Festival of Trees :)

I was so happy to go this year! Last year I couldn't because I was down at college but this year I went with my family and my friend Ashley :) It was such a blast! It was opening night so I was expecting it to be packed, and well... it wasn't. We looked at the ginger bread houses, while Ashley and I got lost in the Christmas wreaths and quilts! Then we came up with the idea of entering in our own tree next year! :)

After finding my family, we walked around the ginger bread houses and saw some pretty cool ones :) Here, take a look!

It was a blast! :) We then had (okay, my family) cinnamon rolls and milk (that tasted pasty and NOT milk). Afterwhich, Ashley and I headed over to the Fudge shop where this really mean lady told us we couldn't have samples and then eye-balled us around the station.. I bought two chocolate suckers :) Mmmmm! Afterwards we entered the gift shop. I bought this cute wood piece that has three small blocks on top of another long one that has pictures of the Salt Lake Temple and on the bottom block it says, "We Seek After These Things." It was adorable, I had to get it! Plus, all proceeds go to Primary Children's Medical Center, and me being a former patient, I needed to donate. Then baby cried all the way home, until we played this baby toy game my sister had on her phone. Hahaha, the child will stop crying at almost any toy!

Can't wait to go next year! :)

P.S. FANTASTIC POST tomorrow!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK
♥

He Cares.

President Thomas S. Monson encouraged us to do service this year, whatever it may be, in honor of the 75th Welfare Anniversary, so as I've posted a million times before, I did a service project with my young single adult ward. It turned out great and we collected a ton of things. I thought it would be a good idea to write President Monson and let him know how it went and how grateful I am (and my ward) to have had an opportunity like this. I sent some pictures too!

Whelp, you better believe it.
Cause I cannot.

His secretary wrote me back in his behalf (which is usual). And thanked me for sending in the letter and how happy he was to see the photographs and that we served this year. And that he hopes the Lord will continue to bless us with serving opportunities! :)

President Monson is amazing. To have received a letter, from his secretary, amongst the other million letters, is incredible. He really and truly cares about us individually and I'm extremely grateful. This letter means so much to me.

Brady's LAST Christmas Package!

I can't believe it's here!! His year mark (in 3 days) and Christmas in less than a month! I'm so excited! This package is the best one I've sent yet! I'm doing the 12 Ways of Christmas. It's got a spiritual approach and helps us bring Christ into our lives, and draw us closer to him! :) It's perfect! I'm also sending Brady 12 letters; one for each month of his last year, so technically 11, and the 12th letter will be opened on the plane ride home! That is, if he obeys and follows through! ;) So that he'll always have a letter to open each month! We also picked random days for him to open them! And then I'm sending him pictures, stickers, candy, and pictures of Christ! :) I'm so excited, hopefully he'll love it!! :) Hehehe

January, February, March and April

May, June, July and August

September, October, November and Plane Ride Home! :)

Isn't the card I got him, awesome!?!? :)

He is such a spoiled boy but he deserves everything and more :) I really hope he likes it! I'm sending it this week!! :)

Grateful November

Whelp, today is the last day for my "Grateful November" because November ends Wednesday.... (whaaaa??) So here goes, 30 things to be grateful for :)

