We're Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone. We're back from sunny Florida and back in good old Utah. We went from 70 degree weather to snow storms in less than twenty four hours. In fact Utah greeted us with a snow storm shortly after we landed last night. But we are happy to be home none the less. We missed it here at home. The Wizard of Oz had one thing right - there's no place like home. I documented the whole week so we could share it with all you guys. Unfortunately - I don't have time to do it today. So I will post pictures and our trip when I have the time.

We love you all.

Going To The Temple And We're...Gonna Get Married!

I feel like a ten ton weight has been lifted off my shoulders today, and Mike has collapsed under the relief he feels. When we got engaged Mike started to work on his temple clearance so we could be sealed together in the temple. It took all seven months of our engagement for things to work out for us.

We were very stressed as today was the last day we would hear if we got our temple clearance or not. I kept asking Mike all day what he had heard, if he had heard anything, what news there was. And every time he kept giving me the same answer. He hadn't heard anything.

Finally around 1:00pm he got the news. His clearance was approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited...until Mike called the temple to make and appointment only to discover that it was closed.

More stress.

Fortunately for us, his bishop Ted was able to get through to head quarters and the temple scheduler who went back to the temple and booked us in. So that means...

WE'RE GOING TO THE TEMPLE AND WE'RE GONNA GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!! Only two more days to go - that is so crazy, in less than 48 hours I'll be Mrs. Candace Funk!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Four Days To Go And Counting

I can't believe I am only four days away from my wedding. These past seven months have just flown by. Now I'm looking at this from only a few days away and it has me all twisted up in knots. I am so excited, nervous, thrilled, terrified, and happy. And all at once. It is a very odd sensation to be feeling so many emotions at once, it is making my head spin. I go down into the laundry room to get some wash done and I see that white garment bag that is holding my wedding dress and it gets the butterflies fluttering around my stomach, a knot in my throat so big it makes it hard to breathe, and a chill up my spin that is not all that unnerving.

Mike keeps asking me if I'm ok - and in all honesty. I am. I was so stressed about the first night and how things are going to be. How different my life will be. How much things are going to change and I realized - I'm ok with it. I want these things to change. I want to be a wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with the man I am so in love with. The man who has done everything for me. The man who makes me feel like I'm so much better than I am because he loves me so uncondtionally.

No I don't know how to be a wife. I don't know if I'll make a good one. But I realized, it's ok! I'm going to make mistakes, I'm not going to be a perfect wife, but I'm going to learn how to make a good one.

Am I terrified of being a mother? Of course I am! But I also know that when I become pregnant and have my first baby that I'm going to do everything I can to be a good mom. And when we have our other kids I know I will do the best I can to be a good mom to them as well. Hey if I can handle three dogs and a husband I'm pretty sure I can handle a few kids. I've always wanted to be a mom, I have even looked back at my kindergarten book that we made throughout the year and when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up it says "I want to be a mom." If I ever need a reminder on why I wanted to have kids I can always go back and look at that book and smile, knowing that in the end they are worth it.

And as crazy as it might seem getting Priestly so early and having both dogs to care for has prepared me to be a mother. The first night Priestly was up all night crying and it kept me awake, but even then I had to go to work the next day, even though Priestly got to stay at home and sleep. And having both dogs begging me for attention has again helped me prepare for motherhood. Because the same thing is going to happen when I have kids. Both will want attention and I will be happy to give it to them both. Even though it might seem trying at times, I know I will do the best I can. I know what it is that I wish I could be. I wish I could be just like my mom, Roxanne. Because there was never a time that I can ever remember growing up, that if I needed her she was there. My mom was always there for parent/teacher conferences, helping us with homework, helping out at school, was there within a few minutes if we got sick and needed to come home. There was even a time a couple of girls from the neighborhood were picking on me and when I came home with a swollen ankle that was already turning blue, even though I didn't mention it until she forced it out of me, she went down and confronted the girls who had done it. I couldn't have asked for a better mom. So to my mom - thank you so much for being such a great mother over the years and I hope that I can be just as great a mom to my kids as you were to us.

Well - need to head downtown so Mike and I can get our marriage license today and then I'm getting my nails done for the wedding this afternoon. I also need to get the frames finished, the thank you bags stuffed and start packing for the honeymoon. I need to finish packing up the rest of my things as well. The work just never seems to end these days. :)

Priestly the puppy

Once upon a time there was a girl named Candace who loved animals. Every opportunity she had growing up she would play with the neighbors dogs and always wanted to take them for walks. She dreamed one day of having a dog of her own.

When she turned ten she began asking for a dog of her own, every Christmas and birthday that was the only thing she really wanted. Every time she asked she always got the same answer. No.

When she turned fifteen Candace finally got her wish. A handy-down dog named Jethro. Jethro was very cute and sweet and loved being with Candace. But he was also naughty and loved to run away when he got the chance and Candace would spend hours trying to coax him back home. But she loved him and did everything she could for him to give him a better life.

Candace and Jethro were together for several years, but he was a very old dog, and shortly before Candace turned 21 Jethro became so sick that Candace knew it was time to let him go. She struggled for days after his death, wondering if she had really done the right thing, and had nightmares for weeks. The backyard seemed empty without Jethro in it - so for her birthday Candace asked if she could rescue a dog from the animal shelter.

Dad took Candace to go look at an English Springer named Curly, who was living in a foster home. Candace liked the dog right away and the next day they adopted him. Candace didn't like the name curly, so after much deliberation she changed his name to Captain Jack Sparrow, but Jack for short.

Jack and Candace were soon inseperable. Wherever Candace went Jack wanted to go too. In fact, he saved her life one night when she went for a walk in late October after the sun had gone down. Candace had wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air by herself, but Jack was so insistant and anxious to go that Candace finally relented. If she didn't she never would have come home.

Jack became a changed dog after that. Barking and growling whenever the doorbell rang, always keeping himself between Candace and whatever came through her bedroom door. Climbing up on the bed and placing his head on her back when she trembled so hard it made the bed shake. He was weary of strangers, especially on walks and would growl as if he meant it whenever anyone approached.

A couple years after that Candace met Michael. They dated briefly and fell in love. They decided to get married. And as they drew closer to their wedding date and with the Christmas season approaching, they asked each other what they wanted. Both wanted a puppy - Candace a Yorkie and Michael a Shih Tzu.

Two weeks later Michael had a baby puppy put on reserve for him and Candace had a Yorkie named Priestly living at the house. Jack loved Priestly even though Priestly was much much smaller than he was. He seemed excited to have a baby brother to play with.

Priestly wasn't sure if he liked it here with us. He cried all of the first night, leaving a very tired Candace and Jack with little to no sleep and Candace with a long work day ahead of her. When she got home from work later that afternoon Priestly's little body was trembling with joy when he saw her and he began to whimper until she picked him up.

The following day Candace didn't go anywhere. She lounged around in her pajamas with Priestly asleep on her lap and Jack asleep by her legs while she watched bad TV. They had a nice quiet day and when Candace's friend Victoria wanted to hold Priestly he had none of it. After a couple of minutes of being held he crawled over her arms and back onto Candace's lap where he promptly fell right back to sleep. If Victoria was hurt she didn't mention it.

Two days later Priestly was coming more to life. He enjoyed playing, getting into mischief, and occupying all of Candace's time that he could. He'd often try to run and hide so he could make a mess on the carpet, but Candace always caught him before he did his business and put him in his box. He enjoyed pestering Jack by nipping at his nose or jumping on Jack's stubby tail. He'd make Candace laugh by following her around at a silly little run when she got up to go anywhere, and would cry sadly when she put him back in his box.

