She works hard for the money!

Today at work has been very boring (hence this completely pointless post, feel free to stop reading now if you have a life but I am really bored!). I have actually had quite a bit of work...well more than usual and I got everything done in a very timely fashion, which is great except that most of the day was filled with nonsense. Today I had my laptop with me at work today and I got really bored and started talking pictures of myself...I really am a big dork! lol. This is how I feel about work:

So bored that is the biggest smile I could muster up!

AH!! Let me out of here!Peace out! Please let me leave soon!
And then there is this...this is my whining face...pleading for the day to be over soon!

Moral of the story: I need some excitement in my life! :)

Transformers 2

Last night Bri and I went to see Transformers at the midnight showing. I still haven't really figured out why, we both love the movie but neither of us are DIE HARD fans...we could have actually got sleep last night and seen it today or something. Haha, oh well! It was a REALLY good movie, I loved it!
Funny story: movie theaters are always awkward unless you are the first person there because if you sit right next to someone, sometimes in our society it is just not socially accepted. But we wanted good seats so we got there and there were plenty of open seats but all of the middle ones were taken, everyone knows that the middle is the best. So we went to a row where there were only two boys and they were in the middle but a little off center is ok, better than the far end. So we ask them if they are saving seats and they are (dang it!) but they weren't on the opposite side of them so we went over to the other side. Now I was solely concerned with my seats, the boys weren't horrible looking but I'm just not the type to pick up a boy at the movies. So I sit down right next to the guy (when there are plenty of seats open and I could have sat one seat over) and Bri was definitely shocked by this but just went along because people usually just humor me and my randomness. As soon as I sat down I realized that maybe this was a little awkward because I don't know these boys and this could look like I was interested but I definitely wasn't. Fortunately they were nice, we became pretty good friends after sitting there for and hour and a half waiting for the movie to start. Never found out what their names were but they were fun guys and it was a fun night. However today I am a little bit wiped out! Three hours of sleep just isn't enough! :)

1 year older and wiser too!

This weekend was one for the books! I seriously have the BEST friend in the whole world. She planned this trip for my birthday with some surprises and it was SO much fun. We left on Wednesday morning at about 8 and then got home Sunday night at midnight. It was a long trip and it was exhausting but it was SO much fun.

Day 1 (the birthday day!)
I was under the impression that we were going to California only to be greatly surprised when we stopped in Vegas to stay at a beautiful resort. It's a really funny story because I was pretty oblivious to everything and had no idea this was coming. I also was sort of sick and was not feeling well. I had thrown up the day before we left and was not doing my best. So after we stopped for lunch Bri asked me if I would drive. I sort of felt like dying and driving was the last thing I wanted to do but I really didn't have a choice because she would not ask me to drive unless she really needed me to. So I am fully expecting to have to drive the nest 4 hours to California, but to my GREAT surprise we stopped a short 5 minutes away. We were a little bit off the strip in a really nice family friendly resort. It was so fun. They had 3 different pools and a lazy river. It was fun we hung out there for a little while, went swimming, and then hit the town. We went to check out the outlets and they were pretty sweet but we didn't have much time there. We made reservations for dinner and had to get to them. After a VERY expensive VERY gross dinner we walked down the strip to the fountains at the Bellagio. They were beautiful, we were going to hang out there for a little while but we were both pretty much hating the strip and all of its dirtiness, so we headed back to the hotel.NOTE: when we were at the pool I was not doing so well, my legs were convulsively shaking and I thought I was going to throw up. So there are so cute pictures of me chewing my pepto bismol!

There are some funny pictures in there. Notice in the top left corner there is a picture of Bri and I's reflection while we were riding down an elevator. She apparently was not aware of the picture being taken, she looks very unhappy. She really did have a good time! :)

Also while we were in Vegas there was this hilarious sign in the bathroom. I mean it really wasn't funny at all but I found it quite amusing! It said and I quote "Drinking wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages during pregnancy can cause birth defects". Haha. Only in Vegas are you going to find a sign like that.

