other friends and asked them what they thought of him. I never said anything about what I knew between them, but only if they liked him or not. I never meant to talk behind her back or start rumors, it was truly out of concern. Well, they went back to her and told her what I had asked. I remember one night she called me just freaking out about how I went behind her back and what not. I said I was sorry, I didn’t mean it in that way. Well, things sort of smoothed over. Looking back on it now because I was the only one who knew how far things went with him she didn’t want me spreading that to everyone else, which I never did. One time she even had me go to the pharmacist with her to get a morning after pill, I didn’t like what she was doing and I didn’t like the guy, but I was there for her as a friend. Well, a month or so after that I got a text from Maranda asking if I’d heard from Amanda that day, I said I hadn’t. I remember it was a Saturday and I was at a family dinner at my grandparents house. She said she was worried about her, she hadn’t heard from her all day and everytime she’d text her in the mornings she was sick. This was like red flag thinking she’s trying to get me to tell her I bet she’s pregnant. I never had told any of them what Amanda talked to me about, so of course I’d never say oh maybe she’s pregnant. Anyway, she said she was going to call her and see if she could get a hold of her. I kept thinking something was off, it was just too weird for her to ask if I’d heard from her all day and then tell me how’s she been sick in the mornings when she calls. So when I was done at my grandparents I decided to drive by Amanda’s house and see. Everyone was there. I was so mad because I knew it was planned. Looking back I think Amanda was doing it on purpose and had Maranda text me on purpose to pretend she was pregnant, she would tell all of them of course there’s no way I could be, but if I went to talk to them anymore they would think I’m just saying it because I didn’t like her new boyfriend. Back to the story, so first I had my dog with me so I couldn’t go inside, second I was so mad I didn’t want to say something I’d regret. I did text Maranda and told her I saw her at Amanda’s house and knew she was there the entire time, because she had just sent me a text like 5 minutes before saying she still hadn’t heard from her. I can’t remember exact details of this night, but Amanda started texting me too. They were asking why I wasn’t coming over, I didn’t want to go over there since I was mad and knew I’d say something I’d regret. Amanda then started texting me and I believe Eileen did too somewhere in there. Someone eventually told me Amanda was pregnant, I think Maranda. I still did not believe her, I think she was just saying that to get me to tell her what I knew. Anyway, over the course of the next couple days everyone started texting me (I felt like we were back in high school) they were saying what a bad friend I was and how I should have been there for her. I explained my side that I knew Maranda lied and I didn’t want to be around her that night, she did later apologize for it. Finally, I apologized and said sorry I was not there I know it would be hard, but I just couldn’t be there first because of the family thing, then because of Maranda (and I had the dog in the car so I wasn’t going to stop) I remember Eileen saying she took her to the doctor on Saturday morning, first what doctor is open then for that and then she said I should have been there. I was like Amanda didn’t let me know she needed me there, I had no idea, she said well you should have just known. I honestly laughed thinking ok I’m not psychic. I wanted to put it all behind us and try to get over it, so finally I apologized. Amanda sent me this text using all sorts of colorful language saying what a horrible person I was (I still have them if any of you want to read it) and I should have been there, I’m a terrible friend and she could never forgive me. She also said she lost the baby and it was my fault for the stress I caused. Well, she “lost” the baby like 3 days after she found out she was pregnant, it doesn’t happen that fast and I knew she wasn’t ever pregnant. She did apologize the next day for how she said it but she said she still meant it. I finally was like ok, I’ve apologized for not being there what more can I do, she said nothing its unforgiveable, so I said ok and decided I had lost my friends. At this point I still would have been civil or willing to work things out if we tried a few months down the road. However, this was right after I started this blog I noticed a comment saying to visit their blog. It said some of the most hurtful things about me I’ve ever read. What gave it away and I knew it was them, was they used their initials for the title. I told my family and friends to look at it, they did and left some comments, the next day it was deleted. I saved a word document of what it said. I couldn’t believe they went this low and were just so hurtful. I decided at this point they weren’t worth my time or energy.

About 6 months later I started receiving threatening texts on my phone. They were local numbers and said my address, name and they were coming to get me that night. They said I better be careful and watch out that night. I was scared of course, in the back of my mind I thought it possibly could be them. They said it was Andrew, I had met a guy in Park City (he got my number off my car, I never physically met him) So I thought maybe it was him stalking me or something. I tried calling the number and they wouldn’t answer. I finally filed a police report to see if they could do anything. My dad after calling all night, finally had someone answer where we found it was a phone in a store at the mall. With the police we got permission to view the security cameras and see who it was. We found out it was Staci and Maranda. My dad really wanted to file charges, I did not because I was pretty certain they would never harm me. We never did, but the police did call them. A couple months later my car was egged. It was done over a Saturday night and we didn’t see it until Sunday morning after the sun had baked down on it. It permanently ruined my paint when we washed it off. We called the police again, obviously we couldn’t prove anything. Well, that’s the last big things that’s happened. I hope they’ve grown up and realized how stupid their actions were.

This is what I’d say to them if I could. I know you guys think you went through such a hard time and I don’t deserve to be friends with you. I finally am turning it back on you. How do you think I felt that entire time? In all honesty, I’m in such a better place now. I have friends that don’t make fun of me for every little thing. I was able to forget about all the drama and 100% focus on my education, getting done much faster then I ever hoped. I got closer to my family, for a long while I was quite the loser spending most of my time at home. I also became a better person overall. I was the one who realized the meaning of true friends, I realized how painful gossip is. Honestly, I hope to never see any of you again. Sadly since we went to the same high school, had a lot of the same friends and still live in the same city (as far as I’m aware) it’s caused me to be careful of my actions. I don’t think I’ll be able to go to any high school reunions. It has also ruined my reputation with a lot of people. Your families, I know you didn’t tell the real story to. I have no idea what you’ve said of why I suddenly disappeared, but it was four of you compared to me, so even if they didn’t think it was in my character they’d have to believe you because I didn’t want to be around you anymore to defend myself, honestly you became not worth it. Going back to what I was saying at the beginning. For a long, long time you weren’t worth my time thinking about this. Now though I’m ready to finally tell my side of the story, I’m not saying it was all your fault and not mine. I know there were a lot of communication problems and misunderstandings on both sides. I didn’t write this even expecting any of you to read it, but more for my own good, knowing the big picture what happened was not my fault. I tried to work things out, but there was only so much I can take. My last straw was reading that website about me, I couldn’t believe someone could be that cruel, let alone four of you. I’m glad I realized the type of people you became before I followed in your path.

Like I said before, in a way I consider it a blessing in disguise. A lot of them were heading in directions I didn’t want to go. I couldn’t imagine the place I’d be if I still associated with them.

Wow, what a weekend

2010-08-15T12:41:00.002-06:00

It has been eventful to say the least. Updating you all to my last post, I did get hypnotized. I think deep down I thought there's no way it would work on me, therefore I didn't care if people came to watch. I knew the true test for me would be doing it in front of people. If you know my personality in the least bit, I do not like being the center of attention, well last night I was along with I think 10 others. It's hard to describe the feeling. I remember pretty much everything I did, not really those around me, I just didn't care honestly. There also never was a moment when I was like I'm for sure hypnotized, it just happened. Anyway, I'm a believer. I always was in like hypnotherapy, but most of the time I thought the entertainment hypnosis people were just actors or wanted to do it for attention. I did order a video and as soon as it comes, I will relive the experience with anyone who wishes to see it. I know for those that were there with me, I will never hear the end of Stop Laughing!

On a different note, I went to the Rob Schneider comedy show on Friday. It was funny, some parts were a little bad, but what I expected you could say. We even got to meet him and get our picture with him (I'm not going to post it, I look like a giant compared to him) Anyway, all in all it was a good weekend, but I'm definitely ready for a relaxing Sunday.

Salt Lake County Fair :)

2010-08-12T21:41:00.003-06:00

Today, I made the executive decision that I am going to be hypnotized at the Salt Lake County Fair this Saturday the fourteenth day of August at the South Jordan Equestrian Park. I invite any and all to come witness this, I'm sure to be extremely embarrassing, moment in my life. As I'm typing this I realize the stalkers that are sure to exist on this world wide web, but they might not want to kidnap me after seeing what I do under hypnosis. In all seriousness (sorry I don't mean to make it sound like this sentence is important, haha) I really do want to go, we will see if the stars align. On a completely different note I FINALLY went back to the gym after my year hiatus and Sammi asking me for the past month, I just wish those places were free. It's like the dentist, you hate paying them but you gotta do it. Anyway, no worries I treated myself to some Cafe Rio immediately following the occasion. As a side note to the first topic, we did go to the fair last night. We walked around, I won an awesome pink dog after beating Sam in a game, and I of course got some fair food Yummy :) I also experienced something in the animal cages that I hope to never witness again. Well, I think that was random enough for one night...

Grandma's Funeral Video

2010-08-01T21:49:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. This is a link to the video I made for my Grandma's viewing/funeral. It was fun, although hard, to go through all her pictures and see some of the life experiences she's had.

http://eng.utah.edu/~mattson/gb.wmv

PS Sorry Mac users Jacob converted it into Windows Media player to be able to post online, so you'll have to either download an application to play it on Quicktime or borrow a PC. Hope you enjoy :)

Quote to describe me as of late...

2010-07-31T20:57:00.001-06:00

Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions. ~Brendan Francis

This is my excited face...

2010-07-28T21:22:00.000-06:00

I personally love the nerdy look :)

The Fairview Pioneer Day Experience

2010-07-28T21:07:00.003-06:00

This past weekend was a famous Utah holiday, the 24th of July or known around here as Pioneer Day. I headed down to Fairview with my family and a few bonus people (Lidia, Sam was sick and could make it, Sun and one of her friends) It was quite the day, started very early and we didn't get home until late.

(PS these pictures are in no specific order and I did not leave anyone out on purpose, to see if you made my photo album you may check my Facebook page and for pretty much the first part of the day I didn't take any pictures at all anyway)

This is Sun and her friend enjoying the derby. I think they think Americans are crazy for crashing cars into each other ;)

I was trying to get a cool picture of the fireworks...this works.

Chalice doing the chicken dance song

Me and Lidia after a very long, hot, tiring day. Do you like my sunburnt face?

JJ is fake smiling and I look like a scared Rudolph...

Well, I could go into all the details but basically we drove there, ate some breakfast, enjoyed the parade, played Apples to Apples, went to the car show, went to the carnival and ate a delicious Snowcone, came back to rest, went to the derby, enjoyed the fireworks and finally drove home only seeing one deer the entire way. How is that for in a nutshell?

Toes in the water...

2010-07-17T22:20:00.003-06:00

My mind is here lately, too bad my body is sitting on the couch in Salt Lake City.

Soo, funny story for the day, I was at the fabulous Costco gas station (PS I have a new love for Costco, today I saved $45 with coupons there) I was just minding my own business waiting in line for my turn. Well a big SUV was in front of me that I couldn't see around. And next to me is this "I'm better then you cause I drive an Audi" SUV. It then reverses and gets behind me, I didn't think much of it, figured the gas cap was on the opposite side of where he pulled in. Pretty soon he starts inching forward, I'm like ok dude I'm sure you have money but you won't be happy dealing with me if you hit my car. So I inch forward a little too. Pretty soon it flips around, passes me and the woman in passenger seat flips me off! I'm like ok...wasn't aware I was offending you. Apparently because I'm about the only one in this city who doesn't drive a Hummer and couldn't see around the big gas guzzler in front of me, the station in front was free. I honestly didn't care they cut in front of me (there was a good song on the radio I wanted to finish) but honestly, is it necessary to flip me off when you know we're stopping 10 feet from each other? Well the monster truck leaves and I pull in, I jumped out Costco Card in hand and go to fill up my tank. There was a very nice guy working who started talking to me, I said I felt bad I couldn't see the other station was empty he shrugged like yeah lady I really care. So, I decided it would be funny to call the guy on it who's wife thought it necessary to flip me off. He wasn't looking at me the entire time, finally when he went to go back in his car (he probably only filled the thing half up he was so afraid of me haha) I yelled over in the sweetest voice I could, sorry sir I couldn't see around the car. He just waved his hand down, got in his car and drove away. Well people, lesson for the day next time you get road rage, don't do it when you know for a fact you're going to be 10 feet away from them for a good 5 minutes. That is all, back to dreaming about the beach.

And I was doing so well...

2010-07-12T21:45:00.004-06:00

After my little "diet" plan to slow-down my Diet Coke consumption and try to cut back on the sweets (I have a serious problem with baked goods) I've pinpointed my recent downhill spiral back to my birthday where I may or may not have eaten (keep in mind my Grandpas birthday is the day before mine) at least 8 mini cupcakes, 4 slices of cake, an entire package of fun size Snickers bars, a King size snickers bar, Diet Coke until I exploded, carrot cake and I'm sure much more I'm conveniently forgetting right now. And I was doing so good before this! I had my Diet Coke down to 2 a day, very minimal sweets and I wouldn't eat anything just out of boredom, I made the decision to eat it. I had lost 7 pounds too, well I'm pretty sure that's back plus 10. Again, I take it back to my birthday because obviously you can have one day, but that one day turned into two in celebration of my Grandpas birthday and even a few days before that in celebration of Pat being here and after that because I couldn't let all the treats go to waste. Well this is what it's turned too...

Me placing a take-out order and driving seriously out of the way to enjoy a $1.89 piece of scone heaven.
*Ahem* Word of advice never go grocery shopping when you've had a bad day, you buy a bunch of things you normally wouldn't because you feel sorry for yourself. That's what these were all about and yup, I've already eaten 3 tonight along with the scone I had an excellent dinner.
Wow, should we even bring this up. I've been better today only 3. Saturday, well we just won't even go there....

I really hope to get back to where I was before. It's sad though I have no motivation like before and I don't know why I lost it. Hopefully I find it soon before I get so big I have to be rolled out of the house and I no longer fit into my car...

PS I miss my Grandma soo much lately, I know she would comment saying something like KayCee you just got to do it, do you want to be 400 pounds and trying to marry Kyle Korver? And that Diet Coke is going to eat your stomach apart! You could stand to lose a little weight (I always laughed coming from a woman who weighed 90 pounds on a good day and was always so worried about gaining weight) Oh how I miss her.

What I've been up to instead of blogging...

2010-07-03T16:10:00.002-06:00

Miscommunicating with my sisters about our photo shoot for Father's Day presents-JJ thought it'd only take 2 minutes to get a picture and didn't understand why we needed to bring an outfit change (for some funnier and a bit more scandalous pictures visit my Facebook)
Catching my Grandpa making this pose at me. Check out his hat...yes he did put it that way himself.
Enjoying the peacefulness of Temple Square on numerous occasions.
Walking by this spot and realizing I found the perfect picture.

Well, it may seem kinda boring but that's what the beginning of my summer has entailed. I also threw a birthday in there, a few barbques, concerts and of course work. Hope you are all enjoying the heat as well!

A few letters

2010-06-10T21:59:00.004-06:00

Dear Lakers,

I hope you lose.

