Summer Work Party 2016

I have gone to the work party for the last few years, and it's always been somewhat fun, mostly because I was with my Logan co-workers. This year they were going to "Finding Dory" with dinner afterward. I didn't sign up to go, because it just didn't appeal to me. A few weeks prior to the event, I was talking with my co-worker Chandler about it. I told him I wasn't going to go, then he said that I could be his plus-one if I wanted. I figured, what the heck, plus, in years prior they have drawings, where I have earned some money. Can't say no to that.

The Saturday morning of, I was working with Kriss, when we both got this text from Chandler about where the movie was being watched.

Kriss and I both responded at the same time with, "Trashy is the new Classy." Did I mention that we were both wearing the same color tops? Yeah, awkward!

Chandler had already gone down to SLC, (hashtag worst date ever!), so I rode down with Kriss and our other co-worker Shannon. (It's important that I also mention that Steve was in the Caribbean on a cruise.)

We get there and get our tickets, and say hi to some of our other work peeps. Caleb was there with his wife, so I chatted with him for a bit. Seriously miss that kid. Chandler finally showed up so we went into the theater. I was quite shocked at how full it was, granted everyone had their 50 kids with them, so it filled up fast.

Chandler and I enjoyed making our own commentary throughout the previews. Then were a bit more quiet once the movie started. It was a really cute movie, but holy cow it dragged on FOREVER! There were bout 7 different times they could have ended it. I nearly shouted, "Just die already!" (Seinfield reference). Chandler called me heartless, but good heavens. It was really long. (Netflix and TV series have ruined me! 45 minutes is long enough.)

It was really cute though.

After the movie we headed upstairs where we enjoyed some catered Cafe Rio. We sat in the very corner to avoid having to associate with anyone, and so we could people watch. Our HR guys got up and introduced everyone. It's interesting being able to put faces with names and voices.

Once dinner was over, they did have a drawing, but it was for one movie package, and a bunch of Bee's tickets. Totally not worth it. But it was fun to talk with my Logan peeps and see Caleb and Britt. We also took some epic photos. (Kriss & I photo bombing this table. I was saying goodbye to Caleb (who's head is behind the flower)

 It was a good evening. It would be nice if they would do it in Logan in the future, though. The drive is not fun, but it was a night out, so I can't complain.

While I was gone, Greg texted me some photos of our Lily's. They are always so gorgeous! I love when they bloom, and love that we have a variety of colors.

More and more bloom every year. The yellow ones are the newest.

Aggies, BYU, Halloween, & Thanksgiving

New Year, New Resolutions....like blogging more frequently to avoid massive catch-up posts! :)

I had a day off in October, and decided I would clean the house. Of course it turned into a bigger mess than actually cleaning, but I did find this cute gem. Pretty sure Kennan drew it while I was at Western. (Hence, the red jersey). Too cute, right?

I'm still lucky enough to work Saturdays. I have a tendency to not get out of bed early enough, so this is a rush to shower and get out the door attempt. First time in a while that I've kept my hair wet and scrunched it. Kinda like it...

  

Greg & Marcus the Carcass

I had to go to the mall to search for my Halloween costume, and we decided to get lunch here. It was...ehh...okay. I had the fish & chips. Fish was okay, fries were soggy, but the mushrooms were excellent. I'd go again just for those.

This is pretty much what work is like....and no, I did not write that.

Dad and the volleyball team have been coming to Aggie games for a while now (we did a couple of times when I was in High School even). I met up with them and really enjoyed going. I was thinking I needed to get me some season tickets for next year, however, the benches are too low, and I doubt I can convince Greg to go with me.) Once in a while is fun though.

DFCU is part of the USU Special Spectators program, which means we get so many tickets to go to football and basketball games. Back in August-ish, our manager asked if we wanted to go to any of the games. One of them was against Wyoming, so I took those. It's been a very long time since I've been to an Aggie game, like since early high school. Ironically, it too was against Wyoming.

I got to be on the field before the game, and that was pretty neat. Not going to lie, I kind of miss being in the "lights", or on the court  playing in front of people. It's quite the experience. (Also one reason it's hard for me to watch any team lose.)

Oh, and Greg went with me. I was afraid it was going to be super cold, so I dressed extra warm. It had rained all day, but the weather was quite nice, and only drizzled a little on us. Overall a fun night. We even stayed through the 3rd quarter.

Little-known fact about me:I rather enjoy being a pain in the butt to my co-workers. Steven really despises BYU, so I thought it would be fun to buy a BYU shirt, and the next time we were allowed to wear our game-day gear, I'd wear a Cougars shirt. It happened to fall on Halloween, so as part of my brilliancy, I would wear the Cougar shirt, with a sign that Steve actually wrote that said, "Kick Me" on my back, and call myself, "A BYU fan in Aggie territory." I'm super creative.

It was $5. Also, a youth XL. #score! (Also, turns out it's one of the more comfortable shirts I own! and Yes, I have worn it more than that one day!)

