Oh, I don't think so Cam!

Well, Cam sabotaged my attempt to take away the bragging rights. He checked my blog while he was at work and then made another post on his. I have nothing to write about. This is terrible. But I must win. Hmmm.... Well, one year ago today, Cam and I were in Taiwan! That was such a fun trip! I am so glad that we got the opportunity to go! I think my favorite city was Er Lin. It was so beautiful! There are a lot of open rice fields there, and it is just a quaint little town. I also loved hanging out with some of the members that Cam knew. On New Year's Eve last year, we went to dinner with some of the members who were in the Xi Hu ward. They were hilarious! We had such a fun time with them. They drove into Tai Chung and surprised us, so we all went to dinner. Here are some of the things that made me laugh during our trip to Taiwan (these will probably only make sense to Cam, but since this post is mostly for him anyway, I figure that's okay): the smiley mints, hi-chews, the blue truck, the van Gogh park, pizza hut, strawberry milk with zhen zhu, the night market, karaoke, making the kids laugh at Sun Moon Lake (the ones playing in the box), sneaking through the forest to touch the water at Sun Moon Lake, the English radio station, the crazy Vietnamese who scared me really bad, dan bings, the gummy bear drink, the guy at the Tai Bei airport that had headphones on and didn't realize that he was yelling at everyone, "Hi, how a you...", the totally inappropriate comments from the old couple in San Ye, "We are family," Kobe, and the video diary. There are so many other things I loved about our trip, but these are the things that make me laugh the most! Hey Cam, we're tied now!

I will not be outdone!

Yesterday Cam was bragging about how he has posted two things to his blog in December. I decided that I won't be outdone that easily. So, here I am, and my sole purpose in creating this post is so that Cam will stop bragging! : ) We were actually laughing about it yesterday because we are terrible at this thing called blogging. Two posts in one month really isn't good. I am waiting to get some prescriptions filled, so I thought I'd take advantage of this opportunity and tie Cam's record. I officially have bronchitis. And all those blood sugar issues (which only a handful of you know about, sorry to those who don't) are okay too. The doctor told me a whole slew of things that the symptoms could be (I shake sometimes), and some of them were pretty serious, so we decided not to tell people until we really knew what was going on. So, nothing is going on! The doctor said he believes that they are benign tremors. If I can make it to age 30 without any of the other symptoms showing up, then I'll be good to go. But we're not home free yet, seeing as how I'm only 22! So, I guess I only have to worry for eight more years! I'm not really worried about it, and he said we could just do the testing if I was, but it's SUPER expensive, and I don't have any of the other symptoms of the more serious issues, so we're just going to call it benign tremors for now, and cross our fingers until I turn 30! I think I might be the first person in the history of the world who will actually be excited to turn 30! At least for now I can be done with all the testing (which wasn't very fun), which is super good news! So yeah, this is a totally random and rambling post, but at least I've taken away Cam's bragging rights! : )

My husband is the BEST... and so is my Cricut!

Well, I just busted out my Cricut for the first time, and it is fabulous! Cam mentioned my acquisition of said Cricut on his blog, but he didn't really tell the whole story. My super cute sister Stacy called me the week before Thanksgiving to tell me about this killer sale that Robert's Crafts was having on something called a Cricut. I had never even heard of a Cricut, but started looking into it because of my sister's interest in it. I thought it looked pretty cool, and decided that I would brave the crowds on Black Friday so that I could get a Cricut. The plan was to meet at Robert's in Clinton (she lives in Clinton) at 4:30 a.m. on Friday so that we could be sure to get a good spot in line (they opened at 7:00 a.m.). Well, I ended up getting really sick the week of Thanksgiving. When we were driving home on Thursday night Cam told me that he really didn't want me to go and stand out in the cold for so long the next day. I was kind of bummed but agreed completely. Then, out of nowhere Cam said, "If you want me to, I could go tomorrow and get it for you." Isn't he great?! So he ended up getting to Robert's at 4:15 a.m., and was the first person in line! It's pretty obvious...I officially have the best husband in the entire world! So, I used the Cricut today to make some cards, and then I made a tile for a new family tradition that we will be starting in 2008. We're weird, but we decided that we want to have a lot of fun family traditions. We were talking about things that we would like to do, and Cam told me about something his family did once when he was younger. I guess that they wrote down funny things that people had said on slips of paper and then put those slips in a can. At the end of the year they opened the can and read through all the funny things. Cam said he doesn't remember it really well, but he remembers thinking that it was such a fun thing to do. Needless to say, I LOVED that idea. So, I bought a cute little pot to serve in place of the can, and then found a quote that I wanted to put next to it. I don't know if you can really see it well in the picture, but it is a quote by President Hinckley that says, "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed; not just endured!" I used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl, and it was so easy! I am a huge fan!
Moving on, we have had an awesome holiday season! We did a lot of fun things, and thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas without the stress of school! I don't think that it will ever get old to be done with school. We went to Temple Square to see the lights, slept in our family room under the Christmas tree, had a blast at the Wright family Christmas party, enjoyed "the bar" at the Nielsen's, got to visit Grandpa Fuhriman, and just hung out with our family on Christmas! I made a big Christmas Eve dinner this year, and we invited my parents over to enjoy it with us. I got home from work at about 3:00, and spent the rest of the day cooking. I never realized how much work was involved with that delicious Christmas Eve dinner that my Mom made every year. I thought it was really fun though, and I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt!

