Mission Call

Well I can now post where I will be going on my mission. I got my mission call Thursday afternoon and was home alone. Well I wasn't about to wait until 8 that night to find out where I'm going so I called my mom while she was catering and read it to her over the phone. I will be leaving March 3, 2010 to serve in the Calgary Canada, English speaking mission! I am so excited and I can't think of a more perfect place for me to serve! I will freeze for sure, but it'll be exciting to be there.

Incase Not Everyone Has Heard

I've decided to serve a mission! I told my bishop I think 4 weeks ago. Then I told my parents and family, Preston and friends. I'm really excited about this. I've been working on my papers for 2 weeks and have pretty much everything done. I just need to get my physical and have my dentist sign the paper(I already had a dental exam about a month ago). I also have two little things left to finish hopefully really soon. After I get my physical and stuff I'll submit everything to my bishop and my papers will be off I believe the middle/end of November. Two weeks later(hopefully the beginning of December) I will get my call! I can't wait, I'm so impatient. I just want to start getting everything I'm going to need that I don't already have. I will also be able to go through the temple hopefully before Christmas and most of my siblings/family will be able to be there with me which is wonderful. The first thing everyone always asks me when I tell them I'm going on a mission is where I want to serve. If I got my way I would love to go somewhere back east, like Boston or Washington D.C., American Sign Language mission. My mom wants me to go to France, Belgium, Ireland, Scotland or Italy so she can come pick me up at the end of my mission. As cool as it would be to go foreign, I would love to stay stateside. And I know I won't want to travel after she would pick me up...I will want to get home. I'll be happy where ever I go because I know that's where the Lord wants me and that's where I'm needed(but that doesn't stop me from hoping I'll learn ASL and go back east ha). There are going to be a lot of things I'm going to miss but I know that I am going to grow so much serving a mission and the things I learn and go through are going to help me in my marriage, family and work life when I get back. I am definitely looking forward to this. I'll post when I know where I'm going and when I report to the MTC.
Other than that, I've been busy with my EMT class which I absolutely love. It is so interesting and I have already learned SO much. It's a lot of studying and a pretty fast-paced class but I'm doing well and I know by the end of the class I'll be ready to take the national registry test. Not much else has been going on.

Swagbucks-Search and Win

My cousin, Joanna, got me into using Swagbucks.com. It's a search engine that rewards you with "swagbucks" that you can trade in for cool things like giftcards, movies, games, etc. I posted a link on the left side of my blog if you want to check it out.

Home Again

Well I figure it's time for another update. It seems like my plans change every few days now. They're all leading up to the same final goal, but getting there has definitely not gone the way I had planned. I moved home last weekend from Provo. I had to leave my job before the season ended because I had been planning on doing an EMT class which I thought started August 31st, as well as taking a few classes at Grossmont/Cuyamaca. Well I found out that the EMT class actually started August 17th so I missed that. I'll be taking it from October 12th-December 7th. I'm really excited about that. I just want to get some experience in the medical field and I know I'll enjoy being an EMT. And I'll always have that as a back up plan if nursing falls through. I'm also not taking classes as of now because all the ones I wanted to take were full and had a lot of people on the waitlists. So I will try and get into some short term classes later in the semester. I haven't done a whole lot since being home this past week. Mainly just catching up with my friend Christina, who will be leaving on her mission shortly, and my friend Annie. I have also been working on a new quilt that I'm pretty excited about. I need to start working at my dads office again, and hopefully get another job so I can keep myself busy. I've come to realize that as much as I like to relax, I get tired of it a lot faster than I use to. After working all the time this summer I need things to do. That is one thing I will miss about being in Utah, I was always at work so I always had something to keep me busy.
I don't have any pictures right now, but I'll try to get some soon to post

