Sunday, December 12, 2010

it's been awhile

Wow, I haven't updated this blog since August. It didn't feel that long ago but with everything that's happened since I can see why I haven't taken the time to update it.

Anyway, last August I restarted school at Collin College here in Frisco, TX and am happy to say I finished the semester this past week. The really great news about school is I'm no longer a freshman, so I've got a little more motivation :)

The absolute miracle news is that Staci can eat wheat again! She's no longer suffering from Celiac's Disease. Her brother Bryan was able to find that her former Lupus symptoms (and medications) caused her intestinal lining to deteriorate causing "Leaky Gut Syndrome". After helping her rebuild the lining, she found she can eat every food group again! It has changed our lives, making grocery shopping easier (and CHEAPER). More importantly, it allows her to take the regular sacrament the same as everyone else! It is an absolute blessing and we are very grateful for it.

Something else wonderful at church is our new Stake Center opened just 2 weeks ago and our church time has been pushed back (from 8:30am) to 11:00! Now that church is at a more reasonable hour we hope we're able to stay in this ward. For those of you that don't know, our apartment lease is up at the end of January 2011, and we want to get out of here! We love the apartment itself (the layout, price, etc.) but the location isn't the best and we're sandwiched between 2 very loud, scary families that we'd rather not see anymore. (Think surround sound at 2am meets 80 pound dog drinking a red bull. We're tired of asking both of them to be quiet; they don't listen anyway.)

So we'll be moving. we'd like to rent a home in the ward but will be weighing our options throughout the new year.

Also it was a bittersweet blessing around Thanksgiving time as well; my Grandma Sanders passed away at age 87. She had suffered a long time and was finally reunited with Grandpa after being apart 20 years. Through divine circumstances we were able to get off work and could afford to attend but had a whirlwind trip to and from southeast Arizona. (the 14 hour drive isn't that bad until you try to make it back all in one day!) It was a beautiful service though, with 80+ grand kids singing "Love At Home" in the choir loft.

since returning we're looking forward to Christmas, wishing all of you a very merry Christmas as well. We have debated whether or not to even put up any decorations with us moving just a few weeks into the new year but figured we would, seeing as they'd be down by that time anyway.

This time of year is especially hectic, seeing our anniversary is the first week of November, Staci's birthday is the first week in December, with Christmas just 3 weeks later. it's a joy to celebrate so much, but sometimes it feels like the party never stops! We're expecting 2011 to be full of excitement and celebration as well for us, both with the move, some kind of job improvement for me, and who knows what surprises the future holds in store.

We'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

And then there were two...

Okay, just a warning, this could spawn quickly into a "work rant".
The bank where I work has become increasingly difficult in the last few days. as per employees we have a manager & assistant manager, a sales & service associate, 6 bankers, and 7 tellers. of those 16 individuals, 3 are in the midst of their two week notice. An additional banker is about to leave to become a financial adviser. And when all 4 of those people are replaced,  there will only be 2 people who have been positioned at this branch longer than me. and tomorrow I will have only been here 1 year!

what causes that kind of turnover in a workplace? apathy is running wild and it's beginning to show to our customers. I've long been frustrated with my job but am not in a position to move on to bigger and better things. Most everyone has told me I need to 'be grateful to have a job'. I get that, but it hardly changes the situation.

Any thoughts?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

a new day

Hey folks,

I feel like the world's worst blogger. I know i'm not, but seeing as I check everyone else's blog religiously, I somehow lose sight to update my own.  Sorry.

Anywho, it's a new day. I'm feelin' pretty good right now, I just tried out one of those breathe right nasal strip things last night and slept very well, for the first time in a LONG time. (I don't sleep well most days. I couldn't tell ya why.)

