Welcome Back to Real Life

For the past two weeks I have been in Oklahoma, Texas, and Draper visiting family and living foot loose and fancy free! It was so great!
I'm not sure you can even comprehend the greatness of it.

Then I came home.

Lets rewind to right before I left for my amazing vacation when Kim, our office manager, quit.
Suddenly, I am the office manager until we hire someone else who actually knows what they are doing. 

I got two days of training before Kim was gone and I had one day on my own before I left for Oklahoma.
This translates into me coming home to a whoooole lot of work to make up - work that I barely even know how to do! 

It's been fun.

Last night I got barely four hours of sleep and was at work by 6:00am where the first patient was already filling out paperwork.
I worked straight through lunch and when everyone else went home at 2:30 and 3:00, I kept working.

And working.

As I was driving home after I finally came to a stopping point for the day (please note that I am nowhere near actually being finished with the day) a friend called to ask about plans for the night. I told him that I had no idea what was going on that night and I was just barely leaving work.
There was silence on the other end of the phone as he calculated what I had just said.

"Wait.... Did you just work a 12 hour shift?"

I looked at the clock. It read 6:00pm

"Yeah, I guess I did!"

This got me thinking and I realized that the only thing I had eaten all day was a chocolate turtle cookie from work. 

Those are probably the only constant in my diet.

I tell you what, when you are busy the day just flys by!

The bad news - If you saw my desk you wouldn't even know how much I got done today.
I didn't even make a dent.

The good news - We hired an office manager today! From my short conversation with her I think we will have a lot of fun working together and I am more than happy to share my workload. 

Now I should probably go eat something.

And then go to bed.

Work is at 7:00am tomorrow and I have a well fed stack of papers waiting to greet me on my desk.

Welcome back to Real life!

Krystalee's Wedding

It's a little bit late, but I finally got some pictures edited from Krystalee's wedding! 

I woke up early, got ready, drove to Timpanogos, Then Draper for the reception, then back to Logan that night.

It was a long day, but a good one. 

It started out a bit stressful because I couldn't get my the address to the temple to work on my GPS, but once that was figured out it was smooth sailing (Thanks Dad!)  I will follow that GPS to the end of the earth.

The day consisted of the following:

Breakfast/lunch with Courtney at Taco Time.

Hanging out with family and taking pictures at the temple. 

The luncheon where Jill and I were the first to order and the last to receive our meal. While we waited we finished Caleb's off for him and drank our non-alcoholic beverage. I also ate Courtney's Chimichanga because she was full from Taco Time. Somehow, I still managed to eat my own Fajita's once they finally arrived. Food is so good!

Taking a nap

Setting up for the reception. I was made the supervisor, and I'm not just saying that. It's actually true! I was born to supervise. 

Making new friends!

Getting "free" 7-11 Slurpees because it was July 11th (7/11) This was my first time getting a 7-11 Slurpee! They weren't actually free though because it was past 7:00 and apparently that was the cut-off time.

Dancing the night away, and yes, I actually did dance!

Trying to decorate the car last second with nothing to decorate with. Way to go, best man  :) 

It was such a fun trip! 

waiting for them to come out of the temple

with grandma and grandpa

with my two favorite aunts!

With dad

With caleb!

With Madi

With Troy!
We're going to be roommates when he moves to Logan for school  :)

Jill and I killing time and trying to be fancy with our drinks

our non-alcoholic beverage

Feel free to go to my photography blog to see more pictures of us waiting outside the temple. 

You can even leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

Craps

Last week I learned how to play Craps!

I can't say that I fully understand the game, but I get pieces of it.

Mostly I just throw things out there and see what happens.

I guess it payed off though, cause I ended up taking first place in the tournament!

Poor Tony should have won, but I am an expert trash talker and I got him to throw away all his money.

All part of the game, my friend.

:)

*Pictures have been blurred to protect the identity and pride of the "expert" men who lost to the first time Craps player (aka me)*

Braden's Visit

Last weekend my friend, Braden, came to Logan to visit!

Events included:

Drinking water!

He actually drank a whole water bottle right there. True story.

The zoo!

