I totally forgot!

K so I totally forgot to mention in my "review of December" that I HIT a DEER! Ok Ok, so I really didn't full on "HIT" a deer, it was more of a tap. I remember it like yesterday....

It was a cold night and I was making my long journey home from the airport and I actually had to stay a little late so by the time I was close to home it was about 11:30pm and I was pooped! I had the heater on cause I was still cold from workin' out in the snow and the eyes were getting heavy. I was seriously struggling to keep them open. I was actually smacking my face every now and again to try to stay awake. I finally turned off the heater and it sorta helped....ok not really....but needless to say all you need to see is a deer right in the middle of the road to make your eyes go the size of softballs. I had always learned that your not supposed to swerve in the direction that the deer is headed because he'll most likely keep going that way, so your supposed to just stay straight. WELL.... since it was my first time having to slam on my breaks, my instinct took over and I started to swerve and slam on the breaks with both feet. (Luckily I had learned that I needed to push on the breaks as hard as I can when you need to stop cause I didn't realize that 15 days after I got my license and hit a Domino's pizza delivery guy) So I was thinkin' of that moment and knew I needed to use all my force. Anyway, I stopped just in time for my car to BARELY knick the hind legs of the ginormous deer. I'm not kiddin'. That thing was a huge buck with huge antlers and it was standing directly in front of my car! I swear it looked at me like, "Uh....what the eff? I'm just tryin' to cross the street here!" and then he ran off. I'll tell you what, my adrenaline was soarin' and I didn't have heavy eyes until after I got home. My immediate reaction was, "Oh, I gotta call Jason" but then I was thinkin', he's probably asleep and nothing actually happened... I'm ok and my car is perfectly fine. So I got home and sure enough he's sound asleep and so I waited til morning to tell him!

So that's my, "I hit a deer story"! I like the fact that it sounds worse than it actually was, but now I can say that I've hit a deer! Hopefully that is the last time too!

(Ok, I'm not trying to rub it in but...... I am leaving for Hawaii in three days!!! Yay! 10 days in the nice warm weather! )

December Review

So just a recap of things that happened in December:

*We flew into Philidelphia and drove down to Florida, with stops along the way... of course. (This was actually in November, but I thought it was worthy of making the review!)

*Me and my moms birthday! I'm the big 26 now and she is still 30!

*Working out in the snow on the ramp at the airport in less than ideal conditions

*Clawson family party with lots of food and presents to enjoy

*Button family party with more food and funny white elephant gifts

*Discovering that Jason still got me a gift for Christmas even though we weren't doing anything for eachother since we are going to Hawaii in January. (I love him!)

*Ringing in the New Year like old people do....Layin' in bed watching t.v. (I know we are party poopers!!!)

So that's it in a nutshell. I haven't been that great on updating lately, but I am going to try more often for ALL MY READERS..... (All one or two of you that is)

Oh and PS........ I really do like comments and I know it's hard to comment on a lame post like this one, but you can still say something.... even if it's only a laffy taffy joke!!

The North-East and Ben Affleck

This is way behind but it's better late than never right??? So for our anniversary and for our quest to conquer all 50 states together we decided to take a North-East trip. We flew into Boston October 23rd for a four day weekend. It was short but WAY fun! There is so much to do up there we are for sure going to have to go back someday. Jason is a huge history buff and I think it's pretty cool too, so we saw a lot of historic stuff like Minute Man National Park, the USS Cassin & Museum and Old Iron Sides. We even drove down to Plymouth to see "THE" Plymouth Rock. But you don't think we went up to the North-East and just stayed in Massachusetts do you??? HEAVENS NO! We also drove into Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and of course Maine! We stopped at a couple of places in each state and saw what there was to see that close to the boarder. We went to an Armory in CT and it was pretty cool to see how the guns and rifles have evolved. Granted, I still don't quite understand how someone can come up with that kind of stuff, but it was still cool. OOH and did I mention the leaves??? Oh my goodness! I am a freak about autumn and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors of the leaves. I love trees. There is just something about them that is so mysterious. Just think of the things they have been able to see? I love how they can get to be so old and all the intricacies of how each branch is entwined with the other.... I KNOW, I'm a tree hugger (in a different way.)

So some other fun points are:

*Going to the Family Guy Corn Maize
*We saw the actual Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile driving down the road (it was awesome!)
*We tried to go the the site of the Boston Tea Party but "Aunt B" (aka, our GPS) got us lost to many times and with all the toll roads we were having to pay, we gave up.

Side Note---Jason and I are Family Guy addicts. This is one of our guilty pleasures. I know, it's crude but it is JUST SO DANG FUNNY! We actually saw a commercial about the corn maize and decided that we HAD to go. A corn maize is a corn maize and you really can't tell if it was Stewie and Brian that we were walking through, but it was still cool.

Another cool place we went to and it was totally appropriate for the time of year, was Salem, Mass.! Yep, where the Salem witch trials were. The town gets so into Halloween it was really cool. We drove there on Sunday and it was PACKED. So we decided that we'd come back on Monday. After seeing the town, I got really excited to go the next day. (So instead, on Sunday we drove up to Maine, saw a light house and had a Lobster lunch). So, Monday came and we went to the Museum and I was soooooooo disappointed! I mean, this was supposed to be real cool and have all this cool stuff about the trials and witches. NO. NO. You pay ten bucks per person and go into this room where they have scenes set up around the room, and mind you the mannequins looked like they were made in the 60's and the people who made them were high or on something else cause they were way old and out dated and looked like they were melting. So they just spotlighted the scene in the story from a recording that I swear was first made when recording was possible. It was way ghetto. After that, they took you in a "museum" that had pictures of witches from movies and all that and then at the end they had a little Wicca (today's witch religion) schpeal saying that, "If you meet a Wiccan you should stop and listen to what they have to say" UMMMMMMM. I'm gonna have to pass. Thanks though :/ WEIRD. Oh well. Now we can say that we have been there and DONE that and it's checked off the list.

