"Christmas Time Is Here, Happiness and Cheer..."

It was a marvelous night. A splendid one really...

Bill and I were on our way home from a most excellent Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls (that's an adventure in and of itself!). And we decided, that although we had just spent the last three days together, that we weren't quite sick of one another yet. I like to suppose that that's a good thing. :)

We drove into Logan and we made our way over to Starbucks for some delicious hot chocolate. (It's the smoothest and creamiest hot cocoa out there! That is for sure.) We sat and talked and enjoyed the ambiance of the coffee shop as we reminisced over the happenings of the holiday.

It just so happens that Kohl's, Bill's favorite store, is right across the parking lot from Starbucks. Bill contrived a crazy idea in which he thought it would be fun to take me shopping. I guffawed. But consented, even with my lack of love for the sport.

We walked in and wandered for just a few minutes and then it became very evident to my dear Bill, that that type of shopping really wasn't for me...and that in this instance, he was a far more domesticated  individual than I. ;) We stepped back outside the store and I spied some miniature Christmas trees in front of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. One thing led to the next, and suddenly we found ourselves at Lowe's shopping for a Christmas tree for my apartment. :) Shopping with a purpose is my game.

We wandered through the fake trees and I found myself growing attached to a very small pre-lit one. It would be just the right size for me and my roommates. Then Bill decided that he would like to buy some Christmas lights for his apartment! Wahoo! Now we were shopping. I was so excited at the thought of decorating for the Holidays!

Back at Bill's apartment, we ate sour watermelons, listened to classic Christmas tunes, and hung up the pretty white lights across the support beam. Billed donned a Santa hat to make the evening more festive. My goodness! That place hasn't looked better! Christmas time was here at last. Thanksgiving had passed and everything could officially be celebrated in the name of Christmas.

Then we trekked over to my apartment to set up my little tree. :) Oh happiness! With more classic holiday music playing in the background, we drank some Martinelli's and we opened the box and pulled the branches out one by one. In all my years growing up, my family has always had a real tree. This fake tree business was new to me! But considering my circumstance, I was perfectly content with plastic and metal. :) Bill managed to get the Christmas lights on the railing working properly and I plugged the tree in.

It was beautiful.

Bill and I flipped my couch around so that it would face the Christmas tree. We sat together on the couch and stared at the lights for a long time. We didn't say much. To me, it was better than watching television. It was an opportunity to sit and listen to nothing. 

Yet there is something I don't understand. Why does staring at a few strands of light warm your heart? I felt such an overwhelming amount of love spread throughout the room as the Christmas tree cast a soft glow. The Christmas Spirit is real. I do not doubt it.

I know it's less than two weeks until Christmas, but in reminiscing over this sweet memory, the Charlie Brown song "Christmas Time is Here" plays in my head. I think that is one of my favorite songs...

After a while, the silence was broken with laughter. Bill and I had a laugh attack! I don't quite remember about what...hmm...I think it started by him scaring/surprising me? I'm not sure, but I do know that our stomachs hurt. We were on the floor just laughing away forever about who knows what. Too much sparkling cider I suppose. ;)

It was such a good night. I was exhausted with happiness and laughter come the close of the day. I love Christmas time. And I love laughing...they're just better when you can share it with someone you love. And I love spending time with Bill. Yes. I certainly do. :)

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time is here,

happiness and cheer,

fun for all that children

call their favorite time of year.

Snowflakes in the air,

carols everywhere,

olden times and ancient rhymes

and love and dreams to share.

Sleigh bells in the air;

beauty every where;

yuletide by the fireside
and joyful memories there.

Christmas time is here;

we'll be drawing near;

oh that we could always see

such spirit through the year,

such spirit through the year.

-from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special

The Life and Times of a Janitor at VVT

The crowd is roaring in the background! "Jess-i-ca! The curling champion of the world!"

And then I look at the full length mirror in front of me and realize that if anyone were to look at me, they'd fall to the ground laughing...or stare at me blankly. There I be, dressed in my over-sized, navy blue "schmuck" with my chunky old tennis shoes covered in pink foam. When working at Valley View Towers, you've got to make fun for yourself! So when I deep-clean the bathrooms I slip and slide across the floor, taking my magic "scrubby pad" with me like a broom used for curling.

I think it is evident that my deep and abiding love for the Olympics has sunk to a deeper level of obsession. 

I spend four hours of my day spraying a spray bottle. The "spshh, spshh" sound is rather monotonous, so I spray out rhythms to the classics, such as Jingle Bells and Blue Danube. When residents walk into the bathroom, I often wonder if they catch on...probably not. They're too busy brushing their teeth over the sinks I just cleaned.

Then there is the ongoing battle with the hands-free paper towell dispensers. Absolutely bogus.

You know you're desperate for a nap when you willingly lay your head on the garbage can, and leave it there after shoving in a new sack.

And when I vacuum, I keep count of all the bobby pins that I suck up, hoping to set a new record each week. I'm not even going to discuss the amounts of hair that the vacuum consumes.

When I first started working at VVT, all the hair left in the bottom of the shower drain made me gag. I'm proud to report that after three and a half months of the same day-to-day work, wet hair no longer induces my gag reflex. It's still not a pleasant thing, but I've learned to cope.

