The Life of Camille

Moving locations

2009-08-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

If you're following this blog still, you're looking in the wrong place! The Life of Camille has moved to:

camillejuergens.blogspot.com

Keep reading!

Injured and ugly

2009-07-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Bad news: I like my haircut less and less with each passing day! Okay, so that's only been one, but I like it less today. Sigh.

But the real event of the day was my injury... babysitting is dangerous. :) Just kidding, but only kind of. This morning I was babysitting E and D, two of my regulars. Love them lots. Today we wanted to play tennis, so we got tennis balls and rackets from my house and tried the jr. high and the high school. Boo for tennis camps already being there, and so much for it being convenient (they live right across the street from a high school). So we decided to try a Cinco Ranch court, over by one of the pools. This required a key to get in, and we got one. Unfortunately, the gates at this particular pool are always "on the blink" and my key has never worked, though it works at EVERY other pool. Anyway, so I had to climb the fence. The kids wanted to play there and I was sick of driving around.

I'd climbed this fence before-- no biggie. I'd even climbed it in flip flops before, and that was my situation again this morning. So I nervously ascended and got over the fence quite easily. My descent, however, is where disaster struck. In fact, it was on my last step down to the ground that I was injured. My pinky was somehow twisted in one of the chain links, and as I stumbled awkwardly off of the fence, my left pinky was yanked out and I felt a rip. Thinking I had just scraped it on the fence or something, I thought nothing major of it. Until every time my pinky went below my heart, I felt it throb. I looked down, and there was blood everywhere!! Nasty.

To make a long and gross story short, the skin under my pinky nail separated at the top. OUCH. It bled pretty hard for about 30 minutes, and is still swollen over 12 hours later. What's funny was that my first thought was: "Dangit-- will I still be able to get my nails done for the wedding?"

A risky move

2009-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today we're 11 days away from the wedding. WOW. I did something this morning that I should have done a while ago, but oh well. Better late than never I guess. I CUT MY HAIR.

I've been growing out my hair for a long time now. Those who have known me for my whole life know that I've always been a short-haired person... it rarely gets past my shoulders. Since going to college, however, I've tried to keep it long. Yesterday it was the longest it's ever been-- more than halfway down my back! But let's be honest, the ends just didn't look that good. The curl in my hair didn't hold as well when there was so much heavy hair. So this morning I went to see my mom's trusted hairdresser, Trang. I told her that I just wanted a trim and enough layers to make it lay nicely and hold curl. So she snipped away! And...drumroll please...

She did a fantastic job! I bet you thought you were going to get a picture... not today folks. You're just gonna have to wait. It's a little bit shorter-- I think she cut off almost two inches-- but it's still very long. The layers look great, and it feels so much lighter! Trang was so sweet and we chatted nonstop. If any of you ever need a haircut, come to Houston and stay with my family and go see Trang. She's worth it!

Some lasts and some firsts

2009-07-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Our countdown to the wedding is getting smaller and smaller! It makes me so happy. I never thought August would actually would come. Maybe I'm speaking too soon because it's not August yet, but it's very close, so I feel safe. But now we're getting down to the point where we are getting to the LASTS. For instance, today was our LAST Sunday in Houston before we get married!! This was our LAST weekend here, so we did some fun stuff.

Friday was our FIRST anniversary! Well, our first dating anniversary. Our first date was on July 24th, 2008. :) But I already wrote about that. Anyway, so we went out with Tyler's parents to the Astro's game. We ate at a cute (and very appropriate for the occasion) restaurant called "Over Home Plate" or something like that. It's fun that the Astros are playing so well!

Saturday afternoon Tyler came over and we played tennis against my dad and Tim. Unfortunately, we lost. :( But after playing tennis, I cut Tyler's hair. It was the LAST haircut before the wedding! We tried to time it perfectly so he wouldn't look like he had just gotten a haircut and so it would be at a length we both like. We went swimming and did something a little crazy-- we went pool-hopping. That was a FIRST for us. :) We went to one pool for a little bit, then decided that we wanted pool toys, like goggles and balls and torpedos. So we went home and got them and went to another pool for a little while. Pretty funny. Then I showed him one of my favorite movies-- a total blast from my past. We watched "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken." If you're lookin' for a good, poking fun kind of laugh, that's definitely a movie to watch. Tyler liked it too. We played cards for the rest of the night and had some good laughs there too.

Sunday we went to our respective families' wards. I felt bad missing our LAST Sunday at our lovely single's ward, but the car situation at my house is tricky, and Tyler wanted to spend some time with his family. Church was good-- it was fun to see some people that will be coming to another bridal shower this week. We came home, had lasagna for dinner (YUM), and then had a family FIRST. Katy Magazine is writing an article on our family (ok it's an article on big families, and we are big) so a woman came over and took pictures of our family. That was pretty funny. It got a bit stormy this evening, so Laura wanted to take some pictures with me wearing her yellow rainboots and holding her cute umbrella. My sister's an awesome photographer:

Anyway, that was my weekend. Bring on more lasts and more firsts!!

One year ago today

2009-07-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I had been messaging each other on facebook for a few weeks on this day a year ago, and we had decided to meet at Stake Institute that night and then play tennis afterward. I got to the Stake Center a few minutes late... it was my first first date in about a year, and I was pretty nervous! It was Thursday, so naturally I was wearing a yellow shirt. I remember wanting to look good, but not too good, as if I tried or anything. :) Anyway, so I got to Institute late. I sat down in the back, making sure there were a few open seats by me, and I didn't see Tyler anywhere. Of course, I hadn't seen him since he was in my house visiting Lindsay when he was 16, so how would I have recognized him anyway?!? As I nervously fidgeted, wondering when the heck he would show up, he came around the corner (I strategically sat in the back so I could see who was coming down the hall). I looked out the door, met his gaze, and we both smiled. My heart started fluttering immediately, and didn't stop until we said goodnight! He came and sat by me and said, "Is this seat taken?" I didn't say anything, just smiled. He didn't know that I couldn't say anything-- he thought I was just trying to be quiet during the lesson. :)

We both sat (well, rather, fidgeted) through the lesson on who-knows-what (we were both too nervous to listen) and then changed into our tennis clothes. We walked out into the parking lot, and he said in his "seduce you on our first date" voice "Why don't you hop in my truck?" And he had me right there. I love trucks-- especially white ones, and of course he had a huge white truck that he looked SO attractive in. So we got in, and I directed him to Taylor H.S. where we were going to try and play tennis. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on (we found out the next week after trying again that the lights go out at 8 for the night, or something ridiculous like that). So Tyler said he had spotted something on the way to the Stake Center, and drove us to TCBY. We were the only people in the shop, so we got to know the poor lone employee there pretty well too. Tyler and I sat there and talked for over an hour, and I was immediately attracted to his adorable smile and our ability to talk about anything. He told me about his mission and we talked about the 2 times we'd seen each other before this (when I was a WAY awkward tween-- I know, it's a miracle he still asked me out).

After eating our ice cream (by the way, for record-keeping purposes: Tyler thought he could master a large chocolate cup of ice cream, and I settled for a small strawberry. I don't think Ty ate half of it) we drove back to the Stake Center, where my car was parked. He got out and walked me to my car, and gave me a hug. Since our tennis playing was ruined, he asked if I would come over to his house the next day and we could try again. Oh! I forgot something. Tyler had gotten me a job that day working for his dad at his chiropractic office, so I would follow his dad home after work the next day. So I did! We ate dinner with his family, played tennis, and he showed me some mission pictures.

And... the rest is history! I can't believe that was one year ago. It has flown by, but in some respects it seems so much longer ago. I feel like we have come so far! Now we're 15 days away from being husband and wife, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Love you honey! Happy anniversary!

A Mother's Touch

2009-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Day 2 of teaching tennis lessons to my new buddy Josh. He's a very athletic kid, and is picking up tennis quickly. But he is so sweet, and something he said today really touched me. I asked him about other sports that he plays, and he seems to play a bit of everything. He was wearing a soccer jersey, and so I asked him about some of his favorite sports teams. He seemed to know a lot. So then, I asked him who his favorite tennis player is, thinking he'd say Andy Roddick or somebody like that. But no-- Josh surprised me by saying, "My mom is definitely my favorite tennis player! She is so great." It was so sweet!

It made me think about the people that society looks up to. The most talented, the people who make the most money, the most beautiful, etc. are all idolized. However, those aren't the most important. It's moms and dads and teachers and friends. So here's a few "mothers and others" that mean the most to me:

Of course I had to put a picture of my handsome fiance!! I love him.

My dad is probably the proudest Grandpa I know. I've never seen someone go so completely googly-eyed at the sight of his posterity. :) It's adorable.

If you look closely, everyone's making a really hilarious face. My family is awesome.

To reverse any thoughts you had about my family being crazy, I decided to post a normal picture.

Stephanie is amazing-- she's playing the role of single mother right now while her husband is deployed in Kuwait. Keep it up, Steph. We're all praying for you every day.

Of course I had to say something about my own mother! She's the picture of strength to me. I love that we have a close relationship.

Lindsay is super-mom! I have loved watching her enter mommyhood. That was probably the most natural transition I have ever seen. She is amazing.

Thanks to all of the people who make my life so great! I love you all.

Baby Steps

2009-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like most of my life right now is spent preparing. Preparing for the wedding, for being married, for moving, for being on our own, for the next semester. One of my recent steps toward all of this was going through the Houston Temple for my own endowment. I was so grateful for have my supportive family and my fiance there with me. I am one lucky gal! What an amazing experience.

I had the opportunity to go back to the temple with Tyler two days later, on Saturday. Not only was it great to go to the temple again, but the lighting was much better for pictures. :)

Before Tyler and I went to the temple, we went up to the Woodlands to visit Grammy. We went out to lunch with her and talked for a while. We love seeing Grammy! She had been telling us about a place where you can rent kayaks, so we decided to try it out. We ended up getting a kind of hybrid canoe/kayak that was a two-seater, and we loved it! We baffled the people we rented it from who thought we wouldn't be able to stand the heat for longer than an hour. 2.5 hours out on the lake with my fiance... loved it! We were singing at the top of our lungs (very Sound of Music like-- I felt like Julie Andrews) and playing "I Spy" and memory games. I just love being with Ty! I wish I could figure out how to get pictures off my phone, because he looks good in a lifejacket. :) We had a great day.

Some steps I'm taking this week: more prep. Continue working out, teaching tennis lessons (got a new student! So fun), and do things that will allow Mom to sew and finish our wedding quilt. Oh, and find a job for the fall. :) No biggie. This guy makes it all worth my while:

Once upon a few Fridays ago...

2009-07-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I made a mix of our favorite Michael Jackson songs just after he died. We took this CD to his car and drove around for a while, jammin' to some songs we love. :) We did more than drive, however. We came across Bear Creek Park, and decided to stop and play some baseball where Tyler used to play Little League as a kid. Unfortunately, we didn't have baseball gear. So we improvised...

... And used Tyler's tennis gear, which he keeps in his car always. Tyler hit a home run, and impressed me with his great pitching skills. :) He swept me off my feet, and carried me off into the sunset, listening to more Michael Jackson music. And we lived happily ever after. The End.

Self-Control

2009-07-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Let's just say this isn't my forte (says the girl sitting at the computer with a once full but now empty can of Pringles). I've found lately that when I'm nervous or feeling indecisive, I eat. Of course, I also eat when I'm bored, sad, excited, content, and introspective. This is NOT a good thing, as I am getting married in 24 days. Thanksfully, my dress still fits. But ripping it with my ever-growing love handles is a recurring nightmare I am having these days. So this morning I did the Biggest Loser Cardio workout with my mom. I feel like the biggest loser for panting desparately for air the whole time! What a kick in the booty. My favorite part is the kickboxing part, because it makes me think of Tyler and how I know he would be making fun of me if he saw my wimpy punches and kicks. Good thing he's a black belt. :)

But food isn't the only thing I have zero self-control with. I'm finding that I have quite the temper these days. I just feel a little bit on-edge, and very impatient. All of this decision-making and pressure is getting to me I guess. So today, I'm going to take it easy. I'm writing thank-you cards for people who came to the shower last week, and I'm going to try my hand at photoshop to edit some bridals that my sisters took. Wish me luck... hopefully my lack of self-control won't result in a big hole in the monitor. :) Just kidding. I'll be nice.

Another week

2009-07-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm realizing that time is a funny thing. I've wanted the past 5 months to fly by, and looking back on 4.5 of them, they have. Now I just want the next 25 days to fly by! Hopefully everything will fly until August 8th. Then I want time to stop and I want to just enjoy the day. Of course, that's not how it goes. August 8th will fly by too. But that's okay with me, since we have forever.

So, announcements are finally all sent out! I've received a few phone calls and messages saying that people have gotten them in the mail, and that's been really fun. I'm hoping none get sent back... although 2 already have! :( Hopefully we'll figure that all out.

This morning I dragged Laura out of bed to take some last bridals. Steph took some while she was here, but we forgot to get flowers... oops. So we got some cute yellow and white flowers (yes, they had white daisies and yellow roses) and took some early this morning. My poor sleep-deprived body. I wanted to be good about exercising and getting enough sleep this week, but it always seems that other things are more urgent. I think I need to slow down a bit.

Tyler's Grammy threw a shower/luncheon for me on Friday, and it was SO much fun. I loved meeting more of Tyler's extended family, and getting to know people better. Everyone was so generous-- I feel super-spoiled! It makes me even more excited to get to Utah and set up our apartment. If that's possible. :) It's going to be great!

Tyler and I had some fun adventures this weekend. He came and picked me up on Friday night and we went to Sonic with his buddy Kevin and his girlfriend Alicia. We had so much fun!! They're really fun people. All 4 of us headed over to the Taylor's house where Zach opened his mission call. It's so neat to see future missionaries so excited to serve the Lord. He'll be serving in the Brazil Manaus mission, leaving October 27th. I spent the night at Tyler's house because we left at about 6:30 am to go to College Station for Garrett and Mitchell's State 7 on 7 Football Tournament. We had a great time watching them and walking around A&M. That school has the most beautiful tennis courts! The games were good. I felt bad for the game where they lost-- the referees completely gave it away. I've never seen anything like that. But they played well, and that's the best they can do! We had a good time there. We drove home and Tyler and I watched "Finding Forrester." I'd definitely recommend it-- Sean Connery is awesome, except for his potty mouth. After schooling Tyler in some ping-pong we all went to Hannah Taylor's baptism. She is such a sweet girl and I'm so proud of her and her decision! I hope I get to see her again soon. It made me think a lot about my testimony and my faith. I always wonder if I would have accepted the Gospel had I not grown up in it. I don't know what I would have done, so I'm grateful for the situation I am in! I am so blessed.

Sunday, Tyler and I went to our meetings but left after Sunday School to go to the Stake Center. We met with our Stake President, Pres. Pack. We spoke with him for 2 hours and got some great advice. We were also able to get everything taken care of for our sealing, so that was really good news. It's been so good for Tyler and I to think about the temple, and have that be our goal and our focus. I'm excited to go through the temple for the first time this week too. That will be such a blessing.

As for this week... there's a lot to do. I babysat yesterday and am here babysitting today, but the rest of this week is for wedding planning and getting ready for camps next week. I'm holding a tennis camp again, and I'm doing a "Singin' Smart" camp for kids in the ward. Hopefully lots of kids will sign up... that's when it's the most fun! I'm off to the lake with the J kids. We haven't floated paper boats in a while. :) Oh, to be a kid again!

EXCITEMENT

2009-07-08T16:39:00.001-07:00

Last night, I was on the phone saying goodnight to Tyler. We hung up just a few minutes after midnight, and as I went to set my alarm for this morning, I gasped in happiness-- the date today is July 8th!! I hurried and called Tyler back and shared the news: that we are one month away from our wedding date! Exactly one month from today I will be Mrs. Tyler Juergens.

In other exciting news, ALL wedding invitations are stuffed, sealed, stamped, and labeled. I am leaving right now to put them in the mailbox. That was the last really big thing I needed to get done! Thanks to Sarah, who sealed most of them last night, and to Mom, who helped me label them. She even hand-wrote them with her beautiful penmanship. Penmanship is a weird word.

4th of July Pics

2009-07-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I stole these from Lindsay's blog. But Stephanie's camera is in the other room, and I'm too lazy to go get it and then retrieve pictures off of her memory stick. Other room, laziness, there you go. (Name that movie?!?)

God Bless America!

So Grateful

2009-07-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

Last night, as I was driving home from Tyler's house after a great and productive night, I just broke down in tears. Not because of sadness, or stress, or pain, but because of joy and gratitude. Here are some of the things that were on my mind:

I'm so grateful for my families. My immediate family has been SO helpful and supportive in this process of planning a wedding, and as I've lived 30 minutes away from Tyler. They let me take a car to go visit him, and they help me plan things and keep my stress level down. Also, the family I'm marrying into. They have been so welcoming and supportive of Tyler and I. I love getting to know the people who have shaped Tyler's life and personality. I also love and am so grateful for the fact that my two families get along! Last night we had FHE together. My family went over to Tyler's house and the kids swam in the backyard while the adults put our wedding invitations together with the pictures inside envelopes. We had such a good time together, laughing and eating and enjoying being together.

I can't believe the way things are working out for Tyler and I in our wedding preparations. I'm so grateful for how smooth it's been and for the help I've received. When we arrived at Tyler's house last night, he was on the phone with someone, but I didn't know who. He came inside after his conversation and announced that we had finally secured an apartment for the fall! I'm SO excited about this apartment. It's in Orem, but very south Orem. It's an adorable 2-bedroom apartment, with a good-sized kitchen and a great layout. We've been there a few times to visit two of Tyler's mission friends. His first companion married another missionary from the New York South mission, and they live there. They mentioned that they are moving out at the end of the month, so we called their landlords and got the apartment!! That definitely puts my mind at ease. Also, things have just gone so smoothly with planning everything from invitations to the luncheon to the photographer.

As frustrating as it has been at times, I'm grateful for my working situation. I have been able to do enough to earn a good amount of money, but I haven't been working so much that it has inhibited wedding planning. There have been slow times, but my testimony of the law of tithing has been strengthened. The Lord definitely wants to bless us, and will do so if we let Him. Hopefully all of these blessings will continue.

It's just such an exciting time in my life! 32 days until I become Mrs. Juergens, 32 days until my dreams come true. Dang... I still have lots I need to get done!! :)

July Fourth at its best

2009-07-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

July 4th, 2009...

