Beats me...

So, there have been a few things that have been brought to my attention lately that I really just don’t understand. No amount of explanations or excuses or what not, seem to validate why these things happen. At least, not in my head. Maybe they do for other people and that’s why it isn’t constantly boggling their minds…or maybe it is and I’m just the first person to ever throw it out there. Who knows? I kinda hope that I’m not the only person that thinks about this stuff, but if I were, it really wouldn’t surprise me…

Traffic
I’ve never understood traffic. At least not when there was no cause for it anyway. I mean, I can understand crawling traffic when there has been an accident or there’s construction or bad weather or something, but seriously…a few times in the last month or so, I’ve been driving and all of a sudden, we’ve slown from about 70mph to 35mph. I think, wow…maybe there’s an accident up there or something. Nope. Nothing. We start back up at 70 again in a matter of a few miles and then it happens again. It’s not even people not knowing how to merge. I mean, maybe it has something to do with them, but still…I just don’t get it. Why can’t everyone just keep driving?

Losing Hair Ties
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to buy another package of hair ties because all of mine have mysteriously vanished. I use them every day and they never fail to sneak away into the depths of the earth within a matter of months. You would think they would be easy to keep track of. I used to blame it on roommates stealing them, thinking they were theirs. That’s easy to do. They all look the same. But, alas, I’m still having the same problem here in Texas as I was in Utah. Yup…that’s right. User error. Or maybe there are little gnomes that come and steal them to use as hula hoops or something in the middle of the night and never bring them back. I personally think it’s the latter.

Finally...

Christmas Shopping
It’s NEVER done! Even when I think it is…remember when I boasted that I was finished before December? Yeah…definitely tooted my horn a little too early on that one. I’m STILL not done and there’s less than 10 days til Christmas. I need to start planning for this around mid October, then maybe I’ll be able to cross it off my bucket list.

Other than that, life is good. Busy, but good! I always laugh to myself because back when I first got here, I kept saying to myself that once I got into a routine, I would feel a lot better about being home. Well…routine definitely found me. Each day of the week has its own, specific itinerary and it usually doesn’t vary too much. My favorite part of my day is lunch time though. Not only is this usually around the same time every day, but it’s always filled with the exact same activities. There’s always a random thing that happens, generally, but you’d better believe that when I walk into my sister’s house for lunch, it isn’t too long before Syd grabs my hands, pulls me into the kitchen and we do our little ABC’s dance in the kitchen a couple of times. Then, I announce that I have to go potty, so I head over to the bathroom. While I’m doing my business, the girls decide that it’s funny to shove things underneath the door crack at me. They giggle. Ask if I can see it and then run back to start eating their lunch (or finish eating it if I decide I don’t have to go number 1 until after I’m done eating). One day was a particularly slow day at work so I definitely hit up the bathroom before I left for lunch and when I had finished eating, Syd goes, “Hey Auntie, are you just going to go to the bathroom now?” Yeah…there was an array of shock going around the table when I announced that I didn’t have to go today. Love it. Consistency. It does a body good.

Muchas Gracias!

Okay, real quick, I just want to say a few things that I'm thankful for since I haven't been doing this as often as I should!

1) Crossing things off of my bucket list. Its seriously one of the coolest things ever. Although, it wasn't a very HARD one...it was to finish my Christmas shopping before December starts and I'm happy to report that all of my shopping will be done by Friday. Can we say, 'boom baby?' Yes...yes we can! :) I guess I can't REALLY cross it off yet. Knowing my luck, I'll think I'm good to go and then Christmas Eve, I'll remember that I forgot something. Its very possible that I'll just wait til after Christmas and decide to randomly give a New Years gift...a part of me says that's cheating. But the other part says, who cares? :)

2) Volleyball. I know I hate on it all the time...mostly because I'm terrible at most sports and I always feel bad for the people on my team when, by some strange coincidence, someone forgets to jump in front of me and I get to take my shots at the ball and then it turns into some huge monstrosity. I'm really there as a place filler when needed and to provide accidental entertainment to the other team. :) But for real though, last night, when I played, it was really a lot of fun. Maybe its because none of the big, scary Tongans were there to crush me...its possible. Not to mention that everyone that stayed to play were all of my friends so they didn't really care...when volleyball isn't lame, I like it :)

3) Being organized and planned out. I bought myself a good planner the other day as a 'good job for getting a job' present. There's nothing like getting to cross things off of my list of things to get done (see above...I must have problems haha) or just knowing that you're not forgetting anything because its all written down and planned out. No mess ups except for user error :) I can cope with that! Its peaceful and calming to me. So its good to have that peace of mind on those stressful days!

Happy Thanksgiving to all y'all faithful readers. I love ya like a million pumpkin pies (with whipped cream on top, of course) :)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Wow geez...I cant believe that I haven't written in so long! Please accept my apologies for being lazy :) Seeing as how its November, I want to pick three things that I'm grateful for and write about them for each entry this month. I need to be better about recognizing the blessings in my life! So, to start off, I'm thankful for finally getting a job! WOO HOO! It's not exactly what I would like to be doing, ultimately, but I have enjoyed my first week so that's definitely good. I was originally going to be an administrative assistant in the HR department, but long story short, they moved me over into accounting to be the new Travel/Expense Report guru for the Civilian Police department. Dyncorp has a lot of contracts with each of the branches of the US Military and basically, we send police over to Afghanistan, Iraq and other places like that to have them help train the police departments over there so that the security will be better. Dyncorp does a lot more than that, but that's pretty much my department in a nutshell. I really enjoy the people that I work with. My trainer, Heather, and I kinda bonded cuz she doesn't drink or do anything like that so its nice to have backup...I've already noticed how much everyone loves a little alcohol in that office. We had a department meeting on Thursday and when we walked in, we were given two tickets each, representing how many alcoholic beverages we were allowed to consume during the duration of the meeting. haha. Good times, right? My new cubicle has a label on one of the filing cabinets that says "Liquor cabinet" lol. I'm definitely not in Provo anymore, that's for sure! :) Heather's husband is a Baptist minister so we've had some fun little religious discussions too so its been good. And I'm so excited that I get my own cubicle! Sad, I know, but its still exciting for me anyway! :) I've been figuring out how I want to decorate it this week and I think I might finally get my laptop and phone this week, so I should be able to "move in" sometime soon :) YAY! I have a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure!

I'm also thankful for my little nieces. I know I talk about them ALL the time, but holy poop, I love those girls. It was interesting to see how much I really missed them this week since I couldn't go over and play with them everyday like I have been able to for the last few months. I stopped by on Thursday night after work and when I walked in, both girls came running to give me a huge hug and they pretty much wouldn't let go for most of the time that I was there. As Ben put it so well..."Its hard to have a bad day when you come home to that, isn't it?" Seriously...I'm pretty sure that those girls have made it so I didn't completely lose my mind during the first couple of months that I was here. They made the bad days into happy ones and put a smile on my face, for sure. I don't know what I'd do without them!

