furniture dilemma

this week my boss bought a new living room set {couches, coffee table, end tables the whole bit}. needing a place for her old couches to go, she offered to sell them to us for $100. i told her if she would send pictures, i would ask chris. then i told her how we had been looking for a good priced coffee table and couldn't find a nice one we liked anywhere. after i said that she offered to throw in her old coffee table and end table as well. score! so we got home thursday with two new green couches, a nice coffee table and matching end table. friday we decided to move the green chairs downstairs and recruited craig {chris' old roomie and our new friends in the ward} to help. for nearly an hour and a half the two boys tried to get the sofa downstairs to our cramped little basement. it was a no-go for sure. after removing 3 doors and a light fixture and getting it wedged between the ceiling and floor more than once i told them it was alright, that i'd settle for just the tables and we'd sell the couches. i was so bummed because these couches looked brand new compared to our tan ones. plus, they were super comfy. friday night just before going to bed i posted them on this site. by 10 o'clock saturday morning, we had received 2 emails and a phone call inquiring about the couches. i couldn't believe it. by 4 that afternoon we had sold the couches and pretty much gotten the tables for free. we've since decided that DI is no longer getting ANYTHING... until after we give it a go on craigslist.

neighborhood fire

we came home from church sunday to find our street blocked off by dozens of cop cars and firetrucks. we could see that there was a fire and couldn't tell exactly which house had set fire. at first we were a little worried it was our house. when we finally made it to our street, we realized that two houses down and across the street from us was the one on fire. the roof had caved in and the flames were pouring out of the roof. since church had just gotten out, the entire ward was there to watch as this poor little family lost everything. after we had been watching the lackluster firemen try to put the fire out with little avail, the paramedics strolled {i say strolled because no urgency was involved} to the house with a strecther in hand. someone was inside! we had all been thinking how lucky it was that everyone was at church, but apparently kevin, the husband had stayed home after working an exhausting 18 hour shift at work. when they pulled him out everyone was in complete shock. i lost it. i didn't even know the family but just thinking of how terrible it would be to be in their situation made me cry. the firemen told catia, kevin's wife, that he was breathing when they pulled him out of the house. we saw them beginning CPR before the ambulance left however, and he died from smoke inhalation on the way to the hospital. we found out later that his body was found in the hallway...he had tried to get out but didn't make it before passing out. what made this story even more sad was the fact that the family was renting the house and had no insurance on their possessions or on kevin. we've all rallied together as a ward to give this poor lady and her two young daughters what they need to start life over again. it really makes us count our blessings and be thankful for all the many things we have.

who needs math?

in order to graduate per my major requirements i have to take a calculus course. after spending a little over a week in a calculus class my first year at BYU, i decided to put the hellish class off for as long as i possibly could. well considering i plan to graduate in april it doesn't leave me very much time. while talking with a friend over some biomechanics homework about my dilemma of hating calculus, she told me how she had replaced it with a class we had taken together. i was so excited i almost fell out of my chair. today i finally worked up the courage to{rather chris made me} go and talk with my faculty advisor about it. after being ridiculed for not having taken a college math course that could help me better absorb the material in my chemistry, physics and physiology classes, my faculty advisor reluctantly signed my form to not only replace the calculus class with one of my previous class but to waive it completely. after this semester is over i have 4 measely credits left in my major to fulfill all my major requirements. that leaves me with 8 credits of whatever i want. i'm thinking photography and clothing construction and an easy easy last semester.

applying for graduation

yesterday i paid $30 for chris and i to be able to graduate this coming april. while it was a very liberating experience to have "applied for graduation" {there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel, for me at least!} i found it strange that we have to pay more money to be allowed to leave. i understand the point of tuition, we need to pay to attend, but charging us to leave? when i asked the employee who took my credit card why they charged an application fee for graduation she replied that it went to the printing of the diploma and other random fees. i would think just raising tuition $15 your last semester would be easier, but nonetheless i am $30 poorer but have that shiny piece of paper to be looking forward to in april.