One of my favorite things about work is seeing Christy. Christy is the contract custodian at VVT. She's a spunky 50-something year old with lots of grandkids to adore!  One of my favorite "Christy moments" happened two weeks prior to Halloween. She met me on my floor to take out the trash and suddenly exclaimed, "This is the happiest music EVER!" I stopped and asked her, "What is it?" She smiled at me. "Christmas music! And I'm lovin' every moment of it!" Christy has a love that runs deep for Christmas. Christy marked "Tree Day" on our work calendar so as to remind us when we could publicly celebrate Christmas and not get thrashed about it. Our office is wonderfully decorated and only red and green dry-erase markers are allowed. :)

Some of my favorite times at work also happen to be when Bill has a work order nearby. Sometimes he'll stop by and say hi, or he'll leave me a sticky note in my shoe (I love shoe notes). When I first got hired on, Christy would introduce me to everyone as Jessica: "She's dating 'Will' from IT." Thus, everyone I work with knows my relationship to dear Bill and they all love informing me when he's nearby. Christy has only one rule when Bill comes around. She usually exclaims it as she wanders back down the hall: "No mackin' in the halls!" :) I don't complain.

On the fourth floor, there is the floor-to-ceiling "Hot Wall." There are hundreds of male eye-candy magazine cutouts. No one complained...until someone hung a picture of the Jonas Brothers.

When I'm at work, I see the same girls everyday, and we all smile and exchange how-are-yous. But there a few girls who actually know my name. The only reason I know anyone is because I look at the names on their room doors. Being a janitor can be a lot of fun for this reason. I hover in the distance and hear all sorts of conversations I may or may not want to hear. I know a girl who has a fish named Sushi, I know what one girl scored on her biology test last week, I know who goes home for the weekend...Don't worry - none of this information will be used against them.

But today, someone other than Christy said, "Hi Jessica!"...and I've never introduced myself to her before. It made me smile inside to think that people do notice me now and again. :)

The fire alarm goes off regularly in VVT. Whenever it does, the entire building is evacuated and the fire chief comes to check things out. He is usually accompanied by the "hot" policeman (according to Christy) who then turns off the alarm system. It never seems to be anything tragic. One time there were burnt pop-tarts. The police officer confiscated the entire toaster with the charcoal pop-tarts stuck inside. Why he would take the toaster, we still can't say. Nor did we understand his desire to keep the severely burnt pop-tarts.

Or there was the time when the girl put her easy-mac in the mircowave for three minutes...but due to a microwave programming error, it was a bit more than three. Try 30 minutes. The easy-mac went up in flames and smoke flooded the entire floor. We had to bring up box fans from the basement to attempt to air the place out. The microwave forever has a yellowish tint to it.

Over-Microwaved Easy-Mac

The other day, a water main broke. ALL the water was shut off. No flushing toilets, no showers, no washing hands or dishes. No agua por tu. Emily, my co-worker, and I handed out flyers to all the floors that explained what had happened. We got up to the sixth floor and there was a group of girls standing in the common area. They were all in pajamas, their hair was askew, their make-up was smudged all over their faces. Emily and I looked at them and laughed at the pitiful sight before us. "Hi girls," we said with a hint of sarcasm...they all looked at us and in complete unison let out an irritated/groggy, "heeeeeeyyy...." They were ticked. But we all laughed at the awful situation. Turns out, as soon as we got all the signs hung up and all the bathrooms locked, the water main was fixed and turned back on.

Then there's the elevator. One of the two elevators is out of commission for 2 or 3 weeks because the motor broke. We are limited to one elevator to service the entire building. It whaw-aw-omps. I spend a lot of my time waiting for the ding that lets me know the elevator has arrived on my floor. It's a magical ding. As soon as it goes off, there is a mad dash as girls come flying out of their rooms to catch their ride before the doors shut on them. The things I take for granted! Yet, complaining brings women together. We all suddenly have something in common! So as we wait or ride the elevator together, we simply complain together and laugh. Whatever it takes, right?

Every day is an adventure. It's the same thing day in and day out, but there is always a slight twist to my situation. It makes me laugh. And  it makes my job bearable. Actually, I really love my job! It works around my school schedule and my co-workers are really wonderful. I've never minded cleaning and I love making the transition from dirty to clean. It also makes me feel good about myself knowing that I can do something nice for someone. And I suppose that's something very important to me. :)

Waiting on Impending Doom

Bill's dad mentioned that Tuesday was going to be a bad day for traveling. I thought about all the people I knew who would be evacuating Cache Valley that very day as they headed home for Thanksgiving Break. Namely, all my roommates.

Then as Monday rolled in, I heard something about a blizzard...

This morning, my work threw together a delicious Thanksgiving breakfast! While munching on wholesome breakfast goodness, my friend Mariana popped into conversation after staring at her phone.

"Hey! My friend just told me that the university is going to close at 2:00!"

Then everyone discussed the awfulness of the snow storm heading in. According to Bill, 20 inches of snow was expected to fall during the course of this storm. Hmm...I guess this was pretty serious!

And sure enough, after a few more minutes, everyone received a text message from the USU Emergency Alert system signifying that any classes after 2:00 were canceled. (The storm was scheduled to hit around 3:00)

I was bummed! Why? Besides Institute, English is my only class of the day...and it started at noon. I've never had a snow day in my life! Even in high school, there was one day where a third of the students couldn't make it to class because they lived in the Valley. The snow banks were higher than my head, and the bus could barely make it up the hill on that dark and dismal day. Was school cancelled? Bah. What a ridiculous assumption.

But today! Today was my chance to rejoice in a Snow Day! And I had class...

So I went to the computer lab and finished writing up the draft for my research paper. As noon approached, I wandered down the hall to my English classroom, and blessed day - a beautiful yellow paper was taped to the doorway.

English 2010 at Noon

with Cowsert 

has been Cancelled.

