18 memories 11 more to go (this is super super long but very informative)

1. My first real memory is when I was 2 and 3/4's we were living in Spanish Fork and we were moving to Orangeville. I remember very clearly standing on our front lawn of our apartment home watching my cousin Eric help load up the BIG moving truck. I remember hugging my Great Grandma and Grandpa Warner and getting into the car turning around to see Grandma and Grandpa wave goodbye to us. I don't remember the car ride through spanish fork canyon most likely because I fell asleep, to be quite honest I still fall asleep whenever I'm not driving and we go through that canyon, it just makes me sleepy thinking about it. I remember pulling up to the house and getting out of the car the first place we went to was the backyard where there was a giant apricot tree. Michael and I played in the sandbox for a little while and ran around the giant backyard. We walked up the back steps and into the kitchen I remember the orange blinds and then walking into the living room where the brown blinds were shut and the sun was shining through them casting sunbeams into the room. They had just unpacked my brown rocking chair and I remember sitting down in the rocking chair being extremely excited about what was to happen next. Brett was born shortly after but I really don't remember much of his birth or meeting him for the first time.

2. Year three I remember meeting Cammie Scow she lived two houses down from me and I remember walking down the sidewalk meeting her half way between my house and hers. I asked her if she wanted to play and that was the beginning of my childhood. Later that year my little brother Garret was born just two weeks before my 4th birthday. I remember seeing Grandma Swenson who since the move I didn't get to see that often. I remember Grandma lifting me up to look at Garret who was in with a bunch of other little kids and Grandma pointing to some baby asking me if I could see him. I lied and said that I could but if I remember right Grandma could barley pick me up high enough to get my nose over the lip of the window.

3. Year 4 I remember Garret as a baby and playing with him and Brett. Brett was funny and always did things just to make people laugh. I remember laughing with Brett a lot. I remember being in Love with Garret's blue eyes and black hair. I always thought he was sooo handsome and I honestly remember thinking I wanted the man I married to have black hair and blue eyes (umm no that did not happen). I remember our church house and going to Sunbeams and being afraid I was going to get lost. I remember one Sunday afternoon sitting in the living room Mom and Dad were reading the paper and Michael and I were looking at the comics, well Michael was reading them I was looking at them I think that I laughed after he laughed and he asked if I was reading them. I said Yes and then Michael told me I wasn't I didn't know how to read and I shouldn't be laughing at them. That one little provocation made me determined to read. I asked my Mom if she would teach me and she said she had some books. I started working on those books and within a few short months I was reading. I felt quite accomplished for a 4 year old. Later that summer I remember a camping trip with my Great Grandma and Grandpa Warner. As a kid I didn't realize how different it was to have Great Grandparents involved in your life but I loved them dearly and miss them a whole bunch. The camping trip if I remember was at Ferron Reservoir and I remember screaming bloody murder because a gopher had ran in front of me as we were heading back to camp after a long day of fishing at the lake. I remember the look on my Dad's face as he came sprinting up to me positive that I had just been mauled by a mountain lion. After I told my Dad what I saw, he laughed and picked me up and put me on his shoulders. I was madly in love with my Dad and loved it when it was just the two of us.

4. Year 5 Was hard because I had missed the kindergarten cut off date Mom was crazy busy with Brett and Garret. I remember a lot of sesame street and Mr. Rogers and I can't remember the name of it but had something to do with mannequins coming to life and puppets inside some department store. I remember Cammie and I playing a lot but there was also B.J. and Richard. We played a lot and I remember one particular time it was just me, B.J. and Richard. BJ told Richard that he shouldn't play with me because I was a girl and that was the first time in my life I realized that there were real differences between girls and boys. I mean here I was with 3 boys everyday of my life and they never treated me different because I was a girl and all the sudden this boy points out that there's a difference between us and thus we can't play together. I was really upset about it for a little while but don't worry BJ and Richard got over it pretty soon because we played for a long time after that. Finally after a long long summer I was able to start Kindergarten. I was in Mrs. Jeffs class and she had curly hair and dark glasses. I remember being shy and not knowing anybody really in my class. I didn't talk to many people and really hoped that I would be smart enough. I can still smell the paste and feel the cold hard chairs.

5. Year 6 I was still in kindergarten. I remember one day we were talking about the letter G and Mrs. Jeffs asked us what words started with the people said the usual: grapes, green, grass, glitter...I raised my hand and said Giant. I'm not sure why the look of surprise was so evident on Mrs. Jeffs' face it very well could have been that was the first time I had actually said anything in class or maybe that was her first realization that I could read but still I was confused at her look of surprise. The class then began to argue with me that Giant could not start with G because it made the jjjj J sound. I remember very clearly thinking that they were not that smart if they only knew that G made a hard ga ga ga sound and then explained because G was followed by an I it made the soft jjjj sound thus the word Giant began with G. Silly kindergartners. Mrs. Jeffs backed me up and after that I realized that maybe I was a little more advance than this Kindergarten class and I should speak up more to help them learn faster. Towards the end of my 6th year my dad accepted a job in rosaevelt right before I started first grade. My parents decided that my Dad would move there and Mom would wait in Orangeville till the house sold. I remember being really sad every time Dad would leave and my Mom being really sad too. We would visit Dad in Rosevelt and get ice cream at the store he was working at. When I started first grade our house was still for sale and Dad was still in limbo between Orangeville and Rosevelt.

6.Year 7 I remember learning how to read silently and loving first grade with Mrs. Guthrie. When Christmas came around I remember writing a letter to santa distraught because I wasn't sure if we would even be in Orangeville and he may not know where to find me. Luckily his elf snowdrop wrote me back and told me not to worry that Santa always knew where his good little girls and boys lived. And true enough Santa found us that Christmas. I'm not sure when Dad quit working in rosevelt but I'm pretty sure it was before Tyler was born. I was really excited for this new baby to come and was pretty sure it was my turn to have a baby sister. I had spent the last 3 years birthday wishes on having a little sister and for sure those had to work in my favor. Tyler was due in May and the last week of April was the 1st grad talent show. Mom and I had worked on me memorizing a book "There's a monster in the bath tub". We had worked on actions and making sure I spoke clearly and paused in all the right places for laughs. The night before the performance I was extremely nervous. I got out of bed in the middle of night so that Mom could comfort me and tell me that I would do great. When I got to my Mom's bed no one was there. I started to cry and wandered into our living room where lying on the couch was Merlene Sittrud. Merlene was my adopted Grandma ever since we left Spanish Fork and my grandparents. I cried to Merlene that I was nervous about the talent show and Merlene hugged me and told me that I was going to do great. She then told me that if I wanted she would be there to help me. For some reason this calmed me right down and I went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning my dad was there and told me that I had a new baby brother. I laughed and told me dad not to tease me. (My dad is a notorious teaser) But I soon realized he wasn't teasing me and sure enough I had a new little brother. Dad took us to the hospital to see our new little brother, Garret was absolutly positive that we should name Tyler either Chip or Superman, good suggestions from a 3 and 1/2 year old. Our parents told us they were naming him Tyler James. I said oh good can we call him T.J. our parents said no. If we needed to call him anything it would be Ty. Oh like Ty Detmer I said. My parents said exactly. (We were giant BYU fans). I remember getting home from the hospital and getting ready for the talent show. I was so nervous and really sad that my Mom wasn't going to be there for it. When I got up to tell my story. I looked out in the audience and saw sweet Merlene sitting there with a big smile on her face. I told my story and felt so happy inside.

