2012 in Review

So I normally don't like doing two posts in one day, I just don't think it looks good for the layout, but I really wanted to post both of these posts today. This one I wanted to revisit all our big moments this year:

January:

January was pretty exciting, we got our Passports (finally!) just in time for our Bahamas cruise. I also got my wisdom teeth removed that month, which has been on my "to-do" list for about 8 years now, so I was really happy to not only have them taken out, but to have it be painless and it didn't break the bank to get done! It was a great way to start off the new year!

February

February was probably one of the funnest months this year since it was when we took our Bahamas Cruise and our second vacation just us. It was a blast going to Orlando Studios and to also see how beautiful the ocean was and play in it. It was definitely a memorable trip!

March

March seems to be a little uneventful, the only thing of noteworthy I can mention is that's when we found our current home and also I got to achieve another dream of taking a picture with a real bear, which is something I've always wanted to do! It may not have been an adult bear, but it was super cute and I wanted to take it home with me.

April

April was another slow month. I got called in for my first Jury Duty, and I was one of the first people I know of to actually get selected. I had fun learning about how the whole jury "system" works and we got fed some pretty awesome food, but I don't think I'd want to do it again. It was pretty extreme and intense. One of the lawyers was a little too emotionally involved and the judge had to tell him to calm down more than once (a day even!).

May

May was one of the most exciting, eventful, busy months for us. Many things happened (maybe to make up for the previous two months). For one, I got my new job at HealthEquity that month, a GREAT move for me and it's not been a choice I've regret since! Larry graduated from Cochise College with his associates. He worked so hard for his degree and from an Arizona college-out of state seems like it'd be really complicated, but he made it work so well and I'm so proud of him!

Oh yeah, and we got engaged!! Which was my favorite part of the month, of course :)
I really think May started off the greatest part of our 2012 year!

June

June was another GREAT month. Why? Because that's when we got our first, very own home!

I love this home and it has, by far, been the best thing to happen for us as a couple ever! If I haven't been obvious enough about how much I love it, hopefully this one has convinced you haha.


July

July was our free Vegas trip that resulted in another semi-free cruise to the Bahamas so it was also a fun month. I love our Vegas trips, and this one was pretty cool because we got to see a couple shows for the first time in all our trips there (The Excalibur show and Peep Show with Holly Madison-which I realized when we saw it she was a couple months pregnant at the time). Larry and I always have a good time in Vegas, even if the trips are pretty short.

Greetings from Vegas! Larry clearly wasn't shaving then and I
Was being lazy with my hair haha

August

August was our wedding filled month! We got to help plan Larry's brother's wedding for one and we also did our engagement session at the end of the month. It was special to be a part of Skyler and Jena's day (I don't think I've cried so much during a wedding! But it was out of happiness-I'm so happy they got married and Jena was so gorgeous in her dress!)

September

September we got to celebrate baby birthdays! I never realized how fast the first year of a baby's life goes until I got to see two of them just completely fly by, and they weren't even my kids! I don't think I even want to know how crazy fast it'll go when it is our kids! It was fun comparing the pictures and how much they've each grown and learned in such a small period. Congratulations, again, to the parents!

October

October was another fun month. It started our first holiday season in our home, Larry and I got to celebrate 8 years together on the 15th, AND I picked out my wedding dress. I still don't even get to see MY version of the dress (because they had to change a few things about it) until the end of January, but believe you me, I'm very very anxious and excited to see it!

November

November will always be one of my favorites because that's when I finally got to have my lasik done! Something I've wanted done for about 7 years now! It's been so nice seeing everything lately. I had a follow up appt today and both eyes together are 20/20, my left eye is super amazing (don't know the EXACT degree, but I'm pretty sure it's a notch above 20/20), my right eye still has some healing to do so we'll see where it gets to in a few more weeks. I joke this seemed to be my year of surgeries because I got my two major ones done and am so, super glad I did!

December

December is still happening, but only for another hour! Other than holidays the only thing I can put of note, but one I guess I haven't really shared with anyone yet, is Larry got accepted into UofU for his next take on school! He's hoping to start Spring of 2013 (even though I think he should wait till after our wedding, but it's his schooling and I know he can take on a lot more than I give him credit for). He's such a smarty pants, it'll be so nice once he gets in and we can see what his schedule will be like. Love that man and everything he does for our future to make it better!

