Today Was a Good Day Because...

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I kept a note on my phone everyday of why each day was a good day. Another way of recognizing things that I am thankful for. Now that the month is over (went by way too fast) I wanted to share my list.

Today Was a Good Day Because...

1 - The guy that works at Bath & Body Works told me that my eyebrows were on point.

2 - Got to go Jeeping in the Mountains with my friend Amber.

3 - Grandma came to Sunday dinner.

4 - I went on a good date.

5 - Danced my heart out in U-Jam class.

6 - Got a pedicure with my friend Desiree.

7 - Flew to Arizona for the weekend and ended up on the same flight as my friend and landed just in time to see a beautiful sunset.

8 - Didn't have to work and got to be lazy all day and hang out with my sister Jamie.

9 - Got to see my friend Stacey perform in Jesterz. Also after the show one of the guys from the show told me my outfit was on point.

10 - Got to sing with my sister Jamie.

11 - Only had to work for an hour because my flight was delayed and finally went through and organized my entire closet.

12 - My co-worker treated me to Sodalicious and Sugar Cookie.

13 - I watched the sunset at Utah Lake. It was beautiful.

14 - Had breakfast with my former Contracts team.

15 - I started working out with my new free personal trainer at work.

16 - I got to sleep in, but also got a lot accomplished with errands and cleaning.

17 - Hammocked at the park on a beautiful day (while they last).

18 - Worked out at the gym even though I didn't want to because it was freezing and snowing.

19 - My photography was appreciated by a picture of mine being featured on another Instagram account.

20 - Took Sierra to Sodalicious for her Birthday & hung out with Grandma and FaceTimed with my cousin Lisa.

21 - There was a GORGEOUS sunset that I watched from my office.

22 - Went to get ice cream, with my friends.

23 - Got my car cleaned inside and out (and waxed) and was flirted with by a 16 year old while I waited.

24 - Finally finished the video of the Philippines and Bali trip and my friends loved it.

25 - Spent my lunch break (2 hours) hanging out with my Grandma and cousin Lisa.

26 - My dad installed my new racks on my car.

27 - My sisters came into town!

28 - Perfect Thanksgiving with everyone together on my dad's side of the family. So special.

29 - Got to go to lunch and have Sodalicious with my cousins.

30 - Hiked with my sisters and got an awesome deal on a rug.

Sister Hike in the Snow

I really like to spend time outside on the weekends if I can help it, so I asked my sister Lori if she wanted to go on a hike with me. Kristy ended up coming as well. They didn't want to go far, so we just hiked a mile or so up Maple Canyon by my parents house. It was pretty because there were still some fall leaves left,so that with the snow was quite pretty.

Funny story. We ended up passing this biker with a red beard. We got out of the way for him and he made a comment about how slippery it was and that was that. Later that night I instagrammed the picture below of me and my sisters on the hike. Turns out... that guy that we passed has been following me on Instagram since the Spring. I wasn't following him back (I am now) but when he likes my pictures, I have gone to like his pictures... which are awesome by the way. Anyway, he commented on the picture that he was the guy that passes us. Ha! How awesome is that. Randomly crossing paths with a fellow adventurer instagramer. I thought it was awesome. I would have never known had he not said something though. I'm glad he did.

It was a quick but great outing with my sisters where we could be out in nature and get in some exercise after all that food we ate and have a nice little chat. I enjoyed it. Love my sisters! So happy to have all of this family in town. It's the best.

Mills/Anderson Thanksgiving Reunion

My dad's side of the family is the family I saw the most growing up. Almost every holiday we would drive from Santa Barbara to Long Beach to my Grandma & Grandpa's house and we would all gather there. We are pretty close because of it.

This year we had a very Special Thanksgiving and got everyone except for Travis's wife and daughter and Steve's oldest son together for Thanksgiving. This hasn't happened in YEARS and will most likely never happen again. Although it had been many years since we were all together, it felt just the same. I love that. I LOVE spending time with this side of the family.

We had over 50 people, so there was A LOT of food. A lot of GREAT food. We had 3 different Turkey's. One baked, one deep fried and one smoked. The smoked was my favorite. SO GOOD! There were tons of side and I think even more desserts. Some even made the food festive. It was cute.

