Not Tall But Above Average

What I learned over a year of potty training

2016-10-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

That's right. ONE YEAR. We started potty-training Jane about two months before Hank was born, thinking that if we got it done, we'd only have one kid in diapers. Jane was doing really great right up until he was born. She wasn't having any accidents, but I mainly took her to the bathroom. She very rarely told me when she had to go.

Welp, when Hank was born, she spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa without Mommy, and her routine got interrupted, and she started having accidents. And... she ended up back in diapers, and about once a month I would try again only to decide that it was so much easier to just change her diaper rather than deal with gross-ness all over the house. We went back and forth like this for, I'm not even kidding, a year! Until one day my mom said she would take Jane to Disneyland if she would be potty-trained. That girl potty-trained herself overnight. Are you kidding me?

We leave tomorrow for Disneyland.

Here's what I learned.

I never thought it was possible, but sometimes kids just don't care if their pants are wet or poopy.
The nice little "incentive" that Huggies puts on their Pull-Ups doesn't work if you've got a stubborn one. No amount of "Don't make the butterfly fly away" will convince her.
Even brand new underwear with Elsa and Anna on it won't get a strong-willed child to keep her pants clean.
My Jane will always do exactly as she wants
We should have bribed her with Disneyland a lot sooner...

She's ready!!

Ummm... An update?

2016-10-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

We lived in Missouri for 2 1/2 years. Jane was born there.

We moved to Oregon and lived with Cory's parents for about a year. Cory did an internship at Wildlife Safari. Hank was born.

We bought a house in McMinnville. We love it and all its quirks and charm.

We love McMinnville. It's such a unique little town and we already have such wonderful friends here.

Cory works with monkeys (mostly macaques) and Kristen takes care of their monkeys (mostly humans).

Some pictures...

Missouri Wildlife

2016-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Kristen here. I got on our blog today for the first time in almost four years and found this gem of a post that Cory had started about the animals we saw in Missouri. I want to get back into posting here more regularly and thought I would start off with a little blast from the past. In future posts I'll catch you up on what we're doing these days, but for now, this is fun, too.

And now Cory, take it away~

I've spent most of my life living well within city limits, but since our move from Missouri that has changed. We are smack dab in the middle of nowhere, according to our new friends. Our home is a cabin in the woods halfway between Colombia (school) and Fulton (church and friends). So whenever we are out doing yard work, walking the dog, or driving we see the awesome beauty of nature, and more importantly wildlife.

Shortly after I got a smart phone, and took pictures of any wildlife I saw, I found an app and website for documenting wildlife encounters, or spottings, called Project Noah. Go here to check out my page. I am now addicted to getting a good shot of any mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian and uploading it right away with detail on location, habitat, and species. Aside from documenting my own wildlife spottings, I get to identify other peoples wildlife uploads on Project Noah. Due to this I am getting great at identifying members of the rodent family Sciuridae, tree squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, and ground squirrels. What I most wanted to share was the amazing animals I have seen out here in the Eastern United States. Growing up in Oregon, and then doing a mission and school in Utah every thing was either the Western blank or Northern blank, now everything is the Eastern blank or Southern blank.

Eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger)

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

So we will start with mammals, because they are awesome, and a bit harder to find. Here in Missouri, as in Oregon, there are a lot of squirrels. The two common tree squirrels are the Eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) and the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). The two are really quite easy to tell apart but they overlap a lot in where they are found, their distribution, I see fox squirrels on campus but gray squirrels at the LDS institute building where I park, and I only see grays near our house, which Petra our dog always want to chase, but I've seen foxes cross the highway close by. My favorites are the foxes they are a bit bigger than the grays and the gray grizzled coat is complemented by orange undersides, aposed to white. They are fun to watch forage for nuts and seeds on the ground, especially in the leaves and sometimes you can get pretty close.

Groundhog or Woodchuck (Marmota monax)

The other cool member of the squirrel family out here is the groundhog or woodchuck (Marmota monax) big grey ground squirrels. I have seen two now the closest I've been is in a car driving past. They seem a bit smaller than the yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) I'm used to in Utah, but still pretty cool.

Eastern cottontail (Sylivagus floridanus)

I have been able to get pretty close to the local lagamorphs here, the Eastern cottontail (Sylivagus floridanus) there are two residents on the LDS institue's grounds, and more on campus. I have been reading Watership Down by Richard Adams, about European rabbits, and didn't realize that some rabbits make large underground burrows, European and pygmy rabbits, and others just have nests or campout in other animal's burrows, cottontails. So these guys come out in the evening and nibble on the grass near cover.

