BABIES...EVERYWHERE!

So I've decided that I keep noticing babies EVERYWHERE. Some would say that I have become "baby hungry." However, that's not entirely true. I will admit that on occasion the thought crosses my mind that it would be fun to start trying now. But then I get a slap from reality and we know we aren't ready quite yet. Plus, we agreed before we got married that we would wait 2 years before we try. So we have at least another year.

Last night I was getting a little "baby hungry," if you will, so I headed over to my neighbor's apartment to remedy that. They have an ADORABLE son that's almost 5 months old. He is so much fun. So usually after about 20-30 minutes of playing with him and making embarassing little noises and faces just to get a quick little giggle out of him, my "baby hungry" moment goes away and I head home.

After getting home, for some reason, and I don't recall how it started, Allen and I started discussing baby names. We each voiced ones we liked and why we liked them. We also took our turn at vetoing at least one of the other's choices. haha. But for the most part, we both had suggestions that the other liked. So when it DOES come time to name our little bundle of joy, whenever that may be, I think we have some good names to consider. :)

Right in the middle of our discussion, Allen stopped talking pretty abruptly. He looked up at me and said, "Wait! Why are we talking about this now???" It was so funny. The look on his face was priceless. I responded with a simple "Cuz it's fun and we've never really talked about baby names before." Apparently that response was good enough for him. Enough to stop him from worrying about what my intentions were for discussing baby names. haha. It was fun though.

Not So Wonderful Tuesday

Gray Clouds:

Yesterday was a long day. I woke up knowing I had to go to work after a wonderful 4 day weekend. Work was super busy the minute I arrived, and at about 11:30, I had to leave for a doctor's appointment. Why on earth must a simple check up take nearly 2 1/2 hours??? I was gone till about 2 o'clock. So when I got back, I wasn't too jazzed about missing that much work. And I wasn't feeling all that well from the doctor visit. And as a bonus, work was just as busy as when I left.

When 5 o'clock finally rolled around, I was out of the office so fast. I started my 10 minute commute home and called Allen on the way. He seemed slightly irritated by something. So I asked him what was wrong. Yesterday Allen was let go from his job. We got off the phone pretty quickly and I just broke down. Haha, my really long Tuesday had just gotten worse. But, Allen already had a game plan. When I walked in the door he was in a shirt and tie and getting ready to go turn in resume's.

I really do not like stressing about finances. But then again, who does? But we'll be ok. We both feel that this might be a good thing. And a good friend of ours, who claims to be an "eternal optimist," says that this might just be the best thing for us. She said, "Maybe the right job for Allen is hiring right now and that's why he was let go from this last job. It needed to happen to get you two looking for jobs again." I'm going to put my faith in those statements. :) Allen and I both know we'll be ok. And if we work diligently and keep faith and pray daily, we'll pull ourselves out of this little gray cloud too.



Little Ray of Sunshine:

So in response to Allen's let-go yesterday, he and I have worked double time on trying to find him a job. I got into work this morning applying to every job possible for him, with the aid of a friend of mine also searching for jobs. I updated his resume', he came in, I gave him a list of places to go pick up an application from, and I continued searching. We have actually had some feedback already. He has an interview today. One tomorrow morning. And a couple more potential interviews. We'll see what happens! So, with only being job less one day, he has made a lot of progress towards getting another job. I'm very proud of him. We make a good team. :) So things are already looking up. Just keep a postive attitude and things will be ok. I quote one of my favorite characters, Dori from "Nemo," "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming...What do we do? We SWIM, SWIM, SWIMMMMM!"

:)

What A Fun Weekend!

This weekend was awesome. I had a wonderful 4 day weekend. I didn't work Friday so I was able to stay home and get some things done around the house that I had been wanting to get done. Allen got home from work and we started packing. Allen and I had decided to go backpacking overnight. I had never been before, and Allen hadn't gone in quite a long time. So this was going to be a quick little trip. A review for him, and a first time experience for me. So we packed up our Vaude backpacks and headed up American Fork canyon. We parked at Tibblefork Lake and walked across the dam and started our trek up the mountain. Our destination: a beautiful meadow about 2 1/2 miles up.

