My New Friend

Chris works.  A lot.  I'm so grateful; we can pay our bills, and we don't stress out about them in the meantime.  I'm so lonely; when I'm at home, Chris is asleep, or he's not there.  Welcome to the gist of my life.  I love my life, but I miss people.

Chris's little sister, Caylee, is brilliant.  (Turns out, I married into a pretty smart family.)  She just graduated from CSU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and is working for Raytheon in California.  Caylee has a cute dog named Lexi.  Long story short: Chris and I have Lexi for the time being because Caylee has a hard time taking care of Lexi because travels to and from California and Colorado a lot.

Lexi keeps me company, and she's pretty funny.  She loves to snuggle me at night, and she's great at taking Chris's spot in bed when he's home.  I guess you'd have to be here to think it's funny... but please stay out of my bedroom while I'm sleeping.  This will just have to remain a lame story to you.  

Lexi squeezed herself behind that chair, and then realized she was stuck.  She stayed there for a while.  Chris and I thought this was particularly funny.

I like my new friend.  I think I shall keep her around.  Probably forever.

I don't see Chris as often as I'd like to, so every now and then, I go all out.  I pulled out our Fondue pot, and I looked up a couple good recipes for some delicious fondues.  I made a Spinach & Garlic Cheese dip, and I had about 7,000 dippers to go with it because we had never tried this before and wanted to test the waters.  We have since eaten this very meal twice.  (I needed to surprise Chris, and the desert and the baked potatoes took longer than I anticipated, so I forgot place mats, napkins, etc.  Who cares?  Chris only cared about the food anyway!)

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -Don Marquis

From the moment Chris and I were married, I felt my social life ripped out of my tiny little hands (I can't help having little hands...).  I'm constantly whining to my hubs about how I never have time to do anything, and even if I did have time, I have nobody to do anything with.  The ladies in my ward, although absolutely fantastic and very welcoming and warm-hearted, are a bit older than me, have kids/grandkids, and are pretty well settled in their lives; we often run out of things to talk about soon after we've started. My work schedule is inconsistent and I often have to go in at a moments notice (I got a promotion.  Don't tell anyone.), so it's difficult to make plans very far in advance.  And so on, and so on.  Reason after reason.  Excuse after excuse.

Who am I to think I'm the FIRST woman in America to have to make changes in life with marriage?  What?  Nobody else feels lonely from time to time?  False.

Not only am I not the only person to have this issue, I also have a fairly decent social life.  The moments that I am doing something awesome are often over shadowed by the many times I'm at home by myself watching Desperate Housewives... yeah, because I'm THAT girl.  I need to just snap out of the funk I've been in and count my blessings.  Clearly, I've been busy because I haven't posted a cotton pickin' thing in
FOR--EV--OR.

Because I don't want to leave anyone in the dark, but I also 100% don't want to spend 10,000 hours catching everything up, here's just a bunch of pictures with a tiny little bit of description.  Get ready; there's a lot...

I went to my sis-in-law's FIRST Roller Derby bout where  she was voted the "Belle of the Ball" because she's just so stinkin' beautiful.  So beautiful.

Megh went through the Temple for the first time, but I didn't get the chance to go with her because I had to work, so we had a little sister Girl's night at Applebee's where we laughed until we almost wet our pants, and we had super amounts of fun with our server because that's what we do when we get together- our "Mob Mentality" just makes us very happy.  (Megh on the left and Mo on the right.)

I just freakin' love this picture because it looks like Mo has no teeth!  I'm not a fan of Lord of the Rings, but she seems to have a striking resemblance to Smeagol.  So great.  I cried a little from laughing.  Maybe there was even pee involved.

I had a shopping day with my little brother and sister because we all had a day off.  My little brother, Matti (but only I can call him that.  His name is Matthew or Matt.) is an expert planker.  That was on a two inch wall in a dressing room.  And he stayed there for a surprising amount of time considering I cannot imagine how comfortable that could be...

If we're being honest here, I'm trying to get the cutest stinkin' boy in the world to plank... But he hates "tummy time", so he doesn't stay there very long.  

