After a whirlwind romance (met briefly in December, starting dating in January, engaged by March, married in May), Nathan & I moved to Arkansas (Nathan got a job at Wal-Mart's home office in Bentonville), literally a week after we got married. It was crazy! It all seam to happen so fast. Now, no offense to people who are from there, or currently live there, but it was not for us.
Pros: lightning bugs, beautiful green rolling hills.
Cons: ticks, chiggers, tarantulas, massive dandy long legs all over the hills, water moccasins, cotton mouths, humidity (especially....in those beautiful green rolling hills), & no family.
Needless to say, we lasted about a year and a half. We were actually going to buy this really cool house (it literally had a football field for the backyard), but came to find out there were several leans on the house stemming from the previous owners. Thank goodness it fell through!!!
Moving to Vegas
When I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant we packed up & moved to Vegas. Nathan was able to transfer in as an assistant manager for the Wal-Mart store off of Decatur. All I can say is thank goodness for my sister Rochelle & her husband Darrin & his family! They took pity on us and we stayed at Roch's house the first month (while we looked for a house), then moved into a room in Darrin's parents house while our house was being built (it took a lot longer than expected). Thank you Gloria & Frank! You're total sweethearts!!!
It was funny...at the time they had this huge dog named Koda (it was actually Darrin's dog, but it stayed at his parents house kind of like a guard dog). It was an Akita. Since I didn't know what an Akita was, I really didn't know what to expect. Rochelle kept telling me how big he was, but still it was a shock. The first time we went there, so Rochelle could introduce us to Frank & Gloria, she told me about Koda, and just as we were about to open the front door, she said, 'whatever you do don't stare him in the face, & don't pet his head.' I was like what the crap? what do you mean don't stare him in the face & don't pet his head? Then the door opened.....I hear the deepest freaking bark I have ever heard, coming from the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life. I swear this thing was part bear, it was so big.
When I was younger, I was bitten by my friends little dog, which instilled a slight fear of dogs in me. I'm fine with dogs I know, like our own of course, & my brothers dogs. But any other one, I'm hesitant with until I get to know them. So to say I was scared, was an understatement. I swear, my heart almost stopped. He came right up to me and stared at me, and I just stood there frozen. Afraid to move, afraid to make eye contact.
I made the mistake of looking him in the face, later that evening, and he growled at me with this deep throated growl. Roch said it was because he was getting up there in years, and couldn't see as well as he used to, and that for some reason, he didn't like women as well as men. Great!!!!! That news made me feel so much better, let me tell you!
This isn't an actual picture of Koda, but this is a picture I found online. He looked just like that.
Well as the months went by, I slowly got used to having him around, but he would still make me nervous every time I walked by him. I never looked at him, I hardly ever petted him unless there was someone there with me, and I never, ever touched his head. I'm sorry, but he scared the crap out of me.
Then one day (this was after Mikayal was born), I was sitting on the couch, watching their huge wide screen t.v. while Morgan & Mikayla were taking naps, when Koda walked over & sat down right next to me. At first I was like 'holy crap. What do I do?' But then I tentatively reached out to pet his fur. Well he loved it and scooted a little bit closer. By then I didn't dare stop petting his fur, and he kelpt scooting closer. That dog ended up literally putting his entire weight on my one leg. Needless to say, within minutes, I had no feeling left in that leg. Was I going to move that dog? Heck noooooooooo!!! I just kept right on petting him, not looking him in the face!
I have never seen thicker fur on a dog. Hi hair was so think, and he had all this fine dust in it (from being outside) that it made my fingers feel itchy & funky. But did I stop.....no I did not! Dead leg, & funky fingers be damned, I stayed right where I was. :) I seriously can't remember how Iwas able to escape. I was literally there for like an hour. It took about 1/2 hour for the feeling to return to my leg. I walked around, looking like a gimp until it did. The good thing though? I stopped being afraid of Koda. It was a great turning point :):):). I could leave my room without fearing for my safety. yeh!!!! :)
Miss you Koda!
(he passed away a couple of years ago. I think it was). He was a good dog, although big, a great guard dog.
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Things happen for a reason...
