Reminder

I just need everyone to remind me that you can't progress if you are constantly looking back. I try to tell myself this but am now recruiting everyone to help. That's all! Thanks.

Distractions, Fun, Trouble

All I can say is sometimes distractions in life are awesome. And they come right when you need them. And they can be offly fun. Like real fun. And they can be a rush at times but sometimes they lead to trouble. Not bad trouble but trouble non-the-less. Then you start to wonder if the distraction is better or worse for you than what you need to be distracted from. But you keep up with the distraction and you keep letting it be fun because it's not hurting anyone.
I know this probably doesn't make sense to anyone. And the distraction is nothing that would be considered a sin. Maybe we aren't suppose to have distractions because then we don't deal with the issue. But I am so enjoying my distraction, I just need to focus, and remember it is just a distraction.
Is anyone else confused about what I just wrote? Some people think I'm secretive and this may make me seem that I am but I'm not. Everyone knows I like to write out my thoughts. I know I post a lot but you should see all the unposted post. And seriously, so many of my post prove I'm not secretive, I put real emotion out on the internet for anyone to read.
A life update, things are great. I am enjoying living my life. Lindz, I read on my last post your comment, "I know you have been waiting a long time but it will be worth it when you find your true companion." I'm not worried at all. Because right now like I said previously I am doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing. This is where I am suppose to be in life. And I am happy. And it feels good to be happy.
Back to my life update, this week has been a lot of fun, and it's only Wednesday morning. Monday night I went to FHE in Memphis then went to Buffalo Wild Wings with a group of guys. Last night I went to a Redbirds Game in Memphis with a group of friends and went to Hooters afterwards. What is it with men and eating wings, that was 2 nights in a row. Tonight, we were planning to watch the soccer game, at Buffalo Wild Wings, and go to the temple but I am way to tired. So I'm taking the night off and spending some time with my momma. I'll go to the temple this weekend. I'm glad to be blessed with lots of friends. The branch is great. I definitely have favorite people there but I like them all.
Oh another thought I just had, literally just had while typing this I got distracted, is how often do we pass up something that is great thinking even better will come later. And is great good enough or is it just good enough as a distraction/filler until better comes. And can even better come when you are busy being content with great. And I'm not talking about relationships, because I am very done with them for a while. I am taking a dating hiatus. That's the reason I can hang with the guys so easily. I'm not trying to impress any of them so it's super fun and always chill/relaxed.
Okay, I'm sorry for the long, confusing, probably boring post. Todays my last day at work and since I generally blog at work you can all have a break from me for a while.

Happily Ever After

As a woman I must admit that I have fallen victim to the traditional Happily Ever After theory. It seems like I have let myself become brainwashed into thinking that all my woes will be healed when Prince Charming comes and rescues me by making me a Mrs. Do we get Happily Ever After in life?
After thinking about this I do think we all can have our own "Happily Ever After". And the only person it requires is you! Why has it taken me almost 28 years to figure this out? Because we are put here in this life to figure things out for ourselves but we do have guidance while doing this. I love it. Maybe I'm just in a good mood today and tomorrow I will disagree but today, I love it.
Not to mention the whole prince charming theory puts a lot of pressure on a man. No one can heal all the past pain, etc but they can make it worth it. And that is all I am looking for. My life is exactly what is suppose to be right now. I have had a great year so far and can't wait to see what else 2009 has in store for me. I have been blessed to have incredible people in my life, friends and family that can not be surpassed. I have a firm testimony of the gospel, no matter what life throws my way I can rest assured that the ending will be happy.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is, I am living my Happy Ever After!

Frustrations from Misunderstandings

I'm sure Renee will be frustrated that I blogged about this but I feel the need to get it out. A few months ago Renee' and I got into a disagreement about a few things. It came down to I thought she was attacking a very important aspect of my life. During this she said that she felt I would come over late at night, sleep, then get up and leave when I was awake. And she told me that she would rather me not do this. Not to just come to sleep at her house. I did not perceive that I was doing this. I felt like I spent a lot of time at Nae's. It was even my spring break week and I had spent several days with her. So I left and since then I rarely stay the night at her house. I generally just stay at James' because I felt Renee' didn't really want me to "just" sleep there.