7. When I turned 8 I was in Mrs. Jeffs class again. She had moved from Kindergarten to 2nd grade. The biggest memory I have was my baptism. I remember asking my dad if I had to get baptized. He told me No but that I should pray about it. I did and felt really good about being baptized. My bishop at the time was Bishop Baltzer and he was so nice to me. My dad had car troubles the day of the baptism and nearly missed being their to baptize me. Most of my Dad's brothers made it and I remember being sad that My Great Grandma and Grandpa Warner weren't going to be there because Grandpa Warner had just had a heart attack. My mom had done a fancy French Braid on my hair and I wore the baptismal suit that my grandpa wore when he was baptized. I remember thinking the water was pretty cold and the amazing feeling that came over me as I came up from the water. After the baptism I changed into a pretty dress my Grandma Orr made for me and came out to greet all the people who came. My Uncle Carl pulled me aside and asked me if it felt like I was under the water for a long time. I thought about it and said Ya I think so, then he said that was because I was a Bad kid and it took a long time to wash all my sins off. He laughed and I thought he was really crazy. I was confirmed a member of the church the next day on Sunday and remember my Dad crying. My dad didn't cry very often and whenever he did in my life it was well documented in my mind. I remember feeling so glad my Dad held the priesthood and was able to bestow the gift of the holy ghost on me. It truly was a life changing event in my life.

8. The year that I turned 9 I was in the third grade. New Kids on the Block were huge but I really had no idea about them. I think it was in the third grade I started to understand that people didn't think I was cute and adorable like my mother and grandmother. I had a HUGE overbite and freckles and didn't like my mother to do my hair. I was in the nutcracker this year as a buffoon. I had lots of practice to go to on the weekends and loved nearly every second of it. We were preforming one night and I slipped on a cartwheel. I got right up and kept on dancing on the beat and finished with the rest of the dancers. As soon as we got off stage another little buffoon told me that I looked dumb and that everyone in the audience laughed at me. She told me that she wouldn't be surprised if they told me to quit. I was totally devastated. After the show ended I ran straight to my mom and cried my little eyes out. My mom told me that I did a great job and that if she hadn't seen the show before she would have thought that the slip was on purpose. For some reason that calmed me and I felt so much better. But I think that is when I started to worry about what other people thought about me.

9. Fourth Grade I had Mrs. Winget who was married in the middle of that year and became Mrs. Hansen. She was kind of loopy and sometimes was the happiest teacher in the world and other times was the meanest. But I'll never forget the end of the year awards she gave out. The first award I received was for some reading and math stuff. Nothing that spectacular. Then she started giving out the silly awards, I of course got the messiest desk award, I still to this day could win that award, organization just isn't my thing. After she was done giving out the silly awards she got really really serious, she said that she only gives out two of these awards every year and they were the most prestigious awards she handed out. She then explained they were the friendship award, she gave them to the students who were friends with everyone. I started thinking of the popular girls in the class the people who seemed to have lots of friends and were the really cool kids. She then called my name..I was shocked. I didn't think i was friends with everyone. Mrs. Hansen then explained that it didn't matter who I sat next to in class they always had a smile on their faces. She noticed that if someone was struggling with something in class I was the first to help them and stay with them till they understood. She said that if someone was new or felt left out I was the first to be their friend. Then she said that she felt lucky enough to consider herself one of my friends. I was honestly in shock and had never taken notice to what I was doing. I was just doing what I hoped others would do for me or what I knew was right. I think this was another life changing moment and I really started to understand what friendship meant.

10. When I was 11 we had this great activity with our primary. It was a Daddy Daughter Date. I loved spending time with my Dad and with 4 other brothers time alone with my Dad was pretty rare. At this activity we played lots of games and had a really yummy dinner. One of the games we played was If you love me you'll smile. We had to go and sit on our Daddy's laps and say "Daddy if you love me you'll smile" then the Dad had to say back "Honey, I love you but I just can't smile." If they could say it without smiling the Dad's would get a point but if they smiled the daughters got a point. My Dad has a great serious face and it's often the face he wears but I discovered that night that I have a special power over my Dad. No matter how hard he tried to not smile he couldn't help but smile, and not just kind of but the big no guessing smile. I knew that night that my Dad loved me.

11. When I turned 12 a lot of things were going on. My Dad was running for the County School Board, Mom had started really catering big events. My teeth had become a big joke to a lot of people and I got teased on a regular basis because of the size of my teeth and also for the size of my overbite. I couldn't stand it any more and one day I overheard my Mom talking about how the insurance that my Dad would get through the School District would make braces affordable for my family I began to take serious stock into my dad's Campaign. On election night I was sent to bed before the results were in and I was so nervous. I prayed and prayed all night that my Dad would win. When I woke up in the morning and heard that my Dad had won I knew that prayers were answered. Later that year I had braces put on. I was so excited.

12. The year I turned 13 was my first year at Junior High. Most people hated Jr. High but I had a great time. My first year there I remember getting called to the office. I thought for sure I was in trouble for something I for sure didn't do. But it turned out my grades weren't recorded on the school computer system and they wanted to see if I remembered them. I remembered them alright but I was afraid they thought I was lying. It was straight 4.0 but amazingly enough they didn't question me. I still don't know if they double checked with my teachers or not.

13. 14 was a great year. I had made the drill team and felt like my classes were way too easy. I started choir that year and once a week I had to get to school extra early for a special choir practice. I don't remember why we did it but I really learned how to sing that year and seriously had to make sure that I didn't covet Amanda's voice. That girl could sing the phone book and still make me cry.

14. the Summer of my 15th year was one not to forget. I had just finished Junior High and was really looking forward to starting high school and all the great things that came with turning 16. This Summer in particular my Mom had started a business running a restaurant at the golf course. My mom had been really sick that whole spring and one day as we were driving out to the golf course she told me she was going to the doctor because she thought she might have cancer. It was a heavy burden to hold and I worried about her for a long time. A few weeks later as we were driving home from the golf course she told me that she was pregnant. I was shocked! My baby brother was 8 my oldest brother was graduated from High school and had just moved to Spanish Fork before he started college at Dixie. The rest of that summer was spent me working as hard as I could at that little restaurant and worrying about how my Mom was going to do everything that she was doing and have a new little baby. But amazingly enough he arrived just a couple of weeks before my 16th birthday. I'll have to write that experience another time but let's just say as a 15 year old my Mom having a baby was a whole new concept.

15. The year I turned 16 was another crazy year. My oldest brother was preparing for a mission, my baby brother was just learning how to hold his head up and I was learning how to drive and how to flirt. My first Date was with Isaac Bott. I still don't know why he asked me out. We were both on the Cross Country team. He was good, I was there just for an excuse to miss school. When Isaac came to pick me up for my date my Dad had to talk to him for what seemed like forever. Isaac had recently been hit in the face with a bottle thrown from a car during one of our runs after school. I felt so bad for him and my Dad was making him relive every moment of it. We doubled with his older brother and a girl also named Andrea. We went to Price to go bowling but for some reason we couldn't go bowling so instead we hung out at Kmart throwing giant bouncy balls over the isles. We then went to little Ceasers and then took the pizza over to McDonalds to eat it. I think we got kicked out of every place we went. I don't think I had ever laughed so hard in my life. It was a great first date.

