He asked, I said yes!

Yeah, yeah...every time I blog I swear I am going to blog more often and it never happens. Lots of blog-worthy things have happened the last couple of months, but since I probably will never get around to catching up, I'll just post the big and best news: John and I are engaged! Woot woot! We are really excited! There is no elaborate engagement story to share...sweet and simple, which will also be the theme of our wedding if we can help it.

John was able to have a nice talk with my dad after Christmas dinner and then after that we went for a drive around Bountiful to see some pretty lights. We drove around for awhile talking and then headed up the mountain toward the 'B' to check out the city view. It was nice to enjoy some peaceful quiet after 2 days of family fun and the commotion and joyful chaos that comes with Christmas with kids...then he asked and I said yes! I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas! We will keep you all posted with wedding details as we get the planning going, but the date will probably be August 28, 2010.



In other news, I started my new job at Deer Valley. Things are going well so far-I got promoted to a Lead Teacher (yes, a real promotion with a raise and everything) so I am now in charge of the 'Big Tots' or the 2 years olds. It can get pretty crazy in our class with so many toddlers, but my days are busy and I sleep well each night because I'm so exhausted.

Also, my blog is no longer private (for those of you seeing this in your google reader, etc) because I am not currently job searching or anything right now. I plan to keep it open as long as I feel comfortable doing so or until the next important job search. :-) Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

DC Trip

I'm a little slow, but 2 weekends ago we had our girls' trip to Washington, D.C. to visit Kayla. She is working as an intern in Senator Hatch's office. When we found out she would be out there this fall, we thought it would be a great time to go see the sights/sites and visit her. I lived in that area for a year back in 2001-2002, but it was good to go back and I got to see a few things I didn't get the chance to when I lived there.

Anyway, it was me, mom, Bekah, and Rachel. We were super sad that Debi wasn't able to come too. :( We flew into DC on Thursday night and we were sad it was raining. Kayla wasn't off work yet, but she gave us directions to a grocery store to give us something to do while we waited for her to get home. We wanted to save money by cooking some meals at Kayla's apartment and packing lunches to eat during the day. We figured 2 could stay outside with the luggage and 2 could do the shopping...but because it was raining, we just all toted our luggage around the store and all shopped together. We really embraced our roles as tourists on this trip.

Kayla finally got home, we cleaned up a bit and headed to Georgetown for dinner. We ate some tasty Thai food and then we were all ready to call it a night.

The next morning we had tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument, so we headed out in to the rain. We were the last people with 9:00 tickets to get to go up...and had to wait outside the whole time. I personally was ok (even though my umbrella was broken...or so I thought at this point). But everyone else was pretty cold and miserable. We finally got to go inside and it was a really great view from the top, even if it the windows were a little clouded over from the rain.

View of WWII Memorial, Reflection Pool, and Lincoln Memorial

Next we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Definitely impactful, a good history review for me, and overall a moving experience-one I think everyone should have if they get the chance.

After a lot of walking and standing, we were ready for our lunch break. We took our packed lunches to the cafeteria at the Senate offices, which is open to the public (who knew?) so we were also able to get some warm and tasty soup to go with our PB&J. After lunch, we headed to Kayla's office and then on to our Capitol Tour. Kayla was the best tour guide ever! I have even been on a tour before and learned a few new things.

Standing in/on the center of the District

Supreme Court

Day 2 it was still raining. Sigh. We were all pretty sick of the rain at this point, but we still wanted to do the things we had planned. We spent time at the Museum of Natural History and then headed out in to the rain to see some of the monuments and memorials on the National Mall, including: WWII, Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorial. We also had good views of the Jefferson Memorial, WW I, the White House and of course the Washington Monument.


After lunch we headed to the Kennedy Center to enjoy their fancy restrooms and a great view of the Potomac River. After that, we battled the crowded sidewalks of Georgetown to experience the best cupcakes of Kayla's life. We waited with all the other crazies...for awhile...I didn't keep track but it may have been a half an hour or so. We finally got in to the tiny little cupcake shop and bought or $2.75 cupcakes. They were delicious. I tried a lemon berry and a pumpkin spice. I don't even normally like sweets, but these were some tasty cupcakes.


After a little shopping, we took our trusty friend the Metro over to Chinatown to eat at a burrito place...I can't remember what it is called now. I ate a burrito the size of my head and some tasty chips and queso. By this time, Rebekah was about to die...so we called it a night and headed back to Kayla's home.

