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.