Heaven in a bowl

For all my family who likes chocolately-sweet-fresh baked-goodness... BEHOLD..........

COOKIE BROWNIES

Now, obviously, it doesn't have to be from a package to combine the delicious-ness of brownies, with the perfection of chocolate chip cookies, but it just so happens, that this was. And let me tell you, it was FREAKING DIVINE!!!!!! Definitely just made my Monday a little bit better!!

A Couple Of Classy Broads

Kelsie was in town on Saturday and invited me and Liz to brunch. It was SO fun!!! We met up at IHOP for some eating, and even though I have a theory about IHOP that I'll have to explain later... it was SOOO fun!!! Sadly the only pictures I got were of a turtle.... A lady was selling balloon animals to raise money for charity and Kels (the only one with cash) bought a turtle.

We basically loved him.

The best dollar she ever spent. Haha

Maybe I'll get my prince charming... wait... thats not turtles

A Nativity..... Or Two........

This weekend, my church building hosted the Carrollton Community Nativity Exhibit. They had bascially shut down the building for the past week to set it up and we knew it was gonna be cool. Mom and dad drove up to see it cause I knew my mother would love it... and Carolyn, Bryand and Benjamin came over from their house. It was a fun night with the family. There were THOUSANDS of nativities and it was so crazy cool in the church. I've never seen anything like it. It really was so impressive. There is no way pictures could show how awesome it was in there. They had a lot of really beautiful ones, but it seemed like the silly/cute ones were my real favorites..... here are just a few....

My cute momma and me before going in.

Cupcake nativity... SO CUTE!!!!

I was on the hunt for a nativity of pigs, this was as close as I got...

I really think Santa looking over baby Jesus really brings the true meaning of Christmas

God Bless Texas Y'all

The moose nativity was probably the most well-done silly one. We all liked it.

This was from the international section. This one was from Germany.. I thought it was so funny and weird.... it was my favorite one. I'd totally put it in my house.

In front of the church they had a life-size nativity, my mom REALLY wants my dad to build this for her. I am sure its only a matter of time.

Cuase One Little Christmas Tree Can Light Up The World

So I've been wanting to decorate for Christmas for like 2 weeks. I put it off for a little while but then this past weekend, I totally gave in and did it. They also started playing Christmas music, which I listen to all day at work. I didn't want to go completely all out because I'm being "Financially Responsible" ....blah blah blah blah.... but I did get the tree and get it decorated, or started at least. I LOVE IT. Now whenever I watch my shows, I turn off all the lights and turn on the tree and its just perfect. I still have some additions to make to it.. but it looks better in person than on this picture.

ONE WEEK UNTIL THANKSGIVING....... 37 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bird Invasion 2010

The Colony, TX. ....My New Home. Apparently, it is also the home of every bird in the world. I am pretty sure that ALL birds have migrated to The Colony, TX for the winter which has resulted in me and Liz feeling like we live in a zoo. Everytime we go to Wal-Mart, or to dinner, or anywhere really, we are amazed at the amount of birds. I will try to get a better picture, its hard to photograph birds, but they are EVERYWHERE.

Like I said.. not the greatest picture, but the birds just fill the ENTIRE parking lot.

They will line every power line, ever inch of the tops of buildings, they crowd on top of parked cards, they completely fill the trees, and then randomly, they will all fly and seriously the entire sky will turn black because there will be so many birds. They don't really get scared by the cars or people, so you can just park right next to em and walk pretty close. It is so strange.

Plus its as loud as heck. It seriously is crazy how thing so small as a bird can be so deafening when there are 10324238547938275 of them in a small space. I dont' know what it is about the Wal-Mart in the Colony, but the little black birds sure do love it.

Yay Longhorns, Fight Fight FIGHT

Friday night was Davey's first playoff game and Me, Liz and Mom went with Joanna. It was SO much fun. Crazy game with some of the weirdest plays I've ever seen. It was the one of the coldest nights we've had in Texas so far, so we were all bundled up. And poor Liz had gotten sick so she kept running to the bathroom under the stands to throw up. But other than that I really had so much fun!!

Davey #32

Poor Liz made it as long as she could. I took her home at the fourth quarter. She made it 2/3 of the way there before we let her puke at a 7-11.... one of 3 parking lots that got the royal treatment that night. HAHA.

Mom, Me, Joanna, Liz

Mom was FREEZING. She was so funny. She couldn't get warm, so I showed her how I used to wear my coat when walking through the blizzards in Rexburg. It worked, but she was laughing too hard to keep it over her nose.