Dear KayCee's back,

Please feel better, like right now. I'm about ready to go crazy if I have to deal with this pain for one more day.

Dear weekend,

Please get here sooner.

Dear boys,

Why did you all choose around the same time to act all weird.

Dear Utah weather,

Please decide if it's summer, winter or spring. Don't change your mind each hour of the day.

Dear books,

I can't believe I've started two of you and two weeks later I'm still not done. I promise you're good, let's blame the back for not being able to sit long enough to read.

Dear patience,

Do you enjoy testing me with all this stuff at once?

Dear Apple,

Must you release the most amazing looking phone a week before my birthday to tempt me even more?

Dear Ice Cream,

I love you, why do you have to make me sick though?

Dear Brownies & Cake & Cookies,

Don't worry I still love you more then ice cream.

Dear Diet Coke,

Can you believe how well we've done in our recent venture of parting ways?

Dear allergies,

Why do you still have to bother me when I'm on a prescription to eliminate you?

Dear insurance companies,

Let's not even start...

Dear cardboard boxes,

Next time you decide to fall out of a truck on a freeway, make sure my brand new car with no scratches isn't behind you.

Dear Mazda,

Please fix the scratch the stupid box made :)

Dear roommates,

I swear its 40 degrees in our house. Is it really only me that's always cold?

Dear Mr. Korver,

I pretty much love you. I know you'd feel the same the second you knew I existed :)

Sincerely, KayCee

Time reflections

2010-06-02T21:26:00.003-06:00

Do you ever wish you could go back in time? Do you ever wonder if one single silly choice in life could possibly change everything? This is a topic where if you think too far into it, your head will spin. I'm reading a book right now called The Golden Spiral, its about these people who've traveled through time and one of them (the bad guy) tries to go back in time to change the main characters life around. She remembers her real past, but her family and friends only believe what he's changed. I've just been thinking about that lately, especially the time of life I'm in and all the big choices I'm required to make at my age. And I'm not necessarily just talking about the bad decisions. For example my major, going to school for anything is obviously a good thing. Well, what if I choose the wrong one for me. Sure, I have a degree, but was it the right choice? Overall, I'm glad there's no time travel, but I will admit there are definitely moments I wish I could change. And I still miss my Grandma like crazy. One thing I do wish is go back in time and spend more of it with her, especially these last few months. She was one of the few people I could tell everything to and I never had to worry about what she thought of me, I really miss her.

I love days off...

2010-05-31T20:14:00.000-06:00

In honor of my Grandmother

2010-05-25T21:57:00.003-06:00

What a crazy past few weeks. Exactly three weeks ago my Grandma was taken to the emergency room, because of breathing problems thought mostly because of her history with emphysema. It was only realized after she had pneumonia as well as a mild heart attack somewhere in there. After a weeklong hard fought battle, she passed away surrounded by our family on Tuesday, May 11. It has been one of the hardest things I've been through and I know as time goes on, it may get harder. We had our first Sunday dinner without her there this past Sunday and it just felt so empty. I know eventually I'll slowly begin to heal. I find the greatest comfort knowing as long as I live my life being the best person I can be and keeping close to Heavenly Father I will see her again someday. In a way watching her during that week helped me let go, I knew how much she was suffering and that she was able to be released from her worldly body pains was a good comfort during such a hard time. I also had the opportunity to put together a "life video" if you will for the viewing and funeral. It was neat being able to look through all her pictures (JJ just happened to get a copy of every picture she had on her computer a few months ago) and seeing what she's done in life. She was so funny, she'd speak her mind and never left you guessing what she thought, and she was so pretty. I tell everyone I want to grow up and look just like her, not a lot of people would say that and truly mean it about their grandparents, but if I happen to get her genes in my older years I will feel very blessed. I feel very lucky I was able to have her as a grandmother for 22 years of my life. She was such a huge part of my life and in a way that makes this process harder, but I don't have any regrets. I now have all the memories of the past 22 years. I will work a little harder each day in honor of her and strive to become a better person to one day see her again.

Betty Jean Daniels Burnside Broadhead 1929 ~ 2010 She died peacefully Tuesday, May 11, 2010, surrounded by her family. She had fought a courageous battle against Emphysema for five years.Betty was born April 3, 1929 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, daughter of Charles H. and Alice H. Andersen Daniels. She attended school in Eureka, Utah and North Sanpete High School, Mt. Pleasant, Utah, graduating in 1947. Married Bernard Burnside in 1953; he died in 1960. Married Kent S. Broadhead October 1, 1966 in Ely, Nevada; sealed for time and eternity in the Jordan River Temple September 10, 1997. Betty worked in earlier years for Mt. Bell Telephone Company in Salt Lake City. After marriage she "retired" to spend her remaining years as a mother, wife and grandmother. In the 1960's she was deeply involved in the Scouting program. In 1999-2000 Betty and Kent served as LDS missionaries in East and West Malaysia, part of the Singapore Mission. Betty states this was the happiest time in her life. She was a faithful visiting teacher and edited the monthly ward Relief Society news letter for several years. She was an ultimate organizer and a "Momma Bear" for her extended family. She was a Red Hatter, member of the DUP and an avid family historian. Her survivors include children: Raymond Shepherd, Phoenix, AZ; Ralynn (Robert) Buttars, Kearns, UT; Craig (Janet) Broadhead, St. George, UT; Charles (Sandy) Burnside, Taylors-ville, UT; Bret Burnside, Taylorsville, UT; also brothers Mont (Mary Jean ) Daniels, Ephraim, UT; Gary ( Gwen) Daniels, Murray, UT; Dennis (Milly) Daniels, West Valley City, UT; Michael (Karen) Daniels, Santaquin, UT; a sister, Patsy Joan Daniels, Terre Haute, IN; 13 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren. The family requests no flowers. If you choose, make a donation to the Perpetual Education Fund or a charity of your choice. Funeral services will be held Monday, May 17, 2010, 11:00 a.m. at the Jordan Stake Center, 3700 West 4700 S., Taylorsville, UT. Friends and family may attend a viewing Sunday, 6-8 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road, Taylorsville, UT and Monday at the church, 10-10:45 a.m. Interment, Provo City Cemetery.

Awesome...

2010-05-13T21:02:00.003-06:00

As I'm going through all my Grandma's pictures to put on the video for her funeral (they'll be another post for that) I found this jewel of a picture. Yup, that's me I was a complete nerd awesome right? I'm not even ashamed of my total geeky days.

A little bit of luck...

2010-05-10T21:03:00.004-06:00

I know it seems like I fell off the face of the Earth or something, I promise I'm here just a rough last couple of weeks. With that said, I decided to post something good that happened. We all know my little secret crush, right? Well, he has this non-profit clothing line where all the proceeds go to those in need. Specifically, helping families in Utah one example is a girl who's been in a wheelchair and doesn't have easy access into her house. The family didn't have a lot of money to build a ramp, so his foundation did it for her. It's actually really neat, its called Seer. Each shirt has a different symbol on it for courage or integrity, different things like that. Anyway, I've always wanted to get one to support the cause, except they're $25. I knew it was going towards a good cause, just had a hard time spending that much. Well, in honor of the playoffs they had a contest whoever was the certain number to buy shirts would win a signed jersey donated by the Jazz players. It would correspond to their jersey number, so Kyle's was whoever bought the 26th shirt. Well....guess who that happened to be??? I was beyond excited. It is now framed and hanging up proudly by the light as you walk into my room. Now I have two signed pictures and the jersey...I'm making progress :)

These are my....

2010-04-20T22:51:00.003-06:00

I've had a bad week, my mouth still hurts, I'm finally over the stupid boy, found them on clearance, got fed up with members yelling at me, yay finally found the perfect size, most awesome red ever, really don't have the money but don't really care......

Shoe.

I'm. In. Love.

What do you think?

Go Jazz!

2010-04-19T21:59:00.003-06:00

As I'm rocking out in my Jazz jersey (#26 of course) while listening to them pound on Denver (it's only halftime hopefully it continues), I decided I really want to go to the game Friday. Anyone have an extra ticket, front row by the Jazz bench?? Come on, I know you want to take me : )

Poked and Prodded

2010-04-18T21:27:00.003-06:00

I'm back...for a short time. So, this was the week of being poked and prodded. I went to a specialist for the other stuff going on, where of course they wanted to run all the blood work again, I then ended up with a nasty bruise on my arm from it. On Friday I had to get the last set of wisdom teeth out. This story is kinda gross, just warning you. So, the second I get in there they take me back (it was on a Friday at 5:00 of course he wanted to go home for the weekend) I sit in the little chair and they put the little napkin thing over me and have me open my mouth. I'm thinking oh he's just using his little mirror to check it out so its safe to open my eyes. Well at that exact moment he had the novacaine shot coming right at me! I started freaking out (well in my head) He then does the other side and I'm scared to open my eyes for fear something scarier will be coming at me. So, he starts pulling on my left side, I feel pressure but not really any pain. Next thing I know his hand slams down on my jaw (maybe not THAT dramatic...) but it just popped right out. Well, then the tooth I could feel in my mouth and he couldn't get it out! I was beyond grossed out and was like get it out, with my mouth full of blood. He tries for the next tooth and I felt a sharp pain. I grabbed his arm and he finally got the hint and stopped. After two more shots of novacaine he tried again. I could still feel it, not too bad but I didn't want anymore shots so I just grabbed the chair. Well again, it finally popped out and the tooth was in my mouth. Luckily this time he got it easier. I was in and out in 20 minutes. Luckily, Lidia was there to take my home (I could have driven myself but after giving myself a panic attack I was so shaky and grateful for the company) All in all I"m doing pretty good. I've had to take minimal pain meds, just ibuprofen and my biggest complaint has been a constant headache I've had. I hope I don't have to go to any more doctors for a long long time. And one good thing I'm done with the wisdom teeth. Only a few more days of soft foods and I'll be good as new!

PS I don't think I"ll be eating any more pudding for a long time

Pity post

2010-04-12T00:01:00.003-06:00

After a lot of thinking, I've decided to do this post. Even though he may read it (although I'm very doubtful) I feel this will start giving me some sense of closure. Before you all get too confused (although most everyone who I know reads this already knows) Cameron told me he can't pictures his life without his ex-girlfriend in it. I found out Thursday night, I was mad, beyond mad. Then Friday came and I got sad (I cried at work again, I really need to get out of that habit) I feel like since Thursday up to now I've been through every emotion possible. I've never really been through this before and quite honestly it sucks. It's interesting for a few months now I've been saying I just don't see it working out with us and it was almost like my mind was slowly preparing me for it to happen, I think I just thought it'd be me to have to do it. I was completely blindsided when he told me the reason. And I know in the end it all works out. I probably had to go through this all for a reason, but that doesn't make it any better. Many of you I'm sure have noticed I've been a bit anti-social. I'm trying I really am, but I really just feel like being closed off for a bit and I promise if there's anything I need, I know where to go.

On a completely different note I got my ears pierced on Saturday. I had to get some make-up at Fashion Place and a few months back Sam tried to get me to do it. I said no, we didn't have time or something, well this time she asked and I just went along with it. I also ate some sort of nasty sushi, was it squid?? I'm not sure anyway, I was getting my hair done Friday night and Lidia was planning to go to dinner with friends who hadn't seen her since she's been back but she wanted someone to go with so she took Sam. Well, they decided it would be fun to bring leftovers home and make me try them, yeah what got me was the texture, but at least I swallowed it. I also went to Grandma's birthday party Saturday night. It was a good turnout and good to see everyone even if I was being a little anti-social. Well, that's it for now. If I go into hiding don't be surprised :)

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T21:40:00.004-06:00

(Visit my Facebook for more pictures)

This year Easter landed during conference weekend. Well, of course you have to color eggs! Since it was Priesthood session and the guys usually go to that, the girls, since it was Grandma's birthday went to her house for a delicious dinner JJ made and colored eggs when the guys got back. We had quite the eventful evening. Sun had some Chinese friends who've never experienced and American Easter before, so they came over. Grandma also wanted funnel cakes for her birthday. Let's just say JJ and Sun are a tiny bit accident prone and somehow the container of powdered sugar ended up on Grandma. I'm not sure how I missed it, but JJ had to vacuum her off. Needless to say it was still a good night.

Here's Grandpa looking for his next color and Chalice super excited for her egg to be done.

The entire table, we had about 6 dozen eggs.

One of the few ones I did.

Grandma even got into it!

The Chinese girls enjoying their first Easter tradition.

Jacob had fun with the hair. I however refused to eat them, they decided super glue would work best to keep the hair on....

And finally the Easter Bunny visited me and Sam. I was going to try and sneak out before she got up, but she slept on the couch. We still enjoyed putting the puzzles together during conference. I was even going to make her hunt for the eggs, but decided this was enough. Hope everyone else had a good Easter!

Happy April Fool's

2010-04-01T22:26:00.003-06:00

I could have gotten really creative and come up with a scheme to trick everyone, but I just didn't have the brain power. I could have also done something really obvious that was a joke like I'm engaged or I'm eloping tomorrow or something, but who are we kidding you all wouldn't believe that. So, I will leave it at this, Happy April Fool's Day. I also pinky swore with Sam last night I wouldn't do anything to her or I'd warn her if I knew anything would happen. I considered the typical stuff like put an elastic over the sink sprayer so when she turned it on it would squirt her among other things, but decided it wasn't worth the trouble because I'd probably forget about it and end up getting myself. Onto a completely different topic I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately. In another month it'll be a year since I graduated. And true recent graduates aren't expected to be presidents of companies quite yet, but I feel like I'm in idle mode. My entire life has been geared towards working to the next goal. In high school it was working to get to college. In college it was working hard to get scholarships, then to graduating. Now that I"m out, I feel I'm taking the easy, float along path. Sure, I'm not a couch potato (except for the fact I got home at 6:15 tonight, started dinner, was in pajamas by 6:30, fixed a plate, sat down at the couch by 6:45 with my food and a movie and currently sitting here still just with a Diet Coke) I mean I at least have a job, go to Church and try to be an active part of society at times ex. sorority, the caucus meeting (yeah I'm not doing volunteer work in Africa, but its a start) But besides all that, nothing. I had planned to get my Master's. In reality I'd need to set those plans in place now to be there next school year. I'd have to retake the GRE, decide what program, get letters of recommendation things that take months of preparation, yet what am I doing...watching Friends and Facebook stalking people. I know this is getting repetitive, I'm more or less just sorting out in my mind what I should be doing or goals I should be working at. Maybe grad school isn't for me, but I need to be actively making myself a better person. Get more involved, more charity work, more involved with Church. Even though sitting wrapped in a blanket on the couch by 6:30 every night isn't good, I know its not my life calling and I need to try a little harder to be a little better.

Cancun...where are you??