advanced primary

who knew that the primary program was turning into the mormon tabernacle choir performance? i surely didn't until i was put into primary as a pianist in february. growing up with a mom constantly in the primary, the program was always stressful, but mostly because kids didn't show up to say their parts, not because the music didn't sound right. the conductor of our primary is a wonderful lady but she has VERY high expectations for the kids in her primary and likes to fly by the seat of her pants. the program usually takes place in late september or october and consists of various speaking parts by all the attending children and 6-10 songs from the manual. we have spent the majority of each sunday for the past 6 months learning and perfecting the program songs. but the plain old primary songs weren't good enough. along with several solos and fancy renditions of the primary tunes including chimes, violin and flute, a full choir version of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" has been added to the program. the piece is 10 pages long and includes a very tricky accompaniment. the children have only learned the first and last verses and a group of soloists and congregation will finish the rest of the piece. after getting along most of the time without even touching a piano before primary singing time on sunday, i have found myself spending a little more time at the piano than i have in 4 or more years. hopefully my poor skills as a pianist can keep up with our mormon tabernacle choir primary.

why men don't cook

i often give chris a hard time for not really ever fixing a real meal for us since we've been married. {i know, right!} but the truth is i don't mind doing all the cooking {most of the time} and i would rather just do it all by myself if i'm gonna do it. well, i decided to go to the gym before coming home to fix dinner and i asked chris if he would get started on the squash {just simple boiled squash}. all he had to do was put the huge hunk of squash in a pot of water on high and then once it started to boil, turn it down to medium low. when chris came to pick me up from the gym, he proceeded to tell me the following: he had put the squash in a pot with lots of water, turned it on high. he then checked his email, watched a full episode of the o'reilly factor {that's 45 minutes people}, forgetting all the while to check the squash and turn the heat down. when he finally remembered, he ran into the kitchen to find the pot boiling away furiously with about a 1/2 inch of water left in the pot. when chris finished relaying the story he said, "see! that's why i don't cook. too much to remember!" thankfully the pot wasn't empty and ruined! the squash turned out fine as well. but i think i'll be manning the kitchen from now on, unless chris wants to make egg sandwiches or do the dishes.

finished project

back in january when we first moved into our apartment and got everything "settled" i bought a huge frame and a copy of the family proclamation. i wanted to make a mat out of pictures of chris and i to put around the proclamation and then frame it. i got the idea from my friend katie, her parents have one similar with pictures of all their kids surrounding it. so i have had the frame and the proclamation just sitting in our office collecting dust, waiting to get pictures developed and find the time to put it together. this morning, after much deliberation and a failed first attempt, i finally finished it and chris hung it on the wall. i was so proud of it i took pictures for all to see:

the utes

after chris received his recent MCAT score {his best yest} he was finally able to submit his full application to all of the schools he applied to this past monday. thursday while i was at work i get a call from chris saying that he had been invited to have an interview with the university of utah school of medicine. i was so excited i could hardly stand it. chris was so nervous he could hardly stand it. when i got home to congratulate him, he reminded me not to get my hopes up that in no way does an interview guarantee that we get in. i simply told him that i was going to get my hopes up anyway and if that meant he had to console me if we didn't get in there, that was just part of the process. he interviews on october 18 which is a little over a month away. we have a lot of prepping to do in the mean time and we sure appreciate everyone's prayers and support as we go through this crazy little process.

foul play

luckily so far this semester, chris has been able to set aside some time a few days each week to play ball. friday was no exception. even though we had somewhere to be at 5:30, there was plenty of time to get in some "ball at 4" {ball at 4 was an everyday thing back in the day before life got serious}. so i show up at the RB {where the pick-up ball is every afternoon} at 5:15 to meet chris and he shows me this:

yep, that's right. a black eye. probably one of the worst i've seen, chris says his definitely the worst he's ever had. by the time we went to bed friday night it was almost swollen shut and very purple. the swelling has gone down a bit {he doesn't look like quasimodo anymore} but it is still a very lovely shade of dark red/purple. hopefully it goes down soon.

turban time

chris wanted a turban, i thought it would be cool if he looked like chiquita banana...here's what resulted:

and here he is strutting his stuff on the runway--er--pool deck:

selvatica

{singing twelve days of christmas} on the fourth day of our mexico trip the excitement brought to us...twelve different jungle zip lines! okay enough singing. this was by far our favorite excursion of the trip. we took a 45 minutes van ride to the middle of the jungle. i was a little nervous by our driver and the road conditions {think huge rocks in the road and piles of dirt being moved by excavators and our driver swerving in and out of the way} also mexican roads are very narrow and we passed many a semi truck while en route. yikes! once there we signed in, put our stuff in lockers and were given a harness, helmet and pair of gloves. we walked a little ways and then were instructed on the basics of zip lining. {chris and i kinda missed that part.} we then climbed some stairs that were attached to a tree and began the zip line tour. we went on twelve different ziplines through the jungle and we were in the trees the entire time. chris and i even got to hang upside down on one of the lines. i think part of what made it so perfect was that it was raining and the humidity was gone and also the lines were going much faster because they were wet. once the zip line tour was over we hopped on mountain bikes and rode about a mile or so to a cenote. because the yucatan is all sand stone, when it rains the water makes natural little puddles. eventually these all connect to make huge giant swimming pools. this cenote was very deep {the shallowest spot was 8 feet deep} and had a few great cliffs to jump off along with a zip line you could ride and then jump off into the water. it was spectacular. after swimming we went back and ate lunch before they drove us back to our hotel.

sweet towel animals

every day when chris and i would come back to the room after being out all day we always found a little creature made out of towels. it was almost the most exciting part of my day seeing how the bed was made and what animal was left for us. my favorite was the day he made an elephant and put my sunglasses that were laying on the desk on its head! the funny thing was that Hugo or cleaning guy asked for a tip at the end of the week....and i thought he was just being nice!

dinner during a rainstorm

we were in the middle of dinner when all of the sudden it started pouring cats and dogs. people were out by the pool enjoying the moonlight and came running into the open air restaurant completely soaked. we enjoyed some fancy frozen drinks along with "yummy" mexican buffet {all the mexicans pronounce the word buffet by adding the t sound at the end...it's really funny}

walking on broken glass

we went on a little jaunt down the beach to the hilton hotel one afternoon. we were sick of drinking daquiris and wanted to check out a few of the hotels down the beach. we passed a few hotels that were pretty amazing but none of the ones we saw compared to the hilton. it was HUGE. we walked around admiring the pools and peeked into the lobby. i can't even begin to imagine what the guests pay to sleep there! while we were dreaming about being rich and staying at the hilton we ran into some wild iguanas. they seemed harmless but they sure are ugly looking.
to the left is one of the little stretches of sidewalk that go around the resort overlooking the beach... it wasn't made of regular concrete, but the fancy kind that is textured. fancy schmancy.

isn't this pool amazing? the front of the hilton...it was real windy

this is our little lizard friend trying to escape before we could get his picture.

segunda dia

monday we embarked on an "excursion" to La Isla de Mujeres {the island of women}. we were a little disappointed with this excursion because the travel agent talked up how great the snorkeling was and that it would be a snorkeling trip. we spent a grand total of 20 minutes snorkeling and we had to wear life jackets and follow the leader. the water was fairly foggy and cloudy because of the hurricane but we did see a couple of sting rays and a few colorful fish. we also got to snorkel around a tank full of bull sharks. that also was pretty cool, except for the cloudy water. chris made sure to let everyone know when a shark passed by whispering "there's a shark" into his snorkel tube. after snorkeling we scarfed down some lunch and a few pina coladas and then boarded a ferry that would take us to the pueblo {town} at the center of the island. we browsed around town looking for souvenirs {i wanted to get a couple of plates and a necklace} we ended up buying a pair of pants for chris so we could eat in the fancy restaurant at the resort instead.

chris and i pre-snorkel on the bus ride to the ferry dock

ferry ride to the pueblo

primer dia

{for all you non-spanish speakers, that means first day} the first full day we were in cancun was sunday, so we spent most of the day lounging by the pool and on the beach. chris and i did engage ourselves in a rousing game of bocce ball, water aerobics, and i did a little salsa lesson. {the resort had entertainment staff by the pool all day doing activities for everyone to participate int}

cancun

i'm gonna post a bunch of pictures of our trip to cancun but i'm going to do it in sequence by day and then a little description of what we did, that way there's not just one huge long post! for now here's a little view outside the window of our hotel room, don't you like my sexy face?

SOLD!

i have neglected to let everyone in the blog universe know that we finally sold the house up in meridian. the realistate agent we used happened to be in the area showing some investors some property and decided to show him the little house on blue heron that was in the process of getting new carpet and new paint. thank goodness he did that because the investors really liked what they saw and offered full price. the house hadn't even been put back on the market yet. we are so grateful that our prayers were answered and we were able to put that little bump in the road behind us and come out a little on top.

back to life...

...back to reality. at least that's how chris and i feel after being gone for 10 days. school and work began again for us today and we're back to the daily grind.