My oh My

Hey all! So today leo and I played rock band. It was delightful! Usually I am on the drums because I am the best at it, this doesn't say much as I am still TERRIBLE! Today, however, Leo let me play the guitar and he sang. Now I am ok at the guitar, not as good as Leo, but better than I am on the drums, and Leo sang. He is amazing at it! We had so much fun learning new songs and hearing songs from Alannis that we haven't heard for a good decade.

Leo is still playing, he just invented a new band called Me&Me2. The two bandmembers look exactly alike. Quite the gimmick I know, that's my husband for you, one jump ahead of the lawman. He looks so cute with his barefeet, baggy pants, guitar in his arms, mic down his shirt and booty shaking as he belts out "Eye of the Tiger". I love my life! P.S. I also made sweet potatoe pie today. I make a killer one that everyone should get a chance to eat sometime. Send me a self addressed prepaid box and cooler, and one can be yours in 3-5 business days!

Our Anniversary

So looking at this loverly blog of ours, I realized that I didn't write anything about Leo and my anniversary, so I will be covering some of that tonight. Leo surprised me with a trip down to Branson, MO. It was loverly going to where tere are hills that you can't see over when you miss the mountains. We stayed at a really nice hotel, the Radisson I believe, it was GORGEOUS! It was fun to walk around at night and watch everyone, the traffic was attrocious though! We went and got sushi our first night there, it was served in a wooden boat, they called this the Love Boat Special. The next day we ventured to an AMAZING restaraunt called the Outback Oyster Bar and Pub. We had lobster tail, the first time in my life, alligator tail, venison, quail, and lamb chops. Not gonna lie, best food I think I may have ever tasted!

We went to a polynesian dance show and bought lava lavas and a flower for my hair. On the way home the next day we stopped at Lambert's the home of the flying rolls. It actually was pretty cool. Someone stands in the corner throwing rolls across the entire room and if you want one, you catch it, and it is really hot. Another server comes around with warm molasses to put on them if you want. You order your main dish which is served in a huge skillet and your drink is in a 48 oz mug. More servers walk around with collard greens, black eyed peas, roasted potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans and any other side dish you could imagine and you just dish up what you want. A very fun experience, but you wait for 90-120 minutes for the food. There are however giant checkerboards to play on out in the parking lot and tons of interesting people to talk to.

When we got home, Leo presented me with my present which was a gorgeous pearl necklace that is chocolate, sage, beige, cream, and light pink. It is absolutely breathtaking. I gave Leo a book called, Leonardo The Terrible Monster and a picture that I commissioned to be done of one of his favorite pictures of us.

Anywho, thats what we did, sorry for the late notice. I hope you had fun reading this and get ideas for your own anniversaries. Maybe I should open a bed and breakfast...

What? They're Real.

Hi everyone! I hope that you are having fun!! I am going to blog about nothing right now and there most likely will be a quiz afterwards, so please pay close attention. I would hate for you to get nothing on a test about nothing.

There is a plate next to me with crumbs on it, I believe from Leo's cheese and tomato sandwich. I love the game Little Big Planet. I am a little addicted to my cute little sockman, Leo says she looks like a naked molerat. This hurt her feelings, so I put a bow on her head. That diet coke that you are about to drink is flat, but when it had carbonation, it was really yummy on vanilla ice cream. Why in heaven's name is my lamp crooked? It looks like a knee that has been broken backwards at the, well, knee.

I don't know quite how I feel about Glee. I LOVE that the actors burst into song at least 3 times during the course of the show. But I am a little bugged that the pilot was so delightfully wonderful and then in the 3 subsequent shows a boy has come out of the closet, a girl cheated on her boyfriend, got pregnant, and then informed her boyfriend that he was the father when he never actually slept with her, but he is too stupid to realize that, and a washed out, crazy insane drunk has come and convinced the teens to drink in the morning, steal from a grocery store and tries to seduce the high school boys. That was a REHEHEALLY long run on sentence.

Don't even get me started on the stinking brats on Wizards of Waverley Place and Hannah Montanh. If I had daughters, they would not be allowed to watch these sneaky, conniving, mean teenagers who make bad choices, insult their family and friends, want the world to revolve around them and then all of a sudden everything seems to work itsself out with no one making up for their stupidity.

My TV is big and I love watching shows on it, but usually not the Disney channel. I do however LOVE Phineas and Ferb! I also enjoy watching Community and Grey's Anatomy.

There is a red shirt thrown haphazardly across the arm of the couch. Who left the ketchup out? Oh that was me. Good day. I SAID GOOD DAY!

Men Are Silly

Remember the Scrubs where Carla and Turk get into an argument because Turk doesn't know what Carla means when she makes a comment about dating, and Carla tries to explain what she meant and that Turk should know what she meant despite what she said. Later in the episode Turk says something that he shouldn't and Carla tells him, "I knew what you needed even though you didn't come right out and tell me."

