New Job and book reviews.

To all those waiting on the edge of your seats, I have a new job. It's with Practical People Services in Orem. I really enjoy it. I provide HR expertise (well hopefully soon anyway) to clients from CA mostly. The work is really satisfying and it's a good leg up in my career. I like helping people and that's what I get to do all day long!

So Ryan has been out of town for the past 9 days now. Let me tell you, it is not fun when you have been married for less than 2 months and then he has to go out of town. Of course my heart goes out to those people in the military where this is their life. Well Ry has been in Denver and I have had to occupy my time. So I reverted back to my teenage self. I have read about 6 books (2 of them twice). So here are my thoughts about the most memorable.

Killing Time by Caleb Carr

I really enjoy Caleb Carr novels. Well I own two so that says something. He writes believable American Historical Fiction. In the Alienest and The Angel of Darkness he was able to weave these larger than life historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt (one of my fav. presidents) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the women's rights leader. I have read them multiple times and re read them about once a year (two or three for Angel of Darkness, its that good). So considering this literary foundation I approached Killing Time with great hope. This novel is completely different however. It is based in the future, which is once again very appealing. Carr's view of the future is surprisingly depressing and very relevant in this time. Being written in 1999 though, I am sure that he had an inkling of this time as well. The book was interesting...but the end seemed hurried like he had grown weary of his literary creation. All in all I was disappointed in the lack of depth given to the characters and the almost too neat conclusion to the book. Though his thoughts on the freedom of information is fascinating and something to give consideration to.

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

I am such a fan of Odd Thomas. With this character Koontz has created a friend, a person that reaches into the reader and touches something good and pure. Odd Thomas is what solidified my respect for Koontz who publishes many books. In this latest installment Koontz explored in greater detail Odd's love for the weak, the abused, and the helpless. I love Odd Thomas. Koontz writing is at its best when a main character that you can love is at the helm of the plot. The Face and Life Expectancy is two other characters that you can love. I would suggest the Odd Thomas series and these others to anyone. The best thing about books written by Koontz is that you know that good is going to triumph and often with panache, wit, and hope.

Ok so I ended writing many things about those two books. The others that I read were still great but not as memorable. Some honorable mentions are Beauty bu Sheri Tepper and The Oracle Glass (which I am not finished with) by Judith Merkle Riley. Both have strong female lead characters and I happen to have read Beauty about 10 times.

Life is so good right now. My new ward is finally starting to unfreeze just a little. I have started meeting people in my Relief Society. And I have been called as a visiting teacher which will be a big help in meeting people. I miss my husband. The tenants moved out from downstairs so its literally been me and Goliath (my Shitztsu). Ry gets home tomorrow so please put good thoughts out there that he will arrive safe and early :)

For your delight here is another wedding pic created by Brie !! Until next time

Changes Are A Happenin To Me

So My life has undergone some major changes lately! I got married on March 7th, 2008 to the man of my dreams. (gag) Ok back to reality. Married life has been wonderful and I don't doubt that I did the right thing. I mean look at him.

Could I love him more! :P Hey! He asked for it. Being married has been awesome. We really do fit together and get along very well. Our honeymoon in balmy St. George was great too! I really enjoyed seeing other parts of Utah and was really happy that I got to spend a whole week just me and him. It was lovely.

Other changes, I am no longer working at ZYTO. Yeah that pretty much sucks. I worked there for a week after my honeymoon and was pulled in by three members of the senior management who all have been there less time than me and told me that my department was being outsourced. Outsourcing sucks!! And that they had no room for me anymore so with a semi-generous severance paskage I left ZYTO.

Fast forward to today, I have found a job. It looks to be a great job and one that I can springborad into a lot of other things. I really want to find time and take some writing courses. My time with ZYTO has shown me that I love to create and writing may be my medium. I don't expect to be crazy famous or anything but it is something that I love. So I want to develop it. I guess my blog would be a good place to start ;) Of course to be a serious writer i must refrain from using smileys. :P Ooops.

