I've Got The Month Of May... And Spiders

Dearest Readers,

In case you've lost your calenders...It's May! WAHOO! I can hardly believe that it's May already!
And how am I celebrating? Sadly enough, it's by being sick :( Yes folks, my dear sweet husband has gone and spread his man cold on to me. He is so good at sharing! But I forgive him :) Mostly because I'm a HORRIBLE wife and I haven't made my "Man Cold Survival Kit" yet. But I will. Today. If I feel up to it! And I will, of course, post pictures.

And although I fail at being a cutesy wife this week as far as sending my man off with a special little lunch, I did manage to still take care of my husband, by nursing him back to health. When he got home on Tuesday, I tucked him into bed and brought him OJ, took his temperature every half hour because I felt like I could have used his body to heat the oven! His temperature stayed at around 100+ degrees, and I felt like if it went any higher, I would have made him go to InstaCare, just to be safe. I gave him some meds to break the fever, and he was back down to 99 ish, and then down from there. I also brought him some special fruit punch (filled with Airborne...shh...) cough-drops, pills, tissues, throat spray, and ice-packs, and wouldn't let him watch sports, but insisted he slept. (I'm a mean nurse!) I also used Village Therapy Cold & Allergy body wash, which I just have him smell, and it clears up his nose. It's great in baths/showers too. It works really well! I bought it at Walmart a while back for under $5.00 (DJ calls it my Voodoo magic)

By the end of the night, I'm happy to report that my man was feeling a lot better. Work was really busy for him, finishing the rush-order they had from China. When he got home last night (Wednesday) we went to grab something for dinner, came home, and got in bed. He was feeling sick again, poor thing, and I was sneezing and my nose was running like crazy. Getting ready for bed, I saw a strange shadow cast on the light I had just turned on, and then a spider scampered across the ceiling (Do spiders scamper?? Well, if not, this one did! My husband tried to catch it with a tissue, but he wasn't for sure if he got it or not (He didn't tell me.. How kind) We then turned on our show, cuddled, and tried to relax.

THEN THE NIGHTMARE BEGAN

I felt something crawl on my leg. I thought it was just a tingle, but when I checked to make sure, sure enough, there it was: A HUGE spider. I rolled over my husband and off the bed screaming "There's a spider in the bed!!!" my husband tried to get it with one of his tissues (Poor dear) But it got away and slipped in the little space between the bed and the wall.

(Oh, quick back story.... When we first moved in with my mother-in-law, I was cleaning the house when I noticed a spider-sac on the ceiling, without thinking I SPRAYED it with my cleaning spray and the spider fell out of its sac and onto the blanket bellow. I trapped it in a cup (pretty heavy glass cup, turned upside down) and waited for my husband to get home from work for lunch. While waiting downstairs, I noticed a few more spiders, and ran upstairs. My husband came straight up to get me and we went out to get a bite and came back. I went upstairs again, and a few minutes later he came to tell me he couldn't find the spider. With a puzzled look I said, "Hunny, there is a huge one in a cup, on the floor. How could you miss that??" Men..

Well when I came down to show him the cup, I was horrified. The cup was overturned! YES OVERTURNED my friends, the spider was no-where to be seen. While we were gone, Vera (The other spider, and there was probably a few more involved) came down from their webs to rescue WIGGLY JOE (The leader spider, the one I trapped in the cup) Yes, there was a spider revolution. And Wiggly Joe was freed. My husband eventually found a few in webs and killed a few spiders, then he stayed to get estimates on exterminators and to help me pick up the mess so it would be harder for W. Joe and his followers to hide.

Now, fast forward to last night.. What might have happened is when DJ tried to catch the spider in his tissue, he'd knocked it onto the bed and it had been there the whole time (Oh, my gosh... feeling weak at the knees) or there was more than one spider... or, well, I don't know. I was on some cold meds, but I don't think we both could have hallucinated about the same thing.

So, my husband took apart the bed (mostly because our bed is old, and the beams holding it up shift out of place and crack a lot, and mostly because we wanted to find DAISY (the new spider) and remove her. Good news: We fixed the bed. Bad news: Daisy wasn't to be found. I was petrified to get back in bed, until exhaustion set in. I did wake up a lot though and check for a tingly sensation. Now I'm typing this, still in the room, still slightly freaking out.. spiders are not my strong suit.

