Sad to Say Good Bye

I did several posts tonight to recap all the fun from my last week and a half in Arizona. I believe that pictures really can be worth a thousand words.

I love this picture ;) This was after we ate dinner with the missionaries Monday evening. Lisa Roberts and I at our last FHE, where we heard from several people in our ward who served missions throughout the world. It was really fun! Lisa served in Taiwan.

Jenny took this picture after Abby jumped on the bed
My friend Raelene from the Williams Field ward

Criscell and Crew

I love this girl!
She's ready to watch Finding Nemo :)
Abby loves to sing "I Love to See the Temple" I got to watch her while Jen and Jake were at the dentist, and we sang this song several times. What a sweetheart!


I feel blessed to have spent so much time with very special people this summer. It was hard to say good bye to everyone, especially to Jenny and Abby. I miss you already. But I've came back to Utah with precious memories, and great pictures. These are just a few.

Look what I made!

A while back, Jenny and I signed up on each other's blog to make something for each other during this year, which would bea total surprise. It could be anything, and thanks to my friend Criscell, who is so crafty, I actually sewed something for Jenny and Abby!! It is a crayon and notebook holder for Abby, made out of darling, high quality fabric. I sewed seams halfway up the bottom to hold the crayons, and even attached a ribbon, so you can roll it up and tie the sides together. I was so proud of myself for actually sewing something!! And Abby loves it! Thanks Criscell for giving me the fabric, and showing me how to do it :)

She also showed me how to made a tile with vinyl lettering. I think it turned out great!! And it will look nice set up on an easel on a side table in my house. Fabulous!!

(I'm not sure why these pictures turned sideways, but that's okay).

Rock Band Night

Thursday night I invited my friends over for food, fun, playing and singing. And it was just that! Beth brought roasted pepper hummus with pita chips, and we had cookies, and drinks and more chips, and root beer floats. Good times were had by all! Wendy Woodfield, Beth Hyatt, Megan Rowe, Raelene Savage, Lisa Roberts, and Amy Redd came! Here we are performing and having a blast!

Meet ...My Nemesis

This is the infamous Albert

I was house-sitting for Rob and Nancy last week while they went on vacation to Cedar City, and they have four nice, sweet, friendly cats, which would have made it great, except for the two angry, dangerous birds I had to feed. I say this because it's true- the birds hated me, and tried to bite me if my fingers were close enough for them to reach. This posed a problem, because I had to feed them twice a day. I learned from Nancy that birds decide extremely quickly, right off the bat, without even really getting to know you first, whether they like you or not, and they really disliked me. If I went near their cage, they would puff up their feathers. Anyway, I was supposed to open a little door on either side of their cage and grab the ceramic bowl, refill it with seeds, and put it back in the cage. But anytime I stuck my fingers in the reach for the bowl, I'd have to shut the door really fast, because the birds were swiftly crawling over to my hands to come taste my digits. I didn't like that plan, and I knew that Albert has quite the bite, and is not afraid to use it! Knowing this made me scared and nervous to do the job, and I'm sure the birds sensed it, but I could not help it or change the fact that these angry, dangerous birds scared me.

Needless to say, the first night I had a melt down when I got home, and tried to feed the birds, and in the process one of the birds crawled over to get me, and I dropped the bowl, which dumped out the seeds, so then I frantically tried to shove the little door shut, but couldn't at first because the bowl was stuck, and the bird was there. and I tried to dodge the bird's bites. This was not going to work! I called Jenny, and my sweet sister came over at 11:00 and we figured out a way fror me to feed them so I didn't have to get my fingers any where close to their cage. And it worked! I just used a funnel. The rest of the days I was there went much better, and I am so thankful for Jenny and Jake's help. Atleast I had nice cats to tend while I was there, who were glad I was there to take care of them!

On the positive side, it worked out well house sitting, because I was really close to all the activities I had going on last week, including "Wicked" at the Gammage Hall up at ASU in Tempe, and another night I went to Sun Splash Waterpark in Mesa with my friends, and I invited over friends another night for a Rock Band party, which was really fun. And Jenny and Abby, and Jake stopped by several times that week too. We had a lot of fun. We ate homemade tamales. and refried beans, and played with Abby in the play room, and just talked. I miss them already. And my roommie Megan stopped once, which was nice.


