Birthdays are fun

Even when you turn 25. First of all, thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes! I just thought I'd write a little more about what I did yesterday to celebrate my annual holiday. I'm the "birthday" person in my department at work - i.e. I have everyone's b-days in my calendar and I make sure they get cake or a card or whatever, because my boss doesn't remember. I certainly didn't have anything planned for myself, but everyone else surprised me (unlike last year when I didn't tell anybody it was my b-day until I left early and I put a note on my boss's desk explaining why. My birthday is now in his calendar). I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business and getting my work done, when 2 of my co-workers popped their heads over my cubicle wall and said hello. Then my boss came over and popped his head over. Then I looked to my right and there was the whole department. Ay ay ay. One of my co-workers asked me what day it was and I said "August 28th" and he asked me again what day it was, so I gave in and said, "It's my birthday!" and then they all sang to me while I blushed like the worst I've ever blushed in my life. My boss said, "Look, even her arms are getting red!" I didn't know I was capable of a full-out body blush.

So in retaliation I decided to leave work early. I met my mom at the Bountiful temple for the 3:30 session, after which we drove home to pick up my dad and go to Cafe Rio (sorry Danika....). I got my usual chicken tostada and it was amazing as usual. I just have to say...I love Cafe Rio. I usually go there once a week for lunch and the one down on Ft. Union in Midvale has the fastest lunch crew ever. It's amazing.


Then my mom and I went to see Errand of Angels, a new LDS movie about sister missionaries. It was actually really good, and totally took me back to the mish. I even got missionsick a couple of times. It's about a girl who gets called to go to Austria and while she was there had the normal trials: bad companion, self-doubt, frustrating days, investigators who 'believe' but don't see why they should get baptized, funny language mess-ups, etc. If you're in the mood for a relaxing, no action movie (the most action was when she and her companion fought over who got to answer the phone), you should go see it.

After the movie I went to my parents house to open a few presents. For some odd reason, most of what I opened turned out to be food. I guess they know how much I like it. I think I'm set for a while.

This has nothing to do with my birthday, but the other day I visited my friend whose Yorkie had a puppy about a month ago. He's grown so much and is soooooo cute! His name is Cubby. Awwww....

My quarter-life crisis

So today I turned 25 - whoa, 25? For reals? Anyways, I thought I'd give a list of 25 things that have happened to me in the last 25 years. (I kinda got this idea from my friend's blog when she turned 25 a little while ago)

1. I was born
2. When I was a baby my parents took me to Tijuana and some of the natives there wanted to buy me. Just think, I could be totally fluent in Spanish right now! But I'm glad they wanted to keep me.
3. We moved from San Diego to Ventura when I was 9 months
4. I got my first little sister, Danika, when I was almost 2
5. We got our first dog, Boats
6. My family and I got our picture in the paper for the flower costumes we wore in a parade
7. We moved to Layton when I was 11
8. I finally got out of jr. high and started high school
9. I got to go to Anaheim with the high school choir where we won in like every category!
10. I graduated from Northridge High
11. I started school at Weber State
12. I joined PBL and made tons of great friends!
13. I went to Denver
14. I went to Dallas
15. I went on a mission to NY
16. I went to Chicago
17. I moved to Ogden
18. I graduated!
19. I started my first real job at MasterControl
20. My family got our cute dog Maggie
21. I moved to Salt Lake
22. 4 months later I moved back to Ogden
23. I met Derek
24. I went on my first date with Derek
25. I turned 25

So there you have it. It's actually not as bad to be 25 as I thought it would be. It'll just take some getting used to.

So I just got surprised at work with these awesome flowers! Thanks Derek!

37 random things

I saw this on someone's blog, and I decided to do it because I need to post more often.

