COPS

Geoff and I have lived in the Orem ghetto before, we know what the ghetto is. Our current neighborhood is not the ghetto, so I have to wonder why we see the cops around here as often as we do. Like today, as I drove up there were two cop cars - parked all skeewampus in the middle of the road - and one officer asking questions from four guys standing around, and taking notes on a pad. I noticed as I walked from car to house, that the cop asked a question and they all turned around and pointed in the general direction of our building. Yikes. Yet we see the cops a lot.

We saw a stakeout once, a couple years ago. Coming home from something, I noticed lots of cop cars parked in each little parking lot turn-in, all just sitting there with their lights off. If they were trying to be inconspicuous, they failed. Anyway, I happened to be out again, some time later that night, when they all suddenly turned on their lights at the same time and quickly drove over to one spot. Curious, I took "the long way" out to see what happened, but all I could see was that they were all parked at one guy's house - in front of his house, in his driveway, on his lawn, like six or seven of them, with their red and blue lights on. Weird. Maybe it's cuz we're just off the freeway and it's a great spot for someone to try and hide. I like living close to the freeway though, the quick access is great.

Well, we got more snow dumped on us. Geoff and I switched cars today so he could take mine in for an oil change. I think his car is worse on the snow than mine!

To liberate, not to conquer

I DVR'd the Meet the Natives short series and finished watching the final episode tonight. My dad's friend Bill had some interesting thoughts about one of the episodes. Here's what the show is about: "The show is called “Meet the Natives” which has these tribesmen going across America exploring what our country’s all about. These men have one goal or “mission” in mind, and that is to deliver a message personally to President Obama. Their message is simple, yet crucial in their minds, otherwise their mission is a failure…..but the message is simply, “bring about peace throughout the world.”

Anyway, for their final week in America, they stayed with a DC family in which both parents are soldiers. The chief asked the father why they go to war. The soldier's answer was basically that he doesn't really know, but they just go because they're told and they don't ask questions. They just do what they're told.

Individuals decide to what extent they follow the politics of war, but I wondered if there was a better answer out there. It almost seems like too big of a question to try and grapple with, and I really don't know the answer either. One thing I do remember though - a couple of years ago, my ethics professor showed a black and white video of the London Blitz of 1940. I guess Hitler thought he was going to conquer the world and thought he would demoralize the British by leveling the city of London to dust. And level it, he did. I remember watching the intense struggle the British underwent in defending themselves, being totally outnumbered, hit over and over again and yet not giving up, though the people had to live underground to survive amidst the constant fear and terror.

My professor was a staunch pacifist, hating everything about war. I think he showed the movie as an example of the awful effects of war. The movie touched me so much, but the one big question on my mind was, "why was there no one helping them fight to defend themselves?" They needed help so badly. My question was answered simply, "The US wasn't involved in the war at that point."

So, war is never a good thing, but is it sometimes necessary? In my high school dance class, there was a German foreign-exchange student. I once asked her what the general opinion of America was, as far as she knew. She said the opinion is that we stick our noses in everybody's business and we should just keep to ourselves and mind our own business. That could just be a german upbringing, or it could be more widespread than Germany, my perception is that it's more widespread than that. But there are differing opinions on what our involvement should be.

Going back to the show - the five men found themselves in the heart of D.C., trying to spread their message of peace, and found the following engraving on one of the monuments: "Americans came to liberate, not to conquer; to restore freedom and to end tyranny."

"Say goodbye"

I hope what I'm doing is the right thing to be doing with my life. Things don't feel the same tonight. Maybe it's just now without this big huge goal to work on I feel a little lost and I'll get used to it. I just hope we're going in the right direction.

The man in the pod

Had a totally weird dream about three days ago - it's unusual that I remember a dream that long so I'm just gonna write about it.

I was standing in the road - about halfway up the big hill on Center Street in Spanish Fork, when all of a sudden a soccer-ball-shaped metal pod, about four feet in diameter, fell down from outer space and crashed into the ground in front of me.

The scientist of the pod, who was standing next to me, said there was a man inside it, who was probably injured and would die if he didn't get help right away - although there was no urgency coming from the scientist. He just shrugged his shoulders and started walking away. "Wait! He's going to die!" I called after him, but no response. I pulled out my cellphone and tried to call 911, but could not get my phone to work.

I considered running down to the police station on Main Street but knew I wouldn't get there in time to save the man's life, so I ran across the street instead, to where three guys were hanging out. Panicked, I told them the man was going to die, and could I please use their phones? They didn't seem to care about the man in the pod, but one gave me his phone anyway. It was an iphone, and I couldn't figure out how to use it and gave it back. Another guy gave me his phone. "He's going to die if we don't get help!" I yelled over and over again. I punched 9-1-1 into the other guy's phone, but the numbers 5-0-6 showed up on the screen instead. I knew at that point that something was very wrong and I was going to fail and the man in the pod would die. Then I woke up.

The general feelings of the dream were frustration, because I couldn't believe no one cared about something as vitally important as the man's life - fear, because I alone seemed to carry the responsibility for saving him - and helplessness, because I was failing to do so.

I've got some general ideas about the meaning of this dream, if there is such a thing, but I just don't feel like getting into it right now.

Geek weekend

This is our fridge after Geoff cleaned it out, like two days ago. It still looks like that- maybe we should go grocery shopping.

Lookey what I got for Christmas!! "Freakin' sweet."

This morning we went to see Avatar in 3D. It was so good; we both really loved it. Then we went to lunch at Tuchano's, mmm. We've also decided to geek out with our fantasy books and an all-night Lord of the Rings marathon, again. Two happier geeks I'm sure there never were.

It in a nutshell

This is over $300 worth of stickers. And now it's time to scrape them off.

Yep, grades are posted, I'm officially done!!! Wahoo! A huge weight off me. And now that Geoff has found a job, it's a huge weight off him too. So, one marriage proposal and five years later, we are finally resting a little bit.

There has never been a time in our marriage when at least one of us wasn't in school. Things will probably be different for us now, but we are ready to start a new phase of life together - at least for a little while!

I don't plan on getting bored with all this new extra time on my hands! Here are some goals for the coming year:

-Lose the 30 lbs I've gained since starting the back-to-back schedule, by late June
I'm a little nervous to try since I've tried and failed so many times in the last three years, but there's so much more time now than there was before! Not to mention energy!

-Spend time with Geoff!

-Keep a clean house
no more once-a-month whirlwind clean

-Read!
I want to read all about American history; I want the nitty-gritty starting all the way back before Columbus ever sailed away. I'm not interested in conspiracy theories or political bias - a book with a point to prove. Just pure history, that's all I want. If any one knows any good ones, I'd appreciate suggestions! :) Also, I read a book by Pete Hammil called Forever, and it was fictional, but it touched lightly on ancient Celtic history and culture, and was really interesting, so that's the other thing I want to read about.

I've got at least another year at my job, according to the tuition-reimbursement contract which my amazing employer provided me. I actually think they're doing me a favor by keeping me in one spot for at least a year - it takes some of the pressure off. I'm going to start studying for the GMAT on January 1st, and then take it in late February/early March. And after all of that - I've decided to get a CPA license and do taxes. It's going to be a long road - at least a year left at my employer's, then at least another year of school, then two years working under a CPA. My CPA friend at work says it'll probably take me about a year to complete the test, but that can be done while working under the CPA. But, there's really nothing standing in my way, at this point. Taxes intimidate the crap out of me, but if other people can learn them, then I'm sure I can.

The only setback I see in all of this is that I'll be limiting my choice of schools to those that accept a bachelor's degree at face-value, as opposed to the ones that want specific prerequisites. I wasn't able to take all of the normal prerequisites at UVU since they are only offered during the day. But, as Scotty says, "setbacks are not debilitating to me." I'm sure there are still lots of good schools to choose from. I can go anywhere in the country I want, as long as I get accepted. Which I don't plan to have a problem with, just have to study up well for the GMAT.

Tonight though, we takin' it easy, brother!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannakah!

Done

Oh my gosh, I'm blogging! It feels like it's been like, two weeks! ha ha. I am a journaling addict. Anyway, my friend Angie took me out to lunch the other day to "celebrate being done with the damn school." Ha ha, I so love her! Mom & Dad gave me the most beautiful vase of flowers I've ever seen - so bright and colorful! I wish I'd taken pictures of it! We also went bowling last Friday night with the family - and they got me some books and a CD of the Beatles greatest hits. I'm not real familiar with the Beatles, other than everybody and their dog loves them, so I'll give it a listen!

Erik's birthday

Erik's birthday today. All he wanted was to go to Red Robin with the family for dinner. His cute girlfriend came too. During dinner, Danielle asked Dad if he'd had a girlfriend in high school. Mom answered something like, "who didn't he date?", which prompted Danielle to ask dad if he was a player in high school. And dad replied, "what, you mean did I play football?" ha. I love my family.

