So typical

After church today I was outside and not paying attention to where I was walking... I backed up into some kind of cactus plant! Ouch, yes. It even drew blood! haha I'm clumsy, and I know it - but I blame the fact that I'm not used to desert plants yet. I'm learning all too quickly to stay away from them. :)

Yesterday we found out that ABC was covering two football games and you would only catch one depending on where in the US you were. Since we are closer to California, they played the USC game here in Vegas and only ESPN2 was showing the Utah/Michigan game. Well we don't have cable and like I said in the earlier blog, none of our friends are Utah fans and weren't watching it. So we ended up watching it in our apartment complex's gym! haha. Not the most comfortable place to watch a 3+ hour game, but at least we saw it!

GO UTES!

Go Utes!! Missing the MUSS...

I can't wait for the football game tomorrow! I'm already sporting one of my U of U shirts today with plans to wear another one tomorrow of course. I want everyone here in this desert to know where my heart lies. However Ryan already decided he's wearing his Michigan shirt. Why do we always have to be cheering for the opposite teams?! We wanted to have some kind of football party - but our friends down here are Y fans and will be watching that game instead - so I think it'll just be Ryan and I at our own party. Hopefully our Utes can show those Wolverines how it's done. :)

I decided I am quitting my job. I'll stick around until they find someone to take over the position, or Sept 12th at the latest. Ryan and I decided that it was best for me to work part time somewhere so I can get more things done and still help us financially. I'm really happy with that decision and my bosses are being very respectful even though they're disappointed. But to put a little word in for this company, you all should definitely look at www.boomj.com if you're ever looking to buy something online. The prices of the items there (compared to Amazon or Ebay) are almost always less. I'm currently helping with the project of researching pricing on those websites and lowering our prices. So keep that in mind. They're a very good company!


I've been reading The Host and am about 2 pages from the end... not wanting it to end... I LOVE IT! I definitely love it as much, if not a little more than the Twilight series. It's so much happier and not as dark and heavy. Stephenie is simply an amazing writer! I highly recommend this novel - but warn that it seriously plays with the emotions.

I looked up the temperature in Salt Lake this morning... 72 degrees!! Gosh. And yet we are going to be at 107 here - of course. When will it end?? So all you Utah people, enjoy your beautiful weather! Including the rain.

Party!

Last night we had a little potluck get-together at our apartment with our new friends. We had a really great time with everyone! There were 7 couples there, and two others missing, so it was a pretty full house! We also had a missionary from our ward come to give us a message... It was literally just ONE missionary. I don't know how or why they split up like that. They're not on splits or anything, so I don't see how it works. Anyway we had a really good time! Of course the husbands all ended up talking about school and they're midterm coming up on monday, but the wives always have fun and we are trying to plan a night every couple weeks to get together. Three of the couples already have one kid, three others are pregnant, and the rest of us will get there one day. I just love how we are all automatically friends after moving here into the same situation. Oh and last night I made everyone get into a group so I could get a picture of us all! However... I'm an idiot and I DELETED IT after they left. I'm so sad about it - I'll just have to try again next time. But here are some pics I did get:
This was a tester photo before I ran into the picture but it at least gives you an idea of everyone.

Paige Reynders, me holding Reagan (Paige's baby), and Alisha Dunlavy.

We kind of all fit... but it's ten times better than fitting that many in our U of U apartment!


I have made it a week with my new job. Things are going ok - I'm not hating it, which is important. It pays pretty well so it's worth staying with it for another little while. But honestly I don't want to work full time and don't necessary need to. I will most likely switch to a part time job somewhere else within the next few weeks or months. We also finally received our loan money!! The stress of having $150 in our bank account is all gone for now. :) That's never a fun feeling and hopefully our checks will come on time every 6 months and not cause us the problems we had this time. Stupid money... haha

I'm flying to Salt Lake for my birthday weekend!! Ryan's first "block week" (a full week of tests covering his first 6 weeks of class) starts on the 8th, the monday after my birthday. He has already warned me that we won't be able to celebrate because he will spend all his time studying that weekend. So I decided I might as well just use my birthday money to fly home, and stay out of his hair while he studies! :) I'm so excited!

Ryan and I are watching Pride and Prejudice right now. I'm happy to say that Ryan really really likes this movie. He also likes Pride and Prejudice, The Holiday, Definitely Maybe, and Just Like Heaven. He's begging me to cuddle with him so I'll quite writing. ;)

New job!

The interview I mentioned in the last post came through for me. :) I am starting on monday at BOOMJ.com. It's an ecommerce and social networking website for 35+. There are all kinds of things on their site like travel, politics, shopping, socializing, financial advice, etc. I will be their office assistant/receptionist. I'm very excited about it, and I wanted to thank everyone who has been asking about my job search and praying for us. We really appreciate all the help and support we've received from family and friends. I'll let you know how it goes after I get a feel for it.
Love you all!

