Saturday, May 30, 2009

A Picnic in the Park

Rick happened to have Friday off this week. It coincided with my last weekday of not working. We decided to enjoy the time together and be out of the house. We ran some errands, had some work done on his car and went for a picnic in the park.
Check this out, it was Rick's idea for the picnic. He wanted to break in the picnic quilt I made over the winter. We bought Quizno's and headed to the park. There was no one around, other than some guy walking laps around the park. We were able to listen to the babble of the fountain there along with the wind and birds.
Unfortunately, I left my camera plugged into my computer the night before so I wasn't able to take many photos.
We did have such a wonderful time though being outside enjoying nature and each other's company.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Memorial Day Weekend

I love Memorial Day. I always have. I grew up within a few blocks of the Salt Lake Cemetery. Every Memorial Day we went and visited the graves of my great-grandma and my aunt. (My aunt was hit by a car 3 days before my mom turned 14.) Now we have my grandparents right there and so many other relatives I know about including Rick's grandparents.Cemeteries have never been creepy or anything like that for me because of that. In fact, I really like them. I have all sorts of photos of cemeteries in New Orleans and England. I have dragged Rick all over the Salt Lake Valley taking photos of headstones. And one of my favorite places in all of Park City is an old cemetery that is tucked away next to the ski resort.

I feel bad living in apartment and not having flowers I can pick to take to the cemetery for Memorial Day. I miss going out into the yard and picking handfuls of lilies of the valley or cutting snowballs from the trees to put on my family's graves.
I do love thinking of all of the stories I know about these ancestors. All of the trials and suffering they went through for me. I like even more the stories that make me laugh. That show me how real these people were, not just names and dates.
Not only do I like the cemetery and thinking of ancestors, let us not forget the most important part:


Memorial day is the opening of our swimming pool! W00T!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

A New Job


As of today I am employed, even though I don't start for another week. I am really excited about this new opportunity. It is a with a company that creates products to help monitor internet usage and block out porn. I am excited to be working for a company that I believe has such a worthwhile purpose. It is only 20 minutes from our home and hopefully we will eventually move into a home and I may end up being even closer to work as it is fairly centrally located.
This also means we get to move forward with the adoption process. Ever since we decided to adopt I have felt a very strong push to really look for the right job. And here it is!

So here's to new beginnings!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Old Boyfriends

When I was going to USU back in 2001 I had a boyfriend named Matt. Matt actually lived in Salt Lake. We met each other every Wednesday night in Layton for dinner and then on the weekends I came home. I pretty much lived at his house other than for sleeping, and even then I did a lot of sleeping there too. We got along alright but Matt was headed towards marriage and I knew that if I married him for eternity, I would have to kill him. He was a nice guy but he was an engineer. I am sorry but I could not live with an engineer. (Trust me, I dated enough of them, my uncle is one....yeah, not my cup of tea or water as the case may be.) So eventually we broke up. It took some time as he didn't want to let me pull the band aid off quickly. We did become really good friends at one point. Seriously, we even got so we could hang out. Sometimes making out, sometimes not.
SO....
Matt ended up marrying and buying a house right near my mom. I have run in to him a few times at the grocery store. All before I was married. One time though, Rick and I were there and did see him. He didn't see me and I just laughed to my self thinking...oh crap I could have had that?!? Thank you, NO! Rick asked me...you dated him?!? Yeah... Guess I needed to get out of the house.
I was at the same grocery store Friday getting stuff for Marissa. As I pulled into the parking lot I thought, hmmm I wonder who I am going to see today. Maybe I will get lucky and see Matt.
As I was getting ready to check out, in the distance I saw a guy who looked familiar with his wife. Hot diggitie! It was Matt! So of course I went over to say hi.
I had never met his wife, only heard about her from him back during their first year of marriage about 3 or 4 years ago. I said hi and asked how he was. I don't think I have ever seen someone looked so shocked in my life. It was AWESOME! Seriously, his mouth was hanging open. He did say, "I thought you looked familiar." He seemed to be off in his own little world...nothing new there...so I introduced myself to his wife as a friend from a long time ago. I didn't want to make her feel too awkward. I asked how life was treating them, how many children they have now and blah blah blah. Then as I was about to leave, I turned to her and told her what beautiful eyes she had. (I really meant it to!) But I knew that would so irritate him that I felt comfortable enough to say something like that.
Now you might not find this all that funny. Rick didn't appreciate it like I would have liked but he had already made fun of him with me last time we saw him. But man I sure got a kick out of the shocked expression on his face. It truly was priceless and it also reminded me, NEVER leave home without a bra, real clothing and make up. You just never know who you will run into.

(I am sorry but I didn't have a digital camera back then and I don't think I ever took a photo of him.)

Friday, May 1, 2009

Twilight - Rick's Thoughts


Rick bought me Twilight for my birthday. Since then we have watched it twice together. Both times he wanted to watch it. (I have watched it one or two times besides the ones with him.) He also asked me to get the book from the library for him. He read it in 4 days. That is about how long it took me!

Rick calls me every night on his way home from work. It is a nice time to just chat with nothing else going on. It is a good time for him to decompress and get all he wants to about work out so by the time he gets home we don't have to deal with work and can just have time together. Last night he called me and right off the bat he wanted to talk Twilight. Here is generally how our conversation went:

Rick "So talking about the book versus the movie, (He assumed I knew what he was talking about even though it took me a moment.) I like to think of myself as Edward but not being a Vampire, but I like to think we have a good relationship like they do. Do you think they showed the passion and love they have for each other in the movie?"

Michele "No I really don't. And you know, when I read the book I thought of us as being Bella and Edward. But dood, you need the car."

Rick "So you really think we have passion like that?"

Michele "Yes I do. I think that we are both so deeply in love with each other."

Rick "I am glad cause I do too. It isn't just a I want to have sex with you love either."

Michele "You are right, it isn't lust but it is a deep passion. Unconditional love."

Rick "Yeah! So I need a new car, but I want it to have the shift paddles on the steering wheel. Think Volvo does that?"

Here is where the conversation went on to discuss cars and other things. We did discuss in the movie that Edward needs to show how much he loves Bella more. That there are a few scenes in the movie where he looks happy and like he wants to be with her and those are great.

The point is...I have such an awesome husband! He is totally a romantic. He is into the Twilight series as much as I am and he wants to make sure we have that type of passion between us, even if it is fictional and sometimes people don't think that it is real.

Let me tell you, passion like that is REAL and it is ALIVE between Rick and me!