It is so terribly tantalizing to hear about all these amazing places the world has to offer. Everyday in class I learn about places and people that look so interesting. I have an assignment to write a six page essay about a country I want to visit. I have to explain why I should want to go there. This sounds like an easy assignment, but I am having an awful time trying to figure out what country to choose! Yesterday I decided to just make a list of all the countries I really want to visit and then work my way through. I quickly realized that was not going to work. There are simply too many possibilities. Here's my list of countries/destinations I came up with off the top of my head. (No particular order.)

Greece
Spain
Italy
Brazil
Argentina
Nepal
Switzerland
Sweden
Chile
Israel (Maybe not right now.)
Germany
Canada
Hungary
France
Costa Rica
South Africa
Egypt
Portugal
Australia
Ireland
India
The entire United Kingdom
Russia (in the summer!)
Estonia
China
United Arab Emirates (Dubai)
Japan

I suppose I'll just choose the country I can make the most arguments about. Maybe one with a Disneyland like France. Hong Kong, or Japan.

But the larger problem is not the paper. It is figuring out how I will get to all these places in the next 60 years! Plus, my list will only grow larger as time goes on. I'm hoping to take some trips with my kids, but I'm mostly hope that when they are grown I will still be healthy and active enough to go exploring the world with Jeremy. I guess I better cut out the fast food NOW.

What's on YOUR list?

****

How is it that I've become a soccer mom already and I don't even have any biological children? Everyday I wake up at 5:30am to get first child/husband to work. Then I come home and get my other "kid" out of bed and ready for school. After dropping him off at school at 8:00am, I head to school myself. I'm there until around 1:00pm most days. Then I take lunch to Jeremy at work at 1:30. Then I go sit and study/nap in the middle school parking lot until 12-year-old gets done with school and after-school trumpet practice. Then I usually have to run errands, go to the bank, go to the grocery store, etc. Then home to get 12-year-old started on homework, offering help where needed. Then I try to start dinner until I have to go pick up husband at work at 6:30pm. I come home with him, finish making dinner, serve dinner, and start the laundry for the evening. I try to get in the shower by 10:00pm, and there's usually more laundry or dishes to be done afterwards. (I'll admit I usually skip the dishes.) Any necessary homework that can't wait then has to be done. I'm lucky to be in bed by 11:30 or midnight. And most nights like last night, my mind is running so fast thinking of all the things I have to do, that I lay there for an hour or more trying to fall asleep. I didn't get to sleep until almost 1:00am last night.

I'm exhausted. And I'm exhausted just thinking about doing that everyday. I should have listed it out so it would have been clearer to see. Hopefully Thursdays and Fridays when Jeremy doesn't work will help tremendously. (He'll be able to take care of some of that stuff!) Otherwise I'm probably going to die and not make it to ANY of those countries.

The house is pretty quiet. Just the rumble of the washer and the hum of the dryer keeping me company.

Everyone is in bed, but I'm not sleepy yet so here I sit.

There's a nice feeling in the house tonight. We got a lot of cleaning done today, which was great. We also had a nice dinner. Grilled chicken, lima beans, Velveeta, and dinner rolls. Nothing fancy, just simple and yummy.

This is the time of night that I get to sit and reflect a little bit in between laundry cycles. I am so very blessed. I have a warm home and it feels just lovely. I enjoy being here. I'm glad I have been able to create a sanctuary of sorts. When we come home we are safe, and protected from the dangers of the world. No one is judged here, no one has any reason to feel unloved or inferior. Even the cold and the snow seems far away.

I'm definitely not a homebody, I like to be out and about, but there is something comforting about the colors on the walls, this cozy furniture, the sheer drapes. I love looking around and seeing all the pictures of Jeremy and I on our wedding day, on our honeymoon, having fun. Smiling. I am so happy with him. Sure, we have our frustrations. Like today, I was a little irritated when he didn't enthusiastically jump to help me with the house cleaning. But he's here. Everyday. And he did help a lot after some minor coaxing. He loves me.

