All that happened in 2013

I am home sick today so I thought I would update the blog.
2013 had a lot happen. Good and bad.

In April Steven got laid off (more or less) from UHS. HR said that he could stay on the payroll but was not allowed any hours unless it was absolutely necessary that he come in. So, Steven began looking for another job.

In May we went to Anchorage, Alaska with Steven's family to visit his brother and his little family for a few days. That was so much fun! Steven and I stayed an extra day than the others because we needed a little vacation. While in Alaska, Steven got a call from Comcast/Xfinity that he was hired and would start in a week! Steven turned 24 a day after we came home.

After returning from Alaska, I quit my job. The people I was working with were horrible to me and I had begun to have anxiety and panic attacks just thinking about going into work

In June, we were confronted with the decision to move. My sister in law, Erica, had a friend from her mission that were selling their apartment contract and needed someone to move in by July. We took a look at the apartment and loved it! We had just been talking about moving into the particular area a few days before.
So I spent the month of June packing up our home at Grandpa Giles'.

We moved in on June 30th (Saturday). We had so much help from family and friends! We are so grateful for them and their willingness to help. We now live in Historic Sandy. We live in the basement apartment of a house that used to be the tithing house. There is a plaque out front and everything. This is the side view of the house where our apartment entrance is.

July went by quickly. We had our immediate Day Family reunion up in Park City. That was so much fun. I got to know my neices a little better over that week :) And my sister in law, Janelle, announced that they are expecting their fifth baby! So excited for March!

My younger (baby) sister, Sarah, left on her mission on July 31st to Lima Peru for 18 months. I didn't realize I would miss her so greatly. I knew I would miss her, but this is harder than I expected. She has been gone 6 months now and I cannot wait for this year to fly by!

In August, my family lost both of our remaining grandmothers; my parents mothers, within 3 weeks of each other. They were elderly and sick so I am very happy that they have been reunited with their loving husbands.
Not a day goes by that I don't think of them and miss their love and advice. I am so very thankful for the Plan of Salvation and my Forever Family. Having the knowledge that I will see me grandparents again makes all the difference.

In September I had the flu like no other. I was out of commission for two weeks or more! I got winded just making the bed! it was terrible. Luckily I was over it in time for my birthday! I turned 24. I had my family over for cake and ice cream and I had a home made Chinese dinner with Steven's family to celebrate. On my birthday we went to dinner at the cheesecake factory with our friends and some of Steven's family was able to come.

October passed without any news. And then November came.

We celebrated 2 years of marriage on November 4th. We had a lovely dinner at the Roof and my friend Natalie took some nice pictures of us at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake. These are just a few of my favorites.

In August/September we decided that it was time to stop preventing me from getting pregnant and I came off birth control. In November, I went to the doctor because my period had lasted 2 weeks and showed no signs of stopping. I tested positive for pregnancy and she referred me to an OBGYN to figure out why I was bleeding. After a week of blood tests the OB concluded that I was having an ectopic pregnancy and recommended that it be terminated asap.
I had to research what an ectopic pregnancy was so I will explain in case some of you don't know.
An ectopic pregnancy is where the fertilized egg doesn't finish traveling to the womb. For some reason (the nurse told me they still don't know what causes it) the egg gets stuck in the Fallopian tube and begins to grow there. If gone untreated, the egg would burst my Fallopian tube and cause internal bleeding, making it life threatening.
I had a shot in each hip of something that would attack the rapidly mutating cells and break them down. I then went in once a week (sometimes more) to make sure my hormone levels were dropping.
Then we had to wait at least 2 menstrual cycles to try and become pregnant again. We finally reached that point this past week. So we are now back to not preventing it.

All this time I was still not working. I was dealing with anxiety and depression ever since that last job. (it was so horrible) I just couldn't bring myself to do anything that I could possibly fail at.
One day after getting my blood drawn for hormone testing I rewarded myself with Quiznos. I went to the location I used to work for and was told that they were hiring. I decided to be brave and ask if they could fit me in with some part time hours. My old boss almost immediately responded with "I would LOVE to have you come work for me again!" I started working a week before Christmas. Some days its really hard to get up and get myself to work, but after I get there I feel better.

This was our 2013 year.

Big Updates!

