Summer. It's over. My update.

Hahaha Oh my Goodness! I haven't blogged in FOREVER! Okay...maybe not that long, but its been awhile for sure.

Summer was great. I got to play with my friends, go on awesome dates, and I worked at a job I loved. Let me tell you a little bit about it.

It's an Alzheimer care unit by Lone Peak High School. We only ever had about 8 residents, but I fell in love with each of them and will never forget them! Some days were crazy when I would get hit, threatened with phone calls to the police or hitting, complete nervous breakdowns, and wiggle worms. Some days were more lackadaisical when everyone was calm and happy and the only action I saw was a resident trying to feed her baby doll some of her ice cream. I switched off between Night shift and Swing shift. On swing, I really got to know the residents. Nighttime shifts were always a mystery, but usually not too bad.

One of my favorite residents was named Bill. He passed away mid-summer. It was hard to watch him go downhill. When he was still independent, he would wake up about an hour before my shift was over and just sit with me while I folded laundry. Every morning he told me what a beautiful smile I had. I was the luckiest girl in the world.

I have to say, working in nursing homes and assisted living centers has been a very spiritual experience. Most people think about life, and the miracle of birth, and how beautiful it is. Death is saddening. I am here with good news. Death is not sad. It is its own miracle and it is beautiful. Nothing has strengthened my testimony more than feeling the times when the veil has been so thin that I have felt angels by my side welcoming my newly-made and sadly short-lasted friends. I cannot express the things I have felt whilst dealing with those who have one foot on the other side of this life; it is a spiritual experience. We miss the ones we love, but really, they have not gone far.

In my next update, I will tell you about the fun times I had this summer outside of geriatrics. I went to California in June, I had a temple marathon day (6 temples in one day! Right here in northern UT). My birthday, river rafting, and Harry Potter 7.2. Then back to school, but that will be another post entirely! All my love to everyone!

Mary

Talk About April Showers ;)

Blogger Buddies!

It's April. 3 months and 3 weeks since my last update. (It says December 5th, but really it was near the end of January when that post got posted) Forgive me. As you know, last semester ended well. This semester is ending even better!!! I have all A's and one B+. Which I'm quite mad about because I'm 4 points away from an A in that class, and my professor refused to give me the points. SERIOUSLY?!?!? Yeah. GR! Oh well, I'll live.

Yes, April has been super wet! We actually had snow up until the 15th. When I say snow, I mean it was snowing here in the valleys. Kind of insane!!! Now its been pretty rainy, but it's warming up a lot. I can't wait for summer. Technically, I'm on summer break now! W00T!

So to update you. February flew by in a flash. Matthew turned 23 (AH! We're getting so old...) On the 18th I sang in the Church Music Festival at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was amazing! We were in the old chapel, the acoustics were amazing. We sang all songs that had recently been written or introduced to the church. One of which could quite possibly be listed in new hymn books. The music was truly beautiful. I have a CD of it :)

Valentines Day was on a Monday this year. I drove to Salt Lake where Rhett gave me a bouquet of roses. We went to a fabulous Asian restaurant at the Gateway Mall called Thai-foon. Then we went to Starbucks for caramel apple ciders, then up to the spot where we had our first kiss to watch a movie on his laptop (just like on our 2nd date). We found the place once more after our 2nd date, purely on accident, and I didn't think we'd find it again. So we drove around SLC for a bit... He pretended to be kinda turned around, I was totally lost. Then we "found" it.... He had a big sign on the overlook. And he gave me my real V-day gift. Gold, jewel-studded hoop earrings and a small bottle of my favorite perfume from Victoria's Secret. We watched "How to Train your Dragon." It was an awesome Valentines day. I gave him a bouquet of colorful flowers that I had carefully placed toy racing cars into. The vase was a big bowl full of candy wrapped in pinks, reds, and whites. Complete with small stuffed animal, and a gift card to Sub Zero Ice Cream.

That about sums up February. Good month. On to March... Day one came in like a lamb, day 31 went out like a lion!!! March (and April so far too) has been WINDY! I saw a play here at Weber called "Lion in the Winter." It was like watching a strobe light of personality! It was the most bipolar play I have EVER seen. It's supposedly historically accurate--it's about the story of King Richard the Lion-heart, and Prince John (ya know, Robin Hood...) So apparently King Richard was gay (or bisexual) and Prince John was really a whiny little kid. He was his fathers favorite though. They had one brother between them in age named Jeffrey, but he never got to be anything more than an advisor. Their dad was insane and a pedophile, their mom was manipulative and kept prisoner in her own castle, only allowed out when she had to appear in public with her husband. Yeah, weird play. However March also held Spring Break! Which was so nice. I love going home and playing with my dog.

