tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79449256216409530292024-02-22T02:26:26.239-07:00Team BrimhallJodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-59330960375198094472014-07-23T02:36:00.001-06:002014-07-23T02:36:32.538-06:00Life Lessons by LoganThe very first night home from the hospital I was getting ready to feed Logan. He was laying on my lap flat on his back. He suddenly threw up a lot, and was choking on it. He stopped breathing and I quickly sat him up as he struggled to take a breath for about 10 seconds. It was the longest and most terrifying 10 seconds of my newly mothered life. Rick was sitting right next to me when it all happened, and had run to get the bulb syringe so we could clear out his throat. By the time he ran back, Logan finally took a breath, and then started crying. It was a cry we hadn't heard from him before. It was his first time crying in fear. We joined right along with him, and all 3 of us sat in that bedroom and cried.<br />
<br />
I remember always hearing about people who were afraid of the world, or afraid for their children. Afraid of the people in the world, the things that were happening, and the things that could happen. I never got it. I always felt like if you feel like the world is a scary, dangerous place, then it's going to be a scary, dangerous place. If you feel like the world is beautiful and filled with good people, then you are going to see the beauty and the good in people. For me, it was all about perspective. And then I had a kid, and now everything is scary as hell. The scariest things are the things I have no control over (like if he gets sick, or injured, or chokes on his throw up and stops breathing). Two weeks later, I was holding Logan and rocking him in the rocking chair. I noticed something moving on the floor and I thought it was a centipede because we had found one earlier that week (ON MY BED UNDER RICK'S PILLOW!) and it was the same color. I got up to look at it and it was an Arizona bark scorpion - the deadliest kind in North America. Rick killed it, and then minutes later went to work, leaving me alone and terrified with my brand new baby for the next 2 days. I went to bed crying that night, holding Logan tightly next to me, and dreamt that I heard him screaming and ran to his crib to find him being stung by scorpions and bitten by rattlesnakes.<br />
<br />
For a few months I was living in fear at how fragile his itty bitty life was, and how I was 100% responsible for his well being. Coupled with a seemingly longer than normal recovery from childbirth, and wanting to punch everyone in the face who told me breastfeeding would be easy, it was kind of overwhelming. But it was also the must fun I've ever had. We made this beautiful little person and we get to keep him! I get to be his mom! I can style his hair any way I want! I get to hold him as much as I want! The most spiritual moments of my life came in the weeks following his birth. I felt like there was a piece of heaven in our home. I felt my loved ones who have passed on surrounding me in moments where I was having a breakdown over a scorpion. They were, and are, watching over us, and keeping us safe. This has helped me to worry less, especially about things I can't control. Worrying solves nothing. No amount of worrying that I do today will prevent bad things from happening later. That was the first lesson that Logan taught me - don't worry.<br />
<br />
The second lesson is to be happy. This kid is always happy. He smiled early, he laughed early, and he loves everything and everyone. The only times he is upset is when he is hungry or tired (or today when I wouldn't let him eat dog food). He just has a very sweet, content, easy going personality. As he's getting older, it's so fun to see the world through his eyes. Things I never thought about are so fascinating to him (Ceiling fans! Keys! DOGS!) and I love watching his mind figure things out and seeing what he finds funny. He has such a tender heart, and I love it. He cries when other babies cry, or when someone says "no" to the dogs. He is very sensitive to the emotions of others. He is so sweet, and so, so happy.<br />
<br />
Logan has also taught me to love others - always. When he was 6 months old I flew with him to Utah for a visit. On our way back to Arizona, we were settled in our seats when everyone else was still boarding. I was watching the other passengers get in their seats when I made eye contact with a guy walking our way. He saw Logan on my lap and was very obviously nervous. He sat down and got settled, then nervously looked at Logan, who gave him a huge smile. The man sighed, and said "Oh, he is so sweet. I was so nervous because usually when babies see me they cry. It's not their fault, they are just not used to black people in Utah (he was from Ghana). But look at him! He is so sweet!" They babbled and smiled at each other the entire flight. The man had tears in his eyes at one point and said to me "Is he always this happy? He is so sweet. Look at how he smiles at everyone. I've never met a baby so friendly!" And on queue, Logan reached out and put his hand on this kind man's hand. I mean, really? Where did this angel boy come from? This wasn't a rare incident. He smiles at everyone, and loves everyone.<br />
<br />
I can't wait to see what other lessons he has in store for me.<br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-79694015200509597212013-09-23T22:54:00.003-06:002013-09-23T22:55:14.659-06:00Blue Moon Baby<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The last month or so of my pregnancy I had pretty intense
back pain that would get worse everyday. It seemed that I was always in some
type of pain, but certain positions made it worse. The worst position would be
sitting in the car or on the rocking chair. I don’t know why but this killed my
back. When we went anywhere in the car Rick would drive and I’d have to recline
my seat back. As I approached my due date the pain would worsen. It got to the
point where my back was hurting all the time. The only relief I got was when I
would take a bath, but the second I stood up to get out the pain was back. I
would also get some relief if I sat on my birthing ball. I actually fell asleep
once while sitting on it. For the last week of my pregnancy I’d wake Rick up several
times in the middle of the night to have him rub my back, and I’d get up and
walk around the house to try to ease the pain. I was more than ready to have
this baby.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was due on Monday, August 19. I had an appointment
scheduled for Thursday, August 22, and if I hadn’t had the baby by then (which
I was sure I wouldn’t) then we would be scheduling an induction. On Wednesday,
August 21 Rick went to work in Nogales. I was feeling the back pain again all
day and that night it was really bad so I decided to go to the hospital. I got
to the hospital just before midnight. The last time I had been checked I was
dilated to a 1 and was 25% effaced. When they checked me at the hospital I was
dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced. I was having contractions regularly but I
wasn’t dilated enough for them to admit me. They told me I could go home or I
could walk around for an hour and they’d check me again. I decided to walk
around for an hour. I took that walk seriously. I was speed walking through the
empty halls of the hospital, determined to get the ball rolling so I could have
this baby. Rick got off work and met me at the hospital. He got there in time
for them to check me, tell me I was still at a 2, and send me home. By then the
back pain was worse, but there was nothing I could do except wait. I felt
defeated, exhausted, and in pain. We drove home, but we drove home in 2
separate cars, and because I couldn’t recline my seat back I was in
excruciating pain for the entire 45 minute drive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took a bath and then went to bed around 5am. At 8 I woke
up feeling like an elephant was stepping on my tailbone. I got up and walked
around to try to ease the pain. I didn’t think these were labor pains, I really
thought that I had somehow broken my tailbone. The pain was constant, but I
would have a contraction and the pain would worsen. I never felt pain in my abdomen when I had a contraction, only in my back, so I didn't think this was real labor. I woke up Rick and told him
we were going back to the hospital because I needed some pain meds. I really
didn’t think I was in labor, or that they would keep me at the hospital, but I
could not stand the pain. While we were getting ready Rick stopped to give me a
big hug. But then I threw up. Twice. We got everything packed up and headed
back to the hospital. When we got there I looked at my nurse and said “Please
don’t send me home, and I need something for the pain.” She checked me and I was
still dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced. She said before she gave me anything she
wanted me to walk around for an hour and a half. We walked around the hospital,
and I cried the entire time. I can only imagine how pathetic I looked to
everyone, and I had a few nurses stop me and say “Oh honey, it will get better,
I promise.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped at the Hospital café to get some lunch, and then
continued to walk. I was walking so slow. This time I didn’t have the energy or
determination. After only about 40 minutes of walking I wanted to go back to
our triage room. It was while we were walking back that I realized I was still
having horrible pain, but it wasn’t in my back anymore. Now it was in my lower
abdomen, and radiated down my legs, and it was happening every few minutes. It
wasn’t until then that I thought I might possibly be in active labor. We went
back and with tears rolling down my face I asked if I could PLEASE have
something for the pain. The nurse didn’t want to give me anything yet, but she
did want to check me again. It had only been 40 minutes since she last checked
me so I knew there wouldn’t have been any progress, but I didn’t want them to
send me home again, especially since we live 45 minutes away from the hospital.
She checked me and said “You’re at a 3, almost a 4. You’re not going home.” I
was in shock that I had progressed so quickly. I said “I’m having a baby?” and
she said “Yep, you’re gonna have this baby.” My tears of pain turned into tears
of joy. She told me that it would be about 10 minutes before my room was ready,
and that she would get me something for the pain before I got my epidural. I
said “I only wanted pain meds because I thought you were going to send me home.
If I can get my epidural soon then I won’t need anything else.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQQNjpNdJT8WT2pB68I21WTQXXbyVlJWzNdJyVxZQYUON28Ria-NYnd0rpJwmTkkM9_GhALqoxSnnnQ5-Xvx-Rj6a2nMsFvZaS4NjphJU4PP4Y7gTPIv5lwIYOnmFIpp6iSSC2pybv8k/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQQNjpNdJT8WT2pB68I21WTQXXbyVlJWzNdJyVxZQYUON28Ria-NYnd0rpJwmTkkM9_GhALqoxSnnnQ5-Xvx-Rj6a2nMsFvZaS4NjphJU4PP4Y7gTPIv5lwIYOnmFIpp6iSSC2pybv8k/s640/photo+4.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready for the epidural.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja12wKJzZAXBhSdj1I0FVYOymyqVUhhFpO9Z_dTBzFeTA-WKzRJk3aldFPi4WNKVP1MIf0RQxhlCFKTmehuLt_IiXr9M94g7_UJBHbGHIpJrU69iHPzChxk56ohx9fJy1o6KE58xS2oW4/s1600/photo-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja12wKJzZAXBhSdj1I0FVYOymyqVUhhFpO9Z_dTBzFeTA-WKzRJk3aldFPi4WNKVP1MIf0RQxhlCFKTmehuLt_IiXr9M94g7_UJBHbGHIpJrU69iHPzChxk56ohx9fJy1o6KE58xS2oW4/s640/photo-1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the epidural kicked in.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 10 minutes later a nurse came to get me and she took
me into the delivery room. They had nice big rooms and a couch for Rick to
sleep on. I walked around the room until the anesthesiologist came to give me
my epidural, which only took about 15 minutes. The epidural was weird, but not
painful. It was just freaky to know that a giant needle was going into my back.
I was more nervous about getting the epidural than about anything else, for
some reason, but the anesthesiologist was really nice, told me everything he
was doing as he was doing it, told me everything I should feel, and the
epidural worked perfectly. I could still feel and move my legs but I couldn’t
feel any of the contractions. It was about 4pm by this time. Right after my
epidural the on call Doctor came in and broke my water. After that, Rick fell
asleep, I tried to sleep but the epidural made me really shaky for about an
hour and after it calmed down and I stopped shaking I was too excited/nervous
to sleep. At 5pm the nurse came and checked me and I was at a 6 and was 90%
effaced. After that she told me that she wasn’t going to check me unless she
really needed to since they had broken my water and she didn’t want to increase
my chance of getting an infection. So after that we just waited. I was able to
get some sleep at this point. After a few hours I told Rick to go get something
to eat and to bring all the stuff in from the car. He left for about an hour
and when he came back he showed me a picture he had taken of the full moon. I
had remembered a few days earlier hearing that it was going to be a full moon
on the 21<sup>st</sup>, but not only was it a full moon, it was a blue moon,
which apparently means that there is a full moon twice in a month, and it only
happens once every few years. It was cool to know he was going to be born on a
blue moon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5k7lZ_W4cjraaehlLI4RXlnUCzKDqNHPPmeUbDp0NtAgBFKRNEJP34f2FwqatxH1J2gARIUrgma9sB9pLiQiCH-EAuPfySAyl-1iggTfpFlqMQyDmaxhqKGFvcLd4bp8sauTUdQ3C4QM/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5k7lZ_W4cjraaehlLI4RXlnUCzKDqNHPPmeUbDp0NtAgBFKRNEJP34f2FwqatxH1J2gARIUrgma9sB9pLiQiCH-EAuPfySAyl-1iggTfpFlqMQyDmaxhqKGFvcLd4bp8sauTUdQ3C4QM/s640/photo.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue moon.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we were waiting for the big show to get started, I
started to feel pain with each contraction, but only on my left side. The nurse
kept having me lay in different positions but it wasn’t going away and I was
getting nervous because I didn’t want to be one of those people who only had
the epidural work on half of their body. After a few hours, and several awkward
laying positions later, we got the problem fixed and I was no longer feeling the
pain. They left us and would come check on us every once in a while. We sat and
talked, watched some TV, and were trying to keep our friends and family
updated.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
At midnight I felt something intense happening with my body.
It’s as if things started to shift downward creating a lot of pressure. I
focused on it for a few minutes to see if it would go away but it didn’t. It
was time to push. We called the nurse in and told her I needed to push. She
came in and got me ready and then I started pushing. After about an hour of
pushing Rick and I started talking about the baby in between pushes, and we
talked about how the ultrasound technician had told us 2 months earlier that
our baby didn’t have hair. The nurse interrupted us and said “Someone told you
he doesn’t have hair? Every time I’ve checked you I’ve touched his head, trust
me, he has hair.” For the next push she had Rick look down and had me reach down to feel his
head. Rick just started laughing and I asked him what he saw and he said “He has
my hair!” When I reached down I could definitely feel his hair. Now I was even
more anxious to meet this kid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t remember much of what happened next other than every
time I pushed the baby’s heart rate would drop, they put me on oxygen, and I
was freaking exhausted. I had 2 nurses in there, and every time I had a
contraction they would stop and look at the monitors, and they both looked
worried. This scared me to death, but luckily it was short lived. This only
happened through a few contractions and then his heart rate was fine the rest
of the time. I told the nurses that they needed to count out loud when I
pushed, because if they counted out loud I could focus 100% on pushing, but if
they didn’t then I was more focused on counting to 10 in my head than I was on
pushing. For some reason they weren’t counting out loud while I was pushing.
