Merek n' Dary

I don't want to do my homework so...

2012-01-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

So I don't want to do my homework.... so judge me for it whatever I don't care. Haha. Here are 30 random facts about me that I'm sure you are dying to know.

1. I graduate in July.... hopefully!

2. I know what I want to do with my life, but I totally don't know what I want to do all at the same time.

3. I got married at age 19 and I was told I wouldn't make it. I love people's reactions when they ask me if I thought I missed out on life and how hard it must be. I love proving people wrong and my marriage is my number 1 priority. In all honesty, marriage was the best thing for me at that time in my life.

4. I have the funniest family in the world. Family get togethers are never a let down.

5. I have never peed my pants in public..... no wait, yes yes I have I take that back. Dang it!

6. I want 3 kids and then I want to adopt 2. Derek wants a cute little black boy, and I want a little Asian girl.

7. I want 2 boys and a girl, and I have all of their names picked out, and I have since before I was married.

8. I want to learn to speak Italian. Once I learn.... I am pretty sure I will be able to convince Derek we need to take a trip to Italy so I can prove my mad skills.

9. I want to get certified in teaching Ballet Aerobics. Haven't heard of it? Yeah... I haven't really either, but I am pretty certain that this is what I want to get certified in.

10. I hope to establish my home and family in Arizona. I love the City and I love the sun.

11. My family is the exact OPPOSITE as Derek's. Everything about them is opposite. I think Derek and I are pretty sure about what middle ground is because we have extreme opposites.

12. I am a very laid back person.... but I have anxiety at the same time so it makes life get interesting at times.

13. I love taking time to laugh at myself every day. If you can't laugh at yourself than what can you laugh at?

14. I love growing and learning everyday. It doesn't seem like it, but looking back at where I started and where I am now, I would say I have learned and grown a great amount.

15. I love listening to music for hours.

16. I love to dance. I miss dancing with Derek and I miss performing. I am on a dance team but it's not my favorite genre. I love it when I am in my element and when I can release all my stresses into something I am so passionate about.

17. I adore my intern and the people I get to work with when I go to my intern every Tuesday and Thursday.

18. The happiest year of my life was one of the hardest years of my life all at the same time. That was the year we moved to Arizona.

19. The older I get, the closer I get to my sister. I love it! Other than Derek she really is my best friend. I love her cackle and I love all her stylish clothes that I can wear when she visits.

20. I am getting another sister in March, and I am so excited for her to become a part of my family. She is a sweet heart and such a cutie.

21. I have been so blessed with my health so far in life. I am so grateful for my body and my health and strength every day.

22. My favorite facial feature is my cheek bones.

23. I am a detective with my nose. I can hunt down anything with my nose and I tend to freak Derek about with my nose.

24. Everyday when I'm driving to school, I always wish that I could crawl back under the warm covers at home and snuggle with Derek all day.

25. My body was made to fit Derek's. My head fits in Derek's nook on his shoulder. We form perfectly together and we are the perfect cuddlers. It ROCKS!

26. I have had 3 pets. A bunny named Baby Socks, a cat named Chicken, and a dog named Camo.

27. My first doll was named Pea Pod. I named her after something I loved so dearly. Her head was popped off by the neighbor boy and I was traumatized. My brother's friends were never to see me play with dolls again.

28. I was never afraid of water until I took swimming lessons with my best friend and she screamed and cried in the water. Seeing her made me traumatized, and I was then a goner.

29. My favorite books are the Hunger Games and The Help.

30. I worked with my friend one summer and I made her laugh so hard I witnessed her wet her pants. This could possibly be one of the funniest moments in my life.

I thought I would tie peeing your pants one more time into my post. I hope you are all having an enjoyable winter and are finding ways to stay warm.

As of Lately

2012-01-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

Looks like I'm due for some catching up. Derek and I had a fun Christmas break that flew by far too fast. We were able to spend Christmas with my family and loved every minute of it. My family has some hard core traditions that sound absolutely ridiculous, but to me, that's Christmas. My family gets together Christmas Eve with the Maeser side. After we eat dinner we pass around cups of rice pudding. If your cup of rice has the almond in it, you win the prize. My mom won this year which I believe was her first year ever winning. After that we go downstairs and all the grandkids get to decorate the tree with homemade sugar cookies, popcorn balls, and candy canes. Once the tree is decorated and the dishes are done we gather around and read Davey's first Christmas, the Nisa Man, and of course the story of Christ's birth from the New Testament. For those of you who don't know who the Nisa man is, he is kind of like a little elf. The Nisa man is a Danish belief. So it is safe to say that our traditions on Christmas Eve are very Danish. The story is written about my great great Grandpa and his encounter with the Nisa man. Like I said, our traditions sound silly, but so fun! After we read, we hold hands and sing songs around the Christmas part. As cheesey as this sounds, it is by far my favorite part!! My dad's side of the family is where all the humor comes from. You can expect opera singing, and the can can to occur. I love my family! Then we pass out the presents and open them.

Christmas morning was awesome and then we spent the afternoon with my mom's side. We had a lot of fun and ate WAY too much food. We had a fun time relaxing and playing the Wii and enjoying each other's company.

On Tuesday my sister left, Derek's family was all gone, and there was nothing that we knew of going on for the rest of the week. Derek casually asked me if I wanted to go to Arizona. I laughed and said, "No way!" Then we sat there and said, actually we totally should do it! So we packed up our stuff and 3 hours later we were on our way to Arizona. We did have some car problems along the way but we were safe and it happened at the best possible moment.

We enjoyed the weather and good company of some of Derek's family. We went to the park, played wiffle ball, lightening, went shopping, bowling, and made a stop at Lee Lee's. Lee Lees is a grocery store and every aisle is a different country. My parents are obsessed with it! We took a picture in front of it and sent it to them. They were ecstatic!! We brought home some candy and herbal tea from Japan for my dad. He was thrilled! New Years Eve we did fireworks and went and played at the park. It was so much fun getting away for a bit and warming up.

We would have liked to do a lot more while we were there, but it was hard getting everyone to agree on something. Maybe next time we can travel a little more while we there. But we definitely were grateful for our trip.

We have been back at school for about a week and a half now. We are pretty burnt out but we are grateful for the opportunity to receive an education. I am currently doing my intern at Rehab Services of Idaho and I absolutely LOVE it!! Everyone is so awesome and I am learning a lot from the therapists. They offer Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Pediatric Therapy, and Physical Therapy. I am mostly in the Physical Therapy department, but I have had the opportunity to spend time around the other therapists.

Other than that, not too much is going on. We are just staying busy, learning all that we can, and enjoying our life along the way!!

New Years Eve Fun

My soap box for the day

2011-10-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last, but I literally have no time anymore. I'm lucky if I am home for a few hours in the evening, and I'm lucky if the dishes get done, so consider yourself lucky that I am able to update.

Just have a few thoughts. This semester has seriously been one of the most challenging times in my life. My classes are soo hard, that's an understatement. I am normally a good student who gets A's and 90's on her tests. This semester is not the case. I am the student that is sitting there saying, "What the heck is he talking about?" It's been a humbling experience, and I look at learning from a completely new perspective. It has been rough, and it has not been pretty, but somehow I'm still floating and passing my classes. I just pray and I can make it to the end.

This semester I have also been pretty hurt from some people. Due to the extra extra stress, it has made me overly sensitive and I have become so hurt and so bitter I was miserable. I finally realized that through the hurt I was feeling, I was becoming someone I didn't enjoy, and the negativity that I was around was really rubbing off on me. Because I have been having such a hard time, it's really hurt my self esteem and I have been beating myself up and believing the things that others around me were saying about me. Yesterday in my religion class we talked about the act of gratitude. President Monson said that the act of ingratitude is a serious sin. This is scary. How many times have we been the lepers who didn't return to thank Jesus Christ for blessing us? How many times in our lives have people done incredible things for us, and we never even thought to thank them?

It is so important that we start now and count our many blessings. Rather than focusing on all of the things we can't do and all of the things we don't have, we must focus on all of the things we DO have and all of the things we CAN do. It's incredible the difference it will make in your life. As women, we tend to compare our weaknesses to others strengths.... or at least I do anyways. We should never ever do this. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, and we are made this way for a reason. Heavenly Father never gives us something that we can't overcome. Whether it be anxiety, bad grades, family problems, etc, we have the strength to overcome them. If the issue is never taken away such as an illness, we can always learn and grow from it and become a better person in the end. It is all in our perspectives.

We should always remember to compliment those around us rather than bring them down and trying to build yourselves up. Something that I have learned is to always show kindness to those around me, especially to those that are unkind to me, because they obviously need the kindness the most. If someone offends us 7 times, we should not only forgive them 7 times, but 70 times 7. Forgiveness is a continuous process, and it can be very difficult. It is so hard when someone does something so hurtful and so cruel, but we must always remember that it is not our place to judge, and we are taught to forgive.

By showing kindness, gratitude, and forgiveness we too can be forgiven. If we do these things the negativity will be taken away from our hearts and we can feel of the spirit. As hard as these things can be, they are so important. I am trying to live by them each and every day. I challenge everyone to do their best to compliment those around, and when we are feeling pity on ourselves consider service rather than thinking woe is me, nothing good ever happens to me. Turn the m in me upside down to we. Try to put others first and our lives will fall into place.

Sorry for my soap box, but this is something I am struggling with. I remind myself each and every day of the importance of these values, and I have seen a difference in my life when I am living this way, rather than becoming like the rest of the world and having unkind thoughts when someone offends me. I know that it is my choice to become offended, and it is my responsibility to forgive others. I love you guys and I am so grateful for all of my family and friends. You are great examples to me and you all make me a better person.

Aspire

2011-09-15T14:07:00.001-07:00

Wow... this week has been a doozy! We're back in school and man, it's going to be a hard semester! I've been swarmed with homework everyday, and I have a sinus infection on top of it. My body needs rest but I haven't been able to give it any. Derek... bless his heart. He's been working nights and going to school. He is SOOO behind on his sleep, and he basically will fall asleep anywhere. Tonight is his last night working for the week, and then he has a full week off so hopefully he can feel on top of it again.

Other than that not too much is new. I am so happy to be dancing again! 3 years has been far too long! I'm taking a ballet and jazz class at the college, and I am on an amazing contemporary team called Aspire Dance Company. The new director just made a website and it was finished yesterday. Go check it out, it's amazing!! So grateful for dance in my life!http://aspiredance.weebly.com/index.html

Arizona trip

2011-09-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Derek and I were lucky enough to go to Arizona for a week!! Oh my word! Why did we ever leave? I miss it so much!! I can't wait until we're done with school so we can be back there again!!
Basically last Wednesday morning after Derek got off work from his night shift, we drove with Thayne and Kiama down to Maricopa, Arizona and spent the week with Raylene and Raylon. There were a lot of kids so it made it difficult to really get to go out and explore and do all the things in the city, but that's ok. We had a lot of fun family time and we were still able to do some fun things.
We went swimming 3 days, went to the Chandler Fashion Center, the girls went to Emili's bridal shower while the boys went to Jesters for Raylon's bachelor party. Jesters is an improv stand up comedy center. It's basically like watching Who's Line Is It Anyway in person. We had lots of ping pong and air hockey tournaments, and we played late night games together. I got 2 of my requests in. 1 was going to In N' Out Burger. It is so fresh and yummy, we even went twice!! I also requested that we go to RA Sushi, and luckily we were able to!! I was one happy lady!!
The best part of the trip was visiting our old ward. Our ward in Arizona is seriously the MOST amazing ward hands down!! The bishopric is amazing and that ward is so involved and active. Everyone wants to be there and everyone does their part. It was so fun seeing all of our friends. It was crazy because all of our friends now have babies and they are all so big! It was crazy but so fun catching up with everyone and seeing how much they have all grown. Derek and I were able to spend an evening with some friends from Idaho that have just recently moved literally a block away from our old apartment!! It was fun seeing them and playing games together.
All in all the trip was a blast, and we were sad to leave!! It's always hard to come back to the real world after a fun trip. Today was my last day of work and we start school on Monday. YUCK!! I am soooo not ready for it!! My semester consists of Physics and Chemistry along with 4 other classes. I am dreading it. This is what I plan on being my hardest semester. It's going to be very difficult for Derek to balance working full time all night long, sitting through class all day, finding time to sleep, and finding time to study on top of it all. I feel really awful but right now we don't really have another choice!! I hope we can come out on top after this semester! Wish us luck!!!

The Best 3 Years of My Life

2011-08-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! These past 3 years have been the absolute best of my life! They have flown by so fast, I can't even believe it!! I am the luckiest girl in the entire world, and let me tell you why!!

1. My husband is hott
2. Derek is the most patient person in the entire world
3. He teaches me something new every day
4. He is the hardest worker I know
5. He knows everything it's disgusting!! I would be entirely lost without him!
6. He is incredibly talented with his hands. He can make anything, he can fix anything, and he will work at it until it's perfect. He has saved us thousands of money by hand making furniture, fixing our kitchen, plumbing, car, house, doors, yard etc. My parents absolutely adore him and they need his help frequently, considering Maeser's are the most un-handy people out there.
7. He has the perfect smooth clear skin
8. He's an amazing kisser
9. I feel safe in his arms. When he holds me the world stops. Even after 3 years of marriage, this feeling is still there with every single hug.
10. He's creative. He can come up with the coolest inventions whether it's in the house, or in the kitchen. Sometimes he's too creative, but I love this quality about him.
11. He makes me laugh soooooo hard!! His sense of humor is unlike anyone I've ever met. He is so random and it throws me off every day. You'd think I would see it coming by now, but he still manages to throw me off. It's my favorite.
12. He loves being active and outdoorsy just like me.
13. He's spontaneous and we always have a blast together
14. He has insane math skills!
15. He's not a normal boy, I LOVE IT!!! Nothing is more annoying than a single boy who's a perv and is into their material things. Derek is respectful and smart with his money. (Although he does love his toys, he's smart to know not to buy them when it's unafforadable)
16. He's thrifty
17. He has a strong testimony and he is a worthy priesthood holder, this is the best quality a girl could ever ask for.
18. He protects and takes care of me, but at the same time he lets me take care of him when needed.
19. He is gentle and caring. He's going to be the cutest dad in the entire world!
20. Everything about this boy is attractive all the way from his personality to his looks, to his voice. He is so charming!

I adore this boy, and I honestly don't know what I would do without him!!! I can't imagine life without him, and I wouldn't have it any other way!! People said we couldn't get married young, but to be quite frank, we have the best marriage I've ever known!! I wouldn't have done it any other way, and I am in love with Derek with everything that I have!! Thank you Derek for all that you do for us. You are incredible and you are an amazing example to me and to those around you! Thank you for being my family, and thank you for going through life with me hand in hand! I adore you, and I think the world of you!!!

Love always,
Your wifey Mary

SUMMER!!!

2011-07-31T22:56:00.001-07:00

Yes!!! We officially made it to our summer break!! Somehow I managed not to fail any of my finals, and came out with pretty good grades. I was .4 points away from getting a full tuition scholarship, so that is frustrating, but luckily I am eligible to receive a half tuition scholarship, and Derek that smarty pants received a full tuition scholarship!! It is such a blessing and I don't know how we would be able to afford college if it weren't for grants and scholarships!
I am working at Access Point for the rest of the summer, and I really do love it! I am only working 2 days a week as of right now, but hopefully I can get some more hours. I work with developmentally delayed children and I just adore them!! It is a very challenging job, but a very rewarding job overall. Other than work, I am dancing on the Aspire Dance Company, and I am really enjoying it.

