Team Brimhall

What Just Happened?

2012-02-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I was driving home from work. It was somewhere near 1:30am as I was getting close to ending my almost hour long commute. I was stopped at a red light light, which was lucky because if it were green and I had kept going I would have been going 50 mph. That's lucky because shortly after the light turned green and as I was slowly accelerating, suddenly in the middle of the road in front of my car was a woman screaming "Help me! Help me!" If I had been going 50 mph I would have hit and probably killed her.

As I swerved out of the way, the car in the other lane quickly sped off. I pulled off to the side of the road to try to figure out what to do. Either she really needed help or it was all a scam and she was going to ask someone for help and then she'd take whoever offered help to the ring leader and they would be sold into sex slavery (what? It could happen, I watch Oprah). I felt like I should help her, so I turned around and drove down the road looking for her. The road she was walking on had no sidewalk, no streetlights, and the speed limit was 50. She had escaped getting hit once but would she be that lucky again? I pulled over on the opposite side of the street she was on and asked her if she was okay. Between hysterical sobs I heard "no." She kept trying to tell me something but I couldn't understand her. I told her to come over to my car and talk to me. She came over and said that she needed a ride home, she didn't have a phone, and she didn't know anyone in this town. I asked her where she lived and she told me. Her house was about 10 miles away from where we were, so I told her I could giver her a ride. Can you imagine walking 10 miles home in the middle of the night?

She got in my car and I told her to tell me what had happened. She said that her boyfriend was drunk and she was driving them home when he started to slap and choke her. She jumped out of the car (which is when she jumped in front of me) and then he got in the drivers seat and took off drunk, and with her keys and cell phone. I told her to call the police, and that is when she said those few words that sent chills down my spine and made me wonder what I had just walked into the middle of.

"If I call the police, he WILL kill me."

Oh. Shiz.

She started to panic again, understandably so. I started to talk to her about little stuff - work, where she was from, her kids, etc. She/we calmed down and were almost close to her house. She said that she didn't know how she was going to get inside because her door was locked and he had her keys. Then she said she was scared he would be waiting for her there.

"If you see your car or him, I'm not letting you out of the car and I'm calling 911."

She agreed. As we pulled up we didn't see any sign of him. She asked me to stay until she was able to get into her house. She knocked on the door and windows to try to wake her kids up. Nothing happened. She was banging on the door and windows for about 5 minutes. She came back to my car and asked me if I had seen anyone looking out of the window. I hadn't seen anything. She said she thought she heard someone inside but no one would answer the door. She was afraid he was inside with her kids. I told her that I had a cell phone and she didn't and if she wanted to call the police now was the time. She wanted to use my phone but she didn't call the police, she called her parents. It was late so they didn't answer. Neither of us knew what to do next. Just then, her neighbors came outside to have a cigarette. They were 2 big strong looking dudes. She told me that they worked for Border Patrol and she was going to ask them for help. She thanked me over and over. As I was leaving I saw her walking towards them. I prayed that they would either help her get into her house, or better yet, convince her to call the police.

In the midst of our small talk I learned what this lady did for a living. She told me where she worked and I knew where it was because any time we go into town we drive past her building. We went into town a few days ago and we drove through the parking lot looking for the car that looked like hers. I only saw the car for a second but I knew the color and the model. We saw a car that matched the description. I hope and pray that means she got into her house safely, her kids are safe, and got her car, keys, and cell phone back.

As I drove home I made sure no one was following me (I watch Oprah AND Law & Order, okay?) I wanted so badly to call Rick but he was at work and couldn't answer, so I texted my neighbors and told them what happened and asked them to keep and extra eye and ear out for me because I was home alone that night and freaked the crap out.

Looking back, I should have called the police the second she told me what was wrong because 1 - he was driving drunk and 2 - she was in serious danger. Next time I'm driving home at 1:30 in the morning and a girl jumps in front of my car, I'll be better prepared.

On Mormonism

2012-02-07T22:54:00.005-07:00

There has been a lot of spotlight on the *Mormon Church recently. No matter what brings the spotlight on, it always creates a battle. I'm not a fan of confrontation, and I usually try to steer clear of any debate or anything controversial, but sometimes you need to stand up for what you believe in and shout it from the rooftops, or in my case, write about it on your blog.

It has been said (by nonmembers/exmembers of the Mormon Church) that Mormons are a racist, sexist, homophobic cult.

I was born and raised in the Mormon Church. I was taught that I could not rely on my friend's and family member's testimonies of this Gospel forever. I needed to find out FOR MYSELF if the Church was true. I needed to read the Book of Mormon, do soul searching, and pray to find out if this was true. On every Mormon Church you will see a sign that says "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - VISITORS WELCOME". We have our sacred temples, and before they are dedicated as such, ANYONE can walk through them and see what's inside. We send out Missionaries to knock door to door teaching about our Church. Nobody in our church gets paid for what they do. In fact, the missionaries have to pay to go on missions. Everyone in our church who has a calling or responsibility does it out of their own time and service. Twice a year we have General Conference which can be attended (in Salt Lake City) or listened to on the TV, Radio, and Internet. We don't live in compounds, we live everywhere. We have regular jobs. If we're a cult, then we're doing it wrong.

I married my sweetheart in the Mormon temple. I married him not just because he's handsome and hilarious, but because he treats me like I am the most important person in the world. He opens the door for me, he takes care of me, and is sensitive to my feelings. The other day he woke up grouchy, snapped at me, and I told him he had hurt my feelings. He got upset. I thought he was mad at me, but he said "I'm mad at myself because I never ever want to hurt your feelings." He learned this behavior from his Father, who taught him to respect women, and from the MEN in the Mormon Church who, through Conference Sessions, talk about how valued women are.

If he's a sexist and I'm a racist, then we're doing it wrong.

Now, on what is probably the biggest controversial topic - Homosexuality. In my Mother's lifetime she has been the daughter of an Air Force Chaplain, a Mormon Bishop's wife, a Mother of 6 (having lost 2 babies prior to birth), a substitute Seminary Teacher, a diehard Republican (we're talking Rush Limbaugh t-shirts and Glenn Beck DVDs) and a Chaplain herself. When I was 16, the issue of Homosexuality started to become a war at my school because of a club that was started. I had people I loved on both sides of that fight, and didn't know how I was supposed to feel about it. One day after school I was sitting in the kitchen thinking about this issue. At this point in my life, I was still too cool to talk to my mom about important stuff like this, so I hadn't told her how I was feeling. My mom came into the kitchen, looked me in the eyes and said "Jodi, someday, someone in our family, an aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, grandchild, or maybe even grandparent, is going to come out and say that they are gay. We are a family, and we love each other no matter what. If someone in our family is gay and you don't love them every bit as much as you did before they came out, then I have failed you as a parent." The things I learned in my High School years weren't learned in High School. I will NEVER forget that.

I do feel that I need to venture deeper into this subject. I understand the Mormon Church's view on Homosexuality and Legalizing Gay Marriage/Civil Unions. I also understand the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Community's view on it. One of the biggest arguments I've heard about this issue from the LGBT Community is that Legalizing Gay Marriage won't affect the Mormon Church. That is simply not true. Not only does it affect everyone around you (just like my marriage affects everyone around me), if Gay Marriage were legal (lets say in Utah, for arguments sake) then what happens when gay couples want to get married in Mormon Churches or Temples? It will happen, and people will (and already are) fighting for it. Right now it is easy for the Mormon Church to say no to that because Gay Marriage isn't Legal in Utah. But if it is, how do you avoid that? The Church will either say no, and be further accused of being hateful and homophobic, or they will say yes, and be accused of changing their beliefs. It will affect the Church, you cannot tell me that it won't.

Realistically, I know that my children, if not myself, will live to see Gay Marriage/Civil Unions legalized in all 50 states. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, and it is something that, if we let it, will ruin relationships, families, and the already deteriorating unity of our Nation. That is unacceptable. If you hold up a cardboard sign that says "God hates Fags" - shame on you! That is more offensive to me than anything. God does not hate. I was raised to Love My Neighbor. My neighbor is not the person that lives next to me. My neighbor is anyone and everyone that I come in contact with on this journey through life. I try to love all my neighbors - my Jewish neighbors, my Muslim neighbors, my Gay neighbors, my Homophobic neighbors, my neighbors of a different color, creed, religion, and lifestyle. If you vandalize Mormon buildings and burn copies of the Book of Mormon when a bill is rejected to legalize Gay Marriage - shame on you! When something doesn't go your way and I see you trying to burn and vandalize things that mean so much to others, that doesn't prove to me that you have the coping skills and problem solving skills necessary for the issues that come up in Marriage.

I have lived outside of Utah for a year. While I miss my family and friends, I do not miss the constant feeling of having your guard up. If you live in Utah, you generally are either Mormon, or Anti/exmormon. The most antimormon people don't live across the country in a mostly democratic state, they live in Salt Lake City, where the Mormon Church headquarters are. From my experience living outside of Utah, if someone asks me about my beliefs it is because they are curious of my lifestyle. If I was in Utah and someone asked me about my beliefs, it's because they want to start a battle. People accuse the Mormons in Utah of being too uptight. If you felt like you had to defend your beliefs at any given moment, wouldn't you be? From what I've seen so far, the same goes for the LGBT community in Salt Lake and the LGBT community outside of Utah. Same beliefs, different approaches to conversations and different ways of handling naysayers. I don't know about you, but if I were gay and/or antimormon, I would move as far away from Utah as possible.

I will be the first to tell you that Mormons aren't perfect. I am not perfect. I am not even close. I have made many mistakes in my life, but the ones I'm most ashamed of are carelessly and ignorantly throwing out phrases like "that's so gay" or "that's retarded". I can only imagine that somebody has had their feelings hurt because of my careless words. If my words or actions have hurt you, I am sorry.

Now, onto those that dislike the Mormon Church because of it's strong belief in God and Jesus, and their unbelief in God and Jesus. I've seen one too many debates on Facebook about this, and the biggest argument from the Athiest/Agnostic side is that you can't prove that God is real, and "what if" He's not? The belief in God that I have is not something that somebody suggested could be a possibility. It's not something that I think might be true. My belief in God is something that I have, down to the core of my soul, felt to be real. I've known it to be true in times of need. I've felt his love for me. Do you believe that God doesn't exist because you have had a strong overpowering feeling that goes down to your roots telling you that He's not there? Don't take my word for it, if you want to know if God is there, ask him yourself.

What if I'm wrong? What if everything about the Mormon Church is wrong? If I died today, and I got to the other side and was told that I was wrong, I had followed the wrong church my entire life, or even worse, God wasn't real and that there was nothing after life, what would I think? I would have no regrets. I would have lived my life with the knowledge that I was loved by God, and that he had a plan for me. I would have gone through this life relying on that knowledge to get me through hard times. I would have been taught to take care of my body and treat it with respect. I would have lived this life with the knowledge that Family is the most important thing. I would have married Rick with the idea that we needed to save ourselves for marriage, and respect each other in the highest. I would have been taught to help others and serve those in need. At the very worst, If I'm wrong, I will have been raised in this life to be kind to others and be a contributing member of society. I can deal with that.

But what if Mormons aren't wrong? What if they're right? Are you prepared to deal with that?

Something to think about.

*The actual name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is more commonly known as the Mormon Church.

The Worst Dream

2012-01-31T03:25:00.004-07:00

When I sleep I don't usually have dreams. Or maybe I do but I don't ever remember them. The only time I remember my dreams is when I take NyQuil right before I go to bed. Then I have the weirdest dreams. Like Alice in Wonderland with no sound kind of weird. Lately I've been having the same dream (nightmare?) over and over. It's awful. I've had it twice this week. It's making me dread going to sleep.

I open my eyes to find that I've been asleep with my head on a desk. I lift my head up and recognize that I'm in my English class from my senior year at Provo High. Why am I here? The teacher announces that my senior project is due tomorrow, then the bell rings. I walk outside of the classroom to find my friend Lacey who has been out there waiting for me. I ask her what's going on. Why are we here? We graduated from High School 5 years ago!

"Nobody told you?"
"Told me what?"
"That High School never ends and you have to come back and repeat your senior year forever. If you fail you die. The last day of school is tomorrow. You should probably go talk to one of the counselors."

Suddenly I'm outside of the Principals office. It's dark and scary. The secretary tells me to go in. I walk into a dark room and see a judges bench with bright lights shining down on it. There sits my Principal, Vice Principal, and the counselor. There is a small chair in the middle of the room. They tell me to have a seat. I get the chills.

In this moment, I am more scared than I've ever been in my life. The Principal informs me that your senior year of High School lasts forever. You're supposed to repeat it every year, and if you fail, you'll be killed. Since I was uninformed about it up until this point, and I had already missed the first 5 years of my repeat senior year, they wouldn't kill me. As long as I made up all my work by the time the year ended. Which was tomorrow. I had 1 day to make up 5 years worth of homework.

I blink, and when I open my eyes it is the start of the next school day. Today is the day I have to make up all my work. I go to all my classes to ask my teachers for the last 5 years worth of assignments and tests. The day goes by in a blur. I panic as I try to get all of my homework done. I don't stop to eat or go to the bathroom. I'M FREAKING OUT. It's 2:30 pm, and I hear the last bell of the day ring. I didn't even make a dent in the pile of stuff I had to do. I know I'm going to die.

And that's when I wake up. I'm out of breath and totally panicked. It takes me a second to realize it was just a dream. I lay in bed for a minute to calm down. I check my phone to see what time it is. I have several missed calls, text messages, and voicemails. I'm 4 hours late for work! Christy has been texting me telling me she's called the Police and sent them to my house because I'm late and I'm not responding to anyone and they think something bad has happened to me.

That's when I REALLY wake up.

I immediately check my phone to make sure I'm not late for work. It's usually somewhere around 6am. I try to fall back asleep, but I wake up every 30 minutes or so and immediately look at my phone to check the time.

Seriously, the worst dream ever.

Rick has been unusually quiet in his sleep for the last few months. I thought that maybe he was over his sleep talking. It came back suddenly and with a vengeance. The other night he was asleep and he started gasping for air. I woke him up and asked him if he was okay. He opened his eyes for a second but then he fell back asleep, meanwhile telling me about his dream.

"I was at my parents house and I needed to get to the bedroom. There were a pack of wolves in the hallway. I was in charge of them. I told them to move out of the way. They all did except for the leader, he snapped at me. We started fighting. We wrestled into the bathroom. He turned into a human and then he was choking me but you woke me up and you saved me." He was snoring in between sentences, by the way.

Please bless that our children don't have our sleeping habits.

A New Year

2012-01-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

2011 - I did not see that one coming.

First, we started off the year by quitting our 2 stable, but not lifelong career jobs to move out of state for 1 career job that had already furloughed (temporarily laid off) Rick 3 times. It felt right, but I still had that hint of doubt that was telling me "Is this the smartest thing to do in a bad economy?" Everything worked out and we know we made a smart move, but it took a while (like up until 2 months ago) for things to be steady.

Then, we made the move down to Arizona in the giant trailer that broke down when we pulled out of the driveway. Looking back, that was a clear sign as to what I should expect my life to be like for the next 6 months. It was supposed to take us 12 hours to get to Tucson. 2 1/2 days later, we arrived.

Then, Rick started working for the Railroad again. He had training for 1 month, when he was done and ready to get out there and work, they realized there was a problem with his train operating license. He couldn't work until it was all resolved, and that took a month. They were supposed to tell him this the first day of training so that when he was done he could get right to work. They forgot to mention that. So right after training, neither of us worked for a month, and that was scary. And it also made Rick's work harder when he did go back because everyone else went right from training to working and he had a month long gap in between. This isn't training like "This is how you make this report on the computer and this is your deadline." This is training like "If you do this wrong, you will derail a train and kill us all." I always knew Rick's job was dangerous, and I always knew that his schedule was inconsistent, but I had no idea just how dangerous and how inconsistent it was until we moved here and he actually started working. In the 11 months that he has been working, there have been 3 derailed trains, not because of him or his crew, but it still is a reminder that it happens, and that people get hurt or killed out there. One of the times the train derailed, it was his crew, and he was on the train. My dad always operated heavy equipment, so maybe that's why the thought of Rick working for the Railroad didn't really scare me, but now that I know how dangerous it is, and how dangerous my dad's job is, I pray for anyone who works with big machines or equipment.

Then, we both got severe food poisoning. I got it from bad fruit (I don't think I can ever eat a kiwi again), Rick got it a month later from bad meat. When I was 5 years old I was in the Hospital while my kidneys were shutting down. I remember being miserable, throwing up all the time, not wanting to eat, and being scared. That was the sickest I had ever been, or so I thought. I cannot believe how sick I was with food poisoning. It wasn't the typical 24 hour thing. It lasted a week. I couldn't move, unless it was to get up and throw up. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, breathing was hard, I couldn't walk. We asked someone from our ward to come over and help give me a blessing, he asked me what my full name was, and I couldn't answer him. I was so exhausted and sick that I couldn't even talk. Such a magical time.

Then, Rick got heat stroke, that was terrifying. In the summer in Tucson it can get between 110-118 degrees. The train yard is usually 8 degrees hotter because of all the metal from the trains. So he'd be working out in 118-126 degree heat for 8 hours. When he came home one day, he was breathing heavily and really confused. I made him take a cool bath. He laid in the bathtub with a wash cloth on his face and he kept telling me that his body hurt and when he opened his eyes everything started going black. Luckily he cooled down quickly and I made him sit in there for a while and sip water. I have no idea how he can work out in that heat. He's a machine. My day gets ruined the second the seatbelt burns my arm. That shiz hurts.

Then, after going crazy not working, I got a job. Hated it. Hated my life because of it. Hated it when I was there, went home, and dreaded having to go the next day. I quit, even though we really needed me to be working, but felt 100% better after I quit. I thought Rick would be really mad at me when I went home to tell him I had quit, but he just said "It's good to have my wife back."

Finally, things started getting better. I got a job! After the job that I hated, I just wanted any job, no matter what I was doing, as long as I didn't hate it. I applied for receptionist jobs, secretary jobs, MA jobs, librarians assistant jobs, anything I could find, and man did I luck out. Not only did I get a job, I got a family. I love my job. I love my boys. I love Chad and Christy. I even love the dog. The only other people I knew who were nannies had to move out of state and live with the family to do it. My family is local and I go to their house every day and go home every day. When Rick doesn't work he goes with me, and the boys love him. More than me, actually. They get bummed when I walk in the door by myself now. There is no doubt in my mind that they were meant to be in my life and I was meant to be in theirs.

Then, things took a turn for the worse when our roof started leaking and our water got shut off because our landlord wasn't paying his HOA fees. I never realized just how big of a blessing it was to have running water until it wasn't there. I will never take it for granted. Since this happened, I haven't once complained about doing dishes or laundry. And I'm a huge complainer so that's a pretty big deal.

Then, we moved out of that waterless apartment into our new one that I'm in love with. I really hate moving, but I feel like every time we move I love it more than the last place. It does get tiring (and expensive) to have both of us drive an hour one way to get to work. But Rick keeps going back and forth between Tucson and Phoenix to work and so he doesn't have to stay with people anymore, he comes home everyday.

Then, My parents came to visit us and I went back to Utah with them and stayed for 2 weeks. It was good, and weird (no snow?) to go back home.

Right now, I love where we are in life. I love living in Arizona. I love my job, Rick loves his job. But lets not repeat 2011. Ever.

I decided to not set goals this year. At least not specific goals like "go to the gym x times this week" or "never eat out". Those are my goals every year, and I don't do them. One of my goals for 2011 was to not move from the Utah house until Rick's parents came home from their mission. In your face, Jodi. So I'm changing things up a bit. Here are my new and improved goals for 2012:

Be Happy
Be Healthy
Be Smart
Have Fun
Be Prepared
Go scorpion hunting at least once
Camp out on our roof and watch the Lyrid Meteor Shower

Happy 2012

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T21:40:00.003-07:00

My parents came to Arizona to stay with us for a few days the week before Christmas. I had the week off and Rick was supposed to work but he got bumped from his job (when you get bumped you have 48 hours to put yourself on another job) and he would wait out the 48 hours before he put himself back on. He kept getting bumped which normally would be annoying but it turned out that he had the entire time off to spend with me and my parents, so that worked out perfectly.

The first thing we did when they got there was open presents. A week and a half before Christmas. That's how we roll.

The best present. Did anyone else watch this religiously when they were younger? Even Rick used to watch it. That's how I know that we're soul mates.

The next day was Sunday. We all went to church together. The organist was AWOL so the Bishop announced that we'd all be singing acapella. Sounds pretty, right? It wasn't. At all. During the first song the 1st counselor got out his iPhone and turned on this app that plays the Hymns on the piano. He put it up to the microphone but we were already halfway through the song, and so we all had to start over, but we didn't realize it played the introduction first so people were singing through that, and then it started for real, so we all started singing it again. And then for the rest of the songs the music kept speeding up after every verse. Like double time. And we were all trying so hard to sing as fast as we could, and the lady conducting was so frustrated that she just stopped conducting and stood up there until the music ended. So that was fun. After Sunday School a lady came up to my parents and said "Bishop and Sister Harris!?!?!?!" Of course my parents would find someone that they know in a the middle of nowhere at a ward they've never been to.

