The Secret is Out*

*not pregnant.

We're moving. Like...really moving guys.

We haven't really gone totally public with it, but haven't kept it a secret from anyone either.

Family found out first, then once we both out in notice at work we started texting friends but haven't gone to Facebook quite yet. I think we were both just terribly afraid to jinx what was going sooooo smoothly to put it out in the internets.

But because everyone asks the same million questions I'm gonna do my best to answer them all at once.

We are moving to Tremonton, UT early next month {November}. Because Landon got a new job. And we are sick to death of the craziness of Salt Lake. {I actually had a friend from high school just move to SLC and gush about how wonderful and quiet and friendly it was and I was all "Huh? What? No"} 

I think as long as I've known Landon he was going back and forth with himself about wondering if he was sure he reallyyyyy wanted to go into IT.

I'm one to believe that if you're unsure, then there is a reason. And lo and behold, he graduated, got a grown up IT job and did what hundreds of college grads do every second {okay, that's not a real statistic but its pretty close, I'm sure} and decided to switch career paths.

So. He's going into to plumbing/construction/trade school. We aren't sure sure where it is going to lead us yet, but for starters he's going to go get his plumbing apprenticeship license and was offered a new job with a company up in the land of the cornfield and took it.

He starts in a week and half now, and since I had to give a much longer notice at work so my conscience wouldn't drive me nuts and because the nature of my job is different than Landon's, plus our new town home is still under construction, he will commute for a few weeks and then we'll head up there about a week after I finish up at my job.

Yes, we are getting a brand new 3 bedroom town home, for basically pennies more than what we pay for our ghetto apartment in Salt  Lake. And no, I am not worried about "extra rooms". Guys, there is no such thing.

We are super excited and happy about this move. We had been talking about moving more north for months and even though this is happening before we had planned on it, we aren't too concerned about making the move work.

And no, I don't think I am going to lose my mind living in the country thankyouverymuch. However, I am sad about the hour long drive to Target.

National Cancer Survivors Day

I had no idea that was a real thing. But it is. June 1st.

National Cancer Survivors Day.

How awesome is that? I love that we can recognize people who have beaten the odds and thrived. And it gives me a reason to brag on my grandma for a minute.

Cancer is a scary word. It's a scarier word when you are hearing it for a third time. Which is what my grandma was facing a few months ago. Stage 4 Lymphoma.

This woman who battled breast cancer not only once, but twice was looking at tumors that had appeared all over her body in less than a years time.

Laughing she told me "I don't get colds. I don't get sick ever. I just keep getting cancer."

Her spirit is strong though. She laughed and made jokes on the phone when I talked to her even when she was tired and didn't feel well. She stayed positive and assured everyone that we would all get through this.

And last week when she went in for a round of chemo she got the news that she was cancer free. Again.

She has months to go before her treatment is up, just to ensure that the cancer doesn't come back. But it's gone now.

The woman is my hero.

This lady who not only raised two kids of her own and made a life took me in and raised me too. The same woman who was never sick beat cancer three times. She is strong and brave and funny. She always has an opinion and makes it known, she is nosy as all get out and knows all the celebrity gossip. And even though we didn't always get along she did her best and I never wanted for much and I always knew I was loved.

I love her lots and am so glad she kicked cancer's butt one more time so that I get to keep her around to kick mine for years to come.

And I am so glad we have a national day to celebrate her and people like her.

One Year Later

Tomorrow is our one year wedding anniversary. It seems like it's flown by. Yet, it feels like we have been together forever. Do I sound like a broken record yet?

We have done so much in just a year! It blows my mind. I honestly don't know how we survived but they say that the first year is the hardest and it only gets easier from here so I am optimistic!

Our receptions were both beautiful and wonderful. I still marvel at the fact that all our centerpieces and decorations and even my bouquet were put together by my grandmother but people always ask where we got them. Our cake was made by wonderful friends and was delicious. 

But of course, the honeymoon ends and real life begins. Less than a week after our Colorado reception Landon went back to school and work and I went off to work. 

I spent a week in St. George with my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Laws. 

Our sweet niece Halle Kate was born.

Landon took a second job with the Granite School District. 

I quit my horrible job and was lucky enough to get one that I love!

We went to Vegas and saw Bill Engvall's show (Forth row seats!)

