Ward Prayer/Munch and Mingle

Here in the BYU student wards they have this thing called ward prayer. In my ward what we do is get together at 8:30 p.m. and there's one apartment that is spotlighted. So we get together announce the things that are going on that week, get to know about all the roommates in the apartment being spotlighted, have a spiritual thought, song and prayer. You can feel the spirit so strong during the singing sometimes, it's really great! Then after we have prayer we go to that apartment that was spotlighted and have a thing called Munch and Mingle. The people from the apartment that was spotlighted provide some kid of food, so we eat and mingle with each other.

Good and Bad things about Utah.

Good Things about living in Utah:

1. I love having all my neighbors be singles and of the same faith. You can just go to a neighbors house and hang out.

2. It's great being able to just meet in the middle of your apartment building (solarium) to have ward prayer, Family Home Evening, etc.

3. It's great to not have to drive 30 to 45 minutes if not longer to go to activities.

4. I have met some wonderful people here in Utah.

Bad Things about living in Utah:

1. I don't have the kids that I'm use to being around back home. Number One, The Beast, Pretty, Snort and Little Guy, and their parents of course. I miss going over to their house and just playing with them. Being able to see Little Guy start to crawl, and Snort starting to walk. I've been blessed though that Aimee has been sending me some pictures from her phone. Like I was about to see Rachel's first hair cut when she was in the salon chair!

2. Not being around my family.

3. Not being around my YSA friends from the Branch and surround area.

4. Miss out on baby showers

Burnt Towel

LOL, O.k. so I burnt a towel. I have been having problems with my ears for about 3 years now and doctors have not been able to tell me what's wrong. I went to a Chiropractor for a few months, and it started working, but we couldn't afford it anymore. So I was having problems with my ear a few days ago and a friend told me to put a warm towel on it. She said it's better if you use a dry towel and microwave it, so I did. BAD IDEA!! I looked at it in the microwave and it had gotten brown in the middle, so I stopped it and pulled it out. I had burned. I was told that if I would have kept it in there a little longer it would have caught on fire. Yikes. Don't want that happening.

Settling in Utah

When I first got to Utah I stayed with a long time friend of mine, Alicia, that I know from EFY. I called her up about a week or so before moving here and like I've said before this isn't the first time I've thought of making the move. So when I told her I was going to be coming, she said you aren't going to back out on me again are you? LOL I said no I'm really coming this time, I even have a friend coming home from Utah so that she can drive up with me. So when she found out I didn't have a place to stay yet she said that I could stay with them until I could find a place.

So I ended up staying with Alicia and her family for a week. I would look at apartments and not feel right about them. I would just walk in and think this doesn't feel like home and then have a hard time wondering if I was going to ever find a place to feel simi-homelike. After I looked at two places I called a friend of mine Tia and she told me to come over and we could spend some time together. That was much needed time with a friend of mine from back home. She comforted me and I felt like I was somewhere that I would relax for a while. Thanks Tia !

So shortly after that I got a call from the same people that I had talked to about the other apartments and she found another one that was in my price range that was a single bedroom and asked if I would be interested in looking. So I did. I felt better about this one then I had the others.

Then I called another friend, Bree, from Texas that is living here in Utah and she said that there were two rooms open right in her apartment. If I got one of those rooms then we could be roommates. So the next day I called the lady up and told her that I wanted to look at the room and she met me there. Now I'm not sure if it's because I knew one of my friends would be my roommates and was already living here, but I felt really good about this one apartment. I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost and being able to find an apartment that I feel good with.

Travel from Texas to Utah

On August 24-25, Sarah and I drove from Texas to Utah. I left my house later in the morning, so that I could say bye to my dad when he got home from work before I left. There were some points where Sarah had to ask me if I was o.k. because I was just start crying while driving.

We stopped on the 24th in New Mexico and was able to stay the night with my mission president. It was so nice to see them and be able to catch up a little. :) It made them happy that I thought of stopping there on the way to Utah. There were two ways that we could have gone, Colorado or New Mexico. Well, I told Sarah that if we went to New Mexico we could stay with my mission president and she said, that's a great idea. :) So we did, and I'm grateful we did.

I have a new Addiction

O.K. since coming to Utah I have gained a new addiction. There is a girl in my ward that really likes the T. V. show 24 and was watching it one day in their apartment when my roommates event over. So we sat down and watched some and got into it a little. So they started talking about how they were starting with season 1 and watching all seasons to catch up for season 7 that starts in January. So I asked if I could borrow season 1 disk because they had already watched the first ones and so I borrowed them and started watching.

I watched season 1 and liked it and the more I watched the more I got into it. I'm so addicted now. One night I stayed up until like 3 or so watching it. We are now on season 3. I am actually watching some right now! :) It's so good that after you watch one hour you want to see the next right away. My friend Dana said that the further you get into the seasons that better it gets. She's right.

