It's about that time to post again.... Part One

With all of the craziness, with the move and so many other things that have been going on.... blogging has kind of fallen to the wayside.

Some of the recent happenings:

1) We bought a house!!!
It is more beautiful and significantly larger than either of us ever thought our first house would be... but it just kind of worked out that way and we are so thrilled with it!
       I have discovered how much I LOVE Pier 1 because they have so many classy, unique, and yet modern items..... however Jason isn't loving the effects it is having on our bank account.... but he's not verbally complaining either because he's knows how long I've been waiting to decorate a place of my own!!!  It will be 4 years since being married in June.  Weird!

LOVING THAT:
a) I have enough space to organize one of my bathroom drawers like this:

b) I have front loading washer/dryer and a mud room

c) I finally get to try out my hand at decorating... It's so much fun!!!

d) Leidy is loving having a yard to run around in and a waterfall to occasionally sneak a drink from.

It's a little cooler than Phoenix (but not much), so Jason even bought her a few new clothing items :)

e)  Oh shoes.... how i've missed you!!! It's about time you get to come out of the storage unit... two years later!

f)  Mmmmmm.... Kitchen!!! (and unpictured pantry)

g) We even have a guest room (okay... maybe a few guest rooms) just in case you feel so inclined as to come visit us.

In case you didn't notice, there are chocolates on the bed. That's right.... we like to take care of our guests! ;)

2) We moved to St. George

I was not excited about the move at first because I DID NOT want to move back to the city I went to high school in.  I didn't want to move back to all of the cliques that existed when I was in high school.  HOWEVER, I have been pleasantly surprised because A) St. George has grown a TON. A lot more housing, shopping, and dining. B) We live on the other side of town from where I grew up so it feels like a completely different experience. C) There are so many great outdoors things to do here!!!

Before I forget: I need to document the actual moving experience because it was pretty "memorable."

Some of the highlights of the move from Phoenix to St. George:
*Jason packed most of the house as I worked every day up to and INCLUDING the very day we moved.
* Poor Leidy was feeling so claustrophobic for about two weeks as her 750 square feet of house kept getting smaller, and smaller as it filled up with boxes. She was so relieved when the move was over and she actually had space to run around again..... lots and lots of space.... and a backyard!

Moving day was a joke
*I spent my last night in Phoenix on the floor because Jason had packed up our bed.  haha
*I get to work super early (615am) because I wanted to finish last minute paperwork. I was about 15 minutes into it when Jason calls and says, "Why'd you take the keys to Halee?!" when I calmly responded, "Umm.... you mean the car you've been driving for the last several weeks? I didn't. Why?"..... "AAAARRRRGH!!!! BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND THEM ANYWHERE!!!!!" ..... meaning in his packing zeal.... he had unknowingly packed them.... in one of what seemed like several hundred boxes. Great.
         I had to leave work and go pick him up, so he could drop me back off at work so that he could have the truck to drive around.  Something disheartening about Honda's, is you can't just have a locksmith make a key.  You have to go through the dealership because they operate with a "smart key" (150 bucks, I might add) that is electronically coded to start the ignition. Jason had to have a tow truck tow Halee to the dealership, so we could have a spare key made.
         THEN, we found out they wouldn't make a spare key for Jason because my name is the only one on the title!  So Kelsi has to come and pick me up (as Jason was occupied) and take me to the dealership so I could show my id . Then the dealership tells us it will be 2 hours before they can have the key ready because they need to go pick up some more from another dealership. HOLY COW!
         Jason takes me back to work and waits in the parking lot for 40 minutes as I finish my paperwork and turn in my badge (sad experience).

