What we've all been waiting for...

Tomorrow Ben comes home. I can hardly contain my excitement. Last night I watched "Roman Holiday" and made him this banner. I guess that's what married, childless people (whose spouses are out of town) do on Friday night.

And the good news is... I get to pick him up from the airport! His plane gets in at 11pm and although I work from 5pm to 5am a coworker is covering me for a few hours so I can drive up there. Actually it'll be more like: speed to the airport, pick Ben up, drive him home, and drive back to work by 1am. It'll be crazy, but so worth it.

Redecorating

Soon after getting back from DC I did a little redecorating in the house, and now I'm finally getting around to blogging about it.

The winter bedding was this:


But the down-comforter was way too hot so I got something a little more light and springy:



I also finally hung up the tin squares that I got in the Eastern Market in DC:


My mom came over and helped me put them over the entertainment center, although one day I'd like to hang them in a row on a long wall. I think they'd look better that way.

WARNING: I AM ABOUT TO BE ULTRA-DRAMATIC FOR EFFECT

Allow me to wallow in self-pity for a moment. It's 1:30 am on Sunday night and I still haven't fallen asleep. Mainly because Ben isn't here to encourage me to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. On Wednesday of last week Ben left for New Orleans and Honduras with one of his professors to film more of his documentary. Thus Wednesday started the longest 12 days of my life.

I'll admit that for the first few days I relished in my independance. I baked a quiche that Ben doesn't like, rented a movie he didn't want to see, and went to lunch with my friends. But now it's just depressing. Like losing my right arm, or liver, or some vital body part.

The benefits: I'm working 8 of the 12 days that he's gone. Talk about getting lost in the work. But the downside (besides being apart) is that he can barely contact me in Honduras. He got there yesterday and I still haven't heard from him. I'm not worried, but I've already checked my email every hour tonight and emailed him twice. I'm pathetic aren't I? If my single self could only see me now, I think she'd be disappointed.

But that's because my single self didn't know what it's like to love someone like I love Ben. He's wonderful and sweet and I'm happy to call him my second half. How's that for dramatic? I guess that qualifies more under the "mushy" category. Sorry there wasn't a warning about that.

Montana in July

Last week we went to Yellowstone and my family cabin in Montana with Ben's mom Jane and his little sister Chelsea. It was so much fun and so great to spend time together. Here were some of the highlights:

We checked out the hot springs






and waited for Old Faithful to explode.






We went canoeing in high water and paddled so furiously
Jane lost her camera :( (R.I.P. Canon Powershoot)

all while wearing ridiculously large cowboy hats


We shot BB guns








Enjoyed s'mores by the fire









and cooked delicious dinners


The next day we visited raging waterfalls. My favorite part: Ben and Jane debating
how they would go over the waterfall in a kayak and if they would survive.

Crazy Creek Falls


Jane, Ben and Chelsea all decided to take the plunge on the rope swing into near-freezing water. Me? I was the official photographer. Been there, done that.

































Horseback riding. To the left is my favorite picture of Jane- ever.


Chelsea and I bonded (the Camelbak way) on our 2.5 mile bush-whacking hike

The trip was a blast and we loved all the adventures we had. Thanks Jane and Chelsea!

If you can help it, don't work in the ER on July 4th

uJuly 4th is a heinous day to work in the ER (I know from last year), and the second and third most heinous are the Saturday and Sunday before the 4th (I know from this year). And since I've got your attention, let me mention some Fourth of July safety pointers and tell you what is and is NOT an emergency:

- Do NOT grab sparklers. They look harmless but please remember- they are on fire. That's why they are sparkling.
- Being drunk while driving an ATV without a helmet is a good way to end up in the ICU.
- NOT being drunk and driving an ATV without a helmet is a good way to end up in the ICU.
- Fireworks are not designed to explode in your hand.
- Firework ash in your eye is NOT an emergency unless it was flaming when it fell in.
- Having spots in your eyes from looking at too many fireworks is NOT an emergency.
-If you do not want to be taken directly to a room from the waiting room because you are watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks, it is likely a sign that your complaint is not an emergency.

Thanks for allowing me a little rant. Now like I said, I had to work the weekend before the 4th this year. Thankfully I got the actual holiday off to enjoy with my family. We had a barbecue at Laura's house. Here are a few photos. It was really nice to relax there after a crazy weekend of work.