It is pure craziness to believe how fast this year went. Normally I notice it a little more, but last night I turned to Larry and was like "holy smokes, the very last day of 2012 is tomorrow! Not this week, TOMORROW!" I have loved this year so much and am so excited for 2013. There's so much I'm looking forward to next year: our wedding, our honeymoon (AAAAHHH!!), our cruise, plus more! I've got it in my head that next year will be filled with adventure and good times, I want to get so much stuff crossed off our Baby Bucket List, plus get as much schooling done so that I can finish up in 2014 (woops to my goal to be done by next May!). Can't wait till this time next year and to see what I/we can say we accomplished!

Revisiting the Resolutions

So this past week I've been thinking about resolutions and whether I really want to make any for 2013 considering no one ever really keeps to them. Well then I went back and looked at the ones I made public for 2012 and I realized...I actually did pretty good with them this year, there are only 2 I didn't really do. As a refresher my goals/resolutions were:

• Get my wisdom teeth out
• Hopefully, get Lasik this year (this really depends on how much the wisdom teeth ends up costing me)
• Take our Bahamas cruise
• Get passports (for the cruise)
• Get into a medical coding job
• I'm back to learning a new language (I'm thinking Italian, but we'll see)
• I'm also back to getting into a workout routine and eating healthier

The only two I didn't do was getting into a medical coding job and learning a new language. I will say those were my far fetched ones anyways. I do still want to learn a new language or two, I'm working on one currently, but it's kinda a secret and as for the medical coding job...well I most likely won't be doing that. I found out some new things about being in that field that wasn't what I was expecting so it kinda went on the back burner and I really love my job and the people I work with and there's opportunity for me to grow where I'm at and I like that idea right now so I'm staying put. There was another one on my goals list that I accomplished this year, but I didn't make public and I'm really proud of it so I'm making it public now. I have a TERRIBLE, rotten, gross habit...I pick at my fingers. It started when I was young and would usually only be during the winter when my skin was really dry, but for the past couple years it's been all the time, not just winter. I'll tell ya, it bugged the crap out of Larry. I'd always stop for a couple days, but it was almost therapeutic for me so once I saw a new "peel opening" I'd stop everything and just go at it. It was terrible and I was always ashamed to show people my hands or fingers. Well as of today it's been about 4 months since I've peeled them, which doesn't sound like a long time, but it's the longest I've ever gone and I hope to never start again. I've gotten to the point where if I do see something that could lead to peeling I immediately put lotion on so I don't do it anymore. It's been so nice having it gone away with...even if it still is a work in progress! You know how we all have that one habit we've been wanting to do away with for forever but it just never seems to go, well this was mine and I'm glad I can start the new year with one less fault on my list.

So seeing as how I actually accomplished a lot more than I thought I did, I think I may make some 2013 resolutions...to be posted later!

Becoming a little more domesticated

So it took me a REALLY long time, but I finally got some of our frames filled with pictures!!

Oh how excited I am! I've had most of these frames for over a year and I've had a box of pictures and empty frames in a corner since we moved in...so this has definitely been a task in the making!



I have to do closeups of our pictures though:

I saw this frame on a trip to Kohl's and HAD to have it!
I absolute love the clothesline and pins for the pictures.

This frame is from our Universal Studios trip in February

This one my aunt, Cindy, got us as a housewarming gift.
I LOVE the frame and that's my absolute favorite
Picture of Larry and me.

Even though I've decided we won't be doing any decorating to our place till after the wedding (I want to focus on one room at a time and there will most likely be painting so I figure why put holes in our walls if we'll just have to cover them up to put them back in again?) I wanted to at least fill the frames for some fun until we could do some fun decorating. I'm debating doing one more photo shoot with just Larry and me in April/May to have a bit of a mixture of pictures to frame so it's not just the ones from our engagements, but we'll see if that ends up happening I can talk Larry into doing another one.