-Returned home from babysitting the W family at 2:00 am

-Helped Steph clean up Leighton's bed after he threw up... poor little guy!

-Got 4 hours of sleep-- always a good idea before a long and hot day.

-Helped make our traditional big breakfast

-Greeted Tyler and gave him his first very own "Awesome Andersen" shirt

-Ate breakfast... peanut butter pancakes and bacon. YUM

-Went to the Grayson Lakes parade and watched Sarah cheer. Sarah was great, but the parade?... let's just say it was no Provo Freedom Festival.

-Went to OfficeMax with Tyler, where we picked up our completed wedding invitations!!!!!! They're so beautiful! I'm so excited to get the picture printed out and get them all sent. SO fun!

-Changed into swim suits and went to the South Ranch pool where Laura was working. Handstand contests, breath-holding contests, Spider, swimming races, laying out with Tyler, and watching little kids have fun with water... I love swimming.

-Made and ate turkey sandwiches for lunch, complete with Mom's bread.

-Showered while Tyler and the other men of the family went to the Stake Center to play some basketball.

-Watched some Brian Reagan standup while waiting for my love to come home.

-Greeted Tyler and the lovely cut on his nose. Thank you, Jeff.

-Went back to Tyler's house. Unfortunately, we drove in separate cars so that he wouldn't have to drive me 30 minutes back that night. I don't like it when we have to drive separate.

-Walked in to an empty house... all the cars were there, yet no one answered their cell phones. We started to worry a bit, but then everyone came home from the tennis court a block away. Whew!

-Watched the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest on ESPN. Don't worry, we watched the 2008 and 2009 competition. I never want to eat a hot dog again as long as I live.

-Played with Tyler against Andrew and Mitchell in ping pong. Thanks to me, we lost in a best of three tournament. It was close though! Y'all just wait for the rematch...

-Did some Wii bowling with Ty. We love to do the Power Shot training game, and I finally beat him at it! Go me! :)

-Went to the Taylor's for Tim's semi-annual firework show. It was so cool! I'd never seen a normal street show like it. Those kind are definitely allowed for the public in Utah, and this was my first Texan Fourth of July. It was great though-- I'd forgotten how much I love fireworks.

-Enjoyed a massage on my sore legs from Tyler. I made the mistake of doing the "Biggest Loser Cardio" workout with my sisters the day before, and I was struggling to walk. He's so sweet.

-Spending the WHOLE day with Tyler! How often does that happen?!? I love him.

SO real... way too real

2009-07-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Funny story. I am babysitting two kids from today (Thursday) to late Friday night while the parents and their 5 month old baby go to Utah for a funeral. So I get to this house at 5:15 this morning so they could show me around and give me the low-down on what goes on, and then they left at about 5:30. I promptly went into the guest room and went back to sleep, a much-needed sleep. I had the strangest dream while I was sleeping though-- a dream that the parents had come back with all of their extended family, saying that they had decided to bring the funeral here. I could go home, but only if I ate some fried eggs first. (WHAT?!) Then it turned into something else... I was back at BYU-I but instead of normal BYU-I students, there were Vikings everywhere-- living in the apartments, wandering around campus, etc. And they had real horns in their heads. And they were trying to kill me because I couldn't rewind their movie the way they wanted me to. Just as one of the Vikings was about to ram into me with his horns, I woke up. The kids were standing at the door of the guest room, calling my name, telling me they wanted breakfast. I was SO confused though, because I could have sworn I wasn't there, and that I wasn't supposed to be babysitting them anymore. It seriously took me like half an hour to snap out of it! Weirdest thing ever. Fried eggs or not, I guess I'm here 'til Friday. :)

Catching up

2009-07-01T06:33:00.001-07:00

I've thought so many times about blogging this past week, but never actually sat down and did it. Boo.

Tennis camp is over now, and I'm pretty sad about it. I had tons of fun with those 5 kids. I had Mom come and take a picture of us on our last day, so hopefully I can steal her camera and get the picture on here someday. :) I haven't played tennis since... but I should. If anyone needs a tennis lesson, call me!

Swimming lessons are going well. Today is the last day with my buddy Grant, whom I've been working with every day for the past 2 weeks. He has made some progress, and hopefully now he'll be able to swim without floaties all the time. I've got two new students that I'll teach on Wednesdays and Fridays, so that will be nice. Tyler has accused me of looking orange or too tan the other day, so I'm trying to control the time I spend in the pool or in the sun.

I'm still doing lots of babysitting. I had the J kids all day on Monday, and I'll spend Thursday and Friay with the W kids in our ward while their parents go to Utah for a funeral. I'm glad to help out, but I'm secretly really sad that I'll be tied up on Friday when Tyler's not working. Hopefully I'll still be able to see him. My sister Steph and her kids flew in last night from Washington, and Lindsay and her cute family leave to drive here this afternoon, so we'll have a full house this weekend! I'm so excited. Eva was bouncing around last night, soaking up the undivided attention of all of her aunts and uncles. She's so cute! I can't wait to see her and Lindsay's oldest boy Ty play together.

Wedding plans are going... it's crazy how fast time goes. It's 38 days now!! 38?!? I swear it was 100 just a few days ago. I'm so ready though. Not that everything's finished planning-wise, but I'm not sure how much I care anymore. I just want this all to be over and for it to be me and him forever. But, I guess those things have to be done. We're going to print announcements this week and hopefully send them out at the beginning of next week. Laura was sweet enough to take some more engagement pictures of Tyler and I, and we got some really good ones this time. I think we've decided on one to send out, so that's a load off. We finally decided on a bridesmaid dress... now to find jewelry and shoes! But the most pressing thing on our heads right now is finding an apartment. It's a jungle in Provo around this time! I'm secretly glad I'm not there because it'd probably be even more stressful. It's such a gamble though-- there are some great deals and some really cute apartments, but then if something better comes along after we've signed a contract, it's just tough luck! I guess we're at the point where we just need something. Anything. Well, almost anything. :) We should have that decided this week though, so that'll be nice. Thanks to Kim and Caleb for being our eyes up there in Utah and checking out apartments for us.

Well, now that I've caught up on here, I think I'll go catch up on my running or exercising of some sort. Maybe... :)

Lessons

2009-06-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

I feel like my life is full of lessons. The lessons I teach, such as tennis lessons, swimming lessons, music lessons, etc. and the kind that I learn.

Tennis lessons are going great! Okay, it's more of a tennis camp. I've been teaching 5 kids for 2 hours a day. It's just 4 days-- started Tuesday and tomorrow is the last day-- but the kids have made tons of progress. It makes me so proud to watch them improve and work hard and push themselves when I know they're tired and I know how stinking hot it is. They're great kids and I feel so lucky to have them in the camp.

Swimming lessons are also tons of fun. I've kind of faded out of helping Laura at her lessons, because I have a few students of my own now. It's fun watching the kids improve at a skill that I know for sure they'll use. EVERYONE swims in Houston during the summer, and I'm sure it's a pain for parents to have to hold their kids the whole time or for them to wear floaties. It'll be nice when they can all help themselves in the water.

The life lessons aren't the ones I'm teaching. They're the one's I'm being taught! I feel like now is the time for me to soak everything up and learn what I can before I get to be the one teaching. But I guess that's what it's all about, isn't it? It's about teaching those who need to learn, and finding that you learn so much from those you teach. I'm so grateful for the amazing family I have, the amazing family I'm marrying into, the great kids I work with, and especially for my amazing fiance. I think the guy on Bride Wars said it best when he said, "Isn't the engagement period, like, the WORST time to be showing the guy that you're psycho?" That's totally how I feel. With everything coming so close, I may or may not be going a bit psycho... hopefully it's not a permanent change. :) I admire Tyler for being so patient and loving with me. I am so stubborn and stupid sometimes, and he is just the sweetest man ever. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for the lessons.

An adventure-filled Tuesday

2009-06-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

So yesterday afternoon, Tyler sent me a text message from work asking if I want to go to the Astros vs. Royals game with him that night. Apparently, one of the high-up people of PwC had no use for these awesome seats and he needed to get rid of them. So of course, we went! I hurried home after teaching swimming lessons, showered, and drove to his work in downtown with my hair wet. Driving downtown makes me so nervous and shaky, but I eventually found him. I had brought him two shirt options, so he changed out of his stuffy work clothes and we headed over to Minute Maid Park. We found a parking spot and headed into the game! We didn't realize how good our seats were until we sat in them. We were seriously less than 20 rows away from home plate. It was awesome!!I was glad to be sitting back there too-- there were so many balls and bats hurled into the audience, but only one got close to us. I'd hate to be knocked in the head by a ball or bat going that quickly! No thanks. We enjoyed the game lots, and even felt so American that we had to go buy hot dogs and popcorn to top it all off.

Because I'm an idiot and forgot my camera, this is the only picture I got from our fantasticaly fun night with the 'Stros:

Babysitting Adventures

2009-06-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've been having tons of fun babysitting. The kids I work with are great, and I'm getting more creative in things to do with them! Things such as...

Playing games around the house, like Mr. Potato Head:

Or ride bikes to the park:

The youngest boy of the J Family loves to fold paper boats and send them down the waterfall at the lake by his house:

And, finally, LOTS of arts and crafts. Everything from sidewalk chalk, to painting, to making masks. I try to keep everyone inside during the hot hot hot afternoons:

I'm learning so much from these li'l ones! Kids are so great, aren't they?!

Ridiculous Fears

2009-06-17T05:55:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I let my fear get the best of me. For instance, if I'm scared of something at night and I am in bed, I will stay under the covers completely, no matter how hot it is. I'll wake up the next morning with my pillow wet from sweat, but not even my subconscious self moves those covers. If it's dark in the house and I'm trying not to wake someone up, I open my cell phone and use that light to navigate around. Imagine, a 20-yr old who is still slightly afraid of the dark!

My fear of bugs has reared its ugly head again these past few days. Actually, it's the bugs who have the ugly heads. Anyway, the other day I found a bug in the bathroom that Laura, Sarah, and I share. It was HUGE, with these 2 inch antenna/feeler things that were moving wildly along my bathroom wall behind the toilet. It was a big bug, maybe a cockroach or something. There are some weird beetles here in Houston, so I wasn't totally sure. I screamed for Laura to come kill it, but the nasty thing had moved behind the toilet and she couldn't find him. Maybe there is a hole back there? Anyway, I went to the boys' bathroom. And I haven't used our bathroom in two days. And I will not use that bathroom again until that wretched thing is caught. Ridiculous? Maybe. Necessary? Totally.

My latest endeavors

2009-06-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

I have still not found a real job. Loving the economy right now. However, I've become a bit more creative in my money-making efforts...

-Still doing lots of babysitting. On Saturday I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a bunch of kid craft stuff-- paint, feathers, masks, googly eyes, sidewalk chalk, etc. to take whenever I go babysitting. Hopefully this will score me more points with the chilluns, also scoring me points with the parentals, scoring me more jobs! It was an investment.

-I was approached at the pool yesterday by a family in my parents' ward that would like swimming lessons for their son. Score! Now, I'm not only helping Laura teach her swim lessons, I am becoming an official swim teacher myself.

-June 24-27th, I am running a tennis camp for kids in my Stake. I've had 6 kids sign up so far, and I'm so excited about it! I figured I may as well do something that I love, and swimming and tennis are definitely things I love. If this camp goes well I am going to do it again, at the end of July. I'm so excited about it! I've had a few adults ask about tennis lessons, too, so hopefully that will be another thing I can do.

So if anyone needs anything for their kids-- babysitting, swimming lessons, or tennis lessons-- I am your go-to woman.

Things I love about SUMMER

2009-06-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

-Sunshine.

-No school for my siblings! People to play with!!

-An increase in babysitting jobs. Keep goin' on vacations, parents.

-The cool nights and mornings. Okay, this one is a lie. There's no such thing as "cool" in Houston. But there are a few hours where it's only 75 instead of 100, and I love taking bike rides or going on runs when it's that "cool."

-The influx of college students home for the summer. Institute is like a high school reunion!

-Wearing flip flops or going barefoot ALL THE TIME.

-Falling asleep in a lawn chair at the pool and waking up sunburnt.

-Hearing the splashes and screams of kids having a good time.

-Teaching swim lessons with Laura.

-Having very few scheduled things, but lots to do.

-Anticipating. Lots of things to anticipate. Wedding, cool weather, school, and life itself.

-Remembering all of the things that I wish I had brought with me that are up at school. I breath nicely knowing that I will have my full wardrobe back soon. :)

-Sweating really hard doing anything outside. Okay, I don't love this, but I love jumping in the pool after this.

-Constantly having flashbacks of last summer at home, when I met Tyler. Can't believe that was a year ago!

-Being at home with my family and Tyler.

My calling

2009-06-07T19:23:00.001-07:00

No, not my church calling! I doubt they'll give me a calling in my new ward, since Tyler and I won't be there for more than 2 months. I am referring to my calling in life. My niche. My destiny.

After weeks of almost-fruitless job searching, I have found that babysitting is the only thing I'm good at, apparently. I don't speak Spanish, so I can't work at Taco Bell, and I don't know enough about home decor to work at HomeGoods or Hobby Lobby. I guess childcare is my last option. Which, by the way, I am totally okay with.

This weekend, as I previously mentioned, I took on the world. :) The 8 kids I babysat on Friday and Saturday were so great, and it was fun getting to know the younger half of that family. I got brave on Friday and took all 8 kids swimming, even driving their 15-passenger van to the pool to do so. *Note: driving the van wasn't the ambitious part... I have definitely done that before! :)* We had a great time watching the little kids discover that water doesn't hurt your face if you get all the way under, and helping them learn how thrilling jumping off the edge of the pool can be. We even packed a nice picnic lunch to eat at the pool. We spent lots of time outside, and playing board games inside when it was too hot. Those kids LOVE Monopoly and Uno. 4 of the boys had Tae Kwon Do on Friday at the YMCA, and it was fun to watch them kick around. Tyler came over that night after returning from his trip to Georgia, and taught them some awesome kicks. Yeah, my fiance is a black belt!! The kids were SO impressed. Saturday we rode bikes and scooters to the park, and watched "Toy Story 2" since they had never seen it before. Uh, seriously?! That's a great movie. Later that night we played more games, and roasted hot dogs on the grill for dinner. I got home around 11:30 that night, after 38 hours of go-go-go. I was, and am, exhausted. But we had a great time, and I love those kids.

After church today, I went to meet the 2 children I'm going to be taking care of every Monday and Tuesday for the rest of the summer. One being 6 and the other being 9, this job isn't quite as intimidating for me. It'll be so fun to take them to the pool, teach them all the weird do-it-at-home science projects I know, and have some kids to watch that I don't have to do EVERYTHING for.

Anyway, if you need a babysitter, I'm not denying my fate nor my title anymore. I am a babysitter.

I'm taking on the world today...

2009-06-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, not the whole world, but close. I'm taking on 8 kids for the next 48 hours. There's a family in our ward with 11 kids-- they're an awesome family. I'm not sure how that super-mom does it all. The parents are taking the 3 oldest girls to Utah for their aunt's wedding (the oldest 2 being in college and the third a senior in high school), so they asked me to babysit their youngest 8. Oh sure, no problem. I can take on two one-year olds, two three-year olds, and 4 other children with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back! I'm walking over to their house in about 5 minutes, actually. Thank heaven they live in our neighborhood, so I can call on my own super-mom if I start to lose it.

Other than my iminent death, today is an exciting day. Tyler gets home this evening!!!! I've missed him so much. He went to Georgia to train for his internship with PriceWaterhouse Coopers, or PwC. I told him from now on I'm changing the initials of PwC to stand for "Play with Camille" instead of PriceWaterhouse Coopers. :) But there is a down-side to his arrival today... I won't be able to see him tonight! I should have planned this better and asked this girl to re-schedule her wedding or something. Oh well. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and though I can't imagine being fonder of my fiance, I've said that before only to find myself becoming more fond of him!

So wish me luck this weekend... this may be my last post. :)

Check, check, check

2009-06-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

That, my friends, is the sound of Camille getting things done! It feels so good. I've been babysitting lots this week and looking for a job the rest of the time... which has proved fruitless yet. I was even rejected by Target and Taco Bell!! This is sad. Anyway, there are far more important things that are actually being accomplished... but they have nothing to do with jobs or money-making endeavors. The things I'm doing are all about the day that's 66 days away. August 8th-- the day I get to marry my best friend! My mom and I have been working on finding bridesmaid dresses/dress fabric. The amount of navy that DOESN'T match is astonishing. I've also been working on the sign-in book. It's almost finished-- just have to print the pictures! I love checking things off my list.

Farewell, May

2009-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

May, you've been pretty dang good to me. Although living the life of an unemployed person isn't ideal, it has allowed me time with my fiance, and that has meant the world to me. Time with my family is also precious-- I'm the luckiest gal around. Here are some highlights from May:

-Kim and Caleb's wedding-- happy 1 month you two!! :)

-Driving home. No doubt my favorite road trip ever, thanks to a special someone.

-Playing tennis with Tyler and my family. I love tennis and it makes me so sad when I can't play a lot, so this is very good.

-Swimming, also with both Tyler and my family. Whether it was relaxing with Tyler at the pool in his backyard or playing "dishwasher" and "colored eggs" with Sarah at the neighborhood pool by my house, I've loved it. My tan is also improving-- double points!

-Babysitting and getting to know the people in my home ward. I haven't been completely unemployed. I sent out an e-mail to all of the women in my family's ward, telling them that I need babysitting!! I've met some amazing families and have made friends with lots of the kids around here.

-Going to a drive-inn movie with Tyler. This was my second drive-inn movie, and I loved it. I felt so southern. :) We had way too much fun throwing popcorn in each other's mouths, and X-Men Origins was a great movie.

-Working on wedding planning. We had a fun dinner last week with Tyler's parents, my parents, and Tyler and I, and knocked out a lot of stuff. I'm now working on invitations and bridesmaid outfits... pray for me! :)

-Bike rides around the neighborhood. I've re-discovered an awesome bike trail that I've been on 4-5 times this month, and I love it. As much as I love running, biking is much easier on my knees.

-Just plain BEING HOME. I love the feeling of being home and with my family. It's also really nice that Tyler lives relatively close, too.

Now, as much as I've loved May, I must say I am SO happy it's over. Now can we skip June and July and get to August? Maybe August 8th? :)

Time with my Ty

2009-05-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

Excuse my lack of blog posts... I'm just enjoying this too much:

Engagement Pictures

2009-05-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

We've only edited one so far, so the rest are raw. But Laura did a great job! We're hopefully going to go take some more soon. What a handsome fiance I have!!