As for my amazing husband, he starts his new job tomorrow!! We are so blessed that Derek was somehow able to get such a great job! He got the job almost a month ago, but he had to wait for his background check, and he had to get all his shots and test for TB and whatnot. But now that he is officially starting training tomorrow, I thought I would share with ya'll! He is working at EIRMC (Idaho Falls hospital), and he will be working as a Medical Transporter in the E.R. I could NEVER do that, but Derek is a macho man! He will be working the night shift from 7pm to 7am. 6 hours of his shift will be transporting patients, and the other 6 hours will be doing clerical work such as filing, paging doctors, paperwork, etc. He will be working 3 days on and 4 days off. It will be really hard once he's in school trying to find any sleep, but I know that he can do it!! Derek never ceases to amaze me!! It really is incredible that he got this job, let alone an interview. They only look at the first 50 resumes out of the hundreds and hundreds that come into the hospital. From there, then they choose who is a potential candidate and they do interviews for a couple weeks. Derek was so grateful for the interview. When he left they told him that they would get back to him in a week..... and they called him 3 hours and later and told him that he got the job!! We were so ecstatic!! Our patience has finally paid off, and he has been given the opportunity to grow and develop, and to gain knowledge and experience in the field he is planning on going into.

Other than that, we have been LOVING having nothing to do or worry about. We have loved not having homework, and we have really just enjoyed spending time with each other. Thus far I have read a book, and we have been able to go to Table Rock with Thayne and Kiama. We had so much fun, but I will say... this hike is a real butt kicker! It is the second hardest hike I have ever done, and it feels like one of the greatest accomplishments when finished.
It really was quite the experience. We started out the day before 5 am, we missed the turn off and drove WAY out of the way. Once we got there, a man told us the wrong trail so we hiked 3 miles up the wrong trail, discovered we were on the wrong hike, and we ran the 3 miles all the way back to the car. We then decided to take a little break to try and find some motivation, so we carb loaded in the car before starting the brutal hike. The hike is incredibly steep for almost the entire way. Once to the top of table rock, we sprawled out on the rocks totally exhausted, we ate more food, and talked and laughed. We didn't get home until 7 pm. It was the longest day of my life, but we honestly had a blast!!

I hope that the rest of this summer will be filled with fun adventures. I hope to go boating, camping, read the Hunger Games, and go on a small trip. I hope the rest of you are all enjoying your summer and staying safe!!

Kick the Can

2011-07-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend! Of course I forgot my camera, but oh well, I will still blog about it. Finals week is this week, and I am freaking out, not gonna lie. Instead of studying like crazy this weekend,(which I probably should have done), I had a great time with friends instead.
Friday night, Derek and I went to Ryan's parent's house on the river, and we played volleyball with Ryan and Syd. The first game, Sydni and I dominated, the second game, we weren't as fortunate. We grilled some hot dogs and enjoyed each others company. Afterwards, we invited more friends and we went to Freeman Park and played night games. Now.... when I was a kid, we played night games on a weekly basis, so I was very excited to play night games again! We played a game of kick the can, and next we played Grey Wolf. I am the only one that calls it grey wolf, everyone else calls it Ghost in the Graveyard..... so that's what we called it. It will always be Grey Wolf to me though.
Saturday I went to my friend Sarah Stanger's bridal shower. She is an amazing girl, and I adore her! I couldn't be happier for her, and her and her fiance make an adorable couple. After the bridal shower, Derek and I went shopping and we bought a SUPER cute bed set. We were in dire need of a new set, and we found the perfect set for the perfect price! The sheets, pillow cases, and the comforter are all reversible, so there are like 8 different combos you can do. So if we get bored with one, we can switch it up to another design.
Last night we went to Joe's parents with Joe, Lindsay, Drew, Kenye, Dalin, Ryan, and Syd, and sat around the camp fire roasting marshmallows, coconut marshmallows, starbursts, and sour patch kids. It was delicious!!! I LOVE the summer and I love my friends! I can't wait to be done with this week of finals so I can have more summer adventures with the friends and family that I love!

10 Things

2011-07-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

10 Things I Do Every Day Without A Doubt

1. Go to the bathroom
2. Eat
3. Brush my teeth
4. Wash my face
5. Get ready (hair, makeup, get dressed, etc)
6. Tell my husband I love him
7. Homework
8. Kiss my husband
9. Think about family
10. Attempt to get things done off of my to do list

10 Things About My Personality

1. I am pretty Sensitive
2. I care WAY too much about others. I stress when something bad happens to other people and I hate watching them suffer.
3. I am the hardest person on myself
4. I am an overall very happy person, and I laugh everyday
5. I have anxiety and I do my best to control it, although it is difficult at times.
6. I would do anything for anyone
7. I am a perfectionist about certain things
8. I'm not ok with just meeting someone. I love knowing people, helping people, and building close relationships with them.
9. I have a sarcastic sense of humor, and I love when I meet others with the same sense of humor as myself.
10. I don't ever deny something that I've experienced or felt, and I'm proud of it.

10 Things I Absolutely Hate

1. Repeating myself. I don't know why, but I can't stand when someone doesn't hear what I said and I have to repeat the entire thing.
2. Liars
3. Judgmental people. I've known too many people who have fallen away from the church because of these types of people.
4. Bragging and people who are cocky and think the world of themselves. We all know you're not perfect!
5. Sluts... I feel bad for you, you have no self respect.
6. Bad drivers
7. People who only have one volume and that's loud. I hate when people don't know how to whisper at the appropriate times.
8. I hate when people are unaware of something that's called a bubble. They're in their own world and don't even realize they are now standing right in front of you with their hair in your face and they stepped on your toe.
9. People who deliberately hurt others
10. Watching someone suffer

(Sorry, I didn't mean to base that entirely off of others, apparently other people bug me at times)

10 Things I'm Ashamed Of

1. Not treating my mom the way I should've as a teenager
2. Losing a best friend over a boy
3. Having serious boyfriends at such a young age.
4. Not standing up for myself
5. Being too scared to have a missionary moment
6. Treating one of my best friends poorly and falling so far apart for so long
7. Hurting anyone's feelings
8. Fighting with anyone
9. Holding myself back in fear of other people's opinions
10. Letting someone control me and not doing what I wanted

10 Things I Absolutely Love

1. Derek Ray Dawson, he is perfect for me!
2. My family
3. My in laws
4. The close friends I have made over the years
5. Dance!
6. Sunny days and beaches
7. Popcorn ( it is my comfort food)
8. The Gospel, don't know where I'd be without it
9. Having deep conversations with people
10. Laughing until I cry

I love to DANCE!!

2011-06-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Today we started our rehearsals for Aspire Dance Company, and man have I missed dancing! I haven't danced on a team for 3 years! It's been way too long. Today I realized how much I need to work on some technique and flexibility, but I'm sure it will come back in no time.
We had a choreographer come in today and the way she moves is incredible. When she shows us what to do and then I try and do it I just wish my body could melt and fold the way that hers does, but it will come along! She has rheumatoid arthritis so a lot of the movements she does hurts her body. It makes me grateful for a healthy youthful body, and it makes me want to dance that much more, because before long, my body won't be able to move the same.
I can't wait to get to know the girls (and 1 boy) on my team! I am excited to be performing again, moving my body, and I'm excited to share my talents with others!! I love dance, and that's all there is to it!

Exercise Physiology is definitely for me!

2011-06-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I got accepted for fast grad here at BYU-Idaho. What that means is that I am accepted to go straight through with each semester without taking any breaks. I am required to take at least 15 credits each semester. If all goes well, I will be graduating in 3 semesters, but if it doesn't all fall into place perfectly, I will be graduating in 4 semesters and that's still great! It's awesome to think that I could be a college graduate within a year. That will be an amazing accomplishment in my life!! It is a scary thought, but a relieving thought all at the same time.
Thinking about coming to the end of my schooling, I have really been thinking more and more about what I would like to do with my degree. I originally really wanted to be a Physical Therapy Assistant. I can still do that, but that requires another 2 years of schooling, and it would not be a Master's degree, it would just be a certificate. It really would be a great job for me, but I'm still keeping all my options open.
Something that I have recently really been looking into is Cardiac Rehab. The heart is fascinating to me, and so many people suffer with heart problems. Something that my job would consist of is monitoring patients hearts while it is under stress while exercising. My job would be to view what the heart is undergoing, where the problem is coming from, and working as a team to discover what we can do to fix it. To me, this sounds like a fun job because it still involves exercising, and is somewhat similar to physical therapy, but is all focused around the heart. This job would require no further schooling and I could do this with my bachelors degree.
Something else I have been looking at truly is the whole aspect of helping clients lose weight, determine an exercise program that best suits them, and get them under proper nutrition. I am not fully convinced that this is for me, but all I know is it would sure be fun to motivate people and watch the transformation happen.
How cool would it be to be Jillian Michaels? I could whip your butt into gear, make you cry, and then make you love me in the end for turning your body into a fit firm bod. Honestly.... I'm not one to get in someone's face and scream at them, but it's fun to think about people being afraid of me and knowing I could beat them up. Haha. I know I would never be Jillian, but it's fun to think about helping people get their bodies back into a healthy condition.
I know for sure that as Derek and I begin to have a family, I would love to have a side mom job. I want to teach a workout class on the side to stay in shape and make some extra income for our home. I haven't decided what exactly I want to teach, but I know that this is something that I would be eligible to do and would absolutely love doing!
I absolutely love what I am going into and I am so excited to see where it leads me in my future. Who knows if I'll even work with this degree or if I'll be able to focus entirely on being a mom? But all I know is I'm so grateful for the opportunity to receive an education, and I hope that I can help others with the knowledge that I am gaining.

Oh how I miss you....

2011-06-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today I am having one of those days where I am homesick for Arizona!!! I am missing my old ward, I'm missing the warm weather, my job? weird I know, going swimming when it's 115 outside and getting burnt to the crisp, my loving friends, I miss that I never had to get ready to leave my house because I never would run into anyone I knew, I miss the adventure of being on our own, I miss having a fresh slate where no one knew my past, I miss Raylene and Scott and their sweet kids, and good ol' Raylon, I miss the huge malls all within 10 miles of our house, I miss spring training games, I miss the brown scenery (never thought I would miss that), I miss the beautiful sunsets, the beautiful spring colors when everything is in bloom, I miss the stucco houses, I miss In N Out Burgers, I miss the cactus, I miss hiking, and I miss having a billion things to do all within 10 minutes of our house.

Derek and I eventually want to end back up in Arizona once we are done here at BYU-Idaho, and I honestly can't wait for this day!! Who knows if it will happen, but as for now, this is our plan. Today I was looking up jobs and housing in Arizona, and there was the exact job in the exact city that I want. The job is working as a Physical Therapy Technician in Maricopa Arizona. Do you know how tempted I am to apply? But then, this would throw off our schooling. I hate timing sometimes!! Right now you can buy a 4 bedroom 3 bath house for $80,000, and I really am hoping we will still be able to get an opportunity like this in a couple of years. Ugh, timing is everything, but apparently I am supposed to be right here right now. Oh how I love you Arizona, and I can't wait to join you again someday soon!! Until then, I will just keep dreaming about you!

A "Memoriable" camping trip

2011-05-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes.... things come out of my mouth, now I'm not saying I like the things that come out of my mouth, but sometimes I don't think it all the way through first. Last weekend we had the opportunity to go camping with our friends the Pasley's. While on our camping trip, getting mixed up with the weekends obviously, because Memorial day is this weekend.... I said, "This camping trip is will be a great memoriable weekend." Well, it stuck, and this is the terms we used to describe the weekend.
We had a fun time! We went up last Saturday and set up camp. I always amaze myself at how little I know about camping, so I gave myself the easiest jobs possible. I "helped" set up the tent, and I gathered sticks. Due to this, I was given the title of "Mary, the stick gatherer." Sydni started to prepare food and was given the name, "Sydni, the food preparer." She wasn't thrilled about this name so we re-established the name of "Sydni, the knife slicer." Ryan was given the name,"Ryan, the prepared man." Let me tell you.... Ryan brought EVERYTHING!! He had like a thousand little bags filled with everything you could imagine. I laughed at this, but in all reality, I think I'm going to take him on every trip with me. It's always handy to have the friend that is prepared. We gave Derek the name of, "Derek, the wood chopper." We had very important jobs and all felt so special with our names.

We made corn on the cob and tin foil dinners filled with hamburger, carrots, and potatoes. They were good other than the fact that we burned the CRAP out of them. They were still good considering, and it was the experience that mattered. Afterwards it started raining so we hung out in the tent for about 30 mintues. Once it stopped raining we sat around the camp fire laughing, talking, and of course making yummy s'mores. All in all it was a great weekend full of laughter and fun memories. I will say that I learned how to chop wood and I pretty much went crazy with the ax and wood. I may have got carried away.... but who's to judge? Anyways, Derek and I forgot our camera, so I stole a few from Ryan and Syd. Enjoy! For real this time... have a "Memoriable" weekend..... it's more fitting this time!! I know I will. Dawson family reunion, here I come!!

I really should be studying but....

2011-05-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have an Anatomy and Physiology test tomorrow, and a Statistics test, and a whole lot of reading to do, but...... instead I found myself here. I don't have much time but I thought I would write a quick blurb.

Derek is officially certified as an EMT. Well.... I guess technically he has to wait for a certificate to come in the mail, but yes, he's taken all of the tests and he passed!! I am so proud of him, he truly worked so hard for this!! We stayed the night in Pocatello on Friday night, and woke up at 5:30 to go to Preston where he could take his Practical Test. He did awesome, and he is so thrilled to be done and to have passed.

Of course you can't go on a weekend trip without having car problems... I don't want to get into that story but Derek worked his little fanny off on our car for hours and hours and hours on Friday and Saturday. Derek is extremely talented and when everyone gives up and says, "I can't do it", that's when Derek says...., "Well I can, and I will prove it!" I married one hard worker you guys!! I love him to pieces and I am so grateful that our car is now working right.

It was my mom's birthday over the weekend, and we were stuck in Blackfoot working on the car, so I wasn't able to go see her until Sunday. We went to my parent's and ate dinner with them. It was fun because my brother and his fiance were able to visit us on their way from Montana to Boise. I haven't seen Karl since Christmas break so it was sooo fun to see him! I got to see his fiance's beautiful ring. I literally don't know how Karl turned out to be this cute romantic boyfriend, but he did something right. Haha, I'm really happy for them to get married and I'm excited for Tanya to become a member of the family!

On a side note, I have decided not to teach ballroom next year because we are moving to Rexburg and I was asked to be a on a local performing team. I am really excited about it! The TA from when I was on Dance Alliance my first year of college is starting up her own company. Auditions haven't even been held yet, so I was thrilled when she came to me and asked if I would join her company. We will be performing locally, I get to dance for free, and she is trying to find sponsors to pay her dancers. Living in Idaho Falls, this is probably not likely to happen, but I don't care. If I get to dance on a company and perform for free, sign me up, I'm in!

So other than that nothing else is new. We are just sleep deprived college students, trying our best to get straight A's, and trying to live up to our highest potential!! I hope all ya'll are doing well!!

Love these kiddos!!

2011-05-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

Do you want to see the cutest kids in the world?? Well I am lucky enough to have been their dance teacher over the past year. We have had some fun times, and some not so fun times. We had adventures when some kids decided to wrestle each other rather than play freeze dance, we've had crying, laughing, screaming (for joy), some yellow puddles of oops, I was having so much fun I forgot to tell you I had to go to the bathroom, (to clarify, I never had this probelm, it was a student), and most of all we have all grown to love each other. I am so proud of these kiddos for not only learning 1 dance routine, but 2 dance routines. They have also learned the basic steps to the cha cha and all love to say 2, 3, cha cha cha, 2, 3 cha cha cha. The girls love to shake their hips, and smile pretty up on stage. The boys love the physical aspect of it, and sometimes I don't know quite how to handle it when they decide they want to start wrestling in the middle of the dance routine.

Let me tell you. I have really grown to love and adore these children. They are the biggest sweet hearts, and they have grown immensely over the past year. The very first day of class I thought I was doomed when I could not even get them to do a rock step. Well let me tell you, they know how to do a rock step and sooo much more, and even if they don't know all the steps, they are still darn cute and are having the time of their lives!!

Friday is the end of the year concert and it is a bitter sweet time. So happy for a break, but so sad to see these kids go!! I have adored working with each student and I love them with all my heart!! Enjoy their cuteness!! I don't blame you if you're jealous that I got to work with them! :)

Ever had one of those weeks?

2011-04-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

Ok.... let me tell you about my week. It is ridiculous really, but please eat a snack and enjoy the comedy of my life.

