Congrats to the Obama's!!

Just wanted to do a short blog about 2009's Inauguration Day. I thought it was wonderful! As I was getting ready for work I kept peeking at the T.V. and watched as the Obama's arrived at the White House before heading to the Capitol-they looked so confident and calm. It made me feel very proud that I voted for President Obama. When I hear him speak and watch him conducted himself, I am filled with hope. I believe that I made the right choice by voting for Obama. I believe that he wants to change this country for the better. And more importantly, I believe that he can make that change happen.

There are many people who have been upset by the way our country has been run over the past few years. And hopefully, most of those people welcomed the changes brought by yesterday's events. Hopefully we, as Americans, can continue to stand united behind our new leader and press forward to make this country a better place.

There are people who are criticizing Dr Joseph Lowery's benediction where he said, "we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead man, and when white will embrace what is right" But what those same people should remember is this: that man is not our president. He is not the person we elected. So yes you may think what he said was strange, but he is not the person who is going to be running this country. So please, stop making a big deal about. His message was all about peace anyway. Remember that he also said, "And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance. And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will." So come one people! If that is the only thing you can complain about, GET OVER IT!

I look forward with hope, not hate, not anger, not with an impending sense of doom or fear, to the next four years. Only time will tell if President Obama is going to be able to help this country out of its current mess. But, I have hope and I believe that yes, we can!

2009

I am done appologizing for not blogging as much as I should. Most of you know that I am a very busy person anyways.

2008 came to close with a lot of goings-ons. Right around Thanksgiving, Ryan's dad Scott came to Utah, with Ryan, in a U-Haul to bring us some furniture for our new home. It was great to see Scott and spend some time with him. (We don't get to see much of Ry's family because almost all of them live in Montana.) And it was fun to get all of our new furniture moved in and give us a place to sleep. And we will be forever grateful for all of Scott's help and all of Grandpa Willard's old furniture.

At the beginning of December I started my CNA class. It was a great experience. I passed my classes with flying colors and now have to pass my state test to become an official CNA. But I feel like I really learned a lot and am excited to really put my training to good use.



Aroud this same time Ryan's grandpa Willard got stuck at the Salt Lake aiport on his way to Washington to visit Ryan's uncle Mark. The weather was terrible and so Ryan and I got to have our first real house guest. It was fun to have Ry's grandpa there for the night. (Willard got to see what happened to all his old furniture!) I love Ry's grandpa! I think he is such an interesting and kind person and I know both Ry and I enjoyed the short visit with him.

We also got to have Sera with us for Christmas this year! It was so much fun to have her around the house. She brings such an incredible energy when she comes. Ry and I both miss her so much when she isn't here that we really enjoy spending time with her when we get it. I only wish it could have been for more than a couple weeks.

Ryan's Mom Linda also came down for a few days during the Christmas holiday. It was so nice because she hadn't been able to come when Scott came right before Thanksgiving. I hope that she enjoyed her time with Ry, Sera, and I. Again, my only regret is that the visit was so short. But I am sure that we will all be seeing each other again soon. (Hopefully we can all meet up again for Easter like we did last year.)

We also had a birthday party for Sera while she was here. Her birthday is Jan. 5 and we had her party with us on Jan. 2 We went to Hollywood Connections and let the kids go crazy! I think that it went great and that everyone had fun. They got to go on rides, play in the play area, go mini golfing, play in the arcade, and eat pizza and ice cream. And quite a few kids were there. Nicole brought her 3 boys: Cam, Jackson, and Chris, as well as a little girl that she watches. Our neighbors Jay and Rosie brought their 2 boys Chance and Logan and our other neighbors Randy and Nina brought their girls Amelia and Maggie. And by the end of the night, all of them were worn out.

Sera left on Jan. 3 which was very sad for both Ryan and I. The house got really quiet after that. The other thing that sucked was we had to have Sera up at 5:30 am to get her to the airport by 6:00 am for her flight...it was way too early for both Sera and myself. Neither of us are morning people.

2008 ended on a really positive note and I can only hope that 2009 is just as great! Thanks to all of our family and friends that helped us with our new home. And a big thanks to my parents who spent countless hours at our place helping to paint and fix things. (WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU GUYS!)

Ryan and I love you all and hope that your 2009 has started off well. Keep in touch! Much love!

The Pressure Is Just Too Much

Ryan and I are in the process of buying our first home, (Details to come!) and so of course I start thinking about things we will need. We won’t be moved by the 31st of October, of no no no, but it did make we want to park my butt over there on Halloween night and hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters that will be knocking on doors. So the other night while at my local grocery store, I stood in the Halloween isle in awe. Even since I was a trick-or-treater the candy options have grown. From chocolate eyeballs, to Spiderman gummies, to the traditional candy corn, there was just about any type of candy you could think of! The whole experience made me feel very nostalgic and brought back some found memories of being out with my friends. In fact, there is only one Halloween I can remember being miserable and that was the year it was raining and freezing and we didn’t even make it halfway around the block before my Dad came and picked us up in the car.