Something I learned today

So I have an hour for lunch everyday.. but I sort of work in the middle of nowhere, plus I try not to eat out everyday, so I basically have this hour that I don't know what to do with. A lot of days, I end up at Wal-Mart just wandering around, talking to my parents, or getting stuff for the apartment. But I kind of have realized that I'm wasting a lot of time and money driving to a store for no good reason. I rarely make it out without something.

So Yesterday on my Wal-Mart run, I decided my purchase would be a book and I'd use the hour everyday to do some reading. I had gotten really good at reading books while I was at Utah, and I kind of liked it. So I thought this would be a good way to keep up with that. My first lunch-hour book is......

I don't have a lot opinions about him considering I was 12 when he was elected... However, I saw him on Oprah for about 2 minutes and he was talking about what he was thinking when September 11 happened and the things that were going through his mind, and it occurred to me it might be kind of interesting to read.

75 pages in...... there are about a million things I've never known about him and its just kind of interesting to hear his about his experiences in his own words. So far, I'm satisfied with this purchase. There are about 400 pages left to go, I'll let you know if it worth your time!!

Its been a long day.. and I just wanna hide away

So its been a little over a week since the Lay Off heard around the world. And its been a crazy one.

Starting Monday I started my training to take over the girl who's last day is tomorrow. I'm REALLY nervous about it. I thought there were so many rules and exceptions in real estate, but I think there are about 1000 more in logistics. Its so hard for me to remember what carriers go to what cities, and what people I'm allowed to report to and which ones I have to go through someone else, and what trucks have to be under 15,000 pounds, how long it takes to get from Utah to Canada, when people can and cannot deliver on the weekend, how to make a change in the 3 different computer systems we use. I feel like my head is just spinning with random, usless trucking knowledge.

With that said.... I do think I'm getting better. I trained on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, I did the work myself, but with someone sitting with me. And then today, I was sort of on my own. I know I'm getting better because I was able to do a number of things from start to finish without really any supervision. I know that I'm doing the easiest things first, but I am hoping I can just wing it until I feel a little more certain in my whole thing.

The best part about my new tings I'm working on.. the days are FLYING by. I am always busy. I usually leave around noon for lunch. Today, I was just working on stuff not paying attention, and it was after one. Finally I thought.. hmmm, maybe I should eat a little something. It's really nice to not be counting the minutes tick by cause the are flying so fast.

The good news is, the more I learn, the more I feel like they really do need me and they can't let me go. I am getting way more involved in different things and I know that there is no way they could decide tomorrow to make me stay home. So unless some MAJOR changes with the client (and lets hope that doesn't happen anytime soon), I think I'll be at Ryder. Speaking of which, I'm about to apply for some permanent positions in different departments of the company. A couple of girls on my team seem to think that I would be able to snag one down since I'm already there and learning how stuff is done. I'll keep you posted on how things go next week when I'm flying solo...... eeks!!!

If I only had a brain..........

A very wise man named Ron White once said.. "You can't fix stupid." Its very possible that after the events of last week, he was talking about me.

I have a standing rule that I don't go to gas stations at night. I think its freaky. But last Saturday, I didn't really have a choice, I needed gas before Sunday and I knew it. So I went, and I was 99 percent done.. and still alive... and thought I'd throw a bag of trash I had in my car while I was standing there. So I grab the trash, lock my doors.. cause its freaky there and even though its only a second... and walk over to the garbage. As soon as I shut the door, I realize the keys are sitting right there on the console. I freaked. Everything was in there, my keys, my purse. LUCKILY, my cell phone was in my shirt pocket.. which is never it.. so I was blessed. I called Liz and had her bring me my spare. Thank heavens that we only live 5 minutes away. I had to wait at the gas station there alone.. which TOTALLY freaked me out, but luckily there was a police officer there and it definitely made me feel safer, and obviously I made it out alive.

Fast forward to the following Friday. You make it through a long week, you have dinner plans with your sis, you grab your bag to go home and once again, you don't have your keys. KILL ME. I was hoping that when I got to my car, the doors would be unlocked and I'd be able to get in.. sometimes I forget to lock the doors. Obviously, that was not one of these moments. I didn't know what to do. Everyone had left for the night.. I was screwed. So of course, I called Liz again and asked if she could come get me. This time I was about 40 minutes away, or should have been. There were about 5 accidents and traffic was horrific. I think it took her an hour-ten to get there and I felt SOOO bad. Basically we spent the next million hours trying to maneuver our way to a restaraunt. I think we were both close to saying some bad things, but we held on to the faith.. at least I did.. I wasn't in Liz's car... After about 4 hours, we made it. Dinner was good.. although I'm not really sure that it was worth what it took to get there.

