It's Time!

Sam and I have planned on moving to Colorado for years and we are at the point where we are really wanting to move. Sam wants to move somewhere around the Denver area. I'm cool with anywhere from around Denver and down to Pueblo. So if you want to help us do some virtual house and job hunting, we are down for the advice and tips! We've been looking for jobs on usajobs.com and other sites, but if you know of any good job and housing sites, let us know! We're excited for the next chapter in our lives!

My Recent Publication

Around last Thanksgiving I was accepted as a writer for the Idaho State Journal Newspaper and its magazine, Family Living. I wrote a few articles for the newspaper itself, but I have refocused myself mainly upon the magazine as their health writer. With my background in psychology, I focus mainly upon mental health. The editor informed me that this last issue would focus upon prom. Hmmm? How was I going to apply mental health to the topic of prom? Oh, that's easy! Stress. So here is a link of the latest issue, with my article on how parents and teens can have a more enjoyable and less stressful time related to prom ;)

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Default/Skins/IdahoStateSp/Client.asp?enter=true&skin=IdahoStateSp&Daily=ISS&BaseHref=ISS/2011/04/16&PageSize=5&AppName=1

Josiesaurus

If Josie were a dinosaur, she would be a carnivore and a scavenger. She loves eating stuff that is disgusting!
I've caught her eating poo, munching on used tissues, other trash-like paraphernalia, and she will never say no to a piece of meat, even human meat! As all of my avid blog followers know, all 3 of you, Sam has recently had his big toenails removed, thus his big toes are like large, meaty, blood covered nubs. (Ok, they're not that bad, but they're not pretty princess toes right now either.) And they totally looked like nubs of deliciousness to Josie yesterday. She was so focused upon his toes, just staring at them, and straining herself towards them. Sam had to tell her "No," more than once to deter her from taking a lick at his piggies!

Bad dino Josie! Bad!

May Babies

Happy Birthday to Aaron (May 20th) and Jake (May 24th)!!! We hope you guys had very happy birthdays and will have a great rest of the year for the both of you, Aaron with beginning fatherhood and Jake with beginning doctorhood :)

Slumber Party!

So while Sam went out to Colorado in April for his annual kidney check-up, I was back in Idaho having a slumber party! I invited three of my girlfriends to spend the night at our home for a total girl fest! Two of my friends were able to make it and we stayed up late talking, laughing, eating a whole bunch of junk food (pizza, M&Ms, ice-cream, you know, all the slumber party essentials), painting our nails, and watching episode upon episode of Drop Dead Diva, a totally girly TV series. It was so much fun!

Yay for being a woman!

Yard Sale

I have been in hard core spring cleaning mode! Seriously, I couldn't go to sleep for a bit one night because I was thinking of organizational techniques. Well, I have been helping one of my clients who is working on de-cluttering by having yard sales, and I brought some of my and Sam's things along too. I love getting rid of stuff... and making money by doing so :) My neighbors and Sam and I are having a big Memorial weekend yard sale next Saturday. Yay, goodbye stuff!

My goal is to have every single drawer, cabinet, and closet organized by the end of summer and I have gotten a lot done so far. The most daunting task is the paperwork and back two bedroom closets. I was reading on a professional organizer's website that 80% of the paperwork that people file never gets looked at again, and that we only wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time. All of those time where I have thought, "Oh, but I might use this later," are gone! Less really is more, and means less to clean too!

Well, I'm outta here to go buy some Asian noodles :)

Toenails for Sale!

Actually, there are no toenails for sale. But Sam had his big toe toenails removed last Wednesday. He was getting ingrown toenails so often, that he finally decided to just get rid of them altogether. He was in a lot of pain at first, but felt much better after going back to the doctor's and having his feet rewrapped less tightly, which was a large reason for the pain.

Poor Sammy has been stuck on the couch, doctor's orders, and so I have been at his beck and call. Refilling his glass, popping in a new movie for him, rearranging the pillows under his feet, etc., etc., etc. We had bought paint 2 days before his surgery for our bedroom walls, and so I got my workout going up and down the stairs in between painting and helping him out. And he has gotten soooo bored and sleep deprived from  sleeping on the couch uncomfortably, that he is extra ornery. For example, do you have any idea how many times he has reached over and messed with my keyboard while I've been trying to type this? And he is absolutely insistent that I get him noodles tonight for dinner because he has been watching Anthony Bourdain for the past few hours!

