Random Acts of Kindness

I love how when you're paying attention, you can find the spirit on a daily basis in unusual situations.

Yesterday I did NOT want to get out of bed. My alarm went off at 7:15, but I turned it off.  I stayed in bed until 8:15.  I'm supposed to leave by 8:10... so this is a recipe for disaster already.  I went in the bathroom, powdered my nose and put on some mascara.  Generally, I wear a lot more makeup than this, but I just wasn't feeling it today.  I was in the car and on my way to work at 8:20.

Traffic was as usual.  I'm still not driving over the speed limit, so I wasn't stressing myself out to get to work on time.

Got to work 3 minutes before 9:00.  Crazy, huh?  But I have already shared my feelings on the blessings I get for obeying the speed limit.

I walked into work and sat at my desk and noticed that something was missing.  I had left Lance's most valuable Christmas presents on the floor under my desk, and they were not there.  Trying to remain calm, I looked around the office.  I thought to myself, maybe the cleaner put them on a desk somewhere so he could vaccum.

Nowhere to be found.

I went into my co-worker's office and asked him if he'd seen anything.  He immediately got out of his desk and tried to help me find them, with no luck.  Well, we're at work and there was work to do, so we both went back to our desks, and I figured I would tell my boss when he got in.  But I started panicking.  Could they be stolen?  I started to cry, and I went into the bathroom to pray.  I got on my knees for the first time in a long time.  I felt so unworthy to pray asking for help when I hadn't prayed in months.  All I could say was, "I deserve this.  I don't deserve to ask for your help."  I got up and came out of the bathroom, accepting the fact that I had lost hundreds of dollars worth of presents.

Now the hard part.  Telling Lance.  He was not happy.  I had to talk to him in the bathroom so no one would hear me crying.  I don't like to cry in front of people.

I came out and Dave had gotten on his coat and hat and said he was going to go look in the dumpster out back.  I offered to go with him, but I had a pile of work on my desk, and he said it would be best for me to get my work done.

He came in about a half hour later saying he found a small straight cutter.  (I had mentioned that my scrapbooking stuff was next to the presents, and it was gone too.)  This was exciting!  So I went outside with him, and he pulled out all the boxes of presents that I bought for Lance.  They were all still in perfect condition, in their boxes, with their receipts.  I thanked him about 20 times.  And I brought him some candy today as well.

Thank you Dave.  Not only did you save Christmas for us, but you also helped return my faith in prayer.

Letter From a Missionary - 6

Hey,
I got your letter.The reason I can´t send very many pictures is because I can only send 2 or 3 at a time and it takes 3 minutes to put each picture in the e'mail. I only have 1 hour to use the internet each week.I have pictures on my camera you will just have to steal when I get home.
Hehe
I love you, Merry Christmas
Elder Keele

Are You Read-Ay?!

Four days until winter officially starts, and eight days until Christmas!

I strongly hate the cold, being cold, and seeing people cold, and I strongly hate snow.  But here some things I love about winter...

1. Pomegranates!!  Okay, okay... so technically they are in season in the fall, but it snows in the fall so I'm counting it as valid for this list.
2. Fireplace - 'nuff said.
3. Christmas carols/Christmas songs - It DOES bother me that they start playing them November 1st on FM100 (*singing voice* point threeee...), and KOSY 106.5, but after Thanksgiving and on to January 1st I will listen to them!
4. Sweaters! Boots! And all manner of warm clothing - I store these in a different closet during the spring and summer and I love to bring 'em out in the cold season.  It's almost like a new wardrobe! Yay!
5. The above for my Bentey, minus the boots - Yep, we bought Bentley some clothes.  It's so sad to see her shaking in the cold when she has to go outside. :-(
6.  Hot chocolate - It's warm, it's chocolate... what is there not to like?
7. Sledding!  As long as I have mucho warm clothing, and hot chocolate afterwards (see #6), this is a fun activity.
8. Clean air!  Yeah this is kind of strange, I'll admit.  But, I drive to South Jordan every day and have to see the greenish yellow smog that lingers over the Salt Lake valley.  In the winter it's rarely there and I appreciate that.

This will be Lance and my THIRD married Christmas, and our EIGHTH Christmas together altogether!  They get better every year. :-)

Depression Hurts... Chocolate Can Help!

Another great job turned us down.  What are we doing wrong?

Maybe our feelings of needing to move out of state aren't just a crazy wish.  Maybe that's what we are supposed to do.

It's so scary! 

How are we supposed to sell our house and buy a new one, when the one we are in is worth less than what we owe?  (We bought right before the market crashed....)

How does Lance go about interviewing out of state?  It's not like we have the money right now for him to be flying all over the country.

If he gets a job somewhere, does he move out there and leave me alone here to pack up the rest, and move on my own?  I hate being alone.

I'm not afraid of being jobless.  I'm not afraid of losing anything that we own.  I am afraid of the unknown.  I'm afraid of having no idea what lies in my future.  I don't know where I'm going.  And surely, I have no idea how to get there.

I just need chocolate and a good movie, and I'll just forget about it all.  Maybe if I don't acknowledge it, it will all just go away.

Silly Mama

Lance's mom told us she wanted a fleece jacket for Christmas this year, so today we went to go buy a few of the ones at Old Navy for her.  They were only $5 this morning!  Guess who we ran into there?  His mom.  Yeah.  She was getting herself one.  What a stink!

Peeps...  between November 1st and December 25th, you aren't allowed to buy yourself anything.  It's common Christmas courtesy.  Really!

On another completely unrelated note, I like the word swagger.  It's such a sexy word.  I'm still unclear on the definition tho.

Dictionary.com says that it's a way to walk.

But the way people use it in conversation sounds like it means style, charm, and just overall sexiness.  So that's how I'm gonna use it when I say... Eric Maynor (from the Jazz) has some SERIOUS swagger!  He's not super attractive, but boy am I attracted.  LOL!

It could also be the fact that from far away he looks like a brown Lance out there playing B-ball.

Yeah, that's it.

Love me some swagger!!

Letter From a Missionary - 4 & 5

Hey Jenn,
Thank you so much for all your letters. And yes it´s ok to write about none spiritual stuff.  Thats awesome about the Jazz game.  It´s weird to think that the season already started, because for me... nothing is happening in the world.  So you said you knew when you were going to have a baby. But you didn´t tell me.  It´s all good.  I just want to be an uncle.  Thats crazy about what´s happening with you and lance and church and stuff.  I have to tell you, I am no good at socializing as well, but i´m forced to do it.  That´s basically what missionary work is.  I am no good at it.  But i´ll learn.  Sometimes I don´t want to learn but I think It´s really important to be able to speak to anyone.  I speak to strangers everyday.  The nice thing about home teaching and visiting teaching is that you can get to know them after a visit or 2.  And you visit them over and over.  I have to talk to new strangers everyday.  It´s scary, but once you break the ice it´s fun.
Love you, Thank you so much for writting me.
Love Elder Keele


Hey Jenn,
I hope you are doing alright. I just want you to know I´m praying for you and lance. I hope he finds a job soon.Just stay positive, be smart.
I love you.
Love Elder keele

Madness

Hosting Thanksgiving was a success!  Luckily, I didn't have to make the turkey.  Lance's wonderful mother took care of that for us.  Hooray!

