I can't finesse if you're in my face either!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

The summer before I turned 15 I was planning my crush's trip to California to see me. He'd been my first kiss that summer at YA camp and we couldn't wait to see each other again. Ah, immature love.

5 years ago?

Hmm...right before I turned 20 I was kind of dating a guy who was 7 years older than me. I was completely SMITTEN with him. After Eldon, he's probably the best guy I dated. Anyway, it was the beginning of my sophomore year at BYU, which was by FAR the worst of my experience. The one thing I got from that year that I would never trade is the experience of being wrongly judged. Rumors about me had been spread that year and I will never forget how it felt to have people thinking terrible things about me without giving me a chance to prove myself. Thanks to that terrible time I never judge anyone before I get to know them myself. Then I judge. :) But in my defense, we all have to judge a little bit.

5 Snacks I enjoy:

1. Chips and Salsa (with cottage cheese)
2. Sour Patch Kids
3. Fruit!! (especially strawberries, raspberries, and cherries)
4. Homemade Rolls (soft bread in general)
5. Quesadillas (clearly I have no idea how to spell that)

5 Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:

1. Buy a large home (I don't know where ... just with Eldon)
2. Pay off my car
3. Pay for Eldon's school (but if we didn't need money it probably wouldn't be pharmacy:))
4. Get another car (like a Subaru Outback or a HUGE truck)
5. Start some kind of great investment that will create money for all our posterity
6. Have LOTS of kids and adopt LOTS more!
7. Go back to Italy and buy/build nice chapels for the members there
8. Give them a bunch more money just to help (is that against policy?)
9. Take voice lessons from the best teacher willing to take my money
10. Make large donations to several organizations I admire (mostly helping kids)
11. Give my parents money to pay off their house and do all the remodelling Mom wants to do
12. Hire a maid to clean so I can play with all my kids
13. Travel with our families
14. Do fun things the kids will always remember, but making sure they don't know we're rich
15. Share millions with all our siblings
16. Pay a TON of tithing and make HUGE fast offerings (it will be fun to fill up all those lines every time)
17. Pray not to become prideful or lazy!

(I forgot about the "five" part of the question...let me make my 5 favorites bold)

5 of my bad habits:

1. losing interest in project/goals before they're finished
2. spending money when I'm stressed or unhappy
3. procrastination (not in all things, just a few)
4. forgetting to write in my journal
5. being overly-critial of myself ... it's hard to be a perfectionist

5 places I've lived:

1. Provo, Utah
2. Concord, California
3. Grizzo, Italy
4. Rome, Italy
5. Florence, Italy
6. Pescara, Italy (this is a complete list of my whole life)

5 things people don't know about me:

1. I love the smell of baby throw-up.
2. I thought buffalo were extinct until I was 14 years old and saw one at Yellowstone. As I recall, my exact exclamation was, "Oh my gosh, do they KNOW about this??" Really.
3. I hate peanut butter (unless it is in the form of a Reeces Cup or something)
4. I have a muscle disorder that makes my muscles break themselves down periodically - which is why I've always been muscular. It would be great except that it's hugely painful. I can squat almost 300 pounds, and Eldon likes to feel my bicepts. :)
5. I have a very high threshold for pain and want to have my first baby naturally.

Third funny story that I forgot to include...

Because Eldon and I have moved we've naturally had to change our mailing address with the government. So, when Eldon was doing his he realized that they didn't have him on record for our last address, which was odd, so he forwarded the last one they had on record which was his home back in Mesa. It's really a simple process at the US Postal Service website, click click click. Anyway, we did that a couple weeks ago. Then this week Eldon got a phone call from his mom asking if he'd by chance changed his address online recently. Yes, but how would she know that. right? Well, Reader, my darling husband had changed his FAMILY'S address to 228 Wymount and they haven't gotten mail for a week and a half!!! We had no idea because we just barely got our mail kay last night and haven't been able to check our mail since we've been here. Eldon's dad fixed it with the post office, so everything is taken care of now. My goodness ... So if you are in Eldon's home ward in Mesa, don't worry: We'll get that tithing right back to the Bishop!!! :)

Laugh with us!

Oh my goodness ... we are so funny to me. :) I don't even know where to start so I'm just going to take a breath and talk. Write.