He went to bed early tonight so he could be up at 5:00am to go to work. He works so hard so that we can have a life that is comfortable and fun. He works so that I can go to school and get my education. He knows it's important to me and I'm grateful. Many wives don't get the opportunity to finish their education and I'm so glad that even though I'm taking my sweet time, Jeremy supports me and makes it so I can go to class everyday. I hope I can return the favor soon.

I'm thrilled that I live in a country and during a time in history that allows Jeremy a couple paid weeks away from work. We will be able to have the privilege of taking a family vacation this summer. Aren't vacations just the best? It's such a carefree time to just make memories together, get to know each other, and have some fun with your favorite people.

Isn't it just completely phenomenal that in a little over a week, a new party will take control of our government? The people made their choice, and whether you agree with it or not, it's quite a wonder. In my major, I study many countries. It is no common thing for a country to have such a drastic change of power without widespread violence and fear. Growing up in the United States, I take so many things for granted. I love that through my education, I am gaining a new appreciation for my country and my planet. I feel so blessed to be able to live here and create a family here.

It's been amazing to add to our family this past year. I can't imagine it any other way now. I can't wait for the day when I will have the time to add more. (I think this time we'll start at 0 instead of 12.) It's only been four months, but it has gone almost flawlessly. We haven't even had a minor crisis.

Speaking of the addition, he told me he loved me for the first time a week ago. I hadn't ever said it to him because I wanted him to say it whenever he felt it and wanted to. It wasn't something I thought he should feel pressured into. And it took everything I had not to just cry. He was upset, missing his Mom, and I was trying to comfort him. There wasn't much I could do, I just offered a hug and someone to talk to if he wanted. And then he just blurted it out like he'd been holding it in for months. "I love you!" He was so emotionally vulnerable at that moment. All sniffly and snotty. I thought that gave it so much more meaning.

And you know, that moment made the whole year of hell absolutely worth it.

So my sister and I are still feverishly making vacation plans. We're not even going until June, but I just can't wait! I was on the phone with my Dad for a while tonight as well, working out the details. He sounded pretty stoked himself...haha. My Dad is the family member I've seen the least this year so it will be so nice to spend some time with him this summer. He didn't get to come out with Mom and my sisters when I had my surgeries over the summer.

Right now it looks like we are doing six days at Disney, two days at Universal Studios, and one day at SeaWorld. I haven't been to SeaWorld since I was about 8. So I'm excited. Jeremy went with my family once when he first moved to Florida, but I have been deprived of SeaWorld. Jeremy loves it so he's excited as well. He went there somewhat often as a child, so I imagine he has some good memories there. He's probably more excited about the whales than he is about Disney.

I still have my Florida drivers license so I can get the Florida Resident pricing at Universal and SeaWorld for me and Joey. That will be sweet! It's a considerable savings.

All together, I will be spending 17 days out of Utah. That is so exciting to me. I have grown to love Utah in many ways, but oh how I miss that Florida sunshine! Jeremy will fly back to Utah a little earlier for work, which will be sad, but me and Joey will cope without him.

Whoo hoo!

See all these posts? I told you I was going to be a better blogger in 2009.

Anyways.

I just love going out with the boys. Tonight's dinner conversation subject was kissing. The 12-year-old randomly asked how old I was when I had my first kiss. I told him I was 15, and then he had to know about Jeremy too. And boy did he want details! Was it a good kiss, what was their name, did you stick your lips out like this {pucker}, how many people have you kissed, etc. He also wanted to know if we'd ever french-kissed and wanted to know if you could get AIDS from french kissing. Oh my gosh. It was just so hilarious. But of course, I couldn't laugh at any of his questions. It's a delicate balance keeping a pre-teen boy comfortable enough to talk about those things!

One of the funny ones:

"Well what was his name?"