The plan was to eat by 1:00pm.  Lance's family is usually late, so, I was sneaky.  I told everyone to be there at noon.  Is that rude?

Well, I don't care if it's rude, because it worked! 

Laura brought the tables and she was there at noon.  Yay!  So I was able to set up everyone's place setting all purdy-like.

Lance's parents were there at 12:30 with the turkey all ready and carved!  Wow!  How nice of them!

Nicole didn't show up until 1:15.  Good thing I said noon, or she may have shown up at 2:15.  ☺

So all in all, it was a great success.  Granted, our kitchen is STILL dirty, and dishes are STILL in the sink...but uh, Lance can take care of that.  Not like he has a job or anything, right?  (It's ok for me to say that (I hope), because he jokes about it all the time...)

I don't beleive I ever mentioned that.  Yeah Lance got laid off from his job a few weeks ago.

I kind of like having him at home.  We've talked more these past few weeks than we've talked the whole time we've been married (not really, but we do talk more often now...).  It's so nice!  He also does clean, do laundry and do the dishes.  But he did that before.  Just now it's done when I get home, so then we can spend the evening together doing whatever we'd like that is not related to housework.  Also, Bentley gets to have a friend with her all day long.  And she loves that.  I love her!

Oh Bentley!  We went to Petsmart to get something I won't mention for someone I won't mention and came out with stuff for Bentley.  She's our child.  We love her.  We got her a new bed, a pink sweater, and a new collar.  The bed is blue and green and has a cute paw print on it!  It is so soft and fluffy.  I think she loves it.  The pink sweater....  yeah... I always made fun of people who dressed their dogs.  But my poor baby was always so cold when she would go outside to go potty.  It's so cute on her!  It says "Snow Angel" on the back.  And it has a hood..l.  Ok, make fun of me.  I don't care.  And the collar, we got her because she chewed up her old one.  Merry Christmas Bentley!

Black Friday was MADNESS!  I have NEVER in my LIFE had such an AWFUL time shopping.  EVER!  And yes, I've shopped Black Friday many, many, many times before.

Toys 'R' Us had the brilliant idea to open up at midnight so that everyone, their dog, their cat and their bird would go there.  We were at a Jazz game Thanksgiving night, and left early to go get in line at the Toys 'R' Us at Sugarhouse.  We got there at around 11:00pm.  The line wasn't very long at that time, so we weren't very far back.  When the doors opened, we walked like civilized people into the madness that was about to occur.

We needed 2 items.  Both of which I cannot mention.  2 items.  TWO!!  That is NOTHING compared to the shopping carts that were full of items, piled to the cealing.  Ugh, it just urks me.  Two items.  First of all, we couldn't find what we were looking for.  We even asked people who worked there, who then pointed us in a direction, the WRONG direction, I might add.  After 45 minutes of searching we found what we were looking for.  They were close to each other, hiding, not out in any open area, but near the front.  So then we had to find the line!  It took us an hour of walking around the store to find the line.  When we got in the line, we stayed in it for 3 hours.  Not moving.  Nothing.  Standing.  Still water.  Stale mate.  We were thinking "@$%$#@%*& is going on?"  (Yes, I think in symbols, not words.)  Finally, we figured out that people were cutting in line, around the corner where we couldn't see.  And there was nothing we could do about it.  We talked to someone who worked there and he basically said there was nothing he could do about it.  I don't know why I didn't punch him in the face and tell him to get me out of there.  You work here, what do you mean you can't do anything about it?  Stand there and tell them where the end of the line is.  DUH!!!!  So finally at 4am we were out of there.

I am never, ever shopping at Toys 'R' Us again.  Ever.

After this, we were brave enough to go to Walmart.  But, lucky for us Lance's sister, Laura was holding our stuff for us, so all we had to do was wait in line until the sale started at 5am.

We got home at 6am.  I was supposed to go to my family's chocolate dipping party at 9am, but I was NOT going to wake up that soon.

I was going to give some homemade, chocolate dipped candy to my neighbors this year, and my visiting teachers, as well as the ladies I visit teach.  But... I didn't get any.  It sucks.  Big time.  Boo hoo.

At least I got some good stuff for the people I love.  They better like it.  I almost died getting it for them.

Satisfaction

I went to see New Moon tonight with Sierra, Megan, Sheri and Julie.  I enjoyed it very much.  The movie was good.  Way better quality than the first one, and the acting didn't bother me as much.


Edward is still not good-looking enough.


Not that I care, since I'm on "team Jacob".


But then again, I'm only really on "team Jacob" because Jacob is more attractive.  When I read the books I was all for Edward.


Funny how fickle I am.


My friendship with Sierra has been very strained lately.  I'm not sure exactly why.  I still want to be her friend, but it seems so hard these days.  I know that when I have a problem with something the problem is usually with myself, so I need to change myself in order to fix the problem.  But  don't know what to change about myself in order to become closer to Sierra again.


Tonight I just felt... I can't even think of a word for it.  I guess I just felt like she was putting me down a lot.  Putting me down as in bringing up things from the past that I've moved on from, but she likes to bring them up in order to put me down.  Maybe?  I don't really know how to explain it.


It's just hard being friends with someone when I don't know why they're friends with me.  What does she get out of our friendship?  What do I get out of our friendship?  What are friends supposed to get out of each other?  We're supposed to build each other up, make one another feel good about ourselves.  Bring out the best in the other person.  I don't feel like either one of us does that for the other.


So why do I feel like I need her to be my friend?  Is it out of habit?  Just because she's been my friend since Jr. High?  Jr High, a time when everyone is trying to find their place in the world.  A time when we're all changing and developing, and just trying to fit in.  She accepted me back then.  We were equals.  We had things in common.  Now what do we have?


She has a child, I don't have a child.  I am married, she isn't married.  She enjoys fantasy novels, and I don't really like to read.  She likes to get into deep conversations and debates, and I prefer to talk about things without debate and without getting too deep.


So where do I go from here?  I can't just stop being friends with someone.  Who does that?  Unless something major happens where you both end up hating each other.  But come on, really?  That's so Jr. High.


I guess I am just feeling friendless.  I am feeling sorry for myself.  I have Lance, and he is the greatest friend I could ever have.  So why do I feel like I need a friend outside of him?  I should be happy with what I have, right?  I have it good.


So I guess what needs to change about me is that nothing is ever good enough.  I need to learn to be satisfied. 


Now, how does one go about that?

Thought of the Day

I apologize in advance... it's a negative one.

I'm SICK and TIRED of making people a priority in my life who don't care to return the favor.

I am DONE being a "last resort."