Our December

So much fun stuff happening! A couple weekends ago, we went to the Festival of Trees in Sandy with Ashlee and Jared - our last time hanging out until they come back! Or until we go there, whatever!

Last weekend was our company Christmas party - the locale changed to Thanksgiving Point this year. (The Grand America was really nice but it was even nicer to be just a short drive away!) We had live entertainment this year - a guy named Jarrett. He was on American Idol season 8, and since I didn't see it I'm not sure how far he got, but he was amazing! He had a female guest singer and together they were stunning!

Need a 5-hour energy

Sigh. It's really hard to focus on homework (finals) when you just want to crawl under the covers and hibernate. Unfortunately, I really cannot put this off any longer. I'll post some actuall stuff in a few days once all the schoolwork is done.

Lizards don't really eat paper

Okay so, I already know I'm a geek - no need to point it out - but I really want this...

Michael Jordan who?

I had no idea this was going on at UVU that night... no wonder traffic was so horrendous on my way to class.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Oh. What an exhausting week. There've been major to-do's in work, in school, and in personal life this past week. I'm just physically and emotionally drained right now. I really need to be working on finals tonight, but Geoff and I are thinking about Cafe Rio and a movie at home. I'll just hit it hard tomorrow. Ta-ta for now.

He ate my heart

It snowed!! Big time! It came quite late this year, but I'm not complaining about that. Just have to get used to the slippery roads again. I get scared of someone pulling out in front of me without giving me enough time to slow down - my car does not have good traction on snow. I went 25 mph all the way to work this morning though - so far so good. Geoff wants to get an SUV for me to drive cuz they handle so much better. That'll be a ways off though, I'm thinking. Anyway.

I bought the new Gaga album. She's kind of weird, honestly, but I can't get enough of the tunes. This one's a total dance album. It feels like 80's electropop mixed with Ace of Base (Alejandro's a total Ace of Base song. And I love Monster). So, simply put, I love it.

Tonight I turn in a paper and give a presentation on item PO2 of COBIT: Define the Informational Architecture. (Scintillating, let me tell you). Then tomorrow night I have to give a group presentation on our group's "journal article," and Thursday my portfolio thing is due for Fraud class, which is going to take some time to put together - that will have to be done Tues. and Weds. night. THEN, FINALS!! And I'm done with homework forever if I want to be. Yessssssssss. If we can just make it through the next two weeks. :)

Quote

It's been since Wednesday? Wow where has time gone. Anyway, I just read this most awesome quote on a friend's blog:

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sigh

I pumped myself full of caffeine today. We had a training meeting from 9-11, then from 2-5. It wasn't that bad, really (thanks caffeine). The rest of this week, especially tomorrow, then probably all of next week and maybe the next few months, are gonna be crazy! You know, in sort of an exciting way, for the company. But crazy. I worked a little late, then did homework for an hour, then went to class. Geoff went to a sub for santa thing while I was at school. We are tired. Came home and watched the Biggest Loser together. I don't know but this last season wasn't as good as the one before it. Last season was, well, kinda inspiring. This season, well, it tries. (It's really corny!) But anyway.

Geoff interviewed with a guy today. I think the guy was psycho - if angry and completely delusional counts as "psycho." Eck.

We miss you guys

Last night we got to see our old friends Ashlee and Jared!!! They are spending Thanksgiving up here in Utah and they spent last night with us. It was so good to see them and we seriously miss them sooooooo much! Well someday we might all live in Texas huh? :) Until then, we're just going to plan our next trip together... we're thinking a cruise, at some point. Anyway, we ordered pizza and just stayed in, playing Battle of the Sexes (we made up our own rules, does anyone really know the rules to that game?) and watched a little Scare Tactics since they've become fans too. They were here until 1 a.m. and it was a blast! We seriously laughed our heads off all night long.

Our hubbies and their shared love of spicy condiments:

They are so funny.

And slap a big red bow on it

I've got a question:

Why are people so against the commercialization of Christmas? I, for one, enjoy it. Ask Geoff, I love being at the mall at Christmas. I like being surrounded by the shiny, glittering festivity of greens, reds, golds, and silvers. I like giant bows and the smell of roasted cinnamon almonds. I like the hustle and bustle and the prospect of a pair of new holiday socks. It's cute watching the little kids get excited to see Santa Clause. Who can blame the corporations for wanting to profit from the yearly giant gift-exchange? That's why they're in business; it's what they do.

I know the true meaning of Christmas is more important. We remember and humbly celebrate Jesus Christ and his life, ministry, and death. We show thanks for our blessings, bestowed by Him, by extending (or asking) forgiveness and love, and reaching out to those less fortunate. We bask in the warmth of life by spending time with our loved ones (my favorite part). This to me is the true meaning of Christmas, and it surpasses the shiny decorations by ten hundred times.

But still there's nothing wrong with shiny decorations. As long as they don't consume you, they're just part of the fun. If you ask me whether or not I'm gonna sit next to our shiny, sparkly Christmas tree in my red and green socks, drinking candy cane cocoa and watching The Santa Clause... the answer is Yup! :)

Almost almost done

I seriously had a dream where I finished out the semester, and was told I couldn't graduate because I still had to take one more math class. :(

I have asked the accounting advisor if I've done everything I need to in order to graduate and she said YES, so everything better work out. It is the counselor we had all the drama with last fall, so I'm just hoping against hope that she was right and everything is done. If not, I have email proof! har har

Only a couple more weeks! It seems like this past month has been a breeze, as far as the workload goes. I hope that statement doesn't come back to bite me, but I'm sure it'll all be fine. Still have a bunch of stuff to do, but I'll get there.

Santa Clause was in town

Today was great. I love love our Christmasy house. It's so cozy.

Anyway, tonight Geoff had said he'd work at the Lehi Christmas festival thing, so I went with. Apparently the families all follow Santa Clause down the street (a parade of sorts), do a Christmas tree lighting, then come inside to sit on Santa's lap, then there's a family dance. We set up a United Way table in the room where the kids visited Santa, along with some other non-profits.

Our table was right next to Santa Clause so we had a front-row seat to all the excitement. Most of the kids were so dang cute. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole thing. There were only a few screamers, surprisingly, and some looks of total bewilderment, but mostly the kids liked Santa. One little 5-year old kid told Santa he wanted gold for Christmas (what kid asks for gold??), one kid fell fast asleep while sitting on his lap, and a teenage kid who'd wandered in with his friends toward the end said, for Christmas, he wanted the laptop that his mom owed him, one of those girlfriends would be nice, oh, and a driver's license, and um, a car, and - his friends had to pull him off Santa's lap so he'd quit asking for stuff - of course he was just trying to be funny. One little boy said he wanted lipstick, we thought. "Lipstick?" Santa repeated. "No, a whipstick!" It was funny.

All in all it was a fun night. That's a fun thing for the city of Lehi to do. It made us kind of look forward to taking kids to visit Santa. It made me remember Erik's first time seeing Santa as a baby. The video is so hilarious. I wish there was a way to put VHS on the computer so I could post it. If anyone knows, I'd love to know. :)

El chevere weekendo

So Thursday, we slept in, cooked up some Veggies in a Cloud (pretty much the one legitimate dish I can make) and headed to my parents' around two for Thanksgiving dinner. We were all there, and Erik's girlfriend, except for Alison. But we took pictures to send her and next year she'll be home! After dinner we went to see Blind Side in Payson. It was pretty good. I did like Sandra Bullock, but then when do I not like her? :) Anyway, then we went back to mom's for pie and Danielle and I played piano duets. It was fun.

This morning we slept in again - or I slept in, Geoff seems to have trouble sleeping in - went shopping in the afternoon after all the CRAZY shoppers were at home in bed, decorated the house for Christmas, did house-cleaning/laundry, made dinner, and watched Elf with my sweetheart. COULD THERE BE SUCH A THING AS A BETTER DAY? I think not. :)

So, now that the house is clean and Christmas is up and the shopping bug is out of my system, I can focus on homework tomorrow. I LOVE long weekends. Plenty of time to do stuff and spend time with family. I am so very much enjoying hanging out with Geoff. Right now he is out in the family room practicing his spanish. He has a spanish Book of Mormon from his mission and he reads it aloud. I have no idea what he's saying but I kind of like listening.

Happy birthday, grandma!

Today is my grandma's 81st birthday. (You go girl!) I don't normally write up "love lists" about people on their birthdays, even though I love them, but my grandma holds such a special place in my heart. A "love list" won't ever do her justice, and I'll probably make myself cry, but I'm gonna tell you some things I love about my grandma - and some memories

Silly

I remember when she one day got comfortable enough to take out her false teeth and sing Christmas songs with us - the extended family. It was such a riot and a memory that will live on for years.

