Happy Turkey Day

I figured I'd join the crowd in writing about what I'm thankful for.
As a kid, I was just so excited to play games with all of my cousins and eat as much delicious food as I could possibly devour in the two or three hours.
I'd like to say that I started to notice subtle differences over the years, but that would be a lie. It actually has been over the last couple of months that I've really noticed how much I have to be thankful for. The past year and a half has been really difficult for Fielding and I. We've had to figure out what we really want in life and better ways to support each other in our efforts. I started looking at how I could be a better person and not sweat the things that go wrong.
I'm grateful for the gospel and all of the wonderful lessons I've learned over the years. I'm thankful there are so many young men and women who are willing to commit to serve the Lord by serving his children. I'm sure it becomes difficult at times, but I'm also sure that it provides some of the greatest experiences one can ever have during this life. If you truly want to see what you have been blessed with in life all you have to do is help someone else with their burdens.
I'm also grateful for my family. My mom always taught us that family will always be there if you need them and that is still true with my family. We might be really loud and rarely agree with each other, but we are always there for each other when times get tough. I even still love spending time with them even though I'm pretty much guaranteed to leave with a headache because of the noise. At least I'll always have the memories. =)
I'd also be remiss though if I didn't say something about how much Fielding means to me. I'm convinced that no one really knows how a person is unless they are your other half. They see it all. The sad, bad, crazy, happy, and giggly. Fielding has seen it all and been there for me at every turn. I don't think there's anyone else in the world who could put up with me and love me the way he does. I'm grateful that I found him and that he knew when to give in when I wouldn't go away. =) I can't imagine putting up with three crazy cats on my own and staying sane enough to tell my tales. I love you Fielding.
-Jen

Domesticity

Okay, I think that's a word, but I'm not completely sure of it.

Anyhow.

My birthday was earlier this month and as my birthday gift my mom came over to help me clean my house. (I know pathetic on my part.) But unfortunately for Fielding, that is one gene/talent/hobby line I completely missed and hid from before coming to earth. I am not in any hidden cranny of the imagination domestic. I don't like cleaning, cooking, laundry, or yard work. I just don't like any of it.

In my defense (or a very small portion of it), I tried warning Fielding before we got married. I told him I hated laundry and hanging up or folding clothes was not something I did. Two days after we got married we had to go out and buy some hangers because he didn't realize it was as bad as I had told him it was.

Whoa, how did I get so distracted? Back to the story at hand. My mom and dad came over on Saturday with cleaning supplies in tow and we started to work. My dad was given bathroom duty and stripping out the seal between the tile and tub. Mom and I started in the kitchen.

Never in my whole life have I thought cleaning could be so gross and dirty, but it was. 409 became my one true friend and I'd seriously consider buying stock because it works so well. We cleaned every inside and outside of every cupboard and organized them to function better. The counters are cuter and cleaner than any I have ever called my own in my entire life. (That includes college.)

My dad finished sealing between the tub and tile and then went to work hanging my tv on the wall. Thankfully we found some studs this time around (way to go Fielding and dad) and now it's sitting pretty.

Sadly, my mom told me she only does this once and it's now my job to keep it up. (Why is it always easier for me to consider paying someone else to do the dirty work than to do it myself?) I guess that's something else to add to my list. That and figuring out how to set up the front room. Who knows. Maybe one day I'll manage to conquer some small realm of domesticity. (Not to mention the fact that my mom said I really needed to start learning how to cook. She even said it in front of Fielding. I could have died!)

Oh well what can you do. I'm off to make sure my list sparkles. =)

Power of Positive Thinking

So I've realized ...okay, so mostly I've been told that I'm really caught up in negative things and I talk 'above' people. Not too much fun to hear and far less fun to deal with, but deal with it I will.

I'm working on changing how I look at things and how I think about them. There are enough crappy things out there in the world that focusing on them isn't going to help anyone. Instead I want to focus on the happy thoughts and times in life.

