Maturing with Humility

In the past few months I have realized that I have matured and grown up without really thinking about it. I guess this is what happens when you get older. But I was just thinking about experiences that have happened lately and how I would have handled them in the past and how I am handling them now. Maturing of course is a good thing... I just hope I keep that same excitement for life that I have always had. 

Anyways, this brings me to a story. Recently, (very recently) I have had so many wonderful things go my way! I was/am feeling like I was/am on top of the world! But oh so differently then when I thought I was on top of the world my sophomore year of college. 

Let's go back a few years and relive this experience. I just moved back to BYU after a summer home in CJMO. I wanted a few things to go my way. I moved into a new apartment building and new ward. I wanted to not be the shy girl I was at the beginning of Freshman year and make some friends. It was only the first week of school and I already had made some wonderful friends (friends that I ended up having an amazing year with) and did fun things (like hike Timp my 3rd day back in Utah). I wanted to make sure my class schedule was perfect and a good variety to help me pick my major that year. I was excited about all of my classes and the schedule was perfect. I needed to find a job. (I had never found a job on my own before... and truly I didn't find this job either) Anyways, a great job opportunity came up where I could sit at a desk and answer phones. And in down times even work on some homework. My cousin knew the manager and so she hired me on the spot when I took in my application. Pretty much it was going to be a fantastic year! (And it really was) I had a great social life, wonderful classes, and a good job. Well, naturally I thought I was the best thing on the planet. I was walking high and telling everyone how amazing I am because of the great things that had happened to me. I felt like I was in a movie and nothing could stop me. 

Something had to stop me because I was getting out of control. Not 5 minutes after I got off the phone with my mom where I was bragging non-stop about how I'm the most amazing person ever, the incident happened. What was the incident you may ask? I was walking on campus and my flip flop broke. (Kind of a let down for you all I know) It was no longer a working shoe. I was no longer the flawless person I thought I was. And it was still morning and I had all day of classes. My apartment was on the other side of campus and too far to walk in between classes. So I went the whole day with one shoe on and one broken shoe in hand. (Looking back I have no idea why I kept the one shoe on or why I kept the other shoe) Right after the shoe broke I was immediately humbled. I knew it wasn't all my doing that I had so many great things coming together in my life. In fact, most of it was not my doing at all. I said a prayer of repentance and gratitude and went on my merry way. 

Now this story is quite ridiculous and a funny story of being humbled. But it has forever stuck with me. It's silly but was a great lesson of humility for me. Whenever I feel my head get inflated with countless thoughts of my awesomeness, I think about that day. Then I am reminded that there are other people that helped me get to where I am and how awesome I am, mostly my Heavenly Father. 

So this goes back to the beginning: My life is great right now. I have little to complain about. I have LOTS to be excited about. But I now know it's not because of me alone. I'm truly blessed and am looking forward to the wonderful adventures my life is taking me right now.

I'll leave you with a picture from my sophomore year. And since it's almost Halloween season...

23 Things Before my 24th Birthday

Honestly, I didn't finish. I will though... even though it won't be in the 23 days before my birthday. It was fun to have a list of things to accomplish before my birthday. I'll update when I accomplish the rest of my list.

