Week in review

This week has been crazy! I've been busy with work, trying to get evaluations done on my whole team and Scott has been busy with school and getting ready for finals. The VP of the company that I work for came into Price on Wednesday and we had a 2 hour meeting with him about how we can improve our branch. That was pretty overwhelming, but good. I'm lucky to have such great bosses. We even spent 30 minutes of our meeting time watching the lastest episode of The Office just because. It was freakin awesome! I also had to have a 1 on 1 with him, talk about under pressure. I'm glad it's over with and all in all it went really well.

We also got a new niece in our family, BriLynn. She is definitely a part of her family, she looks just like the other kids. It's been over 6 years since either side of our family has had a baby girl so we are so excited to meet her and have her as part of the family!

We got to spend Thanksgiving here in Price. Scott's professor/friend and his wife invited us to have dinner with them. It was great to spend some time with them, they are 2 of the best people you could ever meet. They have taken us under their wing. I chose to work the evening of Thanksgiving and the day after. They are both paid holidays so if I work them I make 2 and 1/2 times what I usually do. It's something that we couldn't pass up, so we stayed in town.

I am now in day 5 of an 11 day working streak. I've had to trade some shifts around so that we can go home this weekend for Jonah's blessing. We are so excited to see how much he has grown. We are hoping to go to Temple Square while we are in town to see the lights.

Among other news, I found out something disturbing today. Apparently Price has scorpions. Luckily we haven't seen any yet but it makes me nervous to think that they are around. Apparently at the local Wal-mart, a worker saw 2 just running down an isle in the store. NOT comforting. I'll stick with my potato bug problem anyday!

100 things I am thankful for

In honor of this time of season, I thought it would be appropriate to share the things that I am thankful for. I know that 100 is a lot, but I think it's good to think about the small things along with the big ones that make life so sweet. (This does not go in order of what I am most thankful for, it's just as it pops into my head.)

1. My loving husband, who constantly shows me unconditional love. (Poor guy had never seen me after a football game when BYU has lost to Utah, and he STILL loves me.)
2. My parents- The most supportive and loving people I know.
3. My dog. Oh how I love my Cosmo.
4. My siblings- I seriously have the funnest siblings in the world.
5. My nieces and nephews- They are the ones that make life interesting.
6. All other family members...you know who you are.
7. Friends- That's a broad group, but I have some amazing friends!
8. The Atonement- without which I would be doomed.
9. My apartment- Though small and old fashioned, it is a roof over my head.
10. A furnace- This time of year, that's important!
11. The true gospel of Jesus Christ- The knowledge of all I need to know to get through this life with peace.
12. A loving, forgiving Heavenly Father.
13. My cute primary class!
14. A great ward.
15. Gas being under $2.00 here in Price.
    
16. Movies.
17. Books.
18. Having a job that supports us.
19. The opportunity I had to get an education.
20. Food!
21. A healthy body, for the most part.
22. Temple blessings.
23. The priesthood.
24. Many, many, many shoes.
25. Clothing
26. A marriage that will last forever.
27. My scentsy candle.
28. Memories of trips with my family.
29. Disneyland
30. The ocean.
31. The mountains.
32. Trees
33. Paved roads
34. A car that is currently running smoothly.
35. Prayer
36. The sacrament.
37. The chance to travel.
38. My computer.
39. The internet.
40. Photos.
41. Indoor plumbing.
42. Modern medicine.
43. Water heater.
44. Washer and dryer.
45. Having my church around the corner.
46. My wedding ring.
47. 2 functioning eyes.
48. 2 functioning ears.
49. A nose that can smell.
50. A tongue that can taste.
51. The sense of touch.
52. Blankets.
53. My pillow.
54. An alarm clock.
55. A cell phone.
56. A Walmart in this small town.
57. Music.
58. An amazing ancestry.
59. Joseph Smith.
60. President Monson.
61. All kitchen appliances.
62. A Sunday dinner with my family, with games after.
63. Being able to live in the USA.
64. Having some food storage.
65. My braided money tree a.k.a Gene.
66. Cruise ships.
67. Paper.
68. A DVD player (and no we do not have DVR or TIVO, we are living the poor college student life still, it rocks!)
69. A great boss.
70. Awesome co-workers.
71. Toilet paper.
72. My tooth brush.
73. Sunshine.
74. Moonshine.
75. Rain.
76. My rice cooker.
77. My $15, practically new microwave that I got on KSL.com, that can pop the perfect popcorn.
78. Gum.
79. Water.
80. Loving people that invite us to Thanksgiving dinner when we have no other place to go.
81. Holiday pay at work.
82. The Office (the TV show).
83. Living in a democracy (hopefully that doesn't end soon).
84. Babies- Gotta love their cute hands and feet and squeaky noises.
85. A blow drier.
86. Hair straightener.
87. Remote controls.
88. Comfy soft slippers.
89. Hot chocolate maker.
90. Rainbows.
91. Su Casa.
92. Snow, when I'm inside and don't have to go anywhere.
93. A kitchen table, which we didn't technically have our first 6 months of marriage.
94. Guitar Hero...I rock!
95. The Book of Mormon.
96. Temples...and having 14, soon to be 16 within a 6 hour drive of my house.
97. The holiday season.
98. All 4 limbs.
99. BYU football!!!
    
