LOOKING BACK

Most of you probably have spent the last few days awaiting the July 4th. I however have been excited by something else. Brett and my anniversary, which we celebrated yesterday. So here is our story.



One year and 22 days ago

June 8th is my sister Sarah's birthday. For her birthday last year (2007) she celebrated by inviting ever friend, acquaintance, co-worker and friend of friends. Oh yeah and family... that's me! So Friday June 8, 2007, at the conclusion of my first week of work, my mother and I went to my sister's new house. Where Sarah is almost a decade older (sorry to point that out Sarah) than me normally her friends are also. Sorry to say but I was expecting to endure the evening not knowing anyone. Early on I was sitting on the couch next to the front door talking with my brother's wife, Kim. When suddenly much to my surprise a male walked in the door that was worth a second look... and a third and fourth ect. ect. I turned to my sister-in-law and said did you see him. But by this time he had walked into the kitchen. As I looked back to the kitchen I saw my dear sister pop her head around the wall say "The one on the couch without the red hair" (Kim has red hair). Then this cute boy popped his head around the corner. At that instant i knew I was the victim in a set up and wanted to stay far far away. (Over spring break I was set up with another one of her friends from her singles branch. While it wasn't a bad date there were no fireworks.) I was still curious as to who he was so I tracked down my sister (hard to do at her birthday party). When I asked her she was totally distracted and never answered so I gave up. Later I was sitting talking to Kyle, yet another friend of hers, when she came bounding over gushing about how I have to go talk to Brett, suddenly stopped talking, apologized for interrupting and then again began insisting I go talk to this Brett character once she was sure Kyle and I were done talking. Once I had her clarify that Brett was in fact the boy who she pointed me out to I refused. I knew there must have been a previous conversation between her and Brett about me. As the evening wore on she kept saying I need to talk to him. Kyle at one point kindly suggested " Just go ask him out. What's the worst that he can say no, well I guess he can say uuugh *shudder in disgust* but I don't think he'd do that to you." Before I was going to talk to him I wanted to know what the previous conversation about me had been. Finally, I cornered Sarah in the kitchen and she confessed that the previous Sunday when she had invited Brett to her party he had said he was going to try to find a date but he probably wouldn't so he'd most likely end up coming to the party. Sarah said "You can bring your date or better yet my little sister will be there she's the cute one" (Sarah always says I'm the cute and smart one... she's the beautiful, genius one!) Just as she finished telling me this I hear Kyle's voice rise above the din of the crowd saying "So have you met Margaret yet!". I turn around to find Kyle talking to this Brett person. So I make my way over and surrounding by people coming and going, standing in the middle of my sister's kitchen, I talk to my future husband for the first time. The conversation wasn't promising though. I found out he attending BYU-Idaho, strike one my goal was to go back to Utah at the end of the summer which would be easiest if I did NOT fall for a BYU-I boy. He was majoring in geology, while I love geology i didn't think the job prospects were abounding. And finally he was working in the construction. I was neutral on this one. It means he knows how to work with his hands but it's a dangerous job with not a lot of financial stability. With perfect timing, as I was running out of small talk, my mother entered the kitchen announcing she wanted to leave. Brett then got the "well shoot nice talking to you but I'd better go." I went over to say bye to the birthday girl. She asked if she could give Brett my phone number. I told her fine if he asks. Then, much to my dismay once I found my mother ready to go she had found someone to talk to and no longer wanted to leave. I would have felt stupid walking back over to talk to Brett so I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. People began coming into the living room. I noticed when Brett did and that although there was no one sitting next to me he sat on the other couch. This didn't bother me much until I saw the person who did but that is a different story. Admittedly, over the next few weeks I thought about Brett and wondered if he'd call because although there were no fireworks during our brief conversation he was so cute (of course in the most masculine form of the word cute). I went to Sarah's singles branch for activities and church. We talked a little bit and I became more interested. But he never called.

