October - Month of Scares

Well it has been an interesting and definitely not boring month. Proabably the scariest thing that has happened to us was someone trying to follow me to my car as I was walking over to it to go to work one morning.


It was about 4:30 in the morning and I was walking to my car, fairly quickly because it was cold outside, and I heard someone start to wolf whistle me. Now I've only ever heard teenagers and people on TV actually do that so that made me pause and turn. Which I really wish I hadn't. There was a tall guy, with his face hidden in shadows, not too far from me. He was watching me as I walked to my car. When I started to walk again he wolf whistled me a second time, and then started to follow me. I jumped into my car and locked the doors, pulled out and drove quickly away.


Mike didn't have to work that day because he had a job interview somewhere else. So I talked to him on my lunch to make sure he was going to be home when I got home as I didn't want to come home to an empty apartment. He promised he would be - and when I got home he thought I was going to tell him I was pregnant. But I'm not - I told him what happened and he was very angry - insisting on walking me to my car in the morning from now on. And he did, it felt nice not being alone although I felt bad making him get up so much earlier than he had to.


Later that week Mike went to bed early as he had to go to work the next day and since I didn't have to go to work I was up watching a movie with both puppies curled up on my lap. About midnight I heard the door rattle. I thought it was my imagination at first but then it rattled again and the door knob started to twist. Priestly woke up with a start and started to growl. I panicked, grabbing both puppies I dashed into the bedroom, woke up my husband and trembled so hard the bed was shaking. I didn't sleep well, I kept having nightmares and when I finally got up the next morning I didn't want to stay here alone - I took both the puppies to my parents and I went shopping for black sweats to finish my Halloween costume. I called Mom and I told her what happened. She was very upset - and told me if we didn't have the money she was going to buy me a baseball bat. But we have Mike's cricket bat here in the apartment so I don't need one. It hasn't happened since and thank goodness for that.


I have both of the puppies costumes though and I got what I needed to finish my costume. Mike also got his costume last weekend and we had a Halloween party at Mom's yesterday. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but it was still a lot of fun - I was so tired though after working a full week, getting our apartment ready for bug spraying again as the whole building is having problems so they are spraying every apartment in an attempt to get rid of them and I have to finish that today, doing tons of house work, and cooking dinner at Mom's for everyone that I fell asleep during the movie. I wasn't disappointed about that it was boring. We left soon after that.


Halloween is coming up this week - Mike and I are going to Mom's to pass out candy in exchange for watching scary movies on the big screen and enjoying some of the candy ourselves. I just hope it isn't raining again.


Happy Halloween everybody!

Finished Products Are So Satisfying

You know how it feels when you finish a project you pour hours of work into? A scrapbook, painting, quilt, knitting, etc...well for me it's cross stitching. I love to cross stitch, not only does it distract me from some of the harder days I face and give me the stress relief I need it also gives me some gratification that I can take something so simple as a blank cloth and turn it into something beautiful. Sometimes it is hard to say good bye to the things I stitch as I put so much of my time and myself into these projects. I pick designs that I find beautiful because of what they are or what they represent.

This last week I finished a wolf cross stitch for my friend Mike Wilde. Last year while I was living with my Grandma and Grandpa Condie out it Tooele I was working on a wolf cross stitch to give to my Mom for Mother's Day. When I finished it I gave it to her early. She told me she couldn't take it to work with her because if Mike Wilde saw it he'd be jealous. He loves wolves. As a fellow wolf lover I immediately bought the colors and cloth I'd need and I began working on a new wolf cross stitch for him. But between the time I started it and the time I finished it I would get married, add two new puppies to our lives, and move twice, therefore delaying my finished project. But I finally got it finished, and with a month to spare before his birthday.

All my cross stitched projects take up a lot of time, and most of them I've spilled blood while working on them as I've jabbed myself with my needle. But for me it is all worth it in the end to see the finished product. As frustrated as I can get at times, as hard as it is to have to go back and undo stitches when I've miscounted, as frustrating as it can be when my progress feels so slow it is all worth it in the end when I see the final picture. I love cross stitching and I love the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done.

This Buck was the first big cross stitch I ever made. I gave it to my Dad for his birthday in 2006.

My friend Becky asked me if I would make two horse cross stitches for her nieces for Christmas in the year 2006. She said she'd pay me for them. The first horse I made for her was the Arabian. It took me four months and countless hours to get it done - I'd get up and work on it, I'd go to work for four hours as I was only working part time at the time and then I'd come home and work on it until I could no longer stay away. It was beautiful in the end but not one I'd like to do again.

This paint horse was the second horse cross stitch I did for Becky for her neices' Christmas presents. This one was much smaller so it only took me a week to get it finished. It might look simple but a lot of details were put into this for the shading and especially the grass and shadow of the horse. I wasn't sorry to see both of these projects finished as I was very stressed out at the time to get them finished before Christmas. I think I had them finished with five days to spare.

When I was dating my old boyfriend he loved Superman - and had a lot of Superman stuff. So I went online and found a DC Comic Cross Stitch Pattern book and I made this Superman cross stitch for his birthday only three months before we broke up. He might have thrown it away I don't know what happened to it now.

My sister Melinda and her husband Brent got married in December of 2008. I had no idea what to give them for a wedding gift and so I started to think. When I saw this pattern book of wedding cross stitch designs I bought it and immediately began to search through it seeing which pattern I should make for them. That way it was something personal and something that will hopefully last a lifetime. I spent three months and again countless hours making this for them, but they were both so surprised and they loved it. I know Melinda especially appreciated it because she knows how many hours I dedicate to these projects so I knew I picked the right gift for them.
This wolf cross stitch took me nearly two years to complete because I had stopped not long after beginning it because it was much more complicated than I had expected when I had bought it. But I loved the pattern so I started it up again when I moved out to Tooele to live with my Grandparents. It took me six months to finish when I got started up again and not two weeks after I finished it I gave it to my Mom for an early Mother's Day gift. She keeps it in her room and she loves it - not because she loves wolves but because she knows I made it for her.

And this is my gift for Mike Wilde. As simple as it might look it still took me over a year to get it finished and endless hours. When I saw the pattern in the book I didn't really care for it all that much but the more I worked on it the more I loved it and I realized just how beautiful the pattern really was. So I hope he likes it when he opens it next month when my Mom and I take him out to lunch for his birthday. Mom says he will for three reasons. 1. Because I made it just for him. 2. Because he knows how much time and effort goes into projects like these. 3. Because it has a wolf on it.

I'm now working on my newest project, it's called In Harmony and it is another wolf cross stitch. I haven't finished it yet because I just started it last week but below is what the project will look like when it's finished. When I have it done I'll post a picture of the actual cross stitch for you to see.

25 Years And Counting

Well I guess it's official. I'm 25 years old today, no more teasing Rose and Chantel that they're old because I'm just as old as they are now. That's just sad. :) It was fun while it lasted though.

Mom took me out for lunch yesterday - I told her I was in the mood for a hamburger so we went to Hires and I ordered chicken strips - mom found this very funny. When we were heading back to her office Mike called he told me he wasn't going to go into school on my birthday so he could spend the evening with me instead. I was surprised, but pleased as well knowing I wouldn't be by myself on my birthday.

We had a hard night last night, Priestly was up and down all night and woke me constantly, we had a thunderstorm around midnight that terrified Jack and he jumped onto the bed and was shaking so hard he made the whole bed shake with him. I tried to calm him down while trying to get back to sleep because I had to go to work in a few hours.

