Taking The First Step

What a busy, busy week we have had! Bob and I are on the verge of some very big changes in our lives and this was the week we got the ball rolling!

For the last month or so Bob and I have been seriously shopping for a realtor and loan officer we trust to help get us into our first home. I have interviewed several Realtors with the same 10 or so questions every time. It seems the Realtors with experience are real downers. They are always trying to convince us we want something different than what we are telling them. You'll be more comfortable in a condo than in a house... you would like this split entry more than any rambler I can show you... etc! The ones who listen to what we want and are excited to help us no matter how picky we are, have little to no experience! In the middle are all the sleaze balls and jerks just in it for the money who try to bully and push us into using them without answering any of the questions we present.

Then came Jen Mascaro. She's a realtor with more than a decade of experience in real estate, owns her own firm, and teaches at one of the local real estate schools. However she was excited to answer all our questions and let us know that the most important thing she could do for us was put us in a home we would love for years down the road and could afford comfortably. Even if it took a long time to find "the one". Finally we found a realtor that meets our needs! After letting Jen know she was hired, she told us about a special loan called "The American Dream" loan only offered through US Bank. This special loan allows us as first time home buyers to get a home for only a $1,000 down payment and no mortgage insurance! It's an elite loan with an extensive qualification process. We called US Bank and made an appointment for pre-qualification next week!

On Tuesday after a quick check up with my doctor, we rushed home to watch my nephew Ryan for a couple of hours. I don't know if I'm just getting old, or if he has limitless energy but boy did he wear us both out! He is always on the go!

The only time he was holding still long
enough to snap a picture!

On Thursday the reception team decided to do a team building activity together as an unofficial farewell to Shamae since she won't be our boss much longer. We decided we wanted to get away from the office, so we stopped at Kneaders and picked up some bagged lunches to take up the canyon. We did a short but beautiful hike up to Lisa Falls and ate our lunches at the foot of the waterfall. It really was a wonderful spot that I had never been to before but am excited to bring Bob back to! That night after Shamae left, Teresa and I decorated her desk for her birthday. We wanted her to know how loved and appreciated she is by the team, even if her manager doesn't feel the same way.

Our view at lunch

Our view on the other side

Shamae's desk all decorated



After such an exciting and eventful week, Bob and I just wanted to relax this weekend. On Saturday we had 6 tickets to the new X-Men movie from work, so we took Kelsey, Savannah, Ricky and Dani with us. The movie was fantastic! It's definitely one Bob and I will have to add to our movie collection when it comes out on DVD. After the movie my sisters and I began planning out X-Men Cosplay costumes we could get or make for Comic Con in September. We all wanted to be Phoenix, so don't be surprised if one day you see us all in different color phoenix costumes... I will be in red! After all the discussion of cosplay costumes, Bob and I decided we better get our Comic Con tickets purchased since the prices are so low right now.  We went home and purchased them that night. We are so excited for September!

This morning Marcie needed to go check on Grandma Malan down at Kirt's house. Bob and I haven't seen grandma in quite a while so we decided we would go down with her and visit. We had lunch with grandma and talked to her about all the plans Bob and I have for our future house. While at Kirt's, I discovered an in-ground trampoline in the backyard. I had to show off to my husband by throwing out a couple flips. I forgot how much of a work out trampolines are. Maybe we can get one at our future house!

After saying our goodbyes to grandma we made our way to my parents house. We are going to California with them in July so we needed to hammer out some details. My dad thought, what better way to plan a vacation, than over BBQ? So he BBQ'd for us while we discussed who wanted to go where on what days, where we were going to stay and what transportation we would need. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I think we are going to have a lot of fun this summer!

Threatening Phone Calls

Wow! What a roller coaster of a week I've had!

The week took it's first downward turn when I got to work one day only to discover that my new boss may be leaving us already. I have to mention that Shamae is the 6th manager I've had in 3 years and she is easily the best one. She is the first manager who could break the news that I was doing something the wrong way in a kind and professional manner, the first one to give me real feedback on how I was doing, the first one to give me honest expectations and the first one to listen to my concerns and actually do something about them. In her short time as my manager I have grown to trust and respect her fully. Unfortunately her boss Jason sees things differently and doesn't like the way she is doing her job. He gave her the option to be demoted to her old position in the company or be fired the next time he didn't like something she did. Since she has a family to support, she had to take the safer option. She will be here until either Jason changes his mind or a replacement is found and trained. I really hope the next manager I get is as good as she has been, because the boss I had just before her had me on the verge of quitting!