March 26th I went all the way down to Spanish Fork for the Harri Krishna Festival of Colors!!! BEST party/thing ever! SO much fun! I got plastered with orange and pink :) It took about a week for my hair to lose all the pink tint. Oh, of course we bought and drew henna on ourselves (yes, I went with Rhett). And, being a CNA my henna washed off in less than a week. Oh well! I've decided I really like Buddhist festivals...

So much fun!!!!

Now we're in April. I literally just finished my finals. Today. Less than an hour ago. YAY me!!! The institute's Spring show was last weekend. One by One: To the Rescue. It was one of the most powerful shows I've ever been in! I was so blessed. We sang the Armed Forces Salute. The night that Grandma came, she of course stood up for the navy...and that night only, when we sang the navy song, I felt grandpa there so strongly that I almost couldn't finish the song. The tears welled up. It was amazing. I didn't really feel either of my Williams side grandparents there (though I'm sure they were), but I think I felt grandpa so strongly that one night only cuz grandma was there that night. He misses her I think. After the show, Rhett brought me a box of chocolates from Mrs. Cavanaugh. They were all cremes, no nuts. My favorites!!! He's the best.

I almost forgot about conference being the beginning of this month! It was so good this spring. There were a LOT of talks on getting married :S No pressure, eh? Hahaha... No worries, neither Rhett or I are ready for that yet. There were a lot of other talks too. Most of what stayed with me were talks on how to build good relationships (whether inside, or out of marriage) and talks on tithing. Good reminder to pay that, ya know? Reconfirmed my testimony of what a blessing tithing really is.

So for summer plans... DANNI GIRL!!! I miss her so so so much! I can't wait to spend ALL summer with her. I have a job offer 5 minutes away from my parents house in Alpine. I'll be working graveyards, which is okay I guess. I pray I get the job. I could really use it! Monica is going to Taiwan in June (I'm super jealous), and Steph is staying up here in Ogden to work and help out her sister (who lives 10 minutes away from our apartment). I'll be going to California with Rhetts family in June. I'm way excited for that! We also plan on hitting up lagoon a few times, I'm gonna start voice lessons again if I can, and we want to go hiking a lot this summer! Yay!

The green bow on her collar was so she wouldn't get pinched on St. Patricks Day! :)

Did I mention? I'm walking tomorrow. As in GRADUATION from college!!! I'm only getting my associates of science degree, but still. That was a lot of hard work! :)

Danni is apparently on a new kick where she gets up at 4:30 am to go potty, then hops in bed with everyone in the house :P She has also been burying bones all around the house. Under my dads elbow when he's sitting in his recliner is a frequent spot, under peoples pillows is also frequent, my favorite though has been in my moms purse! Hahaha! She goes to work, reaches in, and pulls out a half-eaten dog bone! I can't wait to see Danni, in case you couldn't tell.

Jeffrey finally wrote me back. A nice long letter. He apparently got food posioning. He eats tons of tomatoes (with salt and oil. On top of everything.) He drew me a map of his sector. He really likes his companion. Erm... yeah. There ya go! He's doing great! :) He seemed happy to hear from me, so that's good. Rachel has been in sketchy parts of town, and had cops approach her to tell her she shouldn't be there, but apparently that's where her and her companion are finding the most success. Hahaha. She's crazy. I miss her. They're also going to baptize an investigator named Mary. That was sweet to hear. So that's the dealio with my missionaries. Oh, Ashton Hironaka just went out to Missouri too, so I need to write him soon!

Okay, I'll be done now. Unitl next time!

Peace Out!

Tink

In the dead of winter, comes the light of hope...

My dear blogging friends. I have missed you.

You have probably missed me more...but not really.

SO much has happened since I've last blogged! Goodness where to start?!

Yeah, I know I have a cheesey title to this post. Get over it.

Hum hum hum. I got a job!!! Yay me! I work at Washington Terrace Health and Rehab. It's part nursing home and hospice, part rehabilitation center. I'm able to use my CNA and it's the best job I could've asked for. It pays well, the shifts go by fast, the residents are so sweet, and most of my coworkers are extremely helpful and nice. I am so blessed. I do tend to work a lot of holidays though, but I guess that just comes with the job. It's not so bad.

