Tender Mercies that teach lessons and bring smiles....

Earlier today I went to an auto parts store to replace Sarah's tail lights. So...I put them in myself (with a little assistance from Jordan) and called it good but tonight when it got dark we tested them and they didn't work ha...so we stopped by the store again and asked someone to help us. Turns out we needed a new fuse. SO.... this very nice man named Tony got a fuse from the store, opened it, and installed it for us. :) When he finished, he just smiled and said, "You don't owe me a thing, now just get out of here." He did that service for us and it was so kind. It made us both so grateful for people like that. Wouldn't the world just be such a grand place if all people were that way? It was a sweet moment for us.

Sarah and I had some Kohl's coupons that were only good today so we went and did some shopping for our missions and I got 2 adorable little dresses! Perfect for the Philippines. AND I got a great deal on them. I am so nervous but I get more excited every day to serve a mission.

After doing some fun shopping, Sarah and I did something spontaneous... yup. We went to McDonalds and got ice cream cones, and made root beer floats out of them and went night swimming. ha. We had such a great time together. Ughh. It kills me when I think about 18 months away from her. We are truly best friends. Sometimes I already miss her. Anyway, we had fun. So much fun. I love her.

Quezon City North Mission..... I'm coming. :)

Well... I leave exactly 2 months from today. I report to the MTC in Provo on September 28th. I am so nervous, and unprepared but I'm putting my SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL! I am going to own this mission. I'm going to totally work it. :) The tagolog language....yeah it's got NOTHIN on me :)

(Who am I kidding? I am so terrified. Power of positive thinking right?)

So I still have like $3,000.00 to earn for my mission and I am stressing out a little but it will all work out and the Lord will provide. (If you'd like to make a small (or big) contribution ha... send your checks to......... I'm totally kidding guys. But if you have a charitable rich relative, let me know, I'll give you my address. ;)But seriously.

Here is a very miniature list of a few seriously ridiculous things I am scared of on my mission.



-Eating rice 3 times a day and coming back 50 pounds heavier with rice cheeks.
-Completely freezing up and not knowing how to communicate in the language.
-Sweating my guts out (it's 90-100% humidity ALL YEAR ROUND).
-MASSIVE bugs.
-A companion who has a chronic gas problem. (ha...I told you it was ridiculous)
-Not getting any mail. ha.
-Running out of tampons and deodorant (they say to bring enough to last 18 months...crazy right?)



Alright so there you have it. I have some silly fears. But... I assure you I am working on overcoming some of those ha.

:)

Check this handsome bugger out!! Oh man, I'm so lucky to be in love with such a great guy. My roommate had a photography assignment for one of her classes to take some pictures of a couple and when Jared surprised me and came up here to see me about a month ago, we helped my roommate out with her assignment. :) I'm really white compared to him, but I've been in Idaho! He's been soaking up the Mesa heat. :) Little punk. Anyway....I have a lot to update so ill do it soon!

"You cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return"

Oh it has been a long day today. I took Joshua to the airport this morning at 5:30. Drove back and went straight to my janitor job at 7:30, then went and did a poop scooping job. Came home and went to the gym. I ran a full mile and a half on my knee. It is feeling, hmm.... a bit sore and tight but I think thats normal. I haven't ran on it for 4 months. So that felt real good! Came home and showered and did some things, then went to work at Gold's for 5 hours tonight. Just got home. I am tired!

Well.... 2 more weeks and I am out of Provo. I will be unemployed and job searching again. Oh I hate to say I am not looking forward to it, but....I am not looking forward to it. I have been sending my resume and applying to places a lot the past 3 weeks but haven't gotten anything just yet. OH! And I am so nervous for school. I'll have to be a good student. man! But it'll be good for me.

The past 2 weeks (or however long its been since I have posted) have been pretty good. Working lots, being with Jared a bit, and just doing life. I learn more and more each day.

Conference was so incredible! There were so many incredible messages given to us. ALL things that are so obvious that we need to work on as a people. We have a long way to go but we'll get there. Each conference, I realize a little more and more how absolutely amazing, and really what a miracle it is that we have a Prophet that gives us revelation in our day. THAT'S INCREDIBLE! I get anxious to hear what they have prepared for us each time. I definitely have my work cut out for me for the next 6 months. So do the single guys.... (hahahaha... I realized this conference how grateful I was to be female!) I listened to the priesthood session yesterday and it was so so good! Monson's talk was wonderful. I loved what he said, "Choose your love, and love your choice." SO GREAT! Today I listened to Elder Oaks talk on desire. The story about the guy who cut off his arm to save his life was incredible. I can't even imagine. Here's a little part of it I really liked a lot.

"Desire dictates our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions." -Elder Oaks

We underestimate how important desire is. Everything stems from desire. We cannot improve in any way without a desire to do it first. I loved this talk.

Family Night

Last Night I went to Jacob and Rebekah's house for FHE. AND...JOSHUA was in town! We had a yummy spaghetti dinner, then Rebekah made some cookies and Jacob shared an article from the ensign this month. It was really wonderful. It was actually the hometeaching message for the month by Elder Uchtdorf about looking for the good in all people and situations in life. I loved it. It is so applicable to all of us and that principle has already really blessed me in my life a lot. Life truly becomes so much more enjoyable when we can go about each day seeing the good things, not the bad in each other and in situations we are confronted with. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so true. It makes me so happy :)

**Jared and I went over to his cousin Andrew's house and helped them paint some things for their new home. It was good, and fun, but I got home so late and I am getting sick. Oh boy.....

Stop signs.... :)

So, last Wednesday, March 16 to be exact, I picked Jared up from school at 3 and I went and enjoyed the afternoon with his little siblings, Grandma Ray, Jared's Aunt Jenise, and his Mother Christine. It was very fun. We helped make 11 pans of lasagna that Christine was freezing for Jared's brothers wedding in April. Then Leah, Nathan, Tanner (some of Jared's little siblings) and I went outside and played some basketball for a while. It was so fun just being there and playing. But the day doesn't end anytime soon.... it gets so much better!

