Blog Challenge

Ok, so I'm totally copying one of my friends.  She started this blogging challenge to get into a better habit with blogging.  I'm not good at updating my blog, if you haven't noticed, but I love it when I actually do! So here is day one of the challenge.


Day 1: Upload a recent picture of yourself and write 15 interesting facts about yourself.

1. I'm the middle child of three kids, and we're all more or less 4 years apart.  That makes me 20 years old, my brother, Erik is almost 24, and my sister, Keira, is 16.

2. When I graduated high school two Decembers ago, I lived in California for 6 months and nannied for my aunt, and one of those kids was that cute thing beside me in the picture!! I love and adore those four kids SO MUCH!! Nannying is by far my favorite job.

3. At the moment, I can't eat gluten, or acidic stuff, or spicy stuff! Sad, I know.  When I eat gluten, my mouth gets torn to shreds, and it still hasn't healed after 9 months, so when I eat citrus-y, acidic, or spicy things, it just makes me mouth hurt worse.

4. I hate the snow and the cold.

5. I've done sessions in 8 different temples: Timpanogos, Provo, Draper, Salt Lake, Bountiful, Jordan River, Newport Beach, and Los Angeles.

6. I can't sleep without socks.

7. I want to major in math.

8. I also want to go to hair school.

9. I love coffee flavored things.

10. I have a ctr ring that I don't think I've ever really taken off since I was about 8.  Same ring!

11. I used to hate the color purple, but recently, I started loving it! Now, it's my favorite :)

12. My hair used to be naturally curly, but all of a sudden, it's going straight!

13. I secretly kind of want to be an opera singer.  Now it's not a secret.

14. I love reading.  Love, love, love it! I get into my books like it's a movie.  I was reading one series, and something happened that made me so sad and upset that I burst into tears and threw the book across the room!

15. I love my life :) everything about it is beautiful, and everything always works out the way it's supposed to as long as you're doing what's right!

Been lookin' for Mr. Right for so long, but all I've found is Mr. Wrong.

I'm terrible at updating my blog.  Please forgive me.  I know there are a few of you that enjoy updates about my life, my whereabouts and the like.  So I will do the very best I feel comfy with, seeing as how I don't really want "the former" hearing things (not saying I don't trust ya'll... just sayin' ya can't be too careful!)

Where to start? First of all, I'm no longer dating the cute boy that helped me with my car.  I know, but don't be sad! Why, you ask? Because I had an absolutely marvelous time, and he is awesome! But things happen, and sometimes you both just know you're supposed to date other people, and so you do, and you part ways, but we were lucky enough to remain friends.  In the mean time, I've met several people who are super awesome.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves, folks.  First things first.

I was feeling kinda down in the dumps, just for a little bit after the cute boy and I broke up.  And it wasn't because I was sad about the breakup, but because the past three guys I've dated have given me the exact same reason for breaking up with me - that they knew they weren't the guy I was supposed to be dating.  I thought to myself, seriously, this is getting old! But then, after I'd had a pity party of about half of a whole day, I thought about how much of a blessing it was that I was just being led that much closer and that much faster to my very own Mr. Right!

Soon after the cute boy and I parted ways, I got a very VERY strong impression that the Lord did not want me to go to BYU.  I bawled.  I wanted SO badly to go to BYU!! I actually got in, and I was so excited, and after having received the impression back in the summer that I needed to apply there and move to Provo, I couldn't help but cry! I thought I knew exactly what direction my life was going to go, I thought I knew what the Lord wanted me to do, but He told me that was not the direction I was actually supposed to go.  So, I moved.  Right now, I'm taking life one day at a time, and it's working out very nicely :) it was only later, after I had stopped my bawling about not going to BYU that I realized that it doesn't matter why the Lord told me to go to BYU in the first place, what mattered was that I needed to follow what He was telling me to do at this very minute, and that was to not go.  But isn't that what faith is? Faith is an action word, is it not? So I'm doing my best, trying to go where I feel the Lord wants me to be.

So as of right now, I'm not dating anybody seriously, but that might change in the near future, I'll let you know ;) and we'll see when Mr. Right comes around, but until then, I'm very much enjoying meeting all these new people and making new friends and spending time with my family!

Oh yeah, spending time with my family, haha... now if the devoted reader has paid attention, he or she might remember that I was a nanny for two adorable little boys when I was living in P-town.  Unfortunately for me, the parental units informed me that they would be moving to Washington for a month for a possible job opportunity, and to see if they liked it there.  They would only be gone for a month and told me they would pay me through the month just in case they came back.  As it turned out, they didn't come back :( and oh man, did I cry yet again! I'm all waterworks when it comes to the important things.  I got lucky though when I went to the grandma Jeannie's house to pick up my last check, and the daddy and the baby were visiting!! And you know what? The chubster remembered me!! He reached out for me and wanted me to hold him, and boy did I ever want to hold him! It was so good to see them again, even if it was just half of the family.
This, dear reader, is the reason I have so much time to spend with the family - no more job.  A bittersweet deal.

The celiac disease is still just as lame.  As is the celiac gut itself.  You can ask anyone in my family, I detest my celiac gut with my entire being.  I loathe it.  However, I hold fast to the hope that someday I will have a normal, working, perfectly functional body! It will happen, don't you fear.  Spending time out of the cold has helped me so much though, my Reynaud's is nowhere NEAR as bad as it was in Utah.  My toes have remained flesh colored for a full week and a day.  This is good progress, people.  Momentous!


Overall, gentle readers, life is marvelous, and I love it.  Love!

Christmas in the land of palm trees

Oh Christmastime.  Is it just me, or did it not feel a bit like Christmas? Don't get me wrong, I love Christmastime, but not for the presents and gifts and candy and food, no, no.  I love Christmas because it gives me a chance to learn more about Christ than I knew before! I had a really good experience last night when we were reading the Christmas story.  My dad read to us and throughout the story he stopped and told us new bits of information about it that he'd learned from reading Jesus the Christ.  It was by far the best Christmas story I'd ever heard!

