A Little Unproductive

So I'm not getting a lot accomplished at work today... but then again can you blame me with this sweet one asleep on my desk?

Zeniff is the Coolest (updated)

So I made the mistake of leaving myself signed in to my blog while Zeniff was on the computer. The result? The first "Zeniff is the Coolest" post. Well he didn't write anything else so I thought I would just add too it a little. It's a little mushy though and kind of long...

But he is just the greatest. I love, LOVE spending time with him. He listens to me. He makes me laugh. He encourages me to try to new things.

He takes care of me. A few weeks ago I got sick at work. I called him and he dropped all of his plans and rushed over to see me. He made a bed on the floor for me and then when I started throwing up, he stood right by me and held my hair away from my face and rubbed my back. Then he got me soup, took me home, and read to me until I fell asleep.

He tells me that I'm beautiful. He encourages me to follow my dreams and reassures me that I can succeed. He loves to listen to me play the piano.

He is thoughtful. When I moved back to Utah from Boise, I found that during the move my ceramic piggy bank had broke into lots a tiny pieces. It didn't really hold a lot of sentimental value, but it was the only item that I still had from my childhood. No stuffed animals, blankets, or anything. He saw my disappointment when I opened the box and saw him in pieces, but I just handed it over to Zeniff and asked him to put outside in the trash. I pretty much forgot all about it. That was in October. That Christmas I opened my presents from Zeniff and in the last box was my piggy bank, pieced back together.

He endures my singing - and I think he even enjoys it a little. :) He lets me listen to Disco music on the radio even though I know he HATES it. He kisses my forehead when I'm sad.

He lets me fall asleep on his shoulder when we are watching movies and tries not to move a muscle as not to wake me... even though I'm sure his entire arm is numb and tingling. He doesn't even get grossed out if I happen to be REALLY tired and start to drool a little. :)

He takes pictures of us.


He asks the 'hard' questions and helps me to see other points of view. He kisses my cheek. He plays with my nieces and nephews and is soooo good with kids. He encourages me to be healthy. He helps me in the kitchen.

He doesn't take things to seriously and helps me to not be so stressed out.


He saves everything I have ever given him. For Valentine's day I gave him a box of candy and stuff and 220 little pieces of paper, each had a one characteristic I loved about him. He still has the box and every piece of paper.

I could keep going... but I think you probably get it now. Zeniff really is the greatest.


I love this picture of him too. I think he looks dreamy :)

Fun Filled Weekend

Zeniff and I went to Logan last Saturday to participate in a 5k benefit run for this little girl. Isn't she adorable? The race went well and I finished in under 30 minutes. I'm a super slow runner so that is a pretty good time for me. (I don't know my actual time because I was a little confused about the course and "finished" in 22 minutes, but as soon as I saw the time and I knew that there was no way I had already ran 3 miles. So I wasted atleast 3 minutes waiting to ask someone if I had infact quit early and then run back to the course to finish the last loop. So when I actually finished - for real- the time was 31:49, I think.) Anyway, I was just happy that I was under 30 minutes.

Sidenote: It was so much fun to go back to Logan. I have only been back twice in the last 2 1/2 years. Cache Valley is sooooo beautiful and if there was anyway that I could possibly keep my job and live in Logan-- I would move back in a second!

Anyway here are some pictures from the race:


Then Sunday morning we drove the Alpine Loop Road and took some picture with the gorgeous fall colors:

Fun Projects

Originally $10 at D.I. - AWFUL I know!!

BUT... after lots of paint and a new handle
My New Nightstand:

Also another D.I. purchase:

(Sorry I don't have a better 'before' picture)


I totally don't understand what it is with old furniture and ugly handles... I mean seriously... who would EVER think this looks good?? It's like some kind of fancy pineapple. HIDEOUS!


After:

And I'm totally loving my new furniture!

Summer Catch-up

Wow I can't believe summer is nearly over! I haven't blogged once! So to play a little catch-up...