Of course we couldn't have a gathering without Grandma giving something away to everyone. She is the most thoughtful, sweetest and most caring person I know!

Since we were all together again for Grandma, we asked her if she had any requests for the day. She at first just requested singing, but then that got upgraded to a talent show. If Grandma wants a talent show, we will give Grandma a talent show. There was comedy, dancing, singing, guitar playing, clarinet/ trumpet duet and poetry. We had a nice variety of talents and participants of all ages. Jamie and I sang "A Life That's Good" and Dan played the guitar for us.

We also all got pictures with Grandma... even though she didn't want to. She was a good sport because she knew it was important to all of us. Dan took the pictures and I think they turned out great. I like the progression of the generations.

I LOVE my family so much. So blessed to be a part of this bunch. LOVE my Grandma SO SO much and so glad we could all get together to spend Thanksgiving together as a big family one last time. What a special day. One that I will never forget.

Ice Cream with Gwen

Gwen's birthday was actually on the 19th (the day after Sierra's) but obviously she lives in Arizona, so I couldn't just take her out. Thankfully, Jamie and Dan have been visiting the same month as both Asher and Gwen's birthday, so I was able to take them both out for their birthday either early or late. Gwen was late, but she didn't care. :)

Sadly, Gwen specifically asked NOT to go to Sodalicious. Guess I can't win them all. Instead, she wanted to get ice cream. So, as she requested, I took her to get ice cream. Just the two of us.

She is the sweetest little thing. I love how girly she is and knows what she likes. She has the cutest little laugh and loves to do cartwheels everywhere she goes. She is sweet with her baby brother and pretty sweet to everyone actually.

We had fun on our little birthday outing. I love Gwen and am so glad I get to be her Aunt. Happy Birthday Gwenners!

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Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for a lot. Right now I'm really thankful that everyone from my dad's side of the family is all here and together. It's been too long since this has happened and it might not ever happen again, but for some reason, it felt like we never stopped these gatherings. It felt just like old times and I felt so at home. I love my grandma and aunts and uncles and cousins SO much. I am just so happy having everyone together. It was really special. I have a lot of other things that I am thankful for as well, but I have been compiling a list that I will post soon.

More and more my pictures are getting featured on different Instagram accounts. I have had a couple of my hammock pictures be featured to help advertise for the hammock that I have. I know... I should be getting paid or get a free hammock or something. However... it's all about exposure in the instagram world. Maybe one day I will get something out of it. For now I feel happy that people are admiring my photography. It makes me a more confident photographer.

Monday I took my lunch break and went to Sodalicious and then to my Grandma's house to hang out with my Grandma and Lisa and her family. I of course brought a Sodalicious for Lisa... because I am a great cousin. :) I just hung out there for a couple of hours and chatted. It was a lot of fun.

That night I drove up to Park City to hang out with Lisa again and her family at the cabin that they are staying at. Lisa was the first one here... so I thought it would be better to get one on one time and hang out with her that night because once everyone else got here, it would just be crazy. It was a late night because it's a long drive, but I'm glad I went. It was nice. I don't get enough time with my cousins.

Also... my car racks came in the mail and Tuesday my dad installed them for me. He is the best and saved me a ton of money by him doing it instead of having a dealership do it. I'm super excited to get either a paddle board or a kayak. Probably a paddle board, let's be real. I will be shopping around for a good deal for the next 4 months until it gets warm again and I will actually want it.

Wednesday Lori and Jamie were both finally here... so I just hung out over there as soon as I left work... which was early. They shut the company down at noon, but I was supposed to have the day off anyway, but ended up having to come in for a couple of hours to make sure there wasn't anything pressing and to help do some more training with the new girl.

Have a mentioned how much training is not my favorite?? I don't have patience for it. I would be a terrible teacher. I hate repeating myself over and over again and I hate even more when I am trying to teach how to do something and look behind just to see her on the phone and not paying attention. Ugh. I will be doing it all next week as well. Hopefully it gets easier. This little holiday break from work has been great though.

So I have just been hanging out with my family and playing with nieces and nephews and seeing cousins. It's great. I love it. I love it probably because I have the best family ever. :)

Photo of the Week 297

Picture I snapped of the Payson Temple while taking Lauren's family photo's. It sure is a beautiful temple.