I knew somebody loved me. :)

I rushed off to work and wiped down the deserted bathrooms. As I talked with my supervisor, Christy, we discussed the possibility of a power outtage if this storm was going to be as bad as the weathermen predicted. As I swished my rag around, it occurred to me that I had no flashlight in my possession. A Wal-Mart run was in order as soon as I was done with work.

As I drove my car to Wally-World, I looked out across the valley. The skies didn't look any darker or grayer than usual. The wind was gusty, but not freezing...I was starting to doubt this so called "blizzard." But a flashligh is a flashlight, and I certainly lacked this potentially needed item.

Wal-Mart was busy! It's as if 2012 planned to arrive earlier than expected and  everyone was stocking up on supplies. I manuevered my way to the back of the store to pick me up a flashlight...and the wall was barren. Apparently, I was not alone in my thought process. But I secured the $4.00 Rayovac LED Model with 40 hours worth of battery life and 3 AAA batteries included. The blue and silver one would do nicely. :)

I came home, popped the batteries into my new handy-dandy flashlight, and secretly hoped that the power would go out...

Bill accidentally bought the wrong oil filter for his truck. He called and asked me if I would pick up the right size, and I was happy to. But he wanted to be sure that I was okay with driving in "this weather."

"Oh! Is it snowing now?"

Bill laughed a little.

Melissa threw open the blinds.

Heh. Uh...it was definitely, definitely snowing.

Like clock work, the blizzard hit around 3:00. I wandered out to my car tightly bundled up. The wind was blowing so hard, it had now frozen my car door shut. With a little muscle, I yanked it open, scraped down the icy windows and headed out into the white-out that had settled in Cache Valley.

What would normally by a twenty minute round trip, took an hour - I kid you not. Everyone was taking things slow, seeing as visibility was awful. The snow pelted my face and the wind bit my nose as I booked it inside to Checker. I stood in amazement as my eyes took in the amount of oil filters that spanned the entire back wall. It was the great big wall of search and find! I managed to narrow it down to a particular shelf...and then resorted to having one of the men help me look for the right model number. Ta da! Success.

I bolted out the door. This blizzard was really happening! There was a mass exodus of vehicles leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot and I got gobbled up in the chaos. Yet, it was completely manageable and I had no problems or worries at all! Lex got me to where I needed to go quite nicely in his "all-season" tires.

I came home and talked with Melissa as she ate her dinner and I ate sour watermelons. :)

After Melissa set off for work in the horrendous weather, I slept on the cozy couch and enjoyed the warmth of my apartment. Bill came and picked me up around 7:00 and we set out in his truck and cruised the town. The only vehicles out, where those manly-man trucks and jeeps with 4-Wheel drive. :)

Half the businesses in Logan were open, half of them were shut-down for the night. Lucky for us, Wal-Mart was still open for business when Starbucks wasn't and we bought some hot chocolate mix...and I picked up a couple pairs of sweat pants...and Bill bought some candy canes...and I concluded that I had spent too much time at Wal-Mart for one day. :)

The snow eventually stopped, and the plows came out to clean everything up. After all that, I felt disappointed. Where were the 20 inches? I saw only 5 or 6! And two stars on the horizon?...psh...clear skies...I wanted to be snowed into my apartment so that I could pray long and hard for the power to go off so I could play with my flashlight. ;) Lucky for you, I decided to blog instead.

And now the impending doom has passed.

Tomato Toast and Orange Boxes

I once had a mental list that was a mile long of all the wonderful things I'd like to blog about. Things that make me happy, things that I ponder over, things that me and my roommates did, things that me and Bill did. You know...LIFE.

LIFE has been so busy as of late that that mile long list has been shoved to the recesses of my mind and locked in a dark corner. It appears that this part of my life will forever be a void. Bummer. This is why a journal (or in my case, a blog) is so wonderful.

I figure it will be better to move forward from here and not try to catch up on absolutely everything, but I will shoot for the little things and the current things that matter to me now.

I was looking through my pictures and stumbled upon these two pics that I took with the full intent of blogging about once long ago. So let me begin.

I love tomatoes - Garden tomatoes. And I love tomato toast for breakfast! It is one of those meals that I sincerely feel was discovered for the pure satisfaction of my stomach alone. :) I'm sad that tomato season has come and gone so quickly. Nonetheless, I'm glad it was here so that I could munch on a few of these little sandwiches of goodness.

This is the box that held all the keys to unlocking my happiness. Prior to its arrival, I lacked happiness and exuded stress. This box contained my textbooks. Okay. Really? Textbooks? Textbooks rarely lead to happiness in an  [a + b = happy] equation.

I was lazy and didn't look into buying my textbooks until a week before school started. I looked up all the prices of all the books I was required to have and it came to a total of over $600.00! I cried a little inside...I had no idea where that was going to come from. Then I remembered a website that my friend mentioned in a Facebook status. Chegg, the textbook rental store. I got all the books I needed for $200.00. That was the greatest news ever! BUT...it took two weeks to deliver.

So I went without books for the first week of school. For the first time in history, all of my classes really relied upon the textbook in order to get your work done. So I was starting off in a rather rough position and my grades were on a very fine line of good versus bad. 

The day this little orange box showed up on my bed, was the day I breathed a sigh of relief. Hooray for Chegg!

"13.1 Miles in the Dark"

Jana, my upstairs neighbor from this summer, once told me a story. It went something like this.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who hated to run. One day, the girl's sister asked her to run a marathon with her. The girl decided to give it a shot, even though she felt like she didn't have enough time to prepare. And you know what? The girl started to love running! And you know what else? She ran that marathon! And she ran more marathons after that! If this girl could learn to love running, anybody could."