This little guy LOVES to just crawl back and forth on my little ol' coffee table.  He's not great at being filmed without noticing, so this is the best I could get, but it is literally the best thing I've ever seen.  It's now also the best thing YOU'VE ever seen.  Don't try to deny it.

Our Halloween front porch at night.  We had a smoke machine and a strobe light and old manican heads.  We won our complex's contest!  We got a gift card to Target.  Victory!

My cute stinkin' hubs on our porch after we were done decorating.  We found a black widow while we were decorating!  Chris HATES spiders, so I had to destroy it on my own, but how scary is that?!

I had a free Saturday night, so I called up my friend, Marylou, who I haven't seen in too long, and I asked her what the heck we were going to be doing because Chris had to work and I needed a girls' night.  I can't even tell you how AMAZING that night was.  We went to a Church Single's dance for a little bit (I let all the guy's know I'm married though, so it wasn't a big deal.), we went to a club on Latin night- so we didn't stay long- and we just caught up on life.  I am blown away by the strength Marylou has, and the incredible things she has already accomplished in her life.  I could go on and on forever about how great she is, but the easiest way to sum it all up: Role Model.  Think of the best woman in the existence of EVERYTHING, and multiply her by 38,933,581,383,072,695,637,001 and you pretty much have half of Marylou.  (So from there, you'll need to go ahead and multiply your product by 2.)

I don't know this man.  He was at the dance, and it was the best thing I've ever seen .  So I stopped him and asked him if I could take a picture of him.  And then I sent it straight to Chris so he could be in on the fun.

Matti and I after his play.  He was Dr. Frankenstein with a weird twist.

My friend Charley from work went with me because Chris had to work.  And then our evening was followed by a night on the town in Denver.  Top night.

 This is a tiny little snip of one of Matti's scenes.  There will be more once I put them on my computer fully.


I'm sorry; this one was probably the least entertaining thing you've read all month (I would say year, but I know there are some pretty dreadful things out there, and I know I can't be THAT bad...), but it's late o' clock at night, and the creative/ humorous part of my brain went to bed four hours ago.

My Husband is Better Than Your Husband (I can prove it. I took a poll.)

I've taken a recent poll, and all of my husbands agree that Chris is the best husband I have.

We have date night on the weirdest nights of the week because my cutie husband works on the weekends for the next couple weeks.  I love it because we don't have to deal with lines or busy restaurants.  Last week, date night was Thursday; we went to IKEA (I've heard it's the hottest place for LDS couples) and Cheesecake Factory.  Perfect.  Just perfect.  We didn't have to worry about IKEA being crowded.  We didn't have to worry about waiting for a table at Cheesecake Factory.  I didn't even have to do anything- Chris made the plans, and I just got to relax and go along for the ride!

Last night (Wednesday), Chris and I had a marvelous date night.  We started out at Red Robin, and then we headed on over to Arc for some Halloween shopping!  (Followed by Goodwill, the mall, and Walmart because we just couldn't make it all happen in one place.)  We got all sorts of fun stuff to decorate our porch with for our apartment complex's contest!  (We're very competitive people.  I love to decorate for everything.  Also, the first prize is $100 off of rent... sooo.... How could we NOT enter?!)

I bet you're wondering what happened to that great job I started.  I am kickin' butt at my new job... and it's already starting to catch up with me.  I have been so busy (as you loyal readers could tell; I have haven't posted in almost a month).  My numbers are top in my store, and I'm really starting to get to know my customers, so the days, although  l o n g  sometimes, are getting more enjoyable.  There are days, though, when I have to call Chris and have him reassure me that I'm doing okay and that I can do my job, but someday I'll really get the hand of things, and then I'll be okay.  You know how new jobs can be... (or maybe I'm the ONLY woman in America who has melt downs because she just feels like she can't do ANYTHING right...)

So, a few days ago, I came home from one of THOSE days, and I was tired, and I was grumpy, and I had a meeting that night with my District Manager, and I had to clean the house still, and all I wanted to do was take a nap, and then I walked in the door... to a SPOTLESS house.  Bed made, dishes done, table cleared of that pile of mail and misc. papers that have nowhere else to go- you know that pile; everyone has one- and laundry taken out of the dryer and folded (I'm particular about how clothes are put away, so for him to stop at that was PERFECT!).