Ha. This is adorable. Jared and I drove up Provo Canyon the other day and we walked the trail to bridal veil falls, which for those of you who don't know, is a waterfall in the canyon. It really is beautiful. Anyway, it was an overcast day. Absolutely gorgeous outside. Not too cold at all, so we decided to do it and we went and enjoyed the waterfall and just kinda stood in a hug for a little bit (and he might have added a kiss here and there) when it started to rain pretty hard on us. HA... so I can't run on my knee so we just kinda walked along! It was great. So... we're walking and we come to a stop sign which obviously is meant for people in cars but I grabbed his arm to kinda stop him and looked at him and said, "We're supposed to stop here." Then I reached up and kissed him. (I know I'm pretty romantic huh? ;))


Anyway, I put my arms around him and said, "I can't see Jared so you'll have to look both ways and let me know when the coast is clear." His very sly reply was as follows, "Oh it's very busy. There are lots of cars coming both ways." ha, and OF COURSE there are NO cars out at all! ha.... so he kisses me again and eventually we continue. You know how strict those officers are now a days. We had to be sure we made a complete stop. ;)
On our way home, he kissed me at every stop sign we came to. ha ha.... and he switched up the route to hit as many as he could. It was so great. We just had fun.

***We also talked a little and I am definitely still going up to Idaho for school in April.

And now...... Jared and I. :)

Oh.... here he is. He's incredibly good looking and handsome and adorable and wonderful and just down right cute huh? ;) May I just say that last night we just had a lot of fun and I fell a little more in love with him. He's wonderful.


I love this boy. He's so great.

This is our extraordinary snowman. Isn't it excellent!? We named him Leonard. Lenny for short.

Ok, one night Jared and I went to a BYU basketball game and just for this ONE game, to support breast cancer, the team wore BRIGHT PINK nike basketball shoes. It was so AWESOME! Yeah, that's how ridiculously spectacular BYU is. We had fun. It was awesome to be there!

Roommates, Utah fun.

Alright ya'll, here are some pictures of my apartment, our awesome stadium seating we arranged, and my roommates and I.


Yes, here's our great stadium seating set up. Kinda just a fun change.

We made a 3 teared cake with vanilla and chocolate that was supposed to be a checkerboard cake but turned out more like, hmm..... a moo cow cake. still fun though.


My roommates made me go out to the hot tub with them.... it took a lot, but I finally consented to going.

PATIENCE!

YA'LL! Goodness gracious have some patience with me! I will get a picture of Jared and I and put it on here I PROMISE! ha, I love you all.

SO....today I went out and stood on the side of the street in the dog costume. It was my first day. I will be honest, and I am a little embarrassed to admit that I really had a hard time getting out there. I had to humble myself a lot ha. But, besides my face getting real itchy and sticky and sweaty from the dog head and the full body suit, it was good. A little girl took a picture with me and gave me a hug. ha. I connected with a lot of children... we'll say that ha.

ANYWAY..... life is good.

catching up..... I even posted some PICS!

Sarah and Catie came to visit! It was so great!



Sorry it's been a while... I got busy working and what not. I got the job at golds gym, 15 hrs a week, and I have also still been doing the janitor work, the poop posse (picking up dog poop), some secretarial work for joseph and mindy petramalo, and I just got a big dog costume yesterday that I get to wear on the side of the road with a sign and wave. Then I got offered the job at michaels but they wanted me to work sundays, so I turned it down and golds gym was a blessing. SO... life is crazy but good.

Jared confuses me, and is adorable and makes me happy all at the same time. He doesn't know what to do I don't think... but neither do I. I am still thinking about a mission because Jared has informed me that he doesn't want to date anyone but me, but that he has no plans of getting married anytime soon. SO... awesome Jared... what the heck am I supposed to do about that?! SO CONFUSED! AND...my parents think it'd be silly to go to byui because they don't have the program I want to pursue so they think that it'd be a waste of my time and money. So basically, I have a lot of big decisions to make, and they are hard to make and I really just don't know where I'll be in 6 months, or in a year, or whenever. but... I was comforted this week by President Hinckley's advice,

"Things will work out. Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don't be discouraged. Things will work out."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

How true it is. Things always work out if we are living in accordance with the Lord's commandments and standards. Anyway... here are some fun pictures from this last week when sarah and catie were here!



AH, yes. the beautiful utah snow.



Ha! SO... I discovered these super yummy cookies that they sell at Maverick and I took these two lovely things there and blindfolded them and made them take a bite and now they'll never be the same because the cookie was so good! Chocolate chip, coconut, macadamia nut. uh, YUM!

This was the snow man that Jared, Catie, Sarah and I built. We named him Leonard. Lenny for short. It was a double date. Jared and I and Catie and Sarah. Very fun.

February 27 and 28 My first kiss.... Who would have EVER thought I would enjoy a kiss?!

Or more than one kiss... ;) Yep.... He kissed me ya'll. And it was great. Not awkward for a tiny minute at all. Just 100% wonderful and glorious. AND.... Right before he kissed me, he told me that he loved me. WHAAAAAAT? Oh good Jared, because well.... I love you too!

That's the update.

NEW NEWS!

I held Jared's hand...... ha. I KNOW! You all are wondering why we move so stinking FAST! Sorry ;) ha.... yeah 4 months later.... WE HELD HANDS! On thursday night. and I actually made the main move because he's a little slow but hey its ok. I'll let him kiss me. ;) I won't be making THAT move.

Little help from someone?

Alright you all.... All 3 of you that read this.... ha. I need someone to tell me if it is inappropriate to hug someone for 2 hours. Is that like, inappropriate? I have a roommate here that says it is ha, and I am the LAST person that would want to do something inappropriate ya know? So as silly as this question is, I'm really serious. Is it?

Jared and I hugged from 9:45 last night to 11:47. He told me he wasn't going to let go until I did, and uh, well..... ha. I didn't want to, so I didn't. And we enjoyed wonderful conversation and he was absolutely adorable and kissed my forehead and and AND! OH this boy is just sweet to me. He totally tried to kiss me and I got scared! He had my face in his HANDS! And he was totally going to but I got freaked out and kinda put my head down a little and so he kissed my forehead instead. Oh man. AHHHHDHAKDJFHALDK! I am way toooo scared and not good with this whole dating, cute stuff.

Sweet things.

Oh I saw the most adorable thing today. I was at the gym doing about 15 minutes on the bike just to loosen my knee up before swimming laps and this adorable old old couple comes in together and start working out of the machines. I proceeded to watch them for about 10 minutes and they just helped each other on and off each machine, and back onto another one. about 45 minutes later when I was leaving the gym, they were leaving as well. They walked out to their car and I witnessed this most ADORABLE ACT! This sweet elderly man had his wife's hand in his and walked her right around to the passenger side, opened her door for her, got her settled into the seat, leaned over and kissed her then shut the door and walked around and got into his seat. OH MY GOODNESS I about lost it. It was adorable. I hope that I can have a husband who will go to the gym with me well into our 70's and 80's if possible and work out with me, then open my door for me and kiss me! All because he just wants to. So sweet.

