Now is not a time to play catch up…

Eventually I will get to blogging about Thanksgiving break in Arizona, but not tonight.

This week is Finals week…3 words… kill me now! Okay, it really hasn’t been that bad. I really hate taking tests, but I can’t think of anyone who enjoys it. The plan is to take one tomorrow and one on Friday. Maybe I should take both of them tomorrow and just get it over with.

I love not working… today I went into work and they said “Hey Amber, do you want the day off?” What kind of question is that? Of course I want the day off. I have enough PTO to last me at least a week… I have tomorrow scheduled off, and I probably won’t have to go in on Friday either! This is the longest break I have had from work in a really long time. I am loving it! I wish that I didn’t have to work as much as I do, but you do what you gotta do.

Anyway, wish me luck on finals… I just need to remember it will all be over in a couple days… and then in 3 weeks I get to start the whole process over again. :)

Tomorrow is Monday… but why?

I hate weekends where you get to Sunday evening and wonder why tomorrow is going to be Monday again. Where did my weekend go?

Saturday I went shopping… I think this is the longest shopping trip I have ever been on. Me and Kelci met up with a girl that I work with and her sister in law and we shopped for a while. After that me and Kelci decided to keep shopping for a bit, we weren’t fully satisfied with our purchases yet. It was a very long day, but I ended up finding a couple really good deals.

Today… was long. I left for church at around 9:15 and I got home a a little before 7. I went to my sacrament meeting, then I went over to my friends because she didn’t want to go to her singles ward alone. I went to that with her and then I had to go back to my church for tithing settlement. It has been a really long day.

Things that I learned this weekend:

• Buying new clothes is fun, but carrying them around after isn’t.
• My little sister actually likes having  Kelci-Amber time
• The girl who taught RS today has situational depression
• My singles ward bishop is really on top of things, and he is interested in getting to know everyone individually
• I am really tall, even when I wear flats.
• I have really long arms, and most long-sleeved shirts don’t fit me. :(
• I think it would be fun to teach RS… I know, I think it is crazy too, but I like being able to be creative, and I think I could have a lot of fun.
• Kalie has a really nice family, and she must talk about me or something because they all knew who I was.
• I am still afraid to drive in the snow, and I have been for 5 years.
• I am so excited to go to Arizona tomorrow! Please let it be warm…

Tomorrow is Monday… Good thing it is the only day I have to work or go to class!

How do you prioritize things you want to get done?

This is my constant struggle. I have too many interests, too many wants. How can I fit them into my life?

Things I would love to do:

1. Go to Medical School
2. Quit my ridiculously stupid job
3. Learn how to us Photoshop
4. Travel
5. Get my MA  certification (this one will make # 2 happen)
6. Build my photography portfolio
7. Graduate with Honors from BYU

Things that I wish I had:

• More time to study (I actually enjoy it, but I am too tired after I get home from work.
• There is a specific Camera I have been eyeing, but it probably won’t happen for a while. I guess I will just have to hold on to my dad’s camera until he actually comes to take it from me.
• A lower car payment
• More Sleep

Just a few of Many things I hope happen eventually.

Things that make me smile

Quotes from today that made me smile.

Between my boss, and one of the employees at work:

Jake: “I didn’t take your phone, I swear on Zach’s dead grandma. (Zach do you have a dead grandma?)”

Zach: “I do, but I don’t know if that makes it worse or better.”

From Amy’s Blog:

Nolan: “his life has writing on it, my life is blank”

From work. Me and a one of my friends were separated at work and so we were writing notes on a paper crinkling it up and throwing it at each other.

Zach: “Why don’t you just use the phone, or email each other?”

Me: “This way is more fun”

Zach: “This way is also wireless”

My favorite response to the question Why does Donald duck wear a towel around his waist when he gets out of the shower, but on a normal day he doesn’t wear any pants.

Jace: “Ducks get excited in water, he doesn’t normally have anything to hide.”

Other things that make me smile

I was walking on campus the other day and I saw 2 guys sitting on the sidewalk. One was wearing a helmet and the other wasn’t. I thought it was kind of a funny site. As I got closer I saw that the boy without the helmet only had one shoe on. His shoe was on the other side of the of the sidewalk. Then I notice a bike laying on the ground a little further down. I can’t believe it, a pedestrian was hit by someone on a bike. (At least that validates my fear of people on bikes while I am walking through campus) both of them were completely fine, but I almost wish I would have seen it happen.

Family who actually cares about what is going on in your life. (Amy thanks for taking the time to read my blog, and take an interest in my life)

Getting a letter in the mail every week from Scott. I swear that his letters have the best timing  they come on days that I really need a pick me up.

Getting FB messages from people you haven’t talked to in a while.

Getting to eat dinner with one of my really good friends and her husband.

My living room is now clean… it’s about time

Clean Laundry, I never realized how many more options I have when my clothes are clean.

French Fries, Dancing, Reading to name just a few.

Everyone is doing it

It seems like everyone’s blogs these days are so much more thought oriented than story oriented. It’s all about what people are thinking and how they feel. Do I really have to guts to express what is going through my head right now. I’m just going to vent, so you don’t really have to read this, it isn’t going to be too interesting.

First of all, I drive myself crazy. I hate that I cannot be perfect! I know that is stupid to let myself get stressed out about that, but I can’t help it. I spend so much time worrying about things these days. I know it won’t make me any more productive to stress out, but the stress just doesn’t go away. Here is what I am stressed about.

1) SCHOOL: I love being able to study what I want. I am actually really enjoying my classes. The only problem is I don’t have a whole lot of time to study. I can’t finish all of my homework, and so now I am a little behind. Just the thought about how much work I have to catch up on makes me tired. High School was SO easy, I never studied, and I usually got the highest grades on tests and assignments. BYU is the complete opposite. I am no longer on the of the smarter ones. I am average, maybe even below average sometimes. I can study (usually the night before a test) and I will still get a horrible grade. Even the class that I am staying caught up in and actively studying for I’m not doing so well in. Maybe I should cut back my hours at work. I am a horrible student.

