God Loves Me!!!

I had an amazing experience last week, but I need to share some background first. I was in a car accident a little over a year ago that totalled my car and sent me to a chiropractor for a year. I had to take out loans to cover my medical expenses because my auto insurance only covered $3,000. So, to say I was a little stressed over the money would be an understatement. I owed around $1,200 on medical bills and it had to be paid off by February or I would be paying 26% interest. Not my idea of fun.

Well, last Thursday I got a call from the insurance company of the kid that hit me last year. They had reviewed my medical charts and were willing to give me a settlement of $5,000. WOW!!! That only took care of the medical bills, but all of my other debts (except for the car). I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that heard my prayers and helped me when I wasn't sure if I could help myself. I am truly blessed :)

Gratitude

In my office at LDSBC, we set up a gratitude wall and all of our office staff have written things that we're grateful for. Some are cheesy, but others are very profound and have caused me to reflect on what I'm truly grateful for. Here's a small list:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the opportunity I have to be a member of the Lord's true church here on the earth. I love knowing that there's a plan for me. I may not like some of what happens or the length of time it takes to get what I think I want right now, I know that my Heavenly Father is looking out for me and helps me on a daily basis to become all that He knows I can be.

The Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. All I can say is Wow! What an amazing sacrifice. Sometimes when I feel the most alone, I know that my Savior understands me and will help me to be strong, and optimistic. What a blessing it is to know that I can return to my Heavenly Father because of this unfailing sacrifice of love.

My family and the fact that we are eternal. I am so very grateful for Parents that lived their lives so that when they had the opportunity to get married, that they did so in the Temple. They have been wonderful examples to me and have shown me the way many times. I have 3 amazing and wonderful siblings. My little sister is truly a Saint to have put up with me and my bad attitude for so many years. My two younger brothers helped me to relax and enjoy life, and they have also helped me to see how important the Gospel is. The one brother has returned home from his mission and the other one is currently serving his. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be with these people for the rest of eternity.

My friends. There are too many to count and name in this post, but I hope everyone knows how grateful I am for them and the positive impact they have all had in my life. I have friends that go to the temple with me, who I work with or have worked with, people from my ward and branch, and people that I attended school with. They have all had a positive impact on me. I am very grateful for them.

My job. Many people in our world have lost their jobs through all of these economic hard times. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I've had to work at LDS Business College. My job has been stable and secure and I have learned and grown so much. Its such an amazing opportunity to work with the people I do. They have taught me many Christ-like attributes. I love the fact that I get to talk to members of the Church worldwide. I have also had many opportunities to meet the Church's general authorities. I love my job and am grateful for the opportunities it affords me.

I have been truly blessed. Although 2009 hasn't been one of the best years on record for me, I have had many opportunities to learn and grow. I pray for more opportunities so that I can become a more Christ-like person and exemplify those things which are truly important.

Okay, Michelle, this one is for you :)

My sister, Michelle, kindly reminded me last night that I hadn't posted on my blog for a while, so here's my life in a nutshell.

The beginning of Fall began with a bang and we just barely got through our Fall files, two months after it started. I'm so glad to be done with that, but we're working on the Winter 2010 semester and I already have people applying for the Fall 2010 semester. It seems overwhelming at times, but the people that apply early get the best classes :)

I'm absolutely loving my singles ward. After teaching 3 lessons in the Relief Society, they released me and put me in charge of FHE. My bishop assured me that I did nothing wrong, but they just felt that FHE was a good calling for me. That is one calling I've never had in church, so it make me nervous, but excited for the opportunity to grow from the experience. I'm hoping that it will work and that everyone involved will enjoy themselves.

For the exciting news, I had the opportunity to go through the temple and take out my own endowments. Its was an absolutely amazing experience. I walked away feeling full of the spirit. I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father that gives us the opportunity to partake of the spirit and to learn in His holy house.

Because I was able to go through the temple, I had the amazing opportunity to be to two of my good friends sealings. My friend, Brooklyn, married her missionary in the Logan temple and my friend, Michelle, married the man of her dreams in the Mount Timpanogos temple. It was a marvelous experience and I'm truly looking forward to the day when I will have the opportunity to go to the temple with my choice eternal companion.

That's my life in a nutshell.

Not much to say . . .

I don't have much going on right now in my life. School started two weeks ago and our new student enrollment was up 26%. I admitted over 1,000 students to start the Fall 2009 semester, and 3/4 of them showed up. I was putting in between 12-16 hour days for a while, but now I'm down to 8 hours a day. Hallelujah!

