Today I'm thinking of how quickly life can change... The other day in church some guy quoted Mike Tyson saying something to the effect of "Everyone has a plan in life... until they get punched in the face." It got everyone laughing, but it also hit home to me on so many levels. How many times have I had a plan for my life? And how many times has that plan been destroyed? Pretty sure it's 99% of the time I've planned. For so long I planned on swimming in college on a full-ride scholarship, and much to everyone's surprise, for a long time I did plan on doing that at BYU. I planned on going to college in Sport Medicine or Sports Psychology. I planned on doing as much school as possible and still getting a 4.0 (on top of swimming mind you). I planned on graduating in the spring and then getting my dream job right away.
Obviously this isn't where I am or where I'm heading.
But! I don't think I've ever been happier with life. There are still ridiculous things happening every day, and I still ask myself sometimes if this is what life is going to be like forever. Sometimes the truth of that question scares me, but somehow I'll be prepared for it! That is one comforting thing about the past. Does anyone else feel like an absolute champion when they look back on their life and fully acknowledge exactly what they went through to be where they are? I think we all should feel that way. Nobody has it easy and we should be proud of ourselves for making it, but also humbled knowing that it was only with help from our Heavenly Father.
Anyway, enough deep, philosophical crap. I've come to terms with where I'm going with life and I'm excited for my adventures! Here's what's going on: This summer I've been working like a mad woman for a swim store out here in Salt Lake. It has been the time of my life. I absolutely love the people I work with, it's like we're all part of a family. At my old job I constantly felt like I could work better, but I never had the motivation to because my boss never treated me with respect. I was working under constant threats to be fired or punished if I did anything wrong (which I often did since they never trained me). But here, I feel respected and valued which makes me want to work even harder to prove myself. I love being in the store surrounded by swimming gear, and more than that I love the smell of the store when I walk in each morning. It's a familiar scent of polyester, lycra, spandex, and chlorine. Can anything else smell better? I submit that nothing can! Because of my wonderful job, I was able to pay for my trip to Russia!!! Which is a huge accomplishment for me. I feel like even more now I'll appreciate the experiences I am going to have there. I've also met (via facebook) all the kids in my group that are going with me to St. Pete's. They all seem great and I'm excited to meet them all in person. Some of us already have a plan to do a temple trip in Eastern Europe while we have some vacation time over there. The Kiev, Ukraine temple is being dedicated August 29, and I fly out of SLC Aug. 30th. So the plan is to hit up the Kiev temple, Helsinki, Finland Temple, and Stockholm, Sweden Temple. There are my 3 new temples for the year-which knocks off one of my new years resolutions! Go me! :D I officially leave to Russia now in 39 days!!! I really can't believe I'm doing this. It started out as an idea and something I'd love to do, and now I have my flight schedule. The time to travel and explore really is now I think, and if you want to do it, go for it. I've been blessed to keep my scholarship so I am still debt free in school. I couldn't be more excited about that! And that fact really is a huge deal when planning a trip like this, but I still believe that if you want something in your life-go for it. No one is going to hand it to you on a silver platter, trust me.
In other news of life, I met with my academic advisor and got everything I need to apply to the BSW again. (2nd times a charm right?) Here's hoping! I got my letters of recommendation passed out, and I think these one's will speak better to my ability as a Social Worker. I also discovered that I am now officially more than halfway done with my Bachelor's degree!!! Super excited :D Even so, I still have 2 years ahead of me of intense diversity, culture, writing and statistics classes. My last semester is a 12 credit practicum that I know nothing about.. but it sounds intesne. Here goes nothing! I can't wait to be a legit social worker, out there "doing something for others of what Christ has done for me." -Charles Loring Brace. Lately I've been thinking that I would want to work with International Adoptions instead of just local. I realize this would be a lot more challenging and often more risky and heart-breaking, but it's something I feel like I need to consider. I'm hoping I would be able to do some volunteer work in St. Pete's at a local orphanage, I think that would be an awesome experience to have.