But other than the spider run-in, I'm happy that it's May! I hope the weather warms up soon. Oh, and my anniversary is coming up soon! Wahoo! Until then, I must be on guard for Daisy.

Farewell for now!

The Mein's

The Man Cold

Dearest Readers,

Things have slowed down a little bit around here, if just for a moment! DJ is feeling sick today :( And he felt sick the past few days as well, poor thing coughed all night and has a sore throat. I hate seeing him sick! It makes me feel helpless.

So that's why it's been a little slow. Reading books, snuggling up, watching our TV shows and movies, (Here Comes The Boom, and The Hobbit- we got for FREE at Redbox... We both LOVE The Hobbit, haven't watched the other one yet...I'll let you know what we think.

What I hate about man colds, is that my once tough, rugged, strong, fearless man is reduced to a drowsy ball of sniffles, coughs, and sneezes. And by the look of things, you'd think he were on his death bed! Oh, man colds... I guess we should have seen the sickness coming though, Monday of last week we had dinner with DJ's family who was sick, and it kind of spread from there. Gotta love the family grapevine of DISEASE!
 
But what can you do? Getting sick is a part of life! So now I'm loading him up with OJ, soup, cough-drops, and rest. It's a busy time with DJ's work, they are dealing with an order from China now, so he can't take any sick days. The best I can do is try to help out my poor sneezy man with some good old-fashioned love.

So today (well tonight...) I'm making my husband a "Man Cold Survival Kit" to stick in his lunch bag. I'll post pictures tomorrow, or when I get around to it, as it's not quite finished. I did it once before when my husband was suffering through a man-cold, and he seemed to like it, so I thought I'd try it again.

The kit includes cough-drops, a mini bag of tissues, a love note, soup (or whatever meal you have prepared for your man), Daytime cold medicine, Vicks Vapor Rub (small tube), Airborne tablets, and a carton of OJ or another type of juice packed with Vitamin C. It also includes (as a joke) emergency numbers to call in case his cold worsens. Something to make you laugh, as that is the best medicine!

Other than that... not much to report!

Until next time,

The Mein's 

Summer Resolutions Continued...

3. I want to do AS MANY of the following activities as possible:

1. Go Hiking. On Studio 5, they have a story about secret hiking spots in Utah. I'd like to try as many as possible! (Including my hike to Y mountain)

 

2. Swimming! Here is the pool in Spanish Fork. The slide looks AMAZING.

 

3. Camping

 

4. Go up to Provo Canyon, and/or Payson canyon as often as possible to have dutch oven cookouts, roast marshmellows, go on nature hikes, and enjoy nature.
 

 5. Go to Lagoon: TRY THE ROCKET


6. Go on as many dates as possible with my husband! If we have kids one day, dates will soon become a thing of the past...
7. Go to sporting events with DJ. (I want to go to a Bees baseball game!)
8. See lots of movies, either at the theater, or renting them at the library/Redbox. See the classics that I've missed.
9. Buy a bike, and go bike riding. There is a trail that goes around Spanish Fork, and it would be awesome to be able to ride it.
10. Go to the Zoo
11. Go to "This Is The Place" State Park
12. Go to the Planetarium
13. Go Bowling
14. Go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point 
15. Save up money for a mini vacation!


And there you have it! My summer resolutions. I will try and be better about posting here too! :)

-The Mein's

Taylor's Summer "Resolutions"

In January, I made the oh-so-typical list of things I wanted to accomplish for the next year. But this year, I didn't just write down a bunch of things on a slip of paper and leaving it neglected in my sock drawer to be found in 2015, I typed it up and made it a post.

So here is an update of my resolutions: I went to EVERY single basketball game of my husbands this season. I am so proud of him and his team! They did amazing. I even went to a few practices! I love my husband as his detication to pass on his love of sports to others.

DJ and I are going to start reading our scriptures together every night. I keep a personal journal, and pray at least once a day. I watched all of conference, and I'm pretty sure DJ and I are going to both be getting callings in our new ward. 

Now that the weather is warming up, I'm excited to get out and walk/jog on the track just down the street from the house where we are staying. I need to get some songs on my i-pod and gear up!

