Saturday, April 9, 2011

Bunches of Birthday Fun!

This year was one of those years where I was not looking forward to celebrating my birthday at all. Whenever people would ask me what I wanted for my birthday, I would usually respond "A job, a new car, and a man.". Ha Ha. I tried to avoid the idea of having a party or celebrating. However, about a week before my birthday, I got a phone call and ended up getting a job interview. The date they requested was my birthday!!! It was at that point that my birthday, all of the sudden, became more exciting and I could not wait for it to come.

WEDNESDAY ~ My parents came down. They brought me some presents that were basically amazing and took me to dinner at the Olive Garden! I left there with enough food for two more meals! After dinner, we came back to my place and ate cheesecake. Then they were off to SLC where they flew out the next day for Hawaii. That night ended with a haircut/trim and layers and a movie.

THURSDAY ~ The main focus was the job interview. It was sooooo much fun! It may sound really odd but it the truth. The people interviewing me were so nice and it was a very comfortable and happy environment. I am not sure if I will get the job or not, but it was a fun experience. After that, I got to spend some time with a friend for a while. My roommate and I had some amazing cheesy breadsticks for dinner. We had a mini birthday thing where I opened their gifts and they sang to me. I have the best roommates ever!

FRIDAY ~ This was the party day. My neighbor made some awesome chocolate cake (with pudding in the middle) and some cupcakes with peach cheesecake frosting. DELICIOUS!!! I really wasn't sure what to expect. It was a blast. A lot of friends came and there was a ton of food, games, music, randomness, and fun. I realized how blessed I am to have such amazing friends here. They accept me for who I am and are so much fun to be around. I am not sure what I have done to deserve these friends, but they are GREAT! Needless to say, after all the excitement sleep was hard to come by that night.

SATURDAY ~ So, this is not directly related to birthday coolness, but it was fun so it has earned a spot in this epic post! This evening I attended The Magic Flute, which is an opera by Mozart. It was super-good and I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the performance.

I found myself wondering today why I was so worn out. Then, I thought about everything that had happened this week and realized why. It has been a week full of lots of fun!!! Thanks to everyone involved directly or indirectly! :D

Sunday, April 3, 2011

What a Week!!!

Phew! I survived this week and got some good stuff accomplished and had some fun. Here is what it consisted of.

~ Institute with a friend
~ Stake Italian Dinner
~ Cookie, ice cream, and interpretive dance party
~ Taxes
~ Meeting
~ Lunch & a Movie
~ Root Beer Floats and Tangled
~ Temple
~ Impromptu trip home
~ Time with the family
~ Birthday party for roommate
~ General Conference
~ Ladies Night
~ Pot Luck
~ Made cookie brownies

Yup, it has been a good week and this next week promises to be great too. My parents are coming down on Wednesday, Thursday I have a job interview and there is more fun and excitement planned and to be planned. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Running Away: The Epilogue

Here is a quick epilogue of the running away. Since returning, I have had some time reflecting on what this journey taught me. It has seriously helped me so much and life has been so busy and fun since.

Here are some lessons that I have learned:
~ Family time is some of the best psychology.
~ Taking time away, takes your time off of everything.
~ Though Idaho is fabulous, it is not where I need to be right now.
~ Sincere and honest prayer really brings answers when you least expect them.

There were more lessons that were learned, but I don't want to waste your time with those. Basically, coming home has made the past week and a half really exciting. Thank goodness for good cleansing time to put your mind in the right frame of mind.

This now ends the saga of Running Away. Thanks for reading!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Running Away: Part Three

Day 10

Everyone in my family had to work. While they were working, I took advantage of it and worked out some. It was good. That evening, my mom and I played Scrabble. She won the first one and I beat her the other times. :D Thanks Mom!

Day 11

Not a whole lot happened today. We played Scrabble again and I won again. That night I had a really crazy and random dream that would make an excellent movie. Without details, it was super-interesting and fun.

Day 12

Brady and I got to talk this morning before church and it was a good talk. We went his ward and it was really good. Once we got home, my grandpa came over for dinner. After that, my home stake had a fireside with the Stake Presidency. I love their Stake President. It was all on perspective and how when things don't work out, it is always good to look at the situation from a new prospective and find a new way to reach a better outcome. There was a lot more that I could say about this because it was amazing and really helped in my finding myself during my running away.

Day 13

Today I ran errands and did some job hunting.

Day 14

I got to spend time with my bro in the morning while he did some stuff he needed too. When we got back from that, my dad had been hard at work trimming a big tree in our backyard. I helped load the branches up in the truck (with only a few scratches and scrapes) and take those to the dump. The dump was muddy and we got mud in the truck and it was on my pants and shoes. Some friends and I decided to go walking in the cemetery, which was nice because we got to talk while being active. The rest of the night consisted of going to an institute class and then talking with Brady and a friend.

