josh. karee. ellie

Friday, December 3, 2010

Thanksgiving in San Diego


For Thanksgiving this year, we went to San Diego to spend time with some of Josh's family. It was completely opposite of how Thanksgivings are for me usually, but it was fantastic. I'm used to really cold, snowy Thanksgivings in Idaho with all my family at my Grandparent's house and this Thanksgiving, we spent the morning at the beach.

The last time I was in California I was about 12 and I've never been to San Diego, so it was really fun to go. One day Josh showed me all the houses they'd lived in down there and it was fun to see him so excited about showing me where he grew up. We stayed at the Holmes' guest house. Their house is amazing. It is so beautiful inside and their yard is gorgeous as well. They have avocado, lemon, and orange trees. We picked a billion avocados and brought them home with us :) We had slurpees, Mexican food, watched the BYU Utah game, sat in the jacuzzi, decorated Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins' home, ate Peter's famous popcorn, and I enjoyed getting to know Josh's family even more. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures of us at the beach. We went a couple times that week.

That's me I promise. You might think I look short, its because I'm on my knees.
Knee surfing is the new cool thing.
Jen giving me some pointers before I headed out to have Josh help me catch a wave.
Woo! Go Peter!

My cute surfing husband :)

We've been married for 3 months now and I love him even more than I did 3 months ago.

cutest husband ever


I guess surfing on Thanksgiving has some repercussions, because this week I have had one of the worst colds I've ever had. I couldn't do anything, I kind of just went to my classes and came home and went to bed. However, Josh has been taking really good care of me and yesterday I finally felt almost normal again. Yesterday was also a super long day for me. I had class starting at 8a.m. and because of other projects and reviews I had to stay on campus until 7p.m. It was the longest day of my life. When I was finally done, I called Josh to come pick me up. When we got back to our apartment, I opened the door to hear Christmas music playing. I looked over at Josh and he sort of smiled slyly and turned on the light. There were presents all over our living room!

He told me to open three of them, so I just dove right in. The first one had two stockings in it, the second Christmas tree ornaments, and the third a Christmas tree! I've been wanting to decorate our apartment for Christmas, but school has been really intense since we got back from Thanksgiving, so we haven't had time. It was such a fun surprise! We put up the tree and decorated it then I realized I was starving. Josh went to the kitchen and came out with burritos from one of our favorite places.
We ate dinner and listened to Christmas music and relaxed. It was such a perfect way to end a crazy day. I love my husband!

Monday, November 22, 2010

facing one of my fears


I know I already blogged a bunch, but something scary but cool just happened. In my Biological Diversity class we're learning about snakes. We're dissecting them next week and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I hate snakes, they're slimy and scary and I'd rather just stay as far away from them as I can.
Today in class, my professor just finished telling us about some snakes that ate humans and about a professor who was bit by a snake on a student trip and after telling his students what was going to happen to him, died because it was a remote location and no one could get to them in time, when a guy walked in the room with a large crate.

Dr Sites asked if anyone was afraid of snakes as the "snake guy" pulled out this little guy.
Its a terrible picture from my cell phone, but I was scared to death and I had to get a picture for proof that I did it.

As my professor is holding this snake talking about labial and loreal pits, the "snake guy" is grunting and pulling something else out of the crate. He pulled out a huge snake! It was seriously at least 10 inches in diameter and he needed 5 other people to help him hold it. I didn't get a picture of me holding that snake, there were too many people around it, but I did it. I held the back end and as soon as it started to wrap its tail around my waist I ran away. haha I let someone else take their turn holding the beast.

Moab

We decided we loved camping so much that we decided to go a couple weeks later with our friends Jon Matthew and Megan. They live in Price, Ut so we drove down to see them one Friday after school and after seeing their cute apartment we loaded up the truck and drove to Moab. Friday night when we got there we still had quite a bit of daylight, so we decided to check out Arches. We hiked to some arches they call the windows or something and had fun walking around and taking pictures.
After that, we drove around until we found a spot to camp in Moab, which was pretty hard because it was dark and there were a billion people in Moab that weekend. We drove down by a river and through a canyon and around and around until we found the perfect spot. The boys made a fire then Megan and I started cooking our dinner, potatoes and salmon. After camp was set up and the food was ready we all ate and laughed. We hadn't seen each other for a long time and it was fun to catch up.

The next morning we packed up camp after a delicious breakfast and headed back to Arches. We started our hike to Delicate Arch. I got a little scared on the hike because I'm afraid of heights when I'm not strapped into a harness or something, but Josh calmed me down and helped me make it. After he snapped this lovely picture of me freaking out.


It was the weirdest thing. I was fine hiking up the trail and then all of a sudden I looked down at where we'd just been. That was my first mistake. My legs started to shake, I got light headed and I had to sit down. After a while of sitting there with Josh trying to calm me down and convince me to keep going, I started to feel a little foolish. Watching little kids literally running up the trail only added to my embarrassment...

