Garage living....

So, while I was home for lunch last Monday, Ryan's mom called and told us about her final plans. She is going to build this house (only probably not so much of the wood on the inside walls) and build on the attached three car garage with an apartment above it, for us to live in. The garage will be attached to the back of the house where the mechanial room and cedar shower and tub are, and our apartment will be above that, next to where the loft is. We can either go in and out through the garage (our own private access...she's building stairs through the garage, which will be nice in the winter) or through the door in the loft. She's also going to have the gazebo out front more swung around on the side of the house, and she is putting a hot tub on the gazebo! YAY! She thinks the grandkinds will like the little "Bonco" area below the loft, where they can read books in their own little nook.

We thought this was a great idea for her, first off, because it is a TON LESS than building an UNFINISHED basement for us to live in. And she will have an extra apartment that she can rent out to relatives (nieces or nephews, but the grandkids stay for free!) in the future if they want to go to BYU-Idaho...or a place for us to come stay at when we come to visit in the future, so we don't have to stay at a hotel. The only outstanding debt she'll have is her house, which she will pay off within 15 years (when she turns 65...perfect for retirement age). I thought she made a great decision to set herself up for retirement :) I think it will be a great investment for her. The builder likes the design so much that he thinks he can get away with building it in a REALLY nice subdivision, even though it will be far smaller than the other houses. He thinks the architectural integrity of the house will let them get away with building there. Which will also be a good investment for her to have the smallest house in a very prominent neighborhood. Should be easy to sell if she ever needed to.

Anyways, should be fun! She says if we start having a family while we are there, she would even switch us for the house/her in the apartment, since she has two bedrooms, and we'll just have the one bedroom in the apartment. I told her she wouldn't have to do that (it makes me feel bad!) but she said it would be plenty of space for her to live in while we finish out school there...I told her we would figure it out when the time came :) I'm alright putting any little ones in the living room for a while, while we finish up school there. We'll see what the future holds. But it's getting more exciting the more firm our plans get, like mom getting a house built! YAY!

http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL55632.hwx
http://www.eplans.com/traditional_house-plans/HWEPL64436.hwx

Sleep Talking

Ryan is a sound sleeper. Which is good, cause honestly, I snore...not a little bit...but A LOT. So I've always appreciated that I married Ryan cause he sleeps right through it all.

The other thing I appreciate about him is that he sleep talks. AND he's one of those who will respond right back to you. Usually he doesn't remember anything he talks about when I ask him in the morning.

Well, this morning, around 7 a.m. I wake up feeling the whole bed shaking. I look over at Ryan and see a HUGE grin on his face. Ryan is laughing hysterically in his sleep (yet completely out loud). This wasn't just a small laugh, it was a full-on hearty laugh, as if we were having a conversation and he was laughing. I decided to play with it a little bit, so I asked him what was so funny. He chuckles a little and says,"1-800-STINK!" and then busts out laughing again. :) Crack me up.

When I talked to him about it this morning, he actually remembered saying 1-800-STINK, but can't remember what in the world his dream was about. Too funny.

What can brown cookies do for you?

Late last night, Ryan decided to make our chocolate chip cookies. These are the type of cookies that come in a package, and all you have to do is add eggs and butter.

Not much to it....just the way I like it! I was so proud of Ryan cause he was in the kitchen making them all on his own...when he puts in his first batch of cookies in the oven and says,"I don't know....we'll see how these turn out....things turn out weird whenever I make them, especially baking." I wasn't sure why he was so pessimistic about it all (Ryan is generally a VERY optimistic person...enough for both of us, cause I am on the pessimistic end of things). As he was coming out into the living room to wait for them to bake, I decide I need a bite of cookie dough! How can you NOT take a bite of cookie dough when making cookies?? That's the best part! So as I pass by him and tell him I need a bite, he gets this kinda weird look on his face and says he hopes they turn out ok. As I go into the kitchen and look into the mixer bowl, I see this:

BROWN COOKIES!!!! WHAT??? These were just normal chocolate chip cookies....nothing brown about them, except for the chocolate chips! I was SOOO perplexed! I asked Ryan WHAT happened, and he said he didn't know! He said the mix was white when it came out of the package, but brown when he stirred it all together! HUH??? I just couldn't understand this, or why it happened. I SWORE he was lying to me, and just trying to play a joke on me. I kept bugging him over and over about what happened and what he put in it. I thought he might have put some cocoa in it or something, just to make me freak out or something. He promised me he did nothing to the cookies. The dough TASTED normal...it just didn't LOOK normal. The cookies were pretty flat, which we didn't mind, but they didn't rise very much. And after they were done cooking, this is what they looked like (and they WEREN'T burned...far from it!).

So weird!!! I'm still so confused as to what happened to the cookies...but they taste good :) Does anyone know what might have happened?

Ryan works tonight, so I'm off to clean the house to keep me busy until he gets home around 10 p.m. We are so excited cause Batman comes out this weekend! We're planning on going to see it Saturday morning (when it's cheaper and less crowded!). We can't wait! :)

Why does Walle have a roach as a friend?

I hate the summer in Arizona for numerous reasons...not only is the heat enough to melt your skin off, but the monsoon season brings more than just floods...it brings sewer roaches! BLAH! Seriously...I walked into my bathroom last night around midnight to get ready for bed, and as SOON as I turned on the light, my eyes gravitated to something dark sitting right next to my bathroom toilet...


"RYAN!!!!!! Help, I need you!!!!!" I yelled, while shaking my hands wildly and making noises like,"blahhhhhhh blahhhh blahhhhh". I was in a predicament. Stay there and stare at the huge roach, who must have felt my eyes baring down on him so he was scared to move an inch, and almost looked dead....OR run away and lose eye contact with him, which would lead to a roach disappearing to the unknown...if I did this would he end up in my bed? My clothes in the laundry basket? Where would he go? So many thoughts and questions, and choices that needed to be made. After standing there for a minute, full on knowing Ryan couldn't/wouldn't get up right at that minute cause he was in the middle of some quest in the game he was playing on the computer, and knowing that I wasn't going to actually APPROACH the roach myself (ha! I just said appROACH the roach) and didn't feel like standing there and staring at it all night, I took the chance that he might remain still for a bit longer, and I also might be able to coax Ryan away for a minute. So...I did it. I LEFT the roach. I went to the spare bedroom and kinda talked about how gross it was again to Ryan, hoping he might think it was really nasty too so he would come kill it, but no such luck. Ok...I'm gonna have to suck it up and kill it myself. I happen to have some Raid in the house from when we had an ant infestation a few months ago after Ryan picked off all the pineapple from his pizza and left it in the pizza box on the floor. The ants went CRAZY and must have been able to smell that sweetness from outside! Ryan woke me up around 2 a.m. and told me we had ants in our living room. Our solution that night was to vacuum them all up, since we have a bag-less vacuum. Worked quite well. We had about 3 different ant lines coming in our house that time...not fun. Anyways, so I decided to Raid this roach! I could do it! At least I had something to spray on him, so I didn't have to get close. I got armed with my Raid, and headed into the bathroom...only to discover, he was gone!!!!



I KNEW IT! I knew he would leave! AHHHH!!!! That created MORE screaming and flailing of arms and running back to Ryan. CRAP! Now I have a roach on the loose somewhere in my house. Ryan "protected" me by keeping me in the extra bedroom with him until he was done with his quest. I went on the couch and fell asleep until he was done, so we could go back to the bedroom together, and he could make sure there weren't any roaches in my bed. BLAH. I hate roaches. More than anything.


I pulled my free credit report today. My one free credit report that the government so graciously allows us once a year! I'm happy to say, I have great credit, and no one is stealing my identity :) YAY!


So tonight, Ryan worked, and I met up with one of my old friends, Trisha, for dinner. I hadn't seen her since before I got married too. She cracks me up...so many stories! We ate at Sweet Tomatoes (MMMM.....) and talked for 2 hours! It was nice to get out and be with someone, while I waited for Ryan to get off work.


Ryan just walked in, so I better go and hang out! Jay Leno is on, so we'll probably finish watching this. Ryan's surfing the fridge for dinner. He hasn't found anything he wants, but he did find our cookie mix, and we've decided to make cookies tomorrow :)

Ryan and I have been married for 7 months as of TODAY!!! Can you believe it? 7 months!!! Happy 7 month Anniversary, baby! I love ya! Time flies when you are having fun....

Monday, Monday....

What is there to say about Mondays? Your weekend is over, and it's back to work! The hustle and bustle of the world comes back into your life. I'll admit, I wasn't thrilled about going to work this morning...and I could hardly keep myself awake all day! But all in all, it was an ok day for us today!