16. When I turned 17 I had a lot of guy friends and loved hanging out with them. We did something almost every single weekend and things never really got weird between us and I loved hanging out with them way more than hanging out with girls and all of their crazy emotional melt downs and worrying if this guy or that guy liked them. I remember one day all of us going to an elementary school at night and playing steal the flag. I really hadn't noticed that I was talking with the guys and all the other girls where standing there talking to each other till we had separated into teams and this one girl asked me which of the guys I liked and if I would mind if she asked one of the guys to a dance. I was totally taken back I had totally forgot that I was supposed to be in that stage of life and decided it would be wrong if I dated one of those guys in my group. So decided to start looking else where. I still hold all those guys as some of my best friends and love whenever we get together it still doesn't get weird between us and we can carry on a conversation as if we spent every day together.

17. Eighteen was a great year as well. Probably one of the most dominate memories happened in seminary council. I love the people that I served with as if they were my own siblings. I'll never forget the end of year Testimony meeting. I attend 4 out of the 7 testimony meetings and was able to share my testimony multiple times. It was an outstanding feeling. I remember coming home from school that day just exhausted but feeling so happy and at peace with the person I was becoming. I will forever be grateful for the strength my testimony received that last year of high school. It really prepared me for the challenges I would face later in my life.

18. When I turned 19 I was in my first year of college at CEU. I'll never forget my first weekend of college. My parents lived just a half hour away from my dorm and my Mom helped me pack up all my stuff and drive it over in the van while I followed along in my awesome Dodge Omni (RIP) My mom and two of my brothers helped unpack the van bring my boxes of stuff up to my room after they left the boxes Mom looked at me, looked at her watch and said, "Well, Garret has black and gold in a little bit we better get back. " She gave me a hug and then took my brothers out to the van and drove back home. I watched them for as long as I could until they turned down the street and I knew that life would never be the same. I had left the comforts of home and even though home was just a 30 minute drive from where I was living my place was now to find out where I was supposed to be and it was not to be in Orangeville any longer. After I unpacked my stuff and met my sweet roommate Maki. I went grocery shopping, met the Men's Basketball team who talked so fast that I really didn't understand what they were saying and then went to bed. When I woke up at 8:00 the next morning to go to church I really didn't think about it till after I got back from the three hour block of meetings. I went to church and no one here expecting me to. I went on my own because I wanted to. It was a pretty strange feeling and a really good one at that.

I don't know much BUT I know I LOVE these!

I won a contest once. I was able to go get These pictures taken and well you can see for yourself!

Pilates for Kindergartners

Today during Yoga Lizzie came upstairs while she was trying to keep all the kids in the basement. She ran back downstairs and I soon heard Snow Patrol playing from our DVD player in the basement. I thought it was funny that she wanted to dance instead of usual play but whatever Dance Parties are fun too. After we were all done and before the kids knew that we were done I ran downstairs to grab something for a friend. When I walked down the stairs snow patrol was still playing but instead of a dance party I saw Lizzie sitting at the front of the room and the 6 other kids in lines sitting Indian style with their little hands in prayer position. Lizzie was just telling them to relax their knees and breathe in deeply. I ran through the room choking back the laughter and when I came out Lizzie had them lying on their backs pulling themselves up into C curves using the exact same words that I use when instructing my pilates class. I don't know whether to be disturbed or extremely proud. I guess if Gold's Gym decides to open up a preschool class taught by a preschooler I would have the perfect instructor for them.

I'm supposed to write this

It was the end of the year of my first year at USU. I had just recently been called to serve as the Vice President of Service for the Latter Day Saints Single Association (L.D.S.S.A.) and I was in a pretty sad place. I had made some choices that were bringing me some serious grief and someone else had made a choice that caused me some tremendous heartache. I was one of those stupid girls that had a missionary and had somehow miraculously survived the entire two years he was gone without accepting any marriage proposals. When he got home he decided I wasn't that cool or something (seriously don't cry for me people I'm over it by a long long way but I'm just setting the story here) anyhow he broke up with me and seriously shattered my heart in a million bazillion pieces. After he broke up with me in January I always figured he'd come back to me because, honestly, it was me..how on earth can anyone do better than me? Well he had just emailed me that day that he was engaged.. yes just a short 3 months after dumping me. I was seriously distraught. I wasn't getting along the best with my roommates which I'm pretty sure was my fault for being a selfish immature brat because those girls are all seriously wonderful girls. As I was walking back to my house after feeling completely deflated after taking a seriously crappy final that I was pretty sure I had flunked (stupid Statistics is there really a point to that class) I was dreading the loneliness and utter dismal prospects of my life. I felt friendless despite knowing a whole bunch of people and honestly being in one of the happiest places on earth. As I walked down old main hill I found myself pleading with my Heavenly Father...I needed someone or something to help rally my heart back to it's usual happy state. I was miserable and every second I spent by myself the more I hated myself. I knew that Heavenly Father loved me and that he would somehow be able to snap me out of this self loathing state. As I opened the door to my own personal pit of despair the telephone rang and I answered it. The following conversation took place:
"Hello, is Andrea there?"
"This is she." I was pretty sure it was some sort of telemarketer out to tell me that I was a terrible person and giving up on everything would be the best solution for the entire world."
"Hey Andrea, it's Haylie from LDSSA. I was thinking we haven't really gotten to know each other and I'd really like to get you know you better. Do you have time to hang out with me tonight."
Part of me really wanted to let her know that she was wasting her time trying to get to know me because really she would have had a better time stroking piranhas then wasting her time getting to know me. But some how I choked out a "Sure." and then she said
"Great, I'll be by to get you in 30 minutes."
I think I kind of stared at the phone for a long time. None of my roommates were home. They seemed to know when I would be home and avoided me like someone carrying the plague. Which really I was carrying a serious plague of the majorly downs. Soon enough Haylie showed up in her car and I followed her back to her car in a zombie like trance. I don't really remember our conversation but before I knew it we were walking toward a group of people who were laughing and for some strange reason having a good time. I looked at what all these people were doing and they were painting wooden toys. I thought it was really weird that these college students were having such a good time painting, cars, trains and trucks and why the heck would you want to play with them. Haylie then explained to me that it was A week and this was the service project. There was a man who would carve all of these toys and then send them off to other places in the world for kids who didn't have anything to play with. As I saw boxes and boxes and boxes of all these wooden toys my heart was touched by this faceless man who took so much time to lovingly carve each of these toys. Our job was to paint them to give them just a bit more flair and color. I picked up a brush and did my best to paint a truck a happy color of blue. Haylie and I didn't really chat much, no one asked me why I was sad. I didn't have the chance to go off on my roommates and how mean they were being to me (really they weren't but at the time it seemed like it) I didn't get to tell my sob story how my missionary dumped me and found love so quickly after leaving me. None of that really seemed to matter. It was as if each brush stroke put things more into persepective. These were all just experinces I was called to go through. I was going to make it. I had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I had a loving family despite them being miles and miles away. Friends would come and go and it really was all my decision on how other's actions affected me. By the time my happy blue truck was painted my heart was light. I grabbed another car and started to paint it a happy red color. I started chatting away with others around me and couldn't help how my heart felt happy and light. By the time we had finished all the boxes of wooden toys everyone was laughing and smiles were on everyones faces. As Haylie and I got back in her car and headed back to my place I realzied we didn't talk much yet I felt like I knew her so well. As we pulled into my driveway Haylie said,
"I almost didn't call you Andrea. I had just finished saying my prayers and felt so strongly that I should call you. I was worried what you would think about me, worried what we would say to each other. But I knew I had to call you."
My eyes filled with tears. I tried to choke back all the emotions I was feeling. I knew why Haylie had that impression. I was so grateful for her and her willingness to follow the spirit. I knew that Haylie would forever be one of those great friends and for the first time since I had received my calling to serve as the VP over Service in LDSSA I felt up to serving in that capacity and so grateful that so many other great people had been called to serve with me. Instead of telling Haylie all these thoughts crowding my mind all I could say to Haylie was
"Thanks for Calling me." Haylie and I went on to be wonderful friends and I will forever be grateful for her constant out reach to me whenever I felt down.
I've learned so much from Haylie's great example and I hope that those of you reading this might have picked up on it as well.
1. Never ever doubt those promptings of the spirit. Sometimes we worry we may feel silly calling someone who just crosses our mind or knocking on someones door to just give them a hug. We may worry of rejection or maybe there's nothing wrong with the person at all. I'm sure I seemed happy enough to everyone on the outside. Honestly I can fake happiness really really easily and there were only two people in the entire universe who really knew what was going on the inside of me...Me and Heavenly Father. So don't doubt when the spirit whispers to your heart that someone needs something. Just DO IT!
2. When we are down sometimes we just want to vent and let others hear how terrible we have it. Somehow hoping to vindicate our own emotions and gather some pity. Haylie took me to do some service. As I served those less fortunate than me my burdens weren't taken away but I was lightened. With an overwhelming feeling that I was capable of doing what I was called to do. I don't know sometimes you need to vent but today I have this overwhelming feeling that if we get off our pity boxes and try to serve someone else we will be filled with that light of Christ that comes with any act of charity. That light will help us to see things more clearly and being able to gain the perspective that we all need.

