Jamaican me tired

This past weekend, I headed to Jamaica for a learning conference. GOGO holds a conference like this every year during December. I was lucky enough to be in Jamaica over our wedding anniversary...at the same hotel. Sarcasm. Throw sarcasm all over that.

Sarcasm aside, Sandals Whitehouse will always be one of my favorite places, so even though I was solo this time, it was fun to visit our honeymoon spot.

After a very long night that suddenly turned into day again, I arrived at the hotel around 4:30pm. I started flying/traveling at 11:00pm the night before. Just sayin'. Upon arrival at the hotel, we were welcomed by these lovely Jamaican singers:

And this banner. I liked the singers better than banner, but it was still fun.

Sunset on the first night after it had rained a bit.

Me and my new friend Linda. This was during our tacky 80s wedding party. I thought my costume was awesome, but it was considerably less skanky than most. I think it stands to reason I would be just as modest at an 80s wedding as I would now, right? ps-the yellow beads are for a tribute to my mom. :)

Me and one of my new co-workers, Waquita. She talks fast and is good at her job. She also might have stolen this parasol.

Me at the main pool after breakfast. I didn't so much get to swim in this pool as I did get to look at it. But beautiful, eh?

Ditto on the ocean.

My second evening and its lovely sunset.

One of my favorite pictures from this trip.

Outside of the front door of my room. When the wind blew through these plants, it sounded like it was raining.

Vivian, Me and Vera (also new co-workers). We bonded at the White Party.

A beach walking bird.

This trip lasted a whole of two days. It was much too short and tiring, but I heart Jamaica, so I will take it in any amount, in any opportunity given to me. Until (hopefully there will be a) next time.

GOGOing Again

I'm back to work. I think I've officially been there a month or so, but with training, I've been in the office for three weeks now. Settling in is my most least favorite part; it's seems especially awkward because I'm coming back to the same position, but not really. I keep feeling like I should know what I'm doing, because I sometimes know, and sometimes I have no clue. It's a good test of my memory and self-esteem, but it's coming along nicely I think. I've already had a chance to talk to a few of my old favorite agents, and they give me moments when I feel like it's home. My co-workers are very nice and are helping me feel more comfortable. However:

Every time I've started a new job, I've compared it to my SLC GOGO job. I spent so much time there; during those years I went through a lot of things that my little family there helped me with, so I can't help but be attached. I can't help but be nostalgic and a little dramatic when I now talk to someone from Trips, and there's no one around to really giggle about it, or when I have yet another awkward conversation with Pete, no one really gets how funny it is, or when no one has never even heard of Tonda.

So anyway, this is my little tribute to them; I found some old pictures...I unfortunately don't have some of everyone, but we always had fun on our trips, either at someone else's expense:

Jessica and I loved this woman for wearing her conference name tag at the beach. True dedication.

or maybe sometimes our own:

Sylvia, Jeff, Me, Jessica, Michelle

(Soon after this picture was taken I found a tea light in my Diet Coke. Just thrown right in. Thanks, Ritz Carlton. )

Me and Jess relaxing in the Xcaret park in the couple of hours of spare time we were given. Maybe we should've left our name tags on too?

Celeste, Me, Michelle, Jessica and Lisa; my last (full time) day at the office.

This weekend I'm on my way to Jamaica for a GOGO conference; I'm excited, but I know it won't be the same without Sylvia taking pictures of me while I'm doing my homework while at the beach, throwing the undesirable hors d' oeuvres over the balcony with Jess, or Sylvia taking care to point out the "hot" waiters during dinner. :)

Bennifer: November 2010

For those have you who haven't met Bennifer, you're missing out.

Ben and Jenn came to visit us a few weekends ago! I had just flown back from NJ, and it was fun to be welcomed back by Nathan and friends. I mentioned to them that we aren't great tour guides yet, in fact, we got more turned around than we usually do, but they are our very first visitors, so they had the pleasure (I'm sure) of breaking us in. First on the list was walking through the Stratosphere, I think mostly so we could see the Asian men playing the "Kitty Glitter" slot machines. I need to get a picture, but just believe me for now. We had a delightful dinner at IHOP (pumpkin pancakes=heaven), and I tried to make sense when I spoke. My body was still on Eastern time, so it was about 3-4am according to me and my mushy brain.

After an exciting morning at the DMV, we met back up with Bennifer and decided to head to Hoover Dam!

This is the part of the day when we still didn't know where to go. Impressive power lines though.

I think this is Nate and I being lovey, but it looks very similar to a few family pictures when Tom (that's right, I'm telling) was grabbing my wrist in a like (but brotherly, mean-hearted) fashion.

Me and Jenn with the Hoover Dam worker tribute. If we look awkward, we felt awkward; there were about 3 people (we didn't know) also taking photos we were probably in.

Looking down scared me every, every time. It probably always will. I take comfort in knowing that most everyone else is at least scared by heights like this.

View of the new bridge. Yes, the bridge is scary too.