By the time my alarm went of I was tired because I hadn't gotten much sleep. I went to work and by the time I got home I was feeling my sleepless night. Mike called and said he'd be home in a little while. So I changed out my DVD's in my CD case so I have something new to listen to at work and was just barely starting to put new DVD's in after putting the others away when Mike got home and told me to hang out in the bathroom. So I went in the bathroom, taking Jack and Priestly with me. After a minute Mike called me back out to the living room and he brought me my gifts. He gave me gift cards for Best Buy, and Barnes and Noble. I also got an iTunes gift card and a new new playstation game - he also bought me a dirty outfit that made me blush. He said there are a couple of other things coming but he wouldn't tell me what so I'll have to wait and see what they are when they come.

After presents Mike took me out to dinner and we came home afterward to just relax. We are both tired after getting up so early and having so little sleep. My phone has been going all day from people wishing me happy birthday and I've had several messages from friends on face book as well. It's been a long day, but a good birthday this year. And now it's my turn to plan for Mike's birthday as that is coming up in about ten days now.

Our New Place

Well as you all know from my previous posts Mike and I moved out of the big house and into our own tiny little apartment. Grandma and Grandma Condie, Melinda, and Mike's twin Matt came to help us move. I was a little terrified because I wasn't sure what our apartment was really going to look like because the one bedroom we saw before didn't have the washer and dryer hooks ups in it and ours does. That apartment looked very cramped, the living room was small and so was the dining room. The bedroom was ok. But we loved it anyway - I was just worried with all that we were bringing that we wouldn't have room for a lot of our things so I only packed the essentials when we moved. I told Mike to do the same - but of course he didn't listen.


Moving was rough, we had had to change to a top floor apartment because the couple in the apartment we were going to have decided to stay for another month. And walking up and down those stairs over and over, lugging in boxes was very wearing. We started at about quarter to 3:00pm but around quarter after 4:00pm we decided to call it quits for the day. We thanked everyone for their help and Mike and I decided we'd finish unloading the truck the next morning.

By the time I got up at 6:30 the next morning Mike had already been awake for an hour and there were only four boxes left to bring in. Then he left for a job interview and I got to work setting up our new place. I couldn't stand having boxes all over because we couldn't move around at all. I worked non-stop for 9 hours setting up our apartment and by the time I called it quits our kitchen, living room, bathroom, and most of the bedroom was done. All that was left were a couple of boxes of Mike's things he'd need to sort out, our wall hangings that I wanted Mike's help with, and Mike's clothes. So in less than 24 hours I made the place look like home. We love it here and our neighbors are very friendly. The kids seem fascinated with our small dogs - and one of them was brave enough to come up and pet Jack the other day. Priestly even let one of the kids touch him. Pattie of course loves everyone.

We haven't had too many problems, except we need to call Sears because our dryer isn't working. And our garbage disposal stopped working this week - but that's the apartment building's job to take care of. So hopefully they'll send someone soon. Jack got sick this week so I took him down to Dad's for a few days so he can have access to go potty when he needs to go rather than waiting for us - he wasn't very happy when I left him there though. I'll pick him up and bring him home this weekend. Dad said that Jack's having a great time swimming in the swimming pool he bought for him. When I dropped him off I even let Priestly have a go at the pool, holding him under the chest while he doggy paddled and splashed Jack in the face. They miss their big brother and it is very empty without him. But he'll be home soon and we'll be a complete family once again. Anyway here are some pictures of our new place.


This is part of our kitchen and bar if you stood at our couch. I let Mike set up his computer here and used the space above our cupboards to place some of our wedding pictures. Since our apartment is small it has forced me to be creative in decorating.




This is our entertainment center - we don't have a dining room because our apartment is so small, but we hope to get a folding table and chairs for when we have guests visit. We improvised with the TV area, using the coffee table Arla gave us to put the TV, DVD player, Playstation and eventually Mike's game system when he gets that set up.






This is our bedroom.




As you can see the dogs have taken to our new place well. They all feel right at home making themselves comfortable on our bed.





This is our kitchen - and I was very surprised and pleased to discover that everything we had at the big house fit easily into our small kitchen here. Even our food storage. Our pantry is skinny but deep so we weren't even short on space for our soups!!!!






This is a corner of our living room. It took me quite a while to get all the DVD's put back in order but in the end it was worth it.



This is our couch and dog pillows there on the floor. Plus a box of Mike's that has been moved since I've taken this picture. I'm hoping to get some of our picture frames filled with our pictures soon because right now they are just the custom pictures the frames came with. Now that Mike has a job though we might be able to afford it.

Jump Rope

Does anyone remember those songs we used to sing when we jumped rope at school or at home when we were kids?

Cinderella dressed in yellow,
went upstairs to kiss a fellow.
Mad a mistake and kissed a snake
How many doctors did it take?

Or...

Hot fudge, call the judge,
(Kid's name) is gonna have a baby
Wrap it up in tissue paper
send it down the elevator what's it gonna be
Boy, girl, twins triplets...boy, girl, twins, triplets...

Or...the hardest one for me anyway

Blue bells, cockel shells,
Easy Ivy, overhead...
Then they'd swing the rope as fast as possible, probably trying to trip you up so they could have a turn. :)

Ahh, the good old days when life was much much simpler. Where the hardest thing was getting good grades in school, staying out of trouble and coming up with three names when you had triplets in your jump rope game. :)

Changes

A couple of weeks ago I came home from work to find Mike very upset. He was staring at his computer screen applying for as many jobs as he could. He turned around when he saw me and said I'd better start packing we were being kicked out. That sent me into a panic with me the only one working we were barely making ends meet as it was, let alone trying to find a new place to go and have to pay rent on top of it.

Needless to say I had a total breakdown that day, and I scared one of my best friend's half to death when she called me and I was crying so hard I could barely breathe let alone talk to her. I managed to choke out that I'd call her back, but she only gave me two minutes before she called me back in a panic, thinking something was seriously wrong and I couldn't breathe. She was on the verge of calling an ambulance for me. I managed to calm down enough to calm her down, then after talking to my sister Melinda I followed her advice and started looking up nearby apartments. The trouble was our three dogs, most of the apartments I looked at would only accept two and I knew if I had to I could give Jack back to Dad, but I didn't want to do that. I owe Jack my life the least I can do is give Jack a good one in return.

I heard back from the manager at Mountain Shadows Apartments about half an hour after I sent out e-mails to apartments that didn't give a lot of info on their pet policies. I asked how many pets were allowed and if they had a weight limit because a lot of places do. Jennifer, the manager there, told me that they had no weight limit. I told her we had three dogs and what breeds they were and she said even though they normally only allow two pets she'd make an exception for us because two of them were small. Plus it would only be $40 extra a month for all three of them instead of paying for them individually. I couldn't believe our luck. So we went down the following Monday to actually see the apartment, and despite that it's small, we love it. We could afford it if we were careful with our money so we went ahead and put down a deposit on it.

They even told us they could have it ready for us July 6th so that is when we are moving, within our three week time period that Arla gave us. Then on Wednesday Mike was offered a job, not only that a job he liked and he gets paid almost twice what I get paid. So he rubbed that in my face. I was very grateful and at the same time I felt very guilty. On Friday when I was having my breakdown and I had thought that maybe God had forgotten about us, that he'd stopped listening, or simply didn't care. I'd been so angry.

