Wednesday Weigh-In

I lost TWO pounds this week! Woo!!

Clarification

I need you all to know that just because I have snowflakes hanging in my house, that in NO WAY means that I want real snowflakes outside. Never, ever would I wish that upon myself, with only one exception. Christmas morning. And then it's gone by December 26th. But that doesn't matter this year anyways, because we'll be in TEXAS!

For those of you in Utah: Can you believe that it's THANKSGIVING tomorrow and we haven't had winter yet? I'm LOVING it! That, in and of itself, is something to be thankful for.

Last night we finished Wall-E. I love that movie. If you haven't seen it, buy for Christmas. If you have seen it, you already know you're going to buy it for Christmas.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Oh So Exciting!

We were so productive last night! Not only did we work out, we returned a bunch of stuff and got some much-needed money!! As we were walking out of Wal-Mart (just one of our many stops), two cop cars sped into the parking lot and drove up on the sidewalk at the front of the store. Drug bust? Theft recovery? Of course we drove by on our way out of the parking lot to check it out. As we rolled by with our window down (you gotta see and hear it, right?), we realized that both cops were sitting on this man and forcing handcuffs on him. BUSTED! I wonder what he did. Especially since he had Down Syndrome! Yeah, they swarmed in, roughed around a man with Down Syndrome and then cuffed him. Seems a bit extreme to me. But who knows? Maybe he is a mass murderer.

We got home and kicked our own butts. With a little help from Jillian Michaels.
Then we started watching the first half of Wall-E. Neither of us have seen it, and so far it is so cute!


Jed and I have been looking at possibly going to Vegas sometime soon, so I was looking online for prices for The Riviera (it's the hotel we really wanted to stay at, if we went). They were having a sale at Travelocity and I got 2 nights for $60, including tax. Holy Cow! I jumped on that and we're going to VEGAS the weekend before Christmas. I'm SO excited!! I spent all day at work looking up attractions and shows that we might want to experience. I found coupons, looked up reviews, and tomorrow I plan to map out our whole trip. Jed knows that we're going down there and where we're staying, but he doesn't know what we'll be doing - I love surprises!!

Monday Memoirs

This weekend went by way too fast! We got up on Saturday and cleaned out my car - dejunked it, vacuumed it, and even power-washed the mats (talk about gross-they were filthy). It feels SO nice to drive a clean car!
I heard about this free kidney screening that was going on in Orem, and I figured "what the heck?", so I went to that. Jed came with me, but he didn't get 'screened'. Apparently my blood pressure and cholesterol are great. Woo! I hadn't had very much to drink on Friday or Saturday, so I was kind of dehydrated and when the nurse went to draw blood, she couldn't get a good vein in my arm and ended up drawing it from my hand. That hurt so bad. (And I have a huge bruise from it.)
Our friends, Justin and Amanda, asked us to go out to dinner and a movie with them. Red Robin and James Bond. A winning combination. ;) We/Jed watched the last quarter of the Holy War while we ate. Sadly for Jed, the Utes smoked the Cougars. 48-24. Ouch. Home field advantage, right? ;) The movie was pretty good. $9 good? Maybe not. I could have waited for it to go to the dollar theater, and I'm sure Amanda is right there with me. :)

Yesterday, after church, I was feeling uber productive for some reason. While Jed was cleaning the fish tank, I assembled snowflakes-on-a-string and then we hung them. So it looks like snowflakes are falling from the sky. I did it freshman year in my dorm room and I loved it. It's fun for me. :)
Jed and I made pizza together (so yummy!) and I made artichokes for the first time. After dinner, I googled some artichoke dip recipes, got the general idea, and then improvised my own recipe to use up the stems and hearts. I even broiled the top, parmesan layer. It was so good!
We were going to go to choir practice, but then Jed remembered that 24 was on, so we "had to" stay home and watch that. (Sorry Megan. Next week, I promise!!) It was alright. Nothing too special, if you ask me. I probably should have gone to choir instead...