Anyways, today I went shopping with Renee' and it was a pretty good day. Things since the above mentioned day haven't been the same but we still enjoy each others company, most of the time. While shopping I was getting a little antsy but still not unpleasant. On the way home Ginny said to me, something about how Renee told her the reason I never stay the night anymore was because I didn't want/like Ginny sleeping with me. I said, that's not true, the reason I don't stay the night any more was from the conversation we had months early.

By the end of the trip Renee had told me I was selfish, didn't have my priorities straight, told her kids the reason they couldn't stay and play was because we were not getting along and that Sandra did not like their family (then looked at me and said she could say whatever she wants, they are her kids), and something to the effect that it was because I didn't have kids of own.

For everyone who knows me the thing I want most in this life is to be a mother. I have little control over that aspect of my life now. She called me and even admitted that she said that just to be hurtful. She also said she could say more but wouldn't because it would hurt me. My thing is if it had to do with Ben then she might as well say it. I can't be anymore hurt by that situation. What could she say, I told you so or see he didn't care for you as much as you did him? I had heard that from her before.

Unfortunately, I'm over it. I'm done. Because quite honestly I can't keep up with it. I'm sad that I hurt her, though I can't think of anything that I said that was meant to be hurtful. I even tried to drop it a few times. But it seems that the same conversation was being hashed again. It sucked the first time and the second time wasn't any more fun. Instead of hearing how the guy I liked didn't like me as much, I got the whole your jealous because you don't have kids. Ouch! Anyways, Renee is a great person and has been a great friend. I don't necessarily understand what's going on in our relationship but as is life.

My Daddy

It's just a few days until father's day and I am super blessed to have a ridiculously awesome father. Just this week he repaired my flat tire, changed my oil, put new front and rear brake pads on my car, drove to Memphis to hear my talk in church, played Nintendo Wii with me, and called me every morning on my way to work. We'll put it this way, he is one super incredible guy.
It's super sweet that we both have to get up and get ready for work at the same time each morning. We have some good conversation in the morning and then about 2-3 minutes into our drives to work he calls to chat some more. I love this time of day. Sometimes we talk about really important things and sometimes we talk about nothing at all. It's just nice to have him there.
Daddy loves his scriptures more than anyone that I know. He truly finds comfort in them and loves the lessons learned in them. I need to be more like him when it comes to my scripture study. He also loves to serve others! What a great quality. He is one of the hardest working men I have ever met, he can seriously do just about anything, yet he is one of the kindest gentlest men I know. He honors his priesthood and respects women.
He is really smart too. He didn't go to college but man is he smart. When I was in graduate school I took a statistical analysis programming class, SAS, which is pretty difficult. He came to visit for James' wedding and I of course still had homework and was working on one of my SAS programs. I was frustrated because I couldn't figure it out. Daddy sat down and totally figured out my super hard homework. Here I was the one that sat in the class, listening the the lectures on how to do this, had a working knowledge of the program yet he figured it out within an hour. Yea, that is real smart.
He's honest, maybe to honest. I've had to learn if I don't want to know t he truth, then don't ask daddy. But this also means he is sincere when he gives a compliment. I appreciate honesty and daddy has learned that if we don't ask, just don't tell us. He does give great compliments and makes me feel really good about myself.
I do believe that I have the best father by far. You can dispute it but I will win. I had several friends growing up that told me they wanted to marry someone like my dad! And while I don't want to marry someone just like him, there are lots of qualities that he has that I will definitely be wanting in my future husband.
Daddy, I love and appreciate all you do for me. You are a great example to me! Thanks for not only being my dad but for being my friend. And a shout out to both of my brothers and Jake too, they are all excellent fathers. I love seeing them interact with their kids. It's so sweet. I learn a lot from these men in life. They are all great examples of what a husband/father should be!