Sunday morning the rain had finally stopped so we were able to walk around Arlington Cemetery without our umbrellas. Yipee! We saw the Kennedy's graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the changing of the guard. There is also a newer exhibit honoring the women who flew for the military during WWII, which was really cool.

Cool amphitheater in Arlington Cemetery

We were all pretty worn out...and didn't have a lot of time left anyway...so even though we were sad not to get to enjoy more of the nice weather, it was time to pack up and head home. It was a really fun trip, we packed so much into just a couple of days, and the best part was getting to see Kayla and share some of her life in DC. Rebekah was a real trooper-super hard core preggo lady (although we almost got her a wheel chair for the capitol tour). The rest of us were sore and tired too, but I think everyone had a lot of fun. I hope we remember all the fun things we did and the cool things we saw and not just that it rained the entire trip. Thanks to Kayla for being a great hostess (and her roommates) and a super tour guide.

You can check out more photos here

I'm back. I think.

Wow, 2 months...that's probably some kind of record. I am a blog slacker, I admit it. I guess when you go long enough without blogging, getting caught up seems overwhelming. But I am having a lazy Sunday hanging out in Logan and John is napping, so I thought I would do a little catching up, although I will try to be brief and then I am re-committing to blogging on a regular basis.

So to update:

• Moved in with Matt and Debi and their kids the first of August and am loving it so far. They are the best, the kids are adorable, Debi is my new gym buddy, and they are very patient with my cats.
• I gave up on gardening and pretty much cooking after that because I was sad not to have fresh food to cook every day...so I'm not doing very well on my goal to try a new recipe each week and blog about it...obviously. I am still enjoying fresh tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and things from John's and my sister's gardens.
• I got a new job! This is the best news of course. I don't start until December 1st, but I will be working at Deer Valley in Park City for the winter with their Children's Program...basically with the kids that are too little for ski school. I'm excited for something new and to get to ski some more this season than usual. I can't wait to quit my job now...but I will probably try to hold out for a few more weeks.
• We were able to go on a couple of fun camp outs in the Uintahs...I will try to get around to posting more pictures.

At Provo River Falls-Labor Day weekend

• My dad had some major surgery- he got a brain implant and then a generator that runs it to give him deep brain stimulation and control some of his Parkinson's symptoms. He goes in soon to have them do the settings, but both surgerys were successful and everyone is optimistic about the results, but please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers and and then adjusts to the changes.
• My cat, Oliver, got lost for a week and then a few days after he got back, he got into an accident (the vet thinks he got caught in a fan belt or possibly hit by a car). After a traumatic night in the animal ER and lots of rest and getting spoiled, he has recovered well and is nearly 100% again.
• My best friend, Anna, had her first baby and I am officially the LAST person in my old group of friends to have a baby...and I'm very ok with it. :-) But congratualations to her! She is a rockstar mama with the craziest birth story I have ever heard. She is amazing.
  
• I'm still spending most of my weekends in Logan, where John is still living. If anyone knows of a sweet house or apartment for rent anywhere between Centerville and Park City that allowd cats...let me know. :-) Our good friends Nate and Emily got married last weekend, and John got to wear a tux again.
  

• My sister Kayla started her internship with Senator Hatch and moved to DC. I miss her terribly, but I'm excited for the fun times she is having there. I'm also excited to go visit her in a couple of weeks along with my mom, Bekah, and Rachel. Yay for a girls trip!
• Debi and Rebekah are preggars and due a few days apart in March. Yay for babies (and I'm hoping for at least one nephew!).
• Fall seems to be officially here in Utah and I am loving the cooler weather and all the pretty colors. I have been home from Lake Powell almost exactly one year...so last year I missed fall completety because it got really cold the week after I got home. This year has been crazy, I wish I would have gone back to Lake Powell, but I'm happy to be making some changes and moving forward.

Well that is enough for now. I am alive and things are going well. I'm excited for the next couple of months, especially for my new job. I will try to post a slideshow or something with some more pictures.

2 days to go

This week is going by too fast and I have so much to do. My work schedule is always so unpredictable, so that doesn't help. Moving sucks, and even though I seem to do it very often, I really hate moving. I have already done a lot, but still feel like I'm going to be up very late Thursday night trying to finish...I have to work tomorrow night until 10 so the plan is to get up in the morning at have at least 4 hours of good packing and cleaning time before I have to be to work at 1:00. I'm so bad at mornings though. Sigh.