Zeniff left the last week of May for a 5 week vacation to Europe. I was left, (with all of this earthly belongings, minus the turtle) while he ran off to "travel the world." I thought about going with him, but felt I it would be to "irresponsible" to just head off on vacation during the last month of the fiscal year! But the longer he was gone, and more I thought about it. And with some convincing from my sister and co-workers, I purchased a ticked the beginning of June and headed off on a spontaneous, 2 week vacation in Europe. I'll post more about all the exciting places we saw but the trip was soooo worth it!! And here's just a couple pictures to keep you satisfied:

View from the Acropolis. Athens, Greece De-boarding the ferry at Santorini, Greece
(we carried these backpacks around with us for 10 days)

Sunset on the Mediterranean Sea

The Vatican. Vatican City, Italy

I returned from Europe the the first week of July and was met by an inbox overflowing with bills to pay, reimbursement checks to cut, bank statements to reconcile, budgets to update, and invoices to prepare and get submitted ASAP so we could get paid, and then begin preparing for my annual audit. (It's technically a Foundation audit, but since I maintain all the financial records it feels more like a really invasive intense review of all my work for the last twelve months). And if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, the Foundation was also working on a huge consultation project for Milwaukee County to help them improve their foster care system. I'm not totally sure how I got to be involved but I ended up being the final proofreader/editor for the 100+ page report. So it was some late nights for awhile.

Things finally started to calm down a little bit after July and the audit was the first week of August. It actually went really well this year. It was only my second audit and the first year that it was only my work, nothing from previous accountants. By now I had the hang of how the audit would work and what kinds of questions they would be asking and information they would be gathering. And I'm happy to report that we did not get any "significant deficiencies" (it sounds worse that it really is), but I believe that this is the first year ever that the foundation has not had any. So that was pretty exciting for me.

And last but definitely not least in the midst of all the business I was able to make a few trips down to Moab to meet these two kiddos: My third nephew Kadyn was born April 20.

and my first niece, Kaydance, was born August 11.I Love these kids!!

A Little Busy Lately

I've been working like crazy lately and spent the first two weeks of my summer trying to get my desk to look like this so I could go on vacation:


I was only gone for two weeks, and now I have been working ridiculous long hours for the last month, but my desk still looks like this:


These days I'll consider 7 or 8 and early night. (There have even been a couple late nights/early mornings.) I'll sure be glad when next week is over and things will start to settle down!

I'm not totally complaining though, I guess its just what I get for touring Europe the last two weeks of the fiscal year! :)

Borderline Obsession

I can admit it. I love shoes! So maybe I buy a lot but...

1. They are always either on clearance or I use a coupon, so I get them for a really good deal.,
2. I pay cash for them - never put them on the credit card,
3. I can. I don't make apologies and I don't feel one bit bad about it!

So here a few of my more recent purchases:

I've actually had my eye on these since last summer. They didn't have any in my size and I've been on the lookout ever since.

I really wanted some casual snow boots, so when these went on clearance, I couldn't pass them up. They are so warm and comfy!

These ones have been calling my name for weeks, and I finally broke down and got them yesterday.

I had to get new running shoes a few months ago because my old ones were wore out and killing my knees. I love these ones. (unfortunately, I had to actually pay full price... and you don't want to know how much that was. But it was worth it and my knees love them too.)

I couldn't find the exact picture online. Mine are actually a black and white more trendy print, but you get the idea. :)

Fun huh??

My Latest Purchase

As soon as I found out that I would have a secure full-time job after college I knew that the first thing I was going to buy was a nice big bed. That was in October 2006..... 2 1/2 years later I'm now the proud owner of my very own 'adult size' bed!

I knew that Zeniff didn't really want to go mattress shopping with me, so I thought I was prepared to venture out on my own. I wasn't really sure how to go about buying a quality one, but I had a few questions in mind. One of my concerns was I wanted a bed that would have minimal partner movement. (Seems like a reasonable request since sometime in the not to distant future I would like to be sharing my bed with Mr. Right, on a fairly regular basis.) So picture this: I'm lying on this mattress, and I asked the sales man, how does it hold up with two people? Instead of just giving me an answer, (and before I have a chance to realize what he's doing), he just plops down on the mattress right next to me. And he wasn't a small man. I would say 200 lbs+ and yes there was spillage over onto my half. Totally AWKWARD!!!! and Gross!!!! I jumped up so fast, a little unsure about what just happened. I left the store pretty quickly after that and good deals or not, I wasn't about to go back there. After that, I made Zeniff come with me. Thankfully with him around no strange men tried to lay next to me.

So I still wanted to try out the mattress though. You know lay on it for awhile, it the positions that I sleep. Come to find out that's really hard to do when the sales man just sits and watches you sleep.... Creepy. Even with Zeniff sitting right there too, their old-man gazes never turned away, they just sat there, staring...

