Friday, September 26, 2008

Blessings

I have been in a blah mood for the last few days but some events around me have kind of knocked me back into reality and have made me recognize how blessed I am and how wonderful my life is. I just thought I would list 10 blessings I have been given. This isn't necessarily for anyone else's benefit but I just wanted to do it:

1. I am healthy. Yes I still have Crohn's flare ups and yes I still get sick easily, but overall I can live life. It wasn't like that for a good three years, so I am very grateful for the medication I have, for the doctors that I have been led to, and for my family who take such good care of me.

2. I have a job. I am not always happy when my alarm clock goes off at 5:45 AM to get ready to go to work, but I truly am blessed to have this job. Not only is my boss one of the greatest people who has ever lived, but I love what I do. I learn so much every day and I am busy. I love to be busy and I love to try and exceed people's expectations. I am so blessed to work at a place I love, doing what I love, with good people around me.

3. I have a home. I love my house. I love my neighborhood. I love my neighbors. I love my Ward. I just love everything about it.

4. I have a twin. Meg truly is so much fun. I love being a twin. I truly feel sorry for those of you out there who aren't twins. I don't know what I did to deserve this incredible blessing, but I am so glad I did it. It is so nice to have someone who understands me so completely that I don't even need to say how I am feeling or what I need, she just knows. And I also love that she will never judge me. Even if I say something and it doesn't come out right and ends up sounding horrible she knows my heart and knows what I am really trying to say and she loves me anyway. I love being a twin.

5. I have a sweet husband. Jesse is such an amazing husband. He takes such good care of me. He has dealt with so much from me and he just continues to love me no matter what. How lucky am I? I am so grateful for his patience and compassion. He is the best.

6. I have the Gospel in my life. Where would I be without it? I don't know how people even get out of bed in the morning without the knowledge of the plan of salvation. Now don't get me wrong, I don't wake up in the morning thinking about the Gospel, and spend my day thinking about the Gospel, and go to sleep thinking about the Gospel. I wish I could say that were the case but it's not. I am just so grateful that when things are hard on me I can turn to the Gospel for peace. And when things are wonderful I can again turn to the Gospel, recognize what I have been blessed with, and feel peace.

7. I have a cat. I know to some of you this may seem ridiculous, and honestly, it sounds a little weird as I am typing this, but really, I am so grateful for my cat Woody. I love that he can't wait for me to come home and that he gets so excited when I wake up in the morning and how he hates it when I leave. I just love his sweet spirit and am so grateful the Lord blessed us with animals.

8. I have amazing parents. My Mom makes life fun. No matter the occasion, even if it's just a Wednesday, she makes it fun. I love that about her and am so glad that she makes my life exciting. My Dad is so fun to talk with. He calls me at least once a week and we have great conversations. Sometimes they are just fluffy conversations and sometimes they are deep and meaningful, but no matter what I love my conversations with him.

9. I have wonderful siblings. I am so glad that I grew up in a big family. There is no where else I'd rather be than hanging out with my siblings doing puzzles, playing Rock Band, singing, or just telling stories and laughing. They are all so much fun for different reasons and I love them all so much.

10. I live in America. Now this kind of came out of left field, I know, but truly, I am so proud to be an American. I am so grateful for our freedoms. I am so grateful for those who serve our country so we can enjoy the freedoms we have been given. And I am so grateful that I was blessed enough to be born here so that I can be free to make my own choices.

So, that ended up being majorly cheesy, but I am glad I did it. I feel much better. Thanks for indulging me.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Touching Story

Being a twin I am always drawn to other twins. I love to hear about their relationship; how they grow closer and how they take advantage of the connection they have been blessed with.

I have been following the Herrin Twins' story for a few years now. They were in my Mom's Ward for a year or so and I heard their story before they were on the news for their separation. I have been inspired by their connection and their strength. I look at their website about once a month to read about the updates on how they are doing and to see the cute new pictures. If you haven't looked at it before you should:

www.herrintwins.com

I just read this today on their website and thought it was so moving. I love stories about people being good people and not letting the "natural man" take over. I just thought I would share:

"I wanted you all to read this:Two Choices What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: 'Would you have made the same choice?' At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.' Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat . Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay!, Shay!, Shay! ... All the way Shay!' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team. 'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.' Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!"

Stories like this always make me want to be a better person...

Friday, September 12, 2008

6 unspectacular quirks...

