Wonderful World of Work

Today celebrates six years of being a member in the working world.
Here is a trip down memory lane:
Subway was my first job, which I started working at on November 11, 2003. I spent a solid three years there and made approximately 1,000,000 subs. Actually I don't know about that. But I did enjoy working with my brother and sister from time to time. AND... Now I only like to eat subs that I make myself. I became very particular in the world of sub-making.
As most teenage girls, I babysat a lot as well. My first babysitting job was for some neighbors who had two little girls. My favorite job was watching my goddaughter when she was born while her mom taught summer school. We spent many enjoyable mornings playing Peek-a-boo in her living room. Now, Megan is 3 1/2 years old and I can't believe it!
While babysitting and working at Subway, I started working at YMCA Camp Sturtevant as a volunteer junior counselor. Little did I know that the long hours stuck in a hot camp store would equate to a job for the next five years. It also led me to the career field that I want to enter- Therapeutic Recreation.
I also worked concurrently at the YMCA child care and was privileged to change several diapers a day, dry tears of crying children and pick up heaps of toys at a time.


My last job before graduating (mind you I held all four of the above jobs at once... crazy decision!), was working with AmeriCorps. I owe the ability to attend college to AmeriCorps. Above our pay, we also received a large scholarship for the community service we performed. Basically, AmeriCorps is a domestic PeaceCorps. I worked also at the YMCA and the camp in Wausau but did additional projects and work. One highlight of this job was free range to the Y Climbing wall! It was great to climb whenever I wanted to.


Last year, I worked at Utah State University in the Athletics department. It was cool because I got to meet a lot of the basketball stars and everything as I was the one who polished the floor they played on. They never outwardly thanked me but I know I have a high chance of being in their wills someday. :)
Now, six years into paying taxes, social security and the other wonderful perks of employment, I work at Wasatch Mental Health in Provo. I work in the Intensive Residential Treatment center where we have clients who live there 24/7. Often, they are individuals who are released from hospital care and still need the guidance and staff to learn and cope with their illnesses. If you ever really need to laugh and smile, come here because every day at work is a new adventure full of FUN!
With all this work, I hope I get some social security when I am old and wrinkly but I somehow highly doubt that happening.

The Humor of Family History

My ancestors had twin girls. One of them was named Marguerite Ivy and the other....
you guessed it: Marguerette Iva. My mom said the girls went by Marguerite and Iva to avoid confusion. Gotta love those ancestors!

Now back to listening to the eerie music playing in the library.

Bucket List

About a month ago, I went camping with a recreation class of mine. One night, we decided to make a personal bucket list for ourselves. If you don't know what that is, just google it. So here are some of the things on my "before I kick the BUCKET" list

- Learn how to surf
- Complete a triathlon (next summer)
- Learn Norweigen
- Write a book
- Be in a dunk tank
- Ride a rollercoaster (I am terrified of them)
- Go over 100 mph in a car (But do it where I won't get caught)
- Make a kite
- Build a canoe
- Use a fire extinquisher (doesn't have to be during a fire, I just want to see what happens)
- Learn sign language
- Run a marathon in Madagascar

Those are some of the items I have on my list of 60 things to do before I die. We'll see how far I actually get.

Tallness does have the greatest advantage

http://universe.byu.edu/node/2709

Go here and it is self-explanatory.

Two Decades Ago...

Two decades ago, I sat (or perhaps laid) on my mother's lap, screaming my head off as a three day old baby. Wow, how things have changed! No longer do I sit on my mother's lap but I am pretty sure I still scream at times (especially when I get mail... hint, hint)

Anyways, as the title states, I am two decades old now. This birthday had a bitter sweet taste; allow me to explain. In my family, I have a tradition of rounding up in ages. So for my uncle, he has been "almost 60" since he turned 50. I always liked it because it was never to my disadvantage. That all changed on the eve of my birthday. Uncle Bill called me and wished me a happy "Almost 30" birthday. Now if 20 wasn't hard enough, 30 is not looking too great. Nonetheless, I am aging and having to start thinking about the vast world of retirement homes, which color walker I want and how I am going to pass the driving test when I am 84 years old.

For my birthday, I had a marvelous time with friends in Provo and Salt Lake. For a small re-cap, my friend Chelsea came down from Utah State to spend the weekend in Provo. BYU played USU Friday night and we won of course. Although I must give Gary Anderson props for the improvement on the team. Then Saturday morning, Chelsea and I went to General Conference in Salt Lake. Saturday night, Janet took me to Quarry, this sweet rock climbing place. We haven't been rock climbing in over a year so it was interesting to say the least. As much as I thought my arms would hurt, they didn't!!! Then after that, we had cake (Janet made a Jello-Cake!) and ice cream. On Sunday, we fed these sweet ducks at a retirement home (probably where I will be in a few years). For my actual birthday on Monday, we had FHE at our apartment and did a cool activity. I also got some sweet presents including a few games, a cook book and other stuff.

Here are some pics from the amazing weekend!

Sweet September

Sorry for the time off in blogging but unfortunately learning about ancient civilizations, volcanoes and getting new fish, blogging took the back burner.

Last weekend, Candace (one of my roommates) and I, along with her brother and his friends, went hiking Mt. Timpanogos. If you don't know what or where that is, go to the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Timpanogos

Good old wikipedia. It is 11,749 feet and the summit is about seven miles in hiking.

We left at one in the morning and arrived at the summit around 7am. We took an hour break at a fire around 4am to warm up and sleep a little. We then hiked back down the mountain later and enjoyed the beautiful leaves of fall.

That weekend we also had a BYU football game (which we won) and the General Relief Society Broadcast so needless to say, I didn't sleep. I stayed awake for 40 hours I think.

This week, Janet and I made a sweet dessert and I have included pictures of our handiwork. We are very inventive here. Perhaps we will make our own cookbook.

The Place I Call Home

On Thursday, I arrived at BYU in Provo and moved into our apartment. Sarah, Janet's sister, Janet and I left Wednesday and made the long trek to Utah. It was a safe trip thankfully and didn't fall asleep in boring Nebraska. Since I got here, I have worked on organizing everything in our apartment, walked around campus, which is HUGE, and tried to find a job. I haven't been very successful on the whole job-finding part but I have applied to a few positions on campus. Other than that, I haven't really done a lot. It is the calm before the storm because pretty soon, I will have too much to do that I will be in over my head in studying. Tomorrow, I am heading north near Salt Lake City to see some friends from last year which will be exciting!

Here are some pictures of our apartment.

Our closet that holds ALL our clothes surprisingly! We can't believe how much space there is!

This is Janet's and my bedroom.

This is right inside the front door and our kitchen. Again, we have tons of storage space to fit our food and dishes. We also have a dishwasher AND a garbage disposal. I've never had one before!

Last but not least, this is our living room. We just need a T.V. and then we'll be set. It is pretty comfy and spacey. All in all, I love the apartment and look forward to the times spent in it.