I've been TAGGED!

Tracy, sorry it took me so long to do this. I'm pretty boring so I had to think long and hard about facts/habits. Thanks for tagging me!

RULES:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags other people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

#1 Zak thinks I'm like a cat and here are the reasons why: He calls me a curious cat all the time, I just like to know things about everyone and I'm always asking him questions "what else?"- but hey what woman isn't curious? We like to msn messenger each other during the day and if I ever ask him random questions he sends the little cat emoticon to me. I'm also a scaredy cat, yes I'm afraid of the dark at times and hate having to go downstairs in our house late at night by myself. It freaks me out when Zak is out of town, I think every little sound is a robber and I'm always watching my back. I'll run from one light to the other before I turn off the previous one as I make my way back upstairs. I think my fear has increased the last year or two...since we've been watching 24- good thing it's postponed this year :) And last of all Zak says I'm like a cat because I have hairballs, my hair is naturally curly and so to untangle it I comb it out in the shower while the conditioner is still in it. Needless to say there is usually a good size hairball after I'm done, he doesn't understand how I still have any hair left. So there you go, I guess I'm like a cat. But the ironic thing about this is that I'm known as the "Cat Hater" in Zak's family.

#2 I love my minkee blanket that Barb made for me, and I always sleep with it at night! But I don't just lay it over the top of me, it has to be a certain way. I basically wrap myself up in it like a mummy or a caterpillar so no cold air gets in.

#3 I've always wanted to go to Africa. Before I met Zak my plan was to finish my AS Degree at DSC and then that summer go to Africa and work in an orphanage. But don't get me wrong, I'm SO glad that I met Zak, he is the best husband in the world! I love him and he treats me like a queen. I think black kids are SO cute and I love doing service. So I've always thought it would be cool to spend a few months in Africa helping out in an orphanage. Going on a safari would be neat too. I don't know if the summer orphanage thing will ever happen, but hopefully someday we can visit Africa. Hey maybe when Zak and I are old we can serve a humanitarian mission in Africa- that would be so neat!


#4 I fall asleep very easily, I wouldn't say quite as easy as Kerry does- but maybe someday :) When we drive anywhere the second we get on the freeway I'm out (even if it's only like an hour drive and even during the day). Poor Zak, I'm not very supportive when we drive, I need to work on that. I'm usually ok if I'm the one driving, although Zak doesn't like me to. Most of my family has a hard time falling asleep on airplanes, but I'm asleep before we've even taken off most of the time.

#5 I have a weird memory. I can remember phone #'s really easily and I know this is crazy, but I have everyone's cell/home # in my office memorized(and there are 40 employees) . If they've called a few times it just sticks with me. So instead of answering, "Good Morning Northwestern Mutual" I say "Good Morning Cory etc." I even have some of our clients #'s memorized. There's a rep that has a hard time remembering his clients names, I know their names and faces better than he does. If he can't remember he'll just come and ask me, and I'll remind him of their names. Everyone always asks me how I remember such random things, and I'm not quite sure how. I just tell them I'm weird like that, I think it's partially because I'm a "curious cat" and pay attention to detail. Too bad my memory doesn't always work that way for Tests!

#6 I LOVE to travel with my family! My dad works for SkyWest and before I got married I could fly for free. We would go many places throughout the world together, we loved meeting other people and getting to know other cultures. We have so many fun memories from traveling together. One of my favorite things was going to church in the different places we visited and getting to know members all around the world and realizing that the church is the same everywhere. It gave me a greater appreciation for the gospel and how blessed we are to be living in Utah and not to take it for granted. I still love traveling with Zak and my family, I just miss the 'free' part now.

Well, if you actually made it through all six, I'm sorry for boring you.
I tag Melanie, Krystal, Julie, Jennie & Val.

San Antonio

I got back from a fly-out interview for an internship with USAA in San Antonio yesterday and thought I would share a picture of these beautiful boots first. I actually saw these as I gazed out the window of the speeding hotel shuttle. They are right in front of a big mall, I guess they attract people to the stores. Even if I hadn't seen the boots, the trip was pretty good. I spent most of Monday in airports and on airplanes, but they did take me and the group of about 20 other candidates out to dinner at the tower of the americas. Since the restaurant was of the revolving variety, I got a good view of the entire city. It is surprisingly green, I thought San Antonio was more of a desert landscape.


Tuesday I spent interviewing, asking questions, eating Texas barbecue, and walking around their ginormous headquarters. That building is seriously huge. I think it's about a mile long. They have their own zipcode if that helps put it in perspective. I was really impressed with pretty much everything I saw during my visit. I never once met an employee or even a resident of the city that wasn't pleasant and smiling. Everyone I talked to was very open so I asked a lot of questions and they happily answered them.