When I was at home I watched a few episodes just while flipping through channels and catching them when I would find them on, but now I am really into it. In January when season 7 starts we are planning on have 24 parties to watch the episodes! :)

Video of Matthew Cowley

Tonight I went to a gathering for New Zealand Missionaries and other New Zealander's to watch a movie that has been made of Matthew Cowley and his missionary work with the Polynesians. He served a mission when he was 17 in New Zealand and then later served as a Mission President. Then he served as a General Authority over the Pacific Islands and came to love them. I loved the gathering that we went to tonight. We were able to hear a group of Maori (Native New Zealander's) sing a few songs which was AWESOME!!!

You could feel the spirit so strong as they were singing the songs (there was one brother that played his guitar while the rest sang) and while we watched the video. I was so great to hear the New Zealander's voices again. I'm so glad that I decided to go tonight, it was so worth it.

Sweet Island Restaurant - Finally

Today I was able to spend the whole day with one of my companions from my mission. I really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together. It was great being able to hang out and talk about old times and things going on in our lives right now. We were trying to figure out what we were going to eat, my companion told me that if we went to get some breakfast she would pay for it. So she looked up Pastrey's online and we found one that sounded good, they had donuts, and cupcakes and cookies. So we went there and found out that they really didn't have donuts. We were kinda mad, but then decided we would go to another place called "Sweet Island Restaurant".

Since I have gotten home from my mission I have been craving Chopsuey and Taro. Those are some Polynesian foods that I ate while in New Zealand. I have not been able to find a place to get this food except one time since I got back. The one time I did find it was from Tongan's that lived in Euless, Texas, but the chopsuey noodles they used were a lot thicker than I was use to so it didn't taste so good.

So when we walked into "Sweet Island Restaurant" and looked at the menu and realized that they served the same kind of food that we ate in New Zealand we felt like we were in HEAVEN. I was so excited to finally be able to have the Chopsuey in Taro that I have been craving for sooo long. :)

My Mom

I'm so grateful for the relationship that I have with my mom. My mom and I are like best friends. While living at home we would do a lot together. If we were both at home we would go grocery shopping together and run errands together. We would watch T.V. together and talk all the time. We would sometimes watch the Robertson kids together.

I just have really enjoyed the time that I've been able to spend with my mom. I guess since I've lived at home so long we were able to spend more time with each other. Since dad was mostly in bed sleeping so he could work that night or at work, it would mostly just be us doing stuff together. Thanks Mom for the time that we were able to spend together!!!

The process of moving to Utah.

Well, the other day I was talking to a friend of mine in Texas and she suggested me that I create a blog to keep everyone informed of what's going on in my life here in Utah. Well, it's like almost 3 a.m. and I'm not really tired yet, even though I got up at like 9 a.m. this morning. So to kill some time I figured I might as well start a blog to let everyone know what's going on thus far.

So for the past 5 years I've thought about moving to Utah several times off and on, but obviously I never made that big move. I've lived in Texas since I was 9 and just didn't want to leave the comfort zone of all the family I have there and the friends that I have made over the years. So I stayed there and went to school at the community college and spent lots of time on the weekends either with the Robertson Family and my mom (dad was sleeping or at work) or in the McKinney area doing YSA activities.

But some time at the beginning of August a Sister Missionary that was serving in Sherman, Tx told me that her sister and her were looking for another roommate in the Fall. Well, I got all excited about moving to Utah like I have in the past (this decision has happened more than once!). So I told my mom about it and she said this would be a great opportunity. For a while I thought about the idea and got nervous. I liked the idea, but I still didn't want to leave everything that I already had in Texas. I even talked a lot about it to a good friend of mine Connie and her husband, Brother Holbrook, about it and they said they hated to see me go, but it was a great opportunity. So I prayed about it and was still nervous and didn't really want to make the step but felt it was ok. So I called a friend of mine Sarah that was in Utah at school and asked if she was coming home for the summer at all. She said she wasn't planning on it, but I told her I was planning on moving up to Utah and wanted to see if she could drive up with me. So, it happened to be that she was able to get off work and get a flight to come back to Texas and spend a weekend with her family before leaving back to Utah with me. She made those flight plans and I knew I couldn't back out, because I was her way back to school. Even after she made the plans I had doubts, but knew I had to follow through with what I had agree to move here, so I did.

For the last few weeks or so before I left I cried almost everyday. I didn't want to leave the Robertson Family. I didn't want to leave my family. I didn't want to leave my group of singles friends that I hung out with all the time. I had a really hard time with the thought of leaving all the Robertson kids. Every time I thought of it I would cry my heart out. The last weekend that I was at home I stayed in Sherman except for going to a reception on Saturday night in Allen. I just spent time with my parents and the Robertson family. We had a great time doing a game night on Friday night! Then on Sunday night we had Sunday night dinner as always at the Robertson's house and I was able to put all the kids to bed and tell them bye. I was good until I told the oldest one good night and bye, that's when I fell apart and cried. He was the last child I had to say bye to. Then I walked into the living room and said bye to Aimee and the King and Little Guy(again) doing all of this while crying. Then my mom and I left and I cried all the way to my sisters house. I wanted to say goodbye to my nephew before I left town. Then I stayed up until about 1 a.m. packing.