Eat a snowcone
        Status: Accomplished. And it was delicious.
Try out a new recipe and share it
       Status: Accomplished. I made a new chicken recipe and brought it to work to share. It was fun! And reminded me I do like to cook... sometimes :)
Try something new every time I went out to eat
       Status: Accomplished. I count this as a huge accomplishment for me! I very much have "normals" for every where I eat. I like it that way. But having to try new things every time I went out made me find some new things I like. So I can have more "normals"! :) haha
Watch a movie outside
       Status: Accomplished. I went with some friends to the drive-in. We saw Madagascar 3 and Snow White and the Huntsman. And Madagascar was the better movie of the two, just fyi...
Check the radiator
       Status: Accomplished. Some good friends went with me to get ice cream to celebrate my grandpa's birthday! It was fun to let others in on our family tradition and take some time to remember my wonderful grandpa!
Go to Food Truck Friday
       Status: Ashley, Ryan, and I attended in June. It was an experience. There were so many food choices!
Back down Ryan's driveway
       Status: Accomplished. I did it! All by myself! (sort of...) Ryan may have helped me a little bit a lot bit.
Go a day without eating meat
       Status: Accomplished. I added this to the list because the day I wrote the list I was thinking about how I eat a lot of meat. I love meat. Going a day wasn't too bad. But I probably couldn't have lasted much longer than that. I lived off of veggies that day... it's a good thing I love veggies!
Do the paddle boats in Forest Park
       Status: Accomplished. Thanks to Barb we did this on my birthday! It was SO hot!!! But I'm glad we did it. It was fun for the first 10 minutes (when I didn't have to paddle. haha).
Roll down a hill
       Status: Accomplished. My good friend Kristina and I completed this on my actual birthday, right after we played in a fountain and right before I stepped on a bee barefoot.
Sleep on a trampoline
       Status: Accomplished. I did this one night alone. And it wasn't as fun as I remember it being when I was a kid. I did enjoy sleeping under the stars. But did not enjoy waking up soaking wet from the dew.
Eat bacon with syrup on it
       Status: Accomplished. It was nasty.
Have an awesome birthday party
       Status: Accomplished. Dave and I threw an amazing party for our birthdays! There was pool olympics, pizza, cake, great friends... what more could you want!
Go to the temple
       Status: Accomplished. I have wonderful friends who went with me to do a session the week before my birthday. I love the temple!
Tye-dye a t-shirt
       Status: Accomplished.
Learn to count to 23 in sign language and Italian
       Status: Half accomplished. I learned it in sign language but not in Italian.
Take 23 awesome photos
       Status: Accomplished. (I think). I never exactly counted how many pictures were taken. But I'm pretty sure there were more than 23. I put this on the list because I felt like I wasn't taking pictures anymore.
Make a photo book
       Status: Half accomplished. I started the book online, I just haven't found the time to finish it. But I will!
Catch 23 lightening bugs
       Status: Half accomplished. I haven't seen as many lightening bugs this year for some reason. I did catch as many as I could though. Every time I saw one I ran after it. I caught 14.
Do 23 acts of service
       Status: Half accomplished. I am marking this as half accomplished because I didn't do a good job of recording my acts of service so I am not sure how many I actually did. I did enjoy looking for ways I could do little or big acts of service for my friends, coworkers, etc.
Eat at Pick-a-Bone BBQ
       Status: Not accomplished. This not being completed is not totally my fault. I went there 3 times and the BBQ tent was not there. It caused a lot of frustration and sadness. I will accomplish it though... even though they make me upset.
Take my bike out on a trail
        Status: Not accomplished. My bike has a flat tire. And I didn't find the time. But I will fix it and accomplish it... Soon!
Fly a kite
        Status: Not accomplished. I'm not sure why this wasn't accomplished... no windy days? not enough time?

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the amazing month I had! :) Thanks to all my family and friends that made my birth month a great one!!!

Reasons Why I Shouldn't Stay Up Late

This list is in no particular order. But all true. Hopefully, this list will serve as a reminder and I will finally learn my lesson.