But I love him, and can't help but laugh at his antics even when he's driving me nuts!

But I did tell him that he's not allowed any more surgeries for at least 10 years!!!

My Grandpa

My grandfather passed away this morning. John James Kondelis was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Thelma Lottie Whitten and Demetrius Augustus Kondelis. He was an intelligent man, who ran track in his youth and earned a track scholarship for college. He married my grandmother, Dorothy Mae Sliger and soon after served in the Korean War. He lost one of his legs from a land mine while serving, and with that, his track scholarship. He still continued with his education though, after being honorably discharged and received many military honors, including the purple heart. He became a successful accountant, as well as a father of six. Eventually my grandparents divorced, and my grandpa remarried some time later.

My grandfather loved to sing. He sang in his church's choir as a youth. He and my grandmother converted to Mormonism while they were still together, and through them, my mom, and then to me. I am very grateful for his conversion because it has greatly blessed my life. My grandfather participated in other Christian faiths later on, but always continued his singing.

I visited him recently from April 9th to 14th and it was really good to see him. He had been in the Loch Raven Veterans Community Living Center for the past 3-4 years, and that's where I spent time with him. Like him, I love to sing, so I sang to him. I sang older songs that he would know, such as Chatanooga Choo-Choo and You Are My Sunshine. His eyes brightened up, he moved his hand along to the tune, and he sang along with me. I also sang some hymns to him as well.

The first day I went to visit him, he teased his roommate and introduced me as his girlfriend. He had a mischievous sense of humor and liked to flirt and tease with women ;) His roommate huffed back, "Girlfriend!? She's not your girlfriend. You're related!"

My mom reminded him that I was left-handed, like him. He asked me, "Why are you left-handed?" I responded, "Because of you!" and he smiled.

Mom brought him some oyster stew, which he has always loved. When he asked me if I liked it, I told him, "No," I didn't. He waved his hand at me, dismissively, and told me to go back west ;) He kept his sense of humor with him even at the end of his life. He joked with me, my mom, and his nurses. He always kept chocolates and little gifts to give to his doctors, nurses, and staff members.

My mom and him became very close the past few years. She visited him frequently, managing his bills, bringing him food he liked (like the oyster stew), helping him with his medical needs, and just spending time with him. Mom had been visiting my grandpa every day for the past few weeks as she had taken family leave to spend more time with him. (Grandpa had leukemia and lymphoma, and the doctor had told her that Grandpa probably didn't have much time left.)

She had to return to work this week for the night shift from Friday night until Saturday morning. My mom called my grandpa after work on Saturday and talked with him. He told her that he was waiting for her and said, "I love you, my Brenda."Mom called Grandpa's place at 5:30 this Sunday morning and the nurse told her Grandpa was fine and sleeping. Later though at 9:00 AM the doctor called my mom to tell her that Grandpa's condition had worsened. Mom picked up my sister very quickly and ran red lights all the way up to his home. When she got there, he was lying with his eyes closed. She placed her head upon his chest and heard his heart beating. She looked up at him and he opened his blue eyes and looked at her. Then he closed his eyes and his heart stopped beating. He really had waited for her.

I'm grateful for my grandfather, grateful for his friendliness, humor, love of music and singing. I am grateful for the time I'v had with him, and because of him, the life, the religion, even the left-handedness that I now have. And I am grateful for my mom. For her example of grace and dignity as she cared for her father, for the forgiveness she so readily gave to him. I love them both.

Christmas 2010

The first year Sam and I were married we spent Christmas with just the two of us. We had only been married a little over a month, and it just seemed to make sense to not travel again so soon, and we wanted to have our first Christmas holiday as a new little family. Well, we never made that mistake again! We were  bored and lonely without having more people around! Both of us are used to having larger Christmases. So we have made sure that we make it out to Colorado Springs each Christmas since that first one to spend time with Sam's awesome family.

