2/30: Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

1. Clowns. 

My brother doesn't like them and when I was younger I wanted to copy everything he did 

so I think that's how it started. 

Today, it is a full fledged - I can't look at them/Do not let it talk to me/Do not let it look at me/Definitely do not let it touch me or I WILL start crying - fear. 

2. My husband or parents (or myself) getting alzheimer's. 

I can't explain how much the thought of this scares me. 

It would just hurt so bad to not be known/recognized by who you love the most. 

3. Anything creepy crawly that is FAST or can jump. 

Such as spiders and unidentifiable insects. 

I think it really became a fear after I was cleaning banana leaves off and next thing I knew I felt a BIG 

'ol banana spider [Google it! Imagine the biggest one you see being on your leg.] crawling up my leg. Or maybe after I stepped on a spider and a million [I'm not kidding, I really think there were a million] little babies went in every single direction. 

The thought of them crawling up my legs. Ew. 

Although if I am with someone who also fears these crawling creatures, 

I can woman up and be the one to catch/kill it. Grosses me out if it's crunchy though.

[the list]

1/30: 20 Random Things About You

1. I am a Mormon and think you should be one too. {wink wink}

[copied this answer because it's true about me too!]

2.  I start to feel some major anxiety if I don't make a list of all my to-dos on a busy day.

3. I would LOVE to be a detective/FBI agent. 

Obsessed with Veronica Mars.

{On this note, former roommate Karina would be a millionaire if she got paid every time 

I've started a sentence with "I would LOVE to be a...". 

My professional ambitions range from whale trainer/rider at Sea World 

to Nurse to National Geographic world traveling photographer 

to School Principal to Interior Designer 

to Attorney to Baker cake decorator...I'm out of control.}

4. I hate hair that is unattached to a head. 

Hairballs make me want to vomit. 

Same goes for my husband. 

This is a problem when the bathtub gets clogged because I shed like a bear in the summertime. 

I'm sure the maintenance men love us. 

{my bestie-seester friend/former roommate, M, would gather up hairballs in the hallway and chase me with them. 

She is mean but I love her.}

5. I love cereal. Especially for dinner. 

There is just something about a nice bowl {or two}of cereal and milk. 

When R has a meeting/isn't home for dinner - it's what I have.

6. I always said I would not marry a guy who didn't speak Spanish. Then I married the biggest gringo out there. Hypocrite. 

7. I love the smell of toast, laundry detergent, and R's body wash. 

8. I enjoy washing dishes. EXCEPT for the mashed potatoes bowl. Ew. 

9. I love to climb trees. Haven't done it since I lived in Utah (pre 6th grade) but I still acknowledge and point out good climbing trees.

10. If I'm mad I could deep clean a whole house REALLY fast. If I'm mad about something I don't want to talk to you. Even if I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to talk. Likely because I will just start crying or unleash the Latina wrath that's in me.

11. I love word games, puzzles, riddles, math, etc.

12. I've always thought it would be so cool to be a pilot but I'm afraid I'd be too scared to land and would just fly in circles until I ran out of fuel.

13.  I love documenting/taking pictures of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

14. Three things I can't stand: to be tapped on with the back side of a person's wrist, for my belly button to be poked, disrespectful people.

15. I can be shy. I can be weird. I can be hyper. I love to dance.

16. I cry easily. If I'm in trouble, if I'm mad/frustrated, if I'm watching or thinking something too sad or too happy, if I start thinking about how much I love my husband/family, ....I'm a cry baby.  

17. I'm pretty good at making a monkey noise.

18. Every time I've set out to make a cake for something, I've had no idea what I was doing. I just have a picture or an idea of what I want the end product to look like and hope for the best. 

19.  I name the sky depending on what it/the clouds look like..."I call this a ______" .."Van Gogh sky", "Quilter's sky", "Toy Story sky", etc....told you I was weird.

20. My husband and I are best friends, confidants, and have only said I love you {romantically, obv.} to each other. I love the fact that we each got to marry our first love :).

[the list]

April showers bring May flowers...but our flowers are in the shade.

Hola!...where were we...

April has been a seemingly busy month. 

R is on his last rotation of his 3rd year of medical school. crazy! 

...nothing new in my professional life. 

So by now, I should accept the fact that R is always right...he just is...

and if he says/implies that something is going to happen, it will.

