February follow-up

In case you missed it, this month was my birthday. My friend Katie decided she wanted to put me on her own version of the dating game.
I didn't really like that idea too much. HOW EMBARRASSING!
So she compromised and just gave me 3 dates. She planned and paid for them and my friend Aubrey found the guys to go on these dates. Since I was getting 3 dates with no effort on my part, I decided to switch February and March as far as challenges go. We'll be cooking in March and I did the dating in February.
Week 1. The play date with Ryan.
There was a plastic baggy with slips of paper containing different activities, you drew one out, did it, then picked another. We modified this, pulled out all the slips and decided what we wanted to do. We ended up going to the Bean Museum on BYU campus (for all you non-BYU people, it is not a museum of beans like I thought, it's a wildlife museum named after some dude named Bean). We then got ice cream at the creamery and finished up the afternoon with a modified version of a game out of the bag. It was fun.

Week 2. Pick a letter with Ben.
We picked letters out of a bag and then had to think of a restaurant, dessert, or activity that had that letter. We ended up going to dinner at Los Hermanos and then we were going to get cake, but never actually did. While we waited to get in for dinner we walked around Provo and played the modified game from week 1. After dinner we played some more games and had a lovely time.

Week 3. Progressive dinner with David ???
Pull a different restaurant out of a bag for an appetizer, dinner, and dessert. Sadly this one didn't happen. 3 days before the date, he cancelled. Why did he cancel, because he got a girlfriend. How do I know this? Because I figured out who it was going to be and we're facebook friends. Facebook tells all. (at least in this case). I saw him recently and he asked me how my last date went. I told him it didn't happen. You could just catch a smirk on his face (but only if you had been watching for it. Maybe it was my imagination) He doesn't know that I know it was suppose to be him. It's been having an internal battle for me to not say something like, "yeah, he bailed on me because he got a girlfriend". Just so he knows, that I know. I suppose since I haven't actually done that I get some points. Too bad I'm not on a little higher plain to not even think it. Oh well.
So instead of going on said date, I went shopping with Pam. I don't especially like shopping, but we had a good time. For my week 3 I'm going to count my trip to Zion with Wes and Aaron. We were in the car together for A LONG TIME!! Longer than any normal date should be. We played the game from the previous 2 dates and I had a great time. Call me a cheater if you want, but I'm totally counting it.
Date 4. Miniature golf with Ryan.
That's right, Katie's plot seems to have worked since Ryan (week 1) asked me out for a second date. We went a played black light miniature golf. It was really fun and I won! He might argue that point, but I was the only one who got a hole in one on one of the hardest holes of the course. He said that himself. I took my camera but I forgot to take a picture. Oops.

Family.

My sister, mom and dad came down this weekend. My sister was already planning on coming down and then my parents found out one of their friends from college would be in town this weekend so they came with her. We had a lovely time. I borrowed an airmattress from Katie so my parents didn't have to sleep on the floor. It kind of worked except
the mattress has a leak and so by morning they were on the floor anyway. Sorry, I tried.
Saturday we did some shopping, went to Salt Lake, tried to go to the BYU game (it was sold out), hung out
went to dinner at Outback, and then Julie and I went to some hot springs in Saratoga Springs while mom and dad stayed and visited with Katie and played with her kids.
It was a cold walk to and from the hot springs.

Sunday was church, naps and dinner with the rest of the family who had come down.

Presidents Day Weekend

A week before President's Day I had no plans. Pretty boring. I wasn't even planning on getting a day off from work. Tuesday at a Valentine's party my friend Wes invited me to go down to Zion National Park with him and join up with a whole bunch of people from his ward. Since I had no plans and I had never been to Zion I decided to go. I told my boss I wouldn't be in Monday and committed to going.
Thursday I found out my friend Denae was going to be down for the weekend so Friday night I went down to Payson and hung out with her for a few hours. We had a good time playing games. Denae and her brother Garet were one team and her husband David and I were the other team. David and I won! But only because David is SOOOO ridiculous. It was really fun.
Saturday morning I drove to Park City with my friend Pam and her mother and brother. We had a good time walking around shopping the sales. My favorite store was definitely Harry & David. YUMMY!! I'm not much of a shopper, but it was fun to get out of Provo and spend time with Pam.
Sunday was church and then heading down to Zion. We left after church and we had a great time! My friend Aaron came with us as well. I grew up with Aaron and Wes and Aaron were roommates last summer. Worked out so nicely. We had a nice drive down getting to know each other better. Aaron was cracking me up! I'm not sure if he's really as funny as I thought or if I was just really tired. Maybe a combination of him being funny and me being tired. The drive was long. We stayed on a houseboat on Lake Powell. It was a really cold out, but we had a fun time.

We had a dance party while making breakfast Monday morning.
Monday we went out to see the sites around Page and then headed back to Zion.

Jennica. I love her. There's nothing more to say, except that she's just so great.