This Christmas I get to spend time with my family in California!! It's so nice being back together again for a little while.  I can't wait until we are all in the same place together for good! It'll be so great! But until then, I'm loving this time with them.

Now... I know most of you (or at least half of you) expect your Christmases to be white and snowy and, in my opinion, horrendous.  To me, however, Christmas is palm trees and sunshine and 65 degree weather.  I'm almost 100% sure I'm not going to live in Utah the rest of my life.  No sir.  Winter lasts far too long, and as much as I wish I loved the snow, I just don't!! I'm a sunshine and palm trees girl at heart, born with sand in my blood... mmmm...

My good friend Markuth posted a really funny Christmas poem that I wish I could take credit for writing, but... I obviously can't.  Here it is:

A Spanglish Christmas Poema

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,

Not a creature was stirring... caramba, que pasa?

Los ninos were all tucked away in their camas,

Some in long underwear, some in pajamas.

While mama worked late in her little cocina,

El viejo was down at the corner cantina.

Living it up with amigos, carracho!

Muy contento y poco borracho!

We had hung up the stockings with mucho cuidado,

In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado.

To bring all the children, both buenos y malos,

A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose such a grito,

That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito!

I ran to the window and looked out afuera,

And who in the world do you think that it era?

St. Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,

Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.

And pulling his sleigh. instead of venados,

Were eight little burros, approaching volados!

As I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre

Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre.

"Ay pancho! Ay pepe! Ay cuca! Ay beto!

"Ay chato! Ay chopo!, maruca y nieto!"

Then, standing erect with his hand on his pecho,

He flew to the top of our very own techo.

With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,

He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea.

Then huffing and puffing, at last in our sala,

With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala.

He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos,

For none of the ninos had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,

He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.

And I heard him exclaim... and this is verdad,

Merry Christmas to all... y Feliz Navidad

Somethin' crazy runs both ways!

Know how sometimes you can get this impression that you need to do something that seems impossible, but you know it's right? So then you do it, and everything works out so that impossible thing can happen, and then, out of nowhere, you get the fierce impression that it's wrong?

Yeah, me too.

Ain't life crazy?!?

Life just never turns out the way you plan on it turning out! And you know what? That's awesome.  If life did turn out the way I thought it should, it most likely wouldn't be a very good one.  God's plan is a heck of a lot better than mine.  The only thing is, none of us know what that plan is, so in the mean time, it makes it difficult to decide what to do.

In the mean time, folks, I'm grateful for socks.  And gluten-free food.  And I'm grateful for people who love me, who let me wear crazy socks and eat gluten-free food.  I'm grateful for my awesome mumsy and daddy-o who are just plain amazing, and they know it! I'm one lucky chick, that's for sure.  I'm grateful for my friends who love me no matter where I'm at.  And boy, am I super excited for the rest of my life, whatever it is, so bring it on, baby!!

The Bash of the Moustache

I was recently recruited to put my artist skills to good use.  The elder's quorum of my ward was putting together a "moustache bash" on behalf of nothing.  They just wanted to throw it because they could.  They are men, they have facial hair, and BYU lets you grow a moustache (why? I don't know, moustaches are way nastier than beards!).

After some deliberation, the elder's quorum decided the relief society was invited if they wanted to attend.  However, I was approached and asked to be the official "moustache artist" of the evening.  Of course, I said yes.  It was my job to draw moustaches of various shapes and sizes on the bald upper lips of all those who entered.  I opted out of this, however, because I was the artist.  Eyeliner pencil in hand, I drove to the Wilk in a tiny, tiny white car with my dear friend Cos.  He, despite all his efforts, had only managed to grow a really creepy, scraggly, Frenchie sort of moustache.  We like to think he is secure enough in his manhood to handle the truth.

The evening began with a spiritual thought relating to facial hair and the Old Testament, some puns, and a very interesting philosophical discussion given by a man with the most impressively disgusting moustache in the whole ward.  How can it be both? I'm not entirely sure, but it was.

Lucky for me, I did not end up being the only woman there, although I was for some time.  My friend Tash2 came to the activity after about forty five minutes, after taking a test, to join in the festivities of manhood.  In the end, we decided that we could draw some fake 'staches on our fingers and then hold them up to our lips.  It felt less manly that way.

Here is some documentation from the evening.

Tash2, after strutting her stuff on the moustache runway

Kyoo, and his Fu Manchu!!

Olsen twin #1 looking like Mario

Olsen twin #2 sporting a curly-q 'stache.  I missed catching his sweet backflip!

Mikus, looking like Luigi

One of the Hitler 'staches, and there is Cos with his nasty scraggler!

Me, struttin my stuff on the 'stache catwalk.  The 'stachewalk

A close up of me and my own handiwork.  I was laughing because it was the third try at getting the picture "centered"

Tash2, with her own Fu Manchu!

Kyoo, after landing some sweet Asian backflip, or doing some sweet ninja move

Two more of my handiworkses

The Olsen Twins: Curly and Mario

Me and my Fake 'Stache Cache!

The Men.  The two Hitler 'Staches in the background are hidden.  Bummer!

So anyway, that night was really pretty funny.  The guys got random awards for their moustaches (best, longest, strangest, scraggliest, etc.).  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty fulfilling evening.

Life: I Dare You to be Better. I Doubt You Could Be!

I know you have all heard this before... but, life is so awesome!!! Wow, everyday I wonder just how on earth Heavenly Father can bless us so much.  We think we know what it is to love someone, love our family, our friends... but then I look at my own life and the lives of my family members and friends, and I realize that I only comprehend a small fraction of what love really is according to Heavenly Father and our Savior.

I have a wonderful friend that I'm so blessed to have! She and I get to talk a couple times every week, and it's so amazing to me just how Heavenly Father leads people into our lives that can teach us, and that we, in turn, can teach as well.  The Gospel is such an amazing thing! We really are the Lord's hands if we allow Him to guide us.  This lady, though, is so strong.  She's been through such incredible trials, and yet, is one of the most faithful, strong, confident, trusting women that I have ever met, and she is an inspiration to me.

