Infatuations

Today at work, I was sitting and just thinking about stupid things I am completely infatuated with.

First off- farmers/cowboys.

How can this not be your fantasy husband?

I was at the Days of 47 rodeo the other day, and I could not stop staring at all the boys in their cowboy boots and Stetsons. I think a lot of it is that cowboys and farmers in general remind me of my dad, and the stories he'd tell of when he was a teenager and mid 20's. He was truly the Man from Snowy River.... It's just odd to me that such a city girl, like my mom, could fall in love with someone of such a simple and plain lifestyle. Besides their rough, tough manly-ness.. I think the biggest thing that attracts me to these men is their work ethic. I'm pretty sure about 99% of men I date in Utah have less drive than me in life, and a good majority of them are more feminine than me. You may laugh, but it is a very true statement.

Granted, the stereotype of these type of people is very real in some cases, so to avoid finding myself living white trash the rest of my life, I have decided on the following:

Marry a man who grew up or worked on a farm, yet is now a business man. We live on the outskirts of a big town with a lot of land and some animals. What a perfect life that would be... too bad I won't be having that luxury anytime soon... living on a farm..... and especially getting married...

See, look how cute!! :)

Okay, infatuation #2. Hair. I love hair. (That reminds me of that youtube video of "shoes" Sarah, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about hahaha)

Ever since I was young, I have always loved doing people's hair. The first time I did someone's hair for a dance was when I was a freshman in high school, and Christianne was going to homecoming. Well, maybe I was a sophomore. I don't remember. I remember that poor Christianne's hair was a little lopsided, but she just said it looked good and I let her believe it.... I feel bad now though! ha....

The far one was just an updo for a dance, but this one was my favorite I've done on myself.. It was a side pony tail all curled and pinned. The back looked way rad. I was extremely proud of myself for this :)


I would love to learn more ways to do pretty hair! ha

I mostly love up-dos, but I always notice people's hair. I love when boys have a beautifully clean cut look with their hair done nicely, and when girls do their hair all nice when they go out for the night. I know I don't do my hair most of the time, but I still love to actually do hair. Mine and anyone elses. I always wanted to be a beautition, but that idea got shot down real quick from my family. Maybe one day I'll go to beauty school....maybe....

Last infatuation of the day: Peanut Butter. I love everything peanut butter flavored. well anything besides ritz bits. I ate peanut butter m&m's today and my mind was blown away by how such greatness can be packed inside such a small piece of chocolate coated candy. Amazes me.

I also put peanut butter in my protein shakes after my workouts (great shake: EAS chocolate protein, frozen berries from Costco, and Adam's peanut butter. Sounds funny. but it's ridiculously amazing)

I love pure peanut butter sandwiches, and peanut butter cookies.

What would the world be like withouth this tasty substance?! :)

I think that's all for today. I have plenty more, but those are definitely my top three....

Wal-Mart

Yes. It IS as satanic as this picture portrays.

Let the story begin.

It all began when I wanted a cover for my phone. Just one that came with a case and a screen protector. Not too big of a request, right?! Wrong.

I drive to the closest Wal-Mart to my house because clearly I thought it would be the cheapest place to find something a decent price. I found the case I wanted, and checked out and went into my car. I opened my case and it looked as if someone else had already opened this up and had taken the screen protector. I found that very strange, yet I sat in my car and stared at it all for a good ten minutes until I realized that Hello, retard... it's not in there.

I walked out of the car and back into the store. went and got a new case and exchanged it for the old one. Simple enough.

As I was walking back to my car I realized again, Hello, retard! Why didn't I check to make sure there was a screen protector? Of course, as I rummaged through the box yet another time, there was none of the kind. Frustrated and annoyed, I went back to the customer service and had to convince them that I was not going into my car and stealing the covers as I was being accused of time and time again. After much discussion, I was able to get a new cover and this time I opened every box in the store until I found exactly what I needed.

Oh the things I do for this little phone.

So then the next day, I need my oil changed. Why in the world I chose Wal-Mart...don't even ask.

I was told my wait time was 30 mintues. Perfect. I had someone to be in an hour and a half and that would give me plenty of time to get home, change out of work clothes, and drive up to Murray.

45 mintues later, I still hadnt heard them announce my name in the store, so I went to check the status on my car. This was my conversation with the man:

"Is the Nissan ready for pick up?"

"Oh, looks like it will be about 45 minues to an hour longer."

"45 minutes?! I've already been waiting 45 minutes, what is the hold up?"

"We had two cars ahead of you to service."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty positive when I got here, there were no cars in front of me."

"Well, they were emergencies. These customers had to be out of here in a half hour."