When I look back at my life I want to remember all of the fun times when we were ridiculous. Like Jamie pretending she was a balloon. Kelli and I trying to sneak out on the roof, and spending a summer day lying in the freezer. (Josh's idea)

I want to remember the adventures we've had. My first trip to California with the Bartletts, getting pulled over on the way home from college, getting pulled over on a date after going to Leatherby's (why is it Mandi was there for both of those?), and even trips like Havasupai.

I want to remember all the moments you made my heart melt. When Fielding held hands with me in Connie and Carla (not the most amazing movie.), when I told him I loved him for the first time, our first Easter together, the first time he bought me flowers, and the day I told him I got a cat and he let me keep her.

Those are the memories I want to remember so as of today. I'm changing how I'm looking at things and I'm going to focus on the happiness in life. The moments you want to hold on to a relive forever.

Bootcamp continued

Okay, let's see if I can get this wrapped up since it's only been like three months since I started this tale.
Fielding and I sucked it up during the 12 1/2 mile hike to camp. (Fielding will tell you he was slow because of me. I'd say I was slow because hiking 12 1/2 miles sucks.) It was terrible. Everyone else just seemed to book it down the canyon. My brother, Josh, was a mad man and convinced me he's part mountain goat. He was up and down and sideways on those trails just for fun.


He even made friends along the way. He found some crazy lizard thing that had awesome colors and a fat tail. I forget what they named it, but it pretty much stuck around the whole trip chilling.




This is a picture of camp. It was really nice to be able to put our feet in some cool water after the hike. Especially since I had blisters on both heels and one toe. I'm pretty sure Fielding had some on his heels too. The river was a great distraction and basically where we spent most of our time. We washed in soaked in that river.



Here's a picture of Fielding roughing it. I'm pretty sure he's only smiling because I was taking the picture and it was an in between hiking day. (That and he thinks I'm cute. =)




This is Kelli and Meg trying the tube of death on the river. FYI if you're floating down a river with lime...blah, blah, blah in it. don't try to save the tube or anything that falls. Just stand up as fast as you can. Otherwise you get tumbled. I learned that one the hard way.

I know somewhere in between those days we hiked down to Mooney Falls. Not really something you should do if you're afraid of heights. I learned that one the hard way too.

The last day we were packed up by noon and all day was pretty much a lazy day. We sat around seeing what we could get rid of. Kelli and Meg adopted a dog they dubbed Sammy and bribed it into having a bath in the river. (lunch meat gone.)
Remaining tubes went to the group camp next door. The rest of the time I was enamored by the little toads we found all over the place. I don't know why, but this picture reminds me of Buddha. =)

Fielding and I left about an hour earlier than everyone else and they still caught up to us before we made it very far and we were the last ones up the hill again. Thank goodness Josh caught up to us with some Gatorade. Seriously, nothing has ever tasted so good in my entire life.
I have to say the trip was a lot of fun for me now that I look back on it. The company was great and I don't think I would have changed it for the world, but I also don't know that I'd do that hike again without a bit more exercise before hand.
I watched this little guy for hours while we waited for our stuff. He was so stinkin' cute.

Oh, not to mention I got my first ticket ever on the way home from the trip.


Thanks for the memories guys.

Vacation?!? Welcome to Bootcamp

Last year my brother and sister (Josh and Kelli) went on vacation to Havasupai.When they got back the trip sounded so cool I mentioned we should all go on a trip together. I had no idea I was signing Fielding and I up for a three day boot camp.
As time kept creeping closer, Fielding and I got more excited about the trip and all of the cool things we were going to get to take pictures of. we also got more details about the hike. It's about a 10 Mile hike to the Hilltop and then an additional 2 1/2 Mile hike to camp. Don't worry though. It's not that rough. Pretty much all of our stuff except for your pack will be packed in on the mules. Alright, I can handle that. After all it's just a bunch of walking and I've got two legs that work.
Boy was I wrong.

We left around 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday and drove all the way there with a short stop in Vegas.
(By the way if you want a buffet don't go to the Oasis. The buffet is closed right now.)




