Some humans complain that I need to update my blog (Aunt Karin). For some reason I have not been very bloggy this year. It could be the fact that I hate my job and all of the joy in life has been crushed forever... but also that I am lazy.
Heneyway.... in November I:
-Finally got to see my best friend! Nikki came to visit from Rexburg. We hadn't seen each other in ages. It was a great weekend spent catching up and eating and lounging... so perfect. AND I lost all of the pictures from when my phone crashed, tragic.
- Got a calling and am now serving on the Relief Society additional meetings committee with my two sisties.
- Went to the breaking Dawn part 2 premiere at the movie grill with Chris, Melis, and Christie. I loved it and will be buying it. Its like a big chapter in my life is over, so crazy!
- We went to St. George for Thanksgiving and had a great time as usual. Food, movies, family, shopping... the best time!
Here are some random pics from my phone to document the happenings:
The Breaking Dawn Part 2 Premiere with my sistie's and BIL
I got my teeth whitened for a pre-Christmas present.
Black Friday madness... you cant even see Target in this pic, but that's where we were headed!
From the blog title did you think I was going to say that I am moving again?
Let's be honest and say that I have not lived in one residence for longer than a year since, lets say 2001... I am crazy... And I hate moving, so I will not be doing that for quite a while.
BUT, I did get a NEW CAR!!!
We bought our Explorer in 2010 the day before we moved from Washington to Saint George. Basically we needed a car that could pull the Uhaul.
Diego was the name. He was a great car, and I loved him. That is until I moved back to San Diego and gas was over $4 a gallon. No thank you to paying $80 a week in gas. I had been trying to sell him for a while, and thanks to my awesome dad we finally got that guy out of here!
I work about 18 miles away in Tempe, so driving at least 40 miles a day gets expensive. My baby sistie let me drive her car for a while until I got a new guy, and I was so greatful to save some money. But then the weather started getting cold and Kailey was not trying to drive her scooter in the winter (she lives in St.George) so she wanted that car back... rude. So I started looking for a new car.
I pretty much decided to get a combination of reliable, stylish, and sensible. I did a lot of research so I would know exactly what I wanted.
I went ALL BY MYSELF to brave the car salesman word of car dealerships. It was super intimidating, but I am proud of myself for getting a great deal!
I ended up with a 2013 Toyota Corolla S!!!
Introducing COOL WHIP... aka "The Whip"
I love that it is brand new and I don't have to worry about things going wrong with her for quite some time. Also, my fave Uncle is a Toyota mechanic, so I am basically set in that department. She gets about 34 miles to the gallon and supposed to get 40 MPG highway. I love her. Best decision I have made.
Have you seen Pitch Perfect? If not, you need to cause it's amazing and hilarious... first day buy!
Wow! What a week I have had! It was not only the most awful, stressful, disgusting week of my entire professional life, but also one of the most fun, spontaneous, crazy busy weeks I have had in a super long time...
Monday was the first day of Fall semester at the University that I work as an Academic Adviser. If I haven't told you about what an amazing job that I have then be grateful, because I would be lying to you.... I work for an online for profit University, which means that our students are people who frequent as guests on Jerry Springer and Judge Judy (to put it nicely). They are not very nice people. The beginning of a semester is always very busy doing students schedules and books and transcripts and changing majors... blah blah blah... Monday morning started a 7 am with all 10,000 of our students calling at the same time. Apparently the class room web site was down. So fun. I have never had so many people screaming profanities at me in one day, and I use to work in juvenile hall so...
Monday was just setting the stage for an awful work week. Its really tough to help students that treat you like you owe them something and are always blaming someone else for their problems, like failing all of their classes... yes that is my fault that you were kicked out of school for having a zero GPA 3 semesters in a row... cool.
On a better note, life after work was super fun! Tuesday I was able to go to the Mesa temple with my friend Holly. I love ending a long draining day at the temple. So blessed to have it so close and a new temple opening up even closer next year!
Wednesday Chris, Melissa, Christie and I went to a concert!! Yippee!! Complements of Lisa, we had tickets to Brad Paisley with The Band Perry and Scotty McCreary. Oh how I love country music! Besides the AWFUL concert traffic and the contact high from all the pot smokers around up, it was so fun! Brad Paisley is so great and his music is amazing! The Band Perry is my fave and they were awesome live.I decided that I need to go to concerts more often.
Thursday we got to deliver a special early birthday package to my mom...
We all know that Kailey is mom's fave, so it was the best present ever! So fun to have Kailey here for the weekend... she is amazeballs!
Then on Friday, I had to jet off to Vegas for a 16 hour trip. Dad got us super amazing seats to a pre-season Lakers vs. Kings game (ummm 6 rows off the floor next to the Lakers bench thank you). Things turned out that I was the only one able to go, so I met dad for a quick night at the AWESOME game! The Lakers (aka Kobe) have been a fave of mine for a long long time, so seeing them SO close and personal was great!