Also, another domestic happenings in our place, I've been cooking a ton more than I had before we moved in, which is just so much fun! Well for my birthday my grandma got me the CUTEST apron (one of the ones we registered for):

(I'm still not wearing makeup from my lasik, so
I'm not taking any pics of me IN the apron, but this
Is from the site)

It says "Little Black Apron" on it and has pearls lining the neckline and has some black lace on it. I LOVE that it's my first real apron and it fits me so well! So now cooking is even more fun :)
I'm still learning fun things to mix with each meal or combining different things to make new recipes with my old ones, but it's been so nice having real dinners with Larry and mixing in old ones we used to have (like spaghetti or burritos/tacos). Plus with our meal planning each week, I feel we've saved a little bit of money with grocery shopping since we aren't really going in blind and buying stuff we don't end up using.

One big reason I love these changes is because (I've been talking a lot about this with some work people and Larry) when I first moved out from my mom's I kept thinking "I'm going from a house that was always clean, we had regular, fairly healthy, meals, and  a pretty routine sleeping schedule to a place that has none of that." I mean everything was set just so and it offered a sense of security at my mom's and I felt like I was taking a gigantic step backwards. I mean, I'm sure my mom wasn't ALWAYS so routine (although knowing her, she might just have been). I figure she had to have started similar to where I was starting on my own, but it scared me to think I had to figure it all out by myself instead of it just being there, like I was used to. Moving into that small, cramped, supremely messy apartment with Larry's dad was definitely not ideal, but we were together and we had our own room so it worked. Although, it was very depressing knowing I ate meals that were made in the microwave or on an old, used up skillet and then going to visit mom and they were having one of their yummy dinners I missed so much, I just used it as motivation that I would be back to that kind of house again (and NO, not by moving back in with her-even though I did for a brief period while Larry was in Basic and AIT). Moving into this condo, and making it our home, is EXACTLY where I wanted to be. We have a pretty routine sleeping schedule (except on the weekends!), we eat pretty good meals (not mac n cheese-that's for dang sure!), and even though it may not be clean all the time, it's not nearly like it was at Larry's dad's house! I love it, it only took me 7 years to get here, but I'm glad I am and I'm glad I started out in a not-so-ideal place so I could learn what I wanted to be back to. Being in this home has just improved so many things for us, it makes me love the choice we made to buy it and make it all ours!

So really, that's all I had, but I wanted to share our cute pictures in our cute frames that took me...well let's just say those green and pink cat frames were a Christmas gift from like 3 years ago! And I would like to point out (for all those that think we're crazy cat people) NONE of the cat frames were bought by Larry or myself-they were ALL gifts to us. But I do love them and loved finding pictures for them so thanks for the gifts! Happy New Years all (in 2 days!).

Oscar hates bigfoot!

You can really see him running in the one above, but the one below I took first. They crack me up! By the way: Oscar NEVER runs from us unless he's playing, which he wasn't in these videos. He would NOT stop staring at my slippers. Baby girl hates the camera so she doesn't do anything funny which could be why she acted so cool around them in the one video.

All I Want For Christmas Is You

So I have to say, this Christmas has got to be, hands down, one of the best I've ever had! The only thing that would've made it better was to have my brother, Andy, home for it. But I know he's trying to be here for my wedding so I completely understand. We got to Skype with him for a little bit-I'll admit, it brought tears to my eyes. I just miss him so much and knowing he doesn't get to be with our loud, sarcastic, uber fun family breaks my heart (especially around the holidays!). Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year, so to think of not being with my family? Man, that's tough and he does it without any complaining so I really can't wait till he gets home.

We got A TON of stuff this year! I mean just look at this haul:

 

Oh and if anyone thinks we need anymore sweets or treats, well I invite you to look at our dining table here:

We are definitely good for some time, but know that I am NOT complaining one bit, I love candy so this is happiness to me. But there will be no dining on this table for a while haha.