Landon graduated from college with an Associates Degree in Integrated Studies with an emphasis in Window's Administration (yeah, I don't know what that means either)

We ran all over kingdom come trying to see all of your friends and family for miscellaneous holidays in there somewhere. 

It has been a whirlwind for sure. But I can't wait to spend the next year with my sweet husband. And many, many years after than!

Here's to eternity babe! Love you so much!

Drive By

I drafted this post during nap time today because I was still so shocked by what had happened that I couldn't process it.

The summer weather is still here so we loaded up and went to the park. We were the only ones there for a while but soon it was the place to be and there were kids everywhere.

Now when it comes to busy parks there seems to be an unspoken rule about keeping track of everyone's kids. You watch to see who belongs to who but if the need arises you push anyone's kid on the swing or catch a kid at the bottom of the slide etc. But there are also boundaries.

Today I was the victim of what people refer to as drive-by parenting. And that is a very good description of it. By the time you realize what is happening, it's over and you stand there shocked and staring at the aftermath.

I was sitting with the baby and dealing with a snack when I heard "Hollie I'm going to go play on the swings now" I said "okay" and didn't think anything of it. Five years old is old enough to play on the swings without me hovering so I went about my business getting the other two set up when I hear someone shouting "LITTLE GIRL! LITTLE GIRL IT ISN'T YOUR TURN YET" Sure enough when I turned around it was my kid getting yelled at. (Yes I say "my kids" because for all intents and purposes for 6-10 hours a day 3-4 days a week they are mine) This old woman was shaking her finger and yelling that it was her grandson's turn.

I just stood there. Shocked. The old woman turned to me and shook her finger at me and I resisted the urge to flip her off. Instead I gave her the nastiest look I could manage. I half expected for Goose to come back to me and be upset but she didn't. She's tough. She shrugged and ran off to play with something else. But I just kept standing there.

How dare she yell at my kid and act like my kid was being a bully and it was all my fault. Her grand kid on the other hand was out of control. Cried constantly and hit and kicked her and his mother. Now I don't know anything about them so I don't want to pass judgement on their parenting style but still. OMG MANNERS. If you are going to claim "its his turn" when my kid got to the swing first you don't understand how turns work and I have a three year old that would be happy to explain it to you.

Spring?

I posted this picture on Instagram today. 62 degrees. In February. And I am so thankful for the sun. It makes for a long, cold winter when you have to deny a sweet request to go to the park everyday. We spent all day outside soaking up the sun and eating popsicles.

The forecast is calling for upper 50s and even low 60s for the rest of the week! I'm so excited. But hesitant.

It's not even March yet and I don't want to get my hopes up that Spring is officially here. It could dump snow in just a week or two. Or even around Easter. But for now, we'll hang outside with our popsicles.

The Lego Movie AKA The Worst Movie Ever

Because I am a loving wife and I picked the last movie we went to see (which was Frozen by the way and it was awesome even Landon loved it) I let Landon take me to see The Lego Movie.

Oh my hell, never again, ever. I am picking all movies from here on out. (Granted, I saw Thor with Landon even though I do not do "superhero movies" because I hate them {I sit through the entire thing clinging to my faith in America's justice system thinking "OMG Homeland Defense and the Justice Department would shut this guy down so fast"} and I saw the Hobbit with him even though I do not do "sci-fi/fantasy/magic movies" because I hate them {I sit through those obsessing over why on earth they have to make all the creatures so freaking ugly and why they can't just be people- I know the bad guys are bad guys in normal movies because they are bad not because they are stupid, ugly, mean creatures}and I would watch those on a loop for hours just to never see the freaking Lego catastrophe again.)

It was possibly the longest hour and half of my entire life. I had hopes in the beginning. It hinted at mature, relevant themes. At first I thought maybe, just maybe I could walk out of this movie and have an adult conversation with my husband about the evils of the corporation or the 1984 motifs in the movie. Yeah, no. About 15 minutes into the movie I could literally feel my brain melting and it only got worse from there. I won't bore you with a play by play of the idiocy but I will tell you that while the entire theater laughed around me I stared at the screen with disdain and judged the future of America.

How on earth that movie made money at the box office is beyond me. And how LEGO is not so freaking embarrassed that they put there name and trademark on such a waste of time and money astounds me. I literally came home feeling like I needed to stay up all night reading Shakespeare or Dickens just to make the stupid go away.

