If you are anything like me and grew up loving any and all opportunities to immerse yourself in a world where you become the character of the book you are reading, you should read this book. Other than the fact that it is a "self-help/life lessons" book with really good advice, it is a fascinating look into the lives of the women who wrote their own lives into the heroines of their books. Every chapter made me realize how much I inhaled the books I read and how I learned from the stories in them.

Seriously read it. It's short, so you don't really have a good excuse not to. :)

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It's our 1/2 birthday!

"We" are 6 months old!

The way it is supposed to be.

I'm a world class worrier. One of the best, in fact. 

Last week-ish (maybe a bit more) I was sitting on the floor of a building at BYU. It was light when I got there, dark when I left. And I had that weird feeling in my stomach. The nervous, uneasy feeling not unlike how I used to feel before an exam. I tried to ignore it but of course, I let it get to me. 


Kind of like last night, where I had really strange dreams and woke myself up and tried to ignore it as I hoped sleep would come back over me. 


That type of ignoring doesn't work so well. Mostly it was all about how I was just going to up and quit my job. Without having one lined up, and only having a few interviews and after sending out hundreds (okay, maybe only one hundred) resumes. And I let that worry kind of consume me. I thought about it A LOT. 


Thursday was my last day. Friday I spent sleeping in and looking for stuff for our Halloween costumes, and partying -- Ignoring the fact that I was unemployed. Or at least trying to.


Sunday came and during primary and RS, I thought a lot about how we didn't know what we were going to do for money. As I was thinking about this, the thought came to me that everything was going to be okay because we paid/pay our tithing. I have never had any hesitation about paying tithing. I try to recognize the fact that everything I have in my life is a blessing from the Lord, and I am more than willing to give back to him. PLUS, when I give back to him, he just gives me more and more. Who wouldn't want that?? And I have had that thought come to me a few times before, usually when I was worrying about something - go figure... So I paid our tithing on Sunday.


 And I very very very strongly, strongly, STRONGLY believe I was blessed with a job on Monday. I am so so grateful for my testimony. I am grateful for prayer. I am grateful for the need to turn to the Savior. I am grateful for the experiences I had growing up that led me to develop and strengthen my testimony. It even talks about this in my patriarchal blessing. 


I think a testimony and worry have an inverse relationship. The stronger my testimony (the more faith I have, the more I trust the Lord, the more I put His will before mine), the less I worry. There is such an innate sense of peace when you know that even though you have no idea what is going to happen, the Lord does, and everything is going to work out the way it is supposed to.

Halloween

My family is hilarious.

This picture came up on my newsfeed today and I started dying with laughter when I saw it.

Oh man. So sad I missed out on being part of this....

The kids in primary are so stinkin' cute! Every other Sunday I am in primary and I can't help but laugh almost the whole time. They say the most nonsensical things. And as much as we try to simplify things for them, somehow a few things are just over their head.

My favorites are the two boys, Hayden and Jack (ages 3 and 4). They pretty much are hilarious. We asked Hayden what one blessing is that we get from going to the temple. And he just held up his hand and said "5. 5 temples. And I was Woody for Halloween." haha

I'm not quite sure where he was going with that but it makes me laugh every time.

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Lazy day.

BYU football has a bye week =  lazy day for us.
I think I got a good 10 hours of sleep today.
And then we've kinda just hung out. The weather isn't so fun so my idea of golfing got rained out.
We've watched a couple movies, I took a catnap, and the Real game was disappointing.
AND we are having grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. (Well, I am. David thinks pizza and tomato soup will be a good combination. ??) I think it's the best rainy day food. SO yummy!

I am grateful for sleeping in(!), slow days, and laughter. Being married to your best friend makes for some great days.

Who you gonna call?

Today is pre-Halloween.

I think whenever a holiday is on a Sunday, Utah decides to boycott this by celebrating all weekend long. (4th of July, Halloween....)

We are going to the ward party as ghostbusters! I found a jumpsuit at DI for $6. And then add some old boxes spray painted black, tubing and flashlights from walmart and we have packs! I think it would be nice to hold on to these for a couple years because they are so easy to throw together. AND they don't require face-paint. That stuff only makes me want to touch my face even more.

I am grateful for holidays, yummy food, good friends and fun basketball games. 

One month until Thanksgiving

I am so, so very grateful for a loving, forgiving husband who loves me no matter how much I frustrate/disappoint/infuriate/annoy him  make things difficult. 

 I am grateful he is crazy and adventurous enough to go jump out of a plane with me.

 I love that he is so goofy (You know you are, babe.)

Day 1: I'm grateful for someone who loves me for me and grateful that I get eternity with him.

Tuesdays could be better. (part two)

Oct. 19.

Work went okay (after many not-so-fun days, I finally had a good one). I got tons of stuff done (then promptly ran out of things to do and was bored). Plus, the thought of going to the REAL game kept me stoked for the end of the day. We've been planning this for awhile, didn't go to the game on Saturday because of it, and even invited Stephen, who kindly said he would get our dinner for us.