2010-03-28T20:58:00.002-06:00

Another week down with another weekend gone even faster :( Overall it was a good week, I had a lot going on during nights, so I didn't have a lot of time for rest. I had to go to the much anticipated traffic school for my ticket. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought, it was just knowing I paid $30 for it and the fact I could think of about 10 other things I'd rather be doing. I also went to my neighborhood Caucus meeting. My dad was elected a county delegate, I was tempted to ask someone to nominate me to like secretary (since you don't really do anything, you just get the title) but decided to let it go to old people :) Work was good minus me having a random mini meltdown for no reason. Luckily Shannon was the only one to see me and I was in control before I totally lost it, I really don't know what to blame, it was just a bunch of stupid little things that added up and I also blame the pill which I started taking this week, hopefully it will cure the other problems that have been going on. It's weird never before has things like that really bothered me. Part of it I think was knowing I would be giving Bella away the next day. Yup, my parents made me do it. I'm still really sad about the matter, but am slowly getting over it by not thinking about it. I also had to go to the dentist for a cleaning where he told me I have to get my top wisdom teeth out soon. If you remember on two separate occasions I've had both my bottom ones out. They became infected and it was just bad. He wants to get the top two out before I have the same problem. I'm really nervous, I hate the dentist more then anything. He says these shouldn't be that bad, but still can it really be any fun?? Besides that, there's nothing really else big to report I could really use a vacation, Cancun is calling to me...

Another weekend

2010-03-21T22:45:00.003-06:00

It was a good weekend overall, there were great points and bad points (really the only bad point was being sick Sunday), but overall it would rank as good. I went to another Jazz game with friends, lunch at Nielsens, watched some movies and pretty much just relaxed. I also did a much needed detail job on my car, inside and out. Now hopefully it doesn't rain again soon. I also brought my guitar to my new house. I decided I need to venture out in playing. I know the notes but not really chords, which is opposite of most people. I also need to broaden my horizon on the genres I can play. Yes, church music is lovely, but I want to learn more. Hopefully bringing it here will encourage me to play more. I wanted to start tonight, but decided people probably wouldn't appreciate that at 10:00 on a Sunday night. No worries, I'll keep you all posted when I start a band and make it big :) if you're lucky I'll give you free tickets to my concerts.

Blog reading

2010-03-16T22:33:00.004-06:00

So, I was rereading some of my Grandma's old blog posts. Look at this one she did of me from two years ago. Here's the link to her blog don't you love my awesome glasses and mushroom hairstyle? I need to be better about posting pictures, but this will have to do for now at least the more recent ones aren't quite as embarrassing. It's quite fun to occasionally look back a few months even now I've had this long enough to go back a couple years to see what my life was like then compared to now. Well, I need some sleep....tomorrow and we're halfway through the week!

Vent post

2010-03-15T22:48:00.002-06:00

I have no real reason to need to vent today other then I just feel like it. In all reality today was ok for a Monday, I wouldn't call it a great day but it wasn't bad either. Well, for whatever reason I feel like venting so here goes with a list of things that annoy me lately...

1. Sandy City, the police and justice court I have no idea why I moved here, but after receiving a ticket in a stupid speed trap when I tried to tell the guy I just came from the hospital....haha it was true although not really an excuse, he still gave me a ticket and after being told to keep calling back even though I waited the alloted time period, I was finally told today its going to be 90 bucks and was seriously like pulling teeth to find out who I pay and if I can go to traffic school

2. Utah drivers, when I come up behind you in the fast lane and you're going 60 it is common courtesy for you to change lanes not me

3. Qwest, where to begin with them from having 3 different people tell me I needed a new modem even when I read them the model number, by some stroke of luck I got I think the only nice technician they had who came out and made sure it really did work, to then being told they couldn't reverse the shipping on my bill because the account is too new, what kind of excuse is that??

4. Snow on the weekend and bright shiny days during the week when we're stuck inside all day

5. Discover card, I was transferred three different times each time a blind transfer so I had to explain it over again and kept getting sent to the wrong person, one chick sent me to her supervisor he thought I was mad from the beginning once I realized that I started to act like I was.

6. Knowing more then what the customer service person you're talking to does and you've never worked for the company

7. Semi's who cut me off then glare at me, what the heck dude you're lucky I noticed and changed lanes

8. Dramatic girls who talk about boys because they think its still cool (this one is actually kinda funny to sit back and watch)

9. Boys who text the entire date and have a 5 minute conversation with you after you've paid for everything

10. In reference to number 9 boys who text a girl the entire time but tilt the phone away and pretend they're not doing it, even though I saw the name when they first started doing it

11. Being third wheel in awkward moments

And finally hitting every red light making you 10 minutes late when really you left home 5 minutes early that morning thinking you'd have time to stop and get an amazingly refreshing Diet Coke instead to have to rush to make it on time.

Weekend where are you?

2010-03-10T22:31:00.002-07:00

Seriously, where are you? After ruining a boxed dummy proof pasta salad tonight (I know and yes it is possible), waking up twice in the middle of sleepwalking last night and turning into a major space cadet at work I've realized I just really need the weekend. Some good rest, relaxation and just time to chill and I think I'll be good as new. I just wish these next two days would go super fast :)

Reflections

2010-02-28T21:00:00.004-07:00

As I'm sitting here at this mess I call a room, I'm reflective what I've been through growing up in here. It's a bittersweet moment. I'm soo excited for this new adventure and truly feels its the next step I need to be taking, however, anytime there's change it's always hard. I spent much of yesterday getting the big stuff moved in. I bought a new couch, bed, bookcase and of course got my lovesac and tv there. They were nice enough to let us start moving in then instead of everything tomorrow. Now I'm left deciding what to take from my old room, my parents are nice enough to let me leave everything else here, mostly furniture that won't fit or little trinkets that I'm not sure I'll want right at first. I'm also deciding on what things to keep. Of course I"d love to keep every little thing that serves as a memory of something, but on the other hand it's not worth it. I also officially am not a primary teacher anymore. That one was the hardest to give up. I love the kids I teach, they really let me go with a bang today, I had seven! I've had this calling for the last two years and a couple months and I've just loved it. I love seeing the new sunbeams come at the beginning of the year and how they just cry, but after a couple weeks they're so excited and run to give you a hug. I also learned a few lessons from them:

1. any problem can be solved with a sticker

2. bribery only works for about 2 minutes

3. don't expect 3 year olds to listen for more then a 5 minute lesson

4. it's not uncommon to have 3 prayers during a class, beginning, middle and closing or sometimes two closings or sometimes a prayer for everyone in the class to take a turn

5. kids don't care if you're a good singer or not, so might as well just do it and not care

6. they really are smart, I'm shocked at some of the things they can remember

I'm excited where this new adventure will take me in life. It helps that I'm still living in the same valley as my parents and can come home whenever I need to. I promise I"ll post pictures as soon as everything is put together!

PS my bed is just as amazing as I was hoping and expecting I can't wait :)

51 things about me (because 101 was too hard)-go me two posts in one day

2010-02-24T22:26:00.003-07:00

1. I I really really wish I was still in school, not necessarily working on my undergrad still, but in grad school

I planned to go to law school up until about a year ago

I’d be a millionaire if I took stock in Diet Coke

I’ve always loved dogs instead of having toy barbies and dolls as a kid I had dogs

I play the guitar

I really only know how to play church hymns and Green Day on the guitar, random yes I know

I love anything Disney

My favorite color is purple

Of course my heart lies with Utah but I’m really not a BYU hater I only say stuff to start controversy J

I’m extremely afraid of heights

I’m even more afraid of snakes

I wouldn’t eat a cheeto for a million bucks

I don’t really like pre-packaged food items for example Little Debbie snacks, twinkies even really chips

Because of 13 I should be skinny but I have a weakness for fresh bakery items

I can’t sleep in a comforter or sheets only on top with blankets (I didn’t think this was weird until a little Park City adventure and apparently it is…)

I have to do my laundry at least once a week even if I have clean clothes

I generally have a weeks worth of outfits picked out in my head

When I was in school and crazy obsessive planner I used to write out my weekly outfits…so I promise I am getting better

I used to never be able to procrastinate when it came to homework…then college came

Sometimes I still feel like I just graduated high school and I truly can’t believe I have a higher education degree

I love Mormon novel authors

I love apple products

I love Victoria’s Secret

I’m always cold and generally have a coat or sweater with me just in case

I’m usually over-prepared, if you need something I probably have it buried in my purse somewhere

Sometimes I wish I was shorter and sometimes taller

I always get frustrated with my hair but apparently I should be grateful for it and “supposedly” compared to others its really easy to do

I love Rocket Dog and DC shoes

I have a tiny crush on Kyle Korver

I love all sports and watch them even more then my dad

I love sugar cookies with frosting

The way to my heart is through Diet Coke

I love Friends

I love purses and have a ton of them

I love shoes and have a ton of them sadly I don’t wear a lot of them, mostly because I hate being taller then everyone

I love jewelry

I don’t have my ears pierced….yet

My favorite temple is Draper

Sometimes I think I should have been raised during the 1950’s

I have two of the best dogs in the world

I secretly love the Bachelor and Biggest Loser, well maybe not so secretly

I still listen to Nsync and Backstreet Boys

I don’t mind going to movies by myself

I’m a pretty good stalker, blogs, Facebook…in person….

I’ve traveled to two foreign countries

I’ve now become addicted to traveling

I’m terrified to snorkel again after the stupid fish attacked me

I still can’t believe I went parasailing…it was sooo high up

I’m in a very happy place in life right now

I wonder what the next step in life will be

I go to the “old lady” quilt night at my ward…the next youngest one there is my mom

The month of February

2010-02-24T21:39:00.003-07:00

As I was rereading the last few posts I decided I need to do a little spell check. I just want you all to know I'm not that special in how I write, moving right along this post will probably have just as many but oh well if it's bothersome don't read ;) just kidding. Anyway, Monday is official move out day. Guess who hasn't started packing or anything, yup me. So, if any of you have recently moved and have boxes you're willing to donate I'll gladly take them. I'm not even sure what to blog about I just decided to since I haven't in a couple weeks, I don't even have a topic to discuss. I'll do the usual, a recap. So Valentine's day was celebrated in a better way this year (most of you know I really don't like the holiday and no not just because its "single awareness day") it happened to be when Chinese New Year fell and since we've "adopted" a Chinese girl into our family what perfect excuse to celebrate it. She volunteered to make us a super delicious, authentic meal from there. I'm sorry (especially to Grandma) I didn't get any pictures. I did make heart cookies for the occasion, you can see the mouth watering picture of those on my Facebook :) I've been reading more, I just finished one haven't started anything new I decided to get through moving first. I decided I'm a little sad about losing my sunbeam teacher calling (I'm pretty happy about the blood drive one, its ironic they give it to someone who can't donate themselves...) Sunday will be my last day teaching. I figure I have the rest of my life to be a sunbeam teacher and only now to go to a singles ward so might as well take that step, plus I'll have Chalice to give me updates on how they're doing. This week I also had a little almost ER scare. I had the most unbearable stomach pain of my life Sunday. I almost went to the ER thinking it was appendicitis. I decided to wait it out a bit and luckily it calmed down. I was able to get into my doctor Tuesday for tests and still waiting for results. The doctor for now has me taking some sort of OTC "good" kind of bacteria...its like acidiphulus or something. Has anyone heard of it? Its supposed to treat lactose-intollerance and IBS which he thinks is the problem, a flare up of that. I hope that's all it is and this stuff seems to be helping for the day I've been taking it although I still have a sharp pain not sure what that's from. Anyway, my car is still fun although at times I'm sad I don't have a manual transmission anymore, its one of those sports shift where it can be automatic or you put it in manual mode, but its just not the same. I also went to another Jazz game and will also be going to one in March for sorority which should be fun. Ok, I realized I'm just starting to babble now and figuring a title for this post will be hard...but its just a recap of the last couple weeks and a preview of what's coming....I'll post pics once we're moved in and settled.

I'm growing up!

2010-02-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

(This is oddly going to sound exactly like Sam’s post but I was thinking almost the exact same thing to say, she just did it first) As of last night, I’m officially moving out. It’s this super cute condo in Sandy, so I’ll be really close to work. I’m excited for this new adventure in life, plus I feel it’s a really good deal for what we’re getting it for and it’s almost brand new. I’ll post pics once we move in, in March and get things settled. I’ve thought about this for quite awhile, just didn’t want to make it public until everything was for sure, these things can easily change. With where I’m at in life, I decided becoming independent was a good step for me in life. But we signed the lease documents last night. Now the big question is, do I take Bella and should I buy a new bedroom set??

2009 in Review

2010-01-30T16:01:00.003-07:00

I officially need the world's worst blogger award. It's sad because I even have moments, where I'm like I need to blog about this, then I just forget or get too busy. I don't have a need to always be on my computer like before when I was in school, so I hardly ever turn it on anymore. I promise I'll try to get better, even if its short posts. I haven't blogged since the new year and I'll start by saying I"m not really a fan of New Year's Resolutions. I mean they're great for some people, but personally I like to be working on things all during the year, although the end of year can be good to review things, I don't generally make new goals only at the beginning of a year. With that said I'll do a little recap of 2009, overall it was a decent year with a lot of changes. I became a college graduate, I went on four airplane ride trips I like to call them (I don't generally consider camping trips as vacations) on those were some of the best and worst moments of 2009. I started a new "career" type job and considering the economic time of 2009, that is a huge deal. I welcomed a new family member, yes I am talking about the dog Bella although not all days do I like to claim her. I successfully went through 2009 without a car accident :) I became quite the daredevil by zip-lining in one of the top places in the world, went parasailing over the ocean, swam with dolphins and swam in the second largest coral reef in the world. I witnessed the first African American being sworn into presidential office. I had the great opportunity of free tickets to Jazz home games when I would shoot for them. I had the opportunity to join an LDS sorority, something I didn't do while I was a student, but am grateful for the opportunity. I had the opportunity to attend a funeral for a family member, I wish I didn't have to say bye to quite so soon, but know she's in a better body and had a greater need not on this earth. All in all it was a good year for me and I'm excited to see what 2010 brings. I've already had a lot of fun this month. Shelley for Christmas gave me tickets to an absolute amazing Jazz vs. Suns game on Monday. Even though I was sick and had no voice, I was screaming with excitement. I've also started sorority back up, there seems to be some fun activities coming up. I'm still a sunbeam teacher, now with 6 little kidlets. They're fun but definitely a handful. My car is still so much fun to drive. I'm a little shocked I haven't gotten a ticket yet, I guess I know when and when not to speed :) (hopefully the insurance company doesn't read this) Well, here's to 2010 I'm sure it will be a good one!

Out with the old...in with the new!

2010-01-04T21:30:00.003-07:00

December 31, 2009 was the end of a year, decade and life with this little car....

(sorry it was taken in the dark with my camera phone)

And January 1, 2010 new year, decade started with this fun little thing...

This very beautiful 2010 gunmetal blue Mazda 3 Touring. I LOVE it, although I miss my bug, we've been through a lot. I got an amazing deal and that was the only reason I did it. Well...and it's a lot of fun to drive and has some awesome extras, like bluetooth in the car, automatic with sport shift and of course new car smell.