I looked at Jana and realized she was giving an autobiographical account. I've always admired Jana...and felt relatively inspired.

Then Lucy looked at me across the table. "Jessica, you should do this with us."

I had never in my life considered running a marathon. But you know? This was only a half marathon that they were trying to convince me to run. 13.1 miles didn't seem nearly as daunting as 26.2 miles - although in my mind, it was still a sufficiently large number to handle on foot...

Then something clicked. It occurred to me that this wasn't an unrealistic goal. I'd have two months to prepare and a large support group to train with. I had never been into running prior to that moment, but what else was I going to do with all my free time that summer? Why not? I couldn't even think of an excuse to say no. It was instantaneous: as soon as I realized I had no excuses, I developed this secret longing to run a half marathon. I wanted to train and accomplish something big. I could do this!

So I agreed. :)

Thus, we began to train.
(Cue Eye of the Tiger music)

Lucy and Jana looked up half marathon training schedules online and we realized we were already behind if we were going to run the Mapleton Moonlight on August 27, 2010. We needed to start right away!

We had to ease ourselves into the training process. I attempted running in the morning by myself, and was fairly surprised at how easy it was to run...but I ran, and then realized I also had to run back. My lungs were burning and I could taste the blood in my throat as capillaries burst. It hurt! I got home and realized I had only been gone for twenty minutes...and I only ran 2 miles. This was not going to be as easy as I thought.

Then Lucy formed a running group! We ran in the evenings and we started small. 2 miles here, 3 miles there. There was always one big run throughout the week. Some people ran with us one night, some people ran the next. Tonight a group of 3? Oh wait, we're running with 10 this time around! We had a decent sized group set on running this half marathon with us. Some were natural runners who've all run their fair share of races. Some were like Lucy and I...okay...Lucy and I were the only beginners, but we were blessed to have people willing to stay with us and motivate us all along the way.

We became experts at breathing in through our noses, and out through our mouths. Our lungs learned to work with smaller amounts of air and our mouths began to lose the need for liquid if we breathed correctly. We ran in time to each other's feet pattering the ground. I found a breathing rhythm that worked best for me (in - 1,2,3 out -1,2,3). Sometimes we'd converse and sometimes we'd just run.

You should have seen the blister on the arch of my left foot. It was wickedly huge! But just as a scar marks your significance in a fight of some sort, my blister became my mark of hard work and worthwhile effort. I was proud of that thing -- don't judge.

Bill was willing to go running with me one morning...but I was quickly reminded that running just isn't for everyone. ;) Nonetheless, he was supportive of me when I'd go out running at night. (Dear Bill, Thanks.)

Then came the night of the milestone marker: The night of 11 miles. I had to mentally prepare myself for this one. In all honesty, I had no doubts that we wouldn't be able to make it. I just knew quitting wasn't an option when you're in that far!

It was me, Lucy, Is and his dog Porsche, and Aaron. Aaron Google-mapped a running route of 11 miles for us. We'd be running in a huge cross shape from the Logan Temple to the boundaries of Hyde Park. So we ran.

And we ran...
     And we ran...
         And we ran...

And then we missed a turn in the dark and took a detour in Hyde Park. This now meant we weren't running 11 miles. We were running more than that! But who knew how much more? We looked out into the city lights on the horizon and saw a speck that we call the temple. We ran all that way? Without stopping? Feeling good. ;)

Lucy and I pushed each other on. We were a great running pair!
Lucky for us, this monstrous run took place during the Perseid's Meteor Shower.  Me, Is, and Aaron saw a blindingly bright meteor shoot across the Southwestern sky. Oh my goodness! It was the most beautiful thing! We cheered and we laughed. Unfortunately, Lucy looked away as it passed, so we were bound and determined to keep our eyes on the sky in order to catch another glimpse of a falling star. We saw many, many more after that, but I have yet to ever encounter a shooting star quite like that one. :)

Our friends brought us water when we had but 2 miles left in our run. The drink break was wonderful, but at that point our legs were like jell-o, although we had the mentality and energy to keep pushing through! Mind had won out over matter!

And then we made it back to the Old Stilts (Lucy's place). We were exhausted, but you could just see in everyone's eyes that we had just accomplished something unbelievably great. We caught our breath and snapped a photo for the sake of memories and victory. We were absolutely victorious.

Me, Aaron, Lucy, and Is (and Porsche)

Later on, Aaron factored the detour into our mileage. We ran 11.9 miles. We decided to call it 12 for bragging rights. ;)

We had only a few weeks more until the big day. We had this thing in the bag!

Then I hit Limbo. I had to move out of dear Autumn Hills Cove and I couldn't move into Old Farm for two weeks. But I had to keep training in order to keep "in form."

So I had my mom, Jordan, and Shananaba run with me. :) Take that 5 miles!...Mom would not be running in with us in the night again any time soon. ;)

Another night, Jordan, Shananaba, and Val ran with me to Weber High and back. Val was awesome and Shanna puked in the gutter - each pushing themselves to their limits, but we rocked the streets of North Ogden.

Then Shanna was super cool and ran with me in the morning and sacrificed a lot of energy to do so. (Thanks Shanna!)

And now? Jordan runs cross-country. :) That makes me super happy.

Then came the big day. That morning, I packed my car and moved up to Old Farm. I met my new roommates Hilary and Melissa, said hello to Shanna and Michelle, and passed Taylor somewhere along the freeway as Bill and I headed down in my car to Mapleton.

Of course the weather was sketchy. Why wouldn't it be? It was raining rather hard when we went to go pick up our registration packets. I got a race number, a T-shirt that would fit my non-existent chihuahua, a bag full of coupons and goodies, and light-up gear to keep me visible as I ran the streets.