Our ward right now meets at 9:00. Our ward in Tucson met at 9:00. All of our wards in Utah met at 9:00. Remember how much I love 9:00 am church? I was excited because next year our ward is supposed to meet at 11:00. I work at 1:00 every Sunday and it is an hour drive, so I knew that starting next year I'd only be able to go to Sacrament then I'd leave afterward. I know that that's not the ideal schedule, but I'll take it. I'll gladly pick that over 9:00 am church. On Sunday the Bishop got up and the first thing he announced was that starting in January the ward would meet at 1:00 pm. Uhhhhhhhhwhat? So we met with him afterward to discuss our schedules. He was sad to hear about our work schedules, mostly because he wants to give us a calling in the Primary, but he said that I had 2 options. I should keep my records in his ward, but as far as meeting times I could either go to the "9 am ward, but that's the Spanish ward" or I could go to the "11:00 sacrament, but that's the Prison ward." Did I forget to mention that we live near a Prison?

Awesome.

So I can either go to 9:00 church that would be in a language I don't speak for another year, or I could hang out with the in-mates during sacrament meeting. Everyone is telling me to pick the Spanish ward, but honestly, 9:00 church is the bane of my existence. The thorn in my side. The eyelash in my eye. The rock in my shoe.

I can't do it for another year. I can't. I'll die. That's how good of a Mormon I am.

I'll be sure to let you all know how the in-mates are doing.

After church we went to a tiny town in Southern Arizona called St. David. My dad and brother went down there on a motorcycle trip earlier this year and in the middle of this tiny town is a tiny cemetery and in that tiny cemetery are my deceased family member's graves. David Patten Kimball (my 3rd Great-Grandpa) is buried there next to his wife. He is the son of Heber C. Kimball, who was in the Quorum of the 12 apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and who served as first counselor to Brigham Young. When David Patten Kimball was 17 he and 3 other young men came to the rescue of the Willie Martin Handcart company, who had to cross the freezing Sweetwater river. They carried members of the company across the deep freezing water, and they all suffered lifelong injuries/illnesses due to the extreme exposure to the cold water.

When he was 42 years old he got lost in the harsh Arizona desert where he had no water and no food for 6 days. He knew he was going to die, and he wanted his friends to find his body instead of being torn apart by the coyotes, so he tried to dig himself a hole to hide in. Then, his parents (who had passed away) appeared in front of him. They gave him food and water and told him he would live for 2 more years. He was later found alive. 1 day before the 2 year anniversary of his parents coming to him in the desert, he told his wife he knew he was going to die the next day, and he was able to say goodbye to her. He passed away the next morning.

Look closely at the headstone. You will see him carrying someone across the Sweetwater river.

His original headstone.

And here I am complaining about 9:00 church. Goodness.

After we left St. David we went to Tombstone, where the famous shoot out at the O.K. Corral took place.

The next day we went to Mesa to see the Temple lights there. Every year of my life I've gone to the Temple lights in Salt Lake and froze to death but still enjoyed myself. This time I walked around outside and admired the lights in the palm trees and orange trees. It even got a little hot. It was everything I've ever wanted.

Christy had been telling me about this neighborhood in Chandler where on one street everyone that lives there has to decorate their house for Christmas. They start decorating the day after Halloween and they open it up to the public the day after Thanksgiving. They set up porta potties and everything. We all went and my parents were able to meet Chad and Christy and the boys. I've skyped with my mom a few times and Cael likes to talk to "Mama Chicken" (my mom's grandma name, given to her by my nephew because my parents have chickens). He was a little shocked to see her in person at first, I think he was trying to figure out how she escaped from the computer, but after a few minutes he warmed right up to her and held her hand the whole night.

The people who live there said they HAVE to decorate their houses, like, it's in their HOA contract, but they can decorate them however they want. So there was one house that was Harley Davidson Christmas themed, and another one that had a star on top of their roof and as you walked through their yard it told the story of Jesus' birth. It was so fun to see, and I can't even imagine how much time it took all of them.

After seeing the lights we went to the DQ to get some ice cream and so the boys could open the presents we got them.

I think he likes the movie we got him.

Miss Jodi and Sloan playing peekaboo.

Utah Family meets Arizona Family.

I came back to Utah with my parents. I'll be here until the 3rd. I left Rick at home because he had to work. It's really not as mean as it sounds because now he gets the whole bed to himself. Lucky guy!

P.S.

The day after we got to Utah Christy sent me this video. My mom and I have watched it 500 times because it's the cutest thing we've ever seen.

2011 Pictures

2011-12-04T15:38:00.001-07:00

You'd think that considering Rick is a photographer we would have a lot more pictures of us, but you'd be wrong. The last time we took family pictures was well over a year ago. We needed some new updated ones and because Rick and Chad are both photographers we now both have free family pictures for life. It's the perfect setup. Rick took some pictures of Chad and Christy's family first, and then Chad took our pictures. It was such a beautiful day (this is what Arizona looks like at the end of November) and I love how they turned out. We were even able to get some of us with my nanny boys.

So Much To Be Thankful For

2011-11-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

I am Thankful for clean, running water that I can choose to be hot or cold. Running water is a freaking miracle. Rick and I lived without running water in our bathroom/laundry room for almost a month. It was horrible, and I wanted to complain about it everyday, but when we realized we still had running water in the kitchen I felt like the luckiest person in the world. I was able to brush my teeth whenever I felt like it, and every day I looked forward to it. What used to be a chore (taking a shower, washing my hair, doing laundry, doing dishes, etc.) is now a blessing. I have running water! I can flush the toilet! We don't have to give each other billy baths! We are so lucky.

I am Thankful for electricity. You want light? Bam, just flip a light switch. You want heat or cold? Just push some buttons on your thermostat. So easy, so simple. It keeps the food in my fridge cold and cooks my oven cooked meals. I can't imagine life without electricity.

I am Thankful for food. I love food soooo much. Especially Thanksgiving food. We are so blessed to have 3 meals a day. There are too many people in this world that don't get that. My least favorite chore to do is dishes, and Christy and I always talk about how much we both hate doing dishes, and then I saw this quote and I realized how much of a blessing it is to have dirty dishes.

Dirty Dishes

Thank Heaven for dirty dishes,

They have a tale to tell,

While other folks go hungry,

We're eating very well.

With home and health and happiness,

We shouldn't want to fuss,

By this stack of evidence,

God is very good to us.

I am Thankful for clothes. During the Arizona summertime they are nothing but a nuisance, but the rest of the year they are comfortable and cute and necessary. I'm also Thankful for sales on clothes. Rick and I went Black Friday shopping for the first time this year because Rick is in desperate need of new jeans, but he only buys Hollister jeans because of his weirdly shaped legs and butt, and they can be expensive. On Black Friday everything was 50% off. 3 pairs of jeans for $75! Amazing.

I am Thankful for our cute apartment and our 2 cars that work. Of all the places we've lived, this is my favorite, I wouldn't mind it if we lived here for a long time. And we both drive 75+ miles a day for work. Our cars are old and rickety and should have broken down a long time ago but they haven't and we are so Thankful for that.

I am Thankful for our jobs. When Rick moved back to Utah he was laid off for 3 years. We had no idea when he would be called back to work, or how long it would take until he didn't have to worry about being laid off again. That made it impossible to try to plan anything for our future. It was all just a waiting game. Now we're here to stay and he's been working so hard and I'm learning how to be a railroaders wife. We can make plans for our future, finally. His job has taught me patience and taught me to suck it up and deal with the fact that he has the crappiest work schedule ever that makes it impossible to plan anything. I'm so Thankful for my job not just because of how it helps financially but I love my nanny family. This year was the first year in my life that I didn't spend Thanksgiving with my family and Christy invited us to spend Thanksgiving with her entire family. Good food (Southern style!) and good company, it meant so much to me.

I am Thankful for our Health Insurance. We don't need to use it a lot, but when we do, I'm so glad it's there. Especially since we just went to the Dentist for the first time in a looooooooong time and we need a ton of work done. If we didn't have Health Insurance the work we need done would cost $10,000.00. With our Insurance we will pay a fraction of that. We're lucky.

I am Thankful for our wonderful friends and family. They've shaped us into who we are today. I miss my Utah friends and family like crazy but I think we'll get to see them for Christmas.

I am Thankful for everything and anything that has to do with Church. We suck at going, and normally when people struggle with going to Church it's because of a Testimony issue or an issue between them and the people there. Ours is actually the exact opposite. Our Testimonies have grown by miles since moving to Arizona, I loved our ward in Tucson and I love our ward here, it's our schedules that are the problem. Rick has been consistently working either grave shifts saturday nights or morning shifts on sundays, and I work every sunday. It's hard but we're getting better.

I am Thankful for Rick. I gush about him a lot, it even annoys me sometimes, but I really just love the crap out of him. I thought I was going to freak out when we first moved here because I've never lived outside of Provo before, but I learned that Home is wherever he is.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

So...I ate all of your Halloween candy

2011-11-05T23:15:00.003-06:00

So...Halloween was a bust this year. Normally I make us dress up and do something but we had no where to go so no reason to dress up. Rick was supposed to work and I had the day off so I was going to just stay at home and pass out candy, which didn't happen because we didn't get a single trick or treater. Rick ended up getting bumped from the Tucson yard and can only hold in Phoenix now so his schedule is different (again) but that meant we suddenly had Halloween off together. Rick wanted to "do something really fun!" so I got my eyebrows waxed and then we went home and he fell asleep at 8. I'm kind of worried about him. I make fun of him for sleeping so much and I say it's because of his old age but he seriously is tired all the time. He was taking this cholesterol medication and it was making him super sore and restless and then he read the side affects and it said that if he was sore he needed to stop taking it immediately, so he stopped but ever since then he sleeps all the time. Like right now, I'm not even kidding, he is asleep in his car in a Del Taco parking lot because he was too tired to drive home. I can't remember the last time he drove home from work without stopping to sleep. We should probably get that checked out...

So...I love my job. Like, love it more than any job I've ever had. I love those little boys. Last week was rough because the 2 youngest boys and I all had colds so we were pretty miserable. They are comfortable around me now and I've got their routine down (seriously, routine is key, I can't believe how easy they are.) The 2 youngest ones are learning my name. Sloan (age 1) has said it once, probably on accident, and Cael (age 2) finally starting saying "dough" when I asked him what my name was and now he says dough-ey. Close enough. Last week Christy said "I swear Sloan could be Rick's kid." I asked her why and that's when she showed me pictures of Sloan sleep crawling throughout the whole house in the middle of the night. Then she wished me luck for whenever we have kids.

So...A few weeks ago we were driving home and right across from our place is a big open area with nothing but dirt, rocks, and big scary dogs. I only saw them at a glance before they were gone but I was like "uhhhh....are those werewolves?" Rick says they are just big homeless dogs. I don't know what they are but every night when I come home from work and it's pitch black outside I get out of my car and all I can hear are howls closing in on me. It is the most terrifying thing. I swear they are chupacabras or something. One time I heard them fighting. They howl and bark and scream all night long.

So...Yesterday everyone kept saying to prepare for a big dust storm (the kind that causes 30 care pile ups). I know what to do to prepare for when it rains or snows, but really what do you do to prepare for a dust storm other than not go outside? The city that we live in got it worse than everywhere else, and you couldn't see through it. It made me sick all night. I could feel the dust in my lungs and I couldn't stop coughing it up. Sickest thing ever. During the dust storm, it started raining. My car looks like I drove it through a field of mud. The wind was so bad last night that I woke up to the windows shaking and for a minute I thought there was an earthquake. I was not prepared for this type of weather.

So...Rick bought his car a few years ago while he was living in Arizona, so while we were living in Utah his car had an Arizona license plate. He was going to switch it to Utah (because he had to) but the tint wasn't legal in Utah and he would've had to remove it and we would've had to pay the taxes on his car which was like $700 and it wasn't worth it especially knowing that we'd move to Arizona someday and we'd have to switch it back anyway. So he tactfully (and lets be real, illegally) kept his car registered in Arizona for the 3 years he lived in Utah. Then we moved here, and we knew we were going to have to get my car registered in Arizona, but we thought that we'd have to pay a million dollars for the taxes on it. We held out as long as we could, but my registration expired this month. We went to the DMV on Halloween just to figure out what we needed to do. We went up to the lady at the help desk and told her we had just moved to Arizona City and we needed to figure out what paper work we needed to get in order to get it registered in Arizona. She looked at us like we were morons.

"Uhhhh....do you have the registration?"
"Yeah."
"Okay then, pick a number and have a seat."
"Okay but what else do we need. The car has a loan on it through a bank in Utah, do you need the paperwork for that? And where is the closest place to get the emissions done? And do we have to pay the taxes on the vehicle?
"No. You just need the current registration, you don't have to pay the taxes on your car, and this is Pinal County, we don't do emissions here."

We looked at her like she was lying.

"You guys aren't from here, are you? All you need is the current registration. Pick a number and someone will help you."

So...We picked a number and sat down knowing she was wrong. But at least whoever helped us next would be able to tell us what exactly we needed to do. We only waited for about 20 minutes when our number was called. We sat down and Rick explained to the lady that we needed to switch the registration from Utah to Arizona. She asked for the current registration and began typing away at her computer. Rick started getting nervous. He asked how much we had to pay for taxes on the vehicle and where we could get the emissions done. For the second time that day, we got the "are you stupid?" look from someone at the DMV. She told us that's not how it works in Arizona. She gave me my new license plate, new registration, asked me if I wanted it to expire in 1 year or 2 years (you can pick!?!?) and then said the grand total was 30 bucks. And all of this in under 30 minutes. We felt like we had just robbed the place. Arizona knows how to get it done! Also my drivers license doesn't expire until the year 2053. I asked her why they do it that way (I was more thanking her than asking her) and she said that you have to come in every 12 years to get your picture changed and eyes tested but other than that having people come in more often would be a waste of time. Bless you, Arizona. I went home and took off my Utah plates, which was kind of sad, and replaced them with my AZ plates, and ever since we switched from Utah plates to AZ plates, people don't flip us off while we're driving anymore. That is 75% a joke but 25% the absolute truth.

So...I've recently discovered Pinterest. For those of you who don't know, its basically a website full of google images that can give you ideas for crafts, recipes, hairstyles, clothes, FHE activities, decorations, funny sayings, etc. and you can organize your "pins" however you want. There are some really good ideas on there, or funny things.

I showed this to Rick and he said "no kidding." We aren't allowed to discuss anything important if I haven't been fed. Things can get really ugly really fast.

I came home from work last night pretty mad for no reason at all. Rick told me to take a nap, so I did, and then I woke up and got onto Pinterest and saw this.

She's only 8 but she's got it all figured out.

There are also some things on Pinterest that I see and think "that is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life." For example:

Are you serious? The only thing not pictured are her 500 cats.

So...I saw this and thought it was hilarious and I hope you find it as funny as I did.

New Place

2011-11-01T22:52:00.001-06:00

Lets start from the beginning.

Why we moved.

This was the water that was dripping onto the floor. When it rained outside, it rained inside.

When we moved. This was the day of the 30 car pile up. Traffic came to a dead stop and was backed up for miles.

All because of a dust storm.

Our new place! I love it so much. When you first walk in you're in the living room/kitchen area.

I love love love our kitchen. I've wanted cabinets that don't touch the ceiling since we got married and we finally got them! And we also have a pantry which we didn't have in our last place. Also, our dish washer is SO LOUD. We can't hear anything when the dishwasher is running. It sounds like we're in an airplane when it's taking off. Another also, you see the light in the hallway? We replaced the bulb and have tried every light switch and light switch combination and nothing turns that light on. We also have some extra light switches around the house that don't do anything.

Rick's bathroom, obv.

We've been married for almost 2.5 years and we just bought our first washer and dryer set (I love craigslist!) They run beautifully and I am so happy that we have them.

Bedroom.

Bed. That door goes to the master bathroom.

My bathroom, obv.

The best and worst thing about our new place. The best is the small rainbow light fixture in our bedroom that I assume is meant to go in a little girls room and you can only feel the wind from it if it's on high because the blades are so tiny. The worst is that whoever installed it made is so that you either have the light and fan both on at the same time or off at the same time. If we want to have the fan on at night with the light off we have to unscrew the light bulb.

every.single.night.

Here's What's Up

2011-10-16T15:20:00.001-06:00

A few months ago we decided we were paying way too much money to stay in our place and that we needed to move. We looked at a few places near where we were but nothing seemed right. Then Rick went up to Phoenix to work and he was going to stay there for "maybe a week" which ended up being 6 weeks. While it sucked to be away from him, we were just happy to have him working, and very grateful that he had family to stay with up there. We still knew we needed to find a new place but weren't really pressed for time, until a few days before we went up to Utah when I came home from work and noticed our ceiling was dripping water onto our living room floor. I cleaned it up, put a bucket under it, told Rick, and then we were off to Utah. When we came back, pockets of water were all across a 6 foot span of our ceiling, dripping water everywhere. Not wanting to get mold poisoning and die alone in my apartment while Rick was in Phoenix, we started taking house hunting a little more serious. We told our landlord, but didn't hear back from him. A few days later I was awoken by someone pounding on my door. It was our neighbors telling us that they just went to pay their HOA fees and found out our water was going to be shut off. The place we lived at wasn't an apartment complex, we were renting a condo from a guy who owned it, and the HOA fees, water, garbage, and maintenance were all his responsibility, but he hadn't been paying it. We had until Friday to get it paid or they'd shut it off. We finally got in touch with our landlord and said that they were going to shut it off because he hadn't paid it and that we would be moving soon. He said okay. We later found out that he hadn't been doing anything with the place except for waiting for it to go into foreclosure. Awesome of him to let us know what's up.

Since Rick has the possibility of going back and forth between Tucson and Phoenix for work, depending on his seniority, and the family I work for could possibly end up in Phoenix, we decided to look at places between Tucson and Phoenix. Rick looked at some and said "they are super cheap, in the middle of no where, and it's really dirty there, but I still think we should move there." I wasn't sure what he meant by "dirty" like was there garbage on the street or what? On our days off we went out there and I found out that dirty literally meant dirty. Do you know what a haboob is? It's a huge dust storm. They've been crazy in Arizona this year, and we went there right in the middle of one. When we left I could feel dust in my eyes, hair, nose, and teeth. Disgusting. But we ended up finding a really cute place that we love for HALF the price of our other place with TWICE the bathrooms. TWO! TWO BATHROOMS!

We had to wait until the next week on our days off to move, and by this point our water had already been shut off for a week. They turned off the water to the bathroom so we couldn't shower, flush the toilet, use the sink, or do laundry. They kept the water in the kitchen on so I could brush my teeth and wash my hair there, and we were still able to do dishes. Chad and Christy opened their home up to us and let me shower and do laundry there after I would put the boys to bed. On my days off, Rick and I would give each other what he calls "billy baths" but what I call "camping." One of us would get in the shower and the other would fill up a bucket with water from the kitchen sink and then stand on the toilet and pour it on the person so they could "shower". I will never take running water for granted. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and run to the bathroom to check if we have running water, and we do, and I'm so thankful for that.

We set a date to move and then found out who our new Bishop would be. We called him and asked him if we could get some help moving, he told us his son would be able to help. The day before we moved we called to get our electricity and water all set up. The water place said that they only accept cash so we couldn't make a payment over the phone, and that whatever day we pay the water will be turned on the next day. It was already too late for us to go there before they closed so we knew we'd have to wait until the next day to pay it, which also meant that we'd be waterless for one more day. We got up the next day and put everything in the Uhaul. We had our neighbor help us with some of the big stuff, but for the most part it was just me and Rick, and contrary to popular belief, I am neither strong nor am I a good sport about anything. I tried to help Rick with some big stuff, but I was just getting in the way, and he ended up carrying our couch and mattresses by himself, holding it over his head while walking down a flight of stairs. I'm such a good wife. In the middle of all of this we decided to get some lunch and then leave to get the water set up. We left at noon, they closed at 5, it should have been an hour long drive but halfway into it traffic came to a dead stop on both sides of the freeway. We were totally stuck and had no idea what was going on when my Sister-In-Law texted me and said "You guys okay? I just heard there was a 30 car pile up on the I-10, both sides of the freeway. Bad dust storm, wait it out." We sat there for 4 hours. At 4:45 we called the water place and told them that we wouldn't make it to pay, but could they please schedule our water to be turned on and we'd pay them when they opened the next day? That was when the lady told us that our water was already on, we just had to switch it to our name. They failed to mention that to us the first time. So we did some very illegal maneuvers and headed back to Tucson, now almost 5 hours behind schedule. We weren't going to make it at the time we told the Bishops son to meet us. Rick called him and said we wouldn't be there until late that night, the guy said he'd probably be asleep. We got the rest of the stuff packed up. I was tired and whiney, Rick was exhausted (from holding couches above his head) and we finally left at 9:30 that night. We asked Rick's Brother, Sister-In-Law, and Niece to meet us there, and bless them they did. They got there before us when Megann texted me and said "people from your ward are here." When we pulled up there was our 3 family members, the Bishops son, his wife, another guy from the ward, and our neighbors who said "Hey we're your neighbors and we're Mormon too!"