2) WORK: I don’t know where to start. I actually enjoy my job on most days. I work at a call center, so it isn’t the most fun job ever, but it gives me enough money that I can play around with. I LOVE the people that I work with, which is good because I don’t have time for a social life outside of work. The thing that bothers me about my job is there is no room for me to move up. I was promoted last year, and then I was “demoted” (with out a pay cut so my boss says I can’t call it that). Now I guess they won’t promote anyone who isn’t working at least 40 hours a week. I work about 34-35 hours a week, and there is no way that I can find the time to work 5 more. It is just frustrating, I know that I am capable of doing so much more than what I am doing now, but there is nothing I can do to move up. So, I don’t even really try anymore, I know my stuff so I don’t have to really worry about losing my job, but I don’t feel like there is a point in going beyond what is asked. I suck as an employee.

3) SOCIAL LIFE: This pretty much doesn’t exist. I can’t say that I don’t have any friends, cause I do. I just don’t have time for them. I am a terrible friend! I feel bad, because one of my friends will ask me to do a favor for them. I really would love to, but there is no way for me to find room in my schedule. I feel like I am always bailing on people, telling them that I have to do homework instead of hanging out with them. It’s true, I always do have homework or studying to do, but it is also rude to bail on people. (What do you know, I am just as bad about bailing on people as my dad is) I am a flakey friend.

4) FAMILY: I don’t have a relationship with hardly anyone in my family.

• I hardly ever talk to Kelci, and we live in the same house. I think I see her maybe 3 days a week and usually it is in passing. Most days the only communication we have is a text that says “I borrowed your jacket, I will put it back in your closet when I get home.”
• I don’t even remember the last time that I even talked to my dad or Jason, they both seemed to have dropped of the face of the earth. But it isn’t like either of them would ever notice, and it isn’t like I make any sort of effort.
• I do feel like I have a pretty good relationship with Jocelynn though. I work with her so we have something in common, and I love being able to see her everyday. It is nice to work with family.
• My mom, I have a pretty good relationship with. She usually lets me talk her ear off on my drive home from work everyday. (45 minute drive) She stays pretty up to date with all the things going on in my life.
• When it comes to Bryce, I am a complete failure. I seriously SUCK as a sister. I never make an effort to go see him. I feel really guilty about that. I drive past his freeway exit everyday. It’s not like it would be hard to stop by once a week or every other week for 15 minutes on my way home from work. I feel especially guilty right now, he is in the hospital right now. He has pneumonia and swine flu… he’s hooked up to a ventilator, and I can’t go visit because I am sick, and I would hate to make it worse. I hate how often he is in the hospital, and I try to convince myself that I don’t worry about him getting better. But I do worry, I am scared every time he gets admitted. Yet, when he gets out I still don’t make an effort to spend time again… I am a Failure as a sister.

5) CHURCH: I hate that I hate church. I didn’t used to hate it, but then I got a miserable calling. I know that you receive blessings when you fulfill a calling, but my calling seriously makes me cry. I just finished the ward directory, if anyone has ever done that before then you will understand my pain. I don’t have time to do my homework, and I definitely don’t have time to spend hours every week making flyers and trying to figure out a ward website. I asked to be released, and the response? Pray about it. I just want to give up right now, I don’t have the energy and I am starting to resent church. I am a awful Mormon.

6) EVERYTHING ELSE: I don’t have time to keep up with keeping my area clean. If you come to my house the basement is a disaster. I can’t stand that it is messy, it absolutely drives me nuts. I don’t have the energy to clean it up. I don’t know how it gets messy. The majority of it is clothes and school papers, but I don’t know what to do with it, I don’t know how to organize it. I am not very good at my housekeeping.

Why can’t I be perfect? Why can’t I have the energy to get everything done that I need to get done? Why? Why? Why? Because I am human, that’s why. I know that, but for some reason I still have the need to prove myself. I am sick of failing in every aspect of my life. I want to be a better person than I am. I want to be “perfect” or as close to that as I can possibly get. My mom always says that I am too hard on myself, maybe that is true, but maybe that is what I need to be a better person.

ps. I know that I have a good life, and I really can’t complain. I just feel so inadequate to handle just everyday stress.

Once Again… Catching up on my life.

I am not very good at keeping up with my blog. So let me start from the beginning of the month.

I turned 21 on the 2nd. Of course I had a couple friends offer to help me get drunk, but I'm not really into that sort of thing. So, I decided to throw a "mocktail" party. Serve non-alcholic drinks, virgin cocktails and what not. Then one idea lead to another and it kind of turned into a bigger deal than I originally planned. I rented a couple of rooms at a reception hall not too far from where I live (the same place Jason and Joce got married). That day was super crazy! There was so much to do and not enough time to do it. We had two rooms next to each other, one ballroom, and a room with a pool table. At first we all just sat around and socialized.

            

 

Kelci and a couple girls from my ward brought around a meatballs, crackers with artichoke dip, and glasses of sparkling cider.

 

Then we went into the other room for dinner. We started with salad. Chicken Cordon Bleu, baked veggies, sparkling Jell-O, and rolls.

            

Then of course we had mockatails being mixed the whole time (Thank you John!!) I found out that I’m not too shabby of a bar tender either… well, I can now mix 2 drinks.

And of course there was cake!

 

It was a lot of fun, and I think that everyone them selves. Here are all of the pictures, or you can just check them out on facebook.

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I also started school… I love school, just hate the homework. I am only taking three classes, but all three of those classes have a lab. I start classes every day at 8, and then I go to work right after and don’t get off until 7. I don’t usually get home until around 745ish. My day is pretty long. I have run into my cousin Ryan a couple times on campus which is pretty fun. I haven’t seen Robby yet though. I took my first Calculus test today, 87% which isn’t awful but I am going to shoot for a little higher next time. Hopefully more in the A range.

Work is going really well, we just hired a bunch of new people, and thing are really fun. I like having more people around to get to know.

Other than that my life is pretty much the same everyday. Wake  up, go to school, go to work, homework, sleep.

California

Last week I had the opportunity to go to California to help out with a Zrii event. We flew out really early on Thursday morning, and came back home on Sunday afternoon. Thursday was a day full of setup, and getting organized.

