Now I remember why I don't update this thing aka 2 hours of my life that will never be returned

Well, lots of exciting things have been happening around the Orfanos household, each worthy of their own post. However, I am lazy. And under time constraints. Hence the bulleted list and pictures! Enjoy!

• 
  
  We had an anniversary!
  
  





Celebrated by an early morning breakfast and PIE! on pi day (of course). Pie at 6 am equals not such a great idea. Lesson learned.




• I went to Nationals in Georgia!







Mah team! GO UTES!




• I traveled across state lines to Alabama!
  

Piggly Wiggly. Who knew?

• I had a birthday!







22! Woot woot!




• I spent said birthday in an airport because someone who shall not be named booked my flight for the wrong day and had to spend $300 and 6 hours waiting for the next flight!
  


• We went on a cruise!!






Our goal for the cruise was to never put on underwear. Between swimsuits and uh, other activities, I have to declare MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.




• 
  
  I became the State Women's Air Pistol Champion!
  
  
  


• I met Tim Gunn!





• I graduated!









HOLLA!




• I got a job at JetBlue!
  
  
  


• I became the Regional Women's Sport Pistol Champion!

And yeah. That's just about it. Stay tuned for a hopefully more documented summer!

Peace out.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Josh and I watched this movie last night after a recommendation from a fellow aspiring speech therapist.

Heads up for anyone who may want to rent it and watch it after my rave review, it is a foreign film. Had Josh known that before we tracked it down at Blockbuster, I have a feeling that I would have had a hard time getting him to watch it. In fact, I didn't tell him he would be reading subtitles until I was putting it in the DVD player :)

In a nutshell, this movie is about a French man who has a massive stroke. So massive that the doctors told him he should have died. But thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, he lived! Hooray!

Oh but by the way, you're completely paralyzed from head to toe.

After his stroke, he had what is called "locked in syndrome," where he is literally locked into his body. People with this condition have no cognitive impairment, no memory loss, no mental retardation, nothing. Their brain functions exactly the same as pre-stroke. Well, except for the part where their brain tells their muscles to move. But other than that, they're all there. Completely paralyzed. The only thing that they can move is their eyes. And if that isn't bad enough, the man in this movie, Jean-Do, had to have one of his eyes sewn shut because it was dying. Talk about a rough life.

So in comes the speech therapist. Jean-Do cannot talk. Never will talk again. But still needs a way to communicate. Can you imagine being completely aware of everything around you, having thoughts and needs and ideas, and not being able to communicate? That was the boat he was in. The system that his speech therapist came up with was a standard blink response, as in blink once for yes, twice for no type deal. Unfortunately, humans need to communicate more than just yes and no. So she came up with a chart of all the letters in the alphabet, in order of frequency of use, and she would repeat them. When she came to the letter that he wanted, he would blink. And so on and so forth until he spelled out his message. o.n.e.l.e.t.t.e.r.a.t.a.t.i.m.e.

What amazed me was his attitude. His first message to the speech therapist was basically, I want to die. And then he realized that he still had his mind. After all that was taken away from him (did I mention that he was the editor of Elle magazine?), he looked for what he still had. His memory. His imagination. His ideas. And then he decided to write a book. His autobiography. o.n.e.l.e.t.t.e.r.a.t.a.t.i.m.e.

I can't even imagine going through anything like that. Overall, it was a very inspiring and moving movie and I highly, highly recommend it. Josh even liked it. Subtitles and all.

warning: although this came with a PG13 rating, there were two definite boobie shots and a side ding dong shot. beware.

Why I should not be allowed to go to Phoenix. Ever.

Except for it's sooo wonderfully warm. And sunny. And waaaarm.

To date I have been to Phoenix a total of 3 times. All within the past 4 months or so. Apparently, Phoenix is the nearest city where there are like minded crazy people who like to shoot at things. Ok well I'm sure other places shoot at things, but not the same things that I do. Namely targets. While following rules. And time limits. And such.