(From here I was going to finish writing about other mammals I had seen and in later posts write about other groups of animals. As outlined in this list of species.)

Mammals:
Squirrels
Groundhog/woodchuck
cottontails
deer
raccoons
opossum

Birds:
hummingbird
sparrow
cardinal
woodpeckers
hawk
turkey vulture

Reptiles:
skink
box turtle
snapping turtle

Amphibians:
cricket frogs
leopard frog
toad

Yard work fun

2012-10-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

I love having my own yard. It's hard work to keep the leaves raked and the grass mowed, but it's so nice to be able to plant the things that I want and make a plan for how I want it to look. Last Friday, I planted tulip bulbs for the spring. It was really hard work. Missouri ground is mostly clay, so digging through it to plant the bulbs took a long time. I started at 9:30am and had to take so many breaks, so as not to wear myself out, that I wasn't done with them until 2:15pm. It took me almost 5 hours to plant 24 bulbs. I'm excited to see what they look like in the spring.

While I was planting, Cory was raking the leaves. We live in a wooded area with tons of hickory trees, so our yard is covered with the falling leaves. It had been a couple weeks since we last raked and so Cory was able to rake a pile at least three feet high. We let Petra play in it. It was really fun and super cute to watch.

Look how cute our puppy is.

I don't usually put videos on the blog, but I just had to share this one. It's short, I promise.

Back to blogging

2012-10-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

I put off writing anything in here because I got my wonderful job at SirsiDynix and life got busy and I didn't really have the time or desire to blog. Now, however, we live in Missouri and I'm working for myself again, so I really want to keep all of you updated on how the Davises are doing, especially since we live much further away from most of you than we did in the past.

I never in a million years thought that we would be living in Missouri. It's been quite the change from Utah but we absolutely love it. We have the cutest house in the middle of the country and we recently adopted a dog, which has always been a dream of Cory's.

Cory has started school and is really liking his Master's program. We're going to apply for vet school again for next year and hope that he gets into the University of Missouri so we can stay here. We've made some great friends and just love it here.

I am now working as a health coach for a wonderful program that has helped so many people lose weight and stay healthy for life. If you would like to learn more about it you can check out my website HealthCoachKristen.com and send me a request for more detailed information. I'd really love to tell you about it.

I'm also going to start my weight loss blog again. There's a link in the side bar if you want to follow that.

Here's some pictures!

We had a lot of stuff to pack up, and my mom is so wonderful that she came to Provo to help us get ready.

Our beautiful new cabin home. This was while we were still unpacking so there's lots of empty boxes and other junk on the porch.

Our new pup, Petra. She really loves Cory.

Updates

2011-11-18T12:02:00.001-08:00

I start a new job in a little over a week at SirsiDynix. They make the library database software that we used at the Harold B. Lee Library. I'll be a technical writer there, and will get to write their help manuals. It doesn't sound like much, but I'm super duper excited about it!
The band I'm in, Milo, has been rocking it up lately. We had a show on the Saturday before Halloween, which was awesome despite my being sick. Most recently, we played in the battle of the bands at Muse Music last Tuesday, which was also totally awesome. There was a great energy there and we had a blast playing our music. If you haven't already, you should like us on facebook. (There's a link to take you to our facebook page-on the word Milo-but for some reason I can't get the color to change to be noticeable.)
I started a new diet, and I've already lost 7 pounds in a little over two weeks. I'm hoping to be down 10 pounds by the end of the third week. You can read a little bit more about it in my health journey blog (link's right over there ----->). My goal for this diet is to have lost 40 pounds by my birthday at the beginning of March, and I'm thinking it's totally do-able. I only have 33 left to go!
We have the Davis's coming down for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's going to be a blast having everyone here. Although, I'm a little wary to cook a whole Thanksgiving meal in my uber-tiny kitchen. We'll see how that goes.
Derby's been sick with a sinus infection for the last two months. We've taken him to the vet and he's been prescribed antibiotics, but it just doesn't seem to go away. I wish it would, because I really want to have him fixed so he'll stop being a stinker and peeing all over everything, but we need to wait for this to clear up before we can do that.

Happy Birthday Nicoley!