I got up and left to work, as my cute husband got to lay in bed...ahhh...jealousy ensues...I brought a wheat bagel and some fat free cream cheese to work for breakfast today, trying to eat a little healthier and save some money by not going across the street and getting it from the cafe next to my work. As I told my salesman today when he asked how it was...it was fat free...how do you think it tastes? :) Can't even compare to the fresh bagels next door, with the mound of fully-fat cream cheese they put on it, but those bagels next door might also be contributing to that weight gain I was referring to a few blogs ago :) I thought it best to start eating my own :)

I text Ryan around 9:15 a.m., still expecting him to be in bed since school doesn't start until 11:20 a.m. I asked him if he could try picking up the living room a little bit, and load the dish washer since the repair man would be coming today to fix our air conditioner. To my surprise, he text back almost immediately saying he was already in the process of doing that :) YAY for my husband! I thought that was so good of him to already be on top of that....and I much appreciated it. (As a side note, he found out today he got a 91% on his math test! Good job, babe! I'm proud of you...summer math is NOT easy....).

I came home for lunch around 1:30 p.m., just as Ryan got home from school. The repair man came promptly at 2:00 p.m. to fix our air. A process I expected to be long and drawn out took the man merely 5 minutes top to fix. 5 minutes!!!! He walked in and knew what to do the second he came in. Wow. Apparently we had too much gunk in our bathroom sink (toothpaste, etc) that it was clogging up the pipe that also drained the water from our air conditioner (who knew it was attached to our bathroom sink! So much for cleaning the living room....the man went into our master bathroom! EEK :) It wasn't too bad, but we weren't prepared for him to have to walk through our bedroom to our bathroom. At least nothing embarrassing was laying out...

So...we now have a fully functioning air conditioner! YAY! No more pot, and no more leaks :)

Today was my nephew, Brandt's, 8th birthday, so Ryan and I went over to my sister Michele's house with my parents and other sister for cake and ice cream! Woohoo! Ryan and I stuck around for an hour, and then we took off to go get some dinner (around 8 p.m.). We made a stop first at a Whole Foods store to find a new grain that we were introduced to when we visited Idaho...it's called Spelt. Never heard of it? Don't worry, neither had I. It's a sort of wheat/oat type grain (looks like wheat until you cook it, and then it opens up into an oat type look). It's really healthy, and REALLY, uh...cleans out your system. :) We thought we would try it again and see how it makes us feel, since both of us are trying to eat healthier.

As we were getting back into our car after leaving Whole Foods, I heard about 6 loud "pops". Being from the valley, I knew EXACTLY what that sound was....Ryan, on the other hand, had never heard those sounds before, and didn't know what it was. "Get me IN the car! Those were gun shots!" I eagerly urged Ryan. He was casually like,"Was that what that was? I've never heard gunshots before" :) We drove over to Qdoba in the same plaza to get something to eat. As we were finishing up at the cash register and looked out the window, we saw an ambulance and several cop cars on the other side of the plaza. Holy Cow! I didn't realize it was THAT close...freaked me out. Can you say ghetto? EEK. I won't miss that part of Arizona when I move to Idaho :)

Ryan ordered a burrito for dinner...but made a HUGE mistake. One thing about Ryan, he HATES tomatoes. I mean absolutely HATES tomatoes. He cannot swallow food if it has tomato in it...his tongue is super sensitive and he can taste whenever there is tomatoes in something...he can even just taste the left over FLAVOR if there WAS a tomato on something. It had been a while since Ryan had been to Qdoba, and forgot what salsa was what. When he asked for mild salsa, he didn't realize it was pretty much pico de gallo. Yes. LOADED with HUGE tomato chunks. As soon as he saw the lady putting it on his burrito, he panicked, realizing what he had done, but felt it was too late to say anything. As we first sat down to our meal, I had a distraught Ryan on my hands, where he felt like he couldn't even eat his burrito, and thought his whole night had been ruined.

So that's when the operation began. With fork and knife in hand, he sliced open that burrito straight down the middle, pulled it apart delicately, and began removing the tomato pieces. He had steady hands, and was able to remove all of the bad tissue :) After about 5 long minutes of diligently hunting through the burrito, he sewed his burrito back up and all that was left as proof of his hard laboring efforts, was this mound on the table:

Ryan was able to enjoy the rest of his burrito, besides that ONE time when he stopped cold in his chewing, and leaned over the table...I panicked for a minute, asking him if he was ok cause he looked like he was choking or something. He barely got the words out that he wasn't ok, so I continued to be a little worried, when finally he squeaked out that he tasted tomato in his mouth (mind you, this was just the FLAVOR of tomato...no actual tomato was in his mouth). :) Oh, my little Ryan. I love you. After a swig of his drink, he was back to normal, and finished up his burrito.

We headed back home, singing to Weezers new album, and then got in our nightly positions with me on the laptop in the living room, and him playing his game on the computer in the spare bedroom. Ahh...life is good.

P.S. Did you hear about the Indymac Bank closing, and tons of people losing their hard earned money they saved for retirement? So sad....I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to lose the money you saved to keep you going throughout your life. That's why it's so important to DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY your funds!

Pam's Fantabulous Saturday

I was getting dressed yesterday afternoon to meet up with some girlfriends for lunch and a pedicure, and as I was doing my hair in our extra bathroom, I kept hearing dripping. This was odd, I thought, because we never USE the extra bathroom for showering, EVER...so I didn't know why dripping would be going on in there. As I checked behind the shower curtain I FOUND.....nothing. What the heck? So I walked out of the bathroom to head to our bathroom to check if the shower was dripping in there (after all, I HAD just gotten done taking a shower). As soon as I walked out of the bathroom, I felt something wet hit my head! Huh?? I looked up, and saw water dripping out of our airconditioner unit in our hallway. GREEEAATTT....only a few more months living here and things couldn't wait to break down AFTER we left. I put a pot underneath it to catch the drips, and asked Ryan if he would go open it up to see what the problem was. "Sure", he said, while playing a game on the computer..."It's probably just condensation or something". After several more minutes of asking him to check it, cause it was REALLY dripping...a steady stream of water...not condensation...and I was worried it might cause water damage, and heaven forbid, a pipe break that is going to flood our house or something (this is my over dramatic worry-wart part of my mind) I finally got the folding chair and our screwdriver out, and hopped up to open it myself (of course this finally got his attention where he knew I meant business, so Ryan finally came into the kitchen...funny how that works :) When I opened it, you could see water streaming out of a VERY rusted pipe where the water flows in to the airconditioner. Every time our air is on, and water is pumping through, it comes out the pipe. Great. So, we are trying to keep the air off as much as possible (thankfully it's not that hot here this week, with all the rain, but it IS humid). We'll go down to the office tomorrow morning to have maintenance come change the pipe. Hopefully this is an easy fix, and not something that drags on. As for now, this is what we are using for protection:



And this is our rusted out airconditioner...if you look closely, on the right, you can see water dripping out:







So I finished getting dressed to head out with some girlfriends I haven't seen since getting married (almost 7 months ago!!!). We ate a late lunch at Applebee's down on Gilbert/Baseline. It was fun to catch up on gossip from our old singles ward, and find out who is dating/marrying who! :) Afterwards, we went to Diane's Nail Salon (or something like that) just down the street on Gilbert & Southern, in the northeast corner of the plaza. This was where my friend I was with goes at least once a month for the last 3 years! They all know her by name there :) They were all SUPER friendly, the place is clean, and they rub your legs and feet FOREVER! The lady I had had to work on my feet a little longer to remove all my nasty calluses...one of the down falls of wearing heels all the time. I got a nice French Pedicure, and the lady did a great job...so great, that she even (and I'm not sure if I should share this or not) TRIMMED the hair on my big toes :) HA! I thought that was great. While I was over drying my toenails, she came over with some cream to give me a BACK MASSAGE!!! It was heaven! I think it was quite honestly the best shoulder massage I've ever gotten. And the cream was the menthol kind, that kept on going after she was done. So fabulous. And that was all free of charge, and standard there. Can you believe it? I've never been to a place that does all that, just for a pedicure. Here are my cute toes:



After that, I dropped by my parents house (Ryan had to work yesterday night from 4-10 p.m., so I was looking for company) but they were out to dinner, so I headed over to Walmart to do some grocery shopping. Ryan and I hadn't been in almost 2 weeks, and we were literally on our last two sheets of toilet paper, last blob of toothpaste, last drop of contact solution, and down to bread and water in our fridge :) It was time. On the way out (after an hour and a half of shopping...I hate grocery shopping, especially when I don't know what I'm going to do for dinners) I picked up my girly splurge by getting a Star Magazine....I love gossip magazines! I get to tell Ryan all the gossip going on, like they are all our best friends. He loves it just as much! Plus, Star has crossword puzzles in them, and Ryan and I like to do those together :)




I came home, had some cereal for dinner....

(my favorite meal...even on our honey moon, when Ryan went down to Downtown Disney for both of us after a long day being at the theme parks, I had him buy me a bowl of cereal to bring back up to me at the hotel, from WOLF GANG PUCK'S EXPRESS. HA! Here is this world renowned chef, and I have Ryan come back with a bowl of cereal. Poor kid, he said the guy at the register just looked at him like,"REALLY? Are you really buying cereal?" Hey, the way I look at it, why serve it there if you aren't trying to sell it! :) I really wanted it! Of course, once we discovered Wolf Gang's 4 cheese macaroni and cheese the next night, we were hooked on that instead :)



I finished my magazine last night, Ryan got home, we watched some Mad TV and Saturday Night Live (switched between the two, depending on who's skit was the stupidest or not), and fell asleep. It was a good day.....

