Happy Birthday Clint!

Yesterday was Clint's 29th birthday. I'd have to say that this was the year of uneventful birthdays. On my birthday we unloaded our moving truck and for Clint's birthday he got to study. I did make him a cake and I think from now on we'll leave the decorating to the professionals.

You might notice that blue glob of frosting in the top corner? Well that is suppose to be the logo for the Akron Zips.

This is what I was shooting for, ya you don't have to tell me twice that cake decorating is not my thing.

I took the cake to school and invited some of our law school friends and their spouses to join us for lunch.

Some of my new friends that I just love! Heather and Jack, Lindsey, Emily Annie and Andy, Sarah above them and Jeff at the end. (Sorry Lindsey if I got the girls mixed up.)

Pete, PJ and Clint. I don't know how I managed to miss the others who came. Sorry next time I'll do a little better at taking pictures.

This is how Clint spent his birthday, looks fun huh? He had a lot to do this night because his professor had a little tizzy fit. It was kind of funny story.

Clint has this professor that is really strict and mean (one year he made a girl cry and she never came back to law school.) Well last Thursday the professor said that starting next week he was going to start moving through the cases quicker. Clint rose his hand and asked if they were 5 cases ahead if that would still be good enough. The professor said that should be fine.

Well on Tuesday the professor made it through the 5 cases and started to go over the 6th case (which no one had read because 5 was plenty). The professor asked a girl to brief the case and she said that she hadn't read it. The professor started giving them a bible lecture about trust. He said if he can't trust them with small things, how was he going to trust them with large things.

At this point Clint was mad, so he raised his hand and reminded the professor that on Thursday he had told the class that being 5 cases ahead would be far enough along. Then the professor started mumbling that going the extra mile would be way too much for a class todo. The professor then grabbed his books and said, "Fine then I guess it's my fault, class is over!"

Well not 20 minutes later the class got an email from the professor stating that he was changing the syllabus and that everyone needed to be at least 10 cases ahead to be prepared for class. So the whole class had 2 days to read more than 10 cases so that they would be prepared for class. The class now likes Clint, but I'm afraid Clint will get a nice "F" for making the professor have a bad day. I sure hope that doesn't happen or we'll be in big trouble!

And poor Jax, all he wanted to do was just play with his Daddy. He guarded the door all night wishing Clint would come out.

Hopefully Friday we'll get to celebrate Clint's birthday a little more. He is really busy this weekend so we'll see if it happens. Happy Birthday Clint! I love you so much and appreciate all you do for us.

I Spoke Too Soon!

So you could probably tell in my last post that I wasn't too happy about my new job. Poor Clint, all he heard for 3 LONG days was complaints, crying, and some more complaining. Today when I woke up sick, my sweet husband said to me, "Don't go to work, I want you to quit." I felt really bad about quitting on my 4th day of work, but I really wanted to. I did something that I have never done before in my life - I didn't give a two week notice and I called in and said that I would not be returning to work.

I feel really bad that I won't be working but I have just had a miserable couple days and I know it was because of work, so hopefully now things will be better. Now the plan is to get things ready so I can start school in January. I am SO excited. Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on my job, hopefully you all won't think of me as a slacker. Ending in a good note, yeah for fall!

Some News

Well this week I found a temporary job, thank goodness it's a temp job because I really don't like it. I'm working at Joann Fabrics customer service department, so pretty much a call center. Right now I am just answering emails but eventually will take calls and place orders for customers. It really isn't that bad, it just reminds me that I am 29 and doing a job that 18 year olds do. The good thing is the job will be over the middle of December, right when Clint finishes up with finals. Now we can have a huge Christmas break together.

The job market is REALLY bad here so I'm grateful I have something. Since the market is so bad and I can't find a permanent job I have been debating on going back to school and finishing up my prereqs for Dental Hygiene. I get really exciting when I think about it, so if I am able to get enough financial aid, get accepted to Akron U, and get all my credits transferred then I'll start in January. I really hope everything works out ok!

So that's pretty much all that has been going on. Now that I am working I am not such the good house wife anymore, my apartment is a mess, dinner is hard to find, I have no groceries and poor Jax is alone all day long. But the good news is, I'm making a little bit of money so we don't have to move into the refrigerator box we found on the side of the road :). Cross you fingers for us that everything will work out!

