Big News

I am so excited to post about this. I was going to just talk about my wonderful husband but now I get to talk about myself too and I totally wasn't expecting that at all..

Monday Philip started a new job at Qwest. This gives him SO many more opportunities than he had at his last couple of jobs. Now he gets a higher base pay and commission which will allow him to take off for vacations which was hard to do at his other jobs because he'd lose commission and didn't have as high of a base pay. Did I mention that he actually gets vacation hours? I'm totally excited about this! Philip is way excited about everything too. He tells me everyday how he can already tell he will love it and how it has so many great opportunities for him. They also offer 25,000 for tuition expenses too! Can you say relief? I am so proud of Philip and couldn't be happier that he found a job he knows he's going to love. Life is much easier when you work at a job that you love to go to instead of just forcing yourself to go. Yay for Philip and yeah for his future at Qwest!

I have been applying for higher jobs at my work for probably about a year now. Getting a job internally at the IRS is harder than applying for one externally. It's so weird. A lot of everything there is based on how long you've worked for the IRS and trust me there are a lot of people that have been there for FOREVER! On Friday at 10:30 am I received a phone call offering me a new job and they needed a decision by 11:00 am. The job starts MONDAY! I couldn't believe it. So I scrambled to try to get in touch with Philip (which was difficult because he's in training right now) to try to figure out what to do. Now I only say that because the job opportunity is to work swing shifts (ugh... I didn't even know I applied for any swing shift positions, I NEVER wanted to work swings), but after talking to Philip and talking to my mom we decided that I should take the opportunity so as of Monday I have a new job too. I'll be working 4 10s so I will have every Friday off so that kind of heals the wound a little bit. I am WAY excited for my new position. I've heard nothing but good news about the area. I will miss all my friendships from my last 2 years at my job, but I really couldn't be happier that something came through. I did find out they have a swings to days list and as of right now no one with my same position is on the same list so I'm really hoping I can go to days soon! Until then I will just enjoy the night differential and having a 3 day weekend every week!

Forever can never be long enough for me, To feel like I've had long enough with you

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was like no other Valentine's Day I've ever had. Philip and I decided that we weren't going to go "all out" this year and we were just going to make it about us and having time together as a couple. I had scheduled the day off awhile ago and decided to take it since my manager needed Friday off at work. Philip had to go into work for a little bit so I decided to try and sleep in. When I woke up, this is what I woke up to...

Not only did I wake up to that but I woke up to a rose, 2 candy bars, and a cheesy card. I was not expecting this at all. It was such an awesome surprise!

Then we decided to treat ourselves to a present for each other... Gym memberships. I'm so excited that we finally have gym memberships!

To top it all off we finished our night with a romantic dinner prepared by me. Lobster, twice baked potatoes, Martinellis, the whole thing!

This year I'm not just thankful that I had someone to spend Valentine's with, but that I had my husband, my best friend to spend the day with. I can't even explain the feeling of being able to have Philip in my everyday life. To be able to wake up to him in the morning and go to bed with him at night. I'm so glad thankful that God brought us together!

Disclaimer: When I say cheesy card. Philip and I are huge fans of cheesy cards. We basically have competitions to see who can get the best. I LOVE my cheesy cards I get. 

My Wife

This is the husband Philip. My wife is so amazing and hot and I love her. I am so lucky to have married her she is my whole world. Love you AJ!!!!!

Why my husband rocks...

So you may not to be able to see it all that great and we may have already chowed down, but yesterday Philip made me brownies and was so proud he had to come show me. He drew on them "I love AJ." I think I'll keep him around. Love ya babe.

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Cake pops..

This year for our church bake off I made cake pops. They're super fun and pretty easy to make. I made mine into little footballs and I must say they were a hit!

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Some beach..... Somewhere.....

February 3. 2005.... February 3, 2005 is a day that I don't really talk about much. You have to be pretty close to me to know the whole entire story of that day. It is very hard for me to talk about. I don't know how in depth I'll really go, but that day I lost my pop (that's what we called my dad, he was never "dad") and welcomed my nephew Little John into the world.

