Thankful Week, Day 2

Today I am grateful for little things that make me happy...a little puppy at FHE, crocheting, cheesy Christmas movies, etc. Sometimes, the smallest things can make a world of difference, and today I am grateful for those small things.

Thankful Week, Day 1

Today, I am so very grateful for my friend, Nate. I have known Nate for almost 3 1/2 years since I was his big sister on Trek. Since then, we have continued to stay in touch, and it's so much fun. Every time I see him and talk to him, he makes me laugh. He lightens my day, and it usually lasts for a few days. I especially feel that right now because I got to see Nate on Friday night, and I still just laugh at some of the things we talked about. I was greatly blessed to be in the same family with him on trek, and I am grateful for that. (And at no time in the last 3 1/2 years have I gotten a picture with this boy...otherwise it would be posted here.)

Concern...

I am slightly worried about tonight. Here's why:

Sat, Nov 108:15 PM  

LaVell Edwards Stadium

Idaho

(1-8, 1-3 WAC)

BYU

(5-4)

Let me call your attention to the time of this game...8:15 PM

Tonight's forecast:

6 pm

30^°

Snow Shower

7 pm

28^°

Snow Shower

8 pm

27^°

Snow Shower

9 pm

27^°

Snow Shower

10 pm

28^°

Few Snow Showers

11 pm

28^°

Few Snow Showers

12 amNov 11

28^°

Few Snow Showers

I AM GOING TO FREEZE!!!

My Job...

My job is stressful, overwhelming, and extremely busy. Often times, I feel like I don't do well, and fall behind in a lot of ways. I want to just throw my hands in the air and give up. I look at everything I have to do and just wish it could go away and I could start fresh with the planning and organizing I so desire to implement. I want to work only 40 hours in one week, and not come home after work just to do more. Some day, that will actually happen, but for now, it's in the crazy stage. Since I started eight months ago, I have never wanted to fully give up and find something different. And there is one main reason for that...

I love the people I work with. I have heard countless times that those you serve you come to love. You find a special connection with them. This job is the perfect example of that. I have some difficult clients, but there are days that I just look at them and feel so much love. I feel that way for those in my area now and those I worked with as a staff when I was here before. These people hold a very special place in my heart. I see the potential they have and what amazing things they can do. I want so much to help them reach that potential, and I get frustrated when I seem to hit a barrier. I love to sit and talk and enjoy their amazing personalities. They have struggles, yes, but they are amazing. They make me happy, and make the stresses of the job worth almost every second. When I feel like I can't handle it anymore, I just have to spend five minutes with them to remember why I do what I do. I so look forward to the day that I get to see them and talk with them and interact with them without these difficulties and handicaps they deal with now. I look forward to the day that I get to meet the unhindered people I work with now on a daily basis.

Update on the day

So, I did finally get out of bed this morning, but spent as little time as possible on the floor. Whenever I wasn't walking around, my feet were off the floor. The office said they came to look for a mouse, but couldn't find one (well, no kidding! mice don't stay put very well, that's part of the problem), but that an exterminator would come out within the next couple days. Well, that doesn't help me today, and I'm pretty creeped out. And either there is a family of mice in my building (next door, upstairs (apparently), my apartment, and in the walls) or this dang mouse in just having lots of fun exploring.

Unwilling to just wait for the exterminator to come whenever he does, Emily and I decided to take matters into our own hands and bought mouse traps at the store tonight. Of course, that's as far as we will go. Neither of us could bring ourselves to even try to set and place a mousetrap. So, I went to the apartment of half of my dinner group hoping one of them would be able to help some helpless and freaked out girls. Thankfully one...Ryan...was there and willing. I'm pretty sure he thought we were ridiculous and just laughed the entire time he was here working with the mousetraps. But, I'm very grateful for a brave boy willing to help us out! Of course now, I'm just concerned about actually discovering a dead mouse in a trap. That's not the most comforting thought either.

Mouse Part 4

So remember all the mice in my life the last month? Well, unfortunately the fun just keeps going...and getting worse! Even with all the mice I haven't allowed myself to worry about it. However, this morning that all changed.

