Older and Wiser

Happy birthday to a great friend and sister-in-law.
Hope this year will be a great one for you!

Happy Birthday!

To a little princess.

Monday Memories: Singing on Valentine's

I was in Swing Choir all four years in high school. Each year we did singing valentine's in order to raise money for our uniforms and music. One particular instance happened my senior year (I think...they all run together). I just remember that Kyle L. was in my group and we went to sing to someone in our ward. (I think Carlee was in our group, too.) We were having such a great time in the car, we laughed so much in between stops. As we went to this house, I got the hiccups. I thought I'd be done by the time we got to the door to sing. Wrong. It was so bad that I had to turn around so I wouldn't laugh. I felt so bad because someone didn't get their money's worth. But I sure had a great time.

Another time, I think it was my junior year, my group was my cousin Richard and Wendy M. We had to sing somewhere downtown. As we got back into the car, Richard backed up into a car. No damage. Just a memory to add to the list.

The experience I remember the most was when we went to sing to my Grandma Mayes. She always got tears in her eyes and gave us each a great big hug, even if she had no clue who the other people in my group were. I miss my grandma so much!

Monday Memories: Pie with an Apostle

After graduating from Ricks in 1998, I went to work for the Church in Salt Lake City. While working there, I was able to see a lot of the church leaders walking around. When I had worked there for quite a few months, one of my coworkers won some money by submitting a joke to 'Reader's Digest' and he took us all to lunch at the Lion House. I designated myself as a helper to a lady in the office who had cancer and really wasn't strong enough to carry her own food. As picked out some nice chocolate pie to share. As she was fairly week, we decided to take the elevator to the second level where we would meet up with everyone else. After we got on the elevator, we turned to the front. And in walks Elder Perry (or as I called him when I was younger, Elder Smiley). Of course he was super friendly. He looked over my tray of food and saw the pie. He got a great big smile on his face and said, "Do you have a fork? Your pie looks mighty good." Me, being the nervous 20 year old that I was, stuttered that I had already promised to share the pie with someone else. He just laughed and said it was too bad. Afterward I could have kicked myself. Just chalk it up to my stupidity.

Titles

Some of my current titles:
daughter
sister
aunt
cousin
friend
niece

Some day I hope to add:
mother
wife

Starting summer 2011:
Ph.D. student at USU!!!

San Francisco

I was able to go to San Francisco last week (for the first time) for a training seminar. All expenses were paid by my adviser (except tips). I attended a training on NVivo, which is a program to help code anything from documents to videos to pictures to audio files. It really is an amazing program, and nothing like any program I had used previously. My adviser felt it wise to send me to the training as I'm using the program to code my thesis data. At first I was hesitant because I thought I could figure it out on my own. (I'm pretty proficient at computer programs and can figure most things out.) But like I mentioned, it's nothing like any other program I've used. So off to San Fransisco I went. (It was originally going to be Tampa, but that conference filled up too quickly. San Fran was a nice consolation prize.)

Day 1
I woke up at 3:45 a.m. in order to get to my shuttle at 4:30. (Thanks to my friend Daylee who also got up at the crack of dawn to give me a ride to the shuttle.) The shuttle arrived at the airport around 6 a.m. That meant I had 3 hours to kill before my flight. After checking my suitcase and waiting through the huge security line (tip: don't travel the morning after a 3-day weekend), I went into Burger King, got breakfast, and did some stuff on my computer. I then went to my terminal and watched shows on hulu to pass the time. I could have been doing homework, but that wouldn't have been any fun.

My flight went through Vegas, where I connected to another plane. On the way to Vegas I had a nice chat with the guy, Jeremiah, next to me. He was on his way back to LA from Provo. His wife lives in Provo and is still attending school at BYU. He graduated last year and is working in LA. Talk about a long-distance relationship. Ug.