OH! OH!! OH!!!! I got my loan for this upcoming semester!! Well, it says I qualified for it... It's going to be double what it would have been (to compensate for the idiots in the financial office's mistakes) so I can pay off this past semester's tuition with it too. Phew! :D

Purple Blood

For those of you who don't know, I have purple blood. It's a genetic thing. Better than blue blood. (That would be a lack of oxygen and when you don't get oxygen to your brain, your brain cells die.) Both of my parents went to the University of Utah and then my dad got his masters degree at Brigham Young University. Currently I'm in school at BYU, but if all were equal (cost, same degrees offered, etc.), I'd for sure be at the U. I'm a fan of BYU sports, until they play the U. Then I pretty much just root for whoever is winning. Ha! Pathetically unloyal, huh? :)

Anyways, the HOLY WAR is this weekend. Honestly, I don't care who wins. Purple, remember?

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that I'm done with that sickness thing that took over my body, whatever the doo it was. I'm feeling SO much better today than I have in the last week. I'm even thinking of going to the gym to watch The Office while I treadmill it up. Then again, maybe I'll go after I watch it. That way I can relax and enjoy the humor. (And laugh out loud without anybody looking at me, besides Jed, but he'll be laughing too.) PS~ have you seen the show that comes on right before it, Kath & Kim? It's stupid. And I think the daughter is probably the most obnoxious person alive. But I really really like to watch it for some reason. Maybe because I didn't know what to expect when I stumbled across the opening episode. But I've watched it every week and I like it a lot. Anybody else seen it? Comments?So I guess I'm thankful for The Office and Kath & Kim too. They keep me entertained on Thursday nights. :D

Let's Be Friends

Obviously if you are reading this blog, you are a friend of Jed's or mine, or both. So if you have a blog and we don't know about it, shame on you! Leave us a comment with your blog address so we can stalk you too! ;)

Wednesday Weigh-In

,No bueno. Maybe it's because I've been sick and not feeling like working out, but I haven't worked out in a while. And I haven't been eating well... So needless to say, according to my Gold's scale I'm pretty much back to square one.

I'm not discouraged. I'm the culprit. It's my fault. Now I just have to kick my own butt. Sigh.

Can I Get A Break? Maybe Some Cocaine?

So everything from yesterday has gone away. (WOO!) But now I'm having below-the-tooth jaw aches. What is the deal? I hope it's not like a root canal problem. Or cancer. Those are not welcome in my body.
I think I need to go to the dentist. It's been a little over a year. And I think I had cavities then that I didn't get taken care of. What a pain these teeth things are, especially when you have soft enamel. Maybe I'll make Jed an appointment at the same time. If I get tortured, he does too, right? Fair-ups. Even though I know it won't be fair. He's had a check-up more recently than me and he's a better tooth-brusher. Usually.

Sorry I haven't posted any pictures of us lately. But 1 video = 5 pictures, right? So I figure we're good for a little bit. :)

Don't Even Think About It

Yes, I have been sick lately. Yes, I feel sick today. My stomach hurts real bad, like hungry and nauseated at the same time. My nose is runny. My head hurts and I think it's warm. My eyes hurt, but they aren't itchy. I'm not allergic to anything. It's not from the rancid brownies last night. ;) And NO, I'm not pregnant. So don't even think about it. I'm thinking maybe I'll pick up some orange juice and chug a half gallon of that tonight. Maybe that will help. Do you think working out will bring it out, or make it worse? Should I just take some Pepto and grab some tissues? I don't think this is doctor-worthy, yet.

Last night Jed and I went over to Meals & Trent's house for dinner. Aubry and Michael came too. It was a fun triple date. Meals and Aubry made amazing chicken enchiladas with spanish rice and I whipped up a green salad. It was a really yummy dinner, complete with brownies and ice cream (I had pumpkin and it was really good). Jed had a bunch of homework to do, so we didn't get to play Cranium, even though it's his favorite game. I've never played, so I was hoping to get to, but oh well. We just bought it, so we can play whenever.

It's Not Easy Being Green!

Green = Sick.

This weekend, my two days of fun/relaxation/do whatever I want, was ruined by this evil thing called sickness. I don't know what it was, or where it came from, but I felt it. I even had to sit out when we went to the Power Tumbling gym on Saturday night. :( It looked like a lot of fun and I was able to get some videos. I did get some homework done while I was sitting on the sidelines, so I guess that's good. Each of these clips are just a few seconds long, sorry some of them are sideways... But they're still kind of fun.

