sigh.

Last week I was here:


Doing this:



This week I am here:



Normally I would be really excited about all the snow, looking forward to skiing, and loving that there should be lots of snow for Christmas. I've been suffering from post-Hawaii depression though. It was really hard to come home to the cold, gray, dreary, smoggy city life. I'm adjusting back to normal life now, but my fantasy life in Hawaii was much more fun. I'm working on a Hawaii blogs that details all the fun things we did on our trip, so stay tuned for that.

me, the slacker

I think I start every blog by commenting on what a blogging slacker I am and I always think I am going to start blogging more. But, of course, I am still a big slacker. I guess life is just busy and I'm still not in a regular routine yet.

So anyway, I feel bad because I didn't blog anything about Thanksgiving or list the things I am grateful for, like so many other people did. So this is me trying to play catch up one week late. I'm not going to make a big list, but I do want everyone to know how grateful I am for the following things:

My loving and supportive family
My awesome and loyal friends
A boy named John
2 fur-balls named Oliver and Gypsy
Good health
My new job
Technology
Lakes and mountains
Laughter

I'm really lucky to have so many great people in my life, and I appreciate all the support they constantly give me. I've had to rely on other people a lot for help the last couple of months, and I probably don't say thank you often enough, so now I'm publishing it for all to read.

Oh, and for Thanksgiving I went to ID with my mom, dad, and Kayla to my Grandpa and Grandma Haney's house. It was a great visit, a most delicious meal, and some adventures in hanging Christmas lights on giant trees. It was good to get away and spend some quality time with my family. I love them so much and I'm so thankful for all they do for me!

Me, Grandma, Grandpa, and Kayla

Me, Kayla, and Dad in front of the trees we strung lights on. It was really windy too.

On another note, I hung out with my niece Leah last night. She is seriously so funny. I took her to Walmart with me and while I was looking at something, she started licking this mirror we stopped next to. I told her that was yucky and she shouldn't do that because she might get sick. So she says, "well actually, I had a flu shot so I'm not going to get sick." She is so smart.

Leah riding Clifford at Walmart

Tomorrow I am leaving for Hawaii. I am so excited! I may try to do a blog/journal about the trip, but I kind of what to do an actual travel journal I can write in (I know, so old fashioned). Either way, I will post some pics when I get back next week!

Carlee's Vegas birthday

Happy Birthday Carlee! Today is her actual birthday, but last weekend a group of 14 of us got together in Vegas to celebrate with her. It was a little chaotic to try and coordinate the logistics for a group so big, but the trip was really fun. I got a cold about 2 days before the trip, so I was one of the first in bed each night, but I'm still glad I went and still managed to have some fun.

Me and the birthday girl

The whole group at the hotel, ready to go out (at 1:30am!)
Carly, Hilar, Tara, Natalie, Me, Sharon, Carlee, Linda, Brittany, Jenna, Andrea, Jennifer, Lysh, and Kristi

Jenna, Carlee, and Me at some club the first night...I don't remember the name but I think it was at the Mirage?

On our way to dinner

Eating a lobster taco at FIX (I think it was $22.00 for 4 of these little things). So good though!

Dinner at FIX at the Bellagio-Lysh, Andrea, Me, Brittany, and Linda

At the Bank (another club)-Lysh, Andrea, Carlee, Jennifer, Natalie, Jenna, and Me

What a great week!

For the first time in a lot of years, I spent Halloween with my family. Debi hosted a great Halloween party at her house and it was so much fun. Everyone dressed up, the food was great, the games were a blast, and I lost a doughnut eating contest to my sister, Rebekah. I had a hard time deciding on a costume and got really frustrated driving in traffic to find a last minute deal...mostly I just didn't want to spend a lot of money. I had to run to the store to get some more noodles for the soup we made for the party and I settled on a bunny costume I found for $4.25 (ears, tail, and collar). So I think it worked out ok and I thought everyone looked great in their costumes (especially my cute nieces).

Heidi as a cute cat

Lucy the little ladybug

Cinderella and Snow White (Izzy and Leah)

Also, this week I started my new job! I decided on a nanny position in Salt Lake. I know, I know, I should probably use my degree at some point...but I really like being a nanny because it is fun and challenging and each day brings new adventures, the kids are cute, and it's something I am good at. The family is really great; they have 3 kids: 4.5 year old girl, 3.5 year old boy, and 19 month old girl...so I definitely have my hands full. The family also moved to a new house, so the kids are dealing with lots of changes, but so far things are going fine.

So for now I am staying in Salt Lake (for a year or two at least) so hopefully I will start seeing more of my slc friends more often. The next thing on my list is finding an apartment closer to work that will let me have my kitties. So if anyone knows someone looking for a roommate, or even better, someone with a rad basement/studio type apartment for rent, let me know! I'm hoping to move before the new year, but I'll see what comes up.