Instead they were talking to each other, mostly about how tall I was. This was
really frustrating, but also really funny. Mainly because that is such a weird
thing to talk about, and also, I’m not tall. I’ve never in my life been told I
was tall. But I guess they both thought I was really tall. I told Rick I needed
him to count out loud during each push, even though he was already holding one
leg up, feeding me ice chips between pushes, wiping my face and neck with a
cool washcloth, and telling me how awesome, strong, and beautiful I was. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After about an hour and a half of pushing I started to reach
my breaking point. I kept asking the nurse how much longer I needed to push,
and she kept telling me 15 minutes. FYI, when a nurse tells you it will be 15
more minutes, she’s lying. She told me
that it was almost time to call the Doctor. I think she only said that to get a
few more good pushes out of me, but whatever, it worked. They called the
Doctor, and when she came in I got my second wind and I was pumped, I knew that
if the Doctor was in there then that meant that the baby would be born soon. I
pushed, and I pushed until I saw stars and thought I was going to pass out. In
between pushes I was literally falling asleep because I was so spent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I need to rewind for a second. While we were at the hospital
they had a shift change at 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm. We went through 4 different
nurses and 3 different on call Doctors, but I loved every person that worked
with us. This hospital had a great staff, and when we were first admitted I
went over my birth plan with the nurse, and whenever there was a shift change
the new nurse would come in and introduce herself, then tell me exactly what my
birth plan was. Everyone was in the know and no one did anything without
talking to me about it first. I never felt like they were the ones in charge
and I was just going with whatever they said. They worked around me, and really
helped me to trust my body. The main things on my birth plan were that I wanted
to labor as long as I could without an epidural
(hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha), I didn’t want an episiotomy, I didn’t
want his cord clamped or cut until it was done pulsating, I wanted him placed
on my chest immediately after he was born, and I didn’t want anyone to give him
formula or a pacifier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having the Doctor coach me through pushing was really
helpful, because she made it seem like each time I pushed that was going to be
the last time and he was going to come out. After 15 minutes of her coaching me
she stopped and told me that she understood why I didn’t want an episiotomy \ and
normally she won’t do them unless she feels it’s necessary, but she was getting
worried because his head kept almost coming out and then going back in and she
was concerned about his shoulder getting stuck. She said that if we did an
episiotomy he would be out in 1 push, and if not it would take probably 15
more minutes (remember how they lie when they say 15 minutes?) I told her to go
ahead and do the episiotomy. She did and I closed my eyes and gave one big push
and then I heard a cry. I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful little boy
cry for a few seconds and then look around curiously. My sweet little Logan was born! I turned and looked at Rick.
He was crying and kept saying things like “Look at him, he’s so perfect” and
“Look at what you did, you did that, you are amazing.” It was really incredible
to get a front seat view of Rick falling in love with our little boy and
thinking that I was a superhero for giving birth to him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rick cut the cord and then the Doctor placed him on my
chest. He was immediately calm, and then he peed all over me. It was my
initiation into parenthood. Rick took out his camera and was able to capture
some amazing pictures of the first few moments of his life. After a while they
took me to my recovery room and they took the baby to the nursery to have him
cleaned, weighed, finger printed, etc. I told Rick to go with the baby and take
pictures. They both came back about 2 hours later. He weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long, and I swear to you I heard one of the nurses say he was "tall, just like his mom." He was born at 2:12am on August 22, the day I was supposed to have my appointment to schedule an induction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Our time in the hospital was nice because I had people
helping me any time I needed it. My parents came down the next day, but Logan
had jaundice and had to be under the lights all day, which was complete torture
for me and was sad because my parents didn’t really get to hold him. After a
day under the lights his levels evened out and we were able to go home. Going
home from the hospital was both scary and a relief at the same time. I didn’t
have a nurse that could come help me at the push of a button or a lactation
consultant to help us figure out breastfeeding at home. It was just us. My
parents came down for a week, and I don’t think I could have survived that week
without my mom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He’s a month old already, and up next will be a blog about
adjusting to parenthood, loving this little guy, and why Rick and I bawled our
eyes out our very first night home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-63661078775878167282013-07-10T23:15:00.001-06:002013-07-10T23:24:01.675-06:00House, Baby, and Just WaitIn February we started the process to build a house. We had been looking at this area outside of Tucson for about a year where the houses are super cheap because they are trying to get people to the community to get more houses built (hooray for Bluth Model Homes!...just kidding, but wouldn't that be the best?) We signed the papers and they started building. We moved in about a month ago, and I'm so happy to be in our very own home. For some reason I felt like way more of a grown-up when we closed on our home than with anything else in my life, including being pregnant. Lots of people can have a baby. 16 year olds have babies all the time, but you need permission from a bank to have a house. It's a big deal! We are pretty much unpacked. Except for half of our stuff that is still boxed up in the garage. It's the same stuff that has been sitting in our storage unit for a year, and I honestly don't even know what it all is. I got so used to living with the bare essentials that I feel like everything else is useless. I know that as I slowly open those boxes I will probably be really happy with what I find, like last week when I opened a box and thought to myself "Oh yeah! I forgot we used to have a toaster!"<br />
<br />
The house has been great except for all the freaking bugs we weren't expecting. We've now had the house sprayed 3 times, and I think it's finally getting rid of them. We got the baby's room painted. And then we decided that we will never paint another room in this house again because it's too much work and I'm content with eggshell colored walls for the rest of my life. But at least the baby gets a cool colored room. Lucky kid. We painted 3 of the walls grey and 1 baby blue. When his nursery is all done I'll post pictures. And when my house is all clean I'll post pictures of that too. Which will probably be never. Along with the bugs, we've also had 2 emergency level dust storms (known as Haboobs). It's monsoon/haboob season here in Arizona. Because the only thing missing from 117 degree weather, is dust and humidity. Always a good time. We also had a break in last week. Although since talking to our neighbors we think it might have just been people assuming that no one lives here and coming to look through the house. Both of our cars were gone and we don't have any decorations or anything on the outside that would make you think someone lives here. Since this area has so many houses being built, it's very common to have people walking through the houses to check things out. We walked through a house a few hours before a lady got the keys to it because was the same layout as our house (that was in the early process of being built) and we wanted to see what it would look like in the flesh. The break in happened in the middle of the day. I left the door unlocked because I had a Doctors appointment but Rick's parents were coming to visit us and they would beat me home and we didn't have a spare key made yet. So I unlocked the front door, but set the alarm. Whoever it was came into our house and they were in and out in 7 seconds (our alarm system tells us every time a door is opened or closed). Everyone should get an alarm system. I'm a believer.<br />
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We recently celebrated our 4th Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 4 years already (I will probably say that every year for the rest of our lives). We went to a little town close to the border called Tubac. Rick shot a wedding there once and they have cute little resorts and restaurants down there. He found a really cute bed and breakfast for us to stay at and the owner was very friendly. He and Rick got to talking and they started talking about photography. Rick showed him his website and the guy said that if Rick took pictures of all the rooms for him, our stay would be free! Rick went around and took all the pictures for the guy's website, and we got a free stay out of it. The best part was that Rick didn't have his camera with him so he took all his pictures with just his iphone. He's a talented man. We had a nice relaxing trip. Rick found some amazing places for us to eat at and he booked massages for us. I got an hour long prenatal massage and they had a big pillow with a hole in it so I could finally lay on my belly. It was awesome. I miss laying on my stomach more than I realized I would. I told my massage therapist that I was carrying him in my back and it was causing me lots of pain, she said she'd get him to the front and she wasn't kidding. She worked her magic and the next morning my stomach had popped, and he was no longer grinding his face into my spine. Bless her for that.<br />
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The pregnancy is going well. The second trimester was heaven. I wasn't sick, I had a belly big enough that people knew I was pregnant but not so big that I was uncomfortable, and I only had a few mild discomforts. I'm in the third trimester now, and I can say with complete honesty that after the first trimester and with the symptoms I have now that I am absolutely awful at being pregnant. I feel guilty because everyone is like "Enjoy it! It's so magical!" but I'm not enjoying it and I don't feel magical. I mostly feel hot, barfy, and in pain. I love that I get to be a mom and that my body will let me make a baby, and I realize how huge of a blessing that is, but I do not enjoy being pregnant. Truth be told, I don't want to do this ever again. But I know I probably will, because babies are just so damn cute. I look at those women who have 5, 6, 7 kids and I think that either they had easy pregnancies or they are way better women than me. I still definitely have moments when I get overwhelmed with love and appreciation for this miracle that is happening with my body, like when I can't sleep and neither can the baby so we do morse code with each other, or when Rick puts his hands on my belly and asks how his little guy is doing, and then the baby answers his question with a nice kick. But I also have moments when all I can do is sit and cry because I'm in so much pain, or because I'm hungry, or because it's 115 degrees outside and I have to go run errands. Since we're in the new house and we've started getting the nursery put together I'm finally feeling like the end is near. I've washed all his clothes, the crib is set up, things are almost ready for him. I just want to fast forward to August and see his little face. I've had Braxton Hick's contractions frequently since 20 weeks, and the other day I felt awful and sick and just off so I decided to go to the hospital to get checked out. Turns out I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes. They were able to stop them, but it makes me wonder if this kid is going to make it all the way to his due date. My hope is that I won't go past my due date. We'll see when he decides to make his debut.<br />
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There is something about being pregnant that makes people think they can give you all the unsolicited advice they can think of. Advice about pregnancy, advice about labor, advice about parenting, they pretty much tell you whatever they want and expect you to agree or think they're brilliant. I've been given a lot of advice, and most of it I take in what I think is worth it and throw the rest away. It didn't start to bother me until we went to the bed and breakfast place for our anniversary. The guy who owned the place asked me when I was due, and I told him August (it was May at the time). He told me that I looked great and that I had "gained the perfect amount of weight, just don't get <i>any</i> bigger. If you're thin, you win!" What the hell? If you're thin you win? Please tell me you didn't raise daughters with that mentality. And don't gain anymore weight? I was 6 months pregnant when he told me that. I still had 3 months to go. You know what you do the last 3 months of pregnancy? Gain weight and get bigger.<br />
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A few days ago Rick and I went out to dinner. I slowly followed our waitress to the table, waddling as fast as I could to keep up with her, then I loudly grunted as I tried to get situated comfortably in the booth. She asked me when I was due and I told her August, then she asked me if it was our first and I said yes. She started laughing. I smiled, unsure of why she was laughing, and then she said "Oh man, your life is over. Like kids are great, but yeah your life is totally over. And you better get ready for a ton of pain."<br />
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People are awesome.<br />
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My favorite piece of advice lately is people telling me to sleep as much as I can now. As if there is some sort of sleep bank where I can store my extra sleep for the days where I'm up all night with a screaming baby and I'm exhausted. The amount of sleep I get now isn't going to change how I feel then. I understand that this advice usually comes from parents who are exhausted and wish they could have uninterrupted sleep. Truthfully, I wish I could have uninterrupted sleep too. My baby isn't born yet, but that doesn't mean he doesn't kick me in the ribs EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT from 2-5am, and it doesn't mean that I don't wake up every 2 hours to pee, and it doesn't mean that I don't roll from one side to the other every hour or else I wake up feeling like my hip is going to snap in half, and it doesn't mean that I don't have a dog who wakes me up every morning between 6 and 8 to take her potty.<br />
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The absolute worst, though, is people telling us to "just wait until *insert unpleasant experience*". This started before we were even pregnant. Some would tell us to enjoy the time we had now without kids, and so we would do things like go on vacations or spontaneous road trips, and then those same people would tell us "just wait until you have kids, you won't be able to go on these fun vacations." I'm still not sure the mindset of people who throw out the "just wait" comments. Is it bitterness? Exhaustion? Or are they just unaware of how weird of a comment it is? These comments happen most often during some sort of unpleasant experience, like when someone asks me how I feel and I say I'm in pain and tired, it's followed by "just wait until the baby gets here, then you'll know what being in pain and tired is." I'm always taken aback by this because first off, what do you even say to that? And second, that's not helpful. I'm aware that having a baby will be painful and I will be tired, but that doesn't mean I'm not in pain or tired right now. When someone has a colicky newborn and they need advice and you tell them "just wait until they're older and they start getting into everything" how is this helpful? All it does is tell them "Yeah things are hard now but it's just going to get harder" which induces panic and it diminishes the problem at hand. No, they are not dealing with a toddler that just spilled an entire bag of flour all over the freshly cleaned kitchen floor, or they're not dealing with a teenager who is being rebellious, but they still have a problem that they're facing. That's like if you tell me you have the flu and my response is "Just wait until you're dying, then you'll know what it's like to be really sick." Wouldn't that be super weird and absolutely not helpful?<br />
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Sometimes I feel like people think we went into parenthood thinking "You know what won't cost us any money, will never stress us out or make us frustrated, and will get us lots of extra sleep? Having a baby." I'm going to be exhausted, it's going to hurt, I'm going to freak out from time to time, and even now as I type this, I'm probably greatly underestimating just how tired I'll be or how much pain I'll be in or how often I'll freak out, but that's okay. I'll figure it out, just like you did, just like your parents did, just like their parents did.<br />
