Finally in DC!

Well after 3 ridiculously long days spent in the car, and one long awaited visit to Donatos Pizza Chase and I arrived in Richmond Va. Things started off a little rocky...We did not get our offer letter until almost 3 weeks after arriving. For a minute we almost thought we would have to pack up and head back home. But now here we are half way through October settled into our Apartment in Washington DC. We lucked out when it came to housing. We are sub-letting from the University of Utah, so rent is still ridiculously high but it is at least not a whole in the wall! (see pictures below) Although we do kinda live in the ghetto and we tend to almost always be the only white ppl around! But what the heck we're here and life is good.




Chase is working for Jacobs engineering doing something that requires him to sit at a computer working with big numbers and excel. But he seems to like it and he works in the building next to the White House cool huh!!! As for me, well my job took forever to kick in, but I have been baby sitting for some families to occupy my time. I have my first health screening event tomorrow and I am excited!
It's nice to be able to be on the east coast again! I have missed my trees!!!!!!!! We have been able to go down to Richmond a couple time to see that family and that has been nice! I even got to take the train down for Souper Thursday!! I made blocks! Cheesy but it was so much fun. Hopefully more updates to come!

Moving

Big news! We are moving to Washington DC at the end of this month!! Chase got and internship with Jacobs engineering for the fall. We are totally stoked. More to come!

New Job!!

So I finally got a job!! I am so excited, no more sitting at home all day everyday. I am now working as a phlebotomist at the Bio-mat Plasma Center in Rexburg. So far everything is going awesome. I started sticking people last Wednesday and have found that I really like it and I'm actually pretty good at it. One of the trainers thought I had been a phlebotomist before. Most people would think that maybe the sight of blood or sticking people would make me pass out, but nope not that, its the Freezers at work that make me pass out!!!
So my first day out on the donor floor I get there bright and early at 6:30am. Since we had no donors and I am pretty much useless anyways they asked me to go help pull shipment in the freezers. Of course I say yes. Now there freezers are not normal walk in freezers they are a whopping -31 and -42 degrees!! That is insane. So I suit up in some cover alls and go in. Since I'm the only girl they hand me the list of numbers to check off as they call them out. After about 15 minutes my hands feel like they are going to fall off and my face hurts from the cold, but I was feeling pretty good still. But after 20 minutes I knew something was wrong. I starting feeling a little light headed so I asked if I could go thaw out for a minute. I walk out and have to immediately sit down mostly because everything started to go black. I didn't want to seem like a pansy so I sat there for a minute then decided to go back in. But the moment I stood up I was a goner. The world when back and had I knew I had to lie down before I all out pass out. So I quietly went to the back room and laid on the floor. I didn't want to tell anyone because how embarrassing is it to pass out on your first day and from the cold! So I get up 2 minutes later walked to the break-room and start the process all over again. I blackout collapse to a chair until things come back. Then walk right back to the other room and had to lay down for 10 minutes!!!! All while trying to hide from everyone else. I finally decided its okay to get up even though I'm still white as a ghost and in a cold sweat. Luckily I didn't black out again, but felt sick for the next hour. So lesson learned avoid the freezer for longer then 10 minutes or else!
Since then they also have not asked me to go in the freezers again, so I'm starting to think I might not have been as inconspicuous as I thought the first time. Wish me luck if they do though!

How rude!

So the other day Chase and I are driving down main street on our way to Walmart. We stop at a the red light and I look over and see the top of the curly haired blonde kids heads. How cute is that! So naturally I turn to chase and point it out to him. Then he points out the mom driving the car who is now "mean mugging" us. I smile and she flicks me off! What the heck. I complement her kids and she choices to tell me to F off. I was not laughing at the fact that she was driving in an old beat-up car that looked like it was about to die. Or the fact that she had nasty hair that was held up by a scrunchy, who still uses those! Or her nasty husband in the sleeveless shirt with a cigarette and a nasty mustache, not to mention the kids were so small the definitely needed to be in car seats! So I continued to smile and just assumed she had a low self esteem. What is it with people these days. I am never complimenting anyones kids again you never know next time they might try to hit me.

Isn't being done with college suppose to be wonderful?

So I am officially graduated. I received my diploma in the mail last week! At first if felt so wonderful to be completely done and to never have to worry about a test or homework ever again. To my dismay I found I actually miss school. I think by the time you start to appreciate your classes and your teachers you are suddenly walking across a stage in a ridiculous hat shaking the hands of teachers you've never met. I now understand why people attend grad school. I think it wouldn't be to bad if I had a job I loved, but seeing as I live in Idaho there isn't much in the way of jobs here. I did however take a phlebotomy class last week and that was way fun. After the initial first poke I felt much better about it. The only downfall to this was I had to be a guinea pig for everyone else. Not such a good feeling when you know you are the first person they have ever poked. I actually thought it was kinda fun, but now I have to try and get someone to hire me for 2 months (because hopefully we're moving somewhere for chase's internship).
So instead of working I am a bum. I get up early go to the gym (I started a great new workout, so great I can't walk the next day!!!!) Then come home and get ready the major downfall to this is I am up dressed and ready for the day by 11am and am bored for the next 6 hours until chase gets home. SO my house is ridiculously clean cause they is nothing else to do and I found out that I can vacuum my entire house from one electrical outlet. Yep it's that small! Also I now volunteer at my old job because I miss it so much :( Well that's about it for my life here in Rexburg! Hopefully something interesting will happen so I actually have something fun to talk about!