Oh wow. I haven’t posted in a long time...again. Oops. So much has happened since my last post!

 We got our wedding pictures! Hooray! I LOVE them!! I show them off to everyone :) Now I just need to pick which ones I want printed. And I get to pick 40-60 of my favorite ones and Danita will put together a nice looking professional book :) I’m not on top of that… haha!

Colorado was a blast! I love spending time with Steven’s family (and my own, just fyi) Jon, Jess, and little Anna. She is getting so big! We went to the Denver aquarium while we were there. It was very cool! There is this one area where you walk through a tunnel and the fish can swim over it. They had sharks, sting rays, all sorts of fish. They even had a short show with a couple of “mermaids” teaching the kids about recycling and to properly dispose of garbage. It was pretty neat. :)  I tried sushi for the second time while in Colorado. (I don't remember the first.) I can't decide if I like it or not. It was strange....

I miss them very much! They stopped in Utah last week while moving on their way to Alaska. It was so fun to see them again! We had a Halloween party while they were here. We forgot to take pictures. We did get some cute family pictures done on another day. It wasn't the whole family because some of us were running late and others had to leave in a jiffy. So Jon is going to do some editing and make the two shots look nice for us :) I can't wait until we can see them again. (No idea when that will be). They could be in Alaska for as long as 4-5 years!

So I have this new friend Natalie. I see her all the time now. She has been a blessing to me and Steven. She is married and she and her husband are a good influence on us. We were very excited to find another couple that would CALL US to do something! It makes us feel wanted. Now we do something together at least once a week.
Natalie has also blessed my tiny family by getting me a new job! I didn’t need a new one. I was comfortable where I was. But she told me of an opening in her company for a full time receptionist. I interviewed and got the position! I wasn’t excited at first. I was comfortable at Willow Creek. They treated me well and I had created a niche in the company. Steven’s schedule was also conflicting. He would leave for work between 4 and 5 and I knew that if I took the position I would never see him.
Finally, Steven and I decided that I would at least apply and then see what we would do. He said he was willing to look for a new job if need be. I applied and got it. So Steven went job hunting. And found something that has made our lives heaven!

 I now work for iFreedom Direct (a mortgage company) 8-5, 5 days a week at $10/hr. On my second day of work I got promoted! haha! My position is customer service representative. I answer customer service calls, I do data entry, I fold and mail notices to clients and I still have more to learn. I have my own desk and cubicle in the mailroom in a largish office with two other women. These women are very nice, easy to work with and a blast! They are so funny! haha :) I love working with them! Best job ever!
Steven now works for Universal Hospital Services (UHS) He delivers and maintains medical equipment to hospitals. He works 8-5 m-f as well with a higher pay. He was hired as part time but they have been utilizing him because they have been busy. The only down side to this is he is getting full time hours but doesn't qualify for benefits, because technically he is part time. We are still trying to figure out what to do about this. He is on call a few nights a week including weekends so that if a hospital needs equipment after hours he can make sure it is taken care of. He had to go to Heber a couple of days ago.
Steven is currently taking a couple of night classes.
I love being home in the evenings with him! I FINALLY feel like we are a married couple! I love being able to eat dinner with him every night!
I can't believe our anniversary is coming up in just a couple of weeks! We are going to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights and just focus on each other. I am super excited!

Well I’ll end this the way I usually do…I don’t know what else to say, so I guess that is it!
I’ll try to be better at updating in the future! Also, I am going to try and figure out how to upload a link to my pictures on here. There are way too many to just upload.

Until next time I remember to post! Love ya'll!

Home Sweet Home

So much for my goal of posting more often. It has probably been a month or more since I last posted. I guess my life just stays pretty much the same the majority of the time. Thankfully I finally have some things to blog about!

 I chopped my hair off again and weaved some blonde highlights in it. I really like the cut this time. It is super annoying to try and style because my hair likes to stay wavey but its worth the effort in the end.

We have plans to go to Colorado Springs again next month. Steven has vacation days and we are really wanting to see his brother and his family before they move to Alaska for 5 years. This time I will try to take lots of pictures and write about it when we get home. We are probaly going to miss the Day Reunion while we are gone. I'm bummed but I can still see that part of the family multiple times in the next 5 years. We won't be able to see Steven's brother, so we decided that this was worth it.