When she used to make fun of that commercial with the "I got the power" song. She hates that song. She mocked the lady singing "I got the power" in full force, and when we acted surprised that she knew it, she said, "well, I don't live in a cave!"

Caring

Moving from AF to SF in the seventh grade was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I am so happy that we did because I had the opportunity to be closer to grandma. Her house was sort of an after-school safe-haven where I could go spend time, talking, watching TV, playing cards with her, and playing piano. I'm sure my incessant John-Schmidt-ing was enough to drive her crazy, but she never stopped talking about how good I was (even though I wasn't) and how much she liked to hear me play. She was always a listening ear during that hard time.

For years afterward my favorite thing to do was to just "pop in" and visit grandma, and she always greeted us (still does) with the warmest smile, hug, and hello there could be. I've always looked forward to and anticipated popping in and saying hi to grandma.

Talented

When I decided to learn how to make quilts for Young Women's, she was patient enough to take me shopping for material, help me set up the quilt frame in her basement, show me how to make the quilt, and then proceed to pratically make the quilt herself because I was too "busy" to work on it. I still have the quilt.

She was always so willing to drop what she was doing and un-hem my pants (or patch them up) or sew me a choir dress or whatever sewing I needed done. She can sew just about anything you give her; she is amazing. She was the sewing teacher's assistant when I had the class in Jr. High, and we joined forces again at that Jr. High building when I came back and did community choir with her for a few months. Did I mention she sings beautifully too?

All-around amazing

You know how there are just some people in the world that draw others in and make their world brighter? My grandma is just one of those people, always reaching out to help, welcoming, and giving love to the people around her. Family get-togethers are what they are because grandma is there. When I was a kid, I remember my dad saying to me that grandma is a great role-model. That if I was in a situation and didn't know what I should do, to think about what grandma would do. And you know, he was right. If I ever get to where I'm treating those around me with the love, respect, and genuine warmth that my grandma does, I will consider my life a success.

Again, there's no way a single post could say how much I love my grandma and how amazing she truly is. I'm just so grateful that I've had the chance to have a good relationship with her over the years. She is more of a blessing to me than I can say!

This is one of my favorite pictures of us and one of the few of just me, grandpa, and grandma.

(My grandpa has passed away, and although I miss him terribly, I am happy that grandma has a companion now to be with her.)

A cute post my sister wrote about grandma before she left on her mission.

Pictures of Donald, and grandma teaching Geoff and I how to can peaches.

Colonoscopy

Tonight we watched a new Bill Engvall routine in which he talked of his colonoscopy experience. It sounds completely awful but I guess he is still able to find the humor in it. My dad blogged about his experience once and said at one point, to his horror, he totally giggled. Don't worry dad, Bill Engvall did it too. Do girls have to get colonoscopies? Gosh I hope not.

Only a three-day work week next week! They will be crazy days but I am so looking forward to just spending time with the fam.

Weekend

The New Moon movie was awesome. Soooooo much better than the first one. And Taylor Lautner is about ten hundred times cuter than Rob Pattinson. (Can I say that even though he's only 17? Hmmm let's just pretend I can. We'll also pretend I'm not crazy enough to go to movie premiers in the middle of the night.) Anyway, I'm pretty much in love with the soundtrack. The first couple of listen-throughs I thought it was too dark and slow and boring, but now that I know it better it's all I'm listening to for the past week.

This morning Geoff and I went to the family volunteer day thing. We started with breakfast at the food bank in Provo. Geoff and I mixed tang in a coupla ten-gallon jugs, and afterwords decided we would probably never drink tang again, but it was fun. We also ran back and forth making pancakes and stuff. After the breakfast everyone went to their assignments - ours was to decorate a house for Christmas. It's a home that a guy is running for disabled people. We just did the outside lights and put together a christmas tree for the main room. It was pretty fun, we met a lot of cool people, and I'm totally excited to decorate our own house now. It was supposed to snow today but it never did, which I'm glad for. It can snow tomorrow.

Rat monster

Having a bad day? Take four minutes to watch our happy video. If you're gonna watch it, you gotta watch all the way to the end, it is funny! We love this guy!

ajdfid

So, I'm feeling pretty bad about calling someone Asshat. They've been nicer to me, and I realize they might not've meant anything bad to begin with. They might be a little abrasive once in awhile, but certainly I'm abrasive from time to time too. Maybe it is just what happens when two people who are abrasive are so at the same time. Either way, I should've been better in the way I handled it and am gonna try to be better from now on.

Anyway, gonna go spend the rest of the evening with Geoff. Over.n.out.

Mmm hmmm

So I pretty much spent the rest of the day (and night!) on homework yesterday. This morning we had tithing settlement, then came home and did homework, then went to church, then came home and did homework. Finished about 7:00 and wanted to make mom's yummy carmel popcorn - it gets soft and dry so it's not sticky and it's soooo good. But, of course I burned the carmel - suggesting that I cooked it too long, and then it never dried - suggesting that I didn't cook it long enough. What do you do? So, it tastes like gooey burnt-marshmallow carmel popcorn. Oh well. I love my hubby.

movies

Yeah I was pretty angry about that. Sorry if you had to read my angry post that was up for about a half day. I thought the better of that one after I cooled down. Anyway.

Last night was our date night. We went to see Disney's A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey. It was very good! We came home and watched UP again, another movie we love. I fell asleep shortly after that so we went to bed.

Geoff sent me an email saying to look at this cool picture he found, it really takes him back to when he was young. I expected to see some scenery or an old cartoon or something, so I opened it and it was a picture of our capstone professor from last summer, looking all serious and stuff. I laughed my head off.

Got tons and tons of homework today. Geoff is studying for the GMAT, which he'll be taking very soon.

New word

Asshat: One who has their head up their ass. Thus wearing their ass as a hat.




I can think of one such person right now whose head I'd like to give a great big violent shove. I have to keep things cordial to maintain a working relationship, but I can secretly hold my opinion, can't I?

cute backgrounds

I see so many cute blog backgrounds on other people's blogs. I don't know where to get them! I think I tried a cute pattern once but it would only work if I let it erase all of the links I've got set up. I'd love to find a template - maker that doesn't do that! (hint hint!) :P

Yay free lunch... I mean, yay world series!!

At work, our CEO is apparently a big Yankees fan. In his happiness at them having won the world series, he provided lunch for the whole company today, and said to feel free to wear pinstripes.

At noon today, he announced on an all-page that lunch was here, and said he'd leave us with some thoughts... and proceeded to play some song into the page - I don't know what the song was, but I assume one that is associated with baseball? Anyway, I don't follow baseball much, but Geoff has an old 50's or 60's style Yankees jersey, with Gehrig's name on the back, so I wore it over my clothes for fun. He said we could wear pinstripes, anyway.

Just finished some homework and now waiting for class to start.

:)

I think there is almost nothing better than spending the evening in your clean, comfy, cozy home with your loved ones - watching movies or reading, whatever you find relaxing. Love love love.

5K

Well this morning was that Fun Run. It was touching to actually see the family and hear them talk about how grateful they are for this opportunity. They seem like really amazing people.

It was the first 5K for both of us. Let me tell you, I'm seriously and pretty much embarassingly out of shape. I tuckered out after about four blocks, then we wogged the rest of the way (a mixture of walking and jogging but mostly walking). I knew Geoff could've kept up with the rest of the pack, and I urged him to go ahead several times, but he was determined to stay by my side. "Slow and steady, steady and slow, that's the way we always go," a quote by Goofy, he said. He's just the dang sweetest and cutest man I know. I'm pretty much totally in love with him.

It was pretty fun, the weather was awesome - felt like the middle of June - and we got a water bottle prize at the end. We said we're going to find and do more of them. I really need to get working out and eating better.

Family Volunteer Day - Nov. 21st

Geoff wanted me to post about an upcoming event that United Way is doing, for anyone that lives around here that would like to participate. It looks like fun. Here is the info:

United Way of Utah County is having its National Family Volunteer Day. This will be a great opportunity for families to participate in improving their neighborhoods and communities. Give them a call; they have projects that are perfect for your family

When: Saturday, November 21
8:30 – 9:00am, complimentary pancake breakfast
9:30 – 11:30am, service projects

Where: Community Action Services and Food Bank
815 S Freedom Blvd., Provo

RSVP: To sign up, call 801.691.5330 or visit www.unitedwayuc.org

EXPERIENCE AS A FAMILY WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE UNITED!

A great day

I have the best husband ever! Today while working, I got called down to the front desk and there was my hubby, bearing a grocery bag which contents included cordial cherries, sugar babies, Lindt truffles, Toblerone, Symphony almonds & toffee, Hershey's cookies & creme, Cadbury caramello, fruity Twizzlers, and Haribo raspberries. Pretty much all my favorite candy - and I do love candy - in one bag. He'd gone to the city office for work and thought he'd stop by. For realz, I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a sweet, thoughtful man as my eternal companion. What a lucky gal I am.