I had never heard of USAA before the career fair a couple months ago, so I am guessing that at least some of you have never heard of them either, unless you or someone in your family is in the military. USAA is an insurance and financial services provider exclusively for military servicemen and women and their families. They have an amazing reputation with their customers, so if you ask someone who is a member (member = customer) chances are you will hear very positive things. That kind of reputation impressed me, as well as their attitude and the overall culture of the company. I guess they have been recruiting at BYU-Idaho for a couple years now and they just started coming to the Provo campus this year.

As far as the purpose for my visit, I think the interview went very well. I got the impression that they were just bringing me down to make sure I would fit in the company from a behavior standpoint before they offered me the internship this summer, maybe that's a little optimistic, but hey. I guess I will see just how well it really went in a couple of weeks when I hear back from them.

Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween Festivities this year included going to a Halloween Party with friends, celebrating my Grandma Jensen's 80th B-day/Halloween Party, and having fun at a Corn Maze.Preparing to carve a pumpkin
You can't really tell in this picture, but Zak was a cat burglar and I was static cling...our kind of lame last minute costumes.Friends enjoying the yummy foodCarving pumpkins with friends

Our friends Josh & Laura, or should I say the Flower and Bee :)

Grandma Jensen and the girls at her 80th Birthday Party


Riding the cool horse tire swings with some friends at the corn maze

Having fun at the corn maze

Corn Cops

I had my first corn maze experience on Monday and I was not disappointed. "Pirates of the Cornibbean" was not only exciting, but packed with adventure. As the drawing above clearly demonstrates, this was a challenging maze to navigate. At one point, we were so lost that we decided to just wander around. The regular corn paths were getting kinda boring, so we started following some of the rogue paths in the corn. These "alternate" routes were no doubt pioneered by mischevious teenagers, but they were more fun than the authorized stuff. While we were walking through a particularly rough patch of corn, another group of about 10 people followed close behind us. I advised them that we did not know where we were going and that they would be wise to turn back. Undaunted, they continued to follow us until we ended up outside of the corn field entierly. As we stood around trying to figure out where we were, one of the many "corn cops" that patrolled the precious crop discovered our ragged band of misfits and pursued us. Since we didn't really run anywhere, he didn't have a hard time catching us. The group of 10 that had been following us took off as soon as they smelled trouble. This corn cop was particularly upset at our misbehavior and promptly ejected us from not only the maze, but the entire cornbelly's complex. But not to worry, this ejection was in word only. We pleaded our case that the path was not well marked and thus it was their fault that we took an unauthorized trip through the field. This did not deter him, but we insisted that he have a look for himself. Our intention in this was not to convince him of the validity of our claim, for it was clear that the path was unauthorized. Our purpose in sending him to investigate was to flee the scene. Unfortunately, Kate does not well understand the criminal mind, and proceeded to direct the "cop" to the path and be a sort of guide. With our first attempt at escape now foiled, I pulled the wild card. As our captor was about to escort us away from the field and off the premises, I asked, in a very angry customer sort of way, to speak with his manager. Once I heard his reply, I knew we were going back into the maze. The poor lad said: "wha.. why?" Smelling blood in the water, I commenced my attack convincing him that their maze was plagued with poorly marked paths, and that as a first time maze patron, I could not reasonably be expected to know the difference between a good path and a bad one. My statements were factually correct; however, it would be a stretch to apply my argument to the path we were caught using. Regardless of such details, The corn cop conceded and we re-entered the maze only to leave the legal way a few minutes later. Fun times.

Cute Baby Bree

This is our new adorable niece Bree! She was born Oct. 9 and weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. I went down the weekend she was born and had tons of fun holding her and seeing family. Congrats Jer & Sharla, thanks for the cute nieces, we love them!!

Wal-Mart

So today I had an interview with WalMart for a summer internship. Before I go further, let me put to rest any thoughts that I would spend my summer as a greeter. Nothing against greeters, but my focus is more on the technology that supports a business. So I could be working on improving the self-checkout kiosk programs, or a host of other nifty projects. It's pretty funny thinking about it, because the only side of Walmart I know is the retail store. But honestly, it's a good internship. They pay to move you out to Arkansas and back, give you a rent stipend, and pay you for your time. So as far as compensation goes, they are one of the better options I have seen so far. I haven't been offered a spot, but if I do, it's nice to have the option. Another plus is that the Ozarks would be right in my back yard.

Sunday Drive

The trees in the mountains are changing colors, so we took a drive up Squaw Peak road to see the colors. Things were fairly uninspiring for the first little while, but the higher we climbed in our trusty Honda, the more vivid and beautiful the scenery became. Here are a few pictures from cascade mountain to rock canyon, but they can't really compare with being there.


This last one is overlooking Utah Lake. It was spectacular.