Well, those are the biggest bits of news in my life! In other areas, I've had two family reunions this summer and it is quickly becoming apparent that I am going to be the shortest cousin on BOTH sides of the family. What happened?! I used to be the tallest! Oh well, I like my height, and it is safe to say that is not going to be changing anytime soon. ;) Also, I'm going through a wardrobe revamping stage. I have to dress nice in Russia and it's stressing me out! I like my sweatpants and t-shirts, but maybe it is time to start learning how to actually dress smart and classy. Here goes nothing!!! :D
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Goodbye Teenage Years!
Wow. What a week!!! I am completely exhausted right now, from Sunday the 21st to Sunday the 28th I was going non-stop and now I seriously have to crash! Let me chronicle my adventures during my last week of being a teenager.
Sunday, March 21st- I left my house at 6:55 at picked up Talisha at 7 AM at her apartment. We then hit the road on our way to California. We stopped briefly in AF to get one final hug from my mom, who was a trooper for letting me go on this trip in the first place! We stopped again in St. George, and one last time in Baker, CA before finally landing in Huntington Beach, CA to stay with my mom's best friend. I am pleased to report, that we did not get lost ONCE on this entire journey! :D Yes, most of it was just I-15 South, BUT, the freeways (and drivers) in California are nuts. So I was proud :)
Monday- We headed out around 9AM to spend an absolutely fantastic day at the happiest place on earth: DISNEYLAND!!! It was an absolutely great day. While eating lunch in Carnation Plaza we watched an epic duel between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Peter was climbing through bushes and taunting the Captain while he stood lamely on the side with sword drawn. Thoroughly entertaining. Next we decided to hit up Toon-Town. Which is a good thing we did! We went to the place with the rubber jail bars to get some pics and as we stood waiting for our turn, I noticed a man in a blue blazer slowly walking by us. I thought this odd... but seconds later Talish grabbed my elbow with a death grab and muttered something to me. I missed it the first time, but she then leaned in and whispered to me, "That's Christian Bale!!!" Sure enough, the man in the blue blazer was a security guard, and right behind him was Christian Bale, his and his daughter. We nearly died!!! He was fairly well disguised in all black, sun glasses, and goatee/mustache get-up. We followed him for a good 10 minutes though until they all boarded the monorail. We were amazed that we appeared to be the only ones who recognized him!!! Thank you Talisha for being so super good with face :D The rest of the day was just another fun day at Disney.
Tuesday- We decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm, which for the longest time I actually thought was Knotsbury Farm... silly me! Anyway, there were practically no people there so every ride we went on had about a 0-5 min wait. The rides were pretty great! Two of the bigger ones were shut down, kind of a bummer, but we contented ourselves. We rode the tallest free-fall drop in the world (it was kind of like the Rocket at Lagoon, but SOOOO much higher!) We also went on the steepest, fastest, water ride in the world. We were absolutely soaked after that and the rafting ride, so after eating the famous Knott's fried chicken we headed home. That night we went to Downtown Huntington to see the street festival, but ended up walking the 1/2 mile to the end of the pier and then down onto the beach. I love the beach so much, but I won't lie, at night, it scares the living daylights outta me!!! Standing on the very edge of the pier with nothing but black behind me was almost too unnerving to handle. It was all great fun though :)
Wednesday- We slept in a bit, had some breakfast, packed some lunch, and then hit up the beach!!!! The people we stayed with (Doug and Debbie) let us borrow some boogie-boards to play with. They also had a good laugh at me for not knowing exactly what a boogie board was.. is it my fault I had to grow up in a landlocked state? I think not. Anyway, boogie boarding proved to be the most fun I've had in a long time! Especially since the waves were gigantic that day!! After about 20 minutes of consistently catching and riding waves to the shore Talish and I may have gotten just a little too confident... A huge wave was coming up on us and we looked at each other excitedly posing ourselves to catch it just right. Well it came, and I don't know what happened to Talish, but here's what happened to me! I felt myself get pulled up on the board inside the wave. I could tell that only the back of my board was in the water and the rest was sticking out into