Luckily as the week went on, things slowly improved even with the thought of losing Shamae weighing heavily on my mind. We had a fun event at work called "Grow Together" where everyone in the warehouse came together to plant flowers in front of our building, paint hand prints on a canvas and eat cookies. Shamae even seemed to be making some headway with Jason! That's when I got "The Call"....

One morning a restricted phone number called my phone. I don't normally answer these calls but purely out of curiosity I decided to answer this one. As soon as I said Hello a male voice on the other end told me "I need you to listen very carefully. If you comply with all our demands, no one needs to get hurt." I didn't say anything. I just hung up immediately and called my dad. He assured me that it was probably a sick joke and nothing more, so I didn't need to worry about anything. While I was on the phone with him though, the mysterious caller called back and left me a voicemail. The voicemail went something like this:

"Listen you f**cking b**ch, you think you can just hang up on us? Do you want to live, or do you want to die? We know who you are. We know where you work. We know where you live. We have been following you for weeks. You will be given 2 hours to comply with all our demands. You will answer the phone when we call back. You will regret ever f**cking messing with us if you don't"

After listening to this message, my stomach dropped and my heart started pounding. I felt like I was stuck in a bad movie and I didn't know what to do. I ran upstairs and played the voicemail for my Father-in-law. He wanted to make a call to his son Ryan, who's a lawyer before we did anything. While he and Ryan spoke about what to do, I called my dad back. Both my dad and Ryan said that with a threat like this I needed to call the police right away. As soon as we hung up, that's what we did, called the police! The dispatch office took the threat very seriously and said they were sending an officer right away. While waiting for the officer to come, I called work. I wanted to let them know what was happening in case I was late to work. As soon as I hung up with the office, the police officer showed up. The officer took my statement and listened to the voicemail. She gave me a case number and a direct line to the dispatch office. She told me to watch for any suspicious activity over the next few days whether it be a car following me, vandalism to my car or home or anything else out of the ordinary. She then told me that they had heard of similar phone calls being part of a phone scam to scare people into wiring money. Since they didn't actually describe my home, work place or car she was fairly certain that the scammers didn't actually know me. She said I could go about my day as normal and then she proceeded to sit outside my house in her cruiser until I left for work. When I got to work I found out that Jason was worried about me and my safety so he hired a security officer to be my personal body guard at work that night. While the guard that came was old, slow moving and carrying an oxygen tank and therefore probably useless in the event that something actually happened, I was grateful to have the company that night. So far nothing more has come of the phone call. I never heard back from the mysterious caller, nothing out of the ordinary has happened and I have had time to calm down but it was still terrifying at the time!

This weekend had me back on the up and up! It started Saturday with my amazing niece Katie's end of school ballroom recital. She is in the social dance class this year so she only had the one dance but she has liked it so much that she tried out for the JV Ballroom Team for next year. Right after the recital she found out that SHE MADE IT!! It was so much fun watching her dance and watching how excited she was to make the team. I'm proud of the beautiful young lady she is turning into, and selfishly happy she has taken an interest in ballroom since I did ballroom in high school as well. After her recital I stopped by the new RC Willey by Ikea and entered all their drawings. Keep your fingers crossed I win something good! They just so happened to be having a puppy adoption event as well so I had to browse the puppies while I was there. I can't wait for the day I can take one home! Finally I saw an open house sign and followed it to a cute little rambler in Riverton. I loved the house, but it will be out of our price range for sure. I did however talk to the owner and discover that his realtor "is amazing" and can "work miracles" to get Bob and I into a home we love. I took down all her information and Bob and I will be calling her next week! Hopefully this guy was right and she really does help us find our perfect starter home!


