The Little Thief

Jasper has become a thief lately! He thinks it's really funny to pick up Mom's things and drag them away. Yesterday I was wrapping a Christmas present and he decided to "help" by stealing my scissors and tape. Obviously if something is on the floor, it must be a new toy for Jasper! Then later that day, I was in my bedroom and I could hear him dragging something in the living room. When I went out to investigate, I found that he had pulled my jacket from a kitchen chair, dragged it into the middle of the living room and made a bed out of it. Silly little boy! At least he keeps me entertained, I'd probably be bored out of my mind without him! :)

Jordan's Commercial

My brother-in-law works for Rexburg Motor Sports and got to be in their commercial. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICu-NKwdSc0

Festival of Trees

Saturday night my friend Misty and I went to the Festival of Trees. It was fun to see all the different decorations, there are some really talented people out there! A lot of the trees were dedicated to people who have died or are dying, which was sad. Some of them had stories about the people who had died. The trees were for sale, but only if you had a couple thousand dollars to spend on one. But it was fun to see. One of my favorites was the Cullen Christmas tree. As you can probably guess, it was a Twilight theme

Jasper

Here are some pictures of my new little puppy, Jasper. I've had him for about two weeks now. He can be quite the little handful, he really likes to nibble on me. But he's a puppy, so I guess that's expected and he's only 8 weeks old. We bonded pretty fast, he hates it when I leave him even to take a shower. He tries to climb into the tub with me, good thing he's too small to make it! One day he decided, for whatever reason, to hide in the couch cushions. Weird! I think the garbage truck may have scared him.

He's been really good company these last couple of weeks that I've been out of a job. For those of you who don't know yet, I got laid off two weeks ago. I think it's probably for the best, although right now it may not seem like it. I wasn't in a good situation and I was actually thinking about quitting. Of course now comes the hard part of finding a job in this economy!

Parent's Weekend

Last weekend my parents were in town. I was finally able to take a couple of days of, something I haven't done since Christmas, to spend some time with them. We spent most of it working on my condo. My mom and I got my kitchen all squared away, now if I can just get the rest of my place in order I'd be great! It's so sad that I still have boxes after almost 3 months, but oh well.

I also went shooting with my dad at a gun range near my condo. We had a lot of fun. The 40 caliber gun was a challange to shoot. It had quite a kick! My poor hands were all torn up after we were done, I guess I'll have to get some gloves or something. I already know what I'm getting for Christmas, a 380 and a 22 handgun. I may have to get a membership at that gun range, but I think it will be worth it (a little stress relief after work!).

My mom and I went with Candy and Tom to the Desert Star Theater. We saw Scary Poppins and it was hilarious! If you want to have a good night out, go see this!! So all and all it was a great weekend.

Enrichment Nite

I'm thinking about starting up a new hobby.....flower arranging! We learned how to arrange flowers at Enrichment last night and it was really fun. Sister Radman showed us the basics and then we were given flowers and let go! It was interesting to see everyone's end result, no two were alike. Mine didn't turn out too bad and it was a lot of fun to do.

Wait until you hear about my crazy weekend! My grandmother and her friend Reddy came for a visit on their way up to Bear Lake. I went to pick them up at the airport and the fun began! My grandmother and Reddy had wheelchair service through the airport and as Reddy got up from her wheelchair, she tripped over the leg of the chair and fell. I was halfway to the car with the luggage when I heard my grandmother yelling for help. I turned just to see Reddy hit the cement and from where I was standing it looked she hit her head on the bench. Talk about a heartache moment! It turned out that she was ok, bruised and a little scraped, but ok. The airport employees insisted the parametics look her over (probably to save themselves a lawsuit) and all she need was three bandaids.

Once that was over with, we had some more excitement! We went to Sam's Club to get a membership card and Reddy wanted to stay in the car. She has a bad knee and was exhausted, so we understood. Well while we were in Sam's Club, my car's license plate and description was paged over the loudspeaker. We went back up front and the supervisor told us story I couldn't believe. It seems someone got worried about this poor little old lady sitting out in the car by herself and went to ask her if she was ok. Well apparently she was "disoriented" when the lady was talking to her. So the supervisor called us up because she thought someone was going to call the police on us for neglecting Reddy! Well I went out to the car and Reddy was taking a little nap. I woke her up and asked if she was ok. Turns out she was fine! She said she was very comfortable and was taking a little snooze. She didn't even know why that lady came over to talk to her. Of course I would have been a little disoriented after just waking up. I went back inside to tell my grandmother and the women working at the customer service desk were giving me looks like I was the biggest criminal on the planet! The supervisor had told my grandmother that several of the employees were very upset and wanted to call the police. So all weekend I was waiting for the cops to show up at my door.

