Valentine's Day 2011

This Valentine's day has to be the most interesting valentine's day ever. Prior to the big day my dad told me I had a special valentine's day card waiting for me. I was so excited. I kept hoping maybe a boy has finally sent me a valentine's day card. Well all month long I have been trying to figure out who the mysterious valentine was. Valentine's day came and who did I find was my secret valentine... My dead cat, Fester. I almost died of laughter, but at the same time I was kinda mad that my dad had made me all excited for what was the most anticipated valentine's day so far. That's what you get for hoping and wishing.



I hope everyone enjoyed their valentine's day! Isn't my dad hilarious to think of giving me this for my valentine's day card.

Dreams and Things I love!

This is kinda of a random post. I decided to make a list of some of the things that most people don't know about me.

I got home from work today and decided to get a glass of water and put some lemon in it. One thing very few people know about me is that I love lemons. Not just lemon flavored things, but I actually love the fruit. I love the sour taste of lemon juice. It reminds me of summer. I don't know why, but it just does.
One day I hope to be able to learn how to make hand blown. I think this dream started when I visited a local hand blown glass store in Maine. I remember going in and looking at all the creations and how beautiful each piece was. So hopefully someday I can save up enough money and take a class and live my dream.
My favorite place to visit is Keystone, Colorado. My family has rented a cabin twice up there. The cabin is right next to this path that goes through the forest and down to a horse ranch. That is my favorite to walk. It is so peaceful and beautiful. If I could choose any house in the world to have I would pick this cabin. It is homey and comfortable.
Another favorite place of mine is the coast of Maine. There are lighthouses of all different colors and sizes strewn across the coast. I love lighthouses. Maine also holds one of the most fun places to shop. The outlets in Freeport where the L.L. Bean store is. When I lived in Massachusetts my family and I would drive up to Maine to go these outlets.
I love doing the dishes! Whenever I am having a bad day I go and do the dishes and it helps me to de-stress and turns my frown upside down.
One of my dreams is to go to Jerusalem. Ever since I was about 10 I have wanted to go there and walk where the Savior walked.
I love oranges! I love peeling them and getting that orange smell on my hands.
I love velour pants and jackets. I have multiple colors of this fabric. Sometimes I feel like a old lady, but they are just so comfortable.
I love my whale slippers! My good friend Abby and I went to Target and found these kid slippers in the $2.50 section. She got ducks, while I bought the whales. They are so fun to wear and are very comfortable.
I love the snow! I think it makes everything beautiful. But I like every kind of weather. Rain, sunshine, hail, and snow never bring me down.

One Happy Girl!

While driving home from work on the snow packed road, I thought I am so happy to be me. I have been criticizing myself and feeling like crap, but today I realized that I have a wonderful life. I have some many blessings all around me. I am beautiful just the way I am.

Today I decided to list the things that I am grateful for.

I am grateful for my job. I love the place that I work. I get to work with amazing people.

I am grateful for the view I get to see every morning while I am eating my breakfast.



I am grateful for the warm house I live in, especially on a day like today where the high is a -5 degrees.
Yikes! Good thing I am used to this type of weather!

I am grateful for my family and friends! I have the greatest family and friends! They are always there willing to listen to me and offer their hand to help me in whatever way they can.

I am grateful for my testimony.

I am grateful for my new calling. I love my the CTR 6 class. They are great examples to me. They definitely teach me more than I teach them.

I am grateful to live so close to a library. I love reading!

I am grateful for a healthy body.

I am grateful that I have a car so that I don't have to walk to work.

I am truly blessed! From today on I am going to strive every day to be a happy girl!

