Scam Artists

Alright, this post is going to be a rant on my least favorite thing in the whole world right now. Insurance. What a scam!

The guy who came up with insurance and then was able to sell it to millions of people must have been the greatest salesman who ever lived. I can just picture him now with his smarmy suit and smug look on his face....

Ok, you're going to give me a substantial ahem, small, amount of money. Let's say $200-300 a month. (Pocket change, really). Then, when you go to the doctor, you only pay him a small copay, let's say $20-30 every time you visit. We'll pay the rest! It really is a great deal, right? Right. So once you go to the doctor, you wait a month or so and you'll get a bill from the doctor saying that our company (Ben Dover Insurance Co.) wouldn't pay them. So then you'll call me and I'll say, "Oh, of course we can't pay them. You haven't met your deductible yet." Did I forget to mention that you have a $500 deductible that you have to pay before we'll pay anything? Isn't that a great deal? Well, then you'll finally pay the $500 of your deductible and you'll be square with us! If anything else goes wrong or happens, you're covered. Then your spouse will want to go to the doctor. You'll pay the copay and not worry a bit. A month later, you'll get a bill saying the insurance didn't cover it. Surprise! You're spouse has to pay a $500 copay too! Isn't this a great deal? I'm going to take your money, and then I'm not going to do anything for you. But, maybe, just maybe, if you're lucky, if you to have major surgery, or an extreme procedure, (which, let's face it, could never happen) and we decide we can cover it (which there's a good chance we can't) then you're $4000+ annual payment will pay for itself! Isn't this a great deal?

It is! I'll take it! Please, take my money!!

Boo earns to you, Insurance!

Feeling Nostalgic

Today I'm really missing:

My sisters

My niece and nephews

My brother in law Casey who's in the MTC and on his way to Norway

My friends with whom I had so many great, fun times

Lara, who is in Alaska. (I stole this picture from Facebook because I love it!)

This sweater

This one too

All of my jewelry.

And finally, Summer

I miss you all so very much. Hope to see you soon wherever you are.

Fall Fun

Ok, get ready for me to go ape with picture posting...

Fall has been so great so far! The weather has been beyond awesome. It's just barely starting to get below the mid 60's. There have been so many awesome activities and it's just been so much fun! First we had the fair, balloon fiesta and pumpkin patch, which we've already discussed.

Although, I didn't say that my sister and her family came in town for the Balloon fiesta and surprised us and we had so much fun together! So happy they came!

I went to Las Vegas on a business trip and decided to just fly the extra few miles to see my other sister and her family in California. This is me and Miss O, she had just lost her bottom 2 teeth. My mom and dad went up and it was a great trip! Much better than just plain Vegas.

We dressed up as the Scooby Doo gang with the Nuckols for Halloween and went to a fantastic ward party and trunk or treat. We also watched scary movies with our fun friends the Woods, but we didn't photograph ourselves watching Pet Sematary.

We went to my parents cabin and all the leaves were changing and it was amazing! There is a river and 3 ponds close by. The weather was just cold enough to feel like fall, but not too cold to make you want to sit inside and do warm things. (Although I am super glad I brought my Snuggie...best invention ever, I swear).

A few weeks ago we went up to the Crest to see more changing leaves. This is about how the trip went: 

Get in the car, decide where we want to go, drive 30 minutes up to the crest, get out of the car, take 3 pictures, get back in the car, drive 30 minutes back down to down, get home.

Pretty awesome plan/trip eh? Although it was quick and seemed somewhat pointless on the drive back, it was fun and the spots of yellow trees mixed in the middle of the evergreens was really pretty to look at. And I love to look at pretty things. 

I also went on a crazy baking spree and made pies, pumpkin whoopie pies, dozens and dozens of cookies, pecan pie bars and cake pops, for no reason at all. My office was well fed for fall. Trying to bulk these smart scientists up for winter!

