My 5 Favorite Things This Summer

Since I have been slacking on my posting, I am going to review my 5 favorite things I did this summer.
So, here they are with pictures (and video)!

1. Vacation! Who doesn't LOVE vacation? Jared and I spent a week in Lincoln City, Oregon (cute town!) in a beach house with his family. It was so much fun to get to see all my neices and nephews, they're all getting so big! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from vaca:

Bingo Night:

One of the Many Lighthouses:
And we went crabbing (sorry Matt, I know this isn't your fav. picture):

2. The Draper Walk, Wag and Swim. I just found out about this a few weeks ago and I was SO excited. The event begins at Draper pool and everyone takes their dog on a nice, short 1 mile walk. The walk actually is just one big circle trail that leads right back to the pool. Once you're back at the pool, your dog is allowed to GO NUTS! Hades was kind of tentative at first, but once he saw that all the other dogs loved to swim, he decided that he did to. He was SO worn out by the time we left! We'll definitely do this next year. Here are some pictures and a video:

Walk:

Wag:

And Swim:

3. Getting a Back Yard! Jared and my Dad worked some very long hours putting in our back sprinkling system and lawn. It looks fantastic and Hades certainly enjoys using it as his personal playground.

The Hideous Before:

The Less-Hideous After
(It looks better now, I promise):

4. PostSecret. I know I am a nerd for loving this stuff as much as I do but I LOVE PostSecret !! I am completely obsessed! It started out as one man's art project, he took 3,000 self-addressed post cards and left them around his city, encouraging people to mail in their deepest, darkest secrets. So, people did and it didn't stop after 3,000! Frank Warren, the man who started it in 2004 still gets approximately 2,000 post cards a week! Some of them are hilarious and some make me want to cry. However, they all offer a little bit of insight into the human soul. The first chance I get I am going to buy the books!

5. NOT being in school! (I could have taken a picture of me just sitting around, but that's just not very attractive!)

I hope everyone else had a fantastic summer too!

Excuse me, have you seen my sanity?

Okay, I admit that I have been slacking on the blogging thing. However, it may comfort you to know that I am also slacking in every other area of my life except for school and work! I've had finals the last few weeks (I had to get them in early because we left for vacation the week of finals). And it was about time too. All my co-workers knew that I was at my wit's end when they asked how I was doing and I replied "I don't care... just hand me the prozac and vodka." They laughed but knew that I really needed a break. So, here I am enjoying sleep and de-stressing and spending time with family by the sea. My body usually sends me very clear messages when I need a break, my hair starts falling out (no joke, like in large chunks), I get great big dark circles under my eyes and my stomach ties itself in knots. But, just being here a day has made a difference. It must be the ocean air.

I always seem to forget how much I love the ocean. I hate swimming in it but I love being on the beach and watching the waves. It's a very nice place we've rented, enough room and games for everyone. I will be sure to post pictures as soon as we're home. I hope everyone at home is doing well.

The only regret I'm having about being here is that our baby (Hades, the dog) is at home. I miss him and worry about him constantly and keep thinking "oh, he would love this!" Oh well, someday we'll take him to the beach.

Baby Bliss!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for my sister to post her news on our family website so that I could post about this!!! On Sunday she had her baby, my first niece or nephew on MY side of the family. Jared has 15 nieces and nephews.

After much secrecy and tight-lippedness, we finally know the name! Ian Marshall Felts! Here's a picture of my beautiful new nephew:

Isn't he a beautiful boy? I am so excited to watch him grow! He was so alert when we went to the hospital, just looking around and investigating everyone. He was so funny when we tried to take pictures, he'd close his eyes and make a bitter-beer face. SO cute! I am so happy that I finally have one of my nieces or nephews in the states. Now I can visit him all the time! Congrats Shannon and Colty-poo!

Ridiculous Packaging

For those of you who know who Dar Williams is, you'll recognize the line "sometimes, life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging". I have found these words resonating in my ears all week. One week ago today, our VP of Marketing called a very odd, very immediate impromptu meeting. The meeting request was sent to everyone in marketing, was marked urgent and said that no personnel would be excused.

After 15 minutes of sitting and wondering what in the world was going on, our VP walked in, looking quite shaken. For anyone who knows our VP, Allen, this is VERY unusual for him; he is a very put-together person. He sat down and told us all that he had some very bad news. Our beloved CMO, Kevin McCallum had passed away very suddenly and very early that morning. Everyone in the room was (for lack of a better word) shocked. Kevin was the picture of health, confidence and strength.

Allen hesitated to give more information, only that the way he died was not an accident and it was not related to his health. Over the following few days, information trickled down slowly, our entire department was and still is in a state of shock. I LOVE 1-800 CONTACTS, ask anyone I know, they will all tell you what a fantastic company it is to work for. I suppose the down side of working for a company who consistently wins "The Best Company To Work For: Utah Division" is that you become extremely close to everyone you work with, which in turn can make times like this VERY emotional. Our department rarely goes a week without going out to lunch with each other or celebrating a birthday, graduation or some other special occasion. This place really takes care of it's people and the employees in return give 110%.

Over the days following Kevin's passing, we as a department, made it our goal to do everything we could for the family. We sifted through hundreds of pictures (the family had sent over) to put together a DVD and other keepsakes for the funeral and family. Our lead designer Bruce put in some very, very long hours designing Kevin's funeral program. On Friday, we all arrived early to help put the programs together.

At the memorial service on Friday (the actual burial is taking place today in Georgia), our CEO Jonathan gave a very emotional and moving talk. He told a very funny and "very Kevin" story about an NBA finals game they'd gone to. Then Jonathan spoke about what an incredible hero, example and teacher Kevin had been and that in his passing, he'd taught Jonathan one final lesson: cherish those close to you. His (Jonathans) words that have now been etched into my memory were: "This past week I have told my wife I love her a few more times a day and I've held my kids a little longer each time I hug them."

This brings me back to the beginning. It's so true that life will always send us lessons sent in RIDICULOUS packaging. However ridiculous the packaging was, I will never forget the importance of letting those I care about know that they are loved and that they're never alone. With that in mind, I'd like to send one last "Thank you for everything Kevin" into the universe and remind everyone: I love you & you are not alone!
Thank you for everything Kevin!

Here I Am!

Sweet! Okay, I know I'm behind the game with this whole blogging thing. But, better late than never I suppose! Jared and I bought a brand new car this weekend. It's a 2008 Nissan Altima SL. It's very nice and Jared is very careful with it. We traded in his 2002 Chevy S10 for something with much better gas mileage. Yeah, that 11 mpg was killing us! I'll try to post pictures soon. The love of our lives, our doberman pinscher puppy named Hades, has been a VERY bad boy of late. He's decided that his new sleeping schedule is to go to bed around 10 and then wake up around midnight and want to play. As you can imagine, this isn't flying with us. Everytime he wakes up and wants to play he makes a HUGE commotion (of course, Jared could sleep through Armageddon, but I wake up immediately). So, then I have to take him downstairs and put him in his kennel for the rest of the night, which I hate doing. But, I do need my sleep.
Work is trucking on, as ususal. School is pretty good, thus far this semester. Well... that's about all for now, more soon, with pictures!