Taking "Me" Back Update

On July 20, 2012 I did a post titled Taking "Me" Back and said I would update you on it. Well, here's a 2 years later update:

1. Time Management - I still struggle with it but as long as the TV is off I'm so much more productive, and I started making lists for myself again so that is a huge help
2. Finances - We're pretty good here. I don't remember my struggles before but I haven't been worried about it for a while, so that's good.
3. Health - We got a gym membership and I never go but after I get off work we always go somewhere so it just feels good walking... plus my job has changed so I'm not sitting around editing 11-13 hours a day, which rocks! I actually get off work at 5pm so I have more time in the day to be active. I love it!!!
4. Home - I don't know what my concern was with this... I guess I didn't read my post well enough, but Jon is amazing at keeping the house clean Monday through Friday so I have the weekends now, which makes life easier.
5. Secure stability for my future - Still working on this. Other than student loans and a credit card or two we're out of debt, we finally got insurance about a year ago... maybe longer, so we can actually go to the Dr., and we have a savings account. I feel pretty good even though I do have new goals for our future which I've recently started working on, but we'll talk about that later.
6. Spirituality - I think I'm doing much better. I mean... we always go to church... we always say our meal prayers... we always say a family prayer at night before we go to bed, and I always read scriptures and pray on my own at night before going to bed. But just going through the actions is not enough... I try to have a constant prayer in my heart and I started reading and praying in the morning before I start my day. It seems to make everything better and gets my mind in the right place for the day. Something I'm still trying to do is make sure that I set time aside for a good long prayer... not any set time... just sitting down, by myself and having a sincere minute or 10 or whatever it needs to be. I use to do it all the time but it seems like every moment is full of something so it's much harder these days. That's okay though... it's a work in progress.

Anyhow, feelin' pretty good about where we are. We're still trying to progress in a number of areas so goals are good. I like having things to shoot for...

WOW! It's been forever!

Oh my goodness! It's been forever since I posted!!!

I'll have to get back into the habit of blogging.

Since my last post was about the benjamin's we have saved quite a bit of money which was AWESOME because we paid off a few random bills we had laying around... Knox's delivery, and early hospital bills, a couple little day surgeries that I had, a few regular bills, and now we have two credit cards that we have to pay off and we'll be totally out of debt. To be honest we probably would have been totally debt free had we been more wise but always being frugal makes you want to break loose sometimes!

Anyhow, who cares about money! So much has and hasn't happened.

I got accepted to school! Ya!
I had to defer! Ohhh...
I got promoted! Ya!
I'm still in Utah! Ohhh...

Hopefully more to come later...

Until then nice chatting with you again and I'll have to get back on this bloggin' bandwagon cuz I'm kind of sucking at it.

Peace!

PS. In case you're like... it hasn't been 2 years... it was, I just started adding photos that I took since my last post.

This is the Place [Part 2]

 

THE FLY.......

Okay you guys. Something about me you might not know... I LOATH FLIES! They're the most disgusting little critters on the face of the earth...

Now I know, this coming from Erika, lover of all Gods creatures, great and small... one of the few tree hugger, "hippie claimin'" Mormons around... but flies are icky and I haven't quite discovered their purpose. Not that I've done any major research but still...

Maybe someday they'll come out with a finding that the little beasts cure cancer. And on that day I will repent, and confess my wrong to the entire world... but until then they are dark creatures from the lowest abyss of H-E-double Hockey Sticks!

So here's my story... About a month ago a fly got into our house. We haven't had a fly in our house in... well, what feels like forever! So at first I was like... oh, I miss my cat... this is kind of like having a little pet. I mean, the thing wouldn't die - So you get kind of use to it... Anyhow, you know how they say that flies usually die within 24 hours. WRONG! That bugger lasted for 2 WEEKS!!! By the 2nd week it started to get on my nerves... SOOO we used our nifty little fly-swatter... which is actually really gross because its like an electric fence and when you zap something... it sends sparks... yeah... no joke!

