18 Months

Today Geoff and I celebrate our 18-month anniversary. That's a year and a half of wedded bliss. I just wanted to take a second to say how wonderful the past year and a half has been and that I could not imagine my life without Geoff. Geoff is so supportive of me and never lets a day (or even a moment!) go by without reminding me of how loved I am. As a kid/teen I always dreamed of the day I'd have a husband to look at me the way my dad looked at my mom, and that's just what I've got. It's an ambition I can't wait to pass onto our children one day.
Happy "Anniversary," honey.

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Valentine's Recap

Well, Valentine's Day number 2 as a married couple was fantastic. As noted in my previous entry, Geoff surprised me the day before with a fantastic array of gifts at work.
On the actual "day of love" Geoff and I woke up bright and early and hit the gym. Afterward, while Geoff showered and got ready to go to school for some good study time, I made him a "heart-shaped" pancake with strawberries and whipped cream and bacon. I rarely have the opportunity to make Geoff breakfast with our crazy schedules, so it was fun.
Then Geoff had to go study for a million hours and I had pies to make for a family dinner, so we parted ways for awhile.
After he got back, we went to build-a-bear and made bears for each other. This was a really fun thing to do and I totally recommend it!We got home around 7 and our reservations for dinner weren't until 9, so I had plenty of time to make myself look respectable for a nice dinner out. We met up with Scott and Latissa at Tucanos and had a wonderful, relaxing dinner. Overall it was just a spectacular day and I was just reminded of how much I love my husband and our amazing life together.

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Valentine's Day Came Early!

I got a call from the front desk at work this afternoon that I had a package (this is not unusual at all, as I receive packages on a daily basis). I head down to pick it up, only to find a wonderful surprise waiting for me! Geoff had brought me a new office chair (officially dubbed my "throne") along with a dozen yellow roses (that are now making my office smell delicious!), a bag of my favorite candies, a very thoughtful card, and a dress that I had tried on last week and LOVED but decided not to buy.
I'm so spoiled.(There was a red bow tied around the whole thing when I first found it - it made for an unbelievable presentation, but by the time I thought to take a picture, the bow had been removed!)

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Office Makeover!

The pictures aren't much, but I'm still excited to share my recent office makeover. I've been wanting new artwork in my office since I moved in. Artwork, however, is expensive! So, I kept putting it off until I got this great idea! I bought 4 puzzles at Wal-Mart that I loved. I put them together and used puzzle glue to seal them together. I then painted 4 frames in coordinating colors - and tah-dah! Artwork! :) I bought a matching mirror as well to make the space seem a little larger. Enjoy!

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I vow...

To NEVER post videos of my children on YouTube.

Now, YouTube is awesome, don't get me wrong. But I saw this video today of a 7-year old kid who just got out of the dentist office and was still a little high on the drugs. It was amusing. However, it makes me think about the home videos that my parents have of me as a kid (and I was a cute kid!) and how mortifying it is when they show them to people. Now, my parents, mind you, aren't showing them to everyone who comes over, just close friends/roommates/Geoff.

(Amanda Gamblin (Parker) as a baby)

I can't imagine the embarrassment of turning 15 only to find that there is a video of me naked when I was three floating around on the internet for all of my classmates and crushes to watch.

I vow right now to keep my home movies just that - at home.*

*Disclaimer - if I wouldn't have minded the video being posted of myself, it could potentially end up on my blog...but only if it has no potential to scar my children later in life.

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Best Day/Worst Day

So, in an attempt to further better myself, I have started a new self-improvement project: Optimism. This started out as a patience exercise. I'm a bit of an impatient lady and I decided that I needed to learn how to temper that a little bit better. However, as I started to really put together a plan of attack, so-to-speak, I realized that a better way to approach the issue was to look at it in terms of optimism and pessimism vs patience and impatience. Both are very much similar, and optimism has such a nice ring to it.

