for my sanity?

it's been 12 days. i thought i would really enjoy "down time" considering the last 6+ years of my life have been constant craziness. not the case. i'm BOOOOORED. i feel like if i have a job, i will be less annoying when grady comes home & needs to study & i just really want to have a conversation with someone other than myself (yes i have resorted to talking to myself...hate on me haters). so what have i accomplished in 12 days?

• discovered that although i am *quite* weak i can assist grady in hauling an entire sectional, a 200 lb. desk (yes... literally 200 lbs.), a 150 lb. entertainment center, our awkward not easily moved mattress and the rest of our belongings up a flight of stairs. hoo-rah! (<--- that's a marine reference)
• spent more hours than i am willing to disclose cruising craigslist looking for furniture and a job. i have yet to purchase a piece of furniture from there or get a job. waste of time?
• watched all 3 seasons of "16 and pregnant" and am working on "teen mom". wow. just wow.
• vacuumed our apartment about 30 times. our new vacuum works, so that is great!
• called in 3 work orders to our apartment complex. it's nice to be on the other end of the phone calls for once. (*side note: although a large brick wall in your living room and dining room creates a very awesome look to your place, it also leads to incredible drafts and many hours of maintenance staff to be in your apartment numerous days in a row)
• entertained our first house guests. yay for having a second bedroom! we are so happy brandt and jeannetter and babies came to stay and get me out of a funk. i needed it.

everyone pray that i get a job. for my sanity and the sake of grady's grades. i need to be busy. srsly.

on the road again

we have made it to st. louis! i thought it would be entertaining to document the things i learned while traveling across a few states.

Arizona:

• the one state that we encountered snow during our trip. ironic, right? everyone thinks it's tumbleweeds, cactus and cowboys.
• the burger king right of I-40 and Butler Ave. has the most fresh fast food has browns ever. like they burned my mouth.
• we stopped in the small town of Joseph City. population 1400. this is where my grandma and grandpa grew up and fell in love. i took a picture in front of the home my grandma grew up in.

New Mexico:

• new mexico was a blur. and by a blur, i mean i slept through 85% of it.
• we stayed in a day's inn in Albuquerque that has a classy little IHOP next door. 20% discount from uhaul on the room which gave us a 20% discount on our dinner. that's a 40% savings.... i think? also, our hotel had plumbing issues and our sink was filled with some previous guest's hair. yum.

Texas:

• texas smells like dirty diapers. seriously. we thought it would go away, but it just kept getting worse.
• we were really tired from driving the day before, so we ended up sleeping through breakfast and ate at yet another burger king in texas. their hash browns were less than fresh.
• i finally found my favorite gum at a dumpy gas station in Shamrock. it's orbit's raspberry lemon dew. it's like an excellent glass of raspberry lemonade in gum form.

Oklahoma:

• i met a really nice man at a gas station in oklahoma. i don't remember why he was nice, but i remember thinking to myself after i got in the car, "that's a nice man".
• oklahoma city was less than appealing to grady and i. i don't know why, but we weren't really into it.
• we paid 2 tolls in oklahoma that added up to $20.00. i think we paid about $18.00 too much. we had to pull over to a gas station to get cash the exit before the toll because they don't take check, debit or credit cards. just cash. the gas station didn't give cash back on a purchase. awesome.
• we went to the mcdonalds across the parking lot to see if they would give cash back. they didn't either. so we spent $2.75 in fees to use the generic ATM in the mickey d's to get enough cash for the toll.
• never drive through smoke on the freeway. we saw about 50 of these signs off the freeway and decided to utilize google and find out why. in oklahoma they burn the brush on the side of the freeway and the smoke causes no visibility. weird.
  

Missouri:

• missouri has more adult bookstores/video stores than i've ever seen in my life. on the flip side, it has the most churches i've ever seen in my life. ironic.
• we got taken by about 40 HUGE billboards for a knife factory in a small town off I-44. it was pathetic. we laughed for about it for 10 minutes after getting back into the car.
• we drove past a boat factory and were blown away by all the boats parked outside. i'm talking like 10,000+ boats. it was crazy!
• grady pointed out a semi carrying piglets next to us. they were sticking their little snouts through the grates in the truck biting at the air. we were so moved by these little babies, i had to take a picture of it. (btw, taking a picture of a moving vehicle out the window of another moving vehicle makes for a SUPER blurry picture)
• speaking of piglets, missouri has a "ferrel hog" problem. as in, you need to report those "ferrel hogs" to the local authorities. i can only imagine.
• we had to go to the original Bass Pro Shop in branson, because... well i don't know why, but it was pretty cool!

i decided i need to travel via car more frequently because i learned so much about the places we went through. also, in case you were wondering, route 66 dissolved into what is now I-40, I-44 and I-55. this i discovered about 12 hours into being on what was route 66. i felt stupid.

we have been really busy the last 3 days getting our apt in order and replacing all of the things i crazily sold in a whirlwind of insanity. someone slap me next time i sell all of our stuff.