And to finish off fall, we're headed to California for Thanksgiving. We're going to Disneyland, hang out with my family, eat more than any 13 people should ever eat, get some steals for Black Friday, celebrate my mom's 60th and have SO much fun! I'm so excited!!

Hope everyone is having a great fall!

Confessions

I've seen this on a few other blogs and I thought it was fun, so here are my confessions:

1. It still takes me a while to read a "real" clock. Why are these still around? Honestly, it's the digital age here people.

2. I still have to make an L with my left hand to be sure I'm thinking of the correct direction.

3. I hate going to the library. It smells like old books. Gross.

4. I look at your profile on Facebook every day. And then I go to your blog. And somehow I don't consider it creepy at all.

5. Every day that I do P90X I want to quit.

6. I love candy more than any person should.

7. I hate working out. Any form of it. Hate hate hate it.

8. I don't like operas. Or Oprah.

9. I really want to like coffee, even though it's against my religion and the taste is truly terrible to me. It just seems like something I would enjoy liking.

10. I set a goal of eating 5 fruits and/or vegetables everyday. I think it's only happened three times, ever.

11. I love to litter. Don't worry tree-huggers, I don't do it. Often.

12. I want to stop here, but 12 isn't divisible by 5, so I have to keep going.

13. It makes me really sad when people cancel plans on me. Even if they have a legit reason. So I try to never ever cancel plans unless there's absolutely no other way.

14. I don't like things in my ears and music gets on my nerves after a while. So my iPod app on my iPhone is in my "Garbage" folder of apps I need/have to keep, but never use.

15. I love cookbooks, but I never cook.


That's all for today. That was therapeutic. Maybe I'll do it again sometime.

Albuquerque in the Fall is Pretty Awesome

Well, I was a hater for a long time. Why? Because fall brings winter and let's face it, winter sucks. Being cold is the worst. You can't play outside, you can't wear cute summer clothes, you can't stop shivering, you can't go out without wearing a million pounds of clothes, you can't, you can't, you can't. So, that said, I always dread the start of fall because it means winter is coming. However...I've realized, fall is pretty awesome here in New Mexico. 

First we've got the State Fair. Where else can you have a deep fried Snickers covered in chocolate and powdered sugar?

After the fair, Dixon's Apple Orchard opens! Sure, it's an hour drive, but Champagne Apples are amazing and the apple cider is a celestial brew.

The weekend after Dixon's opens, you go straight into yet another bit of Fall awesomeness with McCall's Pumpkin Patch, where you can pick your own pumpkin, take a hay ride, play games and enjoy fall.

And the weekend of/after the pumpkin patch, the ultimate event of fall in Albuquerque is the Balloon Fiesta! It doesn't get better than the balloon fiesta. Waking up before the crack of dawn,
 

eating an insanely overpriced, not that great burrito, warming up by the flame of the balloon fire thing (I have no idea what that's called.), seeing amazing balloons and taking funny pictures. 

After the balloon fiesta you get Halloween! My favorite holiday! We're dressing up with our fun friends the Nuckols as the Scooby Doo Crew. Little K will be the cutest Scooby ever! I'll post pictures when the time comes. 

After Halloween, we've got Thanksgiving, eating amazing food with my amazing family, does it get any better than that? Wait, it does. We're going to Disneyland too!

Then after Thanksgiving, I can make one exception to the winter sucks rule, Christmas comes! But after that, it really just goes downhill until spring. 

So, in conclusion... 

Fall doesn't suck afterall.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I love my birthday! It's my favorite day of the year! This year it was on a Sunday so I extended it to the full weekend since we don't go out on Sundays. Lucky me!

I went shopping, got my nails done, took a nap, got lots of fantastic presents from everyone and had a fantastic weekend! I threw my own party and invited friends to have dessert at California Pizza Kitchen (so good!) and I'm so happy we got to celebrate together.

On Sunday morning after church I went over to my parent's house where we had the traditional birthday breakfast (at least for my birthday), Dunkin' Donuts and a Dr. Pepper. My dad lit the candles in general Ford fashion.