Wedding Pictures: Danita told me she hoped to have them in the mail last week. I haven't heard from her since she told me of this plan. So far no pictures.

The Basement is finaly starting to feel like home. I guess it just needed a litte bit more of "me" in it. Some style or pizazz. A couple weeks ago we found a really pretty comforter set for a really good price and then the other day I found perfectly matching drapes. I bought them because they were perfect! The colors are warm aqua-marine and warm brown. I love it lots! 

<---Living Room

I have plans for the living room to be black and white with red accents; like a red blanket and some throw pillows. We also have a nice card table that we use for dining. I want red placemats on that. And i would like some black and white curtains. I'm still looking for something I like. I might make a project out of it and make some simple ones myself.  

<--- "Kitchen"









The room we've been using as the office is finally clean! We moved a ton of Grandpa's stuff out of there, cleaned out most of the closet so that our storage could go in there and there were a couple T.V.s in the middle of the floor. One was a big box set from like the 70's...HUGE space hog. So moving the televisions out of there and getting our storage out of the way, the room is so nice to be in! I can finaly feel peaceful in there. I wish I had some before and after pictures, but steven had cleaned most of it while i was gone (a nice surprise). So, alas, you only get to see what it looks like now. There is a bunch of open space hidden to the left of the picture. It is bigger than it looks.

The bathroom is a normal bathroom. We have no counter space because we have 2 sinks. Having His and Her sinks is nice, but I want a counter. Before we move (whenever that will be :p) I have some projects I want done. The seal glue stuff in the creases of the tile in the shower is erroding away, so that needs to be redone. The shower head holder thing is coming out of the wall (it was like that when we moved in). The ceiling tiles NEED to be replaced (below are just the tiles you could see well on the camera) and the window is erroding. I think that is how our pet bugs are getting in. (we get a lot of bugs) How they survive the death spray steven used a couple weeks ago is beyond me. 

<--- The old, yucky ceiling tiles --->

Below are the rotten shower corners and the shower head.

And here is my "counter" and eroding window. Its worse than it looks in the picture.

 

There are custom built shelves and cabinets throughout the basement. I chose this one to put all my dishes in. It took me an entire afternoon to clear off enough room.
The middle three cabinets and drawers are mine. The entire center column is mine and the bottom three shelves.
Anything that is a book or not considered a kitchen dish/utensil belongs to grandpa.




So, um, yeah, that's it.

Cookies and Castles

In Steven's family it is a requirement that the new comers must learn two recipes: Wendy's (mom) homemade chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles) and Grandma Giles' famous chocolate chip cookies. I haven't learned the soup yet, but the cookies...I love to bake them! I have baked them once a week since I have learned how (about a month ago).  You have to understand that I don't enjoy baking and cooking and things of that nature. Steven and Grandpa don't mind that I bake them so often either. Now i just need to find a meal that I enjoy cooking that much.

Last week I started a Castle marathon. Castle is the TV series about a mystery writer that teams up with an NYPD detective and they solve murder mysteries together. (They make a totally cute and perfect couple but its taking 4 seasons for the characters to do anything about it!!) I started one week ago and i caught up last night. 4 seasons worth. Two more episodes and the season finishes....I'm dying!!  Of course with the Castle overload my dreams have been quite interesting and my paranoia has been heightened. Its hard to walk through my dark hallway and if I lay awake at night I have visions of intruders wishing us harm...I don't think i'll be having murder mystery marathons that often now... The other day I woke up trying to solve a murder. I couldn't get out of bed until I had figured out "who done it" from my dream. I was almost late for work. Luckily reality caught up with me with just enough time to get ready. Another way I can tell that I am way too attatched is that when the characters get their hearts broken, mine breaks too and I can't rest until I hear steven tell me he loves me. I also bawled for ten minutes at the season finale of season 3. Epic ending.

Wendy (mother-in-law) showed me how to use the sewing machine they gave me. Hooray! I couldn't figure it out. Just my luck, my first project: I'm fixing Steven's sweatpants and the needle breaks. Sewing machines hate me. They did in 7th grade TLC and they do now.

Side note: With this new job, somehow, I get to spend more time with Steven. At least it seems like it. I love it :) I am one lucky girl!

Goal: Post more often.

