Games on the Kindle

Santa brought Marc and myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas. Surprisingly we have done really well at sharing it but we do seemed to have caused an addiction. We discovered the free app everyday and Marc and I seem to be constantly finding a new game to be addicted to. Thankfully after we find a new game we lose interest in the first one. We have spent many nights trying to beat a level and laughing and goofing off together. It was totally worth it and I love the games that we can even play together!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Over the last few weeks the cats have discovered their favorite things and I have tried to catch them in action. I never caught Aurora with her favorite thing but I did get a picture of her favorite thing.

Carmel has found a recent fascination with a blue scrubber thingy. He is constantly snuggling with it and rubbing up against it and just can’t get enough of the silly thing!









Aurora has found a monkey that used to be attached to the back of one of my socks a long time ago. The monkey reappeared lately and she drags the thing all over the house. In fact we had a hard time hiding it from her so that she didn’t lose it before I could take a picture of it!



Kiara has found a new fascination with food. She seems to constantly be eating. We have reduced the amount of the cat’s food so that she isn’t gaining anymore weight but I don’t want her to be hungry either!

Taxes

Can I just say what a relief it is to have our taxes done? Our taxes are filed by my favorite people and I never have to worry about a thing! I didn’t think that we would get anything back this year but was relieved to find out that we will get just enough to pay for summer school this year! I can’t even express what a blessing that was in our lives! I love being able to say that we did our part! Thank you!

Valentine's Day

One of the issues I have is that our anniversary and Valentine’s Day are within 24-hours of each other. So this year we decided to celebrate our anniversary on President’s Day since we both had the night off. But Marc did surprise me on our anniversary with the exact plans I had planned for him on Valentine’s Day! He brought home two heart shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy’s and had bought nice crystal glasses to go in my collection. They were beautiful!






The next day we had to come up with a whole new plan because Marc had stolen my surprise. So we went out to eat at a new Mexican food place that is my new favorite! We went out to get ice cream at the place I used to go when I lived here before and wandered around looking at a gift shop. We then went straight home because it was starting to snow. Marc gave me a pair of awesome pajama pants and I gave him a new watch and a fan to keep his computer cooler. We finished off the night by snuggling on the couch and watching a movie. It was nice to have a night off from doing homework and just be able to spend time together. Happy Valentine’s Day!

(Can you believe this is his "Valentine's" outift? His shirt says "Boom... Headshot!")

The Canasta Conundrum

On our honeymoon Marc and I played cards constantly. We are both game fanatics and it was a fun way to spend time when we were too seasick to do anything else! Well we haven’t played cards in a long time and we were discussing a game one night when Marc suggested that we played Canasta. I have always loved playing that game but never ask because I didn’t think that Marc liked playing it. I guess Marc didn’t want to ask because he thought I didn’t like playing it because he always beat me. I informed him that he didn’t always beat me and it was totally game on. After the game I had doubled his score and was on cloud nine. That is until he beat me at Nerts, which is totally my game. It took a little bit of time before we were willing to play again but by the end of the night we were back to playing all sorts of games and laughing and joking around. I thought it was funny that neither of us really had a good reason why we had stopped playing but both thought that we had the right reason. Silly us!

The Yardwork Continues

Marc has continually been working on the yard since we moved in almost a year ago. He has come so far and I am so proud of how diligent he is in everything he does. It doesn’t seem to matter what the job, he is always doing something around the house or the yard to make the house better. I love that he works so hard for us!

Lately he has been working on the backyard so that one day we can have a fence for the dogs. I love that it is some time outside every day that he and the dogs get to enjoy together. What a special time for each of them!

Work Has Been Crazy!

Seriously crazy doesn’t even begin to describe work. We are currently still slightly understaffed and I am still doing my old job and my new job. It is crazy! It does mean that I am never bored but it also seems like I am never done with anything ever. I love this type of environment and the business and the craziness. It is total job security but it also means that we are doing our jobs well because the library is the busiest that it has ever been and I am loving it!