The following day he had a new activity. Chase Candace where ever she goes in the kitchen while trying to pounce on her feet, then bite her toes when she stops moving. Of course Candace moved much faster than he did so he had to run, but being so young he didn't have much control and couldn't stop on a dime like she could, so he often ran into the backs of her legs. And as fast as he made his little legs run it never seemed to be fast enough. Candace was always faster and he was always left behind to catch up.

After chasing after Candace for about half an hour Priestly would get tired and would slow down. Candace would gently scoop him up and set him on her lap while she read or worked on her computer and Priestly would sleep, quite content, dreaming of a fun game of chase Candace around the kitchen.

Candace smiled as she looked down at the little tan and black bundle of fur and the sleeping liver and white dog at her feet and felt content.

"And to think we'll have dog number three in a couple of weeks." She said to herself smiling. "I guess I can handle one more bundle of joy to love."

The End.

We Need A Little Christmas Now

This year will be my first Christmas as a married woman, no longer living at home, and time to make new traditions for our new family. Mike had asked me several times what I wanted for Christmas, and I honestly couldn't tell him. I never know what I want for Christmas, and Mom usually had to ask several times for me to come up with a list to give her to give her some ideas. I know Mike was thinking about getting me the Sam Supernatural blanket to go with the Dean blanket he got me for my birthday, but that was the only thing he could think of.



He wanted a Shih Tzu puppy for Christmas. I was hoping to find him a little black and white one to take Oreo's place. And as I was looking on KSL.com I just started to look up Yorkie puppies just for fun. I always wanted a Yorkie puppy, and since I was looking at puppies anyway I didn't see the harm in looking at pictures. They were so sweet looking, it made me want one even more. So that afternoon when Mike came over, we again discussed Christmas and I mention the Yorkie puppy pictures I was looking at earlier. He asked me if I really wanted one, and when I told him I did he promised me one for Christmas. He asked Arla for help in paying for one, and she agreed, saying that my Christmas present would be from both of them. She said that if a Yorkie puppy was what I really wanted that is what I would get.


So Mike and I looked at ad after ad of Yorkie puppies, calling several different people when the puppies for sell were $500 or less. Unfortunately, most of them were sold already. But we got lucky when we called Brook Peacock in Logan, UT. She said she had all six of her puppies for sale still and they would be ready for new homes the following Friday. We asked if we could come out and pick one that day and she said we were more than welcome to come.

The week and a half wait was stressful, I was afraid that all the little boys would be sold with as cheap as she was selling them. But when I called Friday afternoon after I got off work she assured me she still had three little boys left. So I went down to the condo to meet Mike, but was surprised when his car wasn't there. Confused, I called him and he said he was on his way down to fiber glass to get his windshield fixed. So I went down there and picked him up, but let him drive because he has been down to Logan before and knows the area a lot better than I would. I had butterflies churning up my stomach the whole drive down, and the minutes dragged endlessly. Every time I looked at the clock I could have sworn that they were dragging and every minute felt like it was ten minutes.


When we finally got out of the canyon, I called Brook and let her talk to Mike so she could tell him where to go. It didn't take us long to get to her house from the main road, even though her boyfriend made it really confusing. Thank heavens we had taken my car, where we have onstar and can ask for driving directions. We called her to make sure we had the right house when we were sure we were in front of it, I was almost positive because I recognized the large dog in the front yard from one of the pictures with the puppies she had posted. When she confirmed the address we walked up the driveway and Brook greeted us at the door.



The mommy Yorkie was very friendly, although very big still. Brook said she still had a lot of milk even though she barely nursed the pups anymore. We walked over to the little pen she had the puppies in and she pulled all three boys she had left out. The one I was handed started to lick my chin and perfumed me with his puppy breath. I fell in love with him, so Mike gave her the check, we got the puppy's paperwork and small bag of puppy food, then Mike and I thanked Brook and took the new addition of our family out to the car with us. It was cold outside so he was trembling by the time we got him inside. Mike pulled a towel from the backseat and we wrapped him up in a towel and started up the heat, it only took a minute for the heat to kick on and for the puppy to get warm.

Mike asked me what I wanted to name him and I told him Priestly. I had been debating with names ever since he told me I could get a puppy for Christmas. I had finally decided on Jared, after one of my favorite Supernatural actors because Jared Padalecki is so good at pulling the puppy dog eyes. But when I told Mom what I wanted to name him she didn't think it would really fit a little puppy. And after thinking it over I knew she was right. So I decided to skip Jared and Jensen didn't fit either so I decided on Priestly. Priestly is my favorite character from Ten Inch Hero, played by Jensen Ackles. Priestly is a rebel, dressing in shirts with funny sayings, has a mohawk that is a different color every day, and has several tattoos as well as earrings in his nose, ears, and lip. But despite his tough guy appearance he has a very sweet caring personality. Which would fit a Yorkie perfectly. They are known to be tough, fiesty little dogs who won't be afraid to back down from a dog or person much bigger than they are. They are very good guard dogs and fiercly protective of their owners. But they are also very sweet little dogs, who love being with their owners. When I told Mike this he agreed that Priestly fit the puppy perfectly.









Mike wanted to go see Becky, Matt, and Colton and I agreed since we were already in Logan. So we took Priestly over and introduced him to Matt's family. Colton seemed really excited to see such a small dog, and loved petting him, though he kept trying to pet him in the face too close to Priestly's eyes for his comfort. He kept trying to hide his face from Colton but Colton kept trying anyway. We didn't stay too long - we still had a long drive home and I still had to work in the morning. So we headed home. Priestly whined most of the drive, as if knowing that his life with his family was now over and the start of his life with his new family was beginning. It is a scary thing for such a young puppy.









After dropping Mike off at home Priestly and I headed home. Victoria had asked if I would stop by Walgreens so she could see the new puppy. So we stopped there really quick then we came home because I was tired, and it was very cold and Jack was waiting to come in. Jack was very excited to see what was in the bundle of blankets and gave Priestly a big kiss. We all went up to my room and I made up a box for Priestly. Jack and I settled on the bed and settled for the night - but that was quickly interrupted by Priestly's distressed whimpering. It kept us up most of the night. I finally gave up around 3:00am. I fixed me some breakfast and went upstairs because Priestly was whimpering and yapping in distress. By the time I finished breakfast Priestly was asleep, and he stayed that way until I had to leave for work. Lucky little guy. I had probably got three and half hours of sleep and had a long day of work ahead of me.




I left Jack inside because it was supposed to snow, but I was worried about how he would be with Priestly when I wasn't there. At 12:00 we were offered an early out and with the looks of the storm outside I took it, afraid it would get worse, which it did so I'm glad I did. I made it home at little after 12:30, and went upstairs to check on the dogs. Jack was waiting for me at my door as always, and as soon as Priestly saw me his whole body began to shake with joy because wagging his tail wasn't good enough. Then he whined until I picked him up. He whined every time I put him down, even when Melinda and Brent came over later that night. And when Mike held him when he came over Priestly kept looking for me. Looks like I've got another mama's boy just like Jack.

Vampires, Priests, and Scary Pop Singers...oh my!