Finally after a ton of stores, and creepy sales men, I thought I'd try the RC Willey in Orem. I couldn't believe it... finally someone that answered my questions, then left and let me try them out. He was totally, professional, not pushy, and completely un-creepy. The mattresses were a little more that I was hoping to spend, but he gave me a pretty good deal and after a month of weirdos, I was more than happy to pay extra for some decent help!! So I decided to get rid of the old, worn out, twin, springs digging into my back, bought for $10 at a yard sale mattress, and traded it in for this:

And it was worth every penny!! I love it! My bedroom wasn't too big to begin with, and now my bed takes up most of the space. But I figured I don't really do much in there besides sleep anyways, so might as well be comfy!

My room before:

(Take special note of the hideousness of this dresser... more to come in another post)

After:

Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

I found out about this awesome video today. I really like Jon Schmidt and this a preview of his newest album. Check it out. It is an amazing arrangement of two of my most favorite songs.

Long Time

So I realize that it has been nearly a month since my last post. That isn't to say the nothing noteworthy has happened, but I think I have misplaced my camera. And lets face it posts with out pictures aren't nearly as fun to read. I think I left it in Moab over Easter and I'm heading down again this weekend. Hopefully I'll find it and be able to catch up....

Day Two - My First Half Marathon (Part II)

So after the race, besides being exhausted, I was feeling pretty good. I made sure to eat lots of bananas and food and stretch out a lot before driving home. I showered and ate another good meal as soon as I got home, but then I started to feel a little, okay a lot, sick to my stomach.

About an hour after finishing

I ended up putting my pajamas on and getting into bed. I slept for about and hour and I got up just before dinner when Nichole and her family came out. I was still in pajamas, no make-up, and hadn't even brushed through my hair after showering. Zeniff and I were sitting on the couch when Trentyn walked in the back door. He wasn't at the park earlier that day and so I said "Hey Trent! Guess what I did today?" Then before I could respond, Zeniff says "She hasn't done anything ALL DAY! Look, she's still in her pajamas and didn't even comb her hair! Can you believe how lazy she is?" I quickly tried to explain that I had actually ran 13 miles and slept for an hour because I felt sick, but alas, it was too late. Trentyn did not believe me! He sided with Zeniff!

Zeniff says it's because he's cooler but I think it was only because he called Trentyn T-dawg. None the less, I spent the rest of the weekend trying to convince my 6 year old nephew that I'm not completely lazy!

Trying to show Trentyn an picture of me running on my camera but he is rufusing to open his eyes!!

Day Two - My First Half Marathon (Part I)

So this was the real reason for even going down to Moab. I signed up last December to run it and have been training since the first of the year. Things had been going pretty good until about mid February when my knees started to hurt so bad while running that I couldn't get past 3 miles. I ended up buying new shoes, and taking a couple weeks off then the last week of February hit the training hard because the race was only 3 weeks away!

The weather in Moab was absolutely gorgeous last weekend! I was actually really nervous for the race and it was a little intimidating being surrounded by 3,500 other runners who all appeared to be in excellent physical condition, and looked super prepared to smoke me at the finish line! I hung toward the back of the pack and actually didn't even hear the starting gun go off. The mob just started moving and I followed.

The first 8 miles I was feeling great! I had tons of energy, and was moving along at about a 10:00 minute mile pace. (Maybe even a little quicker) But then starting the 9th mile my legs began to get really wobbly! I still felt like I had energy, thanks to the nasty cliff shots, but my muscles just weren't cooperating! About that time, I thought the long hike the day before probably wasn't the best idea. Anyway about mile 11 when I came out of the canyon, to my surprise Zeniff was waiting there with some water and Gatorade for me to drink. He was very encouraging and kept re-appearing two more times before the finish line to keep pushing me along. What a sweetheart! :) Well I finished in 2:21:45, with an average pace of 10:50. So all in all I guess I am happy with the way it turned out. For next time though, definitely no hikes the night before.

Mom, Valerie and me leaving for the race

(Mom and Valerie ran the 5 mile run)

Zeniff captured these pictures about Mile 11

Just crossed the finish line!

Almost my entire family was there at the finish line to cheer me on. It was great!

Weekend Getaway - Day One

Zeniff and I headed down to Moab for the weekend. Here is a little update on our trip.

Friday morning my Dad, Valerie, Zeniff and I went on a hike up through Hidden Valley to an old indian fort. We got a lot of pictures of indian writings and had a blast learning from my Dad about the geology of the Moab Valley.