I miss seeing Haylie on a daily basis and Haylie if you ever happen to read this you'll never know how indebted I am to you and your amazing testimony. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He will never ever call us through a trial that we cannot handle and as long as our hearts and minds are open he will bless us with the perspective we need. I know that as we serve others we will be filled with the light of Christ and we will see miracles in our lives and the lives of others.

We're all Winners in our hearts

So I'm a crazy person..You all know that...You all probably get a kick out of it and that's really why you read this blog. But as a crazy person I did a crazy thing I entered this contest.
Ummm I'm slightly in love with Brooke's work and try really hard not to covet her talents so I figured the best thing for me to do is just blog stalk her and learn as much as I can from her. So when she came up with this contest I hoped that one of my friends would nominate me..I mean...come on...I could be considered beautiful in some cultures. But really when it got down to it (Warning: this next statement may seem arrogant, prideful and down right ridiculous) I know that I'm a beautiful person. I know I'm not a drop dead gorgeous pageant queen. I know I'm not the next cover model of vogue magazine. I know that when people describe me beautiful may not be one of the first things they say as they describe me, but I know that I'm beautiful. So as the crunch for the deadline came closer and closer and the nominations of people became more heart felt and moving and my friends seemed to somehow miss all the secret mind messages I was sending to nominate me I decided to do a very un-beautiful thing and nominate myself.

Here's what I wrote:

Andrea wrote:
Gaaa!!I can’t believe I’m doing this. But I’m going to nominate myself just merely for the fact that the reason I think I’m beautiful has yet to be mentioned.
As a small child I grew up singing the song “I Am a Child of God” and that one simple bit of knowledge helped me radiate my own true beauty through the ratty hair, massive amounts of freckles and those giant buck teeth that seemed to be the brunt of everyone’s jokes.
More importantly that knowledge grew with me as I went through that awkward teenage years. It helped me make good decisions and really helped me shine through out high school.
But now as a full pledge Mother, Wife and (shoot I feel so old saying this) Woman knowing that I am a daughter of God has solidified my beauty. I know that I am beautiful not only when I’m dressed to the nines but more importantly when I’m dressed in my baggy sweats and peanut butter and jelly covered tee shirts. I know I’m beautiful when I’m going out on a hot date with my hubby but more importantly I feel beautiful when I’m teaching my children about who they really are and helping them realize their own potential. I know I’m beautiful when my husband lovingly tells me so but more importantly I feel I’m beautiful when I feel the spirit whisper a reminder of who I am to my heart after a heartfelt prayer.
I’ve never been the jaw-dropping, breath taking beauty..but I hope that my kind of beauty always makes people feel as though they are a better person, possibly a little happier and a little more full of hope all because they know that there is a loving heavenly father that no matter what loves them, and they have the same potential to become like him.

I could drone on and on about this it’s kind of a tender spot for me. I don’t really expect for you to pick me there are so many moving stories on your blog already but this must be said. Everyone should feel beautiful take a look at all the creations our heavenly father has created..He does not know how to make anything less than beautiful. And despite what we may view as imperfections or flaw our spirits are beautiful and truly radiate TRUE beauty.

Honestly I could go over this a whole bunch more times and probably will in the course of my writings. Nothing drives me more bonkers than women who constantly put themselves down because they can't find anything beautiful about themselves. Women, who despite their beauty focuses on those unimportant flaws, imperfections as if to discount the amazing beauty that radiates from us all.

We are children of a loving heavenly Father and even more importantly to the women who read this you are his daughter. You were created in the image of deity. The beauty that each of us posess doesn't come from just our physical bodies but more importantly from the person inside the spirit daughter of God realizing her potential to become like her Father and striving to obtain that potential.

Now I must admit that I'm not perfect in recognizing my own beauty and I have from time to time felt a little less because my outer beauty may not be the most awesome ever but I have never doubted my beauty when I was in the service of someone else, I've never doubted my beauty when I have shared my testimony or have felt my testimony grow. I've never doubted my beauty when I've recieved an answer to a prayer. These times are really the times that matter. I'm not going to lie to you I really make an effort to look good (k not every day as I am currently sitting in my chair with my sweats on and my hair pulled back in a pony tail) but I enjoy doing my hair and putting on make-up and dressing nicely not because that's the only chance I have of looking beautiful but I like to think of dressing up as having the outside match what's on the inside.

I don't know....I kind of feel like I'm rambling now...but I hope you all feel this from time to time. Remeber that you are beautiful. Remember that you are the daughter of a king and have the potential to become a queen and receive all the grace and beauty that comes with that.