(My sis-in-law, L, always says "you know if a Sims boy says it, it'll happen. 

It wouldn't happen normally but the minute they say it you bet it'll happen.") 

We were in the bathroom and I tossed a q-tip into the trashcan that was pretty full...

R says "careful how you're tossing that now".

 I probably rolled my eyes and said ya ya ya. 

I toss my next q-tip and sure enough...

bounces off and lands on the plunger. 

R had so much satisfaction getting to watch me pick it up 

and all I could do was shake my head. 

Then he says, "that needs to go in the blog right there, jack". 

{There you go, husband. Sorry if that wasn't an entertaining read for everybody else.}. 

General Conference was awesome, per the usual. 

We bought flowers to hang in our porch in between sessions.

...there is a lot less sunshine up there than we realized...but they are survivors. 

So far.

It's pretty nice having an "extension of the living room" 

(One day R got home early and bought a piece of outdoor carpet and set it up out there) 

when the weather decides to be beautiful. 

Realizing our occasional walks around the hood were not enough 

& that the only time for us to work out is before the sun comes up..we joined a gym. 

So far, so good. 

Expect pictures of us in a few months. 

We will be jacked. 

{just kidding, we love food way too much}. 

Last weekend we got to go to the temple. 

We took the bus. 

It's a blessing to have opportunities to go to the temple and be reminded 

of how much our Heavenly Father loves every single one of us, 

that families can be together forever, 

& that when we let Him speak to our hearts it's one of the sweetest feelings. 

Some people save up their entire life to go to the temple once. 

Wow. 

Not to get too religious for anybody reading this who isn't religious 

but it is a pretty big part of who we are. 

It's why R and I are who we are. 

I came home for lunch a lot more than usual this month (I think) and realized how much I love home. 

Not because of where we live or what we have but just because of what it means. 

It's like an escape, for an hour, to my favorite place to be 

{even though I always come home and do chores so I can spend time with Rickypoo after work}.  

I'm so grateful for a home that is filled with comfort, peace, love, and laughter :) 

Our awesome friend, A.P.L., mentioned this list of 30 things to blog about.

I'm going to try and throw them in here randomly.

 Might be a little more exciting for you than Sims' daily life stories.  

& like the woman who came up with the list, it'll be a way to "record different parts of my personality for my posterity, and I guess you get to know me better by default." 

{I think that's a pretty cool idea! Especially after Erica told me this blog can be turned into a book. Whaaaaat? Technology is awesome.}

Life Lesson of April: Don't say the wrong thing in the wrong tone of voice when the wife is PMSing.

{per R.............}

I always tell him how he says something is as important as what he is saying.

The real lesson of the month though,

is that we feel much better when we're waking up early and working out!

Do it!

Things we're looking forward to in May: R FINISHES 3RD YEAR! S city! Monthly food date with Kerri & Rob! 

Pilot Post

I've jumped on the bandwagon folks - we've surpassed 4 months of marriage so I'm a little late.

Not sure who will read this but I figured that since I'm not the greatest at keeping a consistent journal,

I should do something to document this life of ours.  

It's more exciting than it sounds -- 

I work 8-5 at a forensic engineering firm, R has school/work and I couldn't even tell you a consistent schedule for him...

sometimes he is home before me, other times he's been in and out until 4 a.m. 

His hands had been rather p r o m i s c u o u s since he just finished his OBGYN rotation. He enjoyed it overall but dreaded those annual exams because he got to do every single one.

I made jokes [the same joke] about it all the time.

We go to church - I attend primary and teach the sunbeams. 

R is EQ secretary and ward music chair person..?

We read scriptures, we pray, we sleep.

Slowly but surely I'll end up with an about us section where you can read the long version of

"our love story".

and maybe a baking section...? The possibilities are endless.

Mostly, this will be periodic updates on the life of R and J, life lessons as we learn and grow old together, and likely some other random ramblings - as told by J.

Enjoy :)

Life Lesson of March: When husband is on call, wife will not get much sleep either. Although wife definitely gets more than poor husband.

and just to start this thing of right...

Life Lesson of January: We have agency to choose how we will act/react. Choose kindness, always.

Life Lesson of February: Never postpone a prompting.

Added note: Now the month of March is over. Jamie & Marq got married - so happy for them! Traveled a lot. Had a wonderful Easter weekend. 

The year thus far in pictures: