Verity Kae

School is ruining my brain.

2012-01-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

Homework makes me feel weird inside. I work on it for hours daily and then I go to sleep when it's finished, but when I wake up the next morning to go to class, I get another weird feeling that I forgot to do some type of work.

Then I stress while I ride my bike to school. If I'm confused when I ride my bike to school, my eyes water a little more because the wind always seems to be chilly-er and I always forget my sunglasses to shield that chilly wind when I am confused. So then when I get into the class, I remember how windy the ride was, but since I sit in the middle of a giant lecture hall, I have to wait to go look at myself in the mirror.

And usually on the days I'm confused about having homework due somewhere, the lecture happens to involve partner work. Usually my partners try to be nice, so they see my weird eye makeup which is running down my face and think it's a new style I'm trying to bring in.

Finally, when I get to the bathroom I see my weirdly streaked face and take care of that hot mess. But I'm still confused about what homework is due.

Four hours later, after a daunting lab, I'm still positively confused about what is due. So I get on my bike, ride that hunk-o-junk home, up that horrible hill (to avoid coppers giving us tickets), past the library and the drag-queen hair salon, back to my house.

At home J is waiting at his desk. I say hey, he says yo. Then I try to figure out what homework is due. All the while J is having a conversation with me about his day. I tend to only tune in to the parts where his voice is slower, so I hear things like, "and then the British lady said NO" and when that utterly confuses me vastly more than I thought I could ever be, I remember that I forgot.

Again, I feel weird. So I sit at my table. And sit. And look. And blink. And listen to my Elephants. And sit. And twiddle my thumbs. And while I sit, I try to remember what day it is. But I can't. So I sit. And then all of a sudden it's dark.

When it's dark, I decide to work on my fitness. . . but I almost fall off the treadmill because I'm thinking so hard about the weirdos that put on perfume at the gym and that screech when they see friends. And all the while I still try to figure out what the stink I have due.

I come home from el gimnasio, and I have a shath (shower-bath, duh) and then I sit on my blue couch. And eat string cheese and almonds. And then I decide I'm just so much crazier than people and even myself know, because there couldn't be anything that is due...I mean for Pete's sake, I did homework for days and there can't be anything I forgot.

So all is well in the Jean household. We read our scriptures, say some really radical prayers, and then we sleep. J is out in 13 seconds. I am drifting. . . drifting. . .drifting. . . almosttttt there. . . .

And Bam. It comes to me. "Hey dumb-face! You have a 20 page paper to write that's due in 8 hours about the reason you chose to use a Gram Stain on Bacillus megaterium instead of a capsule stain!" And then some other person living in my head starts laughing like Scar from Lion King. And I just sit up in bed, so confused. Just so. darn. confused.

10 year olds are the coolest.

2012-01-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

When J and I got our first calling in the Peak View Ward, we were super nervous because we were put into primary. Luckily J had younger sisters, and I have nieces and nephews to experiment with!!! We told the class that if they all successfully memorized the Articles of Faith that we would have a pizza party! Pizza was the motivating factor, but they definitely accomplished the goal and every single one of them memorized all thirteen articles!

Tonight was our party night. We bought 8 pizzas, 5 2-liter soda pops, Cheetos, and a roll of paper towels and the party was a success. I was so nervous about games and if everyone would get along (we've got QUITE the range of personalities in that class!) and it's needless to say that since worrying is my favorite hobby, I was up late into the night stressing about games. I woke up and decided not to go blow a budget and buy games at Target, and I am so glad I didn't! Here is why 10 year olds are the flipping greatest!

10 year olds. . .
1. love love love Cheetos. Thank goodness; J and I hate them!
2. are happier than any living organism when they are given copious amounts of soda.
3. understand that people are different, but haven't realized how to be mean, so they are so inclusive to every.single.person. . .
4. pretend they hate tag, but once a tag game gets started, the party won't stop! J and I have mastered Ryan-tag and toilet tag.
5. play tag for hours on end, take 10 second breaks, and are happy all over again.

There's so many stories I mentally took pictures of so I won't ever forget them. I really like 10 year olds. Now I just need to go to Yuma and play with my oldest nieces and nephews.

2011

2012-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

Since January always marks the time to make resolutions, here is Jake's:

"Well easily this year is the year I'm going to dunk, people." NBA, look out.

Other than that, we've now been Flaggians for a whole, entire year. I have loved it here and J has so much that we have even put Flagstaff into our list of future possible hometowns.

Here's our recap of 2011!!

January began with a new blonde hairdo

February involved a midnight date to Taco Bell. . . we're classy and J seems less than thrilled.

March houses J's birthday, and he got hist first pistol. To say he was excited is an understatement.
In April my sister, MerryDeath, got hitched to her cowboy.
In May, we built more cakes.

June was our first anniversary. We ate pizza while our car got harassed by our roof.

July was filled with our annual Show-Low trip for fireworks.
Ps. There isn't one picture where everyone looks normal, so poor Ty is looking extra fierce.

In August we got to see our friends get sealed for eternity!
We went back to school in September and took our back2school photos by the door.

For October 2011 we were invited to a Harry Potter party, so we went as Severus Snape and Narcissa Malfoy. I'm convinced they're in love.
Before November, my sweet, pink, baby Dell passed away and I needed portable internet for my online class, so I got a surprise.
In December we only got one heinous picture of us, and heinous is also an understatement.

Oh my word. And last but not least (even though somehow I forgot...) we had babies!!!!
Earth, Wind and Fire joined us sometime in the spring.
This is Wind only, I can't find one of them all together.

That wraps up our 2011, here's to 2012 being the best yet!

Happy Christmas!!!

2011-12-28T20:43:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas this year was QUITE unlike any other we've had! We give new meaning to the saying "It's not a family gathering without a little bit of drama." Thankfully, J and I have successfully recovered from food-induced comas!

We were able to spend a week with the Denhams. They just moved into a new home in Taylor, and I think it suits them....even though they're already wanting to move again! We were able to go with J's old man to his dental office and work with everyone, which always puts J in a better mood.

My favorite part of Christmas is all the songs, and in Flaggy we were punished with absolutely no Christmas music. I always got annoyed how the holiday music started before Thanksgiving, but I learned my lesson and will never take blessed "Frosty, the Snowman" for granted again!

To ring in the new year, J and I were released from our primary teaching calling. To put things mildly, I was sad...J jumped for joy! I don't think he's realized that he actually really liked our class, but I think when he gets something new to do he'll put it together...and I'll laugh a lot to shame him.

Thankfully the holidays are over. We're excited for a new year and new family motto--and especially glad to put such a stressful holiday behind us. Here's to 2012 being our best year yet!

Our Denham Duo 2011

Can we talk about how J is a model? Seriously.

Snow.

2011-12-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

I love snow. I love trying to walk to class in it. I love watching people riding their bikes way too fast and falling over from not being able to stop quickly on the ice. I love when the snow looks like its hardened when it really hasn't and you step on it to short-cut, but then you actually drop in 6 inches. I love the way we had a final review with the professor on Sunday and that I didn't want to go, but was blessed to see some doofus try to walk on the frozen pond near the union. I was even more blessed for going when the doofus fell in to the pond sideways and was completely soaked. . . and then even even more so when he tried to make it look like he did that on purpose. When other kind passersby pretended not to notice after he was known to be okay, I gladly laughed aloud at him and called him a dumb dumb.

I love when driving how sometimes even though you go so slow from a complete stop, those back wheels are not going to connect with the road. Along with that, I love the embarrassment that comes long with that awkward slide. I love when the public buses go to far over in their lane and end up showering me while I'm walking on the sidewalk.

I love thermal underwear, wool socks, waterproof boots and ear warmers. I love being warm while walking to school. I don't love going to school so nice and toasty and finally getting in to class and not being able to take off enough layers to avoid sweating through all those toasty clothes nor avoiding frizzy hair when taking off ear warmers.

I love the way snow freezes on the car and forces J to go scrape it off with a snow shovel because he won't buy a scraper. It brings me joy to drink hot cocoa in the morning while peeking through the blinds to stalk him in his fury. I love trying to hurry away when he comes back into the house so frozen solid.

I love how the sky is purple when it's snowing. I love how staying in bed is so nice with such big, fluffy pillows and J. I love bringing the laptop in our room and watching Harry Potter while I cry uncontrollably because I love Snape so much. I love pretending to be asleep when J wants to watch ESPN.

I love how school is over in a matter of days. I love that we'll get to sleep at our house and not have to go to morning class. I love that we may get snow day tomorrow that would cancel chemistry finals. I love that we discovered the akwardness that is ChatRoulette. I love that Earth, Wind and Fire hate us so much.

I just am really liking this whole we-actually-have-a-true-four-season-life thing that happens two hours away from Mesa.

Life Lessons

2011-11-03T12:55:00.001-07:00

Sometimes people are mean.
Sometimes standing up for your values makes other forget about their manners.
Sometimes you'll be alone when you're making a right choice.
Sometimes people will mock, taunt, and ridicule you.
Sometimes they can actually talk about you, quite literally, behind your back.
Sometimes friends don't stand up for you.
Sometimes they let you fall they hardest.
Sometimes the people you think are on your team are your biggest opponents.
Sometimes people think the meanest jokes are the funniest.
Sometimes it doesn't matter to others what's right or wrong, only what's popular.

Sometimes. Life. Sucks.

But if you don't show yourself faltering,
if you don't cry before you get home and jump in the shower so no one knows what's happening,
if you believe harder than you've ever had to believe,
if you love harder than you thought you could...

Eventually, you'll remember that life isn't that bad, hard, long or easy. It's just life, like it always is, and it's just one more thing you get to overcome to become the stronger person you were always meant to be.

Enthalpy

2011-10-11T15:09:00.001-07:00

Chemistry is a pain in the toosh. I work work work so hard, and then I do mediocre on my weekly quizzes. So then I'll workwork workwork workwork and it's test day and I do just fine. J and I were talking about family home evening yesterday, and we decided we missed the days when we had teachers who didn't care about attendance, and the days when we could miss class and still get A's on all the exams. School is tough, and it should be, but I will be so happy when I go to work someday rather than school. . . and then when I got off of work on that same day I'll wish I was back in school. It's such a cycle!

Speaking of cycles, other than our neighbor Chris, and some other random people in our ward here in Flaggy, I've decided to dislike anyone with a Specialized brand bike. They think they rule the world and try to pass me on my old boat bike! They speed up and try to look all jazzy on those expensive things, just to get stopped at a red light to be caught up by ME. And then I loudly proclaim how dumb they are. And Jake gets embarrassed and I just laugh. But really. I slap them in my mind all. the. time.

Lady Rules

2011-10-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today was Flagstaff Mountain Oktoberfest. . . in the park right next to our apartment. . . it reaked like donkey breath (I seriously do NOT miss that part of being in a salon) and it made me have a conversation with myself.

How do people not smell how stanky they are? They aren't stanky to them self. So when people kiss and they're drunk, do they smell it? Or taste it? Yesh, but they loves it like you love the smell of acetone nail polish remover. Ooooh.

And when that conversation to myself in the bathroom mirror ended, J walked in the door coming home from his conference sesh. He knows I talk to myself, but when he actually sees me do this it's like we've crossed a weird line that shouldn't have been crossed. It's really hilarious.

In other news, school was el horible this week. I think I ate a bowl of double chocolate fudge ice cream every single day. . . not that that's unusual or anything, but dang. Anyway, I'm now a week ahead in every class (minus bio and chem labs) and a week ahead on homework so this coming week is going to probably see me riding my bike to school Monday morning and run away scared by the sight of me, but a I'm-going-to-kick-school-in-the-bum kind of way.

J has a hard time staying awake for all of conference. I love it because I can say really loud, "J!" and he opens his eyes and looks at me in a ohmygosh, I wasn't even closing my eyes way.

Speaking of Jack's eyes, he got elbowed in the face this morning during basketball. The kicker? It was a guy....on his same team. That's what you call teammmwork.

First day of school pictures.

2011-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yes yes, I decided we needed to start a first-day-of-school-picture tradition, partly because it's fun to see the energy we have, but mostly I think it'll be a fun way to document J as he goes through the rest of NAU and then dental school. I think our future minis will like it someday.

Anyway! We have a biology class together. It's fun, but weird. Fun because hey! We're flipping married. Weird because we're married. Also, we've been having the worst bike luck! In the first week back, we got pulled over by a bike cop. He gave us a warning for going too fast. It was hilarious because he asked us for our drivers licenses, but then I let him know how we obviously didn't have our licenses. . . we're on bikes. Just another week later and Jake got a full our ticket for not stopping at a stop sign by the school. The particular area is a three-way stop and he was turning into the chemistry building. You have to see it to know how ridiculous it is! Lastly, this past week I was running a little late to chemistry, so I had to hurry and park my bike. I didn't even touch the bike next to me, but he wrote me a little note. I almost missed the note because it was on the ground after a storm blew it off, but I am so glad I found it! It really made me laugh due to the incorrect grammar. I love it.

Awkward Hitchhiker.

2011-09-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

Jack served his mission in Korea, and some of his favorite stories are the ones about a time he had to hitchhike. He thought it was the best because he and and his companion would be trapped with the driver and their company and they'd be able to talk all about the church and get investigators from it.

That being said, whenever I see people attempt hitch hiking, I always tell Jack that I wish we could take them somewhere. Yesterday I got my wish.

We were getting ready to go to Snowflake but had to stop by WalMart and Burger King on the way. After we'd gotten all settled, we began to drive to the freeway, and at the on ramp, lo and behold was a hitchhiker with a sign asking to be taking to Winslow. Before I even knew what was happening, Jack pulled over to the side, I got out and moved the cases of his guns to one side of the car, and she got in.

This situation wasn't scary. She was our age-ish, didn't look like she was coming off anything major, and we were going right through Winslow so why not!? We found out she is studying at NAU for social work, has a boyfriend who was at work, graduated from Winslow High, and likes hard-core punk rock music.

When Jack drives, Winslow is about 40 minutes away. She had a doctors appointment at the Indian Health Care clinic and since J worked there doing an externship all summer, he knew exactly where to go.

Around twenty minutes into the ride, after asking if she wanted french fries and then asking all of the above questions, we had nothing to talk about. I didn't want her to feel awkward, so I kept talking. . . Anything I'd see I would ask her opinion.

Exhibit A:
Me- "Oh my gosh! Look at that dust devil!"
Her-"Yeah. . . . it's cool. . . "
Me- "I know, right!?"

Exhibit B:
Me-"Do you want to marry your boyfriend!!!???"
Her-"Um, on our taxes forms we claim living together. . . "
Me-"Oh my gosh! Fun!"

Exhibit C:
Me-"Really, we totally have a ton of french fries. Are you completely sure you're fine?"
Her-". . . . . starts texting on her phone and doesn't look up till we're there. . . "

When we finally dropped her off and J and I were alone in the car again, he so sweetly looked at me and asked me why I was so nervous to have her in the car. I, shocked-of course, looked back at him and let him know I loved our experience of my first hitchhiker. J pat my head and said, "we don't have to ever do that again. I think you scared her. . . "

PSH! I probably did.

Update

2011-09-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since our last update, but today is the day!!!!

First of all, let me tell you about weather here in good old Flagstaff, Arizona. . . it is SOGGY! Rain is not unusual here, and a lot of people I've recently met actually hate it! I don't think that I could ever hate rain, but the rain has only been super cold so far. I don't know if I'm really looking forward to the frozen rain! Either way, now I also know what people mean when they say "Fall is in the air!" They mean, "It's getting cold, so stop wearing flip flops and shorts and don't forget 5 pairs of socks on each foot!" It's such a fun transition, but holy cow. . . it is sooo different from Mesa.

School has started back us for Jack and myself. We knew this would be a tough semester, but I don't think I fully comprehended it. I thought it was bad last semester, only seeing him a few hours a day per week, but this is worse. . .we'll be home at the same time, but we can't spare time to talk or grades will suffer. It makes Saturdays and Sundays really nice though!

Lastly, our children need an update. I have been trying to train Earth, Wind and Fire and today special little Wind reciprocated some wisdom! I've been doing a clicking noise with my mouth and that means to stand up on their mini-hind legs. Earth has better things to do, and Fire has her own dumb trick that involves unlatching the water bottle, but little special-needs Windy did it!!!!! I've conditioned them (thankyoupsychologyterms!) by clicking then holding food above them! Those little fatties see food and jump through hoops. Anyhoo, today I clicked with no food and Wind stood up! I'm so proud of her little cowlicked self! I don't think she realized she did it, but that's probably due to her lack of brain power and self control. . . I don't care though! I've trained a guinea pig!

PS. I tried Bountiful Baskets for the first time last week, and have decided that the bread they have is the best. thing. ever. Don't believe it? You're dumb anyway!

Ness

2011-08-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

School starts on Monday and the Denham household is loving it. . . 1/2 of the household actually! I love back to school! I love new folders, new pencils and pens, new 10-page syllabi, and people wandering around trying to not look lost, but being so obviously lost. (Since I've already been there, done that lost business, I feel justified laughing in my head.)

To prepare, I've been cleaning. . . and I mean deep cleaning. This translates to: cleaning out all the drawers in all rooms of the junk we acquired last semester so that we can fill them with junk from this semester. Jack has been preparing in the least obvious way; sleeping. His externship is over, but he has to prepare a gargantuous presentation for the doctors. Plus he worked the whole summer from six a.m. to 5 p.m. so he really does need to catch up as much as possible before he is slammed with his Air Force courses, sciences and maths- all of which are the classes of champions.

The pigs have been being very moody lately. Earth and Fire(Donna) attack Wind. . . literally! They bare their teeths and everything! It's weird, but Wind just loves her sisters and so she lets them do this to her. I put the dumb Earth and Fire in timeout (a kiddie pool with hay) and when Wind figured out she was alone, she just passed out from being played with too much by those mean girls. I feel like my pigs lately but not because I attack my sisters. That would be hilarious. . . no, they eat and eat and eat, then run around for maybe a second from happy full tummies, and then pass out sleeping for hours. I'm such a good mommy to them!