....

Oh boy. I guess Jared and I are dating? Yeah... I'm so nervous about it. The fear is kicking in... anyway, we enjoyed a nice Family home evening tonight together and he had his arm around me and made sure I was warm outside around the fire. He's a sweet thing. :)

I am so grateful for my family. For my friends. For the gospel. HEY! If anyone wants a good laugh, and some spiritual lifting, WATCH President Monson's BYU devotional address called "your choice". It's so funny and great. You have to watch it though because it's his face expressions and tone of voice that is so funny.

"You feel good in my arms."

YEAH! Uh huh... yep. That is what Jared said to me last night as he was hugging me. "You feel good in my arms." AND he kissed the top of my head. AHHH. Ha. He's adorable. I am just quite frankly head over for this handsome boy! He's too nice to me.

This Sunday was amazing. Really everything about it was. We had 3 incredible sacrament talks on prayer and receiving revelation and answers to our prayers, then a Sunday school lesson on miracles, and a R.S. lesson on the importance and eternal principle of work. A girl in our ward named McKay gave the lesson and really it was absolutely wonderful. She just had a visible love and testimony of the Book of Mormon, and the gospel and it radiated. She really taught it so well and I just got a lot out of every lesson, talk, and class I was in.

After church Jared and his cousin and his fiance all came over to my apartment for some checkerboard cake that we made Saturday night for fun. Anyway, they didn't stay long...just came over for some cake and left but Jared text me afterward and asked me if he could see me again so I went over to his aunts house where he's staying at 6:15 and I stayed there till 9:15. We played 4 games of ping pong. ALL of which I lost but I won't lose all of them next time. Then I asked him if he'd play some piano for me because I have heard he's real good but he denies it... so, it turns out he is really good. He plays a gorgeous version of If you could Hie to Kolob. It was beautiful. THEN... his family all came in and while his Aunt played, we all sang a few hymns.
His hometeachers came at 8:30 so I told him I'd get out of his hair and see him later but he told me to stay so I got hometaught twice today. It was great. ANYWAY... we went to Ward Prayer at 9:30 and then I took him home. (he has no car here, and I am borrowing Joshua's) and THAT is when he told me I felt good in his arms. WHaaa! So sweeeet. Then he text me later and told me his shirt smelt really good because it smelt like me ha. too funny. He's so good.

***oh! For anyone who wondered how my date went on Friday.... ha. We got a flat tire on the way to Sandy for dinner which was an hour away from Provo. So funny... anyway, I'm not exactly interested in the guy but I got free dinner out of it. (That's awful.)

BAGHHGHHGHH!! February 16, 2011

Today was an absolutely SPLENDID DAY. Work went well this morning. I was so sleepy that I wanted to come straight home and take a nap but I thought to myself....uh, NO. If I do that, then I will be incredibly groggy and unproductive today... SO... I thought to myself, well I need to get my exercise in and do my scripture study so I walked to the temple and did my study which ...may I just say, was wonderful. WONDERFUL! Read Mormon 9:28,31,48. I love them. They are such good principles and lessons for us to learn and remember. "...Ask with a FIRMNESS UNSHAKEN that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God." Do you just LOVE THAT?! I love the gospel! I love the truth that we find in the scriptures.

Alright... I know that we all have times when we just feel like we wish we could be better. We recognize our weaknesses and imperfections but it is frustrating because we wish that we could just fix it! Well read verse 31. It's mainly the second half but it's such a great principle. We have weaknesses and imperfections to LEARN and to GROW from them. To become better! I love it.

Now... for the absolutely SPECTACULAR PURPOSE of this post.............................................. Dominique from Michaels called me today! I have a job interview on FRIDAY! I am so grateful. Here's the thing... she wants me to work every other Sunday and I told her I really would like to have Sundays off but she said we can talk about it. So please pray that she will just have a good feeling about me, and know that I will work my HINEY off for her and that she will just hire me without working Sundays.

**Oh, and I got asked out on a date tonight for Friday night. Yahooo...... :/ It's going to be fun because I am making a point to NOT hate it. ha.

It snowed hard tonight. It was beautiful to watch. I love it. Jared and I had a good conversation tonight that I think made us both go, hmm....we are NOT on the same page in this relationship at all! ha. anyway, we'll talk about it sometime soon and clear up the confusion.

Yesterday............Looooong day.

Oh yesterday was a long day, but a productive one. I had work in the morning. I went and cleaned the office, then directly after that I went and met this sweet little Hispanic lady at a huge office complex and she and I cleaned this huge 3 story office complex for about 3 hours. By this point, the right bunion in my foot and of course my knee were throbbing. I wanted to go home and just take a nap, but while Joseph and Mindy Petramalo are gone, I am covering some of their "waste removal" jobs. A.K.A. Poop scooping. So... I had 2 jobs to do. One only took about a half hour and the other one took me almost an hour and a half because it is a little more difficult to pry dog poop out of hard snow. Ha, BUT... I am still grateful for the opportunity to do it. I left there and went and bought a headlight for Josh's car because it's out and I took it to Jacob's and we replaced it but he broke the new bulb so.... we postponed it till we got another new one.

Ok here's the good stuff.... Jared text me and said, "Hey, do you have a minute, or 30?" ha...he's adorable. SO.... We met at the temple and just took a good walk around the grounds and just enjoyed the beautiful temple, the bright moon and the stars in the sky. It was a little cold and don't any of you think that I under dressed because I wanted him to wrap me in one of his wonderful hugs because I had gloves and a big jacket on but was still quivering a little bit. We'd been outside for about an hour at this point. He kept asking me if I was alright. I told him that yes I was a little cold but that I was fine. FINALLY.....he opened up his jacket and said, "Get over here" and wrapped me up in his hug that I am a little bit addicted to. It was adorable. Needless to say, we continued chatting as we stood in a wonderful Jared Tarah hug for a good 15 minutes. Seriously.... ha. He's adorable and makes me happy! He text me later that night ha and told me that I smelt good. He said his shirt smelt like me. ha.... cutie pa tootie. Tell you what. ANYWAY, OH OH OH! Funny story. While Jared and I were at the temple, after we had walked around a bit, we kinda stopped at this one spot and that's where we stayed for about 45 minutes. We'd been there for about 30 minutes already and suddenly a man, with a black beanie hat pops up out of a very small little space right between the wall of the temple and the bush. SERIOUSLY. I am not kidding! He just stood right up and walked off. He was probably 15 feet away from us and had been the entire time! HA! I laughed so hard! Jared and I kind of made a joke of it the rest of the night. ha....and we decided that he was probably there taking a nap or something and when we walked up, this poor guy thought we would just stop, enjoy the view and keep going! ha, but NO...! We stopped there and stayed for 45 minutes! Ha, so this poor man was probably just thinking, oh gosh, ok...this is going to look so bad ha but just walked up and left. Ya'll should have been there. It was hysterical! Anyway, such a great night.