A miracle of freaking miracles! Are you kidding? It was 10:30 at night, and they all showed up and got right to work. It took me and Rick 12 hours to pack up by ourselves, and it took us all 30 minutes to unpack. That's the kinda stuff that goes in the Ensign. Bless them.

After we got unpacked we chatted with our neighbors for a minute and that's when we noticed that our front window had been shot at with a bbgun and the window was broken, and then our neighbors told us that they've been broken into twice in the last 6 months. After that we headed to Walmart so we could buy all the proper security stuff to make our home safe. I wanted to just Home Alone the place with glass ornaments by the windows and saran wrap with glue on it but Rick wanted to go the more traditional route with door alarms and sealing off our windows and attic (apparently people here break in through the attic? What?)

I really love our cute little 2 bedroom 2(!!!) bathroom apartment. We've lived in BYU central when we lived by the library, which I hated. We lived in the middle of a city in Tucson, which I liked, and now we live in farm lands where we're surrounded by cotton fields and if we want to run to the store we have to "go into town." It's a nice change from the busy city. It's quiet. We live near a bread factory which frequently smells like freshly baked bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, etc. We also live near a sewage plant which smells like I-15 between Pleasant Grove and American Fork. They have no street lamps in Arizona City which is actually pretty creepy but at night I can see the milky way and I've seen several shooting stars. I love living with Rick again, even if we are on completely opposite schedules and hardly see each other, he still comes home every morning. I love that it's getting "cold" here. Rick complained that he was "freeeeeeeeeeezing at work last night! Seriously it was like 45 degrees I swear I could almost see my breath." We are so spoiled by Arizona climate. I love it. And I really really love having running water.

Before 2 months ago, my idea of romance was if Rick got me flowers or chocolate or if I came home and he had cleaned, but during this time that all changed. Real romance is Rick filling up the bucket for me as many times as I asked him to for my billy bath, or coming home from work to see that he had filled the toilet up with water and filled the bucket up with water and set it next to the toilet so that I could flush the toilet twice without having to fill up the bucket. During all of this, Rick had a birthday, and we didn't get to see each other on his birthday or celebrate it in any way. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said to move into our new place so we could live together again. The older he gets the nicer he gets. Maybe next year for his birthday he'll want an ipad for his wife.

The Pill

2011-09-23T22:26:00.000-06:00

When I was a teenager I found out I have an ovarian cyst. The Doctor said that the best thing to help it would be for me to start taking the birth control pill, so I did. My Doctor told me that sometimes women taking birth control feel symptoms of pregnancy so if that happened to me it was normal. Immediately after starting it I was nauseous all the time and had morning sickness. After a while I kind of got used to it, and I knew that I felt way better on the pill than I had before so I thought it was a fair deal and I'd just deal with the sickness. The morning sickness would go away for months and then come back and hit me hard for about a week and then go away again. This started to get annoying but I still thought nothing of it, and then we got married and staying on birth control was the plan until we decide to have kids. When we went to Lake Powell for the first time last year I was super excited until we got there and I was sick as a dog the entire time. If I wasn't sleeping I was trying my hardest not to barf. When we came back I decided to stop taking it because I was so sick of being sick. A year goes by and turns out I'm still sick. One trip to the ER, one abdominal ultrasound, and one HIDA scan later nobody knows what's wrong with me or why I'm sick all the time but it wasn't the pill. So I start taking it again, only this time my Doctor gives me a different pill than the one I was used to for like 6 years, and now nausea and morning sickness brought a friend named hypersensitive tear ducts. Here's a list of things I've cried at since starting the new pill.

A Bank of America commercial.
The last 5 minutes of Spy Kids.
The entire 2 hour premier of Grey's Anatomy.
The movie "A Little Princess" but really who doesn't cry at that?
The kindness of strangers - On two different occasions I went to Walmart at night to just get 1 item. I would stand in line and the first time in front of me was a family with a full shopping cart. The dad turned to me and said "Since you only have 1 thing would you like to go first? Ours will take a while." The second time it was the same scenario only it was a few teenage girls with a full shopping cart and they said the same thing. People here are so nice.
When Rick comes with me to work and cleans up dinner and vacuums while I'm bathing the boys.
When Rick comes with me to work and says "Sloan, can I hold you? How come I just want to hold you all the time?"
When Rick leaves me in Tucson to go work in Phoenix for a week.
When Rick comes back for the weekend and I have to share a bed with him again.
The Documentary "A Pixar Story."
The Phantom of the Opera.
When the Phantom sings about how he thinks he's a hideous monster.
When I put my ipod on shuffle and 2 Disney songs played in a row.
When I barfed up a Western Bacon Cheeseburger, large fries, and Dr. Pepper from Carls Jr.
When our water got shut off this morning because our landlord hasn't been paying his HOA fees and Chad and Christy said I could take showers at their house. I don't know what I'd do without them.
Writing that last sentence. (Seriously? This is getting out of hand.)
The idea that we are moving soon and I have to pack up all of our crap without Rick here to help me.
Realizing that we're going to end up in Phoenix eventually and I really hate that place.
Not being able to get Rick anything for his birthday or spend his birthday with him.

Anybody got any tissues? Cause I'm gonna need them.

Meet The Family

2011-09-18T18:04:00.003-06:00

When I first met the family I nanny for it was dinner time at their house and Rick and I went over there so I could interview with them. We sat around the dinner table talking and I kept looking over at the 2 youngest boys sitting there, eating quietly by themselves and not making a peep. I kept telling myself it wasn't normal. They were too calm for little boys. I would soon come to find out that calm children really do exist. Before then I thought it was just a lie people told so you would have your own kids. If I knew that my children would behave like these boys, we'd have 10 kids already. Lets meet the family.

Name: Raif

Age: 6

Favorite Thing: Collecting Rocks

When you compare Raif to his 2 younger brothers he seems hyper. When you compare him to any other 6 year old he is normal, smart, and sweet. Every day when he comes home from school he shows me a new "crystal" he found. He loves collecting Rocks (to him they are all either crystals or kryptonite) and he once told me that if he found all the crystals in the world he would be "rich with 357 dollars!" He is super smart. He loves to do math and he excels in reading. He calls me Miss Jodi and says "Yes Ma'am". One time we were playing Monopoly and I landed on one of his properties and owed him money. He excitedly said "YEAH DUDE!" and then quickly said "Sorry Miss Jodi! I meant to say YEAH MA'AM!" He is so funny.

He is only there for 2 of the 5 days that I'm there, and when he is there there is definitely a more energetic feeling in the house. They all play together like brothers but they also fight like brothers. He is the leader and he usually uses this power to be a good example to his younger brothers (Look boys, Raif is eating all of his dinner! Look boys, Raif is going potty in the big boy potty! Look boys, Raif is helping Miss Jodi clean up!) which helps me out a lot.

This picture was taken while he was watching Dr. Phil with me. The episode was about adults who mooch off of their parents/family members. One of the guys didn't have a job and just used his parents for everything. Raif turned to me at that part and said "When I get older I'm going to have a job. I'm gonna be a Rock Buster! They bust open rocks to find all the crystals. Yeah, either that or I'll be Indiana Jones."

When he comes home from school he wants to play in his room or with his friends, but after dinner he wants my undivided attention, which is hard because I'm in the middle of bathing/dressing 2 little boys, the youngest of which HATES it when I put his pajamas on (ever try to give a cat a bath? Kinda what its like to put clothes on this kid). So Raif and I have "Miss Jodi and Raif time" every night after everyone is bathed and dressed where for 30 minutes he gets to pick a game or an activity for us to do. I put Mickey on for the other boys so they are entertained and I'm able to give Raif all of my attention. The first night we did this we played cards. When we were done he came up to me and gave me a hug and said "I couldn't ask for a better Miss Jodi to be my babysitter." He is such a good kid.

Name: Cael

Age: 2

Favorite Thing: Mickey and Cookies

This little guy is the sweetest little monster you'll ever meet. He's the middle child but likes to think he's the boss. He loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Sometimes he won't even watch it, he just wants it to be playing on the tv while he does something else, but if the episode ends he'll come running up to me with the remote and ask for more Mickey, and once I put it on for him he'll go right back to not watching it. He doesn't throw tantrums, and I've never had to do time out or any kind of discipline with him. When he does get mad and start to freak out he is so easily distracted with something else that he calms right down. If I want him to do something (like eat dinner) and he is refusing, I make it a game, and then he wants to win. Lets see who can take the biggest bite! Lets see who can make the loudest monster noise when we eat! Works every time, and he thinks it's hilarious. If he wants something that he can't have (like a cookie before dinner) I'll say "No, but how about a banana or an orange?" And then he'll say "NANA!!" Like it was his idea. For him, there is no such thing as Terrible Twos.

He picked out his outfit this day. He's loves shoes and I had to chase him to get this picture. The dude runs better in heels than any woman ever could.

One day it suddenly got very quiet, which always means that somewhere a little child is doing something they are not supposed to do. I went looking for him and found him in Mama's makeup drawer putting on makeup and wearing her headband.

Whenever he wants a banana I ask him to sit on the kitchen floor to eat it so that he doesn't get everything sticky. One day he asked for a banana and juice and while I was getting it ready for him he went into his room, got this little stool out, set it down by my feet and then took a seat. He sat here the whole time and quietly ate his bananas and juice.

When my mom found out I was going to be nannying she bought me a nanny bag filled with activities for the boys. It came with crayons (the twistable kind), coloring books, and these flash cards that have pictures of animals and shapes on them. We started going over shapes the first day and he can now correctly identify a star, moon, circle, pentagon, and oval. Every day the first thing he does is get the cards out of my bag and look through all of them. They end up covering every inch of the house and when it comes time to clean up I start to sing the clean up song and he instantly gets on the floor and picks all the cards up. He puts them back in the bag and then I'll say "Okay, now lets pick up the crayons!" and he will go find all of the crayons and as we're putting them away one by one he will list all the colors (there's only 8 crayons but he knows them all.) He loves to help me clean up. One time he even helped me load and unload the dishwasher. He's an angel.

Name: Sloan
Age: 11 Months
Favorite Thing: Food

You will never in your life meet a baby as happy as Sloan. He is the most relaxed and chill kid I've ever met. He's always happy and easily entertained. He will sit on the floor and bounce a ball against the wall and laugh hysterically the entire time. If Cael and Raif are home and they are playing then he will follow them to whatever room they are in, but he will just sit and watch. He's always there where the action is but he doesn't want to be involved he just wants to observe. He is the sweetest thing. And get this, he and Cael don't use pacifiers! Did you know it was possible? I honestly thought that every baby everywhere had a pacifier and that they needed them. I've seen so many kids FREAK OUT when they don't have their binky, and I was sure that that's why children everywhere needed them. But guess what, if you never give a kid a binky, they won't freak out when they don't have it because they don't know any different. Genius!

Sloan reminds me of me. He is happy up until the moment that he is tired or hungry, and then he's going to kill you. It's like we're kindred spirits or bosom buddies or whatever Anne of Green Gables calls it. As soon as he can smell food, he freaks out. Every night when I'm making dinner I give him a bottle to hold him over until we eat, and if I don't he will unleash the Hulk. Once he starts eating, he couldn't be happier. Seriously, it's like were twins.

A combination of his two favorite things.

I found him like this one night after I was done cleaning up dinner. He'll sleep where he wants when he wants.

These two LOVE spaghetti. This was the first time I ate it with them and I learned that they should never have clothes on when they eat it. The second time we had it they wore only their diapers, I wiped them off as best I could afterward, and then I put them in the bath, rinsed them off, drained the water (which looked less like water and more like soup) and then filled the bathtub up with new clean water.

I can get them to laugh and giggle, but they laugh the hardest at each other. Here Cael was playing peek a boo with Sloan and they were both doing deep loud belly laughs.

One night I was in the kitchen and they were in the living room watching Mickey when I heard a very loud squeal. I went to check on them and Cael was pushing Sloan around in this little walker toy. They both ran and laughed and ran and laughed for about 15 minutes.

Meet The Parents

Chad and Christy. The creators of those blue eyed beauties. Christy is super mom to all 3 of the boys and Chad is #1 dad to Cael and Sloan and an awesome step parent to Raif. I love their parenting style and I'm going to use their tricks when I have kids. They are the greatest.

I love this Fam.

10 Years Ago

2011-09-11T18:06:00.000-06:00

10 years ago I learned what a terrorist was.

10 years ago I learned what the Twin Towers were.

10 years ago I woke up earlier than normal, got ready for school, had some time to kill so I decided to go into my mom's bedroom to watch some cartoons. I turned on the TV and saw the Twin Towers. I turned to my mom and told her that a building was on fire. When I turned back to the TV, I saw the second plane crash into the South Tower. I will never forget that image. I didn't understand what exactly was going on, but I was afraid. I turned back to look at my mom and she had a blank expression on her face and then she said "Ripsy is there." Ripsy is my older sister. She is from Armenia and she came to live with my family as an exchanged student when I was 6. She is exactly what I wanted in a big sister, especially when she helped me with my math homework. Ripsy is smart, she graduated from BYU and from Harvard. She then went on to work for a big company in New York City, and her office was blocks away from the Twin Towers.

10 years ago I got on the bus and went to school. I was in 8th grade, and I had just rearranged my schedule so that my first class of the morning I was an Office Aid for the Main Office and my job was answering phones, and it was my very first day doing it. The more phone calls I received from frantic parents asking me if our school had a bomb shelter, the more I realized the seriousness of the situation.

10 years ago while working in the Main Office I had to go to the library to give a message to one of the teachers there. I walked in and saw one of my teachers, Mr. Chilcoat, standing in front of the big screen TV, with his hand over his mouth and his eyes closed. Students sat around and watched and nobody said a word. I stood near the TV and watched as the first tower fell. I choked back the tears, ran back to the office, called my mom and asked her if she had heard from Ripsy. She hadn't.

10 years ago I got home from school and my mom was waiting in the kitchen for everyone. Ripsy had told someone that she was safe and word got to us, but we still hadn't talked to her. Several days later she called.

10 years ago Rispy was at work when she heard a loud crash. The alarms went off and then a voice came on over the speakers and said it was a false alarm and they didn't need to evacuate. Later she heard another crash, and looked outside to see airplane parts, building parts, and debris fly by her window. The alarm went off again, and this time they were told to evacuate. Ripsy walked outside with two of her coworkers and started walking away from the towers. When the towers fell, they ran. The three of them ran together but the debris was catching up. Ahead of them was a very tall man that pulled them into an alley as they were swallowed up by the debris and covered them with his coat. After the debris settled, Rispy had to walk several miles home.

10 years ago I learned what it meant to be proud to be an American. I had sung all the Patriotic songs before, but now I understood. And I learned that no matter what happens in life, evil won't win.

Life lessons learned while sleeping in a parking lot in Vegas

2011-09-09T03:31:00.003-06:00

Last week we went up to Utah for 3 days. I got to meet my new niece, spend time with (almost) all of my favorite people, help Rick with some photo shoots, and I ate like 500 cupcakes. We left late Sunday night ~~because we never learn~~ because we wanted to stay as late as we possibly could and then Rick had to hurry back for work. We said we would take turns driving. We never do. He always drives. I don't make him, he just likes driving or thinks I'm going to kill us or something. One time when we were driving from Arizona to Utah he pulled over in Mona because he couldn't drive anymore and I drove from there. Do you know where Mona is? Its like 30 miles from Provo. That's all I contributed to that roadtrip.

When we made it to Vegas we were both struggling to stay awake. We decided to find a place to sleep. We called a hotel and asked about rates but we were only going to be sleeping for 2-3 hours because Rick was on a strict time schedule and we decided it wasn't worth it to get a hotel room. So we pulled into a Flying J's parking lot and as I was laying there listening to the sound of Rick snoring and smelling the sweet smell of diesel fumes, I reflected on the days we spent in Utah and all of a sudden I was hit by an intense, sad and somewhat surprising reality.

I am not meant to live in Utah.

I do not feel comfortable there. And it's not just because there are 4 billion college students there and construction on every road in Utah County (the freeway splitting on our way to and from Salt Lake - what is that?! who the hell thought that was a good idea?) I feel like if you live in Utah you are on one side or the other as far as political/religious beliefs. Everybody has their guard up because they're going to be attacked and need to be ready to fight back at any moment (ESPECIALLY during the political season, my gosh). And you constantly have to defend your beliefs, whatever they are, and everyone is always getting their feelings hurt, and everyone is a victim, and nobody ever wins. Because of some of our friends and family members, I felt like I was constantly defending both sides, because I don't view things as black and white. I live in the grey, and because of this I was caught in the cross fire. It was so exhausting.

Last night we had a pool party/BBQ with a bunch of our neighbors. When one of our neighbors found out we were from Utah she asked if we were Mormon. My insides churned, not because I am ashamed of what I believe, but because I was having such a nice time and really didn't want to have to defend or argue my beliefs or worry about hurting someone's feelings. We told her yes, we are Mormon. She said "Well then we'll keep the beer away from you! You Mormons really know how to build beautiful buildings. Have you seen the temple here? Or the one in Los Angeles? They are so beautiful!" And then throughout the night she asked us questions about the church, and not "so why do you hate gays?" or "why are you racist?" but "so how does the Priesthood work?" and "what does the oil do when you give blessings?" It was a breath of fresh air. I wanted to keep talking, I wanted to tell her more, and I wanted to go home and read and do my research to make sure I was answering all her questions correctly. I've never experienced that kind of conversation in Utah.

I like Arizona. Even the first few months when things were really hard I still liked it. There was a time about 2 months ago where I still didn't have a job and Rick found out that the railroad was starting to lay people off again, and he would be laid off soon. We panicked. We were barely surviving as it was and were already so behind and we could not live without his job. We seriously considered moving back to Utah, and starting all over. Again. Rick knew he could get his old job back at the Hospital. Between all of our family there we knew we could stay with someone until we got back up on our feet. We prayed and fasted and cried and had no idea what to do. And then I found Chad and Christy, and they hired me. And then Rick found out that if he transferred to the Phoenix yard, he would be able to hold there because they needed people because nobody likes working in Phoenix (because it is 400 degrees). And he's been in Phoenix ever since, and I've been working ever since, and we are still behind and still struggling and I still hate not being able to see my guy every day, but we're blooming where we're planted, and we're learning and growing and we know this is where we need to be.

The night we got home we laid in bed and talked about it. I was very sad to have come to this realization and was so glad to have Rick there with me (even though later that night when we were both dead asleep he elbowed me HARD in the nose and then every time I moved after that he would wake up frantically and put his hand on my head and say "sorry 'bout yo face"). We talked about the things we liked and would miss about Utah, and about the things we were going to have to get used to in Arizona. Although there are some things I don't think I will ever get used to. Things like...

Africanized Honey Bees. Also known as Killer Bees. Super mean, super scary. A few months ago one of them got into our apartment and kept bumping aggressively into Rick. He finally caught it and let it outside. The next day we went to leave and it was by our car and anytime we got near the car it would chase us. It took us 20 minutes to get into our car. If you kill one of these bees they let off some kind of scent or something to let the other bees know what's up and then you will get swarmed. And die. Like on My Girl. Did anybody else sob during Thomas' funeral when Vada was crying saying Thomas needed his glasses? No? Just Rick? Okay.
Sewer Roaches. They come up from your drains and hang out in your bathtub. Kill myself.
"If you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night just put your flip flops on in case you step on a scorpion." Kill myself twice.
These really big really loud beetles that hang out in the trees and you'll be outside thinking "man, those power lines are really loud" and then you realize you are no where near the power lines.

So now that I know we're here to stay and now that you all know about the wonderful Arizona insects, it's time for people to start coming to visit us. We even have a couch that is almost big enough for one person. Any takers?

My Rick Rock

2011-08-29T05:25:00.001-06:00

If you don't know my husband, you should. He's funny, intelligent, artistic, generous, kind, loving, spiritual, friendly, sensitive, strong, calm, hard working, determined, handsome, and 90% of the time he smells awesome.

I know that every person is different, and every relationship is different, but Rick is the most unique person I've ever met, and our relationship is unlike most. If Rick was in a room with a lot of people, you would think that he was quiet, shy, or uninterested. He is sensitive to his surroundings. He is a listener. He absorbs everything around him and just as you forget he is there he chimes in and says something profound and important. He is the most centered person I know. He is steady. He is a rock. He is my rock. He's had many trials already in his life.

When he was on his mission, his knees would swell up every night causing him a lot of pain. He told his mission president, who made him go see a Doctor, who told him that he needed surgery on both of his knees. He was sent home the next day, against his wishes. He was referred to a Doctor who was supposed to be the best Orthopedic Surgeon in Utah. That Doctor took one look at his knees and said he was fine, and that there was nothing wrong with him. Rick was given an honorable release from his mission, and was told to get back to living his regular life. He still had the pain and swelling in his knees, unanswered questions, and had lost trust of those around him who thought he was lying. Friends and family would ask him why he was faking knee pain, what he really did to be released, and what he was hiding. This went on for a year, and during this year he didn't fall away or falter or become bitter and angry. The pain was getting worse, and he finally went to another Doctor who examined his knees, took xrays, and immediately scheduled him for surgery. After his surgery, Rick's dad came to him and said "Son, I'm sorry I doubted you." Rick does not hold grudges or get angry. He felt his Dad's apology was unnecessary. That's the kind of man he is. It did not shake him.

