2014

Better late than never... but here's the traditional year in review post...

In 2013 I had a good year. Let's list some of the things that I did...

January: I visited 4 different temples in 1 month (SLC, Mt Timp, Provo, Oquirrh Mt)
February: I absolutely despise Valentines day but a good friend of mine Heart Attacked my desk at wok just because she wanted me to know that someone cares.
March: Made a lovely spring wreath
April: Stressed out a lot because of things that are outside of my control...
May: Visited NYC for the first time
June: Not a very exciting month....
July: Went tubing on the Provo river for the 4th of July
August: Moved into my first apartment by myself (no roommates)
September: Made a color wall with paint samples in my apartment
October: Started a new position at work
November: Little brother came home from the mission
December: Revisited my Childhood by going through stuff I had in storage including 2 time capsules. One of which tells me that I should be married by February 2014...I need to get on that.

Over the last few months I decided that I wanted to make a major change. I made a huge life decision. I've decided that I'm going to buy my first home this year. That's a scary yet exciting thought at the same time. I'm done living in tiny, cramped apartments and paying rent into someone else's pocket. I finished filling out a quick qualifier application so I found out how much of a loan I can qualify for and I'm working with a Realtor so that I can start looking at houses in the next little while. eek. That's my big goal of the year. To buy a house.

Birthday!!

I'm old. I turned 26 this year. That's a weird statement to make. Oh well. One of my brother's insists that I'm a menace to society because I'm over 25 and unmarried. I say: who cares?

I had a good birthday overall. My awesome team took me out to lunch at Red Robin:

I had a nice chat with Mom, Dad, and the best sister in law ever! (Love ya, Nicole) and went out to dinner with some of the best friends in the world. But because I'm a slacker... I didn't take any pictures at dinner. The older that I get the more I realize that birthdays aren't as big a deal as you get older. But it's always nice to have an excuse to go out to eat with good company. 

Birthday presents!!

Birthday card from the missionary brother

Holidays

A perk about working with training is that I don't have to work Holidays anymore. That is really cool. No more weekends either. I don't really mind having to work either but it's been kinda nice the last few months not having to do either.

I went to California for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The little brother got home fro his mission on Thanksgiving day. If you ask my mom, she will tell you it was the best and worst Thanksgiving she has ever had. Let me explain....originally Jimmy was supposed to get into LAX around 10 am. But because of mechanical problems with the plane he didn't get into LAX until after 2 pm and with an hour to go through Customs made for a very long day. By the time we got the message about the change in flight times we were already half way to the airport so it didn't make sense to turn around and go home. By the time we got home, it was after 8 pm. Latest Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had that's for sure.

Christmas was good. Nice and warm 60 degree weather. It was a little weird not having any little kiddos around. Christmas just isn't the same without little ones. It made me miss my niece and nephew a whole lot. I spent a lot of time with my brothers and sister, went through all of the stuff stored at my parents house so thy don't have to move as much next summer, and it was nice to skype with the missionary brother on Christmas day. 

And mom got an iPad... 

It was the last Christmas that I will spend in the place that I did most of my growing up. A little bittersweet. But I'm excited to have my parents a little closer so I won't have to go 6 months between visits. I'm planning on making one more trip to CA before they move for my sister's college graduation in June. 

New Job?

Back in August or September (not sure if I blogged about this or not...) I applied and interviewed for a promotion which I didn't get. Let's just say that I was more than a little heart broken but there was nothing to do about except pick myself back up and move forward. So that's what I did. I spent some time in tears and for a while it was difficult for me to interact with the people that got the job instead of me. One of the things that got me through that time is someone that I consider one of the best friends I've ever had. He's a great guy and is always there when/if I need someone to talk to.

Eventually I came to the understanding and realization that the job I had interviewed for wasn't something I was up to. Yet. Maybe one day but right now is not that day. A few months down the road (in October) another opportunity was presented to me and I understood why the other job opportunity had exactly worked out for me. I didn't have an official interview per-say but I had several conversations with my manager and a few lead supervisors that were making a few decisions/changes on the third week of our training program (Nesting) for the department that I work in. Nesting wasn't being run or wasn't as effective as it needed to be and the powers that be wanted to but someone in charge that could "fix" things. The decision came down to me and another supervisor (one of my good friends).

It came down my director telling my manager that I was the one that needed to be hired for the job because I'm good at "fixing" things. That's kinda cool. So I got a new position and a raise towards the end of last year. It's been awesome and I've loved getting to change things up and make things better for the new hires that come through our training program. At least I hope that I'm making a difference. I love my job and I hope that things keep improving this year.

Blog Hiatus

Wow... Long time with no post. I should try to be better at this whole blogging thing so that my "avid" readers can stay updated on my oh so fascinating life.  Just kidding. But really. I'm going to try and be better this year. I'll try to catch up my life from the last few months in a few posts. Maybe. We'll see.