Oh... the economy....

So I lost my job on Tuesday.

I didn't like my job very much. I mean, it had it's ups and downs. But I did like the money my job brought in.

"But Karlee, why are you worried? You like change and you now have a chance to look for a job you'd enjoy!"

True.

However, I have been actively looking for a new job since May. Nothing has come up. I have had plenty of interviews, filled out plenty of applications. But no new job.
That's why I'm worried.

and nervous

and scared

But don't worry. We'll make it through. 

Plus now I have alot more time to blog. Maybe I'll catch up on our summer. 

If you hear of any job for a communications degree in the south eastern Idaho region, let me know.

Yay for Husbands!!!

On Monday I had a no good, terrible, very bad, day. You know those days. Nothing seemed to work out. Something happens that's not good and makes you kinda grumpy (In my case it was waking up...) then the rest of the day just slides down a slippery slope of doom and despair after that. I hope that I'm not the only one with these kinds of days.

Besides waking up, something happened to me on that day that made me really sad. Then my tummy hurt and my head hurt. It was raining and cold outside and they still had the air conditioner on in my building, so I was freezing! Work was dragging on and I was struggling to stay vertical at my desk instead of curling up in a ball under my desk. The day lasted forever. I looked at the clock hoping that it would be 4:30 and I could go home. My hopes were destroyed when I realized that it was 10:00 in the morning. I let out an audible moan.

Lunch time eventually came and instead of sitting at my desk and reading a book like I usually did, I decided to take a drive. I found a church and hoped that I could absorb some peace from just being in the parking lot. Instead, I opened the irrigation gates behind my eyes and let my cheeks flood. If I had planted alphalpha on my cheeks, I would be ready for a third cutting. (Nope, I'm not a country girl...)

Well, I couldn't go back to work looking the way I did... so I sat and tried to make my eyes look presentable. When I thought that I looked alright, I rushed past everyone in the office and made it to my desk in the back. For the first time ever, I was glad that my desk faced a wall. But once I opened those flood gates, I just couldn't seem to get them closed. So I composed myself long enough to go tell my boss's wife that I had a headache and needed to go home. I jumped in my car and hurried home.

Dave was supposed to go pour cement for a new job that he had, but it was raining in the morning, so he wasn't able to go pour. He had the day off. When I got home, his car wasn't there. So I decided to take a bubble bath and wait until he came home. Bubble baths always make me feel a little better.

Dave came home and found me in the tub. He was holding something behind his back and grinning. He told me that I came home too early. I told him about the flood gates that I couldn't close. Then he showed me what he had behind his back.
It was a beautiful, happy, lovely sunflower with some purple filler flowers in a vase. He put it on the toilet for me to look at while I was in the bubble bath. It shined on me and made me smile.
I stayed in the tub soaking for a while. I thought things through, looked at my sunflower, and played in the bubbles. Then Dave came in with a bowl of chocolate ice cream! It's a full service spa! If you've never sat in a bubble bath and had soft chocolate ice cream, you NEED to. I'll tell ya, it's the best tastin' ice cream you'll ever have. Just don't drop it.

Needless to say, my dear husband brightened my day considerably. I am blessed to have such a good man.

After that, we went grocery shopping and I went to the gym with my friend Emilee. So it turned out to be a pretty good day.

Lesson learned: Do not despair. "We can rise above the enemies of despair, depression, discouragement, and despondency by remembering that God provides righteous alternatives" Pres. Benson.
Alternatives like a sun flower, a bubble bath, chocolate ice cream, and a sweet husband.

Thank you, Lord.

Graduation!!!

Wow... I'm behind on blogging. Sorry about that. I'll catch up.

On July 23rd I graduated from BYU-I with a bachelors in communications and a minor in English.

Let me just say this: You really don't appreciate what you have till it's gone. I was so sick of school. So ready to be done and get on with bigger and better things in my life. Well... Now I really miss it. Dave is getting ready to go back to school in 2 weeks for his last semester in the associates of architecture program at BYU-I and I really just want to go back with him.