Six years ago, Rick was working as a counselor for Youth in a Wilderness Therapy Program in St. George. One day he received a phone call from his little sister, Marci, telling him that his 4 best friends had passed away in a tragic accident. This was the first time Rick had experienced the death of a loved one, only this time it was the deaths of 4 loved ones. Rick became the support for his friends during this time. He wanted nothing more than to take away the pain of those around him who were hurting. He will laugh, cry, scream, dance, drive, or just sit in silence with you, if it will make you feel better. I've often wondered how I would handle it if my 4 best friends suddenly passed. Without Rick by my side, the thought of surviving that is impossible. Rick is not afraid of feelings. I can openly ask him anything and I will get an honest answer. Every year on the anniversary of his friends death, we talk about it. It's not a topic of sadness. Rick shares memories of his friends with me. He can't wait to see them again, and he knows that he will. It will be a beautiful reunion.

Last year when Rick was working at the State Hospital, he was the first responder to a Code Blue where an employee had hung himself in the bathroom stall. Rick watched helplessly as this young man died in his arms. When he came home, we stayed up all night talking about it. We processed through every action, and every emotion. Rick wrote the following about what happened that day.

"You will have pain. You must pick yourself up. No one else can. I have an ear, as well as you. Listen. I have a mouth as you do. Talk. Your heart needs love. Receive.

Don’t bury yourself.

If you need help find it.

I held a dead body in my hands and I did everything possible to keep it alive. Talk about being helpless. Life is fragile. So live it good.

Rest in peace."

He has a beautiful way with words.

Rick only gets mad when he's trying to fix something (just like his Daddy) and then he usually says lots of swear words (just like his Daddy). While he's working on the car/toilet/closet door/anything the only thing I hear him say the whole time he's fixing it is "you stupid son of a bitch" (just like his Daddy). And then I sit in the other room and laugh quietly so that he can't hear me.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to write this post. Maybe it's because I miss him a lot and I hate not being able to see him and not knowing when I will see him again. Maybe it's because it's 4 in the morning and I'm watching Romantic Comedies by myself while eating half a jar of marshmallow cream. Maybe it's because all around me relationships are crumbling. Some for reasons that anyone should leave a relationship for (abuse, cheating) and some for stupid reasons (he isn't romantic enough, he doesn't clean enough, he doesn't like my friends, he doesn't make enough money, he doesn't have his priorities straight, he's not fun anymore) and it makes me want to shake people and say "Enough!" If your relationship is falling apart for small stupid reasons, for goodness sake pull it together. Sit down on your bed with them, face them, take turns talking, listen, and repeat what they said. And then hug them, because right now there is nothing I want more than to be able to see my husband and give him a hug every day.

Time Capsule

2011-08-24T21:15:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Rick went to Pinedale, Arizona for the Brimhall Family Reunion. He had 2 things to do while he was there - First, sell the family pictures he took last year. Second, find his original birth certificate (aside from the fact that Rick is alive, we're having a really hard time proving to the Ute Tribe/Utah Court System that he was ever born.) While he was going through all of his boxes of his old stuff, he found an envelope with his name on it that said "Do not open until 2011." He opened it, and found a letter.

"January 6, 1996

Dear Rick,

My Goal in fifteen years is to be on my mission. I hope to go some where out of the United States. When I get off my mission I will get a job and go to college.

I will live some where on the coast of California probably San Francisco that sounds good. I would learn to surf that would be fun. Later I would get married have five children and adopt too. They would be good sports players. They would all be strong so they would all be professional football players. I think that I would have a pretty good Goal in fifteen years.

Sincerely,

Rick Brimhall"

This is awesome for a few reasons.

1. What are the chances he would FIND this letter in the year 2011?
2. 5 kids plus adopting some? Yeah right.
3. He was 13 when he wrote this, and he wanted to be on a mission 15 years from then. On a mission at 28? Is that even allowed? Did no one teach him that the age you can go is 19?
4. Rick could not care less about sports, and yet all of our 5+ children (girls included?) are supposed to be professional football players. One time when I was little and I played recreational soccer I accidentally scored a goal for the other team. And the only sport Rick knows how to play is "lifting a lot of weights so I'm ridiculously buff." If our kids have any hand-eye coordination it will be nothing short of a miracle.
5. Absolutely none of the goals have happened. He is not on a mission and he did not go outside of the United States for his mission (he was originally called to Caracas, Venezuela but while he was in the MTC there was political stuff going on over there and no one could get their visas so they sent all those missionaries to California instead.) He does not live in California. We do not have 5+ children and they will not all be professional football players. The thought of Rick trying to surf is hilarious. He does have a job, and he did go to Railroad school (that sounds made up but it's real I promise).

This note to himself was a nice reminder that things don't always work out like we planned, and that's okay with me.

My Heart is in Phoenix

2011-08-20T16:52:00.004-06:00

Rick has been in Phoenix for a few weeks. The good part about that is that I get the whole bed to myself and I've never slept better. The bad part is that it sucks and I hate being alone and I miss him and I don't know when I will get to see him or how long he will be gone. He is planning on staying there for as long as he can work, which turns out could be for a few months. That's good because then he won't be laid off but also he will be in Phoenix and not Tucson (and that sucks). Luckily he has been able to stay with family/friends up there, but he wants me to go visit him on my days off which is annoying for two reasons - first, I feel weird staying at other people's houses, and second, have I ever mentioned how much I hate Phoenix? Phoenix is so freaking hot. Way hotter than Tucson, which I don't really understand because Tucson is further South than Phoenix but I heard it's a difference in elevation or something. It's the kind of hot that just instantly makes you irritated. The kind of hot where you can only be comfortable if you lay on the kitchen floor in your underwear eating popsicles. But then again it's not my house and so I have to remain fully clothed, which spikes up the irritation. Tucson has beautiful monsoon rainstorms that cool everything off and then it smells amazing afterwards. Phoenix has dust storms that ruins contacts, gets in your mouth and then you feel the dirt grinding against your teeth, and if you blow your nose afterwards you think you've got a horrible sinus disease. Tucson has the best mexican food ever, and Phoenix has a Taco Bell on every corner. Tucson has mountains (that get SNOW on them in the winter) and Phoenix has the sun in your eyes forever. So we decided that if Rick has time off he's going to come to Tucson instead of me going to Phoenix.

It's times like these that I hate the Railroad. The only thing that keeps me sane is knowing that this will not last forever and that we are just in the "lets throw you around and test your commitment to the job" phase. Plus, we have killer Health Insurance, and it's hard to hate that. Rick put in another bid for a job in Dallas (for 90 days) and they've started calling people for it, so we'll see what happens there. He also had lunch with an old coworker and this guy is a manager for an oil rig company in North Dakota. He said that if Rick gets laid off he could go work for him. So that is also a possibility. Our lives are so weird. Luckily we don't have any kids right now and if Rick needs to keep having a horrible schedule and travel everywhere then this is the time for it to happen, and then one day our patience will pay off and I'll be living my dream of ~~having as many ferrets as our landlord will allow~~ being a stay at home mom. If he did go to North Dakota he would work for 2 weeks straight then come home and have 2 weeks off. Because of my job, if he was home, he would be able to come to work with me and help me watch the kids. One of the many perks of being a nanny. Have I mentioned that I have the best job in the world? The kids are awesome, and the couple is amazing. I swear they were sent to me straight from Heaven/Craigslist. Chad (the dad of the boys) is a photographer, so he and Rick hit it off instantly. When Christy (the mom) comes home from work we will sit and chat. It will feel like 5 minutes has gone by and I'll check the time and its been an hour and a half. Chad is an awesome chef and so I get to have a quality home cooked dinner every night, and they buy me lots of Dr. Pepper. It's a dream come true.

Making Lists is Easier

2011-08-11T21:45:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, Rick woke me up at 5 one morning and said "Go pack, we are going to Utah today." He is the coolest. Because things have been changing at his work, he suddenly had a week off, and I still didn't have a job so it was the perfect time to go. It was the longest 12 hour drive of my life and when I finally saw the Y on the mountain I cried tears of joy. I rolled down the window to smell the beautiful smell of Utah and instead I got hit in the face by a lot of bugs, so that euphoric feeling was short lived (I think I swallowed either a very large fly or a very small bird.)
While in Utah I ate a lot of cupcakes, spent a lot of time with friends and family, and spent a lot of time barfing my face off. It was everything I've ever dreamed of.
While in Utah we made the very sad and very hard decision of giving Meeko away. We thought long and hard about it and we decided that with Rick's crazy work schedule, and with me knowing (hoping and praying) that I would get a full time job sometime, we felt guilty about the thought of having to leave him home alone in his kennel for long hours. We were able to find a family for him to go to that has another dog of his exact breed, 5 kids at home, and a big yard. The youngest child is new to the wonderful family and is their foster/soon to be adopted son, and he needed a buddy to bond with. They played really well together when they came over to meet Meeko, and as they were leaving the sweet boy looked up at me and said "Thank you so much for giving me your puppy, he is so cute and I promise I will take very good care of him for you" and I totally cried.
I cried for most of the drive home. I was sad to leave my family, friends, and Meeko. When we got back, Rick immediately started working graves and I was home alone every night, and jobless during the day. Seriously, so depressing. I was sad and lonely and wondering if we had made the right decision when...
I got a job. I'm a nanny for the most amazing family with 3 little boys. The oldest boy calls me Miss Jodi and says "yes, ma'am" and he's only 6. The two youngest boys think I am the coolest thing ever and when I give them their bottles and put them in bed they go right to sleep. Amazing. The best part is that we found each other on CRAIGSLIST after I watched an episode of Law and Order that was about a nanny named Jodi from Utah who was a Mormon. Not even kidding. Yesterday was my first day and I was gone for about 12 hours and Rick has been working up in Phoenix, and I knew then that we had made the right decision about Meeko and I felt 100 times better knowing he was in a home with another dog and kids instead of stuck in his kennel in our apartment for 12 hours.
I've already learned so much from these kids, and I've also learned so much about myself, mostly because of this book. Changed my life.

Rick was bumped (someone with more seniority than him took his job) from the Tucson yard and has been working in Phoenix. He will stay there as long as he can work. He came home last night because he has 2 days off and 3 times last night he woke up giggling so hard he was wheezing, I had to wake him up from sleep paralysis twice, and he talked all.night.long. I guess I'll just sleep when he's not here.
I walked into my bathroom a few days ago and saw something scurry into a hole in the floor. Turns out a gecko has been living there. He's quick and I was never able to catch him. Yesterday he had made his way into the kitchen. I caught him and released him outside. He's been trying to get back inside ever since. If he makes it back, he is welcome to stay. Anything that tries that hard to get into my house is welcome.

Plan On It

2011-07-20T12:59:00.002-06:00

I really hate it when people say "Things are great right now which means that something bad is about to happen." That drives me crazy. If things are going good then just appreciate it and don't wait for things to be bad or don't expect it because it will happen, and then you'll think you're right, and you'll complain about it, and I won't feel sorry for you because you were being obnoxious in the first place. That kind of mentality makes me crazy, but I was thinking about that today, and then I realized that lately, I am one of those people. Not in the way of "things are good so something bad will happen" but in the way of "as soon as I verbalize my plans, they change, so I'm not telling anyone anything ever again."

Lately whenever I tell people what my plans/goals are, they change within a second. I was looking back at my New Years Resolutions and it gave me a nice good laugh. I'm really starting to look like a giant liar.

We're coming to Utah, no we're not.

We're spending the summer in Dallas/Chicago/St. Louis, no we're not.

Rick's job is going to be so much better for us financially, no it's not.

I've been applying liberally to every job in Tucson. One job I had a 2nd interview with, they loved me, they said I would be great, they said they were excited, and that I should hear from them soon. I was so happy. I felt confident and I knew that I would get the job. Since it was an almost sure thing, I decided it was safe to tell people. So I told just a few friends and family members, and the next day I got the rejection. I've had my share of "thanks but no thanks" since applying to jobs here, but that one stung.

And then things started snowballing. Rick wanted to clean out our 2nd bedroom and change it from the "all of our random crap room" to our "electronic stuff neatly organized and a bed for guests" room. But why bother putting all that work into it? What if he loses his job and we have to move? What if no one ever comes to visit us? Why does it matter? And that turned into why should I even apply for jobs if no one will hire me anyway? What's the point? Why should I do anything productive if it's just going to backfire?

Rick has come to me on many occasions and said "Do we need to move back to Utah?" He feels guilty for moving me here. I feel guilty for quitting the one job I did get that I hated more than anything. But the worst part is wanting so badly to say "yes, please, lets go back home" but knowing that we're here for a reason. I have no idea what that reason is, and for a long time I doubted it, and that's when I realized I was turning into the obnoxious person who always waits for the bad to hit. That person sucks.

So, I'm breaking the cycle. Want to know my plans? Sure thing.

We plan on coming up to Utah September 16 - 21. Rick has a photo shoot to do up there on the 17th, and since that is his birthday week we plan on celebrating BBQ style. If you are reading this, you are invited.

I plan on getting a job. I currently have applications being reviewed with 2 hospitals here, one job is for a receptionist in Labor and Delivery, and one is in the OR being the person who makes sure all the surgical tools are sterile. I was talking to a lady in our ward and she had a similar story. Lived in Utah, moved to Tucson for her husband's job, went crazy not working, and then finally found a job that she had no experience with before but she loves it now. She works for a medical software company, and she told me to send her my resume and she'd pass it along because she knows they are hiring. So there is also that possibility. Either way, I'm going to keep applying and interviewing until I find a job.

I plan on getting out of debt, saving money, and getting ready for cars/houses/babies.

I plan on buying a nice rug for our living room because I never realized how much I love carpet until I didn't have it anymore.

I plan on cleaning out that 2nd bedroom and even getting a futon bed for when we have guests.

I plan on living in Tucson forever, and that is kind of scary.

I plan on Rick not getting killed on the job and not telling me that "work was good...except when the train we were on derailed" ever again.

I plan on keeping Meeko forever.

I plan on both of our cars working like we need them to.

If our plans change, then we'll just roll with it.

Just To Make Mom Happy

2011-07-18T05:14:00.004-06:00

My mom told me that she checks my blog for an update everyday. I don't know why she would, she's just going to be disappointed. But she wants an update. Okay, Mom, just for you, here is an update on our life.

I still don't have a job and it's still too hot to go outside.

We lead a fascinating life.

Actually, a few interesting things have happened lately. I had a near death experience this week - our internet broke. No TV, no Internet, no Netflix, and it happened on the same day that we sold our smart phones and switched back to our old phones to save money, so I couldn't even use my phone to be connected to the world. It was terrifying. I told myself I'd stay busy with cleaning and running errands and that took like an hour total.

Luckily, my Sister-In-Law had loaned me the first Twilight book. I hadn't read them before, and I saw the 2nd movie on accident. I'm not really big into fantasy-type books. Like I only made it to the 3rd Harry Potter book. And I probably shouldn't even say that, I know that HP is a touchy subject these days. Rick is worse about it than me, though. We got tickets to the midnight showing of the 6th movie and we met up with friends and we were standing in line waiting when Rick loudly said "so, which one is Voldemort again?" And everyone froze. I'm pretty sure I heard someone hiss at us, too. So I didn't have much hope for the Twilight books but no internet, remember? So I started reading it, and then 5 hours later I was done. And then I went to the store and bought the next 2 books and all the movies, and I would read one book a day and then watch the movie. And now I'm obsessed. And I'm definitely on Team Edward. I think Edward is the best for Bella, and I definitely think that Bella is totally crazy and weird. And I think that I might give Harry Potter another try. I'm a changed woman.

Rick also had a life changing week. He got food poisoning. He had to call off work twice and he can't call off more than that without losing his monthly guarantee. A few days ago someone from the ward called and asked if Rick could give the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting today. As Sacrament Meeting was finishing up, Rick nervously leaned over to me and whispered "what if they didn't really call me? I was so out of it when they called, what if I'm remembering it wrong? Or what if they just say Brother Brimhall? What if the other Brother Brimhall in the ward gets up?" I told him to calm down and that they won't just say Brother Brimhall, they will say Brother Rick Brimhall. He took a deep breath. A few minutes later he leaned over to me again and said with much panic in his voice "I forgot how to pray. What do I say? How do I do it?!" I didn't have time to answer his question because I was laughing, and then the First Counselor got up there and announced who the last speaker would be, what the closing song would be, and that "Brother Randy Brimhall will be giving the closing prayer." Rick froze. I laughed harder. His palms started sweating and his breathing was shallow. I told him to calm down, they were calling him and not the other Brother Brimhall, to listen to the spirit, and to just keep it simple. He kept it simple enough by saying "we're so Thankful.....for everyone.....and everything." Attaboy. After Sacrament Meeting he asked for a Priesthood Blessing, nervous that he wasn't getting better and that he'd have to work out in the heat with no energy. He's exhausted when he comes home when he is healthy and he does have energy, and a few times he's come home really dehydrated, and once he came home with heat stroke. Our home teachers gave him a blessing and he's been doing 100 times better since then, and we're very thankful for that. He still tries to whine about it every few minutes but I know he's being a faker now so I don't feel as bad for making fun of him for checking his temperature every 20 minutes.

That's all the updates for now. The only other news was that I turned 100 years old the other day because I went to bed at 8 pm and woke up at 4 am. Who does that?

A Charlie Brown 4th of July

2011-07-06T07:44:00.000-06:00

I love the 4th of July with all of my heart and soul. It is my favorite holiday. Everything about it is magical, and I cry EVERY time. I used to be able to keep the tears in until the very end of the day, but every year that goes by they just sneak up on me. I get goosebumps as I stand on the side of University Avenue with my hand on my heart watching the flag go by, and then those Jets fly overhead and I see my Mom and Grandma wiping their tears, and my brother (who will remain nameless) trying his hardest not to cry. I just can't help myself. Even Rick cries - and he's an INDIAN! We love America an embarrassing amount.

This year I knew it would be different. I knew it would be hard being away from my friends and family, and I knew that nobody celebrates the 4th of July like Provo, but I didn't know it would be this depressing.

We woke up at 6 (yes 6, that is how much I love this Holiday) because the night before we had spent a lot of time online searching for parades. We found ONE in the entire city of Tucson, and it sounded promising - 48th annual parade, breakfast at 7 with the parade starting at 9. Perfect. We got ready, put the address in our GPS and we were on our way. The address took us to a neighborhood that wasn't near any of the main streets in Tucson.

As we got closer we saw a booth with a handmade sign welcoming everyone to the 48th annual Pima Neighborhood Parade. They told us to pull up and that breakfast was $3. The breakfast was held in someone's front yard and everyone but us was wearing matching t-shirts. We wondered if we were crashing a family reunion, but were too curious to leave. After talking to the lady who took our money (The head of the Neighborhood Committee) we learned that it was a parade put on every year by every one in the neighborhood.

We finished our breakfast and left to go see if there was anything else going on. No cars, no people, no signs, not even any flags were out. Tucson was a ghost town. It was time for the parade to start so we drove back to the neighborhood. As we pulled up, we spotted 4 cop cars, and a tv news crew.

We thought that maybe this was going to be bigger than we had originally planned. If the Police are there then it's REALLY a parade. I was excited. We got out, and in the middle of the street was everyone from the neighborhood dressed up, ready to march. I was confused because if everyone in the neighborhood was IN the parade than who was going to WATCH the parade? The answer - Me, Meeko, and some other lady. I stood there, in awe/disbelief as the parade started.

The best part was when the lady standing in her lawn with her horse made her entrance. The horse was absolutely terrified and I'm surprised it didn't kill someone.

The parade lasted for approximately 45 seconds, as the 50 people walked around the block. Not pictured is the guy dressed like captain america, and the rootbeer float float, consisting of a small child in a red wagon dressed like a can of rootbeer with white balloons on his head. You know how they give out candy at parades? The rootbeer float float gave a real rootbeer float to the lady standing next to me. They would have given me one but my arms were full because someone's feet were too hot.

I have to give credit to this sweet little neighborhood for making the best out of it for 48 years, but compared to Utah I could not believe that this was really happening.

When we got home we decided to head to the pool and relax. As I was laying out I told myself that no matter how homesick I was and no matter how sad that parade was, I was going to make the best of it and I was still going to have a great 4th of July. I then saw something out of the corner of my eye. A baby bird had just fallen out of the tree next to me, and was on the ground. It couldn't fly yet, and it was really struggling. With my new positive mindset, I ran over to save the helpless life. Rick told me I needed to put the bird in the shade somewhere. I picked it up and as I was looking for a good comfy spot for my new friend, it died in my hands.

Seriously, that all just happened.

The good news, though, is that Meeko found his soul mate and now he's in love.

