November

WARNING: This is an extremely long post without any pictures. Long story short for those of you who don't want to read the entire thing: November has historically been a crazy month for me. And I'm grateful for it.

November 2004: I start the process to begin a two-year service mission for my church.
November 2005: My Dad is hit by a car and goes into a coma.
November 2009: I fall in love with the greatest woman on Earth.
November 2010: Kim and I buy and house and move in.
November 2011: After being unemployed for a month and looking for a job for two months, I find the best job I've ever had.

Looking back, November has almost always been an interesting month; one that has always caused me to pause, reflect and be extremely grateful for the people that I have. I have always had incredibly good, loyal friends around me. Growing up, I had some of the best adult mentors there to help me through some extremely difficult times. I have amazing brothers that, even though they were hundreds of miles away and have their own families, took time out of their lives to call, talk and check in on their "little" brother. When they came home, they took an interest in my life. Don't let my past tense language fool you - they continue to do this. I have some of the best brothers I could ever ask for.

This year has been extremely difficult. A huge roller coaster you might say. I had a very good-paying job that I absolutely hated. It made me loose sleep at night and I hated going into work every day. It felt like I was robbing people blind of their money, their hopes, their dreams and their life savings. And gratefully, I lost it. I refer to the job as golden handcuffs. They were awesome! Pay was good! But I was still in handcuffs. Losing that job was the first of many scary situations I have had over this year. I have never been out of a job since I was in 4th grade delivering papers.

Gratefully, I was able to find a job a few weeks later working for an attorney doing their web design. It was awesome! I didn't loose sleep at night, it was something that I love doing, the pay was decent and I was able to experiment and try new things. I had a lot of fun at that job. But in the back of my mind, I knew it was going to end soon. They didn't have the revenue to keep me on and keep marketing, so I knew I was leaving soon. They started cutting back hours in August.

This came at probably one of the most stressful weekends of the year. The people that had signed a contract to live in our basement moved out, meaning we had to find someone STAT. The first couple hours, I was stressed beyond beliefe. Gratefully, we had someone signed by the end of the weekend.

At the end of October, I was asked to resign from my job. Not sure why they didn't just let me go, but that's beside the point. I came home distraught. I was again, for the second time in my life, unemployed. Kim stepped in and laid out a plan to find a job. She would search high and low, scouring internet sites and emailing them to me so I could apply to them. I was to remain focused on my school work, look for additional jobs and apply to the dozens that she sent me. Trust me, they piled up fast.

I saw a job posting for a company that looked like they designed software for dairy cattle farmers. I quickly put that at the bottom of the list. There was another one that seemed like an awesome opportunity working for 3 months in a contract position for a very renowned computing company. I quickly applied to that one. I was called in for an interview about a week and a half later and talked to the interim manager of interface design. It seemed like an awesome job, except that at the end of 3 months, I would probably be looking for another job because I wouldn't be able to go full time. They told me they would get back with me.

Eventually, I got to the cattle company. I applied to it and was called in for an interview. Almost immediately, it seemed like a fit. It was extremely laid back atmosphere, large company and stable. They've been around since the 50's. I doubt they're going anywhere anytime fast. Turns out, they use nearly the same software to track cattle info as they do to track bank transactions and medical records. I was called in a week later to talk to the manager over all of design and the CEO of the company.

The next day, the computing company called me and extended me the offer. I told them that I was waiting to hear back from another company and would get back with them. The next week, I was offered the job at the "cattle" company. I started there yesterday.

So, in this month of thanks, I'm extremely grateful. I'm grateful first of all, for Kim. I know a lot of people say this, but I really have no clue how I could have survived this November without her. I'm grateful for awesome professors who were flexible with due dates because they understood the stress I was under. I'm grateful for a job! I told Kim that I think one of the best decisions that I made for my career was way back in high school when I took a web design class. I'm grateful to the many, many friends who seem like they have much more problems that are soooo much more difficult than mine, but they take the time to help me talk through my problems to find possible solutions to them. I'm grateful for an awesome and amazing family that is always there for me. I have some of the best in-laws anybody could ever ask for, and I am forever in their debt for raising such an awesome woman for me to marry.

FOOD FIGHT!!!!

This past weekend we finally got to carve pumpkins. It was Greg's birthday the day before (Friday) so we had a looooong day. Tucano's, game 7 of the World Series and BYU @ TCU. Everything was AWESOME, except for the whole BYU TCU thing. Don't talk to me about that right now. We had a blast. It has been a while since Kim and I have been to Tucano's and that place is always bomb. Getting to go there is always awesome, especially when you get to go with friends.

Jesus came down from Logan and chilled with us for the day, which was even better. The next day, we had them over to our place to carve pumpkins. Kim had been bugging me about it for
FOREVERa little while. I grew up not carving pumpkins until just a couple days before Halloween and I didn't want the pumpkins to be rotting on my front doorstep. So we waited till Saturday to carve them.