My pop had been in and out of the hospital all through my junior high years and all through my high school years. He had actually went into the hospital December of 2004 and we honestly thought we'd never see him again, but my pop loved Christmas and always made my entire family have the best Christmas ever just with his spirit. He surprised us all and was sent home just a couple days before Christmas. I didn't know that would be the last Christmas I had with my pop or really the last holiday I'd have with him ever.

A couple months later at the end of January/beginning of February my Pop was having some serious health issues, one night dementia was the serious problem. It started off being really funny. One of the last nights I remember spending with my pop was when he was telling me about all the "creatures" he was seeing around the house. He told me they had spider legs, a dog face, and elephant ears. I tried to get him to draw me a picture (my pop was amazing at drawing, he loved to draw Disney characters especially), but to my luck my mom came back into his room for one of her routine checks and she stepped on one of the "creatures". My pop started laughing hysterically and wanted me to go get the tweezers to pick it up so we could inspect it. I know a lot of this stuff happening was from my pop's own imagination because he was the BEST story teller ever. My pop could tell stories like no other man could. Especially fishing stories, you know the best fish ever caught haha. Then his dementia got to a point that was scary I don't really want to go into too much detail because a lot of it was scary and I don't want to really remember it. The cops were even called to my house because my pop thought someone was stealing the engine out of his truck and my mom was having a party. We had to go through the whole house and unplug all the phones and watch my pop even more closely than we already were. I was up the whole night and didn't go to school the next day.

A couple days later we woke up and my mom was taking my pop into the hospital for what we thought was just a routine check up, get him some medication, and send him home. I never never never thought this would be the last time I talked to my pop. I even remember watching him and my mom walk out the door that morning and asking my mom if she was sure she wanted me at school and if she wanted me to go with her. We were so sure that I went to school while she headed to the doctor. This was the last time I really saw my pop alive. Once he was in the hospital it was like he was in a deep deep sleep. His loud snore that he always had, he never woke up from this sleep. My pop had a DNR. The doctors told us it could be minutes, hours, maybe days until my pop died and to get all family members here asap (my brother was in the marines at the times and special orders had to be made possible to get him home, but they wanted him on the next flight).

February 2 my mom tried her best to send me home so that I could get some sleep. I hadn't slept in days, I wanted to spend as much time with my pop as I could even though he really wasn't alive, I still wanted my pop around, I still wanted his stories around, I still wanted my pop at my high school graduation, and I wanted him to walk me down the aisle. All of these things I knew I would never have and in the moment I was being completely selfish. Losing your father at 17 just isn't something anyone should have to do. All my brothers and sisters had him at their high school graduation. It just wasn't fair.

In the early morning hours of February 3, I actually feel asleep for a minute and was awakened by my mom and brother John screaming at me to get up. My pop was going and he was going fast. With his DNR all they could do was try to make him feel "comfortable". I remember my mom screaming at him "Sammy Lynn you wake up" "Sammy Lynn don't you dare leave us" and this I truly think gave my pop something to try and come back for because he came back 2 or 3 times before he was really gone. Yes my pop, one of my best friends, was gone. We had our hard times, but my pop took me aside before things got really bad and apologized to me for everything and didn't want me to remember him for those times. He wanted me to remember him for all the good times. So I do....

I was the biggest tomboy growing up and I still look back and love it. I could out fish anyone in my family, even my pop. That's why I was his fishing buddy. As soon as Spring would start to come around every time we could we were waking up early, early in the morning to go fishing. I remember the nights before we'd go fishing my pop and I would go dig out in our gardens to find all the worms we could for the next day. No I wasn't scared of worms. I loved them. I loved everything about bugs, about fishing (even gutting the fish), I love climbing trees, I loved sports, I just loved it all. I haven't gone fishing since the last time with my pop, but that was one of my best memories. I was tearing up Causey and so he made me keep catching them just to show off to everyone around me.

Another great memory I have with my pop is car shopping. My pop and I definitely did not see eye to eye on this but it was an adventure. I wanted a SUV and my pop was scared to death of what I would do in it. He told me that ultimately it was my decision and I did what I knew felt right. I chose the 92 Pontiac Sunbird convertible and man did my friends and I have some good times in that. My pop would always joke around about how cool the car was and how he was going to take it out and "cruise the vard."