The Oldies getting our pictures taken, and yes, Donna literally kicked me.

One Direction came out with a new Album. It's my favorite. I am obsessed!

Leaving work after it's dark is a bit scary sometimes!

My part of our "turkey"

Our branch turkey

Our Thanksgiving was just lovely. Slept in, watched TV, Greg cooked the turkey. It was delicious. We didn't cook near as much as we normally do, but it was enough, and it was really yummy. Lots to be grateful for.

This is our family photo for this year! Turkey-day 2016.

We went to the Hunger Games after eating. The cowboys were not doing so awesome, so I think Greg just wanted to get out of the house (even though he watched it on his phone while waiting for the movie to start.)

Great movie. SO much better than the book (that I didn't even make it through). Really well done. Of course, I love Jennifer Lawrence, so that helped a bit too.

The Rest of March

+I really need to do better at staying ahead with my blogging. I think about what I want to write quite often, I just fail to actually write it.

We were able to convince our Relief Society president to do quarterly activities instead of monthly. We just didn't have the attendance or budget to justify monthly, so my activity leader and I decided to try and make the quarterly ones super fun and exciting to get more attendance.

Our first activity was held one March 11. We went with a Superhero theme. We wanted to do kind of a get to know you, so we asked people to share their super powers (aka talents, etc.) We had an awesome turn out, and we had a lot of fun. We had pulled pork sandwiches, fruit and cupcakes for dinner, followed by a get to know you BINGO that was a lot of fun. Then we had one of our board members give a little talk on how we are all Superheros, tying in our Relief Society theme. She did a great job. I wish I had asked for a copy of her talk. It was really great.

We had a lot of fun, and I was happy about the turn out. I had an inactive sister come up to me and say, "This is the funnest church activity I've ever been to." And another sister said, "I wish we could do this every month." After complaining about our lack of budget, the stake relief society president told my president that I could, "Have as many activities as I wanted, and to spend as much money as I need." It was awesome, and made me feel like I was doing something right...(Even though Melanie was the one who did everything. She's awesome!)

Here is the poster I made for our activity. We were able to advertise for close to 2 months which was awesome. Funny story though. So we share our building with another ward who comes in after us. I had put this up outside the relief society room before our class. There is one of those clip things on the wall that is long and can fit more than one poster. Well, I come out after class, and the other ward had put their flier right over top of ours, instead of sliding ours down and putting it next to ours, right over top. I was not happy, but instead of throwing theirs in the garbage, I just calmly took ours out and slid it down. It was hard, let me tell you!

For our reminder, we made these superhero suckers with the information on the cape.

Due to some issues with the other ward, last year we moved our activities to Thursday evening, which we felt was not very convenient, so this year, we asked the Young Women if they would like to combine with us every quarter  so we could get the YW leaders out, and not have to spend another night away from their families. So we moved our activities to Wednesday night with the YW.

My partner-in-crime and I. We served in Young Women's together many moons ago, so when Bishop (NOT ME!) suggested her as my activity board leader, I didn't say no, even though she had just had her third baby. I knew that she would follow through and work hard to make or activities successful. So far she hasn't disappointed! ;)

At the end of February, Greg and I were asked to speak. Before we got up, our stake president got up and told us that they were rearranging our Bishopric in two weeks. Apparently lots of people thought that it would be Greg since we were speaking. Luckily they were wrong! I even had a sister tell me after I spoke that I would "make a great Bishop's wife". Not sure what that meant, but whatever.

I had been teasing Greg about it all week because he was actually a bit worried, but when we didn't get a call we knew we were in the clear. That was the week I went to Casper, and on Thursday when I got to Cokeville I called Greg and he told me that the Stake President wanted to meet with us. I started laughing and said, High Council? (One of the new bishopric members was previously on the HC, so there was a spot open.)

Sure enough, when we went in to meet with the stake president, Greg was issued a call to serve on the High Council. This meant he would also be ordained to the office of High Priest.

Greg's dad ordained him, and his older brother and his four kids came. We don't get to see them too much even though they're only about an hour away, but it was a lot of fun to have those kids there. They are the cutest.

The next weekend, one of my friends and teammates from college was getting married and had her reception here in Logan. Her mom coached with my dad over in Bear Lake for many years, so we've known Katie forever. She also played with Kandyce in college, and then they roomed together here at USU, so Kandyce stopped by so we could go together.

Liam is probably my favorite child. He is a little stinker and was crying while Kandyce was getting changed, so I just kept asking him questions until I finally got a good response. From then on we were BFFs. We sang songs in the car while waiting for Kandyce to get some cards at the dollar store, and then we went and played outside. Even though he can be a bit of a stinker, he's so dang cute. I just love him!

And of course, chubby little Myka was there also. She is just the happiest baby. I love her and her cute chubby cheeks.