We made Italian creme sodas (L to R: my mom, Laura,
Jacob, James, Matthew and Eleanor)

And enjoyed them on the patio (my dad with my niece Bridie)

Ben edited videos of my nieces and nephews with an iPhone app (with Adaline)

My favorite part was all the great firework shows as people lit off the newly legalized aerial fireworks. All I have to say is, if you take the wild fire risk out of the equation, they should have legalized them years ago.

California is like heaven... with traffic jams

Wow I'm behind on blogging. It's time for me to chronicle a road trip Ben and I took to California in June.


It all started when Ben applied for an ORCA grant to do a documentary for school and go it! Woo hoo! At least that's what we thought initially. Now the feelings are mixed. An analogy: it's like winning a sweet new SUV then having to pay out the nose for car insurance and gas. We won money, but now we have to spend money to fully utilize the money we won.

So part of said spending was a trip to Los Angeles to interview people for the film. Ben's documentary is about a group of people we both taught on our missions called the Garifuna. They are black people who live in Central America and speak Spanish, but many have immigrated to the US and integrated into black culture. So as stage one of his project, we cruised to SoCal (don't I sound so legit?) for a few days. I was just the production assistant, but I was glad to tag along. The agenda was as follows:

1. Film interviews
2. Film more interviews
3. Film a Garifuna school
4. Film a Garifuna concert
5. More interviews
6. Relax in Laguna Beach for less than 24 hours

Yes, as a reward for being a great production assistant I made Ben take me to Laguna Beach for a night. We got a great rate at a hotel and spent the morning on the beach. And that was about it. I barely got any pictures of the interviews or filming, but I did get a bunch at the beach. Really though, who can pass up taking pictures at the beach?

We made a sweet sandcastle and although many of the people on the
beach chuckled at two adults furiously digging and packing sand, I think they
ultimately admired our amazing design :)

Ben models the castle

One day I'll own a beach house like this. Or maybe I'll redeem my ward choir
points (see earlier post) for a mansion in heaven like this one.

The City of Los Angeles was quite an experience- Ben and I spent most of our time in a area we dubbed "Little Central America". We were there filming for 4 days and saw only two other white people- both homeless men. One day we had a few extra minutes so we decided to stop by Ross and get Ben some clothes. When we walked in everyone looked at us like we were from the moon. We looked around and realized we were the only white people in the whole store- everyone else was Latin. The same thing happened in the grocery store. At times I thought, "Am I still in America?" But it was a great opportunity to practice our Spanish and be the minority for a bit. I think that's a healthy experience to have every once in awhile.

Last funny story: Ben and I decided to go to church in Spanish on Sunday. We programmed the address in the GPS and followed the directions. When it said, "Your destination is ahead of you" I pulled into a church parking lot and we parked on the side of the building. Since we'd arrived early, we sat and waited for other people to arrive. One man got out of a truck that had a big "LOVE JESUS" sticker on the back, which we thought was strange, but we didn't get suspicious until a lady walked in the side door with a black lace veil on. Ben then asked, "Is this the right church?" So we walked around to the front and saw this:

We were about to attend an Evangelical church called "La Iglesia de Jesucristo" or "The Church of Jesus Christ". Pretty close, but very different. It was complete with neon sign and multiple days you can attend.

We then turned around and directly across the street we saw this:

The Mormon Church! I'd just turned into the wrong church parking lot. We got a good laugh out of it. I told Ben the neon flashing sign was hard to resist, but the Elders greeting people in front of the other church got me in the end.

76 hour work week

It's currently 6am and I just finished a 76 hour work week. Monday to Monday I was at the ER 7 out of 8 nights. And yes, I'm publishing it to the world to say that I'm awesome and I can't believe I survived it. Thank you, thank you.

One thing that's made it especially entertaining is that Ben just took a job with BYU Classical 89 radio doing their morning news. Each morning he leaves at 5:15am and I get off at about 5:15am. So our new system is chatting on the phone while I drive home from work and he drives to work. We're typically both so sleep deprived the conversations are entertaining and keep us moderately connected... for now.

So if you've ever thought about a 76 hour work week and doing it yourself, don't. It's not worth the money or the satisfaction. In the end, the only real benefit is that you can brag about it on your blog.