Update and Pictures

Well recently quite a bit has been going on. I've been working a lot, which has been very good but very tiring as well. I had been planning on moving to Salt Lake with my friend Kember so I could do a Phlebotomy program, but both of those fell through. Things were not working out and I just felt like moving home would be the best thing for me right now. So I'm moving home on the 21st or 22nd of this month. I'll be going back to school and working for my dad, and hopefully getting another job as well. I'm not sure what all will happen, but I know it will all work out. I'm really happy to be moving home, but I'm going to miss being in Utah a lot. I have made some really great friends here and I love my job which I won't be able to finish the season. I'm excited to be with my family and my friends back home, and I am really looking forward to being able to spend time with my nephew and my new nephew that will be born in a few weeks! I'm also really sad because just as Broc and Joanna are moving up here I'm leaving :( I've missed them a lot and I was really excited to be with them again, it's very sad. I've had the chance to go to Bear Lake twice in the last month or so. And spend some time with friends from my ward and work. I have a couple pictures that I've been meaning to post and hopefully I'll have more to post soon.

This is an old picture. Nikki and I at Tucanos for her husbands birthday

This is a perfect picture of what happens on car trips. This is on the way to Bear Lake with Nikki.

This is in Bear Lake on the greatest swing in the world :)

Nikki and I on a little trail by Minnetonka Caves. I look funny

I love my sister :) We're hilarious! (And half of Becky's friend Jordan's face)

My cousin Caleb and I in Bear Lake

My grandma and I

Bear Lake

Last weekend I went to Bear Lake for a family reunion. Nikki came with me. My mom, sister and sisters friends were there. It was really fun. When I remember to get my memory card I'll post pictures and some details of the trip. Not a whole lot has been going on, just working and I possibly found a place to live in Salt Lake. Hopefully soon I'll post stuff

Good vs. Bad

So this past week has been interesting. It seems like every day something happens to me ha.

This week the bad things have been:

• My roommates left for Canada so I've been alone the past week or so
• Friday night after working the party I cut open my toe and went into shock
  
• Barely got any sleep over the weekend, but not for lack of trying
• Monday I cut another toe really bad, luckily I didn't go into shock
• Monday I also had my car booted. Awesome....not. So I had to pay $50
• Yesterday as I was swimming for work I stupidly kicked just the toe I cut the other day on the wall and split it open again
• Today I got burned really bad even though I put on a lot of sun screen all day

The good things this week were:

• I finished a scrapbook I've been working on that needed to be finished
• I got to hang out with Nikki a couple times
• I went to Tucanos with Nikki for her husbands birthday
• Nikki and I went to see The Proposal and it was awesome
• I went to Jump On It for an employee party last night and it was really fun
• I won a wii at my employee party so that was pretty exciting
• Broc and Joanna are coming up this weekend with the boys and I can't wait to see them!!

Well that's about it for my past week. I've been working a lot and I love it! I'll try to take some pictures to post soon

Cute? I think so, ha

So today was a pretty cold day, raining off and on. Being outside at the water park was not very good being sick, but that's okay. Luckily I had a sweatshirt today. I was getting ready to clock out of work and go home but my pants were a little wet, so this is how I ended up coming home.

(I promise I'm wearing a swimsuit!)

Everyone at work thought it was so funny and kept telling me to take a picture and post it, so per request...here it is. I personally thought the tank top over the sweatshirt was a nice touch, but that's just me. I don't think you can really tell in this picture since my hair is all weird but my hair is getting pretty long, I'm pretty excited! Anyway, I just thought I'd share that, I think it's a little funny, maybe you will too.

Pictures

My roommate Wendy and I at Squaw Peak tonight. We heard there was a beautiful view so we went on a mini road trip! It was worth it

Behind Squaw Peak

A beautiful sunset. The view was well worth going

The view

My roommates Wendy and Amy with our box tower before making our fort a couple weeks ago.

The top of our fort didn't look very good, but we still thought it was cool

This was where we slept in our fort

We of course had to have our tv in the fort to watch movies

Our couches were deemed "exile," they were very comfy, better than sleeping on the floor.

