1 year... and 8 days

I have been employed for 1 year and 8 days.

1 year and 8 days ago I was a temp for Burton Lumber.
It was a great to be employed at least
but was not what I wanted to keep doing.

2 months before that I had been unemployed for 9 months.
(That is 1 year and 10 months ago)
I was let go the weekend of my birthday.
I was hurt, let down, confused, insecure and lost.

3 months later Fez was let go from his job.
We were both hurt, let down, confused, insecure, and lost.

Luckily I had (have) a wonderfully supportive husband to help keep me afloat and dance to keep me occupied. He had school to focus on to get him graduated as soon as we could.

We put our faith in our Heavenly Father and tried to take it one day at a time. We leaned on each other for support but it was rocky since neither of us had much to give, let alone be receptive to it.

But we didn't give up.
Not on the world.
Not on each other.
Not on ourselves.

He started working again, then I started working again.
Then I was offered a job.
An actual full-time, grown-up, professional job.
A job at Squire & Company, PC.

And I love it.

I love where I work.
The people, the mission, the values.
Each day I want to be a better employee.
And a better person.

Two weeks ago I was told about 3 potential job possibilities.
They were ones I'd always wanted to do
and/or where I wanted to work.

But I just couldn't do it.
I am where I am supposed to be.
And even though it was a long tough road to get here,
I couldn't be more grateful for it.

I have been employed for 1 year and 8 days.
And I'm not going anywhere.

Keep with the pasta

The hubs and I went to Olive Garden last night.

I had pasta for lunch so I decided to branch out.

I'm glad we had a gift card to pay for most of our meal

because neither of us had that great entrees.

They do have great flavors but just not great quality of food.

Disappointed.

Keep with pasta when going to Olive Garden.

On a lighter note we were sat by a group of 5 old couples
celebrating 2 birthdays.

One lady was wearing this:

You could tell she was kind of like "the leader" of the group.

And it was her birthday as well.

Listening to the group talk about politics,
repeating things 17 times because they can't hear each other,
and having "another engagement to be to" was quite amusing.

They were just too cute.

Made me wonder how they all knew each other.

And made me wonder who I'll still get together with when I'm,

as birthday girl #2 put it "turning 58 reversed".

One thing for sure is I am looking forward to getting there.

In love...

We are in love... with a couch.

Seriously.

It's THE best couch I've ever sat in.

Comfy. Leather. Tall. Pretty. Comfy. Durable.

Did I mention it was comfy?

We have borderline coveted this couch since July

and have come oh so close to purchasing it twice.

Why haven't we?
Well, it's kind of pricey. For just a couch.

But you know what?

We just MIGHT get it tonight.

:)

Newest Addition!

*** Disclaimer: The baby referred to in the following post is not an actual tiny, cute, precious bundle of joy like you might think. One of those isn't in our future quite yet. Sorry.

A week and half ago I was driving on the freeway to meet my carpool for dance when my car decided it wanted to die instead. Motor=dead. I guess there'd been a slow leak and it was completely out of oil. Awesome. So I waited for my wonderful husband and father to come tow it away and bring me to safety.

But that left me without a car. It costs more to fix it than it's worth so fixing it was pretty much out. So we went car shopping the next night and found this beauty.


2008 Nissan Altima
Power locks, Push start button, dual climate control, heated seats, moon/sun roof, Bose sound system

This baby had everything we hoped for but figured we'd have to sacrifice. And we could afford it all. How awesome is that?

This was my first big purchase of my life. I've never bought anything on credit or that's more than $1700. So of course I needed to sleep on it. The next day we went back and another couple was looking at it... That's about all it took. I wanted that car! We shook the guys hand, did all the paperwork stuff and drove away with my new baby!

I found myself being all protective if someone gets too close or cuts me off. I yell at them sometimes.

A week and half later and I couldn't be happier with our purchase. I probably would have looked for weeks and then gone back to it only to find it was gone and be so sad. Thank goodness I have a husband who is smart and can help me make decisions.

So if you see me on the streets don't be jealous.
And don't drive to close or I'll yell at you :)

Europe Trip Recap: Bayonne

After the Running of the Bulls we started our stay

with the Ero Bat group in Bayonne.

We loved every second of our stay there.
The buildings, the food, the people, performing,
and dancing and hanging out with the group.
I just didn't want it to end.