Let's see.... I'll start out with I no longer am employed. It is a long story, and extremely frustrating but long story short, my boss knew I was looking to move to Rexburg so she took my hours away and I couldn't afford to stay. Put us in a crappy situation so I walked away from the job. Not to mention we were under new employment, the business was up for sale, and our boss was a month behind on paying her employees. Sounds professional eh? Needless to say, a load has been lifted off my shoulders. Working with 30 girls is way too much drama.

2nd of all.... we found a place that we are in LOVE with in Rexburg. It is everything we are looking for and in our price range. There was only 1 draw back, and it was that this condo was $50 more than the exact same condo next door. Reason being is that each complex is owned by a different land lord, and regardless whether they were bought during bad times or good times of the economy depends on how expensive rent would be. Well we decided the $50 more although it's annoying was not too big of a deal and we could still afford it. So we call the land lord first thing in the morning and guess what? Someone had JUST beat us to the catch. They called her right before us, so we are 2nd on the waiting list. Yes... poopy I know.

3rd... I thought I qualified for a $2000 smart scholarship. My friend works in financial aid and she was the one that told me about it. Well she looks everything up and guess what? I'm 5 credits short of getting this scholarship. Plus it is the very last semester they are handing this out. Yeah, I really wish I hadn't even heard about this scholarship.... then I would have not been let down.

4th, my friend works in student housing on campus. She texted me and told me to call this number because there was an opening in the exact same condo we want and it was for the $50 cheaper. So I called, and I was excited as ever! Well guess what? The tenants decided that they wanted to stay for another year. Who does that? Who posts it online and then decides to stay another year? Well... they definitely knew how to top it all off for me.

5th my friend texted again with a number for the same condos. I call.... and it was a realtor who sales the condos, not rents. I felt foolish.

6th, first day of school yesterday. I'm on overload and already stressed with how I'm going to make it through the semester. Well it's towards the end of the day, I'm starving, I had to stay after class to add the class, and I'm speed walking across campus to make it to my Statistics class. I had 3 minutes to spare and I literally was going to pee my pants. I rush into the bathroom a little dizzy because I am so hungry. Afterwards I rush into my class room, climb all over the students to get into the crammed seat in the very middle of the lecture hall. Well I'm all settled in with my notebook and pencil out. The teacher hands our notecards and tells everyone to put their name, and then write yes or no if they are willing to pray in class. I put my name and write yes, and pass it back down to the end of the row. Next we pray and then the teacher says, "Welcome to Psychology 211", and writes Psychology on the chalk board. I am mortified! How the heck did I go to the wrong class? Who does that? I sat and debated in my head whether to sit in the wrong class for the entire hour, or lower my pride and go find my Statistics class. Well, I decided I had to make it to Statistics the first day so I wouldn't get behind everyone else. So.... I literally climb over all of the students in my row. I stepped on several toes, and wacked the back of many people's heads with my massive backpack. I have to face the class and walk all the way to the door with everyone staring at me. I felt like I was living one of my nightmares I've had before. It was awesome, I tell you what!

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong and the things I want out of life are not where I'm supposed to be. Or whether I'm going in the right direction and Satan is trying to keep me from getting there. Regardless, I really hope that this comes to an end. Haha it really is quite entertaining. It really has been a silly week. Rather than breaking down and wondering why we keep coming so close to getting a condo, or getting scholarships, I finally had to step back and laugh at myself. I'd rather deal with it that way than cry over all these frustrating things going on in our lives.

On a lighter note, my Birthday is Wednesday, Easter is Sunday, and I am married to the man of my dreams!! I hope that you guys are all having a much better week than I am, and if any of you are struggling I hope you can look back and laugh at yourself. It's too hard to take life seriously all the time.

3 words....

2011-03-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ok I have 3 words for you.....

JUST DANCE 2!!!

This game is so fun and hilarious! This weekend was my Grandpa's 90th birthday. We had a fun party for him at his church. I truly have decided that I hope I get his genes in the family. That man is still sharp as a tack. After his party we just spent the weekend as a family partying it up at my parent's. My sister Julia came up for the weekend and brought her boyfriend. They are the cutest couple I know. We had way too much fun this weekend! My voice was hoarse from laughing so hard!

I wish you all could have seen my parents dancing, and Derek and my sister's boyfriend busting out duets together. We had so much fun! I highly recommend you all play this game!! If you don't know anyone who has a Wii or this game, call me up and I will play with you!! Too fun!

I really am alive I promise!!

2011-03-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Holy moly!!! I know it, I suck at this blogging thing! It's been far too long my friends! I will tell you why.... first of all, I don't have free time. I'm going to school full time, teaching dance, and working as Assistant Manager at Massage Envy. When I'm not at school or work, I am doing homework up the ying yang!! A typical day at the Dawson residence anymore is Derek and I sitting next to each other quietly going to town on our homework. It's crazy how we're together but so not at the same time. Driving to and from Rexburg we find ourselves talking about more school on top of it all.... can you tell what's always on our minds?

We are doing really good! We are staying super busy with school, and on top of going to school full time during the day, Derek is taking an EMT course at EITC and he is gone to class all night. Poor guy, I honestly don't know how he does it!! Actually I do know how... because he is amazing!! I really do enjoy school, and I enjoy learning. It's always fun when you have a random fact to share with others about something you learned in class. Right now in my Anatamy class we are learning about the muscles. That means.... cadavar lab for me. Now that they no longer use fermaldihyde (I have no clue how you spell it), I actually am able to stay in the same room as the cadavars without wanting to pass out. The human body is fascinating, and it truly is a gift from our Heavenly Father! So that is roughly what is new with us. To be honest, a lot more has been going on, but it's pretty private. I have a hard time with blogging right now because I have a lot on my mind but I don't want to share it all publicly. That's another reason why I've been avoiding blogging. When I'm writing a lot of the time I like to just get things off my chest, but that's what my journal is for! Everything is all good, but all I ask is for a few prayers for my family. :) Thanks you guys! I really hope everything is going well for all ya'll, and let me know what's new with you guys!! Anyone else getting spring fever? And any other Glee fans our there getting ready to ditch Glee because of their past couple of episodes? Hit me up, and let me know what's new!!

Can't believe it!!

2010-12-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

So for the past couple of days I've been really struggling trying to think of something to blog about. We've been really busy getting ready for Christmas, but so is everyone else. I didn't feel like it was that fun to blog about so I decided to wait until after Christmas to blog... but, today I do have something to blog about.
I woke up to Derek saying, "Mary, guess what?" I was still delirious but I knew something cool had happened. I didn't even attempt to guess so I simply responded, "What?"
Derek: "They found the bank robbers that robbed Karl!
Me: "WHAT?!?!?! I never ever thought they would find them. I knew today was going to be a good day!
Derek: "Guess where they found them?"
Me: "Chubback?"
Derek: "Florida!"

WOW!!! How in the world can you tell me that they found the robbers, and they were in FLORIDA?! That's crazy! These robbers had robbed a bank in Oregan, then the next month robbed Wells Fargo in Chubback, and then yesterday robbed a Chase Bank in Florida. They led police on a police chase. Which I am glad police were actually able to find them this time..... Their car crashed into a parked police car, and then police started shooting. The woman was killed, and the man was injured and is now in jail with a $800,000 bail bond. I can't believe it! It's sad that someone had to be killed for it, but honestly..... it goes to show that it's NOT worth it! Someone died today over something so petty and so selfish. I am grateful that they found the robbers and I'm grateful for some clarity in the whole thing.
Chubback police are going to be in a press conference at 1, which in in 5 minutes, and we will know more then. Pretty crazy!! I just thought I had to share this crazy news!!

For my brother

2010-12-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night after a long day of work I pulled up to WinCo to grab some quick groceries when I received a text from my brother Karl that said, "I got robbed today. I'm ok, please let mom and dad know. I will be on the news tonight. I'm in a meeting with a counselor right now." A rush of emotions filled through my body! I wanted to hold my brother, I wanted to see his face, I wanted to know what was going through his head, and I wanted to be with all of my family. I called my parents to let them know, heard them scramble for the remote, and then listen to them gasp and say, "That's Karl!" And then... they were silent with shock. My stomach was churning and I wanted to be with my parents right then to watch what they were watching, but at the same time, I wasn't sure if I could watch.

I got off the phone with them, rushed into WinCo, and basically walked around aimlessly. Derek was asking me, "Do we need this? Do we need that?" I honestly didn't care. I was thinking of my poor brother. I felt lifeless. I passed people and didn't see faces, I couldn't focus, and I couldn't listen to anything other than the millions of thoughts rushing through my head. I finally told Derek, "I don't care about this right now. My head isn't here, I just want to go home and watch the news." So Derek agreed and we grabbed what few groceries we had, I bagged them as fast as I could, and booked it out the door to my car.

I walked in the door and turned on the news. Immediately, they were playing the story of my brother. My brother is a teller at the Wells Fargo bank in Chubbuck, and a man and a woman came in about 3:20 on Wednesday afternoon. It showed their survelience pictures while waiting in line, and then their survelience cameras while Karl was getting robbed. Luckily it didn't show my brother's face b/c i don't think I could've handled it. It showed Karl's back and the 2 robber's faces. I don't know how many of you have ever seen someone threaten a family member's life on the news, but believe me, it's the worst feeling in the world. The camera was behind Karl, so it's almost as if experiencing it all through his eyes. My mind was immediately filled with anger towards these 2 criminals. How dare anyone threaten to kill my brother. How dare someone be that stupid and that selfish to take his life away in a flash. I wanted to hunt down these people, but most of all, I wanted to hear Karl's voice and know that he was ok.

I went outside to take the dog out after the news, and while I was shivering in the cold, but mostly shivering from shock, tears started streaming down my face and I started to bawl, and sob, and I couldn't stop. I felt so bad for my brother! I had the sickest feeling in my stomach that wouldn't go away. I wanted Karl to feel comfort. I knew all the feelings I was experiencing, so I couldn't even imagine what he was going through. I came inside and knew I needed to call my mom.

Karl had just called my mom and so I was able to hear the story. She said that the 2 robbers came in and looked really nervous about something. Karl asked them 3 times how they were doing and they ignored him all 3 times and wouldn't make eye contact with him. The lady then slipped a note to Karl that said something along the lines of, "The man behind me has a gun. He is watching you so don't even think about pushing the alarm button or he will kill you. Give us all your money." And then the man opened his jacket and showed Karl his gun. Bankers are taught what to do, so Karl did as taught and gave them the money, otherwise he would've been killed. The couple walked over to the mall parking lot, Karl told one person, and then when he knew they were far enough away he then sounded the alarm. Karl was interregated for 5 hours. He was in interviews all day with the police etc. The company made Karl see a counselor b/c this is going to affect him for the rest of his life. He called my mom at about 8pm, and my mom said he could barely talk. His voice was still shaking terribly and he was having a million things going on in his head.

I've been texting him and talking to him as much as I can, but right now, Karl is trying to deal with it himself. The next day he didn't leave his house b/c he didn't want to deal with a single person. Can you blame him? On Friday he went in to work for a bit b/c he wanted to face the fear and just get it over with. When I texted him he said he was ready to go home.

I haven't heard from him since. I know looking in from the outside sure it looks rough and scary, but you don't really know how tramatic it is, and how long it effects someone. You also don't realize the impact it has on the family. Their loved one had their life threatened. How would it be to be a mother to a child who still has a bright future ahead of him, and to watch on the news someone threaten to take his life in a blink of an eye. One of the hardest things for me right now is seeing my brother like this. My brother has always been the strong brave older brother that never cries and never gets scared, to watching him struggle with something and to be so shaken up is the hardest thing to watch. I know I can't take the pain away from him, but honestly he is handling this better than anyone else I know ever could. My brother is so brave and so amazing I love him with all that I have.

I haven't been sleeping much, and I can't stop thinking about Karl. I pray for him daily that he can feel comfort. And I also pray and give thanks endlessly that my brother is safe, and he isn't harmed! A witness was interviewed on the news and she thanked my brother for keeping everyone safe. She also called Karl her Christmas miracle. I think that he's my Christmas miracle too. Right now, my life is being looked at through a different perspective. I am overflowing with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for my family and for their health and safety. That robbery could've turned fatal so fast, and I thank my Heavenly Father that it didn't. It is crazy that things on the news can happen to your family, and it is crazy that out of all the banks, and all the tellers they could've robbed, it was my brother that it happened to. I hate that it happened to him, but I'm grateful for the extreme amount of love that is being shared in my family right now. Us Maesers are extremely blessed right now.

Halloween Fun!!!

2010-11-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ok.... so I STINK at remembering to take pictures darn it, but we had an AWESOME Halloween!! We had a party with our friends over at our house this year. OH wait, Derek took a picture of himself so I do have that, but I don't have any pictures of myself or any of my friends.

Anyways.... there were 14 friends that came and we started out the evening by giving a prize to the best side dish. My friend Sydni won with her spooky witches' finger cookies. Next everyone dug in and ate all the delicious food. After we all ate, we turned on some music and each couple had to model down the run way we made in our house. We dimmed the lights and turned on all the glowing pumpkins. We had 3 flashlights that Derek and I would turn off and on really quick to make strobe lights. We had awards for best performance, most traditional costumes, hottest costume, and best couple costume. Haha the hottest award went to Lady Gaga and The Situation, most traditional was winnie the pooh, minnie mouse, little red riding hood, and the big bad wolf. Best performance went to a pirate and X-men the wolverine. They got the most into it, and there was even a strip performance done by wolverine. And the best couple costume went to the gorillas.

Next, we had a donut eating contest where the donut hangs from a string, and you can't use your hands. It was HILARIOUS! People are very uncoordinated, and there was a lot of donuts smacking people in the face. Haha wolverine won this contest. Poor little red riding hood's donut fell on the ground and she refused to eat it from there. Camo of course jumped in and was glad to help her eat the donut!

After that, we had a cookie race. This is no ordinary race.... you lean your head back, place a cookie on your forehead, and you can only use your face muscles to get the cookie in your mouth. You can imagine how ridiculous everyone looked trying to use their silly faces to get the cookie into their mouth. The pirate won, but it may have been b/c she lifted her head up a little bit, haha but it was still hilarious.

Next we played a game with a dice, a pie pan of skittles, straws, and cups. You pass the dice around the circle. As soon as you roll a 2 you have to use the straw and suck up the skittles and put them into your cup. As soon as someone else rolled a 2, they took the pan of skittles and they got to go. Little red riding hood dominated by FAR! Haha she rolled a 2 almost every stinkin time! Haha there was a lot of yelling, screaming, grabbing, and laughing during this game. I love seeing everyone's competitive sides come out of them.

After this game, we played a game similar to paper rock scissors, but it's called bats, witches, and ghosts. You stand back to back with your partner, say 123, and turn around making the sign of whichever you choose. Bats you flew, ghosts you made scary hands and said WOOO, and witches you pretended to ride your broom stick. We looked ridiculous, and people kept forgetting which won what, so there was a whole lot of yelling and laughing once more! I came in 2nd place, but sadly... there was a situation.. and it was that the Situation beat me! Dang him!

Afterwards we watched a scary movie! Pooh bear screamed like a little girl! Pooh bear is Derek's best friend Ryan... and we LAUGHED for a good 10 minutes afterwards! OH my word it was hilarious! Derek also snuck around the house and flew through the front door scaring everyone! The funniest part during the movie was one girl screamed really loud and turned around. She saw Derek's face and said... "This movie is so scary, and then to turn around and see THAT FACE!" Haha Derek's face was very creepy, you will see at the end of this post.

After the movie the boys went down into our creepy basement. The lights are upstairs, so Derek shut the boys in the basement and turned off the lights. We all heard a bunch of screaming after this. Haha silly boys!!

The boys went in the kitchen and talked for a long time while the girls stayed in the living room and talked. Everyone stayed until 1 in the morning, so they must've had a lot of fun! I know I did!!! I had a blast!! This was an awesome Halloween!!! I hope you guys all had an awesome day!! Enjoy Derek's SCARY picture!!!

Pictures of Derek's talent!!