I'm thinking about the ways to cure my stupidness... maybe I'll keep my spare in my purse??? Maybe I should just leave my car unlocked.. and take the chances that it gets stolen?? I think anything would be better than the events of last night.

It's a Crazy Life, A Crazy Life, It Keeps You On Your Toes

So I figured I should inform you of the latest and the greatest.

Today I returned to work. I was really nervous about going, just because I knew that everyone there would know what would know about what happened, and I think I was just a little embarrassed, and was afraid it would be awkward.

Luckily my team pulled through, and I had nothing to worry about. They were all excited to see me and making jokes about how I was the new hire and they were so excited to get to know me. Then they started going on and on about how they hoped I enjoyed my vacation and did I do anything fun with my time off. Once Jon got in, they chastised him about not giving me enough notice for my vacation cause I didn't have time to plan my trip. HAHA. It was perfect cause we got all the awkwardness out of the way right at the beginning and then everything just went back to normal.

That might have been the weirdest part about today. The fact that NOTHING was different. I went right back to my desk... pulled up the same old reports...... went back to the same old same old. It honestly was like the previous two days had never happened. I sometimes would forget that it had. But in the back of my mind I would be like, "Remember how this time yesterday you didn't have a job?" It was just so strange. But I'd definitely take strange and employed over normal and unemployed.

Updates on my job status so far.... One of the girls on my team named Kendra is pregnant and has decided to stay home. Her last day is a week from tomorrow. I would guess that is why I am back. To fill her shoes. I don't know that exactly for sure, but I have already started learning a couple of little things that she does, and I was told that there is more training in store for me tomorrow. I'll be intrigued to see what all my new duties will involve.

That is the other thing I think is strange. Nothing is really being communicated to me. I'm completely lost all the time about what is going on. I have no idea what the plans are where I am concerned, or what my future holds at Ryder and it is sort of driving me crazy. Its all I think about all the time. But at least I'm back and working, and I have to remind myself to just take one day at a time and be grateful.

Geesh, who knew the world of trucking logistics was so CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you serious?!?!?!?!?!?!?

This sentence has been said A LOT the past two days!!!!!!

Soo.... a little background before I tell you this story.. Jon is the man who told me I was leaving last night. He was my manager and the nicest most awesome guy to work for. He swore up and down that he loved me and didn't want to see me go but that it was out of his hands and he was going to do whatever he had to do to get me to stay. I really did believe him, he was so sincere, but I didn't think he would be able to do anything. But, after my very emotional night last night, I got a phone call from the lady who got me my job. I assumed it was about the contract job I told her I was interested in. She goes..

"I just got off the phone with Jon from Ryder. He went to two of his managers and really plead your case and fought for you and said there were going to be some longterm effects of letting you go and has gotten approved to bring you back. You are approved through the end of the year and he most likely thinks that you'll be there permanently after that. He wants you back tomorrow if you're okay with that."

My response...

"Are you serious?!?!?!?!??!!??! Of course I'm okay with that!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So now I'm just enjoying my imprompu day off and gearing up for work tomorrow. This has been a very strange couple of days and quite literally a roller coaster of emotions. I haven't cried this much since who knows when. But luckily the tears today are tears of relief and happiness, so I'm okay with that. Now I just have to think of how to thank Jon.. what to do you get the guy who just saved your rear?!?!

I should do this more often

So because I have been so busy lately, I haven't been able to blog. Well things change pretty quickly in my life. A quick update.

I have been working at Ryder in Ft. Worth. I got my job there through a placement agency, which is fine cause you just work under contract for the first few months and then Ryder could hire me full-time. It was the same thing I did at the Cancer Center a couple years back. When I was offered the job, they told me it was a long-term, permanent position and that I would be there for a long time. Plus, my manager seemed to really like me and up until today was telling me how he was gonna increase my responsibilities today and incorporate me more and more into things.