 

Later that night Chelsea brought Benton over for us to watch while her and Garrett enjoyed a much needed date night. This is the first time we have seen the little squirt since we watched him for a full week during their vacation 2 weeks ago and it's amazing to see how much has already changed. We played with some of the same toys and puzzles we played with before but now he has mastered them! He has also learned all his shapes! We could just ask him which one of his blocks was the triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, circle, oval or star and he would hold up the right one EVERY time! He is such a smart little bugger! Finally we made him some spaghetti for dinner, which was of course fun to feed him, and put a movie on so he would relax and fall asleep. He was such a little cuddle bug and fell asleep right away!





































































This morning Bob and I struggled waking up and getting ready for the day, but we finally did just in time to make our way to Shelby's house to help her and Tyson move. They have decided to move out of the town home they are leasing and into her parents basement while they save up money for the down payment on a house. They didn't have anyone else to help them move, so Bob and I agreed to help. After all, with any luck, we will be needing help moving soon too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Before I dive into all our fun celebrations for Mother's Day this year, I want to send out a huge thank you to all the wonderful Mother's, Motherly figures, and future Mom's out there for everything you do. I have been so blessed to have so many strong, and amazing women in my life to guide me. I have to start by thanking my own mother for not only bringing me into this world, but putting her life on hold to always make sure she was giving us kids the best life she could possibly give us. She has always been there to empower us, teach us, comfort us and love us through every stage of our lives. I now also have an amazing Mother-in-law who has never missed an opportunity to make me feel loved and welcomed into my new family. I know so many women who butt heads with their Mother-in-laws and I count myself lucky to have one I love and admire so much. I couldn't leave out my best friend Sarah's amazing mother who has also never missed an opportunity to welcome me into their family. She has fed me, put a roof over my head, given me life advice and spoiled me rotten for nearly 15 years now and I wouldn't feel right considering her anything other than a mom to me as well. These 3 incredible women are just the tip of the iceberg of women who have touched my life. I have so many grandparents, aunts, cousins, siblings, friends and parents of friends who have each taught me important lessons in my life. They have each helped shape me into the woman I am today. Some of them continue to touch my life and help me improve myself as a daughter, sister, wife and friend every day. Some day I hope to follow your examples of love and selflessness to become as wonderful a mother to own children as you are to yours. Cheers to all you wonderful ladies!

Mother's Day was celebrated on Saturday for my mom this year. She had mentioned multiple times that her car was the only car in the family without a spoiler on it, and she was feeling left out. My dad had the great idea of giving her one for Mother's Day this year. Since her car is a nicer one, it took a bit of shopping to find a spoiler that would look good on her car and matched the paint. It was a tad bit on the pricier side so all of us girls went in on it together to get it for her. While my dad worked on installing the spoiler, we needed to get my mom out of the house. Kelsey and I told her we wanted to take her to lunch at the Olive Garden for Mother's Day. She couldn't say no to a free lunch, so off the three of us went leaving my dad to his work. My dad was supposed to text me when the spoiler was on, so when lunch was over and the check was paid but I still hadn't received a text, I knew we needed to stall going home. Thinking on my feet is not my forte, and the best I could do is complain that I was almost out of cat food and that we needed to make a stop at Petco for some more food before going home. My mom didn't seem very impressed, but agreed to go. Luckily it was a pet adoption weekend at the store, so there was plenty to look at while we were there! Before long Kelsey fell in love with a beautiful white cat with one blue eye and one green eye that was up for adoption. My mom said no at first but we weren't going to take her first answer as final. We noticed that she was a 9 year old cat and the only animal that was free. We began guilt tripping my mother that the only reason she would be free is if this was her last chance to find a home, or she would be put down. It's horrible I know, but it worked! She gave in enough to say that if my dad said yes, then Kelsey could get the cat. My dad didn't even understand what Kelsey was mumbling about, he just told her to get whatever she wanted. My mom couldn't back out on her word now, so Kelsey began filling out the adoption paperwork. Of course the adoption took a while and we had to browse the store to get Kelsey her own cat supplies so our trip to Petco proved to be enough time for dad to finish the spoiler. When we got home my dad pretended to go fill up his soda in my mom's car so that she would see it with the spoiler. It took my mom a few minutes to catch on, but she finally figured it out! She seemed to like her spoiler quite a bit, so I think her present was a success!



Meet Kelsey's new little angel...

Elsa!



Pets need to nerd out sometimes too!

