Birthday Weekend

As most of you know, it was my birthday last week.  For those of you that knew that, you also may know that my birthday is a pretty big deal to me.  Some people don't understand why, but I always have to do something amazing to celebrate.  This year I decided that I wanted to go to the cabin the weekend before my birthday.  It was wonderful!  On Friday after my 'working interview' at my new job we headed right up.  We stopped on the way to get some food at Day's and a Papa Murphy's pizza to take up with us.  While we were at Day's I noticed that they had a snow cone shack, so naturally I had to stop and get us one.  I love me a good snow cone.  And I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to start my birthday weekend off right.

Blue Raspberry.  My favorite.

I got the snow cone and we were off.  Friday night we has pizza and ice cream, watched episodes of Chuck, my newest favorite show, and a movie.  Since we were up in the mountains, the weather was perfect and while we were waiting for our pizza to cook, we went on a little walk.

My mouth is still kind of blue from the snow cone.  It's fine, I'm a child.

We also decided that we wanted to have dinner on the deck.

It was perfect.

We of course slept in on Saturday and made a yummy breakfast of pancakes and eggs.  Later that day Chris's mom, dad and Scott came up to the cabin for the afternoon.  I really wanted to go on a hike, and Chris's mom was the perfect person to be the trail guide for us.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and it was not too hot out.  It's like it was meant to be.

No filter needed.

On Saturday we decided that we needed to be a little useful, so we helped haul a bunch of wood.  That was the first time that I had the privilege of doing that.  And I have to say, it was a lot of fun.  It sounds a little bit intense and not fun at all, but it was.  I was pleasantly surprised by that.  Sunday my mom, dad, and Zach came up to the cabin for a birthday celebratory dinner.  We had hamburgers, cucumber salsa, watermelon, and brownies.  It was awesome.  A lighter dinner at a wonderful location with my family.  We took a little walk, did some of a puzzle, and just talked.  Everything about that day was perfect.  And then it wasn't anymore.  DUN DUN DUN!  As we were cleaning up the cabin before we left disaster struck.  I was folding up a blanket and felt a pinch.  Thinking it was a burr I tried to shake it off, but doing that make the pinching tighter and more painful.  As the "burr" fell to the blanket, I realized that it was a giant wasp.  Seeing as I am a really big baby and went into instant hysterics.  Mostly from the excruciating pain that I felt, but also from the fact that I am allergic as well.  I hadn't been stung in 10 or so years because I am terrified of them.  I wasn't sure how my body was going to react, so I possibly overreacted to what had just happened.

It's hard to see, but the white circle under my pointer finger is where it happened.

We went upstairs to find something to help with the pain.  As we were looking it started to get pretty swollen, which naturally given my irrational state, made me even more worried.  Chris gave some ice, which helped with the pain, and then he was back downstairs to kill the jerk who did this to me.  He was very sweet to take care of me while we hurried home to get me some Benadryl.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  It just had a sad ending.  But that's okay.  I am not going to remember that part in a few years.  I am just grateful that I have Chris to help make anything we do a great adventure.

It's Funny How Things Work

Ever since we have moved I have contemplated about finding a job closer to home.  Driving to the Pleasant Grove office of Timpanogos Vision Center is now 25 minutes one way.  But I loved my job enough to make the drive every day.  Finding a new job is a hassle and I didn't want to learn the way another practice did things.  But 2 weeks ago, my schedule had changed and I was now required to drive to the Highland office 2 days a week.  That was not going to work for me.  The drive is 45 minutes one way, and I couldn't make that drive 2 days a week.  I took that as a sign, and I knew that my days at Timpanogos Vision Center were at an end.  The day I got my new schedule I started to look for a new job.  That day I took my resume to 4 or 5 different places in Springville and Spanish Fork.  Every place was exactly the same, "I'll make sure to give your resume to the office manager."  Which meant, 'We have no intention of actually looking at this, so you're wasting your time.'  I was a little discouraged, but decided to take my resume to one more place.  A new practice in Spanish Fork called Eye Physicians of Utah that had opened up less than a year ago.  I walked in, handed my resume to the doctor of the practice, and told him I was looking for a job closer to home.  I ended up staying there for over an hour as he talked with me and conducted my interview for a position there.  I was so surprised that things were happening so quickly, but I knew that it was meant to be.  He told me that he wanted me to come back for a 'working interview' to make sure that I was going to work with his practice, but I essentially had the job.  It only took me 45 minutes of looking to find my next job.  Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with myself.  And the best part is, it's only 7 minutes from my house.  AND there is no freeway driving involved.  I went back for my 'working interview' a week later and was offered the job.  I start on Friday the 28th.  I am really excited!  I think that it is going to be a wonderful opportunity to help build up Dr. Gubler's practice.  Putting in my 2 weeks was rough, but I got through it and now I just have to get through the last 4 days of work.  I am grateful for everything I have learned from Timpanogos Vision Center.  It has been a great place to work for the last 2 1/2 years, but it is time for me to move on.  Everything worked out perfectly and I could not be more convinced that Eye Physicians of Utah is were I am needed next.

