I'm Back!

This past week, I had the oppertunity to work down in Arizona. the temperature was very hot. the days ranged from 102-109 degrees. My wife had a great time sitting by the pool as I drove down to the wonderful town of Maricopa and made contacts with people. Hopefully we can get a sales team going on down there.
Also visited Las Vegas, my brother lives there, his wife is so cute and bless her heart, she highlighted my sweet Jessica's hair. I have a very cute niece. She uses the word "my" for I'm so when she runs at top speed she yells "my fast, my fast mommy" She's adorable.

I'm not good at manual labor

So far this week I had the oppertunity to help my dad pour and lay some cement in their backyard. Everything was going well until I got there... Actually by the time I got to my parents place, the portable cement mixer my dad rented was faulty and wouldn't mix, so we had to head back to the store and return it. The manager was nice enough to replace it with one that actually did work. So we get back, its time to start pouring the cement bags into this mixer, which looks like an orange pot the size of a round cow, ontop of a wheelbarow. Let me tell you cement bags, even the small ones are heavy, about 80 ibs and you have to balance them while trying to pour them in your giant orange "pumpkin" without hitting the sides which are moving and could tear the bag opening and pour out the contents everywhere. Well after doing that some 42 times of opening bags pouring water in, mixing the mixing machine with a shovel and then putting some dyes in to change the color of the cement it wasn't half bad a job. except the fact that there were to colors of dye's and I mixed both colors, so the cement job might not be all the same color. I didn't know we had to different bags of color. Needless to say, we'll see if my family will call me to help. maybe....

SO THIS HURTS!!!

A few weeks ago, while dancing ( & more particularly while cooling down). I was going over the samba steps, while Jess was stretching. I began a samba roll when I immediately knew something was amiss! I felt this nice intense stabing electric feeling in the middle of and on the right of my back. it hurt to shift and move and breath and sit, and lay down and do anything. It turns out one of my ribs out of place. So naturally i went to see the dance trainer with some intense stretches, and then laying me on my back, crossing my arms and the guy telling me to breath in deep and exhale, he popped my rib back into place. the pressure was so intense, and then it felt good, i could move again even though the muscles were sore from the rib being out of place.
Its amazing that one little rib can completely stop me in my tracks. well onto today. This weekend I was goofing off, jumping around. And decided to try some dance/exercise moves i've seen on tv (I"m refering to the infomercial "insanity" a workout that will change your life or something like that). The process of the dance Move I was attempting was kicking your legs out and up in front of you while flexing your abs. The show said you would feel it in your abs, legs, gluts, back. All I felt within 5 seconds, or 4 kicks, was this pop on my right side middle of my back, and the same iintesnes pressure, pain to breath move, and anything else.
I think I retwisted my rib out of place again... Not the most exciting thing. I can't even say that I did anything cool to dislocate the rib. Jess just looked at me like are you serious! How dumb are you!!! "I just wanted to have a fun date" (did I mention this happened on our date)
OK I"m exaggerating on that, she was actually very simpathetic, just a tiny bit stunned that this should happen again. But like I said she was very simpathetic to my plight and has babied me a bit. Which is nice...
So later that night as I lay mortally wounded trying not to breathe cause it hurts, or move, cause it hurts or shift, or do anything cause it hurts.I'm just about to fall asleep, and I guess in my sleep I try to shift. becuase of this I scream out "bah" Jessica rolls over eyes still closed, and tells me in a somewhat annoyed voice, "No screaming, I'm just about asleep." I look at her (which hurt to turn my head). She was already asleep! She says the funniest things in her sleep. come to think of it so do I.

Yesterday Raimo and I hopped on the scooter and rode into the canyon to find a waterfall. We decided Bridal Veil Falls sounded like a promising place for us to stop. We took a little walk next to the Provo river and when we came around the corner there was this huge fall that really did look like a veil! It was beautiful, and the water came all the way right down to our feet. Just next to the water we saw a pretty steep trail. It looked pretty promising so we headed up. There were quite a few scary spots on the way up. Some parts were really steep and were full of loose sand and rock. One part looked washed out, so we scaled it! We were really rock-climbing! Well we reached a part of the trail that seemed a bit too dangerous, so we headed all the way back down. We washed our dirty hands in the water and just decided to continue the little walk by the river. Well just a few yards away was a little rock-lined path that looked much more like an official trail. Needless to say, we made it to the waterfall without even breaking a sweat on that trail. Should have taken that one in the first place. The falls were amazing up close. The sun was just peeking over the top of the mountain, so when we looked up it was shining through the spray. It was really neat up there too because the water sort of pooled under the fall before trickling down the mountain to the river. It was a nice day.

The thunder has been unreal today-- I keep jumping at it because it is just soo loud and it is like right over our apartment! It sounds like someone has turned a enormous cooler full of ice upside down over us... with a microphone nearby. The rain is on and off, but the drops are just huge! Weird!

We had our first lesson on a rhythm dance with a professional today. His name was Decho and he really helped us a ton! And he was so positive and really made us feel like we have a lot of potential and that we'll do really well in the future. Our bolero is much improved already, and with some practice will be really cool. I'm glad we did it, even though it was expensive!

I am very frustrated that my job searching hasn't gotten me anywhere. I'm just hoping that one of these days someone will read my resume and call me up. And not take all year going about the hiring process. I'm sure something will work out.

