Learning...

I went out with Parker yesterday. It's been a while, and I remembered what I do and don't like about it.

I don't like:
Feeling rejected, or seeing Parker working so hard and not being rewarded for it. (In the end his work pays off, it's just sometimes it takes a while to get to those "gems").

I like:
Hanging out with Parker all day.
I enjoy seeing what he does all day, which reminds me to be thankful that even though I get bored, I would have a harder time trying to do what he does all day, with no breaks besides Sundays.
Meeting people and seeing how families run their household, or just people's outlook on life. I try to take mental notes.

I've been thinking about this because we met one of the best families last night! They were a younger couple, had a 3 yr. old daughter and an 8 week old daughter with down syndrome who had only been home a week! We were there for a long time... from about 7:30 to 1:00 in the morning, but time just flew and we got up to leave earlier and said our goodbyes and ended up talking again for another 15 minutes. Anyways, when I saw just how peaceful their home was, and how not only was their 3 yr old well behaved and ADORABLE, she knew so much about the gospel! She knew they needed to read scriptures before bed and loves to pray (all by herself, I was very impressed). Even with a baby who needed lots of attention, they worked so well together... It was so admirable. Anyways, I'm not sure where I'm going with this, and I don't feel like I'm even doing these people justice, but it's families like this (and other's we've met and known throughout our lives) that inspire me to be like that too! I don't expect perfection, but just really giving your best effort goes a long way.

On another note, Parker's had his BEST week so far! As part of an incentive that the whole team won a few weeks ago, we're going out to dinner tonight on Living Scriptures! Wahoo! I love going out to eat. We went to Texas Roadhouse when Lance, Parker's supervisor/advisor (? I don't know what his title is ?), was here last weekend, and I had no idea what I'd been missing out on my whole life. Heavenly. Rolls with honey-butter that melt in your mouth, mashed potatoes loaded with butter and sour cream, and Salmon drenched in lemon butter sauce, (are you noticing a distict "butter" trend?) Sinfully delicious with leftovers to boot. But I digress... Tonight we're trying a place that was started here in Columbus called Max and Erma's. Sigh. I'm excited.

I must be bored or something...

I don't think I've ever posted two days in a row. I can usually stay pretty entertained but I'm out of tv shows to watch online, blogs to read, online window shopping, and facebook entertainment. Plus I'm still sick. Maybe I'll dig out my scrapbooking stuff again... it's just hard to organize and get packed up again once it's all out (it's like an explosion of paper scraps and pictures and pens and ink pads and just stuff) and since I'm leaving in a couple weeks anyways, I was hoping to keep myself entertained without that. Oh well. I'm done whining now. On a good note... Parker and I saw the new Transformers movie last night! Pretty intense. I liked it for the most part, but there was a time I caught myself laughing at a part that wasn't supposed to be funny... it was just so rediculously dramatic... I couldn't help it. Also, Parker's had a great week! As of yesterday he's number one in the company for the week! He's met many great families and has a big goal this week because of the awesome incentive the company is running. Also, lately Parker has been making me a sandwich for lunch everyday when he's making his lunch and I'm still snoozing away, sleeping in until noon (but in my defense, we didn't get home till 2:00 and I've been sick, so I need lot's of rest). He makes me peanut butter and banana sandwhichs... so thoughtful, huh!? I love them, mostly because he makes them. :) He know's how much I loathe being in that nasty kitchen... (the pictures I posted really don't do justice to how dirty the kitchen is... and I guess if I'm bored I could clean it... but it's so gross and baked in, I don't know if I could even make much of a difference... blahech). Ok... I'm done.

Ohio Homes/Places of Residence

Well... Parker and I have lived in some interesting places since we've been here in Ohio, so I thought I'd show a few pictures so you can all get a better picture. (Oh, and to update you, we are no longer homeless, and although the lead we had didn't work out, nor did the next one, the last one did... and you will see pics shortly).

This was our lovely room at the Riverfront Motel.

Parker and the SWEET bar at a house we almost moved into... but didn't. Too bad, so sad.

And now... the pictures of the house we currently live in. It's got 4 floors total! The basement is creepy and unfinished and the top floor is sweltering hot so no one ever even goes up there. We've got an awesome claw foot tub, and wood floors throughout, but there's only one bathroom and the whole house is kind of a mess. Plus our landlord won't return our phone calls so when the shower broke and water was leaking everywhere (including through the floor into the pantry below) we had a little bit of an issue. Thanks to a kind neighbor we got it fixed and everyone's clean as a whistle, but we still haven't heard from him.

No furniture... except 3 camp chairs... We all sleep on blow up camping matresses.

The kitchen is probably the worst... it's discusting. I avoid it at all costs.

There you have it... who knows what the next place will bring!?

Recommendation: Brush Your Teeth With Toothpaste

Warning: this is probably going to be a little long, but hopefully somewhat interesting...