2010-10-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

Are you ready to see how talented my husband is? I'm not sure you are... he's pretty dang good!! Alright, here are the pictures of our new entertainment center that Derek built. He did an awesome job, and it is huge!! It pretty much takes up our whole wall, and we could even take a picture of the whole thing from our couch. Derek had to stand in the corner of the house to get the full picture!!!
Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4,5 and 6... Painting

In our house with the old TV

In our house with the NEW TV. Yes, Chrismas came a little early this year!

I swear Derek built this entertainment center SO BIG so that it made our old TV look ridiculous, and help make me want a bigger TV. Well whatever his plot line.... it worked!! I think our new entertainment center is awesome!!! I love how cozy it feels in our house!! Great job Derek!! You're so amazing and talented!! Sure do love you!!

Things that have been on my mind lately

2010-10-21T21:02:00.001-07:00

It seems like lately I keep hearing about more and more sad things that are happening to those around me. Whether I know the person or not, my heart always aches for them. When something sad happens to a person, it seems like the community comes together to help mend the sorrow. A love grows stronger and closer, that would not have been there before. Complete strangers grow to love each other, and pray for one another.

When I hear of something sad that happens to a family member, or a friend, sometimes it's hard to know what to say to them. It's hard to know whether you bring it up or ignore it altogether. Something that I have learned though is by watching my dear sweet husband.

I'm sure most of you already know this, but about 3 and a half months after Derek and I were married, his father passed away due to a severe stroke. I was with Derek and his mom when we got the phone call. I was with them when Derek rushed us to Rigby in 6 minutes to get to the ambulance, and I was with them when they came into the waiting room and told us he wasn't going to make it. I was there with Derek when the nurse pulled the plug, and I was there with him through the planning of and through all the events of the funeral. As hard as it was during those times, I had to be the rock for Derek. I had to be a shoulder to cry on, and I had to hold him until he could walk again. Somedays Derek didn't have to say anything, I just knew he was grieving. Derek isn't one to lose his temper, but when his dad died we were in the middle of remodeling our kitchen. Derek went to town and focused all of his energy on finishing our kitchen b/c he didn't want to stop long enough to think about what he was dealing with. I watched him get angry, I watched him sit there in silence, I watched him sob, and I watched him laugh about the fun times he had with his dad. I don't know how I was Derek's rock through it all, but all I know is when you're faced with that type of a situation, you just have to do it.

Once Derek got a little big stronger, this is when I crashed down and let it all out. I couldn't hold it together anymore and I told him everything I was feeling. From that point on we leaned on each other to get through the whole process. We spent late nights with his family. There was a peace in the room and we knew it was b/c we would be with Ray again. We felt the prayers from friends, distant family, and from complete strangers. People came from all over Rigby to bring the family food, flowers, and cards. It's amazing how through a time of sorrow, loving people are sent to us to help us get through those times.

I watched Derek when people would come up to him. I watched the other person struggle with words as they looked Derek in the eyes. Derek told me that the thing he hated answering most was, "How are you?" Obviously.... he wasn't at his tip top shape, but he was handling things. Something that Derek said he appreciated hearing was, "You and your family are in our prayers." It was hard to answer to, "I'm sorry," b/c all Derek could say was, "Thanks". Derek said the best thing anyone could ever do was just be normal. He didn't want people to feel sorry for him and to act strange, he just wanted a friend he knew that loved and cared about him.

So now after watching Derek go through the hardest thing in his life, I feel more comfortable about how to approach other people going through trials. I really appreciate the good people in the world who care so much about people who are struggling. I appreciate their prayers for others, for their kind words, food, graciousness and love. Despite all the garbage that goes on in the world around us, there really are good out there. There are amazing people among us, and this I am grateful for.

As of lately

2010-10-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well things have been pretty good over here at the Dawson residence. Camo is getting the whole potty training thing down pretty good. The only time he has accidents now is if I don't wake up when he's whining in the morning to take him out. So that would be my fault on that one. It's nice that he's finally getting it down though. We can usually tell when he needs to go in a few ways. 1. he tries to sneak away, 2. when we're holding him and he absolutely won't stop wiggling and moving around, 3. he runs to the back door and stares at us. Sometimes though, it is hard to tell if he needs to go. Yorkies area always sniffing.... always, so it's hard to tell if he's sniffing around b/c of the breed he is, or b/c he really actually does have to go to the bathroom. Also, he is getting to the point where he will go play alone sometimes, so he'll run in the other room and then i follow him b/c i'm afraid he's sneaking away. We'll get it though!!! It's good b/c I can tell he's catching onto the concept. Something we're trying is we take his paws and make him scratch the door so he'll be trained to make noise so we can hear when he needs to go. Another thing is we reward him with hot dogs when he goes outside. And.... we have been trying to kennel train him. It will be super good for him in the end, but I always feel like such a jerk when I put him in there. He's been doing super good with everything though. He is a really good dog!
Work wise something that is new is I got promoted at my job as the Assistant Clinic Administrator. Basically I have more responsibilities and more access to things on the computer. I still have to ok things through the Clinic Administrator first, but whenever she is gone, I call the shots and make big decisions for the company. So far it hasn't been TOO bad, but it's always kind of overwhelming having more responsibility and having to learn a bunch more. It's pretty exciting though!! This is my first promotion at any job I've ever had, and I also got a raise, so I definately can't complain there!!!
I also started teaching ballroom yesterday!! I am teaching for Extreme Ballroom, (the company Derek and I danced for in high school). The company just moved to a new studio... and it is the BIGGEST dance studio I have EVER seen!! It's pretty awesome! I teach 4 and 5 year olds. They are the cutest little kids ever!! There is a little tiny girl who isn't even 4 yet. Don't tell anyone.... but she's my favorite!! She is the cutest little thing, I want to take her home with me! That's against the law though... so I guess I can't! She is a head shorter than everyone, has dirty blonde hair and the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen. She rarely makes a peep and always seems to be on the wrong foot. She is adorable when I help her though. She stands up straight and smiles at me and tries super hard until she finally fixes it! Ahh she is such a doll!! I love it!! I'm excited to teach this cute little class and to watch their growth they will make over the year! That's the funnest part about teaching I must say!!
Hmm that's all that's new with me. Derek has been building a HUGE entertainment center for our christmas present. He almost finished though, and he's only been working on it for 2 days. He's incredibly talented!! He just needs to build 2 cupboard doors, and then paint the whole thing. I'll post pictures as soon as he's done! It's pretty awesome that married the most handy man in the world!! I remember thinking it was so cool that men could build things, and I always wondered if my husband would be able to. I got pretty lucky in that department!! I married such a talented young man! I love him to death and I'm so grateful for all of his hard work and for all that he does for me!

Meet Camo!!!

2010-10-06T20:37:00.001-07:00

Ok.... Derek and I caved in and got a cute adorable little tiny PUPPY!!! I've never ever had a dog before so this is big news for me!!! Camo is such a little sweetie!! He's a cuddle bug, and has such a cute little personality. We found him in the newspaper, and we got him from a family in Rigby. As soon as we walked into the house and Camo walked up to me I melted. I picked him up and he nestled his head into my body and snuggled right in. I looked at Derek and told him that I was sold. He was so shy and timid and quiet when we first got him, but he's starting to break out of his shell... almost too much. Perhaps today isn't the day I should be blogging about him, b/c he just had his first accident in OUR house and b/c he's been such a little stinker chewing on random objects... or perhaps I should be blogging about him b/c it will help me not be so frustrated about it.

Camo is 13 weeks old, he's a Yorkie, he is obsessed with feet and shoes, he's playful, he's timid, and he's a cuddle bug. He's also very clingy. It's cute, but at times it can be a bit annoying. He could be dead asleep on the couch, and as soon as I stand up to go get a drink, he's right at my feet following me. This can create a problem at times b/c he gets kicked in the head frequently. It's super easy to back into him b/c he's always RIGHT there. Also, when he is standing next to me, he isn't actually next to me, he stands directly on top of my feet. He hates being alone, and he rarely makes a peep. I've heard him bark twice, and it was more like a grunt. It's a low quiet little bark. He has discovered how to whine though. That can be annoying, hopefully he'll grow out of it soon!

It's hard to train a puppy. Poor Derek has kind of lost his nerves with him today. Camo had 2 accidents today with Derek, and got into everything he wasn't supposed to. Up until these past couple of days he's been the perfect dog, but everyone knows that can't last long!! I can't wait until we're past the phase of puppy training him!! I can't wait until he's potty trained, and until he's ok with having alone time, and until he won't cry at night!! If any of you have any suggestions for us we will gladly take them!!! Otherwise, we will be patient with this whole dog training thing, and have a nice dog in the end of this!!!

Judy Pasley took these cute pictures of Camo playing when we went to visit her!! I'm struggling taking his pictures b/c he moves so dang fast! Judy takes amazing pictures, check out her blog at pasleyphotography.blogspot.com

Very Random Blog.....

2010-09-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Pretty much I don't have anything cool to blog about other than my sick crackly raspy voice. I came down with a cruddy cold, and of course, lost my voice. How many phone calls do you think I had to make at work today? 24..... and then not only that but answering phone calls and talking to clients as they came in. At least I didn't get any grumpy clients today, they all felt bad for me. Either that or they laughed when they heard my voice and asked me how I was feeling.
This weekend we went on a triple date and went bowling!! It was a blast!! A much needed night I would say!! That is all that started my raspy voice. You know how bowling gets when you're cheering, and laughing, and singing and dancing to the music right? Well... if you don't know how that is, you are definately bowling with the wrong crowd!
On another random note. How many of you are Glee fans?! I am soo excited for this season. Tomorrow' Britney Spears episode looks a little scandilous though. Hopefully not too scandilous though right? Well anyways, I hope you all had a happy Monday!! Sorry for my spontaneous random blog. I guess I need cooler things to blog about!!

Be jealous......

2010-09-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Alright..... so my last post was a pity post. You've heard me complain about my job..... now you can listen to the PERKS about my job!!! Today I got a free massage. Now, I've had a massage before.... but I've never experienced anything as GLORIOUS as this massage!!! This therapist has miracle hands!!! I have been so happy and content all day due to that relaxing massage!! My sholders and neck were SO tight, she never even got to massage my lower body. Let me tell you how good my upper body feels though!!! My goodness!!! If any of you ever come into Massage Envy, I order you to have Rosie massage you!!! She is AMAZING!!!

So now for this small moment, I will let anyone who wants to be jealous of my job, be jealous!! Just as any job, it is stressful, but I'm finally becomming familiar with my job. And I'm finally getting to the point where people are asking me questions!! It's exciting! I love it when it finally gets to that point in a job. So yay!! My job is not so bad after all!!! Considering I got a free massage last month, and a free massage this month! I won a free massage b/c I had the highest sales out of all the employees for the month of August!! It definately rocked, especially considering that it was my first month working there. Having little things like that happen when you're stressed with your job, always is a big boost and helps you to realize why you're there.

So.... whenever I have another crummy day at work.... I will remember how wonderful I felt for that hour long massage today. C'mon..... how many people can get free massages, or at least discounted massages for that matter? Bonus? I think much!!!

Count your blessings

2010-09-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in one of those slumps? For instance.... starting a new job, moving into a new house, into a new ward, and just feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders? Have I ever mentioned that I don't handle change well? Welp.... I'm mentioning it now.... I don't handle change well. Have you ever held something in that's bothering you for a long period of time? Well I'm telling you now.... I am guilty of doing this. I know that change may not be that difficult for some of you so I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm having a little pity party. Change is fun, and an adventure yes.... but there's something about that unfamiliar feeling that makes your stomach churn. When my stomach churns, bad things happen.
My new job as simple and as relaxing as it may seem..... IS STRESSFUL!! There is so much drama that goes on behind the scenes it's ridiculous!! I am so hard on myself at work and I come home and have a hard time leaving it all at work. Rather, I bring my work home with me. On Sunday I finally gave up. I burst into tears and let out EVERYTHING out that had been bothering me for the past 2 weeks. Of course Derek came to my rescue and assured me that I was being silly and was being too hard on myself. At that moment I realized it doesn't matter what the heck is going on in my life. I have Derek no matter what!! He will be with me for the REST of eternity. He is my familiarity, and that will NEVER change in my life!
I love Derek with everything I have!!! He is my whole life, and I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have him. It is so crazy how perfect we are for each other. We were made for each other, and I never imagined I would marry someone so INCREDIBLE!!!
I love stepping back from life and realizing ALL that I have. I am so truly blessed, and I have everything I could ever ask for in life!! I am so grateful for my family, and friends, and I'm grateful for their health and safety.
Sad things happen to people everyday, and I wish I could take it all away from them!! When life gets you down blogging friends.... take a step back and realize what you have. Don't let the weight of the world get you down!! Hold your head up and count your many blessings!!

Changes

2010-08-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!!! Finally!! We are in our own little home again. At first I didn't think I would like the location very much, but it turns out I actually really enjoy it. The location is really convienent to get anywhere really in Idaho Falls. It's pretty much in the middle of town. Takes about 5 minutes to get to wherever we're going it feels like. We are all unpacked and we're settling in nicely into our new place. It's been fun having family and friends over to visit with us. Derek's brother Raylon lived with us while we were living in Arizona, so at first it was almost weird to have it just Derek and I again. Not going to lie.... but I LOVE it! It's so fun just the 2 of us. We have our own schedule and we can do whatever we want whenever we want so it's been fun. I need to take some pictures of the inside, but here are some pictures of the outside of our little home.

Here is a picture of the front of our house.

Here's the back view of the house.

The weather is changing, and we only have 1 more day of August. I can't believe how FAST the summer flew right past me! I'm still not completely sure how I feel about the weather changing. 1 year in Arizona may have converted me to warm weather for life. I will admit though, that I do love the seasons, and while we were in Arizona I sure did miss seeing the seasons change right before my eyes. Hopefully I can find a way to stay warm so I can enjoy this Idaho weather.

We had an awesome summer filled with fun family memories. Camping, huckleberry picking, Lagoon, barbecues, fun days at the park, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, jet skiing, boating, 4th of July parade and fireworks, summer evening walks, MOVING, game nights, starting a new job, lots of house projects (not only for our house, but helping others), lots of laughing, and being surrounded by the people I love!

I hate to say it but most of the pictures from this summer are on Derek's phone, and Derek is at my Grandma's doing yard work for her. Hopefully I can update some of those fun pictures, but in the mean time, here are a few I have from my phone. Enjoy!!!

This is my very attractive get up while huckleyberry picking! While already in Rigby visiting family, Derek remembered that we were invited to go pick huckleberries. I was in shorts and flip flops, and it had just finished raining. Luckily, Derek had an extra pair of tennis shoes, and Thayne had a sweater for me. I look really good in men's oversized clothing. :)

Big Moving Day!!

Sitting around the campfire while camping! :) I love this boy!!

Yellowstone with my family and Julia's friend Holly.

My little monkey Taysia at my nephew's wedding. I love this little sweetie!

The Dawson crew at Lagoon.

Derek and I jet skiing. I LOVE this picture! Judy Pasley took this picture, she does an AMAZING job!! If any of you need any photos.... she's the woman! :)

I got a job!!!!

2010-07-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO!!! FINALLY!! Remember my last post when I mentioned I had an interview? Well.... this is the same job that I just got less then an hour ago! To be honest..... the way things were going with this job... I really didn't want to get it. They told me they wanted a second interview with me. They called me, made me come in from Rigby for a 2nd interview, only to tell me that they wanted me to come in 1 more time for a business interview. Well first off, I was a little irritated why they couldn't have just told me about the business interview over the phone rather than having me drive in from Rigby to sit there for 5 minutes and turn around and drive back. Also... what's the point in a business interview? They said they wanted me to come in during the busiest hours of the day and week, and throw me in and see how I do. Honestly... who would do a good job given the circumstance?