80/20 Rule

I just rewatched Why Did I get Married. In the movie an interesting concept is brought up. It is known as the 80/20 rule. Basically, the theory is that we need to find someone with 80% of the qualities we like and not think that a person who is only bringing 20% is the answer. like this approach of applying the 80/20 rule. If I have a list of 10 things and I find someone who is 80% of those things most of the time then I have found myself a WINNER (If they are wise they will understand that they are a winner, I'm pretty great). So now, you might be wondering what’s on my top 10 list. After much thought and consideration, I have finally settled on the following 10 things

Disclaimers:
*This list is subject to change without notice.

**This list is not necessarily in order of importance.
1. Worthy Priesthood holder (it's a must!)

2. Creative and Fun

3. Ambitious and Determined/Financially Stable

4. Family Oriented/Loves Kids

5. Conscientious of others and their feelings/Compassionate

6. Constantly improving (we can all be a better version of ourselves)

7. Emotionally Stable

8. Adaptable to life's situations (You have to be able to laugh a few things off)

9. Passion for life and living it

10. Good Listener

I think everyone has to give 100% but sometimes your 100% is only meeting 80% of the others needs/wants. I will be happy with 80+%.

What’s on your top 10 list? And if your married, did you get it?

What's wrong with rose colored glasses?

I have currently misplaced my rose colored glasses. If any of you have seen them, please send them back immediately. Express mail, I need them back in a desperate way. But I guess until I get them back I will remember these things:
Sometimes people and relationships will disappoint you, be resilient enough to remain open and trusting.
Sometimes those who you believe love you the most will have the ability to hurt you the most, love them anyway.
Sometimes no matter how hard you are trying or how much you put into it, you may fail, give it our best anyway.
Sometimes you will want to look back and analyze what you may or may not have done, learn to live without regrets. (Avoid constantly looking back-it retards your forward progress.)
Sometimes you feel the need to shut others out, build barriers to prevent them from crossing into your tender heart, be willing to trust the right someone.
Sometimes you will feel that you are the only one feeling this exact way, remember Christ suffered all.
Sometimes you will feel lonely, remember there are always those less fortunate, serve them.
Sometimes it will all crumble right before you, pick up the pieces and start rebuilding.
Sometimes you will have the most perfect day, cherish it!

*!*!*!*!- On a complete random side night, I want to learn to quilt and I saw on someone else's blog a quilt I really like. Is it weird to ask a perfect stranger where they got the pattern from? I really liked it? And a second side note, I applied for the most perfect job in Arizona, I was kinda excited about it. But I got an email today saying the position has been filled. But that they really liked my resume and they would keep it file for future jobs. I guess it wasn't meant to be. From what I understand, moving to Arizona is the cool thing to do.

"Your responsibility to ENDURE is uniquely yours. But you are never alone."---Elder Russell M. Nelson
“No one road map serves every Latter-day Saint. But basic principles can successfully guide each individual.” ---John K. Carmack
“Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you. It is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life.”---President Harold B. Lee

This is my life, love it or hate it. It's mine!

This weekend was a busy weekend. It was a fun weekend but I am more than sleepy today. 5:45 came to early and the alarm was not my best friend! I went to Memphis, shocking right, Thursday day. That night Brenna came over to watch SYTYCD, only my most favoritest show ever!Anyways, it was a blast. Friday came and James called and said they were going to a sprinkler park with Elle so me and Callie decided to meet up with them there. From there we went lunch at Panera Bread, another of my most favoritest things but not on the same most favorite as SYTYCD. We then went and saw Up in 3-D. Elle wasn't that great even though we got her popcorn so they ended up leaving early. I love the crazy 3-D glasses. I think they are hot.
After me and Cal went to the mall to get out skirts and shirts for Charity's wedding. We barely made it back to Renee's before the storms hit. When I looked outside, it was literally like a hurricane, the sirens were going off, etc. I went about my life and got ready to go to building cleaning.