I have joined a new single's ward and I'm absolutely loving it. Get this, I have only 1 calling. They asked me to teach Relief Society. Its truly a Godsend and I'm having so much fun with the people there. I hope to continue there for a while.

There are no men in my life and I'm perfectly content to not worry about dating at this point in time. I just want to enjoy being single. I'm embracing it, I guess you could say. :)

That's my life in a quick paragraph, but I'm happy. :)

Ode to an Awesome Brother

Well, it finally happened . . . Ethan left today to start his mission. He was called to serve in the Washington Everett mission. Its in the western side of Washington state and it includes Seattle. Boy, I have not stopped crying since yesterday. Ethan and I have always been very close. He's going to be an awesome missionary though. Ethan always has included everyone in his life. It didn't matter who you were, what you'd done or were doing. He just considered you a friend. I have learned some valuable lessons from him throughout our lives growing up. I just wish him the best of luck. He's going to be an awesome missionary!!

UPDATE!!!!

Well, its been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. A lot of wonderful things have happened and I've learned a lot of new lessons.

The beginning of June started out with a bang. I had the most wonderful employees working for me, and then all of a sudden, they quit the same time. Nicole found a wonderful full-time job, next to her new house, so you couldn't begrudge her for that. Lindsay moved to California so she and her husband could finish school. Worthy causes, but headache for me because it was the first week of Summer Semester and there weren't many nice people coming in. Well, thank goodness for the awesome Helpdesk people on our campus, I made it. I hired two more gals to come and work for me and they started 3 days before I left for a 10 day vacation. They are amazing though. I did not have one voicemail or email that I had to answer back. Everything was taken care of. I think I got the best of the best :)

Well, I went to the Shop Hop with my rent-a-mom, Marilyn. The Shop Hop is a bunch of quilting stores all over the state of Utah. Marilyn has gotten me hooked on quilting. I love it! I just wish it wasn't so expensive. Anyway, I found some wonderful things to keep me occupied for a while. I'll post pictures when I begin finishing these projects.

The next day, we were of to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a last vacation with the six of us for a while. My youngest brother, Ethan is headed for Washington State to preach the Gospel in the next week or so. My brother, Matt, Grandpa and I drove the 6 hour drive listening to cowboy music and singing along. Our trip was full of adventure! We went fishing, shopping, roasted marshmallows, held Sacrament Meeting in my Parent's trailer, and froze :) It rained and hailed quite a bit the beginning of the week. I even got to wash my hair under the spigot while it was 30 degrees outside. Talk about adventure!! We went to the Bar J Chuckwagon for dinner and a show. When we got there to wait in line, there were a couple of gentlemen playing cards and joking around with us. They invited Jake (my rent-a-brother) and I to play with them. They were YM leaders from Rexburg, ID and had brought 21 Priests and Teachers up for camp and rafting down the Snake River. So, I got to play cards with a bunch of darling YM. Too bad they weren't 10 years older ;) Dinner was awesome and so was the show! I enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, I found out later that one of the YM leaders, Craig, drowned in the Snake River the next day with his YM. It taught me how fragile and precious life is. I only knew Craig for 3 hours, but I knew where his heart was. I have decided that I want to live my life so those around me that I meet will know where my heart is. It was a wonderful trip and I really enjoyed spending time with my family. I think I have one of the best!

Then, I went to Girl's Camp! Yay for Girl's Camp!! That is my only regret with going to a singles ward is that I cannot be a part of the YW. I love the YW of the Church!! I had 5 beautiful girls that I took with me and I had a blast. We went to Tabiona, UT and spend 3 amazing days up there. It was definitely a testimony builder for me.

During this time, I have left my singles branch and have started going to a new singles ward. I've only been going for about a month, but I'm enjoying it immensely. :)

Unknown Reasons

So, as I said in a previous post, I was dating a wonderful man in my ward. Unfortunately, all of that came crashing down on Sunday night. Needless to say, I was crushed. There were mixed emotions, but as I was getting ready for work this morning, it all started making sense.

When he mentioned that we should date, I felt the Spirit confirm that decision to me, so we went for it. For the last month, I've been working so hard on making the relationship work and didn't feel like he was making any effort at all. Apparently, he just didn't have any feelings beyond friendship for me. When he told me that on Sunday, it cut me to the core, but as I look at it now, we never changed in our relationship. We were just good friends. The hardest thing for me to figure out is why my Heavenly Father told me it was okay to date him. Although, I'm not sure if it was a test of my obedience or I needed to learn something, I'm just grateful that He knows enough and cares enough to teach me something. I have no bad feelings for him (the guy I was dating). I feel bad that I wasn't noticing the same things he was. I guess I was just ready to move out of singlehood forever.