A Cancun/Christmas/Month of December post

2009-12-29T19:07:00.004-07:00

What a blog slacker am I.... So, let's attempt to fix that. Since I last wrote you, I went on the most amazing trip to Cancun, Mexico. It was 5 days 4 nights of wonderful relaxation as well as some crazy adventure. Sam and I embarked on this journey at a very early 7:10 flight out of SLC on Sunday Dec 6. Any international flight requires you have the bags checked at least an hour before the flight, so it was a very early 4:00 am start to the day. We arrived in Cancun to very humid weather, I was wearing my winter coat and a thick jacket, not the most comfortable trip to the hotel before we could change. Cancun is very Americanized, I almost felt like I was in America, except of course they only have the Coca lite, but no worries I survived :) oh and Sam getting questioned at every checkpoint we went through in the airports, not sure if they thought she was a terrorist or not. Our hotel was very nice, we were extremely impressed, it was the Grand Oasis Caribbean and we'd highly recommend it. It was a more quiet hotel, but you could walk to any of the Oasis sister properties which all were more "lively" and hang out there.

This is a picture of us parasailing, the little white dot is the boat and that's our feet dangling up in the air.

This is up in the air parasailing, the picture doesn't do it justice exactly how high up it was. I highly recommend trying it at least once in life, it's a different feeling then I expected. I even got a little motion sickness just because it makes you sway a little.

Right before parasailing we went for about an hour snorkeling in the second largest reef in the world. It scared me more then anything, but I'm glad I did it at least once, not sure I could do it again though :)

We also went swimming with dolphins, I have a picture on my facebook. It was an amazing and much needed vacation, mostly just letting my brain have a break. I want to go back so bad, I don't think I could handle it during spring break the party time, we figured early December was perfect. THat about sums up the Cancun trip, I know I"m forgetting big events, but I'll try to highlight the most important ones. Christmas this year, I got a huge surprise a new dog! Her name is Bella, I was told she was only 8 months, but after taking her to my vet she's actually between 2-5. She's a Cavalier King Charles and is very cute. She's like the dog on Lady and the Tramp, I"ll get a picture up soon enough. We also did the annual Christmas Eve sitting on Santa's lap. I seriously have a picture from every year of my childhood up until now. SO this is officially my 22nd picture (please don't mind the fact that sweater somehow makes me look pregnant)

It was a very nice Christmas, we did breakfast here hung out the rest of the day (mostly tried to keep Bella from attacking Sam) and finally went to my Grandma's brothers (my great uncle) house for a light dinner and talk with extended family. It was also nice I got off on 2:00 Christmas Eve and had the rest of the weekend off. I'm excited, this week we have the same schedule for New Year's. Well this is probably enough for now, I swear I'll be better, it's just hard to want to get on the computer at home when I have to stare at one all day at work.

Marathon post for month of November

2009-12-01T22:46:00.011-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a real post with pictures and all. I'll try to sum everything up and I'm using the help of my phone camera, I generally take pics of interesting events in life, so I'll skip over the usual you know I'm still working, eating, sleeping and all that fun stuff. So we ended with you all knowing I met Kyle Korver and really life could have ended that night and I would have been happy. Well, I began the day with a nice trip to the very pretty Draper Temple, as I cut across seriously 5 weddings, I just now after the several times I've been there realized where the second entrance was and the wedding picture crashing was unnecessary although still fun. It was really pretty that day though. So, the meeting of Kyle Korver....well I remembered hearing vaguely if you donated a coat you got a voucher to go to an autograph signing with him after a game. I heard it on the news at 6:00, I called a friend who was just getting off work, he met me down at Gateway as I was buying the coats, we bought tickets and were in the door by 7:00. Even though the Jazz lost, it was still one of my most favorite nights. As we were waiting to meet him, they let us go out on the court and get a picture, I only had my phone so not the best picture. It was awesome being down on the court and looking up to the stands. They wouldn't let us take pictures with him, but he signed a picture. If I would have been smart I would have bought a jersey then he could have signed me :) It was definitely a highlight of life to this point.

One night a few weeks ago I was in a fraternity pageant. I completely blame Sam for it. She convinced me to sign up and oh it'll be so much fun. Well guess what she bailed because she was "getting her hair done" yeah I totally believe it too ;) Anyway, I decided I need to just go, be brave and see if I could have fun. We were supposed to dress up, I took a picture I was Miss Malibu Barbie, I'm sad I took it after taking all my jewelry off, my sash and you can barely see how awesomely 80's my hair and make-up was, I of course didn't place anything, but still had fun.

Well, onto more important things, sports! I had the opportunity to go to the much anticipated Utah/BYU rivalry game. My work sponsors the Duel, so we were into it all week. My friend Wendy invited me on Thursday, three days before I of course said yes. We even went to the tailgate party, Party in Provo. It was a long, extremely tiring day, but I had a blast.

These are my nails for the week getting into the spirit.

This is us Utah fans terrorizing the streets of Provo :) we were also welcoming the team.

Me and my friend Wendy at the tailgate party watching the TCU game and freezing our behinds off.

And finally game time! The stands got much more crowded, even though we lost it was still fun among all the Utah fans.

Well there you have it, my last few weeks wrapped into one. Thanksgiving was also in there, I meant to do a post, but I truly am blessed for all I have and thankful for everything especially after seeing all the things I do have. I also got sick (part of the reason my lack of blogging) a sinus infection and possibility I had swine flu the doctor said even though I didn't have the typical symptoms, but what I did have he said some people's bodies just take it differently so who knows. Anyway, I'm almost 1o0% better so that's good. Christmas decorations are up and I'm off to Cancun in a few days! I'll try to be better at the updates from now on :)

A pathetic post

2009-11-22T21:53:00.002-07:00

I really had fabulous plans of doing an entire update of the last couple weeks, including pictures, since well to say the least I've been slacking. Instead I decided something is better then nothing. So, just letting you all know I'm still alive, even with a sinus infection this week, it's just I've been too busy to update. Or by the time I get home I'm too tired from the day's activities or just from staring at a computer screen all day. So, I promise soon my post will come...maybe Thanksgiving since I get it off, until then this is what you get :)

Me life is complete

2009-11-08T00:30:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to do a quick update before I went to bed...and let you all know I could die right now and be happy. I had the privilege of meeting Kyle Korver tonight! No worries, I will do a full and complete post later explaining everything, but after such a rough week and even a little bit of a rough day (minus making a trip to Draper Temple :) seeing him in person definitely made up for it...I will have sweet dreams tonight....

One of those weeks....

2009-11-04T20:12:00.003-07:00

This has just been a crazy week from you know where. And to top it off, I overslept my alarm not quite sure if it went off and I didn’t hear it or my phone died so I’m looking just fabulous today, I guess at least I wasn’t late. I woke up not feeling good at all, I slept like crazy and think I have a fever. I still came in and told them, he said I can go home if I want but 2 people are already gone and we’re a branch of 6….so I said I could stick it through today, I’d just hate if I was making everyone else sick. And really I just hope it’s all in my head and nothing is wrong…I think that’s wishful thinking. The only thing getting me through this is knowing I’m going to Cancun in 30 days! It will be 4 nights 5 days of complete relaxation, soaking my toes in the white sandy beaches, enjoying an all-inclusive four star resort and soaking up some sun while everyone back in Utah gets the snow…I can’t wait!

Halloween Festivities

2009-10-29T15:21:00.003-06:00

I’m so excited it’s almost Halloween and I get to dress up two days in a row! Even if my costume isn’t very fancy, I’m excited to wear it. I started off the Halloween week festivities with fingernail painting. I did ghosts, witches hats, and pumpkins on mine, Sun’s, Chalices and Grandma’s nails all by hand! Last night for sorority we did an exchange with a fraternity and carved pumpkins. My partner and I decided to do our pumpkin as Pinocchio because it couldn’t stand up like a normal pumpkin and it had a long nose. I’ve attached the picture of it.

Pinocchio

Grandma's lovely nails

Mine, can you believe I did it left handed!

And Suns' she's never had her nails painted before.

Yay the weekend!

2009-10-23T14:58:00.001-06:00

Wow, work is sloooow today. Interesting since it’s a Friday. I’ll ramble about some of my latest outings. Last night I had my hair colored. I have a love/hate relationship at this point. I was so excited to get rid of the blonde highlights, now they’re gone I kind of miss them. I went darker with a hint of red, goes good with fall I suppose. On Wednesday I went to the Rho activity. We had our “Rhomeo” pageant where boys from some of the fraternities put on skits, did interviews, basically a watered down Miss America Pageant. It was funny, they each had to take a turn being Romeo and Juliet and acted it out. Wow, those are pretty much the only exciting things I can think of besides just work. I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I’m currently on a Jack Weyland kick. I read Charly, Sam, and Adam’s story. I guess you could consider it a series. I’m currently reading Ashley and Jen, I also read one by Michelle Ashman Bell, I really like her writing style too. I’ve been spending my Saturday’s watching college football, I’m only mildly obsessed J too bad we don’t get the channel the Utes are on. Last Sunday, I went to an awesome fireside with Elder Scott. He did a question/answer thing it was way cool. He talked a lot about dating and how he feels bad for us girls, I couldn’t agree with him more. Well, hopefully with Halloween this next weekend, I’ll have lots more to report, including attaching a picture of my costume, I still have yet to wear it. Wow, work actually started getting busy including a credit card loan. Well, I’ll keep it at this for now, yay for the weekend!

These are a few of my favorite things about fall…

2009-10-14T14:02:00.001-06:00

-Starbucks Pumpkin Frapacchino with cream no coffee (I was craving this in church so you know its addicting)
-Starbucks pumpkin loaf
-Starbucks hot chocolate when its pouring rain and the lobby is freezing at work
-having a Starbucks next door to work
-the crisp fall air
-not needing air conditioning or the heater at night or in the car
-rain
-wrapping myself up in a blanket during the rain with a good book
-FINALLY not being in school for once in my life so I can read for fun (although I still miss school)
-the start of all these amazing sports: college football, basketball, world series, NFL
-my new Lovesac (not really with specific to fall, but I just got it this fall)
-Diet Coke (who am I kidding, this applies year round but lately its tasted extra good)
-Halloween, I love all the decorations and everything, I’m even going to be a Dalmatian this year, I’ll post pics
-Halloween day at work the one day a year we don’t have to dress up
-the thought that Christmas (so even more decorating) is coming up
-having an excuse to wear orange finger nail polish
-pumpkin pie
-Columbus Day holiday (yeah I know lucky working in the banking industry, I'm loving the idea of paid holidays)

And probably many more, I just love the season changes and this time of year!

Nothing noteworthy...just an update

2009-10-07T20:41:00.004-06:00

I haven't had any earth shattering events happen. I go to work each day, come home and repeat the process. Sometimes I mix sorority, other church callings, reading, craft night and doctor's appointments in there. In a way it's nice to have a semi-quiet life with no big happenings going on. And really if I think about it some big things have happened they're just over now, it's not completely worth getting into. I will have another thing thrown in the mix. My wrist after all that is still not getting better. It swells up noticeably almost everyday and just gives out all the time. I went to the doc, who re-xrayed it. No fracture again and now he wants to do physical therapy. In a way I wish it had just broken, like clean break that's it nothing else wrong, but no. I'm hoping going to this just a few times will make it better, stronger and no more worries. It's kind of pathetic what two stupid actions can get you. Oh one crazy piece of information Cameron hit his six month mark. I can't believe it's been that long, it's funny how some of it goes fast and other parts its slow. Well, hope you all enjoy the week I'm just looking forward to my three day weekend (I love Columbus Day)

No more bitterness, not quite sweet, but at least the bitter is gone

2009-09-27T21:36:00.004-06:00

I feel bad I've left this blog all week long with that bitter post. I promise I got over it, actually by Monday I was feeling a lot better about things (the chiro always helps things). I've been busy busy busy yet again. I don't know how I have time for a full-time job, but I somehow manage to squeeze it in, with little time to do laundry and other necessary things to live or just use my lunch hour to get things in. This week for sorority we did an exchange with a fraternity. We played a game, I can't even remember the name of it. The basic point you were tied to someone and had to go all the way to the Smiths on 8th and 9th and there was two cars of people looking for you. Well, since I had a huge purse, wasn't really in the mood to run that far and I was with a guy feeling the same way, we ran (hiding behind cars) across the parking lot and just drove there. I know we cheated, but not like there was a big prize at the end. After we were running we were getting to know each other. He guessed me right at 22 and guess how old he was? Yup, a little 18 year old. I think younger then my little sister. I was like dude I'm old haha. He was still a nice kid and talking to him sure beat trying to run around in the dark. On Friday was the much anticipated Engineering Iditarod at the U. It was the thing I was working at my old job for so long trying to get prizes for. I did end up with my coveted autographed picture. My Grandparents were both able to come, including my Grandpa who was part of our team and even sported our uniform. My Grandma was afraid I wouldn't win the picture so she made me a poster just in case with all his pictures on it. I must say I like it very much.

(Here's one she took of our team and sled I

haven't uploaded the pictures I took yet)

Saturday early morning was the last practice for our primary program. I honestly can say I love my calling. Especially teaching the young kids, they do/say the funniest stuff. That night me and my mom went back to the church to watch the relief society broadcast and have a dinner. It was very tasty. We both go so tired when we got home and were in bed way before 10. We decided they must have put sleeping pills in our food. Not like I did too much during the day, I cleaned a bit, but mostly sat and watched college sports after a short trip to the grocery store. Today was the program, I was worried how my kids would do in front of an audience. I only had one girl who didn't want to get up, I stood up with her and ended up saying her part which didn't really surprise me. Everything else was fine, except I don't know who's brilliant idea it was to put the three year old on the chair that controls the audio and makes the pulpit go up and down. Even I wanted to press the buttons and to a kid it was the hardest thing not to touch it. I probably told them 10 times during it to not touch, then they'd yell I wasn't I just wanted to look at it. Well that's about it. I feel like I"m forgetting some large event of the week and I sure feel busier then this post makes it seem. I hope this week continues going well. I closed my first loan by myself last week (its actually only the second closing I've ever done) my manager looked over it after and said nothing was wrong and the guy I did it for was extremely nice (much better then the first one) and even said I was very good at what I do, which made me feel better. I feel like I'm settling in better. I had a busy day Friday and paperwork to look forward to tomorrow, but being busy at least makes it go by faster. Well here's to a good Monday (it has to go fairly ok, I got all my laundry done tonight :)

Bitter.

2009-09-20T22:03:00.002-06:00

This weekend I was bitter. Bad, I know. I think the fact I knew I was bitter is probably a good sign, in that it isn't permanent. I'm pretty sure I know the reasons behind this, none of which I'm about to disclose on this. I do however feel bad for the people who had to put up with me and those who I met for the first time and now probably think this is my permanent state. I actually can't remember being this mean in quite awhile. It wasn't anyones fault but my own, I just felt like being mean. It was so bad I walked into church and told Chalice flat out I'm not in the mood to fake smile or have conversations with anyone. Maybe that's one good reason I'm a primary teacher you HAVE to put on a smile and your patience definitely gets tested. We've been practicing for our program, which I can barely sit through we've practiced so much now, let alone 3 year olds they start to lie down in their chairs and I just let them do it, at least they aren't yelling and running around. I decided tomorrow after work and a much needed chiropractor appointment (another bitter story in itself I asked to leave early for the wrong day so hopefully they're understanding) I'm going to get my hair cut and other needed things I've been putting off to hopefully make me feel better. Well, I'm working on my bitterness (I know its probably just a thing that needed to run its course and I am looking forward to this week) Sorority has been fun, we have a barnyard dance coming up and exchanges with this cute fraternity who brought us a rose and wrote a poem (I know how cute is that??) Wow, I"m starting to get all over the place and don't feel like fixing my wording and transitions so I'll just end now, have a fantabulous Monday!

