Birthday

So it's official. I'm 24 now. Weird. My twenties are almost half way over. Not sure how I feel about that. My birthday has come and gone. It wasn't the best birthday I've ever had but it wasn't the worse either, haha. What did I do?? I cleaned my kitchen (didn't want to but it was driving me crazy!), went to Alisha's bridal shower, went to a talent show at work, and went out to dinner with a bunch of friends and got to open the presents my parents sent back here with Jimmy. I got the #1 thing on my list for my birthday:

Harry Potter Boxed Set of ALL the movies:

I also got Tangled. Love that movie!

Mom also made me some awesome Christmas ornaments which are now on my Christmas tree. They are so beautiful. 

I can't wait for Thursday!! I'm flying out of SLC to go to California to spend Christmas with my family. I can't wait to see them. Just need to get through 3 days of work first. Part of the reason I'm so excited to get out of Utah is so that I won't have to be in my apartment and deal with my crazy roommates. At the most I will only have to put up with them until December 30th. They're moving out (thankfully) and I'm either staying in my apartment or moving downstairs. That is still to be decided. Still, can't wait to get out of the freezing cold and be in Sunny California. 

Happy Birthday to Me

In honor of my 24th birthday this weekend I've made a list of 24 things that I have done with my life and 24 things I still want to do with my life:

24 Things I've Done in my Life/Learned:

1) Graduate from college - not once, not twice, but 3 times (2 associate's degrees and a bachelor's degree)
2) Bought a car - 2 different times. Hate care shopping
3) Be the favorite aunt to my niece and nephew - and Yes I am the favorite no what what my sister says :-)
4) I've gotten not one but two promotions at my job this past year
5) Sang karaoke for the first time and loved it!! Thank you, David Saylor :-)
6) I've been to Mexico
7) Driven in a snow storm - scariest thing of my life!!
8) Gone to Yellowstone National Park. Thank you, Nicole Winegardner
9) Learned to do glitter toes - Which I will be doing tonight in red and green to celebrate Christmas :-)
10) Read the entire Harry Potter series 3 times
11) Took some Zumba classes. After the experience I decided that I like straight cardio better
12) Wore braces
13) Wear glasses and contacts but maybe not for much longer...
14) At the age of 24, I still wear princess sheets on my bed, haha
15) I've become much better friends with my little brother since he moved to Utah. Good luck on your mission, Jimmy!! I'm so proud of you
16) I've participated in several charity projects including but not limited to Vivint Gives Back and United Way
17) Thrown Bridal Showers for 2 of my very best friends (Ashley Martin Jones and Mary Linford Griffitts) Love you, guys!!!
18) I found the BEST smoothie ever!! Strawberry Surfrider from Jamba Juice. Yum!!!
19) I've attended several live sessions of General Conference
20) Bought a gym membership and actually use it regularly
21) Learned to cope with large amounts of stress at work
22) Danced in the rain
23) Watched a beautiful sunset on the California beach. Thank you, Alisha Packard
24) Last but certainly not least, I've learned to enjoy the journey and just be happy with me and how my life is going.

24 things I want do:

1) Get Lasik surgery - this will probably be happening sooner than I think :-)
2) Have laser hair removal surgery
3) Continue spoiling my niece and nephew
4) Receive my endowment
5) Get married in the temple
6) Have kids
7) Be kissed on new years eve
8) Live someplace that doesn't require cleaning checks or me putting my bed on cinder blocks so that I have enough room for all of my stuff
9) Eat healthier
10) Run a 10K
11) Take more risks
12) Be more outspoken
13) Cook more food at home instead of buying ready made things
14) Blog more often
15) Visit a European country
16) Take a nice, warm, sunny vacation
17) Continue learning to manage my stress better
18) Continue to enjoy the journey
19) Make more friends
20) Learn to be more confrontational
21) Don't take on more than I can manage/handle
22) Do more crafts
23) Be better at daily scripture study
24) Do more things that I want to do

Lasik??

Today I had my yearly optometry appointment. I'm almost out of contacts so it was that time of year. I had to have my eyes dilated ick. I hate that. Once a year won't kill me but I don't like it. Especially when I went outside to get in my car. I thought the sun was going to kill me. On the bright side: I didn't have to pay for my appointment because the warranty package I got last year at my appointment and I also bought some new sunglasses. So cute. Can't wait to wear them :-) Also, my insurance paid for all but $10 of it. Got love the little blessings of life :-)

Something I talked to my doctor about is Lasik surgery. It's something I've been thinking about more and more over the last year. I'm an excellent candidate for Lasik surgery because my glasses/contacts prescription hasn't changed much in the last few years. My vision is consistent so I'd probably have good luck with the surgery.

 I'm tired of having to either wear my glasses or put contacts in every day. I want to be done with using other things so that I can see. I had a consultation with a Lasik specialist. She had it done herself and loves it. I know a lot of people who've had it done. I'm seriously considering....but I don't know yet. My insurance will get my a slight discount per eye. Thoughts?? Opinions??

PS My birthday is in 1 week. In case anyone was wondering.
PPS Notice the countdown up above :-)

No Motivation ?

I feel like the week goes by so fast and I work so hard that I'm spent by the time Saturday comes. This usually means I feel no motivation to venture outside of my apartment on the weekend unless I have errands to run...

I spend so much time with people during the week that sometimes I just want to be alone on the weekend. Probably not the best outlook for this point in my life. Especially the last for days I just haven't felt like being with people. Even if I had been out doing things with people I don't think I would have been very good company. I'm just having an "off" week.

I need to get my motivation for being social back again. Otherwise I'm afraid I might become one if those crazy cat ladies ... If you know what I mean...

