Really....it's Christmas time already?

Wow time is FLYING!!! Since the last real post I made I have started school (which I LOVE), we celebrated our first anniversary and we had a very fun Thanksgiving in SLC area. I have been waiting to post because I wanted to put up pictures from our little trip we took for our anniversary. I still don't have the pictures off of Sam's camera yet... but I will keep trying to get them. We had so much fun.

On Sunday Nov 7, 2010 we started our day by going to sacrament at the spanish branch near our house. It was testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong. There is just something special about listening to testimonies in your mission language. We felt the spirit SO strong! I would love to go there every week it was so incredible. We then started our drive to Las Vegas. In the 2 days we were there we went to the Ferrari exhibition, multiple buffets, the free Treasure Island show, (which we didn't really like) the Lion habitat to see the little lions, the M&M 3D movie, the Rio vocal performance, went to the Pawn Stars pawn shop, the V Variety show, lots of window shopping and the AMAZING Tournament of Kings. We tried to fit in everything we could. We had a blast! We felt like our Sunday to Monday get away was a real vacation. I am so lucky to have married such an incredible man. I love Sam so much! He brings so much fun and excitement to my life. He is the hardest worker, honest and full of so much integrity. I know that I am going to be taken care of for the rest of my life. He left the next Thursday for the weekend. Before he left, while I was at school, he put flower petals from the front door to our bedroom where he put Hershey hugs and kisses all over our floor and had written a love note for me and put it on our bed. It was so sweet it made me cry. I am a lucky girl! Yay for making it through the first of MANY wonderful years of marriage!!!

I am loving school so much! Paul Mitchell is all about forward focused thinking and positiveness. I love going to school everyday knowing it will be fun and that I will leave having felt inspired to be a better person and feeling excited for my future. I know that there are SO many exciting things to come in our future. Like I hinted on my last post, I am raising money for the Children's Miracle Network so that I can open doors to my future by being one of the first 50 future professionals to raise $3000. I know I can do it! If you feel inspired to donate I can tell you how. I've been told that if I do it I could advance my career 5 years.

I was so lucky to have had the chance to go up north to be with family for Thanksgiving. I LOVE my family. I LOVE spending time with them. I LOVE being with them and having my cute husband there. I love feeling complete. I love playing with my kids up there. I got to play with Claire and take her shopping with me and be her best friend again. I have missed that. She broke my heart when she told me "no one lives at the house since you left me." I can't wait to see her and her whole family over Christmas in New Mexico. I am so blessed in my life! I am so grateful to my Savior for His life and love. I know His church is here on the Earth and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I know that I will be with my family for all eternity and that brings me the greatest joy in my life. I am so glad that it is Christmas time so that I can share in the joy of the season and the birth of the Savior with the rest of the world. Merry early Christmas!!!

Oh how I want to win this...

http://paulmitchell.edu/blog/first-50-future-professionals-opportunity

Triathlon?

Here I am after my first 5K. I survived.

Last Friday for work we set up a booth at the sign up spot for the Kokopelli Triathlon. I started talking to the tough people planning to do the race and decided that I want to start training to do one as well. For the past week I have woken up with Sam and he has dropped me off at the clubhouse to work out. I have been doing around 8 miles a day so when I heard the sprint triathlon is 13 miles I decided that it was possible for me to do. I can do it! I think that the hardest part is going to be the half mile swim. I'm excited though :)

What advice do you have for someone training for a Tri?

Do you have any advice on what food would help me train as well?

Life in St George

Well we have been in St George for almost a month now. We are living in my parents condo and it is SO fun to have our own place for the first time since we got married. We are having fun getting to know one another again. With all the changes it almost feels like we just got married. It is hard to explain. I feel bad though because we have already made some INCREDIBLE new friends but I keep ditching out on them when they invite us to hang out because I always just want to be with Sam. I just hope that they will be my friend when I am ready to have friends again. Has anyone else ever felt this way? All I want to do in my free time is be with Sam because we can.