While on my way to the church I got the text saying it was cancelled. I was literally like 3 minutes away. So I called Allison and she was hungry so we went to Panera Bread for dinner. Yep that's twice in one day for me. Right after we ordered she remember that she carpooled with Allison Smith to school this morning and had left her there. We got our food to go and went back to the college, they are both in optometry school. Anyways, we were all going to Brenna's for a sleepover. We went to the store and bought some yummy snacks. I told them we should not get that chocolate cake that had 10 zillion calories but I guess there's a rule if it's eaten with girlfriends it's basically calorie free?!?! While at the sleep over we played MASH. You know, Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House. That's right, it's one of my favorite things. I totally instigated this one. So here I am, holding my future all written out perfectly on a sheet of notebook paper.

We then ate our chocolate cake with vanilla icecream, chocolate syrup and raspberries. And had a good time teasing each other about our futures as told by MASH. The worse part of my future is that I was only going to have one kid. The way we play is you get your choice on all your options but one. So when it came to kids I said, 5 and 7 and they chose 1 as my bad option. Most everyone else chose 1-4 kids as their answers and the bad option was 7, 17, high numbers. Funny how mine was reversed. I really like kids and look forward to having me some.

We then played Clue. It is such a fun game! I had one completely figured out and was in a race to get to the room but was beat! Sad huh? Oh well, I've learned to play games just to have fun now. It's not all about winning, though winning is definately a good thing!

After the sleepover I went shopping with Allison Smith! It was lots of fun. I almost always get completely ready before going out but nope, I went showerless, no makeup and bad hair. It turned out great because the mall didn't have airconditioning because of the storms. I picked her out some fabulous clothing options! By the time we were done I had to run to the movie theater and pick up our tickets for that night and by this time it was getting kinda late. I called Allison Hoffman and asked if I could just shower and get ready there. So that's what I did! Ben's electricity was still out from the storms so he had Dave bring over all his food and we cooked it up at Allison's. It was pretty good.

We then went and saw The Proposal. It was soooo good. My friends Kristin and Chrystal, who I use to work with at Le Bonheur, came to Memphis. After we went to dinner, not me I was still way too full from before, and then we headed to James' to sleep. That's right, I had 2 sleepovers in a row. Maybe a bit excessive.

I spoke in church Sunday on a Woman's perspective of the priesthood. I had my own little fan club, my dad, Renee, James, Ginny, Aubree, Will, Callie, Kristin and Chrystal. It's so nice to have such great friends and family.

*!*!*!*! As a side note, I've been thinking how I feel as if I don't have very much control over my life at this time, I don't get to choose if I loose my job, I didn't get to choose for Ben to break up with me, I just haven't felt very in control of anything. Guess what, maybe I'm not suppose to be in control. Maybe I need to let it go and let my Heavenly Father guide me. It's hard not knowing what the future holds but I can have the faith to follow.

*?*?*?* And I got my wii back yesterday. I guess I don't see what the big deal was in him keeping it at his apartment. The only thing that bothered me was he never invited me over to play and I thought he was inviting others over, so yea. I actually felt bad getting it back. But everyone kept saying you have to get it back. You don't want to be one of those girls. But what if I really am one of those girls. And what's wrong with those girls. I still care for him and blah blah blah. I am weak sauce, very weak! Anyways, I bought Wii active so I will see if I'll do it. If not I guess the Wii will go back in storage. Sad!

Living life yet still Missing it

So I should have been at institute but decided to go to a Redbirds game with these peeps. It was pretty fun. I had been having kinda an emotional day so wanted to do something that would take my mind off of things. It was fun but I am tired today. I'm glad we didn't go out with them after. I would have died today at work. Chillin with Cal. I should have left my glasses on. My eyes look a little squinty.
Me and Allison H. She's the one that just got baptized this past Saturday. Such a fun girl.
I've never really had a thing for baseball players but who could resist. It was a perfect picture opportunity.