A sinless sacrifice...

"His precious blood He freely spilt; His life he freely gave, A sinless sacrifice for guilt, A dying world to save." Today the sacrament song in church was 195, How Great the Wisdom and the Love. I paid close attention to the words of this song today and I am so grateful for the Sacrifice of our friend, and brother, and Redeemer Jesus Christ. A sinless sacrifice... he had done no wrong. I just can't believe it. I can't believe that he can do something so great for YOU and for ME...because he loves us that much. It's incredible. I am so grateful for that sinless sacrifice that was made.

I am so uncertain about my entire life. I am stressed out about my near future and I just want to figure it all out.

It's a new week. I hope I get a call back on a job tomorrow. Oh my goodness, please!

Don't worry. BE HAPPY!

WHAA! I am so happpy! Today was a great day. Other than the fact that my knee hurts. Bad. I think that when I fell the other day, I might have re torn my ACL. I am so scared about it. But I know everything will be ok.

Today I helped Joshua move his whole room into the other side of the basement at Gma's and then moved Jacob and Rebekah in and we rocked out to Pandora. I listened to a couple songs that quite frankly just made me HAPPY. Listen to "happy" and "on the bright side" by the artist, never shout never. They will make you happy. :) OH OH, AND "Don't worry, be happy" by Bobby Mcferrin.

Joshua, Jacob, Rebekah and I all went to listen to Amy Whitcomb's band play tonight and oh my goodness. I was inspired. She's incredible. Her band's name is "The Whits" so... watch for them. I truly think they will be big someday soon!

I went over to Jared's house to look at his family pictures that he just got...Mary Petramalo (a good friend of mine) took them for his family and I was wanting to see them. They turned out SO GOOD! I loved them. Jared makes me so happy. ha....so happy. And when he hugs me, he lingers....he just hugs for a long time and I love it!

I MISS MESA. I miss everyone there. I love you all!

Alright. I am really getting into my janitor job. It's great. I am going to be the most meticulous, anal mother when it comes to my children cleaning their rooms. I am totally learning a ton of awesome cleaning techniques. It's great. I moved into my new apartment yesterday and my roommates are a little messy so when they all left today, I cranked out the vacuum, clorox, toilet cleaner and went to BUSINESS! It was great. Anyway, hmm. I talked with Rebecca Hitchcock most the day today and I am just so excited to move to Idaho. It's going to be so stinking fun.

I should be doing homework... and Im not. I have way tooo many clothes and I need to do something about it. It's awful. Joshua is sick. Poor guy. I went over and made him a parfait for breakfast. He slept till like 11 though which was so good for him! Poor guy. My roommates are all very interesting. I have never lived with anyone other than Sarah and its just strange. But, not bad. It'll just take getting used to. I put pictures up in my room today, and made some cards to put in the mail.

My knee is definitely not feeling the way it was before I fell. I am nervous about it.AHH... ugh.

***Moroni is such a STUD! He totally rocks. Read Mormon 9:1-6....I love it.

Mikelle, Jillian, Kim, Abby....this post is for you.

Alright Ladies, goodness gracious you're going to fall right in love with both these songs, and I actually plan to add more to this list. BUT...for now, listen/watch these. :)

***By the way I think that you're all hilarious and fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcEG72N5No8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uij5s69iEjs

"I'm walking on sunshine... whoaa oh oh oooooh!"

Can anyone guess why I am walking on sunshine?! Besides Sarah... Yes. I love life. I love the trials we go through. I love learning from them... I love the people I know who inspire and lift me. I am so happy to be alive and grateful for EVERY good thing. Actually, you know what, I am grateful for every bad thing as well because the good things wouldn't be good if it weren't for the bad.

Life is Ridiculously Enjoyable.

So...tonight I got paid $40 to grade a lady's papers for her and I am so grateful for that. While I was grading them, Jared text me and asked what I was doing tonight, so I told him and he said he had homework that was due but that the internet was down at his house and he wanted to know if he could come use mine. Uh..... yes. Absolutely you can do that Jared. :) Anyway, so we both worked on our things together tonight and he gave me the most adorable hug tonight. 2 of them actually, but let me just explain to you what he did. AH its too cute. SO... besides the fact that I am addicted to his hugs...they are so delightful, he does this cute thing where he puts his hand across the back of my head... and hmm...I don't know how to describe it without making it sound a tad bit creepy but its NOT CREEPY, at all! It's adorable and I love it. Anyway, it was a good night. I am grateful to have him as a friend. He really does a lot for me.

Anyone reading this that wants to, would you keep my knee in your prayers? I had a fall today. It snowed last night and I slipped all the way down the stairs and my knee bent into a position that it really should not go into. It hurt a lot...and has been real weak all day. I am just afraid that it may have re torn and I am just praying that it isn't. I would love any prayers in that behalf.

***I have a new hobby. Leaving Sarah voicemails. It's so great. ha. We talked on the phone 4 times today. Hmm....that seems wrong, but I LOVED it. SOOO MUCH. I love her. Sarah. I love you.

I JUST want to donate PLASMA!

:( I can't donate plasma. Knee surgery ruins everything. I could have made 50 bucks a week doing that. Oh well... I guess I'll learn something from all this. Maybe I am supposed to learn patience in my afflictions (if I can even call this an affliction or trial in comparison to what other people face). The Lord will provide some other way for me to earn a living.

Rain=happiness

Yeah... it rained here in the beautiful city of Provo today. It was delightful. Josh and I began our day with a lovely walk. I went 3 miles briskly today. WHEW! Then came home and did some fun stuff... pushups, triceps dips, ab stuff.... all I can do really. Anyway.... it was a great start to the day. Did my scripture study, made joshua and I a yummy, healthy breakfast. One sided egg sandwich, with a grapefruit. YUM!