PS-That last video is for Amanda... ;)



Then, last night, it was like the finale of my sickness. I won't give all the details, but I was up half the night. Good thing I slept 13(!) hours Saturday night, so it all kind of evened out. ;) I'm feeling a little better today. But then again, it's Monday. Blah.

Not This Week

I didn't do a Wednesday Weigh-In because we didn't go to the gym on Wednesday (bad, I know). After school, we went to this marriage clinic thing for one of my classes. I'll probably post about that after we're done with the assignment. :)

Venting, Wallowing in Self-Pity, Etc.

Call it what you want, but I need to write today. This week has been one of the worst weeks ever. (Part of the reason there was no Thankful Thursday yesterday.)

Well most of it is on my last post. But then, after that, yesterday my dad calls me and says that the BYU police called him at work while he was at lunch. (I have NO idea how they got my dad's work number, or how they found out we were related for that matter.) So I have Jed call and just ask for their address so I could send them cash and be done with it (and not have to give them any of my info). She says they can only take card or check because they need my info to link with the car in case they need to hunt me down or something. So then I asked Jed if he would call them back and give them his credit card, or even mine, over the phone. When he called back, the lady said they figured out who I was (and who he was) and they will just post it to my BYU financial account. I was like, fine, whatever, I'll just pay it and never park on campus again. End of story.

Then Jed IM's me and asks what my work phone is because a BYU cop just called his cell number (don't ask how they got that) and needs to talk to me and won't tell Jed anything over the phone. So this Lt. Barber calls me at work and says I need to come in in the next day or two to "have a little chat". I'm thinking "What the heck?" Why can't I just pay it online and be done with this? And I tell him I can't come in because I work the same hours as their office is open, and I work all the way in Lindon. He tells me that I'd better find a way to come in on my lunch break or something. So now I have to leave work early (second time this week) to go to BYU. This is absolutely ridiculous. BYU parking enforcement are not real cops, so me telling them false information cannot/should not be an issue. The lady that Jed talked to said something about Honor Code... However, if I pay the tickets, then they have nothing against me.

I was thinking about just paying it and blowing it off, and I talked to my friend Justin last night (he's a cop) and he told me I could probably just pay it and not go in. But then we decided that if the cop got mad or whatever, he might be able to take it to the Honor Code office and then not only did I tell the pee-on parking enforcement the wrong info, but I never went and talked to this real cop. I'm so sick of BYU. I'll be glad when we never have to deal with them again. The only redeeming quality they have, besides providing a decent education, is that it's cheap. Otherwise I/we would not be going there.

Anyways, this week, in fact this whole month, has just been one thing after another. I feel like I can never get ahead. I'm struggling to stay above water, but I feel like I'm drowning. Jed, bless his heart, is SO supportive and trying his hardest to help me out and be uplifting, but he has no idea what I'm dealing with... Any thoughts, advice, prayers, money would greatly be appreciated. ;)

Poop Sundae with a Cherry on Top

Yesterday was a poop sundae with a cherry on top. Let me preface this. At the halfway point in the semester, I still hadn't seen my loan money that I was approved for, so I called the financial aid office at BYU and the little girl on the phone told me that I since I only had 5.5 credits and needed 6 credits to get the loan, that I needed to add a .5-credit block class (taken the second half of the semester). So I scramble to find a class that would be even remotely interesting/relevant, and that I can fit into my schedule. I add the class, get the loan money, and pay off my fall tuition. Then, about a week ago, I notice that I owe BYU $4000 (repayment on my loan that I just barely got, in addition to winter's tuition). So I call them up and a new girl tells me that they've had some gliches in the system and that they are working on getting it fixed, that I should check back on Monday (2 days ago) and if it still says that I owe, to call back again.
Monday rolls around and guess what? I still owe $4000. Surprise, surprise. So I call back to their office and this girl puts me on hold for 15 minutes trying to get an answer for me. She comes back on the line and tells me that since I haven't been taking 6 credits consecutively over the entire semester, I was ineligible for that loan they gave me. My only option would be to come in and talk to a financial counselor and talk about payment options. So I make an appointment to talk to this counselor yesterday.

