January

I have gotten really close to a few people here. I went on a stake tubing trip, and here are pictures of a few of those people. Below, left to right is Desi, Milan, Eric, and Moi....

Here is me and Desi, my BEST friend.... I love this girl so much, she has been through so much, and her strength gives me strength. I know I can count on her for ANYTHING, she is one of the rocks in my life....

I got the chance to go through the Draper Utah temple open house. It was amazing inside, and I felt so much at peace while there. Here is me, Desiree, Sam, and Milan.

January was just SO COLD! We are defiantly not in Hawaii anymore Toto. I live in Orem, and drive to Salt Lake every day for work, and a few days when it snowed a lot it took me 3 hours or more to get home! Crazy!!! People forget how to drive in the snow :) People ask me a lot if I am going to move to SLC to be closer to work, but I have no plans to do that any time soon. I really love where I live, and I love where I work, so for now this is the way it is going to be...

Gratitude

I had a GREAT Christmas! It was so much fun to be home with my Mom, her new hubby, and Tyler! Christmas Eve I rode home with Brandon, it was great to catch up with him and we had a great time talking and catching up. Then, after I got home, my friends from Orem called and sang Christmas carols to me and my mom. It was great! It is so wonderful to know such great people. Tyler came over to Moms house for Christmas eve, and we stayed up and talked long after everyone had gone to bed. I really enjoy being so close to home, especially after being gone for so long. It really makes me appreciate the simple things like being home for Christmas, and late night chats with my brother (did you see that Tyler, I appreciate you :D).

Christmas day was great. We got on webcam and opened gifts with Jenna and Reilly, and then Rods daughter and her family came over. It was sweet, she gave us each the card game phase 10 and some peanuts, haha, me and Tyler played Phase 10, and even got Mom involved, and I bet you didn't know that card game was a contact sport :D, well, it is with my family haha. That night, I went to pick up Brandon, and we were going to stop by and see our friend Brooke who is on leave from the Army, but we didn't get ahold of her in time... So, we headed back, right into the snow storm. It was nuts, we had to pull over to the side of the road because we couldn't see. We drove about 10 mph all the way to Scipio, but were lucky enough to be able to drive 40 on the freeway all the way back to Orem. It snowed pretty bad the whole way. Luckily we took my car, thank goodness for AWD! :D Anyway, I am grateful for the chance to catch up with Brandon and Brooke! I know this is the billionth time, but it is SO nice to catch up with old friends!!! LOVE IT!

Today I took my final exams! I aced both of them, and will get As in each class. YAY! I did some post holiday shopping :D went on a date, and has movie night with a bunch of friends. It was a blast! I am SO grateful for my friends here. They are such good people, and I am so blessed to have them in my life. Thanks everyone for being AWESOME!

Last but not least, I am SO grateful for the Lord and his Atonement. Some of the conversations I have had with a few people in the past little bit has really opened my eyes, and helped my testimony grow. I am amazed at the power behind the Lords love for us, and I am so grateful for his hand in my life. I have had a rough few years, and certainly made huge mistakes, but now, as I straighten my life out, I can see the blessings pouring out, and my heart is so full of love for our Savior and his sacrifice for us. There have been some very hard times even in the last few months, but I know, that the Savior has felt how I feel and he understands, and that makes all the difference in the world. I know that the Atonement is real, and through it we can be forgiven of all our sins, and for that I am most grateful. I know that with his help I have made it through the rough times, and with Him I can make it through anything.

I want to thank everybody for their help, thoughts and prayers, and especially the Lord for blessing me with such great people.

And then some...

What a month!!! Life has been so crazy, but so great! Where do I start? First of all, I LOVE my job. I work with GREAT people, and it is a GREAT company, and every day I don't go more than thirty minutes without laughing. I could not ask for more. Well, actually, I do drive 45 miles for work each way, and that is a little rough, but it is also great time to just think (which is dangerous sometimes, when I think that is haha). It did however take me two and a half hours to get home last Friday in that huge snowstorm... YUCK Anyway...