I start my new position tomorrow morning. I'm not really that nervous yet. I think I will make a good fit. I seem to hit it off well with the English because now two of my employers have been from Great Britain. I will be a human resource representative to people in California. Its a steady growing job that I am sure I will enjoy for years to come. (Hopefully)

I am going to closes by adding a few more pictures from my wedding. I haven't gotten the "official" pictures yet but I am sure that they are coming soon!!

It's Almost Here

K Guys so here is my awesome invite! You are totally invited!! The reception is going to be fun! I have approximately ten days until I become Jessica A. McGraw. I have to say that I am supremely grateful and humbled by how awesome my life is. See him, isn't he just so so cute!! And let me jsut tell you how patient he is. He puts up with all my issues and still comes back for more. I could not imagine a better eternal companion. :) Ok before I get mushy...

I had my bachelorette party Friday nite! It was so much fun, my friends and I would spend a bachelorette party talking about politics and religion. I have to say that I am the most blessed person to have such great friends. Even tho I will never be able to eat bubbliscious again without thinking about it...I had so much fun.

So keep me in your prayers and soon I will post Bridals that I got last week :) Most were pretty good but to give you a hint it was very very snowy...ill even include some of the what was i thinking shots. ;)

Engagement Pics

Hi!! I wanted to share with you some of our engagement pictures!! So here they are...

This is at centennial park in American Fork. Its amazing what little gems you find on the off-roads. Its so gorgeous.

Notice how proud he is!! He's a cutie...and i have to say it pretty darn strong.

Ok well there are a lot more but I don't want to bore! You will have to wait to see the invites!! :D

Engaged!!

Ok Ok I know that its been awhile but I have some pretty big news. I am Engaged!! K, so I've been engaged for a while but haven't had the opportunity to write about it. I'm so happy and well very scared. It's not my first rodeo and it's so much harder and scarier the second time around. Here's a pick of the ring but it is a blue sapphire not a pink one.

Isn't it beautiful. I love it. I'm looking at it right now and *sigh* he did a really good job. So the story behind it ws that Ry and I talked about marriage every now and then but it was his parents that put us on the spot by asking our plans. Well, honestly we didn't have any but later that night we talked it through and set a date. :) So we went to look for rings and found this one. I absolutely fell in love. But Ry said that it would be a really long time until he could get it.

Then about a week and a half later Ry came home demanding to go on a walk to "our" bench in Adventureland Park in Highland. That's a 6 mile round-trip walk and I had already worked out twice but I love going on walks with Ryan. It's how we fell in love in the first place so how could I refuse? After a long long walk we made it to our bench and almost immediately Ry was on one knee. I don't remember is exact words, but what I remember is him saying "I love you so much, Jessica and I want to spend the rest of eternity with you, whould you marry me?" Of course I said yes. He's so charming :P

Well after we were engaged he left for Denver, Colorado for 20 days then we headed to Alabama. I promise that I will write more about the Alabama trip soon.

Strange toys

So Christmas is just around the corner and I personally want to get the ball started by bring you the strangest toys. I found this article on fark.com. (awesome site) and I wanted to share.

http://www.cracked.com/article_15670_25-most-baffling-toys-from-around-world.html

This is the whole article...I am going to mention my favorites:

Ok this is an innocent looking item but watch the video and see what you think....I dont know...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU

Wow...This is my first brush with Japanese potty culture. My favorite is the little boy evidently struggling with constipation at the end.

Next toy: The penis putter...this frightens me to think that this is marketed to little children. Here's picture goodness.

Notice that it is a penis on the end of that putter...wouldn't this teach children not to be gentle with this area. Oh my....

Toy Number 3: The Poop hat, once again a Japanese toy. It seems more torture than toy. Or even more disturbingly...kids fighting on wearing the poo hat. Poor Poor japanese model it seems that his spirit is crushed by wearing the poo.

Those are my three favorite. Now I haven't decided what I want for christmas...honestly I would be happy with gift cards or cash. Of course cold weather clothes since I'm UT might be nice too. As long as its not anything on this list I would be happy. Take Care ;)

Bowling with Four Children and Other Tidbits....