So. Exhibit A of why I should not be allowed to go to Phoenix:

I somehow convinced Josh that we needed to go to Phoenix for the weekend. For those of you wondering, it's about a 10-11 hour drive, if my memory serves me correctly. So we pack up. And start driving. Did I print mapquest directions? Naaah. We'll be fine. This particular trip we decided to take the slightly longer route through Vegas and stay the night there. And then leave at 3 in the morning for Phoenix. Excellent. Did I print mapquest directions in Vegas? Naaah. There's signs that say "THIS WAY TO PHOENIX!" We'll find it. Yeah no. It's 3:30 in the morning, we're reaching the limits of our sign directions, and Josh is not happy. No problem! We have nifty phones! That give us directions! Hooray! Longer story short, nifty phones tend to die when you rely on them for directions for hours on end. Much swearing and gnashing of teeth occured. Somehow we made it back to Vegas (the same day no less!)(and still married!) and back to the great SLC.

Exhibit B:

(also known as THE VERY NEXT WEEKEND WHY OH WHY DID WE DECIDE TO DO THIS #%&@*&! DRIVE AGAIN)

So we pack up. Again. This time with 2 extra people in tow. Because if a 10 hour drive is uncomfortable with 2 people in the car, doubling the bodies and luggage will double the fun! Yay! Even more fun if they are newly engaged! And like to cuddle in the backseat! Hooray for love!

Did I print mapquest directions this time? Naaah. We've been to Phoenix! Also, half of our backseat was from Phoenix. We'll get there fiiiine. Many, many many many hours later we did get there. And I shot. And did well. Very very well. The trip was deemed a success. But we deemed too soon. The drive home consisted of a snow storm. And ice. And the freeway being closed. CLOSED. As in, turn your car off, walk up and down the freeway, throw snowballs at eachother, pee in front of dozens of cars, CLOSED. For 2 hooooouuuuuurrrrrrrrrsssssssss. Miraculously we made it home intact. And swore to never make that drive again.

Exhibit C:

I need to go to Phoenix for a competition. When is the event scheduled that I need to shoot? On a Thursday. Lovely. Ok well since I have made a vow against driving to Phoenix, I'll fly. No problem. Leave Wednesday night, shoot Thursday morning, fly home Thursday night. Only miss one day of class and no work. What day of class am I missing? A day with a test. And two assignments due. Gaaah. On Monday I was hit with a death cold that is slowly but surely killing me. But I need this competition. So I get dropped off at the airport. I'm a little apprehensive about checking guns (hello terrorist) but to my relief, all goes well. Until I get to security. And I'm pulled over to have my bag searched.

TSA agent: Ma'am are you in law enforcement?

Say what?

TSA: Yeah, I'm going to have to confiscate these.

"These" being an extra box of bullets that I forgot were in my purse.

TSA: Also, why do you have this?

"This" being my pepper spray.

Awesome. My explanation of being a competitive shooter on my way to a competition did not win me any cool points like I thought it might. Sooo, 1 incident report, 1 police officer and 30 minutes later, I was at my gate. Where I promptly waited for 3 hours for my delayed flight. All while deathly ill and wishing for my bed. Eventually I made it to Phoenix, where I enjoyed the 70 degree weather for approximately 15 hours, and then hopped back on a flight to frozen Utah.

The moral of this long and pointless story?

It's amazing how much you can write when you're procrastinating homework.

Also, I think I just lost my cell phone...

So as I was laying in bed last night, I had all these great ideas for blog posts.

They were funny! And witty! And about really exciting topics!

Aaand then I woke up this morning with nuthin.

I tried to sit down and write something.

Anything.

And this is what I came up with.




Do I at least get an A for effort?

Oh. Oh hi there.

Wow. I'm really bad at keeping this blog thing updated. The problem is I feel like I can't update without pictures. And for some reason walking 10 feet to my desk, getting my camera cord and importing pictures usually deters me from writing anything. Why? I don't know.

Then I think of my poor little grandmas...just waiting for an update from me. What will they do if they don't hear about my bathroom remodel or the dogs chewing up our carpet?! Heaven forbid!

And I think, OK. This is it. Today I will import pictures. I'll do it. Yes. Today. Tooo-day.

Yes.

.....

Aaaand then I don't.

But TODAY! Today I did it! Hooray for me! And grandmas! It's all about the camera cord. Once that baby is out of the desk drawer I'm golden.