Well, Halloween was quite interesting. As usual the post office encouraged their employees to dress in costumes for Halloween, bribing us with a late PAT which allows us to be up to two hours late if the need ever occurs. Rather than be safe than sorry, and even though I still have my late PAT from last Halloween I went out and got a new costume. I never had taken into calculations that garments would be inappropriate with my old costumes unless I wanted my white sleeves to be showing underneath the black see through lacy sleeves of my spider queen dress or everything from my ribs down showing with my genie costume. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find a decent modest Halloween costume a week and half before the actual day. Thank heavens I didn't leave it for the last day because I might have gone into work with a blue and white polk-a-dot sheet over my head with the eye holes cut out so I could at least see where I was going. I'm sure that would have been exciting. I might have gotten a laugh or two. As it was I managed to find a vampiress dress, which was not only modest but on sale! A double bonus! I grabbed some face paints and vampire teeth as well so I could look like a real vampire. I was quite pleased with my costume...until I got it home.

The teeth were, naturally, too big. In order to make them stay in I had to bite on the back of them and suck in air from the corners of my mouth. It made me look like I was sucking on a whole bunch of lemon slices at the same time. Disappointed I opted for skipping the vampire teeth and being a vampire from my favorite TV show instead, Supernatural. The vampires from Supernatural don't have fangs but a retractable set of vampire teeth that come down when they feed. So I pretended to have those. They never came out, but its the thought that counts.

The second problem was my hair. My dress was black with a dark blood red on the cuffs and collar, making my hair stand out like neon. So the next day I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way home and bought a long black wig. It took me a few times to try and figure out how to get the stupid thing on and make it stay, but when I did I got into my dress and went downstairs. Dad was making a sandwich at the time and didn't see me. When he turned around his lunch almost ended up on the floor. He told me not to scare him like that. I guessed that I should probably change out of my clothes and wig so I put them aside for Halloween.

Saturday morning I set my alarm for 3:45am so I could have time to get ready for work. I woke up at 3:20am and decided to start getting ready anyway. Which was probably better because it took me over and hour to get all my make-up done. I painted my face white and then used the black around my eyes and the red on my lips. Then came the part that made me want to throw up. The blood capsules. If you have never tried to use them. DON'T! They are disgusting. Try sucking on cough syrup. That's what they taste like. I put one in the corner of my mouth like the instructions said and bit down. The fake blood immediately popped out and filled my mouth, staining my teeth and dribbling down my chin. I caught the run off with a klennex before it could hit the dresser or my dress and spat the capsule into the garbage. I wish I had been done with the first one, but it only left one line at the corner of my mouth, so I put in the second capsule and bit down again. It was even worse the second time. Spitting the excess fake blood into a klennex it looked like I was actually coughing up blood. It made me gag and even though I brushed my teeth as best I could without smearing my make-up I still popped some gum into my mouth as soon as I got in the car, but could taste cough syrup for the rest of the day. With my vampire make-up complete I started for work.

Work was long, but it was fun to see what everyone chose to dress up in. My favorite was the grim reaper. Although I never saw the face behind the dark veil. There was also a Captain Jack Sparrow there, complete with beard and hat. I was rather frustrated that I couldn't itch my nose or rub my eyes because I'd smear my make-up. I was relieved when I left.

Victoria, Mike, and I had planned on doing a scary movie night at our future home in downtown Salt Lake and then Victoria was just going to spend the night at my parents house with me. So after work I went down to Walgreens to pick her up. She was in a sparkly pop girls shirt and a bright strawberry blond wig. She had temporary tattoos everywhere visible on her body. She said she was a pop singer who had committed suicide. So Jack (and no Jack wasn't wearing a costume), a vampire, and a dead pop singer started for downtown Salt Lake.

Mike wasn't at the house so after letting him know that we were there we let ourselves in. I put some of the groceries for dinner in the fridge and Victoria settled herself at the counter while Jack investiagted the kitchen. I went upstairs to take a phone call, and heard Mike come in not long after that. I had never told Mike what I was going to be, so I went down to surprise him. Victoria told me he was in the pantry, waiting for me to confess my sins. I told her the undead do not need to confess and pulled the door open. Mike stood there in a priest outfit, complete with collar. His eyes bulged when he saw me, and for the rest of the evening I had a hard time keeping him away from me. He hopes that the vampire will come out of retirement before next Halloween.

We went to the store to get the last of what I needed to make lasagna. We got quite a few stares. It isn't very often you see a priest and a vampire holding hands.

I got dinner made quickly when we got back to the house, and after eating we all went upstairs to watch movies. I washed off my make-up before we did. I wanted to be able to touch my face without worrying about white smudges on my fingers. We had decided to watch Cry Wolf, The Ring 2, and Boogey Man 2. I fell asleep before the Cry Wolf got to its title. The week had been long and the lack of sleep had finally caught up to me. Jack fell asleep next to the couch where Mike and I were cuddled, and Victoria sat on our spare chair. I woke up just as Victoria was putting in The Ring 2. I had asked her to bring it because it is something I don't own.

Mike had seen the first one but not the second and even though she owned it Victoria and I had not seen it for years. So it made me laugh when at the first real scary moment the only one who didn't jump was me. Victoria denied it the rest of the night even though Mike and I had seen her leap up on her chair.

The mood was broken when I smelled something weird, and knew immediately who had made that smell. Then Mike smelled it too and we both looked down at Jack who had a guilty look on his face. He made it stinky two more times, so Mike took him outside. When he went out there he discovered that the garage door was open and the light was flickering, which he thought was odd because none of us had opened the garage door. So he started inside cautiously to see if someone was in there, but Jack bounded in ahead of him, not ever cautious, and discovered that there was nothing of interest in there. So Mike came back inside and we started Boogey Man, but again I fell asleep.

Boogey Man was enough to scare Victoria into having enough scares for one night. So she opted for Ice Age: The Meltdown, but I stopped it before it was even halfway over because it was going on 1:00am. So we loaded stinky dog, the wide awake dead pop star and the very tired, very cranky vampire into the car and went home.

Jack didn't want to be in my room by himself, so after ten minutes of his loud annoying protests I let him sleep on the floor by the love seat where I was falling asleep, on the other side of the room and already snoring Victoria was asleep. The only evidence of her ever being a pop star was the small tattoo on the back of her hand.

Wedding Shower and Sunday's Adventures at the house

Last Friday my big sister Melinda threw my open house bridal shower. I had to work all day so I had texted her eariler to see if she needed help with anything. Of course she told me no. But around noon I got a call from my mom asking me to pick up some ingredients to make the punch drink. I got off work around two and called to make sure I still needed to stop at the store on my way home, so I got home close to three. By then I was tired and starving.

Melinda was already at the house, frosting the different kinds of cupcakes she'd baked for the shower. We got caught up on a few things while I made myself some lunch and then helped her out by doing the dishes, helping to set the table, and then bringing things in the house when Grandma and Grandpa Condie arrived. They had my present for me, which was the same thing she made for Alex and Maggie. I'm not sure what you call it...and I'm having a brain freeze day because I can't seem to understand a word people are saying to me today. In one ear and out the other I suppose. It happens every once in a while...at least once a week. Usually people don't notice because I just smile and nod at everything they say while not taking anything in. Usually my eyes go blank as my mind wanders and that can give me away, but that doesn't happen very often. Usually I am a very good listener. :)

Anyway Grandma, Grandpa, Melinda, Mike, and I had picked out pictures that we liked and Grandma had Grandpa put them in small individual slots on a picture screen type thingy for display at the shower and reception center. Sorry if that isn't right but like I said I don't know what it's called. I didn't know which pictures Melinda had selected so when Grandma asked me if I liked them I admitted that I hadn't had a chance to get a good look at them yet. So she told me to go look at all the pictures, and it was probably a good thing I did. In one of the little photo spots there is a paper that says Candace and Mike and then our wedding date below it. When I read that I blinked and read it again, but I was not mistaken. It said 27 November 2007. According to that little piece of paper we are already married and have been for almost two years. I told Grandma so she made me go make a new one with the right date. I had a hard time trying to find the same shade of blue she picked - and of course she didn't remember so I was going through blue after blue trying to find a shade I liked. Then when I printed it out it didn't look big enough and I didn't like the shade of blue that much so I had to search for a different shade of blue while making the font bigger so you could see it better. It was one of the things Grandma told me to do since I was fixing it anyway.