Here is Albert, and Rocco is behind him.

Here is Elvis. What a cool name. He is a snuggler, but he is afraid to eat if anyone is around. Funny. This is Little Cat
Here is sweet Clare
and Ike. He has claimed the basement, and none of the other cats go down there.

What an awesome musical!

Wicked was fabulous!! I have always wanted to see Wicked, but I didn't want to pay $300 a ticket whe it was playing in UT. My roommates and I decided to go see it together, and our tickets were for last night. It was awesome! It's amazing how cheap the tickets were too. Happy day! I loved it! I have always loved the music, and now it makes so much more sense knowing the story behind it all. There are so many twists and turns in the plot. I definitely want to see it again.

No thanks, but you made me laugh

So I signed up for housing today for this coming year in Salt Lake, but I have been looking for openings online, and I found this ad on craigslist.com This is hilarious:

"Normally renting for $475. However, we are looking for a friendly, polite, reliable individual who is willing to trade part of the rent for 2.5 hours a week in housekeeping tasks. Hence, the rent is only $325 (= $475 - $15 an hour X 10 hours a month). Please see photos. Housekeeping tasks would include cleaning the floors, mowing the lawn, and sometimes butlering during occasional dinner parties. Utilities are $50 a month, which include internet. No smokers no pets. Must be clean and tidy."

Ha, Ha!! This is hilarious that they are asking someone to butler as part of their rent. Could you imagine your landlord calling you up on a weekend, and expecting you to come answer the door and serve dinner to their friends!! Ha, ha. I don't imagine that too many people would pay for that opportunity.

Really?!

Today Jenny and I were talking about Obama at lunch, and the gifts that he has recently given to leaders of other nations. I heard that he gave a Prime Minister or President ten popular American DVD movies, which didn't impress me. Jenny said he gave the Queen of England an ipod, which apparantly she used. My response was so,mething like, "the next thing ya know, Obama will start giving out gift cards to Costco, and saying 'You've got to go check out this store.' " She thought that was really funny, we decided I should do a post about our conversation.

Quite the Monsoon Storm!

So last night Jen and Jake invited me, Omnoi, and some of their friends over for dinner (She made the most amazing pot roast and potatoes). We had a great time. After Matt, Mimi, and Andrew left, I stayed and hung out for a while. We did the dishes, and I talked to family on the phone. Well, in the meantime a HUGE monsoon storm picked up. I'm telling you, I have never experienced any storm like this before. We looked out the window, and it seriously looked like a hurricane. The winds were blowing at rapid speeds, and it was just pouring rain, and there was non-stop thunder and flashes of lightning. Jake went out to move his car closer in the driveway, and came in drenched. Jenny and I decided that I was not going to drive home in that kind of weather! So, I stayed the night. Jenny made up a nice bed on the floor for me, and she even had a new toothbrush I could use. They are so good to me. And I slept soundly. It was relaxing at their house. It was so quiet, and cooler than my house, and the room was dark. We even took a nap this morning after breakfast after Abby went down! I probably got more sleep at their house than I would have at mine :) And we enjoyed eating the leftovers for lunch from last night. It made a fun memory.

You Know It's Hot When...

1) You feel like you are getting sunburned on the walk from your house to your car.
2) The short walk from your car into the grocery store back to your car zaps your energy, and you believe in taking naps again. What a blessing it is to have nice cold water.
3) You notice the water bottle that was left in your car is now bubbling and boiling when you arrive home from the trip.
4) The pool feels like a hot tub
5) When you turn on the tap for cold water, or the shower, the temperature is already hot.

But I am glad to be here:)

Yesterday was my first time experiencing a monsoon storm here in Arizona. The sky was filled with gray and black clouds, with high winds picking up clouds of dust and blowing dirt and debri everywhere. Quite the dust storm. Today is blue skies, and calm.

