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.