Of course we took our Fall vacation in October with the whole family to Yellowstone this year. So much fun! :) I always enjoy the cabin. Yellowstone is as beautiful as ever.

School is going great! I passed all my finals last semester. Got a 3.01 average, not bad, not great, but not bad. Especially since I took Math, Chemistry, and Anatomy all at the same time. I was also sick as a dog over finals week, which was also the week that we had our big chorale performance. It was awful!!! I had to suck a cough drop on stage (shhh... don't tell my director!) However, I also had it real good that week cuz my boyfriend (yes, boyfriend, I'll get to that later) brought me flowers, soup, stuff to make lemon tea with, and bought me my most favorite dinner ever from Golden Jade on performance night. He's the best!

Now how he came to be was a funny story. Rhett is my brothers really good friend, neither of us thought much of the other our whole time knowing each other (since 7th grade for me, 9th for him). Over the summer, we swapped numbers to set up a time for a group of our friends to go see a movie. So we started texting, IM-ing on facebook, then I went to his apartment to go chill with him and ended up inviting him up to Ogden. At which point I guess he asked Matt if it was okay that he took me on a date. Matt was chill with it... Our first date was the Saturday before Jeffrey left. He also kind of had his arm around me while we were watching Pride and Prejudice that night (we also went to see Flo, the ghost, and went ice skating, and out to dinner). So that's the story of Rhett. We hung out at my house the next weekend (which happened to be conference weekend) and that's where the cuddling really began. The Friday after that, he took me on a date in Salt Lake and that's where he kissed me! Yeah, we moved pretty fast, but it felt pretty natural. That date we went to the Zoo! Way Awesome :)

For Halloween, we dressed up as Penny and Dr. Horrible, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Video Blog! It was the greatest costume idea ever! :D I couldn't help myself...I turned Danni into a hot-dog... Hehehehehe!

Over Thanksgiving, there was a HUGE snowstorm that hit Ogden, we literally duct-taped ourselves inside the house. There's towels and rags lining every window (of course, they're all single-paned) and the door was what we duct-taped because there's a gap in it that was very, very drafty. We stayed warm though! We also got about 8 inches of snow in under 4 hours :) Needless to say, it was AWESOME!

Christmas this year was small, but nice. I got a lot of the stuff I asked for/needed. I also got a hair cut! It's 6 inches shorter now! It is so so so so so cute!!! AND...It was Danni Girls second Christmas with us! She turned 3 on December 7th. I couldn't be happier to have her! She brings so much joy into our house, I don't know how she does it being so small and all. I just LOOOOOOOVE her!!! Who else do I love? My bestie Bethany! She came home for the holidays. She got tickets to the David Archuletta concert and invited me! It was so amazing. That boy is so talented. Plus, it was with Mormon Tabernacle Choir and all the wonderful Christmas music. Definitely a highlight of the year :)

(That's less than half my hair on the floor there :P)

So Danni gets in moods... We started them when we gave her a choice of milk-bone (there's 5 flavors) by laying all 5 out, she'd sniff them all, then hurry and pick the one she wanted and run off to eat it. Now, we'll hold two chew toys out for her and she'll literally shake her little head at the one she doesn't want (if she does want it she jump up and grab it from you). It's hilarious!!! I've never seen anything like it! She taps her front paws when she's feeling impatient, and if you don't give her enough attention, she'll do a half-bark kind of thing. Its funny. She's so short! Oh!!! And she's learning tricks. She knows "dead dog," roll over, sit, up, down, crawl on your belly, go in circles, jump over my legs, shake, and we're teaching her more. She's so smart! :D

As for Jeff, he's in Chile now. I haven't heard from him in awhile (probably because I haven't written him in awhile) so hopefully I'll get a letter soon! If not for Rhett, I'd be a very bitter woman this season... Jeff keeps switching between my good side, then my bad side. Right now he's on my good side. Let's hope it stays that way, eh? Then I don't have to stress about any of that stupidity. Haha that sounded mean. We love Jeff, we do. The last I did hear, he loves being a missionary! Yay!

