This is why I don't read.

I really don't read that much. I am a really fast reader, and can get through a book really quickly. If I'm reading a book, I will usually finish within 3 or 4 days of starting it. It's sort of ridiculous. I get addicted and can't stop. So I never really have a book that I'm reading that's on going, if that makes sense.
So- going with that. I finished a book by Elder Bednar in 3 days. Loved it. It's called- Act in Doctrine. Go get it right now. It's really amazing. Plus, I'm basing some of my farewell talk off of it :)

But I read Hunger Games in one day. I started at about 7:00pm and ended around 5:00am I think.... Ok really I can't remember what time I started or ended, but it was somewhere along those lines. That was a while ago, a little bit before the movie came out. It became one of my favorite books. Probably my favorite. I think the author (I seriously don't even know who it is...) is seriously good, and really hilarious. You might not see it, but she makes Katniss have this super funny sense of humor. As well As Peeta, Haymich, and others. It makes me laugh out loud a LOT!

The second day of our trip I decided to start reading Catching Fire. I couldn't stop. I stayed up till midnight (2 hours later than everyone else) reading it. I finished it the 5th day of our trip after staying up the night before until 2:00. So not super fast, but we were on a trip ;) I laughed so many times and I love how easy it is to read. It's like the author just sat down one day and wrote what was in her brain and it just came out exactly how we see it.

The real reason I really don't read- I get way too into it. I feel like my whole life for a few days is centered around the book and I feel like I'm actually in it, and I WANT to be in it so badly! It's super weird. Even a lot of things that I say reference the book. It's super weird. The feeling is sort of fun, but really awkward I guess...

Anyways, I just love it. I can't wait to get my hands on Mocking Jay! Even though I have plenty of other things to worry about right now...

Miss. Saratoga Part 3 ;)

I forgot to write about this! Karly did the Miss. Saratoga Springs pageant on Saturday. She did soooooo good! I loved watching her do it! Although it was seriously weird to sit in the audience. Only because I've not been in the audience for 2 years. It really freaked me out! I can't even explain it, but I hated it. I loved watching her, but being in the audience was the weirdest. She didn't place, but they said that if she did it again next year, she would for sure. Because she did amazing ;) I'm super proud of her, and I'm so glad that I was able to be here for it :)

Nothing but the truth

Sometimes I will write a post, and then delete it for fear of being to negative. But this post I am going to be very honest...
Every day I struggle with losing my dad. I think about him constantly and what my life would be like if he were still here. Because I know it is our plan, it makes it a whole lot easier to stay focused and have a better attitude. But I sure do have my down days that's for sure.
But do you want to know one of the hardest part about losing my dad? Having my mom dating. It's a really hard thing to understand if you aren't going through it directly. I've always known my parents were soul mates, and meant for each other. So it's hard to think that someone could even love her a fraction of what my dad did. It's hard not knowing what the future will be, especially since I will be gone for a year and a half and so many things can change in that time frame. I have to admit, I don't have a very optimistic attitude about the whole thing. I want to just scream, run, and hide under my covers most of the time. Change is hard for me, especially when I'm not the one in control of the change. I feel like this is the worst timing for all of this to happen. But I have to remember, it's not about me. Not even a little bit. But it does impact me, and that's the hard thing.
Even if I was a little bit in control, it's not my place to decide. And I had a powerful reminder of that in the temple yesterday. It's a bit too personal to share, but I know what my dad wants me to do right now. That's all I needed was his comfort and peace to tell me exactly what I needed to do at this time for my mom. I cannot even tell you how special that was for me. Although emotinally I am a crazy person right now, I at least know what my plan is from here, and that is an extremely comforting feeling :)