100. Home.

If you got to the end, that's pretty amazing, because I probably would have skimmed it. It's an amazing time of year, don't forget how blessed you are to have so much!

This post is for you

I know that University of Utah fans were buying shirts that were contradictory to this year's BYU football theme. The theme and the BYU t-shirt of the year reads "The QUEST". Utah fans made shirts that said "The QUEST is over!" Little do they know that they are 100% wrong. They obviously don't know the meaning of the quote. The quest is not to be undefeated, or to go to a BCS bowl, or to win the MWC championship...OR to beat the Utes. The Quest, as defined by an incredible man name Bronco Mendenhall, is making boys into honorable men. Teaching a team of football players the power of honor, tradition, spirit, service, character and morals.
4 years ago there was a decision to be made by a man named Kyle Whittingham. Both Utes and Cougars held their breath as they awaited his decision on whether he would take the head coach position at Utah or BYU. I think that both sides prayed that they would get this man as their coach. He chose Utah, and BYU has benefited ever since. We in turn got a man that was behind the scenes of BYU football, a defensive coordinator. What did he know of being a head coach? More than we all expected. He has made honorable men out of his players that serve the community, serve the Lord and live worthy lives. He does not put up with arrogance, misbehavior, or anything that would tarnish the name of those that left such a great legacy at the university. We win. As BYU fans, we have won. I would rather have him as a coach than have an undefeated season. He is a man of honor and is just good.
So thank you Kyle Whittingham, for choosing the right team, because we as Cougar fans and the BYU football program have all benefitted from it. Thank you for giving us that gift.

That game up north

This is the week. The week full of excitement, rivalry, smack talk and most of all...anxiety. It is rivalry week. If you don't know what rivalry I'm talking about then you don't know me very well. I've very nervous and my pride is on the line. This week I will be cutting ties with some friends for a week (and maybe more if my team loses). It is better to not be friends for this week than to hear smart alec remarks and lose friends. (Or say the smart alec comments and offend friends). Through the years it has gotten into an ugly rivalry rather than a fun one where personal attacks are made about character and beliefs rather than teams ability. Can't we all just get along and get back to the smack talk of solely teams? I think it's good that I'm here in Price where the rivalry isn't as heated. Maybe I would handle a loss a lot better down here.  And while we are on the subject, my personal opinion is that neither team is that good this year. We just play really crappy teams! Both teams win over teams that are bad and I honestly feel that we are both heavily overrated. I think that if either of us make it to a bowl game, either team will be slaughtered, but we shall see...May the better team win!

The infestation of the potato bug

We have been lucky that we haven't had to worry too much about bugs here. Our windows are doubled up so they can't get in very easily. I think in the 6 months we've been here, we've seen a total of 8 spiders (all big ones) in our house, but that's not too bad. We've seen a few crickets (that are big, incredibly ugly, and appear in the weirdest places) but they don't scare me like spiders. And now we are finding potato bugs all over. Baby ones. They don't scare me, but I just have to shake out everything that I put on the floor because they are everywhere! I even found one in an article of clothing that I was wearing and I don't know how it got there. I can't find the source but hopefully I do soon, I'm tired of wearing slippers everywhere. But like I said, it could be WAY worse.

And this is his story...