Heidi's parents were awesome and hosted us in their beautiful home. All of us had a place to sleep and a shower to use when the race was through. Heidi shuttled us up the canyon to the starting point. We were finally here and this was real life. Everything we had worked up for over the past two months, culminated here.

Jana, Jana's Mission Companion, Lucy, Is, Me, and Ryan

Ready? Set. Go -- and off we bolted at 9:15 PM. The goal was to leave at anytime, just so long as you crossed the finish line at midnight.

Ready?

I stuck with Lucy and we pushed each other like we always had. :) It felt good to run through the light drizzle of rain and through the winding roads of Hobble Creek Canyon. We had head lamps on, light-up necklaces, and glow sticks on our wrists. Jana and her old mission companion caught up to us, seeing as they left later than us, but we all stayed together for a bit. At certain mile-marker points, they had drinks for the runners and port-a-potties if you really needed them. But we stayed strong and didn't stop, we'd take our drink on the run!

Then Bill showed up on the side of the route and I ran by before truly internalizing that it was him. What a keeper he is for finding me. Aren't I lucky? Absolutely.

Lucy was starting to cave at mile 7. But I had a goal to run 10 miles straight through. I wasn't really working on cutting time, but rather I was running for the sake of distance. Jana stayed back with Lucy, but I continued on on my own. I felt bad for ditching Lucy, but this was really something I wanted to do for myself.

Then came mile 10. It was an awesome feeling to know that I had ran 10 miles straight without stopping. But now I was thoroughly and sufficiently exhausted. I alternated between walking and running for the last 3.1 miles. And then Mary, Lela, and Aaron caught up to me! These were the people I had trained with! It was fun to see them, but they continued to pass me by, I couldn't keep up with them. Heh heh.

Soon enough, the finish line was in sight. I could do this. I could push myself. I could really, truly do this. Jessica! Go! And next thing I know, I crossed the finish line at 11:53 PM! It was pretty anti-climatic seeing as I was by myself when I crossed the line, but I'm not really one for attention, so it was fine by me. :) I met up with Mary, Lela, and Aaron, and Ryan and Is (who ended up running 6 minute miles the entire way! Disgusting!) Then we went to the finish line as a group to cheer Lucy on. When she finally crossed, we high-fived...and died.

It hurt worse than anything to stop moving...so you just walked and stretched and walked. :) I drank a lot of liquid, and ate some orange slices. It was then that that feeling of success and accomplishment swept over me. Holy toledo! I did it. :) I ran a half-marathon. I can now check that spontaneous "secret longing" off my bucket list. Whop-atcha!

I found Bill and we continued to walk in circles trying to let my leg muscles relax. And he brought me flowers. :) We all got medals and more food and took pictures as a group! It was an awesome feeling knowing that we had all worked together to get to that point. I felt empowered. I felt good.

We are the champions!

But most of all, I loved the fact that this was not something I could do alone. I had people who convinced me to try, I had a group to keep me motivated, I had my family willing to train with me, I had Heavenly Father listening to the desires of my heart. I couldn't have done it without support and love. And these were two things I certainly, had.

Defining life experience - most definitely.

Need a running buddy?

Before September Ends

Oh how I miss my blog. It's incredible to me that I've gone a month without posting...and I haven't intentionally been blog-dieting. I have had every desire in the world to do so, but alas, school is what it is. And life is ever, ever, ever, so hectic.

I have so much I want to write about! But let me give you a few simple updates concerning my life.

I survived my two weeks of Limbo and have moved back up to "my" beloved Logan. I have wonderful roommates, and I cannot express my love and appreciation for them enough! Taylor and I are rooming together again and thank heavens we are. She keeps me sane and up to date with the new social world I now live in. Shananaba and Michelle are roomies and spend time singing and talking with each other and making us all smile. And I have yet to introduce you to the fantabulous Hilary and Melissa. I will have to do that in the very near future!

I got a job! And I must say that I owe a lot of that to Bill.I can't thank him enough for letting me know about it! How glad I am that he happened to be eaves dropping at the precise moment when he heard about the job opening. ;) The Friday I moved up, Bill set up an interview for me with USU Housing Facilities. And now, I am the happy custodian of the 4th and 5th floors of Valley View Towers. I have some epic tales to tell. :) My co-workers in VV Towers are excellent. It wasn't hard to slip in and get into the swing of things. Yet 20 hours a week keeps me on my toes when trying to integrate time to do school work...and life.

I ran a half marathon! But that deserves a whole post of its own.

I've started school. I've dropped two classes for the sake of my sanity and time management. I've finally managed to catch up on all my work that I couldn't do because I didn't have my textbooks the first week of school. Whew! What a relief...it only took a month to get back on track.

I've received a calling in my new Young Single Adult Ward. I'm a relief society instructor. :) Haha. I was telling Taylor that that would be the last calling in the world that I would want, and the next day, I was called into the Bishop's office and extended the calling. I came out laughing. Oh irony. I've already taught one lesson, and it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. The Lord knows what he is doing and how best to help us grow.

Bill and I have known each other for four and a half months now. :)

What else? I'm the Public Relations Officer in my IWA Chapter (Institute Women's Association) and have the opportunity to mingle and grow closer to at least a dozen new girls this year. Our chapter decided to bloom this semester and accordingly, there are many new faces to come to recognize!

I continue to participate as a committee member of the marketing team for Dance United, but my life is so busy, that I don't really know how helpful I am...but I make an appearance every Thursday.

This weekend is General Conference! I don't believe words can quite describe how excited I am for Saturday and Sunday.