I LOVE where I live! I am in the GREATEST ward ever! There are some awesome people in my ward, and the ward here is an 'older' ward, which is great, I guess the average age is 25 :D. I am making a lot of new friends. I am so grateful to have such awesome people in my life. I would name names, but I don't want to leave anybody out, just know that I appreciate you! I do have a fun experience... One Sunday at ward prayer I met a guy who served his mission in Korea! We talked forever about anything and everything Korean, and all the fun stuff that we miss. It was totally awesome to be able to have a conversation about it with someone who actually knows what I am talking about. Just like with the Army, it is great to meet soldiers, I can speak about the Army without having to explain every other acronym. :D LOVE IT.

I HATE the COLD!!! People, it sucks, I know you know, and I know it is going to get colder, but that doesn't mean that it is not freezing now!!!! I just got so used to the year round warm in Hawaii my body doesn't know what to do in the cold. I came home from work one day, and this is what my lawn looked like....

The people that live below me shovel my sidewalk, LOVE THEM.

Foxy has to have a special patch of grass shoveled just for her to do her business, that dog is so spoiled...

OH, I have another friends story!!! On Sunday I met up with an old friend from high school! I love catching up with people, and he came over Sunday and we watched movies and played Wii with my other GREAT friend Desiree. It was so much fun to catch up, and tonight, we are going to drive back home together, to keep company and have someone else to push the Santa Fe if it gets stuck hahaha, jk. It is supposed to be really yucky weather and it will be so nice to have the company!

On that note... I am SO excited to be able to go home for Christmas! This will be the first Christmas I get to spend home with my family (minus Jenna) in five years! Jenna is stuck in Arizona, but it will be great to be around my mom and Tyler! I cant wait!

Speaking of Tyler, he is probably going to be moving in with me. I am going to start taking bets of how long it will take for one of us to kill the other hahaha. We have a great relationship as long as we live apart, it will defiantly be interesting, plus it will be great to have him around to do the man work haha. Brothers.....

Anyway, that's about it for now, nothing too exciting, but I need to do my homework (blech) and get packed to head home. I wish everybody Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!! To my battle buddies in Iraq, you will be home in one month! I love you and miss you! God speed!!!

Jules

Veterans Day

I just wanted to give a shout out to all my soldier friends and family!!! Thanks for everything you do!!! I miss you all, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, I miss the Army, and in some ways wish I was still in, and fighting with you. To all you I served with, God Bless you! You are my family, and I pray every day for your safe return home. God speed, and I hope one day we meet again. Here are some old military pics I dug up, enjoy the memories!

Saluting the troops as they fly off to Iraq

Dark Marco and Hernie :D BALLIN'

P-I-M-P

Combat Commo!

Catching up with Julie...

So, I have lots of new stuff!!! I have been slacking on my blogging a bit, so here is a catch up...

Halloween.... So, Halloween is probably my LEAST favorite holiday... Not sure why, and I am not going to go into the many things that irritate me about it right now, but I did end up going to a party with my cousin Jenny, and I EVEN dressed up lol, I have no idea why I decided to even go but my costume turned out pretty cool... Remember those troll dolls? The ones with a jewel on the tummy, and if you rubbed it it was good luck? Well, I decided to be one of those. I got a nude color leotard from a dance store and put it together. I decided to be a beach troll since I didn't want to be a naked one hahahaha... so here is a picture :D

So, I got an AWESOME job!!! I start Monday the 17th. i will be doing technical support (computer stuff) for L-3 Communications-Communications Systems West. L-3 is the sixth largest defense contracting company in the country, and they have locations worldwide. I am SO excited, and lucky to have gotten this job. The job is in Salt Lake City, so, looks like I will be moving again lol. I don't mind, just have to find a place now... Anybody know of any good places to rent in Salt Lake county that will let me have my dog?

So, I got a new (used) car! I ended up getting a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. I LOVE it! It only has 14,000 miles on it, and it is AWD (great for the commute to SLC from Orem in the winter). I got a GREAT deal on it! I am glad I did my research on it first, I went in there with stacks of papers I had printed off about the car lol... It was great! I ended up getting it for $4,000 less than suggested retail. :D Anyway...