1. Do you like blue cheese? I love any kind of cheese
2. Have you ever smoked? Nope
3. Do you own a gun? Nope
4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? Cherry, or anything red
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? I've never really been to the doctor that I remember, but if I went I'd probably be nervous
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Love them!
7. Favorite Christmas movie? Muppet Christmas Carol! I even watch it in July.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water. I hate milk.
9. Can you do push ups? Maybe. I haven't tried in a long time.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Probably my brown earrings.
11. Favorite hobby? hmmm...does eating count as a hobby?
12. Do you have ADD? Not technically, but my attention does divert quite often
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? No, I got glasses before my mission, but I never wear them. The prescription is probably wrong by now.
14. Middle name? Marie
15. Name three thoughts at this exact moment. I wish work was over so I could go eat dinner with Derek's mom. I wish the Masters Summit at work was over so I could relax. I wonder what I'm going to do on Saturday.
16. Name three drinks you regularly drink. Mostly water, sometimes V8 Splash, once in a while Sprite
17. Current worry? Everything about the Masters Summit at work.
18. Current hate right now? Getting emails from a certain person at work
19. Favorite place to be? Anywhere with Derek! :)
20. How did you bring in the New Year? I think this year I was at my parent's house and it took us 3 hours to get through a game of Phase 10.
21. Where would you like to go? On a vacation! Or just somewhere relaxing.
22. Name three people who will complete this. I have no idea.
23. Do you own slippers? Yeah, but I rarely wear them. I like flip-flops better. Although one of my mission companions called flip-flops slippers, so if you call them slippers, then yes I own quite a few pairs.
24. What shirt are you wearing? A white shirt
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have
26. Can you whistle? No
27. Favorite color? Blue, pink and green
28. Would you be a pirate? Sure
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I haven't sang in the shower in a long time.
30. Favorite girl’s name? I don't really have one right now
31. Favorite boy’s name? Brighton
32. What’s in your pocket right now? The pants I'm wearing don't have a pocket.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? When my boss poured a big bag of peanut M&Ms in his candy bowl, ate some, and then scolded himself for pouring them all in the bowl because now he'll eat them all.
34. What vehicle do you drive? Mazda3
35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Um, a bruise?
36. Do you love where you live? Eh, it's ok.
37. How many televisions do you have in your house? 2

No I don't have a fever

So call me crazy, but I'm kinda jealous that I didn't get to start school yesterday. Right now going to class and having a part time, non-stressful job is sounding kind of nice.

Moving Day

On Saturday we moved all of Derek's stuff up to Logan so he could start school at USU yesterday! It was kind of a bittersweet time. I'm way excited for him to be up there and I love Logan and everything but...I miss him. He says he misses me too, so that's good.

His dad and brother helped move his stuff up too, and after we got everything into his apartment they took us to lunch at El Sol. We all got the lunch special - $4.99 for a bean and cheese enchilada and a bean tostada! Then they left and I went with Derek back to his place. I tried helping him by organizing the clothes in his closet and putting his lamp together. Then I laid on his amazingly comfortable Sleep Number bed while I watched him do the rest.

If you think you've seen a busy Wal-mart, you need to go to the one in Logan on the Saturday before school starts. We went to return something and it was insane! I've never seen so many people at Wal-mart in my life. You could tell they were all students going on their first grocery shopping trip. A lot of them had parents with them. I saw one shopping cart loaded with food and an ironing board. Very necessary.

Later we went and walked around campus with Derek's friend Scott to find the buildings where his classes are. There were a lot of cool statues around, like this one:


For dinner Scott and his wife Raquel and their two kids joined us for dinner at Firehouse Pizza. Oh man, if you haven't been to Firehouse Pizza, you need to go. There's one in Logan, one in Smithfield, and one in Centerville. They have the best focaccia bread and an amazing little dessert called a ph'zookie. If you haven't had the honor of eating a ph'zookie let me know and I'll go to Firehouse with you.

After dinner we watched a few episodes of The Office, and then it was time for me to leave so I wouldn't fall asleep driving so I said goodbye to Derek :( and drove home. I don't think I've ever been so excited for the weekend!

The Elk and the Pig by Tawni Jaco

Once upon a time there was a big strong elk who lived in the mountains. One day a guy came along and shot it with a bow and arrow. He died and ended up packed into a freezer.

There was also a very large pig who lived on a farm. One day the same guy came along and shot it with a bow and arrow. The pig died
:( and found himself in the freezer too.

I apologize if that was too gory for some of you. I was trying to think of a way to introduce my post and that's just what came out.

So anyways, last night Derek and I had dinner with his coworker, Russ and his girlfriend Tasha. They grilled some elk steak and the biggest pork chops I have ever seen. Seriously, they were the size of a dinner plate. It was the first time I had eaten elk, and it was soooo good! Russ really did shoot it with a bow and arrow...I think. He might have used a gun with that one. I know he shot the pig with a bow and arrow. Well, three arrows. It was a private hunt that you had to prepay for, and we kept teasing him that he killed the pig on a farm. So he made sure to point out to me that the land was 10 square miles, not a farm, and the best part is you're guaranteed a pig or you get your money back. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. The pig he shot was 850 lbs! They showed us their freezer before we left and it really was packed full of meat. I know we're supposed to eat meat sparingly and everything, but it was really really good and it would be so nice to have that much meat and not have to buy it for so long. Russ did give Derek a bag full of meat though, so that should last a while. :)

It's been a bird-filled summer

On Saturday while we were at the Tracy Aviary Derek said, "It's been a bird-filled summer." He was right! We've fed ducks at the Layton park, gone to a bird show at the zoo, and as I just mentioned, we went to the Tracy Aviary on Saturday where we saw birds of every feather and another bird show.