That is how I have felt in my life somewhat. I sometimes feel like I am more intuitive than my male counter parts. Now to be fair, how is anyone supposed to know what isn't told to them? Also, let's be honest, sometimes the breasts get in the way. It's distracting! In my effort to be fair to the male species, I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and just be more vocal about what I think, desire, or need.

Ok, so here is the deal. I am trying to be more supportive and excited about all of the things that Leo needs and is trying to accomplish. Last night when we were tryinng to get ready for prayer, a small (seriously small) and lighthearted argument broke out. Somehow all of a sudden Leo tells me not to be grumpy. I explain to him that I am not grumpy, I am a little irritated and I feel that that the argument was not really an argument. I broke down my areas of irritation into three (3) parts telling Leo EXACTLY what was irritaiting me. After a few minutes, Leo says again, "Don't be grumpy with me." I asked him if he knew what I was irritated about and he informed me that "I really don't. What's botherinng you?" We just broke out laughing. We seriously laughed for 5 minutes straight. Leo still had no idea what was bothering me, that bothered me a little, but then I just went with it and enjoyed the fact that really, we are building memories and we have a choice which memories are going to be cherished and those we wish we could forget. I want to remember that as a moment that I realized one of the differences between men and women and thoroughly enjoyed the evening with the person I love most on this entire planet, my dear sweet eternal husband.

I am sharing this as a fun little antecdote. I told Leo that I was posting this, so hopefully he enjoys the laugh with me. Let us all remember that men and women are different and it is SUPPOSED to be that way. We can either fight it and be grumpy or embrace it and jump in the joy.

Frustration

I want to vomit. I am not being whatever the word is. I am being truthful. In an effort to kickstart my body to losing again, I just drank warm apple cider vinegar. I feel sick. I think I have decided that the reason this is supposed to help you lose weight is because you vomit it all up.

Leo has been eating larger portions for the past 2 days and chinese food and cookies yesterday and he has only gained 1/2 a pound while I have been sticking to te diet like a crazy goon and hav plateaued for the past 3 days. I guess that is better than gaininng though. Keep it in perspective Jamie.

OK. I wanted to right more, but I am startinng to see spots and am feeling really dizzy. Way to go apple cider vinegar!

So this is different...

Hey y'all! leo and I just started a new diet on Monday. It is the HCG diet, or somethinng or other. But for the first 2 days you gorge like a something that gorges a TON, then you go on a super strict diet. 2 proteins, vegetables and fruits a day in limited portions and if you are really really good, you can have a 20 calorie breadstick or melba toast. It is delicious. Wowzer. OOH and the juice of 1 lemon in some water with stevia is a daily treat. delight!

So far it hasn't been too bad. I was a little hungry yesterday, but for the most part I'm good. Leo is starving, poor guy, but we are doing well. We really loved the gorge days! I'm not gonna lie, but I think that those were the best part of the diet. If anyone wants to give it a go without being scared off, I would definitely recommend trying the gorge days.

Check back for updates on this crazy diet and how we are doing on it. Let us remember that it is only for 6 weeks, and we can do anything for 6 weeks! I hope that you are all havinng a fantastic day!

The joys of living in St. Louis

Usually I really don't mind living away from the beautiful mountains, the close family members, having a church 5 houses down, being able to walk around my neighborhood without too much fear of the unknown, but today I would like to share with you, with as much sarcasm dripping from my voice (or keys) as possible, the joys of living in St. Louis.

1* The freakin bugs. Seriously, they are huge. I just turned on Leo's office light and there were two, count them, TWO big black beetles scurrying around trying to find temporary repreive from the cruel fate that awaited them. Alas, this was not granted. I smushed the guts out of them, but now I feel like things are crawling on me. This really wasn't too bad, just took me by surprise. Probably because I am so hyped up about the spiders.

2* The Spiders. All over our apartment building there are spiders that have decided to build webs. I take them down everyday and the build them back up. Now this wouldn't be too bad if they were in corners or on sides, what have you, but they build right in the walkway and dangle over your head. And they are big. And gross. And I hate the feel of spiderwebs on me. The other night Leo found a HUGE spider that looked like a black widow but was too big to actually be one. I knew it was big because Leo made a big deal about its size and Leo NEVER does that.

3* The humidity. I still haven't figured out how to do my hair here. This is tremendously sad.

4* The fact that my neighbors seem to want to kill me. In January something came flying through our window and it shattered a hole with glass all over the floor. A tenant that moved out on Saturday, turned off the pilot light in his stove, turned on the gas and sealed the keyhole with tar so no one could get in. The police and a locksmith had to be called because the whack job was circling the building to see the explosion when it happened.

That's basically it. I guess nothing really horrible.

Now that my heart is no longer racing with adrenaline and anticipation of the attack of billions of bugs, let me list the things that I LOVE about St. Louis in actuality.

1* I love how green everything is. It is really rather gorgeous. An nobody has sprinlers in their lawn.

2* The cardinals flying everywhere.

3* They try to make arts and entertainment very accessible. The zoo, art museum, history museum, botannical gardens, outdoor theater, state parks, outdoor movies and park concert series are all free to St. Louis county residents so there is never really an excuse of not having anything to do.