THEN...the productiveness begins. I got my lease all taken care of at Raintree, did the paperwork at the Janitorial place, went and bought a book for Joshua at the byu bookstore. He gave me his credit card to buy it but they wouldn't take it with no ID and they didn't believe my name was Joshua...so... I had to buy it. I decided to just give it to him as a birthday gift. It was the book, "300 questions that LDS couples should ask each other before getting married". Then I went home, made lunch for Joshua and I. Left to pick up a few applications, and to get some information on donating plasma. I went and talked to the manager at Michaels and I REALLY hope to get a job with them. Its a full time position which is just what I need, and I am just hoping hoping hoping! I also made an appointment for tomorrow to donate plasma. WOO. Yeah. Oh, and I dropped a thank you card off in the mail for Jana and Bret Mitchell. Kind of a cool story... it's kind of personal, but eh...no one reads this anyway ha. So this morning when I was walking, sometimes I just pray in my head the whole time I walk and this morning was one of those days. I told Heavenly Father that I wanted to be able to hear the spirit, and follow promptings that I get. I told him that today I was only going to listen to good music if any at all, and that I was going to try extra hard to recognize when the spirit is trying to tell me something. I also pleaded with him that I might be able to maybe find someplace that was hiring, or just some sort of way that I can make money. SO...today I was driving along running my errands and just saw the plasma place. I had no idea it was there, but I saw it, and stopped and went in. SO...there is some kind of income. A tiny bit, but something. Oh by the way, all day long I listened to the Mo-tab in the car. I was literally rocking out to High on a Mountain Top. It was awesome. Anyway, so I get back into the car to leave the plasma place, and its real cold, windy, raining, and slushy and slippery because it had snowed last night... and while I was loving the rain, I was freezing and did not have my jacket on...and had my sandals on and wanted to go home. But...I had the impression that I should drive around the corner to the shopping center that was right there. I didn't know which stores were there but I felt like I ought to go and just see if anyone was hiring. So...I did. And Michael's was the store I went into. There was a big sign that said, NOW HIRING, so I asked to speak to a manager and we spoke and I filled out an application and I really hope to hear back from her soon.

I really continue each day to see the hand of the Lord in absolutely everything that I have, everything I do, everything that I want to be. I am so grateful for the goodness of our Heavenly Father. He truly does take care of us and I certainly do know that I WILL find something here.

***DEVENEY emailed me tonight. It made me really happy.... :( but it made me miss them all so much.

I am so HAPPPPY!

Oooooo Hooo hooo! I have so much to be grateful for! My goodness. So, my day yesterday was extraordinary. I made $32 grading some papers for a teacher for 3.5 hours. Geometry tests. Yuck! BUT...I made some money! YEAH! Anyway, I also heard back from the Janitorial place and I got the job Monday through Friday for about 4 hours every night cleaning restrooms in the city library and a couple other city buildings. ALSO... Joseph and Mindy Petramalo will be out of town for 3 weeks and he wants me to take his poop scooping job on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Yes, I will be scooping Dog's poop all day and you're absolutely right! I have NEVER been so excited to clean bathrooms and scoop poop. It's such a BLESSING!

Joshua and I got up and exercised. Wasn't quite as cold as the day before... only 6 degrees this time. ;) GREAT walking weather. ha...funny story. We were walking and we're in like a light sweater and some shorts yeah? And we pass these 2 sweeet older guys walking and they have hats, ear muffs, and big POOFY jackets on ha. We pass them and one says, "Hmm, you think we're a little over dressed?" Hahaha, I just turned around and was like, "NO! We're freeeezing!" Ha, it was great. Anyway, I got to go to the temple and it was great. I think that next week I am going to try to do some baptisms. We'll see if my knee can do it and if not, I'll do something strange to improvise. Anyway.... OH YES. Last bit of info... Last night, (Thursday) Jared text me and I happened to be at my cousins house making cookies with her. So... I asked him if he was in the mood for something sweet. So we brought him some butterscotch oatmeal cookies. It is Karli Giles recipe that I got from her and oh my HEAVENS! They're so good and turned out great. I need to thank her. Anyway, I got a big hug from Jared. GOSH he is such a handsome man! :) Dear Jared, I am going on a mission very soon. BUT...don't worry, I'll be back and I would love for you to wait for me. and by then, I will be ready for you to propose to me if you would like to. Then we can have adorable children and be so happy the rest of our lives. Let me know how you feel about this plan. Sincerely, Tarah.

ha. Jared and I are just friends right now for anyone who has not been informed of that yet. Anyway, I had a great day. and today will be one as well!

AHHH!

I am going on a mission. AND I'M SO EXCITED! I will start my papers in April as SOOON as I can. I have such a desire to go and to learn and to grow and to serve the Lord! I just want it to come soon.

Today was a good day. I need to find a job though. So bad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a dear Friend.

DEVENEY! Yep, that's you. Happy Birthday my lady. Thank you for the wonderful life you live and for the incredible example you are to me and others. LOVE YA!

Well, the big bro and I started our day out with a kind of chilly 2 mile walk around the Provo temple. Since I cannot run yet with my recently operated on knee, Joshua ran one mile (one loop around the temple is equivalent to a mile) and we walked 2 together. It was great exercise and a wonderful way to start the day!
We came back and had a little study/planning session together before he left for work. AHH! I love JOSHUA!

In my personal study today, I studied the way that the Holy Ghost influences our ability to learn and to teach as well. It was very insightful and I HOPE the more I study, the more prepared I will become to serve a mission.

GOOD NEWS! I had a job interview today. It was with a janitorial company, cleaning big offices like Nu Skin and Novell, and the hours are 9pm to 12 Monday through Friday. The only problem is that I need a car for the job...so I'm looking for a cheap ride ha. Anyway, I felt like it went well, THEN...I stopped into Denny's and a couple other restaurants and literally walked in, asked to speak to a manager, and said, "Hi! I have an interesting situation. I am only going to be here a couple months and I really need to be working for those couple months and I am wondering if you have any positions available as a dishwasher, or anything! I will be your hardest worker for the short while I will be here and I would appreciate it so much." AND....Denny's might actually call me back which is great because its very close to where I might live so I could walk easily. PLEASE PRAY! Anyway, I have another job interview tomorrow. WHHHAAA!! The Lord is so good to me. He provides opportunities and I am so grateful for it.