I have yet another wonderful friend that I'm so lucky to have in my life! I love her so much.  She, too, has been through some mighty hard (and I mean seriously hefty) and she is, and has been, such a trooper! So faithful, so diligent, so loving, so patient... everything you would hope someone would be, she has been that, and a million more things! I admire her so much more than she will probably ever know.

Like all of you, I have been through some pretty rough times, but I'm so, SO grateful for the gospel! Heavenly Father has blessed me so much with the most amazing, understanding, patient, loving, faithful family, the most incredible bishops, amazing home teachers and visiting teachers, an incredible ward, and I could go on and on about everything that I have to be thankful for, but it would fill up this page! I'm so grateful that I've been given the life I have been given, because it couldn't be more amazing, and I couldn't be more grateful for it.  More and more, I look at the crazy puzzle pieces of what I call life, the painful ones, the happy ones, the sad ones, the exciting ones, the big ones and little ones, and I wonder how Heavenly Father makes all the pieces fit together to create the most beautiful plan.  It really doesn't matter HOW He does it, but He DOES! Know why? Because He loves us.  He loves us more than we can begin to understand.

Love, that thing that we mere mortals only get a taste of! How can He loves us so much? I'm just so grateful that He does!

I heard something AWESOME from my Stake President at Institute last week.  In our stake, we were counseled to do different things, one of them being to "act, and not be acted upon."  The thing that I found so wonderful and interesting was the way the Stake President explained this to us.  There are things in life that we can completely control, things we can partially control, and things that we have little or no control over.

Complete control: Ourselves (actions, decisions, thoughts, attitude etc.)

Partial control: Others (influencing others decisions, actions, attitudes, etc.)
Little or no control: Time, weather, consequences etc.

The Stake President drew a small circle on the chalk board and told us that this circle represented what we had control over in our lives.  Then he drew a very large circle around that little circle and explained that the big circle represented what we can't control in our lives.  Sometimes, he said, we get down and sad and yada yada yada because we feel like we have no control over our lives.  This can be something as little as feeling like someone always "makes" you angry, or "makes" you sad, or whatever it is! You could be suffering a consequence because of some action, you could be feeling distanced from the Lord for whatever reason.  All of these things make the little circle smaller and smaller making it seem as though we have little or no control over our lives.  The trick is, he said, to do everything that YOU can to control your life.  The only thing you have control over is yourself! No one can "make" you do anything.  You choose to be happy, you choose to not get angry, you choose to go to the temple, you choose to go to church on Sunday, you choose to read your scriptures everyday, you choose to kneel for prayers so Heavenly Father can guide you.  All these choices are things that you control so that even when life seems ridiculous and hard and out of control, when you are doing all the best things that you can, then you are in control of your life.

Isn't that super neat? Now, I have to make sure I say that this was from my Stake President, not a General Authority, so I'm not prophesying here or anything, but I just wanted to share something that I thought was really neat and uplifting.

Life is so amazing!! 

Daily dose of Hilarity and Joy

Dear readers,

I know you hear me say this often, but, by golly, I'm just SO DANG HAPPY!

I had a moment of sadness today, but I realized, after this moment had passed, that I've come a long, long way.  That particular incident, in the past, would have made me much sadder for very much longer.  The fact that it didn't last very long, and I was able to get over feeling sorry for myself after about fifteen minutes, and decide that I was wrong and just needed to fix it, was a moment that, ironically, made me extremely happy!  Growth, of the good variety, is a very happy thing.

:D

On top of THAT, I just have awesome day after awesome day.  Seriously, every day I live gets better and better.  I just spent about 90% of my evening laughing my buns off, because my FHE family is just that amazing.  The other 10% was spent listening to a lesson, and cutting hair, and eating.  One can't laugh one's buns off when one is cutting hair, elsewise the hairs will look skiddywampus.  One also cannot laugh one's buns off when one is eating food, elsewise, the food ends up where it does not belong, like upon one's neighbors lap, then one's neighbor becomes unhappy, and the laughter ceases.  But I digress.  Let me outline the night just a little bit for you.

Cristy is probably on the top ten list of the funniest people I know.  Possibly even the top five.  It's hard to say, because sometimes I forget just how many funny people I know.  But she is most definitely up there.  I just adore her.  She and I laugh at anything and everything, and I think she's downright fantastic.  She and I, and part of the rest of our FHE group adjourned to her car for our trip to the Wright home, which we presumed would be easily found.

Not so, team, not so.

You see, Walnut Ave. is so very, very deceitful.  Walnut is a type of tree, therefore it belongs in the tree streets, not amidst NUMBERED streets.  But, the trip was fun!! Needless to say we laughed the whole time. We laughed when I said we could have FHE in the car if all else failed, but then we laughed particularly hard when Cristy said, and I quote, "Well, I have a gps if all else really fails."

We are intelligent beings, we are.

We found it.  Eventually.  And then we had a jolly time there as well.  Cristy and I should not sit together when silence is mandatory.  I find her presence far too enjoyable to stay silent.

On a completely separate note, I stumbled upon one of my favorite bands from my past the other day - The Shins! Oh how I love The Shins!! That brought me happiness.  Phantom Limb, in particular.

Ahhhhhh, folks.  My life is so, so, so VERY very good.  I think it should be illegal to be this happy sometimes.  But not :D I can't get over just how awesome it all is... so I think I won't get over it, and I'll just stay in the midst of all this bliss! Sound good? I thought so too. :D

The Celiac Gut

I'm kind of a skinny kid.  I always have been.  Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, or that it's anything fantastic.  It just is.  However, when I was 12 (the year I was intensely ill) my 5'6" body whittled down to a skeletal number on the scale.  Since then, it has been really hard for me to gain any weight, and up until I graduated high school, I was still toothpick skinny.  Now, (finally!) I am at an almost normal weight, but I'm still thin.

But there is this one thing... One little thing, just one teensy, tiny, itty bitty thing that's just buggin' the dirt out of me, because I've NEVER had to deal with anything remotely similar to this before in my LIFE!