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There are some "just waits" that I love hearing. "Just wait until your baby smiles at you for the first time." "Just wait until you hear his first cry." "Just wait until you see your husband as a father." These are the "just waits" that I can't get enough of. I'm going to be a mom, and soon. It's going to be hard, and tiring, and frustrating, and wonderful, and amazing, and the best thing that will ever happen to me.<br />
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Just wait.<br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-50071740677196112012013-04-23T19:47:00.000-06:002013-04-23T19:47:30.658-06:00You Are My SonshineFrom the second that we found out I was pregnant, we both just <i>knew</i> it was a girl. I had dreams about my baby girl. We had her name picked out. We figured out how we were going to decorate the nursery. Occasionally we would say something like "should we come up with some boy names, just in case?" And we never would because we just knew we wouldn't need to bother with any boy related stuff. We were having a girl, no questions asked.<br />
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The night before the anatomy scan where they would be looking over the baby from head to toe to make sure it was healthy, and where we would be having them confirm that our baby was indeed a girl, I made myself get in the mindset of having a boy. I daydreamed about having a son. I pictured Rick coming home from work in the middle of the night, picking up his son, then rocking him in the rocking chair while he sang to him. Then of course Rick would fall asleep in the rocking chair and in the morning that's where I would find both of my boys. Rick has already admitted that this will definitely happen. He'll come home from work now, lay on the ground "for a minute" to play with the dog, and 5 hours later I'll find them both asleep on the floor. I day dreamed about having a mama's boy who will scare me to death when he wants to jump out of swings or climb rocks or hunt for scorpions. I thought about going to sporting events, or concerts, or whatever he would be interested in. As I was thinking about all of these things, I started to fall asleep, and for a split second I had a dream where I walked into my house and saw a house full of boys. And I was so, so happy. I texted Rick that night and told him that if by some small chance our baby actually was a boy, it would be so much fun and I would be so happy with a house full of boys.<br />
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We got to the appointment and the ultrasound tech started to look everything over. She was going to check everything from head to toe, but save the gender check for the last thing. We loved to see that sweet little face, those big beautiful lips and the wide nose (both traits from Rick). Everything about this babe was perfectly healthy, and we were so happy. While she was checking the belly, suddenly the baby did a crazy flip and we were looking right at 2 legs and a little bum. She said "This kid is giving me a shot of the goods, you want to know now?" We were so excited and told her to tell us. "There is no denying it - you're having a BOY!" We were both shocked and we couldn't help but laugh. We kept asking her if she was sure and she checked 2 more times. Rick said "This isn't going to be one of those things where you tell me that it's a boy but then when it's born it's a girl, right?" She said "Trust me, it's a boy. I've been doing this for a long time and I haven't been wrong yet."<br />
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We've had a few weeks to wrap our heads around having a boy, and we can't wait to meet this little guy. We haven't bought any baby stuff yet because we live in a teeny 1 bedroom apartment with no room for anything. We're moving in June and decided to wait until then to buy any baby stuff. I went up to Utah for a few weeks and while I was there I had a baby shower where we celebrated this little dude, and seeing those tiny outfits made it so much more real and exciting. I thought that they only made cute stuff for girls, but I was wrong, boy stuff is to die for.<br />
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He has a name. Probably. I think. I still think I will need to see his face to know for sure, but for right now we're 99% positive we've got his name picked out.<br />
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I'm feeling better, but still sick. Every day I tell Rick I just want him here. I want him healthy and happy, but I don't want to be pregnant anymore. Some women are awesome at being pregnant. I'm not one of them. I did have a 6 week stretch where I felt awesome and only got nauseous or threw up about once a week, but I fear that those 6 weeks might have been a fluke. Or a blessing. Whichever. I also just want him here because I'm dying to know if this kid is going to have hair or not. I don't know why he wouldn't have hair, but still, what if? <br />
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Look at that beautiful face! Love this boy.</div>
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-91755630289698299642013-02-16T06:12:00.000-07:002013-02-16T06:23:38.253-07:00Hijacked<div style="text-align: center;">
Pregnancy Expectation:</div>
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Pregnancy Reality:</div>
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For nearly 25 years I've learned how to deal with my body. I've known how it works, what it needs, what it likes, what makes it feel better when it's sick, and overall how it functions day to day. In the last 14 weeks that has all changed drastically. My body has been hijacked by something so cute and tiny and it's changing everything. My body is no longer mine. Sometimes sharing is hard.</div>
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These are some of the symptoms I've experienced over the last 14 weeks. This isn't all of them, these are only the ones I'm not too embarrassed to openly discuss.</div>
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<li><b>All day sickness</b> - I don't know who decided to call it "morning sickness" but they are a liar. I didn't actually think I would be one of those few lucky women who didn't have to deal with this. I have a weak stomach and get sick easily, so I figured I would be sick during pregnancy, but this is a whole new level of sick. This is nausea and vomiting like I've never ever experienced. It is violent and horrific. It makes me pee my pants, pops blood vessels in my eyes, and gives me bloody noses. It starts when I wake up and ends when I fall asleep. I tried every remedy I could and nothing worked, and my doctor gave me 4 different medications to try and nothing worked. Finally after a trip to the Emergency Room they gave me a shot of phenergan and so far it has been the only thing that helps. Thankfully, the nausea and vomiting has slacked off over the last week, affecting me now only every other day or every few days. My hope is that it continues to die down as I progress in my pregnancy.</li>
<li><b>Fatigue</b> - I am tired. Always. And I can easily sleep for 16 hours a day, and sometimes I do. This pregnancy has been difficult, but I am so so so so blessed that I don't have to work right now. Honestly, there would be no way I could do it. I am so lucky that Rick has such a good job that allows me to stay home and take care of myself. </li>
<li><b>Dizziness</b> - The first 2 weeks after I found out I was pregnant this was one of my worst symptoms. I could do nothing except for lay down and close my eyes, unless I was throwing up. I would lay in bed and if I would shift at all it felt like I was on a roller coaster. This did not help with the nausea. Luckily I discovered sea band bracelets and when I wear them I'm not dizzy.</li>
<li><b>Shortness of Breath</b> - This was really bad in the beginning and isn't as bad now, except for the one time last week that I was carrying in groceries and had to stop every 10 steps to catch my breath. You should see me walk up stairs.</li>
<li><b>Rash</b> - Every time I throw up I get a rash all over my face, chest, and arms. Super sexy.</li>
<li><b>Lightning Crotch </b>- This is a real thing. Google it. Or maybe don't, that could be dangerous. It's where suddenly you feel like someone hit you in the crotch with a metal bat. The only thing that makes it stop is to rub the affected area. I hate it when this happens, especially at church.</li>
<li><b>Excess Saliva</b> - You guys, this is so gross. Suddenly my saliva glands are working double time. But the worst part is that my saliva is basically poison. If I swallow it I will throw up, so I have to spit it out, but that is gross so it makes me throw up either way.</li>
<li><b>Sweaty Teeth</b> - This is different from excess saliva, and the best way to explain it is that my teeth are sweaty. Basically I get thick gooey stuff only on my teeth and it tastes like a dumpster. I've heard that pregnancy makes plaque on your teeth worse, but this is so much grosser than just excess plaque.</li>
<li><b>Heartburn</b> - Every time I eat popsicles I get heartburn. How does that even make sense?</li>
<li><b>Limbs Falling Asleep</b> - My arms, legs, toes, and fingers all fall asleep so easily.</li>
<li><b>Fainting</b> - I haven't actually fainted yet, but I've come close 3 times. Luckily Rick is a good catch and he just lays me down quickly before I actually pass out. </li>
<li><b>Canker Sores - </b> Every day when I wake up I think "Did I get new braces put on yesterday?" I have never had canker sores this bad in my life. My mouth is covered, and as a result I no longer drink Orange Juice.</li>
<li><b>Body Odor</b> - Good hell. I smell like a 15 year old boy after wrestling practice. I don't even do anything all day so I don't know where this is coming from. It was really bad for a while there but luckily it's starting to go away. Either that or the toxic scent has burned my sense of smell and I'll be one of those people who stinks but doesn't know they stink.</li>
<li><b>Cravings</b> - These haven't been too bad yet. They were worse earlier on which was weird because I'd be puking and in between heaves I'd think "Wow watermelon sounds so good right now." One time my friend posted a picture of chicken and waffles on instagram and I couldn't stop thinking about it for like 6 hours and I finally woke Rick up at 3am and begged him to take me to IHOP. He took me, even though he had work that day. He's the best.</li>
<li><b>Emotional capacity of a Toddler</b> - I was crying when I was begging Rick to take me to IHOP.</li>
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Overall, pregnancy has been hard. But I wouldn't change it. We wanted this for a long time, and I know that each horrible symptom means my body is working hard to keep my baby safe. Women get pregnant and have babies so often that I don't think people realize just how amazing it is. It takes a million things going right to create a healthy little person. It's amazing. It is a miracle. No wonder I feel awful, my body is doing something awesome.</div>
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And on the days when I feel really horrible, the only thing that has actually helped is to watch this video over and over. Seriously, it's actually made my nausea go away. Pretty amazing.</div>
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Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-30577336826258090942013-02-13T16:20:00.000-07:002013-02-13T16:20:48.810-07:00The Best Christmas PresentI've always heard stories about women who didn't know they were pregnant until they started having symptoms, or they were a week late, or they felt a little "off". As someone who was religiously taking pregnancy tests every month as soon as I possibly could, I never understood these women. Not until I became one of them.<br />
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For 2 years we've been trying to have a baby. The first few months we weren't too concerned about it, I mostly went off of birth control because I thought it was making me sick, which I later found out I was sick due to my Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome. But we figured that we were ready to have a baby and if it happened it happened, if it didn't it didn't. During this time I only took pregnancy tests if I was late, or sick. I never expected a positive pregnancy test, but after a few months I got one. We were shocked, and thrilled, but it turned out to be a <a href="http://teambrimhall.blogspot.com/2012/03/false-hopes.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">false positive</span></a>. That really changed things for us. We didn't know how badly we had wanted this until we thought we had it. We kept trying, and after the first year we got more serious about it. I was taking ovulation tests every single month, and I never once got a positive result. Normally we would have gone to see a fertility doctor at this point, but we were in Arkansas for most of this time and we didn't want to start any fertility stuff knowing we were only there temporarily. When we got back to Arizona, I found a fertility clinic, scheduled an appointment, and spent 2 hours filling out all the paperwork. We took a deep breath and realized that this was no longer in our hands, but we were ready to take the next step.<br />
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We got settled back in Tucson, and then took off to spend time at the Ranch and in Utah for Christmas. We had a great time in Utah, we were able to celebrate Christmas with my family, see Rick's family, and spend time with friends. We left on the 23rd so we could spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with Rick's family at the ranch, and that was amazing as well. The day after Christmas we were ready to go back to Tucson. I was helping Rick's mom pick up some toys off the ground and I bent over to pick one up, stood back up, and felt like I had just completed a triathlon. I was so out of breath and had to sit down. On our drive back to Tucson I was feeling nauseous. and I told Rick he needed to pull over so I could throw up. When I got back in the car I said "My CVS has been under control for almost a year...I think I'm pregnant." We both didn't believe the words I said, just because we've thought the same thing before and it was never true. When we got back to our apartment, I had 2 pregnancy tests left from months prior and decided to take one. As I sat there holding the test in my hand staring at the 2 bright pink lines my first thought was "That's weird...why are there 2 lines? This test must be broken." It took me a good minute to realize what two lines meant. Once it hit me that this was a positive result I couldn't keep back the tears. I showed Rick and he said "I'll believe it when a Doctor tells me it's true." That brought me back to reality quickly. We had been here before with a positive pregnancy test in our hands and hope in our hearts and it turned out not to be true. We decided to take more pregnancy tests and if we got a bunch of positives then maybe it was real. Rick went to the store and came back with more tests. After the 5th positive result, he laughed, and we cried, but we still needed a Doctor to tell us it was real. I ended up taking 8 home pregnancy tests. Every single one was positive.<br />
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I found a Doctor here and made an appointment. We were able to be seen the next week. The appointment was very routine - urine test, blood work, medical history. I told my Doctor that we had a false positive home pregnancy test before and we needed to know if the blood work showed I was actually pregnant. She told me that my urine test was positive and that they wouldn't know the results of the blood test for a few days. She also looked at me like I was crazy since I had taken 8 home pregnancy tests but still doubted if I was actually pregnant. By this point my all day sickness was in high gear so I knew that either I was really pregnant or something was seriously wrong with me, but I still needed a Doctor to tell me "Yes, you are pregnant." I think Rick needed it more than I did. I hate that the false positive robbed us of that initial feeling of excitement and hope.<br />
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A few days later I called my Doctors office and asked for the results of my blood work. They told me "Everything looks great." So I said "So, I'm really pregnant?" The girl on the phone was really caught off guard by that question and said "Uhhhhhmmmm....yes" like I was a moron, but it was what we needed to hear. Finally it was real. I was really pregnant. Holy crap - we're going to have a baby.<br />
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I had an ultrasound scheduled for the next week to determine how far along I was. I thought I was 6ish weeks along, my Doctor thought I was 7ish weeks along. I was nervous going into that appointment, and I prayed there would be a heartbeat. As soon as she put the ultrasound wand on my belly that baby appeared on the screen, it wiggled, stopped, and then waved it's hand at us. We both cried, and Rick couldn't stop laughing. He was sitting by my feet and he was too far away to be able to hold my hand so he kept saying "Can I hold your feet? I need to hold you. Let me hold your feet." And he held onto my feet and we cried as we heard that strong heartbeat. She measured the baby and said "You are right on schedule - 8 weeks along." I had no idea I was that far along, and we had only found out 2 weeks earlier. Everything became even more real after that ultrasound. We are having a baby.<br />