Anyway, this whole process is super emotional for me...I've already done a lot of crying and I'm not going to get through typing this without crying some more. I love this apartment, I love my location, I love my landlord and I love my garden. I have definitely second-guessed my decision to move, but I do still feel like I made the right choice. I am so excited to live with Matt and his family and to get to spend more time with Leah and Heidi. I am so grateful to have such a loving and supportive family that is willing to let me stay with them. The whole goal of this move is to be able to get ahead financially in life and to be able to save money for some future expenses I plan to have in the next year or so. I do still hope to find a job in Logan, but I am getting more and more discouraged about all that and will probably just stay in my job as long as I can and hope the job market picks up a bit in a few months. I hate to be so motivated by money, but that is just the reality of my life right now.

This week has been extra hard because John is in Amsterdam, where he has been most of this month. He had to come back to go to some meetings in Mass and then flew in to SLC for a whole 14 hours before flying back to Amsterdam. He doesn't have internet at his hotel this week, and he is basically working 16 hours a day anyway, so our communication is really limited. It is so hard not to have my best friend to talk to and encourage me this week when I am so emotional and slightly stressed about this big change I am making in my life.

Ok, enough whining. There is just so much going through my head right now, and I just need to stay focused on my goals and for this week, the task of moving. I am heading to Idaho Fri afternoon for my cousin's wedding, so if I don't get everything done, I will have to miss the trip and I would be even more sad about that...so at least I have some extra motivation.

love him. miss him.

Isn't he cute? Sigh.

Garden update

My first ripe tomatoes!

Gardening is way more fun when you get to start eating the things you are growing! I was so excited when I got home from work this afternoon and I had 2 grape tomatoes that looked red enough to pick, so I did. Woo hoo! There are more pinkish ones too, so hopefully I will have lots of ripe tomatoes over the next 2 weeks before I move. The tag says the grape tomatoes mature in 60 days, and I think it's been exactly 60 days (I seem to remember planting on May 15th or 16th). The other tomato plant says mature in 68 days, so I'm hoping to have something full size in about a week.

I nearly killed my lettuce over the weekend because I needed to water and then it was really hot, so it got all withered and sad looking. I watered it and have been watching it close and most of it revived. I read the little tab thing for the red lettuce and notices it says "full sun spring & fall and part sun summer" so it's probably been getting too much sun. Oh well.

Anyway, in honor of my first ripe tomatoes, I decided to have a big salad tonight, using mostly ingredients from my garden...but I did supplement with a few other things, but the whole salad is from locally grown+produced products. I was able to pick up a few things at the Farmer's Market at Pioneer Park over the weekend (tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, cherries, and some Nutty Guys stuff). The lettuce (green and red loose leaf), arugula, parsley, and grape tomatoes are from my garden and the I added some more tomato and zucchini from East Farms, some feta cheese from Gossner's, and the dressing I used was Caspers (I couldn't find a website for them, but they are in Providence, near Logan). It was so tasty!

My tasty salad

I know I am a super gardening nerd now, but I'm excited about the progress of my garden, so I'm including a few more pics:

This mess is 1 grape tomato plant (Juliet Hybrid) , 1 tomatillo plant, 1 tomato legend, and a bush cucumber plant in the back underneath everything else. The grape tomato plant is taking over the garden.

All 4 swiss chard plants are finally growing...about ready to cook up some more!

This was the first cluster of tomato fruit, but not the first to fully ripen...although some are starting to. Hopefully I can pick some soon because the little vine is starting to really sag from the weight.

This lower bunch is where I picked from today...one more is almost ready!

This is the tangled mess that is the view out my kitchen window, but you can see a few of the cucumber plant leaves

Tomato Legend plant...hopefully will be red in about a week

Chicken with Couscous and Spinach

This week's recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two, 2009, my new little cookbook. I'm always looking for smaller-scale recipes so I don't end up with a ton of leftovers. For those of you with families, I'm sure you can figure out how to double or triple the recipe, as this one only serves 2. Enjoy!