As for jobs, Sam's job that he had in New Mexico has a branch here in St George and he was able to be hired on here. There is A LOT of work to be done. They do things very different here in the company and it is taking a little adjusting. I got a job at Del Sol at the outlet mall. The owner is the nicest lady and we get along very well. She hired me on as the Marketing Manager. It is fun trying to figure out the area and what will work best to get people into the store. Especially since I haven't ever done marketing before. I am doing that only part time. I have been waiting to hear back from two other jobs to see if I could find a full time job until school starts. They are taking their sweet time to get back to me but I can wait.

I start school at the Paul Mitchell Academy on November 2. I am SO excited to start. I know that I have always wanted to learn and being here with an opportunity like Paul Mitchell Academy so close, I had to do it. I am still going to get my bachelors degree but the program that I am going to do doesn't start until Fall 2011. So next year around this time I will be pulling double duty with Paul Mitchell and Dixie at night. I'm sure I will be able to do it. Sam is considering going back to school and we are hoping that he will get a scholarship. I'm sure he will with his straight A's.

We are doing great. We miss our family and friends in New Mexico. I still tear up sometimes when I think about my nieces and nephew that I don't get to see everyday now. But we are happy here. We feel like we are home in this beautiful home. Maybe I will be able to post more often...

Making the choice...

I am thinking that I have made a decision... but first I will tell you what has led me to it. I received a phone call from the Paul Mitchell school and they informed me that because of my FAFSA status, I am eligible for a grant of $11,000 from the government. That is five times what I am receiving for Dixie State. I also was able to find a bachelors program at Dixie that is an 18 month program and is one night a week and some online. I decided, knowing those new factors, that we will move to St George as planned on August 13th. I will look for a full time job and work there to save money til November 2 when I will start at Paul Mitchell school. I will study there for a year. In fall 2011 I will begin my 18 month Organization and Leadership Bachelors program. I will be overlapping the end of hair school and Dixie but since it is a one night a week program, I should be fine. Then when I graduate from hair school I will be able to work full time and be able to pay for the half of Dixie my scholarship doesn't pay for. I feel this way I will be able to receive my bachelors and have a career at the same time. We will see how it goes!

St George...HERE WE COME!!!

I am so excited to announce that Sam and I have decided to move to beautiful St George, Utah! I received a half tuition scholarship to Dixie State College and then Pell Grants that will pay for the rest of the tuition, fees, and books. I have always wanted to finish my Bachelors Degree and I am excited to be able to do it for free :) The original goal was to go to school and while doing the classes to get a double degree in Spanish and Psychology to also do my pre-requisites for Occupational Therapy graduate school. That could still be an option but as I have been registering for classes I have noticed how far behind I am in the science and math areas. They are my hardest subjects and if I continue in the occupation I would have to do lots of those kinds of classes. When we get there, I am going to do some volunteer work with an occupational therapist and find out if that is what I want to do. If it seems to be my dream job, then I will be able to endure all the crazy hard classes. That would mean that I would be in school for the next 5 years. The hard part about that is Sam and I are hoping to start a family in about 2 years which would mean I would probably have a kid right as I start graduate school. That scares me a little because I don't want to be a bad mom or bad a school. But like I said earlier, if i realize it is what I want to do for the rest of my life, then I know I will be able to do it.

Lately, I have gotten the idea in my head that I would really enjoy beauty school. I love people and make-up and hair and talking so I think I would enjoy it a lot. :) The downsides to going is the price, $11,000-$20,000, and the possibility of maybe not achieving my lifetime goal of attaining a Bachelors degree. It would be so fun to be able to open my own salon and be able to possibly work from home. We would be able to start our family sooner and I would be able possibly make my own hours. I would even possibly go to a massage therapy school so that I could be a triple threat in the beauty world. It is interesting to me that I am thinking of going to these schools for the first time in my life when I am 25. All growing up I have done people's hair and given massages but now I am feeling it is time to actually learn what I am doing. I kinda wish I wouldn't have wasted so much time to go to a beauty school. Then I wouldn't have to be making this choice when my choice affects another person.

My question of the day to all who reads this is what would you do if you knew you would enjoy hair school and would most likely be very successful at it but to go you would have to give up a full ride scholarship at a college where you would be able to achieve your lifelong goal of receiving my bachelors? Choices, choices and no idea what to do....time to get down on my knees and figure out what the Lord wants me to do.