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We decided not to get each other anything for Christmas this year because we were going to be going to Utah. We ended up with the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for. Baby Brimhall - our Christmas Miracle.<br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-71099570210307844802013-01-11T03:49:00.000-07:002013-01-11T03:49:12.057-07:00Catching UpI'm like 5 months behind on blogging, and in the blogging world that's like 10 years, so here is a recap of the last little while.<br />
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Arkansas - Rick lived there for 9 months, I lived there for 6 months. The whole time we were there we were living in a hotel room. I can't believe we did that. It was pretty there, but I'm glad we are back in Arizona.</div>
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We were supposed to go to Lake Powell in August for the Brimhall Family Reunion. We purchased our non-refundable plane tickets from Arkansas to Arizona, and 5 minutes later we found out that the houseboat was broken and they were canceling the reunion. We decided that we would go to Arizona and spend a few days at the Ranch, and then drive to Sea World. It's only about a 6 hour drive so it wasn't bad at all, and we had so much fun. We went with Rick's older sister Christina and her family. </div>
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The dolphin show was amazing. Definitely my favorite part of Sea World.</div>
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I felt like I was watching the olympics while these dudes in colorful bird costumes dove into the water.</div>
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While we were there we noticed a lady at a caricature stand, and Rick wanted her to draw us. Before we sat in the chair he looked her in the eye and in all seriousness said "make sure you make my beard look awesome." He was pleased with the result.</div>
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I, on the other hand, had no idea that the feature that would make this artwork look the most like me was the gigantic beak like nose that I apparently have. So that was fun to find out about myself.</div>
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We also spent a few days at the beach where I discovered that I am awesome at boogie boarding, and where Rick and I both got stung by a jellyfish for the first time.</div>
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The next month we went to Utah to celebrate Rick's 30th Birthday. We had a pizza party at a park with a bunch of Rick's friends. It was so fun to see so many people that we love. Our friend Trish is a baker/decorator at Cupcake Chic in orem and she made some awesome cakes for us! One of them was even a vegan cake. She's amazing. Rick's favorite cake was the german chocolate that had a train on it. He was so happy about it.<br />
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Rick rented an SS Camaro while we were there. I've never seen him so happy. All in all he had a great birthday and we are both so happy we were able to spend it in Utah.<br />
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My friend Sabina lives in Provo and she has a sister that lives in Little Rock, so she came out to spend a few weeks with them. We were able to meet up a few times for dinner and we also went to the Little Rock Air Force Base to watch to air show. It was really fun, and I'm now realizing we never got a picture of the 2 of us, so you'll just have to imagine us out to dinner eating delicious pizza and at the air show watching all the different planes doing tricks. And me getting nervous every time the planes almost crashed into each other but turned away at the very last second.<br />
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For Thanksgiving we wanted to go to either Rick's parent's ranch in AZ or to my parents house in UT, but Rick didn't have the time off and we didn't have the money for more traveling. So, by nothing short of a miracle, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for me, Rick, and our friend Ronnie who works with Rick, in our tiny hotel room using a crockpot for the turkey, the stove top for the mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing, and a very tiny toaster oven to cook the pie, rolls, and green bean casserole. I was sure that something would go wrong, but it all turned out delicious and was kinda fun. It was definitely a Thanksgiving to be remembered.<br />
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For Christmas this year we decided we were just going to stay in Arizona and celebrate with the 2 of us, but Rick found out that he had a weeks worth of Paid days off that he needed to use up by December 31. So we packed our bags and headed to Utah. We didn't tell anyone we were coming until we were in St. George. It was fun to be able to surprise everyone but even more fun to be able to spend time with our friends and family. We were able to see Rick's siblings and have a Christmas party with my family, plus being able to see many friends. It was a wonderful Christmas.<br />
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My parents have neighbors who breed shih-tzus, and they had 1 left that they needed to find a home for. I knew there was no way Rick would be cool with it so I didn't even bother to ask him. The next day, he knocked on the bedroom door to wake me up, then came in with the cutest little puppy with a red bow on her head and said "Merry Christmas!" I totally thought he was kidding for like 30 seconds, but when I realized he wasn't, I was so so so happy. We named her Maya because we got her on December 21, 2012 - the day of the end of the Mayan calendar. So far she has been the best little puppy. She and Rick are asleep next to each other on the floor right now. We love her. I think this year was our best Christmas so far.<br />
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On New Years Eve we stayed home, watched Saturday Night Live, drank sparkling cider, and drifted off to sleep listening to the sounds of fireworks and/or gunshots outside. My goals for 2013 are to do well in school, be happy and healthy, and never ever live in Arkansas again. So far we're off to a good start.<br />
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Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-47351326367612883772012-12-07T22:19:00.001-07:002012-12-07T22:19:04.316-07:00BackIn the Railroad world, when you get "bumped" it means that someone with more seniority than you took your job, and you have to put yourself on another job. This usually happens when the management cuts jobs, so instead of having 20 people on a specific assignment, they will cut 10, and so 10 people need to find another job to work. Hence, they have to bump 10 other people, etc. Rick kept getting bumped and was unable to work for 5 days. We decided that our time in Arkansas was up and it was time to go back to Arizona. As soon as we made the decision that we were really done, I couldn't get out of that place fast enough. We got packed up and left the next day. We didn't even have an apartment to go to in Arizona, but that wasn't gonna stop us.<br />
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Since we bought a car earlier this year, we had to drive 2 cars back separately. Rick always talks about how when he goes on long road trips by himself he will end up talking to himself. I always thought he was crazy until I had to drive by myself through Texas. Texas was a real B-word to drive through, and I was the only person I had to talk to. Luckily I'm good company. Halfway through our trip Rick was able to find us an apartment in Tucson. We pulled up to the apartments right as they were closing and were barely able to get the paperwork signed and get our keys. We unloaded all the stuff from our cars and then went to a nearby hotel and passed out. The next day we were able to go to our storage unit to get the rest of the stuff we needed. I really love our apartment, but I also love that we don't live in the middle of nowhere like we did in Arizona City. We got a really small 1 bedroom apartment, but compared to the hotel room, it's humongous. Except somehow my kitchen is smaller than the one in the hotel, but this one has an oven so I'm happy with it.<br />
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We've been back for about a week, and we've already been able to spend time with my nanny family, Rick's brother and his family in Phoenix. and go see the Christmas lights at the Mesa temple. It feels good to be back, and I really hope that this time goes a lot better than the last time we moved to Tucson.Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-70960316280228276492012-11-14T02:50:00.003-07:002012-11-14T03:01:30.079-07:00Eye DoctorI have the best story.<br />
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But first, a shout out. I had been hating the way my blog looked for a while. So I decided to fix it, but instead I ruined everything and it looked awful. I hated all the free blog backgrounds I saw online that either had too much going on and it made me nauseous to look at or it looked fine but was bombarded by the gigantic logo of whoever made the blog. I had remembered that a friend from High School started a little company where she designs blogs. I decided to have her design it for me and I totally love how it turned out. It's simple and clean and she was able to fix the problem I was having with my pictures. Her name is Erika and you can go to her website by clicking <a href="http://www.thefairyblogmother.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. She even has free backgrounds and Facebook cover photos you can use. By the way, she didn't ask me to say anything about it and I don't think she knows I'm doing this because I don't know if she reads my blog, but I really was impressed with how she made it look exactly how I wanted it.</div>
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So back to my story...</div>
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I needed new contacts and Rick needed new glasses so we made an appointment to see the eye doctor. While we were there Rick asked if he would ever be able to wear contacts. He has always been told that his astigmatisms were too bad for contacts but whenever we go to the eye doctor he will ask to see if they've invented contacts yet for eyes as bad as his. And guess what? They have. The Doctor said that he will likely never be a candidate for lasik eye surgery, but he could definitely wear contacts. His eyes are so bad that they didn't have any samples for his prescription and astigmatisms but they would order some. So we left and a week later they called us and said that the samples had arrived. Since he had never worn contacts before, they said that they would be putting them in and taking them out for him. He agreed, and he seriously was a champion about it. When I first got contacts they asked if I wanted them to put them in for me and what I said was "No, I'll try it" but what I meant was "If anyone touches my eyeballs except for me I will freak out, punch them in the face, and then throw up." He sat still the entire time but he kept making a face that was making me laugh and then it was making him laugh and then it was making it a lot harder for the lady putting in his contacts.</div>
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I probably shouldn't have been in the room with them because I'm sure I was making things harder. But how can you watch what I watched and not laugh?</div>
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He wore the contacts for a while but one of them was really bugging him and was really blurry. They are going to order another pair of trial contacts for him with a different prescription and we are waiting for them to call us so he can go try them. He really wants to be able to wear contacts, but he's also nervous that he will look weird without glasses. I laughed when he said that because that's like saying "I think I'll look weird with my braces off, better keep 'em on." But he has been wearing glasses for the past 25 years so it makes sense. A different girl took the contacts out for him, and I had the horror of watching it up close. It was one of those things where you were so disgusted but you couldn't look away. Like looking at roadkill or a dog eating it's own poop. She couldn't grasp the contact lens so she kept trying to squeeze it over and over, and I was watching his eyeball bounce around. Rick sat there stiff as a board and I nearly fainted. I'm usually pretty good about handling gross things but now I know 2 things I can't deal with - spit and eyeballs.</div>
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We decided that he still should get a new pair of glasses to keep as a back up if the contacts do work out because the glasses he has now are super beat up. We walked out of the doctors office and into the glasses shop and Rick went to talk to someone so he could order the glasses he wanted. I sat down in a chair that was right by one of those spinning things with glasses on them that was right by the door. If someone walked in they wouldn't have been able to see me unless they looked around the spinning glasses display. I set my purse on my lap and started to play with my phone while I waited for Rick. I heard the bell that meant that someone had just walked into the shop, but I didn't look up from my phone. The lady who walked in walked immediately to her left so she wouldn't be in the way of anyone else coming in or out of the doors. She was standing with her back facing me, to the right of me right by my knees, and really close to me, almost touching. I felt a pressure on my leg and looked up to see that she was touching my purse that was on my knee. I looked up at her and then I saw that in her other hand she had a walking stick. She was blind. I don't think she was totally blind, because she had really thick glasses on and because later we made eye contact, but still, she was blind. My purse is made of a plastic-ish material so I'm sure she was trying to figure out what the heck it was. Because her back was facing me she had no idea that I was there. I figured that if I moved my purse to the ground and adjusted myself she would figure out what was up. But I was wrong. For one split second she removed her hand from my purse, and that is when I made the move to put it on the ground. After that she went back looking for it. She lightly put her fingers right on my knee. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, and I looked up at a lady who was sitting across the room from me and we just both looked at each other like "uuuuhhhhhhhh". Then it happened, and it happened so fast that I couldn't stop it. She put more pressure on her fingers and quickly ran them up my leg. By the time she made it to mid-thigh, she realized what was happening. She quickly withdrew her hand then then turned and looked at me and said "Oh my goodness....I am so sorry!"</div>
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She kept apologizing and I kept reassuring her that it was okay and I'm sure it was just as embarrassing for her as it was for me, if not more, but really I was just thinking "where the hell is Rick?!" A nice gentlemen moved his chair out for her to sit in but she didn't want to move to sit in it, she wanted to sit where she was standing, right by my legs. She sat down and he came and sat in the chair next to me and no matter how I sat I was touching both of them. I had had enough physical contact with strangers for one day and I started to panic wondering where Rick was. He finally appeared and looked at me like "why are you sitting so close to both of those people when there are 10 other empty chairs in this room?" And I looked at him like "help me!" I had to step over the lady's legs to get out from this little corner I was trapped in, and as soon as we made it out the door and down the hallway I had to sit down from laughing while I told him what had just happened to me.</div>
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Whenever they call us to tell us his contacts are ready, he's going back by himself.<br />
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Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-65016650079004686342012-10-31T13:38:00.001-06:002012-10-31T22:26:43.984-06:00Why I'm Divorcing RickOkay, not really, but last night Rick did something that made me angrier at him than I've ever been.<br />
<br />
It was 4:00 in the morning. We were both in a dead sleep. Normally when he sleep talks it's quiet and he moves around beforehand so I know it's coming. This was loud, and sudden, so I knew he wasn't sleep talking. <br />
<br />
"Woah! What is that?" He sounded scared. I was instantly awake and my heart was pounding. I thought someone or something was in the room with us. <br />
<br />
"Rick?"<br />
<br />
"WHAT IS THAT?!" He screamed in sheer terror. I've never heard him scream like that before, and I just knew we were about to be murdered. <br />
<br />
"WHAT?! RICK?!?!" I have never heard myself scream like that either. I hoped that we were both at least screaming loud enough to wake someone up and have them call 911. If the paramedics got there fast enough maybe we would survive whatever was about to happen to us. Tears were streaming down my fear stricken face. I was grabbing Rick's shoulder and shaking him violently, waiting for something to happen. <br />
<br />
Then, he laughed. <br />
<br />
"Rick?"<br />
<br />
"What?"<br />
<br />
"What just happened?"<br />
<br />
"Oh, boys and girls are just different about this kinda stuff."<br />
<br />
