Goals

Malone and I have been talking about goals lately. I decided that for me, for a while I have been too undisciplined to ever stick to anything to accomplish a real goal. For example, I've had a guitar for 4 or 5 years and I have always wanted to learn to play it. Well I know a few chords, but that's it and I haven't really tried. Another example is exercise. I try a few times or a couple weeks with a new routine,and I end up getting lazy and slowly quit. It's happened millions of times. And lately I've been complaining to Malone about my weight and he's sick of hearing about it, so we decided to DO something about it. He and I both made goals to lose weight and get in better shape. I'm a little nervous about making this commitment because I just hope I don't quit!! But, because I know I dont' like to disappoint, I am posting it on here so everyone knows about it so I won't quit as easy.
I started an account with myfitnesspal.com and am keeping track of calories, exercise, and I have my goal set so I can keep track of where I'm at. I also added a little ticker on the blog here so everyone could see how I'm doing. So far, it's only about 4lbs, but it's a start I guess. Malone and I are trying to run a few days a week to help us get in shape. And I don't know about him, but it's a big struggle for me! I haven't had to run like that in years, so it's kicking my butt. However, I'm taking it slow for now and I'm working up. For now, I am working up to 3 miles or a 5k... maybe I'll enter a race sometime. I don't know yet. So we'll see how it goes. We decided that if I hit my goal, which is a secret right now, then Malone said we could go on a CRUISE! If that isn't motivation, I don't know what is! Wish us luck! Cuz I know I'M gonna need it haha.

Memorial Day Weekend

Malone and I spent some time together for memorial day weekend. He took off Saturday because we had originally planned on going camping. But since the weather wasn't cooperating, we just decided to do a little day-cation. We went to the Idaho Falls Museum to see the bodies exhibit. I've taken anat and phys classes and I've seen cadavers before, but I have never seen them on public display like that before. In a way it was a a little wrong to me that people would put these remains on display for the whole world to see as opposed to a private setting for students... but in any case it was still interesting. I was a little surprised to see young kids there since it was a little graphic. I was particularly interested in seeing the blood vessels in the entire body without any skin. That was interesting, as well as seeing the blood vessels of the heart. I remember when I took anat and phys in high school we dissected a cow heart, and it was probably my favorite dissection ever! I imagine if I had ever become a doctor or surgeon, I would have had a specialty in cardio. Anyhow, it was a neat exhibit and Malone and I enjoyed it.

The rest of the day was spent shopping, and on Monday we spent time with Malone's family. We always have fun over there! We play games and just hang out and talk. Malone and I ended up winning hand and foot which is one game we NEVER win at lol.

I have been working on some posters for Broulims and I wanted to share a little bit of what I've been doing! These first few posters were for St. Anthony. I guess they had a display for lots of different kinds of summer drinks like pop, gatorade, lemonade, whatever. I had to make a few to figure out which colors I liked best. But we ended up with this one.

The next one was for the new take and bake pizza at Broulims from Noble Romans pizza. They wanted me to use an ad that was already made and just edit it. I tried to do it on photoshop, but it didn't work. So I had to get creative. Turned out alright, I guess they liked it!

This 14' banner is for the new Noble Roman franchise in the Rexburg Broulims store. This time they didn't want any Noble Roman anything on it, but wanted it in these certain colors. They actually ended up changing it a little before they printed out the final, but I think it looks alright the way I did it.

So, I guess the poster thing is going well so far! I've been enjoying it and it's a step in the right direction.

Busy Bee!

Well, it's May 21st, and supposedly spring but it's still stinking cold out there. Once in a while we'll get the warm days with sunshine, but they don't last very long. Come one spring you can do it!!! Pull through buds! We have a ward social tonight under the pavilion outside, and I just know I'm gonna freeze my tail off!