Day 15

I woke up this morning with a really stuffy nose. My dad and I went and saw my grandma and chatted with her for a while. Then we ran some errands. After that, I began preparations to come back. As I was driving home, I had a really neat experience that answered some questions that I had when I left to start this whole adventure. As I drove into town, it felt so nice to be back.

*Stay tuned for an epilogue*

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Running Away: Part Two

(This is a continuation of the post below)

Day 3

I loaded my car and took off to my sister's house, which is around a 3 hour 40 minute drive. Luckily, I was told that listening to books on CD while driving makes the trip go quicker and it was so true. It was great of her and her family to let me stay with them for a week. My nephews and niece are so cute and I had a blast playing with them.

Day 4

For the most part it was a relaxing day, until late afternoon. My sister does this thing with two other couple where one family will watch the other two families' kids while they have a date night. It was my sister's night to host it and they had a pajama party with 8 kids. It was a little crazy and tiring. It was also tons of fun.

Day 5

Church was on the agenda today. I was able to go to my sister's ward and, for the first time in ages, attend primary. That was a fun experience. Also, I attended the Singles Branch there. That was interesting.

Day 6

Where it was President's day, we spent most the day together. The best part for me was having a real family home evening. The was a lesson, a scripture, an activity, a song, and homemade milkshakes. They even had me teach them a few words in Spanish like familia and ensenar. :D

Day 7

On Tuesday, it was back to everyday life for them. Both of the nephews had school. While they were at school, my sister, niece and I went to the store for a few things. That afternoon my sister had a meeting and my brother0in-law had an appointment so I got to babysit the kids. :D We had a good time!!!

Day 8

I also got to watch my youngest nephew and niece today. We listened to and watched a video of a live concert of a group called Colors. My nephew loved it! He loves music in general. He brought out his guitar, drum set and microphone and was singing and playing along with them. My niece tried to play the guitar too. It was too cute! My niece was dancing right along with him too.











Day 9

This was a hard day for me because I had to leave my sister's house. These are a few of the parting shots I got before I left. Thanks Heather and family for a fabulous week of fun!!! After leaving there, I headed to Pocatello to spend time with the rest on my family.





(To Be Continued)

Monday, February 28, 2011

Running Away: Part One

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed to get away and I was not sure for how long or a lot of the details. After a really rough week, it became necessary. Here is my story on my run away. I have broken it into parts so you don't have one huge post to read all at once.

DAY 1

On the Wednesday of that week, some of my friends came over for a fabulous dinner. My roommate made some chicken and mashed potatoes, I made some yummy cheese garlic bread, one friend brought some corn and another friend brought brownies. So good!!!



These girls are the best. After eating a ton, we had some good conversation and watched "Letters to Juliet". That was a wonderful night.





DAY 2

I was struggling with the idea of leaving because I was worried that I was running away from life. However, I accomplished a lot including packing for a trip that I had no clue on how long it would last. That evening, a good friend came over and brought me garlic cheese bread ingredients and ice cream. Also, I was able to get a blessing. I do not remember much of what was said, but the feeling of peace overcame me and I know that I am a Daughter of God. Some other friends came over too. We played Disney Scene It! It was a great evening as well. I did not get pictures of this because my camera was packed.

Monday, February 7, 2011

My Report

This is my report back from the last post.

My life is pretty boring. I totally failed at posting Christmas details and apologize for that. If I had my camera with me, I would post about that right now with pictures, but instead I will just briefly tell you.

This year for Christmas, I spent it with me family in Pocatello. My friend Andrea came and joined us for the festivities. Here are just some of the activities that we did over the holiday. We ate tons, looked at lights, delivered secret Christmas gifts and other gifts too, ate some food, watched movies, opened presents, visited with family, played with the niece and nephews, and ate some more. Those were some good times.

Now, on to the update on my life right now and how I am doing on my to-do list. I thought I had figured out the type of job I was going to look for and started looking and preparing for jobs in that area. However, shortly after I made the decision, I got an interview at another place, not in that field. Ha Ha. I have been doing better about finding joy everyday and being happy about whatever is happening in my life. The journal writing is going well. My visiting teaching companion and the girls we visit have set a goal to write daily and are checking in with each other on that, which helps. The last one of focusing on others, for me, goes right along with finding joy in the journey.

Right now, I am sitting in Pocatello. I came home over the weekend to be there when a good friend went through the temple. I loved being at the temple and spending time with her and others. I was also able to attend the blessing of my cousin's baby. What a neat experience that was. Basically, this weekend was FABULOUS!!!