I have a widow's peak that I pluck from my forhead roughly four times a week. You probably didn't know that unless you were immediate family, close roommate, or husband. :) It's true. The best thing I ever learned about my face was that part of it was removable. I actually remember the day I thought of it. I was plucking my eyebrows and as I finished I glanced up at the widow's peak I disliked so much, glanced at the tweezers in my hand, glanced at my own eye balls in the mirror, and went to town. Five minutes later I was a normal-foreheaded girl. :) Well, that was about four years ago, and it never quite satisfied me because the plucking left my forehead slightly raised in that area. It was almost like my widow area was irritated. Now, I recently discovered that shaving it was a much more effective plan. (I glanced at the razor in my hand, then at the widow's peak on my head ... you get the idea.) It takes four seconds in the morning, it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't leave the area I de-hair raised up or swollen. However, I got a little carried away with it last week and accidentally shaved off part of my bangs. I didn't think it was that noticable, and I didn't mention it. The area is probably about a 1/2 inch square. Eldon was looking at my face the other day (he likes it) and all of a sudden started looking at my forehead with a particular interest.

"Honey, did you SHAVE YOUR BANGS OFF?" he asked me. How can I respond?
"Um ... yeah." And then we both erupted into hysterical laughter - Eldon for how silly his wife is and me for how I'd thought I'd "get away with it" without anyone noticing. So the next time you see me, if you're in close proximity, take a look at my forehead to check up on my happy little tuft. :) It's quite adorable.

Funny story number two:

I've been very diligent about not eating sugar. Yesterday was not a good day but at 8:25pm, in the last 5 minutes of my shift, I received a message on my desk from a disguised cousin with a ransom note for my husband. I was on the phone with a client (because I don't know if you know this, but I'm an online consultant ... just kidding, Bruce.:)) and all I could do was keep my response purely facial and watch as David in a Santa hat and beard skuttled away from my cubicle and Craig waved at me from the hall. Anyway, it was a little immature for my taste :) but we had a fun night. The point of the story is that Eldon got gummi worms as a treat for me and I brought them to work with me this morning. I find that I can't eat very much sugar these days (due to the shocking decline in sweetness being consumed) and gave the rest of the bag to a co-worker.

"Did you eat all your gummies?" Eldon asked me in the car tonight.
"Oh, no, but I gave the rest to a _________." I responded.
(pause) Then a conversation began about how I ALWAYS give things away and how I'm too charitable (which, dear reader, is a joke and clearly NOT one of my problems).
"Well, Husband," I said in my snottiest voice. "I guess I'll just have to visit you in the Terrestrial Kingdom. I'll be upstairs with all the charitable candy-sharers."
"Yeah, 'OKAY' (said in my brother Kevin's voice that always meant sarcasm), I'll just be waiting ... with all the people you GAVE candy to."

That may not sound funny to you, Reader, but I laughed about that all the way to Wymount. What a funny man I married. We have a lot of fun. :)

I'm sorry for the pessimism.

I just have to apologize to you all for the blatant pessimism that has prevailed during my last several posts. I find it's therapudic to vent on this lovely little invention, but in reality it's probably not the most pleasant thing for you to read or hear from us.

Therefore, I will attempt to keep the pessimism in check (clearly not completely abolished, because sometimes life stinketh ... there I went again) and write pleasant things for a while.

Wouldn't it be funny if the blog stopped there? Like little Thumper just keeping his not-nice words to himself. :) But I do have good things to report.

First of all, I'm married to Eldon Snyder, who is the humble owner and operator of the most gentle, good heart in all the land. I love being his wife. He's a patient man, I'll tell you that. :) And I adore him for it. It's our 6-month anniversary on Sunday and it makes me smile that I could write my plans for him right here on our blog and he'd still be surprised because he never reads these. :) I know what I'm getting already, and it's so darling because he was so nervous that it wouldn't be what I wanted that he made me preview it "hypothetically". He's the cutest thing.

Speaking of "hypothetically", let me tell you a story of how our very VERY sudden engagement happened: We had been talking about marriage for a week before I broke up with him. He was devastated, I was devastated, and it was a miserable time. I'd never once gone back to anyone I'd broken up with, and there have been a lot because I'm nearly 25 and most of my female peers have been out of the dating game for a lot longer than I. But this time I knew I'd made the wrong choice, and went to him asking for forgiveness which was a tender little moment in our history. One of my favorites, actually. So we were dating again, and if you've never done that before and you don't know this, let me tell you. You're way more serious the second go-around than the first. I don't know why, but that's how it happens. I knew very quickly he was the man I was going to marry, and I knew I was the second person in our relationship to know that. So, in an effort to ease his mind and assure him that I was on the same page, I started throwing out "hypotheticals". I'd say things like, "Hypothetically, I really like that wedding announcement." (That was my first one, Eldon says, that happened at Camilla's house while we were looking at their wedding album or something. He remembers it ... I don't. :)) Or "Hypothetically, I think ..." etc. Anyway, so to this day we throw out hypotheticals when we're hinting. It's great fun. I bet you didn't know that about us.