So today they called me in for 2 hours. To be honest..... throwing me in like this scared me away more then made me want the job. They gave me a computer and said ask us if you have any questions.... Are you serious? So basically I played around a little bit and asked how to schedule. Well girls kept coming up and needing my computer, so I just stood up and got out of the way. Finally the manager brought me a chair and just told me to follow one girl around for the rest of the day. This girl was 9 months pregnant, she was due in a week, and it was her last day. I felt bad they just dumped me on her like that. She was completely scattered brained, she didn't want to be there, and she honestly didn't train me much at all. Some of the front girls started dumping their work on me that they didn't want to do. So I filed for them, and I called clients and told them about a promotion for their members. Needless to say I was hung up on and left countless messages. Next I got to watch their "best seller" try and make a sale. Well... let's just say the person she tried to sell to kinda dumped her on her face and didn't let her get 2 words in. Yeah..... that made me super excited about selling let me tell you!!!

Well after this ridiculous day the manager and owner called me into their office and gave me the job. By this point I was seriously wanting to go home and never come back... but let's face it, I need a job desperately!!! I took the job and acted thrilled!

Don't get me wrong... I am SOOO grateful for this oppurtunity!! Haha but.... a business interview was probably the biggest mistake they could have made for a prospective employee. I just hope and pray that once I have proper training I will love the job and won't be so overwhelmed. I hope that I can feel comfortable and catch on quickly to what my responsibilities will include!!! I look forward to learning a great deal through this experience and meeting new people along the way!!! Wish me luck people b/c I am super overwhelmed right now!! haha I need all the help I can get!!

Clarity

2010-07-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Ahh.... I finally have some clarity in my life!! Ever since Derek and I have moved back it seems like every single plan has fallen apart left and right. Every job we've applied for, every house/apartment we've looked at, absolutely EVERYTHING has fallen through.
Our minds have changed over and over. What we thought we wanted didn't happen, and I look back and I'm SOO glad it didn't work out that way!!
Today I had another job interview. Normally I don't really like to post about job interviews, b/c it sucks when you think you have a job and tell everyone, and then it comes around that you don't get the job after all that. Well ever since I found out I had this interview, it seems like all of a sudden a rush of clarity rushed into my body. I FINALLY know that I want to live in Idaho Falls, we FINALLY both know that we want to go to BYU-Idaho, and we are FINALLY starting to get some direction in our lives!! GOLLY it feels AMAZING!!!
Who really is the one to say that everything will go according to plan from here on out..... but I finally have some peace and comfort in knowing that everything will work out, and everything is going to be ok! There is an apartment we have been thinking about renting in Ammon. The downstairs apartment should be available now, and we are going to call the land lord and see if we can view the downstairs apartment. Who is to say that we are FOR SURE going to live here.... but as of right now it feels really exciting! We were going to be living in one of my dad's rental houses until it sold.... but guess what? As soon as we decided to live there, someone wants to lease it. Of course!! That is just 1 of the many examples of what has fallen through for us, but obviously, we weren't meant to be there at this time.
I feel such a great amount of comfort in knowing that my prayers are heard. I have been fasting, praying, and reading my scriptures daily so that we would know what direction we needed to take in our lives. It is such a blessing to know that my Heavely Father loves and cares about us, and when we do what is right, the blessings are opened up unto us.
It is so easy to fall into a slump and get lost in this crazy world we live in. When we take time out of our every day lives to give back to Heavely Father, and to show our gratitude, he opens up his arms and comforts us. I am sooo grateful for this gospel, and for all of my testimony building experiences that I go through in life. I feel stronger than I felt before we moved here. I love the Ah Ha moments in life when you look back and you realize why you had to go through a struggle in your life. I love how trials bring me closer to my Heavenly Father, and I love how I always come out a better person in the end. Right now I feel so overwhelmingly blessed for all that I have in my life!! I am so grateful for this comfort I have in my life at this time!

Random Facts

2010-07-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some random facts that you should know about me. Enjoy!

- I tie my shoes completely different from anyone else!!! I never cease to amaze people by the way I tie my shoe. I never knew I tied my shoes differently until high school... but apparently, I tie my shoes in a pretty facsinating way.

-I'm not afraid of getting attached to people. I LOVE getting to know people inside and out! I love making new friends and I love people in general! I'm not afraid of getting close to someone even if it means my heart gets ripped out in the end.

- I am pretty shy when I first meet people.... but once I'm comfortable... I am CRAZY!

- I just recently have realized that I am a super competetive person. Sometimes it's fun... but sometimes I drive myself nuts! I make competitions out of every day activities haha. I'm currently working on this!

- I knew I was going to marry Derek the moment I laid eyes on him. That was my dream boy all wrapped up in a package. That's who I wanted, and that's who I got. He's even better then I could have ever imagined my dream boy being!!

- I know you already know that I absolutely LOVE dancing!! It's my passion, and it's my release. I have ALWAYS planned on dancing throughout my entire life. I always planned on getting a career and degree, but I've always known in the back of my mind that no matter what I want to teach on the side.

- I recently discovered that I am pretty sure I'm allergic to peanuts. I ate some peanuts from a can and touched my eye. My eye was swollen shut for 2 days. Same can of peanuts were put on my salad, and my throat got closed shut. Needless to say, I haven't touched peanuts since. It's a pitty b/c I ate peanut butter on a daily basis until that awful day of the can of peanut incident.

- I am a tender heart. I will probably cry if something happens to you before you do. I HATE when other people go through something sad. I would rather take the crap then watch someone else go through it. Even if someone punched me in the face and told me they hated me, I would still cry for them if something sad happened to them.

- Bad trait about me.... I forgive, but I don't forget. I remember something as silly as someone calling me a name in Elementary school. I forgive people, but I don't really forget when they hurt me.... probably b/c I'm afraid of them doing it again. This is a bad quality about me! I have been working really hard on this!!

- I have this ridiculous laugh that comes out in the middle of the night when I am in a silly mood. Only very special select people have heard this laugh. When this laugh comes out... everyone is laughing. It sounds absolutely ridiculous!! It even includes gasping and snorting on occasion. If you are one of the lucky ones who has witnessed this laugh.... I hope you are ok with still being my friend.

- Lastly..... I think that the prettiest people in this life are the HAPPY ones. They are so inspiring and strong. They are uplifting and I absolutely LOVE being around these types of people!

I hope you enjoyed these random facts!!! Hope you are all having a safe and happy summer!! Love ya guys!!

Dreamer

2010-07-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that I am quite the DREAMER! For those of you that really know me... you know that I am always setting goals and working towards something. Sometimes lets face it... I'm not truly realistic. I day dream about my childhood when a certain smell reminds me of something. Sometimes I get stuck back when life was easy and why does it have to get so tough? Sometimes I dream about becomming a professional dancer. I picture myself on a big gorgeous stage, I feel the bright lights on my powdered face, I look out to the crowd and see the auditorium packed full of people, the theater has 2 balconies, and I am the lead dancer. Everyone is cheering for me as I take my bow, and then I look back to see my backup dancers smiling at me and admiring their own performance. In my dreams I can do 7 pirouettes. I can kick my face off, I can move however I want to, and I can jump higher than anyone else. If only...... but let's face it. In order to become a professional..... I wouldn't be able to have a personal life. I wouldn't be able to be a mom until my career was over, I wouldn't be able to see much of Derek, and not only that but I would probably have to dance with other men all day everyday. That is no life for a strong marriage

So after I get to thinking that I wouldn't be able to be a mom until my 30s, then I begin to dream about being a mom. Not just any ordinary mom.... an AWESOME mom! I stay thin and fit, I'm the cool mom, my kids are perfect and have striking features, and I have the picture perfect family. Not only am I an awesome mom.... all of a sudden I have all these home making skills. I can sew, cook, scrapbook, draw, can food, etc. Well all of a sudden in the middle of my day dream I begin to gag. I realize that this is a disgusting dream because I can't stand those picture perfect families. This realistically is not me at all. In fact, these types of moms make me kind of sick because they are incredibly talented! I am not a homemaker... and I feel as though I'm never going to become the best homemaker. This day dream is NOT me. Having a picture perfect family is fake in every way. I love those down to earth people that make mistakes and admit it. I love the homes I go into where I'm immediately loved and welcome, and they accept me...flaws and all. After I realize that that's the person I am... a down to earth, flawed young lady, I'm ok about my realization that this dream will never fully come true.

After my other 2 dreams have been shot down, I begin to dream about traveling the world. There is nothing wrong with this dream at all!! Ok..... let's face it, I dream big so there are some unrealistic points thrown in. First of all...... I'm a newlywed, my traveling has to wait until we have some more money. Sometimes I dream about Derek and I traveling to 3rd world countries. We help relieve the pain and disaster, and help people struggling. Well this dream is ok... but if I want to help anyone medically I'm going to have to have a degree in something medical, and if I go there to teach..... well by golly I better know what I'm teaching!! Haha but someday really and truly I think this would be awesome to do as a couple. I want to go somewhere with a beautiful gorgeous beach, and I want to take a trip to the eastern states to visit some history sites, not only to do with the founding of the country but also with the church. In my dream we travel to ITALY!!! Once again.... this is my absolute DREAM place to travel to. I have always been drawn to Italy. Not only is their food remarkabely delicious, but the language is beautiful, the country is flawless, and the people are wonderful. Right now I am trying to strike up a deal with Derek. If I learn Italian fluently.... he will take me to Italy. Derek is not down with this bet. I need some sort of strategy to get him to agree on this bet with me! Any ideas?!

Day dreaming helps me to escapse the crap thrown at me. Dreaming helps me to pursue goals and to work towards something (when I'm realistic that is). Dreaming can bring peace and joy to my life. When I hear music I automatically begin dancing whether it's physically or in my head. I am so grateful that I have been blessed with the talent of dance in my life. I can dream up beautiful dances in my head, the challenge is getting it out of my head and choreographing and moving in the same movement that takes place in my dreams. Which all leads me to the reason I began this ambitious post. I have all these dreams, and now the fear of pursuing those dreams kicks in. In my life the debate of what career I should pursue is a toss up between becoming a Physical Therapy Assistant, or a dance teacher. I decided to pursue PTA because it is more stable. In order to pursue this career, Arizona was brought into the picture. I worked at a physical therapy office and enjoyed it quite nicely. School however did not work out. The waiting list to get into the program was 2 years long, and other things brought Derek and I back to Idaho. Here I am stuck in thought whether I should wait a year and apply to the PTA program at ISU, or if I should go to BYU Idaho, get my bachelors in Exercise Science and minor in Dance. I have decided to go to BYUI, however I am still debating whether to apply for the program at ISU next year or not. Right now I feel soo strongly about persuing a career in dance. Now... here comes all my dreams again. I want to use dance as a way of helping other people. I dream of helping alzheimer and dimentia patients. By teaching them dances, it helps these patients with their memorization skills. I want to teach cancer patients and let them feel joy in the pain they are facing. I want to teach suicidal teens who have no confidence. I want them to love themselves and gain confidence within themselves. Dances such as the flamenco are all about confidence and I feel like teaching dances like these to these teens could help them immensely. I want to help people suffering from autism, down syndrome,cystic fibrosis, and ADHD. I want to help them to have a longer attention span and to help get their bodies mobile. Maybe somehow I can combine Physical Therapy and Dance? Or maybe I can just teach dance and help many people along the way. This goal is PERFECTION in my eyes. I have HUGE goals, and this is everything I could ever want out of a goal. Opening up a dance studio is very realistic.... teaching people suffering from all these different types of conditions though? I'm not sure how to approach all of this. Somehow I want to pursue this dream. I want to help others and become the dance teacher and role model that I know I can be.

Yup.... I'm still alive

2010-06-30T22:57:00.001-07:00

Ok..... so I do apologize to all you bloggers because I most definately waited WAY too long to post something!!! But yes, I'm still here, and yes we are doing well! We are now living in Idaho YAY!!! The move up was RIDICULOUS!!!! We were in a HUGE rain/hail/snow storm from Provo all the way to Malad... and it was freakin May 22 for crying out loud!!! When we left Arizona the heat had broke 100 degrees for the first time of the year.... when we got to Idaho.... it was windy and rainy and grey. Raylon drove the Uhaul, I drove our car, and Derek drove Raylon's car. It was a grueling 15 hours, and adding pouring rain, plowing through puddles, hydroplaning, and almost hitting cars that had slid out of control and were sitting side ways on the highway was a wee bit stressful.
We finally arrived to Idaho and began our awesome adventure to see our new country house... literally a country house *blegh* We drove, and we drove and we drove until finally we arrived at our little country home north of Rexburg. The land lord... was PSYCHO!! and that was an understatement!! She had basically lied about everything that she told me about the house... and Derek and I soon found ourselves in a BIG disaster. When I say this... I mean we literally will never see a house like this again!! The kitchen was BRIGHT green and Gold, the cupboards were metal (like a locker), the carpet was nasty green and gold flowers... I thought that if I spilt water on the floor that the flowers would grow out of the carpet. Ok..... not to mention.... every room was covered with sheer drapery. This wasn't any ordinary drapes..... they were NASTY colors such as PINK, GREEN, TEAL, GOLD etc. When Derek asked the land lord if one of the drapes was broken... she went off on Derek and told him that only city folk worry about keeping their windows covered so no one could see in. Then she went off about how she has never locked her door in her entire life and she has been just fine. Ok... she was soo weird! Along with our beautiful kitchen, and drapery among the house... we also had a PINK tiled bathroom.... head to toe!! AWESOME!! We also had a hand made clothes line hanger INSIDE our very own house. Ok.... so first of all we are way out in the middle of nowhere.... we are in a HIDEOUS home, and then... to top it all off we have a PSYCHO land lord. YUCK!!
Because of the sheer drapery within our home... we had absolutely NO privacy. Due to this matter, I would look out the window and see our landlord snooping around our yard and peeking in our house... can you say creepy?! She also came over at least 5 times the day we moved. Oh sorry I forgot to mention, the psycho land lord lived NEXT DOOR to make matters worse! Anyways... she came over a billion times... not only is this uncomfortable.... but she would stay..... and she wouldn't leave. It was horrible. This house was her dead husband's dead mother's house. She wanted to keep it the EXACT same way her mother in law left it. She even asked Derek if he would plant flowers in the garden b/c it would remind her of her mother in law. Our stove/oven had a manual with a 50's girl on the cover. I'm pretty sure that SOME things really should be updated over the years wouldn't you say? She told us that we had to read the manual before we used the stove or oven b/c if everything wasn't wired just precise it could start a fire. Can you say WOW? Now... we're in this creepy situation, and then the landlord started changing how much money we owed her... is that even legal? Nope.... but she thought it was! I'll get back to that detail in just a minute. When I talked to the landlord on the phone before we moved, she told me that the house was very well insulated, and we would never have to turn on the heat. BULL CRAP!!! Our house was FREEZING!! It had no insulation and it held no heat whatsoever. In order to heat our house we had to use the propane tank. Derek called the company and asked how much it cost. In order to fill the tank, it cost $200, and he told Derek that the average bill we would have to pay to fill it during the winter months would be $500, and then we would actually have to pay the heating bill on top of that!! Excuse me.... but the landlord was a filthy liar!!! At this point.... we knew immediately that we had to get out of the situation!!! We gave our 30 days notice, but told her if she wanted someone in it before the 30 days.... we could be out. Soo.... the last day of the month she called us and told us we needed to be out that night!!! EXCUSE ME!!! Psycho lady... that's not right at all!! But, because of the situation we were already in, and because she kept taking our money, we knew that we HAD to get out of the situation before she pushed any more money on us.
Well we got a big crew together, hunted down a truck and trailer and unpacked all of our stuff within 2 hours. Now comes the crappy part. The landlord decided that she wasn't going to give us back our security deposit b/c she held the house for half a month until we moved in. Little did she know that my dad is a lawyer and that what she was doing was illegal. Her husband and her RAILED into Derek and I, and I have never seen a fight so nasty. Basically what it was coming down to was we would be seeing them in court b/c they took our money. Finally, after I started crying my eyes out, the husband softened up a little bit and they agreed to give us back half of the deposit, and then take off what we owed them for the 10 days we were in the house. This is after the fact that they just increased the price we owed them for the 10 days over five times. Derek and I agreed to take the $96, basically because we didn't want to deal with these crazy people anymore!! We lost about $250, but we learned a valuable lesson! It sucks going through experiences such as these, but you always come out a better person in the end!!
Because we only had 1 day to get out, we are now staying with my parents. Does it suck? YES. Is it better then the alternative? ABSOLUTELY!!! I'm so grateful for my awesome parents for helping us during this super hard time, and I'm grateful for my amazing husband to go through these crappy times with!! Luckily while we were living in Arizona..... we were frugal with our money so due to our unemployment and set back with everything, we are doing just DANDY! We've also done a TON of odd jobs for people so we've been making money here and there through it all!! I really am happy with where I am in life because I feel stronger and better for it!
Now... I know that you people are thinking to yourself... how did Derek and I get into this situation and why did we move into that house? The answer to this question my friends is that I trusted someone. She gave me her word and she lied. Will I go through this again? NOPE!! Will I ever put my trust in someone like this again NEVER!! But, please everyone just look out!! This crap is so easy to fall into and scamming is absolutely ridiculous!! Be careful and I love you guys!! Thank you to everyone who has been so helpful!!