1. I'm grateful for Sundays.
2. I'm grateful for Church.
3. I'm grateful for Daughters of My Kingdom.
4. I'm so grateful for my bishops wife, and how caring she is to see me each Sunday.
5. I'm grateful for my friend Jenna, who is always so kind to me, who came to support me at church today, and who is becoming such a good friend of mine, love ya girl!
6. I'm grateful for Abby, and that no matter what, we just understand each other. And we can always have each others backs. Childhood friendships never end.
7. I'm grateful for the Sacrament, and that I get to partake of it every Sunday.
8. I'm so grateful for Church hymns and talks.
9. I'm grateful for tithing, and that I have a wonderful job that allows me to pay it.
10. I'm grateful for family dinners, and that I have a wonderful family to eat with.
11. I'm extremely grateful for home teachers and how consistent they are in visiting my family. They have made such a huge impact on my family and have done so much for us.
12. I'm extremely grateful for the Atonement, and it's loving power in my life. Whenever I have a hard day, I just picture Christ sitting next to me, with His arm around me, saying, "You can do this, I'm here. Let's go." And then he walks with me and I know I can get through the day.
13. I'm extremely grateful for homework, and study party/vent sessions with Jenna. Haaaa, helps me alot.
14. I'm grateful for Mondays, they bring Institute with Brother Hatch! That guy always has the right things to say and always helps me the most, just like my seminary teacher, Hank Smith!
15. I'm grateful for the scriptures and that I know I can turn to them whenever I want.
16. I'm grateul for missionaries, and their influence on my life. And the consideration I have of going on a mission!! Eeeek! :)
17. I'm grateful for Christmas music :) Especially JB's!
18. I'm grateful for music such as Kelly Clarkson, Martina McBride, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Adele, etc.
19. I'm grateful for technology.
20. I'm grateful for food.
21. I'm grateful for sleeping.
22. I'm grateful for school projects.
23. I'm grateful for photography.
24. I'm grateful for prayer.
25. I'm grateful for Christmas decorations.
26. I'm grateful for my house necessities.
27. I'm grateful for my neighborhood.
28. I'm grateful for Country Swing Dancing!! ;)
29. I'm grateful for girls night out!
30. I'm grateful for me. I'm grateful for the creation of my Heavenly Father. I'm grateful He made me a Daughter of his glorious family.

I love November. It's gone by fast, but it has been such a tough and inspirational month. Today has been a crazy, wild day. Especially my week! So I'll give you a small update, since I don't have pictures I'll just explain with words.

Monday - I had to work, and didn't go to FHE. Caught up on chilax time.
Tuesday - I went to school, got last minute put-together's for projects and tests and notes and such. Came home, and vegged, did homework, and went to hot chocolate Tuesday with Jenna and Josh. It was such a fun time! After that, Austin and Nick wanted to hangout, and so we headed over to Nick's house where we met up with the guys and hungout and watched Hitch. It was such a blast! Didn't get home 'till late into the night! Hehehe!
Wednesday - I had work off, so I woke up and got ready for the day, went to Institute where I had like, the BEST lesson from Brother Hatch, EVER. Then Abby, my mommy, and baby all headed to the doctors for my yearly check up. Just in case you were wondering, I've been getting a lot more headaches and pulsing pain in my neck, and we haven't had an MRI for my cyst since 2009, so he wants me to head to the headache department, and they'll want a scan of my brain, and since they're doing that my doctor wants a scan of my whole head and neck but the radiology department is booked like a month out so we have to wait :/ Kinda scary, but nothing I haven't experienced before. After that it was straight home to finish taking care of baby, homework and chilling some more.
Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!! :) I woke up, straightened my hair, and headed over to the church to have lunch with my mom's side of the family. It's so fun with them because the family is so big, all my cousins are about the same age, and we're all just so close even though we don't get together very often! :) I absolutely love it! We had great food, laughter, stories, pie, and cookies :) After which, I hung out at home and watched One Tree Hill (cause I'm obsessed). I didn't go BF shopping because I had work early the next day.
Friday - I worked all day, and then came home and did some homework, and then I went and hungout with Jenna and Rachel! :)
Saturday - I worked and then went home, finished up MORE homework (have I said that word enough yet??) then I got together with Rachel and then we headed to Jenna's house where we then left to Provo to go Country Swing dancing again!!! It was soooo fun :) So much better than last Saturday! I felt I knew the moves better. I met so many awesome dancers and just had fun learning tricks and dances, and line dances, laughing, giggling and dying to breathe. I can't wait to go again! Hehehehe

And here I am Sunday, I slept in, curled my hair, and went to Church! :) It was good. The Sacrament talks were fabulous and I went with my hip friends Abby and Jenna! :) I even met with bishop for a new service project I have to do before Christmas! We're putting together stockings for missionaries in the Salt Lake City south mission!!! A grand total of 200 missionaries!! It's going to be great though :) Then I came home, cleaned the kitchen, started on homework and then Jenna came over to do homework with me and we're still doing homework :) lol

It's been a good, long week, and I'm glad it's over. This week is hump week! That hard "memory" days are overwith, and all I can think about is Friday and how I get to start counting down to Brady's homecoming!!!!! :) So stoked! ALSO, 2 more weeks of school and then finals, and I'm done until January!! Then I'll be going Spring, Summer AND fall, graduate and by then, Brady Babe will be home!!!! :) Woohoo!! Happy Happy Girl!!!