We kept on going and we got to a part where if you climb up a little bit off the trail you can see Delicate Arch through a smaller arch and we took pictures there. We were standing just under the one arch and that's Delicate Arch behind us.
There was just a little bit of hike left after this. After we took this picture and were getting ready to hike again, a couple walked up behind us and sat down. The woman was really red and looked like she was about to pass out and was a little hysterical. I was drinking from my water bottle and the man with her said, "If you have another one of those I'll give you a million dollars for it." I felt bad for the lady because I had a little hysterical episode earlier, so I just gave them another bottle out of our pack and said, "No charge." That was my second mistake. I think a million dollars would add a nice touch to our bank account. After that, we hiked a little farther and finally made it to Delicate Arch.
As you can tell, its huge. It's so amazing to think that it just formed there like that. It was so cool to see it and then walk under it and look around at all the other red rock and the different formations.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

man woman wild






One weekend in September, we went camping.
We went to my friend Alex's wedding reception which was at a park a few miles up Provo canyon then drove up and around the mountain until we found a spot to camp. The canyon is so beautiful during the fall, there are so many reds, oranges, and yellows all around so we thought it would be the perfect time to go camping.






Apparently everyone else had the same thought. By the time we found a place to put our tent and Josh built a fire, it was really dark outside. We ate hot dogs and then we put cinnamon candies inside of some apples and roasted those over the fire. They were so good!





The next morning we woke up, had some eggs and delicious sausage then packed up our things and went on a little scenic drive. It was so beautiful looking down on Provo with all the leaves just beginning to change. It was so fun to go on our first camping trip as husband and wife!




Friday, November 12, 2010

16 things

I just realized today that I only have...

One 25 minute presentation left
Two more tests before finals
Three 3 hour long dissection labs left
Four final exams left (luckily 2 of my classes don't have finals. Woo!)
Five pages for my Doctrine and Covenants paper
Six student reviews for my professors (love that extra credit)
Seven journal entries for Doctrine and Covenants left
Eight pages of some sort of amazing legal short story I have to write for my law class or
Nine pages of a legal story. we'll see.
Ten days until a much needed Thanksgiving break
Eleven times I'll probably wish that this semester was over already.
Twelve days of wishing my classes at 8 am were over
Thirteen days of class at 8 am left
Fourteen days until one of my best friends turns 21.
Fifteen chapters left to read
Sixteen days left to go to school this semester! WOO!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Logan


In August there was another addition to the Jurgensmeier family! Little Logan James. It was a little scary for a while, but he's doing well now and is 2 months old now! I've seen plenty of pictures and heard lots about him, but we can't wait to finally meet him someday! Here's a picture of Logan with big brother Joshy. They're so cute :)


my best friend's wedding


My friend Joelle got married the end of July in the Twin Falls Temple. She was such a beautiful bride and Tyler is such a lucky guy.
Josh and I were able to be there when they came out of the temple and it was so fun to see how happy they were. It made us excited for our own wedding a month later. All the girls were able to be there too and it was fun to see everyone and celebrate with Jo and Tyler.

Joelle is such an amazing friend! We always used to pretend that we were twins separated at birth. She took me on my first motorcycle ride, we swam in her pool, rode bikes(well I pretended like I could while she rode in circles around me), tried to make orange juice popsicles, and shared the joy of sitting on the bench together during volleyball ;). Jo is always making people laugh because of her hilarious comments or the fact that accidents seem to follow her everywhere she goes. She cares so much about other people and puts others before herself. She's so smart, outgoing, gives great advice, and well, she's a babe. Love you Josephine!

Friday, October 29, 2010

happy halloween!

Personalize funny videos and birthday

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

the proposal :)



Back in June, during one of our daily phone calls, Josh asked me if I'd like to go on a motorcycle ride with him the next day after work. Riding is fun, however, I am still very cautious and scared because I'm definitely no pro. Josh sounded super excited and that made me excited as well. His bikes were just out of the shop from being tuned up and we didn't see much of each other because of our work schedules, so I just figured those reasons were the cause of his excitement. Boy was I wrong! :)

We loaded up the bikes, drove to the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain, and began to unload. I started to get nervous because on our last motorcycle excursion, I had a little wreck. In the parking lot. However, after a couple circles around the truck while Josh was unloading his bike, I felt comfortable again. We headed up the trail which is pretty easy. Usually I like to ride slow and Josh cruises in front of me and comes back to find me then cruises off again. However, this time, he stayed by my side the whole way or let me take the lead. We had a lot of fun riding next to each other until we reached a fork in the road. We could choose to go down, to the right, or to the left. I knew that the left had a very pretty meadow a little way down the trail because Josh took me there once before, down just went to some camp grounds, and right just looked plain scary. Josh told me to choose between the left or right, and I obviously chose the left trail thinking it would be the easiest.