About 3 and 1/2 years ago I was in a place in my life where I had just finished at SLCC and had decided to take the year off and just work. I was tired of school and I just wanted to play for a while. I was in a great single's ward, I was attending tons of activities and having so much fun. That summer of 2005, my sister told me that she was finally breaking down and buying a puppy. She had gone and picked out this puppy but he wasn't old enough to come home yet. They went and visited him every week. One week she decided to invite me to come and see this adorable Shih-tzu puppy. We went to the home in Holladay, and there were 6 puppies, 2 girls and 4 boys. The 2 girls had already been picked and one of the males was the one that Michelle had chosen. That left 3 boy puppies, a black one, a brown one and a white one. They were the cutest things in the world. They could wag their tales and were starting to show their personalities. I held each one, and played with each. I dreamt about getting one. As I looked over the 3, I knew there was something about the white one that was different. He wasn't the cutest of the batch but he reminded me of my dog Bandit that I had growing up. I instantly fell in love with "Fred" and when leaving after meeting him I whispered in his ear that I promised to come back and get him. I went home and discussed the matter with my parents. My dad was instantly opposed to the matter. They already had one dog, Lady, that was my brother's that he wasn't able to take with him when he got married. My mom didn't say much about the matter, so I let it drop. When Michelle brought Murphy home, I went with my mom up to their house to see him. My mom fell instantly in love and I asked her if I could see if Fred was still available. The breeders had put an add in the paper the week before and had told me that the dogs were usually sold within a few days. So I called my dad at work, and he didn't answer so I didn't get the chance to beg him again. So my mom gave me the final go-ahead to get the dog, saying that all the other kids had gotten a pet. I called the breeder and all 3 puppies were still there, so I told her that I would be there later that night to pick him up. I had a canning assignment with the ward so I went to that for 4 hours, anticipating the time that I got to go over and pick him up. When I got to the house, he was in a big tupperware storage container, all clean and groomed. I looked inside and he got so excited. I'll never forget the way that he acted when I saw him. He tried to jump up and wagged his tail furiously. From that point on, I knew he would be an important part of my life. I named him Cosmo. I took him home, he had hiccups the whole way, and when I got there, my mom fell instantly in love. My dad tried to dislike him for as long as he could, but I think he loved him from the beginning. It's hard to not like a ball of fluff that is clumsy and wants to play all the time. Lady on the other hand had an adjustment, she hated him from the get-go. But Cosmo was never afraid of her. He was a pound and 1/2 when I got him and Lady was around 60 pounds, and Cosmo would constantly egg her on to play. They were best friends for 3 years.

I knew that when it came to getting married it would be something to think about. I promised my parents that when I get this dog that I would take him when I left. When Scott and I started dating, he knew that we were a packaged deal and when we got engaged, he looked for places that would take a pet. We finally came to the conclusion that we would stay in the apartment that he was in. We weren't allowed to have Cosmo live there but he was able to come and visit once in a while. It wasn't a big deal, he was only 2 miles away at my parents, where he was the spoiled dog. I knew that it was best for the time. He still continued to wait up in the hall for me every night for the first few months I was married. It was very confusing to him. He was used to sleeping in my room.

When we got the inspiration to move to Price, the hardest thing about the whole move was not being able to take the dog. We've been here for 6 months now and that's still the biggest trial of being here. I can talk to my mom on the phone, and my friends. But I can't do that with Cosmo. It's a struggle to go home every 3 weeks or so, and spend time with him and then have to leave. He knows the routine now and one time I was packing and he walked into my old room and let out a cry. It's rough on the both of us and I can't leave my parent's house without crying because it's so hard to leave him. Scott understands this struggle that I'm having and has been so compassionate and kind about it. He never complains about going up to West Jordan and in his spare time he is constantly looking for a new place to live where we can have Cosmo. I'm lucky to have great parents who love him as much as I do and take special care of him. I know it will he hard for them the day that we finally get to take him. Cosmo has morning cuddle time with my mom, after my dad gets up to get ready for work. Cosmo is instantly on their bed, laying on my dad's pillow. And each night when they go to bed, my dad calls Cosmo up. He's been a blessing for all of us, showing us unconditional love and comfort when we need it. I know that some don't understand the concept of loving an animal so much but I'm grateful for that opportunity.

It's a sad day...

on the last home game day. It's always sad to walk away from Lavell Edwards Cougar Stadium and think that it will be another 9 months before another home game. I was lucky to get to go to 3/6 home games. I was hesitant about applying for the position that I have now because my schedule would be Tuesday-Saturday. But luckily one of my co-workers traded me a shift so that I could go to the last home game. Hats off to the Cougs that are now 18-0 in home games. That is phenomenal! Let's hope for 2 more wins in the regular season!

A much needed day off

Yesterday was the last day of a 9-day working streak. My house was a mess, I was exhausted and I haven't been feeling so good. I feel like I've been coming down with something so I've been downing the echinacea and Vitamin-C. I got a good nights sleep and got up this morning and got to work on cleaning this messy house. I worked and worked and worked and about 5 I got showered and dressed and ran some errands for an hour and came home and got back into my pj's. I'm not feeling so good again. I hate being sick and I'm going to Salt Lake tomorrow so I've got to get feeling better. But I have to say that my house is really clean. I love it when it's that way. I can just sit back and relax and then I hear the buzzer of my drier in the background. Seriously I don't mind doing laundry, it's the folding it that gets me down. And then I remember that I still need to prepare my lesson for Primary on Sunday and pack. So, does the list of "to-do" ever end? That is the question.

In other news, I'm disappointed with the election this year but I am genuinely curious as to how the next 4 years will go. The nation is changing rapidly and I'm constantly seeing signs of the time. I wonder how many more signs I will see in the next 4 years. It will be interesting to see...