Goggle Girl, oh how I love you!

My night at the gas station

So, all of you are wondering, "why would Lizzie go spend the night at a gas station in the middle of nowhere? We knew she was crazy but why this?" Great questions! Well, it has always been a childhood dream of mine to sleep at a gas station. Being surrounded by all that food and random people, who wouldn't want to do that? JK. The real reason is that Sam's mom is part owner of the Lybrook Mercantile, a little trading post, gas station and laundry mat. She had the chance to go up to BYU for Woman's Conference and so she needed a substitute for her at the store. Sam worked there last summer so he helped his mom out.

Ever since I found out about the store, I have been told all the crazy stories about how many times it has been broken into. Since we were going to work there in the morning, it was our great opportunity to sleep over and be the night guards. It was great at first because we got to go around the store and pick out whatever we wanted to eat and not have to pay for it. For all of you who know me know two of my favorite things are food and saving money, so I was ecstatic! We had a great dinner of corn on the cob that I had brought with us and a Bomb burrito that we shared. Doesn't a Bomb burrito just scream gas station dinner? We got ready for bed and I was the only one that was awake enough to watch a movie so we put it on. Sam's sister Tiffany was out so fast and Sam was right behind her. So it was just me, my movie and all the scary noises at the store. I woke Sam up the first time to ask him if the noise I was hearing was normal. He mumbled a yes and was out again as soon as he answered. The whole movie I was so nervous and after wasn't any better. Finally, I woke Sam up again to ask,"So, what do I do if I do hear someone break in?" Sam," Wake me up." Me,"And then what?" Sam," I will go find something hard to hit them with." Me in my head,"That doesn't sound like a thought out plan to me at all!" but it had to be enough. Eventually, I fell asleep after a long time of being scared. Then I woke up in the morning and everything was fine :) Haha, Wow, that was a very anti-climatic story. Sorry about that. I guess it is a good thing that it all turned out ok. It was fun though. It was as if I was in my own scary story in my head all night.

So, that folks is my story. I hope you liked it.

The Firework stand we will work in the summer

The Laundrymat
A view of the inside of the store
The outside of the Lybrook Mercantile. It's for sell if you are in the market for an old trading post in the middle of New Mexico. Just let me know if you are interested :)

$36,000 or School

I was just looking at my sister's blog and she had a link to a treatment that she wants to do for her daughter. I read into it and it sounds AMAZING!!! I then looked at the price. Not only is the treatment in Germany so it would cost a bit to get over but the treatment alone would cost $36,000. After reading the difference it has made in many other people, I feel more than anything that it would work for our little Whitney. She was born with cerebral palsy due to an embiotic embolism at birth. With this treatment, there is possibility that she would have better chances of speaking or walking or sitting or eating on her own. We have such high hopes for her. When you are around her you can tell that she understands what is going on around her but she just can't get her body to react to how she feels. It is like she is trapped. She is such a trooper though. She is so happy and brings so much light to our lives. I would love to be able to help her out. The only problem is that I am way too poor to help her out. At least now I see a number to work for. I know someday she will be able to do it. Maybe it is better that she can't go yet because I am not an occupational therapist yet and can't be there to work with her for free everyday. I love my sister and her family. Steph is such a great example to me and always has been. She was there at my plays and pageants. She was THE MOST AMAZING maid of honor for my wedding and did WAY too much. She is always there when I need to cry (which is often) But I have never really been there for her with Whit. I was on my mission when it happened and was too self absorbed to help when I got back. I finally feel with my decision to be an occupational therapist that I will be able to give back to my sister all that she has done for me. I just wish I could start on it right now so that I will be certified sooner. I look at that number for the treatment and want to give all I have to help make it happen but I know that I will be of more help in the future if I use my money for school. I promise Steph that I will be able to help someday. Just know that I am ALWAYS here for you. I can't give you much cuz I don't have much but what I have that you can use, is yours. Here is a link to my sister's blog so you can see the link to the procedure and see how great of a person she is. http://squishymommy.blogspot.com/