Then today at about 4:30, he asked if he could talk to me. I didn't think anything of it cause I thought we were gonna talk about my new responsibilities. Unfortunately.. that was not the case at all. :( He said that the client we worked for wasn't going to approve a 9th person anymore and that he had to let me go. He went on and on about how much he loved me and he fought for me. He said that he was going to look at all the other accounts that Ryder has and see if anyone could use me. He said that most likely he would have a job for me in a couple months, but that he couldn't give me a time frame. I was blown away. I didn't even know how to respond. After we finished talking, I spent my last half hour of work training a girl the best I could with no notice on all of the things I have been doing recently. I made a point not to cry and made it out of that office tear-free!! Needless to say, this day has pretty much sucked.

The lady who got me my job called me as soon as I left and told me how sorry she was and that she was sure I was going to be there forever. She once again told me how much they loved me and wished and wished that they had been able to keep me. She did say that she had a contract job that lasted for 6 weeks that she would try to get for me, it is supposed to start pretty immediately. That would be great just because I hadn't really saved up cause I was planning on having this job forever. Hopefully this would quite literally buy me some time.

I know it'll all work out, but this day definitely went differently than I was planning. I think I just struggled with this cause it was such a shock. In the morning, he was telling me how great I was doing, and how he was going to increase my role, and then that afternoon, he was telling me that was my last day. Just a hard adjustment to make. I'm hoping maybe this is the big guy's way of helping me find a job closer to home with a better commute. The hunt already began tonight for a new job and if anyone knows of ANY leads in Texas... I'm not too proud to ask for help!!!

I spend so much time there, I should just live there

Just got back from a 7 hour day at church!! It was pretty long but good.

Oh, and for the record... I'm getting REALLY involved in my ward. Man!! I am SURE proud of myself.

Working 9 to 5... What a Way to Make a Living

I'M A WORKING GIRL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got placed in a position tonight at Ryder in Fort Worth through an employment agency. I met this lady on Thursday and she learned all about me and by Friday she had found a position for me, but it didn't work out, and then today (Tuesday) she called me with another. I start tomorrow at 8 tomorrow morning!! That is a really fast turn around and I had NO time to prepare and get used to the thought, but I'm really just so excited and I am so very grateful to have a job again and not have to worry and stress about it. The commute will be long and I'll need to get a place to live closer to where I work cause thats gonna get old REAL quick, but I can't complain. I will be making about twice what I was making in Utah and word on the street is there is a ton of room for advancement and growth in the company.. So I'm pretty stoked.

More to come when I've started and actually know what the position is like. I'm so excited!!!

So... Tonight after dinner Carolyn was going on and on about how she was craving sugar cookies. And I mentioned something about how we had had a bunch at my branches dinner last night and I would have grabbed one if I'd known. Luckily for her, we had the leftovers at FHE tonight and I totally swiped one for her. Am I the greatest or what?!?

So I come home and I go, "Carolyn!!! I got you a cookie. And look!! It's a temple!! It'll nourish the body and the soul!!!" She takes one look at it and goes "It's a cake.. Like a wedding cake." My response, "Uhhhhh, thats embarrassing!!!"

Back Story:

Whenever there is a fireside, my branch feeds us. We have church really late and so they have dinner to hold you over so that you can go to the fireside. I actually think its pretty awesome. So yesterday, not very many people brought food, but there were all these desserts from a wedding that had taken place over the weekend. So there were all these sugar cookies and I could have sworn they were little temples. Like cause they got married in the temple. So I know that in at least 3 different conversations, I called them temples. Now, 24 hours later, I'm learning that they were wedding cakes. That is SOOO embarrassing. Who can't tell what's a cake and what's a temple?!? Looking at it now, it is obviously a cake.. but hopefully it's close enough that whoever I was talking to yesterday doesn't think I'm a total idiot?!?

Living The Single Life

Ahh the singles ward. I HATE starting new in a ward. HATE it. But I also know its necessary. So I have been doing my darndest since I've been here to go to as many things as I can and actually meet the people in my ward and make friends and put myself out there. Historically speaking.. I've done very poorly at this. Thats not to say that I'm completely at home in this new ward or that I'm friends with everyone, but I think I'm doing better than I have in my previous 2 wards.

So at first, I did not feel good about my singles branch AT ALL!!!! I was convinced that I would never return and that it was a complete dud. But luckily, I've kind of stuck it out for a few weeks and I feel like its starting to get better. If nothing else, I no longer feel like the kid all alone at the lunch table with no friends.... which is how I was feeling at first. So while Its been baby steps.. At least I'm taking steps!!