After spending most of our day at the Dam, we walked along the strip and had a lovely dinner.

From the top of the Venetian. This reminded me of our kitties in a "really mischievous gargoyle" type way. It was a beautiful night to see all the lights on the strip. It was also a beautiful night to see all the bachelor party morons doing their thing* on the strip.

*see next image for some idea, but their thing usually=being stupid

It's lucky we are such fans of Halloween; Vegas is kinda always Halloween. Drunk Halloween, but Halloween nonetheless.

View of Paris from the Bellagio fountains.

We had a such a great time with Bennifer and hope they come (all 3 of you next time?) back soon!

World Traveler

To kick my new job off right, I was sent to sunny New Jersey for two weeks of training.

I was gone from Oct 31-Nov 12. I filled my days with product and computer training, my nights with frequent visits to the gym and the lobby "store", talking with Nathan, and watching copious amounts of "Bones" and "Burn Notice". Everything went better than I expected, but that often happens because I'm such an anxious gal when it comes to *new* things, so my expectations are normally pretty low.

The weekend presented a problem for me: I didn't want to go into the city (read: I didn't have enough $$ to go into the city), but I didn't want to hang around all day. So, I convinced a front desk worker to drop me off at an area that had a Kohl's, Marshall's, Panera, etc. Janine ended up being delightful, and we discovered all sorts of connections (her dad is an attorney in Henderson, NV, her brother is LDS and went to high school in Utah, and I think she was born and lived in Ohio for a while). She was very nice to take me away from the hotel and I took advantage of my freedom. I stayed out from about 1:00-6:00pm and returned home as refreshed as one can be with that situation. Sunday was a late breakfast, a nap, a Law and Order marathon, topped off with a walk whilst listening to General Conference talks.

I hope my description above explains why I didn't take many pictures, but I thought I'd share some that I did take:

I kept seeing James Carville on CNN. I've been especially been entertained by him ever since he guest starred on "30 Rock" a season or two ago. Cajun Style.

Here's a picture of my notebook/proof I'm a nerd. I truly needed a notebook and this truly looks like Kathryn.

Hosscat?!

Box of candy at Rite Aid. So true, yet so weird.

Everyone all ready for Fishmas?? I still have a LOT of Fishmas shopping to do. Can't wait for Fish Friday. (Get it, Black Friday/fish fry?)

One of many

Directly after Kanab, I followed my family back up to Sandy for some more visiting. It was nice to know I can (and will) come up again and again, but there's never enough time, I've decided. Some of the highlights:

Wheeler Farm visit:

The geese are frightening and loud, the ducks are smart, and I felt relieved to run out of bread. Yes, I'm an adult.

Afton, Liz, and Lilly. They had a treat after the geese, so they were satisfied.

Lilly and Vince. We got several hand holding shots, so this will represent, but it never got old. Every time a cousin held another cousin's hand, I got the camera out and ready.

I realize this shot should've probably had a child instead of a dog, but Lucky is so cute and I missed my kitties. :)

During my stay, I had an opportunity to bond with Vince. I'm happy to report he knows me by name (usually "Hi Liz" is followed by "and Nate?"), will hold my hand and give me hugs. These steps do so much for an aunt that's been away too long.

Halloween Cat!

Amos (pictured) and Andy were once again very welcoming to us when we visited Tom and Stacey. Amos successfully got me into the Halloween spirit.

Soo...I kind of made my family participate in a last minute Halloween party:

Nate's shoes don't look like they are really on his feet, but they are....and that's his real hair.

Some of the cousins right before they were done with posing on the couch.

With the baby Bella. She wouldn't wear Nate's hair, so we settled for this shot.

Group shot (courtesy of Ethan!)

Nate successfully holding the wee Ivie. We also made progress with our relationship with her. More visits are necessary, but we're willing to make the sacrifice. :)

Kanab is for families

This year for our (immediate) family reunion, Stacey went above and beyond and found us a great place in Kanab to stay. Our original plan was St. George, but UEA and a few other things got in the way. Kanab was great though; we had a huge house all to ourselves and it was so much fun reacquainting myself with everyone again. Well, not everyone; we were missing Steve and Michelle's family. Maybe everyone for next year??

Tom taking his pool duties seriously; actually Matt and Nate were also spotted helping with this. There were some unfortunate things found in the pool, so a big thank you to them for making sure I didn't see any of them. :)

Ruth and the buttermilk child by the pool.

Jim's dog, Lucky, somehow finding this spot comfy.

Ethan and Alisha...just a little resemblance. :)

Dad and me at a lame "Hollywood movie set". The cutouts were obviously not used in films, yet this was one of the best parts of the tour.

Ruth and the wee Bella. And no, the baby isn't wearing fake lashes and lip liner...she's just pretty.

Baby Grey also just being really cute.

Some of the girls (and Vince) in the hot tub...that pool was way too cold!

Ethan, Jim, Lilly, and Lizzie in the other side of the hot tub...it kind of turned into the pool for most everyone. :)

While Pipe Springs* and the Hollywood movie set was basically a bust, we still had a great weekend. Can't wait until next time!