Our first Valentines

Sam and I got married pretty fast after we started dating as most of you know. So this year was our first Valentine's Day together. I was so excited to have a romantic night and I loved having an excuse to dress up nice. We went to a local tepanyaki restaurant to eat. Japanese is kind of my new favorite kind of food. I love the way that they cook the food in front of you. And ever since St Thomas I have loved eating sushi. We got there and it didn't seem to be super busy so we thought we would be able to eat soon. They started us with our salad and our soup. We ordered a sushi roll and it was delicious. We waited about 15 minutes and they brought out some edemomies to apologize for the wait. About 15 minutes after that we finally had a cook. We were excited to see him cook the food but at that point our appetizers had hit our tummies. We weren't hungry anymore. We loved watching all of his tricks. We knew that as soon as he was done cooking it and it was on our plates, we would not be able to eat it. It was funny how full we were after the little we eat. The picture we posted shows how little we actually ate. When we got to the car, Sam asked if I could drive because he was so full he thought he was going to pass out. I loved it. It was a very fun night out. I can't wait for all the many Valentine's Days to come together.

I will post about my other favorite night out when I am able to post pictures of it.

What was your favorite Valentine's Date?

Coming back to Blogging

I think I have said this before but I am so ready to start writing on my blog more. There are many things that I would love to talk about. Sam and I have been together for 5 months now. Time is going by so fast. We love spending time together every night after work. His mom buys pretty much every movie that comes out on DVD so we go over and "rent" movies from her. It is a fun way to spend time together. Sam enjoys playing basketball at the local church buildings every Tuesday and Thursday. I somedays go with him and run around the halls to get a little workout in. That's not sac religious right? It is nice to get a little exercising in.

I am still working for my brother and sister in law as their nanny. I get to spend everyday with cute little Claire who is growing up WAY too fast. She will be two this month and she already can talk up a storm. She is my little buddy! We love playing, shopping, dancing and singing together. She is just starting to let me do her hair. I love putting piggy tails and braids in her hair and seeing her be so excited to see how cute she looks.

This week we got to have a puppy play with us at our house. It was the cutest little Morkie puppy! I wanted to keep it and make it mine but it would be hard to have a puppy right now. I haven't had a dog for so long that I forgot how needy little puppies are. It is like having a baby or toddler. I would be cleaning and the dog would just want to play in the cleaning supplies. It was so fun to have a little buddy with me all the time but it was a little too high maintenance.

Lately, Sam and I have been thinking about our future. I am only about a year away from getting my Bachelors degree. I think that it is very important to have so I really want to finish. We are considering moving to St George for a year so that I can go to Dixie State to finish. I applied and was lucky enough to get a 4 year half tuition scholarship. I think it would be so fun to live in St George. Sam would get to play all the time on his 4 wheeler after work since I will be busy every night with homework. I am considering going into an Occupational Therapy Masters Program after my bachelors. I think that it would be so fun to help people in their lives. I am excited to prepare to get into the program and begin serving again. I love being able to make a difference in peoples lives and this occupation would let me do that every day.

The other big thing that has happened in our lives is that Sam and I are officially owners of a new truck. We started looking for a new truck about 2 months ago so that Sam would have a way to transport his 4 wheeler. We were looking at Tacomas and some Nissans and we realized that our price range that we could afford was around $13000-18000. We stumbled upon the Cadillac Escalade EXT and noticed that they were in our price range as well. We instantly fell in love with that truck. They are just so pretty. We found a bunch that we liked then we found the truck of our dreams. We had Ashley and Tyler Nelson go and test drive it so that we would know that it was legit since it was in Utah and we are in New Mexico. They approved of it so we got it all set up for my parents to give him the check. It is now sitting in St George patiently waiting for us to pick it up next week. We were excited that my dad got to drive it down for us so he was able to see what a real truck was like ;) He has been driving the same truck for years and it is possessed. It decides when the wipers will go or when the horn will honk. It is a silly truck. I hope he had a great time driving it. maybe someday his truck will grow up to be a real truck someday.

What are your thoughts on Occupational Therapy?

Do you know any Occupational Therapists?

Does anyone know how to change the font on these silly Blogs?

Our new baby

Claire playing dress-up in Party City

Claire with her Yo Gabba Gabba Piggy Tails

Playing dress-up in the diaper basket

Showing off her "neighs" aka Pony tails.