Thursday, July 12, 2007

I am such a slacker!

So as my brother-in-law pointed out at dinner on Sunday, I have failed to post anything about my life for oh...the last 6 months. I guess that tells you how exciting my life is.

Well here I sit, day 6 of Nathan being out of town. I don't know what the reason is but these last two trips out of town for him, I have wanted nothing more than for him to be home with me. This week has been especially long and full of disappointment and I have wanted nothing more than a ginormous (that word has now been added to the Webster Dictionary) hug from my hubby.

As I think about what has been going on this week my thoughts are inevitably drawn to the blessings in my life. There is a country song song that is popular right now titled "Lucky Man". The chorus says "I'm a lucky man. God's given me a pretty fair hand." That is my life. I have been blessed with some amazing things. And yet, my life is not perfect. As weird as it sounds I am grateful for that as well. After all, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

With Nathan out of town, I have been taking full advantage of our new pass to the Kearns Fitness Center. I had not really realized how very much I missed being in the water. If I could work full time as a lifeguard for the rest of my life, I think I would be very happy.

I have recently decided that I am going to really focus on losing weight. I have decided that I am tired of being heavy. I have been trying to really think about what I eat and how much I eat. I have only been at it a week but I feel better already. I don't feel as tired as I normally do and I feel happy. So I will definitely be keeping you up to date on that.

Well I guess I will call it a night. You would not believe how hard it is to type with Madison sitting on your shoulder licking your face as fast as she can.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

M*A*S*H Rocks

So here I sit, another sleepless night. It always happens when Nathan isn't home. I guess it is okay, it means I can watch M*A*S*H that night. I love M*A*S*H. I own all 11 seasons on DVD (thanks Becki!) Nathan doesn't quite understand the fascination behind my obsession but what can I say, I LOVE M*A*S*H!

Nathan called tonight. I don't know how he does it. He has been working incredibly long hours this week and to top it all off they don't have the equipment to do the job right. But somehow he stills pulls it off. I am in awe of his ability to improvise. I am firmly convinced that some day the world will know what I do about him. He can do anything he puts his mind to!

I admire him so much! He works so hard to provide for us and our future. He goes to work at a job he loves to do but at a place he hates, just so that we have what we need for our future. And yet, he still has the time and energy to play with our dogs when he gets home. I am amazed at his work ethic. He is a firm believer in doing for one's self and I love him for it.

On an entirely different note, I am so sick of snow! We got another inch or so last night. I have to shovel the driveway tomorrow. It is so cold the snow won't melt. We still have about a foot on our front lawn from the last two storms. I swear Nathan knows when it will snow and purposely goes out of town. It happens every winter. We don't have snow for several weeks and then Nathan leaves and the NEXT DAY it drops 6-8 inches! I know he doesn't do it on purpose but sometimes I have to wonder.

Oh! Before I forget! Madison update. I think that she is finally mellowing out! Last Saturday, after our girls breakfast, Mary (a lady I have become friends with at work) and I were waiting for Somer at my mom's house. My dad was watching my puppies for me since I was down in Utah County most of the day. Anyway, Madison is not known for being nice to anyone she doesn't know so I was being very careful to make sure that Mary didn't get bitten. Anyway, in what I think was record time Madison calmed down and was able to be put down without having to worry about her attacking anyone! Later that night Somer and I were waiting for my sister and her husband to come down so that we could go out to dinner as a family. Anyway, I subjected Madison to more stress and introduced Somer. In even shorter time than with Mary she was calm! It was amazing! I am still not willing to classify her as a nice dog but I think we are making significant progress!

Anyway, not much interesting going on this week with Nathan gone. I guess I had better go get some sleep. Tomorrow is a work day and if I don't get some sleep I will be useless tomorrow!

Good Night!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

It's Official



I am offically a "work widow". I dropped Nathan off this morning early and not so bright (I am NOT a morning person). The next few weeks are going to be long and lonesome. He will be back on Sunday and leaves again on Tuesday. I knew when we started dating, he has a crappy schedule. I guess I just have to deal with it.