So Long, Farewell

A few weeks ago, all of the guys in this picture got let go from Novell/ Micro focus. It was heart breaking for the rest of us. Minus Sarah (to the left of me) we have all been together for 7 years... and they were all together long before I joined the team. The guys had all been working there 15 or so years. I still don't understand the reason they were let go and I probably never will. I know that it was a mistake on their part and we are all going to have to suffer from that mistake for a while.

They were given until the end of the month to clear things up and do a knowledge transfer to the people that are staying and taking on their stuff. So... their lay off's haven't seemed real, until today when Paul came to give me a hug goodbye. It was bitter sweet and I had to hold back the tears.

Thankfully Paul already has another job lined up and Andy is close to having another job lined up and Ron was asked to sign on for another 6 months and then after that who knows.... I feel better knowing they are taken care of and hopefully they are better off.

After many years of working together, you really do become a little family. So before we had to separate as co-workers, we got together one morning for breakfast while Kristy was in town from Colorado. That is what the picture below is from. I also initiated getting together for a pot luck at Stirling's house since Stirling has decided to leave the company with all of these changes being made. I wanted to end on a happy note. One last activity all together. I'm going to miss our team activities... a lot. We had a good time and it just seemed like such a better note to leave on than doing nothing at all.

After 7 years of spending all day every day with a small group of people, you experience a lot together, you learn a lot about them and you end up caring a lot about them. So I wanted to do a tribute to each one of them on my blog... even Ron (although I will still be seeing him for the next 6 months and maybe even longer... who knows).

Andy (left)- I had my interview with Andy and he was my boss up until I was moved to a new team. Andy is an interesting character. I rarely saw him mad or in a bad mood. He was typically upbeat and laughing. We both had a love for traveling and would spend lots of time talking about where we had been and where we want to go. I could talk to Andy about anything. He is a great listener and understanding and typically had great advice for me as well. He really helped me out when my engagement fell apart and was the one that suggested counseling and that was the best thing I did for myself. He always put up with being the one teased and made fun of by the team with a smile. Such a great guy to work with and I will miss seeing him around.

Ron (middle) - He's the manager over Contracts. In the years that I have been working with him, I have seen him get back surgery, Lasik eye surgery, and in and out of braces. It's like he is a new man... but I already don't remember what he was like before all of that. He is our story teller. He somehow has the craziest life stories and hilarious stories as well and he loves to tell them. A lot of his sentences start with "Have I ever told you the story of ___" Ron and Andy were BFF. Ron LOVED making fun of Andy. I feel like Andy was the route of  90% of Ron's jokes... and we all (including Andy) thought they were hilarious. Ron is always happy and positive and laughing about something. He is fun to have a conversation with. Work is fun with Ron around and I'm glad that he will at least be around for another 6 months.

Paul (right) - Is probably one of the most friendly people you will ever meet. I feel like this Canadian knows everyone at work and everyone know's him. He was always coming back with treats because everyone knows him and would invite him to partake in their team treats or share from their own personal stash. He loves sharing pictures and stories about his cute family. He helped me out with my car a couple of times. He is a handy man.  I will miss asking him how he is doing and him saying "I'm old and cranky" with a big smile on his face. I love that he would memorize poetry to read to his wife on Valentines day. Every Winter he tries to convince me that this is my year to learn how to ski. He loves the Winter more than anyone I know. Whenever I told him he was too early in the morning to be eating chocolate or cake he would tell me... It's breakfast chocolate or breakfast cake. He took me on a motorcycle ride a couple of times and one was up the canyon which was great fun. I have worked with Paul the most over the years because I cover his area. I'm going to miss working with him a lot.

Such a positive and fun group of guys. They were almost always pleasant to be around, could open up and talk to any of them about anything, they were always so excited for me to go on my trips and would set up meetings at work just to hear about them and see pictures. All great, stank up guys. I have been truly blessed to have them as co-workers and am going to miss them. A lot. My work family will never be the same. It was really great while it lasted. I'll never forget this time of my life, working with the. What amazing examples they are to me and everyone around them. Great guys. They will be missed.