WIIIIIIIIIIII

Ryan and I bought a Wii Fit today! YAY! It seems pretty fun so far...I definitely could get used to using it on a daily basis for some exercise. We are both determined to lose about 20 pounds. We'll keep you posted on how it works out for us :)

6 Random Things About Pam

I had a friend that tagged me to list 6 random things about myself...so I'll give this a try.

1) I went down the worlds largest raftable waterfall (25 feet) in New Zealand. It was an 8 man raft, with a 50-50 chance of flipping on the way down. I'm happy to say, we didn't flip! :)

2) I absolutely love to eat tomatoes whole, like you would eat an apple, but hate them sliced and on my sandwiches/hamburgers.

3) I played the violin all growing up, and was even 1st Chair Violin in my Junior Year in high school.

4) I was ambidextrious (sp?) until I broke my left arm in Kindergarten, falling off of my older sisters (too big for me) bike, and was forced to use my right arm for 6 weeks, while my left arm was in a cast!

5) I am absolutely TERRIFIED of E.T. Yes. You read that right...E.T. As in Extra Terrestrial. I saw that movie in the movie theater with my family when I was only 3 years old (probably one of my earliest memories...I can actually remember this). I sat through the whole movie with my moms hand over my eyes, and I would spread her fingers every so often to see through until I got scared again. My mom bought me an E.T. action figure to help me get over my fear. You could push a button on his back and his head would raise up. I ripped his head off, and threw him away. That's how I deal with my fear. And yes, I'm still scared of him to this day. I refuse to watch that movie, but Ryan says he is going to get our kids addicted to watching it over and over again just to torture me.

6) When I'm watching something very emotional on t.v., like a story on babies, or family or something, and my eyes start welling up and I want to cry, I start laughing instead. I guess to counter act the crying, I laugh to diffuse the tears. It's the weirdest thing. All that emotion gets built up, and laughter comes out to relieve it.

That's me in a nut shell....I'm a mixed nut at that. :)

I-DA-HO

Gall, it's been forever since posting on here...nothing new ever happens, and since I don't have any cute kids to blog about yet, I run out of things to say! I figure once we make the big trek to Idaho, I'll have a whole sort of new adventures to blog about, and to keep up with everyone I leave in Arizona!

Ryan and I made a quick trip to Idaho last month with his mom. We decided I had better visit it while it's warm and pretty, before moving in the depths of winter :) Wow. What an eye-opening experience. Idaho has the landscape I like...tons of greenery and mountains/hills. I will admit, as much as I LOVE Arizona, I don't care for the desert scenery much. So I am welcoming this new change to greenery. On the other hand, the part of Idaho we will be living in is SMALL. I've never lived in a small town, and thought that I never WOULD live in a small town...I'm a big city girl at heart, although, keeping an open mind, I've never EXPERIENCED small town life. I could, very well, come to appreciate it MORE than city life. We did a lot of house hunting in our short weekend...and it looks like Ryan's mom is more than likely either building a twin home or a house with a completed basement with kitchen and seperate entrance through the garage, out in Rexburg, ID. That's where BYU-Idaho is, so with the gas costs, etc. these days, Rexburg just made most sense.

(Below are some pictures on our way to Jackson Hole, WY, which is only 2 hours from Rexburg...Yes, that's snow on the mountains in the middle of JUNE).

We got to meet some family friends of Ryan's mom, and it was good to at least meet more people in Idaho that I will be able to feel like I can "do stuff" with...so I won't feel alone. They were so nice and welcoming, and quite honestly, down to earth, which I love.

The closer I get to the "move", the more I realize that I WILL miss my family. I thought it wouldn't be a problem for the most part, since I'm so independent, but just KNOWING that my family is not at arms reach is a little sad for me. But moving on to this new part in our lives as OUR new little family, is exciting too. And I think I'll like the safe/clean/down home part of Idaho that you can't get here in the Valley. It's a totally different atmosphere. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll have some of my own immediate family move out that way in a few years...so I can get the best of both worlds ;) One of my other sisters is more than likely moving to North Carolina in the next month or so, with her 4 boys and husband. It feels so weird that our stagnant life is yet again being shaken up in all sorts of directions!

Right now, we are just trying to save money, get all our debt paid off by the time we leave, and head to Idaho with a little bit of savings. Figuring out what to do with all of our stuff is the next big step...sell it and buy new stuff in Idaho, or rent a U-Haul for over $1K (not including GAS). We'll get it all figured out eventually...I'm just trying not to worry too much about it right now :)

The other thing on my mind most lately is how unforgiving marriage has been with my weight....good golly. I've stayed the same weight for at least two years straight...not that it was my IDEAL weight, but it was a manageable one, and one I could live with. But almost 7 months after marriage, and WOOOAAAHHH NELLY! I've gained almost 15 pounds!!!! Not pretty. As any girl can understand, that can really wreck havok on a girls self esteem. I've felt SO not pretty lately, and my look and attitude can attest to it. I'm very self conscious of how I look and feel right now, and quite honestly, I'm a little depressed about it. Stuck in a rut, and going through the cycle of negativity about it in my head. Making dinner for TWO people is so different now (I was ok eating cereal every night as a single girl, but that doesn't work for Ryan :). I'm going to try to get determined to LOSE the weight before moving to Idaho. Not only for myself, but to also prepare my body the best for hopefully having babies once we are out there. My cholesterol and triglycerides aren't at their best. I've got a lot of work to do...I'm just hoping I can do it. I'm at a loss for meal ideas, and controlling the snacking that goes on at our house. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyways, that's about it for us. Nothing new yet, but I'm sure more will come in the next few months. It's late, and I have work in the morning...so I'm off for now!

Sweet dreams,

Pam

Glorious! (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Sadly, this was the last post Ryan has ever done...once he lived here and we were "steady" I guess there was no more need for the computer romancing :) HA! We got engaged about a week and a half after this post (2 months after we started dating), and were married 4 months later on December 15th, 2007 (total of 6 months dating time). And last month marked our year anniversary of when we started dating each other! WOW how time flies...For those of you just joining in, I have posted all of the Blog entries that Ryan ever wrote on his Myspace blog while we were just starting to date, mostly for our own family history purposes. If you want to skip over them to see what we are currently up to, feel free to do so :) Our feelings won't be hurt**PAM

Sunday, August 12, 2007

The past couple months have gone by in a whirlwind!

I have returned home from my mission. Had my third back surgery. Moved to Arizona. Got a new job at the University of Phoenix. Best of all, I met the most wonderful woman of them all.

It hasn't been easy... It's all been new, exciting, and a little nerve wracking at times. However, it's all been good. I am grateful for all of it!

Thanks to my friends Kyle and Jen... Pam, I loves ya!

With all the shenanigans and goings on... you'd think I would be ready to settle down and slow down and just chill. Quite the contrary, things are only going to get crazier! I'm excited!

Survey says... (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryans intellectual side coming out....**PAM

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I don't get many things right the first time. In fact, I am told that a lot.

Can one be predispositioned to fail a given task? Why?

What happens if a person doesn't quite measure up to the standards of a peer?

Which is better: The effort, or the end result? Why?

What reaction from peers should one expect for lacking knowledge on any given subject?

If a person is called "dumb" often enough, does that mean they are dumb? Why?

How does one know the difference between a cutting or kidding remark?

Is a person allowed to have feelings, or is it better to be invincible? Why?

Is a person allowed to express thier feelings?

If yes, can they do so without reproach? If no, why not?

A Few Observations (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--One of my roomates had dated (briefly) a guy named Callous at the time of this blog. Thus the reasoning for his definition of Callous :) **PAM


Tuesday, July 17, 2007

People who play piano cannot be punks. To prove my point, I reference the music video, "My Favorite Accident" by Motion City Soundtrack. He's not rocking out, he's having a seizure!

Callous: (adj.) Insensitive, indifferent, unsympathetic. Consequently, it's a bad name for a child.

MoHawk and Mullet. A waste of two perfectly good "M" words.

Pam's hot.

I love and support art. With that said, there sure is some sucky art out there.

I lost my train of thought... I'll have to continue this another time

Id vs Ego. An Exercise in Free Hand with My Psyche (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--This blog (as well as the one I will post next) crack me up cause of how smitten Ryan was at that point...you can tell with the "Pam's hot" remarks :) Oh, what he didn't know what he was getting into! ;) Just kidding...I was just as smitten, thus the reasoning I always had to jump on to see what things he wrote in his blogs each day :)** PAM

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Id: Look everybody! It's a blog!

Ego: Where?

Right here.

I don't see it...

This IS it you nincompoop!

Hey, there's no need for name callin'... and there's still no blog here.

This is the blog... don't you get it?

Get what?

Our conversation is the blog. I am blogging everything we say.

What do you mean "we" white man?

Ummm... We, as in, you and me, us, together forever in the daffodills.

