Lately...

I know I haven't updated in a LONG time, but there isn't much to update on. I am enjoying my job, although I find it a little overwhelming at times. I just keep telling myself that I might feel like I am not helping the kids I work with at all, but I'm pretty sure i'm not doing any harm so all is well.... I guess? Everyone keeps telling me to just keep plugging along and eventually I will start to see results. I don't expect to be a magic worker or anything and mental illness is a life long battle, but I wish I could see that my work is helping these kids. I guess I will have to keep at it, and hopefully I get to see some progress. All in all I like my job. The only bad part is I am an independent contractor so I have times I meet with my clients at their house and I have to work, but other than that I work from home so I can do my work whenever. This seemed like a good thing at first, but now I have noticed that there is always something I could be doing so it's always in the back of my mind. It's like never going home from work because work is at home.Double edge sword I guess. I do have to admit that I am very luck to be working in my field and working with kids which is what I prefer. It's a great job, and the kids are a lot of fun most of time.
Andrew only has one week left of this semester!!! He has a final tomorrow and then one on Saturday and he is done!!! WAHOO!!! Can you tell I am excited? One semester down 5 more to go. I am so proud of my hard working husband. He has been studying so hard the past few weeks for finals. I can't wait until he gets some time off school and we can spend some time together again. 
SO that is basically what we've been up to. Work and school. Nothing too exciting. 

I got a job! And I got bangs!

 I FINALLY FOUND A JOB!!! YEA!!!

After my long job search I learned that getting a job is ALL about WHO you know. I had the degree and I was qualified for lots of jobs, I even went to several interviews and second interviews and one time even a third interview, but I kept getting passed up because I didn't have any connections. All of those interviews didn't go to waste though, I learned some great interviewing skills and if anyone needs some pointers on interviewing I'd be happy to share what I found. When Andrew started law school there was a big beginning of the year BBQ for all the law students and their families. I got to meet some of his law school friends and it was a good time. A few weeks later one of the girls I had met at the BBQ asked Andrew how I was doing and Andrew told her I was still just looking for a job so she asked what kind of a job I was looking for and Andrew told her I was looking for something in the social service field working with children. WELL.... it just so happens that the girls mom is the CEO of a company called The Home of Possibilities which is a company that works with children who have mental disorders. Perfect for me, right?! Long story short I emailed my resume to her mom and the next week I had an interview! It was a group interview which you would think would be intimidating, but it was a nice change from all the other interviews I had been to. The CEO who interviewed us told us that they had 150 applicants for the job and they narrowed it down to the 5 of us in the group interview. (I'm telling you its all about who you know that is the ONLY way I got an interview with them).  After the interview I realized that it would be an amazing job, but I didn't think I had a chance because I was barely qualified for the job and I had no experience unlike the some of the others who were being interviewed who had a masters degree or years of experience. Well... a few days later they called me in for a second interview. !!! Yeah I was excited. The second interview went well and at the end of the interview they offered me the job! 

So... I am an Independent contractor for the Home of Possibilities. I work as a basic skills trainer (working on learning how to tie shoes, how to shave, how to brush teeth, how to comb hair, etc.) and also as a psych social rehabilitation worker (working on behavior management, communication skills, social skills, problem identification and resolution, etc.) I work mostly with children and most of the children I will be working with are autistic, but I could work with a wide range of other mental disorders. Being an independent contractor means that I get to work from home. I have meetings every week a the office, but other than that I work with the kids in their home or neighborhood and I do all the paperwork at my house. I am really excited and grateful to be doing what I am doing. I am sad that I can't do child life like I had planned and hoped, but this is the next best thing and who knows I may like it so much that I stay in this field the rest of my life, or if the opportunity presents itself one day I may have the chance to do child life work and this job would be great preparatory work for that. What I do know is that God did answer my prayers in a way that I could never have imagined, and with a job that will be great for me and I see myself truly enjoying.
Now onto bangs! During conference weekend Andrews sister Velynn who does hair cut me some bangs! It took a bit of getting used to when I would look in the mirror. I liked them, it was just so different. But I LOVE them! So here are some pictures.

Bangs swooped to the side

Bangs and curly hair

What we've been up to lately

First of all can I just say how much I LOVED General Conference this past weekend? I love the spiritual boost it brings into my life, and I am so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. There were so many good talks, I don't think I could narrow down ONE favorite, I had many favorites. For conference weekend Andrew and I went up to Salt Lake. For those of you who know Andrew you know of his OBSESSION with cars and since he worked at Hertz he has loves renting nice cars. Since Andrew has been working so hard at law school and I've been working so hard trying to find a job we thought we deserved a little reward so Andrew rented us a car to drive up to Salt Lake in. A 2011 Mitsubishi Spyder. Here are some pictures of our fun ride.