Ok, so another cool history thing we saw was Bunker Hill. It's right in Boston and it's this way tall obelisk lookin' thing so that the soldiers could see way far away for when the enemies were coming to attack. Anyway, you can climb up to the top if you want. I mean it was ONLY 244 stairs up. What's the big deal, right?? HOLY SORENESS! The thighs felt like they were just going to melt right off my bones. I really didn't think 244 steps was that big of deal..... until I climbed them. It was actually pretty cool when you got up there. The view was awesome but you really could spend like 45 seconds up there and be done. But after climbing all those stairs, I wanted to make it worth it so we stayed at least 7 minutes or so. I think it was mainly so our legs wouldn't give out on the way down and make us tumble down 244 a stony, winding staircase. I was grateful for the break.

Here's a story in a story for ya..... While we were driving around the block, past all these really pretty and really old houses (which I absolutely love!) we saw a bunch of cameras and film canisters and trailers and all that junk. I was like, "Cool, they must be filming a movie here!" So before we took the exhausting trip up to the top of the obelisk, we asked one of the guides what they were filming. He was like, oh they've been here for a few months. They are filming a movie, The New Town, with Ben Affleck. COOL! Not that I'm a huge fan of Ben, but I thought it was pretty cool that I could possibly see a major movie star. It would be my first. So after we took the journey up the stairs we walked down where all the commotion was, and there he was. It was really weird actually..... He really is just a normal person. You always think it's gonna be this way cool thing to see someone so famous but it was just like, oh. There he is. Wow. Ok, take a few pictures just to document the occasion and lets go. It's not like he knows me or anything so he's not gonna come up and strike up a conversation. It was still cool and I did get a little giddy, if you will, just cause it was a famous person and I can say I saw him in person.

So there you have it. Our little weekend up in the North-East. It was short, but full of adventure and LOADS of fun. I love the fact that we will be able to tell our kids all the places we went together and all the cool things we've been able to see. So after this trip, we only had 9 more states to visit before we've gone to all 50!

'Til next time........

Thursday the 12th....

Thursday the 12th was far more evil than Friday the 13th this time around. The plans for Thursday were good and I was excited for the way it was Supposed go. I had to bid a new schedule at Skywest at 9:40 in the a.m. and Jason had to be into work at 8a.m. so I was just gonna drive with him and go into work to bid instead of calling. All was well until we hit bangerter and 4700 South..... This is when the TROUBLE started. We were just stopped at the stop light and when we started to go, the car wouldn't GO! The car was still turned on and the lights were functioning but it wouldn't accelerate. It would just putt along like how it does when you take your foot of the brake. So we turned off of Bangerter into this LIFE CHURCH and were just baffled. We tried going around the parking lot a couple of times and turning the car on and off and it didn't change anything. Luckily we have insurance that covers tows. So we called them and they said it was gonna be an hour until the tow truck would get there. Instead of just sitting in the car we took a walk over to Smith's and bought some cereal cause it was on a really good sale and then we went back and played UNO in the car til the guy came. At this point it was about 9:20 'ish and I was supposed to bid in 20 minutes! Of course I forgot my packet that had all the shifts available since I was just gonna go into work but now I obviously just had to call. We get to Pep Boys and they just run a diagnostic test and come back and say that it wasn't working at first but they just drove it around the parking lot a couple times and it seems to be working. So we go to Discover Card so Jason can check in with work since he was supposed to train a class at 9 and I just sit in the lunch room trying to figure out my bid and what I'm going to choose. At this point I had already talked to them and they gave me the line numbers that were available but since I didn't have the packet I had to pring them out at Discover, which was a complete failure. It printed the excel sheet GINORMOUS and so I was trying to piece the shifts together. So that took a little bit but then I just waited and waited in the lunch room for about an hour and a half while Jas was figuring things out. He only ended up having to stay for 2 hours and then we left. The car started AND accelerated so that was a good sign. Jas was gonna get on the freeway but then I was like, what if your car stops again.... We don't wanna be stuck on the freeway. So he turned back onto Bangerter and I kid you not, in the SAME EXACT PLACE! 4700 South and Bangerter is CURSED I tell you! So we putter along BACK into the LIFE CHURCH parking lot and wait. We thought that since the car was turned off for awhile and it worked we could do the same thing again and at least drive to the car dealership to have them look at it. WRONG!!! After we played a couple games of UNO in the car again we tried to turn the car back on and this time it wouldn't even turn over. So we looked around and had a guy jump start our car and it started but wouldn't accelerate AGAIN! So we called the insurance company again and it was going to take ANOTHER HOUR for the tow truck to come and get us. This time we had them take us to the Nissan dealership to have them look at it since Pep Boys obviously missed the problem the first time. So we finally get down there and at this point it was like 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. SO MUCH TIME WASTED ALREADY! So they said they were just gonnna do a diagnostic test again and then let us know what was up. So we just decided to wait til we knew how long it was gonna take and then we would go grab a bite to eat cause we hadn't eaten since 7 a.m.! So much for that...... it ended up taking them an hour before we went and asked what was going on. So a guy went back to see what was going on and 15 min later came back and told us the (insert heavy sarcasm here) "oh so good news!". We needed a new alternator and it was going to cost $650. OUCHY! That hurts the wallet. Oh and the other "good" news was that there wasn't a place in UTAH that had the kind of alternator we needed! FAN-diddly-TASTIC! Jason was in awe that not a single place in Utah wouldn't have one and they were like, "oh, well the companies that we work with don't have one but we can call auto zone or checker and see if they have one, we just won't be able to guarantee the part". FINE, whatever, we don't care, we just want our freaking car back! So they found a store up in Bountiful that had a part but obviously we weren't gonna get our car back til the next day. So my LOVING mother came and picked us up and drove us home. ALL DAY CONSISTED OF WAITING, SITTING AND MORE WAITING. We didn't get home til 6:30pm!