2011-11-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

My baby sister turns 20 today! Weird... Sometimes I still think of her as being a little 8-year-old, mostly because I tried to mother her when we were younger. I'm only about 3 and 1/2 years older than her, but for some reason that makes me feel a lot older and responsible for her.

Growing up, it was just the two of us, and boy, could we fight. I was not a nice sister. I attribute this to two things. First, our radically different personalities, and second, the lack of another sibling to go to or to also fight with. Two was just not a good number in our house.

I'm happy to say that now Nicoley and I are the best of friends. She's the one I want to talk to when I'm bored. She's the one I want to hang out with when I have free time. She's the one that I can talk to about pretty much anything. Not living together has been great for us and our relationship. It's funny because when we have to be in close proximity to each other for extended periods of time again, we fall right back into our old habits. We took a three-day trip this last summer to go back home for my cousin's wedding, just the two of us, and we had a blast for the first two and a half days of it but after a full day of driving, a busy wedding day, and another full day of driving, we were mad as hell at each other. We spent the last almost five hours of the drive in absolute silence. It was weird.

Anyway, happy birthday Nicoley. You are the best sister in the world, and I love you so much. I'm so glad that we're friends now and that you laugh with me over the stupidest stuff. We really do need big neon signs on our foreheads to proclaim to the world that we're not crazy, just sisters.

Geographic Tongue

2011-10-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know this about me, but I'm betting most do not. I have a condition known as geographic tongue. It sounds weird and guess what! It is! Basically the taste buds on my tongue don't grow correctly and they slough off and do all sorts of crazy weird things that make my tongue look like it has its own personal geography. Apparently this only affects about 2% of the world population. Aren't I special...

My case of it really isn't that bad. I have a funny looking tongue that mildly hurts most of the time, but it's not too bothersome. Out of curiosity, I was doing a little research on it the other day and I guess most of the people who have it are really irritated by it. I guess I've just learned to live with it. It's particularly painful after eating really citrus-y foods, and when I was younger I thought that everyone's mouth hurt that way after eating Sour Patch. I was wrong.

I will say that it's kinda cool to look at. If you ever want to see my crazy-looking tongue, just ask. I think people's reactions to it are really funny.

(I was going to put a picture up, but then decided against it. I wouldn't want to gross anyone out.)

Oh what do you do in the Autumn time?

2011-10-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

I love the fall. I love the crisp cool air and the clear skies. I love the stormy days. I love the bright colors and the crunchy leaves. I love getting out my scarves and hats. I don't really love wearing real shoes, but I can get over it.

Last weekend, Cory and I went to a corn maze with my sister and Brianna and Michael Chambers. It was way fun. We went to the big corporate one out at Thanksgiving Point because I had a coupon. They charged extra for nearly everything, but the stuff we wanted to do was free so it worked out in the end. We went through a ton of mazes and got lost and went on a hay ride and watched a pig race and pumpkins being shot out of a cannon. There were way too many people there, but it was absolutely worth it.

Pictures!

It was a pretty good day.

I really should be over this by now

2011-09-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

But I'm not.

My due date for my lost pregnancy was November 3rd. I know so many people that will be delivering right around that time. I can count six just off the top of my head and I'm pretty sure there are more. If you're one of these people I really am happy for you, really and truly. It's just hard to see my friends growing bellies and knowing there's a fresh new baby inside of them waiting to see the world. And knowing that should also be me.

It's hard. It's been about six months since I miscarried and we haven't been able to get pregnant since. Plus, now it's looking like we'll have to postpone the baby making so I can get a job while Cory finishes school. That's a hard realization to face when all I want to do is be a mother.

I'm sorry for being a whiner. It's just how I feel...most of the time. I'm getting better at controlling these emotions but they're always there, lingering under the surface. I don't know why I felt the need to share this with the blogging world again, but I did and I am.

I talked to my mom this morning about this. When I talk to my mom I always regress just a little bit and I complained about how it just isn't fair. She wisely told me that of course it isn't fair. We understood that before we came here. We knew life would be hard and that things wouldn't always work out the way we want them too, but we chose this anyway. Deep down I know this. I know that life is meant to be full of trials and that we are supposed to grow from them. I just wish this trial wasn't mine. I know I'm strong enough to handle it and that I'll learn something from it (and if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've known most of my life I was going to struggle with this), but I still don't want it.

Whew, okay. I'm done. Please forgive me. Happy things next time, I promise.