The other great thing about this week is I found out a I get to go to Hawaii! The president of John's company lives in Hawaii and they need to have some meetings (everyone in the company telecommutes so they live all over), and this year they picked Hawaii. I am so excited!

The best news is that America got it right and elected our new president, Barack Obama. I haven't felt this hopeful for our country in a long time...I would say about 8 years. I know everyone is saying this, but I just hope the country will support Obama, even if you didn't vote for him. I truly feel he will bring positive change for our country and I am so proud to be an American right now. I haven't felt such strong emotion listening to a political figure speak in so long, it was so great. I know things won't magically get better overnight, but it's a step in the right direction.

5 Years!

This is super cheesy, but I am super cheesy, so it's ok. John and I "celebrated" the 5th anniversary of our 1st date over the weekend. Really I just had a gift certificate for a free night at the Park City Marriott that was going to expire soon, so I was looking for things to do in Park City since it's too cold to do much outside, yet no ski resorts are open yet. Then I got an email from warrenmiller.com reminding me that the film would be showing in my area.

Well, John and I went on our very first date to the Warren Miller ski movie back in Logan in October of 2003! Sometimes I can't believe it has been that long already. We have gone to the film together now 4 out of the last 5 years, so I guess it's the one tradition we have together. So I thought it would be fun to go to the film in Park City this year and get to use my gift certificate too.

We had a great time; it was nice to get away from the craziness that is our lives (or at least mine) right now. John and I don't really have a traditional relationship right now, but we are happy and things are going great at the super-slow pace we are taking things. :-) I do just want to say to all the blogger world that I am so thankful to have him in my life and am constantly impressed with what a great man he is. I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments and I appreciate his support and encouragement. He is truly my best friend!

So please enjoy the little slide show I made to highlight some fun times over the last 5 years. It is definitely not balanced though...there are far less pics from our early years, mostly due to me not having a digital camera back then and partly due to most pics I do have from back then probably stored away somewhere while I am between homes. Some of our best times have been over the last couple of years anyway though!

big changes

I have definitely been a huge blogging slacker the past few weeks. To say life has been crazy and busy would be a huge understatement. A lot has been going on, and it took me 2 tries to write this blog, but I finally did it! :-)

So some pretty major events have taken place over the last 3-4 weeks. The first is that I finished my job at Lake Powell. This has been very bitter sweet, mostly because I was able to meet a lot of really cool people and I miss them way more than working. Most of these friendships came in my last 5-6 weeks once I started working at boat rentals on top of my rec coordinator responsibilities. I did love my job though (both of them in the end), and while I don't think I will go back, I am really glad that I had he experience and I think I am better for it. I learned to be more independent, to be ok hanging out with myself, to drive long distances without falling asleep (sunflower seeds!), to always wear sunscreen, and that its awesome to get paid for playing.

Merrianna, Maegan, and Me on my last weekend

Also, John was able to squeeze in one more visit my last weekend in Lake Powell, which was really fun. It ended up being a lot of driving for him, but I was really glad he got to come. We spent a day boating, which is always a good time.

John on his island :-)

I had my last day of work on Oct. 1 and that night Matt, Debi, and their girls arrived in Lake Powell. The next day we got up and were able to do a little boating before my mom, dad, Rachel, and Dan arrived. One of the great perks of working at Lake Powell is the access to powerboats...for free. We did have a some wind and it was cold and rainy by Saturday, but everyone got the chance to water ski and wakeboard and play on the beach. It was so fun to show part of my family where I had been living all summer. I am especially grateful for all of their help in my move home. For as often as I seem to move, I really hate moving. But I love my family and we had such a fun time!

Our boat, one of the sweet Bajas

Leah playing on the beach

Heidi loved the beach too!

Our sweet spot on the beach in Bullfrog Bay

Leah working the flag

Me water skiing. I'm old school. :-)

Swimming in Lake Powell with Leah

I finally got home a couple of weeks ago. Too bad I don't really have a "home." My awesome parents are letting me stay with them though, which is really great of them. I thought I was going to have a job when I got home because I was hired for a temporary nanny job more than 2 months ago. Well, the mom emailed me the day before I was supposed to start to tell me her sister had lost her job and moved in with them and so she was watching their daughter instead. I was pretty upset because I basically planned my whole life around the commitment I made to their family. It's not all bad though, because this way I am able to job search for something permanent instead. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive family to help me out during this rough patch.

So the other big news is that I am officially job searching! As some of you know, my degree is in Parks and Recreation. I also have a lot of experience and interest in event programming/planning/management and I also have a lot of child care/nanny experience. I was hoping to combine it all and find a job in recreation or special event programming for youth, but I'm not really sure what I want to do. I may have an interview for a job at Deer Valley this week, I had one interview for a nanny position and should have another interview tomorrow. So hopefully I will have it narrowed down a little by the end of the week. The good (and maybe bad) thing is I think I could be happy doing any number of things. If anyone hears of something they think I would be interested in, feel free to contact me or pass on my info.