Needless to say, I'm single and I'm ready and willing to learn whatever I need to. I'm doing everything I can to live the way I know I'm supposed to. I'm putting this whole matter in the Lord's hands and I'll be just fine.

Weekend Fun!!

So, my last weekend was tons of fun. On Friday, on my way home from work, my check engine light came on in my brand new XTerra. Needless to say, I was pretty upset because I've had the vehicle for 6 months. What could possibly be wrong with it??? So, I called my youngest brother, Ethan, who works on Nissans for a living and he said as long as it wasn't making funny sounds I would be okay.

So, I went to my friend, Angel's house to play. We played Guitar Hero and just had fun gab sessions.

Saturday morning, I woke up early to go to Cabela's with my Mom. Dad had to work, so he sent us on an errand. We had a great time down there. On our way back up from Lehi, I asked if we could stop at Wal-Mart because my shower head was ready to die and I really needed a new one. Then Mom and I helped each other with our Saturday chores. My friend, Cynthia, called me and said that she and her husband, Kalon wanted to take me on a picnic. I've never been on one, so I was stoked. So, we took the XTerra (yes, with the service light on) and went up the canyon for a picnic. It was beautiful up there!! I love the mountains!! On our way down from the canyon, Cynthia volunteered Kalon to put my new shower head on. So, we headed over to my house to put it on. My bathroom in my apartment was not put together all that well, so when Kalon went to take the old one off, the pipe broke. No water thankfully, but it was a bit distressing. Cynthia and Kalon felt awful, but I did not blame them one bit. It's the bathroom. Thankfully, my Dad and brother also know plumbing, so we did get the pipe fixed. But in the process of fixing the pipe, we had to cut the sheetrock. My uncle who did the bathroom did not use green sheetrock and so we found black mold growing all over the sheetrock. So, needless to say, I will be having to rip my bathroom up to get rid of all of that sheetrock. Whew!!! More money that I don't have, story of my life ;)

Sunday was like any normal Sunday. With all of the callings I have, its never a day of rest and I really don't get to enjoy the spirit of my meetings because I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Thankfully, I was able to go to my Parent's house for dinner and we had a wonderful discussion. I am truly blessed to have the parents I have. They are amazing people!!

Monday, Ethan took the XTerra in to his work. It started making funny sounds on Saturday after the canyon (I know I probably shouldn't have taken it up there), so I was driving my Sister's car, called The Little Put-Put. It's tiny! I didn't hear from him all day so I was going crazy trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with the XTerra and praying it would be covered by the warranty. When I showed up at my Parent's house, the XTerra was sitting in the driveway but Ethan was no where to be found. I asked my Dad if he knew anything and he thought he's heard Ethan say something about $430. Ouch!!! So, Ethan finally showed up and I asked him what was wrong with it. Apparantly, one of my sensors wasn't working any longer, so they needed to replace it. Sensors weren't covered so I owed him almost $600!!! Double OUCH!!!! So, I got real quiet, trying to figure out if I truly needed to eat for the next month and then Ethan got his little smirk on his face and told me it was under warranty. The little punk!! I was ready to deck him one, but I restrained myself and thanked him for taking care of it.

Needless to say, my weekend was an adventure. I'm just grateful that it wasn't as costly an adventure as it could have been. :)

Okay, Okay . . . I'm sorry :)

I know its been forever since I've posted and many of you have let me know that its time that I get my act together and post something about my life. You asked for it, so here we go.

My little brother returned home from his mission to the McAllen Texas Mission. It was so good to see him. He's been keeping himself very busy with dating, working, and just being the awesome kid he is. I didn't realize how much I missed him until he came home. I don't know how I made it without him.

I was released from my choir director position but was immediately made the choir pianist. So, for now I'm the choir pianist, the ward organist, a Gospel Principles instructor and a visiting teacher. I am really busy in my branch, but there's not a lot of activity in the branch, so those of us that are faithful members get all of the callings and assignments. It can be hard but I feel like my testimony of the Gospel has grown considerably. I'm loving every moment of learning and feeling the spirit. It's been a wonderful experience and I'm trying to be better.

Work at the Business College has been busy and wonderful. We had our commencement on April 9, 2009. It turned out really well and it was fun seeing all of our wonderful students finally reach that mark of graduation. I am still in the admissions office and I have two wonderful student employees. Nicole and Lindsay are THE BEST!! They are so on top of things and they really don't need me or my help. Some of our students won't talk to me because they want to talk to Nicole or Lindsay, because they run the office. It's so much fun because I'm working with two of my best friends :)

Things in my personal life have been interesting to say the least. I have met a wonderful man and we're trying the dating scene out. He is just a little under a year younger than me. He got home from his mission in December and we've been doing things together since January. We decided to be an official couple last week, so I'm still trying to figure all of this out. He is a good man and I'm excited to see where things go.