Labor Dabor

2011-09-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

I miss Homestar Runner. Anybody else?

Labor Day was fun!

We took Nicoley, Brice, and Nicole's boyfriend Travis and went berry picking!

I love blackberries and the farm we went to had tons of them. It was great because the bushes didn't have any thorns and we got to go diving into them to find the really big ones that everyone else had left behind.

I now have ten pounds of berries hanging out in my fridge and freezer!

Here's some pictures!

That afternoon Cory and I went shopping to buy me a pair of slacks I could wear to an interview I have today. Wish me luck!

Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship

2011-09-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday we went to the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship. Cory got free tickets from his boss so we drove up to Midway that afternoon and watched border collies herd sheep. It was...interesting. I actually really enjoyed it. We bought some overpriced food and watched a documentary being filmed and got some sweet swag. We ran into Cory's roommate from his first semester here. It was fun to catch up with him a bit.

Pictures!

There was a water jumping competition too.

Rockin' the free visors

See, we do have fun.

Side note: We went to the library that morning and while we were there I ripped a hole in the capris I was wearing. They were kinda sagging and didn't have enough give in them when I went to squat down to look at a lower shelf. Instead of going all the way home I borrowed a pair of jeans from Nicoley (she lives a couple blocks from the Provo library now) to wear to Midway. Of course, being Utah, it was super hot and I decided to roll them up. Thus the stupid looking rolled-up jeans. I don't think I've ever ripped my pants before. It was a different experience

Sunburn

2011-08-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was super fun. Nicole and I ran the Wasatch Wellness 5k and didn't do too bad. It was fun having her with me and I'm really proud of her for doing it. It's something she'd never done before and I think she enjoyed the experience.

We got discounted tickets to Seven Peaks for running in the race so we spent the afternoon there getting ridiculously sunburned. It pretty much hurts to move. So much for my trying really hard to not burn anymore. I swear one of these days I actually will get skin cancer.

It was a really fun and rewarding weekend.

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I think I might have burned myself out with that last post. We'll see how things go from here on out.

Feel free to not read this one

2011-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Two in one day, whew. I'll get back on track soon, I just had something jarring happen to me today and I wanted to post this and start this goal today rather than on Wednesday. This was scheduled to go up on Wednesday so some of it might sound weird.

Today's topic might make a few of you uncomfortable and I just want you to be fully warned before reading on. It's not something I'm uncomfortable talking about, if it were I wouldn't be writing this, but I don't want you to get yourself into something that you'll wish you hadn't started. Today's post will be personal and it will be about my weight. This will also be a lot longer than I usually like my posts to be.

If I gain one more pound I will be officially obese for my height. That's a disturbing thought. I've never been tiny and I've always known that I would have issues with my weight, but it's never been this real before. Please don't try to give me the "you look great" spiel because I know I don't and I know that I haven't for a long time.

I'm going to blame part of it on my genes. Both of my parents have struggled with their weight and most of my extended family has as well. I've been very impressed with several of my relatives, though, who have really tried hard to be healthy despite the genetic disadvantages. Both of my parents are excellent examples. My mom has lost over 80 pounds and is probably the smallest she's been in a long time. She looks great and feels great. My dad has lost 100 pounds and it makes me happy that he's getting healthier and will be around a lot longer than he would have been. I'm glad that my parents are healthy and happy and that they have tried so hard to get to where they are now.

I'm going to blame the second part of my current state on the fact that I am a lazy bum. I try to exercise regularly but it's so easy for me to make up excuses. "I was up really late last night," or "I have too many other things to get done today," or "I'm on my period," or "It's too hot outside to go running." I like the way I feel when I exercise but that's not always the best motivation for me. I've always been one for immediate gratification and sleeping in usually makes me happier more quickly than going for a run does.

And the third source of blame? I like to eat. A lot. I love the way food tastes and the way it feels in my mouth. I've never been happy with the way that I look but I always knew that I would never have issues with under eating because of the way I feel about food. I love different tastes and textures and trying new foods and recipes. My love of food gets a little weird sometimes though. Very often, I can't not eat something that I think looks good and sometimes it's so bad that I start eyeing the largest piece or desiring the last morsel. This is a terribly unhealthy habit and I know it's buried somewhere in my psychosis because I can feel weird parts of my brain firing and my blood pressure rising when I feel a particular need to eat something. I know, it's strange. I wish I could explain it better. And I really don't understand it, deep down I know that one bite will taste the same as the next or that I'll have other opportunities to sample this particular food, but for whatever reason I have to have the most and I have to have it now. I have a really strange relationship with food.