Aaron, Me, Wes
I loved Zion. It was so beautiful. I'm more of a pine tree, mountain lakes kind of person, but this had it's own beauty and it was just so fun to be out and seeing new things. Aaron loves Zion and was a very good tour guide, giving us all kinds of information.
The view was amazing. I really wanted to fly over it, like on a hang glider or something. It would have been even more awesome.

So guys, what did you learn on your trip to Zion?

How to split apples in half with out bare hands. That's right. Monday morning at breakfast, Stuart, on the far right, split an apple in half with his bare hands. Of course we were all impressed and a few tried it without much success. At lunch he did it again and we all stood around watching him step by step. As you can see we had a lot more success. I did it again last night. Just because I can.

That was fast

I love it when you finally decide that you're just going to trust the Lord and see what he has in store and almost immediately you see the blessings. Although there have been a few unfortunate events this week, I am already seeing the hand of the Lord, in making me available to be there for a friend and clearing things away to allow me to see with a better perspective. Thank heaven for tender mercies.

Rollercoaster

I'm not one for drama. My life is relatively drama free and really I don't think that I even qualify right now. If I had the time, patience and desire I'd tell you about it, but let's just sum it up like this.

Dana Lyn says
Well good! So a crappy weekend date just turned into a fun adventure! I love it when life's road has a few curves in it...
Cathy S says
:)
Dana Lyn says
I'd love to chat some more but I'm afraid my kids are destroying my office. I'm kinda glad we've gotten to chat almost every day this week! It's fun!
Cathy S says
thanks for cheering me up
sorry I'm such a wreck
Dana Lyn says
You're not a wreck... you're just on a rollercoaster, and I get to stand on the ground and watch you scream and pee your pants... but the ride will come to an end eventually.
Cathy S says
lol
Dana Lyn says
Love you! Make it a great day!

She's heard all my "drama" this week. So I'm not a wreck, I'm just on a rollercoaster and she's having a lovely time watching me scream and "pee [my] pants". Glad one of us is having a good time. But really, I know when I look back it won't seem that bad and I'll be able to see all the ups and downs for what they really are, great things the Lord is teaching me. So for now I'll just hold on, scream a little louder, try not to pee and hope I come off better than when I got on.
Here's to making it a great day!

Home Teachers

Today was one of those days. You think everything is fine and then BAM! It hits you (don't ask me what "it" is, I'm still unsure). But when it hits you, say goodbye to any make-up you put on this morning and any hopes of containing the waterworks that won't stop coming. It's awful. You're not really sure what's wrong, nothing really happened, but no matter how hard you try, you are not going to win this one.
There I am, minding my own business sitting in Sunday School, pondering on life and the testimonies I had just heard in Sacrament meeting when the tears start. I tried to stop it, but I was caught! Once someone catches you and asks if you're okay, there's not much of a chance to stop them.
I managed to get them somewhat under control, but Relief Society brought on an entirely new flood. Lucky for me my friend Catie had a package of tissues with her or it would have been even uglier than it was. I somehow made it through, only to completely break down when a girl (Sarah) in my ward came and gave me a hug. That was followed by more hugs and then a very quick exit. Once in my car I headed home to put some of that makeup I lost back on.
I made it through visiting teaching without any problems, surprisingly. Then I went to deliver Valentines to the girl in my district for compassionate service. Made it through that okay, UNTIL I got to Sarah's house. MELT DOWN. By this time I knew I needed to ask for a blessing, but for some reason it's SO difficult to ask for one. I told Sarah and told her to hold me accountable, I had it all worked out, I'd ask at the ward Break the Fast. After crying it out at Sarah's we headed to Break the Fast. The very first thing I did was walk up to Kory and ask for a blessing after Break the Fast. When he said okay, I said thanks and quickly walked away, trying desperately to hold my composure. The food was good and I even managed to socialize a bit, not that's it's too difficult since everyone in my ward is so great.
After everything was cleaned up I sat on the stage and waited for Kory and Josh to finish with their socializing and then we headed for a classroom. Sadly my composure only made it that far. I could barely get out what the problem was and give them my full name. Kory gave me a beautiful blessing and I felt so much better. Luckily there was a box of tissues in the classroom because I definitely needed them.
Afterward they each gave me a hug and poor Josh had to deal with me sobbing into his shirt as I lost it yet again.
I can't even express how grateful I am that they were both willing and able to give me a blessing on the spot. I've had home teachers before, but I just don't know that I had that much trust in them to ask them for something like this.
Thank you Kory and Josh for being there for me and for being worthy Priesthood holders. You're the best.
Love, Cathy
(p.s. don't worry about me people, everything is under control and contrary to what this looks like, I'm really okay. Sometimes I'm just emotional. Today was one of those times.)