Nothing New

Well I promise I haven't forgotten about my blog, I just haven't had much going on. Clint is busy busy busy with school, me...I am busy doing nothing. I haven't had any luck with the job thing, but hopefully that will change soon. I've been going on walks with Jax on this really beautiful trail that is by our house so that takes an hour of my day :).

As most people do, I have a list of things I should do, but it just seems likes the day is over before I know it and the items have been moved to the next day. My goal this week is to be motivated enough to get my coffee table, end tables and a mirror painted. If you don't hear anything about it, check up on me, I need some pushing to get these year long projects done. On the upside I have been an excellent house wife and make dinner pretty much every night, we're use to a home cooked meal 1-2 times a week (pathetic, I know), it's been a nice change.

I am loving our ward, everyone is so nice and I've met a lot of great people. Sometimes I'm not sure if I fit in as well because I don't have kids, but I think I just need to get to know people a little better. I've met some really great friends from law school, but I don't get to see them enough :).

It's been a good experience being away from home and to be honest it doesn't feel that much different. I still talk to my family every once in a while, so the only thing we're really missing is the monthly birthday parties.

Ohio is BEAUTIFUL!!! When I go on my walks I feel like I am in the mountains because there are so many trees. I can't wait for fall to see all the leaves turn colors. I LOVE fall and it's going to be amazing! (hopefully). I'll try and be better about taking pictures and updating the blog, even if I have nothing to write about.

Well until next time, peace out!

Last of the Updates, Hopefully

Ok well here goes the last update. We've been in Ohio for 3 weeks and 4 days and so far so good. When we fist got here I didn't know if I was going to make it. It was 90 degrees and 199% humidity. (ok maybe not that humid, but it was REALLY bad!) I went on a walk one day and after 15 minutes decided that I needed to go back because I couldn't see. I was sweating from my eyelids! The last few weeks it's been much better. This last weeks it's been really nice around the low 70's and as far as I can tell not much humidity.

Our ward is great, I think we're really going to like being in this ward. Everyone has been so nice! Clint is loving school and studying really hard. It's 9:20 pm and he's still at school. It isn't always like this, usually he's home by 6:30, but I guess he has a ton of stuff to do for class tomorrow so he's trying to get it all done tonight.

We've met some great people who are going to school with Clint. So far there are 6 LDS students in their class. They are wanting to start a J. Ruben Clark association at school so that will be pretty cool. I've decided that it is a REALLY small world. Our fist day at church we met a couple who lived about a mile away from us in Spanish Fork. He's going to the law school as well. Then we met up with an other couple and it turns out that he served a mission with my brother Doug. Doug was his first zone leader.

A couple days after we got here the Jeep broke down. Thank goodness it waited to die till we got here and not in the middle of the country. It wasn't something we were wishing for, but we've come to expect the unexpected. It took forever to get fixed and I still don't think it's running like it should, but we weren't too happy with the place we took it to and I'm not looking forward to taking it back there.

I'm not having any luck finding a job. Everything I find on the internet ends up to be a scam. I went to a temp agency on Monday, filled out all the paperwork and then found out that they don't have any work till October. Hopefully I'll get something soon or we're in big trouble. I just don't know how people live just off student loans!

We've had a couple awesome rain storms. There was one week that it rained everyday and not just a little tut tut, it looks like rain, it was a down pour. I took a video of it, but it still doesn't do justice.

We haven't seen too much of the town yet. We've been really busy getting settled, school and job hunting. One Saturday we did go to a dog park for Jax. It's a park called BowWow Beach and is just the cutest thing. It's a huge man made lake that they let dogs swim in. They also have a fenced off part for little dogs like Jax. The day we went some ladies were having a birthday party for there dogs and invited Jax to come. They gave him a bag of party favors too. Jax loved playing with all the dogs, although he was more interested in "dominating" all the dogs, he still had fun sniffing and jumping on all of them.

One thing that I love about this place is the people. So far everyone has been SO nice. We have some really nice neighbors and even people we meet out walking and at the grocery store are really nice. I'm not saying Utah people aren't nice, I'm just saying that I've noticed people here are exceptionally nice.

BowWow Beach

Our Apartment

The pool and club house area

Our Building. We're on the 3rd floor in the back, so our view is the sacred grove. It's really pretty, but doesn't allow a lot of natural light into the place.

Our small 2 bedroom place.

Strait ahead is a solarium which we use as an office. It's really nice to have. Now when and if we ever have company, they can have the 2nd bedroom and not be overpowered by computer stuff.

