Happy New Year to Merry Christmas!

This year I have decided to do something different. I actually stole the idea from a friend who did something that was similar. It is basically an end of the year synopsis of what I spent my year doing. Although I am always constantly busy, it feels like its not any big events. I must forewarn you that the lack of pictures is due to the sad fact that my camera died. I then found my old camera and then that one died as well. My friends use to know me as the one who has always had her camera with her at all times......but lately I have lost that title. So the pictures from the last half of my year have stopped.

I am still working for the Department of Workforce Services as well as Kinder Care, although my work at KC has dwindled a lot in the past few weeks. Work with the state has increased incredibly. For the past 20 or so years, our main system that we work out of and issue benefits out of is a DOS program and we are going to be switching to a Windows based program. Needless to say there is a lot of work that we need to do to prepare for everything to convert to this new system. Rumor is that this system is easy to work , but I overall have my doubts. I am sure that once I work out of it more, it will be fine, but right now I know our current system(PACMIS) like the back of my hand and know how to manipulate that system better than anything in my life. Recently I have been able to work overtime for a couple hours every other week or so, which has been great for Christmas especially since I procrastinated buying gifts for Christmas to the last minute this year.

My New Year started off in Vegas. I was able to be with my sister, Amy for New Years eve/day. Last Christmas/New Years I was able to take the week off of work between those 2 holidays. So I was able to spend it between Cali, La Verkin, Utah (grandparents home) and Las Vegas with my Dad and Sister. It seems that all my trips lately are to either to Vegas or California. Although, I am planning on going to Ohio next Fall for the Ohio State/Michigan game as well as visit people in Ohio that I have not seen in several years. So that should be fabulous!

In February, Amy came to visit me for her birthday. We were able to go out dancing a couple times, go to a spa and she did some skiing. I have yet to give skiing a try even though I have lived in Utah for 5 years. I also started being a Mary Kay consultant. Time has prevented me from being able to do too much with it. But at this time its been good since my friends and family have been able to benefit from it!!

March was pretty much uneventful. April on the other hand was extremely eventful as it was the month of my 30th birthday. I was able to go to Cali for Easter as well as my birthday. My friends really spoiled me after I got home from Cali. Everything that they did for me was a surprise. The activities consisted of a breakfast at IHOP, then they dropped me off at the hotel room that they got for me for the night, a massage in the hotel room, surprise dinner at Lonestar with about 30 of my friends, comedy club and then the last huge surprise was a SUV limo where abut 16 of us drove around SLC for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I had a great 30th birthday and I have great friends who went to all lengths to spoil me for it.

Later in the month of May I was able to go to Lake Havasu to celebrate Fathers day and my Dad's birthday with my Dad, Jason, Michele, Amy and Kennedy. It was a very nice trip. We were able to take the boat out for the first time this year. Sad to say, it was the only time I went out on the boat all year. I love being able to spend time with Amy and Jason. It is one of those things that I love when we are able to be together, but we are rarely able to do it.

Some of my favorite things this past year was that every Wednesday night became Rockband/Glee night. Kirsten, Sylvia, Mindy and I would get together each Wednesday, make dinner, play Rockband and then watch Glee. Thursday nights then became Volleyball night. My friend - Rachael has access to the Volleyball court at the National Guard, so that's where we went to play. We would play volleyball and then head to TGI Fridays afterwards for dinner.

During the months of Summer I started house hunting. I was able to find a condo in Holladay and so far have loved it. It has 2 bedroom/2 bath. The path to finding the perfect one for me, but I was eventually able to find it. My specifications were pretty limited, but I was able to find it and now I am loving it. My mom was able to come up and help me get settled in and paint. I have also since got a roommate as well. I have not lived with anyone in quite awhile. It's been nice to have someone here.

Just prior to moving into my condo, I was living with some friends. My lease was up at the end of August and at that time I was not too sure on when I was going to get my home, so I moved in with my friends, Sylvia and Kirsten. I only ended up living with them for about 3 weeks. I did love it when I was there. They still consider to be one of their roommates, which is nice!

I was able to to down to Cali for Kennedy's 2nd birthday. The most wonderful thing about that trip was that I found out that Michele was pregnant again!! I am so excited, although I really hope that its a boy. Luckily, I will find out in a couple days on whether its going to be a boy or a girl!