Dad was super excited to see Jimmer and Isaiah Thomas on the Kings too... I was enamored by how tall and talented these guys are in person. I hadn't been to an NBA game for so long, so it was definitely worth the trip.
I got back Saturday evening, just in time for a girls night with my sisties! I am so lucky to be so close with all of my siblings. I miss baby brother all the time, but hanging out with my 3 sisters is so fun! I am not sure why we didn't take any pictures but good thing cause I was looking hagrid after the long week!
Sunday was momma's birthday! We had a great dinner of Chicken Parmesan and pumpkin pie at our house.
Fun week, I am dreading Monday coming... but there are fun things to look forward to!
Just a couple of miles from Gilbert to Gilbert, and its ahmahzing!
This is the story... When I moved to Arizona last November, I was staying with my sister and her husby while I looked for a job and got settled. After I had been working for a couple of months, I started looking for apartments. Chris and Melis were also looking for a new place since their lease was coming to an end. We were all annoyed that we could not find what we were looking for and we wanted places that were nicer than our budgets. We decided that it just makes sense for us to pool our resources and get a place that is nicer and bigger that we can all live in together... Hello! Why wouldnt we.? Our puppies can have company all day while we work and I wouldnt have to live alone.
We all get along great (except when the Lakers play the Celtics), so its the perfect situation!
We found an amazing home that is brand new, in such a cute neighborhood. The best part is that there is a loft upstairs so that Kobe and I can have our own little apartment area.
I love it! Super cute right?! (bad cell phone picture)
This is the wall behind the couch, my fave!
The rest of the house is still in project phase, but Ill post pictures as they come together.
The most fun part of moving is decorating! Melissa and I have spent hours and days on pinterest finding projects and ideas to customize our space.
Here is one project I am still working on. I found this table on Craigslist for $35... amazing deal!
I re did it from a picture that I found on Pinterest... Love it!!
This is at the top of the stairs. Im still waiting on curtains for that window, but you get the idea.
I cant wait to decorate the table each season with fun things that I find.
My mom did the amazing flower arangement! She is showing up everyday with new things she has made or bought for us... so great! My older sister and her family live just a mile away so we are seeing them more which is great.
Stay tuned next week for pics of my bedroom and bathroom!!
So, recently I do not like to blog...bleh... But you know who does like to blog is my sistie Melzers320 also knows as hotflame04 or Meico... if you want full details on what I am about to tell you, go to her blog cause she is much more fun to read than I am... CLICK HERE... I'll give you the short version then you can go to her blog and read the full stories.
What has been going on this last month? quite a bit acutally. Which is quite a nice treat to my usually boring life.
WE MOVED!! So exciting. I am still sharing a house with Chris and Melis, but now its a huge brand new house that is perfect for all of us and the boys.
Its only a couple of miles from where we were in Gilbert, Arizona. Its great cause I have my own space and don't have to live lonely. More pics of that to come soon since we have been decorating like crazy over here. We are now in the same ward as my older sister Christie which is SO fun!
We moved into the new house on Saturday then the next Friday, Melissa and I made a quick trip up to Saint George Utah to help Kailey get settled in her very first college apartment. It is a little tearful to see her all grown up and responsible and what not. We decorated her room and it turned out amazeballs if I do say so my self!
Then just 4 days later Dad and his wife Lisa came into town to take us to the Rascal Flatts concert!! I love them forever and it was SO much fun. I use to go to concerts all the time (hello NSYNC days!) and now have rediscovered my love for live music.
After 3 weeks of working full time and squeezing some fun into every spare minute, I am pretty exhaused but trying not to slow down too much. I decided that life is a lot more fulfilling when I'm busy.
I cant wait to show you all the fun projects that I am working on.
So here round these parts there are major dust storms called... wait for it... HABOOBS!
Hilar! Seriously, that's what they are called, and they are terrifying!
It will be a crazy perfect cloudless day and all the sudden... here is comes right at you out of NO Where!
Here she comes!
So one day I walk out of the grocery store and see this... hello! what the heck is happening! Its like we live in the Sahara dessert. Then you drive right into the darkness...
Crazy!
When I lived in Texas it was tornadoes, Idaho=blizzards, California= wildfires, and Arizona= HABOOBS!
Oh my... how long has it been since I wrote a decent blog post? FOREVER? well maybe.
You know how people are always like, I have nothing to blog about! That would be me, but I wont say that cause its a cop out.
The truth is, I don't feel like sending each individual picture from my phone camera to this here computer. So you fellas are in the dark..