Have a good week!

Award For the Worst Day Ever

Post #2.

1 year ago, I said goodbye to my best friend.

1 year ago, was the last time I hugged him.

1 year ago, was the last time I kissed him.

1 year ago.

I miss Brady more than anything today.

I'm so excited to finally be on the down slope.

He has 5 more days until his year mark!

I'm nervous, excited, happy, in love, etc.

I'm hoping it'll go faster than usual.

It's been a hard, long year.

But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I love you babe :)

"When you hugged me, that was when I really started to cry. It was when it actually hit me - no heaves and sighs, just tears flowing down my cheeks. Most people would have just given me a hug and let go, but you held on like you were trying to make sense out of all of it, too. It was like you needed the hug just as much as I did."

Read about it here and here.

My Last Day

My last day with my best friend was 1 year ago today.

I miss and love him more than words could even describe.

He's such a beautiful person and I love him very much.
I'm so proud of how far each of us have come in such a long time.

You can read about both experiences here & here.

Love you babe :)

♥

Hot Chocolate Tuesday

So my best friend Jenna,

yes, I call her my best friend,

because basically, we are. :)

Anyway,

She makes these way cool collages,

with pictures she takes, and sometimes...

I like to steal them and share them on my blog.

So without further ado,

I'll be blogging about Hot Chocolate Tuesday!

 Jenna, Josh and I all head to Village Inn,

every Tuesday, at 10 PM.

It's super awesome :)
Why?
Well, because the waiters have become friends.

They give Jenna hot cocoa in an orange mug everytime.

I got mine in brown, so it looked like my hot cocoa had disappeared.

[Same color mug]

And Josh just drinks his hot chocolate,

and makes himself sick by putting napkins inside.

But we usually have fun.

Giggling.

Talking.

Chatting.

Watching hilarious videos.

Helping Jenna study,
well okay, give her answers.

Then Jenna gets free pig, and more hot chocolate,

with a mountain of whip cream.

I keep whip cream off mine though.

Yuck.

Then we part our ways :)

But this time, Jenna and I decided to head over to Nick's to party it up with Austin and Nick! We basically just watched Hitch while Austin bugged me about snuggling with Nick, and "going 10%." Haha, then watching him and Jenna argue over sharing the couch. Classic. They're our pals and then we say goodbye. And until next time :) Tuesday is one of my favorite days now. So here's to keeping up this tradition! :) Thanks for inviting me Jenna!

My 36th Letter :)

"First transfer as senior companion."

"I love you!"

Brady has 8 days until his year mark...
Can you believe it?

To Be Thankful

I forgot to write my list of 20 this to be grateful for yesterday since it was the 20th, so today, I will write 21 things to be grateful for!

1. I'm grateful for my job.
2. I'm thankful for countdowns.
3. I'm thankful for Frosted Mini-wheats!
4. I'm thankful for Christmas trees :)
5. I'm thankful for my nephew!
6. I'm thankful for Taylor Swift and all that she has done for me.
7. I'm thankful for memories, good and bad.
8. I'm thankful for food and water.
9. I'm thankful for my phone.
10. I'm thankful for my family! :)
11. I'm thankful for my car, even if it is on the verge of dying.
12. I'm thankful that I have friends who take me country swing dancing, when I don't know how!
13. I'm thankful that I have a best friend who listens to me on my hardest days.
14. I'm thankful for Church and all that it has to offer me for living righteously.
15. I'm thankful for my hometown/neighborhood.
16. I'm thankful for cookies :)
17. I'm thankful for holidays!
18. I'm thankful for missionaries :)
19. I'm thankful for the postmen!
20. I'm thankful for my comfy, warm bed.
21. I'm thankful for my doggy :)

To be honest, and I don't mean this in a cocky way, but it was easy to find things to be grateful for. I've been so busy and overwhelmed with all the things going on in my life. What some call "breakup", school, work, social life, church calling, eating, sleeping, church activities, etc. I finally got a breather Friday night and it was beautiful. It was a rough and stressful week full of crying (lots of it), anger, laughter, happiness, and being quiet. I am a pretty interesting person when it comes to how I handle things. Most would say it's dramatic but I call it "the only way I know how." I usually shut off when I've reached my breaking point, at which people call me crazy or get mad because I'm "such a downer." But if you've lived the life I live... you'd agree.