Of course as soon as Jennifer agreed to let us take our three dogs I instantly felt regret and I was on my knees instantly begging for forgivness as well as thanking him. I've always turned to my favorite poem when I've been most troubled because it makes me think that maybe, just maybe, while I'm focusing on just the one set of footprints in the sand I'm not focusing on whose prints they are and that this may be one of those times that the Lord is carrying me. I'm going to add it here because I just love the way this poem makes me feel.

Footprints In The Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky,
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there was only one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat,
I could only see one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord, that if I followed you,
You would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you the most, have you not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"My blessed child, I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trials and sufferings,
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

After Mike got his job this past week, and we found a place to live where we can take all three dogs, and knowing we won't starve I know that it wasn't that God wasn't listening, that he wasn't paying attention or that he'd stopped caring. He hadn't done any of those things. He was just looking at the whole picture while we can only see one tiny piece of the puzzle. Everything happens for a reason, I realize that now, and I'm so grateful for the blessings we've been given this week. Perhaps this was a test of faith for me, and I was tried to my limits, but then God made me see that in times of my hardest sufferings and trials I can always turn to him for help.

Mike and I have had trouble dealing with strangers coming in to look at the house for a while now. People can't seem to keep their hands to themselves when then come to look. They pet and play with our puppies, play our piano, eat our candy and throw wrappers on the floor. We've even had some things go missing right after they've left. So now Mike and I will have a place of our own where no one will come in and pet our dogs unless we tell them it's ok, no one will touch our things, take our things, or eat our food without our permission.

I've decided to give the piano to my sister-in-law Becky. We won't have room for it and it is an old old piano that weighs a ton, it'd be a pain moving it time and time again. We can always get another piano later when we buy a house in the future.

Arla also called this week. She is trying to get a job and saw that the Post Office is still hiring people where I work. I wasn't surprised they are always hiring. So Arla asked me how to apply for that position. I had to go online and look myself because they've changed it a lot since I got the job over two years ago. And before anyone sends me any hate messages complaining about the Post Office - I don't actually deal with mail pieces. I key images as they come onto a computer screen, that's it. What happens to them after they leave my screen is beyond my control. If it's return to sender, or postage needed, we are just keying what we are instructed to key. That's beyond us to do anything about it. I helped Arla get to the right place she needed to be so she could fill out an application. I'm a little worried about it though, I don't know if she understands just how stressful my job is. They expect you to be fast and accurate and if you get over a certain error % rate they fire you. Also if you are late even once you don't stand a chance for a career position, and they might fire you. If you are one of those lazy people who like to have a job but like to call in sick they fire you. When I was first hired on they put you on a trail period and when I came to the end of that my manager told me she was surprised to find someone my age with so much responisbility. I'm always on time, usually forty-fifty minutes early and I just read until my shift starts. I'm never absent, never call in sick, and I'm over 100% in every platform I key. I've had three different managers there now. My newest manager after I traded shifts told me I was a model employee and she said if all the other employees were like me we'd have a perfect REC. But I work hard at my job to be the best I can be. It isn't easy and yes I get stressed out a lot sometimes. But I still give it 110% all the time. It might seem like a laid back job, sit in a cubicle, listening to movies, music, audio books or anything else you want to listen to all day, but they also monitor your speed, your accuracy, and your breaks. Any mistakes and they catch you on it. It's a hard job - but I love it. I've never had a better one.

So over all, Mike and I have a new home, he has a new job, Mike, the dogs and I will stay together as a family, I'm doing great at my job, we aren't going to starve, and we will at last have a place to call our own where no one will barge in to look at it whenever they want. I look forward to being able to afford a house some day soon. Now that we can afford to do so we are going to start setting money aside so we can buy a house - a place we can truly call our own.

Ironic much?

So my first day back at work turned out to be a pretty ironic and stressful day, but that's mainly due to Jack. After Jack had his surgery last week I made sure he stayed inside and as clean as possible so he wouldn't get an infection in the surgerical site or pop his stitches.

Yesterday I took Priestly down to get his haircut. He was getting really shaggy and all his fur hung in his eyes. So I left Jack in Mike's care and headed out to get that done. When I got back Jack seemed fine, until I saw something hanging out of his side later that afternoon. It was a piece of hot pink string, or that's what it looked like but it was actually the stitching thread that they'd used on him he'd popped at least four of his stitches. So I called the vet's and made an appointment for him the next morning - Mike was anxious to get him in worried that'd bleed all over the place. Mike practically swoons at the sight of blood, even his own, and yet he pretends that he's a vampire? How can those two things co-exsist?

I was almost hoping that I could be the one to take Jack in just in case they needed to restitch him and I knew how Mike would handle that. But work was busy (which I'm grateful for more money that we need hooray!) and I asked Mike to send me an update on what the vet said about Jack's condition.

I got a text almost as I hit my seventh hour of work. Jack was fine, they'd decided to take out all the stitches for good this time. But on the bad side of things despite how careful I was Jack has an infection. Mike told me I'd have to be the one to give him his pills. Again squimish. How is he going to handle kids? :)

Unfortunately for him I'm going to make him help. Jack can only have his pills every twelve hours and he had his pill so late tonight I won't be able to give him one before I leave for work tomorrow. So I told Mike just coat the pill in peanut butter and that'll disguise it so Jack will take it easily. Bet you dollars to donuts Mike freaks out - but I sure do love him. There's never a dull moment when married to Mike.

Vacation Time

Well, last week I turned in 40 of my hard earned annual hours so I could take Jack in to the vets to get a large lump on his side removed. He's had it ever since we've had him and it hasn't been the first one we've needed to remove. It didn't seem to bother him unless we touched it and then he didn't like it but he wasn't very aware of it either. So I made an appointment to get him in to get it taken off.


I had to wake up early on Monday so that I could get ready and take him in. Of course Priestly threw the biggest fit when he saw Jack was going somewhere and as soon as I put him in his kennel he gave me the saddest eyes I've ever seen. Call me a sucker because I took him with us. We got down to the vet just in time for Jack's appointment. Of course he was nervous and tried to sit on my lap while we were waiting, which ended up with him knocking my purse to the filthy floor. Priestly was too excited to be nervous he knew that he wasn't in there for anything. But when I was asked to put him on the scale so we could weigh him Priestly had other ideas. When we finally got him to hold still long enough we discovered that he's gained almost two pounds since the last time we took him to the vet. I laughed because he doesn't look any different and he's still so light to pick up - I could hold him all day and never get tired. Pattie on the other hand if I pick her up my arms ache after five minutes. So Priestly is now a healthy 5 1/2 pounds of wiggling puppy.


After we were taken into the exam room and asked what we were in for I told him and he told me that I'd have to come back Tuesday or Wednesday to get that done because they were already booked up for surgeries that day. That made me very mad. There hadn't been any surgeries booked when I'd called and made the appointment and I'd even gotten the first appointment of the day. I told him that when I called I'd booked to get it removed, not looked at, but removed. He was probably very aware of how angry I was because he went and talked to the vet in charge of the surgeries who said we could get Jack in. Needless to say after I found out the price I will definitely not be going back to that clinc again. As far as I'm concerned they can burn his records.


Tuesday was Stephen's birthday. Jack was still very sore from his surgery the day before and has several stitches keeping the wound closed so he's not allowed to play until after those are removed. So I got up early and made Stephen's birthday cake then later that afternoon I loaded up the puppies and took them with me so Jack could get some sleep without the puppies howling downstairs.

It was fun, I still can't believe my baby brother's turned 22, but then again I can't believe I'm going to be 25 this year either. Mike wasn't able to go as he had school but I let the puppies out in the backyard to play and we did dinner and presents and cake. Brent kept saying that cake should come before presents because when you already had the cake it made you more excited about the presents. It made us all laugh. I went home right after cake so I could get back to Jack.