Oh, and I got called onto the Activities Committee. Usually I might complain about how that can be a lot of work and a lot of stuff can end up on your shoulders, but I actually feel like this is the perfect opportunity for me to remain completely involved and not let myself slack about going to stuff and continue to meet new people and build eternal friendships... or something like that....

No you Can't Take the Honky Tonk Outta the Girl

So I have been kind of MIA when it comes to this thing lately. I just haven't been in the mood.. so many apologies. I'll sort of get you caught up. I spent most of last week in Gilmer. I just kind of decided for a change of scenery while I'm not working I would spend a few days with the folks on the farm. It was excellent and totally needed!! On the way down there I was talking to Carolyn and Bryan about how I wanted to drive my dad's tractor. Carolyn made some comment like, "Do you think he'll let you?" And me reply was like, "Please, he'll totally let me." This was less than an hour after we arrived..... And this was just the beginning of my redneck weekend!!

Here's what I'll say about tractors: Its harder than it looks. I know the boys on footloose make it look like it aint no think when they plan chicken, but it took all the strength I could muster to turn that bad boy around.. and one time I ended up in a ditch which meant I had to go backwards. The one thing freakier than driving a farm tractor... driving it in reverse.

Oh and if your curious about my Indiana Jones hat, well my dad wears it everyday when he tractors.. and I wanted to be a real farmer. So I had to dress the part!!!

At the end of my country weekend, Bryan and Dad were doing some shooting in the backyard before breakfast (Things have really changed at mom and dads house) so of course I wanted to participate!!! We shot Bryan's hand-gun first and then one of my dad's shotguns. The handgun hurt my middle finger and the shotgun put a bruise the size of a baseball on my arm. I LOVE SHOOTING GUNS!!!

This one time, Carolyn wanted Chocolate Milk.... so she got out a cup, got out the milk and chocolate and started pouring... right about that time she realized there were maybe 3 tablespoons of milk left in the carton. But we don't waste food!!!

Have Yourself a Blue Bell Country Day

Week one in Texas... Check!!! Here are some random gems from the last 7 days of my life. Ps.. this is long.. I'm not sure why I'm so wordy....

Its been fun to so far. I have gotten to play a lot with Carolyn and Benjamin and it is a blast. And I was a little nervous that I would become a little lazy when I got here... and I'll be honest I have (Hi its Saturday and I haven't done my hair or make-up since Monday when I had a job interview) but luckily one thing is keeping me on a "normal schedule." I got myself a state of the art alarm clock.

Benjamin = my newmate (Nephew + roommate). When I thought that in my head, I totally thought nephew was spelled NEWPHEW. So it would work. Yeah its not, but I'm keeping it anyway. He didn't like me at first but now we're good friends and thanks to him and I still go to sleep and arise at a decent hour instead of sleeping until some crazy time in the day.

In other news Thursday we went on a little adventure. Carolyn wanted a little table for her living room like she had when she was asian, so we went to little Korea and found exactly what she was looking for. Bryan decided he wanted to just get it then instead of coming back. But the trunk of her car was a couple inches too short. Soo, it came in the back seat with me and the little man.

It took up where your feet would go, So I was sitting Indian style while trying to keep Benjamin happy who happened to be throwing up at the time. It was definitely an experience. Later it was Carolyn's turn.. The worst part about it was not the fact that you couldn't put your feet down, but the fact that it was 200 degrees outside and the darn box blocked the air conditioner and caused you to melt to death. I felt bad for her.

Last but not least... Boot Camp. I sort of lost myself this summer and gained a few lbs... so I put it to my mind before I got here that while I wasn't working, It would be boot camp and I would get myself back into gear. Luckily Carolyn has been game for that. Let me just say this.. it sucks. Every single day when Benjamin goes down for his nap we will do a little video of something. We just finished the Crunch-Fat Burning Dance Routine. It sucked. After a zippy little 45 minutes, we are sweating like a couple of pigs. It sucks. I hate it. Then a couple of time this week we have also both gone to the treadmill and done a bit on there after our video. But I'll be honest, yesterday after doing yoga or pilates or whatever it was where you support yourself with your arms, and then you do lunches for who knows how long, I had a hard time running so I only

lasted for a couple of minutes. But I'm doing better.. eventually maybe I won't hate this as much. Oh but one good thing, Bryan wasn't here the other night cause he was at church, and we made these AWESOME chicken taco salads. They were outstanding.

