The sun's out!

Gotta love the sunshine. It just feels good. And it makes me happy. I got to spend some time out in it yesterday thanks to my uncle and his need of lawn care.
Yep, I mowed the WHOLE back yard! It took me about 30 minutes...so I counted it as my exercise for the day. :) Hey...it was hard work... So, then Lacey and I decided to make a "summer" dinner to eat outside since it was so beautiful. Garden burgers, baked chips, and a yummy salad. But not before having a "summer" snack.

MMMM...nice and refreshing after hard yard work in the hot sun. :)

Brings me to tears...TEARS I tell ya

So...American Idol. It's the one show everyone in my family actually watches. I've only watched it two years...the 5th season (with Chris Daughtry, the BEST) and this season. My family watched the 6th and 7th while I was on my mission. And realistically, I've never actually watched WITH my family, because both times I've watched it, I've lived with my cousins, the Peterson family. But, we all watch it none-the-less.

Season 5 was a great season. It had amazing people with amazing talent. My whole family liked Chris Daughtry the best. And, none of us liked Taylor Hicks (who somehow managed to win.) This year, however, my family and I don't see eye to eye on the top contestants. Friends, family, and stalkers...I would like to admit that I am a BIG Adam Lambert fan. I am not a fan of his "freakiness" BUT I think he's AMAZINGLY talented. My sister, Kayleen, can't stand him. She says she wants to slit her wrists every time he sings his high notes. I, on the other hand, LOVE it when he sings his high notes. Sometimes he even brings me to tears...tears of JOY that is...I don't want you to get confused and think I mean tears of pain. :) Now, honestly I don't want him to win...just because I'm not sure he'd make the best CD. I would definately buy Allison or Kris's CDs first...but Adam is EXTREMELY talented and I really do like his voice, A LOT.

So, with that said, I'd like to share this video that I found on Youtube of him playing the part of Joshua in the Ten Commandments staring Val Kilmer as Moses. It's basically the best thing ever.

Say what you will, but the man's got talent.

Aaaaaand....We're DONE

So, it's late. I really should be in bed. But, it seems that all of my wonderful, grand ideas come late at night. My best papers are written at night, my best song/lyric ideas are created at night...and my DESPERATE desire and DRIVE to get in shape happens late at night. So...this is it. There's no turning back. I am getting my butt in gear and I'm gettin' into shape! Do you hear me people? We are DONE being un-happy about how we look in every picture and feel in every piece of clothing we own. Who am I referring to when I say "we?" Well...mostly I mean myself, but my dear dear cousin Lacey is joining me on this endeavor. While I feel she is beautiful and in shape already, she has the desire to join me, and I say more power to her because having someone do it with me ALWAYS helps me do better. And this time, we're going to SUCCEED. Right Lacey? RIGHT.

I was just sitting here...looking at some recent pics that my HOT sister posted on her facebook pageand I'm thinking..."I need to do what she's done. I need to work out. I need to make HEALTHY choices. If she can do it, I can do it." So, thank you Kayleen, for inspiring me. I have about 3 1/2 months until her big day...where I get to dress up as a bidesmaid and I'm telling you what. I am going to be ready for it. So, no more of this... I mean...Gilmore Girls will ALWAYS be in my life...but the next time you see a picture like this...carrot sticks and weights will be in our hands replacing the jelly beans and cookie dough. Seriously. WE ARE DONE. Out with the old and in with the new!

Living in Utah part 2...

I love the fact that living in Utah means being surrounded by mission buddies. Although I don't live extremely close to any of them, I have had the wonderful opportunity of seeing and hanging out with these tender eternal friends. I've loved talking and laughing about sweet sweet memories with these people.

Sista Love (now Jones) and Sista Jensen were amazing companions. I was able to meet up with them my first day in Utah. We just laughed and giggled the whole time about funny random memories. All the sisters from the MJM have southern old lady names (it's a tradition these two actually started.) Sista Love on the left is Barb, I'm Edna, and Sista Jensen on the right is Rita. Barb actually trained both Rita and me, and then Rita ended up being my follow-up trainer. So, we all have a ton of fun memories together. They taught me well, helping me have fun but achieve or exceed our goals at the same time. I love these girls, and if it weren't for the wonderful start they gave me, my mission wouldn't have been the amazing experience that it was.

