Today I am thankful for...

cheap gas....

I love being able to fill up my car for half the price as I used to. I know that I should enjoy it now because it will start to sneak right back up there. I love being able to leave the gas station and not want to cry! :) I hardly ever go anywhere and don't have to fill up a ton, but it still feels GOOD!

Today I am thankful for...

My job..

I know that I have said this so many times and everyone is probably so sick of hearing about it, but I really do feel so blessed to have such a wonderful job with awesome benefits. When we moved to SLC ( I was still working at Maddox while I was looking for jobs), I would interview and get turned down after each one. I couldn't figure out why and I was so upset and thought I would have to make my career at Maddox. It was also hard to be away from Brandon. I would call him nightly and cry and he kept reminding me that the Lord would take care of us and I would find something soon in slc. I finally had 2 job offers at once, one with the state and one for a director at a slc district preschool. I obviously took the state job because it had benefits and paid much better. It took about a month till the job started and the first couple weeks of training was VERY overwhelming and I wondered if I really could do the job, but I prayed my guts out that I could soak it all in, understand and know what I was doing. A lot of people quit and I wondered how I was going to make it through, but I knew I didn't have another choice. I MADE IT (with help of course) and now enjoy this job...as much as you can enjoy working. :) I really do feel so blessed to have this job and I know that someone really was looking out for me/us at that time and waiting for such an awesome job opportunity to come up. WE have awesome benefits too that have totally saved us with all of Brandon's health issues, although the bills keep coming. We still don't make a lot of money and struggle most of the time, but it could be a lot worse and we really are so very blessed!

Today I am thankful for...

my family...

I am so glad that I have such a wonderful family (on both sides). We have been through a lot together in the last little bit, but I think it has made us become even closer and realize how important it is to have each other. I love being able to call up my sisters, my mom, my dad any time and be able to just talk about everything and anything. They are all so supportive and would do anything for us. We are blessed to have such wonderful family!

I am thankful for...

I haven't had things go the way I may have planned for them to go lately, but I have decided that since it is time for Thanksgiving I need to remember and focus on the things that I am thankful for and help me stay positive and be grateful for the things that I DO have and that ARE going my way. I am going to post something I am thankful for each day untill the end of November.

Today I am thankful for...........

Brandon...

He is such an amazing husband and I am so lucky that he is in my life! He works so hard and never gives up on anything. He puts full effort into everything he does. He is so motivated and strives to always go above and beyond. I am so proud of him for all of his accomplishments and the good grades that he gets. He sacrifices his time to serve others. He always makes sure that there is time to spend with me and that my needs are met also. He is an excellent example and takes such good care of me. I don't know what I would do without him and I am SOOOOO thankful for him!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

I am aware that I haven't been so great at blogging and I am reminded of it quite a bit..thanks Mom and Cara! :) This might be a little boring, but it's all I got! :)

I am extremely behind. On the 7th... last weekend we had a birthday party for my Dad's 50th birthday. I am sure that you have all already seen the pictures on Cara and Alyssa's blogs, but I will post them again on mine. He was super surprised and had fun. I suck at bowling, but what do you expect when you haven't been in a very long time? I made the wonderful cake. I didn't dare cut the 5 without Brandon's help afraid that it would end up looking nothing like a 5! :) We did it together, although Brandon was quite proud of himself and struttin' his stuff when it turned out good! :) It melted a little on the way there, but from what I was told was pretty tasty. I couldn't eat any.. I must have had too much of the scraps from cutting it earlier! :) And.. we put on 52 candles instead of 50! Whoops! We counted wrong! Oh well.. past a certain number it doesn't matter anyway, right?

I had Tuesday off of work for Veterans day. It is a really random day to have off, but I will take it! I ran errands and got stuff ready to start a Christmas project, which I am still trying to get stuff together to start it! :) Why do I do this to myself? :)

Work has been insanely busy. It gets that way when it starts to get cold and around Christmas when everyone has spent all their money on Christmas, so it is just going to get worse! They keep trying new things and make us even busier, but I guess I like to be challenged and have something to do so it is a good thing..except for when the computers go all funky! :) I really am so grateful to have such a great job!
My cousin, who is a personal trainer, recommended this to my sister (why she needs it.. not quite sure) to try. She told me about it and I decided to give it a try.. 30 days... heck ya! I have been doing it 3 times a week with my regular workout and I can finally see a change!! Thanks Kellie! I haven't lost a pound, but my pants fit better and my love handles are almost gone! I am hoping that the pounds will start to come off soon! So for any of you who are looking for a good DVD to tone up and maybe lose some weight..TRY THIS!! I found it on deepdiscountdvd.com for like 11.00 and free shipping!