One year ago Saturday
I'd finally given up on the cute boy from my sister's party calling me. It was Thursday night and i was happy because I didn't have to go into work till noonish the next day. My parents and I were in the basement when we heard a phone ring. My mom ran up saying it was her cell phone. She then called down the stairs saying "Margaret my phone is for you." I run up and sure enough Brett finally called... my mom. My sister had given him the wrong phone number. After a few minutes of small talk he asked if I wanted to go to a BBQ with him the next day. I of course said yes and gave him my phone number.

One year ago yesterday
Friday June 29th was great because 1) I slept in, 2) I went shopping 3) It was Friday and 4) I had a date (little did I know my last first date). Well he picked me up late for the first date. (I'd like to add here that only once have I ever made a date wait and that was only because he had dropped me off from the day date with very little time to get ready for the dance.) The ride to his house was long. He lives so far out in the country at one point I thought can I trust this guy. Maybe he's driving me out into the country to leave me for dead. When we made it to his house I met his mom and dad. I really tried my best to not be quiet and shy. Admittedly his dad really scared me after I said "so you work for the police department" he corrected me saying he worked for the sheriff's department (still not sure of the difference). The date was fun. Brett's twin brother and his wife and then another couple were there also. We made tinfoil dinners, played horse shoe (something I'm awful at) and tossed a football around while they cooked, and then had dinner. After dinner we lit of fireworks in the canal by there house (this is something i did with my brother's growing up). I got a chance to talk to Brett and got to know him and liked what I found out. He was fun and flirty. He caught me off guard a few times. Before going out to light of fireworks his mom suggested i might like a jacket. He then asked if I wanted a jacket or to just use him to stay warm. He said this with his arms outstretched. I was taken off guard and opted for the jacket. Brett got me home nice and early around midnight. I remember rather enjoying the conversation on the drive back to my house and thinking after "I like what I learned about him."

One year ago today
Brett went on a date with another girl. I like to tease him about going out with a different girl three times between our first and second date, which were only 8 days apart.

Six months ago yesterday

I GOT MARRIED!!!! To the man of my dreams in the Idaho Falls temple. The weather was cold and blowy but I was so happy I really never noticed. Before getting married I thought girls were crazy when they gushed about how much they loved their wedding. But looking back.. I loved my wedding. I loved the wintry weather, I loved having my friends and family there, I even enjoyed (but didn't love) the reception line, but most of all I loved/love the man I was marrying. I completely enjoyed my wedding. Everyone else would probably disagree but I don't even think i got too stressed. Brett says I micromanaged everything at the reception but oh well too late to change it now. The only thing i regret from the wedding was never getting any hot chocolate. We served Carsten's bakery donuts and hot chocolate from the Morning Grind made from the BEST chocolate milk in the world. My mom also wanted sheet cake (I didn't care if there was cake but she says she always expects cake at a wedding) so we had cake (along with our wedding cake) from Babe's bakery. I got to try the donuts and cake after everything but I never got to try the hot chocolate.

All in all my wedding was the wedding I'd always hoped for. A winter wedding, in my mom's wedding dress (which she made herself), at the Idaho Falls temple (where my parents were married, we were even in the same room my parents were sealed in), to the ONE.

So this post has been rather long. Good job if you made it this far. But it is so crazy to me to look back and know that a year and a month ago I'd never met my husband and had no plans to get married. Some might say it was too fast but when ya know it's the one it's the one and there is no point in waiting.

EASYBAKE OVEN

When I was a kid I always wanted and easy bake oven. I never thought that at age 20 I'd finally have one.

This was our seventies-erific oven. Brett always called it our easybake oven. I had to leave some of our wedding gift cookie sheets because i wasn't sure it would fit in the oven. Our pizza pan barely fit in the oven. The worst part was the lack of working burners. The front left burner has never worked. Then one weekend Brett and i were making chicken alfredo, which took all three burners. As I turned on the back left burner it started sending off blue sparks. So for the past few months we've been living with two burners. But since we live in apartments we didn't have to either live with it or pay for the stove from our pocket. So today our new stove came.

It is a big update from our old stove. and even has a storage draw underneath (storage is lacking in our apartment). Only down side it's bigger, which is good, but it doesn't fit int the previous stove space and kind of takes over in our tiny kitchen. But overall I'm glad we have the new stove. Maybe my cooking will improve... especially because now i can't blame it on the crummy oven...