Those are just a couple recent pictures, I've been really bad at taking pictures lately. I'll try to be better.

Work

Just a little update. Friday afternoon I had deep training for work. Then Friday night I worked a private party. They only asked 8 guards to work deep water so I was pretty excited they asked me to work. It was really cold and windy that night but I still had a good time. Saturday I worked a noon shift at the park. It was the seasons grand opening but the weather wasn't the best so it wasn't crowded which was nice. It was raining off and on throughout my shift so I was pretty cold. Sunday was a good day. My roommates and I made lunch and invited our friend Sun over, then our home teachers came over. That night we had a "shindig" with my ward and that was alright. My roommate Wendy and I listened to Jerry Seinfelds I'm Telling You For The Last Time. That always makes me laugh, I enjoy it. Monday, Memorial Day, I worked a pm shift at the park. Then yesterday I worked a noon shift. It was really crowded. There were a bunch of schools there so a lot of kids were running around. I had to do one assist and I almost jumped in to do a save, luckily I didn't have to. I got burned a little bit yesterday so thats a bummer, I'm trying really hard to be good about using sunscreen and not get burned, but I guess it had to happen sometime. After work my roommates and I wanted to go on a drive so we drove to Heber City. It was a nice night and I had fun driving in the canyon. Today I don't work unfortunately so I'm hoping to do something fun tonight. Yesterday was Matt and Wendy's 3rd anniversary, so...Happy Anniversary you guys! I love you both and hope you're doing great!

Happy Friday!

This past Friday my roommates and I deemed as "Happy Friday." It was just a really good day. We had dinner with my roommates brothers, then we played Balderdash which is always fun. After her brothers left she decided she wanted to set up her tent in our living room and sleep out there, but for some reason it wouldn't work so we came up with the idea of making a fort. Amy(my roommate) had a bunch of boxes sitting around so we decided to use those. We ended up using our couches and our kitchen table in making the fort. We watched Arrested Development for awhile and then slept in our tent. It was definitely not comfortable but still fun. Saturday we had a Relief Society 'sisters shindig' where we got to know the newer girls in our ward. Then we played some volleyball for awhile. Afterwards we were pretty tired so we hung out in our fort and watched Top Gun then Footloose. I am really good friends with my Relief Society president and we wanted to hang out that night. We got a big group of people from our ward to play night games. While we waited for it to get dark we played volleyball then we went on campus to play Sardines. That was pretty fun but our boundaries were really big so it took quite awhile to find people. Then we played a really fun game called Comando. I had never heard of it but it was extremely fun, I have a bunch of grass stains on my jeans from sliding and I hurt my knee and got a big bruise on my arm somehow, but it was definitely worth it. Sunday my roommates and I had our home teachers over along with some other friends for dinner. Then we played Balderdash again and took a walk to the duck pond, then the bell tower and waterfall. It was a really good weekend. This week I just have school and on Friday I have my first day(actually night) of work. We have a private party from 9-midnight and then the public grand opening is on Saturday. I am really excited for work to start!

Finally....Pictures!

At the zoo in San Diego with Porter.

I love this picture!

I thought this was so funny! This was at the fountain by the science museum. He was holding his hands out to feel the mist.

Another one. I love Porter so much and I love having pictures of him!

He wanted to try my sunglasses on, way too big for him but WAY cute!

This just makes me laugh so much!

Nikki and I up at Bridal Veil Falls

Looking up at the bottom of the fall

At the bottom of the falls

Nikki and I at the Y

Christina after she picked me up from the airport

Porter at Grandma and Grandpa Riley's. He was putting his hand in the water then slapping his head, that's why he's wet.

Porter at dinner the night I got home. I was so happy when I saw him and the rest of my family!

Pictures of the car after getting hit.

Up close. Luckily the car is fixed and mom has it back!

So i finally got to upload pictures from the past few weeks or so. I wish I had more to post. I love the pictures from the zoo especially! Enjoy!