Now I will be able to spend my Christmas with my family. As of right now, I have 2 days of work left before I am able to return home for the Holidays.

I have learned a lot and grown a lot this past year based on the situations that I have been in. The 2 biggest changes in my life was that I lost two very important people in my life due to varying circumstances. Both of which I considered people I was closest to and one of which knew more about me than many people do. You cannot change the way people live their life. The decisions that they made effected me tremendously. I hate to say that I will miss one more than the other. I have come to realize that one of them was more or less a social friend. They make it easy to move on once you realize they type of friend that they were and how they treated you towards the end. The other was someone who knew me on a completely different level than anyone else in my life knew me. Once someone makes a decision and you are not really given a choice in the matter, it becomes a little frustrating. Especially when they did not have the decency to give you the closure that one would need or want in order to move on. The sad thing is that I tend to care about others more than they reciprocate the feelings and I wonder why I care about others who don't seem to care about me at all.

I have learned that there are some friends that are there for you regardless of what has happened in the past. Friends who stop talking to you and let others decide who they should be friends with. Friends who will always be a friends regardless of the distance. And friends who are there for you and consider you a part of their family. And family will be there for you always regardless of how much you get so involved in your own life, that you sometimes forget about them. This year overall has been great and I look forward to a new year!

My New Home!!

As many of you may know, I bought a condo about 2 months ago. Its a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in Holladay, UT. I have slowly been moving into it. There were a lot of things that I have done to it(mainly painting) and other things that I have yet to do to it. But that will come with time.

Here a a few of the pictures of it before:

Here are some pictures after I have painted and decorated it.

In N Out

My dream, along with many other California/AZ/NV Natives that are living in Utah is coming true. In N Out is coming to Utah. First to Orem and then on to South Jordan and Draper. Kirsten and I drove down to Orem today to check on the progress. Here it is....



It was a good day!!

House Hunting

For the past 2 months I have been searching for a new home. The good news is that I have found one and we are in the final stages of it. Along the way, it has been quite interesting. My Realtor, who is also a good friend of mine and I had some laughs while touring different places.

Adventure #1:
We have had a lady who was in the home and knew that we were coming by to look at it. Stacey knocked on the door - no answer. So she proceeded to get the key to go inside. Once she got the key, there was a lady on the inside who repeatedly kept on locking the door, whenever we would unlock it. We were unaware of this. We thought that the locks were stuck. Then once we managed to unlock the door. The lady was pushing from the inside. At this point we thought that the door was stuck on the rug or something. After it all, we realized that the lady kept on locking the door and was blocking the door. We think she thought that we were trying to break in.

Adventure #2
There is one complex that had about 8 for sale in it, which usually is not a good sign, but we went anyways. Many of them were nice and some were updated. One of the last ones that we went to had - are you ready for this? - Pink and blue walls with flower wallpaper. It was perfect for the older lady who lived there with the white wicker double bed. I really wish I took pictures of that one.

Adventure #3
I am so glad that we took the wrong turn on the way to this one. We never actually found the place, but we did find a complex on the other side of it and we tried to drive through it and as we did, we realized that it was GHETTO! It was really random cause all around this ghetto complex were nice areas with new townhomes and older nice homes.

Adventure #4
This one was funny as heck. One of the things I did not even notice until after I left. They built a laundry room in the dining room with the dryer right next to the window so that the vent would go outside. Then there were vanity lights above the kitchen sink. I don't think these people were thinking very well during their "remodel" of the home.




Adventure #5
This one is very entertaining. The first time we experienced this it was in a home that was not updated and was a little ghetto, so when we saw this we were trying to figure it out. Ideally, its an interesting concept and it works, just a little odd.
In each one of these homes, there was a sink in the closet.