We're almost completely unpacked, which feels nice. If we had more time at home we'd be long done by now, but we only have a couple hours at night and that's not sufficient for our tired selves' needs. :) Not that I'm being pessimistic, because it's kind of an adventure to have a miserable schedule.

[Note, Eldon just found his pen that he'd misplaced and held it in front of him exclaiming, "That which was lost is now found!" I just thought I'd mention that. :) ]

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Fall semester when we won't be sharing the car and I don't have to spend 12 hours a day at the office, but for now it's kind of fun to suffer. :) I'm totally being serious about that too, so if you read that in your minds with a really sarcastic tone read it again with a smiling one. It's not so bad. I'm Eldon's wife, so life is great!

The last thing I'm going to mention before exiting this one-sided conversation is that I started a new blog to accompany my Bible Sisters site and I'm really excited about it. I'm hoping that in six months I'll have significant traffic and I'll be able to make this profitable for us. It's so fun to have a job that teaches you new skills. I'm grateful for that. My mom says it's good for your brain too, so there you go. :)

Our "New" Apartment

It's taken us a while, but we are now mostly unpacked, our Internet is up, and I've attempted to decorate without spending extra money on unnecessary things Eldon says (with good reason) that I won't like in a month anyway. :)

In case anyone (other than my mother) is curious about what our apartment looked like when we moved in, let me give you a few covetousness-inducing images. Above you will find our lovely kitchen, which has a talent for trapping heat, looking ugly, and making me angry. I have to laugh, though, because there's no dishwasher, I light the stove with matches hoping not to burn my hand(which I'm good at thanks to my mission), and my cookie sheets don't even fit in the micro-sized oven so I put them in diagonally and hope whatever I'm baking doesn't slide to the left. But at least it's not hot while I'm spending all that time in that little space ... Oh wait, it's AFRICA hot on the third floor. Eldon told me we shouldn't move in to a top-floor apartment, but I was so anxious to not have noise coming from above my head that I was willing to brave the heat. Air conditioning, you say? I'm not even going to talk about it. Yes I will. There is none. We have an industrial-sized fan that is all bark and no bite. When I first unpacked it from my college apartment things Eldon was skeptical, but how grateful we are to have it. In all actuality it doesn't do much more than move the hot air around the room, but it's psychologically helpful to have SOMETHING to fight the heat. The first time I turned it on before bed it was so loud that Eldon yelped and started rolling across the bed like it was blowing him away. I laughed so hard, because it really is loud and I'd never thought about it before. Gosh, I love that man. He is my very favorite thing about my life.

Here we have our fine, prison-cell-esque bathroom facility, which almost made me cry when I saw it. No picture I can take can possibly relate the smallness, dinginess, or overall repulsion of this little room of horror. To its credit there is a medicine cabinet which has exactly four rusty spots I try to avoid putting my belongings too close to. For a while there our shower curtain was being held in place with three hair clips, actually, because we couldn't find our curtain rings. I'm glad that's over because the curtain almost didn't come all the way down to the tub that way and water would get all over the floor. :) I keep my blow dryer, gel, etc. in a drawer out in the hall, which I'm getting used to. Although, with it being so hot I cringe at the thought of blowing more hot air on myself so mostly I twist my wet hair back in a clip and walk out the door ... which I also did on my mission. Now that I'm writing this it occurs to me that the bulk of my resentment might be that I have not ever lived in these conditions except on my mission. That was always fine with me because it was Italy, where things are a little backward and slow, and expectations are lowered in a self-preservation-type way. But this is AMERICA, for goodness' sake! I'm so grateful for this time, and for our lowly apartment because I had no idea how spoiled I was until I felt how much my whole soul rebelled at the idea of living in less-than-ideal conditions. I'm getting better.