Jack rocks our primary class. He knows all the Articles of Faith already so he's definitely on the Peter Piper Pizza list! Woot!

camping, new neighbors and weird conversations

2011-08-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jack went to work extra early so he could come home and take his woman to a sweet camp trip. Clearly we took our gun because we are not in the mood for a bear attack right before school. We got to our sight around 2:00 pm and right after we set up our tent the rain started downpouring! We sat inside with all our bedding stuff which was good because it was stinking freezing cold. I discovered that foresty creatures like squirrels and skunks think they own the place after a hard rain. Luckily the skunks were never naughty towards us. We roasted marshmallows and ate steak tin foil dinners. It was nice to relax and not have anything we had to do! We were lazy the whole time!

Oh my gosh. Since Jack didn't have work on Saturday we watched movies and discovered our least favorite movie ever. Our super rad neighbors went to Oregon for the weekend and gave us their keys and so naturally we borrowed Country Strong. We had only heard great things so we were really excited. . . we hated it!!! Holy cow. Kelly (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the main character and every five minutes she was either 1.cheating on her husband, 2.having a mental breakdown, 3. cheating on her husband again, or 4.drinking! The worst part of the whole thing was that we had to finish the movie to find out what happened to Chiles! It was horrid. Oh my word. I looked up reviews on it after we watched it and someone said it was the best movie of the year. I almost cried laughing because obviously they didn't see Harry Potter, but really. And Jake especially hated it because dumb Kelly was drinking throughout her pregnancy and then fell off a stage and her baby died. But THEN she had a breakdown about how she missed her baby. . . like. . . it was going to have fetal alcohol syndrome from your alcoholism anyway. . . Jake loves telling people that the movie made his eyes bleed. I loves him!

Our complex just got three new couples and so it has been quite lively around here. One couple lives next to the Elephants, so first thing I did was warn her that the walls are literally dry-wall thin. I wish someone would've told the Elephants that when they first moved in. . . oh well.

I love Sundays

2011-08-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

Today J and I challenged our awesome primary class to memorize all 13 articles of faith, and we bribed them with Peter Piper Pizza if they could do it. Let me tell you that my class is the. best. class. ever. We're friends. . . in fact, they think I'm a cyborg because they saw my heart monitor so of course we did the grown up thing and told them I was a robot. They are too smart to believe that, but they knew they truth about my being a cyborg. They are waiting for my laser eyes.

Anyways. Our class is the best. One of our class mates has been gone for a few weeks so the kids wanted to make him a card. J and I went on an adventure to try and find his house to deliver the letter and we ended up in Baderville!

We played games all day, watched movies, ate dinner, crafted, watched more movies, now he's watching car shows and I'm getting my blog on. . . Sundays are the best. Amen to that.

A vain post about my future mommy skills.

2011-08-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be very vain for a few whiles right now. . .

I think I'm going to be a pretty awesome mom. Things keep happening in our lives and every time we come out of one of those situations, I always can tell Jake, "That is going to make me an awesome mom!" Therefore, here is vain example numero uno.

Reason #1: I hardly ever throw up and I only get really nauseous after important doctor's appointments. When I was 16 or 17 my age group of girls went to A-camp for a portion of girls camp. We basically did . . . nothing. We slept, gossiped, canoed, and hiked and ate. All over and over and over.
This is one of my favorite memories of my best friend and I. She had been feeling lousy since the sun went down. Her stomach was achey and she felt yuck-tastic. I am such a pro at having stomach aches so I decided I'd help her throw up! Now now, none of this disorder jazz, just sometimes throwing up when you're sick helps feeling better progress faster! So I gave her a tums. Actually I made her take two or three.
I love this memory to death. Then I convinced her to eat beef jerky. If I could have taken a picture of her face at that exact moment, there would be no words great enough to describe her confusion and sadness! So she took the beef jerky gladly, and ate it. And then she threw up. And I rubbed her back. And I buried her nastiness for her so she could sleep. Moral of the story:I didn't throw up or even get sick!

Now another story: Our neighbors are the greatest ever. They bring us the best treats and they are just fantastic friends. I'd link up to her, but she's private! Take that! Anyway, Jake and I were babysitting her boys once upon a date night. The youngest showed no signs of sickness. . . none. We were all just happy campers eating spaghettis and what not, when we decided it was bathtime. Of course we had to use bubbles. And of course he eats bubbles. Jake and I weren't worried because we got our bubbles at a Whole Foods where everything is natural and you won't get sick if anything gets into your system.
So as bath time progresses, and the little guy keeps chomping down on the bath water plus a few bubbles, he got too much water in his little throat! For the record, his life was never in danger and if it was, I am always current in CPR. Don't judge. So I'm going to grab him from his sitting position and once he's in my arms he starts spitting out all the water he just munched on. After he was done, I put him back in the tub and he looked at me soo happy with his big, cheesy smile. We were happy again. . . or so I thought. . . because the second he was done smiling, he projectiled that vomit straight on to my self! Jake walked in right when it happened, and walked right back out saying over and over "I have to leave, I think I need to leave right now!" And I'm sitting there. . . covered in his "ness" and I didn't get sick!

There are other examples of my newfound super power, but it's definitely not a delicious subject to talk about! But just know, that I will be an awesome mom because I will not throw up on my children when they do something gross.

The end.

Adventures in being alive.

2011-07-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

It's roughly 3:34 in the morning. I've been sitting at this computer since 11 p.m. I've come to understand that sleep is merely a casualty of war in the battle against worry.

I have an impeccable quality when it comes to worrying. It happens at the most convenient times, because, let's face it; when is it not convenient to worry?

It doesn't have to be about anything big either. No, just little things like, "If Mom shows up randomly at my house tomorrow, is it clean enough for her to come in and feel comfortable?" to things like "Is my pathetic little heart going to beat enough times while I sleep tonight so I will wake up in the morning?" Maybe that last one is a little less pathetic than the first, but I do the ranking here so what I say goes!

Just to be clear, my house is clean enough for my mom to drop in and feel comfortable.

Tonight's worries include the ones stated prior, but they span to this following week more-so. On Wednesday I'll be driving back to Mesa town alone. It's only two hours, but let me tell you, I can only sing Glee out loud to myself so many times! Jake has his externship in Winslow and work on Thursday so he gets to bow out of the Glee singing festivities.

Doctor's appointments are taking their toll on me. I think it's definitely more of a patience thing on my end than anything. At the last appointment I had quite the panic attack in the doctor's office when the specialist was an hour late getting in to our appointment. How crazy is that!? I knew he was busy, and I had two voices of reason (the Momma and Jake) trying to tell me to be patient, but I was not having any of their patience-ness! I'm a big pro at over reacting to things I have no control over at. all.

I'm to the point where I just want a pacemaker instead of all the yucky medicine I have. The kind that makes my skin crawl. The kind that kill my baby-baking eggs. The kind that make me stay away till 3:34 writing weird blogs that my neighbors will read and make fun of me for the next day (Please do, Karen!) But honestly. . . the meds that make my skin crawl makes my brain actually feel really great so I secretly loves them.

On another note, I was offered a stylist position just this evening before I even had my model in at Aveda in Flagstaff. That's so swell and made my day temporarily, but I would have to work on Sundays and I am in love with my primary class so I have to decline the position. After I thought about it for a while, Mombabe was right. It does kind of smell weird in there!

My primary class is the best. They love Harry Potter more than anything. I give them stuff when they ask me about Ron Weasley. None of them have seen the second part yet because they're only 11 tops and HP is pg-13. Aren't they such little role models? Little Rhett told me this last week though. "As soon as I turn 13 I'm going to call you and Brother Denham and we can watch all the Harry Potter movies and eat pizza." We also have time at the end of class because I'm still getting the hang of teaching them and we usually talk about building forts, eating doughnuts, watching TV, what is the best recess game, and what the Nephites really used to do when they were bored because "Nephites are older than the pioneers so they probably couldn't play the weird games pioneers played."

Seriously. Best. Class. Ever.

Our babies are naughty!

2011-07-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Earth, Wind and Fire and being so bad. Wind is just special, so she mostly stays out of it, but Fire keeps growling at Earth! They are like high school girls that all want the same boyfriend, but in their case it's actually only Timothy hay that they want. They've been cat fighting all week and jumping each other. I'm proud of little Windy for staying out of their sisterly drama, but dang dizzle ladies! We need to keep ourselves under control! They're scaring Daddy Denham and if you scare the pops, you can guarantee yourself a carrot and cucumber free week, and NO one wants that!

Earth tries to kamikaze out of her cage anytime I open it to feed that little punk.

And you have to love the weird faces Wind has perfected. Seriously. This is only half of her cool.

The end. They are so bad. I'm going to spank them. . . not really. They are much too fast to catch for spankings. For now I will just shake my finger at them and say "No!"

The 1st and the 4th.

2011-07-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

I love Canada . . . and I love America. And it's so convenient that my two favorite countries have celebrations in the same week.

Jake and I celebrated Canada Day early so that we could go to Show-Low for our annual firework vacation on the first, but Canada would have been proud. We were serenaded with the beautiful "O Canada" and then we got our poutine on with Stompin' Tom. It was superb. I love Canada. Oh Canada, my want-to-be home and native land, true patriot love in all thy sons command!!!!! With glowing hearts I see you rise the true north strong and free. I need to live in Canada. Hopefully future Dr. Denham will get accepted into a dental school there. . . that would be awesome!

After we had massive heart attacks from the cholesterol filled gravy-fries-squeaky cheese goodness and recovered from our food coma, we went to Show-Low. The fireworks were canceled around 7 so we went and played at the high school anyway. Around 8 we started heading home again and I fell into a love affair with Holbrook.

Just off the highway, literally, there were fireworks! We decided it was okay that we didn't get to see them in Show-Low because we saw lightning which is the truest firework ever, but then we got to Holbrook. I wish I would have taken a picture because I have NEVER seen anything like that. Imagine a city of cars pulled off the freeway at a random mountain view. . . that's what is was like only on steroids. I loved it and now I have a fading crush on Holbrook. Jake isn't pleased with this because apparently Holbrook is armpitty. . . but I'm okay with that.

Now, lastly, a story about Jacob. My hubs is adopted. It's a fact of life. When we first met he was rocking a goat-tee and he was super dark from just coming out of a summer vacation. Therefore, he looked semi-Hispanic. He always claims he is, but the longer I got to know him, the less Hispanic I could see. . . I talked many times with my mom. She thinks he's got Greek in him or something, but I am all about him being Indian. He looks like he's Arabian! Seriously. So on vacation we had an airsoft war and Jake needed facial protection because the wind was turning our back and belly shots into head shots. . . that being said, witness my Arabian husband. PS. He is totally Aladdin.

My brain is itchy. . .

2011-06-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

. . . because of some new medicines. It makes my head feel like little buggies are crawling in the space between my skull and the skin on my head. That, and my skin feeling like I got botox along with skull skin lift (similar to a facelift), is making me feel weird. Not sick. Or gross. Just weird. . . like I belong on some weird reality tv show or something.

The end.

I have to admit . . .

2011-06-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

our door looks awesome.

I love my dad.

2011-06-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

I love my dad.
I don't call him daddy.
I think that's weird.

He is the greatest.
He's kind.
He's strong.
He'll do anything for us.
He is proud of my mother.
He doesn't let anyone disrespect any of his girls.
He is a teacher of life skills.
I can weed eat without getting cut (breaking the glass door is another question. . . )
I can mow and not miss a single spot.
I look like him.
He has an opinion but only uses it when needed making moments even sweeter.
He falls asleep when I cut his hair.
He has a secret stash of Necco's or some other treat that I like to steal. . . sorry dad!
I call my dad names like Old Man and he secretly thinks it's awesome.
He is the best grandpa to my nieces and nephews and when he's a grandpa to our kiddos, I can only imagine the magic that he will teach them.

I love my dad. He is a fantastic dancer.
He always smells good.
He mows the lawn and jumps in the pool with his clothes on.
He'd flicker the light when he heard us come home from dates to eliminate the door scene.
He kills bugs but makes us clean them.
He loves sweet treats.
He has a great laugh.
He is a plumber and electrician, but only for kicks.
He can fix anything.
He loves the Shawshank Redemption.
He taught me the smooth jazz beauty of the world.
He drove me to school every morning one year.
When we drove to church the same song would come on every time. It's destiny to have a song.
I'm his favorite youngest daughter he'll ever have.
He wears a great shirt on the Fourth of July.
He lights firecrackers in our backyard.
He hunts for scorpions with the grandbabes and even husbands. The husbands love it more than the babes!

My dad absolutely loves his grands. Just look at that joy!
Happy Old Man's Day!

Anniversary

2011-06-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

1 sad attempt at gardening
3 adopted children, Earth, Wind and Fire
15 DVDs
4 seasons of Prison Break to end our honeymoon
Chuck and Gossip Girl addictions
5 jobs; Aces, YMCA, Fantastic Sams, Construction
1 externship in Winslow on the reservation for oral surgery and ortho
3 temples, Mesa, Snowflake and San Diego
20+ visits to said temples
1,000,000 trips to the laundromat
1 use of passports
2 schools, Mesa Community College and Northern Arizona University
3 majors, from physics to BioMed for him and dental hygiene for me
0 pounds gained in fat :)
0 babies
90 miles of bike riding in a semester
500,000 trips to Fry's
1. 5 times we read the BOM together
2 apartments, Mesa and Flagstaff
3 cars, Audi to 1988 Chevy to 2009 Toyota
4 bikes
1 new computer
1 gargantuon tv
321 times rearranging furniture
350 days of made up beds
3 series read together while we didn't have huge tv; Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and The Daring Book for Boys
3 phone numbers
365 evening walks

Just a few of the things we've done together since this exact time last year. It really goes by quickly. One year down, eternity to go!

Day 11 - Speaking in church

2011-06-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Worst. Idea. Ever.

I love to talk. I love to talk fast. But in front of people I don't know? Who are all more experienced than me in the Gospel? Psh. No thanks.

I've prepared a 15 minute talk. . . I'll rephrase that. When I practice to Jake, it's 15. However, from previous experience, I happen to know that I will finish it in 5-6 minutes. Great.

Good thing Jake is great at speaking. Another great thing is that on my Harry Potter channel of Pandora, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is playing.

Dear Congregation,
Please please please please set all your children to scream mode when I'm up there. And better yet, don't take them out of the hall. And even better, try to hush the childs in unison with all the other mothers. Thank you.
Love,
Speed talker.

PS. I already have my excuse for the shortness ready. Want to hear? Okay! "I had a primary lesson to prepare! Gosh! Give a new primary teacher a break!" :)

Once upon a time. . .

2011-06-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to have a birthday. Jacob asked me what I wanted, so I told him.

I want socks and a lava lamp.

I needed more socks because I had to keep stealing my mom's and hers had designs on them so she could tell when I was stealing them.

I wanted a lava lamp because it was my prime example for making fun of Twilight.

He asked me for weeks leading up to that blessed November day and I'd tell him the same thing, to which he'd always respond with, "That's so stupid!"

Finally the day of my 20th anniversary from birth came. It was a Monday night (FHE) and he came over with a bag bigger than necessary for socks.

I opened the present to find a Forum beanie and a rad Volcom jacket for our next snow boarding trip. . . but no socks, and no lava lamp.

I wasn't upset, the hat was awesome and the jacket is the best thing ever, so we headed off to FHE.

When I was getting in the car, Jacob ran from my door because he opened it duhh to my house because he forgot something. When I was situated with my seat belt, he came back out and got on one knee. He couldn't be proposing to my face because I spoiled his secrets all. the. time. I was so confused. . .

And then it happened. He had in his hand. . . a pack. . . of 10 pairs of brand. new. socks. I didn't tear up when we got engaged, but when he handed me those socks, my eyes started watering! It was insanely ridiculous and he let me pretend that I didn't get that overwhelmed by socks.

I was so ecstatic going to family home evening. Nothing special happened there, but I knew I had socks.

We planned to meet up with my friend at a Wal-Mart. Awkward meeting place, yes. Did we care? No. So we meet Megan and she goes to her Jeep to get her bag.

She came back with her purse and a wrapped gift for me. I was completely surprised because we had gone out to eat for celebrationing already! I began to open my gift. . .

And it was my purple lava lamp from Jacob.

I then had another emotional trip because I was the proud owner of a beautiful lava lamp. She is my friend. Her name is Purple. I love her. And Megan. And Jacob the most.

Moral: Men do hear when ladies speak. . . even if they think it's dumb, they listen.

Day 7 - Jacob, the rockstar

2011-06-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

Jacob is a bonified rockstar. I couldn't be happier.

Day 6 - Jake's rhythym puts me to sleep

2011-06-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

I used to have horrible nights. I couldn't ever sleep. I worried about everything and anything. I had to have prescription medicine to put me to sleep for longer than 3 hours.

Then we got married.

My Jacob falls asleep in 30 seconds. He literally counts aloud to as high as he can before he passes out. As soon as this happens and his breathing slows a bit, my awesomely schnozed hubs starts to snore.

It isn't loud. It isn't annoying. It's perfectly timed. It's basically a free sound soother.

The end.

Day 5 - We're on the radar. How horrible.

2011-06-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

We like to not be on the radar, it a 72 hour time period our way of life has changed.

We'll talk about things we shouldn't have done.

First, we shouldn't have agreed to substitute.

Second, Jake shouldn't have picked up his old cell phone.

Third, Jake shouldn't have picked up his old cell phone before 8 a.m.

Fourth, we should have not agreed to substitute for the second week in a row.

We have talks on the 12th. And we're the Valiant 9 teachers. . . all in that 3 day period.

Really though, I'm happy to be the teacher. However, I abhor speaking in church. I talk to fast no matter how prepared I am, I shake the whole time. I make stupid jokes. I stumble over my words. . . it's quite hilarious I imagine.

The only good thing about this is that the "youth" speaker is a leaving missionary, so I am going to call him and tell him to take up as much time as he can. Then I'll just say the short intro about us and tell the listeners that Jake has such a beautiful message and I want him to have as much time as possible, so I'll just bear a simple, short short short testimony.

Hopefully that missionary boy takes me seriously though.

Day 4 - That one time I had no curfew. . .

2011-06-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

Background: I always had a curfew. I used to look at it like it was a bad thing, but when we got married I realized what a good thing it actually was!