Don't worry about asking... Jon's dad got it for him as a gift for Christmas or something... must be a guy thing because they both thought it was cool, and so did I until I saw that first bug light up like a christmas tree... not so cool after that...

Anyhow, so two weeks go by and suddenly the fly is gone. We tried zapping him but he was too fast... that's probably why he lasted two weeks... he was a fast little bugger (ha - "bugger" - a fly - bugger - get it!... Anyhow...). So we go a week, no fly... and then it happened. Somehow, we got ANOTHER fly in our house. WHAT!

This one only lasted about a week and then we didn't see it anymore. Totally clueless on where these things go to die but they seem to vanish. Which I'm okay with. Anyhow...

Then Monday comes... I wake up in the morning... take Jon to work... Its a regular day... sun is shining, birds are chirping... and then... I come home to make myself some Peeps in Diegos and what do I see when I pull the bread out of the breadbox... None other than THIS...

I freaked out. I actually almost puked. Literally. Wasn't feelin' so well that day so I was actually making food so I wouldn't, and then this happened and I almost lost it. I text my sister and asked her what to do... I already had my heart set on trashing my bread but I wanted a second opinion. The thing was curled up so I figured it was going to die soon. It wasn't moving...

In the mean time of texting I started making myself something out of the fridge, a bagel.

She asked what it was... I didn't know... she asked if the bread was closed... it was... she asked if the bread smelled bad... I didn't know, so I thought I'd check... I went over to the box and there was that little worm... all stretched out and movin' really, really fast across the top of the bread box door. I... of course screamed... and jumped around like I was walkin' on hot coals. I called my sister... "What do I do? What do I do?" It was like the first time seeing a cockroach. I go stupid, my brain is paralyzed in fear. Put me in some horrible situation and I'm fine... put a gross little bug in front of me and I'm an idiot! I couldn't bring myself to touch it... even through layers and layers of napkins so she told me to put a cup over it. I grabbed an old cup... that actually didn't belong to me... and threw it on top. She saved the day!

Life went on. Jon had seen it too but was too grossed out to do anything so we left it there for a few days, assuming that without food it would die. Nope. Leaving it there actually made us realize what it was. A few days later I finally got the nerve to trash that little worm but when I started to raise the cup I heard something ripping and it wasn't as easy to lift as usual. Op. That's when I saw it. That little worm was forming a chrysalis. It wasn't just a worm. That was a baby... pooped out by a fly! A fly baby! Or better known as but more disgusting to say... a fly larva. EWWWWWW!!!

So, needless to say the breadbox is gone as is the fly worm and its little home it was building... and my sister's cup... but I'm sure she wouldn't want it back anyways.

So that brings us to today. Jon and I get home and there's another fly in our house. We were fed up! Jon saw him in the corner of our dining room and when he tried to fly away, Jon started swatting. "I got him cornered, I got him cornered." Now, since two of the sides were wall/door and two weren't. I can't agree that having one side covered is really cornering him. He more had him boxed. So I took the other side with the fly swatter. It was like table tennis for a while. The fly would go Jon's way and he'd flail his arms wildly to keep it back and then it would come my way and I'd swing my racket and try to get him. This went on for about 5 minutes. The window was open too, mind you... so anyone who saw us would have thought we were spazzin' out! But after a while I finally got him. Zapped that little bugger and he fell to the ground! NOW. If we get another fly... we know how to take care of 'em... we'll tag team his A... butt... (come on guys... like I'd really drop an A-bomb)


Don't mess with us! (Not you guys, the flies... you're okay to mess with us, unless you're a fly... then not so much)

This is the Place [Part 1]

A few weeks ago my brother, Mario, his wife, Liz, and their two daughters, Becka and Nora, came into town. Their first time visiting Utah might I add. It was so fun and made me realize that I'm sad we don't live closer. My family use to always do a ton of fun stuff when we lived near each other... then Mario & Liz moved away and no more fun stuff... apparently they brought the fun with them... :) Seriously!