Westover Family

My cousin Lauren asked me if I would take a few pictures of her family in front of the Payson Temple yesterday. Of course I told her I would. I had never done family pictures in front of a temple before, so I wasn't sure how I would do it. Also when we got there, we realized they closed the grounds on Sunday....

We took some in front of the temple... but while I was driving in I saw some grassy weeds that I thought would look cool with the temple further away and with the mountains in the back. Thankfully they were willing to do whatever I told them. I'm glad because those one are my favorite. What a cute family.

The Philippines & Bali Video

It's only taken me 6 months... but hey, I finished the video of my last trip. Just in time before I go on another one. It is kind of fun though. Totally get to re-live the trip again. I hope this video makes you want to go to the Philippines. Enjoy.

Sodalicious with Sierra

On Wednesday, Sierra turned 10! She is in the double digits now. So crazy how fast my nieces and nephews are growing up. I had the privilege of being able to take Sierra out on her actual birthday since she didn't have any plans on that night. I picked her up and chatted on the way to and from Sodalicious. She is such a sweetheart and is growing up to be a beautiful young woman. 

At Sodalicious, like everyone else, she had a hard time deciding what flavors she wanted to mix. She ended up picking... Lemonade with raspberry and passion fruit. It was pretty good. Plus she liked it and that is all that matters. I told the people at Sodalicous that it was her birthday, so everyone there came out to say Happy Birthday to her and they wrote Happy Birthday on her cup. 

It was a fun little outing with my adorable niece. Love you Sierra Bug! So happy you are a part of the family. 

Chicken Zucchini Casserole

Yesterday I had a pot luck with the co-workers. I signed myself up for a main dish. So... I did what I always do. I went to my Pinterest board to see what I had pinned and had not tried yet. I found this casserole from Six Sisters Stuff. Seemed pretty easy and looked good, so I gave it a go. It was just that.... easy and good. Also, everyone liked it, so I will call it a Pinterest success. If you want to give it a try sometime, here is the recipe.

Chicken Zucchini Casserole

Author: Six Sisters Stuff

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: American

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  45 mins

Total time:  55 mins

Serves: 6

 

Ingredients

• 6 ounce package of boxed stuffing mix (I used Stove Top)
• ½ cup melted butter
• 4 cups of zucchini, diced
• 2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed
• 10.75 ounces Cream of Chicken Soup
• ½ onion, chopped
• ½ cup of sour cream

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the stuffing mix and melted butter. Set aside ½ cup of the mixture for the topping. In a large bowl add the zucchini, chicken, soup, onion and sour cream to the remaining stuffing. Place the zucchini mix into at greased 9x13 
2. glass pan and spread out evenly. Sprinkle reserved ½ cup stuffing mix on top and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until golden brown.

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I really hate that the sun has gone down by the time I'm leaving work. I'm seeing the sunset from the office instead of going somewhere pretty to capture it. At least from my office window I have a pretty decent view.

This week flew by and I am trying to think of what I even did. The weekend was spent watching movies and tv shows with my roommates. I also got things done that I needed to which was nice. I also did a little adventuring by myself... although I never prefer to do it by myself, it is always better than doing nothing at all. So... not a bad weekend. It was nice enough outside that if you were in the sun, it felt warm and amazing. I just soak in as much of it as I can.

I have finished Pretty Little Liars finally. Well... until it comes back on the air in January. Not going to lie. I love it. Friday night MacKenzie and I spent the night catching up on BlindSpot so now we are caught up on that. I also caught up on Nashville and Agents of Shield and now I am currently getting caught up on Blacklist. So many shows to keep up on now. We also watched a documentary on Netflix called Twinsters. SO CRAZY! It's about these Korean twin girls that were born in Korea and separated at birth and then put in Foster care and then adopted. One went to a home in London and the other went to a home in Los Angeles. They grew up having NO idea they had a twin. The one in LA is an actress and was in Memoirs of a Geisha and some videos on YouTube. A friend of the twin in London saw it and thought it was her and sent it to her. She found the other twin on facebook and contacted her and they started talking, decided to meet... no denying they were twins, but they took a DNA test and found out they were identical twins. Pretty amazing huh. They would have never known if that one girl wasn't an actress. Makes you think how often that happens. An amazing and very sweet documentary.