I get to San Francisco around 1:30 p.m. their time. That means I'd already been up for 11 hours. My hotel shuttle arrives promptly and I head to the hotel. The shuttle driver was super nice and answered all of my questions. He got a nice tip. After checking in, I headed next door to Max's, a very eclectic restaurant. I indulged in a cheeseburger, as it had been MANY hours since my last meal. Afterward, I thought about going into the city to investigate, but was so tired. I fell asleep around 5 and slept straight through to the next morning. (I don't think I've slept that well since my mission.)

Day 2
Holiday Inn's have a GREAT breakfast. I was super satisfied every morning. After breakfast, I caught the shuttle back to the airport where I got on BART, the area transit system. It took me all the way to the financial district, where my training was.

I sat in training all day. My brain was overloaded with information on the program. I sort of felt like I did after my first week of grad school....too much information and not sure what to do with it.

I thought about hitting Union Square on the way back to the hotel, but I was tired again. I pretty much fell asleep when I got back to my room.

Day 3
Pretty much the same as day 2. During lunch I had the most amazing wrap from the food court downstairs from my training. (I think it was the highlight of my day.)

I did hit Union Square on the way back to the hotel, but wasn't too impressed. There wasn't anything there that I couldn't find anywhere else...expect the interesting people. :) After getting to the airport (the final stop of BART), I tried giving my ticket to some men because I still had money on it. They acted like I was trying to sell them drugs. Such a different environment! I decided I'd keep the ticket as a souvenir. (Silly men.)

Day 4
Get up at the crack of dawn again to catch a 6:30 flight home. While waiting in the SLC airport for my shuttle, my cousin Eli (who works for Skywest) came and found me. We were able to chat for about 30 minutes before my shuttle came.

I only took one picture the entire time I was in San Francisco. It was of the interchanges outside of the airport. I get so excited when I see roads over roads...I'm weird, I know. I didn't do any of the touristy things to do in San Francisco. It's hard to investigate a city when you're on your own. Next time I'm there, I'll be sure to plan some 'fun' time.

Monday Memories: The Rose

The year was 2001. The month, September. There was a crisis in my life. Nothing new. But this crisis was BIG. I had been called to be the Relief Society president of my BYU ward. Problems: I wasn't a student and didn't feel like I was the best one who could relate to these girls; I had never served in leadership in Relief Society before; there were girls who were MUCH more qualified than I to be in this position.

I had actually been extended the call earlier in the summer, but the stress didn't hit until all the girls moved in for fall semester. And the stress really hit. I remember one Sunday in particular: I was a basket case the entire day. That evening I bawled my eyes out. I didn't know many of the guys in the ward, but there was one next door who I had met a few weeks previously (Mike Crockett). I called and asked if he and a roommate could come give me a blessing. That they did. It was the first time I met Matt Bloxham, who became a good friend. After the blessing, they each gave me a hug. I got mascara all over Matt's new Sunday shirt. (Great first impression, eh?)

The stress was still there, unfortunately. (As Pres. Eyring has said, God helps us through the trial, not out of one.) A few days later I received a gorgeous rose at work. The card said something like, "You are wonderful." That's not exactly it, but it made me feel wonderful. There was no name written on the card. I asked around at work and no one claimed to be the sender. My coworker Jewell called the floral shop and asked who sent it. The florist said the sender asked to remain anonymous. My roommates said they didn't send it. Same answer with my counselors and Mike and Matt. I still don't know who sent it.

It hung above my bed that whole school year. I never knew who sent it, but every time I saw it, I remembered that someone was praying for me. And that made all the difference.

President's Day Weekend

I was able to go home this weekend to visit with the family. Bryan's family was there for the weekend, too. We all had a pretty good time. Here are some of the highlights.

Heidi and her cute self. (Not sure why the picture loaded like this.)

All of the grandkids.

Hayden, Wilson, Whitney, Ethan, Sariah, Heidi, Hannah, and Bekah.
Aunt Nicole with Whit, Wils, Hannah, and Heidi.

Whit and Hannah

Hayden (showing some nice bruisage on the face)

Grandma, Ethan, Heidi, Hannah, Whitney, Wilson, and Mike

We had a couple of dinners all together (minus Mike and Bryan, who were skiing.) Tonight Nicole made her yummy snow icecream. The only downside to the whole weekend was the TON of snow we got. Hopefully we can all get out and back to our homes.

