Cockroaches & lizards & scorpions oh my... I'm gonna cry

I am glad we don't plan on living in Arizona the rest of our lives because I don't think I could handle it.

I thought I was scared of spiders... Turns out spiders don't seem too bad compared to what you see here in Arizona.

Saturday night I went with some girls in my ward to the General Relief Society broadcast. We went to get dessert after. We somehow got on the topic of finding little or not so little creatures in our homes. I heard several terrifying stories.

Story #1- One of the girls husbands was getting out of the shower and put a towel around him, he felt something crawling down his back... it was a COCKROACH! it was just hanging out in his towel!

Story #2- My friend's husband was getting into bed and felt a sting on his foot... yes there was a scorpion in their BED! in. their. BED!

Story # 3- My same friend's sister in law was sleeping on an air mattress at her house. She woke up to a scorpion on her arm!

Story # 4- Another one of the girls found a lizard in her tub.

All I could think about was, at least I haven't come across any lizards or scorpions in my apartment.

A few months back I encountered some cockroaches in our apartment and I was ready to move out. We got it sprayed and I haven't seen any since. THANK GOODNESS.

Hearing these stories made me extra paranoid. On Sunday I wanted to wear my boots to church. As I was ready to put them on I thought, what if there is a scorpion just waiting to sting me? I pretty much convinced myself there was a scorpion in my boots, so I settled for sandals instead.

The very next night after hearing the stories, I was walking through the hallway into our living room and I just happened to look down. When I did, I saw this little creature right at my feet.

I made a little/loud shriek, ran and jumped onto the nearest chair. Conrad looked at me like I was crazy. I said there is a LIZARD on the floor and I almost STEPPED on it! It was blending in with the carpet but its eyes were bugging out. That is what caught my attention. I made Conrad put a cup over it and then scoop it up with a piece of paper.

Funny thing though, Conrad was almost as jumpy as I was. I said, "You are supposed to be the brave one." and he said, "Hey! I never played with lizards in Idaho when I was a kid." Apparently playing with them as a kid would have made him less jumpy. Can't blame him, that thing was fast! He got it onto the paper successfully and took it outside.

Pretty sure those stories jinxed me. I am terrified that it is only a matter of time before I come across a scorpion. I now check my bed three or four times before getting into it and I look down at my feet when I walk around our apartment.

It's official I am completely paranoid and I am too much of a wuss to be living here.

Blog Background OCD and Conrads Apostle Name

My name is Hailey Mickelsen and I have blog background OCD(If that is even the right term you would call it). My last day at my old job was on wednesday and I don't start my new job til Monday so I had a few days of freedom and A LOT of time on my hands. I spent the first half of my day on thursday changing around my blog background. I was just not liking anything. I went through probably 20 different backgrounds, maybe more, I don't know it felt like a lot. Some of you were probably looking at my blog during that time thinking what the crap is going on! just make up your mind already. I finally found one I am satisfied with :) So hopefully it will stay like this for awhile.

So Conrad insisted that I change our title from Conrad and Hailey to W. Conrad and Hailey. Conrad is actually his middle name. His first name is Wesley. He went by Wes all the way up until high school and then when he went to college he decided to go by Conrad instead. His family and some of his friends from high school still call him Wes sometimes. It is weird for me to hear them call him that because I never knew him as Wes. He says he is proud of his roots and always signs his name as W. Conrad. He also jokes that it is his apostle name ha! I do have to agree it does sound like an apostle name.

A little update on us, Conrad is doing well in school, he said this year is not as stressful as last year. His midterms are coming up soon so I probably won't be seeing much of him in the next couple of weeks. Me, nothing much but my new job which I already talked about. Life is good:)

A bitter sweet goodbye

Yesterday was my last day of work at the preschool and I had to say goodbye to these cute faces.

These are the school age kids I work with in the after school program.



One of the girls I work with is really good at making cakes and she surprised me with this adorable cake.


I have gotten attached to some of these kids, it was sad to say goodbye to them and I'm going to miss the girls I worked with but I am also excited to move on to my new job and start a new adventure.

New Job!!!