There was a huge convention going on at the same place that we were doing our event. They said there were around 100,000 people there. The company that owns World of Warcraft was the company doing the convention. So it was 100,000 nerds waiting in line to test a new game the Blizzcon was coming out with. I was amazed at how many people were dressed up like characters from games. They came from all over the US.

Friday was pretty busy, there was a lot of running around to make sure everything was taken care of. We got off a little early that night and we decided to see what was gong on downstairs. We just flashed our staff badges and they let us into the convention. We walked around a little bit and we got to see a dance competition. Wow, a gamers dance competition. I now know what a blood elf dance looks like.

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Saturday was a little more relaxed. I ended up taking pictures of the event. So I wasn’t running around all day. We got off way earlier than expected and Ozzy Osborne was doing a show for the nerds downstairs. Again we tried to get in, this time we ran into a smarter security guard. Our staff badges didn’t match the Geek Squad’s staff badges. Our Events Manager told him we were with the marketing team and that we needed to get it. He walked away and said he would have to talk to his supervisor. 2 minutes later he told us that we could go it. Confidence is Key. It was great. Then we got all the way up to the front of the concert to watch Ozzy. One word to describe him is Creepy. I swear he has to be possessed. It makes a good story.

 

Yet again, another massive catch up on my life

It has been quite a long time since the last time that I blogged. I can't think of anything very big that has happened lately. So this is what my life has been for the last month or so.
Pretty much the only thing that I have done for the last while is work. Zrii has been pretty crazy. We just switched all of the systems we use, and the new system isn't fully functional yet. Which has been a mess to deal with. People call in to ask about their accounts and we have to tell them we don't have that information available at the moment. Which means I have taken lots of angry calls from people who want information that should be easy to find, but it is more like impossible with our new systems. Finally things have started to get less crazy at work, a lot of the bugs in the system have been resolved. My guess is it will get bad again on Monday. We cut the first set of checks since we changed the compensation plan, and I have a feeling that we are going to get a lot of people calling in because they don't like the new comp plan. I guess we will just have to see how it goes.
The good news about work is that I get to go out to California for a little convention thing we are doing out there. I leave Thursday morning and I fly home on Sunday. Jocelynn is going to too, so it should be pretty fun. Also, the girl who sits next to me at work gets to come, she is one of my favorite people, so I am pretty excited about it. Originally I think that I was invited to come to do pictures at the event, but I'm not sure if that is still one of my big job descriptions for the event. I hope that I will have a chance to do some photos, but it will be a relief if I am not the only one they are relying on for them. I am pretty good with a camera, but the lighting is weird, and stuff when you are trying to take pictures of speakers. I just don't have enough experience in that area of photography to feel confident.
Outside of work, I don't really have a life. I usually get home pretty late, and so I don't feel like going out and doing something. I usually end up watching TV while doing some craft project, or cleaning. I am starting to make some friends in my ward. I am having a lot of fun. I usually go to FHE on Mondays, and do ward prayer and games on Sundays. So I have a semi-social-life on Sundays and Mondays.
I am planning on having a birthday party this year for myself... The last time I had a party was when I turned sixteen, and that turned out to be a disaster. I'm hoping that this one goes a little better than that one. In a couple weeks I will be the big 21. Which means legally I can drink. I had a couple friends offer to get me wasted. Thanks, but I think I'm okay with not drinking. For my party I am doing a dinner and "mocktails". I rented a couple rooms at Noahs, and it is going to be a pretty dressy event. I think that it will be fun. All of my really close friends are way excited, and I know that they will go all out with me. I am trying to come up with a menu to serve, but I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas would be appreciated. I figure I will start with a salad... that was the easy part. Then for the main dish I was thinking Chicken Cordon Bleu, and baked veggies? I also have to come up with a Vegetarian Dish. For some reason a lot of my Friends have gone Vegetarian and won't eat meat. I have a couple vegetarian recipes, but I don't have anything fancy. Then I have no idea for dessert, maybe cream puffs? That kind of goes along with my cocktail theme. I really want this party to be fun, so if you have any great ideas they would be greatly appreciated. You can just email me reachamber@hotmail.com, or I guess you comment.
Lastly, I will give anyone who wants to know an update on Scott. He has been in Japan for almost a month now. He is doing really well, but he is having a hard time talking to Native Japanese people. His first day in Japan he ended up in the hospital with food poisoning. I think that he is proud of his Japanese writing, cause there is usually a few sentences in Japanese writing in my letters, too bad I don't read Japanese. He's doing really good, and he is happy to finally be in Japan.
I will make sure to post the outcome of my party after the big event. Hopefully it will all go as planned.

Is that a squirrel?

I was down in the basement studying and I hear my mom yell for me to come up. She sounded like she was kind of in a panic. So I ran up and she is standing in the kitchen. Turns out that we had a squirrel in our laundry room. We had the door open earlier and apparently a squirrel found his way in.

It went into a closet, and we were trying to figure out a way to get it out of the house. I was standing on a chair slowly moving things out of the closet with a broom stick. I haven’t been that jumpy in a long time. We finally got him out of the closet and into the “green carpet room”

   

Then we chased it out the front door… haha, what a day.

Truth

Here are some truths about me…

• As of right now I am planning on being a business major… but I still have to apply to the program.
• I am also premed, which means I am taking lots of science classes that don’t really go along with my major.
• I love to ballroom dance, and I wish that I had more opportunity to go dancing.
• I hate it when the shower curtain is closed, because I have a fear that someone is going to be standing behind it…
• My car and my bedroom are usually a mess, I wish I had more time to keep them organized.
• I am not very good about studying, but this fall semester I am planning on going to the library everyday after work so I won’t be distracted by my computer or TV.
• Thinking about the future overwhelms me.
• I actually like going to church every Sunday, even though sometimes I complain about going.
• I like to go to public places and just watch people… Its funny the things that people do when they don’t know somebody is watching.
• I love to sing, although I am not very good at it.
• I am teaching myself how to play the piano, I haven’t taken lesson since I was 8.
• I like to read, but I have a hard time finding time to sit down and actually get into a book.
• I really like photography, and would like to buy a professional camera.
• I procrastinate way too much, sometimes it takes me forever to get things done if I’m not given a deadline.
• I like science classes, they just make sense. English on the other hand doesn’t make any sense.
• I like doing things for others, and I rarely say no when it comes to helping someone out, even if it means I won’t get something done for me that needs to be done.
• I have to give a talk on “Truth” in two weeks, and I don’t know where to start. Any ideas would definitely be helpful.