However just to document the last couple of blogless months, I have copied an pasted a couple of Facebook beauties just for your viewing pleasure... I am going to pretend that all of my 14 readers are not already my friends on Facebook and have not already seen these pictures.
My listie (little sistie) came down for the weekend and we celebrated Christie and Lydia's birthday by going to the aquarium... so fun!
Birthday girls!
Midnight madness at IHOP
I went to a Diamondbacks baseball game with Melistie and her BIL for 4th of July and it was awesome. I felt so American watching baseball and fireworks.
My bistie (big sistie) got me a real life pinata for my 20 something birthday back in May... made my whole day! By the way, that is a weird angle and my bottom half doesn't actually look that disproportional.
I would love to say that big things are in the works and maybe I will be having some great things to blog about. The truth is, I am looking for a new job, a new place to live, and a new church calling... none of which have made much progress so life will continue to be boring for a while. Hopefully not too much longer cause I may go a little crazy if something exciting doesn't happen... like now.,
p.s I think I already posted this, but its worth it
6/25/12
Did you know I have an adopted brother?
Richard's youngest brother Christopher came from Oklahoma to visit us in 2010. He was fresh out of high school and trying to decide what to do with his life. We were just about to move back to San Diego from St. George and convinced him to come with us.
Christopher was so much fun to have around. I taught him how to cook and drive and how to check out girls at the beach with out being a creeper. We went to the hot tub every night to talk about all kinds of deep intellectual things.We became really close and helped make life bearable for me. He also became close with my mom when she came to visit a couple of time. Mom loves him like its her own son!
Christopher stayed with us for about 6 months before he decided that he wanted to join the military. {Lets be honest and say it was my idea cause it was!}
When he joined the ARMY, he found out there was going to be about 6 months before he would leave, so he stayed with us all the way until we moved away. Christopher stayed in San Diego,worked long hours at McDonalds close to our house and worked out like a beast to get prepared. That boy was ready to go!
He left for boot camp in February and graduated last week!
I could not be more proud than if it was me graduating from boot camp!
Seriously the best decision of his life. He has a full time job, full benefits, college paid for.. what could be better?
Christopher got his order to be stationed in Korea! HELLO! That's some serious stuff!
So I couldn't go out to Georgia for his graduation, but he was in San Diego for a couple of weeks before he left the states. My mom and I went over for a quick trip to spend some quality time before he leaves.
Mom and I made him a fleece blanket to take with him... you know... a little piece of home to keep with him.
We got to spend time at the beach and go to Old Town and see a movie.
So proud of my little brother!
Please keep him and our other troops in your prayers as they protect our country!
I may or may not be a YITTLE YINY BIT behind in my blogging... so what if I am?
That's none of your business! So here is what you might have missed out in my life...
SOOOO... my little baby sister graduated from HIGH SCHOOL!
Excuse me! She's 5... how did that happen?
I'm not even going to mention how old that makes me, bleh.
Isn't she a beaut?
Her frackin school decided to have the graduation on a TUESDAY! Hello! There are normal people in the world that work for a living and CANNOT take 3 days off to attend a graduation in the frackin middle of the week!
So we missed the graduation of death but headed down to St.G that weekend to throw her an AWESOME party... you know how we like to do it up real nice.
I would tell you all about it, but I don't feel like it... so go check out all the details HERE on my other sister's blog. She is way more entertaining than me anyway.
We are amazing BTW! And our parties are awesome! Only the best for our 5 year old Doogie Houser sister graduating High School.
My sweet cousin JaKelle went home to her Father in Heaven this week. JaKelle spent several months in the hospital battling for her life. I truly believe that those long 12 weeks in the hospital were part of her mission here on the earth. During that time, JaKelle brought together so many people, families, and communities. People had the opportunity to fast and pray and do service. For me, that time built my testimony of the atonement, of prayer, of the plan of salvation. My faith was strengthened tremendously.
Just to think that one small girl, one sweet spirit, had that impact on me... but also thousands of others!
If I died today, that would not be the case... not even a little.
At her funeral service, I realized that this 17 year old girl was an amazing example. Every memory and thought was full of light and joy and happiness. JaKelle is a light to this world. She left behind no negative memories or feelings. She left an impact on the world. There were hundreds of people at her service, from all walks of life, and all faiths, sharing similar stories of the impact JaKelle made during her 17 short years on this earth.
What an experience!
After the service, we each tied a message to JaKelle on a yellow balloon. My message was this:
"Thank you JaKelle for being such an amazing example to me and so many others. Your life has inspired me to stay strong, and be more positive and grateful for everything in this life. May your spirit continue to bless those of us you left behind."
I know that JaKelle returned to her Father with honor, having completed her mission on this earth.