Also, I (re-)start school next week!  Collin County Comm. College (Quad-C, aka "Collin College") has me enrolled for two classes, online English 102 (I know, it's crazy), and a Texas government class Wednesday nights. It's great because it will not get in the way of my (part-time) work schedule, and when Staci is at mutual with the YW, I'll be in class! :)  / What else is nice is I was (at the last minute) changed to IN STATE tuition so I'll only pay 1/6th as much for class! woo hoo

as a general update -- no, I'm not in cub scouts anymore, (darn..),  so that I can attend night classes but now I'm supervising an autistic boy named Dillon at church for the 2nd and 3rd hours. it's loose structure can be nice, but a little overwhelming at times. I wouldn't blame the autism alone for his behavior issues, but it does play a role. it's sad to say church isn't as 'fulfilling' as it has been in the past. getting up for 8:30 church and then spending the 2nd and 3rd hour roaming the halls 'getting a drink' and 'going for a walk outside' is hardly how I'd like to spend the morning but we do what we're asked. it is nice most days, but a little 'un-fulfilling'. 

For those of you curious about the Sorensen family reunion, IT WAS A BLAST! spending a week and a half in the mountains was very nice, as well as the great food, family activities, campfires, and GLUTEN FREE S'MORES! here's a pic. of Staci from my phone


(btw, "Smoreables" came out in stores 5 days before we left. --coincidence?)

we went up with her parents and brother in their RV , aka "The Party Train"

And here I am at 'base camp'. Notice the nifty flag Staci made to claim our territory.
overall life is good.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Summer of '10

Hey Y'all

What's new? Seems like we haven't heard from many of you for awhile. Staci and I are doing quite well, rolling into summer of 2010 with big plans. For the last few weeks, we've been working a fair amount of overtime, with little else for recreation. We are so ready for a vacation! More recently we've gotten very excited gearing up for the Sorensen Family Reunion! YEAH!

Spending 5 days camping in the Utah wilderness (in Big Cottonwood Canyon SE of Salt Lake) seemed like a daunting task at first, but I really feel we are prepared. We found a great deal on a new tent, some new sleeping bags, AND a queen air mattress with a battery air pump. We should be rockin the reunion! Starting tonight Staci's parents, her brother Adam, and both of us are riding in the Party Wagon (RV) until saturday afternoon where we'll set up "base camp". After that it's fun, fun, fun till thursday when we pack up and enjoy Salt Lake City until the long drive home to the big D. I'm exceptionally excited to be off July 1st-11th! Ya gotta love a paid vacation. We hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

In other news: Classes for me start again in August at Collin College. I still have many Gen. Ed. classes to work on, and then on to Engineering.

Friday, June 4, 2010

rollling along

As many other bloggers have noted, life can seem somewhat uninteresting at times. It feels that way for me right now, a little. Last weekend (for Memorial day) Staci and I somehow ended up with a 3 day weekend. We rarely have the same day off together and somehow had 3.

We thought about going to a concert at Six Flags this past Saturday but tickets for the concert, with vehicle parking and park admission, were going to be very expensive. Sigh... so instead we agreed to help Staci's brother Bryan by watching his kids so he and Heather could go out of town for their anniversary. It ended up being fun watching 4 kids together but it reminded us that when the time is right we hope to have our own kids one at a time!

By Sunday night they returned home and so did we. Monday morning we woke up and sat up in bed, wondering how to spend the day. It has been so long since we had the opportunity to do ~whatever~ together that we honestly sat there a moment in a stupor of thought. Seeing as we couldn't clean graves of family or any other memorial day type event, we agreed to go to Lowe's to buy a pantry shelf and some curtains (both on sale :) and then spent the rest of the day installing them. the apartment is feeling more "homey" (?) now but we're both at a loss for things to do. it seems all we do right now is work work work, and try to squeeze our church callings in somewhere (not to mention laundry, dishes and all the other mundane things.)