It didn't take me long and we hung out in the kitchen and talked for a bit, but not long after that Brent came with dinner for Melinda and Mom. Grandma said Grandpa was bringing her dinner in a few minutes so she was waiting for him.

The first guest arrived for the shower was Sue Olsen. She got there about quarter after five and we all chatted with her. She ignored the "Give Candace Advice" table because she said she doesn't give advice. A few minutes after that my friend Melissa Moyer arrived. She and I talked and got caught up with each other. She asked where the party was and I said besides Sue and the family that was it so far. She thought that was funny. She grabbed a cupcake and we went and sat down in the living room, still talking. I was so caught up with Melissa that I didn't notice when a lot of other people arrived. It seemed like one minute it was just the two of us, then Sue Hardy arrived and she had to explain her gift to me, especially her 'house wife' scrub brush. I put that by the sink in our kitchen and told Mike that that was what I was going to look like in a year's time after being a house wife. He thought that was funny. I took her out of the flower dress packaging though, so now she's naked next to the sink. Mike thinks that's funny too. Not that she's naked, because it doesn't show anything, but because I said she's naked.

Rose showed up a little after six, and I think she wanted a little break from the baby because she stayed later than any of the other guests. Missy Mauch came as well and it was good to see her. And I got to see the trio from the old ward Susan, Tammy, and Lisa. It was really nice seeing them there. None of them have changed much and that is something I'm really happy about. I've always loved them just the way they are. Gae showed up not long after they did but couldn't stay because she and Blake had something else they had to go to. But it was wonderful just seeing her there as well. Susan went out to the car for her camera before I got to the Victoria's Secret bag that I knew held the gift from my sister. I was hoping for a smaller crowd when I opened that one. Of course, when I did my face went bright red when the first thing I lifted out of the bag was a pair of royal purple lacy underwear. I dropped that quickly back into the bag and lifted out the top but not before everyone laughed at my embarrassment. Rose was still there after everyone else left and she and I talked for a bit, she said my face was so funny. I don't think she has ever seen me embarrassed like that before and she couldn't believe how fast my face went red.

I got a lot of really cute things from the shower. I love the dinosaur cupcake pans Rose gave me, the apron from Trisha (and I don't even like pink that much), the cookie cutters from Tammy (Mike likes those too, we are hoping to do holiday sugar cookies when we have kids - and for Mike. And they will be great for homemade play dough, something to keep Mike busy while I'm cooking dinner :) ) I loved the storage jars from Missy they are perfect, I loved the cook books I got, I can't pick a favorite because I love the book itself that Arla gave me but I love the fun creative ideas, especially in the kid's section that Missy gave me. I'm excited to try some myself. I loved the gifts from Melinda and Grandma and Grandpa Condie of course they were both perfect, even if I was little embarrassed by the lacy underwear. I loved the house wife scrub brush, I plan on using it to be my role model of how a house wife should look after being only a house wife for a year. Mike still thinks that's funny. And of course all the food storage and pans, muffin tins, and cookie sheets are all perfect. I was so grateful for everything I got. I know I'll be able to easily use all the cooking utensils/cutlery items I got with as much as I cook and now our walk in pantry doesn't look so empty thanks to all the baking goods that people gave me. It actually looks like we have food in our pantry I am so excited! I'm going to have to take pictures of the house and post them on here some time.

So Saturday, having the day off, I spent most of the day working on thank you cards and packing up my goodies from the shower so I could take them down to the house. That was until dad and I got in a fight. So in desperation I went to my room, but was only there about ten minutes when Mike arrived. I bounded into his arms and told him I couldn't stay at home, so we drove out to the house. We didn't bother loading the packed boxes, rather saving them for the next day. I just grabbed my computer and we left. We both fell asleep watching Jaws at the house and then we decided to go to his parent's condo to watch a couple of other movies. We selected The Horse Whisperer and Hoodwinked. We only watched The Horse Whisperer though. Mike had no idea that it was so long and it was after 11:00pm by the time we finished it. I figured it was late enough to go home so Mike dropped me off right around midnight. I told my mother good-night and curled up in the bed with Jack. He snored all night so it kept me awake. I tried watching a scary movie, but Jack Nicholson was in it and with the way his eybrows are curled and his eyes are always slightly narrowed it gave me the creeps. So I rolled over and fell asleep with the movie still playing.

After church on Sunday I quickly heated up a roast, baked potatoes, and rolls for lunch and Mike and I waited to hear from Victoria since she wanted to go to the house with us that afternoon. She called me a little after five and said she'd be ready by five-thirty. So Mike and I loaded up the boxes in both of our cars and he said he'd meet us up there. I loaded Jack in the back seat and we went and picked up Victoria. We got there a little after six and we worked on unpacking everything from the shower and setting up the kitchen. Mike and Victoria just talked and let me set up the kitchen and pantry as I wanted. I think they were afraid to help in case they put something where I didn't want it. Victoria told me that I changed things around in the cupboards three times. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where I want things. Who knew that setting up a kitchen could be so frustrating?

The house was getting really cold because Melvin hasn't been in to install the new furnace yet, so the four of us went upstairs to watch some Supernatural cuddled up underneath my Supernatural blankets. Jack sprawled out on my lap and he is very heavy. He was trying to be as close to me as possible all evening. Even when I was running back and forth between the items on the counter and the pantry he followed me like his nose was glued to my pants. After one episode of Supernatural however, I was tired enough to call it a night, and so was Mike. So we loaded Jack back up into the car, I kissed Mike good bye and Victoria and I started for home.

I dropped her off at game night since it was still fairly early and Jack and I went upstairs in the empty quiet house. Dad had gone to work and mom was spending the night at a friend's house so I had the house to myself. I decided to finish the scary movie. I didn't make it. I fell asleep just after one-thirty. But when I woke up at five the next morning I finished it. It wasn't even that scary. I was rolling my eyes and shaking my head most of the morning. So disappointing. Guess next time I'll have to find something scarier. Guess I should have known. Stephen King's books are so boring it is no wonder that his movies are the same. I don't see why they scare so many people? Of course Dean Koontz books aren't much better. My friend promised me a good scare with this book - and I was so bored the whole time. There is no way I'd read another one. I've seen scarier things than those books on Supernatural, and Supernatural isn't even scary! I don't know...maybe because I was always terrified of everything when I was younger I've just come to face my fears and I know the difference between reality and fantasy.

I mean the big bad wolf used to scare the daylights out of me - and now wolves are one of my favorite animals! I faced my childhood fears and I learned all about them, even did a report on them for my wildlife biology project in high school. I think people would be less afraid if they just faced what scared them. I know I did, now I'm hard to scare. I get creeped out just like everyone, but there's a monster outside the bathroom door at night that's just waiting for me to open the door so it can grab me...those days are long gone. Now I can go watch a movie like My Bloody Valentine or Friday the 13th and come home to an empty house after dark and be totally ok to be alone. I've got friends who are older than me who went and slept with their parents because they were so scared. Kind of makes me laugh that those kind of things don't bother me anymore.