Yesterday I sort of had a spiritual moment between my Heavenly Father and I. I found this picture on Pinterest.

And it really got me thinking as I read through each one. I then started to picture my Savior sitting next to me, with his arm around me, letting me know that it's going to be okay. And that I'm going to get through these trials. Sometimes I feel like, all I blog about is saddening stuff, and some people actually tell me that, but I don't care anymore. So I lose a few followers, nbd. It's what I want to jot down, and remember. These things are hard, and it only helps to get them out. So as I tell this, I hope you'll all understand.

I could not stop thinking about my Savior and how He really is right next to me, every moment of every day. I then wrote it all down in my journal so that I would remember these scriptures forever. Today I woke up with this thought in my head "Today is going to be a good day, because I'm going to make it one. Today I'm going to be happy, because I deserve to be. Today I am grateful for my Savior's love. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." - Phillipians 4:13." And I kept it that way, to be honest. I kept thinking all day about boys, and friends and why people can be mean, and what I'm not doing to be a better friend/person. I kept thinking about school and all the work that needs to be done in such a little time. But those thoughts kept quickly erasing and that thought was replaced. I easily kept reminding myself that my Savior is with me, and he'll hug me and walk by me through all of this. Through school for the next year (this time next year, I'll be graduating with my AS in Psychology!!!), through my heartache, and stress at work. I'm not alone in this, and for the first time in a long time, I can honestly stand strong and testify that I know my Savior loves me. And that he is here to help me. I cannot imagine going through life without that knowledge. It would be a darker place. I'm so grateful that I can carry around a Book of Mormon and read it freely, that I can get on my knees anywhere and pray to my Father above.

I'm going to be doing another Book of Mormon challenge this coming weekend, to read it all before General Conference in April with a few friends, so if you'd like to join in, you are more than welcome to :)

So without further ado, here is an update of last week.

Monday: We had FHE at the rock climbing place out by South Towne Mall! It was such a blast! I only did it once because my asthma only let me. I hung out with some of the girls in my YSA ward and it was so fun and nice to get to know them better! I went by myself which was a HUGE thing for me.

Tuesday: I had a long day at school, went to a volleyball game, which I played 3 hours of and ended it with a visit to Village Inn with my friend Jenna and her friends Josh and John! It was fun, and the waiters were crazy!

Wednesday - I had work all day, and came home to homework for 4 long hours, and made it to bed before midnight!

Thursday - I went to school, cried, was super stressed, and met up with my BFF for some good talking, and then headed to Institute, where we learned of Christ and played Just Dance afterwards!

Friday - I worked all day, and came home and sat on the couch, caught up on all my TV shows, did absolutely nothing, and fell asleep at 9:30.

Saturday - I woke up at 8:30 (didn't have to go to work until 11:00!!!) and just hungout at home. Went to work for four hours, came home, went to my BFF Karlee's bridal shower, left to see a movie with my family (Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 for the 2nd time) which is an interesting movie... then I went country swing dancing with my hot girlfriends Jenna, Rachel and Ali! :) It was super fun! We took like 47328947247324 hours at the drive-up at Taco Bell!! Visited with some of Jenna's friends for a few minutes, then headed home!

Sunday - Baby came over :) Curled my hair, took him to church. Watched the squirmy fella for two hours, took him home, then headed to my sisters house (who btw is PREGNANT!!!!! :) I haven't posted about it for a while, but I will now! She is due at the end of June!! :) So excited!!!) where my whole family was to eat dinner :) We had crockpot lasagna!!! Mmmmmm my favorite!! :) We watched some scary shark movie, I caught up on some homework and then we headed home for the night.