I cooked tonight! WOOO. I made chicken pasta for Joshua and then he and I went out and just drove, and talked. We had very good conversation. I really enjoyed it. I love him a lot and I look up to him a great deal.

Bilingual twin sister and a SPLENDID Sunday

Sacrament meeting was splendid today. It was on the Holy Ghost. I loved the sacrament hymn today as well. It was hymn 185 and I for some reason just don't remember ever really singing it before but I know I have. Today I just really paid close attention to the words and they are wonderful. I'm sure grateful for my Savior's sacrifice for each of us.

After church today Joshua and I had a nice companionship planning session where we talked about time management and planning our days and managing our time wisely. It was so wonderful. We read some things from Steven R. Covey and it was wonderful! I left for dinner at Jared's after that... The Zundel family is his aunt and uncle that he's living with and they live real close to grandma's house so I walked there and enjoyed a very nice evening with their family. It was kind of them to invite me over and I did enjoy it. There was only one tiny awkward part of the night... they have this tradition where they go around and everyone gives an update on their love lives. (oh good gracious...right?) So we're going around the table and Jared and I are sitting right by each other and they completely skip right over both of us. Not sure why but I was sure grateful for it. (By the way, for those of you not updated on this... I still like Jared, but I don't think that he shares an interest ha) so...continuing with the story, one of the girls says, "Wait, why did we skip those two?" And Jared's cousin, Andrew says, "Oh they're already an item." WHAAAAAAT?! Anyone who knows me knows the color my face turned within seconds and how absolutely uncomfortable I was. I think I may have even mumbled under my breath "no". ha so I have no idea how Jared reacted but I did NOT look at him to see. I should have. I should have just flirted it up, and been like, oh? are we? Great! ha. anyway, the girl says it again, and Andrew again says, "It's because they're already an item." Ok...ok... next. who's next!? ha. Finally they dropped it. And I forgot about it fast but oh boy was it awkward for a few seconds. The rest of the night went well. Jared and I got up and washed the dishes, and cleaned up, then he walked me home and gave me a wonderful hug that I wanted more of. ha. I love hugs. ESPECIALLY Jared's hugs. They're good. I think deep inside me I was hoping I would walk inside after saying goodnight and that he would like come knocking on the door and be like, "ahh Tarah! I'm in love with you!" ha...yep, no. That did not happen but it's ok. I'm over it.

Yep. Sarah is bilingual. I got home from dinner at Jared's tonight and had 2 voice mails from Sarah ha. One in chinese, and one in kinda broken spanish ha. It made me so happy. Especially because she was calling to talk to me! :) I love you SO much Sarah. And thank you for your messages tonight. ANYWAY, I listened to her messages and couldn't call her right away because she said she was in a fireside, so I called my very good friend Melissa Petramalo because she had text me and asked me to call when I could. So we chatted a while. I loved it, and then I got to talk to SARAH! She called me. We talked for a really long time tonight and I LOVED it so much. So so much. Oh I do love that sweeeet thing. I'm so lucky I share DNA with her. ;)
I also got to talk to Catie tonight. ON THE PHONE! I am so grateful for such wonderful friends and family. I love you all! And Catie and Sarah, I loved talking to you both. MUAH!

Forgot to mention Friday...

SO Jared came over Friday morning after he got out of class. He told me he had something to give me and wanted to swing by sometime. So.... he came over, I brought him downstairs and showed him the place ya know, and we sat down and talked for a little while. About school, his classes, my job search, sarah's roommate,the ward, Idaho, Joshua's love for speed, you know...normal things. ha. And he stayed for maybe 45 minutes and we got up to leave and he says to me, "Right, so I told you I had something to give to you... its a hug from Sarah. And she told me to make it a BIG one." So... I got a BIG hug from Jared today, from Sarah. Thanks Sarah. (You stinker)

OH OH OH! AND...he fixed Grandma's garage for me. Just for that, my crazy aunts should probably let me live there. But whatever. Anyway, that was nice of him. Quite the handyman. Just another great thing to add to my list. :)

JOSH! I just want to stay home and do my homework!

UGHH! SO, I picked Joshua up from the airport last night, and Jared actually came along with me. Shocking... anyway. We got home and Josh wanted to go out and do something with Katie of course so he said, you ought to go ice skating with Brianna and Amber! (They had invited me earlier on) and I really wanted to because I thought it'd be fun but I was nervous about my knee, and also had SO much homework due on Sunday so I have to get it done by Saturday night right? So I told him, you know, I know they'll be out late...a so I told him please just let me stay home tonight. I won't always do this but I need to get my stuff done. SO....NOPE. He made me go out and be social. So...yeah, ice skating was fun, the FIRST hour. not the 2nd ha and it killed my knee. So I was thinking, oh good. Home after this. No, they're going to krispy kreme, then to a party... my thoughts were as follows: "JOSHUA I am going to kill you!" Really, anyway I tagged along and had a good attitude about it, and then at 1:30 I text Joshua and told him that we were headed home and HE DOESN'T ANSWER! He and Katie proceed to not answer for the next 45 minutes so .... my phone dies of course. Because I need it, ha, so it dies. Long story short, I end up sleeping at Amber's and what not. I need to make a copy of the key so I have one.

HIGHLIGHT of the day... I had my personal scripture study this morning and studied from Preach My Gospel today. Oh my goodness it was amazing. I am learning to love the scriptures so much. I didn't want to stop studying today, but Josh wanted to do companionship study so we did and it was GREAT! What a good habit to get into. We shared such good insights with each other. He shared more wonderful things than I did of course but I sure benefited from it. We also prayed together before he left to be with Katie this morning. Yep, we had family prayer. It was so great. I love Joshua and his wonderful example for me.

My new bishop asked the ward, in ward conference last week to email him 2 goals we have this new year that will help us in being more valiant in our discipleship. I'm putting these on here so that my loved ones can hold me to them!

1. Making sure, that every minute of the day, I am worthy of the spirit. That I am doing things each day that will allow me to have the spirit as my guide and influence the decisions I make, the things I say, my very thoughts, and my actions. I want to be able to receive promptings from the spirit and be able to RECOGNIZE that it IS the spirit, and act on those promptings.
2. Acting along side my first goal, but more specifically, I have made an effort this year and hope to continue the effort in starting each day in the scriptures. I don't want to just read from them, although that's a good start. ;) I want to incorporate other good sources that the brethren have provided for us, like Preach My Gospel, to make my scripture study more of a STUDY. I am preparing to go on a mission this summer and I want to increase the sincerity of my scripture study and by doing so, also better my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Life is good! Even during hard, trying times, life is good.