Update

This past week has been pretty busy. I started lifeguard training for the waterpark last Monday. It was everyday from 3:30-8:30 then Saturday from 9-5:30. It went really well. It kept me pretty occupied which is always good. Thursday morning I woke up with the worst pain on my right side. I called my mom at 6 San Diego time saying I wanted to go to the hospital it was so painful. I ended up going to Urgent Care at the Student Health Center where they did some tests and were pretty sure I had a kidney stone. They sent me to the hospital in Orem to get a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis where they told me I had one small kidney stone almost to my bladder. Less than an hour later I got a call from my doctor saying she got a fax from the hospital saying I have multiple stones still in my right kidney and hopefully by drinking enough water(I'm supposed to be drinking 10 liters of water a day right now) that it would flush my kidney out so I could pass those stones so I won't have to worry about them down the road. They're doing some tests on the first stone I passed and hopefully I'll hear the results soon. They gave me some pain pills and some nausea pills to hopefully help. Luckily I haven't been in much pain since that day. After I got all that taken care of Nikki and I decided to go to Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon before I had to go to training. It was so beautiful. We hiked up and took some pictures. Saturday night my roommate Amy had some friends from Korea(where she served her mission) come over for dinner. It was really fun. We then went to the dollar theater to watch Duplicity. I was disappointed. I'd been wanting to see that for months and it really wasn't good. Oh well it was still fun to hang out with girls from my ward. Sunday was pretty good. I got called to Enrichment Committee for my ward, so that should be fun. Then Amy invited me and our other roommate Wendy to have dinner with her family for Mothers Day. I wish I could have been home with my mom for Mothers Day, but it was still a good day. Yesterday I had my last day of lifeguard training and I am now offically lifeguard certified! I'm pretty sure that's most of what's going on with me lately. Just going to school and training. I start working May 23! I can't wait. It'll be really fun. I've been trying to post pictures but I haven't been able to, so I'll keep trying and hopefully I'll have some posted soon.