Out of everyone, Sista Roach is the closest and the one I've seen the most since moving to Utah, so I'm surprised I don't have a recent picture of us together. But, I at least have this beautiful shot of her from the first day we were able to see eachother. Sista Roach, or Gerty as I like to call her, is amazing. I love this girl with all my heart. We worked our butts off together and tried hard to overcome our weaknesses during the short 6 weeks we were able to serve together. I learned a TON from this chick and admire her a great deal.

I'm so excited for next week when the girl I trained, Sista Wiechmann or "Erma," and the girl that killed me off, Sista Draper or "Beth, come home. I'm beyond excited. But something that made me even more excited for their arrival was the chance I had to spend last night and this morning with two sisters who served with both Erma and Beth.

Sista Mortensen or "Lily Mae" and Sista Brucker or "Rose" are awesome girls. I'm sad I never had the chance to serve with them. But, they were in town for the "reunion"/party we had as missionaries, and I had the honor of hosting them for the evening. We stayed up until 4 in the flippin' morning just talking about wonderful, hard, beautiful, yet painful experiences from the mission. We laughed, we cried...it was a beautiful thing. I'm so glad I was able to spend some time with these two ladies...and anticipate with them the return of our beloved Beth and Erma. :) How exciting.

I'm so thankful for my mission. It was the happiest, hardest time of my life. I had such an amazing mission filled with such unique and wonderful people and experiences. I LOVE the missionaries I was able to serve with...and even those I didn't serve with. Because there were only 7-10 sisters in my mission at one time, all of the sisters became close (through letters, exchanges or zone conferences) whether we served together or not. The Mississippi Jackson Mission will always and forever hold a very special and TENDER place in my heart.

Living in Utah...

is different than living in Portland, OR. For example, today, during my first day working at Deseret Book, that famous mormon actor, Kirby something or other, came in and did a signing for a couple of hours. While getting briefed over some procedures by the team lead, the supervisor comes in and goes, "Oh my gosh guys, Kirby so-and-so (I still can't remember his last name) is here!" Then she looks at me and is like, "Are you a Kirby fan?" And I'm like, "Kirby who?" She goes, "Kirby so-and-so...from The Best Two Years and the RM." "OH, I know who you're talking about now," I said. Then she and the rest of the girls in the store proceeded to giggle about him and how they're too nervous to talk to him. Sure, he's in a couple of movies...but it kind of amused me how EXCITED and GA-GA they were over this guy. Of course, I did get a picture with him. I mean, come on, I'm mormon, and he's a famous mormon, so why not? :) I'm happy to report that he's really nice and pretty darn funny. Working in Deseret Book is going to be fun.

Where does 90% my heart belong?

I'm a girl who anticipates. I love to anticipate things and I love having something to anticipate. In fact, sometimes the anticipation of a big event is more fun than the actual event at times. I'm also a girl who MUST have something to work towards in life. I have a hard time just floating along without a purpous. I doubt I'm the only one. I think most people desire some kind of purpose in their lives. So...what is my purpose right now? On the mission, of course we'd teach that our purpose in this life is to prepare to meet God. Well, once we've got that down (or have an understanding of it) then we've got to figure out how to survive during this preparatory state.

Survival. Not my favorite part of life. I'm not a competative girl. Never have been, probably never will be. When someone gets something over me, I usually say "congrats, they deserved it more than I, or Heavenly Father has a different plan for me." Even in games...I enjoy PLAYING the game, not winning the game. I don't have to win to enjoy myself. As long as it's a fun, interesting game, I'm totally fine with not winning. I just like playing...of course, with a winning purpose, but I still have fun if winning is not an option for me. So, this part of life is difficult for me. One where I feel I have to fight to stay above water. Compete for the jobs, compete for the schools, compete for the classes, compete for the guys. NOT MY FAVORITE.