Sleeping albino porcupine

Each animal had a plaque telling about it. This one was my favorite.

The pet rocks

Terrorized the peacock

Walked around the park

Picnic at Braden's old elementary school

We picked out drinks we had never had before

Old Grist Mill sandwiches!

Marde bracelets

Braden's old classroom

Photography store

Modeling the tripod

And just hung out

Thanks for the good times!

To Be A Pioneer

A few years ago, my family took a hike up Mount Snuffles in Colorado.
It sounds like a little kid amateur hike, but let me tell you, it was one of the hardest hikes I've done!

Riding to the start of Mount Snuffles

We started the hike in good spirits as the sun shone down on us. It was such a nice day that we opted to leave our jackets in the car.
After all, how hard could something called Mount Snuffles really be, right? 

About half way up, the trail just stops and you start climbing straight up the mountain on loose rock. We could see the top and we pushed ourselves hard to get there. Dark clouds were forning above us, but we were determined to reach the top! Well, we accomplished our goal just as the first rain drops began to fall. We celebrated our victory for about two seconds before we were informed that our goal was not actually the top and we were directed to yet another mountain to climb over (at least there was a trail again)

Climbing up the loose rock

We still wanted to reach the top, but unfortunately the rain had other plans for us. We began our hike back down the loose rock. Once we made it to the trail, the rain really began coming down on us. This was not a nice summer rain, but a cold rain, that only grew colder as the wind set in. 

If you know me at all, you know that I do not do well in the cold at all. Actually, that might be the understatement of the year.
When I get cold, I just completely shut down. Completely.

With about a mile left, I was completely soaked through, I couldn't feel my feet, and I was so cold that I had to remind myself to breathe. My pace sowed and I had to convince myself to take each step. I was falling behind, and no matter how I tried, I just couldn't will myself to catch up with my cousins. I wondered if it might be better just to sit down and die. "I bet heaven is warm all the time" I thought to myself.

You are probably thinking that I'm exaggerating this story for dramatic effect, but I promise there are no embellishments. 

I think there have been two times in my life where I seriously thought I was going to die, 

and this was one of them. 

Suddenly, my cousin Sierra turned around to see me lagging far behind the group. She immediately stopped and waited for me, with the relentless rain still coming down. When I got to her, I told her I thought I was going to die. She linked her arm around mine and started marching down the hill. I staggered to get my feet to keep up with her pace, but she kept pulling me along. 

Soaking wet in the car with the heater on full blast

With Sierra still linked to me, we finally made it to the car which had the heater on full blast.

We drove straight to the hot springs and it wasn't until I was able to sit in the hot tub for a long time that I finally got rid of my chills.

Me and Sierra at the Hot Springs

I am convinced that if it wasn't for Sierra, I would have died that day.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have been thinking about this story all day as I've been listening to talks in church about pioneers.

I'm a pretty determined person when I want to and I really believe in something.
I think as long as it was warm, I could keep trekking along.

However, I'm pretty sure I would be the first to die as soon as winter hit.

 I would be so ready to get out of that cold that I would probably dig my own shallow grave to die in.

I think I was born at this time for a reason.

I struggle with the cold enough as it is, and I have clothing, blankets and heat readily available to me! 

I am honestly grateful to be warm every day. 

It is not something I take for granted, and I'm not just saying that.

I don't know how the pioneers managed, cause I wouldn't last two seconds!

Hopefully I can be a pioneer today in different ways, and definitely in better living conditions.

My First Car Accident

I got in my first car accident today!

I took bridal pictures for my old roommate Brittany and I had just picked her up from her apartment. She was all dressed up in her wedding dress, veil in place, holding her sunflower bouquet.

We turned out onto Main and another car was also turning into the same lane and we just kind of scraped by each other. Niether Brittany or I reacted to it at all. We just kind of said, "oh, we just hit that car." Typical of me - under-reacting to important things. As I was pulling over I was thinking how I didn't want to wait for the police and fill out reports and spend a bunch of money and deal with insurance and all that this accident would intail. I didn't care if my car was damaged as long as it ran fine. 