I am DONE being an afterthought.

I am DONE being bailed out on.

I'm just done.

Now what do I do?

Gas Mileage

About a month ago I decided to start obeying a law that I've struggled with in the past.

Pretty much everyone breaks this law, but that doesn't mean that it's ok.

What law am I talking about?

The speed limit.

So now as you're cruising down the freeway, and there's a slow person "in your way", that slow person is me.

Usually I stick to the right lanes, but sometimes there are people going slower than 65mph in the slow lane (trucks, old people, etc.) so sometimes I get into the middle lane, and even the fast lane depending on traffic.  But I don't go over 65.

I'm sure I've made some people extremely angry.  But guess what?  I don't care.

Here are the benefits I've received just by going 5 miles per hour slower than I have in the past.

1. Gas mileage.
This is the most important one!  I drive 90+ miles a day.  Gas isn't cheap.  Therefore better gas mileage = less money spent on gas.
Before I started this experiment, my gas mileage was 33mpg.  Pretty good, right?  Especially considering the size of my car, and that it's NOT a hybrid.  My gas mileage is now 37mpg.   37!!  Beat that suckas!  Odd since my car was advertised as having 32mpg highway.  I totally rule, just fyi.  This means that I now can go between 500 and 530 miles on a full tank of gas, when before it was around 400.  That's one extra day of work!  Seriously, I'm so stoked.

2. Stress.
Are you calm driving down the road, swerving in and out of cars, yelling at slow people in front of you, upset at traffic jams, etc., etc.?  Didn't think so.  I'm completely calm, cruising down the slow lane.... rarely getting cut off, rarely having to slow down (since nobody really drives in the slow lane...).

Guys, come on!  I drive from Provo to 106th South every day!  That's past point of the mountain, AND a few construction zones.  Seriously, if you've been near 106th south, you'll know the construction there is a mess!  Stress free.  Stress free and LOVING it!

3. On time
I have NOT been late.  Except for that one time when there was a traffic jam back to Bangeter....  those stink, and the construction doesn't help.  But being late once in a month?  I think that's good.  Guess what else?  I don't leave any earlier now than I did before I started doing this.

How does that work?  Well it's called being blessed for obeying the laws of the land.

What I Learned

in church this past Sunday:

It's impossible to offend a humble man.
Apologizing brings the spirit.
Saying "I'm sorry" humbles you.
If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.
I need to read my scriptures daily.
Service, service, service.

Carlotta Sassine aka "Torchy"

My lovely sister in law, Laura hosted a murder mystery party last night.  It was a lot of fun.  We did a 1920's Chicago themed one, so I got all 20's up.

I planned to get off work at 2:00 so I would have plenty of time to do my hair and makeup, but... I didn't get off until 4:00, and only had an hour to shower, do my hair and my makeup.

I was pretty pleased with the way I turned out.

I tried to do a finger wave in my hair... then I roughly triple barreled the rest of it so it kinda flowed together.

Heavy makeup, since I was going for the "silent film" look....

Anyway, it was a fun night!  Lance went to the Jazz game, and took my dad, and I took my brother, Eric to the party.  I think he enjoyed it a lot.  He got pretty into it.  I felt really bad though, because we got back to my house at 1am, and he had to be at work at 7am.  So I hope he has time for a nap today before we go to Katie's Halloween party.

Seriously, I love my family!!  I am so happy my brother was there for me when I needed a "date" for this party.  I'm glad he came, and I'm glad he had a good time.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other pictures from the evening, but Laura does, so I'll steal them from her and put them on my Facebook.

Tonight, I am being a (modest and modified) Deal or No Deal girl!  I'm pretty pleased with myself.  I have a silver case, and I'm going to put the number 7 on it (of course because that's my lucky number).  I can't decide what amount of money to put in my case though.  I feel like everyone will expect the $1,000,000, so I'm thinking of doing the $0.01....   Hmm, we'll see.  I'll try to get pictures of how I turn out.

Soda Epiphany

I quite often open a new can of soda, take a few sips, then leave the rest of the soda on one of our end tables.

And today I had the nerve to chew Lance out for drinking 3-5 sodas a day.

Which is worse:  Drinking 1 soda a day and wasting most of it, or drinking 3-5 sodas a day?

I guess it depends on your values. 

Do you value a clean house?  A healthy body? Saving money?

I value all three.  So... here's the compromise (that I have not yet talked over with Lancee...):  We buy mini cans of soda for me, so I drink the whole thing.  And he cuts his soda back to two a day (he can still have the reg size).

Then we will have a clean house (because my cans won't be everywhere), be healthier (by not drinking so much soda), and we'll be saving money (by drinking less and wasting less).

Go team!

Dream Job

So... this is my dream job. Waddyathink?

How to Become a Deal or No Deal Model | eHow.com

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Rabble! Rabble! Rabble!

Not a whole lot going on this week.

I went to Frightmares for Elise's birthday.  It was tons of fun!  I got her a Sweet 16 crown and matching sash to wear.  It was awesome!  16 is a big deal!!  Yay Elise!  I didn't do any of the haunted walk-throughs though.  Sad, huh?  The lines were pretty long.  Oh yeah, and I don't like to be scared. :)

The first pre-season Jazz game was last Thursday.  I was so excited!  It felt like it had been forever since I'd seen my boys play.  They did well.  It's pre-season, so it doesn't really matter, but... whatever.  I still had fun.  The people who have sat next to us the past 2 seasons, still sit next to us so that's pretty awesome too!

I told Lance that I want courtisde seats for Christmas.  So when we saw them on KSL for $750 we got super excited... until we realized that iwas $750 each, and not $750 for the pair... and that's for a pre-season game.  Regular season could be twice that much.  Lame.  Sounds life if I am ever going to sit there, we need to do a whole lotta saving.

I guess that's enough rambling.  Happy Tuesday!

Blogging

Pahahah!

Hike to the Y

Lance had "Hike to the Y" on his bucket list, so since it's free and 5 mins from our house we decided to go for it!

I've hiked to the Y two times before in my life.  Once when I was 11, and once when I was 14.  Both times, it didn't seem hard.  This time, it was hard.  I struggled so bad.  It's because I'm incredibly out of shape.  Oh and I had a cold/cough at the time, so that prolly didn't help anything.

We took Bentley with us.  She loved it!  Cute little thing.  I love her.

I wanted to include pictures with this post, but of course they are somewhere far far away (like at home...and I'm at work).

We started on the trail at about 6:30pm and got to the Y at 7:30pm, just as the sun was setting.  It was gorgeous!  I made the comment to Lance that "We drive for 6 hours to see Vegas lights... but we could just walk for one hour and see this every day!"  Silly, huh?  It's like a valley of fire.  Millions of glittering lights stretched across the valley floor.  To the north you can see the Provo temple, which isn't one of the prettiest, but hey, it's cool!  At one point during the sunset, Utah Lake turned all orange and glowy.  It looked rad!  Makes me wonder what's in that lake, exactly?  Haha, just kidding.