I fondly refer to this phenomenon as...

The Celiac Gut.


You heard me.  Gut.  Like the gut in "Beer Gut," only minus the beer.

You see, dear readers, I have a condition.  A disease, if you will.  Celiac Disease.  It's a particularly frustrating thing to have, because everything I eat has usually come in contact (inadvertently) with some glutenous substance, thereby creating a very unpleasant sensation to occur within my bowels, and usually in my mouth, too.

It's rather annoying for everyone around me, I'm sure.  You see, when I attend social gatherings of various sorts, I inform my formal (or informal) host (or hostess) of my condition, and they usually accommodate me with copious amounts of appropriate food and nourishment.  However, my body also likes to do this stupid thing where it has allergic reactions to things that I wasn't allergic to last week.  Therefore, I do not know what foods to avoid, and which to ingest.

Sadness inevitably ensues.  But not for very long.  It usually lasts about 5 seconds.

I know at this point you are wondering where I was going with all this.  I will tell you.

When I eat anything glutenous, my body gets angry at me for feeding them this hazardous substance, inadvertent though it may be.  The way my body shows me how angry it is, is as follows:

1. Intense mouth sores.  At first, this was the tell-tale sign that something was amiss.  It basically felt like my mouth was covered in the cuts and sores you get from eating way too much pineapple... times ten.  That's the best way to describe it.  It hurt to eat anything, brush my teeth... kinda miserable.

2. A belly very much in pain.  Later, as I discovered that gluten was that something, I noticed the pain in my gut.  You see, once I removed gluten from the picture and my gut started feeling better, then I noticed the intense pain I got when I accidentally ate anything glutenous.

3. Extreme fatigue.  I don't know if this happens to any other Celiac victims, but oft times I will simply feel like crap.  Tired, even though I have done nothing strenuous, sleepy, even though I have slept copious amounts, and achy.

4. The Celiac Gut. I know this is the one you have been waiting for.  After all, it IS the title of my post.  You see... whenever I eat anything glutenous, I ALWAYS get this really stupid GUT! This is the "thing" that haunts me.... all my toothpick-y life I have had very little of any sort of protrusion on any part of my body, so when I ingest gluten, I tend to get very saddened, because the great gut protrusion appears atop the jeans and ceases to disappear for days!!!

Oh well.  The very cute boy says he sees no gut, but sometimes I wonder if he just thinks it's fun to poke.

I don't think it's fun to poke.

My Big Baby Puppy: Bear

Bear.  The big, black, furry, sweet, loveable mutt.  We all loved him.  I don't know anyone that has met him who hasn't loved him.  He was just that way.  So sweet, so loving, so gentle, never barked, and he did the cutest dance when he was excited to see you! He was just so big and yet so lovey.  I always said if he had been a human, he would have been a big, fat British man that wore a monacle and just smiled all the time.  He was the sweetest dog in the world.

Isn't he beautiful?

He started getting really sick last week and just wasn't getting better.  They took him to the vet, and the vet was pretty hopeful that he would recover.  He had a high white blood cell count, which was causing his organs to become toxic, but he was on an IV and she was pretty confident it would help him.

The next day, he was doing a little better.  He was able to sit up, and shake without falling over, and was eating better than he had in days.  They kept him overnight again just to make sure that everything was solid, but this morning he was worse.  :(

I don't have a whole lot of words to say right now.  It's hard being away from home and having to work while all of this went on.  I wish I could be there with my family, and I wish I could have been there with my mom when they put him to sleep.  It's totally sad, but I know it's better now that he doesn't have to suffer in pain any longer.  For that, I'm grateful.  Still sad, but grateful. 

Love you and miss you, Bear.



You know what makes me happy? You.

So the title of this blog comes from the mouth of one of the sweet little boys I nanny.  One day, I hate to admit it, but I was a little annoyed with him.  He didn't get a nap that day, so he was quite grumpy, he was whining and not listening to a thing I said.  I told him he needed to be still and stop whining and tell me all about the pretty colors he saw outside.  He interrupted me by saying, "You know what makes me happy?" And I said, "What makes you happy?" And he just said, "You."  I just melted!

It's kind of interesting how Heavenly Father places us exactly where we need to be, even though it makes no sense.  Take where I live, for example.  At the beginning of the summer,  I knew I needed to move, and I knew it had to be in Provo.  I even knew why it had to be there.  I also knew I needed to go back to school.  Needless to say, after everything that had happened, it was a little hard not to feel a little overwhelmed.  I had absolutely no idea how anything was going to work out because, in my mind, it made absolutely zero sense.  However, I knew what the Lord had revealed to me, and I had learned that when the Lord tells you to do something, and gives you a time frame, you just have to do it - do your part, and He will make up for the rest.

So I did.  I set out apartment, job, and car hunting.  It was a little scary because I was finding apartments left and right, but jobs and affordable cars were harder to come by.  Well, I finally found a job, which I quit, and then I found another job, where I met a wonderful girl who is now one of my very good friends.  I had one item on my list checked off: job.  Next item of business? Preferably, a car.  Well... it didn't work out that way.  I definitely went out of order on the list of logic.  It would have been ideal to have found a job and a car, and then move, but... the Lord blessed me.

I had spent a lot of time looking on craigslist and ksl for apartments.  I knew I needed to find something that I could afford, but most of all, I knew I needed to feel good about where I was moving.  I know I physically looked at at least 3 apartments, and it's not that I felt "bad" about them, but I definitely didn't feel like that was where the Lord wanted me to be.  So I kept looking.  One day, I had really been praying about where I should go, and I had the thought to go look at the byu website, and look at off campus housing.  There were only a few postings, but I called every one of them, and the only one that called me back was one of the Brownstone Condos.  He was, by far, the nicest landlord I had talked to throughout the whole process.  My brother and I went to meet him at the condo a few days later, and when I walked in, I had this overhwelming feeling that this was where the Lord wated me to be! It was such a cool feeling!

