Viva Las Vegas

Okay, so, our internet is down (I think it was a computer crash, holy schnikes) but we might have it back in a few days. I am at a friends house and so I'm making this quick.

We are moving on Monday...everything came through exactly how we hoped. It's all fallen into place to perfectly, there is no doubt that this was all meant to be. Samuel got a great job as an apartment manager. We have been "Resident Managers" of our apartment here, for 8 months. It's not too bad, but Samuel wished he didn't have a full time job PLUS the little things a resident manager has to do.

I found the job on craigslist. These guys are LDS and live in Salt Lake, and they own apartment buildings in California, and now this one in Vegas. They just finished remodeling it, and it's mostly empty and needs to be filled up, fast! With good people of course...so that's our job. I say our because I can help out here and there. The best thing is: Free rent, free utilities, Samuel's commute time will be 15 seconds (the office is downstairs from our apartment), they are even paying for his cell phone, and adding on extra bonuses for how fast we fill the apartments. We've signed a 2 year contract, so we'll for sure be there that long.

That's how I knew we'd be living by the temple. I wish we could live in the Summerlin or "nicest" areas of Las Vegas, but we didn't have a choice. My aunt and uncle live in Vegas, and they drove over there, and in their words, "It's not the nicest neighborhood, but it's definitely not the worst." Well, we'll take what we can get. I am excited that there are two hospitals, a library, the temple, the church, and Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens, and Kmart, all within 4 miles. That will be nice. And we've got a pool there to keep us cool in the HOT HOT summer. (Since they're paying for our electricity, I will feel okay about keeping the a/c on full blast, as needed.)

We also scored a great deal on furniture. (We just sold almost everything we own, so we're starting from scratch. Fun...but I was also anticipating how TIME consuming it was going to be) We found this guy who's house went into foreclosure, so he was selling EVERYTHING. WE basically bought all his stuff for a killer deal (and get this, it included a 55" flat screen TV! That's going to be quite the luxury for us.) Again, my wonderful aunt and uncle went and checked out the stuff and put down a deposit for us. We even get little things like towels, linens, kitchen stuff, a vacuum, rugs, and fake trees! Woohoo!

Now we are looking for a car for about $5000. I've got my eye on a 1998 Honda Accord (the car I've ALWAYS wanted) so we'll see what happens.

Well, packing and moving is a much bigger job than I dreamed of, so I better get home and get back to it. Wow, big changes ahead. Any advice on moving and starting over?

My Baby Mozart

So, she's climbing now apparently?
Kalia's learned to make those "raspberry" sounds, and she was doing it while watching this baby einstein movie. She looked so bored, I thought it was so funny. (Poor thing has to watch it from her stroller.)

The second movie was just cute- she loves to play the piano, no doubt she'll be charming her future husband someday.

Someone who'll stand by my side, and give me support...

(answer these questions for you and your spouse/significant other. Thanks Kristen W, for the idea!)

1. Your Song: "These Words" by Natasha Bedingfield

2. Your favorite feature of his: His eyes, his legs, and his tender heart.

3. His favorite feature of yours: My eyes.

4. What drives you wild about him: His soft lips. And...he has the sexiest voice. When we were engaged and I couldn't get enough of him, I would call his office line just to listen to his voicemail.

5. What drives him wild about you: He gets so turned on when I play the piano. WEIRD huh!! Every time we try to practice a song, he's all over me.

6. Favorite trip you've taken together: Big Island adventure, just the two of us. (Bright blue water picture below).

7. How do you picture your lives in fifty years: We'll be real estate millionaires, and we'll be donating to all kinds of good causes, and we will be serving our 5th mission, missing our kids, grandkids and great-grandkids like crazy!

8. Favorite "down time" activity: Dishing up the ice cream and snuggling

9. Most romantic thing he's ever said to or done for you: Before we were married I left Hawaii to go to Tara's (little sis) wedding and Thanksgiving. I was gone about 10 days. He spent the entire time sanding and staining an ugly dresser that I bought on craigslist. I came back to the most beautiful dresser I'd ever seen, with a dozen red roses on top.

10. What do you want your Valentine to know? That he is my perfect match, and that he was worth waiting for. I hope he knows that I think he is a fantastic husband and an incredible father. I love how he's helped me "see things in a different light, all the things I detest, I...almost like." He's made me a better person in every way, and I marvel that he still loves me, even with all my quirky imperfections. I love how he "cares for me, passionately, with every breath and with every thought." I am so grateful that I was guided to this tiny island where I found my eternal companion. I love you Samuel, more and more every day. Happy Valentines Day.

**Bonus** post some of your favorite pictures together

Love, Lust and Infatuation

Well, with Valentines Day on the horizon, and with the inspiration of Krystal's brilliant blog, I too must share my history of love, lust and infatuation. I know that most of you will know at least one of these fine young men that I crushed on. I have some funny valentine's day stories too. Here we go:

Kindergarten: The first time a boy made my heart go wild. His name was Samuel, ironically, and he was repeating kindergarten. He sat across from me, and I thought he looked just like Luke Skywalker.

1st Grade: Scott Egan. Towheaded, and very smart. The only word I ever missed on a spelling test, he got right. (by the way, the word was "BEFORE". I left the 'e' off.)

2nd Grade: I had a 3 week crush on someone named Daniel, and he never smelled clean, so that fizzled away. Then I met the cutest boy of my elementary years, his name was Dennis Carter. (Heidi was in that same class...do you remember Dennis?)