See what I mean?!  Christopher is the best.  The.  Best.


He just can't help it.

A Little Catch UP

Soooo... it's been longer than I would like it to have been... so, here's the past week and a half crammed into fifteen minutes.  You're welcome.

Can I please just tell you how awesome my hub-a-lub is?!  (Don't worry; I don't ever call him that.  I don't really know what just happened there...)  He's so awesome.

So... My work schedule was craziness last week because I worked until 11 o'clock one night, and had to work the next morning at 7.  I live about two miles from work, so that's not a big deal for me.  My good friend Charley, however, lives in Boulder... so... that's not a fun drive.  I've also heard that working on three hours of sleep is less than simple.  Never tried it myself.  I have no intention to.  Ever.  (Here we come, motherhood!)  Being the generous friend that I am opened up my home to Miss Charley for the night.  (1. Chris was working, so I was lonely anyway.  2. We have a futton.  Thanks, Chris.  3. I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm heartless.)

Before I left for work, I asked Sir Christopher to pick up a little before he left for work so that Charley wouldn't think we were sloppy pigs.  He was so great.  He rotated laundry, he put it away, and he made the bed.

 Is this cute or what?!  His big ol' heart is always in the right place!  (See this post to see how the bed us usually made.  There's a difference.  Trust me.)

He takes such good care of me.  

That next day, Friday the 23rd, was my birthday eve, so I had to make it a remarkable day.  This is what my entire work day looked like:

No joke...  Also, that's Charley who is locking the door, Gary-Michael is that awesome boss of mine, and please excuse my obnoxious laugh.

Chris and I went to my hometown that night for my High School's Homecoming game.  Matti (my cute little brother) was picked by his classmates to be his class's attendant for the second year in a row!  He's a sophomore, so... that's pretty much the maximum amount of times possible for him right now.  Also, that doesn't happen very often.  Or ever.  He was less than thrilled (he's what some people might call "shy" and "humble" and "nerdy" and "introvertive" and "popular on accident"), but how could I not be absolutely stoked for that guy?!  He's also the school's mascot.  It's clear that not only is he the cutest guy ever, but he pretty much ran the show.  What a great pre-birthday celebration!  (Check out my awesome little ginger brother:)

So... The next day was show time (as in, my birthday)!  Chris and I woke up, and Chris went to go play his weekly football while I mozied (I'm 10% positive that's not a real word...) about the house.  It did not feel like my birthday, and I was in a slump.  Every birthday party I've even thrown has been a total flop, and I didn't feel like feeling like a failure on my big TWO-ONE (that's right people!  I'm twenty stinkin' one!), so I decided to keep things low-key this year.

When Chris got back from football, he got cleaned up, and we went to lunch with his parents and his grandparents (who are now also MY parents and MY grandparents).  Our walls are still bare of decor, so Chris and I went to the frame store and got a few frames and mattes for my birthday, and then we went to Kohls to look for other great things.  We found nothing.  Disappointment.  Elephant.  Unrelated.

So... we went home so I could just relax with my hubs on the one day of our entire marriage together (or so it seemed).  I was carrying seven million things, and Chris was carrying... the keys.  I was half asleep, and dropped the leftovers because I was holding so much, so Chris (my sweet heart) gave me the keys and picked up my spillings (yup) suggesting that I open the door.

I used those keys and I put them in the door, and I turned the wrong way (locking it), and I said, "Chris, didn't you lock the door before we left?", so then I UNlocked the door, walked into my home, and SCREAMED like a little girl at the sight of a SURPRISE party!  What.  Just.  Happened?!  Two surprise parties in three months?!  (My bridal shower was a surprise.)

It was so nice!  Chris is so sneaky.  In the best possibly way.  I had such a wonderful 21st birthday!  To wrap up my birthday, I didn't go out to a club or a bar or any of that other nonsense.  No, no.  Chris and I were in bed by 10:30 because both of our internal clocks are messed up.  Wonder how that happened...