Day 2
This day was equally if not more fun than the previous day. We woke up fairly early in the morning and went swimming for a couple hours. Then we had to pack up and be out of our room by noon. We found this super cute little place to eat on the strip called Serendipity 3 (it is very much like the place from the movie serendipity. It is so cute, we have not stopped talking about it since we left! lol. After lunch we headed to Cali (for reals this time). One of our really good friend's family lives in Laguna Hills and he graciously offered his home to us. We were kind of nervous because he wasn't going to be there and we have never met his family but he claimed that "we would never meet a more hospitable people". After meeting them, they were just that. Couldn't have asked for nicer people. So we arrived at their house that evening and then the two of us headed to the beach. It was pretty late so we just sat on the beach by some fire pits and admired the beauty of the ocean for a couple hours.
Day 3 (the beach day!)
This day was great we went to two different beaches, the first one a definite favorite among the both of us. Then we went to see The Proposal, it was good...not great. We both loved the people in the movie but the movie itself was not all it was cracked up to be. And after the movie we went to BJ'S!!!!! It was a very relaxing fun day.

Before viewing these pictures please be aware that not one drop of make up was placed on our faces and we have some SERIOUS beach hair.
Day 4
This was the last real day of our vacation, we went and visited my dad because he just moved down to San Diego and was only about an hour and a half from where we were. This was a depressing day. Not only was it the end, it rained almost all day. We wanted to go rent a jet ski and have some fun but for numerous reasons it ended up not working out. We went to Coronado Island with my dad, step mom, two sisters, and aunt. We spent the better part of the day there. We took a ferry over to San Diego and had lunch on the shore, we then walked around this fun place that had lots of little things to do. Then we went back to his house and hung out there for a while. After we left them we were driving on the freeway and saw the temple so we stopped at took some pictures and then we went to this cute Italian restaurant and headed home.
Day 5
It was the end. We were not ready to go back to Provo and have to work and basically just NOT be at the beach. I am pretty sure we complained about it all the way home too. But we got up in the morning, took our time getting ready, ate breakfast, said goodbye to the family, and were on our way.

It was such a fabulous trip! I wish it wouldn't have ended so soon but I guess it is back to real life now! I have a ton more pictures so if you want to see them click here!

Happy Early Birthday to ME!

My mom sent me a package for my birthday (Wednesday!) and first she told me I could open it whenever I wanted, so that meant the SECOND that I got it haha:) But then she later told me that I had to wait until Tuesday, then when I actually got the package she just couldn't wait for me to open it and told me I could open it sooner! Yay! I opened it last night (all by myself, I was the only one home, it was a little depressing) and it was so great! She is the best! I love her so much. She sent me some pretty great stuff. She got me a super cute shirt and a gift card. There was a card that everyone signed, I loved it. The card cracked me up because Aaron is such a teenager and he thinks he is so funny! Everyone was being so sweet and telling me they missed me and loved me and happy birthday. And he said "everyone is like oh, I miss you. But we just saw you like 2 weeks ago so happy birthday" (or something to that effect). I actually laughed out loud to myself when I read that. Such a brat, but I guess it is true! Haha. There was the cutest confetti in the package and apparently my mom went to a special store to pick that up along with some silly string! I took a couple of pictures of myself, but it was just awkward and I wanted to open it so I didn't take many!Jason painted this super cute monkey for me! I think it is the cutest thing! And it is hanging on my fridge now!

It was a GREAT birthday package, I loved it. This is going to be my first birthday away from my family and it is a little weird but this was a great little birthday away from home! Thanks mom! I love you!

For the Love of Cookies!

My roommate Stephanie works for a company called RISE where she works with foster kids, she is assigned a child and spends time with her. Yesterday they planned on going swimming but the pool they were supposed to go to in Salt Lake kind of fell through so I suggested that they come to our pool at our apartment complex. She thought that was a great idea and was telling me about how she wanted to do more stuff with her here but it so hard because she lives in Salt Lake so that is two trips to Salt Lake in one day. I told her that I would come home from work and measure out stuff to make cookies and have it ready for them when they got back from swimming if she wanted. She was very excited about this and eagerly said she would love that. I didn't get any pictures of us actually making the cookies but I got some set up pictures!
The little girl was so excited to make cookies she thought it was great especially when I told her she could mix it with her hands! We made cookies and at them of course, then they watched some of Hairspray and I went to the gym and then me and Steph took her back home. This little girl was so sweet I can't imagine the life she has had, and despite all of that she was happy, a very typical 11 year old girl (who LOVES Zac Effron lol). She made me SO appreciate my family and all of its dysfunctionalities! So I just want ALL of my family to know how grateful I am for them and that I love them!

