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.