Can't be good

The other day at my birthday party, my friend David asked me if I was baby hungry. This was not completely out of the blue since he was holding my friend Katie's baby and my age is not a secret. I responded that I was not. I had babysat Katie's other two children enough to not have that problem. (At least not to a degree where I'll admit it). I guess I find I should go in order. You should get married before you have a baby. I know I've written about this before, but let's be honest, I'm guessing most unmarried LDS (and others) women around my age think about marriage more than we'd like to admit. There are a multitude of reasons. I'm sick of dating, being lonely and I want to start a family before I get to an age where I'll be mistaken for the kids grandparent instead of the parent. Those are my top reasons. Then you give me facebook where everyone posts pictures of their beautiful families, their engagement pictures, and all around "perfect lives". I am not naive enough to believe they have perfect lives, I have after all babysat Katie's kids, read your blogs, and had people tell my mom, they thought my family looked perfect (hello? really?) Add to facebook,

It doesn't really help my situation very much. Basically, I should completely skip out on social media, get married, or just get over it. I dont' really see any of those things happening any time soon. Oh dear. I suppose I'll just keep plugging along, working on bettering myself, and living the gospel. God knows what he's doing.
I'm not really feeling sorry for myself (not too much anyway) this has just been on my mind lately.
Dear Doughnut,
I'm trying to be patient, but I'm failing. Please hurry.
Love, Cathy

Birthday Party

I've had some good birthdays in my life. I've had some other not so great ones. This year definitely goes into the good birthday category. It was so, SO great.
I was planning on not doing much for my birthday. Go to work, go to plasma, maybe dinner with a friend and probably end up watching a movie at Katie's house. Hang out with the married friend, that's how I roll. :) My friends had a different, MUCH BETTER, idea.
Aubrey planned me a party at my favorite pizza place, Pizza Pie Cafe. It was packed! Luckily we had a section reserved.
So my day. I started out with the crying episode over the candy bar letter, followed with the temple and breakfast. Work was normal until around 3 when Katie showed up with cupcakes for the office, thus alerting everyone that it was indeed my birthday. They gave me the rest of the day off. That's always nice. So what did I do with that new found free time? I went home and did the dishes. :( They needed to be done and now I don't have to worry about them for the rest of the weekend. After the dishes was plasma, where it was threatened they would sing happy birthday, luckily I escaped that AND the double sticks they were threatening. Lucky me.
After plasma I was off to Pizza Pie. I LOVE MY FRIENDS. So many great people in my life came.
Katie, Marc and their baby came. This was the only picture with Katie and I in it.

The random people who didn't fit into any of my other picture categories. Dustin from Alaska, David from Plasma (that band on my arm is compliments of him), Trent from my ward, and Laura from a previous ward.

My cousins! Emma and Rick on the left from my mom's side and Connor on the right from my dad's side. Too bad McKenna wasn't there as well.

The girls from Aubrey's ward. Her roommate Erin and Liz, who was actually roommates with my cousin Carli. Small world.

The mission girls. Emily, Pamela and Sarah. Sarah actually drove all the way from West Valley just for my birthday. Happy Birthday to her on Tuesday!

Me and Aubs. What a great party she gave me!

I was really excited about the "dense" cake! And I blew out all 27 candles. I almost didn't make it. Hopefully my wish comes true, too bad I can't make another one.

To finish up my night my home teachers Kory and Josh + Trent dropped by. I have home teachers! and they actually home teach me! And they come to my birthday party! BEST HOME TEACHERS EVER! And aren't they just so handsome too?

So basically what I'm saying is that it was an awesome birthday. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and all the support you have always given me. I love you!

27

That's right. It's my birthday. 27. I tend to freak out right before my birthday. I'm not sure why, the day comes and I'm fine, no big deal, but the month or so before I'm not so okay. Getting older. Oh well.

I've been especially emotional this week. I'm going to blame hormones (always a legit excuse). Last night I was talking to my roommate about how I cry or almost cry over the dumbest things. She made me feel better when she told me she does the same thing. Maybe I'm normal after all. I decided to go to bed early last night so I could get up early and go to the temple. It worked. I woke up on my own at 6 a.m. When I walked into the bathroom I discovered this



(in case you can't read it, it says U-no, you just need to Take 5 and RELAX and enjoy your Whatchamacalit? Oh yeah, your Birthday!!! Though we may be Nerds your Big Hunk may come your way and be ready to give you lots of Sugar Babies :) and here's your 1st hunk of your 27th year birthday card with servant man fanning woman and bringing her chocolate. )
I, being the emotional wreck I am, burst into tears. I'm so silly, but I'm so grateful for the wonderful friends God has placed in my life. Despite the tears it was a great way to start the day, closely followed by the temple which was wonderful as it always is and their breakfast always makes my day. I'm sure I'll have more to say by the end of the day and weekend. But for now, thanks to all my wonderful friends. You truly make me glad I've made it 27 years and I couldn't have done it without you.