APRIL Showers Bring May Flowers

WOW...it is June 11th and it is pouring down rain. I walked(it was more of a run because it was POURING) outside for about 30 seconds and I am VERY wet! I think that is a bit ridiculous. Raining is great but it is summertime...it is time for the weather to start acting like it!

Pedicures and Hot Tubs

Yesterday I finally took FULL advantage of my apartment complex. They offer free pedicures, manicures, hair cuts, and a whole variety of other amenities. I have never taken advantage of this in the almost year that I have lived here. Yesterday I finally did, I went and got a pedicure for free. I think you are technically supposed to tip them BUT I don't usually carry around any cash and I wasn't going to make a special trip to the bank so that I could tip her. Anyways, it was so great, it was a real pedicure and best of all it was absolutely FREE! The only down side was that there was only about 10 choices of nail polish, but it was fine there were some cute ones!

Later last night I decided I wanted to go to the hot tub, which really isn't too surprising because I am a HUGE fan of the hot tub, Bri and I go quite often. However last night was a little different, our hot tub closes at 10pm (which is REALLY lame!) and we weren't home yet and it was 9:40 so there was no way that we were going to make it in time to go to our's. We have been to other complex's hot tubs before (we are hot tub hoppers!) but last night was a night unlike any other! We drove to one complex and it was closed for maintenance (no big deal off to the next), no water in the pool or the spa (not really going to work out, off to the next), about a million people in the hot tub and people waiting outside because there wasn't enough room (off to the next...seriously I thought third time was the charm?!). At this point there is no going home, we have been driving around for 45 minutes and we are not going home dry...that is lame! We finally go to one that we have never been to before but have heard good things about. Finding hot tubs in strang apartment complxes is interesting, you are walking around in your bathing suit aimlessly hoping that you stumble upon a hot tub and OH did we stumble upon a hot tub. There were SO many people there I could not believe it, it was so overwhelming. There was no space but at this point we were not NOT getting in. We brave the overpopulated hot tub, squeeze our way in and ended up having a great time, but it was a TON of work for just a few short minutes in some warm water! :)

Forever Strong!

So last night The Branbury (my apartment complex) had an outdoor movie night. I was not planning on going but my roommate Stephanie was going and so I went with her. I was not expecting much from this movie and I didn't think it would be that fun but there was free pizza and its better than just sitting at home ;) I figured I would fall asleep because that is just what I do in movies, especially when they don't start until 9:30, and I had already fallen asleep on my living room floor earlier in the evening! How I was mistaken! This was SUCH a GREAT movie, I loved it. I pretty much cried through the whole thing, which to me makes it a great movie! It is about rugby, this was the first time I had seen rugby played...it is an intense sport! It is very inspiring! I would definitely recommend it!

Brittany's Brithday Bash!

So my BEST friend/roommate Brianna Haueter is planning a "surprise" trip for me for my birthday which is coming up later this month. Obviously it isn't a TOTAL surprise because I know about it. BUT all I know is when we are going and that we are going somewhere near San Diego. I don't know what we are doing or any of the little details that I REALLY want to know. It is killing me, I am too curious of a person to know just a little bit and not be able to know the whole thing! There are certain things that she says that just kill me and I spend all of my time trying to figure out what they could be and I can't come up with anything.

For example:
My birthday is on a Wednesday and we are leaving Wednesday morning but I am going to get Wednesday off of work so why can't we leave Tuesday evening after work? I just don't know. So I suggest that we leave Tuesday evening thinking that she must have just not thought about it. OH no! That is definitely not the case. There is a specific reason why we are leaving Wednesday morning and not Tuesday night. But it has something to do with Thursday evening and our plans for that day. Oh man! I can't tell you how much it kills me. I try to just not think about it, but let me tell you, it doesn't work! Haha.

I am SOO excited for our trip! I am sure it is going to be awesome and I am sure that I will love that it is a surprise but just knowing that I can't know anything and have to be in the dark about everything might actually kill me! But Bri is such a great friend, I am so grateful for her friendship and that she is doing this for me! It is going to be the best birthday EVER!

FHE funness!