We got there at either midnight or one in the morning. I never did quite figure out what time it was there. Not ten minutes after we got there we were on our way down the trail.
Immediately my frustrations started. (I know whiner.) It was kind of dark and I had no real clue where I was going. I also was a bit afraid of falling off the trail and down into some pit. Remember, I couldn't see and I pretty much went tunnel vision within the first half mile. (I honestly don't remember anything after the first five minutes of the hike in until we could hear the water.)

I had to be one of the slowest hikers in the history of hiking and poor Josh and Fielding had to keep tabs on me and make sure I kept walking. And so I kept walking clinging to the hope that when it was done it really wouldn't have been that bad.
Again I was wrong.
I was dumb enough to ask Josh how much farther we had to go when I felt like we'd been walking forever. I even prefaced it by letting him know I knew I was going to regret asking. "Yeah, we've only gone about two miles and we've got another eight to the village. After that there's two and a half miles back to camp." Yeah, I regretted asking, but seriously what was I supposed to do? Sit down and cry? Turn around and go back? Nope, I signed up for it and it was supposed to be worth it so I kept walking and didn't complain (at least that I remember). We finally made it to the Hilltop about seven or eight in the morning and sat down for a short break. Fielding and I were both beat. Fielding's knee and back were hurting. And both of our feet were killing us. I already had a blister on each heel in addition to the one on my big toe.
We decided it would be best if most of us kept moving while Josh and Jamie waited to check in.
So we picked up our stuff and started walking again. It was torture. Since Fielding had already carried the pack 10 miles in and a bit to camp, I told him I'd switch him because he was hurting bad. I took the pack and lasted about...five minutes before I wanted to die. It sucked. My feet were killing me and I was exhausted. Not to mention now I could see all of the cliffs I could fall off of if I took a tumble. (Man, I'm such a baby.)
But Fielding and I kept going. I even remember telling Kelli at some point how glad I was that she hadn't carried any of our stuff and that I hadn't asked her to. (I think at first she thought I was commenting on how rude she was being because she made it through the hike without a problem, but I wasn't.) Instead I told her that I didn't want to be an even bigger loser than I already was since I asked how much farther after only two miles. She broke out laughing about it. (I still can't figure out if she thought I'd lost it.)
Finally, we rounded the bend and saw Havasupai Falls. It really was pretty, but I just wanted to get to camp and crash.
(To be continued.)

I WANT big girl shoes

Fielding and I are trying to get everything together for our trip to Havasupai.The river/pool has rocks at the bottom that will hurt our feet. So while we were at Smith Market Place, we picked some up.

Fielding found his size easily. I figured that it would be about the same for me, but it wasn't that easy. I tried on a size five, too big. I moved to a lower size, 3 and it fit just right. I can't believe how tiny they are and that they actually fit me. As we left the store, I kept telling Fielding "I don't want little girl shoes. I want big girl shoes." He just laughed at me.

I can't even remember the last time I fit into a size 3 shoe size. Okay, I remember what the shoe looked like, but I don't remember the last time that I wore them.

Fielding also likes to crack jokes about how tiny my feet are. But sadly, I can literally fit my feet with my shoes on into Fielding's shoes. I guess a girl can always use another pair of shoes.

The one, the only: Becky Boberg

I have so many great memories of Ms. Boberg. I was in both her AP US History class and Religion class. The first day of AP US History she told us that we were going to fail our first test. This was a tactic to get rid of any kids that weren't willing to put in the work for the class and also because it was true. Our first test rolled around and I'm pretty sure every single kid in our class failed or got the lowest grade they'd ever gotten on a high school test. From there, any students left in the class began to learn and understand the kind of commitment that was required to do well in school and in life. It was the first time I stayed up all night to finish a school project and one of the best classes I've ever had, including all of my college courses. Because of her unrepentant ways, I learned to love not only history, but Ms. Boberg as well. She was the kind of person that I wanted to be. I wanted to be the kind of person who could connect with people, make them laugh, teach them, respect them, and garner their respect and admiration in turn.

And like I said, I've got many stories that I remember about her.