*in a nutshell, we had to pay for admission (which we didn't realize until we got there) and the worker at the front desk (as Matt said) hadn't gone through his Disney training. We ended up leaving with only one tantrum to deal with.

(south) Westward Ho!

September 28th, 2010:

Our original plan was to leave early that Tuesday morning. Original. Original didn't happen. Does it ever? Anyway, we found ourselves still wrapping things up around 2:00pm. We finally got everything in the truck, and then the truck wouldn't start. I realize the sound of a car/truck not starting is never welcome, but it seemed really not welcome that day. On the brink of "starvation", I went to get some food whilst Nate figured out a plan for Penske to come look at the truck. They not only showed up, but quickly, so huzzah to them. They got the truck going and we ended up leaving Toledo around 4:30pm.



This is me with our downstairs neighbor, Yvonne. She was our Toledo grandma and very tolerant of our moving out, moving in, then moving out again. She often left us treats by the stairs and made our apartment smell like home cooked food. (It didn't matter what we actually ended up eating, the smell was just comforting)

Midnight, stopping for "dinner". We found a Wendy's just in time...ordering at a drive thru window is tricky with a large truck, but we worked it out okay. The kitties enjoyed the break from their cells, but seemed to remember how unfair life was once we had to stuff them back in.

September 29, 2010:

5:00am. Still driving. Our goal was to make it to Kansas City, MO. Around Columbia, MO, things started to feel desperate/dangerous. Nate was so tired, he sounded stoned. Or what I would imagine he would sound like stoned. I wasn't really doing so well myself. I had resorted to retelling the plot to "Oklahoma!" and even during my own discussion of the Ado-Annie subplot, I almost fell asleep several times. We decided this wasn't anyway to spend our last few moments, so we found the closest La Quinta (they allow pets) and somehow managed to get there safely. Luckily, we checked in just in time for breakfast. The front desk guy let us have the room at a day rate, so we could catch up on some sleep. So by about 3:00pm, we were on our way once again, destined for a similar schedule.

This was my view for the whole trip. :)

This is to prove we were both in the truck; and happy about it.

That evening, we stopped for lunch (our sense of time was completely lost) and we drove past this lovely little place. "King Kong" apparently sells hamburgers. Why the emphasis on gorillas, then?

We saw this in Nebraska and felt it was appropriate.

September 30th, 2010:

7:00am: We had just about made it to Cheyenne when it became apparent that we'd driven too long for Kathryn's liking. We had put down diapers for them to relieve themselves on, but they had kept scratching at them, so as luck/Murphy's law would have it, when we took them out, only then did they need them. Poor Kathryn.

I was tired/hungry, so I felt gaggy, so I made Nate a deal. (wasn't much of a deal, but it was what I could do) If he would give Kathryn a bath, then I'd get breakfast. He was all for it and it surprisingly worked out pretty well.

No, a possum didn't sneak in, this is Kathryn post bath. Nate said considering the circumstances, she was pretty okay with the whole situation and seemed to like it after a bit.

Look how pretty and fuzzy she is!

3:00pm: we were on our way again. We'd managed to sleep from about 8:00am-12:00pm, which wasn't enough, but it was. It kind of had to be. We stopped for lunch in Laramie, then continued to head west, west, west. We had a lot of sun to deal with, so Wyoming seemed years long.

It seemed years long to some others I know. She's so dramatic.

We got into Sandy around 10:00pm on Thursday night. We were welcomed by the Higleys and had a lovely dinner. I'd say conversation too, but it'd only be 50% true. I was so tired I could barely respond normally, so I left Nate to socialize with his family and I went to bed.

Friday October 1, 2010:

10:00am: We both slept in the next morning and I was picked up by Ruth to go to lunch with the sibs. We met at Apple Spice Junction (a lunch favorite from our/my UOP/GoGo days) and we had a good time. It was too short, but long enough for me to be reminded that Tom will always be an adventurous eater. :)

After stopping at Alisha's to visit with her and the kids, Nate and I headed back up to his house to get ready to go. We hung out with his family for a bit more and then left around 5:00pm.

After the traffic in Utah County and a dinner stop, we landed into Las Vegas around midnight. After some discussion with our security guard, (read: begging to at least bring our truck in to get our mattress out) we got what we needed for the night and went to bed.

Saturday October 2, 2010:

8:30am: we got up to pick up the truck from our friends, the Harper's (they've helped more than I can describe), and then proceeded to unload. Our goal was to get most everything done by the time we had a few ward members show up to help with the big stuff. Turns out that was a good plan.

By 11:00am, the truck was empty besides our couch, the treadmill, and our tv amoire; we had one guy from the ward show up, Chris. Chris was a champ and just the help we needed. By about 1:00pm, we had the truck dropped off, and our stomachs fed. We looked terrible, but we were done. At least with that part of things.

From then we just had to dig out from all the boxes.