Every Friday and Saturday night I was to be home at 11:00 p.m. If I was going to be late, I had to call before 10:50. None of that procrastination stuff worked with my parentals. They were generous with giving out extensions, but nothing later than 12:00 was ever acceptable. A common phrase in my house while I was a teenager was "nothing really good happens after 11 o'clock at night." Gotta love President Hinckley!!

When Jake and I started dating, the curfew was the exact same. We were counseled by bishops, leaders, teachers and parents to never, ever be alone. Now, that didn't exclude dates. We got to know each other in safe settings whether at a restaurant with all the diners acting as our chaperones, or to dance parties and social activities.

However, even when we visited his family who lived 3 hours away, we would be accompanied by my sister or friends for the snowboarding trips! We were hardly ever alone once we got serious, which we're both thankful for.

Story: When we got engaged, preparations for our reception were discussed fast. We wanted to have candies. . . LOTS of candies. We opted for hugs and kissed, jelly beans (num num num) and other things. The jelly beans are the important part here.

For Easter my mom had found the most tasty jelly beans! They were delicious and even prettier than they tasted. Gobs of peaches, pinks and random green beans---they were the colors that I wanted!!! So, the Monday after Easter, Mom gave me a mission. Mission:Go to every single WalMart you can think of and get all the jelly beans you can find.

Now, let me mention, I was at my singles ward's family home evening till 9:30 pm ish. So when I get the mission, it's close to 10. When I'm ready to leave, another 15 minutes has passed. I said goodbye to my mom and she asked where Jake was. . . . Whaaaaaaaaa?????

Talk about confusion. First, school night! Second, 10 p.m. Third, Meredith is already ready for bed. Fourth, YOU'RE already set for bed. So as I process my dumbness, my mom asks again, "Where's Jake?" I immediately sparked up and called him! He came over pretty quickly after that, and when we were set to leave, we asked when to be home. . .

And do you know what my mother said? . . .

She said, "When you get all the jelly beans you can."

Both of our jaws dropped! It was a miracle!

I don't know how many hours passed, but I know we had about a billion hextimillion jelly beans in tow. AND we got to talk. About not wedding plans. And we sang out loud to Disney. And Rihanna. And Usher.

It was amazing. And to make it even better, we got to do the same thing weeks later when we had to hit up as many JC Penney's as we could for the right ties. That was more adventurous because it was an all night sale. Driving to the middle of Peoria when you have no clue where you are= awesome!

The moral of the story, I will not spoil my children and they will have 11:00 p.m. curfews because President Hinckley and my mom said so.

We like to matchy match on accident sometimes.

Day 3 - Ugly Sweater Party 2009

2011-06-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Once upon a January, we had an Ugly Sweater Party to celebrate a certain Carolyn's birth. With heinous sweaters galore and s'mores in the fire pit, we were ready. After the swell commencement of her fiesta, we celebrated at the Waffle House.

The waiters and waitresses at the Waffle House hated us. Maybe it was because I wanted hard boiled eggs that were warm, but when they served them cold, I told them I didn't even want them anymore. It could be because we were jiving to the old jukebox. Either way, the fiesta was better than any Harry Potter Party ever could be.

I was such a fan of Jake. His sweater wasn't even Ugly. It is my favorite thing to. this. day. Amen.

Ugly Sweater Party Womanizers
Oh funny funny!

The money shot.

Day 2 - Supportive Spouseing of Seasons

2011-06-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

Jake immediately supported my love for the lesser-loved holidays.

He celebrated Cinco de Mayo conmigo with flan de naranja.

He didn't mind not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day so I could pinch him the entire day long.

April Fool's Day was a sight to be seen. My only fool was hiding any time possible so I could jump out and scare him which is not saved solely for April, but on the first it is more widely acceptable.

May Day and Canada Days were especially fun. Can you do better than homemade poutine sadly without the squeaky cheese. . .? No. You cannot.

But without fail, the best holiday to ever have been in my life--- The Day of Independence. July 4. Nothing is better than Independence Day. Fireworks, barbeque, family, watermelon, swimming, parties. . . no other holiday can have all of those things!

Meeting Jake turned my favorite holiday into something even better than it had ever been before. He took me to his almost hometown (he lived minutes away from this place), Show-Low.
We drove down the Deuce of Clubs, past the Sonic to Show-Low high school. Equipped with blankets we hopped the fence to avoid a longer walk (l.a.z.y.b.u.m.s.)

Firework dust literally fell onto the blanket. The field hosted a humongous fiesta with a band and way more, but to fully understand, you just have to experience it.

Now we have a Denham-Clark family tradition of July 4 in Show-Low, complete with breakfast at Momma Bears. Best. Tradition. Ever.

Laughable picture. Horrible quality. I will be one of those ladies that wears outfits for the month.

Pity smiles from the man, unjust photo of the crowd. It's humongous er. Trust me.

(2009)

June 1 = Beginning of love month

2011-06-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

365-16 = How long we've been married today.
365-16 = How many days we've laughed for more than 3 hours throughout the day
365-16 = 2 apartments we've lived in
365-16 = 21 temple visits since we smooched across that splendid alter
365-16 = Chuck marathons, The Office marathons, Fantasy Factory marathons, HGTV
365-16 = 3 adopted children: Earth, Wind and Fire(Donna Pinciotti) Denham

We decided to like each other after dropping RC Cola bombs off buildings.

Belated Wednesday and TV dreams

2011-05-19T14:49:00.001-07:00

School is over. I know this has already been a subject of the blog, but HALLELUJAH! We didn't have to wake up for early labs and classes. We didn't have to go to bed after studying for 5 hours. We didn't have to stress about 1. Is the calculator in my backpack!? 2. Does the calculator have batteries!? 3. Where's my clicker!? 4. Have you seen my bike lock?? 5. Did I wear this shirt yesterday?

Another great thing. . . we actually EAT together! I didn't realize that sitting down to eat is such an experience! And and AND we have conversations about things totally NOT school. It's quite amazing.

One bad thing, I already miss school! I used to dream about being a high school teacher because then I could go to school. every. single. day. I'd love that but that's my backup plan now.

Now to something totally random.

When we first were engaged we made up some goals. Among these awesome goals was this: No TV the first year.

We did it! And now we are the proud parents of a too big TV! It's big. And even bigger than you're picturing it in your mind right this second. The best part is that we practically stole it. Best Buy was putting out their newest models and since this one is a year old, it was more than half off. THEN they gave us a billion rebates so we're getting a new printer and then a billion movies. It's quite fantastic, if I do say so myself. . . which I do.

Next week Dr.-to-be Jacob starts his internship. Funfunfun. He'll be "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona." It's true.

Lastly. I love camping more than anyone in the world. This is also true.

Summer.

2011-05-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love summer. Summer loves me.

I am sooo ready for summer. This semester has been awesome, but we cannot wait to really enjoy our new home.

On another note, it snowed. Yes. Yesterday. And today. Sure, it wasn't enough to stick, but a fact is a fact. And it's weird, yet gorgeous.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love my mother! She is the best, most fabulous girl ever. She is so true to her family and she would do anything for us. She supported me in my toughest decisions and she laughed with me at the funniest times. I will always remember being able to come home after a date and lay on her bed and tell her all about how dumb or awesome the date was. She is such a FANTASTIC homemaker. She taught me how to cook, sew, and clean. She is still teaching me to not sweat the small stuff! (I have a hard time there!) I love her for being such an amazing example to me. I remember always having an earlier curfew than my friends and being so bratty about it. It took me too long to realize that she only cared about me more! I love her to life!

That being said, I love my grandma! I was named after her! She is the epitome of class and perfection. She is so wise. She never lets me off easy. I have learned such amazing lessons of service from her. Also, she has given me advice that I will never forget. She reminds me often that taking easy classes is a waste of time and money. Anything less than an A is unacceptable. She is such a great listener and she truly hears what a person says. She is the best grandmother a girl could have. . . Oh yeah. And she is a Canook. If that didn't up her amazing ness, than nothing will!

Sarah. The oldest and wisest. She is the best. I remember her getting engaged. I started crying one night because she wasn't going to live with us! (I got over it...ha!) She taught me at a young age how to be the best baby sitter I could be. I am the youngest and she let me learn the basics on her girls! I love her and the time she took to talk to me. So many times I would sit on her old green (or blue??) couch and she would listen to my junior high problems. She treated me like a friend instead of just her little kid sister. I love you!

Maria, Maria, Maria. She is gorgeous, fabulous, kind, caring, humble, humorous. . . the BEST sister-in-law ever. She is such a great example of discipline! She is teaching herself to play the piano! I have never heard a crude word out of her mouth. She is great mother. She includes everyone. When Maria is around, there is never time for anyone to be left out. She has the most sincere compliments. I love her and I'm so glad she is part of our family.

Sweet Caroline. So stylish! The best hair dresser ever. I love her. She is a self esteem booster. She is witty. She loves banter. She'll stab you in the knee. Back to being amazing at hair, she can just look at you and know EXACTLY what will make you look your foxiest! She lives across the country. Whenever I was down, she knew exactly how to cheer me up. We bonded in that first car crash coming home from WalMart or EVIT. . . I can't remember which one it was. :) She introduced me to scary stories that played ever Sunday on the radio. She introduced me to Sublime. She taught me how to write in my journal and how to not care what people think. I love you MomBabe!

Oh Bear. I love my Bear. Berit is woman, hear her roar. She is a fabulous mother. Her two boys know she will always be there and I'm glad. Bear showed me that she'd always be there for me and I know she can only love. Her heart is huge! People that definitely do not deserve a part of her time get to experience her love freely. She is always trying to help out. Bear is so strong. She is amazingly smart and chooses when to use it!!! She has the most gorgeous soprano Broadway voice that I have ever heard. She sings loud and she sings proud. We went running together and the whole. entire. time. she was dancing and skipping and laughing and singing! I was tired just watching her! She has so much energy, so much love and so much joy. She handles unexpectedness like she was planning on it all along. I love Berit with all my heart. I miss you B!

And Merry-Death. A jolly kill. Meredith isn't a mother, but she just got married so now the possibilities are endless! ha! Just kidding Mom! Mer is my best friend. She fights for me. People always think SHE'S the sensitive one and I'm the fighter, but that is backwards! At school numerous times I'd find her and cry to her! And she wouldn't even listen all the way before she went and started screaming down my offender! I remember when we decided we could be friends. It was that family reunion to Canada that did it. All summer. Stuck in the van. We couldn't be mom and dad's friends, so we'd be each others! We are best friends. We could fight for hours and then want to watch the same show and at the end of those 30 minutes, there was no trace of a lingering fight. So many times Mom would call up the stairs to yell at us for yelling at each other and by the time Mom yelled, we were done being mad! We're best friends.

I love my family. They are all such great examples of motherhood and kindness. I love you!
Happy Mother's Day!

Wednesday

2011-04-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Things that make today so fun:

-My favorite brother and sister-in-law stopping by before going down to Mesa
-Eating lunch with said brother and sister-in-law, plus two nieces
-A certain four year old who can't get married because she is only four, duh
-Pigeon entertainment at lunch with family
-Packing and cleaning and shopping and laundry for Friday's wedding
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One
-Tangled

Being sick means. . .

2011-04-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

1. Our house is spotless. Spotless people. You can eat off the bathroom floor, the window sills, the top of the refrigerator--what ever suits your fancy. Moving anything at all will prove that every single inch of the house is scrubbed.

2. I am spotless. When I'm sick I take around a million baths and showers a day.

3. Jake is hungry.

4. I make chicken noodle soup (my mom's is the best, clearly) from scratch.

5. Movies marathons are acceptable. Even dumb movie marathons because we mostly sleep through them.

6. Something important must be happening, or else we wouldn't catch sickness. Example: My best friend/sister's wedding in less than a week.

7. Sleeping in until 11:00 a.m. is fine. Going back to sleep at 2 p.m. is smart. Sleeping till 9 the next day is best.

8. A really bad self-manicure. . . it's hard when you're woozy.

9. Robitussin. Ewwwww.

10. Not having bags under our eyes because when the sickness is gone, we've slept a whole 99.234 hours in a single weekend. It's logical, really.

The only terrible thing about being sick this weekend is that this is the first time I have actually felt warm in Flagstaff. I heard a bird! An actual bird singing today. So exciting! The end.

I love him

2011-04-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Crazy April snow.

Wednesday

2011-04-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is a day late. Yesterday was too much craziness to handle without contemplating it first!

Wednesday was not wiggly. . . just weird.

Scene: The railroad crossing by Fratelli's pizza. There are two bridges that take you over a man-made ditch. A bum stands by the bridges. every. day. Doesn't matter the time or the day. He's there.

Backstory: Every Wednesday after lab, Elle and I go back to my house to eat some lunch. We take shortcuts through alleys and we walk across the bridge. We always see the man, smile and say hello. Politeness is always classy.

Now on to Wednesday. We'd been talking for a while about grabbing him something to eat. An apple or sandwich. . .you know? Nothing crazy. However, today we decided to grab pizza at Fratelli's. We are self proclaimed pizza addicts and critics and we wanted to try the place out.

While we were waiting for our pizza, we had the idea. We'll get the pizza to go, save him a few pieces and give the leftovers to him. We didn't think it would be a good idea to get him his own pizza. . . that and we're ~~poor~~ students. Plus, then, if for some reason, he turned us down, we wouldn't have too much pizza, but we could eat the leftovers.

The pizza took longer than we expected. I figured it would be out in fifteen minutes max, but 25 minutes later we were still waiting. I started freaking out a little because I cannot be late to math. Missing the first five minutes makes the rest of class impossible to understand. Finally, though, it comes out and we've got 20 minutes to eat and talk to bridge man.

We go on our way to meet our friend by the bridge and when we are getting nearer, he senses us or something because he turned around to stare at us! So as soon as he turned around I talked loudly "Hey! We got pizza for lunch and had some leftovers! We wondered if you'd want them??" By the time I finished talking we were really close to him.

He didn't say anything. . . then an awkward 30 seconds later he signaled for us to stand REALLY close to him and in front (we were standing on his side.) Not going to lie, when he signaled us, I thought he was pulling a shank out of his jacket! We thought we were going to die, but at least we were trying to be kind.

Turns out, he didn't want to kill us.

Elle was too scared to move. I moved to be face to face with him (about two feet apart) and we just smiled. They were forced smiles because we thought he was going to kill us or something, but smiles are smiles.

The next thing is the weirdest.

He smiled at us and in a very, very English accent said, "Talk to me appropriately and I will accept your pizza."

Whatttttttt!?!?!?

First of all, it was super hard to understand him in at all, but appropriately? What was inappropriate the first time? So we asked him to repeat himself; he said the same thing.

We figured he wanted a nice conversation, but I had to be in class in 10 minutes. So we asked him how his day was, what he liked to do for fun. . . things like that. Then we asked him again if he'd like the pizza. He said, "No." Elle was dumbstruck. She just looked at him with her jaw dropped. I asked if he was sure. He said our conversation wasn't good enough.

So. We left him. And laughed. And talked about how we thought we were going to get shanked. And then we ate the leftovers.

It was insanely odd. Very weird. Later I thought about it and I'm sure he just wanted us to introduce ourselves and have him introduce himself, but that was the last thing on either of our minds! Next time we'll execute a plan more carefully.

The moral of the story: Come to Flagstaff. Eat a pepperoni pizza at Fratelli's. Your mouth will thank you. Your brain will never forgive you for eating that when you're going to deprive yourself of it when you go back to where ever you're from. And, your heart will thank you for not eating at NiMarco's grease-tastic pizza place.

The end.

Wiggly Wednesday

2011-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Things that make us wiggle today:
-Egg Benedict breakfast by moia!
-A new mountain bike (Saturday trips will now include me!)
-Getting our taxes done (finally! I procrastinate. . . big deal.)
-Getting a FAT tax return! Hooray marriage and school!
-Planning our anniversary trip
-Adding triplet guinea pigs to our family (more on this later!!)
-Having a handicapped rodent
-Naming said rodents Earth, Wind and Fire

Weird Things:
-People walking sans shoes. I'm still dry heaving about this. I know it's a "good cause" but just donate money. Don't wart-ify your feet. I've seen people urinate and spit on the sidewalk. . . the sidewalk YOU'RE walking shoe-free on. Nasty.
-Old hobo man that sits in the same place every day. You never ask for money. . what do you want?
-Having a presentation in the morning, a test in the afternoon, a test the next day and a homework assignment the nexter day
-Those android phones are named after men's belly fat. . . awkward.

I love our rodents. They sound like popcorn.

I need. . .

2011-04-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

these kitchens.

First, we'll have to buy a house though!

Flagstaff vs. Mesa

2011-04-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

I love Mesa. It's warm, familiar, and I know exactly where to go when I want to run in to someone.

I love Flagstaff. It's cold, new and I can walk to school when it snows and I can't see on my bike.

Mesa has Hobby Lobby.

Flagstaff has Diablo Burger.

Mesa has Pete's Fish and Chips and Costa Vida.

Flagstaff has an urban trail all the way through it.

Mesa has cactus.

Flagstaff has grass.

Mesa pet stores have bunnies.

Flagstaff has dwarf hamsters and guinea pigs.

In Mesa I had my own washing machine and dryer.

Flagstaff allows me to get all the laundry done in an hour at the laundromat.

In Mesa, a full tank of gas last a week, two weeks top.

In Flagstaff, one full tank of gas has lasted us two months.

I love my homes.

Wiggly Wednesday

2011-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

I love Wednesdays. Wednesdays are when we have the least amount of homework, the most time to spend doing nothing, all the shopping gets done on Wednesday. . . it's just the best! Jake has been noticing how awesome Wednesdays are too, and today when we were both home from school, he started dancing and just being very him-like. When I asked him what he was doing, he just said "Wiggling!!! Wednesday is here and already half over!!" I love my husband!!

After hearing about his reasoning for "wiggling", we talked about what made him so happy today.
We've decided that from now on, Wednesday is Wiggle Day. . . awkward sounding, I think yes. Worth it, obviously.

Here's what made today Wiggle Worthy

-Charmin t.p. being on super sale
-Continuing the "Awkward at NAU" photography contest (best thing ever)
-Jake running into a stop sign on the way to school
-Me turning around just in time to see the crash
-Him not needing medical attention and laughter beginning
-Still laughing while we waited for the train. . . So what if I'm the only one laughing. . psh.
-Angry Birds for an hour while he was in tutoring for Calculus
-Playing hide and seek in Target
-One word: breakfast (seriously, best meal of the day!!!)