I catch myself thinking about what classes I am going to have and whether or not I will have alot of homework this semester. I wonder who I will meet in classes and who I will already know. I try to think about the teachers I have and if I had heard of them and if they will be good...

then I remember that I'm not going back. ever. That makes me nervous and scared. I worry about being so ready for a change because that is what I am accustomed to... Change.  Every three months my life and schedule changes. From semester to semester to break... then it starts over. By the end of the three months, I am ready to start something new. Ready to switch up my schedule. Ready for change.

When that change doesn't come, when I'm still at the same job, doing the same thing, same 8:00-5:00 schedule... I'm scared that I'm going to get so sick of the same things that I'm going to rip my hair out!!...
Then I remember that I don't have to do homework ever again and that makes me happy.

ANYWAYS...

We'll get back to graduation.

Dave's Mom and Dad came down so they could come to graduation. It was awesome to have them there. It made me really feel like I was an important person in their family. They got there pretty early and we were able to hang out with them and talk for a while. We met my parents and then we all got ready to go to the banquet.
The banquet was in the brand new addition to the Manwaring Center called The Crossroads. Dave says that this addition makes him feel like he is in a real college. This place is HUGE!! and SUPER nice. They served us some yummy dinner and the speakers were short and sweet. There was a pretty musical number too. After that, they inducted us into the Alumni Association and everyone clapped and were happy for the graduates. Yay me!
Right after that, we had to go put our gowns on and line up in the Clark building. We snapped some quick pictures before Dave had to leave.

Dave, his parents and my parents got to go sit in the Hart and wait for us graduates to walk in. That was the longest and most horrible wait that I have ever had.  I was stuck in the line on the stairs in the corner of the landing. People kept crowding me and I had to keep asking people to move so I wouldn't be stuck in the corner. It seemed like it lasted FOREVER! And it was so HOT!!! But, soon enough the line started moving and I got to know the people in front and behind me, so it was all fine after that.
We wound our way down to the Hart building and the best thing of all graduation happened then. On the way there, all the teachers and professors stood on either side of the line and applauded us as we walked through. All the teachers that I had gave me high fives. My conflict management (hardest class and hardest tests I have ever ever ever taken!) teacher hugged me and told me that I got an 86% on his last test and I had passed his class with B! My department head hugged me and said that out of all of her students, she was very proud of my improvements and accomplishments! After everything I have done over the last 4 years, this was worth it. All the work, sweat, tears, late nights, long papers, hard projects, dry classes, terrible tests, exhausting days, and desperate prayers, all of it became so real and so special. People actually appreciated how hard I had worked and how much I had done. It's so worth everything I went through just to have these people that I hold in such high esteem pat me on the back and tell me "well done". I could barely contain my emotions.

We walked into the Hart and sat through Graduation. It was long, but the speakers kept it spiritual and interesting.

Where's Karlee??

Soon, my name was called and I walked across the stage and accepted my diploma.

 The department head Sister Bergstrom hugged me again and said that if I ever needed anything, let her know. I'm so lucky to have met so many great people in college.

 Hey! Where's my diploma??
When it was over, it was dark outside, so we snapped some quick pictures in the hall. Terrible lighting, but that's all we had to work with.

 My mommy and daddy!

Dave's mommy and daddy!

So, I'm graduated! I'm ready to start my next big adventure in life!  

The Apocalyptic Sky

A fire started out by the site and burned over 109,000 acres earlier this month. Read about it here. We didn't know about it until later that evening when the light outside started looking... orange and eerie. So we went and looked around outside and the 50 mph winds were blowing the smoke of the massive fire right towards Rexburg. It was casting a strange light over the whole town. Dave and I had been engrossed in homework for a while, so I convinced him to drive up to see if we could see where the fire was coming from. So we went to the temple and this is what we saw

(Click for larger view)
It was stunning. We went out and took pictures for a while, but then I had a group meeting I had to go to, so I bequeathed the camera to Dave and told him to make me proud. And he did.

NOT PHOTOSHOPPED!!!

Heaven and Hell

Yep... Math is gonna get bombed. That's the Math building on campus. And that's a hefty meteor heading right for it!! YAY!!!

Dave is amazing.

Best Deal EVER!