A little update

2009-09-13T21:22:00.004-06:00

I've had quite the adventurous week. It was nice to have Monday off with the holiday (although I think it spoiled me a little too much) I was at the branch this week and getting into the swing of things a little more, it's weird there are some changes from when I was there so I always feel like I have to double check myself and probably sound like I don't know anything in the process. I also joined a sorority with Sam (I can't remember if I already blogged about it or not). No worries it's an LDS one at the U we're in the Rho chapter and seems like we'll have a lot of fun. We meet on Wednesday nights and have our induction banquet this week. Last week we also did exchanges on Thursday night with this fraternity. We thought it'd be a small group going to like Cold Stone, no there was like 50 guys at a house. They were all really sweet and made sure the girls got ice cream first. It was something extremely out of my comfort zone, but quite a fun adventure. While we were waiting to go on the exchange another fraternity asked a few of us to sit in on a courtship question/answer panel. It was interesting/kind of funny to hear what guys were thinking, again something out of my comfort zone (I blame Sam on doing that one). On Saturday after a work barbque I went to Taylor's birthday party, she just turned 7 I can't believe how old she is. It was getting dark and I started taking pictures (Aspen was the only one who'd pose for me) it was so funny though my flash is so bright and I have to hold out the shutter so long to get anything to show up. She would hold open her eyes thinking that would help. Here's a few of her and Taylor.

Besides that I've been getting a lot of reading in, in a way it's nice to have an hour lunch. I also decided no more excuses and I need to start back at the gym again. I used that I was too sick from what I had before, then my wrist was hurt, well no matter what is going on I just need to go. I can see how quickly all that work before will just be undone. And for whatever reason lately I've had a huge appetite, which makes it worse. Hopefully, I can jump back in and have no excuses. Well I can't believe how fast the weekend went, I keep thinking how badly I already need a vacation, that can't be good!

An eventful week

2009-09-04T23:02:00.006-06:00

I haven't been this excited for a weekend in a long time. Not because I have exciting weekend plans, but just that the week is over. I was in training all week for my new job as a loan officer. It was actually really good. It was a lot of information to take in and I first I thought there was no way, but now I'm feeling much more comfortable with it all. I go to the branch next week which I'm sure will be a completely new experience. On another note, this being the main reason this week was so eventful was the branch I used to work at was involved in an armed robbery on Wednesday. It was interesting, I didn't realize how hard I took it until that night. I wasn't even there, but watching the security video from the news is what did it. Many of my closest friends were involved and just watching it was intense. I've told them I can't imagine how they feel right now. My friend Sammi did a post (her blog is linked to mine) and I really liked what she said. After hearing some of their stories, and even though it was a horrible situation, there were a lot of little blessings in it and things could have gone much worse then they did. I'm hoping I can snap out of it, I've had a very hard time sleeping, the nighttime scares me, and when I drive at night I put my pepper spray in my lap because I'm worried something will happen while I'm stopped at a red light. I think some of why I feel this way comes from I used to work there and it hits really close to home, knowing a lot of my very closest friends were involved and knowing I'm not starting at a credit union again, what if it happens to me? I just really hope they catch the guy and lock him up forever. And since I don't want to end this post on that note, I decided this weekend to use my built up energy for something productive. I dejunked my room. Most of you who know me and have been in my room know I have a lot of things. And most things I keep that have any memory to me at all. Well, this weekend I decided I needed to let go of those less important things. One example I loved the 101 Dalmatians as a kid. Well my dad bought me a box of tissues with a picture of them on the side (yeah I know random huh?) I used to tissues up probably a year ago, but I still kept the box. So that's one example of things that just needed to be thrown away. Well three huge black garbage bags, one white one and several items to be put downstairs later I feel much better. I'll post a pic of during the craziness and one after.

Before....

And after!

I'm in love

2009-08-30T20:27:00.002-06:00

So my weekend overall was rather uneventful. To be honest I was pretty lazy, but I got a lot of things together and am ready to start this new job on Monday. Everyone keeps asking if I'm nervous and I'm not tomorrow (well just a tad) because it's just training, that's like going to school. I'll be nervous when I go to the branch, that's where it's the real deal, but I know as long as I listen in training I'll be fine. Now some may wonder what the title is talking about. One big event over the weekend I bought a memory foam cover for my bed. After only one night sleep I'm completely in love. And I watched a few Friend's episodes, did some crocheting and even took a nap in there I love it so much. It's amazing the transformation from a fairly hard bed to luxury it made. The best part was I had a 20 percent off coupon and saved 20 bucks. I've gotta say best 80 bucks I've ever spent and now can't wait to go to sleep each night. Hopefully I continue to feel this way. Especially that last accident I had even though it wasn't that bad it still tweaked my back pretty good and I just can't seem to get over it. I hope by now having a super soft bed the healing I have been doing won't go to waste by an uncomfortable bed. Well I decided I need to spruce this blog up a bit, so look for more pictures and I'll try to remember exciting/interesting stories, but right now life is pretty much middle of the road nothing crazy good or bad. Oh and PS no new nail polish this week...yet

I got a job!

2009-08-25T17:58:00.003-06:00

I finally got a job yesterday! I found out yesterday and start next Monday. It's with the credit union I was with before, just at a different branch as a loan officer. I'm very excited to have something full time with benefits, a stable company and something I'm fairly comfortable with but still is new. I'm very sad to leave my job. It's been the perfect summer job (so perfect Chalice is now doing it). They were so nice to let me stay during the summer and I had a lot of good opportunities to work on special projects that are good for my resume. One thing I won't miss about the U is the insane traffic. Today it took nearly 45 minutes to get home, I think there's a lot more students up there who seem to want to go at the same time as me. Well I'll keep this short ooh and this week I got purple nail polish!

Cars...are they worth it?

2009-08-23T20:51:00.002-06:00

Sad day this week my car rolled over 100,000 miles. I got it at 69,000 three years ago, so I am doing pretty good. I consider myself a pretty good car taker care person (yeah totally just made up that phrase) but with this monumental roll-over I knew there was some bucks to get it up to date on the maintenance. I just so lucked out the insurance company finally contacted me from the other driver of the accident I was in December. Since it was just some damage on the back, it wasn't worth it to go through my insurance first and really it wasn't too bad looking. Well, I received the claim money this week (really not much but it works) and decided since its older anyway I'm not going to fix it well at least not anytime soon. So I took it to get it aligned (something it desperately needed) More money then I would have liked and two hours later, they gave me a list of things I should have replaced on my car. It was legitimate stuff that I knew if I didn't get fixed would cost more in the long run. I've taken it to a little mechanic who is fast and usually cheaper then the dealer. I called him Thursday morning, he got me in and out same day, two hundred cheaper then the dealer and did a little more then the dealer was going to do. I was happy although I spent about 800 on it this week, but at least I feel comfortable with it, safe and more then likely saved myself some money before the things actually caused problems. Of other news this week I tried Smash Burgers. The hamburger was amazing, the smash fries a little weird I admit. They had like seasoning that was a little too crazy for me so if you go maybe try without that and just get regular. I think I'm still a bigger fan of Five Guys. Although In N Out is supposed to be coming, I've never been but hear it's amazing. Well hope everyone starts their week off good, I'm still waiting on that interview and been crossing fingers all weekend....

Blue nail polish?

2009-08-19T11:20:00.000-06:00

I feel lately like I do the same post each week, but that’s sort of how my life is lately just about the same thing sometimes at different times or a few different people, but basically the same thing. I had another good weekend Friday I had an interview (still crossing my fingers on) then later that night went with Mallory, Sam, Shelley and Kathy swimming and sit in the hot tub. It was soo nice, I haven’t been in a hot tub in months. We then got some ice cream and watched the video from when Sam and Mallory were hypnotized. It was ok, but they cut out all the funny parts, either showing the audience or people who weren’t doing anything. It was also out of focus half the time, I’m telling you I should start up a videography thing if people like that can sell theirs. On Saturday I went with Mallory to do baptisms at the Draper temple. I haven’t been in it since the open house, it’s very nice inside one of my new favorite temples. You can definitely tell we’re in Utah and it’s summer because we saw soo many brides. We then went back to our houses and she came over later for a sleepover. Sunday was spent relaxing and preparing for the new week. I have two funny stories of compliments I’ve received which are nice, but on the other hand leave me going ok…weird. So I was at the temple and came out wrapped up in the towel. Well one of the nice little temple workers goes you have beautiful color skin, your tan is just the perfect color. I was like oh um thanks. It was very nice of her, but something you don’t expect to hear and especially not at the temple. Then I was getting a diet coke at the McD’s drive-thru which was oddly crowded I remember thinking for the time of day it was. I get up to take my drink and the guy stops me he’s all I really like your sunglasses. Now I’ve gotten you have pretty eyes before, but sunglasses, that’s kinda random. He started asking where I got them, how much I had to pay and have an entire conversation as I’m looking in my mirror thinking no wonder there’s a line if the guy here compliments everyone. It was very nice of him, but totally random. Well back to work I go, we’ve had a lot of good donations (although none have topped my Kyle Korver picture-this includes La Caille giving us $1,000) and I’m keeping busy with it all. I got here very early this morning and am leaving early to get my car estimated to finally fix the damage from that accident in December. Well enjoy the middle part of the week! PS I have a new love for nail polish, I used to wear it all the time as a kid then got sick of it, but now love it again. I got this awesome blue color this time!

I'm an idiot

2009-08-13T10:42:00.002-06:00

Well, as the nurse said when it rains it pours. On Tuesday night I decided kinda last minute to go country dancing. (back up for a sec) I had just stopped wearing the splint on Monday and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I mean it hurt a little, but finally felt like it was healing. I was dancing with my friend during a couple's line dance. The guy normally dips you after every song, but not the line dances, well he decided to this time. I wasn't ready for it making me off balance and when I realized what he tried to do I said no, no dip, but it was too late. He tried to catch me and I really felt bad for him because he felt so bad, but on the ground I landed. I of course tried to catch myself with my already hurt hand. Needless to say it wasn't such a good thing. After it swelling up pretty good, my fingers going tingly and a very sharp pain I decided to go back to the doctor. Good news its not broken (although I hear sometimes its easier to heal if it is broken), I did bruise the bone and she said I just banged it up pretty good. I'm back in the splint for another week, I'm supposed to take the anti-inflammatory medicine (She could feel where its swelling around the bone) and I decided I'm taking it much easier this time. I won't do anything stupid and I"ll be better about wearing it. Even if it gets hot and annoying. I'll see how it is in another week and if it's still bad go to the orthopedic doc. I have faith it'll be better then new in a week though. So there's my story for the day. Lidia said maybe it's my shoes? I'm not sure about that maybe it's the idiot wearing the shoes who was doing things I shouldn't have in the first place.

A very good day

2009-08-10T21:56:00.003-06:00

I've had a lot of fun over the past week including a Park City trip, going to the Salt Lake County fair watching Sam and Mallory get hypnotized (I started crying I was laughing so hard and I was all by myself which made it funnier), getting my hair done (brown low-lights and a more defined a-line so far I LOVE it), keeping very busy at work which makes me feel better about things, and finally I've saved the best for last. It deserves it's own sentence though. I know the suspense must be killing you. Drum roll please.....today I held in my hand an ACTUAL original signed photograph from KYLE KORVER!!! Yeah, it didn't just make my whole day, but probably month I'd say. Let me back up and explain the story. So for work we're having a competition and they asked if I'd call around looking for prize donations. The Jazz was one of the places and we thought they'd just send tickets. Well today I walk into the guys office who signs the letters and he's all I have a surprise. The stuff has been getting mailed to him and he had things from all sorts of companies. He's showing me everything then pulls out the Jazz one. He's all yeah they sent over some signed pictures. As he was pulling it out I saw Kyle then he's all this one is Kyle Korver and I started to like squeal I was so excited. I'm like can I hold it. I took a picture and everything. He got a good kick out of it and even told some of the others in the office. They're like maybe this will be the coveted prize. So now because alumni can do this I want to make JJ and Jacob compete for me and win that prize. The worst part or maybe the best is I"m keeping all the prizes locked up in my office so I know how tempting it is to "accidentally" let it slip into my purse and "get lost" But at least now until the competition I can look and admire it everyday. I'll attach the picture I took for your viewing pleasure.

So...

2009-08-05T22:05:00.003-06:00

Well, so much for trying to have a positive week. Today I called the principal of the school for the after school program coordinator. Well, let me back up. We've been emailing and finally last Friday at 5:50 she sent me an email saying yes call me at this number at the school. I found it weird being a Friday so late, but tried it (my phone pushes my email to me within minutes usually if I'm paying attention) and no answer. I figured that's fine I'll try Monday. I called Monday around 11:00 the secretary said she wasn't in so I left my information including two numbers she could reach me at and waited. Tuesday still nothing so I tried again sometime early afternoon. No one at the school answered so I tried today Wednesday. I figured if she wasn't there/didn't answer then I"d send an email saying I've tried to get in contact and give her my number for her to try me at her earliest convenience (plus I know she had my phone number from the guy I work with...) Well, she finally answered, she didn't know who I was at first. I explained and she's like oh well I never heard back from you and we really needed to get moving on this so I've hired someone else. I'm like what the heck! Normally I'd let things go, but not this it's not fair because she has a not very responsible secretary that I don't get the job and now I look like the one who never calls her. Plus, you don't find and hire someone within three days. She then was like well do you still want to hear about it in case the other person doesn't work out. I did, not quite sure why. But can you believe that? I was in my car talking to myself like I"m so mad how did this happen. I'm really really trying to stay positive, but it's hard to when stuff like this keeps happening where it's out of my control and I possibly could have gotten it. I just have to figure something else that's totally amazing is out there and just waiting for the right opportunity. And I have been lucky I have had the perfect summer job. They even asked if I'd stay through part of September to train the new people (can't remember if I mentioned that before) unless I get something else I"m not obligated. What kind of job says that? Plus I work whenever I want, which has been awesome for the summer. So, I'll just keep thinking positive maybe I just need to learn "life lessons" or something or have these experiences for future relief society moments, who knows?

