the pickleJUICE: January 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

Letter to me

There is a song by Brad Paisley called "Letter to Me." And before I go on, I think you all need to listen to it. It is truly awesome. Here ya go.
But I was listening to it and I was like ok if I could write one of these letters. Number one, it would not be as good as this one. But number two I have no idea what I would actually put in it...

I'd probably say to pay more attention to the road when you are driving Emily's car. I wouldn't mind going back to fix that. I have learned to pay a LOT better attention to the road from that. But I wouldn't call the cops so I could have saved 200$ and an hour of my life from traffic school.

I'd also probably tell myself to be a better girl friend to Austin. I know I know. Bear with me. I was horrible to him. In my small defense he was my first, but I just never learned how to be a good girlfriend for the whole year. You'd have thought that I would have figured it out by then. But I do nto regret actually going out with him. Mainly because I learned SOOO much about myself, friends, and relationships. It was a HUGE learning experience, and we had a TON of fun! That, I wouldn't take back.

I would have warned myself to pay a little better attention in Math and Astronomy. My first 2 C's were in my Junior year in those classes.

As of right now, I really can't think of anything else. But As you can see, it is hard for me to think of really anything huge that I would have changed in my life. Some people would think I would like to warn myself of my dads brain tumor earlier so maybe they could have done more. Of course I would give anything right now to have my dad with me. But you know what, I do. I get to have my dad on my mission with me. That, really is a true blessing for me. But really- I don't have any real regrets.
I have learned so much in my life from my mistakes. They have made me who I am today. If I were to change anything, I wouldn't have as strong of a testimony, or as good of friends. I wouldn't have as much knowledge about the "real world" either. Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. It is meant to try us and help us grow, because sometimes their aren't any other ways to learn things than by making our own mistakes. Although those times can be extremely rough, if we come out on top with our Heavenly Father's help we will grow more than we ever even thought possible. And that is why looking back I don't have any real huge regrets, because I would not be the person I am today without them. :) and that's how life is designed to be. (I still love you Brad Paisley)

Sunday, January 27, 2013

NO. It really hasn't been that long.

I really do feel like I haven't blogged in FOREVER! But guys, looking back, it's really only been... a week and a half... crap. My days are going by slow again. Whhhhhyyy!? 66 days. But it still feels like an eternity. I feel really awful complaining about it, because some people do not even get to go on missions... I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity. And I never want to be ungrateful or take it for granted (wait... that word. Weird...) because I feel so privileged to be able to go serve the Lord. I keep saying the same thing over and over again. My life is in repeat mode right now. Working so much is getting to me. People are still surprised about when I am going. I know someone who got their call this past week and are leaving March 13th. It's rough. But I KNOW THERE IS A REASON (if I keep saying it maybe it will finally stick).
Here are some fun pictures to look at since this was a pretty boring post.

Coming home from the Provo temple after we went through with Riley to get his own endowments. :)

What we do on Saturday mornings when we are bored.

Super crooked. I was walking...

The other fun things we do on Saturday morning....

They were actually pretty chill for being old grandmas being pulled around.

The poem we wrote in sacrament meeting... lovely. At least it gets to the point of church on the last line right?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thee definition of awesome

Would be, the BYU game yesterday.

Aren't we lovely people?

I dragged Ashley because frankly (weird word that I have never used), I don't get why my family doesn't like to go to the basketball games more. We are huge BYU fans, we are HUGE basketball fans, and we have 4 all sports passes. Weird I know. Let me know when you figure out why this is the case... because I really do not understand. I usually have to beg, plead, cry, and bargain to get them to even one game. You can't go to a basketball game yourself... right?

If you would like to keep reading you will get an update on the game, it's not very exciting... but I would just really love to look back at this epic thing.

Anyways. I took her and then we went with Christina. It was a super fun game. We were doing really good the whole first half. We thought for sure we had it. Then when we started the second half within the first like minute they were caught up. But anyways, at the end we were tied with about 4 seconds left. Tyler Haws then made an A-MAZING basket and we were ahead with 2.4 seconds left. We all screamed and freaked out like we won. Holy cow. It was an awesome moment! SOO exciting! The next thing you know everyone in the crowd does a huge sigh and we are covering our mouths... with 2.4 seconds left St. Mary threw a half court shot... and MADE IT!
Made it.
Guys, they made it....
We all stood in complete shock and awe. They reviewed it and it was real. It wasn't a dream. It sucked. A lot. Huuuuuuuuh. Disappointing. 69-70. But hey, at least we had fun.