Putting our lives events on 'paper' makes me wonder what we have to be so busy with. or stressed out about. It seems we've gotten to the point where we run and run waiting for a 'breather' and when we get one we don't know what to do with it. Life is still a game of hurry up and wait.

if anyone has advice it's more than welcome. I'm sure everyone can commiserate however :)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

the next chapter

Now that Staci's done with her cleanse diet, life for us can get back to 'normal'. (what is normal anyway? :)

We've both decided it was good she went through it, as it changed our perspectives on what we eat. Both of us agreed to have more fruits and veggies, organic when possible. (although I hate the 'organic' terminology, namely that it has nothing to do with the carbon-containing 'Organic compounds' we learned about in high school science class. It's now just a label to charge more. jump on the trendy bandwagon i guess.)

she's feeling a lot "lighter" (as she puts it). not to mention the nutritional response testing showed her body had several chemicals to detox (including aluminum, which we found was in almost every women's deodorant! who'd have thought). crazy.

Her brother Bryan is good at finding that sort of thing. That's probably why he's so into his job in nutrition, chiropractic, and acupuncture. here's his website if you're interested. and who knows, if you call you just might get Staci on the line ;)

I am looking forward to fall when I start school again at a local community college. my only concern is how to juggle working and school. not to mention what job works best to help me get through it (I'd rather not continue the banking avenue but I may not have a choice.) seems we're all going through life's little challenges. yet the simple things get us through it. namely Dr. Pepper and chocolate!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Very proud!

just a quick update to say I'm so proud of my beautiful wife Staci! she's currently detoxing her body through a 21-day purification program eating raw fruits and veggies. read about it here.

currently she's lost 10 pounds! ... and a parasite :P  -haha.      I know it's important to her and I'm very proud. not to mention, since we haven't been eating out for dinner, and neither of us have had any soda or chocolate in over a week, I've lost weight too! (about 5 1/2 pounds!). add that to the last year's worth of weight loss and I'm 2/3 rid of my newlywed chub!(seriously, ya stop runnin' around and settle down, and pack on the pounds, what's up with that?!)

way to go baby!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Throwback to Christmas '09!

hey y'all

for whatever reason I was reminded today of this past Christmas season's festivities and thought I'd flashback to last winter as Staci did in her blog.

in Frisco, TX the local town square is decorated in holiday lights, flashing in unison to music that was broadcast over a local radio frequency by this guy. they played a song by Trans-Siberian orchestra called "Wizards in Winter". it rocks!

there's no online video of the main street display, but I found a video of his house. watch it here!



Let it Snow!
                .-------.
      *         | #     |    *
                |_______|         *
               _|=======|_             *
   *          [___________]
               .'       `.   *   | /  
              :   @   @   :     \|/_
              :     <     :     //   
     \~_s~-~s~s`._`...'_.'     //      *
  *   `--~-~-~~s~/`"""'  `-.  //
            /'/s/   _       `//
           / /s/   (_)       /
          ///s/     _        :  *
    *    ///s/     (_)      .'          *
        // |/`.           .'
     __//    .-''-------'`-.
      /|\  .'       _       `.      *
     / | \:        (_)        :
         :          _          :
         :         (_)         :
  *      :          _          :     *
         :         (_)         :
          :                   :
  ""'"""'""`.               .'"'"""'""'""
             `-._       _.-'
                 `"""""'

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

6 weeks later

wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since my last post!

--SO SORRY!--

Anyhow, much has happened and much will happen in the weeks to come. since my birthday last month Staci and I have worked hard to shape up our apartment (including an all-evening rearrange of our 2nd bedroom/ Office). we're finding we're both so busy we rarely have time to be at home, nor enjoy it.
each day we have to be at work (respectively) between 8:30 and 9:30, work a full day and both of us get off around 6-7pm. bear in mind Staci works longer hours but I have a farther commute.