Here's the list.... of what I will miss... and what I will not

What I will miss in Arizona:

1) Being so close to Jenny and Abby.
Knowing I can drive 15 minutes and see Jenny's big smile, and give her and Abby hugs. I love it when Abby says "I luv you," and "bye, bye," and when you are having a conversation over dinner, and Abby just bursts out laughing, either because you said the word funny, or just because she wanted to laugh. And I will miss eating snacks and lunches with Jen and just laughing, and being around such a positive, fun, complimentary girl!! And I sure like Rob and Nancy. They are just great people, and fun to be around!

2) Good friends.
It has made me soooo happy to be able to see Criscell and Wendy so many times while I've been down here, and my friend Jodi from college and her new little baby boy. We have gone swimming, out to eat, watched movies together, gone shopping, and out for ice cream, made crafts, played the flute, visited the Train Park, and just hung out. There are some fabulous girls in my ward that I will miss, like Amy Redd, Lisa Roberts, Karla Rose, and my awesome Bishop Ron Howard. He is sensational. he really is (whenever you ask him how he is, he says "I'm sensational." I love it!

3) My awesome roommates, Beth and Megan.
They are such sweet, talented girls! I wish that I could take them back to UT with me to my new place (wherever that ends up to be). We have had many, many laughs, and fun times together. I will always remember to live by these three questions ... 1- what do I have? 2- what do I want? 3- what do I need? It's kind of and inside joke. But it applies to so many situations and circumstances. They are very thoughtful, and it's been a blessing to move here and feel like I have instant friends. I love that we have always had aparment prayers each night.

4) Trader Joes
There are so many great places to eat down here!! I will seriously be bringing home some of my favorite packaged food that is not available up in UT. I wish we had a Trader Joes. Maybe someday, like the In-N-Out restaurant that finally appeared, but it's better. This weekend I am going to a place called Yogurt Land that I hear is amazing. Bahama Bucks is also really good. They had delicious smoothies, and the best shaved ice anywhere. And Jen and Jake and I are going to their favorite Greek restaurant some time next week. I love Greek food, well I jsut love food.

And all the fresh fruit and vegetables, like from the monthly basket that Jenny was so sweet to share with me while I've been here.

4) Palm Trees, the beautiful sunsets, and not really any mosquitos.

What I will not miss in Arizona:

1) the BUGS!
It's getting bad. I really like the house I'm living in, but the bugs are terrible. I have killed 5 flying cockroaches in the past two weeks. That's disgusting. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the spray "Home Defense" that sits outside my bedroom. And there are tons of crickets. We have to keep our sinks plugged during the night, so they can't crawl up our drains. (I know what you're thinking, and yes... ewwwww!!!) And of course, there will always be spiders around, but I had to kill a really big brown jumping spider late one night. Creepy. I had the heeby-jeebies the rest of that night! But, I have managed find the courage to send them all to their graves :)

There are bugs here called Zacaydas, and they make a constant, loud and very annoying buzz sound day or night. I will not miss this noise.

2) the HEAT
Yes, this is my #2, and not before the bugs. I've decided not to even bother putting up shades in my car window. It's just going to be hot. And you can wear deoderant, but it may or may not keep you dry. And that's just understood down here.

An Outstanding Summer Day

I had a wonderful day today. I met Criscell and Wendy at the Mesa Temple this morning. We did Baptisms. It was so neat to start off the day there, and participate in a Temple that I have never been in before. The Mesa Temple is beautiful! I loved the murals in the Baptistry. Then Criscell and I went to the Distribution Center, and Deseret Book, since they were all located right around the Temple. I saw some beautiful pictures of the Temple by a photographer named John Raymond who takes antique pictures of temples and puts them in antique frames. Two of my friends have a picture of the temple by him. They are beautiful. I decided not to get one, and try taking some pictures of my own with Jill. And, I think that I should use that money to do ncie things for other people. Therein lies the spirit of the Temple. And I'm so excited!!!