Wednesday we had a quiet day at home, something I'd hoped for when I asked for vacation time. Thursday I had invited Stephen up for dinner. He wanted lasagna with French bread and wanted to try my rainbow Jell-O. So I'd been working on the Jell-O for the past couple of days to get it ready as it does take quite a bit of time to get it together. I put that together as well as the lasagna in the morning and put them in the fridge for later. I told Stephen I'd go pick him up because he had no way of getting up here, but some friends were going to pick him up later because he was going to a dance. Stephen really enjoyed everything and had seconds of everything, but had a hard time finishing his Jell-O it doesn't look like much but it is actually quite a bit and that took him by surprise. We passed the time after dinner looking at some slideshows I've put together on my new laptop and watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and laughing at the jokes. Some things never change we both still like Ninja Turtles.





Friday I woke up very sick. Mike was alarmed at how warm I was and made me stay on the couch all day. He enjoyed playing doctor a lot. Running around and fetching things for me even though I didn't want them. He particularly enjoyed making me drink icky poo orange juice. Even though it is good for me I still hate it - but I drank it. Mom and Melinda dropped off some things for me that night and Mike had fun giving them to me. I think maybe he had too much fun playing doctor.


Saturday I felt a little better so we went to MAHARG night for dinner. But by the time we were done with that and our early Father's Day I was exhausted and just wanted to go home. So we came home around 8:00.


Sunday passed in pretty much the same fashion I was still pretty sick so we stayed home so I could rest up and try to get better before I have to go back to work tomorrow. I went downstairs and finished my bottle of water then refilled it with tap, sticking it in my usual spot on the second shelf. When I went to get it later I was surprised to find it gone. I asked Mike if he drank it and he smiled and shrugged. I told him that was my icky sicky water and he was going to get my sickies because he drank it. He told me it was only a little bit gone but then I revealed that I had just refilled it. That threw him for a loop and he made such a fuss that it left me rolling on the floor holding my sides to keep from falling apart I couldn't stop laughing.


Overall it was a pretty good vacation. I got to go see Chantel and the new baby again while waiting for Jack's surgery to be over with, I got to bake Stephen some of my favorite things to make, Priestly and Pattie got to run around Dad's big backyard, Jack now has two shaved areas - on the surgical site and on his leg plus he has hot pink stitiches - that way you can't miss them. Mike almost threw up when he saw Jack's stitches and that made me laugh, our small fan pooped out on us so now we have a bigger one and Pattie loves to sit there and let the fan blow the hair from her face, Priestly hasn't been allowed in Jack's kennel in case he pulls at Jack's stitches so he's discovered the joys of sleeping on the bed next to me. And I've discovered something too - no matter how rotten a week is you can always go back and recall things you really liked about parts of it.

Long Few Weeks

Well, it has been a long few weeks, and super busy at best. And I doubt this next week will be much better, not with everything I'm doing. It feels like I've had very little downtime for myself lately, and Mom pointed that out to me last Saturday.

I guess it started a few weeks ago, Arla is still trying to sell the house we are living in even though no one is interested in buying it. They just want to look around and the Relator Arla hired hated our dogs. Like with a passion hates them because they barked at her when she showed up three hours late and no one was home. Of course Jack is going to growl and bark at her we have "Beware of Dog" signs on the sign on our doors for a reason. Priestly has also started playing the part of guard dog, a habit he's picked up from Jack, but Yorkie's are known to be good guard dogs. Priestly thinks he's the biggest dog in the house and puts even Jack in his place. When Jack has enough he tries to smack Priestly with his paw but Priestly is too fast for him.

Anyway, Jack had been feeling sick that week. Mike had woken up Tuesday morning to Jack breathing in his face. Mike pushed him away and rolled over to go back to sleep. Then he heard what he discribed as a wet raspberry sort of sound coming from the corner of the bed where Jack was and then it began to stink. Mike just thought Jack was farting at first but then the smell didn't go away. So he got up to check and was very angry when he saw Jack had had an accident because his stomach was so upset. I wasn't angry with Jack he had tried to let Mike know that he had to go out but Mike had ignored him. I was upset when the light was turned on at 2:00 in the morning when I had to get up to go to work in less than two hours. Mike cleaned up the carpet muttering to himself the whole time then went to his office to wait for me to officially wake up so he could clean the carpets with the shampoo machine. I couldn't fall back asleep so when my alarm went off at 3:30 I just rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. Mike had put Jack in there so Jack kept me company while I got dressed and ready for work.

When I came out Mike was standing there, hands on his hips, glaring at me. Now, what happened wasn't my fault and I wasn't going to take any crap from him about it. When Mike told me what happened I couldn't help but laugh. The situtation was anything but funny but the faces Mike was making and the sounds he used to add to the story were too funny not to laugh at. Mike saw the funny side later that day and he got over it.

That Thursday I woke up to Jack breathing in my face and I rolled over to go back to sleep but when I heard him pass gas I was up and out of bed so fast that Mike thought something was wrong. He shot up and asked me what the matter was, but I didn't have time to answer I had grabbed Jack by the collar and was hauling him to the bedroom door, where I quickly unlocked and opened it for him, he ran down the stairs and was waiting by the back door to be let out. I felt relieved, until I got a text from Mike later that morning. He said that Jack had had not one but two accidents and that it was high time Jack got a kennel. So I took all three dogs down to my parents that afternoon and I went shopping for a kennel.

Now we have kennels for the puppies - they are the ASPCA brand and were only about thirty dollars each for their size. For Jack's size they were between seventy to eighty dollars. We don't have that kind of money right now so I looked for something else. I found a nylon kennel that you can fold up and store for only thirty dollars. It was perfect so I got that one and pulled it out for Jack to try when I got back to my parents. Jack seemed to like it, but unfortunately, Priestly liked it too. I couldn't get Priestly out of it, and finally turned it up so that the door was facing the ground and shook it gently to get Priestly to come out.

That afternoon Dad asked if I'd color for him. It turned out that he had a project he needed to get done for his safety calling for the stake. He had to outline and color certain areas on the neighborhood map and then write in the house numbers on larger maps. I colored two of the smaller maps and then wrote the numbers in on the larger maps. Dad was so pleased he asked if I'd finish them for him. I told him I'd finish them if I could take the smaller maps home because I wanted to go home. I was getting tired at this point and I still had to work the next day. So I packed up the colored pencils, markers, and maps as well as the dogs and headed home. I set up Jack's kennel in the kitchen with a few pillows and he seemed content enough to be in there. All three dogs slept in their respective kennels while I worked on the maps for four more hours before finally calling it a night and turning in.

Mike got home early from school and we went up to bed. But were not able to go to sleep thanks to a chorus of howling from downstairs. First Jack would howl then Priestly would echo him, then Jack would howl again and Priestly would echo him. Mike went down there to tell Jack to be quiet but came back fairly quickly and told me to come look. I got up and went down to look and saw Jack's kennel stuck in between the baby gate and the kitchen wall, he'd managed to flip his kennel over to the baby gate and push it open slightly but had gotten stuck. So we put him back and went upstairs. Mike bet me a dollar that Jack would get out but I told Mike he didn't have any dollars to spare as he doesn't have a job. A minute later Mike went to get a drink, but hadn't even left the room all the way when he called me again. I went over to see Jack sitting outside our glass livingroom door smiling a doggy smile at us.