Steph Comes to Visit

I was so excited that Steph was able to come up for a visit. I have missed being able to sit and talk with her and catch up on life. It was a short trip but we spent a lot of time just talking and catching up. She has such a fun life and I love to hear about her life on the trail. I don’t think I would ever survive but she just fits right in and loves it! I can’t wait until we get to hang out again! Thanks for coming up and visiting!

Deaf Social Night

I love being able to be around the Deaf culture. This week I have had the opportunity to watch lectures, go to two different social nights, and spend a lot of time talking in ASL. It has been an awesome week! On one of the social nights I was able to watch a woman sign who was in her 80s probably. She had talked about how different it was now for Deaf people than it was when she was growing up. Her story of her childhood made me so sad to realize that people used to think that if you were deaf than you were mentally insane. It was an amazing experience though to learn from past generations and to get to know her story. I was surprised at how much I understood and how much more I have grown to love this part of my life. I am almost always talking with my hands now and Marc makes fun of me for it. He is always saying that he can’t even hold my hand because I never hold still! Sadly the poor boy has a point but I have no desire to stop signing, though I do miss being able to hold his hand!

Fake Graduation Announcement

I have anxiously been waiting to find out when I would be graduating so that I could start inviting people to the ceremony. I have checked my email constantly and tried to find out more information online but I don’t know which ceremony I would be a part of. Anyway, it was during this time of waiting that I received a graduation announcement. I was so excited because I thought it was mine and that it would tell me that I was graduating and when and where. I started to read and the announcement very nicely told me that it was pleased to announce the graduation of SOMEONE ELSE. My name was no where to be found on the announcement nor were times and locations. I was so annoyed to find that it was a fake graduation announcement and trying to convince me to order my announcements from them. Well guess what! I still don’t know if and when and where I am graduating so I still can’t order any announcements even if I wanted to!

And I Wonder Who He Gets It From….

I was taking photos of everyone else and apparently Max and Marc were feeling a little deprived. Now I am not entirely sure who is copying who but check out these two dorks on the floor. They are such good buds!

Carmel's Multicolored Eyes

The last time I took photos of Carmel I kept finding that his eyes were changing colors. His eyes are naturally the same color but in the photos he was constantly having different colored eyes. What a goober!

We have the blue/green combo:



We have the red/yellow combo:



We have the black/yellow combo:

Peek-a-Boo

One day I was hanging around the house and I kept hearing this noise. I went to investigate and found that Aurora was camping out in this plastic bag. She was using it like a tent and it was the cutest thing ever. It wasn’t too much later that the other cats got involved but here are some of my favorite photos of the goofballs.

Surgery Tales

As I went in to have the surgery that would confirm my diagnosis, I was really grateful to have Marc, Mom, Dad, and Mikkel there with me. It was a little scary to think that someone would be chopping me open soon and all of the things that could possibly go wrong. But as nervous as I was, I think Mikkel was more nervous. They asked me to explain my surgery in my own words and I explained what would happen and that they would have a laser in the room if they found any lesions large enough to remove. Mikkel’s eyes got so big! I could just see him envisioning this end-of-the-world type laser being used on his sister. I think he enjoyed talking to the anesthesiologist though. She said that they were going to put a tube down my throat after I was asleep (again Mikkel’s eyes got huge!) and all the rest of the typical instructions. Mikkel has wanted to be a vet and so they were talking and she said that a dog is way easier to put under than a person because you just lift of their tongue and everything is right there. I am not so sure Mikkel will still be a vet after that trip but maybe I will be wrong. Anyway, I got ready in my cute hospital gown, slippers, and hat and was getting ready to go into surgery. They came and took my glasses and gave me the last thing of drugs before I would head back. These were the drugs that were supposed to just relax me. I remember them giving me the drugs but I don’t even remember them taking my glasses, which happened like 1 minute later. My Mom and Mikkel then had fun holding fingers to see what I could see without my glasses and eventually it turned into a signing quiz. I guess I got them all right but Mikkel signed 20 wrong and I corrected him. My family thought it was pretty funny and got a good laugh about it but I don’t remember any of that. They then said their goodbyes and I was wheeled off to the operating room. The next thing I remember is actually on the table and they took my arm out of the nice warm blanket and I was really annoyed with them. Eventually they covered both of my arms back up and so I peacefully fell asleep again.