She loves cuddles

My mom's best Vanna White impersonation

Mom, Dad and the new spoiler

Mom posing with all her girls

That night my friend Chelsea and her family wanted to go out to a Karaoke Bar. Against my Mother's wishes, we brought Rachel along as well. I know, great Mother's Day gift, taking Rachel to her first bar! In my defense, it's not like she was going to drink, just sing! We all met at Chelsea's house before heading to a bar none of us had been to before on the East side. I don't remember the name of the place but it was crowded! It was a really odd atmosphere as well, like we weren't exactly welcome there and the same 3-4 people kept getting up to sing boring songs. We stayed long enough for someone in our group to get a turn, which took about an hour, before deciding to jet. Instead we went to Cheers to You, a bar we had been to a couple times before. It was instantly better. We had a more relaxed atmosphere with friendlier people and better music. Rachel, Bob and I didn't do much singing but we cheered on Chelsea, Garrett, Brittney, Jeff, Lindsay and Ian as each of them did! Someone Jeff knew met us there as well, I think it was his brother but it may have just been a friend of his. Chelsea's family was determined that Rachel hit it off with him despite me telling them about her boyfriend Mac. They did end up getting them to play pool with each other, but not much else. Everyone had a lot of fun!



My handsome hubby and I

Rachel and her Pool date

Busted!

Sunday was Mother's Day so Bob and I had planned on getting up early to make his mom breakfast in bed, but neither of us thought to set an alarm.... Needless to say, she got up and went to church before we woke up so we missed our opportunity. Bob made his infamous "crack waffles" anyway, and we ate them for lunch instead!

*We call them crack waffles because they are so delicious that they are "as addictive as crack", not because there is anything in them that shouldn't be....

After lunch we gave Marcie her Mother's Day card, a jazz shirt and some new pajama pants. She seemed to love everything since she insisted on trying everything on right away and wore them the rest of the day! She kept thanking me for picking out the best presents for her all the time, so I had to let her know that Bob actually did the shopping this year. She seemed really impressed! Bob also got me a U of U shirt and some new fluffy slippers as a Mother's Day gift. We don't have kids yet, so he really didn't need to get me anything. Maybe he is just practising for the future? Or he is just really impressed with my mothering skills to all our little fur babies! That night Bob slaved away in the kitchen making the most delicious Chicken Parmesan I have ever had, for his mom. Everyone enjoyed the food so much we stuffed ourselves completed full before we could even start on the garlic bread! All in all I think it was a great Mother's Day!

A Week with an 18 Month Old

Just to make something clear: I'm a sucker for my best friend Chelsea's baby Benton. He may not be my nephew by blood, but I take my title as honorary Aunt very seriously! So when Chelsea mentioned that she would like to take an adult only vacation with her husband, I jumped at the opportunity to play with Benton for the week. Her family teased that I didn't know what I was getting into, taking on an 18 month old plus Chelsea's house and new puppy, but I didn't care. I was determined. Luckily for me, Bob was on board too! That means for the last week we have been "playing house" and getting to experience what parenthood is really like or at least as close as you can get without having a kid of your own... My conclusion? I LOVE it!

*WARNING* This post is long!

Sunday afternoon, Bob and I went to Chelsea's to begin our duties as baby-sitter/house-sitter/dog-sitter. Benton was still napping so Chelsea went over her expectations for us. Garrett teased her about worrying too much, and asked her if she thought we needed a lesson in diaper changing before they left. She did go over a lot of info that Bob and I already knew from watching Benny in the past, but I doubt I could leave my baby for 6 days without doing the exact same thing... or worse! Finally they woke Benton up, said their goodbyes, and then it was just the three of us. Luckily Benton is easily the happiest baby I have ever been around, and one of the best behaved as well! We gave Benton some dinner before packing him and the puppy up to head to the park. We played until Benton started looking and feeling a little too cold for our liking so we headed home.






































































Once there, Benton spent some time showing off his books and toys before settling in to play a game of "Watch Bob shoot a rubber bracelet at the ceiling, then take it back to him so he can do it again." Finally he started acting a little tired so we changed him into his jammies and laid him down in bed at around 7:30 PM.