And now... I can finally change my last name...  What?!  I'm still a Hummer?  Only for less than 24 hours more!

Also, on days when Chris and I don't see each other or don't have time for scripture study, this is how we do it.  I take a screen shot and send it to Chris to read while he's at work.  Thank you, iPhone.  Thank you.

The Best Way to Appreciate Your Job is to Imagine Yourself Without One

I've spent the last year nanny-ing for various families on the side of my job at the school last year, and basically decided that I would just pick up more work and do that all summer because that's what I LOVE (babies, toddlers, children, you name it... unless you name "adults"... not as much.).  This has been the most fulfilling thing I've ever done, and all I had to do to be fulfilled was play and laugh all day long!  Honestly, how difficult could that be with a cute little guy like this:

Do you see what I mean?!  Best part of my whole life!!

Since becoming married though, it has been brought to my attention that I don't work consistently enough, which can be a bit scary when there are consistently enough bills that come.  Every month.  Like clock work.  Lame.

Chris and I talked about it, and decided that it was time to get a consistent job- part time or full.  Just consistent. So I've continued to temporarily watch America's cutest kiddo while looking around.  (Goodbye fantastic work.  So long great little guy.  Ta-ta happiness.)

I continued to look around, but only working a few days a week (depending on the week) allowed me much free time (where I would clean the house and cook great meals with perfect hair, a cute apron, and my most comfortable pumps), and in said "free time", I managed to fit in a tan session here and there, which is my second favorite part of the day because of Gary-Michael.  Gary-Michael is amazing.  (He's the very stereotypical "gay", so you can only imagine how loud and perfect for me he is!  The gay friend that every girl wants.)  He's the manager of my salon, and he is my favorite person outside of my family because he's so great!

We got to chit chatting away one day, and he said, "What do you do now that you aren't working at the school anymore?" which was followed by, "Why don't you come work for me?"  The heavens opened and choirs of angels were singing!

Training started, and I was off to the races. 

The first week of training was 8-5 Monday through Friday in Denver, so I had a 2 1/2 hour commute both ways (thank you, traffic) and I was miserable in the drive.  My daily company, however, was fantastic!  We weren't all going to be in the same district, but we had fun through the week we had together.  There were only five of us, so we basically spent all day goofing around.

So week one came and went, and week two of "in-store training" began.  Luckily, Gary-Michael is my district's trainer, so I had no awkward introductions, and Charley (Charlene) is in my district, so... PARTY!

Charley and I are both fast learners, so we have lots of time to mess around, and Gary-Michael is right there in the action with us.  I was cleaning one of the VersaSpas (spray tan), but didn't want to ruin my shoes, so Charley suggested I put on the shoe covers, which we discovered double as excellent floor skates; they have a smooth glide followed by an abrupt halt- you can imagine our joy!  And we work until 11 at night, so we were already pretty slap-happy.  

Charley (left) and Me (right)

I love love LOVE this job.  Love it.  

Also, check out our cute washer and dryer.  We love them.  More specifically, I love them.  (The closet situation is still working itself out...) 

Best. Birthmonth. Ever. (Thus far...)

Turns out, I'm a pretty fortunate gal.  Who'da thunk?  This has been a darn tootin' good birthmonth, and I'm only half way to my birthDAY.  I have so much to be grateful for, and believe-you-me:  I am.  I have this whole list:

1. Chris and I got our new callings in our new wards.  Chris is a Sunday School teacher for the 15-16 year olds, and I'm in nursery.  Chris is a great teacher.  Chris is great with kids.  Chris is just great.  At everything.  So what?  I was not called to play piano, and I was not called to lead music for anything.  I'm in NURSERY!  Snacks, toys, bubbles, singing time, coloring, KIDS!  Best.  Calling.  Ever.  I know a lot of people say they think this is a great calling (saying nursery is a curse is a thing of the past), but this is literally a dream come true for me.  I can't even explain how excited I am to spend my Sundays with the cutest stinkin' kids in America!  (I can say this because my kids aren't in America yet.)  I may have cried.  Maybe.