As I was reviewing my last week and how to improve this week, I recalled an experience from my Freshman year of high school. It was toward the end of the school year and I was running for Sophomore Class President. I had spent a lot of time making some fantastic banners and posters and was really excited to be in the running. It was the final week of campaigns when something happened - and this day suddenly had the potential to be remembered forever as the most mortifying day of my life or one of the most grateful days of my life.

I got to my early bird class at 7am. We were dropped off from seminary in a big group up in the top parking lot of the school, right by our class, so I didn't see any of my posters before I went in. As I was sitting in class getting my notebook out, one of the other kids walked in and asked me if I'd seen the posters. Confused, I asked what they were talking about? It turned out that, during the night, someone had defaced all my posters and my large banner. I froze in my seat while some of my friends in class immediately left the room and took down the big banner. I fretted throughout the whole class period about having to go and face the whole campus at 8am and take down my posters.

The bell rang at 7:55 and I bolted from the room to go find my posters and hopefully get them down before everyone saw them. As I hurried around the campus, however, I realized that not one of my posters was still hanging. I found out later that my brother's two best friends (seniors, nonetheless) had taken down the posters when they arrived and effectively saved me from the humiliation of EVERYONE seeing them. Moreover, I never saw one poster. To this day, I still don't know (and I hope I NEVER know) what was written on them (and this is probably the only reason I was able to spend another 3 years with my head held high at Benicia High!).

We have the chance, potentially, each and every day to help change someone's day from a disaster to a grateful memory. It can be something as simple as a compliment, a positive attitude about an undesirable project at work or something as momentous as preventing public embarrassment or pain.

I hope to be an influence in the lives of all who know me as a positive example and trusted confidant. I want to be the one who takes down the defaced signs, never the one who has done the defacing.

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Parker Update

Well, it's been some time since I updated on our lives. That's mostly because there hasn't been any big or exciting stories to post. I guess, however, that that's the best news in and of itself. :) Our lives are just cruising along and we are here together for the ride.

Geoff is well entrenched into semester #2 at UVU and is having a lot of success so far. His anatomy class is tough stuff - way harder than the one I took. Luckily Geoff is great at memorization, so hopefully it won't get too bad!

I'm into year 2 as the fund raising master (ha...I should ask for a title change...) for KBYU TV, and I still love it. Geoff at I will celebrate our 18-month anniversary next month, as well, which is exciting. I didn't think it was possible to love him more than I did on our wedding day - but I easily love him 100 times more today. I am so thankful for his love and support and I know that he is truly my perfect match.

In other news, Geoff and I have a class of 10 sunbeams this year. Yesterday we had half of them...and it was pretty crazy! Luckily they are super cute, sweet kids, so we can't help but love them - however, we are definitely ready for a nap after 2 hours corralling them. I've made a mental note not to have quintuplets. ha.

I learned the definition of Sleet this weekend...and I think I was better off before I understood what it really meant. It means that it looks like it's snowing outside, but what ends up on the ground is a slippery, wet mess! Gratefully, my parents gave me new boots for Christmas so I can keep my feet dry! My dog, however, is a whole different story. He looks so homely and homeless during the winter. I dare you to try to keep a dog clean when he gets wet every time you take him out! I'm thinking of buying 100 aerosol cans and spraying them directly at the sky in hopes of creating a bigger hole in the atmosphere, thus speeding up global warming. :-) Or maybe Geoff and I will learn to carve statues out of coconuts and we'll go live on a tropical island somewhere and sell our artwork. Hmm...why haven't I thought of this before.

Lastly, I have learned a slightly demoralizing fact about myself recently. I'm a sucker for an informercial. Now, I'm smart enough that I don't actually call and order everything I see...but you better believe I'm the one watching, nodding along with the host thinking, that IS the best idea I've ever heard. Be it the Malibu Pilates Chair, the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, or the Chic Shaper. Unfortunately, because of the time of day I go to the gym (6am), I see lots of informercials. This has caused me to create an 11th dream job - infomercial crap tester (clearly this needs a better title, perhaps merchandise evaluation master). I'd love to order everything I see and try it and then report on whether it's a scam or amazing.

Best Wishes!

Amanda

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