All in all life is getting much better. It is so much fun to be able to catch up with old friends, be within driving distance of family, and I defiantly can see the Lords hand in helping me get my life back together. As bad as things have been, they are getting better, and I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. There are a few people I have been meaning to catch up with, and if you want to catch up with me, just let me know, I love to see people I haven't seen in years!!!

BTW, it is SO COLD!!! I am going to have a hard time in the winter... BRRRR

Ever have a day where you just feel like you got run over by a semi truck???

Well, yesterday I actually did... A semi truck trailer plowed right over the top of my car, oh, and btw, I was in it... So, most of you know, I am accident prone, and long over due for a near death experience hahahaha... here is the latest adventure... :D

So, I was driving on my way to work, (good old Payless btw, I am long overdue for a 'catch up' blog, maybe in the next few days I will get around to it...) and I was in Payson, at an intersection getting ready to turn right. I was following a diesel truck, who was in the straight lane, so I got into the right turn lane, and started to turn, when the semi truck (pulling a flat bed trailer) started to turn too. He was STILL in the straight lane, and just turned! Not straddling the two lanes, no blinker, no brakes, just TURNED! RIGHT FROM THE STRAIGHT LANE!!! Now, I drive a little ford focus, not exactly a good match for a HUGE TRUCK, needless to say, I lost... The trailer smashed right into my car, and shoved it right up onto the curb.

All the time, I am in the car with a trailer headed straight for my head (drivers side...) and all I could think was 'How the heck am I going to get outta this mess!" Seriously folks, totally life-flash-before-your-eyes experience! My left arm is sticking straight out towards the drivers side door, like hey, if the trailer hits me, maybe I can stop it with my arm, lol, ever read Twilight? I was totally gunna have an Edward-saves-Bella moment... Seriously, luckily the truck stopped, one more foot, and I would have been stuck under the trailer...

So yeah, at this point I am totally freaking out, and all I can think is GET ME THE CRAP OUTTA THIS CAR! Too bad the drivers side door is under the truck... I had to climb out the passenger side door... I was shaking like nobodies business... Anyway, nobody got hurt, not even a scratch for me (LUCKY, AGAIN!)... but my car has definitely had better days... It is in the shop now, and I will find out tomorrow if it is totaled. For not, I have a SWEET rental car, all at the expense of the insurance company :D There are so many more details to this story, but I am sure as things happen, I will fill you all in. (Yes, there is going to be a battle :D) So, for now, I am still alive, and one more straw has been added to this camels back... Life sure is rough sometimes....

I will post pictures when I get them uploaded :D NIGHT!

Julie

House, Job, Car, and Everything in Between

So, it has been a long time since I have posted. There has been so much stuff going on, I have barely been able to keep my head on straight. Here is a brief run down of what my last few weeks have looked like, and the new challenges that lie ahead....

So, my last post left off with me looking for a place to live. Well, I found one. It is a house in Orem near the University Mall, the story of how I got it is crazy... First of all, let me start with a story... The day before I found the place I was listening to the radio and they were talking about how 666 is a sign of the devil, and that 333 means God is trying to tell you something. I had never heard the 333 thing before, but found it interesting... anyway back to the story... I had been looking for a few days, and made a few trips up to Utah County from my Moms house in Elsinore to look at a few places, but the places I looked at really just weren't right... I was getting a little discouraged, and instead of driving all the way back to my Moms house, I stayed at my Grandparents house in Payson. My Grandma asked if I had looked in the local newspaper for places to live, and I hadn't, so I decided to give it a try, but didn't have very good luck until the last place. It sounded perfect for me, so I made the call. It was just about everything I was looking for, and I was excited to look at it, so I asked the lady when she was showing it, and then she gave me the address. Guess what the address is? 333 East blah blah blah. Wow, so, needless to say, I LOVED the house, and moved in a few days later, just thought it was funny how I never heard the whole 333 thing until that same day, anybody else ever heard of that?

So, I love where I live, it is a cozy little place, now I am just waiting for my furniture to get here :D I sleep on an air mattress, and that is pretty much it for furniture in the house. Fun. I live close to my Grandparents, and my cousins, and I am having a lot of fun hanging out with my cousin Jenny (she is actually my fourth cousin...). My mom and her mom were really close growing up, and it is fun to be able to be so close.