Due to daylight savings, I woke up at 6:00...the old 7:00 which is exactly when my alarm goes off. Yes, I'm still tired, but my body refuses to sleep anymore. In an attempt to go back to sleep, I lay in my bed for a while trying to relax. I mean, an hour is a lot of sleep to miss. That attempt ended quickly when I started hearing things. I don't even know what it sounded like, but I started to become concerned that there was a critter in my room. The sound stopped for a few minutes, and I tried to sleep again. Then it came back, so I immediately turned on my lamp to try and catch it. But I couldn't see anything. I got on my computer, and at one point thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Still nothing for sure, but then I heard another noise, and I'm nearly positive that there is a mouse sharing my room...specifically under my bed. Of course, I'm on my bed, so basically I'm trapped. Let's be honest, last time I knew I was in the same room as a mouse, I jumped up on the desk. This morning, I was already on something, but now I don't want to get off. And there isn't someone to save me this time.

So, here it is 6:45 am. My alarm is going to go off in 15 minutes, and eventually I'm going to have to get off of my bed. I'm not sure how that's going to work yet, but I'll come up with something. And you can bet I will be checking up with the Carriage Cove office about the phone call I made this morning. A mouse in my bedroom is completely unacceptable!

Mouse Part 3

So, I am pretty convinced that there was a mouse in the walls of my apartment. I think I heard it in the ceiling  of my room one night, and a week and a half or so ago in the ceiling in the front room. I reported it to the office and haven't heard anything since. However, Alicia said she has one in her apartment...actually in the apartment...which is next door. That kind of freaks me out some.

And, to add to it, another mouse was discovered at work this morning. Fortunately, it was already dead, and thankfully my male staff was so kind to take care of it.

So, as far as I can count, this comes to three or four mice (cause maybe the one in Alicia's apartment is the one that was in the walls) either in my space or very close to it in just a manner of weeks. I think I'm ready for this to all end!

Mouse Part 2

So, we caught the mouse last week. Fortunately, it only took one night. I'm glad because I really didn't want to worry about a mouse with my clients there. It was a relief and it was very nice to have someone willing to take care of it.

I got a text this morning from my roommate saying that she was pretty sure there was a mouse in my apartment. I kind of freaked out at the idea. I don't want to deal with any more mice! However, we now think that it's likely in the walls. Until I hear or see a mouse in my apartment, I'm just not going to worry about it. I can't let myself. :)

Mouse

I was getting ready to leave work today and was just finishing up a couple things in my office. I was talking to one of my staff when I saw over in the corner something move...it was a mouse. Yes, there is a mouse in my building. I probably jumped up onto the desk. I was completely freaked out, but laughing at the irony of it all. Fortunately, it was a male staff that was there, so I put him in charge of getting traps and setting them up. Once everything was taken care of, I ran (literally) out of the building. I could definitely think of better ways to end my work day. I just hope that we set up enough traps that it dies...and I hope there's only one.

Blue and White

Tonight for the Hawaii game, they took advantage of the fact that people had both blue and white shirts. They striped the stadium. The section your tickets were in determined the color of shirt you wore. I was hoping for white, but I ended up in a blue section. It did turn out quite well though. I was again impressed at how well the memo got to all the fans.

A couple things from this game...

The first quarter was rough in terms of injuries. Two Hawaii players were carted off the field and taken away in ambulances, and Michael Alisa broke his arm...sad day for our running backs. :(

Also, there were some guys in front of us that made a sign. I am pretty sure they were freshmen. The sign wouldn't have been a problem except that every time they held it up, it completely blocked our view of the game. We even missed a close play (that didn't end up working out) because they put the sign up. They found out quickly at that point that holding up the sign wasn't a good option. The sign did make the game pictures though...

The most exciting thing was that my "cousin" Michael got to dress for this game. He is currently red-shirting, having transferred from Hawaii after his mission, and was able to dress for three quarters of the season, and he chose this game. I can't say I blame him. It was fun to see him down on the field dressed in the blue and white. I can't wait to watch him play.

Munions

This is a Munion...

It's an onion with a mustache.

I spent the afternoon today passing these munions out to various locations in Payson with Drew and Alicia. It was for my friend Drew's mom's business. It's Onion Days in Payson, so they decided to do a little marketing competition with these munions. (I guess it's the first time in a while that there really was something to do with onions and Onion Days.) We had quite the variety of munions. As we passed them out, we made sure the munion matched the business it was going to...we got more creative with this as we went on, and it was a lot of fun.

After we finished this, we went to the Onion Days festival and walked around the booths and got a funnel cake. It was a fun way to spend Labor Day. :)

White Out

Tonight was the first football game! It was lots of fun. How I love football. They made this game a whiteout...ideally everyone wears white. I was curious as to how it would all work, and I was impressed at what happened. It looked pretty cool.