"Davis."

"Davy?"

"No, Davis."

"David?"

"Davis."

"Was he black?"

"No...why?"

"He sounds black. I thought that was a black name."

"Oh. Alright."

That one was just funny because when I was dating him, Davis did kinda did think he was black.

12-year-old boy also scolded me for kissing at 15 when he knew I wasn't supposed to "date" until I was 16. I explained that I'd been "going out" with this guy for over five months before I kissed him and he was about to move away anyways so I thought it was okay. I also told him how I'd actually discussed my first kiss with my parents before it happened. I wanted to get their opinion about whether it was a good idea or not. He and Jeremy called me a nerd about that, but I don't care. I'm glad I had such a good and open relationship with my parents and I hope we can have a similar relationship with him.

And the conversation just continued that way. Kissing is a safe conversation, much easier than some of the other questions he's had in the past. (More on that in a bit!) He wanted to know if we'd been good kissers for our respective first kisses, where we were, and what kind of kiss it was. (Lip placement and such. Haha!) I assured him that I'd been a spectacular kisser from the beginning but I don't think he believed me. He sounded worried about his future kissing experiences but I told him it wasn't difficult and when he was older and he found the right girl it would come naturally. We told him how kissing had always been okay, but it is totally different when you find somebody you really love and want to marry. Jeremy told him the first time he kissed me he thought, "Oh, so THIS is what it's supposed to feel like." (And of course I said, "Aww!" even though he has said that before. It's one of those things that never gets old.) Jeremy didn't want to talk much about his first kiss (he didn't even say her name, I had to guess, haha) so it was mostly just about mine. Lucky me...I guess...haha.

We continued talking about kissing until dinner was over. Then on the way home he pipes up from the back:

"Amanda, have you ever seen Jeremy naked?"

(Agh! I thought that we were done with the questions for the evening! I worried this was going to be his segue for asking intimacy-related questions. He tends to just blurt things out like that to get conversations going. Kind of like when there's something from his past that he wants to share with us. Once he asked, "Have you ever run away?" And really, he just wanted to talk about when he ran away from a place he lived before, and why he felt he had to run away. We've always been really open to answering his questions about all subjects and only given him the "You'll find out when your older" kind of answer on one occasion. He was completely clueless about everything reproduction-wise when he first got here, but I think he has a decent knowledge of the basics now and why we feel it's something that's best saved for later.)

"Um, yes I have."

"Was it weird?"

"Nope. We were together for over 2 years before we got married and got to that part so we were comfortable."

**Pray he doesn't ask anything else.**

"Okay."

And that was it! He did ask Jeremy if it was weird too. Haha, so I'm thinking he thought/thinks there was just one occasion. Kind of like how when I was younger I thought my parents had only been intimate four times. (Because there were only four kids!) I could almost hear the wheels in his head turning and trying to put pieces together but he didn't ask anything else. I know he's still confused on some things. Like he recently heard about birth control pills somewhere and had several questions about that. He had absolutely no idea how those worked, and thought you took them to have a baby, not to avoid one. It was kinda cute, but it always makes me nervous when he asks those questions. I just sometimes don't know how much I should tell him at this age. Obviously details aren't appropriate or necessary. But where's the line, ya know? Should I just stick to the kinda thing he will learn in biology? What about the religious aspects? What about those questions he has about the experience itself? I think a lot of it varies from kid to kid.

I just want him to get the information from us and not somewhere else. The most important thing is that I always want him to feel comfortable coming to us with any question he may have now or in the future. About anything. Especially as he gets older and sees/hears more things at school. So even if I'm freaking out on the inside, I try to answer him casually and in a factual way. The nice thing is I remember very well what it's like to be 12, and I know what I could handle at that age. He's always been really mature about it, although on the inside he's probably thinking. "Eww! Weird!" At least I know that's what I was thinking when my parents first gave me the talk. But that was at age 9. I'm just glad he's comfortable enough to ask. Usually he says, "I have a question about..." and then he'll spell out S-E-X in the air with his finger. And I think that is just the funniest thing. I wasn't comfortable saying that word out loud until I was about 17...haha.