Another missionary who's out is Rachel Morrell. I miss her so much. I write her all the time! Well, not all the time, but way more than I write Jeff. She's doing so well. She loves her mission (Kirtland, Ohio). Her companion is awesome, she runs into one of Matt's girlfriends who got sent there, Dani Talbot, quite often. I love getting her letters! I'll keep you updated about her too, if I can :)

So my car has had massive problems, but luckily, my dad took a job up here in Ogden for the IRS and has been able to help me out when I get stuck in the Smith's grocery store parking lot... Now it's fixed, and should be running real good for a real long time! Boy was that an adventure getting it fixed. 2 major problems in the last 2 months. I think my car is fine now though. We're going to do a check up in 6 months just to keep up on it. So yay!

Steph's brother, Tom, sucessfully got married in January. Monica celebrated her 25th birthday, and a day later I turned 20 and a half ;) I also had my first New Years kiss this year. That was fun. We gave Danni some sparkling cider to try, she wasn't sure what to think... haha! Hilarious!

There's the update through New Years. Now I'm into the 4th week of this new semester. It's been way super crazy! (Crazy enough that I almost told Rhett we were breaking up...) 17.5 credits, and working 25 hours a week. I have no clue how I do it all. Well I do, I just don't get any sleep... Which is bad, cuz now I'm getting old enough to where I'm not functioning on such a lack of sleep. Oh high school days, where did you go? Not that I miss you... Just miss functioning on little to no sleep. Haha! I'm taking a Political Science class, Child and Family Studies, Library Science, Theater, Intro to Visual Arts, Medical Terminology, a Jogging class (just to keep me active) and then I'll be testing out of 1.5 credits of computer literacy. I do still attend institute, and what a blessing it is to have it in my life! I'm participating in the Choir, we just sang at a satellite broadcast fireside with Elder Christofferson, and I'm in a Teachings of Luke class. It's amazing to learn about the Savior in his own time. It really brings me closer to Him.

At the fireside we sang at, there were 2 songs. One was "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" the other, "Be Thou My Vision." It's an old Irish hymn translated to English. It's one of the most beautiful pieces I've done! We get to sing it again for the Church Music Festival on Temple Square. That will be February 18th. We have a GREAT selection of songs that haven't been sung before which we will be performing for the church! I'm so excited!

Well, I finally did my update! Sorry that took soooooooo long! I'll try to do better, but no promises with how crazy this semester is going to be. All my love!

Tink

Fall And All That Comes With It

I'm baaaaaaack! ;)

Haha so can I just say how good it feels to change into gym shorts after wearing spandex all day? Not that I mind my spandex, but my legs feel like they can breathe now.

So I have to admit, I've had this obsession with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I looked it up with Steph, cuz she's never seen it before, then the music got stuck in my head. So I now have the soundtrack and I love it. Though it's still stuck in my head, its been better. hahah For those of you who haven't seen it, look it up on Youtube. It comes in 3 Acts, and there's 2 parts per act.

My room here in Ogden is looking beautiful! :) I couldn't love it more. It's been known to some people as the harem. Two walls are curtained from ceiling to floor, plus the curtains around my 4-poster bed, and a fireplace. Others have said it looks like a princesses room. I have to agree. I have all my pictures up and everything is organized.

My homework load is awful, and I'm still looking for a job... Though that doesn't take away from how much I love living here! My roommies have been awesome, too! Yesterday was Steph's birthday so we made a little cake :) Monica has some of the best stories when she gets home from school (being a teacher and all). Poor girl has to stay at the school today for PTC (Parent Teacher Conference), man I'm glad I'm done with those. Anywho. We are having a blast! Every Tuesday and Thursday nights we have a roommate dinner together. When that happens, we eat really well. Otherwise I'm living off of ramen, soups, the occasional sandwich, and tuna helper. Hahaha! I also have fruits and veggies to go with it, so no worries. I eat all healthy-like.

Rachel is now in the MTC. I wrote her a letter the other day, I hope she gets it!

I'll let you know when she responds. Jeff goes in tomorrow, so that'll be fun. I've discovered the dearelder.com thing... It's wonderful, I don't have to buy a stamp the whole time they're in the MTC! I'm a little bit cheap like that... ;)

This was at her farewell. The yellow wrap/scarf/thing I'm wearing, she picked out for me while she was living in Iraq this summer! Yeah, we're pretty much besties! :) I miss that girl...

Well, I'm just about done with my first round of exams this semester. Chemistry was only ok, but I learned what I need to do to get better for that one, so I should be just fine. Math exam I is tomorrow... Wish me luck!!! As for anatomy... I took the first exam and got an 86% which is pretty good. Then I got an email that night saying that my test got regraded and my score went up to 90%. I was stoked!!! The NEXT day I got yet another email saying one of the questions was bogus, and my score went up to a 92%!!! That was a good day :) That's school for the moment...