This year we continued with that tradition. First, we had our annual "Not Getting Enough Sleep and Then Driving Out to Colorado for 12 Hours Trip." The trip took 13 hours because we had little Josie with us and  so bathroom breaks take a little longer. We've been married long enough and experienced this road trip enough that we don't get grumpy with each other as much as we used to spending all day in a car together!

Oceanic Dreaming

Happy Birthday Jules Verne! Today the author of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea is 183 years old. Google created a design logo in his honor, and you have got to check it out today if you get the chance. It's awesome!

As I am an avid lover of the sea, and creepy things that go bump in the night, and in honor of Jules Verne and his famous oceanic sci-fi novel, here is a short list of random marine life facts that I consider either cool, creepy, or best of all, both! And since this is not a school paper, sorry guys, I am totally not citing my sources! Well, I won't cite following any kind of APA or MLA guidelines ;)

1) Bull Sharks can live in salt or fresh water. Those guys have been found in the Amazon and even in our own Mississippi River. These 200-500 pound beauties have even found their way into Lake Nicaragua, by leaping upstream in the Amazon rapids and into the lake. Happy swimming :)
(National Geographic)

2) And yes, all joking aside, you can have fun swimming in the ocean! Did you know that people die more by dog attacks each year than by shark attacks? Yup, according to the Shark Attack File there were about 18 human deaths by dogs to 0.4 human deaths by sharks annually in the 1990s (www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/relariskanimal.htm).

3) Cookie-Cutter Sharks latch onto their prey, twist, and pull off a nice round chunk of their prey's flesh, thus receiving the name Cookie-Cutter. They grow to only about a foot-and-a-half (www.flmnh.ufl.edu).

4) Contrary to what we believed in our elementary school science classes, not all life gains its energy from the sun. In the oceans' greatest depths, some life-forms survive off of sulphuric compounds (seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov).

5) A blue whale has a heart the size of a small car! (seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov)

6) Coral is similar to human bone, and for that reason has been successfully used as part of bone grafts. Let the sea become a part of you, that's what I always say (seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov).

The ocean and its menagerie of life are a wonderful part of our world!

Viva Las Thanksgiving

I am playing catch up with my posts here! So heading back to November...we had our 5 year wedding anniversary as I blogged about already, and we went to Las Vegas to be with the Lewis family for Thanksgiving. Aaron and Tat invited everyone out to Vegas, and it was such a great idea. It was so much fun! Sam's parents rented a beautiful home where we all stayed, except for Tat and Aaron who lived close by. We visited the strip, played lots of games, and got to hang out with Tat's family on Thanksgiving, who were all super nice.

Some of Sam's and my highlights of the trip were, in no particular order:

1) Seeing the amazing lights and architectural structures at the strip. (I loved this! This was my 1st time to Vegas). The Bellagio was my all time fave.

2) Visiting Hoover Dam. Being in 2 places at one time? Check.

3) Hanging out and playing videogames with Evan. You're an awesome uncle, Sam!

4) Learning to play poker. That was so much fun you guys! I couldn't stop laughing. Thanks Aaron for whispering tips to me!

5) Playing Quelf with everyone. Again, I could NOT stop laughing.

6) Playing Marco Polo and volleyball in the pool with Sam, Jake, Evan, Sarah, and Lauren.

7) Walking in the mornings with Sam, Mom, and Nikki. Thanks to the exercise I was able to eat yummy foods all week and not gain any weight!

8) Being silly with my nieces, stuffing grapes in our mouths, and painting their nails.

9) My arch nemesis and I joking and tormenting each other. Squishing the grapes inside my mouth hurt! I'm glad I scared you in the closet!

10) Yoga with Nicolle on the kitchen floor!

11) Lots of hugs and kisses from that cuddle bug Liam.

12) Just Dance! with Nicolle, Sarah, Lauren, and Nikki.

13) Tat and her awesome family for making room for all of us on Thanksgiving Day! The holidays are the best when they're filled with lots of people! You guys are awesome!

14) My sweet hubby for putting up with me every night that I kicked, elbowed, and rolled on top of him while I was sleeping! We slept in a smaller bed at the vacation home, and as Sam kindly put it, I'm an "active sleeper!" Love you!