I can't control the genes part but I can control the other two. Those parts of me need to change. I'm all about loving my body and not comparing myself to others but it's hard to see someone who looks really cute in an outfit I like and know that I would never be able to wear it. And it's hard to think that people might be judging me because of my weight. And it's hard to always be "the fat friend" with all the tiny people around me. I want to be happy and I am often not. So, here's my goal and my promise to you. I am going to get in shape. I am going to regulate what I eat and I am going to exercise. I am going to lose weight and feel good about myself. I know that I'll never be a size 2 and I honestly don't want to be, but I want to be happy and I want to feel like I can wear clothes from the stores I like and I want to like the way I look and I want my husband to think I'm even more beautiful and sexy than he already does.

Okay, here's the hard part for me. It's something I don't do very often, and only the fact that I know I don't have very many readers is making me able to do this (I'm going to pretend that nobody pays attention to facebook and assume I only have 18 readers). I'm going to tell you how much I weigh. A few days ago I weighed myself at 191 pounds. For me that's a BMI of 29.9. Oh wow, that's a lot. I have put on 10 pounds since I graduated from BYU and it shows and I can feel it. I would really love to weigh what I did my senior year of high school. I tried really hard at the beginning of that school year and dropped 20 pounds to about 150. I was still "the fat friend" but at least I wasn't overweight anymore. And now, for a 23 year old woman, I'm going to say that's not a bad weight and it will put me in the normal range for my height. Plus, it will probably help to fix my infertility, at least I hope so. 150 pounds is my goal and my promise to you. I'm not going to set a definite time limit because I don't have any realistic idea of how long this will take, and if I do end up getting pregnant this will no longer be my goal, but I will lose 40 pounds, preferably within the next 6 months. That's roughly 1 1/2 pounds a week. I don't care if you're interested or not, but to keep me motivated I'm going to be making regular updates of my progress and about what I learn along the way.

Please don't take this to be a rant about how I want to be different than I am or how I wish I looked like the Victoria's Secret models or anything like that. Yes, I have body image issues, as I'm sure many do, but I try to be accepting of myself, even if I don't always succeed. This is more about the understanding that I am getting older and I'm not going to be able to always eat whatever I want with minimal consequences. The weight loss part is about getting healthy and then staying healthy. I don't want to be super skinny, and with my bone structure I can guarantee I never will, but I want to feel good about myself and I want to be healthy. To me, that's what this is about.

I started a new blog for this journey where I'll be making progress updates. If you want to read about it you can go to http://learningtolovekristen.blogspot.com/.

Garbage Sales!

2011-08-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

So, I missed my Friday post didn't I? I have a legitimate excuse. My parents were in town for the weekend and we were spending lots of time with them and I just never got around to writing anything. I try to have my posts prepared at least a few days in advance but I never did get anything for last Friday. Well, I guess there was a little bit of a reprieve for you to enjoy, but I'm back now. You know you missed me.

And...time for another weekend update. Cory and I went garage sale-ing with my aunt and cousin on Saturday. When my mom and I would do this she always called it going to garbage sales. That's really what it is if you think about it. Someone else's garbage that they're trying to pawn off on you for a quick buck.

It was great fun. We got lots of stuff for minimal cash money.
We bought:
a pet igloo for Derby,
two baby gates to keep Derby confined to certain parts of the house,
a set of stainless steel mixing bowls,
a liquid measuring cup,
a spatula holder thingy,
a set of nice colored pencils
a set of stainless steel tupperware dishes,
a sweet-looking skirt,
some free bracelets,
electric curlers,
cute wall decoration things,
cute calendar blocks,
a sciency book for Cory,
and way too many movies.

The only reason we keep a VCR is for the cheap movies we can pick up at garage sales, ok well that's a lie, I guess we do have to run our cable through it. But, we're not picky. We don't need blue ray in order to enjoy a good movie. And we got some killers:
Oliver and Company
The Little Mermaid
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Fantasia
My Fair Lady
Mary Martin's Peter Pan
A Christmas Story
What A Girl Wants
Superman
Much Ado About Nothing
Pete's Dragon

We sure did get a lot of kids movies, didn't we?