I started to doubt my choice as I started up the trail. It was a lot harder (aka scarier) than I previously thought. I made Josh ride up first and I waited at the bottom trying to gather my wits. After he made it up a little way, he called down to me and I tried to go up the trail. I went a little bit then I freaked out and did not want to ride anymore. Josh walked down and tried to convince me to get back on the bike, try again and get my courage back up. After a lot of convincing, I tried again and failed once more. Since I couldn't get up the trail, I tried to convince Josh to just get his bike and we'd go home. He was very adamant that we go up the trail. I was mad because I couldn't get up the trail, I was mad because I wanted to have the courage and skill to get up there, and I was mad because Josh was making me do all of this and he kept pestering me to "Get up the hill Karee, you can do it." Finally we decided that Josh would walk my bike up the hill and I would walk by him. Once we got up to a level area, we stopped and I got back on my bike.
We rode down the trail a bit farther until we got to this beautiful meadow.

Josh said, "Let's drive in there a little bit." I led the way and kept my eyes focused on the ground in front of me. After a while, I couldn't hear Josh's motor behind me and I stopped.

He was parked by the only tree in the meadow and yelled over to me to come back. So, I started back, eyes still completely focused on the ground. Once I got close to Josh, he threw down his bike and ran over to me. Before I knew what was happening, he got down on one k
nee, said some sweet things, then asked, "Karee Jurgensmeier, will you marry me?" and held up the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen. And I of course said "YES!"

He then led me to a blanket and some fun treats he took up before our ride. I didn't want to ride back down the mountain, I wished that we could have just stayed up there in the beautiful meadow forever, but he also made dinner reservations for us and it was getting late, so we had to go. We ate delicious steak and had a fried calamari appetizer.

The weather was perfect, the meadow was gorgeous, and my handsome soon to be hubby was so cute and thoughtful. It was the perfect proposal.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

M.I.A

Here's what has happened since my last post...

1. A proposal
2. My best friend's wedding
3. A new nephew
4. A marriage to my sweetheart <3
5. Starting school
6. Being a wife 

I LOVE being Mrs. Josh Green.  I love setting up our new apartment together, cooking my cute husband dinner when he comes home from work, and living with my best friend.  Life is a constant party (except for the going to school part). 

More posts and pictures to come :) 

Thursday, June 17, 2010

what a cutie

Today, when I walked in from work I noticed this sitting on the counter. My roommates and I have been trying to make our apartment look better, so we've been rearranging the furniture, getting some plants, ect. So when I noticed the flowers I thought one of them was trying to "spruce up" the kitchen.
As I walked closer however, I noticed the card and the smiley face with hair.  That could only mean one thing... the flowers were for me!
Josh has been working alone this week because his guys are on vacation and even though he had 9 lawns to do in Provo, had to meet with a guy and check over some of his lawns in Orem, and then do another lawn up in Midway, he still stopped by my apartment to bring me some flowers! 
 
They're so many different colors, are very pretty and they smell sooo good!  I'm so glad that he works so hard everyday, is running his own very successful business, and yet he still finds time to show me that he loves me. Oh Josh :)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

just sayin'




People should blog more. 


So I can have something fun to read  


when I get home from work


...just sayin'....

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

bests

This weekend was so fun! My six best friends and I headed down to St. George to see Brian Regan, soak up the sun, shop, and laugh. It was such a relaxing and fun weekend and I was sad to come back to rainy Provo.  (Speaking of rainy Provo, Josh & I went to a BYU/UVU baseball game tonight with his parents and it rained basically the whole time. Fun, but really cold!)  


We got to St. George with just enough time to get to the Tuachan to see Brian Regan.  Thanks to Cris' wonderful parents, we were able to get front row tickets! All of my friends have very distinct laughs and it made everything even more hilarious to hear everyone's crazy laughs again.  It's been more than a year since we've all been able to get together at the same time.







After that, we headed to the jacuzzi. Its so funny how similar we all are, even though we're living in different places, we were all wearing swimming suits from the same place.


The next day, we woke up, had a delicious breakfast from our personal chef, Cris, and headed out for a hike.  We went to a place that had a really narrow space to hike through. It was a little bit scary but so fun.
Then we headed to the pool. It was so nice to relax in the SUN after living through weeks and weeks of rain and working in an office all day long. We also went shopping.  Usually, I don't really enjoy shopping and I hate spending my money on myself. I always feel that whenever I earn any money I should pay my tithing and save the rest. BUT, being with 6 girls that tell you that you look so good in literally everything you try on and that you should be a model, you can't help but purchase a few things.  That night we made headbands, watched a home video of different things we've recorded over the years: A Mexican hat dance/Love Story, a music video for "walking on broken glass", our own rendition of What not to Wear, and my favorite, Napoleon Dynamite: Rupert Style.    


