A Special Bond

I am completely aware that I talk about Nauvoo a lot, and I'm sure many people think I spend too much time living in the past. While a bit of that may be true, Nauvoo was an experience that has helped to shape the person I am today. It is something that will always be near and dear to my heart. The amazing experience of Nauvoo and the personal growth that occurred there are due, in large part, to the wonderful and lifelong friends I made there. We were only in Nauvoo for 4 months and many friendships for that short amount of time fade, but the Nauvoo experience bonded several of us for life, and I'm pretty sure for eternity. I haven't seen my Nauvoo friends since Tyler's funeral, and that was a brief moment. But, we have tried to keep in touch a little bit through e-mail, Facebook, and blogs. I found out that my dear Shelby would be leaving Utah shortly and I would regret it if I was not able to see her before she left. The plan was set and Shelby contacted LeAnn, "You, me, Sarah Spaghetti Factory Friday at 5." We had a great evening catching up and remembering funny stories and how much we value our friendships. That bond that was made in such a short amount of time has not been forgotten and was so easily rekindled. It was as though no time had passed (even though cute Kaidrei is now a part of our circle). I truly am blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. We promised to be better about e-mailing and we already have plans for another gathering. Watch out Tara and Meagan, we are coming to find you next!

Introducing My Future Sugar Daddy!

Wednesday March 31, 2010 was magnificent! I really could leave it at that, but I should probably add a disclaimer. Because of my L-O-V-E love for Michael Buble I took like a million pictures (about 35 of him alone). I did not post all of them here, but if the outcry is loud enough I would be happy to post the remaining pictures. His face.... oh, how I love his face!

Michele and Tami

Kandus and me

The stage! The anticipation about killed me!

Leesha and Kortney

The opening act was Naturally 7. They were absolutely amazing! It was completely acapella. They made the sounds of the instruments themselves and the singing was incredible!

There he is!!! Let the swooning begin!

SIGH.....

Double sigh....

I will be listening to ALL my Michael Buble music for the next forever! I will invite all of you to our wedding. I'm sure it will be a fantastic event!

Delta, Delta, Delta!

This weekend my good friend Amber invited a few of us to go home with her. Amber is from Delta, Utah and her parents were kind enough to allow Heather, Jared, and I to invade their home for a day. We left Salt Lake early Saturday morning and once we got to Delta the playing began.

Our first stop of the day was Great Stone Face. We hiked up to the base of Great Stone Face. Jared, Heather, and Amber
Supposedly you can Joseph Smith's profile on the right side.

Heather and Amber climbing around on the rocks near the top.


Once we got to the top Heather started her rock jumping...

Jared just had to join in the fun.

One of MANY attempts. :)

This seems to be the most impressive picture of the day. Jared was baffled at how Heather's leg could bend like that.

This was our attempt to make it look like Heather was flying. Not too shabby.

The girls at Great Stone Face overlooking the desert valley.

Jared and Amber on the 4 wheeler. After Great Stone Face we went back to Mama and Papa Molyneaux's to eat lunch. Then they took us out the the desert at the base of Desert Mountain and let us loose. They unloaded the 4 wheeler and we took turns on that and then we started the hike.

It was quite the hike, and I'm a chicken. I wouldn't go all the way to the top becaue I was scared about having to come back down. Amber's convinced we made it 2/3 up, but I think it may have only been 1/2 way. The view was beautiful. We were lucky to have great weather. It was a little chilly, but with all the moving we kept warm.

After Amber and I stopped Jared and Heather kept going to the top. Amber and I climbed around where we were and took some pictures.

Cute Amber

I completely realize that this picture is blurry, but it is of Heather and Jared from where Amber and I were.

Here's a not blurry picture from the same spot. Can you see them???

Amber and I climbed down and went for a ride on the 4 wheeler. As we started to head back to the truck Jared and Heather came down the mountain, so they climbed on the back and the 4 of us rode back.

Heather wanted proof that she really had climbed that mountain. She was worried no one would believe her. I will be a witness that she really DID climb that mountain and she kept up with Jared the entire time.

The celebration!

We were all pretty worn out, so we went back to the house to make dinner. We made a trip to Alco and the dollar store in town. That's always an adventure in a little town. After dinner we went to explore. We dragged Main Street and ended up at the city park. We played on the slides and spent time on the swings. It was a clear and beautiful night.

I had such a fantastic weekend! It was nice to get away from the routine and spend time with such wonderfully fun people. The Molyneaux's were awesome hosts! It's nice to feel so sore and tired because I know I played hard and had a great time. I have great friends!

