A New Year

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

Resolutions - 2011

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!

Hopes, Dreams, Goals

The setup - My living room, Dr. Phil is on, my laptop is at my fingertips, I am probably eating some type of chocolate. The life changing event - A Disneyland commercial that came on tv. It was for Disneyland during Halloween. The actions to follow - Millions of goals flooded my mind, most of them were vacation related because of the Disneyland commercial, but then I came up with all these lifelong goals. I knew if I didn't write these down somewhere I would forget, and this is the first year in my life that I have taken goals and my New Years resolutions that I set seriously. So here is a recap on the resolutions for this year, and my hopes, dreams, and goals for the future.

RESOLUTION FOLLOW UP

• Go to the temple once a month - This is probably the most important goal and probably the one we struggle with the most. Working on it...
• Finish school - Check.
• Find a job as an MA - Check.
• Have Rick become a member of the Ute Tribe - ugh.
• Get Rick back in school - Check. He starts in January.
• Get Rick healthy - Doctor prescribed both of us cholesterol medication. High five.
• Get myself healthy - I have a newfound love for fruits and vegetables. I still don't love it as much as fast food and chocolate (I have the lipids and cholesterol to prove it), but improvement is improvement. Kind of.
• Get better at planning meals/cooking - Turns out I like to cook. But it's hard when we both work during dinner and Rick eats nothing but cereal for breakfast and lunch and snack. Half a check.
• Save and manage money better - This gets half a check because I just barely started getting paid for my new MA job.
• Take Rick to Disneyland - Check.
• Plan a cruise - 2011: The year of Mexico! Check.

The rest of my goals are not things that I want to get done in 2011, they are more like my bucket list.

VACATION GOALS

• Go to Disneyland during Halloween.
• Go to Disneyland during Christmas.
• Live at Disneyland. Forever.
• Go to Disneyworld.
• Go on a cruise before we have kids.
• Go on a cruise after we have kids.
• Go to Hawaii.
• Learn how to scuba dive.
• Go to Frightmares at Lagoon. I'm not even sure what it is but I want to go.
• Go to Sea World.
• Go to the San Diego Zoo.
• Be super rich so I can go on all of these dream vacations.

LIFE GOALS

• Be a nurse. We are going to Salt Lake tomorrow to look at the nursing program at SLCC.
• Plan a surprise party for someone and have it be way awesome.
• Be that mom who makes super good food and all my kid's friend's will want to hang out at my house.
• Have some kind of secret family recipe.
• Be a foster/adoptive mom.
• Join BACA and have all the gear for it so that it's legit.
• Be brave enough to do crazy things with my hair. Like get a pixie cut or something.
• Learn to be a morning person and to like it when we have kids.
• Be really good at decorating my house.
• Learn the basics of photography.
• Learn some type of self defense.
• Learn a clever way to end blog posts that are just lists like this one.

Follow Up On Resolutions

So I put this little gadget on here that tells me every time someone looks at my blog. It also shows me what City people are viewing my blog from. I had no idea I had so many fans in Colorado and Massachusetts. Here's the problem - I'm averaging 1.5 comments per post. Come on guys, we can do better than that. It's time to step up our commenting game. And I promise this isn't one of those "Hey! If you read my blog leave a comment!" posts just to be followed by "Now that I know who reads my blog I'm going private" post. We all hate those. If you're not sure what to comment about, here's an idea: My awesome new bed.

We got the bed frame at RC Willey and the pillows/comforter cover at Ikea. Ikea is the Disneyland of home furnishings.

So this year instead of just setting New Years resolutions to make myself look good I want to actually do them to make myself look even better. Time to recap on this years goals.

1. Go to the Temple once a month - We're not all the way there yet but we're getting better. Some improvement is better than none, right?

2. Finish School - I'm so close I can taste it. This one we can mark off the list shortly.

3. Find a job as an MA - This one can't happen until school is done with, but I recently started volunteering at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Hospitals are starting to accept more and more Medical Assistants. Hopefully me being a volunteer will give me a higher chance of being hired as an MA there.

4. Have Rick become a Member of the Ute Tribe - We're doing all we can on our end but we're going nowhere. This one might not happen but we're still hoping and praying (and harassing his birth mom) that it does.

5. Get Rick back into School - We were waiting for him to join the tribe before he started school again but we are looking into other options now since a Native American Scholarship might not happen. He has decided that he wants to go to school to become a Therapist. He would be good at it, you can talk this guys ear off and he won't even flinch.

6. Get Rick Healthy - Check.

7. Get Myself Healthy - We got gym memberships (that we actually use). And my family is planning on doing the 5k Freedom Run on the 4th of July. I hate running. A lot. But I'm doing it all for the sake of a good lookin' bod. It better be worth it.

8. Get better at Planning Meals/Cooking - We'll give this one a half a check. Which is actually giving me way more credit than I deserve.

9. Save and manage money better - This one gets half a check as well. It will be easier when I am working full time and not going to school and my paychecks actually make a difference.

10. Take Rick to Disneyland - CHECK! I'm going to put this one on the list every year.

11. Plan a Cruise - I wish.

Resolutions

I set New Years Resolutions every year. And every year I forget them because I either don't write them down or I lose the paper they are on. Can't lose a blog post, right? Also, everyone else is doing it. And we all know that I love to jump on the blogging bandwagon. So here goes, my/our goals for 2010. I say "our" because there are things I want Rick to do this year but they aren't really my resolutions. Can you make resolutions for someone else? Oh well, I'm doing it.

• Go to the temple once a month.
• Finish school.
• Find a job as an MA.
• Have Rick become a member of the Ute tribe - see? I can set a resolution for him.
• Get Rick back in school - see above.
• Get Rick healthy - see above again, this is totally legit.
• Get myself healthy.
• Get better at planning meals/cooking.
• Save and manage money better.
• Find the remote control to the DVD player. Seriously.
• Take Rick to Disneyland.
• Plan a cruise.

That's pretty much it. I think that 2010 is going to be a good year. Also, Rick just barely found the remote to the DVD player. Check that one off the list. This year is already off to a great start.