Jed and I get to his office and he tells us, after we'd been waiting outside for 15 minutes, that he had been on the phone with someone who was looking in to my situation and seeing what my options are, and checking to see if 6 credit hours over the semester would be sufficient (that would make sense, right? I'd be getting 6 hours whether it was each block, or total). So she calls back and tells us that there is no way that I could get that money back and that I do, in fact, owe them $4000 immediately. Are you freaking serious?? At this point I'm irrate! It was their office who approved the loan, it was their office who advised me to add another class that I don't care about or need, it was their office who dispersed the loan to me, and now it is their office who has revoked my loan and is now asking me to repay that money ASAP. I did nothing wrong. I simply did what I was told by their office. Where am I supposed to come up with $4000 by the end of the year?? That's the whole reason we got the loan in the first place - because we couldn't pay tuition out of our pocket!! (By the way, it's too late for me to drop that class they advised me to add. Now not only do I have to take this unnecessary class, but I have to pay for that too!)
Their advice to me: Take out double what I was asking for winter, and use that extra to pay back fall tuition. But while I wait for that loan to come in, I have to call the collections department of BYU like once a week to recite my case and make sure I don't get holds on my account, or get sent to collections. It's ridiculous! For the record: This is not the first time that I've had to deal with the BYU financial department. They are the worst.
**Any advice?? Anyone??**

I go out to my car (that a certain other person told me to park in a permit-only teacher parking lot) and there's a parking officer standing by my car. Since I've gotten two tickets this semester (both times a certain other person told me "oh, you'll be fine to park here"), I am on the "impound list". If I hadn't showed up before he left, I would have come out to a boot on my car. I would have had to pay for the boot, and given them my info. So I guess it's a good thing I came out when I did, however, I had to give them mine and Jed's info so they would have it in case my car was illegally parked again. I gave them my old TX license and wrong phones numbers. I was scared. I just won't park on campus anymore... :\

So after I finish with that, I picked Jed up on the other side of campus (where he had gone to drop off an assignment - thank goodness he wasn't with me when I went out to my car because I told them that he was the BYU student of the family...) and we hauled butt up to Salt Lake for my monthly weight check-up. Here's the cherry on top! I "lost" 8 pounds this month!! Well, I lost 3, but 5 pounds were converted from fat mass to lean mass!! So technically, I lost 8 POUNDS!! I know it would have been more if I had been more disciplined, but shoot! I'll take it! :D

Busy Fun

Busy, busy, busy. This weekend was full of fun stuff!!

Friday - We went to Helaman Halls (my old dorms) because our friend Amanda's little brother, Tommy, opened his mission call - he's going to Monterrey, Mexico. After the get together for him, we went back to our house and Justin & Amanda came over. We just hung out at home and played cards. It was a pretty fun, relaxing night.

No-Stress Saturday - I had breakfast with two friends from my freshman year of college. One of them brought their baby and it was so good to get a 'baby fix'. :) It was great to catch up with them and we ended up staying in the cafeteria for four and a half hours!! (Breakfast and lunch, buffet-style, for $2.50. Can't beat that.) Jed was kind of upset and worried because I left my phone in the car, and we were there for an hour and a half longer than I had told him we'd be.
Right after I got home, Jed and I left for Salt Lake. Our friend, Hanna, works at American Eagle and got us 25% off anything in the store. Jed got a zip-up hoodie and I got a beanie. :) We shopped around some more and then we all headed to The Pie. Justin, Amanda, Heidi, Zach, and Hanna went with us. That place is so fun, and so good.
Saturday was our 100 day anniversary (haha) so Jed and I were planning on celebrating by going to FastKart and racing go carts. Everybody who was with us at dinner came, and Jamie and Lindsey joined us too. That place is so much fun!! Jed won, as usual. And the guy who worked there gave us extra time and special treatment because 'we were all in couples except for Hanna' (even though she's married he was being extra nice to her, and the rest of us).

Jamie, Lindsey, Jed, and I went back to Hanna's with her and hung out, waiting for her husband to get off work. I got to see some of her scrapbooks of the two of them. That was fun. Jamie was hungry, so we went on a Crown Burger run, and then met up with Hanna's husband Chris as he was walking home from work. Jed and I didn't head home until after midnight. It was really fun to hang out with them. I really like Chris and Hanna a lot.

Sunday - My official "sleep in" day because our church doesn't start until 1:00. After church, Jed and I drove back up to SLC. This time to go to my grandparents' house for Sunday dinner because it was my aunt's birthday this past week. It was good to see everybody since we hadn't seen most of them since our wedding...