I guess in a way, moving to Vegas was a blessing, not only for us, but also for my sister. At the time, she was working at N.Y.N.Y., and had Morgan in the day care across the street where she could run over on her breaks to see her. Morgan was only 4 1/2 months old at the time. Anyway this new little boy kept biting Morgan on the back. He could walk, and so Morgan had no chance to defend herself. She seriously had like 4 bites marks on her back at one time. And it wasn't like little love marks, they were black and blue and you could see the outline of this kids teeth. It kept happening, every time the boy was put in the same class. No matter how many times, Rochelle complained & told them to separate them, he would somehow end up back in the same room. And Morgan would get bit again. Finally, at her wits end, Rochelle asked me to watch Morgan, which I was happy to do. I know that's a huge reason, why I wasn't scared to be a mom, when I had Mikayla. (That and living with my oldest sister Jen, after she had Matthew. This was after Ricks, before I met Nathan while I was working at Wal-mart. I helped Jen raise Matthew until he was about 2 years old. It almost broke my heart, when me & Nathan moved to Arkansas after we got married. I missed his little voice calling me "JoJo." What a sweet little boy. A sweet big boy now :).
(...Hey that's when we had our first litter of puppies also. I almost forgot about that. It was an oops litter. When we moved from Arkansas, we stayed @ Nathans' brother house in Mojave Valley, AZ and we tied our 4 legged baby up in their backyard because their fence was really low. Nathans' parents were there to celebrate Christmas and to help us move. I think it was Adrian, who was a baby at the time, and he kept waking up in the middle of the night crying, so both me & Nathan put earplugs in. Well lo & behold our poor pooch was taken advantage of by a pack of dogs (she came in heat). It was awful! We didn't hear a thing, because we had the earplugs in. Thank goodness Nathan's dad woke up and rescued her. Anyway...(wow that was kind of a crappy story), hence the 'oops litter'. What's crazy is, our dog is a yellow lab, and 4 of them were born without tails. They were all yellow, looked just like a lab, but those 4 had stubs for tails. They were so adorable. To this day, we still don't know what type of dog was the father. Darrin's brother got one without a tail, and when I see him now, he moves just like a Rottweiler. But somebody told me they're born with tails, so I don't know.)
My daughter was born a week after the puppies were!!!
Anyway, (yes I use this word a lot...what of it :).... , so I watched my little Morgie-Shay right up until I had Mikayla, and then started watching her again (I think) when Mikayla was a week old. Those girls were like 2 little peas in a pod. Still are. The only difference...Mikayla has light hair, and Morgan has dark :O).
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Going Back to Work
I was so sad when I had to go back to work. I think Mikayla was almost 2 at the time. I seriously bawled my eyes out for like a week straight. Not only could I not watch Morgan anymore, but I was leaving my baby at home, and I didn't even get to put her to bed (except on my days off, of course). But it wasn't the same. (We were just going through a rough patch, and needed the extra money.) I think I barely talked to my husband that week. And when I did, I glared at him, when I wasn't crying that is. I know it wasn't his fault, but still, I was not happy! So my husband would go to work in the morning, & then when he got off he would watch Mikayla so I could go to work. It worked out pretty well.
(Nathan, at that time, had left Wal-Mart to buy a fire & water restoration business called UltraSonic Cleaning. That was at the time where women were picketing Wal-Mart because they "weren't getting the same opportunities as the men." Which was a load of crap. I'm sorry, but I worked for Wal-Mart and half my managers were women. So in response, Wal-Mart, instead of actually advancing people who were QUALIFIED, they advanced a whole bunch of women, just because of their sex, so my husband got put on the back-burner time & time again. It wasn't worth it. The hours weren't worth it, what he had to put up with wasn't worth it, and so he moved on.)
It actually wasn't too bad. I worked at Kohl's just a couple blocks away from where we lived. It took me less than 5 minutes to get there. I was able to work off all of my pregnancy weight with all the walking and lifting I did. I worked in the Misses & Women's dept. Putting away the clothing, was my weight-lifting. :) Plus, I met a lot of really cool people. Don't get me wrong, I definitely still missed my girls!. I would've preferred being with them, but it ended up being a really great job. Although it turned out, I probably spent more $ there, than I actually brought home. :)
The Phone Call...
I worked there until I got a call from my dad, telling me that my Nephew, Matthew (the same one I mentioned above) had a traumatic brain injury and that he was going in for emergency surgery in Provo. I think my heart nearly stopped. I was so upset. It was the same feeling I had, when I found out my Grandpa Stevens had passed away (incidently, the same week as the deer accident & my birthday. Not a good birthday!)