I was tagged by my friend Tamsen to do this...I feel so special when I'm tagged :)

6 Unspectacular Quirks about me:
1. I have a blanket. Yep, that's right. A blanket. It is a necessity in my life. If I am home (even if it's 100 degrees outside) it has to be with me. I know, I know, I need to grow up, but I just love it. Nothing makes me more calm or happier than my blanket. It's just the truth so you're going to have to live with it people.

2. I have to triple check everything. My friend Amy also said this, but it is SO true about me. I have to check all of the locks on the doors (and windows if a window has been opened sometime within the last week) at least 3 times before I go to sleep. When I am checking a lock I try to tell myself it's OK, it's locked, and I don't need to come back and check for a second and third time, but I always end up getting out of bed and checking again...Ugh, once again, I need to get over this and grow up.

3. I love to hit the "Snooze" button. I think most people do, but it is physically impossible for me to wake up the first time an alarm goes off. I usually plan to set my alarm for at least 2 snoozes before I really need to get up. That way I can snooze away :)

4. I hate water. It is just disgusting. I can drink 160 oz of soda pop a day but not water. I've tried flavored water, sparkling water, whatever, it just isn't good. I have serious issues with this and force myself to drink at least 3 glasses a day (on a good day).

5. I can perform in front of people but I get SICK when I have to teach. I will do a little dance (I'm a geeky dancer), or sing a solo, or recite a monologue, but when I have to actually express my own thoughts to a group of people it makes me sick. And sweaty. Man am I gross. Oh and this is only a recent thing. I didn't used to be like this. As I get older I get more insecure...which you think it'd be the opposite, but I don't usually follow the same trends as other people.

6. I am never content. Not with myself, not with my job, not with my house, not with my hair, not with anything. I am always wanting change and to be different. It's nice sometimes to have things to dream about and work for, but I'd like to be content with something in my life...I am really going to work on this people, you just wait and see :)

Now, here are the terms and conditions for those of you who are going to be "tagged" by me:

Link the person who tagged you (this is something I'm going to have to figure out before I post this blog...)

Mention the rules on your blog.

List 6 unspectacular quirks about you.

Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them.

Now, I tag Meg, Michelle, Star, Manon (that's right Manon, you better do this, and Jake doing it doesn't count...be a part of the "in" crowd), Kendra, and Jodi (oh, and anyone else who wants to do this).

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Taste of Homes

My cute Mom took all of her girls (except for Ashley and Marissa...Ashley because she can't/doesn't want to cook, and Marissa because she had to perform last night) to the Taste of Homes cooking demonstration at Thanksgiving Point. This is the first time that Taste of Homes has come to Utah. My Mom was so excited for them to finally come here so she booked it months ago and told us all to put the date on our calendars.
First we ate at the little cafe they have there...

This is Meg and Cambria waiting in line to order

This is Cambria, Tim (yes, my step-dad came to the cooking class!), Jeff (my only brother, who is a great chef and just loves to cook) and Amy (my sister-in-law) waiting in line


More pictures of us waiting in line...isn't my Mom's yellow jacket cute?!


This is Meg being a nut-job and showing off the remnants of her Neapolitan...mmm...good


And this is my cute Mom in her cute yellow jacket eating her dessert...she doesn't look happy, but she is, she was just concentrating on eating


After we ate we went over to The Barn and waited for the show to start. This is me and Meg waiting in line to get some free candy. I love free stuff. I love candy. So I definitely had to get some free candy. It was all good, except for the Rock Candy. Who likes Rock Candy? It's spicy and yucky...ick...whoever invented that is just nuts...

This is a picture of me looking at one of the big screens they had up so all of us could see the details of the cooking demonstration. Meg took this picture. It's a little odd, but why not put it up?! And yes, it's a little blurry...
They showed us how to make 10 different dishes. There were prizes given out as well, but we think the lady who picked up our raffle tickets didn't put them in. She was not a happy camper. Oh well, we got some free candy, laughed until we cried several times, and just had a dang good time. My Mom really is just so much fun. She always makes sure that life is interesting and that we always have something to look forward to. Thanks Mom! Last night was a blast! You are the best!

Monday, September 8, 2008

A Full Weekend

I had a pretty full weekend. I loved it. Well, most of it.

