A Beautiful Life

Sometimes I feel like I'm the richest person in the world.

• I'm loved, I love, and I'm madly in love. 
• I have best friends. They aren't just any type of best friends, they're my family. They know me and love me better than anyone in the whole wide world. 
• I married my best friend. He inspires me to be a better person. He loves me despite my obvious flaws. I missed him before I even met him. It's like my soul knew that I needed him and wouldn't stop searching until I found him.
• I'm a mother. I have a son. He makes my heart smile whenever he laughs. I love him!
• I was born into a family with phenomenal parents. I'm still in awe at how remarkable they both are. If I ever become half the women my mother is, I would feel fortunate. She is the most virtuous and kind person I have ever known. Her thoughtful altruism is her most beautiful attribute. My dad is a man of wisdom and strength. I've never met anyone with more unwavering diligence than my father. 
• I'm part of something indescribably wonderful -- the gospel. It's beautiful. It's peace. It's truth. Hands down, it is the reason why my life is so rich. I have direction, purpose, and confidence. And sometimes it feels like I have unlimited access to the most delicious caramel ever made. I will never be able to repay my parents for giving me the most beautiful gift.

Near-Death Experiences

I'm happy. I'm happy at the thought that there is a life after this one. My friend let me borrow a book called, "The Message" by Lance Richardson. It's about a man who has a near-death experience.

I absolutely love reading near-death experiences because they always affirm my beliefs about the next life! Always. I've been reading near-death experiences since I was 14. At one point I went to the public library and checked out as many "near-death" experience books that I could get my hands on. All of them, every single one, confirmed so many things that I already believed about where I go when I die.

Baby Time - Six More Weeks

The other day a friend made a comment about how great Sam is. She said something along the lines of, "There are some people in this world who you just can't help but enjoy their company." I, of course, couldn't agree more.

The longer I know Sam the more I love him. He makes me laugh so hard sometimes. I use to think he was the cheesiest person I knew, outside of an ex-boyfriend, and the longer I'm married to him the funnier I think he is -- cheesiness and all. He has one of those personalities that makes me want to be around him every second of the day. My favorite time of the week is the weekend because we spend pretty much the whole time together.

Of Course We Have Plans, But What Will Really Happen?

Our Great Plans and Normal Circumstances

It seems like Sam and I always have these great plans, but at the end of the day we end up in pretty normal circumstances. Example: Living in Utah working at pretty regular jobs.

What Our "Great" Plans Looks Like

This week Sam finally sent in his MBA application to BYU. Likelihood of him actually getting in is slim. I contacted my old mission president who is an associate dean at their business school and told him our situation. His response, " I believe his chances are not good." He proceeded to explain why his chances are not good and then said, "Sorry for the bad news." I totally respect him for being open and honest -- and there we have it, reality check from the top, literally. It would be a miracle if he made it in, which isn't stopping us from applying :).

With this reality, we've decided to have a plan B: move to the east coast, live in my parents basement apartment for a few months while Sam looks for foreign jobs, and of course works on the Saabs. I like this plan, minus the Saabs. I miss the east coast, and obviously our beloved family! The thought of being close to family, especially after having a cute little addition, makes me unable to express how I feel in words.

It seems like this east coast wish will never come true. For instance: Our plan originally was to only live in Utah for six months and then move back near family (that was two years ago). Still haven't left, and every time we are ready to leave and alluring reason to stay comes along:

1. Sam gets a job working as an assistant director (we never thought that would happen.) 
2. If you stay at the school for two years, you get to keep the money that the school puts into the 401k. (You bet we want to keep that money!)
3. We unexpectedly/expectedly got pregnant (Morning sickness is mean.)
4. His work has awesome health insurance (Babies are wicked expensive.)

Common sense and feeling it's right to stay has kept us here.

Cancun...

Sam and I took an excursion to Cancun, and it was awesome! My goal was to go out of the country at least one more time before we had a kid. We were cutting it close. I was 28 going on 29 weeks pregnant when we trekked down there.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort. And it was exactly what we needed. For the last 2 1/2 years the only vacations we have been on are to go see family or head to a wedding. It was so nice to be us. We were there from March 28 and came back on April 1. In a way we were able to celebrate four years of knowing each other and three years since our engagement. We met on March 21, 2009 and he proposed on April 2, 2010. Years later, we find ourselves in Mexico... time flies.

Anyway, back to the trip. We went to Chitzen itza. Loved it. Waddled around the whole place with my pregnant belly, but it was worth it in every way! I left there even more grateful for my religion. It's crazy how connected I can feel to so many civilizations.

Only picture we could get in front of the "calendar." We had camera issues. :(


Following our Chitzen Itza fun we went to a cenote. (Chantal I was so excited when we found out we were going. I thought of you.) We were able to swim in it!

Yikes! Not a Fan New Landlords.

Normally I don't have two post in a row, but I feel like my mind is spinning and need to get my thoughts out somewhere. And this isn't an optomistic post, so just ignore the title of this blog for today.

Seriously, New Landlords!?

I was paying a few bills this morning and realized that since we have a new landlord I need to find out where to send the next rent check. So, I tracked down my new landlord, being the good tenant that I try to be, and found out they are raising rent by 32 percent!! The overall cost really isn't that much, but considering I'm quiting my job soon to have this new little guy and they threw this our way, I'm perturbed. Really perturbed!

Our last landlord sold the house at a steal of a deal in hopes that they would keep the rent the same for us as tenants. These new landlords told me that they are raising the rent because it's expensive, and expect me to understand why they are raising it. Well Mr. New Landlord, what I understand is that you want to rip me off and kick me out. I called up my old landlord and told him what was going on. He's such an awesome guy. I could tell that he was annoyed with these guys considering he just gave them a sweet deal on this duplex in expectation that they would keep the rent the same.

Why I'm upset

Over the course of six months people have made offers on this place, and my old landlord turned them all down because he could tell that they wouldn't be fair new landlords and that they would raise the rent on us. So he waited until he found someone who he thought would be trustworthy. Guess he made a wrong call.

So, after talking to my old landlord this morning I found out that this new owner put our address as his contact info. What?! They definitely don't live here. Not sure what they are planning, other than to kick us out and move in, which my old landlord said that they were planning on doing after we eventually moved out. But who knows when we're moving out. There are no job opportunities that have randomly made there way to us, and grad school is not looking promising in any way shape or form. So, we'll probably have to bite the bullet and pay and extra $200 or so a month. I'm not a happy camper. And I'm not impressed at all with these new landlords!! Way to start off a relationship, random landlords that we only met once!

Foregin Service Timeline

Well it's been a few years and no luck yet on the Foreign Service front. In some ways I think that it might not be the right path for us partly because after three years of going for it, we have yet to make it in.

None the less, for fun, I decided to document our timeline so far for the Foreign Service Process:

2011

• Saturday, February 5, 2011 took FSOT
• Thursday, March 3, 2:52 p.m. Passed test
• Sent in Personal Narrative
• Monday, May 16, 11:03 a.m. Didn't pass Personal Narrative

2012

• Saturday, February 11, Took FSOT
• Thursday, March 1, 2:40 p.m. passed
• Sent in Personal Narrative
• Monday, May 21, 9:39 a.m. passed QEP/Personal Narrative
• Scheduled Oral Assesment
• Thursday, September 20, Took Oral Exam. Didn't pass.

2013

• Saturday, February 2, Took FSOT
• Thursday, February 28, 10:13 a.m. passed FSOT
• Sent in Personal Narrative
• Still waiting to find out if he passed. My guess is we'll find out around May 20, Sam's birthday.