Dirty 30.....Saturday Edition

Can I just say how much I love my friends? They treated me to the most fabulous birthday I have ever had and I was not expecting any of it. Let me start off by saying that I was given these instructions. 1. Be ready by 10:30 on Saturday(4/18) morning. 2. Have a bag packed with bathing suit, evening clothes and overnight items Saturday morning Linette, Jaesa and Julian come back pick me up. They then proceed to take me to IHOP. One of our favorite waiters works there. We went there this past V-Day and he was the most entertaining waiter. My friend Heidi and Kim met up with us there. Here is a picture of me and the waiter. After Breakfast, they proceeded to take me to a local Marriott and set me up in a nice room. The room was decorated the balloons, treats and magazines for my reading pleasure. Sorry - I had to get rid of the slideshow due to the stupid music that I accidently downloaded with it.
The next instructions I was given was that my next surprise would be coming at 2pm, which was about an hour away. When 2pm rolled around, my friend Kim, who is a massage therapist came in and gave me a full body massage....it was fabulous. Shortly after the massage, my friend - Nanda came and I then proceeded to get ready for the remainder of the evening. After I was ready, we headed towards our next destination. I was blindfolded for part of the way. I could not handle being blindfolded the whole time. The next destination was Lonestar. We love lonestar mainly because there is a private room and we usually need one cause we are so loud. When I arrived at Lonestar, there were about 20 of my friends their waiting. The majority of them were from KinderCare or past wards....it was pretty stinking fabulous. Halfway through the dinner, I had a surprise, which was Trevor coming in and doing a little dance for me....no worries - it was clean. They also created a slideshow for me. Here are a few pictures from that.

After dinner, 13 of us headed over to my next surprise. WISEGUYS Comedy Club. I have been wanting to go there for such a long time and finally I was able to go. It was really funny. I think the comedian was getting annoyed with our little section because we were so loud. My friend Rachel and I were laughing so loud the whole time and then there were moments when she would make a comment regarding his joke, which ended up to be funnier than his. He ended up getting pretty annoyed that we were laughing after the joke was over and her knew that we were no longer laughing at him, but at something else. We ended up leaving the comedy club a little early. Everyone else left. My friend Linette held me back, gave me an envelope and gave me instructions that I was to give it to the person at the next part of the evening. As I walked outside the comedy club, there was a stretch Lexus SUV Limo waiting for me with all my friends.



Once we were in the Limo, the driver was instructed to go to several locations. The first one being the Blue Boutique....that was the first. Next we headed to Maverik(gas station) for drinks and bathroom break. We then proceeded to the Gateway(shopping mall) and I was then instructed to take several pics, the state capitol and then lastly Keys on Main. The night was overall fabulous as you can see from the pictures provided.

Whats better than Prince and the 80's?

I have finally bought the internet! No more trips to coffee houses and the Library for free wi-Fi needed! I have been without a provider everysince I moved to Utah, but I changed that last night, so now you can expect me to be updating my blog on a more of a regular basis now.



Two weeks ago I went to two very pimp-themed parties. The first was an 80's party for my friends daughters 16th birthday. The second was a Prince themed party for a friend who deserved one like no other. She was just promoted and has been very stressed lately due to the promotion. She loves Prince and when I was going to leave Utah, she threw me the sweetest party. It included a scavanger hunt going to many of the places that we hung out at. Ending at a place called Noah's with many of my close friends there. She made a DVD slideshow for me as well as a how well do you know Jamie game? I never did blog about it, but that party was fun. Here are some pics from the parties

PS - Birthday pics are coming soon. My friends are throwing me a party tomorrow and all I know is that I need to pack several changes of clothes, an overnight bag and I need to be ready by 10am.....this could be a little frightening

2009 so far......

An update on my life is definitely needed! So much has changed in the last few weeks. Here are some changes

1. ) I am going to be a big Sister. I signed up with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Utah. I am so excited. It seems like I am so consumed with myself and work that sometimes I forget to give to others. So this is one way that I am hoping to give back to the community. I am not sure who I will get or when, but I am hoping that it is soon. I have been able to attend orientation, but now I need to have an interview so that they can find a match for me!

2.) I have become a Mary Kay consultant. I am not too sure how much of a sales person I am, but I am truly excited for this. I know this sounds cheesy, but Mary Kay products seem to be the only type of skin care that my skin takes. All the other products usually cause me to break out or do not seem to improve my skin. So hopefully I am able to make some extra income as well through this new business endeavor. Luckily I was able to sign up with a friend from KinderCare, so we will be doing it together. Having someone go to the meetings and figure everything out with will be very nice.