And here I am, Monday evening, after a long day at work, I'm about to do homework after a much needed blog post. (Mine are SO long!!) I'm so grateful for all these experiences and reminders to be happy. It makes me excited to report back to Brady of all that I did and experienced while he was gone, and that I was happy the whole two years! :)

"Be happy not because everything's perfect nor because everything goes your way. Be happy because everything sucks and you're doing just fine." 

Welby YSA 75th Welfare Anniversary Project!

So I know it's a little late posting, but I have been waiting for pictures to show you just how amazing this project was :)

It was last Saturday, November 5th! It went from 9 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon! I had a good number of people show up right at the beginning to help cut and tie blankets that I'd had sitting at my house. I laid out the markers and crayons and coloring books out on the table.... I had quite a few marker boxes!! It was just amazing to see the turnout. We had a great luncheon and I really appreciate those who came to help AND donated! I know the kids at Primary's will just love the gifts I bring them!! I'm taking them before Christmas so if you'd still like to donate, you always can, just let me know! :)

Brother Horrock's testing out the blankets!

We have a total of 39 blankets!! More than I expected but I'm so happy :) I still have mine that I got when I was nine. It is just so special to me and I'll never forget that experience! Again, thanks so much! I'm so grateful for the Prophet and his counsel to have everyone do service this year in honor of the 75th anniversary, and I'm so grateful my project could be that for the YSA. :) Service is amazing!!

It's Sunday which means its time to write for the "13" things I'm grateful for on November 13th :)

1. My beautiful mother, who helps me out more than I deserve to be helped!
2. My father's guidance and advice; I cherish it so closely.
3. The Temples. I had a wonderful experience at the Temple last night, so grateful for the blessings it brings and to live so close to 3 Temples!
4. I'm grateful for my humble abode. It's warm, and standing strong and still. It's my shelter, my haven and my safe place.
5. I'm grateful for school and the stress that it's caused me. It's help me grow up, and helping me reach the potential it knows I have.
6. I'm grateful for hot chocolate, and how yummy and warm it is when it enters my mouth and tummy :)
7. I'm grateful for friends, and all the amazing friendships I have/have had in my lifetime :)
8. I'm so grateful for blogging. Without it, I would have no journal and my future generations would be lost. ;)
9. I'm grateful Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his counsel. He means so much to me and has gotten me through a lot of things in my life.
10. I'm grateful for Thanksgiving, and having the opportunity to be reminded that I should be grateful everyday.
11. I'm grateful for my body and the life that came with it. It's beautiful, and crazy and I ask God for forgiveness if I don't love it enough. I'm truly blessed!! :)
12. My beautiful friend Megan Pettersson! She's truly been such a good friend. It's amazing to see how we became such good friends, but I'm so grateful! I know she is always going to be someone I can turn to for anything! Thanks for being my friend Meg!
13. And last but not least, I'm grateful for my medical condition. It has taught me so much as a person, has made me stronger and who I am. It has helped change the way I look at things. I appreciate Primary's and all they've done for me over the past 19 years. I know I promised Heavenly Father I'd take this medical condition when I came to Earth, and with that, I'm going to take it and make the best out of it :)

Baptisms for the Dead

Tonight, I decided to make it to the Temple :) I haven't been in a while and so I wanted to go. I headed over to the Jordan River Temple since it's just like 5 minutes from my house. I love walking on Temple grounds and seeing people come in and out of the Temple. It's just a wonderful place! If there is one testimony of mine that has never been shaken, it's of the Temple and the blessings and happiness it brings! :) I confirmed 3 names, and baptized 5! :) 1 from Kentucky, 2 from Oklahoma, 1 from Texas and 1 from Georgia! :) It's so neat to see where they're from and such! The spirit is the best feeling in the world. I knew Heavenly Father was there with me when I said the prayer in the prayer room. That's my favorite thing about the JR Temple.. their prayer room :) The Spirit just completely took over and I felt at peace. It was the best feeling ever! It was such a great experience! I know we can go to Temple's for comfort and answer to our prayers! And to do service for our brothers and sisters! :) I'm so grateful for Temples!