Poor P-Rain died. I will probably get a new Beta, but maybe I should wait until after Christmas so I don't have to worry about having someone feed it while I'm gone. Now my roommate's Beta fish is acting like it's going to die too. Not good! She hasn't had Rover for that long! Hopefully, when I do get another Beta Fish... it will be another one like P-Rain that lives for a long time and is awesome.

I had another great U-Jam class this week. I love it because I get such a good work out and I just get to dance. It's so fun. I dance my heart out. I got another person to come, so we had 4 of us instead of just me and Jeanie. I loved it. I'm sad I have to wait until January to go to that class again. Although I have still been working out with the girl who runs the gym. She either works out with me or writes out what I need to do that day. Yesterday I also met with her to talk about a meal plan, so she is coming up with that for me and will send it to me when she has come up with a plan. I have told her thank you so many times. This is so great that this is available for me for free. Plus she is really fun to talk to. I'm excited to have started on the journey to reaching my health goals.

Yesterday was Sierra's birthday, so I took her out to Sodalicious like I do for all my nieces and nephews. Since I was in the area, I went and hung out with Grandma for a while. Brought Kristy this time. I enjoy spending time with my Grandma. Especially when Lisa FaceTimes with us as well. I can't wait until we are all together for Thanksgiving.

My new camera lens came today. I'm dying to test it out! I'm glad Dan picked it out for me because I never know what is good to buy when it comes to the camera. I trust him though. I think I'm going to love it. Maybe it will have my taking more pictures with my SLR again instead of my iPhone.

Today we had our last team activity as Contracts/Legal team. I organized it because it will never be the same and I thought we deserved one more activity all together to end on a good note. Paula and I are on a different team now and Andy, Paul and Ron got let go a week or so ago and Stirling has decided to  leave the company. Ron actually got signed for another 6 months, but who knows what happens after that. It all makes me sad. My work family is split up and I have started a new one. The activity was just a pot luck at Stirlings house(which I LOVE) and we just ate good food and enjoyed being all together one last time. It was bitter sweet. I'm glad that I put it together. I am going to miss my team... SOOOOO much.

I'm still keeping a little log on my phone of what I am thankful for every day. Well... why each day is a great day. Which is pretty much the same thing. I will have a full list at the end of the month.

My anniversary of when I bought my car is coming up. I ordered racks to put on top of my car. I am also going to go get it cleaned... inside and out. Spent a lot of money on that car... want to make sure I take good care of it and get the most adventure out of it that I can. Once I get the racks... I will be shopping for a paddle board. Hopefully I will be able to get it on sale since it is Winter. We shall see. I have lots of time to shop for a good deal since I won't be able to use it until Spring... unless I take it out of state. I'm way excited though. Once I have a place to store things, I think a kayak will be next. Which will actually be cheaper than a paddle board. Either way, I'm excited for next year's adventures! Is it sad that I am already getting exciting and making plans for when Winter is over when Winter hasn't even REALLY started yet? Ugh.

That is all. Here's so another week.

Photo of the Week 296

Another picture from the sunset at Utah Lake.

RIP Purple Rain

Today was a sad day. My Beta Fish, Purple Rain died. Beta fish don't typically live more than 2 years, 3 at the most. I had P-Rain for 4 1/2 years! Who knows how old he was before I bought him. He was a great fish.

I knew he was getting old and it was only a matter of time. I could tell that he was starting to struggle in his old age because he wouldn't be able to see where I put the food in his bowl unless I lead him with my finger to it (which I was happy to do) then he would eat. However, he was still eating and moving fine. Yesterday he wouldn't eat. He was moving slow. I knew he was going to die. He died today. I'm glad it went quick for him.

Everyday when I get home from work, first thing I do after bringing in the mail is feed P-Rain and talk to him. True story. He would always get real active and swim around a lot when I got home and always hang out at the side of the bowl that I was at. I would ask him about his day (like it was really exciting) and tell him about my day... I always talk to P-Rain. I know... it's kind of weird. So I was sad and not that surprised when I went to feed him today and saw that he was dead.

Because I have had P-Rain for 4 1/2 years.... talking to him everyday, I wanted to have a little service for him. I remembered my cousin, Dave, would have a little service with his kids around the toilet before they flush the fish and say a few words in honor of the fish. So I took a picture of P-Rain in the toilet and sent it to cousin Dave. We had a service for P-Rain via text. This is how it went.

