Pumped

Today I needed a pump up.

I reached back into my early college experience for silly things that gave me a buzz and came up with this little guy:

Oh Homestar!  11 years after your most recent update, you still rock my world!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail194.html

Dream come true

I'm sure I've dreamed of having a night like this one since my freshman year of college.  I went into BYU excited for sketch comedy like "Divine Comedy" and "Vocal Point."  I had 3 brothers attend BYU before me, and one had made this specific aspect of the experience especially exciting.  This was about the same time that everyone in college housing was answering their phone with "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?" and political discussions almost always involved throwing in the concept of whether or not you would "Vote for Pedro."  Around 19 and 20, a good laugh was the main theme of conversation.

As I acclaimated to the campus, I felt a buzz on that comedy frequency of this one performer's CD. 

Thus began my experience with Brian Reagan.  Wikipedia compares him to a younger generation's Steve Martin, and I can see it--very physical humor, about every day life, and completely, entirely clean.  Even his performances on Comedy Central.  So, not only was he almost worshipped by a BYU student base who strove for integrity in a world of rapidly degrading class, but he could almost make you pee your pants.  The first CD I heard from him revolved around him trying to go through life without looking stupid.  My friends were regularly quoting his lines when awkward things happened, making the moment exciting rather than embarassing.  "You too!"  "He's callin' the hump Walt, he's not supposed to want the hump."  "I call this chair!" ...  oh!  Those were the days!

When you consider the hours of joy this comedian's recorded performances brought us, you can imagine my excitement when 3 years after leaving this hoard of friendships and silly quotes my husband calls up and tells me that he got us tickets to see a LIVE PERFORMANCE!!!!!  I seriously started dancing and jumping up and down when he told me.

Here is the concert hall where he performed.

Here is how close we were to the stage.

Here is the scale I saw him in with the naked eye.

I laughed til I cried.  I laughed til I lost my voice from laughing.  I laughed til my face felt like rubber from smiling the whole time.

Dream. Come. True.

What the new year brings

I've tried to post every day for a week now about the awesomeness that 2012 has brought us.

I tried to post about Dale's NEW JOB change and move up to LANDesk as an HR Specialist. 

Doesn't this look like a great office
for my honey?

I tried to post about my TWO JOB OFFERS and the drama that ensued upon trying to figure out which one to take.

I tried to post about my subsequent JOB ACCEPTANCE at Avalon Valley Rehabilitation Center as a Medical Social Worker.

I tried to post about what it's been like to work for my first full week in 2 months at a great facility that is almost the mirror image of the last job, but 15 miles closer to home, and how it brings up all of the hurt of being suddenly let go from the job previous.

But I can't seem to capture the complex excitement we have felt in all its glory in a way that anyone else would be interested in reading it! 

So here it is blogosphere!  Just know that we feel extremely blessed, that God has watched out for us the whole time, and that we are humbled and grateful.

Some hints about things that also happened in the first 2 weeks of 2012 that I WILL be posting about as future events transpire:

Comedy (January)

Dale--games (February)

Endluge... (March)

HUGE TRIP!!! (May)

Most of that is thanks to having a husband who is passionate about life.  Ending 2011 with only the most bare bones plans for the upcoming year, this is fleshing out quite nicely!  Are you excited for me?

Christmas in the Mountains

This year was the first time in our 3-year marriage that we have been to Dale's house for Christmas.  I think it's fun how you can spend ALL of your time with someone and still have major things to learn about them as the years pass. 

What I learned about Dale this Christmas:

1. He feels very strongly about his childhood Christmas stocking.

2. Even if I say "maybe 11 lego games is enough"  he will still by 18 of them.

3.  He looks extremely cute in "the Grinch" themed Christmas pajamas

4.  We re-learned how to use a hot glue gun together.

5.  If given a choice between me and his brother on a holiday trip, Dale will choose his brother 75% of the time :). 

6.  Dale listens pointedly for things that I mention that I would like and suprizes me with them as gifts when I've forgotten about how I mentioned I'd like them.

7.  He builds boxes of legos to the instructions.  I had never done that before.

My favorite parts of the holliday week:

1. A hike in Glacier International Park

2. Cooking a traditional Christmas meal where everyone helps out.

3. Wearing cute new PJs with Dale every night.

4. Puzzles.  We assembled almost 3 1000 piece puzzles in the 10 days I was there.  I feel like an 80 year old admitting it to myself, but I'm really good at it.  And doing things I have a natural aptitude for boosts my confidence.