Fast forward to the end of the work day. I take David the second half of my (free) sandwich from lunch, then go home to research how to make my computer stop overheating, watch a little Bones and fold some laundry.
Our basement doesn't really let my phone get service. For some reason, HIS works, but mine doesn't. There have already been issues with me NOT getting phone calls because my phone is just plain weird. So, I figured I would put it in the spot that usually lets calls to me come through.

And normally, I check my phone like 20 times during the 2 hours I'm waiting for David to be done TAing. I should have checked it last night. But I didn't. I assumed he would maybe get out a little early, but lately the class has been going almost the whole time. At 6:20, I get stuff together that we would need for the game, especially a JACKET for me. I grab my phone and am about to walk out the door to go pick David up so we can leave for Rio Tinto. My phone rings as soon as I walk out the door. I answer it and hear "I've called you 29 times." He's just around the corner from home and we were supposed to pick Stephen up 20 minutes ago from Costco with our dinner! We get in the car and on the way to Costco, I get on my facebook app and see that the game is SOLD OUT.  They always post stuff like "Hurry and get your tickets, because they're going fast" but we have gone to games where they say this and there will be a ton of seats. So we kind of ignored this earlier. I call the ticket office to verify - "yeah, we only have about 50 standing room only tickets left. $25 each, no vouchers". 
Sad day. We've been looking forward to this game for weeks. And now there are no more home games left.

We picked up Stephen and went home to watch the Yankees (lose, unfortunately). The Rangers have definitely outplayed them this series. And then we semi-watched Real crush Cruz Azul 3-1 on the computer. With our back up players. That's a nice feeling.....


I am definitely going to miss going to the games. We got so lucky with the student "season pass" deal. And I definitely did not plan on missing 29 phone calls AND the Real game.

BUT THEN, I got a call from an RM. Fresh off the mission. So nice to hear his voice.
I'm glad my brother's home.
So all in all, not what I expected. But good.

Tuesdays could be better. (part one)

My last two Tuesdays haven't turned out like I planned. Tuesday numero uno:

(Did you know it is illegal to earn a paycheck in Utah without having a Utah license? A federal guard told me that over the summer when I applied for a government job in SLC. I had no idea I'd been doing something illegal for 4 years. Students are an exception, I thought....)

Oct. 12, I went to get my Utah license. (Weird feeling. I've lived in Utah for 4 years, with only a couple summers away, but it never felt official until they punched those 2 holes in my NY license. Sad day. My blonde license picture is gone....Maybe that's a good thing). They gave me the run-around the first 2 places I went, even after I googled the correct way to change my license in Utah.

Then, I get to the right place in the boonies of Orem and I have maybe 45 minutes to get it done before it closes at 6. However, they had a little confusion when I told them that I was changing my name AND my state. Normally, people do one or the other. Took them a little longer to figure out what to do with me. Luckily, I brought every single piece of paper I needed - in a cute folder with sparkly flowers, nonetheless. :)

I didn't have to wait very long before my number was called. I go up to the desk and the man asks for all my stuff. He goes through the whole "name-change"/"state-change" application stuff, then notices that I have a motorcycle license (thanks to my wonderful father who encouraged me to get one so I could drive his scooter and motorcycle around!) in addition to the regular license. (Note: apparently, motorcycle licenses in UT are "endorsements". NY has them as a whole other class of license. That's why he didn't notice. AND THEN, he assumes I'm applying for a motorcycle license. That's where all the problems started.) 

We go through the "name-change"/"state-change" process again. Yay. Then, you are required to take the written exam. (oh boy.) Because he assumed I was applying for the motorcycle part, I had to take that one too. I passed the standard one, easy peasy - especially because they let you use the handbook on the test!

Then they make me take the motorcycle one (I later found out that was a mistake on their part). Unfortunately for me, they put all of UTAH's motorcycle permit rules on the test. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THOSE????? I know all the motorcycle rules. BUT how am I supposed to know how long you need a motorcycle permit for in Utah?? I already HAVE a license. So, you have to get an 80% to pass. I got a 75% because I messed up on their random questions. LUCKILY for me, you can take it twice in a visit. 

So I go chat with the lady at the testing desk. She tells me I can retake it and that she'll set it up. I go sit down and start the test again. Except it's the WRONG test. She made me retake the standard - which I had previously gotten 100% on. Please understand how confused I was when there were NO motorcycle-related questions being asked. I go talk to her again. She apologizes profusely, and sets up the motorcycle one. I still miss questions, but I passed (after checking the answers after I "failed" the other one.

Next stop, testing lady again (by this point, it is 5:55 and every other clerk is closing down their area). There were 2 people ahead of me, and they got through pretty quickly. I get up to the desk and she again apologizes, then proceeds to tell me how to schedule my road test. WAIT, WHAT? Due to the man who helped me the first time, she is now telling me I can't have my motorcycle license until I test. WHICH I ALREADY DID IN NY. It took them another good 5 minutes to figure out that I already had it. 

Then they printed me one of these:

(I greyed out areas so no one can steal my temporary identity.)

 And then, I was done. And I drove home and I don't remember what I did for the rest of the night. (I meant to write about this last week, I even put it in my planner, and then promptly forgot until now.)

A not-so-fun Tuesday.
BUT, I now have an official UTAH license. Yay!