(picture from 2005)

The next day we got up early, had a little photo shoot and headed to church. Then we hurried and packed, helped with dinner, cleaned up, and headed back to the real world. 
 As I was sitting in sacrament meeting, singing the opening hymn, I looked down the row and on both sides of me were 3 beautiful girls.  I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I got a lump in my throat. (and five little tears trickled down my face, haha my girls will get that... hopefully).  I just felt so happy and so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  We haven't spent a lot of time with each other the last 2 years since we've all moved away from home, but whenever we get together, its like nothing has changed.  I realize that this is something that is very remarkable.  Once we all left the wonderful bubble of Rupert, ID and entered a whole new world, we could have each chosen a different path then the one we were on before.  I realized that our lives have basically been turned upside down at times, we've felt sad, homesick, lonely, failed a few tests, had our hearts broken a couple times, made new friends, had new experiences, become independent, and been placed into a new world.  Throughout all this, we've all stayed strong. And when mistakes happen and we mess up at times, we've always returned back to the path we were on before though the Atonement.  I can't tell you how amazing I felt to be sitting next to 6 of my favorite girls in the whole world and knowing that nothing would ever change.  Knowing that whenever life gets tough, or my testimony is wavering, I can call up any one of those girls and know that I can rely on them for anything.  It is so wonderful to be surrounded by girls who have strong testimonies and who live lives that are full of goodness. Its easy to be happy and feel loved when you're surrounded with people who beam with the light of Christ. I LOVE YOU GIRLS!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Moving on up...


So if you look at this picture and imagine a skinnier, happier, younger girl with long brown hair, then thats me in my cubicle at work!

And, I kinda "decorated" my cubicle with pictures... the brothers, my family, friends, my cute niece and nephews, Josh & I, ect. I have been told on numerous occasions that my nieces and nephews are the cutest little kids in the world. I definitely agree :) I love being an aunt!

On Friday, on my 10th day of work, I got a little promotion! I was sitting at my desk in my little cubicle and it felt like someone was standing behind me. I turned around and my boss said, very officially,

"Karee. I need to see you at 2 in the training room." 

Oh jeez. So at 2, I was still finishing up some paper work with a client on the phone and he had to come and get me for our little meeting. I finished as quickly as I could and went back to the room with him.  There were 3 other people in there, and no one looked nervous so I tried to relax.  Turns out, we've all been doing the best (the others had been there for a while before me..) and he was going to train us to do a new job! It feels so good to be working and excelling at it.  It's not that big of a promotion, I mean I just get to do another step in the whole paperwork process, but I feel good about it.

Work at Myler Disability so far as been actually really fun.  The people I work with are older than me, the closest one to my age is 23, and most of them are graduated or going to law school or another graduate school, and the majority of them are married.  But they are so fun to work with! They're really funny and everyone is so completely different, that its always very fun.  We get a lot of perks as well.  Last Friday they rented out a theater for the opening of Iron Man 2 (which you should definitely go see), we play volleyball every other Saturday, and on Mondays if you get 18 intakes then you get a gift card.  I really wanted a gift card, and today I finally got 18! If you average 15 points/intakes a day for a week, you also get a gift card.  Also, we're all put into groups based on the different parts of the country, like South, East, West, Central, ect. Each person gets a point for doing intakes or applications and the team with the most points at the end of the week gets to go home early 2 hours. Paid. Awesome.

So far I really love my job.  The only downside is that I have to sit inside all day. I'm so used to working outside in the summer heat, that I have to go outside on my lunch breaks just to remind myself that there's more to this world then my little cubicle!  When I was roofing in 100 degree weather, I told myself I couldn't wait to be in an office someday, but now, I'm thinking maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. Oh well, picnics everyday are fine with me! I'm so grateful for this job and the wonderful experiences I am having.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

must be something in the water

When Provo starts to finally feel like summer these questions come to mind... 

1. How am I supposed to study for finals when I'd rather be out playing?
2. What do you do when all your shorts that fit you last summer are WAAAY too big to wear?
3. How did this happen? (not that I'm complaining..)
4. Where can I find someone to fund my much needed shopping trip? 

If you know the answers to these questions, particularly question #4, let me know 

Thursday, April 8, 2010

officially CRAZY

I guess it just hit me today that I still have a lot to do and the semester is almost over. I'm starting to get very, very stressed.  This afternoon I started writing a 5 paper that's due tomorrow that deals with Greek and Roman mythology.  After seeing the little red squiggles come up basically every time I typed a new weird Greek/Roman name, I used spell check, double checked those names with the book, and thought, wow thank goodness for spell check, or I'd have 7 different versions of Hippolytus in this paper!  Towards the end, I got every name correct as I typed it, and I quickly read though my paper one last time to see if it was perfect.  Then I saw 2 more red squiggles under these 2 names...