Finally..... an update!!!

2010-04-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Wow.... things have been super crazy busy over here at the Dawson home! We had spring break, my parents visited, we made a quick trip to Utah, and we've been slammed with homework. One thing at a time though!! First off, I had SOOO much fun when my parents came!!
Day 1: We hiked the Windcave trail at Usery Mountain Pass. It was the perfect length of a hike! The windcave at the top really actually ended up being an overhead hang with flower like pot things hanging from the top. Sadly, it was infested with bees, red beatles, and little chipmunks. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time at the top. Also... not long into the hike, I was leading the way in front of my parents. We were talking and all of a sudden we heard a loud rattle. I stopped immediately, and a rattle snake came out of the bushes and crossed the trail literaly a foot in front of me. My heart began racing and I couldn't move, then... it hit me and I started saying, "OH my gosh, oh my gosh it's a rattlesnake!!!" and I ran behind my parents. Haha the whole time they were saying, "Mary, get out the camera, that's really cool."
After the hike we went to Lee Lee's, which is an Oriental food market. My dad served his mission in Japan so he LOOVED Lee Lee's! I couldn't get my parents to leave, but i'm glad they had a lot of fun, and bought some really interesting food! After Lee Lee's we went to Boa Ba's, tried their really weird drinks, then picked up Derek from work. After that we we went to Barro's pizza, but... ended up on a very long detour! We finally made it and scarfed down our pizza. We ate at Barro's b/c they have a new gluten free pizza so my dad was able to eat it. My dad just recently found out that he is a celiac, so it was kind of challenging trying to find food that my dad could eat! After Barro's, we went to Alice in Wonderland 3D. Day 1 was a succes!!
Day 2: My parents and I went to the Phoenix zoo!! We had a lot of fun, and this day it got up to 91 degrees. It was SOO dang hot!! After the zoo, we chilled at the hotel for a bit, and then made our way to the Chandler Fashion Center. The Chandler Fashion Center is the BIG mall down here!! My parents couldn't believe how big it was, they thought it was so neat! After, the mall, we went back to my apartment. Derek and I made them yummy fajitas!! So delicious!! After that we went to the Mesa Temple and watched the Easter pageant!! It was unbelievable how many people were there!! The pageant was well done, and gave me chills at the end when Christ was resurrected. It was an awesome experience!
Day 3: Derek finally had work off! We spent the day at the Dodger's Spring training game!! We had another detour on the highway... but we made it!!! We were cheering for Manny the whole time, and I even bought a #1 finger. My dad made fun of me the whole time, but I just HAD to have it! haha. The sun was on our right side the entire time... so let's just say all of us came back a little uneven! I had a line right down the middle of my legs with the right side BRIGHT red and the other side still white. It was a little embarrassing. After the game, we went to RA sushi! Love the sushi, hate the atmosphere!! The sushi is sooo good, and we went during happy hour so everything was super cheap!!!
What a FUN time!! We were able to do so much, and my parents loved everything about it!! I'm so grateful for my dear parents!! I love them so much, and they are amazing!!! Here's some pictures, sorry they're not in order!

What a fun time we had!!! I wish they could come back and visit again!!! There are still things I need to blog about..... but that took forever so I am done for the day!!!! More news coming soon!! :)

Just for fun!

2010-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

When is your "engagement" anniversary:
April 26, 2008

2. When is your "marriage" anniversary:
Aug. 15, 2008

3. How long have you known your spouse:
Just under 5 years. Technically though, we met each other when we were about 8 years old playing night games, but we didn't "really" get to know each other back then.

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged:
2 1/2 years.

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?
The VERY first time was playing night games in my backyard, we met again at ballroom nationals in Provo.

6. What is your spouse's full name:
Derek Ray Dawson :)

7. Do you have any children:
None yet!

8. How many - boys/girls:
None

9. Do you have any house pets:
No.... we have allergies, and we also don't want to pay the extra fee at our apt.

11. Do you live in the country or town/city:
City, we found out that we're more of the country folk though haha.
.
12. What are some of your favorite activities together:
Dancing, boating, 4 wheeling, cuddling, movie watching, hiking, game playing and traveling.

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot:
Umm.. we liked traveling to Arizona before we moved here, but we would like to travel to some place with a beach.

14. When did you first kiss?
Exactly a week after our first date.

15. What church do you attend?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

16. Did you get married in a church? Where?
The Idaho Falls Temple

17. What town is your current address at:
Chandler

18. Do you work or stay at home:
I work.... way too much!!

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon:
Salt Lake City

20.What was the funniest gift you gave when dating?
While we were on ballroom tour, one of the teachers talked Derek into buying me a ring with his name on it. haha

21.How long have you been together?
4 1/2 years

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
7 years when we first met, 8 months from the second time we met, and 3 months after we were ballroom partners and really started to get to know each other.

23. Who asked who out?
Derek's cousin (which is my good friend) actually invited us both to go to the haunted house, but after that, Derek got my number and asked me out.

25.Where do you each work or go to school?
I work at Physicians Physical Therapy, and Derek works at SCP. We both go to Chandler Gilbert Community College.

26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Umm... that is a tough one, I'm not sure.

27. Did you go to the same school?
Nope... our schools were rivals.

28. Are you from the same home town?
Nope

29. Who is smarter?
Derek, but we both have our own subjects we are good at.

30. Who is more sensitive?
I am.... I'm a little softy

31.Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Texas Roadhouse

32. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Ensenada

33.Who has the craziest exes?!
Derek...

34. What is something that first attracted you about him/her?
Tall, dark, handsome and a dancer.

35. Who does the cooking?
Both of us

36. Who is more social?
I am

37. Who is the neat-freak?
Derek!!

38. Who is more stubborn?
Me... :p

39. Who hogs the bed?
That would be me.... poor Derek!

40. Who wakes up earlier?
Derek is my early bird

41. Where was your first date?
The Haunted Mill.... it was a good reason to hold his hand :)

42.Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?
I did

43. Do you get flowers often?
Nah, I'm not too big on that..

44. How do you spend the holidays?
Together and with the rest of our family. I am all for family traditions!

45. Who is more jealous?
That would be me

46. How long did it take to get serious?
Umm... we became exclusive a month after our first date. We had our little break ups but we always knew that we were supposed to be together. It honestly didn't take long at all to get serious.

47. Who eats more?
Well this is a toss up. I eat a lot consistently... BUT, Derek goes through phases where he could eat our whole fridge! So he fluctuates.

48. Who does the laundry?
We both do. I am usually the designated folder though. Folding laundry is a chore that I really don't mind.

49. Who’s better with the computer?
Derek is.

50. Leave a piece of advice for the other couples:
-Don't go to bed mad.
-Don't hold things in. Let it all out and talk about it.
-Look forward in your marriage.
-If you're religious.... keep it as the focus in your marriage. Pray together, read scriptures together, and stay strong together.

My Parents are Coming!!!

2010-03-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO!!! My parents are on their way this very minute to come and visit Derek and I!! It's going to be so much fun!! I have planned some fun things to go out and do.... but honestly, the thing I can't wait for is to just be able to see them!!! It's super hard living 900 miles away from my family, and I am just so grateful that my parents are going to be able to come down and see us. It will be fun to show them our apartment and catch up on all the things going on in life. I seriously have the best family in the world and I love them to pieces!! I'm sad that Julia and Karl couldn't come with my parents, but I'm grateful that at least my parents can make this trip!!!
Things you should know about my parents are:
1. They are pretty much the funniest people in the world, and I almost pee my pants from laughing whenever my parents get on their kicks.

2. They make an amazing team. They've shown me how a marriage should be, and they balance each other out perfectly. My parents are best friends and they are so happy together.

3. They've taught me everything I know. My parents taught me to be the person I am today, and I'm so grateful for the mannerisms and the love that they showed me to have for others. It seems like many kids these days do not show respect or love, and I am so grateful for my knowledge of this importance, and I will someday teach my own children to have love and respect for others.

4. They are supportive and loving of their children.

5. They are super smart and very hard working!!!!

6. They taught me to have my own testimony, and because of them I have the firm foundation that I have in the gospel and with my beliefs.

Basically, I could go on and on about my wonderful parents.... but I won't!! I can't wait to see them, we are going to have so much fun!!!!

♥ Happy V-Day ♥

2010-02-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!! I love V-day b/c you get to share it with the ones you love, and it gives you a reason to celebrate without spending too much money! I hope everyone is having a great weekend with the ones they love!!! V-day is the best!!
Last night Derek and I celebrated by going out to eat sushi at a place called RA sushi. The sushi was amazing and it was a pretty fun atmosphere, but.... the only thing I would change is for them to turn down their music. They have their music blaring SOO loud that you can barely carry on a conversation. Other than that, it's a great place with amazing food!!
RA sushi has happy hour from 3-7 where a select choice from their menu is half off. I LOVE happy hour!! We got 4 rolls of sushi for about 12 bucks. Not too shabby at all!! B/c we went during happy hour it was a little crowded so there was a small wait. The manager came out and told us that b/c we were first timers and b/c of the wait he was going to get us free dessert. So for our dessert we had fried bananas with caramel and rasberry drizzled on top, and a side bowl of chocolate ice cream. It was my first experience with fried bananas... it was probably my last too... but Derek was a fan so that is good!! I hope you are all having a great Valentines, love you all!!

Here is a picture of our fried banana. I took a picture when we were halfway done eating... my bad!!

This were the cool decorations that were dangling from the ceiling. It was dim lighting but it set the mood very nicely!

This was our to go bag. Haha I thought that the little saying "Take me I'm yours" sounded like a Valentine... so again... it set the mood quite nicely haha.

It was a bummer that I forgot to take a picture of our sushi... but dang was it good!! Here we are happy as can be waiting for our food to come out. I loved the decorations and the background of our booth that we were sitting at. We could NOT take a picture for the lives of us!! haha our camera blurs so easily, and when our camera kept flashing in the dimly lit room, everyone kept staring at us. Therefore... we didn't attempt to take too many picture b/c we felt silly... so here is the least blurry I could get for you bloggers!! Sorry folks!

Update

2010-02-09T19:55:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm not gonna lie, not too much is new on our end of things. We are both working full time and going to school part time. We are super busy and we don't have a whole lot more going on for us.
But you know what? For this I am grateful. I am grateful that we are not struggling right now. No one is sick or hurt. There is no drama, and there is no bad news or something completely out of the ordinary to share with you guys. I am so grateful for Derek and for all of his hard work that he does for us!! He is amazing, and I love him to pieces!!!
2 weeks ago we went to a little tiny town called Eagar which is about 20 min from the New Mexico border. We went with our friends Tim and Tori to visit their families and play in the snow! I wish we would have taken pictures the day we pulled each other on sleds behind the Artic Cat b/c that was so much fun!!! Haha while I was being pulled on the sled, a giant obese dog tackled me and and pushed me off of my sled and then started humping me! HAHA it was out of control and I couldn't get this massive dog off of me!! Tim had to tackle the dog to the ground for me and then he pulled the dog inside so that he wouldn't take advantage of me again. Hahaha that dog was out of control but it definately made for some good laughs over the trip. Tori had her baby shower so the girls went to that while the guys went out coyote hunting. Too bad they got stuck in the mud for 2 hours and didn't even get to hunt but they still came back with great stories to share! It was so relaxing just sitting around the fireplace every night laughing and telling stories, and staying up late playing games. We are so grateful for Tim and Tori, and we are sure going to miss them because they are moving to California this week! :( Here are some pictures that we took on the way home. These pictures were all taken at the Salt River Canyon.
Timmy!!!

I guess I never really stop dancing....

Lovers

Right before we left to come back home

Raylon had a birthday last week!!! We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner last Thursday night to have a birthday party for Raylon, and a goodbye party for my mother-in-law. She has been down here for 2 months staying with my sister-in-law who is prego. She has been super sick so my mother in law came down to help her out!! It was fun to have my mother in law down here and we will sure miss her!!
On Saturday night Raylon threw a big ol' birthday party!! We went to his friend's house and hired a d.j. We had a fun time dancing and pigging out with a bunch of friends!! It was definately a great night! Love and miss you all!! Hope everything is going well for you!!

Christmas!!!

2010-01-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Derek and I had our first Christmas this year without snow!! I am not going to lie, we actually really missed it! One day I was doing homework and Derek was pulling stuff out of the closet and got into all of our snowboarding stuff. Trying to set the mood and get into the christmas spirit, this is what happened.

For my work, I volunteered to work with the Physical Therapists for the Nutcraker, and I had a lot of fun getting to work with some of the ballerinas. Because I did volunteer work they gave us free tickets to go to he show, and we had a lot of fun!! My little neices got to come as well and they LOVED it!!
After we went to the Nutcracker, Derek and I went to the temple to look at all the beautiful Christmas lights! We had so much fun!! There were choirs singing and missionaries were everywhere spreading the gospel. It was such a fun night!
Both of us in front of the temple lights.

Derek in front of the lights.

Another fun thing to do here during the Christmas season is to go downtown! They have a 40 foot tall Christmas tree made entirely of tumble weed.

Me in front of the Christmas shed.

Chrismas Eve we didn't have any plans, so Raylon's friend invited us over to his house. We ate homemade chicken noodle soup, played spoons, and we acted out the Nativity Scene, and we even went caroling. we didn't do any ordinary caroling, we sucked helium and went caroling. Hahaha it was so much fun, but all of us just about passed out in the middle of the song!! haha another funny thing that happened was that 2 of the grandkids refused to act out the nativity scene, so they made me dress up as a wise man b/c i was the only adult who would fit into the costume. I did not live that down, Derek and Raylon made fun of me the ENTIRE time!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened all of our presents!! My dear sweet mom sent us quite a load of presents!! Thanks to her we had a christmas this year!! We are so grateful for my mom for helping us out and doing that for us!! I about cried when she sent a load of presents b/c we only had 2 presents under the tree until then! We didn't know what any of our presents were this year, so we felt like little kids all over again!! Derek can not handle surprises haha so he struggled waiting until Christmas to open them up. After we opened gifts Derek attempted to make my mom's Christmas breakfast to help me with my homesickness. Haha it did not taste like my mom's, but it was so adorable of him to do that!! After breakfast we went out to Maricopa and spent the rest of the day with Derek's sister and her kiddos. It was so much fun seeing how happy they all were and how excited they were to show us all of their presents!!
This Christmas was such an amazing Christmas!! It was SOOO hard being away from my family, and I was super homesick, but it was OUR first Christmas together. This will always be a very special Christmas to us!
For New Years Even we spent it with our good friends Brock and Tara Greer! We had loads of fun!! I don't have those few pictures uploaded yet, and my camera just died so I will have to post about it next time!!! Love you all lots and lots! Hope you all had a great holiday season!
Derek sportin' his awesome new sweater my sister bought him! He wore this sweater the day we had to give talks b/c he wanted to distract the audience from his talk. haha

Catch up time and pictures

2009-12-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

WOw, it has been a while since I've last posted. We ended up going home to Idaho for Thanksgiving and we loved every second of it!! There was so many people to see, and we still didn't get to see them all!! It was so hard turning around and leaving them all to come back to Arizona. Derek's birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day this year, so we made sure to get him a cake and not just pumpkin pie! :) Here are some fun pictures we took while in Idaho. Most of the pictures we took only when we were with our friends Ryan and Syd.

