You know those days where it's like the whole world is doing it's best to ruin your life when none of it matters anyway but it still sucks?

Today is definitely one of those days. I'm smiling more out of obstinate determination than anything else. Well...at least JT gets to see 3 Doors Down tonight. That's good enough for now.

4 Years Going Strong

Thursday was the 4 year anniversary of our first date!

*Flashback*

JT and I were on the phone all morning trying to come up with something to do that evening. We finally decided on a movie at the theater. When he came to pick me up I told him that on top of a date, he would be meeting Paula and my Tia Kembly. Paula was sewing my prom dress and was waiting for a last-minute fitting. JT was a trooper and withstood the pressure of meeting the extended family! Afterwards we headed out to the theater and watched Monster-in-Law. I was an inexperienced dater and didn't realize that it sends bad signals to put down the arm rests inbetween our seats! Oops! Sorry JT! Afterwards we went to Shakey's Pizza and stayed there eating and talking for 4 hours. I finally had him take me home at closing time so I could get ready for a stake dance......there was a young man I needed to end things with. :) JT kissed me on the doorstep and WALA--here we are 4 years later!

*Present day*

We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch at 11am. The food was yummy and we headed over for work soon thereafter. When JT picked me up from work at 8:30 pm we went to Blockbuster and picked up Monster-in-Law and picked up a pizza. Yummy food, funny music, and good times together!!! I love you JT!

APX

JT and I are both working as APX employees this summer. The weather's been more rainy in Little Rock than spring-time though. Wish there was something we could do about that. Last Saturday there were multiple tornado warnings but none close enough to cause concern. On the the family update:

JT

Jonathan has been doing REALLY well. He's been very consistent in his sales and is in the top 14% of the entire company! But more than that, I love how well he's acclimated to this. Selling door-to-door is hard and it's not easy to keep a good attitude on a rough day. He's handled it wonderfully though. I do my best to make sure he feels no pressure. It's the thrill of the challenge that makes him work so hard. It's a blessing to be both successful and happy. He's going to end up doing really well this summer. He's also making some friends while he's out here! One man he sold an alarm to liked JT so well he invited him to go duck hunting with him in September! Needless to say, we weren't going to be around for that. Another woman couldn't purchase the alarm system but gave JT a crocheted drink coaster to remind him of his Grandma Pace. People can't help but succumb to his charm. :)

Kasaundra

I started out our time here being the ultimate little housewife. JT LOVED it. Clean house, good food, and a happy wife to come home to. I kept plenty busy with grocery shopping, post office runs, maintenance issues, animal care, photo album, scrap book, guitar, art, TV shows, etc. I don't like a lot of down time and can't mentally handle it after finals. I just can't go from 100 to 0. I also started working as the office assistant for APX on a part-time basis. This only lasted a week before the full-time position landed in my lap. It doesn't leave me as much fun time, but this summer isn't about vacation. It's about obtaining our goals of debt-free living and owning our own home. Things are looking good! So what does an office job entail, you ask? I sit at a computer refreshing 2 screens: one shows recent credit checks and the other looks up account information. I take phone calls from the sales representatives and place the order for installations with our technicians. The hardest part is not getting any of it mixed up. It's easier early on because I just go down a list of technicians. But after a while the techs finish jobs out of order and the chaos of remembering who goes where ensues. It's alright though. I like to be busy. Today is my first full day as a full-time office assistant.

Snickers

I must admit, the drive from Utah to Arkansas traumatized her a little bit. She's taken to hiding under couches when there's a knock at the door. She's never done that before. I had to create a trail of kitty treats leading into the open to get her out when the cable guy came by. She still yaps as much as ever. But the new love of her life is our BALCONY. She's a 100% indoor cat and wishes with all her might she wasn't. I'll leave the balcony door open and she will go and lay out in the sun watching the birds fly forever. We're 3 floors up so there's no chance of her making a break for it. Although, we thought she had taken the plunge on Sunday when Stephen and Nathan were over. We found out we were wrong when Stephen discovered a bulge in the underside of the couch. Snickers had climbed in a hole and made a little nest for herself INSIDE the couch.