21 day challenge is over…

For the last 21 days I have been doing this “21-day challenge” for work. It included cutting meat from my diet, cutting out any processed sugars, exercising, meditation, and drinking Zrii. I can’t  believe how much of a difference those changes have made. I don’t feel as sick to my stomach as often, my skin is starting to look more clear (It wasn’t very bad in the first place) but I am definitely noticing some differences. I think that I will stick to eating this way for a while.

Crazy idea… The girl that I sit next to at work asked me if I wanted to do a relay with her and a bunch of other people next June. I have a list of things that I want to do before I die, and run a marathon is one of them. I think that it will be fun, and it will be a good motivation to start getting active again. The relay is a 186 mile run between 12 people. Each person will run 3 different legs of the race. It starts in Logan, goes down to Heber, and then up to Park City. The goal is to it within a 24 hour period. I am officially going to start training for this now, so I can do it next summer without dying. Since I am going to be in shape, I figure I will probably do the Salt Lake City Marathon next year too(That was Courtney’s idea). I’m actually really excited about it. The first couple weeks of training are going to be the hardest, after that everything will get easier.

I have to leave for work right now, I will update more later.

Catching up… Again

These last two weeks have been super crazy. I took an extension for my chemistry class, and I thought that the deadline was the end of may... I was wrong, the deadline was May 1st. Of course I procrastinated, and didn't realize that the deadline was coming up until April 24th. I seriously studied the entire weekend. (I wasn't going to study at all on Sundays, but this was an exception.) I went in on Monday and took the first test I needed to take. 91% without the curve. I guess all of that studying paid off. I was supposed to take the final the following Wednesday... I would have failed, but my teacher went ahead and gave me a little more time before I have to take the test.
I started my spring classes (Physics and a Physics lab) My lab is before my lecture, so sometimes it is pretty hard to keep up with what is going on in lab. I feel bad for the people who have to put up with me... after a lot of the equations I have to ask, why do we do that? Where do we get that equation. I am glad that people are so patient... I'm not stupid, I just haven't learned this yet. Then when lecture comes around, everything makes so much more sense. I take my lecture up in Salt Lake, the class is supposed to be easier up there. I will find out on Tuesday when I take my first test. My teacher up there is this old guy that will make a joke, and then he has this grin... you can tell that he is so proud of himself when he makes some people in the class laugh. The class isn't too hard, and there isn't any homework.
Scott left on Wednesday morning (May 6th)... so I have spent a lot of time with him the last couple of weeks. Which was good and bad. I love spending time with him, but now I am not sure what to do with my time... I didn't realize my lack of friends until now.  We spent some time with his family, playing card games and stuff. I used to win almost every time I played a game with them, but I think I got last place every game we played. Monday night I went out to eat with him and his family. I haven't ever been to Tepanyaki before, it was a lot of fun.

Then we went bowling... I thought  I was going to get a better score then him and his family. I came out in second. The second game I didn't do very good at all. It was still fun.

We got to say bye on Monday night because I wouldn't have a chance to see him on tueday before he got set apart. We both agreed we didn't want to say good-bye after he was set apart. So, Tuesday was a long day, and Wednesday morning he called me before he left.
I have gotten a little more sleep since he left. I don't really have anything else to do when I get back from school and work. It's been pretty rough... I didn't realize how much I talked to Scott on the phone, or texted him. I have picked up my phone like 100 times to call or text him, then I remember that I can't. I will probably get a letter from him in a couple days... I love letters.
Work. I have my up and down days at Zrii. One day I want to quit, then next I am totally fine with my job. Lately the calls have been kind of slow, and so we have been watching TV the last hour or so.

 

The first week in June we are having a convention in Salt Lake, Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, and Ali Larter are all going to be there. It is pretty exciting. The 21 days leading up to convention we are doing a "21 day challenge". We are supposed to do some breathing exercises, and meditation, along with eating better and 15 min of exercise, and of course Zrii. I guess we will see how that goes. I am kinda excited to see if it makes a difference.

I just got a calling today too… I am the publicity co-chair. This will be fun. 

April 16, 2009

Okay, so Wednesday I got a call from Kelci pretty close to midnight. She was bawling, and all she said was, “I don’t think I can do this.” I guess she was sideways in the middle of the road… I grabbed a sweatshirt and ran down the road to see if I could help her out. By the time I got to her she managed to get the car partway into somebody’s driveway. I tried to back out, but the only thing that would happen is we would slide sideways. If we slid anymore than we would hit the persons mail box. We decided to leave the car, put a note on the persons doorstep letting them know that we would pick up the car tomorrow.

We got home and my mom came downstairs and asked where the car was, we told her, and then we made some hot chocolate, and watched a movie. Part of a movie, we ended up being too tired to finish it. We actually went to bed around 2 or so.

At 7 I woke up to go shovel the driveway… 2 feet of snow. I hate shoveling. Then my mom came with me to go pick up her car. Brother Andrews was nice enough to bring his four wheeler to plow the way so we could back up. Thanks. As soon as I got home I climbed back into bed. I was so tired.

When I got back from work I went straight to bed. I have been so stinkin tired lately I can barely handle it. I slept until 11 and Scott came and got me for a midnight movie. We saw state of play… I think that was what it was called. I think I was too tired to understand. At least it was entertaining… until I got confused.