Syd "jumping" in the picture! (baha)

Derek and Ry guy

The cutest Birthday boy ever!!!

Me at Derek's grandma's house

Our cute little neice Taysia. I love her BIG brown eyes!

Derek with our nephew Jarom at Derek's grandma's the night before we left.

Mine and Sydni's engagement photo!! HAHA I love this girl!

Dawson's and the Pasley's just "hangin" out. Baha

Also... something really awesome that just happened to Derek and I is Derek got a job!!!!! YAHOOO!!!!! Finally, a huge stress has been taken off of our load!! Derek actually got the job through one of my patient's. Someohow one of my pateints figured out I was LDS, and he is a convert. The more we started talking, we figured out that we are in the same stake and associate with some of the same people. About 2 months of working with him he asked me if my husband was looking for work b/c they were looking to hire someone.... Anyways, after 2 interviews and a drug test, they called Derek today at 8:30 in the morning and asked him to start at 9. As you can see we are ecstatic that he has a job now!! We are so blessed, this is the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for!!!!

Halloween Fun!!

2009-11-04T23:19:00.001-08:00

This Halloween we had loads of fun!! We went to a pre Halloween party on Friday night at some people's house.... haha i have no idea who these people were, but they had about 200 people at their house!! We had a lot of fun dancing and Derek and I dressed up as twins this night.
Saturday I had class, and afterwards we all went to get a massage at the college. We went with 2 of our friends Josh and Perry. I FINALLY had a good experience with getting a massage so I was pretty happy about it!! After our massages, we got all dressed up and went to an awesome dance party at the Chandler Airport. IT was so much fun b/c we had a HUGE dance in an airplane hanger! I dressed up as an 80's dancer, Raylon was a gangster, and Derek was dead... Haha he ended up looking like the dad from the Adam's Family (Gomez. After derek got all dressed up he changed his costume last minute to being a gangster, but I didn't get any pictures of it. It was so hilarious, b/c our friend Perry dressed up as a banana, and Josh dressed up as Lil' Wayne. HAHA the best part of it was that Josh painted himself with Brown face paint and he had a ligit wig, so he SERIOUSLY looked black!! hahaha, there was a black guy who came up to Josh during the dance and asked him if he was really black or not. haha anyways Halloween was a success and we all had a blast!! Here are some pics... enjoy!!

Perry the banana man, and Josh our black friend Lil' Wayne!

Raylon the gangsta gangsta!!!

My 80's girl comin out!!

Made in the 80's.

Derek my dead husband!!

Blogging Inadequacy

2009-10-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

I am not going to lie.... but I don't know how to put this video on my page.... but I love this contemporary dance from last season on SYTYCD!! If you want to take the time, you should definately check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szUJ9yo2CpU

Random Facts about AZ

2009-10-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

ALRIGHT, here are some random facts about Arizona I have discovered while living here!!

1. In Primary, we do not sing "Once There Was a Snoman". Considering that most of the kids here have never seen the snow before, we sing "Once there was a Cactus". The cactus starts out small, then grows tall tall tall in the sun! hahaha

2. If you live in a house, your next door neighbor lives 2 feet away. You can see into their living room if you're lucky!!

3. The water tastes like chlorine... so EVERYONE drinks purified water.

4. Finding cockroaches is not a rare thing!! While playing sports at the church, someone always seems to find the cockroach of the day!

5. Everyone here hates being cold!! That is why people live here... because we are all big fat babies about being cold!!

6. The wards here are awesome!! Many of the members here are converts, so no one cares what you've done in the past. As long as you are in the ward, you are family!

7. People are so active here!! Most people love being outdoors, camping, biking, GOLF (it's a big thing down here), and anything active outside. I love it, b/c that's exactly what Derek and I enjoy is staying active and being in the great outdoors!

8. There are a lot of members... but it's rare running into them, b/c there are sooo many people here!!

9. EVERYONE drives fast!! Get out of the way, b/c people will run you over!

10. You HAVE to know your directions here, b/c it is so big! Everyone gives directions using North, South etc. There are main streets that go through multiple cities. This is why you must know your directions b/c you dont' want to follow a road all the way to Gilbert if you are supposed to be headed towards Tempe.

11. People mind their own business and do their own thing. This can be a good and bad thing. It's great b/c it's not full of gossip and drama, but hard to feel close to others at times.

12. I never knew how to sweat until I moved here!! Holy Moly, it sucks when all you wnat to do is open the windows up at night to cool down the house in the heat of the summer, but it's hotter outside at 1 a.m. then inside of your house.

13. October is the perfect weather!! I am loving this 80-90 degree weather, and I just can't get enough of it!!

A RUN DOWN

2009-10-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well.... basically I haven't posted a blog in a VERY long time!! I don't even know what to say b/c I feel like I've gone through a lot but I haven't written about any of it b/c I just wanted it all to pass and I didn't want to dwell on it!!
Pretty much.... it's been rough!! We moved 900 miles away from home. We have been struggling b/c Derek has been out of work. I was stressed with work and school. We sold our car... and we were ripped off when we bought another car. The man who sold it to us scammed us... so we are basically screwed. We've had horrible car problems, and everything just kept piling higher and higher. Derek and I held it together for so long until about 2 weeks ago. The car completely pooped, we didn't have a vehicle, getting to work for either of us was kind of an issue, and... basically we couldn't see any ups in our situation.
Finally Derek has been receiving some input back from jobs, so there was an up. We fixed our car... or so we thought... but there was a small little up to that situation for a while. Just having these small little ups made a world of difference. I feel like going through all of this has made us stronger. It's made Derek 10x more motivated to go to school and to get a career. Derek came home from a down interview realizing that he didn't want to take a crap job. He came home and worked on his resume for hours. He was determined more than ever to find a good job. He also registered for school that night, so he will be starting in January rather than September. I have been more motivated about my job. Even though I don't enjoy going to work everyday b/c of the people and the stress levels of it all, I am still determined that I want to go into this field. It has made me so thankful that I have a full time job b/c without it, Derek and I could have never made it this far!!
I am grateful for the oppurtunity to be going to school!! School is so important, and I know that it is important for me to have a degree as well. You never know what life will throw at us. In the future we may need an extra source of income, Derek could end up jobless, or I could even end up a single mother. I have always felt that I need to get a degree for my future, and I have always been bound and determined to make it happen.
We really do enjoy Arizona!! Derek and I have amazing friends here!! I love our ward, and I love our friends!! Every week we get together w/ some young couples from the ward and we play sports. Whether it's some intense dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, or ultimate frisbee, we do it all!! We also get together and have dinner, movie/game nights. Without our ward and our friends, it wouldn't be the same!! About 3 weeks ago they completely divided out stake. Now rather than having 100 people in our ward, we now have 400 people in our ward!! We have met a lot of new great people and it's so exciting getting to know everyone!! Derek and I were both put in the primary, but then they had to put him into Sunday School, so I am left with a class of 9 children without Derek!! haha it's so much fun though, I love it!! I teach the 7 and 8 year olds!! This is such a prime age, and they are all so excited to learn! Derek teaches the 14 and 15 year olds, and his first week is Sunday!! Wish him luck!! He will be an awesome example to those kids!!
So even though it has been a struggle moving down here, we have learned a lot!! We are working towards our goals, and we have amazing support down here!! I just hope that we can get this car situation sorted out, and I hope Derek can find an enjoyable job!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

2009-08-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe it, but on Saturday Derek and I shared our 1 year anniversary!! That year flew by, but YAY we did it!!! Somehow I fed us and we survived!! We had an awesome anniversary, and I just want to say that I have an amazing husband and I love him more than anything!! I don't know what I would do without him!! Anyways, enough with the gushyness let's talk about our fun adventure!
Friday after I got off work... Derek and I made our way over to L.A. It is a 6 1/2 hour drive from our apartment! We got to our apartment... and it was disgusting! It smelt like smoke, and I was afraid to even sit on the bed! haha so luckily we found another hotel down the road that was available for 2 nights.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and made our way to 6 Flags!! The park was just like in the movies. As soon as those front gates open... everyone comes running through them screaming and racing to get to the rides before everyone else. I sat there laughing my head off at the madness and Derek insisted that we run like the rest of the crazy people so we start running through the park! Being the intellectuals that we are.... Derek and I ran to a dead end of the park, and had some women following us. Haha... so out comes the map, and we ran to the closest ride available!! Our first ride that we rode was called Goliath, and that rollercoaster was MASSIVE!!! It was a lot of fun, and we got some pretty fun rides in for the morning. Finally we decided we were going to pass out if we didn't get food in us pronto.. so we bought a $9 dinky little chickin finger with a few dinky fries. Ya... it's a little bogus that they overcharge but when you're starving you have to buy it. After lunch the rides were ridiculously long and we spent most of the time just waiting in line. That sucked, but we were able to see a couple of shows and they ended up being really good. Finally, we decided to ride one more ride before we were going to go back to the hotel. We waited in line for over an hour, and right when we got up to the gate to ride... they had technical difficulties and told people where to exit if they wanted. I was not too happy to hear this, and I was very freaked out about riding a ride after some technical difficulties. Luckily after about 15 minutes they solved the problem and thank goodness it was only a sound problem. Well... it was definately a good thing that we stood in line b/c this ride was RIDICULOUS!! I have NEVER screamed so long in my life!!! The ride takes you up the hill backwards and upside down. You then hit a little dip so it throws you forward, and then all of a sudden it flips you backwards and you go plummiting head first to the ground!! The seat itself turns 360 degrees, and it makes for an insane ride. Derek threw out a few choice words here and there... but who could blame him?! HAHA it was so crazy and so much fun, it topped off our day!! After we went to the park we went out to eat and a cute little 50's diner, and had a nice relaxing time at the hotel.
The next day we went downtown L.A. and did some shopping. If you have never been to downtown L.A. it is a lot like Mexico with some bargain shopping and some pretty awesome deals. There are also some of the scariest people that I have ever seen and I thought that we were going to die a few times! I saw so many bums, and druggies, and gimps, and some crazy stuff!! We also had to make 50 u turns, we got lost a few times, and.... we were lost trying to find our car!! I began to hyperventilate when we were lost trying to find our car, and we are walking aimlessly down the sidewalk when all of sudden a guy in front of us is screaming at some guys behind us, and yup... poor Derek and I were stuck in the middle of this fight. I thought that we might get shot or beat down to the ground, but luckily they ignored us and just went straight for each other. After being lost for about 30 min we found our car and I finally felt safe!! HAHA this made me very grateful that I do not live in the slums in the middle of all the crime! We had a pretty enjoyable time shopping, and I found quite a bit of good deals... however Derek did not which is sad, but he still enjoyed himself!! There are some pretty interesting people in the world... but they are very entertaining I will admit!!
Overall we had such an awesome anniversary!! It was not relaxing in anyway, but it was a blast and I laughed my head off!! Thank you Derek for planning an awesome trip and for being my everything!! Happy Anniversary!!

On our way to L.A. Derek is in deep concentration driving.

here are some pictures of a few of the thousands of windmills off of the highway in California.

On our way home! Derek once again with his mad driving skills!!

NEW JOB=STRESS!

2009-08-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well.... now that we have been back in Arizona, things just seem to be pretty crazy!! We got home, and I had 2 more interviews. I got hired on the spot at one job, and then a few hours later the other office called and hired me. I took the job that hired me on the spot b/c they seemed to be more reliable. They didn't pay as much, but they didn't suck at communication quite as much as the other office.
I now work as a Physical Therapy Tech at Physicians Physical Therapy here in Chandler AZ Monday Wed and Fri, and I work at the Mesa clinic Tuesdays and Thursdays. So far... it has been VERY hard! haha. I work with some therapists who are very intimidating and act very superior. They are impatient about training, they are hard to ask questions, and it sucks being the new guy. This job has been such a challenge b/c it is so much knowledge to obtain!! I get a run down on Anat and Phys every day, but I honestly know that this job is going to be so great for me in the long run!! I have already learned so much, and I feel like I'm turning into a toughy slowly but surely haha. THe whole system is run by computers, so it sucks having to pull all of the patient's programs and notes up by the computer. It's really hard learning the Physical Therapy lingo, and figuring out how each therapist abbreviates it differently than the others. I am working for 3 different Therapists and they all work very differently. I then have to figure out what the exercises are by deciding how the therapist abbreviates, and show the patient the correct way to do the exercise. I have to spot them and make sure they are doing it correctly and I run them through each routine. I then have to set them up to the e-stim, ICC, High Pulse, or Ultra Sound, and then at times I set them up on ice, or heat packs. Sometimes I have to print out home programs for the patients through the computer... and for some reason, I am still very lost on this part! haha. I keep up the cleanliness of the office, fold and do laundry, santize the beds, and much more! This job is basically all of the duties that a Physical Therapy Assistant performs, minus a few details. It also sucks b/c I don't have the schooling so it is very hard to catch on to all of the medical terminology and information I must obtain. I know that I will get it... but it will take a while. All that I can do is to try my hardest! I really am learning a lot, and I am so thankful for this oppurtunity! I hope that things start to look up, and that I can start to feel comfortable with what I am doing!

Our trip back home!

2009-08-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well... things are so super crazy here!! I have been having job interviews for 2 different physical therapy offices, and it has been difficult deciding which job to take and what not... but I think I may have it figured out. I will know by tomorrow what I'm doing I hope.
Anyways, Derek and I went back to Idaho Falls for the weekend b/c we had 2 weddings and this was our last chance to go home before we started work and school! So we left Wednesday after I had a job interview, and we got back to Idaho at about 2:30 a.m. Yes, it definately was so much fun!!! Thursday we went to Derek's good buddy Ren's wedding! It was a lot of fun, and Derek was able to see a lot of his friends! The ceremony was awesome, and we waited for Derek and the other groom's men to get their picture taken outside of the temple for about 2 hours it was a litte bit ridiculous. They had a dinner that night and it was so much fun seeing everyone!! After the dinner, Derek and I went to hang out with our good friend's Ryan and Sydni Pasley!! We have so much fun with them, and we can relate at almost every level it is a little bit ridiculous! We laughed our heads off with them until almost 4 in the morning and then we decided.. WOW we should probably go home and get some rest.
Friday Derek helped my mom set up her new Pilates machine which was so awesome, and then we all took turns on the machine! haha it was so much fun, but gosh it was an amazing work out! After playing around on the machine, my old roommate came over to pick something up from my house. It was great seeing her and we had a good talk, but then Derek came and got me and told me my dad had just called and was in the hospital. My dad's heart has been hurting him lately, and friday morning when he was at work the chest pain got very intense and his left arm went numb. He called his doctor and told him the symptoms and his dr. told him he'd better go to the hospital. Well my dad being the man that he is, drove himself to the hospital and very calmly told the E.R. people that he thought he may be having a heartattack. yes... this was 9:30 in the morning, and then we didn't find out until 3p.m. We all got in the car to go see him. We got in the room and he shook his head. haha he hates attention and being the center of anything so he said PLEASE DON"T MAKE A BIG DEAL as soon as we walked in the room. Haha he's so awesome I love him!! He did not have a heartattack they knew that for sure, b/c he did not realease the enzymes... or whatever they're called. Anyways they kept my dad overnight at the hospital and had to run a lot of tests on him. We left my dad for a bit and went to a family get together for my grandma's birthday who passed away. We were able to say hi, eat really quick and then we were on our way again. My mom went back to the hospital, and Derek and I went to Ren's wedding reception. We got there just in time for the dance, and we had a great night with all of our friends! Once again... we hung out with Ryan and Sydni until the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday Derek and I went over to the hospital after they had run the stress test and another test on my dad. We got there and had a nice visit, and then the dr. called my dad and told him some of the things that were wrong. He has very high blood pressure, and glucose resistent, which is very close to being diabetic so I guess with those things it mimicked a heart attack. There is something wrong with his liver and there were a lot of other things but I just don't want to say b/c I don't know the details about it so I'm just not going to talk about it until we know everything for sure. They had my dad come in Monday.. which is today, to basically have a check up and get to the bottom of it all. I am not sure if they found out anything new... but that is the basics of what I do know for sure. I am soo glad that my dad is out of the hospital, and that he is doing well!! He is the biggest health nut I know, and everyone gives him grief for it, but honestly he has to be. He has a lot of heart problems and many other health problems that run in his family, so he has to take such good care of himself. If my dad wasn't the maniac health nut that he is.... I honestly don't know if I could say that he would be here, or else he would be pretty sick otherwise. My dad works out every single day, he has run 2 marathons and 2 half marathons. He eats healthier than anyone I know, and he also knows more than anyone I know!! I admire my dad so much and he truly is a hero in my eyes!!!
So my dad is doing well, after he got released from the hospital, we went to another wedding reception for some of my dance friends from college. They had a very casual reception, and had some random dance numbers while people were mingling. After we congratulated them, we went to Derek's cousin's house and she cut and colored my hair. My heck it took 4 hours, but she did a pretty good job. I have blonde and red highlights, and she thinned the crap out of my hair!! It is so nice for Arizona weather, and for that I am grateful. After that we drove to the Olive Garden and met Ryan and Syd and his parents to eat. We ate SOO much and Derek and I felt pregnant afterwards haha. Once again... we went over to hang out with Ryan and Syd and laughed and watched movies until the wee hours of the morning!!
I am so grateful for the oppurtunity that we had to go back home!! I am so glad that my dad is doing well, and I'm grateful that he is my dad!! Derek and I are so happy that we have Ryan and Sydni as friends and we enjoyed every second we were able to spend with them!