Mom Dismissed

2009-05-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad are home!! I picked them up from the airport yesterday afternoon, and it's so nice to have them home. Because of Mom's jet lag, we woke up this morning at 5:45 to fresh bread (literally right out of the oven!), fresh cupcakes for the school kids' lunches, and cinnamon streusel rolls for breakfast. WOW-- glad you're home Mom. :) Oh, and they brought Laura and I some super-cute French purses. Mine's white and has black writing all over it-- things like Eiffel tower, Paris, Opera, etc. are written all over it in different sizes and fonts. We all got T-shirts too, which we are all going to wear today. Tres chic!
Last night, having been dismissed from Mom duty, I went with Tyler and his parents to the rehearsal dinner for one of Tyler's best friends that is getting married today. It was so fun to meet some of his high school friends and the people who influenced him so heavily. Or, rather, the people he influenced so heavily. :) What a great guy. We had some good ol' Texas barbeque, and I thanked my lucky stars to be in Texas. Good stuff-- complete with cobbler and Blue Bell ice cream. I may or may not have gained 10 pounds during this meal. After going back to Tyler's, he and I finished putting together all of the pictures for our wedding video. They're almost on their way to you, Steph!!
So what am I going to do now? I suppose it's time I give up on this babysitting thing and go find a real job. I've put up flyers all over the neighboring neighborhoods (haha "How redundant!" "Thank you!") offering summer daycare for school-age kids, and I've received one phone call, from a woman asking if I would hire her. Uh NO. I'm pretty sure this gig is for me to earn money, not for me to give you money. Plus, I've got no kids. Hopefully that'll change! Tonight is Nathan and Charlee's wedding (Tyler's friends) so we'll go to that. I'm looking forward to it.
Advice request: What is a stronger allergy medicine than Zyrtec D? I've been taking that every day, but my eyes and nose still itch and water like crazy! Help!!

Playing Mom

2009-05-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

So last week, my parents spontaneously went to Paris. My dad had an emergency business trip to save a project that was failing, and my mom decided to go with him! So they left, leaving me as the mother for all intensive purposes. It hasn't been too bad thus far, but I've learned a few things.

1. I'm not good at waking up early anymore. I'm not sure what my body is doing, but I've been breaking down lately. I am dizzy and weak all the time, I don't really have an appetite, and I sleep like a ROCK at night. No joke-- my alarm will go off for 30 minutes before someone else comes and turns it off. Sometimes Laura will yell and shake the bed and shake me, but to no avail. When I'm out, I am OUT. I feel sorry for the kids having to wake up at 5:00 or even before to get to seminary/school on time. Crazy.

2. Sometimes you just have to let it go. Mom really does set the tone in the house, and while I've played Mom, there have been times where I haven't done so well at that. I blew up too easily or held on too long to something that really wasn't a big deal to begin with. Every person significantly affects the family.

3. I'm grateful for the order of operations! Children normally come one at a time, and they don't come as teenagers, thankfully. Not that I don't love teenagers... but I'm glad kids start young.

4. My children will never forget anything when they go to school. :) That's just how it's going to be. I spent 2 hours running back and forth between schools and our house getting things that kids forgot.

With all that being said, we have had some great times. Going to church on Sunday together was fun, and we had FHE outside on Monday. It was cool outside and we even had to bring blankets! I don't think I've ever brought a blanket outside to wrap around me in Houston. We had lots of fun just being together.

Otter Pops and mosquito repellant. Yup-- that's Houston for you.

Explanation for lack of blog posts

2009-05-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I are getting so much done! We've been crossing lots of things off of our list of to-do's this summer. One of the big things was registering this past week at Macy's.

We had just a bit too much fun scanning things with those little guns! It was awesome. We took forever... I guess that's what happens when you have two extremely indecisive people trying to decide major things, like what color our bathroom towels are going to be!

Another reason is that I've been babysitting lots lately. Yesterday I had a job from 12-7, and today I'm taking care of a family in about 30 minutes until they go to bed... crazy! I'm hopin' to rake in the dough this summer, and this will definitely help. Also, my parents up and left for Paris yesterday. My dad had to go for an emergency business trip, and my mom just decided to go with him! So I'm playing Mom until next Thursday. Pretty fun!

Anyway, that's why I haven't been around. Maybe there will be more next week, maybe not.

Tyler's birthday events told in pictures

2009-05-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

First, let me say what is not documented in pictures. I got to Tyler's house around 11:30. We cleaned and took pictures of some tires he's trying to sell for his parents, played tennis, and went swimming. But the swimming was after giving Teddy a bath. :)

We gave Teddy a bath outside:

Ate birthday enchiladas:

Went on a drive in his awesome truck:

Modelled in his new outfit:

Happy Birthday Ty!!

*By the way, I spelled birthday incorrectly on purpose. When Tyler says birthday, it comes out birtday, and it is adorable. Just had to clarify.

A Tribute

2009-05-11T07:24:00.001-07:00

To my fiance:

Happy Birthday, my love! Today is your double-golden birthday (you know-- you're turning 22 on the 11th) and I feel double-lucky to have you in my life. I know you're not huge on birthdays because you don't like it when the attention is on you, but I want to tell you some of the things I love about you.

-Your looks. Let's be honest and just say that you are the best-looking man in the world! Your smile makes my heart flutter every time you flash those pearly whites. I love that you're so strong and athletic, and that you're tall. I can wear my tallest heels around you and still fit under your protective arm.

-Your laugh. I know that you always say that you don't like it, but I love it! You have a few different kinds of laughs too, and I think my favorite is the one where something flat-out catches you off guard. It's such a genuine laugh and you sound so surprised. It's adorable.

-Your brains. Have I ever told you that you're SUPER-smart? Well, you are. Some people call you an accountant, but I call you a nerd. Enough said. :)

-Your work ethic. Not only are you smart, but you work harder than anyone at being smart. You earn every single high A you get. I love the way you never back down from something hard, and the way you look at work differently: not as work, but as an opportunity for growth.

-Your testimony. I love hearing you talk about your mission and the amazing experiences you had in New York, and I love talking with you about the scriptures and spiritual things. Not only do you have a strong testimony, but you live according to it. You are such a good example for me.

-Your voice. Whether you're singing, talking, laughing, or snoring (and yes honey, you do snore sometimes while taking naps), there is something about your voice that is so soothing to me. When you went to Costa Rica with your family and we couldn't talk for a week, I sometimes called your phone just to hear the answering machine-- "Hey y'all, this is Tyler..." and it always made me feel better. I especially love your voice when you're talking to me. The way you call me Sweetie and Cam makes me feel so loved and safe.

-Your ability to love. T, you are the best brother I have ever seen. I know your siblings look up to you so much. You have a way of making everyone feel so important and special, and people gravitate to you. The best part about this is that you are so genuine. Because you're so humble, you truly do look up to people, and they know you love them and they love you back. Your desire to help people around you always impresses me. Most of all, I'm so grateful for your ability to love me. You're definitely one in 6 billion, love.

Dang, I am lucky. Happy birthday, Tyler Andrew Juergens.

Animals are funny

2009-05-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

So, Tyler's family has a dog. A super-cute and fun dog, named Teddy. Teddy and I have always been pretty good friends. He likes to snuggle with me when I'm sittin' on the couch, and he gets excited when I come in. Okay, so he gets excited whenever anyone new comes in, but I still feel special! Anyway, my relationship with Teddy has never been a problem until the other day. Tyler and I had just been swimming in his backyard, and we went upstairs so I could get some lotion on my legs. I leaned over to give Tyler a kiss and thank him for letting me use the lotion, and suddenly Teddy jumped on the couch between us and got way close to our faces, like he wanted in on the fun!! We were laughing so hard.

*Note: Please ignore the fact that we are scantily clad. We had, after all, just finished swimming.

Documentation of Wedding Prep

2009-05-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just to show that we dipped almost 3,000 pretzels in white and milk chocolate for Kim and Caleb's reception. Go us.

I love weddings-- drinks all around!

2009-05-06T06:06:00.001-07:00

Okay not really drinks, but we were still really happy!

We made it

2009-05-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Not only did we survive the crazy week of packing and wedding prep, the wedding, and moving, but we also survived the long drive home! Everything actually turned out SO well. The reception was fun, and the weather somewhat held out, too. It was a bit chilly, but everything turned out beautifully. I prayed for some sort of disaster that would prevent me from having to sing at the end of the reception, but despite the darkness and the cold and the short in the piano, it went fine. My nerves even went away and I ended up enjoying singing as my dad danced with Kim and as she danced with Caleb. During my dad and Kim's dance, the short in the piano manifested itself again, and I finished the song a'capella. Pretty funny. Everyone asked Barbara why she stopped playing, as if she chose to... good times. The wedding the next day was beautiful, or so I heard... I was outside babysitting the nieces, nephews, and cousins who had come with us. The pictures were really fun, and Kim looked beautiful and so happy. Tyler and I took some good mental notes for our big day, which is in 96 days, if you wanted to know. :)

We eventually got everything out of the house, and left to drive home on Saturday morning. Because of the amount of stuff we both have and carting my wedding dress home, no one could sit in the back seat, so it was just me and Tyler for the 27-ish-hour drive. I think that was the best drive between Utah and Texas I've ever had!! We had a blast. We read "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven," watched two movies, and started on another marriage prep book written by one of Tyler's old religion professors. We had a great time caravaning with the fam too, and I think it helped all of my siblings get to know Tyler a bit better. We talked about this summer, and how we're going to balance family time and us time, especially since we now live 30 minutes away from each other. :( We also made a list of the things we want and need to do this summer, including everything from wedding plans to our High School Musical movie marathon and the Fat Camp I'm going to start for myself. It got me way excited to be home this summer, and to be productive. Hopefully that'll start with finding me a job! I have my first babysitting gig this Thursday and Friday, hopefully the first of many. I've thought about starting a kids' summer day camp or something... any suggestions?

We eventually made it home and Tyler and I went on a walk before he went home to see his family. We re-enacted the first time we held hands (for it was, after all, on a walk around my neighborhood) and reminisced about old times. This summer is going to be just as good. I fell asleep last night mid-conversation with Laura, and haven't slept that well in a LONG time. I awoke this morning at about 8, watched "The Biggest Loser" with my mom (only deepening my resolve to do Fat Camp), and then we vacuumed out the dirty cars we'd driven home. They smell like Pine-Sol now-- my favorite!

Anyway, I've got some more stuff to do today. But here are some snapshots Laura got of Tyler and I on the wedding day... Is he not the most attractive man EVER?!

Bzzzzz

2009-04-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

That is the noise of a busy bee. And that is what I feel like. I was looking forward to not having work, school, or any structured to-do's, really. However, I realize now that I crave the structure. Because when there's no set things to do or times within to do them, I just end up running around crazy until everything's done. Tyler and I hardly saw each other this last weekend because of all the bridal showers and shopping for wedding things and getting everything ready. Not to mention packing and moving our stuff, and entertaining a Church member from Romania that Kim worked with on her mission while Kim is, of course, never around. Still haven't found a job in Texas... a permanent one, at least. I heard there's a lot of people who need babysitters while they go on vacation and what-not, so maybe/hopefully there will be enough of that coming in steadily to keep me financially alive. :) I have my first job on May 7th and 8th.

In the midst of all this wedding craziness, Tyler and I are also trying to plan the things we need to plan before we leave the state for a few months. Planning a wedding from 2,000 miles away can sometimes be tricky, and there are some things that need to be done before we leave. But hopefully it'll all come together just right. We're both sick as well, but trying to just push through it. There's no time to rest!! Hopefully my voice comes back before Kim's reception on Thursday though. If not, I'll just have the scruffy, Norah Jones voice goin' on I guess. Wish me luck in doing all of this. If I make it to Texas in one piece and with my brain still semi-functioning, I'm going to be very grateful.

Almost there!

2009-04-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I both finish our finals tonight, and then we're free from school for the summer! Also, my last day of work is Friday. Unfortunately, after finals is when the craziness of packing, moving, Kim's wedding, and trying to have fun with our spare time begins! Wish me luck!

We love to see the temple

2009-04-16T18:45:00.001-07:00

After going to the Sunday afternoon session of Conference, we went over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, where DJ's dad took us to this perfect spot for viewing the temple. Loved it!

Sunshine brings out the best in me

2009-04-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't call myself a seasonally depressed person per se, but it really is amazing the difference in me when there's sunshine! I love it so much. It makes me smile at everyone, and I just feel so much friendlier. Kind of like Christmas time for some people I guess. Yesterday after work I couldn't resist going on a run outside, and then Tyler and I went and played tennis at the jr. high. I can't stand being inside when it's nice outside! I'm so glad I have a job where I'm not cooped up in the office all day. Hopefully I'll be that lucky when I find a job for the summer. Wait, let me change that-- IF I find a job for the summer. I will take whatever I can get!! But it's nice to be outside. I've been driving around lately with the car window rolled down with music playing loudly. Now all I need to really look cool is some sunglasses. :)

A string of good days

2009-04-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Despite not having a phone or car for different times over the past few days, they have been great days. Saturday morning I did go on that previously mentioned cleaning frenzy, and the apartment looks and smells great. In fact, when Kim got home Sunday night, she thought it smelled like our house in Texas. Which, if you know my mom at all, means that it smelled like Pin-Sol. Or cleanliness. Some of my cousins used to call my mom "Aunt Clean" instead of Aunt Colleen. But Clean describes my mom perfectly. She is so good at keeping a clean home. So anyway, the place looks great. After cleaning, working out, and showering, I went to Tyler's for a bit. While he went to take his test, I went to the grocery store and got stuff for our dinner on Sunday (a frozen lasagna... I know. I just was not in the mood to make ham and au gratin potatoes as is tradition in my family) and stuff to make Easter baskets for my siblings and soon-to-be family members (namely, the fiances :) ). Oh my gosh! I almost forgot. Right by Albertson's, there is a Downeast Outfitters. I had some time to kill while Tyler was taking his test, so I went in there. Holy cow-- I found the cutest pair of jeans Tyler and I celebrated his awesome test by having a PB&J and then going to see "Bride Wars" at the dollar theater. It was the FUNNIEST movie ever. I felt stupid because I was the only one laughing in the theater, but I think it was so funny to me beacuse it reminded me of Tiffany and I! After seeing the movie Tyler and I played Scene It at his apartment.

Sunday was Easter, of course!! It was a beautiful Sunday. Church was great, and afterwards Tyler and I exchanged Easter baskets and went up the canyon to listen to Elder Holland's talk from last Conference. We missed the Sunday morning session, so we had missed his talk. It was amazing!! Everyone should read it. We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and then went back to Tyler's apartment, where we threw in the lasagna I had bought Saturday. Caleb, Jeff, and Heidi came over and we ate. Jeff forgot to bring the corn and salad that I had at my house (he was there doing laundry), so we literally just had lasagna and water. Pretty funny. :) It was fun being together-- we laughed a lot.

Today is another beautiful day! I can't get enough of this sunshine. Tonight after work Tyler and I had FHE together. As much as we like our wards, we like being together more. :) We learned about the new apostle, Elder Andersen, for our lesson, and then played tennis for our activity. After playing and enjoying drumsticks for our treat (is any FHE complete without a treat? I submit that it is not) we went back to Tyler's apartment where we made our movie debut in Jason's school project. Pretty fun stuff!!

A new thing

2009-04-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I have gotten into name indexing lately. I'm not sure why we find it so fun! We like to joke with the names, putting Juergens on the end to see if they'd be good names for our kids. Or cruel names. :) We have a great time doing this, and we try to do it for an hour a week. It usually works best during American Idol.

Oh, and here's a really random picture. I think I've written about that seed I had to plant for my class... to learn the Law of the Harvest. Well, after 3 months of inspecting this sproutless pot every day, I finally turned it in on Friday. There was still no plant-- just dirt and a dead seed. But I wrote a killer paper to go with it, so hopefully that'll make up for my lack of harvest. Yay for that project being over!

FINALLY

2009-04-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

This week was probably the longest of my life. I'm not sure why it felt so long... it's not like I was anticipating anything coming up this weekend! So it was weird. Friday at work was a marathon, partly because it was boring. I had lots of running to do, but once I got back to the office, it was quiet and went by so slowly.

So what, do you ask, am I going to do with the weekend that's finally here? Well, this morning I slept in until I woke up by myself. No alarm to wake me up (mostly because my phone is still in Nauvoo and I don't have a real alarm clock), no rush to be anywhere. Today I plan to get some things done. I'm going to clean and organize my bedroom, clean the bathroom, living room, and kitchen, while playing loud music and jamming the whole time. Is there any other way to enjoyably clean? After cleaning, I hope to go on a run. I haven't run in a while and it just feels like a good day for that. Then I'll come home, shower, and Tyler will pick me up at noon. We'll spend some time together looking at apartments, and then we'll go back to his apartment, where he'll study for his Humanities exam at 4. I'm going to be getting things done as well... though I haven't determined what yet. Maybe I'll write some more blog posts, if you're lucky. The rest of the day is TBD!

Oh, and here's an update on my sickly self: I finally got some antibiotics! Quite illegally, but I have them, nonetheless. My mom told me that I just needed some Amoxicillin but I didn't want to go back to a stupid doctor to get it when that had proved a failure before. But on Thursday, Kim called and told me that her dentist had prescribed her some Amoxicillin for when she got a root canal or something. She asked me if I wanted it. Uh, YEAH! So I drove up to Salt Lake during lunch on Thursday and got the lovely prescription. I'm taking 4 pills a day as prescribed by Kim's dentist, :) and I'm feeling so much better. No more pressure headaches, no more coughing, and I can hear and taste everything just fine. I can't even explain what a relief that is after being sick for 2 weeks like that! It was terrible. Haha I felt a little like a drug dealer, getting someone else's prescribed antibiotics, but I really needed it. And, thanks to Albertson's, they were only $5. Yay for drugs.

Because no blog post is complete and really worth reading without a picture, I guess I'll post a picture. But because my memory card is full and I haven't replaced it yet, we haven't taken many pictures lately. So you get an old one. From last October actually-- but it's still one of my favorites.

No phone, no car, no problems

2009-04-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

I am isolated tonight. Since 5:30, I have been sitting on my couch, either working on my paper or watching "Just Married," talking to no one. Okay, except for talking to Tyler on google chat. So sue me.