Now I'm not scared. Now I'm pissed. I continued to shake him and call his name. Usually I can just say his name or give him a slight nudge and he'll snap out of it. This time he just wouldn't wake up. He kept coming in and out of sleep. I tried explaining to him over and over what had happened, and he kept forgetting it. It was like he was coming off of anesthesia. I laid in bed until 4:30 when we had to get up and take a friend to the airport. Once he was up and awake, I asked him what he had dreamed about, he said "trains, probably" but he couldn't remember anything about his dream, I asked him if he remembered what happened or if he remembered us screaming, he didn't. Normally his sleep talking lines up with his dreams and he remembers it. <br />
<br />
And on Halloween of all days. <br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-71726847457622456762012-10-14T02:14:00.000-06:002012-10-31T22:27:10.649-06:00Procrastinating Right now I am supposed to be finishing up one of my last big school projects that is due on Sunday night. I just can't seem to work up the motivation to get the dang (I'm way better at not swearing lately, so damn proud of myself) thing finished. So instead I have watched the new episodes of Modern Family and 30 Rock, polished off a box of cereal, made cookies, and now here I am writing this blog.<br />
<br />
I have a lot to blog about. We've been to Arizona, Sea World, Utah, and Rick had a birthday. I tried to change my blog background and I somehow ruined everything. I've got it kind of fixed but not really. I just want it to be all one solid color, no boxes, so that when I put my large pictures up they don't overlap the stuff on my side bar. No idea how to fix it. Anyone have any ideas? Cause it's driving me crazy.<br />
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I deleted my Facebook recently because <strike>I hate everyone</strike> it's a positive energy sucking black hole. I understand that it's Political season, and I think that people should care about politics and should pay attention and have an opinion, but seriously, what does anyone accomplish by posting political crap on Facebook? Do people honestly think that they are going to change someone's political opinion by sharing a photo of someone running for President with a quote or "fact"? The only thing this does is invites people of the opposing party to argue with you. The best is when people post something about politics and then get mad when people disagree. Really, what did you think would happen? And then they're like "This is MY Facebook, I can say what I want!" When you post something as arguable as politics on your Facebook, you are inviting everyone to disagree with you. It's a social networking site, not your <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1211&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=KZ32QtP-r1CicM:&imgrefurl=http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp%3FproductId%3D11004856&docid=PhEKeKKlDa-aYM&imgurl=http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/media/trus/Aplusplus/2011/Updates/11004856/password-journal-7-11004856-01.jpg&w=350&h=400&ei=GUF5ULPKFYL5rQGG5oHoBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=117&vpy=269&dur=659&hovh=240&hovw=210&tx=112&ty=140&sig=105784397106581881416&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=123&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:105">password journal</a> (remember those?) If you want to make a difference in this Country, vote.<br />
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I also deleted my Facebook because it was such a huge waste of time. I told Rick that this is going to be the only time in my life where I am jobless, kid less, and in a foreign land. I hate that I'm wasting time. The day after I deleted it we found a "mountain" (so cute when the locals call hills mountains) and went hiking. It was awesome except we forgot mosquito repellent (also known as "skeeter don't" by everyone here) and the mosquitoes here are the size of birds. I'm not sure if these are mosquito bites or boils. But it still felt good to do something fun and worth while, even though we were right by a swamp and I could barely breathe. Which brings me to my next topic, Arkansas is not my favorite place. Some days I like it here and some days I want to go home, but I'm not sure exactly where home is. I think it's somewhere in Arizona. I find myself increasingly homesick for my nanny family. I miss Chad's food, talking to Christy everyday, but mostly I miss those sweet boys. Even on my absolute worst days with them, I would go home to Rick and tell him how much I love that family. They gave me something to love about Arizona when Team Brimhall was facing it's darkest moments. They saved us.<br />
<br />
Our apartment contract is up next week. Rick is going back to AZ for a few days to go pack up all of our stuff and put it in storage. I'm not going with him because his ticket is free (paid for by the railroad) but we'd have to buy mine, and I don't want to spend the money just so I can do the one thing I hate most in this world - move. We will be saving a lot of money by not having to pay rent, utilities, etc. which is awesome, but I'm also anxious about it because we will technically be homeless. All of our stuff will be in a storage unit in Arizona and we'll be living here. It's still really weird to me that I live in a hotel. When we went to Arizona in August, Rick was able to go to the Ranch and see his parents after having not seen them for 2 years. While we were there we decided that whenever this Arkansas gig is up, we should move to Phoenix. Even though we both swore we'd never live there (go figure). If we live in Phoenix we will be closer to the Ranch and Rick's siblings by 2 hours, and Chad and Christy are moving to Phoenix in April. Rick will switch from working in the Tucson yard to the Phoenix yard, and he will have more seniority there because everybody hates working in Phoenix (120 degrees in the summer heat for 10 hours). I'm looking forward to whenever we go back to Arizona, and when we move this time it should be easy because all our stuff will already be boxed up and in storage, so it's already halfway done for us. Everybody wins. Except for Rick who has to go pack it all up by himself next week.<br />
<br />
We recently realized that we saw each other more when we were living in Arizona City and I was working full time than we do now that we're here. There he was working every other day or every 2 days for 8-10 hours. When he works here, he works at least 8 hours, plus an hour commute each way, so he's gone a minimum of 10 hours, usually 12, and sometimes 14. Every day. Days off are rare. I decided to volunteer at the Hospital here because, why not? It's a humongous Hospital, I get lost every single time I go. Right now they have me working in the surgical waiting area, where friends and families of patients wait for their loved one to come out of surgery. Most of the surgeries that are done are to remove tumors, and at least once a day it's an emergency surgery that someone needs because of something like a car accident. Emotions run high in this room. It's like in the movies. Someone is always crying, and I'm always within earshot of a Doctor delivering news that the cancer has spread or they weren't able to remove all of the tumor. When I ask people if they need anything they either say nothing or they beg me to check on the status of their loved ones surgery. It's very sad, and I can see the fear in their eyes. One old man was waiting for his wife to come out of surgery, and he was very worried about her. I had no way of helping him until I found a stash of word searches. If you're ever in a surgical waiting area, print off some word searches. Those things sell like hot cakes.<br />
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<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-57772595176215715432012-10-05T23:55:00.000-06:002012-10-06T03:20:51.809-06:00Just BarelyJust barely in his sleep Rick suddenly sat up and stuck his arms out like a Zombie. I was listening to music with headphones in so I couldn't hear him but I could see his lips moving. I took out the headphones and asked him what he needed. He mumbled something and the only thing I could make out was the word "people". I told him to speak up.<br />
<br />
Loudly, he said, "The people over there. Are they <i>in</i> the Nintendo?"<br />
<br />
Then he laid down and went back to sleep. I put my headphones back in and turned the music up a few notches. Seconds later, he sat up again and started waving his hands around trying to get my attention. He does this sometimes and it usually means he wants me to turn my music down because he can hear it and it's bugging him. I paused my music.<br />
<br />
"Sorry, is my music too loud?"<br />
<br />
"Do they even sell anything bigger than a 16 inch?"<br />
<br />
"....what?"<br />
<br />
"At the store, do they sell anything bigger than a 16 inch?"<br />
<br />
"What store?"<br />
<br />
"At drive-ups."<br />
<br />
"A 16 inch what?"<br />
<br />
"Whatever it is they sell at drive-ups."<br />
<br />
"What are you talking about?"<br />
<br />
"Oh, you're alright, it's just someones baking time."<br />
<br />
I can't wait for him to wake up tomorrow morning to ask him what he was talking about. His eyes were open during this entire conversation, too. Also, drive UPS? Who calls them that? If you're talking about movies it's a Drive-In, if it's food it's Drive-Thru. What the crap is a Drive UP? I've never heard him (or anyone) call it a drive-up before.<br />
<br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-30080120508859815252012-09-26T02:43:00.000-06:002012-09-26T02:47:32.626-06:00The WorstI am the worst person ever at keeping in touch.<br />
<br />
Everyday I think "I should call (insert friend or family member's name) but...maybe they're busy. I should probably just wait until they call me. I don't want to bother them." Which is so stupid of me to think because if I call someone and they are busy they can either just not answer the phone or schedule a better time to talk. Or what if they are like "I should call Jodi, but wait, I have kids/a job/both and she has none of those things so if she wants to talk then homegirl can call me." And I won't even be offended if people think that, because it's true, I have no job and Rick works everyday for 12-14 hours. <i>I've got some time on my hands</i>.<br />
<br />
I keep thinking "I need to ask Andrea about Disneyland" or "I need to call Lacey and tell her that I think I'm going to start a swear jar where I put $1 in a jar every time I swear and hopefully it'll rid me of this damn habit" but I usually think about this stuff when I'm at the grocery store and I am in no where near coordinated enough to talk on the phone and shop for everything on my list at the same time. I see Mom's with 4 kids talking on the phone and getting all their groceries at the same time without breaking a sweat. How is that even possible? The only time I call people when I'm grocery shopping is when I have to ask my mom where in the hell Walmart keeps coconut milk or when Rick and I get separated and we both start to panic. After I get home from grocery shopping I usually make dinner and then I'll turn on the TV and there will be a marathon on TLC of Honey Boo Boo Child and so obviously I will watch it. 5 hours later I will remember to call/text everyone but it's too late. Not like 10 pm too late, like 3 in the morning too late.<br />
<br />
I vow to be better at this. I miss my friends and family a lot lately. I was never this homesick when we lived in Arizona, but Arkansas is way different. Arkansas is a place where hopes, dreams, dental hygiene, and general well-being goes to die. I think part of the reason that I'm homesick is because it's getting cold here. I love Arizona because of the warmth, and because it never gets cold. I left Utah to escape the cold. And now it's cold here, but it's different cold. It's a humid cold, which is worse. And every time I get cold I get angry and I think "IF I'M GOING TO BE COLD I MIGHT AS WELL BE IN UTAH." And then Rick gets a look on his face like "what have I done to deserve this life?"<br />
<br />
If you are one of those friends/family members who is like "I should call Jodi, but what if she's busy?" I'm not. Call me. Or text me. Or email me. Or Skype me.<br />
<br />
P.S. We finally got a toaster oven. I had been looking for some but they were like $100 and gigantic. Like half the size of a regular oven. I have very limited counter space. But I was at the store and I found a perfect sized one for $20. It can barely fit a 9X9 pan in it but it's still perfect. I've finally been able to bake, and it's made living here a lot more bearable. I told myself that while I was here I wanted to try all the recipes I had seen on Pinterest, and I've actually been able to make a lot of new things. Some have been awful, but some are the kind of meals that get passed down from generation to generation. Our favorite meal is <a href="http://www.jamhands.net/2008/12/mexican-chicken-casserole.html">DORITO CHICKEN</a>. The secret ingredient is, you guessed it, Doritos. When a recipe calls for Doritos, you don't second guess it.<br />
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<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-89481922948787034502012-08-23T04:32:00.002-06:002012-08-23T04:33:13.568-06:00I'm Forgetting How to Blog.<strike>My mom frequently badgers me </strike>I feel like I should blog more about the day to day stuff like I used to, but I also feel like our lives are too boring or weird. Most of the blogs I read are about people who have kids that are growing up or they're decorating their houses with crafts they saw on Pinterest. Then there's me, blogging about how pissed I am that our hotel room doesn't have an oven.<br />
<br />
I really, really miss ovens. I didn't even bake that much when I had one, but that was mostly because I didn't need to. When we were in Arizona I was working and I would eat lunch and dinner with my nanny boys 5 days a week. Then on my weekends we would go out to dinner for date night. And the other night of the week we'd eat leftovers or maybe I would make dinner. All my life I never thought I was a good cook. My mom would make us take turns helping with dinner, and I would do just fine and I had a few recipes that I carried with me onto married life. (I can heat up a Stouffers lasagna like it's nobodies business.) But I always think about how my mom worked full time and went to school to get her degree and raised teenagers but would still make foods from scratch like her homemade cinnamon rolls. (By the way, mom, can you send me that recipe? Oh wait nevermind because I DON'T HAVE AN OVEN.) When we moved here I told Rick I wanted to try to become a good cook because I want to be the mom that my mom was and because lets be real, I don't have a job, I've got some time to kill. Although I don't have an oven, I have mastered the art of the crock pot. The best part is that it's SO EASY. Rick thinks I'm a genius. He really thinks that I've transformed into Julia Child but really it's all the crock pots doing, I'm just really good at googling/pinning crock pot recipes. I no longer buy boxes of food, I buy <i>ingredients</i>. Due to lack of cupboard space/the desire to plan meals ahead and the fact that Walmart is within walking distance of our hotel, I go to Walmart probably 4-5 times a week to buy food for dinner every night. I ask Rick what he wants, go get the ingredients, he leaves for work and when he comes home it looks like I've been slaving away in the kitchen all day when really I've been watching all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights. And then he does the dishes. It's the perfect setup.<br />
<br />
Rick really is the best. He's been including me a lot more in his sleeptalking lately, so that's been a nice bonding experience for us. Instead of just saying something random he will ask me a question, tell me a story, or wake up frantically, grab his glasses and start freaking out and asking me in between panicked breaths "Are these my glasses? Do they look like mine?! LOOK! LOOK AT MY GLASSES CLOSELY! THESE AREN'T MINE, THEY DON'T LOOK LIKE MINE, THESEARENOTMYGLASSES!" Through experience, I've found out that the best way to handle these situations is NOT to throw a pillow at him and tell him to shut up. Instead, I <strike>laugh so freaking hard</strike> calmly explain that they are, in fact, his glasses. He will then say "These are not mine, I think they got switched at the airport, someone else has my glasses." Then I ask realistic questions like "How the hell would you have switched your glasses at the airport?" To which he responds "I don't know, maybe I took them off like to take a nap or something." At this point, there is nothing left to do but give him a hug and wish for the best. Usually this wakes him up completely and he realizes what has just happened. Then we laugh until we're crying. I had to stop in the middle of this story to take this picture...<br />
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Bless his heart.<br />
<br />
His Birthday is next month. This isn't just any birthday, this is his 30th birthday. I have no idea what to get him. I was going to get him a new TV but then we moved to Arkansas and we have a big TV in our hotel room so there is no point in getting one now. I keep asking him what he wants and he keeps saying "whatever." Truth is, I could get him absolutely nothing for his birthday and he wouldn't mind, but every year on his birthday I turn into a bawl baby and we talk about his adoption and how thankful we are that his biological mom made the brave choice to put him up for adoption and how wonderful his parents are for adopting him and then I buy him anything he wants. So really it's just us sitting around crying and eating chocolate cake like a couple of teenage girls and then going to DI so he can buy unnecessary wires (he has baskets of wires for everything you could possibly imagine). Today he did tell me "Hey, we should go to Alabama!" And he was serious. I guess there is some art exhibit there or something that he wants to go see. So for his 30th Birthday we are taking a road trip to Alabama. I'm going to go ahead and add that to the list of things I never thought I'd say.<br />
