Arkansas or Bust!!

Today Kylie goes to Arkansas!! She got to call early in the morning before her flight at 6:30. So my phone rang about 5:45, and by rang I mean buzzed. It was so good to hear her cheerful voice as she recounted the mornings events. Apparently she and her companion didn't hear their alarm clocks so they slept way longer than they should have. The office over-head paged their building and a couple of sisters from another room heard the page and barged into their room to wake them up. She had time to pull her hair back into a ponytail and get dressed before they were on the bus headed for the airport. Once she arrived at the airport and checked her bags she made her way to the bathroom to blowdry her hair and put her face on. She said she feels gross and can't wait to get to Arkansas and get a chance to take a shower. I was of coarse laughing the whole time and tried to tell me it wasn't funny. We talk for about 11 minutes or something until she felt like she needed to go to be ready to get on the plane. I wished her well and we hung up. She just called me again a minute ago. They have landed in Atlanta and have a two hour lay over before departing for Arkansas. She said she doesn't get to get into her checked luggage until tomorrow which means she probably won't get to meet her new companion until tomorrow. She traveled with 4 elders from her district and another few from another district. But she is the only sister that is headed to Little Rock right now. Her companion from the MTC is headed to Indiana with the other half of the elders from their district. I'm so proud of her for being brave enough to serve a mission. I love her so much and miss her so much. I can't wait for Christmas now so I can talk to her again. I have the address to the mission office and I'll post it soon. She loves letters so feel free to write!!

Kylie's Address

Kylie has been in the MTC for one week now. I thought I would post her address here so that anyone who reads my blog could write her. She would really love the letters.

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
MTC Mailbox # 137
AR-LTR 0923
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

I am super proud of my sister and I love and miss her like crazy.

Celebrating 21!!!

My little sister turned 21 a few weeks ago. We took a trip to Pheonix a week later and stopped in Las Vegas for the night. We had already decided that we would each take 5 bucks to gamble with. We both ended up taking 10!! We wandered around the casino for a while, while our parents trailed behind. Finally we decided on a couple of penny slot machines and the fun began!! We picked out a couple of great machines and soon we were both winning. The first picture is one of Kylie's big pay outs. (Now remember we are playing penny slots so 1270 credits equals $12.70) That's awesome. I was getting pretty close to breaking $30 and I had decided I would cash out when I hit $30, but Kylie beat me to it. So I made her cash out and I walked her over to the ticket redemption machine. The pictures below are Kylie with her big ticket and then a close up of the ticket so we can prove how much she actually won. When we returned to our favorite machines our parents had jumped on trying to steal out luck. But they didn't win and then we never did again either. We finished up the night with a stop a Fat Burger, the only restaurant open in the casino and 1 in the morning. We all ordered a "Baby Fat." The best part of the meal was the crazy lady that took our orders. All in all it was a very fun night with my sister. Now she is about to leave on her mission so we'll make more memories when she gets back.

HUGE PROGRESS!!

Every month since as far back as I can remember we have had a family party with my mom's side of the family to celebrate birthdays for the month. As a result we are all very close with our cousins. August's party was on Sunday and we celebrated Kylie's birthday, which is tomorrow, and my cousin, JL, who is only ten days older than my sisters. I always feel bad leaving Paul home while I go do something fun so I asked if he could come too. After the progress that was made on the 24th of July I thought we might stand a chance. And they said YES!! So we got ready and headed over, after picking up my grandma of coarse. She was nice to Paul, again. When we showed up at my parents house only my mom's brother was there with his wife. I introduced them and they were really nice. They had heard alot about Paul from my cousins and they have always been silent supporters of me. Slowly more and more family members showed up and were all introduced to Paul. It was funny that the 3 cousins that had already met Paul were not there. So he got to meet all new people. Oh and that included my brother Ryan. The last of my siblings. He had even met Ryan's wife Kimi before he met Ryan. Anyway the point is that Paul was invited to my parents house. Now if only he could come on vacation with us.

Tagged!!

Jetti, my sister, tagged me so I guess I have to now.

Tagged

3 Joys:
1) PAUL!!
2) Playing cards with my family (especially my grandma, she is hilarious)
3) Being alone in the car singing along to musical soundtracks at the top of my lungs

3 Fears:
1) SPIDERS!!
2) Coming home and finding someone in my house. (Now do you all understand why I almost died at my surprise party?)
3) Losing Paul!!

3 Obsessions:
1) Reality TV!!
2) Mexican Food
3) The color ORANGE

3 Surprising Facts:
1) I only like tofu when I make it myself
2) I get a headache everyday
3) I HATE talking on the phone

A day in the life...

Welcome to Salt Lake!! 47 TIMES!!
So my project at work today was to prepare these "gift bags" for a tour group that is coming in on Sunday and only staying for one night. They will all receive a Visitor's Guide, a brochure for the Connect Pass and City Tour and a packet of wildflower seeds tied to the front with blue wraphia. It costs us next to nothing and it looks really nice. My left hand is totally cramped from holding the Visitor's Guide tight while I tied the wraphia with the other hand. I asked the other assistants if they would help me when they could, but I got finished before anyone had a chance to offer assistance. (In the words of my friend Holli, GO ME GO!!)