I love Wednesday.

I capitalize Spring Break. . .

2011-03-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

March is a crazy month for us. It houses Jake's birthday, Saint Patrick's Day, and Spring Break! We love it!

Jake's birthday was so fun! He was really excited for it and so I let him open a present. People, he was E.X.C.I.T.E.D. I got him two things. A blender and a gun. He had a suspicion that he was getting a gun, but I didn't want him to really know. I told him he could pick one the night before and then he had a debate about which one he should open. The bigger box or the smaller blender box. When he realized what he picked, he was hysterical! It was absolutely amusing!!! I gave in and let him open the gun and now he's been planning trips for shooting. Come September, we're going to eat elk every day. Here is documentation of the awesome faces he makes.

Favorite sugary cereal: Reese's Puffs. He's so handsome!

Clearly he chose the red one.

When he realized it's only a blender!!! There were tears in his eyes. Awesome.

He opened the black one so gentle.

The rest of the night he was hiding behind corners being a sniper. It was the best thing ever!

Birthday and birthweek ended and then it was Spring Break! We stayed in Mesa and of course came back with the Curtis pictures!!!He fell asleep and I snooped to see him like this!!!

He does the most amazing elephant crawl thing! I loved it!! I love to tease him and he teases me back!!!
He started coming over and then stopped!

Cowboy is our family's super old dog, but he and the Curtis are seriously best friends. When he stops crawling in this one, he goes straight to Cowboy time before going again! He's so photogenic!It's hilarious.

I love today.

2011-03-03T11:54:00.001-08:00

Today is awesome. Today in my hardest class we had a test. . . and I aced it! I knew the answer to every question before I saw the answers and basically I know for a fact that I a.c.e.d. that thing!

I was so excited (because seriously! this class is hard to me!) that I went for a run and two hours later still had energy. Jake hadn't come home or been out of class since the amazingness, so I called my mom and my dad to tell the my happy happy news. They are so supportive! I love them.

Now Jake is home and working on a timed quiz. I am still happy happy happy. Tonight also is date night and at the NAU theater they're showing Harry Potter 7, part 1! So today is meant to be swell.

I love days like this. They make the hard days worth it! They make studying for 8 hours on a Saturday, and a family home evening of studying and every other day that I don't see Jake because we're both studying so easy to manage! Really! If tomorrow is a horrible day, it'll be totally fine because we both had excellent days!

And this is from a few days ago, but Jake's favorite show is "Chuck" and Chuck himself was singing with Mandy Moore at the Oscars. Now Chuck is close to a best friend.

I called 911 today. . .

2011-03-02T21:10:00.001-08:00

and it was so fun. Remember how there are always drunks by my house? Well today there were about thirty. They obviously all hated each other though because there was a HUGE fight! It was bizarre. I was on my way to school (I ride my bike!) and I heard the fight and saw the gargantuan group of people. Then I noticed the people WATCHING and not doing anything. I got out my phone, called the police and no joke. In two minutes 5 police cars zoomed up! It was impressive. I'm proud of Flagstaff for that!

Other than that, today was p.e.r.f.e.c.t. The sun was shining, the snow is melting (temporarily, I'm told) and I can actually not wear three jackets, a hat and gloves when I ride to school. This is great news because usually I look like a pack mule with all the stuff I carry!

Jake news: He gets the chance to "compete" for extra credit in chemistry by building a huge solar oven. It has to boil water faster than the rest of his classmates for him to get any credit. I've been so busy with my schoolwork that I couldn't help him with his design, but he has taken off! The thing is super impressive and he is having really good thoughts about it. I laugh a lot because the oven is just sitting in the middle of our living room. It's the hot chocolate table we never had! I keep kicking it though. . . it's big! I can't help it.

Two Sundays ago it was snowing like crazy! I don't even know how to describe it, so just imagine insane snow blustering about. Jake went out early to get the car scraped and the snow out of the way so we could forge our way to church. Our neighbor Mac saw him and came over and offered us a ride in his truck (fully equipped with 4-wheel drive). I had just popped my head out the door to hear the invitation and rsvp'ed "YES!" on the spot. Church time comes and we all squeeze into the little cabbed truck. It was a tight squeeze for Mac and his wife, Carissa, and Jake and me, but it was excited! I was giddy! I'd never seen anything like this.
We had to go a different way to church because the normal way has a long and big hill that cars usually get stuck on. As we're going the long way, a minivan in front of us is sliding like crazy. My dad is my driving guru and I call him anytime there is ice or rain or snow and he tells me what a good job I did managing NOT to crash! So believe me when I say, my dad would be more impressed with my horrible snow driving skills than theirs! Anyway. They get stuck. We laugh. We help them (another side story is that Jake and I don't have winter footwear so I just wear normal heels to church and he wears his nice shoes. . . so imagine him looking fabulous for a day in the Mesa-spring, trying not to slide in the Flagstaff-spring!) and finally after a good half hour to 45 minutes, we are all at church.

The funny part happens during the third block. Jake finds out that the man he helped is the new Elders Quorum president. He also finds out that he hasn't called his counselors yet. He called on this past Sunday. Guess who has a meeting with him and the bishopric?!?!

We have no idea what's happening and we aren't seriously speculating what's going to happen at the meeting, he could just be called to teach every third Sunday or something, but me.myself.I. like to tease him with the grander possibility of the meeting. I love to tease him about things!

The end.

PS. Ending blog posts is really awkward to me.

Psych was interesting today. . .

2011-02-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

I knocked a girls coffee on to her boots.

I said sorry. She wasn't mad.

Dr. Miller taught us how to control our dreams, Inception style.

I'm really excited about this lucid dream controlling deal! I'm going to teach Jacob and then we will plant ideas in people's dreams. It will be wonderful.

I love love love the Curtis. And we found these today so they get special mention.

The Curtis doesn't like when he has to sit with Jack. So they watch TV like this.
ps. Even the back of my hubs head is handsome!

I love this face he's making!!!!

And that's all.

It's been a while. . .

2011-02-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

since the last post, but we're both so bogged with school work that things have taken a back seat! I'm going to try and be better, but seeing as how the second week of school our trademarked phrase was "I'm already behind. . ." I feel like we caught a good break!

I've gained a new appreciation for SUN! I always loved being in Mesa with the sun always shining and I definitely took for granted that there was no wind. To be honest, since living here, I decided I'd never experience wind! It's THAT strong and cold and intense. It's normal to wake up and unlock our bikes and see the snow shovels that are nailed to the posts strewn all over our porch! It's a good thing we live so close to school. Jake gets caught by the train at least twice a week and I still think it's the funniest thing that happens. I learned a crucial lesson. Don't ride your bike in the snow unless you have sunglasses or some kind of eye protection! I got to my class after the snowy ride with makeup down my face! The nice guy I sit behind turned to hand me a paper and when he saw me said "My wife would be mad if no one told her, so I'm going to tell you. . . You're make up is EVERYwhere." I thought it was swell how he emphasized the every part. It was awesome. And now we are in agreement that his wife is quite right. He is to tell me anytime something strange like that happens!

In other news, we live underneath elephants. Not only are the elephants, but they are nocturnal elephants. Jake lovingly (not) refers to them as our Elephants. . . you know. . . because they are ours. But seriously! It sounds like an earthquake when they move. It would be great if all they did was move. . . but we swear they are running back and forth and back and forth and back and forth! Of course this starts at 11 pm and stops when Jake stands on our dresser and hits the ceiling with a shoe. It's quite a show and even though I don't look forward to the Elephants' movements, I look forward to my hubs looking madder than anything I've ever seen. It's perfection!

Lastly, there is the coolest thing here! It's a movie theater like the dollar theaters but you vote on the movies they play each month and then for 3 bucks you get popcorn and a drink! I'm so excited. In March they're doing Harry Potter 7 part 1. Glorious!

Flaggy Flagstaff

2011-01-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

We live by a park. We also live by a dirt canal. . .there's a bar if you walk 30 seconds and if you walk 5 minutes you're smack dab in the heart of Flagstaff. Naturally, that can only mean one thing!
Drunks!

We had two episodes in one day. Jake and I had just gotten home from our classes and were relaxing in the living room when we saw our landlord's son(he's going to take over the complex...we think!) walk by with a "handicapped" man. I truly thought the man was impaired, but we found out later with what. We lock our bikes to the posts in front of our door and the man FELL right into them. We went out to see if he was okay because we still didn't know that he was drunk. We thought he was disabled! So outside the door we can hear the son laughing so Jake pokes his head out and then we learn the truth about this guy! I've never seen someone so intoxicated! He actually passed out completely! The cops were called and when they were trying to find ID they opened his backpack and found a humongous and EMPTY bottle of who knows what! The cops told us that on a daily basis they have at least 3 calls about that!!!

Since this happened on our date night, we laughed it up, got ready and headed out to the date. Our night only got better when we pulled into the parking spot and heard some guy yelling at another. Jake was so happy just enjoying the show, but there were two men that seemed to be ganging up on the one. . . and the one was gay so I was extra worried for him! We told them we'd call the police if they didn't break it up (Jake wasn't happy about me ruining the entertainment!) and the man walked right up to us, and told us matter-of-factly, that all straight guys were stupid and mean! Jake looked so offended! He's met plenty of not straight men from the places I've worked and I could see in his face that he was about to say something, so I beat him to the punch and just said, "Oh no, you would like my husband. He's awesome." So the man (who was also intoxicated, remember, bar 30 seconds away from front door??) stops, looks at Jake up and down (it was HILARIOUS!!!) and says, yeah, you're right! Then he walked away, Jake went inside and I laughed inside.

It was so perfect. Our complex is amazing though. It's small and every couple/family knows everyone else. We love it.

In other news, Jake consistently gets stopped by trains on his way to school so I get to see him on occasion. He's met a guy that is in all his science classes and is going to med school so they have study sessions every week. So far, Jake's best professor is from a biology class. She told them on the first day that she is their "Mountain Momma." He's also doing a easy, stress relieving open gym class and he gets to play basketball all he wants, which he is loving. Jake is thinking about interning this summer with a man in our ward who runs a bio lab and works on wildlife!

As for me, I have one of the WORST professors. I've never taken sociology because I never thought I'd need it for my degree, but it turns out that I do. And not only do I need it, but this professor is always high in class. . . or at least hungover. A boy I was sitting next to during lecture turned to me and said, "I'm trying as hard as I can to get a Masters. . . and he's telling me that HE has a Ph.D?" It was hilarious. I met a friend and she's in every single class of mine (except sociology booo!) and that's always nice. Plus, I've really loved all the nutrition classes I'm doing and I think I'll try to get registered as a dietitian since I've got to do all the requirements for that too.

Life seems boring, but we're not bored at all! When we think about our schedules, we both get in a wow-we-have-no-time mood, but then in real life we're going to the park and feeding the ducks that attack us, we're exploring, studying, playing. . . you name it!

Favorite!

2011-01-15T17:31:00.001-08:00

There is almost nothing (activity-wise) I like doing more than going to shopping stores/centers and stalking the aisles for "professional" hair products! It's like treasure hunting to me! Once I find one of the offenders, I snatch it up and hold on to it tight. There's been a few times that I've had to ask Jake to help me hold my goodies! Now, we don't just GO out to do this. It just happens. I'll be bored and just start wandering and 5 bottles of fake CHI later, Jake finds me and sees the joy in my eyes.

In beauty school one of the very first things you learn is that product you buy at Wal-Mart, Target, Fry's, Marshalls, Ross, etc...is NOT the same as the good shtuff from the salon. It's watered down, past its expiration date (yes, product HAS an expiration date, thank you Joico) or other weird things have happened to it. Therefore, it's easy to see why I love it so much!

Today I found this.

It was at Marshall's. On sale. For eight dollars! Such a steal, right!? Wrong! My second favorite activity to complete the first is to then search the bottle for proof of validity. And guess what?? On this little bottle there were no magic words.

The magic words are "Only sold in professional salons." Nice, clean, simple and concise.

I hope that not-salon-stores keep buying the knock offs. I love my activity, but people, do not buy that jazz. . . ESPECIALLY at Wal-Mart. I've been there and seen the prices on their bedhead shampoos and the salon I worked for and theirs 1. didn't have the magic words and 2. was 2 dollars more than ours!

It's cold outside. . .

2011-01-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

It really is. Today is the warmest day we've had since being here and it's 41 degrees out there. Granted, it isn't cold today. The sun is out causing blindness but at least we're warm. I think our house is colder than anywhere. Secretly I love it though. I wore boots I bought Black Friday of my sophomore year! It was awesome!

One thing I've definitely noticed is how out of shape I feel! I went running on Monday morning and got to the top of a hill when I realized that I couldn't breathe! Something about higher elevation, yada yada yada. I'll get used to it.

Our house is amazing. Our new Toyota LOVES being here. School starts Tuesday. . . ooh and our neighbors are awesome.

Needless to say, we really like it here :)

PS. In our new car it only took a bit more than 1/4 tank of gas to get from our old place (in Mesa) to here (Flagstaff)!!!

I turned my hair yellow today.

2010-12-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Like, yellow yellow.

I never thought my hair could or would be that shade, but today was a glorious day. I told my friend at the salon that I wanted my hair to look "white." Our conversation follows.

Christina: "You want it white? Like, bleach blonde?"

V: "No, like. . . like my grandma's hair. Or like that lady you just permed. I want HER white hair."

C: "I don't know if I can. . . "

V: "We're hairstylists. You're supposed to be able to make my hair white. It's okay because I'm saying I understand my hair could catch fire! I'm not worried. Let's do it."

C: "I just don't think we have the same idea of what white is. I think Santa Claus has white hair."

V: "Perfect! I'll take it! Make me look like Mrs. Claus!!"

So we began. And somehow my hair turned yellow. I loved it. I would have kept it, but my mom would have been mad at me for ruining holiday pictures. That, and I don't think the husband is as okay with yellow as I am.

So a half hour later I have white hair. And I'm quite happy. Because I have Santa hair. And I love Santa.

It's beginning to look a lot like. . .

2010-12-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

Moving day!

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but some people LOVE Christmas and that is just not how we are. I love lights and candy canes and the smell of cinnamon pine cones, carols and stocking goodies and a tree, but that's as far as we go. We like Easter much more than Christmas and Christ wasn't even born in December so we don't feel bad about it.

Back to moving! Our home has been scrunched into one supermassive black hole. Arranging clothes, selling furniture on Craigslist and cleaning has become our new fun date. Our only decoration consists of a sparkly snowflake. It keeps us merry and bright in the daunting task of binging our collected newlywed junk.

Onward to the next random thing... I don't know what happened this past week, but at the grocery store I seriously had the. worst. luck. ever!

The bread had weavels. Gross. I didn't know that could happen.
The Rice Chex taste like someone packed them with the dish soap.
The eggs weren't cracked (duh, I check them first) but they were rotten!
The juice was sour. We just mixed it with ice cream so it would taste better! Stupidity!

It was so fantastic though. Jake and I are writing a nice and lengthy note to Fry's. Since our note is so kind and loving. . . . and that is not sarcasm either. Being nice makes winners. . . . we are totally thinking we'll get a gift card. Or at least a sorry note. We'll take what we can get!

Wednesday Life

2010-12-08T16:36:00.001-08:00

Today is perfection! Jack and I were both able to pick up an extra shift, but he came and visited me at the salon with such great news!

We got an apartment!!!! We have been calling Jim since September! September, people!! He called today and told us that he had an opening! We're so excited because finding a home was turning into a nightmare! We're so thankful and super blessed! That is a LOT of exclamations. We even got to go to lunch together which, let me tell you, never happens! Life is so fun and scary and exciting!

To celebrate the affordability of our new home and it's necessary deposits, after Hubs gets off work and after delicious dinner, we're going to spend money on a dead Christmas tree! This brings my heart happiness and it brings tears to Jake's eyes but he's only crying with allergies. No biggie.

Wednesday, thank you. I love you. Thursday, if you could just try to compete with the fabulousness of Wednesday, that'd be awesome.

Good news and some. . .

2010-11-18T14:39:00.001-08:00

So the good news was that we got a puppy! But we were going to make it a huge joke and put up a sonogram picture of like. . . triplets. . . and then have a picture of our puppy, however I thought about it so much and I thought it might only be funny to the hubs and I. Therefore, odd anger diverted!

Anyway, we got a puppy! She is a lovely little cocker spaniel and we kiss her and call her Carri. Other news about Carri--Hubs is really, and I mean REALLY allergic to her. So like we had originally planned (our landlords say NO to pets so we had a backup) we gave her to Hubs family because they love her and will be able to be in a ten foot radius with her. Jake's eyes are bright red, his nose is falling off and he is one HOT mess. This all works perfectly though because tonight is . . .

HARRY POTTER NIGHT!

I have so much happiness right now. Hubs thinks he "ruined" Halloween because we didn't dress up (I had to close that night and didn't get off work in time to think about being creative. Amen.) so to make up for it he's been preparing for HP night since we bought our midnight tickets four weeks ago!

I painted glorious tattoos which, on a sidenote, look really awesome in fake life, but if in real life he had them I would be weirded out. He looks flipping awesome and magical. I love him. He even has a wand made with the branch of a pomegranate tree and the hair of a unicorn aka cocker spaniel puppy. I'm so excited.

Only problem, I feel like I should dress up too and I don't have time or the will to color my hair purple and pink all over to be his bf, Tonks. I'm baffled.

I'm heading over to the laundromat. Hopefully wisdom will fill my mind with the nice wrackspurts that will fuzzy up my thoughts. Watching the loads tumble around should get my brain wheels turning!

Long live Harry Potter! And Ron. . . I love him.

PS. After I posted this I had a great idea! I could be the basilisk!

Goooood newssss!!!!!

2010-11-15T15:33:00.001-08:00

soon! :) :) :)

Thankfulnesses.

2010-11-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for lots of things.

I'm thankful for my husband.
I'm thankful for student-poor birthdays with post it notes of love declarations.
I'm thankful for a washing machine and dryer.
I'm thankful that, somehow after we pay tithing, we still have enough for our needs.
I'm thankful for eternity.
I'm thankful that the weather is so cool.
I'm thankful for scented candles.
I'm thankful for my mother and my old man.
I'm thankful for my best friends also known as my siblings and sister-in-law.
I'm thankful for my grandma and her recipes that she slips me.