Christmas Present Weekend

What an incredible weekend!  All thanks to my thoughtful and amazing husband.  Chris really out did himself for my Christmas present.  In November we saw the trailer for Les Miserables.  I just casually mentioned that I didn't want to see the movie just yet because I wanted to see the play first.  I guess that was a part of me that I hadn't shared with him because he was appalled that I hadn't ever seen it.  Minutes later we were online trying to figure out when it was going to be in Salt Lake.  Lucky for us, Pioneer Theater Company had it in their rotation this season.  We decided at that very moment that we were going to go, and that we were going to buy tickets when it got a little bit closer.  1 month later as we were opening Christmas presents from each other I found out that Chris got the Les Miserables tickets for me for Christmas.  And our seats were on the 3rd row!  I told him that I would have been fine with tickets further back, but he insisted that if I was going to see it for the first time, I had to see it the right way.  And that way was to be as close to the stage as possible.

The months had come and gone, and before I knew it it was May 24th.  The day before our show.  We stayed in Salt Lake Friday night because our show was the matinee on Saturday.  We didn't want to spend a lot of money for a 1 night stay, so we went a little cheaper than we normally do hotel-wise.  We checked in and the lobby was pretty nice so we thought that we had made a good decision on not spending as much.  That thought disappeared when we stepped into our room.  We opened the door, and it was pretty scary.  There were stains on the chairs, we were convinced that they were probably urine stains.  There were also some dark spots on the floor.  We were sure that those were blood stains.  I tried to make the most of it, thinking that it wasn't so bad.  And then I saw the tub.  There was no way that we were going to shower in there.  We didn't even feel comfortable enough to walk around without shoes on.  So we kept our shoes close by the bed.  What a scary place.  In order to not spend a lot of time there we walked to Denny's for dinner.  And we went to The Gateway to go shopping.  Chris was really sweet and told me that since it was my Christmas weekend I could do whatever I wanted.  So naturally shopping was on my list.

The next day we woke up bright and early. . .  Well, Chris never really fell asleep.  His body was on high alert all night.  Since we were up at 8 we decided that we would go check out breakfast.  The spread was actually not too bad.  We had a good breakfast and then just sat around until about 11 when it was time for us to check out.  We then made our way to City Creek so we could waste a couple of hours and that way I could do a little more shopping.  We went to H&M and Restoration Hardware.  Chris was a really good sport and helped me pick things out to try on at H&M.  He is pretty tapped into style.  After we wasted some time we left and headed up to Pioneer Theater.  Once we pulled into the parking lot,  I was shocked to see what people were wearing.  Call me old fashioned, but I always thought if you were going to some kind of cultural event it was proper etiquette to dress a little nicer.  Not necessarily black tie, but not t-shirt and jeans either.  Boy did we see a lot of t-shirts and jeans and shorts and tennis shoes and flip flops.  Why do people feel the need to not look nice or dress up for an event that clearly you need to.  I just don't understand it. 

We got to our seats and I couldn't wait for Les Mis to start.  I was so anxious and excited for everything to start.  And then it did.  The music stared.  The moment was finally here.  The moment I had waited 5 long months to experience.  To sum up, I was blown away by the entire thing.  Chris had warned me before that if I didn't cry from the story, I would cry from the music.  The music was so powerful and I was very emotional.   I was crying through out the whole play.  I couldn't control myself.  I finally regained my composure enough to make it to the car, and then I lost it again.  The play had an emotional hold on me and I couldn't shake it.  It was the greatest thing I have ever seen!  I already want to go again.

Cars, Plants, and Food

Chris and I actually had plans this last weekend.  I know I know. . .  Lets sound the adventure alarm!  We normally don't have a whole lot going on.  Which is fine with us.  But it is nice to get away from our usual routine and do something exciting and different.  Early Saturday afternoon we went to the UVU car show at Thanksgiving Point.  Last year we missed it, and I was not going to let that happen this year.  Chris loves a good car show, and the UVU one is one of his favorites.  He doesn't let us waste anytime while we there either.  He is pretty particular about what he wants to stop and look at.  I asked him what he wanted to look at this year.  His response, "Only the cool cars that I actually care about."  I wasn't sure what that meant, but hat seemed like a good answer for me.  I didn't really care what we stop to look at, just as long as he was enjoying himself.   Later on that afternoon my mom and brother Zach came to Springville to see us.  I always appreciate when my mom comes to see us.  She has been down 3 times since we have moved and for that I am very grateful.  It's nice to know that she cares about us enough to make the 1 hour and some odd minutes drive to come and see us and our new life.  Anyway, I am getting side tracked.  Once they got here we went to a place in Springville called, Doman's Nursery and she bought us a beautiful mixed succulent plant for our front porch.

My mom loved it so much that she is trying to plan another trip so she can come down and get one of her own.  Chris and I are pretty thrilled about it.  Thanks again mom for the wonderful plant!  In one of our many chats of the day, my mom had mentioned something about the Payson temple and asked if we had been to Payson to see the progress.  We had not.  I didn't even know that they had done any kind of ground breaking on it.  Well, when we arrived, this is what it looked like. . .