I also called the court today. I swear a bunch of idiots work there. I told them that the person that I talked to couldn’t find my ticket, and they said the police officer must have misplaced the ticket. She informed me that it was against their policy to say that the police officer might have misplaced it. If I knew that I had a ticket I would have paid it, I’m not stupid.  I asked why I never received notice that they issued a warrant. She didn’t have an answer for me. Then she said that I was good to go, my taxes covered my ticket and bail… My letter says that if I don’t show up in court that they will reissue a warrant. I asked her, and she said that they wouldn’t. I am going to call back in a couple days to double check to make sure that another warrant isn’t going to be issued if i don’t come in.

Seriously

What is wrong with these pictures?

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IT IS THE MIDDLE OF APRIL. It definitely shouldn’t be snowing in the middle of April. Rain I can handle, but I thought that I was done having to deal with the snow until next winter. I hate scraping off my car, and I hate driving in the snow, just so everyone knows, Jetta's are the worst possible car to drive in the snow.   I am surprised that I am still alive. I have been patient, and I was fine with the snow through most of March, but April? Seriously?

On a better note, it looks like I might be getting my old job back. The one that I absolutely love. I got an email from one of the supervisors with some incentive stuff! YAY! I used to love going to work, I don’t HATE it right now, but I would love to go back to doing the incentives for the call center.

I also got to go out to eat with my mom and Kelci. I am pretty sure we brought home more food than we ate while we were there. When we first walked in I saw an old friend, that I haven’t seen in a while. He was with his girl friend, and considering the fact that we kinda dated in high school I decided to act like I didn’t see him.

It is kind of a dark picture, but it isn’t too bad considering it is taken with my phone. 

Then I got home to find a letter from the Department of Administrative Services for the State of Utah. I guess I won’t be getting my state tax return this year. Apparently there was a warrant out for my arrest. Goodness, they could have at least let me know. I got a ticket like 2 years ago, and they said to wait 14 days to get in in the system before I could pay it. I called 14 days later to make a payment, and they said they didn’t have it in the computer, and that I should wait 5 more days and call in. I called in again and they said they had no record of the ticket, and it doesn’t take that long to get a ticket into the system. It probably wasn’t turned in… okay, that’s fine, I don’t mind not having the ticket on my record. That is the only reason I could think of why there would be a warrant out for my arrest. I guess I fit in with Jason and my Dad now, since they have both had multiple warrants.

It's all gone!

I got home from work on Thursday night, open up my computer, and a message comes up saying that Windows was deleted from my computer to insert the disk to re-install it. SERIOUSLY? I called HP and they took down all of my information asked me a bunch of questions about my computer, what the message said... Then they say "We would love to help you with your problem, it will cost you $99 for a years subscription for phone support". I was so mad, I don't want to have to pay 100 dollars for my stupid computer. I ended up paying for it. Then they had me run a test on my computer. The verdict? I just had to restore the computer to it's original state... which means that I lost EVERYTHING, and I paid 100 bucks for something that I could have done for myself for free. Thanks a lot HP support! At least I still have a working computer.

Overnight with the Young Women

Friday I got to go up to the Sherwood Hills Resort with the young women in my ward. The Young Womens President owns it, and it was closed down for the winter. Which means we pretty much had the hotel completely to ourselves. A whole hotel to yourself, how much better could life get? Anyway, it was a lot of fun. The resort is in a canyon, somewhere around Brigham City.

We got there, unloaded our stuff, and got a tour of the hotel. Michelle showed us the cool suites and stuff. The spa, and the pool. When that was all said and done, we got to make pizzas. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised how easy it was to satisfy 16 people while making the pizzas. After dinner most of the girls went swimming. I didn’t bring my swimming suit, but I went down and watched.

After the girls got out of the hot tub we all went and watched parts of a John Bytheway DVD. It was pretty good, I really like John Bytheway, he is a good speaker. After that me and Kelci went to our room and she wanted to go to bed. I wasn’t very tired and so I stayed up to study for a while. My mom came in to go to bed around 2:00, so I decided it might be a good idea for me to get some sleep too… wow, I forgot that my mom snores. I didn’t realize that she was almost as bad as my dad was. I kept thinking “I will give her five more minutes” She wouldn’t stop snoring, so I would start getting out of bed so I could tap her and tell her to roll over or something. But of course the second I sat up she would stop snoring. I would lay back down and she would start up again. I ended up out in the hall doing some more Chemistry.

The next day we got a full on breakfast, eggs, french toast, hash browns, sausage, bacon, cinnamon rolls, juice… the works. The girls went sledding in the 4 ft of snow. My mom ended up hurting her knee pretty bad. I stayed in my hotel room and studied…I was very productive, probably because there wasn’t anyone or anything to distract me. The girls came back, we ate a late lunch while watching Twilight. We all got ready and then we headed to SLC. We got to the Conference Center, and our seats were way up on the balcony. It was a pretty good, I actually think that I enjoy the Relief Society’s better. We met up with Amy and Ellie afterwards for a couple minutes.  Then we joined our ward at Sweet Tomato for dinner.

I am so glad to be home… sleeping in my own bed without the sound of snoring…

Happy Day…

I almost cried today at work… not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. I have been struggling quite a bit at work with my supervisor. It isn’t that I don’t like her, she is hilarious. I just  think that she likes to be in control of ALL situations. Even situations that she isn’t involved in. I will be on the phone and she will ask me to take a call. I kill myself at work because I am CONSTANTLY busy. She also will tell me to take a phone call right after I hang up with someone… I usually say one sec let me put in a note… then she says but it is in overflow (the call has waited 1 minute) really, my note will take me 15 seconds. Then when I do what she tells me and skip making the notes on the account I get in trouble, there is no way to win.

These are my favorite responses that she gives me:

“Just because I don’t look busy doesn’t mean that I’m not” ummm…. okay?

“Absolutely not” This is her response when another department has asked for my help with something. I never ask if I can help another department unless calls are slow… but I guess I should just sit and do nothing… so much more productive.

When I have someone demanding to talk to my supervisor, “Let me just put notes on this account” She isn’t very fast at typing and half of the time I can’t understand her notes anyway. I tell her that all the time, but does it matter when I am leaving notes… nope, only when she is.

She is from India, and she has an accent and hasn’t quite mastered English grammatically. I really wouldn’t mind her if she wasn’t telling me what to do every second of the day.