Sam and I love each of you! We really look forward to our next family adventure together with all of you!

Next blog topics: Christmas, Sleep Study, Lost, and ER trips. For now, I need to get some zzzz's.

5 Years!!!

Sam and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this past Thursday! Sam had to go to school, and I had work, but we did go out that evening for dinner at Applebee's. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. On one hand it feels like we have just begun our lives together, and on the other, it seems like we have always been together. I have grown to love him more deeply as the years have passed, and as we've laughed and stressed over life together. You're my best friend, my brother, my friend, and my husband all in one. I love you!

Writing Time!

I am super excited to announce that I will be writing for the Idaho State Journal!!! Starting Sunday, November 21st, you can find my weekly article. I will be writing on topics such as mental health and family relationships. I will continue working as a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, which I really enjoy, but I am also looking forward to adding writing to my repertoire. It has been a dream of mine since childhood!

Crockpot

I am determined to learn many, many crockpot recipes in preparation for the upcoming quarter of school. I made a daily schedule for myself, and to be able to incorporate everything and still live a pretty balanced life, I will be up and going from 6am-8:30pm pretty much Mon-Sat. I'm not willing to sacrifice my sanity, health, or relationships so my schedule is packed but pretty healthy, as much as I can manage. I hope :)
One way I plan on accomplishing more with my time is through lots of crockpot cooking. Tonight I made crockpot chicken enchiladas. I also found a recipe for crockpot apple pie. And I am going to keep on adding to my repertoire so we can still eat home made meals regularly, without me losing precious time!

If you have any healthy, tasty crockpot recipes, send them my way please!

Dry Heaves

So I love to tease people, young or old, male or female. This enjoyment is not limited to my personal life, but also to my professional life. I often tease and joke with my clients and coworkers; it helps them to laugh and lighten the very serious nature of our therapeutic work together. I was sharing with my company's receptionist  about an experience that I had with a child (not a client) who frequently digests his own nasal discharge. The receptionist told me that I have to tell my boss the story, because they are sister and brother, and she knew that he would completely get grossed out by the story. So I began telling him the story. As soon as I mentioned the word "booger" he turned his head to the side and paused in the paperwork he was doing. Then, when I mimed the action of blowing snot out of my nose and stretching it into my mouth to eat it, he started dry heaving and had to leave the room. My coworkers and I were all laughing so hard, even my boss, after the nausea passed ;)

Plumbing Pains and More

Last month: We had to have a plumber come to the house to fix our upstairs toilet and sink. I had tried to fix the toilet myself and had installed a new tank interior, but it still leaked. Toilet and sink repaired: $485.

This month: A plumber came out again for our kitchen sink. Not too bad of a problem, and now I feel confident in handling a similar problem for myself in the future. Lesson learned: $85. Sam's car had a flat and the other tire needed to be replaced, among a few other odds and ends to fix up. Honda repaired: $182.

Next month: My Toyota has two bald tires. Baldness Repaired: Probably around $150.

Blah! I'm glad we had some money in our savings! Time to rebuild the nest egg. If this happens again all at once, we're switching to an outhouse, manual spigot, and bicycles!

Rexburg Fair

Yesterday evening Sam and I went to the Rexburg Fair. It's a free event each year, and really close to our home. We walked around and checked out the local venues selling their wares, ate some yummy fair food, and enjoyed the sites from the booths and the rides. We also watched the local cowboys do their thing! We watched cattle roping and riding, and some pretty fancy stunt work with a young rider on his horse. We both enjoyed this show. Sam said if he had known he would have lived in Rexburg one day he would've become a cowboy. I told him he could've learned to add his skateboarding skills in with the horse riding skills ;) My favorite part was just walking around talking with Sam and enjoying this community event. We also visited the barnyard animals! I can never get enough of the horses, sheep, goats, etc. I was petting a horse when it suddenly nipped at me and scared me! It didn't hurt, just surprised me. Sam liked the sheep the best because of their bleating. I'm tempted to go back there again today and take Josie. Pets are allowed as long as they're on a leash, and I want to see Joe's reaction to all of those farm animals...and smells!

