Zippy Lockel Stockels

I got this image in an email a while ago and it made me laugh. It's an image scanned from some kids math test. If you ask me I think he deserves full credit for the problem!

Okay, so I know Paul is the one who got tagged for the "6 things", but I feel like writing a blog because it has been a while! So here are 6 things you may not know about me (Joni).

1. Paul and I have a highly technical term for my toes... Zippy Lockel Stockels. Strange? Yes. Here is a little background. I love to run - pretty sure all of you know that - but all that running makes my feet look awful. I ALWAYS have several blisters and/or caluses on my poor lil toes. "Zippy" is just the word for plain old toes. The "lockel stockels" part comes in when I have blisters all over from my most recent run. If you ask us how this term came about we can't really explain it, because we don't really know.

2. My mom used to force me to take Beano as a child. In retrospect I can't say I blame her. I was (and still am) a gassy McGee. I like to think I just have a healthy, and very active GI system. I also have been blessed with the gift of my gassy outbursts sounding like words. I admit that more than one time since we've been married, I have passed gas a room away from Paul and he said "What was that Joni?".

3. In my head, numbers have always had colors assigned to them. One is white, two is yellow, three is light blue, four is pink, five is green, six is orange, seven has never had a color, eight is royal blue. Then it skips 9 and 10 but eleven is definately black. I've always thought if numbers had personalities that evens would be the nice, goody-two-shoes, happy types. Odds would be the the ones who were edgy, cool, and unpredictable.

4. I hate to have my face and my body wet at the same time. In fact, I usually take a bath and wash my hair and everything without getting my face wet. Then once I am out and dryed off I will wash my face. I really have no idea when this little quirk developed. Swimming bugs me a lot for this reason, but I will usually go anyways because it's fun.

5. I am soooo gonna regret putting this next one down next week when it happens ... here goes nothing ... I have never been stung by a bee or broken a bone. KNOCK ON WOOD!!

6. My closet is totally color coded. Its like a giant rainbow. This might seem odd for anyone who knows me because I am NOT a very organized person. Honestly I just think it looks great.

Here are just a few more tidbits that didn't make the big six list. My favorite shape is a STAR, I have a phobia of dirty elevator buttons and will only push them with my knuckles, I have seen the movie Liar Liar like 50 times, I eat 2 packets of maple and brown sugar oatmeal every day for lunch, I'm pretty sure I have seen a UFO and ghost lady wearing a blue jump suit (not at the same time), I have only done Paul's laundry one time and he has never done mine, I smile whenever I hear the name Chuck Norris, I am awesome at arm wrestling and hardly ever lose (to women anyways), and last but not least ... after a long day of swimming I always crave a Whopper!

Thanks to everyone who called to wish us Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday.

Much love, JONI

Hey everyone,

For some reason I have decided to write a blog in letter format. I feel like I should be giving you some great or tragic news...or announce my resignation...or something. I feel like I have become quite the expert on writing e-mails and letters lately starting off with a sentence or two of butt kissing, then a question, then a sentence or two of thank you's and stuff. Who really talks like that in real life? I often wonder what the recipient of the e-mail on the other side is thinking, or if anyone else thinks, "allright already...cut to the point". I guess the important thing is to be geniune because you can tell right away when the person wants something.

I hope everyone is excited for Thanksgiving, we will miss all of you stuffing your faces and hanging out and playing games...or in the case of last Christmas...throwing up all night. I had a pretty good time in Connecticut. I got a little freaked out becuase my baggage was left in Atlanta. Can you imagine me showing up for a job interview in a t-shirt and sandles? I got it back a couple of hours before the Forum started, so I was okay. I have a cool portable blue comb that folds in half that the airline gave me for the trouble...seriously? So if anyone wants a comb, I don't think I will be using it any time soon. That's like saying to a big tough guy in a leather jacket, "We're sorry about your luggage but why don't you enjoy this free copy of My Little Pony the musical on us". Or to an old lady with no teeth, enjoy your beef jerky and a toothbrush.

So everyone at Forum was really nice to me..."that's cause you got big jugs, I mean, your boobs are huge" (sorry for the movie quote, I couldn't resist). Some of you are probably really confused right now. But everyone was really cool, in fact, I would not have felt depressed if I did not get an offer because of how awesome the candidates were. There is absolutely nothing that makes someone better for going to a "better" school, that was obvious from the start. Everyone that was there was there because they were good, fun people. So...I got an offer. I don't know where yet, but I will be in the consumer and industrial division (appliances, lightbulbs, and airport security). I will likely intern at a large manufacturing plant in the midwest or southeast.

We are excited to possibly try our first Black Friday this Friday, wait in line at 4am. We are eating Thanksgiving with a bunch of young couples in the ward, then we have the big Texas game Friday, and then we're going to Houston to see our friends there for the weekend. So we'll try and take lots of pictures. I miss you guys already just thinking about family and friends during this time of year. Have a great holiday!