Blue Bell: The Most Heavenly Ice Cream On The Planet. We had to run to the grocery store last night for milk and I saw this and I almost died. Now I wouldn't let myself get any cause of boot camp, but just knowing that it was there brought me some sort of weird joy. For any of you who haven't visited the great state of Texas and don't know about Blue Bell, I'm sorry that you are not yet living. However, for the rest of you, you know what I"m talking about. When I saw it.. it was like on a cartoon or something when the whole things lights up and music plays. It was awesome. One day Blue Bell... One day....

Texas our Texas! so wonderful so great!

Well the road trip to Texas has come and gone. I'll say this, 25 hours in the car or whatever it was is enough to put anyone in a mental institution. However, the drive actually went so stinking well. I can't believe how fast it went. I Honestly believe I could have made that trip alone, but I'm grateful that dad was with me so that I didn't have to.

We started out a little before 6:00 on Friday Morning. I think we pulled out at 5:45, but we had to stop for gas. And we just hit the road running. We made it all the way to Shiprock, NM before we stopped for the first time. It was probably between 5 and 6 hours and 350 miles. Thats pretty awesome. We stopped for a bit.. got some gas and some lunch.. and thats when it was my turn. We didn't stop again for another 400 miles. And I really can't believe it, but I swear it flew by for me. I just had my iPod a going and was totally in the zone. We stopped in Tucumcari, NM and then dad took us another 2 hours or so to Amarillo, where we stayed for the night. I'm definitely glad we made that stop instead of attempting to go straight through. It wouldn't have been pretty.

Saturday was pretty much the same song-second verse. Out before 6:00, only stopped once. We got to Carolyn's around noon, Dropped off some stuff and then the final two hours to Gilmer. It was so nice to finally be here and to have that trip behind me. I had been dreading it for weeks. Sunday night after church, I came back to McKinney and have sort of settled in.

Carolyn and Bryan are basically awesome to put me up while I'm job hunting. But I'm gonna do my best to make sure I'm not in their hair for long. I had my first job interview today with this real estate company. I don't think it went well. The guy was a total weirdo. He kept asking me questions about what kind of databases I have used... I don't even know what to say to that. He quizzed me to make sure I know all the shortcut keys of how to cut and paste... and when I forgot that cut was "Control-X" I think that might have been the end of the interview right there. He was completely awkward, kind of a creeper and looked a little like an alien. Lets just say if I don't get that job I won't be heartbroken!!! So the hunt it still on, hopefully something shows up soon.. I'm a little nervous about this, but it was only day one and I'm still pretty optimistic about the whole thing!!! I'm giving myself this one week to be kind of lazy and not attend singles ward stuff and then on Sunday, the real fun begins with my first singles ward in Texas... and all that comes with that. I don't really have a desire to, but I know I need to make myself be social and get out there, so I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to tell there!!! I'm excited!!!

Moving

So all of last week I either packed up or threw away everything that I owned. I am honestly AMAZED at how much stuff I fit into my little Honda. Talk about a supercar!!! But it was kind of sad when we pulled out on Friday just how lonely my little room looked.

As an anonymous androgynous misogynist; A fool for your cool

Only in Provo....

Tuesday night Renae came over to see me and Megan one last time before we left. Right as we all sat down to chit chat the door knocks and we just kind of yell come in and this boy with a guitar walks right in. He says that he goes around playing music for people and asks if we want to hear a song. Right as I'm gearing up to be like "we're in the middle of something and don't have time," Megan and Renae had already been like "sure, come in!!" So Derk Olthof pulled up a kitchen chair and started singing us some tunes.

Now I'll say this, Derk can sing. He's got a nice voice. But its hard to concentrate on that when all you can focus on is how strange and awkward this boy is. He likes to sit with his legs crossed all tight like a girl. He closes his eyes all squinty when he sings. Hes maybe one of the more socially awkward people I've had a privelage of meeting recently and when he finishes his song, he kind of purses his lips and looks at you and says "Would you like to hear another one?!?" What a weirdo.The best part of this experience was when he couldn't find his pick... he says, "uh oh, this could get awkward." Immediately Renae goes, "well it already is." I died. It was so funny to me. Just another day in Provo... I'm willing to bet these kind of things won't happen to me once I'm in Texas... Shoot!!!

Just let me lay here in the sun.. Until my dream is done....

So most nights, I do not dream... and if I do I can NEVER remember what they are about. Ever.