I had read on Facebook that the ending of the movie totally saved it which is why I didn't get up and leave in the middle of the movie. It did not. It was just as dumb and just as pointless and plot-line-less as the rest of the movie. I honestly feel like Lego owes me my money back.

Oh, and you will have the dumbest song stuck in your head all night and you will hate yourself.

City of Excitement

I honestly hate the question "so what have you been up to?" because really the answer is always the same "Boring stuff. Work. School. Married life." Then the conversation is over. And now it's awkward.

We literally are totally boring, we go to work, Landon goes to school, we hang out at home. Maybe venture out into the city to go on a date weekly, usually bi-weekly. It's me more than Landon. He always wants to go out with friends or go do things around the city but I hesitate because even after two years in the area and being with my husband, I feel totally unsafe in the area.

I watch too many cop dramas on T.V. and I grew up in Suburbia. Downtown is scary. Especially at night. People get in my space and even though I consider myself a touchy-feely person it gives me anxiety.

But last week... well life got exciting! We were sitting at home and heard knocking on a door over and over. Finally I looked at Landon and stupidly asked "that's not our door right?". So he got up and looked out the peep hole to discover police cars all up and down our street. Police cars with police knocking on the neighbors door. And when I say police I don't mean friendly neighborhood traffic cop. I mean full on SWAT helmets and bullet-proof vests and big guns police.

They negotiated with the neighbor for about an hour while we peeked around our blinds waiting to see what was going to happen. At some point I started texting everyone we knew and said something to Landon like it being like Law & Order in real life. As it turned out they were taking him in for a psych evaluation to make sure he isn't crazy crazy. {If he is in fact totally crazy that makes for three crazies on our block which would probably mean it's time to move}

But for once, something exciting happened and I feel totally justified in my fear of the city. Can we move the suburbs now?

Sorry. But Not So Much.

I've toyed with the idea of taking down last Friday's post because well, holy angst. But honestly, I don't really care if anyone reads it. I just needed to get it out in the universe. It needed to be said and for some reason when it comes to saying that to people's real life faces I can't do it without tears. So there it is. Maybe it will make a difference and maybe it won't.

If it offends anyone, or hurts their feelings a little bit, sorry. But not really. It needed to be said.

Anyway, enough of that.

In bigger news, guess what we did last night! Guess. We went to the ballet because we are classy like that {and also, a friend had some extra tickets.}

So we got ourselves fancied up and went and saw Sleeping Beauty at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. I love that building. It makes my interior design soul happy. {we went to the opera there last year- for anyone who doesn't remember that, we are not opera people as it would turn out} The ballet was better. It probably helped that we sort of knew the story line. {meaning, hey, I've seen that Disney movie about a bazillion times. In fact, I watched it at work with the kiddos last week} Not that the ballet is anything like Disney's version of it. Prince Desire made me miss Prince Phillip bad guys. And pants. I miss real pants, as in not white tights. But it was okay. We talked about maybe we could see another ballet.Someday. Not like next weekend or anything. We'll see.

And in somewhat less exciting news, Noodles & Company stopped making my favorite pasta. Jerks.

Really, we're just kind of hanging in. Working. School. The usual. I spent last Friday at work for 10 hours {my usual day off} Landon is still splitting time between two jobs and school. And when we aren't at work or in a class of some kind we are attempting to find Landon a real life grown up job {his job with the school district will be pretty much non-existent over the summer and we aren't sure if they will keep his position next school year, and while Faucet Fixers has been good to him it isn't really going to give him experience in the field of his degree. So if anyone knows of anything. Like my plug there?} and I am all over the real estate websites bumming myself out and dreaming of moving.

Please Stop Asking

I swear. If one more person asks me when we are getting pregnant{or God forbid if I already am} I am going to lose my shit.

Not kidding.

Everyone asks. And everyone has an opinion. I do not want to hear it. I am over it. We {and by "we" I mean Landon is just sick of my whining about everyone's opinions} are sick of it.

So. For my sanity, I am going on the record and putting it in writing. We are not pregnant. We have no immediate plans to become pregnant. So oh my hell. Please stop asking.

I am entirely sure that the fact that like all of our friends have babies, are pregnant, or trying to get pregnant does not help our case at all. I am sure the fact that I quit my office job does not help our case at all. But y'all we are just trying to get through this next semester and get Landon graduated and in a real life grown-up job before we go creating people.

