Surprise Present

I came home from work today and there was a package sitting on my side of the desk. It had my name on it. It was from Etsy.

At first I thought I had ordered something from Etsy and forgot about it. But as I stared at the package, I was 93% sure I hadn't ordered anything recently. I asked J if he had bought me a present. He said no. So I opened it.

It was a beautiful engraved ring from Katelyn. She wrote me (or had the Etsy shop owner write) a little note saying she missed me and that Dos Chi Chis cannot be separated!!

I laughed. I teared up. It was so sweet.

I miss that woman.

"Promotion"

On Tuesday, July 23rd, I received a phone call. It was the follow-up from my interview for the Auto Performance position. We made a little small chat and inside I was screaming, "Yes or no! Good news or bad news! Let's go, spit it out!"

It was good news.

The only thing that stinks is that it's a "promotion." Technically it's a lateral move so there isn't a raise involved. But my position is no longer member contact and I will be working on projects, which is what I wanted to do. And there has been a review of the underwriting department by HR - if they change my role to a staff position, there could be raises.

I'm just happy to be doing something new. It's a really competitive department and I had to learn the hard way that you can't just be a hard worker and hope someone notices. You have to stand up and tell people what you're doing. Which I, personally, find a little obnoxious. But a girl will do what a girl has to do.

My manager told me she's sad to be losing me and that I am a manager's dream; I do my work without supervision. Basically, she appreciates that I leave her alone. Except for when one of us wore new shoes that needed to be discussed and admired; that was definitely important.

I don't start my new position for another two weeks (August 12th) so I'm just wrapping up things with my old position. I can't wait to start!

The Weekend I Didn't Do Anything I Wanted To Do

Joseph made me go camping on Friday. I kind of hate camping. Who decided it would be fun to hang out in the dirt with no running water? But I go because J likes it and I like J...

He made sure I ate before we went. Because he knows I get grumpy when I'm hungry and he knew it would be awhile before we had our tinfoil dinners. But oh man, I do love tinfoil dinners. And s'mores. It was almost worth having to use one of those port-a-potties five times in a 17 hour period - once at two in the morning in the pitch black and frigid cold (no, I'm not pregnant, I just pee like I am).

We took our little dog Micah up there. He was pretty well behaved; did his quiet little bark that sounds like he's sneezing a couple times, but mostly he was just happy to be near us and pee on the trees.

There was an incident when we first got up to the campground. J drove through the area, saw a spot, wanted to see if there was a spot further back, there wasn't, so he drove back around and parked in the original spot. I got out of the car and started to open the trunk. That's when I heard the yelling. Everyone in the campground could hear the yelling. "HEY. THERE IS A SPEED LIMIT OF ZERO MILES PER HOUR." I was confused. I looked around and spotted a tiny grey-haired woman running toward me. She continued to yell in a voice that I am sure was scaring away the wildlife within 50 miles of the campsite. I couldn't tell if she was joking or if she was being serious. Did she realize zero miles per hour is not moving at all? Nope, I realized she was serious, and she was still yelling about how we were going so fast the ground is torn up. I started to curl my lip in preparation to say something rude to her but then I noticed the clipboard. Hmm. She was probably in charge of the place. As much as I didn't want to be there, J would be upset if we had to leave. Better not say anything snarky even though she was being ridiculous. So I just continued to stare at her as she got closer to me and she continued yelling. When she gets close enough to see my face she stopped yelling. Because I was looking at her like I can't believe how crazy you are woman. We had a silent stand-off for a few seconds and I quietly said, "OK" in a tone that clearly said, "Do you need to take your medication?" She calmed down after that and asked us if we were going to have a fire and if we needed water. I just continued to stare at her and made J talk to her. I didn't appreciate being yelled at when I wasn't the driver. We referred to her as the Nazi campground lady after that. She made J move his car three feet, then later told him he could park in the original spot. When he left and came back with firewood and parked in the original spot, she had a problem with him parking there again. She was crazy.

We had to be back Saturday in time for Cindi's baby shower. That's the first baby shower I've been to where the mother-to-be was drinking (they're adopting). It was a fun party; it wasn't like a normal baby shower and that was nice. I feel like I've been to 37 baby showers and I'm kind of tired of them.

Sunday I woke up feeling like death. I had a sore throat, a running nose, and monstrous period cramps. I was useless Sunday. Luckily after sitting around all morning and afternoon, I started to feel better. So I did make it to Sunday night dinner. Which was good, because I really needed to wash my underwear at my Mom's house seeing as how I still do not have a washer. Nothing on my to do list was accomplished. Maybe I'll get a washer next weekend. Until then, at least I have clean underwear.