Then my mom made an amazing dinner (Chicken Divan and this amazing rice with sour cream, green chile and cheese) and we had some of the massive cake that Evan got me. It was supposed to feed 48 people. When you have slices the size of your hand though, it was just right! :)

It was such a fantastic birthday! Thanks everyone who celebrated with me, called me, texted me, Facebooked me, sent me presents, gave me presents, and made my birthday awesome! Love you guys!

Mmm...Happiness!

One of my favorite things is to put on Burt's Bee's Chapstick and then eat an Oreo. It's like a chocolate mint dream. I highly recommend trying it sometime.

Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Look at the eyelashes on this kid!

Anyway, it's my nephew Jaxon's 5th birthday today. He's so much fun and he's so polite and great to be around. We got to spend about 3 weeks with him this past month and it was so much fun!

I hope he had a very happy birthday! We love you boog!

Zoo Passes

We got passes to the Albuquerque Zoo this year and we've already had so much fun! So, if you ever want to go to the zoo, call us! We want to go too!

We were so close to this peacock. I'm scared of birds, so this was stressful for me.

This elephant was so cute! He was playing in the water taking a break from the heat.

The polar bears always make us think they're going to do something fun so we end up waiting forever and never see anything besides them pacing back and forth. Maybe they're worried about something. Ruining their hair in the pool after spending so much time sitting just right in the sun to make it dry in the perfect polar bear 'do? I think that must be it.

Cake Decorating Class

I'm taking a cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby with my fun friend Theresa. I'm quickly finding that "Cake Decorating Class" means "we're going to take all of your money because you need more stuff!" in Hobby Lobby language. But I need it for class right? And I'm going to make cakes for every occasion now, right? Right.

Anyway, it's so much fun and I'm so excited to get to the fondant class! This is my first cake. We were rushed to put the decoration on, and it was really hot, so the icing was super runny, so it could have looked a lot better, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Shane Wallin Show

Last night we went with our friend Theresa to see her husband Nate Nuckols play bass with Shane Wallin at Doc n Eddy's. It was such a great show and we had so much fun! The band was awesome. They'll be at the same place for the next two Mondays. If you have time, you should go check them out!

Great show guys!

Sweet Spirit Cupcakes

I tried. 

I tried really hard.

I wanted to make cute cupcakes that everyone would be jealous of.

But they came out as what I like to call "Sweet Spirit Cupcakes". 

Not such a great exterior, 

but it's sure got a sweet inside and it tastes awesome!

Happy 4th of July!

Eclipse Midnight Showing

We went to see Eclipse at the midnight showing last night and it was so much fun! My sister Kellie came into town on Monday and she was able to come with us! It was so exciting! So, my mom and my sister got there early and Evan and I met them there and the lines were crazy! I'm always amazed at how many people stay up past my bedtime. I mean, who goes to bed after 10?

We finally got in and watched Jacob bare his wolfy chest for 2 hours. The movie was so good! It was definitely my favorite out of all of them. They included everything they needed to from the book and didn't miss anything. Of course, this is coming from the girl who JUST read the 7th Harry Potter and couldn't remember anything that happened in it while watching the previews for it. I'm excited for that one too by the way. Maybe we have another midnight showing in our future. :)

After all the fun was done we finally got to bed around 3:30 am and I have to be to work by 6:00am. You'd think I would have just stayed awake, I mean, what's an hour and a half of sleep going to do except make me sad that I had to wake up? Well, at 6:30am I looked at the clock and thought, "That 5 looks really weird on that clock. 6:30? What does 6:30 mean to me? 6:30?!? 6:30 means I'm at work by now!" So I looked over and Evan was still asleep too. Shoot! What happened to our alarms?? So we got ready super fast and left. Luckily, Evan has school later than I go to work, so he made it on time, but I was an hour late. Oops! Thank goodness for vacation time!

LOST - Finally Done!