Also, look how cute this little guy is:

It's a cookie jar, and I'm OBSESSED with bears! I've already warned Larry our house will be decorated with bear stuff AND I didn't have a cookie jar yet. I love it! Thanks to my friend Stace

Now award for the most entertaining gift ever goes to my parents. Side note: There's an on going joke in my family that I have big feet, it started with a random comment and has just taken off as my nickname among my step-dad and brothers. I don't think my feet are super big, but compared to my legs and ankles they do seem to be...abnormal. Anyways, for one of my gifts I got these:

Oh my gosh they are so warm and comfy and I love them! I laughed so hard when I got them-fits so well. Well Oscar HATES them! He freezes when I walk and if I run...oh lord help that poor kitty as he dashed without looking anywhere away from them. I crack myself up with it. And while this isn't the best video, I happened to catch him real quick before hiding from them on video (which I guess I'll have to post in a separate post as the video won't be on here without the HTML code and with that the pictures don't show). Anyways, just know it's hilarious until I do post the video, best entertainment ever! Larry loved all his gifts, of course. I think he might have expected most of the ones I got him, but the ones he didn't expect I think he loves! I'm glad I know him so well! I'll post more about our Christmas later, for now I just wanted to show how much we're loved and thought of this season and say I hope everyone else had a GREAT Christmas like us :)

Holiday Fun!

My name is Jodi and...

I'm a complete slob!

 

 

Okay, so I was making some work Christmas treats (because I just KNEW the world wasn't going to end and I'd look pretty mean if I didn't bring something) and this is what my kitchen ends up looking like when I bake or cook, especially when it's new stuff. I won't even take pictures of what the living room or our bedroom looks like, but suffice it to say-I've got a nice big weekend pre-Christmas project on my to-do list! Looks like when I'm not with family, I'll be cleaning..A LOT!

But I did manage to get another Pinterest thing off my "need to try" list:

image source

The one on top is the original version, one on the right is mine. It looks brown and kinda like "no bake cookies" but I promise they are black and when you peel them off with a spoon they look like coal! I had fun making them and they were real easy, but man taking them off those pans was a nightmare! I don't think it will be a "regular treat" in this household, but I'm glad I could make it for co workers to enjoy :)

Anyways, I hope everyone is excited that Christmas is in just 4 days-hope your shopping is done! I can't wait to see my family and see if they like their gifts :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Twenty-Twelve

So I decided that even though I don't really believe the world is ending tomorrow, I wanted to post a little post about everything I'm grateful for that 2012 has brought to me (it seems like one of my biggest years, although I'm sure I'll have bigger):

This year, Larry and I moved into our very own home. I'm so very thankful for our place, I've loved our neighbors (though that feeling might not be as mutual), I've loved the little area we've come into. I've loved that we can call it our own and we can do whatever we want in it! It really is our perfect first home together!

This year brought me to one of the things I've wanted since I was 16-perfect, natural vision. I took this picture to represent all the stuff I was throwing out. Of course, I kept the glasses as a memento of how far blind I was before doing the surgery, but it felt so good to throw the rest out (the drops were contact only drops so they were useless to me)

This year brought in my first in a while without any car payments (YES! I own something! Officially) and Larry also got his first car that had payments attached to it that weren't for repairs :) High fives for growing up more this year! High five!

Of course I HAVE to mention this year bringing me a wedding (even if it won't be till next year technically)! I mean when you've been with the love of your life for 7 years...well you try being more patient than I was! Ha ha. I love that my family loves him, his family loves me, and we definitely are absolutely crazy for each other!

I am so happy to have a new job this year! Not only to have a new job, but one with people I love and for a company I respect! HEQ has been so amazing this year, I've had more parties with them in my 8 months than I did in my 2 1/2 year at the credit union, they are so giving to the community and they make us all feel special when we accomplish something. This picture happened to be what they did to my desk for my birthday!

We've met some new friends this year, people that make us laugh! People that we would like to know forever and have tons of fun with. People that especially can laugh at themselves when they've passed out in our tub. Do not even ask how he slept like that, but I happen to know he did for about 3 hours no matter how much we tried to wake him up (including turning the shower head on!)


And now some things that didn't necessarily come in 2012, but I'm still really grateful for:

I absolutely love my cats! They really make me happy and when I'm having a bad day I'm guaranteed to get a smile just by playing with them or seeing them cuddle together!