And in a nutshell, I love my busy life. It's busy. Really busy. But being busy keeps me focused...so I shouldn't complain or try to pull the "woe-is-me" card. I asked for everything I've gotten myself into.

Today in Institute, Bro. Jacobs talked a lot about managing our time. It rang so true to my heart thanks to my experiences of late. He pointed out all the hours we have in a day and disected it into categories.

     24 Hours in a Day
     6 hours of sleep
     4 hours of work
     3 hours of school
     2 hours of study
     2 hours of eat and munch time
    .5 hour of scripture study
+   1 hour of institute
     18.5 hours

I am still left with 5.5 hours in my day. At least! What in the world do I do with that time? That's quite a chunk to get something done. Am I doing productive things? Am I doing good things? Better things? Or Best things?

"It takes time to develop the attributes that will help you to be a well balanced person."

- M. Russell Ballard

 Bro. Jacobs also showed this quote:

"One of the ways Satan lessens your effectiveness and weakens your spiritual strength is by convincing you to spend time on things that matter very little."

 - M. Russell Ballard

I hope to develop the ability of managing my time. I can do hard things! I know I can. And right about now -at this very moment in my life- I finally feel like I'm getting it all under control. 

Five minutes until midnight. Good-bye September.

Hello my October.

Car Crunch

I never finished this blog post. Honestly, it's been sitting in my "drafts" for years. But I still thought it might be worth it to post it all these years later, even if it is unfinished. This happened in September 2010.

------------------------------------------------

Lex is accident prone. Every fender has a nick, a bump, and a smash.

And I'm sure I hurt his ego a tiny bit with this one.

I was driving home from weeding Reva's yard (I'm sensing a reoccurring pattern here) and I was less than five minutes away from my parent's house. I was by the Smith's on 2600 North and looked down towards my stereo -- that glance was just long enough -- I looked up and realized that the truck in front of me had put on its brake lights and decided to turn left.

There was also enough time for me to react. And when I say "react" I mean I let out an "Aw crap," and swerved dramatically to the right to avoid fully colliding into the truck. Thank heavens I didn't pull off into any oncoming traffic and the truck proceeded to turn left, but I definitely knicked something.

I get out of my car and can't see any initial damage. Sweet! The truck pulls off to the side and a woman steps out. She looks at the truck, sees no damage, yells across the street to see if I'm okay, and tells me "No harm done! No need to stop. You can keep going!"

But...it just so happens that there was a policeman right in front of us...who heard the whole thing. So he whips around behind me and hops out of his car. He asks what happened, and I explain. In closer examination, I realize that I smashed my light out. The same light that got smashed when the lady ran into my parked car. But the tape job my dad performed on it survived! It was everything that wasn't taped that cracked.

That One Concert

Through various random happenstances, my aunt Mindy had free tickets to the Dave Matthews Band Concert down at the USANA amphitheater...and she was willing to give them to me. Thanks Mindy!

I called Ashery and Shananaba up and we headed out to the boondocks of West Valley.

I had never been to the USANA amphitheater before...and it beats me on the head as to what USANA actually stands for (I just spent 15 minutes trying to research it...but apparently they are a company that creates science-based nutritional products and their headquarters are based out of West Valley...this I did not know, but makes a lot of sense...but what does USANA stand for?!?!)

I was so excited by the idea of "free tickets" that I didn't even think about paying for parking. We pulled up to the parking lot and were greeted by people in laser-lemon vests wanting money. It so happened that my mom had paid me back $2.00 the day before and that I now had a total of $10.00 in cash on me at that moment -- which is how much it cost to park my car in their dirt parking lot. Thank you mom! Or else that could have been awkward...heh heh. :)

As we approached the entry, they had me shake out my Winnie the Pooh blanket and checked inside my Aggie bag. Ope. No cameras. No waterbottle for Shanna. Must return to car. But they didn't say anything about my giant box of cookies! Which I thought was strange...but since they didn't say anything...

So we took a picture in front of the USANA amphitheater for memory's sake and continued to march back to the car. Nevermind that everyone in the audience has a camera on their phone!...I could have shoved my camera into my pocket and they wouldn't have gotten after me...but we're honest folk. ;)

Me, Ashery, and Shananaba

Round two. The ushers beckoned us to come through their gate, but they weren't the same ushers as last time. So they promptly had me shake out my Winnie the Pooh blanket and checked inside my Aggie bag again. Ope. No cookies. "But the ushers over there didn't say anything..." I attempted to mutter and they just looked at me and told me, "They lied to you. They can't come in." And the boy my age quietly mumbled, "But those look like good cookies!" Meh...don't try to make me feel good. There went our dinner. I gave the blanket to Ashery and Shananaba and they went to go find a spot on the lawn. I would walk back to the car...yet again.

I got to my car and realized it was completely pointless for me to be carrying anything whatsoever. So I walked back to the gate for round three and waltzed in without so much as a look from the guards.

Our spot on the lawn was lovely. And everyone around us was drinking "ice cold beer for sale!" But Ash, Shanna, and I sprawled on the lawn and played the Alphabet-Movie-Game that a few guys at Ash's work made up. We each took turns thinking of movies that started with the letter A.  If you couldn't think of a movie that started with that letter, you got a point (points are bad) and the group would move on to the next letter. We played this for a solid hour...I have no idea who sang at the pre-show...they weren't super fabulous by any means, and we were doing anything we could to kill time until the concert...including taking pictures on our phones -- just for spite. ;) 

A dove flew over our heads. It didn't fit in with the present company...nor did we. ;) But we sat around and watched as the stadium filled to maximum capacity.