         Then we proceed to empty the storage unit just the two of us..... and we did.NOT.like.it!!!! Jason was supposed to meet someone at the storage unit that morning to help him, but when he couldn't find the keys..... set us back a TON and that didn't happen..... but emptying the storage unit, seriously took like two hours. UGH.
        We get back to the apartment to do one last run through..... and it wasn't clean!  Still needed to clean bathroom and vacuum as Jason had other issues he was taking care of----all stemming back to those blasted keys!!! DOUBLE UGH!
        We get it clean, get the truck packed, now we have to go get the car from the dealership to take to U-haul to have them load the car on the trailer (Jason was driving Uhaul, I was driving Frank, so we had to tow Halee). It was such a joke.
         By the time we finally get on the road, it was like 9pm.  We'd been driving for 45 minutes (so we're not even out of the Phoenix metro yet) and Jason was kind of swerving. I called to give him a hard time--telling him if he couldn't tow a car without swerving, there is no way I would let him tow a boat!  He tells me, "It feels like I am driving over duct tape.... like I have a flat or something, but I don't!" No sooner had he said that than I see *$@KABAM#@!.... a shredded tire flying towards my windshield. I brake quickly, and drive over the shredded tire while screaming "PULL OVER!!!!!"

By this point as you can imagine.... I am thinking that this move was an EPIC FAIL. Jason calls Uhaul to tell them what happened and they said they'd send someone to fix it... IN AN HOUR. Gosh Dang it!!!  I was already an emotional wreck leaving my job, all of my friends, running on little to no sleep.... but so far past the point of crying...... I actually started laughing and shaking uncontrollably..... Like the crazy kind of laughing.  A straight-jacket probably would have served me well at that point with the way I was feeling. hahaha.

(From my dad to depict "flat"... clever! :) )

The good part of waiting for the repairman, is I was able to get that hour long power-nap that I was SOOOOO craving before starting this all-night drive (We've had to do a lot of those in the past year!).
Thank heavens for the power-nap and a lot of caffeine, we made it safely..... but not without a lot of boredom along the way.  I was singing at the top of my lungs.... dancing.... made a game in which I was crossing back and forth between lanes trying to not hit the bumps..... I was seriously BORED.... which makes it even harder when it's so late.

       Jason told me I should just go on ahead, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving him where he had that flat earlier, and because it was so late that knowing we had to keep an eye on the other person and make sure they were safe/awake, gave us something to focus on.
       We (clarification..... Jason did because he was pulling the load, and then I had to match his speed to not lose him) averaged 55-60mph for MUCH of the drive (thus the boredom) and only 30mph in the Gorge!!!!  THAT was the roughest part. We got in just before 5am..... Roughest.Drive.Ever!!!

But we made it safely, and were finally able to crash in our new house....  and I guess that's the most important part!... that and the fact it's finally over! haha.

3) Jason and I both started new jobs

I work at Sunrise Children's hospital in Vegas doing mostly NICU, PICU, and Cardiac unit, which I am LOVING. The down side is that it is in Las Vegas.  Good news is I stay at the extended stay right across the street that gives a significantly discounted rate for hospital employees, and I am only away from home for 2 nights, and then at home for 5 nights..... but making the same amount as when I lived in Phoenix working 5 days.  How sweet is that?!!  It's worth the sacrifice of two nights away.

Jason is working at Wyson Financial and really enjoying it..... though it is totally different working for A) Family, and B) A smaller company.  There are lots of policies he's putting into place from a management standpoint (he's used to working for a huge corporation--Citi) because he loves structure.  Like, he's "that guy" who will run spreadsheets for comparing/contrasting just about EVERYTHING before buying it.... I on the other hand am super bad about impulse shopping, telling myself "I can always take it back if I still have the receipt".... but I probably don't take things back nearly as often as I should.
     I digress..... Structure.... So Jason is keeping himself super busy and really enjoying it... but to be honest, he doesn't really talk to me a whole lot about what he does--like specifics--and I don't to him about my work either.  I guess that's what happens when he works with agencies that govern financial privacy, and I work with individuals governed by the HIPAA police (anyone else who works in health care, feels my pain. haha).