oh duh

i say a lot of dumb things 

most the time i don't even realize how silly i sound 

a couple days ago we were driving down 3rd west 

we had just been to target and were heading north 

if you've ever driven you know that some parts of that street are sketchy 

particularly once you cross the railroad tracks 

at that point most of the stores are 

small car shops, mexican restaurants, and run down furniture stores

well in the middle of now where is this darling cookie shop

 

amanda: 'sam don't you think that little cookie shop is out of place'

sam: 'where?'

he's not nearly as observant 

amanda while pointing:'over there the one that says doug h girl'

that's a weird name don't you think?? 

what do you think it stands for 

doug hit girl 

doug hump girl 

doug her girl 

hm.... 

sam: 'actually babe i thinks it dough girl'

amanda: 'yeah your probably right, duh!'

and so we fought

I don't want this blog to be a 'look at me i'm so cool' blog

or a 'my life sucks, feel sorry for me blog'

i hope that i never come across like i'm bragging or looking for attention

that's not my intention ever

i use this blog to share random thoughts and events

and am really sorry if it ever comes across any other way

tuesday i finished "the help"

it was a fantastic book

it came out a year ago and i've been wanting to read it for about that long

if you haven't read it, do you'll love it

so thursday i started another book.

(i've really been loving to read while doing the elliptical or bike lately)

my mom gave me and all my siblings a book on communicating

it's specifically about communicating in 'critical conversations'

as i read the beginning pages the book nailed 5 situations i'd been in recently

so after i had put in my time on the elliptical i packed up and headed home

all week i'd been looking forward to thursday

mr. r had 3 test plus a quiz on thursday and i couldn't wait to have him back

i expected him to be ready to hang-out, catch up etc.

but he wasn't

he was drained and incompetent

one bad comment lead to another and all the sudden we're both so upset

pretty much over nothing

our fights are always pretty mild

and we never go to bed mad at each other, we try to but never can

everything just spun out of control

we were literally fighting about nothing

the worse part about being married to mr r. 

is he is the most wonderful sensitive man

he's always the one to come and make things right

i'm the prideful brat every time

it's usually my fault we are in a tiff anyways

and he always fixes it

good thing i'm reading a book on how to communicate better!!

i have to add

we have friends who claim they have never fought

which is amazing

but sometimes i'm grateful for these little tiffs

we've probably only had 1-2/year married

but they make us so much stronger

after we work it out the unity is a little bit stronger

our love a little bit deeper

and our understanding for each other that much better

declutter

I must have spring fever(who doesn't) because I can't wait to get home and clean

Spring cleaning

I love our little house but it lacks in storage

we have one tiny hole in the wall 'closet' which barely fits our coats alone

we've had to get creative and be organized in order to find space for anything

well as we all know organization is a constant thing

you can't just organize once and be done forever

what happens when you buy something new??

you have to find a place for it

well it's time to pull out the drawers, open the cupboards

i have to empty them all out

and make my piles

keep, donate, trash

i always have the hardest time knowing what to keep

so what I haven't worn it for a year-it's the top I wore to christmas dance in 2002

which was also my first anthropologie experience

this is a pretty pathetic example

here's another;

I have a stuffed animal(I know I said this wasn't pathetic)

it's my first recollection of buying something for myself

my mom had me save enough money to buy it

sometimes I think I should never get rid of it... but what should I do with it?

what if somebody else could love it?

how do you decide if you can get rid of something?

not just clothes, but letters, tokens, things from your childhood etc.?

or if you've decided to keep them what are you doing with them?



saying goodbye

a week ago I said good-bye to cardiac rehab

you know how when you have a birthday you don't really feel any older 

it was similar i didn't really feel any different 

and i still don't 

i loved walking up to the trax stop each morning 

the world is so peaceful during that 7-8 o'clock hour

not to mention beautiful

i love watching the sun rise

however on days like today, after a fresh 2-3 inches of snow i don't miss walking

i loved helping people 

typically you get two types of patients 

those that are grouchy and mean because they are sick and in a hospital 

and those who are pleasant, patient and willing to do what you ask

i'll miss both types 

i enjoyed the challenge of making the grouchy ones like you 

and i enjoyed the ones who thought you were bff whenever you knocked on their door

i had some great coworkers

they threw me a fantastic going away party 

after i showed sam my presents and told him about it

he told me i should have quit long ago... 

discovery

this week i downloaded my first app

when i first got my itouch sam downloaded every app i could ever need

and more 

but he missed one

and it's my new favorite

if you have an iphone or itouch you gotta check it out 

it's called the 

nike training club 

there are four different components for training available 

 

the workouts are hard!

they are great for being at home 

you can do them with little equipment or no equipment 

it tells you what to do while letting you listen to your music at the same time

it has video clips if you aren't sure how to preform a move 

and it has three levels 

the more you use it the more you earn tips and feedback for nutrition and exercise 

i'm really excited to be able to run to the track 

and then do a workout outside 

make sure you check it out 

you won't be disappointed!