A few weeks ago I got a facebook event invitation thing for a boy who lives in Orem, who is getting a wish granted by the Make A Wish Foundation. They're having a Family 5K Fun Run as part of a Family Month that the local schools are doing, and all of the money from the run goes to the foundation. I don't know the people well enough to know the child's situation, but I just barely found the boy's mother's blog, here. Seems like a hard situation to me, but the family looks at it as a miracle and a blessing, how strong they are. He seems like a very loved and special little boy. Well, I've never run a 5K before because I truly suck at running, but we're going to go. Maybe this warm weather we're having has been holding out for this 5K! A nice thought, eh?

A Happy List

Need something to lift the mood a little bit. So I made a list of ten things that make me happy:

1. The Macarena was on the radio
2. It's warm outside
3. Christmas music
4. Peanut butter no-bake cookies
5. Not much homework this week
6. Andy from The Office
7. My car - though getting old - still has great air conditioning
8. Friends at work
9. Date night
10.Geoff is home
11. CHOCOLATEY HOT CHOCOLATE
12. The road to my work is officially not under construction anymore
13. Casual Friday
14. Leg warmers

Thurs Nov 5th

Wow, I can't even believe what has happened in Texas today. I've blogged before about how I feel about mass-shooters, and you almost want to say this is worse, being at a military base. The people who are giving their lives to protect weren't safe from one of their own; there's just no excuse on this earth for what that man did. And since he's dead now too, the only thing to do is trust that God will deal with him as He sees fit. That's just so, so sad for those people and their families. :(

Will this be our winter of 2009

Debating at this moment whether I should blog or not. Not sure if this is the best mind-frame to be in when putting forth stuff that becomes public domain. I know I tend to be less than positive sometimes. Guess it never really stopped me before though.

Recently, I just love being home so much. So, so much. I go home on lunch breaks, between work and class, when possible, and after class. Except for that trip down south last weekend - which would've probably been just as nice spent at home - I love every minute of being at home.

Geoff, more than anything, Geoff just wants to be at work. I think Geoff wants to be at work way way more than I want to be at home, even. It's so hard right now, so hard. Curious, I got onto Accountemps, just to see what kinds of jobs were available right now for people who are looking. Of allllllll the accounting categories, there was one posted job opening. One. For a payroll processor in SLC. I feel sad because it gets him down, even though it's not his fault. It is so hard to find jobs right now. It just freaking sucks.

On the less depressing (i.e. temporarily distracting) side of things, I decided not to be a scrooge this year and get out the Christmas music. So, yay for Christmas music.

I think that's it for this post.

Trip

The weekend was pretty fun. All the hotels in Mesquite (the ones we dared stay at) were way too expensive last weekend, so we stayed in St. George instead. We got there about 10 Friday night, and went to a grocery store to pick up dinner and drove around a little bit, most places were closed so we just went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and headed to Las Vegas. We were about an hour ahead of mall-opening time, so we went looking for another place we wanted to see because it's on TV - the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. (I know, of all things to see in Las Vegas - but we were curious.) Geoff is so starstruck that he was hoping the TV guys would be there, but none of them were working that morning. For the most part, it's just a grimy pawn shop like any other, though we did notice a few pieces that we'd seen on TV, namely the death-clock that was made of mercury, and called so because people died of mercury poisoning while making them. Well that was clear at one end of the strip, then we drove clear out past the airport to the other end to the Towne Square mall. I wanted to go to H&M, cuz the one in California was awesome. It was okay but I ended up not buying anything there. We stopped at the Godiva shop and bought a milk-chocolate decadence drink, which was probably the best chocolate shake/drink-thing I've ever had. Geoff liked the outdoor-ness and niceness of the mall, it was pretty nice.

We were finished by noon so we headed back and began our trek up and down the strip. Not trying to sound bad, but I think we've seen and done just about everything you can see and do on the strip, without getting drunk and/or spending hundreds of dollars, and we got a little bored after walking up and down for a few hours, actually. We did gamble a little. Probably the highlight of Vegas was when we were playing an electronic roulette game, and Geoff placed a bet on his lucky number 17, and we spun and guess what it landed on - black 17!! The payout was 32 to 1, and unfortunately we had only bet 1 dollar, but we were still $30 richer. We were so excited and thought it was pretty dang cool that it landed on his one and only number. We got some cheap food at one of the eateries and left around 6 or so.

Upon coming back to St. George, we went to In 'N Out, and talked about how the new one they're building on University Pkwy is going to completely kill the competition. EZ Take Out Burger already waved the white flag and closed up. We figure it'll be at least a few weeks before business slows enough that we can get in there. Anyway. Is it weird that's what we talk about? Anyway. After In 'N Out we bought some water at Albertson's and went back to our room. I say, nothing felt as good as when we plopped down on the bed and rested. We watched a few hours of TV and we were so exhausted we fell asleep without even showering - (I'm sure we stuck bad from being in all the casinos.)

Then the next morning we went to breakfast and headed home, I read my book most of the way home - been meaning to finish it for months now. We hung out at home the rest of Sunday.

Wow, after typing all of that, I realize we seem like a couple of old married geezers. Not that we've ever been the party type, but I'm totally happy with our life. I've come to realize lately that I'm even happy if we stayed in Utah County. For the past few years I've been dreaming about moving somewhere completely new and different, seeing different parts of the country, etc. etc., and I'm still totally up for all of that, but I'm not going to resent it or feel stuck if we end up staying here. There's a lot to do here and a lot of interesting places to go. We've got mountains on the east, desert to the west, coldness to the north and warm sun and red cliffs to the south. And here, we've got family here and that's kind of important for a little later in life, especially. And Geoff likes it here too. We'll just have to see what happens. I wish I could see into the future and know for sure.

Well, it's not really time for my lunch to be over but we have a meeting in eight minutes - a new program we're learning. Maybe it's good cuz I'm having a really hard time being at work today.

Gonna wake up in Vegas.... sort of

So..... yeah. Been busy at work, and relaxing at home the last few days. Work - though I've said many times - truthfully - how much I love my job, it has been quite the grind this week. Haven't gone to class because both of my on-campus teachers have cancelled for the week. I still had a bunch of online stuff due on Monday, and now - after spending all Tuesday night watching TV and reading, I'm trying to buckle down on a project so Geoff and I can take off this weekend. He asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him today (Of course; when do I ever turn him down!) and while at lunch I mentioned how nice it would be to get away this weekend. And! He was down for it! Except I called to see about vacancy at our favorite hotel in Mesquite, and it's about three times as pricey as what we're used to paying for it, so we're just gonna bum on down there and see what else we can find. Most likely in St. George. I love St. George. There's lots to do yet at the same time it's relaxing and peaceful. And clean. And warm. Anyway, we're going to hit up Vegas too but we plan to wander off the strip this time, there's a few other places I want to see and one very special clothing store I want to go to. (They don't have it up here and you can't buy online, either!) So, oh I'm just so ready. We were going to go to a concert/party that my cousin and friend are playing at Friday night (two different bands), but I'm sure there will be other opportunities to see them play, I hope he isn't too mad! Geoff and I were wondering if there will be a lot of crazy-looking people in Vegas since it will be Halloween, after all, and guessed there would be. I thought it would be fun to bring the camera and get our picture taken with the craziest costumes, but upon reviewing this idea with a friend, we realized we might not know who is dressed up and who really actually looks like that, so maybe not a good idea? Anyway, time to get going on that homework.

Weekend stuff

After a long week, we had a lot of fun last night. They were doing online specials for some haunted houses around here, so we hit up both the Castle of Chaos and the Haunted Mansion for our date night. They were a lot of fun; I'd say of the three we've been to this year, the Castle of Chaos was by far the best. Though there was one girl in the Haunted Mansion - an actress - who could lower her entire torso to the floor and crawl around with her knees and elbows jutting out at weird angles, just like on The Ring. And when she laughed, it sounded exactly like Emily Rose (while possessed with demons). It was pretty rad. We stopped at Borders on the way home. We want to try and squeeze in the Haunted Forest sometime next week before Halloween. By the way, that movie we watched, Paranormal Activity, that "good fun" ended up keeping me awake all night long, terrified at every little sound I heard - and some were weird. I think I might have to give it a rest for a little while until my nerves calm down.

Today, I spent hours on homework, and Geoff did some cleaning. He cleaned the junk out of the computer room, and dusted and vacuumed everything, and the room feels great now. No more litter-box stink. Though I have to admit, the house really does feel different without Wally. There's no one sitting by the door when we come home and making us laugh at the silly things he does and jumping on our laps at his convenience. I miss him. I hope he's happy in his new home.