I knew that I didn't have a car yet, but I signed the contract anyway, paid my deposit, and just made sure I had everything taken care of so that I could move in when I wanted to.  Well, the mandatory move in date was fast approaching, and I still didn't have a car.  Long story short, one of my best friends knew about my predicament and told me to use her car until I had my own, no questions asked.

The Lord totally blesses us through other people, and that was one of the biggest blessings I have ever received when I was in great need of blessings.  I still don't think that this friend knows exactly how much of a blessing she was in my life at that time, and I probably haven't done a good enough job at thanking her for it.

Living where I do has definitely been the greatest experience of my life thus far.  I couldn't be more grateful for all the people that I've met there.  They are all so amazing in their own way and have helped me in so many ways.  I am here to tell you that whatever your circumstances, whatever trials you are going through, the Lord will not leave you alone! He wants you to be happy, and you can choose to see His hand in your life, because I know it's there! When your burden feels to heavy, He's there to ease the pain.  It still hurts, but it's so much easier knowing that there is light and joy at the end of the tunnel, and all along the journey.

There was a conference talk that I LOVED this past session.  It said sometimes bad things happen even though you are doing everything right, but the Lord weeps with His innocent lambs.

Blessings come when you're following the Lord's will for you.  Bad things still happen, and I don't know how or when the blessings will come, but I know they do, and I know it's all worth it :)

What more could I ask for?

Oh where, Oh just WHERE do I begin? So much time has passed since we have last spoken, dear readers, or in this case, since I have last spoken, and you have last read.  In said amount of time, very much has come to pass.  Let's see, where did we last leave each other...

Jobs.  We shall start there.  So last YOU heard, I applied to and got hired at APX working as a customer support representative.  I went through the two weeks of training, and met a very WONDERFUL gal there (who has since become a very dear friend to me) and other fine people there.  However, in my short time there, I knew that this job was only going to last a very short while, and that I was soon going to have another job.  A family contacted me that lived in Orem, only ten minutes from where I lived, offering me a part time nanny job that I felt really great about.  I went over, met them, and we both felt great and they hired me on the spot.  I was taking a huge pay cut, but I knew without a doubt this was what I needed to do.  So I did it.  Only a few days later did I get a cal from another lady, who lives 2 minutes (yes, 2 minutes) away from me, who needed some extra help around her house and a tutor for her son, and she was offering to pay me quite a bit of money.  So I went to meet her and her kids and, once again, kids, I felt great about it and knew I needed to take this job as well.

In this time, I decided that I was going to quit on the last day of training.  So I did.  I expected it to be a lot uglier than it was.  In reality, it was pretty awesome! The big boss was way nice about everything and my trainer was even nicer.  And so, I started my two new jobs.  I love them! Need I say more? Two sweet little buggers of the ages 3 and 9 months.

The 3 year old surprised me the other day after I was getting a tad bit annoyed when he kept asking me "why" questions over and over, even though he knew full well that I did not know the answers.  When I told him he should probably stop asking me questions and then started pointing out all the pretty colors and different cars outside, he stopped me and said, "You know what makes me happy?" and I said, "What makes you happy?" and what does that sweet little boy say? "You."

AWWW!!!!! How stinking cute is that?!?! I pretty much melted.  He gives me kisses when I come and when I leave and tells me he loves me and tells everyone that I'm his "special friend" that he gets to play with all day.  I love that little boy. :)

So that is the job story.

Now.  The car story.  I will make it short and sweet, because I KNOW full well that most of you (specifically a certain one of you...) are going to skip down to the bottom where you know I will save the best story for last.  But never fear, gentle readers! That story just happens to tie into my car story!! Look at me, I learned something after writing all those essays.

My car.  Antoine.  It is black.  His name is Antoine.  It's logical.  Homeboy.  Fo'real.

One day, Antoine stopped working.  Poor, poor Antoine.  I was so very, very sad.  A very cute boy in my complex offered to help me fix Antoine.  At first, he helped me jump Antoine for a couple days, until one day, Antoine just died and would not start again.  Antoine needed a new battery.  The very cute boy and I went to Walmart and found the correct battery, purchased the battery, returned to the complex to replace the part, returned to Walmart to return the broken part, returned once more to the complex to actually replace the part.  The very cute boy and I stood around the car, and before we knew it, his two roommates had joined us.  Collectively, we thought we knew what we were doing.  Dear readers, we did not.  After removing battery #1, we placed battery #2 in and, failing to actually look at the terminals, merely matched said part in such a way that it seemed to "match" the direction of battery #1.  Antoine smoked like a chimney.  Antoine smelled like death.  The boys looked like they were going to die.

The very cute boy had unknowingly fried my alternator.  Long story short, the very cute boy offered to buy me dinner because of what had happened.  So the next day he took me to HumorU and we got Thai food and had a very grand time.  The day after that, he and his daddy fixed my alternator, and the day after that, after very little deliberation, we decided to start dating.

It has been a month today since that day.  Ladies and gentleman, I couldn't be happier. :)

My life is so so SO incredibly blessed.  My ward, my home teachers, my friends, my family, that very cute boy... there is not a thing about my life that I don't love, or that I'm not learning to love.  Heavenly Father sure does love me!! And He loves you too ;) And I'm so grateful!!

Stickin' it to to Man

Addi Paddi: Thank you for introducing me to this song.  Yeah!

Keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table
While I look outside
So many things I’d say if only I were able
But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by

You’ve got opinions, man
We’re all entitled to ‘em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time, and try not to waste anymore of mine
And get out of here fast

I hate to break it to you babe, but I’m not drowning
There’s no one here to save

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

You sound so innocent, all full of good intent
Swear you know best
But you expect me to jump up on board with you
And ride off into your delusional sunset

I’m not the one who’s lost with no direction
But you’ll never see
You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps
You got the talking down, just not the listening

And who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Let me hold your crown, babe.

Jobs...

My job is very far away.  I drive 30 minutes to work everyday in the mornings, and it usually takes anywhere from 35-45 in the afternoons to get home.  Not a choice favorite.  I would have to say that it makes getting 8.50 an hour hardly worth it.  I watch my gas gauge go down everyday and think about how many hours of work it will take to replenish that.

