Covered in Crap

Disclaimer: This might be the longest post in the history of humanity.  But 15 years from now I would like to remember every detail of this day

So this morning I headed over to Carolyn's house.  Liz had babysat over there last night and I went this morning to swim and hang out.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day to spend at the pool and it was so much fun.  Jamie decided she loved me once we were in the pool so I was especially excited that she would let me hold her and play with her.  Benjamin was being super fun too.  Just such a great way to start my Saturday.

Two random experiences from the pool:
1. Benjamin and I were playing with a toy truck.  We were pushing it back and forth.  Well of course I pushed way too far and it went right past Benjamin.  Without thinking I go 'oh crap!" Without missing a beat Benjamin goes "oh crap!" WHOOPS!! I'm going to have to watch myself from now on I guess.  haha
2. Carolyn had brought snacks for the kids.  Pretzels, goldfish and raisins.  Benjamin was eating handfuls of raisins like the were candy.  I kept making all these jokes about how his digestive system should be working REAL good!!!

After the pool, we all decided to go to Sam's.  I LOVE a good trip to Sam's on Saturday.  We all ate lunch there and then were all walking around, not in any rush to leave.  We ended up at the lawn furniture and us three girls and the kids sat there for about 30 minutes while Bryan looked at electronics.  Benjamin was eating candy with liz... we were laughing and having a grand old time.

Benjamin started kind of running around.. so I catch him and throw him on my lap.  I turn him upside down to start tickling him.  As soon as I get him upside-down, wattery-diarrhea poop starts GUSHING out of his diaper (remember all the raisins from this morning?!?).  Since he's upside down, its coming out the top of his diaper and and going up his back.  It gets ALL OVER my shirt, my shorts, the display patio furniture I'm sitting on.. not to mention all over Benjamin.  Just poop EVERYWHERE.

I start screaming OH MY GOSH!! OH MY GOSH!! OH MY GOSH!! Carolyn and Liz are laughing so hard that they can't even move.  It is seriously a miracle that none of us peed our pants with how hard we were laughing.  They just kind of sat and looked at me for the longest time before finally i was like "GET ME A WIPEY!!! GET ME A WIPEY!!!"  Carolyn is still kind of paralyzed from laughing and finally i'm like "IF SOMEONE DOESN'T HELP ME, HE'LL HEAR A LOT WORSE THAN CRAP!!!!"  (It's a lot of caps, but I did a lot of screaming in the middle of the store!!!)

Carolyn gets the 3 (count them 1,2,3) wipies out of her diaper bag to clean up me and Benjamin.  There is no way in the world that would have ever been enough.  There is no way I can wear these clothes anywhere, so I throw my wallet at Liz and tell her to go buy me some clothes.  Carolyn tells Bryan to do the same for Benjamin and she and I HAULED it to the bathroom.  Unfortunately, the bathroom is on the opposite side of this huge store from where we are, so I walk my poop-covered self all the way through Sam's to the front of the store.  I'm pretty sure anyone who was walking down-wind from me must have thought I crapped my pants, cause the smell of diarrhea was radiating from my clothes.  Awesome.

 This is all the poop that was on my clothes AFTER I wiped it down the best I could.  Multiply this by 100 and that's how much was on  me at first

We finally make it to the bathroom only to find that the women's restroom is being cleaned and the family bathroom is out of order.  So we just stand there waiting, covered in poop.  I just kind of put my nose to the wall like a kid in time out and prayed that no one saw me.

By the time we finally got in the bathroom and got Benjamin cleaned up, Liz had bought me some clothes for me to change.  She hands me some navy shorts that are too big for me... they didn't have any in my size, then she hands me the worlds largest pink t-shirt.  Seriously... imagine the biggest person you know, double it and they still would've had room to grow in this shirt!!! When I held it up, I'm pretty sure it went from wall to wall of the bathroom stall I was in.

But at this point, it wasn't like I had any choice, so I put on my homeless outfit (which cost me 30 dollars by the way) and sported that bad boy for the rest of the day.

 Don't ever let Liz shop for you.....

Funniest experience of my life.  Benjamin was actually pretty traumatized... he made me hold and cuddle him for a while after that.  But I don't think anything funnier has ever happened in the entire world.

FALL INTO THE BOOK OF MORMON

Since I apparently am just in a reading kind of mood, I have decided to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I went to church with my parents this past weekend and I guess their stake president urged them to do it. I don't always participate in these kinds of challenges, but I am hoping this will rejuvenate someone who is not always the most dedicated scripture studier.