We had a BLAST!

Jesus got Greg a cake, we roasted the pumpkin seeds, ate pizza and made carmel apples. Yeah, lots of food. And lots of partying. Sooo much fun. At one point, a food fight started. Not sure how, but, yeah... and somehow it was aimed at Jesus and not the birthday boy... Not sure how that one works out. But yeah...

Spending Money....

I don't know why but lately I have been getting into a crazy shopping mood. Maybe it's because I finally feel that I'm "Entitled" to spend some of my VERY HARD earned money! Yes, Work is well... work... I'm not gonna lie, being a CNA can be a very physically stressful job; you are constantly on your feet non-stop from the time you get into work till the last very minute - at least for my first job. The second one at Stonehenge is much better, not as crazy or stressful on your body! Let's just say I can't wait to get my 2,000 hours done! 9 more months (that's the goal). October flew by and I'm really hoping that the rest of the 9 months will also fly-by...Back to Hallowen, So I have been trying to get into the holiday mood and trying to decorate the house. There are too many cute decorations but the problem is that most of them can be quite pricey, especially if you want to buy quite a few of them. I'm trying to be more crafty. Maybe I can make my own, but to tell you the truth I'm not very crafty at all! :( October seemed to have come and gone way too fast, between  me working 1 full time job, 1 part time job, and my little side business selling Halloween costumes! I think Jon is finally happy that there is only 2 boxes left out of the 15 boxes that I started with last year! I don't really think I will slow down my shopping specially with the holidays being just around the corner and Black Friday! I'm so sad I got scheduled to work at 6 AM on Black Friday, oh well maybe I will just send Jon (but he is such a sleepy head that I really doubt he will get up super early!

Cornbelly's

This year we got to go to Cornbelly's! It was Jon's first time going to a corn-maze and It was my first time just going to this particular corn-maze. I was surprised at how many different activities they had, especially for little kids. I think this place is great if you have children. There are tons of activities for them to do! I don't know if I would go there next year. I'm more into the scary stuff like the haunted mazes at Knott's Scary Farm but of course that is in California and not here in Utah, but it is definitely recommended if you have little youngsters they would have a blast here! We had fun, going through the maze, watching the little pigs race each other and their haunted mazes they had - even though they don't compare to the ones in California...

BYU vs San Jose State

Kim got us some tickets to the BYU San Jose State game just a couple days before the game. Thank you, CraigsList!!!

It was freezing cold, but we won!

Best Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Well this is the best recipe that I have been able to find after much trial and error of various recipes! My absolute favorite are the pumpkin cookies from Macey's (It's a grocery store for those of you who are not familiar with it) but this recipe is pretty darn close to it or at least the closest that I have been able to find! So here it is if any of you would like to try it out....

Behold, The Perfect Pumpkin Cookie

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (not spiced!)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp milk

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (they are way good)Directions:
1. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.
2. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir it into the pumpkin mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
4. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.
5. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet (or non-stick foil) and bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.
6. Cool on wire rack. Store loosely covered.

My Monday

So today's Monday. Great. Kim works, so I don't get to see her. Even better...

I had two really good things happen today though. First, I scored a job interview at Qualtrics.com. I'll have the interview tomorrow. Hopefully it works out, 'cuz that would be awesome!

Second, I saw my traffic on my website increase by just a little bit...



It doesn't quite make up for not seeing Kim till late, but it's a start...

We have a New baby nephew

I'm so excited to have a new nephew! His name is Xandric Paul Connors! He came a few weeks earlier than what his due date was, but everything gratefully was okay, and both mommy and baby are doing great! I'm just a bit sad I wasn't able to be there when he was born! :( I hate living soo far away from my family that I miss all the important stuff! Same thing happened when Nyliam was born I was stuck in Utah! oh well that's life, hopefully we will be able to come down and see him sometime in the near future! I really hope!!! We can't wait to meet you Xandric!