This is when the crying comes in… We were in a team meeting and she had news to tell us. She is switching departments and in two weeks she will no longer be my supervisor. What? Seriously? I walked back onto the call floor and said… “Now I don’t have to quit… I was this close” I already started working on my resume. I started laughing… this was AWESOME! I looked at Joce and she was laughing too , which made me laugh harder… Soon tears were streaming down my face. Yes, this is how happy I am that my supervisor isn’t going to be my supervisor for long.

I have another friend going to Japan on his mission.

I was invited over to one of my friends house's because he got his mission call today. We all had to write our guess to where they were going to go. My guess was Japan... lucky me I was right. Here was my logic. Scott is going to Japan, and with my luck Michael will get called to the same place as Scott. This would make Scott insanely jealous... So he opened up his misssion call... it isn't the same mission as Scott, but the one south of it. I am super excited that he gets to go to Japan, and I am relieved that he and Scott weren't called to the same area. Congratulations Michael!

Couch

I bought a couch… it was delivered on Saturday. I love it! It is the perfect place for me to sprawl out and do homework, or blog, or sleep… Life can’t get much better than having a good couch to lounge around on.

It is sad when the most exciting thing about your life is your couch. Oh well.  :)

I finished another chapter in my Chemistry study… yay! only a million more to go. I really need to start getting on top of that.

Party at Brooke’s house!!

Okay, so about a month ago my aunt Brooke announced that she had found me a husband. Well, last night I met him for the first time. Brooke invited both of us over to make pizza. I walked in, got introduced to Derek (apparently he is my future husband… first impression, he was cuter than I thought he would be. Brooke’s description was he’s normal, he isn’t hideous or anything) and then I was called in to help with the food preparation (which I wasn’t very helpful. I took some cups off of the fridge, and put the bowl of dough on the table). We started making our pizza, sprinkles and all. Brooke’s neighbors Amanda and Darrel came over with their kids to make some pizza.

While our pizzas were cooking we, meaning the adults, went in the other room to play Quiddler (right, Brooke?) I learned that Derek shouldn’t deal when we play cards… he dealt almost every hand… and I never had anything worth playing. Darrel even told his son (maybe 8 or 9 years old) that he should come over and help me. Thanks for your support.

We played another game where we had to have our partner guess two words by verbal clues, acting, or drawing. I don’t mean to brag, but I think that me and Derek did quite well at this. I don’t know what the end score was but we definitely beat Brooke and Andy. The third game that we all played was interesting… I don’t know how to tell who won. But I did learn that I am skilled at drawing pictures on my head.

Amanda and Darrel left, it was getting late and they had to get there kids in bed. Lucy and Abby were put to bed (not that Lucy actually went to sleep). We talked for a couple of hours and then Derek left.

My thoughts on the night? It would be worth a second date. He’s a little bit older than I am, which isn’t really a problem for me… and whatever happens happens.

Scott's Farwell is Tommorrow

I just want to let anyone know who might be interested in going. It is tomorrow morning at 9:00. If you want to come, I am sure that Scott would love it. He doesn't leave for another month, but I am sure that he would appreciate it if you came (if you know him). Call or Text me if you would like directions to his church.

Catching up

I just barely wrote  a huge post… then this stupid program decided to close… it doesn’t make me very happy. Here is the gist of what it said.

I really need to start buckling down. I want to eventually go to medical school, but at the rate I am going that isn’t going to be an option. I don’t have terrible grades, but they aren’t good enough to get into a good medical school. I need to start doing everything that I hate doing, like homework and studying.

I took this semester off, and extended some of my deadlines from classes I took last semester. So, I have been working, and doing a little of homework here and there. But I have developed some really bad habits, such as staying up late, being lazy… I haven’t really had to do much other than work, laundry, and sleep since January. I need to take two Chemistry tests before the end of May, and if I want to do well I am going to need to start studying soon. I know that may is a long way away, but I really don’t want to have to cram for my final.  This means that I am going to have to start going to bed earlier so I can get up earlier. If I am going to bed earlier than I will have to cut back on the amount of time I will be hanging out with people.

I am taking classes spring term at BYU, so that will be in a month and a half. I am so excited to get back to class. I enjoy going to my classes, and I like being on Campus, it is a fun school to go to. I don’t look forward to the homework though. It seems like I can never get it done when I am at home. There is always something going on when I am trying to be productive. My mom and my little sister can be really distracting sometimes. I think that I will make it a goal to spend more time this semester at the library studying. More time at the library = better grades… at least I am hoping the two go hand in hand.

More news… Allison is engaged. I think that some of you know who she is, she was my roommate from last year (…unofficially). She will be getting married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple towards the end of June. She is one of the last of my friends to get married. Every time a wedding comes up I can’t believe how old I am. Not that I am old…I just can’t believe I am old enough to have friends that are married… old enough that I could get married. SCARY!

I didn’t ever get to post about the Jazz game that me and Kelci went to last week. It was a lot of fun. My work gave me two tickets to the Jazz vs. the Rockets. We got fed dinner, and then to get to our seats we went all the way down to the floor level. The seats were amazing… 2nd row, which is more like the 5th row. They are probably the best seats that I will ever get to sit in. Here is what I learned.

1) Basketball players are HUGE!

2) Yoa Ming is Ugly, and awkward

3) Sports are so much better in person

4) When you sit that close to the court you really can smell the sweat

5) It was fun hanging out with Kelci at the game

6) President Uchtdorf likes the Jazz, and he had better seats than we did. (I zoomed in one of the pictures, which were taken on my phone and not very good quality. At the beginning of the game I leaned over and said that old guy over there looks like Uchtdorf… then at about half time I realized it really was him.)

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That catches you up on the most recent events.

Another blogger in the family?

Kelci has a blog!! Thanks to me. :)

What happens when both amber and kelci are up at 3:00 am

We go to the gym... we might not be able to get up early to go the the gym... but we can go early in the morning if we don't ever go to sleep.

You could have just asked...