Sewing Projects

I have completed another semester of BYU-Idaho. I still love it there! It is a great school. My major is Early Childhood/ Special Education. I want to be a preschool or kindergarten teacher. I am so excited to start taking major classes. Since I have been home I have found a job. I am working at Tamarac Medical Inc. I love the people I work with! I get great hours. The hard thing though is keeping myself productive after work. Our family has taken to spending the nights playing this new game Trek to Zion. Alisa, dad, and I could play on average about 3 games a night. It is extremely addicting. But I have decided to limit myself because I want to do other things with my free time. One thing I have always wanted to do is to learn how to sew better. Sewing is not my strong area in the field of domestic arts. Cooking is my favorite. I love making delicious meals especially the desserts.
Well, I have decided to spend this semester learning the art of sewing. So to start I decided to learn how to hem pants. Ever since I was about 12, my mom has had to hem every single pair of pants I have owned. It is time to do it on my own. These are pajama pants I bought at Old Navy on black friday.


Here is the pants after the completion of the project.



I had so much hemming these pants. I decided that same night I was going to make two fleece pillows for two of my nieces.
This is one of the pillows.

Update

Well here is the update of what has been going on in my life. I completed my first year of college. Now I am home for 7 weeks then I start my sophomore year of college. I still can't believe it myself.

Emily, Casey, and Adam visited for a couple of days. It was so much fun having them here. We went to pirate's cove, which is a little water park by my house. There is a big bucket that dumps every 10 minutes. Adam absolutely loved it. We all loved the lazy river and I had my most embarrassing moment while going down the water slide. We saw Despicable Me. I about died of laughter!

I found a job at Tamarac Medical assembling medical kits that test for lead poisoning. I am very grateful for this job! While I have been home I have been reading loads of books. I finished These is my Words, Peter and the Starcatchers, Hunger Games, and Pictures of Hollis Woods. I loved all of these books! I haven't been able to go to the pool as often as I would like but overall I have had a great summer! Another thing I have become obsessed with editing photos.

Fireflies

Fireflies lit up that summer I turned six.
My brothers decided to show me the art of firefly catching.

Casey and I ran down the creaky stairs to the dimly lit storage room. My heart beat with excitement as we grabbed a couple of canning jars. Poking holes on top, we allowed the fireflies to breathe.

Hand in hand with my two brothers, I stepped outside and breathed the scent of honeysuckles. The fireflies’ lights dotted the evening sky, capturing my heart and imagination. They were ballerinas gliding across a starlit stage.

Tyson caught one of them. I took a breath, scared of what would happen next. He immediately put her in the jar. The jar blazed with light. Tyson and Casey soon caught others, and each time the light grew brighter.

Now it was my turn. I gently caught her, feeling her heart beat pulsing through me. Tenderly placing her in the jar, I reflected on the glass walls that held her in. I opened the lid, setting her free. Shining so brightly against the dark night, I longed to be her, flying free. Still in the jar, protected from the storms of life. One day I would be set free into the night and would have to make the choice to shine.

Thoughts from the mind of a second semester freshmen

I can't believe that in like 4 weeks I officially become a sophmore in college! As I turn 20 this july, I have been reflecting on my life up to this point. I don't feel like I have done alot in my short life. I have no medals or achievements, but I have learned some really important lessons.

This semester has been alot harder on me than last semester. Academically I am doing great, but I miss home so much. I have also been stressed about deciding on my major and what I want to be when I leave college. I have learned so much about myself and what I want to become. As of right now I am going to major in Child Development and cluster in Home and Family and Reading for a Lifetime. I can't wait to start taking classes for each one of these programs.

I found this quote from Helen Keller that has become my new favorite saying. "Keep your face to the sunshine and you can not see the shadow. It's what the sunflowers do." She truly was a wise woman. I have come to release that I need to not be afraid and to trust Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that everything will work out.

Here are the things that make me the most happy: My family, my friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ, my children's literature class and my other classes, phone calls from family and friends, packages, cheap groceries, comfortable pants, a sunny day without wind, all different kinds of flowers, the route I take for my walk, Patsy's porch, seeing the preschool children on campus, Shopping at the dollar spot in Target