"Well are you going to break me a deal and give me some type of discount because I had somewhere to be at 7 and it's already nearly 6:30"

"Unfortuanately, we cannot do that. But we will give you free window wipers and fluid."

"Alright, whatever."

I realized why they had put be behind two cars. That is because the cars were a fetchin 5 series bmw, and a cadillac cts.

No worries though, I got my car at 7:20 and was only about 45 minutes late. No big deal. ha....

I now know why my mother refuses to shop at good ol' Wal-Mart.

Going Home!

I've been counting down the weeks, days, and hours that my flight leaves to go back home for a few days.

Alas the time has finally come! I fly out early tomorrow morning around 6 am and get into spokane at 10. I have one layover in Seattle which is a bummer, but oh well. I'm so excited that I can't even concentrate on work right now (Therefore the reasoning behind blogging ha)

My dad and Chris will be at scout camp so that kind of stinks, but my mom, Ali and Hunter will all be at home. Mom and Alisyn don't know I'm coming home yet. To be honest, I don't think my mom will be too terribly excited, but Alisyn will go CRAZY! I don't care what anyone says, I'm her favorite sibling! :) Gosh I miss my family!

It's kind of funny because my mom and the kids are actually taking a trip to Idaho, Utah and Arizona and they leave while I'm still in Washington! HA. Maybe that'll change when they know I'm coming home?! Who knows- probably not.. but that's okay because they leave sunday and I fly out early monday morning.

I miss my dads huge hugs and corny jokes (I know, I know... I've always admitted to hating those). I miss my mom's FOOD and her cute cute little smile. I miss my siblings for their amazing examples and their humor. I really think I have the funniest family anyone has ever seen. They are hysterical!

ahh yay. I'm coming home!

Friday was most definitely in the top ten happiest moments in my life. ha

I got my teeth FINALLY completed and I now have a beautiful, white porcelain smile. My temporary teeth were in my mouth longer than we all expected due to healing issues with my gums. The teeth would really irritate my gums causing a lot of pain and bruising, and then I would get blood into my temps making my teeth look black and it was just a nasty mess....

I love having veneers. Finally I don't look absolutely ridiculous when I smile.

Other than that, life has been pretty good. I got to go to the cabin with a group of about 13 people this past weekend and we had a blast riding 4-wheelers in the rain and attemting to fish without a pole! :) It was a lot of fun. I think for once, I am actually loving being single. It's nice only having to support myself on my income, and though I should save a whole lot more than I do, I love having the feeling of being able to pay off all my expenses each month and still have a little money for spontaneous outings!

Sarah and Ryan also were down here this weekend but I only saw them for a few hours. They actually were there to greet me after my little surgery on Friday. It was a good surprise that's for sure! They are coming down this coming weekend so that'll be a lot of fun to actually be able to hang out with them for more than just a day.

It's hard for me to be in Utah when I have no family here. I get homesick way too much! I love being independent, don't get me wrong, but living with Megan's family and spending almost every day at the Mickelsen's, I just want to be with my family. I envy those who are close to their family or at least a sibling or too while being in college. I hate having to always travel to see my family but it's definitely always worth it!

Oh- one more thing before I finish... There's a Jr. High near by that I may start being the stunt coach for Cheer. I am SO stoked- I just have to figure out if my work schedule will coincide with their summer practice schedule. I am so excited!!!!

ok. the end.

iPhone

...alright, I did it....







I caved in and bought an iPhone.







It's amazing how worldly pleasures can make me so happy! haha

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

"All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."- Abraham Lincoln

I just wanted to take a few minutes and express openly to my mom my gratitude to her for all she has done for me.

My mom is the one person in my life that I go to for all advice. She knows everything about me, and I am never afraid to tell her anything. I do not believe there is anyone else I have ever come in contact with that supports me more than she does.

I remember since I was a little kid, my mom would always stick up for me whenever I got in an argument with another sibling (ahem, sarah.) Sometimes it would be in my error, yet I still had my mom to back me up :) My mother also has always supported me with my decisions I make. She helped me try out for cheerleading my 8th grade year for my first year in high school. I remember her taking time to teach me to be sharp, and how I can get my jumps higher. She taught me especially how to project my voice. Sarah and I have spent many hours just laughing at her deep manly voice as she always told us that was the key to projection.