The next thing I know I am waking up in recovery. I kept telling the nurse I needed to use the bathroom and she kept telling me that I had a pad on and could use that. I refused to do that! I waited until she finally let me up and I really woke up once I felt the pain that going to the bathroom caused. I walked back to my bed and she asked for a name of someone to come back with me. I asked for my Mom and Marc to come back but I could tell she thought I was simply spouting off random names. I asked the nurse before she left how the surgery went and she said that they didn’t find anything. I almost started crying because I needed there to be something and I needed answers after this whole ordeal. I guess my nurse just hadn’t been informed because they had found something and they had told Marc and my Mom about it. They informed me when they came back of what they found. I definitely had all of the starting signs of endometriosis. I would meet with the doctor on Monday and we would finalize a treatment plan for me. I was then allowed to dress myself, though the nurse didn’t think I could do that either and came in to check on me, and then leave to go home. I slept most of the day and then enjoyed being babysat by everyone. Though without them I would have been a lot sorer! I was able to heal quickly and only missed one day of work. Every once in a while the area is still tender and it still doesn’t really like to have pressure put on it but overall I have now healed from the surgery and am hoping to not need another one ever again!

I had two incisions used for the surgery but only one had a cool bruise. Check out my battle wounds from my first surgery!



It looked way cooler in a few days but I only ever took pictures of it after with my cell phone because I could do that by myself and I couldn't do it with my camera.

Flowers from Megan

With my upcoming surgery I received these beautiful flowers from a good friend. They are beautiful and they came with the best medicine of all…. Chocolate! Now I just have to try and keep them alive…

Yard Gets Flooded

As most people will attest, I have a punctuality issue. I am late to EVERYTHING. One Sunday I was so proud of myself because I was ready early. Marc had just left for work and I was on my way to church when I noticed that there was sitting water in our front yard and it was starting to come in through the front door. I quickly ran outside, in my Sunday clothes, to figure out what was going on. I found that the water was still coming out of the ground and I didn’t know how to stop it. I started calling my parents and Mikkel just praying that someone would answer their phone. Mikkel hung up on me and I called him right back. I knew that they were at church but I needed help now. Mikkel answered his phone and went and found my Dad. He walked me through how to turn off my water and instructed me to start digging a trench to get the water away from the house. I called my bishop and left a message explaining what was happening and I let the Primary President know that once again I would be late for church. I ran down the street and borrowed the plumbing skills of our awesome neighbor in turning off our water and their shovel so that I could start digging a trench. My parents were shocked to find that I didn’t own a shovel but I haven’t needed one yet and so it hasn’t seemed like a necessity. We will be owning one here in the future though. I came back and started digging away. I am sure I was a sight tearing up my front yard in a skirt and nice shirt. With the water turned off and the trench dug the rest of the water went away very quickly. I then was ready to go to church but without water at my house I had no way of getting all of the mud off of my hands and arms before heading off to church. I went and visited Marc at work and used their bathrooms to clean up. After church I made contact with a different plumber so that they could come fix the pipes. Depending on where the break happened would determine how hard and expensive it would be to fix. He came over the next day and was able to find the problem and turn back on our water. The pipe that broke was part of our sprinkling system and so he turned that off but it allows us to live our every day lives with water and wonderful thinks like toilets and showers! I am so glad that the whole thing is over but it was definitely a memorable experience!

New Year’s Resolution Month 2

This month I cleaned our kitchen. I decided that I was tired of things being on top of the counter top and I spent an entire morning cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I definitely got rid of a bag of stuff and felt so accomplished. The kitchen has stayed much cleaner than our bedroom has and I am excited to see where month three of cleaning will take me!