My Trip Home and First Couple Days back

Hey, so as most of you know, from April 15-27 I was in San Diego. It was so great to be home. I just wish my parents would have been there more, but I guess if they hadn't been going to Hawaii I wouldn't have been going home. When I got in on the 15th my mom picked me up and took me to El Indio, even though we were going out ot eat at Ponce's about an hour or so later. I didn't care, they were both delicious. I went to dinner with my parents, Kevin, Conor, Matt, Wendy and Porter. It made me really happy to see all of them. Especially Porter(I'm sorry to everyone else, but Porter is way too cute, so he gets priority haha.) The next day I met Joanna and we watched a movie together. Even though the movie wasn't good I had a lot of fun spending time with her and the boys. I did some errands for my mom later while she finished up working, then we did some more errands throughout the night. Friday the 17th we picked up Porter and took him to the zoo. We got there and waited around for Grandma Wilde to come meet us. While we were waiting we took Porter to the fountain by the science museum. He was too funny. He put his hands up so he could feel the water in the air. I'll have to post pictures of it if I can get them from my mom. Once we got to the zoo we walked around. Porter didn't want to walk and he doesn't sit in the stroller so we didn't even bring it, we ended up taking turns carrying him around. It amazes me every time I'm with him how smart he is and how funny he can be. There is one picture my mom took of Porter and me on the moving sidewalk with Porter leaning against my legs that I love and I really want it. Hopefully I can post that too. That Saturday I took my parents to the airport. Sunday was great being able to see everyone at church and then everyone at my grandmas. I've missed everyone so much. Monday I had a doctors appointment and that took quite a bit of time, not to mention money. I just found out I had an elevated potassium level or something and am suppose to follow a low potassium diet the next two weeks...we'll see how that works out ha. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I helped at Hillsdale judge Honors Drama auditions for next years class. It was fun, and I am shocked each time I've judged how talented some of these kids are. Each year they seem to be more and more talented than the year before. Thursday was not that great of a day. I went to pick something up for my mom in her car, and when I was almost home I got hit on the drivers side doors. It wasn't too bad luckily. I wish I had been in my car or someones car other than my moms, I was a little scared to tell her that ha. It wasn't my fault so thats good. I have a couple pictures I can post later. Saturday night Broc and Joanna invited me, Conor, Kevin and Steele over for dinner. We watched the Padres game as well(terrible game). Brady was going crazy, he had so much energy and he made Steele his own personal trampoline. It was funny to watch. I was so wiped out after I left. Sunday was a good day. Church was good and I got to visit with some friends I haven't talked to in awhile. After church Kevin, Becky and I went to my Grandma and Grandpa Riley's since they just got back from Borrego. We put in a dvd my aunt made of old video clips of my dad and his brother when they were younger and a little of my two aunts. I don't think I've even seen a picture of my dad when he was little, so it was awesome to see videos of it. I really want a copy of that. After awhile we had dinner and Matt, Wendy and Porter met us there. Porter as always was adorable and I had a lot of fun playing with him. It amused me that since he hadn't seen Becky for awhile he liked me more(ha sorry Becky, remember he told you to go inside though, it's true). After we left we went to my Grandma Wildes and played a game of liverpool rummy. Then Kevin, Grandma and I started to watch the Big Sleep. It was good, but I had a lot I needed to do before my flight in the morning so I didn't get to finish it. Monday morning Becky and I went to Grossmont to visit our choir teacher, then we took the car in to get fixed. Becky dropped me off at the airport. After I checked in I went to go through security. There were SO many people I thought I was going to miss my flight. I got throught security and to my gate right as my group was boarding, so perfect timing I guess. Christina picked me up from the airport since she wasn't able to go on her trip to Mexico. After I got dropped off I went to FHE. We played some games and had a lesson on finding joy in things(at least that what I think it was on.) It was pretty fun. After my friend Michelle and I got a group of girls to go to the dollar theater and see Confessions of a Shopaholic. We found out that at least on Mondays if you go with a group of 3 or more its only fifty cents. I loved the movie, and think it was definitely worth the fifty cents ha. Yesterday I got up only to find that I had missed my very first class. I had been thinking I only had class on Mondays and Wednesdays. Unfortunately I had been thinking of my summer schedule and I really had class Monday through Thursday, oh well. I moved in all of my stuff to my new apartment. Then I went to lunch and hung out with Nikki. I got invited to a game night in an apartment upstairs to my roommates and I all went. It was really fun. We played Scene it and Catch Phrase. I tried to organize everything, but I was not motivated at all, and I really don't have much space to put everything. Today I went to my ASL 3 class and was completely lost. Everyone else knew exactly what was going on, but not me. Then I had my New Testaments class. It's interesting, my teacher knows SO much it's amazing. We didn't really get much into the reading but that's okay. For that class we have to get another translation or version of the New Testaments(other than the King James version) and read it along with the King James version so we can compare and hopefully get a better understanding of the reading. I would never have thought to do that. I decided to drop my ASL class since it doesn't go towards my major at all and it's way too expensive to take it if it's not going to do anything. So I'm taking a Chemistry class instead. So now I go to school Mondays and Wednesdays and have one class on Friday. I need to take this Chemistry class as a prerequisite to the 4 prerequisite classes for the nursing program. I still need to find another class to take or 2 half credit classes to take to go full time. But I am surprisingly happy with this switch. I am just getting ready to go hike the Y with Nikki after having dinner with my roommates. I'll post pictures as soon as I can

Christinas Visit

Thursday Christina came and spent the night on her way up to Rexburg. Yesterday(Friday) morning we went to the temple to do baptisms. On our way back to my apartment we decided that we wanted to hike the Y. Christina never had, and I haven't since I've been up here. I had to go to the bank and then do something for Conor. So we ended up going quite a bit later than we planned. It was fun going hiking and I'm glad we went. Best part is, I didn't get hurt at all! Ha. After we got all cleaned up after the hike we decided to go to the dollar theater and see Push. We got dinner real quick before the movie started. I really liked the movie. It was really fun spending time with Christina. Today I was trying to find a place to live since I have to move out by Tuesday. Now I'm just moving my stuff into Becky's place until I get back from San Diego and can find a place. So I moved some of my stuff today. I definitely cannot wait to go home! Here are some pictures Christina and I took this weekend.