Anyhow, so here are some pictures and there will be more to come but these are just a few that I grabbed. By the way, if you're expecting to see a lot of my brother and sister and their kids, you'll be sorely disappointed. I actually just got a bunch of random stuff while we hung out... didn't take a ton of pictures... not like our Beverly Beach trip, though I wish I was able to.

But here we go... 4 pictures that I took that I thought were cool.

This was actually an accidental picture. I was checking the lighting and the shutter stayed open longer than I expected... its my brother-in-law, Ryan and the fire... you just can't totally tell...

Last, this isn't an "interesting" picture per say, but its my little nephew Oliver, whom I ADORE!!! He's straight up a crazy, no shame little kid and I LOVE IT!!! He had just jacked that piece of cinnamon bread from me right before I snatched the photo. Freaking adore him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. He plays the tough, straight up crazy kid, but he's actually really sweet and sensitive. The other day he wanted my grapes and I wouldn't share (I'm such a great example) so he would give me a kiss every time he wanted a grape... you just can't say no to that...

Happy Update

#4 - says I'm happy for the opportunity... well, I'm just happy that it never actually panned out. :)

Happy

I have a few things I'm happy about right now.

1. I had a dream... last night... the night before... that my desk came on June 2nd... tomorrows the 2nd and it looks like... from the package tracking, that it'll be here tomorrow. Prophetic... I think so! ;) Okay. Probably not prophetic, but I'm so stinking excited to get my office done! We still have to get the cork to make our cork wall, but that's step two. That, and a plant. I want something living other than human bodies in here... and we don't have a pet... which I'm dying for right now.

2. As totally weird as this is... Jon use to be in my dreams like crazy the first few years of marriage. Now, he's like never in them... It kind of weirds me out to be honest... what's wrong with me! Well, last night... I had a dream about him. He wasn't physically there, but I was trying to find him. That's a plus in our dream love affair.

3. The song: I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. It is the sweetest song in the world! I know its about death but seriously! I want Jon and I to be like that.

4. This is vague, but I'm grateful for the opportunity... you have no clue what that means but I don't want you to. I just want to say that I'm really grateful for opportunities... and I don't mean work related.

5. I am standing while I'm typing this. Yes, that's right! We got a high desk that I stand to use. I love it. Thanks to a friend for giving it to me. Now we'll have a standing desk and an L-shaped regular height desk. Love it, love it, love it!

Good night folks!

Burn One Down

So, I just got done listening to Ben Harper's song: Burn One Down. The song is about weed, mary-ja-wanna, reefer, whatever you choose to call it. Anyhow, there's a line in there that stood out to me, it says, "so before you knock it, try it first." Now, I'm not actually telling people to smoke weed. Actually my comment has nothing to do with the drug at all. It just got me thinking a little bit, a catapult for my thought process, if you will.

I wish there was one really great, simple line I could give that would sum up my thought but I can't seem to come up with one... I guess if I did it would be something on the order of, "don't knock an action, till you know the intention."

The other day a friend of mine had mentioned that sinning is easier when you're not alone... and I totally agree with that. It IS so much easier to be bad when you have someone else with you... someone warranting your desires and actions.

This friend went on to use an example of party-animal, high school kids, and how when a new person comes along they congregate to them. Their goal being, lets get someone else to be bad and warrant our actions, so we don't feel so bad about them.

Now, maybe in Utah, because there are so many members of the church, this is true... I don't know. I can only speak from experience, and my experience is outside of Utah, and around very few LDS people. 

As a party-animal, high school kid, I can say from personal experience, this was not the intention behind my actions. I simply wanted them to feel welcome and I knew that I had the ability to help them make friends.

Now this is just a small example, but how often DO we judge people's intentions because we disagree with their lifestyle choices?

Anyhow, I hope someday, when we have kids, we can teach them to love everybody... party-animal or not... I hope we can teach them to make good judgement calls, but to hold judgements. To accept everyone, while still holding tight to their own spiritual beliefs. I think for many adults its a fine line that's hard to walk... They fall too far to one side or the other... I just hope we can create such balance in our future generations.

