Have you ever

Have you ever had a list as long as your arm of things to do and you have really good intentions of doing them and then you do none of them and sleep for 3 hours instead? That was me yesterday. I had a list of things to do and instead I went home read for a bit and then fell asleep on the couch. FOR 3 HOURS! A nap from 7-10 p.m. isn't really the ideal time to sleep. I got up and was up until about midnight and then went back to sleep. I had great thoughts of getting up early to run, I even set an alarm. Apparently my body didn't really think that was a good idea. I don't remember my alarm going off, but I definitely didn't go run this morning. As my roommate said, I guess your body needed it. I guess so. I hope that whatever it needed, it got, and that today can be a bit more productive.

Baby Shower

When I found out one of my companions from the mission was pregnant I knew we'd need to have a sister baby shower for her. We always look for any reason to get together. Not much better than a new baby. I took it upon myself to plan it. Lucky for me, Camille was willing and eager to help. She did the games and they were fantastic. Nothing too ridiculous or time consuming.

I

This was the first game. Drink apple juice from a sippy cup and see who can do it the fastest. Denae and I tied, but I got the prize since Denae was geting all the gifts. :)

The second game was being blind folded and trying to scoop the marshmallows up with a baby spoon and put them in the bowl. It was quite entertaining to watch. The other game was little bags filled with powder and you had to guess what it was. Things like rice cereal and cream of wheat. I failed at that game.

Then it was on to everyone's favorite part (or at least my favorite part) presents. I'd say she made out pretty well. This one is from Sarah. She went a bit crazy in the clearance section, but baby clothes are just so cute!

This one is from me. I always make quilts for my friends. This one of course had to have a little Disney theme to go with the rest of the party.

Bath toys from Camille!

Cute burp clothes from Emily.

 

more cute baby clothes

Group shot. Denae's friend from Oregon, Camille, Denae, David, me, Emily, Sarah, Callie and baby.

Girl's weekend

First off, I fail. I didn't take a single picture this weekend. I think Pam got 2 and Dana got 1. Complete fail on my part.

This weekend was full of weddings. Thursday I went with Pam to Springville for the reception of a sister from our mission. They had some delicious crepes, Elise looked beautiful and we even made some new friends and I got the name of "Safe Master".
Friday after work I went and picked Pam up and we headed to Farmington for the reception of an elder from our mission. This one was a bit more tricky since I wasn't going to be coming back to Provo so we needed to find Pam a ride back. Luckily another elder from our mission was going and he was able to give her a ride home.
After the reception I headed to the airport to pick up my friend DANA!!! She was here for the wedding of her friend Mallory. From the airport we headed to Murray for the Bachelorette party. Karoake bar. Dana did a lovely rendition of Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Just for everyone's future reference, if you choose that song, pick the Marvin Gay version NOT the Diana Ross version. :) From there we headed back up to Bountiful to stay the night at Dana's aunt's house, since we'd need to be at the Salt Lake temple SUPER early, it made more sense to stay there since it's closer. That was good thinking, but that's where our good thinking stopped. It's not a good idea to stay up talking til all hours of the night when you have to get up at 5:15 to get ready to be to the temple by 6:30. Here's another tip for people, when you get married, don't pick the 7 a.m. temple time, although it was considerably less crowded.
We made it to the temple on time and I waited in the lobby while Dana went to the sealing. Then we headed outside for pictures. While I was waiting I saw a few couples coming out and actually knew one of the grooms from when I worked at Video Productions at BYU-Idaho. After pictures, we had a nice breakfast in the temple and then did a session together. That was fun. I've done sessions with some sisters from my mission, but never any of my childhood friends. While we were sitting in the Celestial room I looked over at a bride and groom sitting on the couch next to us and discovered it was an elder from my mission. Only in Utah. :) We then headed to the Lion House for lunch and then back to Bountiful to see her family for a little bit.
What we really wanted to do then was take a nap, but Mallory needed help getting things ready for the dinner and reception so we headed to Lindon. It was hot and we were tired, but we helped anyway. The dinner was tasty and the reception was beautiful. We skipped out early on the reception. We were just too tired. Once we got to my house in Provo, we didn't have any energy and just sat and watched TV for an hour and then went to bed. With all the weddings this weekend I thought of this card I saw on pinterest. Obviously the drinking part doesn't apply to me, but the rest was fitting. Oh 27 how I love you.



Sunday was pretty chill. Dana and I made an awesome breakfast, went to church, came home, made a sandwich and then we were off to the airport. It was a short visit, but we had a great time. It was so great to see her. I just love her and her funny personality. What great memories I have with this girl.

Adios

What a week for change and saying good-bye. Last Wednesday my sister entered the MTC. That's rough to say good-bye to one of your favorite people for a year and a half. If that wasn't bad enough, yesterday one of my very best friends who has been living in Orem the last two years, moved. She moved to FLORIDA. That's really far away and she'll be gone two and a half years. AND she's taking her kids with her (obviously), but I'm going to miss them! All of them! Even Marc. When I was over there Tuesday night saying goodbye I lost it when the 3 year old gave me a hug. They're going to be so big. It's hard to have change and have to say good-bye.