This Thursday's adventure at the big house

Well, it wasn't an 'adventure' adventure, but it was pretty funny. As usual Victoria had Thursday off, so after work I came home to pick up Jack and Victoria as well as a few things to take over to make dinner with. When we got there Mike wasn't there so I let us in and started to fry up the stew meat. Victoria busied herself with putting the DVD's back that she had borrowed and browsing in my library while drooling over my Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles signed photos in the library. Jack kept me company in the kitchen, licking his lips and sneaking closer and closer to the oven. I was expecting Mom to come and see the house for the first time as well, so I was trying to tidy up a little bit while keeping Jack away from the garbage can since I had thrown the container that had held the meat in there. He was curious about the fresh blood smell.

When the meat had browned all the way through I put it in the crock pot to simmer while I cleaned up bits of spattered grease from the stove top and then chatted with Victoria about Alan because she thinks he is cute. Mike came over right before I put the meat in the crock pot, and it was then that I discovered I had forgotten to get sour cream. So we all got into Mike's car. Victoria started to open her door and I pushed it closed again so Mike could do what he feels is polite and open the door for her. She isn't used to being treated like a lady because all the guys she knows are jerks and don't treat her well. So she keeps forgetting to let Mike open and close the doors for her.

We ran down to Smiths and got some sour cream and I quickly put it into the pot on our return home. We let Jack out of the library, where he bounded down the stairs happily, easily forgiving us for shutting him up in there to keep him out of trouble while we were gone. We went to the living room on the second floor and discussed which movies we are going to do for our scary movie night on Halloween. Victoria is bringing The Ring 2, then we are going to do Cry Wolf, Boogey Man 2 & 3, and if we have time The Village. But I'm sure we will be tired by the time we finish the first four.

Not too long after that Mom arrived, Jack barked furiously at the door and when I went to open it I saw why. She had Mike with her. I had not seen Mike since January when we went and saw My Bloody Valentine in 3D together. He said he was replaced by a younger Mike - but I told Mom to keep Mike on call just in case I need a back up. :) They got a kick out of that.

We gave them the grand tour of the house, walking them through each level, teasing Mike (not my Mike) about his height as he is taller than the rest and can't always go as far in as we could...at least not without ducking his head.

After they left I served dinner and we ate the beef stroganoff and potatoes. Jack licked his chops hungrily so I quickly grilled him up a chicken breast and he gobbled it up. It is better than him licking the floor. He also ate a giant fly for dessert. He found another one upstairs. :) It didn't take him as many tries to get this one down as it did the one on Sunday.

We went to the library after that with a flashlight, turned off all the lights and read scary stories. But it didn't scare any of us. I was falling asleep on Mike's lap when Victoria relieved herself. She blushed an apologized. Mike started to laugh and me, being only half conscious, could feel the laughter bubbling in my stomach. When she apologized again and when Mike asked for what and she again relieved herself it brought me closer to consciousness and Mike and I both broke into a fit of laughter. Victoria was rolling on the floor and we all laughed about it. The scary stories mood was broken, so we ended the reading session.

We decided to call it an early night because there was no new Supernatural episode this week (stupid CW already putting reruns on) so we packed up Jack, what was left of dinner and we went home. I still laughed to myself about the library incidentj, and Victoria and I giggled about it half way home. Man...the things we release around friends. :)

Maybe there is some truth to the song?

Maybe there is some truth to the song "The Cat Came Back"? I always thought the song was kind of crazy, but fun to sing - the cat dies a million different ways and always manages to come back. But hey, maybe the person writing the song knew from experience that sometimes the thing you are trying to get rid of has a habit of popping up again.

When Jack and I got down to the house today, Mike was already there - and he had news for us. Fred had shown up again this morning. Yep, Fred. That silly little bird who likes to bang his head on the windows to try and escape our house. Mike had managed to chase him out before we got there and finally boarded up the window that Fred keeps getting in through. Hopefully Fred will be smart next time and won't return. As nice as it is to see an old friend, even a silly one like Fred, he belongs outside in the wild.

The most exciting thing that happened besides Fred's return today was that Mike and I managed to get our DVD shelf put together! Yay! We had run into a snag when we had picked it up from Wal-Mart over a week ago. There were no holes for the pegs in one side so we went and bought a drill gun today and made our own holes. They worked and now our DVD's are a bit more organized. Or they were. I had had them all done until Mike surprised me with some DVD's he found in the garage. Now I've got more work to do on Thursday. Guess its a part of life though - just when you thought you finished something, something happens and you have to do it all over again.

Adventures at the house

Well these past few weeks have been interesting. Very trying at times, especially with some people that have really been pushing my buttons. It is has been really frustrating but I usually end up biting my tongue and counting to ten - then, when that doesn't work I recite Metallica lyrics in my head and count the beats to their songs and that helps calm me down.

Mike and I have been busy moving my stuff down to the big house downtown where we will be living until we move to Florida in June. Yes Florida. It's offical now. Mike is going to work on saving up enough money so we can afford to move down there, but Disney has already said they'll take him back so we will be moving down there so he can finish school. It'll be a change - but hey, no more snow! I can live with that. :)

This past week we've had a couple of adventures up at the house. Thursday for instance, my friend Victoria wanted to go up and see our house again, so after work I stopped and picked her up, grabbed a few things from the house and we headed up. When we got there I was a little surprised that Mike wasn't there yet, so I gave him a call. He said he'd be there in a few minutes and that the basement door was open. Not that it matters because I have a house key. So I went in through the basement and started up the stairs, hesitating a little when I heard something banging upstairs. I am still getting used to the noises of the house so I shrugged it off and let Victoria in.

The kitchen is just inside the main doors on the main level and I usually leave my bag there. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the kitchen and something smacked hard against one of the windows. It was a bird! It had flown in through an open window upstairs and was trying desperately to get out. Victoria and I tried to shoo it towards the back door but the poor thing was too scared to think straight and kept smacking into the windows, finally flying into the parlor and living room, trying different windows. I had an idea on how to get it out, so I opened the front door, closed the kitchen doors, the parlor door, the living room door and any other door I could in a chance that I could chase it to the front door, but it could still go upstairs so I was doubtful. At that point Mike came in, in a very bad mood, and I told him we had a new pet. When he simply looked puzzled I pointed to the bird hitting the far parlor window. Mike frowned and walked back into the kitchen to grab the broom to try and shoo the bird towards the front door. I told him we named the bird "Fred". He said Fred wasn't the first bird to come in the house, and I'm sure Fred won't be the last. Once we chased Fred from the parlor he saw the open front door and made a break for it. Fred flew away and was very happy to be free. Hopefully Fred won't be back.

Today Jack and I went down to the house, hoping to finish cleaning the kitchen. Mike said to just head down whenever, so after quickly getting ready and prepping lunch, but not cooking it, Jack and I piled into the car and headed down for the house. Mike was still in church so while Jack napped on the kitchen floor I bustled about grilling two chicken breasts for the homemade chicken pot pie. When Mike arrived I was just putting it into the oven. Mike was in a very good mood after church today so we talked while we finished cleaning what was left to clean in the kitchen then sat down and waited for the pie to finish. After lunch we went upstairs to watch a movie, cuddled underneath two of my Supernatural blankets. Mike brought all the cushions from the loveseat downstairs into our small living room on the second floor so we had some extra comfort. The room was chilly, so Jack snuggled up next to me under the blanket and Mike curled around my other side, I was sandwiched quite comfortably between them. I never finished the movie, and Mike didn't either. All three of us took a nap curled up together. We woke up a couple hours later and I was disgusted to see a large fly had flown into the room and was sitting on the carpet not far from me. I told Jack to go eat the fly, not thinking he'd do it. But once he actually understood what I wanted he pounced on the very large fly, licked it up, spit it out, pounced on it again, licked it up, spit it out, pounced on it a third time, licked it up and it was gone. I couldn't stop laughing while Mike was trying hard to hide the disgust on his face. He didn't do a good job but I was laughing too hard to pay much attention. Jack looked pretty pleased with himself and came over and sat on my lap. He is such a mama's boy.