All I can say is that I'm going to be a lot more leery of Thursday the 12th than Friday the 13th.

-That is all

HELP!

Ok, so I really want to make my blog a lot cuter by adding different fonts and all that so I "Googled" how to add more fonts on blogger and basically was told to edit the HTML on the layout page manually..... Well that is pretty much a foreign language but I did figure out how to change a couple of the fonts (yay me!) but it was purely by luck. If any of you out there would want to teach me how to do this in an easier way PLEASE DO SO. I also want to make my header or whatever it's called cuter too by adding pictures or scrapbook-esque type stuff in the title. MAYBE I just need to go back to school to learn all this crap...... BUT I REALLY DON'T WANT TO! ANYWAY, your help would be GREATLY appreciated. That is all. BYE :)

Can I just say.......

Happy Birthday Jason! I love you so much!

The BIG 3

On this day three years ago I married my best friend, soul mate and eternal companion! I can't believe three years has already passed! I just want Jason to know how much I love him and that we will be together forever! Thank you for such a wonderful three years and I know we have many more to come :)

Again!

It's Thursday again? ALREADY? WOW!

This week I'm thankful for....

1. The opportunity to go see my sister in omaha (even if it was only for 2 1/2 days)

2. The fact that my sister can color and cut my hair for way cheap! (Thanks sis)

3. That I made it home on the flight and didn't get bumped!

4. That I got the money from the EAGeR study early! (it's about time I get some more money :) )

5. That Jason and I have such a close relationship and love each other so very much. It's been hard being away from him for the past couple of days while I was in omaha and he is hunting with his bro's and dad til Saturday! Absence makes the heart grow fonder! I MISS HIM!

Thankful Thursday

Yay! I remembered to do this!

I'm thankful for....

1. The snooze button on the alarm clock. It was a WONDERFUL invention

2. My sweet hubby and the fun that we have together :)

3. The delicious cookies that I make. I know that I shouldn't be thankful for them cause I know they are going to make me large, but they are SOOO GOOD!

4. The tips that people leave in the hotel rooms for me for cleaning their room

5. Hot chocolate! MMMMM! Blankets, sweatshirts, the hair dryer and the heater in my car. Thank you for keeping me warm on the chilly days we've been having!

Maui... Wowee!

So this time we decided to visit Maui and it was sooo beautiful. But I guess all the islands are like that! We planned this trip with our friends, Kevin and Jamie Pickett. We had such a good time on our cruise with them that we decided they are going to be one of our travel buddies! Anyway, I don't want to drag this post out since it is late but we had a blast!

We were lucky enough to visit Maui for 11 DAYS and stay in a condo with a mini-beach in back. There were GINORMOUS turtles in the water right off the beach. I promise they were bigger than one of those round sleds. Jason snorkeled with them quite a bit. I went out once and when they started to get to close to me I decided that I'd just let Jason enjoy them! I'm not sure how familiar ya'll are with the Island of Maui but there is the volcano, Haleakala, where people will go up there to watch the sun rise. The only catch is, you have to be there BEFORE the sun rises in order to see it. So we woke up at 2:30 AM!!! It actually wasn't that bad cause we were still on Utah time which was really 6:30 am for us. You would never think you'd need a full on coat while you're in Hawaii but you do if you want to go to this place. Of course we didn't pack coats so we layered on the clothes we could and brought a blanket from the condo.... ya, we still froze our cabooses off! It was sooooo cold. It was really pretty though. For some reason, almost every morning there are a bunch of clouds over the island and since we are up 10,000 feet we were well above them, which made the sunrise that much prettier!

One of the the other things we did is we drove to Hana. For those of you that don't know, the road to Hana is SUPER narrow and EXTREMELY winding with one lane bridges and all. The sad thing is, it is really only like 40 miles from where the Maui airport is but it takes you like 3 hours to get there because of how slow you have to go. It was really really pretty and we made our stops along the way which included swimming under a waterfall (a wimpy one), the black sand beach and the red sand beach. Most people just drive to Hana and then go back but we decided to drive all the way around. It was amazing to see the difference in scenery. It went from lush greenery with waterfalls to dry deserty look, much like Utah.

Another fun thing we did is we went on a snorkel cruise to Molokini crater. It is supposed to have the most clear water and an abundance of fish. But the waters were kind of choppy when we got there and I didn't get to see that many fish. The water was stil really clear but it wasn't as cool as we were hoping. I think we just didn't have good timing. It was still fun though!