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I'm doing well in school. I've liked all of my classes so far and I really like the ones I'm taking right now. Online schooling is so amazing, there is no way I could be doing a regular college with how much we're moving around. I've traveled from Arizona to Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah, and California all while being able to stay in school and keep my grades up. Online schooling is the best invention. That, and crock pots.<br />
<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-83307752406807985742012-07-31T01:47:00.001-06:002012-07-31T01:47:35.440-06:00NashvilleSo I kind of have this fascination/borderline obsession with fish. I could watch fish swim all day, and when I say it like that I realize it sounds like the most boring thing in the world and it probably is, but it's so fun and relaxing to me. When I was a kid my family went to Hawaii and all I wanted to do there was snorkel so I could swim with the fish. I didn't care about sight seeing, or food, or doing all the normal touristy stuff, I just wanted to be with the fish. So everyday I snorkeled, and it was awesome. I love to go to aquariums, and we just decided that we're going to San Diego next week and we're going to Sea World and now I can't sleep cause I'm so excited about it. So when I heard that there was a restaurant in Nashville where the walls were made of giant aquariums, I told Rick I didn't care what else we did in Nashville, but we were absolutely going to go to that restaurant. It was the first thing we did when we got there and it did not disappoint.<br />
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I'm pretty sure we didn't talk at all during dinner, cause I was just sitting there hypnotized by watching the fish/sharks/stingrays/eels. The food was good (because neither of us ordered seafood because seafood is gross), and I don't understand why seafood restaurants can do stuff like this. If you went to KFC and you got to watch all the chickens in the back walk around and then you ordered a bucket of wings wouldn't PETA be all over that? It's just weird to me that you can go to a restaurant like this and you can see the signs that tell you to please don't tap on the glass cause it scares the fish but don't worry cause you're gonna eat Nemo in just a few minutes. I was bummed that we were only able to go to the restaurant once, but someday I'll go back.<br />
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The next night we walked around downtown Nashville and found the best BBQ place ever. Like in the whole world, probably.<br />
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Then it was onto shopping, sight seeing, trying not to get lost in a sea of drunken cowboys, and enjoying the music.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>We stood and listened to this guy for about 10 minutes. <br />The whole time he didn't stop rapping. He made up raps about all the people walking by.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Dance off. I'm serious. It was like we were in a musical.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>A few seconds after this picture was taken a guy that was hiding in a tree jumped over me <br />and started dancing. <br />Awesome, but also terrifying.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Don't worry, we left a good tip.</i></span></td></tr>
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Afterward we went back to the hotel and for the first and last time ever we ordered room service. It was good, but not $50 good.<br />
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So that wraps up the anniversary celebration. It was a fun trip and it was nice to go somewhere we had never been before. Rick's favorite part of the whole thing was when I surprised him with an iPad. I can only get him to genuinely smile in pictures where an Apple product is involved.<br />
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<br />Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-14310608974107890392012-07-24T15:11:00.000-06:002012-07-24T15:18:48.865-06:00Anniversary in Memphis<div style="text-align: left;">
Memphis is only about 2 hours from Little Rock, so our plan was to go to Memphis, spend the night, then the next day drive another 3 hours to Nashville. Nashville was fun, but Memphis was my favorite. It was a very pretty drive the whole way there. Memphis is right on the border of Arkansas and Tennessee. As we were passing over the state line, we drove across a big river. The only river I'm familiar with is the Provo river, which takes 3 steps to get across. Arkansas has a big river here that is beautiful and I love to watch them raise the bridges to let the boats go under. So when we passed this big river in Tennessee I asked Rick which River it was. He didn't know, but our hotel overlooked the river so we could ask the people at the front desk. Turns out it was the Mississippi river. Yep, we made reservations at a hotel called the River Inn that overlooked the river and we didn't even know it was the Mississippi river. I told the guy at the front desk we had never been here before (to try to somehow redeem ourselves and possibly make us look less like idiots) and he looked at me like "you've never been where before? America? Bless your hearts."</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Our hotel room view. Right on the Mississippi River, you might have heard of it before.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Watching the sun set.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Rick carved our initials into the bench we sat on.</i></span><br />
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We were told that Beale street was the place to go in Memphis. We went and happened to be there on a Wednesday night which is bike night. Everyone brings their motorcycle and parks it along the road. I texted this picture to my mom and told her to show my dad. He and my brothers would have loved this.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Carriage Ride around Memphis.</i></span></td></tr>
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3 years already, I can't believe it. Happy Anniversary to us!</div>
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<br /></div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-64525865668347960492012-07-01T22:23:00.000-06:002012-07-24T15:21:16.656-06:00National Civil Rights MuseumWe did a lot of things for our Anniversary, and we went from Little Rock to Memphis to Nashville. So I'm going to break them up into a few different posts. First up, the National Civil Rights Museum. Some of the guys Rick works with had been to Memphis the week earlier and they told us to go. It was only a few minutes away from our hotel so we decided to stop by after we checked out. I figured that we would learn a little more about History and see some cool stuff, but I sure didn't expect it to bring both of us to tears. More than once.<br />
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The Museum was built on and around the Lorrain Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The wreath marks the spot where MLK was standing when he received the shot that killed him.</i></span></td></tr>
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I don't know why, but seeing this really hit me. And this phrase has stuck with me ever since I've seen it. I think about it often. This was on the ground as you walk into the museum.<br />
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You know when you go to museums and there is that one elderly couple with the headphones on stopping to look at every single display and read every single piece of information instead of just skipping to the good stuff like everyone else? We were that couple. We had the headsets and everything. It took us a good 3 hours to go through the entire museum. We listened to every story, looked at every picture, and read every word.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_x2Kv4T2IjcCPy7IQrBXqS6YXWEgdclllhd2I5GZgXCiTptAEXRxT36Pm6FBaJuHt267RjYS-k3WvUvMU2AanDqjjkCUjZif7YrqkIhIc8UXvRr0Mob5I75xWlfw6zKtIYEqLSEWg_OM/s1600/IMG_1054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_x2Kv4T2IjcCPy7IQrBXqS6YXWEgdclllhd2I5GZgXCiTptAEXRxT36Pm6FBaJuHt267RjYS-k3WvUvMU2AanDqjjkCUjZif7YrqkIhIc8UXvRr0Mob5I75xWlfw6zKtIYEqLSEWg_OM/s640/IMG_1054.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Rosa Parks. They had a bus there and had these mannequins to show where she and others were sitting.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVqrcqIsNfmCHmGJWy5R-O34P5z02o6YUGgoDJDSJBQSRm_IKoBz3svORn6afhqLtIKcoHKJgIeRJghz5Rp2SXz31_803TJqOpUoqXSsDid3A47tLRfqHvUCTjEI_MMaakqvV4SBmcjM/s1600/IMG_1055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVqrcqIsNfmCHmGJWy5R-O34P5z02o6YUGgoDJDSJBQSRm_IKoBz3svORn6afhqLtIKcoHKJgIeRJghz5Rp2SXz31_803TJqOpUoqXSsDid3A47tLRfqHvUCTjEI_MMaakqvV4SBmcjM/s640/IMG_1055.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Bus Riots.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprGFT73TY6IZjihk40opVZfZoMqVZv17pkV34jFdhturB2zLYz1r-j7tm09YVUYsDEZ4BUj3vAJf1sJ9meMr0_3zI6Tp9GVZvWXWcleleGVrKfyagSCPGm9cmzoDAzn8pp1P7Y3XuWfQ/s1600/IMG_1057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprGFT73TY6IZjihk40opVZfZoMqVZv17pkV34jFdhturB2zLYz1r-j7tm09YVUYsDEZ4BUj3vAJf1sJ9meMr0_3zI6Tp9GVZvWXWcleleGVrKfyagSCPGm9cmzoDAzn8pp1P7Y3XuWfQ/s640/IMG_1057.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>"If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public: if he cannot send his children to the best public school available: if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him: if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?" - President John F. Kennedy.</i></span></td></tr>
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We weren't allowed to have the flash on our cameras, but this was a little phone booth where you could hear actual recorded conversations between President John F. Kennedy and the Governor of Alabama.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5USBhEC0ejdL_yF376f4Pe0JyGLx1DO6worsWt3Mae34XhfO1xAsI7QhCqTZL6CGOkDWmN-0KR_UIHz5scm2xzTUaBUV8lBx6VhAyCjzw6Yyv-q-g0-f36zBtkTr5VcKtegj1szYgWQ/s1600/IMG_1060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5USBhEC0ejdL_yF376f4Pe0JyGLx1DO6worsWt3Mae34XhfO1xAsI7QhCqTZL6CGOkDWmN-0KR_UIHz5scm2xzTUaBUV8lBx6VhAyCjzw6Yyv-q-g0-f36zBtkTr5VcKtegj1szYgWQ/s640/IMG_1060.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>This was a very large wheel that you could spin to simulate what a black citizen of Mississippi's chance to register to vote was.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>My result.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>MLK's hotel room.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The balcony where he was shot.</i></span></td></tr>
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After you went through the part of the museum that was connected to the hotel, you could go across the street to where James Earl Ray was staying and the window he fired the shots from.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The bathroom where James Earl Ray was staying.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The gun that changed History.</i></span></td></tr>
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Of all the the things we saw, this KKK robe was the most disturbing. We stood in front of it with knots in our stomachs for several minutes. We kept asking each other how does stuff like this happen? How do you get to this point? Around the robe were pictures of members of the KKK marching with burning crosses, and children in white robes marching behind them. One of the kids couldn't have been more than 3 years old. Obviously, that child had no idea what he was doing, and is not responsible for that, but what kind of man did that little boy grow up to be? It goes back to the picture in the brick outside of the museum doors - "Nobody's born a bigot." Nobody is born a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a religionist, a bully, or a hater. We teach people to be that way. We spend our whole lives trying to teach kids what to be, but isn't that the problem? I think we can learn from them more than we can teach them.<br />
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If you go to the National Civil Rights Museum, you gotta get the t-shirts! We actually didn't get them, but thought it was cool enough to take a picture.</div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-17427139244631388862012-06-25T22:08:00.000-06:002012-06-25T22:08:41.420-06:00SleeptalkingRick started talking in his sleep last night. Big surprise. But this time I had my phone handy so I started recording. Turn the volume up for this one cause he mumbles and you can barely hear him. But I'll add the captions below the video. This happened because he asked me what was wrong and I said I couldn't sleep.<br />
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Rick: This track.</div>
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Jodi: What track?</div>
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Rick: This track, the one that we're on.</div>
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Jodi: What track are we on?</div>
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Rick: I don't know, something, something with East.</div>
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Jodi: What are we doing on the track?</div>
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Rick: We're going home.</div>
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Jodi: We're going home? Where's home?</div>
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Rick: mmm....Oklahoma.</div>
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Jodi: Oklahoma is home? <b>*laughing but slightly horrified*</b></div>
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<br /></div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-61370619267184839502012-06-24T04:05:00.003-06:002012-06-24T07:18:46.892-06:00Hotel HomeThe last few weeks have been a blur. I got back to Arizona from my trip to Arkansas and had 3 weeks of work, school, and getting ready to move. I'm pretty sure people think we're crazy. Normally when people ask you where you will be living the answer is not "in a hotel" and when they ask how long you'll be there the answer is not "I don't know." If someone gave me those answers I would think they were liars, runaway teens, or in trouble with the law. I promise this is legitimate. Since we are living in a hotel I only brought my clothes. So really this was the easiest move ever for us. 3 bags was all it took. We still have our apartment in Arizona. The one good thing about that dust bowl of a town is that the housing there is really cheap. So we are keeping all of our stuff in our apartment for now.<br />
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The hotel we're staying at is brand new. Like it isn't even on google maps yet. A brand new hotel means no cooties anywhere. Best news ever.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbHUxDO4-WXjHRhBYocTtGvk7jbLw-h8Z-bOla27qqldaK6qHkCCTMFoyYgEboHFfsitQ0qksrGGOjOaIVWNfSfQCG0z9UK6s-jM-iLnV6P3vXGeTPvhBLArJD_x9zRZ8_-lnAuwXmAg/s1600/IMG_1216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbHUxDO4-WXjHRhBYocTtGvk7jbLw-h8Z-bOla27qqldaK6qHkCCTMFoyYgEboHFfsitQ0qksrGGOjOaIVWNfSfQCG0z9UK6s-jM-iLnV6P3vXGeTPvhBLArJD_x9zRZ8_-lnAuwXmAg/s640/IMG_1216.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view when you first walk in. I love the long desk with the built in dresser. There is room for all our computer stuff. The plastic bin under the TV is my dresser. We're pretty fancy.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9XMHcMs9ozCXLmKxOAJF3aMFvDwFStRlXKPOQrTeLyFnEDpGgWVgCgw1TnMgBTakQa2N8qYISGGdCICjM6slx-yZC5FBNUAGMTeKI-pyjJoFKXIe0Y5pWgMM7isxmRFZEgboxmDrUKQ/s1600/IMG_1217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9XMHcMs9ozCXLmKxOAJF3aMFvDwFStRlXKPOQrTeLyFnEDpGgWVgCgw1TnMgBTakQa2N8qYISGGdCICjM6slx-yZC5FBNUAGMTeKI-pyjJoFKXIe0Y5pWgMM7isxmRFZEgboxmDrUKQ/s640/IMG_1217.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kitchen. Not just part of the kitchen, the ENTIRE kitchen. The dishwasher is broken so that's fun, but everything else I love. Especially the cupboards. I want those same cupboards in my house someday.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuVu0CapI2RGX0lcoZ5N4BAKOI0MKgI9aMldsZBo-YamV1K7mWrPBdwJmi7ue9JqweE9lspVq463GDC_a47-PEUi5lmyl19VuHIICjCHb7BnM4kwT-QDxfHQLxUdDRhBSGU708gZGNLLo/s1600/IMG_1214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuVu0CapI2RGX0lcoZ5N4BAKOI0MKgI9aMldsZBo-YamV1K7mWrPBdwJmi7ue9JqweE9lspVq463GDC_a47-PEUi5lmyl19VuHIICjCHb7BnM4kwT-QDxfHQLxUdDRhBSGU708gZGNLLo/s640/IMG_1214.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King sized bed! After this, I can't go back to a queen. I just can't. Just barely Rick did his famous steam-roller move and he didn't even elbow me in the face. Magical.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAfw16bbk0IWibVkMZ8I6VU-_EXOYlBwCSCRO46wVbyhV2OlQQWF7TTz3FiyGHeOa0JaSMmy8HQQbd9EIMjwwY58ZsQi8yC5FP46uk1bNgpI6YIVfHYR0CEMrlm32KRKBrzX8no6t36w/s1600/IMG_1218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAfw16bbk0IWibVkMZ8I6VU-_EXOYlBwCSCRO46wVbyhV2OlQQWF7TTz3FiyGHeOa0JaSMmy8HQQbd9EIMjwwY58ZsQi8yC5FP46uk1bNgpI6YIVfHYR0CEMrlm32KRKBrzX8no6t36w/s640/IMG_1218.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bathroom is about twice as big as my bathroom in Arizona, and has twice the cupboard space. </td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdBDlELBuzCS3R1cPkHK88Qvu6sen8u7kXp9aUk42v7ATy4VeczZmya0k5svcdgykFubRNoDgcB05FJB3-LiU6Qtm8Mmvo25Ud8tkknkI0iOgXJnTpU0EpC7SLnUzDkcTECoziGe-jzM/s1600/IMG_1219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdBDlELBuzCS3R1cPkHK88Qvu6sen8u7kXp9aUk42v7ATy4VeczZmya0k5svcdgykFubRNoDgcB05FJB3-LiU6Qtm8Mmvo25Ud8tkknkI0iOgXJnTpU0EpC7SLnUzDkcTECoziGe-jzM/s640/IMG_1219.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love it.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVne7dJKQaEHNvd2QAMjz2ja_3nfDGxZUXhz9uCO3NLnNgVLNs7AWSiagISJb3SzpxkD5Y2l4Wr5SRkx6LHBHO9XPuyhGKw0RCoyWzH5dnDS053rwMjv1-izz1eM4lt8cqLQKe880DCWA/s1600/IMG_1220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVne7dJKQaEHNvd2QAMjz2ja_3nfDGxZUXhz9uCO3NLnNgVLNs7AWSiagISJb3SzpxkD5Y2l4Wr5SRkx6LHBHO9XPuyhGKw0RCoyWzH5dnDS053rwMjv1-izz1eM4lt8cqLQKe880DCWA/s640/IMG_1220.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I hate toilet shots but this is to show how big the mirror is.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi229TbQysVKU-fBUI4GZBkDOu58J-ZMQY4iMQwB3J5Cps_1BFEv3mGK-Ej9OPsnt03Yf_fVAsw4iaUDr9isWEcA5EEKFcU4xNehmp17hh2xn_Voxsb7EyJ5PgV1AemshsnZrKhUOi6OK8/s1600/IMG_1215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi229TbQysVKU-fBUI4GZBkDOu58J-ZMQY4iMQwB3J5Cps_1BFEv3mGK-Ej9OPsnt03Yf_fVAsw4iaUDr9isWEcA5EEKFcU4xNehmp17hh2xn_Voxsb7EyJ5PgV1AemshsnZrKhUOi6OK8/s640/IMG_1215.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view. I like to lay in bed at night with the window open to have the fluorescent lights from the Walmart sign shine into the room. So romantic.</td></tr></tbody></table>This hotel also has a pool, hot tub, BBQ area, gym, and laundry room. I told Rick that everyday I want to make a new recipe from Pinterest, but then I realized I don't care if it's from Pinterest I just want to make something new everyday. Which will probably turn into make something new a few times a week but just cook everyday. So far so good but we don't have an oven so I've been crock-potting like it's nobodies business. They have toaster ovens you can use here but isn't that just for heating stuff up? Or can I actually bake a cake in a toaster oven?<br />