Am I totally baby-hungry? You betcha. Would I prefer to live out of the city, a bigger car, and more money in the bank? Yep. Do I care what everyone else thinks about my biological clock? Nope. But kind of yes.

We {yes, we} would love a baby. But guess what, babies, they cost money. They take up time and space and energy. THINGS WE DON'T HAVE. Plus, we just got married, like two seconds ago. {Okay, nearly a year ago, but guys, I'm TWENTY} We have time.

I have serious qualms about getting pregnant on purpose in this stage of life {personally! more power to people who can do it- I can't} It is more than likely that our first baby will in fact, be a happy accident. And I am okay with that. Landon is okay with that. We are both okay with the fact that we are doing what we can to prevent pregnancy. But if it happened. Then okay. Blessings for us.

But people, please, please stop asking. 

The Car, Take II

If it's not one thing, it's another.

My window is still up, still no replacement part in the work, but it'll happen eventually.

Monday I went out to my car to head to work. It had been pretty cold all weekend, which I am sure had something to do with what happened. I got in my car to start it before grabbing the ice scraper {because I learned my lesson about not scraping the windows} but the car wouldn't start.

I was running a tiny bit late for work at that point but not enough that given decent traffic I would have been at work on time. Nope. Not anymore.

Luckily, it was a holiday so Landon was at home. I ran into the house and he came out to jump the car. Nope. Not so much.

So after 10 minutes of revving the engine of his car and mine still making suspicious noises and 10 minutes of frantic texts into work about being late I finally demanded that Landon trade me cars for the day and fix it. Unlike some people I had to go to work.

It's running now. We assume it was the battery since charging it seemed to do the trick. Who knows. I'm convinced the car knows I bad-mouthed it on the Internet and that I am saving up to replace it. Now it's punishing me.

Anyone want to trade?

The Car Window

So once upon a time I broke the car and for once it wasn't body damage like all the other times:

1. The time Grandma backed into and scraped the drivers side door then pulled forward for good measure
2. The time I was babysitting and the couple backed into my door
3. The time I backed into the dumbest pole ever
4. The time I was at a stop sign and that guy who was parked illegally in the road backed into the back of my car
5. The time I got dive-bombed by a cat sized seagull and panicked and hit the gas instead of the break
6. The time I pulled too far forward in the parking spot at school and dented my bumper

Nope. This time it was the window.

But it wasn't my fault! Except just a little bit. Landon keeps saying it had nothing to do with me and more to do with the fact that my car is old. But it never would have happened if I wasn't being lazy and had harebrained ideas.

I had the day off and decided to run into town and spend some of my birthday money and also get a birthday gift for my mother-in-law. I noticed a little bit of slush on my front passenger window but was all "eh, it's fine I don't feel like scraping the car. There is snow on the ground and I am wearing knitted flats. Whatever". Then as I was driving down the street I noticed that the slush was preventing me from actually seeing my side mirror. Obviously it would have been too easy to pull into a parking lot and get out and scrape the window because knitted flats in the blizzard. SO smart. I just thought I could roll down the window a little bit and the roll it back up enough to displace the slush.

Then it happened.

The window got about half way down and stopped. I pushed up. I pushed down. The window wouldn't budge. But I had errands so I kept driving thinking "maybe it's just cold. That could totally cause it right?" I would occasionally push the button up and down only to be met with an awful grinding noise which hinted at not just cold gears. I sent Landon a text at work and was told just to pull on the window so it would be closed and we could fix it later {which would require some amount of upper body strength. Which I do not have} When I informed my husband that I can't do that he told me to just call Grandpa and ask him what to do {umm, Grandpa, I'm an idiot got the window stuck down in a blizzard, what do I do? righttttt}

At this point I turned around and drove home and sat in my driveway watching snow fall into my car, Googling ways to fix the window without having to call Grandpa. Eventually I realized that wasn't going to work so I stuck a towel over the window, ghetto style, and went in the house to call Grandpa.

When Landon got home he got the window up. It turns out that when your window is stuck half way all you have to do is push the button down and pull up at the same time {huh....}

It's up for the time being. But it evidently needs a new part due in part to the part being old and in part to being cold. So it really wasn't my fault. But it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't a bonehead who thought it was smart to just roll down the window in the middle of winter.