Driving a convertible was a lot of fun!

Andrew driving thinking he is pretty hot stuff. My sister made Andrews day when she told him that he looked at home in this car

We stayed a night in St. George on our way up to Salt Lake. While driving through St. George down the Boulevard on our way to my sisters house to say hi Andrew thought it would be fun to blast the music with the top down. It was so embarrassing! I'm not the type of person who likes to draw that kind of attention (the kind that shouts 'Hey! Look at me and how cool I am in this cool car!). I slouched over and tried to hide my face so no one I knew would see me. Andrew thought that was funny so he blasted the reggae music even louder as I slowly died of embarrassment. Here are some pictures of my sister and newphew having some fun in the car.

After our drive up to Salt Lake my hair was in knots! It was worth it though. The whole reason Andrew and I went up to Salt Lake was to go to his the 20th reunion of his mission. Generally there is a mission reunion every six months on conference weekend. My husband served his mission in Kiev Ukraine and this past month happened to the the 20th year since the mission opened. In honor of that the mission had a 20 year reunion where everyone who has served in Ukraine go together for a big shin dig. It was a lot of fun to see some of Andrews old mission companions. I am lucky to have gotten to know a few of them and their wives and they are great people we both love lots! Since Andrew has been home for his mission the temple in Ukraine was completed and dedicated. It was great to hear how the temple is blessing the lives of the members in Ukraine. Temples are amazing. Here is a picture of the Ukraine temple.

Beautiful isn't it!

Saturday and Sunday we spent most of the time hanging out with Andrews Family. It was fun to spend some time with them since we don't get to see them as often now that we live 6 hours a way. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that while we were up there I had Andrews Sister cut me some bangs! As soon as I get some pic of them I will show you, lets just say I shocked my mother speechless. Our drive home was just as fun as the drive up with the wind blowing in our hair and listening to conference. We stopped in St. George for a little while on our way home as well. When my mom saw what we were driving she fell in love. We went for a drive and I decided that my mom had more fun driving the car for 10 minutes than anyone else including Andrew. I was laughing so hard because she was so in love it! It was a lot of fun to drive, but it was even more fun to see how happy it made my mom. Driving through the gorge with the top down and the sun setting was AMAZING! 

The pretty sunset we saw on our drive back to Vegas

I realize that this is turning into a long post, but bear with me and I will try and speed through the rest of what we've been up to lately.

A few weeks ago Andrews brother Spence and his Wife Cyntha and their two kids Kesley and CJ came to vegas for a visit. It was so great to see some familiar faces! We toured the strip with them and had a blast just hanging out and playing the tourist in our own city. Here are some pictures from their trip.

Andrew and I at M&M World

Spencer, Cyntha, Kesley & CJ checking out the M&M World

Saying hi to Yellow

The strip at night. The camera on my phone isn't that great, but this looks kinda cool.

Here are some other fun pictures to update what we've been up to lately.

Slip and Slide at Grandma's House. I eventually put on my swimming suit and joined them at the request of my newphew  "Swip and Swide Aunt Jesswin" You can't say no to that.

I went up to St. George for my nieces birthday party. (I don't have a job and Andrew's busy with law school so why not?) My little niece looked SOO CUTE! 

Prancing around like a princess in the skirt and shoes her mom made her.

Hanging out with Grandpa

She may have only turned one but she knew all those presents were hers

Her favorite present she got was a toy pet dog her parents gave her (she LOVES dogs!)

 Hugs...

...and kisses

I think that basically sums up what we've been up to lately. Hanging out with family and having fun!