First of all, there is no "we", "Us", or "you and me". We're the same person! And of all the flowers in the world, you picked daffodills? nothing spells G-A-Y like daffodills homo!

Ha! You said "we"!!! you admit it!

No I didn't.

Yeah you did

Ummm... no I didn't.

You said, "we're the same person"! Admit it, you and I are a team!

I am in no way associated with you! You shouldn't even be in here... You know what... I'm just gonna leave. see ya!

Wait! You can't leave me here!

Yes I can.

No, you can't! What will I do?

Hopefully fall off a cliff...

Dave... will I dream?

Oh for cryin' out LOUD! You are retarded!!! You got that from a movie... and a stupid movie at that! You aren't even a computer!

I know you are but what am I?

That... that doesn't make sense.

shoot... Hey... I know...

What now?

Pam's hot.

Oh yeah! for once in your life, you're right about something.

Yay!

Shut up. I'm going to bed.

G'night Ego! I love ya!

Oh, what I wouldn't give to sock you in the mouth right now...

Cooking the Casserole (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--This is somewhat of a special blog :) Ryan and I had been dating for a month now...and he FINALLY was living here in the valley (he moved down a few weeks prior to this blog). At the end of every night, I could TELL that Ryan wanted to tell me that he loved me SOOO BAD! He would say things instead like,"I really like being with you", etc., instead. Finally, on this night, I had just gone home from his house for the night. When I got home, I got on Myspace to check out what was going on, and I found this blog instead! I knew EXACTLY what Ryan was hinting at. He was using the characters from Mystery Science Theater 3000 (some of you may remember that old show, where they would watch old movies and make fun of them the whole time). Both of us loved that show, and had somewhat of a connection with each other because of it. I knew that his analogy was wondering if the time was right for him to tell me he loved me or not. The best part is that when my roomate read it, she had NO IDEA what it meant :) She didn't understand how I got all that from his blog, I guess cause she couldn't read into the analogy. Ryan said that was good, cause he knew if it was time for him to tell me he loved me, he knew I would understand the blog, but if it wasn't, I wouldn't get it....the blog was written just for me to understand...not others. OF COURSE I got it...I was so excited reading it! I'll post MY response to HIS blog at the end of his blog below :)**PAM

Friday, July 13, 2007

"How do you know when it's ready?" Tom asked wonderingly as he stared at the casserole in the oven.

"Well, that's the trick...This casserole is very special, and no one knows exactly how long it takes to bake". Joel replied.

"It smells good. We should just pull it out now!" Crow declared.

"No, no, no, we can't risk that" Joel said.

"I really don't understand this casserole or why it's so mysterious... If this stupid casserole is so dang hard to make, then why in the heck are we making it Joel?!" Tom was beginning to get frustrated.

"Well, let me explain some of this to you guys...even though you probably won't get it because you're just robots and the mads won't let us go home". Joel stood there as he contemplated how best to explain it.

"Everybody loves a good casserole. It's comfort food, and it makes a person very happy..."

"This is really lame Joel..."

"Don't interrupt me Crow! One day you might have to make this casserole, and you need to know why it's so good. Anyway, where was I? Oh right..."

This particular casserole is the BEST casserole that a person can make because it has only the favorite ingredients of whoever is making it. And because everyone uses different ingrediants, no one knows exactly how long it needs to cook. Usually they take a little while to cook. Once every so often one is ready just minutes after you put it into the oven. You just have to pay attention and do your very best to pull it out at the right time.

"So is the right time now?" Tom asked pointedly.

"I think it's pretty close... I'm just afraid to ruin it..."

"Ah Joel, what's the worst that could happen? Let's just pull it out- it's smells soooo good!" Tom was starting to sound desperate.

"Hold your horses mister! Haven't you heard the phrase, 'good things come to those who wait'?" Joel shot back.

"But if you wait too long, that's just as bad as pulling it out too early..." Crow definitely had a point.

"I know, I know. I'll do it! Just a little bit longer, I just want to make sure it's ready. Ok guys?" Joel said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE END OF RYAN'S BLOG---Now, here is Pam's response:

"**DING** Casserole is DONE! :)"

In which Ryan replied:

"Most definitely! :)"

The very next night, sitting on Ryan's couch, it got quiet for a moment, and then Ryan blurted out,"I love you, Pam!" :) It was cute, cause with how much energy it took when he blurted it out, you know how nervous he really was, and how relieved he was to just finally say it!

Welcome to the Road Kill Cafe (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--And this is probably one of Ryan's GROSSEST Blogs ever...and most infamous moments we don't like to talk about...so nasty!!! But, it is COMPLETELY TRUE! Believe it...all of it.** PAM

Monday, July 02, 2007

When I was only two weeks out on my mission I had an experience that will forever be burned into my psyche. I was serving in the town of Hannibal, MO with my trainer, Elder Fairbanks. Hannibal was a great area! I later learned that it was a very popular area among missionaries because the dinner calender was always full--a rarity and a treasure to missionaries. One such family that signed up for dinner twice a month was the Lair family. They were interesting to say the least.

The first time I had dinner there, I was a little nervous because I was a new missionary and my companion dreaded going there. They lived in a trailer that stood 30 feet in the air on stilts right on the banks of the Mississippi River. The house was overrun with all sorts of your standard barn yard animals, not to mention enough cats to put on a Broadway play...It was quite a scene. But hey, we were there to have dinner with Lonnie Lair. It couldn't be that bad could it?

Lonnie Lair was paralyzed from the waist down, years ago he had had the opportunity to do serious physical therapy and most likely regain the ability to walk, he opted out. So fast forward to present day, Lonnie is a man who is confined to a hospital bed, and I usually didn't have much of an appetite when we ate with him. He laid there shirtless and had several tubes in his chest and one large feeding tube that went into his belly button. If that wasn't enough, his hobby was to grow out his fingernails as long as they would go on his left hand. When I was there they were about 9 inches. He enjoyed this hobby and said that his nails made great conversational pieces.

Sitting in a house that was soaked in cat urine next to a guy with tubes going every which way and nails that made Wolverine look like a weenie was starting to make me a little nervous about dinner. However, my mind was put a little more at ease when his wife announced that we would be having Hamburger Helper that night.

YES! I thought to myself, no one can screw up hamburger helper--it's a self contained meal in a box! The only thing they had to do was add meat... and that comes sealed from the grocery store and they have laws about quality...

Well that's was I was thinking, I had a big smile on my face and no reason to worry. So I happily dished up a mighty portion and after the prayer, I dived into it. It tasted a little weird. I think they just added a few spices of thier own, I said to myself. Nothing to worry about. However, the more I ate, the worse it tasted. Soon I noticed that it was unusually greasy and it was really starting to taste like garbage smelled. I finished my plate and put it aside.

Lonnie piped up, with his deep redneck hickerbilly voice, "Howdja like dat helper?" he asked with a big toothless grin. "It was pretty good" my companion replied, "I noticed you didn't use hamburger though, was it deer meat or something?" Lonnie laughed, "Nope, good though ain't it?" "Suuuuure" we both replied in unison. Lonnie smiled again, "I bet you never woulda guess that possum tasted so good huh?" "Possum? Your kidding right?" Elder Fairbanks squeaked. "Nah, it's true, we love it! Ain't that right honey?" "Yup, and it's best when it's fresh" his wife chimed in. "What, did you buy it at the store this morning?" I said as unsarastically as I could. "No, I hit it on the way home from work" she replied.

Yup, I promise it's true. They fed us a roadkill possum in the form of hamburger helper. I'm burned, scarred even, for life.

The Day of the Glorious Barbecue (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--I had emailed Ryan at one point and mentioned to him that he may hate me for saying this, but I don't like Thanksgiving Dinners....I don't like Turkey and Cranberries, and all that. I told him one of my sisters and I had agreed a long time ago that we would have a barbecue for our Thanksgivings cause we much rather have a hamburger off of the grill than a piece of turkey! To my surprise, Ryan told me that made him love me that much more cause HE felt the same way about turkey! He had also planned on barbecuing for Thanksgiving dinners, cause he had all the turkey he could take out on his mission.** PAM

Sunday, July 01, 2007

One of my favorite things is backyard barbecuing-- I have always enjoyed eating burgers fresh off the backyard grill. The summer air, being with friends and family, root beer and lemonade all around. Ahhh, it's magnificent. The funny thing is, all my life, I never barbecued. Strange, but true. I never had a dad growing up and my mom doesn't know how to barbecue. So you can imagine how much I looked forward to summer vacations when we would go and see relatives because they are all barbecuing fiends!

Well, the day of the glorious barbecue is a special day in the barbecuing history of my life. It took place on Monday April 23rd 2007--which is also Michael Jordan Day for those of you who know me really well. The picture that goes along with this story is already in my mission pictures and has the corresponding caption...sadly, it is one of the few (two) pictures I took that day. So without further adou, I'll tell you about the barbecue :)

Spring had finally come to Dubuque, IA. I had been in that area all winter long and at the end of April, the weather was finally beginning to show signs of life. At our missionary apartment we had a porch, and on that porch we had a very tiny charcoal grill. All winter, I had stared at that grill...and, consequently, it stared back at me... It was nearing the end of the transfer, and all the missionaries in our district were predicting that I would be leaving. And rightly so, I had been there for 6 months and it is nigh unheard of for a missionary to stay any longer than that in one area in our mission. So I (being the District Leader, I get to do these things) started planning on having a get together with our district for our last Pday together before transfers, and it being Michael Jordan Day only made it that much more special.

