For the love of plays

Oh my goodness!  I just have to share my happiness that I just saw that Hale Center Theater will be doing Father of the Bride and The Sound of Music this spring/summer!  Seriously!  They are two of the best stories/plays/musicals ever!  My hopeless romantic side is soooo excited!  I will be buying tickets soon, very soon.  These are two shows that I can't miss!

I'm in love with love!

Yes, I hate to admit it but it is true...I am a hopeless romantic.  It wasn't until my sister bluntly pointed it out while we were watching The Sound of Music a few months ago that it was brought to my attention.  But I have finally accepted the fact that I am in love with love!  That is exactly why I LOVE Valentine's Day!  Who wouldn't?!  It is an opportunity to let everyone around you know that you love them!  I started preparing for Valentine's a week ago.  Today, while my roommates were not around, I decorated our apartment with 29 hearts with 29 reasons written on them why I love my roommates!  I am sending out a bag full of Valentine's tomorrow!  I made a number of these cupcakes in a jar and delivered them tonight!  It is so much fun to spread the love!  

 Speaking of love, this whole weekend was focused on it!  I attended Beauty and the Beast on Friday night with my roommates.  It was phenomenal!  First of all, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale of all time, and second, I was blown away by the students in high school who pulled this off!  If you have the time, I would totally recommend seeing it!  Here is my cheesy hopeless romantic bit:  I wanted to be Belle and fall in love with the beast!  I wanted to wear her pretty dresses and sing and dance!

 Saturday night I went with Tish, Becca, and eight others to The Slipper and the Rose.  Again, another night of wonderful talent and dreams coming true.  It was great!  And what made it extra special was seeing Sarah Driggs (now Lundskog) after the show!  She was in the musical!  Sarah served in my mission and I haven't seen her since I have been back so that was a special treat!

So after all of this talk about love, I hope that I one day find my prince charming and that we live happily ever after!  I still want to believe that dreams really come true...and not only in fairytales!

Reunited!

It is so fun to be reunited with the fam...even if it is only for a minute!  Yesterday I left school a half an hour early to drive down to Salt Lake.  I had a follow-up appointment with my rheumatologist at 4:30.  My Mom met me at the doctor's office and we went to the appointment together.  Afterward, my sister, Brooke, was so kind to bring her kids and meet us at Cafe Rio!  Carli and Corbin were already there so we had a fun dinner together!  I was sad that my Dad couldn't make it but I got to talk to him as I drove back up to Logan last night so that was good.  On my way back up I made a quick stop at Brandt and Kelly's house in Centerville!  It was so wonderful to see their little boys for just a few minutes!  

 My Mom was so thoughtful and surprised me with a little Valentine treat/gift!  She made this and filed it with the candies.  Isn't it so cute?!  Guess what...the stand is a martini glass!  Cool, huh?!  I love it!  And she also surprised me with supplies to make little Valentine's for my friends.  She is always so thoughtful and kind!

I loved being reunited with them!

It's great to be eight!

This weekend my oldest nephew, Rhett, was baptized.  It was so special!  I am thankful that I was able to be home for the baptism.  He is such a good kid and I am so proud of him!  I made his cake!  It was a lot of fun.  This is how it turned out:

 He told me some of his favorite things and I added them to the cake to make it a little more personal.  Some of the things that Rhett loves are...

 dinosaurs...

 legos...

 smurfs...

 and basketball!

 Rhett was glowing the whole day!  So many people love him and were there to support him!

We love you Rhett!

Then Sings My Soul

As I was driving back up to Logan I had a lot of time to myself to reflect.  Emotions flooded over me as I thought about an excerpt from Preach My Gospel that me and my family had read together before church.  I have read it a million times before but this time it really struck me and got me thinking.  It is from the first chapter under the subtitle, "A Successful Missionary:"

When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself.  

It really hit me that I am often disappointed in myself.  For the first 18 months of my mission I feel like I did my best (not perfect) although I did have some disappointments.  When I think of the last 3 months, I can't help but be a little disappointed in myself.  I didn't do my best, not because I chose not to, but because I physically couldn't.  I can't even tell you how many times I have wondered why.  It is not a why because I don't feel like I should have gotten sick, but rather a why did it have to happen at that time; a time when I wanted so bad to serve so much!  I know that I can't have answers to all of my questions but I don't think that Heavenly Father wants me to continue being disappointed in myself for those last 3 months of my mission.  It should not weigh me down but rather put in me a desire to improve.  It came to me, as I was driving, that I need to retrace all of my steps of deciding to go on a mission and then all of the things that happened on my mission...the miracles, the sorrows, the blessings...everything!  Maybe I could then see the bigger picture and take my focus off of those things that are disappointing to me but that I had no control over.  So tonight, I am going to share why I decided to go on a mission.  I will continue the rest of the story in a later blog post.

