Monday, November 29, 2010

2 days in a row!

I can't believe it, but here I am blogging for the 2nd day in a row!  I'm so proud of myself :)

Today was kind of a crazy day.  In fact, when I think about it, we kind of have crazy lives!  We wake up about 6:30 every morning and get ready for the day.  I drop off Andrew at BYU and head up to American Fork, where I work at a Law Firm called Myler Disability.  I read medical records all day and determine if I think our clients have good cases for Social Security Disability.  I actually really like my job.  I work with great people and learn so much.

Most of our clients really are crazy, and reading their medical records from therapists can be nuts.  My heart definitely goes out to some of them.  Reading about their childhoods, sometimes it's amazing to me that they turned out as normal as they did.  There is so much evil out there- I was completely oblivious before, and now I'm only mostly oblivious, and I can't believe it.  It makes me realize just how blessed and fortunate I am!  I was born into a great, loving family with amazing parents who taught me everything I needed to know and gave me everything they could.  Now I'm married to the man I am convinced is the nicest person in the world who treats me like a queen.  I am so blessed!!!  So many people go through types of abuse I can't even imagine and never know that their Savior loves them with a perfect love and that there is hope for a better existence when they pass from this world.  I wish I could share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, but unfortunately I can't in a work setting like that.  I really am the most blessed girl there is!

Some of the clients I feel a little less bad for- they've attempted murder, robbed homes, and done drugs I had never even heard of before.  I guess they probably did it because they have a mental problem, but I still have a hard time feeling quite as bad for them.  Maybe someday I'll be a better person....

Well after work I was headed home to pick up Andrew when I got a phone call stating we actually were supposed to work today- not tomorrow! I sped to the Branbury Clubhouse, where we work as RAs, and was luckily only about 15 minutes late.  Our boss is really nice and understanding, so it all turned out alright.  However, poor Andrew had to walk home in the freezing cold because I couldn't pick him up!

We'll work here until just after 11, head home and get ready for bed, then do it all again tomorrow!  We're so fortunate to be able to work here, as it pays for our rent, but sometimes the lack of sleep catches up with us.  I am so lucky to have Andrew as my husband- he's really helpful in getting me out of bed nicely and making lunches for us when I can't keep my eyes open to do it myself.  He even makes dinner some nights!  Well we're actually working on some training materials for the apartment complex tonight, so I should probably help Andrew...

Sunday, November 28, 2010

New Goal: write in blog again!

I've been so terrible about blogging, for like the past year!  But I'm determined to get into it now.  Things are going great for me and Andrew.  I am so lucky to be married to Andrew!  It's been over a year and a half now, and the time has FLOWN by.  I can't believe it!

Andrew will graduate with his combined Bachelors/Masters in April (in Statistics at BYU), and then we are off to more schooling!  That's what we've been eating, breathing, and dreaming lately.  However, he officially finished his applications last week- now it's just a waiting game.  He applied to 9 different schools all over the place, and I am dying to find out where we'll be for the new few years!  The options are:
Ohio State (Columbus)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Harvard (Boston)
Duke (North Carolina)- my top choice!
NC State (also North Carolina)
University of Washington (Seattle)
UC Santa Cruz (California)
Purdue (Indiana)
Texas A&M (College Station)

But we'll see what happens.  North Carolina is close to my family, and the weather there looks fantastic!  However, after spending 5 years in Provo, I am ready for a change.  It snowed A LOT last night, and I HATE the cold, driving on icy roads, scraping windows, and falling on my bum (which is inevitable).  However, it does look beautiful I must admit.

We had a great Thanksgiving.  My brother and sister, Kim and Kory, are both in Provo this year, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them.  In fact, they even slept at our tiny apartment and went to Idaho to for the Smith (Andrew's mom's) Family Thanksgiving dinner in little Preston, Idaho.  The roads were a little iffy, but we made it, and it was super yummy!

Kim and I had a blast Black Friday shopping!  There was a mall in Draper, about 30 minutes away, that opened at midnight Thanksgiving night.  Of course Kim and I were there 20 minutes before standing in line in our pajamas, which paid off with a $10 gift card to the mall to the first 200 shoppers that showed up in their PJs!  We LOVED the atmosphere of it all.  I've never seen so many shoppers in the mall at one time, and they were all crazy!  There was tons of pushing, shoving, and yelling- and we loved it all!  We didn't buy much, but what we did were all great deals, and we made it home about 3am.  We then slept in and were back out shopping Friday afternoon- it was a lot of fun to shop with all the crazies and spend time with my sister.

My brother Kory and Andrew spent a lot of quality time together this weekend too.  Kory introduced Andrew to the movie Batman Begins, which Andrew really enjoyed, while Kim and I shopped Thursday night.  We ate dinner together about every night, watched movies, played games, and just relaxed.  I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but not too long until Christmas!

Our tree is up and sparkling and I love it!  I love everything about Christmas, especially the spirit of Christmas.  Everyone seems just a little nicer, the music is heavenly, and there is so much excitement everywhere!  Christmas is less than a month away and we are definitely in Christmas mode!  Well, I should probably get ready for bed and for another week...