Brandon has been so busy working on his doctorate project and stressed out as can be. I don't think I have ever seen him stressed! Poor kid, but hey.. I told him during the summer when he wasn't doing anything to start working on it! He wouldn't listen. He has almost got it done and the professor helping him thinks that they can get it published into health journals.. or whatever they are called! I don't understand it enough to proofread it! :) He only has a few more weeks of school for this semester, which will be his LAST semester of course work. WOW!! That feels so good to say!!! I thought we would never be here! He has two internships in the spring.. one in Logan and one here in SLC and then he is DONE and will have his doctorate!!!!! I am so proud of him for all the hard work he has put into his school and how well he has done!! I know I could never do what he has done! HOORAY!!! Hopefully I can make it 5 more months! We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to first of all, allow Brandon to be a part of this program and second, to stay in state and stay close to family through it all!

We went and saw the new Bond movie.
Brandon loves the Bond movies and owns ALL of them ever made. I still can't follow it, but we made a deal if I went to that with him... he would go to Twilight with me next week! :)

Pretty fair trade, I think, except for Twilight will be much better!

This weekend we worked on a bunch of projects. I borrowed my Dad's hand sander to sand wood for my project. Brandon was so good to come out in the cold and help me. We had to sit outside the back of our apartments. We got a few bad looks out the windows, because it was so loud, but I didn't really care! About 20 minutes into the project..the sander busted!! Sorry Dad! DANG IT! I hate leaving unfinished stuff! Then Brandon started on our bathroom project. Our tub/shower is so dang annoying. Every time we take a shower, it leaks about a gallon of water out onto our floor getting it, the rug, and our shelf thing ALL WET and nasty. We had the maintenance people come fix it, but it seemed to just make it worse. We decided to take matters into our own hands and do the job RIGHT by adding the splash guards where they needed to go and resealing around the bottom with CLEAR silicone instead of weird white glue stuff that grew mold! I know.. super nasty!! Hopefully we have the problem solved now! I guess the people that lived here before us, put up a new back in the shower and our apartment is the only one that has this! LUCKY US!
We ended our week getting numerous medical bills that we were not expecting. We still aren't quite sure where we are getting the money for that and for our $1200.00 car problem that HAD to be fixed! Anyone have a really rich uncle that we could adopt? :) I guess that it will be an easy Christmas this year.. a fixed 2000 Toyota Camry and a healthy body without a gallbladder! :) I am going to tie a big red bow on our car and around Brandon on Christmas morning!

Child Protection Registry

I got this email today at work and thought I would share it with all of you!

Go register to protect you and your family!

I think it is cool that there are things like this available!

The Utah Child Protection Registry was created on the idea that, just as millions of Americans have the choice to protect their home phone numbers from solicitors, they should also have the choice to protect their families from unwanted, adult-oriented advertisements.
Modeled after the National Do Not Call Registry, Utah established laws to protect e-mail addresses, mobile phone numbers (SMS), instant messenger IDs, and fax numbers from adult-oriented solicitations. These solicitations may include, but are not necessarily limited to: illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pornography, and gambling. And like the do-not-call list, when you register your family addresses, you are removing your contact information from adult-oriented company and marketing solicitation lists.
This is a free, state administered service. For additional information and to register your household contact points today, visit www.kidsregistry.utah.gov

30 minute time limit

I am so annoyed..

I went to the gym last night and I was on the elyptical. About 30 minutes into the workout a lady came in and stood right next to the machine waiting for it. She kept walking around back to check my time. It was over 30 minutes, but I was not done with my workout.. so I kept going thinking.. what is she going to do so I kept going. There are 4 of the elypticals that I was on adn they were full, but about 7 of the other ones and plenty other machines that were empty. She seriously had the nerve to tell me that there was a 30 minute time limit! Are you serious? AGh!! I wanted to punch her! What is she? The stupid machine police? I was a brat and told her that I was almost done and kept going. I was going to stay on as long as I wanted. She kept glaring at me.. what is she going to do.. TELL ON ME? EW... I am so scared! The girl next to me got off her machine and so the dumb lady got on that one and the whole rest of the time she was glaring at me. Then her husband came over and I couldn't hear what they said, (I had my headphones in) but I KNOW that they were talking about me because they kept looking over at me and glaring! AGH!! Who do they think they are? Why not go get on a different machine and wait till I am DONE and burn some calories while you wait instead of standing there patroling my time! I finished and went to the treadmill on the other side of the room and I could see that she was still giving me crusties! GET A LIFE LADY!! I watched the time on her to make sure she didn't go over 30 min.. I would have gone and told her "THERE IS A 30 MINUTE TIME LIMIT PSYCHO". I was so dang annoyed!