A conversation that I didn't get to converse in.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Women's conference with my Mom and one of her sisters. Turned out another sister wouldn't be able to attend, and since my entire life my mom always called me by this sister's name, I was a perfect fit. I left my house early Friday morning and arrived at BYU at bright and early 7:30 a.m. I was blown away by all the women there and honestly it took my nose a second to adjust to all the different forms of purfume roaming through the air.
I was soon able to meet with my Mom and her sister and prepared ourselves to be uplifted and edified. We listened to some great speakers and my heart really was lightened and I felt an immeadete rejoicing with all the sisters meeting there.
I listened to my Mom and her sister talk as we went from place to place and learned a lot about their relationship and witnessed first hand the give and take of sisterhood.
Our closing speaker was Elder L. Tom Perry and did he ever give us a message. He talked a lot about Missionary work and how WE all have influence of how the church is viewed. He gave us some starting points on how we can better the image of the church by just being ourselves and not being afraid to be who we are. I was so inspired and commited to my part even better.
It truly was awe inspiring to see 20,000+ women gathered together wanting to help better their homes, their communities and even more the world. As we sang the closing song "The Lord Is my Light" the music soared through my body and slowly every woman was on their feet singing this glorious song uniting in spirit and word.
After the prayer we made a mad dash to the BYU bookstore to pick up a few momento's and decided to grab some dinner before we all went our seperate ways. My mom's other sister called and was able to meet us for dinner and wanted a blow by blow report of each class we attended. When we began to discuss Elder Perry's talk I was soon edged out of the conversation. The aunt whom I had spent the entire day with then said that Missionary work would be able to spread more easily if people would leave Utah and get out in the real world. She then began to assail on all "Utah Mormons ". As she began to talk more and more I felt as if she were saying if You belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and live in Utah you are not really serving the church. Afterall she had sacraficed her children's relationships with her family so that they could live in Washington. My mom and her sisters continued to argue the point my Mom being the only Utah Mormon of the three and somehow I was unable to get a word in. It was probably for the better BUT I want to be able to write down my responses to her accusations if anything just so I don't blow them out at her next time I see her.
When Jeremy was finishing school he applied for every single job ever offered to an electrical engineer. He was blessed enough to have 6 job offers some of which were out of the state of Utah. I was so excited at the possibilites each of those offers brought to our life. As we narrowed down our decision it came down to 2 offers one was in Salt Lake City working for a large engineering firm which he had tried to get an internship with earlier in his collegic carreer, this company had a great reputation for taking care of it's employees and the work they did really interested Jeremy. The 2nd was working for a naval weapons testing area in California they paid for both me and Jeremy to go out and tour the facility and explore the area. The area was amazing the people were so friendly and I honestly could picture us raising a family there. I was excited to have the missionary experince and realized that it would be hard to be away from our families but knew that if that's where the Lord needed us to be that we would be blessed for it. We came back home and began to weigh out the pro's and con's and really started praying and fasting to figure out the Lord's will for us. We had blessings from our bishop and went to the temple several times. Finally in a moment of clarity and with a peace that only the spirit can bring we knew what was the right decision for our family. We accepted the job in Salt Lake City and began house hunting in the surrounding areas until we felt that same peace about our current home in Tooele. In a way I was so disappointed that we weren't leaving Utah and that my children would not be able to have those experinces that I so desired as a child.
Three years have come and gone since all of those decisions and I've had some time to see maybe some of the reasons why The Lord needed us here. Most of my neighbors are active members of our ward and the few who aren't active we've been able to become friends with. I've been able to have a small role and have seen a few people become converted in our time here but I wouldn't say that I've had any fantastic missionary experinces. If I am able to see anything of our short stay here it is being able to bloom where I'm planted. It's been my desire to help stregthen those around me and really bring the love of Christ more fully into the lives of those who I meet, whether they belong to the church of Jesus Christ or not. We can do a lot by stregthening our own members in our own ward and hope that maybe as I do that that somehow it blesses the lives of others. So dear Aunt, Please don't criticize me for being just another Utah Mormon. Know that we are where the Lord needs us to be. Jeremy and I commited a long time ago to go where He wants us to go, and Be what he wants us to be. I'm quite sure that there are many others living here in Utah that fall in the same catagory as us. We're not trying to hide our light and really are trying to be the best versions of ourselves.
I know for me as a high school teenager I still faced having to stand up for what was right even though my friends were all members of the church and had been taught the same standards that I had. That was really hard for me to have to remove myself from my friends because I knew that the choices they were making were wrong despite all of us being taught the same thing from the time we were young. Challenges will be presented to us regardless of where we live and who we're friends with. Having a relationship with your family still takes effort even if you live in the same state. I really think that what it comes down to is being able to further your testimony, striving to live up to your potential regardless of where you live. The question is Are you? I hope so. During this small moment of our mortal existence we are trying to align our Will with our Father's by using our own free agency. It's a process but I feel like we're doing our best. I know that as long as I'm living up to the covenants that I've made we will always be striving for that.
I'm grateful for the spirit and it's help in leading us to the right choices for our family and testify that as long as we earnestly seek it with a humble heart and open mind we can find the joy and happiness that is our for the taking. So I challenge you all (all 5 of you who read this blog) to stop and reflect, Are you where the Lord wants you? Are you being what the Lord wants you to be? Are you willing to do what he would have you do? If you are wonderful! Keep it up! Don't let go of that feeling and always strive to have it with you. If you feel like something is amiss, Pray, Ponder find out what it is that the Lord would have you do. I promise you that once you become inline with what his will is you will experince a joy that can only come from staying true to those things.