I did the math and I have to read 4.5 pages per day to finish by the end of the year. I read 7 pages tonight... I think things are going pretty well so far!!!

HUNGER GAMES

So I used to be really good at reading. I read a lot of books while I lived in Utah and at first when I moved back here. In fact when I first moved to Texas before I was working, I was reading a book in a day sometimes.

Since I have been working, it has been a little harder. I never have the time and its one of those things that has gotten left by the wayside. But I'm hoping to be better!!

The first book on my list.. The Hunger Games. I feel like for a couple years now my friends have all been talking about this book. When I was home for the past weekend, Kelsie was telling me that I just HAD to read it.

So here goes page one. At the risk of sounding like a Relief Society Book club, I'm really excited to read it and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Strange Strange Day

Well... This week was supposed to be kind of slow and easy since month end/quarter end is over at my work.

Well today, the universe decided that was a bad plan.

Around 10:00 our internet for our entire building stopped working. It would work for about 5 minutes and then go down for about 20-30. We were dying. The worse part is that we have these computers, separate from our computers, that has our customer's program on it and we have to use those for everything we do. Since those were down, and they aren't portable, we were completely stuck.

Finally, around 3, they decided we would all take our laptops and the ONE laptop that had our customer's program and all go to my apartment since it is so close to my work. Me, Liz, my manager Jon and my co-worker Johnny all carpooled over to my house and set up our office in my kitchen and living room. It was terrible. It took forever to get anything done and it was definately a weird experience, but by about 8:00 tonight I had about caught up with everything we needed to get done tonight.. Along with some of my awesome co-workers who were working super later from a different location.

Anywho.. It was a very strange day and one of the most bizarre work experiences I have ever had, but hopefully we're back to the lazy easy July days we were all promised in June tomorrow.

Our New Pad

So I suck at blogging... it is what it is.....

When we moved to the Colony, I always meant to take pictures of our apartment and I never remembered... swore I wouldn't do that again. So this time around I did much better.

We moved into our new apartment a couple of weeks ago (a HUGE thank you to the Richardsons for helping us move in) and we are loving it here. It's way more home-y than our last apartment, PLUS, it is only about 10 minutes each way to work instead of an hour. It really is just so great. So here it is.....

Front Door/Front Wall/WOOD BURNING fireplace.

I still don't know where to hang a bunch of stuff, so its just all on the mantle.

Kitchen: We had WAY less cupboard space in our last apartment, so most of these cupboards are empty cause we have nothing to put in them.. Guess i gotta do some shopping.

Living room from the Kitchen Table: That back wall with the boxes... its about 14 feet high or something.. it goes way up there, but you can't really tell in the picture...

Liz's Room... her's is a little bigger than mine this time.. i had the bigger room in our last apartment

My bathroom... both are exactly the same...

My bedroom... I'm pretty good at decorating the main rooms, but my room needs some work!!! Gotta buy a bed and some stuff for them walls.

My awesome closet.. There are shelves and built-ins all over the place. It actually turns the corner and there are more shelves past the corner!!!!

We really do like it..

Aunt Date

So a couple months ago when Carolyn wasn't feeling that great... One Saturday, me and Liz stole benjamin and went on an Aunt Date. It got cut short cause Carolyn wanted to join, but it was fun!! We went on a walk with the kid to the Sonic down the street and let him have his own Ice Cream and Spoon.... thats why he loves us!!!

Just a fun random day!!!

So my boss wants me to go to Pennsylvania next week for some training with our client.

It all seemed well and good until they realized I'm not old enough to rent a car.. I don't think they usually have that issue. HAHAHA. Obviously we are still working out the kinks of this random, non-planned trip.

I have no clue when I'm going, they just spur of the moment decided I should go.

I'm just a little nervous cause all of the people I'm afraid of will be there and I'll have to meet them face to face and convince them I'm not an idiot and can actually do my job.... It'll be interesting if I end of going.............

Working 9 to 5...........

Or 8-6, whatever......

SO ITS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!!

Ryder finally got their act together and gave me a full-time-big-girl-permanent position!!!

For those of you who don't know, I started working at Ryder as a temp worker.. but was told that they would eventually hire me full time. But that never happened.