For FHE on Monday Ryan and I decided to go bowling, with Brie and four children. How fun!! We had a blast! Its very humbling to have your trash handed to you by a three year old. This was only my fifth time bowling and as usual I provided lots of laughter. The plucky comic relief of the night had to be Brie, my roommate. How anyone could be a better bowler after spinning in a circle three times is beyond me. I kept getting nine pins down but not being able to finish up. Ryan found that quite amusing. Bowling is definately more fun with kids. :) Watching the surprise and the sheer joy of Cole, the three year old, when he got a strike was wonderful.


Ok, so this weekend has been pretty pretty crazy. Both bad and good things have been brewing since about Wednesday of last week. But by far, I think the good things will last the longest. I won't make any announcements yet but its coming, promise. Just keep me in your prayers so I will be able to act on faith and not on fear.

I got to see Kerri, Blake, and little baby Alex on Friday nite. She is just so completely adorable. She was a little smaller than we thought only being about 6 lbs. She was jsut wormy but so so cute. It's gratifying to see my best friends receive the thing that they have been praying for for so long. I mean we all have and I know that we all feel like we helped bring her here. Her name is Alex Blakely, and no I'm not bitter that she wasn't named after me like our bargain :P

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2007 was a great day. It was an event that lasted about 2 weekish. This year I dressed up for the first time in ages and I was a blonde Amy Winehouse. At least she was my inspiration...a skeezy goth-rock chick is probably the best way to put it. It was sweet :P

Except no tats unfortuately. Did this for a church party so you can imagine that it went over well ;). Hey I wanted to do something totally different. Ryan was an old man...so we didnt really match but he looked so authentic...a little like Columbo.

So We also carved pumpkins on Monday. Mine was supposed to have CRAZY eyes but ended up looking a little animae instead. Very nice. Will upload pics soon.

On Halloween nite we watched Darkness. This movie was really scary in the fact that it let you scare yourelf and didn't really do much other than show you the shadows of these evil children. I would recommend it but honestly doesnt make much sense. Too many loose ends...Like who in world is the blind old ladies in the picture? And why do they kill people...hmmmm Horror movies are best taken at face value. I give it about a 3.5 stars. It scared me enough to have to have lights on the whole nite so I wouldnt have to sleep in the darkness. Slept likecrap...but I'm a wuss.

Finally I received some really great news yesterday!! Kerri and Blake's baby girl was born. Little Alex Blakely Huffstutler is a Halloween baby. She was 7 lbs 3 oz and very healthy. I'm so happy for you guys and feel like I have a new neice. I can't wait to meet her!!

Well, that's all for now. Still saving the ZYTO universe one training session at a time. :P I leave you with this quote. "Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night." ~Steve Almond Only too true :P

Fall Update

So all who knows me knows about Ryan. Those who dont' well this is him. Isn't he gorgeous? (We both look like marshmallows cause its cold here in UT) I am such a big fan of his...as of last weekend we have been dating three months. A long time in Mormon time...but no ring yet...Im not that UT yet.

Everything is going really great. I have been given a new positions at ZYTO. It has been really been pretty stressful but I am getting the hang of it I think. I have been given many opportunites here and I hope that I will make thoseproud who decided to give me a chance. :)

I have a new nephew!! Isnt he adorable. That is his daddy my little brother. Kylar looks so much like him. I can't wait to meet him in December!

The weather is getting colder here. There is snow on the mountains. Life is really really good. I found this poem that reminds me to be thankful.

I think You God for most this amazing day

For the leaping greenly spirits of trees

And a blue true dream of sky;

And for everything which is natural

Which is natural

Which is infinite

Which is yes

(i who hade died am alive again today,

And this is the sun's birthday

This is the birth day of like and of love and wings;

And of the gay great happening illumitably earth)

How should tasting touching hearing seeing
reathin any ~~lifted from the no

of all nothing~~human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

I am so grateful to have what I do. For my friends and my family. Life is good :D

Post Secret Video

Please check this out. I love this blog, I look at it every week and the cards amaze me. Check out the video at http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. The secrets of the people around us helps me to realize the strength of the human spirit and the beauty of the human experience.