eight minutes that i enjoyed

Progression

Hey Readers,
So see this picture....See me bottom row second person from the left. Yes that is me in a basketball jersey without makeup and wearing those sporty head bands that keep your hair out of your eyes. Yes those are my cute little legs slightly blinding white but the point is that they are little and quite shapely if i can say so myself. This has been my latest endeavor. Now some of you may think it's no big deal to be on a basketball team that you didn't have to try out for or let alone play really well and still be able to get time on the courts but to me it's been a big deal.
I guess some people have considered me sporty but for those of you who really know me know that I'm not really sporty just knowledgeable about sports. For background I do have 5 very athletic and gifted brothers and I did play football and basketball with them regularly but I didn't play very well. I started ballet at the age of 4 and retired from that "sport" right before my 20th birthday. I still dance but just so you can all picture it all my "sporty" stuff is now done with a classically trained ballet mode. I run with my feet turned out and with proper posture. My husband who has perfect running form and could run 26.2 miles without any training and do it in record time has tried to correct my form to "improve" my running ability but he's fighting 15 years of ballet and old women with rulers yelling at me and constantly correcting my form so ballet always wins.
Jeremy has been really supportive of me running even if he silently snickers at what I consider my fast times and my long distances but when I told Jeremy I was going to go play basketball with other women Jeremy just couldn't take it any longer. He gently reminded me that I was not an athlete to help spare me embarrassment. Now maybe if I was a different woman I would have heeded his council and been satisfied with my pilates and running. But I'm prideful and his comments if anything spurred me on to prove him wrong.
Our first game I was completely intimidated. I could tell by the form of 9/10 of the women there had at least high school experience and wasn't shocked to find out many of them had college time as well. I play basketball like a ballerina trying to play basketball. My one and only advantage was that I was some what in shape and could run up and down the court without being winded. I still hyperventilated every time I was passed the ball and did my best to either pass it away or dribble a couple of times and make a ridiculous shot that somehow by a miracle at least came close to touching the basket.
But I played and was blown away when people said I was fast (because really I'm not) but I knew I was in shape enough to run about 4 miles without stopping.
Fast forward a few weeks and me feeling a little more comfortable about touching a basketball and actually being able to get it in the hoop. In addition I remembered how to guard and make other people feel intimidated by my "large" stature just as I'm starting to feel more comfortable the wonderful women I play with inform me that we're actually going to compete. I then start preparing my excuse why I can't play against other women and hope that for some reason I wouldn't be able to make it. But unfortunately I feel connected to these women and although my talent is so pale in comparison to theirs I know that I'll play with them. We practice a couple more times and sure enough the competition is here. I am so nervous by this day but that's where my competitive nature comes in. I have this fail safe feature about me that holds on to the fact that I'm AWESOME. As I contemplate my own awesomeness I realize that regardless of the out come of the competition I will remain AWESOME. It's how I've been my whole life and has gotten me through so much of my life but it's been awhile since I've had to rely on it.
We play a couple of games and do not look even close to the team that we've been as we've practiced together but I have a great time. We lose terribly but have a great time cheering each other on and show all the other teams how teams should look and act. As I looked at our defeat I started to wonder if this was just my lot in life. Always losing, coming in 2nd never really excelling and being my best. When my inner moderator (my personal biggest fan) reminds me of what I've accomplished. In a matter of weeks I went from barley being able to shoot a ball to being able to dribble a ball down a court calling a play and actually knowing where everyone should be after I call the play. I have improved and because of the friendships and pure awesomeness of these ladies I am continually improving.
Here's where I bring everything into perspective for everyone by yet another story from my life. I have had the privilege of getting to know nearly all of my great grandparents and have learned so much from them. My Father's maternal grandparents have by far been such role models to me. My Great Grandpa Warner was raised in a small community in Utah County during the great depression he met his wife on a blind date and was smitten to begin with. They were so in love with each other and were able to raise a beautiful family. My father was very close with them as the oldest grandchild and they loved him more than I'm sure he will ever realize. As my father aged and started his own family we were able to have a very unique and close relationship with my great grandparents. I remember spending many days fishing, gardening and enjoying the company of my great grandparents. When I was little I didn't realize what the great meant and honestly thought they were called great grandparents because in fact they were GREAT. Grandpa was always learning. Many times we would stop by around lunch time and find Grandpa reading some sort of book usually trigonometry or some other informative book. When Grandpa was in his mid-80's he bought a computer and started to teach himself how to use it and began writing out his own personal history. Sadly enough Grandma died and 3 months later Grandpa died of a broken heart. They were such a power couple always learning and progressing themselves and improving upon what they were given.
Now here I am 28 years old and I know that I need to also be improving and progressing. Right now it's easy to improve my health and be physically active. But with Basketball I was also able to improve my mind, my relationships with others and my overall self worth. So here's to more progression. More improving who I am and pushing that envelope of what I'm comfortable with all the time.
Thanks to the Charlie's Angels/Nancies/working girls that I play with and help me improve myself. And for any of you out there feeling really comfortable where you are try pushing yourself out just a little bit more and remember that this life is to progress and improve upon what we've been given.

It HAD to be said.

Wow. Who doesn't love fast and testimony meeting? Our ward here in Tooele is so awesome. There are so many people who are rooted deep in the gospel and truly help me to see how to live better and become more like my savior. This Sunday's meeting was not any different either. We had so many Youth share their budding testimonies thanks to a little "challenge" from the bishop. I think the Young Women won there seemed to be more of them but the Young Men did a decent job as well. Just as the contest was getting really heated between the YW and YM a sweet sister in our ward got up whom I've learned and grown to love. She's very oppionated and has no qualms sharing her oppinions. She will be the first to admit this and always will give a side note that she may offend you even though that is not her intentions it's just the way she is. Well she began to tell about her trip to the Draper Temple Open House and how miserable it was because there was a mother and father who had the odacity to bring their 7 young children to the temple and amazingly enough the children where less than well behaved. She continued to complain on how she couldn't feel the spirit in the temple and this young family was all to blame. (K side note she has three children the oldest of which is 28 and then has an 18 year old girl and a 12 year old boy). She said to top off the awfulness when they got on a shuttle bus there was another young family with crazy kids and she had enough and let the father of the young family know that he needed to control his kids. Then she felt the need to let our very very young ward (we have a giant size ward with a humongus primary) (we had just had 3 baby blessings before the sacrament and there are quite a few sister in our ward ready to deliver even more babies) that our ward is hard to feel the spirit in because of all the kids are really loud and we need to get control and make our kids shut-up. A sister struggling with her own kids in front of me turned around and said "well, i've officially been rebuked." and another mom struggling with her 4 children behind me let out an audible gasp of horror. The sister continued on and said how her husband is really good to let things like this not bother him but she wasn't like him. As she finished up her testimony I couldn't even hear what she was saying because my heart was beating so loud and hard. I then had a mini dellima going on was my heart beating because I was mad and wanted to put that sister in her place or was I really feeling the spirit. I began to pray as I wrestled with my apparently "out of control" children to dechiper really what I was feeling as soon as I finished praying a childhood memory flooded back into my mind in full force and color and I knew that I HAD to share it.
I walked up to the super packed chapel with my crazy loud baby boy in my arms and shared the following story: (side note I promise I was lead by the spirit and what I said I'm not quite sure but I can tell you the memory but it may not hit you with the spirit that I felt while sharing that and for that I apologize)

In 1984 the Manti Temple was refurbished and updated to be a little more modern for the ease of accomadating the temple going people of the area. My parents had recently moved into the Manti temple district and decided to take their young family (My older brother was 7 I was 3 almost 4 my younger brother was 1 and half and my mom was pregnant with another baby) for the two hour trek to the temple. When we finally arrived to the temple I remember leaving my shoes at the front door. I was really apprehensive of leaving my beloved fancy church shoes at the door but was reassured by the fact that I knew Angels where at the temple and would protect my shoes. We walked through the entire temple I remember being confused at the baptismal font and why there were cows holding it up but we moved on. The next part I remember was walking up the spiral staircase to the sealing room and seeing my face in the mirror. As we began to go down the stairs I was terrified. My dad picked me up in his big Daddy arms and carried me down the steps and I knew I was safe. When we reached the bottom of the steps my dad gently placed me to the ground and knelt and looked at me he then said "Andrea, the next time you walk down these steps will be with the man you will have for all eternity."
We went on our merry way and I thought back on those moments from time to time and knew that I wanted to be married in the temple. It wasn't always easy to make the right choices but I knew that is where I wanted to be. Almost 18 years later I walked down those very same steps holding the hand of the man that I so deeply love. We had just been sealed and as we reached the bottom steps I couldn't help but think of my father and mother and the sacrafices they had made to make sure I knew how important temples are.

As I am now a parent of three young children sometimes it's really hard to get out and go to the temple. You have to find babysitters and often times it would be much easier to stay at home and know that someday when it gets easier we'll go to the temple and I remember the example of my parents and I know it's worth it now.