Trip to North Dakota

When I told people J and I were going on vacation to North Dakota, people would always ask, "Why are you going there?" Not exactly a vacation hot spot. My Dad's family lives in ND. He's the only one who moved out of state; his brothers and sisters live within an hour of each other. The last time I visited family in ND I was 12. I also wanted J to meet my extended family. We made a trip to Idaho last October (I didn't blog, I only posted pictures on FB) so J met most of my Mom's side of the family.

I was a little nervous it was going to be boring, but oh man I was wrong.

Dad's family is ridiculously nice and also hilarious. They put us up for the week we were there, fed us, and kept us very entertained.

We went fishing. This is on my cousin Jeff's pontoon boat. He is the son of my Dad's sister Georgine and her husband Owen.

Turns out J is quite a good fisherman. He brought in a nice haul.

My cousin Jeff manned the net.

Jeff cleaned the fish and my Aunt Georgine fried them up the next day. Walleye are very tasty fish.

Here's a picture of one of the dirt roads. Quite a change from busy Phoenix. Plus, there was water everywhere. I think ND could give Minnesota a run for the title "land of a thousand lakes."

I wasn't used to seeing so much undeveloped land. A lot of it is farmland. I didn't realize so many people in ND were farmers, including a lot of family. It's a good living up there.

All of my relatives have fur children. My Dad's brother Clarence and his wife Bonnie have little Maltese-poodles that are the sweetest, softest, best dogs. This is Mia. I wanted to put her in my carry-on and bring her home.

I am really glad we got to see my Grandma Nyla. I haven't seen her in so long. 

All of the family up in ND have RVs, boats, and four-wheelers. For the holiday we were all up at Devil's Lake and it was a lot of fun. The RVs were awesome - running water and toilets - that is my kind of camping! In this picture I'm driving one of the golf carts around the campground. Being a very careful driver and watching the road, obviously.

At night they had campfires and sat around cracking jokes and teasing each other. I had a few smores and I was in heaven.

This is my Aunt Bonnie. They leave their RVs up there (they have a permanent spot) and they have built a deck around their RV. It provides wonderful shade. This is at my cousin Justin's RV and his deck has a built in bench and bar. I was really impressed that he built it himself.

Here's a shot of what the campground looks like. It's a very popular spot.

Joseph did a little grilling at Clarence and Bonnie's RV.

My nephew Austin (my sister Jennifer's son) playing with one of my cousin's children.

We were riding one of the golf carts around the campground.

My uncle Clarence was cracking my Dad up. Don't they look like brothers?

Uncle Clarence took us out on his speedboat. We went tubing.

I felt a little safer with children on the tube. I felt like there was less chance of a wild ride. I may be a chicken, but I didn't get a bloody nose or smacked in the face - that happened to my cousins on a different boat ride.

The two kids on either side of Austin belong to my cousin Holly. They are seven year old twins Madison and Triston.

We met up with my cousin Justin and J left our boat to go fishing.

Doesn't my Uncle Owen look like the guy in Up?

Men. Make fire.

They lit a lantern right at 11:00 on the fourth of July to honor veterans. I hadn't heard of this tradition, but it was really nice.

Until the panda bears showed up. That was creepy. They stood there staring at us. Then the middle one started to dance, which made me feel better. I'd rather the panda be dancing around than staring at me. It felt like the beginning of a horror movie.

The pandas left to bother someone else and the lantern took off.

Austin and two cousins just younger than him (Colton and Caden, belong to my Dad's brother Kevin and his wife Sheila) set off some fireworks.

The next day, J and I took the golfcart to the bait shop, bought some ice cream, and went down to the lake.

Here's another one of those maltese-poodle dogs.

When we were done with camping, my Dad's sister Florine and her husband Joe took us on a ride around their property.

That's my Uncle Joe.

The lady on the left with the blonde hair is my Aunt Florine. You can see my Dad and uncle on the quads in front. Austin is sitting in the middle and my sister Jen is on the right. J and I were in the back.

My Uncle Joe tried to spray us with mud. He missed both times he tried. And then my Dad accidentally sprayed us with mud.

We saw four different deer. I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

Uncle Joe got himself pretty good. He had to shower. Sucker.

I didn't get pictures of all of the family. My Dad has four brothers (Clarence, Kevin, Doran and Rob) and two sisters (Georgine and Florine). I don't even know how many cousins I have. Trying to keep track of my cousin's children was another story. I did, however, learn all of the dog's names. Priorities.

I can't believe how late everyone could stay awake. We didn't go to bed until two in the morning one night and people were still up. The sun didn't set until much later, so maybe that made a difference. Or we are just tired sissies in Phoenix.

It was such a great trip.