Interrupting our awe and the beautimous site, was a tarantula.  Yes, a tarantula.  It was HUGE, HAIRY, and slowly crawling towards us.  We got a couple pics.  EEEEAAK!  I'm all creeped out thinking about it.

Going back down was pitch black.  We should have brought a flash light.  It was so dark!  But the walk down was simple, and took about 15 minutes.

My legs were NOT sore the next day, or the day after that, or at all really.  Strange, huh?

Notes for next time: bug spray, more water, flashlight.

Letter From a Missionary - 2 & 3

Hey Jennjo,

How are you doing? I miss hanging out with you. I´ve been praying so that you and Lance have a baby so I can be an uncle. :) So I believe you have some work to do.:) just kidding. Do what you want. You`re awesome. I miss you.

Love Elder Keele


Hey Jenn,

It´s cool, you should have a baby. I´ve thought about it and I don´t want to watch. :) thats just gross. I just want to be an uncle. You should plan it out so it´s born right when I get home. Plus August babies are cool.
I´m sorry about bentley, I hope things go ok.
Sounds like you and lance are still partying. A nissan titan? thats cool. Did you sell your other car?
I´m sorry about the evil stuff that happened to you. Just remember you have power. You can leave or do whatever you need to do and God will help you. It´s really cool being out here. It´s weird because the sisters here are your age.
Do you remember Mrs. Porter in Santaquin? Her daughter is here. It´s really weird, Because you could be serving at the same time as me. But be greatful you aren´t... The sisters are interesting. Thats as far as i´ll go with that.But, the church is true.

I love you,
Elder Keele

First Steps...to the Rest of My Life!!

I have so much to blog about!!

Last weekend I went to Los Angeles for a First Steps conference with Carrie.  I didn't know what to expect, and I was really only going because Datawise paid.  But oh my gosh it blew me away!  I did not expect to get anything out of it, but I got so much!!  Dani is a very powerful, motivating person.  There are SOOO many things I learned that I couldn't possibly list them all.  But, here are a few:
How to improve the relationships I have with my friends and my spouse.
How to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and make new friends.
She helped me overcome my fear of the phone.
How to use the money I have more effectively and to get out of debt. (I can totally pay off my house in 9 years!!)
To not care what people think of me. Be confident and proud of who I am.

It was amazing!  One thing she said that really hit me was that 98% of people are dead or broke by 65 years old.  I want to be in the two percent.  I don't want to be 65 years old and wonder what I did with my life and my money.  So that's why I made the bucket list.  It gives me a drive, focus and purpose to put to my life so I'm not just working day in and day out, and wandering around life without a purpose.

On another note, Lance got his truck.  I can tell he loves it very much.  He worked very, very hard to get it.  If anyone needs a truck for something, please call him.  I told him he better help anyone and everyone he can with that thing, because we sure as heck don't have any good use for it right now.  It us super nice though!

Busy day tomorrow!

Bentley is going back to the doctor tomorrow for her follow-up.  I hope hope hope that her liver is better and we don't have to get a CAT scan.  If her liver is working and blood is good then they'll finally go ahead with her spay.  Poor thing.  She's starving right now, but she can't eat.  I feel so bad for her.  It's so hard to watch someone you love be uncomfortable.

We also have my nephew, Jacob's birthday party at Discovery Park.  Then a BYU tailgate party at my parents' house, then we need to pick up Bentley.  I'm not sure if she can be left alone, or taken anywhere, but we also have my friend, Mike's birthday BBQ in the evening.  Not sure if we can make it.  But we will see.

Happy Friday!!

Bucket List

This idea came from my co-worker, Carrie.  She has this list of things she's always wanted to do, and this year she's been doing them left and right.  I'm so happy for her, and I can tell it's rocked her world. So...I made my own. 

Without my husband, nothing on this list would matter to me.  I want to experience these things with him.  So, after I shared my list with him, he made his own list and now we have this grand list of things that we want to do do together.

In no specific order:
Cruise to the Bahamas
Visit every US state and find something cool to do in each. At the top of the state list:
     Nauvoo, IL
     Hawaii
     NYC, NY
     Alaska/Northern lights
     Washington, DC
     Oregon/Washington when Drew gets home from his mission
     South Dakota/Mt. Rushmore
     St. Louis, MO
     New Orleans, LA
Go to Sandals, Jamaica
Indoor skydiving
Ride in a limo
Niagra Falls
Paris
Stay at every hotel on the Las Vegas strip:
     Ballys
     Bellagio
     Bill's Gamblin Hall and Saloon
     Caesar's Palace
     Casino Royale
     Circus Circus
     Encore
     Excalibur
     Flamingo
     Four Seasons (top 4 floor of Mandalay Bay)
     Harrah's
     Imperial Palace
     Luxor
     Mandalay Bay
     MGM Grand
     The Mirage
     Monte Carlo
     New York, New York
     Paris
     Planet Hollywood
     Riviera
     Sahara
     Stratosphere
     THEhotel at Mandalay Bay
     Treasure Island
     Tropicana
     The Venetian
     Wynn Resort
Go to a club
Sit on one of the first 10 rows at a Jazz game
Bunjee jump
Ride in a hot air balloon
Paraglide at point of the mountain
Do temple work at every temple in Utah:
     Logan
     Ogden
     Bountiful
     Salt Lake
     Oquirrh Mountain
     Jordan River
     Draper
     Mount Timpanogos
     Vernal
     Provo
     Manti
     Monticello
     St. George
Go to the zoo
See Arches
Visit Lake Powell
F.O.R.M a complete stranger
Fly first class
Hop on the next flight out, wherever it goes
Try out for Deal or No Deal
Try out for Family Feud
Stay at the Grand America hotel
Cook dinner every night for a month/no eating out for a month
Drive a lamborghini
Go to an away game for the Jazz
Plant flowers in my front and back yard
Do laundry weekly for a month
Pay off our house by 2018
Get a charicature of ourselves
Helocopter ride over Las Vegas strip
Eat at Peggy Sue's 50s Diner
Go to Guatemala to get Jared
Go to China
Go to Japan
Go to Australia
Go to an NFL game
Visit the Harry Potter theme park
Build something
Hike to the "Y"
Fly a small ariplane or helicopter
Paint the Jazz room/office Jazz colors
Eat the "Take 8" at EZ Takeout Burger
Win another softball tournament
Move out of Utah
Buy baby clothes for our own

One Car, Two Car, Three Car, Four...

What a week... honestly.

Lance sold his Hyundai, hooray!  We are now one step closer to getting his truck.  Happy day.  So, how has having one car been?  Thanks for asking!  Lemme tell you!

It has been awful!  We leave home at 8:15am, so I can drop him off in Springville before heading up to South Jordan to get to work by 9am.  My work picks up in the fall, because of the elections, but I have to leave by no later than 4:20pm in order to be at his work by 5 to pick him up.