Homesick

Every time the seasons change I get homesick. Not even so much homesick and the-past-sick. I remember what i was doing when the weather was like that a 1 year, 2 years, ect. ago. Now that summer is officially started the missing of times gone by has started. I love driving to the bus stop in the morning. It's light out but the sun is not up yet but the moon is still (atleast this morning). There is very little traffic so it doesn't feel like i live in the city. It's cool out but not cold and not hot. The sky is gray-blue with pinks and purples on the horizon announcing the coming on the sun and the hustle and bustle of the day. This is such a peaceful time of day that so many people miss out on. Here are some of my memories of this time of day.

I barely remember this one. I mostly remember it because of a picture in my photo album. When i little we had a sandbox in our back yard. When i was probably 2-3 three years old it was on our back porch. It might have rained the night before or maybe it was just wet because of due by my sister sarah and i went out onto the back porch in our jammies and played in the sand. I remember sarah squeezing the sand through her hand creating spires of sand. I was probably still quite sleepy and instead of keeping the sand in the box got it all over my hands and then started scratching my head. The sand accessory looked great with my morning hair.

When i was in high school (junior to be exact) my family went on a cruise in the Caribbean. Each morning the sun would come and and blase into our sliding glass door. ( we got a room with a balcony SO COOL!) This would wake me up every morning. Instead of rolling over i would get up and go up and get a small breakfast and sit and watch the sun rise. Not much beats watching the sun come up over an endless expanse of water. Usually i was one of the few on the deck (i think all the other people were still up from the night before) and i could just listen to the water. (this was me on cruise but not early in the morning obviously)

Last summer was quite the summer. I had just finished my first year of college and had gotten an internship locally. The first month of the summer i wasn't working yet so i usually slept in till eight ish and then would go running with my mom. My favorite day was the day we got so hot that we ran past our house jumped in the canal and floated back home. One of my other favorite days was over July 4th weekend. We were at my family's cabin and my mom and i ran to the other side of the outlet that our cabin is on and then swam back across the water to our cabin. (we made my dad canoe across to get our shoes and stuff). But both these memories digress from my these for this blog. Once i started working i wanted to keep running the the morning. So i would get up around 4:15 (oddly even earlier than i get up now but then i did it by choice) and my mom and i would go running till5, 5:20 ish. Most mornings we left in the dark and got home in the light. This is what i remember everyday as i drive to work. Running with my mom, watching the sun rise behind mountains while surrounded by fields. I love being an adult and living on my own. I especially love being married but sometimes i wish i could go back to last summer, live with my parents and go running with my mom every morning.

This was not last summer but it is my house. This was taken with my new camera on my last day of high school. The shadow is of me and my mom.

This is my whole family on my eighteenth birthday.

One FUN Saturday!

I'd been looking toward yesterday for quite a few weeks now. Brett's brother and his wife were came down to go to Lagoon with us. I was incredibly excited. Brett says he hasn't seen me that excited since we got got married. Lagoon was a lot of fun. We rode all the major rides and seemed to always have the best of luck. good seats on rides, getting moved to front of line etc. etc. We rode the fire dragon (colossus) three times. The first time i almost completely blacked out. The second two times my vision went black. The double loops did it to me every time. At least i didn't completely pass out like a girl in line next to us did once. All in all it was a fun day.

When we got home we were so tired we didn't feel like cooking or going out. So we called got Chinese delivered. It felt like being in the movies getting Chinese delivered. I've never lived in enough of a city to have a Chinese place that actually delivers. This is a picture of our fine dining in front of the TV.

My typical day.