I'm just plain old grateful for my life.

Last years Halloween was. . .

2010-10-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

. . . quite the event. My sister Merry-Death and I could not figure out what to be. For the past few years I would throw on a pair of clean scrubs and go as a nurse, doctor, hygienist. . . it worked and was comfy and warm enough to cruise through the box maze and that's all I ever needed.

So since I wanted to impress my super awesome boyfriend with something better than my lack-luster scrub costume, Merry and I ventured to the following: D.I., Goodwill, and Wal-Mart. Well, Merry's always been more creative than me. (I got over it a day ago...) She found some heinous skirt and wham! Inspiration. She would turn an outrageous skirt into a pirate-ess. Let me tell you what. We MADE her leather "bustier", pinned her skirt to ruffle and found fabulous accessories. It was ridiculous how hot she looked!

I, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to see a promising idea if it slapped my in the knee cap. "Why is it so hard to be creative so my boyfriend thinks I'm super rad!?" was my constant thought. At our last stop guess what I found? Tulle. It changed my life. Suddenly I knew how easy it would be to make a tutu! AND since I was making it, I wouldn't look like a Halloween Whore! It was the best news to me! So. 2 bolts of tulle and a black shirt later, this is what happened.

Now OBVIOUSLY my idea wasn't as original as I hoped it to be, but I obviously scored a husband so pshaw! By the way, isn't his suit the coolest???? It's silk from Korea! He looks like a fish!

This year I plan on figuring out my costume the same way. October 30-Wake up, make orange pancakes, stress about what to be, D.I. it up, then miraculously think of something! Voila!

Random ramblings.

2010-10-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Glee is on tonight. Jake is a closet Glee fan. He will never watch the show with me, but at night he'll start coincidentally singing the songs that were on the latest episode. I love it. And more than that, I love being woken up by him singing at 6:30 a.m. in the shower. There's something about the bathroom that makes everyone a diva!

Today I colored and cut the sister missionaries hair. They asked me why I hadn't decorated the house much, since all the newlyweds they know had everything decorated a week after their honeymoon. I laughed. Then I looked at my walls. They're naked but I figure I get a pass on decorating since we're moving anyway. Hooray!

Netflix is the dumbest. Amen.

We want a dog. We want that dog to be a puppy first so we can potty train it how we like, but then we will still love it as she grows up. (I guess a lot of people hate dogs love puppies. We're not like that.) Mr. likes dogs that shed. That doesn't fly with me. I love animals but if they shed they are on the shun list. Obviously this semi hurts me too, since I love English bulldogs, but if we have a dog for 12-15 years, that dog has to be clean for whatever allergy-ridden childrens we will support in the future, which means no. shedding. fur. Gross. And sad. So there goes our bulldog named Meaty. Either way, our prospective addresses all have yards so this is great news.

Riding a bike with a flat tire is seriously hard work. I thought I could manage, but a mile after realization of the fact, I got a ride home. Don't try that.

Our neighbors tree practically fell on their house and the repercussions we're seeing comes in the form of creepy creatures. At least we aren't getting any roaches. Those things make me have hissy fits!

Two of my sisters are having babies. I love all my families babies. You know how there are some funny looking babies???? If you say no, you're lying. Well, their babies never look weird!!! It's remarkable and it gives me hope for my childrens. Knock on wood. . . Anywho, they're both due next year, but that's so close and fun to say! Hooray again!!!

We found 60 dollars in change in our house.

Jake's mission president and wife are on the cover of the September Ensign.
우리의 한국어 수업은 좋은거야!

We caught a bug.

2010-10-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

The only good things about being sick are chicken noodle soup, movies, 7up and keeping our front door wide open (screen shut of course) because of the awesome drop in night temperatures. I guess getting sick at the same time as the hubs is nice too. Then we don't have to worry about getting the other sick. Pro, yes. Con, yes more.

My sister is the Mombabe. . .

2010-10-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

. . .and she is THE Mombabe. She is cute, classy, sassy and funky. Also, she's one of the best stylists I know. (I'm NOT biased.) She's doing a Q&A type of thing on her blog about hair! You need to pop over there because who DOESN'T have some kind of question! Seriously. So. Ask her anything from products favorites, do's and don'ts, and how to get gum out of your hair to colors, perms, and vegan products! Go now!

PS. Somehow I ruined crock pot chicken tonight. I am thoroughly embarrassed and thought that blogging it would be the best remedy.

PPS!!!! I discovered the right way to link! It only took me writing a hefty explanation of why I super stink at blogging, but then I got it! Woo hoo times thirty!

Memories. . .

2010-10-02T23:33:00.001-07:00

. . .are just filling up my mind! I've been addicted to the computer screen and to old pictures! I love stories they capture!!! I love it times infinity because there's t.o.n.s. of crazy pictures of Jake and me. This is one of the times that dating for forever was really beneficial!!

I am proud to admit that he is a rockstar.

This was the night we met! Right after we stuffed our face for Turkey Day, we danced it off at a black out party!

Oh my gosh. First double date with my sister and his best friend: success. We climbed to the top of an unfinished building and threw 2 liter of Doctor Thunder and watched them explode! Tag on scaffolding=marriage.

USP! Ugly Sweater Party. Only his wasn't very ugly. This is what I will look like when I am someday with child! ha!

The USP was the first time I was hungry enough, at my own home, to eat Jake's face. Thankfully he got me some chips instead!

This is right after our first super-smooch. Jake decided to grow his beard out and I liked him times one hundred that day!

First haircut and first baking experience mastered together on the first time!

I matched him on purpose. It was humorous. He's emo and I'm a gangster. Nothing to worry about.

This past Halloween. I wore a tootoo and Jake was a fish. Notice the same striped shirt under his jacket! Laughable!

First time to Mexico. Alone. No supervision. NICEEEEEE.

Seriously. I love that guy so much! He is the best. He cleans up the dishes when I make dinner, he helps me find stray dogs and he even takes a bag full of fire sauce from Taco Bell every time he, I, or we go! I love it. And him. And pictures!

Hooray for overloading!

I am in like with memories. . .

2010-10-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

. . . but in LOVE with the present and future :)

Our lives are being taken over. . .

2010-10-01T18:17:00.001-07:00

. . . by cheesecake, Spanish/Korean lessons, college and exercising. Therefore, my lack of blogging has NOTHING to do with no ideas. Brilliant, I think so.

I love cheesecake. And so I made it one Sunday. And now I can't stop. (Hence all the exercising taking over!!!) I love pumpkin, raspberry, chocolate. . . and surprisingly those go perfectly on top! It's really a problem. Instead of buying bread and eggs at the grocery, I tend to buy cream cheese and graham crackers--for the crust of course! Either way, I know now that food storage is important for months like this cheesecake-ish one is turning out to be.

Nextly, nextly is not a word. Good to know spellcheck! Nextly--Korea and Spain . . . or Mexico. I choose Spain. I speak Spanish. Mi esposo hablas Korean. I love the way he sings the hymns at church in his mission tongue and he loves the way I serenade him with "Popcorn Popping" in Spanish, but we decided that if our children are going to be well rounded and able to talk to future Mom and future Dad, they need to know both languages plus sign. . . and Latin. Pfft! So we're trying to learn each language. Something about six years of Spanish and his 2 1/2 months of nothing but Korea in the Missionary Training Center makes trying to learn the other language by just speaking in day to day conversation is NOT working out well. Any hints?? Give up?? Yeah. Thought about it, but we get bored too easy and resort to facebook so this is the best alternative.

School is another pressing issue. We've decided to go to NAU and are leaving around the first week in January. I'm joyful about this because it means a few things. 1. Snuggling and hot chocolate will reign supreme. We love that. It's how we fell into like with each other, how we fell in love with each other and how we decided to spend forever together. Coco is gooood for us. 2. I will most likely see snow fall. This has NEVER happened before. 3. Snow=cold=ear warmers=boots=jackets!! 4. My birthday is in November and with Christmas soon after, a new snowboard and bindings are not out of the question!

Lastly, my otter pop diet is officially over. I don't think I have had as much joy spending my time with Strawberry Shortcook and Louie Lime, but I'm temporarily breaking up with them.

That is all.
Amen.

Fortune Cookies. . .

2010-09-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

. . . we do what they say.

I got a new desk to spruce up and hubs got a new desktop. Yes people. 24 inches of monitor. Lovely news!

Fun fun fun!

My nephew hates the hubs. . .

2010-09-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

. . . and it is the most enjoyable thing to behold. Since Curtis has met Jack, it seems that he's hated him. He ALWAYS stares at him when way more interesting things are going on. See wedding photo proof. . . (ps. Jake is holding the Curtis)
#1: Notice Jack just smiling at the photographer and the Curtis is staring.

#2: Jack's noticed and is smiling back at the angry Curtis!

Curtis's distaste has been growing for months and since this is one of the most enjoyable things to my heart, I captured it on camera! Things to note, Josh is the Curtis's dad and he's playing with him to make him smiley. When he hands him over, it's to Jake. The movie is blurry, but you'll get the general idea! And my voice is not as decrepit as it sounds on the video!

This is one of the reasons I enjoy the Curtis so much! I just think he is the greatest source of entertainment! Here is a picture of his studly self!

I love him.
The bad news is that today at our families weekly get together for dinner, the Curtis actually tolerated Jack! I was heartbroken. I hope this new tolerance ends asap.

The best videos ever.

2010-09-07T15:37:00.001-07:00

We were playing at our friends house and they showed us this little gem!!! The first video is the real news reel and the second is the remix. It's the best. (Don't listen to the last minute of the song. It's some weird kids. . . . ha!) LOVE these.

Video One

Video Two--THE REMIX!

I'm going to work at the DMV. . .

2010-09-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

. . . because I enjoy listening to stories from people. Today the hubs and I went to the magical DMV so that I could change the very last item that was still missing my newest last name. (By the way, MOM! They fit ALLL five names on the card. You'll be so happy :) While we were waiting in the actually super short line, we heard the following conversations.

#1
Red-shirted worker-"I can't do that for you. Sorry to te..."
Brotha from tha hood-Obviously angry-"I just want you to take off that record of the last DUI! What do you mean you CAN'T? Isn't this what you do!?"
RSW-"Um, no. . . "
PS. He was DEFINITELY a brotha and he told her he was from the hood so if he reads this ever, he won't be mad at his story name.

#2
Scene: A couple is at the very end of the line, when a semi-familiar face shows up.
Man with lady- "Well, what are youuuuu doing here!?"
Entering lady- "I love Wal-Mart! I love you guys! Why aren't you wearing your walmart shirt?"
Lady with man- "He's applying for disability today. No walmart shirt."
Entering lady -"Are you hurt?"
Man- "No, just seeing if I can get it. . . "

Now the next part will seem like a lie, but it's seriously such good truth that I almost passed out of happiness next to the hubs. The lady who they thought looked familiar from somewhere--the one that walked in-- guess who the heck that lady was!?! IT WAS DEBORAH from the time I decided I hated Wal-Mart! It was oh-so fantastic. I would have taken a picture, but I was too impressed with coincidence.

Another reason I want to work at the DMV is due to the upset employees. I asked the lady who was "helping" me if she hated her job. Jake kicked me in the knee under the table, but I needed to know. She replied, "Your new license will be four dollars." Jake didn't hear right and was getting TICKED. He thought she said forty and he was about to have a hissy fit! I like him! (I added hissy to my online dictionary so now I won't have to say "Ignore Once" anymore! Success!)

I got a new picture at the DMV, a new address, and a new name, but I think the most successful part of the trip was that on my new license you can see that 1. I am two inches taller, 2. I weigh 15 pounds less than usual and 3. I have brown eyes and brunette hair. SUCCESS times a million! I always thought it was weird that that stuff was on the card anyway, so why not be a whole new person!? Awesome.

There are a few things. . .

2010-08-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

that me and Jake like to do together-- and one of those things happens to be reading! We both have completely different reading paces so it was difficult at first, but now we discovered that reading aloud is our best option! We went at midnight to fetch our edition of Suzanne Collin's Mockingjay!!!!! Usually I'd have the book done within a day, but since we're reading aloud, we're just more than halfway done. Obviously I go to work with black circles under my eyes, a high ponytail and the shirt from yesterday, but bonding time is bonding time. I love my husband and Peeta Mellark!

Dental hygiene. . .

2010-08-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

. . . is in my grasp!!! I took my CPAt and Wonderlic tests and I dominated them. A glorious domination was mine! When they saw my scores I got immediately called into a meeting. They told me to start my letter of intent and get my reference letters in so they could put me in the first wave of 15. Only 30 people make it this year...and I'M in the first wave. I'm stoked. Glory hallelujah. Pete's was our celebration dinner!!!

Woot!!!

My business cards. . .

2010-08-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

. . . were supposed to come in 20 days after I had ordered them. Well, voila! Guess what was waiting in the mail for me, 15 days early!? Yes. It's true. They are a magnificent sight. I'm so proud of them. They say my name and my phone number. It's pretty rad.

A few things have been consuming my newlywed life with the mister. In order of importance is 1. Prison Break, 2. The Office, and last but not least, 3. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Clearly our priorities aren't in order. Our favorite hobby is waiting at blockbuster for Prison Break. We have the jazziest friends that lend us their seasons of The Office and the LOTR series. We love them.

Another news break: we are no longer hiding from the Newlywed Radar. This radar is salvation. It's what keeps you from giving talks, getting huge callings, and being called to clean the church for funerals. Well people, ALL of those things have happened to us. It started with us getting married and going to church only one week afterward! Next thing we know, we're ushered into the clerks office for a calling in the young men with the deacons and an activities director or something. Soon after we are just minding our own business and Jake volunteers to pray. Later we're at home when a unknown number phones us. Oh goody! We get talks this week! Sadly, we declined the invite for cleaning the church because we were in San Diego. Anyhoo, I figure this just means I get the next year off! I find our circumstance laughable.

A cricket has been plaguing my sleep. It is our new pet, but he's very rude and barks all night. We continually have to yell with sharpness at him so hush up, and he will, but he starts being rude minutes later. Jake seems to blame me for not taking his life when I first spotted him, but I was too tired and I didn't mind the little booger. He was a different cricket then. Now he's harsh and rude and very offensive. I can't bring myself to find him again or I would have to be brutal so we're having a minor dilemma with our new pet.

Glory, glory to finding the cricket and ending our miserable nights.

On a side note, we went to California for a quick break before school starts! We did a session in the San Diego temple and played at the beach. We dug holes. One in particular. And all the guys were a beautiful mermaid. Sadly I don't have any proof of the masterpiece but it was wondrous! We both look superheinous, but humidity is more of a foe than a friend. I don't know how to work that wet, muggy air!

Scaring Jake. . .

2010-08-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

. . . is my most favorite thing to do!!! I was just in the same room as he was and he closed his eyes to nap and all I had to do was yell "BOOOOOO!" and he got scared and jumped ten feet off the ground. I love his face!

vkaed

Stargate Atlantis is playing. . .

2010-08-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

. . . in the background. I love my husband for loving scyfy.

I've definitely learned that one of the very best things about being married is that you can pick and and go on day trips and vacations whenever you want!!! (As long as your bills are paid, you have a full tank, the grocery shopping is complete and the house is clean AND you have your checkbook balanced!) It's the coolest. I happen to really enjoy it.

We went up north for a day trip to the old stomping grounds of a young Jack. His family name originated in Pinedale and when he turned on a dirt road for some off roading, I was more than excited! The best part was that they have a sign for us!!!!!!

He is so cool! I love this picture times 50 because my mom takes pictures of my dad in front of signs with our last name! I felt just like her! And he was just like him!

So our day trip was awesome. Two more reasons we are the greatest :

1. This is exactly the reason he grows a beard at all.

2. I look like a giant in because of this angle! I'm taller than the clothes washer and almost at the frame! Awesome!

I only have three more stories.

Numero Uno.
I needed meatballs because my belly was screaming for them but I don't have a Costco membership (they have the best balls of meat ever) so I decided to make my own. I'd added a few ingredients and was putting in the pepper. We totally have the coolest pepper shaker and its never done us wrong till now. It has two flaps. If you open one, the pepper sprinkles out. If you open the other, you can fit a huge spoon in it. Well, obviously I opened the wrong one and I poured. POURED. the pepper onto this meatball medley. I didn't know what to do so I just rinsed out the bowl. And then I washed off the turkey. . . it was scary because I don't remember ever putting water into homemade meatballs with my mom, but they turned out so delicious. But the pepper was funny. I had to take a picture.

Numero Dos.
Two MASSIVE cockroaches got lost. In our house. At 1:30 a.m. Jack cut it in half. With a spatula. The same spatula I used to make meatballs. When we found his friend, he was so ticked (of course we were yelling at the top of our lungs. . . him at me. . .me at the bug for being rude and intruding uninvited duh.) that he hit it so hard with his shoe that the devil POPPED up ON to his face! It touched his face. And then he took it outside and beat it to death slowly for making us fight over him. Then we lysoled and bleached everything in our house and we've been in love again ever since :)

Numero Tres.
The only reason I have so many pictures is because I was having jealousy of all the pictures people post on their own blogs. Now that I've got my fix, I've got some Stargate to watch.

We love Otter Pops.
vkaed

Everything is . . .

2010-07-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

. . . finally coming together in our new house. You'd think that living in one room practically your whole life would somehow make moving easy. . . but truth sets in pretty quick!

Anyway, I got harassed by Deborah at Wal-Mart today. I had a small shopping list. Bleach, one set of hangers, a toothbrush holder, laundry detergent and a 3 drawer storage thing for our closet.

Before I go on too much, I want everyone to know that I WAS a Wal-Mart lover. I'd choose Wal any day over Target but today that changed DRASTICALLY. Back to story.

First I went for the toothbrush holder. No story there or for the drawer thing and hangers. But lo and behold when I went to pick up the detergent, it was nowhere to be found. Alas, neither were any of the employees! I'm not okay with this because Wal-Mart always has the employee to customer ratio that I dearly love.

