Updates

• I start a new job in a little over a week at SirsiDynix. They make the library database software that we used at the Harold B. Lee Library. I'll be a technical writer there, and will get to write their help manuals. It doesn't sound like much, but I'm super duper excited about it!
  
  
• The band I'm in, Milo, has been rocking it up lately. We had a show on the Saturday before Halloween, which was awesome despite my being sick. Most recently, we played in the battle of the bands at Muse Music last Tuesday, which was also totally awesome. There was a great energy there and we had a blast playing our music. If you haven't already, you should like us on facebook. (There's a link to take you to our facebook page-on the word Milo-but for some reason I can't get the color to change to be noticeable.)
  
  
• I started a new diet, and I've already lost 7 pounds in a little over two weeks. I'm hoping to be down 10 pounds by the end of the third week. You can read a little bit more about it in my health journey blog (link's right over there ----->). My goal for this diet is to have lost 40 pounds by my birthday at the beginning of March, and I'm thinking it's totally do-able. I only have 33 left to go!
  
  
• We have the Davis's coming down for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's going to be a blast having everyone here. Although, I'm a little wary to cook a whole Thanksgiving meal in my uber-tiny kitchen. We'll see how that goes.
  
  
• Derby's been sick with a sinus infection for the last two months. We've taken him to the vet and he's been prescribed antibiotics, but it just doesn't seem to go away. I wish it would, because I really want to have him fixed so he'll stop being a stinker and peeing all over everything, but we need to wait for this to clear up before we can do that.

Happy Birthday Nicoley!

My baby sister turns 20 today! Weird... Sometimes I still think of her as being a little 8-year-old, mostly because I tried to mother her when we were younger. I'm only about 3 and 1/2 years older than her but for some reason that makes me feel a lot older and responsible for her.

Growing up, it was just the two of us, and boy, could we fight. I was not a nice sister. I contribute this to two things. First, our radically different personalities, and second, the lack of another sibling to go to or to also fight with. Two was just not a good number in our house.

I'm happy to say that now Nicoley and I are the best of friends. She's the one I want to talk to when I'm bored. She's the one I want to hang out with when I have free time. She's the one that I can talk to about pretty much anything. Not living together has been great for us and our relationship. It's funny because when we have to be in close proximity to each other for extended periods of time again, we fall right back into our old habits. We took a three-day trip this last summer to go back home for my cousin's wedding, just the two of us, and we had a blast for the first two and a half days of it but after a full day of driving, a busy wedding day, and another full day of driving, we were mad as hell at each other. We spent the last almost five hours of the drive in absolute silence. It was weird.

Anyway, happy birthday Nicoley. You are the best sister in the world and I love you so much. I'm so glad that we're friends now and that you laugh with me over the stupidest stuff. We really do need big neon signs on our foreheads to proclaim to the world that we're not crazy, just related.

Geographic Tongue

Some of you may know this about me, but I'm betting most do not. I have a condition known as geographic tongue. It sounds weird and guess what! It is! Basically the taste buds on my tongue don't grow correctly and they slough off and do all sorts of crazy weird things that make my tongue look like it has its own personal geography. Apparently this only affects about 2% of the world population. Aren't I special...

My case of it really isn't that bad. I have a funny looking tongue that mildly hurts most of the time, but it's not too bothersome. Out of curiosity, I was doing a little research on it the other day and I guess most of the people who have it are really irritated by it. I guess I've just learned to live with it. It's particularly painful after eating really citrus-y foods, and when I was younger I thought that everyone's mouth hurt that way after eating Sour Patch. I was wrong.

I will say that it's kinda cool to look at. If you ever want to see my crazy-looking tongue, just ask. I think people's reactions to it are really funny.

(I was going to put a picture up, but then decided against it. I wouldn't want to gross anyone out.)

Oh what do you do in the Autumn time?

I love the fall. I love the crisp cool air and the clear skies. I love the stormy days. I love the bright colors and the crunchy leaves. I love getting out my scarves and hats. I don't really love wearing real shoes, but I can get over it.

Last weekend, Cory and I went to a corn maze with my sister and Brianna and Michael Chambers. It was way fun. We went to the big corporate one out at Thanksgiving Point because I had a coupon. They charged extra for nearly everything, but the stuff we wanted to do was free so it worked out in the end. We went through a ton of mazes and got lost and went on a hay ride and watched a pig race and pumpkins being shot out of a cannon. There were way too many people there, but it was absolutely worth it.

Pictures!

It was a pretty good day.

I really should be over this by now

But I'm not.

My due date for my lost pregnancy was November 3rd. I know so many people that will be delivering right around that time. I can count six just off the top of my head and I'm pretty sure there are more. If you're one of these people I really am happy for you, really and truly. It's just hard to see my friends growing bellies and knowing there's a fresh new baby inside of them waiting to see the world. And knowing that should also be me.

It's hard. It's been about six months since I miscarried and we haven't been able to get pregnant since. Plus, now it's looking like we'll have to postpone the baby making so I can get a job while Cory finishes school. That's a hard realization to face when all I want to do is be a mother.

I'm sorry for being a whiner. It's just how I feel...most of the time. I'm getting better at controlling these emotions but they're always there, lingering under the surface. I don't know why I felt the need to share this with the blogging world again, but I did and I am.

I talked to my mom this morning about this. When I talk to my mom I always regress just a little bit and I complained about how it just isn't fair. She wisely told me that of course it isn't fair. We understood that before we came here. We knew life would be hard and that things wouldn't always work out the way we want them too, but we chose this anyway. Deep down I know this. I know that life is meant to be full of trials and that we are supposed to grow from them. I just wish this trial wasn't mine. I know I'm strong enough to handle it and that I'll learn something from it (and if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've known most of my life I was going to struggle with this), but I still don't want it.

Whew, okay. I'm done. Please forgive me. Happy things next time, I promise.

Labor Dabor

I miss Homestar Runner. Anybody else?

Labor Day was fun!

We took Nicoley, Brice, and Nicole's boyfriend Travis and went berry picking!

I love blackberries and the farm we went to had tons of them. It was great because the bushes didn't have any thorns and we got to go diving into them to find the really big ones that everyone else had left behind.

I now have ten pounds of berries hanging out in my fridge and freezer!

Here's some pictures!

That afternoon Cory and I went shopping to buy me a pair of slacks I could wear to an interview I have today. Wish me luck!

Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship

This last Saturday we went to the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship. Cory got free tickets from his boss so we drove up to Midway that afternoon and watched border collies herd sheep. It was...interesting. I actually really enjoyed it. We bought some overpriced food and watched a documentary being filmed and got some sweet swag. We ran into Cory's roommate from his first semester here. It was fun to catch up with him a bit.

Pictures!

 There was a water jumping competition too.

Rockin' the free visors

See, we do have fun.

Side note: We went to the library that morning and while we were there I ripped a hole in the capris I was wearing. They were kinda sagging and didn't have enough give in them when I went to squat down to look at a lower shelf. Instead of going all the way home I borrowed a pair of jeans from Nicoley (she lives a couple blocks from the Provo library now) to wear to Midway. Of course, being Utah, it was super hot and I decided to roll them up. Thus the stupid looking rolled-up jeans. I don't think I've ever ripped my pants before. It was a different experience