 

We didn't hear a peep out of him until 8:30 the next morning! When he woke up, he was in a great mood! He ate his breakfast without a fuss, then we changed him into some clean clothes before starting play time. Bob wasn't so sure about showering and getting ready for work at Chelsea's house so we packed Benny up in the car and continued playtime back at our house. After Bob headed to work, Benton and I had to head to Sprint to take care of some phone business. This was the first time I have taken a toddler out on errands by myself. It was a success! The first store I stopped at had to print me a new receipt for a phone case I had paid for but not received yet. It took a while and Benton was getting too heavy to hold so I put him on the ground. He started to walk away but I told him to stay by me so he settled for quietly playing at my feet with my car keys. The hardest it got was when he threw my keys a couple feet away, but as soon as I told him to bring them back and not throw things, he did. Then it was off to the second Sprint store to pick up my phone case. By this time it was past Benton's nap time so he was dosing off in the car, and I had to wake him up to go into the store. This time he wouldn't let me put him down, he would just look at me with his arms reached up asking to be picked back up so I had to hold him the whole time but he was just as quiet and happy as ever. Finally I made it back to his house to feed him lunch and put him down for a nap. When he woke up again we were running a little late to head back to my house so my in-laws could watch him while Bob and I were at work, so it was a quick snack and then hopping in the car! I got home just in time to get him settled in before heading to work. While he was fine seeing me leave, I was still feeling pretty guilty about leaving him there. I think I might have attachment issues!

Benny's new favorite game
Bob lifting him over the tall grass to
the cement pavers...





I got home from work at about 12:30. By this time, Bob had Benton tucked in and sound asleep for hours, but I heard a little rustling from the room and had to use it as an excuse to go give him goodnight hugs and kisses and tuck him in again. The next morning he was a little bit fussier about breakfast but still finished it just fine. Then it was out to the back yard to play with the dog and Uncle Bob before he had to leave for work. After Bob left, Benton and I had more play time and watched some Mickey Mouse clubhouse before lunch time. After Benton finished lunch, I let him chase the dog back and forth through the kitchen while I ate my lunch. I had Benny's teddy grahams by me in case he wanted to eat more so when he came over to the table reaching for the food I handed him one. This sent him into the first tantrum I've seen of his. Apparently the correct answer was supposed to be giving him some of the food I was eating! He threw himself on the floor and started crying. Luckily he was able to pull himself together in about 30 seconds, but I did decide that it was obviously nap time for someone. After his nap it was another quick snack before loading up the car to take Benton to my parents house to be watched. Benton was pretty happy following the cats around and showing off his toys to my mom so I thought it was safe to make my exit like I had the day before. Unfortunately as soon as he heard the Family room door open and saw me leaving, Benton's face dropped and he started the saddest crying I've ever seen. I couldn't help but go back in and comfort him. He ran into my arms and gave me the biggest hug. I felt so guilty and sad leaving him! I may have shed a couple tears and decided that if it's at all possible I WILL be a stay at home mom. I couldn't do that with my own kids, especially every day!

On Wednesday I had organized a fun play date for Benton and my friend Brya's nephew Collin. Benton was having a blast at the park... At least until a daycare full of kids showed up. That's when Bob and I very quickly discovered that Benny doesn't share well with other kids. If any of the kids touched something he wanted to play with or had been playing with, the tantrums began! There were many, many time outs and walks away from the playground to calm him down. Luckily the day care didn't stay long and Benton was much better at sharing with Collin. We had a lot more fun after that! After giving his new friend Collin a hug goodbye, it was off to Subway for lunch and home for a nap. Benton was exhausted from all the fun, so he slept for several hours. Finally I decided it was time for him to wake up, or he wouldn't sleep that night. He was so cuddly with me when I woke him up, I couldn't help but stand there snuggling him for a while. That brief moment made every tantrum that morning worth it! Finally I took him downstairs for a snack before getting his bath ready. Benton and I had too much fun playing with all the bath toys, we lost track of time. The next thing I knew my alarm to leave for work was going off! I had to holler at Bob to come up to the bathroom and finish Benton's bath so I could rush off to work. Thanks to losing track of time, an unexpected school zone and a lot of red lights, I was late to work. Just one more reason I shouldn't be a working parent! I would always be late because I would lose track of time getting my kids ready!

















