I settled for some Gain because I was not in the mood to find someone and then continued to find some bleach. To understand my disdain, you must know that I was at Target (before I realized I loved it, of course) and the bleach was a measly $0.92. I prompted Jake of the situation because we were partners in crime while tackling Target, but he said we could grab it at WM later. So here I am at Wal-Mart. Staring at the bleach in a smaller bottle. For a whole. Dollar. MORE. Guffaw!? So I stared at the price for a good 3 minutes expecting the price to change. And it didn't. But I bought it.

So I checked out and the usually friendly staff were obviously very unfriendly. And some crazy in line touched my bum bum. . . I was super nastied out but then she got caught on the conveyor belt and I laughed so I'm not sad at her anymore.

Now comes Deborah. Deborah needs a new perm because hers has grown out about three inches and I would give her a free deep condition because I like people like that. So I say, "Have a nice day!!!!!" and you know what she says to me?? She says, "I need to see your receipt."

I was not in the mood! Number one because I couldn't remember if the receipt was in my purse, wallet or a bag and number two because, hi! Three people just walked past me and they didn't get asked for a receipt. So I told her, without smiling this time, that, "No, you can't see my receipt because I don't know where I put it." **** side story at bottom **** So she asks again and I say, "I don't think this is Costco, so no." And then her face got scared like she thought I was going to beat her so I said again, "I don't know where I put the receipt, okay??" And then her wrath of Satan came out. "We have security all over the place and I want to see your receipt and if you don't show it to me. . . and the security is always by the door. . .(at this point I'm looking for the security very absurdly which is making her feel like a dumb dumb). . . and at other Wal-Marts they don't have security like we do!!" I finally find my receipt during her novella and when I handed it to her she slapped my face!!!!!! WHAT!?!?!

Just kidding. She didn't. But I would've pushed her and taken her name tag and run out the door if she would have. But so I finally leave and I say, "Have a great day, Deb!!" And I smiled very honestly and left.

So with that whole security issue, which I felt so humorously about, and the expensive bleach, the side story girl that you'll read later, and annoying Deborah and bum bum touching girl, I think I'm changing forces and moving on to Target.

All in all, I am going to eat pizza, asparagus and otter pops with Jake.

vkaed

****Side story**** In junior high and high school there was a girl in my gym class who wasn't as good as me. Now I relish in the joy that P.E. was my best class. So this girl who I NEVER talked to and was never more than acquaintances with (she started doing weird things with other girls and I thought she was yucky but I always said hi to her) went to Westwood too. Now, at Westwood I only ever saw her when choir would be in the auditorium practicing for a concert which was probably 8 days each school year. She was, I think, in the group that did lights or something. Well she was at Wal-Mart and I felt someone staring a hole into my brain so I looked. At first I didn't recognize her AT ALL but I have no shame and kept staring! I eventually remembered and smiled and waved at her. She just glared at me. Now, I had no makeup on because I'd been working hard and sweat it off and my hair was in a messy ponytail, but SHE was staring at ME so I don't get the hostile looks! But when she glared I was like. . . "Uh, weird..." So then when Deborah was being crazy this girl from school walked by again and glared and laughed at me. . . What tha?? She ended up parking near me so when I got to my truck she looked at me and then got a weird look and drove away quick. Like, what the heck. The end.

I got married and. . .

2010-07-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

. . . it was the grandest occasion ever.

After we were promised eternity, we went to our new home.

After we went to our new home and to Jake's old home in Pinetop, we went a-honeymooning. . .on a cruise. . . to Catalina and Mexico.

Now we are home and back to work and school in a few months and we both figured the same thing. It is THE BEST idea to get married in the summer! Hallelujah to my smart mom!

I'm getting married . . .

2010-06-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

. . . in the morning!! Ding dong, the bells are gonna chime!!

Technically, it's today. Realistically, it's not till I fall asleep! I love having all my family back and I love Organ Stop Pizza.

Hallelujah!!!

I am subconsciously counting. . .

2010-06-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

how many shirts I can stuff into a box while still being able to close the lid--likewise I seem to have the same trouble with my shoes. It's not even that I have A LOT of shoes, but they're just so big to fit my size eleven toes.

I've discovered a few things earlier in my life. Only a few. Not many. . . But one of those things was that I L.O.V.E.D. moving! I love love loved it! My parents would tell us at our family counsel meetings that we'd be moving and I'd always get excited! I say always like I moved 15 times, but I really only moved once and I was 12 and lazy and tired.

ANYWAY! I love it! I love people, I love new wards and seeing if I know anyone and I love how clean we get our new houses after a deep scrub! So when I got engaged, moving out of my parents home was the thought that got most of my attention. But. Then I stopped giving it attention. And now I have you know. . . a few days to move.

I dislike it. I am a cleaner. I like to be tidy and I have a sensitive nose and can smell anything unclean which is anything that doesn't smell like laundry detergent, comet, hydrogen peroxide or bleach. My room is in a state like never before. It smells like dust. And I want to spank it. A lot. But I have so much packing to do. The trouble with packing is that there is NO WAY on God's green earth that I would just put everything in boxes without knowing what any of it is. Nasty! What if I brought love letters to and from high school boyfriends or worse, what if I don't sufficiently disguise my hideous yearbook photographs!? See!? Dilemma. So. I go through everything. And everything is ALOT. So I've basically got things under control right? Wrong. I forgot about the dark abyss under my bed (it's really not bad, I've always organized things, but I don't have time to reminisce!) and the labyrinth at the top of my closet.

My mom got me ten boxes. I vow to use eight. If I use the last two I want them to be full of food I steal from her pantry. . . like chicken noodle soups since I'm CLEARLY the only one who eats that anyway!

Anyway. I have lots of things to do, but really it isn't all that much. My mom is clearly the go-to lady for this wedding because I can't even keep track of when I work or when I have doctor appointments. She told me that on Tuesday we're having beauty day and I asked her, "Are we having beauty day because I'm ugly!?" and she just laughed. She's such a gal! She told me if I got pajama shorts I could be jaunty. I said "Does JAUNTY mean fat!?" and she laughed her silly laugh. She is the best lady ever. But back to beauty day. I'm so excited because I am in dire need of a mani-pedi and a thread. Hallelujah.

Subconscious Countdown
1 day until Jake has his own keys, air conditioning and own mailbox
1 day until I mingle with lots of family and friends at my shower (BRING YOUR RECIPES!) :)
2 days to pack up the rest of the J.U.N.K. under my bed, in the bathroom and closets
3 days until I move everything but a backpack of clothes and a pillow and myself into Jake's, then my favorite women and I eat fatty cheesecake at the Factory
4 days till my very last Sunday in my home ward as a YSA
5 days till my last day of work for 2 weeks
6 days till my Virginian family comes back home!!!
7 days till my mom claims we will be done with wedding planning and chaos
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9 days till I wake up at 6 am to slather waterproof makeup on my face, load my armpits up with deodorants, hairspray the heck out of the ozone, suck in my tummy for 27 hours, smile until my cheeks fall off, dance with my boyfriend, (I'll call him husband when it's actually official) dance with my old man, dance with those babies my 6 sisters gave me personally. . . dance in general, and only 9 more days and Jake's new house is my new house too.

I think all in all it sounds pretty glorious.

"Let's play our game!!"

2010-05-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Jake is from Lakeside. This is not news. I like Lakeside. Again, not news. One time we went and read The Hunger Games the whole time. . . not news. Sometimes Jake and I get super bored. . . NEWS!!

A while ago we were driving and we had nothing to talk about. It wasn't boring or awkward, we just knew everything that was going on in each other's life and we vibe really well so we don't have to say much--we make faces to show emotions.

So on this drive we were reminiscing about the fort we built and watched The Little Mermaid under. All of a sudden, he totally just starts belting out how "the seaweed is always greener." Right after he sang that one part to me, he asked me what movie it was from. I was so shocked and offended that he asked me what song it was that I completely spaced! I said Cinderella way too quick and then we drove into a ditch!

Not really the ditch part, but the rest of it is true!

So now we have a game. It's conveniently called "Our Game!!!" (yes, the exclamation points are included!) The game goes like this. Jake sings three notes, sometimes four, from a Disney movie. I have to guess it and the only option is repeat. It's the FUNNEST THING EVER. So when I guess the movie it's my turn. I've also found the best way to win is to do the same song twice in a row but with different lines because he gets really confused!!! Then he guesses wrong and I win!

On Saturday we day tripped to Pinetop/Lakeside because 1. We hadn't seen his family in a looong time and 2. We had to give them wedding jazz. Jake isn't much of a morning person but he tries really hard to be! We get to the beeline when he confesses, "I think I'm going to v*mit." The real word makes me throw up so we use the asterik! I was already feeling sick. Lately I think I've been getting carsick. . . Nasty! I'm not experienced enough to drive his car so I couldn't help in any other way so what do I do!?

"Let's play our game!"

Immediately Jake starts his three notes but since he's sick it didn't come out well at all. I thought he was trying to do Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but he was doing the "Nahhhhhhh, Se-ven YAHHHHH" song from Lion King. It was really glamorous. He'll probably be famous someday.

Seriously, this game is so legitimate that I want to play it right now. I watched the worst Disney movie ever (Pocahontas) and discovered a fact about Jacob. He knows every word. . . in EVERY Disney movie song. When I asked him how he knew them so well this is exactly what he said. "Well, I'm really great at remembering lyrics. I only have to watch it once and if I can understand it the first time I hear it, I basically remember."

He said that with complete seriousness.

I love his face.

I laughed and then challenged him with Jurassic Park and he lost. "That's not fair! It wasn't Disney!" hahahahahah!!!

The funniest part of the game is when we are trying to figure out the song and we sing it back to each other over and over and then when we get it we yell!

I love forts. I love ice cream. I love cheese crisps. I did my heap of laundry today.

I get to marry Jake in 23 days...and he gets to marry me too! It'll be so fun! We can build forts all day!

Hooray!

"Savages, savages, barely even human!"
name the movie. It's so easy.

PS. I spelled Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious wrong and the spell checker let me know. Nice work blogger.com. Nice work.

Everyone knows. . .

2010-05-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

. . . Life isn't easy. If it were easy, there really would be no point in work, happiness, sadness and all other wonderful feeling-type of emotions.

So basically, in nine days I get to go to the Temple. I'm totally excited. But every night I lay in my bed and think about how I was able to get where I'm going. And every night I think generally about the same people. . . so obviously I have to post about it. PS, they're all ladies.

1. My mom. She is so organized and even though you wouldn't be able to tell right now, she really gave me her organization gene. Through all the planning going on, this lady is on top of her game. . . or my game, I guess. . . My mom is ALWAYS on our (her kids) side. No matter what. Even if she doesn't agree with me, she will defend me. Later it usually ended up with me sitting in the green chair in her room while we discussed the event. When she plays the piano, we all go in and sing. In FHE we will sing without hymn books and be completely confused but laugh the whole 4 verse song. I grew up with weekly family councils. I know how to cook (ish) because she would teach us magic basics. I know that the woman I am growing up to be will be all because of her teaching.

2. Sarah. Sarah is my oldest sister. She used to let me babysit (and she paid SOOOO stinking good!) and she'd always assure me that if I ever had questions or needed someone that she would be there. She taught me how to listen through example when I would call and cry about the most irrational and nuts-oh stuff. Sarah also has let me know that being completely obsessed with a TV show is totally fine because she is an avid LOST lover and fan. I love that I learned how to close my mouth and listen from her.

3. Caroline holy cow. The queen of the blogging world. She is sassy. She says what she wants, when she wants to, and she will never say anything behind your back that she wouldn't say to your face. Caroline taught me how to not be afraid of my own opinion. I want what I want, when I want it because of her. She moved across the country and we hardly talk, and her oldest girl kind of thinks I'm dead. . . but Caroline is the reason that I will be proud of my opinion.

4. Berit has taught me SO much through our years. I know how to put on makeup because of her, I know how to smell good and I learned how to pull out of hard situations with a smile because of her. She was a daily example of kindness to me. We can fight like a war, but in the end, she'll always call laughing about something weird to get us to forget about it. Berit is the most sensitive person I know and she has taught me so many lessons on kindness. She will forgive anyone, but more importantly, she'll actually forget. Berit has shown me how to be the best I can be and she has the most BEAUTIFUL, Broadway soprano voice I have ever heard!

5. Meredith. Merry-Death. A jolly kill. She is my best friend. We didn't like each other until I was going into my freshman year and the only reason we became friends was because we were stuck in the car, going to CANADA, and we had to band together if we were to survive the huge trip. Merry Death is my dancing partner, my TV partner, my shopping partner, my perm lover. . . this girl will literally beat people to defend me. Meredith is the most vivacious person I know. She is honest, sometimes brutally, but it's always for me. She tells it like it is. For some reason, people get our insides mixed up! They think I'm the one that can get scary, and that Merry is sensitive but WOOOO is that backwards! Mer will probably scare me to death, literally, one day, but I know I'll always have a partner in crime to double team someone if necessary.

6. Maria joined my family a back in the single digit 2000's. She's soft-spoken, but by being so, she's taught me how to communicate efficiently. Maria is everything cool in a girl. She's Canadian, she loves the outdoors, she teaches her little girl about Jesus and temple marriage. There's nothing NOT to admire about Maria. She has also been a great example of love to me. She only says the kindest things-- Maria is the best sister-in-law there ever has been! She literally has become our true and real sister!

7. Kyli. Klar is my swimmer. We met in junior high, but we became friends in high school when she joined the swim team. Our chemistry was immediate! She sadly moved to Idaho for my senior year of high school, but came back a year later to graduate in Mesa. Kyli pushed me to my swimming limits and my spiritual boundaries and then broke me through the wall like a train! I got my first real nickname from her! Kyli taught me the importance of being true to the gospel and listening to her bear her testimony DAILY got me through hard times in life. Kyli can never decide how she wants her hair done and usually just lets it grow because of it. She had really cool scabs on her face for her senior prom. I can't even remember what happened, but it was scabbed all over her chin! She's so cool like that!

8. Carolyn. I love me some Carolyn. We didn't go to the same school, but when my ward left me out of activities at girls camp, she came and swooped me into the Three Nephites and the rest is history. We served on the Youth Committee together, we met my first exchange students together (We are from Germany!) and because we had similar experiences after high school, it's easy to have a real, true conversation with hilarious opinions! I have never been disappointed in her actions. I've never felt betrayed by her. Carolyn is the friend you don't have to see every day. We see each other rarely (even though we like 5 minutes away) but when we reunite, conversation is easy, chat is humorous and inside jokes are to be had. Carolyn has taught me to keep looking up. In hard times I only see her smile and that is a perfect definition of her.

Of course more than eight people have influenced my life, but these women made me who I am and I am almost ready for life because of the examples they are to me. Nine days and a bottle of Clinique's toner till June 17, 2010. Happy day!

Some things totally gross me out. . .

2010-05-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

. . .and lately they seem to be happening all at once.

1. Cockroaches gross me out. They have wings and they are fast and nasty looking. I'm seriously in love with spiders and scorpions and I have no problem with anything with a stinger...get me next to a roach though and I'm either super ticked off (when I'm alone and know I'm the one that has to take care of the demon) or I'm ~~outrageously~~ slightly irked and possibly scampering to another room.

2. That show that comes on at 1:00a.m. and I'm wide awake... "I didn't know I was pregnant." I am pretty uber grossed out by that show. . . no explanations necessary obviously.

3. The kid that tongues his girlfriend at the same time right by the hand sanitizer by the entrance of my math class. It's sadly easy to see the tongue piercings and the way they grope each other scares me a little.

4. All my Dixon Ticonderoga's have lost their erasers. Thank goodness semester is over. Amen!

On that note, just to be as prideful as possible, this semester has been a HIT for me. In matematicas my grade without the final was a 94% and then after I took that blessed cumulative final my grade jumped to a 97%. People. This means good things for my FAFSA this year! Plus plus I'll be married and we'll be so extra poor that we get more! I think we beat the system. :)

Off the topic of school now-- For our honeymoon, Jake is taking me to California to port off and go on a Mexican cruise. Today I was extremely offended by this and here is why:

I love Harry Potter. And Snape killed Dumbledore... but in Florida,on the very day after I join Jacob in wedlock, a beautiful place called the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" opens. Not only do they have Butterbeer in Hogsmaede (of COURSE its nonalcoholic! Only infidels think otherwise!) but they are prepped with Olivander's in Diagon Ally. . . people. They are making customized wands. This means glorious things. It means that dragons, hippogriffs and unicorns really exist. I think the wands start at $40 but I would totally get one with a unicorns strand of hair for a billion dollars. And a nimbus 2000. I want to go to Harry Potter world. *

I love French onion soup the most.

vkae

*I am going to be okay with the Mexican cruise. Don't worry about me.

I'm down. . .

2010-05-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

. . . to half a tube of paste, my shampoo is almost out and I've got one more bar of soap to open and finish till I share all that stuff for the rest of forever.

I have such an eventful life!

1. Jake and I found a place to rent and it's small and jazzy but it fits all my previous criteria. Hallelujah.

2. I gave a final presentation for a creative thinking/writing class and scored an A+! I didn't even know that those existed in college, but I guess if your whole presentation is about popcorn that the sky is the limit!! ps. It was the most stellar presentation in the whole universe.

3. My face got some crazy 24 hour rash and I looked so funny! No joke, this rash was intense. . . no pimples or pustules, just nice, itchy, red skin ALL over my face. I jazzied with makeup coverage attempts for about 5 minutes but then decided, "Nahhh, I don't care anough anyway!" and I went to school and loved every minute of everyone's questionable glances :)

4. My phone stopped dying...as much! This is great news because this phone is very moody and we get into a lot of heated arguments when she shuts down and doesn't communicate her problems to me.

5. I look like a chain smoker from coloring and washing hairs without gloves! Oooh la la! Attractive!

Thank goodness it is almost summer. I will kiss the summer when it is here tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. and it will be a happy day.

Yay!

ps. I'm excited to have friends again after finals and school end! Yipee to having friends again.

I'm probably the best. . .

2010-04-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

. . . person ever for what I'm doing right now. Background: I am in a ridiculous class this semester. I don't need it or even want it, but it filled in real nice for my literacy credit. Anyhoo. A while ago I wrote about teachers that I hated and I talked about the teacher for this course I'm talking about. Turns out, I was wrong. I loves her because she is so mean and straight up and funny.

