Half Way Between

Yesterday while driving to church, I remembered something that Jared and I discussed 2 years ago.


Two years ago we made a bet (on the way to church no less), about how far away church was from our home (maybe a bit sacrilegious?).

There we sat, a penny up for the lucky winner, staring at the mileage.
Jared guessed 6 miles...

I guessed 5

As we got closer I knew I was in trouble.
4.8...
4.9...

I knew it couldn't be that much father... as long as the mileage was closer to my number I would win the precious penny and even more important; the PRIDE (including bragging rights).

5.2...
5.3...

Jared and I were VERY excited (to say the least) screaming in the car as the mileage got further and further from my number and into Jared's range of numbers.

5.4... OH CRAP! Oh CRAP!

I'm yelling at Jared to slow down in a pathetic thought it would make the mileage stop counting.

5.5...

And that's when we stopped driving, talking/screaming and we sat; our excitement totally defused. Because precisely at that moment we were at the church.

Half way between 5 and 6.

We got out of the car quietly and composed and went to church, repented for our sinful, loud drive and forgot it ever even happened. (til now)
But seriously... What are the odds!!

Y-stone

Jared and I flew to Utah to take a long drive to Island Park to be with Jared's family. It was fun to get to see all of them (and for more than one day this time).

The week was full of fun things to do.

Jared, Jared's dad, Joel and I all went on quads on the long way up the mountain to West Yellowstone. (a small town on the west side of Yellowstone... self explanat

ory I suppose.) It was super fun. It has been a long time since I was able to quad around. So much fun and we got nice and dirty. When we got to West Y. we got ice cream (of course) and then stopped by the "mountain man" expo. It was interesting. equivalent to a bunch of American gypsies selling recreations of old mountain man stuff.

Jared, Carrie and I all went fly fishing. The water was SO cold, I had to force myself to go out all the way to my waist, but once you get there... you don't feel anything. I got two bites, and I know Carrie got some too, but no one caught anything. EXCEPT for Elise who was fishing with her princess pole. Seriously.

We visited Yellowstone on Saturday and it turned out to be a free weekend. (Awesome) We made a few stops to the melting pots and to old faithful. It was very pretty. We didn't see too many animals. At least compared to our honeymoon when we were trapped in the stinky bathrooms because of the bison outside the door.

Old Faceful
Sunday we went to church and then off to keg springs which required some off roading. Jared enjoyed it. Keg springs turned out the be slightly disappointing.... as it was a rusty trash can full of spring water. But it was a very pretty drive. Jared and I also decided to go on a nice long bike ride to Big Springs and visited John Sacks cabin. When we got back I felt very proud because please note we were about 6000 feet higher than we are used to. I got winded just going up the stairs, so to finish a long bike ride was pretty awesome.

Somewhere by Keg Springs

Big Springs

A couple more trips to West Y. for shopping and for a play at the Play Mill. The show was called, "The Foreigner". It was hilarious.

And then we had to make the long drive back to SLC.

We decided to fill the day we had in SLC full with shooting, bbq and la caille for dessert. (no embarrassing allergic reaction this time)

Then it was back to real life with responsibilities and such, but it was very nice to get away from life for a week.

ALL DONE!!!

Do I really have to say with what?

Something new

Just another skirt.


This one I went the easy way and skipped the zipper. Elastic works just as well and fits on fast sundays as well as thanksgiving.

I really like it and I wore it today. It held up!

This is it.


I think the elastic gives it a nice change of venue.
I plan on making another one that is blue, maybe there will be some instructions with it. Best part was it is super easy.

This morning

We awoke to find that dog had "wet his bed" last night. This is mostly due to us forgetting to let him out to do his business last night.

So this morning Jared said... 'I should have known thats what he needed. I kept hearing him licking something. It lasted about an hour. I finally put ear plugs in.'

Later doggo goes up to Jared and as he is licking Jared's hand Jared says,

"You licked up your own pee. That's disgusting. What a good dog!"

Reading

I thought that I would just type a sorta boring post.

As it was seen in posts prior I absolutely hate working at the day camp with all the teenagers. They talk back, and argue, and lie to your face; they think it is ok to swear, watch rated R movies, and listen to music that makes me feel uncomfortable and just bad. I have to deal with the parents that raise these children which is even more fun. I've never enjoyed being yelled at.
Kids have been given strikes and kicked out for various reasons... this last week was stink bombs, which compared to the extreme of the week before is nothing.
The week before was bad. What this person did made me super upset and they will never be back at any of the camps. If they do I WILL quit on the spot. This was not strike three, but so serious that it was an automatic out.
By week 8 of 13 I had decided with tears in my eyes, that there was "no hope for the future".
Every day I came home and complained to Jared. I was so angry by the end of the day because I had to fight so hard to get these kids to follow the rules. Just rules, nothing close to the standards I hold.
Being mentally exhausting it also affected me physically with headaches and migraines that were with me almost everyday.
Basically I was at the worst job for me.

So why didn't I just quit you may ask? I don't like to quit. I like to finish what I started. And during the summer what else would I do? I need to be doing something or I will become depressed and start to shop... every day. Resulting in a sad me and a sad bank account.

So I started trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Was I being too strict? Was I being just too sensitive? (Even I knew that 'no hope for the world' was a little too far) Why was this job so hard for me to do? Why was it making me miserable?

So Jared and to took a trip to the temple and it just hit me. I NEED to be reading my scriptures. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have a really hard time reading my scriptures... not because I don't enjoy the blessings and happiness it give to me, but it is just hard for me to do.

Jared has tried to bribe me (being the awesome husband he is) to read my scriptures with a cruise (which doesn't really make sense because the money I'm working hard to make now is going towards it.) This bribe only worked for about 3 days because I know Jared would take me with him no matter what. (BECAUSE HE LOVES ME)

So the next Monday after the temple, I pulled out my scriptures and read. What chapter was I on? Jacob 5... the allegory of the olive tree. I couldn't stop thinking about the words that I read that morning. I wanted more. And when I got home I was happy.

The complaining stopped (Jared will testify) no more stress headaches. The nasty music that they listen to didn't affect me. Their blatant lies didn't frustrate me. The only way to describe how my life has changed at work is to say there is a wall that protects me. Armor of God. Things happen and I recognize that they happen and that they are there... but it doesn't "hurt" me.

Not to say the work hasn't had obstacles and times where I want to pull my hair out. (Including a parent saying I was 'demeaning' towards them about a balance on their account. Pah-lease) But things are better. Life is better. I'm thankful for the scriptures and the peace, blessings and happiness they give to me.


Now all I need is a raise.

Under the cushions

Under our couch cushions you will find many things. (Mostly dog hair because the dog has recently taken up sleeping on the couch instead of his cushion and we got out of the habit of putting him in his cage.) But you will also find Charlie... and a strange lack of crumbs under our couch cushions. This is a result of what happens when he figures out their is crumbs of food under the cushions.



He is so OCD about any small amount of food. He MUST have it; no matter how embarrassing.