Long story short.. I kept getting told how great I was and that they loved me and they wanted to hire me, but that they never could for one reason or another.

Finally, a lady decided to retire, and they offered me her position.

So as of March 1, I officially became a full-time employee of Ryder Logistics. My technical name is a Shipment Management Coordinator. Basically, I schedule trucks, make sure crap delivers, and say whatever I need to say to keep our customer happy. Its swell.

I work for the Reckitt Benckiser account at Ryder. Reckitt makes French's Mustard, Lysol products, Airwick, Mucinex, and a bunch of other random products. It is one of the harder accounts we have at Ryder, so I don't have the easiest days at work

Every day is stressful, every day there is a crisis and everyday, I work through my breaks and lunches and work late. If I'm being honest, I think my job might very well kill me, but I'm grateful for the opportunity, cause this is far and away the best/most grown up job I've ever had.

Just wanted y'all all to know what I was up to.

Ps.... Liz started at Ryder too, through the same agency I came from!! It's kind of fun cause we car-pool together and stuff. But I feel bad for her cause she always has to stay late and wait for me while I'm trying to finish up my work. Oh well, I'm over it.. We are currently looking for an apartment closer to work since our lease is up in May, so exciting stuff to come!!!

Toby Keith and Rodeos

On Thusday of last week, I got an e-mail from my ward saying that this lady who works for the cowboys needed some volunteers to work at a Toby Keith concert/PBR rodeo at Cowboy Stadium and as a thank you, they would get you into the event after we were done volunteering. I was ALL about it. I didn't know if Liz would be able to go, but I figured I would sign up anyway and find someone to go with me. I emailed saying I wanted in, and some chick named Brittany emailed me back saying me, plus one, were on the list. Long story short, Liz was able to get off early on Saturday and drive up to go with me!! It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

We had to get to the stadium at 3:30, which we did. We walked up to the gate where we were supposed to meet Brittany, and she was no where to be found and the nice security people there had no intentions of letting us in. Finally, I was able to get homegirl on the phone and she came and met up with us. We then stood outside and waited for over an hour for the rest of the volunteers to show up. Not to mention it was about 100 mile per hour winds the whole time. Awesome. Finally when everyone got there, Brittany showed us to our posts where we would be working.

All we really had to do was hand out the programs to all of the people after they came through the gates. We got dropped off at our spot around 4:15 and the doors weren't opening until 5:30, so we just continued to stand there and entertain ourselves. Finally, the doors opened and we were able to do our little service project.

Brittany told us that once the event was about to start and people were dying down, we could leave and the staff would take over. So right at 7 when Toby Keith was starting, Liz tells the lady that we are gonna leave and she proceeds to tell us that we have to stay until 7:30. Seriously?? Luckily she didn't make us stay QUITE that long and then we headed inside. We missed the first couple of songs, but I did see more of Toby Keith for free than I did when i PAID to see Lady Antebellum. So I was happy!!

The concert was so good!! Me and Liz were in a section of people who I'm pretty sure did not know a single Toby Keith song, so of course we were singing at the top of our lungs to every song.. and we were the only ones!! But we didn't give a flying flip and it was great. He finished at 8 and then it was time for the RODEO!!!

I have been to a few rodeos over the years and totally thought I knew what they were about, but this one COMPLETELY blew those rodeos out of the water!!! It was freaking amazing. The first thing that happened was fireworks went off and PBR went up in flames in the arena. It really was so freaking awesome.

There was really only bull riding at this one cause it was PBR and I must say, the professionals really know what they are doing!!! It was so fun, and me and Liz were totally into it and had the absolute best time. Having known what that night was gonna be, I would gladly have paid a pretty penny for those tickets, but the fact that we got in for free was the icing on the cake. It was obvious to me on Saturday that I really am a country girl at heart. Now if I could just find a cowboy.......

Did that really just happen???

So we had the strangest morning EVER today.

We have been expecting a winter storm to hit Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, it decided to hit Tuesday morning.About 04:00 I woke up from the wind and sleet hitting the window. I couldn't go back to sleep and just layed there listening to the storm. A little before 5, I saw that Liz was awake on Facebook and went and got her.

She is needing to get to Gilmer to start working for Ray. She wanted to go last night, but it was already dark and I kept telling her that it would be fine and she'd be able to get out of town before the storm hit.

I WAS WRONG. She decided to try and leave as fast as possible and get out of the storm, cause the weather is better the further you go East. She and I got her car packed up around 05:30.