First day of class she tells us about this "huge" and "difficult" persuasive essay we have to have for our final. Well, in the class of illiterate fiends, this would be difficult and hard, but I just love it! So it's due in two days and since I need a presentation (no power points by the way...this is important :) I decided to do my paper tonight. My paper is persuading you that popcorn is the best treat ever. . . and I rock. I love this paper and will probably post it. Now, mind you, English is going to be my minor so I has sum skillz, but I've had to throw a few out the window because I know she'll give me a better grade if she feels like she's helped me. Anyway, I just took out the whole paragraph I wrote about defending popcorn till I die. I thought that might be pushing it. . .

For my presentation I can't have a PowerPoint. I found this out, along with the rest of my awesomely stunned classmates at 9:54 p.m. last Wednesday. Class meets once a week from 7-10pm. Needless to say, the class had mini heart attacks. . . BUT NOT I! Indeed this makes my brilliant plan more intoxicating! Guess who is making Popsicle stick figures and bringing in popcorn and air poppers to class for her presentation??? This engaged gal! muahahahaha. I am just so stinking hilarious. The only girl I know-know in class thinks I'm dumb but secretly she's jealous because she didn't think about it! Hers is on whether or not chemo is bad. She found out after her senior year in 2006 that she had cancer so she could totally shred mine to bits, but she refuses to bring in her wigs and antibacterial wipes to class to pass around. I don't want to win so easily against her wigs, but if she's going to let me, I might as well win hard, right? :)

She has a prosthetic and wants to pass THAT around. . . I think if she does this that I should go first so people can eat lots of corn and then sh can pop off her fake leg that makes weird sounds and then everyone will vomit and we will all pass!!!

Yay! I love finals!!

My sister is funny.

2010-04-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

My sister has a nickname bestowed upon her by Jacob. He commonly refers to her as "Merry-Death" and I found this video that may explain his reasoning!

Do you know. . .

2010-04-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

. . . how hard it is to find an apartment with a washer and dryer, a bathroom that doesn't need to be accessed from the master bedroom AND that is on the first floor???

I do.

At least it's semi-fun :)

Thoughts of parking lots. . .

2010-04-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

. . . have been on my mind since last Monday. I've been thinking about all my deepest and best memories and a lot of them involved some kind of parking lot! I decided both of my best friends were really my best friends when I was talking to them in the car in a parking lot. I decided I loved my future husband when we were sitting in a parking lot telling insanely ridiculous secrets. I've cried my brain dry after work in a parking lot (not in front of the work place, I promise!!!) and I have beat the steering wheel in frustration in a parking lot. Parking lots are the place!

So having the frequent thoughts of my parking lot life, my Thursday was totally unexpected. I went to my car after getting out of class early. I always park in the institute lot because 1. it's easier to find my car and 2. why would I park anywhere else!? So I got out of class and was dinking around in the car waiting for 7:oo to roll around so I could go to mine and Jake's weekly institute date debating whether or not I actually was hungry or if I just really WANTED to be hungry so I could eat Taco Bell and glorious Baja Blast Mountain Dew. So I'm getting my text on while debating and a girl, who obviously doesn't notice me, parked toward me (like a head on collision?? parking job? I know what I mean) gets in her car.

I'm kind of creepy I guess because I TOTALLY watched her. . . weird. But she locked herself into her car, pulled an iPod earbud out of her ear, looked at her steering wheel and her whole demeanor changed. While she was getting in the car, she was nothing but smiles. Not the fake kind either; no, her glow was the radiant, I-just-got-the-A-I-studied-for-and-the-cute-boy-just-texted-me-and-I-understand-a-whole-chapter-in-Isaiah glow.

In an instant, in the security of her car and the security of her mind and being in a place of solace she let out her inside feelings. This fabulously beaming girl changed into a girl of fear, worry. . . all the things that are our worst enemies.

The story basically ends there. She looked up and I looked away early enough to let her have her privacy, but quick enough to nod her on before she drove away, but I just can't stop thinking about her. I think about how this young woman, this gorgeous daughter of God could hurt and be alone and it stinks because she was so good at hiding it.

I learned, in a matter of 3o seconds, a lesson before institute and it has already helped me in becoming a better person. I learned that every single person has an inside and an outside and that the two aren't going to be in sync every day or even every hour and minute. And THAT is where our beautiful gospel comes in to play. When we feel loved, confused, sad, upset and joyful we're never alone in that feeling. It's hard in the bad times to remember that we're being watched over, but it's in that moment when we can pull it together and drive out of the parking lot that we remember that we can make it and that we WILL make it and that we will make it out of the situation, good or bad, with a loving Heavenly Father and Christ.

In the parking lots, nothing makes more sense.

I work in a salon. . .

2010-04-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

. . . and so you think that I would have endless access to fantastic stylists. The girls and Jesse-boy I work with are so fun, but I'm still too new at the salon and afraid of them all.

Anyway, I've been pondering (pahn-dur-eeng: to think in deep wonder and contemplation) how to style my hair for this wedding I happen to be the bride of. I love the look of long, flowy, romantic hair and I adore classy, chic updos-- alas, I always figured I'd have the long hair option. But I realized something. . .

I do my hair the same every stinking day.

Not because I don't know how to do anything different but because I like to do OTHER people's hair. . . not my own!

Another reason I wanted the long option was due to the impression I had of myself including my thought of how my face is so uber round that having my hair back would make me look like a dipstick.

HOWEVER.

Due to unforeseen natural calamities, the shop has been lacking during the day shift, giving me time to look in books and magazines and toy with my hair and guess what!?

My face isn't annoyingly rounded anymore! I still have marshmallow cheeks, but my jaw kind of lost weight--- so with my bangs out I look totally fabulous!

So basically this is stellar news because now I'll look super glamorous at my wedding and won't have to worry about my hair going flat or being all fly-away crap-tastic. I'm joyful.

In other news, my birthday present lava lamp has finally begun to work. Tsk, tsk, I should have known NOT to leave my window open, blinds open and door shut. I opened my door after school today to find monstrous demons flying around! I killed three of those hellions and then when I thought they were all gone, once SWOOPED from the fan blade onto my foot and I was not about to have any of that mess. I jumped around like a baboon/hyena and turned off that lava lamp swifter than Taylor Swift.

For the record, I don't blame myself for the bugs, I blame whoever didn't shut my window. And now I'm all itchy and twitchy because I don't know how many of those boogers are left and I'm not about to wake up with bugs in my brain from crawling up my nose and ears. That is NOT acceptable and I will torture them slowly in hot water if anything like that happens. Mark my words. It's going down.

Oh my gosh! I forgot why I even wrote this blog! So the receptionist in my salon saw me writing down names of salons where holy crap I'm not even kidding! Another one just swarmed to my face! I lost him!!! Freaking!

Resume. 30 intense seconds later.

...where I could possibly get me hair done in an updo and she said straight up, "Why are you looking around? Do you not want anyone here to do it? You have no friends that can do hair?" I was like. . "Uhm, waiiittt! Girls do updos here!?!?" in my most fake voice ever and she replied. So now I love her lots for actually making me feel welcome (you had to have been there. I can't make it out like it happened) and I think I might try getting my hair updid there.

My plan for the bugs is to turn off MY light and turn on the HALL light and wait till the boogers go out to the hall light to swarm it. That light will zap them no problemo. Consider it done. I hate bugs. I kill them for a living.

vkae

"But I marinated the hamurger!" . . .

2010-04-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

. . . is the first thing that Jake said to me when I told him I wanted hot wings for dinner. Since we in college and trying to gain our college weight, we would eat out numerous times a week. We cut it down to going to a nice place once a week and I wanted Native New Yorker (amen) and when I let him know about the delicious honey hot and suicide wings we'd be ordering, he reminded me that it was family home evening night.

Since I met him in the singles ward around 15 months ago, it was in our flirtation cycle to attend all day church on Sunday (more time to "bump" into each other), fhe on Monday nights (to accidentally look super duper awesome by coincidence) and then whatever ward functions were available. . .hiking trips, camping trips, fireside--you name it! Back to family home evening though; it's really important to us both for different reasons.

My idea of family home evening includes singing opening, closing, and any "rest" hymn we could because my family loves singing and playing the piano. They included a lesson, a family plan for the week, two prayers, and ALWAYS a treat. I l.o.v.e. treats.

Jake's family home evening consists of everyone being home, in their own rooms, playing their own games. But, nonetheless, they are together and that's what matters.

So we decided early on that we would always have family home evening and that he would teach my future sons what they need to know, etc etc etc.

Tonight, after meeting at the closing of math for me and physics for him, we ventured to his house to partake of the "marinated hamburgers."

Let me tell you what.

When Jake wants, he can make some yummy foods! Holy cow. Punny! So these burgers were marinated in Jake's one-of-a-kind sauce--it is super good. He makes it often, but not enough for me to get tired of it, but not enough that I'm always dying to eat it! So in his sauce was this slab of meat. With mushrooms. And bellpeppers. And potatoes. And tomatoes. Pepperjack was the choice of cheese. Toasted buns. Mountain Dew that was still bubbly! WITH ICE! Amazing. And our vegetable was the corn. . . baked hot cheetohs. He is so nice! I like him!

We both ate two of those fat-tastic things and then it was lesson time. I wasn't aware that I'd be the lesson, so I remembered how in conference I found out that we're basically celebs to Heavenly Father and we talked about how to make other people feel like the VIPs that we happen to be.

Then came our first activity. We went back and forth about things we thought the other had that was super celebrity like. It was awesome and shallow for a few minutes, but then it got less shallow. Then Jake yelled "BOO!" in my face and I decided family home evening was over. :) *haha that made me laugh because I was mad when he did it since he was being serious and then yelled it and I got scared and actually jumped, but now it's funny*

I went home and when I got there my mom told me about the mission I had. Mission:Hit up all the Wal*Marts and get the cheap Easter candy because it's the colors of my wedding and super duper on sale.

Mission:Accomplished.

I called Jake and the plan was set. I drove to get him because it was my mission (if it would've been his mission, he would've driven). Seven Wal*Marts, four hours and 70 dollars later, I was home. I'm proud of the candy that will be at my reception because it was on super sale and it was a fun time.

Also, I'm really good at scaring Jake, so for payback at yelling boo! to me, I hid behind a trashcan in Wal*Mart and jumped out and he is such a scaredy cat!

I love Monday.
Amen

School is . . .

2010-03-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

. . . being annihilated by me! I ace tests and classes like I'm doing long division and I really good at long division! I decided to not let school stress me out because, hi, I'm Verity and I'm engaged and my bangs aren't growing fast enough so you know I have enough to worry about! I love run-ons.

Today I went to go check on the progress of my beloved dress. This is a great story by the way. So the girl that knows everything and is awesome and has a really good looking nose ring usually helps me and she is the best. But. Today. She. Was. Not. There. And do you want to know who was? Some woman who made me feel lethargic just looking.

Now. For the record. I do NOT judge people. Period. And I don't mock (unless you and I are talking and we KNOW each other very well!) appearance. I will gladly say that in my head I make fun of the things the people who are mean to me say because they are mean anyways. . . tangent. Anyway. What I'm saying is that since I do hair, I can see some NASTAYYYY stuff, but I'm just nice and make you look fabulous so what I see and do is between you and the stylist. Amen.

So this lady looks like she needs to come see me in the salon. I don't think anything of it.

Now, I think wedding dresses are a big deal. Hopefully, and in my case, it is going to be my very only-est one and I think it is important to be excited or at least be nice about it. But no. I walked in and what is the number one rule of working!? Saying "Hello!" to the person who walks in the door! Well, I walked in. . . and then in my mind I walked in again because I thought I was having a delayed reaction.

Fast forward thirty minutes and I'm wandering like a chicken with its head cut off STILL by myself, not greeted. So what did I do!? I called my mom, duh. Psh. If they weren't going to talk to me, SOMEONE was going to! So after a very quick conversation with her, I was greeted by the lady of doom. Holy Vile, was I frightened. I am a sturdy person. I am proud that I can handle myself, but as soon as she told me that some one didn't simply put the dress in a white bag instead of a clear bag, I got scared!

Basically, I just whispered the rest of the time, which is downright weird for me since I can't even whisper to my mom on the pew during church, and got out of there right quick. And then I went to Sonic and watched the rollerskaters do backflips and 360's till I was happy again. (It took a few seconds. . :) So tomorrow I will go back to my shop and talk to my lovely assistant girl that includes me on all decisions and I don't mind it, not one bit.
:)

Weird fact of the day, today Jake's hair smelt better than mine. . . like, girly better than mine. And then I remembered I gave him that nice Bedhead shampoo because I forgot to give him a birthday present. . . . he smelt really yummy!

I'm not counting down. . .

2010-03-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

. . . at all, but I'm keeping tabs on weird things--I call it my shopping list. I opened a new tube of Crest the other day and the main thought I had was, "Huh, this is the last tube of toothpaste that I'll ever get to my own self." I opened another new toothbrush and the same thought came. "Hm, next time I buy a new toothbrush, it's going to be better to buy the doubled up ones." This is happening with EVERYTHING! It's so funny! I'll have to get a bigger bottle of lotion next time, different shampoos that don't smell so fem, makeup and even school supplies like paper, pencils and pens!

*side note, there is an all-out cat war behind my house right. now. I think some death is occuring. I don't care at all, I just wish they would mind their matters and use their quiet death voices*

Spring break was a week ago and since Jake's parentals live in Pinetop-Lakeside we roadtripped up there to get some plans chiseled out. Pretty much our trip turned into a big book reading fest. A friend/client of mine told me all about this book called The Hunger Games and holy moly! We read it from Payson to Show Low and we basically are in love with it! Holy cow it's so good. We finished the book together (I read it aloud. . . I was H.O.A.R.S.E when we got back to the valley) right when we hit Fountain Hills and we had the sequel with us! Secretly I read the whole thing but I wasn't supposed to and I feel bad so I'm going to read it aloud with Jake! He knows I read a bit, but I'm not going to tell him how much! muwahah!!!!! I love love love it! I can't decide who I like more though from the book. There's Gale and Peeta. I think Peeta is better. . .

I love hot cheetohs and when I get married I'm going to have them stocked in my year supply. . . That's a lot of chips :)

Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona

2010-03-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

There is a small town in Arizona in the scenic White Mountains of Arizona. Of four thousand, five hundred and thirty-six (4,536) people, 2,302 are of the male species and 2,234 human beings are female. Of those numbers are three people.

This is JackDen. He is the shiz and has naturally arched and perfected eyebrows. He also is the human that likes me so much that he wants to change my last name to his last name. It's cool.

These is Sean and Maria. (Also known as Sergay and Maw-ree-ah.) These are the children siblings of said Jake. They both have braces and like listening to Rihanna while we roll on dubs with the bass booming in the Audi.

They make up a small 3 in a large fourthousandsomething, but they are really cool and I'm proud to have them as future sibling-things-in-law-or-nothing.

In Pinetop-Lakeside, the cool thing to do on a Saturday night is going to Wal-Mart aka the mall. (If you go and someone invites you to the mall, decline or you'll be on your way to the Show-Low Wal-Mart.)

Another cool thing to do is talk to people on facebook and take facebook profile pictures while acting all weird and emo. Little Sergay and Mahreeah love that second one. Jake and I came to their rescue, thank goodness.

We went to Pinetop to get stuff a little more organized for the day when my name changes, and I learned about Pinetopians.

The first thing to know is that ShowLow has the best fireworks ever.
The second thing to know is that where in the valley, stake dances are a weekly thing, in P-L, they're only on a month to month base.

Anyway, my fingers hurt from cutting hair and I'm bored of myself. Moral of the story, Pinteop-Lakeside is a really small town and unless you go to the Marble Slab and the Show-Low Wal-Mart, you really missing out.

I am glad. . .

2010-03-13T00:04:00.000-08:00

. . . for many wonderful things right now.
1. I'm glad I don't have a mustache.
2. I'm glad for ladies who thread my eyebrows.
3. I'm thankful for being able to wax girls who DO have said mustaches.
4. I'm thankful that I have a mild case of pterygium.
5. I'm thankful for my dog that sleeps on my bed and has dreams where he's running that leave me on the floor because he is my second best friend and a best friend would only wake up a best friend if they were bad dreaming or in some kind of danger.
6. I'm thankful I'm not tone deaf so I can tell if someone is.
7. I'm glad that I have a lava lamp even though we're fighting.
8. I'm glad ice cream cheers me up in any occasion.
9. I'm glad that I don't have dark hair.
10. I'm glad my mom bought me nailpolish.
11. I'm glad my ears are double pierced.
12. I'm glad that I have solution for my ear's second holes infections.
13. I'm glad that I have a bathtub.
14. I'm glad that I wear boy deoderant.
15. I'm glad I won "Student of the Month" in junior high a million years ago.
16. I'm glad that I got a trophy for ^^ because it's my only one and I'm ding dong proud.
17. I'm glad I make up stories to tell people at institute.
18. I'm glad to be a lefthanded lady.
19. I'm glad I'm not 19.
20. I'm super glad I'm 20.

Amen.
Dear ears, please feel better. I love you and I need you.

Twilight is good.

2010-03-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

In lieu of Twilight coming out and all the excitement, I thought I should bring people back to the truth and the light. My name is Reverend Verity and I call you all to repentance. Amen.

Let me start off with this rebuttal. I love movies and I love entertainment. Therefore, I read a lot, I watch a lot of movies, and I (being the hair stylist I am) am constantly catching up on the latest drama of Hollywood. Rebuttal--complete.

Twilight. I devoured the novels. I poured over those books like I didn't need to eat, sleep or bathe. I thought they were good entertainment. Everyone has heard the saying, "On time really means late and early means on time." Well, for this blog we're following the notion that "Good really means pathetic. Fantastic means good. Magnificent means great."

Harry Potter is magnificent. Pearl Harbor is fantastic. Twilight is good.

Because of Harry Potter, I want to have a pet owl. I want to bathe in the prefects bathroom because Moaning Myrtle is the bees knees. I want to snog Ron (Jacob is okay with this!). I want to wear the Cloak of Invisiblity to Professor Snape's class and throw spitwads at him. I want to drink Butterbeer in Hogsmeade and I want to play with Fluffy. Harry Potter is super magnificent because it has such fantastic subplots. J.K. is a brilliant woman and she truly undestood the concept of a real and lasting plot which I can very much appreciate.