And that's why I started looking for a job closer to home.  I applied everywhere, and basically I was a full time job hunter.  Too bad you don't get paid for full time job hunting! I had several interviews to no avail.  I wasn't terribly disappointed, but it was a little disheartening.  But the Lord works in mysterious ways, as we are often reminded.  I had a certain interview which I believed I totally bombed.  I was about 85% positive I would not get hired.  My good friend told me that she had connections to the company, and that she would make sure I had a good word put in for me.  Apparently she had really good connections, because they hired me five days later.

While I was extremely excited, I was also very sad.  I love my job now.  I know I complain about certain aspects of it a lot, but what job isn't like that? Truth is, I didn't know how much I actually liked my coworkers until I told my boss I was leaving.  He tried to convince me to stay, but I told him why I had to leave.  He asked if it paid more, which it did, it was closer, all the things that I needed, and most of all, I knew it was something that Heavenly Father wanted me to do.  I didn't try to explain too much because I didn't need to, but when they said they would miss me, I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and I said I would miss them too and then warned them not to go on about it because I was going to cry.  Then one of my coworkers blurted out "But I'M going to cry!!" and I said "So am I!!" And then I did.

And this past week has been a bit of a doozy.  I didn't realize how much everyone ELSE liked me until I told them I was leaving.  One of my coworkers even offered to pay me an extra dollar an hour out of his paycheck if I stayed.  I laughed, but I'm pretty sure he was being serious.  I have never seen this guy act this serious in his life.  "If you quit, I quit, that's how it goes," says he.  I told him to move the company to Provo and I would stay.  It's true, if they would move it, I would stay! It's just too far with not enough pay to make it worth it.  Even saying that makes me want to cry!

So that has made it a pretty tough week.  I'm a little terrified to start my other job... I shouldn't be, but I always am scared to start new jobs.  I'm always afraid that I won't be good at it, and my bosses won't like me, and maybe I won't have cool coworkers, I will get crappy shifts... you just never know, and I don't like the unknown very much.

But I know it'll work out.  This new job was a huge blessing in and of itself.  That much I know is true.  I do get free meals and a gym pass... I'm looking forward to that :) I'll let you know how the new job goes!

BMW Blessings

My Daddy has been looking for a car for me down in California for some time now.  I have been looking for one here, with not a whole lot of luck.  He would occasionally send me pictures of possibilities... One such picture was of an '88 BMW 5 series.  Silver.  I fell in love.  I swore then and there to pledge my allegiance to BMW's forevermore. Everything about it was beautiful.  I spent my time looking for old school BMer's in Utah, California, even Wyoming and Idaho.  Well, to make a long story short, my daddy found the most beautiful old school BMer 5 series I had ever seen for a killer price.  Not to mention, it's in amazing condition.  The one problem was that I was in Utah and it was not.

So my amazing mother devised a wonderful plan.  She bought us two one-way tickets to California, where we would spend the weekend, go to church Sunday, sleep Sunday afternoon, and drive through the night.  I planned on going to work on Monday morning, and all things would be fine.  Sunday came around and I started feeling really sick.  Not good.  I texted my boss, let him know that I wasn't gonna be in Monday morning, but hopefully would be feeling better to come in during the afternoon.  So, I took a two hour nap.  I felt better, and thought I would be able to drive home no problem  We left around 9 o'clock, mom took the first shirt and I slept for another four hours (on and off).  At about 1 I took over driving.  I thought I was feeling better than I actually was.  I made it until about 4 and I could not drive anymore.  Mom offered to take over and drive to the next rest stop and we would just sleep until the morning, and then finish our trip.

10 minutes later:

8 miles out of Parowan.  Mile marker 71.
Hazards go on.  Car stops.  "What...?" I ask.
"I'm not sure...   I think it's overheated.  Just gonna sit here for a little bit and let it cool off so I can pop the hood and check everything out."
I went back to sleep.

10 minutes later:

"You having problems with your car?" Says the officer, at least at the time I assumed it was at the time when I suddenly thought it was morning when his spotlight hit our car.
Mom explained the situation to him, and when he offered to drive us into town, she politely told him one more time what was going on.  We don't need a mechanic, we need this thing to cool down so we can look at it.  So then he offered to dispatch someone to come check on us in about 15 minutes.  She liked that idea, and then he went on his merry way.

1 hour later:

"Pretty sure it's been more than 15 minutes... how long have I been asleep?"
"'Bout an hour."
She had popped the hood, and couldn't get the radiator cap off.  Sometimes I hate it when men deal with cars, because then when women try to fix something, everything is screwed on so gosh darn tight, we have to call men back over to do it anyway.
I offered to give it a go, with no luck.
Mom, being the intelligent one, decided to look in the trunk for something to open the cap with.  She FINALLY got it open, and to our lovely surprise, it was cool; not looking very "overheated" like the gauge was telling us.  She poured a little water in it, for good measure, and we decided we needed to mosey the 8 miles to Parowan.  So hazards went back on, and we went about 40 miles an hour for 8 miles and made it to the gas station in Parowan.  6 o'clock in the morning.  I couldn't go back to sleep.  By now we were both too keyed up to sleep.

Hours passed, we occasionally checked the gauge, which was constantly in the red.  We found this puzzling, seeing as the engine and everything else about the car was obviously not hot either... it was quite ridiculous.  But we went with it, because it was my new car, and neither one of us wanted anything serious to happen to it.  We called around for mechanics, all of whom were closed and not very friendly anyway.  We walked around the gas station (which is about as civilized as Parowan gets) and I discovered the Big Buck Hunt game.  This was when I knew we were in trouble.  I also knew we were in trouble when the woman parked next to us changed her "clothes" twice in her car, begged for money for "gas", and rolled doobies.

My brother and sister wound up driving all the down to tow us back, but we had the thought that maybe when the previous owner steam cleaned the engine, some part of it got wet and the sensor was just acting up.  It didn't make sense to my mom, my dad, or I that the gauge would still be buried in the red when the car had been off for 5 hours.  Needless to say we had done a lot of praying.