And the last one for today...I'm thankful for my new calling. Its funny that I'm actually excited about it. For those who don't know, I got put back into the Relief Society Presidency and this last week has been absolutely amazing! This is where I love to be, for sure. I'm the 2nd counselor this time, so I get to be in charge of activities, formerly known as enrichment. :) I almost feel like some kind of Relief Society junky or something...as soon as I got the calling, I got so excited and that familiar feeling that I had when I was RSP in Provo came back and it made me so happy to feel it again! I cant wait to serve the sisters of the Colleyville 2nd ward. We have a lot of work ahead of us but some wonderful things to work towards and I'm so excited about it! Not to mention that I'm going to learn so much while I'm serving in this capacity. The experience will be new and exciting, for sure! Yahoo! Bring it on!

Anyway, happy Novembering to all of you! I hope you can all find at least one thing that you're thankful for each day and try to remember it throughout the day! XOXO

A Taste of the Sweet Life

FYI: Seeing as how I usually just copy and paste this stuff into my electronic journal, its going to be a pretty long entry, so feel free to skip over reading all this stuff...it probably wont be very exciting :) This last week and a half I've been up in Utah for Kami's wedding. It was seriously one of the best weeks and a half of my life! That may have something to do with the fact that I got to go to the temple 5 times in less than a week and see my best friend get married. Not to mention that I got to catch up with all of my friends back in P Town and really live up the life I used to have there. I definitely didn't appreciate it well enough when I was living it.

Friday
I flew in (a little late as usual...my flights are hardly EVER on time) and right when I landed I get a text from JaeLyn telling me not to tell Kami that I was there yet. Chapan wanted to surprise her. I was supposed to meet her after work and head up to SLC with her to go get her marriage license. So, they called and told her my flight was late, which it was, and that she would just have to go without me. Luckily, it was only like 5 minutes late, so I was still able to surprise her :) JaeLyn took me over to where Chapan works in SLC and then we went up to the court building together and I got to pop out from behind a car to surprise Kami. She cried...I cried...lots of crying, but it was good. She was only mad at us for like 5seconds :) Later that night, we threw Kami a bridal shower and called it good. I've never seen Kami look so stylish! :) We stayed up talking as usual, ...and Kami ended up carressing my face when she was sleeping. Definitely hilarious, although, I suppose I deserved that after carressing her face with my foot back in high school while I was sleeping. I think I got the better end of the deal :)

Saturday
Kami took her endowments out on Saturday morning. It was fun since she took hers out at Timpanogos, where I did mine. It was fun to be back there. Momma Bear was right...she told me that when she came back to Utah and went through the temple after being in Dallas for so long, the big temples kinda feel TOO big. I kinda missed my little me sized temple. But I got over that soon enough :) After hangin out and lunching and stuff, Kami, Chapan and I went back to the temple to do a session that night at the Jordan River temple. Momma and Papa bear are temple workers there and Papa Bear was officiating so Kami wanted to go. That makes my temple count up to 6 at this point. Bring it on, baby! P.S. I decided I'm going to start doing a little mini scrapbook thing with all of the dates I went through each temple for the first time. I don't know why...but I can still remember each day for each of the temples...I'll count myself lucky cuz that usually never happens unless its in the form of a movie or song. :)

Sunday
Papa Bear gave a talk in church about temple worship which was so good! Although, I think one of my favorite parts of church that day was when Kami came into Relief Society, she pulled out a package of fruit snacks that she had packed extra for me :) It made me so much happy! I used to eat snacks during Sunday School all the time and for whatever reason, I haven't done that since I've moved back. Its the small things in life, right? Jeremy, JaeLyn, Papa Bear and I played a little round of Hand and Foot (JaeLyn and I stomped on the boys, by the way...totally awesome!) And then we wrapped it up with a little crud tournament. I must say that I wasn't quite as lucky at that game :) Emily and Matty came over for dinner and then we headed back to Provo. I made my rounds and said hi to everyone and then I got to go to singing time (one of my favorites that I've missed so much since I've been back), ward prayer and Disney night. It was so wonderful! Such a great day!

Monday
I woke up early and went to do a session with my friend Natania, in the Provo temple. It was so amazing...I turned around and guess who I saw, sitting in the chapel? ASHLEY STADLER!!! She's been in the MTC for like 3 weeks now and it was so wonderful to see her. We hugged and cried (yet again...I really should've kept count to see how many times I cried during this trip haha). It was so wonderful though. And Natania is serving where Ashley and her companion are going, so that was fun for them to tell her what more to expect and for Nat to know familiar faces when she gets there. Kami came down to Provo later on so we could do some last minute wedding shopping, which took just about all day. I think I pooped her out. :) But we got a lot of stuff done so that's what matters, right? Klark met us for lunch at Kneaders which was AMAZING. I've never been there except for breakfast before and it was so good! We went to FHE at the Stake President's house and then Jason came over and played yahtzee with Emily and I once we got back. I freakin love that game!

Tuesday
Verdon and I went to the Draper Temple (temple number 7) and we decided to do sealings. It was really cool...neither of us had done them before so it was neat to hear the promised blessings that you recieve when you are sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. Everyone else in the session were married so naturally they all gave the two of us a hard time. They kept tellin him that he needed to put a ring on my finger or that we should come back and do it for real next time. hahah cute old men. Definitely a funny experience. We both just laughed it off but definitely good memories, for sure. We met up with Marisa for lunch at this chinese buffet place and then I headed up to campus to visit with my old supervisors and coworkers. It was great! A little later, Erin and I went out for ice cream and to see Fame. We were so excited because Kherrington was in it and she was one of our favorites from SYTYCD. I remember, after it was over, we both just kinda sat there and were like uh...that's it? hahaha Apparently, it wasn't much like the broadway show of it. Erin remembered someone dying...and no one died, unless we both fell asleep. haha. It was still good times though, for sure. It was fun to catch up on life with her.

Wednesday
Wednesday was super fun! Emily didn't have to do her student teaching and her sister, Jen was in town. We met up with Jen Braithewaite and Britt (two of my old roommates) and went to Zupas for lunch. SO GOOD. That was probably one of my favorite restaurants in Provo. They have the BEST soups and sandwiches. After lunch, we came back to the apartment and played some songs on the guitar and pretty much spent about an hour watching funny youtube videos. We were all laughing til we were crying (count it...that's 3) and our sides hurt. So classic! Again...its all about the simple things in life, right? P.S. I learned how to play an A and a D chord on the guitar...watch out world, here I come! :) Afterwards we went and did some "girl shopping" which was a lot of fun. We finished up the night by watching Bolt with Adam...one of our favorites. So classicly awesome. "I'll snap his neck!" lol. I just cant get enough of that movie.