You will need:

1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour
2 (6-8 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
table salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 C Israeli couscous
1 shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)
3 garlic cloves, minced (about 3 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon graded zest plus 2 tablespoons fresh juice from 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 3/4 C low-sodium chicken broth
6 oz baby spinach (about 6 cups)
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 C)

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Working with one breast at a time, dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Carefully lay the chicken breasts in the skillet and cook until well browned on the first side, 6-8 minutes. Flip the chicken breasts, reduce the heat to medium, and continue to cook until the thickest part of the breast registers 160-165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 6-8 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a plate, tent loosely with foil, and let rest in the warm oven while preparing the couscous.
3. Wipe out the skillet with a wad of paper towels. Add 1 tablespoon more oil and the couscous to the skillet and toss over medium heat until light golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in the shallot, 2 teaspoons of the garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of the lemon zest, and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Stir in the broth and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until the liquid is absorbed and the couscous is al dente, 8-10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, whisk 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, remaining 1 teaspoon garlic, remaining 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper flakes together in a small bowl.
6. Stir the spinach, one handful at a time, into the skillet and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the feta and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the couscous between two plates and top with the chicken. Drizzle with the lemon juice mixture and serve.

The finished product-not too shabby

This was the picture in the book, so I think it turned out right

I loved this dish! I love feta and spinach, so I was excited to try this one. The recipe calls for Israeli couscous, which I could not find at Smith's. I noticed after that the recipe says orzo can be substituted, but I just used the healthier couscous option Smith's did have, which was Hodgson Mill whole wheat couscous with milled flax seed and soy (had more fiber and protein). I probably could have skipped the toasting step and I could have cut back a little on the chicken broth because my cous cous turned out almost soggy, but it was fine. It also seemed to make a lot-could have been 3-4 servings. My chicken breasts were pretty big too, so if I had sliced the chicken, it could have fed 3-4 as well. Next time, I will also add a little fresh lemon juice with the oil while I cook the chicken, because I love lemon flavor in chicken. I may even try substituting swiss chard for the spinach next time I have some to harvest (which should be soon-it's growing very fast).

I'm looking for recipes that call for cilantro, sweet basil, arugula, cilantro, and parsley-all of which I have growing outside and I need to use as much as I can before I move. I am a little overwhelmed with all the options for recipes online, so if you have one or more you love, let me know. My email is bkyoungs@gmail.com or leave one as a comment so you can share with everyone (all 3 of my readers). :-) Thanks!

pics

And if you want to see photos of what I've been up to besides gardening the last couple of months go here. I am trying to be less of a photo-taking slacker and I will try to blog them as I go now that I have a working laptop.

Swiss Chard

So one of my goals for this year is to try a new recipe each week and also to blog about it (because I love getting recipes from people, so I thought I would share). I have 4 lovely Swiss Chard plants growing right outside my door and I finally decided to try and cook some (also, the tall stalks were kept breaking off in the wind+rain so I figured they were ready). I think when I bought and planted the chard, I thought I would use the chard in a salad, but apparently it's supposed to be cooked, because those were the only kind of recipes I could find. My new favorite channel is the Food Network and they have a great website too. This recipe is the Neeley's (if you've never seen their show, they are a married couple) and can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 2 large bunches Swiss chard
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 4 strips thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Slice the stems into 1-inch pieces and reserve. Stack the chard leaves into a pile. Roll together into a bundle and slice into 1/2-inch ribbons.

Heat oil to a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and saute until browned, rendering the fat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add chard stems, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.

Begin to add the chard ribbons in batches. Once the chard wilts down, add the next batch. Stir occasionally until completely tender, about 5 minutes.

The finished product

I tried to cut back the quantities a bit because I didn't quite have 2 large bunches to pick and because it was just for me. Adjust accordingly, depending on your tastes. I left out the red pepper flakes because I'm not into spice. One tip I read was to just cook the onions and garlic in the bacon grease and then add the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with the chard ribbons because rendering the bacon grease seemed to just get rid of the oil.

Anyway, it turned out pretty good. I will cook the stems longer next time (probably the same as the onions and garlic) because they were still pretty crunchy. The flavor was different, but good...kind of like cooked spinach. And of course everything is better with bacon. :-)

30 days

Sigh. I am super sad tonight. I gave my landlord 30 days notice today. My lease is up and I will not be staying. I am having mixed emotions about the whole thing. Best case scenario is I will have a job in Logan within 30 days and will move there. Worst case scenario, I never find a job in Logan and I have wait around for John to get motivated enough to move to Salt Lake City where I will be forced to stay in my current job because I can't find anything else. My kind brother and his sweet wife are renting me a room in their basement in the event I don't find a job in Logan by the end of the month.