So what do you think? Most of you reading this don't have kids old enough for this, but what are you going to tell them, and when?

Okay, so I LOVE trip planning. I love working out the little details and making itineraries, even if I never follow them.

Looks like we are going to rent a Chevy Impala for about $200 for the week. We'll split the cost of that with my sister and her boyfriend. Looks like he will be able to get to the parks free and get a discount for my sister since he's a marine. Disney is doing an "Armed Forces Salute" with discounts for active and retire military. All our tickets are taken care of between my six free admissions and Joey's waterpark pass.

Jeremy would rather go to New York or somewhere, but this Disney trip is so completely cheap I just can't justify spending all that money on lodging and entertainment in NYC. I think we could save enough for a really nice trip next year though. Or another cruise! Yes, a cruise would be great.

Trip planning is fun, but I'm still really enjoying event planning. I have a class this semester, Facilitating Meetings and Conferences, which sounds boring but we're actually just planning one big Easter Festival at the Young Living farm down in Mona, Utah. I can either be on the Marketing Team, Activities Team, Entertainment Team, or Food Services Team. I can't decide which one I want to do. They all sound fun. We have a $4000 budget and we get to make ALL the decisions about the event. We can also get more money through local business sponsorships.

So last night was supposed to be Jer's last night at work, but he's gonna go in and work some overtime tonight. That's fine with me since he went spending crazy after the Gators won last night. He bought a $75 Tim Tebow jersey! I'm a girl and I've never even spent that much on a shirt! (But I think I'm about to if I start getting all the items I want from Anthropologie and Buckle!) But if he's willing to work a little overtime to cover it then I can't complain.

I just want a Nikon D90 so bad. If only he could work overtime every weekend so I could have it for my birthday!

Speaking of birthdays, I can't believe I'm turning 23. I was only 17 when I started this xanga. 23 sounds so adult. I can't imagine the day when I will be closer to 30 than 20. Oh well, being in your thirties isn't too bad these days. Reese Witherspoon is 32!

Classes are going really well. I just love it. They go by so quickly. If I can just keep up with my readings I'll be okay.

I better get to some of that reading now!

We're probably going on a 10-day trip to Orlando/Disney in June! Yay!

I'm sure enough to share it anyways. Looks like we will be there from the 4th to the 14th. I'm excited!

Sure, it's not California, or Italy, or Greece. But it's REALLY CHEAP. Just about all of our lodging and entertainment will be free. We're gonna get a rental car to zip around in while we're down there. That's just about our only expense. We will have to pay for food, of course, and souvenirs. Oh the souvenirs!

Hurry June!

And tonight is Jeremy's last night of graveshift! Woot! Having a husband at home at night and a warm body to sleep with is a priviledge I will never take for granted again.

Ahh...so much better.

Thanks for being so cool about it Apple!

I just got a hair cut and took a whole three inches off. My hair was so long I didn't think I'd notice them but I miss them dearly already. Give them back! I'll have to take vitamins so it will grow back fatter. Haha, I meant faster.

I also dyed it way dark. Loves it.

I got straight across bangs too. I think I rock it. My stylist told me I looked way hot. And I didn't believe her at first but I went home and styled them better myself and now I am a believer.

Now some woots.

Jer only has three more nights of graveshift! Woot!

I took my first quiz of the semester a minute ago and I got 100%!! Wooot!

In one of my classes I get to give a presentation about my hometown and I can fully explore my love/hate relationship with the South and the backwardness and awesomeness of my hometown! Wooooot!

I get to go to Salt Lake tomorrow with the boys! Whooooooooot!

My iPhone is steadily deteriorating but it sounds like they are going to give me a brand spanking new one at the store tomorrow! Double WOOOOOOOOOOT! (Must. Have. iPhone. IMMEDIATELY!)