I finished my testimony and sat down but to you my readers I want to finish some thoughts. I am so grateful that my parents risked the chance of being scrutinized for having so many little kids and risking people judging there lack of parenting skills. As we took our own three little kids to the draper temple open house we worried if they would behave, if they too would disrupt the spirit there and worried that other might be upset as well. Jeremy woke up that morning with a serious sinus infection but still wanted to go to the temple with the kids so that they could have their chance to feel that spirit. To be completly honest our kids were by far less than perfect. Abby wanted to run all over and touch every single thing. Will fussed and cried and Lizzie had a hard time wanting me to hold her hand the entire time which was hard while I was trying to steer my sinus driven husband in the right direction while holding my squirmy two year old and comfort my one year old baby. But we went, a spirit was felt and now all I can do is continue to teach the importance of temples and show the blessing that my covenants are in my life.

When we make the effort the results may not always be perfect but the blessings will always be there. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have to teach my children and the reflections I have of my own childhood. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ resides here on this earth today. I know that Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and truly restored the gospel in all of it's glory. I love my Savior and know that as I strive to live as he would I can be made perfect through the gift of the atonement.

For those of you who would like to go through the Draper Temple you still have time here's the link to get tickets. The tour ends March 14th.

Recipe

I made an awesome salad for my sil baby shower and promised to share the recipe. So here it is. If any of you who were at the shower and know the email addresses of those who don't frequent my blog, send them a link for me.

Recipe:
Chicken Gorgonzola Pasta Salad
19 OZ radiatore nuggets
20 oz cubed cook chicken
15 slices cooked bacon cut into small peices
1 can Muir Glen organic fire roasted tomatoes drained
2 cups baby spinach
16 oz refrigerated ranch dressing
1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

The changes I made. I omitted the spinach (read here forgot)
Instead of Gorgonzola cheese I used a cup of shredded white cheddar. Gorgonzola is stinkin' expensive. Just mix it all while pasta is still warm and serve either warm or cold it's good either way.

My Secret Valentine

Our ward did a secret sister Valentine this year and I had so much fun making it I had to share it. (I don't think my secret sister is a frequenter of my blog but if she is sorry to ruin the secret). I thought really long and hard about what makes me happy and the first answer (after the appropriate family, the gospel etc..) was Chocolate. But I'm afraid I can't give just plain chocolate oh no I'm a fancy pants giver of Chocolate and thus these delicious creations where thus created.


I started with my favorite Girls Scout Thin mints recipe (yes you can make them and yes they are awesome) and cut the chocolate wafers into adorable little hearts. I then dipped them in yummy mint chocolate and let that dry.

Next I melted a new batch of chocolate and dipped these beautiful strawberries in the chocolate. They looked great with just the chocolate but a little white chocolate added a funness factor. The sucker sticks made it super easy to dip perfectly and the little red bows on top just tied it all together.


And there you go an adorable assortment of pure yumminess.

Sad side note is when I had my hired hit man deliver this bad boy of goodness to the secret sisters door no one was home. So I called and left a message to check their front porch but I surely hope they made it home in time to eat the yumminess. If someone out there knows who this secret sister is and somehow found out that she did not in fact get to gorge out on the goodness please let me know so I can make her another plate.
Thanks.

Meh-My Day and what not.

I woke up this morning totally Jazzed. (Yes Jeremy, I really do say Jazzed it's corny but it get's the point across). I even remembered to say my morning prayers and made my bed right after getting out of bed. (this should all be attributed to the fact that i woke up before my kids.) I broke into my kids room with a giant smile and sang them my own rendition of some morning song I heard somewhere. Thank goodness my girls are still little because they smiled at me and sprang out of bed to smother me with their fresh morning goodness. We decided what to eat for breakfast and everyone began to eat out of their appropriate bowls. I devoured my bowl of Kix while multi-tasking and reading my scriptures at the same time. (I'll tell you what I'm super glad I wasn't a cheif judge with feuding brothers whom had nasty kishkumen friends (although I do think the name kishkumen is a super cool name) I probably would have ended up dead) After reading about people killing people I decided to take my morning energy and attack the dishes in the sink (mostly because I didn't want people to come over for our morning yoga and be nauseated by the smell of dinners of yesterday). My energy spilled over onto a broom and I swept the floor in despicable glee (really i was pretending that i was in Sleeping Beauty and I had just waved a magic wand at the broom and it swept the floor on it's own). I quickly ushered my children back upstairs to help them look a little more loved and a little less homeless. I pulled all of their hair out of their faces switched out milk drenched pj's for clean smelling shirts and changed the appropriate diapers. I looked at the clock and ran downstairs to move all the furniture out of my greeting room to make room for happy yoga going women. (yes, all of the furniture minus my piano, which if i had the muscle strength I would probably move as well so we could fit just a couple more women in.) I started researching new pilates moves for my little 15 minute segment of yoga. (i'm obsessed with toning my arms.(i just got called as Ward Choir Director and I have giant fears of Relief Society flap on my arms.) (mostly because i said i never will have that and well we all know what happens when you do that)). I realized other women wouldn't bring weights so I started trying to find weights for them. Food storage came to the rescue as I noticed the weightage of my cans of refried beans. Just as I finished huffing all the cans up from my basement my phone rang and the most amazing yoga instructor called to say she wouldn't be able to make it. *PANIC* It was too late to call all the people who come over so thus I had to stretch my 15 minute segment into an hour. --Breathe--Breathe----Breathe, I can do this. So I had to review every single move I've come to learn and somehow flow it into a 60 minute routine.(not to mention not focus on the fact that people would be looking at me and realize that i'm way too uncoordinated and under qualified to be teaching this show biz) But before I really could psych myself out people are knocking on the door and they are all smiling and happy to be in my furniture less room and laughing and really excited to work out. (because darn it all we're going to look awesome before swimsuit season gets here) And thus we start the work out. All is going well, children are playing about my entire house and mini moments of chaos erupt but we keep pressing forward. Abby soon realizes where I am and decides it's really funny when Mommy is holding a plank position (and praying really hard that relief society arms will flap their last flap) if she climbs on top of mommy and say getty up she should get a good laugh. And now the downward spiral begins. I'm just getting into the final sweat off of the routine when darling Will reminds me that I failed to clean up Abby's oatmeal by bringing in the bowl and drops it at my downward dog feet. Lovely. I then realize that all the kids are playing in the kitchen and I can smell markers. Sure enough 8 kids plus 24 markers equals a non focused pilates instructor. We finish regardless and I say goodbye to my happy yoga women. I begin to survey the damage and really start wishing that I was in some disney movie where I could either wiggle a magic wand or sing a sweet song and have adorable woodland creatures clean my previously cleaned kitchen again.
But I have children who are starving and need to be fed at that exact moment despite the fact that it's way before lunch time. I tell them I'll get lunch as soon as I'm done checking my email. (Darn Internet you harlot. always tempting me to spend way too much time with you making me oblivious to things that are far more pressing) I begin to sink into the internet like an old soggy couch only to realize that the pantry door is wide open and fair game to my one year old son. I realize this as the sound of cheerios are sprinkling on the ground only to be crunched by the cutest little toes you've ever seen. I fully come out my internet induced coma to see my sweet boy with a box of upside down cheerios clutched in his arms and a giant lopsided smile on his delicious face.
I have two choices at this point either yell and get mad at the giant mess that this baby boy made or laugh pretty hard and get my magic broom out once again.
I laugh. Sweep and am so grateful that I said my prayers in the morning and asked for the patience to be a good mom.
You know the rest of the day could probably be summed up with similar ups and downs (don't even get me started about my adventure to Wal-Mart at 5:00 I must have taken some serious crazy pills) but all in all I was able to be a somewhat decent Mom today and I feel pretty good about that. Let's see how I do tomorrow.

