Cody!!

Growing up, my cousin Cody lived in a different part of Wyoming than me when we were young, then we lived in the same area for a few years, and by the time she was in high school, my family moved to Cheyenne. While we saw eachother regularly at family functions and around the holidays, we didn't get a chance to spend much time together as adults. She recently moved to Salt Lake, though, and we've been spending a lot of time together.
This girl is a Godsend. When Lucy was super sick last week and puking all over my shirt and carpet, there was Cody, running around behind me, cleaning up. When I needed someone to watch Lucy while I went to the doctor's, there was Cody, bright and early in the morning, knocking at my door. She decided to come early because she knows I run in the mornings, and thought it would be nice for me to be able to run without the stroller. When I was stressed and exhausted from a long day, there was Cody, with a gallon of ice cream and carmel butterscotch topping.
Cody serves selflessly, and without being asked. I'm literally crying while I write this. She is patient with Lucy, and genuinely loves being around her. She never expects elaborate thanks, returned favors, or pay. She simply loves to be around family and help in any way she can. She is a wonderful example of love, and I am thankful for the short time I get her here.

I love you Cody! (She's not a blog-follower, so she probably won't even read this. But her mom will :0) People say we look like sisters :0)

Update on the house

We got the official denial on our property, with the condition that if we got a second opinion, that is, if we can find an electrician who is willing to say everything is to code "as is" (without us taping or covering that stupid wire) then they will push everything through. So we went on the hunt for an electrician who is willing to "stretch" a bit to help us out. I have a great-uncle who is coming to look at it tomorrow. He's really straight arrow though, so I have my doubts about him being willing to give us what we need to close.

We looked at going with a different company that does HUD homes all the time, and finds loopholes around these kinds of issues, but it would be several thousand more upfront, plus a higher interest rate, and we just don't think we can afford it. So if Uncle Gary can't help us out, we will be withdrawing our offer and just have to wait for another house. We've learned a lot though, and when the dissapointment wears off, we'll be just fine :0)

To make this post more interesting, I chose five random pictures from my file. I literally just clicked numbers. Have no idea what they are. Enjoy.

Some bad news

So we just found out that there was some technicality on the inspection report on our house that will more likely than not result in us not getting it. I am so upset! I expected to be moving THIS WEEKEND. It's all very distressing. What was the technicality? Well, the place where the dishwasher goes has a wire hanging out of the wall because (hello!) a dishwasher used to be there. Because of this one, little wire, the inspection report read "exposed electrical wire", to which the underwriter responded by coding it as a fire hazard. We are not allowed to change anything before closing; we can't even cut that wire, or hook it up to our dishwasher that we will be moving in there. It's so frustrating! I thought people were trying to SELL homes in this housing crisis. Anyway, so we will find out for sure in the next couple of days, but it's looking more and more like we'll be sticking around in our apartment a little longer. We're hoping the company we're managing the apartments for is flexible with us, because we already told them we were moving and they started looking for other managers. Great.
Sorry to follow our good news with some bad. As you can imagine, I have whiplash from going up to emotional highs and then crashing to emotional lows. If any of you want to send chocolate my way...it couldn't hurt. Actually, on second thought, then I'd gain weight and be upset about that. Eat some chocolate in my honor.

Answer to the riddle

You're all very smart,

There's no fooling you.

My little secret is:

I'M GROWING BABY NUMBER TWO!

??? A Riddle ???

I have a little secret
I can't tell you what it is
I can, however tell you
It starts out small, and then gets big

I keep my little secret
tucked away so no cold can get in
What is my little secret?
Let the guessing games begin!