My family, but really most importantly, my mom! Don't get me wrong other family members out there that might be reading this-I love you all unconditionally and would literally take a bullet for each and every one of you! No way would I ever be me without any of you (even if you came into the game later!). My family is everything to me, but my mom has been there for me EVERY. SINGLE. STEP! She taught me what it means to have a family and, above all, a support system! I have molded my life after her in a way. I've learned from her mistakes, taken lessons from her successful moments, I've learned to care and befriend others and not just for some personal gain. She makes me laugh, but also gives me reality checks when I need them. I swear I'm her clone, not her daughter, and I love that! I couldn't have a better mom if I got to choose from all of them out there! Love you momma!

Last, but very certainly not least, I'm so grateful for this guy! He is my rock, my better half, my companion throughout everything. He is my Seeker (bonus points if you know what I'm talking about here!). He is more than anything I could've asked for. I know we're not perfect, but I feel we're perfect for each other. He's known me since I was 16 years old and even 8 years later he still loves me just the same. We've definitely grown up in so many different ways, and I'm so happy that it's been together. I mean, we spent almost an entire year and a half apart, and came out so strong! I think it almost helped us too because we realized what life would be like without the other one there to share in all our moments and while we did have friends or family to lean on, it definitely wasn't the same. I don't think I could've done that with anyone else and been so happy in the end. He's taught me to be more mature, more loving, more fun, and to not take things too seriously all at the same time. We do have our things we don't agree with each other on, but it's fun to argue them and then laugh at each other (though he'll be the first to tell you I get SO heated over them and he laughs at me and then I just tell him to stop laughing at me. He may not know this, but I LOVE when he laughs at me). We went on vacation together, lost $500 and our car keys and were able to laugh about it the same day! Why? Because we work so incredibly well together and...well I don't exactly know how to put it into words, but to say I had a support system before him is one thing, but the support I have now for any and all decisions? It's basically tripled because of him, he's just ALWAYS there for me and understands me and knows exactly what I'm thinking! He's incredible, and not only is he all mine, but he's all mine for forever!

Overall, this year has pretty much rocked! I can't wait to see what 2013 brings knowing by the end of it I'll officially be Mrs. Bradsby (yes, I love the ring it has to it!). So basically, the world can't just end yet, I've got too much to look forward to and pass on to others.

'Tis the Season of Giving

So I don't know if anyone remembers. but back in May I got a new job with a great new company! I'll admit I was really nervous when I first moved over. Normally when I got a new job before it was because the old job just wasn't working out for me anymore, but this time that wasn't the case. I loved the credit union and everyone I worked with there, but I needed something different if I was going to be serious about going into Psychology.
Anyways, I now see how amazingly awesome this new company is. I've been saying for the past couple years that I've wanted to help someone out during Christmas. I always wanted to go to the mall (or where ever they have them) and go to the trees of the families or kids that won't get any gifts-I said I wanted to start it earlier so that Larry and I could continue that tradition onto when we had kids (maybe have them pick out a kid around their age that they can get them a fun gift and see that Christmas isn't just about getting presents, it's about helping and sharing and giving).
Well I found out HealthEquity does such that each year and we can go pick a kid and get them a gift! I picked out a 17-year old girl named Natalie who wanted the Hunger Games DVD this year. Easy enough and doesn't cost too much. It feels great to help out, I mean one little gift doesn't feel like much, but when you see this or this:

It makes you feel like you may have only contributed one tiny thing, but those kids are going to be so happy when they see all these piles under the tree! I'm so happy that there was a way for me to help out this year and I'm very excited to keep it up from here on out. I encourage anyone else out there to do the same because one gift is just a small thing to us, but it becomes something bigger and better for others!

My small contribution

The Much Delayed Update (No. 8 and 9)

Hello blogging world! I can't tell you how (surprisingly) much I missed blogging while I was away! I know it's been FOREVER since I last mentioned I'd be getting my PRK done, I've been meaning to update about how it went and where I am now, but things got so busy around me, I'm glad to have a moment to breathe

AH!