Tonight we watched two movies, Hocus Pocus and Ghost of Girlfriends Past. (Neither are scary, not to worry!) I know, Geoff got me a chick flick and watched it with me, and even bought me chocolate and pomegranite drink. In addition to the cleaning! What a sweetie.

My mom is in New York with her sisters and one of their husbands. That's what my time off last week was for, except the week got changed. Anyway, the apartment they are staying in is in Soho - only one block away from the one Heath Ledger died in (may he R.I.P.), and is in the apartment building that some actress name Juliana Mascaro or something, and Kanye West live in. Meaning: it's nice! I guess the couple that owns it -as a vacation home - are both doctors and the husband has written books and been on Oprah. They totally stocked the fridge with wine, coffee, and chocolate, ha ha. My friend who lived in New York for a couple of years had made a list of all her favorite places to eat and things to see and do, and gave it to my mom, so they're using it. I hope they're having fun. :)

Cavo

Heard a song by Cavo on the radio today. Didn't know about them, but I kinda like it. It's not bad. (Crash was the song, but the rest of the CD is pretty okay)

Wally is gone

It was sudden. At least for me. See last weekend, I walked into the bedroom and found Wally in the bedcovers - he's not allowed in the bedroom at all - and I shooed him out, and said something mean about him loud enough for Geoff to hear. It bothered him, and a talk ensued, with me essentially saying I don't hate Wally, I'm just tired of the constant stink and mess. Geoff later decided that it would be best to just get rid of Wally, and I insisted we not, and he insisted we did, saying it might help us sleep better at night being able to breathe, that he's affecting both our allergies. I didn't think Geoff would actually place an ad, but place and ad he did, and some people came and picked him up today. I didn't even know until today when I was at work and Geoff called. I got to come home on my lunch break and say goodbye. He actually let me scratch his chin and he actually purred. And he let me pick him up and cradle him, as long as he could put his paw on my face. (I think he did that to ensure some protective distance... he wasn't used to being picked up when he arrived here a year and a half ago.)

Anyway, they came while I was in class, and Geoff said he thinks Wally is going to be happy. He was very comfortable with them and warmed right up to them. I think he's a pretty quick adapter - it only took him a day with us until he was rolling around on his back, which is a good sign. The only thing is that they have another cat, and we were told that he doesn't like other animals, though we hadn't actually seen what he would do. Geoff thinks he'll quickly get used to the other cat and will be fine. We told them to bring him back if he doesn't work out though. Geoff says we're just not pet people. Our apartment is too small for a pet. So probably soon we'll want to wash all the upholstery and have the carpet cleaned to get the hair and dander out. I'm kind of sad that I'll never see him again though, and I think we'll miss him. He's a good cat.

In other news today, Geoff had a job interview, in Ogden which is aways away. Only to get there and have them tell him he's overqualified. But, the guy had said, they get open positions in Accounting all the time and he'd give his resume to them. A little frustrating, yes, but Geoff said the guy liked him, so he's thinking of the positive, that he made a good contact. All else there is to do is just keep applying for jobs. I know something will work out.


After work today, my friend and I went to Costco to get flowers for a girl we know who just had a baby (twins - tragically, one was lost). Poor girl. I can't imagine the highs and lows she is going through right now. She's such a sweet girl and we just love her.

Short blog

Over the weekend we decided to start doing an official weekly family night, so Monday, that's what we did. I know, when you're marriend and have no kids, every night is family night, right? Well it's just a little more than that, Geoff had prepared a short spiritual thought, and we talked about it for a few minutes and then that was it. And we had dinner. And next week, it'll be my turn. This is addition to our weekly date night, which will probably be on Friday nights usually, my guess. Like we're taking some improvement steps, and I think we're totally committed this time, so I'm really very excited about this and I look forward to it all the time! I love my hubby so much and love spending time with him!

I still have school, but I'm pretty sure I can get around that. I'm not so concerned about missing a few assignments here or there anymore, if it happens at all. I'm just really really really looking forward to having a normal life again after December, filled with all sorts of good stuff like family time, being able to keep the house clean more easily, reading books, and I really want to lose some weight. The weight gain started in the summer of 2006, when I added full-time school to my schedule, and I've tried to get healthy several times since then, but have never really had enough energy or will power to stick to a long-term plan. But we're planning a family disneyland trip next summer and that's my deadline to lose 40 lbs. I hope it isn't premature that I'm blogging about this. I just feel so optimistic about post-school life and I really look forward to getting started on it.

Geoff sent me a link today to an article about a family of five, and the wife had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy, and the husband had lost his long-time manufacturing job and was coming to the end of his severance package. Their health coverage was going from $136/month to $400/month and quickly to $1200/month. They felt their only option to make sure they had health coverage for the wife was to join the military, even though it meant leaving his family during this critical time of cancer-fighting. It made me so sad. I know I get so engrossed in my own peachy little life that I forget there are people who suffer and endure things I could not. I know I have to be grateful for each and every day I have with my husband, for what we have, because a struggle is just a down-size away. We agreed that it's a good idea to try to be prepared financially too, if anything like that were ever to happen. Life is so uncertain. But, I also feel like there's so many new and exciting things for us just around the corner and I look forward to them too, and building a life with my sweet husband. I'm just feeling very grateful, I guess.

Okay, I know I'm so cheesy. Congrats if you made it this far. ;)

Fall day in Provo Canyon

It was so warm when we got out of church that we couldn't pass the rest of the day up inside.

And finally one of my cute hubby being silly:

I love fall and I'm so excited for the holidays!

Scary weekend

These are hilarious, check 'em out. My favorites are Scary Mary Poppins, and The Shining - happy version.

Yesterday I felt well enough to make dinner and do a little cleaning. After a nap, which helped, we headed up to Salt Lake to go to the Nightmare on 13th. I was a little nervous because I really hate the chainsaw people, but they didn't get too close to us. It was actually way fun! We loved it! We want to do the Haunted Mansion and the Castle of Chaos now too, if we can find good deals online, cuz they are expensive! So fun though!

On our way home from the Nightmare on 13th, we spotted the new Oquirrh Mtn temple off the freeway and decided to drive out and see it. It is really beautiful, and oh my is it huge. Such a pretty area, all the houses and stuff too. I want to go back out there eventually.

Today, we went to the 11 a.m. showing of the new movie Paranormal Activity, and it was pretty cool. There was no gore, and it was about catching paranormal activity on camera, which we watch all the time on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, so yes, we like that stuff. Except the movie wasn't real so they were able to make it really scary. (The Ghost shows on TV - real or not - never catch anything very exciting). I know we joke around, suspect, and at times even swear our house is haunted, but it makes me never ever want to pursue finding out for sure, cuz you just never know what is out there! har har har. Good fun.

It's such a nice day outside that it's perfect for a drive around the loop to see all the pretty fall scenery, but I don't think I could handle a two-hour car ride today - still getting better. I've still got lots of homework anyway, so hopefully I'll get some of that done and then Geoff and I can get dinner and hang out.

Yesterday I was scheduled to get off work at noon, but ended up working straight through 'till 4:30. (And would've had to stay even longer if not for Angie's help! She's so awesome!) I was looking forward to getting a jump start on homework but oh well. It would've been even crappier to come back to all of that stuff on Monday, so I'm glad it got done. Around noon or so I started feeling sick, and now I'm totally sick. We think Geoff had a cold earlier in the week, (he had a stuffy/runny nose but didn't complain of being sick), then I got the nose thing but man I'm really feelin' it. Eck. I'm glad to have today and tomorrow off. Although I also keep thinking of all the homework and cleaning I need to do and how I don't feel like doing anything. Mmmmmmmmm.

Way back when

Since tomorrow is my last day of class for the week and there's nothing due, I am takin' it easy tonight. Geoff has to go give a presentation at 11:30 p.m., and then another one at 5:00 in the morning (crazy!!) but for a few hours we hung out. We watched most of The Burbs, symbolic of our first "date," sort of. We were watching the movie at Marshall's apartment one summer night with some friends, and eventually Marshall went to bed, and Dantzel and Johnny fell asleep on the couch and the floor, respectively. Geoff and I stayed up all night long talking, (the first time we really really talked) and eventually went to the park across from the Provo temple and watched the sun come up. We went back to the apartment, afraid that Dantzel and Johnny had woken up and were mad that we'd stranded them, but they were still asleep. Johnny was horrified that he had broken BYU housing rules and spent the entire night in the same room as a girl! He asked us to drop him off around the corner from his grandma's house, where he lived, so he could pretend he'd just been out for a morning jog. He he he! Dantzel and I called him Johnny McNaughty after that. Ha ha, Good old Johnny Chaston, he was so fun, we loved him.

Geoff and I agreed to go home and get some sleep, then we met up again and went to Salt Lake later that afternoon.