Our host family was so kind and funny.
They didn't speak hardly any English but
it made communicating all the better.
I truly hope to see them again some day.


After a performance at a Nursing Home we all went for a bike ride along the beach. Hands down the most memorable and fun activity of the tour. It was so relaxing and beautiful.

Clog America and Ero Bat dancing in their studio.
These guys we so much fun!

Fez with Remi and Fanny in Bayonne.
I loved the feel of this city. It was so cute.

There was a medieval festival in Bayonne with lots of cool tables to visit. We tried goat cheese and it was actually pretty yummy. One thing I loved about Bayonne was how proud everyone was of where they were from. The Basque flag and cross (pictured at the bottom right corner) were everywhere. They loved to tell us about their heritage. It made me proud to be an American and want to show that more.

Group picture at the Virgin Mary statue at Biarritz

Family picture at Biarritz.

Our host brother Remi.
I think he could kick higher than me!

Our host sister Fanny performing for us.
Isn't she just beautiful!?

We performed in a bull arena with the Ero Bat group

With our host family - Dominique, Fanny, Sandria and Remi.

At the beach on Bastille Day (the French Independence Day).
It was the only good beach day we had the entire trip.The guys playing Rugby

We gave bandannas to our host family just before we left. Dominique acted like a robber and then made me a "toro". It was so sad to leave. But it was nice to know we would see the group at International Days in South Jordan only 3 weeks later.

Europe Trip Recap: Running of the Bulls

After our Paris fun we went to Bayonne, France. We were going there to spend time with the French dance group Ero Bat. But more on that tomorrow.

When we got to Bayonne we basically ate dinner and got on a bus that took us to Pamplona, Spain for the Running of the Bulls. We arrived at 8:30 pm and the bus was coming to pick us back up at 9:00 am the next morning.

All night in Pamplona couldn't be so bad could it?

The first thing we did was get some food. It was nice to see spanish and be able to somewhat communicate with people after being in France for 5 days. Around 10:00 we decided to check out the shopping and find the bull arena.

This was my initial reaction.

(I don't know who captured this moment but it is spot on.)
As we started wandering through the city we found this...

It was amazing how absolutely disgusting the streets were already. It was only 11:00 pm. Littered with bottles, garbage, and all sorts of bodily fluids (I'm sorry... TMI). Made me wonder what the city looked like 1) in the day time and 2) without it all. I think it would be a cool city to visit.

We made our way to the carnival around midnight.

This is what we called the "family area" because it was not as much of a party place and, well, there were families there. Little kids (2, 5, 7, whatever age) with their parents enjoying the concerts and sitting in the park. At 2 am!

The bull pen where the bulls were kept all night.

This is at the bull fighting arena around 3:00 am. We were going to wait here the rest of the night but the partying was progressively getting worse and we just didn't want to stay there and witness it.

We found a quiet spot on some stairs by the starting line at 5:00 am and waited. The streets started to fill up with runners and excitement started to build.

We didn't coordinate with each other very well because everyone took video of the bulls running, but NO ONE took pictures. Oops. It was pretty awesome but really only took about 10 seconds and it was over.

I was so exhausted after the night's events I fell asleep
in the middle of telling a story. Who does that???

All in all we are glad we went to the Running of the Bulls.
It will be an interesting experience we'll always get to share
and be able to tell our kids of our crazy adventures.

Would we do it the same way?
NEVER.
And you shouldn't either.

Europe Trip Recap: Saintes, France

After our Paris fun we headed to our first festival

in Saintes, France.

This festival was.... interesting.
Let's just say we were all happy
to only be there for 2 days.
But I'll just give the good highlights. :)

But there were some great countries
there that we were happy to have met.

Hanging out with Venezuela and India before rehearsal



This is the usual Ravioli park.
It's not that interesting cause they're everywhere.

Bro and Sis!

India

Peru
These guys were members!

Taiwan

Venezuela

I love this girl.
My feet hurt so she offered me a piggy back.

We saw this guy on our hour long midnight parade
that led to nowhere and was for practically nobody.
At least he had a sweet outfit.

Our awesome band!
We are just the garnish to them.
Unless they mess up ;)

This is quite possibly the
WORST picture taken of me ever.
My sweet husband has impeccable timing.