I HEART Macey's

Friday night is a special night in our house. It's always a date night with or without the kids. This past weekend just happened to be a date night with the kids. And what better activity to do with kids and let your significant other know how much you care for them then a date night at Macey's. Now before anything else I have to express my endless love for Maceys. Besides having the best produce, meat and awesome prices they have this thing called Customer Service. See Wal-Mart here in Tooele seems to be the center of the universe and everyone and I mean Everyone shops there as if it were some sort of High-end mall. The only problem with the overshopped box store is that the people that work there have this problem with helping people. I know we really shouldn't bother the people there to help us with any questions we have and heaven forbid they even make eye contact with us or greet us with a hell-o or even a smile. I mean honestly why should they do that. Well call them Crazy but Macey's has the best Customer Service ever. I can't walk around a new aisle without running into their cute staff in their blue aprons with a smile and asking me if I need help with anything. I'm sure with three kids in the cart jumping everywhere and me singing some sort of song I must look crazy and in need of serious help but they are always there. In the check out line if it ever takes too long the checkers are stocked with candy bars (full size ones mind you), Smarties and balloons. They always offer to help me out to the car with the groceries and will load my car while I wrestle my kids into their car seats. Yes, I HEART Macey's with giant bold letters. Thus my little weekend trip is even more embarassing.
After looting the store for as much stuff as our cart could possibly carry and getting all three kids their required balloons and smarties and running out into the thick fog and searching for our car. Jeremy unloaded the cart while I wrestled the kids and balloons into the car and into appropiate seats. We came home and began the process of unloading all of our groceires and trying to simatameiously get the kids in pj's and bed. We noticed a little something was missing from our groceries. When we came to the end of the grocery bags all we had left were the storage buckets, sugar and flour bags and still no Frozen Chicken, Brocolli, Carrots, Corn, Tortolleni and a few other frozen food items. We searched through the car several times and then began to think badly of my beloved Macey's. I mean seriously it was at least three bags of groceries missing! How does someone miss puting three bags in a cart. I called Macey's and they said they hadn't had any missing food reported to them so it must have been put in another shoppers cart. I was ticked! They told me to come back and I could get all the missing items. Jeremy began to mock my Macey's and I must admit that I lost my faith in the best store that Tooele has to offer. I got in the car drove threw a thickening fog and somehow arrived at the store without a single accident. I went straight to the customer service desk explained to the nice lady what had happened and tried to let them know I was disappointed in what seemed to be poor bagging skills. I gathered all my missing groceries brought them back to the customer service lady she bagged all my groceries I went to hand her the reciept and she said it wasn't necessary. Ummm wow way too trusting. I drove back home in the even thicker fog and barley made it back to my house. I put all the groceries away and then went to take the buckets down stairs to fill with the flour and sugar. When I lifted the buckets they were so heavy. I was totally baffeled. I opened the lid only to find the forgotten frozen food. I was so glad that I was home because I could feel my face flush as red as a sunburned utahn on a cruise.
Jeremy laughed pretty hard. I had the mixed emotion of wanting to cry and laugh and scream that's probably why my face was red it was an consitpated emotion effect. Well I pleaded and pleaded with Jeremy to take the groceries back. Jeremy just laughed more. I could tell that he was in no state to drive through the fog. I thought for a second that I could keep the groceries but then that annoying good girl in me rejected that and so with tears trickling down my face I got back in the car with my stolen booty and braved the fog one more time.
I made it back to the store barley being able to make out the giant yellow MACEY'S and started my walk of shame back to the customer service desk. The customer service lady was shocked to see me back. I explained what had happened. I was awaiting some sort of snotty lady look or remark but instead got a gentle laugh and a warm smile. I put the groceries on the counter and before I could turn and walk away once again in shame she handed me a sucker and gave me a happy Thank you. I almost asked if I could have a balloon to see if that could help lift my dragging behind but amazingly enough made it out of the store on my own will power.
And thus my love has been fully restored to Macey's. Although I'm still a little ashamed and questionable if I'm still worthy of the love that Macey's gives to all so well maybe not totally free but at amazing low prices, not to mention their great produce and meat sections.
I love you Macey's!(I've added a link to their store just in case you want to start hearting them as well)

Cute as a tape worm.

So I had this wacked out dream last night and I so need to write it out in hopes that it'll make more sense to me.

So Michael, from The Office (the T.V. show) and I were grocery shopping at Albertson's in Price. (Which made total sense because that's where I did all of my grocery shopping when I was at CEU over 9 years ago) As we were shopping in the frozen food section I couldn't help but notice something white wiggling out of his skin. I recognized them at once as maggots and noticed a lot of wiggily things underneath the skin of his arm. So we went back to his apartment which looked a lot like the homes that the who's live in in Horton hears a who. He turned on the T.V. and started watching something while I went and got the tweasers to pluck the maggots out of his arm. Jeremy came by to pick me up from Michael's house and noticed something wiggiling underneath the skin on my right arm right above my elbow. Jeremy knew he had to get it out of my arm and I was so mad at Michael for spreading his nasty maggots to my arm. I was peterbed but when Jeremy started slicing my arm open to get the maggot out I was amazed that my arm looked a lot like the chicken breast that I buy from Maceys. I wasn't grossed out by the meat of my arm but more of the fat pocket that this maggot was digging in. Jeremy couldn't reach the maggot so he went and got his needle nose pliers and as he started to tug on it we noticed it wasn't a maggot but a long white tape worm. The incision that Jeremy had made was really deep but Jeremy didn't know how to close the wound so I went to find my dad. Dad was way too busy to help me and said that it would just heal itself if I didn't move too much. Which was totally plausiable except for the fact that I am a mom of three kids and had a mountain biking trip planned with Brother Wihonghi from the Overlake 2nd ward. I was showing brother Wihonghi the super cool bike trailer I had for my kids and he wanted to buy it for me but had to test it out. So I showed him that it could tip from side to side and the kids would stay safe. You could even jump off your bike and let the kids crash in it and they would still be Okay. Then I started complaining about my incision on my arm but if I held my arm just right it stayed close. I started biking up this hill right next to a park that climbed the mountain following brother Wihonghi and watching all the kids climb on Monkey Bars.
When I woke up this morning my arm hurt really bad and my legs felt like they had been pushing on something really hard all night long.



Another weird side note. My eyelashes are falling off or breaking off right in the middle of my lash line and I don't know why. It's driving me nuts but every time I go to buy fake eyelashes I can't do it. So instead of having regular looking eyelashes I look like I've had some sort of bad dance with a flame thrower. Or a pair of maverick scissors. or.....I'm so screwed up.

The Man Cold

a friend posted this. Ya that about says it all.