I applied for another job with USU. It is with the 4-H program, specifically their Youth and Families with Promise program that works with 10-14 year-olds that are struggling academically, socially, etc. I think 4-H is a great program and I am so impressed with the program goals of YFP. The great thing about the job is I would actually be using my degree! That would be super. They are looking for someone with a degree in Recreation or Youth/Child Development...which just happens to have been my major+minor. So it's basically the perfect job. All the benefits of working for USU (seriously, great benefits) but I would be using my degree+experience and working with kids, which is what I have always wanted to use my degree for. So please send all the happy thoughts you can spare my way.

The saddest part about leaving my little apartment is leaving my little garden. I have developed a love of gardening this summer and I am so sad I won't get to reap the full harvest of my efforts. I hope whoever rents this place next will appreciate my efforts and continue to take care of my little garden so at least someone will get to enjoy it and it won't be a complete waste. I did learn a lot though and have had fun, so I still think it was worth doing (and I knew going in to it that I might move before the end of the summer). So far I have been able to use cilantro and swiss chard and should be able to use the chives, parsley, arugula, and basil and hopefully some tomatoes will ripen in the next 30 days. I have several clusters of grape tomatoes that are getting bigger every day...now if they would just get red+ripe. I intended to blog the progress of my little garden, but of course I never did. I did take a couple of pictures the first day I noticed tomato fruit, so you can get a little idea of what I have going. The grape tomato plant is so big and is basically taking over the rest of the plants around it (cucumber, cantelope, which I don't think stand a chance).

The grape tomato plant...and this was about 2 weeks ago so it's actually bigger now

first fruit-so excited!

Cilantro and 2 kinds of lettuce

Swiss Chard, chives, arugula, parsley, and a garlic plant you can't see because the arugula is now growing over it.

In the end, I think this is for the best. I am so hoping I will be making a direct move to Logan, but I would love the chance to live with Matt+Debi and their girls too. It would be nice to save some money and get a little more on top of my financial goals.

I'm going to try and enjoy the next 30 days the best I can. John is working so much right now (even weekends) and will be traveling to Amsterdam, Massachusetts, and Missouri this month...so basically we won't be see each other much. Not to mention he has decided to change his hours to match the guys he his working with in Amsterdam, which means his work day will stat around midnight and he will go to bed around 3:00 each afternoon.

So this month is going to be all about me, about packing and sorting and de-cluttering and making big decisions and hopefully starting a new job. I just want to enjoy it because it could be the last 30 days I live by myself.

P.S. I feel like no one is reading my blog anymore, since I changed it to private. I know I am not the most exciting blogger, but if you read this you should leave me a comment so I feel loved and supported. Thanks. :-)

a new list

So I had a birthday. And now I am 29. This is the first birthday where I have felt hesitant to tell people how old I am...mostly because the comments I was getting were always something like "oooh, just one year left to live it up" or something like that. I guess I don't see turning 30 as getting old, but it will be the end of an epic decade. I hear that 30 is the new 20. I certainly don't want to be 20 again, but it's fun to think back over the last 9ish years and see how much I've grown and learned. I would agree that the 20s are about discovering who you are and figuring life out a bit and then your 30s are more about embracing what you have learned.

Anyway, over the last week or so since my birthday, I have been thinking about this list. I wanted to set some goals for this last year of my twenties. This year has been a little rough for me so far and the last month or so especially has been frustrating as I've been job searching and contemplating a move and making some big decisions. My first idea was to have 30 things, but that was really hard and I decided I would rather focus on just a few things to better my chances of accomplishing all my goals. So this is my list of 10 things I want to do before I turn 30, in no particular order:

1. Get a new job-preferably not just a job, but a career-something I will be happy doing for at least a few years
2. Get engaged
3. Pay off my remaining credit card debt
4. Lose 25 pounds
5. Get a passport and use it
6. Make journal writing+blogging a habit (at least once a week)
7. Try a new recipe once a week (and blog about it)
8. Spend time developing my hobbies (gardening, photography) and try something new (ceramics, sewing)
9. Take some trips to visit family and friends out of state: some destinations include California (Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe), Cour d'Alene, ID, Portland, OR and Washington, D.C.
10. Volunteer-get more involved in my community

birthday fun

The last few days have been really busy and really fun. Thursday was my birthday, but unfortunately I had to work all day. The kids did make me a cake though and they sang to me with their grandparents and we had the cake together. The rest of the night I spent at Primary Children's with my sister, Rebekah, and her little girl Lucy (you can read about her ordeal here).