Thursday
I woke up a little early and went to breakfast with my friend Josh, from freshman year. It was fun to catch up with him. We went to Kneaders to get the all you can eat french toast! *melts* When I got back, we lounged around for a bit and ran some errands. Then, my sister and the Breinholt clan came up to go to the creamery...of course! :) There's no way that we could be in Utah without going to the creamery. This was Kandace's first time to experience the joy of the creamery ice cream too which was a tender experience for us Anderson sisters. Sadly, the girl that scooped my ice cream was no where near as generous as the dude scooping for my sister and Kandace. Hence my staring over at my sister's stash :) We headed back and attempted to take naps, to no avail. Later that night, we went to Kent and Kandace's boys' soccer games. Most of my time was spent on the playground, watching the kiddos...and playing a little too :)

Friday
The day before the wedding! Buckle up! We ran errands all day. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch so they could paint them while we were doing all the wedding stuff so they weren't bored all day. There were some last minute things that we needed to take care of...one of which was making picture frames to put on each of the tables at the reception. We came up with a plan and then got to work. It started out with me, JaeLyn, Meredith, Kami and Kandace and then they slowly left, realizing that we were in our element, leaving JaeLyn and I to finish it up. Chapan's family came over for some yummy homemade chinese food and we stayed up partying most of the night. Once everyone was gone, Kami and I stayed up for a while making sure she was packed and had everything ready to go for the next day so that nothing was forgotten.

Saturday
The big day finally arrived! Kami and I woke up dark and early to go get our hair done and then high tailed it off to the temple. Their sealing was BEAUTIFUL! It was really cool, because on the front row of chairs were all of us...all the brothers and their wives (and me)...just enough seats. It was perfect! I was doing okay until I saw Kami start to cry a little. Halla heard me whimper a bit and then reached over to grab my hand and that's when I kinda lost it. haha (count it...4). I didn't actually lose it til Kami gave me a hug afterwards. Holy crap we were crying like babies. haha. Loved it though. It was so special for me to get to be there. I absolutely loved it. It was just perfect. We took pictures outside, naturally (so cold!) and then headed over to Johnny Carinos for lunch. The reception was rockin too! It was so pretty. I wish my darn camera worked in dark places, but it doesn't so I have nothing to show for it. But it was fun. I got to see a few ppl from back in the day that lived in Texas while I was growing up and then moved to Utah. I saw a couple of my friends from Rexburg too so that was a fun surprise! The big joke that day was that since everyone else that was there was married, that Ron Dude (the Breinholt's youngest son who is on a mission) could be my date for the day. Good times dating cardboard, huh? :) In all, it was a stressful but WONDERFUL day. I'm so glad that I got to be there to share her special day with her.

Sunday
Emily came and got me from the reception and I spent my last day in P Town again. We had ward conference which was AMAZING. I loved getting to go back to my old ward and hear our bishop and stake president speak. They are just so wonderful. Afterwards, the Shell's (my old bishop and his family) came and took me up Bridal Veil Falls for an afternoon walk in the canyon. I don't have the pictures yet, so I cant post them, but it was SO beautiful. I showed my sister one of them and she said it reminded her of Anne of Green Gables. yeah. Loved it! It was so fun to be with them again. When I got back, Tiffany, Jen & Derrick, Mellissa and Zarah & Ashton came over for some good times. Klark came over to make us dinner...SO GOOD and then J Tal and Chris came over too. It was so much fun to visit with everyone! I loved every minute of it. Emily's apartment was in charge of ward prayer that night, so we skipped singing time to prepare our plans and then high tailed it off to ward prayer. It was fun to be a part of that again! We had disney night, one last time and then played Bang! after most people left. It was such a wonderful Sunday!

Monday
I woke up early and got all packed n junk and then walked up to see Adam at work until it was time for me to leave. I figured it was much better time spent than sitting around the apartment while everyone was at work and school. We had ourselves a nice little chat and then Marisa came and got me and brought me to the airport. Good times, right?!?! I headed up to FHE when I got back to Texas and actually had a great time with my friends playing Bang! (again...love it!) and then a few games of Volleyball. Let's just say that people want me to play, more because its funny to watch me attempt to play, than because of my skills. haha. Justin says that I look like someone from High School Musical when I try to spike the ball over the net. Not to mention that I make ninja noises anytime I hit the ball...needless to say, Will took it to another level and started using phrases from Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter everytime he hit the ball to go along with the ninja theme. hahah Good times, good times. Anyway, this is forever long and I've gotta go learn how to do the thriller, so I'm out! XOXO

Family Fun

Conference weekend was great! Its usually one of my favorite weekends of the year. And by 'usually,' I mean, 'always is.' :) I kicked it off by watchin Syd and Malla on Friday night for my sister and brother-in-law so they could go to the temple together and we had a blast! Those girls crack me up and they're so sweet! It was fun to kneel there together and listen to Syd help Malla say her bedtime prayers. Love it! So cute!

Saturday, I taught my dance class and watched the two sessions of conference with a nap somewhere in the middle. (in between sessions of course *teethy grin*) and then I babysat again. These kids are great though. I was sitting there and somehow we got on the subject of Star Wars and they pulled out all of the cartoon DVDs and laid them in front of me. I thought I was looking at heaven itself. haha. Needless to say, we all bonded through that experience. :) Once they were all in bed, I watched 27 dresses...that movie is more like my life than I thought. lol. It almost made me laugh cuz I'm almost positive that I've had some of the exact conversations that they have in that movie. Good times.

Sunday we had our traditional family breakfast, although a part of me did miss the 'conference pancake' from the last three years. The story goes like this...three years ago, we decided to make breakfast with a big group of people before the Saturday morning session. I was in charge of flipping the pancakes...I bet you can see where this is going. lol. I was trying to flip them onto a big plate and I missed... *blushes* Everyone thought it would be funny to leave it there throughout conference and then throw it away once it was over. You can imagine the questions we got when ppl came over. Uh...you know there's a pancake in the middle of your floor right? :) YOU BETCHA! Each conference after that, we always threw one of the pancakes on the floor in spirit of tradition. Conference pancake...how I missed this this time around! We also started up the traditional family back scratch/massage train. We even got Syd and Malla in on it. I'm sure we looked cool. Syd had put bows and crowns in all the girls' hair and we were all layin on the floor in pure bliss. It was great!

Oh, and my favorite talk of conference was Elder Holland's talk. Although, I think that might be everyone's favorite talk! lol Give it a listen if you feel the need! :)

And in super fun news...I leave for Utah this week! *jumps for joy* I cant tell you how excited I am to be back in Provo for a few days to be with my friends. I miss them so much! Provo, here I come!