Oh, but don't worry, my books and my scrapbooking supplies are taken care of already. :) They are always the first things I pack, and the first things I unpack. I jokingly refer to them as my idols, but it's almost sad how close that is to being true. I'm reading Northanger Abby again for my online English class and I'd almost forgotten how it felt to enjoy reading. I sit on our comfy bed (we splurged and bought a new mattress for $300) and read, and I just LOVE it!! I've just been so busy since we got married that I haven't made time for reading great fiction like I used to. Granted, it's for a class, but I'm still loving it. Maybe the independent study aspect of it appeals to me.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'll try to get pictures of our apartment when we're done unpacking. All our chaos is isolated in the back bedroom right now, but we'll get that taken care of soon. I'll sleep better when it's all organized and nice-looking. Oh, and when Autumn comes and our apartment drops 30 degrees. :)

Thoughts on a Saturday at 5:00am

WHY is Shelli awake at this unreasonable hour?
I am sick. Of course, because this is a terrible time for that. I spent the last 5 hours trying to sleep, succeeding here and there, until I was too miserable to even try anymore. So I'm up, working on my websites and counting down the hours before my exhausted and over-worked husband wakes up and can just hold me. Eldon is like soothing balm to distressed Shelli-heart, I think. I don't know what I would do without him. Yes I do. I'd cry a lot more.
Cinder Block Walls, Oh My...
Nothing reminds me of dorm living so immediately and overwhelmingly as cinder block walls. We began moving our belongings into our new apartment last night and I almost cried. Cinder block. Everywhere. I have been thinking all night how I can cover those walls with something less offensive to the eye. Do you think that fake wallpaper that you just peel off could work? Maybe if I bought cheap fabric I could line the end with backward duct tape and then somehow attach that to the wall and hang vertical fabric strips. Or maybe they would let us paint. (Yeah right.) Or maybe I could ignore it. Or maybe I could move away. :) I don't know what we're going to do, but I"m going to take before shots of this place and then go to work making it look like a non-prison-cell-ish residence. We still have gift cards to Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, and Target, and I'm sure between the three of those establishments we can create something presentable. I hope so ... a year is a long time.
Funny Eldon Story
I heard a story the other day that had me laughing so hard I felt like a sinner. When Eldon was in high school his family was helping paint a house after a family reunion. Eldon was on the ground, his cousin was on a ladder with paint. Eldon wasn't enthused about his assignment to begin with, but then something happened and the ladder tipped, spilling paint all over him, from head to toe. (First I spelled toe "tow" and had to delete it. I'm tired.) His cousin who was telling us the story while we were at Craig and Savannah's place said he thought for sure he was about to hear Eldon's first expletive. But actually what Eldon chose to exclaim was, "Aw...Brotherly kindness!!" If you know my husband, that probably sounds so endearingly accurate that you just die laughing. I almost did. Eldon thinks it's a euphemism when I tell him something he does is endearing, but it isn't. I mean it! I just think he is the most adorable, good-hearted man on this planet. And although I have adopted the phrase "brotherly kindness" in a somewhat mocking way, I mean it as a compliment. :)
SCRABBLE QUEEN - See header for visual.
I am an English major. Eldon is a Neuroscience major. I talk to people. Eldon wants to make them medicine someday. I love Scrabble. Eldon loses at Scrabble. I tend to win by at least a 100 point margin every time. Not that he isn't good at it, but just because I'm WAY better. If there were Scrabble Olympics, I'm pretty sure Camilla and I would be team USA. Eldon will tell you that he beat me once, but it was only due to an interruption that made us quit the game before it ended AND Eldon had had one more turn than I had ... and we hadn't been playing very long. Don't let him fool you! :) Plus I think I remember drawing a lot of strange consonants like W, K and V, during those first couple rounds, but I can't be certain. All I know is that it wasn't a true victory. I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I saw a deluxe Scrabble board that has grooves for the letters and that spins around for the players' convenience. What an inspired manufacturer. Someday it will be mine. :)
My Websites!
I know I've mentioned my job before, which Bryce thinks I do to show off but really it's more like I'm reminding myself that this is what I'm using my English degree to do for some reason. I don't think it sounds as impressive as I think he thinks I think it does. :) I'm in the process of designing and building two sites, an affiliate site and a dropshipping site. In an effort to further motivate myself I will give you the URLs and you can peek every now and then if you want. If they look too much like scrapbook pages I apologize. It's a habit.
www.preemiemine.com
www.biblesisters.com (not linked to the domain yet, but soon will be)
Bryce and Haley
For those of you who don't know, my little brother is getting married this summer! I know, it's amazing that he's old enough to do that. Haley is a darling girl who I just adore. By far my favorite of all his girlfriends, which is saying something because I've liked them all. She is a tiny, adorable, talented school teacher who thinks she's the luckiest girl on the planet. I'm glad she knows. :) They came over last night to drop off the things I'd asked Bryce to bring me from home (mostly books, but also pictures and my yarn to finish the afghan I'm crocheting). It was so good to see him! He flew out from California this weekend to surprise Haley which I just think is the cutest thing. They are so happy.
In fact, we spent the Saturday before Memorial Day with her and her family four-wheeling in Eureka, Utah. Have you ever been there? It's like stepping into the early 1900s. Everything is rusty storefronts to abandoned stores, dusty roads, broken windows and no human life. :) It's quite a place. Excellent for four-wheeling, though. We had so much fun. I only went to meet Haley's family and get to know her better, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. She has a great family. Actually, the Scrabble picture was taken at their little cottage up there. :) I won. Here are some more pictures:



Camilla's Survey
Normally I erase these kinds of things from my inbox when I get them, but because this one came from her I will oblige:
1. Did you date someone from your school? No. Wait ... no.

2. What kind of car did you drive? A Mazda Protege affectionately named "Suzie".

3. It's Friday night...where are you? With people I care about.

4. Were you a party animal? That question made me laugh.

5. Were you considered a flirt? You know, Camilla told me once that I flirted with everyone, including girls. :) I just thought I was being friendly. It irritated me when guys read too much into that.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in choir.

7. Were you a nerd? Absolutely.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? No, though I lettered in Choir. :)

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? For the love...

10. Can you sing the fight song? What fight song?

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. Guthrie, Mr. Kahl, and Mrs. Bordett.
12. Where did you sit during lunch? On the left side of the quad, I guess.

13.What was your school's full name? Concord High School

14. School mascot? The Minutemen ... I know, it's so embarrassing.

15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Yes, once with Kiel and once with Mike.

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No. Even then I was ready to move on.

17.What do you remember most about graduation? Singing solo on that sound system!

18. Where did you go senior skip day? Was there just one?

19 Were you in any clubs? Other than homework, choir, work, and volunteering, I didn't make time for very much else. I wanted alone time more than extra extracurricular activities.

20. Have you gained some weight since then? Nope. :) That's a lie.

21. Who was your prom date? Nathan Plumey, my first hero, came back from university to take me. I turned 16 after he graduated, so we could never go together before that.

22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I don't think it will be enough of a priority at that season of my life. Maybe I'll go if I'm already in Concord for some reason.

This, my dear Reader, is the end of my nonsensical blog update. Thank you for keeping my little sick self company for a while.

We're moving!

YMount here we come!!!

I have to tell you, moving is a terrible business. Eldon hates it as much (or maybe more) as I do. Actually, one of our first marital compromises (other than the fact that I am never allowed to have a pet as a consequence of my husband's animosity toward anything non-human that breathes ... except for plants) was that I would not open or use almost any of our wedding gifts (bedding, dishes, appliances, etc) since we'd just have to pack them up again in five months anyway. I'm being serious. You laugh, but it's true. He just cracks me up. I did, however, win the Shelli-wants-to-take-down-the-horrendous-plastic-palm-tree- shower-curtain-Eldon-used-before-she-moved-in-and-use-the-pretty-one-we-got-for-our- wedding debate. He's good to me. :)

Anyway, back to moving. I shouldn't say I hate it, because I kind of enjoy the organization opportunity. It's just hard to find time to do it. So I have been packing at night when I get home from work (reference previous blog that outlines my schedule) and I do it by myself. Not because Eldon won't help me, but because I'm such a ridiculous perfectionist that I cannot bear to watch him do it! Between his enmity toward the project and our lack of remaining hours to make this happen, he has a tendency to attack our belongings with a flurried fury of apathy. And I cannot bear to have our things packed less than neatly, so I do it by myself. :) I am a glutton for punishment, I suppose. Eldon packed his own things (which took him all of 20 minutes and six mostly-unpacked-anyway boxes--note above paragraph) and I pack my things and our things. It's pretty funny, acutally. I'll be slaving away in the back bedroom, organizing and de-cluttering (which is a nice way of saying throwing LOTS of things away), and he'll come in from the room he was reading his book in and ask, "Can we be done with this for the night?" I laugh, because I'm a patient woman, and let him lead me from the mess I was making and fixing. He's right ... I am making this way more complicated than it needs to be! :)