One of these days when we decide we don't need all these movies, or we replace our VHS versions with the DVD version, or whatever, some lucky schmuck is gonna hit the mother load at our garage sale. We have soooooo many movies. If you ever feel the need to watch something obscure please feel free to ask. We probably have it. That is if you have the ability to watch our old school technologies.

mish-mash

2011-08-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

Today's post is going to be a mish-mash of information and thoughts and (especially) requests for feedback.

1. In regards to my post last Friday, I would like to say that I am proud of Cory and am glad that he has something he is so passionate about. My mom told me recently that I sounded kinda bratty in that post and I just wanted to make you aware that most of what I said was meant to be taken as a joke. Yes, I don't love animals and I'm not really looking forward to taking care of so many, but I like that Cory has such a strong interest and if supporting him in it means I have to clean up animal poop, so be it.

2. On a related note, Cory keeps asking me if having a bunny has changed my mind about pets in general. It doesn't really. I'm still not very comfortable around animals but I'm working on it.

3. I really like the way my blog looks now. I know I jumped around a bit with the design. Sorry about that. But, now I want to know what you think. Is it clean and inviting? Do you like the colors? Is it easy to read? I especially want to know the answer to that last question. If it's hard to read, whether it's the font or the color of the text, etc., I want to know. I don't want you to not read my blog because it gives you a headache :)

4. I've been thinking a little bit about how now that I'm posting more, most of my life is readily available to you without me having to tell you what's going on. I promise I still have other things to talk about. I was with a friend the other day, and I kinda got the impression that she doesn't read this because she kept asking me about things that I had written about. I felt kinda silly talking about things that I thought she had already read and it made me think that maybe I shouldn't be posting as much as I have been. I really enjoy blogging now especially since I've figured out how to make it work for me, but if it's going to make my real life boring maybe I should cut back. What do you think? It's nice for me to have somewhere to express myself now that I spend a lot of time at home alone but I don't want you to feel like I'm overloading you with my life and thoughts. I want this to be something you enjoy reading and I am open to suggestions.

That's about it for today. Please be honest in your feedback.

Meet Derby, the cutest rabbit ever

2011-08-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

Remember Friday, when I said I would like a fluffy bunny?

Well we went out and bought one. Yep, we now have a cute 9 week old mini rex rabbit. We call him Derby but his full name is General Derby McBunbun-Davis, and yes, I did name him. He is super cute and we love him bunches. And he seems to be pretty happy with us so far.

We let him have his run of the house (basically) but make sure to spray him with vinegar water when he starts digging in the carpet or peeing in the corners. He's still pretty young and we haven't had too many accidents so far. We're hoping to get him trained well enough that he'll know he's only allowed to go in his cage. He is so sweet and honestly, I don't mind cleaning up after his messes.

Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

He makes me happy and now I have someone to play with while Cory is away at school and work all day.

What a Zoo

2011-08-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

If Cory ever gets around to posting his "about" page you'll learn that he loves animals, probably more than he loves me (although if you know him I'm sure you found out from him personally). I on the other hand couldn't care less about animals. They smell bad and they make a mess and they are pretty stupid. Okay that's a little harsh, but the more Cory gushes about everything to do with the animal kingdom the more I feel like I have to be the complete opposite.

I especially don't like dogs and all Cory can talk about is getting a dog and naming our dogs and what he's going to do with a dog and what kind of dog he wants. It drives me bonkers.

Here's a picture of his current favorite. It's a bull terrier.

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Get a load of that football head.

And then he talks about all the weird pets we're going to have.

Like a capybara, the world's largest rodent.

Cuddly, right?


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Or the guanacos we'll have to teach our kids responsibility.

(If you ask me they're kinda creepy)


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When he's really dreaming big he thinks we're going to get pygmy hippos and miniature zebu and brahman cattle.

Image Source

Needless to say, our house will be a zoo, and not in the figurative sense where we have lots of kids and lots of things going on. I mean literally a zoo with crazy weird animals running around. And guess who's going to have to take care of the zoo while the one who wanted it is at work. That's right, me.

We already own a pair of sugar gliders (his 24th birthday present) and a betta fish (which Cory got for free from his evolutionary biology class). We're well on our way to a house full of beasts.

If you want my opinion I'd be happy with a fluffy bunny.