The house is starting to feel more like home now. All my books and movies are down there. Mike and I decided that the library will be my study, so I have set it up as such. And thanks to some organization it actually looks like it has some stuff in it while still looking neat. Victoria was drooling over my signed Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles photos on Thursday. I took my first bouquet of roses from bridal pictures out this week and now that I know that Mike and I are going to be doing the beluga whale tour again on our honeymoon I pulled out my Arctic tour experience frame and will put a picture of us in it when we get back.

Mike and I hung out in the library after a quick game of cards this afternoon. We read scary stories from one of my books and then had fun giggling at some poetry books I enjoyed when I was little. After that Mike wanted to read some more so I selected Wait Until Helen Comes from my large selection of books and I read the first chapter to him. We decided to make reading with each other a habit, something fun and relaxing that we can both enjoy. I read the first chapter to him, but then we decided to call it a night. He has one assignment he has to turn in today so he wanted to go get that done.

Hopefully we will get more done this week, but that could be doubtful. What with his school and me working full time and then the bridal shower this week...I can't believe it is here already. Time has been flying so fast...I'm going to be married before I know it.

Say Cheese!

Mike and I had a very hectic few days this week. Thanks to the bad weather last week we had rescheduled to do engagement photos on Tuesday and were still planning to do bridals Monday. I didn't think I was going to be so stressed out for doing the photo shooting that I was looking forward to the most.

I had invited a friend to spend the night Sunday since I didn't have to work the next day and figured I could sleep in a little and we could do a Supernatural girl's night. I fell asleep shortly after 10:00pm but woke up because she was still wide awake watching Supernatural at 2:30am. I finally managed to get to sleep sometime after five, and then woke up half an hour before the alarm went of at 8:00am so Victoria could get ready for me to take her down to work. So I was pretty tired.

I was really relieved that I didn't have to really worry about hair or make-up because Sue and Tina had said they could do it for me, which took a lot of stress off my shoulders. So all I had to worry about was getting down to The Old Meeting House to pick out our decorations, and then he would follow me home where I could get my dress and accessories then he'd take me to Sue's parent's house where I was meeting Tina and Sue for hair and make-up and where they were going to help me change into my dress.

The lady who helped us at The Old Meeting House was very curt and acted as if she really didn't want to be helping us. It made me very irritated but I didn't say anything about it. Mike and I showed her the cake we wanted and decided to go with the buttercream frosting instead of the fondant, were told we need to bring the 6yds of ribbon in by last week of October, then talked to her about the ceremony since we wanted to have a back up plan. We need to do a rehearsal sometime earlier that week - so we want to try for the Monday before since I usually have those off.

After we finished there Mike followed me home, I ran upstairs and grabbed my dress bag and the bag with my slip and veil and took it back downstairs where Mike and I got it situated in the car. We left around 2:10pm so we got there fairly early. We talked in the car - I was excited to see him in his tux and he was excited to see me in my dress. As the time got closer to three I reluctantly took of the protection amulet I've worn 24/7 with only a few rare occasions where I took it off and gave it to Mike so I wouldn't loose it. I told him not to loose it either so he hung it from his rearview mirror. I felt very naked with it off - he laughed when I told him that.

Sue got there right before three so I followed her to Tina's, who lives right next door to Sue's parents, and Mike went home to change and then to go grab the flowers. Sue and Tina got to work right away, curling my hair and then doing the pull-overs that gave it the effect I loved so much when Sue and I experimented that day. Tina asked me what I wanted in make-up, and as I so rarely wear it I had no idea. I told her to just do what she thought would be best.

Sue had a lesson she had to go teach so she had to leave before I was all the way ready, but Tina had no problems helping me into my dress without messing up my hair or smudging my make-up. The vail kept getting in my face so I couldn't see my feet to do up my buckles so Tina had to help me with my shoes. I was ready just after 4:00pm. I knew the flowers wouldn't be ready until 4:30 so I figured Mike would be around to pick me up at quarter to five or so since the flower shop wasn't that far.

Unfortunately my phone died so for the next hour and fifteen minutes I was borrowing Tina's phone trying to get a hold of Mike and Sydney. Mike was stuck in horrible traffic then got lost twice on his way to pick me up so I tried to tell Sydney we were running late, but could remember her number. In desperation I called my mom and Melinda. Mom gave me the number to the place where she took her car to get fixed and I couldn't get a hold of Melinda so I left her a message to call me back. I then remembered I had Sydney's number in an e-mail from when Melinda sent me wedding information. So we pulled up my e-mail account and I was able to call Sydney and leave her a message telling her we were running late and to call Mike's phone when she got the message. Just then Melinda called me back on Tina's phone telling me she called Mike's phone and gave him the number and Mike pulled up in front of the house. Sue and Tina hurried me out to the car - I felt like Cinderella trying to race to her coach before it turned back into a pumpkin.

Mike got lost three times trying to find Memory Grove, but we managed to make it there a little after 6:00pm. Sydney was outside of her car waiting for us. I was shocked to see she had her foot and lower leg in a bootie - she told us she broke her leg taking pictures for someone. She'd stepped in a whole and had twisted her body so as not to break her camera by landing on it and had instead broken her foot. So she was really dog dodo conscious as we started in to Memory Grove because it is a dog park and people don't pick up after their dogs like they should - she especially didn't want to step in it with her boot because she always steps in some when she goes up there.

Mike and I had a great time doing pictures. I loved the way the flowers turned out. I was worried that the crystals in the roses wouldn't look the way I wanted but they were perfect.

After we finished pictures Mike and I stopped by his place to show his parents how we looked and how the flowers turned out - sort of a sneak peek kind of thing. Arla's eyes bulged when she saw us and she jumped up from the couch where she'd been watching TV with Albert. All she kept saying was how beautiful I looked. I thanked her for the flowers, they were exactly what I wanted. Albert kept saying I looked really really nice in my dress. I learned later that all Arla talked about that night was how beautiful I looked, and that was what she talked about most of Tuesday as well.

On our way back to my house we decided to stop and see Melinda and Brent if they were still up. I called and Melinda said they wanted to see us so we stopped by. Melinda and Brent were both in their pajamas but were so excited to see us in our wedding clothes. They said they both really liked the flowers. Then Melinda discovered an icky earwig on my dress so I flicked it onto the floor. Brent got a kleenx and crushed it. I hate earwigs. We let them head back to bed and left so we could show my parents and then change so we could go to bed.

Mom kept telling us we looked like the toppers on the wedding cake, and she was tearing up a bit. Dad took lots of pictures with me just seperate and with both Mike and I together. After that Mike helped me with my shoes, mom took my bouquet and hung it up to dry, and I took off my vail and walked Mike to the door. We were both so tired. After he left I went right up where mom helped me out of my dress and undid my bra for me - even though it feels like a corset and not a bra, and I got into some pajamas. Then I talked to her about how Mike and I might be moving to Florida next spring got some dinner and went to bed.