On Saturday of this week, I am going to breakfast with the girls. For those of you who may not know, I have a group of friends who I have been friends with for like ever! Somer, who moved in up the street from me when we were 5, Jenn who was my locker partner in 7th grade, Julia who moved in when I was a sophomore, Anna who moved in when I was a junior (I think), and Ashlee of course! Ever since we all went our seperate ways (me on my mission, Somer on hers, Anna on hers, Jenn off to college, and Ashlee doing her own thing as usual) we have been getting together at least once a month for dinner, breakfast, whatever. We use it as an opportunity to get caught up on lives that are otherwise crazy. Our little group has grown as we have made new friends or run into old ones.

I am always amazed at the reaction I get when people hear I am still in touch with friends I have known so long. I don't know why this is so suprising, we love each other! When we get together it is as if no time has passed at all! We have been there for each other through it all, bad relationships, divorces, bad choices that have been made and the consequences that follow.

As I think about the coming weekend, I can't help but get excited! I have been blessed with the most wonderful friends a person could wish for. They are the friends I know I can call at 3 am when things are falling apart and I know they feel the same way about me.

The strange thing is that Nathan is blessed with the same type of friends. Jared, Spence, and Bear (Aaron) were best friends in High School and continue that friendship today. It makes it easy to understand the need to have a guys night when you have the same need with the girls.

I suppose I consider myself a very lucky person. I have a wonderful family who I am very close to, great friends who I would do anything for (and I mean it), and a loving husband who puts up with my quirks and loves me for who I am.

I am blessed.

Monday, January 8, 2007

Dem Bones

Yesterday we took down the Christmas Tree, which is, I suppose, marks the official end of the Holiday season. It was an eye-opening event for me. I know that Thanksgiving is the day we celebrate having food by eating as much of it as possible. I didn't know that Christmas is the day we celebrate having electricity by using as much of it as we can with as many lights on a tree as humanly possible. I've done some math and without actually counting the individual lights, I can only estimate that my wife employed about 1700 lights on our tree this year. I'm not looking forward to the utility bill for that tree.

All things being said (fat people use more soap), we had a good holiday season this year. I do find it ironic that my wife complains about housework and then wants nothing more than a steam-cleaner for Christmas. She gave me an air-compressor and a nail-gun. I think subliminally she is trying to say "finish the base-boards." There were also the usual gifts; books, clothes, a Darth Tater Mr. Potato-Head, games. I think I might regret giving her a wifi card for her laptop because now she surfs the net downstairs while watching TV. Our dogs too, had a good Christmas. The stuffed toys lasted about two hours each before they were unrecognizable. Ultimately, you know its a good holiday when you get a two-foot rawhide chew-bone (Merry Christmas Panzer).

Saturday we journeyed to Lehi to take in the local culture that exists in the Museum of Ancient Life. Marcee had taken her nephew (a 9-year old) there a few weeks ago and wanted to go again so this time she could actually enjoy the exhibits. I would recommend it as a good family outing, especially if you have older children. The "self-guided tour (there is only one real route through the exhibits)" takes your through chronologically; staring with fossils of Trillobites and ending with a look at currently endangered species. They have a Supersaurus skeleton (110 ft. from head to tail); a brontosaurus-type dinosaur. They have a pair of T-Rex skeltons, sure to please the little-boy in all of us. The Woolly Mammoth exhibit is displayed with human skeletons making it appear that the humans are slaying the creature for food. The most fascinating exhibit to me was the Giant Sea Turtle skeleton. Measuring 18 ft. from flipper-tip to flipper-tip it is pretty impressive. We know that dinosaurs were big, so while those skeletons are impressive I think we forget about the sea creatures and that is what makes it that much more enthralling.

Now my work schedule shifts into high-gear for the next six weeks. I leave this week for a week in Anaheim, CA, return for two days at home and then off for 10 days in Scottsdale, AZ. I'll return from there for a few days and then across the country to Orlando, FL for another week. Home a week and then down to Las Vegas, NV for another week. Marcee is not excited about it and I can't say I am all that thrilled either. If any of my friends or family close to those places would like to meet up for dinner let me know, I might be able to arrange something.

Anyway, I hope all my friends and family had great holidays and I wish you all the best for this new year.