Love,
Paul and Joni

I can't believe how time has flown the last couple of months, I am off tomorrow to Hartford, Connecticut for a couple of days to attend "Forum" with General Electric as my second round of interviews. I have been thinking about this thing since the beginning of September, and I am getting to the constant stomach turning, poop every hour stage...okay that was a little gross but when I get nervous that's what happens. I know I just need to relax and be myself but let's be real and realize that everyone gets nervous. This is a crazy time of year with end of semester projects and presentations coming up, and I have a lot on my mind. I have had to schedule time just to have time to research the company. I will get into Hartford around midnight tomorrow, then starting at 2pm on Wednesday the fun begins. I am basically competing with about 60 other MBA's and Masters students across the country for about 35-40 internship spots.

I have been told that the process lasts 24 hours. I will have three hours to meet with executives from all of the GE industries including NBC, aviation, energy, infrastructure, finance, transportation, and healthcare to name a few. After that I am supposed to pick my top three, this is huge because I will interview with those three the next morning. Then after interviews I get rushed back to the airport while all the executives get together and make their choices. I would be lying if I told you I am not intimidated. A fellow student gave me some good advice, she said that when you get there and meet some of the other candidates you'll be thinking "why the hell am I here?". She said you'll have to rely on your personality to get you by...I'm screwed. So off I go with my little degree from Utah State University, and 1/2 a semester of HR under my belt, to compete with some of the best in the country...I think I have to poop again.

I guess what I want to do more than anything is leave everything I've got on the table before I come home, so I can leave with no regrets. If I don't make it I'll find something else; I may even be cliche and say that it wasn't meant to be. But for now I can only hope that they see what I have to offer, and if they don't want it, I still have a beautiful wife to come home to who loves to inflict pain by popping my zits.

This is one of those posts that I don't even know if I'll decide to post it or not, but I just feel like writing...so if you are reading this now I guess I decided to post it. I think I just really don't want to study, sometimes it is so hard to sit down and do what needs to be done, especially if whatever you need to do doesn't need to be done for a while but you are just trying to get ahead. Today has been one of those days that I really appreciate what I have. When Joni got home today I was paying complete attention to her and asking her about her day and I really just wanted to listen to her and hug her even though she didn't want to be hugged, let alone talk. She asked if I was okay because usually I say hi and then pay attention to the tv when she wants to talk. Now Joni is off running and I am just counting down the minutes until she gets back. She'll probably laugh at this if she reads it because our lives get so hectic at times that I'll miss her while she is gone, but then when she gets home I'll be doing other things.

I guess the older you get, you either get closer to the true meaning of life, or you get further away from it. A lot of times I find myself worrying about the next step, and how big of a company I can work for etc, etc. But then I'll relax and listen to a really good song, or talk to a stranger, and suddenly doing homework doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. I think old people in nursing homes probably understand this more than anyone else, and parents whose kids have grown older and moved out (sorry to relate parents to old people in nursing homes). Why do we spend so much time on things that don't really matter? Why not take a sick day every once in a while, and do something we enjoy? I bet if I learned a new song on the guitar for every minute I watched ESPN I would be pretty good.

Some things I really enjoyed doing this week:

-teaching 13 year olds about sacrifice and how to use an index to find topics in the scriptures

-driving to Houston for no reason other than to hang out with family in a new place

-lifting weights, running a mile, beating a bunch of young punks in a bball game, and ping pong all in one day. Then getting home with a sore back and blistered feet and taking a shower.

-talking with lots of family members on the phone and in person

-laughing at Joni and her "isms"

-forcing Joni to swallow a Gas-X to get rid of her gas (it worked with the help of 2 other people)

-Introducing Colby to some of my favorite music that he has never heard of

-drinking egg nog

-flaming pumpkins

Making a list of things you do or intend to do is a good way to gauge what you value as being important in your life, maybe I'll have to do it more often to keep myself on track. Until then, back to my homework...booooorrrring.

For as much as we brought around the camera with us, we hardly took any pictures this weekend, maybe that's a sign you are having a good time cause you forget about the pics sometimes.

This is a classic example of how putting on a hat makes you feel a certain way, then changing to a new hat also changes your personality. My gigantic head doesn't allow me to wear hats the way they are supposed to be worn...but hey, who's measuring?

Crazy Sean drilling a hole into the side of my "Bart man" pumpkin. We decided to spray hairspray into the flame and hopefully flames would come out the sides for a good picture. The room ended up stinking really bad, and we had some black pumpkins. In case you are wondering, yes, we did take video of this event and yes we posted it below.

We can in NO way take credit for the cool halloween food. Pigs in a blaket to look like spiders, and lizard sandwhiches. They also had homemade rootbeer. Before you go craving ice cream just know that the stuff in bowls is ketchup and ranch...the Carroll's went as far as making spider web patterns in the dip. We brought boring brownies and spinach dip.

I love this picture cause it shows how in love Joni is with me...or else how lame she thinks I am for always posing. We didn't dress up this year but we did carve a pumpkin for the first time in forever. Most of the night was spent making flaming pumpkins and choking on the smell. We are excited for our first visitors to come see us since moving to Bryan. Joni's aunt and uncle and cousin are coming for the weekend. I think it is so cool how supportive they are of us. How many aunts and uncles...let alone immediate family, make the effort to visit for no other reason but to see us and have fun. My aunt Rae was always like that too, but I think it's pretty cool that they like us enough to do that. We both feel pretty lucky to have such cool families we can hang with and who love and support us. Enjoy the flaming pumpkin, I hope the video works.