As I stood there, debating over my hundreds of options and weather or not I really wanted to buy the candy to go and sit in an empty house, it got me thinking about what my candy would say about me. Come on folks, we all know that as kids, we knew which houses to go to first for the good stuff. We all wanted the chocolate fun size bars and no taffy. We knew which neighbors might give us extra if we acted super sweet and cute. We also knew which ones to avoid unless we wanted a lecture about being too old to trick-or-treat when we were 11-years-old and out with a large group of friends. We knew to watch for groups with little kids because people we almost always in a more generous mood if you had some little kids in your group. Oh yeah, to kids, Halloween is as much of a tactical battle as it is a night out with your buddies.

What would my Halloween candy say about me? Well I could go with the bag of chocolate body parts. They are your standard chocolate that is now wrapped in tinfoil painted to look like a severed bloody foot or a bloodshot eye. This candy says, “I get you kids. You like creepy gross things and I am cool enough to give you what you want.” But two problems arise with this: 1. Little girls dressed as Sleeping Beauty may not be down with it and 2. Although the candy is pretty cool, they are still small and let’s face it, small candies are not always a big hit.

Another option I saw was your traditional bag of Fun Size Snickers bars; a staple for all trick-or-treaters. They are a tiny candy bar small enough to hide from you parents so that you can eat it when you go to bed even though they said only one piece and you had that after dinner. Plus Snickers have it all-chocolate, caramel, nougat, and peanuts. They are diverse enough to satisfy almost anyone. But then I got to thinking about what that said about me…everyone hands out Snickers. It shows that I am lazy and don’t care enough to put serious thought about my candy. Nope, I don’t want to be lazy so I will have to find something else.

Moving on I see bags of little boxes of Milk Duds and right next to them are bags of Blow Pops that are suckers filled with gum. These are two options that kids love! One, the boxes of Milk Duds are something a little different and they look bigger even though each box only contains about 4-5 Milk Duds, but with kids it is about what LOOKS bigger. And suckers with gum, well that is a candy that just keeps on giving! First a delicious crunchy outside that has some lasting power and then BAM! Gum in the middle to chew until it is tougher than a piece of leather and just about as flavorful. These were two types of candy that said I really understood what the kids want…I was going to be a great house for the kids to go to! But then it occurred to me…what this candy might say about me to my fellow neighbors who are parents. I am giving their children sticky, messy, chewy things that will rip out their fillings, get stuck in their braces, or make the couch a sticky mess! So I put the candy back and moved on deciding that I don’t want a mob of angry parents coming after me.

Handing out candy that isn’t individually wrapped, such as candy corn, would make me appear creepy, like I was trying to poison the children. Passing out pixie sticks could possible create a state of anarchy with sugar overload. And if I were to give them Frooties, well I can consider myself the lamest person in the entire neighborhood.



I was getting a little freaked out. This was a lot of stress and pressure. As the new person on the block I didn’t want to end up a laughing stock because I was handing out the wrong kind of candy. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I figured, screw this and grabbed myself a bag of Reeses Peanut Butter cups and headed to the check out lines. I will deal with it next Halloween. Now all I have to do is tackle what kind of Christmas lights I am going to hang up which may give me ulcers.

The more things change...

Things are always changing which is something I blogged about not long ago and mostly I can handle those types of things. But lately I have found myself wondering what the hell is going on. Although nothing really major has happened, I feel like the world to flying by me like a high speed commuter train and I am desperately trying to grab on to it as it screams past. Worst case scenario there: I am going to get my arm ripped off.

Work is going great. Between all the drama that has occurred and changes in staff, the remaining employees are trying the best they can to keep up. The doctor that I work for is pretty amazing. I admire his drive and determination but with those come a great deal of change. Don’t misinterpret what I am saying. Working for this clinic has literally changed my life and allow me to explain how.

I know that many people in my family have been concerned that I have not finished college. But the reason for that is after two years of higher education (and at times just being high while getting an education) I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My love for art history remains which is what I was going to major in, but I just didn’t have the desire to go to school for it. And I am a rational person (sometimes) and figured why waste my money on something that I am not really interested in doing for the REST OF MY LIFE! So much to the dismay of my parents, grandparents, and other family members, I did what I felt was best for me and stopped going to college.

I always figured that someday I would go back when I found that one thing that I loved doing enough to get the piece of paper with my name on in fancy calligraphy. And low-and-behold, once I started my current job, I knew. I love being in medicine. Not necessarily being a doctor because there are some things that I just couldn’t handle, but being involved in patient care. I currently work in the front office which has taught me more in two years than all of my past jobs combined! I love working with patients and trying to help them.

My boss, knowing that I love my job, has now offered to send me to school to become a C.N.A. (Certified Nursing Assistant) which I know, is low man on the totem pole in medicine, but it is a start. And if I find that I love it, I can always go further. Maybe medical assistant or RN…who knows? Or maybe I won’t like that and can take what I do learn with my C.N.A. and go into medical practice administration. All I know is the job I have has shown what I want to do with my life. I have the desire to be the best C.N.A. possible and look forward to make a difference, even in a small way.