My 11/11/11 :)

Of course, today is an epic day :) It won't come again for another hundred years!!! Crazy right? You know, ever since Junior High I've been making wishes on 11:11. I've made wishes about school, dance, and mainly boys. I cannot tell you how many 11:11 wishes I've made about a boy I wanted to be with. I usually miss it now-a-days. I just am either doing something like working at 11:11 AM or I'm sleeping or partying at 11:11 PM. Anyway, here is how my day went!

I woke up at 8:15 so I would be awake for my cute nephew to arrive :) Then I changed him, and put on his clothing for the day and him, my mom and I all went to take Gilbert to get new tires :) Turns out Gilbert only needed one tire, so his surgery wasn't too hard or long today. Except for the fact that they told me I need a new battery... :( So he'll be getting a new one soon. Then we headed to the mall to meet up with my aunt Vickie to just chit-chat and have a pretzel. We got Evan some new shoes and a jacket for when he comes to our house! :) So cute :)

This is Evan holding on in the elevator.

Afterwhich we left and went to pick up Gilbert. We headed home so my mom could get her hair done and I watched Evan for a few hours. That kid is a stinker! Throwing his toys around, the dvd's around, whining cause he's tired but won't fall asleep. He didn't want to eat either. Then we finally got about an hour nap, when Scooter woke us up with barking. We played some more and then my mom came home.

Evan is teaching me so much and I love it! :) He is getting so big!! He's almost 9 months old! He'll almost be 2 before Brady gets home!! Anyway, when he woke up from his nap, I was feeling upset with what was going on in my life.... and really feeling down. He started to whine when I held him and sat down.. or when I sat him on the ground. But when I stood up with him, or picked him up or sat down with him he didn't cry as much. In fact, not at all. I would look at him and hold him and it helped me realize that even if I am experiencing hard times right now, that I have a family who loves me. Especially Evan :) It was such a sweet reminder.

Then we went to run a few last minute errands :) And tonight we're watching Harry Potter 7 Pt. 2 and eating pizza as a family :) I love Harry Potter! The series is wonderful! I'm reading it for my first time, and I'm almost done with book 1. Hahahaha go ahead, laugh, but I enjoy it now :) I'm sad the series is over, but that's why I'm apart of Pottermore :) Have a good weekend :)

Sincere Answer to My Prayer.

I've had this prayer running in my heart for the past couple weeks. In fact, past couple months. It involves Brady. Whether things will workout. Whether things won't. Whether he is the one Heavenly Father needs me to be with forever. He's been the best boyfriend in the entire world. In fact, he's been the best boyfriend I will ever have. Brady is mine forever.

Brady listens to me. He comforts me. He makes me laugh. He respects me. He's perfect for me. He makes me happy. He's silly. He has jokes. He lets me cry when I need. He lets me be mad and punch him when he teases me. He lets me snuggle to him. He lets me know his deepest secrets, and I let him know mine. He lets me stare at his gorgeous green eyes. He lets me wear his jackets and take naps on the slackersack. He opens my car door, even if we pulled into the garage. He likes to pay for things. He likes to write me special notes. He likes to Skype me and blow me kisses through the camera. He has picture taking wars on Skype with me. He tells me how pretty I am. He tells me he loves me. He plays jello with me in the car. He plays the VW car game with me. He lets me write gushy letters to him, and spiritual ones too. Sometimes I like to blog about him just because I'm so lucky and I want the world to know how deeply in love I still am. Today was an answer to my prayer.

I thought I could do this without him. I thought that I could not worry and let him focus on his mission, and not be "tied" to him. Now I know why I've never been able to get rid of him.... now I know why I've always been scared to break things off with him. Now I know why there was never a reason to break up with him.... because he's my eternity.... He's my everything. He is truly the one I love. Brady is one incredible person. Even if he is clear across the world, serving the Lord for 13 more months, he's still everything I want and more. I'm embarrassed that it took his recent letter to honestly confirm everything I've been praying for, for a while. This mission has seriously been the best thing to happen to the both of us. He has grown so much as a person, and now, I feel like I have too. I've gone through so many hard things that has taught me so much. Spiritually, Brady is amazing. His testimony has grown incredibly! It's amazing to hear it from him :) I know I have just a little under 13 months left, but I know I can make it. I want to make it. I love Brady Ziegler with every bit of my heart. He is the one I want to be with for eternity. I just hope and pray that Heavenly Father will bless me enough to keep him.