We also had fun going to different beaches and eating shave ice (not necessarily on the beach). One of the beaches we went to was Big beach. It was sooooo pretty with the yellow sand and the green and blue waters..... one thing. The waves crash HARD!! I had never seen such a thing. I mean they weren't huge surfing waves by all means but when it came to the shoreline they would all of the sudden just break. We were out there on our floaty's with our sunglasses on havin' a grand 'ol time but then I was thinking maybe I should take my sunglasses off and put them in our bag. Well, Jamie was thinking he same thing so she started in and when she was about to get out she totally got beached and her sunglasses were washed off her face. Which only made me want to take mine off even more. SO, I start my way in and I thought I was gonna make it and the SMACK.... a wave totally pushed me over. Now, I am one of those people that HAVE to plug their nose when they go under water, so it really suprised me when my first instinct was to hold my sunglasses on my face and let the salty water go straight up the nose! But I was successful, I saved them! The amazing thing was, that we actually found Jamies sunglasses and got them back! Since the waves just crash on the beach, they didn't have a chance to get washed away so she got them back!

Well, this is entirely way to long, but moral of the story is, WE LOVE HAWAII and will continue to go there as much as we can!

Thankful Thursdays

Ok, so I would like to take credit for this brilliant idea but I must give it to my cousin, Celeste. She came up with the idea of writing things you are thankful for every Thursday, thus the name, "Thankful Thursday". How cute is that?! I thought it was a great idea so I am going to attempt to copy her. It should be fun and easy so there really shouldn't be an excuse to miss a day, but with the way that I am, I'm sure there will be a few weeks that it doesn't happen. So these are the things I am thankful for this week.

1. The nurses at the EAGeR study who have supported me and tried to figure out what the crap is wrong with my body. (I will miss them since I can no longer participate in the study cause I'm not pregnant :( )
2. I am thankful for the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful sunsets and rainbows while I am working out on the ramp at the airport.
3. The fact that it is now officially my favorite time of year! I love when the leaves start to change colors and the "cool, crisp, bite" that is in the air in the fall.
4. I am thankful for my dad coming to my rescue when my tire blew out on the freeway. He made it so I wasn't late to work! Thanks DAD, I love you!
5. And I am thankful that I was able to run across four lanes on the freeway, without getting squashed, to safety after parking my car on the wrong side of the freeway after my stupid tire blew out!

I know this is only supposed to be about what I am thankful for, but I forgot to share this bit of info on my last post! So two Sundays ago I'm on my way to work singin' my lungs out when all of the sudden I hear this wierd noise... It sounded like a big truck was about to pass me, but when I looked, there was nothing there. So I decided to pull over to the side of the freeway (and since I was kinda panicking I pulled on the left side of the freeway since I was in the fast lane, SMART). I honestly didn't think anything was wrong but decided to pull over just in case. I get out of my car with the cars on the freeway whooshing past me at 80 mph and see that my front right tire is blown. FANdiddlyTASTIC! For some reason I have the worst luck with tires, so by now I am pro at changing my tire. However, I had flip flops on and was like, CRAP! I called Jason first and he DOESN'T ANSWER!!!! What if I got in an accident and he didn't answer.... nice. It was a good thing I was right by my parents house on the freeway, so I call them to tell them whats up and to see if my dad could come help. I was thinking that I was just going to have to call into work (which I didn't want to cause we have this whole point system with tardies and absences and I didn't want to waste a sick call on THIS). So my dad comes to pick me up and take me to work and says to just leave my car on the side of the road. I was trying to tell him where I was on the freeway but we failed to discuss what SIDE of the freeway I was on. SO he gets on the on-ramp and is like where are you? I then told him I was on the left side of the freeway. He was like, "why would you stop on the LEFT side of the freeway, that's how people get killed?" GREAT! Thanks, I really didn't want to think about that right now. So I'm waiting to get ready to run across I-215 in FLIP FLOPS with all my crap I had to bring to work.... Well, obviously I made it, but I'll tell you what... my heart was about ready to jump outta my chest! It was scary. I made it on time to work and in the mean time my dad changed my tire into the spare and also had to jump my battery cause it went dead from the emergency flashers. We have just had some really annoying problems with my car (like having to buy three sets of tires, changing out the stupid headlights every 6 months cause they burn out really quick for some reason and so on) Oh. I forgot to tell you the day before, Jason got my oil changed and they said that one of my tires was wearing thin and needed to be replaced. So when the tire blew, I was thinking that it was the tire that already needed to be changed. NO SUCH LUCK! Now we had to throw down for TWO tires instead of one. That was a $200 expense I really didn't want to pay. After all this and all the other crap my car puts us through I decided to call my car P.I.T.A..... which thoughtfully stands for PAIN IN THE A**! :) HA! I'm so clever, it kills me!

Where has time gone???

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long. I hate it when I do this because then I don't even want to post because it'll be a flippin' novel. So I just decided that I'll quickly recap recent events and be DONE!!

In the middle of July we made our annual trip to Kentucky, which I love! It's sooooo pretty there and I love the grandparents, they are so very cute! We always have such a good time and manage to find new things to do there everytime. We hung out with Jason's cousins quite a bit which was pretty fun. We went to the zoo and shot guns (those were two different occasions. We didn't shoot guns AT the zoo!), smashed pennies on the railroad tracks and saw more hisory thats in Kentucky. Oh and of course we went to the Gap outlet. Gotta love those deals! Man, now that it's been two months since we were there, I don't really remember much else. Sad!

Update on trying to get pregnant is, that I'm not. But I went to my doctor and am now on Clomed. Now it's just a matter of having a period so I can start taking it. Seriously, my body just needs to be rebooted or somethin. If I wasn't trying to get pregnant, it'd be nice to have 80 days in between those lovely times of the month. But it's just annoying right now.

