What's Happening Wednesday

01.  We saw Hunger Games on Friday. I loved it! Ryan, not so much. He hasn't read the books and kept asking me what was going to happen. He said it was too realistic that he didn't like it. It doesn't make sense to me, I dunno.
02. We tried out a new restaurant called Boston's and we really liked it. I got the double decker club and Ryan got the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich.
03. A family in the ward invited us for dinner and games. We had a blast! Played some rock band and I tried my hand at a dance game on the Kinect.
04. I got called to be the Cub Master and a primary teacher. They didn't waste anytime getting us working.
05. I had a job interview Monday that went really well. They called back today and I have a second interview tomorrow morning. I really hope I get the job.
06. Today's my MIL's birthday, happy birthday Debbie! Talk to you soon.
07. I visited the Animal Humane today to volunteer. They have a pretty intense process that I have to go through that includes a 1-2 month training and a 6 month commitment. I'll start training in June.
08. We just got back from the Stake President's office. Ryan got called to be the 2nd Couselor in the Bishopric. He's had a feeling all month that this would happen. He's going to be very busy, but he's excited for the experience.
09. People here drive so fast. If you're going 10 over, it's not fast enough.
10. No one uses their blinkers and they don't know how to merge. It's pretty rough out there on the freeway. According to Men's Health Magazine Albuquerque ranked #90 out of 100 cities on the worst driver's list. The key factors include the total number of fatal accidents and fatal crashes caused by speeding. We got a D-

What's Happening Wednesday

found this gem at the dollar store

cute little man walking his dog

my sweet sleepy cats

01. Went on a date Friday night that was much needed. Ryan's been working really long days. It's nice to have time with him without phones.
02. It was so windy on Sunday that the power went out during Sunday School, so they cancelled church.
03. After not running for over a month I did 4 miles last week. The weather was in the 70's. It was gorgeous, but I couldn't walk the next day..
04. Learned that Julia Roberts has a ranch in Taos, NM and spends a lot of time here.
05. They film a lot of movies here. 6 are in production right now, including "The Lone Ranger" with Johnny Depp, and the TV show "In Plain Sight."
06. We paid off our car this week! Yea, only one more debt to go until we're debt free!
07. Skyped with our parent's for the first time on Sunday.
08. Invited a couple in our ward to our house for dinner tomorrow. We're excited to have some friends.
09. We're going to see "The Hunger Games" on Friday, can't wait!
10. Still no job.

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• Photos: Johnny Depp as Tonto in 'The Lone Ranger' (abcnews.go.com)

I believe in green cleaning!

Ryan thinks I'm crazy and going overboard on my "all natural/organic/chemical free" products. I've slowly been updating my hair, face, and body products to all natural products. I bought him some new hairspray the other day that cost $8. Along with my hair products and the essential oils I bought, my little trip to Whole Foods cost us a pretty penny. My favorite go-to website is naturesknockout.com These gals are my favorite and have taught me so much about toxic chemicals and what to look out for in everyday things. They have great recipes for cleaning, even toothpaste, facials, and waxing. It's amazing when you pay attention and look at ingredients how many things we use everyday are toxic and not good for us! I've found a lot of great homemade recipes that can save tons of money. Lately I've been working on updating our cleaning products. (laundry, dishwasher, all purpose cleaners) It's amazing how cheap it can be , not to mention safe to use vinegar and baking soda to clean almost anything. I used lemon oil to clean our bathroom and windows and it made the whole house smell so good! I've been pinning a bunch of my favorite green-cleaning recipes and finally tried them out last week. I saw this picture on Pinterest and it caught my eye because that is what my pan looked like after 5 years of use.

I immediately tried it. Here are my results:

Before

(sick, I know. We have tried so many different times to clean and scrub it, nothing worked.)

 After half was cleaned

Final result. Still bad, but much better!

I also tried it with my not-so-cheap Pampered Chef  pan

Amazing right? It's funny how our grandparents and ancestors got by just fine by using the simple homemade cleaning products. Now everything's been amped up and toxified with harsh chemicals. I say, "Let's do it the old fashioned way!"

Two weeks in New Mexico

We've been in New Mexico two weeks now. We're finally all unpacked and "settled in." We took  all of our boxes to the recycling bin last night and feel very much less cluttered now. The weather has been decent, but very windy and it snowed (a light dusting) last night. Ryan's been hard at work visiting the branches, answering emails and getting things done. He's been without a laptop, which hopefully he'll have Tuesday, so he hasn't been able to do his full work, but has been getting by from his phone. His new schedule is great. He just mosies out the door in the morning when he pleases. He doesn't have an office and does most stuff from his phone. His schedule is super flexible so he can meet me for appointments during the day if necessary and come home early, which I'm not used to.  Since his boss is in Colorado, he really doesn't have anyone to report to, which is nice. Since we have no friends here we just hang out together and that's been great. This weekend we've been married 5 1/2 years. So very lucky to have him! I started looking for a job this week. Now that we're all unpacked I'm super bored. There's not much to do with 3 cats.

Moves are stressful (I pulled out a gray hair this morning) and expensive. There are so many little things we had and still have to do that I didn't even realize. We still don't have any mail, I guess it takes 7-10 business days to forward. Registering our car has been a huge headache. I don't even want to think about getting a new driver's license when mine expires next month.

Went grocery shopping at Albertson's, which was a breath of fresh air. Wal-Mart is closer, but I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and now I'm so glad I don't have to go there every week for groceries.

Before we left Utah we got to see a lot of our friends and family and say goodbye. I was doing ok until I walked into my parent's house and my mom started crying. My sister is now the only sibling living in Utah still. We got together with friends Saturday morning for breakfast then went back to our place to clean. My mom, sister and Ryan's brother Devin came and helped. We went to lunch afterwards then to my parent's with Syd to spend one last evening with them.

Dinner with our YW

Breakfast with friends from the ward

Goodbye to Syd

My parents 

Peggy &

Paul (our gamers)

"my dog" lucky

Ryan helping with cleaning our empty home after the movers came

This was our trial run with the cats. We had them in their carriers when the movers came and when the carpet was getting cleaned. They did great and we made sure they could see each other. HAHA

This is where they hid while we were cleaning

Lunch with my sister, Toni

The drive...

The cats did great. They cried until about Spanish Fork canyon, then only for a few minutes at a time every hour or so after that. Once it got dark we didn't hear from them until we got to our hotel. Our vet  suggested we use Children's benadryl to "knock them out." We tried it a few days before but they just spit it up and it ended up foaming out of their mouths, so we opted not to use it, and they did great!

We stayed at La Quinta Inn with our cats for 4 nights before our stuff got to our house. Thanks to my sister's recommendation. The cats loved it and really lounged around, like they knew they were on vacation. They were in heaven. 

We found out they have a Rudy's BBQ here. Of course we went! If you've ever lived in Texas you know how good this place is.

We also tried another recommendation, Quarters BBQ. Yummy as well.

While exploring our city Ryan stumbled upon this and took me later to show me. That's a rattlesnake folks, made of stone, in the middle of the road. Crazy. It was huge, and rather creepy.

Wal-Mart. Packed. That's the checkout line. That day, swore I'd never go back.

First home-made meal in our new house. After eating out for nearly 12 days straight. Yuck.

The cats love our new place. They like to lay upstairs in the sun.

We're enjoying it here so far. Our neighborhood is quiet, and our ward seems great.  We'll keep you updated.