Living The Nightlife

2011-07-03T19:17:00.001-06:00

Rick is a light sleeper. Any time I roll over, move, cough, sneeze, sniffle, or blink, it wakes him up. I try my hardest to not move at all, but sometimes I just really need to breathe. Last night as I got into bed it woke him up and he gave me the look that says "I'm about to say something really weird that I won't remember in the morning."

"Where is the other blanket?" He asked while he was laying on top of the sheet and the blanket.

"What other blanket?"

"Don't we normally have more blankets than this? There should be another one between the sheet and the blanket."

"What?"

And then he was gone. It takes me a lot longer than him to fall asleep, so I laid there playing on my phone for a while. When I was done I put my phone away and rolled over. He shifted and gave me the same look as before.

"Don't we have more blankets than this?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, because it's July and we live in Tucson and so I'm positive we don't have any more blankets."

"Did we used to have more blankets?"

"We had a different blanket when we lived in Utah. The thick one. We got this new bedspread when we moved here, remember?"

"But what about the blanket that you sign?"

By this time, he was fully awake, and I was more confused than ever.

"What?"

"It's like a blanket....but you can like take it to work with you. Where is the blanket that you used to take to work with you?"

"I never took a blanket to work with me. Do you take a blanket to work with you?"

"Yeah, the signed one."

"Signed as in like...written on?"

"Yeah, you like write all of your notes on it and then take it to work with you and it helps you remember what to do."

"You mean like a note pad?"

"No it's the blanket that you sign and it's supposed to go between the sheet and the other blanket."

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"I know, I know, it sounds weird...but it's so real."

This morning I asked him if he remembered our conversation from last night. He starred off into the distance for a few minutes before he whispered "the blanket....it's so real."

He is still insisting that we are missing a 3rd blanket from our bed. He really misses that nonexistent blanket. Not sure how we're gonna settle this one.

Never Been More Proud

2011-06-29T02:42:00.002-06:00

We are proud to announce that we are now parents to the ugliest dog in the world. Sorry for the bad haircut, Meeko.

The good news is that this solidifies the Theory of Evolution.

S*** My Husband Says

2011-06-27T16:17:00.005-06:00

"YES! My fingers are getting stronger!" He exclaimed with excitement one day while playing the guitar.

"I wish I played Zelda more." He sighed as he looked at the list of games we have on our Wii.

"I'm going to try my hardest to not work hard today." He sincerely promised after I told him that whenever he comes home from work he only wants to lay down and not move.

"Well, it's time for me to get a haircut. Look - my hat won't even stay on, it keeps sliding up off of my head because my hair is too big. That's how I know I need a haircut." He said in all seriousness.

"I found Meeko's ticklish spot!" He informed me as he chased a terrified Meeko down the hallway.

"Umm...white pasta? We're not getting wheat pasta anymore? What about our health?" He genuinely asked after we had just come back from a dinner consisting of baby back ribs, seasoned fries, garlic bread, and Dr. Pepper.

"I probably shouldn't have had that ham sandwich for breakfast at 6 this morning." He said as I gagged.

"I think I have cholesterol poisoning." He said with a worried look on his face while rubbing his chest after eating the McDonalds I suggested he not eat.

He makes me laugh.

Pity Party

2011-06-23T20:41:00.002-06:00

I can say with complete confidence that these last 3 months have been the most difficult months of my 23 years of life. For small reasons, and for big reasons that no one besides me and Rick will ever understand, we have had a trial in every aspect of our lives. Everyday I go over every wrong thing. Homesick, physically sick, no friends, loss of job, loss of confidence, loss of money, not knowing how long Rick will work, not knowing how we will pay the bills, not knowing if we will make it to Utah next week with Rick's schedule, the disappointment in knowing that we were going to start trying to have a baby after our 2 year anniversary but we have to postpone a family until who knows when, and the list goes on and on. Everyday I was starting to feel more and more like this guy.

And then today I woke up and I thought you know what? This is getting old. And just like that, the pity party was over. And I've never been more relieved.

We have a roof over our heads. We have food and water. We have 2 cars that (mostly) work. We have a cute dog that likes to cuddle whenever I'm sad. We have Netflix (seriously, saved my life). We have clothes. We have Air Conditioning. Rick has a job. We have the Church. We have each other. What more could we need?

This whole trying to be humble and "happiness is the journey not the destination" thing is really hard for me, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I can't hate Arizona. It takes up way too much energy. Arizona is giving us an opportunity to learn and grow that we wouldn't have had living in the comfort of Utah. Arizona is teaching us to rely on each other and the Lord. We needed that extra push. In the next few months, Rick and I will have the opportunity to do something that I've always wanted to do, but never would have had the chance unless we lived here. It's a big grown up thing, and I'm not ready yet to tell everyone what it is, but I am so excited. Now, I feel like this guy.

Drunk on Phenergan

2011-06-15T00:09:00.002-06:00

So this has been an eventful week. Wednesday morning I had an awesome case of the barfs. That mixed with the nausea I've been having lately, I've been nothing but fun to be around. Sunday night I went to bed feeling fine, woke up 2 hours later, and promptly threw up the 2 hotdogs I had for dinner. I missed work last week when I was sick and knew I couldn't miss any more work without a Doctors note. Since we are new to Tucson we don't have a Primary Care Physician yet and no Doctor will take a new patient for same day care. We decided to just go to the ER, figure out what was wrong, get a Doctors note, and be on our way. I remember just a few things about our visit to the ER. 1 - I'm not pregnant. 2 - I can taste the IV fluid, and it does not taste good. 3 - Phenergan hurts like a mother effer and makes me incredibly loopy. 4 - My doctor had white/silver hair and a nose ring. The Doctor said I have acid reflux and possibly GERD. She gave me an antacid and some zofran and we were on our way. By the time we got home it was about 5:30 in the morning, I set my alarm for an hour later so I could call my boss. I don't remember my alarm going off, but I do remember Rick waking me up to make sure I was calling my work. For some reason I thought that the phone number for my boss would be on the paper my Doctor gave me. It wasn't, but I searched high and low for that number (that was in my phone - where all my important phone numbers go). I remember yelling at Rick to get me a light (I think I meant turn the light on but we ended up looking for things with a flashlight, not the most effective way) and finally after Rick didn't understand what I was looking for (and neither did I, really) I screamed at him to get out and I threw all the papers on the ground. I finally realized that the phone number I needed was in my phone, and I was able to call my work. I left a message, and I'm hoping and praying it doesn't end up on the Internet somewhere, because I seriously have no idea what I said to her. When I finally woke up (11 hours later) I checked my phone and noticed that I tried to call "06142011" numerous times. Once I saw those numbers I had a flashback of looking for my boss' phone number on the paper and trying to dial the only number that was on the paper, which happened to be the date 06-14-2011. I then had another flashback of the nurse saying to me "this is what it feels like to be reeeeeeeeeaaaaalllllllllyyyy drunk." I was hammered.

I still feel sick after I eat, even though I'm on a bland diet, and if I lay down after I eat I can feel the acid moving up into my throat. I haven't thrown up, though, and the nausea isn't as bad, so overall I'm doing much better. I still feel bad about yelling at Rick and throwing the papers on the ground. I also feel bad that he has a fear of vomit and that seems to be the only thing I do these days. Poor guy.

Today, after weeks of hating my life, I quit my job. So really going to the ER to get a Doctors note was worthless. They said that the Doctors note didn't count (which is not what it says in the Employee Handbook) and that I would be written up (for the second time about something that they failed to explain to me). While I was sitting there I thought to myself "I think I should quit, but we need money" and the thought came into my head "just quit, it'll be okay" so I did. The only time I felt scared was when I realized I'd have to tell Rick. He's been giving me a pep talk almost everyday about why I should just stick with it. I felt like I had disappointed him. When I told him he just said "okay, we'll be fine." And that was it. I've already applied to a few jobs, this time not in the medical field. Luckily Rick is out of training and working regularly now so we should be able to stay afloat, but I would still like a job. I don't think it has hit me yet that I quit. I'm actually shocked that I did. I'm not a quitter. And I have NEVER received any type of warning before now. I have always been a good employee. At my job I felt like I was always being watched so they could wait for me to mess up and then punish me for it. It shook my confidence, but I know I can get back in the game. Today Rick has said to me several times "It's good to have my wife back." Really, that job sucked the soul out of me. It's good to be alive again.

Negative Nancy, Positive Polly

2011-06-11T18:10:00.007-06:00

Negative Nancy Says

Sometimes I wonder what the hell we were thinking quitting 2 good jobs in Utah to move to another state for a job that has laid Rick off 3 times, and the possibility of him getting laid off again is still there.
We moved here to have a better financial future, and so far this is the most broke we have ever been in our lives. We moved here to get out of debt, and the act of physically moving here put us in more debt.
I have worked since I was a teenager. I have been a manager, a trainer, and the person that had the answers. I have always loved my jobs and was good at them, no matter what it was. Here I am the new person who doesn't know what she is doing, isn't going fast enough, and is the weird Mormon girl. Didn't you read the employee handbook? Didn't you learn this in school? Why don't you know this?
Rick has worked since he was a teenager. He's been good at every job he's had, and at his last job he didn't even need to put in a 2 weeks notice but would still be leaving "on excellent terms" because he was such a good employee and was so well liked. Here he is the new guy. Didn't anyone teach you this? Are you trying to get us all killed? Arizona has done wonders for our self esteem.
It's already really really really hot here. Like I just barely took Meeko outside to go potty and just standing out there for a minute I was sweating on my face and my arms. And I never sweat there. That is so gross.
You think people in Utah are nosy? You have no idea. Do you have any kids? Why not? Do you want kids? Why? Why not? When are you going to have kids? Are you pregnant? Are you trying to get pregnant? Why? Why not? Do you mind if I tell you every detail about how each of my children were conceived? How about all of my labor and delivery stories?

Positive Polly Says

Since moving here, we have been tried in every way possible. Being tried either makes you or breaks you. I'm only assuming that "breaks" means "kills", and I'm not dead, so I think I've been made. Even if I do cry almost every day.
We live really close to a Sees chocolate store. We always have chocolate in our house, and when we run out, Rick goes to get me more.
Every weekend I look forward to going to church. The only other time I ever remember looking forward to it was for mutual when I was a teenager because all my friends were there. Now, I want to go, and I want to feel the Tickle Monster (last time I call it that, promise), and I want to watch children inhale water from their water bottles, and I want to watch the interesting lady stand up during Relief Society when she hasn't been called on to read a quote that has nothing to do with the lesson. But not only do I want it, I need it.
Our marriage has never been stronger. I never realized how much I needed Rick or how much he needed me until now. The best thing about it is that everyday we make each other laugh. Even on the worse days.
Rick only works about 2 times a week and the rest of the time he is on call, so he spends a lot of time at home. Back when he was in training and working a lot and I didn't have a job I spent all my time cleaning and organizing the house. Now the rolls have reversed and he gets to be the Housewife. He's not the best at it. Like if it was a job I probably would have fired him, but still he tries and usually I come home to a clean house and that is one less thing I have to do. Proud of him.
According to the vet papers we have, Meeko turned 1 on June 6. Since it was his birthday we let him walk around the house with no rules and no discipline. He celebrated his birthday by tipping over the garbage can and licking out the pudding cups, eating qtips from the bathroom garbage, tearing up tissues and scattering them all over our bed, eating all of Rick's ear plugs, and peeing in his cage while we were gone and then rolling around in it. Awww, Happy Birthday Meeko.
Arizona will always be known to me as the place with the best food in the world. Everything here is so good. Somehow even the food that I make is better. Like its the same box of macaroni and cheese that Utah has but it's better here. And I loooooove food, so that has really been a plus.
Whenever our landline rings (and we know it's not Rick's work) we place bets as to who is calling. So far it's a tie. I would have won had I guessed that the last person to call would be the FBI saying that they were very sorry to inform me that the 5 million dollars I won in Vegas was actually a scam, but I just didn't see that one coming.
I am coming home in September for 5 days. I don't care if we have to walk there, we are going.
I can list more positive things than negative things. Some how that makes me feel better about life already.

Two Years According to Rick

2011-06-06T22:32:00.006-06:00

This is Rick the other half of this wonderful marriage. I probably should write on this blog more than once a year. I'll work on it. For you all, here are my thoughts and feelings about our life together thus far.

It is very interesting to me that two people come together, in union, to propose a life long commitment to each other. In our marriage it is more than a mortal existence, it’s eternal. Our two years together have only been the start of our lives as a married eternal couple. We have learned the importance of caring for each other to the fullest and we make sure we are eye to eye and carrying the balance of our marriage equally. There is not one person who is designated to carry more weight than the other. We do it together as a team. Thus, Team Brimhall.

I can still say that our marriage is beautiful and will always be that way. I often think of how fast these two years went by, this only means one thing. We are enjoying each other’s company! There is no ball and chain in this marriage only a wife who I can proudly say she chose me and that I waited for her. Together we both wanted the same dream. Because of those important decisions we are now married and living in Arizona starting the life we have been dreaming about since we said “Yes”. I love her so much. I cannot even express in words how much she means to me.

In the last two years, but especially these last few months, we have proven to ourselves that we can make it through anything that comes our way. We have laughed and cried on many occasions because our relationship lets us. That is beautiful. We laugh at each other’s jokes on a daily basis. That is comforting. We disagree from time to time then find a way to bring our ideas together, which I find amazing. We will go out any time of the day or night to make sure we can help each other feel better when we are sick or having a bad day. The best part of our marriage is knowing we are in love. Each kiss and hug given is a sign of our love that is cherished on both ends.

I can’t wait to see what this next year brings. I know it will bring us closer. The idea of getting out of debt and preparing ourselves for a family excites me. If anybody knows me, then you know the idea of having little kids scare me. Not because of the responsibility but because they throw up in your face when they come to tell you they don’t feel good. I hope that both of us working will strengthen our marriage to prepare us to bring little Brimhall’s into this crazy world. I know Jodi will probably freak out because I am talking about babies on the internet, because usually the talk of babies doesn't happen in our house hold. We can now talk about our future family with my new job. What a relief. The next few years will be the start of why we are married. Two years down in the book. I love Jodi to the fullest. She is my life and my light. I am here to protect her heart.

Bring on year three!

Below are a few pictures of our anniversary dinner at The Melting Pot. It was amazing.

This is what it looked like when we arrived.

Even though we were both tired from work, we were very happy to be celebrating.

Our first course. Bread, apples, and vegetables that you can dip in the cheese fondue.

The main meal. They would bring the food out raw and you would cook it yourself in the fondue pot. We ordered chicken, duck, shrimp, steak, and pot stickers.

Jodi's favorite part - the dessert. You would pick a chocolate flavor (ours was s'mores - chocolate, marshmallows, and crushed up graham crackers) and then they brought you a plate of all sorts of sweets. We asked for 3rds or 4ths on the bananas. It was delicious.

Happy Anniversary to us!

The Zoo and Other Things

2011-06-05T16:42:00.003-06:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend with Rick's family. We went up to Winslow, AZ first for our niece's graduation party and we spent the night with Rick's brother and his family. When we were about 30 miles from Winslow we stopped at a gas station and there was a man on the side of the road holding up a sign that said "Winslow." I seriously have never seen Rick more excited in his life. He has ALWAYS wanted to pick up a hitchhiker, but I would never let him because I don't want to be murdered. This guy looked legit enough because he was wearing a work shirt with his name sewn on it and had a cell phone. And everyone knows that a cell phone and your name sewn onto your shirt means you are not a murderer. Before we picked the guy up we got gas and then Rick had me sit in the back seat and he got his knife out "just in case." The guy ended up being really nice. He works at the Purina dog food factory in Flagstaff and his truck had broken down. He was the father of 11 kids, and his pride and joy was his Volkswagen Beetle that had over 350,000 miles on it. Rick was so happy that we picked up a hitch hiker. Hopefully this doesn't become one of those things we do on every road trip we go on.

The next day we went to the Phoenix Zoo with Rick's brother's family. The animals weren't very lively, so it was kind of boring, but we did get to see some neat things. Here are the highlights.

Turtles. Lots and lots of turtles.

The otters kind of reminded me of dogs. They were very playful. I love otters because without them we wouldn't have otterpops.

Stingray.

This fish was huge. Like as big as Rick's back.

The boys were "rawr"ing at the bear to try to get a reaction out of him. Didn't work.

Me and the boys checking out the hissing cockroaches.

We were about to venture into the African Safari land and the airplane just made it feel like we were really there.

Our nephews Brekken and Brock.

Bryce loved the orangutan. He wanted to give him a hug.

I wanted to give him a hug too. Look at that face!

In Other News:

Today in church this lady was bearing her testimony and she referred to the Spirit as the "Tickle Monster". Seriously. She was like in her mid 20s too. Also there was this family sitting in front of us and the little girl (who was probably 3 or 4) was turned around facing us. She had a water bottle and instead of drinking the water she was placing the spout into her nostril and then inhaling. Nobody noticed except for us and it was the most amazing thing ever. Her parents didn't even notice. After she would inhale it she would have water all over her nose and she would wipe her nose all over her parent's shirts. They still didn't notice. They were way into the meeting and I think they were just really feeling the Tickle Monster.
Work is going well. Some days are stressful, especially because Rick and I are both starting new jobs in a new place with new people, but we seem to both be getting the hang of things.
We got a home phone. Like a landline. We are so 90s. We got it because Rick doesn't have a set schedule, he gets called to work, and one time his cell phone had shut off and he didn't know it and after so many times of trying to call they marked him as "evading assignment". So in order to avoid that, we now have a house phone. The phone came with 5 different ringtones and we finally decided on "The Star Spangled Banner." I put my hand over my heart whenever the phone rings.
I got a calling in our new ward. I'm the Activity Days Assistant Leader. Whatever that means.

The end.

What I've Learned Lately

2011-05-22T01:41:00.010-06:00

People think I'm crazy when I tell them I'm from Utah. I can't say I blame them, it just would be nice to get a response other than a blank stare, raised eyebrows, and "wow....Utah....that's.....fun..." I went to a salon the other day and when the lady asked me where I was from, I told her Utah. She said "Oh cool, I moved to Utah for a while after I lived in Michigan, it's very different, did you have culture shock when you moved there?" I paused for a second before I said "no, I didn't move there, I'm from there, like born and raised." And she paused for several seconds before saying the inevitable "Oh....oh wow." After soaking all of the information in she then told me that she was very impressed with how the people there help each other out in times of need and how "everyone brings each other meals for no reason, its amazing."
The Railroad sucks and is awesome at the same time. I'm making Rick write a blog about it because I don't even understand it all, but for now we are feeling very fortunate that he's back to work, and hopefully he won't get laid off anymore.
Tucson is a big city, and we live right in the middle of it. It takes 20+ minutes to get to the freeway. It's like Utah in the sense that they use the grid system, which I would probably die without, so that has made things helpful. I know all of the main roads and I've figured out which way is North. I'm used to being able to travel from one side of Provo to the other in 10-15 minutes. If you did that here it would probably take an hour. I haven't used my GPS in 2 weeks, and I've never felt so accomplished.
Big city comes with big city crime. Listening to the police scanner in Provo was entertaining, listening to it here is scary. As I'm typing this there is a police helicopter flying around above us circling around in a mile radius with the search light on looking for someone. I had only ever seen that on cop shows until I moved here.
If all goes well with Rick's job, we will be buying a new car in 6 months, and we will be looking for a house in 2 years. We are growing up.
I'm turning into Rick, and it's terrifying. When we were first married he had been working out and was like "my thighs are chafed from running" and I was like "I have never experienced anything of mine chafing in my life" and the next day I WOKE UP with chafed thighs. No joke. How does that happen in your sleep? He also will get these boil like sores on his back and I'll be like "I don't think I've ever had a boil in my life, it looks like it hurts" and the next day I will have one. And yes, they do hurt. Remember how I didn't know what sleep paralysis was? Guess who took a nap today and experienced it for the first time ever? This is getting ridiculous. The only way I will be okay with it is if my legs start to get darker, because as of right now I think I'm the whitest person in Arizona.
Meeko loves me more than anything. If we are taking a nap together and I cough or roll over or move at all he will come over to me to make sure I'm okay. If someone knocks on the door or he can see someone outside he will bark and then run to wherever I am and stand with his back to me in a ready-to-attack stance. If we go on walks he will look back every 15 steps to make sure I am still there. He runs into everything because of this. He follows me everywhere I go. If I walk into the bedroom to fold laundry or to the kitchen to do dishes, he will follow me and sit at my feet and watch me. Usually it's cute, sometimes it's annoying. He doesn't do any of these things for Rick. Probably because Rick was the one that threw him into the lake.
I like my ward and I like going to church. If you know me at all, this is kind of a big deal, especially since church starts at 9. The people in my ward are either old and kind of crazy or young and funny. It's like the perfect combination. Everyone is on a first name basis, nobody calls each other "Brother" or "Sister". On mothers day I was especially homesick and missed my mom and after Sunday school a lady said "stand up and let me give you a hug, I bet you miss your mom a lot today." I needed that.
The weather here is normal, it's the weirdest thing. Everyone was like "it's supposed to get cold this week, so be prepared for that" so I wore jeans and a long sleeved shirt the next day and I was sweating profusely. I assumed that when they said it would be cold they meant the very next day, but here if it gets cold it goes down 5-10 degrees a day, and then when it gets warm again it goes up 5-10 degrees a day, instead of being freezing one day and then hot the next. Weird, right?
I got a job, and lucky for me it's not far from us and I can get there in 5 minutes. I've already started training. I'm nervous because starting a new job is scary but I'm excited to finally have a life again, and to talk to people other than Rick and Meeko.