Here is what we looked at in the moment. We took these in Christina dorm because we didn't want to get stuck in the Marriot Center forever. Here is the caption that goes with it- "We won! We won! Thank you Tyler Haws! 2 points with 2 seconds left! 69-67! Screamed forever and a half... NO! NO! NO! It was from half court that did NOT go in! Are you kidding me? That NEVER goes in! Go die. Final disappointing score 69-70. We will go cry now.

And I did learn something... BYU is where I am supposed to go. I had been seriously considering/thinking about transferring to Utah State when I got home from my mission. I know that's crazy. But I kept thinking that BYU was too hard and stuff. I still don't know what I'm going to do when I get home, but really- it doesn't matter right now!
76 days!
I also learned that you should always listen to the advice of people wiser than you (Ashley).

Oh dreams...

Normally I don't remember my dreams. But when I do, they are usually really really weird and pointless. But last night I had the weirdest and most real dream that I have ever had. Of course it took place at work (because that's all I have been doing lately) and involved one of my favorite co-workers and one of my favorite people in the whole world. It was not happy though. I woke up and once I finally realized that it was a dream, the same feelings in my dream haven't gone away. It wasn't like love or anything, just like sadness... I don't really want to tell it...
It literally is like sticking with me and I can't seem to shake it off. The feelings seem real, like it totally could have happened. I don't even know how to explain it all, but it really freaked me out more than any nightmare I've ever had. Ugh. Dreams can really be amazing and awesome. But they can also really suck. :P

Monday, January 7, 2013

The Spirit is real!

I promise this will be the last post for a while. But I was just looking back at some posts and I thought that it was pretty awesome that I sort of knew what was coming. I mean- with the whole mission thing.

Here I was stressed about a bunch of things. But halfway down I say that I think I'm going to miss my family more and that I feel like something really big is going to happen this year.

This is where I figure out and put the pieces together of what the BIG thing is.

At the beginning of last summer I decided that for sure I was going to go on a mission. Great timing if you ask me ;)

I got my Primary Calling. I didn't know how much it would help me with preparing for my future, not so far away mission. And that I would get to keep it a lot longer than anyone thought :)

This one is long, but it has the story of the day they made the call and my feelings :)

And here I get my call to Tampa Florida!!! OK... now I'm getting off topic...

So yep :) pretty cool stuff.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

True Love

I'm guessing you already know this, but I am completely crazy. I just LOVE love. It makes the world a better place, and makes you forget about everything else. It makes people do crazy things. I think it is the greatest thing ever!

This is seriously the greatest. (I love that Lady and Tramp are the only one's not closing their eyes....dogs do not know how to kiss... but apparently lions do)

I am a princess, fantasy, love at first sight, fairy tale kind of person. I believe that things that happen in "fairy tales" and "chick flicks" are all pretty much based on someone somewheres feelings; even if they aren't technically a "true story."

Confession- I truly believe in true love.

I also believe in love at first sight.

But I also believe true love can be accomplished overtime.

I've already told you that I do not think anything in this life happens by coincidence. So why would love be an exception to that rule?

I know millions of people disagree with me. And that might be because they have never recognized people in true love or haven't experienced it for themselves. Or maybe, they really just don't believe it. But I sure do! With all my heart!

I won't tell you that I think their is one person out their for everyone. But I won't say that I don't believe it either.

We all have a plan, and if we live our life in conjunction with the spirit, live the way we know we are supposed to, and try our best. Everything will work out in the end. You can say that means their is true love or not. But all I know is I have a firm testimony of God's plan for each of us. :)

Unagi

*WARNING- boring, blabbing alert...

I am so writing about this again. I am in the state of Unagi again.

My life is just complete bliss right now.
I can't tell you how happy I am every day. I love my life and everything about it!
I love my family.
I love my calling.
I love my friends.
I love my job...............
I love the gospel.
I love church.
I love... everything really!