Dean's Honor Roll

I graduated high school as the valedictorian and had a 4.0 GPA. I was so proud of my accomplishments and by my freshman year in college I was losing my scholarship due to my poor grades. I have worked really hard over the past years to have a respectable GPA again and this last semester I was on the Dean’s Honor Roll. I was super excited when I saw the letter and felt so proud of how far I had come. I felt even prouder when I opened the second letter telling me the same thing. Apparently they were as shocked as I was and sent out the letter twice because they couldn’t believe it the first time either!

Good Photos vs. Bad Photos

You know when the camera catches you wrong and you just look oh so fantastic? We have all had those pictures, you know mid-chew, mid-sentences, mid-facial expression? Well Kiara had one of those moments in the last set of pictures I took of her. The poor thing looks totally vicious and that is so not her at all. But check out this picture and see if you agree!

Death to the Spoons

One of the weird quirks that I now have comes from living with Melissa. I now have her conviction that ice cream tastes better when eaten with a plastic spoon. So Marc makes sure that he always gives me a plastic spoon when he gets me ice cream. He is just the best! Anyway, one day I was feeling down and Marc brought me cold stone. I was so excited and it even came with a plastic spoon. I started eating and broke my plastic spoon and about cried. It was just so sad because now I would have to eat my ice cream with a real spoon. Marc quickly relinquished his plastic spoon and used a regular one himself. Within five minutes, I had broken the second plastic spoon. I told Marc that I wasn’t eating any more ice cream that day because it was too traumatic. I couldn’t believe that I had not only killed one spoon but had killed two! These are the pictures of my poor dead spoons.





Marc hiding from the camera as he modeled the spoons:

Waiting for the Call

So after my interview for the new position I had to sit and wait and sit and wait and sit and wait! I knew that they had made their decision but HR was taking FOREVER to call anyone. Finally, I found out that…….. I got the job. I am so excited and will start on Monday. It is such an opportunity for me and my family. I love what I do!

However, even though I was annoyed at how long it took for HR to get back to us, I don’t think I have any room to complain. Marc is still waiting to hear from departments that he tested with in like November. I think that it truly is a blessing in disguise that we haven’t heard anything but I guess waiting a week doesn’t seem so bad when poor Marc has been waiting months.

Goodbye Marc!

I always forget how quickly I don’t get to see Marc after school starts and this semester is no exception. Let’s see on Sunday he works, Monday night I work, Tuesday I work and he has class that night, on Wednesday & Thursday I work and then go to class at night, Friday I work and he works at night, and on Saturday he works all day. Well it was nice knowing you! See you in May!

School Has Started

With school starting I was very excited to have my laptop back. I figured that everything else would fall into place and school would run smoothly for my last semester. I guess I didn’t could on the router dying. Hmmmm, thankfully Marc is very technology savvy and so is his family. So I called my personal tech support and it was all fixed very quickly. Thanks guys!

Counting My Chicken Nuggets

Growing up chicken nuggets were one of my favorite foods. I had them almost every year for my birthday dinner in conjunction with macaroni and cheese. But one of the things that I didn’t like about eating chicken nuggets is that we were only allowed a serving size and that was 6 chicken nuggets. I didn’t ever want to eat just 6 chicken nuggets! I had forgotten that experience until I made chicken nuggets the other day and I found myself counting how many I could eat. I put 6 on my plate and was walking away when I had an epiphany that I could eat more if I wanted because no one was there to tell me how many I could eat. So I ate 6 1/2 chicken nuggets and smiled to myself as I ate them.

It’s Back!

My laptop finally made its way back home after being worked on. It is so much faster and is behaving so much better! I am so glad to have my laptop back and I think Marc is glad that I am not constantly stealing his anymore either!

No Purple Flowers For You!