2.  Chris and I have a cute little home.  We have heat.  We have A/C.  We have electricity AND indoor plumbing (we're so spoiled).  We have America's tiniest dishwasher, and we LOVE it.  We have a built in table, so that saved us some money and hassle.  We have a large, handicapped bathroom.  There isn't a lot of counter space, but I can literally set up camp on the floor- it's like having a second bedroom (so Chris had better think twice about ticking me off!).  We have about -8 inches of storage space, which may seem like a hassle, but really, it was a blessing; I had to sort through, and throw away a lot of my "treasures" (aka, trash).

What'd I tell you?  Cute, huh?

Our cute kitchen.

America's tiniest dish washer

3.  Sunday dinner last night was a success.  I cooked.  And nobody got hurt.  And it tasted approximately delicious.  Baked chicken breasts with honey mustard, seasoning salt, and parsley leaves, sauteed zucchini,  and tomatoes that were sliced and warmed.  Simple, yet delicious.  Yeah.  I know that doesn't sound impressive to you cookers of the world.  But it is.  I took a poll. 

4.  Chris and I have been married for a month without even talking about divorce.  Three cheers for marriages that last for eternity!  (Do that in your head.  This is not a place for that kind of giddiness.) Also, if Chris ever so much as thought about divorce... well, he knows where the bathroom floor is.  Also, that was a joke.  Kind of.  Also, we've already been married for a month!  What.  Just.  Happened?!

5.  I asked for a puppy and didn't get one.  This means to me that my hubs is better at money than my brain is.  Looking at my track record (... I accidentally sent a live fish down the garbage disposal while I was cleaning his bowl... not a proud moment in my life...), spending hundreds of dollars on a dog probably isn't the best idea.  Also, there's no knowing when I'll be preggo-my-eggo (*wink, wink*), so Chris made a wise decision in holding off for the time being.  (I may or may not ever admit that again.  You probably just witnessed history.)

Aren't I so lucky?  And this birthmonth isn't even over yet!  I haven't even hit the halfway point.  Aren't blessings the best?!

Also, this is my husband.  All the time.  Always.  Thank you Paul.  Thank you DCUO.  Thank you Chuck Norris for growing a nasty-nast beard.  Thank you. (But isn't he cute anyways?!)

"People Who Snore Always Fall Asleep First"

Woah!  Chris is rubbing off on me.  I don't sleep-in (unless you count as a teenager because, "Back in my day..." we woke up at the crack of dawn (I'm talking 5:00 am) for daily scripture study and seminary.  Or, as my case often was, relocated sleep locations early in the morning.), but TWICE this week, I woke up and went back to sleep, only to wake up hours later.  Once when Chris got home from work; we had scripture study, and I fell back asleep rather than getting up and ready as I have been doing.  Again this morning, when my brain told me to get out of bed (and stop being worthless), my body just wouldn't move... until 9 stinkin' o' clock!  What is going on here?!

Well, I'm pretty sure I've figured it out.  No, I'm not burnt out from playing the role of wife.  No, it's not that I'm eating unhealthily, or I'm just lazy as all get out (although...).  It because our bedroom is dark.  Constantly dark.  Often dark.


See, it's like this: Chris works night = sleeps during the day = needs dark to sleep in = blackout-curtains.  Those.  Puppies.  Work.  Let me just show you how well they work:

      This is early afternoon with the lights on.

    This is 30 seconds later with the lights off.

Can you understand how that would be so confusing to one's brain?!  It always looks like I should be asleep.  And it always looks like Chris should be awake/ at work, yet we have those black out curtains (hidden behind the pretty ones) so he can sleep?  Who agrees with me when I point out that this makes no sense?  (Yes, my bed is always made.  I actually did not just make it to take that picture.  Fact.).  

This is my solution: don't fight it.  If my body is telling me I need sleep, then I need sleep, right?  That's how it works for children, and I basically have the emotions of a child... soooo... clearly my logic has some potential. 

There are some major advantages to these curtains.  For example, they keep our room nice and cool with these OUT OF CONTROL temperatures.  (Hey, Texans:  I don't even wanna hear it.  YOU chose to live in Texas, so the triple digits are part of the package.  ;-)  ...)  