We finally finished Lost! We watched all 6 seasons in the past few months and we were finally able to watch the finale yesterday. It's good to have life back. ;)

iPhones

Well, the wait is over. We've had such crappy phones for so long and Evan has made me wait to upgrade for months and months, just in case they came out with a new iPhone. Finally! They did! We pre-ordered ours last week and they should be in sometime this week! Yay!

California!

We went to California to visit my sister, Kellie and her family in Corona, near LA. My other sister Sarah and her little ones came for the weekend too and we had SO much fun! We went to Disneyland, we got stuck in traffic (a gas truck blew up and got in the way of our plans), did LOTS of shopping, got super duper close to the Hollywood sign because Evan got some awesome directions, and we ate a lot of great food (candy counts as great food right?). 

Here are the pictures!

This castle was so disappointing, nothing is in there. Shouldn't there be princesses in there?

I had never been on the teacups, but Evan couldn't handle them, so I guess I'll have to wait even longer. 

We also went to the beach and saw the tide pools.

We were all kind of amazed when Sev touched something icky. 

We went all the way up into the Hollywood hills and got super close to the sign.

It was such a fun weekend! Thank you Kellie, Rich and Jaxon. Sarah, Liv and Sev too for driving down to see us. We love you guys so much!!

We're Going to Disneyland!!

We'll see you next week Mickey!

Don't Tell Us What We Can't Do

Ok. We made fun of Jake Thomas for watching Passions meets Survivor. Who watches a magical island survival soap opera?

We do.

We're totally hooked! We watched 6 episodes yesterday, and I can't wait to get home and watch more! We're on Season 3 now and we'll probably finish just in time so we don't have to wait for a new one every week. We can just wait for Season 6 to come out on DVD!

Oh! And we bought a new camera! We have an awesome DSLR camera that we LOVE, but it's a bit hard to carry around when you just want to take some quick pictures, so we bought a compact camera and we love it! It has a dual LCD screen, so you can see yourself when you take pictures of yourself. When you're a couple who doesn't have a photographer following you around, this is awesome! AND, when you take a "couple" picture, it automatically takes the picture when you tilt your heads together! Sweet! I could really go on and on about all the features I love, but I won't. Hopefully I'll be posting pictures from this camera soon. We're going to LA next week, so maybe a Disneyland post will be in order!

Donuts!

Well it is Administrative Professionals Day today and at Sandia they take that seriously. And to celebrate, they bring in donuts. And more donuts. And then some more donuts. I had no idea that this was the tradition, so I brought in donuts to celebrate my Q clearance, so now I have 3 dozen sitting on my desk, 3 dozen on the desk next to me and a dozen on the other assistant's desk. And another dozen just came in. We're being flooded with donuts! If I had to be flooded with anything, it would be donuts though, so it's a happy day! On top of the donuts we have chocolate covered strawberries, cases of Diet Coke (they know us so well ;)) and candy. Apparently appreciation for OAA's means bringing in food. I love it when people think like me!

Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

Glee

I Love Glee!

Ok, everyone told me I would love it. And for some reason, when people tell me that, it makes me never want to watch whatever it is that I will supposedly love. Like The Office, everyone said it would be right up my alley. For some reason, I decided to avoid that alley for 2 years (I'm not a risk taker, alleys are dangerous), but now The Office is my favorite. Well, Glee is the same. Evan got me the first disc and we've watched all of Season 1 in a week. I love it! But an unfortunate side effect of that is having Beyonce songs stuck in my head all day everyday. And when I finally get them out of my head, Evan starts singing them because they're in his head too.

I'm so excited for next week! Season 2 starts and we'll be all caught up! I love that! Also, I'm going to Idaho next week, so that'll be fun too. Although, I might not be able to see the sights of Coeur d'Alene because I'll be holed up in my (awesome) hotel (in my luxury robe) watching TV (on my soft sheets and down comforter, eating mints that were left on  my pillow) because not only am I addicted to Glee, but I'm also addicted to American Idol.

I am a TV junkee. What's next? Makeover shows and the cooking channel? I better go, I think one of my shows is on.