Conference Weekend 'Miracles'

I LOVE Conference weekend. Its seriously one of my favorite weekends of the entire year. We had the General Relief Society meeting on Saturday which was amazing as usual. It was weird not being in Utah for it though. I was definitely spoiled with getting to go to at least one session each time conference rolled around. I guess it's time for other people to have the opportunity. Before the Relief Society session, we had a musical fireside for our Stake where my mom, sister and I got to sing the song 'Miracles,' by Sally DeFord, together. It was so special for all of us to get to do that. We used to sing together all the time. I remember when we sang for my brother's farewell, the Bishop got up and said something about the "Anderson sisters striking again!" It was good times! I remember when I was younger, my mom would play songs on the piano and my sister would pull out her flute and I would sing and we'd just do that for an hour or two. I remember doing "The Hearts of the Children" from the Primary songbook all the time! Maybe that's why I love doing genealogy so much now... Definitely one of my favorites. My sister videotaped us practicing and she put it on her blog for y'all that wanted to see it and weren't there. This one was probably better than the actual thing anyway since our knees weren't shaking with nerves, this time around :) We definitely weren't used to singing in front of people anymore...its been almost 10 years since we last sang together...woooo! Man how time flies! Anyway, here's the link: http://thetexasbreinholts.blogspot.com/2009/09/miracles.html

I cant wait for this weekend though. What can be better than two full days of uplifting messages and feeling the spirit. Bring it on! Sunday morning we always go over to my sister's before hand and we have quiche and...food? hahaha All I remember is the quiche. Cut me some slack...it's been 5 years since I've watched it at home. For some reason, I remember a lot of rolls too...but that shouldn't surprise anyone :) Most of my memories have bread in them. I'm in charge of the quiche this year tho and I'm using Beth's yummy recipe to change things up a bit! YUMMMM! My brother was pretty excited when I told him about it. The other quiche is good, but you can only have so much of it cuz its rich or something...I dunno... I hope it turns out well! :)

I don't know if I'm allowed to have a favorite apostle...but I do, so whatever! :) I always LOVE hearing from Elder Oaks. Not that I don't love hearing from the other's. I love them all...but there's something about Elder Oaks that I cant get enough of. I think it's cuz he's so intense that it kinda scares me a little and just zings me! Plus...he's the cutest old man and whenever he speaks, its always so wonderful! His voice also reminds me of the guy at the beginning of those Living Scriptures videos that's like "...please don't make a copy of this tape..." lol I love it and I love him! I hope everyone gets to watch it and has a wonderful experience. About 4 years ago, when I took a 'Teachings of the Living Prophets' class at BYU, she challenged us to pray and fast before Conference started and to ask certain questions. She told us to write them down and then take good notes throughout conference. Each time I've done that, each of my questions have been answered, if not through a talk, directly, through the spirit. I always laugh when the Conference issue of the Ensign comes out and I'm rereading the talks and comparing my notes and I had written things down that had nothing to do with anything they were saying. Its wonderful to know that the Lord communicates to us, the things we need to hear and know, through the Spirit and through his called prophets and apostles. I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the guidance, direction and peace that it constantly brings into my life.

Reunions of the Arizona Kind

I spent the last week-ish in Arizona and it was so much fun!!! I started out in Mesa to spend time with Beth and her family before I headed over to Havasu to see Ashley before she left on her mission. This was my first trip to the Mesa area and I LOVED it. It was so much fun to be there with my friends :) They introduced me to "gelato" which is an Italian ice cream...*melts* Yeah, so good! And we got to go to a few little craft/decoration shops which is definitely right up my alley! I probably could've stayed in those places all day. I played with Will a lot too which was totally different from what I'm used to. Instead of playing dress up and having Syd cover me in make up and hair clips and dancing around the room with Malla in my arms, I was playing pirates, star wars and baseball! Definitely a flip flop, but still really fun! Beth told me that one night, Will was talking in his sleep saying "Tara...I just want a cookie!" over and over again. haha. Gotta love it. I think one of my favorite parts of being in Mesa (other than just hangin with the Borgia's) was getting to go through a session at the Mesa temple. Brother Borgia ended up officiating at the session we were at, so that was cool. While he was standing there, I got to thinking....I wonder if it's weird for them. An entire room full of people is sitting there staring at you and you're looking back at them and not saying anything. hahaha Meh...they're probably used to it. It would be hard for me to not slip in a weird face every now and again though :) Seriously though...the Borgia's were so great. I think they feel bad because I was "bored" or something crazy...psh! please! I'm such a boring person...I did more there than I usually do here. haha I'm used to being unemployed and doing nothing all day. lol. I really did have so much fun and they did so many wonderful things for me! I really appreciate them so much. It definitely felt like a home away from home. Oh yeah....they introduced me to the gloriousness that is the cream puffs in the temple cafeteria. Holy, wonderful! Beth also introduced me to these SWEET baking pan things that you never have to spray or anything and the food pops right out (and very nicely browned too). It was so fun to bake mini muffins with them! And so easy too! No more hassle of muffin liners or cleaning up spills when you miss the cup part (which I do on a regular basis). When I'm rich, one day, I'm going to buy some. The end. I hope I get to go back soon...I really did love it there. AND not to mention that Emily is moving there in November so that's an added bonus! All of my favorite people, minus my family, are moving to Arizona...apparently its the place to be! :)

Havasu was fun too...we ended up cramming all of us into their house instead of me staying somewhere else which was definitely more fun but maybe more cluttered than they would've liked. Ashley and I were sharing her bed which is in between a twin and a full bed. So needless to say, we had some funny accidents. lol. Apparently, one night, I was dead asleep and I started playing footsie with Ashley's foot. She laughed and scooted me over a little. No harm, no foul right? HA! A little nudge isn't going to keep me away! Apparently, no matter how far away she moved her foot, I would keep searching for it with mine. This went on for a while. I would find her foot and be set at ease and she'd move it and I'd search for it again. :) Finally, Ashley just bent her knees so her feet were behind her. I started searching as per the usual and I got frustrated that I couldn't find her foot so I let out a big puff of air and retired to sleep on my other side as a sign of defeat. Definitely funny to laugh about when I woke up the next morning. The last night was hilarious because she had put off packing until the last possible hour. Naturally, I stayed up with her to help her pack since packing happens to be one my super powers. I can always get anything to fit! Anyway, by about 1:30 we were both slap happy from running around so much the previous couple of days that we would just start laughing hysterically out of no where and it wouldn't stop until we got too tired to laugh at all. OH and deal of the week...we went to walmart to get some last minute things for her and we saw that the clinical strength dove deodorant (so wonderful during hot weather) was on sale so we took it up to the register and the guy had his list comparison thing as to what other stores were selling it for and they rang up as 2.00 each when they're originally like 8.75. Naturally, we both ran back to grab armfuls of deodorant. I'm sure we looked retarded, but I'll do what is necessary in the name of a good sale such as that one! Her setting apart was wonderful too. The Spirit was so strong. The tradition in Havasu is to go around the room and say a part of your testimony or whatever else you feel impressed to say before they set her apart as a missionary which was really neat. I'll miss my Ash-face but I'm so excited to hear about all the crap she has to eat down there! hahahaha. (and all the other stuff too)