I left Brittany sitting in the car in her wedding dress and got out to quickly inspect my car as the other car pulled over as well. I couldn't see any evidence of the scrape, so I was hoping for the best as the girl came walking over from her car. She asked me if my car was ok and I told her it was fine and asked the same of hers. She replied that her car already had scratches on it and she was fine if we were fine. Then she added, motioning to Brittany, "And she has her wedding dress on." 

And that was that! 

We apologized to each other and both went our separate ways.

The end.

The moral of the story: Always remember to have someone wearing a wedding dress when you get in a car accident.

I Accidentally Threw A Party . . . .

Last week was quite eventful and I have a lot to catch up on. Today, you only get the story of the accidental party that I apparently threw.

I have a friend named David Loomis who is not very good at being spontanious. We've been working on it, but he can never quite grasp the concept that there is absolutely no planning involved.

One night, I was talking with Chelsey and she mentioned that she wanted to clean the sink at Angie's some time. For those who don't know, "cleaning the sink" means you eat a whole bunch of ice cream that has been put in a sink. It's fun. Anyway, because we had recently talked to Dave about cleaning the sink, and because we were working on his spontaneity, and because I knew he was horrible at spontaneity and the chances of it actually happening were slim to none, we decided to text him and see if he wanted to clean the sink that night. There was no response and I chalked it up for another failed spontaneous moment, as I had predicted.

About an hour later, Dave decides to text me back and ask what time we were going. Because I hadn't planned on going to begin with, I hadn't actually told anyone about it. Not wanting to say this to Dave, however, I told him 9:00 and that he could invite whoever he wanted. He told me he would "let me know"  I was still confident that he would back out and was just humoring me, but I sent a quick text to everyone I knew in Logan (probably 10 people tops, and only 4 of them well enough that they would actually have a possibility of coming).

Text:  "clean the sink at angies tonight at 9"

Nothing fancy or encouraging. It was around 8:30 when I sent it, so I thought it would be way too late and short notice for people to want to go. No one responded back and I was sure that was the end of it.

Chelsey left to visit a friend. Kandace called me and we had a great conversation (we really need to talk more often!) As we were talking, Eric/Patux called. I figured I would call him back after I finished with Kandace, but he called again and I felt bad ignoring him twice. Kandace and I finished our conversation and I called Eric back.

Eric:  "Where are you?"

Me:  "Sitting on my bed. Why?"

Eric:  "Uh... Are you coming to Angie's?"

Realization set in of what had happened, and I felt so bad! He had never told me he was coming!?

I quickly apologized, told him it was canceled and that he could still come over and we would do something. We hung up and he started driving over to get me.

It was at this time that Dave texted me, telling me that he had 5 people and was on his way to Angie's at that very moment. What!?

Eric pulled up then and I told him that plans had changed and Angies was back on! I texted Chelsey and she said she and her friend would get to Angie's as soon as they could. Just then, I got a call from my roommate, Catherine (another person I had texted)

Cate:  "Hey, where are you guys?"

Me:  "Um... Are you at Angie's?"

Cate:  "Yeah, are you here?"

Me:  "Uh... I'm on my way right now! (I was sitting in my living room) But Dave should be there. He just texted me"

Cate:  "Dave isn't here...."

We decided that they should just get a table that would fit a lot of people (I had no clue how many people would actually show up for this!) and that we would get there as soon as we could.

It was some mass confusion that ended up being a really fun spontaneous time!

This is the only thing I got from the night because my camera died right after.

We had a good number of people come! I ended up getting breakfast (so good!) and Cathrine and Tyler got dinner because we hadn't eaten yet (yes,  it was at least 9:30 by this time, and I still hadn't eaten anything) Two people didn't eat anything, but came for the company, and everyone else got the Kitchen Sink and finished it off nicely.

Let me say again that none of these people told me that they were planning on coming! I had no idea that I was really throwing a party, but I'm sure glad that I did! It ended up being such a fun night!

Thanks everyone for your spontaneity!

P.S.  Let it be known that we counted it up and there were more people there off my invitation than Dave's. Winner!

P.P.S.  It can also be known that, against all odds, Dave was spontaneous. Way to go.