When I was 14 I really had my own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  The Atonement meant something to me personally.  I was realizing that as I chose to live the commandments, I was blessed and more happy.  I experienced the joy of service.  I felt promptings come from the Spirit.  I received answers to prayers.  As I started to feel and experience all of these things, my desire to share that joy and happiness with others increased!  At that time, I had a Young Women's leader whose daughter was on a mission.  She would often share her daughter's experiences during lessons on Sunday or at mutual.  That's when I decided that I was going to go on a mission!  I stuck to my decision and did everything I could to prepare for the day I would leave for a year and a half to serve the Lord.  I figured out the day that I could go to my Bishop and start feeling out my papers.  I wanted to get going as soon as possible; however, something didn't feel quite right.  Every time I would think about a mission I would feel a little uneasy.  I tried to ignore those feelings but they kept coming back.  I prayed and pleaded with the Lord to allow me to go but I just had that "stupor of thought."  I did go an visit with my Bishop and we both decided together that I needed to wait until I felt better about things.  That was a test of patience!  I had planned for years to go and I just couldn't understand why I didn't feel good about it but I pressed forward.  I made other plans.  I was deciding between going to Africa or India to do a service trip.  I was going to continue with my schooling.  And even with all of these plans, I could not forget my desire to share the gospel with others as a full time missionary.  The Sunday after my 21st birthday was fast Sunday.  I decided to fast with a purpose; I fasted to receive revelation as to what direction I should go in my life.  I can remember so distinctly in sacrament meeting receiving a strong prompting that it was time to start feeling out my mission papers.  I questioned my feelings wondering how the answer could change so drastically and quickly but I could not deny what I felt.  After church I did a lot of praying and pondering and thinking.  I had received my answer that I was to go on a mission.  I called my parents to let them know how I was feeling.  They were 100% supportive.  That evening, after ward prayer, I talked to my Bishop and told him how I was feeling.  He was also supportive and gave me access to my papers that night.  That was March 29th.  The next day I set up a doctor and dentist appointment and got my papers filled out as much as I could.  On Tuesday I went and did all of my blood work.  On Thursday I had my doctor appointment.  On Friday I had my dentist appointment.  Saturday I took my picture that I would send with my call and by Saturday afternoon everything was completed.  I was in shock!  Everything happened so quickly and seemed to be falling right into place.  My Bishop called me Saturday night to see how things were coming along and when I told him that my papers were finished, he made an appointment with me to meet with him the next night, and then to meet with the Stake president directly afterward.  After my interviews my papers were submitted!  Within exactly a week of deciding to go on a mission I was just waiting for the call.  The call came a week and a half later!  On April 15th we suspected that it might come so my Mom and sister were anxiously watching the mail.  I was in Logan just pacing.  There was so much anticipation!  At around 4 'o clock that afternoon, my call arrived!  I jumped in the car with my roommates and headed home.  All of the extended family came over and I opened the call surrounded by family and friends.  Belgium, Brussels/Netherlands!  It just seemed to fit!  I would enter the MTC on July 15.  I couldn't have been more excited!

It is getting late!  There are so many details I want to share...but that will have to happen another day!  Goodnight!

Dang Paparazzi!

Okay, I have to admit that one of my weaknesses is jewelry!  I just love the stuff!  However, it is rare that I actually buy it.  I usually receive it for birthdays or Christmas.  I guess today was one of those rarities.  One of our neighbors, Clarissa, had a Paparazzi party.  All of the accessories that they sell are $5.50.  They are smart little buggers to put that price on everything!  It automatically sends off a signal in the brain that if you buy something you are getting a great deal!  I definitely think that you can get some great deals and I think that you can also get sucked into their little selling technique.  I am afraid that I got sucked in a little tonight!  But I do have to say that I am pleased with all of the cute things that I found!  I must admit that even though it is cute, it is not the best quality...for crying out loud my earring broke as I took it out of the bag (luckily it was a break that I could fix:)).  I guess that's what I get!

By the way, me and my sisters started a blog yesterday.  We are having a 29 day challenge during the month of February to not wear the same shirt/top twice.  If you want to check it out, click here!

The Things That Keep Me Going

I don't very often find it hard to be motivated to keep going and progressing and getting the things done that I need to.  However, I have learned that it is always fun to have a little something to look forward to!  Like yesterday, with having my first observation and seminar I just kept looking forward to spending time with friends:

Being as tomorrow is Thursday I am really starting to look forward to the weekend.  My oldest nephew, Rhett, is getting baptized on Saturday!  That will be one special occasion!  I get to make his birthday/baptism cake too!  It will also be the first weekend I have been home since Christmas break!  I am excited to see all of my family!

I am also looking forward to the weekend of the 10-12!  I just found out that Steph bought all of us roommates tickets to Beauty and the Beast at Skyview High!  Yay!  Belle is my favorite Disney princess so I am extra excited.  On Saturday I am going to The Slipper and the Rose at the Ellen Eccles Theater with Tish, Becca, and a bunch of her roommates.  Becca has to attend the performance for a college class so she invited us to go with!  I am looking forward to both performances!  Other things I am looking forward to:

• Sunday: I can't wait to go to the church again!  I really missed not being there last Sunday.  
• Temple day: Being able to attend the temple is always a motivation!
• Valentine's Day: No, I do not have one Valentine...I have a million!  I love Valentine's Day because I get to tell everyone in my life how much I love them!
• FHE:  On Monday we are having an Italian dinner with our whole ward.  That is always fun to be together!

Right now I am really just looking forward to sleeping.  Goodnight!