But first....we went to the Davis County Fair to check out his little sis' 4H entries. Congrats Delsi on going to State with your Oreo Truffles! They were amazing! When we got there the first thing we saw were the tractors. If you will remember this post, you will understand why it was so pertinent that we take pictures (we couldn't get on them unfortunately).


Then we walked through the 4H building and looked at all the entries. There was some amazing stuff. I had no idea you could enter so many different things. After that we got some cotton candy (one lady was selling it for 5 DOLLARS, and another guy just across the grass was selling it for 2) and looked at some more stuff and then......we got a fried Twinkie. Oh man it was so good. For anyone who hasn't tried it, I would suggest going to the fair and getting one. We split one, which was perfect because I'm sure they have about 1,000 calories. They deep-fry it, then cover it with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. Scrumptious. I was so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a before picture, but here's an after pic:

Of course whenever you see one of these things you have to take a picture:

Then we headed over to the aviary for a bird-filled afternoon. We got there just in time for the bird show, Avion Idol. Every bird had a talent that they showed, and then we voted for the winner. The winner at this show was Winky (I think that was his name), the horned owl. He looks kind of angry, but I think he really was happy. He just didn't know how to show his emotion.

Flamingos!

These cute little guys were so friendly. I think they're pretty accustomed to people because if you pay a bunch of money you can go inside their cage and feed them. So they all flew up to the fence thing and let us touch them.

I think Derek forgot I'm shorter than him. We tried to get a picture with the golden eagle behind us. You can kind of see his head right behind my head.

Feeding time for the pelicans. They had humongous mouths.

Then we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Me and Donny go way back.

Then we went to Clark Planetarium for the U2 laser show. It was awesome! Afterwards we did a little traveling. We went to Mars:


and the moon. "No way. We landed on the moon!" - name that movie!

And finished off with some weather predictions right here in Utah.


We also stopped by Dick's Sports to get a b-day present for my dad. I ended up getting him a bbq lighter that looks like a rifle. He liked it a lot.

The End!

Regression

Before I went to Guatemala I felt like I was doing really well with my weight loss/exercise goals. I had my routine down pat, from the foods I bought to what time I exercised every night. Two things interrupted my routine:

1 - The trip to Guate. This was a big throw off because of course, I couldn't follow my daily schedule or prepare my own food. Don't get me wrong, I loved the food down there, but there was a lot of it. My exercise really suffered as well. I went "running" a couple of times (the only place I had to go was the hall of the hotel), but other than that I didn't get much done. So when I got home it was harder to get back into the habit I had previously formed. I was also used to eating a lot and kind of fell back into my old habits of eating more than I should.

2 - A new roommate. You wouldn't think this would be something that would throw off my routine, but I think any major change affects whatever routine you may have. Also, when I use my exercise dvds I don't like anyone else to be around (I'm just weird like that), so I have to get used to when she is and isn't home.

So when I stepped on the scale this morning I was pretty horrified by the numbers. Time to get back to the routine! So the last couple of days my lunches have been smaller and I've tried to exercise a little. It'll take a little while to get back into the habit, but if I did it before, I can do it again.

It's too bad I don't hate eating.

Cool blog

Google's choice for Blog of Note today is an interesting one. Dave Durante's Olympic Journey is all about Dave Durante, men's gymnastics alternate, and his Olympic and pre-Olympic training experiences. Check it out.

A fun weekend

As usual, the weekend went by too fast, but at least it was fun! Friday night I watched the opening ceremonies, which were amazing! The Chinese sure know how to do it right. I don't even want to know how much they spent on just the fireworks.

Saturday was moving day for Kaley and Levi, so Derek and I went over bright and early to help load the moving truck. A couple hours, 3 boxes of donuts and 3 rolls of tape later, we were about done. We left before they started cleaning.

My mom made me climb in this box to tape it on the bottom. I actually went in headfirst but after I came out she wanted to take a picture, so I got back in like this.

Bye Kaley!

That night we went to the Jon Schmidt concert up in Wolf Mountain. It was amazing, as usual. The opener this year was Jon's 15-year-old son and his band Painting the Finish Line. It was their first gig and they were actually really good. I think I've heard Jon Schmidt play about 10 times and I never get tired of it because he's so awesome!