One thing learned, never give up something you want now, for something you want in the future. Brady, I'm never giving you up. You are my everything and I love you.

So without further ado, here is my 35th letter :) 

 

"I still love you just as much. I adore you. I cherish your letters and my memories of you. You are my hope."

"Never forget that I love you."

Brady, I promise I will never forget it. 

As we grow older together, as we continue to change with age, there is one thing that will never change... I will always keep falling in love with you. :)

 

Date #2

I had SO much fun last night! I have this way awesome friend named Jenna. We hungout again, which was totally awesome cause now we're friends in real life instead of just blog-stalking! Hahahahaha, anyway, she texted me up on Thursday and asked if I wanted to go on a blind-date Friday, so I of course said yes! Blind dates are usually fun! Hahaha, the last one I went to was Homecoming for Alta High School. I didn't meet my date until the day of Homecoming, but it was a stinkin blast :) Anyway, so I headed over to Jenna's after work and we just hungout together (Her, Me, Rachel and Emily) and waiting for the guys to show up. When they arrived we all just walked out, and Jenna's dad said, "Alright, so who is with who?" Hahaha so Jenna just put us with boys. So it was Jenna, Ashley, Rachel, Emily, Austin, Nick, Lance and Ryan. It was such a fun group! They drove us over to Nick's house where they cooked us up a wonderful dinner of spaghetti :) (And yes, after being picky, I did in fact eat the spaghetti!) It was pretty good, and they also had lemonade, which was a bonus. After spilling a little bit on the table, and feeling bad, we drove out to get some Cold Stone.

Which is where I then informed Ryan that it would be a bad idea to get chocolate ice cream and mix something chocolate in. Just too much chocolate... but did he listen? Nope, and he later even admitted to being sick because there was too much. So after gabbing for a while about random things, and listening to the boys continue to talk Spanish (they all served in the same mission, and some of them were companions and one point!) We drove back to Nick's house to watch Fast Five, and when I say watch, I mean "talk and look at the tv screen the whole time." Hahaha but it was a blast. We all sat super close to each other on the couch. At one point we all put our feet up on a bench thing and did the wave with our knees, while yelling at each other for lifting the wrong knee for the wrong way. We laughed and teased and learned Spanish, and asked how to say things, and punched boys for saying secrets in Spanish. Then we compared our "guns," tossed M&M's to each other, and all over the floor, played fooseball and gabbed some more.

It was such a blast :) I totally felt comfortable and just enjoyed myself. I didn't feel super tied to my date. I felt like I was hanging out with a big group of friends, but still on a date at the same time, which was awesome! I really hope we all hangout again, cause I just had a straight up blast! Thanks for texting me Jenna! :) Hehehe.

Pictures by Jenna :)

Getting All Caught Up!

Wow! I can't believe how busy I've been these past couple days. I've been working and going to school all day, then at night I've been doing homework and studying for tests, running errands, playing volleyball, picking up things for my service project this Saturday! It's been hectic, so I'll catch you up! :)

Friday - I never got to blog about this, so I'm going to now! :) Friday night after work I got together with my parents, and my bishop and his wife came over to staple rubberbands to flyers with me for my service project (this Saturday). Afterwards I went and got together with a bunch of MG's (missionary girlfriend's) and we just hungout and talked and then around 1:30 I decided it was prolly time to go home. It was so good to meet so many girls I just haven't yet. We're all friends on Facebook, but never met in real life.

Us with our missionary cupcakes :)

Thanks Jenna for letting us come to your house and party into the wee hours! :)

Saturday - I worked all day, and passed my security test, so now I get to go to Member Service Training! And my YSA Ward went and passed the flyer's out around my Stake. Which was TOTALLY nice of them!! :) Then I got home, and I cleaned my room, did laundry, did homework, made flash cards for Astronomy, then I just hung out at home all night with my family.