I will post the exciting and very funny adventures of our engagement photos later. :)

Florida?

This week has been a little bit easier, and crazier in ways. Mike and I had scheduled to get engagement photos done on Monday evening, but I got a call early Monday morning from our photographer Sydney. She said the weather was supposed to be bad and she was worried that if we went through with them our photos wouldn't look very nice. She wanted to see if I would be willing to reschedule. At the time the rest of our week was pretty much booked so I asked her if we could try for the 22nd of September. She was fine with that and we decided to play the rest of the day by ear. If the weather permitted we'd still do pictures that day. Around 1:30pm I told her we'd just plan on the 22nd because the skies were just getting darker and darker. It's a good thing we did too because not long after that the clouds finally opened up and we had a heavy downpour.

Things didn't work out with our other wedding plans as well this week. Tuesday I was running for the bathroom every twenty minutes so I had to call up Ramey (who we'd made an appointment with to go look at invitations) and reschedule with her because there was no way I was going to make it. Mike stayed at home trying to work on homework and get it finished for his class on Wednesday.

On Thursday after I got home from work I invited Mike over for our Supernatural night, and he told me he wanted to talk to me about some school related things. It turns out that he learned that ITT-Tech has cancelled his major so he will no longer be able to get his bachelor's there. They said if they got enough people to sign up for it they'd pick it up one last time but Mike said that the possibilities of that happening are slim. Most of his classmates are looking at their other options now. Mike told me that he'd been looking into schools in Florida. We won't know until March for sure, but he wanted to know how I felt moving to Florida next spring.

I was a little surprised that we would be moving out of Utah so soon. I had expected a little bit more time here, but I knew we'd probably be moving eventually. In fact Florida was one of the places I knew were in the possibilites pile. I told him that I didn't see any sense in looking further into the houses we had liked in Eagle Mountain if we might be moving to Florida next year and he agreed. He had already talked to his mom about letting us move into the main house downtown until we know what is going on. She told us we might as well because she isn't having any luck trying to sell it. So for now Mike and I are planning on moving into the main house and will be looking further into Florida, just in case things don't work out here.

Besides being a little anxious about not knowing anyone down there, and leaving friends and family behind I know that this is happening for a reason. Nothing happens for no reason - there is a purpose behind everything. So we will look on the bright side of things. I think that the dogs will enjoy the warm weather, I know I certainly will no more snow! :) Mike really enjoyed Florida when he lived there before and he knows the area well so he can help me get to know Florida better since I've only been there once, and after the honeymoon twice.

We decided to skip the cruise to the Caribbean Islands for our honeymoon and instead are going to Disney World, Sea World, and Universal Studios. Mike is very excited - he signed us up for a backstage tour with the dolphins. He has wanted to do something like this since he's seen our vacation photos from July where I was in the pool with the beluga whales.

Glad I'm Only Doing This Once

Well if today wasn't enough to put me off getting married nothing is. Mike and I have been having problems getting his temple clearance so we can get married in the temple, so we decided to go ahead and set up a back up plan, just in case things don't work out for us. We figured we could always get sealed next year, even though neither of us want a civil wedding. But it's better to be safe than sorry, if the clearance does come through for us we are planning on having a ring ceremony so friends who can't come to the temple can be there.

Well, Mike agreed to call The Old Meeting House today while I was at work, which I was sent home after a few hours because the holiday this week had cut back on our already low mail volumes thanks to the economy being the way it is right now. So I took my paycheck down to the bank, depoisted all of towards my car, picked up some dog food and went home, I figured it was going to be a good day.

Mom and I had been talking about getting a back up plan in case we couldn't get clearance so I told her we were planning on doing it - and if his clearance came through we'd just turn the wedding ceremony to a ring ceremony. But a few minutes later I got a text from Mike saying to call him asap. So I called him and he said that The Old Meeting House had booked us for the wrong day, November 5. Not only that but they had booked someone else on our day.

I was very angry when I called The Old Meeting House back and after a long heated conversation with the girl on the phone, she said that they were only booked from 2-4 that day and she could have the decorations changed for us in an hour and a half. She kept insisting that we said November 5, and we had never said that. We had booked this and put down a deposit on this day in July, as well as confirming our date when we went in to look at invitations in the middle of August. So neither of us were very happy. But since we are still able to do our ceremony at 6:00pm with about an hour to do pictures before the reception starts we calmed down a little.

I'm glad we are only doing this once. I think being engaged and planning a wedding are highly over rated. Can't wait for it all to be taken care of and over with.

Videos and Extra Pictures

Hey Guys. Just thought I'd go ahead and send you a link if you want to see more photos or watch the videos from our vacation. http://s868.photobucket.com/albums/ab244/LovinSupernatural/

In order to see them you will have to use a password because I've set my account to private. I'm not going to post it here - so if you want the access to it e-mail me at Deanwinchesterfan1985@live.com

Hugs to you all.

Amazing Trip Day 5

Ok I'm a little behind on getting the post up this week, it's been a little busy the past couple of days. But day five of our vacation was our last real vacation day. Mom and I had made plans to go to the San Diego Zoo since it is supposed to be one of the best zoos in the world. I was a little worn down from Sea World the day before and not sleeping well so I wasn't as thrilled as I normally would be going to the zoo.

We got there a little before two and got our tickets, on the way into the zoo we saw that they too had a backstage tour. Mom asked me if I wanted to do it, and I told her only if she'd do it with me. She relented, some what reluctantly, and we signed on. We had to head back to the area because the tour was actually starting soon. So while we were waiting we looked at the giant anteater and her baby on her back and took pictures of each other with our backstage tour badges on.

The tour started soon after we got there. First thing we got to see was a little hedgehog, they brought this out while we were filling in a little quiz to see how many famous logo animals we knew. We got most of them, but some we didn't have a clue. Mom's knowledge helped a lot. After we got to touch the hedgehog we were introduced to their little cheetah cub, who was only going to be there for the summer, since she is being relocated this fall. We watched her chase one of her balls and bounce around on the props they had on the small stage for her. We were able to get up really close to her, mere inches away, but were asked not to touch since they didn't want her used to too many people. Her long tail would often whip out, and came close to touching a couple of the other people on the tour since there weren't that many, but everyone kept their distance. Mom thought she was really pretty.

After that they took us back to the rhinos. We all got to take a bit of grain and carrot and each had a turn to feed them. Mom even did it, but she wasn't happy when she got slobbered on. The rhinos had been rolling in the dirt to help keep them cool so even their top lips were dirty. Mom wanted to see what they felt like so she petted the side of one of their faces. She said that if anyone needs lotion, they do. We got to scrub them with brushes after that, one of them really likes that and we were told that he even rolls on his back so we can do his tummy properly, but he didn't do that for us. Then we gave them showers with the hose, they liked this a lot too since it was really warm.

We washed our hands in the buckets just along the fence and followed our tour guides through the park back to the kangaroo exibit, there we were joined with the Make A Wish Foundation kids. They brought out an emu for us to see. She has actually been on several TV talk shows, and has met a lot of celebrities. We each got to go up and pet her. She didn't really feel like a bird because she didn't feel feathery. In fact her wings are very oily, it was really interesting. Mom kept telling her how pretty she was, and how she could easily see her wearing mascarra with her long eyelashes.

Then they brought out a couple of young kangaroos. We got to pet the female, but her brother hasn't had enough interactions with strangers so he was kept away, which is probably a good thing because he got in a fight with his trainers, kicking and clawing at them as they tried to put him away. The female was really soft though, and we all got to feed her a bit of carrot as well as she walked past our feet.