We were planning to have the Clinton Elders come up to Dubuque (The DeWitt Elders were busy with other things) and we were going to throw down some serious Phase 10 and Apples to Apples--The two staples of a missionary Pday. The Sunday night before they were supposed to come up I was doing a little bit of cleaning to make the apartment look nice. As I was cleaning, I happened upon a bag of Kingsford Charcoal in our storage basement. Immediately, the little grill sitting on our porch popped into my head! I ran back up stairs, called up Elder DeGraw and said, "Elder, we're gonna barbecue tomorrow for lunch and I thought I would call you and tell you that you can bring shorts to wear if you want since we won't be leaving the apartment and it's supposed to be 70 degrees tomorrow!" He was down with that.

Monday is B-day! Elder DeGraw and Elder Shunn drove up early and got to our place around 7 am. We went out to Wal-mart and bought some hamburger patties, chips, soda... you know, a barbecuer's necessities. After doing our e-mail down at the library we were now ready to play some games and fire up the grill. But leave it to my companion, Elder Gregersen, to rain on the parade. "Does anyone actually know how to barbecue?" The other Elders were silent and looked as if they just lost a golden investigator. "Elder, I was born to barbecue!" I said authoratatively. "Yeah...but you've never actually barbecued..." he stammered. "Pfft! All you gotta do is light up the coals, throw the meat on, and flip it around until it's black. Piece a cake!" I assured him. "I'm scared..." Elder Shunn squeaked. "Elder Price's got this, no problemo! He's our fearless leader!" At least Elder DeGraw was on my side.

After changing into my shorts (I thought I looked good with my shirt and tie still on... see picture) We were ready to grill. Elder DeGraw and I piled the coals into the little grill and proceeded to squirt half a bottle of lighter fluid onto them, no joke, half a bottle. Then we lit 'em up. We had poured that much lighter fluid on because we wanted to see a huge fireball that might burn our eyebrows off. Yeah, nothing happened. We played through a few phases of Phase 10 while the coals heated up. Then it was time to grill.

We had a little blue recliner in our apartment that I drug out onto the porch to sit in while I watched the meat. I wasn't sure how to grill, so I just wanted to be there to keep an eye on it. Elder DeGraw and I sat out there and chatted while the other two Elders got all the fixin's ready...that's midwestern for condiments and other stuff. It was a BLAST! I don't mind saying that the burgers turned out fabulous by the way.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing this wierd card game that elder Shunn had called, "Bang!". It was hilarious! Somehow we got into yelling BANG! at each other and talking like Sarge from Red vs. Blue and drinking root beer like there was no tomorrow (we had bought 4 bottles). It was probably one of the most absolute funniest days of my life!

and now you know why it is called the Day of the Glorious Barbecue.

A Hair Raising Tale (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan DOES really have unruly hair when it gets long :)** PAM

Sunday, July 01, 2007

By popular request I shall tell a story about my hair. It really is quite touching, some of you who are more sensitive should take this moment to go and fetch a box of tissues, you will need them. For your enjoyment I have also added a few photos that go along with this story. They are in the folder marked "My hair" and they are in chronological order with this story.

I have never been all that good with getting my hair cut on a regular basis. I'll cut it short for a while, then I'll let it grow out for a while, then back to short...it's a vicious cycle where I just can't seem to find a happy medium. Then when I do find a happy medium, I forget that my hair grows and it ends up growing out long again. Why do I not manage my hair more carefully? Ha ha, that's a good one. My hair is like some sort of wild, untameable creature. I get comments from the stylists everytime I go to get a haircut about how crazy my hair is... no seriously, they ask me how I want it cut, and I say, "Do whatever you think looks best" and they reply, "Well, there's not really much I can do... it's pretty bad".

It's like going to the doctor for some illness and you ask him, "How bad is it doc?" and he laughs and says, "Well son, you're gonna die in about 30 days...There's really not a whole lot I can do". It's just awkward.

While I was serving on my mission, our time is planned out down to the hour. I just never got around to getting a haircut. Infact, I didn't get my first haircut until I was six months out! At first nobody noticed because my hair just kept on curling around and around. It never really looked long unless it frizzed out. I took care of this with lots and lots of hair gel. No one could tell.
Then I remember one fateful day. I ran out of hair gel. I did my best to comb it down, but as the day went on... it just kept on poofing, with a vengeance even! We had dinner that night with Jordan Kelly a guy in the branch who was our age and loved to be around us. While we were eating he looked at me all wierd and said, "Elder Price, your hairs pretty long there for a missionary isn't it?" "I ran outta hair gel this morning" I replied sullenly. "You look like Bob Ross!" he laughed. "Shut up!" I shot back. He then told me that he cut hair, and that he would be more than happy to cut mine. I declined and told him that he didn't know what he was up against. My hair makes Godzilla look like a toy dinosaur. He then threw down the gauntlet and said that he was gonna cut my hair sooner or later.

A few weeks passed without incident. I got more hair gel and no one was the wiser. Then came the day of my 21st birthday, it was glorious! My mom had sent me a huge birthday package that included a great cake mix! I was so excited that I took a picture with the cake mix that morning. You will notice that I had not yet done my hair (picture 1)...Yeah I know, I look like freakin' Bob Ross :/ But when I put gel in my hair, it stayed down liked a whipped puppy! (picture 2) and I didn't look half bad.

Later that night, the Nelson's had us over for dinner. I won't tell you what they did to my cake--that's another blog for another time--and Jordan was there. He said it looked like I had gotten a hair cut and it looked good... I just smiled and said "Suuuuuuuuuure". Then later we went over to the Ferree's and again, Jordan tagged along because he liked Kori Ferree. Sister Ferree made a comment about my hair and how my new haircut looked nice. At this point elder Beauchamp piped up said, "What are you talking about? He never got a haircut, but needs one more than anything!". That was all Jordan needed to hear. He ran and got the Ferree's electric razer and pulled me into the bathroom before I could make it out the front door (I tripped).

Half way through that horrific hair cutting, Jordan stopped and said that my hair looked exactly like Kramer's from Seinfeld. That was the best news I had heard all night! So we took a picture. (Picture 3). When all was said and done, I had lost a lot of hair. It was unbelievable! I don't think Big Foot would have lost more hair if we had shaved his whole body! (Picture 4) In hindsight though, I would have to say that my hair looked pretty good. It was quite possibly the best haircut I have ever had.

So now you know a little bit about the untamable devil that is my hair. I have more stories about it. One time I was shaved bald for a summer... I will never do that again! Then of course there was the time when Schuyler Quinley used rubber bands to put little pony tails on every square inch of my head... That was my homecoming date if you can believe it. Sorry, I don't have any

pictures of that one.

Under Construction (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan would probably die if he knew I posted this gushy blog...but I'm not posting it for anyone but our kids anyways...I just want it to matter to them.** PAM

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Two of my favorite shows of all time have been Seinfeld and M*A*S*H. One of the reasons that I love these shows was thier willingness to experiment and look for new ways to tell a story. For example, no one thought it would be good television to do an entire episode about waiting in line for a table at a busy chinese restaurant, or film an entire episode from the first person perspective. Sure, when one explores new ideas one can fail miserably but on the flip side, one can also find something really great!

No doubt, everyone who has read my blog has wondered at some point, where in the world did that come from? That's a very fair question... so I'll answer it.

I am still very new to the blog scene. Thus, I am still exploring and experimenting with different writing styles and techniques. I haven't become as entertaining or profound a blogger as Kyle...but I'm working on it ;)

I love to write about me and Tom. You all know Tom as the founder of Myspace. To me, he's a composite of real people that I have associated with during my lifetime. And contrary to popular belief, the Tom and me stories are mostly true...Occasionally I like to share things that I have learned from my own life experience in hopes that it might be of benefit to someone else. Sometimes, I just like to sit here and free write. I'll turn on iTunes and write to the music. When the song changes, the subject and tone change as well. As is the case right now :)

I really enjoy having a creative outlet to express myself. Sometimes I'll draw or paint something. Once in a while, I'll film a movie--which is not very easy when you are by yourself I might add. But lately, it's fun to blog. It really helps me keep things in perspective and remember that I'm ok.

I would encourage anyone to find something creative/artisitc to try. And don't even say "I'm not creative" or "I'm not an artist". That's horse hockey! Art is whatever you want it to be: Anywhere from photography to cooking, or legos to singing in the shower. The only "rule" (I use that term loosely here) is that it has to be you. All that really matters in art is that you enjoy it. When you find something you enjoy, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks because it's you and you can be proud of that.

Remember the little kid who brings home artwork from school to his mom? Nobody can really tell what he's drawn, but the fact is, he drew it and that makes him and his artwork special.