And today is Monday. It's dark and rainy outside. I'm bored at work. And BYU is telling me I owe them $4000 for a mistake they made. Can I go to Vegas now??

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful that the election is over with! I'm ok with the fact that Obama is our next president. The tribe has spoken and he was chosen. Nothing we can do about it now except pray for him and the other politicians to make good decisions for our country.


I am also thankful that Prop 8 passed in California. I feel like it sets a standard for the rest of the country (except I've heard that Massachusetts and Connecticut allow gay marriage at this time). Because I have openly supported the passing of this proposition, I have been met by a lot of opposition.
I have been challenged, mocked, put down, and verbally abused. Most of the people who have confronted me about it (some homosexuals, and some not, all of whom are acquaintances) have just been trying to get me to see their side of it (which is totally fine as long as it's done tactfully - I'm not going to shut people out because they view something differently than I do), but some have just been blatantly rude and condescending. I've been called a bigot, I've been told that I am ignorant, ugly, and disrespectful, I've been accused of being a "blind follower" and at the same time I've been told that I'm not living my religion because I'm fat and not living a "healthy life".
All of this in response to my support of Proposition 8 and trying to keep the sanctity of marriage in tact. Is some of this relevant? Yes. But a lot of it has nothing to do with the issue at hand. What was really interesting to me was that the people who were accosting me were not homosexuals. They were straight. The homosexuals that I have talked to have not been hostile, they have been more curious as to why I believe what I do.
For the record, I do not hate gay people, I do not think any less of them as human beings, but I do not condone their lifestyle. Please feel free to comment if you feel so compelled, but I will not approve any rude, offensive, or obtuse comments. **This is still my blog and I have the right to express my thoughts/feelings however I want to - Please be respectful of that, whether you agree with me or not.** (I'm also thankful for my freedom of speech!)

[Update: I have apparently now won "the title of most hateful ignorant biggot of the year 2008" from onw of my best friend's brother-in-law. That's happy.]

Wednesday Weigh-In

I am not weighing in this week due to some female issues...
But I did go to the gym last night and I weighed myself.

Halloween!!

These first pictures are of night we (Jed) carved pumpkins at Justin and Amanda's house.

Scooping out the brains...

Jed's brother, Nathan, and our friend Hanna. Nathan had the tiniest pumpkin and turned it into a bear head. Hanna carved a ring of fall leaves around her pumpkin - it was really cute.

Hanna and her husband, Chris, getting tips from Nathan the Artist.

Justin and Amanda had awesome pumpkins! Justin's was complete with drool and Amanda turned her's into an entire house!

Ours is the love one. Kinda lame, I know. But we had no ideas, so I picked it up and drew the first thing that came to mind... :\

Our sappy love pumpkin again...

The next bunch of these are from Halloween night.
We had SO much fun! And I was really proud of our couple costume.

Before you continue, you must watch at least part of this youtube video. It is a local 'celebrity rapper' in Provo, named B-Money, and he was the inspiration for our couple costume this year.


Ok, now you are ready to experience our version of B-Money. Jed was a bumble bee and I was money. Thugged out, of course.

Jed's stinger... (sorry it's sideways)

One of Jed's tattoos

For a picture of my sweet "Hubba Hubba" cape, click HERE!!

One of my tattoos. (Yup, it's a million dollar bill...)

Chelsey the gypsy, Amanda the pumpkin, and Hanna as "Midnight" (the tutu kitty).

The Girls. Chelsey the gypsy, Amanda the pumpkin, Hanna aka Midnight, me as (B-) Money, and Linds the cowgirl.

We showed up and Jed's brother, Nathan, had dressed up like a bee, just like Jed. Not only that, but they had the exact same wings and antenna!! How random is that? Those Goodells... ;)

Adam and Amanda as street signs.

The Guys. Chris #1 as a missionary, Chris #2 as a hitchhiker, Jed as B-(Money), Jamie as a gay cop from the TV show Reno911, Nathan as a bee, and Justin as an undercover cop (technically not a costume for him).

The Mummy Game.

My husband the bee mummy. Haha. Like B-Money... ;)

The aftermath. (It got caught on his stinger...)



The next day Jed and I went for a hike up to the Y. Neither of us had ever been up there.

That was my attempt at a panoramic photo... :)