With that said...my love life is, um, dry at the moment. What happened??? Eh...well, nothing in particular. I guess most of my heart just hasn't found its home like it thought it did. Before the mission, I put my heart into school. Then, the mission came, and I put my WHOLE heart into that. When I came home...50% of it was still there, 40% of it was with a sertain somone and the other 10% of it (is the math adding up?) was left with me...in order to stay alive...keep the blood flowing, continue making friends...so on and so forth. Well, more and more time goes by...making the mission more and more of a dream. And, apparently, the sertain someone seems to be trying to hand 40% of my heart back to me. The thing is...I don't really want the 90% back. I feel better about life when I have something to put my heart into. So...WHAT do I put it into right now?

I was not accepted to BYU in Provo. BIG shock. Not really. I didn't really want to go there in the first place, it just would have helped out A LOT with the money situation. I did get accepted to BYU-Idaho for the winter/summer track and I could also go to UVU. At one point in time I had a reason for coming to Utah. Now...I'm not so sure. So, why spend BIG bucks on an education at UVU when I could go back to BYU-Idaho, get on the fast grad program and finnish up in a year? Do I live with the Petersons until the winter? Do I move out in the fall to live with a couple past companions (which I really want to do) for a few months before the winter? That would be fun, but should I spend that money to do that? I just found out that Deseret Book has hired me, but it will probably only be for a part time position. So, should I take some classes in the meantime? Or, should I try to save up as much money as possible before going back to BYU-I? Should I go back to BYU-I? Maybe I am in Utah for a different reason than I thought.... Is 9 months enough time to see if Utah is the place for me? Shall I reside here for now, but have BYU-I in January be my ultimate goal? See...I don't know where my heart belongs. I don't know what to throw myself into. Is social envoronment more important, or is finnishing school in a timely matter more important? Utah=better atmosphere for a single woman my age but longer time and more expensive to finnish school. Idaho=younger, smaller atmosphere...not the best for a 24-year-old returned missionary but faster and less expensive to finnish school. I have nothing to anticipate and not much to work towards right now. My life is very much up in the air. Where does the rest of my heart belong?

Get thee hence, satan!

So, my friends, family, fellow bloggers, and stalkers :)...I'm sick of the world. Who's with me? If you're not with me, then you're against me. I'm on a quoting kick right now...can you name that movie? Beauty and the Beast.

Ok...so, seriously, I'm tired of satan. I'm sorry, I can't capitalize his name because I just don't believe he deserves it. So, there ya go. For those of you who think it's weird that I'm talking about him so casually...well...oh well. It's kind of like Voldemort...he only has power when you give him power. I mean, obviously Voldemort had power, but really he wouldn't have been able to do a whole lot without his followers...when he was nothing but a worm thing. Ok, done with the Harry Potter analogy. Anywho...the reality is, if Jesus Christ is real, which he definately is, then satan is real. And I'm getting just a little sick and tired of him. Ok, REALLY sick and tired of him. Constantly making me feel like I'm not good enough, constantly trying to put doubt and insecurities into my brain. Blah! I'm so sick of it, and I'm not allowing it anymore. I tell you what, the simple primary answers such as "read your scriptures," "say your prayers," "attend your church meetings" yada yada yada...really are TRUE. There's no other way to make satan stay away. I need prayer and scripture study desperately, like a bad sunburn needs Aloe Vera Gel. :) They're so soothing and comforting and make my insecurities and doubts flee.

I love the Gospel. No matter what satan, through the world, does to try and bring down Christ's true church, which holds His true and real Gospel, it just keeps growing and growing. The gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (keeping the commandments and partaking in other sacred ordinances:sacrament and others) is Christ's Gospel. I'm half way there my friends. So, I've just got to keep using faith and repentance to help me endure...and I WILL live forever with my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. They both love me are going to do everything in Their power to help me be with Them again. So I say once more...get thee hence, satan! You've got nothin' on me!