I went on a date on Saturday (I didn't know it was a date until halfway through it, but it's good, cuz I should be going on dates, not just hanging out). It was pretty awesome. I took him to the Golden Jade (my most favorite Chinese restaurant in Ogden!) and we went to the planetarium, wandered around the tailgate party that was going on that day, then we went ice skating! It was a blast. After that we did dinner at my apartment (some Hungarian chicken and noodle recipe). Of course we had to go see Flo... Have I not told you about Flo? Well the story goes...

Florence was a 15 year old girl who fell in love with her 18 year old boyfriend. Her father disapproved heartily, and tried to keep them separated. So her boyfriend told her to run away with him. The plan was he would park at the top of her street at midnight and flash his lights 3 times. Well, Flo was running late and thought she saw his lights flash, so she went running out into the road. At that moment a drunk driver hit her and she was instantly killed. To this day, if you go to her gravestone and flash your lights three times, her ghost will appear and walk out into the road, thinking you're her boyfriend, come at last to take her away.

The moon was too bright. She didn't show up for our date. However, I went earlier this year with Monica and Steph, and she did show up. Legend says she's a greenish glow, but it's really closer to a blue :) hahahaha. Oh the stupid things we think to do!

It would have been cool if she had come out... The day before that (Friday) was opening day 0f Frightmares at Lagoon! I got to go with another one of my friends :) There were NO lines to ANY of the rides!!! It was AMAZING!!! (This includes Wicked, Samurai, the Rocket, Colossus, etc.) We went on a lot of the rides twice, just cuz we could. The moon was almost full, and their theme this year is more vampire-ish, and I thought they needed more were-creatures. So coming into the station of the Roller Coaster, I pointed out the moon being full and howled really loud... I got a lot of laughs and people telling me to do it again. Tehehee.

Oh and earlier this month, we all went up to Stephs cabin at bear lake. Hilarious!!! It was so much fun!!! Steph's brother Tom is engaged, did I tell you? He's been home from his mission for 3 months. Yeah. Crazy. The date is January 11th. The girl is still in California (he met her there while on his mission). So my time at bear lake was my first time on a speed boat. We had a water weenie, and Monica can wakeboard!!! It was stinking hilarious! I got to kayak for a bit too, which I loved, but it was windy and kept pushing us back :P

Here we are at the cabin, falling asleep ;) haha it was fun!

Hum hum hum. That's all I can think of to really update you on. I'll try to be better about that haha. Have a good week :) Pray for me! Much love to all.

Peace!

Mar

Dachshund photos :) I miss my Danni Girl so much!!!

Back to Blogging

Well hi there, friends!

Yes, it's true, I'm back to blogging. School has started up again, summer is over, so I think I'll actually have stuff to write about. Yay!

I have two really awesome roommates. Stephanie is the first one, I've known her for like, ever. She's finally graduated high school and has moved up to the college world. Monica is our other roommate. She has graduated college and is now teaching English at a near by middle school. The three of us live in a HUGE apartment right next to my last apartment. So far it's been really good.

My classes are History, Chemistry (online, bugger), Math 1040 (haha yeah, didn't do so well in my last stats class, I guess that's what happens when you don't show up), Jazz Dance I (for funness, right? It's awesome), and Anatomy (yes, I'm retaking it for a better grade... Pray for me on this one). I also have an Old Testament class at institute that will cover a good part of Kings through Malachi. So far things are looking up, I'm just waiting for the last of my textbooks to arrive so I can start studying. Ugh, studying, how I hate it so. I also have to find a part-time job here real quick, otherwise I'll be outta luck. And money.

Today was only day two of school. I'm pretty tired, but I've been getting to bed earlier each night! My classes start at 8:30 am, which means I have to leave by 8:00 to catch the shuttle to school, which means I have to get up at 7:30. Joy. I do have chorale to look forward to on Wednesday evenings :) Then when it's over at 9, I'll go home and go to bed. Do you know the last time I was in bed before midnight? Yeah, neither do I. hahahaha!

So the rest of summer was pretty ridiculous. I just worked and worked and worked. The last 2 weeks of my job, I was called "Rachel" more often than "Mary" by the customers who came in. Cuz Rach usually lives at the shop, but so was I, and I guess we're starting to look alike... Anywho, twas kinda funny.