One day I couldn't leave, and Lance had a softball game at 6, and he had to get a ride from someone, who was late for something... what a mess.

I do like spending a little bit of time with him in the morning though.  Oftentimes he gets up 5 minutes before leaving and rushes out the door with a rushed "Haveagoodday, Iloveyou!"  But now we get that 5 minutes in the car to just chill.  I like it.  Maybe when we get another car I should make him have breakfast with me every day.  "Breakfast at 8!  Eat it or STARVE!"

We went to New Mexico with Lance's parents this past weekend.  It was cool.  I had a lot of fun.  Seems like Farmington itself (where we stayed) had absolutely nothing to do there, and we had to drive an hour to get to cool stuff.  Next time, I vote staying in Durango, CO.  It's much closer to the action.

Going to LA this weekend with Carrie.  I'm excited!  Honestly, I'm more excited for the road trip than the First Steps conference that we're attending, but hey, whatever gets me out of the house, right?  Plus, we're spending a night in Vegas on the way back.  And if you know me/read my blog... you know I love Vegas.  I'm pretty much addicted to Vegas.  I think that's cool considering that I don't drink/gamble/go to nudie shows.  Yay Vegas!  Hopefully Carrie will want to do something while were there, other than sleep then get up and get back on the road.

Best Status Updates. Ever.

So I love social networking sites... who doesn't?  Some peole are very funny.  I've included some of the funniest updates that I've seen recently, just to brighten your day!

Facebook:

Katie Keele: There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far. - August 31, 10:11am.

Amy June Purdie: college football starts tonight! Oh wait...I don't care! Pah ha ha - September 3, 1:38pm.

Carrie Walters: BLATANT RANDOM SHIRTLESSNESS!! Ok, this has just been given epidemic status. - June 28, 8:46pm.

Twitter:

rainnwilson: Have a nice day, America.
7:05 AM Sep 3rd from Tweetie
rainnwilson: F*@k Canada RT What about Canada? (via @LovelyCreatures)
(I apologize for the profanity. Also, I don't mean to offend any Canadian readers (That means you, Tenille. I love you!).)

hollymadison123: Going thru the Sonic drive-thru in a green Palms limo :)
5:48pm Aug 29th from web

clinton_kelly: Yay! Back to NYC! Love me some LA, but I just can't bear to look at one more Ed Hardy T-shirt. Lame-o.
10:05am Aug 29th from TwitterBerry

D_Will_8_4real: Headed to Lifetime fitness! Didn't like Gold's gym yesterday. This 5' 6" 230 lb dude kept telling me I need to come hoop with them! No.
9:53am Aug 26th from TwitterFon

Texting While Driving

I rear ended someone four years ago, because I was texting while driving.  I still continued to text while driving until now.

After watching this video, I will not text and drive ever again.

http://ut.zerofatalities.com/texting.php

Is There Oil In My Lamp?

Yes, but very little. 

I have realized this over the past few months.  My spiritual side is practically starving to death, and today it has finally been fed. I went to all three meetings today.  I am so proud of myself and my husband.  We also met with the elder's quorum president, and our home teachers.

One of my biggest worries about going to more than just Sacrament meeting was that people would constantly ask if we were new... Surprise surprise, people knew who we were!  I realized that my fear was silly, and I shouldn't worry about such silly things.  The only thing I should worry about is what my Heavenly Father thinks of me, and that I'm doing the best I can.

There has been so much focus on temples lately, and I'm really feeling the push to go more often.  The only problem is that my recommend is expired.  So, I'm going to get it renewed, and I have a goal to go every Saturday morning.  I would like someone to go with me, so if anybody who reads this wants to go, or already does go on Saturday mornings and wouldn't mind a tagalong, please let me know!  I have this problem of not wanting to do things by myself.  I guess that's something that comes with growing up in a family with 6 kids; you're never alone.  It's something I need to work on, I guess.  Or I just need to make friends in the ward so I don't feel alone.

I'm glad I put a few extra drops of oil in my lamp today, and hope I can continue to add more.  I think overall I'll have a happier attitude about things... and you guys won't have to read my negative blogs anymore!  Win win. :)

Bentley

We took Bentley in to get her spayed today.  The doctor called about an hour later asking if she'd been dropped or had some type of trauma recently... and she hasn't.  He told us her blood count was very high, so they were going to run some tests on her.  She may have a liver problem.  I don't really know all the details, but I'm so worried.  She has brought so much joy to my life.  I love snuggling with her at night, playing with her in the morning, and how excited and happy she is to see me when I get home from work.  I really hope it's not serious.  I love her.  I don't want to lose her.

Twitter, Hair, Farmington, Cars...etc., etc.

I'm frustrated, and I want to vent... but at the same time I don't want to be frustrated, so I feel like venting is not a good idea right now.  Ugh!  Mixed emotions stink!!!

So I joined Twitter and I've been following some pretty cool peeps (celebrities).  It's a lot of fun.  I like how it brings the "untouchable" celebrities down to a level that makes them seem more relatable.  My favorite people to get tweets from are Deron Williams, CJ Miles and Dwight Howard.  They're really cool people, and I feel like I could hang with them.  In reality, I probably can't, but I like to feel like I can. :)

I'm getting my hair done today... yayz!!  It's been 10 weeks!  Ick!  I usually get it done every 6 weeks, but money has been kind of tight lately.  I'm so happy that I can get it done today.  Last time, Kellyanne used this sexy purple-brown color.  I looked hawt, but it faded super fast.  I think I'm going to try that color again today, and instead of the usual blonde, I'm going to try a sandy/beige blonde.  Darker for fall!  :)  Same cut as last time:

Except the bangs were different....   Man oh man, I loved this haircut!  I think it fit my face pretty well.

I'm jumping around topics, I know, but I'm just trying to disctract myself from my frustrated emotions (PS: It's working!!).

Next weekend I'm going on an adventure to Farmington, NM!  I've never been there before, so I'm pretty much stoked.  We are going with Lance's parents and maybe his sister, Laura's family.  I LOVE going new places!  I'm excited to hear stories from his families of vacations they've taken here back in the day.  I'm a sucker for that stuff, fo sho!

Lance has been trying very hard to get a truck lately.  I don't mind him getting one, as long as we can get the payments somewhere manageable.  I hate that we just paid off a car (that is now a piecer), and he wants to get stuck in another payment.  But I understand.  I mean, the Hyundai's transmission is giving us fits, and the mechanics we've talked to said fixing the transmission will only work for a short time, until the "fixed" transmission dies too.  What I want to do is get just a nice, cheap, used car for $12k or less.  But no, he has his heart set on a Nissan Titan truck, $17K, which is a good price!  Just too expensive for us right now.

So we're trying to sell our POS Hyundai, and use the money on a down payment, so we can get the Nissan payments around $250 a month.  It's a frustrating time, for sure.  At the same time as not wanting to have a car payment, if he gets his dream car I want a new/different car too!!  I have my sights on a Mazda RX8. 