A nice day to live in Arizona

2011-05-18T17:45:00.001-06:00

My oldest brother lives outside of Phoenix with his family, which is about 2 hours away from us, so it's the perfect distance to get away for a day or two and it still feels like a vacation. We went up there for a day to watch my niece, and we had a lot of fun.

They have a park right by their house with a huge man made pond. Last time we were here we went out on the paddle boats and went fishing.

Meeko has started to lift his leg when he goes potty and Rick has never been more proud. Proud enough to take a picture of it.

Meeko and Ralph (my brother's dog) loved to chase the ducks. Bailey tripped a few times because of how fast Ralph was running.

Rick kept encouraging Meeko to jump in the lake because he was "pretty sure that all dogs can swim".

Meeko was too afraid. Because I kept yelling at him to not do it. Rick really wanted him to swim so it went from encouraging to forcing.

Meeko smelled awesome afterward.

I freaked out for a second because of how cute the baby ducks behind us were. Baby animals make me squeal, I guess.

After our walk we went back home to make cookies.

Bailey was an awesome helper.

It's only fun when you lick all the frosting knives clean.

The finished products. I'm pretty sure I ate an entire plate of cookies. No shame.

The two love birds.

Us

2011-05-10T00:51:00.001-06:00

Rick got a haircut and is super dark/black from working out in the train yard, so he's been extra hot these days. He makes killer breakfasts and has perfected the art of spaghetti. He still does push ups in his sleep and can apparently speak French and Spanish, as evidence by his sleep talking last night. He is working hard to support us and I am so proud of him.

I have been unemployed for almost 2 months. I've applied for about 500 jobs, give or take. I'm hoping and praying that someone hires me soon, because I'm going crazy. In my spare time I have learned how to curl my hair with a curling iron, learned the right way to apply eyeliner, kept up with the Kardashians, and lately I've been seeing how many popsicles I can eat in one day. The current record is 7. I'm bored to death all the time and Rick and I have to have a conversation everyday about why being bored is not a good enough reason to have a baby.

Meeko is still daddy's little princess. His favorites include not listening, eating things he's not supposed to, sleeping, and chasing every person that he sees.

We are liking Tucson, especially hearing that it's been snowing in Utah. It has been in the 90s this week. We still don't have a key to the pool so that is a downer but we should get it soon. There is a gas station down the street and we like to go on late night walks there to get drinks. There is also a country bar close to us so we usually encounter drunk people when we go on our walks. So far they have been nothing but nice, and love to give Meeko hugs.

How to Start a Fire

2011-05-07T02:18:00.001-06:00

We have a washer and dryer. A washer and dryer that we didn't buy or install, and that were installed in a condo that was not built to have a washer and dryer in it. When I first saw it, I kept asking "where is the lint trap?" I was told by a husband of mine who will remain nameless that it didn't have one, because it went out the side and then he showed me this makeshift tube coming out the back and explained how it all worked, and told me that he needed to fix the tube because it wasn't working right (as evidence by the lint/dust EVERYWHERE behind the washer and dryer). It sounded legit. So I did laundry. Our washer is especially tiny so I do a load of laundry everyday, because if I fall behind, it will take me 5 years to catch up. So a few days ago I put a load in the dryer and turned it on and left. I was gone for about an hour, I came back and checked on the laundry and the clothes were still very wet. So they kept going, and I forgot about them, and then several hours later Rick was like "are the clothes STILL drying?" and he checked and they were wet. We spent the next 2 hours taking apart the dryer and trying to figure out what was wrong. In the back of my mind I knew that there was a big ball of lint stuck somewhere in the dryer just waiting to catch on fire. We couldn't find it, and nothing else seemed to be wrong. So we laid our clothes out to dry. The next day I was doing more laundry. I went to take the clothes out of the washer and hang them up to dry but they weren't done washing. So I stood there for a second, then I thought "maybe since I am eye level to the dryer I should stick my head in there and see what I can find" and that is exactly what I did. I found 2 vents in there, 1 that blows the hot air in, and 1 that looked red inside. And that is when I realized the vent pulled out and it was red from the lint from drying our red towels. When I pulled all the lint out, I couldn't believe it hadn't caught on fire before then.

Do you see how gigantic that is compared to my hand? It was like 4 inches thick.

This was all the little pieces left over after I had taken that huge chunk out. The basket in the back is the lint trap that is very well hidden in the dryer.

Thanks house for not burning down.

Thankful

2011-04-28T23:40:00.001-06:00

I am thankful for water.

I am thankful for laundry soap.

I am thankful for bleach.

I am thankful for clorox wipes.

I am thankful for all these things combined because when I barf everywhere, they make my life a little easier.

I am thankful to live in a place where when I get cold sweats I just need to stand outside.

I am thankful to live in a place where when I get hot sweats we have air conditioning and ceiling fans in every room.

I am thankful that we have the technology available to go to a website, put in our address, and it tells us who our Bishop is, and how to contact him.

I am thankful to be a part of a Church where you can call up people that you have never met before and ask them to assist in giving a blessing, and they will come.

I am thankful that while I was sitting on the kitchen chair, sweating profusely, struggling to breathe, opening my eyes only to see everything slowly going black, and sounds getting quieter and quieter, the minute the blessing started, I could focus.

I am thankful that the second I opened my eyes, the black was gone, the sweating had stopped, and the noises sounded normal.

I am thankful that I did not throw up during the blessing, even though I came close.

I am thankful for my wonderful husband who took the day off to take care of me.

Rick suffers from what is known as Emetophobia. A severe fear/anxiety of vomit. Nobody likes vomit (and if you do you are kind of creepy), but not everyone has the fear of it that he has. And today, I woke up from a nap, and instantly threw up all over the bedroom floor, down the hallway, and bathroom floor. Rick got down on his hands and knees and cleaned up all of my throw up while I sat in the bathtub and sobbed. When he was done, he came to me, washed my hair and back, told me he was so sorry and he wished he could do more. I am thankful for his selflessness and unconditional love.

I am thankful that he went to the store 3 times today to get me medicine and drinks.

I am thankful that we have hardwood floors and tile instead of carpet.

I am thankful for pony tail holders.

I am NOT thankful for food poisoning.

What it means to be a Team

2011-04-20T22:49:00.005-06:00

There are a lot of really good Mexican restaurants around here. Most of them will have a mariachi band playing and they will walk around and play songs for all the tables while you eat. The first time we went to a place called the Guadalajara Grill they came to our table and played us 2 love songs. It was awesome and they sound amazing and everyone clapped. Then a week later we went to a different restaurant and they just had 1 guy on his guitar come and sing to the tables. The guy looked familiar. He sang 2 songs for us and sounded great. Another week goes by and we go back to the Guadalajara Grill (it's really good, ok?) They came and played for us again and that's when I realized that the main singer/guitarist was the guy who sang to us the very first time we went and also the same guy who sang solo at the other restaurant. After every time he sang to us I would be like "That guy looks like the guy from Jurassic Park" and Rick would be like "Jeff Goldblum?" And I would say yes and we would laugh because really, he looks just like him.

So this guy has sung to us 3 times. Neat. Except this time the guy kept looking me in the eye and he looked really irritated. Weird. So they sang 2 songs and then they went to another table across from us. We ate our food and then we came to a gut wrenching reality.

This guy has sang to us 3 times, 6 songs total, and we didn't tip him once!

It wasn't until we saw the couple across from us hand them a $5 bill that we realized we should have been giving them tips this whole time. I don't know why I didn't realize this the first time. Everyone at a Restaurant works for the tips. It's common sense. The very first job I ever had was at a restaurant! What is my problem? I guess that because I had never in my life had someone play me music while I ate so I didn't think anything of it, but still, you'd think that between me and Rick we would have figured this out like 5 songs ago.

So tonight we go to the Guadalajara Grill. Only this time we don't go to the one we normally go to, we went to one on the other side of Tucson. When we walked in the first person I saw was the SAME SINGER from before! I wanted to die. There was no way I was going to let this guy sing again and not get a tip again. And here is the big problem, Rick and I never carry cash. Ever. We only use our cards. And they should have a place on the receipt for "mariachi tip" or something but they don't. I was seriously panicking. So we sat down and we made a plan. Rick was at the perfect angle where he could see them the entire time. If they walked towards our table he would give me the signal (raised eyebrows) and I would get up and go to the bathroom. They wouldn't sing to just 1 guy while I was gone, and then they would have to go to another table. Luckily, it was a super busy night and they didn't come to our table, even though we were armed and ready.

I promise that the next time we go I will have a crisp $20 for the guy. Even if he doesn't sing to us, because I know he knows who we are. How could you forget the couple who eats out as much as us and doesn't give tips? Our pictures are probably up on the wall somewhere with the title "Worst customers ever, and they keep coming back."

Please bless that they don't start to spit in our food.

For Mom

2011-04-18T00:01:00.001-06:00

Yeah, That's About Par

2011-04-10T22:18:00.005-06:00

I have traveled 2,505 miles in the last 3 weeks.

2,505 miles of pure bliss and magical moments, as you can clearly see by how well it went when we moved all our stuff down.

I came back to Utah this week with my Brother (Jay), Sister-In-Law (Amber), and Niece (Bailey). We left Phoenix at 6:30 Friday night. At about 3 am Jay and Bailey were asleep in the back and I was riding in the front talking to Amber so we could keep each other awake. I saw something floating in front of us. It wasn't until it smashed into our windshield and rolled off the car that I realized it was an owl. What the hell? No damage was done but it scared the crap out of us. We got to Provo at 6:30 Saturday morning. I went to bed at 8 and woke up at 4 pm. My body is still confused.

It was a busy and short trip. We were there because my little sister was getting married. It was a beautiful wedding and I didn't cry once. April Fools. We left the next day. The last time I left for Arizona it didn't feel like I was leaving because I knew I would be back soon for her wedding. This time it hit me that I was leaving. I was leaving, not knowing when I would be back again and my little sister was getting married. I may or may not have freaked out for a second.

We left the morning after Jensenne's wedding. My Dad had fixed my brothers motorcycle and the plan was to have my brother ride down on his bike and we would follow him in the car. It was cold and overcast and we thought if we could just get to Vegas without hitting any bad weather we'd be fine. We made it to Vegas, and that's when the bad weather hit. My poor brother was getting cups of hot chocolate at every stop and putting hand warmers in his shirt and gloves, but he was determined to get his bike home. It was windy and raining and when we were about 180 miles from their house when we stopped at an Ihop to get dinner and figure out what to do. We decided to leave the bike there, my brother would ride in the car with us to his house and he would come get it later that weekend. He was bummed because we had made it that far already and now we had to leave his bike by the dumpster in the back of an Ihop. Classy. While my brother was making arrangements to leave the bike with the manager, our waitress walked around to all the tables and said something to everyone. She made her way to our table to tell us the good news.

"Your food is going to take just a little bit longer. The chef just stabbed himself in the hand with a knife so it'll be a while."

"Um....okay.....is he okay?"

"Yeah he's just going to call the Hospital to see what to do but he'll probably be fine."

Seriously? Amber and I looked at each other for a second before Amber said "Yeah, that's about par. We'll see how the rest of this trip goes." I'm only assuming that the chef was okay because our food came out not long after, there was no blood on or in it, and an ambulance never showed up.

We ate, left the motorcycle there, and took off. Of course the weather was fine the rest of the way. And of course if my brother had decided to keep riding it there would have been a flash flood and tornado. We were about 40 minutes from their house when we see the red and blue flashing lights behind us. You know those roads where the speed limit is 65 then 55 then 45? We were on one of those roads and didn't notice when the speed limit changed. The cop was really nice and just let us off with a warning. He said that they had just enforced the new speed limits because animals like deer and cows were walking into the roads and getting hit and causing a lot of damage. I should have told him to add owls to the list. So we kept driving. We were 15-20 minutes away from their house when we were pulled over for the second time. We had just gone through a stop sign when the cop turned his lights on and my brother said "There is no way I rolled through that stop sign." He was right, I had been talking to him the whole time and would have noticed. The cop did the typical "Do you know why I pulled you over?" routine. Apparently the little light bulb above the license plate had burned out so you couldn't see the license plate. Another warning and we were off. We made it to their house and I spent the night and left for Tucson the next day.

And now for some fun facts:

Tomorrow it will be 1 month since I've had a job. I don't know what to do with myself. That's not true, my house is spotless and all the laundry is done, and I've watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy. But now that the house is spotless and the laundry is done and I am done going back and forth to Utah, I see a future of boredom. Please bless that I find a job soon.

I really like our new place. Except today we cooked for the first time and all of a sudden our entire kitchen smelled like cigarette smoke. I've got the nose of a bloodhound and I couldn't smell it at all before today. Maybe because they tore out all the carpet and put in hardwood floors and repainted everything, but as soon as I turned the stove on I could smell it. And I've had a headache ever since.

We had some birds in the tree outside of our window for about 2 weeks. They didn't chirp like normal birds, they sang, and it was beautiful. They sounded like tropical birds, not birds that you'd hear in a desert. I was never able to see what they looked like but they would sing from when the sun went down to when the sun came up. I thought it would bother me but somehow it made me feel safe. Like who would ever break into an apartment when they heard Disney birds singing outside? A few days ago the singing stopped, and we missed our birds, and then we drove down the street and saw an exotic bird pet shop. Hopefully this means that the birds are safe back at the pet shop they escaped from and not dead somewhere.

We live right in the middle of Tucson. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the freeway. We are surrounded by a ton of stores. There is a gas station, Lowes, Walmart, Target, hair salon, dog grooming place, pet hospital, several restaurants, and an Albertsons all within walking distance from our place. Also, I thought that Albertsons was only a Utah thing. They're everywhere here.

Rick and I went to dinner the other night to talk about how we're going to emotionally and spiritually handle our new life. The railroad is a whole new world. Did you know that if you work for the railroad you are 3 times more likely to get a divorce on top of the already 50% divorce rate? Each time Rick gets on a train he works with new people. The trains go in 4 directions and they go every so often so you are always working with someone new, and so far Jeremy, the guy we stayed with, and Jim, Rick's trainer, are the only ones not divorced or going through a divorce. We will never have a normal schedule again. You don't have days off, you have 10 hours of rest before you go out again. Rick will miss birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, church, family reunions, and just being home. He left for work about 2 hours ago. It's sunday night, and he won't be back for another day or two. This is our life, and I've known that it would be like this since before we got married, but now it's actually happening. I am okay with this lifestyle, but that doesn't mean it won't suck sometimes.

Sometime soon I am going to give a virtual tour of our new place. Just for you, Mom.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

2011-03-28T02:40:00.002-06:00

I love Tucson. For reals.

We moved all of our stuff into our new place, but we still have to clean and unpack everything. We went over there today after church to put our bed together and to clean. When we got there, there was a guy knocking on the door of the condo right across from us. This guy was clearly drunk. Yesterday while we were there we had a neighbor come up to us and welcome us to the area. He told us that no one lived right across from us, it was foreclosed, and no one had lived there for several months. This drunk guy was knocking on the door of a foreclosed condo. We wondered if he even knew where he was. We got to work and as we were working we could hear him outside knocking harder and harder on the door. We stopped and sat there for a few minutes and just watched him out the window. He kept losing his balance and getting mad. Finally Jeremy (the guy we are staying with who was there helping us) told the guy that no one lives there. The guy just looked at him confused and kept knocking. And he wasn't confused because of any sort of language barrier, this guy was whiter than I am. The knocking was getting louder and louder and he was seriously out there for about 30 minutes just waiting for someone to open the door for him. Meanwhile, I had stopped being productive all together and I just sat and watched this guy from our deck. I wasn't even being sneaky about it I was just there staring. The guy didn't even notice. Then the neighbors next to him came outside. It was 2 ladies, a sweet little Hispanic lady and her roommate, the old lady wearing the mumu. Instantly I liked them. The lady wearing the mumu started talking to the guy.

"Sir, no one lives there."

"I live here!"

"You live there?"

"Yes."

"When did you move in?"

"2 months ago."

"Really? Because I've lived here for 6 months and I've never seen you before. Where is your car and all your stuff?"

"I walked here."

"From where?"

"I don't know."

Then she went back inside. Their entire conversation took like 7 minutes. The guy took forever to respond to each of her questions. And he kept stumbling. It was awesome. I continued to watch this guy. He knocked on the door once more really hard and then threw his hands up in frustration. He walked over to the window and stuck his hands between the bars (all the windows are barred) and started hitting it. Not like punching it, just like hitting it with the palm of his hand. From the other room I hear Jeremy say "this guy is gonna break the window" and SMASH - the guy PALMED the window and it broke. Rick and Jeremy were mad, I could not have been more entertained. Rick went outside and the lady in the mumu came back out. She told the guy that the police were coming if he didn't leave and Rick told her that he broke the window. We all sat out there and waited for the police. Even the drunk guy. I was kind of hoping that the guy would run so that Rick could tackle him and put him under citizens arrest - The American Dream.

The cops came, they got all the information from us and the neighbors and they arrested the drunk guy. When it was all said and done, the lady in the mumu stood on her deck and yelled to us "Welcome to the Neighborhood! I need to go finish my bath."

Rick and I did the only thing that seemed appropriate to do at the time. We laughed and high fived.

Yesterday when we were moving all of our stuff in a bright orange PT cruiser pulled up to us. The window rolled down and it was an old lady with no teeth and her gigantic dog. She welcomed us to the neighborhood, told us that she has lived here for 16 years and that she owns her place so she only pays $130 a month, then she started blowing kisses up to the sky.

Seriously, I love it here.

Also, when you live this close to the border, you are surrounded by the most amazing Mexican food. My favorite being the sonoran style hot dogs. They are best when purchased from a cart by the railroad tracks.

There is also a place really close to us that Rick kept saying we had to go to and that I would love it. We finally went and it was amazing. They make the salsa in front of you. A lady in a dress comes around with a cart and asks if you want mild, medium, or hot. You tell her and then she gets all the ingredients together and mixes them up in the bowl. Best salsa ever. The night that we were there they had a mariachi playing and they played us 2 love songs while we ate.

Today we went to sacrament meeting with the family we are staying with. Rick bore his testimony. He stood up there in jeans, tennis shoes, and a button up shirt as he bore his testimony. All of his church clothes are in boxes. If I didn't have any church clothes I probably would not have even gone to church, let alone got up there in a new ward to bear my testimony. I married a good man.

Remember how much I hate 9 am church? We put our address into the churches website and our new ward starts at 9. Have you ever said a swear word when you found out what time your church starts? Cause I have.

The Move

2011-03-23T01:07:00.004-06:00

Have you ever been driving and you see someone and you think to yourself "I'm glad I'm not those morons."

We are those morons.

This is going to be a long post. Buckle up.

Rick went back to Arizona on March 1. I stayed in Utah for 2 weeks while I finished up at my job. Near the end of those 2 weeks I started getting sick. After my last day of work I made a nest in my living room with blankets, pillows, and Netflix. I didn't move for 3 days. Literally. I think I left the house once because I ran out of milk. It was sad but also kind of awesome. I have worked ever since I was 15. I don't remember what it's like to not have a job. And for 3 days I was able to sit, sleep in my nest/fort, eat, and watch seasons 1 and 2 of Grey's Anatomy. The next night, Rick and his parents came in to Provo with the truck and trailer. We got to work the next day. Ricks dad had to build the walls on the trailer, we had a lot of packing and housework to do. I woke up feeling horrible. I did as much as I could but everything I did made me exhausted. I crashed that night and woke up in the middle of the night panicked that I was going to die. I'm really rational when I'm sick. I get it from my mother. I thought I was going to die because my symptoms were a very painful sore throat and being tired all the time. For me, that means strep throat. Those are the only symptoms of strep I will get and when was little I got strep and it attacked my kidneys, they shut down, I almost needed a kidney transplant and I was in the hospital for a week. So naturally a sore throat means I'm going to die. The next day I felt worse than I remember feeling in my life. Rick said we needed to go to the Instacare. So we went, and they shoved the cotton swab down my throat and I almost barfed. I hate those things. Good news, I don't have strep, bad news, we went to the Instacare having no health insurance. Oops.

So we got back to work and got most of our stuff in boxes. We took a lot of loads of stuff to the dump or to DI. Have you been to the dump before? I would rather always have a cotton swab in my throat than have to go to the dump. It's so nasty.

We were almost done getting the house clean and getting our stuff packed up. My mother in law was doing a load of laundry when she came upstairs and said "I think I broke your washer." I went downstairs to see what was wrong and I walked into the laundry room and it smelled very strongly of burning rubber. The washing machine was full of soap, water, and clothes, but it wasn't moving. The motor had finally given up. It was an older washer so it wasn't really a surprise, and we know that our condo would have a washer and dryer in it so we didn't need to get a new one, but we still had a washing machine full of stuff that wouldn't move. I had to keep packing so my Mother-in-Law, bless her heart, got a saucepan and a bucket and emptied out all the water by hand. Done like a true pioneer.