Speaking of Rachel's... Ray (Morelle, my best friend up here in Ogden last semester) is leaving on a mission September 15th!!! She was living in Iraq all summer, you know? When she came back, she brought me the most BEAUTIFUL scarf (head wrap) from there! It's yellow and black... I wore it to her farewell as a sort of scarf... Man it looks so pretty! She was happy to see it on me too, I think :) We will miss her for all 18 months she's gone. I promised to wait for her (she has to be in my wedding line, you see), and I'm totally gonna write her, so I'll keep you updated on how she's doing as well.

I can't really think of anything else right now. So I'll leave you with this blog and I'll be writing again soon! XOXO

Tink

JULY!!!

Ahoy there, folks!

July was the most AWESOME month, and I haven't written a thing about it yet! Oh No!!!

Well of course, the last day of June my Aunt Ginger comes and brings Randi and we just had a grand old time! On the 1st of July we went to the Kennecott Copper Mines here in Bingham. It's really quite amazing to see what they've done to the land and how everything works. (I found out that it's a very environmentally friendly mine.) It was dad's first time ever going. He enjoyed himself a lot :) Everything he looked at, he would go off about it from an engineering perspective, which was pretty cool, too. We had our 4th of July BBQ on the 3rd cuz the 4th was on a Sunday this year. Of course it was the bomb!!! Good food, good company, all around a great day. Especially going off to light our illegal fireworks we got from the Chinese kids who work next door to Sub Zero :) We'd drive to an empty parking lot, light one off, then drive away real fast! Hahaha it was great! While GG was here we also got to go to the Gardener Village in SLC (at 7200 S. I believe). It was a fun time. Good shopping and good food and of course good company (I do so love being with my family). She and Randi left on the 7th. We miss them! Also on the 7th though I drove up to Paris, Idaho with mom and dad after dropping those two off at the airport. We stopped by bear lake and drove home just in time for me to pick up a pizza and go to girls night!!!

Girls night at Sub Zero was so fun!!! We had pizza and drinks and music and p.j.'s and everything in between! We watched New Moon (Laykn had never seen it before, and Eclipse had come out in theaters the week before). Then we each grabbed a couch and slept over! It was pretty awesome :) The next big event would be my birthday...

We had planned on going up to Park City to go shopping, but mom got really sick that weekend! :( It was AWFUL! I've never seen her so sick. She did take me out to lunch at China Isle where I got my favorite, Mango Shrimp :) Then she gave me $50 to go out and shop with Beth. We spent most of our time at Rue 21. My favorite clothing store! Beth was awesome to shop with the whole day. That night we had some cake and some singing (and Rachel picking on Matt for a bite of his food, he was not happy about that). Overall, good day! Two days later we took Steph apartment shopping in Ogden. I have the greatest place!!! It's in the Christopher Village apartments, it's huge, it has a pool, and its quite, and very close to campus. I couldn't be happier. We have a 3rd roommate named Monica, but I'll get to those stories later.

Friday the 16th I got my wisdom teeth out. I looked like a chipmunk on botox according to Rachel. I woke up humming. Don't ask me why, but I was humming quietly to myself for the next 2 hours. I wouldn't even stop to talk to people, I just gave hand signals haha. Thumbs up or down. The nurses were very tolerant. On Sunday I made my mom give me bites of the steak they were having for dinner. Yum! For the most part though, I lived on mashed potatoes, pudding, soup (LOTS of soup), spaghetti-o's, and apple sauce. I lost some weight out of it, so I guess that's good? Monday I went to see the Wizard of OZ because my friends Melissa and Camille were in it! They did so so so so so so so good!!! Melissa was Glinda, and Camille was Dorothy. Isn't that perfect? It was wonderful, and so much fun to watch. I was back to work by the next Wednesday and Thursday was Chloe Flathers (now Chloe Garfields) wedding. What a great wedding! It was pretty much my dream wedding. They had the white tent set up beautifully in their backyard (I never really liked the idea of the tents, but it was gorgeous!), tables set up everywhere with good food and gorgeous bridals, a pool with running water (for background noise, maybe?), and a dance floor. The environment of the whole place was just fun! Everything was gorgeous and well put together. Of course it was, it's Chloe after all.