ONE YEAR ALREADY!!

Yesterday was mine and Paul's one year anniversary. I seriously can not believe that an entire year has passed since we met up to go dancing with his friends. It's funny to think back to the beginning of July last year when I moved out of Karri's spare bedroom. She said to me, "I bet you'll have a boyfriend by the end of the month." I seriously didn't think it would happen. But sure enough after posting a personal ad online he answered and the rest has been history. We don't always see eye to eye and sometimes we annoy each other. But we always manage to work it out. I love him so much and I am so excited to see what this next year holds for us.

HAPPIEST 24th I've EVER HAD!!

So as many people know my parents aren't entirely ok with me being gay. With that being said they have had very limited interaction with Paul since we stared dating over a year ago. They kind of met when we moved in together. And they did attend his birthday dinner, which we were both thrilled about. And then there has been a couple of other casual encounters but he has never been invited to participate in a family activity. Well thinking that my dad would have a doctors appointment on Thursday Kylie asked if Paul and I would go to the parade with her. We agreed and the plan was set. Then it turned out that my dad finished all his appointments for the week on Wednesday and he and my mom decided to go to the parade. I told them that we had already made plans and that I couldn't just cancel my plans with Paul and go with them. So Paul, Kylie and I were still planning on going. Then on Wednesday night my dad calls and asks if it would ok if he and my mom and grandma joined us for the parade. I almost hung up the phone because I thought it was a prank. But I explained that I was never the one that had a problem with everyone hanging out together. He assured me his only concern was my somewhat "racist" grandma. I told them we would risk it and we set up the time to meet.

Thursday morning came and my parents came over and Kylie jumped in our car. We caravanned down to the parade area and all sat and played cards together until the parade started. (Paul said later that he was only uncomfortable during the card game because he was sitting next to my dad and felt bad about making him draw cards. Even though we told him that there are no friends when you play cards. He just wanted my dad to like him. He's so cute!!) After the parade my parents were debating whether to go to Park City to go shopping or just go home and bbq. Paul wanted to go back to the tattoo shop that did his tattoo and ask some questions so we told my parents they could follow us over. Their eyes just about exploded out of their heads. But it was fine. They waited in the car while we ran in, then we all went to Park City. Paul and I spent time hanging out with my grandma while my parents and Kylie shopped. My grandma is so funny and we were all just talking and joking the whole time. (She even touched his brown skin so we figured she liked him.)

After Park City I opted to go home and take a nap since we had been up since 5:30 and I didn't get to sleep on the way to or from Park City. We met back up later for the fireworks. We sat a little too close and we were treated with some fall-out. It was still fun. Nothing like the threat of having burning ash land on your head.

Then on Sunday while I was driving my grandma over to my parents house my grandma said, "I really liked Paul."

"He's nice, right?" I reply.

"Yeah. I hope he liked me too. I hope I behaved ok."

"He did like you. You were fine."

"He has a really nice smile."

I love my grandma so much. She is very observant. Paul said its because she plays cards. No one has told her about me but I know that she knows. One day she even said to my uncle, "You know I think Clayton might be gay." She based her hunch on the fact that I like to help my mom in the kitchen. She's hilarious!! With all of that being said, I had a great holiday. I was so great to spend the day with both Paul and my family.

My first present!

So I was sitting in my double-wide today just minding my own business booking travel arrangements for my director when my neighbor walks in and sticks with smiley face to the wall. She said until I bring personal items from home to decorate my double-wide I had to leave the smiley face on the wall exactly where she left it. I think he's cute so I will probably leave him right there or maybe even find a more special place for him. (I do plan on bringing somethings from home to spruce up the 'ol double-wide. Plans include a multi-colored disco ball and some pictures of my sweetie and probably of my sister and my friends.)

Welcome to my double-wide.

So at my new job there have recently been some changes. It all started last week when a sales manager that wasn't performing up to standards was fired. Since then moves have started happening. It started first with the redeployment of which assistants would be working with which directors. I got to keep my two in house Directors and I lost my satellite Sales Manager, which I was totally not sad about. In the Tourism department we are also looking to hire another Tourism Sales Manager that I will also be assistant to. With the being said they decided to make room for the yet-to-be-named Tourism Sales Manager by moving our VP's assistant to the desk closest to his office (the one vacated by the guy who got fired) and move me into his assistants old desk and put the yet-to-be-named Tourism Sales Manager in my old desk that is closest to the Director of Tourism. That all happened on Friday last week. (The weirdest part wat that the VP and his assistant were overly concerned that I would somehow be offended of have some strong opposition to moving desks. I told them I have only been here a month and that I don't feel like I have any claim staked on any space.)

Then Monday morning I am working away in my new little home when the Director of Tourism steps in and says, "We're moving downstairs." So we packed up her office and moved it all down to a vacant office on the first floor. Just outside her office and down the hall slightly is a nice big double-wide cubical where I now live and the yet-to-be-named Tourism Sales Manager will live in the other side. The other side is larger but I don't really care. I just don't want to have to move again.