My youngest brother has put his mission papers in. We're hoping to get his mission call within the next couple of weeks. We're not sure where he's going to go, but we know he's going to be a great missionary.

My sister is a lucky bug and gets to go to London for three weeks, all expenses paid!! How does she get so lucky!! She's going to tutor one of my Dad's cousin's sons with his schoolwork. Dow is so bright that it doesn't surprise me that she's being sought after. I've always admired her dedication to school work. I know its something that I could never do.

That's my life as of now. I hope you enjoyed it!

Trip to Moab

About a month ago, my friends Kristene and James were trying to convince me to come down to Monticello with them to visit her family. I really didn't have the time to take off of work, so we decided to go over the President's Day Holiday weekend. We had a blast.

We left last Friday for the long drive down, loaded down with snacks and beverages to keep us occupied until we got there. The drive wasn't too bad. We saw some elk and deer through Spanish Fork Canyon. It was kinda snowy, but nothing we couldn't handle. We pulled into Moab around 7:30 p.m. and stopped for a quick bite and headed to Monticello where we had reserved hotel rooms. Let me tell you, I have never stayed in a place more disturbing than that place. The room looked pretty clean until I walked into the bathroom and saw the ants. Kinda disturbing, but there were only a couple of them, so I didn't worry about it too much. The three of us decided to go for a swim, and there were dead ants in the pool. Yeah, let's just say if you're ever going to Monticello, give me a call before you decide which hotel to stay in.

The next day, we decided to head back down to Moab and head to Arches National Park. I've never been there before. It was so much fun. The best part is just seeing all of the different formations that red rock make. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Then James decided if we were going to go on any hike that Delicate Arch was the one for us. He also said it was just a quick jaunt around the bend. What he didn't say was it was one of the strenuous hikes in the Park. By the end, my back was killing me, but the hike was beautiful.






We made it!! It was so windy (hence the hair) and cold, but it was definitely worth the effort and the fear of heights to see it. Once we got down from there, we decided to just drive around the park and find things. We found lots of things to take pictures of.



That night, because it was Valentine's Day, James took both of us ladies to dinner. He's such a nice guy. We then went to Kristene's parents house. I was excited to meet Kristene's dog, Tucker for the first time. Unfortunately, as soon as we opened the car door, we could tell the Tucker had been sprayed by a skunk. So, needless to say, he didn't get the loving he wanted. He's still a cute dog, hopefully the smell won't stick with him for long.

The next day, we were off. We decided we had had enough of that hotel, so we headed down to Moab to find a new hotel to stay in. The Motel 6 in Moab is the place to go. It was nice and refreshing to be in a clean place. On our way to Moab, we made a couple of stops. We stopped at Wilson's arch first.

We then went to this place called Hole 'n the Rock. It's amazing. This man and his wife in the early 1950's inherited land, so he dynamited and basically he and his wife lived in this rock until the day they both died. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the home. It was pretty fun though. They had running water and electricity in this home too. Amazing!

Then we all went to our hotel and James wanted a nap. So Kristene and I went on a Sunday Walk. It was so nice and peaceful.

We walked for a while until we noticed it was getting dark. We headed back to the hotel for some R&R.

We went to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner that night. I felt pretty bad that it was Sunday, but next time I'll be planning ahead so we don't have to break the Sabbath.

That night we went and sat in the hot tub for a while. After a couple of minutes a couple from Colorado joined us. They were making small talk and asked us where we were from and where we worked. All of us work for the Church, but I didn't think anything of it until later. I got up and left a few minutes later because I was sufficiently cooked and went to my hotel room. I guess Kristene left a few minutes later for her and James' room. The gentleman from Colorado turned and asked James if it was okay that he drank a beer while sitting in the hot tub. James said it was not a problem, he had his own problems to deal with. The guy then looked and James and said, "Well, yeah, with you bringing two wives down here, that must be rough." James had a great opportunity to explain that we don't have multiple wives anymore. It was kinda funny to think of though because I was sitting pretty far away from James and Kristene in the hot tub. I guess you never know what people are going to think.

The next day we packed up and headed for home, not before we stopped off in one more place. We went to Moon Flower Canyon. It was a beautiful little walk.


It was a great trip. I hope to go down there again when we have more time to explore the treasures down there.