Want to hear my funny stories? I had also spent the last part of that week looking for a 3rd roommate. On the ad I put "STRONG LDS standards." Just like that, all caps. The first girl we met wasn't Mormon, but "lived by the standards." She was super nice, but dressed like a non-mormon. The next girl wasn't an active Mormon (I have serious reservations there, those ones are more likely to rebel against or not respect our standards). The 3rd girl was Monica, whom I adore! She's like 5' flat, or shorter, has red hair, is modest and cute. I felt so good about her. She was very confident and so sweet. The last girl I met was very presumptuous. We drove an hour and a half to meet her in Scipio, when she called and asked us to meet her in Aurora (another half hour down the road) so we did. She was coming from Richfield so the drive for her was about 20 minutes. She came with two boys she had met that day on the lake, and a girlfriend she met in May. We texted quite a bit before meeting and she said she was VERY active in the church. As we talked, she referenced a lot to her singles ward and her friends missions, etc. However, she came in a low-cut tank top and shorts (granted, they were bermuda shorts and very appropriate). My mom tried to think leniently because they had just come from a day at the lake, but the vibe from her was wrong. She was nice enough, but she didn't have enough common sense to think that other people might be looking at the room. She also seemed kind of spoiled. So all the next day she bugged me about if she was getting the room or not and I finally said sorry but no. I tried to be gracious about it. Her reply was "Well thanks for wasting my time. Bye. :)" I was so miffed. It just confirmed my choice. If I had chosen her and any sort of conflict arose in the apartment, that's the type of crap she'd give us. Nothing is ever going to be her fault. I drove 4 hours round trip to meet her and I didn't complain about her wasting MY time! Inconsiderate... I'm sorry, I'll be nice now. SO... Monica is who we chose. She's 24 and a teacher at Morgan Jr High School. She teaches English, and is 2 credits away from being able to teach French. She loves to cook (her favorite food is Thai :S She says it's just for the curry, not the peanuts, so no problems there, eh?).

Last Sunday I went to Bethany and Sarah's ward :) (They moved out to Provo together this summer! Fun!) Afterwards, they made me and Darcy Alfredo Tortellini. YUM! I've decided I want to put together a cook book for us college girls of things that are quick, easy, and nutritious. As well as things that don't require a lot of specific shopping, but more of general staples. Tuesday morning Darcy took me to the Temple. I did baptisms for the dead for some Hungarian girls from the 1840's and 50's. I don't know about the confirmations I was doing, but they were foreign names. My guess was Finnish, but they could've been Hungarian as well.

On Thursday I partied! I picked up Sarah and Bethany, telling Sarah we were taking them out to dinner. She thought we were going to SLC, but I kept driving and we went to Park City instead! She was so confused!!! At the hotel, I gave her a birthday card from her mom. Enclosed was $200 and a note saying happy surprise birthday, I'm treating you to a girls retreat! She had paid for a hotel room (which Darcy went up earlier to decorate) and Sarah was SO SURPRISED! We went to a fancy Italian restaurant for dinner, where it was $20/plate and they gave you half the amount of food than at a normal restaurant. It was good though. Then we wandered main street just talking and laughing and looking in shops. We met Summer Saunders! (If that's her correct last name...?) She was the Olympic Gold medalist for America in Swimming for the summer Olympics and she was on last season of Celebrity Apprentice! Sarah got a picture with her, she was very gracious :) AH! Awesome! So we went back to the hotel (after an adventure to find an open wal-mart... don't ask. haha.) and had ice cream cake and played Pit and watched P.S. I Love You. I've never seen it before now, and it was adorable!!! In the morning we ate breakfast, checked out and headed to the Alpine Slide and Coaster. (I still haven't ridden the Zip Line.) The Coaster was WAY fun!!! It's like the slide, but your strapped in so you can go as fast as you want!!! WOO!!! We headed back to Park City Main Street for some more shopping (I love the Olive and Tweed store!) and I bought the best caramel apple ever! It was a fresh green apple, dipped in caramel, dipped in mini M&M's!!! YUM! Then we went to the outlets, bought tons of new clothes :) and then headed home. Overall, great trip! Loved it :) And I think Sarah did too!

So now I'm home after a long day of work. The Rasmussen's are coming over after church tomorrow to celebrate dad's birthday and mine (they were in Arkansas for mine). So that should be fun :) July just flew, and I already have so many plans for August! Keep an eye on the 14th, cuz I'm moving back out, baby! I'm sorry I haven't updated more... Which means this post is way too long. I've been so busy! What a fun month! Now it's August (technically). Jessica's baby boy is due December 9th, so I guess we'll wait and see what happens there. Matthew moved out to Provo finally with some friends. He's happy. He has a great apartment too! I'm excited for him. So there's the newest news. Until next time, my friends!