By the time the both left the next day, I was absolutely exhausted. Those two traveling together are dangerous! It is like the blind leading the blind.

The Beverly Hillbillies - Well Almost!

After having to postpone moving over and over again, I was finally able to move on July 30th....the day before I had to move out of course. Moving was really funny, thanks to all the people from my branch that came to help. My hometeacher decided he could get ton of stuff in his truck. It kind of looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, all we were missing was grandma on top in her rocker! They fit my bed, box spring, mattress, couch, chair, ottoman and the kitchen table all in the bed of his truck. I'm surprised he made it like that, luckily we weren't going too far! I'm glad he didn't get pulled over with all that stuff in there!

But I'm all moved, except for some boxes, and it is really nice having my own place. The best part about it is that it is REALLY quiet! No more loud neighbors, especially like my old upstairs neighboor who always stomped when she walked! I've even met a few of my neighboors and everyone seems pretty nice. And I'm glad I met my goal of becoming a homeowner before my next birthday (which is this coming Saturday in case anyone is even thinking about forgetting!!)

Closing Date!

Hey all!

Well, the date is set for the closing on my condo. We will be closing tomorrow, Friday July 25th. I was beginning to think that it might never happen! We had the super anal underwriter on the lender's side who just about killed the deal earlier this week. I was starting to get really stressed! I have to be out of my apartment by the 31st and I was starting to think I might need to find a new apartment or be homeless! But it all worked out in the end. All this happened pretty fast though, less than a month, so I guess I should be grateful. We are trying to see if I can move in this weekend even though I won't technically own the place until the funds are sent on Monday. So, I guess this is really going to happen and by next week I will be living in my new place! Horray!

More Pics!

More detailed pictures of my condo!

Ok, I have found a condo that I really like! After a couple of let downs and outbids, I have finally found my condo! I just accepted their counter offer, so hopefully (fingers crossed) nothing goes wrong this time! It is a two bedroom, 1 1/2 bath condo approximately 920 sq feet with a HUGE walk-in closet. It is in Murray and an end unit on the top floor, which I hope equals less noise! Wish me luck that this all goes as planned and nothing gets screwed up in the end!

Mormon Miracle Pageant

Yesterday I went with some of the branch members to Manti to watch the Mormon Miracle Pageant. First, we went up to Maple Canyon (near Fountain Green, UT) to have a dutch oven dinner. We went hiking a little bit and hung around til it was time to go watch the pageant. There were sooooo many people there to watch the pageant, it was crazy! And of course there were the ever present protestors outside the gates. They like to show up everywhere and try to ruin the spirit of things. The pageant was ok, it was kind of funny to watch the actor's hand gestures because they didn't match the recording of what they were supposed to be saying. I thought the actors would be speaking the dialogue, but it was just a recording blasted from the speakers. In one scene, they actually had a guy dressed up like the Angel Moroni standing on top of the temple! Talk about scary! He sure was up pretty high! The pageant lasted two hours, and boy were those seats hard! I had a hard time paying attention because I was so uncomfortable! Plus, we didn't get home until about 2 a.m. since Manti is two hours away! I was pretty tired by the time we got home, but it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I went.

Bee's Game Pictures

They are a little late, but here are the pictures!

(From Far Right) Christian, Camille, Me, Megan

Jeff, Jenny & Tara

Jenny & Jeff

Me, Megan, Tara & Jenny

After the game, Tara had us be her "models."

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Tonight I went with some friends to watch the Salt Lake Bees. We had a lot of fun, except the Bees lost 17-4...yikes! It wasn't a very entertaining game to watch, especially when they let the other team score 9 runs in one inning. Sheesh! We were also sitting next to a really obnoxious fan, I really wished they could've thrown him out of the game. But we still had fun and the fireworks after the game were awesome. There was a little kid sitting in front of us and his dad told him if he finished his HUGE bag of popcorn he would get $10. So what did the kid do? He kept feeding us his popcorn, of course! We took tons of pictures, so when they are emailed to me I will post them.

And the search is on....

So I have decided to buy myself a condo! I figure it is finally time to buy my own place instead of throwing away money every month on rent. It is such an exciting and scary thing to go through. I have been looking at condos all over the place during the past week and let me tell you that there are some ugly ones out there!! It's a good thing I have plently of time to search for my perfect place. I'll keep you all updated on my hunt and you guys are all invited over once I find a place!

Temple Square

Before Christmas I went down to Temple Square to see the lights with some new friends. Kristina, who served a mission in my hometown and knew my parents, introduced me to some people who served in the Oakland, CA mission. We had a lot of fun taking pictures everywhere. Here are a few from that night. Enjoy!