My Friday night started with my cute friend Amy bringing over homemade Asphalt Pie. It was even BETTER than Winger's. She was worried that there were too many Oreo's on it, but that was not the case. It was amazing and perfect, and I appreciated her thinking of me and giving me a great treat with the sweetest card ever (she is so good at writing cards and thinking of other people. I really need to be more like her!):

After I ate my Asphalt Pie and watched a little Gilmore Girls, Jesse and I went over to our friends' new house in Sandy. Marshall was Jesse's best friend in High School and his wife Kelli is so fun and sweet. They have done SO MUCH to their house and so far it looks amazing! We played Rock Band and our friend JJ joined us (without his cool wife Natalie, she had to work, sniff**sniff). It was fun to hang out, eat more wonderful dessert (thanks Kelli!) and play Rock Band. I forgot my camera, of course. I am still not very good at remembering to bring it (and I don't like to take pictures because I am horrible at it and thus I have to convince Jesse to take pictures for me and he puts up a little bit of a fight sometimes, so I really didn't want to deal with it that night). But even without pictures being taken to commemorate, we had a fabulous time.

Saturday morning I got to clean my house! 2 hours of good, deep cleaning. I love the feeling when you are done doing a deep clean. Then Meg and I went and got stuff to make baby shower invitations, ate lunch at our favorite restaurant (Zupa's, YUM!), went to Ikea, and then took a mid-afternoon nap (honestly one of my favorite things in life).

Then I had to be at Desert Star at 6:00 PM to do the 7:00 & 9:30 shows. The 7:00 show went great! I had a blast (as usual) and couldn't wait to perform a second time (I always like doing 2 consecutive shows, I feel I get better the 2nd time around, not that I don't try the 1st time, I just can fix things the 2nd time around and feel more comfortable on stage). As we performed the 9:30 show I was moving a bed off stage at the end of a scene. I usually move this bed by myself. But one of the cast members helped me out this time. We were being very quite and I was going to give the bed one final shove to move it to it's destination. At the same time the other cast member was going to lift it up to move it to it's destination. Well, I shoved and she lifted and I ended up jamming the bed (with a toy chest on top of it) into her nose. It sounded horrible. I swear it looked crooked and broken. She gasped and said, "Oh, my nose" and I said, "I am so sorry! You are bleeding!" but it was time for us to be back out on stage. So we went to our places. The lights came up as her nose just bled and bled. I continued to give my lines and I'm sure I was white as a ghost. She was plugging her nose but the blood was really flowing at this point. So she took her gloves off and stuffed them under her nose. We did the rest of the scene while her nose bled and bled, she made a few jokes about it and the audience laughed hesitantly, and then when we got off stage I talked her into letting me call her double (who is my sister Marissa). I knew Marissa was at a party not even a block away for my sister Cambria's Graduation. So I called Marissa and she was able to get there at intermission and perform the 2nd Act while this poor lady with the broken nose went to the E.R. I felt HORRIBLE! I know, I know, accidents happen, but really and honestly it was my shove that almost broke her nose (the doctors told her it wasn't broken, which I am relieved about, but I still feel horrible). I wrote her a text today and she told me that her nose and the surrounding area are black and blue but that she is doing well other than that. I am so glad. And I still feel bad. It's a good story (I guess, that's what other people think anyway) but I just never want to have another story like that ever again...poor lady. I'm not using her name because I'm not so sure she'd want me to.

Then yesterday (Sunday) we had dinner with our neighbors the Seethaler's and then watched Mr. Bean's Holiday (which I like, it's light-hearted and fun). It was a nice peaceful way to end a very eventful weekend and I'm glad that this weekend is over. I need it to be. It sure was eventful, but I am exhausted. Now I am looking forward to tonight. My Mom is taking all of us girls to the Taste of Homes Demonstration at Thanksgiving Point. I can't wait!!!! I'll bring my camera and post about it tomorrow :)

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

These lips of mine...

These lips of mine really tell the whole story. For those of you who REALLY know me, you know that you can tell if I am sick or not just by looking at my lips. That's right, my lips. When I was in Elementary School I HATED to miss school, even if I had a fever or was throwing up, or for whatever other reason. I just hated missing class. But my Mom would always make me stay home if my lips were swollen because that meant that I really and truly was too sick to go to school.

Well, this last weekend has been a ruff one. It's no surprise, I have over-worked myself and have gotten NO sleep. So, when I awoke on Saturday morning to extremely swollen lips I knew I was in for it...well, I was right. I wish I wasn't, but I was. I spent the whole weekend (and today, might I add) looking like this:It's funny to see me this way, it really is. I just wish it wasn't SO noticeable. Jeez. The only thing that helps is:
It doesn't matter what the cause of my affliction is, Benadryl always saves the day. So I just had to give a shout out to my wonderful Benadryl. Thanks for saving me time and time again...if only you didn't make me so darn drowsy...

And that is why these lips of mine really do tell the whole story.