Me: *Sent pictures*

Dave: Noooooooo!!!
          Purple Rain?!

Me: Yes :(

Dave: He was a great fish, one of beautiful color, shape and temperament. He will be greatly missed!! Amen!

Me: Thank you for those kind words for his service.

       He lived a good, long and happy life. He kept me company in good times and in bad. He is the most beautiful of all the Beta's I have ever seen and the most social.  Many roommates have come and gone over the past 4 1/2 years, but P-Rain was always there with me. He will be missed. Amen!

Dave: Is it too soon to ask if you are ready for a baby bearded dragon?


Ha ha. Typical Dave. I'm sure he is going to try and convince me to take on the baby lizard over Thanksgiving next week. Love him.  I'm glad that he could be there for me during Purple Rain's death.

Rest in Peace Purple Rain. Although I will probably get another Beta Fish... you can never be replaced.

Utah Lake Sunset

The other day, I left work a little early to catch the sunset at Utah Lake. I hate daylight savings. I don't like that it is dark when I leave work now. Boo.

Anyway, I have been really into capturing cool reflections in water... so I thought Utah Lake would be a great place to watch the Sunset. I was right. It was beautiful. :) I will have to do it again sometime.

Autumn in the Park

I LOVE living right next to Bicentennial park. It is especially beautiful in the fall.

Today I needed to work on my video from my last trip (6 months ago) with no distractions because I really need to get it done. So since the sun was out, and it was warm (for November) I decided to hammock in the park, enjoy the good weather and work on my video. As long as the sun was hitting me, it felt great. Also relaxing. The park is a lot less crowded this time of year as well, which is nice. Until we have a big snow storm... then there will be a bunch of munchkins sledding down the little hill.  I'm not ready for the cold.

Saturday Mountain Adventures

Saturday's I am always torn. It's my day break from work. Sunday I feel like I don't get much done because of church... so Saturday I want to be outside... but it is also the day I need to get things done because I don't the rest of the week. I don't really get to be outside the rest of the week either.

I made a goal at the beginning of summer to do something outside every weekend. Summer and fall are pretty much over, but I still want to continue doing something outside, even if it is just driving through the mountains.

So today I felt super awesome.... because I got to sleep in, which I love. I also cleaned the kitchen and my bathroom and the living room and watered my plants and cleaned the fish bowl and did laundry. I went food shopping and got my pile of clothes to take to my sister and sister in law the next day. I was super productive. ALSO I went on a drive up Provo Canyon and American Fork Canyon. The Alpine Loop is closed now, so I had to drive to each one separately instead of driving through as I planned. Oh well. It was cold... but it was pretty. It was nice to drive through the beautiful mountains and take some pictures.

Now... if only I could find someone who wanted to do this with me...

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I had a nice long weekend that went by way too fast. It was nice to be in Arizona over the weekend with my sister and her family in the perfect weather. It was a chill weekend, but it was nice. I loved not having to go to work and being able to sleep in every day and just relax. Of course getting to spend time with my sister and niece and nephew was great too.

While I was there, my brother in law, Dan, showed me how to do night photography and how to take pictures of the stars. I have been wanting to learn this for a while, so I am excited to test it out. He also found a new lens for me that I think I am going to love and is actually affordable. I'm going to get it before my trip.

Because of my long weekend in Arizona, my work week went by pretty fast. Helps to only work 4 days instead of 5. Well... I worked for like an hour on Monday, but that is nothing.

Speaking of work, we have a new girl on the team. Paula and I have been taking turns training her all week. She trained her Monday and Wednesday. I trained her on Tuesday and today (because Paula was out) and I will also be training her tomorrow. She is nice... it does make it so I can't watch anything at work, but I guess that is ok. ha ha.

I am almost all caught up on Pretty Little Liars now. I am in the 6th season and just finished the 7th episode. I have 3 more left until I am finished... well... until it starts back up in January. Then I need to start catching up on all the other shows I have been neglecting while watching this one. So funny that I used to not really watch any tv... now that there is Hulu and Netflix, I watch SO much. Thankfully most of it is at work while I just have to sit anyway... so I don't feel like I am being that lazy.

It got really cold this week. I don't like it. Tuesday snowed. It covered the mountain, but thankfully nothing stuck to the ground. Lets hope it stays that way for a while.

Yesterday after work, I went to Utah lake to watch the sunset. It is setting so early now... just right as I'm leaving work pretty much. I don't like it. The sunset was beautiful though. I was glad I did it. Then the rest of the night I went to go hang out with my Grandma. We had fun chatting and watching a Simon and Garfunkle concert on DVD. I LOVE Simone and Garfunkle... so much. We also FaceTimed with my cousin Lisa for a little bit which was fun. An evening well spent.

I have also been working on my video from my last trip more. I'm really hoping to have it done soon. I have really slacked on working on it. So bad, I know. I'm about to go on another trip, so it really needs to be done before then. I'm getting closer. There is just so much video to go through. It needs to be done in the next couple of weeks though. I will make it happen. The book too... I don't think that will take me as long to do though.

U-Jam was really fun this week. I'm sad there is only one more class left and then the instructor gets a surgery and will be recovering for the rest of the year. I will miss her and the class. The yoga instructor does't know me... because I have never gone to one of her classes, but she has really been bugging me lately to come to her yoga class. And her class is the most well attended class, so I'm not sure why she cares so much that I go or not, but I committed to going to one class after Jeannie can't teach anymore.

Another thing they provide at the gym that I was not aware of until VERY recently... is that you can set up appointments with the girl that is over the fitness center and work on health and fitness goals. When I found this out, I decided to set up a time with her and figure out how to help me. I want to be one of those people that loves working out. Right now... I don't. The only thing that motivates me to go down to the gym is U-Jam class... and that is just not enough. So I filled out a couple of forms of where I am at and where I want to be and had a nice hour chat with Kristi (the girl that runs the fitness center). I told her I need structure. I told her I need to be accountable to someone. I suggested (not knowing if this was something I could even ask of her) to set up weekly workouts for me and diet... and then everyday, I would have to come down and get my assignment. This way I had the structure and I had to be accountable to her because she was creating this FOR ME and counting on me to come down everyday to get the plan she created for me. I knew that would be enough for me to have to go down. Not only did she agree to do that for me and was happy to do so... but she said she needs a little motivation to work out lately... so that she would work out with me (which she doesn't offer to people that come to her). SCORE! I pretty much am getting a free personal trainer at my free gym. I'm for reals not paying her anything. I'm so excited about this. So today was our first day. We did weight training and worked on legs. She went through all of the machines with me and what to do and I'm keeping track of everything that I eat so that she can next help me with my diet. Isn't this the greatest? She is excited to be doing it too. I'm so lucky. If I would have known about this earlier, I would have come to her a lot sooner, but I had no idea that was available to me at the gym. It's pretty awesome. She will work with me for as long as I want her to to help me reach my goals. I'm hoping this is exactly what I need to get me back to where I was and to help me to love exercise and health enough that I will no longer need the help and motivation of someone else.

This morning I had breakfast with my old contracts team. It was nice. It was just like old times. I really do miss them, even though I still see them, it's not the same. Also, most of them got let go so pretty soon I will not be seeing them around anymore and it makes me really sad and mad.. but mostly sad. My work family is being broken apart. At the same time, a new family is being formed. I am starting to become better friends with people on my new team. It makes going to work a lot nicer. I guess I had to get over being mad about everything and now it seems like people like being around me and want to talk to me and hang out. Ha ha. I'm sure that makes me boss happy too.

I just found out that they cleaned off all the gum on the gum wall in Seattle. I don't know why, but I got kind of mad at this. Ha ha. 20 years of gum... all gone. My gum had been there for the last 4 years. It just makes me sad. It was gross, but such a cool thing. Apparently it attracted tourists, but it also attracted rats. Whatever, I still think they should have kept it. My friend Lorelie and I talked about starting one here in our neighborhood. HA!