We played Washington St, and won 30-6. It was a great way to start out the season. I can't wait for more games.

Cleaning

So I was cleaning my building today at work. It was so nice to just take some time and reorganize and find what's there. I've been the coordinator now for five and a half months, so it's about time I got around to it. And not only did it feel good to do some de-cluttering, but I found something quite exciting...

I probably turned it on and worked on a project for a while. Yes, it was old, but it was great. I can't even describe my excitement for football to start tomorrow!!!

Good People

Yesterday I was on my way up to Idaho for Shawn's baby's blessing. I barely got into Layton when I got a flat tire on the freeway. Fortunately I was right where I could get off the freeway. I parked in a parking lot and started making phone calls. First...to mom, she was going to send Kenny up and then she gave me the number to Les Schwab, which was pretty close to where I was. Les Schwab said they couldn't help because they just closed the doors. So I called Wal-Mart. The guy there didn't really seem to know what he was doing, so I was grateful when Les Schwab called me back and said they would be able to help so I could leave town.

As I was getting off the phone with Wal-Mart, a guy (who apparently goes to BYU-I, which I found out later when I saw the BYU-I activities logo on his shirt) and girl pulled up and offered to help change the tire. That turned out to be really great because when Kenny got to me, he was in a white shirt and tie. I'm glad he didn't have to change a tire in that. Kenny arrived right as this guy was putting the spare on. A Les Schwab guy got there right as everything was being put back in my trunk. I was greatly impressed at how quickly this guy changed the tire. I was very grateful for his assistance.

My tire got put in the Les Schwab truck and by the time I got there, they had decided it was past repair. So I had to get a new one ($85 that I didn't want to spend on a tire). By the time I had all my info put in the computer and paid for the new tire, my car was ready to go. So about 45 minutes after the initial flat, I was on my way and very grateful for the help of some good people.

Definitely Excited!

I was sitting with some friends from work today, and looked over to LaVell Edwards Stadium to see this...

That is one large video board.

Pretty sure I can't wait until Thursday!!!

Work Payoffs

Today was one of those days that work gives me a payoff. These usually come in the form of some cute things a client has done. One of my clients decided he wanted to scare me. So he brought in a plush stuffed animal snake..something like this...

Obviously, such a snake didn't really scare me, but he was so proud of himself. It was so cute. Add to it the fact that I just adore this man, and he holds a special place in my heart, and I was very happy with the whole situation. How can you not smile at something like that?

What a Week!

This has been a long week, and today I am exhausted!
Schedule of events: Monday- FHE (I had a
Tuesday- Work at the Temple/come back and visit with people who were cleaning in preparation to move out
Wednesday- Family Sealing session in Bountiful
Thursday- Work ridiculously late preparing for work on Friday
Friday- Go to the Zoo at work and then President Monson's birthday party that night.
Saturday- Wedding for Michael and Allie-(sealing, luncheon, reception) and then go to Kaysville for a cousin's reception

So, really it was a good week, but I am so tired. Church changed times today, so it was at 8:30. I was home and in my bed by 11:45 and slept until 2:30. It was a start, but I still have no energy.

I think one of my favorite parts of the entire week was last night at Michael and Allie's reception. They had a long receiving line with all the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Michael's 2-year-old niece fell asleep and her dad was holding her while standing in the line. Since I wasn't a bridesmaid, but was going to be at the reception the whole time, I volunteered to take her so that he didn't have to hold her while standing. It was great. I really enjoyed it, and she was so adorable. Anything like that somehow makes you forget really how long a week has been.

Memories

I have a good memory. I love my memory and I pride myself on it sometimes. There are times people will ask me details of their lives because they know I will remember, and they don't. However, with a really good memory, I do have a tendency to remember not so good things as well. I guess that's just one downside to something I really love.

I went to President Monson's Birthday Party last night. It was a night full of fun music (mostly Broadway) and a great atmosphere. Aside from being completely exhausted, I really enjoyed it. there were yellow roses everywhere, which made me smile. The goal of tonight was to create memories. A quote was said a couple of times that I really liked: "God gave us memories so that we might have June roses in the December of our lives." I really like that, and in thinking back to my memory, it's so true. I cherish all my good memories, and when something isn't going well in my life, I definitely think back to the good things and a smile comes.