Then I stopped by Jen's house on the way home, and we had a very nice afternoon. I will miss being able to stop by for visits, and just hang out whenever. Jenny introduced me to Rubio's soft tacos for lunch, and they were very good. Thanks Jen! It was fun to play with Abby. We sang songs like "Popcorn Popping," and "I'm a Little Tea Pot." She said "gain!" So we sang them several times, and she liked doing the actions (the handle and the spout) with me. And we watched Ice Age together. It has meant a lot to be so close to my sister this summer. I will miss them when I go home to Utah the end of this month. My good friend Wendy is coming with me for the drive home. She is so sweet. We went to Harry Potter this week, which was fun, and afterwards we went to the Gammage Theater up at ASU to see if we could win two tickets for front row seats to Wicked. We didn't win, but we made a memory standing in the hot sun with 100 people hoping to win, and running into friends from the ward.

I've been thinking about the fun things to look forward to, knowing I have to go back, like my cruise to Alaska, a new apartment, new people to meet, new school year, family and friends to see again...

Last night I drove down to Scottsdale to Paradise Community College to meet Criscell and hear her flute choir rehearse. It was so much fun!! The original plan was for me to bring my flute and play along, which really would have been a blast, but I ended up not going home as planned, so I didn't bring my flute after all. But I enjoyed sitting by Criscell, and following the music, and hearing the absolutely beautiful songs played by talented musicians. It was so awesome, and has totally inspired me to call up the U of U and join one of their flute choirs. I would love to play in a group again. Thanks for the invite Criscell!! Afterwards, we went out to eat at Village Inn, and had a really nice visit. Just like old times, when we were in college. What a blessing it is to be surrounded by good friends and family. I am truly blessed.


Criscell and I played the flute together in college. We got together earlier this week, and played through Taffanel (it covers every aspect of your flute playing and finger dexterity - i.e. scales). We also played flute duets together. Several were from a book called the Seven Canonic Duets by Telemann, which was fun!! Then we ended by playing the same duet we performed together at my Senior Recital in 2005. It is a beautiful duet from the Romantic Period by Doppler. I had so much fun!!! I sure enjoyed playing with a great flutist again!! Criscell is so crafty, and showed me how to sew a darling crayon holder for Jen and Abby out of some nice fabric, with a little pocket, and seams half-way up from the bottom to hold the crayons. I actually sewed something!!! And it turned out so cute!!! You can roll it up, and tie it together with a ribbon. Criscell also showed me how to make my own decorative tile with vinyl lettering. It was so easy, and fun to do. And really cheap too!! Thanks for the fun times and memories!!

I Love this Quote!

"Paul counseled his beloved friend and associate Timothy, 'Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity' (1 Timothy 4:12)."I would urge all of us to pray concerning our assignments and to seek divine help, that we might be successful in accomplishing that which we are called to do. Someone has said that 'the recognition of power higher than man himself does not in any sense debase him' (Stephen L. Richards, in Conference Report, Oct. 1937, 10). He must seek, believe in, pray, and hope that he will find. No such sincere, prayerful effort will go unanswered: that is the very constitution of the philosophy of faith. Divine favor will attend those who humbly seek it. . . .". . . May we learn what we should learn, do what we should do, and be what we should be. By so doing, the blessings of heaven will attend. We will know that we are not alone. He who notes the sparrow's fall will, in His own way, acknowledge us.”

--Thomas S. Monson "To Learn, to Do, to Be," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 67

Happy 4th of July!!!

Yesterday was a really fun day. I exercised in the morning, and did over 100 abs!! It felt so good! Then in the afternoon, my roommate Beth and I went swimming with Jenny, Jake and Abby in their friend's backyard pool. It was really nice. Then we had a fondue party and games with a bunch of Jenny and Jake's friends at Rob and Nancy's house. Jake made a delicious cheese fondue, and we had butterscotch fondue for dessert. It was a big hit!! We ended the night playing scum, and it had to have been the biggest comeback I've ever had in that game. I started out as the scum of the scum, and after our first round went up to the 2nd VP!! And I ended up being #1, which was really fun, for two rounds. #1 and 2 left, which made me #1, and I've never been at the top before, and it was so fun!

I am truly grateful to live in this wonderful country, with all the freedoms we enjoy. I'm grateful for our Founding Fathers, and the Divine guidance they received in laying the foundation of our nation on worthy principles. It's amazing the opportunities we enjoy today because of the sacrifices and devotion of those who have gone before us .