And I'm happy to report that since its been raining here so much, its actually green AND for the last two days its been like 70 degrees outside. I was actually COLD today. Weird, I know. But it definitely feels more like fall which is something I'm not used to happening here until December...MAYBE by Thanksgiving on rare occasions. Although, I'm not banking that this weather will last long :)

Nine

In honor of it being 9/9/09 tomorrow, I decided to do a little somethin' somethin' with it! Plus, I'm really excited for the new movie, Nine, to come out. :) Holy jeez, its gonna be good! Seriously though, nine has proven to be a particularly good number for me. We moved to Texas when I was 9 which has turned out amazingly. I met my best friend of all time when I was 9...Kami and her family came over on our first Sunday there and we hit it off. We've never failed to have ourselves a great time since then. When I moved into Sparks, I moved into apartment 9. Sparks was seriously one of my favorite parts of my BYU experience. So many of my favorite memories and so many of the people I met that impacted my life, happened there. No, nine is NOT my lucky number...but 8 is, and that's pretty darn close :) So see...nine is great! :) Anyway, I decided, in honor of the number 9 (haha I feel like I'm doing a Sesame Street tribute or something), I decided to list 9 things that most people don't know about me. That is...unless I know you really REALLY well, and/or you've ever lived with me, cuz you just sort of find these things out... Although, some of these, I dont think I've ever told anyone so enjoy!

1. The last time I watched the Land Before Time (a couple of months ago...shocking, I know), I cried when Little Foot's mom died. Yes, some may say I just have a tender heart. I say its because I'm lame and internalize movies too much. haha.

2. Speaking of crying...for a couple of years, I only cried out of my left eye. I have no idea why. That's just the facts. Someone else can explain it to me if they wish, but I'm happy to report that I'm back to normal and have two, fully functioning tear ducts.

3. The two playlists I listen to most on my itunes are musicals and instrumental music. They make any day a brighter day. :)

4. And speaking of musicals...I was thinking the other day about if I could play any role in a musical, who would I most like to be? I haven't succeeded in narrowing it down to the final winner, however, I have managed to narrow it down to...nine! haha jk, although, it did seem appropriate...no no, I narrowed it down to four: Ado Annie, Oklahoma!; Millie, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Penny Pingleton; Hairspry; and Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady.


Mind you, I'm not counting singing or acting ability in these...that would certainly narrow it down to zero. But in an ideal world, those would be my top four. Which is ironic, seeing as how The Sound of Music has always, and will always be one of my favorite movies, not to mention, my favorite musical of all time. There are just some scenes that I could never get through...mostly the part when they're singing about "I must have done something good." I always laugh far too hard for any normal person, when I watch that part. :)

5. If I could do absolutely ANYTHING for a career (and if it still even existed), my ideal job would be to be a performer on a Show Boat. Again, I'll insert that talent (and I'll go as far to say, dress size) will not be taken into account on this one either. But it would be AMAZING and I'm sure I'd love almost every moment of it! :)

6. I have another favorite flower other than daisies...I just don't tell people about it :) I LOVE pansies. Like seriously LOVE them. I could look at them all day. They just look like they're smiling at me all the time. Although, sometimes they make me think of Alice in Wonderland and that movie kinda creeped me out as a kid. The flowers weren't very nice, and that wasn't cool...

7. Ever since I took my endowments out a couple of months ago, I have made a new goal to do temple work in as many temples as possible in my life time. So far, I've done a sesson in four different temples: Timpanogos, Provo, Salt Lake City and Dallas. I'm hitting up Mesa next week and possibly Vegas, but we'll see how that goes. Verdon said he'd go with me to Manti when I come up to Utah in October. And I'm counting sitting in Kami's wedding in Oquirrh Mountain as doing temple work. I know it's cheating, but until I can go back and do a session there, I'm counting it :) My game, my rules :)

8. I am superstitious. Not like CRAZY amounts, but enough to make me do stuff. Example: I always try to hold my breath when we pass a cemetery and I keep a troll in my car for good luck (a family tradition). I dont think that anything terrible will happen if I don't do all of these things, but I do feel a sense of "luck" when I follow through with them. Like, maybe everything will go my way or something. It's almost like drinking my own Felix Felicis potion (for all you non-Harry Potter fans out there, that's liquid luck basically. Although, I'm not sure how we're friends enough for you to be reading my blog if you don't know anything about HP). :)

9. Here we go....the last one: I have a slight obsession with shoe horns. And when I say slight, I mean, really big. Example: I almost cried when I bent my last shoe horn out of commission. And yes, both of my tear ducts were working at this point. Its a good thing I controlled it, right? :) My fun moment of the day last week was when I was in Ross and I found a decorative sign that says "Life is made of choices...remove your shoes or scrub the floor." Attached is a shoe horn. I saw it and knew that even if I had no use for it, I had to have it. I also have a gargantuan shoe horn that's at least 2 feet tall, compliments of Melly. Thanks, lady-face. You're my hero. And if that's not enough, I always make sure to have two spares just incase of an incident like when I became the incredible hulk and bent my metal one.... *sighs* What a traumatic day. I'm glad that's over...

There you have it...Nine, nine, nine! How I love thee, number nine! I hope yall have a splendiforus 9/9/09 day! XOXO

A New Chapter of Life

Hey hey hey! So, I've been back in Texas for 2 weeks now and its seems like I've been here for at least a month, if not more! Its going by SO sllooooooowwwwww. Despite all the suckinesses of being home, it has been so much fun getting to be with my family. My mom and I roadtripped down to Austin this week to see Wicked and it was AMAZING. Two thumbs way, way up! :) And its been great to spend everyday with my sister and my nieces. There's always something funny that Syd or Malla do or say that keeps a smile on my face. I haven't been able to find a job yet, but its been a blessing actually because I've been able to still go to the temple once a week. I stayed there for about 4 hours this week...I never want to leave. Its the one place where I can feel complete peace and I definitely need that! I am starting to teach dance lessons again though, which is good. I have about 15 students so far, so its taking off :)

I think I may have figured out one of the reasons why Heavenly Father wanted me to move back despite all my protesting...everyone that I've talked to (and that's been a lot actually) that goes to the singles ward here has told me how it has just plummeted steadily down since about a year ago. I haven't quite figured out why yet, but not many ppl like it and there's not much of a ward family connection there anymore. I have a couple of friends that have been struggling with it especially and so its been good for us to stick through it together...but now that I'm here, they were saying that they want me to try to help them figure out things to do to bring the ward back together...maybe that's why I'm here. I dunno...but either way, I've got my work cut out for me!

But instead of going on about how much I miss Provo and wish I were still there, I've decided I need to be more positive about my situation. I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm genuinely happy to be here yet, but it'll come...I just have to keep my faith and my hope that the Lord will help me to turn things around for myself. I found this song that I REALLY love...and sadly, its by Miley Cyrus hahaha....I never thought I'd ever admit that I liked one of her songs. haha. Oh well...at least its not Hillary Duff or anything. Then I know I'd be going insane :) Here's the lyrics...they're pretty good!