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</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyV7T4HXekFR7LnhqzTYyOy7-hzTLi1yIRZVVrqbq9H8Fqd6BF3Chh4QvfEQVWXnF80tAOrdymlzIkPvHDrHRmEpTRQxYD4qkO19ZCHo1dXDTd-yh91PSyUdkfHDXs3kSWD6Yuq-ZJbwo/s1600/IMG_1205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyV7T4HXekFR7LnhqzTYyOy7-hzTLi1yIRZVVrqbq9H8Fqd6BF3Chh4QvfEQVWXnF80tAOrdymlzIkPvHDrHRmEpTRQxYD4qkO19ZCHo1dXDTd-yh91PSyUdkfHDXs3kSWD6Yuq-ZJbwo/s640/IMG_1205.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's actually really pretty here if you just overlook the swamps. </td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cZrbEOikqXNEDaGacqKjk2bJFibZ0mK3iGTEErpuc_YkMH29U0diKoO0-GmO-8Z5ttNbfqQTeAJp7uSobxdUZQgjGMPp4lDXsqP4JTdXsvtwW3EbSrnS5-vpjVrnEqg02RikqiHdU0Q/s1600/IMG_1204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cZrbEOikqXNEDaGacqKjk2bJFibZ0mK3iGTEErpuc_YkMH29U0diKoO0-GmO-8Z5ttNbfqQTeAJp7uSobxdUZQgjGMPp4lDXsqP4JTdXsvtwW3EbSrnS5-vpjVrnEqg02RikqiHdU0Q/s640/IMG_1204.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Arkansas River.</td></tr></tbody></table>Besides the humidity that hasn't even really started yet and the swamp smells, I like it here. It's very green. Such a nice change from the desert. Even when you get into the busy city you can look in every direction and just see green.<br />
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</div><div>Since I flew here, I left my car in Arizona for my In-Laws to use. Rick has his car out here, but he takes it to work everyday. I didn't really like that my options would be to either be stranded in a hotel while he was at work or take him to work and pick him up everyday when it's an hour drive one way. We have been talking about buying a new car forever because ours are both hanging on by a thread. So, for my birthday, Rick got me this beaut.<br />
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Lastly, a few month ago I started a Twitter account as a place to record all the things that Rick says and does in his sleep. Normally he would wake me up by talking and I would go back to sleep and forget about it. Now I just grab my phone and update it. You can follow it on twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ricksdreamworld">www.twitter.com/ricksdreamworld</a> OR you can just look at the side of the blog because I'm going to keep it on here from now on.</div></div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-49375529460216351752012-06-01T02:02:00.000-06:002012-06-01T02:03:02.148-06:00Oh, the Places You'll Go!After 45 days of being apart, I went to Arkansas to visit Rick for a week. It was wonderful and I finally felt like myself again when we were together. We did a lot of fun things and celebrated our 3rd Anniversary (more blog posts on that later). The Railroad puts you through a lot of uncertainties and decisions for the early stages of your career, and we have certainly been no exception to this rule. At first Rick was going to be there just the 90 days, then 2 weeks after he arrived, Tucson started requesting that those employees who were in Little Rock come back. We had no idea how long Rick was going to be out there. Now, Tucson has plenty of employees and are putting them all to work, and Little Rock is desperate for workers. With a borrow out, you have to stay there for 90 days but you can stay longer if you'd' like. Most guys don't because they have wives and kids who need them back at home. One of the guys asked the management how long he could stay in Little Rock. The management said they needed people until 2014. After a lot of going back and forth and "but what if"s, we decided that I'm going to quit my job and move to Arkansas to be with Rick, and he's going to work out there for as long as he can.<br />
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I just bought my 1 way ticket to Arkansas, and I leave in a little over 2 weeks. I gave Chad and Christy my 2 week notice, and I am so sad to be leaving my nanny family. I love them so much. This move is not permanent (at least for now, who knows what other adventures Rick's job will bring), but we have no idea how long we will be out there. Could be 3 months could be 6 months could be a year. We will leave all of our stuff in Arizona and just bring clothes. When you go on a borrow out the railroad pays for you to live in a hotel, so that will be my new home sweet home. Luckily the hotel that we are staying at has a kitchenette. Full size fridge, a sink, dishwasher, cupboards, dishes, stove top, and microwave. We will get a toaster oven and a crock pot. If the hotel didn't have these things, I seriously don't think I could do it. Months without a kitchen? No way.</div>
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The best part about all of this, besides being able to live with Rick again, is that every 26 days he gets a guaranteed 4 days off, and we can use those 4 days to plan little trips. He already had his first 4 days off when I came out, and for his next time off we will be headed to Utah for the 4th of July. You have no idea how happy this makes me. I'll be damned if I have to <a href="http://teambrimhall.blogspot.com/2011/07/charlie-brown-4th-of-july.html">relive last years 4th of July</a>. No way.</div>
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I can't wait to be with this handsome guy again. I'm a little nervous because I don't know what I'll do all day. Luckily I still have my online schooling to do. And I keep telling Rick that I'll go fishing while he's at work. He thinks I'm kidding. I'm not. I will also be able to fill up my free time by trying to manage my curly hair in 100% humidity. I was only out there for a week but I started to look like Monica from friends when she went to Barbados.</div>
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If things get too bad I can always just do what she did. I'm sure Rick wouldn't be embarrassed by me.</div>
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<br /></div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-52449220009294758202012-05-18T00:26:00.002-06:002012-05-18T00:30:39.600-06:00The Fall of the BirdsA few weeks ago I was driving to work on the freeway. The speed limit was 75mph and I've discovered that if you go 82 mph you can fly by the highway patrolman and they won't even blink. So I set my cruise control at 82 mph. I was enjoying my loud music when out of the corner of my eye I see a bird flying towards my car. I watched as this very large bird flew headfirst, as fast and hard as it could, into the bottom of my windshield. The same windshield that was traveling at 82 miles an hour. I screamed. It rolled off the windshield and off my car and I watched it in my rear view mirror as it landed on the road, rolled for a few feet and then came to a stop. It was dead the second it hit my windshield. I looked forward to where the bird had hit and in the middle of my windshield where the windshield meets the hood of the car was a nice fresh pile of bird guts, brains, feathers, and some green stuff? Neon green. Is that normal? Do birds have neon green blood? I wanted to get the crap off but I have less than stellar windshield wipers and I knew if I turned them on they'd just smear everything all over and then I'd probably freak out and throw up. I had to leave it where it was and I watched it the entire drive.<br />
<br />
I called Rick to tell him because, oh my gosh, a bird just dove into my car, but he didn't answer. Instead I replayed every horror movie I've ever seen and realized that it always starts with the birds. Before T-Rex comes - the birds fly away. Before the Meteor hits - the birds fly away. Before the earthquake - the birds fly away. Before the little girl crawls out of the well - the birds fly away. So what happens when the birds start to commit suicide? I can't imagine that it's anything good. If something terrible happens to me in the near future it was because of the birds. And if it's the kind of thing that turns into a movie then I'd like Jennifer Aniston to play me. I've always been told I look like her.<br />
<br />
Not.<br />
<br />
For Mother's Day this year I thought that it would be a nice surprise to get my mom a lovely bouquet of flowers. We're not really the flower giving type of family. I've seen my dad get my mom roses for Valentine's Day or Anniversaries, but it wasn't like we always had fresh flowers around. I figured she would be surprised to get flowers delivered from her out of state daughter. I heard about a website that had tons to choose from. I don't know what my mom's favorite flower is but I had my eye on a bouquet of 100 different brightly colored tulips. I texted my sister to ask her what my mom's favorite flower is. She said "I have no idea but I got her some tulips." Hmm, okay, glad I asked. I'll just get her something else. So I picked an arrangement of bright blue iris and light pink lilies. They looked beautiful together. Next I had to pick the vase (from about 5 different options), the card, and I put it in a package deal with chocolates and some beauty products. Perfect! I got everything ordered and sent off to Utah. It said it would be there on Saturday. That day I texted my mom and told her she had something coming to the house. She texted me when they arrived, told me how beautiful they were, and then sent me a picture of the flowers I sent her next to the flowers my sister sent her.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUPaDybOU6YgXUGPuTyO7qrNjQdfriwzJIHlT4p8GKy3_mrgXRyQBsDJNEOh16ElmK60pT_ccjgq52MKZ70I7p6__Lq2uskpOpu00aBv4uPxRN8Ys4hBqj8H2nGyptLdOkd13PVyJGIc/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUPaDybOU6YgXUGPuTyO7qrNjQdfriwzJIHlT4p8GKy3_mrgXRyQBsDJNEOh16ElmK60pT_ccjgq52MKZ70I7p6__Lq2uskpOpu00aBv4uPxRN8Ys4hBqj8H2nGyptLdOkd13PVyJGIc/s640/photo.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Same vase. Same green and white note. Same spa package. The only things different were the flowers (which almost didn't happen, good thing I asked my sister) and the cards. Does anybody need to borrow a green vase? Cause I think my mom has a couple.Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-82183740870423952832012-04-18T22:04:00.000-06:002012-04-20T14:28:53.958-06:00Arkansas y'allRick has been gone for a week and a half. I feel like I haven't seen him in 10 years. I also feel like my sanity is slowly draining. When I'm at work I'm talking to babies all day and then I go home and there is no one there to talk to. All my schooling is online so I don't get normal human interaction. I'm pretty sure I've called my mom everyday because I feel like if I don't get some type of adult conversation Rick will come home and be surprised to find that I've adopted 500 cats while he was away. I'm sure he'd love that.<br />
<br />
A few days after Rick left he told me that he loves the work in Arkansas and that they are planning on hiring 200 people this year and he wants to work there. We weighed our options and were seriously considering it. I hate decisions like these because there are pros and cons to staying and leaving and I feel like there is no right or wrong answer. The only strong feeling I felt was that I'd hate Arkansas which is totally ignorant because I've never even been there. When making lists of pros and cons to moving there I didn't even include anything important. It's more like "pro: I can make my kids say 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir' and it's not weird" and "con: they'll also say crap like 'y'all' and 'reckon' regularly and it's annoying me just to think about." So I told Rick it was all up to him to decide where we would live and a few days later he told me he wants to stay in Arizona for good but that he wants to extend his borrow out from 3 months to 6 months, maybe more. I know, it sounds awful, and it's already sucky for him to be gone 3 months, but the reason is that if he can work out there for 6 months we can buy a house when he gets back. We already have an area in mind that we'd like to live. The day after we decided this I stopped feeling sorry for myself and stopped googling cat names/shelters/YouTube videos. I'll give him to Arkansas for 6 months if I get a house out of it. I'm going out there in May for 10 days, he'll come home for 4 days in June, and I have a week off in July that I'll either spend in Utah or Arkansas. Not sure yet. After that he will come home every month for 4 days.<br />
<br />
I really would have liked to just quit my job and go with Rick, but then I think about how hard it was for me to find my job here and how much I love it and I probably couldn't just quit my job for 6 months then ask them to take me back afterwards, so then I'd have to go through the job hunt all over again that made me crazy in the first place. Also the thought of living in a hotel for 6 months with no kitchen while Rick works everyday makes me YouTube more cat videos. It's not likely that I'd be able to find a job there to keep me busy. "Hi, I need a job but only for a few months. Also, I see on the resume that you need an address for me but I actually don't live here I live in a hotel. Would you hire me?"Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-5025798498049358052012-04-04T04:36:00.003-06:002012-04-04T22:31:03.809-06:00One YearOn St. Patrick's Day Rick and I realized that we had made the move from Provo to Tucson exactly one year ago that day. When we made the move on St. Patrick's day 2011 our truck broke down, we were averaging 9 miles per gallon and it took us 2 days to get there. This year for St. Patrick's Day we spent the night with my nanny boys while Chad and Christy went on a weekend getaway. That night there was a horrible wind storm knocking over everything outside and keeping me awake until 2:30 am. At 3:00 am the 2 little boys came into the bedroom to wake us up for the day. I put them back to bed and at 3:30 we were all asleep again until 5:50 when they woke us up for good. Rick and I decided to take turns napping while the other stayed up with the boys but then Rick got called to work and had to leave right away. The only other things I remember about that day were bathing the boys after lunch because they had made a huge mess, the 2 year old crying and when I went to find him he had stepped in a fresh pile of dog crap that was on the carpet, giving him another bath, putting them down for a nap and then cleaning up the poop. I have never in my life had more respect for stay at home Moms/Dads.<br />
<br />
I guess we don't have that "Irish Luck" that everybody talks about.<br />
<br />
This year that we've been in Arizona has been full of changes. It seems we finally got into a regular routine of things and now we've got some more changes coming our way, but these ones are good.<br />
<br />
Rick put in a bid for a borrow out in Little Rock, Arkansas. A borrow out is what happens when a place is desperate for workers and they bring them in from different areas of the country to work for them temporarily. They take you based off of seniority. Rick got the job and will leave on Saturday. They require you to be there for a minimum of 90 days, after that you have the option to leave but if you want to stay longer you can as long as they have work for you to do. Every 26 days they will fly you home for 4 days, so I'll at least get to see him once a month. We had taken time off of work and scheduled to go to Disneyland/Sea World for our anniversary in May but instead I will be going out to Arkansas for that week. We realized that so far we have been in a different state for each of our anniversaries - 1st was Utah, 2nd was Arizona, and now 3rd will be Arkansas. And thus, a tradition has been born.<br />