Karee and Jurgensmeier 


I laughed and thought, "Wow, if I can spell Hippolytus, Phaedra, Euripides, and Theseus right, why can't I spell my own name correctly?"

I spelled them out a few times in my head k-a-r-e-e   hummm that seems right.. why is it underlined? J-u-r-g-e-n-s-m-e-i-e-r. That seems right too. Did I leave out an "e"? nope there's all 3..  Jeez, how did I forget how to spell my name correctly?  

Then I realized something as I looked for something with my name on it so I could check the spelling. Something that I've had to deal with my whole life and for some reason, I'm guessing stress from school, I forgot today. The computer, Microsoft word, any writing program for that matter, does not know how to spell my name.   I DO. 

Man, I love end of the semester stress. 

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

employed

Starting April 26th, I will be working at Myler Disability! Searching for this job has not been easy, but the search was well worth it.  I wanted to work at a law firm this summer since I am planning on becoming a patent attorney and, after being hung up on and rejected (see previous post "indecisive") Myler Disability called and wanted to interview me.  Since all my previous jobs haven't required interviews, lets just say I was a little nervous. I wanted this job as a legal assistant really bad, and from my previous encounters with people trying to schedule interviews, I knew I had to be decisive. Talk about nervous! In fact, I was so nervous when I got there for my interview, that I semi-ran through the rain to the closest door, not noticing that I wouldn't be able to open it because someone's desk was right in front of it. She just laughed and told me the real door was on the other side of the building. Great start, Karee. 

Sitting down to wait for my interview, my heart was racing and I was trying to remember everything I'd read about interviews, everything people told me about interviews, trying to relax, and trying to look professional as well.  All of a sudden, my cousin Erianne walked past me! We haven't seen each other in a long time, and it was such a relief to have someone there that I knew.  She told me not to worry, and that she'd put in a good word for me.  A couple seconds after she left, a guy came out and started talking to me. I immediately put in my "interview face" and tried to be calm, and well, decisive.  But instead of going to interview with him, he just left as quickly as he had appeared.

A couple seconds after that, Steve, the guy I was supposed to interview with came out.  We walked into a room and the first thing he asked me was, "How do you know Jon?"  I had no idea who he was talking about.  He continued, "Jon told me that you are really smart, nice, that you'd do a great job here, and I should hire you." I shrugged my shoulders like that happens all the time and said, "well, maybe you should." Just kidding. I just told him that I met someone a few minutes ago, who could have been Jon.  Jeez, boring answer karee. Then he started asking me a billion questions, one right after another.  After one question I thought I answered particularly bad, he said, "How do you spell anxiety?"  then laughed. Great, he's making fun of me because I'm nervous and I'm doing terrible on this interview. Actually, he really just wanted me to spell it because people call in and tell about their various disorders, diseases, ect. and I would have to be able to spell them.  Then he asked, "What is 25% of 1000."  You should know, I'm not really that great at doing percentages in my head, even percentages as easy as that one.  When I hear something like that, I immediately reach for my calculator and punch in the numbers.  However, instead of freaking out and failing my interview, I heard myself say, "250".  Karee, you're a genius!

Immediately after seeing that my spelling and math skills were top notch, he said that he wanted me to do a follow up interview. How many more questions can I answer correctly?  What if the next guy wanted me to figure out 23% of 19384? I don't know how to do that! However, the next interview went great.  The second guy I interviewed with (Jon, however a different Jon than the first) is a neighbor to my cousin Erianne and LOVES her family. Score! 

A few days later, I received a phone call.  "Hi Karee, we want you to work for us."  And just like that, I'm employed. At a law firm. Which was the exact job I wanted for this summer. I love how sometimes things just work out.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

trisomy 21



Every time genetic disorders such as Trisomy 21 (also known as down syndrome) come up in any of my biology classes, they talk about this: a single line running across the palm of your hand known as a simian crease or a single transverse palmar crease. Apparently it is a sign of Down syndrome and I am one of the lucky few to have one and not have Down syndrome. 


Once, I was sitting in a class and the TA was telling everyone about the signs of Down syndrome. He said one way to tell if someone has Down syndrome was to check their hands for a line that goes straight across. Then he said, "I have never met someone who has this line and does not have Down syndrome." I looked down at my hands, remembered that I do indeed have a simian crease, and awkwardly looked at the people sitting next to me to see if they'd noticed. Sure enough, a guy sitting next to me noticed my hand, quickly looked at my face, then eagerly raised his hand. "SHE HAS IT!" Perfect. I never expected to hold/touch hands with that many boys (and girls) in my life, let alone one day. 