I'm trying to make more friends. It's mostly leaving my extremely tired and broke (gas is expensive). I literally drove close to 300 miles yesterday. I know right, crazy. But I'm trying to keep myself distracted. I miss hanging out with Ben and being his friend. I thought we were going to be able to do it but then sometimes we are just too weird. And I think it's okay to miss him. I am kinda tired of pretending that I don't care. Because I do. I have to resist the urge to pick up the phone and call and tell him that I miss him! I'm not even scared to do that. What I am scared of is him not caring, him being indifferent, not missing me. Not that I think he has to miss me in a grand way but as a friend. And I don't think that I can handle that rejection right now. So as I always say, I'll keep living my life. I'll keep pretending that I love it and I'll leave myself open. Because I am me, I am a resilent girl who is trying to figure out life and love it along the way. This emotional stuff has to stop, it's too draining. Between really being sad and trying to act happy all the time. Being a woman, sheesh!

Daddy's thoughts

Becky, for a school assignment, asked a few people, including my daddy, to share a few thoughts of different subjects. I loved what he wrote and thought some of you may enjoy it too.

Growing Up
I’m Popeye the sailor man. I’m Popeye the sailor man.
I eat me spinach to make me strong. I’m Popeye the sailor man.
Toot! Toot!
As a child I thought as a child and wanted to grow up. Growing up cultivated and refined the child.
An optimistic child grew into a man, yet, I’m 53 years old and still growing up.
I no longer think as getting tall and strong as the grown up thing. I am a child of God.

Aging
Live!
The experience that comes with aging leads to wisdom. A teenage child may feel like she knows it all. During the aging process she learns about life’s many angles. Depression, worry and illness, (though unpleasant), will make love, joy, and health twice as sweet.
Mortality is a wonderful experience. Time passes. The righteous young at heart are forever young. The spirit lives forever.

Childhood
“Eat your food, there are people in Africa starving”
Fun, wrestling, swimming, fishing, friends, family, ponies, climbing trees, hide and seek, freeze tag, 1st grade, tooth fairy, Christmas, Easter, laughter, spankings, climbing, dogs, cats, cows, chickens, summer breaks, Neapolitan ice milk, take out the trash, mow the yard.

Dating
Latter Day Saints are luckier than many others when it comes to dating. They are taught not to rush things. Take your time and enjoy good company. Date good people. I wish everyone could experience a proper date. Don’t jump the gun and rush into things.

Marriage
“O be wise, what can I say more?”
True love comes from sacrifice. Listen, be patient, give without expecting praise. Weaknesses will become strengths as both individuals work on them with patience & love. Be willing to give your life in service for your eternal partner.
However, it takes two to tango. “How sweet it is to be loved by you”

Children
The future lies here
Unconditional love is found in children. “…submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, ….” Mosiah 3:19

Dying
When you’re good, it’s good
When you’re bad, it’s bad

The World
Take time to smell the roses
Fragrant beautiful flowers, amazing sights, creatures great and small, pleasant spring breezes, brilliant fall colors, fresh baked cookies, warm loving families, song birds, sweet melodies, children’s’ laughter. Eternity.
The world is what you make of it. Focus on the good. Take time to smell the roses.

Forgiveness
“Peace”
It is easier to forgive than the sinner to forget. A forgiving heart finds peace in the soul.
I forgive all mankind for foul deeds toward me. I often find myself regretting the hardships that my foul deeds put on others. I wish I had not been so mean and inconsiderate. Their forgiveness makes me more determined to do good toward mankind.

The Perfect Day
Beautiful bright millennial day

Wild Goose (when asked what animal you would be)
I would rather be a man.
Cooperate, make the V. Fly, fly my friend; over mountain and veal, valley and hill. Look at life; sparkling streams, clear lakes, fresh vegetation and family. Life is wonderful.