It was miserable.... the wind was super strong, the sleet/ice just pounded you in the face. But she wanted to try to get out.. so she took off and I just hoped she would be safe. Meanwhile, I texted my manager, who told me to stay home and not risk the bad roads. I was SUPER excited about that.

Less than 10 minutes later, she called me saying that she was coming back home. All of the roads were iced over and she knew she couldn't make the drive. BIG PROBLEM!!!! The entrance gate to our apartment had frozen shut.

Luck would have it, that it opened to let her out, but in the few minutes it took her to come back, the gate was completely stuck. She called me asking for help and my instinct said to just run over there. I was smart enough to put on my coat... but I didn't even grab my keys, I just started running as fast as I could to the front of the complex to get her in.

I made it to the front and of the three gates, NONE would open. I kept running around hoping I would find a way to get her in and couldn't find a way. I had her give me her keys to see if I could get her in through the clubhouse. I was able to get in to the workout room, but I couldn't get to the front door to let her in. I just kept running around while the ice was hitting me in the face. While I was running from side to side... Liz was working with other people trapped at the gate trying to get them open, I guess she pulled the gate open far enough that a person could walk through, but set off the alarm in the process.

Finally, I thought maybe if I took my car to all of the other gates, I would be able to get them to open. I booked it back to my apartment, got my keys and scraped off about an inch of my windshield so that I could drive. I went all around the complex doing everything I could to get a gate to open and there was no luck. Finally Liz decided she would just squeeze through the opening in the gate and leave her car out my the front. She grabbed her bags and computer that she had backed and started walking toward me. I grabbed her and brought her back. All the while, the terrible ice storm continued as we were running around.

We got back to the apartment about 06:15 completely out of breath. I just kept saying, "I can't believe the past hour just happened."

Since then, we had to go pay our rent. The ice had sort of slowed down, but the wind is about 40 miles an hour. That makes all that lovely ice that fell hit you RIGHT in the face. It hurts like fire. The walk from the clubhouse to our apartment to pay our rent just about killed me.

Liz is still trying to figure out how to get to Gilmer today. A bunch of the highways are completely shut down. Hopefully she can get there soon as she is supposed to start working tomorrow. As for me, I will NOT be leaving this comfy little apartment until I make an attempt at work tomorrow..... We'll see how that goes.

White White Everywhere

Sunday, Texas got its first snow of the winter!!!!

Usually the snow doesn't really do it for me, but it was actually kind of fun just cause it never happens here. It was less fun this Monday morning when the traffic was HORRENDOUS!!!!!

The only picture in the snow.. me and cute Liz on our way out the door to church.

Mama I'm A Big Girl Now... Or Getting Closer!!!!

Ever since I moved to Texas, I have slept on an air mattress. I never have bought a bed because I've always lived in furnished apartments. It hasn't been too bad actually, but ever since Christmas... It has REALLY bugged me and all I have wanted was a real big girl bed.

When I first moved here, I didn't really have the funds set up to just up and buy one.. Until........ after making some more immediate neccesary purchases, I had saved up specifically for my bed. This past Saturday, me, Carolyn, Bryan, Benjamin and Liz all spent Saturday going to a bunch of different stores and found me a new bed!!!

It was delivered on Monday and was such a nice treat when I got home from a strangely long day.

I have to say, I scored a screaming deal cause it was put on clearance the day I got there, but it really is SOOO comfy (especially compared to what I was sleeping on) and I'm so glad its here.

Now I know it looks bare but: All my pillows and blankets got left at moms at Christmas, so these are on loan from my sisters... And my headboard is in storage at my folks.. and I need to get bed rails.. and I've picked out a new comforter set.... so there are a few more improvements that I need to make to this, but it just the greatest purchase I've made since my couches!!!

FECES pizza

So around the corner from our house there is a Cici's Pizza. I have wanted to eat there since the day we got our apartment in the Colony, because I hadn't gone since I was a kid, and I've really been wanting to revisit it. FINALLY this past weekend we went!! It definitely did not live up to the hype of my memory, but I will say that it was not nearly as terrible as Liz thought it was.

Obviously some of us didn't have good attitudes about trying new things.

I have this reputation for spilling on myself.. and somehow ended up wit marinara sauce on my arm. I honestly have no clue how it happened. Luckily, Liz was a good little momma bird to me and cleaned me right up.

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!!