Mija

I had a difficult time getting Mija to adjust to Arkansas. She forgot all training she had ever learned. She was soo excited to find all the new sights and smells! She almost knocked me down the stairs with her enthusiasm!!! We haven't been the best of friends. I like order and she wants play. She also forgot her potty training. She was fine at my parents, at my Aunt Traci's, and at Aunt Connie's......but that little apartment in Little Rock was too much to handle. I had to tie her to my waist so I could catch her in the act. It worked. We are slowly coming up to speed. Sweet dog. Change is just hard.

Sundays

All week the reps and techs work themselves until dark. Sunday is their one day off but most still choose to drag themselves out of bed for 10am church. Our ward is awesome! The people have welcomed us in and even know the group of us collectively as "The Trouts". We have been accepted immediately and I've even already gone out with the sister missionaries! After church we come back for lunch and nap. I cook an actual dinner (GASP) and Stephen and Nathan come over to use our washer and dryer. Either on Sunday or some other time during the week we get an invitation for fun time with Brandon and his wonderful girlfriend Anna. Family definitely makes this all easier and a lot more fun!

Anna made the brownies! Yum!!!

Conclusion

Lastly, APX treats us out to weekly dinners as long as the reps have reached their selling goal. Last night we went to a sushi bar! JT and I were to weak to try it though. We wanted our first taste of sushi to be with experienced friends in a state a little closer to actual sea water. Call me crazy. The food we did eat though was wonderful and the group had a lot of fun! It will be nice to get to know these people better this summer.

Coming your way from the Natural State...

The official tour of the Trout travel logs begins now:

Last parting shot of Utah!

"I wanna see!"

The cage door broke so we had to barricade Snickers in. There was only ONE escape.

Unfortunately, we drove through Colorado at night at missed seeing the Rockies. Next time we won't make that same mistake.

Driving through Kansas.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto....oh wait, we are!!!!!

Aunt Traci (my mom's sister) was sweet enough to host us for a day! I highly recommend her guest room. :)

In the morning we got up EARLY (9am) and picked up my Grandpa Wolfe for breakfast at IHOP.

After a fun breakfast we headed out to the Hutchinson Zoo! It was awesome!!!

I got to milk a fake cow! I got pretty good at it too.

JT and I were groundhogs! I was impressed that JT actually crawled into those tunnels.

Then we went to play at the park!!!

This was after he offered to go on the teeter totter with a kid and Grandpa got passed over for an older brother. Sad face.

I was too whimpy to follow.Then we stopped at an old fashioned ice cream soda shoppe. I liked my chocolate soda! For dinner they took us to an AMAZING Mongolian grill. We highly recommend it to everyone.

JT says this is a picture of him. He's awesome with a spear.

Then it was sadly time for us to take off and to begin our 2 hour journey to El Dorado, KS.

We spent the night at Aunt Connie's and Uncle Dave's (on JT's mom's side). Aunt Connie was the only one home though. We had a LOT of fun talking with her and staying up late! In the morning she got up and made us her famous Connie pancakes! They're HUGE! She wasn't very receptive to early morning picture taking so JT will have to do.

We then packed up and headed off to Little, Rock Arkansas! Beautiful land with a lot of green. We have the perfect view from our balcony! You'd never know that beneath all those trees there are tons of houses and businesses.

This happens pretty frequently by the way. We have NEVER even tried to get Snickers anywhere near Mija's cage. I guess she likes it...

So there you have it. We've reached the end of our journey. JT's kicking butt with his sales. I believe he's the 2nd highest selling new guy in the region and in the top 50 for the entire company! I'm really proud of him. Good job hunny! This week has started off a lot slower but we're keeping our morale high. I recently began working in the office and, so far, really like it! It's nice having something to do and being able to work closely with the Trouts. Love you all! Bye now.