President Gordon B. Hinckley

I will miss you...you were an incredible prophet!

I can just imagine Pres. Hinckley's cute little wave as he entered the gates of heaven today. I envision cartwheels and dancing, singing and waltzing about as he greeted his wife. Sadness and joy are the two emotions I'm feeling. I'm sad to see such an amazing man of such wisdom and strength leave us. He was an inspiring prophet who gave so much to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His grin and his high energy empowered me. His book "Stand a Little Taller" has been a daily reminder of his great love of the gospel and has impacted my day to day living. I also feel joy...he no longer has to suffer the pains of the world. He is with his sweet wife and many other great and noble people now:). Goodbye President Hinckley.

"Online." --Brad Paisley "If you’re going through hell." --Rodney Atkins!

This past Thursday my sis, Leslee and I hopped on trax and headed down town to the Brad Pasiley concert! What a thrill! I loved it all! I’m not usually big on loud music and crazy people, but I LOVED this! All of the songs were great. The show opened with Rodney Atkins….who I would have to say, is one of my new favorites! Well there you have it, I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC! I’m not going to lie, I’m afraid of the wrath I’ll get from some of my friends….wow, I’m admitting this to the world, but I do…I love country!

What a quiz thinks about me....

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's Your Personality Type?

So I don't know if I agree with all of these...I agree that I'm a people person, but irreverent and unimpressed by rules...I don't know about that, I think I'm a rule follower who has opinion. And in love, a charmer???? interesting...I am willing to risk my heart and I agree that I don't follow through with my flirting (I don't know if I know how to, lol!)....this was an interesting quiz. If any of you decide to take this quiz, let me know, I want to see how you fare.

I also took a Quiz called, "What kind of mother are you?" Now I know I'm not a mother yet, but I was interested to know what "they" whoever "they" is, had to say about it, haha.

Mom Quiz

Your quiz score makes you: Smarty Pants Mom

Smart parents like you have smart kids. They need plenty of intellectual stimulation and you provide them with all they need, plus lots of love. You know how to help them with algebra homework, and you are superior at kissing boo-boos.

--Wow, if that's what kind of mom I'm going to be, bring it on!

Gotta GO, Gotta GO, Gotta GO Right NOW!

Have you ever had to go to the bathroom so bad that you suddenly realized you were making whimpering noises? And then as soon as you got to your destination, you bolted out of the car, ran as fast as you could to your house and as you were running, lost your cell phone in the snow, but still had to go sooooo bad that you left it for the cold? Well, if you haven’t, DON’T! It’s quite the traumatic experience! That’s what happened me as I got home from my trip.

I went to Idaho this weekend to visit my BFF Kristy! Kristy and I have been friends for 21 years now! My sister came up with me and we jammed out to country music the whole way up! Some of the highlights from the trip:

DISCOUNT MOVIES! Everybody loves a good deal right? Right☺! We went and saw Enchanted. I had never seen the previews…I had heard from a girl in my singles ward that it was a good movie. So the movie begins and I quickly realize that it’s an animated movie…I began to worry…nothing against animated movies, I actually like a lot of animated movies, I just usually wait ‘til they come out on DVD, unless they’re a "must see." This movie seemed a bit too kiddy friendly and a little over the top especially the theme song entitled “A True Loves Kiss” ☺. But then animated characters turned into humans, it was still a bit corny, but I do fall for romance in any form, ha-ha. (I’m a hopeless romantic, what can I say☺)

OLIVE GARDEN! Kristy’s husband Mike is a manager at Olive Garden. I ordered “The Tour of Italy.” It was so expensive! I felt slightly guilty…we even ordered an appetizer! And sadly, NO DESSERT! This whole no sweets for 6 months is hard! I have to keep reminding myself that dessert will never desert me…I just can’t have it right now☺.

GAMES! We played a lot of games this weekend! We played, Egyptian Rat Screw (I’m horrible at this game!), Nibs, Dominos, Apples to Apples, and Imaginiff. I found out that I’m horrible at card games! At one point in our game playing my sister said to me “If I had your brain, I would be so frustrated!” I tend to over-think and overanalyze, I try to use the best strategies☺.

POT ROAST! We made a pot roast in the crock pot! Mom you would be so proud of me! I can now cook in a Dutch Oven and in a Crock Pot! Here are some pics of the process….(you must always brown the roast first, daddy taught me well! Oh, and always use the drippings from the raost in your gravy, yum, yum!)