One bonus to being unemployed is I have been able to see my family a lot, especially my cute nieces. I have been a big slacker on taking pictures, but I did catch this gem of Leah and Izzy after their dance class the other day.

Leah and Izzy-sweet (and super cheesy) ballerinas

So yeah, life has been a little crazy right the last few weeks. I'm loving the fall weather though, even though I was freezing the first few days because all of my warm clothes were still in storage. I was driving around today and I love, love, all the fall colors.

Anyway, I'm worried I won't have anything to blog about now that I am done with my summer adventure at Lake Powell. Does a blog have to have a theme? I'm open to suggestions!

First Day of Fall!

I have a really hard time believing it is already fall...I'm still sweating in low 90s/upper 80s temperatures on a daily basis. It's finally cool enough at night that I don't have to sleep with the swamp cooling running all night though.

I love fall. It is my favorite season, even though it seems so short (at least in Utah). I am sad that I missed spring, for the most part, this year. It snowed on May 1st and when I moved here 2 weeks later, it was already in the 90s. I will be so sad if I miss fall too. I love it when it is still warm enough to spend time outside, but cool enough to start wearing jackets and sweaters. Not to mention all the colors of fall! Who wants to go hiking when I get home?!

quick check-in

So I'm still alive, just not blogging about anything lately...although I doubt anyone has really noticed. More than anything, blogging this summer has been a great way for me to journal my adventures in Lake Powell.

Anyway, since I started working a second job at the Boat Rentals office, all I really do is work. I'm averaging about 62 hours per week over the last 3 weeks. I am sleeping great at night, I assume because I am exhausted by the time I go to bed, although often my bedtime is as early as 9:30. Its great though because I'm making overtime pay and I really like working at Boat Rentals because I now have "work friends," or people I see every day.

I've done some fun things for the Rec Program too (back to Arches, Capitol Reef, Rainbow Bridge, and Canyonlands) but I am tired and don't have the patience to upload photos right now. I just wanted to check in with the blogging world to let you all know I am still having a blast in Lake Powell, I'm still checking all your blogs, and I'm excited for my move back north. My last day of work is less than 2 weeks away now, and then I get to go boating with my family for my last 3 days in Powell. Woo hoo!

P.S. How cute are my other nieces*?

Izzy-age 3

Lucy-age 3.5 months

*(stolen from Bekah's blog)

another day, another dollar

Today was another one of my fun bi-weekly trips to Grand Junction, CO. Yes, I drive 3.25 hours to go shopping. At least I get paid for it. I get paid to drive and shop. It's actually more tiring than one might think...but I digress.

So I was killing some time waiting for the group to be ready to go to lunch and I decided to browse around Hallmark. Sometimes I like to find funny cards and send them to people. What I noticed for the first time today, is how many random occasions Hallmark (or whoever) has come up with for sending cards. There is a card for just about anything. Some of the ones I remember include (not direct quotes, but the general idea of the card):

"Congratulations on using the potty"

"Sorry about your divorce. It's not an ending, but a new beginning."

"Thinking of you during this sad time" <---the label said "Thinking of You/Miscarriage"

"Congratulations on advancing to the next rank in Girls Scouts"

"Way to go on enlisting in the military"

"I know it's hard sometimes, but stay in school"

Seriously? It was all I could do from laughing out loud at the randomness. Wait, I think I did laugh out loud. My favorite cards are still the ones that play songs though.

I didn't even end up buying a card, but I did enjoy a delicious lunch at Olive Garden with my work friends and got some cute tank tops at the Gap Outlet for $3.97. Overall, it was a good day. Only 28 more days of working at Lake Powell.

P.S. How cute are my nieces?

(stolen from Debi's blog, but I couldn't resist!)

Day off!

Today was the first day off I have had since my visit home for my high school reunion at the first of August...yes, a whole month ago. It was also my last day off until I finish my job contract here at Lake Powell. I wanted to do something fun and then I found out it was a 2-plane day. A 2-plane day means that someone from down lake (at Wahweap) was flying up to Bullfrog for the day and then would need to fly back later the same day. This usually happens when one of the managers has to come up for a meeting or something. Employees can always fly for free any time a plane is coming or going.

So I decided to fly down to Page today and it was so much fun! The flight down is only about 25-30 minutes, but the view of the lake is so awesome! It was so cool to see all the canyons and how far they stretch out beyond the lake. The plane ride didn't make my stomach too happy, but the experience was worth it.