But last night/this morning, I was having this dream that I was in Jail. Only it was house-arrest jail. So it was like this house that had a pool I could use, but you had to sleep in a cell. Then once a week you got to go to dinner at either Bodacious BBQ or Outback but you had to wear hand cuffs while you went. And we got in this argument about whether the jail would pay for our dinner or we had to pay for our own dinners. And Twitch and Jose from So You Think You Can Dance were in the house prison too. And I was in prison because I got in a car wreck... and because it was my fault.. I got 4 years in the big house. But luckily in my dream, I was only 20 and thats when I graduated college, so I figured... If i served 2 years of my sentence (which is more than Lindsay Lohan did) and then got released for good behavior.. I would only be 22... which is when most people graduate college, and I wouldn't be behind at all. So anyway, as I'm in my dream analyzing all of this, I just went right ahead and turned off my alarm in real life and kept sleeping until......

I got a text from Megan at 8:24 that says "are you awake?" Awesome. We left for work at like 8:40 or something. And i think this is the first time I've come here without a single particle of make up done and my hair is like nasty crimped and wavy from sleeping on it. At least I'm leaving them with the best image of me possible!!!

Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again

So on Wednesday we had a 40% chance of rain. In my head, that is the weather man's way of saying, "If you happen to remember your umbrella... GREAT... If not, you'll totally be fine.. there is a 60% chance that you're gonna make it inside dry.... NOT!!!!!" Here's how our afternoon went...

4:30: Left the Office... No Rain

4:40: Went into Bank... Light Sprinkles

4:50: Exited Bank... Sprinkles

5:10: Leave apartment for CostCo... Sprinkles (If you hurried to the car, you'd totally be fine)
5:20: Arrive at CostCo... TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR!!!!!

Megan and I shared an umbrella walking into CostCo. In the length of time it took us to walk into the store, my ENTIRE ride side was completely soaked. I'm not talking about a few drops on my shirt.. I'm talking about if this had been spring break and we were in Miami, we could have had a wet t-shirt contest... because we were completely soaked. Megan's backside got the worst of it for her, it was also completely wet. The best part of it though, was that I was having a hard time walk-running because the sandals I wore to work that day were slipping off and my toes were getting messed up. And Meg and I were laughing so hard that I was having a hard time walking and I think I was laughing my eyes shut which is dangerous when its raining cats and dogs in the parking lot. But it was by far the funniest thing that has happened to me in a while and made for a fun unexpected adventure on a Wednesday evening.

But just so we're clear... I am LOVING the thunderstorms that have been here the past day or two. It was still dark and thundery when I left for work this morning and I could not have been any happier about it. I wish it would stay like this for the rest of my time here. Too bad I can see the sun starting to shine....,.

Its the FINAL COUNTDOWN

My last day of work is 10 days away!!!!! By then I will have....

Packed up everything I own into my car

Welcomed my dad into Provo to get ready for the drive

Hopefully taught everything I know about real estate to Megan

Bid Farewell to the 4M's from Texas (for now... we'll never be separated for real)

Somehow this list doesn't make it sound as intimidating as it really is to me. The next 10 days are going to be CRAZY!!!!!! I hope I can get through them alive. Hopefully I make it to Texas in one piece.

Swaying Away the Night to Tim McGraw

Friday Night was our Tim McGraw/Lady Antebellum Concert!!!!!!!!!! It's funny.. I kept forgetting that this was happening. Even that day I would randomly remember that we were going to the concert and get all excited all over again. We left Friday right after work and headed up there. Me, Megan and Natalie.. and then we picked up Mary who was already in Salt Lake. Most of the drive was not that bad and we didn't really hit any traffic on the way to Salt Lake. Until...

We got off 215 to head down some road I don't know that lead to the middle of nowhere where the concert was.. and there was HORRIBLE traffic. It was all headed to the concert and it took us 2 and a half hours to go not very far at all. We thought that Lady A was starting at 8 and we didn't get there until after 7:30. As we were talking toward the concert, we could hear that they had already started and we were all just so sad. Then, the line to get our tickets out of will call was ridiculously long.. and we heard them finish the show while we were waiting in line. It really was so upsetting.

Luckily, we got into the concert while they were getting the stage ready for Tim so we didn't miss any of his show. He really was so good. I was actually surprised I knew as many songs as I did.. I didn't think I was an avid Tim McGraw listener... but I knew more than I thought I did. There were a couple that I had never heard before, but for the most part, I felt like I knew a lot of them. It was a ton of fun and I'm SOOOO glad that I got to go with the girls before I head to Texas.