Yesterday, Kim left her phone on the bus on her way to work. This is not an uncommon occurence for little Kimmy, but this time was different because she left for Nauvoo this evening. So I let Kim take my phone with her to Nauvoo (she is meeting friends there and needed a way to communicate with them and with her fiance while they're apart) and have been without a cellular device all day.

This evening, Jeff had a formal ball for his Army ROTC program. He asked me yesterday if he could take the car for that, and I reluctantly agreed. So he came to my work and I drove home, where I gave him the car for the night and went inside, alone.

So here I sit, with the apartment and Nestle Drumsticks all to myself, no phone to vibrate or ring, and no way to get away. I think I'll enjoy this.

On the hunt again

2009-04-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Several hunts, actually. I'm not sure why life presents me with so many times where I'm looking for things, but that's the way it is. I'm currently looking for a job in Houston for the summer. If anyone knows of anything, let me know. My preferred job, interning at G&A, doesn't seem to be working out, as no one will call me back. These times make it hard to find a job, and it's next to impossible when I'm not there anyway. So I'm not sure why I stress over it... I just worry that I'll be hunting for the whole 3 months that I'm home. So please pray for me.

Another hunt is for an apartment for me and Ty to live in next fall. We've seen some pretty cute apartments, but we're just waiting to find that adorable AND cheap apartment. Maybe we're dreaming. :) I guess as long as we find any available one under $600 we're lucky. If anyone knows of a cute apartment close to BYU that's a good deal, let me know.

My last hunt is for TIME. I'm not sure if I'll ever find enough of this, but oh well. I feel like there's never sufficient time to get everything done. Some days are definitely more productive than others, but it's impossible to be ultra-productive all the time. Take today, for example. Today I schedule an appointment with my bishop to renew my recommend and my endorsement for school, applied for a passport at the post office, checked out marriage license requirements in Utah, filled out a scholarship application for next year, read my scriptures, and went to work. By the time the day's over, I will also have gone to the fabric store for my mom, did baptisms at the temple, watched American Idol with Ty, indexed names for the temple, and planned out the rest of this week... if everything goes according to plan, at least! But yesterday, I did nothing but go to work and a party with Tyler. And eat. A lot. I guess some days are just better than others.

My 100th post

2009-04-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Oh happy day! I'm at my 100th post. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the inspiring bloggers who have gone before, and all of my readers. All 2 of you. :)

I haven't posted in a while... I feel like everything's been a bit hectic lately.Between planning our wedding, working full-time, wrapping up a semester with finals, and getting ready to go home for the summer, there's not time for much else... Except the fun stuff.

Tyler and I enjoyed General Conference together Saturday morning. We made pancakes and eggs and relaxed in our pajamas at his apartment. Between sessions I cut his hair, something that was long overdue. He looks great. :) We also took my car in to get the windshield replaced-- also long overdue. The crack went all the way across the windshield horizontally. Scary!! Our friends Crystal and Randall came over to Tyler's place for the afternoon session, and that was fun too. We have great friends. After the session was over, we went with Randall and Crystal to look at married housing around Provo. They are also getting married in August and we think it'd be way fun to live close. We made the mistake of not calling for appointments and we went on a Saturday evening, so of course we just drove around and looked at the outside, having no luck trying to see an actual apartment. We dropped Randall and Crystal off and then went to FYE to see if we could find me a cheap movie to watch while Ty went to Priesthood session. You see, the girls in my family all get together during this session and usually watch a chick flick and eat Chinese food. However, I was near none of my sisters, as Kim was in Salt Lake seeing some old friends. So I was alone. We got me a movie, and then Tyler dropped me off at the car place to pick up J.Lo-- that's my car, for future reference. She's got a big booty. :) I went to Costco to pick up Kim and K K's engagement pictures, and then browsed around the store. I walked out with 2 new swimming suits and a new dress. Oops! Unfortunately, when I got home with my Arby's and tried them on, nothing fit. Had to take those back Monday. I watched Stepford Wives as I waited for Tyler to get done, and then we went over to Annie's house in American Fork to celebrate her birthday. We had SO much fun! It was great to see my closest friends from high school. We took some fun pictures, so look for those in future posts. Tyler and I watched "Family Man" afterwards as we helped Kim and Caleb stuff and seal envelopes with their invitations. They're getting married in 3 weeks! It's crazy to think about.

Sunday morning was spent driving around. Tyler came over to pick me up, and we went back to Provo to pick up Heidi and her roommate Michelle, and then we went back up to Orem again to meet our friends Kyla and DJ at their parents' house. Once everyone was present and accounted for, we piled in one SUV and headed up to Salt Lake, leaving around 11. We got up there close to noon, and then ate the most delicious lunch in the bottom of the Church Office Building. They really take care of their employees! DJ's dad works for the Church, so he brought us all as guests. Roast, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and cheesecake satisfied my craving for a good home-cooked meal. It was really cafeteria cooked, but it tasted so good I didn't care. After eating we went to the Conference Center and sat about 10 rows away from the Prophet. I told my family in a text message: "President Monson just spit on me! Not really but that's how close we are!" We were seriously so close. The session was great and the Spirit was so strong. I loved every minute of it. Afterwards, we walked around Temple Square, DJ's dad sharing with us every little fact and tidbit he knew, from info about the new mall the Church is building, to the room in the temple where James E. Talmage wrote "Jesus the Christ." It was very informative. :) We drove home tired but happy. Tyler and I dropped Heidi and Michelle off and then had a snack at his house. We went back to Kyla and DJ's to play games. I don't remember the name of the game we played... Perpetual Connection? Combustion? Anyway, it's a lot like Nertz, and it was a blast. I was in dead last for most of the game, with my score in the negatives, until about the last 3 rounds, where I won 2/3 of them and ended up beating two people! We had a lot of fun.

Monday was busy at work, but I met Tyler at Walgreen's and we took my passport picture! I'm getting a new passport for our honeymoon cruise to Mexico. We went to Subway while waiting for the picture to print out, and we got a Thank You card for Tyler's grandma when we picked it up. Grammy sent us the cutest sign I've ever seen. It says "And they lived happily ever after." I can't wait to hang it in our apartment! After work Monday I went to the grocery store and stocked Tyler's kitchen up with what I call "Finals Food," meaning everything easy, fast, and unhealthy. But they needed it... those boys were out of food. Really out. After seeing Tyler and Jason for a few minutes, I went to Costco and returned the swimming suits and dress I had made the mistake of buying on Saturday. I also went to the grocery store and got easy and fast food for our apartment. Since we're moving out in 3 weeks, we don't want to buy lots of anything, and neither of us are ever home long enough to cook a nice meal, so we're keepin' it simple. I came home and turned on "Nanny Diaries" while my frozen pizza was cooking, but I ended up watching the whole thing... Oops. So much for going to bed early. I called Tyler before going to bed, and we ended up talking for about an hour, trying to plan our schedules for next fall. It'll be great to be back in school!!

Tuesday I woke up so happy... I'm not sure why. I think I woke up at just the right point during my sleep cycle or something. I was refreshed even though I hadn't gotten much sleep, and Tuesday ended up being a great day consequently. During lunch, Tyler and I went and looked at an apartment we're considering. It's at 500 North in Orem, just off of Main Street. It's a cute apartment, and we really liked the area too. If we could have that closer to BYU it'd be a no-brainer. We'll see. Work was great-- the sun was shining and I was busy but not overwhelmed. After work I went home, where Tyler came and picked me up. We drove down to Mapleton to his xTax team advisor's house, Professor Spiilker. We had a dinner party at his house with the members of his xTax team and their dates/wives. The food was great and we played Rock Band and ping pong in the basement. We had a great time. But now I'm exhausted!! My bedtime goal is 10:30... we'll see how I do.

Maybe that was a bad idea... but it was the best idea

2009-04-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday at 2:00 pm I finally went and saw a doctor. I made the mistake of going to the Student Health Center on campus. The dipstick of a doctor told me there was nothing they could do for me, and sent me on my way after examining me for maybe a minute tops. NOTHING YOU CAN DO FOR ME?!?!?! I was so mad. He suggested Sudafed. I told him I'd tried everything-- Sudafed, Nyquil, Dayquil, Tylenol, Advil, steaming my face, Vix on my chest, drinking lots and resting, and more-- and that nothing seemed to be relieving the pressure in my ears and head. I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection and that I just need some Amoxicillin (I think that's how you spell it?) to loosen things up in my head. He wouldn't give it to me though. BAH.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post. So after my appointment I went to Tyler's (didn't want to drive all the way back to Orem when I had class at 5) and did my homework there and waited for class to come around. I went to class and then went back to Tyler's where we were going to watch American Idol. Jeff came over and I cut his hair, and Tyler's sister Heidi came over, and we had lots of fun with her. Before I knew it, it was midnight. We'd been working on a scrapbook page for something Heidi had to do, and had also been looking at short hairstyles (yes, I'm thinking about cutting my hair after we get married). Time seriously ran away from me. So then at about midnight, Tyler drove me to my car, which Jeff had been using, so it was at his apartment a few blocks away. We got to talking and somehow time ran away again. Seriously-- it was crazy to look down and all of a sudden see 3:30 on the clock!! So we decided at that point our night was shot anyway, and we drove down to Krispy Kreme to get some doughnuts. I was glad for some food (somehow in the craziness I'd forgotten to eat dinner) but it made my stomach hurt to have sweets that late. Or early. Anyway, we ended up talking until about 5:00 am!! We talked about everything under the sun, literally. It was so fun! So I didn't get to bed this morning until about 5:30, when Kim was waking up for the day. I slept for about 2 hours and rushed to work at 8. My eyes are burning, it's hard to sit down without falling asleep, and I'm sure this isn't helping me recover, but it was totally worth it!! I could talk to Tyler for hours and never tire of it. In fact, we talked on the phone on our way back to our apts! Okay partly to make sure the other stayed awake, but still. I love talking with my Ty.

My thoughts today

2009-04-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

-I wish I had a cool April Fools' prank idea to play on Tyler.

-Only 3 more classes left for me until finals!! Hallelujah!

-Called in sick again today-- that's sick day #2. But I've been feeling sick since last Thursday. So really it's day #6.

-I sure wish I could taste. And hear and smell. Being sick stinks.

-Trying not to get too excited and plan the whole wedding right now... still have 128 days until the big one. But planning everything is SO fun! It's hard to resist.

-HATE the snow that's falling right now. This weather is one cruel April Fools' joke. If this is some trick to make sure I appreciate summer once we finally get it, then it's working. I cannot wait for sunshine.

-Watching Twilight for the 2.5th time in 24 hours. Yeah I am pretty bored.

-I'm not wearing makeup for the 2nd day in a row. My face is loving the break, but pretty soon I'll have to write a formal apology to the city of Orem for my appearance.

-My seed for my plant-growing project in my Marriage and Fam class STILL hasn't sprouted. Good thing we have to write a paper to go along with the plant-- hopefully I'll be able to write my way out of an F.

-Feeling pretty blessed to have a great fiance who takes such good care of me. I spent a lot of Sunday and Monday at his apartment. He let me soak in his bathtub (we don't have one at my apartment) and cry in his lap because I was in so much pain. He made sure I had medicine in me and was eating and getting enough sleep. What a sweet guy-- I'm pretty lucky.

Sick days

2009-03-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

I called in sick today. Wanting to watch something while I rested, I decided to go to Blockbuster to see if I could find a season of Gilmore Girls. So I drove up to Blockbuster-- nothing. I crossed the street to Hollywood, and found Season 5-- but of course they rent the 6 disks separately, at $6 a piece. I knew I'd go through more than one disk in a day, so I wanted to get the whole season, but didn't want to pay that much just to watch it once. So I went back closer to home to FYE (for your entertainment) to see if I could buy it. Yes I could-- for about $60. I won't lie and say that I wasn't tempted at all because I totelly was. But, I resisted, and spent the next 20 minutes wandering around the used DVD isles to find a good deal. Nothing caught my attention, so I decided while I was out I may as well be productive. I ran next door to JoAnn's and looked at patterns for bridesmaid dresses. I also looked for trimming for my veil. I didn't get anything, but found some good ideas to think about.

I'm finally home now, sitting on the couch and watching "Dan in Real Life." And I'm exhausted. Instead of finding something relaxing this morning, I ended up running around for almost 2 hours for NOTHING. Just my luck.

I feel like a stupid elephant

2009-03-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

I am sick. SO sick. Today I used at least one whole box of tissues by myself, and my nose is raw from blowing it so many times (hence-- I feel like a stupid elephant).

I started feeling sick last Thursday, but it was just a slight tickle in the back of my throat. By Friday, I could hear a difference in my voice, and my throat was hurting really badly. Saturday, I was in lots of pain, but I went out and did stuff anyways. Side note: I picked up my wedding dress Saturday!! It is the most beautiful dress EVER. I feel like a pretty princess in it. :) Also on Saturday, we (Tyler, Kim, Caleb, and I) went to a wedding expo at Thanksgiving Point. Holy cow-- I've never seen so many soon-to-be-married people all in one spot. Except maybe my marriage prep class. :) But the expo was fun. We took some pictures around outside, hoping to get some good ones of Kim and Caleb to use as pics in their wedding video. We ended up getting some cute ones of Tyler and I too:

At the expo, I had a lady that was there from a hair school practice on my head. I'm not sure what I want to do with my hair for the wedding, so I had her try a little something on the side. I thought it'd be cute because my dress is all lace and kind of vintage-ey, but it doesn't work with a veil. It was fun anyway.

After the expo, I was exhausted. Tyler and I said goodnight early, around 7, so I could get to bed early. However, no matter how hard I tried or how long I lay in bed, I didn't get to sleep until after 2 a.m. I just kept coughing and needing water. It was a rough night. So Sunday morning I went to Church to take the sacrament, but then went home. Tyler and his friend Randall came and gave me a blessing and then I went to Tyler's house with him. I was able to sleep there a little bit, but not as much as I needed to. Sunday night I was feeling slightly better, and I was optimistic about Monday.

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't feeling well at all. But, it being the end of the month, we're SUPER busy at work, and I knew there'd be a lot of running to do. So I went. BAD idea. I finally left around 3 p.m. and again went to Tyler's, where I crashed for a long time. Not that I slept-- I was just so feverish and weak that I couldn't move. Poor Ty-- I've been lame company the past few days. Anyway, I've decided that I'm taking tomorrow off. I can't keep getting worse like this, with Niagara Falls coming out my nose and my forehead so hot I could cook an egg on it. What's weird is that nothing seems to help-- not Sudafed, NyQuil, Advil, Tylenol, NOTHING. Hopefully I'll be able to get an appt with the doc tomorrow. Until then, this elephant is going to try and get some rest.

Some things I'm grateful for today

2009-03-25T11:11:00.001-07:00

-A good job. Sometimes I get really sick of getting up and coming here, but I really do love Inwest!

-The cute new tupperware I finally fished out of my trunk yesterday after letting it sit there for about a month. There's no way I'll mismatch the bowls and lids-- they're color-coordinated. :)

-My iPod Nano and its cute holder. Tyler and I went on a run together yesterday and because we're not talkers while we run, it's nice to have something to motivate me.

-Computers and the internet. Love you, Al Gore. :) This morning at work I read my scriptures, did my reading for class, e-mailed a few long-lost friends, and organized my remaining college classes into semesters on a spreadsheet. ALL on the computer.

-Water. I have been SO thirsty lately!

-Hair mousse and gel. If I had to straighten my hair every day, I think I'd shave my head bald.

-Paper clips. Seriously-- where would I be without them?

Despite the rain and cold, it's a good day.

I'm a survivor

2009-03-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

I made it through the race in Moab!! We had so much fun. We (Kim, Caleb, Barbara, and I) drove down on Friday afternoon. I left work early so I could pack and give Tyler my plant to take care of while I was gone. We also worked on a running playlist on my iPod so I could be inspired by the music. Tyler was so sweet and surprised me with an iPod holder that could be strapped to my arm for the race.

The drive down was fun, full of talking about how nervous we all were for the next day. When we finally pulled into town, we went to a gym where we checked in and got our T-shirts, number bib, and other race gear. We were all sufficiently starving by then so we got some Subway and filled up on gas (apparently my car was hungry too). We checked into the hotel, and promptly went to bed. I was so excited/nervous I wore my running gear to bed. I woke up about 15 minutes before I was supposed to, and lay there in bed listening to Jeff talk in his sleep. He said twice: "Permission to get under all the covers, sir?" and then, "Thank you, sir." It was pretty funny, but I totally think he was faking it. Anyway, we got up and got ready, then went downstairs for the hotel breakfast. I nervously ate a warm biscuit and drank water. I knew if I ate a ton that it would be all over that finish line. Or somewhere in between.

We were a bit nervous:

We drove to the school where the big yellow buses would take us to the starting line. This was the point where I said goodbye to Barbara, Kim, and K K, for I was running alone. Yes-- I was the only one running the 5 mile. So I popped in my iPod and tried to mentally prep myself for the run ahead. The bus took us there, and I sat next to the most emo kid I've ever met in my life. His mom was making him run. :) It was freezing once we got there, and standing in the shade for almost an hour waiting for the start didn't help. I stood there in my shorts and shirt, shivering, trying to stretch and warm up while telling myself I wasn't cold-- mind over matter.

Finally, the time for the race arrived. I was wearing a gray tank top and the shirt I got at check-in over the tank. I was planning on just wearing the tank top, but I forgot to take the shirt over it off before it was too late... so I just wore it. :) I found a nice spot in the sun to say a quick prayer and pump myself up a bit, then found my niche in the starting line. The gun went off and it begun! "Life Is a Highway" made me optimistic about the whole race as I ran down a literal highway. I tried to not go too fast at the start, but my first mile was a bit faster than the rest. Since I only had a week's worth of training under my belt, I had no time goal-- I just wanted to stay consistent. And, for the most part, I did. I ran a 10 minute mile for all but the first and last. My time was 52 minutes. I kicked it in hard, and that extra exertion brought out the weirdest and most urgent need to cry once I crossed the finish line. Running is very emotional for me I guess. :) Instead of crying, I ate a banana and drank water and tried to calm my heaving lungs. I couldn't stop moving either-- I walked around for a good hour before I felt like I could sit down. When I did sit, I sat close to the finish line where I could both get some sun and watch the half marathoners (the crazies, as I so fondly refer to them) cross the finish line. I watched Kim, K K, Barbara, my brother-in-law Andrew, and my aunt Rachel all come through. It was so fun to watch! Made me glad I only ran 5 miles. :)

After everyone had finished and caught their breath, we met in the big park right by the finish line and chatted. My grandparents were there too, and it was so fun to see lots of family.