Well, we didn't move to Cincinnati. We looked for housing and found a place and then decided that moving wouldn't be worth it because we probably wouldn't be there for more than two weeks. So, we planned to move to Columbus instead. We had to be out of the Riverfront Motel by 11:00 on Sunday, June 14th (Happy Anniversary to Adam and Shanna!!). We decided to make the move that day after church. Parker set up housing for everyone (we were all going to live together in a 3 bedroom town home) and was in contact with the landlord, Jaime, but we learned that she wasn't quite as organized as we would have liked. When we got to the place, with our car packed full of stuff, we found out there were two people living there already, and they didn't have any plans to move out! Well... Jaime was trying hard to make it work out for us. She said 3 of the guys could live there and then there was a bedroom down the street in another one of the town homes that was open. Well, two guys lived in that place too. So... We tried to explain that as a team we were all planning on living together. The guys leave all day so I'm there all by myself, and they couldn't just leave me there with two strangers. But, Jaime didn't get it. She didn't think it would be weird at all to have all of us live with two other guys. In my head, I'm thinking, "it's already a little strange for me to be living in the same house as 3 other guys, but at least I know them, and it's not forever, so no big deal. I'm sorry, living with two strange college boys kind of is a big deal, and it's not going to happen." Jaime kept saying, "well I'd be willing to come sit with her... I would be comfortable leaving my own daughter with them." Parker was trying to explain, "it's not like Maren needs a babysitter or anything like that. It's just a matter of being comfortable in your own residence. It's just not ok, so unless these 2 guys move out, this isn't going to work out." Well... to make a long story a little shorter, we didn't move in there. We were homeless, and it was Sunday, so trying to find a place wasn't really an option. We ended up meeting some really nice members of the church who offered to let Parker and I stay at their house that night, and Kevin, one of the sales guys, has an uncle in Columbus where the rest of the guys stayed. The next morning (Today) was fine. Parker got up first and was showered and ready for the day. He was going to start looking online for places to live and suggested I shower and get ready so when we find something we'll be ready to go. I agree, so I put down my computer go shower, get dressed, put on lotion and make-up, do my hair, brush my teeth... well at least start to. After having my toothbrush in my mouth for about 3 seconds I think to myself "this feels weird. This doesn't taste minty at all, I don't taste anything, and it doesn't feel like paste, but I know I put toothpaste on my toothbrush...????" A floral/lotion taste hits me about a second later... and I realize I but my sparkling peach body cream (which is white, is just as thick as toothpaste, and comes in a tube only slightly bigger than the toothpaste tube) on my toothbrush. They were right next to each other on the counter, and in my zoning out/stress of being homeless, I made a little mistake... gross. Thankfull, brushing with minty toothpaste got rid of the floral taste in my mouth pretty quick. Well, after hours of searching for someplace to live, we've found a lead and hopefully it will work out! We'll see....

Update!

I figure I might as well update while I have internet for a minute. It's midnight, and Parker and I are sitting here in our car outside the library... we do what we have to do. :) Today was one of the best days ever! We met some really awesome families. It's so great to meet so many different people here in Ohio! As of today Parker's number one in the company this week too! I'm so proud... I have to brag a little... :) We'll be moving from the Dayton area to the Cincinnati area on Thursday, so we'll be saying goodbye to the Riverfront Motel, and saying hello to... ??? We don't know where we're moving to yet, but that's how life goes out here. We've had a lot of thunderstorms lately, and tornado watches! It's a little scary to hear about tornados touching down so close to us, but so far we've been fine, just enjoying the lightening storms. That's it for now!

I Love the Internet!

Ok, so Parker and I live in Middletown, OH in a Motel that smells like cigarette smoke, and has no internet. On the bright side, we have cable TV... and there are trees surrounding us everywhere! I'm still able to stay positive about it all, but when I want to get online, I don't have it right at my fingertips like I'm used to. It's been hard too because I was planning on having internet to work on online classes to help keep me busy while Parker's gone all day. Thanks to Charity and the Franklin Library I've been able to get my fix a couple times. :) So, enough talk, here's some pictures of our latest adventures!

I didn't really get any good pictures while we were in Sun Valley, ID, so as we were driving away I snapped this picture, which doesn't even do justice to one of our favorite places, but we had fun while we were there. We went swimming everyday, played card games together, ate out at delicious restaurants, and had a marvelous time getting spoiled by Parker's grandparents.

After Sun Valley, we went back to Utah for a few days. My mom and sister, Anna, came and we went to Women's Conference together. There were women everywhere (as seen below) and we had a good time.

My mom and Aunt Cindy had a roommate reunion during the conference. They all got together and went out to eat, made chocolate waffle cookies and laughed and talked about their college days together. I tagged along to spend time with my mom and cindy, and they were so fun to listen to! They had some hilarious stories, and it reminded me of my single college days with my roommates...

After the conference, my Aunt Karen and her family came down to visit. Cindy had quite the full house, and we all had a marvelous time! I have such wonderful cousins! Here's Colette with Parker... so cute! :)

Awesome Cousins!

Parker had to go to training for 4 days in Ogden, so I stayed in Sandy with Gram and Papa (Parker's grandparents). I ate wonderfully, but missed Parker. :( We left Sandy at about 3:00 pm and were on our way to Ohio! Parker drove the whole way!

We stopped in Nauvoo along the way! It was great to see so many church history sites!

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Unfortuately, I have to go, and I haven't even posted all my pictures! To be continued...