I will admit, I'm totally out of shape and it was a rough hike up, especially with a huge backpack weighing me down. But after the first 45 minutes or so, my lungs got acclimated to the altitude and my body got used to the workout. So after that, the hike was a bit easier. It was beautiful. Everything is so green and fresh up there. So peaceful too. Allen and I joked back n' forth and had great conversations.
Around 8 o'clock pm, we reached the meadow, and it was as beautiful as we imagined. Snow covered mountains in the background, Quaking Aspens and pine trees lining the outskirts of the green, grassy meadow. It was gorgeous. We hiked around the meadow for about half an hour to find the PERFECT spot to set up camp. Finally we found a higher spot on the outskirts of the meadow close to a tree line and close enough to hear the water from a little creek in the background. We set up our tiny tent, and made our yummy little dinner. We sat out in the grass till the sun set and then climbed into our sleeping bags and talked till we fell asleep. It was so fun.

The next morning we woke up, ate a yummy breakfast of granola and blueberries, cleaned up camp, and hiked back down.

When we got home, we unpacked, and slept for awhile. We were both exhausted! Later that evening we joined another couple for mini golfing and then a movie and dessert at their house. It was a great day!!

Here are some pics from mine and Allen's little camping trip:

Random Bits

Tuesday...
What a productive day Tuesday was. I got up, went to work, got all my work done, and then at home is when the REAL productivity started. Allen was already home, I got home and changed my clothes. We were able to do a bit of straightening up of the apartment before we left to run errands. First on our list of errands, we were happy to acquire for a bit of a time, a little old, countertop dishwasher from some of our good friends. They can't use it at this time, so they were kind enough to let us borrow it. (I HATE doing dishes by hand, haha). We fit that into our car and then headed to American Fork to visit Allen's favorite store, Recreation Outlet. We needed some supplies for our over-night back packing trip we have on Friday. We bought quite a bit of merchandise, probably more than we should have, but at the register was one of Allen's good buddies that he used to work with. So he gave us an AMAZING discount. Our purchase was cut nearly in HALF! What a great guy! I now have my very own sleeping bag for back packing. It's awesome. Allen is such a sweetheart for letting me get it. :)
Next, we headed to my friend Ashley's. She's a bride-to-be and she had some wedding details she wanted to discuss with me. We made a few decisions, talked a bit, and then me and Allen were again off to another errand. Just a quick trip to Wal-Mart. We got what we needed, headed home, put the groceries away, took showers, and went to bed. All in all, it was a good day. I felt like I accomplished what I needed to for the day. Don't you love days like that?!


Wednesday...
I'm losing my mind...I swear! I woke up this morning feeling quite excited for the day. Why was I excited for yet another day at work, you might ask? Well, I woke up thinking today was Thursday. And because I thought it was Thursday, I was under the impression that it would be my last day of work for the week. Here's why. This Friday our company is having a furlough day(no work and no pay for anyone in the company), so I wouldn't have to come in. I got up and got dressed into a more casual outfit, one fitting under the catergory of "casual Friday attire." I left for work on time, the sun is shining, the freeway isn't backed up, and there's a parking spot right up front just calling my name. It was a glorious day. Or so I thought. I got to my desk and started talking to my supervisor and told her how excited I was to not have to work tomorrow. She stopped me with "wait, I didn't know you weren't coming in tomorrow." My response, "well, yeah, it's Furlough Friday, no one comes in...duh!" Her response, "today's Wednesday my dear...DUH!" followed by laughter....My dreams of today were crushed...depression swept over me. It's only WEDNESDAY. I felt so stupid. My happy, sunny day just gathered grey clouds. As the day has gone on, I've been accepting my mistake and I'm getting over it. People throughout the office got a good giggle out of my mix-up though. That's a plus, I suppose. haha! I guess I'll just have to start over again tomorrow. I can be excited for tomorrow...Thursday. *sigh*