Jer and I went on a date with our neighbors, Adam and Alison, and my sister, Lauren, and her friend, Kacey.

Here's some pics!

There's a real post with paragraphs and stuff below.

I love this photo of us.

The scary bride!

Our cute neighbors!

Anyone who knows the Elmore girls knows we are ridiculously long-legged. We were all 5'8'' by the time we were 13. Kacey is the same way. So sharing this seat was interesting. NO LEG SPACE. Even for a person like me who doesn't use their legs, it is very uncomfortable.

This guy was just more fun and less scary. Some people were pretty creepy, I didn't get pictures of them. I was probably boldly trying not to cower. They always go after the people who look scared.

I'm on a break right now after my first class of the semester and 2009! I'm excited about the class. I have a few friends in there from last semester and I've had the professor before so I'm expecting no surprises. It's about the geography of tourism. Regional destinations, why some people travel and some don't, where they travel, etc. It sounds fun and we have to read five books that sound really good. My professor said that these books may contain a word or two that aren't "BYU Approved." That makes them sound even better to me. Although I did see one girl look visibly upset. It's probably the same girl that got upset and ran out of the room when we talked about sex in Sunday School freshman year.

So my day did not start as well as I would have liked. I woke up early because my husband was trying to be sweet and snuggle with me for a while before I had to get up but all it did was wake me and cause me to lose an hour of sleep. Bless him.

I actually managed to get Joey up and had him get his shower and breakfast and we were out the door on time. Then I get to the car and there is ice all over my windshield. No problem I say! I have de-icer that sprays so beautifully and does a wonderful job. However, the ice was on the INSIDE of the car. Expletive! So I grab the scraper and went crazy on the ice determined that it would not make us late. It was a pretty thin layer, but still thick enough to completely block my vision. I scraped and scraped and Joey and I marveled at how it was now snowing feverishly INSIDE the car. The more I scraped the more it snowed. If it wasn't so annoying it might have been magical. Joey seemed to enjoy it.

I think he got to school on time and I headed to the big kids school. This was where things went TERRIBLE. I needed to call Jeremy to see if he got the Mustang to the shop and I tried to slide the slider on my iPhone. This is a task that must be done every time to "wake" the phone. But it would only slide half-way! This renders my phone pretty much completely useless. Now all it does is beep to let me know that I have an email. AN EMAIL I CANNOT CHECK ON MY PHONE! The phone may as well cut off all my ties with civilization. That's how I felt. Complete isolation. Maybe I'm a little addicted to my phone, but I have no shame.

Luckily I have my laptop now and some wireless internet, but geez. What if some crazy maniac comes and starts shooting up BYU campus? I won't have my phone therefore I will not be able to call 911 and tell them I'm stuck in room 230 of the Kimball Tower. I cannot call my family to tell them whether I am dead or not. I cannot record a last wish message on my phone telling Jeremy that I love him and he better have taken my beloved Mustang to the shop this morning or I will forever haunt him. (I've been trying to get him to get both cars to the shop for oil changes and other miscellaneous needs for two months.)

My paranoia has no limits. I'm wondering if my phone RINGS, will I be able to answer it? I'm not sure. It appears the right side of the screen is not working, and the answer button is on that side, but enough of the screen may be functioning that I could hit part of the button. We'll see.

I better not have to buy a whole new phone. I will be really mad. I was gonna buy a new shower chair and new caster wheels! I cannot afford a $300 iPhone right now. Not without sacrifices. Boo. Maybe it's an easy fix but somehow I doubt it. I cannot live without a phone though. This I do know.

**Wow, it's only been half an hour. See, I have this free hour between my classes today and every MWF and I think I will use it as my official blog time. But I'm so excited to start my next class! Hurry 11:00!**

Let's see, what else is going on? I could upload some pictures! Sounds good.