The next day our friends Elliot, Jake, and my Dad and Sister came over to help up load everything into the trailer. We have so much crap. I cannot believe how much stuff we have. We had to give a lot of stuff away and Rick ended up storing our bikes and his drums in my grandma's garage. After 9 hours of packing, we had everything out of the house and packed and secured. We didn't rent a Uhaul, we did it the Brimhall way. Also known as the redneck way.

Seriously.

Rick's parents drove my car and we drove the truck that was pulling this beast. Our first stop was my parents house to pick up a few things before we went on our way. We drove the entire mile to my parents house and got out when Rick's dad came zooming up in my car. He said that he heard something break when we pulled out of the drive way. We did an inspection and found a broken spring.

Cool. Rick's dad called a guy who he knew would have an extra one and could fix it for us. He lives in Elberta, UT. Middle of nowhere. Turns out this guy used to be my neighbor. Talk about a small world. He was nice enough to get the part and install it for us. While he was working on the trailer, I got a phone call from one of my best friends who was at the Emergency Room because of a severe allergic reaction she had to some pain medicine. After she assured me that she wasn't going to die (again, I'm really rational) and once the truck was fixed we headed out. Again. The original plan was to drive from Provo to Phoenix and stay with my brother that night. There was no way we would make it that far, so plan B was to drive to St. George and spend the night there then drive the rest of the way the next day. So Rick's dad called a hotel in St. George and made a reservation. It took us for-ev-er to get there. We were going so freaking slow. At one point we were going 29 miles an hour and the speed limit was 75. The truck just couldn't go any faster pulling all that weight. I'm surprised no one killed us out of road rage. We figured out that we were averaging 4.89 miles per gallon. I seriously cannot believe how long it took us to get to St. George. We left Provo at 10 am and pulled into St. George at 8 pm. We were hungry, tired, and it was getting late. We pulled into the hotel and Rick's dad went to check us in. Apparently there was a mix up and we didn't have a reservation for St. George, Utah, we had a reservation for St. George, South Carolina. And there was some kind of tournament in town and every hotel was booked within a 25 mile radius. Really?

Plan C - keep driving. We drove to Kanab. We finally got to the hotel at 9:50 pm. Almost 12 hours after we had left Provo. Rick and his dad went to go get food for us. I told Rick I would eat anything but McDonalds. We all decided on chinese food. They saw a chinese place open and pulled in. As soon as they turned the car off, the lights to the restaurant turned off and a lady walked out and locked the door. Plan D - pizza. There was a pizza place next door. Rick and I wanted pizza but his dad didn't, so his dad dropped him off at the pizza place and then went to get food for he and Rick's mom. The pizza place had people inside and the lights were on. Rick walked up and the doors were locked. He called them from outside and they told him they were closed. So he called his dad who was at the gas station down the road getting me some ibuprofen (The Brimhalls take care of me). So Rick ran (literally) to where his dad was. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why it's taking them 30 minutes to find food. Finally Rick came back to the hotel with a McDonalds bag in his hand. At this point, I didn't even care. I just wanted to eat and sleep. After we were done eating we went to bed, Rick fell asleep instantly and about 20 minutes later he sat up panicked with bloodshot eyes and stared at me.

"Rick? Are you okay?"
"HM?"
"Are you okay?"
"WHAT?!"
"Sh....go back to bed"
"Why am I yelling?" he said in the softest whisper I've ever heard. He then laughed hysterically for a few minutes, put his glasses back on, and fell asleep. For the two weeks that he was in Arizona and I had the bed to myself I forgot that he did weird stuff like that.

The next day we made the long drive to Winslow, Arizona where Rick's sister lives. We were able to take a power nap, get some food, and pick up Rick's car. This is where we parted ways with Rick's parents. They are keeping my car until we are ready to move in to our condo and then they will drive it down to us and pick up their truck that we have. So now it was my time to shine. I drove Rick's car ALL BY MYSELF from Winslow to Tucson, which ended up being a 4 hour drive. Rick's car is a mazda miata, which means that while I'm driving on the freeway I am eye level with the tires on the diesels. It also means that it's a stick shift. Are you guys freaking impressed? Because you should be. There was one point where we were in bumper to bumper traffic for like 30 minutes and I was freaking out and sweating because we were stopping and going the entire time, which is the hardest part of driving a stick, but I did it and no one died.

Also, the plates on the miata were expired. Sorry dad.

We finally made it to Tucson on Sunday night. It is beautiful here. I am still sick, and it's allergy season. Or maybe I'm not sick at all and it's just allergies. Or maybe it's not allergies at all and I'm just sick. I don't know, but I take an allergy pill every day, go through a roll of toilet paper every day from blowing my nose, and have a massive headache every night. My sister in law Meagann moved to Arizona from Utah last year and she had to get a cortisone shot because her allergies were so bad. I assumed that because we are in a desert and all the plants are dead that allergies wouldn't be a problem but I've never been more wrong.

The people we're staying with are awesome. They have been so good to us. When we stayed in the hotel we kept Meeko out in the truck in his kennel wrapped in towels so he would be warm and he did great. We decided to keep him out there at night until we move into our condo (which should be ready Thursday). So we put him out there the first night we were there and a little while later Rick went outside to get something. He yelled my name and I went to where he was, he said "Do you hear that? It's the coyotes out there." It wasn't the coyotes. It was Meeko crying. We brought him back inside out of sheer guilt.

Coming soon - Rick's job, our condo, and the best Mexican food I've ever had.

Baby?

2011-03-16T01:46:00.002-06:00

About 6 weeks ago, I threw a baby shower for my best friend. The shower was at my house. I got a bunch of pink "It's a girl!" balloons and tied them to our garbage can outside, so that people who had never been to my house before would know they were in the right place. The shower was fun, we had good food and good company. When everyone left we cleaned everything up. Everything except for the balloons. The thought of walking all the way to the garbage can was too much for my lazy self. I told my husband that when it came time for garbage day and he had to take all the garbage out that he should cut them off then and throw them away. He agreed. Garbage day wasn't for like 5 more days, so the balloons sat out there and wilted away in the cold.

Fast -forward to last week. My friend and neighbor Jessica has a daughter named Lily. The Mom's in the ward have a little Mommy and Me play group and they like to get together as much as they can. Jessica and Lily went to the play group and the babies played while the Mom's talked. One of the ladies in the ward told Jessica that at least FIVE women from the ward had come up to her and asked her if she knew how me and my baby girl were doing. She told these women that she was pretty sure that I never had a baby. They all disagreed. I had a baby. A baby girl, in fact. There was proof - they saw pink "It's a girl!" balloons and knew that I had had a baby girl. Anyone who told them otherwise was wrong.

So word of my baby girl gets to the Relief Society President who then calls my Visiting Teacher (who happens to be the bishop's wife and Jessica's mother-in-law) and asks her how me and the baby are. She tells them that I never had a baby. The Relief Society President doesn't believe her and needs to get the facts straight by CALLING MY MOTHER-IN-LAW TO ASK HER IF I HAD A BABY. So she calls my Mother-in-Law and asks her how me and the baby are. My Mother-in-Law, being the sweet innocent lady that she is, said "I don't think that Jodi had a baby." The Relief Society President told her that she needed to call us and talk to us more often so that she would know what was going on in our lives.

Really?

Meanwhile, I did not receive one phone call or have one person come up to me at church and ask me if I had given birth to a baby girl, like the balloons on my garbage can had proclaimed to the ward.

I did not have a baby, just in case you were wondering.

Blessed

2011-03-04T03:30:00.005-07:00

Rick made it to Chandler, Arizona on Tuesday night. On Wednesday he started his training. He had to be in Tucson at 8 am, he left at 6 am and was still 20 minutes late. We thought about living in Chandler so we could live closer to family, but after him having to travel 215 miles round trip in 1 day we decided against that.

While he was at training he talked to his trainer, Jim, about our situation. Rick told him that we didn't have an apartment yet and that I was still living in Utah until he found one for us. He told him that we had thought about living in Chandler but after his commute that morning he knew he couldn't do it everyday, and he was bummed that he had to keep doing it until we had a place of our own down there. As soon as Jim heard about our situation, he offered Rick a place to stay. Jim lives right next door to his Daughter and Son-in-Law (who is an Engineer for the railroad) and he said that they have an extra bedroom he can use until we find an apartment so that Rick doesn't have to make the long travel everyday. When Rick got there, they got him settled, and took him out to dinner. Today Rick sent me a text and all it said was "We are so blessed right now!" I talked to him not long after that and he told me that he was talking to the couple he was staying with and they were asking him if he had looked at any apartments yet. Rick said no but that he was going to soon. Guess what? The wife is a real estate agent. Guess what else? They have a condo for rent, and if we want it it's ours. It's in a nicer part of Tucson, which means things are more expensive. We can't afford a condo, we were just planning on getting an apartment. When Rick told her our budget she said "That's fine. It just won't be ready for a week or two because we are tearing up the carpet and putting in brand new hardwood floors and repainting everything. If your wife comes down and it's not ready yet you guys can just stay with us until it is ready."

The wife then asked Rick what I did for work. He told her that I'm a Medical Assistant and I would be looking for MA jobs when I got down there and we got settled. She just so happens to have been an MA previous to getting her real estate license. She said she knows where to go and who to talk to and that getting me a job will be easy.

Are you serious? These people have never met me, they have only known Rick a day, and already they've done so much for us. I'm overwhelmed by their generosity. I've never lived outside of the Provo/Orem area and have been scared to live in a new place with new people, but I'm not even there yet and already they're taking care of us.

Everything is falling into place perfectly. It's like we don't even have to try and it's all just happening for us. I get to be lazy AND be blessed at the same time, and those are my 2 favorite things combined. Just kidding. Kind of. This is definitely making the transition easier. We are blessed.

I almost wrote "we are seriously so blessed" and then I got embarrassed.

Kind of A Big Deal

2011-02-24T02:39:00.003-07:00

When I was a little girl I only wanted 4 things in life.

1. To be a stay at home mom.

2. An endless supply of candy.

3. To live in Arizona.

4. To turn into Lor from my favorite cartoon show "The Weekenders" and Marry Tino. They are so meant for each other.

Well, my friends, one of these things is going to happen. Soon.

If you guessed 1, 2, or 4. You are wrong.

We are moving.

TO ARIZONA

This is how it all happened.

Friday, February 18 - Rick's parents were in town and we talked about the plan for the house. They are going on their mission in May and want to put the house up for rent with a rental company. We agreed that we would be out of the house by April.

Saturday, February 19 - We looked at a bunch of apartments online in the Provo/Orem area and went to see one in person. We printed off several applications and got them filled out and ready to turn in on Monday.

Sunday, February 20 - Rick got a text message from a guy who was in the same training group as him when they were hired on with Union Pacific Railroad. The guy said he was getting called back to work and asked Rick if he had been called back. Rick checked the board (A list of employees in order of seniority. This list also shows an employees status - okay to work, currently working, fired, or laid off) and his status still said he was laid off. He noticed that there were people under him in seniority who had been working. He texted some of his UP coworkers and asked if they were working. They said they were and they had been for a few months. The reason they were working was because they were putting a bid in. Putting a bid in means you have 5 different job duties inside your job title and you basically apply for those job duties. If you get them, you get called back, your seniority builds, and you get to go back to work and do one of those duties. Rick called his Union Representative and his trainer and they both suggested he bid for a job. Rick's trainer said "You bid for a job now or you wait to get called back, either way, get ready, because it will happen soon." We talked about moving to Tucson. We weren't planning on moving down there for several more years. We didn't think Rick would be working this soon. What if we moved down there and he didn't get called back? Quitting 2 jobs here to move to another state and hope that you have a job? It was a leap of faith, but it felt right. We decided then and there that we would move to Arizona. We had to be out of the house in May anyway, we knew we would end up in Arizona eventually, and even if Rick didn't get called back he could continue putting bids in until he did get called back, which makes getting called back happen a lot faster than just sitting and waiting. If we were living in utah we wouldn't be able to do that and his seniority wouldn't build as fast. Decision made, we're moving to Arizona. I was excited but scared. Right after we finally said "Okay, we've made the decision, lets pray to see if it's right." We said a prayer. We felt good. Then I logged into facebook and the first status I saw said "Don't ask the Lord to guide your footsteps unless you are willing to move your feet." That was quick. Who knew that answers to prayers would come through a facebook status? Rick and I have been praying for him to find more work and for us to be able to get out of debt. And now our prayers our answered. Onto the hard part - telling everyone.

Monday - Wednesday, February 21-23 - We had it planned out that Rick would put in his 2 week notice, and then stay here and get everything done that we need to do here (Rick's parents gave us a list of things they want us to fix up on the house before they rent it out). Once he was done with all of that he would go down to Arizona, find an apartment for us, and hope that he gets that phone call telling him to get ready to work. I would continue working here for a month or two and then in April-ish Rick would come back up to UT, we'd pack up, and head South. I went to my parents house, and we told them our plan. We told Rick's parents, we emailed all his siblings, I told my brothers, I told my friends. Most of the conversations went like this:

"Hey, we have something to tell you."

"OHMYGOSHYOUREPREGNANT!!!"

"Um...no...we're moving.....to Arizona."

My bad.

I went to work today and I told my boss. I told her I wasn't giving my 2 weeks notice, I was giving her a heads up that sometime in the next 6-8 weeks I'd be leaving. I'd let her know more as it got closer. Rick went to work and talked to his boss. His last day is tomorrow. At 6:05 pm I got a phone call from a number I don't recognize. I answer the phone and Wall-E is on the other end saying "Hello, this is an urgent call from Union Pacific, if you are Richard Brimhall II (the robot didn't understand how to say II so it said eye eye, I thought it was cute) please press 1." This same message played over and over. I called Rick and told him that UP just called me. He said they had called him too but he was busy and couldn't answer it. He said that if they were calling me, it meant he was getting called back. 3 times they called him and he didn't answer and so they called me with the same message. Finally, at 10:30 tonight, Rick answered, and he was officially called back to work for Union Pacific. He is so excited and I am so happy for him. He's been waiting 3 years for this. He called his trainer and he said that there is a possibility Rick could start training on Monday. I am kind of hoping it doesn't happen that soon just because I want Rick to get everything done here that he needs to so that when he comes back up to UT we can just pack up and go. My last day of work will be on March 11 - just kidding about that whole 6 to 8 week nonsense. If Rick is done with training, and has found an apartment for us by then, then that's when we'll move. If not, then I'll enjoy not working (for the first time since I was 15) and I'll spend as much time with my friends and family as possible.

It hasn't hit me yet. I don't think it will hit me until I'm driving away from my beautiful Utah mountains covered in the snow that I hate so much. Right now the only thing that's hit me is how proud of Rick I am for waiting it out for so long.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some spanish to learn.

So Proud

2011-02-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

We're going to pretend like this didn't take 20 tries.

Sometimes I think I have ADHD

2011-01-31T04:10:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wish that my last name was McCallister. Like the McCallisters from Home Alone. Jodi McCallister - its got such a nice ring to it. McCallister is the last name of someone rich and successful. Like there probably is some bank or huge building in New York City that says "McCallister" on it. The letters are probably made out of gold, too.

You know that noise your computer makes when it's working really hard or like if you put a CD in it? I hate that noise. I hate it when my computer does that for no reason. Mine has been doing it for like the last 20 minutes and I feel like it's going to explode.

Meeko is so cute and by cute I mean less annoying. He follows me around all the time but instead of biting my toes/licking my legs/ jumping on me he will just sit there and look at me. He seems to be trying to tell me something by the looks he gives me. I can't tell if he is saying "I love you so much, you are my favorite thing in the world" or if he's saying "I hate you for getting me neutered, I hate this cone around my head, I hate that you never let me on the couch, I will forever pee on your carpet because of how much I hate you."

I love my job so much. I work with the most amazing kids in the world. I don't know if they will ever know how great I think they are. This one kid and I had a heart to heart for like 25 minutes about all of the similar weird OCD compulsions we have and things that drive us crazy. Like cotton. I hate cotton, you guys. Like those cotton ball things? Why do those even exist? Have you ever had to tear a cotton ball in half? My skin is hurting just thinking about it.

I had a dream the other night that I got a phone call from my friend Lacey and she told me that she had her baby and to come to the Hospital. We get there and we see this cute baby and it had bright BLUE hair. I was like "uhhhhhhh" and then Lacey's doctor was like "well, I tried to warn her but she ignored me and she went right ahead and ate all of those blue M&Ms during her pregnancy even though I told her not to." I woke myself up laughing.

Today at work all the phones went down so no one could call Nursing for anything but we always have radios with us so I told the Campus Supervisor that if anyone needed to get ahold of nursing they could use the radios. And then everyone was like "Judy, do you copy?" And I thought to myself "Please don't be talking to me, I don't want to have to correct you and have everyone that has a radio be able to hear it, but then if I don't correct you you will call me Judy forever. Please be talking to someone else with a similar name." But then I realized there is no other "Judy" so I knew they were talking to me. So I said "this is JODI, go ahead" and they're like "hey Judy, the client is ready to see you." So I walk down to where this girl was and I talk to her then I leave and then 4 people were like "Bye, thanks Judy" and the girl (who knows my name) just looked at me really confused and I just shook my head at her. And now they're going to always call me Judy. I probably should have corrected them there but I panicked. It would have been 4 against one, I can't handle that.

We have netflix. Finally. I don't know why it's taken us so long to jump on that bandwagon. We watched a movie the other day called "Exit Through the Gift Shop." It's a documentary about street art. It's so good and so funny and the art is so amazing.

So Far

2011-01-26T01:44:00.001-07:00

We are only 26 days into 2011 and so far we have been very productive.

I graduated. It was boring (like most graduations) but I'm officially done. High five.

Rick and I were able to get our cholesterol down 100 points. Not 100 points total, 100 points EACH. We were so unhealthy. And now our numbers are looking great. I have been doing zumba and Rick has been lifting a lot of weights. Here are some pics of our new bods.

Rick and his muscles.

Me and my zumba bod.

I wish. The only reason we are still alive is because of the medication our doctor put us on. Which I am no longer taking. It's up to me to keep my blood from turning into gravy. Wish me luck.

Meeko had a big day today. We took him to the vet bright and early this morning where he had a tooth pulled, some shots, and his dignity snipped off. We knew we were behind on some shots and we had discussed the pros and cons of getting him neutered. The cons being nothing and the pros being that he will calm-the-hell-down. He's got such a hyper and spunky personality and we wanted to just die down the fire a little bit without killing the flame. Turns out we put out his entire flame with a fire hose and then spit in the ashes. Picking him up from the vet was the saddest thing I've ever seen. The vet said that the anesthesia and medication they gave him hit him extra hard. His eyes were super glazed and he wouldn't look at me he would look past me. He slept all day, but when I would be cleaning he would try to follow me around like he used to. I ended up putting him on our bed (he's been sleeping in our bed for the last little while and has had no problems) so that I could clean the bedroom and he peed on the bed. I don't know if it was out of spite or because of the medication. If I was him I probably would have peed on our bed too just to show everyone who's still the boss.

Here he after his procedure doing something he's never done before - sitting down and being quiet.

The cone was so huge that he slid out of it in 2 seconds. We had to do some changes and zip tie it closed. He's only had it on for about 30 minutes and he's already run into the coffee table a good 12 times. Bless his heart.

Remember how we got a fish tank 7 months ago? We kind of forgot about it and it's just been sitting there and we finally got some live coral in it.

We're going with a pirate theme. Whether Rick likes it or not. The purple Rock in the middle is the live coral. The other 2 should start to grow stuff in a few months. The 2 black things in it are snails that are supposed to keep the tank clean. They haven't moved since we put them in the tank. 10 hours ago.

Lastly, Rick applied for a job in Arizona.

We're keeping our fingers crossed.

The Other Night

2011-01-11T16:04:00.002-07:00

The other night Rick was rolling around in his sleep and it woke me up, then he got up and walked out of the bedroom. I assumed he was going to the bathroom or something and then he didn't come back so I went searching for him and he was asleep on the couch. I woke him up and he looked at me confused and said "Why am I on the couch?" (Like it was my fault or something)

The other night Rick was asleep and then he cleared his voice and loudly said "Let my people go!" Didn't Moses say that?

The other night we were asleep and then Rick sat up in bed and it woke me up. He sat there for a second and then he got up and went to our bedroom window and opened the curtains and stood there starring for like a full minute. Then I was like "Rick?" and he jumped almost like I scared him and he said "Woah...what am I doing?" then he laid back down. Creepy?

The other night we were asleep and Rick said "I just love Meeko so much."

The other night Rick was asleep and he likes to sleep facing me with his arms under my pillow because he "doesn't have any where else to put them" and I told him not to (because it's not comfortable to sleep on someone's arms, ya know?) and so he said that we should try switching sides of the bed so that he could sleep in the same position but his arms will hang off the bed instead of him putting them under my pillow. So we tried it and then he just switched to face the other way so again he was facing me with his arms under my pillow. And then I woke up confused because I was sleeping on the wrong side of the bed, which is basically the same thing as waking up in another Country.