Waiting for the concert to start.

We got these sour gummy worms but accidentally left them in the car all afternoon. Apparently gummy worms melt.

Jon with Steve the cellist playing the famous Pachelbel Meets U2

08.08.08

What a fun day! One of my friends did a blog entry of 8 sets of 8 things each that she likes, so I thought I would do kind of the same thing. So here goes.

8 things I did today (it won't be too exciting since I worked all day)
1. Slept in until 7:15! then went to work
2. Picked up some hooks for one of our tradeshow booths
3. Ate leftovers from dinner that Derek's mom made the other night. Yum!
4. Went to a budget meeting
5. Booked travel for people
6. Ate a chicken salad sandwich for dinner
7. Talked to Derek :)
8. Watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. It was amazing!

8 of my favorite foods
1. Mashed potatoes
2. Cafe Rio chicken tostadas
3. Chocolate chip cookies
4. Hogi Yogi meatball sandwiches
5. Pupusas
6. Tostadas and tacos
7. Fiber One bars
8. Peanut butter M&Ms

8 of my favorite movies
1. Forrest Gump
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Pirates of the Carribean (#1)
4. Bourne movies 1-3
5. The Princess Bride
6. Singing in the Rain
7. The Labrynth
8. Finding Nemo

8 things I did or want to do in 2008
1. Went to Guatemala
2. Moved back to Ogden
3. Lost 7 pounds
4. Started dating Derek ;)
5. Go to Trans Siberian concert
6. Lose 7 more pounds
7. Go to San Diego
8. Learn how to make ice cream

8 things I'll do tomorrow
1. Buy donuts
2. Take them to Kaley and Levi's and load their moving truck
3. Wash my car
4. Go to the grocery store
5. Eat tacos at Mi Puebla
6. Play the piano at the hospital
7. Play games
8. Go to the Jon Schmidt concert!

8 of my favorite books
1. Twilight series 1-4
2. Harry Potter 1-7
3. The Kite Runner
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
6. To Kill a Mockingbird
7. Work and the Glory 1-9
8. The scriptures

8 things I like to do
1. Hang out with Derek
2. Read
3. Sleep
4. Eat
5. Play soccer
6. Learn to cook new things
7. Travel
8. Learn about other countries

8 countries I want to go to
1. Peru
2. Korea
3. Australia
4. India
5. Sweden
6. New Zealand
7. Italy
8. England

I'd like to dedicate this to one of my mission companions, Megan (Collier) Pace, whose favorite number is 8! Happy 8 Day!

Congrats Kristi!

Last night I went to a baby shower for my friend Kristi. It was so fun to see her again! We used to see each other every day when we were in school because we had so many classes together and were always working on group projects. She's having a little girl and will be such a cute little mom!

Congrats Levi!

I don't know why I keep forgetting to post about this, but better late than never I guess. About 3 weeks ago, my bro-in-law Levi found out he got accepted to law school at the University of Denver! He had applied to some schools a while ago and got wait listed at two of them and finally found out he got accepted. Needless to say, things are a little stressful when you have a month to find a place to live, a new job (for Kaley), and get ready for such a major change. Levi has been my carpool buddy since the beginning of the year, so it'll be weird driving by myself everyday. No more stories about what he does in the office (seriously, some of the things they do are just like in The Office. Once they even put their coworker's phone in the ceiling), no more chatting about my dating life, and I'm sure Levi will miss his own personal chauffeur while he took naps in the car. And I will definitely miss my sis. We've been much better friends since I've been home from my mission and it's been great! We'll miss you guys, but this will be awesome for you! Congratulations!

Animal Day

Yesterday me and Derek had a fun-filled day with my sister Kaley and her hubby Levi. Well, first of all I got the new Twilight book. Then we started our day. First we went to the zoo. Derek had a lot of fun. First he drank out of a lion's head and then he flirted with a monkey.


We saw lots of animals like tigers and llamas and giraffes and penquins and an elephant show. And we saw the bird show, which was really cool. Kaley and Levi had a lot of sugar while we waited for the bird show.





After the zoo, we went and ate some animals at Rodizio's. It was just a day full of animals. By the end we were all stuffed. Who knew you could eat a whole cow, chicken and pig in one sitting? Oh, and a whole pineapple. And we had the best stawberry lemonades EVER. We sat there for a while because we couldn't move. And Derek looked 9 months pregnant (he told me to put that).

It was really hot that day, so then we went to Gateway and sat on the Lovesacs for about half an hour. But before that we went to the arcade and tried to win a stuffed animal. But we didn't. So we played Skeeball.