I remember walking up to her desk one day in class to ask her a question and being so caught off guard by her eyes. Instead of asking my question I asked her if she wore contacts. She said no and I responded lamely with, "wow, your eyes are really green". Then there was the time in Religions when she explained the word phallus. A kid had used it in his report to the class and didn't know what it meant. Of course she gave him crap, and asked him to explain what it meant. He finally admitted that he didn't know and so she did. He blushed for quite a while over that one.
Lastly though, I remember her signature. I was her TA during my senior year for the Religions class my last semester and a girl had asked her for a recommendation letter. Becky had us write it up the letter and sign it because she was out of town when it was due. I didn't want anyone to question its authenticity so I practiced her signature. It was really hard to copy and looked fantastic. Unfortunately I've never been able to adopt her looping B's.
I will miss her charisma, smile, and charm. I will miss her references to her druid ancestry and human sacrifices. I will miss her love of history and tab. But mostly I feel sorry for all of the students who will miss the opportunity to sit in one of her classes and learn. She was and will always be one of my favorite teachers.

And who knows. Maybe one day I'll be able to figure out which one I want to be a history teacher or an attorney. She once told me that if she hadn't been a teacher she would have been a guardian ad litem.

Her life has touched so many. She will be remembered and missed.

I got left alone unsupervised

Okay, so I know that it might come as a shock to a lot of people, but I love makeup. It is amazing to me to see how a person can change their entire look by changing their hair or by applying some makeup.

I played with some eyeliner to see how much versatility it has. Apparently Fielding left me alone a little bit too long. By the time he asked what I was doing, I'd already drawn way too much on my face. Let's face it. All of these different styles definitely clash and would look terrible in a picture. See example A to the left. =)

















A couple of nights later, I got some new makeup and wanted to see What I could do with this.












The eyeshadow was Loreal's HIP eyeshadow. I love it. It is always as bright as it appears in the container. I mean check out the gold. If that isn't amazing. I don't know what is.













I think the idea for the makeup was a combination of a peacock feather and inspiration from the gold eyeshadow.












I'm hoping that I can convince one of my friends to let me do some wicked crazy makeup on them and then take some pictures. I think it would work best with a classical background. I guess we'll just have to see how it all goes.

I guess at least I got to have a bit of fun. =)

Changing it up

The last few weeks have been crazy and full of exciting madness. I have finally finished my second semester of school and finished my company's LRQA ISO audit. With both of those activities coming to an end, I have a ton of free time. I've been catching up with friends and just having fun.
I did a really quick photo shoot with Jeniece out at the Great Salt Lake. I say quick because we drove out there and took about 20 pictures. I think three of them were of the evil mosquitoes that kept eating us. Hopefully, we'll be able to head out again before the end of the month.
After the next few months, I'm hopping to head back to school and finish my Generals. I have one class left to finish my Generals and then I move on to my Bachelors. Okay, so I've taken a few classes for my Bachelors. I'm hopping to take classes to finish a degree in History with a minor in Political Science. I guess I'll just have to see how it all works out.

Cute Colin

Colin is my youngest sister, Kaylene's son. He is so freakin cute!

He is so cute when he see my cats. He follows them around trying to pet them and loves to shake their mouse toys.

This is him trying to convince Balou to come closer so that he can pet him.




I have also learned one thing about little kids when he is around. They just don't ever seem to get the whole kissing thing and every single one of them seem to do it differently.

He keeps his mouth open and just waits for you to get close.

I don't think that Balou really knew what to do when he tried to give him a kiss.



Okay, we also had to get some embarrassing pictures of him too.

This story starts out with a little bit more information about Colin. He likes to smell flowers. He wanders over to them and sniffs them. Using this information my brother, Josh, convinced him to sniff a stinky pair of his shoes. Since then, Collin is wary of being told to sniff any shoes. We did convince him to try them on though. lol.

What can I say? Orange is my favorite color and the shoes cost $6. Totally worth it.

Kudos and Complaints

I just finished my second test for one of my classes for this semester. I am exhausted. It is so hard to deal with going to work and then going to school. I can't wait for school to be done for the semester. I'll get to take a break for a few months, go on vacation, and breath.
I do have to take a minute to tell everything the good new. No not pregnant. ha. I have three cats and am very happy with them right now. The good news is that Fielding had a second interview with ARUP today. He has been trying to figure out what his next step with work should be, especially with his PTSD. He went to his interview today. While touring the facility and learning more about the specific day to day operations, he became more and more excited about the job. I think that it won't matter if he gets this specific job or not. He says he's going to reapply. Hooray! Good job babe!