I'm IT... a bit late!

Well, I have to admit, I am downright horrible at this whole blogging thing. When I first set up the blog my sister-in-law Heather asked me if I was going to post more often than Cam, to which I replied "Of course!" I guess I lied. Sorry Heather! Anyway, I think part of the trouble for me has been that I haven't really found a template that I loved, and it's just no fun posting stuff when the template is hideous! But, I found a nice Christmas looking one, and so I'm back for now! Cam tagged me forever ago to list seven things about myself, so.... here goes! Hope you like it!

1. I love to laugh! When I was little, my sister and I would get in trouble because we couldn't stop laughing. I was LITERALLY sent to my room (on more than one occasion) because I couldn't stop laughing! My poor mother! Seriously, I don't know how she put up with all the crazy things we did. Life is better, in my opinion, when you can laugh your way through it. I don't like to take things too seriously, and I love laughing so hard that I can't stop the tears from flowing and where my sides hurt! That's the best! Anyway, I think it's great that I married Cam because he is just so funny! He keeps me laughing, and I love that about him!

2. I work in a job created just for me! Seriously! How many people can say that? I started out in the entry level position at my place of employment (I don't like to give too many specifics over the internet...is that weird?), and they noticed that I was really good at training new employees, so they created a new position in the training department just for me! It was kind of scary though, because one day when I got to work my supervisor told me that I needed to meet with one of the Senior VPs. I kind of freaked out and thought that I had done something wrong, but nope! That little meeting was such a great confidence booster! Well, then I graduated in Health Promotion, and they were worried I would leave, so they gave me a sweet raise and let me start a wellness program. The current program is a weight loss contest, and it's called "The 'Waist' Management Team." It's been a lot of fun! Total pounds lost to date: 62.5

3. I love sports! We can thank my Dad for this one. Cam loves that my Dad "raised me right." I am a big Ute fan, love the Jazz, and the Red Sox. We didn't really watch much baseball (growing up) until the 2004 World Series, and right from the get go I loved Boston! Cam likes the Braves...so I'll cheer for them too. When Cam and I were at a U football game this year I asked him if I embarrassed him (I can be quite loud) and he started laughing and said, "No, you're no louder than anyone else around us." I looked around and came to a realization and said, "But they're all men." Cam just thought it was funny and said he's proud that I can hold my own! I think he likes that he doesn't always have to explain the rules to me.

4. My pupils are always different sizes. I don't know why, but it's true! In fact, I was water-skiing one time, and I took a really hard fall. I got in the boat and my cousin (who is a nurse) started freaking out and said that I had a concussion. It took me a minute, but I finally realized why she was worried. I just explained to her that my pupils are always different sizes, and I don't really think she believed me at first! But my sisters backed me up on that one, so we were good to go!

5. My favorite class in college was called "Human Rights And Nationalism In The Former Yugoslavia And Chechnya." I was going to major in Political Science before I got married, and I really only had one semester of upper division classes. I think this one was 4260. There are so many reasons that I loved this class! First of all, it totally changed how I look at the world. I learned SOOOO much. I also loved the class because of how much I accomplished. The first day of class I honestly felt like crying! It was so scary! The kid next to me even asked if I felt okay after class (apparently I looked like I was going to pass out!). I felt totally overwhelmed because most of the people in the class were all getting ready to graduate in PolSci, and also because the class was going to require a TON of work! I'm proud to say that I held my own quite well, and got an A! Wahoo! All our tests were essay tests, and I even had to read one of my essays to the class because I was the only person who received 100%! It was fun for me to jump into something that was way over my head, and realize that I could still handle it.

6. I had "the perfect" childhood. When I was in Junior High I took a Speech and Drama class. We had to give a speech about our childhood, and as soon as I finished our teacher freaked out. Apparently she had spent her whole career trying to find someone who had the perfect childhood, and after I gave my speech, she was convinced that I did. For those of you who don't know, I grew up on a street named after my family, and my grandparents and all my cousins lived on the same street. My grandpa had a farm, so we (my siblings and cousins) were always coming up with crazy things to do. We had an old tractor for a club house (actually an old onion harvester), and we always swam in the irrigation canal. We also had a fun uncle who would hook a rope to the back of his truck (a water-ski rope) and pull us down the road on our roller blades. We played boxcar children in the horse trailer, and even repelled down the hay stack (using horse bridles and bailing twine). We camped out in the field for a week at a time, and made up games (like the car game). And we got to see our Grandparents every day!