So. Here are my pictures from our wonderful date night this past Saturday. We went to PF Changs for dinner and then ice skating at the outdoor rink at Gallivan Plaza.

Action shots!

Luckily it wasn't too busy for a Saturday night and not too cold either. We practiced our triple axels and speed racing and managed to not break our ankles! Win! It was a nice break from my shooting matches and our bathroom remodel. Pictures of that to come soon. Maybe. We have to actually finish it first. But I digress. It was a great date night and much needed!

This past weekend we headed to Colorado Springs for the National Winter Airgun Championships at the Olympic Training Center.USA!

side note: I taught the little Chinese girls in my preschool class that holding two fingers up means peace. So now they randomly walk around and yell PEACE! Also, the other day they had peas and carrots for lunch. My co-teacher was trying to tell them that they're called PEEAS, not peats or peads or whatever they were calling them. As evidence that I am an awesome teacher, my little Chinese diva says, "I KNOW! THEY'RE PEACE!" and flashes the peace sign. AWESOME.

And now resuming with relevant information...here's my incredibly strong husband supporting the world

My turn
Alright, now the serious business...I competed against about 40 other women over 3 days. Every day I scored about the middle of the pack, steadily moving upwards to about 17th place. Sooo, nothing to write home about but it was still a good time. The women I competed against have been shooting for years and years and years so for me to beat even one person is a pretty good accomplishment. One of the top competitors was about my age but has been shooting for 8. YEARS. No way is my 4 months going to compare to that. But whatevs.

The setup


I survived my first major competition. HOORAY!

A little belated but....

BYU SMELLS LIKE POO

UTAH UTAH WE LOVE YOU!

Precious

Josh and Molly.

Spooning.

All together now.

Aawwwwww

Annie Oakley

So you might not have noticed, but I'm not too regular with this blogging thing.

I blame school. And work. And How I Met Your Mother. Which we are currently watching from season 1.

Anywho.

As you may or may not recall, I took a pistol marksmanship class at the beginning of the semester. Apparently I'm pretty good at it. So after the first day of class, my teacher (who also happens to be the U's coach) asked me if I was interested in joining the U's pistol team.

Suuuure. What the hey.

So I've been practicing with the team. Everyday. Sometimes twice a day. Sometimes three times a day.

Yeah.

But I'm good! Who knew?

So good in fact, I met and trained with the former national shooting coach last weekend. And not to brag or anything, but I have a pretty good chance of competing in the 2016 Olympics.

Cuh. Razy.

So that's what I've been up to. Training like a mad woman. I competed in my first match last weekend and I'm traveling to Phoenix this weekend for another. Then I'm going to Colorado Springs the 1st of December for the National Airgun Championships.

Nationals are in the spring.

Tryouts for the USA shooting team are in the summer.

We'll see where this takes me!

(crossing my fingers for Rio)

Learn to swim: CHECK

I'm like a tiger in the water. RAWR.
source

So it's official.

I can swim.

Not very well, but that's beside the point.

And I'm loads better than I was 2 months ago.

Today during class was the first time that I actually swam laps without any sort of kickboard or floaty thingy. And I can totally tread water. And if someone pushed me into a lake I'm pretty sure I wouldn't drown. Like 85% sure.

I'll take those odds.

Can you guess where I work?

Commonly uttered phrases at my place of employment:

• Get your hands out of your pants.

• Get your hands OUT of your pants!

• Stop "pwew-ing" your friends. (As in, pwew pwew gun noises)

• Is that poop or mud? (this has been a serious question faaaar to many times)

• Various dog commands. i.e. SIT! STAY! NO! (we have several children who don't speak English...)

• Get that out of your mouth...

• That's so friendly! Or more often

• That's not friendly!

• Watch where you're going! (directed towards little boys at the toilet)

• Too bossy... (one of my very overused phrases for when they don't "ask nicely," I have to stop myself from automatically saying it when people (i.e. Josh) don't say please...haha)

• Can you do it by yourself or do I have to help you like a baby?

• An explanation approximately 12 times for any visible band-aid or cut/scratch/bruise

• I'm going to count to three and then I'm going to strangle you. One....two.....

Ok so maybe that last one is only in my head. Most of the time.