The rest of the day was so nice. We (Kim, K K, Barbara, and I) went back to the hotel. I rested on the bed while Kim and Barbara showered, then Barb and I went down to the pool. I caught some serious sun down there! Which was my goal, so I was pretty happy about that. My face got sunburnt, but other than that it all turned into a tan pretty quickly, thankfully. It was so nice to be warm. After relaxing by the pool, Kim, K K, Jeff, and I went to eat with Steph, Andrew, and their kids Eva and Leighton at a local Italian restaurant. It was ridiculous-- we got gyped. But the food was so good and we laughed and had a great time. Right after that, I acted as Steph's assistant as she took Kim and K K's engagement pictures. They're so cute together! It made me miss Ty. I got to look around at the beautiful red rocks and the Colorado River. It's amazing to me how everything has its own beauty! I love it. After packing, checking out, and hitting up Hogi Yogi for some frozen yogurt, we drove home. Just in time for Tyler to massage my sore legs. :)

Kiss me-- I'm Irish

2009-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is how Tyler and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day:

Milk, green dye, and Lucky Charms. It was magically delicious! :)

Hope this doesn't freak you out

2009-03-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

So Tyler and I went to the store last week because I NEEDED some ice cream. I seriously had to have it. But anyway, so we went to the store and I got inside the freezer to greet the ice cream.

But that wasn't the picture that might freak you out. I got IN the freezer after that and rubbed off the fog on the inside of the door and Tyler took this picture:

So if you ever need a freaky ghost-looking thing, just go to the frozen section of a grocery store. Weird.

Recent Pictures

2009-03-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

I realized recently that I write a lot, but I don't put up enough pictures. So here are a few from about a week ago.

While my parents were here (2 days after Tyler proposed) my mom, my dad, Kim, Caleb, Tyler, and I attempted to go to the Draper Temple Open House. We drove all the way up there, went to about 5 different church buildings until we found a place we could park without tickets, and then went inside. We sat there waiting for about 5 minutes and decided we were not going to wait the whole 3 hours it would take to watch the movie (not even see the temple yet-- just to watch the movie) and we went to Cafe Rio instead. But, before we did, we decided we may as well get some pictures in front of this beautiful temple. So glad we did!

First kissy picture in front of the parents! I guess since we're engaged it's okay :)

Kickin' it into gear

2009-03-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Even though my wedding is 144 days away (but who's counting, right?) I am in full planning mode. Tyler and I have become extremely organized using Google. We both have Gmail, and use it all the time to chat while I'm at work, or to put our goals for the week on a google doc. This past week, however, I have discovered that they have google spreadsheets. We went a bit crazy with it. I made a spreadsheet, complete with sheets full of things to do for the wedding at different times. I have a sheet for Around Engagement, 3 Months Before, 2 Months Before, 1 Month Before, 2 Weeks Before, 1 Week Before, Day of, and After the Honeymoon. It's a cool list, complete with info everything from changing my name and getting a passport to getting gifts for certain people and a list of things to bring to the temple with me. I love it, and I love how it's broken down timewise so I don't feel like I have to do everything all at once. Hopefully this will make it go by quickly too!

I've also made a google doc with a list of the classes I have left to take before graduating, when they're available, and the number of credit hours they are. I can graduate in 4 semesters if I go full-time! Pretty dang exciting. :) I'm really looking forward to the classes that my major requires.

My third google doc that is still in the works is one to work on our apartment stuff. We're still working on a place to live (if anyone has any good economical ideas of places let me know) but what I'm doing is compiling a list of items that anyone would need to start a home-- specific furniture, appliances, etc. and then as we get things I will cross them off the list so we know where we're at. Maybe this is getting a bit obsessive compulsive, but I love being organized!!

A triumph over the human will... maybe

2009-03-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a glorious day. Let me start my story by saying 3 things: 1. I LOVE to shop. 2. I have not been shopping for clothes since the day after Thanksgiving. 3. Yesterday at work, one of my co-worker's clients gave me a coupon for 30% off anything at Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy until Sunday.

So after work yesterday, I decided I would stop by Old Navy on my way home and just see what was goin' on. I walked in and immediately smiled. I love the smell of new clothes, the music that plays in stores, and the excitement of the outfit possibilities available. :) I parused (sp?) through the store, throwing multiple items of clothing over my left arm to try on if I ever made it to the fitting room in the back of the store. I'm the type of person who tries on a lot of stuff, even things that I don't necessarily love on the hanger. So I eventually made it to the fitting room, and tried on a variety of dresses, shorts, shirts, and jackets. It was not a very successful trip-- I only walked out of the dressing room with two shirts that I loved. There were others I liked, but only two that I loved enough to actually buy.

I went to the front of the store and stood in line, excited about the yellow and white striped shirt that was about to be mine, along with the white floral shirt that had so many colors it would go with anything. As I stood there, I looked at the two shirts draped over my left arm, then at my wallet (I looked at my wallet, but really thought of my dwindling bank account). I thought: "I love these shirts. But do I really need them?" My head dropped and that perma-smile left my face as I vocalized the answer: "No." I walked back to the shelf, folded my shirts, put them back, and briskly walked out of the store before I could change my mind.

I drove away, saddened by not having those two shirts, but very proud of myself for not buying them. I called Tyler right away and told him about what I did (or, rather, what I didn't do) and he laughed at me. I guess it's not that hard for guys to walk away from a few cute shirts. But he sympathized with me, and we planned a trip to Park City tomorrow so we could get better deals on top of my already-awesome coupon. So maybe I'll get my shirts after all.

I think I'm crazy

2009-03-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

I just got a phone call from my sister Steph. She has been training for a 5 mile race in Moab that happens to be next weekend. In her training, however, she got shin splints. I've never had shin splints, but I hear they are killer. It even hurts her to play the piano or drive-- pretty bad. So for her to run would be dangerous and extremely painful. She asked me to run for her (do you hear the violins screeching in the background like a horror movie? I do).

Tyler and I have been running recently, but we haven't at all this week. I stayed home from work on Tuesday with a sore throat and fever, and I haven't felt 100% for a while. This means that I'm sure I would die in this race. Not really, but it would take me a LONG time to finish, and I would feel its effects for even longer. I have not been running with this race in mind, nor have I been running very consistently.

So why did I say that I would, might you ask? I'm not really sure either. Maybe it's the thought of doing something crazy that excites me. Maybe it's getting out of Orem and going to sunny Moab. Maybe it's spending time with my beautiful niece Eva and adorable nephew Leighton. Whatever it is, I'll be running in Moab next weekend. It's been nice knowing you all.

Looking Back

2009-03-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with a friend last night. We were at Tyler's football game (she was there watching her boyfriend who is on Tyler's team) and we talked for a good long while. She was asking about wedding plans, our story, etc. After a while, we found out that we had graduated the same year, and that we were pretty close to the same age. She asked how I felt about getting married-- if I felt scared or too young, all that kind of stuff. The typical questions one would ask a 20-year old about to be married I guess. I told her some of my past experiences that made me feel old sometimes, but that yes, at times I still do feel young. I told her about how at my wedding dress fitting at Alysse's on Tuesday, all of the other girls there were having their prom dresses fitted. We laughed about "the good ol' days" where the most complicated things we had to worry about were who we were going to prom with, and whether or not we would get to go play with friends on a Friday night. I thought those things were so important at the time. Looking back, I think I took myself pretty seriously. Looking back, I should have taken everyone's advice to "enjoy high school-- it flies by and you never get another experience like that." LaNae and I decided that no matter where we are in life, we're always looking ahead to something else. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it re-iterated (sp?) to me the importance of enjoying life where I am now. Of course I should be looking forward to things and working towards goals, but I shouldn't be so wrapped up in that that I don't see the many things to smile about now. Like the good people I work with. Or the amazing man I'm engaged to, and the fun of planning our wedding. Things like work and the stresses of planning a wedding can bog me down sometimes, but I want to start remembering the reasons behind what I do. I work not only to earn money, but to gain experience and to associate with great people that I can learn from. I'm planning my wedding not because it's required, but because I want August 8th to be a day that is beautiful and unforgettable. *Side note: We have officially decided on August 8th at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. Mark your calendars!*

So I'm going to do and be better. No more thoughts of "I'll be so much happier when..." because I'm going to be happy now. That's all.

And now... the rest of the story

2009-03-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

Actually, I haven't written about any part of the engagement story. I just like that saying from the AM radio station Dad and I used to listen to on the way to seminary in Texas. Good times, Dean-o.

It all started on March 3, 2009. I received a call from Tyler Honn, Tiffany's boyfriend (now fiance). He called to say that he was going to come down from Boise and surprise Tiffany while she was in town for Legacy and propose to her. He asked for my help, saying that he wanted to make it look like it was my Tyler that was proposing, just to throw her off. I agreed, and the planning began. The three of us (me and the two Tylers) had a great plan. They were going to drop roses and a note at my door, saying for us to go to Salt Lake (West Temple Square gate to be exact) and there Tyler Honn would pull around in a horse-drawn carriage and surprise her. He would propose on the carriage. After all that happened, the plan was for me to call Tyler.

Finally, the day came. Thursday, March 5, 2009. I was so excited to see Tiffany and my parents and to not have to work. Legacy was great, but Tiffany and I were pretty glad to get off our numb booties and leave when we did. We went out to eat at Chili's and talked like ol' times. Tiffany had mentioned something about how she needed to be back at my house at 6:45. I thought that was odd at first, because that was the time that the Tylers and I had worked out for us to find the flowers and then leave to Salt Lake. But then I remembered that Tyler had probably called Tiffany to tell her to be there at 6:45 because he was going to "propose." So we got there, and the quest began. We hurried and bundled up, then drove to Salt Lake, talking the whole time about our Tylers and how excited we are for upcoming stages of our lives. We parked Tiffany's car by the Conference Center, and then walked to the west side of Temple Square. Sure enough, the other set of roses were there, and Tiffany thought it was for me. She made me squat by the roses to take a picture, and then saw her Tyler pulling around the corner in a horse-drawn carriage. She was so shocked! Her Tyler, coming out of the carriage in a nice suit, asked if she would go on a ride with him. She asked what he was doing here, and he said, "I heard Tyler and Camille were getting engaged, so I thought I'd come down" (side note:I knew that this was supposed to be part of the plan to make her think that, but wasn't that taking the joke a bit too far? Those were my thoughts at the time). She seemed almost-angry at him for ruining the surprise for me and my Tyler, but eventually calmed down and they left on their ride. She pointed at me as she was walking away and said "You are in deep trouble Coco!!"

They rode off, and I completed my part of the plan by calling Tyler, saying that we could go home. He told me he'd be around in a minute, and then he also pulled up in a horse-drawn carriage! At that point, there was quite the battle going on in my mind. I couldn't decide if this was part of just making sure that Tiffany didn't suspect anything, or if something I didn't know about was going on. We went on a ride, and I thought that if he was going to propose tonight, it would probably be on this ride! But alas, nothing. We got off the carriage and went through Temple Square, even stopping in the Visitor's Center to see the Christus statue and wander around in there. I drove Tiffany's car home, trying to be excited and supportive of Tiki and Tyler. I was secretly thinking that my Tyler had really dropped the ball and that it would have been really cute of him to do it then. I thought of how much fun it would have been to be engaged on the same night as Tiffany, and what a fun memory that would be. I held his hand all the way home, but Tyler says I "didn't hold it as friendly as [I] usually do." As we pulled up to his apartment, I asked Tyler if he would make me a grilled cheese sandwich (I needed some serious comfort food) and he agreed. We saw Jason walking out of the apartment, very nonchalantly going over to a friend's house. I thought nothing of it, and we walked toward the door. Tyler opened the door, and I gasped when I saw this:

The whole room was covered in rose petals and candles and pictures of us, and there was Rascal Flatts music playing (my favorite-- also the artist of the first song we danced to: I Melt). At that point, I wasn't sure what to think. I wasn't about to get my hopes up again, however, so I thought, "Oh, what a nice surprise. A candlelit dinner!" When I saw this though, I decided I could be excited:

Tyler and I looked at each other for a minute, and I was thinking "Just do it, man!" and he finally got down on one knee. He told me he loves me, and that he can't imagine life without me. He also said that he didn't practice what he was going to say and that he should have-- so typical Tyler and SO cute. He asked me to marry him, and I told him of course I would! I leaned down to hug him and after a minute, he asked if he was allowed to put the ring on my finger. Is he not so cute?! I've already posted a pic of the ring, so you know how perfect it is. Then we danced to some Rascal Flatts tunes, staining the carpet by twisting and stepping on those rose petals (don't worry, the stain came out just fine). We eventually sat down to eat a delicious meal laid out by Jason, Heidi, Kyla, and DJ (thanks for the help, y'all!) but I don't think I ate more than 3 bites. I just couldn't stop smiling!

Poor Tyler said he hadn't really eaten or slept in a few days because of being nervous and planning everything, so he was starving.

We are so happy! It was really fun going home and being excited with my parents, Jeff, and Kim, who all knew that Tyler was proposing that night. We all screamed and laughed together, and they were glad not to have to keep that secret from me anymore. I was so proud of them for keeping it so well-- my dad even asked me that morning if I wanted to have my dad give Tyler his number while he was here or something. Great acting, family. You win an Emmy. Or whatever award is give to actors.

So there's the whole story. I think that's the first time in our relationship that Tyler has ever been able to keep a secret from me. That's a good one to keep though! We are so excited and blessed and happy.

Can't wipe the smile off my face

2009-03-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

I love being engaged so far. :) There's just so much to do and so much to be happy about! It's great. The past few days have been a whirlwind of planning and deciding and shopping and it's been lots of fun. Probably one of my favorite things was at Xpedx. Having dated for a while now, I've already made a lot of the decisions for what I want at the wedding-- colors, flowers, etc. Since we were there with Kim, the QUEEN of slow decision-making, we were there for a really long time. Not having your colors decided makes it hard to make any other decisions! Anyway, after a certain point, Ty and I got a little bored of sitting there watching Kim try to decide on something. We picked up a roll of paper and started playing football! Tyler is a great receiver and I am an equally awesome quarterback.

Announcement... READ ON

2009-03-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'M ENGAGED!!!!!! Tyler proposed to me on Thursday night. I was excited for this week and knew it'd be fun, I just didn't know how much fun! The story of how he proposed is so long and complicated, and I don't have the pictures from Tyler yet, but it suffices to say that it was perfect. I had NO idea and it was everything little girls dream of. The ring Tyler picked out is perfect as well-- I do have a picture of that:

My poopy camera doesn't quite capture the beauty of the diamond, but it's SO beautiful. It's two bands that cross over each other, with a princess cut diamond at the intersection.

The past few days since Tyler proposed have been crazy! Since my sister Kim is also engaged and my parents are here this weekend, it's perfect wedding-planning time. I bought a dress. I know, I know. I have only been engaged for 2 days. But let me explain myself. I was actually planning on wearing the dress that my sister Lindsay wore, but I went to Alysse's Bridal with Tiffany (one of my best friends and my second cousin) and tried on this one dress that had caught my eye in the catalog. It is absolutely PERFECT and I couldn't resist. The dress is so me, and I feel like a princess in it. I first tried it on in ivory just to figure out if it fit, and I was worried when they didn't have it in my size in white. But they looked in their basement warehouse and found it-- brand new. No one has ever put it on except for me!! I took that as a sign. So we went and bought it tonight! I also found the perfect jewelry to go with it, so that's nice to get out of the way. Now all I need is to find shoes! Yellow pumps? Blue rainboots? :)

Wedding stuff: our colors are navy blue, pale yellow, and white; flowers are yellow roses and white daisies; the date is August 8th; most likely in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple! I've even picked out announcements. Since our wedding is still a bit away, I feel no pressure to make every decision right now, and it'll be so stress-free. I am SO excited and SOO happy! I love Tyler!

Oh, and here's the dress. This is of the ivory one, but only because there are more and the picture is in better lighting:

Ok, now look at the back of the dress. The bow in the back is one of my favorites, and I love that it laces up! The train isn't too long, but there is one, and I love that. It's SO sparkly and lacy and beautiful!

Yay for getting married!!!

A VERY exciting week

2009-03-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

Last week was not-so-good. This week will be great! Why is this week so great, do you ask? Well...

-It's warming up outside-- I haven't worn a coat for a few days now! It's great.

-My Tiffany is coming to Utah TODAY for the Legacy Conference.

-My parents are coming on Wednesday, also for the Legacy Conference.

-I get Thursday AND Friday off-- again, for the Legacy Conference.

-I guess it's only fitting to say that I'm excited for the Legacy Conference. :)

-My sister Kim got engaged on Friday, so I just know that when Mom comes it's going to be wedding planning craziness! And that's always fun!

Hope your week is just as good.

One of those nights...

2009-02-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Thursday after work I went to Tyler's. We made cookies for our home/visiting teachees and then I took him to class. On my way home, I started to feel super-nauseous. Is that even how you spell it? Anyway, I got home and threw up for about an hour and a half. 9 times, to be exact. I'm not sure if it was something I ate or if I had the flu or something, but I'm pretty sure whatever it was cleaned me out pretty well. I had dropped Tyler off at class, so naturally I needed to pick him up. I practically crawled out to the car and drove there. He was so sweet to drive over in his car and just hold me on the couch. I probably smelled bad and I know my apartment did... but we just sat there and watched The Office. I'm not sure when he left because I fell asleep, but I was so grateful to have him around. Thanks for being there last night, T.

I'm feeling fine this morning. Still pretty weak and I feel empty, but I don't feel nauseous anymore. One thing that is a plus: my abs are sore. Maybe it just takes a couple stomach flus to get a six-pack...

Just call me Granola Girl

2009-02-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

I have a new love-- and that is granola. Breakfast used to be sort of a dread for me, so I wanted to think of something that I could look forward to. Then, one morning, it dawned on me in the drive-thru line at McDonalds. I love to get their fruit 'n' yogurt parfaits on mornings I don't have time to eat breakfast. They're only $1, and they're delicious. My favorite part is the bottom, when all the fruit is gone, and I'm left with the yogurt and granola. As I was eating this delectable delight, a lightbulb went on in my head. I could just buy a huge thing of granola and eat it with yogurt every morning!!