Well I guess not much else happened from July to August, just work, work, work. Somedays I wish I didn't work at both places but then I stop and think that I'd rather have the variety instead of working ALL the time in just one place. But let me say this...... Some people are just pigs! They leave their hotel room a freakin' mess and it takes me TWICE as long to clean it! There is this one guy that doesn't know what shower curtains are made for cause there is FIVE GALLONS of water on the bathroom floor! HELLO! Why would you take a shower OUTSIDE of the shower?? I don't get it. Anyway, I've got some pretty good stories about housekeeping that will haunt me forever, like walking in on a HUGE naked guy sleeping on the bed..... GROSS! But those will wait for another time.

Alright, so I lied and I'm not going to recap EVERYTHING that has happened in this post. We went to Maui for 11 DAYS at the end of August, so I'll post that separately. But who know's when that'll be! Not now! HA!

A Different Kind of Road Trip

In our quest to visit all 50 states together as a couple we decided to take a road trip through the southern states. Let's face it, we didn't really have a desire to visit Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana. SO my super sweet husband with his mad skills at finding deals, found a deal on a one way car rental from Orlando to New Orleans for $10 A DAY! We knew we needed to jump on that like stink on poop cause we have priced out one way car rentals before in the south and it was PRICEY! So the evening of June 23 we hopped on a plane and headed to Orlando. We landed later at night so we crashed at a hotel (yes, a Marriott hotel of course) to get ready for our drive the next day. On our GPS it said that it would only take about 6 hours from where our hotel was, so we knew the drive was totally do-able in one day and that we had plenty of time for stops if we needed. So off we went! The longest part of the drive was in the pan-handle of Florida. It really only took 45 min to an hour to get through Alabama....

and then another hour for Mississippi.....

We did stop a couple of times to get out and stretch our legs but when we would open the car door you really didn't know what hit you. It was seriously like a huge brick wall of extremely hot muggy sludge hitting you and making it hard to breath. YUCKY! I really don't know how people live there. It was disgusting. You were instantly covered in sweat/muggy humidity the minute you got out of the wonderful air conditioned car. So after our first stop, we really didn't make too many pit stops cause every time we did we always wanted to hop back in the car as quick as possible. I do have to say we did see really pretty scenery. But we didn't see any alligators or crocs on the side of the road. That would have been cool! Terrifying, but cool. Mississippi is a state full of nice people. We stopped at the welcome center to get our free state map and they were handin' out free fountain drinks! How cool is that! So needless to say, we lingered around there for awhile til we had our fill and then hit the road.

When we finally arrived at New Orleans we came to a quick decision that we never wanted to go back. The old antique buildings and houses were so pretty but other than that, it's hot, sticky, dirty, stinky and full of yucky things. We were glad we only had about 3 hrs there til it was time to hit the sack and get ready for our plane ride home in the morning. That's it! Three more states knocked off our list and only 19 more states to go!

In a rut....

Lately things seem like they aren't going to get better. I'm talkin' about being in a rut. I know we all go there sometimes but this time I think I've been there too long. Don't get me wrong. I am still happy but some things just stink. On July 17th it was the 1 year anniversary of me finding out I don't get to be a mommy quite yet. The pain and sorrow is still sticking with me. What makes it worse is that EVERYONE else, that wants to, is getting pregnant (except for guys, that'd be weird) but ME! Why oh why?....... Everytime I hear about someone getting pregnant the floodgates open and I can't stop the flood. Sorry to be such a boob but it is a HUGE part of my life right now. Is it too much to ask to be a mommy? What makes it worse is that I can't avoid thinking about it. KIDS ARE EVERYWHERE except in MY belly. "Your time will come" says EVERYONE, but when it's YOU in the position it doesn't seem like it will. Especially when you finally have something you want and treasure so much, ripped from you. I guess I am just broken. Being sad about not having a cute little baby to hold and love just kinda makes some other things not so fun. Ya know?


I really need to thank my loving husband for putting up with my crazy moodswings. He is such a sweetheart and will do anything for me. I know he loves me so very much and it hurts him to know that he can't really do anything to take the pain away. But I want him to know that his love, listening ear and just letting me cry in his arms helps A LOT! You are everything to me and I love you so very much! Thank you for always being there for me.

Omaha

Omaha you say? Yep! My sister, Nicole, lives in Omaha, Nebraska along with here too cute family. Jared is going to Creighton University to become an Oral Surgeon. Anyway, it was long overdue for me to go visit her especially since I have flight benefits and there is a direct flight into Omaha from Salt Lake. I haven't been there in over a year and I have only seen her new baby boy, Ethan, once! I know, I think I win the worst sister of the year award! I was trying to wait for a time when Jason and I could go for a week but I decided that was never going to happen. So I picked up and left on June 8 (and Jason came June 12) and made my way to see my sister. It was perfect timing too cause it was Maeley's birthday on the 10th! It was a lot of fun just hanging out with the kids and my sister! My parents and brothers actually came the 10th on their way home from Washington D.C. (they were at the Holocaust Museum 1 day before the shooting! Scary!) On Maeley's birthday we all went bowling and went out to eat. I must say that my bowling skills have improved from bowling on the Wii...... I know it's not the same but I bowled about a 160! That is really good for me cause I usually don't even make it over 100! Emma and Maeley did awesome too! They would both walk up to the line with their bowling ball kick one leg back and then throw the ball down the lane at a super sonic speed of 1 mile an hour! It was so cute to watch. After bowling, we went to a mexican food restaurant, which was Maeley's choice, and while we were there she chewed a face out of a tortilla and put it up to her face. It was quite hilarious. You'll just have to see the picture. My favorite is that Maeley can't pronounce her "sp's" so for "spoon" she says "foon" and the best is for "sparkley" she says "farkoly"! It's the best! She got one of those water and glitter bouncy balls from Target and so she would always say, "where is my farkoly ball". Needless to say, this has become my new favorite word and I am obsessed with "farkoly" things now just so I can say it! You'll notice I used a farkoly border for the slide show just in Maeley's honor! Jason flew in on Friday afternoon and we had steaks for dinner and played a game called "Settlers of Catan". It's pretty fun but kinda wierd at first.