VJH Cheer (The Surviving Members)

Here are my cute cheerleaders and our mascot. Since our team has been "revised" I needed some new pictures so I have one to frame for my office.

A Challenge to Overcome Myself

Have you ever just been struck with a case of the blahs and you can't get rid of it? That's where I'm at. About 9 months ago I was positive that I had defeated the depression I had been diagnosed with. I moved to a new house over a year ago with a fantastic roommate. I didn't love my job, but there was a glimmer of hope that I would learn to love it. I had wonderful friends who were fun to spend time with and my family was still putting up with me. I felt content, happy, at peace. While none of that has changed; I still have a job (that I have definitely NOT learned to love), a roommate who puts up with my mood swings, friends who I love, and a family who seems to always know what's wrong with me, I can't seem to overpower the darkness anymore. I've been battling for a few weeks now and I'm pretty sure I'm drowning. I'm nowhere near where I used to be, and I hope and pray I never see days like those again. But, I'm in need of some help.

Today at church I was reminded of something my amazing bishop said. I can't remember what triggered the thought, but the thought is what's important. Bishop Anderson told us that there are 3 steps that we need to take with everything: 1. Faith, 2. Trust, 3. Effort. First we must have faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith that I am a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me, and faith that they will hear my prayers. Second we must trust our Savior and Heavenly Father. Like I said, they love us, each of us. It's time for me to let go and trust. I don't know how to do that, so apparently it's time to learn. Third we must put forth effort. I can't just sit around waiting for Heavenly Father to do everything for me, that's not how it works.

While all of this was going through my mind, the Spirit also gave me a plan. I know myself well enough to know that if I don't make myself responsible to someone I won't follow my plan. So, any of you who read this are now witnesses to my plan. Here it is: I will read the entire Book of Mormon by the last day of school, June 4th. I will have faith that the Book of Mormon is true and that it will help me with the things I am struggling with. I am putting my trust in my Savior that he will heal my heart, comfort my sorrows, lighten my load, and lead me to the happiness I so desparately want. I will put forth the effort to bring the Spirit into my life by doing things we have been counseled to do.

My testimony isn't wavering, but sometimes my emotional stability wavers. I know my Savior lives and I know that through Him I will receive salvation. I know that I am daughter of God and because of that I have great potential and an amazing eternal life ahead of me. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I can't imagine life without this gospel. Here we go, about 2 1/2 months...

First Experience As A Vendor

Thursday February 18th was my first attempt as a business woman. Studio Salons held a boutique to introduce the new Lindon location and I was invited to participate. I had about 18 completed headwraps to sell. In the business world my night would be considered a failure. I only sold 1 headwrap. I was disappointed, but I have been invited to attend next month's boutique and I think I'll give it one more try.

Warning...

As a school counselor I try to teach my students to learn from other people's mistakes (even though I don't follow this advice myself...) so I will employ the same idea with this post. Please learn from MY mistake this morning.

My hair was ready for a cut and I had an appointment set for this evening with Callie to get a color and cut. Because my hair was longer than usual it didn't sit the way I like in my usual style so I decided to use my flat iron to flip the ends out and then pull it part-way up. I've done it before, and this morning was not different than any other morning. So, I get to flipping my hair out. There was this one difficult chunk at the bottom right side of my head, near my neck, that was giving me fits. I decided I would make this piece of hair conform to what I wanted it to look like so I proceeded to run the flat iron over it several times. After a few passes over that disobedient piece of hair I started to smell something odd, "Oh, this fancy new flat iron is just hot" I thought. But, as I brought the flat iron off my hair and in front of my face there was a significant chunk of my hair on it. It took a short moment for that sight and the smell to register. I had burned off a chunk of hair that was at least an inch in length. I have thin fine hair to begin with so to see that much hair no longer connected to my hair did set off the panic alarms. Luckily I remembered (before the tears started) I had an appointment with my trusty Callie. When I saw her tonight she didn't think my story was very funny and my hair ended up shorter than it usually is. I was firmly told to keep my tender remaining piece of hair away from the flat iron for the next 6 weeks and then we will re-assess.

Lesson I hope all my dear friends will learn... hair cannot be forced and flat irons get HOT! However, if any of you are stubborn like me and are determined to make your own mistakes, I know a really good cosmetologist. She gave me a fantastic cut and color to go along with the lengthy lecture. :)