Wedding Photos Update!

So Danita (my photographer) was finally able to email me back. She has been busy being a grad student so i can't really blame her for taking so long. But I now have good news! She plans to have everything ready by the end of the month! yay! Now I can stop having nightmares that the pictures are lost forever or something haha. And to make up for taking so long she is also putting together a collage book thing for me :) I am very excited to have my pictures :)

On a side note, Steven and I have an afternoon this Saturday that we can FINALLY go to the temple TOGETHER! Nothing will get in our way!

So our Colorado trip was so much fun! We missed it the second we left! I adore Little Anna. She was oodles of fun! She giggled and laughed and played with Steven and I so much! We mostly stayed inside and hungout. On the Saturday we were there I went shopping with Jess. I got such adorable clothes! We also got to visit the 16th street mall. We tried to see the aquarium but the line was too long. We also went to an arcade in Denver and there was a photo booth that could generate what your child would look like. Steven and I got one done...The child looks just like his brother Tim only as a young girl! Its freaky to look at hahaha
On Saturday night Tim and his family (Jenn and Bryant) flew in to join us for the night. That was fun too! The three boys don't get much brother time anymore so they were all very excited to spend the time together. :)

Working at Willow Creek

So, update from my last post...sorry it has taken me so long to get this up. My only bad news lately is that Steven has had a bit of the flu bug this week and today has passed the torch on to me. Not happy. We leave for a weekend vacation tomorrow morning. While we're gone, we are missing my nephew Isaac's baptism. Totally bummed! I'll talk more about that later. Let me start at the beginning of recent events.

I GOT THE JOB!! Hooray! I have been working at the Willow Creek Country Club for three weeks now. I am loving it! Its laid back, not stressful at all. Very, very nice change of pace from Quiznos. I work Wednesday through Saturday each week. In April I'll pick up Tuesdays as well. There are two shifts that I alternate between depending on the day. I work 9-3 or 3-9 each day. Wednesdays its random and varies depending on the schedules of the other receptionists (there are two other than me). Thursdays I work the later shift, Fridays I work the morning shift, and Saturdays alternate between the two.

I'm also excited because, with this new schedule, I will get to take some classes this Fall! I have no idea what I want to do education wise. All I know is that I want to be the best Wife and Mother I can be. Until the mother part comes along, I need to do something productive with my life. Hopefully school will fulfill that.

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, Steven had to work so I threw a girls night for some of my friends that didn't have plans. It was so much fun! I invited close to 50 people, 8 or 9 responded yes, and only 3 were able to come. Despite the few numbers, it was still a blast! Thanks to those girls who came :) But now we have a ton of pizza, soda, and candy left over :P

I am very excited for tomorrow! We are flying to go visit Steven's brother Jon and family in Colorado Springs. We will be gone until Sunday evening. Unfortuanatly, we miss Isaac's baptism :( When we booked the flight we didn't know his baptism would be the same weekend. I'm very sad. Oh well, I guess.

We are still waiting on Wedding pictures. Our photographer has been swamped with life, but we should have them soon.

That is it for me so far. If i forgot something then it must not have been important.

Some Excitement!

Okay so this will be a really quick post just because I am so excited! I cut my hair! It is missing almost six inches! Pictures will come later...as soon as i actually look good in one of them :p Also, the other day I made a FULL meal! All. By. Myself! Steven wasn't even home! Very proud of myself :) The other exciting thing is Steven filed his taxes today and we will be getting a LARGE sum back! We can pay everything off and still have some left over! So happy! And FINALLY, my most exciting news! (although i shouldn't get my hopes too high) I am through with working at Quiznos. I've worked there for two long years and I am finished working with children (excluding a select few) even though everyone there is an adult! Anyway, I live directly across the street from a Country Club. a couple weeks ago i put in an application to work as a server there in the restaurant (Steven found out that starting rate was $10 plus tips!). But the Club was closed for the off season for a couple weeks. It just reopened this week and guess who got a phone call today!? Me! But not for the Server position. They called to request that I apply for the receptionist position! I have an interview tomorrow! I really hope I get this! It would cut gas costs in half! My commute would be walking across the street, literally! And I would have the morning to go to school! I really am so happy! I can't contain my excitement! (notice all the exclamation points).

I'll keep you updated!