Then the next day we just hung out with the fam til early afternoon and then we continued our treck to visit all 50 states together. So we drove over the border into Iowa and saw the Kansasville Tabernacle and down into Missouri where we visited the Liberty Jail. It was a really humbling experience to see where Joseph Smith was in jail and to see the size of the jail. We spent the night in Independence, MO cause we just decided to continue on our church history tour. We went to the visitor center in Independence and then to far west where the corner stones of the Temple are. We wanted to continue to visit other sites but ran out of time since we needed to drive back to Nebraska to fly home. So we quickly drove across the Kansas border and made our way to the airport.

I have tried to get pictures of the state signs that say "Welcome to..." But they didn't turn out so well. We didn't really have the time to pull over and take it so we did a drive by but it didn't work.

Overdue

I have quite a bit to post but I just haven't made the time to do it (obviously), so here is the low down on what has been going on with the Button's! I am going to do a series of posts instead of one gargantuan post like I usually do. So anyway here it goes!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to our cabin and also took a day trip down to Arches National Park (one of my favorite places!). We were lucky enough to have our friends from Hawaii tag a long with us and it was there first time so it was pretty fun to hear their comments. We had a blast climbing on the rocks trying to catch our breathe and taking in the breath-taking views of the ginormous rock formations. It was pretty busy but always worth it. It rained the whole way down there so we thought we were in for it but it didn't rain at all until we were getting ready to leave! PERFECT TIMING! In the past I have usually gone in the off-season so there aren't so many people but it also means that the desert flowers aren't blooming. So of course I got a kick out of all the pretty flowers and had to take a picture of every one of them. Jason loves when I do that!..... HA, yah right! All in all it was a great weekend relaxing at our cabin and hiking on the rocks!

Long or short???

Ok. So I have been trying to grow my hair out since I have been married (but I did cut it a few times cause it was driving me CRAZY). 90% because Jason wanted me to and 10% cause I really like the look of long hair with those loose curls and I wanted my hair to do that. Here is my dilemma....... I have been blessed with really THICK hair, therefore, when I try to curl it, it takes me forever and then only lasts like an hour! Can we say frustrating! I just don't know how to do long hair cause the last time I had long hair my mom would always do it. I have to admit part of me is still curious as to what it would look like a little longer but the other part is screaming to go chop it off. Soooooo, I thought I would get YOUR opinion and see what you think. Don't let what I say make or break your opinion but I am going to say that I have to pull my hair back in a ponytail for both jobs so that is all I ever do with it. At least with short hair you cant really pull it back so you HAVE to do it. But that is just the logic taking over me. So please, be honest and tell me if you think I look better with it long or short! (I know, my hair really isn't THAT long right now, but just work with me!)







I was trying to find pictures of me with my hair longer that are recent and almost all the pictures I have my hair pulled back!! Ha! That's funny! So I improvised and took this lovely self portrait of me in my awesome Skywest uniform. At least you can get the idea. Oh and for some reason my hair color looks really wierd in this picture..... I don't know why!

Housekeeping.....

Life has been CRAZY BUSY lately! Just a couple days after we got home from our cruise I called the Marriott about an application I submitted and they asked me to come in for an interview THAT DAY! Then they called me the next day and I got the job! HA HA HA! I know what you are thinking.... housekeeping, you need towel? All I can think about when I have to say that is the one and only Tommy Boy. I know, housekeeping is so not a glamorous job but hey, it's all about the benefits! So now we not only get to fly for free, we get awesome hotel discounts! Now Jason just needs to go get a second job at Avis or Budget and we would be set! Anyway, that is really the only reason I got a second job (and cause I just want to pay off my car and get it over with!). So needless to say I have been swamped with work. I am only supposed to be part time at the Marriott but for some reason he keeps scheduling me five days a week and I work from 9am to 4 and then have to jet off to the airport somedays. I talked to my boss and said I need to work less but for some reason it's not sticking in his mind. The other thing is, I have actually been sick since I started at Marriott. It just started out as a cough and minor congestion but then three weeks later it turns into a much worse cough and MAJOR congestion. So I went to the doctor and I have a sinus infection with post nasal drip and bronchitis! YES, this is so what I need. And now a week later after I went to the doctor it seems as though nothing has changed. I have just been taking it easy the past two days and laid in bed ALL day. If I don't get better in a couple days looks like I'll be seein' the doc again. So that has been life for the past month. Nothing too exciting but hey, it happens!

Cruisin' Pix

Cruisin'

I know this is pretty much a month late but life has been CRAZY and I just haven't had time. I will explain in a different post. Anywho, I am about to tell you our eventful cruise vacation. The cruise was awesome but the way down there and the way back are different stories. I'll start from the beginning. Jason is always looking at this website called, Perx, to look at cruise deals. He has actually found quite a few good deals but we have never acted on them. Well this one was too good to pass up. He found a 7 night cruise in the Caribbean for a steal and so we decided, what the heck, lets go for it! What makes it even better is we found out that one of his friends from work (Kevin) and his wife (Jamie) were also going on the same cruise so we would have people to hang out with!

