I know my last post said "one last post" but this one is just for clarification. "I know, I know" I have been home for like four months, but yes, I did just finally wrap up my blog. This has been one of the greatest experiences in my life so far and I am so glad I could share it with whomever reads this blog. I know I was not the greatest blogger in the world. But I had fun. So much fun, that I am even contemplating making another blog. After all, this was certily not my last adventure.
Anyway, thank you to everyone who has taken time to read this blog, I hope it has been as much fun for you as it has for me. Peace out. For now ;)
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
One final post
Well folks, I think it’s about time to wrap this blog up. But
before we do, I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks to all my family and
friends who have wholly supported me through this whole “Adventure” I felt the
love from 2,000+ Miles away. Seriously, between the letters, texts, phone calls
and packages, I felt like (& am) one loved girl. On the other side of
things, I had another amazing “family” there to support me as well. I have been
so very blessed in my life with two of the greatest families ever!! I was so
excited when both those families got to meet for the first time a few months
ago. It was like two of the greatest things in my life collided. I will never
forget this amazing experience and how amazing everyone was to me through thick
and thin, good and bad. Here is a
collage of just some(literally , this just skims the surface) of the pictures and texts I received from everyone over
the year showing their support. Take it as proof as to all I just said about
how amazing my friends and family are.
Thanks again everyone! I love you all!
Another NC Adventure
I am one lucky girl. & I am so grateful for it. I got
another amazing opportunity to have another NC Adventure!! The Waller’s have
flown me out to NC not just once but twice! The first time was to help out with
the kids while they have their new offices grand opening & while they went
to the spa for their anniversary. The
second time was so Jayson could go to Vegas to play in the World Series of
poker! I had so much fun seeing the
kids! It was so nice to not just be cut off completely at once. Christian was
so funny, he just kept yelling my name the whole time I was there. I had a
great time the whole time! Unfortunately, there was one big downfall to being there:
all the people I miss & having to say goodbye again. Poor Londyn, who hardly ever cries got teary
eyed when they dropped me off at the airport.
Speaking of airports, did I mention the Waller’s flew me in
& out FIRST CLASS?? It was amazing! Hot towels to clean your hands, first
class service, endless drinks, warm nuts, yummy meals ended with a freshly
baked, still warm chocolate chip cookie. Not to mention, WAY shorter security
lines, free check bags & getting on and off the plane first. Talk about
pampered. I am hooked. Too bad I can’t afford that on other trips ;) Thanks for
an amazing trips Walllers!!
Here are some memories …
Hannah & I Funny Faces
Our famous suckers!
Unicorn Christian. Makes me :)
The giant Waterbed we made! So fun!
Goodbye
This is going to be quick post because it is still an open
would that is trying to heal, but like all good things my NC adventure came to
an end. It was something we had been talking about for months trying to prepare
for. But nothing could prepare me for how I felt when I was saying goodbye. My
heart was breaking. I cried a lot. Like I cried a contact out a lot. I just
went into the bathroom and sobbed for a good 20 minutes. The moral of this
story is; that if you ever get a chance in life to be a nanny, don’t plan on it
being an easy break. I never in my life thought I would ever grow so close to a
family I worked for. But I did. And they will hold a big place in my heart for
the rest of my life. I wish I could find
the perfect words to tell them how much I love them and will miss them, but I
can’t. So this is all I have to say:
Waller’s:
I love you and miss you. Those plain simple and basic words
are simply substitutions for the feelings my heart wants to say but can’t put
it to words. So I love you and miss you will have to do. I love you and miss
you.
Adventures in Nannying- What I learned my year as a nanny.
This year has taught me so much and made me into a better
person, and I hope someday, a better mom when I have children of my own. A lot
of the things I couldn’t put into words and there are countless other things I
have learned that would take years to write it all down, but here are some
things I learned and just some experiences I’ve had that I could only get from
being a M.O.M– Mail order Mormon aka nanny J
I learned to be a little bit more laid back & to take things
as they come. To not sweat the petty things. Or pet the sweaty things.
