Atlanta Georgia Aquarium

After visiting with some students from school, I decided that I really want to go visit Altanta, Georgia. The aquarium there has the world's largest viewing tank that was especially made to house the whale shark. The whale shark is the largest fish! and it is so pretty...that is the picture above. They grow up to 60 feet long! The students from my class are from Georgia so I'm having them write down a list of places to visit when I visit Georgia. I really hope Lincoln will want to go! I just love aquariums :)

Intro to Literature

I'm taking a literature class this semester..decided to take it instead of public speaking. I have a hard time getting up in front of a lot of strangers and speaking, so this class seemed like a better route to go. (I have to have a communications class to graduate.)
We have read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien and are now reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. I really like this class. We learn a lot of analytical/literature stuff. I wanted to post this post to tell everyone to try and read some kind of literature. "Life of Pi" is a fiction novel so literature doesn't mean boring. :) My class feels like a book club...which I'm really loving. I would also like to mention that I have never been a reader. Never! I usually read enough to get by. This class has really broadened out my viewpoint on reading. It really is enjoying! ha ha I can finish a book in little time. My words per minute have increased drastically and also my vocabulary has upgraded. There are a lot of plusses to reading more often. Who would have thought.
If you would like to get a feeling for what we talk about in class, we have a class blog (another fun assignment for my class) http://www.uvu2200.blogspot.com/ This is where the class posts their feelings about the book. After I'm done with this class I think it would be really fun to set up a blog for a group of friends to comment...like a book club online! How 21st century of us!

Today 9-9-09 Lincoln and I went to see the movie "9" at 9 o' clock. It was in theatre number ten...wish it would have been 9 ha ha. It was a really neat movie at a really neat time in history.

Also today I did my laundry at Bobbie's and played with Kaylin. I have taught her to put on lipgloss which is really nice because she doesn't eat it now. This picture is really cute. I took it today...she put her purse over her shoulder and put my shoes on. She is such a girly girl: shoes, lipgloss, purses, cute clothes, shopping! Kaylin already loves them all!

On Monday Lincoln and I went to a Blink 182 concert! It was a lot of fun. Here are a few videos Lincoln took on his cell phone. It was really loud and there were alot of people there. I only knew the lyrics to a few songs but Lincoln was able to sing along to every song. It was really fun to do this together. A couple of weeks ago we went to Wendover on a spur of the moment. We played craps and blackjack. I have never played before so it was a really fun adventure. We both had a good time. I love hanging out with Lincoln and doing random stuff! Can't wait to see what we decide to do next :)

School, School, and more school

I started school last Thursday and after going to my class I found out that alot of my assignments, quizzes, and other stuff, are all going to have to be submitted online! Aaah...here comes technology.
I didn't get internet at my house because I didn't see any value to paying another bill when I can just use the internet at school (or bobbie's or evy's). My thoughts began to change after I attended school. With going to school full-time and working around 30 hours a week, I finally gave into the Internet bug. ha ha
My neighbors in apartment 2 have wireless internet and Brit actually happens to be in my Macroeconomics class so I asked him if I could have their password and pay half the bill :) That way we both get internet but won't be paying the whole bill! Sounded like a good trade off. Now the stress of getting homework submitted on time is not part of my busy schedule. Yay! and don't worry bobbie and evy...I will still come visit! I don't have a washer and dryer yet or a place to set up quilts. :)

A Little Bit 'O Court Experience

so a couple of weeks ago I'm at work...just doing what I usually do, checking. When one of our former employees comes through my line. (I worked with him when he was a bagger at Albertsons.) His transaction goes like it always does, me saying hi, him saying hi, talk a little about life while I grab his cigarettes he usually comes in for. Then he hands me his money (a 20 dollar bill), it caught my attention because it just didn't look right. But I thought to myself, "why would anyone want to make a fake $20!?" We have been trained to watch for 50's and 100's but not 20's. So I give him his change and off he goes. I call my manager over to take a look at the 20 he gave me. She runs our counterfeit detector marker over the 20 and it stays black...if it was real it would have faded to a brown color. To verify our marker we take it to the bank that is located in our Albertsons. They verify that, yes, it is. So the manager calls the cops.
After taking down our info the officer leaves and not but five minutes after he does. The former bagger and his buddy (also a former bagger) return to the store to get a drink. I notify my manager and she calls the officer back to our store. The officer then arrests the two in line at the checkout! The next day we see on the police report that the kid is charged with using counterfeit and his friend is charged with possession. Very crazy story...caused alot of gossip at work.

The story doesn't end there...

A little over a week goes by, so that story is old news to me, right? Wrong, I get a call from the Utah County police, they need to stop by my house to drop off my subpoena! I was very frustrated and nervous all at the same time. WHY ME! but as you have all read, I was the one who interacted with the defendant and took the counterfeit bill.

This morning was the court date. I showed up at 10 a.m. As I'm pulling into the court building I see the kid and his family getting out of their car! wow was I intimidated. Not sure what to expect and hoping they don't hate me! I enter the court room and it's his family, another family, a few lawyers, a few officers, two inmates handcuffed and in striped uniforms, and ME :) after awhile of sitting there, a lawyer pulls the kid outside. Another lawyer comes over to me to tell me that they are making him an offer and that if he takes it, I won't have to testify, but if he does, I will. So I'm thinking to myself, Please just take it! (haha) Well it turns out that he did take the offer and I was free to go!