5. The game of Things.  We played it on two evenings as a big group, and it was a lot of fun.

Good times.  Thanks to everyone who was involved!  It really made the holliday special.

Here is a picture.

Because who uses stamps anymore...

Personal Library

"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."
--Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail

One of the great things about this last trip to LA is that Dale and I were able to take two 35-pound boxes of my things from my Mother's house to our home in Salt Lake.  It took us 2.6 years to do this because it is only now that we have a place big enough to store anything other than what is needed right now.  In these boxes were keepsakes from 13 years of girl scouting, a decade of journaling, my CD collection, my baby book, and my childhood library.

This isn't just any childhood library.  This is the childhood library of a kid whose first chapter book was Gulliver's Travels when she was 6. 

I should have felt the stirrings of the universe telling me something when I chose Ender's Game to keep me busy on the plane ride in. 

Ender's Game really is the most famous of the books I chose as a child.  Other's were called Silver, The Only Alien on the Planet, The entire Anne of Green Gables series, The Face on the Milk Carton (books 1, 2, and 3), anything by Jane Austin, SongMaster, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and StarBridge (Books 1-7).  I kept them on a shelf at the head of my bed, and always seemed to be reading one of them or another, regardless of how I was 14 and still reading a book written for a 2nd grade reading level or if I was 9 and reading a book for 30 year olds.  The all time favorite was StarBridge, book 1.  I re-read it this week.  No exaggeration neccessary, I think I've read it at least two dozen times.  That's 24 times.  And that's a conservative estimate.  There's nothing special about this book.  Nothing more so than your other run of the mill 300 page science fiction novel written in the 1980s.  Nothing special other than the main character became my friend when I was eight and a half.

As I finished reading the last hundred pages late last night, I noticed lines I'd cut into the pages with my nail so I could remember what paragraph I'd left off at.  Certian strategically placed dog eared pages for good stopping points.  Even bite marks left by my teeth on certian pages from when I had carried it in my mouth while climbing a tree to get to my perfect reading nook.  It's crazy to see how small I was just by the size of that bite mark.  I had thought I was all grown up, just like my friend in StarBridge.  Crazy little imperfections made in THIS book that make all the difference when reading it.

So here's to the awesome blessing it can be to see the evidence of your childhood, and having yourself as a child show up again.  And here's to how much richer it will make my home in Salt Lake to have the soul of my childhood belongings in it.

Complex Household Appliances

When I was 16 my parents found themselves in need of a new refregerator.  I noticed that their selection was sufficiently not outdated for my teenage coolness needs, but didn't mark the event futher except to notice one thing.  On the day it came in I headed out to see my friends and noticed my parents cuddling, 3 feet out of the open refregerator door, gazing into it.  I told my friends about it when I went out and someone came up with the perfect statement to summarize our concerns "Oh, man, I hope I'm never 50."

Well, sad news but you don't have to wait until you're 50 to have a household appliance be the highlight of your week.  The week before Thanksgiving, Dale's parents drove these two beauties down from a Montana estate give away:

Just look at them.  Not only do we have an apartment that is big enough to house them, and also includes washer/dryer hook ups (Dale and I marvel at our beautiful apartment daily), but this is a significant step toward independence.  In my church I often hear our leaders chiding young couples saying statements like:

"Don't expect to have all that your parents have as soon as you get married.  It took a lifetime for them to build up the home that you have benefitted from.  Avoid unneccessary debt and be patient in accruing a household."

It seems like these laundry machines hold in them all that we are waiting to get but hope for.  At least they will for the next few months... This paragraph embodies what my parent's looked like 10 years ago with their new refregerator.

The excitement of the appliances is different from the excitement of getting our first new adult couch.  The couch is beautiful and comfortable and can be appreciated with the senses daily.  The washer/dryer will save me time and (hopefully) money.  That feels awesome!

I used them for the first time on Tuesday, and other than a mishap where the exit hose came out of the wall in the middle of a cycle and spewed several dozen gallons of dirty laundry water out onto the kitchen and dining room floors, it all worked out just fine. :)   It seems poetic that one more step toward an independed household should be marked with an incident foreshadowing the perils of home ownership.