An update

The last few days I have started scrapbooking everything from my junior and senior years at East. I have stressed over getting this done for years now and finally have the chance to! It's been a lot of fun looking through my old stuff, laughing at myself, laughing at my friends, and remembering all the fun times. I have a pretty bad memory so I'm glad I can scrapbook and make it possible to remember what I've done in past years. The only problem with this hobby is that you can't just pull it out for a couple hours, put it away, and bring it all out again the next day. You have to just do it all in one push! At least that's how I like to do it. So I have taken over our front room and couch with all my stuff. It doesn't seem to bother Ryan too much since he rarely has time to sit down and watch TV in the front room anyway.


Speaking of that, Ryan came home from school at 3 yesterday!! Then he took a pretty good break from his studying (a couple hours) to spend time with me. It was a very good day. :) Ryan usually comes home for dinner at 5 and then goes back to study with the other guys at school. But apparently the studying at school wasn't going very smoothly with the other guys - some of them weren't staying on task - so he decided to study most nights here at home. We bought him a white board to help. It's so much nicer knowing he's home, and I try really really hard not to bug him.
We STIIIIILLLLL haven't received our loan money yet. Everyone is just waiting to hear from the financial aid person at the school and apparently we are supposed to get an email. So... we're still just hanging in there and trying not to buy anything but food and gas when necessary. We're praying really hard that it will come asap.
Last week we were able to go to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Ryan's first day of school! Thank you Kyle and Melissa for the giftcard. :) We had a yummy appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip and bread. Then we shared an order of chicken BBQ ranch salad which was HUGE. I'm glad someone told us to share an entree. But the whole point of the dinner is the cheesecake! :) I took mine home and ate it over the next few days because it was so rich. But it sure was yummy! It was really nice to have a date night and eat out. Next we'll use our Cold Stone giftcard (thank you Dan and Lindsey)!
I just now got a call from someone who would like to interview me for an admin assistant position! It's for the company Boomj.com ... something about social networking for the baby boomers, haha. Anyway, the interview is tomorrow evening so wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes.

And it begins...

I'm a widow now. It's the second day of school, 7 pm, and Ryan is already back at the school again studying with some of his friends. He came home for dinner and to hang out with me for a little bit before having to head back. Studying tonight is by choice. Technically they haven't had any lectures - just orientation. But tomorrow they are covering SEVEN CHAPTERS... and by friday he will have his first quiz. In two more weeks he has his first mid-term!, with his "block" testing just 2 weeks after that. I can't believe their schedule! Unlike some of us, Ryan isn't scared of all the work ahead of him. He's still really happy with all of this and excited. But he already has a professionalism about him as well. He's so serious about school and studying and everything - which is great and very necessary! I met with the bishopric tonight to be set-apart for my new calling and they agreed with me about being a widow but also pointed out that it's not nearly as good because I can't date. haha Thanks, Bishop. This is going to take some getting used to...

Here is a pic of my cute doctor-to-be on his first day of school. He got his white lab coat for anatomy labs and his scrubs! (of course he got blue) He wouldn't pose with a normal smile for me so this is the best I could get. :)


Now I'm going back to reading my book (BREAKING DAWN). It finally came in the mail today!! By the way, I just want to openly poke fun at my brother Ben for reading it outloud with his wife. hehe I think it's funny but also really really cute... so go Ben! Ryan doesn't want to read it but he at least listens patiently while I tell him all about what's happening in the book. Boys just don't understand... or at least some don't. ;)

It's official

We are Nevada residents now... with the new license plate and drivers' licenses. The DMV is literally 3 blocks up the street from us so that part was nice. We actually went in yesterday to get it all done but since I'm under 25 I had to take the written driving test on their computer. I thought I could just wing it and be able to pass - since I've been driving for 5 years now - but I definitely failed it! I hear that a lot of people do. Most of our friends who have had to go take the test have failed it at least once. So I took the dumb book home last night, read through it, and passed it (just barely) today! We had to wait an hour and a half each time we were there but it's finally over. However I have one complaint: If you're under 21 they give you the vertical license instead of the typical horizontal kind. Well... my 21st birthday is in a month so I still ended up with the embarrassing "under-age" one! So now I'll have the under-age one for four more years (when I'm 25!) and we move again. It's really annoying. I thought I was moving up in the world but the DMV reminds me that I'm definitely not there yet. I should have just waited a month to get my license. Oh well - moving on.
I was given a calling in my new ward and I'm really excited about it! I'm part of the ward activities committee but specifically the photographer. I will go to the ward activities (and any other primary or youth activities that I'm asked to be at) to take pictures of everyone. They actually made up the calling - it's not in the handbook. When the second councilor told me about the calling I immediately had a huge smile on my face and asked how he knew that I love photography?? He said he didn't... they just felt like I was a good/social person to have that kind of calling. Well I know the Lord knew! Anyway, for right now I'll be taking pics of all the families/couples in the ward and uploading them on the ward website. It will be a great way to meet everyone in the ward! I'm very happy about it. Ryan does not yet have a calling and probably won't for another few weeks. We'll post it on here when it comes!