Irritated and angry I grabbed Jack and took him back to his kennel before heading back upstairs. But I only made it halfway before I heard a thumpety-thump thumpety-thump and so I turned around and sat on the stairs to watch. Jack was standing up in his kennel on his hind legs and was pushing against the roof of the kennel to flip it over to make it move. Mike found this very funny. We decided that Jack would find a way to get up the stairs one way or another, kennel or no kennel so we let him out, took the kennel upstairs to our room and put him back in. He didn't move or make a sound the rest of the night. I still didn't sleep well because Mike was laughing so hard over the image of Jack flipping the kennel around the kitchen he made the bed shake all night.

I finished Dad's maps the following day after another 4 1/2 hours and about a week later I finished the large maps for him too by writing in the numbers. Victoria's family was going out of town and hadn't invited her so she asked to stay the weekend with us. So I had to go down there to pick her up Saturday night, even though she wouldn't get off work until 10:30pm. I told her that was fine.

The Thursday before she was supposed to stay our second microwave pooped out on us. So I had to go buy a new one Friday. I went with my Dad and when I stopped at the house Mom told me that we were invited to go celebrate Grandma Condie's birthday with her by going up to Tooele for dinner if we wished. Mike was all for it so I told her we'd go. Mom picked us up for dinner and we enjoyed spending the time up with my Mom and Grandparents exchanging stories and visiting. After dinner we went to Grandma's to watch her open presents but by this time I was getting tired. It was after 9:00pm and I'm usually in bed by then. We finally left close to 10:00pm and we got home a little after 10:30. I didn't get to bed until after 11:00pm and got up at 4:00am the next morning to go to work. So I was pretty cranky and tired.

I got a call from my friend Chantel around 6:30am that morning telling me that she had had her baby even though she was five weeks early and she wanted me to come see her in the hospital. Since I was going to Riverton anyway I decided to go down and see her that day. Mom called me later and told me to try and take a nap if I got off work early before coming down to Riverton. She said I'd been doing things for everyone else lately and she knew how tired I must be because we hadn't gotten home until late. I didn't have time for a nap though and I knew it. I wanted to get the bathroom cleaned when I got home and get some laundry going. Work was busy so I worked a full day and when I got home Mike was waiting for me. He told me that I looked exhausted and to go relax while he cleaned the bathroom for me (isn't he sweet?) so I relaxed for about forty minutes before getting ready to go.

When Priestly saw I was leaving again he threw a big stink. So I loaded him into the car and took him with me. I dropped off my items at the library and Priestly at my parents then went down to the hospital to visit Chantel and the baby. Then I went back to my parents and that was when I finished the big maps for my Dad. Then very tired at this point as it was almost 10:00pm I got Priestly into the car and we waited for Victoria in the parking lot.

Victoria spent the night and all of Sunday with us, and I took her home Sunday night. Monday I was so tired from doing things for everyone else all weekend I just wanted to stay home and relax. Mike, however, wanted chocolate chip cookies bad and begged me to make some. So I spent the next three hours making cookies and fixing dinner. I talked to Chantel who had brought the baby home and she too said cookies sounded good. Since we had a lot I promised to bring her some later in the week.

On Wednesday after I got off I went down to visit Chantel and to take her some cookies. It was nice just spending some time with her and seeing the baby again. To catch up on girl talk and just let off some frustrations that we both had been storing up.

So here it is Saturday again and this next week I'm on paid vacation from work. Jack is going in for surgery Monday morning to get a lump on his side removed so I want to be home for recovery time with him. Tomorrow we are going to Aunt Shirleen's for Alexis' graduation party for a bit, Monday is Jack's surgery and I'm going to see Chantel again while I'm waiting for him to be finished, Tuesday is Stephen's birthday. We don't have money for gifts so he wants me to make him my chocolate cake with homemade frosting and mini chocolate chips on top of it - it's Mike's favorite cake. Thursday Stephen is coming down for dinner one last time before they go to Thailand for a month. Saturday we are doing game night and Father's Day at Mom's and hopefully the rest of the week I can spend being with my dogs and husband and enjoying my time off. But that doesn't seem likely.

The Rule Enforcers

Yes, ok, I know that enforcers isn't a word, but it is now. It has been the new title given to my Mom and Grandma Condie. This all began a few months ago I suppose when Melinda sent out her graduation time and date to family through e-mail. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go as work has been reluctant to give anyone time off lately because they don't know how busy it will be. So when I got my schedule I had to e-mail Melinda and let her know I couldn't go as I was working. I asked her if I could get her a card and candy bar or something. She told me absolutely not. So I ignored her and got her something anyway.

As it turns out I was able to go after all. Work turned out to be really slow so when they offered and early out I seized the chance and hurried out so I could make it to Melinda's graduation. I got to Mom and Dad's and helped Mom finish her hair so we could go. On the way up to Logan I snacked on pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and got melted chocolate on my fingers. I'm a messy cookie eater. :)

When we got up to the graduation ceremony area Dad and I went in to save seats for the rest of the family. Well, as always they had roped off a small section for photography so we sat in the row behind that. We saved ten seats. And after a few minutes we saw two very familiar people on the opposite side of the building sitting down. Dad tried to call them to tell them where we were, and I had to laugh as he struggled to get a hold of them. Finally after calling twice Grandpa called him back. We waved to them so they could see where we were so they came over to sit by us. I soon spotted Mom and Brent as well. When Brent's parents arrived Brent went up to get them and when he brought them I exchanged my nice warmed up seat for a freezing cold one. I regretted that the second I sat down.

Well, the graduation ceremony was scheduled to start at 1:30pm. At 1:20pm a lady and her daughter came down, looked around and discovered that there weren't any front row seats left. So she pointed to the taped off area and started to count chairs as she pulled the tape off.

My Mom, sandwiched inbetween my Grandma and I, was very irked by this. And their following conversation went something like this...

Mom: "Um, hello, excuse me."

Snobby Rude Lady: (turns and looks at my Mom): "Yes?"

Mom: "You can't sit there it's roped off."

Snobby Rude Lady: "Yes, but it says photography section." (She holds up her camera)

Me: "It means professional photography."

Snobby Rude Lady's Daughter (counts the rows on with her fingers, maybe she can't add in her head?) "But there are six rows reserved."

Grandma: "Yes but they're reserved for a reason."

Snobby Rude Lady's Daughter: "I don't think they're gonna have this many professional photographers for this graduation."

Mom: "It doesn't matter you aren't supposed to sit there."

At this point Snobby Rude Lady and her Daughter look at each other give all three of us dirty looks and walk into the aisle again.

Snobby Rude Lady: "Fine, whatever."

Snobby Rude Lady's Daughter: "Gee, thanks for enforcing the rules."

Determined to have her own way Snobby Rude Lady went down to one of the camera guys and asked him, of course he was on the ceremony floor so she just undid the chain and let herself. (Can you believe the nerve of some people? Seriously?) Apparently he told her she could sit there. So she goes to sit in the middle section on our side, but then thought better of it. Maybe she thought her hair would catch fire as Mom and Grandma were looking at her with such red hot eyes I'm suprised she just didn't combust right then and there. So she undid the chain and they walked across the ceremony floor to the opposite side and sat in the section opposite of us in the taped off section. But she couldn't seem to make up her mind on where she wanted to sit. First she had them sit in the middle, then a few minutes later she moved them to the aisle seats.

After the ceremony began we discovered why those sections were taped off. It was so family members could move around easily while taking pictures. Of course thanks to Snobby Rude Lady others followed her example on the opposite side and sat in the taped off section. So the poor family members over there had to sit in the aisles to take pictures. I don't understand how some people can think they can just arrive ten minutes before something like this starts and get a front row seat.