I'd like to apologize

Ever since I've gotten my mission call I've been very bitter about when I was called to enter the MTC. I complained to a lot of you about how anxious I was and how mad I was about the whole thing. I didn't understand why I was leaving so late and why I had to wait so much longer than anyone else. To be honest, I still do not know completely. Lately I've been grateful that I've been here for certain things like farewells, blessings, baptisms, Karly's pageant and other things. But I feel really bad about complaining so much. I know that my father in heaven has a purpose for me. Even if I never figure out the exact reason, I know that everything will work out the way that it is supposed to. If I never know the reason, or if it may just be for the simple reason of transfers. It doesn't matter to me, and I'm sorry that I was so negative. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve a mission at an even younger age than I would have before. That is such a blessing in my life. Thank you all for putting up with me. Now that it is finally almost here I feel very awful about being so pessimistic. I am so grateful for my plan that Heavenly Father and given me and that I am able to have the gospel in my life. I'm grateful that I can repent and start over, and try my best to be better. I'm grateful I have the ability to serve a mission. I can't imagine doing anything else in my life right now. :) thank you for all your support :) 

Also- here is the link to what really helped me understand and realize that right now, my life is amazing and going exactly the way I want it. I was wrong to even complain about something so silly, when others are going through the unimaginable. 

Happy Birthday Ron!!!/Constellations

So last night was pretty much the best night ever. 

You know you've done robin egg lipstick before ;) I think everyone has :D

Beautiful 

Oh dear... 

Hailee fell up the stairs... twice... in one trip... we pretty much balled our eyes out from laugher because her, Ash, and I were all trying to run up the stairs so we could see Karlys' expression as she looked into her room because... 

Gavin asked her to prom last night!

Here is how he did it- 

He bought the glow in the dark stars you put on your celling and glow in the dark tape. His idea- to write "they will see us waving from such great heights" on her celling with the tape and stars. So cute right?! No. You don't even get why it's so cute. Karly is in love with constellations, astronomy, and stars. She also loves her music as we all know, so the song lyrics were a perfect idea. I think the song has some meaning to them behind it as well... 

I'm not done with the cuteness yet guys! 

The theme to prom this year is- SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS. 

No. I'm totally not kidding. 

Plus- Gavin thought of this all on his own! What a champ! 

He knows her way too well, don't cha think? 

So he came over while Karly was at her dress rehearsal (which lasted 4 hours... so we had plenty of time). At first we were going really slow. We put the stars on first and then connected the dots with the tape. So we had one star at every point in the letter. It was taking forever. We would measure how far away the stars were with our tape, then cut the tape, the unstick the tape (it was kind of two sided so it took a while to get even a little bit off), then stick it on the celling. Sadly, it was only about halfway through that I figured out it was much easier to just pull the tape apart and put it directly on... this probably makes no sense... you know that tape where it is kind of like a sticker? You have to pulling it off and then there is a wrapper.... ok... this still probably makes no sense.... haha never mind. 

So after 2 hours (this is so not an exaggeration) we finally got it done! It took 4 people and still took that long. I'm so glad Gavin didn't do it by himself! He was so happy about it though. You could tell. He was just beaming the whole time. :) they kind of like each other ;) 

Then he also put rose petals all over her bed and then one rose. He wrote something on a paper (I'm too lazy to go and get it) about her finishing it... hahaha I can't remember. Oh well! It was really cute and it was fun to see how personal he made it, and how excited he was to make her happy. 

This is the celling in the light... 

Here it is in the dark. I wish a camera could actually capture what you see. This looks nothing like it... 

We waited and waited and waited for her to get home. 

While we waited we made this amazing cake for Ron Weasly's birthday! We were planning on making it for Hailee as a birthday cake before I left (even though her birthday is in June) and we thought yesterday would be perfect because it actaully was his birthday and she was sleeping over :) 

The beauty 

How cute :)

All of us blowing out the candles... we did this 3 times... until the candles had melted completely. And sang Happy Birthday every time. :)

 So now we are at the part where Hailee falls up the stairs. When Karl got home we waited for her to go upstairs. She took a while... but when she did we didn't notice at first so we ran up the stairs. We have a gate so our dog won't go upstairs. It's not too high...  for most people ha. Hailee didn't quite make it... hahahahaha we almost peed our pants laughing. Karly didn't even suspect anything. Probably because we were already acting like we were on crack... haha we videoed (is that a word.... I don't think so... oh well!) it as she walked in. But it's not that interesting so I didn't take the time to post it. She walked in and saw the rose petals on her bed and just gasped. We laughed and she tried to shut the door. She wasn't noticing the celling so we turned off the lights. She was still like... what the heck guys? The we yelled, "look up!" She looked up and was speechless. She loved it! We giggled and then ran in and laid on her bed gazing at it. We loved it so much. Hahaha. She was completely surprised and didn't suspect a thing!
We heard her say 30 minutes later, I don't even want to get into the shower because I'm so happy. That is true happiness right there people!

