Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Alveys Move to Centerfield and Some Other Awkward/Important Things That Have Happened

Our House


























So we've finally done it. We have moved to . . . uh hmmm, cough, cough . . . Centerfield. We are officially Sanpete Countians (artificial whorays!). On the brighter side we're also officially homeowners? (I put a questions make because I'm questioning the brighter side of that statement currently.) Buying and moving into a "previously dwelled in residence" has been much more of a pain in my progressively expanding backside than I had imagined.







On the 9th of August, and after much ado about not nothing, (see Chad I just made an allusion, not illusion, to a Shakespearian play, oh and a pun as well) we were ceremoniously welcomed into our home by the previous owners with a disgustingly unclean house and a large car sized pile of trash (aka nudy mags, broken glass, and random tidbites of unwanted items) on the side of the house that clearly couldn't have fit into anything called a trashbag/can, and when I say clearly couldn't fit, I really mean clearly could have. After several fun filled days of cleaning, stripping ugly bear/deer/moose wallpaper, painting, cleaning, cleaning, throwing away nudy mags, cleaning, and unpacking, and maybe an emotional breakdown or two/five, we are finally somewhat settled into our new home.






In other awkward/important information, I've been teaching at my new job for nearly three weeks now. Thus far I've had two small breakdowns, accidentally excused my students 15 minutes early from class twice, have heard every possible joke about me looking like I should actually be in 8th grade from both teachers and students, have had one pencil throwing incident, have been yelled at by one student about how much he hates me and my class more times than I could possibly count, have kicked one student out of my class already (clearly the same student doing all the yelling), and have had two awkward male students show up on my front lawn staring at my house. It's been a very eventful three weeks at work.




Also James has started his long, daily treks to class in Richfield and work in Monroe. He hates school already, and I hate him getting home at 7 or later every night.


James and I went nearly two weeks with no hot water. Taking freezing showers makes for a happy us. Luckily we have that fixed now, thanks to my handy husband.




Our Centerfield neighbors are . . . nice/uncomfortable to let into your home. We've been showered with breads, and jams, and cookies, and welcomes, and one awkward family home evening visit from fellow ward members/coworker. Mr. X (the names have been changed to protect the identity of the awkward) is a teacher at the middle school. The couple are BYU, music majors in their mid twenties, have been married for six years, and have three kids with one on the way. They also let their kids run a muck around my home while I tried my hardest to make friendly conversation and not yell at their children for climbing up my banister and wrestle next to my very breakable teapot lamp. On their way out they insisted we come over for dinner and video games sometime. Yeah, that will never happen.


And just so you're aware this post took me over a week to finish, so yeah, life is busy, clearly.


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Moving Chaos

My OCD is running rampant lately. Packing for a move and having crazy anxiety when things are not clean, neat, and organized are not two things that happily coexist together.



When my house looks like this . . .





I'm left feeling a bit like this . . .








Stay tuned to find out if we end up moving into . . .





this house




this car (fyi, that's my new car)






these peoples' basement







or, if James and I just go completely insane.






I'm betting on the latter!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Anti Cow. Pro Beef, Steak, Hamburger, Ribs . . .

I discovered something new about myself tonight that I think subconsciously I've known all along: I am not a farmer. I do not like animals, nor can I herd them in an appropriate/helpful fashion.





At times when James has to herd runaway cows back into a corral (ie tonight,)I do not possess any of the important qualities that a great farm hand should.




  • I wear Jesus sandals instead of boots, which really puts a damper on my speed when trudging through weedy terrain.



  • I choose to karate kick the air surrounding the cows instead of doing anything else that would possibly get the cows to move.



  • I complain because it smells funny and the cows are gross and covered in flies instead of being tough.



  • I incessantly ask James if the cow is going to attack me because of the way it is staring at me.



  • I prissily skimper off in the opposite direction when I should be herding the cows toward the gate.



  • And, as soon as the cows are back in I tip-toe (because I'm in Jesus sandals and the weeds are poky) back to the car because it stinks, and I don't want to help fix the fence.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

UVU Graduation

(I circled myself just in case you struggle identifying the back of my head.)



Yeah people, I GRADUATED . . . way back in May, but I finally remembered to ask my dad for my pics, so enjoy!






Trisha, Poe, and Baby Eva were nice enough to endure the all day affair.





Mom and Dad were very proud of their favorite child.










James finds intelligent women to be irresistible.





And yeah, I have no shame in rubbing it in everyone's face that I'm the only Lloyd child to graduate with honors! I'm highly intelligent if you didn't realize that already.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A Very Horsey Birthday




"NEIGHHHH, HEIGHHHH, NEIGHHHH!"


(Translation: "Happy Birthday, Horse!")

July 4, 2009


Yesterday (July 4, 2011) marked two years since James proposed to me.






These are some of my fond memories of our engagement:



  1. That night at dinner, before he proposed, he chugged down about 10 Mt. Dews and was extremely hyper; now I know why.




  2. He proposed in front of the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C. (Yeah, that's where they filmed some of Night at the Museum 2.)




  3. He actually planned on proposing at the Capitol building right after the fireworks, but when we got up there, there were a million people around. I guess he chickened out.




  4. I had on new, really cute gladiator sandals that were KILLING my feet from all the walking around, so I wasn't super happy. James apparently didn't care and was determined to find a good/private spot to propose. (Ha private! It was the 4th of July in D.C.)



  5. Although I can't remember exactly what he said, I'm sure it was really cute, and obviously I said yes.



  6. James did the best job at picking out my ring, and he did it all by himself!



  7. My sister Trisha, who we were staying with, was a big freak and worried the whole time we were gone that we were going to get mugged/murdered/lost before we made it back to her apartment.



  8. The funniest/worst memory of all is weeks later when we went to have our engagement pictures taken. James passed out in the back seat of my mom's car on the way there, and I had seriously thought he died. While I was busy FREAKING OUT and yelling for my mom to call 911 (although we were mere blocks away from the hospital,) James luckily came to. The funniest part is WHY James passed out, but if I posted that James would probably see to it that I was murdered, so I'll just leave this story with my family members laughing and the rest of you wondering why.




Here's to two amazing years with James Alvey!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Adorableness

Disclaimer: Chad and Amanda should not become offended over this post because it is meant in the most loving of ways. You both know how much I love (my namesake) Claira.

Does anyone remember this cartoon/sitcom from years ago?


And these were its oh so lovable characters.



I personally loved this show when I was younger. I especially loved the little baby on it because I thought "it" (I'm never sure if I figured out if "it" was a boy or a girl) so fully encompassed the definition of ADORABLE.


Well, I had completely forgotten about this fond childhood tv show of mine until I saw this.



And that made me think of this.




And now I realize why I love Claira so much.