"Because of your faith.."

I recently finished going through the conference talks and have just started over at the beginning again and listened today to Jeffrey R. Holland's talk entitled, "Because of your Faith." My goodness if listening to him doesn't make you feel completely loved and treasured, I don't know what will. I'm sure grateful for the loving leaders we have today.

Today was a rather discouraging day for me as far as the job search goes. Had another interview. Third one this week...it went just as well as the other two, until he asked if I could commit to be here for 6 months. Dang. I went home and called about 15 dental offices, 9 dental labs, 13 Physical Therapy clinics, 11 day cares, along with an office max and few department stores here and there to see if anyone was hiring. I pleaded with a few people....but, nothing. SO....I am hoping to maybe get a phone call back from some of the places I have applied the past couple days. I really need a job. BUT! I tried real hard to stay positive today... because I know the Lord will provide. I went to the Provo Temple and did baptisms today, which is something I have never done before so that was great. I especially LOVED the underwear that they provide in the baptistry. Oh they are sure comfy and don't give you wedgies like the Mesa temple ones do. I can't wait to wear garments! :)

Tonight in dong my workout (As little as I can do with a bum knee) I tried doing some push-ups and my knee seemed to handle them just fine. Yes, because my shoulders and I are way too weak to do man push-ups so I have to do the girl ones. Anyway, So I am looking forward to being a little sore from those tomorrow. :) I wish I could go out and play some soccer. Soccer always lifts my spirits but, since I can't...Sarah went and played some indoor tonight. SO fun. I am a little jealous, but mostly just happy she is getting to play. Oh I love it!

Institute and BYU basketball? YES PLEASE!

Oh I needed institute. Our class tonight was filled with about 250 people... whaaaat? I am so much more partial to small classes, but we sat right in front and enjoyed the class just as much as we would anywhere else. It was on the law of consecration which is one of my absolute FAVORITE doctrines and principles of the gospel. I love it. Something that I have never considered that was brought up tonight was the idea of consecrating even our judgement to the Lord. We have the ability to judge, but we need to give that judgement to the Lord as well as our time, talents, and efforts. It was such a wonderful class and I heard a quote that I think will become a LIFE motto for me. I absolutely love it. It will be on a wall of mine in my home someday.

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things that you do for OTHERS remain as your legacy."

There is so much truth in this statement and I love it.

After institute tonight they showed the BYU basketball game. They are ranked like 6 in the nation which is incredible and so it was kind of fun to watch that a little bit after Institute with Katie and Brianna.

JOB SEARCH IS ON!

OK! Today was crazy productive. I told myself it had better be! SO...I woke up and had a great scripture study. I read in the first 5 chapters of Mormon. It's so incredible to me the change in the Nephites because of their pride. The SAME exact people as 4th nephi who were never a more righteous people very quickly became unrighteous and soon delighted in bloodshed. Over and over again, the Lord blessed them to defeat the Lamanites and they failed every time to recognize it was the Lord's doing and soon enough the Lord pulled away and did not bless them. It made me just think about how often we do things on our own without the help of the Lord because we just lose sight of him! We forget what a blessing and opportunity it is to be led and directed by the Savior. I am so grateful for the lessons and principles we learn in the scriptures. I love it!!

After my scripture study I went out and went around provo asking and picking up applications to every place that was hiring that is within walking distance to any place I might be living. I interviewed at the call center place today and hope to get a call back. Also put an application into the Residence Inn, Olive Garden, a janitorial place, and Jared Jewelry. They were all hiring and I would sure love to work at any of them. My spirits are high and I am positive that the Lord will bless me to find work and a place to live. BUT...any and all prayers in my direction are welcome. :)

I am going to institute tonight with my cousins and Josh's girlfriend Katie. I am rather excited about it.

***Just a little plug that will make my mother happy, even though she is far too busy to even read this. I have taken ALL my vitamins like a good girl the last 3 days in a row. woo hoo.

So....my first few days in Utah

Sunday, January 23

Joshua's ward is MASSIVE. It was ward conference. I sat by Jared and his cousin Andrew and his fiance. Andrew is hilarious by the way. Ward conference was wonderful. Their stake has a theme for this year. It's 1 Timothy 4:12, Be thou an example. The stake president shared an incredible story about one of the survivors of the Rwanda Genocide. Talk about an incredible example, and not to mention a reality check for me. I am SO grateful for all I have. I am so blessed.
*Jared text me after church and asked what my plans were for dinner next sunday. ha... plan ahead much? too funny. I informed him that I had no plans for the next 3 months. :) So... dinner at his place next sunday it is.

Monday, January 24

I looked for some places to live today. I am not going to be able to live in Grandma's upstairs so I'll have to find something and so far there is nothing that won't be $300 a month. :/ So much for coming up here and saving money eh? Well.... that's just a challenge I am dealing with now but I'll find something. It'll all work out. I found out today that I am on the spring/fall track at BYU Idaho so I will be going there in April. Classes start April 19th. AHH! Scary and exciting. I took Joshua to the airport today. He is on a business trip for a week (possibly 2) I am able to use his car while he is gone which is a blessing so I can try to find a job and housing, but I will be awfully lonesome here in grandma's basement all by myself for the next week or so. I miss Sarah a lot.

Tuesday, January 25

Woke up this morning and did some scripture study, listened to a conference talk and helped mama and grandma get on their way. It snowed a lot today. I had to drive in it to a job interview. I was sliding all over the road. I do NOT like driving in snow. ahh! Interview went so well. It was a nanny job. She hired me... then called me later and asked if I was planning on leaving in the next year.... Ooops... did I fail to mention I'd only be here 3 months? Darn. There goes that job. Search is still on. I stopped at a place and applied on my way home from that interview also...its a call center doing sales. Maybe ill get a call back there.... I was awfully sad and lonely tonight. It was stupid. ha... I had to think happy thoughts! Sarah called and informed me about her new roommates snoring problem and odd cat smell. Jesse Haws called me. INCREDIBLE! Ha, and so good to hear from him. I did some exercises tonight, and went to bed early.