Goodbye
Goodbye goes with Hello so easily nowadays.
High speed multimedia text messaging, cell phones, and email make pony express goodbyes history.
Goodbye,
Till we talk again,

Dream Dreams Dreams

I thought I would share a dream with all you that I had when I was a very small child. This dream is one that I can't forget. I wish I could but I can't. I wish I had someone to analyze my dream, but I don't. And please remember I was young! Also, every girl dreams of their wedding day.

Dream: I am walking down the aisle, and at the end of the aisle waiting for me is Jesus. That's right, I was marry Jesus. I have the most beautiful white wedding gown on. It's perfect. Then half way down the aisle the man who I thought was Jesus turned into Satan. I know right scary. I looked down and my dress had turned into a bright red dress. I tried to turn around but I couldn't. I was being forced down the aisle. Then I woke up.

So yea, should I have been traumatized? What does that mean? I bring the dream up again because in my dream last night I was telling people about this dream. And I know it's weird that in my dream it was Jesus but even as a young child I had very high expectations. Even then I knew I deserved the best. If I would have thought it through, I would have realized I would have been at the temple if I was marrying Jesus but like I said, I was probably between 6-8 years old. And yes, when I looked up and saw Satan and saw my red dress, I was freaked. I get a good laugh out of this dream now. Anyways, thought I'd share. Did you ever have dreams similar?

Peace

Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace.. when other sources cease to make me whole. When with a wounded heart, anger or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul? Where, when my aching grows--where when I languish? Where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only One. He answers privately--reaches my reaching, in my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant he is, and kind. Love without end.

So, I kinda like music. Actually, I kinda love music! It sooths me. There is always something to match my mood. Therefore, when I need a pick me up, it's easy to turn on the radio, a CD, my Ipod, etc and find a song that helps.

I'm not really sure what is going on in my life right now. I don't love drama so I try to stay far away from it and I think I'm pretty successful at it. But as life happens, so does drama. I'm not talking about a particular event that has happened lately, although I did make an exit last night, but just about my life in general.

We all have our personal Gethsemanes. No ones are more or less significant than the person next to them. We all our battles. It's how we react to them. I'm going to turn to my Savior for peace. I'm going to give it all I got and then let Him pick up the rest. I am blessed.
Not only have I been relying on music but I've also been relying on the past 2 conferences to help me. President Uchtdorf in the October conference gave a talk called, "The infinite power of hope." I loved it. A part that hit me particularly hard was, "No matter how bleak the chapter of our lives may look today, because of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will exceed our grandest expectations." I know this to be true. I say a lot that life stinks and sometimes it really does. But at the same time we are given so many great and awesome things. Everyone I know has struggles. Everyone I know thinks life is tough. But we are all working towards the ending, not just any ending, but an ENDING THAT WILL EXCEED OUR GRANDEST EXPECTATIONS.
I am so thankful that we as members of the church have hope. We know that our Heavenly Father loves us and knows us perfectly. We know that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and atoned for our sins so that we can return to live with our Father.

So yes, life is hard. This is not attributed to any one event, I've always known life was tough. I've been good at pretending otherwise. I just feel that recently it decided to snowball. You can't pretend forever that everything is well. (Though I do believe in faking it. And I will continue to do this.) Right now, I feel mostly confused and discontent. I feel as if I get discouraged a little too easy, that I might not be able to handle one more punch in life. But then, I feel the peace that can only be given by the Spirit and these feelings leave. I know that I can say, "I hope you know, I had a hard time" be assured that He is there and I am safe in His loving arms. We never ever have to feel alone.

Baptism

Yesterday I was able to attend the baptism of a friend. She was actually Ben's friend first but I was able to get to know her and I absolutely love her. I remember when the missionaries came over to Ben's one night and at the end asked if Ben had a name to give them to be taught. He soon thought of Allison, and she was baptized! How awesome is that? All because one person was able to share the gospel with her.