I immediately called my boss & explained the circumstances. I packed my bags. And the next morning, left for Utah (with Mikayla & my niece Tyra). I will never forget that time! It was such a rough time for everyone in my family. I won't go into details, they know the events that happened, but needless to say he survived through many, many prayers. God definitely lent a helping hand. Matthew spent his 6th birthday having a life-saving surgery. It's been a long road to recovery, he still deals with after effects from his injury, but he has come leaps & bounds with each passing year. I love that beautiful boy! I love you Matthew!!! Mom & Dad & Lon you have done such a great job!!! He is one loved little....big boy. :)
Ultra-Sonic Cleaning
Needless to say, I never went back to working at Kohl's. (They were so great about the whole situation.) Every time I went in shopping with my sister, Braun (the asst. manager) would beg me to come back. :) He was such a cool guy. Anywho,...(ha ha notice I didn't use anyway....okay I'm a dork)...anywho I ended up going to work with my husband at our "Ultra-Sonic Cleaning" business. One of the guys, who worked for him quit, which left him empty-handed. He definitely, needed the extra help.
Let's just say, that was the dirtiest job I have ever done in my entire life! I still don't know how I did it. Blah!!! We set up the break-room for a little daycare for Mikayla. We brought a bunch of toys, & movies & books, and I would try & keep her entertained & help Roxy (our employee), at the same time. It was rough, to say the least.
As for the actual business,...anyone who has ever had fire or water damage in their home, have probably dealt with some type of service like this. We would clean, any item that had smoke, or water, or mold damage. We pretty much, cleaned anything and everything: electronics (t.v.'s, stereos, game consoles, keyboards, vacuums, etc.), furniture, mattresses, couches, blinds, dolls. You name it. We did a lot of blinds!!! Mainly for businesses, but some residential as well. The blinds pretty much turned into our specialty at the end.
The ultrasonic process itself, was amazing! However, to get to that point, as you can well imagine, was a nasty, filthy process! We had these huge tables on wheels we would lay the items on. We would spray them with this special solution that would kill the mold, and take the smoke smell out, & anything else that wasn't supposed to be there. We would have to scrub them with these big brushes, then lay them in a huge vat filled with extremely hot water & some more special cleaning solution. When you turned the machine on, it would emit these ultrasonic waves through the water. Like I mentioned above, it was a really cool process. The waves would bounce off of the object and get in all the tiny crevices & the rest of the dirt and grime and soot and mold would come off. Then when that process was done, we would put the object(s) in another vat with hot water & rinse the solution off. After that, the drying area. If they still smelled like smoke, we had a special room set up with several ozone machines, that took the rest of the smell away.
It was an amazing process! Disgusting, but amazing. I have never felt filthier in my life, though. My shoes were completely ruined, though. I had to throw them away. I went home everyday, smelling like smoke. The days I didn't go into the shop, I had to call businesses to set up appointments to get their blinds, cleaned. (Can I just say, I hate cold calling like that. If it's my family or friends, that's a whole new ballgame. But to call people I don't know to try & sell them something....HATE IT!!! It brings me back to the days, when I had to sell pizza coupons, or raffle tickets, or whatever for softball. My dad seriously had to go with me, because I hated it so much. Let's just say, he sold way more than I did!
Anyway, thank goodness that didn't last long. It turned out, the previous owner had fixed all the books to make it look like a profitable business. Right before we bought it, he put money from his personal account into the business account to make it look like there was all this extra income coming in each month. Of course, he took the money back, when we took over. Long story short, he took back ownership of the company. We were so glad to be rid of it. As stressful as the situation was, Nathan learned a lot. So in that sense it was good for him. It forced him to have to deal with people, instead of being in the background. It helped him come out of his shell more, not be so quiet.
After that, Nathan went to work for a Land Development company, with a guy in our ward. He happened to be our home teacher. He found out our circumstances, & was so impressed with Nathan, he offered him a job. What a blessing! That's actually how Nathan got his start in the Real Estate Business.
Moving Back to Utah
Soon after that, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. Right before he was born, Nathan informed me he wanted to go back to school @ the 'Y' to get his masters degree. So a month after my son was born (August 6th - same day as my nephew, Matthew's birthday by the way), we packed up and moved to Provo, so Nathan could start the EMBA program.
It was a crazy time!!! Heck the move itself was crazy!