So I ventured off to Emergency Essentials with Kim on Saturday morning, and bought a huge can of granola for $9. It was probably my favorite and smartest purchase that day. I got a big container of low-fat strawberry yogurt to go with it-- yum! It's the perfect breakfast. Crunchy, but creamy; fruity, but with a touch of cinnamon; similar to cereal, but it doesn't get soggy; satisfying without making me feel so full I never want to eat again; and HEALTHY. I've had my granola with yogurt every morning since I got it on Saturday, and it puts a smile on my face every time. I ran out of yogurt this morning, but luckily I have a container of peach yogurt waiting for me in the fridge. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!

I'm famous for being an idiot

2009-02-25T07:33:00.000-08:00

I have a stupid story. Just thinking about this makes me shake with anger and regret!! But let me start the story by saying that I've been trying to win Rascal Flatts tickets for weeks. Actually, ever since I heard they were coming (which was months ago) I've been trying. I've called radio stations, texted radio stations, and entered the stupidest contests in hopes of scoring tickets to tomorrow's concert. When I've called, I've never got anything but a busy signal, except for Monday. I was the magic caller-- caller 13. I heard Shotgun Jackson's voice tell me that I, Camille, was going to play the Rascal Flatts Polka. How the game works: I listen to a Rascal Flatts song played in polka version, tell the correct title of the song, and then bam-- front row tickets. It was so simple. I'd heard so many people do it and get it wrong, and I was able to identify every song thus far. I listened, and thought of nothing. No song came to mind. I asked to hear it again, but still nothing. I threw out a song in desparation, praying that somehow it'd be a lucky shot-in-the-dark guess. I said, "Fast Cars and Freedom?" and it was not. I knew it wasn't, but it still made me so sad to hear it. I think I said, "Oh poop!" on the radio. The song was actually "God Bless the Broken Road." So if you heard me, don't judge me. It's SO hard to hear the stupid melody on the phone because all you hear is the polka beat. Tyler thought he was so funny when he called me that night and told me he had a song to dedicate for me. He played "God Bless the Broken Road" and laughed the whole time. Haha-- very funny T. I'm pretty disappointed in myself! But hey, I got a free CD out of it. :)

My most productive Saturday

2009-02-22T16:43:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things is to look at my to-do list at the end of the day and see everything crossed off. Now, this doesn't happen much, but yesterday it did. And it wasn't like I was running around crazy all day either. I even slept in!! My list for Saturday, February 21 (this goes in chronological order of when I did them:

-Watch the lastest episode of The Office (yes-- I opened Helga and watched before I even got out of bed!)

-Delete old e-mails

-Clean bathroom. This was a deep clean-- baseboards, toothbrush in the crevaces of the shower, the whole nine yards! My mom would have been proud. :)

-Clean vanity area-- same deal as with the bathroom. It was the kind of clean where you walk in and hear the ding like on the cartoons!

-Do laundry

-Clean room-- organize and vacuume.

-Read scriptures.

-Read articles for religion class.

-Spend time in the sun. To do this, I sat on the porch to my apartment in shorts and a t-shirt. I even got some tan lines! It was a beautiful day.

-Go running with Tyler-- also outside. We went to the Provo River Parkway and it was gorgeous.

-Go to Costco with Kim. We stocked up majorly! Our kitchen looks like a Costco now. We splurged and got those incredible croissants... YUM. We also got stuff to make pretzel salad again... double YUM. We love that stuff!

-Write some blog posts. I wrote 3. :)

-Spend time with Tyler and his parents before they go back to Houston. We went to Pizza Factory after Heidi's dance show and it was great!!

Saturday was a special day-- and I got ready for Sunday. Which, by the way, has also been a great day. We had ward conference and our Stake Presidency came. What incredible men and women! We had some great lessons and discussions, and I walked away so grateful to be here and grateful for opportunities to grow. I'm so excited about my recent goals. It's been so good for me to break things down instead of thinking about everything all at once. One of my favorite sayings is "Just live one perfect day at a time." And not perfect as in without mistake. Perfect as in whole, or complete. But, I think if we are living full lives, we won't have time to make mistakes. Just my thoughts. Weekends are great to get me charged up for the week. Bring it on baby!!

A few things that make me smile

2009-02-21T10:03:00.001-08:00

A full fridge at work:

Arranging the freshly made cookies so no two cookies of the same kind are touching each other:

Cafe Rio-- I'm craving it so badly!

*Notice that every item so far has been about food!!

I love "trashing" people's rooms with candy and other yummy things. I especially love doing it to Tyler's room when he's been out of town. He went to Washington D.C. recently, and this is what I did:

*If you can't tell, I put Starbursts all over his room. Last time it was Riesens!

Trying new recipes and actually having them work makes me smile. Ty and I are trying to do one new recipe a week. This week it was tortellini casserole:

But the thing that makes me smile the most is this face:

Sunshine, anyone?

2009-02-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

I've got spring fever-- BAD. This little peek at warmth and sunshine the past few days has made me crave a good swim in the pool, or even just playing outside in shorts and a t-shirt. I even bought a pair of peep-toed wedge heels yesterday (yay for gift certificates from work for my birthday-- and Tyler pitching in the last $5. Thanks again T$!), so my toes could get a little sun. :) I'm wearing them today, along with a short-sleeved shirt, and I'm feelin' pretty good.

I used to wonder seriously if I'm one of seasonally depressed people, but I don't think that's it. I don't necessarily get sad in the winter per se, but I just like my sunshine so much better! There's nothing like being able to roll down the window and feel the warm sun on my arm. I love wearing flip flops and shorts (my personal favorite are the guy's cargo shorts at Old Navy--love). My hair gets a little bit lighter and my skin gets a little bit darker too. I just love summer!!

But I love this time of year as well-- when it's just starting to get warm. Once it gets really hot, sometimes that gets old too. But this weather is perfect! I love that feeling of everything being new again and that motivating me to make myself new again too. I get more motivated to work out (partly because I don't want my winter body to be seen in a swimsuit), to be outside, and just to smile. I'm secretly super-jealous of my cousin Kellie who is in Hawaii right now!

So two of my goals for this summer are: to get whiter teeth and darker skin. In order to accomplish the second one, I may need a little bit of help. I'm going home to Texas for the summer, and am planning to work at G&A-- a outsourcing company in downtown Houston. It would be a great job, great pay, and lots of fun. But there's a problem: I would be stuck in an office all day. No sunshine, no swim suits, and therefore no tan skin. Saturday tanners don't get that tan! So I want to find another job-- something lucrative but where I can get out. I think the perfect job would be a nanny, where I can take the kids to the pool. So if anyone knows anyone looking for a nanny in Houston, let me know! And if they have albino kids, I don't want to know. :)

An elephant never forgets...

2009-02-19T07:30:00.000-08:00

But Camille does! I forget almost everything. It's getting pretty ridiculous, actually. My forgetfulness was shoved in my face again this morning when I realized I left my chapstick in my school bag at home. My lips are burning, so I'm constantly reminded of my stupidity. I forget lots of stuff:

-I often forget to eat. Usually this only happens with breakfast, but sometimes I forget to eat other meals too. Not for a long time-- my stomach doesn't let me forget for too long-- but still. Take this morning, for instance. I forgot to eat breakfast and drove to work, but then my tummy rumbled and I knew what was up. I had to pay the price, unfortunately. I scrounged around my car and found a Slim Fast shake in my trunk, but I was not happy about it in the slightest. A word to anyone who drinks Slim Fast or is thinking about it-- DO NOT buy the strawberry kind. I have never something bring up a gag reflex in me so quickly in my life (except maybe sushi). It is pretty sick.

-When I first started wearing makeup, I would sometimes forget that I wore it and wouldn't put it on before going to school. You'd think that after 5 years of putting it on each morning, I would get the hang of it. But nope-- yesterday morning I walked out the door, and even went as far as scraping my car before I realized what I'd forgotten.

-I always forget something at work, whether it's to make cookies, to clock in or out, to turn the phones on in the morning (I just did that-- hopefully boss lady didn't call!), to fill the fridge, or to drop off outgoing mail and FedEx's. Lists help, but I still forget things.

-Charging my phone-- both my work phone and my own phone-- is an often-forgotten thing for me. This creates problems when I need to get a hold of people or vice versa!

-A coat. This has gotten better as I've gotten more used to winter again, but I still sometimes want to walk out of the house with open-toed shoes and a T-shirt on. No such luck. But hopefully warm weather will come soon! I've got spring fever like a redhead has freckles.

Maybe I should take some lessons from that elephant.

Finally... a word about my Valentine's Day

2009-02-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've been dying to write about my weekend ever since it happened. I'm not sure how, but the past three days have seriously escaped me. They are a blurr! So this is how it all went down:

The day started with a trip to the store to purchase Tyler's Valentine's Day gift. It's an inside joke and I won't explain it all, but I got him a Snuggie. If you don't know what they are, it's probably for the best! They're pretty ridiculous blankets that I love. Tyler loves them too. :) Anyway, it was dumping snow all morning, which was pretty fun. Tyler came to pick me up at about 11:30 with our friend Charlee, whom we call CC. She had been in town for a couple days interviewing with BYU's graduate program, so we took her back to the airport. After saying goodbye to CC, Tyler and I drove down to Temple Square. We've tried going there several times, but it's always been closed when we've gone. We walked around Temple Square and went to the Visitor's Center and took pictures. It was great!

*Note: My shirt was Mom's Valentine's gift to me. It's a red shirt that says "Tyler's Girl" on the front. Thanks Mom! That's probably the best shirt I've ever owned. :)

We had a great time in Salt Lake. Ty surprised me with red roses and chocolate-- what a sweet guy! We stopped at Subway to get a quick lunch. Turkey sandwiches are my favorite for sure. Tyler even tried a black olive-- it was a pretty special day. We drove south and visited one of Tyler's old mission companions. It's fun watching Ty get so excited and reminisce about his mission. After visiting for a while, Ty and I went back up north a bit and went to Ikea-- one of my favorite stores by far!! We tried out probably almost every couch in the store, and had a great time doing it. I think we were there for almost 2 hours! I couldn't resist buying something, and walked away with some cutting boards for the apartment.

On our way back down to Tyler's apartment, we stopped at Wal-Mart and got groceries for the night. The menu: chicken fettucine alfredo, California vegetables, and chocolate pudding pie. Cooking together was lots of fun. Sometimes hectic, but always fun. :) We even got dressed up-- Tyler in a suit and tie, me in my favorite red dress. Dinner was delicious, and we finished it off with some dancing in the kitchen.

So, here's one of my favorite parts about this Valentine's Day. It's kind of a scary story, but hilarious because it didn't turn out badly. I was sitting on Tyler's kitchen counter, a bit distracted (if you know what I mean :) ) and not paying attention to the things around me. I think Tyler and I were both a bit distracted, because Tyler accidentally knocked over the vase of roses. As we were cleaning it up, I felt something hot on my back and smelled the most disgusting burning smell. I grab my hair and realized that it had been on fire! I guess I was sitting too close to the candles that we had for dinner, and my hair was singed (sp?) a bit. I gave myself a trim later that night, but the next day straightening my hair it still smelled badly! We laughed so hard, but I'm so glad that Tyler knocked over the vase. Who knows what would have happened had he not?! I don't want to think about it-- I keep getting this mental picture of me with a wig.

After doing the dishes and cleaning up the fire and water mess, Tyler's sister Heidi brought over her date Bryan, and we watched "The Notebook" and had some yummy chocolate pudding pie. Tyler made it all by himself and it was awesome! Just before Ty took me home, we couldn't resist finishing off the Martinelli's:

Tyler took me home that night. I walked into the living room to find every picture we've ever taken scattered all over the couch, table, and floor! He is so sweet. I sat there and looked through ALL the pictures probably twice before picking them up, then I think twice again once I had. :) We enjoyed our Valentine's Day lots! So fun!

Yet Another Discovery

2009-02-13T07:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't put up these pictures yet either. Last Saturday, Tyler and I discovered something else we LOVE. And that is country swing dancing. There's a rec. center in Provo (on Freedom Blvd. somewhere) that has dancing every Wednesday and Saturday nights. It was SO much fun! We went with Ty's roommate Jason and his date Kara. Tyler and I loved spinning and flipping and dipping and everything else that comes with dancing. We weren't that good at the beginning, but we made some serious improvement by the end. And it was totally addicting-- we've practiced our moves in his kitchen a few times since then because we want to go again so badly! It really was so fun, and it was pretty cheap too-- much cheaper than a movie or something else where you're sitting on your booty the whole time. We loved it.

Ty was a good leader. Unfortunately, I wasn't such a good follower:

I got pretty dizzy with all the spinning, but it was tons of fun, and we laughed the whole time:

After dancing for a couple of hours, we went across the street to Ozz to play pool. This time, unfortunately, I did terribly. Tyler showed me up real good:

And while I may look like I know what I'm doing, I promise you I don't:

Now, this is a pretty nasty picture, but we thought we were pretty cool:

We can't wait to go again! If anyone wants to join us for some dancing, let me know. It's a blast.

I forgot something...

2009-02-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post pictures from the 80's party Barbara and I went to a couple weeks ago!! We had WAY too much fun going to D.I. and buying weird T-shirts and poofing our bangs like the 80's. Here are some fun pictures from that night:

A full body shot of me and Barb:

We had to get a close-up to get the full effect of the bangs:

The party was in an unfinished basement, and it was super-fun. There was dancing and ping pong and food-- but mostly dancing. :) A sassy dance pose of mine:

And Barbara, you are too hot for words. I seriously LOVE this picture.

Hopefully we didn't offend anyone by our attire... if that was what you wore to school as a kid please don't take offense. We are only celebrating you and the era, not mocking it. :)

I am WINNING

2009-02-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

So this week I'm actually doing it. Two weeks ago Tyler and I set new goals for ourselves, about eating, exercising, sleeping-- basically everything we haven't been doing well at lately. :) And last week, I didn't do so hot. I exercised on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but that was IT. We did do better on sleep, but my eating habits did not improve at all. This week, however, I'm doing it. I have done some form of exercise every day this week (okay, so it's only been Monday Tuesday and Wednesday so far again, but I've got more momentum than last week!) and have been eating better and getting more sleep. Tyler and I went running at the indoor track at the Smith Fieldhouse on campus on Monday night and last night. I think there's something magic about that place-- I never want to stop running! I think there's something magic about running with Tyler too. When we run together, I have more energy. Or maybe it's just my competitiveness that makes me want to keep up with him. On our last lap both nights, we've split up and done sprints (his sprinting is WAY faster than mine, so that's why we split up). Whenever he leaves, it's like I want to walk right there-- all of my momentum and positive energy is sucked out of me! So hopefully I'll be able to be more independent in my motivation in the future. But after Monday, I was craving a run. It was weird. So I'm hoping this will keep going! Wish me luck!

Omni 172

2009-02-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

I transferred down to BYU in Provo for the Winter semester of 2008. I lived with my cousin Michelle, our second cousin Jess, and our friend Kara. They're the biggest sickers I've ever met-- if you met them you'd think so too. We made fun of each other all the time, and threatened to kill each other too. For example: "Hey Kara, do you know what's going to happen if you don't invite me to your wedding? Michelle's gonna die!" (it's not as effective when you're threatening someone's own life-- you gotta use someone else's.) I got really good at Guitar Hero that semester (thanks to my lack of social life), and learned to love doing crossword puzzles with my roomies (the cross, if you're being sick). These girls made the semester so fun for me, and got me involved in the ward, which I'm so glad for. I regret to say that I don't have one picture of all 4 of us that lived in that tiny apartment, but I have a few random ones, so that'll have to work.

Kara: She's probably the tiniest bodied person I've ever seen. Kara is from Nevada and is way athletic-- she even worked at Big 5 Sports when I lived with her. :) Kara is SUPER-smart and is pursuing a degree in something really hard... I don't remember what, but she would always take super-hard chem classes. She was dating Cameron at the time, and now they're engaged. I should have a little separate paragraph for Cam because he practically lived with us, but oh well. Cam and Kara taught me to play Nertz, and they have the fastest card hands I've ever seen! Kara was also really really good at Guitar Hero, and taught me everything I know. :) I love those two!

Jess: I can't believe it took me 19 years to get to know my second cousin so well-- Jess is amazing! She's also super-smart, and was a pre-nursing major, so she had way hard anatomy classes. Jess has the most beautiful hair AND the cutest laugh ever. Some of my favorite phrases from Jess were: "Well aren't you just a little sicker?"; "So what about that?"; "Are you... crying?" Jess also has super-fast Nertz hands, and she rocked at Guitar Hero too. Love you Jess!

Michelle: Oh, Michelle. Chelle is one of my favorite cousins, and has been FOREVER. We shared a room that semester, which was so fun for me. I love living with family. We got into a pretty good habit of rolling over in the morning and one of us calling Time and Temp to see what the weather would be. A lot of the time, Chelle would get up before me and go to bed after me. I don't know how she survived on so little sleep. She got really good at doing the cross with Kara-- they hung all their completed ones up on the wall, and it's like wallpaper. Seriously. Chelle's a dating machine, but somehow still finds time to get awesome grades, work 20 hours a week, and play the cello in awesome orchestras. She's an amazing example and I love her so much. You're the best, Chelle!

Here is 3 of us working on the cross (me, Kara, and Chelle):

Kara wearing ALL my jewelry-- what a sicker:

Me, Michelle, and Jess:

I loved this apartment. It was so hard to leave! These girls are the best.

Nauvoo House 312

2009-02-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Warning: There will be lots of pictures on this post!! But there's a good reason as to why: This apartment was so much fun! Tiffany and I moved to Nauvoo House together when our Tuscany contracts got sold. We were excited, but nervous to have roommates we didn't know beforehand. Little did we know that these girls we lived with would be so cute and fun! I love these girls.

From left to right, we have: Kim, me, Tiffany, Anna, Rachel, and Leianne. We had a roommate photoshoot and all dressed up in black and white with bits of red. So fun!

Kim: My little red-headed Mexican. Kim is one of the funniest people I know! Her sense of humor is hilarious. I always got so jealous of all the fun things she did-- she was big into outdoorsy stuff, and I think was part of the Outdoor Resource Center at BYU-I. She went white-water rafting, ice climbing, and anything you can think of that's crazy!

Tiffany: Again, LOVE. We lived on the third floor that semester, and Tiffany and I always complained about walking up the three flights of stairs. And Tiki-- did I ever get smaller, by the way? I submit that I did not! All your pep talks were in vain. We loved to sleep on the couch (usually because we were too lazy to fold the laundry piled on our bed) and fall asleep to a Gilmore Girls episode. I need to watch that show again...