The Climb
I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

7 Wonders of Provo

So, my time left in Provo is short so I thought I would do a shout out to my 7 favorite places in Provo. This was kinda hard seeing as how most of the things that I do are outside of Provo, but I made it work :) Just know that most of them have to do with food and/or ice cream. But that shouldn't surprise anyone. These are in no particular order except for number 1. :) Here we go!!!

7. Provo River
I've only floated down this place twice, but both times were absolutely hilarious! Not to mention that its BEAUTIFUL during the summer. There is this point where there is a bridge with pillars and when your tubes are tied together, if you don't all go through the same gap, you can imagine what would happen. haha So classic. Not to mention that the last time I went, I was given the partially deflated tube. My tail bone was NOT happy. Those rocks are ruthless. :) But still...I had the time of my life. Except for when I thought that wearing SPF 4 would be good enough. hahahahaha. Holy burned. I'll never forget that summer....yikes!

6. Center Street
I LOVE Center Street...especially during Christmas time. Its so much fun to walk down at night when the trees are all lit and fun. Its just old timey feeling and I LOVE it. Not to mention, that two of my favorite places are on Center Street: Gloria's Little Italy (some of the BEST Italian food ever) and Sammy's...they make pie milkshakes...SO GLORIOUS.

5. BYU Baseball/Football fields
These share the same parking lots, so I figured I could bunch them together. :) I've had so much fun with my friends going to baseball and football games and cheering on my friends that are playing on the teams. Go Cougars!!!! (p.s. our shirts say "Even Saints Play Nasty" just in case you couldn't tell) haha

4. J Dawgs/Smart Cookie
Oh my yummy. J Dawgs has the BEST hot dogs EVER. Their secret sauce is like the best secret ever kept...holy yummy! I'm gonna miss you J Dawgs. :) Right next to J Dawgs is Smart Cookie. Also to die for. Two cookies of your choice on the outside of some delicious ice cream. Oh. My. Word. Two dollars has never brought so much happiness to my life before. Except for when Star Wars and Harry Potter are in the dollar theater. But, that should've been assumed :)

3. King Kong Kone/Sub Zero
Okay, the King Kong Kone (from now on will be referred to as the KKK...classy, I know) is HUGE. Seriously...they pack this frozen yogurt taller than my head. I almost didn't finish it and that's saying something. I never leave ice cream uneaten. I'm proud to say that I've successfully conquered the KKK!!! SO GOOD. And its only like a buck. So, I was wrong...there's one more thing that under 2 bucks that makes me feel like I'm in a total Utopia. Go figure that its ice cream right? :) Sub Zero is way fun too. They make the ice cream how you want it (flavors and mix ins) in front of you with liquid nitrogen. You can imagine how much joy I felt when I heard they were moving it closer to my apartment complex. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't blog about it :)

2. Y Mountain
I've had some good times trying to hike up this mountain despite the fact that I'm a wimp and can only go so far without stopping. Its always way fun to hike it at night though and then get to look out over Provo and see all of the lights and fun things to see. I also wet my pants on top of Y mountain before which is always a great story. :) I slipped as we were coming down and it scared me. Yeah...good times. This picture was taken after we'd hiked up it once and Melly dared me to lay upside down on it. Dont you just LOVE my yellow pit stains? hahah Sick...that shirt as been good to me. Good thing I cut it up and sewed it into a blanket, huh?

1. Provo Temple
The Provo temple has gotten me through so many good and bad times. Its the one place that I could go to find peace, no matter what. Sometimes, we'd just go and sit on the temple grounds if we didn't have time to go inside so that we could just be there and feel the spirit. One of my favorite parts is when I walk outside and the sun is setting behind the mountains. Its SO beautiful...hence the picture. I'm really going to miss having a temple so close to me. Its so nice to pass it multiple times a day and remember why I'm here. The 5 minute drive will be sorely missed. As will my weekly, sometimes biweekly visits to go inside the temple walls and stand as proxy for those who have passed. Its one of my favorite things to do and I hope that I can still find the time and money to go constantly once I move home, despite the distance.

So, friends...there you have it. My 7 favorite places in Provo. Despite all the sucky things there is about it, its been my home for the last 5 years and I will miss it dearly. So, Provo...here's to you! XOXO

Over the River and Through the Woods. To Grandmother's house we go!

I went to see my Grammy Bear in Montana last weekend! It was so awesomely wonderful to be there again! I don't think I've been to my Grammy's since I was like 7 or 8. It was so much fun and we defintiely had some great adventures. The drive up was INSANE. Emily and Matt came with me because they have family in Billings, so I just detoured a little to drop them off there before I headed up to Great Falls. On the way, my dumb GPS decided to take us this random back way...not good. Never trust a machine. haha. Anyway, the speed limit was 70...I was definitely only going 35 at the MOST. We're goin straight...its all good, then suddenly my car starts to spin out of control and we land in a ditch. In that process somewhere, my front tire fell off the rim and my back tire started leaking air like crazy. We got it out of the ditch and right as I turned my hazard lights on, this couple drove up behind us which was such a wonderful blessing. I dont know what we would have done if they didn't show up. They followed us down to the nearest air pump so we could pump up my spare and then they dropped us off at the tire store so I could leave my car there (it was like 9:30 or 10 at night by this point) and then drove us over to the hotel where we would stay until the next morning so I could get my tires fixed. We walk into the hotel with all of our stuff and the lady was like, "So you think you're going to get a room here tonight, do you?" I just looked at her and was like...YES! She goes...well, you chose the right place (as if there was anywhere else to choose. Actually, I take that back, there was a Lazy J's down the street but you probably had to pay an extra 20 bucks to have clean sheets, by the looks of it). She continued to tell us that they have a continental breakfast. In my head, I'm thinking...YES! DONUTS! No...toast and cold cereal. *sighs* Definitely better than nothing though, for sure. :)

The next morning, we walked over to the tire shop (happy Pioneer Day by the way) and I started talking to the guys there and was like sooo...my back tire is flat. And they looked at me like, what the heck? Why did you bring it here? We thought that was particularly funny, so we had to document it... So, they fixed my tires and we went on our way. Sadly, once I hit about 60 on the highway, my car was shaking out of control. So, once we got to billings, Emily's family came and picked them up and then I stayed at another car shop until they could fix it. Here's the lesson I've learned....if you look like you're about to cry, guys will do ANYTHING so that that doesn't happen. haha. I walk in there and the guy was like, we dont have time to fix your car today. We could fit you in tomorrow. I told him the situation, and actually, my dad had called before to make sure that they would be able to and they told him that they could, so after explaining it all, they were like sorry! No can do! So I asked where else I could go and he called around and no one else could fit me in either. I started the lip quiver...mostly on accident. I was quite distrot by this point, and he was like uhhh...you know what? We can totally move some things around and get you in RIGHT NOW! hahahah it was classic. So, a couple hours later, I was on my way to Grammy's house!