Boise, Cali, and now bored

So the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy! We went to Boise 3 weekends ago to watch Johnie (my sister-in-law) cheer in nationals. Unfortunately we did not actually get to watch her cheer, because the event was running almost 3 hours behind and we needed to drive back that night.
Then two weekends ago we went to California to see Cami!! This was so much fun! The drive was way long; we left Friday at 1pm and arrived at hour hotel at 2am in Cali. In order to keep ourselves occupied I had a list of random topics to talk about. The first being kids names seeing as we have never really discussed this in the 4 years we have known each other why not start now! This was a brilliant discussion because it kept us busy for all the way to Twin Falls (about 3hours). Turns out we agree on some but not so much on others... not that it really matters seeing as it will be a long time before we need them. But we did decide we like girl names with boy nick-names for example our favorite Charlotte and call her Charlie! (Kristan and Diane do not even think about stealing this I will kill you!) Then we met some interesting characters in Winnemucca Nevada, but had that most delicious mozzarella sticks ever. My mouth is watering thinking about it! Anyways so we did all the touristy things in San Francisco, including Pier 39, shopping, beach etc. It was so much fun! Sunday night Chase’s mission buddy and his wife came to visit and we played games and went to dinner. Yeah I know I’m a sinner, but so is Cami! I called to see what she was doing only to find her team had gone to California pizza kitchen, so I didn’t feel as bad. Monday we went to Cami’s game and sat in the rain watching. It was so much fun though! They won which made it even better. Then at 2pm we left for home, after getting our retarded speeding ticket in Jackpot Nevada we arrived home at 4am. Both of us had things to do at 8am so running off of 3 hours of sleep we ventured off to school and work. But all in all it was so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I am now officially done with my internship and am going to miss it so much! It has been the most amazing experience ever. Well that’s about all that has been happening. I am going to start the job search next week and am dreading every minute of it. Wish me luck!

VO2 max test....what was I thinking?

Sometimes I wonder if I think before I just say yes to some things. So as you know I work at the Wellness Center on campus. We perform different kinds of tests that help people know how fit they are. One of these is the Sub VO2 max test. This test is done to tell you how well your body utilizes the oxygen you breath to produce energy while you exercise. In our test we have someone get on the treadmill for about 9-12 minutes with normally no more than a 6 minute run if even that. We record their heart rate and the final speed put it into a ridiculously long equation that I always wonder who really has the time to come up with these things.

So now the point of my explanation, well as I was talking to one of the volunteers I found myself agreeing to have an actual VO2max test done. I figure I run a couple times a week and teach cycling 2 times a week how bad can it really be? Oh man am I an idiot! So I get to the room totally excited put on my heart rate monitor only to find I am a little nervous and my heart rate is already around 105. Normal heart rates at this point are in the 70's and 80's. Then they hand me the THING.
If you have ever seen this done it is the most awkward thing you could ever wear. You put on this head thing that shoves a tube down your throat, then they put a padded nose plug on you, all while your own drool is now dripping down your chin plus you can't talk so you just make noises that no one understands. Beautiful right? So before I even begin they stab me! What! Since when are you taking my blood. So now I begin running. I start at a 5.2 not to bad and every two minutes they take a sample of my blood and increase my incline. About 5 minutes in at a 5 percent grade I am regretting my decision. They attempt to encourage me and then tell me that I need to go until I reach lactic threshold then at that point I can up my speed and just go for it. Up my speed what the crap are you talking about I am about to die. Which I learn later is the point of the test. They technically want you to go until you basically fly of the back of the treadmill while skinning you knees on the way down! So I reach 9 minutes and my life sucks! I can hardly breath and I am choking on my own spit and no one can understand my plead for help! So at 12 minutes and a 7% grade I die, I physically could not go one more step. And then I find that my VO2max sucks! What a waste of the worst 12 minutes of my life! To make it worse I go back a second time not prepared almost pee my pants forgetting that it would be smart to do this before I start the test and go home commando from work! How embarrassing.

You jump I jump jack

So I finally broke down and decided to start our little family blog. I find it a little cliche but oh well why not just jump of the bridge with everyone else. Now that I am doing just fine swimming to the edge I figure I'll keep my mind off the cold and tell you about us. Chase and I have been married for...(counting on my fingers) a little over 7 months. We have known each other for over 4 years now and they have been some of the most amazing 4 years ever. Chase is currently a student in school and still has about 2 years left. I however am just finishing up my internship as the director of the BYU-Idaho Wellness Center and then I'm officially done!

I will find it a little sad when I leave my internship. It is pretty much the most amazing job, that if I could I would keep forever. I am the boss of 5 employees and 45 volunteers. I by far have the most amazing staff in the world. If I could pick any 5 people to always work with, they would be it. Pretty much the most ideal situation ever. You may ask what a Wellness Center does, well we make people well! Lol okay okay that actually means we are in the field of preventative medicine. To many people are well on their way to having Cardiovascular disease or eventually getting Type 2 Diabetes. These can pretty much be prevented! So I help people take the first step toward change. I help people begin exercise programs, nutrition programs, and changing the basics. Meaning yes you should park far away and elevators are a HUGE NO NO! Why not spend the extra few minutes and save a few years on your life. Well now that I have ranted a little about some of my pet peeves, I'll spear you the rest. On a side note though I do love helping these people. I love to see the smile one someones face when they hear they have lost 5lbs and these are real pounds not just water weight. Real veggie eating exercise trying pounds! The change in their countenance is amazing!

Well that is a little about me and not much about Chase, so maybe I'll add that next time. Heres to being part of the in crowd now!