We spent all day trying to finish packing, and cleaning our house. Thank goodness for my mom & my sister Rochelle! It would've never gotten done without them. They were lifesavers! I was trying to take care of my baby and clean & pack. While Nathan was carrying everything out, & packing them in both this huge trailer and truck, that we borrowed from Nathan's friend Trig. (The same friend who helped him get the Land development job.)
Anyway, we had both filled to capacity. (Nathan left his truck in St. George, so he could drive back Trig's truck & trailer.) Because he knew he'd have to drive slow, with such a huge load, he left earlier than me, my mom, and the kids. Plus, he had our 2 dogs with him (a yellow & black lab) in the cab with him. Which is not a fun feat, believe me. He had to tie them up, because our female kept trying to climb in his lab.
Once we finally got the house done, we drove to my sisters to rest & visit a little longer (so I could feed Jayden). About an hour later, I get a phone call from Nathan. One of the back tires of the trailer had gone flat, and he needed me to find a spare tire, and get it to him as quick as I could. He had broken down in that windy canyon between St. George & Mesquite. (There was a spare tire hanging on the wall of the front of the trailer, but in order to get to it, he'd have to empty the entire front part of the trailer, which was stuffed to the gills....Crappy design if you ask me).
So me and my sister grabbed a phone book, jumped in my little Saturn & scrambled to find this tire on a late Saturday afternoon (which was a specialty tire by the way). Every tire store I called, said they didn't carry it, I'd have to special order it. So of course I start panicking, imagining Nathan stranded in the canyon with our 2 hyper dogs, unable to get help. So I start to cry, and of course my sister kept reassuring me (again, thank goodness for Rochelle), and said let's try this last tire store, we couldn't get a hold of on the phone. So, hoping & praying, & holding my breath we walk into this store, and gave the guy the number of the tire I needed. Holding my head in my hands, almost ready for a breakdown, I get a 'yep we have 2 left.' My response, "you're kidding." I tell you, divine intervention is a great thing!!!! I ended up buying both of them just to be on the safe side. Dang that was one expensive little tire. It was like $150 bucks for both or something like that. It was insane, but we had our tires!
I couldn't get ahold of Nathan, so we rushed back to my sisters house, where my mom was waiting anxiously with the kids. We loaded everyone up, and just as we were about to drive away. This huge wave of emotion hit me. We were actually moving, and I wouldn't get to see Rochelle & family whenever I wanted, & I big huge tears just started to fall, & wouldn't stop. Rochelle and her kids were in tears. Me & my mom were in tears. We were a site to behold!!!
When I was driving away, I looked in the rear-view mirror one last time, and saw Rochelle's face, and I literally broke down bawling. I cried so hard, I could barely see the road. I had to pull over a minute, just to get my emotion's in check. Drinking & driving is dangerous. But what about crying & driving? :) Just as bad I say. Anyway....we were off.
I think I broke every speed limit in the state of Nevada, to get there, and when we got to where he said he was going to be, he was gone. I even took the exit right out of the canyon and doubled back just to make sure. I couldn't find him anywhere. He wasn't answering his phone, and I just kept wondering how in the world are we going to find him? Was he still in trouble? Did he get help? Where the heck was he? I just kept praying please let him be okay, and let us find him.
Well I got back in the car, and kept driving toward St. George and just after we passed the weighing stations, we took the first exit (with the gas stations, the Wal-Mart & the food services. The one just as you come around the corner, and it has the 2 round-a-bouts.) Well the exact second we entered the round-a-bout just off the exit, Nathan was pulling into the same round-a-bout going the opposite direction. A moment later, & we would've missed him. My prayer was definitely answered!!! Somehow he was able to get the spare tire out, and jack up the trailer enough to change the tire. All by himself I might add. You would think, somebody would've stopped and helped him, but nope. So, on top of that, all of the time we spent hunting for those tires was wasted. We didn't even end up needing them. Well, we needed the one, to replace the ruined one, but that was it. Oh well! You win some, you lose some.
We ended up driving to the friends house where Nathan had left his truck (in NW St. George). He was out of town at the time, but thank goodness he had a big enough area outside his house where we could park the truck & trailer, and the car, and a place to put our dogs. Nathan & I spent the next 3-4 hours literally unpacking a huge portion of the trailer, and re-distributing it into the back of Nathan's truck. Thank goodness my mom was there to watch the kids. I don't know how we could have done it without her help.