So my mom now has a new "best friend" and Snobby Rude Lady might think twice before crossing my family again. But it was so worth going yesterday. Not only to see my sister get her degree but to see my Mom and Grandma be dubbed "The Enforcers".

Rediscovered Joys of Life

For the past couple of weeks Mike has been working the night shift at work, leaving me completely alone with hardly anything to do in his absence. Fortunately I came upon the idea of asking my Mom if I could borrow a couple of puzzles that we used to do growing up. She told me that I could keep them as she didn't want them. So Mike and I went down to their house last Monday and to my utter surprise, when I told Dad why we were there he promptly loaded up every puzzle they had in the closet. I had only been hoping for a few but he gave me a lot.

That night when Mike went to work I went down to Tina's to have my hair redone. It didn't take as long as she thought it would. So I stopped in to say hi to Sue and to drop off The Bean Trees for her and then I came home and started working on puzzles. I did the Beauty and the Beast puzzle before moving on to the Disney Fantasy puzzle. I didn't finish the Fantasy puzzle because I grew too tired and went to bed.

The next day after I got home from work and after putting in a load of laundry I sat down with the dogs and began to work on the puzzle again. Priestly seemed very interested in the pieces of the puzzle, but didn't ever seem curious enough to pick one up so I paid him no mind. I regretted that. He wasn't interested in the pieces I was using he was interested in the pieces I had left in the box. After half an hour or so I heard an odd grinding noise, so I turned to check on the dogs and to my utter horror Priestly was on the back of the couch chewing on a puzzle piece. I managed to snatch it away from him, but now we have a puzzle that has puppy teeth marks on one of the pieces. Oh well, the puzzle was missing pieces anyway what's a piece with a few teeth marks on it?

The next puzzle I started was a Seascapes puzzle called Search For Harmony. It is really pretty with dolphins swimming around in the water and the sun setting over the mountains. So there are a lot of blues and purples and pinks and some green. I thought...wow it's so pretty and it looks simple enough. Ha! Did I eat my own words, I hadn't even finished the border when I knew this puzzle was going to be the hardest puzzle I'd ever done. But I started it and I was determined to finish it.

Mike said he would come home after work and could tell when I'd worked on the puzzle as I'd put it on the kitchen counter as it has smaller pieces and I was worried about the puppies swallowing a piece. So he could see my progress as I worked on it each day.

When Arla and Albert (for those who don't know they are my mother and father in law) came over Sunday for dinner Arla was delighted to see a puzzle on the table and tried to put a few pieces together. After a few minutes she got discouraged and told me she wasn't sure how I could stand doing this puzzle as it was quite hard. I agreed, I've never done a puzzle over 500 pieces before and this one is 750. But I was determined to finish it. So I worked on it after they left and today Monday April 19th, I Candace Christine Funk have finished the puzzle! I was so proud of myself. I had to do a victory dance while the dogs watched me in rapt amusement. But I didn't care the puzzle was very hard and I was very frustrated at times as it felt as though I weren't getting anywhere with it. But I did and you know what I look forward to taking it apart and doing it again some time. It was a lot of fun. It was nice listening to movies and working on something that was stimulating enough for me to have to try and search out each piece, which is probably why I like puzzles so much. The Disney ones are simple as they are much larger pieces, but I look forward to doing more like this.

Silver Lining

Well it has been a while since I've posted anything here. Life has been hectic lately and very tiring. But somehow I've managed to survive, which is a mircale in and of itself. I've learned that the best way to go through life is to look for the silver lining with everything that happens and it helps me to pull through. Sometimes its harder than others but it is always there.

These past few months have been a fine example of finding the silver lining. Mike and I have been adjusting to married life, learning each other quirks and overlooking some of the things that bother us. For me it is the little things that tend to bug me the most. Bath towels slung over the sink or on the bed, cereal bowls not being rinsed out, spots on the counter when Mike makes his smoothies and they spill over. I was worried that maybe I was just being too sensitive - so I consulted my friends about it. And surprise surprise I'm not the only one who feels that way. I was so relieved.

On top of that Mike and I have three dogs, which often times feels like three children. We have our fights over them and our compromises, but it all works out. Luckily for us one of them is already potty trained so he is a good example for the two puppies. Jack and Priestly are tied together almost literally in their unique bond. Wherever Jack goes Priestly follows, and wherever Priestly goes Jack tries to follow. Sometimes that gets Jack into trouble as he can't always go where Priestly goes as Jack is much bigger than he is. Priestly also likes to tease Jack at times, but Jack doesn't seem too interested in being teased. When he's taken enough he'll swat Priestly on the head with his paw and send him on his way. But the two share almost everything. I'll give Priestly a bone, Jack will take it. I give Jack a bone Priestly will help Jack chew it. I give Priestly a ball Jack takes it, I give Jack a ball - well Jack hogs it. I give Priestly a bath Jack will hop right in so he can have one too. I let Jack out to go potty Priestly has to go to. I give Priestly his dinner and Jack wants his. I give Jack a treat Priestly wants one. If Jack has a nap Priestly wants one too. If I'm in the kitchen cooking I will look down to see Jack asleep and Priestly on Jack's back sound asleep.

This past week I had family coming up for dinner. So I cleaned the house frantically, wanting to have it nice and clean when they came. I started a part of the dinner Wednesday as it would need to be in the fridge for 24 hours before I could cut it into squares. So I was basically cooking and cleaning frantically from Tuesday to Saturday. Only to have my family stay on the ground floor. The silver lining here - I have a clean house so I don't need to do anything until later on this week when I'll have to clean the bathroom again.

Today I spent my allowance for the next month and half or so getting a permanent straightening solution put in my hair. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon getting my hair done and enjoyed being pampered. When I came home Mike said that the puppies had had an accident on the floor. The silver lining - it is easier to clean it off a tiled floor than the carpet. They are still learning - but they are getting better at it.

Yesterday I let the dogs out and Pattie didn't want to come back in. With no shoes on I chased her around the back yard and failed to catch her - she thought it was a great game until I finally snagged her by the tail. She gave me a defeated look but surrendered. She paid for her little game by going to bed early. The silver lining? Well I'm not too sure on this one but I think Priestly's enthusiastic dance and sticking his nose through the bars of her kennel like he was mocking her made me laugh. So maybe that was it.

Tina told me I'm not allowed to wash my hair for the next 48 hours, or to even get it wet. Sure it smells nice now...but I don't envy it in 48 hours. But the silver lining - at least I don't have to do my hair for a couple of days, though that might not be the most positive thing. Well, plus for me - less time I have to spend in the bathroom in the morning. :)

Still have several things to do this week. I've got dinner group Saturday with Rose and Chantel which I love. It gives me some good girl time. We are going to Rose's this month. She is making homemade pizza, I'm making breadsticks, and Chantel is going to make brownies. I've had a lot of fun with dinner group with my two of my best girl friends. And it has been fun to learn some new recipes as well. It makes it more fun as we are trying new things. We promised to always try it and we have benefitted from it.

Sunday is Easter. The silver lining - tons of yummy candy. The down side - buring off all those calories from said candy. Man how come everything very pleasing in life has some kind of downside to it?

I'm also making dinner for my mother and father in law on Sunday. Maybe I'll try making lasagna in a hard roll for them...something we did for dinner group and it was good. I'll try and be better about updating this - but I won't promise as when I promise I often break them and that is the same as lying. And despite the jokes I make I really don't want to be punished with the murderers and theives in Hell for something as stupid as lying. But I promise I'll try. That I can say honestly.