So anyway, recently I have gotten a second and third job. A month or so ago, my dad asked me if I wanted to be in charge of making posters for the Broulims stores. It's a part time thing, a couple times a week or so. So I said yes, since I only had one job at the time and it left me with alot of spare time still and it's a step in the right direction as far as the art thing goes. The poster thing has been pretty easy so far. I find myself being pretty perfectionist as usual which makes projects take longer. I'm not a huge fan of the lack of creativity some of these posters require, but it's a step in the right direction I guess. I did get to design a poster promoting this health tour thing for the store and it turned out pretty good I thought. I never really thought of myself as the graphic design type, but it's kind of fun! I don't mind cross-training in the art field in the least bit.

Then a couple weeks ago, my dad came to me again and asked if I wanted to help out in the Broulims corporate office in Rigby. Turned out to be a permanent thing and I am now working there two days a week helping with the books (which is something I have never done before in my life). Having such a busy schedule has been great! I don't sit at home every other day all day anymore. I am out there making moola! On the other hand, working in the office has been a new challenge. I've never done this kind of work before and it's tough learning it all only a couple times a week. I am always asking for help and needing someone to practically babysit me all day. Which isn't a bad thing since I'm starting out, but I am the kind of person who likes to do things on my own and not ask for help. That part is a little humbling. But oh well, it's a good experience and I need the money. Right?

Outside of work I have been trying to focus on improving a few little things like making sure I am doing visiting teaching every month, exercising often, and making time to do some sketches. All these are not going as well as I had hoped, which is pretty normal for me. I tend to be very inconsistent with things I say I'm going to do. Self-discipline is lacking here. But I did do one visit this month with a sister so far, and I did exercise today and have been making an effort to go for long walks with Tivo. The sketches? Non-existent. It's unfortunate really. I haven't been doing it often enough and my "skills" are looking pretty bad!

Malone is still doing the school thing. It's going alright, I guess. He's not getting the test scores he wants so he's a little worried about how his grades are going to turn out. Working and going to school is rough! But I know he'll pull through okay in the end.

Muddy Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to all the Mom's in my life! Mom, you're an amazing lady who has had to put up with alot from me over the years! I appreciate your patience, your love, and your amazing example! Thanks for being the listening ear I need and my shoulder to cry on during hard times.

And Beverly, you're the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for! Thanks for being there for me and for your love.
AND for all my FRIENDS who are moms, Happy Mothers Day to you too!

So, to celebrate mothers day, Malone and I went to dinner at his parents house on Saturday night. It was so fun! Malone's sister Holly and her family was there as well as his aunt Laurie and her family, and his grandma and grandpa Argyle. After a delicious dinner we played games and just had a blast. I haven't laughed like that in a while! On Sunday Malone and I went to my parents where my dad grilled up some steaks and made a fantastic dinner. My brother Chris and his family came and Ashley and her new hubby came too. Malone and I brought our dog Tivo with us. I let Tivo out into the yard to run around and a couple minutes later, I realized that the gate was left open and Tivo was running around in the field!! I ran out there to try to get him to come and he just wouldn't. Malone and I chased him around our field, and he ran into the neighbor's front and backyard chasing cats and just being so naughty! It was raining so EVERYTHING was muddy. By the time I was able to snatch him up, we were both covered in mud. I was so mad!! He got a bath as a punishment and had time out for a while. lol Happy mother's day to me.

Someday when spring is here...

It's been a couple months since I've updated, but really there's not a whole lot to update on! Things are about the same except Malone is back in school. He started the semester about a week ago. So far he seems excited about his classes. He's taking 13.5 credits and is taking an Architecture class, Framing, Accounting, Economics, and a Construction Management Seminar class. There are a few buddies in his at least three of his classes so it's been nice for him to have a friend to do homework with. He's been very good about planning his time so he can get homework done and spend time with me. He works so hard on his homework, even when it's difficult to understand and sometimes gets frustrated. But he works through it anyway. I am so proud of him! He has also changed departments at work so he is now in the meat department. He gets to help package meat and such and stocks the shelves. It's new and different and I think Malone likes to learn new things. So the change has been good for him. He's on a different work schedule now so he is usually home in the evenings with me. It's been nice having him home at night. Since we've been married he has worked till 11:30 at night most nights, so having him home has been great. Now we just need to find time to get out of the house and do something fun together. He's such a good husband and works so very hard to make sure I'm happy.