This weekend in St. George, we had an opportunity to H {hot} A {air} B {balloon} it up. And we did... I went kicking and screaming. I am terrified of heights and was fully planning on being the photographer, but they talked me into going.
As you can tell below, I may have been holding on for dear life.
I am glad that I went. Its something that you can check off your bucket list. Would I go again? Not likely... Would I recommend it for people who are not afraid of heights? Absolutely!
What is on my TO DO list:
- self manicure
- give my eyebrows some attention
- bathe the dogs
- serious stock up grocery shopping
- organize self in bedroom
- shave legs
- swimsuit shopping
- sell car
- vacuum and clean white rug
- update Menu board
- revisit my Pilates class... it may have been 2 weeks since that happened...
- get snacks for nursery
- write a letter to Christopher {Army boot camp}
- order new checks
What I will actually do when I get home from work everyday:
Sit on the couch with my computer and catch up on my DVR'd shows while eating chips and salsa...
Such is the life of a working woman. I hate it, but my bills love getting paid
Last week, my divorce was final... ugh. I miss Richard every day and still wish that things could have gone differently. I don't regret our decision, but I'm still feel the loss in a big way. Getting those papers was a sad/scary realization that I have to move on. That chapter of my life is closed and I need to start the next chapter.
First step, get a job. Early on I decided that I am going to set my standard of the kind of job I want, with the pay that I want and not settle. That's not an easy thing in this job market. Over the past 4 months I've had a lot of interviews and even some job offers. I started getting nervous thinking I should just take a job, what if I didn't get the job I thought I deserved?
Two days after my divorce was final I got offered a job! It reaffirms the fact that we ALWAYS need to have faith in God's timing. I am so grateful for the 5 months that I've had to not work and spend time with my family, preparing myself to start over fresh. To really focus on myself and figure out the things that are important to the kind of life I'm creating for myself.
I got a job at Everest University as the Student Services Coordinator. Basically a school counselor type of position. Its exactly the kind of job I was hoping for, with the kind of pay I was hoping for. It gives me hope, and maybe courage to go ahead and get started on my new life... ooooooooohhhhhh... wish me luck!
Oh P.S... its sisties {Meico} BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK! Yippe for celebrations and Hunger Games this weekend!
Song of the week:
Recipe of the week:
Let me just say that I had never been to Cafe Rio before I moved to Arizona. Every one in Utah is raving about it, so I had to try it. This recipe has been one of my faves for a while and now I realize how close to Cafe Rio it actually is! It's so great to make a use for multiple meals, lunches, whatever!
CAFE RIO CHICKEN
·2 lbs chicken breasts
·1/2 a small bottle of zesty Italian dressing
·1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
·1 pkt ranch dressing mix (mixed with 1/2 cup of water)
·1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
·1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin
Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on High 5-6 hours OR on Low 8 hours. Shred with fork and serve in salads, burritos, tacos...etc. You can also double or triple this to make extras for freezing. Then simply thaw and reheat for a fast and delicious meal.
So, I'm just sitting in the sketchy nail salon getting my manicure. The Asian dude is talking to me about how he pays $1100 a month for day care. I cant understand half of what he is saying, I'm just nodding every once in a while. He tells me that I a need to be married and have kids by now and I'm too pretty to work {which I agree by the way} Then he forces me to put sparkles on my nails, which I told him no three times... so I'm annoyed at this point.
So he tells me to put my fingers in the dryer thing and he comes around behind me, moves my hair, and starts rubbing my neck.... oh holy... what are you supposed to do? I hate being touched, or massaged... not to mention its an old creepy Asian dude! Get off me! He then proceeds to get some lotion and continue to rub my neck and shoulders {inside my shirt... yuck!} I cringed with my eyes closed and tried to ignore it... worst 5 minutes of my life!
All the sudden he stops and walks over to Melissa and does the same thing... hahahahaha! Who gets a manicure slash neck massage?
Needless to say, I will not be returning to that salon.
There is this blog that I LOVE... it's hilarious... called Leather and Lace.
She does this post called "What's on L's phone?"
Let's be honest and say that most hilarious moments are captured via our cell phones these days, so why not?
Phone Photo Friday!
Seriously... Justin Biebs is taking over the world. Guaranteed he has no idea that he's branded singing toothbrushes... If it was 10 years ago, and this was Justin Timberlake, I'd buy it in a heartbeat!
I am dying to decorate my living room in these colors! Now, if I could just get a living room to decorate...
Most hilarious thing ever! We're searching for Lucy and find her passed out in the room like this... hahahahahahaha!!! Black mail for life!
Kobe sleeps like this every night. How uncomfortable is his head right now? It may be time for a bigger bed?
I love my nephew pup Hooshie... and I love that he looks like a sheep dog here, does he even have eyes?
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