They're running at a good prices right now.  But yeah, that's selfish of me.  The Dodge we bought last year is nowhere near being paid off.... and with the depreciation that has happened, it's worth LESS than what we owe.  Cars suck.... they suck bad.

Anyway, I feel better now.  Nothing quite like a time-out to calm you down!

Priorities

I just want to give a quick shout out to Carrie, one of my co-workers.

She's the best person someone could ever work with! She's a great listener, and that is something I would love to learn. When you talk to her, you feel like you could go on forever and she wouldn't get bored. Recently (ok so maybe a month ago?), we took a couple of lunches together. She is so easy to talk to, and you can tell that she really cares about others. She is such a fun-loving person. She likes to have cheese parties (an other types of "parties") at work. She's introduced me to many funky cheeses, some of them better than others.

In a couple of weeks Carrie and I are going to LA for a conference. I'm excited to spend some time with her and get to know her better.

I hope I can make others feel as good about themselves as she makes me feel about myself.

On a differente topic: I really wanted to go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication today. Unfortuantely, we procrastinated getting the recommend. We really need to stop procrastinating things. I need to get my priorities in order.

Politics

I work for a company that processes data. Most of the data we process is political, but we do get some marketing.

I don't like to take my work home with me... not that I dislike my job, in fact, I LOVE my job. But, I prefer not to hear about politics outside of work. I know, the horror, right? Politics surround us every day. There is no avoiding it... but I try.

So I was going to write about this topic that I've seen some stuff about recently... but I'm not sure if I'll be breaking my companies privacy policy. So, in general terms... I think that everyone, including our lovely government, needs to start owning up to our own problems.

When I spend my paycheck too fast, I can't go ask my boss for more money.
If I got in an argument with my husband, I don't call my mom to come fix the problem.
If I'm looking to purchase an item, but I don't like the price, I go somewhere else, or I don't buy it. I don't call the owner of the store and ask them to drop the price.

The end.

Letter From a Missionary - 1

Hi jenjo,
Thanks for pretending to cry when I left. I'm having a great time already. The MTC is pretty cool. I can tell you the church is definately true. The power in this little area in provo is incredible. I"m excited to teach real investigators. We practice teaching fake ones here. But it's still scary. And that was in english. I have to learn spanish. pray for me. I love you
Love, Elder Keele





Thanks for making my day Jared... but at the same time making me cry. Am I ever going to feel at peace with him being gone?

New Goal!

Humility.

I talk about myself too much, and brag about myself too much. Probably because I'm surrounded by braggers and people who talk like they're better than everyone else. But yeah, humility is the goal. I can't change people around me, so I am changing myself.

I was talking to Lolly about people who are truly humble and people who are faking humility, and I used the example of an old co-worker, who was talking about how her family pays for her schooling and her apartment and pretty much everything, so she just had to work for any extras she wanted, like shopping and stuff. So I said, "Wow! Your family must have a lot of money." And she responded, "We're just so blessed." She went on about how blessed she is, but in a way that didn't really feel humble to me. It was more of "Yes, my family is loaded and I get anything and everything I want."

So, after talking about this with Lolly, we watched Bride Wars. There's a part in the movie where this lady says "I know, hot huh? I am so blessed to have this body!" It was funny, because I had just ad a conversation with Lolly about people like that, but it also made me feel valid in my opinion that people who have the need to share how "blessed" they are, are really not humble. Now, I'd hate to read blogs full of "Whoa is me". I want to feel happy for you, I want to feel happy for your accomplishments and "blessings". I guess it's just all in the "tone" you use. I can tell if you're being humble, or if you're rubbing stuff in. I guess I'm gifted that way.

I am so blessed to be able to tell the humbile from the haughty. *wink wink*

Anyway, humility, my new goal.

In other news... I'm still really depressed about Jared. I get teary-eyed looking at pictures of him. I've started a few letters to him, but I have no idea what to say besides "I miss you.". I need him.... I really do. I'm glad I can still hang out with Lolly. See, Lolly and I were so caught up in our high school romances, that we didn't take the time to make other real friendships, and we are both suffering for it now. I'm glad we have each other.

My Little Brother

My little brother, Jared, left on his mission yesterday.

It was a lot harder to let him go than it was my older brother. Jared and I have always been pretty close. He's always been a good brother. And as far as I can remember, we've never, ever been in any fights.

The week before he left was a real rollercoaster of emotions for me.

I was happy that he chose to go. I know that he made the decision on his own, not to please anyone but his Heavenly Father and himself. A year ago, he said he wasn't going, but I guess he had an epiphany and realized that there are people out there who need him. Not just any missionary, but him. I believe that missionaries are not sent places at random, they are sent where they are needed, and the Lord needs him there in Guatemala.

I'm sad that my closest sibling is gone for two years. I'm worried that he will be like Eric and write me only once. One letter in two years. I don't think either of my brothers realize how much they mean to me, and not having them around is really hard for me, so letters mean a lot. I was so happy when I got that letter from Eric, and it was really sad that I didn't get any more.

I'm scared that Lolly will become distant. I care for her more than I think she realizes. I really and truly hope they end up together. If they don't, I know what will happen is meant to be, but it really won't be easy.

I'm worred that he won't be the same Jared when he comes back.

The last thing he said before walking out the door was "Jenn, have a baby." I don't know about that one....

Here he is giving me "The Look" that I won't see for two years... maybe longer if he changes drastically.

This was taken after we walked four miles to get a coke in Vegas. We turned around and walked four miles back shortly afterward. The things he'd do for a coke...

Here we are at Eric's homecoming party. I love his carefree spirit, and ability to always make me smile.

I love you Jared, and I know you are where you're supposed to be... I just wish I could be with you.

Sleepy Saturday

Due to the lack of interesting things to write about, I have made yet another outfit. This one is more business casual.

Earrings:
Blue knot top:

Purple purse:

Tweed pants:

Bronze heels:

What would life be like without color?

Cute Outfit!

So I'm sitting here watching Say Yes to the Dress, and What Not to Wear (I know, exciting holiday, huh?), and I decided to put together my own outfit. I'm very excited about what I came up with! So... I'm going to share... let me know what you think!

All of these pieces came from buckle.com.... :)


Gold earrings with silver round stones: $9
Green top with a fabulous jeweled neckline: $28

Silver and gold mixed metal bracelet: $10

Silver snakeskin wallet: $16

Dark wash bootcut jeans: $148

Cute berry-colored, pointy-toed heels: $39.50

Now I just wish I could go buy it!!

My Big Fat Italian Anniversary

We've made it two years! Really, that's nothing compared to the 5 we dated before we were married... but still. Glad to be married longer than most of the people in Hollywood! ;)


On our actual anniversary, July 7, we went to Tuscany for dinner. My company has held their annual Christmas party there in the past, and we LOVE that place, so Lance surprised me with reservations there.