Happy Birthday Dad

2011-08-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my dad's birthday. And I got to talk with him about his fun day. He was able to take it off and my family spent the day in Newport on the Oregon Coast. He told me all about visiting the Oregon Coast Aquarium and even sent some cool pictures to my phone during the day. For dinner they went to Mo's with their world famous clam chowder, man I can't wait to be back in Oregon so I can visit the coast.
But about my dad, he is great at making you feel important in a conversation so it wasn't just about what they did. Mixed in were things that he knew I would think were cool, like how the sea otters at the aquarium are rescued and regionally extinct in Oregon, and family memories, like how the last time we visited the aquarium was when Keiko was there.
It is really great to talk to him and he makes a point to call as often as he can to ask me about my classes, work, and just what I'm up to. So I've learned a lot from him about keeping commitments and how to make others feel important. These make him a great father and in management at Payless Shoes. I am so grateful he is my dad and hope I am able to be a great father like him to my kids.

You're the best Dad!

Perry and Moffat Wedding

2011-08-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

My Monday posts have started becoming a weekend update, haven't they?

Well, this weekend Nicoley and I rented a car (which ended up being a truck) and drove to Medford all day Friday so we could be in town for our cousin's wedding then we drove back to Provo all day on Sunday. Liz and Chase were married on Saturday and I don't think I've ever seen a more happy couple. I cried like a baby at the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a gorgeous reception.

I got to see lots of people that I hadn't seen in a long time and I saw Maren's baby. He is probably the cutest newborn I've ever seen. We got to see our parents' new house with them all moved in and spend some time with them even if just for a little while. I wish I had taken pictures. I know I said I was going to be better at that but it's hard to get in the habit. Anyway, it was a lot of driving for a great weekend.

BYU Magazine Contest Entry

2011-07-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

I wrote this article for a contest that the BYU Magazine was holding. It didn't win anything but I was proud of it and wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think if you would like.

While we like to focus on the high-flyers here at BYU, I personally like to remember that with a campus of 30,000 students there are bound to be a few regular people just like me, trying to find their place in the world.

I have friends who have always known what they were going to do. Three of my friends wanted to be nurses and they did it. I know musicians who are chasing their dreams, dental hygienists who love it, and teachers who can’t wait to inspire youngsters. Even my own husband has loved animals since he was a toddler, and guess what, he’s going to vet school. I, however, have never been this way. I’ve definitely had ambitions; I wanted to be a classical pianist, a pediatrician, and various kinds of teachers. I even wanted to be a theoretical physicist, but I’ve never had one thing that I knew was my calling.

I came to BYU as a declared psychology major. I took general psychology and knew right away, that was not and never would be for me. I had had a great psychology teacher in high school but I soon discovered that the theories I would have to memorize were not nearly as interesting as the cool little tests we had taken and the movies we had watched. So, I had a quarter-life crisis seven years early and cried to a roommate about my frustrations with not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. As we discussed this, I told her how I really liked the cognitive process involved with learning and using a language. She then suggested I look into linguistics. “If you like language so much, you should spend time learning about how it works.”

So, I did. I declared the linguistics major, took the introductory class, and loved it. I had found what I had always been looking for. If I had known myself better then, I would have stuck with it but I let my logical brain recognize the flaws in this plan and talk my heart out of it. I was thinking too much about the future and what my career would end up being with a degree in linguistics. Did I really want to be a computer programmer or a translator or a CIA agent? No, not really.

So, I once again examined my options and decided to get a German teaching degree. I had taken German in high school, continued it in college, and really enjoyed the language. But after another year and a study abroad in Vienna I decided that I wouldn’t enjoy teaching German. I had gained a broader world-view, and a confidence in myself; but not in my German skills

I was at the end of my wits, and my junior year, when I ran into that same roommate again on campus. I told her about my irritation with German and how much I wished I could justify studying linguistics. She told me about her friend who was in the English language program and studying to become an editor and, once again, my eyes were opened to my true passion. I found the program that would let me study linguistics but that would also prepare me with skills I could use in a future career I would actually enjoy. My heart and my brain were finally reconciled.

I think my experience is not uncommon at BYU. We frequently hear about those that know what they want and how they are going to achieve it and, I say, good for them. But for those of us who aren’t so sure, it might just take a good roommate to help us figure out what we really want to get out of this wonderful experience called an education. While we are intended to learn as much as we can about the world around us while we are here at BYU, I had to learn the long and hard way that it’s most important to take the time to learn about yourself and what your desires are.

Enter to learn who you are so you can go forth to serve those who still need to find themselves.