Okay, done with my breath :)

So it's been almost two weeks since I got the procedure done and I have to say it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The surgery was fine, although I have to say everyone I know that's done it before me has lied-you do so want to blink once they prop your eyes open. Sure I was on Valium and they had numbed my eyes, but once they were stuck open I could feel my eyes just rolling back into my head very desperate for just one more blink. I don't think it helped that they had me keep my eyes closed for, like, a whole minute before they propped them open and they had just put in the numbing eye drops and the second I opened my eyes there were lasers like RIGHT there so it was a little weird. Luckily it only takes about 22 second per eye to do the surgery so it was really fast and my eyes weren't THAT bothered, just a little bit. I experienced two crazy parts though: 1-when you see something coming at your eye you have a natural reflex to want to push it away or close your eye. What's even weirder is when it actually (and obviously) touches your eye and yet you don't feel it. I almost wish I could always have those numbing drops ha ha. 2-The numbing drops didn't work for my left eye so they had to find some back up ones to make sure I would be okay and so once they used those they then put the thing to hold my eye open on and I thought "Okay, this will be quick, lets get it over with" and then I realized I could actually feel stuff in my lower eye. It didn't hurt, but the fact that I could feel it was really weird. It didn't feel natural, but I just wanted to get it done with so I just clenched my jaw and let it happen. It was worth it.

Now as far as the recovery goes: Let me be the first to say IT HURTS! I mean I guess it's obvious that there are lasers shooting into your eye AND you've also cut away a whole layer of your cornea so it should hurt, but no one has ever told me there was pain involved! I will also say that the main reason for this could have, possibly been due to the fact that I was supposed to receive eye drops that help with the pain, but they told me in the office that they delay healing so I shouldn't use them after the 3rd day (being Sunday) and when I went to the pharmacy they said they were out and wouldn't have it in until Sunday so I figured I might as well just not use them and just go with the Loritab they gave me. If you get this done (at least PRK, not sure about Lasik) don't think this! Get the drops! Saturday and Sunday I really was second guessing my decision to do this. Loritab only helped me sleep 2 to 3 hours at a time and when I woke up I felt like they were throbbing with pain! I can't even describe the pain I went through, but I would never do it again! Once I hit Tuesday I was all good, a little dry, but mostly good.

I couldn't really look at computers or my phone, I couldn't watch TV, workout, or really drive so let me tell you how boring life can get when those are your options! I napped...a lot. I played with the kitties. I did a new Wood Connections block project and also worked a little on my HOME blocks. The good news is this crosses off like 3 of our "Pre-Pregnancy Bucket List" items so yay! Like I said, by Tuesday I was okay to have the TV on and kind of just listen to shows I knew already (Friends and Family Guy were both loaded into our DVD player so I was lucky there), but I had to keep my eyes closed. I heard PRK has a longer recovery period and is a little more rough than Lasik, but I didn't really expect any of that stuff.

The greatest news though is it really was worth it. I'm still, technically, in my recovery period for another 4 weeks, but I'm VERY happy with where I'm at now and can't wait to see how much better my sight gets. By my follow up appointment on Wednesday (the 5th) they said my right eye was 20/20 and my left was 20/30 (just a smidge off perfect vision), which they said was definitely above average. That was, of course, before they took out my contact bandage. After that things got a tiny bit fuzzy and by my actual post op on Friday the eye Dr. said I was at 20/30 in both eyes. They tell me that's still above average to be so well so fast, but I think I could still get to being better. I can't quite read fine print yet and computer screens bother my eyes a little, but they said they were still swollen and dry and that could contribute to that blurriness and I just have to keep up with my steroid eye drops and my fake tears for a little while. Oh and another thing no one told me, the steroid eye drops (the ones you HAVE to take for 9 weeks) gives you the absolute, more horrid taste in your mouth! A friend told me hers was like sour milk, but mine tastes like some sort of dirty metal! It's terrible, so I always have to eat something right after. I love the fake tears though, they are very refreshing. I wasn't able to wear makeup the week of my surgery and I was really hating life then and thought I can't wait to have this done so I can wear it again, but I've gotten used to not having it on and I'm not quite ready to touch my eyes to put it on or take it off and since I'm still healing I don't think it's a good idea to start throwing chemicals into that so that's another thing to consider when making this choice.

So now I just get to wait until my next follow up appointment on the 31st to see where my vision is at then, though I can feel it getting slightly better each day. I can't wait to see what they tell me then. I'm so happy to not only have perfect vision by my wedding day, but to also start out the new year with it! Now only 12 days till Christmas, 19 until 2013, and 183 until the wedding :)