He was charged with a theft crime (taking the cigarettes) because he kept claiming that he had no idea that it was counterfeit. So no felony and no jail time, just a little marking on his record for theft. Moral of the story: if using a counterfeit...make sure you don't know it is :) (You get my sarcasm?)

What I have been up to :)

I haven't blogged in along time so I have a random blog...just a few things that I have been up to recently. I made these cards for my mom. I really like how they turned out and I think I will make a few more with this same layout. Maybe different colors and different stamps but same layout.
On Wednesday the 12th Jenny, Wendy, and I went to Timanogas Caves. They are a few of my friends from work. We all love rocks and geology so we decided to go hiking together up to these caves. It is really neat and we had alot of fun. Hiking was tough but a good workout! We saw blue birds, chipmunks, squirrels, lizard, and bugs. The caves were really pretty. In one cave the tour guide turned off the lights and shined a lazer into me and Wendy's diamond rings and it made a reflection that sparkled all over the roof of the cave. Way fun :) Here are a few pictures of inside the cave. The second one shows the heart of timp cave.



I finally finished Lincoln's quilt! I really love it. I just picked out fabric that had to do with his interests...basketball, golf, ...and then added some camo and just a solid brown to calm done all the other busy fabric.
I spent a day at Aunt Evie's to finish Lincoln's quilt and tie a quilt. While I was still on a quilting "high" I decided to go to my mom's and spend a day quilting! ha ha We had a good time hanging out and tieing quilts. I really like to do it but it's all about taking the time to actually go do it. Kind of like making cards, scrapbooking, shopping....ha ha I just wish we had another day added to our week to just play :)
I start school on Thursday the 27th! I'm signed up for five classes this time so I hope I can keep up with all the homework and reading! (along with going to work). My life is about to get really busy. I think I'm ready !?...

Not so fun :(

Yes that is me! This picture was taken by Emily...or my mom? right after I got my wisdom teeth out on Thursday 7-9-09. It looks like I'm in alot of pain but what I really was feeling was a nauseated stomach. I thought I was going to hurl. My mouth was so numb that at this moment I wasn't feeling any pain.
Lincoln got called out to a fire a few days before I was to go in and get this done so my mom pitched in to come and help me out! Emily also was a good sport and helped with driving me home after and running in to get my meds. Thanks Em! (She also brought me a Jamocha shake from Arby's...which is my all time favorite shake!)
Going into the "Oral surgeons" office was pretty scary for me...I had butterflies in my stomach! and after reading the side effects (including DEATH), I was so ready to walk out! :) It is one thing when I went in for my appendix..where there is sudden pain, not much time to think about it, and morphine pumping through your veins :)...to having two weeks to think about it, no good morphine, everyone elses stories, and a long list of scary side effects! I'm totally fine with the all-of-a-sudden surgery! ha ha
So the doctor had me pee before the surgery which was a good thing because I didn't end up going to the bathroom till late that night and not until my mom told me that I should probably go. Ha ha Thanks mom! You could tell I wasn't quite all there :)
I pretty much slept for about three days straight. I had the resting and relaxing down just fine. Sleep for 3-4 hours...wake up for 15 minutes to eat applesauce, pudding, yogurt, or a milkshake...and then off to sleep I went. I only took one nap yesterday and haven't taken one yet today (I'm doing laundry at Bobbie's) but I'm sure starting to get tired.
My swelling isn't too bad. Just little chipmunk cheeks. The pain was really bad the first day. When I was awake I would just sit there with tears rolling down my cheeks. It was not fun at all! My mom will probably laugh when I tell you this part...she took really good care of me! bringing me liquids and reminding me when to take my meds :) She did give me dry gauze once, which brought big tears to my eyes and had me rinse on the first day, which we found out later that we didn't need to do. (that made me cry too) (ha ha I just had to type that mom, it was pretty funny after the fact!)
All in all I have been doing pretty good. Quit bleeding the first day. I upgraded from applesauce to saltine crackers and mac n' cheese! Yay for me! When my mom was staying with me there was an Olive Garden commercial that kept coming on and I told her that once I can chew, I am eating at Olive Garden! No Rocks! I really bad want real food :) I have been watching the food network channel and thinking of all the things that I'm going to eat when I can finally chew! My mom says it's self-inflicted torture. ha ha I just want to eat!

To get my mind off of food I decided to make some cards...here they are...


I put this picture up because I was so excited for my mom to get her sidewalk done! The boys did this Saturday night and finished it up on Sunday. I can't wait for her to get grass now!
One more crazy thing to tell you guys about...on Saturday before my mom was getting ready to leave, my mom, me and Evy were sitting on the couch talking and all of a sudden there was a very loud bang and a huge flash of light! We thought our apartment buildings got hit by lightning...after a few minutes we walked outside to look around and the tree across the street had been the object that got hit. The lightning had hit the tree and blasted the bark all over the road! Very scary! Watch out for Spanish Fork lightning...it'll getcha!