Graphic Design

It's kind of ironic that I'm a graphic designer when I have zero artistic ability. Most artists see the world in different shapes coming together; my husband is one of them. They see arrows as a triangle and rectangle or a fork as a circle and a bunch of rectangles. To me, it's a fork and an arrow.

This new job of mine has really challenged me, and I LOVE it. They've asked me to do all sorts of artistic things I had no idea how to do and it stressed me out that I had to Google how to do my job. But I have learned SO much and have had so much fun. I get paid to figure out how to make creative things! Isn't that awesome?

So even though my hands are artistically challenged, I'm so grateful for a computer, software and amazing ideas to push me further than I thought I could go and opened up my brain to so many possibilities.

Gotta Love It

This is the cuteness I get to come home to every day. Not that Dallin isn't cute, but he doesn't shake it like Mags. HA!

Go Get 'Em

We had a lot of Easter festivities this year. We colored eggs for Family Night and I made some eggs for Maggie. This one has a paw print on it.

The Easter Bunny came and brought Maggie some new toys and a new bone. She went to the groomer's, or "spa" that weekend and they used this vanilla shampoo and she smells like the cream from an Oreo.

We had the annual Plaizier Easter Egg Hunt. Dallin and I strategized and ran to two different places. Mags was locked up on the deck upstairs and was going nuts watching us run around. Too bad she couldn't help me but she would have been more of a hindrance than anything. All the eggs that had numbers were for prizes (PEZ, bubbles, etc.), some were for gift cards and some were for cash envelopes. Dallin and I really cleaned up. It was so much fun! Again, there can't be anything funnier than watching a bunch of 30-year-olds run around and hunt for eggs and shove each other. These are all the eggs Dallin and I collected, filled up a whole cloth grocery bag. Now we have WAY too much candy!

Afterward we went to my parents to celebrate Easter too. Maggie'd been there once before when no one was there and only for a short while. She sniffed every little thing. We chased after her the whole night. She had a lot of fun though. She fell asleep by the time we hit Redwood Road, she was pooped!

It was so nice to have a day to contemplate the Atonement and the resurrection of our Savior. I was thinking how Christmas has become so generalized (Happy Holidays-boo) and am glad that there is still one day where it's completely religious and the Savior is the focus. My work was even closed for Good Friday! Weird, this IS Utah...We sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives to close Sacrament on Sunday and I couldn't help but get choked up from the Spirit. Such a peaceful day, today and 2,011 years ago.

Goose

Destruct-o Dog has decided to ruin every toy she has. Today she decided to decapitate her goose. It was a good goose, kept her entertained for hours with the crunchy bottle inside and lime green rope neck. Until she decided to rip the bottle out and eat the stuffing out of his head. Here she is trying to leave the scene if the crime. Rest in peace dear goose, rest in peace (with my $7).

Go, Go, Go

Yesterday we took Maggie to our friends' house to introduce her to their dog. They go along pretty well. We took them to the dog park out by the Jordan River Parkway. It was a really cool little place. The dog area is huge and all enclosed and so you can just let the dogs off their leashes and let them run and play to their heart's content. The dog park was covered in wood chips...uh oh. Actually, she left them all alone! There were big dogs there and Maggie just thought she was one of them. She ran/sprinted with them to the point I thought she was going to overheat and pass out/die so I made her sit for a while and sprayed her with water because she wouldn't drink or eat any ice cubes.

The park had hydrants, tunnels, a track and a nice little shaded sitting area for the humans. I'm glad she got to get out and play. She crashed hard. After the park we were going to go on a walk along the river. The river is so high that it's started to flood some of the lower walkways. We took the dogs down there so they could drink some river water and get their feet wet. Mags was really unsure at first but then had a great time getting all wet and muddy. Then we heard this screaming...