Another thing that I did this week was go through my closet! It seems like I do that often... but it needs to be done. I took EVERYTHING out (which I haven't done in a long time) and one by one I decided what I would keep and what I would give away. I also reorganized the clothes. Instead of just the type of clothing it was... I organized into plane, stripes, plaid, floral and lace. It is a different way to do things... but so far, I kind of like it. It took me WAY longer that I thought it would to go through my closet, but I was up until 3am. I was committed.... and I got it done. So now I have a big pile of clothes to take to my family's house to see if my sister and sister in law and mom want any of it. Hopefully that makes them happy. It is time consuming... but I feel AWESOME after going though and getting rid of stuff and reorganizing and cleaning. Makes me happy. My closet right now is making me happy. I have taken a couple of trips to DI recently... but I guarantee that I will continue to go through my stuff little by little and find more and more to get rid of. That is the plan anyway. To de-clutter my life and get rid of things that I don't need, or don't use and is just taking up space in my storage... which I don't have a lot of. One day... I'm going to have my dream walk-in closet. One day...

Photo of the Week 295

My view as I walked into work this morning.

It snowed yesterday... mostly just in the mountains and most of it is melted now, but I as much as I hate the cold, I love that VERY small window of transition from fall to winter. I love seeing the yellow and white.

Allegiant Air

I flew Allegiant Air from Provo to Mesa when I went to go visit Jamie. This is SUPER convenient for both me and Jamie because both airports and small and close by each of us. Flying out of Provo is like flying out of Santa Barbara, you feel high class because it is such a small airport.

I almost missed my flight on the way there, but besides that, everything went fine. Everything was on time and you are there in an hour. It's great. When I turned on my phone at the end of the flight, my friend Justine had text me... "You are not happening to be flying to Mesa right now are you?" What? Are you on this flight? Yes... yes she was. So it was nice to have a friend to talk to while I waited for my sister to pick me up. A friend to talk to, perfect weather and a beautiful sunset. Doesn't get better than that! What a perfect way to start my long weekend!

On the way back was a different story. Probably because I was going back and I didn't want to. The weekend was too short. The weather was too perfect to go back to colder weather... just wanted to stay in AZ. Anyway, my flight was supposed to leave at 9:45 that morning but I got a call from Allegiant at 6:30am saying that my flight was delayed until 12:50pm. So I guess I wasn't working a half day at work. Oh well. Not crying about it. So I went to the airport a little later. My brother in law, Dan, took me and we stopped at Taco Bell on the way to get some food. Then I waited at the airport for my flight. Sat next to Justine who I knew after talking to her on the way there that we also had the same flight back. We chatted until it was time to board the plane. We boarded the plane on time... but once we got on the plane... I could see why Allegiant was struggling and why our flight was so delayed. They just couldn't get it together! The pilot was late and shocked to see us all on the plane already... hello! We are on time! I was only 4 rows back from the front of the plane, so I could see the pilot just sitting there... staring at the buttons. At one point he pressed a button that turned all of our lights on and then off again and then he sat and stared some more. I swear he didn't know what he was doing. I already don't love flying, but I started to get anxiety that he didn't know how to fly the plane. We sat in the plane before we finally took off for a good 45 minutes!! After sitting for a 25 minutes or so they claim they are ready to go and the only reason why we hadn't taken off was because someone was in the bathroom and they needed to be back in their seat and buckled up before we could leave. There is no way a person was in the bathroom that entire time unless they were constipated. They shortly after got out and took their seat. We still didn't leave. I knew something was up because the guy that checked our tickets was in the doorway and so was some dude in an orange vest and they both didn't look like they were going anywhere anytime soon. They then get on the intercom and claim that the plane is not properly balanced with weight and they needed two people in the front of the plane to move to the back of the plane. Have you ever heard of that? I sure haven't. Don't they design the planes to distribute the weight properly? Anyway... two people quickly get up and move to the back because we are all sick of sitting there waiting. Everyone claps for them. I could see how the guy that got up could make a tiny bit of difference in weight, but the second person that got up was this tiny petite girl that probably weighed 100 lbs. I'm sure THAT is going to make a huge difference! Ha! This apparently made the difference... but we still didn't leave for a while after that. Then we backed up and they said we were first for take off (shocker, there are hardly any planes that fly in and out of that airport) but we still sat there for another 5 minutes before going anywhere. I swear they were just making up excuses while the pilot figured out what he was doing. Anyway... we finally did get up in the air and once we did we got there quickly, but I felt bad that I had my mom waiting for me there at the airport for a half hour. Oh Allegiant...