birthday 2011

i had a birthday not too long ago 

i can't remember a time that i've felt so special as i did this year 

there wasn't one event that or gift that made me feel that way 

we didn't do anything to out of the ordinary

you know how sometimes your birthday turns in a birthweekend

we started celebrating last friday 

we went to our families favorite chinese restaurant 

it has a HUGE room where my entire family can fit 

the little kiddo's can run around and don't have to sit still the entire time

the food is delicious 

sam loved eating left-over chinese all week long

i love simple parties because if allows you time to talk and hang-out 

i got to sit next to my grandma 

she made me feel special by bringing me a favorite birthday treat 

kolache's 

you probably haven't ever had one or heard of one 

it's a pastry and it's declicious, i had four 

apple, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry 

(singing 'underwater style with all the kids)

sam surprised me with an afternoon of shopping 

we went to all my favorite stores 

i felt so lucky to find clothes that actual fit!

then he took me for a much needed polish change 

i was surprised when two of our closest friends joined us 

for dinner, dessert and games all night long 

we got addicted to just dance, and had to buy our own the next day

random people at church new it was my birthday 

they went out of their way to say it 

family and friends called and said the nicest things 

the richard's treated us to a delicious feast 

mama richards made both desserts that i suggested 

they were so yummy

(the richards' have the tradition to say why you love the person 

who's birthday it is, luke loved me because I'm his brodder) so cute!

everyone's presents and comments were thoughtful 

heart felt sincere comments that melted my heart 

my last birthday treat... 

one of my YW and a leader surprised me with chocolate fondu!

i scraped the bowl clean. 

i hope this isn't a brag post 

i'm writing the way i did mostly for myself 

selfish i know

but i was so touched this year 

and that's what i want to remember the most 

how much love i felt.

thank you thank you thank you!

the red rocks

have you ever been to see the REDROCKS??!

they are fantastic!

it's no surprise that they get more spectators than utah basketball

 they play really fun music all meet long

everyone dances and cheers

the girls are extremely talented

the team is ranked in the top 5

well guess what??!

it's your lucky day

I have a stack of free tickets

you want one??

2-11 Washington

2-18 Michigan

3-4 Florida

random

I think it was pretty obvious

 that with the new year I had high hopes to blog more frequently 

I loved re-reading a years worth of posts 

it's so convenient to have the story and pictures together in one spot 

so I tried to put my 'people pleaser' behind me 

I tried to not worry so much about what people thought about my post 

I tried to stop competing with some of my favorite blogs to read 

and I tried really hard to just be me (why can that be so hard??)

writing what's important to me 

well it's been 3 whole days since I have written a post! ;) 

and I'm too lazy to upload the pictures from the weekend 

but I have a few random thoughts that have been passing through me today 

it was my birthday and it was one of the best birthday's i've ever had

(more later)

today I thought for sure my fish, Red was dead 

our stairs are finally completed, come on over!

I have just one day left at cardiac rehab, I hope I can get through it 

my friend went into labor today, 

and I can't wait for the time that I get to experience that feeling

(not an announcement)

our power was out for about 3 hours today, of course right when the sun went down  

resulted in reading my book using 2 candles while sitting on the floor 

and I'm totally experiencing an extreme weekend hangover

Hope you had a happy monday!! 

posts to come: 

birthday

menus 

what i'll miss about work

don't come knocking on my door

I came home from work yesterday

with our stair well leading to our door looking similar to this..

nobody was around to explain what was going on 

and considering it was 20 degrees outside 

waiting around outside wasn't an option I had to get in

I climbed over our railing and carefully lowered myself into the pile of mess

later that day I heard a lot of noise outside the kitchen window 

mr. s was climbing in the window

so for the rest of the day we used the window to get in and out

I wonder what our neighbors thought

we'd have to walk through their yard to get to our window 

for all you criminals our window is locked and the screen back in tack

because now we have this to get in and out instead

we have to keep the tarp covering it unless we need access to our door 

it is such a pain to move the huge, seriously huge dirty and kinda heavy tarp 

so I do ninja moves every time I come and go.

their replacing our top four stairs because they were falling apart

makes me grateful for full functioning stairs 

everything is so much harder when you have to propel yourself to get out the door 

all the sudden taking the garbage out is the hardest chore

but good news the cement should hopefully be dry tomorrow 

our stairwell should be good as new(literally)

happy groundhog day

february 2nd, happy groundhog day

I don't think that the groundhog ever predicts winter's over 

but it's a fun tradition 

and with the 20 degree weather outside I think I could predict that winter's not over 

here are some classic flicks from 'groundhog day' 

thanks to my brother for always watching it