Workin Buddies

So Megan has started at Prudential!!! Her first day was Wednesday and personally, it really has been SO nice to have her there. It will make my last two weeks left so much more fun. Anyways, shes really just doing SO great and I'm such a proud little auntie.

You know a woman wants her cowboy like he wants his rodeo

Saturday was the Fiesta Days Rodeo in Spanish Fork. I was SO MUCH FUN. Megan and I went to a rodeo earlier this Spring, but this one was funner to me. It reminded me more of the little Texas rodeos we went to when I was a kid. Plus we had some rocking awesome second row seats. And my southern accent visited for a moment or two at times and I loved that and it makes me hope that it will come back more often when I get to Texas. I loved the rodeo with the 4M's from Texas. We represented the Lone Star State Well!!

So Michelle doesn't like Rodeos cause she says its mean to the animals. So right as I'm telling her that the cows are just having fun and playing with their cowboy friends... one little calf gets swung back a little hard during the steer wrestling. So they brought out the "Animal Ambulance" and these cowboys carried the calf into the truck and took the little calf away to get healed. Dear calf: Please get better and come play again. You served the Rodeo-Goers well.

Gettin a little wet

First off... a little business..... I would like to give a HUGE thank you to the Pioneers for doing the hard work and letting us celebrate and take the day off work Friday. Many Thanks!!!

Second.. On Friday.. Me, Megan, Mary and Michelle attended the

Worlds Largest Water Balloon Fight

at BYU. They gave us free t-shirts, free water balloons and a TON of fun.

I'm not gonna lie... It did kind of hurt when they pegged you in the head.. I took one to the temple right at the beginning and I swear I blacked out for a couple of seconds. It was like I had gotten punched across the face. That being said.. It was TOTALLY worth it. So much fun and within a few seconds, we were totally soaked. Check out this little news clip... its pretty sweet what it all looked like when all the balloons were going.

ksl.com - BYU students break world record with water balloon fight

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly......

So for the past couple of days we have been noticing that there have been a few flies in our apartment. Then when I was home for lunch yesterday, I noticed it had gotten worse. Then, last night it was full-plague-status. It was terrible. You would swat at one fly on the wall, and 5 more would start flying at you. I felt like my computer was going to give me the status it tells me all of the time since the virus things started...

YOU ARE BEING ATTACKED.

Then, it was crazy Megan to the rescue. Give that girl a folded up towel and a target and she becomes this unbelievable Danielle Rousseau-like (Lost anyone) huntress. She was crazy good. Our trash can was filled with flies. Meg said she washed at least 5 down the sink and there had to be at least 15 in the trash can. It was so disgusting.

So I didn't kill nearly as many as Megan, but this was the first one that I got!!! When I saw that I had actually hit him, I yelled "I GOT ONE!!!!!" Who knew fly-killing could make you so proud. Haha

Please meet:

The Fly Killling Ninja Named Megan

Tick Tock

If all goes according to the plan thats brewing in my head, my last day of work here will be

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!!!!!!!!!

Lets hope nothing goes drastically wrong before then!!

Work Stress and Water Parks

So its one week past my crazy decision to move to Texas, and everyday I feel better about it and know that I made the right decision. I have let my peeps at my job know that I'm leaving and have been hitting the job hunt harder than maybe I ever have before. The funny thing is, when I told my boss Annie that I was leaving, she told me that she was taking another job and would be gone in TWO weeks. So it has made my life at work a little crazy and very stressful. Needless to say it wil be a long next month, but at least I'll be working hard up until the very end.

On the good side of life, last night my stake did a service project at SEVEN PEAKS Water Park and then they let us use the park for a couple of hours. Even though its just right there in Provo, I had never been there before. It was pretty darn fun, I have to say. Best ride ever... the white boomerang right... its like a half-pipe that you ride on a tube. I had never done a ride like that before, even though they have them everywhere but it really was so fun.

This isn't me... but it could be... If I were a couple years younger and a little bit more male. The best part about this ride.. I was screaming, but the air was rushing into my mouth and kept cutting off my air. So I sounded like a chain smoker/man/monster. It was amazing. Kind of similar to what happened to my yell when I went skydiving, but not QUITE as awesome.

Mostly, Monday made me REALLY excited to go to Lagoon with Cathy's family on Friday. I'm skipping out of work in the morning to go spend the day with them and I could not be anymore stoked about it. Another Utah Theme Park first for me coming in a few days... Hopefully that one is just as good.