I learned how hard it is
to be a mom. & to be much more grateful for MY mom and all she put up with.
It’s a 24 hour a day unpaid job working with people you love.
I learned that no matter how much you don’t want them to, kids
are going to make messes. They are going to poop in the tub and throw food on
the ground. For your viewing pleasure I have provided pictures.
I learned patience. Lots of it.
I learned what it’s like to live away from my family and how to
survive without them.
I learned to laugh when times were less than perfect.
I learned to be happy where I was.
This is really something I learned, but something that I thought
I should note. The fact is, I have used more sanitizer in a year than most of
you will use in a lifetime. Which lead me to learn that each person has their
own little quirks & Liz’s just happened to be that she liked everything to
be sanitized constantly J And that’s ok. It's one of my favorite parts about her!
But most of all, I learned A LOT about me.
The Kidlets
In case my point hasn’t come across enough on this blog, I
LOVE the Wallers!!! I thought it would be fun to do a little spotlight on each
of the awesome kids. Lets start with…
Hannah. Man I love this girl! Hannah is like the little
sister I never had. Here is a little bit about her:
1.
Clothes! She is a clothes addict. She has more
clothes than most people would ever dream of having! It’s not such a good thing
when you are in charge of her laundry J
2.
Hannah loves her some food! I swear her tummy is
a bottomless pit!! Bojangles, Wendy’s & the local Chinese restaurant Yami
are just a few of her fav’s.
3.
Hannah is a talker! I think my adjusting to
living with them would have been a lot harder & more awkward if it hadn’t
been for Hannah filling in every possibly awkward moment with words! I thank
her for it! She is also one of the funniest people I know. She always has some
hilarious comment up her sleeve. Future comedian?
4.
Han the Helper should be her nickname! I guess
since I am the youngest in my family, I didn’t realize how much work the older
siblings put in to help the younger ones & Hannah is a fabulous example of
that! Thanks again Han!
5.
Remind me to get her autograph next time I see
her. Why? Because she is going to be famous one day! She loves acting! She has
a wig and costume collection & will randomly come downstairs dressed up
&she always has an accent to go along with it. Her British one is the best!
I could go on forever talking about Hannah’s awesome factor,
but I’ll try to limit it to 5 each kids!!
Another Pic from our photo shoot :)
Kenzie. Boop. Kenzie Lou. She has a lot of nicknames but you
guessed it her name is really Mackenzie & she is one cute girl! I love love
love her hair!! The first time I saw her I told her she should be a kid Gap
model, but she would rather be a kidz bop singer, which she could pull off too.
Of all the kids, Kenzie reminds me most of myself when I was her age. Here are
5 things about Boop.
1.
Much like Hannah, this girl gotz lots of clothes.
But she has even more shoes! Literally
her entire closet floor is covered in them
2.
Kenzie loves being outside. Even in the middle
of summer, when everyone else is inside because it’s too hot, you will find
Kenzie playing outside. If you’re looking for adventure, look to Kenzie.
3.
She is a great big sister & is always
looking out for Londyn & Chrisitan. & oh boy does she love Christian.
Sometimes its almost too much!! She will grab him & sqeezze him and do this
wiggle thing with her body as if she is pushing her hug into him because she
just can’t take it. Cracks me up every time.
4.
Her favorite food is French toast sticks with
double cinnamon! She could eat them for breakfast, lunch & dinner if we let
her. She can eat almost the whole box!!
5.
She has such a tender heart. She couldn’t hurt a
fly & she is such a sweetheart to everyone she meets. If you need
something, Kenzie’s got your back, rest assured.
L-O-N-D-Y-N
That is how you spell her name and she’ll make sure you know
it. Londyn is the life of the party! She has so much spunk and personality, I
swear she could be a high schooler. Here are 5 things you should know about
Londyn.
1.
Londyn can remember anything! She’s a smart
little bugger. I dare you to ask her why flamingos are pink. When I was doing
preschool with her she already knew everything! I felt like it was pointless.
2.
She is about as girly-girl as they come!
Anything pink, purple or princess and she’s on it. The world knows her favorite
color is pink and her favorite shape is hearts.