Twillight. Dearest, poorest, Twilight. I am sad for the preteens who get their hands on that sad book. "A-ha!" you say to me! But no, my rebuttal is in view. I did read the book and all its sequels. In the few days it took me to read the whole series, I feel like I really was part of the book! Edward taught me many things that I could take to real life.

LESSONS I LEARNED FROM TWILIGHT
1. All future boyfriends must stalk me from my bedroom window if they want a chance to snog me.
2. Eating on dates is unacceptable. . . in fact, eating at all is not allowed. (Girls, this diet works! I'm down to 64 pounds!)
3. Sleeping is weird. Try to not do it because it's embarrassing.
4. Ditching school is totally chill. Who cares!
5. If you're not beautiful, meh. You might as well get eaten by the Red Head.
6. All boys are mean, d-bags.

I find it so completely NUTS that preteens are reading this to grow up by! Shoooot. I was reading Shel Silverstein, Eoin Colfer and Sharon Creech! I'm not going to lie, I'm most likely never going to let my daughters read the books.

I can imagine the life of my little baby someday. We'll call this future daughter Purple for the lava in my lamp. One day Purple discovers the Twilight series. I can only imagine her and my after school talks. They'll go something like this:
Future Momma(me):"Purple! How was school!? Did you have any tests?"
Purple:"No mom, but I got a new read at the library!"
FM:"Is it a swell read, doll?"
Purple:"Oh, yes, mother! It's all about a boy who ditches his girlfriend and wants to kill her and thinks she is interesting because she's got nothing on her mind at all times! Isn't that grand?"
FM:"No. . . I'm going to get your father."
And then my beloved Jacob will come and stab her book with the Basilisks fang, spank her, and I'll ground her for reading bad books. I'll win Parent of the Year for sure!

Funny story, when I started reading Twilight, I was in high school and I had a nice boyfriend boy guy that I liked to spend all my time with. He read them with me and every day we would laugh about how sad that wretched, screwed over, little Bella was! But people were clinging to it like it was real! I had girl friends that would D.U.M.P. their boyfriends because he wasn't stalking her enough! I loved those psychos.

Anyway. I've read lots of loser books, but I really appreciate the moral of Twilight's story of being anorexic, being stalked and being ditched is totally normal behavior!

Eating disorders forever!!!

I feel so. . .

2010-02-27T22:22:00.001-08:00

. . . embarrassed when I look through people's facebook photos.

Not because I feel badly for "stalking" or because I think people are

cuter than me or anything like that, but because it is ALARMING

to me that nowadays, young women are trying to look like pubescent

boys and that young, supposedly-stalwart men are trying to look like

females.

Maybe I'm crazy-- it's very true that i've never been in fashion, but I

have ALWAYS had style. My mom taught me that "it is more imporant

to have style than to be fashionable." Perfect lesson for preparing for

junior high and high school. I knew my best features, and I knew the

ones I had to work on. IE, I always have lo.v.e.d. my back (thank

you, 17 years of swimming!) and I've always tried to hide my unusally

large feet. By the way, i'm very proud of my size 11 feet-- i'm tall enough

to look grand and I can still find remarkable high heels.

What I do not understand is why in the world are the youth of this world

so deeply pressured to dress like their opposite gender! Holy moly!

A lesson we learn about ourselves through hell school is to be proud of who

we are, what we can become and what we can do!

But then you get on facebook and you see these young men with peirceddddd earssssss.

What??????

Doood! I totally went to high school with this kid! He's two years younger than me. Wanna know how he got he's ears peirced? He went on a vacation and while he was gone with some girl, she paid for him to get both ears done.

Now, we'll talk about the fetcher girl that supported this chaos in a minute, but I want to further expound. A lot of boys in my graduating year went and peirced their womanly man ears after walking in graduation.

Savvy, no. These boys all were preparing for missions! Apparently, they "doubted not that their mothers knew it" but I'm sure that those boys got a beating! Now. I have my ears peirced, but I'm a girl. Equally as amazing, it's kinda expensive to have it done!

So the boys are spending money they should be spending on food and oakleys on EARRINGS! I feel so embarrassed for these boys trying to look more feminine.

On to the young women.

Dear girls,

It's understandable to not know how to dress for your body type, but truly you have no mind when you are spending hundreds of dollars on "menswear."

Menswear: (pronounced mehn * z * wayr) noun- clothing option; adj- baggy, mens like clothing that women like to wear for odd reasons. Origin- stupidity in Hollywood.

Girls aren't naturally happy with their bodies. It takes a long time for a young women to grow into the mindframe in which she learns to love herself.

I understand fashion. I am a hairstylist and it is NECESSARY for me to keep up with trends, no matter how absurd they be. HOWEVER. I would rather color a woman's head of level 1, b.l.a.c.k. hair to platinum blonde than to see another pair of slouchy trousers, baggy and hole-ey jeans, oversized tee shirts and dirty skin. . . and from a level 1 to a level 10 is puh-retty tough.

Girls need to be proud! In no way am I supporting cleavage, bare tum-tums and bum-bums, jeans so tight I can see you VPL and shirts so skimpy I can see you leopard-print bra.

HOWEVER.

Fitted, tailored, beautiful pieces of unique and affordable clothing are just as available as your brother's boxer shorts. So what do you pick? Boxers, or style?

Just because trends are "in" doesn't mean they are "in to stay." Welcome, personal style. Ecletic, funky, classy, bohemian. . . or boyish?

Basically, I'm going to get back to stalking now and I can guarantee that I'm going to be embarrassed a whole lot more.

I love boys that try to be girls and girl striving to be able to wear boyish clothes.

Oh to be young and high schoolish again.

Wedding Bells and School Bells. . .

2010-02-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

. . .are constantly in my head. Tsk tsk, this is not beneficial to any part of my education nor my actual relationships. The only constant thought in my head is, "Huh, I wonder why I hate my computer class so much!" Then I remember why and get back to life.

Back to bells ringing, I have a quarter jar that seriously has like. . a thousand quarters in it! I'm too busy (lazy) to count them out but I would easily guess that there are a thousand. The jar is as big as a little jam jar too so it's pretty legitimate.

Lately I really love purple avojuice, my quarters, my Christmas Presence senting candle and still mi diccionario de espanol y ingles. They bring me great joy.

This blog is random because I'm waiting to do homework while something for the dumb comp class flipping downloads! Curse you, comp.

vkae

Well, you see, when two people love each other. . .

2010-02-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

very, very much, they engage one another. Jake, who decided his best friends call him Jack, (what the odd!?) engaged me this past Monday with a glorious, shiny Sparkly. Alas, the most funnest news to me is that I went from being a plain, old girlfriend to a brand-spanking-new fiance.

So the story is simple. He said, "Verd, will you marry me?" to which I replied, "Oooh well that's pretty!" And then I asked him to put it on my finger and he did and then I held his hand so it was a mutual understanding that the answer of "yes" was just implied.

Backround to the simple story: Our first date on November 22, 2008 was simple. (See the trend? We like simple.) We went to QuickTrip and got deluxe hot cocoa. Fast forward to Monday, February 8, 2010. Monday night, FHE, singles ward. . . that means food, fun, and friends. We like that kind of stuff, too. I don't usually see Jake much throughout the week. We both have semi-conflicting school schedules, both full-time students, bogged down with homework pretty much daily. . . we live a few tough lives! Anyway, today I saw him at school! Hooray! It was fun so walk across the walk and high five him as he went to a break before his next physics class and as I went to my computer class. He texted me after something about getting hot cocoa. Now I have been BEGGING for some cocoa because it's uber cheap and easy on the wallet AND Jake finds it more appropriate than ice cream this time of year. So I slyly reply in my text message, "Oooh la la! yes Yes YES!" So. . .obviously I wasn't too sly, but it's good. No worries.
So now it's a few hours later. FHE starts at 7:30. My math class ends at 7:00, Physics ends on Monday at 7:00. I had a test (which I dominated and got out after 30 minutes=45 minutes early!) and after I went home. Jake called and told me that he'd go home and then come over with the cocoa mix so we would have to be late to FHE. I absolutely abhor tardiness unless it is to my class from 7:10-9:50 on Wednesday with my safari professor. . . so Jake tries his best to keep me on time. He came over, we made some cocoa and then headed to the magical Family Home Evening. We were driving along and he got into the wrong lane! I'm going a little nuts here because he swerved quite possibly to kill me, but he'll never admit that's the motive. . . but I know. . . and we turned onto Main Street where the Mesa, Arizona temple is located. We have really good friends that live around there, so I just thought we'd be icing FHE for a few minutes. I asked what the plan was and he said, "You know, I just want to go to the temple for a bit."
Now. This is very understandable and not suspicious for two reasons. 1, we love to get our picnic on at the temple in the middle of the huge, green grass pit. 2, because I always make fun of people that get engaged at the temple (it's okay, one of my best friends got engaged there. Don't stress) So we get out and we walk around. Mindless chitter chat happens, "Look, how weird are blue flowers!? Soo fake!" and "Why are those two men so close to each other on the grounds?! The sister missionaries need to get over here!" We turned and we near the baptistry door and I heard the mysterious fountain. I've never taken the time to really look at this fountain but I wanted to because I love Aslan and I love C.S. Lewis and that's who the marble lion looked like. So we're up the ramp by the lion and I'm hardcore about looking at this marble Aslan. (I stroked him because that's what Lucy does. . . ) and had my back to Jake. When I was getting out of the fountain, because I was quite literally, IN IT practically, I turned back around to see NO ONE! But then I looked down and there was Jake on his knee with a little, black box and something glimmery. Then the story is just how I said earlier.

So, again. Jake has engaged me and it's pretty fantastic if you wanted to know. Already I've seen the benefits of Sparkly because I can sit in institute for a solid 5.673 minutes and not get hit on by creepy people. (Somehow I always give them my number thinking it will make them go away. . . but that's another story. . .and ps: this method DOES NOT WORK!)

Last, but not least, I'm very proud of Jake for not saying anything super sap-tastic. The only sappy-ish thing he said was "I love you." and that's totally normal. But yes. In a matter of time, Jacob Denham will officially change my name and I feel pretty good about that.

The End.

*birds fluttering around your head. . .too bad if you're indoors. . .*

Lately I've. . .

2010-02-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

. . been busy watching all the episodes of The Hills! It's dramatic and I lovess it. I also love that winter is ending. Amen amen amen. I have had it with the whole my-feet-are-cold-at-six-in-the-morning!

School is kicking me in the toosh!!! I have full time night classes so that I can work full day time, but these classes are seriously hard work! oooooh Most annoying thing??? Internet classes. Oh brother! Let me say this about internet classes. I GO to school so I don't have to do internet coursework! Alas, it's just my luck to be enrolled in two classes requiring internet work. Hi, my name is Verity and I can't figure out CourseCompass.com. No big deal, it's only a quarter of my grade. Response: Hey, I'm your grade of 'C.' Nice meeting you. See ya on your report! Oooohheccckkkkno.

Mishmash. Next week is Valentine's Day! I went out on a super hot date with that boyfriend of mine. Jake is super cool because he loves A1 sauce just as much as me! I l.o.v.e. A1. Best birthday present, best housewarming present. . . its grade is as high as you can get AND it's number one! I gladly welcome A1 onto most of my food. --Back to my date izzle. So Jake and I went on our unsaid Valentine's Day dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We're very tough critics of our steak. In the words of Jake, "Outback has the best steak, but Texas has all the best accessories." It's so crazy to me that we know this factor but 329 people DON'T know this. We waited for an hour. A party of two! Parties of 12 were seated minutes after they came! It was good, we are fast people anyway! Nevertheless, dinner was fantabulous! I ordered my favorite steak, a delicious sweet potato and my new favorite way to get full fast, a salad with ranch! I was converted to this when Jake ordered a salad with ranch a whole year ago! I used to disgust ranch, but Texas. . . they know what they're doing! So we ate our peanuts, our sweet rolls, sipped on out super strawberry lemonades and got outta there in record time! We went to our favorite redbox and went back to my house. Our movie dropped f-bombs like it was as normal as saying A1, so we passed on it and watched a movie with MerryDeath and our friend who cannot drive legally, Karie! Their movie was way, way better and plus they bought tons of candy and let Jake and I stuff our full little mouths with it! It was super!! I just realized that I said super a lot, but psh. Super is a fantastic word so I feel great about using it to the maximum!

Now, today, is the superbowl. MerryDeath's birthday usually hosts the superbowl party, but the game is later this year. The NFL wanted her to have her very own 22nd birthday! They're so good to us! We always have a big family party, but this year alone we cut out 15 people! It's smaller, but who doesn't love an opportunity to each that much more!?

So back to weather, even though I am a summer person, I really did enjoy this winter. Mostly because it involved a few nights of hot chocolate, warm fires, old school kickbacks, and a new pair of flats. Be that as it may, I am easily ready to enjoy some things! Swimming, blonder hair, bronzed skin, shorts and sandals, bright colors on my toes. . . and come to think of it, SPRING BREAK, the end of school, and Disneyland. . . Say yes to dehydration!!!!

Interesting things. . .

2010-01-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

. . are collecting in my room. For instance, the real weasel stole thing. . . a lava lamp with a broken lamp. . . a Spanish/English dictionary. . . a large pinecone from Palm Springs, CA . . . 1920's black fringe. . . nerf gun shields. . . oh and yeah! That pile of books and homework and the list of books I still need to buy!

I'm not a neat freak--but I can't have messiness around me. It drives me nuts! If I have a messy bed, I'll have a messy head and that's the way it's looking to be at this moment. Seriously, I have no idea how I got to be this bad. . .I need an intervention. Tomorrow I will begin the purge. As for tonight, I think I'll take a look at that homework now :) :) :)

Teachers to NOT Take and to Switch your Youngsters Out Of to Prevent Self Esteem Issues

2010-01-20T23:07:00.001-08:00

ELEMENTARY
franklin west elementary
Mr. D

JUNIOR HIGH
kino junior high
Mr. D- biology. He will make your child's life miserable like unto himself! (different than ^)

HIGH SCHOOL
westwood high school
Mrs. DeLair- math. She doesn't care if you pass or fail, "it's easier for you to fail and she'll still get paid."

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY
mesa community college
Marion Crotty- Eng102. Comes to class disheveled, doesn't offer office hours, students don't matter till the last week and by then there's nothing you can do. She's nice, but she makes she course completely miserable for 12 long weeks
Chuy Carreon- Mat142. Goes off on rants about how his son's are addicted to math, drugs and alcohol. Tells disgusting personal stories. If you don't understand and ask a question, he won't know the answer either so instead of trying to help, tells you to work it out. Students are the last thing he cares about.
Sharon West-Cre101. Worst.First.Impression.Ever. Two students had been added to the class by the front office. She asked if everyone had pre-reqs. When they didn't, she proceeded to let them know how unintelligent THEY were for an office mistake and yelled at a man because he asked he what she thought he should do to resolve the problem. Before they even left the room she made snide comments on how annoying they were when they said only kind things before.

First Impressions...

2010-01-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

...are massive. Today I had an idiotic fiend of a teacher yell at two adult students when they asked a question about the syllabus. Mind you, the only reason I'm in the class is because I wanted to hate my life on Wednesdays from 7:10-9:50pm as much as possible and I feel like this awful woman will assist me in doing so. I don't understand how an old lady could be so vile! Wretched filth. The best part is after she yelled, they were very polite and left her classroom and as they were leaving she started telling us how much she hates teaching, students, and everything in between...all so these two people could hear! If you abhor something so much, why in the world, at an age like that, are you still doing it!? Utter confusion. She is being added onto my list of "Teachers to NOT Take and to Switch your Youngsters Out Of to Prevent Self Esteem Issues" For said list, there will be a post for every teacher I mention, and yes. There will be many. For elementary, I will name the school and the first letter of the last name. They should be retired by now, but we'll use a safety precaution. High school and college, there'll be absolutely no mercy. "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Meh,

2010-01-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

-i never-
took a dance class
learned to mastered the piano
have been in fashion
liked really cloudy, glum days
learned to cook delicious meals
went on an adventure after high school
mastered my handwriting to a "tee"
was popular
like Twilight (i see the movies, i'm just a movie kind of gal!)
watch scary movies and enjoy them
swam fast enough to be able to score sweet scholarships
aspired to be famous, rich, or beautiful
got a summer vacation after may 2008

~instead i~
taught myself all the greatest dance moves..you know the YMCA?
learned how to play all my favorite hymns because who cares about the other ones :)
have ALWAYS had my own style
love and appreciate the sun and all it has to offer my happy heart
watched my mom and learned all her secrets to take to my own family someday
went to beauty school so i can support my fh (future hubby) while he schools it up
learned how to scribble legibly so i can copy the best quotes
knew everyone and always had friends
two words: harry potter
stayed up till midnight under forts watching disney
learned how to swim so my babies will be little frogs and fishes and mermaids
decided i already was beautiful and rich and famous could wait till forever
made my weekends count, my weeknights worth it and my school days glamorous

and i think i turned out just fine.

Bed Bugs

2010-01-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

One of my very best friends that I met in my ward growing up just got married! Actually, it was like two months ago. . . Anyways! So she lived up in Utah because she went to BYU and when she came back down to Air to the Zone-ah, she had these weird lumpy things on her arms! I asked her what they were and EVER SO SILENTLY she said, "Verity, I have bed bugs." Fast forward to today, right now. On my bed is a sheet. Through this sheet, there is a MASSIVE tear. It started like any other tear, but now it is basically a tattered...wash cloth--but it's really really REALLLLAY soft so I love it to death and now it's dead so I love it more....But under the sheet is an extra mattress softener thing...and it's itchy to the M.A.X. So. Dilemma, super soft sheet, really itchy thingy underneath! Alas, methinks to myself "Pfft. Wouldn't that be so funny and gross if I had bed bugs!?!" And I started laughing stinking hard. And then I remembered my dear, sweet, lovely married friend and I had somber thoughts of her sad arms. . . but then I laughed and I'm still laughing. buahahah. I love my Mrs. Melodiah!

PS. If this photo isn't heinous enough, you should just see us in real life. Now, three years after that picture was taken, we've MORE than perfected the art of a super heinous photo. Awesome? I think yes.