I think his Neighbors were so glad by the time we left. Our dogs kept barking, and we had to use the headlights from our car & truck to see what we were doing. By the time we had finished re-packing, and transferring our luggage & kids to the truck, it was almost 10 0 o'clock at night. We hadn't eaten, we were starving, the kids weren't happy, Jayden was hungry and fussy, it was not a fun time, as you can imagine. Luckily, we ended up finding a McDonald's that was still open. It seams like we were one of the last ones there. Nathan had to park across the street, because his load was so big. As much as I hated to (since I was nursing Jayden), I loaded up on Caffeine. I figured it was safer than me falling asleep at the wheel. We still had to drive to our new house, in Provo.
Let me tell you that was one of the longest drive I have ever been on. Nathan was exhausted! I was exhausted! My poor mom was exhausted! We'd already had a long day, and now we had a very, very, very long drive ahead of us. We started out driving on an old highway, since we knew we were going to have to take it slow. Plus, I had to keep pulling over every couple of hours to nurse Jayden. It was insane! All I can say is, thank goodness for walkie-talkies!!! I don't know if you've ever had to caravan on a long road trip before, but I definitely recommend walkie-talkies. Being able to chat back and forth kept us awake & alert!
It took us all night to drive to our new house. We literally arrived in Provo @ 5:30 a.m. I still don't know how I stayed awake. I had to keep opening my eyes wide and blinking over & over, since I was starting to see double. PLus I had to guzzle caffein like it was going out of style. My poor baby. He was so out of wack for the next couple of days. I felt so awful. As much as I hated to do it, it was necessary. My mom, even got in her car after that, & drove home to Pleasant Grove, which was another 30-40 minute drive. I kept expecting to get a phone call that she'd fallen asleep at the wheel.
We spent most of that day unpacking everything out of the truck into the garage, and the trailer stuff into the house. Thank goodness we had Nathan's dad (he drove out from Winnemucca to help us) & his brother & sister-in-law (who lived right there in Provo) to help us, otherwise we could've never got that trailer unpacked.
Then after we had most of the stuff in the house, Nathan informs me, that I needed to drive back down with him to St. George the following day, so I could drive the car back. My response, "you are freakin' kidding me. There is no way." (I was so exhausted. He was so exhausted.) All I can say is, I am so glad his dad was there. He was so nice, and offered to drive down with Nathan to get the car. There is no way I could have done that drive again, so soon. I don't know how Nathan did it. Man what an experience!
Dog Lady
Oh, on top of that. After Nathan & his dad left to go to St. George, I met our new 'psycho' neighbors. We lived in one of those houses with a shared driveway. (There were some just like it in Vegas, and we had always made fun of them, & swore we would never buy a house like that, but lo & behold, we bought one! Only because it was 5 minutes from B.Y.U., and because we knew when we moved out, it would be easy to rent or sale.) But there is a definite reason why a shared driveway is a bad idea..... Let me explain.
The neighbors directly in front of us, were a bunch of single guys going to BYU. They never really bothered us. But the neighbors to the right, and the neighbors diagonal from us, were awful. First of all let me introduce you to the 'dog lady.' It was actually a lady & her husband, but she was the psychotic one. They had no children, only 2 black part-lab mutts, they rescued from the pound. They were her "children." She called them that, not me.
Flag #1 (She loves dogs more than people).
They had no job (it seams the husband was on some type of disability leave for something. He had gotten injured at work.)
Flag #2 (They had all the time in the world, to butt into other peoples business. And she frequently did).
Her windows overlooked our backyard & since we had no fence, and she had nothing better to do, she would constantly spy on our dogs. (I could keep the front door locked & refuse to answer, but the incessant knocking on my back door, while my newborn infant was trying to sleep, was a little too much to handle. This all in the second day we moved in.)
Flag #3 (Not afraid to cross boundaries, and offend & harass new neighbors!!!!!)
We had a huge problem with her from day one....okay, day 2 in this case. The first day, we spent the entire day unpacking, after driving all night to get there. The second day, Nathan & his dad took left early to pick up the Saturn in St. George, leaving me to unpack with my 1 month old son, and 3 year old daughter. Well within about an hour of them driving away, I get a knock on the front door. It's my new neighbor. She informed me that my dogs had gotten tangled up. Because we didn't have a fence, we had 2 long wire rope-like leashes, clipped to the collar of each dog, attached to the deck (obviously to keep them from running away). You know the kind with the wire coils encased in plastic, so it doesn't hurt the dogs.