Chris and I had a long (but fun) day; we had lunch with Grandmama and Pa (his mom's parents), went to JCPenny's with them, went to Bed Bath & Beyond, and we went to see STUPID, CRAZY, LOVE (like eight years later.  We Fail.)  For those of you who haven't seen it:  It.  was.  Wonderful.  Throw in the towel already and just stinkin' watch it.  All this was done... while I was wearing boots... with heals.  It was nice to finally get home and kick off my shoes, but by the end of everything, we were both drawing near the end of our ropes (not openly grumpy with each other, but getting there).


We got home and snuggled on our cool bed in our cool room.  Chris looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I'm so grumpy."  To which I replied, "I'm sorry you're so grumpy, too."  ;-)  I think he's rubbing off on me.

Gosh, I love this guy.  :-)  ------------>








Note:  As strong and brave as he may be in my eyes, I'm not sure he'd actually be able to hold that boulder up without the body builder (not pictured) to his right.

Home is Whenever I'm with You

After about 57,128,671,903,005,275,111** trips to Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, and Target, Chris and I are almost situated in our new home!  (And by "almost", I mean, "Poor Chris will be hanging pictures and rearranging furniture for the next six months, and even then I won't be happy, but for now, we're too  exhausted to care more than we have.")  Who has two thumbs, and is so thrilled to have a home to share with her best friend?  This girl.

I go through many different phases: super clean, and super apathetic.  Like I said: many.  Luckily for my new hubby and our new home which has already had a few unexpected visitors, I'm currently going through the super clean mode.  There are never dishes left in the sink for more than ten minutes, the bed is made promptly each morning (and then again about four more times during the day following nights that Chris has worked because he has to sleep in that perfectly made bed of ours), trash is taken out often, and laundry is washed, dried, and put away.  Get this: I even cook meals and have started a nifty little food storage for that dreadful, but most likely inevitable, day when we are struggling to meet ends (whenever that may be).  Can I please just add that if this were the 50's, I would be the perfect wife.  (However, this is not the 50's, so the one thing keeping me from perfection is... well... basically my entire personality.)


Tonight has been one of the very few nights Chris has been home since we've moved in, and to reward me for being a woman of the 50's (and just because he's a great guy overall), he made a DELICIOUS meal for dinner.  I can not share the ingredients because then you'll all know exactly how to make it, and I'm pretty sure Chris keeps his recipe locked up in the same place as the one for Bush's Bean, but it was very, very tasty.  Also, it was a nice break from the stuff I throw together for myself when I'm home alone.


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Side Note: On Chris's first day of school, I made his a scrumptious breakfast consisting of many things, but I'd like to focus on the Bacon portion.  I was able to try out a lot of fun wedding gifts, including the tongs that Chris is holding (there's your ONE hint as to what he made).  The very tongs I used to flip the bacon.  The tongs that I thought would only be good for cooking bacon because they only opened 1/4 of an inch.  Just tonight, I learned that those tongs OPEN.  Full.  Blown.  Open.  And they only hardly opened because there's a hidden lock.  As for the perfect 50's wife... We'll just chalk this up to the "Der der der" part of my personality that very deceptive Oxo, which didn't even exist in the 50's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO_(brand)  <-- accurate source).


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I can not count... the amount of people who warned me that the hardest part of marriage is the first bit because it's such a huge adjustment to life.  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but thus far, marriage has be golden.  Granted, we've only been married for a few weeks, but if we can get through the move-in that we've had, I think we could probably handle having QUINTUPLETS on the first go-round (knock on wood... for Chris's sake.)  I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that  1)Thus far, I'm a 50's wife.  2) Chris is gone or asleep 80% of the time.  (Which really is a sad panda because I get so lonely!)  3) Chris is a giver... and I'm a taker.  Good pair.


Oh, yeah!  Also, we love each other.



(To those of you who were wondering about what the heck "Allipher" is supposed to mean:  That would be our celebrity name; the best mix between Allison and Christopher.  It's also Chris's nickname for me when I call him by his full name and he's responding.)





** Could possibly be an exaggeration, but it sure didn't feel like it... so it probably isn't.