Happy Birthday Shout Out

To my dearest grandmother:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(don't we look so much alike?)

This pretty lady is probably the coolest person I have ever known.

She makes me laugh....constantly.

She is always laughing constantly.

She introduced me to my love of horses.

If I ever want to go to a country concert, she is the first person I ask to go with me.

She introduced me to Garth Brooks. Anyone who knows me, knows my undying love for Garth.

We also share a love for tree houses (she built me my first one)

She's really awesome at building things.

She knows more about places like Home Depot than the employees probably do.

She is the most patriotic person I know. I mean, look at the cast! So awesome.

Some of my fondest memories are laying in my grandmas heated bed early in the morning watching the Early Morning Show.

This is how cool she is....

(yeah. That's Regis &Kelli and my grandparents)

She also takes pride in my ethnicity.

She likes to think she speaks Spanish. One time I got a voicemail from her that started with, "Hola! Que pasa mi amiga?!?"

Overall, my grandma is amazing.

She is someone I look up to and miss every single day.

She's beautiful.

She's self-less.

She's a cowgirl at heart.

She's my soul sister.

I love you, grandma!

Happy birthday :)

Wedding Receptions and Bridal Showers

Friday night was spent with some of my favorite people all attending another one of my favorite persons wedding reception. All of these are employees or were employees of DownEast Outfitters. My manager, Julie, drove me, Eliza, Tiffany, and Peter (our old manager) to Whitney's wedding reception out at some military base. Her husband is in the military...obviously. She was gorgeous.

The pumpkin cheesecake was amazing. The father-daughter dance was a tear jerker. The country music was the best. And the slide show of pictures just made me want to get married...right now.

Yesterday I threw another one of my friends a bridal shower with a few of her roommates. I was in charge of food and decorations. We decided to throw her a Hawaiian style party because she served her mission in Hawaii and that is where she is getting married as well. Lucky for us, her fiance had a TON of decorations so we didn't have to buy any of those. As for the food. I made:

Samoa Girl Scout cookies

Avocado Deviled Eggs (seriously so good)

7-Layered bean dip

And then I bought:

pumpkin pie

and

spinach-artichoke dip

from Costco-obviously the best place for such foods

I know what you're thinking. That is the most random bridal shower menu ever. Yes. You are correct. But that's just what you get when someone doesn't know how to feed 20 girls on a budget haha. (i'm talking about myself) But it all was great......and their was fruit.

We had her fiance come in as a surprise and gave him a white rose and he had to pull of every petal and for each petal he had to state a reason why he loved Kalleen. It was adorable. He is definitely a keeper for her. It was a lovely night. Marriage is wonderful. Love is cute. Now I need to go work on my Marriage Prep homework.

Are You My Mother?

So it's the month of Thanks-giving and all and I thought I would give a shout out to my mother.

I am so grateful for her and the fact that she puts up with me and my phone calls I make to her every other day......or every day.......or multiple times a day.....

sorry if I bug you, mom! But she really is the best at answering my calls and listening to my rambling nonsense and is so patient with me....unless she has to go to the grocery store.

Don't ever call her if she is about to walk into the store. She cannot multi-task like that ;)

I love you mom!

You are wonderful. You are beautiful. You are amazing.

THANK YOU

Can I be 21 yet?

Usually one would be wishing to get a fake I.D in order to buy alcohol, go dancing at clubs, ect. I, on the other hand, would like a fake I.D in order to go on an 18 month LDS mission. June 3rd could not get here soon enough. There is so much I want to learn and so much I wish to teach others. Here in Provo, Utah there isn't a ton of variety of people. The main population are Latter-Day Saints aka Mormons. So whenever I go beyond the Mormon border, I realize how many people are out there in this world who don't know the fullness of the gospel. I see these people and I can tell that their spirits are just aching to hear the truth. They want it, but they don't even know it. Or they know it, but they aren't sure exactly what it is that they want. Make sense?

They are children of a Heavenly Father who LOVES them and they don't know it.

They have a divine nature and so much worth but they don't even know it.

They have an elder brother who sacrificed everything for them so they can feel peace and they don't know it.

They have the access to the Atonement that can help them rid themselves of so much pain yet they don't even know it.

They can be happy truly happy but they don't know how.

I used to listen to a song by Kenneth Cope all of the time. I haven't heard it in years until just recently. I actually listened to the words for the first time. It was about missionary service. It totally touched me. It's called, I Will Not Be Still.

"I've never been the kind to testify. I don't have the words His truth deserve, but its a simple thing He asks; a worthy heart and wiling hands. He says if i'll make the choice, He'll help me find my voice. He calls me serve and I cannot fail Him, the one who has given me all that I have. I place my trust in Him alone, He knows the yearnings of my soul. Because He believes in me, I will go willingly. How can I keep this gift to myself when I can lift somebody else? I am a witness of His miracles and His mercy. I put my future in His hands knowing He's made me all I am . When I put my faith in Him the truth begins to speak. His power is real. It moves me until I will not be still. Lifting the hands that hang down in sorrow. Strengthening knees that bend in despair. Reaching the hopeless hearts that do not know His love. Seeing their lives begin to change, I know that ill never be the same."

I don't know what brought on this sappy/spiritual post, but I am excited to serve. I love the Lord, I love His gospel, and I cannot wait to help others love it too.

I Hate Halloween

I realize that a year ago, I wrote a blog about all the reasons why I loved the Halloween season. Now, basically all of those reasons are why I dislike Halloween. I'm not really that into candy anymore and I don't believe in giving children pounds of it-diabetes and cavities, people. Hello. And trick-or-treating after you are 12 is just weird. I think scary movies are awful and they are not something that allows the spirit to be in your house and usually those disturbing images are in my mind for like...ever. I don't think that dressing up as something super scary or slutty or both is cool by any means. It's just gross. Basically I think the Halloween season is just a way to let everyone worship the devil while being dressed like skanks...or scary people.

With that being said, let me tell you how I spent my Halloween night.

I dressed up like a Zombie

I went trick-or-treating

I ate a bunch of candy

and I watched a scary movie

I'm still trying to figure out how I got coerced into doing all of this and how I managed to actually really enjoy myself.

Meet Brad (Eliza's boyfriend), Eliza (my really cool friend and co-worker), me, and Chris (Brad and Eliza's friend). Just a bunch of your every day zombies. No big deal.