I was able to speak at her baptism on the gift of the Holy Ghost. I learned a lot while preparing for this. Not anything I really didn't already know but it was great reminder. I was able to feel the Spirit so strong at her baptism. I'm so incredibly grateful to know the truthfulness of our church. It's such a blessing. I hope that I can be more bold, that I can share the gospel in little ways.
I love Allison and the example that she has been to me. I love that she was bold and accepted the gospel. I was able to watch her transformation with the gospel from the beginning and it changed her life. I'm grateful for Ben for sharing the gospel with her because out of it I got a really good friend!

Just wanted to share my thoughts. The picture is from after the baptism. We all went back to her apartment and watched a movie and did pedicures.

My weekend, in rewind

So these pictures are in the exact opposite order that I wanted them in. So this is my week, backwards. Last night Renee and her family spent the night and also Seth, Sydney, and Chloe. Ginny and Seth both slept with me. I only have a queen size bed and both of these kids are kinda crazy sleepers. This is right after I woke up. Do you see any space for me on this bed? Exactly, I slept on the very edge. I am not complaining, I love sleeping with these cute kids and cuddling up! Amy made me a really cute apron so I wanted to learn how. FYI, I love my new sewing machine! Anyways, I made this one Saturday night! I gave it to my mom. Thanks Amy for showing me how. Isn't my mom so cute?!?! You can't really see it but on the waist band it has Momma D embroidered!

Tuesday we all (Mom, Michael, Amy, their kids and me) went to Memphis. We met up with James, Kara, Elle, Renee' and her kids and went to the zoo. I had a lot of fun. This is me and Ginny and Chloe. I loved pushing the stroller with just Chloe in it. But when I pushed the double stroller, whew, that got hard depending on what kids were sitting in it!

This is last Saturday at my parents bbq. I invited some friends from my branch and a few actually came. This is us and the pig! I love doing BBQ's with the family. There is always an occasion to have a pig. This pig was for Michael and Amy going away. We'll miss you guys!

Last week on my walk with Nina we were chatting it up. This happens to be the best part of our walking, we get exercise and get to talk! Anyways, I digress, she pointed something out to me that I knew but haven't really thought about. I was complaining, sorry Nina I just wasn't in the best mood on Thursday, and she said, "Isn't it interesting that we all go through different things in life but we all have the same end goal?"
This has really made me think! No one's life is like the next persons but we are all trying to return to live with our Heavenly Father, or should be trying. So yea, my life really sucks at times, but so does everyone else's. It doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, your past, etc, we are all striving for the same goal! I love it.
I was talking to Candice last night, which I look forward to every time, she is seriously the best friend ever, and she also gave me some advice that I plan to take. I said something like how about you don't fall in love, I don't want to be left single alone. I want you to get married and be happy but I want us to do it at the same time. She said she understood and then reminded me that Heavenly Father knows what we can and can't handle. I sometimes feel like the limit is being pushed! She also was telling me how she is reading "He's just not that into you" and thought of me. Yikes, that's not any good! Especially one chapter in it. I pulled out my copy of the book and I've decided to reread it!
Then I got on the computer this morning and was checking out everyone's blog and this is part of what Amy wrote for me (I must really need a lot of advice), "STOP second guessing yourself and trust that you will make the right decision. STICK up for yourself and don't let people take advantage of your generosity, you are truly one of the most generous people I know."
I then jumped to Renee's blog where she mentioned Elder Quinton Cook talk and specifically, "This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving. At times when we may feel to say, Hope you know, I had a hard time, we can be assured that Jesus Christ is there and we are safe in His loving arms."
Ginny last night as we were going to sleep was talking about the bracelet she bought me. She was reading it and one of them says, "If your heart is open, it can never stay broken". She looked at me, and said, "You know Sandra, that this is true." A little advice from my 7 year old niece. She's such a cutie pie. Between her and Seth I get plenty of good advice.
Okay okay, I'm getting the message! I am grateful that I have so many awesome people in my life to help me with all these life lessons.