They took us back to the main area after that where we were given a lunch and got to watch a show of many different animals that they brought out. They had ocelots, a full grown cheetah, an animal that looked like part bear and part cat - but is actually closer to the meerkat and mongoose, but I can't remember its name, and an Arctic wolf. We were told a lot of interesting things, most of which I already knew. But I loved the show anyway, we even got to howl with the wolf, and I really enjoyed that.

After that we went exploring, we took the tour bus so we could see most of the park, and it was included with our backstage tour price. Then we went on the skyride to get across the park where we looked at most of the deer, zebras, polar bears, Asian cats, and then went to the elephant odyssey which was really cool. It started off with fossils of a bunch of animals buried in the earth or on display, and then a whole wall of what the pictures looked like. Mom wouldn't stand by the wall for me to take a picture so I just took a picture of the wall.

After that we grabbed the bus to the bird show because mom wanted to see it. Since we had reserved seating, another bonus of the backstage tour, we went and looked at all the big cats like the cougar,lions, black leopard, bobcat, and snow leopards. I didn't get to see the tigers so I was a little disappointed, but mom was really happy we got to see the bird show. We also got to see the hyenas since they were down there as well. I've always thought it interesting that hyenas have the strongest bite per square inch of any land mammal. Over six hundred pounds per square inch. And their stomach acid is so strong the can devour everything on a carcas including the hair, horns, hooves, and bone. They are like the garbage disposals of Africa.

After the bird show it was time to go home. But when we got in the car it wouldn't start. Mom swore a lot as she cleaned the battery a little, and with a little coaxing, and a lot of praying, the car started. We got to Paul and Angela's and told them about our day. Angela said that the girls would be jealous because mom and I do all the fun stuff at the parks, where they only do the normal. Paul looked at mom's car the next morning, found the problem and told mom how to fix it. But we left around 11:30am or so on Wednesday and came back to Utah. I had a great time on the vacation with mom, it was so much fun.

Amazing Trip Day 4

Ok I'm going to have another shot at this post. On the fouth day we woke up early because we were going to get off the ship and we needed to be out of our rooms by 8:30am. Mom woke me up around 7:40 or so and I was in and out of the shower and had my hair done long before she was even close to being ready. So she sent me down to try and find our pirate picture, even though I couldn't and then she sent me to the main theater to wait for her and wait for our number to be called so we could leave. I entertained myself by playing solitare, which I had to end short because our number was 11 and it was called fairly fast. After we got off the ship we dragged our suitcases back to the car and got out the map as we had already planned on going to Sea World that day.

We waved good-bye to the ship as we passed it. It was sad to leave, I'm especially going to miss our cruise director Stu. He was so funny that morning, getting on the overhead and whispering into it for us to wake up. He was really cute - Mom and I both really enjoyed him.

It didn't take us long to get to Sea World from the dock. Maybe twenty minutes or so. Mom bought our tickets and got us the backstage tour and we were informed upon buying the tickets that we would get to see the baby dolphins so we were excited about that. When we got inside the gates I saw the other backstage tours where you actually got to interact with the animals and I signed up for the Arctic Adventure Tour and finished signing up just in time to join our group for the backstage tour.

Our tour guide took us back to see the dolphins and their babies first. One was less then a week old and it was so cute. The moms were teaching their calves how to swim and how to come up for air. Then we got to see the eels, some rescued sea lions, and then he took us back to see their flamingos and the endangered parrots they have there. They take their flamingos out for a walk every morning - so that was quite fun to learn about - all of the flamingos at the park were nesting, and we got to see a few chicks as well, some of them only a couple of days old.

After that we stopped at the pizza place to have lunch. I was quite entertained by a little duck that kept wandering about snatching up pieces of breadstick that people were dropping for it.

We decided to go to the Shamu show first, which was really neat. Despite some annoying lady who kept standing up in front of me and the people on the bench in front of us leaving in the middle, after talking the whole time they'd been there. But it was fun to watch the killer whales do flips and give their trainers rides.

We had to rush to the sea lion show after that and made it with a few minutes to spare, just long enough to see one of the "crew" members entertain the audience with quite a collection of old TV show theme songs while he put on different costumes and wigs. My favorites were Batman and Sponge Bob Squarepants, just because all the kids knew that one well so they screamed it really loud.

The sea lion show was probably my favorite show of all the shows we saw that day. They were so funny, and very entertaining. I didn't stop laughing the whole time, and the little otter they had helping was so cute. They did all kinds of shows too - from Superman to American Idol, to a cooking show, to Survivor. It was a lot of fun.

We went to the shark encounter after that - I had fun standing in front of the great white shark jaws because it looks like I'm being eaten. Mom did too - although she said she felt like she was being eaten by jaws. We went to the penguins after that and they were so fun to watch, they look like they are flying under water they are so funny.

After the penguins we decided to go see the clydesdales horses. They are the biggest horses I've ever seen in my life. I didn't even come up to their shoulders. I got to pet them and have my picture taken with them, but mom didn't want to.

By that time it was getting close to when I needed to be at the Arctic giftshop to sign in and get ready for my tour. So mom and I went over and I signed in and pretty soon had to leave mom behind while I went backstage with our tour guide.

We went to see the walrus first and that thing was so big. His head was huge - I don't think I imagined it to be that big, but it was like three or four times the size of my head. The trainer had him roar and everyone but me jumped, I kind of laughed at that. Then we got to feed him fish one at a time and then he'd kiss us as a thank you on the hand. I got a hicky from him - my hand was pink for three days. We also got to touch his whiskers and they are really rough, I hadn't expected that.

Then we got to see where the polar bears sleep, we couldn't go in because only 18 specially trained trainers are even allowed to go back there, if you aren't trained you aren't allowed because polar bears will eat anything, humans included. We watched while one of the trainers went back and got the male to stand on his back feet - he was easily nine feet tall and his paws were the size of dinner plates, he was huge. They took us over to the side and passed around some polar bear fur for us to feel, showed us the size of their skull because they had one over there, showed us the length of their teeth and talked a little bit more about what makes a polar bear so special it was really interesting.

Then it was time to get suited up and join the trainers in the pool for the beluga whale experience. We got in the pool and were split into two groups because there were eight of us. One of the first things we did was got kissed by a beluga whale on the cheek, then we had them dance, sing, shake our hand, roll onto their backs so we could hold their tails, pulled them onto the ledge then pushed them back into the pool, got in a water fight - which I lost badly, and had them wave. It was so fun and the beluga whales were so cute. They look like giant marshmallow men with beady black eyes. And for their size they are surprisingly gentle - it was an experience I'll never forget and one I'm so happy I took. Mike was quite jealous :).

After I got out and showered Mom and I went to the dolphin show and that was a lot of fun to watch as well. There was a woman there that was supposedly the mother of this little boy and the wife to the little boy's dad but it turned out she was a trainer. She was pretty clumsy - falling off her bench. One of the other trainers couldn't stop laughing, I guess that wasn't part of the act. We later discovered that she was a trainer when she "fell" into the pool and was "rescued" by one of the dolphins. But it was a trainer so that was hoax. But the show was fun anyway - I loved the dolphins.

After that we decided to get some dinner and head back to Paul's. I was tired and it had been a long day for both of us. When we got down to Paul's and I told him about my adventure with the beluga whales the first thing he said was..."Do you know how many germs and bacteria are in that pool?" When I told him I'd had a shower he seemed more at ease with the fact I was sitting on his couch. I went to bed soon after that, started a movie on my iPod and was asleep before it even began - lights on and everything.