If you're unfamiliar with Tuscany, it's a restaurant in Holiday, owned by Mark Eaton, it's Italian, and it's delicious. :) I had pork, and lance had meat loaf. I know... silly boy gets meat loaf at a fancy restaraunt. But hey, I'm sure it was delicious!

We also saw Craig Bolerjack there... I've seen him a bazillion times before at Jazz games, but it's kinda cool to see him, uh, not at a Jazz game, and not in a suit!

Vegas was awesome. I posted all our pictures on Facebook. It was kind of a struggle to get them all on there in the correct order because some were taken from the camera, some my phone and some Lance's phone. So it took me a long time to get them in the correct time-wise order.

This time we went hotel hopping. :) Stayed in 3 different hotels... saved a lot of money doing that, too. First night was at Golden Gate, which was only $9, then the next two were at Binion's which was $20 a night. Then we stayed at the Venetian which kind of back-tracked our money saving, but hey, that's why we were going super cheap in the first place; so we could stay at the Venetian without too much damage.

We missed our Bentley very much. We would often wish she was running around our hotel room and playing with us. :( But it's ok. I know she had fun at my parents' house.

This time, the "shows" we went to here the NBA Hall of Fame... not really a show, but yeah, and we also went to Tournament of Kings, which is a dinner show. Very good! Very fun!

All in all it was a great trip. It was nice to get away and relax and sleep in.

Happy Pioneer day!

Why Sierra Is My Best Friend

(Of course, besides Lance... He's amazing for other reasons.)

She is very forgiving, and I often need to be forgiven.

She can tell the difference between when I'm being ornery because I'm upset with her, and when I'm being ornery because I'm upset with someone/something else and am just giving everyone attitude.

She lets me speak my mind to her without being judgemental.

She gives me good advice without a "holier than thou" attitude.

She accepts me for who I am, not who she thinks I am or who she thinks I should be, or who I have been in the past.

I am so thankful for a friend like Sierra in my life.

2 Days!!

Short Walk Down Memory Lane

Just married

My favorite picture

We sure were skinnier!

Kisses for Lance!

Guest of honor. ☺

Aww, I want to have another wedding (to the same person)!

New House Checklist

After living in a place for a while, say oh....6 months or longer...you find all the things you dislike about it... as well as some things you LOVE and can't live without.

At least, I'm hoping this is true for just about everybody, and I'm not just a greedy, nothing's-ever-good-enough-for-me kinda person.

Anyhow... I've made a list for all the things I want my next house to be. I don't think I'll find a house with EVERYTHING I want, so I've separated the list into Negotiable, and Non-Negotiable. My next house will have everything on my non-negotiable list. Yes it will... or I won't buy it.

Look out realtors, here comes one picky buyer!

-Absoultely NO Negotiation- *I would consider it a down-grade if our new house did not have these features.
Formal living room, with separate TV/family room
3+ beds
2+ baths
Spacious kitchen, with lots of cabinets and counter space
At least 1600 square feet
Two car garage
Walk-in closet
Separate tub/shower in master bath
Dual sinks in master bath
Landscaped front yard - has to have curb appeal!

I guess the only things on this list that we don't currently have is the separate tub and shower, and a garage. Everything else, we love about our house and need (ok, not "need" but really, really, really want) to keep.

-Negotiable-
Fenced back yard - I have this currently so it would be appreciated, but I could give it up, if my yard is large enough.
Jetted tub in master bath - I rarely use this, but it is nice to have.
Pool - I have no idea how to take care of a pool, so access to a community pool or something like that would be nice. I've seen a lot of gated communities in FL that have this, and I would prefer that over having my own pool.
Fireplace - It's hot in FL, so I doubt I would ever use it, it just looks nice in my current formal living room.
Laundry room - currently my "laundry room" is also a bathroom. Having a separate laundry room would be nice, but it's not needed.

The house also has to look nice overall. I don't want a fixer-upper. Lance and I both don't have the talent nor the time to fix up a house.

BIG News

Because I changed the background and colors of my blog to be all holiday-colored, I don't really feel the need to comment on what day it is today. Other than the comment I just made.

Yesterday was quite eventful. I woke up and got the urge to visit my fam-fam up in Santaquin canyon. We spent from about noon until 5:00pm up there. After that we changed clothes and went to University Ave to visit Sierra and her fam while they were camping out for the parade. That was fun! We played Scattegories, and ate pizza. It was a good time. As Paula said, "It's not very often that you get to sleep in the streets!" Well put Paula, well put. We should totally sleep in the streets more often.

I have some newsvthat I've shared with a few people already, but here it goes to the world (or to those of you who actually read this...).

Lance and I are thinking about moving to Florida. (You thought I was preggers, didn't you?!) Anyway, housing there is way cheaper than it is here, and while we love our house very much, the cuts both our jobs have been making, has made paying all our bills extremely hard. Right now it's just an idea (one that we've both been looking in to on a daily basis). Lance is looking at jobs there right now, but he hasn't really applied for any. We haven't yet put our house up for sale. I have, however, found many houses in some great cities in which I would LOVE to live (Cape Coral, Kissimme). I found one the other day for $99K!! It's bank owned, but I don't see any problem in buying a bank owned house, as long as it meets my requirements! Buying a $99K house would cut our house payments in HALF, and make it so I might not have to work. And when we get to the point where I no longer have to work, we'll have kids. So everything might fall into place.... and I might have other news for you then. ☺

Happy Fourth of July (I HAD to say it....)!

Oh The Places You'll Go

Here is a list of places I want to go before I have kids...

Unfortunately, that's probably not realistic. So, I'll settle for before I die, instead.

In no specific order:

1. Cabo, San Lucas

2. Sandals, Jamaica

3. The Bahamas

4. Miami, FL

5. Cedar Point, Cincinatti, OH

6. New York City - I've been here before, but, I'd love to go again with the love of my life. ☺

7. Hawaii

Missing something? I really have no strong desire to venture far out of this country... like to Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. But, if I had the opportunity, I would totally take it.

I would also like to visit every state, that I haven't already. I would list them, but it's a lot. 30ish.

Random Crap

I had my review at work a couple days ago, and it went really well! I was feeling a little iffy about my position in the company, and I started to feel like I wasn't really worth anything, and talking to Dana made me feel a little more valuable. We came up with some goals for me, so I now have a renewed drive and determination to accomplish those goals. I finally got some PTO...I'm pretty excited about that. I'm not going to pretend that everything is perfect though. Our economy is struggling, and we are all feeling it. My company isn't getting as much work as it's used to, so we're on a pay freeze. I hope the country can get out of this slump soon, but I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better.

Lance's work came up with a plan to shut down the entire company, two days a month. Lance can either not get paid for those days, or use vacation. The problem with using vacation is that Lance only accrews 6 hours of PTO per month, and he would be using 16. So he would be losing 10 hours of PTO each month. So, we are just going to take them without pay for now, and see how we do. We are just a couple hundred dollars from finally having the Hyundai paid off, and that will help out a lot.