And now, I have some SUMMER resolutions I'd like to complete starting in MAY and ending the last day of AUGUST:

1. I want to keep getting fit, which should include 30-90 minutes a day of exercise other than my housecleaning, so either walking, jogging, swimming, biking (I need a bike first...) so that I can HIKE TO THE TOP OF THE "Y" on Y mountain in Provo, by the end of the summer. I also want to practice hiking the way, each time, adding a little bit more.



2. I want to read my scriptures everyday with my husband. I want to take notes, and study the scriptures. I want to create a "Scripture wall" where I write out our favorite scriptures to display. I also want to prepare myself to receive my patriarchal blessing.

We're Back!

Dearest Readers,

WOAH THERE! I've been VERY absent in keeping this blog up-to-date. Lots of things have happened since I last recorded them here. I started writing a private journal so I put this blog on the back burner, then my computer charger broke leaving my computer battery dead, and thus causing a bit of a problem with blogging!

In early April our contract at our apartment was up so we decided to move in with my mother-in-law for the summer while we saved up for our own place. While we are here, I'm in charge of taking care of her, and we live rent free. It's been nice to create a nice savings account and also to have started making payments on our student loans.

Still no work for me. I found a lot of prospects in Salt Lake and DJ and I talked about if it was worth it for me to get a bus pass to go back and forth from where we lived in Utah county, to where the work would be. We ultimately decided it would be easier on the both of us if I kept looking closer to home. In the meanwhile, I keep myself busy with making beds, vacuuming, laundry, dishes, yard-work, more laundry, and other household tasks, visiting with my mother in law and tending to her needs, writing my books, corresponding with missionaries, and so on.

I am still hoping for a job at a school, each day I feel like that's where I should be. After my student loans are under control, (EEK!) I hope to apply to school at either BYU or UVU, hoping I can get a scholarship. I will have to do my homework on how to start the process for getting a scholarship, because I have no idea where to begin!

DJ is doing well at Masterwall. He considered starting Massage Therapy School a few months ago, but with the economy the way it is, and people pinching pennies, he isn't sure he wants to leave his "for sure" job to jump into something new. So we will have to wait and see what happens there. Once we are more "On our feet" so to speak, DJ wants to return to school again and get his degree, because he only needs a class or two!

Both of us want to make sure that all the money that went into putting ourselves through college are worth it by getting a degree. We have hard to work very hard and nothing has been handed to either one of us, so we appreciate everything we have been given and realize how expensive everything is!
On April 15th, DJ celebrated his 24th Birthday! We had an amazing weekend, starting with a Jazz game on Friday night, and a sleepover at my parents house. On Saturday, my youngest sister Caitlin, was baptized. We spent the day with my family, and it was wonderful.

On Sunday we went to church at my home ward, and spent the rest of the day with my family, before leaving that night, only DJ wouldn't tell me where we were going! Well turns out he got a deal for a room at The Anniversary Inn, and we stayed in the Hawaii room! It was amazing. We had a waterfall shower, they had Martinelli's, and we got a breakfast tray in the morning with the most amazing food I'd ever eaten in my life.
After that, we went back to my house, and my family gave DJ a BYU T-shirt, and a gift-card for a free dinner.

After we said thanks for the gift, and for letting us stay over for two nights, we said goodbye to mom and went to Rodizio Grill for some Brazilian food. It's DJ's favorite place, and he really enjoyed himself! Especially the grilled pineapple :) It was a fun weekend and DJ was spoiled with a Jazz game, amazing meals, and a fun hotel stay. I think we sent him into his 24th year with a bang!

I've been busy making invitations for my friend Ashley's bridal shower and bachelorette party, for her wedding that will be in June.My friend Rachel got her mission call last week to California, Spanish speaking, and my friend Rhiannon is graduating BYU today! I'm also in contact with McKenzie (Cooper) and Allison (Alli) who are both on missions. I'm so proud of all my friends! They are amazing examples and I love them!

DJ and I are coming up on our one year anniversary soon. I can hardly believe it. We have come a long way and I didn't think it was possible, but I love him a little more each day. I am one lucky girl to have such an amazing guy!

And that about wraps it up! Stay tune for more posts.

-The Mein's