This is for my family, because I am sure that most of my friends wouldn't really care to much. I am kind of curious what everyone is thinking though. I am sure that most of you know that something is going on with my dad... and I am sure that you have your theories about it. I am sorry that I haven't responded to Amy's question about my dad having an apartment. Yes, he has an apartment. He and Tracy have gotten divorced, and the boys are living with her. My dad (more like I) get to have the boys every other weekend. I wasn't exactly sure what I was allowed to say before, but I figured that there are probably a lot of weird theories about what was going on. I know that Tracy was really stressed about work... and my dad... well, he's Brett. So things weren't working out too well between them. No cheating was involved, or any other things you might have been thinking. If you want to know more, you can always ask. Just give me a call, if you don't have my number you can email me or get it from Brooke.

On another note. I am sure that many of you who have attended BYU can relate to the pain I will be experiencing tonight. I am taking my American Heritage final tomorrow. I have been quite the slacker and I have a 4 page paper due tomorrow as well. I will be pulling an all nighter. I remember when pulling an all nighter was cool, but that was back in the day when I didn't have to go into work, and I was able to take a nap the next day. I am dreading this test and I am pretty worried about how well I will do on it, so if you will please remember me and my test in your prayers... I will need them. Okay, you don't really have to pray that I will do okay on my test, but at least wish me luck. Right now I am procrastinating my studying. I should be doing some sort of studying or research for my paper. But here I am blogging about my dad, and how bad I will do on my test.

ZRII... I never really told exactly what happened with work. It was all really sketchy and a lot of legal stuff was happening during my last post about work and so I was able to say much. But here is the story. There were 7 VPs in the company (Tracy being the VP of Marketing) and they decided that they didn't like the way that Bill (The CEO) was running things. So they decided that they would resign and give Bill the option of selling the company to them. Bill is a very stubborn person, and this was the company that he started and funded from his own pocket. He decided to accept their resignation, and keep the company and run it himself. Well, everyone walked out with the VPs (except for customer service) My department had to manage everything for a couple days without the rest of the company. They didn't tell us what was going on they told us that everyone else was at an off site meeting. So, we had callers calling in and asking us about commissions, compliance, sales, everything. We no longer had anyone in any of those departments so we ended up putting things off. Things are finally starting to get back to normal, and we are slowly hiring people to fill all of the departments. We are behind on a lot of commissions, and compliance problems, but things are starting to look up. Bill offered everyone who stayed a $1000 bonus if we stayed till the end of the month. These last two weeks have been easier, but the first two weeks were extremely hard to get through. It still isn't as fun as it used to be but we are getting through it. Jocelynn has stuck it out too... it is kind of fun working with her. I think this is the simplest way to explain what happened, and for the most part it is accurate, depending on whose story you are trying to tell. I think this is the most unbias way to tell it.

I have been quite the slacker when it comes to blogging.

I started to write a blog about everything I have been up to lately... and well I got stuck after 4 sentences. I guess I will have to be creative and blog about something other than my life. Lessons I have learned this past couple weeks.
1) The importance of static guard when wearing nylons
2)Never rely on stealing your sisters clothes after she goes to work, she might wear what you were planning on stealing
3) I am amazing at playing pool
4) Some people can't dance
5) "It isn't your dress unless you cry when you put it on"
6) Don't go on dates with people you meet online... ha ha
7) I love the scriptures!!
8) Get your ecclesiastical endorsement done earlier than the week before it is due.
9) Talk to your professors when you need help in a class
10) Don't leave your debit card in the ATM for longer than a minute, otherwise it gets sucked in and shredded... poor debit card
11) Without a debit card I spend a lot less money.
12) American Heritage isn't a very fun class
13) Me and Kelci won't ever be able to wake up early to go to the gym
14) I am not very good about keeping up with my laundry
15) Work really isn't that bad
16) Chuck is actually a really funny show
17) Heroes is actually a really entertaining show
18) Don't let Eli borrow DVDs they will come back scratched
19) New tennis shoes hurt
20) The bishop secretly wants me to stay in the family ward, cause he won't tell me what time the ward I am supposed to be going to starts
21) I am not very good at taking pictures... and I think my camera sucks
22) I can make my own car payment... but I appreciate my dad paying for it for so long. :)
23) I am running out of single friends
24) My moms face moisturizer smells like old people
25) I hate the word moist
26) Jessica is still alive... I haven't talked to her in forever
27) Natalie is also alive... I haven't talked to her in even longer
28) Mothers have much better things to blog about than I do
29) I forgot how much I like ice cream... but after I eat it I am always way cold
30) There is a huge diffence of gas consumed when I drive 70 vs. driving 80

I am sure that I learned other things but I can't really think of them right now.

My life is pretty much a bad musical...

That is what I decided today. My mom, Bryce and I were all sitting in our front room eating dessert when I started to sing a song. It is the song that always gets stuck in my head and my mom doesn't really like it, and usually gets mad at me for singing it. So I decided to sing the little mermaid song to get the other song out of my head. Kelci ends up walking through the door, and her and my mom soon join in. Soon we are all singing at the top of our lungs the little mermaid song, which none of us really know the words to. What can you do when you can't sing louder? Dance. Bryce soon joins in and we are all singing and dancing in our front room. Our street isn't usually too busy but, I turned around and look out the window to find someone driving down our street. He is going slow and must be looking for an address. I think that he is the only witness to our life as a musical. It was pretty funny.
The reason my life is a bad musical is because I got stuck with my dad's musical talent...

My Valentines Day

I got to spend my Valentines day with Chase, Connor, and Scott. I was pretty tired, I had a late night on Friday. We went out to lunch with my dad, and then we hung out at my dad's apartment for a while. I forget how cute Connor is sometimes. He isn't as persistant as he used to be, which is good. He says please, and thank you about everything. He doesn't whine about things unless Chase is bothering him. Which happens too often. I just hope my kids are like Connor. He is so easy to take care of, he will just come sit on my lap and read books. I asked him if he wanted to go to bed, and he told me he didn't want to. I put on his pajamas and he said, "okay, amber. I want to go bed now" I tucked him in, and he didn't get out of bed. It was awesome. Chase on the other hand, I tucked in and he got out of bed. I went in and told him to get into his bed and he cried, told me how mean I was. A while later I heard him messing around again... it was a while before he actually fell asleep. Then me and Scott got to watch a couple episodes of Heroes.

