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!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop I want to drink...

Okay, so before I tell the story that I'm about to tell, I have to just say that I'm completely addicted to Wicked. Seriously, the music is SO good. I've never actually seen the play, but I can't stop listening to it. Definitely the album crush of the month, for sure...

Anyway, so Friday night was absolutely hilarious...its about midnight-ish and I'm gettin ready to turn in for the night. Ashley is in the bathroom and all of a sudden, this is what I hear..."Uh Tara! The water is overflowing!" hahaha oh man...I go runnin in there and the toilet is seriously spewing out everything that it ever held. Luckily just water tho...not the other stuff. We try turning the water off with absolutely no luck. Well, okay, we turned it off but the water kept coming. Finally, it just randomly stopped and we spent the next while trying to soak up all the water that was in our apartment. I washed the towels and everything was hunky dory, right?

I told you that story, to tell you this story. Last night, me and a bunch of people decided to hit up the swimming pool for some 'good for the soul' swimmin time. I get back in to the apartment, put on some warm clothes while Ashley was showering and wrapped my hair in a, nice, clean towel. I went downstairs because some people came over to bond and as I was sitting there, I kept smelling this faint poo smell.... It was seriously nasty and it wouldn't go away. At first, I thought maybe someone tooted a little and didn't want to own up to it. So, instead of asking if anyone could smell that smell, I just suffered through it. About 10 minutes passed and the smell didn't go away so I thought something had to be goin on. Ashley came downstairs and I asked if anyone could smell the poo smell? Everyone said no but as Ashley started walking more towards me, she realized it was getting stronger. That's right...she followed her nose to my TOWEL! AHHH IT WAS SO NASTY. I ran upstairs and got the towel off my head and proceeded to smell the other towels that were used to mop up the nasty poo smelling water. Good thing all of my towels now smell like poo, huh? I tried washing them again today in hopes of getting the smell out but seriously...EW! Anyway, that's my funny story of the week. The poo towels are now famous across quite a few apartments in the ward. Man, how news travels! hahaha Good times in Provo...I did always say that I wanted to go out with a bang...I guess I got my wish! haah Siiiiiick...

Women's Conferencing

This weekend I got to go to Women's Conference at BYU for the first time. It was so awesome! Thursday Beth, Ashley and I hit up the sessions together which was definitely fun! We made the mistake of picking all the ones that had to do with overcoming and finding strength in our trials though. It was definitely my favorite day becuase everything was so great and inspiring, but it was EXHAUSTING. When we got to the closing session where everyone came back together that day, Ashley asked me what the topic was that the speaker was speaking on and I pulled out the program and read, "Finding strength in our trails." We all paused and proclaimed, "NOOOOO!" hahaha It was way funny though...but we definitely mixed things up a bit the next day.

After we ate up and took a little break from the hoards of women that were surrounding us, we went back into the madness and made tutus for battered women's shelters. It was definitely my favorite part of the Conference. We were at a little table of like 5 or 6 of us and out of everyone that sits next to me, guess who it was? The wife of the Bishop for the ward that I'll be in if I move to Colorado! Yeah...good times. I'd been getting a little discouraged about it lately...trying to figure out if that was really the path that I needed to go down and this totally re-pumped me up! We talked all about the area and the ppl in the ward and such. She told me that most people in that ward are all Graduate students at CU so they'll be older which is nice. She said that they were just wonderful and told me about their institute program which I've heard great things about. It was awesome. And of course, we found some time for some goofing off time too....

Righ when we took the picture of Ashley with the tutu on her head, we look over and Sister Beck is standing like 20 feet from us. Her second counselor was there too and she looked at us and started laughing. lol. Thats probably why they allow women our age to go...they need some good laughs :)

Friday was just Ashley and I and we got to hear John Bytheway and Bro Wilcox speak which was AWESOME as you could imagine. We decided that instead of moving around all over campus that we would just stay in one building and bring uno cards to keep us entertained. The day before was nice to get up and walk around but some of those ladies were rutheless! You'd be surprised how much pushing and shoving was goin on. haha. It was definitely funny to watch for sure. And I would just like to say that I was crowned the Women's Conference Uno Champion. That's right...don't mess with this. :) We got to hear Sister Beck and Elder Perry talk which was AWESOME. And not to mention that Sunday's CES Fireside was given by Elder Bednar, so its been an awesome weekend. I highly recommend Women's conference to everyone! Although, I must say...I did miss being surrounded by my male counterparts those couple of days. Sheesh...so much estrogen. haha. Seriously though...so wonderful and it was SO much fun!