I also remember all of her countless hours she spent prepping me for Jr. Miss. She knew exactly how to calm me down, how to boost me up, and patiently watched my dance over and over and over. Following the performance she was more excited than I was that I was in the court, yet she knew what was ahead of her. She was my number one fan through it all! She came to every single parade, and gave me her cute little smile and wave as the float passed by. Coming to those parades took up every single saturday of that summer, yet those 2 mintues watching the float pass by seemed to be enough to justify the long drives often starting before 7 am. On one of these trips, we even experienced Alisyn's first Oreo. Neither one of us realized that she had never had one, but her excitment when eating that "black thing with frosting" as she put it, was something I'll never forget. She is such a sweetheart and is easily pleased :)

Though these experiences I've had with my mom have been great and unforgettable, I cannot and will not deny that the very best memory I have with her is one that will always and forever leave an impact in my life.

My mom has always been sensitive to the spirit and has taught us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot remember when we started this, but she would wake us all up at 5:30 every morning for scripture reading and prayers. We would talk and discuss the doctrines of the Gospel, and along with my father, she would answer many of our questions. Sometimes our questions would be very simple, yet other times they would be very in depth. They both somehow gave us a satisfying answer, and kept us intrigued in what we were learning. I'd be lying if I said I never fell asleep during scripture study, yet sometimes I got away with it as they only cared about Sarah sleeping since it was a daily occurance! ha

I will never be able to fully express my gratitude and love for the most amazing woman I know. She is a hero in my life and I am forever indebted to her for all she has done, or TRIED to do for me in my life! I can be pretty stubborn sometimes, but I definitely get that from her. She is amazing, and truly an angel on Earth! I love her so so so very much! I cannot fathom my life without her! I miss her more than anything, and I'm only 700 miles away.

What a wonderful, beautiful blessing it has been to be born into such a marvelous family!

Trials=Blessings

Some would say that the title of this blog is a complete oxymoron, yet it has been a definite testimony builder for me this past month. To start, the day before graduation, my dead tooth fell out. Yeah- don't know exactly how- but luckily Nichole was at my house and could kinda calm me down and make me laugh at the situation and then help me get to the dentist in one piece. Not only was I toothless, but I had to sing that night at a HUGE school appreciation dinner. Only the most important people who have contributed to the college, along with a few apostles were invited to this dinner. Thankfully, I got a temporary tooth in a little retainer I was able to wear!The next day, my graduation, my cousin, Cameron, passed away due to terrible cancer he'd been fighting for three years. Poor Cam was only 27 and married for two years. That same day I found out that a woman very very close to me that I worked with at the college has an extreme case of cancer that the dr's are very nervous about. A few days later, I totaled my little Mitsubishi while the other guy in the accident only crunched in his headlight and a little dent on the side. I was really angry but what can I do after it's already happened, right?!
At this point I was really upset with where my life was going and was not happy with where I was at. (Now I don't need to be confessing my depressions to you nor do I mean to make you feel bad for me.. this is all going somewhere, I swear.) I got the car stuff figured out and was informed that my insurance would pay for 7 days to rent a car. wow. I started to panic. Car shopping was fun at first, but only having worked at my job for about 2 weeks now, I couldn't get approved for anything.. I mean ANYTHING! I got extremely frustrated.

In the meantime, I went into the dentist again for him to fix my tooth that fell out. He said he would have to give me a veneer for that tooth, yet because it would have to be bridged, I would never be able to get braces. That thought terrified me, but he promply added that he would veneer my crooked tooth on my upper teeth as well. I started to cry to even think about having straight teeth. As I got to the dentist at 12:30 on friday the 24th, I did not anticipate staying there until about 5:45, but I did... and it was all worth it because he ended up giving me a full set of 6 veneers on the top, and they look beautiful! I seriously don't even know how to explain how grateful I am to be able to have a new smile!


A little stress was lifted off my shoulders as I no longer had to worry about my temporary tooth getting all ruined inside it's little retainer, and I had more time to focus on the car. I still couldn't get approved for anything and by this time, I only had 3 days to find a car. I got to talking with a guy my roommate referred me to and somehow I overheard him converse about how he went to his sister in laws nephews funeral in orem and that his family is originally from washington. We got to talking and sure enough, His sister in law is Tammy- who is a Merrill. We talked for a long time about my family, and we formed a little bond I guess you could say. He lowered the price of the car I was looking at significantly and my credit union finally approved me. Yesterday, I got my new car... an 06 Nissan Altima. It is a pretty car- and I'm so glad to finally have something other than my rental!


(That is kind of a cruddy picture of it- but It's a pretty nice little car!)


It's nice to be able to finally look back oh the past events and be appreciative for everything that has gone wrong haha. I don't think I would have ever gotten my teeth fixed, and I know I would have just kept pouring money into my car to make it keep running. How grateful I am for a great paying job that can actually help me not stress about the money going into my new investments! :)

And like Jack Black would say, my life is good...really good!