Since I'm married with no kids yet my life is apparently boring. While i enjoy it it leaves me with nothing to blog about. Here is my typical day.
4:40 AM
(yes that's in the morning) my alarm clock blares (luckily my husband never notices). My snooze is set to exactly 4 minutes long so normally after two snoozes i get up. If i look in the mirror and see that my hair can handle a ponytail for the day i got back to bed and turn on the nap function for 10 minutes. Most mornings my hair is too crazy and i have to shower. the whole time i think i just have to make it to the bus.
5:00 AM
When i was a kid my sister would come into my room after her shower and shake her wet hair all over me. I've passed this torture onto my still sleeping husband. Then i begin getting ready (minimal effort possible why can't i have perfect hair and skin or at least not care).
5:20 AM
By this time i am (or should be ready) I have 15 minutes to make breakfast and lunch and put my shoes on. Breakfast is usually cereal or poached eggs and toast. Some days it's oatmeal. This week i bought instant grit's which are yummy but not too filling.
5:35 AM
After waking up a sleepy Brett again for a goodbye kiss I'm out the door. at 5:40 everyday the radio station i listen to plays a patriotic song in honor of the troops i always try to hear it.
6:00 AM
By this point I've been up about 70-80 minutes. I've showered dressed eaten. and now i board a "le bus" and fall back asleep.
7:10 AM
Yet again i have to wake up (pure torture) because the bus is now at work. Once of the bus i clock in get my badge check that my hair is not all crazy after the bus and head to the trailer. There, while everyone else waits for the snail paced slow coffee maker, i drink hot chocolate (i think I'm getting addicted) Then it's into the lab where i start daily QA's. The rest of the morning i typically run samples through a gamma spectroscopy machine.
Basically i work with radioactive materials. When there is a radioactive decay gamma rays
(every waves) are given off. Depending on the radioactive element present the energy of
these rays will vary. By capturing these rays in a gamma spec. the energy can be measure
and the isotopes present can be identified. I put the samples in the machine. Start the
machine. Get the report from the printer look over and sign the report and start over.
sometimes i have to enter the isotopes identified into the computer.
11:00-12:00 ish
This is when i go to lunch. Usually i get to talk to Brett on the phone for a minute or two. Never have much to say but i still look forward to it. After lunch i go back to running samples.
3:15 PM
Leave the lab and get ready to catch the bus. I live in fear of missing the bus. Normally I'll have a snack. Leftover veggies from lunch a bottle of water and a banana (they bring banana's in for workers during the summer. Most of the workers work outside and the banana helps electrolyte replacement.
3:35 PM
Like any good child i take an afternoon nap. (If it's Monday i write my grocery list.) Mostly this is because the bus ride is very boring.
4:45 PM
I get off the bus. On Monday's i head to wally-world for a self induced head-ache. other days i head home.
The rest of the evening is where the variety is. (not) Wednesdays it's webelos (always fun, i totally got Brett out in dodge ball last night YES!) most nights it's dinner, dishes (hopefully dishes get done right after dinner) and sadly usually TV or a movie. Some times we go jogging. And then it's to bed. I try to go to bed early but it doesn't happen much anymore. I hate going to bed knowing i have to get up in 4, 5, or 6 hours.

And that is my typical day. Since your probably very bored (if your still reading even) I'll continue...
5 reasons i don't like my job
1) getting up early.
2) my computer is always in caps (this is for typing in sample ID'S) This makes trying to log into things with a non-all-caps password a PAIN!
3) Crossing out with one line, initialing, and dating any mistake I've made. I especially hate it when I'm crossing out my own initials or the date because i wrote it in the wrong spot.
4) Running out of samples to run (basically then I'm out of work)
5) Proving my high school business computer applications teacher correct. She made us do exercises using the number pad on the right of a keyboard so that we could easily use this feature. I greatly disliked the class and everything we were made to do. Now i use that number pad all the time for work and knowing how to use it properly really helps. I resent that she was right.
5 reasons my job is great
1) THE PAY! It's not amazing but better money than i make going to school (i.e. negative money). Whenever anyone asks if i like my job i say i wouldn't do it for nothing but it's not bad.
2) 2 hours of nap on the bus.
3) I have lots of time to think. Brett's always amazed when i come home and say oh i was thinking about ...blah blah blah today.
4) I always know the date because i write it so much.
5) I have lots or practice signing my new name. It's hard getting used to (i just barely finished changing my name so I'm just starting to sign my new name regularly) especially when the first three letters of my last name match the first three of my first. If I'm not paying attention i sign my first name twice!