Today in stake conference one of the counselors said "young men, ask the ladies on dates and young women, flirt." This made me feel slightly guilty because I don't remember the last time I made the effort to actively engage a guy in conversation for the purpose of getting a date... I just don't feel that I'm that "type" of girl. It's so hard for me to do that and be the girl that knows how to get the guy every time or ever.

My million dollar question: Is there something wrong with me?

Stewart Falls Hike

So up until today every single time that I have attempted to hike up to Stewart Falls I wasn't able to because of snow.... I guess I just go at the exact wrong time. Today I had the chance to hike up to Stewart Falls with the management team that I work with. It was so beautiful up there and it was a lot of fun. Yes the up hill parts almost killed me but I still enjoyed it. I LOVE being in Utah for fall. The colors are so amazing and vibrant. Love my job and the people that I work with :) I found these pictures online and they don't do the view justice at all but I wanted you all to kinda see what I was able to see today :)

Silver Linings: Weekends and Awesome Friends

So last week wasn't the greatest of weeks if you couldn't tell me from my last post but there are silver linings to all bad situations. My silver linings of this week have been the weekend and some AWESOME AMAZING friends.

Friday night I had a nice little adventure with all of the supervisors at work and our manager. It was a nice little bonding experience :) We went to eat at JCW's in American Fork and then went to the Haunted Forest. For those of you who know me you know that I can get scared pretty easily so this was quite the experience for me. I loved it even though I got freaked out. Several of the guys that I work with were highly entertained by how scared I got (Tyler Anderson and Matson Tanner to name a few).

Group Shot after dinner

Group shot before heading into the forest...

After visiting the Haunted Forest I had my doubts about parking in the underground parking lot at my apartment complex. It probably would have been awful if I had to park down there. Tyler dropped me off at work so that I could pick up my car. I went in and worked for a few hours. After working for a few hours, did I go home? No. I stayed and hung with my favorite grave yarder: David Saylor. I'm learning more and more that working at night as it's perks :) Because I came home later than normal that night there was actually a parking spot open so I didn't have to go park in the normally creepy underground lot. After that haunted forest experience it would have been even creepier.

Saturday I slept most of the day because of my late night but I still had some awesomeness to look forward to. BYU Football and Karaoke. On Wednesday David Saylor told me that I needed to come to Karaoke with him and some other people from work. So I made a compromise I went to half of the BYU game and then went late to karaoke. Loved all of it!!

BYU was playing San Jose State. The final score ended up being 29-16. Holla!! Karaoke was pretty bomb too :-) Again for those of you who know me you know that I can be on the shy side and doing things like singing in front of a crowd of people is not me. Granted more than half of the people in that room were more than a little tipsy but still. I didn't want to do it.

So because I didn't want to do it David picked a song for me. Both him and Dana said I needed to do it. I so did not want to. I got so many butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. David picked out "My Girl" by the Temptations for me. It took about an hour but I finally gave "my" selection to the DJ. I told David that I was only doing it for him and not for me. Best part of it: David, his brother, and his roommate decided they needed to be my backup singers so there were 4 of us that were up there singing that song. I loved it!!1 It was so much fun and I'm glad that I conquered my fear and did it. The last song of the night was Don't Stop Believing by Journey. It was a huge group song and it was awesome. I had so much fun last night and I so want to do it again.

My other silver linings comes from having awesome friends. The day that I said my goodbyes to my family a good friend of mine gave me some good advice. Shawnie told me that it's okay to miss them and that Christmas isn't that far away and to just pray and work. So through the last part of last week I just worked, worked, worked and then I played hard this weekend. Shawnie is always there for me with the words I need to hear or to just give me a hug.

So today I am so, so, so, so greateful for awesome friends who help me through the hard times and awesome weekends plans :-)

Rough Life?

Aren't they cute? Love these two so  much!!

So my life isn't all really that rough but the title seems to fit how I'm feeling this week. My favorite people in the whole entire world are moving this week. For as long as I've lived in Utah my brother, Jacob, and his wife, Nicole. Have always been a stone's throw away from me. I love them both very much and they are both a great source of strength in my life. California is so far away!! 600 miles is long was away :( Now it's time to start my countdown to Christmas (only 71 more days until I can see them again. No biggie right?)

It makes me really sad that this cute kiddos are gone too :( Talk about the cutest kids on the planet!! I love spending time with my niece and nephew. I was so sad to say good bye. Sammie will be 3 in a few weeks and this is her first birthday that I will miss. Jase will be 1 in January and I'll have to miss his birthday too :( I love these kids more than anything!! Let's be real: who's the world's best aunt? Hint: the author of this blog. No joke :) 

Cutest kids ever!!!

Let's just say I can't wait until December. Not because it's my birthday but because my whole entire family will be together for the holidays before my younger brother, Jimmy goes on his mission. I'll probably be needing some extra love come January since I'll be out here without any of my family but that's what awesome friends are for. 

Thinking about this makes me evermore grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and my belief in Eternal Families. I don't know what I would do if I knew I would have to go indefinitely without my family connections. I know my Heavenly Father lives and loves me. I know that he'll help me get through this rough time in my life. I just have to have patience and endure it well. 

P.S. I forgot one more thing that made the last few days weird. I got super creeped. Random number starts texting me weird stuff and then whoever it was discovered they didn't know me. I was so creeped out!!!! Will the creepyness never stop? First the janitor and then this...-sigh-

Or maybe they were just trying to prepare me for the haunted house I'm going to this weekend. Oh dear. Pretty sure those poor co workers of mine will laugh at how easily I scare