1. I become grumpy, grouchy, and angry
2. My immune system fails me
3. Fall asleep while driving
4. Puts a strain on friendships
5. Bags and dark circles under my eyes
6. Lose out on really cool dreams
7. Miss working out in the morning
8. More emotional
9. Don't eat breakfast
10. Not as motivated to work
11. Make poor decisions
12. Fall asleep with laptop on bed causing it to be knocked off in the middle of the night and breaking it
13. Feel unhappy
14. Skip out on showering
15. Potentially getting a speeding ticket when racing home to get in bed
16. Forget to read scriptures
17. Fall in shower
18. Can't focus
19. Lose at Words With Friends because I can't think of really good words
20. Too tired to clean house
21. Don't see my family
22. Become whiny
23. Forget things
24. Smile less
25. Zone out while driving and get lost
26. Think of reasons why I dislike everyone
27. Fall asleep in social situations
28. Don't laugh as much
29. Spend more money
30. Fall asleep at church
31. Fall asleep at work
32. Don't stick to my healthy eating plan
33. Sleep during BYU games
34. Say words I dislike
35. Potentially run out of gas
36. Think mean thoughts
37. Become lazy
38. Become not fun
39. Tell secrets I would not normally tell
40. Rushed in the mornings
41. Never get on a consistent sleep cycle
42. Potential high blood pressure
43. Late for work
44. Potential psychological issues
45. Not productive
46. Have to sleep on couches when I am too tired to drive home
47. More sensitive
48. Never finish a book
49. Fall asleep while praying
50. Damaging my ability to sleep efficently
51. Less sleep is harmful to weight loss efforts
52. Have more headaches
53. Never feel rested
54. More acne
55. Menstrual cycle messed up
56. Increase probablity of getting chronic diseases
57. Fall asleep during movies I really want to see
58. Miss out on TV shows I like
59. Short nap becomes a long nap and I don't get things done
60. Eat more calories
61. Get stressed out easier
62. Don't wear makeup
63. Fall asleep with chocolate in hand and wake up with melted chocolate all over me and the bed.
64. Less excited and enthusastic about things
65. Forget I did something and do it twice (ex: washing hair, brushing teeth, etc)
66. Too tired to put sheets on bed so sleep with a blanket underneath of me
67. Use body wash instead of shampoo
68. Forget what job I am going to and drive to the wrong job
69. When I actually have time to do things I need/want to do I sleep instead
70. If it's warm and I'm full my eyes don't have a chance
71. Less upbeat with the people I work with
72. More quiet and reserved
73. More chance of me not thinking before I speak
74. Less positive
75. Have very little patience
76. More clumsy
77. My eye twitches more
78. Don't have time to pack a lunch
79. I'm not as funny
80. When I do try to go to bed early I can't fall asleep because my body isn't used to going to be that early
81. Higher chance of saying something stupid
82. When I have time to sleep I sleep too much
83. Forget my scriptures when I go to church
84. Don't see a spider in my bed and end up waking up with a smashed spider underneath me
85. Not able to remember my memories I make while staying awake because I am not giving my body time to process them during sleep
86. Have more dizzy spells
87. End up paying for Redbox movies even when I use a free code because I never finish the movie before I fall asleep and have to keep the movie an extra night or two
88. Apparently I kill more brain cells and forget how to speak and spell correctly
89. More tempted to drink soda for the caffiene
90. Become a party pooper
91. Sleep in so I don't take my car in to get the oil changed
92. More jumpy and more easily scared
93. I throw off my daily routine more often
94. Things that wouldn't usually bug me do bug me
95. I don't go to FHE or Institute
96. I forget to do things I was suppose to do for work at night
97. I get behind on my paperwork
98. Order too fast at Taco Bell and forget to tell them no sour cream and have to eat it. Gross.
99. Yawn all the time
100. Feel tired all the time... and that isn't a happy feeling

The Day I was on ESPN

I traveled down to the BYU v Ole Miss game this past weekend. It was a fantastic trip. And what made it complete was getting on ESPN. Truthfully, you can't really see my face and you had to know I was there. But still I was on TV. And I am most definitely counting it. So many people stopped us and asked to take their picture with us or just to take our picture. It was ridiculous. But awesome at the same time. And of course, I loved it.

Here we are before the game

Oh, and we won. That made it even better too.

Here we are after we won!

City Life or Not

Things I Hate About Living in the City

Traffic

Lots of people

Traffic

Sewage smells

Traffic

Stars aren't visible

Traffic

Traffic

Traffic

Traffic

Traffic

Traffic*

Things I Love About Living in the City

Lots of things to do**

*okay, so I HATE traffic. Absolutely. Positively. I hate crowds of people and of cars...

**Yes, this is the only thing on the list. But it encompasses SO many things! There are so many things to do and lots of free things. It is awesome. I love having places to go to eat, shop, museums, festivals, concerts, movies, parks, etc.

Spider Conspiracy

Do you ever have that feeling after you kill a bug that all it's little bug friends are going to come after you? Yes, no, maybe?

Well I certainly do. And lately I have been believing it. Here's my story:

I live in a basement in MO. Two best words to describe this place: humid and buggy. And basements are just a bug's own little paradise. But this story is more about spiders than just any bugs. I have never been scared of spiders really. I just think they are disgusting and freak me out a bit. Well, I am becoming more and more scared of them. It might be turning into an irrational fear. You see, I kill at least 1 spider a day. AT LEAST. Fantastically gross. It wasn't a big deal until the fear came. I'm not sure why but now I hate them... not that I ever liked them.