At last, the Dave Matthews Band entered the stage and the audience went wild. The ladies in front of us were thoroughly drunk and reverted back to the age of 17 rather than that of 40. I think we got more entertainment out of watching these chicas than we did watching the concert! Haha. I do love people watching. :)

And the concert rolled on, and we knew none of the songs being played. There was a happy drummer, and a man with a sweet electric violin! And Dave Matthews was anything but sober when he exclaimed, "You guys are like Italy. You taste so good!"...or something along those lines. ;) And then the overwhelming smell of pot drifted our way. Gag. We looked at our phones and decided 9:45 would be a good time to leave. So we did.

We beat the crowds, we beat the traffic, life was so good! We opened up the cookies that they wouldn't let me bring in, and scarfed the entire box in a matter of five minutes...I kid you not. We needed sustenance -- off to Little Caesar's, where they gave us the most buttery crazy bread I've ever had in my life. It was delish!

Then I somehow managed to miss the freeway entrance...which happens more often than not when I travel down South. But we managed!

~~~ We sang "Soul Sister" by Train at the top of our lungs, ate pizza, and felt totally at ease as we flew down the freeway towards home. That was definitely the best part of the night. Forget that one concert, we can make our own memories. :)

So Long Autumn Hills Cove

School is just around the corner...almost quite literally...and I've been bumming around doing practically nothing...quite literally.

So you would think this would be great quality time to catch up on my blogging (because I feel so behind!). It is quality time. But might I remind you, I've been doing practically nothing...quite literally.

I'm in Limbo. I was booted from my Summer apartment, and cannot move into my Fall apartment for a period of two weeks. Thankfully, time has passed over rather quickly...but I feel helplessly bored more often than not. To kill the time, I wake up late, shower late, check Facebook every half hour, and constantly check for blog updates. But most people do have a life during the middle of the day, so all this constant checking of Blogger and Facebook are mostly fruitless endeavors.

I miss Logan for so many reasons. I cannot tell you the excitement that ensues with the thought that I'll be back there this weekend -- in a new place, with new roommates, with old friends, with classes, with Bill...I'm anxious.

Autumn Hills Cove was a fabulous summer apartment. Our apartment was on the lower level, constantly engulfed in shade. There were things to complain about, but I was happy. The apartment came with a kitchen table, and a couch. The place was baren and longing for...less emptiness. So over the course of a few weeks our living room gathered a collection of furniture.

Phil let us borrow his TV, which we originally stood on an upsidedown pink plastic storage container. Then Bill let us borrow a side table to replace the storage container, and he let us borrow a coffee table. The room felt a little more homey. Then Will got a free couch from his boss. It was a lovely little loveseat...that had no home because Bill, Will, Wally, and Jared's apartment already had three couches and a lovesac. One weekend when Will went home, the roommates tracked the couch over to mine and Taylor's apartment. Thus, our living room was complete thanks to Phil, Bill, and Will.

But the only problem with moving it all in, means we must eventually move it all out. So on Friday night, with the help of Loraine, Bill came to collect his coffee table and Will's couch. It fit ever so nicely into the back of Bill's truck, Trixy.

Bill, me, and Trixy

That night, I walked into my apartment and flipped on the kitchen light. Taylor had already left for a family vacation to Yellowstone, so all her belongings were packed and gone. And the majority of my things were packed into my car, ready to leave after check-out at 9:15 the next morning. The living room was flooded with the light from the kitchen...and that single and solitary hideous couch was the only thing left in the room. It kind of made me sad. Yet, then again, the place no longer felt like the place that I spent the summer in. It wasn't what I remembered, or cozy like we had made it. So leaving in the morning really was no struggle by emotionally-attached-means.

But I miss the people that surrounded me. That apartment was the idealic place for Taylor and I this summer. It was a growing experience, and a secluded place to be. Yet there were people that I met there that have changed my life for good. They helped me grow and recognize things about myself -- so to all those people, muchos gracias. Thank you.

Meteor Shower

So thanks to my friend Meisha, I had known about the Perseids Meteor shower and had it marked blatantly on my calendar at least a month or two prior to the actual event. August 12 crossing over into the wee hours of the morning of August 13. I wasn't going to forget it. I've always wanted to witness a meteor shower -- I wasn't going to miss this one.

But as time rolled around, it also came to my attention that the peak of the meteor shower was on Friday morning around 2:00 AM...the day before I had to move out of my lovely (and very missed) summer apartment.

There were star parties going on all across the valley. I could have gone with Meisha, I was told about one at the American West Heritage Center, the ward went on a boating activity and was just going to stay on the beach that night. Yet through the hecticness of the day, through cleaning and packing and life...Bill and I stuck close to home.

We went up to USU's amphitheater and crashed alongside the hill around midnight -- along with various other couples and groups dotting the grassy area. I tell you what, the amphitheater continues to grow deeper and deeper in meaning for me all the time, and this event furthered its magic. It was the perfect place, with the hill facing the Southwest, where most of the meteors would be visible.

Bill and I sat and talked and talked and talked while listening to the mumblings of other conversations behind us...some in different languages, some unitelligable prattle. It was so steep that I was constantly slipping down the hill and battling to keep myself up. But what I loved most was the fact that we were all there, gathered together, watching the night sky. Everytime a falling star shot across the sky, there was a shout of acclamation from the onlookers and fists punching through the air pointing out that last blaze of light that you might have missed.