Altivo has been himself lately... chewing on things. It's what dogs do right? Lately it's been his own toys he's destroying, but as long as it's his own, I don't care. Our neighbors have just gotten an new great dane puppy that Tivo just LOVEs. He's already bigger than Tivo, but they seem to get along well. Tivo loves other dogs to bits but never gets to associate with them often. Malone wants to get another dog to keep Tivo company... but I just can't imagine having TWO dogs in this house. I don't know how other people do it.

As for me, I've been sticking to a pretty boring routine for the last few months. I just work and sit at home. It gets really boring being at home sometimes, and I need to find new hobbies. Lately it's been cooking, baking, and making strawberry jam. Today my mom and I went out and bought three flats of strawberries, cut them up, and made pulp out of two flats and just cut up the rest for eating (which makes me want crepes with fresh strawberries or maybe angel food cake, or even smoothies!! YUM). Yesterday I made some delicious banana bread (which is almost gone already) and some home made stew! I am definately a better baker than a cook. But that's okay, it's a start right? I have also been trying to keep a steady routine of exercising (some days are much better than others) and am trying to work up the courage to start....running. again. Usually running goes in spurts for me, but when the weather decides to warm up I'm going to try, again.

Shiny and NEW

Well, it's official! We have just bought a washer and dryer!! That may not sound too exciting, but for the past 6 months we've been going down to my parents once a week to use theirs. Not that I didn't enjoy spending time there, but it's going to be nice to finally have a set of our own! They will be delivered on Monday. It's a Maytag Bravo set, and from the reviews it seemed like a good set. We're excited!

Malone recently just changed his major back to Construction Management. He wants to get an associates in Architecture and finish up with a bachelors in Construction Management. Eventually he wants to get a masters in architecture, possibly at a Utah school ( I can't remember which). I'm happy for him! I think he'll do well with this and I know it's something he enjoys doing. I just pray that after all this schooling maybe the economy will be better so that he can find a job. We'll just wait and see! He's been off track this semester, but will be registering for classes next month for the spring semester.

Work for us both has been going alright. We're both happy to have jobs and have what we need. Malone is still working at Broulims, in which he is the Assistent Dairy Manager. He's hoping to eventually transfer over to the meat department. I think he'd have better hours and pay there... I think. This coming week he has been assigned extra hours working in that department, so we're hoping that this is a chance for Malone to maybe sneak into that department for good.

Work for me has been going well. I have been at Mobley Physical Therapy for nearly 4 years now. Right now I am the only one that has been there the longest, so the employees look to me to "lead" so to speak. There's alot to learn at my job, and it takes a long time to understand it all. But the kids I work with are doing alot better than I expected. I had hoped to get a position requiring more responsibility doing paperwork, but a girl who has only been there a couple months got the job over me. I'm not sure why, but it was hard to swallow since I felt like I deserved that position and had asked ahead of time if I could have it. Oh well... I'm hoping to find a job here in Rexburg so that I won't have to waste as much gas traveling to work as well as get more hours since I only work about 30 hrs a week. I've been really picky about jobs, so it's taking a long time. However, I have been working on some things for my portfolio so that should be interesting. And recently, since my little sister Ashley has gotten engaged, I was asked to design her wedding invitations! I'm a little nervous since I've never done it before. But so far the few designs I've come up with have been alot better than I expected! And I think Ashley has enjoyed them too. We'll see what she ends up with in the end.

Malone and I just got callings in church! I guess our ward finally realized we exist! We have been called as ward missionaries. I'm not sure what all we are required to do, but it should be good for us both. We'll be welcoming new members to the ward and such... that's all I know. I also went visiting teaching for the first time in this ward today. I just got assigned a few weeks ago to a couple of girls. They seem really nice, so I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

And of course, I have to tell you that Tivo is doing well! He's just as cute as always. I love him to death when he isn't driving me nuts lol. He's been on this chewing fetish lately. I think it's because he has so much energy that he's not getting enough exercise penned up in the house all day. During the summer we take like two walks every day. But it's been so cold out, it's a bare minimum amount of time outside... and that's just potty. He has chewed up the bed we got him months ago to the point that we finally decided to buy him a new one. This time we bought him a big pillow and just put it in his bed. So far he seems to love it! he hasn't chewed it at all yet and will sometimes just go in his cage and lay down with out us asking him to. I hope it stays this way!