Gratitude Attitude

Lately I have been reminded that it is so important to remember the things that we have. Constantly remembering all that we have keeps our minds off of things that maybe aren't as important or even trials and struggles we're going through. It's such a help to simply remember all that we DO have.

For those of you that don't know this about me, I love the sky. I mean, I LOVE it. Everything about it. The sunsets, the sunrises, the stars, especially the moon. I love rain, and wind. The heavens in general. I particularly love crescent moons and sometimes I am so grateful to be able to just look up and see a moon and stars dotting the sky. I can't help but smile when I see it because I know that Heavenly Father created it especially for us. I am grateful for it!

My family... oh my wonderful family. I am so grateful for them. Especially Sarah! Here we go again, leaving each other. Oh I am so lame. I get so emotional when it comes to her. ha. I am leaving tomorrow. Moving for a while. I'll miss her and my whole family. It's not like I am in China or anything. I will totally be fine. but...ya know. Sometimes change is just scary! And I'm a little nervous is all. I picked up 6 of my nieces and nephews from school today and we went to get ice cream cones before I leave and won't be able to see them for a while. It was fun. I love them so much. I wish we could all be closer!

Tonight Sarah and I had one last little fun night with Janell, Shaunae, and Catie at the drive in movies. They're just my old roommates and we did it for old times sake. It was very fun. Noor Sabbah, a good friend of mine from our ward stopped by to say bye to me tonight but we were gone. I was so bummed that we missed him. It was so very sweet of him to stop in. I feel so blessed for all the incredible friends that I have met and grown to love here in Mesa. I wish I could stick around and be a part of each of their lives, and congratulate each one of them when something exciting happens. Oh dear, how I will miss them all.

awful. AWFUL.

I feel like the worst person. Never, will I EVER take one of Sarah's classes again.

:( Let's just say I didn't do as well as I had hoped on the final even though I did stellar on all the assignments. I just have learned my lesson.

* I am moving to Utah this weekend and I'm scared out of my mind. Period.

hair cut....

I cut my hair today. I'm SO irrational. Sarah is a much more logical person than I am. Really? Who just drives past a great clips and says, yep...let's cut my hair now. I do. UGHH! And I hate that I do that! My hair is short now. I cut 5 and a half inches off the back of it. and I am so sad now. All that time growing it out. MAN! PLEASE grow back fast hair.

Sweet surprise

Last night I was headed to bed and I got a text. I hadn't been texting anyone all day long so I wasn't sure who it'd be. I looked and it was from Jared Hitchcock. This is what it said. "Hey guess what?! You are a remarkable person. I sure do have a lot of respect and admiration for you. You are loved by a lot of people. I hope you know that. Sorry I didn't get to call you tonight. Sleep well, get some good rest, and I'll talk to you later!"

He's so sweet.

*I am very grateful for life today. On Sunday, Elder Christofferson gave the CES fireside and he said in it that ANY efforts we make please God. I have been thinking about that a lot and sometimes it's just frustrating to me that we know what our weaknesses are and where we fall short but that we still make the same ones over and over. I wish that we could just see and recognize our weaknesses and fix them... but what Elder Christofferson said on Sunday just hit home because it made me think, it's ok to make mistakes because ANY efforts that we make please our Heavenly Father and as we make the efforts, the Lord will bless us with the ability and the desire to be better in more ways. Life is a beautiful thing. I love learning and growing.

Last Friday..... .1.7.11.

Ok....SO.... I did something today that, well... quite frankly I was just down right proud of myself for. I kinda feel like I conquered a small fraction of the world... ha. Ready? ........ Yeah, I made cinnamon rolls. On my very own.... they were kinda hard and didn't taste real super great but... I still made them and they WERE still edible. ;) I was making them for my brother and sister in law Jacob and Rebekah who got married on Saturday and had their open house Friday. Their refreshments were cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. It turned out so well!

Little plug for my family... I love you all. You're so wonderful and beautiful! And I want to thank some of you for your very ANIMATED and OBVIOUS responses when you met the Hitchcock family. (SID, cough) Thank you all for that. :) I love each one of you.

JACOB AND REBEKAH are married!!! WILD! Oh I am so thrilled for my big brother. Joshua brought a girl to the wedding named Katie. She's adorable and we all love her! We're kinda hoping for something there.

Butterflies .... ughh....

Jared called me tonight. Yeah, I was walking up the stairs to our apartment, with my arms full and I was unlocking the door when I felt my phone vibrate. One vibrate....ok ok, it could be a text.... oh shoot. A second vibrate, and a third. HELLO! I had the most massive, most uncomfortable butterflies in my stomach because if it was a call, it was definitely Jared. MAN! Why is it so scary talking to him on the phone? Oh yeah...I remember. HE'S SO QUIET AND SHY AND DOESN'T SAY MUCH BUT AT THE SAME TIME IS STINKING WONDERFUL AND ADORABLE. That sure makes things hard. uh huh...

so... anyway, no big deal. We talked for a half hour to forty five minutes maybe. I enjoy taking to him, I really do. BUT every time I get off the phone with him, I want to just... scream. Yeah, like a frustrated scream ha. Is that normal? I think it's because I feel so stupid talking to him because I get nervous and when I get nervous I OBVIOUSLY say silly things, and my voice gets higher. ha....which is so strange.

Kiah Spring (my niece) turned 7 today! Oh my goodness I remember when she was born. It was not very long ago it seems. We had a fun birthday party with a lot of my family tonight. I love my family. They're all so wonderful and if I may just say...........I have the most ADORABLE 25 nieces and nephews in the world. They're just darn cute.

Update on the knee... stitches came out monday, no crutches necessary, still in the brace until I can strengthen my quad muscles and knee joint....and .....hmmm, just moving faster everyday. Pray for complete, and successful, and FAST healing. And a plug for my good friend Deveney. She broke her foot (same bone that I broke twice, and I am praying it heals on its own Dev)


***Life is good. We're so blessed!

A letter......

Who knew? Oh this boy... He's verry sweet. Jared left a letter for both Sarah and I the day before he left for school up in Provo and asked us to wait until the next day to read them. So.......we did. And he's just a gem. He wrote some very kind things to both of us and expressed appreciation for us both. I want to be just like this guy when I grow up. He just keeps getting better and better. Anyway, it was so very sweet.

When I shot him a text to thank him....he called me back. (BIG move for an adorable shy guy) and...told me he'd be calling more, and texting less.

Jared... You're so great.