Happy Halloween!

Where has this year gone?!?! It seems like we have just been getting used to our new California lives and all the sudden 6 months has passed and the holiday season is starting.

I don't like Halloween. Never have really. I think it has to do with the fact that during that particular time of year people tend to want to go to haunted houses, watch scary movies and generally just freak each other out. I am a world class wuss. I HATE being scared. But despite all that we had a really good first Halloween in our new home.

Jordan decided he was not only going to be a boyscout leader, but he was going to be a CREEPY boyscout leader. Complete with booty shorts and a moustache.
I decided to go a bit simpler, a butterfly.Toady much to his distaste was a pumpkin. Actually he didn't mind the pumpkin part, it was the headband / stem that he hated. But he was so cute!Jordan also decided to show off his mad pumpkin carving skills and enter a carving contest that his office building was hosting. Another thing I hate...carving pumpkins. YUCK! But he slaved away at that thing for hours and I must say I was impressed with the results. (No he didn't win)
However I did have one major disappointment this Halloween. NO trick or treaters! Not a one! So sad! We bought candy and everything and I was really wanting to see the cute little kids in their costumes but apparently our apartment is not good pickings. Maybe by next year we will have a better spot to give out candy.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday! Bring on Thanksgiving!

3 Years!

This past Friday was mine and Jordan's 3 year anniversary! Crazy how time flies! It has been a crazy year and we have accomplished so much together.

To celebrate we went to Disneyland / California Adventure. We discovered the benefit of living so close to the happiest place on earth is purchasing So. Cal resident season passes. That way we can go pretty much whenever we want to. I like the idea because a whole day at Disneyland is draining (we were so tired on Saturday!) so if we want to we can go for just a few hours after work and not feel like we have to stay a long time.

Jordan's birthday was the day before our anniversary (28!) so we have had quite the fun filled weekend. I feel incredibly lucky to be married to a guy who is also my best friend. It still amazes me how much fun we have together just goofing off and being silly. I couldn't ask for a better husband! Looking forward to another exciting year together!

Arizona

This past weekend we were able to get down to Arizona to visit some friends and family. Last year we went early November, I figure there shouldn't be much difference between early November and early October right? WRONG. It was around 108 degrees. Not fun.

Other than the heat, we had a great time. I always say that I am going to take lots of pictures, then I never do. Bad on me. But we hung out with friends, ate good food, and generally had an awesome time. We stayed with my Aunt Jill for 2 nights and it was so good to see her and her family! It was wonderful to talk to her since she had done a major move away from the family about a year before us. She is a wonderful person and I hope she knows how much talking to her meant to me.

Next stop, Las Vegas Nevada for Thanksgiving!

Phlebotomy 1

So today I had my first treatment for my Haemochromotosis. Phlebotomy number one complete! Anyone who knows me well knows that I am really no good with needles or blood draws, so I was really nervous about it. A bag a blood is a lot!

Luckily I have an incredible husband who went along with me. During the whole thing he kept asking me how I was doing and tried to make me smile. I did pretty good till the end when they took the little rubber band that makes your veins pop out off my arm then the spinning started. As per usual I feel sick and they have to lay me down and put my legs in the air so that I don't pass out. I am so awesome.

But I do have to say, it could always be worse. We were in the same room as 3 elderly people who were all receiving chemotherapy. I can't even imagine going through something like that. It makes me very grateful that my thing is so minor in the scheme of things.

I have a follow up exam in October where they will do some more blood panels and see where my levels are at. Hopefully since my levels were so low to begin with, they should be regulated and I won't have to do this again for quite some time. Yay!

Diagnosed

Yesterday I was diagnosed with a blood disorder called Haemochromatosis. It is a genetic disorder that I have known about most of my life since my dad, 2 uncles, and grandpa all have it. Originally we were told that non of us kids would have it since you usually need 2 genes. One from you dad and one from your mom. When my dad was diagnosed my mom was tested and she does not carry the gene, so I only received one from my dad.

Well last month when running some blood panels with my doctor, my iron came back high. So she sent me to a blood specialist where he ran MORE blood panels along with a genetic test for haemochromatosis and it came back positive. Yay me! I defy odds!

Now it is a very easy disorder to handle, especially if caught early enough. It is basically when your body absorbs to much iron in your blood and does not filter it out correctly. The excess iron and eventually build up in your organs, causing some major problems. In order to correct the iron levels you have to do phlebotomy's. So basically they have you do some blood draws until the excess iron is out of the blood. Then you just have to go back every so often to maintain your levels.

My levels were fairly low. In a normal person the blood saturation percentage is between 15 - 50 %. Mine was 65%. They also have a ferritin serum levels of no more than 50 and mine was at 56. When my dad was diagnosed, his levels were over 100. So for now I'll have to go in and do 1 phlebotomy, then go in a month later to re-test my levels and take it from there!