So, after everything went down at work, I was working Saturday with Kim. Steve stopped by with a drink for each of us. Awesome! Then maybe an hour later, Donna showed up with drinks for us as well. The reason definitely deserved two Dr. Peppers. No more changes please! My heart can't take it. It was pretty funny though

For our 5th Sunday lesson, we had the LDS Employment Resource Services (?) people come. I was totally paying attention, when I looked at the board, and what was supposed to spell LDS ERS, totally looked like LOSERS. It was funny. About 3 minutes after I noticed, the high councilman sitting next to us looks up, leans over and says, "I thought that spelled LOSERS on the board." It was awesome.

Greg surprised me by taking me to see Insurgent one evening after work. Oh my, I loved it! I thought it was so good. Thanks hubby for taking me. It was a great way to end March.

April Showers

April has been an interesting month. I feel really weird and out of it. I don't know what it is. Maybe the random weather. We haven't actually had many April showers, I just couldn't think of a title. This post may be a bit off because, like I said, I feel really weird, but oh well.

Work has been really good lately. We upgraded our online banking system about a month ago. Let's just say it hasn't gone as smoothly as we anticipated. The phones have been ringing like crazy...still. I won't say what I feel about why the call volume has been up, but people just need to calm down and check their emails, and follow the instructions. But because of this, I was lucky enough to be put into a group of MSR's (Member Service Representatives....have I told you the whole we are no longer tellers anymore? That's a fun story.) that were taking web apps. Holy bombarded. Because of some shingles issues, I actually missed the entire week after the launch, but even still we're still getting a ton of loans. Right now, I have 13 assigned to me. But I really enjoy it. I still am learning, and I ask Steve a lot of questions, but I am really enjoying it. Now I just need my own office and an assistant to get me juice boxes. But really, work is great. I get really worn out by the end of the day, but that's because I don't take time to sit and relax. I have to be standing and going.

Anyway....I've had some fun things happen to me over the last month. It's been quite humbling. I am extremely blessed. I'll share more details on my Sclero-what? blog, but I have to show you my new favorite hair tool that my in-laws got for me. It's called Curl Secret, and it's amazing. You put your hair in it, and it sucks it in and curls it. Greg can use it, and it takes maybe 15 minutes to do. It's pretty amazing...

So, I was supposed to have a Pulmonary Function Test done, so I scheduled to leave work early to go do it. However, due to my life being the way it is, I was not able to perform the PFT. Since we already had work off, Greg took me to watch Divergent. Here's my review:

I REALLY liked it. Maybe because Four/Tobias is super nice to look at, but I love the books, and the movie was really good. I feel like it left out a lot of important things, but it was still really  good. I would definitely recommend it, even if you haven't read the books. No, I don't really like the main girl, but Four/Tobias kind of takes control of your mind, so he's all you can think about. It's about time one of my movies has a hottie in it.

My leg looks soooooo much better.  The shingles post is coming soon, I promise.

Pretty Little Liars has been another obsession of mine. I started watching it while bed ridden with shingles, and I can't stop watching. I actually read the books a few years ago, and it is the weirdest story ever, but it's addicting, plus Caleb.Umm, yummy. So yeah. I'm half-way into Season 2. Netflix rocks, by the way.

Also, we have started watching The Walking Dead. Not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan. It totally drags. The "walker" parts are fine, but the rest of the crap that goes on is just blah. We're in Season 2, and quite bored. Hopefully it gets better. I've heard a lot of great reviews, but I'm not impressed.

So, that's a small catch-up. I need to move my pics from my phone to my computer so that I can show more interesting ones, but it just hasn't happened. Such is my life!

As of late...

Crazy how time goes so slow...and yet so fast at the same time. I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. It's funny how at my sister's wedding I had multiple family members say how much they enjoy reading my blog, and how I need to blog more. The problem with that is there really isn't much to blog about. Seriously. Unless you want a play by play of my day, but even then it's going to be the exact same day after day. Got up, went to work, was annoyed with (insert any name here), came home. Really, that's about it. Not too much going on around here. Just work, and chillin'/being bored at home. We don't do much.

I had this last weekend off. We sat at home...watched the Hobbit (longest 3 hours of my life...how can there possibly be two more of those movies coming out?) and pigged out on junk food. (Not really, though we did go get shakes and fries from Arctic Circle.) That was the highlight of my weekend.

We don't really have any big plans for summer. I get to work all summer, so that should be loads of fun. It takes me 3 months to earn enough time off for 6 hours, so, needless to say, I don't have much time off to play this summer. Depending on if Greg gets a job or not, I might plan a vacation for us. We haven't had a real vacation in, well, ever, so we'll see if I can convince him to leave the Shire. I know I need a vacation.

But, that's really about all. Seriously. My life is boring. I don't even have any fun stories from my days. Here's to another long week.

Last Movie

seen in a theater....

We don't go to many movies in theaters. It's cheaper to just buy them used at Hastings when they come out on video, so the last movie we saw in theaters was The Dark Knight rises. We saw it July 24...and surprisingly there were only maybe 6 other people in the theater. I kind of liked that movie. A little long and dragged out in parts, but not bad overall.