It was not a good day.  I called work to see if a service guy could help me out and maybe troubleshoot the problem with my car and let me know if it would be safe to drive it, but kept getting no answer, only to find out that service had the day off.  That should have been a "duh" but... well.  We hadn't slept much.  And on top of all that I was dealing with some rather ridiculous drama from an individual who found he had stuck his foot so far into his mouth that it had reached his lower intestines.  He was having a hard time getting it out, we'll leave it at that.

Gentle readers, I, Makenna Donaldson, was being a snot.  I hate being a snot.  The worst part of it all was that I KNEW I was being a snot, and I KNEW I needed to stop, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I feel extremely bad about this, because I know it made my mom feel worse, seeing me so... like that.  Well, Heavenly Father has a way of teaching us things in ways that are mysteriously wonderful.  He knew I needed (and always do need) a lesson in patience.  And learning to keep my mouth shut and stop complaining.  Around 12.30 p.m. a mechanic came up to my car and asked us if something was wrong and if he could help at all.  I pounced.  "YES! Something is wrong!" My mom, being much more intelligent than I, was a lot more polite to him than I, the hysterical daughter, as I shoved trail mix into my mouth and grimaced.  I had eaten far too much trail mix on this trip.  She told him what was going on with the gauge, and after a little looking, thinking, searching, feeling, poking, and talking, he and my parents decided that the sensor had gotten wet and was thus acting up, but my car itself was just fine.  In fact, it's in fabulous condition.  The sensor is a no-big-deal quick fix.  For this I was grateful.  Dear readers, at this time, I smiled.  I hadn't smiled in hours.  My mom proceeded to explain to him that he had really made my day, because I hadn't smile in a while.  I'd like to think this made him happy.

Our mechanic (also a tow truck driver) then told us that he had driven all the way up to Parowan from St. George to pick up 1 single car from some fair grounds, and when he arrived they wouldn't even let him take the car because they were starting their races, so he'd driven all the way up for nothing.  I quickly yelled out, "That's not true! You came all the way up here to help us!" I was smiling so big I was sure he could see every tooth.

My mom and I talked and decided that we obviously had to be taught.  I am pretty sure that lesson was mostly for me, because I was the snot, and have a whole lot more to learn than my mom.  Heavenly Father always blesses us, but there's a lot of blessings we just have to wait for.  Heavenly Father totally blessed us yesterday, but we definitely had to wait.  And that's totally OK!

Oh Parowan, the Land I Call... Desolation

Oh Parowan. Why oh why must I be stranded here? Why hatest thou.me? Why breakest thou my BMer that I love so dearly? I walked into thy sole and lowly station of gas and trinkets and found myself the game of all hick town games "The Buck Hunt" and found myself amused for a moment. Thank you, I feel the need to laugh and add this to my list of things gone wrong in the past three weeks. Congratulations! Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.

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Always, Sometimes, Never

Thanks to my  friend Emily for giving me this blog idea :) Hope I can come up with some good ones.

I ALWAYS

- Wear socks to bed.  I just do.  I can't sleep without them.  Even if it's hot.

- Am "allergic" to something.  Yeah, my body likes to keep me guessing on what it doesn't like me to consume.

- Get excited to eat breakfast.  Sounds lame, but... I love breakfast.  I go to bed EXCITED to eat breakfast.

- Dream.  Always.  I dream every single night.  Text me as soon as I wake up and I'll tell you my dream.

- Count words in conversations... super super weird OCD that I get for liking math I guess.  I REALLY try not to do it because it bothers me.

I SOMETIMES

- Will make a big meal just because I want to feel accomplished.

- Like to go on walks with friends just to appreciate God's creations.

- Eat with little kid forks and spoons because I feel bad for them when they don't get used.

- Sing everything, because my life is a musical.

- Watch old movies and Midsomer Murders with my mommy, because... it's just what we do :)

I NEVER

- Pulled an all-nighter.  Nor do I really want to.

- Want to get gas.  I don't know why, but it just isn't something I enjoy, at all.  I will do almost anything to get someone else to do it.

- Lie, for two reasons.  First of all, it's wrong... second of all, I am the WORST liar on the planet.

- Get tired of cleaning a kitchen.  Favorite chore!

- Get bored of laughing with my family and friends.

The Book of Mormon is Rated R

FHE.  7:30.  Monday Night.  Meet in The Crack (official name yet to be decided). Be there, or lose your endorsement.  OK, maybe not really.  But who doesn't like the idea of decorating cakes? Or eating cakes? I don't like cake.  But I like to decorate them.

So 7:30 it was, and after a quick lesson given by a girl doped on Benadryl, we were introduced to our teammates.  Team 4 united.  Secret handshake and all.  We put our heads together.  Conversed secretly.  Our topic? The Book of Mormon.  Depict something from the Book of Mormon on your cake.  You will be judged according to creativity, execution, and something else that I don't remember.  But that one doesn't matter anyway.

We looked at each other with smirks on our faces, then our eyes darted to our neighboring team and we eyed them with suspicion.  They did the same.  Unfortunately, we didn't have anywhere to go as our cakes occupied the same table.  We eyed our supplies on the supply table.  The neighboring team, the 3's, did the same.  One of our more daring teammates made a run for the table.  As luck would have it, we weren't the first ones with that idea.  As we were instructed, we didn't take very much frosting.  Unfortunately, other teams are stingy and mean and spiteful, and they took the entire bowl.

I exaggerate.  But we didn't even have enough frosting to cover the top of our cake.  As you will find out, we didn't need it.  I shouldn't complain.  Back to the story.

With our supplies of frosting, toothpicks, food coloring, coconut, red hots, and Twizzlers in hand, we threw out ideas.