In a way I am very lucky. We caught it extremely early so the chance of me having any liver damage (the first place iron stores up) is small. Plus we can get my levels under control hopefully with not much treatment. I am hoping as they get older, my little brothers will also get tested so that if by chance they defy odds as well, they can be as lucky as me.

And if I haven't said it before - Thank you Dad for all the wonderful genes!!! Ha ha just kidding, I love you!

I am lazy

Sooo yeah. Everytime I think about updating the blog, I suddenly find something else to do.

The end of summer! We have had a very interesting summer. We have settled into our lives in California wonderfully. Jordan is doing wonderful in his job and looks forward to playing baseball with his friends at work every week. In July I had the chance to go to Utah for my Grandma and Grandpa Gorringe's 50th wedding anniversary! It was such a special day and I am so happy I was able to be there with them.
We briefly started looking for a condo only to realize about a month later that in order to get somewhere that we are completely happy we need to have a 20% down payment. So for now we are on hold on the house search, but we look forward in the future to finding a place of our own.

A couple of weekends ago we took Toady to the dog beach in Huntington Beach. It was an experience to say the least. So many dogs! We had to keep him on the leash the whole time because he gets so excited around other dogs. It was pretty hard to control him with all the dogs there, it was good to experience but I don't think we will be going back any time soon. Especially after one dog (who had a muzzle on - so I knew he was trouble) was let off his leash and tried to attack Toady. He was literally 5x Toady's size and before we knew it he had 5 dogs on top of him. I was able to wrestle him out of the pile, but his lip did get cut. That didn't stop him though, he was still ready to play!

He was still happy in the car though! Now we are dealing with a flea epidemic, that hopefully we can get under control soon. Because everytime we try to give him a flea bath the flea's take out their frustration on me! I bought him some medication today so hopefully it will get better soon.

This past week my family came into town to visit us! It was my whole family (sadly minus Zac and Allison) Jill's Family, and my Grandma and Grandpa. It was so nice to see everyone and we had such an awesome week.

We went to Six Flags and I was so proud that I was able to drag Jordan onto all the rides! Yes some were very reluctantly but he did it! We also spent the day at a beach on Balboa Island called the Wedge. Very big and crazy waves but we had a blast! We were all so sun burned after but lucky for me it has turned into a nice tan.

Being able to see my family like that makes me feel like I haven't lost anything by moving to California. I am still able to see them and that brings great comfort to me. I will be going to Utah in July for a quick weekend and it looks like Zac and Allison will be coming down to visit us in September. Lots of good things coming our way!

California Adventures

It has been a little over a month since we moved to California. It feels as though we are finally settling in. Jordan is loving his job and the project that he is working on. I am working at Nordstrom and seem to be doing well. I wish the hours were a bit better but beggars can't be choosers!
We have been able to take two little "trips" on Sundays when I have been off work. We went to San Diego 2 weeks ago and this past week we went to L.A. to see the broadway musical "Chicago".

Balboa Park in San Diego:
Mission Bay Beach in San Diego:
We went to Thai Town when in L.A. where we found a little bakery and bought some..ahem.. interesting little treats. Let's just say that one of the desserts had corn in it. Yup corn.


The Thai restaurant we went to was called "Palm Thai". It is now for it's 'Thai Elvis'. Apparently during the dinner hours there is an actual thai elvis who comes out and sings to entertain. I was very disappointed that he was not there while we ate, however we did get a picture of his likeness.


"Chicago" was so much fun to see live on stage. It was really interesting to see the inspiration behind the movie. It was also interesting because the part of 'Roxie' was played by Michelle Williams, who was a member of the singing group Destinys Child. Very fun. There were aspects that I was a bit disappointed in, particularly the part of Matron 'Mama' Morton. Maybe Queen Latifah spoiled it for me because I thought she was SO good in the movie. But it was still really fun to see. Jordan and I have had the songs stuck in our heads all week!


And yes, LA traffic is as bad as they say. We've decided that we don't need to back up there anytime soon. We had enough of the traffic to last us quite awhile.

The other day I was working and I met two really incredible ladies. They were sisters, in their early 70's, born 13 months apart. The eldest sister was getting a facial done by someone else in the department so while she was doing that I got the chance to talk to her younger sister. I had heard them mention the hospital earlier so I asked if everything was okay. The younger sister (I really wish I had gotten their names) told me that the older sister had been on dialysis for 7 years awaiting a new kidney from the organ transplant list. It was because of a hereditary kidney disorder that 3 of the 4 children in the family had been diagnosed with including both of the sisters.