the air. Obviously that didn't last long! My board took a nose dive into the ocean with me on it and the force of the wave behind us. I got slammed into the bottom of the ocean and the board came back and gave me a nice bruise on my leg. After years of being under water though, I just blew bubbles out my nose until I stopped spinning and then pushed back up to the surface searching for Talisha. When we finally saw each other again we were both laughing and smiling, yelling "Too big! Too big!" between gasps for air. We headed to the shore and laid out for a little bit after that. We went out boarding once more after that and then just went out to swim. When we got back home that night we were thoroughly sun-burned, but based on the fun we had, the smell and feel of aloe all night was totally worth it!!! :D
Thursday-Back to Disneyland!!! This time we went around 11 and hit up Downtown Disney first where I bought a few more dishes to add to my Disney kitchen collection. I am so excited for the day when I have my very own house/apartment so I can really work on my kitchen!! This day we also found the Mickey and Friends parking structure too! (Previously, on Monday, we had gotten way turned around on our way there and our way back. One thing I don't like about CA is that nobody seems to care which way is North, south, East or West! It was driving me insane!!!) We spent all day on rides and also saw the Aladdin show in California Adventure. There is also a place there were you can superimpose your voice into Disney movies, so much fun! I highly recommend you all try that the next time you're there. We stayed til the park closed that night knowing it was our last day in CA. Because we stayed so late, we got to see Disney's Electrical Parade, which was flippin' sweet! I'm so happy that they brought it all back :D We also finally got on the Nemo ride in Fantasyland since the line died down after all the fireworks and parades were over. When we got in the submarine on the ride though, I heard a guy about 2 seats down begin to freak out and mutter "claustrophobia" under his breath. Next thing we know, he's pounding on the side of the submarine and yelling: "Captain! Captain!... Can I get off?" A little sad, but somewhat humorous too, just the way he asked if he could leave.. *sigh*... Oh! We also rode the Matterhorn about 3 times in a row, I totally love that ride! We also rediscovered that the left track of that ride is infinitely more fun than the right side!! Just for future reference :)
Friday- We drove back to Utah :( When we got to St. George there was a storm warning for Cedar City to Filmore, so we almost spent the night with some family down there. But we wanted to get home so we toughed it out and made it home just fine. We really only hit some hail on the way home! Although the wind was pretty strong.
Saturday- 3 words for ya'll: FESTIVAL OF COLORS. If you haven't been before, make all the effort you can to go next year. It was so much fun!!!! :D I definitely felt like a hippie there with all the moshing, chanting, loud music, and psychadelic colors. We were way glad that we made it in time for the actual throwing of colors. There was so much chalk that it blocked out the sky!!! After partying it up there and being sufficiently doused in chalk powder, we walked back to our cars and headed to SLC. Once home, we went to the Gateway to walk around (still in chalk) and then to eat dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. mmm... :) We got lots of strange looks and tons of people asking us what on earth we had done. It was great to see everyone's reactions. Dinner was great, and I got a free ice cream (with candle! haha) for my birthday. After dinner, Talisha, Charlene and I all ran through the fountains (oh so cold) to get some of the chalk off, but mostly just to be crazy and have fun. It was super hilarious!
Sunday- I woke up and took a picture of myself, my first one as a 20 year old. Wow, it's a beautie!!! Let me tell ya ;) I got ready and waited for my mom to come pick me up to take me to my aunt's house where most of my extended family was so we could all have dinner together, celebrate mine and my uncle's birthday's, and also a little bit of Easter since it's coming up and all. It was much fun to see everybody, I have some of the greatest family in the world, ain't no doubt about it! :D When I got home from that, I uploaded my pictures from the week and hung out with my roomies who had baked me cake :) They are so great :D Then we all watched 27 Dresses together and chatted for a bit before heading off to bed. A most excellent 20th birthday :)
Well there you have it folks! The best week of my life in a nut-shell! It seriously could not have been better, I loved every second of it :) Thank you to my family and friends who made it the great week it was!!!