A rough week

2009-08-03T17:30:00.004-06:00

Well, this past week was one I would prefer to forget, but I'll go ahead and document it anyway. I should have figured it was going to be bad when first thing Monday morning walking into work I slipped and fell down this little muddy hill, hurt my wrist and was completely covered in mud. Skipping ahead a little in the week I ended up going back to the doctor on Saturday to have it x-rayed. I had decided to let it go a few days see what happened, well it still hurt even a little worse so I decided to go in. It wasn't broken although I did tear some ligaments and I possibly did something else I can't remember, but he put me in this massive wrist/finger splint and said give it a week, gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory medicine if it still hurts see about going to an orthopedic surgeon. So, I'm going to be good, wear the splint thing and hope it gets better. It's been interesting trying to type with one hand and four fingers, but I'm making it work. Well things just seemed to go downhill after that. I found out I didn't get the Mountain America job and an interview I had on Wednesday I found out I didn't get that job either. I've haven't been applying to as many places lately for different reasons so now I"m running low on possibilities. Well after the rough week I decided I needed to have a positive attitude and I must be going through all of this for a reason, I mean come on something's gotta give. Well, I really feel this will be a good week and even two days into it is already looking positive. Last night I went to an amazing fireside at the Tabernacle, I got a letter from Cameron today (I haven't gotten one for quite awhile after the last one I sent him got lost in the mail), my job told me I can now stay into September to help train the new people coming in so I have an extra month for job hunting, I got a ton done at work today (it was one of those you're totally exhausted by the end of it but I loved looking back and checking off everything that's been nagging at me for the last few weeks), I went to the chiropractor this morning (he's been out all during July and after that fall, sitting on bleachers for different things let's just say I almost ran there this morning), everyone I work with was super nice to me today (they normally are nice people, but a lot of the time I can sit in my office and no one says a word all day well today everyone was talking to me), and one final thing that made me laugh a little. Two of the people I work mostly with were saying it's good I've had such a positive attitude about my wrist. Because I've just been saying it's my own fault for being stupid and walking across grass. They were saying that's good most people would be complaining saying it's someone else's fault. Well then I was on the other side of the office and a lady I don't really work with asked what happened I told her and she's like oh you better have filed workman's comp. I"m like well I wasn't on the clock just walking in to work. She's like well you should have anyway. It's funny the different opinions and really I wish I was doing something cool to get hurt not just walking down a hill to work. Anyway, I hope the rest of the week continues to be better then last and all of yours too.

Halfway through summer...what??

2009-07-27T15:48:00.005-06:00

I'm really slacking on the blogging lately, I guess that's what happens when you're having too much fun. I promise this post will make up for it. I'll try to think back two weeks ago, it may be out of order, but I'll do the best I can. I FINALLY got that tiny piece of paper in the mail after working four long years and waiting the past couple months since graduation. It's really not as cool as it could have been. It's basically computer paper with the embossed University logo, but oh well it still means the same thing I suppose.

Last week for my primary kids I decided I wanted to get something for them. After brainstorming all week, countless google searches and looking over the lesson I decided to make prayer bears for them. I originally was going to get tiny little bears and tell them they were prayer bears, then I found these little guys on clearance and decided to be ambitious and make my own shirts along with glitter glue and all. I think they actually turned out pretty cute. One of my little girls even brought me cookies and a card with her Grandma to say thank you. I about cried it was the cutest thing ever. This week my co-teacher moved so I was stuck doing sharing time by myself. Yeah, it was interesting to say the least. I wanted my kids to help which I can't decide if I regret or not. It was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy needless to say I'm glad it's over.

Last week I also went to a car show (sorry no pics) it was cool to see a lot of old and new cars. And we went to see the floats on display at South Towne Expo. Again no pics. Joe is a huge BYU fan and well we all know where my loyalty is. There was a BYU float and also one from his stake. Each person got to vote for their favorite float and he even chose BYU over his stake. I chose a completely different one because I knew if I voted for his stake he'd automatically vote BYU and I couldn't have any part of that ;)

On Thursday I went to the Kenny Chesney concert. Can I tell you how amazing he is in concert? He has such high energy it was soo much fun. I wasn't a fan of Miranda Lamber who opened for him, but what can you do. Lady Antebellum was also there, they were good too. Here we are enjoying it, notice the hats?

Pioneer Day was also very crazy. Joe came with us, it started watching Chalice's softball tournament in Orem, to going to Fairview for the parade, back to Orem, then back to Fairview for the derby. I was exhausted and slept til 11:00 the next day (I never do that I can't stand to sleep in), but it was a lot of fun. Here I am at a car show there in front of Bella's truck.

We were all separated watching the Derby, me and Joe were able to still sit together. We're trying to do a self-portrait with my huge camera, it's hard to hold out and take a picture at the same time, that's why my face looks so weird.

Wow, lot's of updates on pictures. Even just today I had a call to come interview for one of the many positions I applied for at the U. It's not one of the best paying, but it'd be a job. I also got an email from a principal who's school I used to help do outreach events for engineering at. The guy I work with now gave my information to her because he thought I'd be interested in an outreach coordinator position. It's a very part time position, but I thought maybe it could be a good opportunity, I"ll see where it goes. I also had quite and embarassing experience walking into work today. I was walking down this little hill that happened to be muddy. I didn't realize this and totally slipped and fell down. I had mud everywhere, it was bad. I was able to clean a lot of it off, but I hurt my wrist again, the same one I keep hurting. It's not broken or anything, but still is annoying. Well, there's my last few crazy weeks I'll try to be better about posting so it's not some marathon thing.

Another week

2009-07-14T12:36:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to give a quick update before I forget. I’ve been busy this week as usual. I have no idea how I found time for things while I was in school. Speaking of…drum roll please….big news I just got word today my degree has been OFFICIALLY awarded. Meaning I passed all my classes and am officially a college graduate. Wahoo! I also ended up going to the doctor on Saturday (yes with a $30 co-pay instead of $20 because my doctor was closed) After minor speculation I could have swine flu and being just a tad freaked out I went in to find I had a sinus infection. It was what I suspected all along. So no worries, no pig flu here. Good news was he couldn’t hear anything in my lungs, but gave me a refill on my inhaler in case it turns into bronchitis. I feel better today like the pressure isn’t so bad, but you’d think after being on four days of heavy doses of antibiotics I’d be almost cured and I’m not, so I’m still a tad frustrated, but at least I know what it is and can be on the mend. The most frustrating part is my voice sounds so gross and the coughing at night, but I know it just takes time. No word yet on the two job interviews. I know the MACU one had an interview today with another candidate so hopefully I’ll hear from them. The other interview was a group one, the weirdest thing I’ve ever been to in my life and even if they offered me the position I don’t think I’d take it. I’ve also been dancing this last week (surprisingly getting better) I went to the new water park in Draper Cowabunga Bay (I know smart idea when I’m sick right?) it was not as fun as it looks and in my opinion not worth the price, maybe if I was younger or it was cheaper, but yeah probably won’t go back. I also started a new book and am dying to finish it, but haven’t had a chance. I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a book review blog, would anyone be interested or should I just keep my reading to myself? Well, that’s a whirlwind update. I’ve been taking lots of pictures and I’ll post them whenever I remember to upload them to my computer. Ooooh and another exciting news event I am going to the Kenny Chesney concert. JJ and Jacob asked about going in for the 4 tickets for $99 and I was all for it. I’m so excited and there’s three other groups coming so it should be good!

Health

2009-07-08T13:45:00.001-06:00

So today I got a call from the doctor. Every test they had me do this second time around came back ok. So that is good news no thyroid problems, but on the other hand so frustrating because I don’t know what’s wrong. They said give it another week or two if things still aren’t better come back for imaging tests, not sure what that means all I can assume is it will equal expensive. I just don’t understand why I’m still having problems over a month later. Sorry to go on but this is my venting place and my frustration level with it is very high. I just don’t understand they’re the doctors they should know what’s wrong. Or one of these million tests should come back with the answer. I’m also sick of paying that lovely $20 co-pay. It doesn’t help that I have had a cold all week either. It went from sore throat, to chest cold, to nose/head/sinus cold. I actually think I have a sinus infection with the symptoms, but don’t want to give another $20 to get an antibiotic. I’ve been taking over the counter stuff that seems to help. And let me tell you one trick I’ve been using my face moisturizer under my nose. It feels sooo good putting it on after blowing my nose a million times. I’ve never had a cold this bad where my nose won’t stop running. Therefore the reasoning thinking its sinus infection, along with a few other details I’ll spare you from. Anyway, I just hope I get better really really soon. People always say you don’t appreciate your health until it’s gone. That is so true and even now I’m still in good health compared to others and I should be grateful my problems are so small, but sometimes it’s nice to just vent about them.

Summer fun

2009-07-05T21:53:00.006-06:00

Wow, I actually let this go over a week. Doesn't sound like me does it? As usual a ton has been going on. I'll try to highlight this past week. I had a very enjoyable 22 birthday. I know I'm getting up there in years. Sunday we had family over for cake and ice cream. I have the privilege of having my birthday the day after my Grandpa's so Chalice ordered us a very lovely cake.

My work brought in this one and we all sat around my office eating it. JJ was dropping by a card right when they pulled it out and also shared in the festivities.

I also had a very delicious lunch with Sam from Five Guy's mmmm it was yummy. I went to see My Sister's Keeper that night. I had read the book, it's very sad and the movie was completely different in the end, so I'm still not sure how I felt about it, but it was nice to be able to see it. I also got some very nice gifts and all in all it was a great birthday.

I also this week had my first date with someone since Cameron. Chalice's boyfriend Blake works with him, his name is Joe, and set us up. We went country dancing, he's insanely good and me well not so great. He was still very nice to teach me and we had a lot of fun. We also hung out all day on the Fourth. I was mainly just planning to go to the parade and a bar-b-que with some of his family and friends, but it turned into an entire day. We hung out with a few of his friends, talking, playing card games and buying fireworks. We also watched the big firework display later that night and lit some of our own.

He had volunteered to help block off the street and had me come. We met in the police building there and I was the only girl. Luckily, since I didn't know the town at all (it was in Magna) he asked for us to be together. We got to wear sweet orange vests I felt like I was on safety patrol in elementary school all over again.

I started getting sick later that night and woke up this morning with no voice. Go figure I got my first summer cold. I was sad I was supposed to teach the lesson today, but Chalice ended up doing it. I also went to the doctor on Friday because I'm still not better from what I had before. I'm again having more tests. My neck bruise is coming back and he says it could possibly be a thyroid problem or still more tests for different parasites. I should hear back later this week.

I also had a phone interview for a job I really really hope I get. It's only part-time, but is like my dream job. The phone interview went really well and I have an in-person one this week. It's doing internal communications like making videos and publications from higher management to the rest of employees for Mountain America. I'm nervous it only being part-time, but they said definitely potential for more. I also have a group interview for two hours this week. Not quite sure what that will entail, but we'll see.

Wow, that was quite the update hope everyone had a good holiday.

What a weekend.

2009-06-27T22:53:00.004-06:00

Well I've had yet another busy weekend! Today was almost packed with too much, but it was fun and I was able to get most everything in. I'll just do a little highlighting. Last night was my Grandpa's birthday party dinner with everyone. Sorry (especially Grandma) I had my camera with my but didn't take any pictures I know my resolution is turning out bad. After that JJ and Jacob were going to Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I decided why not I"ll come. It was raining pretty hard that night and when we came out of the tent you watch the introduction video in there was the brightest prettiest rainbow I've ever seen. Well now I"m really kicking myself the camera was in the car. It was very pretty inside, surprisingly different then Draper even though they were built at the same time. I'm not sure if I can call a favorite, but probably Draper just because it sits nestled into the mountain and I loved the Bride's room there (random I know) When we came out the sun was setting and I got some neat shots of that although you can see the tents in some of them. Today I got up at 6:15 to go to a breakfast at Harmon's for Taylorsville Dayzz, I know very early for a Saturday and I haven't been up at that time since I graduated. We also had a ward party up the canyon and I was able to get some shots up there. Then Pat took us out for my birthday dinner. Everyone was going to see the fireworks, but I decided I was just too tired for that, so here I am blogging and sending out more resumes. Definitely an adventurous weekend! Here are some of the pictures I took.

That's me and Sun. I'm taller then her anyway, but I decided to wear one of the highest pairs of shoes I own that night so I was like a tower over here that's why I was leaning over to appear shorter.

Just a little break

2009-06-26T13:31:00.001-06:00

I’m at work and actually accomplishing a lot, but decided I needed a little blogging break. I got a haircut last night. I was so sick of how long it was getting especially with the heat of the summer. I got an A-line (shorter in the back it’s not very dramatic though, but it feels sooo much better off my neck) It was funny a guy did it. He made very sure I knew he was straight. It was sorta weird at first, but he was a nice although very flirty guy. He even told me about his girlfriend, which actually made me not feel so weird about it. Anyway, I decided I like it and it was a much needed change. I’ve been thinking a lot the past few days how I need to get out and use my camera more, especially for “fun” personal things. It seems for so long I was just using it for business or other people, but I really want to go back to just using it for fun. Along with that comes needing to have it with me. So, I’ve made a goal to try to carry it around most places I go. It’s so big and obviously gets a little annoying, but it could kinda be considered a purse and I could just stick my wallet in there, I’m not sure we’ll see what works out. You never know when you’ll come across a picture moment or if I have free time and want to take a drive for some landscape shots. Needless to say expect more pictures and hopefully I’ll continue to do it. Well, I’ll keep this one short and get back to work oh I also just got news Tuesday may not be my last day. He decided that’s not long enough notice for me to finish all the projects, so we’ll see what happens.

Becoming a mother...

2009-06-24T13:34:00.002-06:00

What a crazy weekend! I felt like it was just go-go-go the entire time. Did I scare everyone with the title? That was my goal, no I"m not pregnant or even close to being haha, but I became a mother for a little over an hour on Sunday. I was getting ready for dinner when I looked outside and saw the Bishop's car. I walked out to see what was going on to find a little 2 year old boy wandering around with another neighborhood boy say he followed him from the street over and he's just been going to everyone's houses. I was like oh, interesting and tried to ask his name. He wouldn't talk (maybe he couldn't I'm not sure) but he wouldn't go with the Bishop so we decided I'd walk with him and we'd try to see if he recognized one of the houses at all. I still couldn't get a name or anything we stopped at a neighbor house in another ward to see if she knew. Long story short, an hour later we called the cops after we had started knocking on doors and no one knew who he was. Finally, someone pulls up that lives a few streets over saying they'd been looking for him for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe someone could lose their kid for over an hour and just notice 10 minutes before. I didn't stay to find out what the police said, but it was an interesting experience. It's eye opening any bad person driving through our neighborhood could have taken him. It was cute though he'd only come to me, so I did feel like a mother for a little bit. I also gave my talk that day. It went as well as a talk can go. I was last and spoke about 10 minutes. I focused mainly on education and tied in Father's Day. I guess this post is going backwards as far as how the weekend went. Saturday I spent with my cousin Mallory here from Phoenix. She spent the night and we got up (supposed to be early wasn't until around 9:00) to go to the Salt Lake Temple. She had never been inside so it was a cool experience, I love how it is there and she did too. We also saw a farmer's market which she insisted checking out. I was nervous since it was Pioneer Park. I told her not to tell her dad I took her there, haha. It wasn't bad though since so many people were there. She even made friends with a hippie in a sweet van selling tie-dye things. We shopped a few other places, mainly Nordstrom Rack and came home to visit with our parental units. I also developed huge blisters on my pinky toes from walking in heels everywhere and Jacob had to perform surgery to pop them, what a nice brother-in-law I have, no way could I have done it. Last Wednesday Lidia came for her friend's wedding. Since everyone else had work and my job is so flexible we hung out Thursday and Friday in the day. Mainly went to some movies, got ready for the wedding, drove to the wedding forever far away and just rested. I was sad last time I saw her was Friday night, I didn't realize it would be, but with how things worked it was. I didn't get to say bye, but now that just leaves an excuse for her to come back or me to go visit her again! Also, yesterday I got word more then likely next Tuesday is my last day of work. I have an interview today cross your fingers, so we'll see what happens!