So I got introduced to Bountiful Baskets last winter and I love it! You get a bunch of fruit and veggies that lasts Dave and I weeks for only $16 bucks! This is what came in the basic basket last time we got it (over a month ago)

A whole bunch of purple grapes (my favorite!)
three coconuts (still have two of them... don't really know what to do with them)
A cantaloupe (ate it for 4th of July... yum!) 
8 apples (always yummy, but we seem to get alot of them at bountiful baskets, so we didn't eat these ones as well)
A bunch of bananas (if they go bad, I love making bread or ice cream with them. Bananas are always a good choice)
10 apricots (we ate most of them, but they were pretty ripe and we didn't get to the last of them before they went bad... oops.)

AND!!...
A whole bunch of beans (I ate all of them. Dave doesn't like beans... but I do!!)
2 heads of broccoli (Ate most of it last night. Still yummy!)
A bunch of lettuce (We eat salad alot when we get lettuce like this. I love it!)
11 red potatoes (Always good)
A stalk of celery (I love it, Dave doesn't)

All of that for about $16.50!!! Can't get any better than that! I love it! We are getting one this weekend and I can not wait.

We also get 5 loafs of 9 grain wheat bread. It is delicious to the taste and very desirable.  5 loafs for only $10.00!


If you want to get a bountiful basket, click here to go to their site. You have to register and everything and the first basket costs $3 extra dollars, but it's not bad at all. Then you can go to their pick up locations to see if they have one close to you. When you order, you have to get on at 7:30 Monday night and hurry to get the basket and the spot you want, they go quick! Then print out your receipt and bring it to your spot on Saturday morning! Make sure you bring your own basket to put all of this deliciousness in it! You never know what you're going to get each week, it's a big surprise! But you do know that 1/2 of it is fruit and 1/2 of it is veggies. I love that it's an adventure every time!

Anyways, you should check it out. Even if you have a garden now, remember this for winter, cuz it's good stuff!

My stress reflected.... in a cake...

So I wanted to make a beautiful two layer rainbow chip cake for Dave and I. It would be great to snack on between finals and I wanted some sort of desert available to those who may be staying at our apartment during Friday's graduation madness...
This is what I imagined:

(only with rainbow chips in it.)


First problem:
Didn't have any round cake pans. But I had two square cake pans that were the same size! That'll work.

Second problem:
I guess you're supposed to flour the pan if you want the cake to fall out easily. I greased the pan... but I didn't flour it. Who knew? Not me....

Third problem:
I got the cakes out of the oven an they looked delicious. I wanted to frost it right away and eat it all up! But...! I didn't! I have self control... I can wait till the cake cools to frost it. Then I'll eat it all up! So I decided to let them cool over night and then frost them after my New Testament class. But, in order to let them cool down evenly, I thought that I probably needed to get them out of the pan. So I cut carefully around the edges, and turned the pan upside down onto a dish towel.

The cake didn't fall out. It stayed all stuck in there. So I thought, well, I'll just leave the pan like that. Then when the cake is ready, it'll fall out on it's own. Maybe it's a shy cake.

Fourth problem:
So the cake fell out... but not in one piece. It ripped in the middle and left the bottom of the cake in the pan and one of the corners didn't come out and little pieces were everywhere... what a MESS! So I flipped the pan back over and put the cake puzzle back together. Maybe if I leave it in the pan until it fully cools, it will work better. I didn't flip the other cake over because I learned my lesson with the first cake.
I'll just put the ripped cake on the bottom. Then I can kinda glue it together with the frosting and put the pretty cake on the top. No one will even notice.

Fifth problem:
I came home from class the next morning excited to make my less-than-perfect cake beautiful. So I got out a glass platter that my mom gave me and plopped the broken cake down on it. It crumbled a lot more and broke into a few new pieces. Well, that's fine. Like I said, the frosting will glue it together and it'll look great!

Sixth problem:
The frosting did not glue the cake together. It made it even worse. I kept trying the smooth it on thick and not get any crumbs in it, but it just wasn't happening. OK, that's fine. I'll just save the frosting for the top layer and smooth that all out, then frost the sides all nice and no one will even noticed the nasty bottom later.