Honeymoon Thursday - Sunday Blog

Thursday we went up to Hollywood Studios. But upon getting there we discovered there really isn't much to do there. There were only a couple things that even appealed to me. We went and saw the Indiana Jones show and that was quite entertaining. Then Mike suggested the Muppets 3D show and that was fun. The little girl next to me was very entertaining. She kept jumping every time something came at her, but afterwards she insisted that she hadn't been scared once. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. I had seen her sink so low in her chair that if I hadn't know she was there I wouldn't have noticed her.

After that we went on the backstage movie making tour. We watched them shoot a scene with a few volunteers and it made us laugh when they got wet. Then we watched it all put together with dialogue and sound effects it was pretty cool, even though the volunteers will never have a hope of getting into the movies. Their acting wasn't very good. :O)

Then we went for a ride through the back lot and got to see where the costumes and scenery is made. We got to see Captin Jack Sparrow's costume - so that was pretty cool. Then we had a walking tour and got to see props and costumes. Some with movies as recent as The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Enchanted. We decided to end our Disney day after that and grabbed our bus back to the hotel.

We decided to try out my new Transformers Monopoly game. Mike and I both chose deceptacon pieces. I was Ravage - the awesome cat from the second movie while he chose Megatron. I think I made a better bad guy than Mike because I dominated him. It took us a couple hours but eventually he went bankrupt.

After our game we walked down to the movie theater. We decided to see New Moon because he had promised to go with me. He was enjoying it so much that he fell asleep. It took me several pokes to wake him up again. After the movie was over he told me that he didn't like it. Which is a shame as I liked it better than Twilight. I teased him about falling asleep as we walked to Planet Hollywood for dinner. And if anyone ever goes to Planet Hollywood and orders the half roasted chicken - they mean that literally. From breast to leg. I've never seen a place give you so much chicken. And neither had Mike apprarently. He was just as surprised as I was.

Friday at Sea World turned out to be rainy and cold. The skies were cloudy and gray when we woke up. We took a hotel car up to Sea World and by the time we got there it was raining. My good outlook on the day quickly dampened as Mike's attitude soured with the weather.

We had our interaction with the dolphins first. Going backstage to get a trainers view of the dolphin and whale show. Then we went and saw where the dolphins had their medical exams. Then we went to the dolphin cove where we met our trainer and the three dolphins we would be working with. We had the teens of the group, and the acted just like three unruly teenage boys. But it was such an amazing experience. Mike told me that I'd better feed them because he wasn't touching any smelly fish. He really seemed to like interacting with the dolphins though. They feel like rubbery saran wrap. Mike's mood brightened a lot while we were there.

After the dolphins we got lost in the park trying to find our way to the Arctic Adventure. They made the park very hard to navigate it was so frustrating. But we finally found our way there and we looked through the gift shop while waiting for our next interaction to begin. We were supposed to meet at the big bronze bear, so we took pictures next to it to pass the time.

Soon after that the tour began and we were taken in the back to put on our wet suits. I had forgotten how freaking uncomfortable they are. Seriously? How do you forget something like that? Of course you don't focus on that when you get in the pool with the whales. They were just as sweet as before. They did do some different tricks than the ones in California. They gave us hugs, which meant that they literally swam into your lap and put their face into your chest while you wrapped your arms around their huge heads. They also splashed us a lot more. We were soaked when we came out. Literally dripping with salt water. Afterwards we got in the shower - and all the hot water was gone, so I was in and out within a couple minutes, looking forward eagerly to getting back to the hotel to take a hot one.

We decided to call it an early day after grabbing some quick lunch. The rain wasn't letting up and we were both miserable and tired. So we came back to the hotel, took very hot showers and relaxed. Mike took a nap and I tried watching bad TV before giving it up as a bad job and calling home to see who would be picking us up Sunday. My five minute call quickly turned into an hour long call as Mom wanted to know all about our trip. I think she had more fun listening than we had actually had doing. :)

Saturday we went to Universal Studios. I admit I wasn't too thrilled about the day. Mike seemed enthusiastic about The Blue Man Group, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I don't like concerts and avoid them for that reason. So when we got to the park it was cold and wet, much like it had been at Sea World the day before. So I was glad that we had brought our umbrella and the sweatshirts that we had bought at Sea World the day before. We went down the street, passing The Incredible Hulk ride but paused as we got to Spider-Man . After checking with the attendant there and making sure it wasn't a roller coaster we decided to brave it.

It was AWESOME!!!!! It was a 3D simulated ride that took you on a Spider-Man adventure. The first time scared me a little because at the end of the ride you fall of a sky scraper and plummet to the ground, only to be save by a web net at the last minute. But it was a blast, Mike and I went on it two more times right away before wandering off to see what else was around.

The pathe led us straight to Jurassic Park. After determining that both rides there were too scary for me to try we just wandered around the trails taking pictures with all the dinosaurs. Then we wandered into a gift shop where we tried on dinosaur hats. Mike got a good laugh at me when we did that but he looked just as goofy as I did. Then we went inside and looked at the exibits there. We saw a rapter hatch from an egg and one of the kids named her Biter. Mike and I took turns doing the DNA dino simulation. Both the Canaceosaurus and the Mikeadon looked pretty ugly. But it was fun none the less.

After Jurassic Park we wandered into Dr. Seuss Land. We saw The Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 but didn't get pictures with them. I did insist on pictures with the characters from Green Egss and Ham. When it was my turn Mike took my picture, when he wasn't looking Sam-I-Am gave me a kiss. Mike laughed when I told him. Then we saw the Grinch and of course we had to have a picture with him.

Then we walked back through the comic strip area, and Mike saw Betty Boop. She is his favorite so he wanted pictures.

After that we went on Spider-Man two more times. Mike got kind of dizzy so we grabbed some lunch. Mike got the fish and I got pizza. He was pleased but wasn't too satisfied, I wasn't either it wasn't that great. Then we went on Spider-Man for the last time before moving on to the other side of the park.

The first thing I noticed was the I Love Lucy memorial store. I HAD to check it out. It was so cool. There was a display that showed how they had the stage set up. I tried my hand at the I Love Lucy Quiz and got all the answers right of course. Then we wandered around the gift shop.

After that we went on the Shrek 4D ride. Well it was more like a movie and your chair moves a lot. But it was fun. Then I braved Twister, which was actually really boring. You basically stand there and watch a twister go around destroying things on set. We didn't even get wet. Mike complained about that loudly for several minutes after we left.

Then we saw a giant Garfield the Cat balloon they were going to use for the parade later. We both love Garfield so we took pictures with him. Then I saw Jaws. So we took pictures with the shark before going on the ride. I was a little disappointed. Jaws kept attacking the other side of the boat and I only got to see him once or twice.

After that we walked over to The Simpson's ride. It was another simulated ride, just like Spider-Man but without the 3D. Also you don't leave the room on The Simpson's ride. Again I loved it. You start going on a roller coaster, then it takes you all the way through Springfield. It was so much fun and so funny too. Mike and I went on it three times in a row before we had to head over to the concert.

Blue Man group was very entertaining and funny. It wasn't even like a real concert. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I loved on part in particular. When they selected an older lady from the audience, took her on stage and they all ate twinkies with knives and forks. It was very funny.