My mission is only 87 days away and in a weird way, it actually feels like it's getting close!
My mom is now sort of off her crazy work schedule and we can start preparing a little more.
Sister Arnold gave a fabulous testimony today in church about priorities that I really needed. Now that I am "officially off break" I need to start doing productive things with my day; especially because I am leaving for a mission soon, and I don't have a ton to do (at least that's what it feels like) because I am not going to school. I still have work to occupy a little bit of my time, but I still have a lot more to do to prepare. But so far- everything is going smoothly.
They say you can feel Satan working overtime on you the second you have your mission call. I think he has been slamming me since I made the actual firm choice that I was going to serve a mission. But lately, it's been harder than ever. And like I have kind of mentioned, it's not even really with "bad sins" but more like time wasters and selfish acts. But I have the determination and faith that if I am preparing how I should, and doing what I should, my Heavenly Father will help me to overcome the power of Satan. The temple has been a great strength for me. I feel at home, and at peace. I can talk to my Heavenly Father on a deeper, more personal level, and feel his endless love for me. Even just surrounding myself with people that are kind of on the same boat has helped. Today we had a temple prep class after church for the people who are soon to be leaving on their missions or turning in their papers. Being around these young men strengthens me and makes me even more excited to be on my mission and be able to interact with so many wonderful people. I can't even express to you how happy and anxious all of this makes me feel! :)

I love my new Primary kids!

I seriously do! They are 2 years younger.... well... kind of. They are 4 turning 5. I had the 5 turning 6. Two of them are siblings of 2 girls in my older class. They are just a blast. Their sweet spirits make me want to be better and I can't stop smiling around them! They were so good in Primary I didn't even know what to do... seriously. I was astonished. Then in class I actually got through the whole lesson without a problem! I even dragged it out longer and they loved it! I gave them ring pops and they just surrounded me talking the whole time. They told me stories, asked me questions, and we all just laughed. I am going to miss my other crazy heads (even when they scream my name when I walk into Primary), but I can't wait to have a new class to learn from! :)

Friday, January 4, 2013

2013 Goals

Everyone is making goals and I thought that it would be weird if I made goals because I am going my mission in 89 days (yep, I'm still counting down). But I decided that even though I am going on a mission I can still make a keep at least a few goals :)

1. Exercise at least 5 times a week. (I will be already doing this and more on my mission, so I might as well start now!)

2. Attend the temple at least once a week (I am hoping to go twice a week, but I feel like one is reasonable, then I don't have to feel like a failure when I don't accomplish it)

3. Say my morning prayers.

4. Be kind to others.

Oh! I made a goal in December not to get on Facebook at all and I TOTALLY accomplished it! I don't even like it anymore!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

New Years 2012/2013

I love New Years! I love the feeling of- starting fresh and new, everyone coming together to make goals, writing a new year when you write the date, the excitement around celebrating a new year, and the full feeling you get when you eat as much as you can on the 31st so you can start your "diet" the next day... or maybe the next... ;)
All of us have made it a goal that we would get together and party every New Years no matter what, even if we were married. I cannot even remember when we made that goal... but so far, we have kept it! This year was pretty low key. We went to my grandmas, ran to the store a couple times, played just dance, watched movies, watched the ball drop, screamed, ate, ate, and ate. It was pretty much just awesome and perfect :)
Sorry the pictures are totally out of order... it always does this to me.

Stuffed their shirts with pillows and did belly bumps. Levi is a crazy head. He wouldn't even stay still for me to take a picture :)

We drink the cider of course :) no mustaches this time though

Right before midnight ;)

At Chuck E. Cheese. Papa bear haha we decided that's what it looks like

What noble people.

We made her ride this ride. Haha we thought that rest of us would break it ;)

Beautiful.

Little hangover

YEeeeeeeesssss.

Modeling I think....

We put this on my grandmas fridge.

This is us getting some tokens out of the game. Someone dropped like 10 down there! So- what better to do than get a straw and put some gum on it to get them all out ;) jackpot.

We of course watched our favorite movie that we quote and sing to the whole time, A Goofy Movie. Go watch it right now if you haven't seen it. It seriously is the greatest.