Sunday - so for Sunday, I don't really have pictures, but I attended church where they handed out candy if we knew those in our ward who don't come, and would stop by and visit with them. Then Abby and I left to our good friend Austin's farewell (I call him Dial My Number, pretty awesome eh?). He did such a spectacular job! He's one of the last of my friends to leave on their missions. I have one more friend who leaves in December, and after that, they'll start coming home next fall! :) I love missionaries! They're amazing people!! After that I went to his house for a little bit of food and gabbing with my roommate from Snow. It was so good to see her! She went back down to Snow and I stayed here at home. After that I went home and just hungout all night.

Monday - I worked on Halloween. It was kind of a bummer, but fun at the same time! Afterwards I came home to find cute baby :) He's really sick, so he was a little fussy. I went trick-or-treating with a friend. I had a great Halloween! :)

Evan and Scooter as pumpkins :)

Tuesday - I had school all day. I wasn't feeling very well, pretty moody actually. But school was good, in photography we went to the South City Campus and worked in the dark room Ya know, the stuff they do on TV? Where they dip the picture paper in the chemicals and then hang them up to dry?? Hahaha, yeah I did that!! I did a picture of my dog Mickey from 2001. He passed away about 5/6 years ago. So it was fun to see a picture of his show up! I was oober obsessed! We're doing it again today and I cannot wait! Then I rushed home to pick up more things for my service project. Then I went to Volleyball where I played two games against my own team because nobody from the other team showed up! It was pretty fun! Then I went home and got my visiting teaching done! :) It was nice to finally be able to visit teach someone! I never got that down at Snow, and during the summer we didn't really have assignments yet. Then I went home and went to bed!

Wednesday - was a great day! Why you say? Well I'll tell you why!

Because the handsome boy in the blue shirt has been out for 11 MONTHS!!!!!! Can you believe it?? I was just reading over some old posts from when Brady had been gone only a month, and when I had just gone back to Snow College for second semester. And look at me now, I'm home, going to SLCC, third semester, and Brady has been out 11 months. I cannot believe how fast the time is flying!! My schedule is so crazy busy now that the time just flies and I don't really notice it until a few days pass and then I realize I need to update my countdown chart, or my donut of misery needs to be changed. But I'm so happy :) Brady has grown so much and is becoming a wonderful person :) He's really enjoying his mission and is really caring about his investigators, and the area and his calling and duties. It's amazing to see the transformations in missionaries. All of my friends have just changed for the better. My friend Samuel, his yearmark came and went like CRAZY in October, my friend Kody just got home from his mission last night, my friend Quinn and Brandon's year marks are this month. And Brady's is in one month to follow him is Jaron, Tait, my cousin Justin and then my cousin Andrew comes home in February!! I cannot believe how time is just flying :) I'm definitely a happy camper! :)

Anyway, then after working all day, I went home, rushed to the store to by my roommate a gift for her wedding reception tonight,

Mr. & Mrs. Paulsen :)

 then I hungout with Abby because I was just need pal time with her. I started to have an awful night, and just couldn't focus. So I studied what I could and then I went to sleep. And here I am, Thursday morning blogging about everything almost a complete week later. It's amazing when you can read someone's blog and they always say, "I don't have time," or "It's been such a long time since I last blogged!" - Whelp, now I completely understand what that's like! I have a midterm for Philosophy coming up net week, had a test today, midterm paper in Astronomy due in a few weeks, I need to get stuff together for my group project in communications and start thinking about my final project in Photography!! Ahh, these next couple weeks are going to be crazy busy!!

And one more thing to blog about, my service project. It's this Saturday, November 5th. From 9 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon. We'll be colleting donations of 2 yards of fleece fabric, washable crayola markers and coloring books (crayons are accepted as well). We'll be having a mini luncheon from 10:30 until 12:30. And while we are eating yummy food, we'll be cutting and tying the blankets. All of these donations will be going to Primary Children's Medical Center for the kids, before Christmas! :) It's in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 75th Anniversary of the Welfare Program! The Prophet has asked each ward, branch, stake, region, etc. to do a service project this year, and that is what the Welby YSA is doing! If you'd like to donate, but can't make it Saturday email me at ashlenalley(at)gmail(dot)com or email Sister Moulton at jandjmoulton(at)q(dot)com. Or, if you'd like to mail it to me, just email me and I'll give you my address! I could use all the help I can get :)

Have a good week!