The other night (every night, actually) Rick farted in his sleep and I was like "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiick. Stop farting" and he was like "no it's okay the wind from the fan will blow it away because of the g force and you won't even be able to smell it" and then I punched him for being a liar.

Somewhere in this house we have a voice recorder that only records when it senses sound. Rick uses it for music stuff and when we were living at the apartment we would put it by our bed at night and then when we would wake up in the morning we would have a good 15-20 minutes of Rick talking. I'm going to find it and somehow upload it to my blog. You won't be disappointed.

We don't have TV

2011-01-03T22:05:00.002-07:00

Because Comcast thinks it's cool to charge us $140 a month for crappy internet and even crappier TV. So instead of my normal Monday routine of sleeping in late and getting caught up on all my shows, this is how my day went.

Wake up to Meeko barking.

Let him out of his cage and let him run around knowing that Rick had already taken him potty outside.

Lay back down.

Wake up again to Meeko licking my face. Apparently he can now jump up on the bed.

Push him off the bed.

Wake up again to the sound of Meeko chewing on something. It was my coat that was on the ground. The same one he had just peed all over. Sweet.

Get up. Clean the pee up, and start a load of laundry.

Go into the living room and turn the TV on only to realize that watching TV is no longer an option.

Put the dishes away.

Notice every little thing in my house that is not perfectly clean. Make a mental list of said things.

Clean off our "junk" tables. Go through millions of papers and receipts that we no longer need even though Rick loves to keep every receipt from every purchase he's ever made. Including ones from our trip to Disneyland almost a year ago.

Take Meeko potty outside.

Give Meeko a bath.

Chase Meeko around the house and struggle to overpower a 7 pound puppy so that I can brush his freaking hair.

Start the second load of laundry.

Walk down the hallway and step in something wet. More pee. Amazing.

Try to figure out why my dog, who has been doing so well with potty training, and who we have taught to ring a bell whenever he needs to go potty, has peed in my house twice today. Realize that 80% of his potty accidents happen when he is under my direct supervision.

Give my maternal instincts a high five.

Put Meeko in his cage so that I get to hear him bark and cry at me for the next 2 hours.

Deep clean the bathroom.

Clean all the mirrors in the house.

Put away laundry, start 3rd load.

Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Vacuum the stairs.

Clean the entry way.

Make the bed and straighten up the bedroom.

Vacuum upstairs.

Put more laundry away, start 4th load.

Take a shower.

Organize stuff in family room.

Make an appointment to get my caveman unibrow waxed.

Do some research on how much it costs to have Meeko's manhood snipped off.

Go to the post office.

Go grocery shopping.

Come home, start 5th load of laundry.

Make dinner.

Blog about it.

Days off are so fun. I can only imagine how much more fun they'll be when we have kids.

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

2010-12-31T21:41:00.001-07:00

The Best and Worst Moments of 2010

In no particular order

My best friend Lacey telling me she's pregnant (and due soon, can't wait)

Finishing School

My mom finding out she has MS

Being hired as a MA

Passing the National MA exam

Having my car door handle break from the inside and be stuck open so the door can't close (this happened like an hour ago but it's still December 31st for a few more hours so it totally counts)

Jessica having her baby

Going to Disneyland

Going to Arizona for the Brimhall Reunion

Being so close to having Rick join the tribe but having it still not happen

Going to Lake Powell for the first time

Having Church at 9am

Having Meeko join our family

Out with the old, in with the new.

Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal

2010-12-27T16:20:00.003-07:00

And a Happy New Year

A Goodbye Letter

2010-12-26T02:53:00.005-07:00

For the last 2 years you have been ruining my life. You were there before Rick and I got married. We hoped that maybe you would leave once we got married but we were wrong. You were there for the 5 months we lived in our apartment. We got a short 3 week break from you when we moved into the house, and it was the best 3 weeks of our lives. Then 2010 started, and you were there again - waiting to torture me. You ruined all my weekends. If I was able to force myself to face you I was miserable and exhausted, if I gave into my temptations and ignored you then I felt the guilt. I could hear the words of my parents and church leaders echoing in my head about how the pioneers could do anything, but I couldn't do this? I was weak. I finally got myself to a point where I could face you and survive. Barely, but it was possible. I got into a routine, and for a second, I was okay. And then out of no where you find your partner in crime, and BAM you guys hit us twice as hard. You made me dread any time you came around. You stole my husband from me. You stole sleep from me, and you made my entire schedule change from week to week.

So I bid you both farewell. I know this won't be the last time I see you, but next time I'll be better prepared. Goodbye 9 am church. I hope I never see your ugly face for at least 2 more years. And Goodbye Rick working a double (swing and grave shift) every-freaking-sunday. With your powers combined you made us get very few hours of sleep on Saturday nights. Working until 11 every night and then not being able to sleep until 3 or 4 screwed my sleep up and you were there ready to wake up in time for 9 am church on sundays. After church we had time to eat lunch together before Rick left to work his 16 hour shift and return at 8 am on Monday morning. Since he was gone I would either not be able to fall asleep until he came home or until 6 when the sun came up. Too many times I've stayed up until dawn while having only slept a few hours the night before.

YOU ALMOST KILLED US.

But we survived. And guess what? It's all over now. 2011 will bring with it a new work schedule, one where Rick only works 1 shift on Sundays, and where church starts at 11. I've been waiting for 11 o'clock church for 2 years, and it's finally here.

2011 - I have a feeling we're going to be best friends. I can't wait to meet you.

Resolutions - 2011

2010-12-11T02:00:00.007-07:00

So up until last year I never took goals seriously. I would make goals (kind of) and then not stick to them. I'm proud to say that we were able to cross most of our New Years Resolutions off our list for this year. I finished school, I found a job as an MA, we have made improvements with planning meals/cooking and with managing our money, we went to Disneyland, and we are healthier now, even if it's only because of prescription cholesterol medication. There were still a few things I was hoping we'd take care of this year, but I'm definitely satisfied with what we were able to do and where we are now. We've been talking about our goals for 2011 and I honestly think that if I blog about them it's easier for me to look back and see what they were and stick with them, which is kind of embarrassing to admit how much I rely on the internet. Why can't I just write them down? Because I lose paper. And when I say "lose" I mean "throw away before I should because I have this weird thing with not having papers cluttered everywhere." Who do I visit teach? Couldn't tell you. How many times have they given me the paper with all my visiting teaching information on it? At least 6. High five.

GOALS FOR 2011

Go visiting teaching. At least once.
Go to the temple once a month. For real this time.
Have a better sleep schedule. I never want to know what 4 am looks like ever again.
Cook more and eat healthier. We are so much better than last year but we can still improve a lot.
Zumba at least once a week.
Get out of debt and save more.
Don't move. I hate moving. I hate packing. I hate it all. If the house sells then we will move but if it doesn't sell between now and when Rick's parents go on their mission (April 2011) then they are taking it off the market, which means we would be here for at least 2 more years.
Have Meeko be 100% potty trained.
Get the carpets cleaned.....ha.
Do everything we possibly can to have Rick join the tribe. So much harder than it sounds.
Have Rick work for the Railroad again. There is really nothing we can do at all for this to happen but it would be cool.
Read more.
Stop putting off going to the Dentist/Doctor. We needed to go to the dentist probably a year ago. Can't wait to see how many cavities we have between the two of us. I have also had horrible pain in my back that spreads to my hip and shoots down my leg. I've been putting off going to the Doctor for that because I'm stubborn. I also have had a sweet rash for like 2 months that I didn't realize how bad it was until one day after a shower I was getting ready and noticed it looked like I had some kind of pox all over my chest, stomach, and back. They're spreading at a rapid rate, too. Sweet.

Bring it on, 2011!

30 Days of Blogging - Will this ever end?

2010-12-07T22:32:00.007-07:00

I thought this 30 day blogging thing would be fun and now I hate it. I'm doing the rest of them right now so that I can rid this from my life.

Day 25 - What I would find in your purse.

My wallet, a ton of lip gloss, and probably 48 things of hand sanitizer.

Day 26 - What you think about your friends.

I think they're awesome. That's why they're my friends.

Day 27 - Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?

Because I needed something to blog about.

Day 28 - A picture of you in the last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Last year I was still in school, I was working at my old job, our schedules were opposite of what they are now, and we were living in the house, but Rick's parents were living there too. Today I am done with school, working as an MA and loving it, we still live in the house but we have it all to ourselves since Rick's parents are living in Arizona getting ready for their mission. We were also still figuring out how to be married. A year ago we had been married for 6 months, and now it's been a year and a half.

Day 29 - In this past month what have you learned?

I've learned that on December 21st I will be taking the National Medical Assisting Certification Test. I've learned that ground turkey is delicious and works perfect for hamburger helper meals. I've learned that it is absolutely impossible to ever surprise Rick with a gift. He knows everything he's getting for Christmas. I've learned that Rick loves me more than I ever thought and he will do things for me to make sure I am happy and comfortable - like waking up early to clean the house or do laundry or get my car registered and let me sleep because he knows that I don't sleep very well as it is so he lets me sleep in as long as I can. And also because he knows how I'm the meanest person in the world if I don't wake up well rested.

Day 30 - Who are you?

Jodi. Wife of Rick. Mom of Meeko.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 24

2010-12-07T02:31:00.002-07:00

Day 24 - A letter to your parents.

Dear Mom,

Thanks for helping me get my job at Heritage and thanks for being the Chaplain there so that I can have the following conversations with the kids.

"So the word on the street is that you are REALLY good at the saxaphone."

"Fo sho fo sho. Wait, who told you that?"

"My mom."

"Who's your mom?"

"Tami."

"NAW DUDE, FOR REAL? TAMI IS YOUR MOM?! DAAAAAYUM! HOW WAS THAT BEING THE PREACHER'S DAUGHTER? I BET YOU SHE BEAT YO ASS WITH A BIBLE WHEN YOU WAS GROWIN UP."

Thank you for being the most accident prone person in the world so that I have interesting stories to tell people.

Thank you for saving Meeko from the pound and then giving him to us.

Dear Dad,

Thanks for knowing everything about cars.

Thanks for introducing me to skype. Now we can talk online. Even though we only live like a mile away.

Thanks for driving me and Jensenne around in the big trucks when we were little.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Remember back when I was a teenager and I used to get massive headaches everyday and you guys would take turns every night rubbing my head until I fell asleep? I do. And it meant a lot to me. Thanks

For a longer, more sincere tribute to my parents CLICK HERE

30 Days of Blogging - Day 23

2010-12-05T02:25:00.006-07:00

Day 23 - Something you crave a lot.

There is a Bajio really close to where I work. Several times this week Rick has brought me dinner at work. When he asks what I want the answer is always the same - A green chile burrito from Bajio. The last time he brought me dinner he said that when he walked in they said "This guy loves that green chile burrito!" I don't know if I should be happy or embarrassed that they know exactly what I want.

Also, I love pizza. I crave pizza all the time. My absolute favorite is the vegetarian pizza from Papa John's.

Sometimes I wonder why I've gained 15 pounds since we've been married and then I write blogs like this and I wonder why I haven't gained 50 pounds instead.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 22

2010-12-02T01:54:00.007-07:00

Day 22 - What makes you different from everyone else?

This is kind of a weird question. Everyone is different. Which makes us all the same. It's like that bumper sticker I saw once that said "You are Unique. Just like everybody else."

I don't know what makes me different. That depends completely on who you compare me to. If you compare me other women in Provo then I'm not very different at all - Mormon, married, blogger. If you compare me to someone in a poor village in Africa then I'm very different - Middle class American who married outside of her race, has a job, has a car, lives in a house, and blogs. I don't know how to answer this question, but my friend Heidi tagged me in her blog and told me to write 7 secrets about me. Except then they won't be secrets so how about 7 interesting facts about me instead. Maybe my 7 facts will make me different than everyone else.

1. For Christmas last year my parents gave us this huge first aid kit complete with gloves, a gown, a CPR mask and a glow stick (you never know when you'll need one?) I keep it in my car at all times because I feel like one day I will come across a huge car accident and need to help.

2. If I come across blood, pee, vomit, or feces, it's gross, but I can deal with it. But if you spit in front of me or if I can hear you spit I will gag and barf.

3. I hate feet. HATE. I hate them so much that I don't even like touching my own feet and every night before bed I put lotion on my feet and instead of rubbing it in with my hands I just rub my feet together. That's how much I hate feet.

4. I never eat breakfast. Ever. Yet somehow breakfast food is my favorite. I love eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, pancakes, waffles, all the good breakfast foods, I just never eat them for breakfast.

5. I used to be able to fall asleep at the drop of the hat and sleep a solid 8+ hours undisturbed. I could sleep through an earthquake (literally, it happened when we went to Disneyland) and once I slept through the fire alarm outside my bedroom door going off. And now, with each passing day that I'm married to Rick, I sleep as well as a mother with a newborn baby. It takes me any where from 30 minutes to 2 hours to fall asleep now, and when Rick works a grave shift at first I loved it cause I had the whole bed to myself but now I can't sleep if he's not there and I usually don't fall asleep until he either gets home at 8 am or sometime after the sun comes up.

6. I have been driving on expired license plates for 2 days. Whoops.

7. When we're bored we do photoshoots and we take some sweet pictures.

I don't know who to tag in this, so if you want to write 7 secrets about yourself on your blog, consider yourself tagged.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 21

2010-11-28T00:01:00.007-07:00

Day 21 - A picture of something that makes you happy.

More like pictures that make me laugh.

Number 1

Instructions to my Niece and Nephew's toy fish tank.

Number 2

Rick's celebrity lookalike. The lovely Emma Goldman.

Number 3

This is how much we all loved Space Mountain.

Number 4

I laugh so hard everytime I see this picture. I love photobooth.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 20

2010-11-22T02:38:00.003-07:00

Day 20 - Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.

Just kidding. Kind of.

So this post really doesn't apply to me since I already know who I'm going to be with in the future. But I don't want to blog about our future goals because I've already done that like 48 times. And if I keep talking about how much I want to have babies people will start to get suspicious/annoyed. So instead, just enjoy this picture of my awesome husband.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 19

2010-11-21T01:41:00.002-07:00

Day 19 - Nicknames you have; why do you have them?

Jode - Because it's shorter than Jodi. Well it's 1 less syllable but still 4 letters.

Jodester - Because Rick adds "ster" to the end of everything. Sometimes Meeko is "The Meekster" and sometimes Justin Beiber is "Biebster".

Toad/Toady - Because it rhymes with Jode/Jodi.

Grodi Jodi - Because Marci gave me this nickname like 10 years ago and then everyone called me it.

Tami's Daughter - Because, well, you know.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 18

2010-11-18T23:56:00.005-07:00

Day 18 - Plans/Dreams/Goals you have.

Have some babies. And dress them exactly like this.

Be a nurse. I googled "Labor and Delivery Nurse" and this was one of the pictures. Awesome.

Own this car.

Own a beautiful home.

Learn to be super crafty so I can decorate said home.

Go on a cruise with Rick.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 17

2010-11-18T00:24:00.006-07:00

Day 17 - Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.

1. Oprah Winfrey - To see what it's like to be rich.

2. Dr Phil - To see what it's like to be a life-changing genius. And it would be kinda interesting to see what it's like to be a guy.

3. Any of the Kardashian ladies - Do you see that hair?

30 Days of Blogging - Day 16

2010-11-15T23:39:00.006-07:00

Day 16 - Another picture of yourself.

We got the okay from Rick's parents to keep Meeko at the house. We are so excited. For now, this is the closest we'll get to being parents.

He loves his Mama.

P.S. This is my 100th blog post. High five.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 15

2010-11-13T23:39:00.005-07:00

Day 15 - Put your iPod on shuffle; first 10 songs that play.

1. Emergency Exit - Sense Field

Rick put all these songs on my ipod that I have never heard before or that are from artists I have never heard of. This is one of them.

2. Defying Gravity - Glee

I love Glee always and forever. And I'm going to wait until this song is over instead of just skipping to the next one to see what it is.

3. Under Pressure - Tupac

I wasn't kidding when I said I had 283 Tupac songs.

4. Poetic Tragedy - The Used

Back when Rick was Hardcore and in all these bands he used to play with The Used. He also used to play with Avenged Sevenfold. I basically married a Rock Star. Now I know how Bon Jovi's wife feels.

5. Be Our Guest - Beauty and The Beast

I will listen to Disney music until my dying day.

6. Ben - Michael Jackson

I still haven't seen "This Is It." I don't know what my problem is.

7. Star Struck - Yellowcard

Oh wow. Yellowcard? Really? I did not even know I had them on my ipod and now I'm embarrassed.

8. Iron Horse Hobo - Genea

Rick writes songs. Really pretty ones.

9. Ways & Means - Snow Patrol

Remember Snow Patrol?

10. 12.23.95 - Jimmy Eat World

I love Jimmy so much you guys.

I listened to that last Jimmy song and then the next song that came on was "We Got the Party" by Miley Cyrus.

Yep. I listen to Miley.

3 Days of Blogging - Day 14

2010-11-13T23:13:00.006-07:00

Day 14 - A picture of you and your family.

I can say with 100% accuracy that I am the least popular person in my family. Remember how when you're a teenager your parents and your friends parents and all parents everywhere are so stupid? Everyone at school must have missed that memo because my friends thought my mom was the coolest. Apparently working with teenagers, being a substitute seminary teacher, and feeding everyone makes you very popular. Also I had 2 older brothers that everybody loved and that only made me known for being their younger sister. Remember Coach Preece? He has referred to me as every member in my family except myself. It was very nice having my brother Jordan graduate so that no one would call me "Jordan's little sister" anymore and then Jensenne came along and screwed that up for me.

Thanks, guys.

Really though I love my family.

I also love this family, although I'm really confused as to why I'm not in this picture.

But I love this family the most.

Yes, our Christmas Tree is up. And yes, those are 30 year old curtains from Chile.

Do you need a pet photographer? Because as of 11:16 pm today, Rick is a professional.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 12

2010-11-08T03:46:00.003-07:00

Day 12 - How you found out about Blogs and why you made one.

Wanna know something funny? Back when I was 12 and Rick was 47 we were blog buddies. There was this thing called xanga and it was kind of the same thing as blogger. All the hip kids had a xanga. For real, it was so cool. Blogger is more like "Look at my cute husband and baby while I talk about recipes" and xanga was more like "My parents are so lame I am so cool I love Dashboard Confessional 4evr." Thankfully I deleted my xanga a while ago although I'm sure my embarrassing teenage posts are probably somewhere lost in cyberspace. Rick still has his xanga. He doesn't use it anymore, but he's had one for like 6 years. He transferred most of his posts to his new blog, which he said he would update regularly. He's a liar.

I honestly can't remember how I heard of blogger. I think it was just one of those hot new things. Myspace then Facebook. Xanga then Blogger. It happens. I started one a few times but never stuck with it. Then I finally started this blog the night we got engaged. I told myself it would be our family blog. It's not. Rick has blogged on "Team Brimhall" maybe 3 times. He has his own blog instead now. The only thing that makes this blog "Team Brimhall" instead of "All About Jodi" is the fact that I occasionally talk about Rick, and starting now, our dog Meeko, whom we also refer to as our baby. Yeah, we're those people.

P.S. Look at my cute husband and baby.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 11

2010-11-04T00:46:00.005-06:00

Day 11 - Another picture of you and your friends.

These are my friends. Can you spot my bangs in this picture? Earlier in October we went to Frightmares. I have been to Lagoon plenty of times but I've never been during Frightmares. It was basically the same only with Halloween decorations, a few haunted houses, and a ton of fog.

Every time I go to Lagoon the first ride I go on is the white roller coaster. Tradition?

I do not remember the name of this ride but it's my favorite one. The one that spins around and around really fast while playing music. I laughed really hard the entire time.

So secretly I'm scared of roller coasters (mostly just heights) and whenever we are standing in line I am freaking out and really ornery and then we go on the ride and I have a lot of fun and want to go again so we have to wait in line again and I freak out again. This is me standing in line - having a super good attitude.

Rick wanted to do the drag racing. He was so excited. And don't worry, he's had a haircut since this picture was taken.

First place! He was so happy.

I went on the Samurai. I wanted to die. It was so scary and lasted for what felt like 8 days.

Overall this was my best Lagoon experience. I went on all the scary rides (I'm a huge wuss, in case you didn't know) and I didn't even barf once. That is what I call success.

30 Days of Blogging - Day 10

2010-11-03T02:00:00.002-06:00

Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyper, mad.

The answer to all of the above is any song from any of the Glee soundtracks. I don't really have songs that I listen to when I am in a certain mood, rather I have songs that I listen to for a certain event. Like every time we go on a road trip we listen to a lot of Jimmy Eat World. And also quite a bit of Britney Spears (Rick will deny this until his dying day but the boy loves Britney. He can't remember the lyrics to a song that he wrote me when we were dating but he knows the lyrics to all of Britneys songs.)

However, when I'm hyper, I do listen to Tupac. I have 283 Tupac songs on my iPod.

Word, bitch.