Then we decided to invite Batman along on our animal day, since he kind of represents an animal. Really, we just went to watch it at the Gateway theater, and it was pretty much awesome!

We still felt bloated when we got home, so I just went to bed to sleep it off and Derek disappeared and he says he doesn't know how he got home and into bed, but he must have driven himself because he woke up in his bed. The funny thing is, I weighed 1 pound less this morning than I did yesterday morning. Go figure.

Me, Myself and Derek

I had a request from my dear compa Melody to give a little introductory spiel about Derek. Some of you may have noticed a bunch of blogs and pictures of him recently and may be wondering - who the heck is this guy? Well, let me tell you.

On June 6 my friend Nick got married to the lovely Lynette down in Manti. I didn't feel like driving down all alone, so I asked my friend Steve, who was also going, if I could get a ride. He said he was riding with none other than.....Derek! I had never met Derek before, but I had heard his name a lot from Nick & Steve. So I asked Steve if he thought he would mind if I rode with them. So he asked and it was ok so at 7 am on the 6th of June I met them at Derek's house and we all rode down together. Derek's dad actually came along as well to spend the day with his mom-in-law helping her set up her iPod. So that was the first time I met Derek and we were basically together the whole day. It was a 3-hour drive down, then there was the wedding, then pictures and the luncheon. Then we spent a few hours at Derek's grandma's house and then went to the reception, went back to the house, and then there was a 3-hour drive home. During all that time I just thought he was a really nice, funny guy. He even let me use his suit jacket when the wind kept lifting up my skirt!

Sometime during that afternoon someone brought up Ironman, and I hadn't seen it yet and I mentioned that everyone else I knew had already seen it so I didn't have anyone else to see it with. Well, Derek took the bite :) and said, "Well I'll go see it with you" and I said "Ok" and he asked if I was doing anything the next night (Saturday). Well, I had a date the next night so I had to say no, but we scheduled our movie night for the next Saturday.

So Saturday, June 14 rolled around and we went to Ruby River for dinner, went to the arcade where we won some bouncy balls and a buzzer, and then saw Ironman. It was so much fun and I really wanted him to ask me out again. A few days later he called and we went out again! And again. And again. And it just kept going. I think I've blogged about most things we've done. Wednesday, July 23 we were officially "in a relationship." We even changed our relationship status on Facebook and everything :).

So that's the jist of it. Thanks to Nick getting married (which I thought would never happen ;) ), I met Derek and now I can't imagine not knowing him! Thanks for the good times Derek! :)

It's nice to feel appreciated

The Services Summit ended at 12 today and at 11:30 I was called into the conference room where they were holding their meetings. There I was presented with an appreciation gift certificate to a spa! $50 to spend any way I want! Maybe I'll try a massage and see if a "professional" one will tickle.

A long week at work

Twice a year at my company we have a Sales Summit and a Services Summit. Everyone from the Sales and Services departments come in (a lot work offsite) for a week-long conference type thing. I'm not part of either department, but the Services VP "recruited" me to help with their summit (Sales has an admin to do all their dirty work for them, Services doesn't). So this week I was the admin for Marketing and Services. It really was fun because I like to be busy, but I have to admit I'm kind of exhausted.

Every morning this week I've arrived at work around 7:30 to make coffee and put out drinks and snacks. Then I have to make sure the fridge is restocked so the drinks will be cold when I put them out. Then periodically during the day I restock drinks and snacks and also make sure that their lunch gets ordered and delivered/picked up. Then after they're done for the day, I clean up and get the snack trays ready for the next day and leave around 6. It doesn't really sound that bad, but it is a lot of work and long days. I haven't even gotten a whole lot done for my department this week because I've been so focused on the summit. And I've already worked 40 hours, so it's unfortunate that I'm on salary, otherwise I could get overtime. Darn.

Every summer during the Summits our company has their annual Summer Carnival for all employees and their families. It's a lot of fun with water games, face painting, rock climbing, etc. for the kids and whoever else wants to join in. We also have dinner (catered bbq) and an awards ceremony. I celebrated my 1-year anniversary with the company so I got my 1-year hat (everyone gets a hat on their anniversary. This year it's a dark blue fishing hat. Very cool.) I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will.

For part of the time I was assigned to the registration table to give people nametags as they arrived. Derek came with me, and Marci from my department was also there. If I look wet in this picture, it's because I am. Derek and my boss both thought it would be funny to squirt me with the water guns we all got (notice the gun sticking out of the back of Derek's shirt). I tried to get them back, but it didn't really work out.