So go on, do what you want to do--just don't sit there and do nothing. Don't be afraid to explore and experiment. The whole thing is a learning process to help you learn about yourself and that means that sometimes you will fail. I'll keep looking for my niche in this whole blogging thing, and that means that sometimes you might read something that's a bit goofy. I admit some of my stuff is dumb, but I am learning... and that's the point.

Remember, when you create something you are special. And whatever you've created is special because you made it. We're all in this together, and I'm pullin' for ya :)

Tom and me go to the movies (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Movies are definitely mine and Ryan's favorite free time activity together.. Also, Tom would be Ryan's mom in this story...he went to see the movie with his mom that night :)* PAM

Saturday, June 30, 2007

I wanted to write something else tonight...but I have writer's block.

Tom and I went to go see the new movie, "Live Free or Die Hard" with Bruce Willis--who after this movie is definitely a man's man. The movie was pretty awesome. I thought that it was just going to be a shallow summer destruct-o movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had tons of action, an intriguing story, and it was pretty dang funny as well. But you didn't come here for a movie review, I'll leave that stuff up to the guys over at Rottentomatoes.

Instead, I want to tell you about the people we saw at the movie theater. And we saw all kinds! Most likely some of you have run into these kinds of people in your own movie going experiences. Before I go on, I would like to point out that I am not trying to insult anyone. These are embellished generalities, and strictly a joke! No one should take offense to this, and I apologize to anyone who does.

The Enthusiast: These people fascinate, and worry me all at the same time. These are the individuals who become so engrossed in the film that they think they are a part of it. There is nothing like having the lead character present a solution to the terrorist threat on screen and then have the enthusiast yell out, "DO IT!" When things are looking grim for the heros, you can always count on the enthusiast to lend support, "Don't die McLane! You can do it!" Then there is my personal favorite: when some amazing feat is accomplished onscreen and he/she bellows "WOW! Did you see that!?" No, I didn't, I'm in a different theater watching a different movie--of course I saw it!

The Nit-Picker: No matter what movie I go to, there always seems to be one these on hand to ruin a good show. Tonight there were two. These are the worlds foremost experts on everything. Commonly heard phrases from the nit-pickers include: "There's no way he could fall that far, it would break his legs!" or "That doesn't actually exist!". Tonight I kept hearing behind me, "Oh please, that would so kill anyone!" First off, it's not just anyone, it's Bruce Willis and he's invincible and you're not. So get over it!

The Interrogator: These people couldn't follow a movie if it was leading them by the hand. You've all dealt with it at one time or another. The person next to you doesn't have a clue what's going on. "Who is that?" "What are they doing?" "Why did they just kill that guy, wasn't he with them?" "He's not with them? Well then who is he with?" WATCH THE MOVIE! Gee whiz they haven't even finished the credits!

The Excuser: These types are why the middle seats are so treasured among movie goers. The Excuser comes into the theater armed to the teeth with a tub of popcorn, enough soda to fill a swimming pool, and a two year olds ability to sit still. Every ten minutes: "Excuse me, I gotta get a refill" "Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom" "Excuse me, I have to call home and check on my dog"... I think it would be great if these people had reserved seating on the outside of every row.

I love the movies. Sometimes I love seeing the people as much as the movie :)

Hermits Suck (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan's mom had moved to California from Prescott, AZ while Ryan was away on his mission...so he came home to a new state with no friends. And with being stuck in doors after his back surgery, he was going nuts!!** PAM

Thursday, June 28, 2007

I really miss all my friends. I never thought that being all by myself could be so lonely.

I mean, I grew up by myself. I should be used to this. All my life I have been able to keep myself entertained. I like to draw and paint. I used to build worlds out of legos. I've built an entire squadron of WWII model airplanes in my lifetime. Not to mention, being alone, I've played a lot of video games.

Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed being with my friends more than anything. As a kid I remember going around the neighborhood asking, "Can so-and-so come out to play?" But I never really got down if the answer was no. I would just go home and play in the dirt. There was always a hole that needed to be dug and covered with weeds in the hope that I could catch that pesky neighbor girl. I guess what I am trying to say is, all my life, I never minded being alone.

When I first got into the mission field, you can imagine that it was quite an adjustment for me. Going from having no one around to having someone by my side 24/7. It was an adjustment to say the least. But as time went on, I really valued having someone around. There was always someone to talk to, someone to ask for advice, someone to play pranks with. Having a companion at all times was most likely one of the most difficult yet, most rewarding things of my mission. It really gave me the opportunity to learn that everyone has value. I learned that other people have hopes and dreams like me, and also fears and shortcomings like me.

I am still learning how to be a social butterfly--unfortunately, Barnes & Noble doesn't carry "How to be Cool: for Dummies" anymore. I am still deathly afraid of crowds, I just hide it better now. Two years didn't take away my awkwardness, but it certainly helped me realize that everyone experiences it to some degree. Which helps me out tremendously, seeing as how I feel like I am the only person in the world who......nevermind, I might be...

Now that I am back home, I value the company of others immensely. My time here in California is interminable! There is nothing worse than being stuck here with Ryan day after day...He's driving me NUTS! I want to go hang out with someone else for a change. I appreciate all my friends very, very much! Thanks for dropping a letter here and there. Thanks for all the text messages, phone calls, and comments! Especially Pam and Kyle! You're both awesome!

Having such good friends reminds me of a line from Red Green: "Remember, we're all in this together, and I'm pullin' for ya".

Growing Up (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan Blog Excerpt

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

When I was a kid, I always dreamed of being a knight and standing alone before hordes of demons and monsters. There would be thousands of them all lined up, ready to destroy me and everything I was defending. Knowing that I was the only one standing in thier way, I would lift my sword and charge headlong into the fray.

As an illustration, one of my absolute most favorite scenes ever in a movie comes from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Near the end, when Sauron's army is advancing and it appears that gondor will fall--a fleet of ships arrive supposedly carrying reinforcements for the orc armies. Then comes my favorite part: Aragorn leaps over the side of the boat, surveys his surroundings, lifts his sword and proceeds to charge headlong into an ocean sized army of orcs! The best part of that scene is that Aragorn is not alone! He is supported by an endless army of undead warriors who are near invincable and ready to destroy anything that stands in thier way. How cool is that?! I'll tell you how cool it is, cool enough that I bought a replica of Aragorn's sword, Anduril. That's cool.

Oh but wait, there's more! I am learning for myself that growing up is not always a breeze. Often times the odds are stacked against us, and sometimes it can look like a sea of demons ready to destroy us. It's true, I saw it in a movie once. But that's ok. We can have the courage to charge straight into the mess with confidence when we realize that we do have help on our side just as Aragorn did.

One of my favorite scriptural events is when Elisha the Prophet is standing alone with his servant looking out over an army of thousands, waiting to destroy them. Understandably, Elisha's servant is a little concerned and he asks Elisha what should be done. I love Elisha's faithful and confident reply, "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." At this point, I envision the servant thinking, "Elisha, you ok man? Maybe you're a little older than I thought you were...". At this point Elsiha does the best thing, he prays and asks the Lord to show the servant the assistance that Elisha sees. The servant's eyes are opened and sees legions of angels standing by ready to help. Picture the Lord of the Rings scene, but with an old man and his young servant. Now that's really cool!

The promises given to Elisha and the rest of covenant Israel are still available. However they are conditional. The Lord chooses them that choose Him and enter into a covenant with Him. It is this promise that gives me the courage to take up my sword, stare the enemy in the eye, and charge in because they that be with us are more than they that be with them. In other words, they don't stand a chance!

So life, I say give me your best shot! I've kept my covenants, and the Lord will keep His. I can take whatever you throw at me.

My Computer Thinks I'm Gay (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan Blog Excerpt

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

So I log into to myspace to do my usual thing (post a random blog reflecting the ordinary events of my life) and I am greeted by an advertisement. All of you are familiar with this. Myspace bombards all of it's users with advertisements. How else is my friend Tom going to pay for his roller coaster addiction? However, the advertisement on this particular occasion freaked me out! It had a picture of a guy who looked like Tyson Ritter with his shirt off and he was holding a pink surf board. The caption in the advertisement read, "Wanna Hook A Hottie?"

Seriously folks, who wants to "hook a hottie", and what makes Myspace think that I want to hook some femme surfer boy! HONESTLY! Have they no shame! Where has the world of advertising gone?

I long for the good ol' days of watching Terry Tate punish office workers for thier lack of productivity. The subtle punchlines involving an old lady yelling, "Where's the beef?!" at a Wendy's knockoff. I want to see the 3 Nextel guys dancing in thier office. How I cry when I think of Fedex and thier silly Shatner impersonations. *sniff* I miss them so. And where have all the real men of genius gone? It seems to me that all our heros are dying out. It won't be long before the Pilsbury Doughboy is thrown into an oven and turned into cupcakes! ....*uncontrollable sobbing ensues*

I want memorable, entertaining, and smart ads back! I'm lovin' it Mcdonald's, and yes, beef is what's for dinner USDA cattle ranchers! I do got milk and the power of cheese dairy farmers of America! Yes, I can hear you now creepy Verizon Guy! And I can save 15% or more on car insurance by switching to Geico! But do the advertising execs hear me? Have they stopped thinking outside the bun? Clearly, the answer is yes because if they could, I wouldn't see ads asking me if I'm a flirt!