I seriously hate that drive. every day it takes between 30-45 minutes each direction to go about 12 miles. the only major road between that could speed up the process is a toll road that racks up 4 dollars a day. ouch! the good news is Staci and I have been working full time and like the extra income (40+ hours a week), the bad news is with a commute and lunch hour, we put in a good 50+ hours away from home. some nights we come home, make dinner, and go right to bed :P

but life is good. our cat Fry ("Phillip J. Fry") is growing larger by the day. last time I checked he was 15 pounds. and 2/3 the length of my arm. yeah he's a big kitty (or a small cougar!) but we love him. we're slowly introducing him to the same room as our cockatiel bird, Behr. their first meeting Fry charged the cage, but now he just sits on the floor and falls asleep. we gotta watch that guy though, he's probably just waiting till we let our guard down.

anyway things are good for us right now. we're trying desperately to get residency for me by August so that I can get school at the local Community College for 1/6 the price. they're pretty strict about the rules for residency though so we'll keep you posted.


Beyond that Staci and I are striving to improve ourselves, through better nutrition and an upcoming excersize program. heck, just this past week I finally went to our apartment's Gym. for the first time. ever. (been here since november...) -It was great! they have several machines I can appreciate, as well as some high tech stuff (the treadmills have touch screen LCDs you can flip to TV while you're power-walking!)

goodnight!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Birthday bash & a bounce house

Hey folks! this past Friday was my birthday and Staci decided to go all out, fulfilling a childhood dream. I'd always wanted a bounce house! sure, i'm a little over a decade "too old" for that sort of thing, but I've secretly always wanted to play on one. never had the chance. I had A LOT of fun!
Staci is by far the GREATEST PARTY PLANNER EVER!  Here's a few photos, enjoy!










Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Ready for Spring

I am so ready for spring. we've had record snowfall for DFW (12.5 inches in 24 hours back in Feb. / not alot, but for Dallas it is.) and an unreal amount of snow overall. I'm ready to get warm again. Staci and I have had a fun and interesting winter however. with our first Christmas in Dallas being a WHITE christmas, it was a nice welcome.

lately we've both felt a need to try new things. with the new year, new state, new apartment, we decided we needed to branch out to establish 'what we like'. food has become more creative particularly. so far we've tried spaghetti squash, papaya, almond milk, sweet potato recipes, homemade gluten free mac'n'cheese, potato skins, and several others. we're finding we eat the same (boring) foods again and again. if anyone has any creative recipes (for those with special diets) let us know!

since the last time I posted the main events have been the Super Bowl, & Valentines. (for a link to Staci's Blog with a picture of us at her brother Bryan's super bowl party Click here). we were rooting for the Saints, all the way. Awesome.

For V-day we had a low key 'holiday' the Friday/Saturday before comprising mainly of racquetball, dinner, an action flick and a custom box of chocolates :)














eat your heart out chocolate lovers. it-was-amazing...!

beyond that life is good. we filed taxes early this year for a tax return to get out of some debt, and after having attended a Stake Emergency Prep. seminar last weekend we're excited to get ready for whatever life may throw at us. My birthday is on Friday as well so we'll see what happens!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Monthly update

it's about that time again, time to update the blog. sorry folks for those of you more interested in our day to day happenings. try calling. it still works, I promise!

so much has happened I'll attempt to fill in on. after our *lovely* run-in with the Texas DMV and all that entailed we have yet to accomplish the rest of our "new apartment move in" checklist, but it's coming along. we DID get a cat, a big black adult male that we can't decide a name between Jett or Carl. (Karl?) we also acquired a couch, and as of last night rearranged our living room to accommodate it. I also rearranged our bedroom, and hung a few pictures. just a few more items and we'll be all settled in! (a few months after moving in... HaHa)

once again we had some car trouble, (Staci's Starter?) with Staci's dad to the rescue. Geez, we owe her whole family so much since getting here it's unreal. (Thanks guys!)

and as of last Sunday our ward (the Frisco 1st) was split and moved around to create the Frisco 7th ward, leaving those of us left in the 1st a little separation anxiety. we'll see how everything panned out next Sunday.

other than that, just the daily commute, and spring cleaning!