When I do something strange, say things that don't make sense, or lose the ability to focus on things, I sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with me and if it is connected to my "simian crease". From what I've found out (from wikipedia and other probably not so reliable sites) people with a simian crease generally achieve and accomplish more than most people. They usually develop techniques and inventions that last for generations. Which makes me think of my brother Cory and his inventing. (He is also privileged to have cool hands like I do)

Apparently, Robert De Niro, Tony Blair, and Hillary Clinton have a simian crease, BUT best of all I found out that a certain Mr. Dwight Schrute has a simian crease as well. I'm in good company.


 You can see it in this picture... 






Wednesday, March 31, 2010


Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.


- Marianne Williamson

Friday, March 26, 2010

indecisive

Last night, after I had studied for several hours, I decided to apply for some jobs.  This morning, while still studying for my test, my phone rang.  I answered and it was someone calling about a receptionist job I had applied to. I told him that I could work full time until the end of August then I would have to quit or go to part time.  He said that was perfectly fine. WOO! score! Then he wanted to schedule an interview and asked if I could go in at 12 noon.  I told him I had a class and he became a little angry and said, "You need to help me figure out when you can come in." So I told him that I had class and things until about 2 and then I could come in. The line went dead. I called him back, explained that maybe my phone disconnected our call and he said, "Carrie, you just seem too indecisive. I can't figure out why you didn't want to meet with me for an interview. I'm sorry but I don't think we can use you here."  Then the line went dead. How was I being indecisive?

Thus far, all my jobs have basically been handed to me... I worked for my Dad starting at age 8 or 9 and then off and on whenever I wanted,  I worked at a hydroponic tomato greenhouse because a lady in my ward asked me to, I worked for Baskin Robbins because one of my friends owned it, and I worked for Michael McLean last summer because Josh was there and needed extra help. I wish finding jobs was always that easy...

Friday, March 19, 2010

lonely

Having Josh gone this week, along with my roommates, has left me feeling VERY lonely. I'm SOOOO excited to leave in a couple of hours with BJ & MJ and drive to Rupert! I haven't been there in quite a while (sorry mom!) and I'm really excited to breathe the clean country air, smell the delicious aromas of my Momma's cookin' (instead of gross inedible food my roommate cooks), and play games with my family!

Rupert here I come! 

Ps. Shout out to my sister-in-law Linsy & baby Beau! She was interviewed by the BBC about the Healthcare debate. Read her interview here..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2010/03/how_the_healthcare_debate_has.html

I read it to my friend and she said, "wow your sister sounds really smart!" haha Love you lins! 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

shadow puppets

When I was younger, I remember trying to make shadow puppets with some of my brothers.  Bryce could do this really sweet Indian, and I always tried to do it, but I could never quite get it right.  Today in one of my classes, my professor showed us this video from youtube.  It's probably the coolest shadow puppet show I've ever seen. Enjoy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlbQPmXg08

Monday, March 15, 2010

the past few days




Last Wednesday was a day I have been looking forward to since September. Josh, his parents, and I went to a Brian Regan show in Salt Lake.  It was hilarious! One of my best friends Sadie first told me about Brian Regan and we'd listen to him on the way home from temple trips when we were in Young Womens.  I was very happy to find out that Josh's family loves him too! Back in September, Josh & I found out he was coming to Salt Lake, so we told his parents and we all got tickets.  We had pretty good seats, row 19 in the middle, and my face hurt from smiling and laughing all night.  He was doing a live recording during our show, all his jokes were new, and very hilarious. He's funny to listen to, but actually seeing him made all the jokes even more hilarious.  The faces he pulls and the awkward positions he stands in are so hilarious! Josh and I also ate at "The Greek Place" in Sugarhouse before we went to the show. It was delicious as usual. 

Friday, Josh and I headed up to Midway for the weekend.  We went to our friend Jon Matthew's house and sat in his hot tub for a couple hours. This has turned out to be a little tradition the three of us have, every weekend Jon comes up from Price we sit in either the Green's or the Brown's hot tubs, drink some Cactus Coolers/Caffeine free Dr. Pepper, and talk and laugh for hours.  I love it

The next day, we got up early to help out Josh's parents, who are in charge of the activity committee, set up for the Midway 5th Ward Spring Social which was a formal dinner dance.  It was so fun!  There were about 15 tables and each table had a couple who were the hosts.  They would decorate their table and bring plates, glasses, ect. for 8 people and just keep the conversation going at their table.  Josh's mom was worried she didn't have enough hosts, so Josh and I volunteered to be one if she needed us.  When all the tables were set up, they all looked so cool! The dinner was delicious! There was Caesar salad, crisp tasty vegetables, and pasta.  We were so full after dinner we didn't even eat any dessert.  There was a live band there and they were awesome. They played tons of different songs and everyone was dancing and having a blast.  Yes, even I danced. It took a bit of persuasion (ok a lot) from Josh, but once I saw how much fun everyone was having, and the fact that my cute date was dancing by himself, I decided he needed a partner.  It was a lot of fun dancing with Josh and seeing his parents dance. I can tell where Josh gets his fabulous dance moves from.. It was also fun to dress up, eat some delicious food, and spend time with the Greens.  