But I feel like all the spiders in the area, maybe the world, have a mission to terrify me and maybe attack me. (So far none have come close to me or shown any signs of aggression but you can never be too sure.) Too prove my point: one day I killed 7 spiders. 7. And now the spiders are not just in my basement they follow me. I see them everywhere.

And tonight at an outdoor concert little gnats kept landing on me. No one else. Just me. Well that may have been because I had some many food spots and spills on my shirt it was like a little feast, but that is another story for another time. Basically, I spilled something at every meal today. Good times.

Anyways, the moral of the post: spiders are coming after me. Simple as that.

PS: Last night I almost hit a skunk which would have been disgusting. Then tonight I almost hit a rabid raccoon. Like it seriously was running really ridiculously and I am positive it was rabid or had something wrong with it. And when I say almost I mean almost. Close call both times. Yuck.

I can't seem to catch a break...

Sometimes I think my body hates me or is rebelling for something I did to it. What I did to it I don't know. But anyways lately I can't seem to catch a break. Here's my story:

This summer has been a good one but filled of physical pain and disease. I started it off with stepping on a nail when I was doing tornado clean up in Joplin. 30 minutes into cleaning up... not even kidding. It went pretty deep into the arch of my foot. That was painful for a couple of weeks.

Then a little while after that was gone I got MRSA on my calf! You might recall me having a bad case of MRSA last summer. This stuff is not fun and is going to be with me for the rest of my life apparently. So I was down with that the weekend of my birthday and the 4th of July into the whole week after that... I didn't get back to work or anything till the 11th of July.

So the case of MRSA was pretty intense and they had me taking SOOOOO many medications... I should be taking them still but then something else happened and this is the worst part...

(This I have to tell the whole story to do it justice) Thursday July 14th I wake up with hives covering my body. My first time breaking out in hives and it was not fun. My doctor told me tree tea oil would help keep MRSA away (every doctor has told me something different). Anyways, I had bought new body was the day before and used it. So I thought it was that. I took an allergy pill and went on to work. The hives kind of disappeared. But then in the afternoon my hands and feet started hurting and I could tell they were swelling a little bit. I was a little concerned but I had to work so I just dealt with it.

Well I worked until 9pm and my hands started hurting some. BUT it was the night of the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 premier and I was not missing that. I went to the theater and got in line. While in line I could tell my hands were getting worse. We got into the IMAX and were sitting in out seats. I was in so much pain but so determined. This was the end of Harry. I had to be there. I had to. At about 11pm I caved. My hands looked like Aunt Marge's. And I am not exaggerating. (If you know me at all you would know that they had to be HORRIBLE for me to give up on Harry and go to the ER.) My hands were deformed from the swelling. Everyone around me was scared for me. My parents were looking things up online and getting freaked out. So I did I got up and left the theater and went to the ER.

I learned something at the ER when your hands look like balloons they don't make you wait. They took me right in to be seen. My body had an allergic reaction do the antibiotics I was on. So now I am not taking the antibiotics but I am on 4 other types of pills... I have been so full of drugs lately its ridiculous. And then after they shot me up with drugs in the ER I had to lay there and lay there. They said they had to watch me to make sure my body wouldn't react to what they gave me. So I was in the ER later than I would have been if I had gotten to see the movie. Oh well. It was a good choice. The doctor did tell me that if I would have waited my blood pressure would have dropped and I would have had trouble breathing and then we would have had a really big problem. So I made the right decision but I was not happy about it. I was probably more upset then I should have been but I was really mad/sad/frustrated/and all those bad feelings.

The next day I worked even though I am taking benadryl 4 times a day. It makes me so tired and a little loopy because I am so tired. Then I went to a wedding reception. Then I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Did I love it? Oh yes I did. I cried when the movie started. Not even kidding. I was just so happy that I was actually seeing it. I am a bit ridiculous, I know. But this has been such a big part of my life since I was 11! That's half my life people!

So the point of this story is I have bad luck... Oh well. Go see Harry if you haven't seen it yet. I am going again on Monday because I am determined to see it in the IMAX like I should have on opening night...