<br />
I will stay in Arizona and work while he's in Arkansas. A few months ago I felt the urge to go back to school. So I did. I'm currently enrolled at University of Phoenix doing the online Associates Elementary Education program. Let me just take a minute to talk about how much I love technology. I take my laptop with me to work and when the boys are napping I can do my homework. I can also do it from my iPhone. I went to Utah 3 weeks ago and while I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight I was getting my participation points in for the week. It's hard and it's a lot of work, but it's convenient. So with working and school I think I'll be able to keep myself pretty busy while Rick is gone.<br />
<br />
Lastly, I finally went to see a GI specialist after 7 years of nausea and vomiting that was getting worse, happening more frequently and lasting longer. Last year I had an abdominal ultrasound done and a HIDA scan done to make sure all my insides looked normal and to make sure my gallbladder was functioning properly. Everything looked good, which I know normally you would want to hear but I was getting sick of Doctors telling me I was fine and that "everything looks great!" or "sometimes we just throw up and we don't know why" because that didn't leave me with any answers. I had been leaving a bucket in my car so that I can throw up while I drive to work. That doesn't tell me that I'm fine. When I went to the ER last year the Doctor diagnosed me with Acid Reflux/GERD. When I went home and looked it up online the only symptom of GERD that I had was nausea and vomiting. She gave me an antacid but it didn't do anything for me. I've had a few Doctors give me prescriptions for Zofran which helps tremendously with the nausea, but again, it doesn't give me any answers it just covers up the symptoms. While we were sitting in the waiting room of the GI Doctor's office I was wondering if I would get any answers, or what if this was somehow all in my head? She called us back to the room and as I was telling her my symptoms she started asking me a lot of questions.<br />
<br />
Does this have a pattern? <i>It didn't used to but now it happens monthly. Like clockwork.</i><br />
How do you feel in between cycles of nausea and vomiting? <i>Completely fine.</i><br />
Do you get headaches when you get these flare ups? <i>I didn't used to but over the last few months I have been getting them.</i><br />
How long does the nausea and vomiting last? <i>4-7 days.</i><br />
Are you tired when this happens? <i>Ex-freaking-hausted.</i><br />
What is the pattern of your flare ups? <i>Wake up, barf, barf throughout the day, feel better by night time, eat.</i><br />
When did this start? <i>When I was 16.</i><br />
Have you been to the Hospital for this? <i>Yes, I went to the ER once.</i><br />
Did they do blood work? <i>Yes. It all came back normal.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
She sat in silence for a few minutes typing away at her computer before she turned to me and said -<br />
<br />
"It sounds like you have Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. Technically there is no way to officially diagnose anyone with this disease, but enough people have all the same symptoms that we can call it a disease. There is no way to test for it. The diseases that kill people are the ones that get all the attention and research, so the good news is that this isn't going to kill you, but since we don't know exactly what it is or what causes it there is no cure for it. You can go home and do some research online but you won't find much."<br />
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I was relieved just to have some validation and someone to tell me it wasn't all in my head - this is a real thing. She then said that there are some treatment options that I could try if I liked. She gave me a prescription that other people with CVS have had success with and then, of course, gave me Zofran for when the cycle hits. I decided to try the medication just to see how I felt on it and if I noticed a difference I would keep taking it and if not then I would stop talking it and just be happy I had an answer. When we got home I looked up CVS and I had every single symptom. After that I started taking the medication and it has given me instant relief. The weird part is that now when I wake up, I'm hungry. I don't remember a time in my life when I woke up and wanted to eat. I never eat breakfast, and I never did as a kid. The thought of eating in the morning made me nauseous. I understand now why people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because if I don't eat it, I'll probably kill you if you get in my way.<br />
<br />
I have not thrown up or been nauseous one time in the last 44 days.<br />
<br />
Miracle.Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-9882893230485777052012-03-06T13:51:00.000-07:002012-03-06T13:51:45.220-07:00False HopesI've debated over whether or not I should blog about this, there are pros and cons to doing it, and even though I don't really want to, I realized that if what happened to me happened to someone else that I know and I didn't tell them about my experience, I would feel guilty. This is preventable. So, here we go. This is one of those TMI blog posts where I talk about girl stuff. Be warned.<br />
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Not long ago I was 4 days late, and nauseous. I took a pregnancy test one morning. I waited the 3 minutes it said to wait and then I read the test. It was positive. This wasn't a test that had the plus or negative sign on it, it was an electronic one that said the word "PREGNANT" on it. I was thrilled. I screamed for Rick. I showed him the test. We laughed and hugged and cried and laughed some more. Pregnant!<br />
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We had a busy day ahead of us. We had to hurry and get ready and meet a friend for lunch in Phoenix and then go shopping afterward. I wanted to take another test but we didn't have time, so we left. We finished our lunch and then went to Ikea. While we were walking around in the magical land of duvet covers and kitchen appliances, my back started to ache. The pain got worse as we continued to walk around. We bought our stuff and left. We went to Rick's brothers house to visit and while we were there I felt better. We all needed some stuff so we decided to go to Costco. While we were walking around Costco the back pain came back but I also started having cramps. I was getting a little worried because I didn't know if that was normal but I told myself that as long as I wasn't bleeding I would be okay. After Costco we went to get some food to take to my Sister-in-Law, Megann, who was on her lunch break. While we were at the sandwich shop getting our food I went to the bathroom and I saw blood. My heart stopped. I had no idea what to do. Luckily, we were about to go visit Megann who works at the Hospital in the ER.<br />
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When we got to the Hospital I went to the bathroom again and there was a lot more blood, and the cramps were much worse. When I saw Megann I pulled her aside, told her what was going on, and asked her if I should check in since we were already at the Emergency Room. She said that to be safe I probably should. Because she works at the Hospital she was able to get me the VIP treatment. Bless her for that. Each time I told a Dr./Nurse/Tech what was happening I would cry. I knew I had a family history of miscarriages, fertility issues, PCOS, and ovarian cysts. The odds that this baby would be okay were not in my favor. I was scared.<br />
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The Doctor ordered a urine test, blood test, and ultrasound. Once those were done it was just a waiting game. 3 hours later the Physicians Assistant came back with my results.<br />
<br />
"We got your blood work back. Everything looks normal. Your blood type is O+ which is good to know for when you really do get pregnant. Your pregnancy test was negative. You're not pregnant. My guess is you're just starting your period."<br />
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I was in absolute shock. Not pregnant? How could that happen? I told him that my home pregnancy test was positive. He said I must have been given a false positive, or I read the test wrong. I asked him what would cause a false positive and he didn't know. He left and I cried and cried. Not pregnant?<br />
<br />
The Doctor came in to go over my results with me more in depth. He basically said the same thing. I asked him what causes a false positive and he couldn't tell me either. He said I probably read the test wrong. I DIDN'T READ THE TEST WRONG. Here is a picture of the test right after I took it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidthOtwozl4bYuJV00kyq_4C7m0hBk3BkfJqV_QdRgXax5axqhe1Gd0CX7hxmcnKr4YPsQ77osvbu95iYYV45e-XSIblSo9PISpDPsJnl3LpvSGUZ3cPI0-xPu82cn9Ffs0ly7CM_pxx8/s1600/PregnancyTest.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidthOtwozl4bYuJV00kyq_4C7m0hBk3BkfJqV_QdRgXax5axqhe1Gd0CX7hxmcnKr4YPsQ77osvbu95iYYV45e-XSIblSo9PISpDPsJnl3LpvSGUZ3cPI0-xPu82cn9Ffs0ly7CM_pxx8/s640/PregnancyTest.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">I didn't read it wrong.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I was in shock and I just wanted to go home. I was sad and frustrated and embarrassed that I was that idiot girl who went to the ER cause she was on her period. I went from thinking I was pregnant to thinking I was miscarrying to learning I was neither in a 10 hour period.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When we got home I researched false positives. Nothing gave me an answer. It told me that false positives are extremely rare and only happen under the following conditions:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">1. You've recently had an abortion or miscarriage and have leftover HCG hormone in your body - that wasn't the case for me, this would have been my first pregnancy.</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. You read the test wrong - I DIDN'T.</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. The test was expired - I checked the box and the test expires in April of 2013.</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. You're on certain medications - I'm not on any.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">None of those fit me. And nothing made sense. I was still so sad and so confused. I decided to research by the brand of pregnancy test that I used - clear blue. And that is when I hit the jackpot.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>DON'T EVER BUY A CLEAR BLUE PREGNANCY TEST!</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">They are faulty and have been giving women false positives for years. One woman had a similar experience as me. She got a positive result, made an appointment with her OBGYN, and while she was there she learned she wasn't pregnant. One woman and her husband had been trying to get pregnant for SEVEN YEARS and she got a false positive. Can you imagine?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">A false positive pregnancy test isn't like getting a false positive strep test where you just accidentally take antibiotics when you don't need to. This is thinking that you're going to bring another human into this world. This is thinking that you're going to become parents. A pregnancy is a big deal! I spent 3 hours in the ER and am now awaiting the bill from the Hospital because a $12 pregnancy test failed me. Don't ever buy a Clear Blue pregnancy test.</div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7944925621640953029.post-8492011401833382522012-02-28T15:52:00.002-07:002012-03-06T13:52:04.224-07:00Annoyed<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So I finally kicked my bad habit of drinking soda. When I say soda, I mean Dr. Pepper. I don't drink any soda besides Dr. Pepper. If we would go to a restaurant and I'd order a Dr. Pepper and they'd be like "Is Mr Pibb okay?" I would order water instead because Mr. Pibb? Really? No that is not okay. I've been off of Dr. Pepper for 8 days. In possibly relevant news, here is a list of things that have annoyed the hell out of me for the last 8 days:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><ul><li>I finally kicked this habit in a state where the water tastes like chlorine and doesn't ever come out of the tap cold unless you leave it running for 482059 minutes, which I don't do because of the overwhelming guilt that consumes me when I leave water running and I think about the Orphans in Africa or something. Why couldn't I have done this in Utah? I love Provo water so much. Every time I go to Utah, I walk into my parents kitchen and the first thing I do is turn on the sink and get myself a cold tall glass of Provo water. We have a Brita water filter in our fridge but I will drink like 3 cups of water and then it will need to be refilled. Rick and I have a silent battle where neither of us will refill the filter, instead we just wait for the other person to pass out from dehydration and then they'll finally give in and refill it. Not sure who's winning yet. But I hate refilling that thing. You have to take it out of the fridge and take the weird lid off and then it won't fit in the sink so you have to fill it up one cup of water at a time, but it holds all the water at the top and then slowly filters through so you have to wait for it to filter through before you can add more. I'd rather just buy water bottles but then I think about plastic and the earth and the Orphans in Africa.</li>
<li>When someone moves to a new state and then they act like they're from there after they've lived there for 2 months. I've lived in Arizona for a year, but I'm definitely not an ~ArIzOnA gUrL~. You have to live somewhere for at least 5 years before you can pretend like you know what it's like to be a local. Otherwise you're just making an idiot out of yourself and annoying the people who are actually from there. I also hate it when people are like "Oh, yeah, I'm from Texas. But I moved to Utah when I was 6 months old and then lived there for 20 years. But originally I'm from Texas." Sorry, but that makes you from Utah. If you don't have a memory of where you lived when you were a baby, it doesn't count. You can say that you were born there, but that is not where you're "from". Wherever you lived for the majority of growing up is where you're from. If you were born in one place then moved every few years, you're one of the lucky few who gets to tell people all the cool places you grew up in. Those people are the exception to the rule.</li>
<li>People with joint facebook accounts. Why????</li>
<li>When I log into Pinterest and someone that I follow has just spent the last 4 days pinning things that are all in the same category. I had to scroll through 50 pages of bird houses to get to the stuff I actually wanted to see.</li>
<li>I set my DVR to record 1 minute before and 3 minutes after each show I want to watch, and for some reason every single show I record cuts off at the last 5 minutes and I have no idea how to fix it. The last 5 minutes is always the most important part! What happened in the last 5 minutes of the last Grey's Anatomy episode?!?!</li>
<li>Arizona City. Guys, I hate it here. HATE it. I loved it at first. And honestly I don't even know what changed, but one day we were both like "wow, this is the worst place ever to live." I think that what I loved about it was our apartment, which I still love, but everything else about this place I hate. First off, it's so far away from everything. The closest main store to us is a Walmart, and it's 15 minutes away. Actually it's not even in the same city as us. Second, there are no good food places here. We love food, and we love to eat out, so good food will make or break a place for us. There is a Taco Bell by the local gas station, but that is about it. So disappointing. Third, we live right by this big open field and people just walk right by our apartment all day (and night) and it's just weird. Fourth, it's dusty. So dusty. And windy. Last night we were driving home from Tucson and there were signs everywhere that said "50 mph winds ahead" and then we got hit by a gust of wind so hard that it blew us into another lane and we almost hit a diesel. Our apartment contract is up in October then we'll move back to Tucson. But then we have to move again, and I <i>really </i>hate moving.</li>
<li>I'm still nauseous a lot and still have bouts of throwing up every once in a while. I have no idea what is causing this, but it's almost like I get flare ups. It's never brought on by a certain type of food so I never know when it's going to hit. I finally made an appointment to see a GI Doctor and I just know that they're going to have to shove a camera down my throat. Just the thought of it is making me dry heave. I know I'll be out for it, but still. Usually with any type of ailment I turn to my trusty friend WebMD. Do you know what happens when you WebMD symptoms of nausea and vomiting? You diagnose yourself with every disease ever, such as: pregnancy, miscarriage, brain tumor, cancer, stress, heart attack, gall stones, kidney stones, kidney failure, liver failure, food poisoning, infections, concussion, ulcers, and everything else you could possibly think of. Not helpful.</li>
</ul><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I could really use a Dr. Pepper right about now.</div></div>Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216025287194570732noreply@blogger.com4