I am so excited right now... Most of you know that I got my degree in Communicative Disorders and that I want to work in the field of Speech Language Pathology. Well the entry level for the profession is a Masters. It is pretty hard to find a job in that profession with only a Bachelors degree. I would like to go on and get my masters eventually but right now it just isn't the most convenient time for me to go with Conrad in Law School and all.

I have been searching for a year now trying to find a speech tech job or a Speech Language Pathologist Assistant job (SLPA). The SLPA thing is pretty new to the profession. Utah does not have SLPAs and Arizona just started hiring them two years ago. The requirements to get a license and practice as an SLPA is Bachelors degree and 100 clinical hours. Well I already have my BA I just needed to find an SLP that would work with me on my 100 clinical hours. That was so frustrating! everywhere I called they told me they didn't hire SLPAs or they didn't have time to do the hours with me grrrrr!

I was starting to get really discouraged and pretty much was ready to give up on the SLP profession altogether. I had been praying about it for awhile and was feeling like I wasn't really getting any answers. I decided to fast about it on Sunday two weeks ago to help me figure out what to do. Not even kidding, the very next day I was driving down a street and noticed a building that said Head to Toe Speech Therapy Clinic. I looked it up online and called the number. I talked to the owner and she said she can help me get my 100 hours and after that I could start working for them in home health!!! and then eventually I can work with them in the clinic if I wanted!! I was overwhelmed with excitement I was so giddy and hyper I started to do a little happy jig which looked a little something like this.....

Ha ha ha I LOVE Monk. This is probably one of my favorite scenes from the whole series. I instantly thought of this scene when I found out I got the job. I watched this scene over and over and laughed twice as hard each time I watched it. Conrad and I like to joke around and do it to try and get each other to laugh. Conrad is way better at doing it then I am. Oh if only I could record him doing the Mr. Monk jig and post it for all to see ha ha. He looks so funny, the first time he did it I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard. If you haven't seen Monk I would highly recommend it.

Anyway, I am going to start working on my 100 hours with an SLP in the clinic on monday! The sweet thing about working as an SLPA is that I get to do therapy and screenings(which is the fun part) I just can't diagnose and I don't have to deal with all the paper work which is fine with me. The Clinic I will be working at is called Head to Toe therapy and I will get to do the home health part of it. I love this profession so much and I feel so blessed and grateful for this opportunity. I know it wasn't just a coincidence that the day after I fast I find this clinic and find a job.

To celebrate, on Friday I went shopping with the girls that I work with at the Preschool as kind of a last hoorah before I leave for my new job! I mentioned before that the food here in Phoenix is good well the shopping is great here as well. I love it! Food and shopping, my two favorite things! :) We went to Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale. Its only like 25 minutes away from me :). It is the biggest mall in the midwest. It has every store you can think of. It is GREAT ha ha. It's a pretty ritzy mall and has got all the high end stores as well. I can't buy anything from those stores of course but it is still fun to look. Anyway we had a lot of fun.

Me and my friend Fabi from work. No I did not buy anything from here. I wish ha.

Yes like everyone else I love H&M and I love that there is one close to me!

We like to Eat

One of the perks of living in Phoenix/a big city is there are a lot of really good places to eat. This is great for us because we love to eat out. Conrad and I like to drive around and look for mom and pop type restaurants. We try to find a new one each time we go out to eat. On Labor Day we went to two of our now top 5 favorite places to eat here in Phoenix. Yes, we ate out twice in one day. Like I said, we like to eat out.

We owe a big thank you to our friends the Barkers for inviting and introducing us to a breakfast place called Over Easy.

It is so good that this "Guy" (no pun intended) went and did a review of it on his show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."



Here is the clip they did on Over Easy. It will make your mouth water.



It was SO busy, we had to wait 30 minutes to get a table and then another 20 for the food but it was worth it.


Outside the restaurant with Daniel, Charbel and their adorable baby Benji



So excited to try the food!


Conrad got the chicken fried steak. He said it was the best chicken fried steak he has ever tasted.

Turns out there are like 10 other restaurants in Phoenix that have been featured on the show... Ummmm YES we will for sure be hittin up those places ASAP!