This picture was pre-surgery I know kinda sick, but look how huge it was!

Ehhh

2009-06-16T17:25:00.002-06:00

So for like the last month I've had this feeling they're going to ask me to speak at Church. I really thought it'd be around Father's Day too for some odd reason. I've had all of the Bishopric talk to me at some point these past few Sunday's and never a word. So I thought I'm off clean. Well, not so fast. I'm sitting here and my cell phone starts ringing number I don't recognize against my better judgment I answer it. Well guess who it is, none other then the Bishop asking me to speak this Sunday. I mean how does your Bishop get your cell phone number??? They're having all the high school graduates speak and one can't do it so they thought of me. Well isn't that lucky I get to do an 8 minute talk about graduating, Father's Day or Conference and I'm among the high schoolers so I look like one of them. To top it off the primary is singing to the Father's and I have to teach. Oh the joys of being LDS...

PS funny thing he's all that will be easy for you....um no it won't who is that easy for...no one! So anyone have a talk written out I can just use, please send it my way.

My life as of late

2009-06-15T15:13:00.002-06:00

So out of curiosity I added the web page hit counter. I started it at 680 because that's how many profile views approximately blogger tells me I have. Well I just added it yesterday and I'm already to 700. So either I have a bunch of blogstalkers I'm not aware of or everyone checks my blog multiple times a day...not really sure. But we all know I'm a blogstalker/Facebook stalker so it's all good. Although if you read this and I don't know you do for example you stumbled onto it somehow I'd love to know who you are. If these hits keep going up I can put ads on the side and generate a little revenue from it all, I"ll refrain from that for now.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel better. After missing a ton of work last week I went back today. Probably the worst I felt was Saturday. It was Shelley's birthday and I was able to make it for lunch, but that was about it before I needed to come home and rest. It's weird I start to not be able to breathe-the feeling when you have pneumonia but I don't have a cough or any of pneumonia symptoms. Oh well all I care about is not feeling this way. I did hear back from the doctor on the x-ray and blood work which came back normal so that's good. I honestly don't know what blood tests he did. So just waiting on the other tests. I also was on the antibiotic this weekend and just finished this morning with it. They were ginormous horse pills that I gagged every time taking. I think that made me a lot better. I was still pretty tired when I got home from work, but much much better then how I felt this weekend. I also applied to a few more jobs. I've honestly completely lost track how many times I've sent out my resume. I know of at least three places just today that I can remember, really good ones too so we'll see. I also was able apply to a few while I was sick. Oooh and I finally got a letter it took like two and a half weeks this time, but I swear I'm not complaining :)

As I was driving home today I was thinking of some of the crazy things I've done in my life and what crazy goals I have. One, last year having purple hair (for those blogstalkers who don't know me it was only in three spots underneath that you could only see when I flipped it out) I'm not even sure why I did it. I just wanted a change I guess. It was funny because that's when I did the internship with a very conservative politician-oh well guess I was feeling crazy. Another crazy thing is the Guatemala trip. Pick anything from the zip-line to riding in the boat with 25 people in the middle of the bottomless lake. Jumping into the Snake River during a raft trip when I was 8 just to get all the scouts to jump in because a girl did it. This one was before the Guatemala zip-line, but doing the Park City/Snowbird zip-lines. They make you sit up and then they release the gate and you go down, it scared me pretty bad. Here are some crazy things I want to do. One buy a brand new car in cash-it's crazy cause wouldn't that be something crazy cool to do-I know it's far off but that's ok. Learn to fly a helicopter or airplane. I know bad for someone who was scared of the "baby-small plane" But I entered this contest to win a scholarship for flying lessons, wouldn't that be awesome to win. They also do this tv special on you, I'm pretty excited. Well I also decided I need to work on my list. I have a good start, but definitely could use some more crazy adventures.

Guatemala Pics 2

2009-06-12T16:46:00.004-06:00

Sorry, I did this kind of backwards. Start with the post on the trip then all these pictures will make more sense (they're in no particular order)

Me enjoying the hammock at the first cottage.

One of the many pretty views of the volcano and lake-seriously prettiest place on earth.

Lidia coming down the zip-line

Me after surviving the first of eight of the zip-lines.

The three of us after getting all our gear on.

Guatemala Pics

2009-06-12T16:42:00.001-06:00

Here is the three of us in a Tok-tok

The very famous Antigua

Me and Sam on the scary baby plane

Me and Sam on one of the boats.

Me buying the bread in a basket.

Guatemala Trip

2009-06-12T16:37:00.002-06:00

Here it is, the much anticipated post! THe first two days are written out after that I just did bullet points of highlights. These are exactly transcribed from my journal-I knew it'd be too hard remembering everything after when I got home. Enjoy!

Day 1 May 23, 2009

And the adventure begins! Me and Sam met at the airport at noon for our 2:10 flight departure. Yeah, it was super early, but we heard we had to make sure our bags were checked two hours before. Anyway, we get on the plane and it’s tiny! Like seriously seated 50-60 people. It was called a Continental Express. It had two seats on one side and only one on the other. Sam couldn’t even take her carry-on they had to gate check it. It was a pretty good flight, they had a change in route plans and made us wait about 15 minutes which wouldn’t be so bad except we were already cutting it close with the connecting flight. We had turbulance going into Houston. Sam’s all hey look out the window as soon as I did I see the wing go bouncing yeah I decided not the biggest fan of little baby planes I’ll definitely keep that in mind next flight I book. We landed 15 minutes late to realize we’re in terminal B and need to get to E. We quickly realized how insanely huge the airport is. When I flew to Houston last time I just flew into Hobby airport which is still big, but in no way compares to this one. We head towards Terminal E signs including up an escalator to realize we have to take this monorail shuttle thing. Yeah it just may be the coolest part of this trip. We get to our stop and realize they’re already boarding our flight. We still had to go down an escalator down a really long hallway turn the corner and our gate was halfway down that. Throw in being on a hot stuffy baby plane and Texas humidity yeah we were out of breath and very tired. Luckily this was the part we found Lidia! It was like out of a movie we came running (well fast walking) and hugged her. We then had to get our passports checked and stand in line to board the plane. It was much bigger this time three seats on each side. They handed us two papers to fill out (up to this point it was the really only indication I was on an international trip I guess besides the passport) It was in Spanish first with English translation underneath. This is also how all communication with the flight crew has been. Originally they said there was a dime size indentation in the aircraft and a specialist had to come clear us for flight and would be at least 20 minutes. Wel 5 minutes later they said it was ok and we taxid out not long after. I’m currently writing this portion while the movie Marley and Me is playing. Yeah not a good idea for me to watch. I’d bawl my eyes out. They even gave us free headphones and we got a meal. It was a salad and an enchilada surprisingly pretty decent. We also got served drinks twice. I greatly appreciated since we didn’t have time to get anything in Texas. The plane landed and as we walked out of the gate they gave us a survey to fill out about the flu. We couldn’t get past a certain checkpoint without filling it out. We then went through to get our stamp and gave the other paper on the airplane saying we weren’t bringing anything into the country although they didn’t double check or go through our bags When we went outside we quickly found her family. Her step-grandfather, uncle, and cousin were all very nice to come pick us up. Her cousin is in a very popular band here as the drummer and we got to ride in his BMW-it was pretty sweet. It took about 20 minutes to get to her grandparents house. Oh I forgot to mention its very humid. They say it’s not normally this bad, but just cause it rained that day. We pulled up to the house. It’s dark out so we had a hard time seeing things anyway. The houses here are very different from the U.S. and even what I expected knowing coming into this. It just like a cement wall then opened it to the front door. The house has very cool tile everything else is like cement. We get to stay in the guest room a double bed where me and Sam are staying then they brought in a twin for Lidia. We also have a small bathroom with just a toilet and isnk in the room. We were very tired and grateful to see a bed we all climbed in. I tossed and turned most of the night, their two parrots were making noise and dogs were barking.

Day 2 Sunday May 24, 2009

We woke up about 6:30 AM I felt I was about half asleep all night. We wished Lidia Happy Birthday gave her her presents realized it was too early and slept until 9:00. I actually felt like I slept this time. We got up and had a breakfast of plantain, like bananas fried, tomales nothing like Mexican kind. A sort of Mormon coffee it was ok. Her step-grandfather took us to a sort of mall thing. I was able to buy bread and a cookie in a basket is what you shopped with. We also had the most amazing churro with cream and got her a birthday cake. I also got my diet coke from McDonalds about 23 of their dollars for two of them which is about 3 of our dollars. We stopped at the grocery store bought them out of bottled water and here its called Coca-Cola Light. We bought a calling card for the cell phone we’re borrowing from these little markets people run out of their houses on the side of the street. We’re staying in a gated community has an armed guard at the gate. We ordered chicken from a place called Pollo Campero-just like KFC more of a baked not fried taste and none of the sides. We rested for a bit then had cake. Her great-uncle was there we enjoyed trying to teach each other our languages and headed to bed.

After this I realized the writing everything out was too long, so I just made bullet points

Day 3 Monday May 25, 2009

-woke up at 6:30 we were out door at 8:30 for Lake Atitlan

-stopped for very good breakfast eggs, beans mush, bread, black tortillas

Got lost lots construction sign for Lake road gone went 40 kilometers too far

Road very scary I call it death road Sam kept pointing out crosses on side of road where people died

No street laws at all pass people on corners and pass cops even speeding

We took boat ride to get to hotel cottage thing

Prettiest place I’ve ever seen-pictures won’t do it justice

Very humbling, I knew to expect bad conditions especially in these little villages had no idea how bad

We able to have fettucine dinner here and carrot cucumber salad very good

We made our own hot tub in the bath here

I was even able to hop on interenet real fast to send email

We’ll do shopping in village tomorrow I’m so tired after the like 5 hour car ride on windy roads

Sam lit a fire in the room or let’s say attempted

We had little boy show us to hotel it was uphill and very long walk wish we would have taken a little cab called a tok-tok

I fell asleep very early over everyone else

Day 4 Tuesday May 26, 2009

Woke up around 8:30 got ready

Went to restaurant in hotel for an amazing breakfast. I had French toast with fresh strawberry jam and fruit French toast were just little breads best French toast ever had-tried Lidia’s omellete and biscuit soooo good

Went into village to shop took a tok-tok for it

Bought guitar-little wooden one, beautiful painting, giraffe that’s wooden like a puzzle with hidden compartment and a postcard I sent home

Checked out of cottage hotel discovered a lizard on wall of room-took a tok-tok to beach and again did boat ride to next place we were staying

Had scariest boat ride ver we had to stop at a little town first took a taxi to other end of village to get on another boat

It had to keep stopping at random docks kept putting more and more people on in total 24 people I honestly thought we were going to sink or tip to one side (its only supposed to fit 12)

Finally arrived at La Iguana Perdid out Santa Cruz hotel nice room three beds in it private bath- no shops or atm like other village only dinner at hotel during certain time.

They didn’t have diet coke either had to go to another tiny store for candy too

Been getting eaten alive by mosquitoes

Dinner was weird served family style carrot soup and pizza Lidia said nothing like authentic food

They told us we couldn’t do any of the things the website suggested you needed to plan in advance

I didn’t’ sleep well it was freezing everything was damp and I really had to use the bathroom didn’t want to get up plus saw lights through window all night

Day 5 Wednesday May 27, 2009

Craziest day ever!

Went to breakfast at hotel we all ordered fruit, yogurt granola crepes it was sooo awful tasted like rotten milk from two years ago

None of us ate, we checked out as soon as we could and caught the boat to Panachel

Boat ride not so crowded this time

So tired carrying our stuff there was a little restaurant we stopped at

Had a diet coke and the best fries at 10:00 in the morning

Lidia called her uncle he was just leaving it was a 2 and a half hour drive so we had time to kill

We knew of a butterfly sanctuary so she asked the waiter he told her where it was and said they have a zipline there

Took a tok-tok to the place

It cost Q175 for the zipline about $20-25

OH MY HECK craziest thing I’ve ever done Park City’s so called zipline is nothing compared to this

We hiked clear up this mountain over the tropical forest through a waterfall you could hear rattlesnakes during it I freaked out and freaked out at Sam for continuously pointing it out

Before they put all the gear on us the harnesses a dinky little helmet that I’m like this won’t do any good although I later realized it protected my head from the trees

They let us practice on a little cable

They hooked you up then let your body weight carry you-you have to stop yourself with a gloved hand

The hike was exhausting with the humidity and altitude change we had to keep stopping

There were bridges we crossed they said only held 7 people there were 5 of us and it looked to me like it could only hold one

It was very dinky and high up

The view was amazing it was over the trees you looked over and could see the Lake and volcanoes

There was 8 lines you’d have to hike a little to the next one it was soo pretty

It hurt my hands with the breaking but they said I did really good

Sam the first one lost her grip and the guy had to catch her so she didn’t hit the rock

We got done and walked the butterfly sanctuary

Took another tok-tok to meet her uncle at the dock

On way home we stopped few more places bought a jade necklace and wood horse

I got pretty carsick on way home luckily I was able to fall asleep

Stopped at a beautiful Swiss restaurant for sandwiches and pictures

I saw a firefly! Coolest thing ever like little lightbulbs

Came home took long time finally fell asleep

Day 6 Thursday May 28, 2009

Woke in the morning anticipating a trip to Antigua

Lidia said there was a minor earthquake in the middle of the night she almost woke us for to stand in the doorway

I didn’t feel it, later we found it was in Honduras like 7.4 magnitude in the ocean

After I showered I did not feel good

Went to the bathroom felt like everything I”ve been eating this trip came out

Decided postpone trip Lidia went to her grandpa’s grave and to visit a friend me and Sam literally slept and read all day

Don Carlos (Lidia’s stepgrandfather) took us to a fruit stand to get something when I got back felt like I was going to pass out Sam was nice to air me off while I layed on the couch

Toilet became our friend rest of day

Well that’s all from my journal I’ll do a quick wrap-up of the rest. Still felt sick into the night and Friday. Me and Sam decided to get a flight back home. It was full on Saturday so we got one Friday afternoon. We still really wanted to see Antigua so we went early that morning. It was really cool. My favorite was seeing a Jade museum and learning all about it. I didn’t feel very good at all, but I still enjoyed seeing it. As usual long plane rides and trip home. My first time through customs in the US they just asked questions didn’t go through our stuff.