Happier news: we found a new frozen yogurt place that has SO many flavors. mmm

Candyman

I have always loved this song by Christina Aguilera, but I had never seen the music video! I love all the costumes, and the fact that she is dancing with Benji! I wish they would have shown a few more shots of him and his cute moves! Check it out!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu-7rPdFjvI

Meet Bella

And yes, her name is Bella Swan

Today's news

We bought one of the cars I talked about earlier. I feel like it's my baby. Pictures to come!

Finland in pictures

So I've been happily reading everyone else's blog for the last few weeks, when I saw on someone else's blog that my own blog hasn't been updated for 4 weeks.

Oh yeah. We went to Finland.
Gorgeous, right? We enjoyed the city of Helsinki

Met up with Raimo's family
Got to know Eila Mummu, and ate all the food she cooked usWent to the temple. And much much more.

Then we spent 3 days in New York. We went to the statue of liberty, ellis island, ground zero, central park...
and saw Romeo and Juliet the ballet at the met. And we had a dance lesson from Eugene in Brooklyn.

There are many more pictures. I think the pictures tell the story best. It was a very busy, fun vacation. I am glad to be home!

This weekend

We are preparing to take off to Finland. Actually, it has been hard to plan for this trip because there have just been so many other things to think of, even right up until the day we leave. We are going to have a great time though. Just need to get through this weekend. It is going to be so crazy. And Raimo has to finish 3 finals tomorrow so we can leave Friday morning. We are driving Blake's truck down and he is flying--thankfully we were able to work out a way to get down there. We will drive straight to girls camp in the St George area where we are giving talks and dancing and singing, then continue on late into the night to Las Vegas. Sleep. Wake early and drive straight to a bridal shower for Traci. We were such good friends, especially senior year, and we have kept in touch through college. I really like how we can just talk for hours and how we love all the same stuff--cute clothes and shoes, going out to eat, and watching movies! Total girlfriends. I wish we could see more of each other. I'm so excited she is marrying Jeff--they are a great couple! I have some cute favors for the shower and a cute present for her. Anyway, the shower is on Monica's birthday, so we will probably celebrate her birthday on the following Monday at the zoo. We will squeeze in some Father's day celebrations on Sunday and then celebrate Mom's birthday on Tuesday and on Wednesday we take off for Finland. This trip might feel like a vacation from real life! But probably not. Tammy has so many things for us to see and do, and we are stopping in New York on the way back. Hope the money lasts till then! haha

In other news, we have been spending a lot of time at Mikko and Nicole's house since Raimo has had class in Salt Lake twice a week. I play with her babies and pretend they are mine and that's fun. I really love watching Raimo play with kids, especially little Mikko, who is 6 and half. Mikko takes him so seriously, no matter what Raimo tells him. The other day he was teaching him the things he needs to practice so he can become a Jedi. For example, he has to use the force to do special balance tricks, he has to obey his mom and pick up the playroom, he has to use the force to fend off the styrofoam arrows Raimo shoots at him. Mikko believes everything Raimo says to him, but he never believes me like that! And it's really cute to see Raimo hold a baby. In some ways babies make him nervous, but they look so cute and tiny wrapped in a strong bicep. It's also been fun to get to know Mikko and Nicole a bit better. We stayed up there like 3 days last week and just hung out and laughed and played. It is fun for me to have an older sister to talk to.

That is what's new. I have been quite busy since my previous posts, planning my talk and shower stuff. I also worked on an editing job, created my little graduation announcement (it actually took forever), and have been going to bed later and later every night. Well, talk to you when we get back,
Jessica

Car shopping

We said goodbye to our Honda yesterday. I'm feeling a little sad about it because it has served us well. But I just have to keep reminding myself how mad I was at that car for breaking on the way to St George and how I wanted to just abandon it right then and there. We made some money off of it and are hoping to find a new car soon.

It is so hard shopping for a car. I would never have thought it would be so un-fun. I really like the idea of a brand new car or a car that is a 2009. Everyone we talk to has their own strong opinions about how and what to buy. Some people insist on a specific brand name, some people think we would be crazy to buy a brand new car. Some say, "Why not. Buy a new car--that would be fun." Some say buy something based on its re-sale value. Some say quality over cost, some say cheapest is best. Seriously though, everyone we talk to is very opinionated about how to buy a car. Why does everyone think they know? At the same time, everyone is right. But we want to be somewhere in the middle.

We want a car that will be a good car for the next 4 years maybe, or longer (unless we feel like trading it). We want to spend as little money as possible, but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on something I don't even like to drive. I hope we can find a beautiful, shiny black thing to drive that just has all the sweet features I want, that is comfortable, and that is going to drive well. I want to make long road trips without any fear of breaking down. I want warranties, I want it all. Oh, and I want it to be cute and to have really great AC. Is that so unreasonable?


Here's what we've looked at.

Ford Focus

Toyota Camry

Chevy Cobalt



Kia Forte

Hyundai Elantra

Honda Civic

Are you sensing a pattern? They all look about the same, they are all in the same price range. I just want to find some dealer that's gonna give us the best deal of our lives.

We are currently driving Raimo's little black low-ride truck from high school, lovingly called the beaner. I am hoping it holds up long enough for us to figure something out!!!