About 5 hours after stuffing our faces at Over Easy we went to a little Diner called MacAlpines for dinner. This was a random but very good find. I LOVE this place, it was built in 1928 so it is one of the oldest restaurants in Phoenix. It is fun because it is also an antique shop. It is full of authentic antiques and vintage clothes. Like I said so cool. When you walk in its like you have stepped back in to the 1950's. LOVE IT.



Back when they first opened up in the 20's Soda Fountains were huge. So they are known for their MANY soda flavors. They have 99 flavors you can choose from. Some of these flavors include:
Red Velvet Cake which is what is in the pic above, and what I got.
Pistachio
White Chocolate chip
Wedding Cake
Dill Pickle- nasty I know
Strawberry Cheese Cake... and so on

Not only do they have 99 flavors of soda but they also have different kinds of soda you can choose from which are:

Regular soda
Phosphate
French Soda
Italian Soda
Egg Cream
Milk Shake.

Oh yeah and its free refills!

I got the red velvet as a french soda SO good. Conrad got Wedding Cake egg cream. It too was good.


There are so many antiques everywhere on the wall. I would still go if the food was crappy just to look at all the cool stuff. Such a cute little place.

Here is what someone wrote about the experience they had at this place and they pretty much took the words right out of my mouth:

Wow! A real, old fashioned soda parlor! Whoa, look at all this vintage stuff! Hey, check out the menu! Oh yeah I love this kind of candy, I haven't seen this in forever! Oh maaan 99 flavors of soda what the whaaat!

Mmm.. pina colada soda, wait, the butter pecan is even better! No, taste the margarita! Wait, they're refillable! AHHH!!!! VANILLA COKE! BUBBLEGUM! MORE BUTTER PECAN! HEY THERE'S CHOCOLATE! GIVE ME AN IRISH CREAM FLAVOR! PUT CARAMEL IN IT! ANOTHER CARAMEL, THIS TIME WITH CHOCOLATE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN TRIED THE ICE CREAM, WE NEED THIS ONE WITH ICE CREAM IN IT. MORE ICE CREAM YUM THRIFTY ICE CREAM!!!!!!!

Holy shizznit, that soda.... 'twas nothing but awesome... I don't feel so good.

*passes out in the car*

Arrives home.

*passes out for fifteen hours*

Awakens with a stomach ache but remembers MacAlpines fondly while taking 3 Ibuprofen. Goes back to sleep.

hahahaha! love it such a true statement.




Of course we had to get a pic of us there!


This is the view we had sitting at our table. This is just part of the antique store, they have a lot more stuff.


Just like an authentic 50's diner. It is the fun easy going atmosphere I love about this place.


And that was our Labor Day fun/pig out :)

Addicted to the game Small World

What we have been up to lately... Work, school and playing Small World. For those of you who do not know, Small World is a board game, a really fun board game. My Mom and Dad got it for Conrad two years ago for Christmas. Conrad loves games so he quickly became obsessed with the game. I made fun of him for it. Whenever he could, he played it with his brothers who also love to play games. He kept trying to get me to play, but I thought it looked nerdy and too complicated. It is a very strategic game and my mind does not work strategically.

I did eventually play, and yes, I was hooked after that. We had friends in Logan who liked the game as well so we got together with them about twice a week and played all night long. We made it tradition to play a few games and then get Betos after yum! Then we moved to Phoenix and the game collected dust on the shelf for about 11 months. Conrad and I were sad we didn't have anyone to play with anymore. Then lo and behold we get to talking about board games with our friends the Robles's. They told us that they love to play board games! we were giddy with excitement hearing this wonderful news. So of course we told them about Small World and they agreed to play it. One game, and they were hooked. After that first night we played with them, Conrad said to me, "I guarantee you they end up buying that game." Sure enough they bought it :).

We have played with them non stop for a couple of weeks. Not even kidding we went four nights in a row playing until about 1 am. We eat Pretzel M&Ms and listen to Mumford and Sons while we play the game. The husbands are in school now, so we had to limit to once a week sometimes twice if we can :). I know, we are nerds, but we have lots of fun. If you like Settlers of Catan or Risk you will probably like Small World because it's a mix of those two games and it is 10 times better. If you are competitive at board games and you like to take people out then this is the game for you.