Oh, I have to report that we bought two new fish to accompany our one fish we got for christmas from a friend. The first fish, I don't remember if I've mentioned before, is a goldfish named Peach. The two new fish are Bunny and Salty. Unfortunately, Salty died on Sunday about two weeks after getting him. He got stuck in the filter.... like a "Finding Nemo" gone wrong right? But Bunny and Peach seem to be doing well. I've never had fish before in my life, so it's new and interesting.

One last thing, I DYED MY HAIR! It's a dark brown now... in fact it's a little too dark in my opinion. I might still be in shock of it, but everyone i've talked to seems to really like it! Including Malone, who has been giving me alot more attention since I've done it. I guess he likes it ALOT lol. I'll have to post a pic later, since I don't have any yet. Malone dyed his hair with the left overs from dying my hair. It looks really good on him! Anyway, hopefully I'll write again soon! Love you all!

Holidays, Birthdays, New Years, Oh My!

Somehow we managed to walk away from all the holidays without one picture. I can't believe it! But, we had a good time spending it with our families. We basically just bounced back and forth from family to family. Christmas Eve we went to Malone's parents and had pizza and played games. That night we spent over at my parents and had Christmas morning there. It was so fun! I got Malone a long sleeved shirt, jeans, gift card for a video game, socks, a giant home made fleece blanket, and a few other things. He got me two pairs of boots, slippers, a sweater, pj pants, and earings. Mom and Dad got us a cool first aid kit, me a mixer, and Malone some tools. Us siblings had drawn names and Chris and Natalie gave us a camp stove. After Christmas morning stuff, we went over to Malone's parents around 10 am. We had cinnamon rolls, and opened presents. This year Malone and I gave all our parents gift cards to their favorite restaurants. Malone's parents gave us a Settlers of Cataan game!!! We were so excited! Malone got a dress shirt, and a comforter . And I got a purse, a skirt, and a sweater. Malone's sister gave us a Settlers of Cataan game too (which is so funny that we got 2). So we ended up exchanging it for another game. After spending some time with Malone's family, we went to see his Dad in Idaho Falls. We had ourselves a little "tea party" and had some snacks and drinks. He gave us some food for our food storage, which was really neat! After spending time at his dad's house, we went back to Malone's parents and has us some delicious prime rib!! MMMmm! Then we went to my parents and had dinner there too. We hung out and played video games and played games the rest of the day. We had a blast but by 8pm Malone and I were completely exhausted. We went home and I fell right to sleep lol.

Malone's birthday was the 28th. He turned 24!! YAY! In my family, birthdays are a big deal and we always try to do something special for it. So for Malone, I planned him a birthday party at Fat Cats in Rexburg. I invited his sister Holly and her family and Malone's parents. We all went bowling and had us a great time!! I made Malone some delectable cupcakes and everyone gave him a present. I got him a couple video games and a snow hat, his parents got him a snow hat and two pairs of jeans, and Holly gave him a box of chocolates. Later on my Mom gave him a dutch oven for Malone's birthday. He's been wanting one for a while! Camping should be good this year.

New Years Eve Malone was invited to go snowboarding with a friend. So he was gone most of the day while I had to go in and work for a few hours and caught up on some cleaning and laundry. That night we spent just the two of us relaxing at home. I am pretty sure after our long day we didn't even make it to midnight... we fell asleep. How lame is that? lol

Anywho- now that the holidays are over it's nice to get back to a regular schedule. I started working more hours at work. School started for winter semester and I didn't have to go! It's the coolest feeling knowing I'm all done! Malone is also off track so we've been able to spend alot of time together. More time than we've probably had since we've been married. It's made us both really happy! Malone is still trying to change his major to Construction Management. Hopefully it works out! It'll make him pretty happy if it does. Lately I've been a baking fool! I've made cookies, bread, and banana bread this past week. Everything turned out good! Guess we'll see what I come up with next week.