On an optimistic note, when we finally get into our new place it's going to feel like a whole new life! I'm going to have new EVERYTHING!! :) I'll get to use those beautiful dishes we registered for, and the bedding, and the curtains, and the wall decor, and the appliances (oh, the APPLIANCES), and every other thing I've been anxiously awaiting even though I owned it. I can't wait. :)

On a less optimistic note, I just KNOW the Lord is going to call us to the Primary again. I have gone to Gospel Doctrine with my husband a total of ONE TIME during our entire marriage, and it doesn't seem enough to me. Wait, you might say, haven't you been released for two weeks? Hmm, funny you should ask, dear Reader. We have been released for two weeks, but last Saturday I got a phone call from someone in the ward that went like this:
"Hi, Shelli? This is ________ from the ward." (I like her, so I'll leave her anonymous)
"Hi, _________, how are you?"
"Great. Hey I was just wondering. __________ (husband) and I are going to be out of town tomorrow and we need someone to sub for us in the Nursery. Didn't you just get released from Primary?"
"___________________" (That's for my thoughts, which will also remain anonymous)
"Yeah ... we did."
"Great. Would you mind subbing for us tomorrow? They're really cute kids. There's a folder in the closet with the manilla envelope with the animal pictures they like to hold while we sing 'Old McDonald' as a class. Then you should find the pictures of the temples we use during 'I Love to See the Temple'. They might ask about the puppets we always use, and if they do you can find those..."
You get the picture.
The natural woman in me was not overly enthused about this assignment, but Eldon, who wears the halo at our house, was actually excited about it. It wasn't so bad, but I kept daydreaming of adult conversations about faith while I rebuttoned dresses, broke up fights over toys and tried to ignore the prominent smell of poop. It was a long two hours. My Grandpa Lowder used to say Nursery was a cesspool of disease. I have a new opinion about that.
Anyway, my point is that I'm excited to move despite the fact that the Lord is going to call me to some kind of unpleasant calling in our next ward. I'm trying to gird up my loins for that. Publicly, apparently. :) According to my manager (also a YMount resident), at YMount there are babies everywhere!!! I'm sure they need some extra Nursery Leaders. :)

Wait... is it JUNE?

I have been mercilessly harassed for my pitiful efforts to keep our blog updated. I promise to be better in the future, but for now here are a few of our favorite moments in the last two months...

We have been serving as Primary Teachers for the last six months and while it's difficult at times we have a lot of funny moments with our kids. One of the Sundays we still laugh about is our lesson on the Holy Ghost. We tried so diligently to make sure the kids understood that the Holy Ghost was just a man without a body, and we thought we were doing well. But then, after our bathroom break, I was sitting in our classroom with one of our boys waiting for everyone else to get back. He looked at me and very quietly and seriously said, "Sister Snyder, I had a scary Holy Ghost in my dream last night." What?? "You did?" I responded. He nodded, and as I fought back my laughter I tried to reassure him that the Holy Ghost wasn't really a ghost. When the class got back we went over that principle again, grateful for the realization that they might not have gotten it yet. At the end of the lesson we always have them draw pictures and to our surprise every single picture of the Holy Ghost looked like a sheet with holes for the eyes! Oh my goodness, we couldn't believe it! One of the kids even drew long curly hair on the ghost, handed it to me and said, "This is the Holy Ghost's wife!" Eldon and I threw up our hands in defeat that afternoon. What can you do? :)


Eldon has started his Pharm Tech program in Orem and from what I can tell really likes it. :) The schedule is hard for us, because he drops me off at work in the morning, goes to class, and comes back to get me about 12 hours later. I only work 8 hour days, but I keep myself busy with online courses and other projects. We fall asleep exhausted, and then wake up early to start all over again. It's not ideal, but we figure we can handle it for two months until his program ends. He really is my hero for working so hard and getting such great grades. He has tests all this week and next week, but he saves evenings just to talk with me. We keep each other sane. :) I can't believe we've been married for almost six months! It's almost hard to remember what home was like before Eldon became the heart of it. What a blessing he is to me...

On another happy note, I got a raise after a month at my new job, which is exciting. I'm a consultant for an online marketing firm, and I coach business owners on how to design, build, and market their websites. It's exciting to be learning so many new things, but it's a little stressful as well. I have almost 50 clients and keeping track of all of them and making sure they're all happy and progressing is a lot of work. But I enjoy the interaction.

All in all we're doing great. I'll put another post on here in the near future. :) Love ya!!