Actually, I think there was one other time that we stayed up all night talking - Geoff and his friend Ricky were at my apartment watching a movie, and everyone went to bed except me, Geoff, and Ricky. Ricky was coming down with an ear infection and sat there in the banana chair, miserable as ever, and said nothing as Geoff and I chatted it up into the night. Poor Ricky. He really sacrificed that night, lol. I can't remember which came first, The Burbs night or the Ricky's ear infection night. Anyway.

Hard to believe this was all more than five years ago! And now we've been married for four! Time has really flown.

Here I am waiting for it to start

Five minutes until class starts. I worked almost 11 hours straight today... no lunch/breaks/going home in between... typical of the last couple weeks. Just a few more days until my weekend off! Probably the worst thing about it is I've been living out of the candy machine for about a week and a half. Ewwwwww yeah it makes me feel crummy (get it, "crummy" like all those cookies I ate). We need to go shopping too cuz all we've got at home is candy and milk. Gross! It might have to wait until Wednesday!!

Ughhhhhhhhh

What a weird, awful, crazy week. It's been CHOCK FULL of work, school, and homework. So I've been a little crazy. Remember I said "tomorrow's going to suck," oh if I had but known. Wednesday was the marker of bad days. There's a task that I have done almost every day since starting in the acct department, that requires me to be careful and accurate. And for a year and a half, I've done good. On Tuesday, I messed up, and it came to haunt us on Wednesday. I had to go "confess" to my boss so we could start clearing it up, and I walked in composed, and the minute I sat down that knot in my throat came up and my eyes got hot and wet, it was awful! I've cried at work, in the bathroom or the privacy of my own office, or maybe in the company of a trusted friend, but while face to face with my boss? How completely unprofessional. Anyway, I guess first and most importantly, we could've had some angry clients, and we had to call them to explain what happened (i.e. that I'm a moron), and we didn't have any angry clients; for that I was most grateful. Next, my boss could've yelled or been a real jerk, and he did neither of those things. He didn't treat it as "no big deal," because it was a big deal, but he just helped provide instructions to clear it up and, like a good manager, inquired about our processes to see where it slipped through the cracks and made a suggestion as to what helps him with things like that. Also, the sweet ladies in Payroll were so so great to help me fix it, and for the rest of the week kept asking if I was doing okay and if I was having a better day now. Ughhhhhhhh. Anyway, it demonstrated to me again just how great the people I work with are, though still would've been better if it never happened. Awful.

On Wednesday after work, I had to go straight to school to meet with my group to make sure we had our presentation all set and ready to go. Class was at seven. I thought we were set and had a good enough understanding of the material to teach it to the class. We failed miserably. In fact, after we were done, the teacher got up, announced he was making a change to the lesson plan, and tried to "re-teach" everything we had just gone over, pointing out the errors of our presentation. I think he was pretty mad. The thing was, even after he clearly explained how it was supposed to work, still nobody understood. Questions questions questions. One guy even went up to the whiteboard to try and draw his own flowchart to help him understand. Finally the teacher said he'd post a flowchart on blackboard for us to study. I felt completely awful. I kind of thought he probably shouldn't have left that chapter up to the students to teach, and if so, shouldn't expect us to perfectly understand the process, as even he has said the book is pretty terrible. (I think this might be his first time teaching this class, so maybe it'll be different for the next class). I honestly thought I was understanding it. I'm still upset about it. This teacher has been one of my favorite teachers thus far, which is pretty good in light of my thoughts about professors in general, but at any rate, I have no more warm fuzzies where this class is concerned. I just have to make it through two more months of stuff that I will never again use in my life, and I'm free to go. (For the record, the chapter was about public/private key pairs, hashes, message digests, certification authorities, digital signatures and digital certification - which are apparently two different things - encryption and decryption, and Bob and Alice. Jackson, if he's reading, probably knows all about that stuff because he's IT, but like I said, never going to use again in my life.)

So, that is the Cali side of things. On the Geoff side, he's been under stress because he's looking for a job, and that is never a fun process, no matter what the economy is like, and the economy isn't good. So anyway there's been a little bit of tension in our house due to stress this week, but last night we just decided we needed a break to blow off some steam. We caught up on all of our TV shows, like Big Bang Theory, Biggest Loser, and The Office. Today, Geoff's out giving a presentation to some people, and I plan to shower and go shopping. We might go up to the museum at Hill AFB, cuz he was up there yesterday and said the museum looked really cool.

Homework can wait until tomorrow.

Quick update

Totally swamped with homework this week. Sure, I coulda done more of it last weekend, but it doesn't make me any less eager to be all done. And work is crazy right now too because quarterlies just started, but work I don't mind. I can't believe we're in the fourth quarter already, it seems like I just barely finished with 2008 stuff!

Well, tomorrow will probably suck, in general. But after that, it should be smooth sailing for a short while.

Dude... why me...

I'm tired. After work I went to school to meet with someone at 5:30 until class started at 7:00, then I stayed until 10:00 working on my IDEA project because I was afraid to save and try to finish it later cuz I didn't know if I'd lose my work and have to start all over. Anyway, around 8:00 I got really hungry cuz I missed dinner so I went to the candy machine to get a bag of chips and...

Seriously?

It took about five extra minutes and some pounding, but eventually they fell down.

General Conference

This morning I had the great privilege of going to the Sunday morning session of General Conference with my hubby and little sister. Geoff has been once before, and it was mine and Danielle's first time, ever. My uncle, who lives in Arizona, managed to get some tickets, and then he ended up not going so he gave three of his tickets to us.

It was pretty exciting. It starts at ten, but we needed to be in our seats no later than 9 for Music and the Spoken Word, and we sort of overestmated the timing of the crowd, so we got there way early. Got great parking though. Now, I don't generally just listen to Mo-Tab for fun, but in the MATSW they sang two songs that I just love love love. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I really enjoyed it.

The conference itself was really good. I enjoyed all of the talks, and we're for sure going to buy the conference session of the Ensign because there were a lot of really good talks. President Eyring and President Monson both spoke, and there were others.

The one thing that was really funny about the whole thing was that there was someone sitting quite near us that had the worst gas I have ever had the misfortune of being around. We sat there for nearly four hours, and it was happening right from the very start and getting worse with the passage of time, to around every two or three minutes. Whoever it was was a master SBD-er, cuz I never heard a sound to help me figure out who it was, although I had my suspicions. Anyway, we were happy to get outside afterward but aside from that, it was a great experience. And I'm glad my little sister could come with us.

Cheesy is my thing, I guess

It's 9:30 Friday night and I'm about to fall asleep sitting up. And Wally is picking cat food up off the floor because his food dish is empty. Sometimes when that happens and he gets really hungry he jumps on the giant bag of cat food in the kitchen and meows to get our attention. He's pretty smart.

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Got a weekend of conference and homework homework homework ahead. Will be fun. We decided we should really start doing a weekly date night again. So last night was our date night for this week and we went to a seminar called Crucial Conversations, hosted by United Way to raise $$. I actually thought it was very beneficial and am glad we went.

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The presenter talked about that one guy who, in his research, could watch a couple have a heated conversation for 20 minutes and predict with 90% accuracy which couples would be divorced within five years. It was the third time I've heard about this dude, but I think I learned the most out of tonight. His predictions were based not on all the good things couples do to strengthen their relationship, but how they handle their disagreements - in other words, the way in which we handle our disagreements is important! The four behaviors observed were Invalidation, Criticism, Escalation, and Withdrawal. (Similar to the "four horsemen:" Criticism, Defensiveness, Contempt, and Stonewalling).

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Anyway, he said that studies have shown that when your emotions heat up, the part of your brain that processes logic and reason shuts down, and your muscles get all tensed up, posing you for fight-or-flight. And usually what happens is we end up saying and doing things that are harmful to the other person and ultimately our relationship with them, and nothing gets resolved. So he said - and I could really stand to practice this - is when something is said or done and you feel your emotions spark up, the first thing you want to do is 1) stop, realizing that you've stepped into a "crucial conversation," and 2) think of questions. Specific questions: "What do I really want to get out of this? What do I want for them? For our relationship?" Thinking the questions through brings your brain back into the picture and gets you to calm down, and gives you direction and focus. When your interaction is through and you want to evaluate it, ask yourself if you got closer to resolving your problem, and if you are closer as a result of the interaction. So anyway, Geoff already has the book because he went to a two-day training when he first started his internship, and I want to read it eventually. (He says there's a lot more stuff in the book and it goes a lot more in-depth.) I'm sure the whole process is much easier said than done, (and probably easier understood when presented by them and not me) but I want to try it for sure.

