Excellent Sunday

You know those really awesome, really spectacular Sundays? Today was one of those days. Nothing truly spectacular or amazing happened. It was just a good day. Although, I only got to nap for about 30 minutes :( I really want a nap now but if I do that I won't go to sleep later. Considering its 7 pm...oh well. No nap for me.

Church today was just super amazing. There's no other way to put it. Every single person that had something to say today pierced me to my soul. I really felt inspired to do better and be a better person after today. I don't know what it was or what it is. But I will do better at the little things. I struggle with doing the small daily things that are important to keeping a strong testimony. But I've got a renewed ...something...I don't know that the word for it is but something clicked with me at church today and I will try harder to be a better person and do the things I know are the right choices for me in my life. No matter what.

I truly have a testimony that God lives and he loves each and every once of us. No matter what we do. He is a very real person and is a real influence on every day living. I'm not one of those "follow the crowd" type of people and I don't say the things just to say them.  I know for myself that Christ died for each of us and suffered immeasurable pain so that we wouldn't have to. That's the reason right there that I need to be a better person. I need to be better and do better because Christ did everything for me. Period.

So this might sound a little harsh but I despise Valentine's Day. I know what you're thinking: it's because I'm single. You couldn't be more wrong. I think the idea of having a holiday that's whole purpose is to tell you that you have to express your love on a certain of the year is ridiculous.

Does all the lovey dovey couple mushyness make me want vomit? Slightly, yes. Valentine's day is just another day for me. Go to work, come home. Wake up and do it over again. So if this seems scroogy to those readers out there. But that's what I've been thinking about this week.

Do I love that my parents surprised me this week with chocolate covered strawberries at work? Yes, yes I do. But I don't think that people need a holiday to show others that they care.

Post Lasik

So I know you are all "dying" to know how life is post Lasik. My surgery had some rough spots but I'm recovering well enough. Today was the first day that I felt I could see well enough to drive my self to work but it's getting there.

The night I had my surgery the flaps that were made got wrinkled (wrinkled = very, very bad & painful) so the next day my doctor had me go back to my surgeon to get everything fixed. Because of this it set my recovery time back. It's taking longer for my eyes to get to "normal" whatever that is anyway haha. My surgeon was so nice and understanding about the whole thing and did an awesome job at understanding the pain I was in. After fixing the wrinkles he put a bandage contact on each eye so that it wouldn't happen again. Turns out my eye lids stuck to the flaps and caused the wrinkles. No bueno.

I've pretty much been in to see my doctor every day since last Friday (except for Sunday). Yesterday he changed out the bandage contacts and today he removed them all together. I won't be going in to see him again until Thursday but every day gets better and better. I don't have to wear sunglasses in doors any more (because of light sensitivity)  and I can drive myself again. For the most part ;-)

I still get super tired really easily. Still a part of the recovery I guess. I was really worried about the whole wrinkle thing because my vision still isn't back to normal yet but my lasik consult told me the same thing happened to her when she had her surgery and now she sees just fine. That was a bit of a relief. So still waiting for the "perfect" vision but every day is better.

Also: staring at spreadsheets for hours on end is not good for your eyes, haha. Most of you could have probably told me that already but I was starting at spreadsheets for a while today at work and it gave me a huge headache and hurt my eyes. Won't be doing anymore of that tonight but probably again tomorrow.

Overall, I'm on the mend and I'm glad that I did it even if there were some bumps to overcome :-)

Thanks to everyone that has been helping with my recovery and driving me places and appointments (Samantha, Alisha, Dylan, Jason) You guys are all AWESOME :-)

PS A random girl in the cafe at work told me "you are so pretty" Made my freaking day!! Love life's silver linings :-) 

Midnight Ramblings

Lately, I've found that I don't sleep a lot . I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The normal time to be sleeping (a.k.a at night) I find myself doing other things such as reading, watching tv, listening to music, hanging out, having good conversations. I don't know what it is. It makes me sleep so much longer when I don't go to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning which I don't like because then I don't want to get ready for work until the last possible minute and I don't go to the gym. Don't get me wrong I like going to work out but sometimes I just have to force myself to get out of my apartment and drive across town.

But my favorite part of my slightly insomniac tendencies is the good conversations I have. You know those people that you just love talking to you because you feel that you can open about anything and rant and rave to? Those are the kinds of people I generally talk to in the early morning hours. Okay, so it's just one person but still I like it.

Also, you know those people that are just the nicest ever? Who make you laugh and smile when you're having the worst day ever? Those people who put little butterflies in your stomach just by talking to you and making your smile? Those people who have no idea what saying one little thing and inviting you to do one little thing can make you smile and keep smiling for an entire weekend? Yeah, I love those kind of people. They are my favorite :-) I may have rambled on for a little while here... but I was just thinking about some things that I've done this weekend and I just wanted to get it out. Am I still smiling? Yes, yes I am :-)

Also: search "The Piano Guys" on Youtube. You will not be disappointed. I promise. A really good guy that often makes my day introduced me to them. Love it!

Crafty Time? Yes Please!!

Occasionally, I get in really crafty moods and I have this sudden urge to make something. Today was one of those days. Well, I've been planning on making it for while but I just got the last of my supplies yesterday so yes, today was one of those days.

How do you turn this? 

Into this?

Good question! Let me know you :) In case you want to make one or just because I feel like sharing it :)

My inspiration came from a blog I found using Pinterest. Let's just say that I'm slightly addicting to pinterest. Not such a good thing. If you'd like to see the original blog go here.