Friday night I went out with some of my friends for celebration #2.

Carlee, Andrea, Natalie, Me

Then Saturday I threw a baby shower for my friend Anna. It was raining all day, but it was fun to get together with some of our old friends. I realized as soon as I got home that I forgot to take any pictures. So just imagine what a fun time we had.


Later that evening, I met up with my family for celebration #3 at Applebees. We were supposed to have a BBQ, but the rain combined with sick kids at Matt's house too, we decided just to go out. Again, no pictures. I have been a photo-taking slacker lately. I have not had my regular lap top for a couple of weeks and have just been working on the mini. I can still upload pictures to the mini, but typing and therefore blogging is always so difficult on the mini computer. Luckily, I will not have that problem anymore. John gave me a laptop for my birthday! Woo hoo! It is so nice to have something full size again. Have I mentioned I have the best boyfriend ever?! So hopefully I will be able to have photos in my blog posts again.

Best Boyfriend Ever & Me

Sunday was Father's Day and I was able to go to my parent's house to have dinner with them. We shared a strawberry cheesecake and I got to blow out a birthday candle (I'm a sucker for traditions). By the end of the weekend, I was all partied out. Thanks to all my friends and family for making it such a great birthday!

sigh.

So I didn't get the job. Again. Rejection sucks. I had a good talk with John last night that helped me have a better perspective on things. For each job I don't get, someone else does. These people could need the job so much more than me, not to mention obviously being better qualified. I don't know their stories. This is not the best economy to be job searching in anyway, but I do have a job for now. As much as I don't love it and the terrible schedule and inconsistant hours are wearing me out, I can pay my bills and life is generally good.

So I am still job searching and focusing the search in Logan, at least through the summer. If something doesn't work out by then, I may decide to work at a ski resort for the winter or something like that. I have options, I'm just not doing so well at being patient right now. I do know that that things will work out however they are supposed to. Thanks for everyone's encouraging words!

here I go again

So I didn't get the job I interviewed for last week. Bummer. I got the call today and I was pretty sad. It was this super chaotic moment, but I saw the call was from USU so I answered it anyway. I was just letting the dog out (side note-I am house and dog sitting this week, which has turned out to be kind of a nightmare with my already insane work schedule) to go potty, which they have him do on the front lawn. Normally this would not be a big deal because it's a relatively quiet street, but they live next door the the Town Club on South Temple (some sort of private hall, country club or reception center looking building) and there were suddenly a lot of elderly women flocking to the club...I assume for a fancy luncheon of some sort because is was around 11:00am. Anyway, I also had Mia with me (the 2 year old I take care of) and there was a neighbor dog barking somewhere. So as I answered the call, I'm suddenly thinking Fergus (the dog) might start barking at the other dog or run off or try to jump on the ladies walking by or that Mia would start screaming about nothing (not uncommon) but I answered the phone anyway. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get the job. Luckily, my dog+toddler situation was under control and they both went back in to the house, so I lucked out.

So I was feeling pretty sad about things and decided to take the kids to McDonald's for lunch, mostly because I didn't feel like making anything for lunch at this point, partly because french fries taste better when I'm sad, and partly because the kids needed some playground time, which they haven't been getting due to all the rain this week, so I drove the extra 4 minutes down the road to the McDonald's with a play place.

As we are walking in to the place, my phone rings and it is USU calling again (I know this because all USU on campus numbers start with 797) so I answer it again because I'm hoping it's the other call I was waiting for, and it was. It was for another interview, this one with the Retention and First Year Experience Office (the other one was in Athletics). This office handles many things on campus, but the main function is obviously retaining students. They due this a number of ways of course, but their big events each year are SOAR (Student Orientation and Registration) and Connections, which is basically freshmen/new student orientation the week before school starts to kick off the year. I had the chance to work with some people from the RFYE office while I was working in Admissions and I think they are all great and would be so fun to work with. I love working with new students and I would definitely get to incorporate the things I learned in Admissions, plus I would be doing some new and challenging things too.