Relief Society Enrichment

Saturday the Relief Society had a get together at a Ladies house in the ward. She live right next to this huge lake. We had a lot of fun going on boat rides on the lake, roasting marshmallows and just getting to know each other. I had a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went. Plus I now know where I want to live when we're rich! (wishful thinking). On this lake they have tons of homes and restaurants right on the lake. So if they want to go to the boat club or a restaurant, they just get in their boat and drive to where they want to go. So fun and SO nice and beautiful.

Some of the homes.

These next pictures aren't the best quality, but you can still see how nice some of the houses are.

One of the bigger homes.

And that's about all that's been going on. Hopefully now that I'm caught up I'll do better about posting, I sure will try. I hope everyone is doing great!

Huge Catch Up Part 2

Caution!!! Picture Overload!

But I guess that's what happens when you slack on blogging.

GNO: July 16, 2009

I forgot to put this picture in my last posting, so I'm doing it now. This is a great group of friends. This use to be part of the Hillcrest 1st Ward Young Women's Presidency (wow try and say that 10 times fast). We're missing two friends Teri and Kim but this is who still lived in Utah at the time. This has been a tradition we've been doing for 6 or 7 years now. We use to have our "meetings" over dessert and had such a fun time that we kept doing it. We usually only get together 2 or 3 times a year, but it is still fun to get together and find out how things are going. Thanks for a great night Becky, Alicia and Heather!

Going Away Party: July 27, 2009

We wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to all of our friends before we left, so we decided to have a party instead of trying to find time to meet up with everyone individually. Thanks everyone who came, it was great to see you!

Mike and Ryker Schow with Jax. Poor Ryker got stung by a bee while he was playing. Sorry again Shantel.

We had a ton of food as you can see. I hope that chip was good Jordan.

Even though we had 2 Barbecues', it still took forever getting everyones food cooked.

My Uncle Robert, Aunt Carol and Cousin Kim were leaving on a mission to New York just a few weeks later, so it was a great chance to say goodbye to them as well.

Are great friends Nick and Tamsin North.

More family.

And more.

The Jensens', Us, and the Barnes.

Picture with Clint's sister's family

A left over bowl and spoon. This bowl and spoon need a home. If you by chance left it at my moms, could you let me know so she can give it to you? Thanks

The party just happened to be on my Brother Craig's Birthday, so I had a cake for him, but he ended up not being there when we sung, so we just sang to everyone who's birthday was in the next little while.

Going Away Party for me at Work: July 28, 2009

Kathy (above) and Norma were nice enough to throw me a going away party on my last day of work. I sure do miss working there. Everyone was so nice and it was really fun working for my dad and uncle.

Some of the shop workers. They were all so fun!

Norma. She was so great, I'm really going to miss her.

The guys: Davin, Shane and Phil. I am now realizing that I didn't get a picture of my dad and John. Oh well.

Jax Finally Meets His Girls: July 29, 2009

We finally made it to Jax's girlfriends house to meet his offspring. They were so cute and reminded me so much of Jax when he was little like them. They had 3 in the litter, but unfortunately the boy had a clef pallet and didn't make it. How sad.

This isn't the best video, but it gives you an idea that Jax knows exactly where he's at. He knows where to go. It's so cute to witness!

One girl. If I didn't know better, I would have thought this was a picture of Jax when he was a puppy.

Josie protecting the girls

The two girls

Trying to get a family picture. Didn't go so well :)

Jax could care less about the girls. He just wanted to "play" with Josie the whole time.

Moving Day: August 1, 2009

So we ended up packing up the van on Saturday August 1st. It was so nice to have all my family there to help us load up the van. I'm so thankful that the big truck was less expensive than the smaller truck, because we sure did need the big truck! I can't believe how much junk we had! But thanks to my engineer brothers, they fit it all in. Thanks again everyone who helped us! We couldn't have done it with out you. (I only wish you would have been here to help us unpack, it took forever and we were dead by the end!)

Taking a little break for some food.

Clint, Nick, Doug and Alex loading up.

Stockton Zach and Libby with only a portion of our junk.

Dad was nice enough to come from his scout meeting to help us.

These next few pictures are my favorite. Apparently a little one got a hold of my camera and wanted to make sure I remembered what my carpet and tile looked like. I think it was Afton, thanks Afton.

Tile

Looking out to the back yard.