3.
Londyn’s favorite food are Ham Sandwiches. She
sure can down them! But don’t forget the
mayonnaise!! Once when I was making her one she asked for 50 lbs. of it!! Yuk!
4.
When she is older she is not only going to
change her name to Raspberry, but she is alsos going to open a cupcake shop,
where I will be her helper & also be a fashion designer in Utah and make me
a new dress every day. Wow! I have it made!
5.
When I asked her what she wanted me to put on my
blog about her, she said “That she is nice to her brother & that she shares
whatever is in her hand with him”!! True that.
Christian!
This is THE kid! I honestly don’t know what I am going to do
without him. Ive known him since he was just 9 months old, watched him take his
first steps & helped raise him into the little man he is today. I hate to
brag, but this kids is borderline obsessed with me. I hate to admit it but I am
borderline obsessed with this kid. If you think of an all American little boy,
his face is probably what comes to mind.
1.
The first thing you need to know about him is
that he LOVES Toy Story!!! Like watch it 7 times a day love. Like he runs
around the house with a woody hat and buzz wings on love. He really loves it!!
2.
He loves popcicles! He is usually the first one
done with his when we are all eating them. I swear he probably gets ½ his daily
calories from them .
3.
He is super sweet at times but boy oh boy he
sure does have a temper as well! Luckily he has stopped, but he used to be a
rock star head banger anytime he got mad. He would pound his head on the ground
and scream until he got what he wanted! It was horrible! Glad he out grew
that!!
4.
Mark my words. Chrisitan is going to be the
class clown when he gets into school. He can’t say more than a few word but
still manages to crack us all up. Just look at that face..
5.
TOYS!!! You name it, chances are this kid has
it. There are 3 play rooms in the house and most of the toys are Christians.
Funny thing is he only has a select few he likes to play with.
Well that’s the last of the kids. Aren’t they great? I just
love em. What’s not to love right?
Utah VS North Carolina
For this post, I thought it would be fun to have a little
friendly competition between states.
Two very different states, yet both hold a place in my
heart.
I won’t miss them. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.
One of the things I certainly DO miss about NC is all the
beautiful trees. When my dad came here he said it looked like Hawaii! I
couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place. That’s NC for you. When I first moved
here I seriously felt like I was camping every day. But then again there were
not the beautiful mountains like there are in Utah. My dad told me before I
left that I would miss the mountains, and I wasn’t sure I believed him. His prediction
didn’t come true until December when I came home for Christmas. I was out to
lunch at with a friend & I looked out the window and BAM!! I noticed the
beauty of the mountains more than I ever had before. So truth be told, I never
really thought “Man I miss the mountains” But as soon as I seen them while
staring out that window I thought “Man I have missed those mountains without
realizing it.” I guess part of me not
“missing” the mountains was not really being able to tell they weren’t there
because of all the trees. The new house we moved into has even more trees than
the first. There are constantly squirrels running around and don’t be surprised
if you see a deer or two.
Do you have a prescription you need filled? Well look no
further than North Carolina. I felt like they were taking over!! Rite-Aid,
Walgreens, you name it there is one close by.
We all know the joke
there is an LDS church on every corner in Utah. Well in NC there are just about
as many churches as in Utah, except they are all churches of different faiths.
Guess that’s what you get when you live in the Bible belt.
Let’s make some small talk. How’s the weather? Well, frankly
my dears, I prefer NC’s weather over Utah. Mostly because of the Winter. I used
to love the snow… before I had to drive in it. Now it’s not my favorite.
Luckily it only snowed 1 time in NC and it was barely enough to cover the
ground. & when it does snow everything shuts down. Other than that the weather never got below
60ish during the day. It was fantastic. I used to always call my mom & brag
how warm it was. As far as humidity during the summer, I was kind of afraid of
it at first because everyone had made it out to be so bad. When summer finally
came I was quite surprised. It wasn’t bad at all. Plus, I didn’t even have to
put on lotion. BONUS! I guess living a
few hours from the coast line helps as far as that goes. I also decided that I
prefer the humidity over the dry heat like you would get in Arizona. Oh &
one more thing… I loved loved loved the afternoon thunder storms. You could
count on them just about every night during the summer. They would roll in and
the dark clouds would shade us from the hot summer sun & the rain would
pour on the roof for a while and then it would gracefully go away. It was
beautiful. That’s my weather small talk.