We haven’t set a date yet for the schooling because my working is going through some other changes right now. Possibly around the beginning of November is what I have been told. And with all these things going on around me I feel like I am stationary and the rest of the world is a blur. Ryan and I have gone in a different direction than we thought we were with our lives, meaning no active duty right now. My family is changing all the time. And here I am, standing still.

I will keep you all updated on the progress. Who knows? Things may change again and I may never get my C.N.A. but hopefully that won’t happen. All I know is that I am anxious to get going with my life. I want to get going to with the life Ryan and I have together. So thank you to everyone who supports Ryan and me in everything that we do. We couldn’t do any of this, without you guys! Much love!

You Gotta Have Heart

You have to have Heart,that is, unless you are John McCain or Sarah Palin. After they used the song "Barracuda" as a sort of theme song for Sarah Palin, Heart sent out a letter telling the GOP to stop. I pulled this article off of the TMZ.com website so check it out. Just one more reason I love Ann and Nancy Wilson! Two amazing women who stand up for what they believe in.

http://www.tmz.com/2008/09/05/republicans-lack-heart

Missing Ryan

I have to say that when Ryan told me he was going to Texas for almost 2 weeks for some training with the air force I didn’t make a big deal about it for several reasons.

1. After not seeing him for seven months, two weeks seemed like nothing. (Not that I still wasn’t going to miss having him around!)
2. He is going to Texas so he shouldn’t be at risk of getting shot that is, unless, he insults the great state of Texas.
3. He signed up for this two-week class. They asked for volunteers and he thought it would be a good idea to go.
4. This allows me to watch all the crappy reality television I want!

And let me tell you, the first week was pretty good. Ryan and I both have laptops with webcams so we were able to talk on the phone and see each other. It was almost like he was really here except that no one was stealing my blanket in the middle of the night. I did just fine, even with having to nurse he sick ferret back to health, which is a WHOLE OTHER blog in itself. (Who knew that ferrets could get pneumonia? Other than the vet, I mean.)

But ever since about Saturday night, I have really started to miss Ryan. Sure he steals my blankets in the middle of the night, but he will also get me something to drink before he crawls into bed if I ask him. Yes, he stays up late playing on his computer, but he always wakes up a little early the next morning to help me if I need him. Yes, he leaves soda can all over the room, but he also there to help me clean everything up when I need him. Yes, he watches anime on adult swim, but he always invites me to watch it with him so we can spend time together. He’ll even watch my crappy reality television with me and what better to show someone you love them than watching shows you really hate and only complaining about it a little bit.

This week has been really awful without Ryan. I miss him so much it hurts. (I know that is really cliché but I can’t help that I didn’t come up with that phrase first! Here is a phrase that is all me: You’re as dense as the surface tension layer. Figure that one out!) He is my best friend and after two weeks without him, I really feel his absence. The room is a little cleaner but I don’t mind his clutter. I love Ryan and anytime I am away from him, I re-realize just how much he means to me and how much he impacts my life. I am so excited that he is coming home tomorrow night along with his anime, soda cans, and dirty socks!

Beijing 2008

Am I sports fan? Well based on how I look most people would say no but I am here to tell you, I LOVE SPORTS! I used to groan and complain when football season rolled around, now I wait on pins and needles. Watching Jazz games used to be equivalent for me of maybe going to the dentist. I hated to watch sports. Then I grew up a little and started to play basketball. And then in my teenage years Salt Lake was lucky enough to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. I think it is safe to say now, that I really enjoy watching sports and when I can, participating in them. And for me, the Olympics are the best sporting event EVER!

The 2008 Beijing Summer games have taken over my life! Every night I sit with Ryan or my family and watch ever event. I watch whatever is on! From gymnastics (GO NASTIA LIUKIN!), to diving, to basketball, and even some sports that I don’t the USA even have teams like handball and field hockey. I have immersed myself in these 2008 Olympic games.

I love the spirit of the Olympics. I love watching all the emotions that come with both winning and losing. I love all the personal stories of the athletes. Dara Torres, the 41-year-old swimmer that won not one, but three medals, is such an incredible person. She truly is what I would hope every athlete from the USA is. She is an incredible woman and I have enjoyed watching her journey. I hope she comes back in 2012 to London and kicks some more 16-year-old asses!

And who could be talking about the Beijing Olympics and not bring up Michael Phelps? Holy crap is that man amazing! I know that is arguable for whether or not he truly is the greatest Olympian of all time, but come on! If you want to look at total gold medals and at most gold medals won in a single Olympics, he is the best. Sure there are other factors that people will talk about but on that basis, and that one alone, Michael takes the cake! I think that there are arguments for other great Olympians but let’s let Michael have this moment…he has definitely earned it!

All in all, these Olympic games have been great and I am sad that they will soon be coming to an end. (Then what will I watch?) And my Dad put it so eloquently the other night when he said “I am glad that all of you kids have had the chance to be involved in sports. Sports really does help you become a more rounded human being.” And you know what Dad, I couldn’t agree more!