Left: Sautéing the Onions---------- Right: Browning the Roast

Left: "Just Add Water!" ----------Right: " Ta-Da! Dinner for 4!"

GRADING! Leslee and Kristy helped me grade papers! Kristy had a riot! She kept saying, I could be a teacher, this is fun! She would criticize handwriting and complement their little doodle drawings on the back of their papers. I wish I had grading helpers all the time! Thanks Les and Kristy Sue!

REAL MOVIES! We went and saw Mad Money right before we left for our journey home. It was funny movie. Just them talking about beginning tight with money made my skin crawl!

DRIVE HOME! Our drive home was perfect, the weather was great! And of course there was my little bathroom adventure upon arriving home☺. I kept thinking "mom are we there yet? Mom, how many more miles? Mom, I can't wait any longer!" (My sister says that she feels sorry for the man I marry, she said that if I have a weak blatter now, who knows what I'll be like when I'm pregnant!) Well I hope that everyone else had a fun Martin Luther King Day weekend! Yay for 3 day weekends! Cheerio!

On the left: Les & Me -----------On the right: Kristy & Me

Left: The "falls" of Idaho Falls----------- Right: Idaho Falls Temple

Left: Leslee---------- Right: Kristy

Left: Mike, Kristy, Leslee, Me ----------Right: Kristy & Mike

BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Erik and Meredith came to visit on Thursday! They’re some of my good friends from UNC! I got to know Erik freshman year…the good ‘ol days….back when I had a boyfriend named James (James A. Michener was the name of library on Campus…one day I told my roommates that I had a date with James and I really had them fooled into thinking I had a boyfriend, clever, huh! I was such a nerd back then!) When Erik was on his mission, Meredith came to Greeley and we served in the RS Presidency and became good friends.
I love these guys! They are the most genuine, most kind, most lovable people I know! A couple of months ago they brought a little bundle of joy to earth and named her Autumn. Erik is the sweetest dad…when Mere said it was time for a diaper change, Erik said “it’s daddy-daughter time!” Erik told me how this is their bonding time and how he likes to make her legs move like a bicycle, which makes her laugh. Here’s a few pics from their visit.

The Phone Call, The Substitute, The Stress

Last week I received a phone call from a number I didn’t know…we all know how curious that can make someone! I was excited because who ever it was had left a message. Turns out, It was a friend of my dads! I haven’t seen this guy since I was like 11! He left message saying that he had given my number to some guy he knows who’s single….I just had to laugh!

Then the next day there was a male substitute at school. My teammate immediately came and found me and informed of the handsome fellow. He was good looking, but too good-looking for my taste. Good looking men remind me really fancy restaurants, they usually look great, and they’re what everyone is raving about, but it really doesn’t taste that great. I like the everyday restaurants and occasionally I like the fancy places and the hole in the wall places…I chatted with the guy for quite sometime, but still couldn’t tell if he was married (he wasn’t wearing a ring, I checked). My teammate was super curious (at this point, I knew I wasn’t interested, but because I’ve been watching too much of The Office I told her to go find out.) She wasn’t sure how to ask, so I suggested that she ask him if he has any kids, perfect lead, huh! Turns out he is married! Attention all wives: TELL YOUR HUSBANDS TO WEAR A WEDDING RING! I’m just grateful no one on my team ever said anything!

Well that’s all the juice I have for this week, other than those two events, I went to class all weekend, Friday night and Saturday all day! YUCK! I enjoyed a lecture they gave on stress. Here are some of my notes:

What causes it?

o No control
o Too many things to do…
o Money…
o The TOP stressful jobs…
• Medical Interns
• Air Traffic Controllers
• Miners
• Police Officers
• TEACHERS

You have to make a decision to fight or flight.

REDUCING STRESS
• TEN HABITS
1. Relax
2. Eat Right
3. Exercise
4. Sleep
5. Organize
6. Manage Time
7. Values
8. Humor
9. Choose Your Battles
10. Anger Management
11. Don’t Get Your Masters Degree!

Sorry this was such a long blog…Enjoy your week!

My brothers...I promise they were adopted!

The things I miss being the oldest child...here are some pics taken earlier this week at my parents house.

Aaron posing as "Peter Pan!"

Ryan & Aaron having a little fun with the Bo and Cache!