I think the dog loved him as much
as he loved the dog

On Thursday afternoon my nephews Robert and Russell, and my niece Mimi were doing their end of the school year Spanish performance. I wanted to be a good Aunt by being there and cheering them on but with Benton, that meant moving up his schedule. I woke up early and got ready while Benny was still in bed. Then I got him up, fed and dressed early. I immediately started play time so that he would get worn out faster and take a nap earlier. When it was time to leave I packed his snack in the diaper bag and moved him from his nap in the crib to a nap in the car as we drove to the kids school. Once there I found my way to the rest of the family and gave Benton his snack while the other classes were performing. Benton was putting on a show the entire time. Fresh from his nap, he was in a great mood. He kept flirting with another little girl his age in the audience and sharing his snacks with her while helping himself to her snacks. He showed off all his stuff to the family, attempted to dance along with the other kids and had a blast bouncing on my knees. After the show was over I said hi to Robert, Mimi and Russell and told all of them how great they did. While they had to go back to class after their performances, the rest of the family wanted ice cream. I'm never one to turn down ice cream so Benton and I headed to Arctic Circle with everyone else. I think Benny enjoyed his ice cream more than I did! Unfortunately I had to go straight to work, so I loaded Benny and all his stuff up in my in-laws mini van and I went off to work.

The next day Benton accompanied me to another big family event. This time it was my cousin Jacob's wedding. Jacob is one of the only cousins in my age range, and far nicer to me than some of my other extended family members so it was important to me to be there and support his new life with his new wife Kate. That meant another early morning getting ready while Benny was asleep and again waking him up to get him ready in time. Everything was running smoothly until we got to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple where the wedding was taking place. While we were sitting in the waiting room, Benny was being his normal adorable self, showing off to all the other people waiting until he decided it would be a fun game to steal every one's shoes. It started with shoes women had taken off to be more comfortable, and then evolved into stealing shoes right off of people's feet. Perfect strangers too. I tried to distract him with toys, but he wouldn't be deterred. The only thing he found more entertaining was throwing toys at people. When I wouldn't let him play with the shoes or throw his toys anymore, the tantrums began. Luckily the wedding party came out before too long. Benny went back to being happy when we got to go outside and wander around. He loved my Uncle Garry from the second he saw him. I had to watch closely because the two of them would wander off hand in hand and if my back was turned I wouldn't know where Benny went! The entertainment wasn't long enough though. Soon Jacob and Kate were making their grand debut as a married couple and Benny was being ignored. He began running in front of the doors, and I had to grab him so he wouldn't be hit by the door or ruin the pictures and that's when all hell broke loose! He was so mad I wouldn't let him play he broke into the longest most extreme tantrum I had seen all week. This tantrum had him trying to throw himself from my arms, and screaming at the top of his lungs for a good 15 minutes. I had to walk away to try and calm him down. Then during pictures and all the congratulating of the couple I had to sit by the fountain which was the only place Benny was calm. If I tried to take him anywhere else, it was instant melt down again!



























 

Despite the morning from hell, I wanted to go to the luncheon so I packed Benny in the car and we headed to the church. Luckily it seemed Benny's bad behavior was because he was tired. I didn't even have him belted into his car seat before he was out! Once at the church I lugged the entire car seat inside so Benny could continue napping. He slept through nearly the entire luncheon. He finally woke up toward the end in just enough time for me to get him some of the food for lunch and to play with Amy's twins in the nursery. Once again Benny was his happy well-behaved self and I could show off what a sweet baby he is! Before I knew it, it was time to drop Benny off with my in-laws and head to work. As excited to sleep in my own bed as I was, I knew I wasn't ready for Benny's parents to come home. Ready or not, his parents came home that night and it was back to life as I knew by the time I got off work that night.

To thank Marcie, and Wayne for watching Benton while we were at work all week, Bob and I took them to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, La Hacienda. The atmosphere was great with live music and a musician serenading us at our table, the food was better and the company was superb! Then it was time to thank Bob for playing house all week so I took him to see Godzilla, which he had been so excited about. It was a fairly average action/sci-fi movie. Good enough to keep us entertained the whole time, but not one that I picture us seeing again.  I'm so lucky I have such a wonderful husband who is so willing to drop everything to help my family and friends!