Anyway, so I take the call while I have all 3 kids wondering where we are going to sit and when we can get our food. They were actually pretty patient, but I was stressed for a minute because they wanted to schedule an interview for Thursday or Friday and I work both days. So I told her I would call her right back. So over the next 10 minutes I am ordering food, wrangling 3 chilrdren, and texting the other nanny I work with to try and work out the schedule for Friday and then confirming with the director for Friday at 4:00. Kristi (the other nanny) should be able to come in early and cover the end of my shift so I can leave by 2:00 and be to Logan in time for my interview. She has to work at her internship that morning, but if her client shows up on time and everything goes as it should, she should be done on time. So I am hoping and hoping that things work out. Being late for an interview is pretty bad, even with the excuse of a long drive.

So to make a long story even longer, I was super bummed for about 45 minutes and then I've been very excited the rest of the day. I really want to leave my current job...there are more reasons every day. I feel like Logan is where I should be right now and USU is such a great place to work. I love working in student services and I think the Retention office would be a really good fit for me.

So if you feel so inclined, please keep me in your thoughts over the next couple of days and I will let everyone know as soon as I find out. I'm starting to get very discouraged+low self esteem because I have applied for several jobs at this point and still nothing. I just keep hoping something is going to work out, and I really hope this is it.

where does the time go? and going private (temporarily)

So I feel like I was just barely doing my April blog, catching up on the whole month. I can't believe how quickly the month of May flew by. Time is just flying! I think about blogging almost every day, but I never seem to fit it in. I feel like my blog is only interesting when I have photos to share, which hasn't been easy due to my recent computer issues. I was happy to get a new power cord for my laptop, but the connection was kind of loose and it has now failed again. John, the amazing, smart, sweet heart he is, is trying to find some time to fix my little old laptop. In the mean time, he is letting me use the mini again. This week, I am using his full-size laptop because I needed to do some typing practice. Isn't he the best? I sure think so. But that means all my pictures are in Logan. I do have a backup copy on an external hard drive, but it takes too long to load everything I want. So no pictures for now, sorry.

Anyway, May was a good month with lots of fun stuff. I ran the Race for the Cure with my mom, John, Rachel, and Kayla. Had a nice Mother's Day with my mom...Kayla and I made her a delicious lasagna dinner. My nieces had their spring dance recital, which was super cute. Lucy turned one! We had a fun party+dinner for her on Memorial Day and she was so funny eating her birthday cupcake. This last weekend, I went to St. George with John, Matt and Debi and their girls, Rachel and Dan, and Kayla. It was great to get away for a couple of days. We did a little hike, swimming and sunning, and lots of eating and sleeping.

The big event of this week is a job interview I have at USU. I'm pretty excited because I've applied for a couple of jobs and didn't even get an interview, which is always disappointing. After a lot of long talks with John, we've decided the best thing is if I can find a job in Logan and move there so we can be together (as in living in the same town). We both think it would be good to stay in Logan for at least a year or two, and possibly longer if John/we buy a house there because we love the community and it would give us both the chance to do a little more schooling (another undergrad degree for me, masters for him). I can't believe I am even considering doing more school, but I am. We'll see. We both love USU and I would love to be able to work there again.

Anyway, this month could end up super busy for me if I end up starting a new job because it would mean moving (again!) and lots of big, but good, changes. The other thing is I'm going to change my blog settings to private for the time being while I am doing all this job searching. If this job doesn't work out, I will continue to job search through the summer and I don't want to worry about censoring my blog in case any prospective employers "google" me. ha ha I think I am pretty conservative in what I put on this little blog, but you never know. So if you would like to keep reading my sporadic blog posts (could be a week, could be 3-4 months) during my search for a new+better job then please leave me your email or send it to me at bkyoungs@gmail[dot]com so I can send you an invite. I will probably change my settings this Thursday or Friday, so hopefully a lot of people see this before then.

I am reading all of your blogs and I try to take the time to comment, I am just not that great on the writing end. Wish me luck on Thursday!

I'm back

Well not that I have ever been that regular in my blogging, but I am finally able to use my laptop again and it is great! I'm grateful to John for letting me borrow the mini, but it's nice to be able to type at a normal speed and not have to hold the screen really close to read small print. The power cord did arrive from Hong Kong and it seems to work ok (the connection is a bit loose and it's a lot shorter than my last one, but it's good enough for me). I really do want to be a regular blogger, and always think of stuff I want to blog about when I'm not at home...one day it will happen.