April-July 2010

Hey Everyone! So here's a little catch up from the past few months ;) Sam and I celebrated a nice 27th birthday for him in April! We caught a movie, had some yummy dinner, and Sam bought himself some bass guitar equipment.

In May Sam and I celebrated his 2 year anniversary of being a successful transplant recipient! It is crazy to think that two years has gone by, and it is wonderful to see how far Sam has come emotionally and physically! I am very proud of you honey.

In June I crossed a milestone...from my 20s to my 30s!!! We celebrated by heading down to Logan, Utah. We did a little exploring of the town, I took pics of the beautiful Logan temple, we had dinner at Sizzlers, watched Toy Story 3 with our friends the Floyds, and stayed the night at the Hilton. It was such a nice day, and I think I entered my 30s on a high note :)

Speaking of which, I had set several goals for myself to accomplish by my 30th, starting from December 25th to my birthday on June 25th, and here's a report of my progress:

1) One goal was to be 130 by the time I reached 30. I didn't get to there but I am happy to say that I have made some weight loss progress as well as strength training. I joined a gym in April and I have been implementing weights in with my cardio. (Actually, I love doing weights and loathe cardio). So since April I have noticed that I have increased the amount of weight I use. With the seated row I have gone from 30 to 50 lbs. With the lateral chest machine I have gone from 26 pounds to 36 pounds. With the leg sled I have gone from 130/150 lbs to 190 lbs. I am still working on dropping weight, but now with more of a focus on body fat percentage, as well as incorporating a healthier diet. So I'm not there yet, but I'm still working on it!

2) Socializing with friends at least 1x per month. Yes, I have accomplished this goal! I've been having a girls night with two of my friends from church, hanging out with another friend from church at our homes, and have begun playing tennis 1x per week with another friend whom I met from school, and whom Sam grew up with back in Colorado. We're having another girls night this week to go watch Eclipse.

3) Rock climbing wall. So I am afraid of heights and wanted to challenge myself in this way. I did call about rock climbing but you need to have a...I can't think of the word, like a spotter, but Sam wasn't able to go with me the night I had planned, and I just never got around to doing this! So, my new goal is to do this by Christmas!

4) Writing 20 pages of my book and learning 100 words of Spanish or Sign Language. Yeah...this didn't happen.

5) Reading all of the November Conference issue Ensign before the April Conference. I did really well with this goal and read the majority of the talks, which I had never done before. Since I didn't finish it all, my new goal is to finish it by this October conference, as well as the May Conference Ensign.

6) Attending the temple 2x a month. From January through April, I was averaging about 1x a month, once I made it 2x in a month. From May to now I haven't done well, so I have reset my goal to attend the temple every other Saturday, and eventually to every Saturday.

7) This wasn't an original goal, but I decided that I HAD to have a pedicure before my 30th since I had never had a professional one done before. And I did :)

I am happy for the progress I have made, and look forward to continuing to challenge myself in this way. I don't want the years to just blend in, and so I like the idea of setting a few goals for myself to accomplish every 6 months, so that each year I can look back and see how I have hopefully become a better person in some way.

In July, Sam GRADUATED with his Bachelors of Arts in English Literature. Sam, I am so proud of you for persevering!!! You served God by becoming a missionary and postponing your schooling for 2 years. And then you went and pursued your education. You experienced a terrible ordeal being diagnosed with kidney disease, dialysis, a transplant, and all of the side effects of your medication, and had to postpone your education again for another year. And then yet again you went back and pursued your education. Thank you for your perseverance and dedication Sam! You are a blessing in my life and in our family! And CONGRATULATIONS! You deserve it!

We celebrated by watching Inception at the theatre, buying Sam new clothes, a watch, and his mom and dad hooked him up with a PS3 and my mom hooked him up with some PS3 games. Thanks everyone!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Happy 27th Birthday Sweetheart! I love you SO much and I love being married to you!

XOXO- Kelly

Parenthood!

Sam and I are thrilled to say that we are a mommy and daddy to be!!! I am 15 weeks along and so we thought it would be time at last to announce the exciting news! Baby Lewis is due to arrive on September 23rd!!!