My first time with Write On Wednesdays

2011-07-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

During one of my recent blog perusals I happened upon inkpaperpen a lovely blog which holds a weekly blogfest called Write On Wednesdays. Most of the people that participate submit some creative piece, but I've never been much for creative writing. However, I do like to write and thought I would take this weekly opportunity to share a memory based on the prompt. Personally, I'm interested to see what I come up with each week.

The idea behind Write On Wednesdays is to set a timer for five minutes and just write what first comes to mind based on the prompt. I like this exercise and thought I would make it a weekly segment on this blog about our life. I'm going to try to get Cory to participate as well, I think it would be fun to see what he comes up with.

Anyway, this week's prompt is based off of this photo:

taken by Kristy of House of Prowse

Well, here goes.

Trees are so important to me. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and loved every inch of the greenery. Living in Utah makes me sad sometimes with how brown it is here. One day I’ll make it back to the trees.

The house I spent most of my young childhood in had the most lovely yard. At least, that’s how I remember it. When I was really young there were tall trees that lined our property. I think they might have been elms or birches (it’s hard to remember what they were exactly) and I used to play around them and in the tall grass that they stood in. I made up all sorts of games and stories and had so much fun. I don’t know why but one day my dad decided that the trees needed to be gone. He spent a whole day chopping them down and clearing out that portion of the lawn. I was heartbroken. Those trees were my friends and I had had so much fun with them. My family has moved several times since, yet I always remember that little spot where my imagination took flight and the sadness I felt at losing my trees.

Thanks for your comments on my short piece. I'm really excited to join the Write On Wednesdays movement and look forward to many more fun opportunities to chronicle my memories from these prompts.

Pioneer Day Classic 2011 5k

2011-07-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

I ran my first race, since last Thanksgiving, this Saturday in honor of Pioneer Day. It was a lot of fun and I did fairly well. I'm not a very fast runner and I placed last in my age group but at least I did it. Cory wasn't able to come because he had to take the GRE that morning, it was the last day he could take it for his vet school applications (slacker). He was sorry to miss it but I had Nicole there with me for moral support. I woke her up really early for it too, she's such a trooper.

I did it!

I love you Nicoley

Ah, the Brits

2011-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

I have a soft spot for everything English. And I don't just mean the language and literature. I'm talking about that wonderful country across the pond. I love their food (well mostly just fish and chips) and their humor and their television and their accents. I mean, come on! They came up with Monty Python, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who, of course they're wonderful people.

Recently, I found a youtube channel run by a British kid from Bath. His name is Charlie McDonnell and he's hilarious and talented. I highly recommend checking out his stuff. It makes me so happy to watch his videos and every time I watch one I spend the next fifteen minutes thinking with a British accent.

Cory is applying for veterinary school this fall and I'm working heavily to convince him that he needs to get into the Royal Veterinary College so we can live in London for four years. Wouldn't that be awesome? I've been kicking myself that I never went to England while I was in Europe and I think I need to make up for it somethin' fierce.

Anniversary Adventures

2011-07-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

This year our anniversary fell on a Sunday and since Cory was gone at scout camp the weekend before all we could really do was go out to dinner that Saturday after he got back. We went to P.F. Chang's and got their P.F. Chang's For Two deal. Cory had never been there before and he absolutely loved it. That might be our new special occasion restaurant since the last one we had made him really really sick. We rented I Am Number Four that evening and just had some nice quiet time together.

Cory bought me roses the next day to put in my new vase that he got me as a present and they are beautiful but starting to wilt. Luckily I got some pictures the first day when they were still fresh.

Pretty, right?

Since we couldn't go anywhere super fun the weekend of our actual anniversary we decided to do our fun stuff the next Saturday which was this last weekend. We were going to get up early and hike to the hot pots up diamond fork canyon but we didn't go to bed early enough the night before to wake up in time to beat the heat so we decided to spend the day at Kiwanis Park instead. We threw around a frisbee and played card games and took along a picnic and just talked in the sun. It was nice and I wish I'd taken some pictures but I forgot (even though I remembered to bring the camera). We went to Harry Potter that afternoon and boy howdy was it good! I'm kinda sad that it's all over but, I think, the movie definitely did the book justice and redeemed some of the earlier movies too.

It was nice to spread things out through the week. It made the celebration seem that much bigger. I'm so glad I married Cory and that we have been happy together. The last two years have been interesting and trying and wonderful and hilarious and the coming years will be filled with many more equally exciting adventures.