So I kindly thanked her, thinking she would go back to her house, and closed the door and walked to the back of the house to exit out the back patio door. Well lo & behold, who is waiting there for me, my nosy new neighbor. She said how awful she felt that they were all tied up and that Max (our not so bright dog) kept getting himself tangled in the cord. He kept walking around the pole like 50 times until he couldn't move anymore. (Wasn't the smartest tool in the shed, still isn't.) Plus, he had knocked over the water bucket & she was upset that they wouldn't have any water to drink. (Yeh! Like I was going to let my dogs die of thirst & dehydration.) We had barely moved in for goodness sake!
After fixing the problem: untangling Max, and refilling his water bucket, I said goodbye to my neighbor, & went back inside to continue unpacking. Well not even an hour later, the doorbell rings again. Now, who is it? I looked through the key hole, and who should be there again? None other than my lovely new neighbor. "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to keep bothering you, but your dog is tangled up again", blah, blah, blah, blah.
Time & time again this happened throughout the day. I was trying to take care of my two children (several times I was nursing my son), I was trying to unpack boxes, so we would have food to eat & dishes to eat off of. When miss snoopy would come knocking and dinging my doorbell. It's not like I could hide from her either, we had no blinds on the house yet, so she could see inside our house. It was just one thing after another. "The dogs were tangled, the water was knocked over, they looked so sad, they were barking because they were tied up", etc., etc., etc. I honestly couldn't believe this was happening! I even explained that my husband was only gone for the day, and would address the situation tomorrow.
Then she tried to tell me, my husband was irresponsible for leaving his wife & newborn baby & daughter alone, when my dogs were like that. I was like what the crap are you talking about lady! He's only going to get our car so that we can both have a vehicle instead one of us being stranded, & come right back. This did little, to appease her. But since I knew we were going to be living next door to each other, while my husband was going to school at least, I sucked it up, & kept my mouth shut. 'Uh huh!, Yes. Thank you for your concern, yada yada. '
Finally when it was dark outside, she stopped harassing me, and went back to her house. I called Nathan to see how things were, and told him about the 'dog lady.' He said 'you're kidding me, right?' He couldn't believe it either, and he hadn't even met her yet. He told me not to worry, he would be back tomorrow to deal with her if need be.
Now anyone who has dogs knows, that after a big move, they're going to be a little anxious. The first day & night, they would bark at people that walked by (not in a mean way, but with their tails wagging, like come & play with me). They barked at unfamiliar sounds at night, cause they weren't used to their surroundings yet.
Well... thinking (hoping), that the lady had finally given up, I woke up the next morning, fed my kids, and went back to unpacking. Then the doorbell rings. I open it and who, you may ask, was there? You guessed it. The 'psycho dog lady.' That's what she became known as, from that day on. She literally had a plastic bag in her hand, and asked if she could scoop up my dogs poop, because otherwise they would walk all over it. I stood there stunned for a minute, not knowing how to respond, then mumbled an 'I guess,' just to get rid of her. I called Nathan and told him that she was back and was currently cleaning up our dogs crap. He was like tell her to go away. Which of course, I didn't want to burn bridges, but I was so tempted. So I let her do her thing, thinking it would appease her enough to go away.
Well about a half an hour later she comes knocking on my back patio door, this time. This is what she said to me. "I am so sorry to keep bothering you but this whole situation is making me so upset. I sat up all last night, in tears, listening to your dogs cry, because they were chained up. I know you have your new baby, and little girl to think of & take care of, but please just let me take care of your dogs. This is just awful. They're chained up, they keep getting tangled up, they're crying because they can't run free. They keep knocking over their water. It's just horrible. Please just let me take them. I beg you. I know this wonderful place where I can take them, until your husband can build a fence, where they will give them a bath, and be pampered. Please, I'll pay for it. You won't even have to pay a dime. Please, let me just do this. I beg you." She said a bunch of other stuff also, but I was pretty much seeing red at that point & completely phased it out.
When she was done with her tirade, I was pretty upset. I informed her that 'she knew nothing about us, she knew nothing about our dogs. We had barely moved, I had a newborn infant that was a little more important than giving my dogs a bath, and that we took really good care of our dogs, & she was out of line implying that we didn't. It was a temporary situation, that would be quickly remedied, and that what she was doing was borderline harassment.' I pretty much told her to back off & stop harassing me.