7. I LOVE waterskiing! I learned to ski when I was eight (would have been earlier but we got a new boat as I was learning, and the wake was a lot bigger, and I was scared of it!!) and then learned to slalom when I was twelve. My family has a few rules when it comes to waterskiing (most of which were created and enforced by my brother, who was determined not to have prissy sisters). The first rule, and the most important, is that you never end your ski on a fall. If you fell, you had to at least stand back up and then you could let go and get in the boat. Of course, if you were SERIOUSLY injured, you could just get in, but most of the time you had to prove that you were tough enough to get back up. The second rule is that we always dive when entering the water. Take it like a man. The reason this was important is because we always skied at Bear Lake, where most people thought the water was "too cold." Another rule: We always keep Tylenol in the boat. We have other rules, but there are too many to list here! There are also silly little things we do that make me smile. For example, we rate falls on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 is nothing out of the ordinary, whereas a ten causes serious pain and looks hilarious to everyone watching! I can remember so many times where I would hit the water (or the ski) and instantly be thinking "Dang, that hurt!" Nothing took the pain away like coming up out of the water to see the boat heading toward you with all occupants on their feet holding up ten fingers yelling "TEN! TEN!" Of course, the driver (usually Mom) would honk the horn too, which was an added bonus! My brother also always said that if you fell hard enough to draw blood, you must have been skiing really hard. So all battle wounds were cherished!

WOW! Talk about a long post! I've turned into a chatty Kathy here! I will try and post more often, and not make them so lengthy! Anyway, I now tag Stacy, Julie, and Jen!!!! Wendy gets off easy because she has a new baby! Good luck to all of you, and I'll be expecting to read yours soon!

St. George and stuff

Two weeks ago Cam and I took a drive to look at the fall foliage. We drove up through Emigration Canyon, and the leaves were lovely! The picture doesn't do the drive justice, but what do you do?! Anyway, last week I had to go to St. George for a business trip. It was kind of weird for two reasons. First, I swear I'm not grown up enough to go on a business trip! Second, people from my place of employment rarely go to St. George on business, so it was bizarre that they asked me to go! I guess I'm more important than I thought! : ) When they first asked me to go I was kind of excited about it, but as it got closer dread began to set in. I wasn't excited about being away from Cam for 6 whole nights, and I even started to cry when I had to leave. Yeah, I'm a dork. So anyway, I arrived without incident on Sunday night, and actually had a pretty decent week. I did some shopping, went swimming, and just relaxed (oh yeah, and I worked too)! The people who work in the branch down there are really great, which made the workdays quite fun. Cam had to go to Richfield for a business thing Wednesday through Friday so on Wednesday he left work early and drove down to St. George so that we could go to dinner. We had such a fun time! On Thursday night the girls from our branch decided that I needed to try this restaurant called The Pizza Factory, so we all went out to dinner and had a great time. On Friday Cam and I were planning on meeting in Scipio to caravan home, but he left earlier than he had planned, and I left later than I had planned, so I ended up being about an hour behind him. Oh well. I enjoyed the drive (thanks to the Dr. Pepper.... my mom would be so proud), and got home in time to take the rental car back before Enterprise closed!

On Saturday Cam and I went to the Utah vs. Utah State game. We knew it was going to be cold and wet so we dressed really warm. However, upon taking our seats I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to last very long because I was FREEZING! We went and bought sweatshirts (Cam was cold too.... shocker, I know) and stayed until half time! The rain turned into sleet and by the time we left we were both soaked from the waist down. Brrr...... Then I went to the Conference Center for the General Relief Society Meeting with Faye and Cam's sisters. I had a lot of fun and the meeting was awesome!

Here goes nothin'...

Well, I finally caved. Cam helped me set up this blog today. I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. Don't get me wrong, I like reading other people's blogs, I'm just not sure how it will be to have my own blog. Oh well, what do you do? Cam took his first official business trip this week. It was kind of weird. I was planning on getting a lot of things done (like some much needed cleaning), but of course, I didn't. I was e-mailing my sister while I was at work, and she mentioned that my brother-in-law was also going to be out of town and asked if I wanted to sleep over. We had a lot of fun! We started watching the movie "Stranger Than Fiction," but then we had to go to sleep (sometimes working bites) and we didn't get far enough into the movie for me not to think it's insane. But my sister really likes it, so I guess I'll have to give it another chance. Cam and I are going to the U game tomorrow. I am pretty excited about it. I love going to the games, but I know that they're going to lose tomorrow. Oh well. At least we'll get to listen to the people around us taunt the opposing team's bench a little. That's always worth a laugh.