We made it!!!

2009-07-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!! We made it to Arizona!!! We finally have the internet, so the least I could do is keep you all updated!! We made it about a week and a half ago on Friday the 17th at about 7:30 p.m. We had the longest drive ever, and a few minor difficulties while pulling the trailer with all of our stuff but slowly but surely we made it to our new home! We were exhausted but got all of our stuff inside by about 10 p.m. After we had brought everything in, Derek's mom and 2 of his sister's dropped by. They were down in Arizona b/c they went to the musical Wicked and decided to see how we were doing afterwards. I was really sick and exhausted so I wasn't much fun but it was really good to see some of his family.
It was so much fun the first couple of days that Derek and I shared together. We spent the first day unpacking everything and finding a spot for it all. It was a little difficult moving from a house to an apartment and there isn't a whole lot of storage space in here, but somehow we got all of our crap unpacked! Derek loaded a closet outside on our porch chuck full with crap. The next day we went to our new ward and everyone was so friendly and we finally felt as though we were at home after we went to our new ward. It was so crazy b/c we walked into the chapel and there were only about 50 people in the chapel. Our ward is only 35% active, so that means there are only 100 people that are active in our ward. There is such a high demand for missionary work here and it is completely different from Idaho Falls! It is a big wake up call to me and it has made me observe what I truly believe, and I have studied the scriptures like crazy since I have been here.
It was so much fun decorating our new apartment with Derek!! We have been having a blast on our own, and I finally feel like a newlywed!! haha. It sounds weird I know, but when we were living in Idaho Falls there was such a safety blanket and I never truly felt like I was on my own. I have grown with confidence since I've been here, and Derek and I have learned to rely completely on each other!! This has been an adventure and so good for us! His brother Raylon is living with us and he got here last Wednesday. He is gone a lot of the time, but it is a little bit weird for me I'm not gonna lie! I like having it just Derek and I, but Raylon is a lot of fun, and he knows the area so he has helped us out a lot!
The heat here is a little bit ridiculous, but I would way rather take the heat than the cold!! The hottest it has been is about 117 and it's so ridiculous that at 10 p.m. it's still 100, and by 9 in the morning it is already 100. Ya, it's crazy but this is how you cope with it. 1. Have A.C. in your home 2. Walk quickly to your car 3. Crank the A.C. in your car 4. Rush into the store where the A.C. is blasted. If you follow these steps.... the heat is manageable.
It is tough being so far away I will be compeltely honest!! But I do know that Derek and I are here for a reason... and that we have grown a lot even just over the week and a half time span.
This is cheesy... but this was the first meal we made in our new apartment!! Chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy!

Also very cheesy... This is the first watermelon I have ever picked out on my own and man was it super juicy and delicious!! Nice find I must say!!

We are so lucky, we are only 10 minutes away from the Mesa temple. It is such a beautiful temple and we have already had the oppurtunity to visit it twice!

Here is a picture looking into our kitchen. These pictures were taken in the midst of all the boxes and before everything was unpacked!!

This is our dining room and loooking into a peak of the kitchen

This is our bedroom... don't mind the mess, just keep in mind this was in the middle of unpacking!

Here is a picture of our bathroom sink... and you can see a little bit into the actual bathroom part of it just inside of the door.

Well... I still haven't taken pictures of our apartment completely decorated and unpacked but I will for sure do that soon!! I also have pictures of Raylon's room and the extra bathroom but I'm not going to post them!! Anyways I miss you all!!

Like I said.....

2009-06-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

As I've said before.... our plans are always changing!!! Derek and I just spent the week down in Arizona talking to schools, looking for jobs, and looking for apartments!!
We went to Arizona in the month of February and absolutely fell in love!!! We decided we really wanted to move there someday, but the timing was off at the moment. I searched and searched for schools with a Physical Therapy Assistant program, but only found one in Arizona that was $24,000 dollars for a year and a half. That was bogus, and we decided maybe we weren't supposed to move down to Arizona at that time.
We gave up on the Arizona idea, and we decided to just apply at ISU b/c ISU has the PT Assistant program for me. Well we got accepted, and we thought that that's what we would do and then we'd move to Arizona afterwards! Well.. after 2 crummy advising sessions, and the PT Assistant program looking like it would be a flop... we decided to look into Arizona one more time!!
Well... one night after an adivising session... Derek decided to look online. Within 5 minutes he had found a school in Phoenix Arizona with the PT Assistant program, and it was about $1,000 dollars cheaper than ISU!!! A burden seemed to be taken off of our backs, and we knew that we couldn't pass up this oppurtunity!!
The next day my visiting teachers came over and talked to me about the importance of change. They basically told me everything I needed to hear, and they summed up everything that I was going through!! Coinsidence... I think not!! The most important thing that I need to remember through this all is that Faith and Doubt do not co-exist! If Arizona is supposed to work out, then it will work out!
Derek and I decided to shoot for the stars and try and make Arizona work out!! SO I got a week off of work and we went down to try and make it all come together. Well.... you know if you're doing the right thing when everything gets super hard and things start to fall apart! haha I swear I was such a mess on this whole trip! First it started out that I got really really sick on the way down, and with my sinus pressure, and the elevation change, my hears got popped and I couldn't hear and I thought my head was going to explode! I had to spend the first day in bed, and I seriously only got out of bed to go potty and when it was time for dinner. I haven't been that sick in a very long time!! Next... Derek got sick and we were both pretty crummy. Our AC stopped working in the 110 degree heat and when we got to the school we were miserable and caked with nasty sweat! Then... we went swimmming one day and I got the worst sun burn I think I've ever had!! I was achey and in so much pain, and my sunburn was purple it was so bad!! I had an interview the next day and any time I would talk I would start hacking up a lung, so I didn't talk much during this interview... probably not the best thing in the world. My face was also bright red from my sunburn so I was a little embarrassed. I definately felt like such a mess!! Now.... to top everything off, I stepped on a hornet and got stung on the bottom of my toes!! I know you're thinking... don't be a baby, this is just a sting... but this is not just any ordinary sting!! Half of my foot swelled up, and my toes look like sausages!!! I can't walk on my foot, I can't bend my toe, if I put my foot down all the blood rushes to it and it hurts like the dickens, it itches soo soo bad and I feel like a wreck!!! HAHA it's ridiculous all of the stupid little things that happened, but we knew that if it's meant to work out it will work out.
Enough about all the silly horrible things that happened, there was a lot of good in the trip! I talked to the school and got everything straightened out. I am currently waiting for my transcripts to transfer, and then I will be admitted into the school!! I had a job interview at an amazing Physical Therapy Facility. It is at a Sports Medicine therapy place, and so this business focuses very much on the exercising components of Physical Therapy. I was so excited to hear about this b/c doing the exercises one on one with the patients is my absolute favorite part, and this is what I would be doing!! This office does not hire PT Assistants, so the Technicians basically do everything that an Assistant does. This experience would be awesome to have, and it would help me so much in the future and when I would be in the program. It was awesome b/c the Physical Therapist emailed me back and forth one day and he helped me out a ton!! I am currently waiting to see if I got the job b/c he had 2 more interviews after me. I am really nervous b/c I was hacking through my interview and I didn't talk as much as I normally would have, but whether I get the job or not I can find some type of job to make it work while in Arizona.
Derek and I also found an apartment we really like!! It was in the exact price range we wanted, it has barely been remodeled with brand new appliances and counter tops, it has a really nice gym with a dance studio inside :), and it was basically everything we wanted!! Only problem is that we don't have jobs yet so we haven't applied for the apartments yet b/c we need to be able to prove that we can afford to live there.
We found awesome oppurtunities, but everything still isn't quite in place yet. I know that whether we get the apartment or not, or whether I get the job or not that everything will work out!! I was very stressed the whole time we were there b/c I wanted to leave with a job and an apartment, but we didn't quite leave with either. The last day Derek and I were at complete peace b/c we knew that whether we got it or not, something else will come along and we will make it work.
I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father. I am thankful that we were able to recognize the spirit prompting us to go to Arizona, and I am thankful for the comfort I have of knowing that whether Arizona works out or not, we will be where we need to be.

The newest edition to our family!

2009-05-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

YAYY!!!! On Friday, Derek and his cousin Shelley drove down to Utah just past Salt Lake and bought a new car!!! It's a sexy little thing if i do say so myself! We sold my Chevy Cavalier, and we now have a Volkswagen Jetta!! We really just wanted a 4 door, and my chevy was acting like it wanted to poop out, soooo... lucky us, we found this car! It's a stick shift, so that has been a lot of fun learning how to drive it. hahaha oh man, Friday night, I was on a hill and had a melt down b/c there was a car behind me and i didn't want to roll backwards into the car behind me. I had a tramatic experience driving a stick shift on my own when i was 15, and I'd rather not talk about it, b/c i don't think it's really necessary to embarrass myself on my own blog. Anyways, it's been hilarious learning! It kind of reminds me of the movie The Notebook when Noah is teaching Ali how to drive a stick. Yes... never a dull moment at our house and I absolutely love it!! I will say I am doing much better with driving a standard, and all is well!! Yay for new cars, yay for Shelley driving Derek to Utah, yay for Derek buying the car, and yay to the man who sold us the car!!

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-05-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

So... once again a year has come and I have turned one year older! I am now 20, no more teen years!! My birthday was a lot of fun! It actually started out on Saturday, when my brother came home from college. Derek and I went out to eat with my parents and Karl, and we went to Texas Roadhouse, my fav!!! Yummy I can't resist the steak and yummy mashed potatoes, and let's not forget the yummy rolls they bring out to begin with. After the family had stuffed their bellies full and could hardly walk, we went over to my parents for cake and ice cream, but had to wait at least an hour until we were ready. So my mom brought out the cake and was walking every so cautiously not to let the candles blow out, so I was sung happy birthday to by all men which i thought was just hilarious. Haha, after all my mom's carefulness, a candle still ending up burning out.
The next day, my sister came home from Salt Lake, and Derek and I went over to my parent's house once again to eat yummy cake and ice cream. I will tell you people, that my mom makes some very yummy chocolate cake, and even Derek has told me that the best chocolate cake hands down is definately my mom's! After we ate, and sat around and talked for a bit, we went over to my Grandpa Hansen's and talked with him for a while. We came back over to my parent's house, and Julia's friend came over so we played some card games and watched Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Now for my real birthday!!! Monday rolls around and believe it or not... I officially turned 20!! Derek took me out to breakfast at Perkins... which I also can not resist! After breakfast he dropped me off at work, and they had made a cake for me at work. My manager was begging me all morning to please eat the cake, b/c she really wanted some but the rules are that the birthday person has to eat the first bite. Haha they initiated this rule b/c otherwise, the birthday person was not getting any cake. After work I came home and Derek pulled me right back out the door. We ate at Dixie's Diner and then we drove down to the greenbelt to feed the ducks. I have never seen such a big swarm of ducks and geese, but they were surrounding us everywhere, and they were eating it out of our hands.... hahaha and not to mention out of Derek's mouth!! I recorded it on Derek's phone, but I am very sad to say that I can't get it onto this blog :(. I must say that you people are truly missing out b/c oh boy was it rad! After feeding the ducks we went bowling... ya don't worry about it, I totally dominated! They actually let us bowl for free b/c they had to change our lanes and we only bowled one game. That was a very nice birthday present I must say! Things like that just don't happen everyday! After we went bowling we rented a movie and watched it while cuddling on the couch! I must say that I absolutely love being married and I am so thankful for Derek!! He made my birthday the best birthday ever!!!! haha Derek bought me some buckle pants and a bright yellow shirt from aeropostale. He actually gave this present to me 2 weeks ago b/c he absolutely could not stand the anticipation, and he does not do well with surprises apparently. haha! :) Thanks for reading this long blog and I'm sorry the video didn't work, and I'm sorry I slacked on pics! haha

Church Calling

2009-04-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

So here I was having a lazy Saturday morning and I had just gotten done working out when the doorbell rings. Well low and behold it is the second counselor from my ward, and he came to ask me if I was interested in a church calling!! Haha well I'm pretty excited but I was asked to work in the primary, not as a teacher, but with the young girls in primary every other tuesday. I will be one of the Achievement Day leaders and I'm so excited! I loved achievment days when I was growing up, and I hope that I can fulfill my calling to the highest potential! I'm looking forward to the oppurtunity of getting to work with the young girls of my ward!

What we're doing

2009-04-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well.... Derek and I are always changing our plans!!! We were planning on moving to Texas for the summer so Derek could install security systems. Too much happened that we knew that moving to Texas was not the right thing to do at this time, so we decided not to move! I am now back at my old job working for Access Point, and I work with kids with developmental delays, most of which are autistic. I love my job but I will tell you this... it has some very tough days!! I will give you some examples such as being bit, having a table thrown at me, being attacked, shoes kicked at me, pencils thrown at me, and of course the cleanings of kids having messes in their pants. In the end it is all so worth it to me and I love these kids with all my heart!!! My heart reaches out to them and I dearly want the best for them!! These kids are so awesome and it's hard to leave them completely once I have gone home for work, they are always on my mind.
I am also teaching dance at Let's Dance with my sister in law Amy. I love these girls they are so awesome!! Right now I am teaching technique to the competition team and they are such a delight to work with. They are all beginners but I love watching them when the light clicks on and they finally nail something that they have been working of for weeks. We have gone to 3 competitons and they have done very well! They have one competition coming up in May which will be very tough but it will be a great experience for them.
Derek is still working in Wyoming and he enjoys his job as well. It is really slow right now..... which seems to be the trend in our economy. Something that has kept Derek happy is our new boat!! Derek got a boat from Utah and he gutted the whole inside, and built seats, inside walls, did some painting, and did a bunch of wiring and things with the motor. He has taken it out and test driven the boat, and he can NOT wait until summer so we can enjoy our time together and go boating!!
Life is such a blessing, and lately I have been happier than ever!!! I love where we are at in life right now, and I love being a newly wed!!!

Our Life!

2009-03-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Derek and I were married on August 15, 2008. Our love story of how we met is a whole other story within itself, but basically we were dance partners and we dated for just under 3 years. We are currently living in Ammon Idaho, and Derek works in Wyoming every other week drilling for natural gas. It is difficult being apart from each other for a week at a time, but we are extremely grateful that Derek has a good job! I love Derek Dawson more than anything in this world!!! Being married is the best thing ever, and I can't wait to spend eternity with the man of my dreams!!! Families are eternal!!

First Dance

Cutting the Cake

I love him!

Fresh out of the temple!!!