Once I got there, we had SO much fun! We went to have the notorious fluffy tacos which were HEAVENLY. These bad boys were one of my favorite parts of going to see Grammy when I was younger. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THEM! The rest of the night we just talked and had some classic Grammy/Bandaid time. It was wonderful! Not to mention that I had a very nice reunion with one of my favorite toys that I used to play with all the time.

The next morning, we high tailed it out to the farmers market where I met all of "Maggie Mae's" friends...she's so darn popular. It was awesome! We had some YUMMY Navajo fried bread and looked around at some stuff. My two cousins came over who I haven't seen since I was around 7 or 8 too...so that was fun to see them again. Later, we went to the State Fair where we tried Grammy's favorite State Fair novelty....Vikings! These things were so manly...pure beef wrapped in bread and stuck on a stick. Talk about good for you, yumminess. haha. We got to see a Johnny Cash impersonator guy which was GREAT...I LOVED it. And, of course, my favorite part was the pig racing. I had no idea it even existed...but we definitely laughed for a while about it. Check out this awesomeness!
CLASSIC! I had such a great time with Grammy...it makes me sad that I couldn't stay longer. Grammy Bear...here's to you! I love you BAD!!!!

Another tribute to...

This tribute is gonna be a little uh, different, but just go with me. I'm gonna send out a tribute to all of those dead guys that I wish were still alive because they're just so dang attractive. So, here's my list: Gordon McRae, Clark Gable, Howard Keel, Gene Kelly, Heath Ledger (of course), and uh...Prince Philip on Sleeping Beauty. I know he's a cartoon and not a real person, but still. He's hot. Don't judge me.






Just look at these guys. They don't make them like that anymore! They just have this charming look about them that invites me in. Maybe they're vampires....hahahah oh Edward. :) Anyway, I find it funny that most of them sing and dance...but really, that just adds to their charm and all around attractiveness. I would be very willing to be swept off my feet by any of these guys. Bring it on... :) Seriously, Gordon, Howard and Gene could sing me to sleep every night and I think I would go to sleep 100% happy without fail. haha. Maybe I was born a little too late... who knows? Or maybe I shoulda just been a cartoon character. lol *sighs* Although, I guess if I was born before, I wouldn't appreciate the beauty of people like Hayden Christensen and Will Smith. *melts* Anyway, here's to all y'all heartthrobs out there, dead or alive. Any time I watch a movie with any of these guys in it, I cant help but smile and be completely happy in my own little world. lol. Does this make me lame? Yes...yes, I'm sure it does. But, I dont care. :)

In other news, the temple was AMAZING on Saturday. My sister came and surprised me on Friday night which was probably the best thing ever. She put up the video and the pictures she took on her blog, so you can check them out there seeing as how I don't have them. :) We had a great time, as we always do. And i cant wait to go back to the temple again and again! Thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family who were there. It was amazing to be there with all of them...I know this probably doesn't mean a lot to everyone, but seeing as how I usually copy and paste these entries into my journal, I'm gonna list off who was there, more for my sake than anyone else's. :) My sister was there, obviously, Mom and Dad Breinholt, Jeremy and JaeLyn, Bishop and sister Shell (my old bishop from a couple of years ago), Brother and Sister Clay (my current 1st counselor in the bishopric), Laura and Alex, Zarah and Ashton, Jen, Melissa and Mom Jones (who drove out from Colorado...I just love y'all for being there!), and Adam was there too. I'm sad that the rest of my family, Bishop Stoneman, the Borgia's (+Beth), and Michael and Jason couldn't end up coming, but it was still absolutely wonderful. Seriously, the best thing I've ever done. I love this gospel and the opportunities I have to be a part of it! :) XOXO

The month that never ends

Holy long month. For those of you who don't know, I've been preparing to go through the temple to take out my endowments and ever since I've picked the day I wanted to go through, it has seemed to be so far away! I have been waiting for it to be the 27th for what seems like an eternity, and it's only Wednesday. haha. This whole week I have been a day off. Yesterday, I was convinced that it was Wednesday. Today, was Thursday, in my head, and now everyone thinks I've completely lost it. haha

It has been an interesting month for sure. With all this planning and preparing, there has been a lot of opposition. Now that I look back on it, it doesn't seem that bad at all, but when I was actually going through it, I was so frustrated! It was more a lot of little things that were coming up...the Stake President had to leave the country unexpectedly and no one knew when he was getting back (he got back just in time for it to work out that I could interview with him this last Sunday before I met with my Bishop and I have my final interview with him tonight so he can sign my recommend). Good timing huh? When I did find out that he was back, his secretary lost his phone, so my wonderful bishop kept bothering him at home so that we could schedule the appointment for Sunday so that it would be possible for me to go through when I wanted. My bishop was out of town for a while too...which is why things were so crazy. Then there was just a lot of other random stuff going on that made me lose my patience and I think I was more frustrated with myself for letting it bother me so much, than the situations really. I'm so glad that I have wonderful friends who hold the Priesthood and could give me a blessing. Once I got one, things went much better. Now that I think of it, it wasn't until after I had the blessing that all of the stake president and secretary stuff started happening...so I'm glad I got the blessing, cuz otherwise, I might have exploded. hahaha.

The closer it gets to August, the more conflicted I'm feeling about moving home. I'm so excited to be back in Texas with my family, but I'm dreading going back to living at home...not because of my parents or anything. I love them to pieces...my family rocks my socks off. It'll just be different not being so close to everyone in my ward, where there is ALWAYS something going on. I love the social life out here and I will greatly miss it when I move home. Other than that, though...I'm so ready to leave Provo, minus missing my friends and such. I'm excited that Puden will be moving with me too. That'll be fun. It'll be just like old times! I'll be glad to have a different guy situation though. I dont say this to sound ungrateful or anything, cuz I've definitely been on both sides of the dating spectrum and not having any dates EVER really sucked, but I'm so tired of having so many guys show interest in me and not having that same interest in return. It makes me wonder if I'm broken or something. haha. There's nothing wrong with these guys at all...and they're here, wanting to try to move in a direction that I want so badly to go in, but I can't because I'm not in the same place. It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't happen all the time...but seriously, in the last couple of months, its happened with at least 3 or 4 different people. *sighs* Maybe it'll be good to move away and start fresh again. I sure hope so! But I'll worry about that later...right now, I'm just keeping my eyes toward the temple! WOO HOO! I can't wait. Saturday wont come fast enough! :) Thanks to all of you who have put up with my retarded, frantic phone calls and texts...I really appreciate yall talking me through stuff and helping me feel better! Love yall! XOXO

A Whole Lotta Nuthin

We talked about keeping journals in Relief Society on Sunday and I have no idea who said it or what, but someone said something about trying to write at least one way they saw the Lord's hand in their lives each time they write in their journals. Since I pretty much use this as my journal, I figured that that would be a fun thing to do. You can't go wrong in finding blessings in your life, eh? So, today's is going to be the fact that I have seen, especially these last couple of weeks, how the Lord is simply involved in my life and guiding and leading me where He wants me to go and what He wants me to do. I feel so blessed to know that He is watching over me and that He has a plan for me. No matter what direction I decide that I'd like to go, He quickly tells me if that's not in His plan for me. I love it! I love knowing that I'm following Him and doing my best to follow His plan for me.