Didja guess it?

Receptionist it is.

Psych.

Preschool teacher.

Obviously.

Three year olds will be the death of me but I'd like to meet anyone with an office job who can use any of these phrases on a daily basis...

Planning schmlanning

• So in the effort to be all proactive, I went in search of the *super special paper* that I didn't have whilst meeting with my adviser. She didn't even know where to get the dang thing so a lot of help she was, but nonetheless, I found it. Turns out it's not *super special* at all. It's merely an application for graduation. Which apparently is another thing I'm clueless about because the deadline is like, soon. Gah. Years of thinking that I'll never be out of school are coming to an end and I am not planning accordingly.
• In other news, I have done some research on the blessed GRE and it's going to cost me 160 bones! Who knew? Also, why so much? I'm not exactly sure how or when I'm going to study for this....
• In other OTHER news, I have two tests on Thursday. Therefore I should be studying. Adios amigos.
  

Conversation with my academic advisor

Advisor: So. Have you taken the GRE?
Me: ….
Advisor: ….
……
…….
Advisor: You know what the GRE is, right?
Me: Um yeah, I totally know what that is. I’ll take that ASAP. SAT. ACT.

SIDE NOTE: GRE= Graduate Record Examination= you need it to apply for grad school=anyone have tips for taking said GRE?

Resume conversation

Advisor: Ok good. Because do you know when you need to apply for grad school?
Me: …..
…….
Me: Next semester?
Advisor: Try January. As in 4 months from now.
Me: Right-o. I will also get right on that.
Advisor: Ok then. So do you have *some fancy pants piece of paper that apparently I need to have signed so that I can graduate in the spring* for me to sign?
Me: ……

Yowza. Apparently I need to get on this whole grad school thang.

Is it possible to have senioritis already?

Well, fall semester has arrived and I'm happy to let everyone know that I am a senior! I'm a couple weeks late with the update but here's the lineup for the semester...

• Hearing Science: Just another required class for my major...I did things kind of backwards though and already took the second level of this class (Hearing Disorders) so it's been pretty easy so far. Basically it's sound properties, sound waves, frequencies, how the ear works, etc. Eh, not really my favorite but required nonetheless.

• Learn to swim: Yes, that's right. Learn to swim. Meaning I don't know how to swim. Big whoop. I never really caught on as a kid (mainly due to an incident where I almost drown) so I figured I should learn. Definitely a vital skill if you're ever on a boat or in the ocean! So far it's going great, me and my 50-ish Chinese lady classmate are swimming like nobody's business.

• Aural Rehabilitation/Habilitation: Another required class, also dealing with hearing. It's more focused on rehabilitation someone's hearing after it's been lost, or helping someone to hear who's never had hearing. So basically hearing aids and cochlear implants. Interesting, but also not my favorite.

• Does ET Exist?: This class is about as riveting as it sounds. Science is not really my thang, but once again, is required as a gen-ed. So I've been learning about the big bang and chemical properties of planets/solar systems/life in general and a whole bunch of other nonsense. My guess is the professor isn't going to answer the question unless we pass the final. I'm also guessing it's going to be a no or we have no freakin idea. I'll let you know.

• Fundamentals of Music: This is an online class I'm taking basically because I need the credits and I heard it was super easy. Well, easy for someone who already knows the fundamentals of music that is. The quizzes have consisted of What is this note? type stuff, with an entire section of Which pitch is higher/lower? Very challenging.
  

And last but not least...

• Pistol Marksmanship: This was also a class taken for the credits, and also because I love me some pistols :) Little did I know that I have a "natural talent" for it and after my first day of shooting I was asked to be on the U's collegiate pistol team! Preeetty awesome, I know. Since then my life has been consumed with all things pistol, but that's another post for another day...

So that's my schedule and I'm hoping that I can power through it and finish college strong! Wish me luck!

Sunday Shenanigans

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than by building a fort?

Check out that support structure. It's solid.

Yeah we are a couple of 7 year olds...but who doesn't love a good fort? Complete with snacks and movies and our favorite puppies? No one I tell you, no one.

Transformation

The Before:

(formerly ugly and used as our coffee table)The After:

(super cute! and now our TV stand)

Yeah, I'm super crafty and moonlight as Martha Stewart.