5 things I'm dreading
1) paying the rent/insurance/any bill
2) going back to school. this includes paying tuition and buying books
3) gassing up my car.
4) okay i can't think of five

5 things I'm totally excited about
1) LAGOON!. we're going with Brett's twin brother and his wife this weekend and I'm giddy with excitement.
2) Being married
3) My family's reunion over the fourth
4) Brett's family reunion the week after. Last year i went but couldn't enjoy it much since it was the first time i really met most all of his siblings. (if you don't count the previous family reunion which was even bigger and i was blown away by people the whole fifteen minutes i was there.) It didn't help that his mom "really would be more comfortable if i slept in the trailer" instead of the back of my car. Of course i knew at this point i wanted/was suppose to marry Brett and i couldn't start of the mother-in-law relationship in a bad way. This year is bound to be more relaxing. I'll only have to put up with Brett's snoring ;)
5) going to my family's cabin and swimming!
6) having kids. While this still won't happen for a while nonetheless I'm excited for it.
7) going back to school. All the hard work that pays off when you learn something and seeing friends makes it worth it.
8) Did i already mention family reunions next month??
9) Seeing my husband when i get home from work
10) all of you to update your blogs so i can read your blog instead of boring you with mine.

Well there. I'd figure I'd do two good for each bad.

HOW COOL IS MY MOM

Well for those of you who don't know my mom is like a master woodworker. And I (now Brett and I) often benefit from her talent. So as newlyweds (well almost six month old newlyweds) we have furniture that we would probably never afford till all our future kids are grown.

This is the bed she gave us for our wedding. The quilt on the bed my sister made for us and the red quilt folded up was made for us by Brett's mom.

This is the side table and plant stand mom made for us. The "bamboo" legs were made on her very cool, high tech new lathe. The bookcase you can see at the edge of the picture was my nineteenth birthday gift.

This is my family's old kitchen table which she gave to us. These chairs we're actually made by her but she could make them if she wanted to. In one morning she refinished the table and chairs and would have reupholstered the seats but she didn't know what fabric i wanted (it had this really ugly fake looking rush weave on them before).

So now we have almost all new furniture and our apartment is really starting to look good. Once we have it all together and decorated i'll take more pictures and post them.

MY LAST NAME'S MARSHALL SO I'M TOUGH

My last name is Marshall so I'm tough... that is what I learned this weekend from one of my nieces. I hadn't realized toughening up was one of the requirement when i married into the Marshall clan. But my 5(ish) year old niece knows it so I'd better toughen up too. While i don't fall and skin my knee often anymore maybe this new "toughness" will help me be less angry when I jam my toe into various walls, doors, dressers, laundry baskets (these are the worst) in the middle of the night or get a papercut.
Well last weekend was fantastic. I typed a whole long post about my weekend but decided you would all just be jealous how good of a weekend i had so i deleted it. But i will say this. Everymeal i ate was DELICIOUS. Seeing family was fantatic (although i missed Caroline/Sean/June, Joannie/Craig/Matt/Sadie, and Mark), nieces and nephews make the world a funnier/cuter/happier place. My cell phone is fixed although my dad had to go in and get it fixed this morning (thank you dad) because the fraud department isn't open anytime that i'm not at work. And last but not least i got a new kitchen table and chair's this weekend (thanks mom) and i'm dang excited to use them tonight. I'll post pictures of all the funiture my mom made for brett and me once i get our apartment all cleaned up so stay tuned!

I KNOW IT'S A GREAT NUMBER BUT IT'S ALREADY MINE

So there is one person out there in the world that I would like to tell:

"I know my phone number is a great phone number...

but it's mine so leave it alone!!"