The younger sister told me that the disease does not usually manifest itself till much later in life, but the older sister had had breast cancer in 1980. Because of the radiation and chemo it had greatly increased the process of the disease. The sister I was talking to (the younger one) also was on the transplant list for a new kidney, although she had not yet had to go on dialysis. However one of the early effects of the disease can be a stroke. Which she had had 2 years ago.

So here are these 2 women. One had breast cancer, was on dialysis, and was awaiting a new kidney. The other had a stroke and was also awaiting a new kidney. Yet these women seemed so HAPPY. They were out shopping, getting facials and their makeup done, and obviously having a great time. I told the younger sister how much I admired their attitude. She told me that she had discovered many years ago that there was no use in being bitter. It does nothing to change the situation and in many circumstances it can only cause harmful effects. She quoted the beginning of a bible verse to me. Philippians 4: 11b ....I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I wish these women knew how much they affected me that day. It made me so grateful for everything that I have including and wonderful husband and family. Sometimes people can touch your lives with just the simplest conversation. But I will always remember these two wonderful sisters, trying on pink lipstick and giggling about getting kisses.

Tomorrow will be 1 week since we have moved to California. We are completely unpacked and I have several leads for a job. It has for sure been an exhausting week though. There was a misunderstanding with the movers so we didn't end up getting our stuff until Tuesday. Which meant we slept on the floor for 2 days before breaking down and buying and air mattress the third night.

Also a lovely little surprise on Easter Sunday...an earthquake!

An 7.2 earthquake struck Baja Mexico in the afternoon and traveled far enough to be felt in Southern California. We were just sitting around trying to decide what to do for dinner when our entire apartment started shaking. We ran outside (which we have since learned was a bad idea) and waited till it was over. In the grand scheme of things we felt relatively little. There was no damage or anything like that, just scared us!

We are looking forward to our first free weekend in California and hopefully will have the chance to explore our new home and it's surroundings.

We had our 'Goodbye Utah' party last night. It was so nice to see people and get a chance to say goodbye to them before we take off to California on Saturday. Thank you so much to everyone who came! We had a blast!
We have also added a new member to our little family! Toady is a 2 year old Pomeranian / Yorkie mix dog who was looking for a new home. We adopted him and are having so much fun getting to know him! He is already house and crate trained so that has been a huge help. He is such a good little dog. He loves to play fetch and lay in the sun. We took him for a long walk today and he loved being out in the open air. The previous owners shaved off his hair for the spring but once it grows out he will be a ball of fluff! He really hasn't struggled at all with adjusting to a new family. He is pretty attached to me and Jordan but he will lay with anyone who will hold him.

California here we come!

At last! 2 years later Jordan and I are finally off to live in the land of sunshine and beaches! Jordan has been offered a job at a studio in Aliso Viejo California called Carbine. He will be working on an unannounced MMO that he is extremely excited about. We feel so lucky that this chance has presented itself to us.

We have so much to do before we leave. We are going to be flying to Orange County on Tuesday and spend a few days there doing the great apartment hunt. Can you say expensive?!?! But we are still very excited. The studio is located around 2 miles from the beach and there are a ton of apartments in that area. The thought of being able to go to the beach whenever we feel like is so exciting! We need to report for duty on April 5, one month from today. So we are planning on leaving early early on the 3rd. We of course have to be here on the 2nd because we would never miss Austin and Ray's wedding! We are so looking forward to being able to spend some time with the Pack clan before we take off.

Sadly for me, I will have to take California State Boards. From what I've heard they are also a lot stricter on their requirements. Boo. So hopefully I will be able to get over there and get my license as soon as possible.

We would love to have a casual party / get together before we leave so we can have one last chance to see everyone. Please let us know if you'd be interested in coming!

With the holidays and everything I have been slacking on the posts.

Happy New Year anyways! The holiday were wonderful. The Packs all came to Utah this year for a fun filled week. It was great to have everyone together again especially with the newest addition, Austin's fiancee Ray! Hopefully we will get the chance to know her much better.

We also got the chance to go skiing with the whole Gorringe Family! It was a great day and so fun to have all of us together beating our bodies to a pulp. I hadn't been skiing in about 3 years so my legs felt it in a major way. We had a great time anyways.

I have now started work as well. I am working at Salon Valentina in Sugarhouse. It was my first choice salon so it felt great to be fortunate enough to get the job that I wanted. I've been there about 3 weeks now. It is definitely a new challenge. Being straight out of school I do not have a clientel, and I work on commision. Thus there are actually times (take last Friday night) that I work for free! How fun! I am lucky though because the Salon is actually really good about trying to give you as many walk ins as possible. So everyone should walk on in! Haha.

So if anyone is needing a haircut or color let me know. Also any referals are greatly appreciated! ;)