1 week

we start our journey to dorothy-land in 1 week. wow. the last 5 months have flown by. things i wish i did while in phx:

1. attend theater 168 it's the place grady & i were engaged. memories.
2. eat at my favorite spots, ie: flo's kitchen, fajitas, first watch and many more.
3. spend more time just talking to friends and family
4. spend less time working
5. lay in the sun at least an hour a day (i am going to miss the sun...)
6. shop. it's so hard to find those super secret spots with great deals when you move to a new place.
7. attend a diamondback's game. i gave up sweet tickets a few times this season... sad.
8. go to the dermalogica education center and spend our savings on skin products. i could. don't try me.
9. get to know my primary class better. i loved those 6 rascals. as crazy and busy as six 6 year old boys can be after being expected to sit perfectly still for 2 hours straight, they made me laugh every week. i kinda want to come back in a few years and see what they're up to. they might just still be stripping down to complete nakedness in the bathroom. yes, that did happen.
10. spend more time with my mom. i love my mom. she is like the funniest person, but has no idea she is. she makes me smile. (full house music in the background)

as sad as i am to leave, i'm really ready to get started in st. louis. i want to walk through our apartment, furnish said apartment, attend our ward, listen eagerly while grady describes his first day of chiro school, and get a FREAKING job. (yes if you know someone in st. louis hiring, please hook a sister up...)

things i'm looking forward to in st. louis:

1. it's green there. like REALLY green.
2. i will experience spring and fall for the first time in my life.
3. going to a cardinals game. busch stadium here i come!
4. go to the butterfly house. am i a nerd?
5. open all of my stuff up!!! i miss my things. so. bad.
6. making our new apartment smell like us. you know how people's apartments/homes have specific smells? i hope ours is good. let me know if it isn't.
7. have visitors. my parents are coming in march & i'm really excited!
8. getting free adjustments at the school. grady & i really love Logan and i can't wait to go to the clinic.
9. i want to know what our callings are in our new ward. after my first experience in primary this last year, i wouldn't complain if i was put back in as a teacher- primary is the fun version of sunday school... am i right?
10. cook for myself. as great as it has been to have most every meal made for me, i'm ready to take what i've learned from my brother and put it to good use.

Never say never

no this is not a justin bieber tribute post. sorry 12 yr old girls.

i said i would "never live with my parents or in-laws". well that went down the tubes when we decided to do grady's internship in phx. it was live with them or continue our version of H-E-doublehockeysticks in the arctic tundra that is rexburg. i chose to eat my words and try it out. i was wrong. very Very VERY wrong. not only do we get to spend crazy amounts of time with both families, but i also get a ride to work with my dad. (did i mention in addition to my dad allowing me and my husb to crash his pad for 5 mos-he gave me a job... yeah.)

the good:

• i live with my parents (whom i love...alot).
• i live with my bro and his wife. my bro is in culinary school. it's rough letting him practice on us. jokes.jokes. it's delish. i am now a food snob because of it.
• i get to re-decorate my mom's house on her dime. who would hate that?! we are currently working on the bathroom, living room and tv room. simultaneously. my dad wants to murder me.
• i have lost 7 lbs. mostly because my entire family decided to live a "paleo lifestyle" together. let's just say it's working.

the bad:

• i live in maybe 175 sq feet. it's hard.
• my belongings (which are most likely garbage) are sitting in 175 sq. feet of my in-law's spare bedroom. ***i'm sorry roberta***
• i don't want to move now.

the ugly:

• people have to see me without make-up... get it? ugly, make-up? ok...

i guess i just needed to blog my feelings on the subject matter that i was wrong. and that i'm grateful for a great family. and the time we have to enjoy 85 degree weather. (yeah rexburg- eat your heart out!)

Why I never blog.

Top 5 Reasons I don't blog:

5. I traded in my camera for a TV. true. priorities people.... have you SEEN Real Housewives of New Jersey?! From this one can conclude:

BLOGS + Pictures= worth reading ; BLOGS - pictures= boring.

4. For the last 4 years of my life, I have held jobs that require my seclusion from the outside world. things get scary.... and NO ONE wants to see me in my "I-haven't-had-social-interaction-in-15-hours" state.

3. In the last 5 weeks i have spent an absurd amount of time trying to befriend 2 cats. 1 of which is literally the spawn of Satan and i'm 99% sure she dreams of murdering my entire family. the other is probably the most patient, but un-interested animal on the face of the planet. am i the crazy cat lady?!

2. Besides reading hilarious (by hilarious i mean these people need help) craig's list and BYU-Idaho Bulletin Board postings, i spend the rest of my "relaxing time" reading people.com, usmagazine.com and sitting on the couch watching "Sweet Home Alabama" for the 12th time on TBS. Side note: why does my dad love this movie enough to re-watch it EVERY TIME it's on TV? makes me laugh.

1. I spend too much time getting mad at my friends who don't update their blogs to update mine!

creepy.

If you are ever up at 1am, you will find a commercial for this. Why does this exist? It even looks like a "toilet"....i'm tired.

I'm going to put on pics...someday

One thing I really lucked out on, besides INCREDIBLE personality, good looks and being treated like a million dollars all the time, marrying Grady came with some sweet benefits. His parents purchased him this amazing camera that I am so in love with. In high school I took a photography class and totally loved it. After starting college I found that I really enjoyed a lot of artistic things and that I still enjoyed taking pictures and it intrigued me. BUT of course in order to take a photography class at school it would be this huge mess and I would need an expensive camera... Needless to say, I have always wanted to take a college course on photography. Well, it hasn't happened thus far, but I have decided when Grady makes all of his money ( HAHAHAHA! we're going to be paying off loans FOREVER!) that I will take a class, but in the mean time I have enjoyed learning and playing on Grady's amazing camera. So all that and I don't have pictures that I just took this Sunday! Lame! I will put them up...someday. :D So this last Sunday I convinced Grady to drive me way out in the middle of all the potato fields to take pictures. It was so fun. It reminded me of how people used to always say how "beautiful" Arizona was...I was always like "it's just a lot of dirt"...but I get it now. It was so pretty just being out there in the middle of nowhere and being around farming equipment and seeing all of the rolling fields. Loved it! I'll have to post the pictures later.
Liz