Birthday Cake Adventure

Today is my amazing husband Andrews birthday! He does so much for me, and is always coming home with flowers or treats of some kind for me, and he has been working so hard this past week as he starts law school, so decided I wanted to make today a special day for him. When he woke up this morning I made him his favorite breakfast, creamed eggs over toast. If you have never had this, don't judge. I had never had it until I met Andrew. Now I love it and it is a regular at our house. Creamed eggs doesn't sound too appealing, but trust me on this one. If you've had it you know what I mean. If you haven't had it let me know and i'll send you the recipe because you need to try it. Anyways, after breakfast he went off to school. Usually he has class until around 4 but today his afternoon class got cancelled (lucky birthday present right?) so he got out of class  and group study stuff around 2. Since I have a lot of free time (yes I am still looking for a job. Leave it us to move to not only the state, but also the city with the highest unemployment rate in the country. Yea us...) Well I decided I wanted to make Andrew a birthday cake from scratch while he was at school. I love to bake, but I have never made a cake from scratch before so I knew it was going to be an adventure before it ever began.
I only needed three things for the cake. So I decided to hop in my car and go to the grocery store. There is a grocery store a few miles from our house, but it's way overpriced so to get to a good grocery store I have to get on the freeway. I am still learning my way around in Vegas and I accidentally took the wrong exit. I was talking to my sister on the phone so I probably wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. I thought I'd gotten off the right exit, but there was a Walgreens where Smiths should have been. So I decided to drive down the street a while, still talking to my sister on the phone. Needless to say I went in the wrong direction and I got completely lost. I finally found the freeway again, but once again I got off on the same exit and ran into Walgreens again. I wish I could say I was still on the phone to excuse my blonde moment, but I wasn't. So I drove the OTHER way down the street and I eventually found Smiths. To make matters even worse. I have been to Smiths at least 5 times since we moved here. I don't know how I got so lost. After an hour I finally made it home from the store. 
I decided to make a White Chocolate Raspberry Cake (Yummy, right?) I wanted the cake to turn out perfect so I followed the instructions to a tee. 

First I mixed everything together as instructed and I greased/floured the pans

Then I distributed the batter between the three pan sizes

Then I put them in the pre heated oven. About one minute in I remembered I had forgotten to put the white chocolate in the batter. I didn't think White Chocolate Raspberry Cake would be the same without the white chocolate so I hurried and pulled them all out of the oven, poured the batter back into the mixing bowl, and I added the white chocolate chips.

I then washed and re greased the pans and poured the batter back into the pans. 

This looks all too familiar.

Then I baked them

The frosting didn't come with any instructions, just ingredients. I figured it wouldn't be too hard and I didn't think I could mess it up. Well I am pretty sure I messed it up somehow. I still don't know what I did wrong. I added all the ingredients, but it was still in a liquid state. So I added more powdered sugar. The recipe called for 1 cup of powdered sugar. By the time I was done I had added a whole BIG bag (32oz) of powdered sugar and it still wasn't thick. But I was out of powdered sugar and I didn't want to go back to the store because we all know how well that worked out earlier. SO I forged ahead. Here is the icing. Home made raspberry icing is AMAZING by the way.

After my cakes had cooled it was time to assemble my masterpiece.... One guess how well that turned out. Its the leaning tower of birthday cake! Oozing everywhere! It was a HUGE delicious mess. When I was talking to my sister on the phone I told her I was making white chocolate raspberry cake and she told me that sounded sexy. Well this is anything BUT sexy.

After much work and chilling it in the fridge to try and harden up the icing it started to look like a cake. Kind of. Or a strawberry chocolate fountain. Either way it looks tasty right?

Final touches and I was finished. It only took about 4  -5 hours if you include my trip to the store.

I decided it was too girly and not enough birthday. I knew my husband wouldn't care how girly or unbirthday it looked as long as it tasted good, but I wanted to try and make it a little more birthday ish. One guess how well that went... It now has a Halloweenish written happy birthday on the top. Hahaha I tried. 

So how did Andrew like it?  That is a sad story. He got home from school in the middle of my baking mess and told me that he wasn't feeling well. So he went and laid down while i finished. By the time I got done he had gotten sicker and now he's throwing up and has chills and fever. The poor guy is sick on his birthday. So the cake is still sitting untouched in the fridge. I gave him his birthday present, even though I told him I wasn't getting him anything more since he bought a new HTC 3D phone and a Mac Book Pro last month. Those are what he wanted for his birthday (the computer he needed for school too) but he didn't want to wait until his birthday so I let him get them early. I got him an exercise pull up/push up/sit up bar thing he's had his eyes. But since he isn't feeling well he hasn't gotten to test it out yet. Although he did tell me it would be more of a birthday present for me since I will be the one to enjoy his ripped out muscles he is going to get from it. ha ha. I love him! He is always making me smile. 

And so that is Andrews birthday cake adventure. It's not over yet. We still need to devour it, but that will have to wait until the birthday boy is feeling better, for now its sprite and rest. 

Also, We finally got couches!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don't realize how much you miss something until it's gone. We really like them and they fit in our apartment really well. 

And here is another picture I found that I wanted to post. This is Andrew with our new nephew Simon. Andrew and I were watching the kids while his sisters colored their hair. When I walked in the room this is what I found. Whose babysitting who?

Isn't that the cutest thing!

We're going to UNLV!