We would watch sports together Jazz games, football games, and especially NASCAR. My pop loved NASCAR and so did I because of him. We got really into going out and collecting all the NASCAR car collectibles that we could. We knew so much about each car and we would find the ones that had special unique qualities, ones that were missing something they should have had that made them special. Some of the best times I had with my pop were going out with him after his doctor appointments to K-Mart, Walmart, anywhere we could find a NASCAR car and then him, Quigley, and me enjoying a good cheeseburger after.

I know that I am truly lucky because I met and knew one of the best men to ever walk this earth. I truly am lucky to have known him and I am so glad that he left a legacy behind for me to be proud of. I always have a hard time on days like Feb 3, holidays, his birthday, my wedding, but I know he is there watching over me. Sometimes you think things get easier with time, but losing my pop for me never really has. I think about him all the time. I always remember certain things about him. I always tease Philip that if he was around we would be over at my mom's house with special projects my pop had just for him. Painting a hallway, helping fix a car, mowing the lawn, helping with sprinklers, you name it if my pop was here Philip would be over there helping. I really really miss you pop, I love you so much and I hope that you are proud of me.

 

Now back to February 3... Little do many people know that my pop had a special reason he had to leave that day... A few hours after he left us he was busy walking his mini me into this world. Little John Ethan was born the same day that my dad left us and this kid is the spitting image of my pop. Maybe that's why he holds such a special place in my heart that I never thought any boy could, maybe it's because he was my first nephew, who knows, but I love this kid entirely too much. I remember meeting him the hospital and his cute little red hair. I remember him growing up and all these cute little freckles that keep popping up and now he is 6 years old. Man has time gone by! My nephew came into this world at just the right time to give everyone a little bit of hope. To let us know that everything does happen for a reason and gave us all a little piece of my pop when he arrived. It's funny because just when I think my pop is gone all I really have to do is look at him and I see him. I see his little attitude and stubbornness that my pop had, I see his love for cars, I see a lot of my pop in him, but most importantly I see my "Stinky" my little red headed nephew that I think is just the cutest darn thing in the world!

My Aunt A.j.

Okay so I know this is sideways, but I HAVE THE CUTEST NIECES AND NEPHEWS EVER! This is just one example. I was teaching my niece Kenadee last night about Kindergarten, she starts next school year so I had to give her the heads up. I was telling her about how the girls would want to be her friends and all the boys would want to kiss her. So I taught her this if the boys try to kiss her...

It's your birthday..

With big families, come many birthdays and for my family we have 2 times during the year that are crazy with birthday fun! This time it's January 29- my big sister Sam's birthday. February 2- my cute niece Taye's birthday and February 3- my studly nephew L.j.'s birthday. Now I'm going to talk about L.J. in another post, so I'll talk about Sam and Taye in this one..

Sam. Sam is my big sister, 13 years older than me. Although most people would think that 13 years older means that you're completely distant that's not the case with my family. Summers were always spent with Sam. I was always invited over to her house to just hang out and everything else. Sam was always there for me growing up even if it was babysitting me or taking me out to do fun things she never missed a beat. The picture above is just an example of her taking me to see the Easter bunny, she would always take me to do that, or to see Santa, or just to have fun in a photobooth. BTW big hair equals big fun! I am lucky to have the family that I do and to know there always there for me no matter what. Happy birthday to my big sis and thanks for everything you have done for me in life and everything you still continue to do. P.S. Sam I will forgive you for all the times you and Sandy did my hair and would burn my forehead.

 

Taye Lynne- Let me tell you about this girl, she is one smart cookie and in a couple years all the boys will be chasing her. Although this blonde hair may deceive you, she was born with almost black hair and was a CHUNK! I mean chunk. Her fat rolls on her legs had fat rolls. She was the cutest little girl ever and slowly her hair started going blonder and blonder. Now she is a super skinny, blonde hair, blue eyed babe and her papa is in a lot of trouble in a few years. Taye has always been super shy but once you get through her shyness she is a load of fun. She is always teaching me new things. She loves Edward from Twilight and thinks Justin Beiber is a total hottie. I love ya Taye girl and I hope you had the best birthday ever!