About 12:30, a group came wandering over to the amphitheater and settled on the hill near some trees fairly close to us. Bongos. Guitar. Harmonica. A strange combination of instruments to throw together. They sounded terrible. Haha :) But despite their inability to keep a strong rhythym and blend their sounds, they made my whole night. This group of guys sang and jammed together without a care in the world. It changed the ambiance of the evening, and definitely solidified this already extraordinary event into my memory.

Bill and I left about 1:30 AM or so. We had seen some stellar meteors shoot across the sky! And by now, most everyone on the hillside had left from what I could tell. So we went back to Bill's apartment and had hot chocolate in August. Lip-smackin' good. Drinking the hot chocolate reminded me of how excited I am for the bitter winds and changing of the leaves that come along with the Fall. Oh how I love the seasons. Oh how I love nature.

Park Tour 2010

Forty-One. That's how many we went to.

Yes. Forty-one parks lay within the Logan City boundaries.

Yes. We visited all forty-one.

Yes. We need jobs.

Taylor and I picked up a map of the "Logan Vicinity" at our local Holiday Inn Hotel and clearly marked out each and every individual park in said, "Vicinity." We looked at the map after each park had been clearly labeled and it appeared to be a mass of red ink...no rhyme or reason to the madness. Taylor and I looked at each other and laughed. We were insane.

But the adventure was far too tempting. How could you expect us to make a discovery - like Logan having so many parks - and sit around and do nothing about it? You're right, you couldn't expect us to do nothing. So we did something! I called Jordan and told him to bring me his Indiana Jones hat for when we went up to visit at Grandpa's Mountain that Saturday...this adventure would certainly need a hat.

I'm here to present to you some of my fondest memories of the tour with many pictures. For if a picture is worth a thousand words...between Taylor and I, this excursion would be worth 40,000 words and counting...It was hard to consolidate and not bore you to death with every blooming detail. And if you ever had any doubt in my loving parks, I believe this just sealed the deal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, August 9. 9:00 AM. Park Tour 2010 began.

We drove out to "Beyond the Edge of the Map" to the future 6th South Park...and it is still  in the future. Nothing exists out there.

Actually, the enitre morning was spent visiting future parks in South Logan...except many of them had been leveled and were indeed in the embryo stages of parkhood.

We're so cool, we even visited the skate park...which is a legitimate park. We just felt like absolute fools sitting there staring as a boy, a girl, and a "he-she" were skateboarding, and we were sitting on the bench trying to look inconspicuous...which I'm positive we failed at.

Rendezvous Park has some excellent little trails to explore, but we only had so much time in a day!

And Kilowatt Park? Oh ho ho...well, the park itself is fine, but if you go across the street thinking you are following a walkway (which you may...or may not be doing), you will find a fabulous tree house to invade!!! And wildflowers to take pretty pictures with. :)

Come the afternoon, our dear Mallory joined us in our park adventure (she had a meeting with her advisor up on campus and was in the area -- such perfect timing!) We stopped and made BLTs before furthering our exploration.

We decided it would be wise to visit the parks down in the Island.

Here a pocket park. There a pocket park. Everywhere a pocket park!

Pocket parks are all the little pieces of land that the city owns that they have nothing better to do with than throw in a flower garden and an occasional sign with someone's name on it. But they sure were pretty!

Merlin Olsen park is a whole square block with monstrous trees and benches placed into a stone wall. We will certainly be returning. Certainly.

Pioneer park? Beware of electrocution as you enjoy your outdoor fireplace.

And Garff Wayside Garden has a gazebo, a rose garden, little red benches, an exceptionally tall Narnia lampost, and an "Alice In Wonderland" hole.

Don't judge a park by it's playground. Although Jens Johansen Park has a sun bleached playset, it has a sweet chicken you can ride! (And it would be a lovely place to bring a blanket and listen to the rushing water.)

Denzil Stewart Nature Park is a serene place. It's quiet because it's encircled about by trees. When you enter, you are essentially pulling yourself away from the suburbs and encountering nature in all it's simplicity. And across the street is some Private Property that your not supposed to play around in...oops.

 

There seems to be a reoccurring pattern amongst most of the parks in Logan -- they're accompanied by flowing water.

There are mean geese that open their mouths and look at you funny at Ray Hugie Hydro Park. (No more guff Taylor. They were scary.)

Quail Bluff Park DOES NOT EXIST. Or atleast...it's a future park with a cool car or two.

The "Temple Park," which really isn't known by that name, but we knew it existed near the temple, is an awesome park! It's like the Most-Awesome-Park-In-The-World Park down in Cedar City, or Ryan's Place Park in River Heights. A lot of students at USU helped build it last fall, including our roommate Kelsie, and it is most excellent. You will recall the chicken of Jens Johansen Park -- The blue whale is where it's at when it comes to this place.

 

At this point, Mallory had to bid us farewell in order to make it back home before it was terribly late. But Taylor and I still had ten parks to find and discover...which, of course, we did.

We drove around the block at least two or three times trying to find Brookside Park, until we realized it is simply a bench. Yes, this is a pocket park.

And Canal Corner is marked by a single picnic table along the side of the street.

Taylor almost died as she attempted to run with the squirrels on a barrel at Morningside Park. ;)

And it would seem to me that Logan City mows all their parks on Mondays. Haha.

Our park tour ended at Bridgerland Park. It was a beautiful sight to see because it meant we had done it. We had visited all the parks on our wrinkled and beloved map! We were wiped out and a little rosy from the sun...so no immediate celebrating ensued.

Taylor and I have absolutely no reason to ever be bored again. We only half-visited every park in Logan, and there are more yet to come. We have so much more exploring to do! But this epic adventure tops the charts at one of the coolest and most memorable things I did this summer. Try not to be too jealous. ;)