I randomly got sick on Friday- I lost my voice, then on Saturday I got a cough and I was congested so Josh's dad, (who I found out has a love for drugs haha) gave me some medicine Saturday night.  I slept so good that night that I didn't wake up until noon on Sunday! When I woke up, Josh was going through stuff from his mission.  It was fun looking through his stuff with him and seeing how excited he was reliving those memories.  Then at church, we were able to hear 2 missionaries talk- one just going out on his mission, Nicholas Brown (Jon's brother) and one who just came back- Elder Girch.  He served in the same mission that Josh did.  In fact, Josh was his zone leader (i think, or district leader..) when he got to Texas.  He is such a powerful speaker and the spirit was so strong. Josh's Dad taught sunday school as well.  He puts a lot of time into his lessons and it really shows.  He taught about Jacob and Esau's reunion and gave an example from his mission of forgiveness.  It was a wonderful lesson.  After church we headed up to the Brown's for dinner, then we went back to the Green's and took naps. Later we played games then headed back to Provo.  Driving through the canyon we saw about 30 deer! It was crazy! This weekend was so much fun and I didn't want it to end!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

found this today..

My Mom always said I should be a writer...

Sunday, February 28, 2010

sore

Yesterday I went snowboarding with this cute boy at a real resort (sorry Pomerelle, your 6 runs just don't cut it..) 
and today, I can barely move. After sitting around all winter long, not doing really any physical activity besides trudging up the hill to campus, I'm pretty sure my body is in shock.  My arms hurt from pushing myself back up after falling a billion times, my knees are bruised, my neck hurts from one really bad wipeout, and my legs hurt from well, actually using them! I was really nervous to go because the last time I was snowboarding (once) was forever ago. I faintly remember my brother Cory teaching me, but I don't remember any of it. I was also nervous because it seems like Josh is a pro at everything the first time he tries it, so I figured I'd be snowboarding along side someone like Shaun White. Now that's intimidating. 

So, Josh started from the beginning, "this is a snowboard, and these are snowboard boots."  Just kidding. We just hopped on the lift and before I knew it, we were at the top of a run.  I literally fell every 10 feet and Josh just waited patiently for me to get back up and try again.  He would tell me different things to help me, but it still took over an hour to get down the first run. After that run, I could tell Josh was thinking the same thing I was, "this is going to be a looooong day."
After that, we went on a run that was more for beginners, which actually helped a lot.  Soon I was leafing down the mountain on my heel edge very well and I made it down without falling! WOO! The next run, Josh told me to do toe edge and after a while I accidently started to carve. It was awesome! So the next few runs I carved down the mountain like a pro (who falls sometimes). At the end of the day, I carved the whole way and didn't fall once! I was so proud of myself, and Josh was very surprised/happy as well.

  It was a warm day, the snow was perfect, I had an excellent teacher, and the mountains were beautiful. It was the perfect way to end the crazy week I had. 

Thursday, February 25, 2010

just one of those days

Today it seemed like nothing went how I thought it would.

8:55 am woke up
8:56 am freaked out because my first class started in 20 minutes (20 minutes is also the same amount of time it takes to walk from my apartment to the opposite side of campus for my class..)
8:56-9:05am brushed my teeth, pulled on the first clothes I saw(which I may have already worn this week.. just kidding), combed through my hair with my fingers and ran out the door while putting on my belt (none of my pants fit anymore.. all too big. weird!)
9:18am Got to campus faster than normal, saw Brad sitting outside my class, so obviously I stopped to talk- I was already late anyway..
9:22am Walk into class and had to sit on the floor because there were no empty seats.

Believe it or not, this happened to me on Tuesday as well. Except that when I walked into class on Tuesday, this guy said, "hey I saved you a seat!" I thought this was a little odd, but it was way better than sitting on the floor, so I sat down and thanked him. I found out a little later that he is also in my LDS family history class because he asked me about the assignment we had to do about our ancestors.  5 minutes after I sat down in the seat he "saved" for me however, his friend walked in angry that his seat was occupied. Whoops!

I also failed a test today, one that I devoted ALL of yesterday afternoon/evening studying for.  My roommates can vouch for me, I sat at my desk from 5 to 11pm only taking breaks for food and water studying for this test. And when I say failed, its not the "failed" that most BYU students use meaning a score in the sometimes low 80's mostly high-mid 70's range, but "failed" the way I use it... a test in the 60's. WOO! Remind me why I decided to make BYU my college choice?