Last night for FHE we played capture the flag and it was a little more difficult that it should have been. Both teams hid the flags a little to hard so we could get to the other side but we could never find the flags...it was just a little ridiculous, and then it just sort of ended but it was really fun. And it started raining about 10 minutes into it so we were all pretty wet it was fun.

After that a guy in my ward had a good idea to go to rock canyon park and slide down the huge hill there because it would be wet and random but really fun! Bri and I were going to go to the gym but we decided that this would be way more fun and we would still get a fairly decent workout! So we headed over! It was so fun! There was a group of about 10 or 15 of us. And we had some sleds and we just went down this hill in a million different ways, we rolled down, we slid down, we surfed down, went on our bellies, etc. It was just a great time. I wish I would have brought my camera to document some of the funny times, but I didn't so you'll just have to take my word for it! It was great!

We were all pretty wet and cold after this so it was off to the hot tub!! When we got there, there were about 30 people in the hot tub, it was so packed, and Bri and I go to the hot tub quite a bit. It is a funny thing because once you go often enough you start to see the same people and make friends. Well I have one friend in there, his name is Tyson, he is pretty much my favorite person because he helps me get up onto the roof to jump off of it (I know mom, I'm sorry, just love me though!). So he happened to be in there last night and I got in, didn't see him because there were so many people but he came up to me and asked if I was going to jump and then I was all excited and asked if he would go with me because I can't really get up well without someone helping me (I know its kind of lame!). And so he thought about it for a while and then was like alright lets go! And so off we went. This was my third time and it was AWESOME! Tyson did some crazy back flip but I just stuck to the straight jumping because I don't really want to break anything! Haha. I also really wish I had that on camera but I don't. Next time for sure!!

Who's on the Lord's sid? Who? NOW is the time to show!

On Sunday in my ward I was assigned to give the spiritual thought during ward prayer and I have not been so nervous in such a long time. I don't know why, it really wasn't a big deal and I had some good stuff to say but I was so nervous it was crazy! But I wanted to share my thoughts on one aspect of this crazy life!

The other night Bri and I were watching X-men (the first one) and if you know me, you know that it is nearly impossible for me to actually stay awake through a whole movie and this was the second time that we had tried to watch it because the first time I had fallen asleep. And it was a close one this second time. But as I was watching the movie in my half sleep stupor I stumbled upon something I found to be inspiring.

And I am not good a movie quotes but the dialogue was between Cyclops and Wolverine and they were talking about the "war" that they were in and Wolverine was just being kind of ornery and Cyclops matter of factly said to him "at least I have chosen a side". That immediately got me thinking that is so applicable to our lives. We need to chose the Lord's side. We need to not be fence sitter, we need give our whole selves to the Lord and trust in Him that He knows what is best for us. We need to share our testimonies and fight for the Lord in all that we do. Then my mind was immediately turned to D&C 58: 26-28

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

It is important to be active in our lives, to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, to know who we are and what we stand for. We need to commit to the Lord and not falter from that commitment.

Earlier that day I was talking to my good friend Callie, who is an EFY counselor right now, she was sharing with me a thought that she shared with her girls and I thought it fit into my thoughts very well.
She is doing EFY at Provo right now and they stay in the dorms but the kitchens are locked so they can't get into them. Well the dorm that they were staying in wasn't locked, and they had been in there and had put something in there. They hadn't made a mess but they were not supposed to be in there. A maintenance man came around and was asking them if they had been in there and some what reprimanding them for doing so. Callie was the one in charge and she had her EFY name tag on. She said that at that moment she wanted to take her name tag off and pretend like she was just one of the girls so that he wouldn't talk to her. She didn't end up doing this and he didn't end up talking to her anyways so all was well. But she applied this to our lives and she shared this with her girls that we can't just take our name tags off when it is convenient for us. We need to be our whole selves all of the time. Ironically the theme for EFY this year is "be thou an example" the scripture that goes with it is 1 Timothy 4:12 (I think this is great inspiration!)

12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in converstaion, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

How great is that?! Be an example. There are so many people in the world that look up to us, that watch us, that notice what we do and how we do it. We need to be an example always. We need to remember the covenants we have made to stand as a witness. It is important!

Sorry if I sounded a little preachy! I just thought it was great and loved it, it is more for myself and me remembering those things but I think sometimes we all need a wake up call!