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Okay well now I'm really falling asleep. Oh, one more thing I wanted to add because it was a poignant moment for me:

A few mornings ago I was just really having a hard time of it, and mom emailed this picture to me. My aunt found it and we'd never seen it before. That's me at whatever age, and mom and dad. It struck me the moment I looked at it at what a happy child that is. You can see it in her face and body language, happy and excited, untouched by fear hurt and anger, and there she is surrounded by mom and dad, just chillin'. It reminded me of just how blessed am and have been and how many things I have to be grateful for, and how a bad morning really isn't that big of a deal. I feel so much gratitude to Heavenly Father for my awesome 'rents, and just really everything, for such love and blessings too many to count. I know there are many that aren't so fortunate, who endure some horrible things, and my heart just aches for them. It's the least - the very very least - I can do just to be grateful for what I have.

Yes, I know I'm cheesy. SO cheesy. :)

Such great parentsies

Mom recently got a new job in Provo somewhat near where Geoff's office is. Today she bought this huge box of bagels and shmear (including the seasonal pumpkin flavor) and took it to Geoff's work for him and his coworkers. (So nice!) Except Geoff had come home for the day not feeling well, so she brought it up to our house. I was home on lunch break at the time bringing some chicken soup for Geoff. So it was a really nice surprise and soooo thoughtful of my mom! She's so sweet.

And I don't think I've written about this yet but Geoff's dad sent us a huge package from Emergency Essentials - like seriously this huge box of stuff, which is in our kitchen right now. It has everything in it that you would ever need in an emergency. And I'm betting it was expensive because it's pretty hard to not spend $50 each time you go in there. So thoughtful of him too! We have such great parentsies they take such good care of us!!

Dopey Mopey Utah Drivers

This week is crazy!!

AND WE HAVE SNOW!! On the mountains. The leaves just barely started to turn last weekend, how can there be evil snow already. Oh well.

You know, early last week, there was a traffic boo-boo made by - I assume - UDOT, on the highway I use to get to work.

• Boo-boo#1: No warning. Normally they'll have signs warning you there will be construction on such and such days and from when to when. Not this time.
• Boo-boo#2: reducing a two-lane plus turning-lane highway to one lane, for a two-mile stretch of highway that wasn't even being worked on.
• Boo-boo#3: Not having a turning lane for a busy intersection, causing a backup of cars upon cars - most of which needed to go straight - to have to wait for the few that needed to turn left. Hence making everyone have to wait for approximately one light cycle per every three cars.
• Boo-boo#4: They did this in RUSH HOUR.

Lucky for me, I'd left for work 20 minutes earlier than normal that day, and only got to work ten minutes late. I've been using the freeway ever since.

Since the experience, I think I've come to realize the difference between Utah traffic and the little bit of southern California traffic I experienced while there. Why Utah drivers and California drivers each think the other is the worst ever.

In California, there was no real speed limit, only "The Flow." And "The Flow" was usually about 10 mph faster than the posted speed limit. Go any slower than The Flow and prepare to be honked at, flipped off, cut-off, screamed at, or something similar. Conclusion - California drivers are openly aggressive. In Utah, honking and flipping off are 98% unheard of, but Utah drivers are passive aggressive. Tailgaiting, slowing down to bother the tailgaiters, refusing to move for motorcyclers, not allowing someone to merge, and positioning your car's butt just over far enough that no one can squeeze by you are all very common.

Maybe, Utah drivers are not being passive aggressive but they're just downright dopey. I often have a hard time figuring out if a driver is really trying to piss me off or if they're just a frickin' moron. That's right, I said MORON. As in, HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET A DRIVER'S LICENSE YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO DRIVE! Ha ha. Maybe I belong in California. I have a co-worker who drives the same highway and has the same anger-tendencies toward traffic and we gripe about it all the time to each other. Her son teases her, "Mom, they have pills for that kind of thing."

But how would you react if this happened to you: You're driving a one-lane highway, and a tractor pulls out two cars ahead of you. The speed limit is 50 and you need to get to work, but the guy driving the tractor mopes along at about 20 mph. You are the third car behind the tractor, but pretty soon you see a line of cars behind you going a mile back, at least. Wouldn't the polite thing for the tractor to do be to pull over and let people pass? Nope! Not this guy. He's off in la-la land, not a care in the world. Finally you reach a point where you can pass, and you see everyone behind you honking their horns and flipping him off as they pass him. (It must've been part of the 2%). What would you do? Where's a cop when you need one. If I were a cop I'd be pulling his butt over so fast. 30 over the speed limit is considered reckless driving, what is 30 under the speed limit, huh?

Happy Birthday mom!

This morning I went to a baby shower that Staci had at her house for Kayt (the friend who just adopted.) It was fun to see them again. I knew most of the people there from the ward, although there were also some family and co-workers of Kayt's. Her little baby Addi is so cute. Kayt kept saying, "I'm so obsessed with her." She's such a cute mommy. It was funny at times there would be three or four different conversations going on, and I mostly just sat there and listened, because they were talking about their kids. It was interesting because I heard lots and lots of pregnancy stories, childbirth, newborn, and all kinds of poop, pee, and vomit stories, and Kayt's seriously adorable mother in law kept turning to me saying, "this is what you have to look forward to." Ha ha. It was a little overwhelming just thinking of "that" life, but fun. I loved the hustle and bustle of Staci's house, and I really do want my own big family someday, but boy I am just not ready to start that committment just yet. But I'm glad I went. One thing I really noticed was just how much my friend Kayt is able to draw in people around her - all different kinds of people and personalities - and make them feel loved and accepted and happy. She really is such a wonderful person, and I will miss them so much when they move to Florida in a month. (Her husband will be working down there.)

Then we cleaned house, our weekend activity, a task that never seems done, ha ha. (Oh, house smells good by the way.) Mom and dad came for a few minutes for some cake and ice cream - it's my mom's birthday! We chatted and watched a little football and ate cake and opened presents. They are going up to Snowbird to spend the evening with their friends. My parents are cute. Happy Birthday mom! We love you!

Shoulda named him Stinky

I know it's gross. But once in awhile, when I walk into our house, it stinks. Partially, it's our house-cleaning. Though Geoff is pretty good about keeping up with the dishes, and often laundry. I clean the bathroom every couple of weeks. But MOSTLY, I blame the cat. For example:

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A couple of weekends ago, Geoff and I rolled up our sleeves and went to work - he cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, I scrubbed the bathroom squeaky clean, we did all of the laundry, took out all of the garbages, even the litter box was changed. There was nothing to speak of that could cause a stink. In a good mood, I plugged in the candle warmer and dropped a Wassail-scented wax nugget in it, and popped some cookies in the oven. Not only did our house not stink, it smelled heavenly.

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For about ten minutes.

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It was at that particular moment that Wally decided to take a dump in his litter box, which we realized as soon as it hit our nostrils. Being that our house is so small, the truly horrendous odor quickly filled the entire house, overpowering any and every good smell we had going. I was so pissed! You know, nevermind that everyone (or every animal) has to poop now and then, and that he was using his designated toilet area, and that he doesn't know any better and can't help it. The smell was so completely intrusive that I got mad at him. And, sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time. All the time. Sometimes I wonder why I agreed to get a cat. And I keep saying to myself that after Wally dies, we aren't getting another animal until our house is big enough that we can have a good spot for a litter box, like a backyard.

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But I also love the fat little furball. Hence, my love-hate relationship with the cute animal. I took these pictures last night. It's a typical night in the life of Walter Sylvestersmith.

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Not too happy that I interrupted his grooming session for a picture:

If looks could kill. I think he thinks I'm a moron.

The philosophical pose: "He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened."

We worked out a litter-box cleaning system now, too. So hopefully that will help.

Wish I had a river

I've still got a little homework tonight, but instead I went shopping and am now making a big ol' giant playlist for when Alison comes home next April. (I know a little premature, I'm just excited). It contains all the hits that've come out in the past year, that are on our itunes. Browsing music is fun. The homework can be done on my lunch tomorrow.

I keep waking up at night all sick to my stomach. (No! I am not pregnant - this has been verified) I kept getting all sick and dizzy - so bad I had to come home from class one night. I did a little reading and thought, the nasal spray's making me dizzy. So I found all my nasal sprays and chucked 'em in the garbage and bought some sudafed to help with the sinuses. Had to sign something saying I would not make meth with my Sudafed. (Like I'm gonna! Just coming off a nasal spray addiction is bad enough, I will never get hooked on real drugs!) Then after a couple of days I read that Sudafed makes you dizzy. Grrr! So, no Sudafed today, and I'm hoping I can make it through the night without waking up sick. I drank lots of water today to try and rule out dehydration too, if that's what it is.

It is Wednesday! This week is taking forever! (sorry for all the whining)

To ten million fireflies

Today on the radio I heard some stuff I liked...

I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs

Picture from here. I liked his pictures.