Katie has been one of my very best friends since we were sunbeams. For those who have no clue what that means, it means a really long time. 3 years old. That means we've been friends for 24 years. I'm going to miss her while she's gone, but I know we'll still be friends and that she'll have great adventures while she's out there.

Good luck Marc and Katie! Don't get eaten by anything. :)

Answers

I know I've written about this before. I never seem to learn my lesson when it comes to asking for blessings. It's so hard to do EVERY TIME! I don't know why. Maybe I'm much more prideful that I think or maybe Satan just works really hard on me in that department.
Wednesday I should have thought of asking for a blessing on my own, but it didn't even cross my mind. Thursday morning at work, the lady I work with was asking me about the new job and after I broke down and told her all the hard things going on in my life right now, she asked me if I had asked my dad for a blessing. DUH! Why didn't I think of that!? My dad was at my house! If I can't have dad do it, the next best thing is to ask the home teacher. I resolved pretty quickly after she suggested it to ask. Then the rest of the day went on and I called and accepted the job and was feeling pretty good by midday. Then I started to debate with myself. "Get one. It will be good" and "I'm really feeling much better and I already accepted the job so what's the point? You'll be fine. You got this". Honestly! Why would I try and talk myself out of a good thing?
Lucky for me the smart side one and as soon as I got home I called my home teacher. That's actually 2 points because I called. I never call. But I figured it would be harder to back out if I actually asked with my own voice and it forced me to be really humble. I'm sure texting would have worked just fine, but calling was what I needed to do I think. So did my home teacher tell me no way? Of course not. I don't know why I always freak out to ask them. They really don't mind. They live across the street and it takes maybe 10 minutes to come over, give the blessing and be done. WHY CAN'T I JUST ASK WITHOUT FREAKING OUT!?
Okay, enough beating myself up. I did ask. They did come. And it was amazing. I am so SO grateful for the priesthood and for worthy men in my life who are willing to serve and bless me.
Most of the blessing didn't really have anything to do with the job. It was just a beautiful testament that God loves me and is aware of the tiny details of my life and the desires of my heart.

Lucky for me I did much better at controlling my emotions than I did last time I asked them for a blessing. There was no sobbing this time, just a few tears. I didn't have to worry about my mascara running or worse, my nose running, onto Josh's white shirt. I'm sure they were grateful for that as well, even if they didn't think about it.

If you ever feel like you need a blessing, don't let yourself talk you out of it. It's hard. It's hard for me every single time, but it's worth it. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Maybe one of these days I'll find the constant humility I really need.

Sage advice from my dad

So when you have a big decision to make in life what do you do? You call your parents and hope they'll tell you what to do, or at least what you want to hear. Sadly that usually isn't quite what happens. I called my dad this morning to get his opinion on my job situation and this is what he told me. "Life sucks. It never works how you planned it. Doesn't mean you can't still do the things you plan,  you just have to go about it in a different way." He did not tell me anything I didn't already know, but it was good to get a reminder. Even if it did make me cry. Let's be honest though, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't really matter what he said, I would have cried. Between a new job, my sister going to the MTC yesterday, my best friend moving to Florida next week and just being a crier in general, I didn't really have a prayer of holding it together. At least I don't have to move.
My mom also made the point that I can always quit the job and move home next year and go on my trip and at least this way I'll have a full time job so I can actually pay for the trip. It'll all work out.
Next step, ask home teacher for a blessing. I'm gonna need a lot of help.

Decisions

So I'm on the job hunt right? And it's awful. I've applied to lots of things and mostly the only response I've gotten is, "Thank you for applying. After careful consideration we have chosen another applicant who more fully fits the job." Or something like that.
I'm planning on going to Europe next summer with my friend Brenda. She served in Romania and I served in Spain and we thought it would be fun to go and visit as much of Europe and go to as many temples as we possibly can. I jumped on the idea and started planning and mapping things out. Pretty much it will take at least 3 weeks. More likely a month. How the heck do you take a month off of work? Easy solution: you get a job at a school. 3 months of summer vacation. It would be perfect. There have been a few secretarial jobs and local schools here that I have applied for along with the dozens of other jobs I've applied for. But I haven't heard back from them. Not even the "Somebody else was more qualified" reply. School starts in like a week! You'd think I'd hear something.
So why is any of this a problem? Because I have had ONE interview. Actually two. But they were with the same company. And I got a call today from them saying I got the job and they want me to start on Monday. That's great! I won't be jobless and I won't have to move home (much to mom's disappointment) and I won't have to move at all, BUT (of course there had to be a but) what about my summer vacation to Europe?
The practical side of me says "Take the job. Having a job is more important than a vacation and you haven't heard a peep from the schools". But the other side of me says "What if?" It's lame and I don't like it. MAN this is crappy! Really crappy. I don't like hard choices. I suppose I'll take it to the Lord and see what he has to say about it. Really ponder it out and decide. Too bad my time for pondering is being cut so short.
I know I need to make sure I'm not overlooking the answer God has already given me.