3rd Grade: This is a little embarrassing. Jeff Watson. You Dixie High people might know him.

4th Grade: Jared Madsen moved in that year. I was soooooooo whooped over him. Mrs. Jones asked me to take him to the library on his first day, to pick out a book. I knew we were meant to be together forever. He chose a book on outer space.

5th Grade: Rod Stuart. One day he helped me get one of my "magnetic earrings" unstuck from the metal desk. We sat by each other a lot.

6th Grade: I don't remember having a crush this year. I was the biggest nerd ever. Big bangs and glasses, and some mean boy even called me flat-chested. Yes, it was so true.

7th Grade: Huge crush on Jason Madsen, older brother to Jared Madsen. FUNNY VALENTINE STORY: Every day after we got off the bus, I'd watch Jason go to his locker (he was a 9th grader) and I would watch him open his locker. After about a week I had figured out his locker combination. On Valentine's Day I bought him a Snickers from the vending machine, and a tiny boy of choclates, and I broke into his locker and left them there with an anonymous note!! I purposely spelled his name wrong ("j-a-s-e-n") so he would NEVER guess it was me, because OBVIOUSLY I would know how to spell his name! Hahaha!

8th Grade: My first kiss, my first boyfriend, Jared Sorensen. I gave him a balloon and a pair of boxers with lips on them for V-Day. That relationship was a "secret" from my mom (she still found out) and it only lasted 2 weeks, because the whole time I liked his friend, Sherwood Jolley.

9th Grade: Jake Johnston. He and Jeanette Fry were kind of an item, and I pined away for Jake...we were such "good friends." One day I gave in and wrote him a long note (remember the days of note writing?) and confessed everything. He broke up with Jeanette (ON VALENTINES DAY!) to be with me. Ouch. Don't worry, though. She stole Wyatt Garrett away from me the next year, and they are now married.

10th Grade: Wyatt Garrett for a week or two, then the love of my high school life: Barry Tolli., quarterback of the football team. My parents wouldn't let me date him because he wasn't a member of the church. That just made me want him more. I think this was the first time I actually started to fall in love. We had a few wonderful months together, and then he moved to California and I about died without him. All without ever going on a "date."

11th Grade: Short crushes on Sherwood Jolley (again), Richard Ure and Steve Holm, but in reality, I was still so broken hearted over losing Barry that I didn't really want anyone else.

12th Grade: Jason Ellsworth. He was such an untouchable, unkissable crush. That chase was also fun while it lasted.

So there you have it, my friends, my loves, lusts, and infatuations. I love that in the end I ended up with the most perfect man for me in the world, and he deserves his own post again, soon. Happy Day O' Love to all my lovely Bloggers.

A Quick Tag

Well, I DO like reading your "tagged" blog entries, but for some reason I don't love writing them. But I don't want to stop the fun for people who are waiting for a tag in order to write one...well, here's a short version of a recent tag from my old mission companion Shantal (I still like to call her Howie). If you feel like doing this, CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED!

10 years ago:
I was a junior in high school, playing in the state basketball tournament. I missed a game winning shot. It might not sound like a huge deal, but it ended our whole team's dream of a state championship, especially my older sister Krystal's...it was her senior year. It was one of the worst days of my life.

5 years ago:
I was serving a mission, struggling to learn Spanish in Georgia, and serving with 2 of the greatest girls in the world, Amy and Ann.

5 things on my to do list today:
1. Make dinner...or let the CROCK POT make dinner, I should say.
2. Make cookies
3. Eat the cookies
4. Watch Planet Earth DVD from our air mattress. (THESE DVD's ARE ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. A MUST-RENT!!)
5. Meet with Danielle (Taylor...from PVHS...they live here and might buy our car, thanks to Amberly!)

Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Pay off all debt, invest most of it, then buy a new house, a new car, and travel around the world.

3 of my bad habits:
1. Buying stuff I don't need, just cause it's on sale.
2. Not eating until I'm starving, then eating junk food.
3. Paper Clutter (another post for another day)

5 Places I have lived:
1. St. George, UT
2. Provo/Orem, UT
3. Dalton, Georgia
4. Fort Payne, Alabama
5. Honolulu, HI

We are moving to...

We are going to live 3.5 miles from this temple. Who can guess!?!Looks like we're leaving in about two weeks, not a month. We are still doing some salary negotiations, so I'll tell you all about the job a little later. It's gonna be great!

Random Thoughts

1. When I was in Utah, I made some hamburger soup for the family. I was soaking up the grease from the hamburger like this:By putting paper towels in the meat of course! A friend of my mom asked me what I was doing. When I explained, she told me she'd never heard of that before. I was kind of shocked. Where did I learn it? I asked my mom if she did it that way. She said yes! Isn't it funny what we pick up from our parents without even realizing it? (On another note, how else do you get the grease out?)


2. I didn't mean to sell our hide-a-bed couch AND our bed in the same night, so soon. Craigslist really works fast sometimes. We are now sleeping on an air mattress for the rest of our time in Hawaii (which, FYI, is probably one month.) And it's no fun to watch TV from a lawn chair. Dang.


3. I had a seriously killer sinus infection for a week. I thought my head would explode from the pressure. Even worse though, I couldn't smell or taste a thing for a week. Oddly enough, I still craved junk food. I still ate pizza, ice cream and brownies, and just tried to enjoy the texture. Why didn't I live on celery? I don't know. I can say this, the best part of getting my senses back was eating cheddar cheese, and smelling my baby's skin. Ahhh, it doesn't get much better than that.