Needless to say, they have done a lot of work on it.  Also, it's huge.  Chris and I both thought that it was going to be one of the smaller temples.  We were wrong on that assumption.  It sure is going to be beautiful though.  The outside is not white.  I looks like it is going to be an ivory color.  It's gorgeous.  We sure are lucky to have so many temples close to us.  Once the Payson and the Provo City Center temple are finished there will be 4 in Utah County.  How blessed are we??  The next amazing adventure we went on with Zach and my mom was out to dinner.  We wanted to take my mom out to a late Mother's Day dinner.  We also wanted to try somewhere new.  We decided on a quaint little place in Springville called Art City Trolley.  It was a lot of fun, and the food was delicious!  It's definitely somewhere that we are going to go to again.  They had so many yummy options on their menu.  That is not a good thing for someone like me who is bad at making decisions.  Especially food based.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.  I am really happy that my mom and Zach were able to come down and show their support for us, our house, and our new life in Springville.  Next weekend should be great too. . .  But I will blog about that adventure next week.  You won't want to miss the update!  It'll be a good'n.

My Summer Nemesis and Friend

Well, it's that time of year again.  The weather is getting warmer, people are out and about, coats are finally getting stashed, and yard work begins.  Oh yard work, you are my nemesis this year.  Now don't get me wrong, I am super duper excited to get our yard put in.  That's not the issue.  I can do yard work like nobody's business.  Figuring out what our yard is going to look like. . .  That is a different story.  Chris and I have been discussing it over the last couple of weeks, and we are trying to decide what we are going to do.  It is more difficult than we expected it to be.   On Saturday we walked around our yard talking about our options and our likes and dislikes of landscaping.  We know we want some trees, interesting flowers and bushes, and I definitely want a garden.  But where was it all going to go?  We finally went and stood out in our backyard and decided that we were going to get it all figured out.  

If we are looking out the back window, the yard seemed big but manageable.  Standing in the yard itself is a different story.  We didn't realize how enormous our yard really is.  I understand that it is going to be nice to have all of that space once it is finished, but getting it finished it is the tricky part.  What to do what to do?  Hmmm. . .  I think that we finally have a plan.  Well, for the most part.  But the plan is only known to 2 people.  We will share our secrets once the process is started.  I would love for it to look like this. . .

 

But seeing as we don't have that much money or space, something a little more simple will have to do.

The Lord Needs Valiant (10) Servants

Well, it has happened.  We have a calling in our ward.  Surprise surprise. . .  (Drum Roll)  It is a Primary calling.  Last time we heard we have 122 kids (not including nursery and the babies) in your ward.  And no that is not a typo.  We have 122 Primary kids in our ward.  Needless to say, a Primary calling was bound to happen.  We have been called to teach the Valiant 10 class.  Last week was the first week for us.  I was really nervous about it too.  They are not young enough to accept whoever rolls on into their class to teach them.  They are older and actually have opinions about people.  I did not want to disappoint.  The pressure was on.  Chris kept reassuring me that everything was going to be fine, and I knew it was going to be.  We were teaching the class together and we are great compliments to each other while teaching.  I could handle 8 kids with the 2 of us there.  It was going to be perfect. 

I woke up nervous, but prepared Sunday morning.  Rolled over and tried to wake Chris up, but he was so so sick.  There was no way that he was going to be able to go to church.  He couldn't even open up his eyes long enough to realize I was standing over him trying to wake him up.  And that was the moment that I realized that I was going to be teaching this new class on my own.  I was petrified.  I was pretty nervous throughout Sacrament meeting.  What is it going to be like?  Are they going to like me?  Or just be annoyed because I am the new teacher?  Were they good kids?  Did they like to participate?  Or were they going to sit in silence as I asked someone to read a scripture?  Maybe everything would be fine.  I had no idea of knowing what was really going to happen once I went through my classroom door.

I am happy to report that everything went great.  There are a few kids that we'll need to get after a few times for chatting and not listening, but for the most part the kids we well behaved and happy.  The majority of them were participating.  They all answered questions, but not all of them read.  They were happy to help fill me in on birthdays, what they had been working on, things they were used to the other teachers doing, etc.  They filled me in on everything.  Once we went in for singing and sharing time they were even better.  I'm still trying to decide if them behaving better for someone else than me is a good thing or a bad thing.  I think that I'm going to take it as a victory.

This is going to be a good calling for Chris and I to have in the ward.  We'll be great teachers and have a wonderful time learning and growing with the kids.  Thanks Jessie's Brook ward for the wonderful opportunity to teach and learn.

It's The Same Thing Every Year

Utah drivers are the worst.  Every year it's the same thing.  Especially in the winter.  How do people forget how to drive in the snow?  Now, I know what you're thinking. . .  It's not winter anymore so where is this coming from?  It's kind of random, but the rainy weather today started it.  People are really bad drivers in the rain as well.  They all think that because there is a little bit of water on the ground it is reason enough for them to go 10 mph under the speed limit.  Why do they do this?  I haven't decided yet.  It will always be a mystery to me.