On the brighter side, it's Strawberry Days this week! I love Strawberry Days! It's also my friend/co-worker's bachelorette party, on Friday. We are gong to Los Hermanos, and then to a club to dance it up. It will be a blast! The parade is on Saturday, and so is my nephew's birthday party. Connor is such a cutie! I can't believe he'll be 7! I remember when Lance and I just started liking eachother, Lance took me to the hospital to meet his sister, Laura, and new born baby, Connor. So Connor's age is the same as how long Lance and I have been together. It's kinda cool... at least I think so.

Father's Day is Sunday! I love my dad very much, and hope he has a great Father's Day.

One last thought... since it's technically not SUMMER until next week, stop complaining about the rain! It's supposed to rain in spring! Ok that's all. :)

Upcoming Excitement!

EEEEPPP!!!

Make It Cool

I had a thought the other day, that I'd like to share. I realized that I live my life craving approval from others. It's really only about certain things, but I had to ask myself why?!. For example, if I was driving down the road with my windows down and a really good 80's song came on I would turn it up really loud then be embarassed if anybody heard me listening to 80's, so I'd roll up my windows. That's absolutely retarded! Why should I care what anybody thinks? If I like 80's, I like 80's. So I came up with a motto I'm going to attempt for the next little bit.

Don't wait until someone says it's cool, make it cool.

You could really fill in the lines with many positive words. Like cute. Don't wait until someone says it's cute, make it cute. Basically, the only purpose is to get me to stop worrying about what others think, and just be myself. So, self, here I come!

First order of business, blast Britney Spears as I drive down the road. Booyah!

This Week

I've been posting a lot lately, I know. So I think I'm going to post more often, and my posts will be shorter.... I hope.

I went to Lagoon yesterday with my hubby. We used to go every year, but we never went last year, so we were pretty excited to go. Wicked (their new ride from two years ago) was shut down... which stinks. I've only been on it once, and it was pretty sweet so I was looking forward to riding it again. We got to ride everything else that we wanted to ride, so it turned out ok. Cliff Hanger used to be my favorite ride, but yesterday when we went, they didn't flip us around as much as they used to. They're more focused on soaking everyone... so I was a little disappointed about that. But Samurai was finally working (it hasn't been running the past 3 times I've been to Lagoon!). I love that ride. I guess it has to be my new favorite! All in all it was a great day.

Lance and I have eaten some of our meals outside on our patio furniture this week. It has been such lovely weather! It's nice to go outside in our backyard and spend time together, with the puppy, and then shoot some hoops. It's going to be such a fabulous summer!

On Saturday I went over to Lance's aunt's house and had a "Girl's Night." It was awesome! His aunt made us the most delicious smoothies I've ever had in my life, and we watched Twilight. It was nice to hang out with them, I hope they do something like that again!

Speaking of Twilight! The New Moon trailer looks amazing! All the lighting looks like how I pictureDD the first one! I'm way excited! Only what.. 6 months to wait? Oi! I guess I could read the books again! :)

Happy June everyone!

10 Little Things

I stole this from Katy's (my fabbity fab sister in law) blog.

Ten little things that make me terribly happy:

1. Reading others' blogs.
2. Getting forwards at work.
3. Making friends with strangers.
4. New shoes.
5. Freshly dyed hair (no icky root re-growth).
6. Family vacations, when my dad tells stories or talks about his memories.
7. Lance making up a new song by rhyming with the old one (unless he's being gross...). Or just when he's making stuff up in general.
8. When a dog tilts their head to the side when they're looking at you.
9. 25 cent rings from a vending machine (Taco Bell!).
10. Tan feet.

Memories - Part 1

Every few months I get in a slump where I get super negative, hate everyone, and don't want to do anything but sleep. I'm trying to figure out ways to get out of it. Logically, I feel retarded and that I shouldn't feel sorry for myself. I know I'm just being emotional and stupid, and I hate it! But emotionally I can't get a grip on myself. No matter how much I know I'm being retarded and that it's all just in my head, I can't seem to shake the negativity away. So, I've come up with a new plan.

The plan is to write out a few memories from the happiest times in my life. So, each time I feel a slump coming on, I'm going to post some of my favorite times in life, favorite things, things that make me happy, etc. That way I can focus on all the positives I've had in my life, rather than focus on the negatives that surround those positives.

I was thinking about happy memories on my way to work today, and it really helped put me in a good mood for the moment. Also, I had good memories about pretty much everyone I know. So hopefully writing this won't only have a positive effect on me, but it will also let others know that they have had a positive effect on me, thus making you feel good about yourself.

The Memories
1. CKJLMT. It stands for Carly, Camille, Kristen, Kaylynn, Katherine, Jenn, Latisha, Misty, Tiffany. That was my "group" when I left Santaquin. Camille came up with the letter order, and we used to doodle it all the time. One of my user names I use on the computer, is still CKJennLMT. So if you ever wondered what it meant... there you have it.

2. Moving from Santaquin to Pleasant Grove was an incredibly hard time in my life. I had a huge circle of friends who I had to leave to come to this place where I knew nobody. Well, before I left Carly wanted to hang out. It wasn't very often that I hung out with someone other than Camille outside of school so I felt a little awkward at first, but Carly is so sweet that the awkwardness went away fast. We walked to Carly's house and when we got there she rang the doorbell. I was thinking in my head, "that's random". We went downstairs and ALL my friends were there. I think Carlee Haws and Sydney Degraw were there too.... remind me if I'm wrong. The only significance of that was that they were from Payson, and everyone else was around my neighborhood. Anyway, they threw me a surprise farewell party! I had never felt so special in my entire life. We played games and just hung out. I don't know if I ever told them how much that meant to me.

3. I don't know why this one sticks out so much right now... but here goes. When I was 14 or so, Tenille and I got bored one day and decided to go to mutual looking like "punks." Tenille was super nice and did my hair in dreads. It took forever, but it looked awesome! She was so patient, and spent all the time we had on my hair, so we didn't have a lot of time to make her hair cool. It made me feel pretty special that she would do that for me. We also put on a lot of black makeup, and wore all black. I think I wore a black/purple flame shirt, and she gave me some pants and shoes to wear. I specifically remember a leader (can't remember which one) asking me what was wrong, and I told the leader that I had a bad day. But, the truth is, I didn't have a bad day, we were just bored. I think we ended up looking more like goths than like punks. But hey, it was a fun bonding experience.

One more for today:

4. Spring of 2002, I was 14 years old, Emma went to Florida to stay with her sister for a while. I don't remember how often she called me, but I remember I was talking to her on the phone one day, and I told her that I was going to a movie with Lance. Lance, at that time, was just a friend to me, but I did sorta like him. Well, Emma said she had a secret to tell me. She told me that Lance liked me. I was so surprised, and excited that I started to cry! I was so excited that this boy that I liked, actually liked me back. I am so grateful for Emma telling me that. Emma really is the one to thank for getting Lance and me together. But, that's a memory for another day.