You think that would've given her a clue. But some people have harder heads than others, & an hour later, she knocks on my door one last time. I swear I was ready to call the police. She had 2 leashes in her hand, and begged if she could at least take my dogs for a walk, since I wouldn't let her take them to this dog place she knew. Too upset to argue at that point, I just gave in. I called Nathan extremely upset, almost in tears, wondering when he would be home, hoping he could deal with her and stop her from harassing me. He asked where she was and I said I let her take the dogs for a walk. By then, Nathan was pretty worked up. He couldn't get there fast enough. He was ready to tell her where to go. At that point, I looked out the window & what I saw, almost made me laugh out loud. She had walked to the bottom of the hill by the stop sign, and was struggling to go further. Both dogs were going in opposite directions and tangling her up in the leashes. She couldn't get them to cooperate. It was almost comical.
Well after the brief walk, she brought them back to our yard and chained them back up, and she seriously sat on our grass and held Max's head so she could look inside his mouth & ears. She kept hugging him like he was being abused or something. (It was insane. She was seriously like one brick shy of a load.)
She was doing this, when Nathan & my father-in-law drove up in the truck & Saturn. Nathan was wondering what the crap was going on. He was ready to give it to her. She must have beat a hasty retreat, when she saw them pull up, because when he got to the backyard, she was gone. That was the last time she came to our house, thank goodness!!!! (We put a fence up as soon as we could. Not only to keep our dogs in, but keep her OUT!.)
After that she just called the animal control and made erroneous "anonymous" complaints about us. (yeh right!, like we didn't know where they were coming from). Twice, when we went out of town, she called animal control on us. We would come home & be greeted by a lovely note taped to our front door, informing us to call them. She would tell them that we abandoned our dogs for days without food & water, & that we left the yard covered in dog poop. (We had made arrangements with family members to check on them, and give them food & water, if they got low.) It was just a complete load of crap....no pun intended) :) They had plenty of food, plenty of water, and Nathan had cleaned up the backyard before we left, so there was only the dog poop from the days we were gone. The first time we were annoyed. The second time we were fed up, & informed the animal control that she was harassing us, and not to take her complaints so serious. They were required to have someone come out each time to verify the complaint, and each time she was proven wrong. The guy was really nice. I don't know if he talked to her or what, but we never heard from her again. Thank goodness!! I tried to avoid her @ all costs, from there on out.
Parking Hog
Well after the fiasco with the 'dog lady.' We had another neighbor to deal with. Where we lived, there were 2 houses on each side, separated by this little driveway, and then we each had a parking space. You'd think, since there were 4 houses and 4 parking spots, we would each get a parking space.
Well the neighbor, diagonally across from us, decided that they should get; not only their own parking spot, but ours as well. And would park in my spot everyday. (They had like 2 different families living in the same house.) We asked them nicely if they would refrain, but to no avail. So Nathan wrote a note, asking them to be considerate, since we had young children; to park in their own designated parking space, since we each had one; and to just be respectful of other people. Well the next day, this lady shows up at our door, very upset. 'How dare Nathan leave a note on her car.' She informed us, that because it did not specifically state that in the association guidelines, that we had no right telling her where she could & could not park. That she would continue to park there, & we couldn't do anything about it. She told us never to leave a note on her car again, and stormed off in a huff. What a joyful, sweet lady she was. Needless to say there were countless times I had to pull up in front of the house, park in the actual driveway, drop my kids & groceries off inside the house, then get back in my car to drive around the corner and park behind my house, down off the hill. It was especially fun in the rain!
That was our wonderful welcoming committee when we moved back to Utah. I was shocked. In all the years I've lived in Utah (I grew up in Utah, spent most of my life in Utah), I have never encountered that kind of total disregard for another human being before. It was a complete eye opener. Especially, with them being our neighbors & all. The other neighbors barely said boo also. I couldn't wait to move. The location was the main reason why we stayed there.
Clearfield
That's why when Nathan bought our house in Clearfield (we were originally going to fix it up & flip it), we decided to stay. Tough decision :). Yeh right.
We came up for a weekend with Nathan to work on the house. He was changing out the carpet pad in the front room, and installing cherry wood laminate throughout the main entryway & front hallway & into the kitchen. While I was scrubbing, and cleaning the bathrooms & kitchen, etc.