I picked up my car in Los Angeles on Monday, and that whole bit was an ADVENTURE! I will start from the beginning....

I got two plane tickets (one for me and Jenny) for 8:00 in the morning to fly from SLC to LA. We dropped off my rental car, and checked in for our flight. We didn't bring any checked baggage since we were not making a long trip, and just had our carry-ons. So, we got through security, and were looking for our gate, and couldn't find it. We were flying United airlines, and the only flights to LA were for Delta... weird... so, we went to the United ticket counter and asked the attendant where our gate was. She took one look at our tickets and said "This flight is for 8:00 PM." We were at the airport before 7 am, and they let us check in and everything, all the time for a flight that was more than 12 hours away! I was SO upset, they wouldn't refund our tickets cause we had already checked in, and I had to get on that early flight to LA. United had no other flights leaving and the VPC (place where I pick up my car) closes at 4pm. We were stuck!!! So, I went to the Delta ticket counter (inside the terminal) and asked if there was any way I could get two tickets to LA on the Delta flight that left in 45 minutes. Luckily for us, there were two seats left, right next to each other... :D I had to fork out 400$ but at least we got on an 8:00AM flight... nuts... I still have our United tickets that were never used.... haha, life....

So, we got to LA and everything went pretty smooth. I got my car, and we headed off to Vegas for the night. We had a lot of fun there, we stayed at Treasure Island Hotel, and saw Cirque De Soleil Mystere. It was AWESOME!!!! I have pictures, to post later.... We left Vegas the next day, after going shopping of course, and our next stop was in St. George to see my favorite friend Melanie. It was so much fun to see her and her little baby Trevor (Oh, and Everett too haha). I love it when I get to see Mel, and luckily, I live a lot closer, I may have to make monthly trips to St. G. :D

Oh, I forgot one very important detail.... When we were driving from LA to Vegas, I got a phone call, from Teleperformance, the company I was supposed to start working for in a few weeks. Well, it turns out that Dell is re-negotiating the contract it has with Teleperformance, or something like that, and they cancelled all new hires and training indefinitely. What does that mean for me? That means I do not have a job. It's funny really, I get everything settled in and start to get comfortable, and BAM, there you have it. So, Julies Job Hunt is on again... It's just now, I am limited to Utah County.... Yup... So there is my life in a nut shell, I will keep you posted....

Night!

I got a job!!!!!

So let me tell you a good story....

As you all know (and thanks for the support btw) I have been looking for a job. I have let everyone I know know I am looking, checking out job websites and such, not really coming up with anything good. My Uncle works for a company that I talked with, but they didn't have any positions open beyond basic reception jobs. I was getting a little discouraged, but keep putting in resumes and stuff.

So, I have a cousin, (actually she is my 4th cousin or something, more like best friend...) her name is Jenny and I have known her my whole life, anyway.... ever since I found out that I was moving to Utah, I had the feeling that I should call her. It is such a coincidence that I had her number anyway, but that is another story... I kept telling myself that I would call her later, I was sure I was going to call her, but I just kept putting it off.... Well, I finally called her Tuesday. She manages two Payless stores in Utah county, and while she couldn't provide me with the job and income I needed she had JUST hired a guy part time that is the Human Resources manager for a company called Teleperformace. She had no idea what the company did, but she instantly thought of him. She told me that she would talk to him that night, find out what he did, and ask him if he was hiring....

Well, she talked to him, and the first thing he asked her is "Does she know anything about computers?" BINGO! So, he gave her his work number, and told her to tell me to call him the next day, which was Wednesday. I called Wednesday, and he told me that the were hiring Dell Technical Support Technicians. Sweet. I have five years of experience working DIRECTLY with Dell products (thanks Army). So, he asked if I could interview the next day, of course I jumped at the chance, so I went up there Thursday (oh, to Lindon btw, North Orem/Pleasant Grove for those that don't know) and had two interviews, I really impressed the guy that interviewed me last, and the offered me the position!!! It was SO AMAZING!!!