Taking a break after everything was out of the house. I can't believe how big our family room felt once everything was gone.

Zach and Stockton made sure the chairs were nice and greased by spinning around in them.

You couldn't ask for better help. Zach and Stockton dusting the blinds. Who needs a stool when you have some ones back?

Our last family picture in our Spanish Fork Town Home.

Jax was having such a hard time once everything was out of the house. Our neighbor let him come over while we were moving things outside, so when he came home he was a little shocked that all of his things were gone. We were so busy cleaning that we didn't pay any attention to him. At one point I found him curled up on the tile next to my purse. I think he was afraid we were going to leave him. We would never do that!

Leaving Utah: August 2, 2009

What a sad day! We had gone to church at 1:00 and then had the family come over so they could say goodbye. My mom made dinner and my dad and brothers gave us blessings. I had done really good up to this point. Once everyone started crying, I lost it. I didn't think it would be so hard to leave, but after we turned the corner from my parents house, I lost it. It's a good thing it didn't last long because I was crying so hard I couldn't see the road too well. We have a great family and we're going to miss them so much, but thank goodness we'll see them at Christmas.

The family lined up to say goodbye.

And the Road Trip Begins:

Yes I was the only one in the car and yes I took pictures while I was driving, not the safest thing, but surprisingly enough, the pictures turned out pretty good, considering.

This is what I got to look at the whole way there. Clint's code name was Big Blue Thunder. Fitting.

Welcome to Wyoming! Sunday - State 1/6

Jax did so good on the trip. He slept most of the way. I had his kennel in the front seat and also had his bed in the back with a little bit of space. He would switch off between these two places. I was so happy that he did so well.

This was pretty much what kind of view we looked at. Some places were a lot better than others.

Welcome to Nebraska! Monday - State 2/6.

Now is where the fun begins. Our goal was to get to Ohio on Wednesday. Well that didn't happen. About the time we hit Nebraska we started having problems with the truck. It had no power. We were going about 40 miles an hour on the highway and even slower when we hit a hill. It was still running, but had no guts. We called Budget to see what to do, and all they could say was, try and make it to the next town, they'll have a place that can fix it for you.

So we made it to a small town called Potter. Well, they couldn't help us, but we didn't know they couldn't help us till 3 hours later. By this time we were about 5 hours off schedule. Since no one in Potter could help us, Budget told us to drive to the next town. As we were driving there, the truck started working just fine! Weird, but ok, it was working, so let's keep going. Our plan was to make it to Omaha that night, but seeing as it was 7 or 8 hours away and the current time was 6:00 pm, that wasn't going to happen. We made it as far as we could which ended up being Kearny Nebraska.

The next day we prayed that the truck would work for us so we could still make it to Ohio on time. It worked for about 30 minutes and then the air conditioning went out and the check engine light came on and of course, no power. So we ended up only making it to Omaha, 186 miles away! After WE located a shop that could fix the problem (no thanks to Budget) we found out the truck wasn't going to be done till 7:00pm. So we decided to just spend the night in Omaha.

So while we were there we went to Winter Quarters and took the tour and it was so amazing. We felt so much better about everything once we left there. Sadly the battery on my camera died so we didn't get very many pictures. But here is one of Clint and Jax in front of the visitor center.

We didn't stay very long because they wouldn't let Jax in the building. He had to stay in his kennel in the shade right out side the front doors. It was really hot that day, (luckily it was a lot cooler where he was) so we didn't want him to suffer too much so we left.

I didn't get a picture of the sign into Iowa, but here is the Missouri River that separates Nebraska and Iowa. Great Picture right :) Wednesday - State 3/6

The next river, The mighty Mississippi!

Welcome to Illinois! Wednesday - State 4/6. This state was pretty. The only bad thing was the max we could go in the truck was 55 mph. That kind of stunk, but the Jeep got great gas mileage!

Welcome to Indiana! Wednesday Sate 5/6. Almost there!

We didn't get to see much of this state (sorry Lori) because it was dark most of the time we drove through it.

Welcome OHIO! Thursday - State 6/6!

We made it to our apartment around 3:00 pm, moved a couple boxes up to the 3rd floor (ugh!) and then some guys from the Elder's Quorum showed up to help. I don't know what we would have done without them! It was such a blessing.

Well now my next update will have to be everything that's been going on since we've been here. It take a long time to add so much information! I need a break before I can do any more!