Andrew got accepted into UNLV law program so we decided to go there instead of Penn State. We were really excited to move to Pennsylvania, but all the signs pointed to Las Vegas so, we're going to Vegas! I am way excited to move closer to my family and stay closer to Andrews family, but Pennsylvania would have been so much fun. Andrew and I were ready for an adventure across the US, but I guess Vegas will have it's own adventures. Since we have decided to move to Vegas nothing seems to be working out. I have applied to SOOOO many jobs, and I've had so many interviews, 2nd interviews, and even a 3rd interview, but nothing seems to be working out. Andrew and I have gone down to Vegas two different times to try and find a place to live. We went in June, but it was too early and the places we looked at we didn't really like. We went Last week, and it seems we are a little late. We searched all day and at the end of the day we finally found a condo we really liked. On Monday morning we called the real estate agent to turn in our application and funds, but we were too late. Someone had already applied for the condo earlier in the morning so we lost the condo. We don't have a back up so we are going down later this week to try and find a place. We were suppose to move on the 30th of July, but since it's the 24th and we still haven't found a place I am not sure that will happen. One bright note is Andrew and I get to quit both of our jobs this week. Wednesday is our last day of work, and Thursday is my birthday! Thursday we are going to Vegas to find a place. Andrew starts orientation the 8th of August so we really need to find a place this week so we can move down next week and then Andrew can start school the following week. I should be more nervous about not having a job or a place to live, but I guess I am finally learning some patience. One thing I have learned through this whole process is it doesn't matter how bad you want things to work out, or how hard you try, or pray, if it's not meant to be then its not meant to be. Thats that. There is no need trying to control things out of your control. It's just a waist of time. I know that Andrew and I are doing all we can and it will all work out for the best in the end. Here are some pictures from when Andrew and I went down to Vegas in June. We made the trip our summer Vacation. We stayed in the Vdara hotel (way nice by the way. I highly  recommend it).

We ate at Nacho Daddy's. Best Nachos ever! If you are ever in the Henderson Area I would recommend eating at this place.

View from our hotel room at the Vdara on the 53rd floor

The bed in our hotel room. I LOVED THIS BED!!! One day I will have a bed like this. It felt like sleeping on clouds. And the pillows.... AMAZING!

The bed in our hotel room. I LOVED THIS BED!!! One day I will have a bed like this. It felt like sleeping on clouds. And the pillows.... AMAZING!

The CUTEST nieces in the ENTIRE world!

This summer I have been lucky to spend a lot of time with family. With Andrew heading off to law school this fall I have been trying to spend as much time with him as I can before he falls into the black hole of school and I hardly ever get to see him. With that being said we have also been trying to spend a lot of time with family before Andrew starts school and I start working full time. A few weekends ago my mom, my sister Kristine, and her daughter came up to salt lake to spend the weekend with me. We went to my cousin Erika's beauty pageant. My little Niece Alexa is so dang cute! Here are some pictures of her from the weekend.

She is such a little cutie!

Rocking the glasses

Crazy Morning Hair

Isn't she a doll! I just love her. Last week my other niece came up with her mom (my sister in law Marsha) to stay with me. My brother Ben has been living with my in-laws as well this summer since he has an internship in Salt Lake. He lives in Syracuse, New York with is cute daughter Cassidy and wife Marsha (and baby Tiger on the way). Marsha and Cassidy have been staying in Southern Utah with her family during the summer because Marsha has been pretty sick due to her pregnancy, so Ben travels down to St. George every weekend to see them and then drives back to work in Salt Lake during the week. Anyways Marsha and Cassidy came up to stay with us last week and we had a lot of fun. My niece cassidy is such a crazy little girl, and so dang cute! Here are some pictures

Cassidy driving Andrews rental car. A dodge charger :)

Cassidy ridding the carousel 

Riding the carousel again

Cassidy Playing Dress Up

So basically these two little girls are my favorite! I have so much fun with them. Being an aunt is the best!

Alfred Hughes Family Reunion

I know I am way late on posting these pictures from the family reunion but better late than never, right? Andrew and I went down to Pinto (Southern Utah) for the reunion over Memorial Weekend. We went camping with everyone, shot some guns, hung out around the campfire, and rode horses. It was a blast! The weather was pretty windy and cold and it even snowed Sunday night. We didn't let the cold weather slow us down and overall it was a great weekend. Here are some pictures from the reunion.

Here is my cute hubby shooting

We went for a horse ride, you can tell by our faces that we were a little nervous when we first got on

Riding off together

My horse had some trouble listening to me and he tended to take off on his own. It was just a little scary.

The boys shooting