I had the opportunity in January to go to the temple to watch a dear person go through for the first time. It was such a neat experience and I loved being there with her and her family. I had brought my new camera to the temple because I wanted to take some photos and there is no place more beautiful than the temple. We were waiting for another person to come out of the temple and I didn’t want to wander very far and so I started taking photos of some of the beautiful flowers. My Mom wanted me to take a picture of a purple poppy and I sure tried and tried and tried to take the photo but they kept coming out blue. I tried changing settings and tried various other things but I couldn’t get a PURPLE poppy. I was frustrated that I broke my camera and couldn’t even use it properly the first time I tried to take it out. Thankfully after having my Dad look it, the lens I was using was the problem and that seemed to make all the difference in the world. But here are some of the flowers I shot and the PURPLE poppies too!



These really are blue flowers:








The PURPLE Poppy

Rain, Rain Go Away

I love the kids song “Rain, rain go away; Come again another day” but I have found some new lyrics that I like even more.

“School, school go away; We don't like you anyway!”

Can't you tell I am excited for this next semester

Desperate for a Girl's Night

Remember my Wednesday Night Girl's Nights? Well those haven't happened at all since Megan got pregnant. Either one of us is sick or crazy busy or whatever. But anyway we decided that enough was enough and we were getting together again to hang out. We racked our brains for something that we could do and finally we had a brilliant plan. We both needed to go grocery shopping and we should just go together! You know you are desperate for girl time when you happily agree to go grocery shopping!

Interview Day

Today was a day that I have waited for for a long time. It was the day in which I will interview for the new position at the library. This is the position right above me and I really want this job. So I knew my interview was today and I started out to prepare myself. I went to bed pretty early last night and set my alarm for extra early this morning. I get all beautiful with plenty of time to spare. I even paint my nails. Work is calm and allows me lots of time to reflect on fantastic answers for the interview and they let me know immediately that I got the position. Now if only that were the case.

Really I wake up late and find myself rushing out the door after scrambling to get ready on time. I then will show up for work and not even have a working computer in the library. I will annoy patrons as I tell them I can't check things out to them without a library card because our system is down. I will then start on a big project because I can't work on anything else. Right after I start the project our system comes back up and the rest of the day is CRAZY busy. Not only that but I get asked if I am expecting. Seriously? I rush out the door to my interview and miraculously show up on time. I answer all of the interview questions to the best of my ability and then I leave to go back to work.

Now I have to play that awful waiting game. I have gone through my interview too many times to count. I keep finding things I should or shouldn't have said. Oh well, it is over and now I will just wait for the answer... which we are praying is, “Why you are perfect for the job! When can you start?”

Dishwasher Incident

So on our cross country road trip back in 2009 I had an incident that really shouldn't have been a big deal. But I was about to become a member of the Dennis family in just a few months and I was still so nervous around them! I wanted to be that perfect daughter-in-law. I wanted to be so impressive all the time and never make any mistakes! This of course probably just made me come off like a nut-job but I tried. Thinking about this story again though, I guess it could have happened on our other road trip for our open house right after we were married. Regardless of whether it was right before or after or wedding, I was still nervous around the Dennis family.

In my attempt to be the perfect daughter-in-law, I went to put the dishes in the dishwasher and shut the door. I was so impressed by myself until my mother-in-law came in. She thanked me for putting the dishes in but informed me that they have a system in their house where if they are clean the door is closed and if the door is open then they are dirty. I am sure she meant it as a teaching moment but not as a criticism but all I heard was that I hadn't done it right. I was so sad and have worried about doing the dishes wrong ever since.

When the Dennis family was coming for Thanksgiving and I was taking 29 credit hours, I began to worry again. I called my Mom one day in a panic and told her about the dishwasher incident. I explained that I was worried it could happen again but at my house! She calmed me down and life went on it's merry way.

Then I was talking to my Mom this week and she has decided to adopt this approach with the dishwasher. She said it just made so much sense!

I, of course, started to panic because I will never be able to do the dishes at either house! I then went to Marc to vent about this major incident in my life...okay so it really wasn't so major but still. I sit there and tell the whole sad story and do you know what he says?

“You know, we should probably use that system too.”

Alright that is it! No more doing the dishes for me, at anyone's house apparently.