April was a busy month and went by really fast. Here's a few photo highlights:

Trip to Discovery Gateway with Bekah, her girls, Leah, and Matt and Mia (2 of the kids I watch). We sent Lucy down this little slide and she loved it.

John's brother, Steve, got married. Here are their cute nieces Amy, Maddie, and Jeni all ready for the wedding

Steve, John, and Mikey (can you tell they are related?) ha ha

John's family -the whole crew! Andrew, Keri w/Laura, Jeff, Scott, John, Sarah, Amy, Steve, Jeni, Maddie, Luane, Bob, Carolyn w/Grace, Nathan, Bob, and Mikey.

Easter Egg hunt with my nieces in the rain

Izzy wasn't phased by the rain

Easter dinner with my parents

Leah turned 4!

Kayla finally went to a bar...for lunch

Kayla found this cat and asked John and me for help. We decided to keep him.

Oreo (double-stuff) and Moe (snack size). The size difference is really amusing...at least to me

I'm sure other stuff happened, but that's all I can remember for now and I just wanted to feel like I tried to catch up so I can get back to blogging.

leave of absence

So my laptop died.  Well, my power supply died.  It sucks, because unfortunately I am pretty computer-dependant for just about everything from keeping in touch with people to balancing my checkbook.  So John, being the sweetheart he is, let me borrow one of his laptops (he has at least 3 now).  It is actually his newest one, an "Eee PC" that is the smallest laptop I have ever seen (he got it specifically for some robotics projects he wants to work on).  It is about the size of a portable dvd player if you have ever seen one of those.  It is very hard to type on such a small keyboard (especially because I do not have small hands or fingers) so I have to type really slow and I get frustrated pretty quickly.  I think I am actually getting used to it though.  I pulled out my laptop to take these comparison photos and I was thinking my laptop looks huge.

side by side

can you see the difference in keyboard size?

seriously so small, but it's kind of cute too

So hopefully the new power cord I ordered off ebay actually shows up from Hong Kong and hopefully it actually works.  In the meantime, I don't have access to any of my files, specifically photos, so blogging is not as fun.  I'm sure you all have been wondering what I have been up to ;-) 

In other news, I would like to find a new job.  So as soon as I can access my resume and such, I will officially be job searcing.  If any of my blogger friends hear of anything in the area of recreation, event planning, student services, youth programming, child care, or even office work...please let me know!  I would like it to be year-round and I want to stay in Utah, specifically the slc area, but I am open to just about anything right now.  Let's network people! 

:-)  Thanks!

Lake Powell house boat trip

Last week I was able to go to Lake Powell with some of my family to do a little house boating (earned a free trip working there last summer). The weather wasn't quite as warm as we hoped (we even had a snow storm!), but it was lots of fun and great to get away for a few days. I miss Lake Powell so much and I hope I get to go back soon! I wasn't my usual camera-happy self for some reason, but I did get a few + some from Matt and Uncle Phil, so check out the slide show for a few pics.

Disney on Ice

My sweet nieces, Izzy and Leah

So I seem to be a week or so behind on my blogging...oh well.

I had this great idea to take my nieces to Disney on Ice after seeing the latest commercial for the show on tv. I have actually always wanted to go to an ice show like that (I used to be really in to ice skating when I was younger).

Anyway, after telling John about it, he wanted to take his nieces+nephew as well. So it ended up being me and John, Maddie (9), Jeni, (6), Leah (almost 4), and Izzy and Nathan (both 3.5). The girls got all dressed up as pricesses because I had read a review that mentioned kids dressed up.

We took the kids out to eat first and then headed out to SLC to the show. The kids were super excited the whole drive, it was really cute! Maddie and Izzy became instant friends too. The show featured songs from the Lion King, Litle Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch, and Peter Pan. I tried to get some pictures, but they didn't turn out very good because of the light/distance issue.

"Under the Sea"

Flying to Neverland

Captain Hook's pirate ship

The big finale

John and Nathan were more in to the kettle corn than the show I think...

The show was really fun and all the kids were really well behaved, but very tired at the end of the night (John and me too!). It's the first time we have gotten our nieces+nephew together like that, so hopefully we will do it again soon!

John with Nathan, Jeni, and Maddie

The kids convinced us to get them snow cones. They were a hit but a big mess too! :-)

Princess Izzy

Fairy Princess Leah