.......Hmmm... am I a flirt? What constitutes a flirt, and how does one know whether or not he/she is a flirt? That might be good to know .....

AHHHHHH! NO! Give me the Travelocity Gnome or give me DEATH!

A man, his radio, and a long drive home (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan had come out from California to visit me this weekend...yes, just a week after we first met..and we had a good time, and went to the Visitors Center to watch the Joseph Smith movie. On the way out to the car, Ryan asked if he could hold my hand. And for those brief 30 seconds that we were holding hands, he (and I) was on top of the clouds. This email below came after his drive home that weekend. He wrote it using names of songs (you'll probably recognize a few). See if you notice any references to a certain "girl". (and I don't mean the drunk girl in the beginning :)...I know I sure did when I read it! And I knew EXACTLY who he was talking about! As a girl, I loved this blog! :)** PAM

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I was getting ready to drive out when I saw a Drunk Girl standing there with an Umbrella. I admit that she startled me and I might have squeaked like a girl, I'm not sure. She told me that she could be my Girlfriend. WEIRD! I realized she couldn't help herself. After all, when I wear my glasses I look just like Buddy Holly, and who can resist a guy standing In The Garage? I told her, "Look weirdy, I don't know you and quite frankly I don't want to. I am heading Back Home. So I am just gonna get in my car and Drive Away ok?" Awkward! So I left driving down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. I'm sure she'll be fine because Big Girls Don't Cry.

I decided I better grab something to eat so I could Maintain Conciousness. So I stopped and had Breakfast At Tiffany's. It was a fabulous diner, their cheesecake is The Sweetness because in The Middle it has The White Stuff that is just to die for! Thnks Fr Th Mmrs! With food in my tummy, I figured I had better hit the road and get myself home. Of course, I did get a little lost, and I really wished I had a map with me for the ride, oh well, I had to do it By Myself.

Traffic wasn't too bad in Phoenix. Of course, there was this one guy that kept bugging me! He was driving a Big Yellow Taxi and kept tailgating me, and everytime I would get over, he would just follow me into the same lane. He was a real American Idiot! Just when I thought that I Can't Take It, he finally passed me and I noticed his goofy little bumper sticker that said, "Everything You Know Is Wrong". I thought to myself, "Dude, you're a Basket Case! You need to Change Your Mind!" I'll Leave Out All The Rest.

Anyone who has driven from Phoenix to L.A. along I-10 knows there is this long stretch of road that is perfectly straight for like a bazillion miles and there is nothing but desert, and the road is usually pretty open. It was about this time that I hit that part of the drive. I started thinking about All The Small Things. How I met this Girl At The Rock Show, and our First Date. It was awesome! Whenever she's around it's Another Perfect Day. Uh Oh, it sounds like we have a Man Overboard!

I was glad that Al was willing to come along with me and keep me company on this Night Drive. We talked about all the important issues-- Which Backstreet Boy is Gay, Darth Maul, and how It's All About The Pentiums. He told me this long and boring story of how he was Trapped In The Drive-Thru... I wanted to die! He made up for it by showing me this Alf alarm clock that he had bought on Ebay. Then we joked about how we were White and Nerdy.

Finally, I could see it! California! The weather was nice with a High of 75. At the border, they welcomed me with 99 Red Balloons and one Black Balloon. I was greeted by The Black Parade which was lead by Helena, She's A Rebel. I stopped and thought I could check out all the Lights and Sounds. In the parade I saw Miss America, St. Jimmy, and Superman. Then I saw Stacy's Mom! She really did have it goin' on. It was pretty cool. I filled up, said goodbye to everyone and set out on my way again.

By the time I reached Indio, traffic was pretty backed up around Ocean Avenue. There was a Head On Collision involving Clark Gable and Whatsername... it was pretty bad and I thought I could just sit, maybe sleep since nothing was moving. I rolled down my window and yelled to the guy next to me, "Hey, will you Wake Me Up When September Ends?" He said he would, so I sat there and zoned out for a little bit. Again, I thought about the Girl All The Bad Guys Want.

I was almost home! It had been a long drive. But I made it without any harm or incident :) I cranked up H! Vltg3 and rolled into Riverside like an All Star because it Doesn't Remind Me of anything. Not to mention it's fun to Be Yourself. It was a good Holiday. Not to mention, I learned How To Save A Life. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

I am a child of God...(Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan wrote this the same night he wrote about his vegetable nightmare. I loved that he could be silly one minute, but serious the next.** PAM

Saturday, June 23, 2007

2nd of two blogs (this one is more serious)

A friend of mine just reminded me of some of the most important things in life.

I am a child of God.

Perhaps one of the most empowering phrases ever to be penned. Naomi Randall was most definitely inspired. It tells me that God really is my Father. And because He is my Father, I can take comfort in the knowledge that He loves me, as any good father would. This does not mean that He gives me everything I want on a silver platter. Infact, it's usually quite the opposite. The most difficult things in my life have taught me more and meant more to me than anything else. It never ceases to amaze me as I look at my own life, or when I hear of other people's experiances, just how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He knows us each individually, inside and out, and has prepared for each one of us a personal plan of salvation.

I would just like to take a moment to share one experiance that helped build my faith in our Heavenly Father and the Savior, who is Jesus Christ, and helped me come to a more excellent knowledge of just how much they are watching out for us. The experiance I had was my service as a missionary. Now, let me say that I cannot do justice to how great of an experiance this was for me, nor can I even begin to list all the blessings. I am only going to be listing one (the timing of it) and I don't want to go into knitty gritties. I am just trying to express how grateful I am for the gospel in my life...and I don't quite know how to say it.

My mission was filled to the brim with wonderful, spiritual, fun, and faith building experiances. There are simply too many to even attempt a partial list here, and some are too personal and sacred that I would not even consider listing them here. Instead, I would like to share how I got on my mission in hopes that it might be something positive for someone else.

Growing up in the Church (the LDS church) I was always taught, and I looked forward to, going on a mission. There is nothing better that a young man between 19 and 26 can do than to dedicate two years of his life to the Lord. Naturally this was my goal. As I grew older, some of the things necessary to prepare for a mission were difficult and long, but I made those preparations so that I could go and serve.

In high school I played football and basketball. It was in football that I sustained a back injury. It later required surgery after I graduated from high school. The surgery I had was not successful. My mom says it was because it was done on Halloween. I had to have another surgery a couple months later. These surgeries came at the time when I was supposed to be getting ready to serve my mission, I even spent my 19th birthday in the hospital! The recovery from them was long and difficult. If I was going to be able to seve a mission, I would have to wait at least a year, and even then, I probably would not be able to go for health reasons.

It was during this recovery time that I became very discouraged. I had worked hard up to this point, and it seemed to be flying out the window! I also got really scared of what being a missionary would entail. I never have been very good at talking to people and I'm so flippin' shy all the time--there was no way I was going to be able to carry on a gospel conversation, let alone knock on some random person's door! It got so bad that I didn't even want to go anymore, even if I was cleared. I began to attend college, thinking I would just go on with life. It was there that a friend of mine, who was not a member of my church, encouraged me to go. She told me, by word and example, that I should always follow through with what I believe in. Otherwise, I shouldn't believe in it.

That stuck with me. I did believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. I believed that I was a child of God and that He loved me and continued to watch over and help me through His servants the prophets and latter day revelation including the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. So I thought I should follow through with that.
After a long rehabilitation period I was cleared to go on a mission. I was called to serve in the Illinois, Peoria Mission, and I served honorably.

What amazes me most out of all that, was the timing. The time in my life at which I served could not have been better. I thought I was I ready to go at 19, but the Lord saw something different. I cannot even begin to imagine how my mission would have been different had I gone at 19 (or not gone at all). Everything would have been different--that long list of experiances I mentioned earlier, would never have happened. The Lord knew exactly what I needed, and he knew exactly when I needed it. The things I saw and learned, the people I met...EVERYTHING! The good as well as the bad. I would not trade it for the world. Oddly enough, I am very grateful that I had to have a couple of surgeries, not only did I learn from those experiances, but they got me into the mission field at the best time. You see! Our Father in Heaven is aware of us! Our Father in Heaven loves us, He is our Father. The Savior also loves us and He will never forsake us because He has engraven us upon the palms of His hands. And even though we go through trials, they are always for our benefit and our experiance because of this perfect love.

Bad things happen to good people, it's true. But through it all is the love of God.
Faith: Trust and confidence in the Savior and that He loves us
Hope: Confidence that all will work out in the end. Hope also conquers disapppointment.
Charity: the pure love of Christ, it never faileth

Those are three of my favorite attributes! I invite anyone, regardless of your faith, to learn of them, study them, and apply them in your own lives. They have helped me tremendously in my own life and I hope that they can be a blessing to you in yours.