4* The bugs. Even though they take me by surprise they have a very important job to do.

5* Nope, Still not the spiders.

6* My awesome friends and supporters.

7* How much I have grown being away from family.

8* How strong my marriage is because we lean on each other.

9* The fact that my sweetie is with me all the time! No more once a month visits for us and it is wonderful!

10* That I live right next to the university I attend. Let me say this in terms you can relate to. My classes are about as close as the nearest church in Utah.

11* Apparently I am hot here. Who knew? I have been picked up in stores and a nice gasman told Leo that I was hot piece of A**, this was rather flattering. Men here like my white skin and my big booty.

Alright, Saint louis isn't that bad. I do really enjoy it usually and have been glad to have a life here with Leo. That being said, watch out for those spiders...

Back from Hiatus

Hello friends! So this is funny, I couldn't remember our password, but we had it written on a 3x5 card in Leo's office so I wasn't too concerned, I just assumed we would find it. Then today we decided to start gutting our apartment. Leo threw it away because he didn't know I was looking for it. Apparently the fear and trauma that this inflicted in my soul was enough for me to remember the password, because here we are!

We have been uber busy the last little bit. Leo finished out his semester with Honors in Biology, the Vice-president of the Pre-Med Society, President of AMSA, Student Council representative for Biology club. He has been extremely busy and amazingly successful in this! He took his MCAT yesterday! He feels that he did well and was prepared for it, we will get the results back in about a month and are eagerly awaiting the outcome! Then we will start applying to medical schools. So far we are applying to 4 in PA, 1 in HI, 2 in MO, 1 in DC, 1 in LA, 1 in NE, and 1 in VA. This looks to be a very important semester in the life of the Bay's as Leo will have all of his interviews in the next few months.

Jamie just started school and is a Junior at University of Missouri-St. Louis with Leo where she can walk to classes from home. I just finished my summer semester with 3.85 GPA. I am studying Psychology with the plan of going on to get my Masters in Social Work. I spoke with some social workers and clinicians and have been informed unanomously that an MSW is the best option for working with children in abusive situations. I also got released from the Nursery and Achievement Day girls and am now the Second Counselor in Young Women. I am enjoying the change. My work hours have gone from full-time to very part-time as the company closed one of the sites and are trying to work with the extra staff. I have been blessed to have a job and they try to work with my schedule as best as possible.

We went on a float trip down the Meramac river. Leo bought us sunscreen and we covered ourselves but somehow we both got sunburned. Jamie learned 2 very important lessons here.
1)SPF 15 is not enough for a 5 hour float trip even with reapplying and we need to check the labels better. 2)Mustard is amazing for sunburns! Seriously, rub it on, wait til it gets warm to the touch and rinse off. The burn needs to be released from the skin so it will stop doing damage before you can put aloe on for pain management.

We also got to go to Nauvoo for a quick trip between semesters and were able to see the pageant and attend a session at the Temple. It was incredible! We also got to see Brother and Sister Hurley and Bishop Mike Barnes and his family from Utah. It was so much fun! Leo found an awesome suite with a jacuzzi tub and a fireplace. It was pretty wocked awesome!

We went to Des Moines to look at a school for Leo and it was a bust, but we got a fun little trip out of it, which is not a bad thing.

Honkey Tonk. Bedonkey Donk.

Tax Refund

What did you do with your tax refund? Something incredibly responsible like pay bills? Buy your brother a new video game? Take some friends to lunch? That may work for some, but not us! That aint how we roll! Leo has been talking about getting a new laptop and a new TV for a few months now, but as it is such a huge purchase he asked me about it. I am trying to get all of our debt taken care of, not that there is alot, but there is some. I keep telling him no. Last week, we sold my Nissan, Quasi, you all remember that lovely car...it tore my heart out to sell it, but sell it we did. This is where it gets interesting.

We knew we needed a new car, we didn't have the time to fix her. Leo's boss was selling a car. Enter Supply and Demand. We bought a new truck. Around this time Leo decided to go to an auction at the college. He found a laptop for $150. and yes we bought it. and yes, that is what I am typing on right now. Not only am I typing on this awesome laptop, I am also watching Grease on our new TV. My boss was selling her 54" high def TV, and it was just too good a deal to pass up, so we bought it. For those of you keeping track, yes, I am the best wife in the world. My man expressed his desires, I met them. And while it may have taken a little longer than he would have liked, it was also better than anticipated (kind of like me...)

So lets recap. Because of our tax refund we couldbuy a car, so we were able to sell Quasi without too much hassle. Because of our being willing to sell the car, we were able to afford a new laptop, a new TV, a new car, and pay a few bills. The Lord has truly blessed us, we were able to get our needs and even some of our desires fulfilled and we are basically ahead of where we were financially. For this I would publicly like to thank our Heavenly Father. I would also like to publicly thank my husband for being patient in the wait for the toys. Yes honey, it is gonna keep getting better!