Peace Out!

Tinkerbell

Summertime! It's a Bright Future!

Greetings!!!

Good news! The Water gardens Cinemark in P.G. is now a $3 theater! Think of all the shows I can see that I've missed before :) I'm quite happy... Speaking of which, there are so many new movies out to see right now! The Killers, Toy Story 3, Karate Kid, The A-Team, etc. And more to come! Rachel is taking me to see Eclipse when it comes out too. The Last Airbender is coming out soon so Alisha will take me to that one. I'm so excited!!!

I'm sorry I waited so long to update here... My little nephew (who really isn't so little) is now married. It all pulled together really well despite all the disagreements and upsets and miscommunication's. They are now moved down to Arizona to the military base there. It was a pretty fun wedding and ended up looking really nice despite having to have moved it indoors the night before. Yeah, CRAZY! Her colors were black, teal, hot pink, and orange. Her dress was super poofy, he wore his dress blues and his grin literally went from ear to ear. That was the best part of the wedding... Watching his face when he saw Elise that is. The whole day was good. I caught the bouquet! HAHAHA!!! Any bets on how soon I'll be married? ;)

My car got to be the sign bearer! I know, awesome, right?! Hahaha :) There ya go.

So there's my nephew Chris and myself. I was so happy for him! (Note: In this picture, I'm wearing my 4" stilettos!!! Chris is sooooo tall!)

Kissing his bride!!! How neat :) It was quite beautiful.

The next day was so lazy. No one in my family went to church, sadly. We were too exhausted. I was able to hit my good friends house for his farewell party though. Elder Tanner Spear departed for the MTC that Wednesday. He's off to New York! There's one more missionary I'll be meaning to write forever and prolly won't get around to it very often... He will be missed greatly. Tanner is amazing! We're super excited for him though! Also moving away, Bethany and Sarah! They moved to Provo together for the summer. The bums! Now who am I supposed to play with?! Hahaha I'll be in Provo a lot this summer :) No worries, I'm not stalking anyone at the MTC. As far as you know anyways... ;)

Other than that I've been working, and working some more... I have another consult about my wisdom teeth tomorrow. Wish me luck! They may come out within the next month.

Fathers day was so beautiful outside! It was our friends the Buchanan's farewell that day. They're going on a temple mission to Manhattan. Anywho, I got my dad 2 western books for his gift. I hope he likes them, the author is still alive... He usually reads books written by dead guys ;) hahaha We like to tease him about his age.

Today was my parents 26th anniversary. They took me on their date to Red Lobster. Hahaha. It was good though. I'm glad they're still together and happy and willing to take me with them on their dates. The waitress kept calling me "sweetie". I was about ready to start saying "thank you, dear" to everything she said, but I was nice. No one has called me sweetie that many times in such a short period of time...

Every day brings us closer to our big Celebration... You know what that is... The 4th of JULY!!!!!! WOOOOO!!!! Aunt GG is coming back up with Randi :) I'm so excited to have them here again! And I'm just as excited for that Bar-Bee-Que!!! Oh YUMMY!!! It'll be Danni's first 4th of July with us!

Funny thing, we were all thinking about all the things we do for our dog. All the things we let her get away with... Even with her own children, my mom was never so relaxed and tolerant about things like this. She's getting better as she gets older. Honestly though, Blue was never allowed on a bed, he was bathed maybe once a year, he stayed outside a lot... Danni gets to leave her toys on the couch (when we were young, that was a crime), she gets to eat on the couch, sleep in whoever's bed she wants to, go in or out, she's bathed about once a week, the list goes on and on!!! We love her though! She deserves all this good treatment. She's got a different personality than Blue did, so I guess in his own way Blue was spoiled too. He was happy at least! Danni is now too :)

Well this week will be busy. I have to go apartment hunting up in Ogden again this week, but I'm looking for 2 rooms now :) Yep, Stephanie is moving up there with me!!! Yay!!! Maybe she can help me get to bed early... er... hahahaha. I'm insane and took an 8:30 class Monday, Wed, and Fri cuz I really needed the class and that was the ONLY stinking time available. So there. Pray for me!!!

Much love!

Tink