Anna: Anna is so cheerful! I loved being around Anna in the morning-- I seriously don't think I ever saw her in a bad mood. She's a great writer, and I remember being interviewed multiple times for her pieces in the school newspaper. Watch out, J.K. Rowling-- you've got competition in Anna Liggett!! We were both English majors at the time, and loved talking about books and writing together. Anna's the greatest!

Rachel: Anna and Rachel are cousins, and they are so much alike. Rachel is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met, and, SERIOUSLY, the most photogenic. I don't think I've ever seen a bad picture of cute Rachel. Rach worked way hard in school and had the best self-control. I always felt stupid eating pizza around Rachel! She was in a spinning class and worked out tons. Love you Rachel!

Leianne: Leianne is also one of the happiest people I know. My and Tiki's room was right next to the potty, and we'd hear our roommates' conversations as they were getting ready in the mirror and we were still trying to lull ourselves away from the covers. Leianne would always sing this song: "Today is a wonderful day, for I am going away. Not to the circus, not to the pool, can't you guess I'm going to school?" and it always made me smile! Leianne, I always sing that song to myself now, especially when I don't want to go to class. Thanks for the inspiration. :)Leianne made the most amazing cookies and homemade cinnamon twists-- EVER. Her husband is one lucky man!!

These girls are the best! We had apartment prayer every night, and grew way close doing that and chatting afterwards. Our quote wall was the best! One time after prayer, Anna asked, "What would it be like if our mouths were by our belly buttons?" We got into a big discussion (yes, it was at 1 am, so it wasn't the most intelligent discussion) about it and then proceeded to draw pictures. That was a funny night. We did random things, like buy a 1000 piece puzzle and do it in 3 days. Oh, and we did it during finals week. Maybe we should have been studying... oh well. I love you girls!

MUST give a shoutout to our FHE bros... funnest group ever! Y'all made the semester so fun! Our family even sent out Christmas cards... "Merry Christmas, from our family to yours." I was the mom for this group, and Saylor was the dad. What a fun semester!!

I HATE cars today

2009-02-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

I am having car drama this morning. Have you ever had car drama? It is probably one of the most frustrating kinds of drama that there is in this world, simply because that is how we get around these days. I don't even know if I want to delve into this. My jaw is already clenched just thinking about it...

So my brother Jeff got a job in Mapleton. It's great-- congratulations again, Boy. However, this means that Jeff has to come get the car from me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon to drive down to Mapleton. Because Jeff also gets the car on the weekends, this means that he has the car 5 days a week. I'm pretty anxious for him to find another job closer to Provo so I don't have to bother Tyler for a ride home 3 days a week and be inhabilitated (sp?) the way that I feel I am now. I was planning on taking Kim to the bus today and using her car to get to and from work, but Kim had an appointment with her dermatologist this morning, and therefore was driving up to work. So she dropped me off (thanks again Kim!!) which was very nice, but now I'm not sure how to get home. Jeff will be in Mapleton at work, Kim will be in SL at work, and Tyler has a study session for a test tonight. Any ideas? If I had thought of this dilemma before getting dressed, I would have worn my hardy boots and just walked the 3.5 miles home. However, I am wearing my pointy-toed heels. NOT a good idea today. Anyone feeling like giving me a ride home from work? :)

My other and almost more frustrating car drama actually began on Friday. I believe I have relayed stories of my adventures with the car window of the car I drive for work. Well, on Friday, I went to the bank to make a deposit around 4:45. And yes-- I rolled the window down. But I had a weird feeling like I should be careful, so I made sure to play with it the whole time I was there, moving it up and down over and over again to ensure it didn't get stuck. The deposit receipt finally came back to me, and I unrolled the window fully to get it out of the tube thing (what's that called, anyway?). I pulled away and tried to roll the window up, but to no avail-- it was stuck. I usually wouldn't mind, but it was cold and rainy on Friday afternoon, so I was getting soaked as I went 40 mph on Center Street to get back to the office. I pulled in and sat in the car, praying over and over that the window would somehow unstick itself and roll up. It wouldn't roll up and it was after 5, so I came in to the office, grabbed some plastic trash bags, and taped them over the window for the wet weekend. I worried about the car the whole time, wishing I could drive by and make sure the bags were sticking. Unfortunately, my previously mentioned car drama prevented me from having a car this weekend, so I was stuck. I came to work this morning and saw the open window, with the bags laying on top of the car, covered in snow. I gasped, ran into work, and grabbed the car keys. I went out and scooped the inch of snow out of the driver seat, and then turned the car on. The window rolled up-- no problems at all. I laughed angrily and stormed inside. I guess today I'll be sitting on those plastic bags.

Tuscany 211

2009-02-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

This was my first apartment at BYU-Idaho. I loved the experience of moving away from home and being in college. I had tons of fun getting to know the sweet girls that were my roommates: Katie, Erin, Tiffany, and Rachel. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of all 5 of us, but this is a pretty cute one anyway. The 4 of us (excluding Rachel) went to Yellowstone together and had a great time. In order in the picture, we have Erin, Tiffany, me, and then Katie.

Erin: My fellow Texan! Erin is from Flowermound, TX. She's the coolest! Erin had a way of making everyone feel cool. Her boldness was refreshing, but she was totally sarcastic at the same time. She had a fun sense of humor, and a great sense of fun. The semester after we were roommates, we worked together, and she'd borrow her roommate's golf cart and take me to work in the cart. Love you Erin!

Tiffany: I don't think I can say enough about Tiffany. She is my second cousin and one of my best friends. Our dads are best friends and so when Tiffany's dad heard from my dad that I was going to BYU-I, she called me and we arranged to be roommates! Tiffany is great. She's very wise and gives great advice, and no one brought out the fun in me better than my Tiki. We love watching CMT and Gilmore Girls together, and pigging out on junk food-- specifically pizza. :) I love my Tiki.

Rachel: Okay so again, she's not in the picture, but Rachel is the coolest. Rachel LOVES cereal, and had the cutest little bowls for it. She always rolled out (she's in a wheelchair) in the morning with a huge smile on her face. We were both taking American Heritage that summer from the same teacher, so we would switch off going to class and taking notes for each other. It was awesome!!

Katie: Katie is the coolest person in the world. I sincerely thought her last name was Longhair for a long time because that's what everyone called her, but her last name is Poole. Katie LOVES bugs and cats, and is probably one of the most quiet people when you first meet her. It was so fun to watch her come out of her shell a bit while I lived with her. Katie has the cutest little laugh I've ever heard, and teaching her to flirt with boys was probably one of the funnest things I've ever done. You're the best, Katie!!

I loved living in Tuscany 211. Our ward was great, and it was a fun way to start out my college life. Love you girls!

My first series

2009-02-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about my past roommates a lot the past few days... and I want to write my memories of each of them. So, my next few posts will be about my old roommates. Hopefully it will include pictures. Here goes...

My bones are dry

2009-02-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I was always made fun of in my family because I had a weird way of describing things in regards to my body. I don't even remember what I was referring to when I said this, but I remember telling people that my bones felt dry. Go ahead and laugh.

I thought of that this morning as I was waking up and felt the pain in my legs. Last night Tyler and I had our last BYU intramural tennis match. Yes, we lost. Sigh. But what made me so mad about it was that it was sincerely my fault. Poor Tyler had to deal with my poopy tennis playing and then my consequent anger. I don't think I said more than 20 words last night. I think all of my stomping around the court in frustration made my legs sore.

So, this morning as I got up to take a shower, my first thought was "Ouch--my legs feel empty." Go ahead and laugh again.

A Typical Wednesday

2009-02-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

-Wake up at 6:05 (Okay so this isn't typical, but it's going to be...)

-Get my blood movin' with some Pilates.

-Take a hot shower-- not just for me, but to help my plant warm up (for my class, we have to grow a plant to learn the Law of the Harvest. It being winter right now, it's hard to keep the dang thing warm...).

-Wolf down a bowl of cereal. I usually have toast on the run, but I'm trying to be healthier. BAH for health.

-Run out to the car, do a half-hearted ice-scraping job, and consequently stick my head out the window until the defrost kicks in halfway to work.

-Open the office: turn on lights, turn on phones, make cookies, fill copiers with paper, and print out schedules for everyone.

-Bang my elbow on the freezer as I'm getting out cookie dough balls. Real graceful, Cam.

-Use time while cookies are baking to read my scriptures online. I love technology!

-Check the runner box. Today was different-- no deliveries so far! Call the Salt Lake runner to share the good news: we don't have to meet this morning.

-Stop by my house to get some leftover soup to heat up for lunch. Potato soup-- my FAVORITE. Thanks again for the recipe, Steph.

-Get to the other Orem office and spend the whole morning putting in orders and runnin' around like crazy. The more I learn, the more stuff people give me to do. It's a bittersweet thing.

-E-mail Tiffany from my new Inwest Title e-mail account. I feel SO cool these days. :)

-Dip my elbow in the Scentsy candle wax as I'm stretching at my desk. Too bad I'm wearing my favorite blue sweater today! :( And yes, it was the same elbow that I hit on the freezer today. What is it today with me and the elbow?

-Heave a sigh of relief that I remembered to bring a bag of Goldfish to work today-- those cookies look so good, but I've got something to hold me back.

-Certify my hand as I'm trying to certify documents. On my left hand it now reads: "I, CA, Certify this to be an exact copy of the original. INWEST TITLE SERVICES, INC." Real funny. As if I had an original hand to copy!

-Note: This is all before 11:30 a.m. These are the things that will probably happen later today...

-Devour my delicious soup. YUM

-Spend the afternoon doing the running that I didn't have to do this morning.

-Break down and finally eat one of those ridiculously tempting chocolate chip cookies sitting on my desk. I'm not trying to be negative-- just honest. It's probably going to happen.

-Get a ride from Tyler to my class, lugging out of work my book bag, purse, clothing bag, and two tennis rackets. On Wednesdays I basically take everything I own to work.

-Take notes like crazy in my religion class at 5:00. It's such a good class and I'm learning tons!

-Have an hour to breathe, change clothes, and hopefully eat something. Thank Tyler for driving me around the whole state of Utah.

-DOMINATE on the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts at 8:00. That's the plan, at least! We're so nervous but so excited!

-Go home and clean up the disaster that is my room

-Feed plant. Maybe I'll go buy a heat lamp or something to give it sunlight and warmth. Now I'm thinkin'.

-Have a snack of chips and salsa as I make my list of things to do tomorrow and cross off things I've done today. Chips and salsa is my favorite snack!!

-Get to bed at 10:00 for the third night in a row this week! Go me!

Wednesdays are great, aren't they?

All Geared Up

2009-02-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

I'm so grateful for Sundays. Yesterday was especially good for two reasons. 1. I was able to spend most of it with Tyler. 2. I feel recharged now. I think Tyler and I are the same in that we both get really fired up about new goals we set. The down side to that is that it usually doesn't last. But, we've set some really good ones for this week, and I think we can do them. I went to bed at 10:30 last night and woke up at 6:00 and exercised for 30 minutes. I'm trying to get back into shape and just plain be healthier, so this will be good. Hopefully it lasts, because I'm feelin' pretty good this morning! Wish me luck!

High School Tag

2009-01-31T15:47:00.000-08:00

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes, I dated Corey Astle off and on from 8th grade on! Crazy!

2. What kind of car did you drive? For the first little while I was blessed enough to drive Edna-- if you don't know her you don't know me-- but then I drove an '89 Honda Prelude. I called it Ritzy because it had A/C, a CD player, and a sun roof. I loved that car too.

3. Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Why yes, I did! I got 96/100 because I didn't do my parallel parking perfectly. Other than that, I'm a perfect driver. Ask anyone. :)

4. Were you a party animal? I pretty much was.

5. Were you considered a flirt? I think my friends lovingly described me as a "pathological flirt" and I don't think they were too far off.

6. Did you play in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in choir. Gotta love Rosemary!

7. Were you a nerd? I never thought of myself as a nerd, but I guess if people called me that then sure. Sniff sniff.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Yes-- swimming, tennis, and cross country (for one race haha).

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never! Mr. Clark (the principal at MV) and I were best friends. He even offered to let me live at his house my senior year when my family moved to Texas. He really wanted to be the one to hand me my diploma.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? We are the fighting Bruins of Mountain View... Yes, i still can. In fact, sometimes when I'm at a BYU game, the MV song starts coming out when the BYU song should. Oh dear.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? I loved Mr. Rich-- his 11th grade honors English class changed my life. Rosemary Matthews was classic. I also loved my drivers' ed teacher too-- Mr. McNaughton. All my teachers were great.

12. Where did you eat lunch? Usually in the commons, close to the stage. But most of the time I went somewhere with Kim and Chelsea.

13. What is your schools full name? Mountain View High School

14. School mascot and colors? Bruin of course! Cardinal, white, and gold (yes I had to sing the whole fight song to get to that part to remember all of them haha)

15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Homecoming...I only went to homecoming once, and that was with Corey. Awww

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? If I went back and could know what I know now, then sure. But I loved high school and probably wouldn't change anything about it.

17. What do you remember about your graduation? Well I never had a graduation ceremony. I finished high school through independent study. Maybe I'll throw myself a graduation party.

18. Where did you go senior skip day? I never had senior skip day... when I was a senior I was in Texas and wasn't involved in my school-- AT ALL. I really didn't like Cinco Ranch.

19. Were you in any clubs? Operation Smile, and I was on student council sophomore year.

20. Have you gained some weight since then? Uh YEAH. Obviously.

21. Who was your prom date? Corey Astle-- both years.

22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I would like to... but since I didn't graduate from the class I would consider myself a part of, I won't hear about it unless from people I keep in touch with. One more reason to keep in touch I guess. :)

23. Did you have a job while in high school? I worked at Arctic Circle! Where the good stuff is. I started there the day after my 16th birthday and worked there until we moved to Texas. Good times.

I tag Barbara, Steph, Linds, Michelle, and whoever else wants to do this!

Blast from the Past

2009-01-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

I love the way that certain things bring back such poignant memories. Smells and music make my mind reel with memories-- take today for instance. About an hour ago, I walked back into my office. I immediately smelled the Scentsy that Jeanna had put on my desk, but it wasn't Scentsy I smelled. It was the Sno Shack.

I worked at the Sno Shack in Rexburg last summer... I know, it was pathetic for a 19-year old. I was by far the oldest girl that worked there-- most of my co-workers were in jr. high and high school. I worked 3-4 days a week, and all day on Saturday. I luckily never had to work nights, so I worked when the sun was high and EVERYONE and their dog (literally-- we had people order two so they could give one to their dog) wanted a delicious sno cone. We shaved the ice into styrofoam cups (sometimes putting ice cream in the bottom of the cup-- it's SO yummy), shaped the ice into a cone shape on top, and then pour the customer's flavor juice of choice on top. Sometimes, for an extra 25 cents, we'd even put cream on top. The shack was always busy and always fun-- everyone was always happy to have a sno cone, even if it meant waiting in a half hour long line. Saturdays were my favorite. Most Saturdays, I would wake up early for an 8:00 tennis match, then hurry home and change and ride my roommate Emily's bike to work. Thanks again Em! I would usually wear my cargo shorts purchased in the guy's section at Old Navy and a plain black Shade shirt, and always flip flops-- no one wanted to ruin their shoes buy pouring sticky juice on them! I would work non-stop at the shack, usually from 10-6, and then go home, finally eat for the first time in the day (I can't eat before a tennis match, and never had time to afterwards) and THEN get started on my homework. So don't ask me why Saturdays were my favorite... they just were.

So this smell brought back tons of memories. I could almost feel my sore muscles from a hard tennis match, the sticky feel of the juice between my toes, and the contrast of my freezing hands and the sweaty rest of my body. I could hear the ice shaver, the other girls yelling over the loud shaver, "What size can I shave for you?", the clink clank of the change the little kids always brought in, and the fun music that was always playing from one of the girls' iPods. I'm totally craving a sno cone now!

Is every day a Friday?

2009-01-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I'm the only person who experiences this, but sometimes some days of the week feel like other days. For instance, every day of this week has felt like Friday. Maybe I'm just a party animal... :)

Sunday, we had a surprise party for Tyler's roommate, Jason, whose birthday was actually on Monday. He turned 22, and he now has a palindrome age. We had a great time at our friend Kelly's apartment, eating grilled burgers and catching up with everyone. Happy Birthday Jay!

Monday, I went straight from work to Tyler's. Jason's dad treated us (meaning me, Tyler, Jason, Randall, Clint, Zack, Dane, Taylor, Stephen, and Isaac-- yes it was me and Taylor with a bunch of guys) to Tucano's for dinner. YUM!! My mouth still waters when I think of how delicious that turkey wrapped in bacon was, or the garlic sirloin... that's my favorite. Their salad bar is incredible as well... and the lemonade! I almost forgot. We even had dessert-- I didn't go for the "Death by Chocolate" cake, but I did enjoy the Oreo sundae with Tyler. Oh YUM. We laughed so hard the whole time-- I've loved getting to know all of Tyler's friends. Happy Birthday AGAIN Jason!! You're awesome!

Tuesday after work, I ate dinner and exercised. I'm trying to get back into shape-- I'm feeling pretty pathetic and large. Kim threw a party for out friend in the ward, Sharon. We went to Smart Cookie (another way YUM treat-- I can't say too much about it because you just have to go try it) and stuffed our faces, and then went bowling at Miracle Bowl. Never go bowling on a weeknight-- all the leagues are on weeknights, no matter the bowling alley. The wait was over a half hour! Anyway, we bowled two games. The first game I scored a 148 which was pretty good for me, but the second I scored a 95. What's up with my hot/cold bowling?! I need to bowl more regularly like I used to.

Wednesday Tyler and I had a tennis match at 6:00. We played a friend of mine from high school, and it was fun to catch up with her a bit. Tyler and I were up 7-4 in the pro set (a pro set is the first to 8 games, so we were close), but somehow just let it go. Annie and her partner won 5 straight games and beat us 9-7. Needless to say, we had steam coming out of our ears for the rest of the night. That put a little damper on our going to see "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at BYU, but we enjoyed the play anyway. I've LOVED that movie since I was a little girl. In fact, my mom tells me that I made everyone call me Millie for about 4 years because of it. I guess it had a pretty big impact on my life. :) But the play was awesome. I definitely recommend it.

Tonight I went to Kim's basketball game after work (sorry about the loss ladies-- you'll get 'em next time) and then went visiting teaching... by myself. :) Gotta love VT!

So tomorrow is actually Friday. I hope it's as exciting as the rest of my week has already been! Tyler is gone to Washington D.C. for his national Xtax competition and won't be back until Saturday night... that might make my weekend a bit more subdued than others. But who knows?