"Ammon! The Twizzlers could be the bloody arms..."
"We could just cover it in yellow frosting and call it the Celestial Kingdom..."
"3D cake! Make it a 3D cake!"
"I think we should just make it red and say it's blood."
"The Book of Mormon IS rated R..."
"EW! Who had this idea? Boys?? We are NOT making a boy's cake..."
"But uh... I'm a girl and I think that's a good idea..."
"Why can't it be pink?"
"3D cake! Make it a 3D cake!"
"Do the Land of Desolation..."
"Did anything else even happen in the Book of Mormon?"
"I sure hope no one loses their testimony because of this..."
"Just make it bloody.  Whatever you do, it has to be bloody."
"The Book of Mormon is rated X..."
"No, the New Testament is rated R... that's sketchy..."
"True... OK, it's just rated R... for all the gore... it needs to be a blood cake."
"This is gross."

And so we settled on a cake called Maher Shalal Hash Baz.  That was NFF's idea.  Destruction is imminent.  So fitting, actually.

We first set out to make the grossest color possible out of the food coloring we were given.  Dare I say it... I think we succeeded.  It was disgustingly satisfying.  My teammate, The Froster (TF) set out to frost our chocolate cake, only to find that it crumbled with every stroke of the spatula.  Oh well, more character, right? Destruction.  Again, so fitting.  Soon, we found that there was most definitely not enough frosting for the entire cake.  I turned to get more, only to be disappointed, for the greedy teams had taken all of it!

Fear not! My genius teammate, Dwight, escaped to his apartment and returned with a jar of chunky peanut butter.  Our cake was soon filled with peanut butter mountains, covered in coconut bones and red hot guts.  Dwight set out making midget licorice corpses, while NFF began making a giant licorice king.  Unfortunatley, NFF failed to make the head, so I began to assist him.  The head was unfortunately a cyclops, but, as we all know, many people lost their eyes in battles.  As NFF and I began making more licorice giants, Tash2 and Best Friend (BF) lamented a bit about the goriness of the cake, while NFF explained to us that Dwight's grandmother was his 1st grade teacher.  Dwight's grandmother thought NFF was too violent in 1st grade.  NFF liked to draw tanks in 1st grade.  Tash2 believed he never grew out of his violence.

After NFF and I had finished our licorice giants, we realized that licorice failed to stand on its own.  Andre who towered a good 2 feet above me suggest toothpicks and knives.  Dwight told us that Andre thinks on a higher level than all of us.  This is truth.  I hate to admit this, but there is but one teammate who's identity escapes me.  I only remember that none of us knew his name, and this made us all sad.  So for now, we shall call him Nameless.  And thus he is named.

To make a short story long, after putting Andre's genius idea to good use, our beautifully hideous cake was finished.  It was unstable.  We feared for its' life.  When FHE coordinator informed us that we had to actually transport our creations to the judging table, a small cry escaped from TF and Dwight.  NFF put on a brave face and slowly reached toward the cake.  Nameless was nowhere to be seen.  Tash2 and BF looked over my shoulder with despair.  But NFF didn't let us down!

And the judging began.  The Judge surveyed our cakes with giggles insisting that every cake was a winner and that she couldn't possibly choose any winners.  8 cakes.  3 prizes.  1 judge.

Each team explained their cake.  2 cakes depicted Ammon.  2 cakes depicted the tree of life.  1 cake depicted Samuel the Lamanite.  1 cake depicted the Title of Liberty.  1 cake depicted something else I can't remember.  And... our cake... Maher Shalal Hash Baz.  Destruction is IIMMINENT!

We won most creative.

Go team 4.

We were all proud of our cake in the end.

None of us ate it.

Ground Turkey and Taco Shells Unite!

Oh to be poor.  Living on your own.  Saving for or paying for school.  Paying for over priced (not in my case) apartment living.  Cleaning your roommates dishes.  Having too many tomatoes than you know what to do with. It's quite beautiful in its' own way, really.  It's an even more beautiful thing when your apartment mates are in the same situation! Such was the case last night.  My newfound friend (NFF) and I conversed through text message, I lamenting about oatmeal for dinner yet AGAIN, and how it refuses to keep me full for more than 10 minutes, and he lamenting about his box of taco shells, having nothing with which to fill them, thus resulting in intense hunger.

Then, dear readers, a genius idea filled my head.  I had frozen ground turkey.  He had taco shells.  I had cheese.  He had a grater. I had a clean apartment.  He didn't.  Ah ha.

He was skeptical at first.  "Ground what?" says NFF.
"Turkey." Says I.  "You know... it's like beef, except the bird variety."
He stared at my right earlobe.  He blinked.  "This is something I'm not familiar with."

And so we cooked.  But, alas.  The ground turkey was still halfway frozen! I insisted that it would thaw once we started to cook it, but NFF would have none of it.  He did have a grand idea.  Why don't we jimmy-rig a double boiler and thaw the meat that way? (You see, he actually didn't know what it was called, and it took us a good 3 minutes of charades for me to figure out what kitchen gadget he was referring to.)  And so we did.  NFF is very skilled with two frying pans, boiling water, and frozen meat.

After the turkey was substantially thawed, NFF handed the sausage-like package to me, and we both grimaced as the partially cooked yet partially frozen meat oozed from its' plastic casing.  I felt like washing my hands 17 times, but refrained.  While NFF cooked the meat with a wooden spoon (we soon realized how badly my kitchen was in need of stocking), I desperately tried to grate that "paper cheese" as NFF calls it, otherwise known was "white cheese" in my household.

There was also a very sad looking cantaloupe accompanying the meal.  And by sad looking I mean lumpy.  And my lumpy I mean it looked tumorous.  However, that being said, it was probably the tastiest cantaloupe that had graced my tastebuds in a long while.  NFF even let me keep some.  Such generosity!

And with that we feasted.  Cantaloupe and tacos.  Including salsa that turned out to be hotter than I anticipated.  The meal and the company were equally enjoyable.  Post gorging we listened to the "bajillion" of ringtones on NFF's phone.  All of which I approve.  Except for maybe one, and even then I can't say that I don't approve, because I laughed a lot.  This laughing fest made me realize two important things.  1. I am lacking in good ringtones.  2. I am also lacking in good movies.

I have made a vow to fix both of these things.