Well that day, happened to be the yearly ward(LDS) party at the park just a block away from our house. I kid you not, half of the ward stopped by to welcome us and to see if we were moving into the neighborhood. Me & Nathan just stared at each other. We couldn't believe how nice everyone was. It was amazing! We have never had that kind of welcome before, especially with them not knowing whether or not, we were actually moving in or not. Well that right there, sealed the deal for us. We decided to put the Provo house up for sale instead, and move into the Clearfield house.
That was the best decision, we could have made. Our house sold within a month of putting it on the market. Plus we had awesome new neighbors! Mikayla actually had kids to play with. (Her & Jayden had no one to play with at the Provo house. Occasionally they got to play with their cousin Brandon, and their other cousins, but not often.) The first day we moved into our current house, Nathan & my father-in-law, Vic, were building a dog run for the dogs. Our neighbors directly behind us, Ryleigh & Emmie Bybee, came over and asked if the kids could play. Needless to say, Mikayla almost couldn't contain herself, she was so excited! Jayden was barely a year old, so he was excited just because Mikayla was. :).
It's been a great experience ever since. There are so many wonderful kids for Mikayla to play with. She's in 7th heaven. The problem is, every time we mention moving again, though, she gets visibly upset. Which is understandable. I know she's going to take it the hardest. It's just been so rough on Nathan having to drive back and forth to Springville every week. Not only does it waste 2 - 2 1/2 hours out of each day. But it's wearing him out. Even when we moved, he was still going to MBA school, & had to drive back & forth to Provo 3 times a week.
After he graduated, he became a Real Estate agent, and worked his butt off trying to list and sell homes, and find homes for potential buyers, which was rough. (As you can tell from the current economy it just wasn't the best time to be an agent. Still isn't.) But luckily he met a great network of friends through the MBA program, and went to work for one of the guys in his class. (It just all worked out so perfectly. Now he's doing something that he really enjoys, with a great group of guys, and he's actually excited to go to work. It's great! All of the different career paths Nathan has taken, since we've been married, have all led up to this point. Each one adding more and more knowledge in areas that he was lacking.) But once again, he was driving back & forth every weekday. Instead of Provo though, now it's Springville. Every once in awhile he'll either: work from home one day out of the week, or stay overnight at his brothers condo. But usually he drives down every weekday. Most day he'll carpool with Alex (who lives in Kaysville), but not all the time.
Even though I keep teasing Nathan about how many times we've moved, each place has given us such a broader perspective & insight on life, that have helped us grow not only as a couple together, but individually as well. As hard as it was to move to Arkansas, when we first got married, away from all of my family & friends, it was a true blessing in disguise. We needed to start our life out learning to depend & rely on each other, not our families. We needed to grow & bond as a couple, & being on our own forced us to do just that. It made our love stronger!!! As many ups & downs as we've had through the years, we've always been there for each other, and helped each other get through them. It may not have been easy, but it was worth it.
I could have done without "psycho dog lady" though....... :)
A Sister's Love
Throughout all of this, my sister Rochelle, or as I like to call her, Roch, was my lifeline!!! We hung out all the time. It was awesome! We'd do our Ross, Kohl's, Wal-Mart, Target & Olive Garden runs on the weekend. (Hence Olive Garden is Mikayla's favorite restaurant even to this day :). But it was great!
I would always hang out at their house. We would always do things with Darrin's family also. They are the coolest family, by the way. Everyone would always make you feel so welcome. They still do. They're your typical Italian family. Every get-together was always jam packed with family and friends, and everyone always felt like part of the family.
We'd have the yearly Halloween party at Ty & Nancy's (Darrin's nephew), and Monday night dinners at Frank & Glorias'. Gloria would spend all day cooking & getting ready. I never knew how she did it. She would watch Emerill , cooking on t.v. and take notes on all the recipes she liked and make them. She would have like 20 different dishes. It was incredible. Then most of the family would come over. The house would be packed, but there would always be room for more.
But whenever I needed something, whether it was advice, a shoulder to cry on, a friend, whatever it was, my sister was always there for me. Her & Darrin kept me sane :). Before we moved to Vegas, my main memory of Rochelle is of her acrylic nails at my jugular (sorry & yes I had to bring that up. It's branded in my brain :) But when I moved to Vegas, and really got to know her, I found out what a big-hearted, loving, caring, strong, beautiful person she really is.
Thanks for always picking me up, for listening to my babble, & for always being there for me when I need you. I love you Roch & miss you very much! You're my best friend!!! )))
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