Everything just fell together so nicely I just know that I am supposed to be doing this. I look at all the things that happened and it is just awesome. I start working at the end of October, which works out nicely too. I have to pick up my car in LA at the end of this month, then the Army has to deliver my household goods by mid October, it is great cause I have time to find a place and get settled in and not have to rush anything. I can focus my time on finding an apartment out near Lindon/Orem/PG and get my stuff moved in, and visit old friends that I haven't seen in forever.

So, my house/apartment hunt starts next week, if anybody that lives in that area knows of any good places for rent that will let me keep my small dog, got ahead and leave a comment. Anybody that wants to catch up with me, also comment, I have some time to travel around a bit.

I need to work on my Arabic accent. LOL I figure I have lots of bad karma coming my way, I used to give Dell Techies such a hard time lol. I don't believe I have EVER talked to an American Dell Tech Support person... I didn't even knew they had them lol. I LOVE it!!!

Home in Utah

I left Hawaii Saturday night. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Even Alan leaving for Iraq was easier than this, I knew he would come back to me. Now, I will probably never see him again. I know it is for the best, but it sucks still... Foxy was great all through check in and security, but she threw a fit in the airport. I was having a hard time waiting for the plane, and just cried. Once on the plane Foxy calmed down, and was fine throughout the whole flight. We got through baggage claim, rental car and everything and Foxy was so well behaved, it was nice.

We drove all the way from SLC to Elsinore where my mom lives. We stopped in Payson to see my Grandparents, and Foxy did well with them. She just sat on my lap and slept through the whole car ride. We got to my moms house around 12:30 in the afternoon, and have settled in rather nicely. My Moms dog is not a fan of Foxy, and sometimes we have to interfere in their getting to know each other, but other than that things are going well. I have sent out a few more resumes, and this week I am just going to get settled, and start my school work before setting out on the road next week to follow up on my job applications and resumes. The hardest part for me is not knowing what I am going to be doing, or where I will be. I feel like I am not secure, life is an open book right now....

BTW, it is COLD! It was like 5 degrees today, my goodness I was freezing! I do not know if I will survive a winter in Salt Lake County, or where ever I will be, I may have to look further south, like Saint George or Vegas... I might never unthaw... :D and it was only 65! wow.

Anyway, I will keep everyone posted on my status, also my blog will be undergoing a serious makeover, for obvious reasons... I will have to take that on later...

Until next time...

Julie

Aloha Oe'- Farewell to you Hawaii

On Friday the movers cam to my house to pack up all my furniture to send to Utah. It should be there before October 15th, so that gives me plenty of time to find a job and a house :D. The movers were there from 8 am to 4pm. It was a LONG day! I lived on the second floor and so the movers put really thick cardboard down the stairs so they could just sorta slide stuff down it. It looked fun, and the little 5 year old boy, Markus, that lives below me asked me if we could ask the movers to leave it there when they left. So.... I asked, and they left it. Here are some pictures of the moving day fun :D...

Me and Markus

Markus doing tricks :D The dog at the bottom is foxy's puppies daddy...

A few days before moving day, all the puppies left. It was sad to see them go, especially Lola, the girl, she was my favorite. I think the puppies look like beagles, especially the brown and white one. Here are some picture of the day they left.

All the puppies lying together, Lola is the one on the right.

Me and the puppies.

So, the night before I left, Friday, the same day the movers came, me and my neighbors we to my favorite Mexican restaurant on the North Shore. There is this sign that I always wanted a picture with, but never took one, so we stopped so I could take a picture. :D I look frumpy from moving all day, but I HAD to get this picture lol.

So, that is my last times in Hawaii. I want to say thank you to everyone there that helped me out. Specifically Dani, my favorite German, my neighbor, she is the reason I still have my sanity. Rusty and Lala Rueckert, such good examples to me, you helped me to stay on the right path. The only LDS friends I have in Hawaii, Thank you! Kelly Dodge, she got me my first job after getting out of the Army, we are good friends now, and I am so grateful to you for being my friend and knowing that I can help you helps me, hang in there girl, life can get better. Thanks to my Waialua ward Ohana, my family away from family. Everyone else that helped in Hawaii, I cant name everybody, but thank you so much for helping me get out safe and sound. God Bless you!