Next item of business, accents. I love me a good southern
accent. Not the redneck deep south one, just a little twang here and there. I
used to love when Liz said the word “Orange” just the way she said it made me
happy inside. Sadly, other than that one word, I got used to the way they
talked and couldn’t hear the accent any longer. Happily, apparently I have
adopted a bit of an accent. Sadly again, I’m sure it won’t last long now that
I’m back in boring Utah Culture.
Like I mentioned before, I was not a huge fan of the driving
arrangements there in NC. Another major factor in this was that instead of a
somewhat understandable number street name system, their roads were all named.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think saying I live on Bayberry Creek Circle sounds a
heck of a lot cuter than saying I live on 800 N. But when you’re like me and
you already struggle with directions, street names sure don’t help. How the
heck are you supposed to know that Bayberry Creek comes after Kemp Road?
Whereas with the number system the numbers at least give you a clue as to what
road is going to come next; am I making any sense?
So say you do find the road you’re supposed to be on. I must
say if you are in NC, chances are the houses are a lot prettier than if you are
in Utah. I know it is just a matter of opinion and that a lot of the houses in
Utah are indeed lovely, but those gorgeous southern houses just hit a chord
with me. Here is an example, my favorite house on Bayberry Creek Circle…
Let’s move on to food. Good ol’ southern food that did not
make me any skinnier while I lived there. These people love their fried food,
mac n cheese and sweet tea. I felt so much more at home drinking tea there than
I do in Utah. But one thing NC is missing out on…. Cinnamon Bears! Cinnamon
Bears are non-existent in NC. Sad isn’t it. My dear sister in law made me a few
delicious bags of chocolate covered cinnamon bears to eat while I was away from
home, but when I go to offer some to the Waller’s, they wondered what the heck
cinnamon bears were. I had to explain this joy in life to them. Will everyone
please have a moment in silence for the poor Carolinians who do not know what
cinnamon bears are. Thank you.
I have been fortunate enough in life to not be allergic to
anything. Until I moved to North Carolina and spring came. Instead of the weird
balls of cotton you see floating in the air during the spring in Utah, you get
yellow chalk powder (I literally thought it was chalk the first few times I
seen it) that coats EVERYTHING. I remember going down the slide outside in the
yard and my butt would be coated in it when I got up. There would be a thick
layer of it coating the roofs of the cars. It would be all over the front
porch. Literally everywhere. & I was allergic to it. Seeing that I never
had allergies before in my life, I thought I was majorly sick. When Liz said it
could just be allergies I thought “No Way” not this bad. But it was allergies. I pity all those who have ever suffered from
allergies, I now understand your pain. This is a picture I found on line that accurately
shows how much of this stuff there is.
Are you still there? Good. Just a few more topics to
discuss.
Next on the list, Pine needles. This was one of the things
that stood out to me the most when I first moved. Basically, the way us
Utahan’s would use rock, wood chips etc. in our flower beds, they use old pine
needles. Cool huh? Way to recycle.
Yup. Those are pine needles in the flower beds.
Just for fun, here are the top 3 restaurants I am going to
miss/ missed from each state:
Utah.
1.
Café Rio
2.
A
3.
Farr’s fresh
North Carolina
1.
Field of Greens
2.
Rice Fun
3.
Panera Bread
So this is probably my favorite difference between the two,
but also the one I found out about most recently when I was in a local grocery
store and I overheard a worker call a cart “Buggy” Bahahaha! Was that as funny
to you as it was to me? So I went home and asked the Waller’s if they really
call carts buggies & sure enough, THEY DO!! He he he.
And now for the judges final scores in the Utah vs NC
competition.
UTAH WINS!!! Not because its better, but because it’s where
my family is. & where my family is
my heart is also.
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