I came home after running some errands, opened the door and a big cloud of NASTY hit me. You see, my cool new roommate Tenin from Africa was making dinner. Try to think of a combination of dirty crusty old socks, sweaty armpits, rotten fish, and vomit.  Then seal it in a jar, wait 10 years, heat it up, and unleash it.  Thats about how it smelled.  I tried to smile and say hi, then ran to my room, shut the door and immediately opened my window all the way. Soon my other 2 roommates came home and immediately came into my bedroom as well.

Now, thinking about everything that happened (I didn't post everything, it'd be waaaaay too long of a post) I'm trying to think of some positive things that happened.. here they are..

I bought some of these delicious eggs to help me deal with being a failure. 
AND
one of my friends in my ward gave me these today!

Rainbow socks that could actually be leggings.. they go up mid-thigh on me. He's really good friends with my roommates, so whenever he's over at our apartment he always tells me he likes my socks. Since he's started commenting on them, I've noticed that I only have about 3 pairs of socks that are completely white. All the rest have stripes, are different colors, ect.  These definitely brightened up my day, I laughed out loud when he handed them to me.. first laugh all day. Well, I'm off to study for 2 more tests! Woo hoo, I love school.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

numbers

Number of tests this week: 4
Number of homework assignments: 10
Number of chapters to read: 6
Number of hours spent doing all of that: 0
Number of blogs read: 7
Number of hours spent watching the Olympics: 10000000 
Number of naps taken: 1

I'm in for a crazy week. 

Thursday, February 18, 2010

happy birthday to me

Last Saturday was my 20th birthday. woo! I honestly can't believe I'm that old! I know it might not seem very old, but I always thought I'd be different when I finally turned 20. Different as in I would have a job, a car, a sweet apartment, and have my whole life figured out. Instead, I don't have a job (unless school counts), I sort of share a car with my brother (when he isn't using it, which is never haha), I live in an apartment that looks like an old renovated motel you'd find in Arizona, and my whole life is not even remotely close to being figured out. But oh well, I love my life!

It was also Cory's birthday on Saturday, he turned the big 3-0! WOW! He had to spend our birthday in a hospital, so I was determined to have enough fun for the both of us. :) love you C!

Friday 2 of my friends came to Provo to see me! Ashley came from Rexburg and picked up Cristine in Sandy, then they headed down to Provo.  Josh and I met them at Cafe Rio where we stuffed ourselves with delicious food, laughed, and talked for hours. Literally, we were there for almost 2 hours! It was so fun catching up with them and talking about old memories. It was not so fun listening to them tell Josh basically every weird/embarrassing thing about me... my love of reading instruction manuals and my short stint as a breakdancer in high school to name a few.

Saturday I was really excited to sleep in because I finally didn't have any homework, but for some reason, I woke up around 7:30am.  I guess it was a good thing, because a little while later the birthday wishes started coming!  Josh took me to lunch at Rancheritos, which is probably one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in UT, then we went to New Moon in the dollar theater since we both missed it when it first came out.  After that, we drove to Draper to take pictures at the temple, walk around, and talk. One of my favorite things to do is look at temples, I literally have hundreds of pictures on my computer of them, and I would like to go to as many as I can. Last Valentine's day we took pictures at the Salt Lake temple, and it was so fun! When we got to Draper however, the temple grounds were closed.  So we walked around the temple fence instead. The temple was very beautiful.

Then Josh took me to Tucanos! I was looking forward to it all day and I was not disappointed.  Since it was Valentine's day the next day, they had a special which included extra meats and HUGE chocolate covered strawberries! Since Josh doesn't like fruit and chocolate together-weird- I had both! I also had tons of their grilled pineapple... it is delicious! Josh made my birthday so fun that I wished it didn't have to end.  Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes! Can't wait until next year!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

happy birthday mom!

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."
-- Abraham Lincoln
 
Today is my Mom's birthday! She is the sweetest, most helpful, and most loving person I know.  She is always finding one way or another to brighten someone's day or to help them out with anything.  She rarely missed any soccer, basketball, wrestling, track, tennis, baseball, or volleyball games.  Whenever one of us kids procrastinated doing a huge school project, she'd stay up until 4 am helping us finish the night before it was due, then wake up at 6 am to get everyone else up and make breakfast. One thing I really miss is having her come in my room at night, lay in bed with me, and just talk. She always puts our wants/needs before hers.  Even though I'm living away from home, she still finds ways to take care of me. This weekend, my brothers went home and came back with tons of things my mom sent for me. I am so grateful to have her as a mother.  She is not only my mother, but she is my best friend. I hope that one day I will be half the wife and mother that she is. I love you mom!