Olympic Wrap-up

The Olympics have, once again, come to an end. It will be another couple years before I get my break from reality and live two weeks in front of the T.V. again. But as a wrap up:

Final Medal Count:

So, we came out on top totaling 104 medals! Pretty awesome. We battled back and forth with China until the last half of the second week, then we pulled ahead.

Some great moments include:

Swimming Gold Medals all around....

Women's Gymnastics Team Gold (last time was 1996)

Women's All-Around Gold...

First time we have won team and all-around gold

Beach Volleyball Gold Medal match between two USA teams

Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh Jennings go undefeated in three Olympic games

Usain Bolt winning 100m and 200m for the second time

First time this has happened...ever

David Boudia winning gold in Men's 10m platform diving

Womens' 4x100m relay: Gold in World Record Time

Women's Basketball Gold

Men's Basketball Gold

And Michael Phelps...

His accomplishments this time:

6 more medals: 4 gold, 2 silver

Most decorated Olympian, finishing with a total of 22 medals
He was the first person to "three-peat" (win gold in the same swimming event three olypmics in a row...and he did it twice)

His final race being the 400 medley relay, finishing with gold

Claims to be done (I think I believe him)

What an era...

He will be talked about forever, and I got to watch it

Anyways, it was a pretty exciting couple of weeks. And now it's over. Sochi 2014...here we come...February 7, 2014!

Honorary Gold Medal

As I was watching the Olympics tonight, I became very impressed with one of the male gymnasts. It was during the men's vault final that I found a great respect for Samuel Mikulak. He had a couple awesome vaults, sticking the landings and scoring high.

But, so did many of the others and there were quite a few to compete after him. As these other men came to the vault, their scores began to pass his and push him out of medal contention. However, the amazing thing was that he didn't change his attitude. This smile he had after finishing stayed the entire night.

He sat, cheering every other person to compete in the event. It was amazing. The announcer said "He took 5th but gets a gold medal in sportsmanship and attitude."

Favorite Places

It's that time again...that time when I am able to ensure the opportunity to spend time in one of my favorite places this coming fall. What is the place? Of course, it's LaVell Edwards Stadium. Today, I was able to get my All Sports Pass...my season tickets to the football games, and the basketball games, and volleyball games, and basically whatever I want. But, as always, I'm most excited for the football games. How I love my BYU football! Only 24 more days until Opening Game!!

Pillow Pets

So, this is a pillow pet. I've seen them around. My nieces and nephew all have one, and some of them even have mini pillow pets. They are cute, and amazingly soft!

About a year ago, I saw one that I really enjoyed...it was a BYU Cougar pillow pet. If I only had a reason to own a pillow pet...and was willing to pay $25 for one...

I went to the store yesterday for a few things, and ran across another pillow pet that quickly worked its way up as one of my favorites...a Cars pillow pet, Mater to be exact. I mean really...how cute is this?!

Again...if I only had a reason to have one, and was willing to buy it...

Olympic Moment

Event: 10000m run (more commonly known as a 10K)

The highlighted runner was Mo Farah...a British runner who had the chance to be the first gold medal winner for Britian in the event. He trained in Oregon to avoid the press and such that he would have received if he stayed at home. His training partner was Galen Rupp from the United States.

The best part of the race was watching these two finish in the first and second positions...

...and to see their reactions, and interactions with each other...

Obviously, they didn't care that they were competing for different countries. They are still friends and training partners. It was pretty fun to watch. And I can only imagine what their coach was feeling, having his trainees take the gold and silver medals.

So far, this has been a favorite Olympic Moment.

One more week!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Rainbows

A few nights ago, I was outside on my couch and a storm rolled in. It was a heavy rain. A few people came outside to play in the rain, but I just sat and watched it come down. I love good rain storms, and this one didn't disappoint. After the rain ended, and the clouds began to leave, the sky was beautiful.

Best of all, there was a rainbow!

Last night, as I was getting ready to leave and come back to Provo, there was another storm. It was followed by another rainbow. This one is harder to see, but it really is there.

Baby Austin

Nephew #2 arrived yesterday! I got a text from my sister the night before saying she was in labor. I told her to text me when he came...no matter what time it was. Part of me was hoping I would get a text at 3:00 in the morning, but the other part of me was okay when I didn't. After work, I immediately left to go up to the hospital. Oh, how I love brand new babies. He is so adorable! His big sister is a little confused at what is going on, but doing well under the circumstances. It is so fun to hear her say is name. She doesn't just stick to saying Austin, it's always Austin Paul. It's pretty cute.

I was completely exhausted!

Next morning...much more awake!