I spent the day in Page and visited Wahweap, saw the Glen Canyon dam (from the shuttle), and did a little shopping before my afternoon flight home. The pilot even made a special loop around Rainbow Bridge so I got to see the aerial view, which was just as cool (and probably cooler) than up close. Flying into Bullfrog was the best part...the view of the marina and everything looking so small was so amazing.

Here are a bunch of pics from my fun day of flying (keep in mind these were taken through the window...so some are a little hazy looking)...enjoy!

Bullfrog Bay from the sky

The wing was in the way a lot, but I thought this one looked cool

Lake Powell

A cool canyon

"down lake" near Wahweap Marina

Me and the airplane I flew in at the airport in Page

Antelope Canyon

Rainbow Bridge...aerial view!

Hole in the Rock

The canyon stretching off into the distance is the Escalante River...somewhere way out there is Coyote Gulch, which I (and some of you) have backpacked through.

Glen Canyon Dam...through the window of the van. I didn't stop because apparently they don't let you takes bags or purses in and since I didn't have a car to leave it in, I decided not to go out to the dam.

Home sweet home! Flying over Bullfrog Marina

Addiction

So sometime in the course of this summer, I have become addicted to David's Ranch flavored sunflower seeds. I have never liked sunflower seeds before this. I always found them annoying and requiring too much effort than it was worth to eat them. Never really cared for the taste either. But then I moved to Lake Powell. I have to drive a lot for my job. Said driving makes me really tired sometimes. The solution? Sunflower seeds (I also tried beef jerky, but it was too expensive and too many calories).

The addiction part came after I started eating the seeds even when I wasn't driving. I eat them while I read too. I have been reading a lot this summer because John got me started on the "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind. I am on book 5 now.

I eat the seeds until my cheeks hurt from holding a bunch there at a time and then cracking them one by one. My tongue gets raw and my lips get chapped from the salt and ranch seasoning. Yet, I keep eating them. Nearly every day now. I had to buy the jumbo bag last time I was in Junction at Walmart. I buy a bag every time I stop at Chevron in Green River, just so I know I will not run out before I have the chance to buy more. It's sick. It really is. But they are just so good.

In other news, I started working a second job here at Lake Powell. I am working at the Boat Rentals office. All I have done so far is sit outside in the Greeter Shack. Basically I keep track of who has checked in to get their houseboat and who there instructor is, things like that. I answer calls on the marina radio too. But I sit a lot too. This week it's going to equal about 20 hours of overtime though, which is the real motivation for working there. I figure I am only down here for a few more weeks, I might as well work as much as I can and therefore make/save as much money as I can.

And the best news: Only 6 weeks left in Powell! It's still a little early to start the countdown, but I'm sure I will soon.

Coming up this week: Hiking in Arches NP, boating, movie night, bingo night, and finalizing the details of my event calendar for my last month at Powell. :-D <-----my excited face

bored and blogging

So I guess I am bored this weekend and in the mood to blog. They mostly have the new WiFi working at our Rec Center, so the connection is much faster and makes uploading photos and things a lot easier. I've seriously spent 2 hours uploading photos before. :-)

Anyway, due to some unfortunate events on the Colorado River at the end of July, my trusty little Nikon camera stopped working. I tried drying it out, but it didn't work. At least the batteries were still good once I recharged them and the memory card is fine (although I just managed to erase all the photos on the card when I reformatted it for my new camera-at least I think that's what I did, because now there are no photos on the card, but I digress).

Anyway, amazon.com has been my good friend this summer because I am so far from any regular stores, and let's be honest, you can get anything on amazon.com these days, as well as a bunch of helpful customer reviews to help you decide what you should get. After a reading a lot of reviews, I decided on a Samsung S860. It has 8.1 mega pixels, 3x optical zoom, 3x digital zoom, and I can make short video clips-with sound. My last camera was only 4.1 mega pixels and could make videos, but with no audio. So all around, this camera is much better and I actually paid about $18 less for it (and I think I got the Nikon of eBay maybe 2-3 years ago). It has some cool features too...it has this face recognition thing so it won't take the photo if the people aren't in focus, it has self portrait mode that allows you to take better pictures of yourself, and you can change the color and take black and white photos, green photos, blue photos, etc. Here is a sampling:

me in color

me in black and white

me in sepia

Well these are the exciting times of my life living in Lake Powell at the end of summer. :-) My office computer is not really working, so I can't get much work done. My trip is canceled for tomorrow, so I have the day off. I think I will catch up on cleaning my house and maybe go to the beach. I had a good talk with my mom today and I'm feeling better about life and about the future (I'm not sure my mom actually said much-mostly she just listened to me whine, which is sometimes the therapy I need, thanks mom). Later this week I get to go boating, shopping in Grand Junction, and I get to learn to cook Filipino food. I'm working on planning my last event calendar, so if any of you want to come visit...you better let me know soon so I can plan it into my schedule in September.