Anyhow, if you want to hear an amazing artist, and the song that inspired this little post, here it is:

Our Happy Easter Stuff

Feminism

I only have a few minutes before we head to Jon's sister's baby shower... Lets see if I can get this thought out.

I'm a feminist... a lot of people in the church and on the right in general think its a bad word... its not. Feminists just want equal rights for women as men. I'm not a Third Wave feminist, who have branched out to equal rights for all the genders... I'm a bit more classic. I think women still have too far to go to start focusing on other things... we're still not where we should be.

Anyhow, there's a phrase I hear all the time in the church and I think its ridiculous!

Well, let me start out by saying that when I first was introduced to the church, my biggest issue, excluding giving up my lifestyle, and being called a "Mormon" was that women couldn't hold the priesthood. But I prayed about joining the church and I received a hearty confirmation that this was what I was supposed to do... I told my friends I'd still party hard on holidays and I told the missionaries that I was not going to be a "Mormon." But needless to say, I stopped partying all together, and the first words out of my mouth after coming out of the water was... "I'm a Mormon!"

Anyhow, a few months... maybe a year into my conversion I went to the bishop. It was really bothering me that women couldn't hold the priesthood. He said "well, women were just more righteous in the pre-existance and therefore they don't need to perform those outwardly ordinances like the men do... a constant reminder to them, who need it.

I didn't buy it but I didn't know why.... then a few years ago it finally hit me... God is the same today and forever... God created worlds without number...

So what they're telling me is that whoever gets the priesthood is like a coin toss... kind of un-orderly for a God of order... and what, in some other world where the women are less righteous, the women have the priesthood...

I seriously doubt it!

No, God is a God of order... Men have always and will always have the priesthood and the Women never will... and I'm okay with that... here's why...

I've heard more than one female, in my 11 years, say that they felt like less than men because they didn't have the priesthood, like Adam or Man is the ruler over the earth and women are just their sidekick on this magic carpet ride... not the case...

Men and Women are equal! Let me ask you... how is a person going to get to this earth without a woman? I don't have kids and it scares the crap out of me at the though of having a human being in me, but I see that the "Motherhood" is equivalent to the "Priesthood." Women perform the ordinances to help spirits gain a physical body, and Men perform the ordinances that allow them to return to Heavenly Father.

What's not equal about that? The problem is the world... and its ideologies... Man, I have so much more on my mind but I have to go... its 12:30... Anyhow, thanks for listening to my rant. :) Have a good day!

Freedom!

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! I seriously feel like I have the best life ever!

Yes, editing sometimes makes me feel like my very life is being sucked from me, sending me to a dark chasm of despair, never to return (*wink).

And yes, though you may not believe it, Jon and I do fight every once in a while, but all-in-all, and for the most part... we're really happy.

I'm sure that a lot of people are happy but I still feel like we're a rarity... and though thinking we're the only one's in the world is completely fooling myself... I'm okay with that...

We've been married for 7 years, and we still don't have kids... now a lot of people would say, 'you guys are totally missing out!' And we probably are... but for now... I'm going to take full advantage of it just being the two of us... No one to take care of but ourselves... no one to worry about but ourselves... and no one to answer to but ourselves...

Maybe its because I've had a long, crazy week and its finally the weekend... but I feel free! Amazingly free! And it feels good!!!!

A Few Things I Find Interesting

I'm sure I could add to this list as I go but for now...

I find it interesting that people still honk their horns when they're waiting out side for someone. Don't you have a cell phone? Don't you know its 7:30 AM and not everyone has a kid going to school that early? Don't you realize that there are like 10 houses, in incredibly close proximity to you that you are, quite possibly, disturbing. Didn't your parents teach you any better manners? And to end with the question that I started with...

DON'T YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE?

On a more serious note...