Work Work Work and more Work

I got my EMT certification done back in december hoping to be able to get clinical experience in that but unfortunately most schools now require you to have paid hours of experience no longer just volunteering experience. Here in Utah most of the fire departments just hire firefighters for the EMT positions and just rotate them, I guess is more cost efficient for them to have them cross-trained to be both EMT and firefighters. So it would be really hard for me to find a full time position being an EMT. So I had to come up with plan "b" to get my clinical experience...So I finally took my CNA test after putting it off for a whole year it sucked because I had to re-read the entire book and walk through all the skills tests on my own versus just going to do it right after I took the class last summer! Oh well I guess I was super busy working off hours to pay off for our wedding photographer and getting everything else ready for the wedding! I finally studied for it right after we got back from California and went and took the written and practical test and passed both thus enabling me a job as a CNA and hopefully get 2,000 hours of clinical experience over the course of the next 10 months in order to apply for PA programs  I was a bit scared of having to find a full time CNA job I would have loved to work at a hospital nearby but here in Utah is so hard to get a CNA position without experience or without knowing anyone at the particular hospital to get you in the door. I was fortunate to find 1 full time job at Alpine Valley Care Center is in (Pleasent grove), not too far from Orem and starting the middle of October I will be working morning shifts 6am-2pm. This is a nursing as well as a little bit of rehabilitation center. I was also very blessed that Stonehenge of Orem called me for a PRN (as needed) position, so I will be able to take on extra shifts! This one is just short term rehab patients who come and stay at the facility anywhere from a week to 3 months. This will be interesting to see how it works out a year from now, CNA job is not a job that I see myself doing more than a year, it's quite tiring being on your feet for 8-12 hour shifts, the only good thing is that time seems to fly by and then it's time to go home! The only super sucky thing that was not fun is that I think Jon got me partially sick (cold) and at work they gave me a flu shot which just shot down my immune system and I had to work/train this past week while being super sick. I'm still not at 100% but at least I feel a lot better! Jon is now in his last and final year of school, hopefully he will be graduating next summer... The plan is to work hard and get my hours and apply to grad school and hopefully be able to pay off a large sum or Jon's school loans.

Jon gets his aquarium... that must mean my puppy is coming soon!

So Jon had been bugging non-stop that he wanted an aquarium so we finally found a good deal on this aquarium that came with over 25 fish and a small nursery as well. we paid $15 for it and it came with a ton of extras such as food, toys, filters, and everything else to upkeep the aquarium! Jon was super excited! I told him we would get it with the condition that he will feed them and of course clean the fish tank out whenever it got dirty! I keep bugging Jon that he needs to get me a tiny little puppy to keep me company when he is gone but the chances of that are far from slim right now!

We have 7 new kids!

So we where called to the primary and for the first few weeks we got placed in the Nursery, and shortly after we where called to be the Sumbeam teachers (ages 3-4). It has been quite the experience, specially with 2 of the most wild boys I have seen! It takes  A LOT of patience to be able to teach at this such young age! I think Jon will be getting a lot of more gray hairs in this new calling! It has been a little bit better now that the kids don't cry and they know us but we still have one or two each week that require a lot of attention and it has been interesting to find ways in which to calm them down and not get frustrated or mad at them. I think our little class in the primary is the hardest to teach because of their age and because they don't listen and they have very short attention span! Jon says this is the worst calling ever, but I think deep down he does love it specially as he has gotten to know each one of the seven different kids that we have! They have learned to love Jon specially when he brings them goldfish crackers, fruit, and the infamous green light red light game!

California Trip....

This was a much needed vacation from everything! I'm thankful we got to go spend time with my side of the family I hadn't seen them for about 8 months, I really wish I lived much closer to my family as I do miss them and get to miss out on a lot of family gatherings and such! :( Hopefully grad school will take me back to California or at least closer to home... We went to the beach, the Long Beach Aquarium, Disneyland and California Adventure, My sister's Baby Shower party and Celebrated our first anniversary with Jon! I can't believe how fast an entire year went by! I had a blast spending almost everyday with my baby Niece, I can't believe how much she has grown, she is super tall and she listens and behaves a lot better when we take her out compared to previous years! It was our first time as a couple going to Disneyland we had never gone together before, we were both excited, I usually don't get too excited to go to Disneyland because I had season passes growing up and used to go there all the time, but we were excited to go this time around. We took our five year old niece and she was great throughout the day, she even got to ride Indiana Jones for the first time ever, she is such a brave soul, at age 5 I know I wasn't nearly as brave as she is.. We got to ride the new Star Tours it was pretty sweet and even got to see the new show World of Colors at California Adventure Park it was such a neat show I really want to go back and see it again and hopefully get better seats. We got to ride most of the rides because surprisingly the lines where super short throughout the day and fast passes also helped out a lot with the lines..

Zion's National Park

This was Aly's and my very first time going to Zion's National Park in all the years that I had been here in Utah I had never gone... I was super excited to go camping and finally be able to enjoy the last week and half of August. This was planned by our friend and it was a big group was supposed to go but at the last minute almost everyone ended canceling but we still went and had a great time! We ended up doing all of the three Emeral Pool hikes, it was really pretty! I wanted to do Angel's Landing hike but Jon had asked one of the rangers there and they said it would take about 6 hours and we figured we didn't have that much time  to get it done so we decided to not do it, later to find out that it doesn't take that long maybe half of that so three hours... Matt and Jon went to hike the Narrow's they had both been wanting to do this hike for a while, I decided to not go on it and rather stay with aly back in the campground since they had mentioned that we had to swim through parts of it and I had just gotten over a cold I decided to sit out for this one... It was great sleeping under the such starry nights, the first night it was super windy so I had a little trouble going to sleep since I'm not a deep sleeper and wake up to just about any noise, the second night was so much better! I hope we get to go back and do more hikes in such a beautiful national park!