My long-awaited update

Hey there girls! So I know I've been promising to update forever, but it's like writing in your journal, the more you put it off, the more you have to write about, the more you don't want to write about it, and the cycle continues. Where to start? So I finished massage therapy school in December (yes it really has been awhile), 5 days before Christmas and the same day the twins came home from their missions. Taylor and Tanner were originally scheduled to come home a day apart, but my mom was able to get it worked out that Tanner flew to Prague, and then he and Taylor flew the rest of the way home together. They showed us video of when they met up in the airport in Prague. It was fun to see how excited they were to see each other. Sometimes I really wonder what it would be like to be a twin. They have so much fun together, and they're such good guys. Anyway...I digress. After I finished school, I continued to work at the chiropractor part time, and then I did massage on-call in the mornings for this girl that I met randomly. I made good money when I worked for her, but I felt like I had to sit around all day waiting for her call, and then nothing would happen. Plus some of the people were a little shady, but hey...it did get me a $200 tip once. A story for another time :) I ended up finding another part time massage job at a small clinic, which I liked. With both jobs, I was working 6 days a week, and long hours. It was killing me, so I ended up quitting the chiropractor and started working full-time at the massage clinic. I loved the flexibility I had. I didn't have to come in until 10, and I was done at 6. If I have something to work around, he was really great about that as well. Unfortunately business is slow right now, and we were not very busy. Truthfully I've been lucky to be able to pay all the bills. Why is it so difficult to find a job you like that actually pays decently? Things should have picked up in Sept., but they didn't so I started looking for another job where I could count on a steady paycheck. I just started a job at a physical therapy clinic. I'm only part-time right now working 30 hours a week M, W, F. I will start doing massage on the side on Tues/Thurs. I keep trying to think of other things I can do to make money on the side, but they all require that you put money in before you can make money, so that doesn't help much. :)

I moved out of my apartment in Mesa when my last roommate got married. It's a crazy story, but she got engaged and married within 4 weeks to a guy that she had dated a year previously. I decided to find a bigger place, did all the research, found a nice apartment in Ahwatukee, had a roommate all lined up and everything. I moved out of my apartment, put my stuff in storage, and stayed with my parents for a week until we left on the cruise. I was going to move in right after we got back. The day before we left on our cruise, she called me and told me she had decided not to move in with me after all. Thanks for the notice chick. :) That freaked me out, because I knew I couldn't afford the rent by myself, but I didn't have any time to do anything about it. So I tried not to worry about it when we were on the cruise. I got home, got all moved in, and luckily I found someone to move in within the next month. I ended up living by myself for almost 3 months, and I gotta say, it was hard having a roommate again. I never thought the day would come when I would rather live by myself, but it's true. I'm turning into an old fart. :) To make things better I just got assigned to be the VT of the girl that bailed on me. :) I'm not sure if she's figured out the connection. I'm over it...she seems like a nice girl, and really I think it worked out better for both of us.

My family had a really good time on the cruise. We went to the Eastern Caribbean and visited Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and the Bahamas. We got to do fun things such as swimming with the dolphins, a canopy tour (which was 9 ziplines and then a ropes course in the rainforest), snuba-it's like scuba diving but your tank is in a boat on the surface of the water, and there is a tube connecting it to you. You can go up to 20 feet down. We also went swimming with and fed some stingrays. It was okay, but not near as cool as it sounds. The others were all awesome. I loved the Caribbean! I loved the blue water, and it was so warm and calm. It was a lot of fun meeting the locals and seeing their culture as well. All of the places we visited (except Puerto Rico), they drove with the car on the left hand side of the road. Depending on whether it was US or British Virgin Island, sometimes the steering wheel was on the left, sometimes on the right. That would be seriously confusing for me. They all drove somewhat crazy too, but what was interesting, is that the drivers were actually courteous to each other. Put Americans in a situation like that, and it would be a huge mess of accidents all over the place. After the cruise, we stayed in Florida a couple more days. We went parasailing, hung at the beach some more, went to the Everglades and did an airboat tour. It was a good trip, and hard to come home and go back to work.

My parents moved into a new house (not new, but new to them) right after we got home from the trip. They finally got the old house all cleaned up and put on the market about 6 weeks ago. They got 2 offers on it in the first week. They finally accepted one about a week and a half ago. It kinda makes me sad actually. I basically lived in that house my whole life. They've remodeled since I last lived with them, so it's not like it's completely the same as when I used to live there, but still...It's just weird to think that someone else will be living there. It's not like they moved all that far...the new house is just on the other side of the main road, not even a mile away. So it's been exciting for them, and chaotic, and they swear they will never move again. I was just happy they finally took the plunge. They've been talking about moving since I was in jr. high.

Shelbie just turned 11. Can you believe it? If you saw her, you wouldn't recognize her at all. She's got glasses and braces now (they come off in Oct I think). She's totally hit her growth spurt, I think she is almost as tall as my mom now. Not quite caught up to me yet, except that her feet are bigger than mine :). That's not too hard to accomplish. Matt's been dating a girl for over a year, and they just recently got engaged. They are getting married in November. Taylor and Tanner are just doing the community college thing, dating, having a good time.

Well, I think that's all the news. Sorry it took me so long. I hope everyone is healthy and happy!

Goth

P.S. I have more pics of the cruise on my facebook profile if you want to check it out here...

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27195&l=9e4fb&id=755322731