Seventh problem:
So I thought that since the second cake was still nice and whole in the pan and really cool, I could get it out in one piece and have it look really nice.
heh heh heh..... WRONG!!
I carefully prodded and eased and coaxed that cake out of the pan. I thought it was all pretty much out so I flipped it over onto the towel. Dang it! The bottom of it didn't come out of the pan. Oh well, I'll just scrape that out and put it on top of the bottom layer, then put the mostly whole second layer on top of that! No one will even know!

Eighth problem:
I carefully topped the crumbling, gooey mess with my one pretty top of a cake. That part actually went pretty well. The top was all in one piece.  So I started the frost it very carefully. The top of the cake went really well. Nice and smooth. Then I went to the sides of the cake. It was pretty crumbly from the bottom layer, so I just kinda pushed the crumbs in and hurried and frosted it. Then the crumbs would fall off again. So I hurried and pushed it back and tried to glue it again with frosting. Not working. Heck with it! I'll just frost it, crumbs and all! So I got done with two sides of the cake and.... ran out of frosting.

Ninth problem:
Great. Out of frosting... now what do I do? So I stood back and looked at my cake. GASP!! There's a big crack in the top! Why? Oh, because the bottom layer is pretty much crumbs so it wasn't supporting it very evenly, so it started the fall and crack. Hurry! Fill the crack with frosting! No one will know! Crap! There"s another crack! I need more frosting! Oh no! The corner is falling off! The cake is sliding off! Ahhhhh!!!

Tenth problem:
I attempted to make a layer cake. If I had never attempted this, then problems 1 through 9 wouldn't have existed.

Needless to say, my cake turned out horribly. It still tastes great! But it looks like the god of cakes threw up on my mom's platter.
See for yourself.

Top view

Side view (This was the side that I frosted to keep the crumbs up... so it has a lot of frosting)

Side view (Another frosting covered side)

Side view ( I didn't get frosting on this side...)


So you see... Here is the stress of my finals week, all wrapped up and served right back to me on a silver platter. Or glass... whatever.










After I got done being stressed about my ruined cake, I started laughing. And laughing and laughing and laughing. Then I went and picked up Dave from class. When he came home, he laughed at me. Then I threw a little piece of cake at him. Then he shoved my face into it. Then I rubbed some in his hair. And we laughed.


Then we took a shower.

I might be procrastinating a 3000 word research paper right now.

It's due at midnight.



I have 400 words completed.


But I might not be procrastinating at all.


You never know.



I just had some thoughts. Some personal thoughts and a few sad thoughts. Thoughts that if I think about them too much, I get a knot in my throat.

But personal thoughts first:

1. I love my husband
2. I love the temple
3. I'm graduating from college in 10 DAYS!!! And I only have a 3000 word research paper to type, a 12 page booklet to design, 4 tests to study for and complete, a few 2 page papers to type, a negotiation to figure out, a magazine to design, and a rhetorical discourse paper to write!  THAT'S ALL!!!
4. I also have a bunch of graduation events to attend. They cost money. That's something we don't have. Oh well... you only graduate from college once, right? 
5. I wish that a certain someone and I would please get along so we can love each other and love our family. 

Sad thoughts:
A father, friend, and husband in our ward passed away this last week. He has a 5 month old daughter. It is tragic. And even though I didn't know this individual very well, his death has deeply effected me.
I'm scared of a few things. Hospitals, Doctor's offices (including dentists, old folks homes, and eye doctors), and funerals. Since Dave had a class during this man's funeral this week, I felt like I couldn't go alone, so I didn't go. But this death and the effects of it have been haunting my thoughts.
What is his wife going to do? How can I help her? She has a tiny baby, who will help her raise the baby? What would I do if this happened to me? Why did this have to happen to her? They are so young. Why does she have to go through this? This is my very worst fear. More than hospitals and doctors, I fear the loss of my dear, good, sweet, honorable husband. I'm sure that this husband and wife planned on having more kids, planned on sending their boys on missions, planned on retiring and serving a mission together. They planned on holding their grandchildren.
Now their time is cut so very short. And it breaks my heart.

I'm so thankful for my husband. So thankful for the life we have. So thankful for the time we have. Life is so precious. Cherish it. Tell someone you love them today. Because you never know when they will be gone. I pray that Dave and I will grow old together. I pray that we will serve a mission together, that we can hold our grandchildren. I pray for time.

Please, Lord. Allow us more time.