The zoo

First of all...meet Petey!

So the story of Petey is a little comical...I went running a couple weeks ago and out of the corner of my eye I saw something run away from me. Totally stoked that it was a little dog, I stopped to look and it was a bunny! A little floppy ear bunny in the middle of the parking lot! So I kept running and thought to myself, if it's still there when I get back I'll totally try to catch it. Then about 10 seconds later I thought, naaaahhh I'm going to go catch it right now. I then spent the next 10 minutes chasing it around the parking lot yelling "HERE BUNNY BUNNY BUNNY!" and luring it out from under a car with a weed. Oh and the parking lot was next to a fairly busy street so just imagine driving by and seeing some crazy lady chase after a bunny. Quite comical, let me tell you.

Now Petey lives in our backyard, where he is becoming increasingly harder to catch. He's a fast little bugger. But cute!

Next is Molly! She's a border collie Australian sheperd mix. We picked up this little snot at the Cedar City Walmart. She was being modeled Simba/Mufasa on Pride Rock style and I couldn't resist! After I convinced Josh that we needed her, he decided that she was going to be his dog. Which works out great for me because his dog pees in the house all the time, while mine is completely housebroken :)

Mia and Molly have a love/hate relationship. The play all the time and then Mia jumps up on the couch (where Molly can't reach yet) and just hangs out right out of her reach. Or Mia will jump over the baby gate that keeps Molly in the kitchen and just stares at her through the gate. But they love eachother and we love our zoo! Especially Josh :)

Happy 3rd of July!

Heaven forbid Utah does anything on a Sunday... I wonder how non-LDS residents deal with this craziness. But anyways, we celebrated the 4th on the 3rd with dinner with some friends and then fireworks at Sugarhouse park. Along with the rest of Utah. It was packed! But definitely one of the best fireworks shows I've been to in a long time. However, that's not saying much when compared to Lincoln county... :)Ahhh! Fireworks are scary! At least that's what we're assuming the people next to us thought when they left halfway through.

Happy 3rd of July!!!

Why hello! Welcome to our home. Kick your shoes off and let me give you the grand tour...




First we have the living room. The only room that is even remotely decorated at the moment. Don't mind the boxes in the corner, someone got a little impatient for pictures. (Yeah I'm talkin about you Grandma).
Next we have the over-the-couch artwork. I painted a bunch of random picture frames green to match our rug and hung them with some wedding pictures (just the frames, I took out all pictures and glass, I think it looks cool without having to have a buttload of pictures on the wall)Now if you look to your left, you'll see our freshly painted dining room. The walls were originally the same color as the living room, but I love the blue, especially with the grey accent wall. *this room has yet to be decorated*Another shot. Anyone recognize that chandelier? :)
If we keep walking we'll take a looksee at our kitchen. Notice the dishwasher sticking out from behind the fridge. Yeah...apparently the hose gets kinked when it's pushed back and doesn't drain. It's aweseome.

More kitchen...

If you look to your left again, you'll see my piano room. The move to Panaca was promised to result in a piano room, buuut that never happened. So now I have my own. Neener neener.

This here is my lovely desk, purchased for $10 on craigslist. It's on a list of never ending projects that I will one day paint. Some paint and new knobs and this thing will be smokin.

Alright, sorry for the head-tilt but I've lost my ability to rotate pictures. You'll live. I promise. But here's our bathroom, nice and cozy. And probably my least favorite part of the house.

Ok moving on to the bedroom. Also nice and cozy. And the most UNdecorated room of the house. So you get one not so great picture. With more to come as it evolves

Here's our wonderfully free washer and dryer. Nothing beats that. :)

Aaaand finally, our backyard. Don't look too closely at the overgrown landscaping. We're workin on it. But check out our cherry tree...

And our first garden! Yeah...who knows if anything will grow. But we did our best. And made up the rest.

And finally, our lone flower, growing amist our weeds. She's turned her head in shame of her surroundings.

Well thats about it! Thanks for stopping by and make sure you come visit in person. Once it's all decorated :) And stay tuned for my Martha Stewart-ess projects! There'll be many to come!