We thought it was just some kids playing but it sounded awful and didn't stop. My husband, so brave, decided to go check things out with my friend's husband. They start walking, then running into this tunnel area. We follow behind and they find this little boy laying on the ground who'd broken his arm in a bike accident. They were the first ones on the scene and helped keep this 11-year-old kid calm. They called the neighbors (who he was biking with since his parents were out shopping) and talking to him about his scouts, his upcoming birthday, sports, family, anything to keep his mind off the extreme pain his was in. It was amazing how many people biked or walked by and didn't even glance at the kid. His arm was twisted and the bone was pushing the skin out (trust me, I didn't look at it or I would have passed out but Dallin told me). Eventually a guy stopped who was an EMT and the neighbors showed up after taking their sweet time. I'm so proud of our guys and their immediate response to someone in need, without even hesitating. Made me fall in love with Dallin a little more. So it was quite the adventure!

On a side note, I found a grey hair in Dallin's head today in church. He had me pull it out and you can't imagine the huge grin he had on his face at me finding this hair. He tried to convince me it was Maggie's hair but it was in fact, a real grey hair. After I assured him of this, he told me he wished his whole head looked like that. I guffaw at such a heinous statement, but to him, it just means that he still has hair and he's happy as a clam.

Grey's

**SPOILER ALERT** Now that I'm back to work part-time, I really miss my free time. Especially that time spent with Meredith, Christina, Alex and McDreamy. One of the time-wasting things that I really wanted to do while I was unemployed was catch up on Grey's Anatomy. I was a die-hard Grey's fan, then I met Dallin and that all went out the window because I spent every waking moment with him. So the last time I saw it on TV, was right around the end of season 4.

They are now on season 7 and I have all the seasons on DVD, I just haven't had the time to watch them since Dallin doesn't really want to join in. So, my last week of freedom was deemed my time to catch up. I got through the rest of season 4, all of season 5 and started season 6. At the risk of sounding extremely lazy and like a couch potato (I was!), I watched 32 seasons last week. At about 35 min. an episode, that was pretty much my part-time job, watching Grey's. I felt a little under the weather and it was rainy outside so what could have been better?

I've been very careful the last couple years to not watch ABC or read about what's been happening on the season so I could be surprised. That was hard! I would see things on msn.com and want to read them, but I didn't. I kind of knew Izzie got sick and I thought she died but GEORGE?!? I thought he'd go to the Army but they killed him off?! And he writes "007" in Mer's hand? Man, that one killed me! Did NOT see that coming.

So if you are ahead of me in Grey's, please keep those comments to yourself because I am not caught up yet. I watched an episode while Dallin was working and he's like, "This show is depressing." LOL I'm planning to catch up using my two days off a week but it may take me some more time. I hope not though, I can't get enough. It's like rediscovering a passion, I forgot how much I LOVE that show!

Grind

I started my part-time job yesterday. I wrestled with the decision a lot. Ultimately, I'm looking for something full-time but kind of felt like I had to take this job so my unemployment wouldn't be denied. I negotiated a pay raise with them so I'm making $60 more a week working 24 hours there than I would doing nothing at home and collecting unemployment. So it was kind of a hard decision because I feel like I'm making about $3/hour. With the 24 hours, I'll be making barely more than I would on unemployment so I'm not going to be able to collect any.

I'm working for a medical device company doing marketing, graphic design and media buying. All things like before. I'm actually really liking it. I have a lot of creative license and lots of projects. The job could potentially turn into full-time if I find enough to do to fill up 40 hours. I'm only working three days a week so it's been a nice transition from not working at all, to only having to go in three days a week. It's been better on Maggie too. Yesterday was my first day and she destroyed her area. Dallin got home first and he said it was BAD. Today, she just pulled her bed and blankets out of her crate but didn't rip up the puppy pad or relieve herself all over her space. We're making progress! Hopefully she'll get used to it soon. Me too, I haven't worked a full 8-hour day in I can't even tell you how long...

But I'm grateful for the opportunity and to not be a (legitimate) sponge on society. I'm grateful that I've only been out of work for 6 weeks and have found somewhere I could potentially love working. I'm grateful that they are excited to have me. My boss told me yesterday that, "No offense, but I was really surprised by your work. This other guy I interviewed, judging by his portfolio, I was really excited to see what he came up with but you blew him out of the water! Your design was far and away the best of anyone's and it didn't even compare." (We had to do a design project for them to get a second interview). So that was a really nice compliment. It's nice to feel appreciated and have lots of room to grow in a company. Here's to hoping it turns into something full-time and awesome.