Sunday we went to Magic Kingdom one last time - but after all the rides at Universal Studios it wasn't as much fun as it was the first time. Although we did see Winnie-the-Pooh and took pictures with him. Again I got a kiss. Mike asked what was up with the characters kissing me. I have no idea.

Overall we had a great time in Florida but it was so good to come back to Utah. I tried to upload pictures on here but couldn't do it. So if anyone wants to see pictures feel free to e-mail me at Deanwinchesterfan1985@live.com and I will send you some pictures of our trip.

Honeymoon Saturday-Wednesday Blog

Saturday we had a late start, but eventually we rolled ourselves out of bed. We played card games and opened the cards we had gotten from the reception. Mike ate my ham sandwich that the reception center had packed for me, but we eventually went to lunch - when I was hungry enough because I wasn't very hungry for some reason. We went to Smokey's Bar and Grill. Mike got fish and I got a burger. Their fries were easily the best fries I have ever had in my life. After that we just enjoyed TV. It was a good movie night on USA so we watched 50 First Dates, Stuart Little 2 and Bruce Almighty.

Sunday we got up early so we could go to Stephen's homecoming talk. When we got back to the house afterwards Shirleen's family wanted to meet Priestly. He definitely stole the spot light. He missed me a lot, when I tried to take his picture he kept trying to climb my skirt or jumped off the bed to land on my lap. So I eventually took him outside to play. Everyone thought it was so cute as he followed me back and forth across the yard and hid behind my skirt.

Mike and I had to leave for the airport by 3:00. By the time we got there I felt very sick. I hate flying and I am terrified of planes. Mike kept trying to comfort me by telling me to daydream about Supernatural's Dean. But even that didn't help. By the time we were on the plane and on the runway I was in tears, trying very hard to hide them from Mike. But we made it safe and sound and I had managed to stop crying once we were in the air. We didn't get to Florida until almost midnight their time, so we just wearily climbed into bed as we were exhausted.

On Monday morning we went to Magic Kingdom. Mike laughed when he handed me a map and I saw what rides were available to go on. He said my face lit up like a kid's on Christmas. We headed for my favorite ride - Peter Pan. Then we went on It's A Small World, Snow White, Winnie-the-Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Jungle Cruise, and The Haunted Mansion. My favorite was Winnie-the-Pooh as you get to bounce around with Tigger and I thought that was fun.

Tuesday Mike went down to the school he was hoping to go to this fall to see what it was like. I was very sick so I stayed in the motel and watched horrible daytime TV. We didn't do much when he got home either so it wasn't a very exciting day.

Wednesday we went to Animal Kingdom. It was a lot like a big zoo except for the Safari where the animals roam free. On our way out Mike and I each got a temporary tatoo and then Mike almost swallowed a bug. I found that very funny and laughed all the way back to the buss stop. Mike wasn't amused. But then again he was the one who almost swalled the bug. I wouldn't be happy either.

We came back to the room to wait for the bus that would take us to downtown Disney. Mike took a nap and I tried to entertain myself with TV but again found it very boring. Around 5:30 or so I went in and woke Mike up. He needed to get dressed so we could go down and catch our bus. It didn't take him long and we went downstairs and waited on the bus bench for almost 45 minutes, then we decided to just forget it and walk to downtown Disney. As we reached the sidewalk our bus came in. I wasn't going to run for it so we decided to just keep walking. It was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel anyway.

We had fun going from store to store. We visited the Giant Toy Store, the Kitchen store, Pooh corner, and Goofy's Candy Company. We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Mike got probably one of the most expensive meals on the menu. The steak, shrimp, and ribs plate complete with fries. I ordered the pot roast. It was pretty good. Mike offered me some of his fries but they looked like potato crisps and didn't taste very good.

After dinner we went around taking our pictures with all the characters and then we went back to the motel so we could go to bed.

The Wedding Blog

Sorry that this has taken me so long to get posted...but anyway here it goes.

You knw when you are little you dream about your wedding day? You dream about your colors, your dress, your hair, the cake, and of course your future spouse. You want it to be the most romantic and perfect day of your life. A day you will never forget. Well, I was no exception to this. When I was little I wanted my wedding to be pink. Pink flowers, pink cak, pink ties - I even wanted a pink wedding dress. Now I despise pink so we had a frosty blue for our wedding colors. And as I always wanted a summer wedding, naturally I had it in the winter. We wanted my brother Stephen to be able to be there, and he wouldn't be home until November so we got married a little over a week after he got home.

On Friday November, 27 2009 Mike and I were to be married at noon at the Draper Utah Temple. I woke up around 2:30 that morning and was so stressed about what the day was going to bring that I couldn't fall back asleep. I finally did manage it aroun 6:00 and when my alarm went off an hour later I didn't want to get up. I finally rolled myself out of bed and hoped that a hot shower would help me relax, but all it did was aggrivate the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. By the theim I was finished getting dressed and had my teeth brushed Mike had arrived. He had told me that we were to call the temple together to answer some questions for their records. I had told him it was bad luck, and mom agreed with me, but Mike insisted. While we were waiting for the temple to open for us to call my beauty and hair stylists as well as good friends Sue and Tina arrived.

Sue and Tina talked for a bit before saying that we should get started. So Mike watched as Tina thinned and shaped my eyebrows. Then as we started the curls the temple called back. Mike answered their questions without my help and then we promptly kicked him out.

Tina and Sue were finished by 9:00 so then I only had to wait for Mom to finish getting ready so we could go. We were running a little late, but we got to the temple just after 11:00. Mike wasn't there yet, so we were taken to a small waiting room to wait for him. We got a phone call a few minutes later and were told Mike was on his way. He had gone to the wrong temple by mistake. We all had a good laugh over that. A half hour later Mike arrived red-faced and stressed out of his mind.

After taking care of the legal stuff Mike and I got ready and were taken to the sealing room, where our families were waiting for us. And it was there that we were sealed together.

After the ceremony Mom and Sue took me down to the bride's room to help me get ready for pictures. It didn't take us long but it was so weird having someone else dress me. I felt like I was a little kid again, especially when mom put my shoes on. When we got to the lobby we discovered that Mike was still getting ready. It sent a jolt through me when my photographer, Sydney Davis, asked me where my husband was. That was when it really hit me. I was married. I had a husband - and I was a wife.

It was a really windy day outside. My veil kept blowing everywhere, making for some very interesting pictures, and a very irritated bride. At one point it blew out of my hair completely, if Sydney hadn't been standing right there we would have been chasing it across the grounds trying to catch it before it blew away.

After pictures and changing out of my dress Mom and I stopped to pick up lunch for everyone then went home. Lunch was a fast one, and Mike and I relaxed together for an hour or so before Mom and I had to head to The Old Meeting House so I could get touch up jobs and get ready. Sue helped me get dressed and at 6:00 I had Dad escort me down the aisle to the stand where Mike and Bishop Adams waited.

I don't remember everything about the ring ceremony but I do remember a few things. He told us to make a marriage work we would need communication, commitment, and compromise. Mike and I exchanged rings before friends and family and then hurried down the aisle together. We greeted our guests in the hall, where we were congratulated.

Afterward we did family and wedding pictures and then we went to talk to friends. I caught up with Chantel and Rose and we talked until my sister-in-law, Alisa, told me that we had a fingerprint in our cake. That made me laugh. Then we were told that our guests were arriving so we got in line to greet them.

After we finished the line we cut the cake and I threw my bouquet. We were supposed to have a limo pick us up but it never showed. So after tearful goodbyes with my parents and siblings we climbed into Mike's car and he drove us up to Park City to start our honeymoon.