So first I created my "wreath". Instead of purchasing an actual wreath at a craft store (which can be expensive!) I purchased some foam tubing from a plumbing store (thank you, Pinterest!) for only $0.90!! It was a little trick because I had to stuff the middle (it was hollow) with tissue paper so that it wouldn't bend when a created the wreath. I was worried that it wouldn't work but it worked better than I could have imagined :-) 

It took tissue paper, hot glue, & some packing tape but it came together quite nicely :-)

Next, came the task of putting the ornaments on. I didn't have traditional colors but more pastel colors but they've grown on me. It took a while to find my rhythm of how to put everything together but in the end it turned out pretty nice. 

I had some larger bulbs, medium bulbs (not many) & lots of small bulbs. As well as a few snowflakes and "Joy"s.  Here's with a few bulbs put on already:

I ended up having some extra decorations but that just means I can use them for another project of my tree next year :-) Either way, my wreath turned out so much better than I imagined. My next problem is figuring out where to store it with so little storage space...

Altogether it took foam tubing, different size Christmas ornaments, packing tape, tissue paper, and LOTS of hot glue :-) 

One more time here's the end result:

If you enjoyed my craft please, please, please take a look at this blog. She is the queen of crafts! And always creates the cutest things :-) Can't wait till next Christmas season so that I can hang up my wreath :-) Someday I will have a wreath for every season/month. So far I have a fall and Christmas wreath :-) 

Spiritual Christmas

Christmas Day dawned bright and clear for me this year. No snow (of course) :) Christmas day was more of a focus on Christ than in years past and I loved it so much! I look forward to trying to keep more of Christ in my life than in the past.

Christmas day start out with keep Jasers entertained while Nicole was making breakfast (Kneaders French Toast) Yummm!!! That bread had to travel over 600 miles to make it to my house (from Kneaders in Provo, UT to the airport in SLC, flying to LAX, and then driving home to Ridgecrest). Wow. What a long way for some little loaves of bread to go, haha.

When breakfast was winding down my participated in something that we can make a yearly tradition (if not I'll make it a tradition with my own family when I have one). We went around the table and all shared something that had to do with the spirit of giving or the true spirit or meaning of Christmas. It was one of the most meaningful and spiritual experiences of my life.

I started everything off by talking about my experience with Sub for Santa. To read about it click here.  It really set a good tone for what my sister in law and I were trying to get across with focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. Zach shared a story from when he went caroling with some friends and they were able to make a huge difference in a sick lady's day. Jimmy shared a story about how the military gives so much for us. Donald Eugene shared a story from when he was younger that he helped doorbell ditch some gifts are Christmas for a family that literally had nothing. Ariel talked about how when she was in Young Women's someone she didn't get along with gave her some support when needed. Nicole talked about a tradition that her family does with choosing a poorer family to give gifts to at Christmas and one particualar year they gave up having some gifts of their own to bring Christmas joy to someone else. Mom talked about her earthly angels that have been around for her this year when she needed some huge support to help with Dad's health issues (Donald Eugene and Ariel).

With everything that we were discuss it brought so many tears to my eyes. Not out of sadness but out of joy and all the good that we were able to talk about and the real meaning of Christmas. The cutest thing was that Sammi was sitting on my lap and she asked me "Gramma sad?" Because my mom was crying. I told her that grandma was crying because she was happy and later she asked me the same question about Aunt Ariel. And I told her the same thing and I suggested she go give each of them a hug. She is so adorable!!

The rest of the morning I spent with my family played some games and got ready for church where I was able to play the prelude music. It was so much fun just getting to sit there and play Christmas Hymns. Jimmy also spoke in church (his farewell talk for leaving on his mission). He brought tears to my eyes because he told me that he was grateful for my idea of Christmas sharing because it really got him thinking about the real meaning of Christmas.

After church we were finishing getting Christmas dinner ready. So good. I want more right now :)

That night Jimmy was set up as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Such a neat experience to have that happen on Christmas day. Before he was set apart he met with the stake president and Nicole and I had Zach play the piano while we sang some Christmas hymns. Such a neat experience.

The rest of the night we got to spend together as a family and play some games

What a good Christmas!! So sad that I had come back to Utah the next day. Miss my family so much!

Sub for Santa & Spreading Christmas Joy

Sub for Santa is one of the most amazing programs. Ever. Period. For those of you who don't know what Sub for Santa is let me explain. It's a program where money is raised in order to purchase Christmas gifts for children that live in low income areas where parents usually can't afford to give them even the smallest of Christmas gifts or even some necessities such as school supplies, shoes, clothes, etc. 

I never really felt that strongly about the program until a few weeks ago. The company I work for partners with Sub for Santa every year to bring some Christmas joy to some lower income elementary schools in Salt Lake City and Provo. This year I was able to donate some money to go towards buying gifts. I wasn't able to shop for any gifts because I was working during the time that was allotted for gift shopping but I was able to help pass out gifts to the kids up in Salt Lake City. The. Most. Amazing. Experience. Of. My. Life.

I can't even describe the experience. I have never seen children so happy to get a pair of shoes or some crayons. These kids literally have nothing and they are so sincerely grateful for something. In particular I can think of one specific child that I was able to give a gift to. It was one of the last classes that came in and got their gifts. Everyone around him had already received their gifts and were busy opening them and he just looked so sad because he had nothing. I walked up to him and asked him his name and then I told him that I had a Christmas present for him. His face lit up like nothing I had ever seen. He was so grateful that he was thanking me before he'd ever open the gifts. I helped him open them: soccer ball, cleats, some cars and a few other things. He told me that he liked playing soccer. He thanked me so many times. 

I've never felt like I'd made such a difference in someone's life until that day. I can't even describe the amazing experience that it was for me. My heart felt so full and it made me grateful for how I grew up and everything that my parents were able to give me. The only way that I can think of to describe what I saw and experienced is pure joy. Not happiness but pure joy and gratitude. 

To read more about how Vivint participated in this effort click here