So the cruise was leaving from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Sunday, March 29 at 9 pm. The flights there were looking pretty good until a day or two before (as usual) so we decided that we would start our journey a day early to make sure we got down there. The first flight we attempted was on Friday night (or Saturday morning rather)to JFK at 12:30 am or so. When we checked in and checked our luggage I forgot to tell them to put a standby tag on our bag so that our bags wouldn't go on the flight without us (since we never know if we'll make the flight or not). THIS is where the fun begins. So we didn't end up making the flight and there was a flight to Atlanta just 45 min later and so we tried for that and didn't make it. We were deciding what to do and trying to figure out just how we were going to make it. We ended up going all the way home (45 min away from the airport) and got there about 2:30 am just to leave again a few short hours later. But since our luggage went to JFK without us we wanted to make sure we had a change of clothes and an extra swimming suit just in case something happened. We left for JFK about 8:30 Saturday morning and was only going to have a little under an hour to make our next flight. (We ended up buying tickets on Jet Blue to make sure we got down there. But at least they were fairly cheap for a confirmed seat) We thought that we would have no problem at all getting to the right terminal, but we were SO WRONG! The JFK airport is freaking ginormous! NOT A FAN! We ran all the way there but didn't get there in time. Luckily there was another flight just an hour and a half later. So we flew overnight down to Santo Domingo. Note: At this point, we have only had 3 hours of sleep Friday night and now we are flying over night, which you never get that great of sleep on a plane. We arrived in Santo Domingo at about 6:30 am and tried to find someone that SPOKE English to get our bags and pretty much NO ONE spoke English. We had asked a Delta rep. back in the states where are bags were and they said that they were already in Santo Domingo so all we had to do is pick them up from the luggage office. Simple right? WRONG! We finally found someone that spoke so, so English and pointed us in the right direction. He also mentioned that no one would be there until 10 in the morning! WONDERFUL! Kevin and Jamie actually made it down a day early and told us that it was $40 just to get from the airport to their hotel. So we were thinking $40 just to leave the airport to go somewhere, then another $40 to get back to the airport to get our bags and then yet another $40 to get to the cruise ship just sounded too expensive..... so we WAITED in the airport for almost SIX HOURS! No one from Delta ended up getting there until almost NOON! We were running on empty. ONLY 6 or 7 hours of sleep the past few days and not a whole lot of food in our bellies. When we got up to the office we found out that JASON'S suitcase made it but MINE didn't!!! WHY? They said that I would get my suitcase at our first port in Antigua, but we were going to be at sea all day Monday and wouldn't get to Antigua til Tuesday. At this point the flood gates opened and I bawled my eyes out. I was so stressed and tired and hungry and now I didn't have my suitcase! Jason was really sweet and told me that we would go shopping for new clothes and get me all the things I needed. He felt so bad! I LOVE HIM! So we hired a taxi to take us to the ship. I thought we weren't going to make it there. They drive like maniacs down there! AND the lines on the road, that you know, form lanes, they don't use them! They think they are just designs or something. Oh and I think the driver honked the horn more than I have in my entire driving life! INSANE! We made it to the cruise ship. FEW! So we go through all the lines and fill out all the papers to get on the boat and they wanted to take our picture. Little did I know that they will try to take our picture at every port and at dinner. Come on, I just wanted to get on the boat, get something to eat and TAKE A NAP! I really didn't want them to take our picture cause we have gone 2 days without a shower I just got done crying my eyes out. The guy that was taking our picture says to me, "Wow, you look really tired!" THANK YOU, I really needed to hear that. Icing on the cake. Since this was our first cruise we had no idea what to expect. But once we stepped on the boat the excitement filled my blood and all the trouble we've been through kind of melted away. We actually got upgraded to a room up on the 7th floor (out of 9 floors) and our room was in the very back of the ship so our balcony was bigger than what it would have been on the side of the ship. It was really nice! We then got something to eat and then took a much needed nap and then met Kevin and Jamie for dinner. YAY! WE MADE IT TO OUR CRUISE!

So we enjoyed the day at sea and played shuffle board and ping pong and just relaxed and stuffed our face with food!!! The only thing that sucked was that Monday night was formal night for dinner and since I didn't have my suitcase we couldn't go :( So instead we ordered room service and ate our dinner on our balcony. It was a nice, relaxing and romantic night.

Our first stop was to St. Johns, Antigua! Kevin and Jamie had already purchased a shore excursion to runaway beach and we weren't sure what we wanted to do. We ended up just hiring a taxi to take us to the same beach to meet up with them. We got there and had the beach to OURSELVES for about 45 minutes. It was awesome! Kevin and Jamie had a tour with their excursion so we weren't expecting them right away. But we kept waiting for them to show up and they never came! They ended up further down the beach than where we were. Ok, so we were planning on using some of their sunscreen since our sunscreen was in my suitcase, which I still didn't have. But since we never ended up meeting up with them, we both got FRIED! OUCH! I actually found out a couple days later I got 2nd degree sunburn on my chest. NO FUN! Needless to say we still had a blast on the beach (and for the rest of our trip for that matter). After the beach we walked around the shops for a bit and then went back on the ship. I was expecting to get my suitcase but, SURPRISE, I wasn't going to get it til the next stop. They said that by the time my suitcase was to arrive at the airport there wouldn't be enough time to get it and bring it back to the ship before we were going to depart so they just sent it on to Basseterre, St. Kitts.