Look at her face:)

 You know how we have issues with fire... we left this candle burning when we chased Karly up the stairs. Good thing we didn't burn our house down! My mom sent us all a text saying- "do you want me to blow this out?" we freaked out and laughed pretty hard ;) 

In fact.. we have so many issues with fire, I had to make a label for it.

Life Lately :)

Here are some fun picture updates of my life lately... actually... now that I look at it, it's more like other people's lives lately ;)

Karly went to sweethearts with her sweetheart Gavin (aka, Gavie-poo as we like to call him)

They're pretty cute wouldn't you say? This is that dress's second time to sweethearts! 

We went to Austin's farewell. Found that amazing picture of him and ate a lot of food ;)

Of course there would be a baking picture in here.... haha these are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting :) 

Ashley's last basketball game. On senior night. 

Isn't this a beauty? They hate it. 

This one isn't about Ash...

This will not go center or the other pictures comes in front of it... so sorry... Katelyn and her team got third place in their region!!!

Jackie and I went to the BYU game :) I kinda like that girl...  ;)

Saw this AMAZING movie!

This.... 

Turned into this! Minty chocolate cake balls

Bought some things at this great place!

So.... beautiful. 

140$ shoes. Worth it? I'm not sure yet... ;)

Had a really fun time with these two :) we laughed so hard! 

Russ... this was him and Jackie before. Crazy huh? Almost 3 years ago! 

Did fireworks in winter ;)

Babysat these amazing kids :)

Held this cute dog :)

I started putting a scripture every day on my instagram :) my instagram name is- ncalder44 if you want to follow me ;)

Having trust in Him.

I love playing the piano. I don't know if you knew that, but really that's because I have no idea who reads this... but I can play most of the hymns (known hymns.. not like I'm a Pilgram I'm a Stranger) and if I haven't played it before,  I usually don't have a hard time playing it (Exception- True to the Faith)
I have been playing the piano for about 10 years. I know, that sounds like a long time. You would think I would be this really good piano player. Well, I'm not. It's not my talent or skill even a little bit. I do not come from an extremely musically talented family... I have had to work like a crazy person (I usually sit and play the piano for about 30min-1 hour a day) just to be able to play the hymns. The thing I hate about it, I can only sight read. I have no musical ability whatsoever; so sitting and making up a song will never happen. I can't even hear it or pick something out... I can only read the music. Which has been a very good thing for me, and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has given me the ability to do it.
Ok. Enough on that.
I was thinking about it the other day... I am probably going to lose a lot of my piano playing ability on my mission. We won't have a piano (obviously) and I will probably never have to opportunity to go to a church on my p-day to practice for a while. Besides that, how much do you think my companion would like that?
So it was kind of bumming me out. But then I remembered a conversation with a costumer at Costco that I had a while back. She was telling me about how her granddaughter wanted to serve a mission, but was an amazing gymnast. She was afraid that she would lose everything if she went on a mission for a year and a half. The grandma then told me that she explained to her that if she had faith, did what Heavenly Father wanted her to do, and trusted in him, that it would all work out for the best. The best meaning that she could come back and pick up where she left off. Or come back and be even better than she was before. Or maybe come back and not be able to do it anymore, but find a different path to go on.
When I remembered that I was soooooo happy. That little dumb fear of losing my piano playing abilities was completely gone. I know that what I am doing is exactly what my Heavenly Father wants me to be doing. And that's all that matters. If we follow him and do what he asks, everything else will work out the way that it is supposed to. :)