All in all it was a crazy adventure! It was a ton of fun and definitely memories I’ll keep for the rest of my life.

Today=No fun

2009-06-11T16:57:00.005-06:00

Warning, not the most pleasant post. So, after returning from the trip I still haven't gotten any better. I've also had new symptoms come up over the past few days including a sharp pain in my back even into my stomach on the left side. I've also just been completely exhausted sleeping even 10 hours a night. I've just been attributing this to what I had before but finally after that sharp pain decided to go to the doctor. Well, all I can say was it was not any fun. Luckily, they got me in same day but I had to get my blood drawn the guy left a huge bruise on my arm. I also had to give a urine sample, oddly enough in my 21 almost 22 years I've never had to do it. Well, it wasn't the most pleasant experience and I'll just leave it at that. I also had to get an x-ray to see what the pain may be. And he wants me to get a *ahem* stool sample. Yeah totally NOT excited for that one. He thinks its possibly a urinary tract infection and parasite, but is waiting for all the tests to know for sure. Well just thought you'd all want to know about that fun adventure haha. I've felt like I"ve been in a slump lately not only because of this but the job search, not really having anything big since graduating and everything so hopefully I"ll start fixing things slowly. They'll figure out what's wrong and I can get on the right antibiotics, I'll get a job for real and everything will get better. Another thing usually I get letters from Cameron every two weeks with how the mail works and by the time I write him and it's been two weeks by tomorrow, so hopefully I"ll get one tomorrow that always cheers me up. :)

Guess what again?

2009-06-08T13:04:00.003-06:00

So I get a message today from the lady who interviewed me saying she talked with the business partners and they decided at this time they didn't want to hire anyone. Then if I have any questions call her back. I'm totally bummed. I thought this would be a really good opportunity. Luckily I hadn't told my current job just yet, man this sucks. I was so excited now it's back to the job hunt. Well had to get that off my chest, back to work I go.

Guess what???

2009-06-06T16:32:00.002-06:00

I GOT A JOB!!! An actual grown-up one with a SALARY not hourly too! It was one of the weirdest experiences ever, but I am so so so happy. It all started on Friday (just yesterday) I was looking on KUTV website at their jobs. Normally I'm not the biggest fan of their job board it's a lot of the work-at-home scams and staffing services, but I thought what the heck it can't hurt. So I find one for Jason's Deli all it says is marketing, full time, salaried, Freelancer, If you're shy don't apply. I"m like what the heck I might as well do it right, so I click on this little form and submit only my resume, thinking at first it probably didn't even send and yeah right I won't even get a call on it. Well later that night (keep in mind Friday at like 7:00) I get a call asking if I could interview. She asked when I was available she said she was going out of town Monday and was wondering if I could the next day, Saturday. I said sure didn't think I had anything going on. After I get off the phone I realize I have no idea what this will entail marketing could be anything from standing outside in an animal suit to running the corporate website, but I decided I'll go with an open mind and still dress up just in case. I show up and we start talking for like an hour. She even got me lunch, she asked if I had it yet, that was awkward I just decided say no maybe it's a test to see if I"ll actually not be afraid to eat in front of her. So the job is basically gathering more corporate accounts for catering meetings things like that. They have some leads, but its going out to businesses talking with them and just networking. The craziest thing she said she had just 60 applicants that day (I"m not sure if that was for every job or just mine) but she loved my resume and basically I felt as I walked in there I already had it she was just telling me about it making sure it'd work out. I was shocked, I've been for the number of times I"ve sent out my resume, I've probably gotten 10% an interview on. This one was like over a weekend when you're especially not expecting it to happen. She goes out of town next week, but will call me and set up when exactly to start probably the week after. I also get free lunch depending what store I'm working around, parking at Gateway and only have to be in the office one day a week the rest is traveling to their Layton, Orem, Gateway and Murray stores. It also pays a base plus commission, if you really want to know I"ll tell you I just don't feel like posting it online haha. Anyway, it's a huge blessing and such a relief to finally have something real, steady and stable and I won't be stuck in an office all day doing secretary work for what I make now. Time for the celebration to begin, I think I"ll need a new wardrobe with this, maybe new perfume, for sure some new shoes. Maybe that new Camero isn't as far off as I thought ;)

The Good Life

2009-06-03T13:13:00.001-06:00

It’s been interesting trying to get back to “normal” not vacation life. Funny, I was only gone a week and that was all I needed for my brain to completely want to shut down. I wanted to blog on some very good things that happened this week. First, yesterday driving to work you know I’m a little out of it, there was more traffic then normal and I plain just didn’t want to be going, I look over and see this Range Rover with an exceptionally good looking guy in there. Well, I’m like hmm that just made my morning a little better. I look closer and realize I think it’s Kyle Korver! At that point I about drove off the road I was so excited. Now who knows if it really was, but I’d like to think so it made my day a little brighter. I’m also getting way to used to this work however much and whenever you want thing…this whole week each day I’ve worked only about three hours…haha I know. In my defense I’m still a little sick even though I could handle it, its just more comfortable to be home. I checked my official grades from the semester and even though I didn’t make the 4.0 I did get on the Dean’s List! I haven’t been placed on it for a few semesters, so I was proud my last one I was able to go out with a bang. I went to the chiropractor this morning, all I can say is amazing. The insurance keeps calling me from that accident I think I’m finally going to be released from it and no more dealing with it all! It’s been almost 6 months, it’s about time. When I got back I had a good 2 hour meeting with my boss on the videos. Everyone had a chance to look at them and give critiques. I was happy they thought especially with given no direction I did really good and gave me some pointers on fixing them. It was really helpful to get the feedback and even though I have ideas of what to do, I feel at a creative stuck-point I think my brain wishes I was working from the beach or something. I had a good talk with someone last night and even though my family says it (more cause they have to) I’m really really happy where I am in my life and am such a better person for the choices I made with things last year. This person who hasn’t seen me in over a year said it’s like I’m glowing I look so happy and I realized I am a much happier person then I was two years ago. I’ve been able to accomplish a lot of things, that I may not have if I hadn’t made those choices. Ooh sort of a good and bad thing, this getting sick didn’t prove to be so so bad, I lost five pounds from it when I initially got home from the trip, even though it’s been rough it’s a nice crash diet plan. Well just some ramblings I wanted to get out, I promise Guatemala post is still coming.

And I'm home!

2009-05-30T11:04:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone, I made it back safe from the adventurous trip to Guatemala! Yes, it is two days early, I got back late last night with Sam after getting sick there and coming home early. It was honestly the craziest adventure of my life from zip-lining across mountain with real rattlesnacks (yeah crazy I know), to almost rolling a little three-wheeled taxi "tok-tok", to enjoying the beautiful land of Gautemala-honestly some of the prettiest places. I promise many many pictures and a detailed post to come!

And I'm off!

2009-05-22T14:53:00.002-06:00

Wow, Guatemala is finally here! I leave tomorrow around 2:00 in the afternoon. It's crazy there's been so much anticipation and planning for this trip, I booked it before I even went to Texas. I'm very excited, a little nervous but it should be a good adventure. We have a lot of fun things planned, including diving, a trip to the temple and to see Antigua. Here are some pictures I pulled off the web of their volcanoes, beaches and Antigua itself. I'll have to compare these to the ones I take. I'm planning on keeping a nice log of it, I won't have any electronics (I know how will I survive) but I'll do it the old fashioned way with pen and paper. I'll do an extensive post when I return. Well I"ll see you all in a week!

More random ramblings

2009-05-19T17:16:00.003-06:00

I totally feel like I"m in school again. I've been totally avoiding applying for this one job, for like two weeks. I have to write two three-page essays, yeah you can understand my lack of excitement. So I'm doing what I did during the school year when I avoided things that is blog, stalk others blogs, Facebook, check email 400 times and basically anything else that can help me avoid it. I blocked out a good chunk of today to just get it done but keep finding things to avoid it. I even let myself leave work earlier then I planned just for it. I might as well make this a sort of meaningful post and tell you about the last day or two. Last night I went to Chalice's last two regular softball games of the season. This is her last season to play and she's now in the debate of playing Allstars or working. She did really well, got two nice hits right between first and second just into the outfield both times. I believe her team placed third, almost second but that's a sore story ask her for details. I've also been working on my needlecraft a lot more lately with no school and I"m loving it. I even pulled out the sewing machine today, not my most favorite thing I'd much prefer using a needle or crochet hook, but it was kinda fun, it didn't even break on me so I may be working on more projects this summer. I have sooo many to do. Today I finished the big movie project at work. I was very happy. I uploaded them onto our server and let the guy know to review them and let me know how they were or if things needed to be changed. I was so happy to get it done before Guatemala. I asked what other things needed to be done and got three more big projects. One I have to design a transfer guide for future students using a program I"ve never used before, I started it and we'll see how it goes. The other I have to email all these people to update information sheets we have, yeah no fun going through other people. The person who gave the projects to me didn't give me everything I need either so I was very frustrated. Also I have to update another thing for incoming students that hasn't been updated since 1997. I definitely wish I had more of an engineering background there are just some things where if I was a student in the field it would be easier. Luckily I'm a pro with the internet. I finally got so frustrated plus with this job application looming on my mind I left work only after a half day. Again I"m loving the decide my own schedule but with taking a week off I feel like I should be putting more hours in. I also checked and I'm off the U's student directory. :( Don't get me wrong it's a great thing and I"m sooo excited to be done, but it's sad in a way too. It's what I've known for four years, oh well onto the next adventure in my life. Anyway, this turned into more of a vent things but oh well it kept my brain from wandering on Facebook or other mindless things.

What's going on with KayCee lately...

2009-05-18T18:07:00.004-06:00

So I decided to do another boring typical "what's going on with KayCee lately" post after my own Grandmother didn't realize I was still working at my old job. I guess even though I talk to her multiple times a week I still rely on this blog for all the normal updates and I haven't been doing a lot of my typical day to day things lately more just big events. So here goes, I'll try to remember everything so I may need to work from what's going on now backwards. Yes, I do still have a job thankfully. My old work is letting me stay on for a month or two until I find something different or they run out of money or things for me to do. Its been very nice I get to work whatever schedule I want and don't have to tell them beforehand just show up or not show up. I'm still not sure how many hours I can work during the week in the semester it was maxed at 20, so who knows. This sort of freedom has been nice but I'm sure I'll regret it one day. I'm getting used to pretty much doing whatever I want with no school a very laid back work schedule. Too bad I don't have any awesome adventures, but I try to stay busy. My Guatemala trip is Saturday! I can't believe it so much anticipation and it's finally here. I'll be gone from May 23-31 I know you'll all miss me terribly :) I will admit I am a little nervous but trust Lidia since she's a native. I'm also excited for my first international experience at traveling and am sure I"ll have many adventures. We're already planning some exciting things including diving! Yeah not quite sure if I'll make that but we'll see. I've been taking care of things before I leave and getting everything all straightened out. It's funny how much there is to do for one little week vacation, just to come back to the real world after it's all over. I'm also in the debate of buying a little point and shoot camera. I have my big one but don't want to take it. I could borrow one, buy a used one or buy a new one I just can't decide. This weekend was sort of adventurous on Friday me and my mom went to see Angel's and Demon's it was quite good and held your interest right until the end. Sadly enough I still have yet to read the books, I own them both but with school never had the chance too, its near the top of my list of reads. I also managed to get a minor case of road rage that night after a guy cut me off twice and after I honked which I can honestly say I've only ever done like four times since I was able to drive, he flipped me off. I was very upset to say the least I even tried to convince my mom to flip him off, she didn't go for it though. It's been soo weird without school. I've had school breaks before but there's always a new semester to look forward to and things to prepare with that. Now, I see many possibilities in the future and its crazy choosing which path. I've been applying for more jobs. I've had a few interviews and many say my application passed initial review and others deny me out right. So we'll see. It's good in some ways I've been able to get a lot done with my other job, they're very flexible, plus with going to Guatemala it would be hard if I had gotten a job to ask for a week off. Anyway, that's me as of late, not too exciting but its my life :)

A good laugh

2009-05-14T15:05:00.003-06:00

Well guess what I got today? The graduation picture proofs. YOu know the one where the stage falls on me. Well I thought I'd brighten everyones day and post the link here (I hope it works). http://orders.gradphotonetwork.com/QPPlus/Packages.aspx?O=26380737&R=00008&F=0149&ViewID=1726&GroupImage=#

I tried with all my knowledge to save the image and put it on here but they're pretty good at blocking it. I seriously was laughing for a good five minutes so enjoy a good laugh for the day at my expense.

*Update JJ (or probably Jacob) was able to get the pic for me so you don't have to go to the website. Man why am I doing this to myself, good memories to tell my kids I guess.

Graduation Day

2009-05-10T21:12:00.005-06:00

Ok, here is the Graduation Day Post with lot's of pictures as promised some of them at first aren't the greatest, it's hard to see me, but at the end there are some good ones. Also when I uploaded them it did it kind of out of order. I tried to put them back into order, but wasn't working out so you'll get the story just a little backwards.

If you look you can see me very middle of the picture showing off my cover to my family taking the picture.

Haha ok like funniest story ever you walk over in front of these flags and have your picture taken. Well I accidentally stepped back onto the flag stand and it started tipping over on me. I seriously thought the entire stage was falling on me. I"m sure if she had taken this picture two seconds later my face would have been priceless.

Here I am hugging one of my most favorite professors I really will miss him. I worked with him a lot when I worked there and I only had one class with him, my very last semester, but he's a really nice guy.

Here I am hugging the Department Chair. She was sitting down by all the other Chair's and when I walked by she ran over and hugged me. It was funny after this and the professor everyone sitting around me was like what how do you know all these people because she mainly teaches graduate students. Since I worked in the Department she got to know me really well and know at engineering she comes over to work with another program right by my office and will always say hi.

Here I am getting my picture taken when the first give you the cover right after reading my name. I even knew this kid, he's the student body President. I did an interview with him on Newsbreak. He's a really nice guy whenever he sees me on campus he says hi and even remembers my name. He added me as a Facebook friend and now has like 1300, it makes my 100 look like nothing.

This is a shot of the entire Huntsman Center and how it looked.

Here is when the Dean of the College is speaking.

For some reason it won't let me type above the picture of me JJ and Jacob, but that's all of us who graduated again the sun was a little rough.

Me JJ and Chalice yeah not fair how Chalice looks perfect and I'm squinting to death.

Me Sun and JJ.

Me and a good friend Edgar. He was in Newsbreak with me. He is amazing truly you'll see him anchoring the National evening news here pretty soon. He already has a job at NBC in New York this August.

Me and Sun I was glad she was able to come.

Me and my parents. My dad kept making dumb hand signals behind us this was the only one without it, but we're all squinting.

Here is me right after my college graduation the sun was very very bright.

So there you have it. One very long day. We had a little get together at my house later that night. I was glad my friends Sam and Shelley were able to come join in the celebrations as well as other family. I can't believe I"m finally done it feels like last year I just started, but I know good things are in the horizon and I"m excited to see where it takes me.