True Love

Okay, so I have figured out one of the mysteries of life. Opposites attract. Not just in personalities, but in body temperatures too. My mom is always freezing and my dad is always warm. Jeniece is always really warm and Taylor is always cold.

Fielding and I seem to be the same temperature during the day but at night we are complete opposites. He always stays cold. I burn up. The weird part is that my feet always stay cold. the other night Fielding was nice enough to give me his socks. Okay, so it was probably beneficial for him too. He hates it when I put my freezing cold feet against his legs. But I guess so long as he is willing to share his socks with me we'll be okay. =)

Trash the dress

Last summer Jeniece introduced me to 'trashing the dress'. Which essentially means that you go to a location and take pictures that have the potential to ruin your wedding dress, but provide a setting for some amazing pictures.

These pictures are from the International Peace Gardens down the street from my house. I love the umbrella that Jeniece brought with us.

The second set was at the Great Salt Lake. We started on the beach and moved into the water. You'd be surprised how long the walk to the water was. I do have to give Jeniece kudos on the second shot and I even remembered to point my toes. =)

Walking into the water, I had to pass a lot of gross flies an I was worried that they were going to ruin the shots somehow. Jeniece had brought a stool with us to help set up some great shots. It was so hard to stay on that stool and I kept slipping off.

The last one was our 'artistic' shot. We had bough a pair of cheap sunglasses and spray painted them silver and found some foil stuff that was fun. I don't know that it turned out that great, but it was defiantly a lot of fun.

Bang, Bang baby

Okay, so while Jeniece and Taylor were out having fun in California, I went out shooting with some friends from work.
It's the second time that I've gone with them, and I have to say that I feel pretty tough when I go. Mostly because guns are dangerous and if you act stupid bad things can happen. Luckily, the guys that I go with are REALLY big on the not being stupid part.

I wasn't the only girl there though. One of my co workers, Danny, was there with his girlfriend and Nate's fresh RM's girlfriend was there too.

I kept making Eva (eh-vah) try and shoot different types of guns. And Ellen is tough stuff. She was willing to shoot one of the guns that scare me.

She shot the WWII rifle that Nate brought. It can hold either two or eight bullets, is heavy, looks like it kicks like a mule, and after the final bullet is shot the clip pops out.




The 'kick' everyone thought was so smooth. Are you kidding me?

Ellen shocked when the clip popped out after her last shot.

It was amazing fun and makes me consider taking the concealed weapons permit class, but I think that there are still some things that I need to consider before doing that.

Getting things together

I don't know how anyone does it. You seem to have all of the time in the world to work and play during high school. You even seem to find time to spend hours on end with the your boyfriend or girlfriend. Everything changes when you get married though. You seem to have more things that need to be done than hours in they day. I'd like to say that I have it all under control, but every so often it sneaks away from me and I end up stressed by things that are my 'to do' list.
Fielding and I are both working on getting back to school. I'm in my second semester back at school and have found that it is no easy task to balance work, school, and personal time. I think that I'm going to have to cut back on credits next semester so that I can accommodate some work courses.
Fielding in the meantime is trying out one class to see how it goes. I don't know what the plans are yet, but I guess we'll just have to figure out where to go when we get closer.
Outside of school, we're getting really excited about our summer vacation in Havasupai. There are so many things that we are excited for.We bough me an AWESOME new internally framed hiking backpack. It is my favorite color -ORANGE!
Granted to say that there are some other items that we want to buy for the trip (camera lens and shoes), there is one major thing that we need to work on before we go...FITNESS. We have to make it through a twelve mile hike before we get to our campsite. We're trying to eat healthier and Fielding is hitting the gym. It's killing me! Not because I don't wan to be healthy, but because I like food.
Oh well, I guess that that is everything. If you're interested in joining us for the trip, just let me know. =)

International Peace Gardens 2008

Thanks Jeniece!!