Now so you all don't think I'm loosing my mind due to all the radiation i work around i'll explain. Being the paranoid mother i will probably be someday but not having any kids that worry turns to my husband. I just have a fear he'll fall off the roof at work and hurt himself and no one will have the mind to call and tell me! So when he never called this afternoon i texted him when there was still no reply i tried calling. The kind verizon wireless prerecorded lady told me my call could not be completed. So i hung up and tried again. I don't have the greatest reception at work so i tried again. This time my call was transferred to "account investigations". Confused i hung up and tried calling a different phone number, again i was transferred to account investigations. This time i waited to talk to an operator. The nice lady kindly informed me that yes there is a reason this is happening to me but she can't release any account information to me because my name is not on the account. Luckily i have a desk phone. So i call the most reliable 'it's broken please fix it for me' person around. my dad (you'd think i'd give in a break since it's almost fathers day but i don't) So he calls for me and adds my name to the account. So i call the "account investigations" division again (it sound like the some department in the ministry of magic to me [harry potter reference for those of you who haven't read it]) the kind lady again tries to tell me my name isn't on the account but i disagree and eventually she does see i've just been added (i resisted the temptation to just lie and give them my mom's name). So finally i am told that my phone number has been used to place calls to the dominican republic. These calls have an 809 beginning. Since i'm living in utah i thought maybe i messed up the 801 area code (hard to do since the 1 and 9 are about as far apart as you can get but still a possibility). But alas no. someone had stolen my numbers. Turns out there were quite a few calls made and none of them by me. Because of these calls from my phone number they disconnected my phone number. (I want to know why these calls to the DR cause my phone to be disconnected??? are they not a llowed or is it just because i don't have international calls on my phone??) So my choices to resolve my problem were

1) change a code in my phone

2) change my phone number

3) get a new phone (includes going into a store)

Of course the first option sounds easiest and the second option is a last resort (i'm quite attached to my phone number of about 4 years now) and the third just a hassle (i recently had a less than enjoyable experience actually going into a verizon wireless store) So we try the first one. I had take the battery out and call combinations of numbers and *'s and #'s. I saw things i never knew existed about phones. all of it rather annoying since my phone (a trio) seems to be a small computer and takes about the same amount of time to load. So she reconnects my phone and my calls go through. Now she has to check to see if the updates worked. Let me tell you if you think hold music (not even actually music just some lady talking about verizon features) is annoying it's twice as annoying on two phones at once. Well the hold music ended only to find out that........... suspense....... the updates didn't work and i have to go into the store and get a new phone. So i'm prepared to put my pain in someone else's butt pants on the go into the store and demand a new phone at no cost to me since really this isn't my fault at all. We'll see how it goes!!!

WELL I'VE DONE IT

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for quite some time now. I love reading the blogs and friends and family. I was always hestitant, here are some of my reasons:
1) It seems today you can know all the going on's in any person's life without any direct contact. 2) I don't think I have anything interesting in life to blog about, don't get me wrong, I love my life, I just don't think anyone cares to hear how much I enjoy coming home from work and just watching TV with my husband.
3) As you may have noticed I'm not a grammer/speller/witty use of english type person. I don't like proof reading at all. I'm not too keen to show off my poor english skills to everyone.
4) I used to be such a good journal keeper (i filled an entire journal in a month once) but that habit has left me. I feel like instead of recording my thoughs and memories on the intangable internet I should take the time to write in my journal.
So there are more reasons but they must not be too important because they escape me at the moment. So in response to my fears of starting a blog would all of you that may read this
1) still act suprised when i tell you a story you already read on my blog. still call/email/come visit even though you already know what i've been up to recently
2) forgive the boring posts
3) ignore the blaring spelling a grammer mistakes
4) okay my fourth concern is all my own problem

So while i'm being so listy (my dad always told me to make a list growing up, he also told me not to use the buttons on things because they'll just break) here are some things i hope to include in my blog.

1) interesting things that brett and i do/happen to us
2) recipe succeses and failures (i love reading recipes off of blogs)
3) things that make me happy (maybe a few things that make me not happy but i'll try to keep those to a minimum)
4) lot's and lot's of pictures. pictures are my favorite things to look at in blogs.


So down here in "zion" one of the few channels we get has a commercial from their local news station that says do you blog over and over. (truefully i've always disliked the commercial, there you go something that makes me not happy before i ever post anything to makes me happy) but next time that annoying commercial comes on i can say, "yes i blog!!!"