Monday Memories: Big Hunk

This is a memory from when I was 4 or 5 (I would guess). My mom took me to one of my first movies at the Hyart in Lovell. All I remember from the movie was a lady who crash landed her plane and sat next to a tree for a long time. The other part of this experience was the Big Hunk candy bar. Before the movie, I had the chance to get some candy. This didn't happen very often so I wanted to be sure I got the most out of it. Thus the Big Hunk...the largest candy bar available. I think I ate the whole thing during the movie. That's A LOT of candy for a 4 or 5 year old. After the movie we went over to my grandma's house. (I think there was family in town and they had gone to the movie with us.) I remember feeling so sick to my stomach when we got there. Too much candy will do that to a person who doesn't eat it regularly. (I'm pretty sure it would happen to anyone who eats a whole Big Hunk in one sitting.) Needless to say, anytime I see a Big Hunk candy bar, I get sick to my stomach. Even thinking about it now brings a queezy feeling. I wish I had been cured of eating all candy. Not so. Just Big Hunks.

I love...

That it's 40 degrees out and I see people wearing
shorts and flip-flops.

But then again, I also see people dressed as if it were 30 below.

Gotta love the mountain west.

Monday Memories: Earliest Memories

My earliest memories go back pretty far...my first year of life. A few years ago I asked my mom if we ever lived in an apartment with a sloped ceiling (and I described the rest of the apartment). She asked me where I had seen a picture of it. I said I remember sitting on the bed and looking around the apartment. She couldn't believe it. She said it was an apartment that we lived in in Provo...when I was under 1 year old. I have no idea how I remember that, but I can still see a picture in my mind.

Another memory was after we'd moved to Lovell and lived in the house I grew up in. I was sitting by the front door, one of those old solid things. I was crying pretty hard and I remember thinking, "I need to remember this." I'm not sure how old I was. I remember my mom comforting me and telling me that 'he' would be back. He was my dad who had gone to work. I've been told numerous times that I was a daddy's girl. Mostly when he was vacuuming. He had to hold me while he vacuumed. My mom recently told me I was also a mommy's girl...I guess it happens when you're the oldest and don't have anyone to play with.

Monday Memories: Courageous Parenting

The other night my brother Bryan and I were talking about courageous parenting (he gave a talk on it recently in church). His idea of courageous parenting is to spank the child and send them to their room. (His thought, not mine. Of course I think he was 'sort of' joking.) It got me to thinking about my parents and some of their courageous parenting from my childhood. Here is one example.

When I was pretty young (I would guess 4 or 5), I was playing with my doll under the kitchen table while my mom was sewing. I remember talking to my doll and pretending that she used the Lord's name in vain. I knew that it was wrong to do so, but I didn't know all the reasons why. My mom heard it immediately and asked me what I had said. I told her and she quickly took me into the bathroom and put a bar of soap into my mouth for about 10 seconds. (I can still taste Dial Gold.) She then told me why it wasn't good to use the Lord's name in vain. She really didn't want to put the soap in my mouth, but she couldn't think of another way to help me understand how precious the Lord's name is. To this day, I have never used it in vain again. I have also avoided using Dial Gold.

Happy birthday, Nicole!

Happy birthday to my sister-in-law Nicole (Feb 5),
one of the 3 best sisters-in-law a girl could ever ask for.

(I couldn't find a picture of her in my files [usually focus on the little ones].)

I think....

It might be time for a new backpack.
(The white parts are the 'filling'.)

One-liners

My bishopric is hilarious. Such a strange combination of men. One is a vet, one used to be a body builder and is now a contractor, not sure what the other one does. We had combined RS and Priesthood on Sunday where each of them got to speak for just a little bit. My bishop had some great one liners.

About dating:

Just do it, okay?

About media (the analogy of putting dog poop in chocolate cake is like trying to justify a little something bad in a movie):

Don't eat dog poop.

Can't wait for the next combined meeting. ;)