I find it interesting that I am always prompted to fast on Fast Sunday. I have a tendency to disregard my promptings as me just being silly, then something happens and I realize it was the spirit prompting me. But I always realize after the fact. I use to always have a feeling like I should fast and hardly ever did, and then I'd get to church and it was Fast Sunday. One time I felt like I should fast for my brother-in-law. I started it but then quite half way through thinking I was being silly... little did I know that, that same day Ryan was called in for an interview he didn't expect and needless to say he didn't get it. I feel a little responsible. I disregarded a prompting that might have helped. Well, this morning I woke up and was reading my scriptures and thought... hmmm... I should fast... I then thought that was a bad idea because its Super Bowl Sunday and we're going to a friends house for dinner... and it won't be 24 hours because I didn't start it last night. But then I though... I don't see why I can't do a mini fast and just go from now until dinner time... So I started my fast, took a shower and started getting ready. About 10 minutes ago I get two doorbell rings and a few very large poundings on the door... It was the deacons coming around to pick up tithing... its Fast Sunday! Every time! Why do I ever disregard promptings when they are always right?!

PS... Those kids should not be knocking like the dang police! Freaked me out!

Photos We've Stumbled On

So... I've now got Jon stumbling like crazy. Here are a few pictures he came on and they're pretty darn cute!

Stumble!

Okay, so I found this cool new application... well, I didn't find it... a gal from work introduced me to it and its really cool! This was the first thing I stumbled upon tonight and I think its pretty funny!

Foto Fun

I realized last night that I seriously had to change our Vimeo picture because its been the same one for... a year and a half, maybe two years. Anyhow, I played with this photo forever just in Pages and I really like how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

You can also see it on our Vimeo page by clicking here.

iPhone Meet Verizon, Verizon Meet the iPhone

Short little entry here... I am SO excited that Verizon and Apple have finally come together. Well, I say "finally" but I mean as of February 10, 2011. I have completely switched to Mac and I love my iDisc. I love that I'm completely connected. No matter where I go, I have the same information in my calendar, in my address book, my email, etc. Its fantabulous! I've actually been debating for a while to switch phone companies, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I've been with Verizon since 2004, and Jon's been with them for far longer. It was just more simple to stay, but now they're giving me exactly what I want... an iPhone.

Thank you Verizon. And Apple... see, I told you it'd make a great pair. I hope its a happy relationship that lasts a very long time. Best of luck you two crazy love birds.

Beverly Beach - Part III

Last set. Okay, so this is a continuation of the Nieces section. First Becka, havin' fun.

Next Nora. She's running from the water and then looking at how wet her pants just got. As you can see she couldn't outrun it.

And Ava... In one she looks like she's gazing off into the distance... the second makes me think... Down... Set... Hike....

I so love this picture of Nora and Oliver. Its so sweet. Ahhh, love it! And... well, we took a lot of great shots of Oliver, so here's a little Oliver section.

Beverly Beach - Part II

So here are a few more pictures. We'll start out with Oldest to Youngest. How cute is that? Seriously...

The following pictures are parent(s) and kids. We took the best shots of my Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law... no offense to my Sister and Brother, but I'm sure they like these pictures too. Oh, and Jon got this totally rad shot of Ryan. At first I was like... its way too blown out but now its definitely my favorite photo from the trip.

Now, on to the kids... Nieces first... I didn't have too many of my brother's oldest daughter. I think I automatically focus on the youngest. I did the same thing with my sister's oldest son, didn't really capture much of him.

Okay, I didn't get through it tonight. I'll have to add more another day.

Beverly Beach - Part I

I can't remember when it was... August or September... anyhow, my family went to Beverly Beach, OR for a little reunion, if you will. Anyhow, I decided to use Picnik to add some fun little effects... this is what'cha get.

The place was gorgeous by the way. I really would love to go back. It was amazing!!! I love the ocean... of course I'm too scared to step foot in it, but I do love to look at it. Also... for this little group... I think I like the yellow tint to pictures, more than the black and white effect.

I didn't do anything to the following few because I liked them just the way they are. Like my family, I like them just the way they are.

I have so many more pictures to add, however, I really want to go hang out with Jon so I'm going to go for the night and finish this post tomorrow.