Chocolate massages and other such updates

"Hey Miriah, why haven't you been posting any pictures?" Because I'm lazy, that's why. But here are some updates. First, I sent off my final revision to my prospective agent about a week ago. It was the first time I was able to hold all 310 pages in my hands! It was a big moment for me. Now I just wait...and wait....and wait. I won't hear back for a few more months.
Second, for General Conference, my cousin Cody came over. She is going to massage therapy school, so after the session was over, we made brownies and she gave both Tom and I deep tissue massages! Chocolate and massages...I was in freakin' seventh heaven! She is this tiny little girl, but she is SOOO STRONG! I couldn't believe she could do two hour long back to back massages. We loved having her over :0)

And lastly, Tom flew to Arizona today for a business trip. Before he left we were able to get a date in. It had been a long time since we'd gone anywhere just the two of us, so it was really refreshing to be Tom and Miriah for a few hours instead of Mom and Dad. We really appreciate and love Jeannette, who is always willing to babysit for us at a moment's notice. You rock, girl! Yes, I took a picture of myself holding my manuscript :)
Look how thick that baby is!

Cody doing Tom's massage. Love that girl.

Lucy licking out the brownie bowl!

She's so excited!

DATE NIGHT!!! (someone, please tell me how to rotate pics on blogspot...please!)

New fitness goal

I forgot to blog that I did, in fact, meet my last fitness goal I blogged about. Yeah! So, on to the next. Now that I'm the weight I want to be, what about strength? My parents, some of you may know, are fitness freaks. There is no other word for it. Freaks. Anyway, they want to come visit Tom and I in our new house (fingers crossed on the closing date coming through) on my birthday (Nov 7th) and run the Turkey Trot 5K in Sandy while they are here. My dad wants me to run with them.
Now I love to run, but I've never really run competetivly. I prefer on my treadmill, where no one can see me, and where I am free to meditate and get lost in the rythm of my footsteps and breathing, without feeling pressure to go faster than the next guy. So my inital reaciton was, NO THANK YOU. But after giving it some thought, I decided, why not? I don't have to be competitive; I can just run it so say I've run a 5k. Might be fun.
So, I started training today (which just means I run a little more than usual. It's really not as intense as it sounds). I'm excited to do it. Plus, I really do like running, so it's the perfect way to spend my birthday, I think :0)
Wish me luck!

Super sad :0(

Today a girl I had classes with in college went on a facebook rampage against the church, using foul language in conjunction with Elder Dallan H Oaks and another general authority, I forget who. It was about gay rights, and she, who is a baptized member, proceeded to blame the LDS Church for all injustices concievable.
I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their opinion. But why is it that those who leave the church, can't just leave the church? They have to fight actively against it! It's infuriating because most Christian churches have the same stance on homosexuality, but none of them are criticized as highly as we are for it. When I pointed this out, I was attacked (there is no other word for it) by several people, telling me I'm a victim of brainwashing and a prisoner of biggotry, and other such nonsense. They even compared the LDS church to the KKK!
If I were a Muslim standing up for my beliefs, these "tolerant" people would be singing my praises. But because I'm a Mormon standing up for the church, I am "ignorant," "intolerant", "brainwashed", and basically unintelligent.
I am so sad by the whole thing. I love the Church, and a few mean-spirited people who think they are promoting tolerance by trying to bully the church into changing its morals will NEVER have the power to take that from me.
A very sad day indeed.

Random Camping Trip

So Tom had a camping itch randomly this weekend. Despite the freezing cold, he absolutely insisted we go camping. So, we did. It was cold, and I'm not much of a camper, but I was surprised at how much fun we ended up having! I think random, spur of the moment trips make the best memories :0) Lucy did pretty well for her first camping trip. She loved the fire and exploring, but wasn't a fan of the tent. Thus, no one got any sleep. We were up by 5 a.m. because there was just no comforting her. Exploring at 5 a.m. She has two layers of clothes on...you can see her jeans, ha ha
Again, 5 a.m. She's happy. I'm not.

The hat is actually mine. A bit big on her

The night we got there. I'm still happy in this picture

family camping picture

Right after we set up camp. Freezing, but happy. I like this picture of us; Tom is handsome.

Only the most nutritous food for camping. Chips and hot dogs.

Warming water for hot chocolate...yum!