Ok, so what's one more day without a suitcase and wearing the same clothes right? I mean, at least Royal Caribbean washed my clothes for free. I was a little upset but I was having a good time so I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip.

On to St. Kitts! Here we just took a taxi with Kevin and Jamie to a really pretty beach that was supposed to have really great snorkeling. My snorkel was in my suitcase somewhere not with me, so I told Jason to go out and see if it was really impressive and if it was then we would rent me a snorkel. Since I was fried crispy I didn't mind sitting in the shade on the beach. So the three of them went out for a bit while I slathered on the sunscreen, which took about a half hour since my skin hurt so bad. Oh and this beach had a goat that just wandered around stealing everyones drinks and food. The goat would even drink peoples beer and then go to the bathroom whenever and where ever it wanted. It was actually fun to watch. Plus there were locals that were selling "Aloe Messages".... It was tempting to have some stranger rub ooey gooey aloe vera all over you body but since I was so sore I didn't want ANYONE touching me, so I passed. This big guy came up to Jamie and said that people call him "magic fingers" and that she should let him give her a message. She was tempted, but not enough, so she waved him on by! It was quite funny! After the beach we wandered around the shops that all sold the same stuff. Even though they all sell the same stuff, for some reason I still have to browse. WEIRD, I know. Alright, so here was the moment I'd been waiting for.... We walked into our room and I saw the most beautiful sight.....a maroonish, reddish suitcase with black trim! HOORAY! I have my suitcase! I was so ecstatic! It felt like it was a whole new vacation. It was actually hard to pick out an outfit. I mean, I got used to just wearing the same thing, that it was so foreign to have to pick an outfit. I know, I know, I get way to excited over small, trivial things.

Next stop, Bridgetown, Barbados! For this stop we all bought a shore excursion to go snorkeling with the turtles and at a shipwreck. We first piled onto a bus and then piled onto boat. The boat ride to the sight was really pretty. The water was the most incredible blue-green I have ever seen. Simply beautiful! I was really excited to snorkel but when I found out they made you wear this life vest that wasn't really a life vest I was kinda worried. REMEMBER, crispy red skin and a life vest rubbing against it doesn't go well together. But I figured I'll just dive in and it won't be that bad.... WRONG! Besides the crotch strap that goes in between your legs the straps rubbing on my shoulders was pretty uncomfortable. I had to constantly hold it in place so it wouldn't rub. Needless to say it was still really fun and we got to see quite a few turtles and lots of fish at the shipwreck. After the snorkeling they took us to this beach to play and soak up the sun. I just decided to soak up the shade cause I didn't want to risk getting even more burned. While I was in the shade this construction worker poked his head over the fence and just started talking to me. He was really nice and had a cool accent (kind of like Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean) but all he wanted was booze from one of the workers on the boat. At least I can say I kicked it with the locals. All in all Barbados is really pretty and I wouldn't mind visiting again!

Last stop, Castries, St. Lucia! This was my favorite place. Jamie found this tour guide before the cruise began and it was AMAZING! Spencer's tours is the tour to go on it St. Lucia. First stop on the tour, banana field. He pulled over to the side of the road and bought us all bananas and told us how they are harvested and all that. It was pretty cool! Next, there was a guy just standing on the side of the road that had leaves and so spencer pulled over and got some from him and made us guess what it was. It SMELLED soooo goood! It was bay leaves! Then we stopped at this store that made Kasava bread. It is the bread that the olympic runner who won a ton of races ate. Officials thought he was on steroids but they found it was just this natural root of a plant called kasava. Anyway, he showed us how it was made and then bought us all some bread made from it. It was really dense and it tasted ok. A little to healthy tasting for my liking but doable. We then stopped at the view of the Piton mountains. They are these two huge peaks right next to eachother. It was really really pretty! We then went to the botanical gardens that also had a really tall waterfall that you could get in and swim. Jason and Kevin went in the freezing cold water while Jamie and I stayed dry :) Across the street from the gardens Spencer bought us all jerk chicken and johnny cakes for lunch. It was actually really good! Then we were off to go snorkeling at a 5 star resort beach. It was located right in between the two mountains. GORGEOUS! and the snorkeling wasn't bad either. We actually saw quite a few fish that we haven't seen in Hawaii. All in all the tour lasted 6 or 7 hours and we got to see quite a bit of the island. St. Lucia is so very pretty and I definately want to go back sometime.

Our last day on the cruise was at sea. We had a blast rock climbing, hot tubbing, playing card games, eating lots and lots of icecream and just enjoying life. Jason and Kevin even entered in a Sexy Legs contest. It was really fun to watch :) I really REALLY liked the cruise and I hope to go on one again in the near future. It was so fun to get to know our new friends.

Since I have already wrote an entire novel I won't go into to much detail about our adventure home, other than it took us two days to get home and we flew clear across the U.S. just to get home. This was our itinerary for the way home; Santo Domingo to JFK. Sit in JFK airport for several hours to find out we didn't make the flight to SLC. Running across the terminal to try to get on a different flight to find out it was just oversold by 7 people. Then running back cause we heard the SLC flight was delayed. Dealing with a migraine. Flying for 3 hours to get to Atlanta. Spending the night in a hotel. Waking up early to get to the airport. Flying to San Jose, California. Sitting next to this sweet old lacy named Anne, who asked me the same questions at least two or three times and wouldn't let me sleep to save my life. And FINALLY arriving in good 'ol SLC!

This was definately a trip I will never forget! It was incredibly fun and interesting. I would do it all over again if I got the chance. The only thing I would change is I would BUY MORE SUNSCREEN!