Sunday, March 21st- I left my house at 6:55 at picked up Talisha at 7 AM at her apartment. We then hit the road on our way to California. We stopped briefly in AF to get one final hug from my mom, who was a trooper for letting me go on this trip in the first place! We stopped again in St. George, and one last time in Baker, CA before finally landing in Huntington Beach, CA to stay with my mom's best friend. I am pleased to report, that we did not get lost ONCE on this entire journey! :D Yes, most of it was just I-15 South, BUT, the freeways (and drivers) in California are nuts. So I was proud :)
Monday- We headed out around 9AM to spend an absolutely fantastic day at the happiest place on earth: DISNEYLAND!!! It was an absolutely great day. While eating lunch in Carnation Plaza we watched an epic duel between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Peter was climbing through bushes and taunting the Captain while he stood lamely on the side with sword drawn. Thoroughly entertaining. Next we decided to hit up Toon-Town. Which is a good thing we did! We went to the place with the rubber jail bars to get some pics and as we stood waiting for our turn, I noticed a man in a blue blazer slowly walking by us. I thought this odd... but seconds later Talish grabbed my elbow with a death grab and muttered something to me. I missed it the first time, but she then leaned in and whispered to me, "That's Christian Bale!!!" Sure enough, the man in the blue blazer was a security guard, and right behind him was Christian Bale, his and his daughter. We nearly died!!! He was fairly well disguised in all black, sun glasses, and goatee/mustache get-up. We followed him for a good 10 minutes though until they all boarded the monorail. We were amazed that we appeared to be the only ones who recognized him!!! Thank you Talisha for being so super good with face :D The rest of the day was just another fun day at Disney.
Tuesday- We decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm, which for the longest time I actually thought was Knotsbury Farm... silly me! Anyway, there were practically no people there so every ride we went on had about a 0-5 min wait. The rides were pretty great! Two of the bigger ones were shut down, kind of a bummer, but we contented ourselves. We rode the tallest free-fall drop in the world (it was kind of like the Rocket at Lagoon, but SOOOO much higher!) We also went on the steepest, fastest, water ride in the world. We were absolutely soaked after that and the rafting ride, so after eating the famous Knott's fried chicken we headed home. That night we went to Downtown Huntington to see the street festival, but ended up walking the 1/2 mile to the end of the pier and then down onto the beach. I love the beach so much, but I won't lie, at night, it scares the living daylights outta me!!! Standing on the very edge of the pier with nothing but black behind me was almost too unnerving to handle. It was all great fun though :)
Wednesday- We slept in a bit, had some breakfast, packed some lunch, and then hit up the beach!!!! The people we stayed with (Doug and Debbie) let us borrow some boogie-boards to play with. They also had a good laugh at me for not knowing exactly what a boogie board was.. is it my fault I had to grow up in a landlocked state? I think not. Anyway, boogie boarding proved to be the most fun I've had in a long time! Especially since the waves were gigantic that day!! After about 20 minutes of consistently catching and riding waves to the shore Talish and I may have gotten just a little too confident... A huge wave was coming up on us and we looked at each other excitedly posing ourselves to catch it just right. Well it came, and I don't know what happened to Talish, but here's what happened to me! I felt myself get pulled up on the board inside the wave. I could tell that only the back of my board was in the water and the rest was sticking out into the air. Obviously that didn't last long! My board took a nose dive into the ocean with me on it and the force of the wave behind us. I got slammed into the bottom of the ocean and the board came back and gave me a nice bruise on my leg. After years of being under water though, I just blew bubbles out my nose until I stopped spinning and then pushed back up to the surface searching for Talisha. When we finally saw each other again we were both laughing and smiling, yelling "Too big! Too big!" between gasps for air. We headed to the shore and laid out for a little bit after that. We went out boarding once more after that and then just went out to swim. When we got back home that night we were thoroughly sun-burned, but based on the fun we had, the smell and feel of aloe all night was totally worth it!!! :D
Thursday-Back to Disneyland!!! This time we went around 11 and hit up Downtown Disney first where I bought a few more dishes to add to my Disney kitchen collection. I am so excited for the day when I have my very own house/apartment so I can really work on my kitchen!! This day we also found the Mickey and Friends parking structure too! (Previously, on Monday, we had gotten way turned around on our way there and our way back. One thing I don't like about CA is that nobody seems to care which way is North, south, East or West! It was driving me insane!!!) We spent all day on rides and also saw the Aladdin show in California Adventure. There is also a place there were you can superimpose your voice into Disney movies, so much fun! I highly recommend you all try that the next time you're there. We stayed til the park closed that night knowing it was our last day in CA. Because we stayed so late, we got to see Disney's Electrical Parade, which was flippin' sweet! I'm so happy that they brought it all back :D We also finally got on the Nemo ride in Fantasyland since the line died down after all the fireworks and parades were over. When we got in the submarine on the ride though, I heard a guy about 2 seats down begin to freak out and mutter "claustrophobia" under his breath. Next thing we know, he's pounding on the side of the submarine and yelling: "Captain! Captain!... Can I get off?" A little sad, but somewhat humorous too, just the way he asked if he could leave.. *sigh*... Oh! We also rode the Matterhorn about 3 times in a row, I totally love that ride! We also rediscovered that the left track of that ride is infinitely more fun than the right side!! Just for future reference :)
Friday- We drove back to Utah :( When we got to St. George there was a storm warning for Cedar City to Filmore, so we almost spent the night with some family down there. But we wanted to get home so we toughed it out and made it home just fine. We really only hit some hail on the way home! Although the wind was pretty strong.