Scott got his mission call!!

If you have any questions about who Scott is feel free to send me an email, and I can fill you in on that. He got his mission call last night, and it was the place that he has been dying to go. He is going to Sapporo Japan. That is the northern part of Japan, and I guess that it gets really cold there in the winter. Sometimes they have up to 15 ft of snow at a time. His uncle served there, and he told us a little about the area where Scott will be serving. It is pretty exciting, and he will be going into the MTC a week after the semester is over (May 6th).

I HATE SNOW!!

enough said...

Bored?

One of my friends asked me to update my blog. She was bored at work and needed something to entertain her. My life the last little while isn't very entertaining, so I doubt that it will keep her from getting bored at work.
Speaking of work... I hate all the drama that is going on where I work. Let me start by explaining a little about our office. Downstairs is where probably 70% of our company works. All of the VPs, the finance department, compliance, marketing, sales, IT, Operations... everything except Customer Service (the department I work in).
I go into work on Monday, and everyone from downstairs was at an off site meeting with Bill (Our CEO). So when anyone called in to talk to a different department we would say that they aren't in today, and we will give them a call back with an answer to their question on Tuesday... So I had pages of follow up that I needed to do.
Tuesday I go in to work, hmmm.... everyone is still at an off site meeting with Bill. Only one problem, Bill was at the office. And again I was left with a page of follow ups...
Wednesday I got a call from my dad asking if I was still working at Zrii. I told him I was and he told me what was going on. Everyone from downstairs resigned. What? How are we going to process refunds and how are we going to send out commissions? The only department standing is Customer Service. The Director of the Call floor and the senior manager also resigned. So, it is pretty much chaotic all of the time. Still nobody really knows what is going on, the call floor is being left in the dark, and slowly our customers start hearing rumors that something bad is happening at Corporate.
Yesterday was awful, I guess all of the people who resigned sent a mass email to the customers saying that Bill is a bad guy. So my day was filled with people yelling at me for working for a horrible company, and lots of questions, which we still don't really have answers to. It was a really long day and I took twice as many calls as I usually do.

The good news to all of this... IF I stay until the end of the month then I will recieve a $1000 bonus. IF is the big word for that sentence. I think I can tough out all the drama and taking all the crazy calls, but I think I might go insane. I guess we will find out.

Enough about all the work drama. I am still working on getting everything finished in the basement... no huge improvements yet. Like I said, my life is actually pretty boring. Jess, I hope that this at least keeps you entertained for like 4 minutes.
Allie : I think that I hit the car behind me when I was backing up.
Me: Really?
Allie: That's okay, that is how my driving instructor taught me to do it.

Just hanging out with my little brothers.

Today I was asked to hang out with Chase and Connor for a couple hours while my dad ran a couple of errands. We were up in American Fork, so we didn't want to come all the way down to Provo just to turn back around. We ended up spending two hours messing around at Target. We spent a lot of time going down all of the toy isles. Connor stopped at almost every toy to show either me or Scott, then he would put it back on the shelf.

Then Connor found a back pack, once he put it on, he didn't take it off the entire time. It was easy to get him to put down the toys, but I don't think we could have left the store without the back pack. He thought he looked pretty cool with the back pack, and he insisted on putting everytihng we were going to buy in it.

We then ventured over to the hats and sunglasses area. The boys had a fun time trying on hats and giving me hats to try on.

I turned around for one second and chase taps me on the back and says, "Ummm.... Amber. My tooth just fell out." Luckily Scott was with me and he took chase and got him a paper towel to stop the bleeding. Before the Tooth Came out...

And After...

The boys were starting to get tired of wandering around Target so we stopped in the book section and read a couple books.

It is a hard task to keep kids under control and entertained in one store for 2 hours. But I did it, and it was actually kind of fun.

I forget how easily I get frustrated.

I finally have the basement in livable conditions. I have a living room area, and I don't have a couch yet, so I figured why not pull out an old folding table and work a little on that quilt I started months ago. I forget how easily I get frustrated when I quilt. I make too many mistakes, and unpicking all of the stitches is a pain. I give up for now. I am don't want to unpick the stitches. But so far the quilt is looking pretty good. Check it out.

It is really bright and I am kinda proud of it. I never have really quilted a lot. I did a little bit when I lived with Matt and Lauren. So I have had to pretty much teach myself, Lauren did teach me a little about how to quilt. I can't wait to see what the finish product will look like. :)

Pay Day...

Today was pay day, so I decided to get a couple more things for my room. I wasn't sleeping very well so as a new year resolution I decided I wasn't going to use my computer while I was in bed. So for the last little bit I have sat on my floor while using my computer. It wasn't the most comfortable situation. So I bought a desk... YAY. It love it.

I also bought myself a night stand. I didn't have anywhere to put my alarm clock and so I figured might as well get a nightstand while I am at it. It looks pretty good.

I then decided I should hang up my painting. My room is finally looking like I am decorating it. It isn't so plain anymore. I don't think I have ever had my room actually decorated. So here is my painting actually up on my wall.

The living room is next. I am almost done painting it. I also am almost done dejunking the basement from when Jason lived down here. It will be a couple more pay checks before any real improvement is made, but I can't wait to get started.

Enough about my room... Last night I went to the Jeff Dunham show up in Salt Lake. It was really fun. I still can't believe how well he can do all the different voices without moving his lips. Here are some pictures!

Peanut, I couldn't really get a very good picture, he moves this puppet a lot.

Achmed the dead terrorist.

Bubba

and Walter... It really was a good show, and the opener was really good too.

My Very First Acrylic...

I'm not exactly pleased with it... but I think it looks okay for my first painting. Here are some pictures of the painting I did. I can't figure out how to make it go the other way, and it is pretty late, so I am not going to worry about it.

My Bed.

I don't have a lot of time before I have to leave, but I thought I would post a picture of the bed that I am so proud of...