3.) I cut about 2 - 3 inches off my hair!! I have been trying to grow it out, but it has just been TOO unhealthy and had too many split ends. So I chopped it and am hoping to start over. I went to a hair stylist who has traveled with Redkin fixing hair and doing presentations, so she knows her stuff! I decided to let her do whatever she wanted. I did have limitations, but it turned out very cute. Its a little lighter than I have every had it, but I like it! Its a lighter brown base with blondish highlights. The highlights look good. The last time I had highlights was when I let Becky Zamora do my hair back in about 2000. Those did not turn out very well. Home highlight kits using the brush does not work! So its been a while. Pictures will be coming soon! I am going to Cali this weekend so I will post some of those pictures while I am there.

4.) I love my adopted family! I know this isn't really a change. But I have just realized how much they mean to me. My adopted family is the Ketchums up in Utah. I have know Linette since I moved to Utah. Her and I use to be preschool teachers together at KinderCare and then we both moved on to management positions and then I eventually left KC full time. Although I still work there part time, which is mainly for social reasons and to help her out. I consider her kids my siblings and we treat each other as such at times as well. Linette's husband works for the news, so he is out of town for days/weeks at a time. We both lean on each other and know that if we ever need anything, we call each other first. Her son Julian was presented with an issue and they were discussing it, so they called me and had me on speaker phone. We were all talking about it and after a little bit. Julian asked his mom and sister to stop talking so that he could hear what I was saying and what my advice was. When he heard what I had to say, he then said that he was going to do whatever I said. Its amazing to think that a 14 year old would be willing to listen to me and do whatever I say. The amazing thing is that even though he would have liked to do opposite of what I told him, because I said that it would not be in his best interest later, he promised that he would not.

I have the most amazing life which encompasses my friends and family!

Olympic Oval Adventures

Many of you may be aware of my nickname Barbie Knees. If not, please let me explain. I have what my friends call 'Barbie Knees'. Which are knees that are double jointed and bend backwards, just like Barbies.
Due to my Barbie Knees, my knees are a lot more susceptible to popping out of place and being irritated by little things such as the weather and any movement that is not normal or controlled. Due to this sensitivity, I am not able to do certain activities in fear of them popping out of place or just my psychological fear of them popping out which causes me to be a little more nervous.
My ward went to the Olympic oval to go ice-skating this past Monday. I was hesitant to actually skate while there in fear of falling and messing up me knees. Nanda persuaded me to go with her and actually skate. While she was convincing me to go, I was under the impression that she knew what she was doing with regards to ice-skating. As soon as we got there, we slapped on our ‘VIP’ bracelets, got our skates and headed up the stairs to the actual ice skating rink/oval. If you have never been to the oval, it’s different than any ice skating rink. You enter the ice in the middle of the rink, which is basically like a track on a football field. In the middle there are 2 small ice hockey rinks and then around there is a little walking track where those who are ice-skating can use before entering the ice. Due to this set up there is NOTHING to hold on to while entering the ice. You need to cross about 30’ of ice to get to something to hold on to which is a foam barrier between the ice rink/track and the running track. As soon as Nanda and I was at the track, we watched people for about 5 – 10 minutes and then attempted to get on the ice. We both put one foot on the ice at the same time and as soon as we felt the ice we took our foot off immediately. The sad thing is that both of us did that at exactly the same time, which shows how big of babies we are. We then decided that we were going to try it out. So one of us got on the ice, while the other one walked along the ice. We did this off and on for one trip around the ice. We were able to luckily meet people who were willing to help us around for a little bit as well. After our first time around the ice(and taking pictures-of course), we were done. Then a lady was kind enough to show us how we need to skate to keep from falling as well as to actually go somewhere. So we tried to do it again. I think that we did much better the second time around. Although Nanda did fall twice, she says it was my fault that she fell, but it was her, so if she tries to convince you that it was my fault, it’s a lie! Here are a few pictures from our attempt at ice skating….

Fair Warning

I was talking to my lovely cousin, Sara last night and she informed me that she was confused by my previous post with regards to the timelines. I will warn you all that I am horrible at finishing a post in one sitting, so if it appears that it has been written over a span of time, it more than likely has been.

In future posts, if I write over a period of time, I will try to date each part of the post to make it more understandable.