Saturday- 3 words for ya'll: FESTIVAL OF COLORS. If you haven't been before, make all the effort you can to go next year. It was so much fun!!!! :D I definitely felt like a hippie there with all the moshing, chanting, loud music, and psychadelic colors. We were way glad that we made it in time for the actual throwing of colors. There was so much chalk that it blocked out the sky!!! After partying it up there and being sufficiently doused in chalk powder, we walked back to our cars and headed to SLC. Once home, we went to the Gateway to walk around (still in chalk) and then to eat dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. mmm... :) We got lots of strange looks and tons of people asking us what on earth we had done. It was great to see everyone's reactions. Dinner was great, and I got a free ice cream (with candle! haha) for my birthday. After dinner, Talisha, Charlene and I all ran through the fountains (oh so cold) to get some of the chalk off, but mostly just to be crazy and have fun. It was super hilarious!
Sunday- I woke up and took a picture of myself, my first one as a 20 year old. Wow, it's a beautie!!! Let me tell ya ;) I got ready and waited for my mom to come pick me up to take me to my aunt's house where most of my extended family was so we could all have dinner together, celebrate mine and my uncle's birthday's, and also a little bit of Easter since it's coming up and all. It was much fun to see everybody, I have some of the greatest family in the world, ain't no doubt about it! :D When I got home from that, I uploaded my pictures from the week and hung out with my roomies who had baked me cake :) They are so great :D Then we all watched 27 Dresses together and chatted for a bit before heading off to bed. A most excellent 20th birthday :)
Well there you have it folks! The best week of my life in a nut-shell! It seriously could not have been better, I loved every second of it :) Thank you to my family and friends who made it the great week it was!!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Summer Fever
I just got back from the pool, can I just say how much I love the smell of chlorine and hemp lotion? Oh my. Anyway, of course those smells would remind me of summer! The weather is finally starting to change, and in true form, March is coming in like a lion. It's been pretty rainy and windy, but thankfully there has been no more snow. Everyone keeps telling me we need more snow so that our water levels aren't so low in the summer, but quite honestly, I've grown up most of my life in a drought, and I like it that way. So if it's all the same, I think the Lord can keep the snow somewhere else for the time being. : )
I'm still trying to lay out my plans for this summer. Mostly I think I'll just be working, which is fine by me! I absolutely adore my job. I work for a local swim store selling swimming equipment. What more could I ask for? I get to spend my work shifts talking to people about one of my favorite things in the world and helping them start their ways into the swimming world. Along with work, I believe I have a family reunion to attend as well! Par-tay! :D My cousins freaking rock and I can't wait to see them all this summer, we're going to have a blast. Look out Zions, here I come! I think I may need to hit up Moab and Bear Lake this summer too. Gotta get in all of my favorite camping/hiking locations before I leave the state for 5 months!
Well, as the sun goes down now the temperature drops. At least I'm not scraping ice off my car in the morning and sliding all the way down the hills as I attempt to get to school. I'm so grateful that day-light savings is coming up. Even if it means I'll lose an hour of sleep. The extra sunlight and warmth will totally be worth the small adjustment : )
Prayin' for daylight!
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