Love my hubby

I got out of class at seven and stayed at a computer lab to do that project. It only took two hours, that was it! So if you caught a glimpse of the ranting post (which I deleted soon after writing) then you know I completely freaked out for nothing. It makes me happy. And the exam for a different class which was supposed to be on Thursday got an extended deadline, so the pressure is mostly off for the week. (mostly.) There was even time to come home and watch the Biggest Loser with my hubby. Okay going to bed now.

Yay! I am happy.

Oh tender mercy, someone up there loves me. I ran down to the school on my lunch break and walked into the classroom where I left my CD. Thankfully the room was empty except for a few students. I walked right up to the computer where I'd sat and opened the CD drive, and there it was!! Never thought I'd be so happy to see a piece of sample auditing software. My nice friend said he was happy to share his CD with me, but that would've only worked in the short term. So even though I'm grateful to him, I'm soooo relieved to have found my own. I'm hoping to plug through the entire project tonight, even if it means staying up late!

Earth to me, earth to me

Well, the airhead has made her appearance again. The IDEA software that we're supposed to be working on, it comes with a CD and an instruction manual, and my goal today was to spend at least a couple of hours on it. So, I read through the manual, go to insert the CD, and it's not there. Then I realize that I must've left it in the drive back at school. This is not good. Not only is the project due on Thursday, but it will be expensive to replace. Well, here's just hoping that no one else has used the CD-ROM on that particular computer since last Monday night. hoping hoping hoping. I'll be running down there on my lunch break to check on it, and hopefully there's not a class at that time. Oh I am such an idiot. I feel like crap. I could've sworn I took it back out. Apparently not.

Well, yesterday I spent 8 straight hours on homework stuffs, so I guess there's nothing left to do today.

I went to mom & dad's earlier today and Erik looked at my brakes. They were squeaky and I thought maybe the brake pads needed to be changed, but they're just a little dusty. So Erik took em apart and cleaned em. He's such a sweet little brother. And brilliant mechanic. He took it for a drive and said there's no warping and my alignment's good, and it appears my car's in pretty good shape for having the miles it does. I'm so thankful he did that for me. If I'd taken it to a repair place they probably would've charged a ton and told me I needed new brakes.

Today Geoff made chicken stroganoff & rice for dinner. He's such a good cook. And he cleaned the house and did laundry. Sigh. I think everyone has it together here but me, but I am so thankful for them.

Leading the revolution against irresponsible shoppers

So we're on our way home from Coney's and we're listening to "Who Asked You" on KSL. (A random-caller-driven gripe session) Geoff says he's going to call in so he gets his phone out and dials. We pull into the parking lot and I run to the radio in the bathroom while Geoff waits in the kitchen, still on hold. Finally, I hear him come on the radio. The radio guys say, "We're going to Geoff in Orem, Geoff, Who asked you?" Geoff replies, "You know I've called about this before, but it's something I feel very passionately about so I'm gonna continue to call, but I am sick and tired of people leaving their shopping carts all over the parking lot. I think it's disrespectful, selfish, and rude, and I'm prepared to lead the revolution against irresponsible shoppers, are you guys with me?" I am laughing my head off in the bathroom and Geoff comes in just in time to hear them laugh and agree that they're with him, then they go on to talk about some kid in the Macey's parking lot in Spanish Fork who he saw heave a shopping cart into a car with all his might. And that's the end.

Wordle

This is a wordle. As Ashlee says, it's a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. The text for this one was taken from my blog. It supposedly gives more prominence to the words you use more often.

I mostly think it's really hilarious that the word thing is the biggest one there.

Needs a nap

I think it's a good thing this is my last semester. I'm not freaking out like back in January, but it's taking a toll. This final year of school has been kind of a trial, for sure. Geoff suggested I just focus on finishing the semester, and then I can worry about grad school and think about what will happen after that. I think that sounds fine.

I plan to spend literally all day Saturday working on homework. I'm a little behind in one of my classes, and I've got a project to do for another, in addition to the normal homework. So that will be fun. I'll wear my slippers, order pizza, throw some tunes on, and get to work.

There are a few minutes left of lunch break, so I'm going to nap now. Like Wally.

"Live Untied"

Project Read has a website/blog. Find out more about it here.

United Way (Utah County)'s website is here.

My grandma is on facebook

Yes, that's right, my grandma. Along with wearing levi's and reading blogs. And if you talk to her about it, she's been known to say, "Well, I don't live in cave!" I love her to bits. She is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.

It almost makes me miss facebook. And now my grandma is there. I might have to re-open it.

One of my very favorite people in the whole entire wide world teaching one of my other very favorite people how to can peaches.

Dig in

I've been posting a lot. Got a lot of stuff rollin' around in my head, I guess. Tonight in class we were introduced to IDEA software, used for analyzing data, to look for fraud, my guess. We have a workbook that is supposed to walk us through the different steps. I didn't really do well with Microsoft Access last spring, and looking at this stuff brought flash backs of Excel tutorials and wanting to commit suicide. (Okay, kidding on the suicide part. Mostly.) But I was a little overwhelmed as I walked out to my car. Again, flashbacks of being a total basketcase last winter. There's nothing to worry about, just the best thing to do is dig in and DO IT.

Okay, this is not the most uplifting of posts. But thinking about the whole damn prerequisite thing is getting me kind of depressed. Almost everyone I've asked about University of Phoenix has said they would go elsewhere, especially when they hear how much it costs. I think they're probably right. I should probably keep looking for something else. So, the next thing to do is see if any of the schools around here (BYU, UofU, and if the Utah State program is still offered at UVU by next year) offer a Macc or MBA with Accounting emphasis degrees, during the nights/weekends or online. If so, then I'll need to find a way to take those prereq's. Need to ask them if they can be taken at those schools, or if the e-learners website classes are acceptable, and if so, how do I take them. Two of the three classes I need are offered by the Univ. of Phoenix through E-learners, ha ha. The irony.

Another little caveat to this whole thing is that the tuition-reimbursement program I've been using through my work stipulates that you continue to work for the company for at least one year after completing your degree or your last day of class, and I intend to honor it. So, if my only other option is to quit working and go to school during the day, I'll have to wait one year after finishing to begin again. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing to take a break though. I'd hate to have to quit though. I really love my job and the company. Especially when jobs are in short supply, it would be a real shame to give it up.

DUDE. I love music. It has a calming affect. About a year ago, my dad gave me a Jesse McCartney CD. He'd bought it thinking maybe the guy was related to Paul McCartney and that it might have some good stuff. Nope. Not to him anyways - it's really more dancy-poppy-hip hoppy... more my thing. I popped it in today and listened for the first time, and recognized eight of the twelve tracks as hits I've been listening to all along. It's the current fav.

Geoff is in the front room clapping whooping and yelling "TOUCHDOWN!!" and other things. He's so cute.

Well, gotta quit blogging if I'm gonna dig in and do it. Bye.

Adoption

It's my lunch break. Do I nap? Or blog? Nap? Blog. Nap? Hmm it seems blog is winning so far anyway. So last week, it was summer, with temperatures in the high 80's. This week, it's fall, the leaves are starting to turn. I would perfectly happy if we could have spring, then summer, then fall, then exactly one day of winter, because that's about how long its charm lasts. You rarely hear people complaining at the end of summer, but at the end of winter, we are fed up with the snow and coldness and darkness.

I was reading this person's blog about some stuff that is happening with their adoption. I don't know this family at all, I followed the link at the urging of the author of this blog. But it got me thinking. (I know this is a super sensitive subject for some! I'm a little scared of hurting people's feelings by blogging about it. But it is my blog.) It seems I know more people who struggle with infertility than people who don't, and I know it's very possible we will face the same thing. We've talked about adoption, and agreed that we will be happy to adopt if needed. Having your own children is very special, but I really feel that adopting is very special in its own right too. In fact, we've talked about eventually adopting even if we don't "need" to, per se.

Even though I've never been through the adoption process and don't know the legalities, I'm very surprised at the situation that person is going through to keep their baby. Maybe they were just fostering and are now trying to make it permanent? I don't know. But anyway, somehow, the biological father of the baby now wants him back, even though the birth mother sides with the adoptive parents. They are having to go through court and everything. Seems this birthfather never gave a hoot about his kid until now. Why he wants him now is strange to me. I pray for the family though. Also, reading on, it seems that the second time they tried to go through the adoption process, they were picked by someone who wasn't really pregnant, who was just pretending. She kept changing her mind on the couple over and over, and finally told them she was about to give birth and had chosen another family, who was there at the hospital with her. Then they got a call a few weeks later from someone who said her cousin was about to have a baby and they'd been picked. Turns out it was that same girl playing a joke on them again, seemingly because she wanted attention. Who does that? A psychopath, that's who. You'd think there would be a way to verify with the adoption agency that the person you are attempting to build a relationship with is, in fact, pregnant, and that they are, in fact, registered. It scares me a little. All in all, I don't think that is the norm. I would like to research it though.