My Life's Accomplishments

2009-01-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

Instructions: Take the following list and bold the items you have completed or experienced.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run (Okay, so it was a machine pitch team and the field was tiny, but I'm still awesome :) )

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been on television

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee Three times!!

100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own

46/100

The Constant Battle... am I the only soldier?

2009-01-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

Last night I was determined to get to bed early. I'm still recovering from that aforementioned sore throat, and I am perpetually 5 minutes late to work. However, I have decided after last night that it doesn't matter when I get to bed. Waking up stinks no matter when you go to bed.

I had a conversation about this with my coworker a few days ago. Why is it that waking up NEVER gets easier? The first ten minutes of the day are my least favorite, by far. It is so hard to will myself out of my warm and cozy sheets, no matter what exciting things lie ahead of me. Almost every morning I roll over, turn off my David Archuletta alarm, and groan inside myself, thinking "Should I call in sick today?" and then, somehow, I hurl myself over the edge of the bed, somehow always catching my left leg underneath me. I can never quite open my eyes fully for the first few minutes of consciousness, and I often close my eyes and just let hot water run over me in the shower.

Am I the only one who has a hard time waking up in the morning? Today, I really wanted to have a good hair day. Unfortunately, I accidentally pushed "dismiss" on my alarm instead of the snooze button, and didn't wake up until 7:22-- 25 minutes before I had to leave for work. This makes today NOT a good hair day. Sorry world. You're just going to have to deal with it today.

My Car Adventures

2009-01-22T20:30:00.000-08:00

I drive a lot for my job... A LOT. I drive to Draper twice a day, and Spanish Fork usually at least once a day, and then I do a lot of running between Orem and Provo to top it all off. So I've had some pretty cool adventures. Today I definitely had a literally cool adventure.

I was warned when I was shown this car: "Don't roll the driver window down. Sometimes it works and other times it won't roll back up-- so just don't use it." I heeded the warning... most of the time. There are times where it's just unavoidable. I'm not about to stand at the drive-thru bank machine, nor am I going to open the door every time I need to throw an apple or my gum out the window (you all know you do it too). Sometimes it has gotten stuck, but it always goes up in a timely manner, so I figured the car liked me or something. But today I was proven oh-so wrong.

Driving around Salt Lake (I had to go all the way up there today because the SL runner was too busy to meet me) I saw a Burger King. Now, I haven't had fast food in a long time. And I really needed a drink of water to ease my throat pain. So I pulled in the drive-thru and ordered a water... ok I confess... I ordered a strawberry shake too. As I drove away, I tried to roll up the window. The noise the car made was similar to a groaning cow or a mad cat, and the window went nowhere. I did what I've done many times-- held the button down, waiting patiently for the window to roll up. I kept driving, going towards I-15, with my finger on the window button. I was starting to laugh at the situation, thinking "Oh no, it's finally caught up with me!" It's a good thing it wasn't a freezing day.

**Side note: If you haven't been to Burger King lately and had a shake, I definitely recommend it. They gave me a MONSTER straw. It seriously was huge! It's big and blue, and could probably fit 4 regular straws in it. On the wrapper, they called it "The BK Pipe." That was a pretty accurate description. Not only did it look cool-- it allowed for much faster intake of strawberry shake. What more could you want in life?! :) **

So I was getting on I-15 heading south, drinking my strawberry shake and keeping my finger on the window button. I was laughing the whole time, but secretly frantically praying that it would roll up. As much as I was enjoying this "in your face" moment, I was going 70 on the freeway in 30 degree weather, not to mention drinking a shake... brrr. The window went up eventually, but not until I had been on I-15 for about ten minutes. Oh bah.

We're Back in the Game!

2009-01-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I love tennis. In fact, it was the reason for our first and second dates. The first time, we tried to play tennis after institute, but we didn't know that the lights shut off for the night at 9:00, so we had to play the next night at his house. We played a lot together during the summer, and, despite my beating Tyler every time (haha sorry Ty, but we both know it's true! :) ) we had a good time. Or, at least, I did. All kidding aside, we really love playing tennis together. So this semester, after dominating the bowling league, we decided we'd try tennis too! We signed up to be partners in the intramural mixed doubles league. Our placement match was last night at 8:00. Wait, let me back up. So Monday night, I notice I have a headache and a sore throat. Tuesday I woke up feeling like CRAP. There's just no other way to describe it, as much as I don't like that word. My throat was as thick as my thighs and I had zero appetite, which is so weird for me. I had a fever and felt SO weak. Of course, on the day that I have my first tennis match since the summer, I'm sick! But Tyler was so sweet to come get me from work so I could go take a nap at his house during lunch, and that helped a lot-- well, that and 4 Advil! :) I rested between work and the match, and then we went down there. Neither of us knew for sure where the indoor courts were, but we found it and sat and watched the competition. I saw a friend from Idaho there that I used to play tennis with, along with a few other people I know. We checked in and were assigned Court #1. It was perfect-- the people ranking us were sitting in the bleachers right next to our court, so we were excited. We played well, surprisingly, and beat Rachel and Reese in a pro set 8-1. We found out afterwards that we are going to be in the "upper-middle division" whatever that means! But we're so excited. We know our strengths and weaknesses now, and are so excited to practice together! It was the first time we'd ever played together, and we had a blast. Go Team Camler! :)

I was a little nervous before the match-- please ignore my pale and feverish face:

Celebrating our victory:

Take 2 of celebration-- this time my thick thighs made an appearance:

I hate tomorrow already

2009-01-18T21:09:00.001-08:00

It is a normal Sunday night. I'm sitting at Tyler's house, on his laptop while he talks to his dad on the phone. Today has been a typical Sunday. In fact, the whole weekend has been typical. And tomorrow will be such a typical Monday. That is what I hate about it. It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and this means that there is no school, no banks are open, and no county offices are open. Then WHY IN THE WORLD is Inwest Title Services open, might you ask? Well, please don't ask me. The mere thought of the fact that I have to wake up at 6:30 am tomorrow and be to work at 8 makes my blood boil under my skin. I hate that the one abnormal day that Tyler doesn't have school and Kim doesn't have work, I must slave away in my office, playing "catch up" and scanning files into the computer for our policy department to look at. I am pretty upset about it. This is my "are you serious?" face:

Oh, and there's Tyler next to me. He tried to look mad along with me, but I don't think anger is an emotion he feels. He's just too nice.

So to all of you people who get a break from life tomorrow, please enjoy it-- for you and for me.

A Productive Lunch

2009-01-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about this semester so far is that Tyler gets done with class by noon every day. This makes it so I can see him at lunch every day that I get lunch breaks! Sometimes I go to his house, but since I've been working over at the other office, I rarely get out, so sometimes Tyler comes to me. This was the case on Thursday. Tyler picked me up, and we went to Little Caesar's. We got a "Hot-n-Ready" pizza and ate in the car-- it was a beautiful day, but too cold to have a picnic. There were only two of us, and there was only one pizza, and it had only been ten minutes, but we looked down and saw this:

Yes, we are pigs. What can I say? I was hungry!

Busy Bee

2009-01-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

I know my blogging has been slacking, and I'm sorry. It's for a good reason though-- I'm hardly ever bored at work anymore! On Friday I talked to my boss about how the other Orem office is super-busy. She asked if I wouldn't mind spending my free time between running here at the office fondly known as "Orem-2" helping put in orders and doing whatever needs to be done. There's one escrow officer in this office, and she has over 80 refinance orders for this month already-- and it's only the 15th! So it's crazy busy here. I love it though-- I'm learning tons more about the company and how to do lots more stuff. I'm still running, and I still open Orem-1, so I keep pretty busy throughout the day. I've had one day where I have had a lunch break so far this week.

I have no exciting pictures to post, because I always forget to take them! Tyler and I are working on it though. Yesterday after work and class, we went up to Salt Lake to visit his aunt and her family and to get his ski stuff. We had a great time! There's something about being around family that just feels good, even if it's not your own. I love it.

Okay, so I'm trying something new. I've talked to Barbara about helping with this idea, but I need you peeps to spread the word. We want to start doing wedding receptions-- Barb on the piano, me on the mic, doing jazzy stuff like Michael Buble or Linda Eder. So if anyone hears of anyone looking for live music at their reception give them my name!

Update on the hair: it's still curly! It's super-easy to do, and the perm smell is gone. Well... mostly gone. Tyler claims that he can still smell it, but I think it's all mental. :)

My new do

2009-01-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I got a perm on Thursday night! I had a perm last March, and it just did not go well. The back was much curlier than the front, and it didn't last very long at all. So for Christmas, Santa gave me a perm. :) I went to Seasons Salon and Day Spa, and it was great. I had two girls working on my hair, and it still took 2.5 hours! I felt bad for the girls, who stayed there with me until 7:30 that night. It was a fun and smelly process. I forgot how bad that stuff smells! It takes me back to when my mom used to get perms, and would come home and smell like that for a few days. Poor Tyler-- my hair smelled pretty bad until this morning. And my hair looked really bad because I'm not allowed to wash or style it for 48 hours, so I'd like to thank Tyler and the general public for putting up with my nastiness these past few days. Here's the end result:

It was SO easy to do this morning-- I got out of the shower and it was already curly, so I put a little bit of mousse in it and blew it dry. Gotta love easy hair-dos!

It was just a dream...right?

2009-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

I had the weirdest dream last night. I was in some kind of meeting (I guess that "meeting" yesterday really excited me) and suddenly there was a man with a gun. Everyone in the meeting ran out into this greenhouse-type thing, but there was a roof and snow on the ground... weird. That's how dreams go I guess! So I got shot on my way into the greenhouse. He shot me from the back, but somehow the bullet ended up just below my collar bone on my left side in the front, and somehow it was damaging my throat as well. Tyler was there and seemed to take charge of the situation, trying to make sure everyone was okay. I was trying to yell "Help! I've been shot!" but no one could hear me or understand my sign language-- not even Tyler. So finally I made a gun sign with my hand and pointed to where I'd been shot. Everyone in the room seemed to think that I had a gun and was going to shoot myself, so they all ran out (including Tyler) and I was locked into the greenhouse to die alone. Luckily I woke up before I actually died, but I woke up feeling alone, desparate, and misunderstood! It was a funny night-- dreams are hilarious.

To all of you dream-analysts: chew on that for a while.

I Feel Special

2009-01-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

So yesterday... no wait, let me back up. At work, I am usually never invited to meetings. Being the receptionist, the lot falls upon me to sit out of meetings and answer the phone. I have been to one meeting before that was mandatory for everyone, but I still had to be the one to run out and answer the phone every time it rang. So yesterday I felt pretty special when my boss came up to me and asked if I would make sure to be at the office around 2 for a meeting. I said that I would (of course! Miss my first meeting? Never!) and speculated all morning about what the meeting could possibly be about that even I, the pion of the company, was invited. I had concluded that either it was a good thing and that I was gaining more respect in the workplace, or it was a bad thing and I had done something wrong. Either way, 2 pm came, and everyone went into the conference room. I was the last to come in (I had been on a phone call-- ironic). As soon as I walked in, everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" and I saw a beautiful cake on the table. I laughed and tried to play cool, but my face instantly went red and I was SO embarrassed. I'm not one to get shy or embarrassed or awkward in any way, but I hate surprise parties. Having that many people look at me at once when you weren't expecting it is just not my cup of tea. So we enjoyed the red velvet cake they had got and had other food too. They had all signed a card, and the company gave me a $20 gift certificate to University Mall. Everyone felt so badly about missing my actual birthday, but I guess the new employee list hadn't come until then, so they had no idea-- and I was DEFINITELY not about to say anything. Everyone's so nice here!

So, even though I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't really been invited to an official meeting, I felt pretty special that they threw a "meeting" for my birthday.

My Friday Night

2009-01-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

I will admit that sometimes I can be a bit of a recluse. Tonight is definitely one of those nights. Tyler is not here, Kim is out with Caleb, and many of my friends have left to go back to school in Idaho. This leaves me alone on a Friday night, tired after a long week of work. So what do I do?

Plop down on the couch with my guilty pleasures-- cheez-its and double stuf Oreos with peanut butter-- and watch Pride and Prejudice. Call me a hermit crab, but for tonight, I'm happy. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-01-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am 20 years old today! I have been alive 2 whole decades. I feel a little bit older, but not much-- so much older than 19 though. Doesn't 20 sound so much better than 19? When I was little, I looked at people my age and thought they were so old. I don't feel as old as I saw them growing up. Either way, I'm 20.

Today has been a fun and relaxing birthday. I slept in a bit and did some cleaning and planning my next semester's classes online. I watched "Dan in Real Life" as I wrote in my journal and wrote people's birthdays on my next year's calendar. When Kim came back from playing basketball, we went shopping. I had some birthday money yet to spend, and I desparately needed some new pants for work. I found one pair of beautiful gray pants, a cute white sweater, and a $5 sweatshirt! It was a successful trip. I got so frustrated looking for pants. Either my body is weird or patterns are just weird. Either way, I have a hard time finding pants. But I found a pair that fit perfectly, so that was good. After shopping for a little while, Kim and I went home to wait for 6:00 to come. We had made plans to go to the Pizza Factory at 6:00 with Lise, Dan, Nate, and Michelle, but we were SO hungry. We ate TONS at the Pizza Factory and had so much fun with our cousins. Family is the best!

Now, on to the reason for this post. Tyler gave me 20 presents for my birthday, which were opened over the past week, ending this morning at midnight. I will post a picture of me with 19 of the presents, but first I will post a picture of the first gift:

No, he did not give me a truck. BUT, I did get to drive it! I drove most of the way home from Katy Mills Mall on the day after Christmas. I felt like I was driving our old 15-passenger van again! I love trucks. Thanks Ty.

Okay, here's the rest of the gifts.... This picture and the following explanation of each of the gifts will be somewhat like a WordSearch, only with gifts... so keep a sharp eye. Here's the picture:

See if you can find all 19 of these gifts:

1. A princess crown
2. A princess wand
3. A pink plastic cell phone and princess chapstick
(All of these princess items require an explanation. One day at work I was talking to two of my coworkers, and they had received one of those weird forwards where you use the letters of your name to find out your stripper name. I found out that mine is "Princess Spankfire." Ever since then, everyone at work calls me Princess, so Tyler thought I could use some gifts along those lines. :) We laugh about that all the time.)

4. A beautiful blue and white braided bracelet that Ty found in New York.

5. A mini Hot Wheels with Jeff Gordon written on the side (Tyler calls me Jeff Gordon sometimes because he thinks I'm a crazy driver. Me?! Crazy driver?! I don't think so :) )

6. A set of juggling balls (These are only because Tyler has seen me juggle... or attempt to anyway)

7. A Texas keychain. Don't mess!

8. You can't really see this, but he also made me a keychain that's one of those gelly string things. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it's cool. :)

9. A Juergen's Family Reunion t-shirt. Tyler has quite a few of these, and they get one every year at their family reunion (same shirt with a different color every year) and I love them. He gave me an oversized one from 2003 that I wear to bed now. Very comfy. :)

10. A little tube of Jergens lotion. I had never used this kind before but I love it! Tyler's all about everything Juergens. Or Jergens. :)

11. A sticker that says "Beyond Image." I was directed to open this one with a sweet e-mail, telling me that I'm beautiful, but also that my beauty goes beyond my outer image. You're so sweet Ty.

12. A pack of hair elastics. (I am ALWAYS losing these, and usually like to pull my hair up at the end of the day, so those are to keep at Tyler's apartment in case I ever need one. :) So thoughtful)

13. A pack of Bubbleicious gum. I ate these on the plane on the way home from Texas, so there's just a wrapper from one of the pieces of gum. Yeah, I blow awesome bubbles.

14. A pack of Mentos, also eaten. :) (One time me, Tyler, and some of our friends took some mentos and Coke bottles and tried to make the pop explode by putting Mentos in the bottles. It didn't work, so we ate the rest. I challenged him to get them out of the package with his feet, and he did it! The remaining Mentos were crushed into pieces, but it was still fun. Good times.)

15. A pack of 100 Grand candy bars. Ty knows these are my favorites! Crunchy but soft, and it includes caramel and chocolate. It is a perfect creation. :)

16. 3 bags of popcorn-- Butter Lovers. :) These are for future movie nights-- Ty knows that I love popcorn too. My family is a big popcorn family.

17. A CTR pin (hint: it's on the reunion shirt. Apparently I need a reminder to choose the right)

18. A can of tennis balls. One "signed" by Andy Roddick (not really-- Tyler signed his name :) ), one signed by Tyler, and one that has yet to be signed by me. Since we'll both be famous tennis players someday, those will be worth a lot of money.

19. This last gift is an Andy Roddick hat. The tag on the inside says "Designed exclusively for Andy Roddick," it has his name embroidered on the inside, and he signed the outside. Oh baby. I am so never washing it. :)

Thanks Tyler, for making this birthday exciting for me even from so far away!

Looking back, looking forward

2009-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on the past and make goals for the future. Yesterday I spent some time at work looking over my little day planner for this past year, and I got tired just looking at it! It's amazing how time flies. This year has been a hard and happy one, a year where I have grown so much and gotten stronger. Here are some of my 2008 highlights:

- Transferring to BYU in January of 2008. It was a hard adjustment, but I love BYU now and my fear of the school is gone... somewhat. :)

- Living with Michelle, Kara, and Jess in the winter. I love you sickers!

- Spending the summer up in Idaho with Tiffany and the Westons again. I love and miss Rexburg so much! Love you Hippy and Tiki!

- Playing tennis at BYU-I this summer. We Titans rocked the house! I improved my tennis game a lot and made some great friends on the team and in the program.

- Working for Bro. Juergens' chiropractic office. I loved learning about chiropractic, and met some amazing people in the process. This also led to working for Dr. Faust's clinic in Utah, which was also fun. Who knew popping backs could be so great? :)

- Spending time with my family in Houston over the summer. Family is the best!

- Going to TWO concerts in the fall. I had never been to a concert before, but Tyler and I loved Jason Mraz and Carrie Underwood!!

- Becoming a regular bowler through the BYU Thursday night league. Go Ducks!

- Meeting and spending time with Tyler. Need I say more? :)

It's been a great year for me. I've come a long way and learned a lot. Here is me at the end of 2008:

I've got lots on my docket for 2009, so stay tuned for some exciting stuff!

I beat November

2008-12-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

I had a goal to write more posts in December than I did in November, and I did it! November is toast.