In other "news," I feel like I've been so boring lately. I don't have much of anything to write about since I've been back from all of my trips. Although, I shouldn't be surprised. I remember being called 'boring' by some ppl in my ward. All I have to say is that just because I'd rather sit in my apartment and do puzzles *laughs* baking or crafts while playing a movie in the background, does not mean I'm boring! :) I think its because most of the ppl I hang around with are all quite a bit younger than me. At least the ones that are doing the complaining are younger anyway. hahaha. The ones that are my age or around it, have no problems bunking around with me every night. :) Which is funny cuz we're really not that old at all...but its funny to look back at my freshman year days when I was 18 and 19 and saw how different I was back then! 5 years is a long time! Don't get me wrong tho...a fun night out to the dollar theater or something else cheap is way fun, but you know, once it hits 10:00, I usually start winding down the crazy activities. :)

I've been doing a lot of reading these days. I have two more chapters in "The Holy Temple" and then I can get back to reading LOTR. I think I read up to page 22 or something and then got busy with other things. Emily laughed at me cuz the last time I read, I read like 2 pages and then fell asleep pretty much. Two pages a day means that I'd probably have all three books done in like 5 years. haha. It doesn't help that I have like 3 different "Sunday books" that I try to dive into on Sundays too...that's my huge reading day, so needless to say, I get done with my church books a lot faster than my other books.

Other than that, I've been finding random crafts to do since its what I love! :) I'm in the process of making tutu's for Syd, Malla and Elsie. I have a good portion of them done, but there still is a good hour or two ahead of me which I couldn't be happier about. The problem is, is I get so excited about the projects that I just want to keep working until I finish them instead of spreading them out so I have more to do later. Meh well...I'll just have to come up with more ideas later! I love me some craft time! Also, I fell off the top bunk the other day. It was...classic. Head first too. And Emily got to see it all on webcam! Booyah. That was probably the best thing ever. I know I woulda loved to see it. Good to know I still have all my falling abilities in tact! :) I'm an Anderson, afterall. This is what we do! :)

Around the World in 30 Days

Okay, maybe it was more like 'around the Western United States in 10 days' but still...it seemed like my latest excursions lasted a good 30 days. :) So, here goes nothin...

Destination 1: Boulder, Colorado
I drove out on Friday afternoon and spent the next day and a half with Jen's mom and dad. I LOVE the Jones's! It was so fun to see them again! When I got there, Mom Jones and I sat and talked for a little until Papa Jones got home and then they took me out to this little, quaint restaurant for dinner. It was fun to catch up with life and just relax a little before my interview. I was planning on getting to bed early-ish since I'd been driving all day and I wanted to be all rested for my interview the next morning, but I just couldn't tear myself away from Mom Jones that night. We stayed up talking about life n stuff for a good chunk of the evening which was just so good!

The next morning, I went to the interview. Long story short, I got accepted into the Dance/Movement Therapy program, but I'm not taking their offer. The whole time that I was there, I just felt really badly about the whole thing. Not to mention there were a lot of other negatives that were brought up throughout the whole thing, but it was a really good experience and I'm glad that it was so easy for me to feel that that wasn't the best place for me. Don't get me wrong...the decision to decline their offer was really hard. As much as I didn't feel right about it, I still wanted to to do it...but, I'm hoping that the Lord has something even better in mind for me that I don't know about yet! :) The day ended with me making the long drive home after my intensive interview...good times in the car! With that said, I've decided to move home in August. August 14th to be exact actually. I've been job hunting a little bit and I hope I'll find something that I'll really enjoy doing. I'm also planning on doing dance lessons again if I can find a place to do it. I think it would be fun to do an adult tap or Irish class or something too...who knows. There's still plenty of time to think about it!

Destination 2: Lake Havasu, Arizona
Sunday morning, Ashley and I woke up early to go to church and then spent the rest of the morning loading up our cars with all of her stuff. She's going on a mission and didn't have enough room for all of her stuff in her car and due to a lot of different family circumstances, it didn't work out that someone from her family could come with an extra car, so I volunteered mine! I spent most of the week in Arizona with Ashley and it was SO much fun! We got to go to the London Bridge which was fun...Ashley has those pictures though, so you'll have to wait to see them until I get them from her. :) I'm so glad I went though. Her family is amazing and I seriously had such a blast while I was there. I don't think I could ever get tired of being around Ashley...good times, sister...good times!

I had to drive back to Provo on Thursday because some work junk happened and I had to sign this paperwork, otherwise I wouldn't get paid and I had to do it that week for some reason...blah blah. Anyway, I drove back to sign the papers and then left the next morning for Cali!

Destination 3: Malibu, California
I'd never been to California before so it was definitely fun to go. I went up for Elsie's baby blessing and to meet Beth for the first time! It was SOOOOOO good to finally meet her. I had so much fun with her and her family! Adam drove with me for this trip so it was nice to have someone else in the car to talk to when he wasn't sleeping. haha. Here's my funny/retarded moment on the way up (I have to have one, right?) I'm gonna go ahead and name this a Rome/Italy moment, Meredith...yeah, good to know it runs in the family. So, here's how it went...We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and Adam grabbed a spoon out of habit and he didn't need it. So, he turns to me and says, "Hey...want a spoon?" Well, 'action deprived me' heard, "Hey...wanna spoon?" In the back of my brain, I knew what he really meant, but instead of responding accordingly, I said, "You bet I do! *pauses* want...a...spoon." I'm pretty sure that Adam just thought I was very enthusiastic about getting a free spoon....too bad I wasn't so smooth in covering up my idiocy. haha. I need to have a summer fling...fast. :) The blessing was really good though. It was fun to be there, for sure! Thanks for helping me feel so at home even though I was the only non-related person there. I love me some good times with the Borgias!

Anyway, while we were there, we went to the beach and had BBQs and such. It was so much fun! I loved getting to play with Will (Beth's son) too...he kept calling me 'my girl.' Lol...all the time..."Hey mom...where's my girl? I want to play with my girl?" lol Love that kid. We wrapped up the trip with helpin Beth and her family get all packed and on their way to AZ where they were moving. They left on Monday a little bit after Adam and I left to come back home. It was good to be there to help a little...I hope I was more of a help than just being in the way...

Now, I'm back home and my butt still hurts a little from sitting in a car so much, but it could be worse! :) It's good to be back in good ol' P Town. I'm gettin ready to soak up as much of it as I can in the next 2 1/2 months!