Christina and I in front of the Provo Temple

Trailhead of the Y

Christina before our hike

Before the hike. I never smile normal I've decided

Christina and I before the hike

Right before we got to the top

We decided this was a bomb shelter ha.

We made it to the top!

I'm pretty sure my eyes are closed in this ha.

Christina on our way back down

Me on our way back down

It was a fun hike and I'm really happy I finally had someone to go with me!

Update

Not a ton has been going on lately. Thursday I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the dollar theater. Everyone was busy so I went by myself. I really liked it. Friday I had a very nice surprise. My mom sent me two tickets to both the morning session of conference Saturday and Sunday. Friday night I went to the dollar theater with my friends Michelle and Heather to see Bedtime Stories. I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it, I thought it was really funny. Saturday morning I left early to go to conference with Michelle. It was amazing. I thought it was such an amazing experience. Dewey and Matt Newbold were sitting in the same section as Michelle and I, so we ended up sitting by them. After conference we stopped at Noddles and Company for lunch. It was SO delicious. Then we went and watched the afternoon session of conference at an apartment from my ward. I Sunday we went to conference and we had the opportunity to see Music and the Spoken Word. It was awesome. Then we went to another apartment to watch the afternoon session. I really enjoyed conference this weekend. Moreso than normal, and I got so much more out of it than ever before. Yesterday I had my interview for the water park this summer. It went extremely well. I have training May 4-11th. I'm really excited. I think I'll really like working there this summer. I went to the temple again this morning. I always feel so much better after going. I'm flying home next Wednesday, and I'll be home until the 27th. I am so excited to be home and see everyone. I've missed everyone so much and I think it's going to be so much fun to spend time with everyone. I just wish my parents were going to be home more. I think that's all thats been going on recently. I just thought I'd post a little update for anyone who wants to know.

Awesome Weekend

This weekend has been really good so far. It started Thursday night for me. I went to the Provo Temple to do baptisms with my friend Michelle. We got there at 5:30 and figured we'd have enough time to do baptisms before 8 when my friend had to babysit. Well at 7:30 we still weren't close to being able to do baptisms because it was really busy, so we had to leave. Friday morning I decided to go back to the temple by myself to do baptisms. It was really nice, and was a great way to start the weekend. Friday evening I drove to my bishops house in Payson with my friend Michelle for our Relief Society sleep over. We played some games and had dinner. It was a really fun night and it was great getting to know the girls in my ward. We stayed up late and got up early to go help build a house. The program we helped build the house was building 6 different houses in a community for low income families. The families chosen to live there all had to help build each of the houses, that way they were able to live in the houses cheaper. After we left we got ready to go to the Festival of Colors with a couple girls in my ward and some of their friends. I ran into Katie Packer and Bryce, so that was nice to see them. I had so much fun at the Festival, I think I'll have to start going each year. I got so dirty, but that's okay, it was awesome! After I cleaned up I went to my Relief Society presidents apartment for dinner. We made hamburgers and hot dogs, then we watched The Goonies. It was such a great weekend. I did wake up kind of sick this morning, but that's okay it was worth getting sick for this weekend. The pictures are backward, but that's okay.

The aftermath of throwing chalk at each other

Erica and I

Brandalyn and I, the sun was in my eyes so I look funny

The whole group after

Some of the group before it started

Walking up to the temple. There were SO many people there

After we finished helping with the house for the day

This was the house we helped with

We were in charge of building 2 posts. Each 10 ft long, 5 1/2 ft wide and 5 1/2 ft thick. It took us longer than it should have, but it was still really fun