I gotta go to bed! Good night!

Vegetable Nightmare (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--This blog absolutely CRACKED ME UP when I read it...I thought Ryan had the most imaginative ideas. I loved his writing style. This is probably one of my favorite blogs ever from Ryan** PAM

June 23rd, 2007

I'm up late tonight, it's true. I won't bore anyone with the details, rather, I'll tell a story. Often when people are up this late, it's because they had a nightmare, or have serious mental issues and they need help and lots of medication. Tonight, it's the former. Most of the time when people have a nightmare, it involves some hideous creature or a common phobia (i.e. being covered in spiders or cotton balls). Recently I had a nightmare of a slightly different nature. Heck, most of the things I experiance are of a different nature! Let's face it, I'm peculier and proud of it. No, really I am, I even have a sign in my room to prove it. But I digress. My recent nightmare dealt more with the brutal nature and depravity that a person could sink to more than some alien with periwinkle skin and 32 eyes who could beat me at every game of chess (maybe another time).

In this particular nightmare, I was sitting on the floor playing shoots and ladders with my "friends". Which consisted of: A cucumber, some baby carrots, and a good size head of broccoli. We were having a great time! I was winning because they didn't move much, and I was telling them all about my day and the things I did. Now what would have made this a really good nightmare was if my so-called friends would talk back and interact with me. This was not the case. The cucumber and broccoli each sat on thier own plate, and the baby carrots occupied some trendy tupperware from Target. They did absolutely nothing, they were just like normal vegetables!

Usually I embrace these types of things, I think their kinda silly. But I was mortified at the thought of having no one but vegetables to hang out with, heck, you might as well be a vegetable if you are that bad off! It only gets worse! To celebrate my winning of the great shoots and ladders contest, I went to the fridge and procured a bottle of Hidden Valley ranch along with some creamy Kraft Caeser dressing. It was all down hill from there.

I won't go into the specifics of the horror that ensued as I proceeded to enjoy the oh-so-yummy combination of my favorite veggies and favorite dressings. It's mortifying! The idea that I would eat those that I just played with! The whole ordeal gave me a new perspective on when my mom told me to never play with my food. I felt so bad.

All in all it was, in every sense of the word, a nightmare.

Disneyland vs. Disneyworld (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--The funny thing about this blog was that Ryan had never even BEEN to Disneyworld to even compare the two. Where did we end up going to for our honeymoon? That's right...DisneyWORLD! And where is Ryan's all-time favorite vacation location now? That's right...Disneyworld...hands down. :)** PAM


Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Of all the important issues we face in life, this is probably one of the most insignificant. Disneyland vs. Disneyworld. Which is the better the themepark? What are the attributes that give a park the "land" classification and how are they different from a "world" ranked park. Please join us on a deep sea adventure that is both strange and pointless, as we pit Disneyland against Disneyworld. Before we begin, allow me to say that Disneyland is way better than Disneyworld, this is not an unbiased study.

1. Location: Disneyland is in California, and Disneyworld is in Florida. Who in thier right mind wants to go to Florida?! California is the obvious choice here folks. When the Eagles needed to write a legenday song, which stately hotel did they stay at--California! When the Beach Boys dreamed about girls, they were California girls because East coast girls were only hip! Seriously, what does Florida bring to the table? Oranges and hurricanes? We hear about California all the time: Movie stars in court, police brutality, peoples houses falling into the ocean, Steve Jobs. California has it all. This place is so hot that every summer half the state is on fire. West coast-1 East coast-0

2. Park Attractions: Nothing is more memorable than "It's a small world". Anyone who has riden this ride knows what I am talking about. It leaves such an impression that when you hear small children singing you experiance symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome. The only thing that Disneyworld has that can even compete with that is Epcot. Every year golf enthusiasts gather to summon the Spirit of Tiger Woods to come and send that giant golf ball fying into the Bermuda Triangle. That is the only reason people go there.

3. Florida is chock full of old men wandering aroud without a shirt. Need I say more?

4. So what if Disneyworld is a "world"! that doesn't amount to hill of beans in this world--the real world. When Pirates are out sailing around and they find a coast to plunder, what is thier clarion call? That's right, it's "land ho!" because no one cares if there is a "world ho". Infact, the only reason it's called Disneyworld, is because Disneyland was already taken. Disneyworld has little brother envy.

5. Lastly, Disneyland has always been hailed as the "Happiest place on Earth" and "the place where dreams come true". What is Disneyworld? "Something for Everyone" give me a break!

Honestly, Disneyland is the better choice for family vacations, marriage proposals, and losing gobs of money on the cost of concessions and souveniers. Next time you wish you were somewhere else becasue you got busted for peaking in your friends medicine cabinet--wish you were in Disneyland.

Tom and Me (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

(Posted by Ryan on Myspace)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I remember this one time when Tom and me were in college, we were taking a Shakespeare class together. I don't remember much of the class, but I do remember the day Tom tried too hard.

On the first day of class Ms. Fisher put us into groups. My group consisted of Tom, Ashley, Shane, and myself. Poor Ashley, all alone in a group of nerds. Ms. Fisher might as well have thrown her to the wolves. Shane started giggling to himself while a little dribble of drool slid out of his mouth. Tom just stared but you could see the wheels turning in his head. And me? Well, I am always too nervous to do anything smooth. I just stared at her cool knee-high boots and asked her what her favorite toothpaste was. It was Crest.

We all took an instant liking to Ashley, especially Tom. Everyday, he would talk about how smart she was, Ashley this, Ashley that. You couldn't shut him up! As the semester went on and we worked together on projects in our little group, we all got to know each other pretty well. Tom was constantly making mental notes of all of Ashley's likes and dislikes. She was quite the character, Tom's dream girl. Vampires, Linkin Park, poetry, and plays were among Ashley's most favoritest things.

That Christmas, Ashley was in a production of "A Christmas Carol". Tom saw his chance to impress this gothic angel. On opening night, Tom stood second in line. He colored his hair red (to match Chester Bennington) and wore a shirt that said, "Vampires Suck" which was 3 sizes too small. I was first in line! I had gone out and bought a pink sweater for the occasion. And seeing as how pink sweaters are hard to come by, I had to buy a women's sweater. It even had a zipper down the back. I thought it was quite lovely.

I didn't know what Tom was up to that night. If I had, I never would have gone. After the play, Tom jumped onto the stage (you can do that sort of thing in Prescott) and asked for everyone's attention. He proceeded to scream out a vampiric rendition of "I got you babe" by Sonny and Cher. I recall that he changed the chorus line to, "I'll bite you babe" to really impress her with his creative use of vampires. He thought it was romantic. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

I don't think that Tom has ever tried so hard to impress a girl since.

Adventures in Physical Therapy (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan had to come home from his mission a month early due to an injury he aggravated in his back playing basketball on his P-Day. It was pretty severe, and he had to be flown home immediately to have emergency back surgery. We met a month after his surgery...bowling, as noted in the previous blog...he had to go to physical therapy after the surgery, so he was outlining his day at PT in this blog. At this time he was still living in California with his mom...he would come down on the weekends to take me on dates.** PAM

June 19th, 2007

Today was exciting! I headed out to Loma Linda for my physical therapy, just like any other Tuesday, but this would be no ordinary visit. I knew this would be the case when I had pulled into the parking and was greeted by an illegal immigrant trying to sell me a balloon for my girlfriend. I politely explained to him that no woman in her right mind would even consider being my girlfriend and that he would have better luck selling balloons over at McDonalds. Honestly, do I look like someone that would buy a balloon in a hospital parking lot? Come on!

Today they had me in the pool. Which meant I had to go to a different building. This is never good. I wandered up down different hallways for what seemed like years. By the time someone notcied me, my clothes were all raggedy, my beard reached to my waist, and I put Tom Hanks from Cast Away to shame becasue I was talking to my swimsuit.

So I finally found the pool, and it was time to change. Now, I am no Matthew Mcoughnehey, but when I stepped out onto the pool deck in my swimsuit, a couple 60 year ladies whistled at me. Yeah, watch out ladies, grrrrrr. After striking a few poses for my fans, it was into the pool for the hard stuff.

The hard stuff kicked off with walking from one end of the pool to the other. Step, step, step...whew, it's rough. After 10 minutes of that, it got worse! Sidestepping *cue scary music*. Step, step, step...You know, sometimes life is difficult, but hey, what can you do?

After warming up and doing some stretches it was time to pump some iron...err...foam. Pool weights are made of foam. I am no stranger to lifting wieghts, so I thought it would be easy. I was dead wrong. I not only had to lift weights and focus on my own excersises, but I had to keep an eye out and dodge an old curmudgeony man that looked just like Pintel from Pirates of the Carribean! He was like a misguided pervert whose soul purpose was to bump into people. That made weight lifting quite a harrowing ordeal. Fortunately, he never touched me :D

Then that was about it, after using the "weights" ... I think they are more like floats, it was time for me to do a few more excersises, then shower, change, and go home. I barely made it out alive. I get to do it again in a couple days!